Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine (ポール・ヴェルレーヌ,) is the antagonist in the light novel STORM BRINGER.

Appearance
Verlaine has blue eyes and blond hair which is braided along the hairline on the left side of his face while his right eye is obscured by bangs. The braid is then tied with a ribbon with the rest of his hair in a long ponytail. He wears a dark, sand-colored suit with a black vest, his shirt- which is also black- has a cherry tie. He wears white gloves. Throughout STORM BRINGER he can be seen wearing the hat which now belongs to Chuuya.

Both Kōyō Ozaki and Chūya Nakahara have noted Verlaine holds some resemblance to Chuuya despite them being unrelated.

Personality
Verlaine was originally controlled by a series of codes programmed into him with his personality being artificial. After being freed from Faun's control he struggled with this fact along with the knowledge that he was not human, to which Rimbaud went to great lengths to help him cope.

He was able to empathize with Chuuya's situation as a clone and refused to go along with the mission to capture the boy and hand him over to the French government for further experimentation. This empathy ultimately won out over his care for Rimbaud and he attempted to kill his only friend to free a boy he did not know.

Unfortunately, without Rimbaud, Verlaine's sanity declined as he was no longer able to deal with his origins as a man-made being. His beliefs became warped and he decided to kill those Chuuya cared about to force the boy to N, demonstrating his now unhinged personality.

As an assassin, he displayed an enigmatic and deadly nature, not immediately revealing his identity or goals with clarity. He posed as a Port Mafia 'mail man' to approach Chuuya despite being the stronger of the two, and was very deliberate about his targets to force Chuuya to kill N. However, despite his planning his downfall was that he did not expect Chuuya to decide he wanted revenge against Verlaine for killing the Flags more than he wanted revenge against N for experimenting on him.

After his betrayal of Rimbaud, Verlaine seemed to be deeply in denial over his feelings towards him, claiming he was glad his partner was dead. However, after the incident with Guivre was resolved, Verlaine was met by Rimbaud who, in his last moments had used Illuminations on himself to become an Ability and made himself into a Singularity to keep Verlaine alive. At this point, Verlaine admitted he cared about Rimbaud and was extremely remorseful for his actions, apologizing over and over again. After that, Verlaine allowed himself to be detained by the mafia, having nowhere he wanted to go and no one he wanted to see besides his friend, who was gone for good.

Verlaine has a rather intense obsession with Chuuya due to his isolation and identity issues chipping away at his sanity. As a fellow product of experimentation, he believes he and Chuuya are the only people capable of understanding each other, and refers to himself as the boy's older brother before they are even properly acquainted. He is also rather selfish in his endeavour to take Chuuya with him, fully disregarding the mafioso's desire to remain with the Port Mafia and killing off people Chuuya has formed attachments to to force him to go with Verlaine. However, Chuuya is eventually able to empathize with Verlaine and views him as a tragic figure, and after his capture Verlaine gives up on his goal, instead he begins waiting for a 'storm'.

Background
Verlaine was a clone implanted with an artificial Ability and programmed to obey a series of trigger phrases. Eventually, Arthur Rimbaud was sent to take down the group responsible for creating Verlaine and decided to free him from their control.

Rimbaud was eventually paired with Verlaine, then named Black No. 12, and gave him Rimbaud's birth name, Paul Verlaine.

Along with Shakespeare and Goethe, both Rimbaud and Verlaine are considered part of the users of transcendental abilities.

History
He was trained by Rimbaud, who killed his creator, "Faun", freeing him. His real name was "Black #12" (Kuro no 12-gō), but was given the name "Paul Verlaine" by Rimbaud, which had been his name before he became a spy, and because his family and ex-partner believed that he was dead, Rimbaud decided to give the name to his new friend.

Verlaine struggled with the fact that he was not a real human and could be controlled. At some point, Rimbaud had a hat made and had it embedded with certain metals, allowing only the wearer the power to use the trigger phrases on Verlaine. Rimbaud then gifted the hat to him so Verlaine alone could use the phrases in an attempt to help him with his identity issues, assuring him he was human.

Before the explosion caused by Arahabaki, Verlaine and Rimbaud were assigned to abduct a young Chuuya from a Japanese military facility. However, Verlaine empathized with the boy and wanted to save him from being made a test subject for the rest of his life, stating that he wanted the boy to be raised in a village with a new family without knowing anything about his past. Rimbaud did not consider Chuuya a human and refused to deviate from the mission. Verlaine then decided to betray Rimbaud and shot him in the ensuing fight. Soon after, Chuuya and Arahabaki were released, causing a massive explosion.

Verlaine began work as a hitman known for killing high-ranking and important people on either side of the law. He eventually embarrassed the Order of the Clock Tower by murdering several Ability user guards.

He apparently believed Chuuya had died in the explosion, but caught wind of the boy after he resurfaced as a member of the Port Mafia. Afterwards, Verlaine began to look for Chuuya to urge him to kill his creator, "N", and get him out of a 'world of lies'.

Dazai, Chūya, Fifteen Years Old
He infiltrates the upper floor of the Port Mafia headquarters to steal the files on Chuuya and take Rimbaud's hat. In the process, he murders the guards who were guarding Mori's office and destroys the window to escape. Later, he clarifies that he intends to take Chuuya with him, referring to him as "younger brother".

Trivia

 * Verlaine is the only known character to have lost their Ability.
 * The chant Verlaine uses to activate Corruption are actually verses from Arthur’s Rimbaud's Les Sœurs De Charité.
 * Verlaine's unnamed gravity Ability holds no references to the author he is named after.