dot hack

Haseo (ハセヲ) is an Adept Rogue known as the "Terror of Death", and is the main character in the .hack Conglomerate series. He is a PKKer who is in search of Tri-Edge, the legendary PK that previously attacked Haseo's friend, Shino and put her into a coma in the real world six months before .hack//G.U. Vol.1//Rebirth.

Appearance

Haseo in his third form.Haseo's Class, Adept Rogue, is an uncommon Class in which the player is allowed to choose multiple classes for their character. Haseo chose Twin Blade, Edge Punisher, and Flick Reaper. He started out as a Twin Blade in the beginning. Upon completing job advancement quests which are called Job Extensions in-game, he can gain new forms, giving him the ability to access his Edge Punisher class and, then later, Flick Reaper class.

In his first form, Haseo wears a light and tightly-fitted wardrobe. For his second form, more armor was added, specifically the upper body. Finally, he sports a full-on spiky black armor for his third form. In this form, his hair is more spiked up at the front. Haseo has red eyes and shaggy gray hair. In recent artwork and trailers for the final installment of G.U., it seems that Haseo has somehow broken system rules and has a fourth form. This form is even more complex than his third and grants him access to a type of weapon not in the game: dual guns. He can now wield a pair of pistols with blades attached, which can fire in normal combat and perform Twin Blade-like skills, a sort of opposite of the Steam Gunner class. Unlike his previous forms, his "Xth Form" is white.

Personality
Haseo is usually a very cold person online. He finds it hard to get close to people, and even harder to trust them. From the start he'd been marked as an infamous player. First as Ovan's pet project, then as a member of the Twilight Brigade, and finally as a powerful PKKer. Because of his reputation and his attitude, he has few close friends within The World R:2. While he was a part of the Twilight Brigade he had a few allies, but since then many of them have left the game, or in Shino's case, just vanished altogether.

Shino's disappearance had a very powerful effect on him. She was his reason for playing the game, and the fact that she disappeared without a trace after being attacked by Tri-Edge has left a black mark on his psyche. He will stop at nothing until he finds out what happened to Shino, and gets his revenge.

Basic Info
Haseo's player, Ryou Misaki, is a student attending a famous private high school. He lives with his father who owns a company, so he's often not at home. He visits Shino, who is in a coma at the hospital, every day. He decided to play The World R:2 after talking to a friend who used to play its previous version The World. He also works part time at a grocery store.

History

Haseo as he appears in Roots.hack//Roots
In his first adventure in The World R:2 Haseo was saved from a group of PKers by a player named Ovan. On the advice of a player named Phyllo he decided to join Ovan's Guild Twilight Brigade and was introduced to its other members, including fellow newbie Tabby and Ovan's co-leader Shino. The Brigade soon found itself in a struggle with another Guild named TaN. Haseo, who was close with Tawaraya a high ranking member of TaN tried to help the situation, but it was no use. Tensions between the two Guilds reached a peak at the Battlefield of Coiste Bodhar, where the Brigade fought against TaN in a fierce battle. Though the Brigade succeeded in driving off TaN's forces, Ovan mysteriously vanished during the fight.

Without its leader the Brigade soon collapsed. Haseo decided to remain with Shino, who he'd developed feelings for. The two began to grow closer, but without warning Shino was forcibly taken away from him. The culprit was an infamous PKer named Tri-Edge. He had PKed Shino while she was alone at the Hulle Granz Cathedral and somehow had placed her into a coma in reality. With only his name and a short description to go on, Haseo began to hunt Tri-Edge, hoping to find a way to bring Shino back.

Wanting more power, Haseo entered an event known as the Forest of Pain. At the center a brief encounter with Harald Hoerwick gave his character tremendous power. With this power he began ruthlessly hunting PKers, acquiring the title "The Terror of Death" after killing 100 PKers at once. Eventually he succeeded in finding Azure Kite, who he thought to be Tri-Edge, but was defeated by his Data Drain attack. His character was reformatted and sent back to level 1, forcing Haseo to start all over again.

Now an infamous PKKer, Haseo wanders throughout The World R:2 looking for any clues regarding Tri-Edge. While wandering, he rescues Atoli who is about to be PKed by Bordeaux and her henchmen. Despite the objections of Atoli's guild leader, Sakaki, Atoli begins looking for Haseo so that she can repay her debt to him. However, upon finding him, Haseo simply blows her off. Soon he receives a mysterious message from Ovan. Traveling to Hulle Granz Cathedral, he encounters Ovan who informs him that Shino has fallen into a coma in the real world and that Tri-Edge will soon "return to the scene of that tragedy". Refusing to give up anything else about his activites, Ovan walks off, leaving Haseo alone in the Cathedral. Suddenly Tri-Edge appears. Haseo tries to fight against Tri-Edge but is defeated and data drained, falling unconscious.

He is revived by Yata and Pi, who introduce themselves as System Administrators. They inform Haseo that they want his help to solve the current problems in The World R:2, clamining that mysterious things known as AIDAs are the cause of the problems. Haseo refuses at first and storms off, but a chance meeting with Atoli causes him to change his mind. He accepts their offer and becomes a member of their organization "Project GU".

Soon afterwards, Haseo returns to the Cathedral, but he is suddenly teleported by the Sign there to another Lost Ground. Waiting for him is Bordeaux, who is eager for a rematch. Haseo tries to fight her, but she suddenly transforms herself, revealing that her character has been possessed by an AIDA. Haseo is nearly killed but is rescued by Kuhn, a player wielding the mysterious Avatar Magus. Kuhn introduces himself as another member of Project G.U. He decides to make Haseo his partner.

Together, Haseo and Kuhn travel to Lumina Cloth where a fighting tournament is taking place. There they see that that the current champion of the tournament, Endrance, is cheating by using the entity Avatar Macha to fight for him. Haseo challenges him to a duel in the arena, and manages to activate his own Avatar Avatar Skeith in response to Macha's attacks. Skeith manages to defeat Macha, apparently cleansing both the avatar, and Endrance's AIDA Mia from Endrance's body.

In his first adventure in The World, Haseo found himself at the mercy of the PKers IYOTEN and Asta. However he was saved after being PKed by a mysterious player named Ovan, who welcomed him to the game.

Eight months later Haseo had transformed himself into an infamous PKK known as the "Terror of Death". Unimaginably powerful he searched throughout the system for a strange player known only as "Tri-Edge". This player had killed Shino, a close friend of Haseo six months earlier and caused her to fall into a coma in reality. Desperate for answers, Haseo had been hunting him ever since. His relentless hunt for Tri-Edge and the power he wielded soon drew the attention of several powerful Guilds including Kestrel and Moon Tree. Without warning Ovan suddenly returned to The World and contacted Haseo, directing him to the Hulle Granz Cathedral. There Haseo encountered Azure Kite but found all his attacks rendered useless. Powerless, Haseo could do nothing to stop Azure Kite from defeating his character with his Twilight Bracelet.

Logging back into The World Haseo found that his entire system had been reformatted and his character returned to level one. Joining with the Guild Canard to regain his power Haseo slowly began to rebuild his reputation inside of the game, a job made difficult by players like Bordeaux who had previously been PKed by him. He was soon met by Pi and Kuhn who introduced him to the G.U. Organization. The leader of the organization, a System Administrator named Yata informed Haseo that his character was a special Epitaph PC and that he had the ability the summon an entity known as an Avatar to fight for him. Seeking to develop this power, Haseo entered into a fighting tournament along with Silabus, a member of Canard and Atoli a player from Moon Tree sent to keep watch over him. During the tournament Haseo learned how to control his Avatar, eventually facing off against Endrance the Champion of the Arena and an Epitaph User as well.

However while celebrating his victory, Ovan reemerged. He told Atoli that Haseo had merely been using her as a substitute for Shino. Wanting to prove her own worth to Haseo, Atoli ran off to find Tri-Edge. Disturbed, Haseo followed after her, along with Kuhn and Pi, to a hidden area. There they encountered not only Atoli, but Azure Kite as well. His hunt finally over, Haseo attacked the strange player and defeated him with the help of his Avatar. However, his victory was a shallow one, as he obtained none of the answers he was seeking, and the battle also allowed an AIDA to sneak up and attack Atoli.

In Volume 2, Haseo is put into action again when the AIDA strike. He and the other players of The World are transfered to an AIDA server. Pi initiates Project Folder, transporting all players back to the CyberConnect server, but Haseo is left behind. After a fight with Gate Keeper, Haseo encounters Azure Balmung and Azure Orca, who destroy the AIDA with a single hit. Another figure appears and Haseo realizes that his nemesis, Azure Flame Kite, has returned.

He later regains his 3rd Form through job extend, which enables a new form of Skeith to be summoned. He participates in the Holy Palace tournament.

He seems to develop emotions for Alkaid, which upsets Atoli. However, Alkaid goes to meet an infected Bordeaux and is killed. Haseo finds her dying and is forced to watch as his close friend and ally disappears. She falls into a coma, much like Shino, in real life. In anger, Haseo goes to the arena to face Bordeaux once again. On the edge of defeat, a newly moralized Endrance saves Haseo and lends him power. Haseo summons an enhanced Skeith and fights Bordeaux's AIDA, Oswald.

He makes it to the end of the tournament and fights an infected Sirius, accompanied by what seems to be Azure Balmung and Azure Orca. He defeats him and AIDA <Helen> emerges from Sirius. Realizing that by defeating the AIDA, he could retrieve Atoli's Epitaph. Using Skeith, he defeats Helen. Two balls of light emerge and explode behind the two Azure Knights. They fall, revealing the real Azure Knights and also revealing that the fallen ones were copies created by Atoli's Mirage Epitaph ability.

Haseo goes on to infiltrate Moon Tree's @HOME to save Atoli from an AIDA crazed Sakaki. He is forced to fight Atoli's Innis and later frees Atoli from the AIDA. A defeated Sakaki flees to the Keel Mountains of Briona Gideon. Haseo, Atoli, and Pi pursues and defeats him. Ovan comes to reveal that he himself is deeply infected, and kills Atoli and Pi. He defeats Haseo and runs to Backtop City Magni Fi. He reaches the area and defeats Ovan.

Later, Haseo and Atoli speak to each other in the cathedral, but before anything could be said, Ovan appears and is still infected. Haseo realizes that even when Data Drained, Ovan could not be freed.

In Volume 3, Haseo learns to Data Drain without summoning his Avatar using a special ability called Avatar Awakening. This also allows him to gather Virus Cores used to power his Lost Weapon and to Sign Hack.

Haseo participates in the Sage Palace of the Arena to defeat Sakaki once and for all. He fights an AIDA infected Taihaku and destroys his AIDA weapon, Maxwell. The AIDA within the broken weapon springs to life and infects Haseo. However, Haseo breaks himself free from the AIDA's control, an act that has never before been done.