Hotaru

Hotaru, also known as Keikoku, is a member of the Mibu Clan and is Shinrei's half brother. In the past, he was one of the Shiseiten, alongside Demon Eyes Kyo, Akira, Akari, and Bontenmaru.

Appearance
He has blond hair and wears a red and white Kimono to emphasize his Fire Style. He equip a double-sided sword: one side shaped like a katana, the other shaped similar to a long dagger

Personality
Hotaru is the main comic relief of the group. He acts rather stupid and dense and has a habit of stating the obvious. Some examples of this are during Hotaru's fight with Kyo (he makes a long speech, then forgets what it was supposed to be about), when he leads Kyo's group through the Mibu palace (When asked directions, he says they should go straight when the path ahead of them is a straight one), his battle with Yuan (When Yuan said he can beat Hotaru with only his foot, Hotaru said he will beat Yuan with only his finger), and various others.

Story
Hotaru (whose original name was Keikoku) was a member of Goyosei and was sent to spy on Kyo. He has great admiration for the blood-thirsty and icy Kyo and resents Kyo's softer side that has developed by coming into contact with Yuya.

He also resents his older half-brother Shinrei (another member of the five stars) because Shinrei is the valued "wanted son" while he, Hotaru, is the illegitimate son of a concubine.

Despite Shinrei's ignorance of the truth, Hotaru's entire life seems centred around his animosity towards his brother. All he does is counter Shinrei. Where Shinrei uses water (their father being a Master Mumyou Saikyou Ryuu, the water school of the Mibu), Hotaru devotes himself to Fire. Where Shinrei swore to uphold the honor and wishes of the Mibu Clan, Hotaru rebelled. Where Shinrei sought strength through friendship and camaraderie, Hotaru sought strength through solitude. This prompts him to battle his former allies, the Shiseiten and Kyo, because he believes that they stand between himself and the solitude needed for true strength.

Hotaru is defeated by Kyo and becomes his "servant" as his life was spared by him. He stays behind in order to recover from his injuries but reaches Kyo and his friends when Kyo is about to be defeated by Shinrei. Hotaru battles his half-brother and, much to his surprise, discovers that Shinrei already knew they were related. Moreover, Shinrei was the one who convinced their father to stop sending assassins after Hotaru and even managed to get Hotaru accepted as one of the five stars of the Mibu, mainly because Shinrei wanted to face Hotaru as an equal since Hotaru was his only brother.

Hotaru is defeated by his brother, who merely puts him unconscious while pretending to have killed him. When Shinrei is about to be killed by Kyo, Hotaru protects him and pleads to Kyo to spare him. Hotaru later rejoins the Shiseiten to battle his teacher, Yuan and the rest of his former clan.

Hotaru's right eye becomes red whenever his subconscious is awakened.

Hotaru, after realizing that he was not alone in the world, became deeply concerned with protecting and saving the ones he cares about although he doesn't show it directly. He calls Kyo "a friend of combat" and tries his hardest to protect him. He also becomes friends with Benitora (Red Tiger), Sasuke Sarutobi, Yuya Shiina and Yukimura Sanada. He is considered a family member by Yuan's Family.

Also, his relationship with Shinrei becomes much more close. Although they both claim to still hate each other, their fights and teasing are much more similar to sibling rivalry. Throughout the manga, Hotaru keeps saying that he hates water and continuously teases his older brother; however, he has shown that he deeply cares about him and will save and help him whenever he can.

Powers
Hotaru, in his spite for Shinrei, chose to control Fire. Hotaru's command of fire allows him to summon black flame, which is hotter than any normal flame, and to generate a solid shield of flame to protect himself. He reveals many techniques

He fights with a double-sided sword: one side shaped like a katana, the other shaped similar to a long dagger. It is believed this sword is just one long blade with wraps and a hand guard so he can hold it.

3) Hotaru's Style (A Form Without Form)


Hotaru's true talent. He is able to absorb and master fighting styles he faces in battle and assimilate them to evolve his own style.


 * ​The Dancing Blade: Shinrei fighting style which Hontaru mastered after battling him. It centers around reading the opponents rhythm and vocalizing the timing; matching his movements to his opponents,while using dancing attacks that changed direction, which makes them difficult to predict and guard against.

4) Red Eye (After Anthony awakened his latent abilities)
Hotaru's right eye becomes red and increases his combat stats several fold.

- Fake Suzaku
Hotaru wanted to recreate Kyo's Suzaku, but managed to imitate only the appearance

- Flame Aura/Wall
A full-body ability that releases a concentrated aura of fire. The aura gives one a greater level of esistance to attacks upon their body; essentially allowing them to be in the presence of those with higher levels than the user without suffering ill effects. The flames can even be focused into a wall in front of user. Hotaru this to counter the Mizuchi by burning the air before it hit him. He can also use this technique with the black flames.

- Fire Bunshin
Using high speed, the user quickly creates a fire clone that looks just like them and has the clone take their place. Consequently, the enemy's attack will strike the fire clone and not the person themselves, confounding the foe momentarily, making them vulnerable to a counter attack. Can also be used to successfully retreat from a battle.

- Chikewai (Blood Markings)
Blood dye that marks one's face. The dye is actually a facial rune seals made from user’s blood that absorbs ambient ki energy increasing user’s power and speed. The user must possess incredibly high reserves of ki as it is slowly eats away at the user's ki to sustain it. As long as a user has sufficient energy to sustain the state, he would then obtain additional energy to perform skills that would have been otherwise incapable of due to exhaustion.

- Hono Chikewai (Flame Blood Markings)
Originally the power of that came from Chikewai was so immense and risked the body to exhaustion Hono Chikewai is a Chikewai that burns the water (sweat) in the body.The Hono Chikeiwai takes the sweat and breaks it into hydrogen and oxygen, then the hydrogen burns forming water again and that can in turn be converted into fire that flows out from the whole body creating blood spots a continuous loop. Of course, the laws of conservation of energy eventually forces this loop to collapse. It is Hotaru’s most forbidden technique. The result of this technique is a chikewai with a few times faster speed and stronger power however he can only move his body perfectly for a moment afterwards, he wont be able to move anymore. This technique can literally shorten his lifespan. It resembles to Kimimaro's Cursed Seal of Earth (first level) in Naruto

- Kaho Enbu
Kaho Enbu is a powerful technique combining both basic swordsmanship and the precise focus of ki. After summoning their flames around their sword user performs a barrage of slashes at opponent. However this is just a faint user is actually aiming at the area around opponent. Each slash creates an exceedingly thin layer of ki that converge together and manipulated to form a glass-like barrier of condensed ki around opponent that is difficult to break from the inside but quite simple to break from the outside. Thus opponent is enclosed in a barrier with the flames roaring around them.

Oxygen is needed for combustion so in an enclosed area, because there is a lack of oxygen the fire extinguishes immediately as opponent suffocates. But even though the flame disappears the embers are still present so when the wall is destroyed, a large amount of oxygen rushes in, the embers start to burn creating an explosive flame. This flame revival effect is the key to the Kaho Enbu. Its flame is more than 1000 degrees, it’s a flaming hell. If you can survive that it’s a miracle.

-  Shakuran Entei
 At the instant of the slash, Hotaru releases highly condensed flame at the tip of the blade, magnifying the slash attack before flying forward. This slash takes the form of a vacuum of blazing flame, which can burn through anything it touches. This a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction.

- Maoen
“Gather around spirits of fire, on this right hand of mine… God of destruction, please grant me thy powers.”

A more advanced form of Skakuran Entei. This flame will burn everything till not even a trace is left. It unleashes a devastating, concentrated blast of blazing fire forming a massive sphere that burns away at everything it touches. This isn’t any normal burning flame.

- Demon’s Breath /  Luchifer Kourin (Luchifer’s descent)
“Gather in me my small flames open the gates to hell devil king hear my plea give me a flame from the other world.” Fire has a color the hotter it is, the whiter it gets, this technique summons flames that are hotter than the whitest flames. Everything that the black flame touches in its vicinity will completely burn up without a trace.

- Akuma-No-Ago (Hell Crusher)
This is an omnidirectional attack that emits a large sphere of black flames outward from the user

- Keikoku Inferno


Keikoku is the Japanese name for the planet mars which is known as the planet of war and fire. This technique effectively combines Hono Chikeiwai with the Mibu’s Imprint technique. Effectively forcibly binding the Hono Chikeiwai onto the target’s skin and burning from them from the inside out. The flames that sprout from opponent’s body are the flames of the planet Keikoku. Burning bright and red for eternity.



Trivia

 * His fire powers resembles One Piece's Mera Mera no Mi (Portgas D. Ace and Sabo) and Magu Magu no Mi (Sakazuki)
 * According to the fanbook:
 * His hobby includes taking walks.
 * He likes sleeping (14-15 hours a day) and winning.
 * He dislikes Shinrei and losing.
 * He has the special ability to remember everything he dreamed.
 * His favorite foods are natto and wasabi; while his least favorite food is konpeito (he says it sticks to the teeth).
 * His relationship with Yuan (before their second fight) is very similar to that between Law and Doflamingo in One Piece.