Carlos Maná Cortés

Finalized concept art for El Poderoso Paladin

Carlos Maná Cortés (El Poderoso Paladín) is a member of Salvation Team and a side character of the Fate's Wish: Salvation story arc. His team number is Salvation-4

Carlos is a Holy Paladin of endurance and has special armor of infinite defensive capabilities. Along with this he carries a sword and shield. His main goal is to track down demons and kill them. Though when he isn't on the hunt he likes to play in local bands around the Central to South American areas. He also owns a small car workshop in Brazil, though its mostly his employees who run it. His life was like this for a long time until he was approached by the U.S. Government for a position on Salvation Team.

Normally he is a timid and emotional person, sometimes a little paranoid with a stutter. Yet when he dawns his armor he becomes bold and fearless.

## Personality

Carlos is a kind soul, always thinking of others first. He is very friendly and tries to be a part of the community. Being emotional, it makes it easy for him to sympathize with others. So whenever he can Carlos donates to charities to help the homeless. He often relies on comedy to remedy tense situations, though he tries to avoid them altogether due to his timid nature. Carlos is also prone to anxiety attacks, and is often paranoid that he will be caught in a situation without his armor on. To help combat this fear, Carlos prays every night. He is extremely loyal and dependable but needs to depend on others as well. Due to relying on his comedic side in tense situations, he sometimes lacks understanding of when to be serious. Because of his emotional nature, he has a habit of rushing into battle without a plan. This leads to sticky situations sometimes, but when in his armor Carlos becomes a fearless and confident warrior, allowing for him to overcome his problems.

## Appearance

### Casual Wear

Carlos is a smaller sized Spanish/Columbian man standing at about 170 cm. (5 ft. 7 in.) and weighing 62.6 kg. (138 lbs.) He is pretty scrawny and thin for his size, but not underweight. His eyes are a caramel brown color and he sports dark brown hair combed to the left with faded sides. He has a goatee mustache and beard on his face that he likes to keep trimmed and groomed. On normal days, Carlos usually sports a loose tank top with jeans and sandals. This is for ease of use and because it feels comfier inside the armor.

### Armor

Carlos' Paladin armor is made of purified soul steel, keeping the signature dark color of the metal. Originally when first forged, the armor was white, but was later returned to its former color. The armor also has golden touches all throughout it, with a darker red cloth underneath. The armor is adorned with many symbols, most being crosses, along the soul steel portion of the armor. Four chains of varying sizes and color hang across the left hip. The helmet is protected with a cross shaped face guard covered by a shield over the forehead. A big tuft of hair like material sprouts from the top and flows downward. Besides these main traits, the overall appearance of the armor changes slightly as it grows in size, with his sword becoming more of a mallet.

## Abilities

### Paladin Traits

Being the Paladin of endurance, Carlos has magically enhanced armor that grows in size depending on how much damage he takes. The armor also has infinite defense, making him invulnerable to all physical and most magical and psychic attacks while inside. Due to being so heavy, Carlos has to use constant minor determination to keep the armor animated as to not crush him under its own weight. The armor has a sword and shield bound to its magic force as well.

### Holy Abilities

After training to be a Paladin for years with his class, Carlos picked up basic knowledge on how to use holy magic. He can cure many ailments, banish lower class demons, free spirits, and a few other minor spells. His most important spell is the subconscious spell he uses when in his armor, this spell allows him to bind the suit to his mind, essentially making the suit a living extension of himself.

### Physical Abilities and Skills

While Carlos is scrawny, he is still fairly good at hand-to-hand combat. He has also had basic military training. Carlos can speak fluent English and Spanish; he can also speak a good amount of Portuguese. He is an excellent vehicle mechanic, with knowledge on how to operate on most cars and motor bikes.

## Early Life

Born into Christianity, Carlos was raised from the beginning at the church. His mother and father were a part of a secret church in Santa Morta, Columbia, where he was raised to one day become one of the prophesized ten paladins of God. As the years went on and he continued training with his class, Carlos began venturing into the outside world more and more. He enjoyed taking part in celebrations and hanging out with the common folk. This behavior caught the eye of one of his classmates, Lillian, who was destined to become the paladin of compassion. Now while they both knew relationships were forbidden, they couldn't help themselves. They became a couple in secret at age 16 and often went out together in their free time to play music with friends. Carlos began his crusade with his class at age 21, though tragedy soon struck. An unfortunate encounter with a high-ranking demon left Carlos the only survivor of his class.

Now broken, Carlos kept faith in God, but decided to leave the church. He moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he opened a car mechanic workshop. In honor of his love, he would always go to large celebrations, and would still participate in the community. He eventually joined a new band where he would play every couple days in public areas. His life remained this way until he was approached by a U.S. officer to join a team to protect people like him. He joined, thinking it would be what his Lilly would have wanted for him.

## Gallery

Carlos Mana Cortez Wallpaper from the Fate's Wish Salvation, Salvation Team Wallpaper Collection. Salvation-4
## Trivia

* Carlos' appearance was lightly based off of the actor Gabriel Luna's version of the marvel character Ghost Rider