Hellion

Hellions (憑魔 (ヘリオン), Herion lit. Possessing Evil) are the main antagonistic force in Daybreak. Also known as Symbiotes (共存 (シムビウーツ), Simubiūtu lit. Co-Existence) by the public, the Hellions are demons born from within the bodies of despairing humans. According to their creator, the Hellions are supposed to be the next stage in human evolution. They are stronger, tougher, and faster, with various other special abilities. Originally, the Hellions are referred by the Magic Council as Unidentified Life Forms (未確認生命体, Mikakunin Seimeitai) until Tsuruko Sejren tells Deen Lhant that their proper name is "Symbiote"; though this was inaccurate, Alexis Tenjouin later remarked that it was "a lot less of a mouthful". Each of them possesses a strange artifact on the belt like parts in all of their bodies, no different than a Driver Belt; signaling that the Hellions are extremely similar to the Soul Armours.

Background and History
The origin of the Hellions reveals them to be something older than Earth Land itself—in the beginning, before the Old World was split into Earth Land, the world of no magic, and Aether, a scientist whom helped discover the Catalyst Comet –and thus the zero particles-, Klaus, reverse-engineered the zero particles into something he referred to as "Magic". Acting upon his subconscious desire to become a god after getting his hands on a power beyond comprehension, Klaus developed a power known as the "Amadam Virus" in order to bring out the inner darkness of the human heart- transforming countless humans into Hellions; or rather, creating Hellions to possess countless humans. The Hellions threw the Old World into hell on earth, before Klaus' partner, Dzerve Sejren, created the six Prototype Soul Armours from the Catalyst Comet and by sacrificing fifty percent of the world's population to use their souls as materials for forging the armours. Using the Soul Armours, six heroes managed to barely repel the Hellions and Dzerve forced the universe to undergo a "reboot" using the power of the Philosopher's Stone.

However, even in the current universe, the Hellions still exist in many ways, shapes, and forms—as Dzerve's wish upon the Philosopher's Stone only asked to "reset this existence", she did not specify about erasing the Hellions or even their creator from existence. As such, the Hellions simply manifested similarly—naturally, this time; or at least the closest thing to it. If any non-Magius being undergoes a magic-induced depression, then the Hellion will burst forth from within their soul and take over their body, wearing their body as a "skin" of sorts.

The Hellions of Earth Land that were created on the day of a solar eclipse follow the orders of a mysterious figure, speculated to be the First Hellion, whom gives them the task to find more targets and place them in despair so that more of their kind can be created. However, from their very beginning, the Soul Armour Knight known as Phenex stood in their way of sacrificing more humans; for this and stopping countless wars, Phenex was hailed as a saviour until the knight mysteriously vanished, leaving the Hellions to run wild once more.

Numerous rumours abounded about Phenex's disappearance, but later on, in the modern day, Tsuruko Sejren, coupled with her Enslaved Hellion known as Star Phoenix, set out to continue where her hero left off; becoming the second Soul Armour Knight known to humanity, Gaiki. However, when it's too late for Tsuruko to stop a target from despairing, she's capable of utilizing her Zero Effect to enter the target's soul and destroy the inner Hellion, in turn saving the target at the cost of removing their magic. The Soul Armour Knight known as Zero also stands in the Hellions' way, but his methods differ from Tsuruko. Zero's top priority is to replenish his magical power supply by absorbing the Hellions' magical power, rather than saving the targets like Tsuruko does. More and more Soul Armour Knights pop up as Daybreak progresses, slowly but surely backing the Hellions into a corner. Despite this, numerous factions composed of Hellions arose, such as the Zodiac Knights, attempting to reaffirm their existence.

Eventually, the Hellions are relocated to Aether after Excellen Kilekion becomes the Exalt of Aether; with countless Hellions willingly going with her and Tsuruko, showing that the "dangerous" ones are a vocal minority. After this incident in X757, very few Hellions appeared on Earth Land because of Tsuruko eliminating the concept of 'despair equals demonic transformation' by destroying the First Hellion, other than the occasional tourist.

Manifestation Types
As the human falls to despair, an infant Hellion, born from their inner darkness, proceeds to destroy the human's soul before bursting from the host and gaining a physical humanoid body appearance and receiving the ability to disguise as the human which had given birth to them. Like humans, Hellions have different personalities and not all are interested in their supposed cause. Indeed, several of the Hellions have shown little personal interest in creating more Hellions, preferring to fulfill their own desires until forced to take action by the commanders. When a Hellion bonds with a host, especially a type that responds to energy as well as a human (in fact, humans are the most ideal host for a Hellion because of their numerous vices), they grant the host body abilities far beyond the norm, usually in the form of enhanced physical traits, elemental manipulation, and a demonic form, a transformative "battle form" that further enhances these abilities, and makes the host body a truly deadly combatant. Although never stated, the events of the One-Day War during Daybreak S1 implied that Hellions are stronger than any other type of demon, since even Low-Class Hellions were able to easily overpower Etherious whom were stated to be as powerful as a guild master.

There are effectively two classes of Hellions. The first far more common, and consists of the majority of the Hellion race; the malevolent Hellions, intent on replacing all humans with Hellions, infesting the native apex species of the planet. These Hellions unconcerned with the welfare of the species they infest, and will openly attack those seen as a threat. In some cases, if there is a common goal or the targeted human's ideals fascinate it, the Hellion and its host can enter a symbiotic relationship where the Hellion can fulfill its host's darkest desire. Despite being spared, the possessed human is technically dead the moment the Hellion enters them and die once their possessors are killed off. Interestingly, Hellions are manifestations of the host's darker side. As such, while retaining their abilities as hosts, the Hellion's personalities are the exact opposite of their former selves. However humans such as Psyga Delphinus who already embrace their dark side appear to be able to dominate their Hellion and gain their powers and form without dying.

The second class, and far less common are the "benevolent" Hellions. These Hellions are true to their name, infesting hosts, but they only feed on the hosts life energy, granting them full access to their powers in exchange, and can even converse with their hosts casually. The first type of these Hellions are born when a human keeps a hellion inside of them from tearing loose by clinging onto hope, causing the hellion to be henceforth be known as a Enslaved Hellion (使役憑魔 (ヘリオン), Shieki Herion), and that human can now use the Hellion's special powers. However, in many cases, some Hellions are just content to live normal lives without bothering anyone—while they will have devoured their human host, they're simply happy to be left alone, admiring life—these Hellions are a silent majority. In some cases, a Hellion who experiences the host's dreams and emotions (or has another semi-benevolent purpose) can hold off from possessing them; as shown with Star Phoenix and Tsuruko, though the former won't admit it. It should be noted that once a Hellion reaches their Advanced form, the strength of a Hellion is proportional to the depth of the despair from which it was born. The more intense the despair that the host undergoes; the more powerful and more monstrous the resulting Hellion will be. Because of this, the Advanced Hellions are all over the scale in terms of power.

Classes
When a Hellion first forms from the host's despair; they are in a rather weak state—this form is known as a Low-Class Hellion (下級憑魔 (ヘリオン), Kakyū Herion); essentially, these types are considered akin to simple foot-soldiers; as denoted by their gray battle forms. They are about as strong as a normal magician, albeit impervious to anything other than a Hellion's designated weaknesses. The Low-Class Hellions make up over seventy percent of the race; these types of Hellions are actually darkness given shape and form, using the human host's body as "clothing" for a lack of a better word. Being born from despair, the Low-Class Hellions are mindless and act on instinct, their only goal is to find suitable targets and drive them to despair, creating more Hellions.

Once the Low-Class Hellion has driven enough people to despair, they will undergo an evolution to an Advanced Hellion (上級憑魔 (ヘリオン), Jōkyū Herion); this results in an incredible boost of power all across the board; upgrading the Hellion's threat to S-Class level magician level or even above, depending on the Hellion. In this form, their battle mode transforms into a far more powerful version called Armourize (進化態 (アーマーライズ), Āmāraisu lit. Evolution State); this causes their battle form to take upon a resemblance to the nature of the despair that birthed them from their host, which is normally an animal such as a mythological creature, or even a simple concept. Once a Hellion evolves, they are generally referred to by the motif of their new bodies, rather than just their race. In this form, aside from the general surge in power, they gain the ability to manifest a weapon of their choice, and a special power.

In some exceedingly rare cases, a Hellion will take upon one more evolution; this final form is invoked by the Hellion surpassing its limits and powering up with a particular type of despair—whether it be their own or related to somebody/a group of people. This despair will dwell within the Hellion's soul, before swirling out of control and causing an enormous surge of power; these Hellions are known as Over Lord Hellions (オーバーロード・ヘリオン, Ōbārōdo Herion). These Hellions are shown to have powers beyond even Wizard Saints or anything beyond that level, such as manipulating plant life and downright ignoring the effects of opposing magic. The Over Lords are also capable of accessing a golden or orange version of their Armourized form, known as Hyper Armourize (超進化態 (ハイパー・アーマーライズ), Haipā Āmāraisu lit. Super Evolution State). The Over Lords in their Hyper Armourize state are said to be akin to the Super Mode of the six Prototype Soul Armours in terms of sheer power; however, for an unknown reason, only three Over Lords can exist at a single time.

In addition, two other "classes" of Hellions are known to exist, both drastically different from the main three. The first is the concept of an Enslaved Hellion (使役憑魔 (ヘリオン), Shieki Herion), which is born when a human keeps a hellion inside of them from tearing loose by clinging onto hope; this grants the human the ability to now use the Hellion's special powers. The Enslaved Hellion within them also enables the human to do permanent damage to another Hellion, as the human is considered part Hellion as well. In addition, if the user has a non-functioning Driver Belt, the Enslaved Hellion is capable of powering the belt as to enable the Soul Armour to be summoned. The final type of Hellion is Manmade Hellion (人手憑魔 (ヘリオン), Jintesetsu Herion; Possessing Evil Forged By Human Hands); formed by science instead of magic—it can be placed inside a soul, which not only gives the user the ability to turn into the monster, but also bolsters their magical power. The Manmade Hellion is indistinguishable from normal Hellions, and even other Hellions are incapable of telling the difference. The Manmade Hellion form has all the same powers as a normal Advanced Hellion, including the ability to use Armourize.

Powers and Abilities
Physical and Mental Prowess: As the "next step in human evolution", the Hellions are shown to be superior to humans in every single way. All Hellions have their senses enhanced to a superhuman level, able to hear, smell or see great distances, tuning out background noise to focus on their target. The Hellions' physical capabilities in all areas surpass humans and even other humanoid races with the exception of the Magius and Espers with exalted blood, as well being unkillable by conventional means. The Advanced Hellions move at such a speed that they make Slowing Magic and High Speed users look like snails, their punches are enough to devastate buildings with ease, and they can survive the magical equivalent of a nuclear explosion even before their Ultra-Fast Regeneration kicks in. The muscle and bone structure of a Hellion is far superior to a human's, and the shape of the skeleton is also optimized for strength. Only Soul Metal can penetrate the body armour and harm or even kill some Hellions, while it is shown that particularly strong Advanced Hellions can withstand even the basic attacks of a Soul Armour Knight.

Ultra-Fast Regeneration (超速再生, Chōsoku Saisei): Ultra-Fast Regeneration is one of the most useful powers that a Hellion has access to—it is the source of their fearsomeness. Essentially, by rapidly regenerating lost and damaged tissue as well as organs and blood cells at the speed of thought, effectively negating any wounds they had received of any scope within a second, with the regenerating abilities depending on the Hellion in question. While this ability to regenerate is indeed powerful, it is not without its flaws. Despite the extent to which it can heal the body, internal organs, such as the brain, cannot be regenerated. The sign of a Hellion being injured is small blue flame bursting from their wounds. Because of this astoundingly rapid regeneration, not even magic can truly phase them- if smashed by even an Abyss Break fired by a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, the Hellion will simply regenerate from a single cell. It seems as if even the Law-class spells cannot truly dispel them. Indeed, because of this, the Hellions are completely immune to Magic, Curses, and other abilities which originate from the current universe because of this, with no way to negate this strength of theirs. However, the only way to permanently damage a Hellion is by harnessing the power of the darkness-burning alloy, Soul Metal; meaning that Soul Armour Knights are the only beings powerful enough to kill them, disintegrating as a result. Even so, later on, the Magic Council develops Nerve-Breaking Bullets (神経断裂弾, Shinkei Danretsu Dan) so that the Rune Knights can kill Hellions by themselves without having to rely on Soul Armour Knights.

Corruption: However, the deadliest ability of a Hellion is that of converting other living beings into their own kind. Once a Hellion manages to corner a target, they are capable of 'siring' them in a similar manner to vampires and werewolves; this is done by manifesting a myriad of tendrils to pierce their skin and impale them through the heart. The tentacles send the Hellion's own darkness through them and into the target's soul, corroding it and forcing the target into despair. After this is done, the target will stand up apparently just fine, act either a little confused or perfectly normal as if nothing happened for a few seconds, and then slowly crumble to dust, which they may or may not notice happening before they reform as a Hellion. This ability is an adaptation of their creator's Amadam spell, which he utilized in order to create the very first of their kind. Most cases of siring occur when the "sirer" is in their Hellion form; though they are also capable of performing it in an untransformed state.

Magic (魔法, Mahō): Magic is the main form of combat utilized by Mages, and is bought and sold all throughout the world. Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Only ten percent of the world's population is able to use Magic, which is noted to keep a balance between ordinary people and those with Magic. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use Magic. All kinds of Magic are used in Earth Land, and they can be used for many purposes such as offense, defense, supporting, and healing. Magic is used by exerting their Magic Power as a wide variety of spells or by focusing it into an external source. However, some items and weapons use Lacrima to power them. In order to learn Magic you must train your intellect and spirit. To utilize Magic, a Mage must use Magic Power (魔力, Maryoku) in their body. Magic Power is the source of Power for all Mages, it is composed of Eternano. Every Mage has a container inside their body that determines the limits of their Magic Power. In the case that it becomes empty, Eternano comes from the atmosphere and enters the Mages' body and, after a while, their Magic Power is returned to normal. All Hellions have shown the ability to harness the power of magic; however, their skills are mostly translated to Darkness Magic and Black Arts-related powers.

Armourize (進化態 (アーマーライズ), Āmāraisu lit. Evolution State): Every Hellion can interchange between their original human form and a unique armoured form known as Armourization. Armourization is also known as Hellion's evolved form as it is the form that they take upon becoming stronger after being stuck in their corrupted human form. The unofficial term that the Magic Council gave the form is the Battle State (戦闘態, Sentōtai); as it only seems to be utilized in combat. The Armourized form is radically different from a human body in many ways, while usually at least semi-humanoid, varying drastically between each Hellion, with characteristics of either a plant or an animal, or even a concept. Armourization also supplies the Hellion with body armour which is either flexible or rigid, or varying between the two that is resistant to all supernatural powers except the Zero Effect and its strength varies wildly among Hellions as good measure of one's power. While Armourized, some of their kind can assume a Hybrid Form, becoming more creature-like in appearance; granting them further characteristics. Many Hellions in Armourized form have a forward-leaning posture, with naturally bowed legs and noticeably elongated arms. They have no visible genitals or other gender characteristics, nor, it seems, excretory organs. The Armourized form is entirely geared towards combat, with no regard for other activities. Some Hellions in their evolved state are equipped with powers beyond strength, claws and fangs: venom, acid, nitrogen or even laser weapons emitted from their bodies. Something interesting to note is that a Hellion's evolved state is functionally identical to a Soul Armour at the biological level, meaning that they share similar powers, such as manifesting a personal weapon, a special ability, and of course, one more evolution. Also, because they are functionally identical at the biological level, once their heart "awakens to justice once more", some Hellions can change their Armourized form into a proper Soul Armour. For example, Sion and Gemini, who can change into Soul Armour Knight Agito and Soul Armour Knight Pierrot, are the Ouroboros Symbiote and the Gemini Symbiote respectively.
 * SionEvo.jpgHyper Armourize (超進化態 (ハイパー・アーマーライズ), Haipā Āmāraisu lit. Super Evolution State): The Hyper Armourize state is a further evolved form of the Hellion's Armourized form—it is achieved by the Hellion surpassing its limits and powering up with a particular type of despair—whether it be their own or related to somebody/a group of people. This despair will dwell within the Hellion's soul, before swirling out of control and causing their Armourized form to undergo an evolution to a far more powerful version of their standard Armourized form, indicated by a golden/orange body with a personal colour pattern- these Hellions are known as "Over Lords". The Hyper Armourize form drastically increases their standard Hellion form abilities at the cost of losing self-control. Indeed, this final form is considered akin to a Soul Armour's Super Mode in terms of sheer power and ability—in fact, it is perhaps the only way a Hellion is capable of keeping up with such a power; this also enables them to match a Magius blow-for-blow concretely, if not overpower them in general. While the form grants the Hellion an amazing amount of power (actually surpassing a Magius), it comes at a great cost, for the form is very taxing on the user's stamina if they are not used to it. For some reason, there can only be three Hellions with the Hyper Armourize ability, and thus, Over Lords, at the same time.

Trivia

 * Hellion is an alteration of the word Hell, which is depicted as a place of eternal torment in many mythological, folklore, and religious traditions. The word hellion means "an unruly, rowdy or mischievous person" or "an evil person"—fitting for their role in Daybreak.