Ryuen

Biodata

Power Progression

Ryuen’s documented enhancements come from drugs and an implanted controller rather than a named cultivation or leveling system.

Appearance

• Height: Nearly 1.9 meters tall 5.
• Hair and face: Short black hair, sharply defined features, and fierce, predatory eyes 5.
• Distinguishing expression: Frequently grins with conspicuous, animal-like canine teeth 7 35 46.
• Under drug enhancement: Bloodshot eyes, unnaturally swollen muscles, dilated pupils, ragged breathing, and involuntary muscle twitching. His neck veins also bulge before the beach match 11 15.
• Controller implant: A tiny metal chip embedded in his arm, surrounded by traces of surgical healing 46.

Personality

Ryuen governs through intimidation and treats interclass competition as an opportunity to dominate his opponents. He threatens physical “accidents,” commands followers to attack, and uses students’ private information as leverage. His grudges persist through repeated defeats and even a two-week suspension 2 5 19 32 41.

His aggression conceals insecurity. Through emotional perception and linking abilities, Tang Yu detects inferiority, fear of losing control, and fear of being exposed beneath Ryuen’s arrogance. Ryuen can nevertheless restrain himself when the consequences appear credible: he abandons the summit confrontation rather than risk punishment over supposedly recorded evidence 7 12.

He is more calculating than his open threats suggest. His public declaration of “hunting season” masks another plan, while his blackmail campaign targets several Class D students at once. Later revelations also complicate his apparent independence: Tsukishiro coerces his cooperation, and Ryuen eventually seeks a way to escape that control 32 44 46.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Combat

Ryuen fights aggressively with charges, heavy punches, and combinations, relying heavily on physical force 11 15.

• His drug-enhanced attacks slam Tang Yu into a wall and crack one of his ribs 11 12.
• Ayanokoji identifies a recurring habit: Ryuen tends to use a right hook on his third move 15.
• Superior technique repeatedly overcomes his enhanced strength. Tang Yu defeats him using Shaolin martial arts in the beach match and Wing Chun in the later alley confrontation 15 20.

Drug Enhancement

An unidentified drug increases Ryuen’s strength and speed while accompanying severe emotional and physical instability 11 12 15.

• Tang Yu’s system explicitly identifies the condition as Drug Enhancement 11.
• Ryuen uses the drug again during his suspension 19.
• The enhancement is not sustainable without consequences: his body begins suffering backlash roughly a minute into the beach match 15.

Leadership and Ambush Tactics

Ryuen directs scouts, armed groups, and coordinated intimidation campaigns 5 7 32.

• Sends a scout to observe Class D’s island camp 5.
• Occupies elevated terrain and deploys students carrying improvised weapons at the summit 7.
• Positions ambushers around the hidden warehouse 13.
• Assembles roughly thirty attackers from multiple classes for the gymnasium trap 41.

Blackmail and Psychological Warfare

Ryuen gathers compromising information to pressure students into undermining their own class 23 32 33.

• Exploits Karuizawa Kei’s middle-school history and threatens to distribute private photographs 28.
• Uses both bribery and knowledge of Kushida Kikyo’s secret to secure her cooperation 23 32.
• Hires outsiders to track and threaten Karuizawa; their phones contain his messages, her former address, and covert photographs 33.
• Plans to expose Karuizawa’s past during the Debate Tournament, exploiting anxiety over the Expulsion Vote to fracture Class D 32.
• Later uses doctored photographs to support another threat after the earlier photographs have been destroyed 37 42.

Vulnerabilities

• Fear of enforceable punishment: Tang Yu bluffs him into abandoning the summit by claiming that evidence of the attack is being uploaded 7.
• Emotional interference: Induced hesitation allows Tang Yu to bypass him at the warehouse; reflected fervor makes him withdraw a proposed coup during the training simulation 13 25.
• Evidence-based pressure: Recordings, communication logs, and Student Council testimony force him to agree to surrender the photographs 35.
• External control: Tsukishiro’s implanted device can amplify his aggression and punish him with pain 46.

Equipment / Items

• Enhancement drug — An unidentified substance used to increase physical performance; its supplier is initially unknown 11 12 19.
• Implanted controller — A metal chip installed by Tsukishiro, capable of increasing aggression and causing severe pain 46.
• Phone — Used to communicate with hired outsiders and threaten the distribution of compromising material 33 41.
• Photographs and personal information — Blackmail material used against students. The photographs shown during the gymnasium incident are later identified as doctored 32 33 42.

Relationships

• Tang Yu — Principal rival. Their conflict escalates from island-test intimidation to assault, blackmail, and kidnapping. Ryuen eventually proposes joining him against Tsukishiro 5 41 46.
• Class C followers — Subordinates used for reconnaissance, ambushes, surveillance, and attacks. Ishizaki Daichi and Ibuki Mio are present among the gymnasium group 5 23 41.
• Karuizawa Kei — Blackmail and kidnapping victim. Ryuen exploits her past to pressure her into helping bring down Horikita and uses her as bait for Tang Yu 28 41.
• Kushida Kikyo — Class D collaborator. Karuizawa identifies her among those Ryuen has bribed; Ayanokoji later reports that he also knows one of her secrets 23 32.
• Miyabi Nagumo — Co-conspirator in a plan to use Karuizawa’s secret against Horikita and divide Class D 24 26.
• Horikita Suzune — Strategic target whose position in Class D Ryuen seeks to undermine 26 28.
• Ayanokoji Kiyotaka — Initially an opponent who dismantles the gymnasium assault. Ayanokoji later identifies Ryuen as a possible ally against Tsukishiro because he wants freedom from the controller 42 44.
• Tsukishiro Shuhei — Coercive handler. Ryuen attributes hallucinations and altered memories to him and seeks to stop being his experimental subject 37 44 46.
• Horikita Manabu — Student Council president who accepts evidence against Ryuen and intervenes to end the gymnasium incident 37 42.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Deserted Island Test: Intimidation and Ambushes

Ryuen is first mentioned when Ayanokoji warns Tang Yu that Class C will retaliate and that Ryuen holds grudges. During the island test, Tang Yu exposes a Class C scout and deliberately challenges Ryuen to approach openly. Ryuen arrives with three muscular followers, threatens possible “accidents,” and leaves after Ichinose intervenes 2 5.

At the mountain summit, Ryuen and four students confront Class D with sharpened sticks, rock-filled nets, and a homemade slingshot. Tang Yu bluffs that the attack has been recorded and is being uploaded, prompting Ryuen to withdraw. Ryuen remains nearby, however, and prepares an ambush against Class A; Tang Yu’s group later hears fighting between the two classes 7 8.

Drug Enhancement and the Warehouse

During the storm-related suspension of the test, Tang Yu follows Ryuen to a meeting with a hooded adult on the northeastern shore. The precise nature of what Ryuen obtains is not established in the supplied account 10.

Ryuen subsequently enters a cave in an abnormal physical state and attacks Tang Yu, whose system confirms drug enhancement. Tang Yu’s Emotional Link detects a foreign-seeming sense of command within Ryuen’s emotions. After inflicting serious injuries, Ryuen retreats when Class D and Class B reinforcements arrive 11 12.

He next leads an ambush around the hidden warehouse. Tang Yu diverts his followers and implants hesitation in Ryuen long enough to unlock the entrance. Tang Yu and Ichinose escape through the back door with supplies while Ryuen pounds on the main doors 13 14.

Beach Match and Suspension

Ryuen represents Class C against Tang Yu in the physical competition. Despite increased speed and strength, he cannot overcome Tang Yu’s temporary Shaolin mastery. As the drug enhancement begins to backfire, Tang Yu finishes the fight with a sequence ending in a sweeping kick. Ryuen cannot rise and later passes out 15.

Following the exposure of the conspiracy, Class C is disqualified on suspicion of cheating. Ryuen later states that he received a two-week suspension. During that suspension, he confronts Tang Yu in an urban alley with four followers while drug-enhanced again; Tang Yu defeats all five using Wing Chun 15 19 20.

Special Training and the Campaign Against Class D

During special training, Ryuen meets secretly with Nagumo and is assigned alongside Tang Yu to the Military Faction. He proposes seizing the Central Warehouse in a coup, but withdraws after Tang Yu reflects his fervent emotions back at him 24 25.

Reports from Karuizawa and Ayanokoji reveal a broader scheme: Ryuen and Nagumo intend to exploit Karuizawa’s past to attack Horikita and split Class D. By the new semester, Ryuen has contacted several Class D students and publicly leads Class C in chanting, “Hunting season begins! Target: Class D!” Ayanokoji identifies the display as a distraction from his real plan 26 28 32.

Exposure of the Blackmail Network

Tang Yu subdues two hired outsiders and obtains recordings and message histories linking them to Ryuen. He uses that evidence, reinforced by Student Council testimony, to demand the originals and backups of the photographs. Ryuen agrees to deliver them while insisting that their conflict is only beginning 33 34 35.

Tang Yu later states that the photographs have been destroyed. During another confrontation, he notices fear beneath Ryuen’s anger. Ryuen warns him that Tsukishiro can enter people’s minds and make them see things they should not see 37.

Gymnasium Trap

Ryuen kidnaps Karuizawa and demands that Tang Yu come alone to the abandoned gymnasium. With students watching from above, he orders Tang Yu to endure approximately thirty attackers for ten minutes and threatens a humiliating livestream if he refuses 41.

Ayanokoji intervenes and overwhelms the attackers, leaving Ryuen visibly afraid. Horikita Manabu ends the incident, orders disciplinary proceedings, and announces that Ryuen is suspected of kidnapping and coercion, with a possible police referral. Karuizawa later confirms that the photographs used in this latest threat were doctored 42.

Attempt to Break Free from Tsukishiro

Ayanokoji subsequently explains that Ryuen was forced to cooperate with Tsukishiro and has a nanocontroller implanted in his body. He includes Ryuen among students who may be able to resist Tsukishiro’s influence 44.

Ryuen then privately shows Tang Yu the chip in his arm. He explains its aggression-amplifying and pain-inducing functions and proposes working together against Tsukishiro. He also claims that Tsukishiro controlled the gymnasium attackers and can induce hallucinations and alter memories. The supplied account ends before Tang Yu accepts or rejects the proposal 46.