Bacchus Groh

Bacchus (バッカス Bakkasu) is an S-Class Mage of the Quatro Cerberus Guild, and part of its team, Quatro Puppy.

Appearance
Bacchus is a tall, muscular and pale-skinned man with straight black hair, which is slicked back and gathered on the back of his head, where it is kept in a bun, hidden away by a white cloth with ruffled edges secured by a similarly colored strip; a haircut which was popular in ancient China. He has slanted eyes marked by dark lines, with black pupils circled by lighter irises, each bearing four irregular black forms below it (with the central pair of forms being larger than the two on the sides), and which are topped by black, arched eyebrows. He also appears to possess sharp canine teeth. Hanging from his ears is a pair of light brown earrings, whose shape is reminiscent of a gourd; an object which is commonly employed to drink alcohol, and which Bacchus himself carries around for such purpose. His Quatro Cerberus' tattoo is located on the center of his muscular, exposed back.

Bacchus' outfit leaves most of his muscular torso exposed, instead covering his arms and shoulders with dark blue armor plates, which join on the upper part of his back and are topped by a wide, arched armored collar in correspondence to his nape. Covering his legs is a very baggy pair of dark pants, which ends below his knees (where it gets tighter) and sports large, light motifs reminiscent of flames on the legs' outer edges, and circling his waist is a light sash tied on his left hip, with its long edges left hanging. For footwear, Bacchus dons dark, plain Chinese-looking shoes with light soles. All in all, the S-Class Mage greatly resembles a Chinese warrior from ancient times in appearance, something made evident by both his choice of clothing and his own looks.

Personality
So far, Bacchus' personality has mostly been shown with him in an intoxicated state. As his very name and epithet suggest, he greatly enjoys drinking alcohol, and, even while sober, is very competitive, having approached Cana Alberona to challenge her to a drinking contest. After winning such contest and getting drunk, he left her bare-chested by taking her bikini top "as a trophy"; something which also hints at a certain lack of decorum and at some perverse tendencies, again testified when Bacchus referred to Erza Scarlet as the usual "fine woman", and definitively confirmed when, before his match with Elfman Strauss, he asked the Fairy Tail Mage to make a bet with him; a bet which, in case of Bacchus' victory, would have resulted in him spending one night with Elfman's sisters Mirajane and Lisanna, both at the same time.

In spite of this, Bacchus appears to have a sense of honor, acknowledging Elfman as a "man" as he lost to him during their battle, admitting defeat, and being willing to cheerfully honor the bet he made with him despite it making a mockery of his guild's team in X791's Grand Magic Games, claiming it to be a "promise between men". He's also very exuberant, and, much like many of his fellow guild members, has the habit to refer to his or others' "spirit" as "wild". He, like Elfman, seems to have a similar moral about being a man.

History
While on jobs for their respective guilds in the past, Bacchus and Fairy Tail's S-Class Mage Erza Scarlet have fought many times. However, neither ever defeated the other, and so their score has never been settled.

Grand Magic Games arc
While the members of Fairy Tail were in a bar in Crocus celebrating their defeat, Bacchus came into the bar and challenged Cana to a drinking match. Despite warnings from Cana, Macao Conbolt, and Wakaba Mine, he doesn't back down from the challenge, and, much to the shock of all the observers, he defeats her. After he defeats her, he takes her bra as a trophy, something which angers Macao and Wakaba and so Macao punches him. Bacchus gets up and knocks both Macao and Wakaba down, but stops when he is addressed by Erza Scarlet. The two Mages talk briefly before Bacchus leaves stating that if he and Erza met tomorrow or the day after, then they would settle things for good.

Bacchus later participates in the second day's event, Chariot. Though initially in fifth place behind Kurohebi of Team Raven Tail, Ichiya of Team Blue Pegasus, Yuka of Team Lamia Scale and Risley of Team Mermaid Heel due to the hangover from the night before, after seeing the effort everyone else in the race was putting out, Bacchus uses his immense strength to destroy some of the chariots, causing his opponents to lose their balance and enabling him to overtake them, gaining first place and winning 10 points for his team. Makarov then proceeds to compliment Bacchus' ability, proclaiming his shock not knowing Quatro Cerberus even had such a man in their guild.

Later on the same day, Bacchus is chosen to fight, with his match having been requested by the King of Fiore himself. Due to an incomprehension between the King and Arcadios, however, his opponent from Fairy Tail isn't his old rival Erza Scarlet, but Elfman Strauss. The two enter the arena, with Bacchus laying casually on the ground while drinking, and then asking Elfman to make a bet just like the previous fighters Toby Horhorta and Kurohebi: if Bacchus wins, he'll spend a night with Elfman's sisters Mirajane and Lisanna. Before he can think of something for Elfman's possible victory, the Fairy Tail Mage angrily states that he'll tear him apart. Bacchus sneers satisfied as the two ready for battle.

Their battle commences but Elfman cannot land an attack. Bacchus starts commenting about how he'd spend his night with Mirajane and Lisanna, angering Elfman and causing him to transform into his Beast Soul: Weretiger. But not only does Bacchus manage to dodge Elfman's attacks, he also manages to attack him with his use of Chop Hanging Fist. After enduring a few attacks, Elfman gets up and places his wager in their bet: if he wins the match, Quatro Cerberus will have to change their name to Quatro Puppy for the rest of the Games. Hearing this, Bacchus starts drinking from his bottle of alcohol and prepares to use Drunk-Chop Hanging Fist. He lands several hits on Elfman but soon discovers how bruised up his palms are afterwards. He sees that Elfman has transformed into Beast Soul: Lizardman before he attacked, thus causing injury to his palms. Bacchus gets excited and the two Mages continue their battle, with him on the offensive, and Elfman trying to defend himself with his newly-gained scales. As the clash comes to a conclusion, Bacchus remarks that Elfman is a real man before collapsing utterly defeated, in stark contrast to everyone's expectations. Thus, Elfman wins and gains Team Fairy Tail A 10 points.

At the end of the Games' second day, a fully recovered Bacchus laughs heartily at how his team's name was actually changed to Quatro Puppy, telling his dismayed teammates that it can't be helped.

On the third day's evening, Bacchus is present at the Ryuzetsu Land water park alongside the rest of his team, which are relaxing in a pool while repeating the guild's signature phrase. Lazily floating on a lifebuoy adorned by pandas, Bacchus states that the "era of real men" is starting before telling his guildmates about a close friend of him using his own name as an alias to commit thefts; a story he'd told them already countless times, as they notice. The group receives a visit from Cana, clad in her underwear due to the lack of a swimsuit, who cherfully side-hugs both Rocker and Nobarly, much to everyone's embarassment, and not without some pleasure on the former two's part. That evening, however, is brought to an abrupt end by Natsu Dragneel, who accidentally destroys the water park with his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, leaving everyone on the ground, with Bacchus resting below Cana with a mildly pleased expression.

After the fourth day's event, Naval Battle, is concluded, Bacchus watches as the battle portions of the day are set to start.

Later, the tag battle between Team Blue Pegasus and Team Quatro Puppy is announced. Ichiya and the man wearing a rabbit costume would be facing Bacchus and Rocker. Bacchus, now wearing bandages in his hands because of the wounds received in his battle against Elfman, is seen relaxing before the battle unlike his team-mate, Rocker. Before the battle starts, the unknown Blue Pegasus member removes his mask, revealing himself to be the Exceed Nichiya. Firsty, seeing this Bacchus is shocked and then he gives a wry smile. He charges towards Nichiya, landing a strong blow on him, knocking him unconscious.

After this attack, Ichiya is shocked and Bacchus takes advantage of this situation and uses his Under Moonlight, sending Ichiya flying, with Rocker chaining with his attacks. However, Ichiya is determined to avenge his comrade. He uses his Power Perfume to enhance his muscles and then performs his Hohoemi attack - punching Bacchus and Rocker hard enough to knock both of them out. As a result, team Blue Pegasus wins the battle.

During the last day of the Grand Magic Games, Bacchus enters with the rest of his team as they are announced 6th place. As the rules for the day are explained, Bacchus listens in along with his teammates. Soon after the start of the day, Bacchus comes across Yuka and Toby of Team Lamia Scale. As he looks at the two however, he is caught off guard and pummeled into the ground from above by Sting of Team Sabertooth. Due to his status as the leader of his team, Sting earns his team 5 points for having knocked him out.

Magic and Abilities
Palm Magic: Bacchus' Magic is a very simple and rather orthodox one, which focuses Magic Power on the palm of his hands. What makes his use of it fearsome is Bacchus' mastery of Chop Hanging Palm (劈掛掌 Hikashō), a martial art which allows him to make the most out of palm strikes, thus taking full advantage of the focused Magic Power. When employing his unarmed prowess alongside such Magic, Bacchus is shown capable of striking with great force mighty opponents the likes of Elfman Strauss (whose size was further enhanced by his Beast Soul: Weretiger) with mere touches of his hands, even sending them flying away from him without effort.

Immense Speed: A trained Mage specializing in melee combat, Bacchus possesses high levels of agility and reflexes, enough for him to avoid multiple assaults from Elfman Strauss's Beast Soul: Weretiger, a Take Over transformation said to greatly increase speed, with ease, employing the fluent motions typical of his fighting style to evade blows, and at the same time counter-attacking. He's also shown to be remarkably fast, possessing very great running speed even while on a hangover: during the Grand Magic Games's Chariot event, he could outrun Kurohebi, who was leading the race and had an advantage of several meters over him, in mere seconds, emerging victorious from the contest. When Bacchus consumes alcohol freshly, his speed doesn't suffer; on the other hand, it is further increased, and can reach unimaginable peaks: a single sip of alcohol from his gourd allows him to accurately hit foes seven times, subsequently moving several meters past them, in a single second, almost making it look like he's teleporting.

Immense Strength: Bacchus possesses an outrageous amount of physical strength: during the Grand Magic Games's Chariot event, he was shown capable of breaking down the chariot he was standing on and the ground below it, lifting all nearby chariots linked to it in midair as a result, with a simple stomp; an astonishing feat which was commented upon by both spectators and fellow competitors, leaving two physically powerful Mages such as Erza Scarlet and Elfman Strauss and even Fairy Tail's Guild Master Makarov Dreyar stunned.

Enhanced Endurance: Bacchus has proven himself to be considerably resilient and tolerant to pain: during his battle with Elfman Strauss, he continued to attack the latter, clad in his Beast Soul: Lizardman form, with a barrage of unarmed blows despite the numerous injuries he was gaining to his hands due to the opponent's hard scales, and kept on doing so even after the violence of the impacts broke all of the armor plates covering his arms. Afterwards, Bacchus was only shown to be significantly exhausted, and didn't seem to suffer any pain. He could also fight as usual two days later, brutally assaulting Ichiya and Nichiya with bandaged palms without any sign of discomfort.

Master Hand to Hand Combatant: Bacchus' fighting style revolves around his mastery of the martial art Chop Hanging Palm, which is focused around the use of palm strikes imbued with Magic Power through his Magic, distinctive attacks which Quatro Cerberus' S-Class Mage performs by assuming particular stances, bending his knees and diagonally stretching his arms upwards, allowing him to assault foes with great force and accuracy. Not only that, Bacchus improved such already powerful martial art in a peculiar way, adding it the consumption of alcohol he's used to, and thus creating Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm (酔劈掛掌 Sui Hikashō): when intoxicated, Bacchus' blows are said to be unpredictable, as well as much stronger than usual. In addition, their speed seems to be increased exponentially, as shown when Bacchus was able to land seven blows on Elfman Strauss in a single second, subsequently moving behind him, making it look like he had just moved through his opponent. Due to his mastery of such style, Bacchus' palm strikes can also be performed from seemingly unfavorable positions; something which can serve to take opponents off-guard and strike them, as shown when he could knock off their feet Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine and slam them both on the ground at the same time while facing backwards and raising from the floor where he had just collapsed due to intoxication. It's Bacchus' use of Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm that earned him his epithets The Drunk Falcon and Bacchus of the Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm. All in all, such fighting style is highly reminiscent of Zui Quan, sometimes known as "Drunken Palm", a traditional Chinese martial art whose users imitate the movements of an intoxicated individual to attack foes and evade their blows.
 * Under Moonlight (月下 Gekka): One of Bacchus' Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm melee attacks. When he used it against Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, this move was shown sending the man flying several meters away while raising a burst of sand from the ground he was standing upon seconds before, as if it'd targeted the area around its target.

Alcohol Tolerance: Bacchus is gifted with an immense level of alcohol tolerance, being capable of consuming huge amounts of alcohol, emptying entire bottles and many glasses, without losing consciousness, and even retaining a certain lucidity. He was able to defeat Cana Alberona, a seasoned drinker known in her own right for an incredible alcohol tolerance, in a drinking contest, something which left her fellow guild mates from Fairy Tail stunned. When consumed freshly, alcohol is shown to be even beneficial for Bacchus, allowing him to employ his signature Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm martial art, and thus making him deadlier in combat.

Equipment
Gourd: On certain instances, Bacchus is shown to carry around a gourd, which he uses to store alcohol and have it at his disposal to drink anytime. Such element is important in the execution of his signature martial art, the Drunk-Chop Hanging Fist, allowing him to consume alcohol during battles and employ his abilities to the fullest. The object is closed by a thin cork bung, and possesses the hourglass-like shape typical to the plant, with the lower bulge being slightly larger than the upper one, and a thin rope being tied in the concave part between the two. During battles, Bacchus appears to casually leave the gourd resting on the ground, approaching it and calmly drinking from it when he chooses to employ his Drunk-Chop Hanging Fist, as shown during his fight with Elfman Strauss, in which the gourd spent most of the time on the sandy ground of the Domus Flau.

In the manga, the lower bulge also bears three Chinese characters, contrary to the more commonly used Japanese kanji, again in reference to Bacchus' Chinese appearance. These are "Ghost" (鬼), "Cry" (哭) and "Drunk" (醉). Such trait was left out completely in the anime portrayal.

Battles & Events

 * Chariot
 * Elfman Strauss vs. Bacchus
 * Fun in Ryuuzetsu Land!!
 * Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki & Nichiya vs. Bacchus & Rocker

Trivia

 * Bacchus was the Roman name of Dionysus, the god of wine and everything related to it in Greek mythology.

Quotes

 * (To Erza Scarlet) "After seeing War Cry's sorry state, I just couldn't keep silent... That's a man's spirit for you."
 * (To Elfman Strauss) "You know, you... are a man!!!"
 * (To Rocker) "Whaaat? As long as our souls tremble, That'll be fine."
 * (To Quatro Puppy's members) ''"Oi, you guys. This is the age of Men not boys.