Haruto Shirane

Haruto Sakata (坂田 遥斗, Sakata Haruto) is a male that holds an unseated position within the  of the. Once considered a promising warrior that was destined to one day achieve even the level of Captain, tragedy struck when Haruto was severely injured by a, scarring his soul and draining him of his. He could no longer even imprint upon a. The incident left the Shinigami as a shell of his former self, a broken man that was ridiculed by those that once admired him and pitied by those that once called him friend. Though his resolve had been shaken, Haruto fought against the gauntlet that fate had subjected him, determined to build a new strength from his weakness.

Powers & Abilities
So minimal was the reiryoku left within him that the that he was given during his time in the academy was no longer capable of being properly imprinted upon, leaving him without a Zanpakutō to call his own. Still, even in the recesses of despair, Haruto was determined to turn this weakness of his into a different strength. He knew that if all he had was a meager supply, he would need to figure out a way to use all of it in the most efficient and effective manner possible. As Haruto trained to develop his style of combat, he would learn that his level of power was sufficient in allowing him to only cast a certain number of spells a day; specifically, he found that for most spells he could still manage, he'd have a base limit of ten spells a day before his maximum reserves of reiryoku would be used up and he would have to rest. Haruto learned to harness and control the entirety of that meager supply spiritual power to such an extent that he no longer releases any of it in the form of, providing him with the unintended benefit of being able to slip undetected by enemies probing for spiritual pressure, but mainly to avoid the unnecessary expenditure of his reiryoku. It is for this reason that Haruto does not possess spiritual pressure of any kind, leading many of his opponents to vastly underestimate his capabilities. When he does exhibit his spiritual power, however, it is shown to be a light blue in coloration, resembling the midday skies.

Significant Strength: In order to make up for his inability to rely on spiritual techniques, Haruto had to work on his physical capabilities most of all, developing his strength in order to handle most of his enemies with solely hand-to-hand combat or swordsmanship. His muscles, as a result, were noted to be highly refined and developed, producing a level of strength that allows Haruto to fend off opponents with ease. He demonstrates the ability to stop even a large Hollow's attack with his singlehandedly-gripped blade, subsequently slashing the monster in twain with the same hand. The strength shines through in both offense and defense, as Haruto can take hit after hit without slowing down his assault in the slightest. In order to keep up his strength, he regularly trains on his own in the, going on runs around the entire wall, and subjects himself to vigorous conditions to increase his durability.

Enhanced Speed: Finding himself in a situation where even the use of would trim away at his meager volumes of spirit energy, Haruto had to develop his leg strength so as to engage in high-speed movement without the use of techniques. As a result, he managed to refine his natural acceleration to an extent where he can disappear from the sights of most opponents and close the distance between them nigh instantaneously. He trained this acceleration together with muscle control exercises, enabling him to successively move in a moment's notice, even changing direction or altering his speed while in motion.
 * -induced Acceleration: Being the only spell that Haruto has mastered to a point where the expenditure is negligible even on his low reserves of reiryoku, he has learned to cast from his feet so as to enhance his speed in tremendous bursts. Shō is applied generally through a very specific part of the foot, either his heel or the instep, depending on the situation, so as to both minimize the reiryoku use but also to maximize the effect. Haruto is also able to cast Shō from his elbows, making it possible for him to even enhance the speed of his sword swings so as to throw off his opponent's timing while simultaneously increasing the degree of force behind that slash. Although the spell has no significant toll on his spiritual reserves, Haruto still practices caution when utilizing Shō in this way, opting to rely upon it only when his natural speed fails him.

However, because his spiritual power was so low that he would be incapable of utilizing Kidō in the traditional sense, he had to determine a different method toward using whatever little amount of spells he was capable of performing. Rather than being able to cast weak and useless spells multiple times, Haruto realized how many spells he could fire off before running out of steam, and set forth to put every one of those spells to good use in battle. By his count, ten spells below the sixties level account for his entire spiritual reserves, while anything above that, all the way up to the nineties, can only be used up to three or four times at a fraction of their true might before he exhausts all of his power. The only exception is the first spell,, which Haruto can presumably use in small bursts almost without limit, though he has admitted that even for Shō, he has to be wary of how many times he casts it. Although he cannot use it as he may like, in order to determine a proper way for him to use Kidō, he put forth a tremendous effort in studying the theory of Kidō and the spells taught to all Shinigami, giving him a vast degree of knowledge in regards to the spells he employs while also helping him determine how best to approach an enemy's own spells.

Zanpakutō
Because of the incident which left him with meager reiryoku, Haruto's soul had weakened to the point where he was unable to successfully imprint his essence onto the he possessed, becoming unable to create a Zanpakutō. It is due in part to this that he was considered a failure of a Shinigami and given an unseated position within the Gotei 13 largely out of pity, with many believing that he would serve as nothing but cannon fodder. In order to defy that fate, Haruto studied the properties of the Asauchi and Zanpakutō, and developed a special method all his own in order to overcome that weakness.

Shinki Ryūjin (神鬼流刃, "God and Demon Flowing Blade"): Haruto discovered that a Shinigami normally imprints upon a Zanpakutō progressively over a long period of time. It is a process that can take days, months, or even years depending upon the potential within the individual. The steady flow of one's own reiryoku and reiatsu being poured into the blade permanently changes the nature of the empty canvas known as Asauchi into the personal Zanpakutō of its wielder. With that process, an entity with its own powers, personality, and appearance is crafted within the blade. However, Haruto realized that it was possible to induce a rapid yet temporary imprint onto an Asauchi by feeding it a rush of power from a spell. Haruto discovered that an Asauchi responded to a spell being thrown onto its empty canvas by temporarily adapting to the spell and changing its own basic properties to replicate the nature of that specific spell. As a result, the Asauchi would adopt the spell itself and vastly amplify the properties through itself as the catalyst, but the process was temporary; lasting mere moments at a time. Haruto likened the phenomena to that of firework, burning bright and producing a tremendous display, but flickering out soon after, subsequently disappearing just as suddenly as it appeared. As Haruto found, the imprint would last no longer than a single minute, but would provide him with a powerful weapon for short bursts of time.

This would become Haruto's ultimate technique, the Shinki Ryūjin. It was due to his weakness that he was capable of performing this imprinting method. If a normal Shinigami were to try such a thing with an Asauchi, it would likely fizzle out very quickly, within mere seconds if not that, due to the fact that the natural flow of spiritual power being poured into the Asauchi by a Shinigami would conflict with the Kidō spell being induced onto it. However, because Haruto's own reiryoku is so weak that it would be incapable of conflicting with the spell, the Asauchi can be successively imprinted on this momentary basis. He still had to work hard to perform this technique properly though, finding that it was initially difficult to cast a spell, flow it into the empty vessel, and then naturally harness it in battle without tripping up his concentration. Also, due to the fact that the spiritual concentration within Haruto is meager, the rapid increase of spiritual power within the Asauchi causes it to flow backwards into Haruto, imbuing not only the sword but, to some extent, even Haruto himself with the effects.

The use of Shinki Ryūjin normally surrounds Haruto in an intense aura during every use, resembling the form of reiatsu, yet it does not project outwards as such, leaving many of his enemies confused as to what sort of power he is utilizing. With his Kidō being limited, he is only able to perform the technique ten times for a minute each; even less so depending on the spell he is employing. For Haruto, it didn't matter if he was the weakest of all Shinigami, for in those brief bursts of a minute, he would make himself strong enough to defeat anybody.


 * Shinki Ryūjin: Byakurai — Shungeki (神鬼流刃: 白雷·瞬撃, "God and Demon Flowing Blade: Pale Lightning — Instant Strike")


 * Shinki Ryūjin: Seki — Shōtoku (神鬼流刃: 斥·衝匿, "God and Demon Flowing Blade: Repulse — Impact Shield")


 * Shinki Ryūjin: Shakkahō — Rasenka (神鬼流刃: 赤火砲·螺火, "God and Demon Flowing Blade: Red Fire Cannon — Spiraling Flames")


 * Shinki Ryūjin: Tenran — Hishōsemi (神鬼流刃: 闐嵐·飛翔蝉, "God and Demon Flowing Blade: Orchid Sky — Soaring Cicada")

Quotes

 * (Frequently spoken to himself) "Not yet. I'm not done yet."

Behind the Scenes
This character was designed as a homage to Ikki Kurogane from the anime and manga series, Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry.