Darius Karlstein

### Relatives

Lula Karlstein (Sister) Ferid Karlstein (Brother) Plutia (Protectiee/ Love Interest

### First Appearance

Hyperdimension Sephira: N/A

Darius Karlstein is a character that appears in Hyperdimension Sephira. He is an officer of the Endymion Bureau, deployed to Gamindustri to aid in the battle against GHQ. In season two, he becomes Plutia's bodyguard after she is attacked by an enemy.

## Background

Darius was originally a Super Soldier created by the GHQ in the Super Human Research Institute as one of the many test subjects for their Super Soldier research. When he was created, he originally did not have a name, only a designation under a code serial name: Subject E-0057. Subject E-0057 (Darius) spent his remaining childhood as an experimental super soldier within the GHQ Super Human Research Institute onboard the massive space station Tamiel and had his body and mind subjected to a series of experiments and surgeries. Upon recovering and waking up after his realizer brainwave surgery, he sensed another realizer brainwave modified child who called herself Lula Karlstein.

While getting to know each other, he reveals that he has no name so to speak. So Lula decided to name him Darius. Since then, the two developed a close emotional bond, Darius would often come to see Lula and share stories and their feelings. Unknown to him and the rest of his child super soldier kin, they were always being monitored by GHQ scientists literally across the wall.

The realizer brainwave surgery was the very procedure that created his murderous split personality, but it also allowed him to telepathically sense others who also use realizer brainwaves like his.

Darius and a selected batch of his kin were deemed as experimental failures and were to be disposed. He and several of his "brothers" somehow escaped termination and even managed to obtain weapons for a daring escape to freedom. Darius wanted to bring Lula along but ultimately decided it was better to leave her behind since her entire body was paralyzed and requires special medical care. Darius and his "brothers" managed to escape the Space Station by stealing a space shuttle. They drifted aimlessly in space for days but eventually, their shuttle ran low on all possible resources to keep them surviving.

Darius and all his "brothers" were slowly dying of starvation and running out of air inside the shuttle. Not long, fights and killings broke out as each and one of the children struggled to survive on their own. It was around this time that the <Dante> persona emerged and began his first killing spree. <Dante> didn't want to die and refuse to allow Darius' conscience to get them both killed. <Dante> shot and killed all of his "brothers" with a pistol and helped Darius survive.

One of his brothers managed to survive by hiding during the mist of the chaos, but was eventually discovered by the <Dante> persona. The child was attacked by <Dante>, resulting in him losing his eye. Then, as <Dante> prepared to kill him, they were discovered by a ship belonging to the United Federation of Dimensional Worlds. When the two were brought on board, they were given the choice to join the Federation's military force, or remain floating in outer space. Not wanting to die, both Darius and his "brother" decided to join the Federation. Darius gave himself the surname Karlstein in honor of hi sister, while his "brother" was given the name Ferid with the same last name.

The incident shook Darius and left a huge scar in his memory. He also began to loathe his other half and the institute that made him the way he is. This also caused a heavy weight in the relationship with Ferid who resents him for what happened.

## Personality & Character

Darius Karlstein is overall a quiet, brooding and collected individual who often keeps to himself and rarely opens up to people, making it somewhat difficult for others to approach him. Despite his usually stoic expression, he feels bitterness whenever someone dies, even if it is the death of an enemy. He despises conflict, but because of his existence as a Super Soldier, he believes that he will always be in the battlefield because of his upbringing, never being able to lead a normal life. Because of that, he chose to accept being a "blade" of the Federation's cause.

Darius has another personality, named <Dante>. <Dante> was formed after Darius received his realizer brainwave surgery in the GHQ Super Human Research Institute. <Dante> is also the one who had killed Darius' friends while escaping the institute. In contrast to Darius, <Dante> shows no concern about other people other than himself and even at the cost of everything, he'll do anything to survive. Whenever he feels that Darius is doubting during battle, he will immediately switch in and do what he deems is necessary, just so they would not get killed. He also finds amusement in seeing other people die and suffer.

The difference between the two personalities often forms a conflict between them, as they rarely work together in different situations. In *Hyperdimension Sephira*, despite being a Soldier for the Federation, Darius often hesitates during his missions, because he is afraid that the people (enemies or civilians alike) might get killed for no good reason. This causes <Dante> to get angry at him at times, criticizing that Darius often tries to impose his opinion on others, without even understanding them, and worries just so that he could feel better about himself. He added that this hesitation of Darius, especially in the battlefield, will be the reason that they will get killed by the enemy in the future. On the other hand, Darius in some ways despises <Dante>, as <Dante> can easily kill people without remorse. Despite this conflict, there are times when the two can still settle their differences and fight together when needed.

In *Hyperdimension Sephira II* Darius finds his reason for fighting because of Plutia whom he is tasked to protect after a traumatizing incident prevents her from fighting, but because of this, he is often very protective of her. In the events of *Hyperdimension Sephira: Days of Dystopia*, going into *Nemesis Imperium*, he tries to force his belief on his sister Lula of making her not fight, even though she is capable of helping out during battles.

## Skills and Abilities

Darius is an artificial, genetically modified human, called a Super Soldier, developed by the GHQ's Super Human Research Institute. Darius was surgically implanted with realizer brainwaves for super reflexesand has a modified body to maintain his peak physical condition; Darius' mind and body were configured specifically for combat purposes. However, even with such abilities, the scientists in the institute deemed him a failure for having a murderous split personality. Unknown to them, the two personalities can work together and bring about the true potential of the Super Soldier they desired.

The two personalities have their own range of specialty when it comes to combat situations. Darius is the rational one, being the one to think about tactics during combat. <Dante>, on the other hand, is the one responsible for their reflexes and their battle intuition. When uniting both their strengths, they act as dual processing mind with a reflexive body, giving them a superb advantage in the battlefield.

As a Super Soldier, there seems to be no clear indication of how well Darius(or <Dante>) can utilize his Realizer Brainwaves. It is pointed out though that he can also sense thoughts of other realizer brainwave users (most of them Super Soldiers) or might even transmit his thoughts to them. It is also notable how Darius seem to be connected to Lula through realizer brainwaves. Back in the research institute, Darius seems to be the only one who can pick up and respond to Lula's realizer brainwaves.

**Master Martial Artist**

Darius is an extremely skilled and formidable martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant, excelling at improvisation and weapons handling. He employs a mixed martial arts that include elements of Kali knife fighting, Boxing, Taekwondo, and Krav Maga. Receiving vast training from GHQ, as well as the Federation, Darius became a master assassin who can slaughter dozens of enemies alone, take on extremely skilled combatants, and go Toe-to Toe with Nemesis for a time.

**Knife Mastery**: Darius excels in knife fighting with an emphasis in Kali knife fighting. Darius usually resorts to his combat knife in close quarters combat.

**Master Marksman**

Darius has expertise in handling firearms and was a remarkably precise shot.

Master Acrobat

Darius has shown expertise in using flips to evade fire such as when he flipped to cover when he was being shot at by GHQ Soldiers.

## Equipment

**Gerber Mark II Combat knife**

Darius's weapon of choice in close quarters combat.

**SIG-Sauer P220ST**

Darius's weapon of choice, a semi-automatic pistol heavily used by armed forces and police of many countries.

**War Knight Armor**

The War Armor is one of the Endymion Bureau's specialized combat armored suits. He uses this whenever he comes across an opponent he cannot defeat with normal methods. Darius notes that it enhances his strength but unlike Shizuki's silver angel suit, it hinders his movements to an extent. It is however, highly durable and resistant to most attacks. It is equipped with two main weapons; a sword made of an unknown alien alloy, and a mini-gun that can fire rounds of plasma that can cause devastating damage.