Tianxia:Hateshinai Wakari

Background
When humans began looking towards magic, the unexplained phenomena, spritual energies, and other forms of wizardry that are often associated with magicians, there was much debate as to what magic really is. To some folk, magic was considered holy and did not require explanation, only ritualistic practice and freedom of the mind - while others considered magic to be of a much more scientific nature, needing research and dedication, taking to a more matter of fact approach. Others regarded it as an immoral aspect of nature that corrupts the soul, deeming those that study magic worthy of death. Regardless of how a person would understand magic, it was universally agreed that magic would open up a whole new world of possibilities for those who wished to use it.

As the overall understanding of magic grew, and magicians become more frequent, there was a demand for excellence amongst larger groups of magicians. Within the first century of the popularization of magic, many cults, groups, schools, families, and aristocracies started to show, as well as greater and greater magicians. Magic duels, competition and straight up wars were very frequent as magicians found the need to stretch their spiritual muscles and prove who was the best above the rest, the title of the "Grand Magus".

Though it wouldn't be decided for a long time, there was constant conflict as to who would be regarded the Grand Magus and in order for the title to be assigned, the greatest minds eventually agreed that one person was suitable for the honor. However, the first Grand Magus is not relevant to this story, as it would be his daughter who is important.

Hateshinai Wakari was born in 1314 as the first and only child of the Grand Magus. Hateshinai grew up within the confines of the University of Arcadia, a hidden paradise for magic using folks to live safely during a period where Witch-Hunts were highly common across the planet. From a young age, she was pampered and groomed to not only be a great magician, but to inherit the title of Grand Magus when her father passed away. Wakari did not see much of her father as he was well known for traveling all over the world in search for great magical prowess, but in the short time they were together, she learned plenty. By the age of 11, Wakari's latent power soon became apparent to her father; the reason Wakari was a quick learner in the art of magic was due to her innate ability to not only read the very nature of magic, but to understand its composition, and in some cases replicate it entirely.

Basic life was difficult for the young Wakari as her mind was much more geared towards understanding magic rather than actually growing up, so she was often seen as an immature type of person from a young age simply because her mind was busy in other areas. She was relatively mature by the time she was 20, but the type of curiosity that can only be found in children never really left her, thus striving her further within her studies. Wakari grew immensely fast, surpassing most other magicians while rapidly approaching the level of her father, her teachers would describe her growth being ten times faster than that of an ordinary magician. When the time came for her to finally surpass even her father, it would be the most defining moment in her life.

At the time, magic duels between two fully fledged magicians didn’t need to end in death, but traditionally it would require the victor to slay their opponent in order to be truly recognized as victorious. When Wakari approached her father to claim her title as the Grand Magus, he only wished fight Wakari unless it was a battle to the death, he was an old man who had already lived far too long and as such refused the challenge until Wakari was pushed to agree with his terms. When the time came, the two fought for hours upon end, neither sides giving up, and despite their individual powers, Wakari's ability to read magic is what gave her the ultimate victory simply because she was able to turn her father's own attacks against him. When the time came where the Grand Magus could no longer fight on, Wakari begged him to rethink his terms and simply retire the title, but he explained that this is the way he wished to die, an old man able to see his legacy come true. If Wakari did not strike him down then he would end himself if his wounds did not see his death. Abiding by the wishes of her father, she ended the life of her father, the Grand Magus.

Wakari refused the title of Grand Magus, opting that it should remain in her father's name; instead she chose to adopt to the title of High-Born Magus. Wakari gave her father a proper funeral and mourned for the man not only as her parent, but as a teacher and a great mind.

It did not take long for the High-Born Magus to carry on her father's work as a great and wise magician, but what she lacked that her father had was experience with the world, and so she set out on a journey across the globe to meet new people and visit different places not only for her own experience, but for others. As she expected, no-one accepted her as the High-Born Magus because she had nothing to show for it beyond defeating her own father which may have tarnished her reputation further, so the journey was of a much more spiritual nature.

One notable chapter of this journey would be when the High-Born Magus spent time in Egypt, for the time that she stayed there she spent a lot of time studying the many old world relics and buildings left over from a civilization long gone. It was when she explored a specific ruin where she would meet a person who was a living remnant of the old world. A living Sphinx by the name Neferure, she acted as a guardian to the ruins (and possibly her old home) only allowing people who can answer her riddles to pass while devouring those who failed her challenge

It was a fair game and the High-Born Magus had grown a taste for challenges like this over the duration of her journey, so took the challenge. Wakari answered the first riddle with astonishing speed and accuracy so much that it annoyed the Sphinx in to challenging her to another, much more difficult riddle. The High-Born Magus accepted and correctly answered the second riddle. Soon the two got in to a battle of riddles with Wakari answering each and every one correctly.

Cornered and running out of riddles, the Sphinx decided she had had enough of the High-Born Magus and presented her with a final riddle of a highly simple nature; and Wakari answered it incorrectly. For whatever reason it is that Wakari answered incorrectly, it marked the end of the battle between the two. Wakari prepared to defend herself against the Sphinx assuming she would be attacked, but the Sphinx revealed that she had cheated using her power to cause people to misjudge even the simplest of things, and even then she respected Wakari for having the capability of answering some of her most difficult riddles. For the time being, the two individuals parted ways as Wakari continued her journey.

It was when she arrived back at the University that she was contacted by the single most important person in her father's life, the goddess of imbalance and chaos. Her visit was brief, but during that time she explained how her father became such a great magician, not through research but through becoming a Youkai Magician and dedicating his life to his goddess. Wakari felt almost betrayed by her father, but vowed to keep his secret safe. Before the goddess left, she offered Wakari the same opportunity her father had. She offered Wakari several gifts: how to use her power to its fullest, whatever resources she needs to carry out magical research, and finaly the chance to become a Youkai Magician and extending her life and vitality. All of this, and in return Wakari would not only have to serve the goddess as one of her champions, but would also take it upon herself research both the scientific and spiritual natures of magic, and some day strive to combine them. The High-Born Magus accepted.

Since then, Wakari has worked hard in the University created by her father, coordinating with the many students and magicians who have come and gone.

As time went on, Wakari began to undertake a lengthy yet interesting project; To find out what kind of powers can be harbored and controlled from mass human emotions, thoughts, and beliefs. Her goddess had told her that most non-human magical creatures relied upon human belief and emotions in order to continue existence, and that it was the reason why there isn't as many youkai, monsters, or magicians roaming around the earth as there was a few hundred years ago.

Enamored by the thought of something so simple having incredible power, she plotted to harvest it for the purposes of research. At first, she found that the spiritual power and belief potential in most modern humans were drastically low, save for groups of religious sects that believed in the teachings of various holy prophets. It would take years for her to be able to harvest even the slightest amount of magical energy required for research; that was until she learned of a hidden world full of the stuff.

Dubbed "Gensoukyou", the world existed a long time ago as an openly magical yet dangerous land in Japan. At some point, it was sealed away by a great barrier in order to create a world for creatures who rely on human faith to live peacefully. It would be here that she found the answers her research. Taking a favor from her goddess, Wakari travelled to Gensoukyou with a small handful of her most prominent students in order to gather the faith they required...

Power/Combat
Strangely enough, the High-Born Magus only uses two main types of magic. Basic levitation and a pink bolt of lightning that chains itself upon magical entities. The levitation is something that can only be cast within a certain range of herself, and targets held up in the air are quite helpless. It's ineffective against people who can naturally fly, but can be used to slow them down.

Despite only using a small range of magic, it doesn't mean she's inept at using spells; she just prefers to keep her arsenal simple.

The pink lightning bolt that she casts from her staff is actually a magical leech that arcs from magic source to magic source, leaching power and growing more and more powerful. Its direction is quite hard to predict, however, due to the bolt chaining on to the next closest magic source, and if there is none within its range it will just vanish.

When asked about why she developed the spell, she responds that it was originally one of her father's, but is vastly different to the original spell. Other than that, it's good for punishing students who just fire out as many magical bullets as possible without even bothering to think of a pattern.

Her ability to read magical energies is something that's hard for most people to imagine, to her she says it's just like reading a recipe. What the ability does is not only does it allow her to recognize something of a magical nature, but she can also learn of its composition, origin, strength, and in quite a lot of cases, she can replicate it. She can't read all magic instantly though, larger, more complicated seals and barriers, such as the Great Hakurei Barrier, would be simply too much for someone like Wakari and would probably require a good deal of time to interpret it.

The staff that she carries is a rather powerful magical weapon in the hands of the right magician. It is capable of remembering the last spell it used for an exceptionally long time while remaining very conductive of magical energy. Overall it synergizes well with Wakari's natural ability to read magic meaning she can use the same stolen spells over and over again after longer periods of time.

Personality
Wakari has a rather eccentric personality, she is filled to the brim with a never ending curiosity to the extent where she almost impulsively has to question out loud when a peculiar notion comes up in her head. As such, she'll often get sidetracked from her ultimate goal, while maintaining her work output, so she will never accomplish one thing quickly, but rather accomplish many things over a longer period of time. She's very enthusiastic when it comes to doing what she enjoys, and that's the research of magic, and considering that's all she ever does, she'll often be seen in an energetic mood. Though some who are closer to her would say this energy is a front to hide deep personal conflict over the murder of her father.

Probably the most obvious part of Wakari's personality is that she is very critical of others, especially when they are dwelling in magic. When people have dueled her, she spends more time talking than actually casting spells, judging her opponents attacks while giving them advice or constructive criticism, sometimes even praising them when they do something right. Examples of such:

"I don't even think you were trying to hit anything in particular there, focus more on where your attacks will be, not where they are going."

"You're wasting talent."

"Show some ambition!"

"Try straightening your back for a spell like that, you're arching forward too much and it falters your aim."

"An interesting spell, however I think it would be much more efficient if you used it like this..."

"Well done, but not well enough. You need to learn some restraint or discipline."

This shows that she's not just reading her opponent, but considering where they've been going wrong and how they could improve. When some of her proudest students are questioned, they say that this critical style she has is most likely because she's a teacher, but most agree it'll be her downfall one day, while others think it's just merely taunting that will get the better of her opponents.

Spellcards
Although she is well aware of the rules of spell card battles, she does not have any spell cards. Her battle style is a very strong counter to most ordinary spell cards that follow basic pattern rules. There are some exceptions to this, however, as the most unordinary and bizarre spell cards won't be so easy for her to simply counter.

"Rebound Bolt" - A green bolt of lightning that is most potent when fired out of a magical tool. It bounces from magical entity to magical entity, leaching some of their power before moving on to the next. It can get devastatingly powerful after a few bounces on lethal magical bullets, but without any magic bounces it's as painful as a simple static shock.

"Rebound Stream" - Works similarly to the Rebound Bolt, but fired out in a stream. It wont strike anything physical unless it's imbued with a magical property. Better used as a defensive spell against mass-danmaku-attacks.

"Levitation" - Basic levitation. Allows Wakari to float if needed and carry something as heavy as a large boulder. It's best to think of it as a giant hand that holds something in place.

Major

 * Shinaru Sayuno: The somewhat troublesome goddess that she and her father both made contracts with in order to help them achieve their greatness. Wakari identifies as a faithful worshiper of the goddess, but that's not entirely true. The reality is that they've grown a mutual respect for one-another to the point of being considered friendly. What else is interesting as the Wakari is perhaps the only person who can truly get away with telling the goddess off for her actions, so perhaps there's a larger understanding between them that no-one is aware of?

Minor

 * Her Father: Her father, teacher, and the original Grand Magus. He taught Wakari everything he knew up until she surpassed him. Considering he's dead, he's not as much of an important aspect of her life, but she still pays respect to him when she gets the chance. There are things best left unsaid about the two.


 * Neferure: Another one of Sayuno's champions, and someone Wakari doesn't particular get along with. They don't get in to arguments, but often disagree with one another.


 * Kouki Fukui: One of the students from the university chosen to accompany Wakari to Gensoukyou.


 * Numerous Students: In the University, there is a select group of students who are provided with extra resources in order to aid them. They are often considered the elite in terms of the school.

Trivia

 * Widely considered one of the greatest minds ever born amongst the magic community, she's a mathematical and scientific genius, as well as being very knowledgable in various languages from around the world. This all comes from hundreds of years of hard work, and from having travelled around the world for a long time, although she often has problems when it comes to regional dilects and slang.


 * It's hard to tell her country of origin, she appears to be East Asian, but she has a Western accent.


 * Who was her mother? Not even Wakari was told who her mother was. It doesn't usually both her, but it does cross her mind from time to time.