Bacchus Groh

Bacchus (バッカス Bakkasu) is an S-Class Mage of the Quatro Cerberus Guild.

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

Bacchus' outfit leaves most of his muscular torso exposed, instead covering his arms and shoulders with dark armor plates, possessing thin light edges, which join on the upper part of his back and are topped by a wide, arched armored collar in correspondence to his neck. Covering his legs is a very baggy pair of dark pants, which ends below his knees 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, worn with calves-long light socks which reach up to his pants' edges; an element which is again Eastern in look.

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 perversive 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 ot his, 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".

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. 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.

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 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'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.

Magic and Abilities
Palm Magic: Bacchus' Magic is a very simple and rather orthodox one, which focuses his Magic Power in the palm of his hands. What makes his use of it fearsome is Bacchus' mastery of Chop Hanging Fist, a martial art which allows him to make the most out of palm strikes, thus taking full advantage of the employed 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.

Immense Agility: 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 very fast, possessing 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 and even Fairy Tail's Guild Master Makarov Dreyar blank.

Master Hand to Hand Combatant: Bacchus' fighting style revolves around his mastery of a peculiar martial art, the Chop Hanging Fist, 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 Fist: 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. Aside from his signature palm strikes, Bacchus can also perform agile, fast and unpredictable motions 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 Fist that earned him his epithets The Drunk Falcon and Bacchus of the Drunk-Chop Hanging Fist. All in all, such fighting style is highly reminiscent of Zui Quan, sometimes known as "Drunken Fist", a traditional Chinese martial art whose user imitate the movements of an intoxicated individual to attack foes and evade their blows.

Alcohol Tolerance: Bacchus is gifted with an immense level of alcohol tolerance, being capable of swallowing 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 blank. When consumed freshly, alcohol is shown to be even beneficial for Bacchus, allowing him to employ his signature Drunk-Chop Hanging Fist 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 Bacchus' 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. The lower bulge also bears three Chinese characters, contrary to the more commonly used Japanese kanji, again in reference to Bacchus' eastern appearance. These are "Ghost" (鬼), "Cry" (哭) and "Drunk" (醉). 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.

Battles & Events

 * Chariot
 * Elfman Strauss vs. Bacchus

Trivia

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