Apostle Physiology (Shinza Bansho)

Summary

Die Ewigkeit, or just simply Ewigkeit, is a form of Sorcery possessed by numerous different characters in the World of Foreknowledge (the setting of Dies Irae). Developed and created by Karl Ernst Krafft as a way to spiritually merge an Ahnenerbe (or Holy Relic) with their user in question, who are then called Apostles. With Ewigkeit, it grants the user superhuman capabilities, the power to reap and absorb souls, regeneration, and many more abilities as they learn and go up the levels of its magical system. In simplistic terms, it is a "Beginner Guide" to becoming a God created by God to kill said God.

Note: This page covers the general basics of what all/most of the Apostles possess through Ewigkeit, as well as the levels or Degrees Ewigkeit and a little on the nature of Ahnenerbe due to their connection to Ewigkeit. Special and unique exceptions such as Wilhelm Ehrenburg's weakness to traditional vampire weaknesses due to his Ber'iah's nature, Rusalka Schwagerin being unable to manipulate shadows when in complete darkness, Valerian Trifa possessing Reinhard's body and Relic via his Craving, and so on will be covered only on their pages.

Degrees

Ewigkeit has four Degrees a user can fall under depending on their skill level. Below are the following:

• Assiah: The first degree of Ewigkeit, also known as the Activation Degree. It is the stage in which one can control their Ahnenerbe albeit while in a somewhat unstable state where they are at risk of losing control of it. By just concentrating, the wielder is capable of summoning an aspect of their Ahnenerbe (ex. a slash from a blade, fire from a firearm, etc.). It is similar to psychokinesis, manifesting as invisible attacks that make for swift attacks though their attack power is not great, being only enough to deal a fatal wound to normal human beings. At this degree, a user of Ewigkeit is only somewhat superhuman, being granted only a small set of abilities including having a more resilient body and the ability to heal non-fatal injuries, though they are still capable of dying should their vital organs be destroyed.
  • All members of the LDO, Ren, and Shirou have surpassed this Degree.

• Yetzirah: The second degree of Ewigkeit, also known as the Formation Degree. At this stage,  the wielder is now capable of fully manifesting their Ahnenerbe in a visible form, allowing them to weaponize it properly and show off its particular trait. This not only boosts the Ahnenerbe’s power, but also that of the wielder's five senses and spiritual senses beyond that of Assiah as well as bolstering their regeneration to come back as disembodied souls that can form back their physical bodies. In addition, Ewigkeit helps the users' body resist against aging, fatal wounds, illnesses, and poisons. However their soul still ages, being only able to last a century long before finally expiring, 300 years when one masters Ewigkeit and it can go up to 2000 years tops.

• • All members of the LDO and Ren have surpassed this Degree. Rot Spinne, Lisa Brenner, and Shirou have only managed to reach this stage but cannot go any further. Ren, in some timelines, could also breach Ber'iah but not fully surpass this stage.

• Ber'iah: The third degree of Ewigkeit, also known as the Creation Degree. At this stage, an Apostle can create a "Parallel World" (異世界 in JP) made for them. Said World is a result of their deepest Craving made real, unbound by the laws of physics or common sense. A World that can momentarily overwrite those of the current World, that of the World of Foreknowledge, replacing it with their own and where one's Craving is made real by destroying all common sense, which is stated more by the author to create such a phenomenon. What one Ber'iah does depends on what the users desire is, of which they can fall into one of two categories:
  • Hegemony/Hadou: Craving type where one's World and Law is enforced onto their surroundings and everyone around them, where space is warped to create a "parallel world", reflecting the user's ideal World. Whether it is to create a World of eternal night, a World of shadows that binds others, or a World of rot and decay, a Ber'iah of this type brings the users desire to reality. Although powerful, the Hegemony Ber'iah can be weakened the more people whose wills and desires clash with those of the user's themselves, and it can lessen the World's Law even more if there are those with significant souls and wills within it. Lastly, a Hegemony Ber'iah's time limit is short as it only lasts for up to dozens of minutes before being forced to disappear or deactivate.
  • Transcendence/Gudou: Craving type where one's World and Law is directed at themselves. Whereas Hegemony affects the space around the user to form their ideal world, the user of Transcendence is the only one affected (i.e. the user's own self is transformed and they, in turn, become their own "parallel world"), another contrast to Hegemony that is more geared towards those of rulers and conquerors. They come in a lot of forms, whether they are a World that Ends all with a single strike, a World to be The fastest and be untouchable, a World to be of fire or of thunder, and so on. Due to directing only at themselves, the user's Law and their conflict with both the World's and that of others is limited though not completely nonexistent, thus allowing them to last far longer than their Hadou counterpart. However, just like Hegemony, Transcendence are still counted as foreign bodies in the current World and its Laws, and will eventually deactivate after a few hours.
  • Hybrid: Although rare, a Ber'iah can also have features of both types. An example of this is Wilhelm, whose Ber'iah is not only Hegemony (creating a World of Night) but also carries a Transcendence trait (transforming him into a vampire). Another example of this type is Ren who, upon getting support from Mercurius due to being connected to his Throne as his living Ahnenerbe, had his Ber'iah modified into having both Transcendence (changing his form to having multiple blades on his back and his skin turning dark) and Hegemony (slowing down anything within his line of sight to the point of being stopped to a crawl) features as Masada stated.
    • Everyone of the LDO (sans Lisa and Spinne) and Ren have reached this point, with the former all stopping here including Reinhard who may even stop at this point depending on the timeline. Ren, like Reinhard, may also stop at Ber'iah or even Yetzirah but still has potential for Atziluth depending on the timeline.

• Atziluth: The fourth and final Degree of Ewigkeit, also known as the Emanation Degree. Essentially a step up from the Ber'iah Degree, it is where one's desire starts to emanate out to the rest of the World, extending to all of creation and painting it over with their reality. Unlike with Ber'iah, those who have reached Atziluth cannot turn it off, effectively becoming a literal god of the new world permanently. This is limited to those of Hegemony, as those of Transcendence, whose World and its Laws affect only themselves, contradicts the purpose and function of Atziluth of Ewigkeit (in truth, being made to overthrow Omega Ewigkeit though the potential for it can exist as Marie at the start of Dies Irae demonstrates what that looks like) as due to their very nature, Transcendence Gods do not go into conflict with the existing world or other laws, even that of other Gods (Hegemony or Transcendence) due to existing on their own eternally. If there are more than one Hegemony God, however, there will be a battle of contention between them as their Laws contradict one another, forcing them to fight until the victor paints over their reality and to that of all creation. In a sense, Ewigkeit can be said to be a “beginners manual” or “guide” on becoming a God.
  • The only ones to reach this Degree in Ewigkeit are Reinhard Heydrich and Ren Fuji. Marie and Mercurius are also of this Degree despite neither having to go through it due to both being born "natural pureblood Gods" according to Masada.

Note: According to the Kajiri Kamui Kagura Fanbook, Masada stated that Taikyoku of Kajiri Kamui Kagura and Atziluth of Dies Irae are one and the same. An example of this is in Kajiri Kamui Kagura where Tenma Yato enacted his Law and despite having a Taikyoku name for it in both the visual novel and Fanbook, he instead refers to it by the name used in his original life as they essentially function the same way. This also applies to other works of the series like Kokubyaku no Avesta where its equivalent is known as Big Bang. In short, anything that Atziluth does or is described to do, be it for Hegemony or Transcendence, applies to Taikyoku and other Emanation equivalents in other Thrones and vice versa for they are functionally the same.

Ahnenerbe

A term that refers to objects that have been given a will of its own as a result of the many feelings poured into it by people throughout history. They are also known as Holy Relics.

Although their nature will differ depending on the feelings poured into them, all Ahnenerbe share two common characteristics: A desire to seek human souls for sustenance, and select those who share their disposition. Despite being an efficient means of gathering sustenance, Ahnenerbe born from wills of grudges will devour their user in the end.

An Ahnenerbe can fall under one of any four types depending on the disposition of both the wielder and the Ahnenerbe itself. The following are the four categories:

• Fusion Type: One of the four types an Ahnenerbe can fall under. Short for “Ahnenerbe Fusion Type”, those that fall under this category are offense-oriented in nature that manifests through the merging of the Ahnenerbe and its wielder, vastly improving their physical capabilities. While active, this type of Ahnenerbe will put the user into a heightened state of excitement which will hinder their capability of making a rational choice, making the user unfit to come up with any defense-oriented strategy. A user of this type tends to be belligerent and destructive, with the majority of the Ahnenerbe themselves possessing savage attributes. Members of the L.D.O under this category are Wilhelm Ehrenburg, Rote Spinne, and Wolfgang Schreiber. Ren Fuji and Shirou Yusa (in most routes) also falls under this category.

• Materialization Type: One of the four types an Ahnenerbe can fall under. Short for “Armament Materialization Type”. Ahnenerbe of this kind are well balanced, a jack-of-all-trades so to speak. These Ahnenerbe manifest as a weapon, such as swords, spears, firearms, and so on, maintaining their standard form. They do not have any inherent flaws, but don't possess any particular strengths either, making them a versatile tool that can fit nearly all situations available. A user of this type of Ahnenerbe tends to be soldierlike in mindset, with the majority of the Ahnenerbe themselves being a tool of war. Members of the L.D.O under this category are Reinhard Heydrich, Beatrice Waltrud Von Kircheisen, Eleonore Von Wittenburg, Kei Sakurai and Tubal Cain. Ren Fuji also falls under this during the near end of Kei Route.

• Expansion Type: One of the four types an Ahnenerbe can fall under. Short for “Phenomenon Expansion Type”. These types of Ahnenerbe do not manifest as weapons of destruction, but as counter-types that allow magic to create something or make traps with them. They do not possess much offensive power, but excel in both defense and support, which makes them suitable to have around. A user of this type of Relic tends to be intellectual, scholarly, and artistic, with the majority of the Relics themselves being either works of art or books. Members of the L.D.O under this category are Rusalka Schwagerin and Lisa Brenner.

• Special Type: One of the four types an Ahnenerbe can fall under. Short for “Special Manifestation Type”. An Ahnenerbe of this type do not belong to any prior categories and can possess traits of more than one of them. Due to this fact, it is hard to discern any flaws or strengths of an Ahnenerbe of this type that does not have any uniform characteristics, varying greatly from user to user. What they do have in common, however, is that their users are generally reckless and possess an overzealous faith towards something. Members of the L.D.O under this category are Machina, Valerian Trifa, and Mercurius.

Powers and Abilities

Assiah - Yetzirah

• Soul Manipulation: The most prominent and essential ability granted to all who learn Ewigkeit regardless of their Degree. Uses of this ability includes:
  • Soul Absorption: The fundamental aspect of Ewigkeit is the ability to absorb and devour souls, using them as fuel to empower themselves and their attacks. Said souls are even robbed from Mercurius' control, where those taken by anyone of the LDO have their Recurrence hindered and thus brought to a halt, disturbing the cycle of Recurrence and destroying Foreknowledge in the process.
  • Empowerment: An Ewigkeit user grows stronger the more souls they devour. In addition, gathering souls increases the strength of their body, senses, and vitality.
  • Spiritual Attacks: The attacks of an Ahnenerbe affects not just the body but the soul itself, making protections against it useless unless one has a way to defend their soul.
  • Non-Physical Interaction: Due to the nature of Ahnenerbe and being bonded with them, Apostles are capable of killing even disembodied souls with their Relics on top of their ability to hit the souls of living beings as stated above.
  • Soul Armor: Ewigkeit grants an Apostle a spiritual armor that can protect them from attacks that damage the soul, making them hard to beat and kill unless one possesses the means to attack both physically and spiritually.

• Superhuman Physical Characteristics: Ewigkeit grants a user superhuman capabilities beyond the norm of humans. It allows them to perform feats of power far beyond that of normal humans such as moving and fighting at speeds faster than sound and easily destroy their surroundings, including those of tanks and buildings and other such earthly structures. Their durability is raised tremendously, to the point where all of the worlds conventional weapons won't be able to lay a scratch on them. Even explosions like carpet bombings are deemed useless, as was the option of using nuclear weapons against them, implying that such weapons might not be enough to kill them.

• Enhanced Senses: The senses of an Ewigkeit user are greatly enhanced beyond that of a normal human's. Examples include being able to see as far as hundreds of meters away as well as making out minute details at such distances or see perfectly in the dark with superior vision to night scopes, to being able to perfectly hear and comprehend a conversation a hundred meters away. Another example of this is the ability to even sense one's breathing, heartbeat, and mental state. All of these senses are increased further to an unknown extent when an Apostles reaches Yetzirah.

• Extrasensory Perception: Apostles are granted a "Third Eye" that allows Apostles to see and feel the souls of others, even use it to identify others by their souls color. It also has the ability to enable them to perceive things invisible to the naked eye. Like their physical senses, this is increased further when an Apostle reaches Yetzirah.

• Magic: Ewigkiet is a form of Sorcery in the World that deals with the manipulation of souls, making it also magical in nature and thus their attacks magical. Said Sorcery is powerful enough for Apostles to, in time, overwhelm and destroy the bits of Methuselah's Arcane magic that reanimated the corpses of Katyn.

• Regeneration (Up to Low-Godly): Even should they lose their physical body, Apostles can exist in and regenerate in a disembodied state as a soul so long as they are bonded to their Ahnenerbe with which they can use the souls they devoured to form a new one.

• Longevity: By mastering Ewigkeit, an Apostle can physically stop aging and have their soul's span extented for hundreds of more years to a few thousands years at most before finally expiring.

• Immortality (Type 3. Apostles can use their gathered souls to regenerate from fatal wounds)

• Surface Scaling (Several users have shown to be able to stand on or move on water)

• Regeneration Negation (Up to Low Godly): As an Ahnenerbe's will is born from grudges of humanity over the years, they have accumulated numerous concepts that results in them carrying a deadly "poison" and "curse" that damages the body and soul. And is even more dangerous when used against the immortal Apostles, as it can inhibit their regenerative performance whether if its minor wounds or as major as this.)

• Spiritual Aura and Status Effect Inducement (Multiple Ewigkeit users have demonstrated that they release a spiritual pressure that denotes the strength of their soul, and this pressure can have a wide variety of effects on others which consists of "breaking down the body", "shattering the soul", fading one's strength, inducing fear and madness, all while paralyzing the opponent in place as well as "attracting followers around them", and inducing "nausea, intoxication, and itchiness" onto others)

Ber'iah

• Law Manipulation, Subjective Reality, and Reality Warping: Ber'iah is the act of an Ewigkeit user forcing their deepest desire on reality and are described as the implementation of a new law into reality that is essentially a single person's craving against the world's, which can even temporarily overwrite the Law of Mercurius' world due to the Ber'iah user bending "the laws of the world with your own will", causing the "laws of the old world to hold no water" within their own.

• Spatial Manipulation (For Hegemony): (As shown numerous times, Hegemony Ber'iah's are capable of distorting space)

• Limited Acausality (Type 4; A Hegemony Ber'iah users creates a parallel world that is in constant discourse with the "pre-existing" world while Transcendence Ber'iah users embody a parallel world)

Atziluth

The final stage of Ewigkeit. See the God Physiology (Shinza Bansho) page for full information on this stage's abilites.

Resistances

Assiah~Yetzirah

• Aging, Illnesses, and Poisons: Apostles who learn Ewigkeit are unaffected by physical aging and natural illnesses, as well as instantly ridding their body of any alcohol, smoke, poison, and drugs.
• Soul Manipulation: Apostles are capable fighting one another with their Holy Relics and can even resist them to some extent. Holy Relic's are objects that plunder souls from other beings, using them to feed for more power and vitality. Said plundering is powerful enough to take souls away from even the Law of Omega Ewigkeit and halting their recurrence that otherwise would happen upon death, an act that can disturb and destroy said World Law. Apostles can also resist having their souls robbed from Gladshimeir's materialization. Additionally, they can also resist Reinhard's aura pressure which had these effects as well as his spear that can do this.
• Absorption: Apostles can resist the effects of Wilhelm's Relic and Ber'iah, which squeezes and absorbs one's blood, essence, and soul as well as other organic and inorganic substances.
• Magic: Apostles can endure and resist each other's attacks, which is magical in nature due to being a sorcery system.
• Status Effect Inducement: Though they were affected, Apostles of the L.D.O were able to endure Methuselah's dark presence well enough to shortly go and fight him. Said presence did this to half of the world.
• Mind Manipulation and Matter Manipulation: Apostles could, to some extent, resist being in the presence of the Longinuslanze which can do this.
• Fire Manipulation and Heat Manipulation: Ewigkeit enables protection against ordinary flames. It could also protect against potent flames like Eleonore, as Ren demonstrated as well as Beatrice who, with only her soul, could temporarily withstand the heat of Eleonore's Ber'iah.
• Poison Manipulation: Ewigkeit can grant protection against potent poisons like Cain's, as Ren demonstrated.
• Electricity Manipulation: Ewigkeit can grant protection against electricity, as Ren was able to endure what would have done this by Cain using Beatrice's powers.
• Ice Manipulation: Ewigkeit can grant protection against freezing, as Wilhelm was frozen into an ice sculpture at -197 degrees celcius and was completely unaffected by its coldness.
• Power Nullification: An Apostles attacks cannot be nullified, only endured or defended against if they have the means.
• Unconventional Power Absorption: In the event that an Ewigkeit user devours someone who retains their form even while as a soul were to attempt to steal from them their Ahnenerbe, they would be able to fend it off based on their compatibility with their Relic. An Ewigkeit user can also do this based off the power of their soul, allowing them to ignore any and all attempts unless the soul trying to plunder their Relic is vastly stronger than theirs.

Ber'iah

• Law Manipulation, Subjective Reality, and Reality Warping: Ber'iahs possess the ability to negate and ignore the physical laws of nature, even other Apostles Ber'iah to the point where it has no effect on them. Ber'iah's can also temporarily ignore and override the laws of the world on top of overriding the Law of Mercurius, in which "the laws of the old world hold no water".

Weaknesses

• Destruction of Ahnenerbe: An Ahnenerbe is a devourer of souls, and bonding with them allows the user to gain several benefits from those souls used for the Ahnenerbe that collects them. In the event that an Ewigkeit user has their relic destroyed, the Apostle will almost immediately lose all access to their powers and start to perish as the Relic is bounded to their soul. In other words, destruction of the relic means eventual destruction of the Apostle.
• Soul Stock Limit: Despite an Apostles ability to absorb souls and grow stronger, there is a limit to what they can absorb. While they cannot gauge their exact limit, an Apostle has the instinct to know going any further than they what they have would not be wise, an act that would be akin to an "overfilled ballon". In other words, causing either the Ahnenerbe or Apostle in question to fill up beyond what they could hold would "burst" and cause death. An example of this is Wilhelm's limit of 8,000 souls, and thus he cannot go any higher lest he risks damaging himself or worse.
• Soul Stock Usage: Ewigkeit's formula resolves around the use of souls as one's power and ability to live longer and stay physically young. It is also used as fuel for all of their attacks, from simple attacks like a punch to even an Apostle's Ber'iah uses up their fuel (souls). Once an Apostle uses up all of their soul stock (sans their own), they lose the benefits Ewigkeit gave them and makes them no stronger than that of a human.
  • Note: An Apostle can normally mitigate this as their Relics enables them to reap souls as they kill, thus using their powers isn't considered costly to use nor is it a big concern for them provided they have the means to continuously obtain new souls to refill. An Apostle can also even bypass this by using their own soul as fuel for their Relic, granting them back the use of their abilities including Ber'iah however this is deemed suicidal as it will just lead them to their deaths faster.
• Information Overload: The absorption of souls not only comes with nourishment for enhanced lifespan but it also the complete memories and knowledge of souls an Apostle has taken. While this could be used in any way the Apostle seems fit, it comes at a risk of losing one's identity as the hundreds and thousands of souls they've acquired means having to be able to keep themselves sane as well as maintain their sanity and mind of looking into memories and information not of their own. Due to this, not many in the Legion have bothered to use this method to their advantage beyond their use as fuel for their powers and armor save for the likes of the insane like Schreiber or those with huge ego to process such information like Reinhard.
• Ber'iah Limitations: An Apostle's Ber'iah is limited in a lot of ways. Aside from souls being used to upkeep it, other limitations are present such as their range of influence and the duration for how long it can be active as well as being one's Craving against the entire existing World. For those of Hegemony, due to their interference regardless of their Ber'iah's range, it cannot be held up for long. For those of Transcendence, because it is confined internally, Apostles of this type can keep up their Ber'iah for far longer periods of time. Nonetheless, both are limited in time: Hegemony's lasting for a few dozen minutes or less, Transcendence lasting for a few hours tops.
  • Hegemony Ber'iah Limitations only: Further weaknesses for Hegemony's exist: The more people there are in a given Ber'iah, the less effective that World and its Law becomes though it won't completely make it useless. This becomes even more prominent if there are those beyond normal are in its range.