Previously a Heavens-Blade wielder, a title given only to the twelve most capable fighters of the Lance Shelled City of Glendan, Layfon transferred to the Academy City of Zuellni in hopes of leaving his violent past behind.The main protagonist of the series. In the novel, he is described as having tea-colored hair and blue eyes. He was one of the twelve wielders of the Heaven Blades and also held the title of Wolfstein at the age of ten.
He and Leerin were found by Derek during their early childhood and taken to the orphanage in Grendan. Due to Derek's inability to earn enough money (because of his old age and the fact that he had retired from the battlefront), Layfon decided to earn money fighting in matches in order to provide for themselves and the other orphans. He began to participate in illegal underground matches to earn even more money for the orphanage. His high levels of strong kei and fast mastery of combat techniques earned him a place amongst the ranks of the elite Heaven's Blade wielders at the age of ten, having been given the title "Wolfstein". His Heaven's Blade was a powerful longsword made of white DITE. Eventually, Gahard Vallen challenged Layfon for his title, secretly blackmailing him to lose with the threat of exposing his participation in the underground matches. During their battle, Layfon cut off Vallen's arm, though he had actually been intending to kill him in order to keep his secret safe. As the match had been overseen by Queen Alsheyra, she ordered his immediate arrest and capture in response to his actions. His having taken part in underground matches was later exposed, and he was stripped of his title and exiled from Grendan as a result. [1] He went to start his life anew in Zuellni, determined to put fighting and military arts behind him.
He entered the Academy City of Zuellni as a General Education student with a D-rank scholarship. On the day of the academy's opening ceremonies, however, he attracted attention by unintentionally showing off some of his martial arts skills. In the manga, he throws two Military Arts students to the ground as a reflex to being shoved; in the anime, he saves Meishin from being crushed under falling rubble as a result of two Military Arts students fighting. He was forced to join the Military Arts after Kalian Loss, head of the Student Council, blackmails him into joining as he knows about Layfon's past, and publicly upgrades his scholarship to rank A, which automatically waives his tuition fees. Incidentally, Kalian was already aware of Layfon's abilities from having seen him fighting a filth monster while on a transit bus to Grendan several years ago.
Layfon has extremely high combat capabilities, as can be inferred from his past as a Heaven's Blade wielder, and also has the innate ability to break down Kei techniques and use them just by observation. He mastered all the Phyharden skills in a short period of time and learned the secret techniques of the Luskans that even Savaris was proud of, the Thousand men rush and Killer Roar(Houkeisatsu).
Due to his birthplace, Grendan, being heavily involved in fighting Filth Monsters, he and fighters there developed with a 'win or die' philosophy. One either fight and become stronger or die.[1] Consequently, he deliberately holds back in battles at Zuellni in order to conceal his past with unsuccessful attempts. He said that for him, the entire field is too narrow for him later on to Nina, which made sense since most of the matured pollutant beasts are huge and takes lots of effort to take down.
Felli mentions that he has a large amount of kei when he was unconsciously asleep after knocked out by Nina. Some of his abilities include being able to move at high speed which can harm a normal person's body, he could catch up with the rest of the martial artists while he went to escort Feli since she couldn't travel at the speed of martial artists. All the while he states that he is not moving at a high speed due to Feli's body conditions.[2][3] This also enable him to use a technique to create illusory clones due to speed.[4] Layfon currently works at a machinery cleaning job with Nina in the evening, which has bad working condition and hours but generous pay. His goal is still to find a dream outside of fighting, a decision made as a result of being exiled from Grendan.
Layfon's weapon of choice is a sword. In the past, his Heaven's Blade was shown to be a huge sword as large as his height with exquisite design on the body.[2] His weapon at Zullini before reclaiming the use of katana is a turquoise sword made by Harley, using green DITE.
He refused the katana DITE that Leerin delivered to him after their reunion at Zullini and had a huge argument with her. However, later on, he forgave himself and told Harley and Chilieck to change all his DITEs to a katana shape. His turquoise sword was transformed into a short thick knife with the primary settings of steel thread.[5] During the larvae attack, Layfon requested Harley to add another setting on the sword that would produce an unknown number of golden wires that were razor sharp or as soft as a rope from the hilt.[6] Layfon restores the sword by saying "Restoration 01" and the steel threads with "Restoration 02."
Harley gave Layfon a separate DITE before he went to go fight the matured Pollutant Beast alone. This heavier, black blade, called Adamandite, was made to handle Layfon's kei better by combining several DITEs together and is able to create blasts of air with just a swing, humorously causing Felli's hair to become messy when Layfon first tries it out.[7] It is restored with the phrase, "Restoration A-D" and also retains the first two settings of his older DITE. Adamandite has only been used with stronger Pollutant Beasts so far. (He faced Haia with the simple adamandite).
Layfon has broken his DITE numerous times: he burned it out after the first inter-platoon match, burned out the Adamandite after defeating the matured Pollutant Beast, and had it broken by Haia during their first encounter. All this was due to his immense kei quantity and velocity which only a Heaven's Blade can withstand. Harley and Chilieck (the creator of Adamandite, who does not appear in the anime) are currently working on it so Layfon can fight with the most advantage he has, his enormous amount of kei.[8]
In the anime, after receiving the DITE from Leerin, Layfon then combined both the Heaven's Blade sword and his Phyharden katana to create a katana form of his Heaven's Blade, which also had a larger form that allowed Layfon to stand on for aerial purposes. He used it to defeat attacking Heaven's Blade Wielder Savaris, who was also currently possessed by the Haikizoku, with ease. When the battle against the Dying Slave is finally over, Lintence takes back Layfon's Heaven's Blade without any opposition.[9]
In the novel, Lintence stated Layfon was the only one he acknowledged as his apprentice. He revealed that no one was better in understanding Kei techniques than Layfon and that he had stolen skills from all Grendan's dojos. Layfon seems to have a great learning ability. Lintence states that he was surprised on how Layfon could grasp moves just by observing them.[10]:During a meeting, it was revealed by Haia Salinvan Lyia that Layfon uses the Psyharden style, a style widely used among mercenaries due to its efficient and practical way. Phyharden is not a big dojo, but due to the Salivan Mercenary group, it's renowned throughout the land. His primary weapon when he started learning Martial Arts is a katana instead of a regular sword.[11] He was taught these techniques by his sensei and adopted father Derek, and since Haia's sensei studied alongside Layfon's, Haia and Layfon are cousin apprentices.[12] Layfon has refused to use a katana for he does not want to stain the skills of Physharded with his hands because he became the Heaven's Blade for money to feed all orphans in Grendan.[13] In the anime Layfon fought Haia with his regular DITE, breaking Haia's katana and injuring him in the process.[11]
In the novel, however, he used the simple adamandite katana to fight Haia when he kidnapped Felli and request Layfon do use katana (compare to the adamandite which can change into various weapons, the simple adamandite only has one form which is a katana, but it's more stable and stronger than an adamandite that can change forms.) He first helped Zullini to win the war by breaking the flag of the opponent city with the price of his wrist almost being cut off by Haia, then defeated Haia. This made Haia feel greatly insulted, but Savaris claimed that Layfon has weakened and dulled in the peaceful Zullini and that he shouldn't have been injured. "Salinvan Guidance Mercenary Gang, Deploy!"</ref> Layfon asked Felli to record the Salinvan Guidance Mercenary Gang fighting the Pollutant Beasts in order to help the rest of platoon study their movements so that they could fight together in the future.[14]
In the novel, Layfon's way of thinking is visited. He actually responded with his fist to aggression. He was used to being subjected to jealous older fighters for being stronger and a kid. He doesn't mind about having enemies. He is very smart when in perceiving people's Kei but not so with detecting girls' feelings; he does not detect Leerin, Nina, Felli and Meishen's feelings for him. He admires Nina because she is strong-willed. He is stated not to be particularly keen with studies by the Queen. When he fight for others, he can be very determined and strong. Both he and Leerin, his childhood friend, wish to be reunited again on the soils of Grendan, and as of the volume 14 in the Light Novels, he has verbally acknowledged his feelings for her.
In Chrome Shelled Regios the manga, which was drawn from Nina's point of view, he is seen playing with training balls. She stated how he has trouble using his sword in a team. He is very strong in this manga. For example, he went to find water to stop a fire and ended up throwing a water tank from another building in the classroom's window. He can sometimes be very honest when he talks. Layfon's often seen smiling or confused. That is how people usually see him: polite, but while fighting, he is quite expressionless. The difference between these two states surprised Naruki as she trained with him for the first time, she also finds some sadness in him. Savaris stated that he had weakened after being expelled from Grenden, but since Layfon wasn't fully concentrated and the fact that Savaris doesn't know Layfon's intention and struggles, the opinion might not be fully accurate.
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