Characters / Beet the Vandel Buster

Tropes that are character specific.

Beet Warriors

Beet

Voiced by: Reiko Kiuchi (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English), Tiffany Grant (young) (English)

A quintessential Idiot Hero with not a lot of brains but a whole lot of heart and unstoppable optimism. He received five Saiga — a Vandel Buster's ultimate weapon, formed from their life energy — from his heroes, the Zenon Warriors, shortly before they disappeared. He has vowed to use these weapons and powers to defeat every last Vandel and end the Dark Age for good. He's best known for striving to be a true hero, as most Busters just see it as a job, and his bizarre sleep schedule, staying awake for three days and nights and then sleeping for a full day.

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• All Your Powers Combined: Beet's true Saiga allows him to manifest all the powers of his Saigas in one weapon, allowing him to bypass the primary weakness of his Stance System - his inability to change weapons quickly and in the case of the Boltic Axe, easily.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Boltic Axe. It's the strongest of Beet's five Saiga, but takes a good 12 seconds to bring out, which is an eternity against anything worth using it on. And before he got some practice in with it, he ran the risk of hitting his ALLIES with the shock-waves from his swings.
  • Beet learns to compensate somewhat by starting his swing while the Axe is still in the process of being summoned. The result is while the Axe takes time to bring out, once it's out it's already in use.
  • Later on, a second ability of the Axe is revealed, a strange force that VERY QUICKLY drains the life force of anyone nearby - enemies AND allies alike.
• Blow You Away: The Cyclone Gunner, in every sense of the word. Created from the Divine Power of Wind, its bullets are made of compressed air that can blow big chunks out of Vandels.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: A completely one-sided one on Beet's part. He decided long ago that he's going to marry Poala once he's ended the Dark Age, and freely tells everyone that Poala's his future wife — much to Poala's dismay, as she insists she never agreed to that.
• Combo: Beet's new Saiga changes form extremely quickly allowing Beet to chain attacks and weapons in creative ways.
• Confusion Fu: The versatility of Beet's Saiga allows him to fight in unique and unpredictable ways - the limit is Beet's own combat experience and creativity.
• Dual Wielding: One of the advantages to having multiple Saiga. Beet usually uses the Crown Shield alongside the Burning Lance or Cyclone Gunner, giving him excellent offense and defense. The only problem is, having several Saiga out at once really drains Beet's Divine Power.
• Epic Flail: The alternate form of the Crown Shield. The same hard shell that makes it so good at repelling attacks also makes it a very powerful bludgeon when morphed into an iron ball.
• Finishing Move: The Excellion Blade's Zenon Winzard, named for, and by, its original wielder. A devastating leaping downward strike when mastered, Beet struggles to use it for a long time, and slowly progresses from mostly hurting himself to actually hurting his opponents.
• Gravity Master: The real power of the Excellion Blade is to allow Beet to ignore (to an extent) the effects of gravity, allows him to move faster and jump higher.
• Happily Adopted: He was raised by Poala's family, and while he might not see Poala as a sister he does see and treat her parents as his own.
• Heavy Sleeper: Beet can stay awake for up to three days in a row, but then has to sleep for at least a full day to make up for it. He's nearly impossible to wake up during this time.
• Jack of All Stats: Beet's 5 Saigas make him incredibly versatile and good at most combat situations. However, he has yet to completely master any Saiga and his other teammates tend to be better at their chosen fields.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Beet might be a skilled warrior with a whopping 5 or 6 Saigas but he can barely use Divine Attacks. Poala remarks how unusual this is, as regular Busters only get their Saiga after mastering a Divine Attack.
• Morph Weapon:
  • The Crown Shield can switch between a regular shield and a ball-and-chain, meaning it's good for both offense and defense.
  • Beet's personal Saiga can freely transform into the Zenon Warrior's five Saigas and has all their abilities. It's not as strong as the originals, but can switch forms in the blink of an eye, allowing for powerful combinations.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Justified. Beet has a whopping 5 Saigas, inherited from a powerful Buster team, none of which he had mastered in the first part of the series. There were plenty of nuances to each Saiga that he didn't know about and had to learn over time. Naturally, he gets better with this as time goes on, so he gets his own Saiga that he once again has to learn how to use from scratch.
• Power Up Letdown: Beet's new Saiga has multiple weaknesses that initially make it inferior to the Zenon's Warriors Saigas. First is that Beet needs to remaster his new Saiga all over again and learn to bring out it's full power meaning that individually it's still weaker than his old Saigas. The second is the Beet's Saiga is a single weapon, which means he can't Dual Wield the way he did before
• Stance System: Essentially how he uses his Saigas. Each one has a different combat focus and abilities as well as representing a different element. Beet cycles through them depending on the situation.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He can use five Saiga which gives him amazing strength and versatility, but he can't even use basic Divine powers. He also doesn't have much knowledge of what his Saiga can do, usually discovering their better abilities as he goes.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Beet can stay awake for 3 days without sleeping but then needs to sleep a whole day to recharge. In practice, this usually means that every few days Beet is incredibly vulnerable to attack and his team needs to protect him until he wakes up. It's also a good Deus Exit Machina to force the team to fight without their leader and one of their main powerhouses.

Poala

Voiced by: Ai Maeda (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

Beet's Childhood Friend, whom he's promised to marry (much to her displeasure). After Beet left to train in using his Saiga, Poala became a Buster herself in order to protect her town and provide for her parents. She was content with just protecting her small village, but when Beet returned to end the Dark Age for good, Poala found herself inspired to come along with him as the second member of the Beet Warriors. Her role is usually the Team Mom, keeping the more eclectic team members in line while fighting on the front lines with her fire magic.

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• Action Girl: A strong warrior and powerful fire user.
• Arm Cannon: Poala uses a mounted arm gun for ranged attacks. Eventually she stops using it once she masters Fire Tengeki.
• Birds of a Feather: Poala and Beet are very similar as both are reckless and impulsive people with a strong sense of justice.
• Glass Cannon: Poala is extremely powerful in offensive fire attacks but lacks any defensive ability. This bit her hard when Baron attacked as she nearly died because she couldn't block his Finishing Move.
• Playing with Fire: Her greatest divine power is Fire.
• Ship Tease: With Beet, natch. She has no problem yelling at him when he does something reckless, but also cares for and supports him no matter what. And for all her insistence that Beet's "Childhood Marriage Promise" exists only in his head, she's quick to get jealous whenever someone female pays attention to him.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Poala's most powerful attack, Burst End is a massive controlled explosion.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Poala has a great deal of potential and raw power but lacks the experience to fully bring it out. She starts learning the best ways to utilize her fire Divine Power to it's fullest potential.

Kissu

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese)

A friend of Beet he met during the Time Skip, Kissu is weak physically, but is an expert strategist and wielder of the Divine Attack. His dream is to be World's Greatest User of the Divine Attack. His biggest weakness is his own self-doubt and cowardice, and he's fled in panic from a strong opponent more than once — but he's also saved the Beet Warriors more than once, and his ability to induce his opponent's strategies from just a few hints has proved invaluable time and again. Kissu doesn't use weapons and has no Saiga, but in proficient in all the Elemental Powers of the Divine Attack, especially ice.

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• An Ice Person: He's skilled at all forms of Divine Attacks, but his Ice spells are by far the strongest.
• The Archmage: Kissu dream is to become "The World's Best Tengeki User" essentially this trope.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Kissu comes up with plans to counter power attacks after seeing it a few times. What cemented him as this is how he realized Garonewt's plan in a few seconds with only a tiny clue.
• Battle Couple: Kissu and Milfa are often paired together in fights as part of their Ship Tease.
• Characterization Marches On: Kissu started out as a bit of a flirt if the name and the fact that he essentially blows kisses at the enemy wasn't a clue. This is forgotten in favor of the Running Gag of him being oblivious to Milfa's obvious crush.
• Deus Exit Machina: Kissu is in jail during the first half of the fight against Hystario, which is the main reason Beet can be caught off-guard and kidnapped. Otherwise, the combination of his Awesomeness by Analysis (he would have easily noticed that Laio wasn't a zombie because he can use tengeki) and his mastery of tengeki would have prevented Hysterio's plan.
• Oblivious to Love: Kissu never notices Milfa's crush on him, Poala has to be the one to tell him.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Kissu puts himself down and thinks he's weaker than he is. It's the source of his Cowardly Lion tendencies, he thinks he can't handle a situation and runs away.
• Hyper-Awareness: Kissu is very observant and good at noticing small details and using them to figure out strategies and counters.
• Insecure Love Interest: Kissu and Milfa's relationship is on hold primarily because he doesn't think he's good enough for her. On top of Milfa being much stronger as a Buster, he's also a criminal while she is a princess.
• Prone to Tears: Is called a crybaby because of it.
• Red Mage: Unlike most Busters who are very strong in one form of Divine Power, Kissu is equally strong in all.
• Squishy Wizard: Played with. Kissu is the weakest physically, however he knows defensive Tengeki allowing him to compensate.
• Trading Bars for Stripes: Milfa allows him to travel with Beet (under her supervision) and fight Vandels in exchange for her advocating for a lower sentence.
• Underestimating Badassery: Kissu is often the subject of this. Multiple powerful Vandels underestimate Kissu partly because they're focused on Beet and partly because he comes across as weak-willed and cowardly. All end up regretting it especially when Kissu figures out their attacks and strategies.
• Undying Loyalty: To Beet. No matter how scared or insecure he is, Kissu will always pull through if Beet is in danger or needs him.
• Weak, but Skilled: Doesn't have much physical combat ability and his endurance is probably the worst out of Beet's entire group (he wrung himself dry both major battles casting powerful spells) but makes up for it with creativity and careful battlefield analysis.

Slade

An aloof, cool-headed and sarcastic Buster who has a rivalry with Beet. He's much more pragmatic than his rival, and makes no bones that Busting Vandels is purely a job to make money. He's also quick to dismiss Beet's claims as a hero of justice that will end the Dark Age as a bunch of naïve nonsense from an idiot child — and yet does not hesitate to risk his life to save that "idiot child" when he's in trouble, and is altogether a good person. His specialty is wind, and his Saiga is the Silence Grave, a thin, nearly invisible double-sided spear that can cut Vandels to ribbons in an instant.

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• Big Brother Instinct: Slade is hinted to see Beet as a surrogate younger brother and he will often stop by after Beet does something particularly reckless in order to check up on him.
• Blow You Away: Primarily uses wind Tengeki.
• Fragile Speedster: Slade lacks pure power and relies on trickery and Hit-and-Run Tactics to defeat enemies.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Beet. They occasionally compete over who can kill the most monsters.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Drops in and out of Beet's group.
• I Work Alone: Unique among Busters as someone who doesn't have a regular team.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Sarcastic man who appears mean, but he's not nearly as heartless as he acts.
• Tsundere: Slade hides it well behind a mask of sarcasm and snark but he genuinely cares for Beet and looks out for him.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Genuinely likes and worries about Beet. Doesn't stop them from arguing all the time though.

Milfa

Voiced by: Rumi Shishido (Japanese), Leah Clark (English)

• Bare-Fisted Monk: When not using her Saiga, Milfa's primary fighting style is hand-to-hand combat.
• Bounty Hunter: Milfa's job is to track down and arrest Busters who abuse their power for corrupt or criminal ends.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Yes this flirty, cutesy, flighty chick is a Broad Buster.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Milfa's father dislikes Kissu and views him as an unreliable coward especially when compared to Beet. He even threw Kissu in jail once he found out Milfa's feelings.
• Elemental Armor: Milfa invented a lighting attack that coats herself in Tengeki which augments her hand-to-hand combat skills and grants her a powerful defense.
• King Incognito: Milfa is the princess of Gransista. Milfa wasn't really trying to keep it a secret, she just kinda forgot to mention it to Beet and the rest.
• The Tease: Once offered to let a pilot grope her in exchange for a ride on his airplane only to weasel out of it. Milfa also easily gets crushes on cute guys.
• Improbable Weapon User: Her, uh, Guitar-Cannon-Club Saiga.
• Lightning Bruiser: A powerful hand-to-hand user skilled in offense and defense with insane physical strength and endurance. She's the highest level of Beet's group and a Broad Buster to boot.
• Shock and Awe: Strong in Lightning divine powers.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Milfa likes Kissu because of his inner core of bravery, loyalty and kindness that comes out when the chips are down.
• The Worf Effect: Combined with Deus Exit Machina. Milfa's easily the strongest of Beet's group, which means that she'll inevitability be beaten up and tossed around both to establish the threat and get her out of the way.

Vandels and Minions

Beltoze

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese), Bill Jenkins (English)

The "King of Tragedy" and arch-enemy to Beet. It was Beltoze who fought the Zenon Warriors that fateful day, using Beet as a distraction to get the drop on them, which in turn made them decide to entrust their Saiga to Beet. Since then, he's been keeping to himself, slowly building up his power. Beltoze loves challenging strong opponents and lives for battle, hence why he went after the Zenon Warriors despite being only a five-star Vandel at the time.

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• Actually a Doombot: Beet once defeated Beltorze early on only to be told that it was a significantly weaker clone.
• Blood Knight: Really enjoys fighting and killing strong opponents, human and Vandel alike.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Sees himself not as a monster but as a warrior seeking stronger adversaries.
• Orcus on His Throne: Has been literally sitting on a throne doing not a lot since his battle with the Zenon Warriors.
• Red Baron: "The King of Tragedy."

Shagie

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese), John Swasey (English)

• Eyes Always Shut: It's when he opens when that you should be worried
• In Love with Your Carnage: Gushes over Grineed's true berserker self, considering him to be the ideal Vandel.
• Killer Rabbit: Looks like a rabbit monster in a tweed suit.

Grineed

Voiced by: Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Japanese), Chris Cason (English)

The self-proclaimed "Clever Honcho of Deep Green," and the first seven-star Vandel the Beet Warriors face. For all his attempts at being The Chessmaster, he's actually a raging berserker who tends to go off at the slightest provocation, earning him his true moniker of "The Bloody Beast."

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• Beneath the Mask: Grineed is actually an extremely violent Vandel, much to his chagrin, but he also cared for his attendant somewhat.
• Berserk Button: Do not mess with Grineed's plans. Do not insinuate that power is better than tactics in front of Grineed. And most of all, DO NOT EVER address Grineed in a casual manner such as "pal" or "man."
• The Berserker: When he snaps and reveals his true face, he loses all control and fights like a maniac. Unfortunately, he's so tough and strong that this is actually the ideal way for him to fight.
• Big Bad: Of the first season of the anime and the first arc of the manga.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The Big Bad of the first arc but after he's defeated, other 7 star Vandels line up to fight Beet's group as they move on to Gransista. What really cements him as this is when the group looks at a map of the world and see just how small the Dark Continent (the territory that Grineed ruled) is.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Grineed goes into a rage during his first meeting with Rozzgoat, putting out Rozzgoat's eye, destroying his castle, and killing every single one of Rozzgoat's monsters (AND his own)... all because Rozzgoat casually called him "pal."
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Grineed has a nasty temper and explodes whenever his plans don't work out or someone insults him mildly.
• Graceful Loser: Grineed calms down, congratulates Beet and gives him advice about his body exploding once Beet cuts off his horn.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Unlike most Vandels he really dislikes winning by brute strength and desires to be different.
• Irony: He hates himself for being just another brutal Vandel. Other Vandels on the other hand admire him because he's such a powerful and brutal Vandel. Shagie in particular thinks that he's the ideal Vandel — a perfect incarnation of destruction born to pound humanity into dust.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Played with. He literally destroys his entire castle, and blows up after he dies. Those two things, however, are not directly related. He wrecks his castle in a berserker rage, and he explodes after a horn which regulates his power is cut off. Milfa removes the body before it damages any property.
• Red Baron: He likes to go by "Clever Honcho", though his true title which he hates is "The Bloody Beast."
• Wake-Up Call Boss: As the first 7 star Vandel Beet's crew faces at a time when they're not particularly high level and as a Vandal that uses tactics and strategies to wear the group down, Grineed represents an existential and persistent threat that previous enemies weren't. All three members of Beet's crew have to Take a Level in Badass (and Beet took multiple levels) mid-battle to fight him.

Sir Baron/Zanga

• Affably Evil: Baron's a surprisingly honorable, decent, noble Vandel. He literally got the title of "Sir" because an opponent, who died at his hands, respected his fair-play fighting style. He's perfectly willing to spare people if they don't try to attack him first, and despises hurting innocents needlessly.
• Anti-Villain: Baron is honorable and noble for a Vandel, only attacking the strong and generally sparing them after a fight. It's even revealed that Baron wasn't the one to earn his stars as once a month Zanga would go on a rampage and cause mass slaughter earning him the body count to level up.
• Ambition Is Evil: Zanga, Baron's other half, who shares his body and is basically like a second brain, has only one desire, and that's to make Sir Baron an eight-star vandel. He doesn't care how he does it. Even if it means killing helpless warriors, or fighting dirty.
• Baddie Flattery: Baron sincerely compliments warriors whom he feels are genuinely skilled. He even tries to spare them so they can become stronger later.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: A zigzagged trope. Baron doesn't bother to remember the people he defeats if they are weak or cowardly. If they are strong and have potential, he does remember them all and looks forward to a possible rematch.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Once Beet's real Saiga comes out, Zanga is swiftly defeated as Beet quickly overcomes his dirty tactics. Beet even says that Baron with his great skill at hand-to-hand combat could have overpowered Beet but Zanga's long ranged style and lack of skill meant that Beet could defeat him.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Zanga is in many ways more dangerous than Baron, because he's not above more cruel, harsh, dirty tactics, whilst Baron will hold back on others out of respect and a desire for them to become stronger.
• Draw Aggro: Zanga tries to posses Beet once Baron is defeated. Subverted as Beet realized it was actually this trope, Zanga pretended to try to take Beet over to distract him from killing Baron.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Zanga genuinely loves Sir Baron like a son. He even admits it as he's dying. "So this is what humans mean by "there's no love like a father's"." And it's reciprocated by Baron, who's moved to tears when he finds out Zanga died in his sake, trying to protect him.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Zanga's beaten in Baron's stead, Baron realizes he has no desire to be a Vandel warrior anymore, and decides to become his own man, parting on good terms with Beet and his friends.
• Honor Before Reason: Baron nearly lost and died to Beet and Kissu primarily because he kept sparing Beet to prolong the fight and fight honorably which gave the two time and space to collect themselves and Level Up.
• Jerkass: Zanga is much crueler and meaner than Baron. He's not incapable of being polite, but he tends to be really nasty, and likes calling Beet and his friends "Brats"
• Jerkass Has a Point: Zanga's not wrong in that Baron's desire for a fair fight and tendency to spare strong opponents will get him killed. He nearly dies to Beet and Kissu because he kept prolonging the battle were he could have won.
• Love Makes You Evil: Zanga does what he does for Baron's sake, because he views him as dearly as a father does his son. It's his biggest motivation, and he doesn't care how helps Baron, no matter how dirty the deed is.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: Baron tries very hard to never hurt innocent people, because of his honorable fighting style. Zanga isn't quite as noble...
• Superpowered Evil Side: Zanga is, in a way, this to Sir Baron. He's more dangerous than Sir Baron due to his willingness to engage in crueler tactics, and he rarely comes out...only once in a "red" moon.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: Sir Baron's sympathetic, Zanga despicable...though even he's capable of some pathos in his sincere love for Baron and willingness to die for him.
• Take Me Instead: Zanga sacrifices himself in Baron's place. Beet recognized what he was trying to do and honors Zanga's wish by sparing Baron.
• Worthy Opponent: Baron views Beet and his friends at this, and they view HIM as one too.

Hystario

• Affably Evil: Hystario is a down-to-earth style Vandel who's surprisingly polite, and willing to let bygones-be-bygones due to the fact he can't really die. It allows him to get over grudges quickly, and he's a genuinely nice person with people he considers his friends.
• As Lethal as It Needs to Be: Hystario's weapon constantly changes form, meaning it's impossible to plan for it. It's part of his strategy of taking people by surprise, using ambush-style tactics and being quickly adaptable.
• As Long as There Is Evil: As long as dark energy exists in the world, Hystario can come back to life. This is why he has such a lonesome view of the world...life has no meaning when you can't die.
• Bad Boss: Outside of Laio, Hystario treats his undead minions poorly, often executing them on a whim and not caring if they fall apart or are destroyed carrying out his orders.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: As Noah notes, Hystario is a facinating combination of Straw Nihilist (his immortality and the loneliness said ability has cultivated in him has made completely apathetic about most things in life and his bygones-be-bygones attitude comes from the fact) and a firm I Just Want to Have Friends mentality working in tandem. Philosophically, both mentality should be utterly opposed to each other, but both contrasting ideologies work to make him a surprisingly Tragic Villain.
• Cute Is Evil: His original, childlike self used to be a pretty cute-looking sort, even with his head cut off and held in his own arms he looked surprisingly adorable.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hystario genuinely wants a friend. He finds one in Laio, whom he sincerely likes and bonds with.
• Fate Worse than Death: Hystario can't be killed...so the only way to stop him is to seal him in an alternate dimension that has no access to dark power...while he's also in pieces. He's left floating helplessly, tragically bemoaning how he can't even play a sad tune on his guitar anymore.
• From a Single Cell: Hystario can regenerate if even the smallest piece of him is available.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Hystario's main threat is that he cannot be killed and will always come back. Otherwise, he's not particularly powerful as a 7 star Vandel - Baron was a better fighter and Grineed and Garonewt were better strategists
• Horns of Villainy: He's got a spiky head and a big ol' black horn in the middle of his forehead, jutting out the back of his skull.
• I Control My Minions Through......: His unique powers allow him to make people he kills into obedient zombies.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: From the moment of his creation, what Hystario truly wanted was a friend. Even as a 7 Star Vandel that hasn't changed. He's got plenty of minions and disposable pawns...but they don't fill the loneliness in his heart. Meeting Laio did, even if he turned him into a part-zombie warrior.
• Immortality Immorality: Hystario can't die. This is one of the biggest reasons why he's as cruel as he is. Being unable to die and unable to make friends makes him feel lonely and depressed, and it ate at him.
• In the Back: Him being unable to die means he can have parts of his body cut off and it's no biggie...and he uses this to his advantage, when he loses a hand, he stabs Beet through his own back.
• Lean and Mean: He's a real skinny guy...and a real evil one too.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Hystario's childlike nature is all the more terrifying because of his cruelty, power and immortality.
• Rotten Rock & Roll: He carries a special guitar with him that can transform into a weapon, and he enjoys playing dark music to set the mood.
• Spikes of Villainy: He has a VERY spiky head.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Laio is genuinely sorry that they have to get rid of Hystario, because even though Hystario made him think he was a zombie, he still treated Laio like a real friend, with kindness and comradery, and saved his life when he was about to die.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Hystario used to be a cute little Vandel who just wanted a friend when he was first made...unfortunately his first attempt led him to getting nearly killed, and it taught him a twisted version of friendship.
• Villainous Breakdown: Losing Laio as his friend by having him be cured of the dark magic influence over him makes Hystario go into a dark, nihilistic breakdown that leaves him with nothing to lose. He has another one when he's tossed into an alternate dimension by Beet, with Laio helping them. Now he's stuck, decapitated, and can't even die to end his agony.
• We Can Rule Together: He makes this offer to Beet, saying Beet should join Laio as one of his friends, by becoming a zombie warrior like Laio has. After all, he and Laio get along SO well, he knows Beet will be a great friend too...

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