Vasco Strada

**Vasco Strada** is a former Exorcist and wielder of Durandal said to be closest to the original wielder Roland. He was also ranked as the second-highest official in the Church as Cardinal Priest.

## **Appearance**

Despite being eighty-seven years old, Vasco is a two-meter tall, white-haired old man, with wrinkles, and also an extremely developed muscular build, contradicting his advanced age, fitting far more for an ideal young male. He makes Durandal, which is much taller in comparison to Xenovia appear small in his hands. During the match between Team Issei and Gremory, he shaved his head for the match.

## **Personality**

Vasco is an extremely gentle and compassionate man. Even though he was a former exorcist, he has shown no lingering hatred to the Devils and Fallen Angels after the treaty. He also cares for the sake of everyone; not just the exorcists that rebelled but also everyone involved in the alliance. Vasco was immensely respected by the people of the church due to his immense compassion and powerful strength as shown in Volume 19 when the exorcists who rebelled shed tears when Vasco intended to sacrifice himself for the exorcists to find closure from their past.

Cao Cao has noted that Vasco, as one considered to be a hero, is similar to Issei.

## **History**

When Vasco was still an exorcist, he was able to defeat and corner Kokabiel during the Second World War. At some point before Asia's banishment from the Church, Vasco met Asia. He also tried to save Asia after he heard the news of her being banished but was too late. He was also, at some point, offered by two of the Four Great Seraphs Uriel and Raphael to be reincarnated as an Angel and be a part of their Brave Saints system but refused as he wanted to die as a human.

## **Powers and Abilities**

**Natural-Born Holy Sword Wielder:** As a natural-born holy sword wielder, Vasco can wield holy swords. Him, in particular, has an incredibly high compatibility with the notorious wild horse, Durandal, so great that it surpasses its original wielder, Roland, who had immense strength himself. In wielding a Durandal Replica, it was comparable to the original.

**Holy Fist:** Due to his training and praying as an Exorcist, Vasco could generate holy power into his punches, letting him damage beings that are weak to holy energy even without the use of holy swords. Augmented with his tremendous physical strength, he can cause an immense amount of damage to Devils. Vasco's Holy Fist has shown to powerful enough to overwhelm Caliburn's Holy aura and demolished an entire building in the process.

**Immense Strength:** He has tremendous strength developed from constant training and experience through his youth, able to defeat the Cadre, Kokabiel in WWII.

Despite being 87 and a human, his punches were as powerful as Sairaorg; during his first meeting with Issei, he stopped him by simply placing one hand on his shoulder.

Even Ewald , one of the best Exorcists himself stated that he was a true monster; taking on the entire Gremory Group, as well as Saji in his Black Armor, and stopped a punch from Issei in his Crimson Armor despite holding back.

Bikou has compared his strength to Sun Wukong, overpowering Bikou and Gogmagog, countering a rocket punch using a single punch.

After returning to his prime, Vasco overpowered the golem, Bikou, Fenrir at 80%, and Vali in his Silver Armor.

Vasco's anomalous strength even terrified some of the Gods in the Azazel Cup, causing him to be regarded as the strongest human.

**Immense Durability:** Vasco has abnormal durability for a human, he could continue fighting after taking on attacks from Ouryuu in his Dragon Man form and earth-based attacks, Irina's countless light bullets and Xenovia's *Cross Crisis*, resulting in him crashing into a building. After the match, he was shown to be completely unscathed.

**Immense Speed:** Vasco is shown to be extremely fast, able to catch Devils and Angels by surprise despite being a human and of senior age. In Volume 24, after returning to his prime he displayed enough speed to leave behind afterimages and outmaneuvered Vali in his Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive.

**Immense Stamina:** Vasco has massive stamina; despite being an 87-year old man, his physical abilities have not been tarnished. Instead, he remained just as strong as ever able to fight against the extremely powerful Gremory group without tiring out, however, his stamina has notably been depleted compared to his youth, as evident as he showed signs of fatigue after a short battle with Arthur Pendragon.

**Immense Exorcist Skills:** He is an extremely powerful exorcist able to slay even the most powerful Devils using his skills alone, defeating the Fallen Angel Cadre; Kokabiel, in his youth.[1] Rias attested that even the current Satans (including the Super Devils, Sirzechs and Ajuka) feared Vasco Strada in his prime. Even Ewald Cristaldi who is the mentor of the Exorcists called Vasco the true monster. In his old age, he displayed his immense strength as he held the upper hand against the entire Gremory group, including Issei in Cardinal Crimson Promotion and Saji in his Malebolge Vritra Promotion. After he was restored to his prime, Vasco overpowered Vali (in Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive form), Bikou, a weakened Fenrir, and Gogmagog singlehandedly.

* **Master Swordsman:** He is a tremendously skilled and powerful master swordsman with immense combat experience, able to overcome master swordsmen like Kiba and Xenovia with minimal effort. In his hands, the Durandal Replica yielded power on par with the original, then slashed Rias' Extinguished Star, an immense compression of Power of Destruction and fought on par with Arthur Pendragon, a prodigious master swordsman that wields Caliburn, the Strongest Holy Sword. After having his original strength restored, he could demonstrate his legendary swordsmanship on Durandal II to directly slashed Vali's Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive enhanced demonic power and even completely destroyed his entire armour, cut apart an army of Bikou's Youjutsu clones and even defeated Arthur, overwhelming the latter in terms of power, stating Arthur's superior swordsmanship with Caliburn is still immature.
* **Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant:** Vasco is also a skilled master hand-to-hand combatant whose skills are further supplemented by his immense physical abilities, as shown when he blocked Irina's Hauteclere using his fingers, caught and crushed Yuuto's Sword of Betrayer just by gripping it, and threw extremely powerful punches that could destroy buildings simply from the shock-wave generated from his fists. Rias even noted Vasco's combat prowess is on par with Sairaorg, a Devil who is an extremely powerful martial arts master.[2]

**Keen Intellect:** Befitting his experience, Vasco has vast knowledge in a wide arrange of topics related to the Three Factions, somehow acquring a piece of the original grail and could guess that the unknown devils sent to attack them were born from the Mother of Devils, Lilith.

**Magic:** Although, Vasco himself hasn't shown much usage of magic, from his combat experience, he appears to have abundant knowledge in magic. As a testament to this, he called Rossweisse, a genius of Norse Magic as a young magician. Vasco can use magic to fly or to store away Durandal II in another dimension and summon it back when he needs to use it.

* **Magic Negation:** His immense experience and knowledge born from his years of fighting against Magicians and those who use magic, letting him locate even the tiniest flaws in his opponents' magical attacks and lets him neutralize them via the application of brute force to very specific points on the magic attack.[2]

**Flight:** During the events of Volume 21, Vasco used magic to stay afloat in mid-air.[7]

## **Equipment**

**Durandal Replica** (デュランダル・レプリカ, *Dyurandaru Repurika*): In Volume 19, Vasco was given a replica of the original Durandal by the Pope. As it is just a replica, it only has one-fifth of the power of the original. But even though it's just a replica, Vasco was able to draw out its maximum potential; demonstrating the ability of Durandal to cut everything without exception.[2]

**Durandal II** (デュランダルII, *Dyurandaru II*): This is the newest version of the holy sword created by the Vatican, which has a blue blade and an aggressive aura. Durandal II is an evolution of the original Durandal which he previously wield and it was made so that he can display his sword skills, which were once called a "living miracle". Durandal II has shown tremendous power, almost comparable to the original Durandal as Vasco could fight and match the Vali Team in terms of power, generate colossal holy aura that could destroyed Vali's Silver Armour and overwhelming Arthur's Caliburn the strongest Holy Sword.

**Rejuvenation Concoction:** This is a concoction that was created for Vasco using the joined powers of Valerie's Holy Grail, Gasper's Balor Power, and Koneko's Senjutsu (Touki). This lets him return to the age where he was at his prime, letting him display immense strength and skill.[3]

## Quotes

* (To everyone):"*Now, the supernatural races will have a video recording of this. In the past, the Devils who stood above high-class Devils and all of the abnormal existences would only have appeared in rumors or legends. It was the first time that they had been seen, and no one knew how to respond. But if a recording of a battle is left behind, regardless of whether they're a Heavenly Dragon or something else, there will now be evidence. All that's left is to feel that aura on an actual battlefield.*" (Light Novel Volume 24, Life 4 — *Vasco Strada and Crom Cruach*)

## Trivia

* Vasco is a Spanish name whereas Strada is an Italian name, so this suggests Vasco is Spanish-Italian.
	+ Vasco means "crow" and Strada means "spread out, extend". These two meanings could very well be a reference to the fact Vasco can fly.
* Vasco is the oldest known human in the series.
* Vasco Strada refused the offers to become the Ace of two out of the Four Great Seraph, Uriel and Raphael because he wanted to die as a human. If he had accepted, then he would have become one of the strongest, if not the strongest, among the Brave Saints.[1]
* Vasco wants to give his blessings as a priest at each of Issei's wedding ceremonies, as it would give him great satisfaction to do so.[8]