Anguis Giovanni

Acid Manipulation

Bubble Creation

Blackwatch (Current)

> *"Woe betide those who dare seek action against the Lexicon!" ~ Anguis Giovanni inspiring his men.*
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**Anguis Giovanni**, known as the ***Black Leviathan of Vatican City*** is a captain of the Revenants of Black Watch.

## Appearance

Keeping in line with the general theme of Black Watch captains, Anguis dons a hulking set of highly stylized gothic knight armor. Over the armor, he wears black and red, scale-patterned garments, tying in with his epithet. On his shoulders are two large shoulder pads with two red pearls built in and large, sword-like protrusions rising out of them.

Outside of his armor, Anguis is a slim, caucasian male of below average height, with shoulder-length black hair and piercing green eyes with vertical slit pupils. A long scar runs down from his left temple, through his lips and to his chin. Additionally, his head and his body have numerous patches of scales present, a result of his prolonged use of his weapon, Jörmungandr.

## Personality

Anguis is incredibly focused, putting the mission before anything else, often times becoming obsessed with completing a mission. Because of this, he has a fond disliking of his brother-in-arms, Gonzalo De La Cruz, who often puts honor before the mission, but he puts up with him none the less.

Anguis believes that everything he does is righteous, often claiming that he is performing "God's work". Due to this, he will stop at nothing in order to wipe the unholy from the face of the Earth, seeing any morally questionable action he performs (which he often does) as "Necessary evil".

Due to the Grimm destroying his home city and killing his foster father, along with his strictly holy upbringing, Anguis holds a distinct hatred for all Demonic and Voidic kin, and often spends his pass time slaying legions of Grimm and other Voidic creatures brought forth by the Spellplague.

## Backstory

### Early Life

Born in Vatican City, Anguis was a result of a secret love between a priest and a nun. However, this secret love was eventually uncovered after the nun gave birth to Anguis, and both of his parents were stripped of their roles and left the city. From then on, Anguis was raised by a different priest, who raised him to be as holy as possible and follow the Pope's example to an absolute tee.

Because of this, Anguis entered one of the highest-performing seminaries in the Vatican at just age 12. At age 19, Anguis attained the right to become a priest.

### Alliance-Iron Talon Conflict

Just 2 years after he earned the position of a priest, the Alliance-Iron Talon War took place. Though news of it did reach throughout the world, Vatican City and Italy remained untouched by the war. However, during the climax of the war, Ray Mygerion had caused a rift to the Void to open. The effects of this rippled throughout the bodies of every magic user on the planet, causing Vatican City to go into immediate panic, as the city-state was filled with a surplus of holy mages.

### The Spellplague and Beyond

During the Spellplague, which took place shortly after the voidic rift was opened, Vatican city was nearly driven to the brink of destruction, both by rogue supers and the unholy forces of the Grimm. Several holy artifacts protecting the city from the forces of the Void were destroyed during the Spellplague, and his foster father had unfortunately been killed in the attack, defending Vatican City. However, Anguis had used his resources from his time at the seminary to study magic, and entered the fray to protect his city.

Seeing that the manpower of the Vatican alone was not enough, Anguis would resort to sneaking into St. Peter's Basilica and stealing a prized relic, using its latent magic power to bless his comrades, imbuing them with enough power to stave off the Grimm horde. However, this was seen as sacrilege by the Pope and the other Cardinals, and as a result, Anguis was stripped of his title as a Priest of the Catholic Church and exiled from the Vatican. Outraged by the unfairness of his exile, this event is what caused Anguis' perception on the world to change, and deemed that, even if it goes against his teachings, God would rather that he did what he needed to for the greater good rather than just simply sit back and watch.

Just 3 months later, Anguis joined up with The Revenants of Black Watch, who he had heard were on a mission to defend Earth from the forces of the Grimm. During the ensuing year, Anguis climbed the ranks quickly due to his proficiency in magic, strategy, and hand-to-hand combat. The weapon he earned when he became a captain, dubbed *Jörmungandr,* his generally black color palette when it came to clothing, and his incredibly strict and focused demeanor, would earn him his title, *"The Black Leviathan of Vatican City"*.

In his two years of being a captain, almost every operation undertaken by Anguis and his legion were a success. His only notable failure was when he attempted to capture the Clarkesville Beast. During the battle, Anguis' legion attempted to flank the Demon from all sides, but were wiped out in the blink of an eye. Eventually, Anguis faced the beast himself, prepared to die a martyr. By the end of the battle, Anguis had been mortally wounded, the most damage he dealt to Kurotama being a slight gash. Luckily, Kurotama simply did not care to put in the effort to finish off a mortal man, and simply left him to bleed out. However, he was tracked and found by his fellow Blackwatch captains and promptly transported to the nearest medical facility. To this day, Anguis holds a passionate grudge against the Demon and the one who harnesses him.

Anguis is currently on the hunt for the Demon once again, this time assisting Gonzalo De La Cruz, after the recent Clarkesville Incident.

## Equipment

**Jörmungandr:** Jörmungandr is a whip-like weapon with 6, metallic snakes protruding from its handle, resembling a 6-tailed whip. Each 'snake' possesses a magic glyph on their heads and is infused with magic, meaning Anguis is able to control and extend each one individually.

Each snake is initially 1.5 meters (5 feet) in length, and carries a set of razor-sharp fangs that can puncture almost any armor or Aura barrier to inject an incredibly potent, venom-like magic substance. This substance is so potent that it is able to paralyze a fully grown blue whale over the course of a few hours if just 0.1mg is injected, although Anguis usually delivers a far smaller amount for the purpose of incapacitating targets.

Outside of this, Anguis can use Jörmungandr as an actual whip to flog his enemies, the heavy metal substance making up the snakes able to deliver copious amounts of blunt force.

**Crucifix:** Anguis keeps a gold, jewel-encrusted Crucifix on him at all times. He uses this a catalyst for his Purification Arts.

## Powers and Abilities

**Magic:** Anguis is an expert mage who has studied magic arts for decades. The Black Leviathan utilizes a wide variety of unconventional spells in battle, mainly stemming from his weapon, Jörmugandr. This esoteric set of abilities allows him to pose a threat to opponents at any range, though he mainly excels in mid-to-long range fighting.

* **Serpentine:** Using magic, Anguis can cause the snake heads on Jörmungandr to extend a maximum of 12 meters (40 feet). He can use this to wrap the snakes around his target and restrain them, or use it to greatly extend his attack range.

* **Acid Spray:** Each snake head on Jörmungandr is able to open their mouths and fire a torrent of acidic magic at the opponent. This acidic magical substance is able to melt through stone, steel, magic and Aura alike. They can also cluster together and simultaneously launch their acid spray attack to make a moving wall of acid, substantially increasing the attack's area.

* **Bubble Clasp:** Anguis creates a large, slow-travelling bubble that will absorb and trap in any object that hits it. Mainly used for capturing wanted targets, but Anguis has also used it to absorb and disperse attacks. Once a person or object makes contact with the bubble, there is nothing they can do to stop themselves from being absorbed into the bubble. However, the bubble can hold only one object at once, meaning that if it were to come into contact with another object or individual when the bubble is already occupied, the bubble will burst, subsequently releasing the entrapped content.

**Purification Arts:** Thanks to his Holy upbringing, Anguis retains knowledge of various light-based seals that he can use to exorcise a possessed subject or restrain the power of, or even completely eradicate a demonic/voidic being.

* **Holy Light Cage:** Holding his crucifix outwards, Anguis mutters an incantation before summoning a translucent cube of light around a target. For those harboring a demonic subject, or those who have a significant Voidic presence (i.e., Grimm and Voidwalkers), coming into contact with the walls of the cube can have a severe burning effect. Anguis has the ability to shrink the cube's size to the point it can fit in the palm of his hand, either crushing targets or completely burning them up in the process.

### Natural Skills, Abilities and Traits

**Religious Knowledge:** Anguis has a vast amount of knowledge on several religions, mainly Roman Christianity, thanks to his time as a Priest. By extension, he wields a surplus of knowledge on purification arts and holy spells/incantations.

**Incredible Fortitude:** Anguis' mental and physical fortitude is incredible, to the point where he is able to break out of minor illusions using sheer willpower, and is generally capable of ignoring pain inflicted from most incoming blows.