This was a character I've been having on my mind since sometime after I watched shows like Helluva Boss, Baki (Netflix), Kengan Ashura, and a couple others at the time. But despite that, I wasn't sure on how I wanted to depict Takeshirou's appearance at the time. I initially thought about him having a similar hair color to Loona from Helluva Boss, but later felt it wouldn't work (as it'd accidentally make him look like a genderbent Loona), so I settled for a darker hair color in this case. As for his outfit, I wanted to take inspiration from Cloud's outfit from Final Fantasy 7 while (hopefully) adding enough differentiation to make it more unique (like spikes on the shoulder armor and lack of a belt).

As for his backstory, I'll admit it's kinda rough around the edges because it's not exactly set to stone, but here's what I've got for him:

Takeshirou was originally a human born in Kyoto, Japan sometime around 1849-1851 to a family with a long line of samurai and martial artists, something he picks up on at a pretty young age. Sometime around 1864-1865, he got involved in the Choshu faction of the Ishin Shishi and would later go on to not only become Hitokiri Takeshirou, but would also fight alongside Hitokiri Battousai in some of the battles and later become a wanderer when the Meiji Era began.

Although he never adopted a no killing policy Kenshin had, Takeshirou drastically decreased how often he killed his opponents, only doing so if he had no other option or if the person in question posed a serious threat to Japan or possibly the entire world.

He kept in touch with Kenshin every now and then whenever they crossed paths, but he managed to properly reconnect with Kenshin Himura shortly after the events of the Jinchu Arc when he moved to Tokyo (formerly Edo). He would keep in touch with Kenshin for the next few years until he was died of injuries he sustained in 1883 while defending a family from a deadly assassin (whom he managed to kill before succumbing to his wounds).

Though his body had died, instead of being sent to heaven or hell, he was unexpectedly granted an opportunity to be reincarnated. He took the opportunity without question (completely oblivious he'd lose the memories of his former life which he'd regain eventually).

Though reincarnation in this case resulted in him being reborn as a wolf-like hellhound in 1993 to a poor working class family living in the countryside in Hell. Though he was given the name Takeshirou by his hellhound birth mother (a name which popped into her head for an unknown reason), he had no other memories of his former life at this time. Despite being reborn as a hellhound in Hell, he had a relatively peaceful beginning (save for the yearly exterminations) and even took up martial arts and swordsman training which he surprisingly excelled at for reasons he didn't know at the time.

But shortly after his younger sister, Loona (future IMP Receptionist/Employee/Assassin) was born around 1998, the memories of his former life slowly began to return to him in the form of dreams he'd have every once in a while and difficult to decipher. He didn't know what to make of them at first other than just random dreams. But by the time he was about 14, he began to realize that, while the dreams appeared occasionally, they held a greater significance than he thought.

This conclusion would prove accurate about a year later when the next Extermination took place. He rushed back to his home shortly after the Angel Sirens started going off. He discovered the bodies of his hellhound parents on the way and was distraught by the sight, but immediately fled the scene once he heard the cries of his younger sister in the distance. And right as he saw an Exorcist about to slay his sister, he immediately launched himself towards the being and killed it using its own weapon. Others in the immediate area were made aware of the slaying and flew towards Takeshirou's direction, whom managed to hide his sister in a safe location before going back outside to try and fight them off.

And for the first time in his reincarnated life, he not only applied his martial arts and swordsman training he learned since he was a child, but also subconsciously applied the training he received in his former life as he fought off and/or slaughtered the Exorcists in the area. Once they were slaughtered (or if any surviving Exorcists fled with injuries), Takeshirou met with his sister and treated whatever injuries he sustained. Word of this event would spread throughout various parts of Hell shortly after the Extermination ended, where Takeshirou would become known as, Demonbane, a name which garnered the attention of various demons including sinners, Overlords, Ars Goetia Demons, even Lucifer himself.

Ever since he became to be known as Demonbane, Takeshirou took up work as a mercenary and not only became involved with a Mercenary group who eliminated various threats in Hell, but trained those who were willing to protect others from threats and exorcists. When he was 18, he and his sister moved into a small house in a rural area close to Pentagram City. Though kept to himself, he had befriended a few demons there, including future Happy/Hazbin Hotel founder, Charlie Magne. But a few months after moving close to Pentagram City, he crossed paths with Overlord Alastor, aka the Radio Demon.

Although the meeting was relatively cordial and even started working alongside him here and there (within reason), he kept wary of the Radio Demon as he heard stories about the demon and his raw power. But the more he worked with him, the more he became certain the Radio Demon couldn't be trusted. A few years later, his suspicions proved true.

When he was about the age of 21, A mercenary he worked with informed him of his sister's kidnapping caused by Alastor himself, who sought to fight Demonbane himself in an attempt to seek more entertainment. This pissed him off to the point he not only went after him, but put of more of a fight than Alastor anticipated (much to his initial entertainment and later horror) after Takeshirou saved his sister. Just as he was about to deal the killing blow, Alastor used his powers to conjure a portal and shot him into it, much to Loona's horror (who witnessed the battle through one of the camera feeds on the computer of one of the mercenaries her brother worked with). This made the others believe Takeshirou to be dead, which resulted in Loona going to an orphanage sometime after (and be adopted by Blitzo roughly a year later).

Unbeknownst to the others, the portal Alastor conjured somehow sent Takeshirou back to the place where everything began many years ago: Kyoto, Japan...

While I have more ideas for his back story, more will be revealed in time once I further solidify his backstory. Hope Y'all enjoy!

Takeshirou © Me
Art © me