User blog:Baluar/Baluar

Baluar (or Bal, for friends. Yeah, applies in-universe, too) is a silent God Eater that has been working in Cradle as a Colonel for a few years, after being the Captain of the 1st Unit of Fenrir Far East Branch for two years and one of its members for 3 years. He is widely regarded as a living legend, and the amount of missions he has completed is insanely high (doing the math, he goes on more or less 6 or 7 missions per day). He and his twin sister Nia are the only living God Eaters that do not need Bias Factor injections, and after the "Training Area 2 Incident", they have shown unique qualities that are more than enough to put them in a unique category of "X generation" New Types.

Biography
Some backstory.

Up to the 1st Story Arc, he's simply the equivalent of Yuu Kannagi (with the difference that he joined the ranks of the God Eaters earlier, and there are more differences that will be explored in the upcoming Arc 0), but after there the story diverges. Baluar was summoned alongside other high-ranked God Eaters to deal with an overly sized Ouroboros on Antarctica. He unwittingly absorbed the core's power, that gave him the ability to transform into a black and red, 3 meters tall humanoid-shaped Aragami. Eventually, he began to hear voices in his head, and an evil entity that he called "It" began to try to control his body. Over time, he managed to separate It from him, but after defeating both Baluar and Nia, the Aragami revealed that he was the Ouroboros from Antarctica and he had planned everything up to that point. Afterwards, the monster tried to kill Nia, but even after being brutally beaten by It, Baluar entered berserk mode and he killed the beast with two strikes.

Two years after these events, Baluar found himself trapped by Dr. Rachel Claudius and had to go incognito to hide his presence from everyone, since she had convinced everyone that he and Nia had lost all control over their actions. After going incognito, they met up with Alisa and fought off God Arc Soldiers for some days. Then, they met up with Robb and they awakened their Powers of Blood with his help. After defeating yet another wave of G.A.S., they contacted with Robb and he communicated that Rachel had gone "crazy". Bal and Nia headed towards her position and finished her.

After some time, Rachel attacked once more, destroying the Den and causing massive destruction. The duo then headed out to face her. This section will be further expanded when Arc 3 finishes.

Appearance
Bal’s most noticeable physical trait is his height: while there are others in Far East Branch who are 190 cm tall or 195 cm, he in particular is nothing short of 208 cm tall, towering above the second tallest person (Nia) for 8 centimeters. Plus, his muscular physique (for which he always thanks his father’s genes) makes him easily recognizable, if one can see it: it isn’t as obvious if he’s in everyday clothing.

His eyes are also easily recognizable due to their unique vermilion red color. The rest of his face is pretty average, with a mouth that’s usually in a serious mood but is always capable of showing a laugh, and with his spiky black hair that he always has troubles to deal with for more than a few hours straight (it goes upwards naturally, and he always says joking that “I defy gravity laws every day, man!”).

For his normal outfit, he wears a zipped shirt (always 3/4 zipped) below a zipped jacket (that he never zips), dark, baggy trousers and gray shoes. While he has other outfits, those are more conventional, like a traditional sniper outfit (obviously tailored for him) for formal occasions.

Personality
Baluar is mostly noticeable for his sarcasm. He is a good guy, he is a fine Leader who puts his life before that of his partners, but he'll do that while he snarks at you. However, in the battlefield, the thrill of Aragami hunting sometimes gets past him and he can't avoid rushing into combat, somewhat in a berserker-ish mood, putting himself in situations that he can only come out of due to his incredible skill and luck (and his teammates' recovery bullets). He holds his team members as his equals, and he has a special bond with his twin sister, Nia. It is noted he shows tremendous bursts of anger should he know anyone he cares about, especially his sis', is in danger.

While he is an overall good guy, he does have his flaws. For instance, he is terribly stubborn, and despite his intelligence, his usual Aragami-hunting technique reduces to "rushing Sword-first into 'em". And he doesn't use guns too much, which leads him to need assistance when fighting mainly aereal monsters.

He has a terrible skill at finding things he loses (just like me, again), which is all the more bolstered by his tendency to forget things in odd places (man, it'd be easier if I said "it's me, only taller, stronger and more corageous"). In fact, it is stated that he once left his God Arc in the Infernal Subways. Oh, and he's part Aragami too, although his Aragami part doesn't manifest in a morph, but rather makes him overall stronger. In his calculations, he's roughly 35% Aragami and 65% human.

Equipment


Baluar favors the light and maneuverable Short Swords (side note: his Short Sword is larger than your average Long Sword), choosing a Wild Swd: Laoyang II as his top weapon, although he uses the Knife series if he faces strongly-elemented Aragami. Or Claudia, if the monster is weak to Freeze.

As for Shields, well, in his own words, "What's the point of blocking if you are going to be damaged anyway?". He uses Ymir+. "It weighs a lot, but hell it's worth it."

He isn't much of a Gun user, but he uses his Phalanx Dm (Assault) to deal high damage with his custom bullets, then rushes in to fight melee.

In-story, he has a modified Short Sword (again, roughly the size of an average Buster Blade) with a button in the handle that sets the blade ablaze, literally. Other than that, it's the same as in-game.

Fighting style
While Baluar is equally skilled with both Gun and Blade, he always uses more the latter. He usually starts the hunt with one or two poweful bullets, then he goes for melee for the rest of the mission. Some theorize he prefers melee combat because it is there where he can put all his strenght to good use. In his own words, though, "The reason I fight in close quarters is simple: the thrill is something ranged combat somewhat lacks. Besides, I kind of like the feeling of cutting the Aragami with my blade".

Character relationships

 * Alisa Illinichina Amiella: His girlfriend. He is very protective of her. They aren't unnecessarily chummy, but... they're a couple, after all.
 * Nia: They share a very strong, brother-and-sister bond. Baluar sees her as his most reliable ally, as the person he trusts the most... but overall, he sees her as his closest friend. He is capable of performing nigh impossible feats if he feels she's threatened.
 * Robb: Friends since their trip to Antarctica. Despite their almost polar opposite personalities, they get along very well. Robb sees Baluar as the tough-reliable-and-funny boss.
 * Lili: They've been close friends since shortly after they met. Baluar feels weird in her presence, not like phisically attracted to her, but compelled to protect her. He sees her as his little sister.
 * Daniel: Baluar sort of toys with Daniel, acting more like a father than like a boss, and he enjoys the fact that Daniel hates it. On the other hand, Baluar is the only person Daniel shows a little respect towards, without any need to hit Daniel.
 * Lindow Amamiya: They are friends, and both see each other as "the reliable guy that will be there when you need him". Baluar always loses to him when holding drinking contests.
 * Sakuya Tachibana: The only person in the world that Baluar could ever consider as his "big sis'". They get along a lot.
 * Soma: While not actual friends, they share a high degree of respect for each other. Baluar is one of the very few persons that can manage to pull a laugh off Soma every now and then.
 * Kota: Baluar's "good ol' troublemaker friend". While Kota's actions have put Baluar more than once in danger, that doesn't prevent them from being close friends. Even if Baluar knows nothing about Bugarally.
 * Kanon Daiba: While they are friends, he has felt more than once the urge to yell something at her whenever she shoots at him, something quite common on any mission they go together, due to his preference of close ranged combat. That doesn't prevent him from liking her cookies, though.
 * Tatsumi O'Mori: They have developed a friendly rivalry with the passing of time, and they often challenge each other to see "who can hunt more Aragamis solo on one go" (Note: Baluar's win streak has never been interrupted since 3 years ago). On his rookie days, Baluar learned a lot of things from him, and they became friends.
 * Baluar is on friendly terms with pretty much everyone in the Far East Branch.

FAN CAST
 * Lyrr: While Bal and Lyrr are close friends, and they compliment each other's skills nicely, Bal often facepalms at Lyrr's actions.
 * Ken: Friends as well. Bal often asks for Ken's assistance when he's in missions that consist in killing large amount of things.
 * Arthur: Friends, too. His unusual half-Aragami qualities often cause Bal to scratch his head.
 * Vina: Bal and Vina became close friends after she unexpectedly appeared in his house at dinner time, after closely following Arthur.
 * Sei: Friends, too, although not too close due to having met recently.
 * Beo: While technically not friends, Bal and Beo share certain degree of respect to each other.
 * Nanako: Baluar has just met her.

NORN
Baluar (20)

''Joined Fenrir Far East Branch in 2068. Transferred to Cradle in 2073.''

''More of a living legend than a God Eater, he is a tremendously skilled and knowledgeable Leader who favors close-quarters combat. Despite said skill, he has required more than once sharing health with his comrades, because he is highly reckless during his missions. He and most of the 1st Unit were transferred from Far East Branch to Cradle after the Training Area 2 Incident.''

God Arc: Short Blade-Assault-Tower (X Generation New-Type/Variable)

On a Shadow


The alternate universe version of Baluar is a mean guy. He does fight for humanity, he just doesn't care at all about it. For all that he cares, humanity is but a pile of useless trash. He smokes a lot, and he lost an eye almost a year before the beginning of the story, when Gehenna had just appeared.