Character Profiles 2: The Heroic Spirits of the Master of Legions

Written by Spiritblade

Disclaimer: I do not own Magister Negi Magi or the fabulous story that Traingham is fighting to finish. Nor do I own Queen's Blade, Fate Stay Night, Ragnarok Online or Shin Megami Tensei (and a whole lot of other things) that I had lifted to make these characters possible. For now, I will present with you the first four Heroic Spirits who serve the Master of Legions.

Now, on with the profiling!

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Strike, Servant Berserker – Cessatio, in Latin

Servant Type (Class/ sub-class): Berserker/ Warlord

Affiliation: Master of Legions

Race: Human

Sobriquet/ Real Name: None / Risty Thunderblade (yes, the same Risty from Queen's Blade)

Age: Unknown – in her late twenties

Hair colour/ Eye Colour/ Height: Red/ Grey/ 177 cm

Favoured weapon: Storm Crest (relic weapon – mace; similar in appearance to that wielded by Space Marine Chaplains – only larger – of the Warhammer 40K universe)

Favoured Spell-Type: Earth and Wind

Description: Strike is one of the first (four) of the Heroic Spirits that answered Sheik's call when the latter made the Contract. Tall, well-built, with lightly-tanned skin and waist-length, dark red hair, Strike is a woman who would not look out of place in a beauty pageant. Her body is tattooed with sigils of a tribe which had lived in the present Republic of Megalomesembria western provinces (known as Morroc). Strike wears fur-lined leather armour which is cut to allow her freedom of movement.

History: Strike – or Risty as she was known back then – was born in the decades after the Usurpation, when the Dragon-Blooded brought their masters, the Solars, low. Raised and trained as a blacksmith, she had helped her parents and siblings maintain and craft the weapons and armour of the soldiers and knights who had guarded her home-city of Glastheim. Her childhood had been good years, but when she grew into adulthood, that changed. Risty soon caught the eyes of the Dragon-Blooded Prince who ruled the city, who desired to add the curvaceous Moroccan woman to his harem. Strike, of course, refused – an act which served to infuriate the Dragon Lord and give her father's business rival the opening he needed to ruin him. Using his vast wealth and contacts, the man contacted those who yet served the Anathema and provided them the funds by which to fund their activities – on condition that they purchase whatever weapons and equipment they needed from his rivals.

By her twentieth birthday, Risty and her siblings were homeless and in the streets, their parents were among several who were incarcerated by the authorities for aiding 'subversive elements'. Had it not been for the Anathema known as the Eye of Justice, the Dragon Lord's soldiers would have dragged her and her sisters to the palace of their master. Said Anathema whisked them and as many of those wronged by the Dragon-Blooded Prince away from the city, armed and trained them before departing the region. The last thing he did before he left was to appoint the fiery Risty as the war-band's leader, which numbered some five-hundred strong men and women from across the Mundus Magicus.

"Defend the weak, protect the helpless and bring justice down unto the heads of the wicked. This be your oath, and this be the weapon by which the pact you make with all the powers above and below Heaven be honoured."

It was an oath Risty honored till the day the Dragon-Blooded Legions descended upon her band and killed them all. When she finally fell to the bloodied earth, the Throne of Heroes reached from across eternity and claimed her as its own, laying her on a bier of crystal to await the time when a Master whose name has yet to be written on the Book of Life. It would be many millennia before it was. And now, with her Master beside her, she wants to see how much the worlds have changed since the Second Age.

- FVA: BYE -

Widow, Servant Avenger

Servant Type (Class/ sub-class): Caster/ Lancer

Affiliation: Master of Legions (Really?)

Race: Human

Sobriquet/ Real Name: Lady of Darkness in Bloodstained Robes (she looks like the Midnight Caste Abyssal from White Wolf's Exalted) / Unknown

Age: Unknown – in her mid-thirties (And don't ask - she'll kill you...)

Hair colour/ Eye Colour/ Height: Black/ Crimson/ 177 cm

Favoured weapon: Dire Lance Heart-splitter

Favoured Spell-Type: Darkness, Ice and Death.

Description: Widow is the second of the four Heroic Spirits that answered Sheik's call when the latter made the Contract. Sensuous and beautiful, Widow could drive most men – and no few women, Astameer included – to heights of unparalleled ecstasy by a mere glance alone, before bestowing upon them agony that would make even the most insane psychotic shiver in terror. Her skin is as white as porcelain, a contrast to the flawless mane of ebony hair that cascades over her bare, full breasts and the gleaming, master-crafted silver belt and chains that swathe her voluptuous form. Sheik cannot help but be nervous whenever Widow makes an appearance; of the twelve Heroic Spirits that have bound themselves to him, Widow is the only one that can materialize without his say-so. And the fact that she is the most powerful of them all serves only to add to his discomfort – and the worry of the other eleven (female) Heroic Spirits as well as his daemonic retainers, who know that it is only a matter of time before Widow turns her terrible might on their Master. Widow treats the Master of Legions with a mixture of disdain and twisted affection.

History: What little is known about the Lady of Darkness in Bloodstained Robes is recorded in the heavily-guarded Manse of Eternity in Ariadne and the Tower of Myths in the city of Dalaran. She had once served as the advisor the Night-Caste Solar Prince known as the Hammer of the Banishing Night before she was executed by the Eye of Justice and his peers in the decades before the Usurpation for trafficking with the very powers they had defeated in an age of myth. One thing was for certain: defeating the corrupt Twilight Caste Solar sorceress was by no means an easy task, for she was regarded as one of the few who could match Queen Merela in sheer mystical might. When the Eye of Justice managed to defeat his former comrade, the latter unleashed a Charm that created the deep, cross-shaped gorge at the heart of the Thunderspine mountain range in the Hellas Empire.

- FVA: BYE -

Lilith, Servant Caster – Lilium, in Latin

Servant Type (Class/ sub-class): Demonic Caster/ Sabre

Affiliation: Master of Legions

Race: Human

Sobriquet/ Real Name: The Serpent Empress / Lilith (the same Lilith from Shin Megami Tensei – lock, stock and barrel)

Age: Unknown – in her late twenties

Hair colour/ Eye Colour/ Height: Black/ Green/ 170 cm

Favoured weapon: Jade Reaper Daiklave Obsidian Crest

Favoured Spell-Type: Darkness, Fire and Lightning.

Description: Lilith is the third of the four Heroic Spirits that first answered Sheik's summons when the young Battle-mage first made the Contract. Sultry, elegant and seductive, Lilith is Widow's kinder (if such a word can be used to describe Adam's first wife) counterpart. Athletic yet buxom, with a mane of dark hair and green eyes, the Serpent Empress is the embodiment of the reasons as to why the virtuous fall and the faithful stray. Caring little for modesty, the Serpent Empress appears in scandalous garments (if at all, as she prefers appearing naked) that accentuate her figure and wearing master-worked jewellery that wealthy matrons would pay a fortune to own. Lilith has the tattoo of a silver-serpent entwined around her body, the mark of a once-mighty celestial princess who had once stood second to her Creator and who had crafted her from the same soil that had been used to fashion the father of humanity – and who had marked her Master as her own. The Serpent Empress is armed with the jade Reaper Daiklave Obsidian Crest, a beautifully crafted relic blade that had once belonged to the Dragon-Blooded courtesan Marama Anjei, who killed the Eye of Justice in the closing decades of the Usurpation, and is accompanied by an Aconite Python, a mythical creature that once existed in Eden in the ages before the idea of taking up arms against her Creator was an ember in the radiant heart of the Princess Morningstar. Lilith is almost Widow's equal in sorcerous might and can match her in armed – and unarmed – combat, but never would the Serpent Empress dream of taking the fallen Solar-turned-Heroic Spirit on without the assistance of her peers and her Master's retainers.

History: Like Widow, little is known about Lilith save what is written in myth and legend, and the latter prefers it that way. The Angelic-type Heroic Spirits and retainers within the Master of Legion's army, however, are aware of the truth keep a wary eye on the Serpent Empress as they know she is as much a threat as the Lady of Darkness in Bloodstained Robes. After all, did the Empress Sammael not approach her daughter in order to have her bring the first of the Almighty's most cherished creation to the banner of the Morningstar? Did she not lead so many kings and priests to the kingdom of Babylon itself where they drank deep of its sweet, yet poisoned, chalice? But her past transgressions matter little to the Master of Legions, who loves the Serpent Empress with a fierce yet tender passion that is addictive to her as it is to her peers. For the first time in the long, long ages Lilith has lived, she can contemplate a future free of the chains that the Creator had bound her with.

Nonetheless, the presence of Lilith and Widow condemns the Master of Legions in the eyes of his peers in the Mage Council. It is no secret that many of the Paladin Lords, Hierophants and their celestial allies (or superiors) want to utterly annihilate the Master of Legions and his vile consorts, but that dealing with an unchained

- FVA: BYE -

Devotion, Servant Caster – Devotio, in Latin

Servant Type (Class/ sub-class): Angelic Caster/ Lancer

Affiliation: Master of Legions

Race: Angel, Seraphim rank

Sobriquet/ Real Name: The Radiant Throne/ Camael (or Cameela, as Sheik calls her), Angel of the Cleansing Light

Age: Unknown – in her early thirties.

Hair colour/ Eye Colour/ Height: Golden-brown/ Red/ 178 cm

Favoured weapon: Sol Irae – divine weapon (spear)

Favoured Spell-Type: Light and Elemental magic

Description: Camael is the last of the four Heroic Spirits that answered Sheik's call when the young Battle-mage first made his Contract. Courteous, elegant and intelligent, the well-endowed female angel is often mistaken by those who visit the Master of Legion's mansion to be his wife – a belief she does little to discourage. Devotion has long, honey-brown hair (three antennae included!) that frames her gentle face and which tumbles over shoulder and curve to her ankles and is graced by four enormous wings that allow her to take to air if needed. The female angel is often clad in low-cut gowns and dresses and is often – like Lilith and Strike – in the company of her Master. Devotion also has a star-shaped scar over her heart, a bitter reminder of the war and the mighty archangel who had slain her for refusing to join the rebellion. And yet, it was the first place her Master had kissed when they made love – and where her yet unborn children would rest under before they are born into a world full of myth, wonder and danger.

History: One thing is for certain, those who know who Devotion truly is are silent. Even the powers above and below Heaven will not speak; the Geas placed upon them by the will of the universe, the Throne of Heroes and the Almighty sees to that. Her appearance within the Star Chamber had caused a near uproar amongst the representatives of the Holy Host, whose expressions had become biting and arctic with the appearance of two Heroic Spirits whose names and actions had devastated realms and brought the mighty and the virtuous low. In truth, Devotion was a revered celestial heroine whose name was recorded in the Holy Host's Book of Reprisals as one of the first angels to be slain by the Morningstar herself when the latter launched her rebellion. Knowing that the Hierophant's power was a threat to her army, the Crown Princess of Heaven and her treacherous cohorts attacked the Cathedral of Crystalline Winds where Camael lived and slaughtered both the priestess and her guardians. The Radiant Throne's last act was to bring every star in the sky crashing down on her demesne in a conflagration that the Heavenly Host calls the Shattering of the Weave. The act alerted Heaven to the Morningstar's act of rebellion and brought three of Heaven's Supreme Commanders (and their elite guard) into the fray, forcing the Morningstar and what remained of her strike team to retreat of risk oblivion. But by the time the loyalist angels had reached the Cathedral's ruined inner sanctum where the torn, bloodied body of the Radiant Throne lay, they could only watch as the Throne of Heroes laid claim to her and brought her to a place beyond the jurisdiction of the King of Heaven.