Kagemusha

Kagemusha (影武者) is the manifested spirit of Ryan Getsueikirite's zanpakuto that appears whenever he uses the Tagen Kagemusha ability of his zanpakuto.

Character Outline
Her appearance is that of a female samurai in full armor. She has long, crimson red hair with a golden headband on her forehead as well as wearing, not one, but two katana resembling her shikai state on her waist. According to Ryan, Kagemusha's favorite color is blue, and its least favorite is black; which might explain her releasing a blue reiatsu whenever releasing her sword states. In comparison to her master, Kagemusha is calmer, and more sensible. She is quite stern, serious, distant and secretive. She seems easily irritated and likes to read manga when doing nothing in Ryan's Inner World. She is also very curious, and had a habit of spying on her master in his younger days. Despite her rather distant personality, she appears to care about her master, as shown when she protects him from Kamui without his command. She has shown to have a playful side similar to her master as well, as the two are close.

Powers & Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Kagemusha is an immensely powerful combatant, even with only her sealed Zanpakutō sword form. She was able to easily fight at captain-level and take down a large group of enemies attacking her at once. Her skills are very versatile, able to use various bladed weapons with high proficiency.

Master Tactician: Kagemusha is a highly perceptive fighter, being able to almost immediately determine an opponent's attack patterns and weaknesses. She is also a crafty tactician, as demonstrated from how effectively she uses her illusions to confuse her opponents. She can discern the motives and abilities of her opponents and effectively uses his knowledge to end the battle in her favor.

Illusions: Being and illusion-type, and channeling her spiritual energy into her opponent, Kagemusha is able to distort the target's perception, effectively making a person's five senses unable to properly register what is happening. This power can be negated by one using their spiritual energy to close off their emotions before the hypnosis takes place.

Zanpakuto
At any time, Kagemusha can summon her sealed Zanpakutō form. It has the form of an average katana with a bronze cross guard shaped like an oval with three spike protruding from it and a purple handle. The sheath completely dissolves when she draws her sword form. The sword is somewhat longer than most Zanpakutō, at about 1.4 meters long, making as tall as Ryan himself, preventing him from wearing it at the hip, however she can.
 * Shikai: One of her swords will shatter like glass, she will continue to have use of the other, though.
 * Shikai Special Ability: Her shikai ability was once thought to be "control of form" due to it's apparent ability to shift it's form . She is later revealed to be a powerful Illusion-type zanpakuto that controls the five senses. Like Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu, the ability of Kagemusha is to control the five senses to the point that it can make the target misinterpret another person's form, shape, mass, feel and smell to be that of the enemy. It also requires the victim to see her shikai in order for that person to be trapped. Unlike Kyoka Suigetsu, however, the illusions shatter upon the re-sealing of it's form. For this reason, Kagemusha is forced to keep herself released for long periods of times if she wishes illusions to persist. There is some compensation for this weakness, though it isn't massive; after a foe has seen Kagemusha's release, they are doomed to be trapped in it again and again every time it is released to shikai. However, even this has a drawback, which is, in fact, also a drawback to her illusionary capabilities. If a foe can figure out how the illusion works and how it is set up, they can avoid it's ill effects, even though they cannot break it (as the only way to break it, would be to reseal it). Ryan says this ability is called the "Artist's world" (画壇, gadan) because the illusions reflect his dormant artistic abilities.


 * Bankai: Shinrai Kagemusha (信頼影武者, Faith in the Shadow Warrior): Kagemusha's Bankai when released, comes a release of blue spiritual energy. When Ryan, himself, released it in times past, it assumed the form of a large knife in the shape of a double ended spear with a fan-like blade attached to it. Ryan later reveals that this is a cause of his zanpakuto being an illusionary type, and a powerful one at that. She originally deceived others (namely Takeshi in Ryan's first battle with him) into believing that her bankai made herself a fire-type. In reality, her sword form doesn't change at all from it's sealed or shikai state, instead it amplifies the abilities of her shikai three fold.
 * Bankai Special Abilities: In bankai, she is capable of creating much more complex and devastating illusions. For example, her illusions can now depict her using abilities that aren't her's at all, even giving a feeling, smell, shape and mass to these abilities. The greatest demonstration of this she has shown so far is to seemingly make her bankai seem like a fire-type by causing cascading waves of fire to emit from it . The fire seemed like real fire to her master's opponent, though, it was a mere illusion. There are a few limits to this. She cannot make an illusion depicting herself using another zanpakuto's skills, and she cannot make illusions demonstrating hollow powers. Her bankai retains the powers of her shikai as well, including the fact that even if the opponent realizes it is just an illusion they cannot escape until it is re-sealed, making it a devastating ability. However, it comes with one severe drawback. Her bankai cannot affect someone who has not seen her shikai. Meaning that a person she is fighting for the first time requires seeing her shikai before her bankai will have any effect whatsoever.