Aura

* Anime
* Manga

**Aura** 「アウラ, *Aura*?」, also known as **Aura the Guillotine** 「断 (だん) 頭 (とう) 台 (だい) のアウラ, *Dantōdai no Aura*?」 is one of the Seven Sages of Destruction directly serving the Demon King. Using her signature magic, Auserlese, she weighs the mana of her opponent's soul as well as her own on her Scales of Obedience, granting the soul with more mana complete control over the other's body.

## Personality

Aura is, as a demon, an articulate monster who is individualistic and harbors no sense of empathy. Even though she has her executioners as subordinates, she was not distressed in the slightest to learn of their demise. Typical of her race, she has strong confidence in the superiority of her magic and seems to enjoy battles where she thinks she has the upper hand. However, Aura has also shown to be a cautious person. When she is up against enemies whom she could not beat, such as the Hero Party, she will opt to choose to retreat instead of trying to face them head-on. This tendency contributed to her survival when the Demon King was defeated. She also makes sure to check for signs of mana instability in a mage and is aware of the history of renowned mages that she fights, such as Frieren.

## Appearance

Aura has magenta hair that reaches to the middle of her back. Her hair is gathered in two large pigtails tied at the shoulder. The remaining hair in the pigtails is sectioned off into three braids. Aura has dark blue eyes and two light brown horns protruding through her hair. She wears a dark, sleeveless bodice with white trimmings that has a cutout at her navel and a ruffled white skirt underneath. A magenta skirt tail is fastened at her waist with gold buttons, complementing the golden accessories at her neck. Her opera gloves are the same color as her bodice and wrap around her upper arm in a series of threads, and her boots are striped and reach her mid thigh.

## Synopsis

### History

Aura became a Sage of Destruction more than five hundred years ago and built an army out of the people whom she subjugated with her magic. She is famous for decapitating every person she successfully controlled upon finding out that a person with sufficient willpower could partially defy her magic, granting her the title of "Aura the Guillotine." At some point, she and all Sages of Destruction were called to assist in a coming battle against the Hero of the South under the command of Schlacht. She survived the encounter, though at the cost of three of her fellow Sages and Schlacht himself. When she faced the Hero Party, she suffered the loss of a significant portion of her undead army, was injured by Himmel, and was forced to retreat. The party would go on to defeat the Demon King. Afterwards, Aura remained in hiding until Himmel's passing.

After Himmel's death, Aura reappeared and began to wage a war in order to take over Graf Granat's Domain in the Northern Lands. This led to a bitter conflict with the humans there since and resulted in the death of Graf Granat's son after he was enlisted to fight in the war.

### Demon Infiltration

Twenty-eight years post Himmel's death, Aura, seemingly tired of war, sends three of her executioners as messengers to negotiate for peace with Graf Granat by the time Frieren's Party arrives. However, her real intention was to lower the Graf's guard and persuade him to disable the powerful barrier surrounding his domain, effectively giving her and her army free access.

However, Frieren kills Draht, one of Aura's executioners, and proceeds to confront her outside the town. After a short battle against her undead army, Aura finally decides to use her Scales of Obedience, putting both of their souls on it to see which individual possesses more mana. At first, the scale appears to favor her soul, but it suddenly starts shifting to Frieren. Frieren reveals her mana concealment strategy, and Aura is unable to comprehend that a mage would limit their mana their entire life just to deceive demons. Aura emphasizes that she has lived for over five hundred years, but Frieren reveals that she has lived for more than a thousand years and reveals her true mana output, which is much higher than Aura's. This leads to Aura losing to her own submission magic, giving Frieren free rein over Aura's body. Frieren then orders Aura to kill herself, to which she is forced to comply by cutting off her own head.

## Abilities

* **Spell of Obedience: Auserlese**: Aura's special magic. It manifests as a pair of Scales with which she weighs her and her target's souls. If Aura possesses more mana than her enemy, she can control their body forever using her Scales of Obedience. However, the subordination can be broken by someone with an indomitable will. Aura foregoes this problem by simply beheading the people she controls.
	+ Aura's magic is incredibly powerful, though it does have very high risk. As the soul with more mana can permanently take control of the loser's body, Aura puts her own life on the line when she uses her Scales of Obedience.

## Trivia

* In the manga, Aura first appears in Chapter 14 when Frieren explains who she is to Stark and Fern. However, this is cut from the anime and Frieren only mentions Aura by name.

## References

1. ↑ *Frieren: Beyond Journey's End* Manga:
 Chapter 22 (p. 15).
2. ↑ *Frieren: Beyond Journey's End* Manga:
 Chapter 14 (p. 7).