Azrael

**Azrael** (アズラエル *Azuraeru*), also known as the **Mad Dog** (狂犬 *Kyōken*), and the **One Who Carries the Death** (死を運ぶもの *Shi wo Hakobu Mono*), is a fist-fighting pure bred soldier with super human strength. He debuted as a playable character in *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*.

## Appearance

Azrael is a large, powerfully built man with long, dark blue hair, a goatee, and blood red eyes. He wears a white trench coat with white buttons that barely cover his body. His trousers are pure white with a black cover over his right leg. His shoes are a bright golden hue and large tattoos decorate a great deal of his body, including his back; chest and even forearms.

As a child, his appearance is almost identical, only lacking his goatee and appearing much more chibi-like; having large eyes and a barely noticeable mouth and nose.

## Personality

Azrael obsesses over fighting and seeks out powerful opponents to sate his bloodlust. He is confident enough in his own power to challenge even the Six Heroes and deliberately holds back in battle to make his “fun” last longer. Azrael constantly makes references to the phrase “survival of the fittest”, likening himself to a predator in search of its prey and refers to battles as a “hunting ground” for him to “consume” his challengers.

His lust for battle is so great, that he will resort to any means necessary in order to force an opponent to fight at their full strength. This is shown when he attempted to attack Celica Ayatsuki Mercury in order to force Ragna the Bloodedge to activate his Blue Grimoire, theorizing that he would do so out of rage.

However, as shown in *Teach Me More, Miss Litchi!*, Azrael does not hold well towards people picking on those weaker than themselves, being extremely against any form of bullying.

During the events of both *Chronophantasma* and *Centralfiction* however, Azrael is shown to express disappointment and rage when things don’t go his way; in the latter case, he was especially annoyed when his raw power alone was not enough to defeat Kagura due to his own way of fighting holding him back. Upon being "defeated" for the first time, he also expresses geniune joy at what it actually felt like to him for the first time to "lose for real".

## Powers and Abilities

Azrael’s formidable power is neither technological nor magical; he possesses an inhuman amount of natural strength without the need for a weapon and casually brushes off even the most extreme of physical trials. In his Arcade ending, it is revealed that the tattoos that adorn his body are actually a limiter called **Enchant Dragunov**, meant to restrict the bulk of his power so as to not kill his opponents too quickly.

Azrael’s true level of power is debatable, but it is safe to say that he is one of the most powerful individuals in the BlazBlue universe even with his limiter active, having defeated the likes of Jin Kisaragi, TR-0009 Tager, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, and forcing Ragna to activate his Blue Grimoire in an attempt to even the odds, all in his Arcade mode. Despite his known amount of power, in his victory quote against Kagura, he states that he is hardly even using an eighth of his true power, causing one to imagine just how vast and monstrous Azrael would be should he completely release his limiter. A glimpse of his true strength is shown during his Astral Heat, where he releases all levels of Enchant Dragunov and throws an uppercut with enough force to resemble a volcanic eruption. His monstrous power is so great, many, such as Ragna, Mu-12 (in her arcade win-quote), and Valkenhayn, suggest that there is more to Azrael’s strength, and that Azrael may not even be human.

His combat prowess is said to be on par with Kagura Mutsuki, but his exact level of skill is debatable, as his fighting style consists of crude, unrefined punches and kicks, yet attacks like **Scud Punishment** and him providing the *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma’s*Advanced Tutorial mode suggest that he is knowledgeable in more skillful combat; this also extends to a fight with Tager in the ruins of Ibukido, where Azrael was able to recognize Tager through his fighting style.[1]

However, in *BlazBlue: Centralfiction* Kagura was able to see through Azrael’s combat style, stating that the latter fights like a child that is throwing a tantrum, which allows Kagura to best Azrael in combat. This may show that while knowledgeable, Azrael is possibly lazy in combat due to his sheer power doing his work for him.

The limiter imposed by the 7th Agency on Azrael, which allows him to fight only to those with “will to fight”, was done through practical use of Magic Formula controlled by science.[2] This is the reason why, even though it is a form of Magic Formula, Celica’s power did not affect it at all.

Azrael also displays an abnormal, bordering on extreme, level of durability. Azrael is shown in his opening scene to be completely unfazed by the near absolute-zero prison he is contained in, and in his confrontation with Kokonoe, he is unaffected by a direct attack from her. He is even capable of nonchalantly stopping Kagura’s sword swing with his bare hands. To date, the only thing shown to have impede Azrael is Kokonoe’s specially built trap.

Azrael’s Drive is **The Terror (ザテラー *Za Terā*)**, which causes “weak points” to appear on the opponent when hit. Using specific Drive attacks on those weak points will cause various effects that can lead to long, high-powered combos. His Overdrive, **Mind Colosseo** (マインドコロッセオ *Maindo Korosseo*, localized as **Mental Colosseum**), is implied to be a mental attack on his opponent out of a sheer intimidation factor, which allows him to leave a weak point regardless of whether the opponent blocked the attack or not and don’t disappear when struck by another Drive attack, only disappearing when Overdrive expires.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Azrael looks for powerful opponents to challenge them to fights. So when he meets Raph, he challenges him to a fight which Raph happily accepts. After the fight, Azrael says Raph is alright and soon become part of his team with Casey

## Trivia

Naming
* “Azrael” (עזראל‎‎) is the name of the Archangel of Death in Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Arabian folklore; in their beliefs, Azrael separates the body and soul upon death. It is considered as a synonym to the personification of death. The Hebrew name translates to “Help of God”, “Help From God”, or “One Whom God Helps.”
* Azrael’s move names are mainly themed on missiles or firearms:
	+ Gustav Buster: Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, a missile launcher, or a bunker buster.
	+ Tiger Magnum: Tigercat missile, or a Magnum, a large firearm cartridge.
	+ Growler Field: Growler missile.
	+ Sentinel Dump: Possible reference to the Sentinel program, a scrapped American missile defense system.
	+ Valiant Crush / Valiant Charger: Project Valiant, a scrapped Indian project to create an intercontinental missile.
	+ Hornet Bunker: Hornet missile, or a bunker buster.
	+ Black Hawk Stinger: Stinger missile / Black Hawk-model helicopter.
	+ Scud Punishment: Scud missile.
	+ Patriot Apocalypse: Patriot missile.
	+ Javelin Raid: anti-tank Javelin missile.
	+ Full Spartan: LIM-49 Spartan anti-ballistic missile
	+ Enchant Dragunov: Dragunov sniper rifle.

Other
* Azrael’s birthday, October 10, is derived from the original date for the Japanese Health and Sports Day, representing Azrael’s physique.
* In Tutorial Mode, Azrael will guide the player through the class *Advanced- Breaking Guards*.
* It was mentioned that the scientists of the 7th Agency had a back-up plan aside from the Magic Formula limiter imposed on Azrael. Azrael remarks it as an extra collar.[2] It is unspecified what it is and what it exactly does.
* Whether or not Azrael really “devours” his opponents is up to debate. While most of the time it’s clear he treats fighting like eating, a few times other characters have mentioned his list of nicknames, one them being 'the Cannibal.'
	+ During his gag scenario in *Chronophantasma Extend*, Azrael’s stomach is even shown to rumble during the beginning portion, yet this “hunger” is satisfied by merely doing anything competitive against someone rather than actually eating food.
* There is a scar on Azrael’s right arm. During his bout with Tager in the ruins of Ibukido, it was the only place that the Red Demon could damage.[1]