Kaioh

Kaioh
	; Kaioh, as depicted in the manga.
Name in Kanji	カイオウ
Name in Romaji	Kaiō
Alternate spelling(s)	Kaiou, Caiou, Caioh, Kaio, Caio
Fighting Style	Hokuto Ryū Ken, Hokuto Sōke no Ken
Family	Ryuou (ancestor) ; Hahaja (unnamed mother); Raoh (younger brother); Toki (younger brother); Sayaka (younger sister); Jūkei (sifu); Ryu (nephew)
Position(s)	The First General of Asura (第一の羅将 Dai-ichi no Rashō)
Appearances	Manga (ch. 180-210), Anime (ep. 133-152)
Voice actor(s)	Kenji Utsumi; Masaaki Okura (young); Unshō Ishizuka (Shin Hokuto Musou); Tessho Genda (Legends ReVIVE); Takashi Matsuyama (Shin Hokuto Musou (Mobile))

"The last one alive will be... evil!!!"

— HnK Chapter 196

Kaioh (カイオウ, Kaiō) is the final major antagonist in Hokuto no Ken and the First Rashō (羅将, lit. supreme leader) that rule over the Land of Asura. He is sometimes referred as the Creator of the New Century (新世紀創造主, Shin Seiki Sōzōshu) or the Demon Kaioh (魔神カイオウ, Majin Kaiō).

It is revealed that he is Raoh and Toki's long lost older brother.

Biography

Early Life

Kaioh was the eldest of the siblings Raoh, Toki and Sayaka of the Ryou line. His family serve the Hokuto Soke Clan as servants in Taiseiden, the ancestral home of Hokuto Soke. Kaioh had reserves on serving Hokuto Soke clan blindly and expressed his thought to his younger brother Raoh. One day, a fire broke out in Taiseiden, engulfing the mansion in flames. Although Kaioh's family escape unscathed, his mother sacrificed herself to save the two Hokuto Soke children who she protected from the flames.

While her children were saddened by her death, Kaioh took it the hardest. Not only did his mother die for her sacrifice, her words, along with Jukei's, that they are meant to serve the Hokuto Soke, drove him to anger. He, along with Raoh, stole his mother's body from the church and buried her in a lake. He soon declared that he would devote himself to evil to avoid feeling the pain, his first action killing his beloved pet dog which horrified Raoh.

From then on, he trained his hardest in his martial art, becoming the best among his peers and gaining respect. Jukei, worrying for Hyoh's weak state, blackmailed Kaioh into throwing the fight against Hyoh for Hokuto Soke's sake or he might threaten his siblings. Due to the threat, Kaioh was forced to humiliate himself in the fight by falling off the bridge 'accidentally', losing the respect among his peers and humiliating him in front of the scared Hyoh, while ensuring the safety for his siblings. Soon after he is separated from his brothers by Jukei during the invasion of the Land of Shura.

From then on, Jukei trained Kaioh and Hyoh along with Han in Hokuto Ryuken. Kaioh relentlessly beat Hyoh and attempted to kill him before being stopped by Jukei. Hyoh then visited the imprisoned Kaioh to apologize and reveal that his memory wasn't wiped by Jukei; this made Kaioh brainwash Hyoh instead through Hokuto Ryuken. This causes Hyoh to forget his younger brother Kenshiro and believe that Kaioh and Han are his brothers.

Soon after they conquer the land of Shura and rule as Rashos.

Visit by Kenshiro

However, the Rasho rule over land of Shura would be disputed when Kenshiro arrived to the land to rescue Lin. Lin was kidnapped by Jask/Taiga and went to land of Shura to get Kenshiro and Falco killed in the ruthless land. Shachi sent Lin to Rasho Han to lure Kenshiro to fight Han. Han was defeated by Kenshiro and the legend of Raoh, attempting to liberate Shura spread.

(Missing info)

After his defeat to Kenshiro, Kaioh reconciles with the dying Hyoh, and buries himself in a flux of lava, creating a statue of him holding Hyoh in his arms.

Appearance

At first, his face is concealed in an iron helmet, but later he removes it to reveal his striking resemblance to Raoh, albeit with a "⅄"-shaped scar which covers his face.

Personality

Kaioh is a broken man who has dedicated his life to evil and to rid himself and the world of any trace of love. Because of the death of his mother who saved an infant Kenshiro from a fire due to the love of her heart, Kaioh would scorn and wage war on love itself. This event coupled with how he was forced to lose his matches against a younger and more inexperienced Hyoh to encourage him, despite Kaioh being the better fighter, made him hate the Hokuto Sōke line, blaming it for the death of his mother and his repeated humiliations.

Turning to Hokuto Ryū Ken and fully embracing the evil within it, Kaioh would set his mind on destroying everything related to Hokuto Sōke and Hokuto Shinken therefore, ensuring the supremacy of Hokuto Ryū Ken in the new age, to further insult the main Hokuto lines whom he believed had unjustly stepped upon the legacy of Hokuto Ryū Ken to cement their own status.

He is so commited to evil that on his first act of malice he killed his loyal pet dog in order to truly rid himself of his own humanity, thereby commiting a multitude of atrocities in the years to come. He had no qualms about killing his own sister Sayaka in order to frame Kenshiro of her death, so that both Kenshiro and Hyoh would kill each other, therefore guaranteeing his dominance over the world. He is easily infuriated in the face of interference, particularly from those who despite being much weaker than him, still prove a hindrance to his plans pursuing the offenders with ruthless fervor. He displays terrifyingly sadistic tendencies as well, when he brutally tortured Kenshiro prior to his planned execution, and striking a pressure point on Lin that would cause her to fall in love with the first person she saw after waking up, purely to ridicule love itself.

Despite his nearly unlimited malice, Kaioh would still have some humanity within him, as he still treasured his mother and had a well kept tomb in her honor to which he addressed and treated very respectfully. When defeated, he allowed himself to be killed by Hyoh as penance for killing his fiancée, yet when he's shown compassion instead, Kaioh feels genuine regret for all his actions, wishing to be reborn alongside Hyoh and Sayaka so that they all can play like normal children.

In the original manga, Kaioh speaks with very vulgar language. In the anime, he is still rude, but uses fewer expletives.

Abilities

Kaioh was a practitioner of Hokuto Ryū Ken and the strongest user of the art, ruling as the first Rashō in the Land of Asura. He is notable for being the most powerful enemy Kenshiro ever faced in the series, and had the might to back it up. He was an incredibly skilled martial artists who mastered the signature Matōki to the point that he constantly exuded from his body, pouring from even his eyes and mouth as he breathed. So evil was his aura, that he needed to wear an armor to keep it focused and even then it could concentrate enough to create a visible demonic figure, which was used as a sign of his coming, dubbed the Genma Eirei (幻魔影霊, Evil Spirit Phantasm).

His mastery over the evil aura was such, that he could channel it into energy projectiles of great power. He could also use it defensively to shield himself from certain physical attacks, and could even erupt a geyser of such aura around himself injuring everyone around himself. Kaioh could also employ his aura to dispel Musou Tensei and could employ the deadly Anryu Tenha with which he could levitate and disorient his target, leaving them sitting ducks for him to slaughter. He was also knowledgeable of pressure points and was also able to strike them to cause destruction or other effects.