Kurei is the son of Ōka and his mistress Reina, and is Recca Hanabishi's older half-brother. Like Recca, Kurei possesses the ability to produce and manipulate flames, but his flames are shown to be of a different color than Recca's. Due to the fact that his flame's main form is that of a Phoenix, Kurei also has the ability to absorb the souls of deceased humans into his flame and make them fight for him (the prime example of this being Kurenai). Although initially introduced as an antagonist, Kurei becomes more of an anti-hero as the series progresses.