WATANABE NO TSUNA (渡辺 綱)
Servant: Saber
Gender: Male
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 70 kg
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Appearance: A handsome man of soft features. However, unlike his liege, Watanabe’s masculinity cannot be doubted. His smooth, soft cheeks are framed by a squared jaw and sharp brows. He has black hair cut very short, almost military style, and only the barest hint of facial hair can be seen over the corners of his pale lips. He wears a loose silk gray shirt with geometric motifs and a knee-length dark grey hakama.
Strength B
Endurance B
Agility A
Magic B
Luck C
Noble Phantasm E+
Class Skills:
*
Magic Resistance: Grants protection against magical effects.
A – Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for him to be affected. The resistance boost from the Saber class is further enhanced by the properties gained from his demonic right arm.
*
Riding: Expertise to ride animals and vehicles.
B – Most vehicles can be handled with above-average skill. However, he cannot ride the likes of Phantasmal Races such as Demonic Beast and Holy Beast-rank creatures.
Personal Skills:
*
Battle Continuation: The strength of vitality for predicaments. Also, the ability to withdraw from combat and reach allied territory alive after being defeated.
C – Immunity to shock. Regardless of the injury, Watanabe no Tsuna will not lose focus or suffer degradation of combat skills.
*
Monstrous Strength (False): An ability possessed by monsters and beasts. Temporary boost of the Strength parameter by one rank for a time limit determined by the ranking of this skill
B+ – The longer Watanabe no Tsune is under the influence of this Skill, the higher the chance of succumbing to Crimson Red Vermillion.
*
Self-Modification: The aptitude to merge one’s own flesh with body parts of others. The higher the ranking in this skill, the further away one is from being a proper hero.
C – Allows Watanabe no Tsuna to replace his right arm with the arm of the oni, Ibaraki-douji.
Noble Phantasms:
*
Onikiri – The Decisive Slash before Rashoumon
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: E+
Range: 1-2
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
Originally known as
Sun-nashi, then as
Tomokiri and later as
Higekiri; it would later be known as
Shishi-no-ko, then as
Tomokiri once again, and then finally as
Onikirimaru. Formally known as
Onikiri Yasutsuna. It is a practical katana of the highest quality, with a nagasa length of 84.5 cm and sori of 3.5 cm. The sword was a gift from Watanabe’s beloved liege, Minamoto no Yorimitsu.
Watanabe no Tsuna’s signature blade received its most popular name after it was used to sever the arm of the oni, Ibaraki-douji, before the Rashoumon Gate in Kyoto. Naturally, the legend has been assimilated in the form of a weapon that carries the “anti-Fiendish Kind” property.
In spite of its simple design, Onikiri is a strange blade with a bizarre property: “equalization of tangential speed”. Normally, when swinging an object such as a sword, while the rotational speed of the sword is generally a constant, the tangential speed of different points along the length of the blade will be of course different. Onikiri’s effect forces reality to accept the impossibility of all points along the length of the blade to move at the same tangential speed. This would result in “movement that is physically impossible”, so the action is reinterpreted as “equalization of the result of the movement” rather than “equalization of the movement itself”. In other words, it takes Onikiri’s wielder the same amount of energy to cut an object using the far tip of the blade that it takes with the part of the blade closest to the grip. It is an absurdly specific and overspecialized feature of the blade that nonetheless acts as a boon to the swordsman, as it allows him to minimize the amount of effort necessary to attack, no matter the method.
Background
One of the Four Heavenly Kings (Shitennou), the most faithful attendants of the great Japanese hero, Minamoto no Yorimitsu. The other members of the Shitennou are equally powerful and famous: Urabe no Suetake, Usui no Sadamitsu and Sakata no Kintoki.
Watanabe is well-known as a critical participant in many of Yorimitsu’s exploits, most notable of them being the massacre at Mount Ooe, in which the great hero defeated the overlord of oni, Shutendouji. However, Watanabe’s heroic status is more closely associated with one of his individual feats.
Watanabe was dispatched by Yorimitsu to verify rumors of an oni stationed before the Rashoumon Gate at Heian-kyo, and place a charm on the gate if there proved to be no such creature there. Soon after he arrived, Watanabe was ambushed by the oni, Ibaraki-souji, one of Shutendouji’s lieutenants, also known as the Shitennou among their kind. The treacherous attack cleanly cut Watanabe’s right arm, but the samurai did not falter and, with one sweep of his Higekiri, he chopped off Ibaraki-douji’s right arm as well, causing the howling demon to flee. It is because of this feat that Watanabe’s katana became known as Onikiri from that moment onwards. As a means to prove his might, Watanabe replaced his lost arm with the arm he claimed from Ibaraki-douji. The supernatural limb granted him incredible strength and toughness.
Some years later, he received an unexpected visit from his dear aunt, Mashiba. Regardless, he welcomed her into his house and treated her with much honor. Relaxed as he was, it was easy for the woman to strike at him from his blind spot, ripping the demonic arm off his shoulder with risible effort. It would have been easy for the old lady—Ibaraki-douji in disguise—to slay Watanabe in that moment. However, the samurai’s reputation and the trauma from their first encounter drove the oni to cut his gains and escape with his arm. Watanabe thus survived the encounter, and he would live to partake in many other adventures with his heroic companions, most notably the famous legend of the pacification of Ooeyama.
Like Urabe, Watanabe was aware of the fact that both Yorimitsu and Usui were in fact women posing as males and, like Urabe, took the secret to his grave.
Keyword
Right Arm of the Demon: Watanabe no Tsuna replaced the arm he lost in the battle of Mount Ooe with the arm of the demon he defeated at Rashoumon, Ibaraki-douji. The fact he actually survived the implantation of the arm of a member of the Fiendish Kind speaks volumes of his endurance. Even if he lost the arm later in his life, he has recovered it as a Heroic Spirit. The limb has fully merged with his flesh; Watanabe no Tsuna has become an artificial half-breed gifted with incredible strength and toughness. The oni blood has mixed with his to the point that he may, under certain conditions, abandon his humanity and enter the states known as Inversion Impulse and even Crimson Red Vermillion.