Kakine Teitoku

Kakine Teitoku (垣根 帝督) is one of the seven Level 5 espers, ranking second after Accelerator and is the leader of SCHOOL, one of the many underground factions in Academy City. Other than Accelerator, he is the only Level 5 shown to be able to Awaken.

Appearance
He has long brown hair and often wears a cocky smile, though in his interaction with Uiharu, it is shown that he can fake warmth and kindness. Uiharu also notes that he radiates an almost vulgar sense of style.

Personality
He is rivals with Mugino Shizuri, ITEM's leader and the #4 Level 5 esper. He strives to become the strongest, even if it means that he needs to kill off Accelerator. He's also a ruthless, cocky, and cold hearted individual, though at times he may show mercy. When attempting to find Last Order to draw out Accelerator he attacks and tortures Uiharu and was on the verge of killing her when she refused to get him Last Order's location; but when attempting to eliminate Takitsubo Rikou, he decided to let her go as she was already on the verge of self-destruction from over-use of her ability. He prefers not to get innocent people involved in his battles, though if they do get involved, he will not go out of his way to protect them. However, he shows no mercy to his enemies or anyone who opposes him and will crush them without hesitation.

Hamazura Shiage notes that though Kakine and the rest of SCHOOL are horrible people, yet the fact that they still have the humanity to let those weaker than them live makes them far better than Mugino, who kills her own comrades simply because she is annoyed by something.

In his fight with Accelerator, it was noted Kakine probably also went through tragedies like the kind Accelerator went through which twisted his personality. He is extremely envious of Accelerator because of his right to communicate directly with Aleister and seeks to defeat him and become the #1 Level 5 so that he may have that right.

Kakine has the tendency to sprout sarcastic remarks inside and outside the battlefield, things like praising his enemy while he actually is talking down to them, or stating “That hurt” when a direct attack failed to damage him in anyway.

Battle Royale Arc
He was the "spare plan" for Aleister Crowley's secret project in the event that Accelerator would not meet Crowley's expectations.

The first time when he is mentioned in volume 15 is when Mugino Shizuri and ITEM assault the District 5 Virus Isolation Center. ITEM encounters SCHOOL there, and are presumably able to kill Boy with goggles before being forced to retreat, leaving behind both Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai. While escaping, Shizuri reveals that Teitoku was with SCHOOL at the destination and she was defeated.

The first time Kakine is seen in person, it is revealed that he has managed to obtain the Pincet Glove or Tweezers. He explains that he plans to use the glove in some way to get close to Aleister. He is then ambushed by "The Professor", the leader of MEMBER who uses his "Mimosa" machine to attack Teitoku. Believing that he has won, The Professor begins to gloat about his victory to Baba Yoshio. However, Kakine reveals that he is still alive, having been able to detect the Mimosa using the Pincet Glove, and defending from the attack -presumably with some application of his ability- proceeds to kill The Professor.

Later, he attacks ITEM in an attempt to eliminate Takitsubo Rikou. However, Saiai manages to help both Takitsubo and Hamazura Shiage run away while Mugino holds Kakine back. However, Kakine easily defeats both Mugino and Kinuhata (though he leaves both of them alive) before intercepting Takitsubo. Takitsubo opts to save Hamazura and stays to fight Kakine on her own, but Hamazura returns to help her out. Takitsubo attempts to defeat Teitoku by forcibly taking control of his AIM field and turning it against him, but fails and is defeated. As Rikou is already on the verge of death due to her over-use of Body Clear, and because he does not view Hamazura as a threat in the first place, Teitoku leaves them both alive, informing Hamazura that if Takitsubo uses Body Clear again, she will most probably be destroyed.

Later, Kakine is talking with The Girl in dress, the only other surviving member of SCHOOL. First, the two of them discuss how ITEM has fallen apart, and he manages to infer that it was Hamazura who defeated Mugino and finds the achievement impressive. They then discuss "Underline", the network of 10 million nanomachines that Aleister Crowley uses to monitor Academy City. Kakine reveals that while he has managed to use the Pincet Glove to analyze Underline, he still does not have enough leverage to bargain with Aleister. As such, he has decided to kill Accelerator so that he can become the true "Core" of Aleister's plan. The Girl in the Dress refuses to help because she is scared that her ability will be ineffective against Accelerator, but states that if Kakine succeeds, he should contact her.

In order to reach Accelerator, Kakine decides to first take Last Order hostage and captures and tortures Uiharu Kazari for information on Last Order's whereabouts. He is about to kill Uiharu when Accelerator launches a surprise attack on him.

During their first clash, Accelerator easily blasts Kakine into a nearby building. However, Kakine walks out of the building, revealing that he is completely unharmed and that he has already Awakened, giving him greater proficiency in the manipulation of Dark Matter and flight capabilities. He is able to corner Accelerator, revealing that his Dark Matter is able to bypass Accelerator's Reflect by exploiting a logic fault in Accelerator's barrier. However, Accelerator manages to update his AIM field and add Dark Matter to the list of things he can control. Accelerator then proceeds to hold an advantage even using Dark Matter against Kakine. Accelerator defeats Kakine and is about to kill him, but is stopped by Yomikawa Aiho.

However, Kakine is angered that Accelerator refuses to kill him and attacks Yomikawa. This drives Accelerator over the edge, and he also "Awakens". After observing Accelerator's Awakening, Kakine realizes the true nature of his own ability and completely Awakens, believing that he is now capable of defeating Accelerator. However, Accelerator easily smashes Kakine into the ground, then proceeds to destroy most of his body.

Kakine is currently being kept alive by "Dark Legacy", where his brain is preserved as a constant source of Dark Matter. His now torn-apart body is meanwhile being studied by Aiwass.

Later events in the novels
His Dark Matter is later used in the production of Academy City's new Equ.Darkmatter Power Suits. , it should be noted that the Equ.Darkmatter Power Suits primarily use wings made of Dark Matter to attack.

Abilities
The angelic nature of his ability is described as "He who wields a piece of the Heaven that is inhabited by God" (「神が住む天界の片鱗を振るう者」), and just like Accelerator, Aiwass has shown great interest in Kakine's now torn apart body.


 * Dark Matter (未元物質), is his esper ability which allows him to create and control an unknown material that he uses to attack. It should be noted that the term "Dark Matter" is not to be confused with the true "Dark Matter" which is among the components of the universe. In addition, 'unknown matter' here does not mean matter that has not been discovered by humans but matter that did not exist until it was created by Kakine. The material he creates defies the Laws of Physics. It also grants him flight capabilities. When fighting Kinuhata Saiai, he is also able to utilize his ability to create a strange explosion which is able to instantly knock Saiai out. His Dark Matter can initially even strike through Accelerator's Reflect, though after Accelerator took into account how 'normal' physics don't work on Kakine's ability he re-calculated and managed to reflect Kakine's Dark Matter, and even use it against him later. His ability also appears to grant him a form of super strength, though he is still not strong enough to overpower Accelerator with sheer brute force.


 * Pincet Glove: Is the claw that Kakine wears on his right hand, it is the tool he uses to to grab nano-sized matter. Kakine used it to capture Underline, the nano-machine which Crowley used to monitor Academy City. It should be noted that the glove was originally a large, bulky piece of machinery, but Kakine modified it by "only leaving the truly necessary parts" greatly diminishing it's size and weight. Tsuchimikado Motoharu took it off of his body after he was defeated by Accelerator and analyzed the information in the Underline stored in the glove, which led to GROUP's discovery of DRAGON.

Trivia

 * Fans usually depict Kakine in various works as a man - or in rare instances, a brain with three pairs of wings - inside a refrigerator. This is a reference to how his brain was restored by Aleister Crowley in order to utilize his esper ability beyond his death.
 * It is suggested that his ability and Accelerator's are related in some way. Once Kakine and Accelerator fully Awaken, it is stated that Accelerator controls the organic while Dark Matter controls the inorganic of a higher plane. In addition to this, it is stated that Accelerator's black wings are made of the same Dark Matter that Kakine creates with his ability.

Quotes

 * (Against Professor's surprise attack) "Are you making fun of me? Cause it sounds to me like you want to become a nice corpse."
 * (Against Kinuhata Saiai's surprise attack) "So you weighed your pride against your death. That’s sentimental but not realistic."
 * (To Girl in dress when she was teasing Shiage) "How boring. You make it seem like we’re the bad guys here”
 * (While stomping Uiharu) "If you didn’t know anything and were only around Last Order by chance, then I wouldn’t have to do this. However, the instant you decided to protect her by your own will, it became another matter entirely. So please, ojou-san: don’t force me to kill you right here”
 * (To the Accelerator) “This space which has been affected by foreign bodies is no longer the world that you know!”
 * (In the face of the Accelerator's Awakening) “… So strong. Such powerful Evil. So you can do it if you put your mind to it, Villain. If that’s the case then indeed ‘Dark Matter’ is only suitable for being the ‘Spare Plan’. However, this doesn’t mean it’s all decided!!”