Cao Cao

**Cao Cao** is the leader of the Hero Faction that was previously affiliated with the Khaos Brigade, now a part of Team DxD. He is the wielder of the strongest and ultimate Longinus, the True Longinus.

He is the descendant of the original Cao Cao recorded in the legend of the Three Kingdoms. Born in a village in a remote part of China to a household of traditional farmers, his life changed after awakening his Longinus following a life-threatening encounter with a monster.

Cao Cao is the foster son of Sun Wukong, as well as the adoptive son of Indra, the King of Hindu Gods and Shachi, the Queen of Hindu Gods.

He is the youngest brother of two demigod of the Hindu epic *Mahābhārata*. Karna, the Son of the Sun God and Arjuna, the Endoward Hero. He is the adoptive older brother of Zhuge Liang, the descendant of Original Zhuge Liang.

He is named after his ancestor, the first Hero to exist in the Human World. He leads his own team that acts independently, known as the Hero Faction. Cao Cao becomes Indra's vanguard after Sun Wukong stepped down from his position.

## Appearance

Cao Cao is a handsome young man with short black hair and blue eyes. He wears a combination of a Japanese school uniform (more specifically, the *gakuran* worn by Japanese schoolboys in the fall) and ancient Chinese attire.

On Cao Cao's chest is a tattoo that is the seal of his Hindu Gods regenerative abilities. Though the ring around the symbol changes (seemingly depending on the severity of his injuries), the symbol in the center remains the same; it is a variant of the symbol for "Om", a symbol/sound/syllable featured in religions and belief systems such as Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.

He also lost his right eye while escaping from the Kyoto incident but later gained one of Medusa's eyes, restoring his sight. After his battle with Hyoudou Issei in Underworld, he lost his Medusa's eye and since Hazuki Clan, wears an eyepatch. His height is [177 cm] and body weight is [71 kg].

## Personality

Cao Cao is a charismatic and manipulative person, as he was able to convince many Sacred Gear users to join the Hero Faction either from their own will or by brainwashing them. He also believes that it is his responsibility as a descendant of a hero to destroy beings like Devils, Fallen Angels, and Dragons which he believes are threats to human beings.

Like his ancestor, he has the eyes to find people with good potential and considers them valuable talents. However, Cao Cao only accepts Humans with Sacred Gears in the Hero Faction and wants to see how far his faction can go against supernatural existences as he wants to test the limits of what humans are capable of. He is also cocky and arrogant, as he claims that he alone is enough to fight a god, and mocks opponents who are weak enough like Ladon.

He is even often seen turning his holy spear on his own comrades over small things, such as Liu Xiu and Litchi Faye Ling calling him by his given name, Cao, or Tomoe simply trying to talk to him. Despite his words, Cao Cao is frequently rescues those around him, even putting his own life at risk (like he does with Moeru); though he does it grudgingly and openly complains.

Because of their conflicting views about the worth of the lives of others, Cao Cao and Tomoe are almost constantly at one another's throats; Cao Cao ready to blame Tomoe for anything that goes wrong and Tomoe often breaking her polite exterior to let her "dark side" out as she incites an argument with Cao Cao.

Which frequently leads to physical confrontation. Cao Cao has openly told Tomoe he hates people "like her"; people who make promises they cannot keep and seem to fight without purpose. She calls Tomoe "beansprout".

He tends to lose his control and composure when he is injured by someone unexpectedly or been caught by unexpected unluckiness and things, as is seen when he gets infuriated when Issei hits his eye, and nearly lose his composure and self-control. Sun Wukong and Vasco Strada still consider his views and abilities are far amateur, childish, lacking and still have some development.

His cockiness would be his greatest downfall, according to Vali Lucifer, as he refuses to kill both Issei and Vali, and put his objectives first rather than them at that time, thus allowing Ise to defeat him during their third encounter. But still has some respects to those he deems worthy, those that manage to get his interest and he considers strong, such as Issei, Azazel, Vali, and Vasco Strada.

Like Georg, he tends to overthink things if some things do not tend to happen, the way he expects to be, as is seen when he over thinks Issei's survival by the help of Great Red and Ophis. He also believes in fate, where he believes that there is a reason why he met Issei, Vali, and other various strong people that exist.

It extended to the point that he mentioned in Spear of the Heavenly Emperor, the reason why he returned is that he wants to know why the True Longinus was given to him and why it choose him despite his past mistakes.

During his return in Kuoh Twon, he is shown willing to cooperates with the DxD against Qlippoth and during the Evil Dragon war, where he is shown helping various people including the last stand against Trihexa and the Evil Dragons as Indra's order, and align himself with the Grigori as its agent along with Tobio.

## History

Cao Cao was born in a remote village in a mountain in China to a traditional family of farmers. One day after getting lost in the mountain while playing with his friends, he encountered a monster he heard about in stories. Faced with death, he summoned the True Longinus for the first time and slew the monster. Half a year later he would meet Sun Wukong who would reveal his ancestor Cao Cao to him.

After being sold by his parents to strange men, he ran away from home but was chased down by men wielding weapons, human traffickers and wild animals. A few years on the run, he left China for another country and would learn how to use True Longinus and come to know it is a Longinus and one of the Holy Relics.

He abandoned his birth name for the name of the hero "Cao Cao". Returning home, he learned of his parents' death due to a huge amount of debt in money and left thereafter to form the Hero Faction, becoming acquainted with Indra through Sun at some point.

## Powers & Abilities

**Immense Strength:** Cao Cao has remarkable physical strength for a human due to inheriting a bit of his great-grandfather's divine blood. He has proven to be capable of handling combat with Ultimate-Class Devils using just his physical prowess alone. Cao Cao has proven to be capable of challenging and sometimes defeating opponents such as Hyoudou issei, his Peerages, and the Rias Gremory's Peerage.

**Immense Combat Skills**: Despite being a human and physically weaker than supernatural beings, Cao Cao has shown immense skills in combat which allowed him to single-handedly take down the Gremory team whilst simultaneously protecting Georg and Samael. While using his Balance Breaker, Cao Cao was able to easily defeat both Vali Lucifer and Azazel in their Balance Breaker armors, which resulted in Vali calling him the "Strongest Human". By working together with the Gremory team, he was able to take down Ladon, a legendary Evil Dragon without showing full power. Cao Cao is one of two humans who could equally fight against Vali's Juggernaut Drive at full power, the other being Ikuse Tobio. Vali even considers him one of the five candidates for the strongest human.

* **Expert Hand**-**to**-**Hand Combatant**: Cao Cao is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, with a preference for Pankration with a few techniques taken from other styles mixed in, which allows him great versatility when it comes to engaging opponents. He is experienced enough to clash almost evenly with his old teacher, Sun Wukong, although his body couldn't keep up with the old sage for long before collapsing.
* **Expert Swordsman**: During his fight with Tomoe Gozen, Cao Cao uses Blade of Heaven as a sword expertly, and easily defeats her with it. Even though it is really an arrow, and his main prowess lies in archery and speary techniques, it is clear that Cao Cao has some ability with the sword. He also uses his Blade of Heaven against Ayaka Shikone, and successfully holds her ground for a short time.

* **Master Spearman**: Cao Cao is well-versed in fighting with a spear and demonstrates extraordinary proficiency in wielding the True Longinus which takes the form of a spear. Cao Cao was able to fight on par with Azazel during their first encounter and to easily defeat him during their second encounter. Cao Cao had the upper hand on Issei with his Crimson Armor, albeit while using his Balance Breaker. With one swing of his spear, Cao Cao was able to defeat a large portion of mass-produced Evil Dragons. Cao Cao was able to keep up with Sairaorg Bael in his Breakdown the Beast. Cao Cao was easily able to overwhelm Sonneillon, a Devil with Satan-class powers and a unique ability; *Crushing*, which allows to "crush" objects and opponents through the use of an invisible force.
* **Perceptive Combatant**: Cao Cao is an extremely perceptive combatant, able to deduce the workings of most attacks instantly. Cao Cao had completely understood all the forms and weaknesses of Issei's Illegal Move Triaina. Cao Cao was able to deduce how Ladon's barrier ability worked and how to work around it. During his fight against Sairaorg Bael, Cao Cao was able to calculate the distance of the shockwaves created by Sairaorg Bael's fist to properly avoid them.Cao Cao was able to gauge the range of Sonneillon's Crushing ability and use that to avoid his gravity attacks.
* **Master Technician**: Cao Cao is a technique-type fighter who polishes his technique to utmost perfection. Vali has acknowledged Cao Cao as the ultimate technique-type combatant.

**Immense Durability**: While his durability is inferior to Issei's and Vali's, Cao Cao has shown great tolerance to damage and pain, having an arm chopped off by Issei's Ascalon only to calmly retrieve it and restore it back with a Phoenix Tear, as well as surviving a punch from Triaina Rook by blocking with the True Longinus, with the impact of his fall breaking the ground. Later on, he was able to survive the fatal pain of having his Medusa's eye destroyed by Samael's curse. Cao Cao was able to withstand a punch from Sairaorg Bael in his Breakdown the Beast by blocking with his spear, albeit Sairaorg Bael himself was in a grievously injured state.

**Immense Speed**: Cao Cao has shown incredible speed in combat much faster than the average human. He was able to match Azazel's Godspeed in his Downfall Dragon Spear Armor. Overall, Cao Cao was fast enough to easily fend off combined attacks from Vali and Azazel who are extremely fast combatants in their Balance Breaker armors. Cao Cao was capable of evading many Sairaorg Bael in his Breakdown attacks, which are faster than Kiba Yuuto.

**Gifted Senses:** Cao Cao is shown to have extremely sharp senses by nature which he further honed to the absolute limit. Coupled with his combat and analytic progress, he can sense and see through many things that are usually hard or impossible to avoid or detect like Vali and Azazel high-speed attacks or Ladon's barrier weakness. In Underworld, during his battle with Sairaorg Bael, Sona Sitri pointed out that he can fight on par with Sairaorg purely thought his natural gifted senses to avoid both his aura-enchanted punches well as shockwaves generated from them.

**Senjutsu Master**: Under the guidance of Sun Wukong he became extremely proficient at the Sage Arts, although in his avatar he can only use them with the help of a mystic tattoo inscribed on his body. He's able to hide his presence, rejuvenate others, sever their inner energies and remove poison from one's own body. It even allows him to "sense" his surroundings after being blinded and deafened by the detonation of a nuclear device.

* **Cataclysm**: By interfering with the natural energy of the world using its immeasurable amount of ki, Cao Cao is able to simultaneously create a variety of natural disasters that devastate the surrounding area with himself acting as their epicenter. The phenomena involved include earthquakes, floods, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
* **Tōki**: As a master of Senjutsu, Cao Cao can use tōki to greatly strengthen his body and generate shockwaves with his punches. He is described to possess an overwhelming amount of ki. In his True form his hits can easily crumble mountains and damage beings as powerful as Trihexa.
* **Overburst**: Through his mastery of the energies within his body, Cao Cao is capable of pushing his body and magic beyond their normal limits, amplifying them greatly at the expense of subsequent damage to his body. He noted that using this technique is inherently inefficient, much like using the afterburners of an aircraft, as in exchange for twice his usual power he consumes four times as much energy.

**Magic Expert**: It is stated by Vali that Cao Cao has some skills in magic. He has used such to fly during his fight with Azazel in Kyoto. Cao Cao can create Hindu transportation magic circle. He can use magic to fly in mid air.

**Enhanced Smell**: Even in his body, Cao Cao has an great sense of smell, which allows him a limited ability to track targets by scenting the air.

**Mystic Eyes**: An ability that grants Cao Cao "True Sight", allowing him to see that which is normally concealed, such as invisible energy, curses, runes, illusions and at times the inner workings of spells, if he is familiar with their school of magic. They manifest by coloring his iris crimson and morphing his pupil into a slit. They are constantly active in his God form.

**Expert Alchemist**: Cao Cao is extremely knowledgeable in the fields of alchemy and chemistry, having studied both extensively. He was shown capable of fabricating artificial and fully functioning human bodies, known as avatars, which are powerful enough to match and at times exceed a Satan-class devil in both magical and physical output, although they aren't as durable.

**Genius Level-Intellect**: Cao Cao is very well versed in battle tactics as well as manipulation, much like his ancestor. He effectively deduces how the abilities of his opponents work and figures out their weaknesses, wasting no movements, neutralizing their attacks and accurately predicts their actions and fighting style shortly into a fight, allowing him to dictate and manipulate the battle.

* **Master Tactician**: Cao Cao is a very calculative and observant strategist, as he studies and researches his enemies before he battles them so he can read their movements and attack and counter them effectively.
	+ **Adaptation:** Cao Cao could easily adapt to the conditions and environments around him, allowing him to virtually fight in any possible situations.

**Flight:** Cao Cao has demonstrated the ability to stay afloat in mid-air.

## Equipment

**True Longinus**: Cao Cao's Sacred Gear and his main weapon of choice. The True Longinus is the first and most powerful Longinus, which was the same spear that St. Longinus used to stab Jesus Christ. It is stated to be able to pierce gods and satans, as well as possessing the potential to destroy the world. It is able to kill and vaporize High-Class Devils using a single stab, create a blade made out of light able to vaporize Ultimate-Class Devils, release enormous light blasts, extend and retract itself according to his will. This spear has proven to be able to shield Cao Cao from fatal attacks as shown against both Issei and Sairaorg; even split apart powerful attacks in half. It has shown to be capable of shielding Ken against fatal attacks, and split powerful energy blasts with a single slash. It can also release enormous Light Energy Projection easily vaporizing devils and make a pillar of light out of light energy.

* **True Longinus Götterdämmerung**: also known as the **Holy Spear of the Pure White Night**, is the original Balance Breaker of the True Longinus. It has yet to be shown in the series. The True Longinus is an ornate spear with a dark blue rod, and is more extensive than regular spears. It features golden metal decorations, in the shapes of arrow tips, that spiral around in a double helix pattern. The decorations finish at the top of the rod of the spear which features a white circle, which is completely empty, and has a cross that fills in the circle, but not completely. There is a small silver stump which features four protrusions, two on the left and the other two on the right. The tip of the spear is silver, and similar to the rod of the spear is longer than other types of spears.

* **Polar Night Longinus Chakravartin**: Cao Cao's sub-species Balance Breaker. It creates seven orbs called the **Seven Treasures**, each having different abilities and an intense ring of light. Each of the orbs carries the same shape and size, making it hard for one to predict which one is being used next; the orbs also moves around according to his will and turn into a spear to attack his opponent along with being able to pierce the barriers of Ladon. Cao Cao can concentrate the Balance Breaker's power into the holy spear to increase the holy aura to the point that it can penetrate Sairaorg's Breakdown the Beast armor.
	+ **Chatsuka Ratana**: The **Wheel Treasure** - It has the power to take control and destroy the weapons of others. Cao Cao demonstrated this ability to control all the Holy Swords created by Jeanne, turning them into numerous powerful projectiles against the Devils of Team Red Dragon Emperor of the Blazing Truth. He also used it to destroy Xenovia's Ex-Durandal, separating the False Excalibur cores from Durandal.
	+ **Itsutei Ratana**: The **Female Treasure** - It has the ability to control the powers of others, especially females. Only sufficiently powerful opponents could resist this ability, as it can also seal any unique technique of others, including Sacred Gear abilities. Cao Cao used it to temporarily seal away Issei's powers.
	+ **Atsusa Ratana**: The **Horse Treasure** - It has the ability to teleport both the wielder and others to anywhere within a 100-meter radius. Cao Cao used it to forcefully teleport Toujou Kuroka and Le Fay Pendragon directly into the Issei's Dragon Shot's attack line, making them his meatshields and endure Issei's attack.
	+ **Mala Ratana**: The **Pearl Treasure** - It has the ability to redirect the opponents' attacks. Cao Cao used it to redirect Vali Lucifer's demonic power attack toward Toujou Koneko.
	+ **Hatsutei Ratana**: The **Elephant Treasure** - It has the ability to control gravity within a 100-meter radius. Cao Cao used it to increase the gravitational pull within the area, forcing the entire Team Vajra down to the ground, unable to lift themselves up.
	+ **Kahabatei Ratana**: The **Householder Treasure** - It has the ability to create warrior-like existences and acts in the same way as Blade Blacksmith's Balance Breaker: Blade Knight Mass. Cao Cao can use them as a shield to avoid damage from powerful attacks or hide among them to surprise enemies with a hidden attack.
	+ **Balinayaka Ratana**: The **General Treasure** - It has the ability to generate powerful destructive energy, capable of destroying buildings out of existence within seconds. Its destructive power is said to be on-par with the Power of Destruction of the Bael Clan. Cao Cao used it in his second duel with Hyoduou Issei, creating immense damage onto him while he was in his Damnation Diavolos Dragon form.
* **Nirvana Dragon Overlord**, also known as "**Holy Dragon Tyrant Who Received Enlightenment**", is Cao Cao's Abyss Side Balance Breaker of the True Longinus. It creates seven orbs called Jewels behind his back, with each orb being composed of a different element and possessing a different ability. Cao Cao first demonstrated it against Nyx. Upon invoking it, his hair turns white and his form becomes enveloped by a flowing white robe over a black full-body suit.
	+ **Fire Jewel**: Has the ability to manifest fire, generally used by either firing blasts of scorching heat or by enveloping large areas in blazing domes of energy. It appears as a blazing ball of flames.
	+ **Ice Jewel**: Has the ability to manifest several "limbs" made of ice from his back, capable of constraining and freezing whatever target they come in contact with. It appears as a frigid ball of ice crystals.
	+ **Water Jewel**: Has the ability to heal physical wounds by coming in contact with them, even those belonging to others, although there are restrictions. Excessive usage will exhaust the Jewel, causing it to lose effectiveness and finally disappear. It appears as a shifting sphere of green liquid.
	+ **Metal Jewel**: Has the ability to control metal in his surroundings, such as swords, as well as to increase the durability of his body. It appears as a perfect sphere of mercury.
	+ **Mind Jewel**: Has the ability to greatly boost his mental faculties by increasing the speed and efficiency of his thought processes, as well as allowing him to hold different lines of thought simultaneously. In practice, it appears as if he instantly reacted to any event the moment instantaneously. It also makes him immune to mental interference, such as spells or possession. It appears as a transparent ball with branching sparks inside.
	+ **Space Jewel**: Has the ability to create distortions in the fabric of space such as opening wormholes or generating powerful black holes, capable of attracting their surroundings into themselves. It can also bend space, albein slightly, to alter the trajectory of objects or spells. It appears as a sphere of distorted space.
	+ **Darkness Jewel**: Also known as the Cursed Jewel, it has the ability to manifest and control several tendrils of darkness imbued with curses. These tendrils are capable of restricting, dissolving and absorbing whatever they come in contact with, including magic. When use against live targets it bombards their mind with visions of horror, further ostacolating any attempted retaliation. Cao Cao considers this the strongest of the seven abilities due to how difficult it is to work around. Effectiveness is somewhat low against users of darkness-related abilities or those with Holy protection. It appears as a black sphere with a reddish aura.

* **Truth Idea**: It also known as the **Brightness of Supremacy**, is the forbidden ability exclusive to the True Longinus, which is similar to the Juggernaut Drive in nature. Azazel calls it "**The Dying Will of the God of the Bible**". The powers of the Truth Idea are dependent on the God sealed within the Holy Spear, using the wielder's ambition as a guideline to create many effects and miracles, which will be different depending on what the Holy Spirit chooses; from granting an absolute power to destroy the opponents, or a blessing to the opponents to capture their hearts. It can create miracles, though it depends on the user of the spear, as it is the will of the God from the Bible that decides if Truth Idea can be used. it can repel a great number of mass-produced Evil Dragons and cause immense pain to Apophis, an immensely powerful Evil Dragon.

**Indra's Boots**: Indra gifted Cao Cao these gold-lined boots following the latters defeat of Vritra. They grant him unparalled speed and endurance when it comes to running, as well as the ability to cruise through a field of obstacles unhindered.

**Moeru**: A High-level Specter Dragon that serves as Cao Cao's familiar. He acquired her during his first trip through the Familiar forest in the Underworld. She appears as a black western Dragon with violet eyes and is big enough to allow him to ride on her back.

**Śūnyatā**: The magical shield created by Cao Cao to house the Sacred Gear Dimension Lost, which made it capable of warping away attacks as well as drawing everyone in his immediate surroundings to Aetherius.

## Quotes

* "*If it's a God then I will kill it with this spear. Come, let the battle begin.*"
* "*……So you are telling me you have returned, Hyoudou Issei. From the information I got from the Old-Maou faction, Shalba Beelzebub was supposed to have an arrow covered in Samael's blood with him.*"
* "*……Unbelievable. If you were to receive that poison, then your chance of survival should have been zero. And you are telling me you recreated your body with Great-Red's help and returned by yourself……! Even meeting Great Red isn't something that you can just refer to as luck……!*"
* "*……I see. So that is your "will". –So you have picked Sekiryuutei's dream over my ambition.*"

## Gallery

Cao CaoNormal FormAscended God FormFull BodyCoverCao Cao in AnimeYoung Cao Cao in Mount Sumeru.Cao Cao relaxing in the flower fieldCao Cao with his True LonginusCao Cao First Appearance Shoulder TappingCao Cao appears in KyotoCao Cao tipping his spearCao Cao taking AzazelCao Cao vs AzazelCao Cao with True Longinus clashing with AzazelCao Cao vs Azazel in ArmorCao Cao vs Azazel in Balance BreakerCao Cao blocks Azazel attacksCao Cao attacks AzazelCao Cao uses Light projection attack AzazelCao Cao vs IsseiCao Cao vs Hyoudou Issei clashCao Cao vs Issei in Balance BreakerIssei cutting Cao Cao’s armCao Cao loses an armCao Cao holding his severed armCao Cao reattaching his armCao Cao extending True Longinus at Sun WukongCao Cao in the wake of Issei's Devastating BlastCao Cao furious at IsseiCao Cao’s eye inguryCao Cao Active Balance BreakerA defeated Cao Cao with Vali looking at himCao Cao vs Sairaorg BaelCao Cao at the beachCao Cao in KimonoChibi Cao Cao and SiegfriedHeight of Cao Cao with Issei and Sairaorg BaelCao Cao with Arthur and SiegfriedDxD Handsome Boys**Cao Cao** and SiegfriedCao Cao loses his hand while fighting SatanCao Cao finishes consuming Amrita MilkIssei comes face to face with Cao Cao after his betrayalCao Cao attacks IsseiCao Cao captures Ayaka Shikone uses Truth IdeaCao Cao uses Truth Idea to attack Ayaka ShikoneHappy Birthday Cao Cao

## Trivia

* Cao Cao's birthday is on December 24th.
* In Japan and Japanese texts, Cao Cao's name is read as "Sousou". This is common since the Japanese language uses kanji derived from the Chinese language.
* Cao Cao is Chinese since he was born in China.
* Cao Cao losing his right eye due to an arrow shot by Issei was a reference to military general Xiahou Dun, who lost his left eye when he was hit by a stray arrow in his battle against Lü Bu.
	+ The two lost an eye opposite to one another.
* His team name for the Azazel Cup is Spear of Indra in reference to him being the team leader.
* Cao Cao is listed among the strongest humans, along with Tomoe Gozen, Qin Liangyu, Liu Xiu, Fuyuzora Kogarashi, Ikuse Tobio, Vasco Strada, Kanzaki Mitsuya, Himejima Guren, Doumon Genbu.
* Cao Cao likes hot milk and grass dumplings.