Shihouin Kurama

"On a good day, he's an antihero. On a bad day, he's a villain. Most of the time he's just a dangerously intelligent, functional sociopath who fucks with people's lives for his own personal amusement and profit."

- regarding Kurama


 * "He walks the path of man, bearing the heart of a demon, and the vision of a saint." - Illuminate Void

Kurama Shihōin (四楓院沌魔, Shihōin Kurama, lit. "Four Maple Temple's, Spirit of Primeval Chaos") is a ghost, a legend wrapped in myth surrounded by lies and deceit. Hero and villain are synonymous with his name; feared for his power, admired for his charisma, despised for what he had done. A thousand years ago during the war that led to the defeat of Yhwach, Kurama was the Commander-in-Chief of the. History has scrutinized him with ruthless bias labeling him a renegade, and a criminal the likes of which hasn't been seen in over a millennia, not since the founding if the. They called him the Black Reaper (黒の死神, Kuro no Shinigami); a faceless, emotionless visage of darkness that claimed life wherever he went.

He was a monster whose leash was held in check solely by. Even then records indicate that the Captain Commander used Kurama as a secret weapon. He was personally responsible for numerous black ops that led to the deaths of countless lives;, and , there was no distinction, no warning and no mercy. His tactics were both awe-inspiring in their complexity and ingenuity to damning and atrocious for the destruction and death that followed. Yet his operations saved as many lives as they condemned, and ultimately these actions served to undermine Yhwach's Quincy and drive the king back into shadows for over a thousand years. In the peace that followed Kurama was villified and stripped of his command then sentenced to the bowels of Muken (無間 Voided Space) for his crimes--- an inescapable prison where he remained. Or so they say.

Whether he truly stayed out his punishment is subject to debate. It is believed that his trial was an elaborate setup, a means of publicly removing him so that he could operate with impunity from the shadows. Wars, rebellions, and other groups have risen and have subsequently been removed through mysterious circumstances over the centuries and who but Kurama would have the power, and the intellect to carry these out all in secret? Thus it was surprising to see the man emerge from his supposed "imprisonment" to inherit the mantle of 23rd Head of the. and resumed his role as Commander-in-Chief of the following the.