Baal (バアル, Baaru) is a pure-blooded Vampire Noble who fought Evangeline and Karin in her past. He backed up Senator Gorgonzola in his attempt to take over the Old World, and later stalked them for centuries. In the present, he resolves to destroy UQ Holder, viewing them as threats to the Mage of the Beginning's vision.
Appearance[]
Baal has the aspect of a rather androgynous boy with long light hair, framing his face and reaching down his back, which covers one of his eyes. He looks human but has slit pupils, claw-like nails, and fangs reflecting his vampiric nature. He is clad in black robes and capes, sometimes wearing a long black cloak in tatters that covers his entire body.
Baal's true face
When he unleashed his full power, his face gets covered with creepy, demonic eyes, even on his hair, and two black bat-like wings appear on each side of his head. He can also turn his cloak's rim into several feathered wings.
Personality[]
Baal is collected, cold, and aloof, rarely losing composure unless exalted by success or livid. He seems always bored yet a bit playful, fitting the child he looks like as if he had seen everything and cannot be surprised anymore, which might be true given his millennia of existence. As such, Baal takes great interest in anything surprizing, mostly unusual people. He spent over a century learning everything about Evangeline and Karin, who can and did take him off-guard many times. In the same way, he is intrigued by Touta and greatly admires the Mage of the Beginning, calling her a "genius."
Baal is very indifferent to people's suffering. He actively favors the hostile invasion of Earth by the magically and technologically far superior Megalomesembria nation, without a care in the world for the pain it brought. However, the noble vampire did it to provide them guidance that would have spared them overpopulation and war. He displays intense blood lust and loves crushing challenging foes in gruesome ways, harassing Evangeline mostly because she is one of the very few beings that can hold her own against him. Finally, he proves pretty sadistic, enjoying putting Karin and Evangeline through all sorts of ordeals and watch what happens next, just to alleviate his boredom.
Baal is very arrogant, boastful, and condescending. He demonstrates a "might makes right" mindset, openly scorning foes who cannot match him and reveling in his god-like power, regarding in a disturbingly childish way that his strength enables him to do as he pleases. Paradoxically, the pure vampire harbors a distinct, albeit twisted, fondness for humanity, describing them as siblings from raised on another planet. As such, he sides with The Mage of the Beginning's plan to relocate the entire Solar System in an Edenic alternate reality, describing it as the solution to all their woes.
Still, he regards humanity as weak and child-like, needing a super-human to lead them and protect them like children needing the guidance of an adult. Like Dana, he sees the duty of the strong to help and nurture the powerless. Still, while she helps them grow and seize their own destinies, he acts through a sort of Messiah Complex, deciding what is best for them without caring for casualties and never bothering to ask for their opinions, considering them like unruly children who cannot be left to their own devices without wasting away. On the other hand, he harbors a strong dislike for immortals, deeming them a threat for humanity, killing and maiming them without a doubt.
History[]
Baal's past is very mysterious. Like all Vampire Nobles, he was once a human living on the planet Venus around twelve thousand years before the start of the series, being part of a considerably scientifically and magically advanced society. While his contemporaries destroyed their world in apocalyptic wars, in search of true immortality, Baal and the other High Daylight Walkers became immortal undead. They lived for many millennia, during which their power grew. Where Baal resides remains unknown, though it might be in the Magical World of Reverse Mars.
At some point, he created a high-level human-like light spirit of tremendous might named Sept Shichijuurou Nanao, to serve as his bodyguard and second-in-command.
Plot[]
Evangeline's past[]
Baal and Evangeline locking swords
Baal makes his first appearance after Karin defeats one of the mages from the Mundus Magicus who was oppressing Earth, kidnapping children to drain their life-force. He set magic-depleting spores that drained Evangeline's power when she entered his castle, and trapped her with vines, but was destroyed by Karin's power of prayers. Baal arrives clad in rags, pretending to be a captive, but immediately crushes them both, and they can only escape with Jinbei's intervention.[1]
As the three start investigating in Megalomesembria and discover that the invasion of mages is the doing of the smarmy Senator Gorgonzola, they infiltrate his palace with the intent of killing him to stop his plans, but Baal intervenes. Evangeline's group hold their own against him, and his main servant Sept. He unleashes his shadow and overwhelms them, until Evangeline uses Magia Erebea to reflect his spell, banishing him into a dimensional void.[2]
About a hundred and twenty years later, he confronts them again, having learned all he could about them, and feeds Karin with a World Tree Seed to make it grow from within her and seal her inside it. Much later, Evangeline got acquainted with another Vampire Noble called Nikitis Laps, who helped her seal Baal away.[3]
Ba'al Uprising Arc[]
Baal broke free from his seal at some unknown point. He then retook control of Sept and used a parasite to control Juuzou Shishimi, the two mightiest UQ Numbers, and spent some time observing his old nemesis' organization, learning about Touta and expressing some interest. He also took control of his fellow Vampire Noble Dana Ananga Jagannatha and gained the cooperation of Nikitis Laps, whom he sends assassinate Touta, who has just defeated Fate Averruncus. Fate saves him from Nikitis's sneak attack but gets decapitated, and Touta confronts the Vampire Noble he regarded as a teacher.
After a while, Baal took advantage of Evangeline's absence to launch a full-scale attack on UQ Holder's headquarters. He has Sept and Juuzou confront the Numbers present and diverts a massive satellite, which he previously filled with hordes of summoned demons on the bases. Karin manages to block the satellite with her divine summons, while Jinbei and Gengorou Makabe manage to warp every non-fighter to safety. However, the demon hordes still break out and attack. Jinbei pretends to get killed and uses his space-warping powers to defeat Juuzou and the parasite that has taken hold of him, only to get trounced by a controlled Dana. Meanwhile, Gengorou, Touta, and his friends manage to seal Sept into a mirror through careful teamwork and a combination of their respective skills.
Baal later comes out of hiding, professing his love for humanity, and orders Dana to destroy the immortals. Then, Touta engages him in hand-to-hand battle and manages to land several hits, thanks to his new technique enabling him to spawn wherever he spreads his blood to ambush his foe.
Baal and Touta go all-out!
As a freed Sept is attacking Touta's friends, the young vampire channels the core of Venus from which his power come from to create a gigantic demon-like familiar around himself, engaging Baal's shadow-monsters. Baal retaliates by fusing all his shadows into a single being and gains the upper hand. Touta does not relent and manages to warp close, but Nikitis enters the fray. Later, a healed and freed Juuzou saves his comrades against Dana, and a returning Evangeline counter Baal's attack with a tremendous ice wave.
Baal takes down every Number with spears of darkness and subdues Kirie Sakurame with tendrils. However, Juuzou slashes him with his ability to cut down even god-like beings, and Nikitis, who contrary to him genuinely likes humans for what they are, turns on him and crushes his heart.
Baal's humiliating defeat
Enraged, he orders Dana to destroy them all, but she breaks free of his control and manages to destroy her parasite-infested self, before thoroughly trashing her fellow Noble for laying a hand on his kind.
However, they cannot find him after that, meaning that he managed to flee. Later, Evangeline follows his energy to a point in space, from which she believes they will locate the Mage of the Beginning. They then attack the citadel of his army, the Zero Dawn, utterly crushing them despite all their top-tier arsenal, with Evangeline sealing it in everlasting ice.
Dark Future Arc[]
Baal and his new followers
Just as UQ Holder is gathering atop the Space Elevator to head for Pluton and deal with the Mage of the Beginning, Baal returns with four powerful demons, blowing up the space station and all elevators, while releasing a deadly virus through the internet.
UQ Holder falls back on Earth dispersed, and Touta drifts amnesiac for over four decades, awakening in a devastated world trying to rebuild itself, tracked down by Baal's demons.
Final Battle Arc[]
Abilities[]
Baal's true form
As a Vampire Noble and a High Daylight Walker, Baal is one of the mightiest immortals and beings in the world, in the past, he could overpower Evangeline and his mere presence alone terrified even Karin who also wields the highest immortality levels, which made death an impossibility for her, but caused her to feel intense dread.
Immortality[]
As a Pure-Blood Vampire, Baal is an immortal who has lived longer than even Evangeline who was an immortal who has lived for over six centuries. His immortal level is the same as hers, having eternal life and youth. Baal's true form, however, as a Pure-Blood Vampire is a series of countless demonic entities around him, consisting of giant demonic eyes, mouths, spike-like blades, and wyrms covered in sharp fangs and evil-looking eyes, who're capable of attacking all at once, overwhelming foes to the point that Evangeline needed puppet army to hold her own. He can also fuse all his shadows all around him, resulting in an enormous monster, seemingly made out of tentacles, which can form fists. At full might, he can spread titanic tentacle-like dragon spirits all over the sky, all reaching an untold distance. They seem able to fire massive beams from their mouths.
Immense Strength: He has incredible strength, being capable of breaking through various dense materials with his bare hands and blew apart Evangeline's head using his bare hands.
Immense Stamina: He has incredible stamina and resilience, being capable of enduring various attacks without stopping and continuing to fight for long periods of time.
Magic Abilities[]
Master Mage: Baal is an exceptional master mage, being able to perform various magic feats no other person is capable of performing, which was the result of him millennia long experience. He can release several hundreds light beams powerful enough to rend apart Evangeline in seconds, conjure enough stone block, fire blasts which has enough power to vaporize people, hurl magic that banishes people between words, create darkness spears at close-range. Baal can create magical constructs and beings, being able to create sentient parasitic life-forms, powerful enough to possess Juuzou, his masterpiece being an immortal high-level light spirit named Shichijuurou Nanao.
Fighting Style[]
Master Combatant: Baal is an exceptional fighter and swordsman, which surprises Evangeline who never once believed a Pure-Blood would be adept at actual combat. Even Evangeline herself is outmatched against him, and can only stall him with help from Jinbei and Karin, though he describes her power as close to that of a real Noble.
References[]
- ↑ UQ Holder! Manga: Chapter 153
- ↑ UQ Holder! Manga: Chapter 154
- ↑ UQ Holder! Manga: Chapter 158