Hibiki Lates

Hibiki Lates (ヒビキ・レイティス Hibiki Reitisu), also known as the Hundred Night Hibiki, is one of the Mages who belongs to the Blue Pegasus Guild's team, The Trimens.

Appearance
Hibiki is a slim young man of average height with spiky, somewhat messy brownish blond hair framing his face. He has dark eyes and noticeably long eyelashes. He’s considered handsome by most girls, many of them being willing to join Blue Pegasus just to be near him.

Hibiki initially wore a dark, double-breasted suit with a pair of distinctive light lines circling each sleeve and lower leg and Blue Pegasus' symbol on its left shoulder, over a pinstriped blue shirt, closed around the neck by a darker tie, and polished dark dress shoes. Shortly after the beginning of the Oración Seis arc, he forsook his jacket and tie, at the same time leaving his shirt hanging untucked over his pants, gaining a much more casual look.

In X791, Hibiki switched to a dark vest, adorned by a pair of light wings pointing outwards over the chest, together with a light, plain shirt. He’s not shown wearing a tie anymore, but retains his dark pants and shoes.

Personality
Like the rest of the Trimens, Hibiki behaves like a typical womanizer in that he usually charms up to any female (regardless of the age) he meets for the first time ever; often with little to no shame, even if accomplices of that woman are there to watch. Nevertheless, he is capable of becoming serious when he wants to be; he also possesses some level of will power, having resisted Nirvana's effect for a time before passing out, though he notes to himself that Lucy's bond with Celestial Spirits is what truly saved him, afterwards. He is also quite a gentlemen towards others, as he is very polite and typically addresses others with honorifics. He is apparently more perceptive and knowledgeable than he lets on, and because of this, he was the only member of his team whom Bob entrusted with the information regarding Nirvana's true capabilities.

It is implied that Hibiki has romantic feelings for his teammate Jenny Realight or is in a relationship with her as on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, the two were seen kissing each other.

History
Hibiki is a long-standing member of the Blue Pegasus guild, the length of his membership goes so far back that Master Bob entrusts him with important information and considers him his right hand man. He is said to be the reason why so many women join the guild in the first place. At one point, Hibiki was the lover of Karen Lilica, but their relationship ended when she was murdered while on a mission by Angel of Oración Seis. Hibiki apparently never got over her death, but doesn't let it interfere with his work.

Oración Seis arc
He, along with Eve Tearm and Ren Akatsuki, act as greeters to the other members of the Light Team, though they're more womanizers than anything, instantly trying to woo over Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet (and later Wendy Marvell), and he, along with his team, is very rude to the other men. After the representatives gather at their guild to discuss the threat of Oración Seis, he along with Eve and Ren, rush out with the others to go find the dark guild and indeed quickly locate their target. However, the Oración Seis easily decimates them and kidnaps Wendy (as well as Happy) but the team is saved from death by Jura Neekis. The bunch soon regroups to save their kidnapped members. Hibiki stays behind with Lucy and Erza, the latter of whom has been poisoned by Cobra, to look after them as well as guide the other back to their location once they've found their targets. It is here that he reveals to Lucy that she has gained a rather fearsome reputation because of Natsu's antics.

After Natsu Dragneel finds Wendy, Hibiki helps Natsu find his and Lucy's position through his Magic, allowing Natsu to reach Erza just in time and allow Wendy to cure her of the poison. However no sooner than this task is accomplished, Jellal Fernandes activates Nirvana, which Hibiki knows about having been informed by Master Bob secretly. Both Erza and Natsu split from the group at this point and Wendy nearly succumbs to the power of Nirvana due to her negative thoughts, forcing Hibiki to knock her out for her own safety.

He then carries Wendy while Lucy, Carla, Happy and he try to trail after their friends. Hibiki explains Nirvana's purpose along the way. However they soon come across Angel, who nearly kills Natsu having incapacitated him by exploiting his motion sickness. Lucy does battle against the Oración Seis member with Hibiki nearly joining in. But he is wounded when Angel takes control of Sagittarius and hits him in the shoulder, leaving Hibiki out for most of the fight.

As the battle continues, Angel mentions she was the one who killed Hibiki's fellow member, Karen, who was also his girlfriend. This news greatly shocks Hibiki and he is nearly affected by Nirvana due to his negative thoughts, but he manages to suppress them. Later he watches as Lucy nearly sacrifices herself to free Karen's former spirit, Aries, from Angel's grasp. But she is saved when Angel's spirit, Gemini, who can't bring themselves to kill her after reading Lucy's heart and discovering her pure love for all Celestial Spirits. As Angel dismisses them, Hibiki comes up at Lucy from behind seemingly affected by Nirvana and makes to strangle Lucy. But it’s a ruse to get Angel off her guard while he uploads a top level spell into Lucy's mind, mentioning to her that it was her love of Celestial Spirits that saved him from Nirvana.

Hibiki transfers information about Urano Metria to Lucy. He then passes out from exertion but accomplishes his task as his power allows Lucy to fire off the spell and defeat Angel. As he recuperates, he leads the rest of the Light Team on board the Christina (repaired in a make-shift manner by the Mages who were using their individual Magics in tandem to enable the vessel to fly once again) a charge against Nirvana to save the Cait Shelter Guild as Zero attempts to destroy it. He is the one who finds Nirvana's weakness and, using his Magic, he forwards it to the others. However, Zero hijacks the transmission and reveals that he already defeated four of their comrades (Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy) and that he is standing in front of one of the lacrimas. Hibiki, along with the rest of the light team, tells the four to stand up. When they finally finalize the plan, Hibiki reaches his limit and his transmission cuts off.

After the Oracion Seis is defeated and Nirvana stopped, the Light team regroups in Cait Shelter Guild where they learn the secret of the guild.

X791 arc
Hibiki, along with the rest of the Trimens, visits Fairy Tail to inform them of the possibility that Tenrou Island may still exist.

Grand Magic Games arc
He and Ichiya are awakened by the announcement of the beginning of the preliminary round during the Grand Magic Games. The Trimens, along with another member that looks like a rabbit, pass the preliminaries in fifth place. The team chooses to let Eve play for the first round of the games. Once the Hidden portion comes to an end, Blue Pegasus stands in fourth place with 4 points.

As Hibiki watches the first day's battle, Lucy Heartfilia vs. Flare Corona, he, along with the other Blue Pegasus members, stares in awe as Lucy begins to cast Urano Metria, a spell that Hibiki once transferred to Lucy via Archive Magic. Even though they don't share the same team, Hibiki, is still happy that Lucy managed to master the ultimate magic of the stars.

On the third day of the Grand Magic Games, Hibiki chooses himself to represent Blue Pegasus for the Day's event. Prior to the explanation of rules, Hibiki starts to analyze the temple where the event will occur. The event, Pandemonium, consists on defeating monsters of different levels to earn points and progress. Despite the random nature of the event, Hibiki says that his Archive will allow him to make up a strategy. However, the event is finished by Erza Scarlet alone, which amazes the entire audience. To finish the event, Mato has everyone compete in the MPF challenge and during it, Hibiki flirts with Cana, soon asking her out. Cana responds that she'll only be able to drink one barrel and Hibiki comments she drank too much. When he hits the MPF, he gets only a 95 and is depressed and Cana offers to comfort him, much to his delight.

That evening, Hibiki and the Trimens go on a trip to Ryuuzetsu Land, a popular leisure center in Crocus. When they arrive, the four quickly get into their host persona and approach Erza and Lucy, who are sunbathing nearby. Standing beside Erza, Hibiki tells her she looks especially beautiful. However, Erza puts a stop to it and proceeds to yell at them, scolding Hibiki for his poor performance in the day's event. A little while later, Gray and Lyon fight and freeze the pool, with Natsu deciding to get rid of the ice by using his own Magic. Hibiki and the Trimens are sent flying when Natsu uses more power than necessary, ending up face down in the rubble, naked and completely dazed.

During the 4th day's battle events, Hibiki is seen kissing Jenny Realight while Ichiya is battling against Bacchus and Rocker from Team Quatro Puppy, something which shocks Ren. When the formerly unknown member of the team is revealed to be an exceed who resembles Ichiya, Hibiki is shown to be greatly shocked by the revelation. Upon Ichiya's victory, Hibiki smiles from the stands, calling him a true blue angel.

In the following battle of Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox of Team Fairy Tail against Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney of Team Sabertooth, Hibiki watches with his teammates as Natsu dominates the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth by himself.

Afterwards, as the final day of the games gets underway, the emcees announce the arrival of the participating teams. As their name is called, Hibiki gathers with his teammates, ready to participate. As the rules for the day are announced, Hibiki stands with his team, using his Archive Magic to prepare. As the games begin, Hibiki heads out with Ren and Eve. Soon after, the three of them encounter Beth and Arania of Team Mermaid Heel. While Hibiki uses his Archive Magic in battle, his teammates defeat the two, earning 2 points for Team Blue Pegasus.

Soon after Team Fairy Tail enters the battle, having stayed behind previously, Hibiki, Ren and Eve were found by Gajeel, who defeated the latter two but winds up letting Hibiki escape. As the Archive Mage escapes while questioning whether there is someone in Fairy Tail who could do better than a calculation of his Archive, he is found and defeated by Gray Fullbuster, which he apologizes to Ichiya for.

Magic and Abilities
Archive (古文書 Ākaibu): A rare type of Magic which allows Hibiki to transfer information to and from people for various purposes. With this, he is capable of coordinating the movements of his allies as well as knowing their present conditions and giving them new knowledge. As a result of this, Hibiki usually distances himself from the battlefield and acts as a command center of sorts, but is capable of defending himself should the need arise.


 * Force Blast: Hibiki can manifest his Archive Magic in a form of Magical screens and forcefully explode them in front of his target causing similar damage of a blast. It is sufficient enough to throw his target into the air, as seen with Wendy. (Unnamed)


 * Force Shield: Hibiki can create a magical shield from screens with his Magic. It is unknown to what degree it could stand up to assaults, both magical or otherwise, but it was powerful enough to block an Ice-Make spell cast by Gemini who was assuming Gray's form and abilities at the time and Sagittarius's arrows. (Unnamed)


 * Telepathy (思念伝達魔法 Shinen Dentatsu Mahō): This Magic allows Hibiki to communicate with other people just using his mind. With this, he is able to establish contact with comrades even over considerable distances. However, it is likely that he can only establish this connection to individuals that he knows, met, and is personally familiar with. Other users of Archive are also capable of intercepting the connection, as Zero has demonstrated, by "jacking-in"


 * Information Transfer: Hibiki can use his Magic to transfer some information into a person's mind. This is particularly useful in exploration missions, since Hibiki can send information regarding miscellaneous data (such as the nearby surroundings, for instance) to his comrades, which they can perceive on a mental level as loading bars in buffering progress occurring within their mind that represents the images and symbols being downloaded into them in real time; with this, he can navigate allies on where to go by transferring "maps" into their heads. The data that he could transfer also includes (but probably not limited to) the knowledge on how to perform powerful spells and enchantments like Urano Metria. Unfortunately, bestowing such information to another person is not without drawbacks; it seems to induce a mental strain that lasts for the duration of the download (though Lucy was perfectly fine after performing Urano Metria, albeit could not remember any details of it after that). As such, Hibiki claims that executing the skill based on the information he provides can only be used once. (Unnamed)

Welcome to Fairy Hills!!
During Wendy and Carla's welcoming party to Fairy Hills, the girls discuss one another's potential boyfriends. Although Lucy is not there, they talk about her too and list Hibiki as one of her potential boyfriends.

Video Games
Hibiki appears as a playable character in the DS Game, Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, upon being unlocked. and in the PSP game, Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
In the video-game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Hibiki Lates is a playable character. In this game, Hibiki Lates possess the following moves:
 * Main: Archive: Overload
 * Sub 1: Ren! (Sky Magic: Air Bomber)
 * Sub 2: Archive: Clock Up
 * Sub 3: Eve! (Snow Magic: Snow Bomb)
 * Super: Archive: Protect

Trivia

 * According to the Blue Pegasus membership card, Hibiki likes all females and dislikes bugs. His handsome features consistently places him fairly high in the Weekly Sorcerer's "Mage I'd Like as a Boyfriend" ranking, and may be why so many girls sign up for the Guild he is affiliated with. He apparently has no personal preference in any particular lady, but rumors circulating about him spread nonetheless, spanning about 18 (unconfirmed) legends about him so far.


 * In Volume 32's extra content, Mashima provided the battle statistics for 31 of the 40 X791 contestants in the Grand Magic Games. The stats, however, were provided not from Mashima's point-of-view as the author but from the view point of Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason. Which explains why some stats are missing and why others may be inaccurate. According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during his participation in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Hibiki's stats are:

Quotes

 * (To Lucy Heartfilia) "...I almost fell into darkness, but the bonds you have with your spirits wrapped me with light."

Battles & Events

 * Light Team vs. Oración Seis
 * Sky Labyrinth
 * X791 Grand Magic Games Inauguration
 * Pandemonium
 * MPF
 * Fun in Ryuuzetsu Land!!