Isen

"You're all so concerned about putting everything in the right order. You can't even think outside your pompous, high-tier boxes for one minute!"

- Isen to Cecile

Isen is a third-year student^[3] at Wellston Private High School and is the school's Jack. He was the head of the school press but was later replaced by Cecile. He is the seventh-ranked student, and the most powerful elite-tier in the school. After John's retirement, he becomes the school's Jack, ruling alongside his best friends, Blyke and Remi.

Ideology

Pragmatic, flexible, and somewhat self-serving. Isen prefers to maintain a calm status quo that does not require him to exert himself too much and enables him to do as he likes. In his ideal world, the basic structures of society remain stable and consistent on a major scale, so that everyone can go about their business of looking after their own interests. He embraces dynamic solutions and non-traditional thinking in order to maintain this.

Isen is perhaps the most savvy and adaptable of the main characters. He sees the world in shades of grey and is aware of, and understands well, the complexities of human nature. He has exhibited annoyance at those characters with strong idealism, such as Arlo and Remi, especially when they refuse to bend or compromise.

As such, Isen is one of the few characters who does not believe that might automatically mean right, and that sometimes, out-of-the-box decisions are needed, rather than sticking with tradition.

He does not believe power confers responsibility, and repeatedly turns down offers of joining the Royalty, preferring to maintain his autonomy.

He also does not believe power automatically earns a person loyalty, position, or capability. To maintain his comfortable, functional, status quo, Isen is more than willing to "manage up", and use influence, deception, and manipulation on those in power to achieve what he views as the best outcome and mitigate the damage they might do to his interests. He is also the first person to realize how unsuitable John is for leadership and accept that John is better left outside of the traditional, rank-based, social structure.

For all of that, though, Isen is more than comfortable with his position near the top of the social hierarchy, as the strongest Elite of Wellston. On the one hand, he is unwilling to take part in a ranked fight if he thinks his opponent is clearly weaker, as he considers it a waste of his time^[4]. On the other, he will include intimidation as a tactic to get what he wants, like when he dragged John to dig up info about his past disguised as an interview, and then crushed his wrist when an enraged John grabbed his collar; or when he suggested that Remi just use force to get the captive low-tiers to tell her Waldo's location. He is probably the slowest in the main cast to acknowledge the problem with their society, and the most hesitant to do something about it.

Unless an action serves his interests, Isen will not take it. This pragmatism is somewhat obscured by his chaotic neutral willingness to go along with his friends, start mischief for his amusement, and/or avoid power struggles with Royals, but, the majority of Isen's actions are calculated to deescalate and maintain the general status quo he prefers since it enables his freedom.

Appearance

Isen is a tall teenager with unkempt light orange hair that is dyed dark brown at the base. He has amber eyes. He is a 3rd year student at Wellston High. While attending school, he wears the Wellston school uniform without a tie and vest.

In Chapter 45 he wore a denim jacket over a blue t-shirt and artichoke cargo shorts.

When using his ability, Isen's eyes glow an amber hue. His speech and thought bubbles are amber.

Personality

As an ambitious school journalist, once Isen is assigned an intriguing topic, he is dedicated to his research and aims to make his story the top story; however, despite his dedication to finding the latest scoop, Isen is also known to mess around and is easily the goofiest when compared with the serious Blyke and the driven Remi. This is most evident during the interview with John, he was thought to be taking many notes, but it was revealed that he was doodling a fantasy instead. He is also a girl-crazy individual and has been known to stalk girls from other schools as well.

Isen is also a huge gossip and has been known to spread rumors like wildfire...or he was until he came across a secret so terrifying, that he feared what might happen to Wellston High if it ever got out. Because of this secret, Isen does everything he can to keep the said secret under wraps; however, when pressed by superiors, Isen gives in easily and swallows his principles to avoid displeasing them. He's considered weak-willed and has a cowardly nature as tends to run away from problems to avoid getting in trouble. Furthermore, Isen is well aware that despite his incredible power, he is not suited for leadership positions such as the Head of Press and has outright stated that Arlo's expectations of him are too great for him to bear. Despite his cowardly nature, however, when push comes to shove, Isen is more than capable of taking action when required, even if he would regret it later.

History

One year before John transferred to Wellston Private High School, Blyke, as a first-year student, began arguing with Isen because the latter "stared at [him] since they entered the school." Their argument caught the attention of the school's king, Arlo, but neither Blyke nor Isen showed respect to Arlo. To grab their attention, Arlo threw a fork into a wall and called the two elite tiers outside. Arlo promptly defeated both Blyke and Isen simultaneously that day.^[5]

First Day

Isen was seen in class when John first introduced himself. His first impression of John was that he was a "naive, stupid air-head."^[6] He and his classmates witnessed Elaine shun the powerless John. ^[3] Later that day, Isen managed to get news that Wellston was serving its famous Triple Chocolate Cake and told Blyke.^[7]

Perfection

Isen was briefly seen as a silhouette, telling Blyke that the Triple Chocolate Cake was to be served that day.^[7]

Project Partners

Blyke and Isen were partners when the teacher assigned a literary analysis project later that day. ^[8]

Bonus Episodes

Hot Chocolate

Isen asks Blyke if he would like some hot chocolate. When Blyke says he would, Isen tells him to go make it himself, much to Blyke's irritation. ^[9]

Levels and Tiers:

Isen, Remi, and Blyke were all seen playing cards during Uru-chan's presentation on abilities. ^[10]

Powers & Abilities

Hunter: Isen's ability, Hunter, grants him a wide range of abilities he can use to track down and capture targets. Some abilities include targeting, x-ray vision,^[11] telescopic vision,^[12] enhanced speed, and strength enhancement strong enough to stop a semi-truck^[13] or send people flying through a solid wall. ^[14] He has a well-rounded stat spread.

Physical Ability

Isen is fairly good at combat and can utilize his ability to boost his damage. He is also a fairly fast runner, being able to save Remi by carrying her when she is injured. While he is fairly resilient to damage, he is not as accomplished in this area as his friend Blyke.

Intelligence

Isen is a very analytical person who can deduce information with existing evidence as shown by his research on John. In addition, Isen is also a capable school journalist and can find any sort of information on anyone, according to Arlo.^[15]

Isen does not put the same effort into academics as he does in socializing, investigative journalism, or surviving the conflict of two god-tiers who hate each other. This causes him to struggle with his schoolwork and homework. To finish in time, he copies off Blyke's homework. He has difficulty understanding lectures, and he resorts to cheating during his exams.^[16][17] This is in contrast to his best friend Blyke, who does well academically but is rather short-sighted when it comes to dealing with delicate social situations.

Technology

Isen has shown multiple times he’s great with computers and hacking. He is capable of finding information on John’s previous life even when it was a classified file document.

Quotes

• (On Blyke breaking his pen) "You idiot... I lend you my pen for just one class period, and you go and break it!" ^[14]
• (Being dragged to the infirmary with Blyke by Doctor Darren) "We're so screwed..." ^[18]
• (confronting the Ability Gauge Vendor) "Nice try. You filthy liar."
• "I've always wanted to be interrogated by a hot chick."
• (On Blyke calling him an idiot, shortly after Isen nearly got knocked down by a truck) "Shut the f*ck up, @$$hole!" ^[13]
• (Blyke complaining why a 'cripple' like John was paired up with him) Bro, you have no idea... ^[19]
• (Cecile wants to make John King) "GURL, it ain't that easy!" ^[6]
• (to Blyke) "Allow me to enlighten you sockless sleeper!"
• (Townspeople not listening to Remi) "Just kick their asses and ask questions later!" ^[20]

Notes & Trivia

• The name 'Isen' means 'iron'.
• Isen is currently the strongest elite tier in Wellston, with a level of 4.8.
• Isen habitually drinks a packet of milk on the way to school. ^[21][19]
• One of Isen's dreams is to be interrogated by a hot chick. It was fulfilled in less-than-ideal circumstances.
• Isen ranks 7 out of the whole school and is featured on the school's top 10 list. ^[22]

External Links

Isen on VS Battles

References

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