Orion Veracus

**Orion Veracus** or code number An005Cu2K1265 is a Combat Unit in **Project ANGEL**. He is the 5th member who had enlisted in Project ANGEL and is also one of the oldest in the organization.

## Physical Description

Orion is an old man with a very large physique and a tanned complexion. His eyes are black, hair resembling the color ash with a lined up hairstyle along with his barely visible beard and a big scar ranging from the right of his mouth to almost grazing his eye.

He wears nothing on his torso, a gray face mask that has a very sharp design, white markings on his body due to the ANGEL serum, worn out bandages on both his arms accompanied with his weapons to reduce the pain of each usage, black pants, and navy shoes with spikes to support his role as a protector.

Due to his past, he is equipped with prosthetic body parts in his arms, right leg, and his heart. To his request, it’s designed to look like a normal part of his body to at least resemble a human, not a machine. When he unleashes his prosthetic’s true form, his body is enshrouded with extremely heavy looking armor covering his entire body in pale yellow.

## Personality

Upright, Stubborn, Caring, and a Strong man who cares for people who had suffered long enough, it was one of the reasons why he decided to stay in Project ANGEL despite being the eldest. His true behavior sometimes cannot correlate with his scary figure.

When Orion found out that the newly elected ANGEL soldiers in the program were children, he heavily objected to this and thinks it's absolutely sickening. But to counter his argument, the children were willing to fight, not with childish ambition, but with their lives at stake for them and their country. Due to this, two years in the future, he decided to make a proposition to form a squad to maximize efficiency as one of the officers in the organization, hence turning into the leader of the **Xero Squad**.

## Background

Before the war, Orion had a wife named **Junith Crythia** and a son named **Jacob Veracus**. They all went to Geneva which is located in South **Trestkania** for a vacation after saving up enough funds for a luxurious trip in this city. Since Orion was a very unapproachable man due to his very intimidating presence, no one had ever grown too close to him to fully find out what kind of person he truly is. Except for his wife, Junith Crythia, who truly cared for him along with his son. He was a man who risked his past connections to create a better outcome for his future, but that didn’t go as well as he initially thought. Today was August 27, 2091, It was the starting point of **The Great Morze War** that brought South Trestkania as a whole to ashes.

In the past, Orion had a very rough childhood that involved him surviving as a street rat all the way to his teenage years, doing anything in order to survive this rotten city that he lived in. Thanks to his extremely strong physique, at the early age of 15, the only way he could earn enough money for proper shelter and food is to join a mercenary group and partake in life risking jobs. It was the perfect job for the likes of him everyone said, but he didn’t want any of this. His true personality beneath his cold and intimidating act desires so, tired of killing people for their own benefit. It was only then until he met his future wife Junith amidst his mission. Everything after that went smoothly, all thanks to her.

Yet It only lasted for 13 years after all he cared for had died. He tried to save his son and wife from the sudden invasion, but it ultimately failed when the Eldritch monsters were beyond anything he had faced before, overpowering him in every aspect especially in sheer numbers. They only survived together for a few hours until his loved ones had brutally died with both of his hands gnawed in half and his face messed up, still trying to take a hold of the two of them, but he utterly failed.

It all almost came falling down until he woke up on a bed that doesn’t seem to be around in the city, in fact he was in **Alathea Guishe**’s house. A high ranking officer of Trestkania who was tasked to check any survivors in Geneva, but the only survivor that stayed alive in that city was in fact, only Orion himself. After finding out that he's still alive and didn’t die alongside his family, he decided to grab a nearby knife with his teeth on the food tray given to him and attempt to kill himself to ease his suffering. But Alathea was watching the act and stopped him from doing so. “What purpose do I have left?” Orion asked himself and Alathea. He lost his family, the only thing that kept him from living. His arms, to hold anything in his arms. And lastly, his purpose, what purpose does he now have after all of this tragedy unfolded?

At the end of this tragedy, Orion, who was heartbroken and traumatized, followed Alathea’s footsteps and decided to fight out of sheer determination. His wife’s words rang in his head telling to live on and his son’s call for help. He already knew a long time ago that if he killed himself, nothing will change and more tragedies will repeat. He was then hired by Alathea to be her right hand followed by being recruited to Project ANGEL with him being one of the eldest members of the organization. If he lost the purpose to keep living on, then he’ll forge one himself.

## Relationships

### **Squadmates**

#### Anellia Thena

A fellow squad member of the Xero Squad. Due to his overprotective nature of protecting children to safety, he cherishes Anellia and protects her from any danger when on the battlefield. Just like Lux Lumina and Orion’s relationship, he treats Anellia like a daughter but leaves her alone when she so desires.

When Anellia first joined Project ANGEL, he was angered that Trestkania allowed children in such a place, but he soon accepted it due to the stains of war that brought upon hundreds of millions of death and needs every help possible.

#### **Lux Lumina**

A fellow squad member of the Xero Squad. Ever since they first met, Orion had never felt such immense fear in a long time. During a commission to exterminate **Morze** Cultists hiding beneath South Trestkania, he was assigned to a mission alongside one other ANGEL and five SERAPHs. But the one that stood out the most was the ANGEL unit who was wearing a white veil over their head. She simply massacred everything in the vicinity. The girl simply stood there, smiling fanatically while being covered in blood as her laughter echoed throughout the room, showing the intensity and gruesome act she had committed. Out of any ANGEL he encountered, none of them was as broken as her.

Soon after that, he noticed that she was one of the children that joined Project ANGEL from will and started following her after that. Due to many hardships being made whilst being together behind each other's back, Orion now sees her as his daughter, even if it’s his own thinking, it helps him ease his pain.

#### **Eskieth Eden**

A fellow squad member of the Xero Squad and a friend. Due to Eskieth’s eccentric personality, he sometimes doesn’t know what she is thinking about at all. But since Orion sees everyone in the squad as someone he must protect at all costs, he sometimes stops her from doing any weird experiment involving explosives she makes, since the things she handles could single-handedly destroy their headquarters.

Orion mostly sees Eskieth as an extremely uncontrollable gremlin. But she has talent to top it off, so when things are necessary, he lets her go wild.

#### **Nox**

A fellow squad member of the Xero Squad. Orion pities Nox the most out of any ANGEL unit in the entire organization. Since Nox is much more gloomier than Anellia out of all things, he tends to avoid any type of social interaction when needed. And even if he doesn’t want to enter combat, he still tries anyway, pushing himself to the limit to support everyone.

Since war is inevitable, he had no choice but accept him as a part of the squad with all arms, even if the warmth he provided in this squad is but a mere candle.

### **Acquaintances**

#### **Alden Thena**

An acquaintance in Project ANGEL. When Orion was recruited as Alathea's right hand man, he encountered a man who appears to be a strict person he’d thought he would never get along with. But since they have been together for nine years, they are now familiar with each other, considering themselves as very close friends who fight alongside one another. Until he found out that Anellia was Alden's daughter.

Due to this, their relationship had turned sour. Orion objected to his way of thinking since he abandoned his own daughter, but Alden had no other choices. They remain as friends, but no longer close as in the old days.

#### **Kythalos**

A Mysterious personnel in Project ANGEL. When Orion was good friends with Alden, he'd occasionally see him together with Kythalos, an ANGEL unit that was secretly assigned in Project ANGEL.

They didn't talk much to each other, but they both resonate with each other when both their true personalities are hidden beneath their psyche.

#### **Alathea Guishe**

A Close friend and an Overseer of Trestkania. These two first met ever since the start of the great war and highly respects Alathea. Orion had no siblings as he was abandoned in the streets to fend for himself. But Alathea occasionally likes to call him her big brother since they both see each other as a savior and a trustable comrade.

## Abilities

### Wings of Xeroa

Orion's wings are bigger than any current model, but in exchange for those bulky wings, he only has four mechanical wings behind his back and his other two wings are stored in his arms. His wings or shield is the pinnacle of defense, so it is able to defend against almost everything that stands in his way and is incredibly versatile since he can control his wings by will.

* Just like his title implies, he's a living fortress that is literally incapable of dying. Ever since he had turned into an ANGEL, there was an incident that occurred when he took the ANGEL serum, making his blood harden alongside his body. After the process, his body turned into something harder than steel, making him nearly nigh invincible except if a firepower similar or stronger than a tactical missile was hit directly on his head.
* Orion's strength only kept growing and started taking down the Eldritch beasts with ease, so Anellia made Orion’s wings have a great sword variant besides his pre-built shield early designing units made for him, making him an extremely formidable enemy in combat but defense and offense.

## Trivia

* Orion Veracus was the one who formed the squad Anellia, Lux, Eskieth and Nox resided in, it's full name is Xronial Xero, meaning Chronicles of Below Zero.
* If Orion pushes himself too much and resorts to harden his body even more, white patterns will start to appear around his entire body. The only side effect of this is that if he wears clothes for too long, it starts to turn itchy, so this explains why he barely wears clothes during combat.
* Since Orion was elected to be the instructor for both newbie SERAPHs and ANGELs, he mostly knows every unit in the organization by name. That also means he has the most history with the ANGELs and SERAPHs together other than Alathea Guishe the founder herself.