(Bi)Monthly Don't-Create-A-Servant Contest

[You]

23h until submissions are closed

[Frigix]

YOU MEAN I DIDN'T HAVE TO MURDER MY SLEEP SCHEDULE?

[Frigix]

Polished the sheet, added the collapses and more stuff in the Creator's Notes.
Also glad to see that positive reactions.

[MuramasaMachII]

Why is White Pure?

Why is white pure?

In the distant mountains of the Aomori Prefecture, a painter with hair like snow sits in a simple hut alone, striking his brush over and over again upon the blank canvas. However, there is no landscape, no portrait, or any evidence of vibrant colours, just shades of gray and white. Although he is alone, he knows that he is not allowed to be around anyone else besides the yamabushi which are permitted on the mountain. Otherwise....he would be stained by the

Taṇhā

colours

of humanity—something forbidden which would ruin not only his own aspirations for enlightenment, but also those of everybody else. To do so would be both a sin as a human–for denying the possibility of Nirvāṇa–and as a mage, for ruining the Ōkotsuyuki family’s journey to the Root, requiring everything to be started all over again.

—No. The world of colours was sinful, even in its wonders.

After all, the last time he had stumbled into the world of colour, nothing good happened. The memories of cold and death still haunt him to this day, although it was necessary; necessary to show him the ugly truth of paintings covered with colours. Gottfried remembers the stench of decomposition and putrid innards oozing from decayed flesh, but it keeps his mind clear, clear from the ephemerality of the stains of the world. And so, he strikes the canvas over and over again, creating a landscape of snow, marble and fog. It is a good painting, but not good enough.

—It is not a true blank slate; not a true depiction of 「 」behind the veil of perceptions.

Wracked with exhaustion, Gottfried collapses, his brush falling from his hands. Around him lies numerous other paintings, all in various flavours of cream, white, gray, and cold pale shades. While all of them can be called aesthetically pleasing in their own right, none of them have reached the necessary standard. Even though all of them can be called Mystic Codes which erode channels of perception, none truly impose clarity on the world. Perhaps, he himself is flawed as a painter…but no, it cannot be that. There must be some colour remaining in him, some stain of red splotching over the White that he could become. Wherever it is, the painter knows that he must find the flaw… or else, there will be punishment, cold punishment which stinks of rot and disappointment…no. No, no, no, no, no! Ah…what was it that he used to do as a child again… right, that was it. He used to stare up at the full moon with Mama and ask her questions about the world, about why he wasn’t allowed to see it, and above all… Why is white pure?

It is the colour of snow;

It is the colour of snow; covering the world in beauty and silence.

---

Winter had used to be the only time that Gottfried was allowed to come down from the mountain, after all, the Ōkotsuyuki family believed that the snow would keep his mind clear, keep it empty. However, there had been one time he did come down from the mountain by himself as a child, not during the winter, no….but during the summer. He had heard the local yamabushis acting all excited about a neburi; a festival! A festival where floats of marvelous figures, beasts, and tales of old all lit up the dark, from Susanoo-no-Mikoto fighting Yamata-no-Orochi, to the shōgun Sakanoue-no-Tamuramaro… well, they might have been part of the world of colours, filled with colours even, but they were beautiful so it had to be worth it, right?

At least, that is what the boy told himself, during the evening when he stumbled out of the place he called 'home' and snuck towards the rough yet worn path going down the mountain, his feet stumbling over roots and stones alike as he tumbled down in the darkness. His ankles and hands were covered with various scrapes and cuts as he finally stepped into the open, into civilization, but he felt a prick, a mild shock covering his body: the crossing of the border from

death

the mountain

into

life

the city of Aomori.

Terror wracked him as he realized he was in a foreign place, but that fear immediately evaporated as he saw something wonderful and impossible: a massive woman, in a beautiful kimono and with rays of sun sprouting from her hair, drifting towards him. The way each flower in her garb was perfectly detailed, the shine of her glossy black hair, the vibrant orange of the foxes which gathered around her—it was magnificent in a celestial manner. Ah, so this, this was why people came to festivals...the world of colour was beautiful. Takenouchi-no-Sukune and Empress Jingū, Yamato Takeru sweeping Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi across the flaming grass blades, the

Night Parade of One Hundred Yōkai

Hyakki Yagyō

, all of it came to life as if the tales were happening right there in the street.


It was all so wonderful until…until she appeared. A visage that sent fear into each and every single molecule of his being, a demonic float that Gottfried knew all too well: Datsueba. The hag that guards the banks of the Sanzu River and judges the dead who have crossed the river. The Ōkotsuyuki had statues of Datsueba and her husband Keneō all across the mountain, as figures which strip away the

Upādāna

clothes

—that is, the colours–of the dead so they can be

reduced to white

burned to ash

. It was as if the float was staring into his soul and prying at every part of him, peeling apart each and every sin—including his choice to come to the festival in the first place. He was so terrified that he couldn't help but run, and run, and run, and run. The boy ran even when it was hard to breathe... until he suddenly hit something, or rather someone.

He looked up, and saw pale hair and red eyes...one of the members of his family: Daichi Ōkotsuyuki, his father. A stern man who could best be described as "cold," no clear emotions showing on his face at all, as if he was a living statue. And yet, in that lack of emotion, Gottfried sensed something that could only be described as pure contempt. His father didn't even blink as he grabbed his son by the wrist and dragged him up the mountain. Gottfried was not taken to the compound where his family lived, though, but rather deeper into the mountain, to a dark and ominous place closed off from any sign of life that was eerily quiet: the burial grounds.

The stench of death filled the area with the sweet decay of flesh; after all, corpses were left to decay before being properly cremated and interred. And it was right beside these same decaying corpses, their eye sockets filled with writhing maggots and flesh covered with pustules and exposed cavities, that Gottfried was made to stay. The only company he had, the only thing he could think of, what filled up his sight, were corpses upon corpses upon corpses, each in various stages of decay. The most recent had only just become stiff with rigor mortis and still had a semblance of life to its features, while the oldest was a pile of viscera, squirming insects, and bones. The worst part was that no matter what, each and every single corpse seemed to stare at him, as if to show the ephemerality of colour and the disgusting truth it held.

—And yet, wasn't the red of blood, even that leaking from corpses, beautiful in itself?

It is the colour of the moon;

It is the colour of the moon; unaffected by the matters of the earth.

---

The painter shakes himself awake. Those thoughts, they were far too…disturbing to dwell on. No, he mustn’t think of colours, he must keep his mind pure, keep it clean, keep it blank. And yet–and yet! Death too is a lack of colour, and can lead to true white; true rebirth. Artists too depicted death in paintings, showcasing the inevitability of mortality…so it cannot be wrong that in each and every one of his paintings, Gottfried sees the hollow eye sockets of skulls, right? The flecks of red, of horrid attachment, in his eyes tell him otherwise...that there still must be a flaw somewhere which needs to be removed.
Sighing at his predicament while moving away from the minuscule room he uses for painting, the magus leans towards the barren ground of the mountain, and drags his finger through the dirt. Once he eventually finishes a rough circle, he feels the

Bounded Field

maṇḍala

being established, creating a division between the physical and the divine. And in that place of pure divinity, in connection with the natural Bounded Field which already existed in the mountain, existed a perfect space of

White

purity.

A bleached earth unaffected by even the channels of perception of the world–Textures–which can only be called a Pure Land. Once it is established, it is destroyed—that is the truth of impermanence.

—And yet, his thoughts still plague him. Oh, how he wants to see the purity of death.

No. He must focus on his paintings in order to reach 「 」, but at the same time, maybe inspiration is necessary in order to create a better piece of art. Yes, that must be the case. Once more, he stumbles down the rugged pathway to the city below, and once more he feels the gaze of Datsueba watching him, but this time he does not fear the crone. After all, soon, soon he’ll be able to make a painting on the scale of the Sanzu River itself. All he needs is some form of inspiration, something which isn’t the bland whiteness of the snow, something which hits him with an unfathomable level of clarity. Maybe he could find a shrine, or a temple, or some natural wonder like an onsen. That would surely work to deal with his impure thoughts and let him make a truly beautiful painting that eroded the border between man and nature, between mortality and the divine.

Focusing only on the thoughts within his mind and the perfectionism towards his paintings, he stumbles further, his eye darting around to see inspiration, but all he sees is more and more filth. Everything was cluttered, the colours didn't even align, all the random types of architecture, not to mention the people; the people who stared at him as if he were a yōkai, the people who were far too loud. They should all go to Jigoku and be incinerated until they are ash—beautiful, silent ash. The filth distracted him far too much and for far too long, until he feels a sharp sensation as if someone had just shoved him, and his pockets being much lighter than usual—somebody had stolen from him!

This type of sin could not be allowed, and so Gottfried swiftly yet calmly walks towards the assailant, a cold fury growing in him, pressure growing in his veins. The rat may have tried to flee into a dark, dingy, and dismal alley, but by doing so, it cornered itself. Then again, that was expected; it was a simple-minded rodent, after all. Stomp, stomp, stomp, the footsteps echo as they get ever closer. Punishment is justified for a sinner like this, for someone who'd stoop so low as to rob a traveller. The little rat might try to run, but it will never be able to hide. Poor, poor little rat. And there the rodent is, shivering in a corner and brandishing a knife in terror, begging for its life.

As if by instinct, Gottfried feels his hand reach to the bandage covering his face, and pulls it off in a quick motion. No longer shivering but instead tranced, the poor little thief cannot help but stare into Gottfried's Mystic Eye.

Mystic Eye of Grayscale
A false Mystic Eye of Quartz rank implanted in Gottfried’s eye by the Ōkotsuyuki mage family. By imposing 「White 」 onto his eye’s Magic Circuits–which were already sensitive enough to manifest a minor Pure Eye which perceived spiritual remnants–Gottfried gained a Mystic Eye which interfered with

wavelengths of the soul

colours

themselves, if only to a lesser extent.

Those who make eye contact with the clear, colourless eye that Gottfried has, have their "colours" drained, leaving them as grayscale—that is, their vitality and memories are removed, leaving them in a vegetative state.

It is in fact easy to stop, especially if one is a mage, because all one needs to do is break eye contact with Gottfried. The longer one stares at him, the more they are drained, and the more they fall into the clear depths of his eye.

It is the colour of death;

It is the colour of death; released from the sins of life.

---

Rumours of a serial killer had recently sprung up over the last few weeks. Because the culprit's vague description wasn't on any record in the entirety of the Aomori Prefecture, and circumstances that seemed almost supernatural, the nickname people were starting to use for this phenomenon was simply Yūrei: a vengeful ghost. After all, only a ghost could suddenly appear, murder random people, and then disappear as if it never existed, leaving corpses whose eyes were strangely hollow. Terror spreads through the city, parents and children alike worrying for their livelihoods, and yet Gottfried himself is unaffected.

He is safe up on the mountain, where no living creature, save for the yamabushi, may reach him. Mountains are realms of the divine, where only spiritual entities or those attuned to them are allowed—and those who live in the city below are far too filthy and stained to even get close to him. The only company he needs are his paintings, to keep his focus on the Ōkotsuyuki goal—but his paintings look different than usual, don't they? They are becoming more and more clear, but clear in the manner of

九相図

kusōzu

, the paintings used to depict the nine stages of death. Maybe death is pure, but then again, he still sees smudges of red; if anything, they have grown. Just like always, there is yet another stain that must be removed.

—And yet, maybe stains are necessary for true beauty?

No. No. No. That cannot be true, right? It would mean there is a flaw not only in Gottfried himself, but in the entire system of the Ōkotsuyuki. He needs to focus and become blank, he knows that, so why not do something to focus? Yes, like painting, but not just normal painting, but painting in the ground, using the ground itself. The painter drags his finger through the dirt, creating swirls and strokes alike as he tries to calm himself with the continuous motions. The way the patterns swirl and loop around themselves reminds him of Saṃsāra, far too much even—it is as if he is being mocked, being told that he will never reach 「White. 」There must be something better he can do, right? Even if that something ends up fuelling his impulses…

Later in the night, a sense of calm, of ecstasy, of purity even, washes over the painter and envelops him. Focus like no other, as if he was enacting his true nature and purpose, resonates with each and every move of his hands, with each and every slash of the brush. Gottfried moves like a

yūrei

spirit

and slashes his brush over and over on the

corpse

canvas

, draining it more and more of

blood

colour.

Yes, yes, yes! Now, he can get close to finishing his masterpiece, his greatest artwork.

O-kotsu Ryōkai Mandara

The great work of one Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki and simultaneously the proof of him finally giving into his impulses: a modular Bounded Field based on the

Two Realm Maṇḍala

Ryōkai Mandara

.

A system covering the majority of Aomori City that is directly connected to the leyline of the mountain where Gottfried resides, the O-kotsu Ryōkai Mandara takes the form of two Bounded Fields which are directly connected to each other, the Kongōkai Mandara and the Taizōkai Mandara. The Taizōkai—or Womb Realm—Maṇḍala serves as the foundation of the entire system, activating whenever a human being is killed by Gottfried. Once this happens, the

colours

attachments

of the victim are gathered and separated from the basic system of perception in mundane humans.

However, the real purpose of this comes in the enactment of the Kongōkai—or Diamond Realm—Maṇḍala. By directly connecting to Gottfried's Elemental Affinity of Fire, 「cremation 」is performed upon the remnants of the spirits. Thus, the attachments become 「fire 」and「ash 」, where the colour of fire is red—the colour of

魔

distortions

in nature—while the colour of ash is white: a blank canvas, or lack of perceptions. In other words, the attachments are used to eliminate the system of perceptions in the enclosed area, and replace it with distorted reality. This is where the second and final division is made, separating the 「spirits of the dead」from 「Buddhas. 」

And Gottfried, as the one at the centre of this system, becomes equivalent to Dainichi Nyorai: the cosmic Buddha and centre figure of the Kongōkai Maṇḍala. Therefore, the resulting

魔

aberrations

in reality will be stronger and more suited to his impulses the closer they occur to him. Of course, this also means that by destroying the Bounded Field, Gottfried himself is weakened manifold.

Is white pure?

Is white pure?

Is nothingness worth more than passion?

Is passion not worth something in itself?


The mage-killers wander through the desolate wasteland of Aomori City, the red of their wounds in stark contrast to the sickeningly sapped monochrome world. Strange things wander about, sickeningly beautiful parade floats made of warbling putrescent masses of flesh. Blackened blood oozes from their gaping maws, a predatory tongue lolling where organs should be. Getting close to these things, even if to run to safety, risks being constricted by those slimy tongues and never being seen again. They, alongside other supernatural occurrences that violate the fundamentals of the normal psyche, give the city the appearance of a painting of Hell itself.

One of the killers—the appointed leader, ever since the last one had been eaten by a thing—grumbles, taking out a cigarette and slowly inhaling the smoke, wondering why he even bothered to accept this job in the first place. Well, it was obvious why: the pay was excellent, because the Department of Policies had sponsored this. Supposedly, a mage was violating the Concealment of Mystery...and by the looks of the city, that clearly is true. Only the use of magecraft could create a landscape like this in such a viscerally terrifying way—terrifying not because of anything specific in the former metropolis, but rather because of just how unnatural it seems. Basic magecraft cannot mess with reality and the way it is perceived on this level...no, distorting reality to this extent requires a contorted mind of its own, or the use of a Daemon. It is all just so strange that the mage-killer cannot help but hope that he'll be able to make the kill soon...because this job is seeming more and more like it isn't worth the pay.

Because he is distracted though, the Spellcaster does not notice his foe until it is far too close, the dying screams of his team member snapping him back to attention. Looking behind him, somehow there is a thing which both looks like and cannot be an elderly woman, plunging its withered bony arm into the stomach of his comrade. Rugged ashen grey hair falls over the crone's head, covering all its facial features except a drooling maw with far too many teeth, its tongue waggling as the thing rips out organs one by one. It is only by pure instinct that the mage-killer saves himself, subconsciously pulling a Reinforced pistol out of his coat pocket. Swallowing the terror which had started to climb up his throat, he imagines the alignment of his target, as simple as a mathematical function, and pushes his finger down on the trigger. An impossibly fast bullet, curved to the Golden Ratio, fires and drills into the thing’s head. Instantly it bursts like a pustule, leaving behind a viscous puddle of red paint and ash. Ah….there’s another distortion killed, only so many more to go.

The rest of the journey is more and more of the same, death and gray landscapes repeating over and over again until only the appointed leader of the mercenaries remains, standing before a most ominous sight: a mountain, looming like a judge of the underworld with its fearsome gavel in hand, ready to send those who approach to Hell. What should be majestic oak and cherry trees look more like thick bristles on the back of a beast, hungry and waiting for its next meal. It looks like a mountain, but it is in truth more like a predator... this is truly the source of the chaos.

Footstep after footstep, the mage-killer walks deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast, his hairs on end from the sickening gazes the environment gives him. Every single fibre in his body rebels against him, telling him to either turn around or take his own life, while the somehow highly acidic and mucous ground eats away at his clothing, wearing down his resolve. It would be so, so much easier to give up, wouldn't it—No, while he knows that is the case, Simon Locewood knows that he's been through far too much to die here, and so he pushes his feet forward. After eons of putting one foot after the other, he finally arrives at the peak.


—And there, awaiting him, is Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki.

Gottfried smiles in the way only a murderer truly can, a concentrated mixture of happiness and contempt, with the tiniest sprinkle of purposefulness. The way he sits, perfectly cross-legged and with his hands uplifted as if he is praying or maybe holding a brush, makes him seem like a bodhisattva in the most unsettling way possible. Though, a bodhisattva would not have its face soaked in blood and bits of entrails in its hair, nor would it sit in the middle of a maṇḍala which pulses with malevolent Magical Energy, its designs depicting the eight hot hells and the eight cold hells in excruciating detail.

In a swift motion, Gottfried slashes his hands downwards like the blade of Fudō Myōō, a vermillion stream manifesting in the motion itself. The stream undulates and swarms out towards the mage-killer, the malformed limbs of countless wraiths grasping at his flesh and begging him to free them from the depths of the Sanzu River. Flinching backwards, the mage-killer divides the space in front of him so that the approaching attack does not reach him, and quickly pulls out his pistol. Still, Gottfried smiles; it's called the

Three Crossings

Sanzu

River after all.

Instantly, two more streams appear, one vermillion and the other as pallid as a corpse, surrounding the mage-killer and burning into his body each moment they encroach further. As the mage-killer's skin burns, droplets from the stream drip from his flesh and splatter against the ground, bubbling as they emit noxious steam. He struggles and struggles and struggles, but each time, the streams get closer until they are digging into his flesh and melting it entirely. The steam wafting up from the dirt makes him more and more nauseous, and Simon Locewood begins to slip into unconsciousness from the sensory overload.

Is white pure?

Is being unaffected worth it when death is so, so

terrifying

beautiful?

Isn't red too, a beautiful colour, in its madness and bloodshed?


No. Simon Locewood refuses to die to a target like this, to a maniacal painter who distorts reality to his own impulses, who overflows others' psyches with his own inner conflict between 「White」and 「Red. 」Suddenly, the one weakness Simon can take advantage comes to mind: the fact that Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki is a painter. The things drifting in the sky, the hag that killed Simon's teammate, the streams of the Sanzu River attacking him, the maṇḍala, even the mountain itself—they are all paintings.

It really is simple: paint can be diluted and washed away. All he really needs is...Water.

Smirking with what little vitality that remains, the mage-killer reaches into his pocket and pulls out the canteen used to hold his drinking water, infused with the tiniest bit of Magical Energy in order to maintain a cool temperature. It isn't much, but it would definitely work. He throws the canteen with all of his force, twisting off the cap. Fresh water splashes right onto the maṇḍala—the nexus of Gottfried's system—and the moment it hits, a cracking noise like the heavens themselves splitting apart into numerous shards occurs, alongside a light that is far too bright to be natural.

Once the light settles, the world is filled with colours, trees brilliant with verdant green foliage and a perfect azure sky. All is more vibrant...except Gottfried, who is more pale than ever before from his Bounded Field shattering. The painter tries to pull the wrapping covering his face off so he can annihilate this stain—this piece of filth—but he isn't that lucky. In the moment of confusion, Simon Locewood takes out his pistol and shoots right through the bandage and through Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki's eye, finally doing a killing blow. While the painter wishes he can say something, shout in disbelief, wonder about what colour this man is and how he can do such things....but he isn't that lucky.

The last thing Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki sees is a new painting entirely—an image of himself:

A lone field, blanketed in

ash

snow

, with red spider lilies sparsely covering the landscape.

Author's Notes

So, this is for clarification:

1. The Ōkotsuyuki Magecraft is based in Shugendō and Esoteric Buddhism, with the end goal being reaching enlightenment- that is, the Root- by removing all of the World's perceptions, and thus becoming free of all attachments.
2. Gottfried is part German because it both makes him seem more like an outsider to the world he's in, and also because it means that he has a Magic Crest because that's a more Western idea.
3. Gottfried's last name, and the name of his family, is actually a pun:
   Ōkotsuyuki

   大骨雪
   (great bone snow) is a pun on
   O-kotsuyuki

   お骨雪
   (cremated bones / ashes snow).
4. I chose Aomori Prefecture for a reason, because the existence of the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, as well as Mt. Osore existing, a sacred mountain in the Aomori Prefecture known as the gate to the underworld.
5. The formatting too has a purpose with its alternating between left and right and the hfades beneath the subtitles. I did that because it reminded me of the alternating strokes of a paintbrush, which was very thematically fitting. The reason why the last section is centre aligned and has the gradients is because it is the moment where Gottfried's madness is truly apparent, so I thought I would make it stand out.
6. As for the reason why Simon Locewood appears in the last section, I thought having a character to contrast Gottfried, even if only to a minor extent, would be helpful. Not to mention, I have some vague ideas about him with his own sheet, so that's something.

[PA270]

Boy, did I miss some last minute bangers!

Astrea: Sheer brilliance in its entirety. The storytelling, the character, the Magecraft, it all flows and blends together to create a river that just sweeps you away. There's really nothing else I can say about this sheet other than how much I adore it and how magnificently it's been crafted. Amazing work!

Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki: What a rich and engaging story this was! The way you follow Gottfriend down his descent into madness, the way his history and Magecraft are so perfectly woven into the story itself, that final fantastic action scene complete with another fantastic character in Simon, it's all absolutely brilliant! Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship!

[MuramasaMachII]

Author's Notes have been officially added, for those who bother to look at them.

[You]

Voting will close 11:00 PM PST May 31st.

[zikari8]

“Lending a hand to all those in need,”
“Never straying from the path of righteousness,”
“Protecting all the people we cherish,”
“Acting with pride and honour in our hearts,”
“And never forgetting what is most important.”

“We are…”




Armored Squadron
Knight Rangers

Overview:
The Sealing Designation Enforcers are often considered the Mage’s Association’s deadliest group of fighters. Tasked with hunting down magi given a Sealing Designation, they are merciless combat specialists willing to use their magecraft to take care of the Association’s bloodiest dirty work. There are said to be only around 30 Enforcers and only those who have been deemed the most powerful and most useful hunting dogs are given the title.

While the Enforcers are a group with multiple members, they are not a unified team. Each individual member joins for their own reasons and typically operates on their own terms. It is rare for two enforcers to be assigned to the same mission, and they tend to be self-reliant lone wolves. However, within this group, there lies an exception. An Enforcer who works exclusively as a team.

They are the Knight Rangers, a five-man team of magical warriors who go on dangerous missions together. Despite their colorful appearance, this eclectic group of armored eccentrics have made a name for themselves by dispatching several dangerous magi in an efficient, if flashy manner, and have been officially appointed as an Enforcer by the Association. To be clear, they are not a group of five enforcers. Rather, the five of them together hold a single position of Enforcer. Individually, each member is not capable enough of holding the title, but together, they became a true force of reckoning that can handle even the bloodiest of operations.

And little do most people know that behind their helmets and armors, the ones known as the Knight Rangers are really just a group of teenagers with attitude.

Ranger Red

“Ranger Belt, activate!”
“Are you ready? Go! Go! Go! Number one!”
“Hell yeah! It’s Ranger Time!!!”



The Red Knight of Generosity
Ranger Red

Ranger Red is the Leader of the Knight Rangers. He is a kind and eager warrior who will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to vanquish evil and protect others. With a fiery spirit and a heart burning with justice, he leads his team into battle and encourages them to always give it their all.

In his majestic red armor, he is a well-balanced knight who boasts both power and speed. His primary weapon of choice is a great sword, but he is also a versatile all-rounder with a wide range of attacks. Due to this balance of strengths, he possesses the highest individual combat potential among the Knight Rangers and the best suited for solo missions. Furthermore, within the Association, he is known as an excellent hunter with great tracking abilities for locating and pursuing rogue targets. These talents make him a highly rated asset to the Enforcers and a proud leader for the Knight Rangers.

Kind, sociable, and selfless, Red is a paragon of Generosity. No matter the danger, when someone is in trouble, he will always be the first to jump into the fire and put his life on the line to kill the enemy.

“Because that’s what a Ranger does!”

Identity
Ranger Red’s true identity is Russel Redmond, an ordinary 17-year old boy from Birmingham.

Prior to his transformation, Russel was a truly mundane teenager with no connection to magecraft or magi whatsoever. He was a simple, kind-hearted young man who loved animals and was loved by them in turn. In his spare time, he volunteered at a local animal shelter and enjoyed hiking on his days off. His aspirations were to one day become a park ranger at a national park.

All of that turned though when he met Green and accidentally awakened the Ranger Belt. Chosen by the magical apparatus, he transformed into a knight in a magical red armor. With his newfound powers, he helped Green defeat a rampaging monster nearby. After that, normally, protocol would dictate that a civilian who learned about magic like Russel should be silenced by death, but Green saw his hidden potential and invited him to join her. For the sake of gaining the power to protect those in danger, Russel readily agreed and thus took his first steps into the world of magecraft. In time, the two founding members would recruit the others to form the Knight Rangers and the rest is history.

Russel is a boy with a strong sense of justice and a love for nature. As mentioned, his career aspiration was to become a park ranger. Even now, he dreams of a future where he can spend everyday protecting wildlife and spreading joy to people through nature’s beauty. These aspects of him have not changed after becoming Ranger Red; he still wants to do everything in his power to protect the world around him. In fact, it is his obsession with being a park ranger that led to them being called the Knight Rangers. He was also the one who named the Ranger Belt and decided on the naming scheme for everyone’s codenames.

“All right, let’s do this, Green! Let’s be the best rangers ever!”
“Aren’t we supposed to be knights?”
“Okay, then from now on, we can be the Knight Rangers!”
“… sure, if that makes you happy.”

From the very beginning, he accepted the powers of the Ranger belt because he thought they could help him defeat evil threats and protect potential victims. Despite Green’s constant scolding to not use his powers in front of normal people, he sometimes stealthily transforms in order to stop crimes or prevent accidents from happening. The fact that he is putting his own life on the line doesn’t bother him if it means doing good; nor does the fact that he sometimes ends up killing the enemies he goes up against. He is someone who can wipe away a child’s tears with a bloodstained hand. For the sake of helping someone, he will not hesitate to kill someone else.

Perhaps, more than anything, that was the hidden potential Green saw in him. No normal person would be so willing to risk their life for someone else or take a life without hesitation.

Russel Redmond may have been a regular civilian, but that doesn’t mean he was always a normal person.

Ranger Belt
The Ranger Belt is a magical tool that allows its user to transform into a magically armored knight. It is the source of the Knight Rangers’ special powers.

The Ranger Belt takes the form of an elaborate belt worn around a person’s waist, but not anyone can activate it. Only those who are chosen by a Ranger Belt use one and become a Knight Ranger. Such candidates are said to be chosen because they strongly exemplify a certain virtue corresponding to that specific belt. In Red’s case, for example, he is a paragon of Generosity and therefore was chosen by the Red Ranger Belt.

Once activated, the ranger transformations grant their users incredible new powers beyond regular human abilities. The magical armors greatly enhance one’s physical abilities and provide particularly formidable protection against both physical and magical damage. Furthermore, the Ranger Belts allow their users to wield the forces of nature at will. This takes the form of two special abilities: Nature Control, where rangers can manipulate the nature around them, and the more advanced Nature Transform, where the user becomes one with nature itself. Each ranger belt gives its user control over a specific, different part of nature leading to unique abilities among the team.

To be clear, despite taking the form of armor, the ranger transformations are not merely suits that the users wear. The Ranger Belts fully transform their wearers bodies into something different, bestowing their unique powers into the person’s very being and soul. When they become Knight Rangers, they are no longer mere humans, but something greater: forces of nature incarnate, wielding the might of the world for their self-centered human desires.

Knight Powers
Red’s Knight Mode takes the form of a majestic red knight with a billowing cape. In this form, his physical abilities are greatly increased, allowing him to fight on even footing against magi and monstrous beasts. The armor’s protective powers are also great enough to deflect gunfire and even allow him to get hit by a car and walk it off.

The Red Ranger Belt’s unique ability is to harness the power of Animals. With it, Ranger Red is able to wield the collective force of the entire animal kingdom at his disposal. At its most basic, this ability allows him to communicate and control animals in his vicinity. He isn’t specifically able to talk to them through language, but he can make his desires known to them and get them to do as he wishes. He can also use this to gain intel by asking animals if they’ve seen something or someone or other similar questions useful for information gathering.

At a higher level, by using magical energy, Ranger Red is able to use his Nature Control to summon animals to aid him in battle. This can range anywhere from sending a pack of wild hounds at an opponent, calling upon a horse to ride into battle, or straight up dropping a whole on an enemy. To be specific, he isn’t actually manifesting living animals, but rather summoning nature spirits in the shape of animals.

Through Nature Transform, Ranger Red is able to become one with the animal kingdom and channel its myriad abilities through himself. Using this, he is able to exhibit any of the traits or powers of any living animal. He can run as fast as a cheetah, become a strong as a gorilla, pick up scents like a dog, or even fly like a bird, if he so wills it. The only limitation is that this ability does not let him channel any animals that are currently extinct – a sadly ever growing list. Beyond that, though, almost any power is at his fingertips, giving him an incredibly amount of variety and versatility in combat.

Personal Talents
Outside of his armor, Russel is a pretty ordinary young man with no special talents. He doesn’t have any combat ability or useful skills that will be helpful in his role as an Enforcer. Despite all that, though, he possesses a spirit and courage greater than anyone else’s. Simply put, he is able to always act without any hesitation. Where others would doubt themselves or get scared, he simply acts on what he wants to do. From one perspective, one may say he’s just being reckless, but it is thanks to that he can do thing others can’t. He does not care about his own safety or success, so he has no fear of death or failure. Everyone in his heart is geared solely towards doing what he can to help others and then acting on that desire. Even if it means breaking every rule or law. Even if it means giving up his own life. Even if it means killing someone else. Some might call this talent courage. Others may call it insanity. But to him, it is the strength known as Generosity.

Ranger Pink

“This will be the start of a new chapter!”

The Puce Knight of Chastity
Ranger Pink

Ranger Pink is the Heart of the Knight Rangers. She is a noble and pure-hearted soul who feels a deep compassion for her teammates and the people they are trying to protect. With a gentle nature and sincere expression, she bridges the hearts of her comrades and brings them together.

In her beautiful pink armor, she is a knight who boasts powerful magical abilities. Although she is the least physically tough member of the Knight Rangers, she boasts the highest destructive power and attack range of them all. Though she may not be the most individually formidable, within her team of five, she is the offensive core and their most trusted trump card. Furthermore, she is also a stealth master capable of spying on and assassinating targets with her unique magical abilities. These talents make her a deadly glass cannon that can be the greatest weapon for the Enforcers in the right situation.

Faithful, compassionate, and steadfast, Pink is a paragon of Chastity. No matter the situation, she will not fall for any temptation and her ideals will never waver. For those she cherishes, there is nothing this pure-hearted girl cannot conquer.

“All in the name of Love!”

Identity
Ranger Pink’s true identity is Amanda Rosewood, an ordinary 16-year old girl.

The daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Amanda was raised a prim and proper young lady in a very traditional household. She was taught from a young age to act with the right manners and to live with the right virtues. Thanks to these teachings, she has grown to be a diligent, intelligent young lady who excels exceptionally in both academics and arts. At the private school she attends, she is an honor student admired and praised by peers and teachers alike.

Naturally, given her amiable nature, great reputation, and well-groomed looks, she is quite popular with the boys at her school, but she has never once responded to their advances positively. Rather, in her heart, she has already sworn her undying love and fidelity to a single man alone. It is her full and sincere intention to save all of her affections and her hand in marriage to this one man.

It just so happens that this man is a fictional 2-dimensional character from a show she likes.

“Kyaaaaa! Kyousuke-sama is as dreamy as ever today!”
– a certain girl rewatching the same episode for the 137^th time

This character was her first ever crush, acquired at the ripe age of 8, and she has remained undyingly loyal to her love of him ever since. Her room at home is full of his merchandise. She carries a homemade effigy of him everywhere she goes. On her days off, she goes on imaginary dates to popular couple spots with him. The sheer amount of fanfiction she has written shipping herself with him has even led to her pursuing a career as a novel writer. No matter what guy ever appears before her, she will show no interest, because in her heart, she is already taken. There is truly no love more pure or intense than this. There can be no love more chaste than this!

As an aside, after they first met, Red briefly had a crush on her, but she quickly shot him down without mercy. He took it like a champ though; only cried for two days straight.

When she was chosen by the Ranger Belt and awakened her powers as Ranger Pink, she accepted the role with the intent of fueling her imaginations. Not only would such epic fantasy-like battles give her inspiration for her writing, but she felt that risking her life doing good would bring her spiritually closer to her heroic husbando. Just as he goes through many dangerous and dramatic tribulations in his series, she too must go on her own adventure so she can understand what he went through and love him even more. Even in life-or-death battle, he is always with her in spirit!

“Today, Kyousuke-sama is watching over me. I cannot lose!”

Team Mission
The Knight Rangers are a group joined together not particularly by a common purpose, but simply because their powers come from the same source. In theory, they could all fight on their own, but they have decided to come together and join their strengths for mutual interest.

At first, Red had intended to be a Knight Ranger by himself with only Green’s help. Even after Blue and Pink simultaneously awakened their belts, he felt like continuing his mission solo – especially after some initial friction with Blue. But in the end, it was Pink who convinced them all that they should stick together and form a team. After a lengthy discussion with her gentle mediation, they all collectively agreed on a Mission Statement that they could follow in order to work together.

The Knight Rangers as a team are united in the goal of using their special powers to do good. In this aim, their primary mission is to take down any evil magi who hurt civilians. Such magi cannot be stopped by normal law enforcement; they can only be defeated by those with their own magical powers. Thus, it is their responsibility to be the ones to stop these villainous magi.

Beyond pursuing this main goal, the Knight Rangers are also committed to stopping any other mystical threat to life they encounter when able. This may include rogue magical beasts, dead apostles, corrupt Holy Church members, and other injustices. They may even use their powers to stop regular crimes such as robberies as long as they do so secretly without anyone else noticing. Overall, their end goal is simply to use their powers for the sake of justice and goodness.

Of course, such supernatural threats do not occur all the time and magi are fundamentally secretive about their evil actions, so the Knight Rangers do not always have an enemy to fight. While potential targets are searched for, members can all continue their regular daily lives. During this time, there is no need for them to stick together at all times and members are free to act separately on their own, using their powers as they independently see fit as long as they followed the rules. For efficiency, however, the Knight Rangers have a mandatory meeting once a week for a team briefing to touch base and discuss future missions. And once a target is found, they will all assemble and work together to plan out a way to take down the enemy.

Using the above mission statement as guidelines, the Knight Rangers formed their magi-hunting team of justice. Based on that, there was no need for them to be friends or spend time together as long as they could unify against a common enemy. That was how this colorful cast of eccentrics managed to join hands as become a squadron.

Yet, over time, as they spent more time fighting together, facing dangerous threats and saving each other’s lives in battle, they’ve grown incredibly close. Now, the members spend their time together outside of missions and are friends in regular daily life. Caring about each other, supporting one another, sometimes arguing amongst themselves, they have surpassed the professional conduct that first binded them. From the beginning, they were a group of weirdos who never really had a place to belong, but now they have found themselves a bit of a family.

Knight Powers
Pink’s Knight Mode takes the form of an elegant pink knight with a slender, light frame. While it does grant her some physical boosts and protection, it is the physically weakest of all the knight armors. In contrast, hers possesses the highest magical energy output, allowing her to deliver the biggest special attacks from a long distance away.

The Pink Ranger Belt’s unique ability is to harness the power of the Weather. With its Nature Control, Ranger Pink is able to manipulate and manifest localized weather phenomena. This allows her to do things such as create clouds, make it rain, shoot hail, raise the temperature of the air, or even shoot lightning, literally all out of thin air. With such a wide variety of powers and such high output, she is a walking artillery cannon that can blast her enemies with powerful, large area-of-effect attacks.

Through Nature Transform, Pink is able to become one with the atmosphere. Doing so makes her become indistinguishable from the air itself, turning her invisible and almost completely undetectable. The refraction of light, the temperature of her body, the soundwaves of her movements, and even the movement of the air around her are made to match the ambient area so no can tell she is there. To be clear, this does not actually turn her into air itself, so she cannot go through walls and she can still be hit by attacks. Instead, it makes her an incredible stealth master, capable of spying on someone or infiltrating a building with ease.

It's a good thing her crush is fictional, or else she would be worryingly good at stalking…

Personal Talents
As an aspiring writer, Amanda possesses a great sense of creativity that often comes in handy during tricky missions. Her vast experience with fictional scenarios and propensity for daydreaming leads her to coming up with interesting, unorthodox ideas no one more grounded would ever come with. Also, during the Knight Rangers’ early days when they didn’t have any funding, she often covered the travel costs of her poorer teammates during overnight missions. While they now have some funding as official Enforcers, her wallet is always there as backup.

Given that the rest of her team are a bunch of stubborn, emotionally constipated blockheads, Pink brings a sense of camaraderie to the team. Despite being the youngest member, she is easily the most emotionally mature one. She serves as the important glue that facilitates communication and bridges the wildly different teammates together. While her stubborn teammates who hate compromising on their ideals bicker, she helps calm everyone down and find a solution that they can all accept. As for her own uncompromisable ideals, they mostly involve a fictional person so they rarely get in the way of the team’s plans, allowing her to focus on everyone else’s thoughts. She more than anyone loves all of her teammates and wants them to be able to get along happily, so she works hard to make sure that everyone’s voices are heard and understood. It is thanks to her strong empathy and communication skills that the Knight Rangers are more than just a team: at the end of the day, they are a family.

Ranger Black

“If you want to hurt my friends, you have to go through me first. Come and give it a try!”

The Black Knight of Fraternity
Ranger Black

Ranger Black is the Powerhouse of the Knight Rangers. He is a tough, sturdy soldier who treasures his friends and shields them with his body. With his overwhelming power and iron will, he puts the team on his back and single-mindedly carries them to victory.

In his giant black armor, he is a heavyweight knight who possesses incredibly power and defense. He has the toughest armor out of all the Knight Rangers and wields a giant hammer that can crush any foe. While he lacks speed, range, or versatility, his sheer raw power makes him a juggernaut on the battlefield. No matter what danger or threat the team comes up against, he is the tank who will weather it and hold it off until the others come up with a plan to defeat it. And with the sheer impact of his blows, he is able to break into magically fortified building by simply busting down the front door, making him a valuable siege weapon when attacking a magus’s homebase.

Loyal, responsible, and steadfast, Black is a paragon of Fraternity. Despite his gruff, aloof appearance, he is a truly caring person who looks out for others. For him, his comrades are more than just teammates or peers. They are his friends and family and he will do whatever it takes to protect them and honor their wishes. He will be a shield or a murderer or whatever is needed for the team to win!

Identity
Ranger Black’s true identity is Samuel Black, a 20-year old police officer with a rough past.

From youth, he was a boy blessed with a strong, healthy body and cursed with a permanent scowl. Many other kids felt he had a mean look to his face and avoided him out of fear. This led to him growing up an aloof, ill-mannered delinquent, but deep down, more than anything, he wanted to have friends. Hoping to become a presence that can make people feel safe instead, Samuel worked hard and joined the police force at the age of 18. There amongst his coworkers, he found people who appreciated his talents and forgave his gruff exterior. His brethren in the unit quickly became his closest friends and he felt as if he had finally found a place to belong.

And then tragedy struck. During a criminal investigation in the outskirts of town, his unit was suddenly attacked by what could only be described as a monster. The supernatural beast slaughtered them all; through sheer fortune, he was the only survivor. And yet, when he reported what happened, no one believed his story. The higher ups simply wrote off the incident as a wild animal attack and deemed his recounts of a monster simply an hallucination born from fear. No further investigation into the death of several officers was carried out and the whole incident was quickly swept under the rug, as if someone was trying to make everyone forget it ever happened. Samuel alone would have to live with the memory and the trauma of what happened that day, having lost the people he called brothers to it.

It was only when he was chosen by the Black Ranger Belt and learned about magecraft that he understood what happened that day. That monster was a magical beast set loose by an evil magus. For his own personal aims, he allowed that monster to roam freely in the wilderness which led to it attacking his unit that day. While it was promptly neutralized by the Association afterwards, the man who unleashed that monster was still on the loose. Knowing this and having gained the power to do something about it, Samuel then swore to dedicate his life to getting revenge for his fallen friends. As Ranger Black, he would hunt down the villain responsible for their deaths and allow them to finally rest in peace.

Darkenstein
A magus who has been designated for Sealing by the Mage’s Association.

He is the archnemesis of the Knight Rangers and the man Black has sworn vengeance against.

Darkenstein was once a member of the Clock Tower’s Faculty of Zoology. He was a genius hailing from a prodigious family and could’ve used his talents to climb his way up the Clock Tower, but instead, he was interested solely in proving his own theories.

The magecraft that is responsible for Darkenstein’s Sealing is a spell that aims to transform regular animals into magical beasts. With it, horses can transform into pegasi, dogs into werewolves, fish into sea serpents, and more. In an era where a majority of phantasmals are chimeras made from mixing old species together, a spell that could give birth to new phantasmals is possibly revolutionary. It wasn’t long that the Association put their eyes on the genius and targeted him for sealing and Darkenstein was forced to run into hiding.

As a fugitive, though, Darkenstein found himself without the resources to procure the exotic animals he wanted and so turned to simply experimenting on animals he finds while traveling. Rare animals in a city zoo, wildlife in a forest, even someone’s pet, if it catches his eye, he will practice using his special magecraft on it and gather data from that. Naturally, he cares little about the consent of whoever may be taking care of that animal or any pain he causes the creature itself. And as bad as this is, the worst part is that he doesn’t take care of his creation after he’s done his researching. It can often take up to a month or even more for his spell to complete the transformation process and actually change the creature’s form, but by then Darkenstein is almost always long gone, having already gathered the data he needs during the preliminary stages. The resulting magical beast is left to just go wild at whatever zoo, forest, or street it was originally found, often attacking innocent civilians.

Due to the massive threat to the Concealment of Mystery this is, the Association has made Darkenstein one of the Enforcer’s most pressing targets. And yet, he has proved to be incredibly elusive; not only is he very cautious and cunning, but the delayed transformation of his spell means there is no way to know where he is until weeks after he is already gone. Nevertheless, the Enforcers are hard at work at taking him down and none are more committed to that goal than the Knight Rangers.

In many ways, Darkenstein is the fated nemesis of the Knight Rangers. It was one of his magical beasts rampaging in the Birmingham Zoo that led to Red awakening his Ranger Belt. And it was one of his creations that killed Black’s friends. For many reasons, the Knight Rangers find him the most unforgivable evil magus of them all and have decided to make hunting him their primary goal. It was for that very reason that they have become Sealing Designation Enforcers.

Knight Powers

Black’s Knight Mode takes the form of a huge, heavy-armored black knight. In it, Ranger Black possesses the greatest physical strength and toughest defense of the Knight Rangers. Though his huge size makes him slow, he is an impervious tank that can shrug off most attacks and barrel through any obstacles. His mighty earth-shattering hammer allows him to crush any familiar a magus throws at him and bust down any door. When stealth and tactics fail, he is always there to just slam into things with sheer weight.

The Black Ranger Belt’s unique ability allows him to harness the power of Minerals. His Nature Control lets him materialize any mineral and use it as a weapon. This doesn’t mean he can create swords or anything, though, as they are not the domain of pure Nature. Instead, his attacks are more akin to chucking huge boulders and hunks of metal at his enemies.

With Nature Transform, Black can give his armor and body the property of any mineral. He can become hard as diamond, tough as steel, heavy as aluminum, and more. This greatly enhances his physical potential, allowing him to boost his defense and force. Of all the Knight Rangers, Black uses Nature Control the least and relies on Nature Transform the most as it suits his predominately close-range physical fighting style more.

Personal Talents
As an active police officer, Samuel is the only Knight Ranger with actual combat training prior to transformation. He is actually a black belt in karate and in top physical condition. This experience naturally supplements his fighting skills in Knight Mode and allows him to handle pain and panic better than the others. As he has grown closer to the other members over time, he has begun giving them training and a workout regimen so they too can fight better and stay safer.

Given that the rest of the team consists of crazy, hormonal teenagers, Samuel brings a level of rationality to the team. He is a bit of mentor or big brother figure to the others in that sense, sharing his worldliness with his teammates. He is mature enough to understand how the world works and help put “adult circumstances” into perspective for the more naive, idealistic kids. He knows the dangers of what they’re going up against and tempers their burning spirits with a healthy dose of fear and practicality.

Granted, in that field, he is a bit of a hypocrite as he is the first to give his life for others.

As an aside, he only knew his unit for 4 months before they died and he swore a lifelong vengeance on their behalf. But no one said, he wasn’t a little crazy himself

Ranger Blue

“Pardon my mannerless companions. I am Ranger Blue of the Knight Rangers. And with all due respect, you’re going down!”



The Blue Knight of Courtesy
Ranger Blue

Ranger Blue is the Strategist of the Knight Rangers. He is an intelligent and efficient agent who possesses an almost encyclopedic library of knowledge. With a quick mind and a cool head, there is no problem on the battlefield he cannot solve.

In his sleek, blue armour, Ranger Blue is an agile mid-range fighter wielding a long spear. He is the fastest of the Knight Rangers and strikes his enemies with a combinational of physical and magical attacks. What he lacks in raw power, he covers with a rapid barrage of precise blows calculated to take down an enemy in the most efficient way possible. Of course, his greatest weapon is his tactical mind. No matter how intense the battle, he always keeps analyzing the situation and figuring out the enemy’s weakness. Within the Association, he is recognized as the brains of the Knight Ranger and the one who can fit their disparate talents into a working strategy.

Polite, respectful, and understanding, Blue is a paragon of Courtesy. He shows respect for all people of all types and is always mindful of the consequences of his actions. In a world ever divided by so many barriers, he is incredibly understanding of people’s differences and greatly endeavours to learn and accept different perspectives.

With a mind that is eternally open, there is nothing this man does not seek to learn. Whether it be a fun fact, a different culture, or the Root of it all, he will continue to question and absorb the truths of the world.

Identity
Ranger Blue’s true identity is Eliot Bluebell, an 18-year old young man.

To put it simply, Eliot is a trivia prodigy. Since youth, he has possessed an unmatched curiosity that has led him to devour any knowledge he could get his hands on. He learned everything he could, regardless of subject, and eventually gained an encyclopedic level of knowledge. Naturally, he aced every assignment and exam in school, but for him learning was more than just academics; it was his way of life.

Of all the things he learned, what stuck with him the most were topics of history and social sciences. It fascinated him how differently people in other countries and cultures did things or thought about things and studying such matters made him feel like he was travelling the world or racing through time itself. It was not a mere case of exoticism for him. He possessed a genuine love and interest in other cultures and approached them with the utmost respect and tolerance. Where others might shun those different from them and formed in-groups and out-groups, he made friends with people of any division or classification, no matter how old or where they came from.

When he activated the Blue Ranger Belt and learned about magecraft, he became enamoured with magus society and wanted to learn more. This culture and society so fundamentally different from the regular human experience is to him a subject of the utmost curiosity. He has thus joined the Knight Rangers primarily to get closer to the magical world and better what it means to be a magus. Unlike the others, he is actually interested in becoming an actual magus and is seeking a way to join the Mage’s Association on his own.

He has put a lot of effort into understanding the rules and complex political structure of the Associstion and is the first to let the others know what ramifications their actions may have on the wider society. This does lead to some friction between him and Red though as Red is not overly fond of the Association and wants more freedom to do what he believes in.

“Humph, that’s only to be excited from a simpleton who cannot stay still for 5 minutes. As for me, though… a life of eternally researching the Truth doesn’t sound so bad…”

Knight Powers
Blue’s Knight Mode takes the form of a simple, sleek knight in blue armour. Lacking the ornamentation of Red and the size of Black, it allows for efficient mobility while still granting protection to the vital areas. This allows Blue to be the fastest and most agile Knight Ranger, zipping around the battlefield with smooth efficiency.

The unique ability of the Blue Ranger belt is to harness the power of Water. With Nature Control, Blue is able to manipulate bodies of water around him or summon vast amounts of water to control himself. He can freely move the water around through the air and change its properties, turning it into boiling hot water, freezing chunks of ice, or even super buoyant saltwater. He primarily uses this power for projectile attacks, shooting down targets with concentrated jets or slamming a giant wave on a swarm of enemies. Against a large swarm of enemies, his large-scale yet precise attacks are perfect for crowd control.

Through Nature Transform, Blue is able to give his own body the properties of water and enter a liquid-like form. In this state, he can avoid most physical attacks and move his body in non-human-like ways. This grants him much greater agility on the battlefield and allows him to infiltrate buildings through even the smallest crack. He can even store objects inside of his body by just wrapping his form around them. His favourite method for capturing a target without dealing excessive injury is by simply drowning them inside himself — a merciless but effective technique.

Personal Talents
Simply put, Elliot is the brains of the team. More aptly put, he is the only person with working brain cells on the team. It is only with his expansive mind for tactics and problem solving that the Knight Rangers can put their disparate talents together into something resembling a strategy. H is primarily responsible for crafting the team’s mission plan before every case, planning out several different possibilities and preparing contingencies for each one. He is meticulous about gathering data on his teammates’ abilities and using that to prepare a plan that brings out the utmost of their usefulness – though this often frustrates him when Red just “surpasses his limits and goes 120%” in the middle of a mission. But the fact that such logic has saved their asses multiple times also frustrates him.

One particular talent Elliot discovered after becoming Ranger Blue is the skill for figuring out how an enemy magus’s magecraft works and what its weakness is. This might seem impossible for a civilian to do given the esoteric nature of magecraft, but once Elliot realized that most magecraft works through a system based on foundations engraved on the world, his encyclopedic knowledge of history, culture, and random facts kicked in. Of course, he can’t instantly break down someone’s magecraft just by seeing it, but he has a good sense of vaguely understanding what concepts it may be working with and find ways to counter that.

Given that the rest of the team consists of uncivilized monkeys, Elliot brings a level of diplomacy to the team. As a refined gentleman, Elliot is an excellent communicator and works well as a representative speaking on behalf of the rest of the team. His impeccable manners, strong restraint, and unconditional respect for others allows him to speak to anyone in a perfectly professional capacity and reach a level of diplomacy with them no matter the situation. It is thanks to this that the mostly childish Knight Rangers have managed to navigate the treacherous Mage’s Association without having already stepped on a landmine and gotten themselves on some bigshot’s hit list.

Sealing Designation Enforcers
The hunting dogs of the Association. The bloodiest, dirtiest killers in the magical world.

On their mission to hunt down Darkenstein, the Knight Rangers quickly realized that they lacked the resources and connections to actually track him down, even with their extensive talents. As good as they were, they were only five people at the end of the day. It was near impossible for them to predict where the next magical beast attack would be a month before it happens so they could stop it. Thus, they reasoned the only way they could complete their goal is to join an organization with global reach, the Mage’s Association. In order to protect the concealment of Mystery, the Association has many fingers in many pies around the world dedicated to both censoring and gathering info. Furthermore, they had funding and resources that a couple of teenagers could only dream of. Thus, to fulfill their goal and defeat their nemesis, the Knight Rangers had no choice but to bend a knee and become Enforcers.

On the Association’s side, they’d been keeping an eye on the Knight Rangers for a while already after having noticed them take down several magical beasts and hunt down multiple magi. While they were impressed with what they saw, the higher-ups also began to question if these five warriors may be a threat to them. They could not care less if other magi were being hunted down – and in some cases, they even welcomed it – but if that blade had a chance of being turned towards them, then they had to be cautious. So when the squad came knocking on their door and the chance to put them under their thumb came, they accepted it.

After some assessment, the talents of the five Knight Rangers were deemed suitably useful.

A red knight that can hunt down targets with powerful animal senses.
A pink knight that can stalk anyone with her nigh undetectable stealth.
A black knight that can smash into any magical fortress with his raw strength.
A blue knight that can infiltrate a building through the smallest crack with a liquid form.

These four alone are incredible talents that can serve as powerful weapons in the Enforcers’ field of covert assassinations and they’re even better when all five are working together. Thus, while their individual fight power is a little low by their standards, the Association decided to bet on their potential and grant them one of the open seats in the Sealing Designation Enforcers.

Thanks to that, the Knight Rangers have gained a dramatic increase in their available funding and resources. Now official warriors of a global organization, they can take on their missions with some actual dignity and not look like a bunch of teenagers on a school trip. With all this, they have gotten much better in their attempts to hunt down Darkenstein and have even gotten close to catching him a few times. It seems only a matter of time now before they finally take down their one true nemesis.

On the other hand, though, ever since they became Enforcers, they’ve been a lot more… restrained. No longer are they going around picking fights with whatever magus they happen to stumble across and consider evil; now every move, every target, and every mission is calculated. Green has always been the one who decided who their next target would be, but she’s been a lot quieter ever since they became Enforcers, as if worried someone was watching her. They’ve yet to be forced to kill anyone they didn’t want to or want to defeat someone but not be allowed to, but in the back of their minds, they’re probably all wondering when that day will come and how they will respond.

Red dislikes this change and, while he accepts it is necessary to take down Darkenstein, he is eager to leave the Enforcers once their goal is complete. Blue, on the other hand, thinks it a good evolution even with a few growing pains and that it’s better than their haphazard running about earlier, never knowing when they might run into a landmine. Pink is neutral on the matter, understanding both sides, while Black doesn’t really care as long as he can get his vengeance on Darkenstein.

As for Green… well, she thinks it’s only natural for them to feel uneasy. After all, at the end of the day, they’re all regular civilians. This is just a taste of the ugly world of magi that they’ve all thrust themselves into. No matter how strong they are, no matter how resolved they are, they never belonged here…

Ranger Green

“… … … … …”

“C’mon, Green. Say something cool. Don’t you have any cool one-liners?”

“U-ummm… in the name of the planet, I’ll punish you!”

“Wrong!!!”

The Green Witch of Piety
Ranger Green

Ranger Green is the Boss of the Knight Rangers. While Red acts as the leader, Green is the one who’s actually one in charge and Red is just her representative. She is the one who ultimately makes all the big, important decisions for the team and the Ranger Belts all belong to her.

Of all the Knight Rangers, Green is the only actual magus. She is the creator of the Ranger Belts and the one who started this whole enterprise by searching for people who could properly wield her ultimate magical weapons. Ironically, she is also the weakest member of the Knight Rangers. In her petite green armor, she is more of a witch than a knight, possessing little physical ability in exchange for enhancing her own magecraft. She is the team’s support, providing heals, buffs, and crowd control from a safe backline to help her teammates win. At the end of the day, though, she isn’t a fighter; she’s only there to watch her masterpieces in action and support her friends in battle.

Devoted, diligent, driven, Green is a paragon of Piety. She carries with her a grand duty and an impossible task, but endeavors with all her soul to see it to completion. No matter what sacrifice she must make, there is no cost she will not stop at to do what she must.

“… well, that’s a little dramatic. It’s just, y’know… with great power comes great responsibility.”

Identity
Ranger Green’s true identity is Nelly Evergreen.

She is a 19-year old student at the Clock Tower’s Department of Botany and the heir to the long withstanding Evergreen family. Ever since her father unexpectedly passed away while she was 10, she has worked hard to carry the family name and complete their generations of research. It was in that aim that she put the finishing touches on her father’s – no, her lineage’s – project and completed the Green Knight Armors.

In her personal life, Nelly is a shy, introverted girl who doesn’t have any friends at school and doesn’t do many activities outside of it. Keeping almost entirely to herself, she has devoted herself solely to her studies and furthering her family’s research. To any outsider, she comes across as a soft, timid squirrel that might explode if you shove her in between too many extroverts. But deep inside, she possesses a brighter passion and a deeper conviction than anyone else.

Once the Green Knight Armors were completed, she went on a journey to find ways to implement them when she ran into Red and he accidentally activated one of them. From there, the inspiration to form the Knight Rangers came to her and the rest is history. She has since stuck around the growing group of civilian warriors, providing them the magical support they need to make their goals come true, like a little tiny fairy godmother.

Of course, in truth, it is actually the other way around. The Knight Rangers revolve around her and they are all actually helping her achieve her goals. They just don’t realize that… that they too are the guinea pigs for some magus’s sick experiment.

The Green Knight
The Evergreen family are a lineage of magi that have resided in Britain for several generations and whose roots stretch back to the Arthurian era. They are self-styled “students of Morgan le Fay” and the bulk of their magical research lies in reproducing and adapting the magecrafts of the legendary witch. In particular, what they are aiming for the most is the spell to transform a person into the Green Knight.

The Green Knight is a strange, otherworldly figure that appears in the tale of Sir Gawain of the Knights of the Round Table. He is a peculiar-looking man with green skin and green armor who appears before Arthur’s court out of nowhere, issuing a challenge. He presents himself as an incredibly powerful being, capable of defeating any of Arthur’s knights, and even when decapitated, he survives and just reattaches it. Due to some circumstances, Gawain is tasked with dealing with this adversary and he goes on a quest to do so in which his virtues as a knight are tested and proven. In the end, he comes face-to-face with the green knight and survives the encounter. It is then revealed that the whole ordeal was a test of Gawain’s character and that he has successfully passed and thus gets to live.

The existence of the Green Knight is a topic of much interest for many scholars and researchers of Arthurian Mythos. Many believe that his pure green appearance signifies a deep symbolic connection to nature. In English Folklore, the color Green strongly symbolizes nature and its associated attributes, such as fertility or rebirth. On the other hand, it is also said to be strongly connected to witchcraft and the fairies of early English folklore. Based on these ideas, many magi studying Arthurian mysteries have interpreted the Green Knight to be an avatar of Nature itself. They believe he is an extension of the planet, a nature spirit that has reached the level of an Elemental. Some even go so far as to theorize that his trial is the planet’s way of testing King Arthur to see if he is truly worthy of wielding Excalibur, the sword forged by the planet itself.

At the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however, it is revealed that Morgan le Fay was the true mastermind behind the whole event. In reality, the Green Knight was actually a regular human man named Bertilak de Hautedesert who Morgan transformed into the Green Knight with her magecraft. While her reasons for doing so are a mystery, what’s important is that the Green Knight is not some naturally occurring manifestation of nature. He is a human who became an avatar of Nature through magecraft.

That is the true goal of the Evergreen family’s magical research, a spell that can freely turn a human into an avatar of nature. At the pinnacle of this path, they believe that a person transformed by this spell will be able to wield the planet’s boundless power as if it were an extension of their own body. For that goal, they have been doing extensive research within the Clock Tower’s Faculty of Botany for generations, studying both the connection between humans and nature and the dark witchcrafts necessary for their ritual. And in the current generation, they have finally created the first working prototype of their dream spell.

Five Knight Armors
The incomplete prototype of the Evergreen family’s magnum opus.

They are the apparatuses now known as Ranger Belts, being used to give the Knight Rangers their special powers. What is being treated like a super-powered costume by these civilian teenagers is actually an incredibly powerful and magically rich mystic code with generations of magecraft behind it. It is physically modeled after the Belt of Bertilak, the special magical item that Gawain obtains during his quest which protects him from the Green Knight’s axe. In theory, the mystic code has the ability to transform anyone who wears it into the Green Knight, turning them into an avatar of nature. In such a form, they become connected to the planet, able to endlessly draw magical energy from it and to wield its power freely.

In practice, the Ranger Belts are not yet at that level. Nelly’s father had reached a level of near completion on the Green Knight Armor but he ran into a final wall and couldn’t get it to activate at all. After his passing, Nelly took on the challenge with a fresh perspective and came up with her own solution to giving the armor a little extra oomph: if one isn’t enough, how about five? Five is an especially important recurring number in the story of Gawain and the Green Knight. The symbol on Gawain’s shield is a pentagle and its five points symbolize many things, such as the five chivalric virtues, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of Mary, etc. By splitting the power of the Green Knight into five, the parts can synergize and boost the overall result. Thus, Nelly took the Green Knight Armor her father created and turned it into five Knight Armors, managing to activate them at last once she met a worthy wielder.

One aspect as to why this work revealed itself to Nelly as they gathered more members. The Knight Armors can only activate when a person with sufficient virtue wields them. In the context of the legend of the Green Knight, this makes sense. The whole point of the quest was to test Gawain’s chivalry and his virtues. Thus, someone who does not also possess such virtues cannot wield the power of the Green Knight; it will automatically try to reject such a person by principle. In the modern era of modern sensibilities, a person who embodies all five of the chivalric virtues is next to impossible to find… but if it was just one such virtue, it becomes possible. By splitting the virtues into five different containers, a potential user only needs to embody one specific virtue to be chosen and activate the mystic code – a much lower hurdle to clear.

While this method made the Knight Armors finally work and activate, the results weren’t perfect. As powerful as they are, the Knight Forms of the Knight Rangers are still not at the level of connection to nature that the Evergreen family is aiming for. By creating five armors, the power of the Green Knight has been split into five… no, frankly, it has been reduced to an even smaller fraction. Instead of each having complete mastery over nature, the power has been split into the different aspects of nature: the atmosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere – which has been further split between the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. And while users can control nature to some extent, they are not truly “one with nature”, just borrowing its power in a sense. The fact that the other knights are not Green is proof to Nelly that the knight armors are not perfected yet. For the magecraft that her family dreamed of, there cannot be a red knight or a blue knight. It only means something when there is a Green Knight.

However, after the Knight Rangers unlocked the power of Nature Transform, greatly deepening their connection to nature, Nelly believes that there is still hope that the Knight Armors can evolve and a true Green Knight may someday emerge.

Knight Powers
Green’s Knight Form takes the form of a cute, armored witch with a green dress and hat. It is the least knight-like of all the Knight Rangers and possesses next-to-none physical enhancements to the point it can hardly even be called a knight armor anymore. Even so, it still grants Green the power to become one with nature.

The Green Ranger Belt’s unique ability allows her to harness the power of Plants. With Nature Control, she is able to control the growth of plantlife and manifest a variety of plants. She primarily uses this alongside her own botany-based magecraft to quickly mix magical potions on the spot that can support her team. For example, with the right blend, she can create a magically healing herbal salve that she can spray on her allies and heal their wounds. Other potions she can create include enhancing narcotics or debilitating poisons for her enemies. She can also use her plant control to blast her opponents with sharp needles or restrain them with vines.

Through Nature Transform, Green can give her body the properties of plants. In her case, this primarily means the power to take energy from the sun and the earth. All of the knight armors draw magical energy from the planet, but Green has a deeper connection to the elements around her. Simply standing still allows her to greatly absorb magical energy from the sun or the land itself, as if she were always connected to a powerful leyline. This grants her nearly limitless access to magical energy, letting her cast her magecraft without worry.

Perhaps the fact that her knight armor takes more of a witch-like form and lacks much physical powers is indicative of Nelly’s nature. As an actual magus, she is naturally less virtuous than her teammates, but as a magus, she has deeper understanding of magecraft and stronger connection to nature. Perhaps the fact that she is the only Green member of the group shows that she is the one closest to the Green Knight. The only problem then is the fact that she doesn’t have what it takes to become a knight.

Personal Talents
It should be reiterated that Nelly is the only actual magus among the Knight Rangers. She is a proficient magecraft user with a deep knowledge of witchcraft and botany-based spells. She is capable of brewing bespoke potions for any occasion and can use familiars and boundary fields for any number of useful situations. In a fight without the Ranger Belts, she would obviously be the strongest among the group.

Furthermore, Nelly is the one who finds magi for the group to defeat and the one who thinks up any other missions they can take. While the others go about their everyday life, she works hard in the background to research any magi who might be doing evil deeds and figuring out if it’s okay to kill them without invoking some noble’s wrath. Thanks to her efforts, she has never once given the Knight Rangers a target that didn’t deserve a little vigilante justice and she is particular about removing as much moral complication from the equation as she can for the others’ mental health. As the only magus in the group, she sees it as her job to take on most of the darkness of the world of magi for them. After all, she’s the one who brought them here…

Piety
Nelly Evergreen has always been a shy, reserved girl. In youth, her single father had been her entire world – her best friend, her closest companion, and most trusted guardian. She was the type of child who cared less about playing with kids her age and more about rushing home so she could see her dad again. So when he suddenly passed away when she was 11, something must’ve torn apart within her.

She became obsessed with completing his final project, with giving meaning to his lifetime of research, and with being able to tell him that he could rest in peace. She withdrew herself even deeper into her work and neglected any other outside connections. It was… lonely, of course, but she felt a deep connection to her father driving her forward.

Yet, after meeting the other Knight Rangers, she has slowly started coming out of her own shell. She has opened up more, become more talkative, and spends less time cooped up in her own room. Frankly, the Knight Rangers have really become something of a family to her. They are her closest friends and she wishes the best for all of them. If there is something she can do for them or their goals with her magecraft, than she’s happy to play fairy godmother. Right now, they are the most precious people in her life.

But at the end of the day, none of that matters. After all, she’s a magus.

The chivalric virtue Nelly embodies is Piety. Filial piety. A devout fidelity to one’s obligations. An immovable sense of duty and responsibility. Prioritizing family and obedience above all else.

That’s why, for the sake of her family’s ambition, for the sake of her father’s wishes, she will do whatever it takes. Even if it means using and abusing four lost souls and dragging them into the bloody world of magi. Frankly speaking, Nelly has no motivation or interest in the Knight Rangers’ mission of justice. It doesn’t benefit her family whatsoever. What she’s actually after is the combat data she gets to gather from observing their battles. She believes that the answer to perfecting the Knight Armors will reveal itself best in practical usage. The members unlocking Nature Transform further proved to her that there is more to learn about how the armors interact with humans that she can study only by letting them fight and grow. Thus, she pushes the group to face more and more foes so that she can gather more data.

Now, if she were truly heartless, she could in theory just capture all the members, throw them in a cage with some monsters, and gather data that way. The fact she is interacting with them and risking her own life to support them shows she does care. But if she were truly kind, she wouldn’t have let them become Knight Rangers it begin. She understands well that civilians have no place in the world of Magi. The fact that they even made it this far is proof that the four of them are not normal people.

A boy who will not hesitate to kill someone to save someone.
A girl so empathetic she fell in love with a fictional character.
A man who would dedicate his life to avenging people he barely knew.
A guy who respects a culture so much he doesn’t question the difference in morality.

Any normal person would’ve never gotten involved, but their particular traits made them accept the magical world all too easily. In some sense, it’s their own choice and their own fault but... if Nelly truly cared about them and wanted the best for them, she would steer them away from magus society. Yet she only continues to pull them closer.

For the sake of her family’s goal, she will even treat her closest friends as guinea pigs. She will let them die for the sake of a few points of data.

After all, she is a magus. She was also chosen by the Ranger Belt.

Of course she isn’t a normal person either.

[TQG Imaginatorious]

Armored Squadron
Knight Rangers: For the first two entries (red and pink), I foresaw that there will be a twist to the group and that twist might be revealed in Green's entry because she's the first. Lo and behold, I am correct because otherwise, this would not have fit in with the Nasuverse at all. Especially with the whole fighting for justice part while working for the Clocktower part. I am pleasantly surprised about the armours being a attempt to recreate the Green Knight though.

[PA270]

Knight Rangers: Absolutely sublime, as expected from you, Zikari! The slow buildup was really well-done, and as a Super Sentai fan, I really appreciate how well you made it feel like a proper Sentai team (well, Ranger team, but eh, tomato tomatoh). And the ultimate reveal made it all come together in a really satisfying way. I might not be able to vote for it, but really well-done! And I hope that anyone else who had a sheet in the works but couldn't make the deadline finds a way to post it, because we've got some absolute bangers this contest. And speaking of bangers, voting time!

3 Points: Astrea
2 Points: Gottfried Ōkotsuyuki
1 Point: The Butterfly Phenomenon

Honorable Mentions: Everyone else, as always!

Believe me, you have no idea how much I agonized over who was going to get the top spot. In the end, I made my choice based on legibility; while Gottfried is absolutely phenomenal, the fact that I missed the two(?) hidden text portions on first read, and the lack of a proper write-up of the Ōkotsuyuki Magecraft as it's intended to be used, which would have helped with showing how much O-kotsu Ryōkai Mandara is a twisted deviation, gave Astrea just enough of an edge to claim the top spot. But seriously, brilliant work from everyone this time around! God I love this contest so much!

[OddEyedDuelist]

1 Point: Gottfried Okotsuyuki by MuramasaMachII
Ya gotta love a crazed artist. This sheet is extremely compelling, and following Gottfried's descent into madness juxtaposed with the sudden shift to seeing him from an outside perspective. The formatting mimicking the idea of paint strokes was also super fun. Had this contest not been so stacked, he could have easily placed higher.

2 Points: Butterfly Phenomenon by SaltPillar
Two reads in and...I still don't fully get it. But that's a skill issue on my part. I'm just a little stupid. But the effort and passion put into this sheet is self-evident. Most importantly, this sheet feels like a part of the world. I don't know quite how to explain it, but everything just feels like it fits together in regards to this sheet, if that makes sense? The ideas are folded into the world nicely, the themes and genre inspirations native to the Nasuverse were used well and the original ideas fit in like puzzle pieces. Spectacular work. Between this and my three point it was down to the wire, and I alternated them a few times while writing this. Stand proud, you've cooked.

3 Points: Astea by Frigix
I think at this point I've got to admit I'm a sucker for whatever secret sauce Frigix puts in their sheets, because they're a pretty consistent high scorer for me most times I see a sheet of theirs. I like the ties to the Library of Alexandria, I like the emotional throughline for this sheet, and Astea is incredibly charming as a character. The overall themes presented in this sheet are extremely well done and I think Historia is a very fun mystic code. The magecraft ideas are on point, the character is on point, and this is a sheet I just really enjoy reading. Excellent work.

[Salt Pillar]

its Mr. Phenomenon for you.

[OddEyedDuelist]

its Mr. Phenomenon for you.

I may be just a little stupid

[PA270]

its Mr. Phenomenon for you.

Also my bad!