[hider=Akoni][center][img]http://orig07.deviantart.net/b835/f/2014/018/a/e/mtg__urza_planeswalker_by_coupleofkooks-d72qgi7.jpg[/img][/center]

[b]Theme Song:[/b] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc]Ring of Fire[/url]

[b]Name:[/b] Akoni
[b]Gender:[/b] Male
[b]Age:[/b] 67
[b]Race:[/b] Human

[b]Appearance:[/b] Akoni is a man that shows his age, and is wearied by his experience. In his prime he stood six feet and one inch, but is now five feet eight inches. While he still has some good muscle on his body, it is nowhere near what it once was. His thin frame, while toned, is covered in wrinkles. Light skinned, with medium length gray hair, one look at Akoni will tell you that he is an experienced man that has been through Hell (literally!) and back, but he still possesses that fire in his light blue eyes. One detail that is most odd is how Akoni’s body is covered head to toe in light blue runes, magic marks that he has had inscribed on himself over the decades.

[b]Faction:[/b] DHO

[b]Personality:[/b] Akoni is an old man, and he’s not afraid to let everyone know it. He’s cantankerous, curmudgeonly, irritable, and sarcastic as all hell. He’s also damned experienced so you’d do well to listen to his advice, you young cricket! That’s what he calls the newer generation of demon hunters by the way, due to their generally short lifespans. Damn crickets can’t hardly ever shut up long enough to learn from him so as not to die. Ah well, not his problem. He tried, even if they didn’t appreciate the way he communicated his advice. 

He’s been through a lot in his life. Most of it he’d rather forget and move on from, but the kinds of things he’s seen just aren’t that easily forgotten, especially when you devoted most of your life to learning all about them in as great a detail as you can muster before pounding and or blowing them to kingdom come. Sometimes he forgets that he chose this life, but this life never forgets him and keeps coming back. God damn it all to Hell. Literally [i]and[/i] metaphorically. Still, even if he’d prefer to live out his retirement giving unsolicited sagely advice to the crickets and drinking scotch, his sense of justice won’t let him sit back while shit hits the fan. He’ll just complain about it the whole time. After all, he’s getting too old for this shit.

[b]Bio:[/b] Akoni (no last name given, and no it’s not my birth name and you’re not gettin’ the real one now shut up ya chirpy cricket!) was born to a family of demon worshiping cultists, servants of the Demon King Mundus. They raised him to be just like them, but something in his heart resisted. He paid lip service, but just couldn’t really put his heart into sacrificing that goat or painting that virgin’s blood on his face. You see, Akoni had an inner light, and that inner light saved him when angels of Laguna attacked his family in their inner sanctum. A small army of Affinity and Acceptance slaughtered them all without mercy. All, that is, except for Akoni. Now Akoni couldn’t tell what was going in per say, considering that the angels of the Hierarchy of Laguna prefer to work between dimensions rendering them invisible to mortal eyes, but it was clear that some divine force was exterminating this cult, and his twelve year old self wasn’t exactly hiding. 

Free from his family’s influence, Akoni took to his studies with renewed vigor, but this time it was not demonology that he focused on, but the scriptures of Heaven. The sorceries of man. The legends of all three. Anything he could get his hands on that involved mysticism in any manner became like food to his eyes like a fat kid. It was at this stage in his life that he learned a great deal. That the angels of Heaven battled against the legions of the Inferno, justifying their war as divine justice, the greatest force for good. That the demons of the Inferno fought with anyone and anything they could to satisfy their own appetite for power and destruction. How neither seemed to care for humanity, caught in the crossfire and ostensibly what the angels were “protecting.” It all sickened Akoni, and he knew his side: Humanity. At the young age of sixteen he took up arms against both the divine and the profane, killing any he could find.

The years progressed, and Akoni found himself wealthy in demon’s blood and halos. At first demons were easier to find. After all, they were actively more malicious. Once he killed a few angels though, word got around the Laguna and the Army of Light. As a result, many of his encounters ended up a lot… Brighter. His reputation grew, and so at the young age of twenty-one he joined up with the Demon Hunters Organization. Thanks to the organization, finding demons was a hell of alot easier. 

Fast forward some years, and Akoni’s reputation as a scholar attracted the attention of others, neither divine nor profane, but of this earth. A group called the Lumen Sages approached Akoni, offended by his indiscriminate slaughter of angels alongside demons, but seeing the light in his heart. They approached with the intention of educating him on the ways of the holy, and so invited him into their fold. Akoni agreed, but his mind had already been set. He followed with the express purpose of learning everything he could from the Sages before leaving and applying that knowledge. While among the Sages, Akoni’s knowledge indeed grew to contain secrets he never considered. He learned of other realms, ones beyond Paradiso and Inferno, and of the Tree of Life which bound all but the world of men. Such a concept fascinated him, that there could be even more out there! He took to studying how to travel between worlds, but found very little in how to accomplish this task beyond reaching Limbo. That is when he came upon a secret book, banned from even being looked upon by others: The Tome of Ages. 

Akoni snuck past the book’s security and became the first to look upon its eldritch pages in centuries. Arcane power swirled around him in a ritual he did not understand, but it was done as quickly as it started. The effect? The book bound itself to his life force, his very soul. Enraged, the Lumen Sages detained Akoni until they could convene for a proper punishment. Before his sentencing could be carried out however, Akoni discovered a section of the Tome that fascinated him above all others; a section which detailed the creation of gates between space, and even worlds. In a rush he fashioned a ritual to escape from the Sages. His intended destination was the Land of the Dead, so that he could learn from wizened old masters. Unfortunately haste and inexperience lead to an entirely different destination: Hell. The less said about his time in Hell, the better.

It took Akoni nearly ten years to escape from the Inferno. The time there had not done much to improve his view on the conflict between demons and angels. It did not do much to improve his view on anything. Anything except for how to kill things, brutally and without mercy. Once back on earth, Akoni began a war path and slaughtered demons and angels alike. He dropped so many bodies that he put the other demon hunters to shame. His war path would not last long, however. It would not be interrupted by more violence, but rather by peace and virtue. A demon warrior’s heart woke up to justice, and he stood up against the evil Demon King Mundus. Stories of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda would be told for thousands of years, of that there was no doubt. This event had many profound effects, but fewer than the effect it had on Akoni’s heart.

If a demon, one as powerful and corrupt as [i]Sparda,[/i] could learn to have goodness in his heart and even love a human woman, then truly anything was possible. Akoni made a new vow that day not to kill angels or even demons unless they were committing crimes against humans. He did not want for work, for while angels mostly left humanity alone (though more out of disinterest than benevolence) demons rarely exhibited the same restraint. 

Once Akoni turned forty-five, he decided to retire. He had more than enough money to live off of, and figured that he really should quit while he was still ahead. Most people in his line of work didn’t live to be twenty-five, so to accomplish what he did was really something. The devil arms and artifacts he had collected over the years were sold off, save for Lammasu, and he took up a less active role in the DHO. That is to say, he sat in the bar all day and drank scotch, often while giving unsolicited advice to the younger generation. Twenty-two years have gone by now. In all that time Akoni has taken on only one job, a minor one at that, preferring to enjoy his retirement. Occasionally he provides training for the greener members of the Organization, but for the most part he just talks down to them and poisons his body with alcohol. His skills have waned, his muscles atrophied, and his magic is nowhere near what it once was, but he’s got more experience than most of these crickets put together! 

And that’s when all Hell broke loose. God damn, I’m too old for this shit.

[center][Combat][/center]


[b]Powers and Abilities:[/b] Learned Mage - While Akoni has let his abilities atrophy and is out of practice, he is still a sorcerer with decades of experience. As such, he has a vast number of smaller scale spells, little cantrips and prestidigitations, that he can call upon at will. Small fires for illumination, identification, remotely closing doors, creating small breezes, that sort of thing.

Overcharge - A desperation tactic above all else. When faced with an enemy that Akoni simply cannot defeat, he may invoke the power of the runes inscribed on his body. They, along with his eyes, glow bright until they manifest as a burning blue aura around Akoni, amplifying his strength, durability, speed, and magical power many times over. Such a boost comes with a terrible price, as this magic enhancement is powered directly from Akoni’s life force, and at 67 he does not have a whole lot of that left. If ever forced to fall back on Overcharge, the chances that Akoni will survive are slim to none.

Firebrand Trigger - A special power gifted by the Charred Council to their agents, Akoni reaches deep into his spirit and finds a burning rage (not [i]that[/i] deep mind you) and brings it out. This trigger transforms Akoni's pathetic ancient and crippled fleshy body into a creature of flame and stone. His strength and durability is increased tremendously during this transformation. It's not as powerful as Overcharge, but it also isn't going to kill him just by using it. 

[b]Style:[/b]  [LV2] Gatewalk - Utilizing his sorcery, Akoni is proficient in opening “gates” between space, portals large enough for most men (and demons) to easily fit through. These have a short range limited up to 30 feet and are used both to increase Akoni’s own maneuverability and to displace enemies. Only 2 gates may be active at a time.
-Level 2- Akoni's range has double to 60 feet and he can now have four separate gates active at once.

[b]Equipment:[/b] [url=http://img07.deviantart.net/551f/i/2012/114/b/b/knuckle_duster_bracers_by_archanejil-d4xgp38.jpg][LV1] Lammasu[/url], gauntlets formed by the soul of a demon defeated decades ago. The knuckles can transform in a variety of ways, including blades, studs, thicker armor, serration, etc.
[url=http://pre14.deviantart.net/b43d/th/pre/i/2014/018/f/6/livre_des_ombres___book_of_shadows_by_millecuirs-d72plqx.jpg][LV1] Tome of Ages[/url], an ancient and powerful book of magic believed by some to have been used by Merlin himself. 
[url=http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/37470220114999938/2C27FD2431AEE9D4370F913CC33D6BDC082BC838/][LV1]The Dunwich Diary[/url] - Actually called "Oculi Tortis" (or "Writhing Eyes") Akoni picked this book up in a haunted cathedral on a mission for the DHO. Originally from the Ancient Library guarded by the Abyssal librarian, this book was snatched by Sevrin while Akoni, Souta, Mary, and others attempted to stop him but was left behind to corrupt peaceful people. This book grants forbidden knowledge of realms outside the traditional cosmology of Heaven, Hell, and Earth, giving Akoni the ability to summon eldritch horrors and abominations. Due to the sensitive nature of this knowledge, Akoni is taking his studies of it very slowly, careful not to end up like those that misused it before. As such, instead of summoning full creatures it is right now only capable of partially summoning these "outsiders."

[b]Techniques:[/b] [hider=Style Techniques][LV1] Surge - A powerful forward dash attack. Akoni creates gates nanometers from one another repeatedly at hyper speeds, sending him forward in a straight line at blinding speed until he reaches a predetermined destination, usually with a powerful punch. Useful for covering long distances quickly. The primary downside is that Akoni can only see the gate he’s currently inside and he cannot change his destination once he’s started.

[LV1] Eruption - Akoni creates a gate directly beneath a foe’s feet and one directly above himself. He then uppercuts through the gate and into the enemy as they fall, launching the upward and transporting himself to their position. Protect your goods!

[LV1] Gravity Slip - Similar to the premise of Eruption, Akoni creates a gate above himself and below the foe. The difference is in who goes through. In this move, Akoni grabs his target from below, then slams them down into the ground. 

[Lv1] Meteor - One of Akoni’s most devastating moves, it is achieved in multiple steps. First, he gets high, usually by creating a gate beneath his feet and simply falling. Once he gets the momentum he needs, he falls directly into a new gate and emerges right in his enemy’s face. Or behind their back. Or at their crotch. Wherever really.

[LV1] River Current - The simple application of gates to redirect an enemy’s attack (or the enemy itself). A gate is formed directly in front of Akoni, and the other side is formed in another direction.

[LV1] Tortoise Shell - A defensive ability only usable after obtaining level 2 in the Gatewalker style. Now armed with two pairs of gates at a time, Akoni creates a defense difficult to get passed. By placing a gate directly in front, behind, and on either side of his body, risk of being harmed is dramatically decreased. Of course, there are gaps in the corners one could use to get at him, and he's incapable of protecting himself from above or below...[/hider]

[hider=Weapon Techniques][LV1] Squamous Armor - A defensive summon from the Dunwich Diary, Akoni calls upon the scales of creatures man was never meant to know and summons them directly to his own skin. In addition to giving him a distinctly reptilian appearance, it increases his ability to take a hit. The hardness of the extra skin is like a thin layer of iron, and once cracked in one spot the entire armor falls apart.

[LV1] Gibbering Maw - A mouth of alien design appears on a nearby solid surface, whether it be the walls, floor, ceiling, or equipment of nearby allies of foes. The mouth is incapable of attacking in any way, but it does babble incoherently in an eldritch tongue none can understand, yet none can ignore. A distraction-based technique.

[LV1] Charnel Limbs - A writhing mass of decayed, bloodied limbs erupts from the ground in about a 1-2 meter radius, grasping and clawing at anything in their reach. If these limbs manage to grasp something living they will tighten a vice-like grip and attempt to pull their victim through the ground into their own realm. This results in the victim becoming pinned to the ground as the limbs tear the body apart, unable to pass the victim into their own world.

[LV1] Stygian Ortis - The walls have eyes is a literal statement when using this spell. Available in small clusters or single large creations (about the size of a beach ball), these unnerving ocular globes sprout into the wall or floor (but not on living things or their equipment) and act as a sort of proximity trap. If someone designated as an enemy gets too close (within a foot or so) the eyes violently burst in an explosion of highly caustic acid.[/hider][/hider]