Keith Kepler

"Today is the day. If this plan succeeds, it'll put an end to the collusion between East and West. Minister Brantz's death will be the catalyst of the war that restores Ostania to it's former glory… and sends those arrogant Western pigs to their knees!"

- Keith Kepler in Chapter 18

Keith Kepler (キース・ケプラー) was a student from the Berlint University who led a terrorist group in Berlint, and is the main antagonist of the Doggy Crisis Arc.

Appearance
Keith is a tall and slim young man in his late teens with messy black hair and a tall build. He wears a coat with a vest and a regular white shirt tucked inside and black pants.

Personality
He is rather cruel and callous, willing to use bomb dogs as part of his assassination plan, ordering his followers to kill Anya Forger when she overhears his plans, and willing to kill other Ostanian citizens as collateral damage from his explosive trap. Keith can be described as a racist young man, who views his country as better than the people living in Westalis and has no hesitation to start a war alongside his other conspirators.

History
Keith was the leader of a terrorist group, consisting of isolationist college students from Berlint University, intending to assassinate Minister Brantz to start a war between Westalis and Ostania. With the help from an unknown third party, the group gained access to military-trained lab dogs, who they intended to use as suicide bombers for their plan.

Doggy Crisis Arc
Keith and his group begin loading caged dogs inside a van. Upon seeing the preparations complete, Keith says they will get started. Later in their hideout, Keith and the other students talk about their assassination plot and his plan to assassinate Minister Brantz to start a war and bring Ostania back to its former glory. Kurt walks in to alert Keith that he caught Anya Forger listening to their conversation. As the other students ask Keith what they should do, he pulls out a switchblade, telling them they just need to take care of "it."

As Kurt is holds onto the little girl, Keith gets ready to kill her. One of the other students tries to dissuade him, but Keith tells them they need to silence her so she does not rat them out. However, when he tells Kurt to silence her, Kurt gets attacked by Bond, who moves to protect Anya afterward. One of the students prepares to attack Bond, but Keith tells them they need to keep the dog safe. Keith tells Bond to step away from Anya so he can kill her quickly. Suddenly the phone rings with a call from Kim, one of their co-conspirators.

Kim informs them that their hideouts have gotten raided, and Keith says they now have to switch to Plan B. After announcing this, he notices that Anya and Bond are nowhere to be seen. Keith yells at them for letting her escape and tells Kurt to come with him and bring a dog so they can chase after the child. He tells the rest of the group to tear all the maps off the wall since they will be abandoning the hideout. Keith grabs a German Shepherd and goes out looking for them with Kurt. As they chase after Anya and Bond, the pair end up running right back to them. After restraining Bond, Keith directs Kurt to kill Anya, but before he can do so, Yor Forger comes up from behind and knocks Kurt to the ground, shocking Keith.

Keith sends the dog after Yor, but she scares it away with a scary face, making it run away. As a crowd starts gathering at the alleyway, Keith decides to try to run away. He tries to bring Bond, pulling on his leash, but the dog refuses to move, so Keith kicks him away and runs away. He later tries going to one of his hideouts, only to find it under investigation by agents. As the conference draws near, Keith realizes he must carry out the assassination himself. After retrieving the German shepherd, Keith attaches a bomb to it and tells him to remember Minister Brantz's scent. Keith believes that now his Plan B positions are compromised, the clock tower will be swarming with security. However, he decides to use this to his advantage so he can attack them.

Keith arrives at the clock tower plaza and notices the dog catching a scent. However, he pulls the dog back and returns to his car, then thinks about how he hopes the bomb he planted works. Keith later goes to the hotel Minister Brantz is staying at, and when the dog catches his scent, Keith immediately gives chase. Keith is initially confused by Brantz's driving but realizes they are heading towards the river, something he appreciates as it is away from the crowds. Suddenly WISE agents catch up with Keith, and an agent pulls out a gun and starts shooting. However, Keith slams his car into theirs before throwing a stick hand grenade at them, flipping over the car. Keith catches up to the Minister's car and sees the vehicle abandoned. However, he sees Brantz running off in the distance, so he sends the dog after him. Brantz pulls out a gun to shoot at the dog, but the dog expertly dodges the shots. The Minister decides to keep running and parkours to get over a wall. Keith is shocked by this movement, as Brantz is 60 years old.

When the dog finally pounces on the Minister in an alleyway, Keith quickly detonates the bomb. To his surprise, Keith sees the bomb exploding in the river. As smoke gathers in the alley, Keith sees that the man in the distance is not Minister Brantz and realizes that his plan is in trouble, so he attempts to drive away and escape. During his escape, Yor suddenly jumps down in front of his path. Keith tries to go forward, but the woman kicks his car off the road, causing him to crash into a pole and fall unconscious. Afterward, Yor reports him to the police, and during the meeting between the WISE agents, it is revealed that the SSS took care of the rest.

Skills
Explosive Expert: Keith has good control over bombs and explosives, since he led a group of terrorists in order to send bomb dogs to assassinate Minister Brantz with an almost flawless plan, managed to set up a bomb in the Clock Tower that could have killed Loid, and even threw a grenade while he was driving that flipped over the WISE Agent's car.

Intelligence: Keith is quite intelligent, as he devised many plans to ensure his assassination succeeded and had many secret hideouts, and was able to throw together a rigged explosive trap that would have taken Loid Forger's life if not for Anya's intervention. Even after all of his team got captured, he still had one last strategy which could have succeeded had WISE not intervened. In the end, his plans failed due to the Forger Family playing a part in stopping him.

Knife Skills: Keith always has a knife with him, which he used in his attempt to kill Anya.

Kris
Keith and Kris seem to had a good relationship as both attended the same university and worked to make their assassination plot a success. After Kris was captured and deceived by Loid Forger disguised as Keith, he sold out the other members of their group and told WISE about their plans. Even after Keith realized Kris got caught and finding agents at one of their lairs, he found it difficult to believe that Kris sold them out.

Chapter Appearances

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Anime Appearances

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Trivia

 * Keith is the first villain who have used bombs as resource, with the other ones being Snoops and Billy Squire.
 * Oddly enough, Keith is the first one who attached an explosive to one of the Forgers, the other being Billy, who attached a fake neck bomb onto Anya Forger to prevent the students from plotting against him and his group.