[img]https://40.media.tumblr.com/befbd7111b26895352d99f127f5026dd/tumblr_ngm88lajsG1si6csro1_500.jpg[/img] 
[b]Appearance:[/b] He is consistently seen wearing a black-and-white hood with baggy pants, a metal chain belt and a bare chest. He also has tough leather gloves with the fingers torn off. A black mark in the shape of a triangle sits on the side of his neck, and his chest is covered with small scars from various encounters.
[b]Height:[/b] 5'9"
[b]Weight:[/b] 143 lbs
[b]Hair Color:[/b] dirty blond
[b]Eye Color:[/b] neon red
[b]Name:[/b] Mal Tersva
[b]Age:[/b] 19
[b]History (Optional):[/b] While Mal would describe his history as “foggy”, if it were clearer, he would probably tell people he came from a normal looking family with less-than-normal traditions. Both his mother and father were professors at a local university whose studies ventured into two very different types of magic. His father studied the embodiment of spirits and the energy surrounding them, while his mother studied Absence Magic, or magic that dealt with the lack thereof rather than the object itself. Darkness was a specific area of this study, but she also brimmed on other topics like cold, space, and other ideas that could only be defined by their lack of something else.
 
  Now, since his parents were lovers of the intellectual society, Mal grew up having access to many books and an abundance of tutelage in various subjects, some of which he jumped into excitedly, and others he did for as long as they held his attention (which was not that long, at all). Around eight years old, his parents noticed that he started to veer towards books about Mental Magic, specifically magical hypnosis and manipulation. They would occasionally find him attempting to hypnotize his stuffed animals with a silver coin tied to a string on their return from work.

 He was about twelve when a new Headmaster came into the picture with demands for research that were beyond obscene, and would terminate professors without a moment’s notice. Even his ethical standards were quite lower than they should have been. Since their living space and amenities were funded by the school to compensate for the lower salaries, his parents were suddenly under a lot of pressure to perform admirably. Both of them were digging through their leads of spells that their last headmaster had deemed unethical just to make the ends meet on his massive demands.

  The issue was that many of the spells required living test subjects, which was something that neither of them had ever considered.

 Yet, it was Mal that came forward and suggested they test their spells on him.
 
Now, his parents objected quite heavily at first, as neither of them wanted to try these dangerous spells on their only child, but when the considerate Mal reminded them of their deadlines, and that they really had no choice, he was led into their research facilities late at night.

  Now, in terms of their research, the spells were mostly successful. Both were spells designed to give the target specific abilities for extended periods of time. 

 When they hadn’t accounted for was the mental strain it placed on the subject.

 Mal left the lab that night considerably different than how he entered. His physical features hadn’t changed (save for the triangular mark left on his neck) but there was still something about him that was off. Maybe it was the way his body moved around.

 Or the fact that his face was twisted in a constant smile. 

 His parents brought him in a few days later to show their results to the headmaster, presenting their son who donned a monochrome hood.

  The headmaster’s mistake was asking for a demonstration… Mal willed his new magic into life, using its power that amplified his own to tear the headmaster apart with the ripples of shadow the ripped off his body. His parents stood with astonished eyes. 

 And Mal took off out a window with a gentle wave.

 It was a few months later that a Mercenary guild took him under their wing, his master calling him “his secret weapon” while others claimed he was possessed by a demon. 

 It was a year after that when most of them were found dead at the gates to a city. 

 Now, Mal works for himself as his own terms. He acquired the title “Astaroth” or “the Demon Prince” due to his cruel and tantalizing methods, but most knew he was successful in the jobs that he took.

 But occasionally, people would find those searching for mercenaries dead in alley ways or in the backs of taverns, with a cacophony of laughter dancing gently across the air. 

[b]Personality:[/b] Mal has a very twisted sense of justice, and tends to show emotions in unusual bursts. His neutral expression is a large, twisted grin across his features, but usually this is a visual representation of his plucky attitude. This all seems to fall away, however, when he begins to speak. Mal's thoughts are brimming with intellect, but the way he describes them are rather sadistic (or even masochistic in some situations) and scary. He doesn't really have an understanding of what makes people uncomfortable anymore, even as he describes some of the easiest ways to cause pain to someone. Even so, he has an incredible fascination with magic of all kinds, and will pester people consistently with questions about it until someone tells him to lay off. He responds well to politeness, and if you show him the slightest amount of amicability he will treat you with incredible amounts of respect. A simple "please" is all you need to get him to stop asking questions if it's bothering you. Even his sadistic nature seems to be muted when he is in the presence of kids.
 
 Mal doesn't trust people in positions of power as he responds incredibly negatively towards oppression. This is where his twisted sense of justice comes in. If you offer him any possibility to assume that you might be the source of oppression for a group of people (or specifically children) he will find the quickest way to kill you, or worse, in the least amount of time. Mal has turned down high paying jobs because of their reasons, like a man wanting to kill another man in order to take his land, and instead has made the employer his target. He doesn't stick around for long after that, disappearing into the night like he had all those years ago.

In conclusion, Mal has trouble with people because he could go from friendly to trying to kill for a Freudian slip, lacks a sense of empathy or sympathy for others (especially when discussing blood and murder) but if you prove to be nice to him and to children he will be incrediibly loyal to you.
 
That is, unless someone tells him that you've supported oppressors, in which case you will have to deal with a very difficult and life-threatening conversation.

[b]Weapons:[/b] In his travels, Mal has picked up a set of chains with heavy spear spikes at the ends of them, that he swings around with a little assistance from the spells given to him by his parents. Also, while it isn't necessarily a weapon, Mal carries a flashy red gem attached to a black chain around for "interrogation" purposes.

[b]Abilities (Magic): [/b]

[b][u]- Sigil[/u][/b]:
     The mark on his neck recieved from his father's research holds the secrets to this spell. His father used his research in spirits and spiritual energy to seal a dark spirit into his body. While the spirit is not incredibly powerful by any stretch, it can amplify Mal's speed and strength in exchange for part of his life source. The dark spirit also works in conjunction with his mother's magic to fire dark blades of energy off his body when someone makes it past his defenses, despite the damage it does to his own body.

[b]Drawbacks:[/b] 
- Mal has to flee when an encounter has gone on for too long, as the spirit needs a lot of energy to keep moving.
- the Dark Blades cut Mal's own skin, hence the scars on his chest, and thus shorten the amount of time he can battle.
- Mal's lifespan has taken a permanent toll due to the spirit (he is expected to pass away around age 25)

[b][u]- Shadow Control:[/u][/b]
 Mal combines his Dark Magic with his chains to make them operate almost like living beings at his control. They can strike, wrap around opponents, or even wrap around his own body at command in order to defend him from attacks. In stronger forms, the chains will actually become dark snakes that will chase after prey at his command. In dire situations, he's been known to change his gloves into dark claws to use as melee weapons

[b]Drawbacks:[/b]
- At this point, you've probably come to notice that maintaining energy levels is key to his success. He is not great when it comes to stall tactics, especially when both the Sigil and the Shadow Control are eating at his energy.
- Shadow Control requires verbal commands to operate, meaning there will always be a slight delay when it comes to his chains.
- At this level, Mal needs to be physically touching an object in order to operate his Shadow Control. He does this by holding his chain belt. He can get rocks and throwing arms to fly out of his hands at quick speeds, but he cannot control them in the air.

[b][u]- Oblivion[/u][/b]
 Mal's secret technique, saved only for the worst oppressors (in his own mind) or the most desperate of situations. This was the only magical gift he achieved on his own merit without the experimentation of his parents, but the loss of his empathy gave this technique a much larger space to operate. Using the red crystal on the black chain, Mal begins to hypnotize an opponent, using magic to increase his target's suggestability, and force their subconscious to operate outside of the concsiousness' will. With this, he can issue one command that they have no choice but to follow, and it is enacted immediately. The title of this technique comes from the only two times he has used it. With his Mental Magic, he erases sections of the person's mind. Once, he erased someone's memories entirely, another time he simply removed a person's intelligent thought, leaving them with the thought processes of an infant.
This being said, Mal also knows how to perform actual hypnosis, but that only works if the target is both suggestable and willing. It is impossible to naturally hypnotize someone to do something that they are completely opposed to.

[b]Drawbacks:[/b]
- This spell can and will backfire if Mal tries to use it when exhausted. He can end up trapped in his own mental prison that could take weeks to break free from.
- Even when he has enough energy, Mal will be out of commission for the next few days. He will enter a comatose state as his body tries to recover from the extent of the spell
- He cannot use this magic in conjunction with other magic. The other magic will reject this spell and cause it to backfire as it could deem the spell dangerous to its host
- His target needs to be sitting down and unable to move. Their eyes have to see both the red gem and Mal's eyes perfectly clearly and from up close. This usually means they need to be tied down and forced to look at Mal
- This spell has serious strain on the mind of the user, sometimes forcing him to lose some of his memories, or make them incredibly fuzzy. For example: Mal cannot recall his parents names, faces, most of the rooms in his own house, or even what the city he lived in looked like after the two times he's used it.

[b]Other:[/b] Mal has one keepsake from his old life and he has been known to go mental without it (though you could argue that his constant talking with it could be described as mental). It is a stuffed red panda named Buster that is kept in a bag on his back at all times. He grabbed it on his leave from the university.