Theodore Hamilton

Takeru Homura (, Homura Takeru) is a character in Season 2 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. In LINK VRAINS, he is known as Soulburner (ソウルバーナー) and is in possession of the Ignis, Flame.

Appearance
Takeru is a fair-skinned young man. He has white hair with red highlights and blue eyes. He wears a green framed glasses and he usually wears the standard Den City High School uniform. His uniform consists of a slate colored jacket with light blue trim, a white dress shirt with a pink necktie, black pants, and brown shoes.

As Soulburner he wears red scarf, gray, orange and red suit, red with gray boots. His eyes are yellow. His hair is light blue with dark blue, red and orange spikes.

Abilities
When in a Speed Duel, Takeru's Skill is "Burning Draw". This Skill sends his Life Points to 100, but allows him to draw a card for every 1,000 Life Points he sacrifices. Using this ability puts noticeable strain on SoulBurner's body, as noted by Flame.

History
After Cyberse World was attacked, Flame sought Takeru out to help him in search for the missing Ignis.

Unnamed arc
Soulburner pointed out he found Flame's friend. Flame did not wish to be called Ai's friend, seeing that Ignis cowering in fear. When Playmaker was stopped by Bit and Boot, Soulburner, in a fiery whirlwind, appeared with Flame. He let Playmaker continue, as he went to deal with Bit and Boot himself. Flame was relieved it could help Soulburner out, who promised to burn away his enemies. Soulburner took the two on, and Flame supported him, since he was powerful enough to defeat them. Soulburner asked Flame to cool down, and wondered if it was an AI to be telling those things. Flame confirmed he was an AI, and Soulburner's partner. He reminded it was ten years since he was born, and his name being translated from "indomitable soul dream", meaning "Flame", reminding he said this 37 times already. Bit and Boot decided to take on Soulburner to retrieve the "fire Ignis", and fused together as one entity: BitBoot. Flame simply assumed this would make their Duel more fun.

BitBoot quickly summoned "D-Scale Battle Coela". BitBoot moved their Link Monster to the Main Monster Zone, so that through their Skill, Marker's Portal, they could bring out "Judgement Arrows". Soulburner and Flame noted like Playmaker's opponent, these ones used Cyberse monsters and used Link Spells, for which Flame swore to never forgive them. Soulburner hoped they could defeat this duo and interrogate them for information. BitBoot moved their Link Monster to a different Main Monster Zone, to inflict 800 LP damage to Soulburner for each time their Link Monster was displaced. BitBoot were proud of their combo, and Flame reminded they could move their Link Monster three more times before Soulburner would be defeated. Soulburner tried to remove "Judgement Arrows" with "Salamangreat Foxy", but was reminded the Skill BitBoot had activated protected it from destruction. Soulburner was surprised, but reminded he had different options. Soulburner swapped his "Salamangreat Falco" for "Salamangreat Meer", to prepare himself. Flame got fired up, announcing a Link Summon, but let Soulburner conduct it.

Using three monsters, Soulburner Link Summoned "Salamangreat Heatleo". Since "Judgement Arrows" could not be destroyed, Soulburner had the card returned to the Deck with the effect of his Link Monster, and due to the negative effect, "D-Scale Battle Coela" was destroyed. This left BitBoot open for a direct attack, who suffered 2300 LP damage. BitBoot commended Soulburner, but announced their counterattack. After Special Summoning back "D-Scale Battle Coela", BitBoot activated their Skill once more to place "Judgement Arrows" on the field. Soulburner and Flame were in shock, for a Skill could only be activated once, but were reminded Bit had activated his Skill in the first turn, and now Boot did, too. BitBoot Link Summoned "D-Scale Full Metal Dunkle", and with "Judgement Arrows", the monster attacked with 4800 ATK. Before the attack resolved, Soulburner had played "Energy of Fire" to restore his LP, equal to the ATK of "Salamangreat Falco": 1200. BitBoot were annoyed, but complimented each other for the progress, believing Ignis would soon be in their possession. Flame reminded Soulburner everything depended on his next draw. He drew "Monster Reincarnation" and went to play it, but BitBoot used "D-Scale Chaff" to negate cards on his field and hand.

BitBoot exclaimed they were the greatest, and demanded Soulburner to surrender. The latter smiled, and was pumped up to finish them off. He used his Skill, Burning Draw, taking 1000 LP damage to draw a card. He drew and played "Salamangreat Sanctuary", as Flame reminded that card was unaffected by "D-Scale Chaff". BitBoot were not impressed by these efforts. Regardless, Soulburner used "Salamangreat Heatleo" to Link Summon another copy of it, a move he called Reincarnation Link Summon. Soulburner exclaimed he used "Salamangreat Heatleo" to Link Summon a monster with the same name, since "Salamangreat Sanctuary" allowed him to do that. Soulburner's "Salamangreat Heatleo" removed "Judgement Arrows", and Flame reminded that BitBoot's "D-Scale Full Metal Dunkle" was destroyed. However, the monster was protected from destruction of card effects and moved to a new Main Monster Zone, and went to destroy "Salamangreat Heatleo", which was in the same column. Flame saw it really was over, and realized he really would be taken away. However, the Reincarnation Link Summoned "Salamangreat Heatleo" caused the ATK of "D-Scale Full Metal Dunkle" to become that of "Salamangreat Meer": 800. "D-Scale Full Metal Dunkle" was destroyed in battle, and BitBoot lost the Duel.

Flame was proud, knowing Soulburner would win, but the latter reminded a second ago Flame was depressed about being taken away by the enemy. Soulburner kneeled in pain, since Burning Draw did hurt him, and Flame confirmed this. Soulburner wished Flame to show more empathy, but changed his mind once Ignis started to worry sarcastically. He met up with Playmaker, but was worried when Haru fled with Bohman behind the restricted area. Before Soulburner logged out, he introduced himself to Playmaker. Aoi passed by Takeru, who, from a distance, knew she was Blue Angel. Naoki reported to Aoi that the next club meeting would be held in a special room, while Takeru noted nobody knew she was the idol of LINK VRAINS. Flame responded that Naoki was Brave Max, Playmaker's best friend. Takeru saw Yusaku, and noted he was Playmaker in LINK VRAINS. He followed him, but when Yusaku turned his head, Takeru hid in a different room. Flame pointed out Yusaku knew about them, since he had contacted the "Dark Ignis".

Takeru asked of Flame not to do anything on its own, for Playmaker could be alerted. Flame assured him it was fine, since Ignis communicate with each other with a code no human could understand. Takeru objected, but was reminded those were the people that had defeated the Knights of Hanoi. Flame pointed out they were not without confidence, unlike Takeru, and went further to conquer the enemy. Takeru was nevertheless upset, but Yusaku entered the room. Takeru greeted him as Playmaker, which infuriated Yusaku, demanding his name. Takeru explained they met yesterday, with him being Soulburner, fully named Takeru Homura. Yusaku was surprised, and asked what he was after. Takeru claimed he was his ally, and showed Flame, the other Ignis, whose presence surprised Ai. Flame introduced himself, and though Takeru reminded it named itself like that, Flame thought it was a cool name, unlike Ai. Takeru added Flame, whose Attribute was Fire, was based on him, since he was a victim of Lost Incident, too.

Takeru pointed out after Hanoi's defeat, Flame sought him out, but a new enemy attacked Cyberse World. Ai asked Flame did he know what happened to Cyberse World, but the latter wished to speak to a place more private. Hence, they went to a Ferris wheel. Flame explained what happened after Ai fled, and about the attack on Cyberse World. To gather help, Flame asked for Ai and Yusaku's help. Ai pledged its support, while Yusaku replied he needed to find Jin's assailant. Flame exclaimed those two incidents were linked, since they both used the same Link Spell, "Judgement Arrows", to attack Cyberse World and fight off Playmaker and Soulburner. Thus, Takeru reminded the importance of finding the attackers. Yusaku believed Kolter found more about the attackers, for even while depressed, he was still a focused, determined man. At the food truck, Kolter provided Yusaku and Takeru with beverage. He admitted he didn't anticipate Yusaku to bring a friend, who knew about their identities. Still, he welcomed Takeru and Flame.

Takeru admitted he was also involved in the Lost Incident, and understood Jin's suffering. Kolter nodded, and asked of them to help in search for the assailant of his brother. Takeru promised, while Flame described Takeru as soft, but a boy capable of Dueling. Kolter showed that Yusaku's enemies fled through the restricted area, and showed a location under LINK VRAINS. Yusaku thought SOL Technologies were involved; Kolter simply stated something was lurking there. He showed an unknown program, which Takeru did not understand, since that was not his expertise. Yusaku didn't understand it, either, but compared it to the one found in Ai's memories, the Ignis program. Kolter was overwhelmed, while Flame identified it to be the Wind Ignis' program, while Yusaku noted they should check the area out. Before the boys logged into LINK VRAINS, Kolter showed data from Ghost Girl, who obtained it from Akira, about a gate to the restricted area. With their evasion program on, Takeru and Yusaku went into LINK VRAINS as Soulburner and Playmaker. They activated their stealth program and tried to go to the restricted area. However, Ai saw it was right, for they were chased by SOL Techologies' bounty hunters.

Deck
Takeru uses a Cyberse Beatdown Deck, with a focus on the "Salamangreat" archetype. The Deck's primary strategy is to rely on swarm and graveyard effects to Link Summon "Salamangreat Heatleo" and use monster effects to disrupt the opponent's backrow. With "Salamangreat Sanctuary", Soulburner is able to pull off a "Reincarnation Link Summon", a different approach to Link Summoning, strengthening his ace monster further.