This article belongs to its authors from CIS Productions and therefore only they are given the right to edit it, add this character to some other Storyline or use their work in other website. Only Users from CIS Productions on the Wiki can edit this article. This article should not be edited without their granted permission by other Users or unauthorized editors shall be properly punished.
Spoiler Alert: This article/section contains details about future plotlines of LOTM: Sword of Kings described. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled.
Spoiler Alert: This article/section contains details about future plotlines of LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow described. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled.
"- Ara: Hahaha! And now, ladies and gentlemen! I bring my most new creation--and your greatest enemy so far! Now Maria Arzonia, go and crush your enemies... "Maria" is a bit idiot for such amazing transformation. Hey! You! What's your name?
- Maria???: PAINLASH OVERLORD!!!
- Ara: Okay, Painlash Overlord! I'll watch you crush everyone you hates!! Fufufu, not me of course! Right?
- Painlash: I hate you! I'll kill you later after I deal with those incompetents over there!
- Ara: So badass... See how everyone on my side takes a Took a Level in Badass? "
— Ara Astaroth with Maria's Painlash Overlord
A female and male Jikininki
Jikininki, also known as Ara's Espadas or simply Espadas are the highest demons in the Black Demons' hierarchy, being in the class of Overlords and Tyrants of Qliphoth. They are the evolved form of the Etherions Black Demons.
Before the birth of Ara Astaroth, there were no traces of the existence of those demons but billion years later when the Blackness was under the control of Ara, these demons started to appear in the ranks of the Revelation of Qliphoth and were mysterious beings by most of Ara's group until the day that Mana Takamiya was corrupted during the Invasion of Brazil in the events of The Will of Qliphoth and was shown to the entire world.
A Jikininki is also a mortal or human that was corrupted by Ara's Blackness and became Black Demons. Despite those beings were once mortals, in other words, non-humans, genuine Black Demons cannot be Jikininki as they are already demons and only Ara can create this new species of demons of Qliphoth.
Currently, there are 5 classes of Espadas, each one according to the will and determination of each person.
Jikininki are a group of mortals that gained similar powers to that of a Black Demons by being removed from their humanity, memories, persona and by addition, their very souls. The individuals that Ara turned into Espadas using the Blackness, generally possess powers far beyond those of previous Black Demons.
Creation[]
The number that the Jikininki (with numbers 11 and above) have are not the order of their strength, but rather the order of their birth. First, via the Blackness, they are reborn from humans into Black Demons. Then, according to the order in which they are born, they were assigned a number, starting with eleven. Despite Ara can turn mortals in Black Demons at any time, it depends on her decide if they are going to be Jikininki or normal Black Demons.
To create a Jikininki, Ara has to extract a small fragment of her soul and merge it the Blackness she will use to corrupt the human in front of her to turn him or her in a Jikininki, forming a direct soul contact with Ara and giving them 5 or 10% of her power for unlimited time.
Personality Traits & Mindsets[]
While most of the Jikininki either develop or retain their own personality traits, the majority of Black Demons appear to be similarly cold, cruel, ambitious, impatient, selfish, overconfident, ruthless, arrogant, impulsive, brutal, relentless, battle-hungry, overbearing, short-tempered, indifferent, and/or egotistical. Not all Black Demons and Jikininki residing in Nibiru Planet are loyal to Ara, but they prefer not to interfere with her plans. People like Black Raven are an example. However, many naturally evolved Black Demons felt it necessary to align themselves with her to obtain more power. While there are Black Demons who choose to follow Ara in the hopes she will deliver them salvation, others ally with her purely out of respect. Most of the Espadas, however, are forced to serve her and have some memories of their past when she took everything from them and forced them to become Black Demons against their will.
As Leohart the Prince of Hell put it, Ara is someone who is fearless, which creatures born out of fear and pain, such as Black Demons, find admirable. Although Jikininki are humans who have gained Black Demon-like powers, most still refer to themselves as humans, refusing to be called as Black Demons as they humanity continue inside of them. On the other hand, Evelynn Astaroth (Mana Takamiya's Black Demon) abandoned her identity as a human and she entered services to the Leohart's Cult.
Classes and known Jikininki[]
"Free Jikininki" are people who willingly became and are not brainwashed or forced to work for Ara Astaroth by any means.
Overlords and Tyrants[]
The Overlords and Tyrants are the strongest species of Black Demons in existence as they receive 10% of Ara's power, making them in par with Pure-Blooded Devils. Their immense amount of power and leadership status among the Black Demons also grants each Tyrant the authority to exert command over Ara's other forces within Qliphoth. Similar to the power gap between Gods and Arch-Angels in the Paradise, the strength of the Tyrants far surpasses that of the average High-Level Demons from Triggers Hell.
Ara herself is confident enough in her Espada's abilities to send them out on potentially hazardous missions. As the rulers of Qliphoth, they are terrifyingly powerful and strong, as they are certainly the most powerful demons alive (only staying behind Leohart and Ara). According to Celica, whoever takes the power of all the Commandments of Hell, all members of Nine Demon Gates, all negative energy of Leohart's Cult and finally take the power level of all Knights of Astaroth, can reach the the Tyrant's level of power... Barely but still.
Katarina Couteau - Red Moon Tyrant[]
Eckidina KnightWalker - Diabla the Qliphoth Tyrant (free Jikininki)[]
Maria Arzonia - Painlash Overlord[]
Tomas Sev - Mahesvara[]
Hand of Death[]
The Reapers of Qliphoth, responsible for taking souls of mortals and sending them to Ara's Azarath claw to make their Mistress more powerful by forming a link with her Azarath Claw and their physical bodies. Anyone who die next to a Hand of Death will have their souls devoured by their Blackness and teleported to Ara's claw. These demons feed off other non-Black Demons and provide Ara with their power.
When transformed into a Hand of Death, a person submits to the Blackness corrupting them, identically to that of a Black Demon. In addition, they feel an insatiable hunger that prompts them to feed off demons, often unaware of their actions.
Mana Takamiya - Evelynn Astaroth[]
Matt Butcher - Black Raven[]
Imperia Deamonne - Achyls of the Depravity (free Jikininki)[]
A Phantom, also translated as Demon Eater, is a being and title of which one gains from the consuming of daemons, hatred and despair. The Demon Eaters are usually the ones that survived the effects of Ara's Rise of Qliphoth Tree in Argentina to a certain degree to retain their own free will. The title "Demon Eater" solely exists in the Wasteland world of the Astaroth Empire.
They are considered a higher-level version of those who are High-Class Demons, being able to consume them for their own benefits. Throughout the events of the story, the Rogues encounters multiple Phantoms—some of which are both good and bad. They are seen as if a race of their own, being rated as the more potentially dangerous ones.
Carl Robinson - Bird of the Vengeance[]
Michael Langdon - Fallen Angel of Valhalla (free Jikininki)[]
Misogi Kumagawa - Demonio (free Jikininki)[]
Horror of the Kabballah[]
As the name implies,The Horror of the Kabbalah, are the nightmare of the Tree of Life and exist to fight and cause random death. They are shown to be powerful Jikinshiki with an insane power level in par with the Overlords and Tyrants, capable of mass death and destruction. In battle, they demonstrated great strength to withstand and persevere through a barrage of lethal strikes, leading to a battle of endurance.
As members of the Ara Astaroth's clan of Black Demon, they retain the characteristic power features of Ara including possessing multiple hearts and the ability to create unnatural black wings that they can use to fly. Their most catastrophic power was the ability to breathe Purgatory Fire from their mouths, which is an ability that summons tsunamis of magma. This unholy, black flame was so destructive it could even burn the Paradise to the ground. They are also capable of firing destructive beams from their eyes. Their blood possessed the unusual trait of unlocking great power within certain individuals. Those compatible to the blood receive unnatural power upon consumption, shown by their eyes changing color to an eerie black. Incompatibility to the blood leads to rapid swelling of the body, ultimately causing the individual to explode and die.
In Vira's case, she discarded most of these abilities aforementioned and replaced her powers with skills to manipulate virus, diseases and even plagues from alien worlds that no one knows the cure, making her a dangerous enemy just by standing next to her.
The Horrific Demons of Decay are demons and non-Black Demons people who joined Ara through personal motives like hatred and envy. According to Nu Wa, the Demons of Decay are being higher than the Horror of Kabbalah itself and their blood can provide the individual access to its strength, becoming a stable vessel of demonic power.
Horrific Demons of Decay demons are known to make heavy use of spells that govern over death and have the curse of the Ankhseram Black Magic. Like mentioned in Ara's power section, it a Black Art that allows demons to kill any living thing they desires standing next to them. This Magic seems to be uncontrollable at times, causing it to burst out randomly, killing anything within a certain radius around them. However, when the demon forgets the value of, and no longer cares about, a human life, they can fully control this Magic. The goals of the Horrific Demons of Decay is almost none and they serve like Ara's servants but they spent most of their time outside doing their own agenda while causing some chaos here and there. They are the only "Free Spirits" Jikininki demons of Revalation of Qliphoth but still have a direct contact with Ara.
Beatrice Benevolence Baker - Mask of Astaroth (free Jikininki)[]
Gregory Grape - Icy Grape[]
Oriax Wheelahr - Ragnarok Fenrir[]
Tomas Sev - Black Prince[]
Natural Abilities[]
Like Black Demons have a multitude of combat skills and abilities, some of which are similar to Angels and Gods, and some of which are variations on ordinary Black Demons powers.
Bara (Spanish for "Bullet" or "Black Bullet"): A technique that fires hardened spiritual pressure. Less powerful than a Qlipha, but can be successively fired at 20 times the rate.
Cero (Spanish for "Zero"): A powerful spiritual light in form of laser beam.
Descorrer (Spanish for "Drawing Back/Opening"): A technique used by Jikininki-level, and sometimes others, to open a Garganta between the living world and Hueco Mundo.
Hierro (Spanish for "Iron"): An Jikininki's outer skin with high spiritual hardness that serves as armor.
High-Speed Regeneration is an ability which allows Jikininki to heal most injuries very quickly, with the exception of the destruction of the head or vital organs. Ara states most Jikininki gave up this ability for far greater strength.
Pesquisa (Spanish for "Inquiry"): An Jikininki's ability to measure and locate Divine energy.
Resurrección (Spanish for "Resurrection"): Releasing the core of an Jikininki's ability sealed in their Qlipha Crystals to regain the original powers of their Black Demon form. They often take on a form closer to a Black Demon than a Human after performing Resurrección.
Sonído (Spanish for "Sound"): An ability that allows the demon travel in the speed of light for 5 seconds.
In LOTM: Star Spangled Crown[]
Future Gregory Grape announced the start of the killing game named Vampire Chronicles
Some of the Jikininki was brought back and became the puppets of Moloch and other Tribulations as a result, but they were not fully taking over (which are in Michael's plan), causing their host to suffer from a mind conflict. There were only two Jikininki of the above listed people that Michael failed to brought back. One was Black Raven, Matt's Black Demon, which was saved thanks to Carl and Maria's efforts to make Matt escaped. However, Carl and Maria were exposed into the range of Sorensen's power, which made Future Maria and the Bird of Vengeance started to take form once again.
Beatrice returned as the Mask of Astaroth
This caused a new timeline to be formed which will have many contradictions to what happened in the 0th Saga of LOTM: Los Reina de Corazónes, which serves as a prologue to the Rise of Qliphoth era timeline. However, Carl had sacrificed himself by using the Earth Armateus, splitting the Bird of Vengeance from his body permanently, and this later made Carl come back as a Spirit Guide of Earth eventually due to John Dee's efforts, and he later returned to destroy his Black Demon, announcing his completion of conquering himself.
Besides Matt and Carl, Maria also didn't become the Painlash Overlord. In fact, Maria didn't take this form in Astaroth Future at all, so it was Future Maria that was awakened instead. However, the rest of the list wasn't that lucky like Maria, Carl or Matt. They were all tormented by their inner dark side and were manipulated by the other Tribulations. Some of them even died with their Black Demons.
For example, Beatrice Bergamot started to be tormented by the Mask of Astaroth, who kept goaded her into brutally murdering Selina, while Beatrice realized her horrible deeds in the Astaroth Future. She chose to lock herself away from hurting anyone, while faking her death so that she could focus on confronting her enemy within. After being used as a pawn of Sascha Vykos, a fed up Beatrice eventually snapped out of her dark side, right after being fully disgusted by Future Gregory/Icy Grape's heartless plan to start the Vampire Chronicles killing game. She eventually fought against Icy Grape, but was killed in the progress. Before she passed away, Beatrice told Abel Nightroad to stop Icy Grape's evil plan and free Gregory from his misery.
Selina (as Raven Born) refused to associate with Lolth
On the other hand, Gregory Grape was devastated and horrified by his dark counterpart, but due to its temptation, he can't help himself from accepting Icy Grape due to his severe God complex and despaired heart, eventually making him to slip back into evil once again. He was manipulated by Guinevere Arzonia into a pawn for Vykos and Moloch, and he even started the heartless Vampire Chronicles in Romania to create more and more vampires for Vykos' service, killing Beatrice along with the Mask of Astaroth in the progress, but Abel Nightroad eventually stopped this mad plan. Thanks to Abel, Gregory eventually realized all the wrongs he did and used Jekyll Serum to split the Icy Grape from his body, before he committed suicide and killed Icy Grape as well.
Even so, not everyone fell under Moloch and his allies' manipulations. Selina Strawberry, under the Raven Born persona, had almost struck a deal with Lolth to kill Drizzt until she hold back. She later used her Black Demon power as an advantage to destroy Jasmine Porcelain, who attempted to use her and kill her, right before she got the Dawn's Early Light in time to strain Raven Born inside her body. Selina, Maria, Matt and Carl were the only four people that eventually became safe from their own Black Demons after Michael's actions, while the rest three all died with their Jikininki.
Became the Painlash Overlord in the Battle of Argentina, which was altered after Katarina returned back from the Astaroth Future, before the start of Astaroth Future, and prior to her final confrontation against Michael.
Spared. Due to never becoming Painlash in the Astaroth Future, only Future Maria was reawakened inside Maria.
Sort of. The presence of Future Maria came much earlier.
Carl Robinson
Bird of Vengeance
In Astaroth Future, Carl was transformed into a Black Demon by Michael and the Mask of Astaroth, who used him as a tool
Reawakened, but Carl managed to sacrifice himself and cast his Black Demon out from his body with the purification power of Earth Armateus. Later, the Bird joined the Black Host to bring back the Hidden One, but was defeated and killed by Carl who came back as a Guide Spirit in Black Host Saga
Yes. In the original ending in LOTM: Los Reina de Corazones, Carl never had the Earth Armateus and never became a Guide Spirit.
Matt Butcher
Black Raven
Revived in Astaroth Future by Ara herself
Spared. Maria saved Matt from Michael's power and prevented Black Raven's revival.
No
Beatrice Bergamot (deceased)
Mask of Astaroth
Survived the final battle against Moloch. Willingly become a Black Demon after being corrupted by a illusion of Phyllis Peach (still alive after Moloch's defeat)
Turned into a Will of Vykos by Guinevere Arzonia but still had her own free will. Denying Guinevere's evil manipulation, Beatrice defied the Mask's evil influence and died together with her, retaining her humanity (died before Moloch's defeat)
Yes, no longer a survivor
Gregory Grape (deceased)
Icy Grape
Survived the final battle against Moloch. Turned into a Black Demon by the Mask of Astaroth (still alive after Moloch's defeat)
Manipulated by Guinevere to work with Vykos. Killed himself along with his Black Demon to put an end to Vampire Chronicles, retaining his humanity (died before Moloch's defeat)
Yes, no longer a survivor
Selina Strawberry
Raven Born
Survived the final battle against Moloch. Turned into a Black Demon by Ara Astaroth
Reawakened and almost pact with Lolth and Jasmine Porcelain, but she defied her dark side and killed Porcelain, sealed Lolth back to the Abyss, and sealed the Raven Born inside her mind with the Dawn's Early light
No
Trivia[]
Jikininki in Japanese mythology
The name "Jikinink" appear in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) as corpse-eating spirits. In Japanese Buddhism, jikininki ("human-eating ghosts"; pronounced shokujinki in modern Japanese), are the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat human corpses. They do this at night, scavenging for newly dead bodies and food offerings left for the dead. They sometimes also loot the corpses they eat for valuables, which they use to bribe local officials to leave them in peace. Nevertheless, jikininki lament their condition and hate their repugnant cravings for dead human flesh.
Often, jikininki are said to look like decomposing cadavers, perhaps with a few inhuman features such as sharp claws or glowing eyes. They are a horrifying sight, and any mortal who views one finds himself or herself frozen in fear. However, several stories give them the ability to magically disguise themselves as normal human beings and even to lead normal “lives” by day. Jikininki are preta of the 26th class in Japanese Buddhism. They are also sometimes considered a form of rakshasa or gaki (“hungry ghosts”). In the latter case, they may be freed from their deplorable existence through remembrances and offerings or through the prayers of a holy and/or righteous man that has a truly holy spirit and has done nothing to dishonor his or her family.
