Phoenix Ikki ஜ Application ஜ realityshifted
Player Name: Tora
Player LJ: flowingstars
Email and/or AIM: athena.laureate@aol.com | torastellar
Timezone: GMT+1
Other Characters: N/A
Character: Phoenix Ikki
Series: Saint Seiya
Deviance: D3 - Following canon events up until Next Dimension source, in this deviance when traveling to the past Ikki and the people from the XX century will find themselves in the XVIII century portrayed in the series Lost Canvas, rather than the past portrayed in Next Dimension. Their time limit is different than in the original Next Dimension as well, with it being the same time limit Alone has for Hades to fully possess his body. Also, Chronos' "prank" on Saori is different, rather than make her a baby he simply denies her a body, because she's Athena and Athena already exists in that past, as a result Saori's mind resides in the body of the Athena of that time, Sasha, with the two switching back and forth at times if needed and having mental conversations. The general events portrayed in Lost Canvas will happen without major alterations as the only thing the XX century people want to truly change is Hades having his sword in the Holy War of the XX century, if anything else is changed they run the risk of having their future destroyed or changed and become strays in time.
Age:19 (Next Dimension is briefly stated to start in 1996)
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Canon Used: Manga forms of both the original, Next Dimension and Lost Canvas series. A few anime only events may be kept so long as they don't contradict manga events or character personality (i.e. Ikki hanging around the other Bronze Saints after his first defeat is a big no, but him fighting some saints in his volcano and helping a little girl causes no major conflict with the other events).
Appearance: Normal clothes With his Cloth (aka armor)
Psychology: It's not easy to be Ikki, in more than one way. Though he's not the only one among Athena's Saints with a tragic childhood, not many of them have hold on their shoulders the same burdens he has been forced to carry. Though all of the Bronze Saints are siblings by being sons of the same father, only Ikki has always have a younger brother of whom he had to take care since early in his life. For Shun's sake, Ikki has been constantly pushing himself to grow up, to become more mature and strong, capable of taking care of him and protecting him. He has forced himself to keep from his brother many things, in hopes to protect him, always looking out for Shun, always living just for him. Even when he was sent to a living hell in order to win the Phoenix Cloth, Ikki kept moving because of his duty as an older brother, even Esmeralda, his first and probably only love, kept reminding him of Shun by appearance. It's not an exaggeration to say that in a way, Shun's existence trapped Ikki like a perfect jail, even if none of them wanted it to be that way, Ikki's sense of duty made it be. Probably because of that, after being physically and mentally tortured for years, after seeing his loved one die and learn that the man whom he considered the main responsible of all his torture was his father and was already dead... It was easy for Ikki to let the hate an anger devour him to the point in which he vowed to kill even Shun.
Probably, in a way, despite his best intentions, Ikki always felt that Shun's existence dragged him down and was the source of most of his problems. Probably, the fact of learning that the other Bronze Saints were his brothers too angered him because it felt as if it meant that he would have more burdens, more duties, more siblings to take care of.
It's hard to tell how much anger and hate blinded Ikki, even if most of the people and Shun think that Ikki was totally overcome with it, there are many things that also point towards the fact that he wasn't blind at all. That he was acting consciously and with well thought movements instead of letting himself be dragged by the twister of emotions that built inside him. For starters, many have pointed out that despite turning to work for Athena and with his brothers, Ikki is still as full of hate and anger as always, which shouldn't be possible if he had really overcome it all upon being defeated in fight by his brothers. There's also the fact of how easy he accepted defeat once he couldn't fight anymore, and how he smiled, almost peacefully, upon accepting Seiya and the other Bronze Saints as brothers. Maybe, deep down, what Ikki really wanted was to fight them, not to kill them, but to see if they were strong enough to take care of themselves or if they would be just another burden for him. The fact that, even after he manages to get on friendly terms with the other Saints, he keeps his distance from them and even from his brother, also seems to point to the fact that he still sometimes feels resent against them.
Ikki is perfectly well the type of person who would go through a living hell in order to protect someone even if no one asked him. Despite what his elemental attribute, fire, may suggest, Ikki isn't the most impulsive person in the world, in fact he's often collected and perfectly capable of thinking strategies and planning carefully his actions. This allows him to make a serious and fair judgment of most of the people around him, and even of himself. It's possible that, seeing himself unable to overcome the hate and anger due how deep were the emotional wounds that he had, Ikki himself would choose to keep himself apart from the others, to avoid a situation in which he could end being really devoured by his feelings and hurt them. However, that he keeps himself away from the others has never meant that he left them alone. On the contrary, Ikki is known for keeping a close vigilance over Shun and the others, not hesitating for a second to come in their aid even when he's still badly injured himself and has proved to be more than ready to let himself be killed in order to protect them and Athena.
Bitter and ironical, Ikki is a ruthless warrior who doesn't think twice about killing an opponent. He's also arrogant and proud of himself, and has proved to be quite stubborn several times. He's also said to be emotionless, yet at the same time many say that he's completely driven by his negative emotions. Truth to be told, not even Shun, his own brother, can be sure of how Ikki really is. Though it's true that he's a lone wolf and isn't one to trust anyone easily, Ikki isn't entirely emotionless, neither is actually as proud of himself as he makes others think. In fact, a huge amount of the hate and anger that lives inside him is directed to himself, considering himself a loser and by far the weakest of the Bronze Saints, even when he has a fame that says that he's the strongest one. He cares deeply for Shun and his other brothers, but he rarely shows this to them unless they are unconscious as he considers it a weakness and fears that if they learn how he really feels towards them they will try to reach to him even more than they already do at times. The only people who are allowed to see even a glimpse of his true self are his enemies, and so far none of them has survived a meeting with the Phoenix to be able to tell others about it.
Strengths
Mental: Ikki's mental strength is something hard to define. Many would consider him weak on this field, however he has proved several times that that's not the case. Ikki's mental strength is one that feeds on its own weaknesses. He's rather analytical despite not showing it to others and his capacity, or incapacity, of dealing with his brothers in a social positive way is actually born from his analytical mind. Because he's capable of judging others seriously, he is able to know what exactly will trigger them and doesn't hesitate to pull that trigger in order to protect his own emotions. Because if others hate him it'll just make it easier to be alone. Ikki has a strong sense of duty and it's that what drives him on the most in his live, not loyalty or love but the duty he feels he has towards his brothers and Athena. It's basically impossible to shake that sense of duty out of him, not even when he's consumed by his emotions does it vanish entirely, and it's that strong will in completing his duty what allows him to not fall in the temptation of letting his negative feelings take control of himself.
Emotional: Ikki's strength regarding emotions relays in his capacity of not letting them show or control himself. He is really good at this and at sending the wrong signals to fool others about what he's really feeling, only allowing his anger and his hate to be shown clearly but without a specific target for those emotions. Ikki cares a lot about his brothers and Athena, he does appreciate them and loves his brother deeply, he can be caring and gentle, even somewhat sweet if he really allows himself such a moment of weakness. However as he regards those emotions as weaknesses he does his best in blocking them and in not letting others see them, specially the people whom he cares about. This contradiction that he forces in himself allows him to be a difficult person to understand and manipulate through emotions, the only way to do that would be through his anger and hate and even through that he has proved several times that he won't be completely manipulated, only as far as he himself wishes to be manipulated.
Weaknesses
Mental: Despite Ikki's mental strength, it can't be denied that most of it is born from him trying to use his weaknesses to feed his strengths, what this basically means is that despite all his strong will and wishes, Ikki's mental strength is mostly a facade. Though it's not easy to destroy it totally, it's not impossible to do so or to dig up his deepest fears and use them against him. Ikki is already seriously scarred mentally from his training to become a Saint and those are wounds that will never heal completely, those wounds are his greatest weakness while at the same time feed his strength. They are deeply concealed in his mind and many are fooled into thinking that they don't exist at all unless they search for them really hard, however, once found, Ikki will shatter as easily as crystal.
Emotional: Ikki's emotional weaknesses are closely tied to his mental ones. They almost work as a team, Ikki's mental strengths protect his emotional weaknesses, while his emotional strengths protect his mental weaknesses. Shatter one and both will shatter in small pieces. One has to be careful though as Ikki can get desperate and use his anger and hate as fuel to protect himself further if he feels he's being cornered in either of those areas. At any rate, despite how well he conceals his real emotions it's a given that his love for his brothers is a great weaknesses, however because of how he keeps denying it openly this is not really one easy to exploit as Ikki is quite capable of killing any of them should it be necessary, burying any remorse deep in his heart. It would be his love for Esmeralda, his first love, the one that would prove to be the biggest weakness, as part of Ikki has wished to die and reunite with her in the afterlife since her death. However, as mentioned before, this weakness is deeply hidden and buried, only one person was able to find it by mind reading and he was already almost dead when he found the way to defeat Ikki for sure so the knowledge was passed to no one nor was it ever used.
Other Skills/Abilities: Trained since he was 9 years old in the use and control of Cosmo, Ikki is physically a strong man, stronger than what it may seem at first glance, even without the use of his powers. He's a skilled warrior capable of adapting to techniques and attacks he has taken after doing so once -something all saints are trained for in order to not be caught twice by the same type of attack or technique-. Through the use of his Cosmo, if flared up to the 7th sense, Ikki gains an immense boost to his strength and stamina, allowing him to use light speed and teleport (power that manifests as him being engulfed in flames that form a phoenix bird that flies away at a speed faster than light until he arrives to his destiny, it's not an instant teleporting ability but it takes less very few seconds of time) as well as limited telepathy (understood as capacity to talk to others minds, he's unable to read their minds as an open book, if the person he's communicating to can't do the same then Ikki won't be able to hear their answers), with the 7th sense he can also compensate the loss of the five basic senses. It's suggested that he can also travel across dimensions though this isn't elaborated further than him being able to return alone from having been sent to a different dimension once in canon (and it can be argued whether he was sent to another dimension or just another point of the world). He's also known to be immortal, or close to immortal, possessing a great regeneration capacity and has been declared dead several times only to return in perfect condition some time later, given the irregularity of the time used between the declaration of his death and his return it seems his immortality comes in fact from regeneration powers capable of healing his body or even reconstruct it when turned into dust, the higher the damage the longer it takes for him to return to life. Energy blasts and force fields, both visible as wild flaring flames are also a basic power of his thanks to the Cosmo. Ikki has access to the 8th sense with his Cosmo, while the 7th sense breaks the boundaries and limits of the physical body, the 8th sense does the same to the soul allowing him to travel to the realm of death (and probably and any other realm in which on e normally loses their body and full control over their soul) while keeping his body and total control over his soul, thanks to which he was able to fight in the Underworld.
Ikki has showed only two specific battle techniques in the whole run of the series (though given how those techniques have often been one-hit kill he doesn't seem to need more):
Hoo Genma Ken (Phoenix Illusion Demonic Fist): Ikki's mental strike affects directly the brain of the target with his Cosmo. Depending on the strength used in the attack and the mental strength of the target the true attack may delay in taking effect, to the point of people often thinking that Ikki's attack missed or entirely failed. The attack, however, doesn't aim to maim the physical body of the target but their mind and spirit to render them unable to fight or even lead them to an instant death by brain collapse. The target will be thrown to their deepest nightmare and horror, to live through it fully to their very death, if the target's greatest nightmare is actually an event in their past they will relive it in a loop until their spirit is broken. As a side effect the attack also affects the nervous system, paralyzing or slowing down the target and making them more vulnerable even if they manage to withstand the mental strike.
Ho Yoku Tensho (Ascension of the Phoenix Wings): Ikki's strongest blow consists on a powerful fire whirlwind of Cosmo launched forward with his arm and used to sweep anything in front of him. It's range and power can be altered for use against a single enemy or several enemies at once -works wonders as a mob control-.
Other Weaknesses: Despite his training to be able to perform tasks that normal humans couldn't even dream with, Ikki is still human. As such, he still is vulnerable to wounds and weapons, bullets won't bounce off his skin and swords won't break from colliding with his naked arm unless he uses his Cosmos. Also, despite the protection of the Phoenix and the high speed regeneration it posses, Ikki can die, be it from a super attack from a formidable enemy that destroys galaxies or from falling from a cliff. Ikki himself isn't immortal, even if he can return from death (or almost death) thanks to the regeneration capacity of his guardian.
History: Wikipedia, Ikki's Wikia article
Up until a certain point, Ikki's story in this deviance follows the same route as the original canon, since I'll be bringing him from the exact point at which his universe makes an AU turn I see no need to write the history section in its full. If the information in the links doesn't suffice I'll expand on it. Regarding the future changes in the story of this deviance, as explained before the main difference is that instead of traveling to the past pictured in Next Dimension, Ikki and the others travel to the one pictured in Lost Canvas under different rules. Rather than becoming a baby, Saori becomes a resident in the body of the active Athena at the time, Sasha, and they switch back and forth to control the body if needed. Their time limit isn't of three days but as long as Alone's own time limit is before Hades possess his body completely, and they are forbidden from making changes in general history other than destroying Hades' sword. Because of this, the events of this deviance follow closely those of the Lost Canvas manga despite the additions of the people of the XX century. Also, the events happening on the XX century (i.e. Icarus trying to kill Seiya and such) remain unaltered and still follow the canon.
Canon Point: Saint Seiya Next Dimension Chapter 26, after he jumps to the red nebula to go to the past with Athena and Shun. At this point is when the deviance kicks in so he has barely enter that.
Reality Description: Under normal circumstances, Ikki's time is split unevenly between being alone in a volcano in a remote island and the Sanctuary in Greece, in the year 1996. Though he has the option of also setting foot in Japan, he rarely does so. In fact ever since he fought the other Bronze Saints it can be said that he hasn't set foot in Japan again for several years. There's not much to say regarding the island and the volcano in which he finds solitude and peace, it's a small island, mostly unknown and with a small number of people living on it, except for Ikki, all of them condensate in a small village outskirts of the volcano. The trip to the top of the volcano isn't an easy one, the hills being tricky and full of loose stones. Around the middle of the way to the top, lays an unused path that leads to nowhere and in which Ikki has settled a memorial grave for Esmeralda, his first crush and love, whose grave currently lays in the depths of the sea after the island where it was sunk. When Ikki isn't inside the volcano itself, he spends his time by Esmeralda's memorial grave.
Regarding the Sanctuary, it composed by a large area in Greece, close to the ancient ruins often visited by tourists but hidden from them with a protective barrier from Athena's Cosmos. In other eras the Sanctuary was basically a city on its own, presided by a large mountain in which top rested Athena's Temple, with the Twelve Houses positioned along the path to the temple, guarded by the Gold Saints, the top tiers of Athena's army. Nowadays, though the place still covers the same area, most of it is unused and empty due the war of the Sanctuary that decimated most of the saints there, and the Holy War performing a direct and strong hit to the Sanctuary despite the protective barrier around it. Because of it, the place currently looks pretty much like the rest of the ruins in Greece, and is habited by the remaining few saints and their goddess. Sanctuary isn't a place Ikki will set foot in without a reason to, unless there's an emergency or something really important, he won't be seen there, and even then his visits will be brief and flash-like. In fact, he hasn't set foot there ever since the end of the Holy War.
Currently, though, as Ikki travels to the past, his reality is going to get altered as he's going to spend several days in the past. There his reality will be devoted to the Sanctuary of the XVIII century, a busier place than the one he's used to and the saints there, who, despite the differences in ranks, act far more united than what he saw in the Sanctuary of his time. This Sanctuary is in a rather good state, it's like setting foot in the ancient Greece and in clear contrast to the other ruins.
First Person Speaking Sample: ((While Ikki isn't extremely silent, he's not very chatty either, specially not without a good reason. He's not one to go on a monologue out-loud when no one is around -or even when people are around-, instead he's the type that keeps mostly everything to himself and wastes few words. Taking this into account I find very hard for him to just start talking to himself upon arriving to the Plane so I've constructed this sample as thoughts in his head, silently talking to himself.))
What is this place? It doesn't look like the Sanctuary, there's nothing recognizable from it here... Did I lose my way? No, it can't be. I still have Athena's lead and I'm sure I followed it to the red nebula... Is this the work of Chronos then? Did he wake up in time to play a "prank" on me as well as he did on Athena? Maybe Hécate was right with what she said, but if Chronos thinks this is going to stop me he's very mistaken. Such a childish game won't hinder me for long, even if he sent me to the end of the time.
Anyway, I've to find the way out of here and to Athena's side, even if I have to jump a thousand of times to the space between times... Shun, I hope you stay strong enough to keep supporting Athena until I get there, it may take a bit longer than what I thought. Hopefully Hyoga and Shiryuu will stop being lost wherever they are and get themselves to where Hecate is and to the past. I may have been caught up by Chronos who wasn't asleep yet, but the others may have better luck... For now I suppose I should find out where and when this place is, doesn't seem as if it'll be far from Chronos' lair, though it doesn't seem there's anyone around either-... Since when is that shop there?
Third Person Writing Sample: Chronos pulled a prank on Athena.
Hécate's words echoed on Ikki's mind as he looked at his surroundings with an angry and piercing glare.
This is the lake where Chronos sleeps... It would be better if you stopped now, Ikki. He may be asleep now again but he could wake up! If that happens, there's no doubt, this time he'll send you wherever he wants without a chance to return!
It had been a fair warning indeed and he had paid an ear to it even if he didn't back off on his will to follow Athena. If Saori was indeed forced to share a body with whoever was the Athena of the XVIII century then she would need all the help they could give her, specially with a Holy War going on. If Athena got killed they would be losing two rather than just one and who knows how that could alter time and their present... It wasn't a risk that Ikki was willing to take, it was a bet risky enough their attempt to save Seiya. As much as he wanted to find out who had ordered the attack, and as much as he felt that whoever had been wouldn't stop there, Athena needed him by herself more than anything else. The Sanctuary should be protected either way, surely Jabu and the others would be capable of at least doing that much and keep Seiya safe in case there were more attempts. But all of that was a moot point as he stood in the middle of a vast extension, flat and apparently endless, drowned in a sea of stars. He couldn't even know if he was standing somewhere or just floating in the middle of the space, though his boots met a metallic sound as he took a step forward.
Definitively that wasn't the XVIII century. Was it the so called end of time? Or a space between dimensions and times? Folded and hidden from view when he jumped to the lake of time to follow Athena's lead... Athena's lead.
His eyes fall to his right hand, fist closed and holding tightly a fragment of the flower chain that he had been following. No, he hadn't lost Athena's lead, but the fragment he hold was connected to nothing, had the chain broke? Was the lead lost? He hoped against it for Hyoga and Shiryuu still had to make their way to where Hécate was and travel to the past after them. Idly, he wrapped the flower chain around his wrist, creating a flower bracelet, his only clue to where Athena was, if the chain was really her doing then maybe both Shun and her would be wearing flower bracelets as well. It was a wild guess but just as good as any other. Once the bracelet was tied, Ikki took a second to admire both of his wrists, noticing the slight irony resting in them. He, who had been destined to be Athena's Saint since birth and was the older brother of the man chosen to become Hades, stood there, wearing symbols of both sides. On his right, the flower bracelet created from Athena's lead, a chain of hope that should guide them in their attempt to save Seiya's life. On his left, Pandora's bead bracelet, probably useless and powerless now, but that he still kept as a memory. It was ironic indeed, specially taking into account that he shouldn't have a wish to remember that woman who once tried to steal his little brother... But still... He could relate to her, somehow. When she said that she could only see the world in gray tones it reminded Ikki of the time in which he was only to see the world in red tones. Blood, anger and hate pooling in his veins, burning the air in his lungs... He who had once fallen, was he really in a position to blame and give not even an ounce of relief to a person who had been tortured and pushed down until she couldn't raise anymore? No matter what she had done in life, Pandora spent her last moments trying to help him, begging for revenge and warning him against what he was about to face, regretting her actions and seeing the lies of Hades for what they were. Unlike all the other Specters, she died knowing that she would never return again even if Hades won, she died in a hole between dimensions, far from her home and from the graves of her parents, with no one left to raise one for her or to offer even a single pray for her. Keeping her bracelet was the least he could do.
Ikki shook his head, clearing his thoughts before looking around again, trying to find a way out of there, reaching with his Cosmos in an attempt to locate someone, familiar or not. An ally or an enemy, it didn't matter to him at the moment, he would get answers one way or another and make his way to Athena and Shun.
Did you read the rules? YES
Player LJ: flowingstars
Email and/or AIM: athena.laureate@aol.com | torastellar
Timezone: GMT+1
Other Characters: N/A
Character: Phoenix Ikki
Series: Saint Seiya
Deviance: D3 - Following canon events up until Next Dimension source, in this deviance when traveling to the past Ikki and the people from the XX century will find themselves in the XVIII century portrayed in the series Lost Canvas, rather than the past portrayed in Next Dimension. Their time limit is different than in the original Next Dimension as well, with it being the same time limit Alone has for Hades to fully possess his body. Also, Chronos' "prank" on Saori is different, rather than make her a baby he simply denies her a body, because she's Athena and Athena already exists in that past, as a result Saori's mind resides in the body of the Athena of that time, Sasha, with the two switching back and forth at times if needed and having mental conversations. The general events portrayed in Lost Canvas will happen without major alterations as the only thing the XX century people want to truly change is Hades having his sword in the Holy War of the XX century, if anything else is changed they run the risk of having their future destroyed or changed and become strays in time.
Age:19 (Next Dimension is briefly stated to start in 1996)
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Canon Used: Manga forms of both the original, Next Dimension and Lost Canvas series. A few anime only events may be kept so long as they don't contradict manga events or character personality (i.e. Ikki hanging around the other Bronze Saints after his first defeat is a big no, but him fighting some saints in his volcano and helping a little girl causes no major conflict with the other events).
Appearance: Normal clothes With his Cloth (aka armor)
Psychology: It's not easy to be Ikki, in more than one way. Though he's not the only one among Athena's Saints with a tragic childhood, not many of them have hold on their shoulders the same burdens he has been forced to carry. Though all of the Bronze Saints are siblings by being sons of the same father, only Ikki has always have a younger brother of whom he had to take care since early in his life. For Shun's sake, Ikki has been constantly pushing himself to grow up, to become more mature and strong, capable of taking care of him and protecting him. He has forced himself to keep from his brother many things, in hopes to protect him, always looking out for Shun, always living just for him. Even when he was sent to a living hell in order to win the Phoenix Cloth, Ikki kept moving because of his duty as an older brother, even Esmeralda, his first and probably only love, kept reminding him of Shun by appearance. It's not an exaggeration to say that in a way, Shun's existence trapped Ikki like a perfect jail, even if none of them wanted it to be that way, Ikki's sense of duty made it be. Probably because of that, after being physically and mentally tortured for years, after seeing his loved one die and learn that the man whom he considered the main responsible of all his torture was his father and was already dead... It was easy for Ikki to let the hate an anger devour him to the point in which he vowed to kill even Shun.
Probably, in a way, despite his best intentions, Ikki always felt that Shun's existence dragged him down and was the source of most of his problems. Probably, the fact of learning that the other Bronze Saints were his brothers too angered him because it felt as if it meant that he would have more burdens, more duties, more siblings to take care of.
It's hard to tell how much anger and hate blinded Ikki, even if most of the people and Shun think that Ikki was totally overcome with it, there are many things that also point towards the fact that he wasn't blind at all. That he was acting consciously and with well thought movements instead of letting himself be dragged by the twister of emotions that built inside him. For starters, many have pointed out that despite turning to work for Athena and with his brothers, Ikki is still as full of hate and anger as always, which shouldn't be possible if he had really overcome it all upon being defeated in fight by his brothers. There's also the fact of how easy he accepted defeat once he couldn't fight anymore, and how he smiled, almost peacefully, upon accepting Seiya and the other Bronze Saints as brothers. Maybe, deep down, what Ikki really wanted was to fight them, not to kill them, but to see if they were strong enough to take care of themselves or if they would be just another burden for him. The fact that, even after he manages to get on friendly terms with the other Saints, he keeps his distance from them and even from his brother, also seems to point to the fact that he still sometimes feels resent against them.
Ikki is perfectly well the type of person who would go through a living hell in order to protect someone even if no one asked him. Despite what his elemental attribute, fire, may suggest, Ikki isn't the most impulsive person in the world, in fact he's often collected and perfectly capable of thinking strategies and planning carefully his actions. This allows him to make a serious and fair judgment of most of the people around him, and even of himself. It's possible that, seeing himself unable to overcome the hate and anger due how deep were the emotional wounds that he had, Ikki himself would choose to keep himself apart from the others, to avoid a situation in which he could end being really devoured by his feelings and hurt them. However, that he keeps himself away from the others has never meant that he left them alone. On the contrary, Ikki is known for keeping a close vigilance over Shun and the others, not hesitating for a second to come in their aid even when he's still badly injured himself and has proved to be more than ready to let himself be killed in order to protect them and Athena.
Bitter and ironical, Ikki is a ruthless warrior who doesn't think twice about killing an opponent. He's also arrogant and proud of himself, and has proved to be quite stubborn several times. He's also said to be emotionless, yet at the same time many say that he's completely driven by his negative emotions. Truth to be told, not even Shun, his own brother, can be sure of how Ikki really is. Though it's true that he's a lone wolf and isn't one to trust anyone easily, Ikki isn't entirely emotionless, neither is actually as proud of himself as he makes others think. In fact, a huge amount of the hate and anger that lives inside him is directed to himself, considering himself a loser and by far the weakest of the Bronze Saints, even when he has a fame that says that he's the strongest one. He cares deeply for Shun and his other brothers, but he rarely shows this to them unless they are unconscious as he considers it a weakness and fears that if they learn how he really feels towards them they will try to reach to him even more than they already do at times. The only people who are allowed to see even a glimpse of his true self are his enemies, and so far none of them has survived a meeting with the Phoenix to be able to tell others about it.
Strengths
Mental: Ikki's mental strength is something hard to define. Many would consider him weak on this field, however he has proved several times that that's not the case. Ikki's mental strength is one that feeds on its own weaknesses. He's rather analytical despite not showing it to others and his capacity, or incapacity, of dealing with his brothers in a social positive way is actually born from his analytical mind. Because he's capable of judging others seriously, he is able to know what exactly will trigger them and doesn't hesitate to pull that trigger in order to protect his own emotions. Because if others hate him it'll just make it easier to be alone. Ikki has a strong sense of duty and it's that what drives him on the most in his live, not loyalty or love but the duty he feels he has towards his brothers and Athena. It's basically impossible to shake that sense of duty out of him, not even when he's consumed by his emotions does it vanish entirely, and it's that strong will in completing his duty what allows him to not fall in the temptation of letting his negative feelings take control of himself.
Emotional: Ikki's strength regarding emotions relays in his capacity of not letting them show or control himself. He is really good at this and at sending the wrong signals to fool others about what he's really feeling, only allowing his anger and his hate to be shown clearly but without a specific target for those emotions. Ikki cares a lot about his brothers and Athena, he does appreciate them and loves his brother deeply, he can be caring and gentle, even somewhat sweet if he really allows himself such a moment of weakness. However as he regards those emotions as weaknesses he does his best in blocking them and in not letting others see them, specially the people whom he cares about. This contradiction that he forces in himself allows him to be a difficult person to understand and manipulate through emotions, the only way to do that would be through his anger and hate and even through that he has proved several times that he won't be completely manipulated, only as far as he himself wishes to be manipulated.
Weaknesses
Mental: Despite Ikki's mental strength, it can't be denied that most of it is born from him trying to use his weaknesses to feed his strengths, what this basically means is that despite all his strong will and wishes, Ikki's mental strength is mostly a facade. Though it's not easy to destroy it totally, it's not impossible to do so or to dig up his deepest fears and use them against him. Ikki is already seriously scarred mentally from his training to become a Saint and those are wounds that will never heal completely, those wounds are his greatest weakness while at the same time feed his strength. They are deeply concealed in his mind and many are fooled into thinking that they don't exist at all unless they search for them really hard, however, once found, Ikki will shatter as easily as crystal.
Emotional: Ikki's emotional weaknesses are closely tied to his mental ones. They almost work as a team, Ikki's mental strengths protect his emotional weaknesses, while his emotional strengths protect his mental weaknesses. Shatter one and both will shatter in small pieces. One has to be careful though as Ikki can get desperate and use his anger and hate as fuel to protect himself further if he feels he's being cornered in either of those areas. At any rate, despite how well he conceals his real emotions it's a given that his love for his brothers is a great weaknesses, however because of how he keeps denying it openly this is not really one easy to exploit as Ikki is quite capable of killing any of them should it be necessary, burying any remorse deep in his heart. It would be his love for Esmeralda, his first love, the one that would prove to be the biggest weakness, as part of Ikki has wished to die and reunite with her in the afterlife since her death. However, as mentioned before, this weakness is deeply hidden and buried, only one person was able to find it by mind reading and he was already almost dead when he found the way to defeat Ikki for sure so the knowledge was passed to no one nor was it ever used.
Other Skills/Abilities: Trained since he was 9 years old in the use and control of Cosmo, Ikki is physically a strong man, stronger than what it may seem at first glance, even without the use of his powers. He's a skilled warrior capable of adapting to techniques and attacks he has taken after doing so once -something all saints are trained for in order to not be caught twice by the same type of attack or technique-. Through the use of his Cosmo, if flared up to the 7th sense, Ikki gains an immense boost to his strength and stamina, allowing him to use light speed and teleport (power that manifests as him being engulfed in flames that form a phoenix bird that flies away at a speed faster than light until he arrives to his destiny, it's not an instant teleporting ability but it takes less very few seconds of time) as well as limited telepathy (understood as capacity to talk to others minds, he's unable to read their minds as an open book, if the person he's communicating to can't do the same then Ikki won't be able to hear their answers), with the 7th sense he can also compensate the loss of the five basic senses. It's suggested that he can also travel across dimensions though this isn't elaborated further than him being able to return alone from having been sent to a different dimension once in canon (and it can be argued whether he was sent to another dimension or just another point of the world). He's also known to be immortal, or close to immortal, possessing a great regeneration capacity and has been declared dead several times only to return in perfect condition some time later, given the irregularity of the time used between the declaration of his death and his return it seems his immortality comes in fact from regeneration powers capable of healing his body or even reconstruct it when turned into dust, the higher the damage the longer it takes for him to return to life. Energy blasts and force fields, both visible as wild flaring flames are also a basic power of his thanks to the Cosmo. Ikki has access to the 8th sense with his Cosmo, while the 7th sense breaks the boundaries and limits of the physical body, the 8th sense does the same to the soul allowing him to travel to the realm of death (and probably and any other realm in which on e normally loses their body and full control over their soul) while keeping his body and total control over his soul, thanks to which he was able to fight in the Underworld.
Ikki has showed only two specific battle techniques in the whole run of the series (though given how those techniques have often been one-hit kill he doesn't seem to need more):
Hoo Genma Ken (Phoenix Illusion Demonic Fist): Ikki's mental strike affects directly the brain of the target with his Cosmo. Depending on the strength used in the attack and the mental strength of the target the true attack may delay in taking effect, to the point of people often thinking that Ikki's attack missed or entirely failed. The attack, however, doesn't aim to maim the physical body of the target but their mind and spirit to render them unable to fight or even lead them to an instant death by brain collapse. The target will be thrown to their deepest nightmare and horror, to live through it fully to their very death, if the target's greatest nightmare is actually an event in their past they will relive it in a loop until their spirit is broken. As a side effect the attack also affects the nervous system, paralyzing or slowing down the target and making them more vulnerable even if they manage to withstand the mental strike.
Ho Yoku Tensho (Ascension of the Phoenix Wings): Ikki's strongest blow consists on a powerful fire whirlwind of Cosmo launched forward with his arm and used to sweep anything in front of him. It's range and power can be altered for use against a single enemy or several enemies at once -works wonders as a mob control-.
Other Weaknesses: Despite his training to be able to perform tasks that normal humans couldn't even dream with, Ikki is still human. As such, he still is vulnerable to wounds and weapons, bullets won't bounce off his skin and swords won't break from colliding with his naked arm unless he uses his Cosmos. Also, despite the protection of the Phoenix and the high speed regeneration it posses, Ikki can die, be it from a super attack from a formidable enemy that destroys galaxies or from falling from a cliff. Ikki himself isn't immortal, even if he can return from death (or almost death) thanks to the regeneration capacity of his guardian.
History: Wikipedia, Ikki's Wikia article
Up until a certain point, Ikki's story in this deviance follows the same route as the original canon, since I'll be bringing him from the exact point at which his universe makes an AU turn I see no need to write the history section in its full. If the information in the links doesn't suffice I'll expand on it. Regarding the future changes in the story of this deviance, as explained before the main difference is that instead of traveling to the past pictured in Next Dimension, Ikki and the others travel to the one pictured in Lost Canvas under different rules. Rather than becoming a baby, Saori becomes a resident in the body of the active Athena at the time, Sasha, and they switch back and forth to control the body if needed. Their time limit isn't of three days but as long as Alone's own time limit is before Hades possess his body completely, and they are forbidden from making changes in general history other than destroying Hades' sword. Because of this, the events of this deviance follow closely those of the Lost Canvas manga despite the additions of the people of the XX century. Also, the events happening on the XX century (i.e. Icarus trying to kill Seiya and such) remain unaltered and still follow the canon.
Canon Point: Saint Seiya Next Dimension Chapter 26, after he jumps to the red nebula to go to the past with Athena and Shun. At this point is when the deviance kicks in so he has barely enter that.
Reality Description: Under normal circumstances, Ikki's time is split unevenly between being alone in a volcano in a remote island and the Sanctuary in Greece, in the year 1996. Though he has the option of also setting foot in Japan, he rarely does so. In fact ever since he fought the other Bronze Saints it can be said that he hasn't set foot in Japan again for several years. There's not much to say regarding the island and the volcano in which he finds solitude and peace, it's a small island, mostly unknown and with a small number of people living on it, except for Ikki, all of them condensate in a small village outskirts of the volcano. The trip to the top of the volcano isn't an easy one, the hills being tricky and full of loose stones. Around the middle of the way to the top, lays an unused path that leads to nowhere and in which Ikki has settled a memorial grave for Esmeralda, his first crush and love, whose grave currently lays in the depths of the sea after the island where it was sunk. When Ikki isn't inside the volcano itself, he spends his time by Esmeralda's memorial grave.
Regarding the Sanctuary, it composed by a large area in Greece, close to the ancient ruins often visited by tourists but hidden from them with a protective barrier from Athena's Cosmos. In other eras the Sanctuary was basically a city on its own, presided by a large mountain in which top rested Athena's Temple, with the Twelve Houses positioned along the path to the temple, guarded by the Gold Saints, the top tiers of Athena's army. Nowadays, though the place still covers the same area, most of it is unused and empty due the war of the Sanctuary that decimated most of the saints there, and the Holy War performing a direct and strong hit to the Sanctuary despite the protective barrier around it. Because of it, the place currently looks pretty much like the rest of the ruins in Greece, and is habited by the remaining few saints and their goddess. Sanctuary isn't a place Ikki will set foot in without a reason to, unless there's an emergency or something really important, he won't be seen there, and even then his visits will be brief and flash-like. In fact, he hasn't set foot there ever since the end of the Holy War.
Currently, though, as Ikki travels to the past, his reality is going to get altered as he's going to spend several days in the past. There his reality will be devoted to the Sanctuary of the XVIII century, a busier place than the one he's used to and the saints there, who, despite the differences in ranks, act far more united than what he saw in the Sanctuary of his time. This Sanctuary is in a rather good state, it's like setting foot in the ancient Greece and in clear contrast to the other ruins.
First Person Speaking Sample: ((While Ikki isn't extremely silent, he's not very chatty either, specially not without a good reason. He's not one to go on a monologue out-loud when no one is around -or even when people are around-, instead he's the type that keeps mostly everything to himself and wastes few words. Taking this into account I find very hard for him to just start talking to himself upon arriving to the Plane so I've constructed this sample as thoughts in his head, silently talking to himself.))
What is this place? It doesn't look like the Sanctuary, there's nothing recognizable from it here... Did I lose my way? No, it can't be. I still have Athena's lead and I'm sure I followed it to the red nebula... Is this the work of Chronos then? Did he wake up in time to play a "prank" on me as well as he did on Athena? Maybe Hécate was right with what she said, but if Chronos thinks this is going to stop me he's very mistaken. Such a childish game won't hinder me for long, even if he sent me to the end of the time.
Anyway, I've to find the way out of here and to Athena's side, even if I have to jump a thousand of times to the space between times... Shun, I hope you stay strong enough to keep supporting Athena until I get there, it may take a bit longer than what I thought. Hopefully Hyoga and Shiryuu will stop being lost wherever they are and get themselves to where Hecate is and to the past. I may have been caught up by Chronos who wasn't asleep yet, but the others may have better luck... For now I suppose I should find out where and when this place is, doesn't seem as if it'll be far from Chronos' lair, though it doesn't seem there's anyone around either-... Since when is that shop there?
Third Person Writing Sample: Chronos pulled a prank on Athena.
Hécate's words echoed on Ikki's mind as he looked at his surroundings with an angry and piercing glare.
This is the lake where Chronos sleeps... It would be better if you stopped now, Ikki. He may be asleep now again but he could wake up! If that happens, there's no doubt, this time he'll send you wherever he wants without a chance to return!
It had been a fair warning indeed and he had paid an ear to it even if he didn't back off on his will to follow Athena. If Saori was indeed forced to share a body with whoever was the Athena of the XVIII century then she would need all the help they could give her, specially with a Holy War going on. If Athena got killed they would be losing two rather than just one and who knows how that could alter time and their present... It wasn't a risk that Ikki was willing to take, it was a bet risky enough their attempt to save Seiya. As much as he wanted to find out who had ordered the attack, and as much as he felt that whoever had been wouldn't stop there, Athena needed him by herself more than anything else. The Sanctuary should be protected either way, surely Jabu and the others would be capable of at least doing that much and keep Seiya safe in case there were more attempts. But all of that was a moot point as he stood in the middle of a vast extension, flat and apparently endless, drowned in a sea of stars. He couldn't even know if he was standing somewhere or just floating in the middle of the space, though his boots met a metallic sound as he took a step forward.
Definitively that wasn't the XVIII century. Was it the so called end of time? Or a space between dimensions and times? Folded and hidden from view when he jumped to the lake of time to follow Athena's lead... Athena's lead.
His eyes fall to his right hand, fist closed and holding tightly a fragment of the flower chain that he had been following. No, he hadn't lost Athena's lead, but the fragment he hold was connected to nothing, had the chain broke? Was the lead lost? He hoped against it for Hyoga and Shiryuu still had to make their way to where Hécate was and travel to the past after them. Idly, he wrapped the flower chain around his wrist, creating a flower bracelet, his only clue to where Athena was, if the chain was really her doing then maybe both Shun and her would be wearing flower bracelets as well. It was a wild guess but just as good as any other. Once the bracelet was tied, Ikki took a second to admire both of his wrists, noticing the slight irony resting in them. He, who had been destined to be Athena's Saint since birth and was the older brother of the man chosen to become Hades, stood there, wearing symbols of both sides. On his right, the flower bracelet created from Athena's lead, a chain of hope that should guide them in their attempt to save Seiya's life. On his left, Pandora's bead bracelet, probably useless and powerless now, but that he still kept as a memory. It was ironic indeed, specially taking into account that he shouldn't have a wish to remember that woman who once tried to steal his little brother... But still... He could relate to her, somehow. When she said that she could only see the world in gray tones it reminded Ikki of the time in which he was only to see the world in red tones. Blood, anger and hate pooling in his veins, burning the air in his lungs... He who had once fallen, was he really in a position to blame and give not even an ounce of relief to a person who had been tortured and pushed down until she couldn't raise anymore? No matter what she had done in life, Pandora spent her last moments trying to help him, begging for revenge and warning him against what he was about to face, regretting her actions and seeing the lies of Hades for what they were. Unlike all the other Specters, she died knowing that she would never return again even if Hades won, she died in a hole between dimensions, far from her home and from the graves of her parents, with no one left to raise one for her or to offer even a single pray for her. Keeping her bracelet was the least he could do.
Ikki shook his head, clearing his thoughts before looking around again, trying to find a way out of there, reaching with his Cosmos in an attempt to locate someone, familiar or not. An ally or an enemy, it didn't matter to him at the moment, he would get answers one way or another and make his way to Athena and Shun.
Did you read the rules? YES