Demi-Fiend

 WARNING: The following will spoil the plot of SMT Nocturne!

Race: half-fiend, half-human
Alignment: Neutral
Age: 18

Story:

Naoki Kashima was originally a high school student, and was going to visit his teacher with his two friends: Chiaki and Isamu. However, during the hospital visit, he uncovered Hikawa dabbling with demon magic. His teacher saves him, but has him witness the end of the world, with the only survivors being inside of the hospital. All other humans are just turned into spirits, while the world outside is filled with destroyed buildings and endless sand, all while the Kagutsuchi seems to act like a sun. Afterwards, he was approached by a kid and what he assumed was his nanny. They gift him the Magatama, which goes through his eye in a painful transformation, creating the Demi-Fiend. Left hurt, confused, and realizing he has to kill demons to survive while also recruiting them, he tries his best to survive in this world, find his friends, and figure out how to undo the nightmare of this Apocalypse.

During his journey, he is unable to protect his friends despite finding them, mainly because they want to find their own path, and their goals do not align. This is made worse when they make their own pacts with demons, turning into demons similar to that of Naoki, and their attitudes changing completely. Unable to stomach the thought of killing his only friends, Naoki fails to stop them from killing many people, even finding himself used by Isamu. The experience left him bitter and angry, thoughts turning to just doing what Lucifer wants. Eventually, through some help with his own demons, including Dante of Devil May Cry, he shakes off the idea off.

He also witnessed a lot of death, which he was always unable to prevent. The first of which was his teacher, forcefully sacrificed by Hikawa. The second was Hijiri, watching his former comrade turn on him, only for Isamu to capture and sacrifice the man when Naoki refused to kill Hijiri, trying his best to value life if helped. Naoki has since tried to not let this weakness tie him down, hand always ready to blast those that would turn down his offer. It's only through these harsh experience that made him harden, but also keep hope alive.

The finale of the game in the Neutral Ending is the best example of this, as he is forced to kill his friends in order to revert the world back to normal. Through help from his demonic allies, he is able to do it, defeat his former friends and return the world to normal from before Hikawa began the Conception. This would mean everyone who died in the previous world did not die at all, having no memories, except for Naoki, and strangely his teacher. He is aware of the existence of YHVH, but refuses to sacrifice people to accomplish that goal. He believes the humans that were killed in the Apocalypse deserve a chance of life of their own. True, he saw the worst in his own friends, but he also knows them at their best as well. Without that kind of hope, he cannot function, and likely would have joined Lucifer in destroying his world for the sake of fighting YHVH.

[Video]

H-hello?

[For this wondering where in the heck Naoki vanished too, there he is...as a seven-year old, and no tattoos. As opposed to the constantly glaring young man who was always angry, or nervous or neutral around people, he looked confused, maybe a bit frightened. Heck, he even has a friggin jacket as opposed to his tattoos. A smile did form on his face though, Cerberus coming into picture and helping his master.]

T-thank you, Kirby! [Cerberus seemed to facepalm after being called that, but Naoki merely laughed and stared at the book.]

So people can here me? Does anyone know where this place is? I'm Naoki Kashima, and I don't know where my parents are and...well, I still have Kirby here with me! Still...I'm worried...

[action]

[Naoki seems to ease out of his fears, riding atop of Cerberus and carrying a jar of bugs, aka his Magatama. He is smiling at least, cheering Cerberus as the creature kept allowing him to travel all over the place. You might see him just about anywhere, from the blacksmith, to the restaurants, to even the edge of the forest too.]

[Naoki didn't care about the new people, still adjusting to this place and would rather do anything else. Thankfully, he isn't too hard to find, sort of. He'll be either wandering in the forest, taking a nap on the grass in the sun, while Cerberus was used as a pillow, resting comfortably.

Or he'll be at the Battle Dome, practicing his skills against various demons. He's been in there for hours at a time, savagely beating his foes with fists alone. Still, while he is easily knocking them around despite the large numbers, his style and technique is rather low. Offer advice?]