Nichirin

Deep wrinkles cover his aged face until it takes on an almost carved, wooden quality, framed by short white hair, and his eyes read as slitted and pure white. He dresses in a black kimono under a white haori. After the clash with Fuhrer Ugly cost him everything below the waist, that lower half was rebuilt entirely from cybernetic parts.

Stern in manner but warm and self-assured underneath, he agreed at once to lend Atomic Samurai a hand when asked. That care runs deep enough that he threw his own body between Spring Mustachio and Fuhrer Ugly's acid, choosing his student's life over his own.

At the head of the Council, Nichirin ranks among the most formidable swordsmen alive. His strength lets him cleave a massive slab of solid ground clean in two and send air slashes tearing through distant rock cliffs, while his speed draws and returns the blade quicker than the eye can track; he even squared off against Haragiri, whose draw beats the speed of sound. His precision is such that he can carve an apple into sections that seamlessly rejoin, which Atomic Samurai likened to cutting through the gaps between the cells. Long before the raids he had trained Spring Mustachio into one of his finest pupils.

When Atomic Samurai feared Bang might not stop Garou, Nichirin backed him at the Council meeting, and after Haragiri swallowed Monster Cells and turned traitor, the samurai cut him down. In the fight against Black Sperm and the acid-drenched Fuhrer Ugly, Nichirin shredded clone after clone, but the monster's digestive fluids melted the swordsmen's blades; shoving his student clear of a killing blow, he was dissolved from the waist down. Dying, he drew the legendary Sun Blade from his mythical pearl necklace and pressed it on Atomic Samurai with instructions to seek out the Moon Blade, telling Spring Mustachio to walk his own path. He survived, took on cybernetic legs, and later saluted the fallen Zanbai and Amahare while demonstrating his mountain-cleaving skill to the samurai and the new council members.