Black Beast

The Black Beast (黒き獣) is a legendary beast that caused great calamity before the events of the first game.

Appearance
The Black Beast is a mass of black seithr shaped like an eight-headed, serpentine beast with numerous tentacles and red eyes. Its body is never shown, although Ragna's use of his Azure Grimoire implies that it also has claws.

It was described as a colossal mass of solidified darkness, a shadow monster with eight heads, red eyes, and a torso of size far surpassing it's heads. The repulsive, red, pulsing vines on its body looked artificial like wirings of a device and at same time natural like blood vessels.

History
The Black Beast is a monstrous creature that first appeared in Japan, 2100/01/01, and is responsible for killing over half of the world's population before its defeat at the hands of the Six Heroes. According to Jūbei, there was no rhyme or reason with the monster's methods; it simply killed for the sake of killing. The results of the monster's existence is noticeable in the current time frame of the game; in particular, seithr, a dangerous air-like substance that the Black Beast exuded from its own body, covered the planet, causing many areas to become inhospitable, and even altering some of the creatures, turning them into violent beasts. In the year 2107, a warrior named Bloodedge was responsible for causing the Beast to go dormant for one year, sacrificing his life to do so. This time frame allowed the people to develop and learn how to use Ars Magus, and, along with the Six Heroes, be able to combat the Black Beast head on. Ragna takes on the name Bloodedge in his honor, as well as inheriting his jacket and weapon from Jūbei. This decade-long battle was called the Dark War, later referred to as the First War of Magic. Following the Beast's death, its genes, known as the Beast Genes (獣遺伝子), were extracted from its corpse; after many years of perfecting them, they have been used for the creation of artificial humans.

The Black Beast is a resulting combination of Ragna and Nu fusing together inside of the Cauldron of Kagutsuchi, Ragna being its body, and Nu the heart. Ragna in particular houses the violent powers of the Black Beast in his body. How he got these powers is told through a flashback of when Rachel first gave Ragna the Azure Grimoire to replace his severed arm. Hakumen refers to Ragna as "The Beast" and "The Dark One" instead of his normal name, and he considers it his primary goal to remove Ragna before The Black Beast returns once again. In one of the endings in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Ragna was defeated by Nu at The Sheol Gate, and they were thrown into the cauldron and smelted together to form the mythical monster. This resulted in the Black Beast, along with Jin Kisaragi, being thrown 100 years into the past. Jin would then become Hakumen of the Six Heroes, and take up the fight against the monster.

During the events of that which is inherited, simply smelting an "Artificial Identity" deep within the Boundary was enough to create a Black Beast.

In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, it is revealed that the Black Beast was originally a failed product of Yūki Terumi in an attempt to create Kusanagi, the "Sword of the Godslayer" using the Azure Grimoire. Terumi would be forced to take part in defeating the Black Beast, only to turn against the Six Heroes shortly afterwards.

In one of Ragna's bad endings in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, after Rachel Alucard wins against Ragna in a fight, she tells him to: "Never mistake the power of the Azure Grimoire as [his] own", to which Ragna responds by saying he will use his own power to shape his destiny. After Rachel leaves, Ragna's right arm begins to shake violently and seithr starts to generate. Ragna then sees an image of himself, being fully consumed by the darkness of the Grimoire. As quickly as this moment comes, it vanishes, leaving Ragna exhausted. Inside a Cathedral, Ragna encounters Jin Kisaragi, forcing him to use the Azure Grimoire. As Ragna wins, he loses the last of his self-control and becomes the Black Beast itself, causing almost all of the planet to be destroyed. As Jūbei and Rachel see Ragna off, she tells him that she is sorry, and that none of this was his fault and that she will see him in another world.

During the events of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, it is revealed that a Black Beast can be created by fusing a Murakumo Unit with someone who wields an Azure Grimoire. During the Ikaruga War, Terumi attempted to become a Black Beast by fusing with Noel, but Noel refused to do so due to the memories Saya had of him destroying her family. Before the fusion could be performed, however, Takemikazuchi fired upon Ibukido, destroying the lab and stopping the procedure.

In BlazBlue: Centralfiction one of Nine's and Relius' goals is to have a new Black Beast such as Takemikazuchi or Arakune if they get the Nox Nyctores alongside Nu, who is also becoming a Black Beast with or without Ragna.

In XBlaze Code: Embryo, the Black Beast is referred to as "an avatar of destruction" that has been calmed down by "the Azure Shrine Maiden" from ancient times. Just like Ragna, Tōya Kagari is also shown to have the ability to transform into the Black Beast.

Remnants of the Black Beast
Tiny fragments of the Black Beast, scattered throughout areas where it manifested. They target anything that comes near them or are spotted by them. The power of a Remnant is decided by its density. As Remnants consume seithr, they gain in density, size and battle ability. Certain ones are even able to display high enough capabilities to defeat someone on Mitsuyoshi's level.

They take various forms, but their base one is a black mist or a lump of seithr. While in their initial form, they possess neither legs, nor fangs, as they grow they are able to alter their form, sprouting claws, whip-like tails, snake-like heads, transform into mist, waves, black orbs and so on. The more they consume seithr, the closer they get to their origin, becoming a mass of shadow towering over humans.

As those are the fragments of the Black Beast, they possess similar presence and stench, as well as an intimidating aura, although it pales in comparison to the original.

Just like with the Black Beast, wounds inflicted by them cannot be mended with healing magic alone.

During the Black Beast's one-year absence, the Remnants continued their activities, threatening the lives of many.

Powers and abilities
Wounds inflicted by the Beast, or its Remnants, cause seithr poisoning.

The Beast itself is invulnerable to almost everything. It withstood the nuclear attacks of every nation with not even scratches on its own hide. It owes this invincibility to the fact that it exists outside of Logic, and can only be harmed by magic, sorcery, and the various forms of Ars Magus, such as the Nox Nyctores. The Beast can also be harmed by those physically outside of Logic, like Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. Even when the Beast was attacked by the Six Heroes and a multitude of different Ars Magus users, such as Ayame Yayoi, it was still able to stand up to the abuse and proved to be an immensely powerful figure.

One of its most troublesome abilities is its capability to spawn Remnants. As the Beast is constantly surrounded by a myriad of them, with varying battle capabilities, one has to first push through an army of them before even facing the Black Beast's real body.

The Beast is capable of semi-liquidating itself into a mist form and entering the earth in order to move through the underground at an unimaginable speed for an object of such colossal size and mass. This ability is also possessed by its Remnants.

Its sheer size and mass allows it to level the battlefield by simply slamming its gigantic necks into the ground. Its roar can shake the earth and its presence alone can paralyze even the greatest of warriors. It is capable of regenerating itself and survive wounds as severe as a giant hole in its abdomen or severed head.

Parts of its body, like a head, continues to function even after being severed from it.

Gallery
Click here to view all images of the Black Beast.

Trivia

 * The beast's appearance is largely derived from that of the Yamata no Orochi.
 * Arakune's fighting style is similar to that of the Remnants of the Black Beast. This is quite likely a result of Arakune himself being a failed Black Beast.
 * Mitsuyoshi had lost his eye in a confrontation with one of the Black Beast Remnants, mistaking it for the Black Beast.
 * According to both Jūbei and Terumi, the Black Beast returned even bigger after its one-year absence.

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