Elfman Strauss

**Elfman Strauss** is an S-Class Mage candidate of the Fairy Tail Guild and the brother of Mirajane and Lisanna Strauss.

## Physical Appearance

Elfman is a large man with tan-colored skin, whose height causes him to tower over most of his fellow guild members and a massive muscular physique. His long white hair is kept styled up-and outward in long, wavy spikes, his dark eyes possess no visible eyebrows and his rectangular, elongated face has a stitched scar running down its right side, crossing his right eye and sideburns. His black Fairy Tail stamp is located on the left part of his neck.

Elfman generally wears a green, short-sleeved jacket that is open, revealing his bear chest. His jacket also has a yellow trimming with two shoulder protectors with the middle open on each shoulder. For lower attire, he wears dark green pants held by a brown belt, and a pair of brown sneakers with light-brown soles. Elfman's outfit rarely remains intact: employing his Take Over Beast Arm prompts the sleeve of Elfman's right arm to be torn to pieces, leaving his arm bare, and his pants tend to get shorter, torn edges as a result of his Beast Soul: Full-Body Take Over changing the structure of his legs; when he makes use of it, his pants also gain extremely spiky higher edges.

## Personality

During his childhood, Elfman was notably shy and weak, with his only real talent being for cooking. This caring nature of his, which was under-appreciated by many members at the time, became quite useful for his younger sister Lisanna and Natsu though, as he looked after Happy's egg before it hatched. After Lisanna's supposed death, Elfman's personality changed drastically. He sought to become stronger in order to protect his sister, Mirajane, as well as his own guild.

He considers himself the strong-willed and proud powerhouse of Fairy Tail. He is very self-conscious about his manliness and always uses the word "man" as a self-proclaimed image of himself and as a guide for others to follow. He also scowled at Jet and Droy of Team Shadow Gear for putting Levy in danger during their mission and also -on their part- failing to show pride as men.

Despite his huge ego and short temper, he is always very kind, loving and protective of his sisters Mirajane and Lisanna, going to great lengths to protect them from any sort of danger, even threatening S-Class Mages or people who may even be stronger than himself, such as Bacchus.

## Abilities

**Take-Over**: Elfman, alongside his sisters Mirajane and Lisanna, is known for the accomplished use of Take Over, a form of Magic which, as the name implies, allows the user to take over the appearance and abilities of beings they really "know". It is their use of such Magic which made the three of them known as the "Take Over Siblings". Elfman's form of Take Over Magic is called Beast Soul, which allows him to record and seal a monster's body part he has touched into his right arm, gaining the ability to subsequently transform his arm into that of the creature. Transformations seem to take place by tearing Elfman's clothes off and covering his bare arm (or his entire body) with many flat, square-shaped plates, which subsequently disappear, revealing the summoned part. When he first revealed his power to Mirajane, Elfman displayed poor control of his transformations, suddenly changing his arm from the leg of a bear, to that of a giraffe; though also proving that even at a young age he had the strength to Take Over simple beasts.

* **Partial Take Over**: Initially, Elfman, unlike his sisters, could only utilize Beast Arm, which exclusively transforms his right arm, something which made him uncomfortable. However, Elfman's unique way of using Beast Soul seems to be somehow renowned, as several members of Phantom Lord were shown recognizing and acknowledging him through his use of it, and this is the reason behind his epithet "*Beast Arm Elfman*".
	+ **Beast Arm: Black Bull**: Elfman transforms his arm into that of a large black beast's arm, which is dark in color and sports prominent muscles. It presumably increases Elfman's punching power or his strength, making him more formidable in melee combat as his punches are powerful enough to break both stone and bone, and even dent steel.
	+ **Beast Arm: Iron Bull**: Elfman transforms his arm into that of a large beast's arm composed of metal, which is somehow similar to a gauntlet, sporting plates and different lines of bolts. Much like **Beast Arm: Black Bull**, it presumably increases his punching power, making his punches stronger due to its large mass and the heavy material which it is composed of, as well as making them more deadly in combat
	+ **Beast Arm: Stone Bull**: Elfman turns his arm into that of a beast's arm composed of stone, presumably increasing his attack power. The plates covering his arm in such form are reminiscent of those he summons to initiate his Take Over transformations.
	+ **Beast Arm: Reptile**: Elfman transforms his arm into that of a reptilian beast's arm, covered in scales and sporting sharp claws. It has enough power to send several people flying at once and to successfully grab and stop Gajeel Redfox's Iron Dragon's Club from a close range.
	+ **Beast Arm: Bear**: Elfman transforms his arm into that of a furry black beast's arm with sharp claws. It's very big and possesses great throwing power, as it was able to grab Totomaru while the latter was encased in ice and send him flying through the roof, tens and tens of meters up in the sky, in one throw, making him disappear from sight.
	+ **Beast Arm: Jet Black Sword**: After being pierced by Rustyrose's Jet Black Sword, Elfman used his Take Over Magic on him, gaining the ability to transform his arm into a large one composed of metal plates and sharp claws, identical to Rustyrose's spell. This grants Elfman great cutting power and was described by Rustyrose as being capable of cutting through anything. However, Rustyrose's own Golden Shield was capable of stopping the claws' slash.
* **Full-Body Take Over**: His first attempt to do so resulted in a catastrophe, with Elfman losing his will to the creature he tried to completely take over, running wild and seemingly causing the death of his sister Lisanna, something which prevented him from attempting to use Full-Body Take Over ever since. However, when his sister Mirajane found herself in danger during the confrontation between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, Elfman managed to achieve controlled Full-Body Take Over, surpassing the seeming limits of this Magic to save his sibling.
	+ **Beast Soul**: This is one of Elfman’s most powerful spells, whose first attempt seemingly brought to Lisanna's death and which was eventually mastered during his fight with Sol, Beast Soul allows Elfman to completely take over the appearance and abilities of a powerful, beastly creature known as “The Beast”, described by Mirajane as “the King of monsters”. In said state, Elfman’s size increases exponentially, with his arms growing longer, larger and sprouting sharp claws, and he becomes covered in thick fur, with his abdomen and pectorals prominent in the middle. His hair takes on a mane-like appearance, his ears and canine teeth become pointed, and he grows a pair of striped horns pointing upwards, starting from a plate on his forehead. During his first controlled use of said spell, Elfman’s legs, much smaller in comparison to his large arms and torso, grew dark hooves, and he also gained a pair of protrusions sprouting from his shoulders, similar in appearance to his horns; when it was used again during the Battle of Fairy Tail arc, however, Elfman’s feet bore resemblance to a large bird’s, with dark claws, and the protrusions on his shoulder weren't visible anymore. He was shown again with his horn-like protrusions on the shoulders during his and Evergreen's fight with Rustyrose. In both forms, however, the only piece of Elfman’s attire which remains on are his pants, which get shorter as a result of his transformation and sprout extremely prominent and spiky upper edges.
		- **Enhanced Speed**: Despite his larger size, Elfman’s speed is increased drastically in such state, as shown when he charged at the agile Sol and rapidly defeated him with a barrage of fists while spinning rapidly on himself, without giving the opponent a single chance to react, whereas before he couldn’t land a blow on him. Elfman can also rapidly move around by jumping, and climb on vertical surfaces through the use of his claws with great agility and speed.
		- **Enhanced Strength**: This form further boosts Elfman's already great physical might, so much that he was capable of releasing Mirajane from the grip of Phantom Lord’s gigantic Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II without much trouble, and of stopping Belcusas' enormous fist with a single arm.
		- **Enhanced Smell**: In this state, Elfman’s sense of smell is greatly increased, being comparable to a beasts, as he was capable of chasing the flying Evergreen around while blindfolded, in order to avoid her Stone Eyes being used on him.

**Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant**: Elfman is a melee specialist, with hand-to-hand combat, paired with his various Beast Arms, being the main element of his fighting style. He was shown making short work of different Phantom Lord members, defeating some of them with fast and accurate punches and others through sheer physical strength, and could also engage in close-range combat with Gajeel Redfox, being eventually struck just due to distraction. During the preliminary phase of the Grand Magic Games, Elfman was shown capable of easily dispatching several opponents in unarmed combat even without the aid of his Take Over, using both strong punches and simple grips to overwhelm his foes.

**Immense Strength**: As evident of his massive size and muscular build, Elfman possesses a very high degree of physical strength: even without the use of his Beast Arms, he's shown to be capable of lifting four humans by himself, holding two under each of his arm, without effort and to run freely while doing so. He is also able to send several people flying high up in the air through simple punches even without the aid of his Magic.

**Immense Durability**: Elfman possesses great constitution and durability. He was shown undergoing a barrage of Magical and physical attacks from Sol without giving up or losing the will to fight, even when he was sent crashing through a wall by Sol's strongest spell. During his fight with Rustyrose, Elfman further demonstrated his durability, enduring many slashes from the Dark Mage's Jet Black Sword and even managing to grab onto it and hold it still while it was piercing his body; he was also able to stand and walk after being struck by the massive explosion generated by Rustyrose's Tower of Dingir, which caused a pair of sharp sticks to pierce his chest and even carry the similarly injured Evergreen alongside him; in addition, he was one of the first heavily injured Fairy Tail members shown awake and capable of standing after their respective battles, something which led to Rustyrose's defeat.

**Immense Endurance**: Elfman has been noted to possess a very large amount of stamina: while clad in his Lizardman form, he was shown able to undergo a long and exhausting barrage of unarmed blows from Bacchus, a S-Class Mage from the Quatro Cerberus guild specializing in hand-to-hand combat, whose strength is said to rival Erza Scarlet's, and remain the only one standing afterwards. Erza herself described Elfman's stamina as being likely unrivaled within Fairy Tail.

**Enhanced Reflexes**: Despite his large size, Elfman has displayed great reflexes and deceptively high speed, having been capable of evading most of Gajeel's close-range attacks during their brief confrontation, even when the latter assaulted him from different directions with the branches of his Iron Dragon's Club, a move which struck several people who were standing quite away from the two of them, but which Elfman, who was right in front of Gajeel, managed to avoid without fail.

**Great Magic Power**: As an S-Class Mage Candidate of Fairy Tail, Elfman boasts a great amount of magic power.