Demon Beast Armor (魔獣装甲, Majū Sōkō) is the dark counter-part armor to Makai Armor in the Garo series.
Overview[]
Demon Beast Armors are magically forged armors meant to take on the Makai Order, specially the Makai Knights. In contrast to Makai Armors, they have a demonic appearance and more organic in design due to the nature of their creation. Each armor's construction is different; some are made similarly to Makai Armor and others are sculpted from their own body. Although unique in design, most armors endow the wearer with increased strength, endurance, stamina, speed, magical resistance, heightened healing factor, enhanced magics, and enhanced senses; it makes them highly formidable combatants against the strongest of knights. Because there is no official definition, an unofficial classification (based on observation) has been created.
The origins of forged demon armor is unclear, but it is a human creation. The bodies of demons have natural armor and weapons that can rival and surpass the power of a Makai Knight. A person with priest training would have the knowledge and power to forge and fabricate demon armor as an alternative to Makai Armor. Makai Knights have spent a lifetime mastering use of their soul metal-forged armors and weaponry to combat dark forces, but demon armor don't share the same requirement(s). The user doesn't even need to be evil, but they must have magical skill to summon their armor. Each demon armor is unique to the user; they're all custom made. With each unique armor, they all function and operate differently based on the user's skill and preferences on combat style and weaponry. Because of this, some armors make the wearer look completely like a demon and others appear like ornate gothic armor. Based on observation, the armors do not have a time limit, giving the user a field advantage over makai armors. However, it's unclear if there are any side effects to long term use of these armors as not many have been deployed in the field.
In the Original Series, the corrupted Watch Dog Gulm and her adopted son, Kodama, had their own demonic armors that were comparable to makai armor. Kodama's armor was made specifically to activate through his sound wave magic while Gulm's was summoned through magical focus. Because Kodama was a fighter with sonic attacks, his armor was designed to enhance his combat abilities (increased defense and strength) and his sword can be strengthened with his sonic power. When he dons his armor, he appears as a red armored demon and even screeches as if he was a real Horror. With Gulm, she merely twirls to don on her demon armor. Her head and limbs are covered in armor with claws, but a thinly covered center, suggesting she prefers flexibility and mobility in combat. She intentionally had a helmet that exposes her mouth, allowing her to use her sonic attack in combat as well.
As Demon Beast Armored Kodama, Kodama dons his namesake armor, which specializes in saber combat. Resembling a demonic knight complete with pale white eye lenses (resembling a Horror's eyes) and a mouth that can skreech, this armor was paired with a jagged straight saber, which can be infused with his soundwave magic to increase the damage from his blows just as makai knights would apply Madō Flames for Blazing Armament. With his armor, Kodama exceeded the combat capabilities of Garo.
Known users: Kodama
As Demon Beast Armored Gulm, Gulm dons her namesake armor which specializes in wind-and-fire wheel combat. Unlike Kodama's armor, Gulm's armor doesn't appear organic but a customized motif armor with metal plating over arms, legs, and a helmet. Themed after Kerberos (aka cerberus), it consisted of a white bodysuit with the heads of 3 beasts on her head and shoulders to personify the 3-headed hound. The wheel can transform into a hula hoop for weapons combat and has great power as it can effortlessly push a knight back.
Known users: Gulm
The exoskeleton armor is a physical characteristic found in fallen Makai Knights within the Ryūga-verse. Although a knight may become corrupted or fallen, their armor is strongly attached to them as part of their identity. It's because of that, fallen knights may take on a demonic form that could resemble a twisted version of Makai Armor.
While Kodama and Gulm's armors are removable combat garments like Makai Armor, Jinga's armored form is the result of modifications on his demon beast form. Although Jinga became a horror, his abilities as a knight never left him. His hatred and anger against humanity was strong enough to remain the dominate personality along with his wife, Amily. Suggestively, Amily assisted Jinga in extensive magical body modification and enhancements, giving his demon beast form a tough exoskeleton themed after Makai Armor. While a corrupted knight can still access its armor, a Horror-possessed one cannot; Jinga continues to keep his sword. Because the knight's sword isn't directly touched on skin contact, Jinga was still able to use his weapon. Other than a demonic skin handle, it's unclear whether the blade was truly tainted or it was merely cosmetic. Because the exoskeleton is a part of Jinga's anatomy instead of protective armament, he can change his body to a flying demon.
For aerial combat, the exoskeleton becomes thinner and sprouts red bat-like wings and a long prehensile tail to grab his foes (like a gargoyle). His legs are also somewhat elongated and slender ends with clawed toes. While Jinga can naturally assume his armored form, Amily can also activated it for his behalf with her Dark Mirror while simultaneously boosting its power. However, if the mirror gets damaged, the magical enhancements will cease. When his exoskeleton is sufficiently damaged, he returns to his human form instead of a horror.
The fallen knight, Sonshi, also had similar origins. After Tousei Kaneshiro turned him into a Mado Horror, his horror form resembles an armored demonic knight. A major difference though is that Jinga fell through his hatred of humanity. Where as Sonshi was involuntarily converted by Tousei from activating a sapling from Zedom's seeds. Despite all of Sonshi's strength and combat prowess, he was turned into a loyal servant to Tousei as he sired him.
Through extensive bodily modification (implied with help of Amily's magical powers), Jinga's demon beast form had been enhanced with body armor. Its design and aesthetics looked like a twisted, demonic version of makai armor, complete with red wolf-like helmet and horns. The exoskeleton's durability was even comparable with Makai Armors' own, as it can shrug off magical and physical attacks. It has two forms, Normal Form and Flight Form. Normal Form is the Demon Beast Exoskeleton's basic form which endow him strength comparable to a Makai Knight, which can be enhanced with Amily's dark mirror. Flight Form on the other hand, is the form where it sprouts bat-like wings, sharp prehensile tail, and its stature became much taller and slender. While in Flight Mode Jinga became faster and agile thanks to his wings, it appeared at the cost of defense, as Garo was able to fatally stab him in their aerial duel.
Whenever Jinga accessed either forms, his Makai Blade also transformed as well. Whether the blade's transformation was due to it being truly tainted or mere cosmetic remained unclear.
Known users: Jinga
Note: Jinga's Demon Beast Exoskeleton bears some resemblance to Roze Armor his later incarnation Jinga Mikage wears, which may very well intentional given that Jinga's original self might be the heir of Roze or at least its sister armor in the past before it no longer accessible following his transformation into a Horror.
As the first Madō Horror and former Makai Knight, Sonshi stood out from the rest as his demon beast form is basically a humanoid being encased in a tough carapace in the same vein with Jinga's thus compensated the loss of his former ability to summon his original Makai Armor. Like Jinga's, his Exoskeleton provides durability comparable to Makai Armors, as it can shrug off magical and physical attacks. The Exoskeleton can even sprout wings for aerial combat if needed. By tearing a bit of the armor, he can shape the piece into either a jagged longword or a pair of Sais.
Known users: Sonshi
Created out of Soul Metal, this variant is much closer to Makai Armor than previous two iterations and would likely considered such had it being wolf-themed and crafted for more benevolent purposes in mind. In Anime Series Universe, much of the established aspects of Soul Metal such as its rules and limitations played differently, but aspects that stayed true nonetheless being the alloy's ability to burn anyone (includes Horror) on skin contact and therefore can literally devour a Knight through prolonged use. Unlike in Original Series however, it doesn't take a lifetime to master Soul Metal; a novice can use it so long as the person still adheres to its time limit and only requires at least few weeks of training (which includes workout session) to fully master the alloy.
As shown in the case of Octavia and her namesake Armor, once summoned with a focus, a Mechanical Demon Exoskeleton would automatically grafted into the wearer's body, altering and enhancing it to the point of the wearer became a living combat machine on par to a Makai Knight in strength. However, the Exoskeleton is a death sentence; through Zaruba and Ema, it is suggested such an armor has been made in the past yet not commonly used as it will eventually kill its user. Octavia's own namesake Mechanical Demon Exoskeleton was no exception of this, as her said Exoskeleton was what ultimately killed her rather than Ema and Alfonso's combined might. When a Knight's Armor begins to hurt its user, he can easily retract it before there's any permanent damage. However, because the Metal is fused with the person, there's no escaping the devouring effect. The user has less than approximately 30 mins of combat use before the Mechanical Demon Exoskeleton begins to compress its user to death and there's no escape — it will completely crush its wearer and vanish without a trace thus only deployed as a desperate measure. This of course, contrasted to Makai Armor which compression effect simply turns the wearer into a Lost Soul Beast and therefore can still be saved through hitting the Armor's crest with sufficient force.
Mechanical Demon Exoskeletons apparently endow the wearer martial arts skills necessary to fully harness its power; Octavia had no combat training prior to donning hers.
According to Ema, Mechanical Demon Exoskeletons also designed with the ability to feed on the darkness in humanity including the wearer's own, a trait which may very well explained how those who lacked proper Soul Metal training can freely move after fusing with one since their inner malice compensated such shortcoming. Even so, that didn't guarantee the wearer could wield other Soul Metal-based objects at the same time and this quirk eventually wear their soul just as the whole Exoskeleton set eventually crushed their body.
As Demon Beast Armored Octavia, Octavia dons her namesake Mechanical Demon Exoskeleton which specialized in wrist blade combat. It was summoned via. a staff Mendoza gave to her to grant her wish to help him achieving his goal. The Exoskeleton was armed with retractable katar-like swords mounted on both wrists, a built-in primitive Makai Gun within the prosthetic leg, and head harness that can project propulsive gust of wind to propel the user forward.
Known users: OctaviaGallery[]
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