Malus von Fareed

### Relatives

Arturia Pendragon (Former servant and love interest) Mineva Tachibana (Biological Daughter) Micheal Athrun Vilthelm (Clone, son by genetics)

### First Appearance

Hyperdimension Sephira II: Chapter N/A

**Malus von Fareed** is a character that appears in ***Hyperdimension Sephira***. He is one of the operatives sent by Die Walkure to assist in the Hyperdimension conflict. He is also one of the members of the Seven Swords, the founding families of Die Walkure.

## Personality & Character

Sir Malus is somewhat of an enigma, but his actions prove him to be bold and pragmatic. It's nearly impossible to read his emotions. He is known to manipulate people for his own ends and appears to be polite, courteous, and can be considered even charming. He is analytical and thoughtful, and usually more reserved and serious than his co-officer, Gawain Almsted but he will have an occasional and sometimes even cheeky smile and he does have a sense of humor. He is a pragmatic person with a genius-level intellect, shown to be very observant and very calculative of the people around him as well as his surroundings, as such, he can accurately predict the outcomes of many battles.

He is eventually revealed to be Soma Cruz who survived his conclusive battle with Shirou Emiya at the end of the 5th Holy Grail War 15 years prior, and is among the few members of the Mages Association who is aware of the organization's deterioration due to ongoing corruption among members. He wishes to reform the organization so as to get rid of the corruption caused by the Draconian Empire. To do so, he begins to don a mask to hide his identity and works with the Endymion Bureau to aid in stopping the Draconian influence. Malus stated that "the world is filling up with forces that can't be matched" and advocates methods for Die Walkure, to arm themselves against potential other worldly threats, even if it involves creating weapons of mass destruction. Soma's main goal was world safety against alien and human threats, and the complete take down of the ruling elite going so far as to create a team of people with extraordinary abilities called the Guardians and secretly planned to use an unlimited power source for weapons as a secondary security option. The latter was kept secret, even from the Guardians.

While his decisions make him appear ruthless and the nature of his profession occasionally requires a moral grey, Malus genuinely cares about human life and didn't see his subordinates like Cadence and Gawain as pawns. Though he never expresses it that much, he genuinely regretted deceiving Arturia Pendragon and Rin Tohsaka into believing that he was dead for almost a decade and wished he could have been there for Mineva when she needed it.

## Powers and Abilities

Malus is a very powerful Black Sorcerer, possibly on the same level of the legendary Dracula himself. He uses Dark Magic to project illusions and cast devastating offensive spells.

As a vampire of the highest class, Malus is able to use a myriad of dark abilities, some of which are Dracula's exclusive powers.

His powers include:

**Cadencia**: At some unspecified point in time, Malus formed a contract with the divine weapon in the Federation's possession called the Sword of Cadencia which was a Divine being who called herself Cadence. While she was capable of combat on her own, she is able to merge with her master, granting him new abilities as well as enhancing his own to an extent. The sword's abilities are mostly fire based and is said to be capable of wide-area destruction at full power.

**Kazıklı Bey: The Lord of Execution (極刑王カズィクル・ベイ, Kazikuru Bei: Kyokkei-Ō?)**

The Noble Phantasm used by the Lancer class servant Vlad III. Back in the holy grail war, Vlad was killed by Soma after an attempt of betrayal, causing his soul to be absorbed into Soma, gaining access to his abilities. Upon its activation, the ground noticeably shakes, bringing about long and narrow stakes, each several meters in length, from the ground that sprout up "as if trying to reach the heavens." Weaker enemies are unable to react as they are pierced one-by-one, skewering them and hoisting them high-up in the same manner as those who had in life been pierced and left until their remains rotted to become only skeletons, while Servants are able to dodge and destroy them individually to avoid being pierced. Although they are only ordinary stakes, they can be summoned forth upon Soma's command and them suddenly appearing from the ground makes them difficult to dodge. They can chase after retreating enemies as if predicting their movements, sprout out from already destroyed stakes, and while they target the legs of enemies on the ground, they can also prepare for circumstances like falling enemies. He can easily summon five hundred stakes in three seconds, and although he can only summon forth a maximum of two thousand stakes at any one time, he can limitlessly keep producing them so long as he has energy. Acting as a "force of twenty thousand", it proves itself beyond even the capability of a Heroic Spirit, especially those who are Servants who must save magical energy as their lifeforce.

**Invulnerability:** Malus' possesses superhuman endurance. Typical weapons would almost certainly not harm him, similarly to Walter or they would inflict minimal damage. However, certain weapons and measures, such as Shanoa's "Dominus" attack, the Vampire Killer, Hunter's Whip, the Alucard Sword and Spear are capable of harming and killing him. Dracula is also (usually) invulnerable to attacks to any part of his body excluding his head. In his demon form, he seems to have lost this power.

**Power of Dominance**: Malus' primary ability allows him to absorb defeated monster's souls and enslave them. This power was the one that Soma Cruz, Dracula's incarnate inherited at his destruction. While Soma can only summon monsters for a short amount of time due to his low magical power, Dracula can fully utilise this ability with infinite power from the stream of Chaos he commands. It's also said that Death guards the souls Dracula absorbs for guarding the areas of Castlevania.

**Eternal Night**: Thanks to the Ebony Stone, it is always nighttime in the area surrounding Dracula's castle.

**Shapeshifting and Teleportation**: Malus favors confusing his enemies by teleporting to bats or black light to appear anywhere and catch his victims off guard. He also favors changing into multitudes of vampire bats with a large one as his main bat or into clouds of mist for long range teleportation.

He has been known to turn into:

**Bat**: He turns into many Bats and is his favored offensive transformations. It is called Bat Moon once and allows Malus to slam all his bats at an enemy to kill them.

**Wolf**: For stealth or land based attacks, Malus turns into a wolf and has the speed and power to match or even overpower a werewolf.

**Mist**: Malus turns into a mist and evades detection. He sometimes favors turning into poison mist when he does so.

Teleporting: Malus' favored strategy that confuses an enemy while he hits him with spells. Some versions of his teleporting has him blending to black lights, others turns him into many bats, but the function and strategy is one in same.

**Demonic Wings**: Malus can turn his cape into wings that can allow flight in a one on one battle against an agile vampire hunter. His wings allow fast flight and can be use as a melee attack by swiping the cape in its wing form.

**Obedient Animals**: Some creature of the night are sensitive to the flow of darkness and attracted to its source. Those attracted will not hesitate to serve the controller of the darkness. Some of these creatures are bats, wolves, owls, slimes, ravens, crows, black panthers, worms, caterpillars, toads, frogs, and many other smaller but numerous creatures have entered and lived in Malus' presence.

**Blood Draining**: Malus, being a vampire, can bite and drink the blood of his victims. His spell Dark Metamorphosis can enhance his blood draining ability. He can also drain his victim's blood by mere touch of his victims.

Power over Humans: Malus' power has been shown to have an effect on human behavior. Dracula's Curse, in fact, drove many humans insane, and sent them into a murderous rage. Malus has also shown abilities to control humans without possessing them.

**Magic Mastery**: Malus is a powerful magic user, easily capable of summoning fireballs, flaming meteors, beam attacks, and swarms of vampire bats and wolves to name a few. Even his extremely powerful "Demonic Megiddo" attack requires little effort on his part to perform. Added with the fact that he commands Chaos, no demons can match Malus for his throne, but except for a chosen few, no vampire hunters can match his powers either. Some notable spells are:

**Hellfire**: Fires a wall of fireballs from his cape. Another version causes flames to erupt from the floor.

**Dark Inferno**: Fires magma fireballs from his cape. It cannot be destroyed due to its magma based texture.

**Dark Metamorphosis**: Boosts Malus' Blood draining ability. He can bite an enemy or grasp them and drain their life. He rarely does the latter though.

**Soul Steal**: A spell that many fear. Soul Steal is used by Malus and to kill and absorb their energy for Malus' use. The one version of the spell has an area of effect around the caster. It can effect multiple victims multiple times in one cast. Another version drains the life out of Malus' victims by a mere touch, which is why many fear this spell. It is also referred to as Life Steal.

**True Form(s):** When facing a strong and dangerous opponent, Malus can transform into his more powerful true form to try and even the odds. He uses this strategy when it is too risky to use Demonic Megiddo. He has used a huge variety of true forms over the centuries, that typically follow a "monster vampire" theme. Most forms of Malus make him bigger and more frightening to taunt his victims. Dracula sometimes collects enough power to transform a third time.

**Blood Hydro Storm**: Perhaps as a way of mocking of the Belmont's powers, Malus, when facing Richter Belmont, can make it rain blood shooting as faster than bullets, and all who is caught in its way will suffer certain death. It should also be noted that this spell is favored to Demonic Megiddo due to its faster casting time with less risk of interruption. Dracula is seemingly vulnerable to the spell too, as he keeps an area around him rain-free.

**Meteor Shower**: Malus displayed various powerful magic spells, one of which summons a barrage of flaming meteors to rain down from the sky onto his enemy.

**Demonic Megiddo**: This is the ultimate dark spell. Two version of this attack are in existence. The first, and more common version has a shorter charging time and allows Dracula to charge demonic runes that become a giant black fireball. Malus can throw it to his victim and will incinerate his victims with demonic fire. The second version is a gigantic explosion, with Malus as its nucleus. The explosion radiates from him, killing every being instantly upon touching it. However, the second version requires a longer time to charge, giving enough time to either escape or defeat him before he can use it while draining Dracula's health. A successful cast however, will ensure that it will be active for as long as Dracula desires. This is why using Dominus until he decides to use this attack would not actually kill him.

**Instant Army**: Malus' dark powers affect even the dead, and are able to create personal "golems" out of skeletons of various kinds, a variety of elemental golems, and can also animate inanimate objects, such as armor or furniture. However, this instant army is not as powerful as summoned demons from the netherworld or the underworld.

**Chaotic Realm**: The Chaotic Realm is the realm of the source of darkness, and only Dracula can enter this specific realm. Dracula, his reincarnation, Soma Cruz and Malus, are the only ones recorded to ever enter the Chaotic Realm. This realm also sports demons of various kinds that will willingly support Dracula's cause.

## Other Skills & Abilities

Malus is a very capable mobile armor pilot and a highly intelligent officer. As an inspector, he can piece together clues that perhaps no one else could. ​According to Gawain, Malus is very fast and good at his job, and if his subordinates are made to work at his pace, "their bodies can't keep up". Malus is an excellent senior officer according to Sasuke.