Arakune

Story

 
Once upon a time, there was a scientist named Lotte (Rot?) Carmine, who worked on some project with Tager, Kokonoe and Litchi Faye Ling. During the project, Litchi fell in love with him, though it's unknown if he returned that feeling. Sometime during his work, he decided to try unlocking the secrets of the Boundary in spite of Kokonoe's warnings to let sleeping dogs lie. Unfortunately, his obsession carried him too close to the Boundary, and slowly rotted away both his physical and mental state. By the time Lotte realized what had happened, it was too late.
 
As a result, he has turned into the monster known as Arakune. He has a lot of thoughts in his head, but they simply will not come out. Half of them were scribbled on memos that are completely illegible to anybody (possibly even Arakune himself, as a narrator remarks at the beginning of his story), and the other half he tries to speak verbally, which would be fine if not for the fact that he has no physical mouth. Or limbs. Or any real defining features except for the emotionless mask he wears. 
 
Despite this, Arakune is capable of speaking in disjointed sentence fragments, meaning that he can conjure up vocal chords and a mouth underneath that mask (if only briefly). Also, the fact that he essentially carries a mass of various insects and long, spider-like legs under his cloak means that he is not powerless at all. Arakune currently lives near a water treatment plant on the lowest levels of Kagutsuchi, eating everything and everyone in a single-minded quest to sate his hunger and grow stronger. He constantly terrorizes the Kaka clan and is referred to as "The Black Squiggly" by them, as he is known to eat any of them who stray too far from their home. The appearance of Ragna the Bloodedge and the fact that he carries part of the Azure Grimoire with him has convinced Arakune to venture outside of his home, in order to eat the Grimoire and become the most powerful being imaginable.
 
Despite all this, Litchi still tries to convince Arakune to come peacefully with her and help her find a way to change him back to the scientist he once was, sometimes even at the potential cost of her own life. Even though Arakune shows no sign of regret, remorse, or love towards Litchi, it doesn't stop her from trying. Whenever another character attacks Arakune in the story, Litchi often reacts with extreme sadness or disgust before continuing her attempts to recover him.
 
In Continuum Shift, Lotte is able to regain his sanity just long enough to warn Litchi not to deal with the Boundary and to just kill him now to end his suffering. Unfortunately, she still believes that there is a way he can be saved, and lets him live while she decides to join the NOL.

Official Biography

 
Height: 20-200 cm
Weight: 5-1000 kg
Bloodtype: Unknown
Gender: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Hobby: Unknown

An occult being that is constantly seeking knowledge. Its body houses innumerable insects. Currently, it lives under the streets of Kagutsuchi. Because it needs to absorb large amounts of life force to continue its existence, it frequently attacks those of the Kaka tribe and humans alike. Recently, it has sensed the presence of a being with unheard of levels of life force, which has caused it to stir.

Drive Ability: Crimson – When an opponent is hit with Arakune’s drive, he/she/it is cursed, a la Testament’s crow-curse special. He has a limited amount of time to launch projectiles in the form of insects at the opponent until the curse wears off. The curse stops also if Arakune gets hit, like Testament’s crow-curse.
 

Strategy

 
Arakune is one of the most agile characters in the game, with one of the highest jumps. Many players use this to create different combo's featuring his drive move, Crimson, and various air attacks.  His air combo's give him a long range for attacking and defending, and is usually the beginning of combos and ground attacks to confuse opponents. His crouching and ground attacks alone don't do much damage, but utilized with his air attacks, and teleporting ability, can make Arakume among the most dangerous opponents in the game. Arakune also has one of the more devastating throws in the game, which launches opponents up and makes them vulnerable to special attacks.
 
Arakune's drive is also vital to locking up opponents, as Crimson curses opponents, which summons specific bugs with specific trajectories every time Arakune players press the core attack buttons. Mastering these specific bugs and cursing characters can lead to quick victories as Arakune, especially if you trap opponents into the corner and control the bugs that are summoned. The only way for characters to break free is to lose their guard or take some damage, making this a very deadly move if executed properly.
 
In the game itself, Arakune doesn't have a lot of HP, but he has some of the highest mobility in the game. Keeping in with his formless theme, Arakune has the ability to cloak and even teleport, along with the ability to hover in the air for several seconds. His Drive technique puts the opponent in "Curse" mode, which will cause an insect to attack the enemy every time any of the other buttons (A/B/C) are pushed until he gets hit. He can also create a cloud of insects that can trap the enemy and cause him to die by a thousand cuts. Like Rachel, smart Arakune players use the zoning game to their full advantage, keeping away from the player and using their bugs to do the dirty work for them.