Araseph

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"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."

— William Shakespeare

Araseph
Alias	Magic Hunter (魔法のハンター Mahou no Hantaa)
Race	Human
Birthdate	April 23 X779
Age	21
Gender	Female
Height	5'4"
Weight	64kg
Eye Color	Turquoise
Hair Color	Blonde
Affiliation	Magic Council
Previous Affiliation	Pergrande Kingdom Fabula Nova
Occupation	Captain of Eta Knights
Partner	Soren Evans Liza Thomas
Base of Operations	Magic Council
Status	Active
Relatives	Unknown
Magic	Take Over: Beast Soul

"Let's pretend this never happened."

— Araseph

Araseph is a Sevenist three-star captain of the investigation unit; Eta Knights in the Magic Council. She was a Lieutenant of the Council’s Gamma Squad during X798 and played a distinguished role in the Sunset Theatre of Pilse Navarina. She received a Meritorious Service Medal for her services, making her the youngest recipient of any council award and the first ever former-dark mage to be awarded. She is one of only two people to have ever been apprenticed by the Arch-Sage Soren Evans and the only pardoned council member ever to have been a former dark mage.

Born to a martial artist family in the Pergrande Kingdom, Araseph was an all rounded high achiever at the Pergrande Northern Military College and a Cadet at the Pergrande Northern Military even prior to her graduation. During the X793 invasion of Iceberg she conducted a blockade mission, to which she was recommended by a General to participate in more skirmishes. In a reconnaissance mission, fighting in the western border of Iceberg during X794, she was taken by Seifer of Fabula Nova and disappeared. Assumed to have been killed in action by the dark mage, she was posthumously promoted to the rank of a commissioned officer and was awarded a Combat Action Medal.

In reality, from X794-X795, due to her fantastic combat prowess she was indoctrinated by Fabula Nova in Seven and given the new name "Araseph", was forcibly implanted with the "Ohr Ein Sof" crystal, transforming her into an anti-magic soldier, and earning her alias; Magic Hunter (魔法のハンター Mahou no Hantaa). Kept by Seifer’s side as an apprentice she was a key figure in the Light Burst War and was instrumental in suppressing the Magic Council. Her national status as a dark mage was announced post the initial attack on Pilse Navarina, largely due to her direct involvement in the death of Pergrande citizen Serum Santos. For her actions, she became Seven’s youngest S-Class dark mage in history. Following the end of the Light Burst War, Araseph was captured alongside those affiliated with Fabula Nova, to which she underwent trial. In X797, she was released on grounds of sane automatism, at which Soren adopted her as an apprentice.

Appearance

Araseph's general attire

Araseph is a slender yet, athletic young woman of reasonably short height. Beneath her clothing, her pale skin bears several scars on her arms and chest, reminiscent of magical seals because of her Ein Sof crystal. She has a rather sharp, well defined jawline but overall quite the feminine profile. She has long blonde hair-often commented as being quite ‘shiny’ with peculiarly uneven strands, forming various ‘V’ patterns in her hair with several bangs of hair, both framing and falling over her face. She has blue-green eyes that give her a rather ‘all seeing’ vibe and with her height, has been described as simply adorable to look at multiple times upon first impressions.

Araseph’s outfit, quite unlike a large majority of individuals surrounding her, tends to alter every few days-adapting to the predicted events of the day or simply to what she is in the mood for. Among her variety of clothes, especially on missions she is commonly seen in a simple black shirt, skirt and leggings with gold bands around her thighs. Over the shirt, she wears a rib length, open black vest with a steel black collar and a radio antenna from the Magic Council attached to it. She also adorns a black beret with metal shields on the side and back of her head.

Frequently worn on her arm, she carries around a golden armlet, said to be the family heirloom of whatever past family she had. It bears a white plate, covered in a golden spiral made of unknown, highly resilient material that flourishes off into feather/floral designs. At the side of the armlet bears a coil of golden rope that also stands as quite strong in nature.

Personality

Prior to her being controlled by Fabula Nova, Araseph was known as an honest yet feisty person, even if she were somewhat immature and was often highly suspicious of authority. She was a hard worker and firmly stuck to her beliefs, going so far as to risk missions to protect others. Peculiar to the Pergrande Military, Araseph held a strong moral code that all life was precious, going so far as to learn the art of potion making in a way to keep people, allies and enemies alike alive during any battlefield. Mocked for being ‘Naïve and Altruistic’ in the bloody fields, her odd nature spread her name far throughout the kingdom, causing her to be faced with even more disdain and in turn, becoming more reserved, even if she were still just as arrogant as before. In her time as a member of the Pergrande Military she was quickly trusted with tasks due to her talents and in return, over time became extremely dependable and loyal to those around her, taking up extra tasks to cover for others.

Returning to herself after the war, Araseph has changed under Soren’s tutelage to be a more sarcastic, witty and free persona. Always the last to laugh in any situation, her sharp wit and stubborn disregard for authority even in a militaristic setting often causes her to throw come backs at anybody, and just as often be punished for it. When approached by strangers she often ignores them and especially hates being talked to condescendingly. Just as before she is extremely loyal and caring to her friends, especially expressing a strong desire to have a kind of bond alike to an ‘older sister’.

Even in life or death situations her sharp sarcasm causes her to banter and playfully tease the enemy although this serves more to cover up her own fears in heated situations. From her time as a dark mage Araseph has no recollection of any of her actions however, certain triggers cause her to remember scenes of pain and violence. In times where such emotions of fear and anxiety are brought up, Araseph’s persona quickly undergoes a drastic transformation because of the trauma. Still retaining her core self of wit and sarcasm, Araseph becomes extraordinarily malicious with second to no morals, and rather than being cold and evil she more accurately becomes extremely uncaring, going so far as to kill those around her if it stands in favor for efficiency. However afterwards when coming to her senses she is often horrified at her actions, crying and throwing up almost immediately afterwards which in turn further adds to her trauma, causing an incredibly self-destructive cycle of emotions.

Quite unfortunately, for her history and fast climb up the ranks of the Magic Council, naturally she would make enemies within the ranks of the Council itself. At times when she does get confronted by such individuals, Araseph becomes extremely apologetic for her actions and often offers to lend a hand, an offer which is commonly turned down rather harshly.

Synopsis

Fairy Tail: Black Glass

Battles/Wars

• X793 Invasion of Iceberg
• X794 Western Border skirmish with Iceberg
• X794-X795 Light Burst War
  • Sunrise Theatre (Seige of Pilse Navarina)
  • Destruction of Magic Council
  • Mass Purge
  • Daylight Theatre (Second attack on Pilse Navarina)
  • Defence of Fabula Nova
• X798 Sunset Theatre (Pilse Navarina)

Equipment

Golden Armlet-An ornamental band commonly worn around Araseph’s left arm consisting of a golden feather/floral design on top of a solid white metal. When originally gifted, Araseph perceived it as a mere ornament, reminiscent of her childhood in Pergrande and as such decided to simply keep it around. Over time, the armlet proved to be a peculiarly powerful object, when tested giving a magical reading of 0 yet able to deflect all magical projectiles to a certain size, blocking powerful sword strikes with no force felt and serving strong enough to lift a colossal stone structure off the floor by itself. Additionally, when used in conjunction with Crygis the armband glows a corresponding color and seems to “absorb” a part of the emitted magic. The side of the armlet bears a small coil of rope that, although of a limited length has shown to be extraordinarily durable, able to hold onto Soren from a cliff side and when wrapped around a mechanical giant’s leg was able to make it stumble and fall. The armlet additionally serves as the crest to the Ohr Ein Sof planted within Araseph, preventing the Crygis from activating if it isn't on Araseph's person.

Enchanted Backpack- Araseph has a small, grey backpack on which Ladon crafted a space extension rune. The Backpack, appearing as an ordinary bag, is capable of holding several hundred items and serves as a portal of sorts to her own personal pocket dimension. When opened normally the bag appears as a normal bag, for the pocket to be opened the rune located on the arm straps need to be pressed. As a result, the bag is extraordinarily light and easy to store-able to be folded into small compartments. Within her bag, among a variety of items she has shown to have several changes of clothes, multiple brands of hair care, skin care and hygiene products, blankets, pillows, matches, water bottles, several books, her wallet and a range of potions personally concocted by her. Furthermore, at Soren's request Araseph also keeps a potted plant inside of her pocket dimension. Alike to the outside world, time passes normally within the pocket dimension, although anything damaged or affected is placed in stasis while in the space. Despite a larger range of objects at her disposal including the possibility of a simple necklace instead Araseph chose the backpack as a simple fashion accessory.

Passion Flower (情熱 の 花 Jounetsu no Hana)- Though mostly stored within her backpack, Passion Flower is a triad of extraordinarily large, curved metal plates gifted to Araseph by Soren.

a view of Passion Flower

Connected to each other by a single metal hinge with sockets at the end, the metal set is commonly worn on Araseph’s lower back and is manipulated by Araseph’s own magic in a nature like magnetic fields. When her magic is active, and by her command the plates can float and unhinge from each other, able to be move around and serve as large shields or even as stepping stones. Additionally, in certain formations Passion Flower can link to itself to create a larger yet single, triangular shield composed entirely of magic. Similarly, to Familiar Spirits, the strength of Passion Flower increases with the amount of magic Araseph supplies; at her peak able to easily shield Araseph and her allies from explosions yet at its weakest functioning simply as large pieces of metal. Although a blunt weapon, Passion Flower can be coated with magic to artificially become a sharpened weapon, to which Araseph can use to serve as blades.

Ohr Ein Sof Lacrima (光無限 Hikari Mugen lit. Endless/Limitless/Infinite Light)- Forcibly placed into her body by Nowie during her time as a member of Fabula Nova, Araseph possesses the Light version of the Ein Sof Lacrima. Among the 6 crystals to be seen as the representation of "Holiness" the Ohr Ein Sof appears as a glowing, pure white gem planted on Araseph's chest. Usable only with the Golden Armlet, it is the origin of her Crygis skill and additionally is responsible for her ability to quickly regenerate magic. Peculiarly, unlike the other Ein Sof's, the Ohr (Light) version does not appear to give her any physical abilities, only the magical aspects. Studied intensely by the R&D Division of the Magic Council, it is believed the ability for white light to split into 7 colors may correspond to the Ohr Ein Sof's ability to gift 7 different abilities, suggesting Araseph may still have a considerable amount of skills to still learn.

Magic and Abilities

Incredible Analytical Ability: Araseph is shown to be an incredible analyst in a variety of situations, with extremely refined instincts from her time in Fabula Nova pulling her through several battles and her ability to pick up key details gifted to her by Soren. She commonly formulates plans in a matter of seconds, and although not to the same level as Soren is similarly considered to be cunning and unpredictable with an unfathomable wealth of knowledge at her disposal. Where Soren excels in long term plans, Araseph shines in short term goals, identifying alongside her instincts the best course of action to take among a variety of possibilities. Underneath Soren’s tutelage Araseph has solved several cases and gained even more events to her name, to such a degree she now stands as a Captain of the Eta Knights, an investigative force underneath the Magic Council. With Soren’s help she often grasps an understanding of recent events, any external factors and calculates both the most likely scenario and best course of action.

"She often grasps an understanding of recent events and calculates the most likely scenario"

In addition, her acute understanding of Seven’s wide variety of ecosystems as well as a grasp on a variety of different languages, tagged with a sample of their cultures, greatly assists in allowing Araseph to detect key details. With such an ability, in addition to an incredible analyst she is also recognized as an amazing detective.

Her time spent in Fabula Nova, especially during her earlier years awoke an incredibly heightened level of instinct, a quality that is innate and although not incredibly rare cannot be gained through conventional training methods. Standing apart from Araseph’s already fascinating reflexes, her instinct allows her to predict the outcome of several events prior to their happening, strengthened from the aspects of her magic Crygis. Her instinct allows for the prediction of projectiles and attacks, allowing her to avoid otherwise lethal attacks and additionally stands apart from reliance on her senses, frequently dodging attacks without any auditory or visual cues. While she could not accurately pinpoint the location or the direction of Karliah’s sniper shots, she was still able to avoid being hit in vital areas and to some extent dodge the bullets purely out of instinct. In addition, her ability to essentially predict events moments before they occur can be used as a guide or an alarm to potential dangers, yanking out her swords to jump to a child’s defense or otherwise sensing an overwhelming threat from Silas even though he had gone to great lengths to hide his presence. While the ability allows her to predict events, it is only her determination and courage to follow her instincts without any idea of its successful that allows her to avoid deadly attacks and to defeat those above her in skill

Linguistics: In addition to her combative abilities, Araseph is also an extremely talented Linguist, currently studying several languages and able to fluently communicate in several more. With a knowledge of the various different forms of speech across Earthland, Araseph also holds knowledge of the different cultures and histories of the various societies, although to a lesser extent. It was revealed she currently stands as the only mage in Seven able to speak in 20+ languages, her ability to pick up foreign alphabets so quickly being the reason why Nowie noticed and took her in, despite being so young. Her current studies include runes commonly appearing in old Giants villages as well as the ancient scrolls of a ‘Water Village’. Her wide understanding of different languages often allows her to take on different perspectives when faced with a problem, as well as conversing with different sources to garner much more information at an incredibly rapid pace. Araseph’s unit itself is quite often stationed to the Trading Ports, largely so Araseph is capable of assisting with trades from different countries. In addition, although only in moments of extreme stress or relief, she often swears or cheers in a different language, the spontaneous reaction causing a comment from the ones accompanying her and demonstrating how large her understanding goes to.

Ecological Expert: As an apprentice of Seifer, alongside currently being an esteemed member of the Magic Council, Araseph possesses an extensive understanding of the various ecosystems within Seven, ranging from frozen tundras to desolate deserts. To a minimal extent she is additionally capable of predicting the weather however, a large portion of her knowledge is used to regularly identify fruits, plants and animals, as both an indication to her available resources and a general idea of her location.

From her time in Fabula Nova, through a combination of training and intuition Araseph was able to understand the “pulse” of nature, able to adapt and live accordingly to any sudden changes. Although not comfortably, when alone she was capable of surviving in and travelling through unforgiving conditions in the wild, surprising even Saxon when she returned alive. Most of her methods of interacting with wildlife comes from her apprenticeship under Seifer, having taught her the ways of taming animals. Although not always successful, often animals will shyly eat out of her hand, frolic at her feet and carry out minor, simplistic tasks for her such as manual labor.

After the war and her induction as a Captain, Soren’s methodology of teaching involved the more logical aspects of nature, to which Araseph’s understanding in the field of flora and fauna of Seven grew exponentially. In her time as a trainee she learnt of several environments she was not previously aware of and has since used to her advantage. The greatest example of this was shown during her first mission involving a Dark Mage adept at teleportation, where with knowledge of the Fauna, she was able to use all her skills to keep her entire 50-man squadron alive and make it out of the harsh desert. As a further testament of her ecological knowledge, during their moments together during a mission, Soren often allows her to take charge of navigation and survival, putting her in charge of gathering resources and deciding when and where to rest; a task she had previously been denied from.

• Potions Master: Potions, magical mixtures of varying effects, are often brewed from natural ingredients alongside aspects of magic and serve to be incredibly challenging to make. As a result of her profound acquaintance with the Flora of Seven, and not at all a result of Soren’s tutelage, Araseph stands to be an extremely talented potion maker, her ability flying well past simple recipes and instead floating at a realm of not only creating her own, more efficient recipes, but also concocting completely new potions of her own creation. She is able to identify the effects of several poisons and potions rather quickly, having only heard of their properties once and yet still being able to tell by its effects, smell or appearance. Most of her products exist as antidotes or medicinal drugs, ranging from the common cold to more severe cases such as a plague, having made a solution for (albeit temporarily) the feared Magic Deficiency Disease at a certain point. Furthermore, her distinctive grasp on the properties of several plants has pulled her and her companions through several dire situations, on multiple occasions brewing antidotes for surprising, sudden illnesses without any prior warning.

Natural Abilities

Master Swordswoman: Araseph’s primary method of fighting focuses on dealing consistent, heavy physical damage to her opponent, concentrating specifically on the strength of her attacks and building up combos to defeat her opponents. Unlike most ordinary swordsmen, her range is not limited to the tips of her blades due to Passion Flower and thus, in combat she is able to whittle down her opponents from afar. Although capable of doing so smartly, her often reckless style of hand to hand fighting exposes her to counterattacks, over time and through experience forcing her to add a further element of unpredictability into her swordsmanship. Shown through her own version of Viscaria Araseph’s mastery of the sword allows her to change fighting styles and make several minimal adjustments without any difficulty in a split second; from wild slashes to instantly changing to elegant, subtle gestures.

Like several of her outstanding abilities, Araseph’s swordsmanship stems from her origins as a member of Fabula Nova and nurtured further under the tutelage of Soren. Surrounded by the likes of Masamune and Nowie at an extremely young age she picked up several tricks of the sword from subtle comments or by simply attempting to imitate their actions and stances, which had led to an oddly crude yet effective style of swordplay mixing wide, powerful swings with flashy movements. Later on, under Soren’s advice she learnt a more classical style of swordsmanship native to Seven focusing upon efficiency and conservation of energy, a style Araseph refers to as her “smarter way to fight”.

Although when using ordinary swords Araseph fights using a normal two sword style, while fighting with her set Passion Flower her skill increases dramatically, the ability to magically and mentally manipulate her blades without physical contact. With Passion Flower her fighting style merges her crude form with the refined style, leading to a series of powerful and complex movements allowing her to lunge and defend in a single movement. With her own blades she is able to fight with her blades without limit, showing her extensive knowledge in sword fighting, additionally increasing her confidence leading to significantly more daring attacks; in a chase leaping off of a carrier with her incredible agility and dispatching an opponent in mid-air.

Monstrous Strength: In contrast to her incredibly slim body, Araseph is known for her incredible, almost superhuman strength which comes about as a result of her natural strength combined with her immensely precise control over her magical power. Her natural strength is enough to easily deflect charging behemoths with a slight degree of difficulty and, with the aid of a hammer, to knock down stone walls in a single swing. Araseph is also capable of lifting opponents, even if they pose to be multiplicatively larger than her “fun size” with one hand. Her sword slashes possess enough force behind them that, in the rare event she doesn’t cut through the target the slash ends up crushing them, in addition she is able to send opponents flying with simple punches and kicks, a trait that often poses problematic since it causes her to constantly chase after them. Although her strength is already on a notable level, by coating her body in magic she is able to become extraordinarily resilient to any physical blows and exponentially increase her physical capabilities. By building up magic in her fists Araseph can tear up the floor and punch through steel doors.

"increase her leaping distances...destroying the structures she dashes off of"

As a result of such capabilities she is often seen on the front-lines of battle in stark contrast to her mentor Soren who stands in the back. Although quite uncouth Araseph is proficient in close combat, which with her enhanced strength can lead to broken bones, ruptured organs or One-Hit-Kills. The clear disparity between her enhanced strength and natural ability was clearly noted in a siege where she knocked down several castle walls with her bare fists whereas previously she would have needed extensive tools. Another trait of her physical ability is the ability to specifically convert or focus her strength into one “aspect”, being arm strength, grip strength, running strength or leg strength. Doing so for more than 4 minutes is shown to tire Araseph out, however in that period of time her chosen trait reaches unfathomable levels; an increased leg strength allowing her to increase her leaping distances while simultaneously destroying the structures she dashes off of whereas increased grip strength allowed her to hang onto the back of a rampaging Titan user, despite his focused efforts in shaking her off.

Expert Unarmed Combatant

"You’re a former ‘A-Class’ Dark Mage with dual swords, trained in the magic of Crygis, leading an entire squad of investigators and recognized within the Council as a powerful unarmed combat force; and not to mention you can tear through steel walls like they’re paper. I’m fairly certain that makes YOU a weapon. "

— Soren to Araseph moments before a siege.

In addition to her fantastic swordplay, Araseph is also an amazingly flexible unarmed fighter.

"faces the issue of sending her opponents flying away"

In contrast to a majority of fighters in Seven who use their arms and upper body strength, Araseph specializes in fighting with her legs-showing proficiency in kicks, knees and locks among other techniques. Her fighting style has been described as “rough” and “rapid”, a series of never ending blows focusing on preventing her opponent from having a chance to hit back and has been effective enough to force even notable S-Class mages into a defensive position. In stark contrast to Soren who prides himself on elegance and staying untouched, Araseph’s rough style of fighting leads to extraordinarily heated duels of fierce, aggressive strikes that quickly changes the tempo of the battle to a near death match. Using the center of her body as a point of balance, Araseph commonly shifts her weight with her waist, using momentum as a means to deal faster, heavier kicks to throw off her opponents. As a result of her ridiculous strength, Araseph commonly faces the issue of sending her opponents flying away before defeating them, forcing her to adapt the magic Crygis or a partial Take-Over of wings or panther legs into her attacks to give her a means of staying close to them. In other situations, she has shown to be capable of head high, spinning and jumping kicks that rely heavily on the speed of her attacks as opposed to the raw strength of the technique, a series of movements reminiscent of the martial art Taekwondo. The primary motion of her legs appears as large swinging strikes as opposed to the common stabbing motion of kicks. Her focus upon leg strength has imbued her with an incredible sense of speed and agility, able to outpace most of her peers and fellow Council Captains in long distances races. This style of fighting serves Araseph well in conjunction with her swordsmanship, combining her viciously sharp sword strikes with her heavy kicks to often overwhelm her target. In addition, when focusing upon using her legs to combo, she can use the tips of her blades as crutches, allowing her to weave her body in mid-air. Defensively, in addition to dodging Araseph commonly reinforces her legs with magic and blocks with her shins or feet, allowing her to strike back by swinging her leg with pure force. Despite her focus on her lower body, Araseph also uses her upper body for grapples and re-directions, in brief moments also swinging out punches when necessary. In situations where she was outnumbered, she was able to grab an opponent and twist them around and kick them into a group, as well as pulling on the arm of another so to allow her legs easier access to their head, followed by a barrage of kicks.

"able to continue fighting even when bloodied and exhausted"

Enhanced Endurance and Durability: Despite her slim figure, Araseph is a surprisingly durable fighter, certainly as a result of her close ranged fighting style. She is able to easily shrug off powerful blows and continue fighting even when bloodied and exhausted, at the end of heavily extended fights still being able to pull out physically and magically demanding attacks regardless of her present situation. Furthermore she is able to consistently cast several powerful spells in the midst of a battle without fatigue and with little concern for her health, casting in succession and so many times that several people had believed her to be attacking with reckless abandon. Consequently, in addition to her already powerful traits, she is known to be one of the strongest individuals in Seven, being able to dish out a large amount of damage but also be one of the people able to take on the most damage in the entire country.

Magical Abilities

Immense Magical Power: Granted her position as a Captain in the Magic Council and having grown under the tutelage of immensely powerful mages of the likes of Nowie and Soren, it would be expected of Araseph to possess a substantial amount of magical power, an expectation she most certainly passes with flying colours. Whilst well versed in physical combat, Araseph is also incredibly gifted in regards to pure magical talent, on a daily, natural basis able to easily overpower the average mage through a simple exertion of her power. Her raw power, although usually regulated and kept under control occasionally leaks out and has the unique trait of sticking to her skin creating a thin yet, certainly durable shield that often blocks the first attack of any fight. In specific circumstances, the common comparison within the mage community in Seven of Araseph against Soren would yield another similarity, in that both of their raw magic reserves manifest themselves as basic versions of their primary magic; Soren’s magic manifests as wind whereas Araseph’s bears a shield-like quality reminiscent of Crygis. In fights, as a result of having lived in the Fabula Nova environment that had been rich with eternano, Araseph excels in areas densely packed with magic particles-able to readily absorb them to quickly replenish her large reserves. Such an ability allows her to frequently challenge stronger opponents by seeking to drag the battle on for as long as possible, encouraging the usage of higher class spells to eventually win by attrition and pack the area with eternano.

Araseph's magical power with the Ein Sof

Powerful by her own right, possessing an Ein Sof gem boosts her talents even further, boosting her magical power to such a point she is capable of killing live creatures by simply unleashing her power. Although such talent and reserve of magic pales heavily in comparison to Soren, it is certainly not without its own positive merits. The Ein Sof gem bears a likeliness to its cousin the dragon slayer lacrima in that they change the composition of the user’s body to better suit the awarded magic, in the case of the Ein Sof it forcibly reduces the output of Araseph’s magic by a third that may initially appear as a disadvantage but in fact suits her fighting style much better. While the trait reduces the output of damage she unleashes by a distinctly large portion, in a conjunction with her already large reserve of magic this allows Araseph to repeatedly unleash several high-class spells with ease and without risk of running empty.

• Deus Fortitudo: A last resort technique placed upon all Apprentices within Fabula Nova, it appears as a seal in the form of a symbol unique to and significant to their respective leaders. Carved onto her body from her time as an apprentice of Fabula Nova, Araseph’s Deus Fortitúdo seal appears as an ink brushed circle on her left hip. To access the reserves, she needs to simply apply both magic and pressure to the seal via her fingertips. As per the seal’s purpose, activating the seal grants Araseph access to an almost bottomless reserve of magical power at her disposal for a maximum period of 30 seconds. One of Nowie’s many inventions, the primary reason for the seal serves to provide the user with an opportunity to counter against a particularly difficult opponent however, in exchange for the near limitless access to power after the 30 seconds Araseph loses access to her ability to use magic for several days, in addition to being physically and mentally drained to the point of extreme exhaustion. Although a backup tool she heavily relied upon during her earlier years, as a result of having grown in ability under Soren her magical reserves now exist to be large enough such an option is kept almost entirely out of her mind. Although if she were to use the Deus Fortitúdo she would be able to use incredibly powerful spells like Ohr Ein Sof or Sacred Crest repeatedly with ease the pure sense of exhaustion and inability to defend herself afterwards has led to Soren repeatedly enforcing a ban on Araseph using the technique, calling it a “last resort, suicide attack”
• Dueling

Take Over: Beast Soul

As a means to compliment her fantastic physical abilities, Araseph adopted an extremely unique magic style. With Take Over magic, she is able to adopt or ‘take over’ the form and powers of specific creatures. In Araseph’s case her form of take over caters towards creatures classified as ‘mythical’ or 'legendary'. Due to her extremely selective pool of monsters, she is known to have much less than others who practice Take Over, her pool consisting namely of the Manticore, the Mountain Guardian and the Moon Rabbit. Although she possesses the ability to freely transform into the creatures and their respective sizes, due to her yet incomplete mastery over the magic and the extraordinarily powerful nature of the creatures, Araseph is capable of only transforming into the complete form of the creature as opposed to a partial take over. Although each take over form holds its own benefits, she is known to commonly abuse the form of the Mountain Guardian in a majority of her journeys to the extent it is seen as her signature take over form, commonly using it to travel faster but also using the beast’s pure brute force to overcome obstacles and opponents. Oddly enough, a clear distinction from a majority of other take over users, Araseph is capable of internally conversing with her take overs which, although in the case of the Manticore serves to be quite demoralizing, conversing with the Moon Rabbit and the Mountain Guardian serves to boost her fighting capabilities, being offered tips on how to best use their specific abilities.

Beast Soul: Mountain Guardian (獣王の魂・山のガーディアン Bīsuto Sōru: Yama no Gaadian): Beast Soul: Mountain Guardian is Araseph’s signature take over spell. It allows her to take on the form of the Mountain Guardian,

Beast Soul: Mountain Guardian

a species of mythical beasts native to Ishgar tasked by the gods with protecting holy relics and is commonly used as an opening to large fights or to quickly close large distances, both as a result of the Guardian’s incredible physical strength. Encountered on her task with retrieving the Emerald Ring, after several days of straight combat Araseph was able to defeat it with Soren’s assistance. When activated, Araseph hugs her body and in the midst of an incredibly bright ball of light, the spell changes her body into the Mountain Guardian. First her body becomes incredibly thick and pure white fur adorned with blue trails on her limbs and joints grows on her skin. Her hands and legs morph into powerful blue claws and she sprouts large white wings on her back. Horns grow at the top of her head and a path of horns similarly placed grow down her spine. Finally, her face morphs into the Mountain Guardian and the rest of her body is adjusted accordingly to properly take on the form of the Mountain Guardian. When her transformation completes, a ring of magic erupts from her body shaking the core of any surrounding structures.

In this form Araseph trades near all access to her Ein Sof Skills for the abilities the Mountain Guardian originally possessed. Her offensive, brute strength is multiplied by near tenfold and her defensive ability is similarly increased. With the Mountain Guardian form Araseph is able to easily crush boulders and heavily damage structures, in a conflict against a dark guild blowing apart a portion of the guild’s army by simply charging in and knocking them aside. In its original life, the Mountain Guardian’s durability and endurance was enough to easily tank the combined efforts of Soren and Araseph despite them repeatedly casting their strongest spells at it. Although now as a take-over it is only a fraction of what it once was, Araseph is able to use the Mountain Guardian’s defensive body to great effect; although certainly suffering severe consequences she was able to survive and continue moving after taking a point blank blast of Abyss Break from a magical cannon. The Guardian’s endurance also stands as a point to consider, in this form, on top of her already durable nature, she is able to fight relentlessly for several hours straight without any hint of losing in strength. In addition, the Guardian is actually quite fast and agile, able to flash out of an opponent’s sight in a moment and close incredible distances in mere seconds which Araseph often uses to heavily reduce travel times. In combat she is able to dodge several attacks regardless of their range and against lesser opponents is able to defeat them without their awareness of what just happened to them.

Beast Soul: Moon Rabbit (獣王の魂・月の兎 Bīsuto Sōru: Tsukino Usagi):

Click "show" to read the backstory of the Moon Rabbit and Araseph.  

Originally thought to have been born from folklore, the Moon Rabbit exists as part of an actual race of “celestial rabbits” that all serve a purpose in maintaining the general wellbeing of the Earth and its inhabitants, in the case of the Moon Rabbit living as a sage pounding rice cakes for those that lack food and making sure they will never go sick or hungry. Part of the mythology hinted the Moon Rabbit to be alike to the Easter Bunny, leaving rice cakes in the bags of starving adventurers. After meeting with the Moon Rabbit over several encounters and forming a partnership with her, Araseph learnt the real mythology of the Rabbit. Originally an ordinary rabbit, on a night of a full moon she, alongside her companions a monkey and a fox came across a starving old man. Seeking to save him, they all agreed to try and gather him food; the monkey scaled trees far away for fruits and berries, keen on saving the fruits closer to the old man for himself whereas the fox wandered off, seeking prey for the old man but mostly for himself. The rabbit, who was only aware of how to gather grass, rushed into the boiling pot she had prepared to sacrifice herself for the old man. However, the rabbit was not burned and instead, was elevated to the status of a celestial rabbit, for the old man she had sought to help and feed had been the god of night. For a symbol of her status, she was given knowledge for all recipes, to always be able to save the hungry and sick even if she could only gather grass. Araseph’s initial encounter with the Moon Rabbit served to be extraordinarily lucky, catching a glimpse of her in a miserable night when Araseph had given the last of her rations to a displaced family after a particularly destructive conflict in a nearby village. Dismissing the rabbit to be a myth, her stance would change when she opened up her bag for water and found a large pile of rice cakes-to which she promptly offered half to the family once more. Her second encounter came from trying to concoct a potion to cure an unknown illness one of her soldiers was experiencing. Taking a step outside to cool off when her 6th attempt didn’t work out, she saw a silver rabbit with a crystal horn nibbling on a garden plant. Upon seeing her the rabbit bolted off, not before gesturing towards a small parcel that happened to contain the necessary ingredients to cure the soldier. The third encounter was when, during a trek on a hillside, on her own Araseph came across the exhausted Moon Rabbit munching on a carrot. Fully realizing the identity of the rabbit, she offered to give the rabbit shelter as the sun was soon coming up and the nearest forest was several hours walk away, from which the Moon Rabbit instead offered to join Araseph’s pool of take overs that had at that point only consisted of the Mountain Guardian, certain she would keep her personality even if now a part of take-over magic.

Due to the Moon Rabbit’s celestial status, she bears an incredibly large amount of magical power, one that Araseph struggles to control with her relatively new adoption of take-over magic.

Beast Soul: Moon Rabbit

Consequently, Araseph can’t keep the magic compressed to the rabbit’s originally small form when using take-over magic and instead, perhaps quite unfortunately, when using Beast Soul: Moon Rabbit Araseph transforms into a giant rabbit that stands to be approximately the same size as most of the mountains to the south west of Seven’s coast. The Moon Rabbit bears a brilliant rainbow crystal that is said to shine a thousand different colors protruding on her forehead that is used primarily for using magic. As the name suggests, the Moon Rabbit is a giant creature with shining white fur, large ears, big, round glittering eyes and a soft, bushy tail. She wears a collar above her fur consisting of a golden tiara on the back adorned with several ribbons with a changing gradient from pink to blue.

Although Mountain Guardian is Araseph’s most used take over, Moon Rabbit stands as the most useful take over. Due to her consciousness, she is commonly guiding Araseph when it comes to cooking or making potions to perfection, in pure statistics leading to her potions becoming 55% more effective and potent. Furthermore, with the addition of Moon Rabbit to her arsenal Araseph’s cooking occasionally holds a “healing” effect thought to have been previously lost.

Moon Rabbit's Cannon

On top of that, Moon Rabbit commonly provides a sense of relief and emotional support to Araseph after particularly gruelling fights, often the one to get Araseph back on her feet after getting knocked down. In terms of combative power, using Moon Rabbit’s take-over forcibly turns Araseph into a behemoth rabbit, so she is often used a long distance away from the targeted location. The crystal on the forehead, while serving as the Moon Rabbit’s main source of magic, can also be used as an artillery cannon of sorts, blasting beams of magic channelled through the horn from long distances away. Overall, although in pure combat she is certainly weaker than the Mountain Guardian or the Manticore, the Moon Rabbit serves a more intelligent side of assistance to Araseph than the other two.

Beast Soul: Manticore (獣王の魂・マンティコア Bīsuto Sōru: Mantikoa): Beast Soul: Manticore is the third take-over of Araseph’s ‘mythical’ beasts, reserved specifically for locations dense with eternano. The manticore appears as a lion with horizontal rabbit like ears, with 4 wings on its back. As opposed to common lions, it is not covered in fur bar the mane, rather the red coating is simply the colour of its skin with white patches on the underside and its right eye. It bears two sets of jaws, one placed inside of the other with enormous canines. Finally, the thick white mane, the essentially the only hair on the Manticore’s body, appears matted and thick enough to easily trap weapons and debris within it indefinitely. Unlike the other take-overs in her arsenal,

Beast Soul: Manticore

Araseph’s encounter with the Manticore was incredibly bloody, being forced to subdue and forcibly take-over the monster to stop it rampaging in their immediate village after it had trampled through the gates. Consequently, alike to the Moon Rabbit the Manticore still possesses its own consciousness that Araseph comes in contact with when using her take-over magic however unlike the Moon Rabbit, it constantly seeks to insult and challenge Araseph, certain he was unfairly subdued and taunting her into releasing him out to the wild.

This form stands in stark contrast to the Mountain Guardian in that, it is extremely vulnerable to physical blows however it is almost nearly invulnerable to magical attacks. Of course attacks combined with physical force would heavily damage the take-over form. In addition, with drastically increased agility, Araseph in this form is able to use an extraordinarily wide range of magics including Water, Fire, Wind, Poison and Hair Magic as well as being able to condense her magic into raw blasts of energy capable of devastating the immediate area. As the Mountain Guardian serves as a close ranged take-over and the Moon Rabbit serves as a long-range fighter, the Manticore fills the niche and becomes a mid-range fighter. Although in this sense it is incredibly useful, the Manticore’s aggressive personality often leads to Araseph trying to find alternate methods other than using the Manticore.

Ein Sof Skill

"It's ok! Keep moving forwards! I'll stop everything that comes your way...I can't let you get hurt here!"

— Araseph using Crygis

Crygis: The revered Ein Sof Skill: Crygis is thought to be a form of Lost Magic that stems from the Ein Sof crystal surgically planted inside of Araseph’s body by Nowie. Crygis, although it is classed as a Lost Magic, it is theorized by the Council’s R&D Department to be a completely different branch of Magic than that which is commonly known; believed to be much closer to the concept of The One Magic and Curses due to its questionable nature. For its nature and source, while underneath the title of Lost Magic, it is also categorized (temporarily) as a “Void Magic”. While like magic in several ways, Crygis’ nature is much more quiet and unnoticeable when active, referred to by Soren as “a behaviour alike to dead air” and is more easily defined as a “lack of” magic.

Without drawbacks, Crygis activates a large perimeter, within which all forms of magic inside the area instantly becomes disabled. The air becomes noticeably heavier, the ground becomes dried up and all lifeforms inside of the area that previously relied heavily on magic become debilitated. The behavior of the crystal bears resemblance to the seals on Pilse Navarina, albeit more defined in that seals or even lachrimas don’t work inside the borders of Crygis. Of course, Crygis’ effect applies to everything inside the borders, including Araseph and all her allies. The ability, able to be cast for as long as she’d like, leaves a perimeter in a single location as opposed to moving as Araseph does. Furthermore, although the ability carves a circle on the ground marking its perimeter, it is more accurate to describe it as a cylindrical border, the magic sealing effects applying even to the area directly above it.

In her time as a dark-mage of Fabula Nova, Crygis was commonly abused by Seifer’s enormous magical ability to momentarily expand the border of the ability by several thousand feet, acting like an anti-magic pulse to disable opponents.

Quotes

• (In regards to a robbery) "Alright...You're not crazy and neither are you dreaming. God...*groan* Guess it's time to be an everyday hero."

Trivia

• Araseph was never meant to be a main character however, her affiliation and age made her a wonderful main character for the intended story line.
• Her affiliation as a member of the Pergrande Military at a young age meant that, prior to her time in Fabula Nova and the Magic Council, she was unable to cast magic and instead relied on physical combat only.
• She dislikes steak and salmon or tuna sushi however has no qualms with other meats or seafoods
• Araseph is shown to be dominantly right handed yet still succinctly adapted in the use of her left hand.