Fujiwara Ishimaru

About
Fujiwara Ishimaru was a JAPANese that unified JAPAN under his name and conquered half of the Continent in just 5 years. He's been described as one of the strongest men in the history of humanity.

Born in NC0661, Fujiwara was the second son of one of the 4 patriarchs of the Fujiwara clan. Even as a young boy, he showed great talent in swordsmanship and had a great love of adventure. Not held back by his family, he left home in NC0681, at the age of 20, to travel the world, and during the course of his travels, travelled through a Hell Hole, becoming the only human known to have ventured into Hell.

In an original draft of the lore, Fujiwara stole the three treasures of the oni and made them his Imperial Regalia, once he became Emperor. However, in a revision, the 2nd Class Goddess Amaterasu, manager of Hell was introduced and she is said to have created the regalia in NC440 as an apology to the people of JAPAN after a mistake that caused the Hell Holes to start appearing in the first place. She also created the position of Emperor at that time, but it remained unfilled for 2 centuries, until Fujiwara gathered the regalia.

In addition to his adventure into Hell, during his 20s, Fujiwara also travelled to the Youkai Kingdom, in a remote mountainous area (presumably Oushuu or Ezo, though this is not confirmed, as the Youkai Kingdom there in Sengoku Rance was only founded millennia later after the Great Youkai War by Dokuganryuu Masamune) and there he fought with Kurobe, the strongest of the youkai and the first youkai king, who became his loyal subordinate upon his loss.

Returning, triumphant, with Kurobe and a youkai army and the imperial regalia, Fujiwara took leadership of the Fujiwara Clan, likely around the age of 30. Shortly after, he unified JAPAN under his banners.

During the course of his adventures, return home and conquest of JAPAN, Fujiwara took 13 wives who would bear him 40 children.

We do not know how the devil, Geppei became Fujiwara's subordinate, if he was already serving the Fujiwara clan, or someone Fujiwara met during his adventures. The lore simply says that Geppei was the true ambition creating the plan to conquer the continent from behind the scenes and using his silver tongue to motivate Fujiwara to leave on this conquest. If anything, it appears Geppei found Fujiwara unambitious, preferring sex and swordplay to conquest and politics. Geppei's true motivation was not out of loyalty for Fujiwara, however, but rather to spread Tenshiism a belief system that included various rituals that usurp souls from Ludo-Rathowm's cycle to send them to Rathowm, king of the devils.

Although the manipulative devil had ulterior motives, in his quest to spread Tenshiism, he brought various benefits to Fujiwara and the people of JAPAN and even the continent. Along wth Tenshiism, Geppei, as the top administrator under Fujiwara, nurtured prosperity through new agricultural practices, governance systems and even diviner magic that let the JAPANese seal the Hell Holes that were becoming a plague across JAPAN.

Convinced by Geppei, and supported by his 57 loyal generals, Fujiwara set off sometime in, or shortly before NC700 to the Continent and takes over half of all human lands within the following 5 years. Although youkai cannot usually travel outside of JAPAN without a scale or fang from Orochi, as they must remain near their primordial progenitor, because Kurobe was made from an especially large fragment, a fully fang of Orochi, he was able to leave JAPAN to accompany Fujiwara in his conquest. Furthermore, the aura Kurobe exuded allowed him to bring an army of youkai with him, making for a fearsome threat the continent had never seen before.

When Fujiwara's occupied territory started to encroach on Nighcisa's castle, he sent his subordinate Xavier to go teach the human upstarts a lesson, deeming it beneath him to do so himself. It is also said that the gods had an inkling of Geppei's plan and feared Ishimaru's potential so much that they told Demon King Nighcisa to kill Ishimaru, while the Archfiend himself remained somewhat complacent.

Regardless, Xavier and his demon army decimated Fujiwara's 2 million troop army. Fujiwara himself was not able to pierce the Invincibility Field of the fiends and Xavier killed him in NC706, when he was still only 45 years old.

Despite his failure, Xavier had high words of praise, saying that Fujiwara's strength was beyond human.

After his loss, Xavier pushed his forces back into JAPAN but was eventually sealed by Geppei. Fujiwara's legacy would thus continue through the scattered Imperial Regalia and the fiend, Xavier, who would come back to threaten JAPAN.

Abilities
He's well known as one of the strongest human fighters in history and he's also the only level 3 swordsman known in the history of the Continent. He was also charismatic and a great leader, intelligent and efficient. One of his most notable feats was his defeat of the first Yokai King Kurobe, who had been undefeated before hand. He could lead an army to conquer half of the Continent in just a few years and his potential scared the gods. Despite his unmatched skill and strength, he was killed in battle by Dark Lord Xavier, due to the fact that he couldn't pierce his invincibility field.

His level cap is 108, one of the highest among humans, and at the time of his death, his level was 92.

Personal History

 * NC0440 - The Tenma Bridge is constructed by the Goddess Amaterasu to connect JAPAN with the Continent.
 * NC0661 - Fujiwara Ishimaru is born.
 * NC0681 - Fujiwara Ishimaru leaves the Fujiwara Clan to adventures in JAPAN, including a visit to Hell and the Youkai Kingdom.
 * NC069X - Fujiwara Ishimaru unifies JAPAN under the flag of the Fujiwara House, becoming the emperor.
 * NC0700 - Emperor Ishimaru Fujiwara begins his conquest. In under 5 years, more than half of all human lands on the Continent belong to him.
 * NC0705 - The Fujiwara House dominates most of the Continent. Demon King Nighcisa orders Xavier to attack Fujiwara's army. Xavier leads an army of demons to decimate Fujiwara's army of 2 million and drive them back to JAPAN.
 * NC0706 - Fujiwara Ishimaru ultimately dies at the hands of Xavier, who is sealed away by the Devil Monk, Geppei.

Trivia

 * He had the second highest cap known in the series, losing only to Maha Margaret.
 * He granted the Seal of Approval to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro that Rance must acquire to open hostilities with the Youkai Kingdom.