Angel

Metatron, The First Angel

Four Worlds

* Divine World
* Mortal World (Earth)

**Angels** are beings of [Light] and [Order], the main inhabitants of Heaven, and the guardians of the Abrahamic faiths and Creation as a whole. They are most well-known for being the servants, messengers, and warriors of God.

Alongside the Fallen Angels and Devils, formerly the Demons, they formed the Three Factions of the Abrahamic Pantheon.

## Overview

**Angels** are divine celestial beings that have been recorded in various religious lore, mainly Abrahamic, who faithfully serve God. The are said to be manifestations of God's will and to rule and protect creation from all beings that seek to destroy it. The generic angels depicted in paintings are almost always of this class being with wings, silk robes and halos.

In the Kabbalah, they are said to inhabit the sephirah Malkuth and are led by the archangel Sandalphon. The word "angel" means "messenger" in Greek. Angels serve as a link between God and humankind. They are also sometimes referred to as "servants."

## Appearance

### Human Form

Angels appear as beings of unparalleled beauty and can only be described as "perfection incarnate". Their face and body is said to have set the foundations for the golden ratio, if not putting it to shame entirely, and are capable of captivating the heart and mind of all those who gaze upon them at first glance.

In this form, they possess multiple large and feathered wings, each with a wingspan of roughly 4-meters in length, with the number of wings an Angel possesses denote their position within the angelic hierarchy: The most common 2-wings Malakhim are placed at the bottom while the 12-wings Seraphim are the most powerful out of all the Angels. They are also capable of retracting their wings back into their back as if they have disappeared entirely.

A golden halo is often positioned directly above their head whenever their wings appear and is also used to denote an Angel's importance, as the more intricate an Angelo's halo is, the higher their ranking is in the eyes of their peers.

In addition to their halo and wings, one of the most notable physical characteristics of an Angel is their eyes, which often covered their entire wings and scattered across their body. These eyes are brightly glowing and shifting, allowing their owner to have a 360º field of vision around themselves, save for a small blindspot located right above the root of their first wings. However, due to how unnerving these eyes can appear at times, most Angels tend to hide them away with illusions when interacting with humans.

### True Form

All Pure Angels possess a true, semi-corporeal form which many have jokingly referred to as their "eldritch form", partly due to its madness-inducing properties.

According to Azazel, this form is extremely dangerous to the majority of beings to witness, as their minds are incapable of comprehending what they have just seen and will force them to spiral down into pure insanity.

In this form, they appear as colossal beings formed of pure light and holiness and shine a glorious golden aura, with numerous blazing eyes located everywhere across their body. Depending on their status and position within the hierarchy, their appearance and size will change, but in most cases, they are often as high as some skyscrapers or even higher, with some Cherubim's true form to be as big as a dwarf planet. They also radiate an immense aura in this form, which many gods have described to be "angelic radiation" because of its potency and deadliness.

## Characteristics

As one of God's first creations and the agents of [Destiny], Angels are extremely powerful entities and are considered to be on the top of the supernatural food-chain, as they are above the majority of species and races in terms of powers, influence, and intelligence.

Their true forms or visages have proven to be overwhelming to the majority of beings; however, certain people and those with special lineage are capable of viewing their true visages without suffering permanent effects such as death or insanity. In addition to that, it appears that in their true form, their wings serve nothing more than transportation and decorations, no longer denoting their power and ranking within their heavenly hierarchy like how they do in their human form anymore.

According to Jophiel, the popular belief of Angels falling and become Fallen Angels when they have sex is entirely wrong, as being banished from Heaven and stripped of their angelic ranking is the greatest punishment an Angel can receive and only reserved to those who directly go against the orders of God and of the Celestial Princes. In addition to that, it is noted that most Angels find sex to be pleasurable and theraputic, with some Angels even rumored to have taken many souls within the Third Heaven to form their own harem.

They also don't reproduce, as reproduction is a physical process only capable between non-celestial beings, and thus, entirely unneeded for immortal entities of pure light and holiness such as them. According to Azazel, all Angels are basically infertile and are incapable of having children the normal way, often resorting to having artificial children or homunculi instead, and half-Angel hybrids such as the Nephilim and the Miracle Children are considered anomalies/miracles, as by no means should their existence be possible.

As immortal and celestial entities, they entirely lack the need for many basic necessities, such as breathing, eathing, drinking, sleeping, etc. Often, when an Angel is shown doing things such as eating or sleeping, in most cases, they are doing it purely for fun as such simple things please them and they neither require it nor do they gain anything beneficial from it. This is the case for most Reincarnated Angels, who have once been humans before their Angelization. They also don't really care about common human perception of morality and decency, as many of them have been known as nudists and exhibitiionists, with a habit of roaming around the Earth completely nadked and flaunting their perfect figure around, entrancing mortals, monsters, and gods alike with their celestial beauty.

They have shown to not be distressed or horrified from scenes of violence and gore, as while humans can be frightened and traumatized from witnessing such horrific scenes alone, much less having to endure it, most Angels seem to be unfazed when it comes to such cases. In fact, it appears that while most Angels do know what trauma means, none really understand it, suggesting that they might be immune to PTSD and other similar disorders. According to Irina, this has become quite a dilemma among the Church's inner circles and has caused many discussions and controversies, as many previously willing exorcists now ponder on whether it is worth it to trade away pieces of their humanity for a chance of Angelization.

The Demon Aldous, a former Cherub, had described his former brethren as being emotionless, not permitted to have feelings or free will, and even went on to compare them to statues in the sense that they are both cold, beautiful, and have no choice of their own. He stated that the only emotion the Angels possesses is the intense, nearly obsessive, loyalty toward God.

This statement, however, has been challenged from time to time. Michael has stated that they possess the same range of emotions as humans do, if not even greater due to their further understanding of the world beyond mortal perception and comprehension. To be more accurate, Angels are very much capable of both developing human emotions and character flaws, but the majority of them choose not to show or admit to having emotions, as many consider emotions to be doorways to doubts and weaknesses for others to exploit.

Because of their age and power, many Angels look down upon humans and see them as inferior, some even questioning why they can be considered God's greatest creation, even though none will ever admit it outloud due to their loyalty toward Them. This disdain appears to have originated from Lucifer, who is still greatly admired and loved in Heaven eons after his banishment, as Michael mentioned that many of the "human-haters" are well-known Lucifer sympathizers, though Uriel pointed out that it means nearly 70% of the Pure Angels. This hatred also intensified in the aftermath of the Great War, with the death of Azrael, Jesus Christ, and the Biblical God, as shown with Ariel and Merkabah.

Feelings of resentment, however, aren't universal, as some Angels such as Samandriel, Ithuriel, and Alois are much more civil to humans than their peers, almost to a point of friendliness, while others, such as Raziel and Metatron, even have the controversial belief that they are better than the Angels themselves because, despite their inherent flaws, a lot of them still managed to strive to be good.

## Weaknesses

### Harming, Trapping, & Banishing

* Witchcraft: Due to its nature as a form of [Anti-Divine] and [Anti-Celestial] magic, the unholy magic of witches holds the power to oppose all those of heavenly origins, including beings such as the Angels. There are many witchery spells and rituals that can be used to trap and weaken the Angels, with some rituals rumored to be capable of banishing them back to Heaven for an extended amount of time.
* Enochian Magick: As the most powerful kind of all Ancient Magicks, Enochian Magick is capable of affecting all those of angelic creatures regardless of their alignments - Angels, Fallen Angels, and Demons alike. However, depending on the amount of angelic power an Angel possesses, the effects of Enochian Magick has upon them may differ.
* Celestial Weapons: Weapons made out of sacred metals, such as Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, including angelic creatures like the Angels. However, the amount of damage that can be caused by regular celestial weapons on Angels are usually little to none.
	+ Divine Weapons: The divine weapons of the gods, which are crafted from sacred metals and are imbued with their wielders' divinity, can be used to cause semi-serious damage to Angels.

### Killing

* Enochian Weapons: Like virtually every being in existence, the Angels' corporeal form can be destroyed with weapons made from Enochian metals.
	+ Angel Blade: Like all angelic creatures, an Angel's corporeal form can be instantaneously destroyed if they are hurt with an Angel Blade with their name engraved upon the blade.
	+ Original Longinus: As the original Longinus are exceptionally powerful Sacred Gears made out of Enochian metals of the highest ranking, forged within the Heavenly Forges using the highest-quality technology and are imbued with fragments of the Biblical God's divinity, those with enough skills and experience can permanently kill an Angel.
* Faustian Weapons: Like virtually every being in existence, the Angels' corporeal form can be destroyed with weapons made from Faustian metals.
* Primordials' Weapons: Weapons created and wielded by primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely obliterate every and any being in existence but other primordial entities, erasing their entire existence from the worlds so that they can never be reborn, or resurrected again without being saved by God’s omnipotent powers.

## Death

According to Azazel, when an Angel's corporeal form is destroyed and they are "killed", their angelic essence is instantaneously transferred to the Empty, where they will stay for possibly millions of years until their body can be reformed, either on their own or by God's will. However, whenever an Angel is resurrected from the Empty, their entire memory and personality will be wiped out and they will return to "factory's settings", completely lacking any emotions or thoughts of their own.

In addition to that, whenever an Angel is killed via an Enochian or Faustian weapon, their physical body will be incinerated and an imprint of their wings will be burned onto the surface where their body lies. In some rare cases, they will leave behind a single feather, which is imbued with a remnant of the deceased Angel's consciousness and all of their remaining angelic power, thus making it an immensely valuable artifact within the supernatural world.

## Types of Angels

* **Celestial Princes** (天の王子様, *Ten no Ōji-sama*) are the "original Angels", though this term can only be loosely taken, as they themselves possess powers beyond that of the most powerful of Angels and are not restricted by any of their rules or weaknesses. They are the first creations of God, ranking only seconded to Them in terms of absolute power and authority over all Creation and possess nigh-omnipotent powers.
* **Pure Angels** (純粋な天使, *Junsuina Tenshi*) are the Angels directly created by God and are considered to be some of the most powerful entities the supernatural world have ever seen, as even the weakest of the Pure Angels can rival gods in their own right. The most powerful of all the Pure Angels are the Elder Seraphim, who are the ten first and original Seraphim created by God, and are thus, the oldest Angels in existence, Celestial Princes excluded.
* **Reincarnated Angels** (転生天使, *Tensei Tenshi*) are Angels who were originally humans and other species but are reincarnated into new Angels following the Great War in order to maintain order among the heavenly colonies. There are two types of Reincarnated Angels: Lesser Angels and Brave Saints.
	+ **Lesser Angels** (補助天使, *Hojo Tenshi*) are former mortals who became Angels through the Bene Elohim Project, which involved twisting a human's soul into that of an Angel's through countless Enochian Magick rituals and ceremonies. However, due to the dangerous nature of the project, it was forced to an end and no more Lesser Angels were created, thus putting them permanently at the number 666.
	+ **Brave Saints** (御使いブレイブ・セイント, *Bureibu Seinto*) are Reincarnated Angels who enter the angelic ranks through the usage of the Brave Saint cards. They are separated into multiple Decks, each Deck belonging to a King who holds the rank of Seraph or Celestial Prince. They are considered to be among the weakest Angels due to their age and inexperience.
* **Natural-born Angels** (生まれた天使, *Umareta Tenshi*) are the newest type of Angels, who are conceived in the Interdimensional Room by Reincarnated Angel parents. Not much is known about this type of Angels as they are still babies within their mothers' wombs, though Uriel with his nigh-omniscience has described them as "interesting".

## Population

The population of Angels originally consisted of the Celestial Princes, the Elder Seraphim, and the numerous Pure Angels who were created by God in the [Dawn of Creation]. However, with God entering Their slumber and going inactive and all of Their Avatars either dead or missing, in addition to the immense destruction and lost Heaven had to suffer in the Great War, no more Pure Angels could be created as they could only be born from the Exalted Divinity of God.

After the Three Factions have signed the Kuoh Treaty, the engineers of Heaven created the Brave Saint cards using the Grigori's research and technology, as well as the Gilgul Neshamot - Special crystals harvested in regions of the Netherworld where Azrael's blood had imbued the land with its divine properties - typically used to create Evil Pieces. Each of the Seven Princes and the Elder Seraphim is given a set of 13 Cards in order to reincarnate other species into Angels, especially believers of strong faith being the most notable ones.

However, this method isn't without its own fault, as the Brave Saints are bound to a vow of purity and chastity and can fall and turn into Fallen Angels if they are ever given into temptation. When questioned about it, Azazel neither confirmed nor denied if this "bug" was programmed by one of the Grigori scientists or not, though it was noted that he was smiling the whole time.

Later on, the engineers of Heaven were able to develop the Interdimensional Room, which allows a Brave Saint to become physically intimate and engage in sex without falling, as well as temporarily changing their biological characteristics so that the Reincarnated Angels who have sex in this chamber can reproduce, giving birth to a new generation of naturally-born Angels.

## Ranking

The Angels use a hierarchical system that is split into three different orders, with each order consisting of three ranks. Higher-ranking Angels have greater power and/or authority over those of lower-ranks, and with different ranks having differences in appearance.

## Factions

### Heaven Council

**Heavenly Council** (天国評議会, *Tengoku Hyōgi-kai*) is the main government of Heaven and the Angels. They are led by the remaining Celestial Princes, also known as the Four Great Seraphs consisting of Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. Despite this, all of Heaven knows that the council is led by the Elder Seraphim, who are the first Angels and the Four Great Seraphs' private secretaries, as the four Princes are more interested in playing around with the numerous multiverses within their respective private domains. However, it is implied that the Four Great Seraphs themselves placed the Elder Seraphim in these positions so that they could spend as little time with politics and paperwork as possible.

### Council of Elohim

**Council of Elohim** (エロヒム評議会, *Erohimu Hyōgi-kai*) is a council consisting of the most powerful and influential Lesser Angels and are formed to ensure none of the Lesser Angels will commit a [Sin] or break the Enochian Laws, and thus losing more members of the Heavenly Host. Following the creation of the Brave Saint suits, they are also tasked with governing over the new Reincarnated Angels, training them in their angelic powers and in the Angels' rules, culture, and traditions.

### The Watchers' Guild

**The Watchers' Guild** (守護天使の塔, *Shugo Tenshi no Tō*) is the council of Guardian Angels, whose duty is to protect the followers of the Abrahamic religions from supernatural threats, such as monsters or pagan deities. Despite the popular depictions of them being "chubby messengers with fluffy wings", they are considered to be one of Heaven's dealiest warriors and a danger that not even the most bloodthirsty gods would dare to challenge.

## Trivia

* The Angels working on Earth usually wear business suits or dresses.
* Most Pure Angels are shown to be ignorant of human pop culture (books, movies, TV shows, etc.), and even aspects of speech such as sarcasm and expressions.
* There is a weekly magazine named "Weekly Brave Angel" that features Lesser Angels and Brave Saints in revealing outfits and semi-erotic positions.
* Heaven is said to have also developed a masked hero show, **Captain Angel**, to rival the **Oppai Dragon** show in the Underworld, with Uriel's Ace - Nero Raimondi in charge of the leading role. It seems that it is quite popular among believers despite how "graphic" the show can be at time.
	+ According to Irina, despite the show is a combination of Throne of Roses, Northrealm, and The Queen Must Die, but with Christian imagery and "an unholy amount of sex and violence", it's considered a PG-13 show.
* The angelic hierarchy is mainly based on the Christian angelology.
	+ The Seraphim are the highest angelic class and they serve as the caretakers of God's throne.
	+ The Cherubim guard the way to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden and the throne of God.
	+ The Thrones are living symbols of God's justice and authority.
	+ The Dominations regulate the duties of lower angels.
	+ The Virtues supervise the movements of the heavenly bodies in order to ensure that the cosmos remains in order.
	+ The Authorities are the bearers of conscience and the keepers of history. They are also the warrior angels created to be completely loyal to God.
	+ The Principalities preside over the bands of angels and charge them with fulfilling the divine ministry.
	+ The Archangels are the administrators of duties for the angels and they are also their commanders.
	+ The Angels are the lowest order of the angels. They are sent as messengers to mankind.