Otonashi Tsukikurō (音無 月黒) is the Headmaster of the National Knight Academy as well as the father of Otonashi Kaguya. It is later revealed he was an Illegal Magician corrupted by Nyarlathotep.
Appearance[]
Tsukikurō looks like a gentleman in the prime of life, wearing a refined suit on his body.
Personality[]
The Headmaster was completely insane. He spent many years doing horrible government research related to magic. To escape his own guilt and his own sins he refused to see what he was doing was wrong. Any loss of human life was acceptable if it was for the greater good. It's likely that the death of his son years ago may have amplified his madness. He hates and doesn't want to accept Hayashizaki Kazuki as the King of Solomon. He was worried that his daughter might lose the title of strongest to Kazuki one day after he spent her whole life pushing her so hard to achieve it.
He performs horrible experiments on humans in his underground lab. He wants to draw out the power of the 72 Pillars forcefully, and enslave the Divas to the human race. Tsukikurō doesn't seem to value anything but the greater good and Kaguya, including his own life. At the end when he realized that he was an Illegal Magician he let himself get encroached by Nyarlathotep while thinking to himself that he's unneeded by anyone. After his defeat his Diva abandoned his body and he was left in a state of severe Magic Intoxication. No one thought he would recover but he eventually awoke at the end of the series. As Kaguya spoke of her plans for the future, he knew he didn't have the right to say anything against it.
As Headmaster he pushed the idea that Magika Stigma were overwhelmingly superior to swordsmen. He taught people to treat swordsmen as disposable pawns to protect those “more important”. This dangerous way of thinking infected generations of Knights who went on to serve in the Knight Order as well as positions in government and his own Magic Division staff room.
History[]
Background[]
It’s known that from the day magic first appeared he was involved in horrible inhumane government research related to magic. However after repeated failures the facility was shut down and he was appointed Headmaster of the school built in its place. It's known that he had two children. His son was a swordsman who was killed years before the start of the series, not much is known about it. He carefully brainwashed his daughter Kaguya from birth making her blindly obedient to him and making her obsessed with being the most powerful Magika Stigma. With this programming she managed to reach Level 10 in a record breaking 2 months. It's also why she challenged and ruthlessly cut down so many of her classmates at the National Knight Academy in her first year, suppressing her normal kind and loving personality completely.
Plot[]
Volume 1[]
Epilogue:
- When Lemegeton first appeared Hayashizaki Kazuki was treated as a possible Illegal Magician and was kept under close observation. His teacher Liz Liza Westwood implied at first that Leme could only copy low-level Summoning Magic. But after that Kazuki drove off Loki and used a Complete Summoning of Phenex to save the life of Amasaki Miō. Liz Liza was forced to tell them the whole truth, about him being the potential King of the 72 Pillars and how his power increased along with the bonds with his classmates. She suggested that it was time to fully accept him as a Magic Division student. But many on the staff were fearful of that power and still regarded him as an Illegal Magician, particularly Board Chairman Amasaki, who was an overprotective father. He refused to accept Leme as legitimate on face value. The Headmaster agreed to step up their monitoring, and told them that if Kazuki proved in any way untrustworthy the task of their subjugation would be given to his daughter, Kaguya. It was later revealed that Loki had recognized the Headmaster’s true identity at that time. They tried to negotiate an alliance but the talks were unsuccessful.
Volume 2[]
Chapter 3:
- The Japanese government was in a panic about the fully materialized Loki and the threat he posed to them. They desperately wanted the help of the Germans, who were the followers of Norse Mythology and thus the experts. But relations with Germany were strained. A terminally ill girl named Charlotte Lieben Frau had contracted with a mysterious Diva in order to save her own life. As being an Illegal Magician carried a death sentence under German law she had fled to Japan to seek asylum as a refugee. They could find no reason to refuse and she was allowed to enroll as a student. Germany was demanding her return but they couldn’t do so openly, nor did they want to piss off the Germans. So the Knight Order struck a secret deal and would agree not to intervene as Beatrix Baumgard “arranged an accident” for Lotte while she was on a Quest. Lotte had formed a team with Kazuki and Miō and they took on a Quest to clear out a Haunted Ground. But when Beatrix attacked them Kazuki proved to be strong enough to hold out against Germany’s Ace and they managed to escape. The Chairman stormed into the Headmaster's office. He had been unaware of the plot and was furious that Miō had been in danger. Even though Beatrix had been told not to kill anyone but Lotte she was apparently the aggressive sort. He had found out about it because he hired two of his former students to keep an eye on Miō after she failed her first Quest. This explained why two Knights who were unaware of the orders and had gotten involved. Kazuki was becoming a thorn in their sides, not just for them but many of those in power in Japan. They had their own goals in mind for the Magika Stigma and had no wish to submit to the authority of a King. The Headmaster was already hatching a plot to destroy his reputation and drive him from the Academy. If it worked the title of "King" would be offered to someone "more worthy" (someone who could be controlled). Her step-father struggled with his conscience for a few moments but finally agreed to help.
Chapter 6:
- Kazuki was ordered to take on another Quest then let Lotte be killed. But instead Kazuki's party defeated Germany's Ace and called the Knight Order to collect her. The Germans were outraged and demanded an explanation. The Headmaster called a meeting of the Magic Department staff to discuss what they should do. Liz Liza suggested they say that Kazuki had acted on his own to protect Lotte. But the Headmaster insisted this wasn't good enough. He was still considered an Illegal Magician who had now injured one of Germany's Knights and "abducted" a fellow student. Liz Liza felt they were rushing to judgment but everyone else seemed intimidated by Kazuki’s power and no one else was speaking up to defend him. The Headmaster also said the Knight Order had charged Kazuki with taking a Sacred Treasure and injuring two Knights who tried to confiscate it (a lie). Liz Liza didn't believe the story but didn't know the facts. The Knight Order had placed an order to arrest both Kazuki and Lotte. Lotte would be handed over to Germany and Kazuki would have his powers sealed and be sent to the Sword Division. These decisions were out of their hands now, but Liz Liza suggested this might offend the Divas of the72 Pillars. But the Headmaster insisted there was no reason to recognize a 15 year-old boy as King and that Leme was probably manipulating him. Just in case, his Stigma could always be forcibly transplanted into someone "more worthy" (someone they could control). This procedure could leave Kazuki incapacitated. But when the Board Chairman backed him up no one was able to argue. The Headmaster then tasked his daughter Kaguya with subjugating and arresting her classmates. Kazuki’s group got help from friends and was able to take refuge in the Sword Davison.
Volume 3[]
In a secret underground laboratory the Headmaster was close to the goal of the horrible inhumane experiments. Stigma Transplant Operations and many other nasty procedures had been performed in this lab. His research subjects had often lost their minds or even their lives, but his mind was so corroded he wasn’t even bothered by it anymore. He wouldn’t accept the notion of a 15 year-old nobody as King. He had known the truth all along but felt a strictly controlled fighting force was far superior. His experiments would create a power greater than the Knight Order. He refused to see his own insanity or the faceless figure twisting his mind. His obsession with making his beloved daughter Kaguya the strongest led him to believe there was no one else who deserved to be King. His obsession with his daughter and his total lack of interest in his own future is what made him vulnerable to being influenced in this way. He had manipulated key officials in the government and the school to promote fear and mistrust of Kazuki. So he could steal his King's Authority and give it to the one he believed was most deserving of it. None of the 72 Pillars had ever detected the sinister magic at work below the Magic Department. But the Japanese Diva Futsunushi no Kami had and asked Kazuki to investigate it.
Kazuki and his friends were able to enter the facility, which became a trap. The party became separated and Kazuki and Koyuki ran into the Headmaster. He confirms their suspicion this was a government facility devoted to artificially boosting magic power. They sought an advantage over the other countries that rejected science. The Elven mutation was a side-effect of a classified project where newborns were subjected to experimental brain surgery to boost the magic power. In the end the mortality rate was high and the results weren’t spectacular so the project was abandoned. They also realized that Divas were obliged to obey their Contractor, but could always choose not to grant powers to the next generation. They sought to bypass this through Stigma Transplant Operations, essentially enslaving the 72 Pillars to humanity. But the brain damage was too severe and the government abandoned the project and turned the facility into a school.
The Headmaster had begun his own project, to create weapons whose souls had already been crushed and would use Summing Magic obediently and without free will. All this army needed was a King, and he insisted his daughter Kaguya was the only one “worthy” of that title. He explained how he had brainwashed her from birth to instill an obsession with being “the strongest”. When he gave her orders she turned off her emotions and became totally obedient t his will. The final thing he needed was Kazuki’s King’s Authority to make his dream a reality. They are horrified and angered after this speech. The man refused to see his own insanity and couldn’t understand why they opposed him. At this point Kazuki realized something the man himself had not. The Headmaster had become an Illegal Magician without even realizing it. At first he denied it, but his mind and emotions had clearly been eroded. There was also the simple fact that the door wouldn’t permit entry to anyone without a Stigma. He realized he had ceased to care about himself long ago and was thus easily corrupted. He finally admitted the truth and surrendered what little free will he had to the Diva. Thus the Diva revealed his true identity as Nyarlathotep of the Cthulhu Mythos.
The evil Diva donned the disguise of the Headmaster once more as he launches his attack on the Swordsmanship Division. He orders the students of the Magic Division to take shelter. He insisted it was too dangerous for them to go out and help their fellow students. He insisted that they wait for help from the Knight Order (while knowing full well that help wouldn’t be coming in time). Not everyone obeys and Kazuki organizes a fighting force and stops the attack. He is also able to free Kaguya from her brainwashing and exposes the Headmaster as an Illegal Magician. After learning the truth, Kaguya finds her resolve and destroys the monster with a powerful attack. She was fully resolved to kill her father in the process but he miraculously survived. He had to be hospitalizes in such a severe state of Magic Intoxication that no one ever expected him to recover from it.
Powers and Abilities[]
Otonashi Tsukikurō was consumed by Nyarlathotep. As an older man well past the prime age for magic, he had almost no magic power at all. Likely one of the reasons he never realized he was an Illegal Magician was because his Diva could not make full use of any powers while inhabiting his body.
10 Inherent Powers[]
Level ?: Sanity Down: Nyarlathotep has the power to control the minds and emotions of others using this power.
Level ?: Psycho Noise: Sends out a wave of sound that makes it hard for enemies to concentrate on such things as chanting etc.
Level ?: Arkham Drive: Nyarlathotep can attach a tiny piece of himself to those who might be vulnerable to him. This will survive even if the main body is destroyed. If this person is consumed by very dark thoughts He is able to exploit that weakness and forcefully seize their body and magic for himself. A side-effect of this power is that the victim’s skin turns black.
Etymology[]
- Otonashi means "sound" (音) (oto) and "nothing, naught" (無) (nashi), which literally means "without a sound/soundless" altogether.
- Otonashi is also a pun on otto-nashi (夫なし), or "without a husband".
- Tsukikurō means "moon" (月) (tsuki) and "black" (黒) (kurō).