Ikki Kurogane

"Here, with my greatest weakness, I'll defeat your greatest strength!"

- Ikki Kurogane's catchphrase

Ikki Kurogane is the primary male protagonist of Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan. Despite him hailing from a well-respected household that has produced superior Blazers for generations, he was labeled as a failure even for an F-Rank and born with a useless power becoming known as the Worst One. After leaving home to pursue his dreams, entering Hagun Academy, but he was forced to repeat a year due to the previous staff and the intervention of the Kurogane Household.

After Kurono Shinguuji took the position as the Director and fired all the other staff involved in it, Ikki was promised that if he were to win the 62nd Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, then she would allow him to graduate. In the finals, Ikki became one of the three Desperados of Japan and became the current Seven Stars Sword King. He also participated in the tournament between Vermillion and Cradleland as a part of Team Vermillion.

Appearance
"There was beauty and kindness in your face, yet one could also clearly see strength within that straight-backed, clean-cut figure… and to add on to that, a robust musculature, honed and trained to unblemished perfection, it's just wonderful. You are, without a doubt, my ideal man."

- Sara Bloodlily's explanation of Ikki Ikki is a young man of average height with spiky black hair and gray eyes. He is described as having a lean but well-built toned physique and cute face, which makes him popular with both younger girls and even older ladies. Both his physical features and gentle looks are one of the reasons why Sara wanted him to be her nude model. Ikki also bears a strong resemblance to both his father and older brother.

There have been situations where Ikki has worn several clothes in the series based on the time or event, he is mostly seen dressed in the standard uniform for Hagun Academy.

After dying at the hands of Or-Gaule and being revived by Shizuku using Aoiro Sekai, Ikki returned to the appearance of a ten-year-old and as such has the physical features and abilities of a child.

Personality
Despite his harsh childhood, Ikki has shown to be a strong-willed and noble young man with a caring personality, which has been shown throughout the series as he when he helped others like his classmates improve on all of their abilities with their devices despite everyone prior treating him like a failure. This caused those who met him personally (even for a minute) to question the false rumors Mamoru Akaza spread about Ikki's, having found him to very kind and polite. This holds true for those struggling to become better on their own, as he understands what a hard road it was. Though Nagi stated this is can also a bad thing since Ikki was too used to being hurt that he wouldn't be able to hear the screams of his own heart, a fact proven before his fight against Kirihara after he had a panic attack and during when Ikki couldn't see through the situation first.

Despite his calming nature, Ikki can lose his temper after witnessing Bishou forcing Stella to strip in front of them to rescue the hostages. He won't even hesitate to maim enemies as he cut off Bishou's arm using Raikou and he was close to wounding Kirihara, but his predicted measurement was off. If the situation called for it, Ikki wouldn't hesitate to kill his enemies as he was forced to kill Iris Ascarid, albeit he did feel bad since she was both a friend and comrade, while understanding that he didn't have a choice.

Ikki is shown to be quite calm in even the most arduous of the situation, as seen when he stayed calm the entire encounter with Kuraudo even brushing off the fact that he was hit with a bottle, trying to avoid the fight even after he was spat on. He can also be cold in battle and doesn't mind enjoying a heated battle with a strong opponent, which is shown several times in the Selection Matches and Seven Stars Sword Art Festival.

When it comes to dealing with women of his age and the whole academy in general Ikki is clumsy because Ikki has no prior experience with them outside of respect towards a superior or as a knight. This is shown when he confronts Stella on that subject. Due to his years of being discriminated against for being an F-Rank, Ikki is not entirely used to his sudden rise in popularity and often doesn't know how to best deal with his many female fans.

Despite situations implying otherwise, he is not very perverted. He usually tries his hardest to show restraint and respect to the woman who acts lecherously around him, such as Stella and Shizuku. He also chose not to have sex with Stella at the log cabin they were staying, even though she suggested it, knowing he needed her family's approval first.

Abilities
Desperado: In the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival Finals against Stella, Ikki reached his Brute Soul and became a desperado, a being whose broken the chains of fate. As such, he can increase his magic based on his training, a feat no normal Blazers can do. Ikki also has an "attractive force", which enables him to force upon the fate that he desires; just releasing intimidation, he can cause the death of others if they don't put their focus on him. In his fight with Iris, he influenced the causation of "killing" and could cut through her Orichalcos using Oikage.

Doubling Physical Power: Ikki's ability as a Blazer. He is able to double his physical abilities, but this has been considered useless as others can enhance their physical abilities 5 to 6 times using natural magic thus making it the worst among all Blazer abilities. Ikki was able to use his superhuman body control and willpower to ignore his survival instincts, which resulted in his Ittou Shura and later Ittou Rasetsu.

Immense Strength: Having undergone a rigorous training regimen to make up for his low magic, Ikki attained an exceptional physical condition that granted him an A in Physical Attributes. Most of the time, he applies this to his sword letting him counter most attacks from other stronger Blazers. Since Ikki is able to ignore his body's survival instincts, he can draw out incredible strength, defeating Sirius in arm wrestling with no effort, despite the former's arm being twice that of his.

Immense Speed: Due to constant training, Ikki has remarkable speed and reflexes to match, being able to react to, dodge and counter fast Noble Arts, Blazers, bullets, etc. After stealing Edelweiss' Swordsmanship, his speed has been honed to where even the Star of Naniwa couldn't see him move despite hearing Ikki move.

Immense Stamina: Ikki has incredible stamina and endurance above that of normal people such as Stella, being able to continue fighting despite his injuries. He could endure Yuuri's Violet Pain sharing her sickness with others, which downed both Selection Candidates and trained Guards without resistance. Ikki can handle his inquiries that lasted for hours through the course of weeks while being fed poisoned food bars without much water, but was still able to make it to his match against Touka and used Ittou Rasetsu.

Master Swordsmanship: Ikki is an incredible master swordsman whose skills are self-taught through training by observing famous swordmasters, challenging dojos, researching ancient techniques in libraries and museums. His sword skills has allowed him to fight against Blazers who outclass him under normal standards such as Stella Vermillion, receiving praise from both the God of War and Twin Wings, surpassing the Samurai Ryouma. His skills were cultivated after he learned Edelweiss' swordsmanship, letting him fight on par with Iris Ascarid and defeated her, earning the nickname Sword God.


 * Seven Secret Swords: Ikki's seven original sword techniques.


 * Ten'i Muhou: Ikki learned the ultimate move of the Ayatsuji Ittou-ryuu, in which the user counters the opponent's attack with minimal movements. Ikki used an imperfect version of this move on Kuraudo.


 * Mutou Dori: Ikki can use one of the techniques of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, which uses the power of his fingers and wrist movement to catch the opponents weapon and snatch it away. Though Ikki used this alongside Ittou Shura, making it unclear how well he can utilize Mutou Dori without it.


 * Edelweiss' Swordsmanship: Through the use of Blade Steal, Ikki "stole" the Twin Wings' Swordsmanship wounding her before passing out. After recalling it, it heightened his speed to where Yuudai Moroboshi, the former Seven Star Sword King couldn't react and evolving to where he could use his Seven Secret Swords without Ittou Shura. Edelweiss stated that he started to make this technique his own adapting it to better fit him instead of imitating her.


 * Tsunoou: A unison attack between Ikki and Stella, where Ikki runs forward, then jumps up landing on the middle of Lævateinn; at the same time that she swings her sword, he propels forward using Saigeki, focusing their joint strength into that attack, possessing greater offensive power than normal. Despite being a perfect union attack, their names are different as Stella named it Harmonic Bullet.


 * Amatsu Raikou: Ikki created a newer technique that is an evolved version of Amatsukaze that combines Raikou, where he launches a continuous barrage of 108 slashes, after reaching the 90th to 108th slashes, it's delivered in one beat akin to actual lightning roaring in the skies, which even Iris Ascarid couldn't counter.

Master Martial Artist: Ikki is very adept in various styles of martial arts in order to make up for his lack of magic power. He could deal with five Blazers wielding their devices without using his own while holding back enough to not injure them. He has also shown to be skilled in Ukemi, a martial art, which focuses on receiving blows and strikes, then dispersing the force through his body, and surviving deadly blows.


 * Trackless Step: Ikki learned the ancient technique, which combines breath control and footwork, letting him slip into the unconsciousness of his opponents making his motions far difficult to perceive until it's too late for them to avoid. He is able to use the same concept on a crowd of civilians by reading their blindspots, then walk and weave through them undetected, which impressed even a trained assassin. Ikki can mix the Trackless Step and normal footwork against "Necro Battalion" messing up their aim, a feat that Nangou Torajirou and Nene Saikyo can perform.

Expert Weapon Specialist: Ikki has shown skills in wielding kodachi, spears, and even archery. Enough that he been able to teach these skills to others. Stella said the reason why Ikki learned so many different fighting styles was to help him better make up for his lack of magic power.

Master Marksmanship: Ikki has incredible skill when throwing projectiles, able to fire a small projectile with great precision. In a fight against Manabe, he flicked an eraser, which bounced off the ceiling and wedged it in-between his Gun-Shaped Device's hammer and percussion cap, disabling it. Ikki had later kicked a lipstick tube knocking a knife out of a man's hand and kicked a small rock into Narukami's scabbard, preventing Touka from using Raikiri.

High Intellect: Ikki is highly knowledgeable and able to pick up on a lot of details even in the midst of battle. He knows a lot about the inner workings and strong points of the human body, letting him improve Ayase's stance so she can use her feminine build to improve her Ayatsuji Ittou-ryuu. Ikki can also figure out most opponents' fighting styles, abilities, and strengths after fighting against them: figuring out Kuraudo's Marginal Counter, the Trackless Step, and even the rare causation manipulation of Amane. In battle, he tries to outsmart his opponents, which is highlighted as he was able to defeat Iris Ascarid, the 4th Ranked Blazer without being in danger.

Insight: As a result of being neglected over the years, Ikki has mastered the skills to see through his opponent's techniques by observation. He can read his opponent's next move simply through their muscle movement. Ikki's insight has even allowed him to properly sense how dangerous someone really is on the first meeting, being able to tell that Amane Shinomiya was more dangerous than he appeared, something few others notice.


 * Perfect Vision: Ikki is able to completely see through his opponents through grasping their fighting styles using his incredible insight to grasp their personalities and tendencies. Using this, it is possible for him to figure out their thought process and predict their moves in advance. It's as though Ikki is able to see everything about the person in question.


 * Blade Steal: Derived from Perfect Vision, Ikki is able to use his great insight to analyze and steal his opponent's techniques, then he improves by using his swordsmanship. He is able to grasp most styles or techniques after a minute and seconds to surpass it, it isn't limited to swords styles, but it applies to others. Once he understands the style, he is shown to be able to grasp their deepest secrets, it is possible to even reproduce their advanced techniques as shown when he learned Ten'i Muhou through training with Ayase despite not seeing it before.

Complete Body Control: Ikki can control his body at will, as a result of his training and is able to perform various superhuman feats: being able to turn off his other sense as he had transferred the acuity of his color sense to his motion perception to better read his opponent's moves. It is also the basis for his Secret Swords, Ittou Shura, and Ittou Rasetsu. Having stolen Edelweiss' Swordsmanship, his control had been sharpened to where he could even manually beat his heart. He sharpened his control after his warmup for his rematch against Stella, Ikki was able to see the strand of her hair, hear his bloodstream, understand all his muscles, and count the dust on his skin.

Magic Control: Edelweiss noted that his magic control rivals Shizuku in precision due to his Ittou Shura, this has been first noted as he has conscious control of mana emission, which most uses without knowing. After training on Edelberg to improve his magic control, he could block a slash from Edelweiss' Testament. It was highlighted as he improved Ittou Rasetsu by focusing its power at the most required parts while pouring the excess power which would've damaged him into Intetsu removing the usual backlash. He can use magic to make a thin blade that can slice through the special fiber and armors of soldiers.

Device
Intetsu: Ikki's Device takes form as a raven black katana that has a rectangular tsuba. It is called forth at times whenever using the command: Come Forth, Intetsu.
 * Ittou Shura: Ikki's initial Noble Art. Through amassing all of his bodies' vigor and stamina as well as ignoring his natural survival instincts, he can bring out his full power, then he further magnifies it using his Doubling Physical Powers thus granting him tremendous power for one minute. Having trained with Edelweiss to improve his magic control, he was able to improve his Ittou Shura but hasn't yet shown to what degree.
 * Ittou Rasetsu: His second Noble Art and an improved version of Ittou Shura, where Ikki shuts down all his five senses and his bodily functions, mustering all his strength for one second instead of one minute boosting his power a hundred-fold, but this can be used for one swing. Ittou Rasetsu puts a heavier burden on him than Ittou Shura forcing him to remain in bed for a week after using it for the first time. Having improved his magic control, Ikki could concentrate the power granted to the parts needed, the excess power was focused on Intetsu removing the severe side effects.
 * Ikkaku: This is a Noble Art, which belonged to Ryouma Kurogane, which Shizuku and Ikki could use when merged together, where the latter freezes the target the moment the tip of the sword touches the target, then the piercing strike would break the frozen target.
 * Kachiwari: This is a Noble Art that has the same principle as "Ikkaku", but it instead freezes and slashes its target.

Trivia

 * His given name (一輝) means "One Gleam". A name that Ikki interprets as the true words his father wanted to say, However, limited you are, may you shine brighter than any other. Despite him knowing about his low magic power from birth.
 * Like the Kurogane Family, his surname means "Black Iron".
 * In the anime, it is called forth by Ikki by using the command phrase: Come to me, Intestsu after striking his left palm with his right fist and pulling out the sword as if it came out of his left hand.
 * Throughout the series, Ikki is most known for his lines, which beings with With my…weakness… I'll… based on the situation before facing a superior opponent. Humorlessly, Ikki was deeply embarrassed when Amane Shinomiya quoted him on this.
 * Ikki does not like sweet foods.
 * Ikki isn't that good with technology, and, as a result, he didn't realize how popular he became after his mock battle with Stella, which was shared all over the Internet.
 * Ikki is often referred to as "Senpai" by his classmates (especially the female ones) since if he wasn't forced to repeat a year, then he would have been a second-year.
 * Befitting his F-Rank, Ikki has shown to have terrible luck, as shown when he had to fight Shizuya Kirihara in the first round of the Selection Battle Arc; the World's Strongest Swordsman, Edelweiss during the attack of Akatsuki Academy; the previous Seven Stars Sword King, Yuudai Moroboshi; and against the former fourth rank, Iris Ascarid who was close to the Top in the World.
 * Kurono had hinted that through the harshest struggles, Ikki has achieved a kind of enlightenment, which has granted him true harmonization of mind, body, and weapon. As such, Ikki is able to cut down enemies faster than his thoughts to form and his body was able to react to his surroundings without conscious will. This lets Ikki fix himself after Nameless Glory had attempted to make him fail.
 * Ikki is the only F-Ranked Desperado in the series.
 * Ikki is the second Desperado to die then come back to life, the first one being Or-Gaule and the third being Tendou Harima.