Black Beast

The Black Beast (黒き獣) is a creature made of a high concentration of the magic element. It is an uncontrolled, self-Observing weapon. It is a being outside of reason. Different beasts appeared in different timelines and different worlds.

The Beast itself is a Kiln, and can be created by fusing a Murakumo Unit with someone who wields a Blue Grimoire. Then, the grimoire becomes the body, and the Unit is the heart. Such Beast can be defeated only when its body and heart is killed.

Appearance
The Black Beast is a mass of magic element shaped like an eight-headed, serpentine beast with numerous tentacles and red eyes.

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 its heads. The repulsive, red, pulsing vines on its body looked artificial like wirings of a device and at same time natural like blood vessels.

Prime Field War
In the original world, the Black Beast was created by people during the Prime Field War. It didn’t discriminate between friend and foe, and devoured everything it could. Thus the world had ended, however, this was in accordance with humanity’s plan, as all they needed was to win. As long as they could obtain the Blue and complete the Takamagahara system, they would be able to “rebuild” everything and prevent the creation of Prime Fields, while still having the “power of god” in their grasp.

According to the Origin, the Beast was her older brother.

Original age
In the world of XBlaze, Mei Amanohokosaka told about the story of the Blue Shrine Maiden, who lived millennia ago. She was the first Amanohokosaka Shrine Maiden, and she was able to speak with the Blue. During one of these conversations, the Black Beast surfaced out of the Gate. Believing that she may have summoned it, she beckoned the Beast back into the Boundary and sunk in the Sheol Gate alongside the Beast. She then sealed the Gate from the inside, sacrificing her life.

Centuries before the Great Dark War
In the world of BlazBlue, Nine of the Ten Sages mentioned the appearance of the Black Beast several centuries before the Great Dark War. Information about it was recorded in the archives of the Magic City of Ishana.

XBlaze – Code: Embryo
During the events of XBlaze – Code: Embryo, around 2050, Tōya Kagari almost turned into the Black beast because of his Original Grymoire. In some timelines, rewound by the Embryo, Tōya became the Beast, and Es was forced to kill him.

Great Dark War
In the world of BlazBlue, the Black Beast suddenly appeared in Japan on January 1, 2100, interrupting the smelting experiment conducted by Relius Clover, Shūichirō Ayatsuki, and Yūki Terumi. As a result of its appearance, Terumi lost his body, Relius was sent to the future, and only Shūichirō was able to escape.

Having got out of the laboratory, the Beast began to spread the magic element around the world, since it can function only in an environment saturated with it. It began to destroy Japan, and the heads of other nations attacked it with the nuclear weapons. The Beast was not harmed by it, the use of nuclear weapons only destroyed Japan. Then, the Beast moved to Eurasia to continue its rampage.

The Beast suddenly disappeared. In December 2106, a warrior named Bloodedge was responsible for causing the Beast to go dormant for one year, by killing the heart of the Beast, and sacrificing himself to do so. During its absence, the remains continued their activities, threatening the lives of many.

During this year, Nine gathered six warriors who could help the mankind win. These warriors were: Mitsuyoshi, Yūki Terumi, Hakumen, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, Trinity Glassfille, and Nine herself, who was responsible for inventing the Magic Formulas that allowed humans to inflict damage on the Beast. In addition, she found a Legacy Weapon used in the similar war centuries ago. It needed a source of energy, so Seven and Eight sacrificed a huge amount of souls, creating a miniature Black Beast, and completed this weapon as the Arch-Enemy Event Weapon, now known as Highlander: Takemikazuchi. The Beast attacked the completed Takemikazuchi, but the magicians teleported their creation to Ishana, the safest place in the world. Also, they teleported one of the Beast’s heads, because of it founding out about the weapon’s existence.

The decisive battle against the Black Beast took place on the ground where the first village of the Kaka tribe was located. The Black Beast returned even bigger after its one-year absence. Eventually, the Beast was defeated on January 1, 2110. On this day, another part of the Beast was killed by Hakumen, it means the body.

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.

Event Weapon core smelting
In the world of BlazBlue, in 2194, Kokonoe Mercury and Relius Clover smelted a miniature Black Beast that now is a core of Detonator: Ignis.

Smelting experiment
In the world of BlazBlue, on December 25, 2194, the 7th Agency tried to create a Black Beast to fight the World Void Information Control Organization with it. The heart of this Beast was supposed to be Mu-12, and the body was Hazama. However, the smelting was stopped by Takamagahara, which fired their Takemikazuchi at the 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido, where the experiment was conducted.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
In the world of BlazBlue, on December 31, 2199, Ragna and Nu merged in the Kiln of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, and fell into the past, becoming the Black Beast who began the Great Dark War. In the current timeline, Noel Vermillion saved Ragna from falling into the Kiln, not allowing him and Nu to become the Beast.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma
In the world of BlazBlue, on February 2200, Ragna was sent to the time of the Great Dark War, where he gave the humanity a year without the Beast, but also killed the heart of the Beast.

Soon after his return, Izanami brought Ragna’s Blue Grimoire out of control, temporarily making him a miniature Black Beast.

Powers and abilities
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 reason, and can only be harmed by magic, sorcery, and the various forms of Magic Formulas, such as the Arch-Enemy Event Weapons. The Beast can also be harmed by those physically outside of reason, like Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. Even when the Beast was attacked by the Six Heroes and a multitude of different Magic Formula 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 remains (残滓). 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. These remains were also a high concentration of the magic element, and were as inferior as their creator. They target anything that comes near them or are spotted by them. The power of a remain is decided by its density. As remains consume the magic element, 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 the element. 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 the magic element, 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.

Wounds inflicted by the Beast, or its remains, cause magic element poisoning.

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 remains.

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.

The Black Beast that appeared during the Great Dark War was using military strategy, avoided traps and set them.

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

Trivia

 * The Black Beast’s appearance is largely derived from that of the Yamata no Orochi. In addition, its name is also a similar reference to the name of a creature in the Book of Revealation.
 * Arakune’s fighting style is similar to that of the remains 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 remains, mistaking it for the Black Beast.
 * The Black Beast’s remains can be found in a space underneath the church, with the appearance of a black stone in the form of a headless humanoid. These remains function similarly to a Kiln. These remains are Ragna the Bloodedge's original body via one of the prior timelines that formed the said specific beast, which was given to a younger Ragna to corrode his right side into the current state it is today to form his Blue Grimoire (and thus creating a stable time loop).