Yura

Overview

Synopsis

Gallery

Yura
Japanese	由 (ゆ) 良 (ら)
Rōmaji	Yura
Also Known As	Yura (幽 (ゆら) , Yura)
Relatives	Unnamed wife †
Biographical Information
Status	Alive
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Sorcery	Pine Tree Sorcery Fire-based Teleportation (movement)
Professional Information
Affiliation	Hishaku
Occupation	Leader of the Hishaku Hishaku Sorcerer
Debut
Manga	Chapter 7 Chapter 48 (named)

“The Hishaku's fault? Who sealed away the Enchanted Blades? Who held the means of eradicating evil and just disappeared? Your father made the world like this!” ― Yura, when questioned about his motives by Chihiro

Yura (由 (ゆ) 良 (ら) , Yura), referred to currently by the kanji alias Yura (幽 (ゆら) , Yura), is the leader of the Hishaku and the one who orchestrated the group's murder of Kunishige Rokuhira and theft of his Enchanted Blades three years ago. He is motivated by his desire to wield Magatsumi in order to establish order within the nation. As a result of his actions, he is Chihiro's archenemy and the primary target of his revenge.

He is the main antagonist of the series, a major overarching antagonist in the Rakuzaichi Arc and one of the main antagonists in the Sword Bearer Assassination Arc alongside the rest of the Hishaku as a whole.

Appearance

Yura is a tall man with dark hair, light-colored eyebrows, and concentric rings around the pupils of his light-coloured eyes. Unique dot-like markings extend above and beneath his eyes. He typically wears a simple dark suit, tie and pants over a white shirt. He bears the insignia of the Hishaku on the back of his right hand. Following his battle with Chihiro, his right arm was cut off, but it is later reattached by the time of his meeting with his subordinates.

18 years ago, Yura's eyes had no rings and there were no dot markings around them.

Personality

In almost all situations, Yura is an incredibly calm and collected individual. He is able to keep his composure under any situation; even losing his own limb. When held at blade-point by Chihiro and interrogated, he refused to respond, stating he would only speak if he felt like it. Despite this statement, he openly converses with Chihiro about his motives and process towards his goal, though this may be due to Yura's curiosity, desiring to see how Chihiro had changed three years after instilling hatred within him. While normally affable, Yura has occasionally displayed moments of menace that terrify onlookers.

Yura is also incredibly dedicated; for his goal of wielding the Enchanted Blade Magatsumi, he worked tirelessly for three years in order to break the seal surrounding it. However, he does not let his goal get in the way of his logic; when given the chance, he refused to remove the blade from its box himself, wary of what Akemura Soga would do once the blade was unsealed.

Kuguri has commented Yura's decisions are at times quite risky, such as his decision to send Kuguri and Toto after Iori, despite knowing she couldn't be found. During the Hishaku's attack on Kamunabi Headquarters, he put his life on the line in a coin toss with a Kamunabi member just to ask where the restroom was. He has an interest in gambles, and has brought up the term in numerous circumstances.

In dialogue with Samura, Yura has revealed himself to be willing to disclose information in order to achieve his aims; by disclosing his knowledge of the true events of the Seitei War and his (false) concerns regarding Soga and a second Malediction, Yura aimed and successfully managed to make Samura wary of the other sword bearer's enduring threat. He is not above manipulation, having disclosed information regarding the Seitei War within the neighbourhood Samura was residing in with his daughter so that the harassment Iori would face would further motivate Samura to think of the future; and thus the potential threat of Soga.

Yura's ultimate goal with Magatsumi is to establish a new order, having approved of Malediction and viewing Kunishige's locking away of the Enchanted Blades as a mistake that had led to the victimisation of innocents across the nation at the hands of criminal sorcerer clans, a force the Kamunabi could not stop but the Enchanted Blades could. After learning Soga had unleashed Malediction while of a sane mind based on his principles, Yura was glad that the two had similar views and realised they could understand each other, switching from wanting to kill Soga to proposing they form an alliance to lead with the Enchanted Blades together. Yura's desire to establish order is so great that it is one of the few topics that can lead Yura to lose his composure, Yura shouting his fury that Kunishige's inaction had led to tragedy across the nation for years when combatting Chihiro.

Relationships

Hishaku

As the leader of the organization, Yura has authority over everyone in the Hishaku. The Hishaku's members generally treat him with respect but also converse casually with him, the Hishaku generally have a cordial, if even friendly, relation.

Hiruhiko

Yura holds a position of seniority over Hiruhiko, but Hiruhiko still speaks casually about him, which Yura does not appear to mind. When another of Yura's subordinates was wary of Yura's decision to leave Hiruhiko in charge of the attack on the Sanso, Yura revealed praise for Hiruhiko's talents in battle, displaying his view of him as a powerful asset and ally.

Yura acknowledged Hiruhiko still needed more experience, hence his decision to allow Hiruhiko responsibility for the operation, and set up several safety nets including a trump card in the not-unlikely possibility that Hiruhiko would fail in some way, revealing Yura to be tolerant of Hiruhiko's failings.

Kuguri

Yura places enough trust in Kuguri's sword skills enough to have him train Hiruhiko; though still favoured Hiruhiko's opinion when the latter mostly ignored Kuguri's teachings. While Yura is his leader, Kuguri is discontent with his methods, considering Yura to enjoy taking risks far too much; a trait shared with Hiruhiko.

Hokuto

Hokuto gets along with his leader Yura very casually. While deferring to his authority and admitting his leadership was paramount to the Hishaku's operations, in general conversation Hokuto treats him no different than an old friend, cheerfully noting Yura had saved Uruha for himself when the two came crashing through the sky. In battle, Yura often finds Hokuto's antics, casual reveals of information and open declarations of battle mania to be a handful, often half-heartedly chastising him. Nevertheless, the two were able to work fluidly together against master swordsmen Uruha and Natsuki.

Allies

Genichi Sojo

The Hishaku entered a partnership with Sojo, agreeing to allow Sojo to form a Lifelong Contract with Cloud Gouger in exchange for information and experimentation on stabilising Datenseki. Yura presided over the transaction personally, reminding Sojo that Cloud Gouger was primarily to be used to assist in Sojo's Datenseki research. Sometime after Sojo's death, Yura commented that Sojo's legacy, his ability to achieve partial stabilisation of Datenseki, was proof of his undeniable genius.

Kyora Sazanami

In order to ensure the Kamunabi retrieved Shinuchi, Yura gave it to Kyora to be sold at the Rakuzaichi, which would undoubtedly catch the Kamunabi's attention, and the Hishaku continued to provide support to the Sazanami Clan in the form of a piece of semi-stabilised Datenseki, which Yura personally gave to Kyora. Yura was cordial in his dialogue with the Sazanami clan head, the two men having a primarily business relationship. Yura also viewed Kyora as a test subject in regards to investigating how Shinuchi's bearer would react to its unsealing.

Enemies

Chihiro Rokuhira

Chihiro is Yura's archenemy. Yura knew who Chihiro was prior to their first meeting, having sent his agents to murder Kunishige, his father, spurring Chihiro on a path of revenge. The two of them first met during the Rakuzaichi, with Yura briefly deterring Chihiro and Hakuri's plan to stop the event. Engaging and defeating him in a brief fight, he revealed himself as the one responsible for Kunishige's death, and officially made a declaration of war against Chihiro by revealing his plans to wield Magatsumi.

Despite the two only meeting once, Chihiro quickly developed an immense hatred towards Yura for his role as the leader of the Hishaku, declaring while abandoning his fight to resume his mission that the next time they met, Chihiro would kill him as soon as he had the chance. On his own end, Yura does not seem to share Chihiro's enmity, merely expressing interest in the "seeds of hatred" he created from killing Kunishige. Yura holds a twisted interest in Chihiro's growth, impressed by his maturity in abandoning his opportunity to achieve his revenge in favour of assisting his allies.

Seiichi Samura

Yura made a deal with Samura shortly after Kunishige's death, where Samura would assist them in killing the remaining Enchanted Blade bearers in exchange for Yura providing information to Samura regarding the Hishaku's members, their insider within the Kamunabi and the locations of the Enchanted Blades. Yura is extremely aware of the acute threat Samura poses to their organisation, and talks with him cordially. In return, Samura held very little trust in the Hishaku and vocally reminded them he would kill them all once their deal was up.

In the past, Yura showed little reservations in approaching Samura and revealing information that he knew about the Seitei War, continually aiming to goad Samura into aligning with his aims against Soga. He worded it as a way for Samura to atone for his sins for the sake of the future while lying that he also wanted to stop Malediction to further push Samura towards the Hishaku. Yura revealed the truth of the war within the community Samura was living in in order to worsen the living state of Samura's daughter Iori, in a clear attempt to make Samura further motivated to protect the future. Yura was successful in making Samura realise the enduring threat of Soga, leading to their temporary alliance and deal.

Following Chihiro's alliance with Samura and Yura's wielding of Magatsumi and meeting with Soga, both Yura and Samura noticed the other had changed course in their views and actions when facing each other.

Akemura Soga

Yura initially viewed Soga as insane; while he approved of Soga's actions and Malediction, he believed that Magatsumi was in dangerous hands and needed a different wielder to maintain order. However, after making dialogue with Soga in the lowest level of Kamunabi Headquarters and discovering Soga was entirely in possession of his mental faculties, both during Malediction and in the present, Yura was impressed and proposed that they form an alliance instead given they could understand each other.

Soga, for his part, merely viewed Yura as someone he could talk to after 18 years about the outside world. He had a very muted reaction to Yura's declaration that he approved of his actions, merely asking who Yura was. After Yura made his declaration to Chihiro that the criminal organisations of the world had been exploiting the innocent for years without the Enchanted Blades being mobilised to stop them, Soga told Yura to relax and hand over control of his body, promising he would return it, indicating an acknowledgement of Yura's view from Soga's part.

Abilities

Overall Abilities: As the leader of the Hishaku, a small, elite group of sorcerers, Yura is an extremely powerful and skilled individual. He was able to fight against Chihiro Rokuhira wielding Cloud Gouger without using any sorcery at all but instead with only his hand-to-hand combat skills, and was even capable of undoing the seal that was placed on Magatsumi by the three highest-ranking leaders of the Kamunabi in merely three years (which Togo Shiba reckoned an expert sorcerer would take ten years to break).

As a sorcerer, Yura has accomplished the first stage of spirit energy usage, being able to use his spirit energy to strengthen his body to superhuman levels.

Enhanced Strength: Yura possesses incredible physical strength, enough to create a small crater in the ground with a single kick.

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Yura is extremely fast; he was able to instantly appear behind Chihiro despite being directly in front of him, and was even able to get behind Chihiro a second time when the latter was using Mei: Shred. His reflexes are also top notch, being able to easily react to Chihiro even while he was using Cloud Gouger's lightning cloaking to increase his speed. Even when Chihiro increased his speed further using Mei: Shred, Yura was still able to track Chihiro's movements, though he suffered several wounds in the ensuing clash.

Enhanced Endurance: Yura has tremendous levels of physical endurance, stamina, and tolerance for pain. Despite having his right arm cut off, he showed no signs of pain and continued fighting. He even allowed Chihiro to deliberately stab him in his left shoulder, only having a smile on his face.

Combat Prowess

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Yura is extremely skilled in close-quarters combat, using only his hand-to-hand skills to engage Chihiro with despite the latter wielding an enchanted blade.

Swordsmanship: While Yura's swordsmanship has been described as unrefined and inconsistent, he makes up for this with raw physical prowess. He was able to deflect an attack from master swordsman Yoji Uruha while it was amplified by Uruha's sorcery. He was also able to fight on par with a highly skilled swordsman such as Natsuki Misaka with little difficulty.

Sorcery

Yura summons a wall of trees.

Pine Tree Sorcery (松 (まつ) の妖 (よう) 術 (じゅつ) , Matsu no Yōjutsu): Yura is able to summon trees, similar to his subordinate. So far, he has only used it to create a wall of trees to block a corridor and prevent Chihiro from reaching Hakuri. The trees are incredibly durable, able to survive a lightning blast from the Enchanted Blade Cloud Gouger, though when Cloud Gouger was used with the direct aim of blasting through the wall, the wall was broken. In addition, any destroyed parts of the trees can regenerate in seconds.

Fire-Based Teleportation: A type of movement sorcery separate from his own sorcery. Yura forms a hand sign with his right hand and teleports, with his prior location vanishing into flames. This sorcery has been used by several members of his organization.

Equipment

Knife

During the Hishaku's attack on Kamunabi Headquarters on the 14th of November, Yura handed a knife to a Kamunabi staff member as part of his coin toss bet.

Katana

During the Hishaku's attack on Kamunabi Headquarters, Yura used a katana summoned through a book to engage Uruha. It was later broken by Uruha.

Magatsumi

Magatsumi (勾罪 (まがつみ) , Magatsumi): One of the seven enchanted blades forged by Kunishige Rokuhira, and more commonly known and referred to by its title "Shinuchi" (真打 (しんうち) , Shin'uchi, a term used to refer to something of the highest quality). Upon activation through calling Magatsumi's name, droplets of spirit energy fall from the blade to form a field of flowers beneath the bearer. During the Hishaku's attack on Kamunabi Headquarters, Yura activated the spirit energy he had previously placed inside Magatsumi in order to use its abilities against Uruha and Natuski, though the blade itself was in still in the sealing room.

Using Magatsumi, Yura's physical abilities were greatly physically augmented, and he was also able to use the blade's techniques from a distance. Later, Yura drew Magatsumi itself from a flower manifestation, the blade moving from the sealing room to Yura's location. While Magatsumi's contract bearer Soga initially attempted to possess Yura's mind, he decided to stop doing so in order to investigate Yura's intentions.

Yura overpowers Uruha and Natsuki

Yura readies Centipede around him

Yura draws Magatsumi from flowers

Techniques

Spider (蛛 (クモ) , Kumo) - Yura creates a cobweb-like pattern surrounded by four groups of four spider-like eyes. Any entities caught in the web cannot move. When caught within, Samura and Chihiro were able to rely on Suzaku's flames to nullify the immobilisation in under a second.

Dragonfly (蜻 (トンボ) , Tonbo) - Yura forms several dragonfly-wing shapes before launching a blast in a specific direction, which deals heavy damage to anything it makes contact with. When Azami was hit, his forearms and hands were severely damaged, with notable chunks appearing to have been torn from his arms. Later, when Yura formed Dragonfly around his fingers, the more pinpoint blast was able to cleanly blow Azami's right arm off.

Centipede (蜈 (ムカデ) , Mukade) - Yura summons a centipede-like construct made up of several circular structures around himself before unleashing an omni-directional blast with great force. With Magatsumi, Yura held the blade vertically and unleashed a shockwave that covered a distance of 300 metres.

Etymology

The kanji for Yura (幽 (ゆら) , Yura) can be translated as "secluded" or "ghost", among other possible meanings.

The kanji for his former name of the same reading 由 (ゆ) 良 (ら) can be broken down as follows:

• 由 (ゆ) : Can mean 'cause, reason'.
• 良 (ら) : Can mean 'good'.

Trivia

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