Salia

Characteristics

 * Name: Salia Onigawara
 * Age: 26
 * Hair: Dark Purple
 * Eyes: Light Brown
 * Likes:
 * Dislikes:
 * Family: All deceased

Background
Her parents divorced when Salia was a child due to her father, having an affair and leaving the family. Salia's mother was devastated by the divorce and blamed Salia for her husband's abandonment of the family. Salia suspected that her mother's reason for this was because she resembled her father as her mother repeatedly told her she was ugly and called her the child of a monster. Therefore, in order to be in her mother's presence, Salia donned a Demon mask which shielded her from such emotional abuse. At the age of five, her mother and she were traveling, hoping to start a new life. However, a nobleman, spotted them, and invited them both to work for his estate. However, en route to the castle, the noble revealed his lustful intentions, attempting to rape her mother. However, she managed to break free and take the nobleman's sword... only to lose the battle and get stabbed, dying in the process. Horrified, Salia attempted to flee, but he gave chase from their carriage and pinned her down in an attempt of rape and murder the poor girl. Just as she began to submit to her attacker, Elektra, a young teenager at the time, appeared on her Bike Mech and sliced off the noble's ear, expressing her disdain for the man's sense of entitlement and superiority.

Rather than eliminate the pedophilia noble himself, Elektra extended her sword to the young girl, telling her to wield it if she has something to protect; as the nobleman lunged for her neck, Salia takes up the sword and placed it inline with her attacker's chest, piercing through and killing her attacker. Filled with unease from her first kill, she was calmed by Elektra and entranced by the marvelous nature of her savior from then on. With her attacker dead and chances of being reintegrated into her village low, she decided to join the Army of the Samurai, having now learnt to stand up for herself instead of just enduring. Over the years her mask became integral to her to the point that Salia now wears the mask at all times in public.

During her training, of which Mako had joined with the Army as well as others, she greatly admired the more seasoned soldiers, more specifically Elektra, whom she looked up to as a sister. One day, Elektra wounded her right arm, coming back from having her whole squad slaughtered from a surprised attack from Aku's forces (led by the Son of Aku known as Wraith) and Salia vowed to avenge her.

Personality
Due to her trauma, Salia was famous for her prominent hate of men. She is also merciless until most male members of her squadron left to get transferred to another. Thanks to that, her Squad always has more girls compared to the other squads.

As a leader, Salia is reliable, responsible and serious. Despite her serious disposition, Salia is capable of giving some notably snippy remarks, as seen in her interactions with Lance. She is also very considerate and caring for her friends. She tries to see everything in a good light, even if she herself doesn't want to. She can also be encouraging towards her squadmates and insist that teamwork is important for all of them to survive. However, she is strongly emotional and has always been impulsive and driven by her feelings. She is forced between acting as a leader and her own feelings, such as knowingly putting Mako's life on the line while also acknowledging he's needed, this strain of commanding weighs her down. She would initially let her personal feelings get to her head when in a crucial mission, only to reflect over it when being placed in a dangerous situation. She would think about her poor skills as a leader and blame herself for her putting her friends in danger. She also expresses her anxiety more on the battlefield than she does off it and is seen breaking down, only to be supported by her partner, Shuta. She has admired and been fiercely protective of Mako ever since they were 'recruited' in the Army of the Samurai, seeing how others treated him and separating himself to avoid it, and tried to support Mako the best she can. She is not afraid to voice her own opinions and get people to follow her orders as a leader. She has been deemed by Aki on several occasions as "bossy". Despite that, Salia does sometimes not say what she truly wants to and is able to put her feelings aside for others if she wants to. This is shown when she lied to Mako saying she always had seen him as a sibling for his sake and for the sake of the fact that he seemed to open up better with Ashi, when in reality she didn't want Mako to be around Ashi at all due to her feelings towards him and the dangerous risks it could bring him. She is a straight-laced and straightforward person but also always follows the orders she receives, and held a deep respect for Elektra.

Over the story, Salia slowly learns to put Mako's feelings and Squad 13's well-being before her own. She learns to accept and support Mako and Ashi's relationship, and become nicer to Ashi to the point of considering her an integral part of Squad 13 as well as the Army of the Samurai. She becomes just as fiercely protective of the others, including Ashi and her sisters, as Mako. This is further emphasized when Squad 13 leaves the Army after they learn the truth about Elektra and what she has planned for Mako; Salia becomes so dedicated to looking after the others and ensuring they have enough food, clean water, etc. For survival that she forgets to take care of herself, until she collapses outright in the fields. She also becomes a much better leader; she learns to see the big picture and not let her tunnel-visioned emotions consume her, making decisions that benefit the whole group rather than just Hiro or her designs for him, and she isn't as badly shaken when things go wrong.

Voice Actor
Brittany Lauda