Raven Esteed

Raven Esteed is an Enlightened who has lived for more than 2,000 years, and the former Commander of the Black Brigade (3rd Division).

Appearance
Raven has cold grey eyes and long black hair, which he lets free to hang about the sides of his face. His hair is adorned with intricate hairpieces and he has multiple silver piercings on his ears. Raven wears a black shirt with a high collar which has various silver chains on its edges, as well as more chains attached to the corners. He keeps the shirt's collar open, revealing part of his chest which is marked with various types of runes. Black and gold sashes adorn his waist and shoulders. He dons fingerless gauntlets and wears black leather pants and boots.

Fifty years after the Domination, the gold sashes are no longer a part of his attire, and he now wears a single black sash around his waist. Raven also no longer wears his hairpieces, and he also only wears a single piering on both ears. He was noted by Reika to look no more than thirty years old.

Arrivisme & Daemonium
Arrivisme & Daemonium (lit. "Unscrupulous ambition & Realm of Demons"): Raven's twin Myrrh Code. When sheathed, the bladed part of the swords disappear in a flash of fire and the hilts are stored stored in a compartment on the inside of the wrists of Raven's gauntlets. The blades are identical and are shaped somewhat like scimitars. Arrivisme has crimson highlights and is slightly shorter than a standard sword, whereas Daemonium has violet highlights and is longer than the standard sword.

When in Affinity, both of the swords change in appearance, although both still remain identical. The color scheme of both swords change and lose their respective color highlights. The blade itself folds back upwards, with the sharp end facing up, to reveal a barrel used for firing energy blasts. To accommodate the new usage of the weapon, the handle changes into a grip to allow it to be held like a gun. Both guns are referred to as Gae Assail when in Affinity, and are considered a single entity.


 * Harmony Special Ability:

Powers & Abilities
Master Sword Specialist:

Master Dual Wield Specialist:

Master Gun Specialist:

Magic Expert:

Rune Master:

Step Master:

Daemonium & Levantine
Daemonium (lit. Realm of Demons"):

Levantine:


 * Harmony Special Ability:

Affinity
Last Stand: By condensing the surrounding gravity, Raven is able to form a sphere of energy around him, which is able to absorb all attacks temporarily, increasing the mass of the sphere, which, when at a heavy enough state, draws surrounding objects, including people, as it slowly expands. Anything drawn into the sphere is disintegrated. The sphere then condenses and disappears as Raven emerges.

As with most Affinities, he gains a set of energy wings that are capable of flight. Raven's energy wings are colored sky blue, and can be retracted and hidden away.


 * Affinity Special Ability: Last Stand allows Raven the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces with objects and people. At any given time, he is able to alter its properties, such as making an object or person lighter or heavier. Raven is able to channel powerful blasts of gravity in the form of beams or spheres from his weapons, and is able to manipulate the force of the blast; for example, it can either generate a powerful explosion or simply weigh down an opponent. He is also able to target a specific area and condense its gravity, increasing the area's mass to create gravitational singularity, absorbing anything in the area into an alternate dimension where the target is crushed. Additionally, Raven is able to create "gravity bubbles" in order to break his fall if he is falling from extreme heights or to avoid injury if he is thrown over long distances.


 * Flight Capability: Raven's wings allow him the ability to take flight. While in flight, the wings do not 'flap', instead, they simply act as a sort of throttle to propel him through the air.


 * Sword Materialization: Raven is able to materialize Gae Assail back in his hands if they are out of his reach.

Overdrive: Last Stand is a purely offensive Affinity; as such, it allows Raven to create powerful blasts of repulsive force for his attacks.


 * Gae Assail (lit. "The Spear of Assal"): Raven charges his weapons and generates two powerful spheres of gravity from his guns and fires at the enemy. The first blast, which is quite large, causes very little damage; its main purpose is to trap and weigh the enemy down in a sphere of gravity that prevents movement from the person within, readying them for the second blast, which takes the appearance of a very small ball of energy, about the size of a marble. When fired into the gravity sphere, the second shot pierces the sphere and disintegrates as it exits out the other side. The trail then becomes a 'spear' and expands, causing a powerful blast contained within the first sphere that expands again then rapidly condenses and dissolves, disintegrating everything inside the initial sphere.


 * Variations of Gae Assail: Raven can fire individual blasts of gravity in the form of spheres, without creating the trapping effect of the first blast. He can also fire the small energy spheres of the second blast individually, without the spear effect. Furthermore, Raven can fire a weaker blast of gravity without a charge sequence in order to surprise his enemies, as well as being able to fire multiple, faster traveling volleys. Any basic shot fired by Raven's weapons is considered a variation of Gae Assail.


 * Graviton Blade: Raven is able to manipulate Gae Assail to form blades of gravity from the barrel of his guns in order to engage in close combat. The Graviton Blades can be shot as Gae Assail at any time.


 * Renzokuken (lit. "Continual Sword"): At the instant of the slash, Raven amplifies the force of Gae Assail and releases highly condensed energy at the edge of the blade, magnifying the slash attack, and the blast then flies forward. This slash takes the form of a crescent moon or in the shape of a wave. Renzokuken is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction. Raven has used this technique in several different manners, such as striking the ground to create an omnidirectional blast to knock away incoming attacks or slashing at the ground to upturn it and crush everything in its path.


 * Lugh's Revenge: Raven delivers a series of devastating slashes, kicks, and shots with Gae Assail. The attack culminates by Raven piercing the opponent with his Graviton Blades and firing a fully-powered point-blank Gae Assail. Lugh's Revenge is extremely fast and once the first attack connects, the remaining blows of the attack are unavoidable as it continuously pulls the target to Raven through an attractive force. The one downside to the attack is if the first hit is parried or evaded, Raven has very little time to react and is extremely vulnerable. Lugh's Revenge is most commonly preceeded by a well-timed Renzokuken and is Raven's most powerful attack.

Second Form
Last Stand Second Form: Raven attains this form after Lilith's transfers her power to him as she dies. He can activate this form at will after his first release.

Raven's appearance further changes while in his second form. His armor gains several spike-like protrusions on his elbows, forearms and knees. His wings are condensed into drastically smaller versions of their earlier form. In this form, Raven is surrounded by an energy aura,


 * Second Form Special Ability: Last Stand gains an exceptional power boost and its abilities are greatly amplified.


 * Augmented Gae Assail: Gae Assail is far more powerful in this state than in their previous incarnation, as seen when Raven fired a rather weak shot that heavily wounded Luca, almost to the point of outright killing her. The blast radius of each shot is also magnified substantially, able to destroy much of Excelia's downtown district in one volley. Furthermore, as seen during his battle with Thanatos, the speed of Gae Assail's shots are noticeably much faster.


 * Enhanced Strength: While in Second Form, Raven has shown that he has greater strength, which he uses to effortlessly block attacks from Thanatos.


 * Enhanced Speed: While in Second Form, Raven has shown enhanced speed, which he uses to overwhelm both Luca and Thanatos.

Trivia

 * Gae Assail, although singular, refers to both of Raven's weapons simultaneously.
 * It is also the name of his Overdrive.
 * Raven's Affinity is unique in that it initially changes the function of his weapons.
 * Raven's theme song, as chosen by the author, is "The Void Alone" by Fallujah.

Quotes

 * (To Amnell Azplynd) "I've found my ... Resolve!"
 * (To Luca Blite) "Ideals of perfection don't exist. What truly exists is the discovery that those ideals are impossible to realise: it's the loss of hope. But it's with despair that can reach your greatest hidden power. It's the despair that breaks your limits! Despair frees your heart and lets you act as you wish. And whoever has that power is going to create the future! Even if that power is black, by winning, this blackness becomes the color of real justice!"

Influence

 * In Irish mythology,  obtained the Spear of Assal (Ir: Gae Assail). The spear always hit its mark, and always returned to the wielder.
 * In Norse mythology, Lævateinn is a weapon mentioned in the Poetic Edda poem Fjölsvinnsmál. The amended name Lævateinn is etymologically considered to be a kenning for a sword (Old Norse "damage twig"). Viktor Rydberg theorized that the weapon referred to was the sword forged by Völundr, and is the same one as Freyr gave away to gain Gerðr. Leszek Gardeła theorized that the weapon was a magic staff; "tein", meaning twig, a part of the general word for magic staff gambantein.