Darius Elexion

Angel Death
Darius Elexion
Characteristics
Race	Angel (Earth)
Gender	Male
Personal Status
Relative(s)	Buwaro Elexion (adopted) Sakido Elexion (adopted) Iratu Elexion (adopted)
Home	Heaven
Professional Status
Affiliation	Elexion Family Death Afterlife
Previous Affiliation	Heaven's Army
Occupation	Grim Reaper Warrior Angel (drafted) Caretaker Angel/Artisan (Authority)
Base of Operations	Purgatory
Attributes
Weapon(s)	Holy Earth Scythe
Angel Emblems	(all formerly)
Languages	Angelic, Lingo
First Appearance
Slightly Damned #1 [HQ, TS] (Death) Slightly Damned #35 [HQ, TS] (Silhouette) Slightly Damned #83 [HQ, TS] (Flashback) Slightly Damned #425 [HQ, TS] (full appearance)
Radio Play Voice
Moox (as Death)
Image Gallery

Darius Elexion is an Earth Angel who was impersonating Death and acting as the Grim Reaper. He was an artisan in Heaven, a maker of Sun, Star and Moon Emblems. Almost 15 years prior to the events of Slightly Damned, he was drafted into the army and became stranded in the Ring of the Slightly Damned outside Hell during a battle of the Great War. Darius adopted and became the foster father of Iratu, Sakido and Buwaro during his time in Hell.

Appearance

Darius resembles most Angels, having white hair, pale skin and pointed ears. His eyes are golden; he wears bandages over the right side of his face and is blind in the right eye. His hair was originally dyed golden-brown around the edges but has grown out and been trimmed so it is fully white now. His Elemental tattoo is on his left shoulder. He used to wear his Earth Angel uniform, with a brown diagonal sash to wear his Angel Emblerms.

As "Death", he wears a black robe. When putting on the blue Cerberus skull over his head, it turns into Death's dragon-like head, made of black and red flames; however, he only has one eye, which he stated was an oversight on Death's part. His hands also turn clawed and bone-like. He is able to shift his physical size, which he claims is a "perk of the job".

He appears to be near-sighted, wearing glasses to write and read, even in his Death form.

Personality

Unlike most other Angels, Darius did not want to fight against the Demons. All throughout his stay in the Ring of the Slightly Damned, where he had been sent to fight, he questioned what he had been taught about Demons and the war, and showed compassion to Demons he encountered, even if they were supposed to be "enemies". This is how he came to adopt three young Demons, which he treated as his own children.

He's expressed desire early on to found a family and live away from the troubles of war. He had an interest in male Angels, given his homosexuality, as one time he had his eyes set on Kieri’s uncle while at an academy and was jealous when her aunt got to him first. As shown with his Demon children, he believes a family can be related by love and not blood, even if Sakido and Iratu found it weird.

He is very affectionate and caring with his children, especially to Buwaro, to the point of giving up his Angel Emblems for them and later accepting Death's deal for their sake. Even in his role of "Death", he kept looking after Buwaro, as well as Sakido and Iratu whenever they happened to visit. He is otherwise friendly to Median souls such as Rhea or Seymour, and claims to always be fair in his judgements towards the dead. This makes his act as Death imperfect, as the real Death has been noted to be cold, methodical, and precise with an intimidating nature.

History

Past

Darius Elexion was an Earth Angel who began keeping a diary in his early 20s. He went to an academy alongside Kieri’s uncle where they were trained to fight. He was drafted into the Great War despite being an artisan of the valuable Sun, Star, and Moon Emblems. He’d hoped the craft would help end the violence of war and he’d be able to raise a family of his own. But that dream of peace was forever shattered when he was sent away to fight in Medius. The only way which to get there was through mysterious portals that swirled with dark energy.

15 Years Ago

"Dear Diary, I am in Hell."

Upon arriving in Medius to battle Demons in the Great War, Darius found it to be chaos. By a miracle he survived but then, by a Wind Angel, he was pulled into a portal to Hell. He fell on his head and blacked out. When he awoke he was alone. For days he wandered Hell alone, feeling miserable as he never wanted to be a part of the war.

Iratu joins Darius.

From out of nowhere, a child demon bit his leg and introduced himself as Iratu. Though initially the child wanted to kill Darius as he said, “Angels and Demons hate each other.” Darius managed to befriend the little one who began following him around. Darius learned Iratu had been separated from his parents so they kept each other company (though Darius wished Iratu’s teeth weren’t so sharp). Still, he found joy in Iratu’s company, which caused him to question what he had been taught to believe, that demons were terrible sinful beasts from the moment they were born to the day they died. Darius accepted that he would likely never return to Heaven and was content with that.

They soon came upon a river where they met Seymour Sinclair who informed them they were in the Ring of the Slightly Damned, a barren place outside the real Hell. Darius and Iratu began to explore the Ring. For a long time they met no one but one day they came upon a wind demon child who introduced herself as Sakido. She tearfully described that she and her mother and other demons were attacked by strange people with white wings and rings on their heads. Darius left her with Iratu and went to investigate and found many dead bodies of angels and demons, including, to Darius's horror, many demon children. He recalled similar incidents where angels young and old were slaughtered by demons, including his parents.

Sakido joins Darius.

Even if they were demons, Darius was shocked that his fellow angels would kill children. With his earth magic, Darius buried all the bodies, including a demoness whose appearance matched the description of Sakido's mother. Darius never told Sakido her mother was dead and instead invited her to stay with him and Iratu. Though she could not fly with her tattered wings, Darius quickly noted Sakido to have a fondness for heights.

Together they all traveled the Ring of the Slightly Damned for months, never seeing another soul. Still, the three of them grew close, and Darius began to consider the two little demons as his own children.

In his next entry, Darius wrote that his family grew with another member yet wished the circumstances had been happier when he found another orphan of war, Buwaro. In a place of jagged peaks, while playing hide & seek with Iratu and Sakido, Darius heard them scream and found them being threatened by an injured demon. With his magic, Darius protected his children. In defense, Darius struck the demon with his magic but took pity when the demon, realizing he was dying, lamented that his son’s egg was damaged and feared he would not hatch, and even if he did, the demon would likely not witness it. Darius offered to take care of the demon’s son and though initially the demon refused he reasoned with him, apologized on his comrades’ behalf, and promised that no matter what the demon’s son would live. The demon gave in and asked Darius to bury him with his mate, the mother of his son Buwaro before he finally died.

Darius using a Sleep spell on Buwaro.

Days later, Buwaro was born. And with him, a nightmare. The infant was bigger than he had been so in his egg, his claws and fangs sharper, his eyes glowed red and he breathed laboriously. Even his tail was on fire. The infant reacted to Iratu by breathing fire at him and Darius recalled his lessons on demons, that how they go into berserk rages, becoming monstrous killing machines at the cost of their own lives. Darius theorized Buwaro was this way from the moment he was hatched due to the damage to his egg. If left on his own he’d die of exhaustion, but Darius had promised the child’s father that Buwaro would live. Left with no choice, Darius cast the infant into an enchanted sleep, and he introduced the sleeping infant to Iratu and Sakido as their new baby brother.

Weeks passed and though they didn’t have much, the Elexion family had each other and thus were happy. But Darius was saddened that Buwaro might be fated to remain in a serene slumber forever or reawaken as a bloodthirsty monster. Though he kept his family safe, Darius was in guilt that of his decision. He wondered if he slept long enough Buwaro could be woken up without consequence but to his disappointment, Iratu and Sakido suggested they should just leave Buwaro or (though they didn’t actually say it) kill him. He reprimanded them for such talk and proceeded to wake Buwaro up.

A berserk Buwaro gouging Darius in the face.

To Darius's horror, Buwaro awoke again as a berserker and had to hold him to stop him from attacking Sakido. The action cost him his right eye at Buwaro's claw. As he held his face in pain, he noticed Iratu fighting Buwaro and in despair used his magic to put them all asleep. Later he used his healing abilities on himself and Iratu but his eye was beyond repair and he hid the scars with a bandage. He did not blame the infant Buwaro and the infant slept for months.

Buwaro, now awake and non-threatening.

Darius came to a problem with Sakido who desired so much to fly but could not with her ruined wings, and though he carried her while flying it was not the same as flying herself. Darius made the mistake of telling Sakido he got his wings from his Sun Emblem and she begged him to let her wear it. He finally caved in and removed the spell that made it so only angels could use it (which took him days due to the spell’s strength) before he gave it to Sakido. Though it was painful, Sakido’s wings were restored and Darius was soon teaching her to fly. To his chagrin, Iratu wanted a pendant too. But it soon gave Darius an idea, as he recalled his Star Emblem was supposed to enhance mental concentration and increase magic, and thought perhaps it could clear Buwaro’s mind. He removed the protective spell on the pendant, and while Iratu and Sakido argued, he went away with Buwaro to wake him up and hoped the Star Emblem would help. To his delight, his hypothesis proved correct and with the Star Emblem keeping the infant’s mind clear, Buwaro was a pure and innocent baby, nothing at all like he was when he was born.

A year later, Darius had caved in and given Iratu his Moon Emblem and his children were growing: Sakido was beginning to outgrow her clothes, Buwaro was still an infant and Iratu outgrew his pants, forcing Darius to make him a new pair. Alas he noticed Iratu and Sakido were jealous over the attention he gave Buwaro yet hoped they’d grow to accept him. Darius never again wrote in his diary as Kieri found no more entries and his last one was stained with blood. But Sakido, after she got the diary from Rhea, completed the story.

Sakido had not seen the diary for over ten years until Rhea gave it to her. Though her memories were hazy, Sakido wrote down their final days with Darius in the hopes Buwaro would read it someday. While living peacefully in the Ring of the Slightly Damned, Sakido had been flying when she spotted two strange demons — unfortunately they spotted her as well.

Darius vs. the Fire Demon.

Frightened, she flew back to warn her family. One of the demons followed her the other left. Because she argued with Iratu, they woke up baby Buwaro, causing him to cry and alert the lurking demon to their location. The demon attacked but Darius commanded Sakido to take Buwaro and for them to all run. Though they obeyed it dawned on them that because Darius had given each of them one of his emblems he no longer had all of his power. Without caring, Sakido just dropped Buwaro and she and Iratu went back to aid Darius. Though he fought his best, Darius was slowly overwhelmed and would have been killed had not Sakido and Iratu interfered. The two killed the demon and saved Darius. He tried to heal himself with his power and it seemed to succeed but they noticed he slowly got weaker and weaker.

"That was the last we ever saw of Darius."

Finally, Darius declared he was taking them to Hell, perhaps knowing his time was nigh. Slowly they made their way to the edge of the Ring of the Slightly Damned, where they saw Cerberus, then having three heads instead of two, guarding the gateway to Hell. It was the first time they saw Death but he seemed different then. Darius said he would distract Cerberus so the three could sneak inside and told Sakido to take Buwaro despite her protest, despite her threatening to hate him if he left, to which he replied even so he would always love her. He asked them to take care of Buwaro and walked towards Cerberus. It was the last time they ever saw him.

So the diary ended, other than Sakido’s final words of condemnation of her own actions in abandoning Buwaro, and saying that if someone else were reading the diary then she was likely dead, and it would be a death that she felt she deserved.

Later on in the story, it is revealed that Darius made a deal with the real Death, who beheaded the middle head of Cerberus and gave the skull to Darius for him to wear and disguise himself as Death, and oversee the aspect of Death, in exchange for his children to be allowed into Hell. The real Death left Darius with his job to search for Gaia and Syndel, and for fifteen years, Darius, disguised as Death, has overseen the deaths of everyone, and keeping his identity a secret from his children and Rhea.

To Hell and Back

Meeting Rhea

Rhea being judged by Death (Darius).

Darius, under the disguise of Death, met Rhea shortly after she was murdered. Naturally she was distraught over the fact that she was dead and that Death himself was judging her on whether she goes to Heaven or Hell. However because she was not good enough to go to Heaven, but not evil enough for Hell, he decided to take her to the Ring of the Slightly Damned where she would be assigned to Buwaro, who would act as her Demon Supervisor during her stay.

“I think it’s time for Iratu to return home….”

As days went on, Darius would often visit Rhea and Buwaro who weren’t getting along very well. One day he visited them after they had met Seymour Sinclair and asked to have them deliver a letter to Sakido, Buwaro's sister. Before he could leave, Buwaro asked him if he could tell him how Rhea died, in which he vaguely replied “…unless being related to someone is a disease.” Iratu then showed up to visit Buwaro and tried to get him to train with him. Darius eventually pushed him away before he could get Buwaro to drink alcohol.

During another one of his visits, Darius explained to Rhea how they don’t need to eat while they are in Hell, while trying to stop Buwaro from eating Thadius. Just as he says his good-byes, a large pillar of light appears off in the distance, towards Hell. He immediately flew off to investigate, demanding Cerberus to let him in and to tell him what that light was. He is denied as the Red head of Cerberus told him that they do not fear him and even state that he was not their true master.

Not long after the incident involving Buwaro’s transformation into his Berserk State, Darius appeared and asked Rhea what had happened. He was surprised (though possibly an act on his part) to hear that Buwaro can only stay sane while wearing his Star Emblem. Rhea angrily asked why he never told her sooner, though they’re interrupted by the arrival of Beauregard Franken, a deceased human who died years ago and only now arrived after swimming across the River Styx after refusing to pay Darius money to cross by boat. Rhea discovered that he was keeping money in his sleeve and after being insulted by him, was prepared to attack him. Darius stopped the two and took Beauregard elsewhere, while Rhea is forced to live with Sakido for the time being.

Overtime, Darius would continue to visit Rhea, who has now gotten along with Buwaro and was also delighted to hear that Sakido was getting along too.

Forgive Me

Journey to St. Curtis

"After all, what choice do any of us have?"

Long after finding out that all of his children are no longer in Hell (though not knowing of Sakido’s death), Darius starts growing tired of his charade and wants to quit. However the Skull of the Blue Cerberus Head, which Darius wore in order to maintain his disguise, reminded him of the deal he made with Death, while Blue is reminded himself how he was decapitated and cursed him for leaving his post. Darius then asked him where exactly Death has gone over the past 15 years while Blue tried to maintain his faith in him. After Blackbeak the Khamega Pirate King passed by while swimming through the River Styx, Blue told him the truth; that Death went to search for Gaia and Syndel as they were missing too. Darius showed some concern but decided to continue his job as Death as that was all they could do.

The Flower Festival

Pre-Festival Events

"Maybe someone's talking about you."

Despite his objections from before, Darius is still at his job at the time Rhea and her friends are in St. Curtis for the Flower Festival. Rhea and Kieri commented how they aren’t able to figure out when Buwaro was born because it was never written down in the diary. This caused Darius to sneeze a couple times in connection to him not giving Buwaro a birth date.

Atop the Tree of Peace

Post-Invasion

Sometime after St. Curtis was ruined by the demon invasion, Darius and Blue would be spotted by Rhea without their full disguise, pondering about why the Book of Records was wrong about the death of an old Jakkai they found. Feeling there is nothing else that can be done, they assume their “Death” disguise and send him to Judgment. They then notice Rhea, who can see them somehow and after she started screaming, the two of them started screaming as well. Flabbergasted, Darius wonders how she is able to see them while she angrily yells at them to remove the disguise after hearing the skull say his name. He then decides to take off Blue and reveal himself for who he really is. He soon confirmed his identity, while also shocked that Rhea already knew his name and had read his diary, and demanded she told him how she was in MediusM. While he was happy that Buwaro was healthy and was in a relationship with a Suizahn, he still desired to learn about how they got here.

After some back-and-forth explaining, Darius quit his deal with Blue to act as Death, and explained to Rhea (seeing her as a potential ally) the dangerous situation Medius was in since the real Death had neglected to empower Darius & Blue with the ability to reincarnate Medians. He elaborated on what happens with the souls of Medians who enter the Afterlife, and the souls of Angels and Demons who merely return to Gaia or Syndel to be reused for new life. Rhea, overwhelmed by the amount of information given, asks if he wanted to see Buwaro; though excited, Darius is informed by Blue that they might not be able to since they have not seen a single Demon or Angel while in Medius. Shortly after, their bodies begin to fade, as they were only allowed to stay for a short time just to get one of the lost souls. Before disappearing for good, Rhea leaps onto Darius to ask him if the Book of Records was wrong about her and why she was murdered, and Darius reveals the truth to her: she was killed by Mokurynn for being the grandchild of Moku the Snake. However, he had no idea who Mokurynn was. He thanked her for taking care of his son, before disappearing.

Back in Purgatory, Blue prompted Darius to open the Judgment Chamber, but Darius remained silent. Sitting at his desk, he looked at his bonsai tree and started sobbing, while Blue tried to console him. It was then revealed that Darius has been the one to write letters to Sakido, as her "penpal" from Purgatory.

Powers and Abilities

Craft Knowledge: As an artisan and crafter of Angel Pendants, Darius knows how they work and can alter their functioning, which is something no other Angel can do. He was able to remove the Holy Protection Spell off his three pendants so that they could be used by Demons; the process was very difficult and took several days.

Overall Abilities: Having earned all three Angel Emblems, Darius is very powerful. He can stand his ground in a fight, but whenever possible, he will choose to resolve things peacefully.

Multilingual: Darius is able to speak Lingo as well as Angelic. However, he sometimes makes grammatical mistakes or hesitates on a word. He also might speak Angelic words within a Lingo sentence, a trait that Sakido picked up. He was able to teach her to read Angelic writing as well.

Before "Death"

Prior to becoming Death, he had the following abilities. It is unknown whether or not he still retains them.

Earth Magic: A natural ability for all Earth Angels, Darius has shown proficient skills in using this magic, especially when using all three of his Angel Emblems and still not being considered a Seraph Angel. Among his spells he is also capable of creating makeshift graves for anyone he needs to bury.

• Terra Spike: By slamming the blade of his scythe into the ground he can unleash a barrage of earth spikes at his opponent. It's strength and speed is likely determined on whether or not he has his Star Emblem enabled as without it it can be dodged by a skilled Fire Demon. (unconfirmed)
• Magic Bubble: Darius is able to conjure up a barrier able to withstand the attacks of an enraged Demon. However once stripped of all three of his pendants the power of the barrier weakened greatly to where a strong punch from a Demon can shatter it.

Holy Magic: As a Caretaker Angel, Darius mostly uses Holy Magic for its utility spells, but is able to fight with it as well.

• Holy Blast: By forming a white flame-like magic in his hand, Darius can unleash a blast of Holy Magic. The extent of its power while the effects of his Star Emblem are active is unclear as it was used on Buwaro’s father, who was already wounded to the point of death. Without the Emblem it merely grazed a Fire Demon he fought.
• Sleep: Darius is able to place the target (as well as multiple targets through the Star Emblem) into a deep sleep, which is powerful enough to revert a Berserk State Buwaro (though still a baby at the time) back to normal, though it’s clear that it won’t work on an adult Demon. He can dispel this as it seems the spell has a permanent effect otherwise.
• Healing: Darius is shown to be able to heal himself as well as others. However it cannot prevent death should the injuries be severe, as in his case after nearly been killed by a Demon. Despite being a Holy spell it can work on Demons with the same effect.

As “Death”

Disguise Form — Death: Darius gets his power as the current Death from one of Cerberus’s heads, the skull of the center blue one which he is required to wear as a helmet. The skull is still “alive” and retains an independent personality, however it only speaks to Darius and only when they are alone and Darius has removed the skull from his head. A red curse mark is shown briefly on the forehead after removal and before turning to black.

• Power of the Grim Reaper: As the personification of death, Darius has the responsibility of delivering the dead to where they belong in the Afterlife and has a limited set of abilities to that end. If needed, he must pass Judgment onto them, and ferry them across the Styx for a fare of one coin. He has been shown to be more tolerant than the real Death, as he allowed souls that did not pay to swim in the river to their own leisure.
  • Soul Management: When a Median dies, their souls usually go to either Heaven or Hell automatically; but in the case that their soul remains on Medius, Darius can travel to the other realm and manually send them to Judgment. This is done by pulling them out by hand and then clapping his hands on their soul which sends them to Judgment where their placement in the afterlife is decided. However, Darius is unable to reincarnate them, leading to souls being stuck in the Afterlife.
  • Temporal Realm Crossing: As Death, Darius can move about the realms almost as freely as he is able. He is only able to go to Medius for a limited time to collect lost souls, after which he will start to fade out and return to Purgatory. As part of his deal with Death, he is not allowed within Hell, something Cerberus is aware of and enforces. While in Medius, he cannot be perceived by Medians, but can still interact with them by touch. Only revived souls that have already received their Afterlife sentence can see or hear him. Similarly, he cannot see Angels or Demons that are present in Medius.
  • Size Shifting: As Death, Darius is able to change his overall size whenever needed which he says “is one of [his] job’s few perks.” His physical strength scales with his size, he can catch giant boulders without visible effort after increasing his size above that of the boulder.

Conjured Items

Great Book of Records: A seemingly omniscient book that lists every person in the world of Medius, their time and reason of death, and their fate in the Afterlife. In case an individual is marked as "Undetermined", Darius will manually pass Judgment onto them. However, it has shown to be wrong at times, which Blue suspects is due to Demons invading Medius. The book also gives Darius some knowledge about the souls he encounters, even on things they themselves do not know.

Judgement Scales: As Death, Darius has power and dominion over the dead, thus by conjuring up these scales he can decide where they go based on judging how much good or bad they did while living, and puts them where he ultimately decides they belong. This is done by weighing one’s good deeds against their sins and judging them according to which side is heavier.

Equipment

Holy Earth Scythe: His weapon of choice, has been shown to be used not only in melee combat but also when using Earth Magic. The blade has small openings in the shape of the Magic Affinity Symbol representing Earth. He does not wield it anymore, but keeps it in his room inside Death's castle.

Sun Emblem (formerly): Prior to giving it to Sakido, Darius possessed this and two other pendants which increased his capabilities when worn.

• Flight: The Angel Wings granted to him from the pendent are large enough to carry himself and one other person while in flight.

Star Emblem (formerly): Prior to giving it to Buwaro, Darius possessed this and two other pendants which increased his capabilities when worn.

• Enhanced Concentration: While active a halo appeared over his head which allowed him to perform high-level spells.
• Increased Magic Power: On top of having higher concentration his magic power saw an increase that strengthened his magic capabilities, such as being able to cast a Sleep spell on multiple targets and increase the effectiveness of his Magic Bubble.

Moon Emblem (formerly): Prior to giving it to Iratu, Darius possessed this and two other pendants which increased his capabilities when worn.

Other Appearances

The Legend of Buwaro: Soprano of Time

• Death as Kaepora
• Darius as Rauru

1/2

Darius takes on two roles, one for both himself and for his “Death” persona. As “Death” he takes on the role of Kaepora Gaebora though his appearance is that of a Mortori Bird with Death's head. As a running gag he offers advice that is typically useless to Rhea and Kieri and only serves to irritate them.

As himself, Darius takes on the role of Rauru, the Sage of Light and the first to meet Rhea and Kieri after pulling out the Master Sword. Here he is assaulted by Rhea for supposedly changing Kieri's clothes by hand and even calling him a pervert; despite the fact he's not interested in girls and that he used magic to change them.

Both personas of Darius being Kaepora Gaebora and Rauru may be a reference to the implications made in The Ocarina of Time that Rauru and Kaepora are the same being.

Trivia

• Darius has some similarities to Max Beradino from the Furthia High comic. Both are the father to one of the protagonists (Buwaro and Bruce), both are said to have homosexual tendencies (only one is more open with it), both care for children, both carry deep secrets which they view as their own burden, and both hold high hopes for the main protagonist (Rhea and Kale).

Quotes

• (to Blue) "We've all been abandoned by our imperfect gods. That can't be good."