Black Rider

Background
[MORE TO COME! - For now, Bullet Points]


 * Was once an astra that Xiangdeng Tiandao had. It allowed the wielder to have something similar to advanced foresight, but also needed to eat soul of living beings on a daily basis.
 * Tiandao gave it first to Alexander the Great, where the astra became known as the "Sword of Cypriots"
 * Combined with Alexander the Great's incredible tactical skills, the blade allowed that man to conquer nearly all of the "Known World" of his time.
 * When Alexander stopped his conquest though, the blade began gnawing on his very soul since it wasn't in the middle of battle, assimilating the soul of those that fell nearby. This eventually caused Alexander to die -- history has recorded that as the individual being poisoned/dying of sickness.
 * The sword went on from hand to hand after this, shifting form and continuing to eat souls as it changed user. It was notably used as: Julius Caesar's Crocea Mors, Joan of Arc's sword, Saladin's Falchion, Napoleon's decorative saber, and even, Robert E. Lee's sword.
 * At a certain time after the American Civil War, after being discarded by General Lee who had felt that his sword (which was a mysterious gift) wasn't "normal", the Unnamed Astra was "forgotten", and annoyed that no one could find it at the bottom of a riverbed, took form and turned into a Youkai, "The Black Rider" that we know of today.
 * While murdering lone caravans and travelers through the vast American deserts in the 1950s, the Rider encounters Makoto Rinbayashi, and after a heated fight, is defeated and turned into the immortal's Shikigami.

Appearance
Standing over two meters tall and with shoulders of a very large width, the Rider appears most imposing. Now add a full set of heavy medieval black armor, all themed after some sort of frightening demon and a tattered, yet imposing cape to the mix. Oh, and instead of having a physical body, everything is hollow – there's only a faint blue and phosphorescent mist inside it all. That is the “person”.

Now, the Rider doesn't have its name for nothing – more than often, if not always, the youkai will be observable riding over some steed, all of them black like the night, striking fear into the heart of all. Their figures are for most muscular and powerful and they all possess eyes that shine an unworldly blood-red light. More than often, the ride will be the ghastly form of Bucephalus, a horse that was once Alexander the Great's personal steed – it is the one that the Rider appears to gravitate towards by default when it seeks a mount.

Oh, and if you encounter it at night... imagine that both the knight described and the steed are covered in ignis fatuus, brimming with unnatural and eerie blue flames all over their bodies. Certainly quite the sight, when one sees such a thing coming at them in the middle of the night. It must be like staring at death itself.

Personality
Direct and always going straight to the point, there is usually very little, if not, no room at all for prolonged conversations when one speaks with the Rider. It tends to express its thoughts in short, separated sentences. Combined with the deep, hollow and rasp voice, it all often makes the Rider appear extremely menacing.

Yet its hunger has been satiated, and it has lost most of its aggressive nature when Ayakashikaisuisou defeated it through delicate use of onmyoudo; Makoto Rinbayashi successfully afflicted the sword (in other words, the Rider's core) with a special sealing spell, causing its endless hunger for more souls to die down. On top of it all, the immortal forced the Rider into becoming one of its very own Shikigami, finding the phantom youkai interesting.

The Rider does not appear to be discontent about such a thing though, and now works diligently for its master. It doesn't go without a few grumbles and snide complaints at times, but in general, the it appears to have adapted with its new way of living. Or is it that it can't really go back to the old one? Its hunger for more souls has been cured... somewhat.

Old habits die hard however, and when given the opportunity, even though it isn't hungry for souls anymore, the Rider will set out at night from time to time and “assimilate” more people. It's not outright mass murder though, but rather, selective picking of individuals that are foolish enough to wander the night alone or... just match the Rider's interest.

Combat Prowess
An impressive physical powerhouse, the Rider has access to a very large amount of souls to supply its efforts, making it a near tireless enemy. The mobility granted by its steeds (which enhanced by their new nature as vengeful phantoms, can all fly and do various phantom-related actions) is formidable allowing it to quickly close the distance between itself and whatever opposition there is, getting into melee range, where it thrives. In close quarters, the Rider can not only swing its sword at speeds so fast the human eye can't track it, but also with a massive strength that could cleave boulders in two, or even, cut through the toughest of steel. Taken in account with the aforementioned mobility, this incredible might can easily prove to be a devastating combination against those that lack the speed to deal with the Rider's excessive speed and strength.

One should note though that while it is decently good at hitting things and such, the Rider isn't the most refined combatant. It relies heavily on overwhelming its enemies with sheer power, and thus, is a bit lacking in the part of “refined combat”, not being the most supple and dextrous combatant. This means that those with great agility can be more of a challenge for the “Phantom of a Million Souls”. Then, there is also the part where the Rider isn't exactly the best magical combatant -- while it does possess a lot of spiritual energy, this mostly serves to fuel the rider's defenses as it can't really use any complex spell whatsoever.

Things aren't that simple though, as other than its great strength, and speed, and to make up for the lack of finesse, the Rider benefits from a ghastly ethereal form supplied by all the souls it has absorbed, a stamina to sustain relentless charges, and quite a few more tricks...

Ability to “instantly ride over/through any obstacle”:
A peculiar and unique ability that only the Black Rider possesses, this power allows it to do a strange, convoluted way of phase-warping.

In essence whenever the Black Rider encounters an obstacle to its goal, it can “ride over/through it” with its horse, phasing into a trail of dark blue ignis fatuus and able to traverse massive distances at blistering speeds, speeds so great that it resembles teleportation when used on “small” obstacles.

The Rider can only dash on a straight line though, meaning that this strange way of near-instant movement is limited to the direction that the Rider is facing before the ability's initiation. The Rider must also be able to identify something that it has to overcome as an obstacle – “riding through the distance between it and the target” though is usually, quite enough of a concept.

This ability adds even more to the Rider's already impressive mobility. It is the main reason why Makoto turned the ghastly being into its shikigami, since it would provide a very useful servant that could go wherever he couldn't – whatever the reason behind such constraint would be: convenience or time.

Ghastly Entity
The Rider, save for the sword it wields, is entirely ethereal, read: physical attacks against it that lack anti-ghost enchantment will just cut through thin air. But even while the Rider can be harmed through anti-spiritual means, it can never be truly destroyed unless the sword it wields is shattered, seeing that the sea of souls supplying the Rider's existence is held inside the weapon.

The Rider is usually flaming in strange and eerie dark blue flames known as will-o-wisp, fox fire or ignis fatuus. These fires are cold rather than hot, but have a very frightful ability – they do not char the body, but instead burn the soul. Prolonged exposure or being immersed into a a sudden blast of these can prove quite harmful to one's spiritual integrity, especially if the one affected does not have much magical aptitude.

This fire is doused by sunlight though, and so, it totally absent if one meets the rider during the morning.

Unknown Astra, once known as the “Blade of the Cypriots”, but changed names (and users) through history.
To call the Rider's blade just a weapon is rather incorrect – the real Rider is simply that: the sword that it wields. A strange relic that has assimilated the soul of millions within it and keeps them trapped, it brims with a dark aura, the materialization of millions' anguish, sorrow and anger. This coating of dark energy serves as a secondary deadly way for the sword to kill if its slashes aren't enough. All that are injured by it feel the traumatizing force of the said millions' negative emotions, utterly rending their(the one hit's) mental state. Creatures that are monstrous by nature are usually less affected since their psyche isn't as frail, but they will still nonetheless feel quite the disturbing shock and be haunted by nightmarish cries.

The Rider, while usually appearing as a fiery and visage-less death knight on a phantom horse, can change its appearance to match the one of any of the living beings that was fell near it. This means it can take the form of even children, women and... war dogs, elephants and horses. Quite the useful thing; not only to throw off the enemy's guard during battle, but also to meld into society, since it contains souls that range from the time of Greek supremacy to the current modern age.