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I understand it all now! The true reason for my wrath! I could not stand it! There is always some fool who wants to rule the world! Always forcing others to do what they cannot do for themselves! That's why I pray to no one! Nor will I be prayed to! But above all else I will never forgive you for making my daughter cry! This is your end!! | 
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| — Asura to Chakravartin | ||
Asura (Japanese: アスラ, Asura; Sanskrit: असुर) is the main protagonist and titular character of the action beat 'em up game Asura's Wrath. He is a Demigod and the husband of Durga, father of Mithra, and brother-in-law of Yasha. His Mantra Affinity is Wrath. He was one of the former Eight Guardian Generals and former Guardian General of Wrath, who served the Emperor of Shinkoku Trastrium and led the Demigod Army to fight against the Gohma.
He was framed and betrayed by his seven fellow comrades, who kidnapped his daughter, murdered his wife, and finally banished him from Gaea, killing and sending him to Hell. But even in death, he was filled with an indelible rage that led him back to the world of the living, entering an odyssey to exact his revenge, and most importantly, save his beloved daughter.
Driven by pure rage and with his wrath as his only weapon, Asura will face many hardships, fight against old friends turned enemies, and eventually face the greatest threats to his homeplanet and the whole universe.
Appearance
Asura is a humanoid demigod in appearance, bearing markings and tattoos and his body as well as being heavily built and muscular, looking much like what an elite demigod warrior would be. Asura normally has spiky hair that is white in colour, and his skin is of tanned complexion. Asura's eyes are white and often emit a white or red glow (occasionally his irises become visible, though they do not have pupils). Before Asura's resurrection however, he had red eyes and pupils, which returned just prior to his death. His age of appearance is stated to be 28. Asura wears torn, black hakama trousers with a red flame pattern and a torn, golden waist sash hanging that is tied with a red obi belt. He also wears golden, intricately designed ceremonial greaves with one leg of his trousers tucked into the greave of his right leg and the other leg covering his left greave.
During his time as one of the Eight Guardian Generals, Asura wore white and red flame patterned hakama trousers neatly tucked into his golden ceremonial greaves, a white sash, and epaulets on his shoulders.[1]
During his time in training with Augus he wore a brown gi, black hakama, fingerless gloves and wraps on his feet.[2]
In the epilogue, Asura looks more human and wears a green muscle shirt, flame-patterned blue jean trousers, and a necklace.[3]
Personality
Asura is a hot-tempered, stubborn, and reckless demigod by nature and is known for charging head on at the enemy without a second thought. A powerful combatant and warrior, Asura displays both a strong will and an absence of fear in less-than-positive situations and will fight his adversaries relentlessly until he is victorious. Due to his stubborn nature, Asura rarely accepts the aid of others and prefers to remain self-reliant, preferring to get out of messes on his own. Asura is also shown to be quite ruthless, since he had no qualms about killing his former demigod allies and slaughtering countless members of his own former forces in his crusade to rescue his daughter, sometimes doing so in rather brutal ways.
Asura's most defining psychological trait is his extreme, unbridled anger and wrath, which is mostly linked to his Mantra of Wrath. He is irritated by anything that triggers his anger, and will stop at nothing to destroy whatever makes him mad. Due to this, he is also shown to have immense anger management issues. Nonetheless, in spite of his terrifying rage, Asura is not entirely indiscriminate and savage in its exertion, even at his most enraged state. Even when subjected to the mindless rage of his Wrath form, Asura still possessed enough focus, volition and control over himself to avoid attacking innocent mortals and civilian demigods, instead focusing his wrath on the Gohma and the Shinkoku military. He exercised his 'righteous fury' not only to deliver retribution against those who wronged him, but also to fight against the wrongs and pain brought by higher powers upon humankind and Gaea itself, be it the Gohma, his former companions, and most importantly Chakravartin. Throughout the story Asura showcased a godly portrayal of wrath, as if he was wrath incarnate. It is strongly implied that Asura is the God of Wrath. (See below for more)
But while Asura feels anger for the world suffering, at the same time he also feels anger towards the world itself and has no real interest in protecting it. He cannot stand the world and has expressed this anger on several occasions, and he cannot forgive the one who created such a world either. Despite his wrath, Asura is capable of developing strong bonds and perceiving others as friends. This is proven by his friendship with the mortal girl who accompanies him after his second return from Naraka and by his companionship with Yasha and Augus.
However, despite his negative faults, Asura is a good-hearted warrior with a strong moral code and gets angered when he sees an act that goes against his morals. Asura values the lives of the innocent (be they mortal or demigod) and does not believe in sacrificing the innocent for ANY reason, whether good or evil, as he greatly disapproves of the Gohma's attacks on Gaea, Deus' plan for the world and the Seven Deities' method of collecting Mantra by slaughtering humans. Asura even stated that, "there is no need for gods that only take", and was horrified and furious to discover how many human lives his ex-partners had taken in order to get more Mantra to fight the Gohma. Asura was often shown to hate those who value themselves over others, as he is against Augus' philosophy about fighting and one's own pleasure being all that matters in life.
Asura is a caring family man whether it is outside or within the battlefield. In Episode 7: A Father's Duty, Yasha states that perhaps Asura keeps his rage active to protect his family from the Gohma and their ongoing attacks. Asura loves and cares deeply for his wife and daughter; Durga and Mithra. He shares a very close bond with his daughter Mithra. Such a bond is so great that upon learning that the Deities had ceaselessly made her suffer after they orchestrated his downfall, Asura slaughtered everyone standing in his way, including the very armies that once revered him. Asura is shown to be in intense pain when he hears his daughter crying. His only real weakness is seeing his daughter cry and wants nothing more than to see her happy and smiling. However, despite his parental love, Asura also showed discomfort, anxiety and shyness around his family due to lacking more amicable social graces and parenting skills. He sadly recounted that the only thing he knows how to do is "punch anything that makes Mithra cry".
He also bears an uncannily strong sense of morality beyond simply helping the innocent and punishing the wicked. So much so that he was not one who flexed his divinity in order to garner worship and power for himself like his fellow deities, in point of fact, this facet of his godhood irritated him to no end. So much so that he was visibly repulsed at the mortals he saved from a Gohma attack for bowing down and worshipping him, showcasing a much more humble and down to earth persona than other gods who boasted of their holy status and haughtily used their divinity as a means of getting their way and slaughtering mortals for more power. Asura simply viewed himself as an individual who was above any sense of self-debasing praise, seeing as his only real motivation was wanting his family to be happy, healthy and safe. Not becoming an all-powerful cosmological entity with a severe god complex like Deus, the other Seven Deities and Chakravartin, whom were all entitled to having everything go their way due to their sense of supremacy.
Individuals like these, beings with absolute power yet bare extraordinary laziness and domineering character, constantly forcing others to do what they cannot do for themselves particularly peak his ire. It is for this reason he never prays to any higher power but at the same time, refuses to ever be worshiped or prayed to by others. It is this ideology that makes him resent his status as a Demigod/God, so much so that he visibly expressed his anger when the dark fighter Akuma addressed him as such. Showcasing an intensely misotheistic side to his persona, specifically, around the time he fought the Seven Deities. Like with Wyzen who constantly boasted about how Asura should kneel before him if he wanted anything, growing madder and madder at his blustering. Again with Kalrow when he non-nonchalantly slaughtered innocent villagers by getting them to sacrifice themselves for him, or Olga when she cruelly massacred countless innocent mortals, calling her "a god who only takes", culminating in her pushing him over the edge of maddening fury. And finally with Deus and Chakravartin, whose lust for power, scheming and domination proved every reason as to why Asura hated his former comrades and the status of deity, both others' and his.
Story
Main Episodes
Early Life
Asura was Augus' student
Years prior to the beginning of the story, Asura met Durga at some point in his life and the two fell in love, eventually marrying and having a child, Mithra. He also met Yasha, Durga's brother, and Asura's brother-in-law and rival. Asura had a somewhat happy life with his wife Durga and his newborn child Mithra. He and Yasha became students of Augus in efforts of becoming Guardian Generals.[2][4] As demigod students under Augus' wing, they participated in numerous battles against the impure Gohma. At some point in his residence, Sergei, Wyzen and Kalrow confronted Asura and Wyzen tried to persuade him to join Deus' cause, the Great Rebirth, but he declined. Later, when his daughter, a teenage Mithra, was appointed as the new priestess, Asura was outraged and did not want his daughter to be involved in war.[5]
Asura as a member of the Eight Guardian Generals in a battle against the Gohma
During a large-scale battle in space between the Shinkoku Army and the Gohma, Asura is angrily dedicated to wiping out the Gohma all by himself. But when Gohma Vlitra emerges from Gaea and decimates most of the fleet just by opening its mouth, Asura engages it along with Yasha who briefly assists him, but are overwhelmed by the beast, and would have died if Mithra had not prayed them enough Mantra to survive. Thanks to the Mantra given by his daughter, Asura is revitalised and empowered, and transforms into the powerful form of Six-Armed Vajra Asura. He becomes strong enough to subdue Vlitra alone and prevent any more casualties. While only subdued, the Generals and the Demigods claim victory over Vlitra.[1]
Asura was framed for the Emperor's assassination
After the battle, Asura arrives at his home and reunites with his family, but is summoned to a meeting with the Emperor moments after. Upon arriving at the Emperor's throne room, Asura walks up to Emperor Strada only to see him shaking and flopping into Asura's arms, deceased and with his body cut open. With blood on his hands, Asura is accused of regicide, and mistakenly branded a murderer and traitor by numerous Shinkoku warriors who arrive and witness the scene. Distraught, Asura manages to escape the chamber, however, he is then intercepted and surrounded by Wyzen, who takes this as treason and attacks Asura. Despite Asura's pleading for Wyzen to calm down and let him explain, Wyzen doesn't listen. After being forced to defend himself and take down the Guardian General, Asura rushes across Gaea and returns to his home, only to be horrified to find Durga fatally wounded. Durga pleads for Asura to save their daughter before dying in his arms, prompting him to let out a scream of rage and grief.
Greatly distressed, Asura eventually finds Mithra imprisoned by the rest of the Guardian Generals. When Asura rushes in, he is attacked by Deus, who reveals himself as the true murderer of the Emperor and the perpetrator of his framing for murder and treason, and that he intends on using Mithra to "save the world". Deus subdues Asura and plunges him into Naraka, as Asura vows vengeance on his former demigod comrades. His daughter kidnapped, his wife killed, and his reputation destroyed, Asura is cast down from Heaven by the Guardian Generals, and is now on a quest of vengeance fueled by pure, uncontrollable rage.[6]
Legend
Asura, as portrayed in the Seven Deities' story
Long ago, there lived eight deities known as the Eight Guardian Generals, who led the demigod legions to war against the impure Gohma, bringing peace and prosperity to the world. A myth was fabricated for the humans on Gaea to believe in; The Evil Demigod Who Fell from the Heavens, stating that one of the demigods was black of heart, and had ambitions of his own. He was Asura. The legend lies and says that Asura turned against his kind and struck fear into the demigod race, taking the life of their very own Emperor Strada. Asura was depicted as a monstrous, three-headed titan with six muscular arms, weapons held in each one. This Asura brought chaos to the world, plunging everyone and everything into a dark era. The legend continues, then, just when it was believed that all hope was lost, seven pillars of light poured down from the heavens, and the remaining seven Guardian Generals appeared to cast judgement on their brother who had betrayed them. Then, they became known as the Seven Deities, and they watch over the humans from the heavens.[6]
12,000 Years later
Asura awakens in Naraka and meets the Golden Spider
Asura’s spirit awakens dangling from a pillar in Naraka, a realm of the afterlife ruled by a mysterious figure known only as the Golden Spider. Suffering from amnesia, he begins to ascend the pillar as the Golden Spider goads Asura into regaining his memories about his past and hints about what the mortal world has become in his absence. Fueled by his unexplainable anger, Asura breaks out of Naraka and inhabits his body, freeing it after 12,000 years in a colossal explosion from beneath the surface. While he previously acted more human and benevolent and actually had pupils in his eyes-- all of that was gone. Now that he was back in the realm of the living, he was filled with rage for his betrayal, and sought to kill all of his former companions for taking everything from him.
Asura wanders Gaea, which has become a vast wasteland afflicted with blood red skies and frequent lightning storms.[2] He eventually comes across a human village amidst some ruins, which is suddenly rampaged by the Gohma shortly after. Asura is angered and almost disappointed that the situation on Gaea hadn't improved even after 12,000 years. While Asura rescues the villagers, a capital ship descends to the village and deploys Shinkoku warriors led by his former ally and Guardian General, Wyzen.
Asura battles Gongen Wyzen
Wyzen soon too meets Asura personally. He explains that the Eight Guardian Generals disbanded after the coup d'état, becoming the self-proclaimed Seven Deities. Wyzen continues to monologue, but is soon interrupted by Asura's fist, prompting a duel between the two. As they duel Wyzen transforms into his Vajra form, stating that this power was brought by Mithra, Asura's daughter. Asura remembers Mithra and furiously demands to know what the Deities had done with her. Wyzen refuses to answer him and continues their fight.[7] With Wyzen continuously ranting about Mithra suffering because of Asura's actions, Asura gets empowered by his rage and activates his Six-Armed Vajra form. Wyzen eventually taps into the Karma Fortress's Mantra Reactor to become Gongen Wyzen, a form which increases his size to the point where he becomes as large as the planet. As Asura is about to be crushed under one of Wyzen's fingers, Asura recalls his entire past, and is filled with indelible wrath. Asura's subsequent concentrated onslaught towards Wyzen's finger is so great that it completely obliterates Wyzen. However, Asura's arms are completely destroyed in the process and, exhausted, Asura falls to the ground unconscious.[8]
Asura is killed by Yasha
Upon awakening, Asura is confronted by Yasha, his brother-in-law and rival, who tells him to move on and to forget about Mithra, mocking him for returning to life and attempting to oppose the Seven Deities. Yasha falsely claims that Mithra is devoted to helping the Seven Deities, which ignites Asura's flames of rage. Powered once again through his own rage, savagely attacks Yasha despite the loss of his arms. Though he manages to crack Yasha's mask with a powerful headbutt, he is ultimately overwhelmed and cleaved in half by Yasha's final attack, being killed and sent back to Naraka a second time.[9]
500 Years later
Asura is awakened in Naraka by his uncontrollable rage and thirst for vengeance a second time, haunted by the sound of his daughter crying and fueled even further by anger, Asura climbed the pillar again into the mortal world.[5]
Asura meets a girl with a striking resemblance to Mithra
500 years after his second death, Asura returned to his body. Petrified in stone at the base of a mountain, a shrine had been built around it by the descendants of the villagers he saved. The remaining humans believed him to be a guardian against the absent Gohma. The Gohma finally attack just as Asura breaks free. A Gohma chieftain kidnaps a girl that was visiting Asura's shrine - a girl who bears a striking resemblance to his daughter, Mithra - prompting Asura to pursue it to the now besieged village.
Asura watches the harvested human souls in Kalrow's ship
After defeating the Gohma, a fleet commanded by the Deity Kalrow comes to investigate. As Kalrow taunts Asura's status as "The Fallen One" from the safety of his ship, the Trastrium warriors begin harvesting the souls of the grateful villagers, who believe being absorbed into Mantra is ascending to heaven. After dispatching the Trastrium soldiers directly responsible for harvesting the souls of the villagers,[10] Asura destroys the fleet, crushing a fleeing Kalrow inside his own escape pod.[11]
Crashing into a mountain, Asura is found by his old mentor Augus, now one of the Deities. Augus carries the unconscious Asura to Kanazuki Spring, near his residence. There, the two relax with the hot spring's female attendants, but when Asura tries to touch one of the girls' breasts, Augus punches him and temporarily knocks him unconscious. Augus then informs Asura of Deus' ambitions: Deus wants to achieve the Great Rebirth, an end to the War of Creation that will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity at the expense of trillions of humans harvested for the cause of destroying Gohma Vlitra, the heart of the Gohma, once and for all. After recuperating in Kanazuki Spring at the attendance of the hot spring's servants, Asura and Augus launch themselves onto the surface of the Moon for their final showdown.[12]
Asura kills his mentor Augus
Asura and his mentor engage in a clash of strength, but neither yield. Evenly matched in hand-to-hand combat, Augus draws his sword, Wailing Dark, and in doing so proceeds to level the moon with the sheer force of his attacks and the length-altering blade. In an effort to finish Asura off, Augus impales Asura upon the fully-extended blade (now longer than Gaea's width), pinning Asura to and piercing through Gaea. As Augus prepares the killing blow, Asura gathers his raging strength and shatters Wailing Dark, and, grasping the broken blade by the hilt with only his teeth, uses it to cut open and kill an impressed Augus. Augus is not frustrated that he lost, instead he is content that he died in an honorable match at the hands of his student. He then tells Asura that he no longer requires his training and he must walk his own path from now on.
Asura is overcome by rage and transforms into his Berserker form
Not long after paying his respects to his fallen mentor, a Gohma Striker appears, followed by a vast horde of Gohma on the horizon; upon noticing this, Asura prepares for battle again.[13] An intense battle follows.[14] The girl finds Asura a few days later, once again turned to stone but reviving soon after she finds him. She returns him to the village. However, just as they arrive another fleet commanded by the Deity Olga launches a barrage of missiles to purify the land. Asura survives the attack, but finds the girl's charred body in the rubble. Asura is furious at the pure villainy and greed of Olga and the Deities, and witnesses their vileness at first hand. Completely consumed by fury and wrath, Asura goes berserk, transforming into a form known as Berserker Asura, and wipes out most of the fleet within minutes.[15] Dumbfounded that Asura's power has somehow surpassed what took the Deities 12 millennia to gather, Olga commands the Brahmastra to fire directly at Asura. Yasha tries to stop the firing sequence, but fails to shut it down before Asura is caught in the blast, merely diverting the blast but giving Asura a chance to escape.[16]
A wrathful Asura destroys Sergei's ship and attacks him shortly after
Some time later, while Yasha and Sergei are purifying the Gohma and gathering souls from mortals for the Brahmastra, Asura, his body burnt and unstable by the effect of the Brahmastra and his own rage (a form known as Wrath Asura), carves through Sergei's ship and disembowels Sergei.[17] With his last breaths, Sergei reveals to Yasha that it was him who kidnapped Mithra, and killed his sister —Asura's wife— Durga, to which Yasha states that he was aware of Sergei's actions at the time but chose to restrain himself for the cause. Asura then brutally thrusts Sergei to the ground before crushing his head with his foot and begins to attack Yasha. In the beginning of their confrontation, Yasha attempts, in vain, to reason with Asura in an effort to return him to his senses, all the while suppressing his emotions underneath his mask. As the battle wears on, Asura momentarily gains the upperhand, interrupting Yasha's pleas with an attack that destroys his mask. Yasha, now free to express himself, furiously retaliates against Asura; all the while knowing that Asura's wrath will destroy his own body if he is not subdued. Driven by raw emotion, Yasha taps into his own Mantra of Melancholy and cracks open Asura's form, returning his sanity but placing him in a temporary coma.[18]
Asura defeats Deus at last
While in his coma, Asura is visited by the Golden Spider. Despite being regretting by his loss of control, Asura is informed by the Golden Spider that carrying out his revenge and defeating the Gohma is his "destiny". Asura, enraged but awoken, rises and heads for Shinto. He arrives at Deus’ office to find him already in the midst of battle with Yasha. After a lengthy brawl, Deus escapes to the Karma Fortress and commandeers it, becoming Sakra Devanam Indra Deus, "the most powerful being in existence". Yasha and Asura battle their way into the heart of the Karma Fortress, all the while avoiding being crushed or vaporised by Deus and the security forces.[19] After a second furious battle, Asura clashes with Deus and defeats him, and Yasha frees Mithra from her incarceration. Before father and daughter can reunite however, Asura and Yasha are interrupted by the sudden reemergence of Gohma Vlitra on Gaea.[20]
Asura and Yasha face off against Vlitra
Despite the Brahmastra being depleted, Asura and Yasha leave with Mithra's blessing to face Vlitra. Asura and Yasha battle their way to the "face" of Vlitra, but are overwhelmed by the beast. Mithra, having sensed this, grants Asura her power and heals and empowers Yasha, transforming the former into Mantra Asura. Now stronger than ever, they manage to force their way into Vlitra's core, the very heart of Gaea, encountering a towering monster that startlingly resembled Asura's Berserker form. Realising that this is the source of Gaea's wrath, Asura, with the aid of Yasha, slays Vlitra once and for all and escapes out of Gaea. Asura returns to the Karma Fortress to reunite with Mithra,[21] but is interrupted by Olga. Despondent over Deus' death and the loss of her fleet, Olga takes Mithra hostage and threatens to kill Mithra as revenge. She attempts to kill Mithra, but the Golden Spider suddenly appears and kills her, stating that he cannot allow anything to happen to his "vessel".
Asura confronts Chakravartin, the one behind it all
The Golden Spider weaves a web around himself and Mithra. Now transformed, he reveals himself to be Chakravartin, the one true god and the "Spinner of Mantra".[22] Chakravartin states that he himself unleashed the Gohma to test the inhabitants of Gaea, in the hope of finding a successor and ending his need to watch over Gaea. Asura lets out a laugh of indignation, realising Chakravartin was the one responsible for everything. Furious, Asura ferociously attacks Chakravartin only to find himself severely outmatched, even while in Mantra form. Asura, growing more furious by the second, unleashes his Wrath form in the hopes of saving his imprisoned daughter. Mithra, sensing that her father will destroy himself if he continued to struggle, launches him off the rapidly deteriorating Karma Fortress and back down to Gaea, requesting that her uncle Yasha, who went to catch Asura in his arms, protect her father.[23]
After their final battle, Asura fist bumps his rival and brother Yasha
Asura, after unknowingly having the Mantra Reactor of the Karma Fortress and Yasha's own reactor implanted to him,[24] awakes on Gaea to find a masked Yasha eager to battle him. Though confused, Asura accepts the challenge. The two clash in a flurry of blows, where Asura, thanks to the activation of the Mantra Reactor, gains the upper hand. However, before Asura can deliver the final blow to Yasha, he observes Yasha smiling underneath his mask. Asura halts his attack, but the bandages that covered Yasha's chest were blown away from the force of the onslaught - revealing Yasha's now heartless chest. Asura then realises that Yasha revived him, and Yasha, now knowing that Asura is at his strongest, dies contented with a smile upon his face. Asura delivers a fist bump to Yasha's outstretched fist, causing Yasha's body to fade away, and paying deep respect to his rival and acknowledging their brotherhood.[4]
Asura passes away after slaying Chakravartin, finally free of his wrath
Preparing for his final confrontation, Asura meditates underneath a waterfall, seeing visions of the other Deities and reminiscing about Durga, strengthening his resolve and purpose. Riding atop what is presumed to be his own flagship, he heads into space to confront Chakravartin. Chakravartin attempts to destroy Gaea in a single blast, but Asura, with the power of the Mantra Reactor, transforms into a god-like form known as Asura the Destructor and deflects it. Asura engages Chakravartin, who again requests that Asura become the new god of the planet only to be rejected once again. The very fabric of time and space begins to come apart as they duel at the edge of Creation for the fate of Gaea. Chakravartin is eventually pressed into his final form, but is brought to his knees by Asura's sheer force of will. As Asura prepares to kill Chakravartin, Mithra breaks free and urges him to stop. Mithra states that if Chakravartin is killed, all the Mantra in the world will be forever lost. This will render all of Shinkoku's technology and the power of the demigods useless, including the Mantra Reactor keeping Asura alive. Asura chooses to destroy Chakravartin nonetheless, resigned to his fate and happy to die so long as Mithra can live free from danger. As the landscape around him collapses from Chakravartin's absence, Asura shares his final words with Mithra and vanishes, finally free of his wrath.[3]
870 Million Years later
A reincarnated Asura with his family
After 870 million years pass, Asura, along with his family and former comrades, is reincarnated in a Gaea resembling more modern day Earth. Looking more human, while he was shown to still have his hot-blooded passion (much to the chagrin of Durga), it was not truly shown if he still had his demigod powers of his previous life. A statue of Asura can be seen on an island far from the city. Suddenly, a giant meteor appears in the sky. Feeling a strangely familiar urge to defend his family and the helpless, Asura stands defiant against the approaching disaster, prepared for battle.[3]
Lost Episodes
In Lost Episode 1: At Last, Someone Angrier Than Me, Asura fights Ryu of Street Fighter. The story starts with Ryu being transported to "some strange land", where he is met by Asura, who he deems to seem like a worthy opponent. Asura then inquires if he is worthy to face him, claiming he has no idea. Ryu states that there is only one way to find out, and the fight commences. Asura uppercuts Ryu, revealing his Six-Armed Vajra form. With a burst of Mantra, Asura launches Ryu all the way up to the Moon, and following along with him, crushes him into the ground with a massive surge of red Mantra illuminating the vacuum atmosphere of the Moon. As Asura continues to crush Ryu to the ground, Ryu is overcome by the Satsui no Hadou, and becomes Hatred Incarnate Evil Ryu. Asura and Evil Ryu clash violently. Ryu juggles and finally uppercuts Asura, sending him high into the air. He follows along with Asura and crush his skull against the ground with all his might. The punch had so much force that the severe reverse fault in the surface of the Moon reverted itself, the elevated land being pushed back down to equal level with the lower land. After an intense climax of supernatural fistbrawling, the deity Asura defeats the Evil Ryu, reverting him back to his normal self. Asura then compliments Ryu, saying that he wasn't so bad after all, to which Ryu responds that he wasn't himself back there. The dialogue ends with Ryu suggesting another fight, a proposition Asura mocks.[25]
In Lost Episode 2: The Strongest vs. The Angriest, a new combatant is revealed to be Akuma. After his villainous introduction, Akuma sends Ryu back where he came from, after throwing his body with enough force to knock Asura a great distance away. Asura gets back up, and the two remaining combatants engage in a fight. Inevitably, Akuma is outfought by Asura, now awakening the Destroyer of Heaven Oni. With this incredible display of power, Asura successfully parries his attack, with the influx of energy reverting the fault of the land to a severely uneven state yet again. The God of Wrath now enters his next form- Mantra Asura. Mantra Asura and Oni's clash on the Noon, with the fight escalating to the point where the Moon is blown apart in the process. After an intense battle, Asura and Oni crash and land back on Earth. The fight rages on for 500 years, until they both turn to statues. As a bird comes to rest on Asura's shoulder, the statues start moving again to finally finish the battle as Asura and Akuma unleash their final attacks at each other.[26]
Powers and Abilities
Asura is an elite demigod warrior and former Guardian General, also being previously trained by Augus, a former Guardian General who became one of the Seven Deities. Asura is one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) beings in the universe, possessing many superhuman abilities. Even among demigod standards, Asura is much stronger than most. Over the course of his story and his unrelenting vindictive quest against his enemies and those who wronged him, Asura has fought through and defeated hordes of Gohma, legions of Shinkoku Trastrium soldiers, entire fleets of Shinkoku battleships, and extremely powerful foes; his former demigod comrades. In the end, his greatest foe and true target of his vengeance and wrath proved to be no one other than the creator and god of Mantra, Chakravartin, who too perished to Asura's wrath and power.
Being a demigod, Asura had the ability to harness and manipulate Mantra. However, what highlights Asura from the other demigods is his unparalleled ire and rage, a great deal of it intrinsic to his Mantra Affinity of Wrath, which serves as the source of his strength and power. The immeasurable wrath that fuels Asura's power proved to be fearsome enough to destroy godly entities.
Asura is one of the few entities who can access numerous transformations, which further escalate his Mantra powers by exceedingly high levels.
Physical Abilities
Superhuman Strength: Of all of his capabilities, Asura's physical might remains the most impressive. Asura possesses extreme, and seemingly and essentially, unfathomable levels of superhuman strength, and was possibly the strongest demigod in terms of raw physical strength. Like his power and all of his abilities, Asura's strength increases with his rage and anger. He is strong enough to reflect missiles as big as himself, as well as Deus' lightning blasts and Chakravartin's Mantra orbs with ease with his bare hands, lift gigantic beings and throw them great distances away with little effort; he lifted Gohma Lashers and Crushers, and threw them with little effort, and he managed to stop and lift Vajra Wyzen's fist and later Gongen Wyzen's finger—which had a volume of thousands of kilometers.
Asura's striking strength is of peerless destructive scales, and his blows were equal, if not stronger, to some of the strongest Demigods in existence. He was able to generate enormous shockwaves from the sheer force and pressure of his fists, smash and defeat gigantic Gohma with a single blow, and utterly destroy Gongen Wyzen by punching his finger repeatedly and with devastating force. He countered and later shattered Augus' Wailing Dark—a sword whose blade was strong and resilient enough to rupture the Moon and pierce Gaea from side to side—with a single bare-handed punch and whilst being heavily injured. He was strong enough to punch through Deus' enormous lightning field, and pulverise Chakravartin the Creator's massive Mantra orbs with his punches. As further testament of his overwhelming physical might, Asura's blows were able to harm Chakravartin, the God of Mantra, and even knock him a significant distance away. He is also strong enough to knock down enormous opponents such as a Taison Specialist with a single headbutt, as well as in his fight with Yasha his headbutt being so powerful it generated a shockwave and a blast of pressurised air that destroyed a large stone column.
Asura is able to fight and overpower opponents far stronger than him with brute strength alone, and he has often trounced all the foes and gods he fought using raw strength. Asura also uses his immense superhuman strength to leap vast heights and distances, usually by using the recoil of his punches to launch himself high into the sky.
Superhuman Speed, Agility & Reflexes: Although not as outstanding as his strength, Asura is still incredibly fast and is one of the fastest and most agile beings in the universe. He is capable of moving across space at immense velocity. At regular speed, he was already far faster than a human, making him untraceable by the human eye. He has been able to keep up with Yasha rather easily, even while the latter is in his Vajra state, despite his rival's particularly immensely high speed and agility in battle, and is agile enough to be able to counter Chakravartin's blows in mid-air and nimbly dodge his attacks during their final battle. Furthermore, he climbed up the pillar of Naraka and even ran vertically over the pillar, lept across falling boulders, and ran an elevator wall in Kalrow's Septentrion.
His reflexes and reaction speed are incredibly sharp, enabling him to effectively react, dodge, block and counter attacks from insanely fast foes like Yasha, Augus and Deus in an instant, as well as being able to dodge and defend against a volley of Gohma Vlitra's energy lasers. He has also been able to react and defend himself even against opponents seemingly capable of stopping time like Chakravartin.
Superhuman Durability & Endurance: Another one of Asura's most prominent features. Asura has undergone a massive amount of physical and mental stress and has managed to prevail; He has been punched, kicked, crushed, beaten, blasted, electrocuted and stabbed by beings of similar power; he has been thoroughly pummeled by Vajra Wyzen and later nearly crushed by Gongen Wyzen's colossal finger, which weighed trillions of metric tonnes; he has been impaled by numerous spears simultaneously and even Augus' legendary sword, Wailing Dark—which drove him all the way down to Gaea from the Moon and further caused him to lose all of his arms, causing an immense explosion upon impact—, and continued to fight unfazed; he has survived falls from orbit; he has lost his arms on several occasions and displayed no signs of discomfort; he was brutally battered by an army of Gohma; he has survived being electrocuted by Deus' extremely powerful lightning strikes, although suffering significant damage; survived massive beams of Mantra that were visible from space with only minor-to-no injuries; survived a direct hit from the Brahmastra—which had been powered by 3/4 of the Karma Fortress' trillions of souls worth of Mantra—and rose moments later to continue pursuing his foes; and he resisted blows and pulverising attacks from the God of Mantra, Chakravartin.
Asura has also shown to be capable of surviving attacks with the destructive capability to destroy Gaea, such as Gohma Vlitra's energy beams and waves, and the Brahmastra. In addition to his immense durability, Asura has also demonstrated a strong resistance to sheer blunt trauma, as physical blows from extremely strong opponents such as Augus, Deus and Chakravartin have little-to-no effect against him; at one point, Chakravartin broke his own arm when hitting Asura as a consequence of Asura's extreme physical toughness. His ferocious anger also plays a significant role in Asura's tremendous resilience, making him a force capable of taking even the most brutal of beatings and enduring unbearable pain, and scare opponents through sheer tenacity alone.
In terms of psychological resilience, Asura has suffered a monstrous, indelible level of emotional stress, starting with his wife being murdered by his fellow companions who simultaneously cruelly betrayed him as well, his daughter being kidnapped, and a girl who accurately resembled her with whom he had formed a bond with being killed in front of him, witnessing villagers be slaughtered, meeting the perpetrator of all his anguish and suffering, and losing his "brother" Yasha. And ultimately, he decided to sacrifice his own life to save Mithra, as well as to give humankind a more peaceful future.
Superhuman Stamina: Asura possesses an immensely high, likely near-limitless, amount of stamina, due to his demigod physiology and abilities as well as his own rage. In his pursuit for vengeance and his daughter, Asura has fought relentlessly without rest, never showing to tire out and being capable of battling extremely powerful opponents and armies continuously in long battles; He went through a long fight with Wyzen and all of the Deity's forms, and still had enough energy to engage Yasha in combat moments after, before eventually being killed. He fought an arduous duel with Augus, and right after it, he rose once again and went to battle a massive army of Gohma, slaying many before being overwhelmed by their raw numbers.
After being hit by the Karma Fortress' Brahmastra, Asura continued to pursue his foes despite having been charred alive by the blast, annihilating countless enemies along the way, including Sergei, and then battling Yasha; he went through a great clash with Deus, including an initial bout, a long battle in space against Deus' Shinkoku fleet, and the final confrontation with Deus; subsequently, he battled and killed Gohma Vlitra alongside Yasha in a monumental battle, without feeling any sort of fatigue or need to rest from his previous clash with the Seven Deities' leader; and finally engaged Chakravartin in fight shortly after. Later on, he once again fought all of the Mantra God's forms in immediate succession in a decisive clash to rescue his daughter. With incredible demigod abilities and extreme rage fueling him, Asura would stop at nothing to destroy his enemies.
Furthermore, in the Lost Episodes 2 of the DLC, Asura continued to fight Akuma even after 500 years had passed.
Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Due to his extensive training as a soldier and a member of the Eight Guardian Generals, Asura is an extremely proficient combatant and one of the most well-accomplished fighters in the story. Asura was Augus' student and protegé during his training days. Unlike more refined and technical fighters like Yasha or Augus, Asura deploys little finesse and technique in his fighting style, though he demonstrated a certain degree of martial arts in some situations. Asura's particular method of fighting involves unarmed combat with pure aggression, brutality and brute force, often neglecting the use of weapons.
However, besides involving mainly brute force and a savage form of brawling, Asura's fighting style also reveals itself as polyhedric and makes him able to adapt against opponents of all forms and sizes. He also makes extensive use of aerial attacks, recovery backflips and evasive rolls, and has further demonstrated high acrobatic skills on multiple situations, being capable of pulling off impressive acrobatic stunts such as flying dropkicks, rotating kicks, flips, etc. His fight with Yasha while free-falling from the sky when they were students, as well as countering Chakravartin's blows in mid-air and nimbly dodging his attacks during their final battle, further displays Asura's skillful acrobatic and combat prowess. Armed with centuries-worth of battle experience, unlimited power and rage has made Asura a force to be reckoned with, even against such forces as the Gohma and the Shinkoku Army, and formidably skilled warriors as Yasha, Augus, Deus and even Chakravartin himself, outfighting and destroying those same powerful foes.
The years of training and combat have made Asura into a genius fighter and a tactical warrior that could adapt to his opponents and accurately predict their moves, figuring out effective counterattacks on the fly with relative ease; often doing things such as catching weapons with his bare hands and reflect attacks back to their attacker. Asura is capable of taking on numerous opponents at once, and can overwhelm foes even if they are armed or many times larger than himself. On numerous occasions, Asura has demonstrated significant coordination and dexterity in combat, as well as the ability to fight without his arms (often when they are destroyed) thanks to his ingenuity and tenacity, resorting to kicks and headbutts. He and Yasha have repeatedly shown perfect coordination, battling together with great dexterity against immensely powerful foes such as Deus, Gohma Vlitra and Chakravartin. Alongside his tenacity and wrath that strike fear in even members of the Seven Deities, Asura can be equivalent to a combat god.
Swordsmanship: Despite being a bare-handed fist combatant by default, Asura has shown some degree of skill in wielding a sword. Asura used Augus' own sword, Wailing Dark, to kill him using just his mouth to grip the sword and a well-timed killing blow. Shortly after, he took the same sword and, armed with only his mouth and legs, used it to battle a vast army of Gohma, butchering many before being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Despite not having any real experience in swordfighting, he is capable of delivering savage, powerful strikes with a sword, and masterfully wield it with his mouth and legs.
Immortality: As a demigod, Asura possessed immortality and was unable to age. He is 28 in body and mind, but would not age and his lifespan was eternal thanks to Mantra and his demigod physiology. Asura could not be killed by conventional methods and only extremely powerful beings like other deities and the Gohma could kill him. Asura's inability to rest in peace due to all of his wrath is likely what keeps him unable to die, even at the hands of a god.
Self-Resurrection: Asura is the only being who has shown the ability to revive himself after death, having died several times throughout the story's events but eventually escaping Naraka and resurrecting every time. Asura returned to life through sheer rage, determination and thirst for vengeance not letting his physical body and spirit die, leading him back to the world of the living angrier and stronger than before. What separated Asura from the rest of the demigods was his rage that fuels his body and the sound of his daughter crying. Those are the reasons why he refuses to die. However, while Asura can resurrect himself, this takes an undefined amount of time ranging from even thousands of years to a few days.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Asura seemingly possessed an advanced regenerative ability through the power of his sheer rage, which has allowed him to heal from injuries and regain his arms if they were destroyed. Upon coming back to life on the second time, Asura restored his arms from the fight with Wyzen and the grievous wounds Yasha had inflicted on him. Furthermore, he also restored his lost arms and healed his wounds from the fight with Augus upon transforming into Berserker Asura.
Vacuum Adaptation: As a demigod, Asura is able to survive in outer space and in the Moon unaided and without any form of discomfort. He is not affected by the lack of atmosphere and increased level of cosmic radiation.
Indomitable Will: Asura has displayed an incredible force of will throughout the story, with the main goal of claiming his revenge and saving his daughter Mithra. After coming back to life, his desire to rescue his daughter and exact revenge against those who betrayed him awakened an unwavering motivation in Asura, being determined to destroy every deity in his way, including defying and slaying the all powerful God of Mantra to save his daughter and make her smile again, no matter the cost. This unstoppable tenacity allowed him to push past his limits and ultimately triumph against all odds several times, even defy death itself and revive after death via his sheer will. Asura's indomitable willpower is also tied to his wrath; the stronger his wrath, the stronger his willpower is to overcome seemingly insurmountable forces.
Soul Manipulation Resistance: Despite having died several times and his soul being sent to Naraka, Asura's soul was never absorbed by Naraka, eventually coming back to life due to sheer will and wrath. He is the only known being to have resisted Naraka's pull and even escaped it. Chakravartin states that Asura's willingness to move forward even after death is the reason why neither the Gohma nor the Seven Deities will ever be able to have his soul, despite both having the power to obtain the souls of the fallen.
Heat Resistance: Asura is resistant against extreme heat, as shown when he fought Vlitra's Core inside the core of Gaea along with Yasha. He was also shown to be unaffected by the high temperature of re-entering Gaea's atmosphere during his fight with Augus.
Mantra
Mantra of Wrath: Asura's Mantra Affinity is Wrath. This signifies that Asura's strength and power are proportionate to his level of anger, rage and wrath. This plays a major role in the story, as it allows Asura to constantly build up and increase his Mantra output to what could be infinite levels the more anger he builds up. Understandably alongside his Mantra levels, his physical demigod abilities also escalate exponentially the angrier he becomes and the more wrath his Mantra of Wrath generates. Due to having a virtually infinite amount of Mantra, Asura can overcome impossible odds and adapt to any kind of power. Yasha once questioned Deus as to how Asura's Mantra levels could match those of the Seven Deities, even after accumulating over seven trillion human souls worth of Mantra to enhance their powers. Even the Mantra God Chakravartin was appalled by the full ferocity of Asura's Mantra and ire, which made Asura grow exponentially stronger during their decisive battle, rapidly adapting to the god's strength and power, going from being no match to eventually trumping him. The immeasurable rage and wrath flowing within Asura has allowed him to reach statuses and vanquish entities beyond comprehension.
But as incredible as his power may be, Asura's only flaw is that his Mantra of Wrath, and subsequently his rage, is too fierce and uncontrollable for his body to contain alone, and due to this it can knock him unconscious and even destroy his own body, and in extreme cases cause death. Asura's uncontrollable anger causing his own demise, in exchange for massive amounts of power, has been shown several times throughout the story, such as him extinguishing his entire life force during an outburst of rage while battling a vast horde of Gohma, and later the state of Wrath Asura. This was later remedied when Yasha installed the Mantra Reactor of the Karma Fortress into his body to regulate the flow and allow him to generate virtually unlimited levels of Mantra and rage without destroying his body.
Like the other demigods, Asura can harness the power of the Mantra to increase his physical attributes and destructive power. He is also able to manifest his halo to achieve greater power. Using his Mantra, Asura is able to perform various Mantra-based attacks and abilities, such as enhancing his strength by concentrating Mantra in his fists, release blasts from his fists and powerful red-orange-coloured shockwaves and waves, bursts and devastating explosions of Mantra to knock away and pulverise his enemies, jumping ability of extraordinary heights, flight at incredibly high speeds, and even the generation of colossal Mantra-based arms constructs. Asura is also one of the rare entities capable of numerous transformations, which trigger as his Mantra levels escalate.
- Indomitable Rage: Asura's most predominant quality, befitting his name and Mantra affinity, is his undying and peerless anger/fury/rage/wrath at those whom enrage him. His extreme temperament born from the betrayal of his companions, the murder of his loving wife Durga, the kidnapping and suffering of his beloved daughter, and coupled with the eternity of human sacrificing and the world's misery for thousands of years at the hands of tyrannical higher powers, who scheme and manipulate for their own selfish gain. The object of his wrath is not only revenge, but also the suffering of their world, Gaea. While the injustices brought upon him and the world by his fellow comrades and the Mantra god intensified Asura's emotions and anger to terrifyingly immense degrees, Asura had already possessed a hot-headed personality and harbored a particularly striking and unruly anger on a daily basis during his time as a Guardian General, which would only get more intense when he was in battle. As a result of his ferocious and extremely intense anger, Asura is known to have immense anger management issues. He will stop at nothing to destroy whatever makes him mad. Asura's uncontrollable wrath has proven itself to be an unstoppable force, and catapulted his already tremendous power to unprecedented, if all but inconceivable degrees. The immeasurable rage and wrath flowing within Asura has allowed him to reach statuses and vanquish entities beyond comprehension. Asura's unadulterated ire earned him the title of "God of Wrath" by Akuma.
- Fist-Channelled Blasts: One of Asura's most prominent uses of Mantra includes producing fist-channelled blasts of varying size and power, ranging from weaker "rapid-fire" bullets to stronger red-orange-coloured blasts. His powerful blasts also home in on targets onto which he has locked his sight, ranging from a single target to multiple enemies. Asura is capable of unleashing a devastating barrage of blasts to wipe out an armada of battleships in seconds in a dazzling display.
- Mantra Burst: Asura can stockpile exceedingly high amounts of Mantra in his fist and release it afterwards when striking his opponent as a massive wave-like burst of Mantra that is powerful enough to heavily damage or even outright defeat opponents with extreme scales of resistance and durability such as Deus in his Vajra state and Chakravartin in his Creator form.
- Soul Reap: Although never shown nor practiced by Asura in the story, it is presumed that Asura had the ability to "reap" the souls of mortals like the other demigods.
- Flight: Asura possesses the ability to fly and propel himself at incredibly high speeds by releasing Mantra from his body. He is capable of doing so with great maneuverability through the vacuum of space.
- Halo: As all demigods, especially the more powerful ones, Asura is able to activate his halo to unleash his full power. This has mostly been shown when Asura achieves a new transformation, such as Six-Armed Vajra Asura and Mantra Asura.
Transformations
Unlimited Mode/Trikāya
A mode Asura can activate where the markings on his body glow with a bright orange light, due to the Mantra flowing through his body. While in this state, Asura becomes invulnerable to any kind of attack or damage, his strength and power are augmented, and his stamina is practically unlimited, which prevents him from overheating. In game this lasts a short time, but during the final fights with Yasha and Chakravartin he is able to be in this state almost indefinitely.
An alternative name for Unlimited Mode is also revealed as "Trikāya".
Vajra Asura (Japanese: 金剛 アスラ, Kongō Asura; Sanskrit: वज्र असुर) is Asura's most commonly seen form, where Asura's arms are coated in a golden metallic armour. Through the Mantra activation within his body, he is able to metalise his arms through the power of his Mantra of Wrath and increase their strength, durability, and making them more suitable for combat. Asura's mastery of this form is most prominent in the fact that he is rarely seen outside of this form.
The other demigods also have this ability; the process and degree of metalisation differs among demigods; Asura's metalisation forms mainly around his arms.
Six-Armed Vajra Asura
When Asura's anger escalates, his Mantra activates and transforms him into a godly six-armed warrior, known as Six-Armed Vajra Asura (六天金剛 アスラ, Rokuten Kongō Asura; lit. "Six Heavens Vajra Asura"). Asura achieved this form during his first encounter with Gohma Vlitra 12,500 years ago, using Mithra's divine power. This form is identical to Vajra Asura but with the addition of four golden metallic arms sprouting from his back, granting him much higher degrees of strength and power and enhancing his overall combative performance. This form requires more Mantra and can be activated when Asura is sufficiently angered, being able to enter such form at will because of the sheer hatred he felt towards the Seven Deities. Triggered by Asura's rise in anger, there is nothing these arms cannot break.
Possessing tremendous power in this form, Asura is understandably capable of easily decimating enemies. Asura has defeated Wyzen in his Gongen form by stopping and lifting his finger (which had a volume of thousands of kilometers) and ultimately obliterate him by punching his finger repeatedly and with devastating force, defeated his former master Augus, Deus, and even managed to subdue Gohma Vlitra single-handedly. Alongside his physical strength, in this stage his Mantra-based attacks are multiplied and empowered, making him capable of mass destruction.
Asura also transforms into this form during his fight with Ryu in Lost Episode 1, uppercutting and launching him to the Moon, generating a massive spiralling surge of Mantra from the impact that sent shockwaves along the surface.
A foreshadowing of what Asura would turn into later in the story. Asura can manifest the Mantra arms of the Berserker form in his base state when he is enraged enough, without fully descending into the mindless Berserker Asura. Most notably, after he lost his arms to Augus during their battle, Asura went to battle a vast army of Gohma. Refusing to fall to the Gohma, Asura's sheer rage manifests for the first time as a massive arm construct of fiery Mantra. With his magnified power, Asura utterly annihilates all the Gohma that stood before him, scorching the land and rendering the battlefield into a desolate wasteland. He was even able to create a meteoric rain of fist constructs that laid catastrophe to the Gohma and the land. Too powerful to be contained, such overflowing Mantra finally erupts out of his body and explodes into a colossal blast, leaving only Asura's withered body behind.
On another instance, during his reencounter with Deus, Asura created a smaller version of Berserker Asura's Mantra arm before stopping and thinking of Mithra.
Berserk Asura
When Asura's anger and wrath reaches its peak, he undergoes a transformation into a being of pure and absolute rage with no sense of reason nor control. First witnessed in Episode 12: Gods of Death after the death of Ahria at the hands of Olga, this traumatic event triggered an unprecedented explosion of fury and outrage within Asura, transforming him into a beast as his anger exceeded any controllable means. Losing any control of himself and abandoning himself to his wrath, Asura is in an uncontrollable state of mind where he no longer listens to reason, with only the number one reason that could possibly get to him: Mithra. As a side-effect of his wrath reaching unprecedented levels, becoming Berserker Asura caused Asura's soul and spirit to be forcefully banished to Naraka once again, while his body became an empty shell driven by pure wrath. Described as a feral, scorching hot, golden-coated devilish beast armed with sharp fangs and razor-sharp claws Asura can generate four additional enormous phantom arms made of concentrated Mantra from the portals on his back.
The arms, including Asura himself, are capable of releasing inconceivable volumes of Mantra; even Asura's screams produce gigantic booming shock waves and bursts. Berserker Asura was threatening and fearsome enough to wipe out an entire Shinkoku armada that caused such meaningless destruction, and force Olga to use the Brahmastra on him, which even Berserker Asura was powerful enough to challenge directly. Although unbelievably powerful, Asura was eventually subdued by the Brahmastra. The absolutely overwhelming levels of Mantra power possessed by this monstrosity-like form gives Asura the ability to project extremely powerful beam waves and streams capable of rivaling the Brahmastra and destroy an entire fleet of battleships in space, release colossal bursts and shockwaves that spanned a large portion of Gaea and even reached Gaea's orbit—pulverising Olga's fleet that was cruising above the planet's atmosphere—, and generate massive spheres of Mantra that would burst into an explosion similar to a small supernova, capable of eradicating innumerable ships across Gaea's orbit and space. It is unknown if he can access it any more as the Brahmastra's cannon turned him into Wrath Asura, a burned and subdued state of it, although it should be noted that he retained the ability to generate Berserker's Mantra arms in his base form.
Wrath Asura
The Wrath form is the sundered state of Asura's Berserker form after surviving the Brahmastra cannon of the Karma Fortress. The damage sustained rendered him incapable of regenerating the extra Mantra arms. As Wrath Asura, Asura's body becomes unstable and cannot contain the sheer volumes of Mantra his wrath generates, causing his body to become scorching hot and soot black, and gradually decay until eventual complete self-destruction and death.
Wrath Asura loses much of Berserker Asura's power and the ability to endlessly project Mantra, whose use is now limited to short bursts. In this weakened state he relies more on his physical might and behaves like an unstoppable, feral beast. Although not nearly as powerful as its full powered form of Berserker Asura, Wrath Asura is still fearsome and strong enough to annihilate large groups of Gohma in seconds, and induce a wave of fear and dread in a vast radius. When pushed to the limit, Wrath Asura would go as far as exerting all of his remaining power to the point of putting his own life at risk. While attacking in this state causes Asura to inflict more harm on himself than his enemies, he was still capable of killing Demigods and Sergei in a single fatal attack, and fighting and overpowering Yasha before being forced back into his normal state. Even after coming back to normal, Asura could still transform into his Wrath self whenever pushed to the limit and in desperate need for more power, retaining his sanity but also the self-destructive effect this form has on his body.
However, while a devil bloodlusted with rage, the remainder of Asura's vow still persists within him, and Asura retains some level of consciousness while in this form, as evident when he focused on attacking only those with a connection to the Seven Deities and the Gohma, while avoiding attacking humans and innocent civilian lives. He is also able to hear and respond to Mithra during his first fight with Chakravartin, likely due to his strong emotional connection to Mithra.
Mantra Asura
During the final assault on Gohma Vlitra, Asura achieved his highest degree of power. After being bathed in Mithra's power, Asura becomes Mantra Asura (光臨 アスラエル). In this state, Asura's rage is at its most focused, harnessing the excess Mantra into power and greatly augmenting the size of his arms to hulking, armoured, god-like proportions. Asura's Mantra in this form becomes crimson red, in contrast to the red-orange tone of his previous forms. His power in this form so so great that Gohma Vlitra itself cowers before him during their final battle.
Each of these super-charged arms possess the strength of a thousand arms, consequently augmenting his destructive strength and power massively, along with giving the ability to vent giant jets and bursts of Mantra with tremendous power. Along with the peerless increase in destructive capabilities, these arms are also capable of projecting Mantra in a propulsive effect, granting Asura drastically enhanced velocity and maneuverability; in his Mantra form, Asura was fast enough to avoid and outrun a multitude of Vlitra's energy lasers launched simultaneously, and a volley of Chakravartin's extended arm attacks. The propulsor effect can also be used to enhance the power of his attacks by increasing their momentum. In this state, Asura (along with Yasha) was powerful enough to be able to defeat Gohma Vlitra and Vlitra Core.
Despite the ingame footages calling this form "Mantra Asura", the illustrations from the game reveal the name "Prajñā Asura".
Asura also transforms into this state to fight against Oni in Lost Episode 2. During his fight with Oni, both blew the Moon apart by merely clashing, and upon crashing back on Gaea shortly after, they created a massive explosion that obliterated the surrounding landscape into a gigantic crater, further showing their power.
Mantra Reactor Asura
Following the initial confrontation with Chakravartin, after Yasha goes to the ruins of the Karma Fortress, he rips out the heart of the fortress, the Mantra Reactor, from the center of the ruins and implants it into Asura's chest. Yasha then rips out his own Mantra Reactor so that the Mantra Reactor within Asura, which contains the eight Mantra affinities and the energy of the deceased Deities' Mantra affinities, can absorb his Mantra affinity to achieve its full power and potential.
The Mantra Reactor that was previously within the Karma Fortress, an engine so powerful that due to its sheer capacity was able to store the Mantra harnessed from trillions of souls, allows Asura to channel as much wrath and power that his own Mantra of Wrath generates as he needs into it, and absorb virtually infinite amounts of energy and Mantra without causing damage to his own body and the risk of death. By serving as a vessel for his uncontrollable wrath, Asura is finally able to channel the full extent of his potential without any of the limits that his body was previously subjected to, allowing him to use his anger and power in even stronger ways than ever and augmenting his abilities to levels never before seen, even in his most basic state. Asura's body as well as his attacks exude a powerful multi-coloured glow of Mantra energy in this state, due to the Mantra Reactor containing all the eight Mantra affinities.
Asura, The Destructor/Asura Dharmakāya
After Yasha fitted Asura with the Mantra Reactor of the Karma Fortress, Asura's body became capable of safely harnessing any amount of Mantra he and his wrath could generate. When Golden Chakravartin attempted to destroy Gaea with a powerful beam of Mantra, Asura stood in front of it and took the brunt of the attack, shielding Gaea from the beam and assuming the form of The Destructor (輪壊者 アスラマズダ). In this form, Asura becomes gigantic enough to the point that he is larger than Gaea itself, dwarfing it, his skin becomes grey-coloured and he manifests six super-charged arms identical in appearance to those of his Mantra form. He also possesses a large, intricate silver halo that he can transform and manipulate to serve as a jet booster. Having become as close to a god as possible, all living beings tremble at his very existence.
As The Destructor, Asura's status, abilities and overall power are immeasurable and truly godly, as during his battle with the Mantra God, his massive Mantra blasts destroyed multiple celestial bodies such as planets and stars, and he was able to punch and perforate through a planet massively larger than himself. In addition, Asura The Destructor was capable of enduring celestial bodies like planets and even stars thrown at him, and he was able to emerge out of Golden Chakravartin's Mantra beam unscathed when the god attempted to destroy Gaea. With the halo on his back shapeshifted into a jet booster, Asura used this form to reach a faraway part of the universe, where Chakravartin awaited him. Asura can soar across space at unfathomable speed, being thought to have crossed the distance between Gaea and the Milky Way galaxy, on top of which Chakravartin's Golden form was sitting, in a matter of minutes, effectively allowing him to travel vastly faster than the speed of light. He was also able to evade numerous Mantra beams from Golden Chakravartin.
An alternative name for Asura The Destructor is also revealed as "Asura Dharmakāya".
Asura, The Destructor (Normal Size)/Six-Armed Mantra Asura
Upon entering Chakravartin's Event Horizon, Asura took on this form. It is essentially The Destructor form but without being planetary-sized; fundamentally the bulkier, super-charged version of Six-Armed Vajra Asura, though incredibly more powerful, or the six-armed version of Mantra Asura, due to having the same identical arms, albeit four more.
Above all, this form expresses monumental power and strength, being powerful enough to rival and damage Chakravartin. Additionally, this form is capable of manifesting a halo to release rainbow-coloured blasts of Mantra that violently explode shortly after.Relationships
Yasha
Asura and Yasha have a complex relationship. Asura and Yasha were rivals and best friends since the very beginning of Asura's Wrath, and likely their entire lives. Following Asura's resurrection after his betrayal, Asura and Yasha start to hate each other; Asura thinking of Yasha as a false prophet and Yasha thinking of Asura is a fool. Later, when he begins to question the Great Rebirth's legitimacy, he switches sides, and tries unsuccessfully to save Asura from being blasted by the Brahmastra by Olga. After Yasha saves Asura from the unstable form of Wrath Asura, they come into good terms again and work together to fight Deus, then Gohma Vlitra and subsequently Chakravartin. Yasha sacrifices himself for Asura so that he can use the full power of the Mantra Reactor to defeat Chakravartin. They bumps their fists together, signifying both their rivalry and friendship, and Asura states that he was always a brother to him and never an enemy.
Mithra and Durga
Mithra and Durga are part of Asura's family; daughter and wife respectively. He loves them both deeply and unconditionally. Yasha states that perhaps Asura keeps his rage active to protect his family. Asura was greatly distressed and enraged following Durga's meaningless death at the hands of his former allies. Asura shares a very close and deep relationship with Mithra, and wants only to see her happy and smiling. Knowing that Mithra is suffering in any way (often when she cries) causes him intense pain, and upon knowing that she had been kidnapped to be used as a tool by the Seven Deities, Asura went on a rampage after resurrecting, slaying each of the Deities so he could take his daughter back. He loves his daughter so much that he claims her suffering and crying is the number one cause for his wrath. Upon saving Mithra from Chakravartin, his wrath is finally gone.
Augus
Augus was Asura's mentor. Prior to the betrayal of his comrades, they had a somewhat good relationship. Following Asura's unbecoming, he feels he must kill Augus as a part of his vendetta. While Asura may have acted hostile towards Augus, Augus was never truly hostile towards Asura, and in reality, wanted to watch his pupil defeat him. He gave Asura encouraging words as his last, and over time, Asura's bitter feelings towards Augus faded away. In fact, Asura likewise never held any true hate towards his former mentor despite his anger for his actions and personality and was even touched by his final words to him, which caused him to briefly mourn him.
Ahria
The 13 year old girl from the village Asura comes across, who bears a striking resemblence to his daughter Mithra. Throughout his quest on Gaea, Asura formed a bond with Ahria. However, the village girl who had gained so much admiration for Asura meets an unfortunate end right in front of his eyes, due to Olga's assault. In that instant, his inability to save her and his wrath for the Seven Deities cause Asura to explode in a torrent of rage; he loses control and transforms into his Berserker form.
The Seven Deities
Initially, Asura fought alongside them when they were the Eight Guardian Generals. However, with them betraying and framing him, killing his wife, and kidnapping his daughter, they become Asura's main targets for revenge following his first resurrection 12,000 years later. Likewise, they also had targeted Asura throughout the story, as he quickly becomes the main and biggest obstacle that stands in the way of their goal. Out of all of the Seven Deities, Asura likely resents Deus the most. As Deus was the one responsible for orchestrating his frame and death alongside kidnapping Mithra to achieve his own goals, he is Asura's prime target to exact his wrath and vengeance on.
Chakravartin
Regarding Chakravartin, it is impossible to estimate how much Asura hates him. He states that he is the sole person that he must kill, but unlike most vendettas, Asura's is against a god who scripted his whole suffering. Furthermore, he is also the one who put the whole world through thousands of years of suffering and chaos. He gave him millennia of suffering, which is why he hates him more than anyone could possibly hate anything.
Quotes
- "Worthless scum! I'll kill you all!"--Asura to the Gohma
- "Let her go! I said let her go!"--To his former comrades
- "I will have my vengeance!"--To his former comrades
- "12,000 years and nothing has changed!!"--Asura after returning to Gaea from death
- "You talk too much!!"--To Wyzen
- "I...remember now...!! You bastards..."--To Wyzen regarding him and the Seven Deities
- "You think too much!"--To Yasha
- "What did you say?! Be proud... for Mithra suffering?!"--To Yasha
- "I know how you feel."--To Ahria
- "I grow tired of hearing about the world!"--To Kalrow
- "It's over, old man!"--To Augus
- "I am nothing like you!"--To Augus
- "Is this what gods do!? There is no need...for gods that only take...! For gods of death!!"--To the Seven Deities
- "I don't know how to save the world. What I do know is if I save Mithra this hell will finally end!!"--To Deus
- "Save the world by turning the souls of humans into Mantra? Was that the best you could think of? You and your worthless cause?!! How dare you make Mithra suffer for your own gain!! You will pay!!"--To Deus
- "(Laughs) He is the one... He is the reason for it all!! You... You're the one I should kill!!"--To Chakravartin
- "Then I will break everything! Including this living hell!"--To Yasha, after the statement "You are a fool that only know how to break things!"
- "You idiot...You were always a brother, never an enemy."--To Yasha after his death
- "I don't know what to do when she cries. The best I can do is punch anyone who makes her cry."--To Durga (about Mithra)
- "I will destroy you and your so called world!"--To Chakravartin
- "I understand it all now! The true reason for my wrath! I could not stand it! There is always some fool who wants to rule the world! Always forcing others to do what they cannot do for themselves! That's why... I pray to no one! Nor will I be prayed to! But... above all else... I will never forgive you for making my daughter cry! This is your end!"--To Chakravartin
- "I... I couldn't bear to see you suffer. No more crying. Smile. My wrath... is finally... gone. Durga... I'll be home...soon."--Asura's last words to Mithra
Trivia
- Asura was the third youngest out of the original Eight Guardian Generals.
- Asura was the newest of the recent roster of the Eight Guardian Generals.
- Asura bears a striking resemblance to the Street Fighter character Evil Ryu, due to them both having red irises, tanned skin, spiky hair and their consistent aggressive face, unlike Evil Ryu, Asura is very compassionate towards his family and humanity and is a Demigod, while Evil Ryu is a cold-blooded Half-Demon.
- Asura has used a move very similar to the Shoryuken when fighting a Gohma Squasher.
- In Hinduism, Buddhism and Indian religions, Asura or Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) is the lowest ranking deity, often associated with various negative emotions such as violence, rage, anger, ego and jealousy. The Asuras are a class of powerful demons, demigods or deities who often seek power and are prominently described as battling the more benevolent, heavenly "devas" or "suras" (gods), being considered the "enemies of the gods/devas" in Vedic and post-Vedic literature. They are also sometimes described as "evil spirits" in some ancient texts. The name "Asura" means "anti-god", "demon", "demigod", "powerful/mighty", "divine" or "titan". The Asuras are portrayed as demonic with various faces and arms, also being constantly angry and wantonly violent, seeking fights wherever they can. They are most often portrayed as having three faces and six arms. The Asuras are featured in many Buddhist and Hindu cosmological theories; specifically in Buddhism, Asuras constitute the third of the six Saṃsāric realms of rebirth and existence that reincarnation into occurs based on karma gathered in current or past lives. Into the realm of asuras, people are reborn due to actions based on jealousy, struggle, combat, or rationalisation in a previous life. Demonic beings with superhuman powers/abilities such as asuras, rakshasas and "fierce" Shinto gods are also considered "fierce or wrathful deities" (wrathful "aspects" of enlightened buddhas, bodhisattvas, or devas) in Buddhist myth.
- In the interlude of Episode 2: Betrayal and Vengeance, Asura is depicted as a mythological Asura as a fabricated myth made by the Seven Deities.
- The name of Asura's "Vajra" transformations are named after the vajra. The vajra is an iconic ritual weapon in Hinduism and Buddhism that symbolises and possesses the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force), and is the Sanskrit word having both meanings. Vajra is the heavenly weapon wielded by Indra, the thunder deity and king of the devas, and it is one of the most powerful weapons in Indian religions. According to Hindu mythology, vajra is considered one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. Whereas in Buddhist mythology, vajra weapons are wielded by fierce deities (such as the Wisdom Kings, Dharmapalas, and the Four Heavenly Kings), which befits their status as protectors of all sentient beings.
- Before being changed, Asura's original design greatly resembled Augus. This currently relates to their similar appearance in the story.
- Asura's Mantra manifests in the form of his golden arms. After mastering his Mantra, his arms were covered up to his shoulders in a golden armour. Also, whenever he grows angrier or is empowered by Mantra his arms react, such as during the final confrontation against Vlitra when Mithra grants him all of the remaining Mantra in the Karma Fortress, transforming him into 'Mantra Asura'. The only exceptions are when he resurrects after 12,000 years and during the final battle against Chakravartin, as only his hands and forearms were covered in gold due to him being in a damaged state.
- While it is stated that the Eight Guardian Generals were of the select few demigods able to power up and shapeshift, Asura has the most transformations of all the demigods on Gaea. Not counting his state prior to his revival after 12,000 years, Asura undergoes six different transformations/manifestations of his Mantra of Wrath plus two additional transformations throughout the course of the story. Also to point out is that he also bears two shown halos (seen in Episode 1 and 18) one for Six-Armed Vajra Asura and the other for Mantra and Destructor Asura.
- A running gag in the game is "Press _ to shut ____ up". You have this option when fighting Wyzen, Augus, and Kalrow. Each time you press the button to shut them up, you will unlock an achievement or trophy that says "Shut Up, Wyzen!", "Shut Up, Augus!", or "Shut Up, Kalrow!".
- The fact that Asura's power increases in tandem with his rage makes his power mechanics the same as the Incredible Hulk from Marvel Comics.
- Asura shares significant similarities and differences with Kratos from the God of War franchise.
- Both are rage-driven and brutal characters; the main difference is that Asura is a protective demigod filled with endless rage and wrath while Kratos is a tragic warrior filled with grief and rage.
- Both are on paths of vengeance against those who betrayed them and their machinations; the main difference is that Asura's goal is not only vengeance but also on a path of protection, while Kratos' goal is on a path of ruthless vengeance.
- Both lost their wife and daughter; Asura had his wife killed and his daughter taken from him, and Kratos was tricked into killing his own wife and daughter.
- Both are demigods/gods and kill gods; Asura is the God of Wrath and Kratos is the God of War.
- Both sacrifice their own lives to save the world; the other difference is that Asura defeated a god to free himself from his own wrath and save his daughter and the world, while Kratos defeated a god using the power of Hope and sacrificed his own life in order to bring Hope to the Greek humankind.
- Asura's main weapon is his fists while Kratos' main weapon is his Blades of Chaos.
- Asura also has resemblances with Guts from the anime/manga series Berserk.
- They have a similar hairstyle.
- Both were brutally betrayed by those they once trusted (Asura by the other demigods, and Guts by Griffith), and were deprived of almost everything they valued in life (Asura had his wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped for the selfish purposes of the demigods, and in front of Guts' eyes all his friends were killed and his lover, Casca, raped).
- Both become hungry for revenge, and their main driving force is their rage and fury.
- Asura in Berserker and Wrath forms looks and behaves very much like Guts using the Berserker Armour.
- Both lose their arms at some point (Guts loses his left arm during the Eclipse by one of the Apostles, and Asura loses it a few times times during fights).
- When Asura transforms into his Berserk form, he bears a great similarity to Naruto Uzumaki's Four Tails form in both physical appearance and personality, in which both were transformed due to them being consumed by their own rage. This is due to CyberConnect2's development with the Ultimate Ninja Storm series.
- Asura's Berserker form also bears a strong resemblance to Gohma Vlitra's Core, something that Yasha notes.
- It is also notable that he bears a noticeable resemblance to Haseo's B-st form from the.Hack// G.U Trilogy movie, another project by CyberConnect2. It is believed that the character concept was incorporated into Asura's character design.
- The alternative name for his Mantra form, Prajñā Asura, means wisdom, understanding, discernment, insight, or cognitive acuity.
- Asura, upon the game's release, has been named the new "God of Multiple Arm Attacks, Fighting The Heavens Above, and Rage That Can't Ever Be Stopped." on tvtropes, usurping Sweeney Todd in the category of rage and vengeance. The page humorously states "To this day, no one dares to speak about it, as it was not pretty. Even most of the other violent deities in the house hid in terror after it happened."
- Asura will appear alongside other Capcom characters in the upcoming social game, Minna to Capcom All Stars.
- Asura appeared, along with Yasha, as a card in Street Fighter × All Capcom.
- Asura's Berserker and Wrath forms are his only transformations where he can't activate his Unlimited Mode.
- Asura appears in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition as an alternate crossover costume for Kage.
- Necalli from the Street Fighter series is similar to Asura.
- Both of them have a savage way of fighting.
- Necalli's V-Trigger in Street Fighter 5 has him glowing similar to how Asura glows when he's in Unlimited Mode.
- Both of them have also grabbed their opponents' faces and has also dragged them while they're on the ground.
- Both of them are somewhat gods; in Asura's case, he's the God of Wrath while Necalli is the Emissary of the Gods.
- Both of them are also known for getting stronger when angered.
- Both Chakravartin's and Asura's transformation name have a sense of irony to them. As Asura's transformation name is The Destructor but instead protected Gaea and killed Chakravartin The Creator who tried to destroy Gaea.
- Asura has a few parallels with Shiva from Hindu mythology; Shiva's wife is the goddess Durga, and Asura's epithet "the Destructor" and theme tied to destruction in the final episode can be alluded to Shiva, who is the Destroyer and God of Destruction.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Episode 1: The Coming of a New Dawn
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Episode 3: Hell on Gaea
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Episode 22: A Life Well Lived
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Episode 21: A Rude Awakening
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Episode 7: A Father's Duty
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Episode 2: Betrayal and Vengeance
- ↑ Episode 4: Old Friends, New Enemies
- ↑ Episode 5: Hollow Victory
- ↑ Episode 6: Confessions of a Mask
- ↑ Episode 8: Willing Sacrifices
- ↑ Episode 9: The Best Laid Plans
- ↑ Episode 10: Words of Wisdom
- ↑ Episode 11: The Final Lesson
- ↑ Episode 11.5: Forging Ahead
- ↑ Episode 12: Gods of Death
- ↑ Episode 13: Cause and Effect
- ↑ Episode 14: Gods and Men
- ↑ Episode 15: A New Cause
- ↑ Episode 16: Power Struggle
- ↑ Episode 17: Feet of Clay
- ↑ Episode 18: The Breaking Point
- ↑ True Episode 18: A Turn of Events
- ↑ Episode 19: The One Behind the Curtain
- ↑ Episode 20: The Key to Victory
- ↑ Lost Episodes 1: At Last, Someone Angrier Than Me
- ↑ Lost Episodes 2: The Strongest vs. the Angriest
| Demigods & Gods | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main | Asura • Yasha • Deus • Augus • Wyzen • Sergei • Olga • Kalrow • Mithra • Durga • Chakravartin | |
| Others | Emperor Strada • Kanazuki Spring Attendants | |
| Shinkoku Army | Doji • Rasho • Taison • Kagebosh | |
| The Eight Guardian Generals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Deus | |
| Guardian Generals | Asura • Yasha • Augus • Wyzen • Sergei • Olga • Kalrow | |