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RUGAL BERNSTEIN
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Birthplace: Unknown
Birthdate: February 10, 19??
Height: 1.97 m (6'4")
Weight: 103 kg (224 lbs)
Blood type: Unknown
Hobbies: Resurrection
Favorite food: Eats anything
Favorite sport: None in particular, is good at anything
Most valuable: Evil soul
Hates the most: Anything that gets in his way, justice
Fighting style: Compilation of several martial arts
Rugal has been admired and feared throughout the world, by crime leaders
and politicians alike, by his influence and power in his illegal deals. He
controls all his operations from his personal air carrier, the Blacknoah, and
his pet panther always by his side. However, Rugal is not only feared in the
higher social circles, he is also a personality in the fighting world, where he
has been known to be a man who does not allow his defeated opponents to live.
Nobody who has faced him had come out alive. Not only that, but Rugal takes his
defeated opponents, and covers them in liquid metal, and keeps them as morbid
statues. He even wiped out a whole unit of mercenaries, commanded by a certain
Heidern, and when he was about to kill him, Heidern's family, whom Rugal had
captured to keep Heidern away from his plans, protected Heidern and ended up
being killed. However, Rugal's downfall was his own ambition, as all those who
desire absolute power.
Even though he was already an expert martial artist, and gathered the best
techniques of the best fighters in the world (including Geese Howard and
Wolfgang Krauser, past two hosts of the King of Fighters tournament), Rugal
still felt he needed extreme power. While he was cruising through the seas with
the Blacknoah, he felt a very powerful source in a remote part of the world.
Rugal decided to take a trip there, and when he arrived, he sensed a magnificent
power, a very calm, but devastating energy source. Ruagl's eyes gleamed with
ambition, and reached out to control it. Suddenly, a tall man appeared in front
of Rugal. He was very menacing, and Rugal sensed a huge power emanating from
him. Rugal tells the man to stand aside, and the man, named Goenitz, tells him
that the Orochi power will be of no simple mortal. Rugal then decides to teach
the man not to be so impolite, but before Rugal can do anything, the man swoops
his hand, and gouges his right eye off. Rugal reels in pain,and Goenitz praises
Rugal for surviving his attack. He then acceeds to give Rugal a small part of
the power he seeks. Goenitz then infuses Rugal with a portion of the Orochi
power. Rugal's body is trembled with pain, but then, Rugal laughs maniacally. He
now feels the true power! Goenitz informs Rugal that if he ever overuses this
power, the result would be fatal for him. Rugal then goes back to the Blacknoah,
with the huge sense of power flowing through his body. Shortly after, Rugal
receives the visit of two mysterious women, who offer to be Rugal's secretaries.
Their names were: Mature and Vice. Rugal accepts them, unknown of their true
identity...
Upon his return, Rugal implants a powerful sight orb in place of his right
eye, and plans his next step. Rugal then has an incredible idea: he decides to
invite the most powerful fighters to fight each other, and the most powerful
will face him in the final battle. He then takes the King of Fighters
tournament, which was carried before by Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser, and
decides to change it's rules: instead of being one-on-one fights, the battles
will take place between teams of three people each. Then, Rugal sends
invitations to the best fighers in the world, signed personally by him, and then
awaits the outcome of his tournament. However, Rugal receives an unexpected
visit of a mysterious fighter. Rugal identifies the symbol on the warrior's
clothes to be that of a Kusanagi. Indeed, it was Saisyu Kusanagi, head of the
Kusanagi clan. He dares Rugal that he will not accomplish his evil plan to rule
the world. Rugal chuckles and decides to take him on. The battle then begins...
At the end, Rugal receives the visit of the Japan Team. He then laughs and
tells them that they will be next in in their collection. Benimaru and Daimon
fight Rugal, whom is too confident in his abilities, and manage to put him in
serious jeopardy. But Rugal does not surrender, and decides to fight at full
potential. He takes Benimaru and Daimon and wipes them out easily with his
superb skills. Then, Rugal faces Kyo. Having to fight a Kusanagi again, Rugal
almost reads Kyo's mind, and previews all his moves. Rugal uses his superior
power to knock Kyo around. Kyo then notices his father lying in a corner of the
room, he gets enfuriated, and attacks Rugal with all his power. This time, Rugal
is unable to control the wrath of the Kusanagi, and is constantly burnt and hit
by Kyo's attacks. At the edge of defeat, Rugal sneers and takes out a remote
control device. He presses the red button, and he puts the Blacknoah in
autodestruction mode! The Japan Team manages to escape, but Rugal is presumed to
be blown to bits...Or at least, that is what it seems...
But Rugal was not dead yet. Using the Orochi power for first time, Rugal
has managed to survive the blast almost harmless. His right arm, however, is
terribly wounded, and decides to implant a cyborg arm instead. He then begins
his plan of revenge. He comissions Vice to brainwash Saisyu so he would help him
in his plot. Then, Rugal invites almost the same teams as last year, but with
one new team thrown in. He is especially interested in the Hero Team...and
mostly, Kyo Kusanagi.
Before the final battles, Rugal decides to put sleeping gas in the locker
rooms of all the most important teams. He then takes them to his new underground
base, and when the Hero Team finally wakes up, he finally introduces himself.
The mysterious "R" who had signed the invitations was no other than Rugal once
again! He decides to have fun with his victims before they die. He then sics
Saisyu at the Hero Team, knowing Kyo wouldn't attack his own father. However,
Benimaru and Daimon take care of him, and now Rugal has to do the dirty job
himself. This time, Rugal is sure of his victory, as he uses the Orochi power to
turn into a godlike entity by the name of Omega Rugal! Rugal makes short work of
Benimaru and Daimon again, and even Kyo can not avoid the huge power Rugal
displays. The power seems to be too much, but Rugal seems to handle it quite
well. However, thanks to the help of other fighters such as Terry, Ryo, and
Athena, Rugal has to go all out, and in doing so, the Orochi power in Rugal's
body begins to get out of control, and Rugal begins to feel how his body begins
to burn and explode. He has overused the power, and is now unable to control
it's limits. Before Rugal vanishes, Iori Yagami appears. He considers Rugal a
fool, as only those of the bloodline could control such power. Rugal promises to
return, and is dissipated by a beam of light...
Rugal is an evil man with no warm feelings at all. His only desire is to
have eternal power in order to conquer the world, and uses the Orochi power in
order to do so, which finally killed him at the end. He loves the smell of
blood, and is a sadistic maniac by nature. He likes to take a sip of his glass
of wine once in awhile, as like a preview of all the blood he is gonna spill out
from all his enemies.
OMEGA RUGAL BERNSTEIN (The King of Fighters '95/The King of Fighters '98):
The super powered version of Rugal, where he uses the Orochi power and becomes a
blood thirsty monster. He doesn't lose consciousness like Iori and Leona do, but
rises his sense of killing. His hair turns white, his eye gets lost, and
normally begins acting very weird (roars, rips his own chest). He is very
powerful in this version, but this ends up being the catastrophe of Rugal in the
end. He also has the Omega symbol (something like a horseshoe) tatooed in his
back, as a mark left to him by Goenitz.
*Fun fact = Rugal has seemingly replaced Mature and Vice in KOF '98, as now, in
one of his victory poses, his two new secretaries (dressed in pretty elegant
gray costumes) come to refresh him. Note how one of them even has a cyborg eye
as Rugal does! (Now that's fanatism for ya!)
Appearances: The King of Fighters '94, The King of Fighters '95, The King of
Fighters '98
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