Lodem

Biodata

Background

Lodem is the violent second personality of Maruk, a child taken from a war-zone village after mercenaries slaughtered its inhabitants. Q Dalang raised Maruk as his son and used him as a human test subject; Maruk was the only subject to survive 36 37 39.

According to Q Dalang, experiments involving drugs and artificial alteration of the brain strengthened Maruk’s body but impaired his intelligence and moral sense. Maruk resisted orders to kill, and Lodem emerged under the pressure of his treatment. The prick of a syringe became a trigger for the murderous personality 31 36.

Appearance

Lodem has a muscular build and an inhumanly fierce appearance. He is nearly equal to Shiraki Uke in height and weight 28 31.

• Wears a mask with a breathing hole 28.
• Fights in combat boots and often carries a dagger 28 30.

Personality

Lodem is aggressive and driven to kill, carrying out Q Dalang’s orders with brutality. Despite his beastlike manner, he can speak and assess danger: he warns Q Dalang that Shiraki is becoming more dangerous as the fight continues 28 29 35.

Maruk is childlike and confused by contrast, and resists killing. After learning the truth about Q Dalang, he struggles over his identity and eventually declares that he is strong but does not want to kill anyone 39 40.

Abilities & Skills

Enhanced strength and durability

• Tore apart metal thumb cuffs and supported himself on a concrete wall with one hand, digging his fingers into it 28.
• Caught Shiraki’s powerful straight punch and later kicked a mercenary’s head into a concrete wall 30 31.
• Continued fighting after Shiraki drove his head into a wall with a German suplex 33.
• Protected his head during Shiraki’s Borscht Dynamite and immediately counterpunched 40.

Speed and perception

• Evaded a mercenary’s submachine-gun fire by moving through the stairwell and running along its walls; he also counted the rounds fired 30.
• Sensed Kure Fusui’s killing intent from a distance and later dodged her sniper shot, suffering a graze to his arm 29 34.
• Recognized Shiraki as a growing threat while Shiraki was still preparing to resume their fight 35.

Battlefield combat

• Uses a dagger, including in a reverse grip, and employs firearms when advantageous 31 33.
• Combined a thrown dagger with a two-footed flying kick that sent Shiraki through a window 34.
• Used two mercenary corpses as shields against a gunpowder trap 36.
• Was temporarily blinded and weakened when dust and acid fumes from a trap affected his eyes and breathing 36.

Equipment

• Dagger — His close-range weapon; he also throws it at Shiraki 28 34.
• Camcorder and transceiver — Fitted beside his ear so Q Dalang could observe and direct him 28.
• Submachine gun — Used against Shiraki on the sixth floor 33.
• Tracker — Placed on him by Q Dalang to monitor his location 38.

Relationships

• Maruk — The original personality sharing Lodem’s body. Maruk opposes killing, while Lodem was born under the pressure of Q Dalang’s experiments and demands 31 36 40.
• Q Dalang — Took Maruk from his village, posed as his father, experimented on him, and used Lodem as an enforcer. Lodem later pursued Q Dalang after being ordered to attack anyone making a sound 37 38 39.
• Shiraki Uke — Lodem’s opponent in the Abandoned Building wager. Shiraki later fights Maruk and urges him to consider how he wants to live 30 39 40.
• Kure Fusui — Provides sniper support against Lodem and later fires near his ears, preventing him from hearing Q Dalang 34 38 39.

Story Role

Abandoned Building wager

After Shiraki’s group defeats Q Dalang’s mercenaries, Q Dalang injects Maruk to awaken Lodem and orders him to kill everyone in the building. Lodem kills three mercenaries on the sixth floor, then swings down the exterior and attacks the group on the fourth floor 28 29.

Shiraki confronts Lodem while Baku Madarame, Akagi Shigeru, and Takaomi Kaji move on. Lodem initially overwhelms Shiraki, but Shiraki changes to a wrestling-based style. Their fight returns to the sixth floor, where Lodem uses a submachine gun and kicks Shiraki through a window; Shiraki survives by clinging outside 30 32 33 34.

Baku and Akagi stall Lodem while Shiraki prepares. A trap involving dust and acid disables Lodem long enough for Shiraki to strike him and Akagi to fire a handgun. Q Dalang believes Lodem is dead, but he survives 35 36 38.

Maruk’s return

Q Dalang contacts the injured Lodem and orders him to kill anyone making a sound. Lodem instead pursues Q Dalang, whose tracker has misled him about Lodem’s location. After Maruk resurfaces and learns the truth about his past, Q Dalang flees and dies in a fall from the sixth floor 38 39.

Maruk and Lodem struggle for control during another fight with Shiraki. Maruk suppresses Lodem and chooses to fight Shiraki without wanting to kill him. Both fall through a sixth-floor window and survive when they land on Kure Fusui’s car; Maruk falls asleep beside Shiraki afterward 40 41.