Faceless also know as The Faceless Commander is the enigmatic and odd leader of the Shirogane-O. In truth he is the 3rd and last incarnation of Bai Jin succeeding Sadayoshi Saiga and is by proxy the main antagonist of Karakuri Circus for the last part of the series.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Faceless resembles and oldman with short silver hair and spiked, pointy mustache and beard. He is almost always seen wearing sunglasses and a clear coat. Despite looking human his body is fundamentally mechanical and his face can stretch.
Personality[]
Faceless appears as a rather enigmatic figure, being serious at times but mostly showing a playful, comical, goofy and easygoing exterior. Deep down and being the 3rd incarnation of Bai Jin, he retrains all his negative traits, namely his psychotic obsession with making any of the Francine look alikes love him, doing anything and everything for that purpose.
At this point he has lost his humanity not only in body but also in soul as he is far more cruel, sadistic and sociopathic on his approach. He justified the senseless destruction caused by his actions as being the result of "pursuing his dreams" reasoning that they would become true at last, showing not the tiny bit of remorse for any of his wrongdoings. As Masaru puts it, Faceless is so insane that he doesn't think he has done anything wrong in the least and compares him to a "Black Sun", shining but burning so hot that it scorches everything it touches and reasons that nobody in the world is safe so long as he's alive, for he will bring as much misery and destruction as needed to complete his plans.
This point is more than proven when he starts a genocidal attack on a global scale by infecting the entire planet with Zonapha Syndrome for two reasons, so that nobody can oppose him and most disturbingly, so that Eleonore, the target of his affections can love no one but Faceless.
He shows sadistic satisfaction on all of this senseless murder, and even goes as far as sending his personal army to put a halt to any resistance to him and do so in a way that destroys any ounce of hope left, leaving only despair and death.
Although talkative he seems to show absolutely no concern even to his automaton creations, as he revived the Les Quattro Pioners purely because he thought they were amusingly pathetic for serving a fake for so long.
Story[]
Following his encounter with Shoji where his own human body was injured after being bathed in acid, the wounded Sadayoshi rebuilt himself into an automaton, assuming the identity of Faceless as a Shirogane in order to continue his plans for Masaru and Eleonore.
Faceless became the leader and creator of the Shirogane-O a force of Shirogane turned automaton cyborgs while secretly building a private Automaton Circus of his own.
When the Shirogane are able to trace the Midnight Circus' base at the Sahara Desert, Faceless joins the read of the Shiroganes while leading the rest of Shirogane-O into destroying Faceless' former creations (albeit unknown to everyone but himself). As the battles raged on inside the circus tent, Narumi is cornered by trap made of a wall full of drills. Faceless "sacrifices" himself by using his mechanical body to block the gears and destroy the trap allowing Narumi and the few survivors to fight the Les Quattro Pioners and defeat the Francine Doll who turned out to be a fake created by the true Francine Doll. Faceless himself survived the battle and hid now in pursuit of Masaru to download himself.
When Masaru learns of the purpose set by Sadayoshi for him, Shoji, Guy and the Kuroga village who believe Masaru has become Sadayoshi pursuit him relentlessly in order to kill him for his crimes. When Masaru is captured and forced to drink a fraction of Aqua Vitae with the memories of Shoji so that "Sadayoshi" realizes where he failed before executing him.
After Masaru sees the events of the past putting him in trance, he awakens and protests that the download failed and he remains Masaru. Intending to prove it he tries to escape although he has visions as a result of the partial download. Masaru tries to escape but is recaptured as before he wakes up now seeing all the memories from Shoji's past. At Shoji's behest he answers that the Soft Stone is in Eleonore's body and begins to cry at the misery and ruin that everyone had to endure as a result of how as he puts it "a single gear fell off" causing everyone to be able to find lasting happiness. Having heard enough Shoji and Guy plan to execute him, but Faceless who was posing as a puppeter, then reveals additional facts that complement everything known by then.
Faceless then reveals himself to everyone as being both Bai Jin as well as Sadayoshi. The puppeters attack but he easily repels them using his weaponry. He then proceeds to clarify that Masaru's download was indeed a failure dispelling everyone from the confusion. Before Guy can do anything he is pinned down with metallic spikes propelled by Faceless which puncture into Shoji's liquid tank. He then removes a spike causing the tank to break down and depriving Shoji of his life sustainance. Now trying to take Masaru to complete the download, Shoji apologizes to Masaru and warns him that his personal katana is on a nearby drawer which Masaru uses to defend himself. Having part of Sadayoshi's memories he realizes that Faceless' body is mechanical and is able to stab his leg joints and cut one of his arms. Faceless then plans to beat Masaru enough so that he's alive but cannot fight back.
As he readies his strike Eleonore arrives and is pierced and electrified by Faceless' arm turned into a spear. Rejoiced at having found Eleonore he grabs her and using tentacles sprawling from his body proceeds to grab into his personal airship. He challenges Masaru into a "game of bonds" whether he can truly save Eleonore from him, or whether Faceless' plot wins at the end as he maniacally laughs and turns off the transmition he gloats that humanity will be erradicated leaving no opposition alive and nobody for Eleonore to love but him.
Faceless then locks Eleonore in a room and has her dressed up elegantly. Before long he makes a broadcast to the entire planet showing his Artemis automatons which proceed to infect the world with Zonapha, in sadistic delight. Enraged at his cruelty, Masaru boards the Jack-O'-Lantern in pursuit of Faceless to save Eleonore. Guy goes with him as well but they are attacked by one of Faceless' automatons, Cupidia.
The revived members of the Les Quattro Pioners, Arlecchino, Pantalone and Colombine show their gratitude at being revived but are puzzled as to why he went so far at reviving them. Faceless responds that he did so for his personal amusement as he found all of them to be inexplicably pathetic for serving a fake for so long without realizing, leaving them speechless. When the crew is celebrating Faceless' victory, members Faceless' new elite, Harlequin and Diamantina mock the Pioners and relegate them to serve Eleonore.
Faceless comes to learn that the Zonapha Syndrome Research Institute has developed a machine that can halt Zonpaha, known as HARRY and sends an army of automatons to attack it and secure it. Harlequin offers himself to go and complete the mission, but Faceless is confident it will be fine as Blom, one of their strongest is there leading the attack. However and to make sure humans have every shred of hope destroyed he orders Pantalone to go as back up.
Abilities[]
Faceless is the leader of the Shirogane-O and such has authority and command over them both during the battle against the Midnight Circus and when he carries out his plans as he gains the loyalty of some members.
Being the 3rd of Bai Jin's incarnations, he has every bit of knowledge from his previous lives, including alchemy and puppetry which he has used to create his own personal circus of automata, who obey him without question.
Rebuilding his body into an automaton himself, Faceless is fundamentally mechanical and has an array of multiple weaponry and equipment concealed into his own body, and is far more powerful than most automata. However, being an automata himself, he shares the same weakness as they do, being vulnerable to Aqua Vitae and by proxy Shirogane blood. His mechanical body also follows certain common schematics which can be taken advantage upon to imperil him.
The equipment he has shown is as follows:
- Air Pressure Cannon: He can launch air blasts which can hit multiple targets with great power and knock them inconscious.
- Spike Cannon: His left arm can morph well beyond his external size and catapult metallic spikes with great force and speed.
- Spike Arm: He can reshape his arm into a spiked lance, which he can use to stab his foes, this weapon can release and electric discharge that leaves its victims unconscious.
- Body Wires: His body can produce an array of multiple, large wires which he can use to grab onto surfaces in order to escape. More of a backup option as it was used when his right arm was severed.
Others[]
- Dismantle: A technique developed by him as Sadayoshi. As the name suggests it consists of dismantling the body parts of its foes, particularly automata or puppets. By using hand tools he's capable of striking at the joints of its foe and tear it apart instantly, either weakening it, or rendering it completely useless. It can be used to an extent against humans too, although in this case it simply consists of inflicting physical trauma to break bones.