List of Flame of Recca Characters - Antagonists

Antagonists

Kurei (紅麗, Kurei?)

Kurei is Recca's older half brother. He was born in 1571 (four years prior to Recca's birth), and is the firstborn son of Flame Master Ōka and his mistress Reina. He was initially recognized as the next leader of the Hokage clan due to his innate flame powers, but the Hokage elders label him as a cursed child when his younger half-brother, Recca Hanabishi, also exhibits the same powers. Kurei was supposed to be killed in order to save the clan, but due to Kagerō's intervention, Kurei and his mother are exiled instead. Kurei then eventually attempts to kill Recca, and ends up imprisoned for his crime. He eventually escapes the prison when it is destroyed during Oda Nobunaga's raid on the Hokage village, and he jumps into the time portal Kagerō opened in order to save Recca by sending him into the future.

Kurei is then found and adopted by Tsukino Mori, the wife of one of the series' main antagonists, Kōran Mori. Kōran raises Kurei to become a "machine", repeatedly telling him that he does not need human emotions and that he should just throw them away. Upon seeing how much Kurei loved his mother, Kōran has her transferred to a different house and keeps her under house arrest. When Kurei ends up falling in love with Kurenai, Kōran Mori's adopted daughter, Kōran has her killed. This causes Kurei to despise his adoptive father, but since Kōran is holding his mother hostage, he obeys Kōran's orders.

Kurei is the leader of the Uruha, a group of skilled warriors hired to serve Kōran Mori and to assist Kurei in missions that Kōran orders him to undertake.

Like his father and his half-brother, Kurei has the innate power to produce and manipulate fire. The main form of his flame is the Phoenix, and is shown to be of a different color compared to Recca's (Kurei's flames are purple in the anime series and a different shade of red in the Flame of Recca video games). Kurei has the ability to absorb souls into his flame, and use them to produce humanoid flames that fight for him and obey his commands. The first time Kurei absorbed a soul into his flame was when he absorbed Kurenai's soul right after Kōran killed her. The second instance of this was when he absorbed the soul of a loyal member of the Uruha named Jisho (this is not shown in neither the anime nor the video games). His power is not limited to absorbing just one soul at a time, as shown by his absorption of several souls after an opponent slaughters many men in the latter part of the manga.

Kurei is also capable of executing non-flame based techniques such as Wakemi, a technique that allows him to produce multiple, solid duplicates of himself that possess his powers and skills. In the last part of the manga, he is shown to be able to use the Jikuryūri, a technique that allows its user to open a portal in time.

Mori Kōran (Augustus Mori)

Mori is the main antagonist of the series with a resemblance to Frankenstein's monster. He is Kurei's adoptive father, and he trained Kurei to suppress his emotions and become his killing machine. He is extremely rich, and longs for eternal life so he can fully enjoy all his money. He sets up advanced cloning labs and wants to get his hands on Yanagi because he believes that her healing powers can help him achieve eternal life. In the manga, he eventually finds out about and obtains the madōgu Tendō Jigoku, which is said to be able to grant its wielder eternal life.

Renge

Renge is a clone produced in Mori's lab using Kurei's and Kurenai's genes. Her personality is of a naive little girl, and thus she follows Mori Kōran's orders without question because she sees him as her "papa." Among all the clones they created, Renge is the only one considered to be successful because she is the only clone that developed flame powers. She is eventually defeated and humiliated by Kurei, terrifying her and making her run to Mori for protection. Mori, who had then fused with the Tendō Jigoku, betrays her and kills her through allowing the Tendō Jigoku to devour her in order to absorb her flame powers. She only appears in the manga and the Flame of Recca video games.