Sayaka Izayoi

Sayaka Izayoi (十六夜=明か, Izayoi Sayaka) is the sole remaining member of the Izayoi Clan, and its heiress. Very little is known about Sayaka's past; though she calls herself "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma sprinkled with a love for boobies". She is the self-professed "life of the party", with a zany and comical personality, though her mysterious past leads several to believe that there is a person so tragic behind her cheerful mask. She resides in Mizuho Village; acting as a healer for the sick and often giving guidance to others, overall being an approachable person who doesn't hesitate to assist anyone; whether they are friend or foe.

Three hundred years ago, Sayaka was the "Reaper of Life" (刈り手の生気, "Seiki no Karite"), a serial killer who haunted Rukongai, often targeting those who abused their power, becoming a vigilante of sorts. While it is said that Mitsuru Inazuma obliterated the entirety of the former Gotei 13, the Reaper of Life was the one who effortlessly destroyed several divisions in one night. During that time, Sayaka was far colder and ruthless, almost sociopathic in her behaviour. However, something happened to her; causing her to completely change her ways. Wishing to atone for her sins, Sayaka fled to Mizuho Village, abandoning her former life and assuming a new identity. While Sayaka has sworn off fighting ever again; there are rare times where she will break her pacifism, mostly when the ones close to her are in imminent danger. During these moments, she will fight back with overwhelming force and power.

Appearance
Sayaka is a tall young woman, who towers over her partner; so much that Agito needs to use a step ladder to look her in the eye. She has kind, emerald eyes which sparkle in a similar manner to a stream. Her overall facial construction is almost-perfect; a radiant beauty, though she has some slight muscle. Sayaka possesses long, dark crimson hair which has four spikes protruding upwards slightly into the air at the back; while the rest reaches down to her ankles. She has two thin strands that frame each side of her face, and her bangs are parted in the middle. At the tips, her hair is white. Her bangs cover her face on one side; when Sayaka is in control, the eye being covered is the right; when the 'Reaper of Life' is in control, the eye on the left side is covered. As it is later discovered, there is no 'Reaper of Life'; Sayaka merely does this as an excuse to go wild without suffering the consequences.

Personality and Traits
Sayaka is always cheerful and upbeat; always seen with a smile plastered upon her face. She is often seen joking around and trying to get a laugh out of people; rarely, if ever serious, though she is also a quiet and rather shy young woman. Despite usually being all smiles, she believes that joy is actually a sin and she even condemned herself, saying that the acts of finding joy in/from the pain of others is monstrous and inhuman. Sayaka is shown to have an iron will, and can be rather stubborn and bull-headed when it comes to decisions she believes will hurt others if plans are wrongly executed, and as Agito states, "she's like a damn ox..." Sayaka is rather pacifistic, and would rather be a noncombatant, preferring to find a more peaceful solution to quarrels, however, she will fight if it is absolutely necessary; becoming ruthless in a heartbeat. Sayaka can never just sit around upon seeing someone in a pinch and will go to great lengths to protect or help that person. Although Sayaka understands the distinction between good and evil, she can only revel in committing evil acts; as such, she finds her Zanpakutō's ability, healing, ironic. All in all, Sayaka is a unique type of sociopath who feels great emotion from the suffering of others; though she is constantly attempting to gain access to positive emotions; effectively rendering her a void being like Agito. After she gave up on salvation and happiness, she questioned the meaning of her own existence. Namely, she questioned how a being like herself was allowed to be born.

Sayaka attempts to take on a mentor-type role towards Agito, and is often seen trying to help her grasp basic concepts of Shinigami arts. Sayaka is always willing to lend a sympathetic ear to others, and will listen to them and attempt to help them with their problems. Sayaka is also easy to approach, and tends to be able to earn the trust and respect of nearly everyone she meets, though this friendliness is only superficial, no matter how much Sayaka wishes for it to be real. Sayaka has a marked lack of empathy for other humanoids, a propensity for using lies, manipulation, and outright violence to get her way, a reckless and impulsive streak, and a charming disposition.

Sayaka seems to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder; with the Reaper of Life and the Sayaka of today remaining seperate in personalities; they even refer to themselves as different beings. The Reaper of Life surfaces whenever Sayaka needs to assist in training Agito or begins to become physically intimate with her (which is something Agito often attempts to prevent), or in the rare occasion that Sayaka is pushed over the edge. The 'Reaper of Life' is loud-mouthed, abusive, overly rude, displaying many traits of a psychopath. She refuses to allow Agito to get any rest until she completes her objective; often making said objective much more difficult to attain sadistic pleasure from seeing her harm herself, though she claims the reasons that she does so is because if she heightens the difficulty, then Agito will achieve more than before. The 'Reaper of Life' is a highly sadistic being when in battle; as it is when Inyō's more nightmarish applications are shown. Although each has a completely different character, Sayaka still occasionally echoes some of the Reaper of Life's words and personality, proving that they really are the same person deep down.

All in all, Sayaka Izayoi is not insane, but also not sane. She is also not a villain, but a dark and twisted person who projects a kind air upon those around her. Ironically, by the end of Part III of Rising Phoenix, Sayaka had not changed one bit, though she had become much kinder to Agito.

History
Sayaka was born as a void being. She felt nothing, and she always was wondering about the concept of 'emotions', and was confused why she could only feel joy in seeing/inflicting suffering upon others. At the age of eighteen, Sayaka prayed that, through a relationship with a woman she loved, she could finally achieve respite from her tortured existence. When Sayaka discovered such a relationship could not change her, she was on the brink of suicide; her ill lover, filled with concern, committed suicide to show to Sayaka that she could still feel compassion for others. However, after her death, Sayaka was disgusted to realize she would have preferred killing her instead; from that day on, she ceased attempting to gain positive emotions, and took up a life of serial killing along with defiling women in order to see if she could feel any remorse from her horrific actions.

During her teenage years, Sayaka was a brilliant surgeon, who was educated in the United States. This ties into her weapon's healing ability.

Powers and Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Sayaka is a master of Zanjutsu, and excels at parrying her opponents' attacks. In battle, she utilizes an quick and elegant style, resiminent of ballet to confound and poke at her opponents with light, yet powerful stabs and slashes. As Sayaka's ancestors created the Kūjin (空陣 lit. "Shunya Formation") style, extremely powerful Zanjutsu techniques that were banned from being taught at the Shinō Academy due to their fearsome power and their life-threatening side-effects, Sayaka has access to all of them, and does not feel the repercussions of their side-effects.


 * Kūjin: Tenkai (空陣・天界, "Shunya Formation: Celestial Sphere"): Not Yet Revealed.
 * Kūjin: Setsuri (空陣・摂理, "Shunya Formation: Providence"): Not Yet Revealed.
 * Kūjin Ōgi: Baku Kaitenshō (空陣義・爆怪転生, "Shunya Formation Secret Art: Exploding Wonder Transmigration of Souls"): Not Yet Revealed.

Incredible Strength: Despite her small size, Sayaka has phenomenal strength. An example of this is destroying a foe's Zanpakutō with a simple downward chop. She is also seen knocking Mei through a building with a flick of her wrist. Sayaka is able to effortlessly attack an opponent with minor movement or force. She tore off Byakuren's arm and launched her through a nearby building without any effort behind her throw. Sayaka was also able to contend with Gūtara's Kanzenkudō form with little effort.

Shunpo Master: Sayaka is highly skilled in the art of Shunpo, with her speed being comparable to Byakuya Kuchiki. She often combines Shunpo with athletic cartwheels, one-handed backflips, and rolls to achieve devastating speed. She can easily close tremendous gaps of distance in the blink of an eye while remaining undetected. Sayaka is able to dodge all of Nika's Cero attacks with little effort and keep up with Touma Seisou while he is using Bankai.


 * Utsusemi (空蝉; Cicada, referencing their molting): Way of Onmitsu, 3rd of the Shihou. It allows for a movement at great speed, leaving at least one tangible after-image behind.
 * Senka (閃花, "Flash Blossom"): A special Shunpo technique where Sayaka moves to her opponents back. Directly attacking and sealing one's "Saketsu" (鎖結, "Chain Binding") and "Hakusui" (鎖結, "Soul Sleep") in one strike. The movement is so fast that an opponent may not be able to tell whether he or she was attacked from the front or the back and even an outside observer may find it impossible to tell what the movements are.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While used less often than her Zanjutsu, Sayaka's proficiency in Hakuda is impressive. She is shown to use open palm thrusts and elbow attacks to overpower her enemy with ease.
 * Hozanchū (崩山肘, "Mountain-Crushing Elbow"): Sayaka unleashes an exceedingly powerful elbow strike.

Incredible Speed: Even without the use of Shunpo, Sayaka is blindingly fast; she is able to outrun a bullet.

Kidō Master: Sayaka can easily be considered a master of Kidō, being able to unleash high-level Kidō without the need for an incantation, as well as utilize them in unique fashions. Sayaka excels in the usage of healing Kidō, to the point of being comparable to Retsu Unohana. She is highly knowledgeable and skilled in healing Kidō, and she is highly proficient in conventional healing techniques as well as herbal healing. She is skillful enough to utilize a #81. Bakudō, Danku, with enough power to block Kanajin's Kanzenkudō form; only cracking slightly, but this was because of the lack of incantation on Sayaka's part.

Advanced Growth Rate: Sayaka's growth rate is frighteningly fast. During her training at the Shinō Academy, she grasped the basic control of advanced techniques in roughly one week each where it would take several weeks for even the most gifted Shinigami. She is also capable of completing Jinzen within roughly one year in the Dangai Precipice World, which even the strongest of the Shinigami in Soul Society will take thousands of years before it is completed.

Vast Spiritual Power: Hailing from the Izayoi Clan, Sayaka has a tremendous amount of spiritual energy. Her reiatsu was said to be almost "vampiric" in nature. Even before she became a Shinigami, her spiritual pressure was immense and uncontrollable, not unlike Gai, and caused beings around her to slowly decay, namely her pet cat that lived with her at the time. Because of this feeling of loneliness due to others not wanting to approach her, Sayaka trained for one year in the Dangai Precipice World, and somehow achieved evolution into a dimension separate from Shinigami, as both Shinigami and Humans are unable to feel her reiatsu unless she voluntarily lowers her level and allows them to interfere, in the same way that a two-dimensional being is unable to interfere with a third-dimensional being, similar to Ichigo Kurosaki.
 * Telekinesis: Sayaka is able to use telekinesis with her reiatsu to levitate her Zanpakutō and use it to strike her opponents from afar, as well as call her weapon back to her hand.

Zanpakutō
Inyō (陰陽, "Cosmic Dual Forces") is the name of Sayaka's Zanpakutō. When sealed, it takes the form of a sakabatō; a blade which cannot cut. This is because Sayaka has willed Inyō to never harm another person, whether they are friend or foe again after her younger days as the "Reaper of Life". Her sakabatō is shorter than most Zanpakutō; being only eighty centimeters long and unnaturally thin. Along the blade, there are several symbols, most notably the phrase "Thou shalt not kill" in English, reflecting Sayaka's pacifistic philosophy.

Shikai: Because of Sayaka's skill, she can keep her blade within Shikai constantly, though she prefers to keep it sealed. Inyō's release command is unknown; though when Sayaka releases, Inyō becomes covered in reiatsu, which solidifies around the blade and crossguard, transfiguring it into a zanbatō which is almost twice Sayaka's size in both width and height. It has a curve at the very top, with an intricate guard design, along with a long hilt. Despite this curve, Inyō is impossibly sharp when Sayaka wills it to. When resolving to temporarily ignore her philosophies, Inyō becomes surrounded by black and white rings of text.

Shikai Special Ability: In Shikai, Sayaka's blade shows why it is a Kidō type; as it is able to generate life energy, which is formed by merging her own blood with her spiritual energy after stabilizing her reiatsu, heightening her body's own natural healing properties, before projecting it outwards through her blade. Inyō cannot harm somebody with its blade, which is coated in the life energy, though Inyō's special ability heals the wound as the blade touches the skin. This is rather befitting of Sayaka's role as a healer on par with Retsu Unohana, symbolizing her new pacifistic outlook in life. Of course, different strikes can rejuvinate more of her foe's wounds, with impaling her target being able to heal essentially everything sans death. Inyō cannot be utilized to heal Sayaka herself, unusually. As with all Zanpakutō, Sayaka can utilize this ability in a much darker fashion; the life energy can be overloaded, causing it to become a highly corrosive poison which can obliterate anything. For this reason, Sayaka calls Inyō a "very sadistic sword".


 * Iyashi Renraku (癒し連絡, "Healing Touch"): Sayaka can gather and collect the spiritual energy of everything that is living, short of humanoid beings and converge it upon Inyō. Then, by merging her blood with this spiritual energy and stabilizing her reiatsu, Sayaka heightens her body's own natural healing properties, transmorgifying the spiritual energy into life energy, before impaling her foe with her blade. Upon impaling her target, she opens a "gate", which allows the life energy free passage into her foe's system. This stab wound causes the target to squirm, though it is only a minor discomfort. After a few moments, Inyō expels all of its life energy into Sayaka's target's wound, rapidly healing them, replinishing their spiritual energy and regenerating even broken bones and destroyed organs. Normally, Iyashi Renraku is a very potent technique, which can heal more when Sayaka expels more spiritual energy into it.
 * Sakujōshu (分割情趣, "To Split the Mind"): Sayaka slashes her opponent, and concentrates life energy which transforms into a delusion-inducing poison into her blade to literally destroy her opponent's mind. Once used, it sends various nightmare illusions directly created by the opponent's brain; they are trapped within an illusion that is almost indistinguishable from reality. It also weakens the control of their reiatsu and depth of perception of reality. Sakujōshu usually spells doom for the one on the receiving end—unless they have an unusually strong mind. During her attempts to break away from her demons, Sayaka has sworn to herself to never utilize this technique again- though during her fight with Byakuren, she utilized it to destroy her opponent's mind, leaving her a hollow shell.
 * Protective Barrier: At times, Inyō will act on its own when Sayaka's life is in serious danger; projecting a protective barrier from pure reiatsu, which is able to shield her from most attacks. Inyō can also materialize it from a distance, allowing it to shield Sayaka from Harafumei without either of them realizing it. This barrier can also disperse the resultant force of an impact with the shield as a concentrated explosion that is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory.
 * Tenha Kassatsu (天破活殺, "Heaven Breaking Life or Death"): With this technique, Sayaka can unleash an enormous reishi wave that consists of three green tomoe bound together through their centers by a single circular crimson reishi thread, fired from the blade of Inyō. The mechanics behind the attack are simple, yet highly advanced. When an opponent with a higher spiritual pressure unleashes an attack, Sayaka can use the reiatsu absorbed by her blade upon releasing to form Tenha Kassatsu to engulf the enemy's attack in a reishi wave that consists of three green tomoe bound together through their centers by a single circular crimson reishi thread, and reverse it back on them, with the added power of her reiatsu multiplying the output of Tenha Kassatsu tenfold. The devastating Tenha Kassatsu can only be used once per release because of its eneormous reishi need, essentially resealing her blade once again, after which, the entire process begins anew unless she utilizes her Bankai. Interestingly, the Shikai application of Tenha Kassatsu is somewhat more powerful than the Bankai version, which is unheard of amongst Zanpakutō.

Bankai: Meisekinazunō Inyō (明晰な頭脳陰陽, "The Dual Cosmic Forces can only be aligned through a Clear Mind"): Not Yet Revealed.

Bankai Special Abilities: In Bankai, Meisekinazunō Inyō's life force generation ability is drastically augmented, as the life force which can be generated by the blade is incredible enough to revive even the dead by destroying the presence of the Shinigami that come to perform Soul Burials upon the deceased; Sayaka is even able to destroy the presence of the Kushanada that come to collect Togabito and she is even able to revert Hollows back to Pluses. All of these abilities help her live up to her former moniker of the "Reaper of Life". In addition, Sayaka can destroy her own presence, making her essentially invisible, allowing her to overwhelm her opponent.


 * Enhanced Iyashi Renraku: In Bankai, Iyashi Renraku's parameters are drastically increased; now potent enough to heal critical and fatal wounds almost instantly. Now, Iyashi Renraku allows for large missing portions of the body to be restored, the regeneration of destroyed organs, even including the heart, and minor injuries such as cuts to quickly heal once Meisekinazunō Inyō is embedded within Sayaka's target.
 * Enhanced Tenha Kassatsu: In Bankai, Sayaka can still utilize Tenha Kassatsu, but she no longer needs to wait it out to unleash the attack, nor can she only utilize it once per release. Sayaka can now use the technique as much as she wishes, and it is drastically augmented, being golden with an emerald outline. Sayaka is also able to charge-up this technique to produce considerable more damage, and it is able to "reflect" to strike many foes in quick succession.
 * Regenration Nullification: The moment that Meisekinazunō Inyō slices its opponent and draws blood, it injects a small amount of life energy into the foe's bloodstream, causing regenerative capabilities to be effectively rendered null and void. If a foe attempts to regenerate, then the moment that their regenerative process begins, this life energy will aggravate exponentially and become a virus. This allows her to kill an opponent at any time when she clashes with her opponent again. By uttering this ability's name, she can cause the virus to spread at an alarming rate, which saturates her foe's body with life energy, overloading it and distrubing their soul, causing their body to go out of control, swelling profusely to the point of assuming the form of an immobile blob-like structure, essentially a lump of flesh, though her foe will revert to their previous form within half an hour.
 * Cell Wall Destruction: A frightening technique which is performed through coating her blade with both the virus and an enormous amount of tainted blade before setting it to 'heal'. The paradoxical nature of being required to save and being required to destroy confounds her blade, leading its form to go berserk, unable to comprehend the situation. This leads her blade to unleash all of its might in order to destroy the thing that caused said paradox which it believes to be its foe; focusing solely upon the absolute obliteration of the cell walls of the body of Sayaka's foe, completely ignoring all other steps of a technique used to heal to create a technique designed to kill. This results in Sayaka's blade disintegrating her opponent's existence at a frightening rate, by simply impaling her foe's person, with only their skeletal structure remaining.
 * Kōfukudoku (降伏毒, "Breakdown Poison"): When Sayaka coats Meisekinazunō Inyō with a truly immense amount of life energy, said energy will aggravate exponentially into the form of a highly corrosive poison, which can break down whatever Sayaka slices with the tip of her Zanpakutō, as long as it is not a living being. The appearance of the corrosive destruction appears as a inferno of flames as it tears through its path of destruction. This flaming appearance is merely an illusion, as is it actually a thin line of reiatsu which can cut through nearly everything, but the sheer discharge appears as if it was flames.

Skullclad Form
Sayaka obtained a Skullclad form during her time in Hell. She was first sent to Hell from her misdeeds, though with the help of Mitsuru Inazuma, she escaped, with Eisha Shūrai's impact upon Hell's Will making sure that Sayaka would not be hounded by Hell's minions, though her part-Togabito heritage remains. During her time in Hell, she forcibly absorbed a Kushanāda in an attempted attack on her through sheer willpower, something that only Aki Sora has ever done. She is able to deactivate and seal the Skullclad form within her soul, able to utilize it in a similar manner to a release. She claims that even though she is no longer bound to Hell, the extra power of the Skullclad Form is useful in battle. In this form, her appearance doesn't change dramatically, physically at least. Her clothing however is more tattered by the arm and is flared out more distinctly than previous appearances, as well as being completely ripped at the left side of her abdomen, revealing her slender body. The most distinct feature is her left side being covered with a form of "bone-armour." This bone armour consists of a center, which is at the area which her heart would normally be, spreading out many bones that look like spinal chords in appearance which are seemingly "stitched together." Her left arm is completely covered in armour, just near her shoulder bone is a hollow mask similar to the one at the location of her heart, albeit considerably smaller, as well as the bones being seemingly "wrapped" around her arm like a bandage would be. She also has a mask covering her left eye which is placed at the left hand corner of her face, covering some of her hair, attached by another spinal chord like bone which is connected to the center. At her waist and below is shown to be a rib-cage like structure of bones, below that seemingly being three very large fang like bone structures. Finally heading to the right side of her body, a skull mask lays at the head of her breast, also attached to the center of the bone structure. This gives her the appearance of a seemingly "evil knight" or one of the "undead" as depicted in various stories.

Relationships
Agito Kishima: Agito is, like Sayaka, an empty human being pursuing happiness. Though the only difference is that Sayaka is unable to find happiness outside evil, no matter how hard she tries.