Archdevil Arms

## Overview

**Archdevil**
**Arms** are the evolved forms regular Devil Arms take. They are
vastly superior to their original forms, and command powers that make them go
toe to toe with the most powerful of DPUs, which are beings whose full powers
are capable of either transforming or outright levelling Planets. They have
been lost to the annuls of history until Nico evolves some of his Devil Arms
into these forms during the end of the Leanbox Arc, something that garners him
begrudging respect from the antagonist, Mundus.

## Origins

The Origins of the Archdevil Arms are based around the DPU
era, back when the war between Sparda and Mundus, the two strongest DPUs of
their time, was being waged. A Devil Arm wielding human fought in single combat
against a powerful Demon Prince after his whole military regiment was wiped out
by the Demon Prince’s armies. Enraged, this human took up their Devil Arm and
fought the Demon Prince, emerging as a stalemate between them.

The malice, desire for vengeance, combined with every
negative emotion that the human had poured into the Devil Arm during that
battle caused it to mutate drastically, changing it’s form and caused it to
overwhelm the human with it’s power. It ended up taking over his soul and
turning him into a demon that was the reincarnation of what the Devil Arm had
once been as a Demon itself. However, because of its wielder’s past emotions,
it had been strengthened to a new degree compared too it’s previous form,
making this power it had enough for it to devour the Demon Prince’s soul to
permanently stop it from reviving ever again.

While the former human’s vengeance was served, the human lost
all semblance of humanity and began rampaging across the lands, tearing apart
both demon and human alike with the new powers gained from it’s rebirth,
devouring their souls and adding them to it’s swelling powers. That is, until a
group of 5 DPUs teamed up to take it down.

## Relationships and feeding habits

The Archdevil Arms are a powerful force, capable of
destroying planets with their powers if the user so desired it. However, they
work in a similar manner to their original forms. They have similar feeding
habits, and if the user does not have an immortal soul, or a powerful enough
will to resist the change and re-subdue the Archdevil Arm then they are
transformed into demonic beings that can handle their power. These beings
hunger for souls, either monster, human, demon, Goddess or Demon God there is
no difference. These creatures are considerably more of a threat than
Abnormals, Biko notes, and lose all traces of their humanity.

Like Devil Arms, the Archdevil Arms feed off their hosts
energies, but unlike their counterparts these weapons don’t have to worry about
incompatible energy types. This is because they will already have had a
preferred energy source to feed on prior to their transformations. After Their
transformations, they will feed on their users energies to stay alive, however
the difference is that one they feast on energy, that energy is immensely
intensified into a violent, chaotic energy that the Archdevil Arm commands. It
is considerably harder to command for the wielder, it is like trying to make a
super storm work the way one wants it to which is nigh impossible without the
powers of prediction. The violent energies of a Devil Arm cannot even compare.

## Conditions for awakening

Awakening an Archdevil Arm is a…. complex procedure. The
wielder has to pump into it excessive amounts of power, which starts the
beginning of the process. The process takes a varied time frame depending on
the Devil Arm in question, how much it is used and how much power is pumped
into it.

Not only power, but it must have a significant source of
negative emotion though whatever emotion is poured in the Archdevil Arm will
always radiate two things: Malice, and death. Demons are usually filled with
negative emotions, and Devil Arms are no different. Negative emotions influence
their power, thus an abundance of it will trigger the mutation.

When the transformation begins, the Archdevil Arm’s power
explodes like a thousand nuclear bombs, overwhelming the soul and turning it
into that of a Demon. Unless the soul is strong enough and that the soul is
immortal, then they will transform into demonic beings that hunger only for
souls. The awakening also changes not just the body, but it also changes the
mind by influencing their deepest, darkest desires. It is what allows them to
transform their wielders into powerful demons that are on par with the Demon
Princes and DPUs.

Should the user have either a powerful will to resist the change
or an immortal soul, then they gain an Archdevil Arm in all it’s splendour.

There are aftereffects of an awakening however. These effects
include a greater hold on the hosts’ souls, as well as stronger fragments of
demonic conscience. These effects result in not only increased power, but also
increased strain on the user’s soul. Unless the host learns to co-exist with
that burden, then they will find using this Archdevil Arm much harder to handle
than normal. In addition, they lead to a swell in the user’s energy reserves,
and if those wielders have multiple energy reserves then they all have the same
effect.

## Powers

Once a Devil Arm evolves into this state, they gain
unimaginable power. Power that makes the powers of their predecessors look like
bugs in comparison. Their destructive power gets skyrocketed, to the point were
continents up to entire planets can be effected if used carelessly. Wiping out
an entire town or city nom matter how large it would be significantly easy for
them, and if they hit the right areas then an entire Planet can combust and
explode seconds later, destroying it. This would normally kill the wielder; however,
the Archdevil Arms also grant them the ability to breathe in any atmosphere,
which allows them to survive even if in space.

Another difference between the Archdevil Arms and their
lesser evolved forms is that they can consume souls regardless of their type.
Originally, Devil Arms couldn’t do this because they only had fragments of
their original conscience. However, an Archdevil Arm has stronger versions of
these, allowing them to devour and absorb souls.

Note: Nico’s Soul Edge is an exception to this as it is a
part of Nico’s Soul, and not containing just fragments.

In addition, Archdevil Arms can freely manipulate their
respective elements, as well as sub elements connected to them. For example, if
a Lightning Devil Arm achieved this form, then they could not only manipulate
Lightning, but it could do the same with thunder, shockwaves, create lightning constructs
that vary in size and power depending on the energy put into them, negate
electric attacks on their wielder and freely manipulate any and all forms of
electricity. With these abilities, it comes to reason that their reserves swell
as well, making an Archdevil Arm VASTLY superior to their counterparts.

When they attain these forms, these Archdevil arms also grant
specific ‘boons’ of a demonic nature that activate the moment that they are
drawn. For example, if a Devil Arm that specialises in sword skills is drawn,
it could grant a boon that enhances the potency of sword techniques, and as
Archdevil Arms consume more souls, they gain additional boons to install upon
their wielder. These powers make them insanely powerful, dangerous and
desirable.

Lastly, with this transformation, they gain new appearances
as well, appearances befitting of their new status.