Bloody Cross is a manga by Shiwo Komeyama, which ran in Monthly Shonen Gangan from 2009 to 2015.
The story focuses on a half angel half vampire named Tsukimiya who is seeking a way to free herself from her half-blood curse, which will kill her if it isn't removed. While searching for a way to remove the curse, she is caught up in a "Holy War" among "God Candidates" who are competing against one another to gather "God's Inheritences", artifacts that contain God's power and can turn the candidate who gathers them into the new God.
Bloody Cross contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe: The result of Hinata's spell eliminating the crusades and all things supernatural, excluding the God Buriers.
- An Arm and a Leg: Tokiwa slices off Kanade's hand to stop her from firing her gun. And the next time she appears, she's still missing that hand.
- Satsuki does this to Tsuzuki during their fight in chapter 70, and the effects last.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Izumi, the president of Arcana. Regardless of fighting ability (or lack thereof), the man has Nerves of Steel and he will tell you exactly what he thinks of you regardless of his current situation. And as it turns out, he's a good shot and he can stop time.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Tsukimiya and Hinata. Tsukimiya also has a little with Nao.
- Big Damn Kiss: Between Tsukimiya and Hinata in chapter 71, although it's also forced.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nao all the way, although the 'sheep' is quickly replaced by the 'bitch' once it's revealed that he's the traitor. His true colours come out the closer he gets to death, and he really starts losing it.
- Bloody Murder: Tsukimiya can control her blood as a weapon.
- Brainwashed: Tsukimiya, after Tokiwa kidnaps her. Not quite Brainwashed and Crazy, unless you count kissing Hinata in order to take him out as violent enough for the trope.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Upgrades to this pretty quickly, though. It also gives her back her Action Girl status and she starts kicking ass again... until she recovers from the brainwashing.
- Casting a Shadow: Momose. She can summon shadow beasts, use shadows for stealth, and use shadows in some kind of teleportation.
- Cat Girl: Momose is a cat demon, though her only feline feature is her tail.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Hinata's attitude toward Tsukimiya when they're on the same side.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: In the first volume, Hinata and Tsukimiya are constantly planning to, attempting to, and occasionally actually managing to screw each other over for personal gain despite the fact that doing so will cost the other person his/her life. And both of them know it. This actually works in their favour eventually; at the climax of the volume, they manage to legitimately work together to betray Tsuzuki instead of each other — he doesn't see it coming for the very reasons listed above.
- Once Arcana gets involved and the plots starts picking up, the entire manga becomes basically a stab-happy free-for-all between the three — and then four — groups, both between the groups as a whole and between a lot of the members therein: Tsuzuki's, Satsuki's, Arcana, and the God Buriers.
- Curse: Half-bloods all have cursed brands on their bodies that will kill them by the time they turn 18 unless they either drink the blood of a pure demon or find a God's Inheritance with enough power to remove the curse.
- Curse Escape Clause: See Curse above.
- Cute Little Fangs: Tsukimiya's are adorable. Hinata, oddly enough, doesn't appear to have fangs at all.
- Damsel in Distress: Tsukimiya, nearly to Once an Episode levels. Unfortunately, due to
Badass Decay, she no longer qualifies for Badass in Distress. She somewhat reverses this in final volume by saving Hinata instead. - Dhampyr: Tsukimiya is half-vampire, half-angel. Hinata is apparently of the same crossbreed despite never doing anything remotely vampiric.
- Drugged Lipstick: A variation where Hinata uses his tongue to apply a spell that knocks Tsukimiya unconscious. You get no points for guessing where he was using his tongue at the time. Later, Tsukimiya kisses him while inside the God Buriers' HQ. He collapses almost immediately.
- Fake Defector: Hinata appears to be a traitor who joins Arcana, only for it to be revealed later that he was only pretending to change sides and was working for Tsuzuki all along.
- Surprisingly, Nao of all people, pulls this one in chapter 42 in the form what's ultimately a Taking You with Me gambit... too bad he fails.
- Fallen Angel: Satsuki, one of the God Candidates. Tokiwa, the leader of the God Buriers, is one as well.
- Fantastic Racism: Momose shows this toward half breeds, saying that they're "vulgar, barbaric and the lowest of the low".
- Feather Motif: Satsuki. Whenever he shows up there's a rain of black feathers, even though he doesn't have wings.
- Forceful Kiss: Hinata gives one to Tsukimiya while she's tied to a chair and right after explaining to her that she's going to be killed in a ritual sacrifice.
- Tsukimiya and Hinata have kissed each other a hell of a lot. They never have a kiss that was mutually agreed upon, unless you count their very first one... wherein Tsukimiya skipped the kiss and promptly bit Hinata to drain his blood. This may have changed in Chapter 50, if it was indeed a Kissing Discretion Shot.
- Foreshadowing: Notice how Hinata lacks vampiric traits despite being a Dhampyr ? That's because he actually is a human with the soul of an angel.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: It is truly amazing how often the characters go from "full-scale battle to the death" to "hanging out in the same house". They also tend to wander in and out of each other's headquarters every now and again with ease despite having to sneak in on pain of death if found less than, say, ten chapters previous.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Nao is half-human, half-angel. Hinata is one as well, although his angelic half is his soul.
- Have You Seen My God?: God is apparently missing or no longer around and various people are competing to become his replacement. The reason is revealed in chapter 72, though.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Hinata can never seem to decide whether he's Tsukimiya's enemy or ally, seeming to want to help her one minute (and even getting past her lie detecting powers) then betraying her (once even shooting her several times) the next. Tsukimiya once commented that she was never sure which side of him she'd encounter. It's later revealed that he's a Fake Defector, and has always been on her side even when forced to fight her. After that, he remains clearly on her side.
- Nao jogs through this door as regular exercise.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: A less emotional example than others, considering it's Tsukimiya saying it, but considering her generally cold demeanour, the way she frustratedly calls an absent Hinata an idiot after finding a massive pool of his blood speaks volumes.
- Tsukimya pulls this again when Hinata declares his intention to preform a Heroic Sacrifice when there's no other viable alternative in chapters 70 and 71 (it's a bit more emotional of an example). She does it once more in the final chapter.
- Informed Attribute: The manga tells you that Hinata is, like Tsukimiya, half-vampire... but unlike Tsukimiya, he's never seen drinking blood other than when he took Brass' to get rid of the curse, and while every now and again Tsukimiya mentions craving blood, he never has. Even when he drinks Brass' blood, Hinata uses magic to turn it into a ball and then ingest it rather than use fangs to suck it out as Tsukimiya had planned to do. Hell, Hinata doesn't even appear to have fangs the way Tsukimiya does.
- In the Back: Happens a few times.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Izumi is threatened with this. His response is a bored look of such contempt that it's a wonder no one dropped dead on the spot.
- Killed Off for Real: Considering all that was left of him was a charred hand, Nao does not appear to be coming back anytime soon.
- This is also the fate of anyone who died during this crusade, since not even their memory remains.
- Lecherous Licking: Momose licks Satsuki's fingers after returning to him from a mission.
- Hinata has a tendency to do this to Tsukimiya's Brand, which happens to be on her right breast.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: As has been previously mentioned in the manga, Izumi is not a fighter. So he completely takes Tokiwa by surprise when he puts a bullet through the guy's shoulder and then almost through his face — he had the barrel less than an inch away before Tokiwa dodged back. Turns out that while Izumi still doesn't appear to be a formidable hand-to-hand opponent, he does have an ability besides his precognition that is a big help in a fight: he can stop time.
- Living Lie Detector: Tsukimiya.
- The Mole: Nao has been working for Satsuki all along, as have Kanade and Rido. Actually, most of the major characters, who aren't the head of a group or an aide, pull this at one time or another.
- Ms. Fanservice: Tsukimiya. Just look at the image at the top of the page. That her Brand happens to be on her right breast doesn't help.
- Mundane Utility: Tsukimiya uses her blood manipulation powers to make darts out of her own blood to throw at a dart board in chapter 12.
- Nerves of Steel: Izumi is one of the few characters who has never been shown frightened or stunned. Even when the God Buriers take over his building and hold him hostage, threaten him with torture, and threaten to murder his subordinates in front of him, Izumi just looks contemptuous and slightly bored. And he mocks them.Izumi: (to his captors) You don't call ahead, you walk about in your street shoes, and on top of that... you speak freely about my closely-guarded secrets in the presence of guests. I suspect your upbringing was poor. You have no class.
- Not Enough to Bury: The result of Nao's Taking You with Me gambit. He burnt the entire mansion to the ground in an attempt to kill Satsuki; unfortunately, Satsuki survived, and all that was left of Nao was the charred remains of a hand that Satsuki absently discards.
- Not Quite Dead: Kanade.
- Hinata in the final chapter.
- Once an Episode: Tsukimiya gets groped in almost every chapter.
- Our Angels Are Different: Tsuzuki, a pure blood angel and God Candidate. He doesn't seem to have wings or a halo or any other angel features, and is generally childish and immature.
- Paper Talisman: Most of Hinata's spells use them, as do Nao's.
- Pieces of God: God's Inheritances.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: After using his time manipulation powers, Izumi's hair goes from black to white. Whether this is a permanent change or not is never shown, though it's implied that it isn't; he's unsurprised by the result and mentions that it's because he hasn't used his powers in so long.
- Seer: Izumi, the president of Arcana, has the ability to see into the future. Additionally, Yuzuka qualifies as a Blind Seer.
- Redemption Demotion: Completely inverted in a case of Defection Promotion. Remember Tsukimiya's Badass Decay? Yeah, that vanishes the instant she's fighting alongside the bad guys.
- Reincarnation:
- Hinata is the reincarnation of one of the previous Holy War's God Candidates, the angel Subaru. He inherited his will, knowledge and memories, but almost none of his powers.
- Similarly, Tsukimiya is the reincarnation of the previous Holy War's sacrifice, Yuzuka. She, however, inherited neither the will, knowledge, memories or even powers of her previous self, although like her, she bears the Brand. She doesn't even know about this reincarnation thing (until the final chapter).
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Momose has done this a couple of times, thanks to her shadow manipulating powers allowing her to hide in people's shadows.
- Taking You with Me: Nao attempts this with Satsuki. It fails, unfortunately, but Satsuki didn't get out entirely unscathed.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tsukimiya to Hinata in chapter 71.
- Third-Person Person: Momose.
- Time Master: Izumi can stop time, although this may be a very limited version of the ability, since if he could hold it for more than a few seconds he presumably would have shot Tokiwa in the head.
- Tomes of Prophecy and Fate: The Book of Prophecy and the Book of Da'at, two of the more recent and powerful God's Inheritences that appeared for the holy war.
- Transferable Memory: Tsukimiya can read other people's memories by drinking their blood.
- Undying Loyalty: For all of Hanamura's snark and occasional abuse, he is absolutely loyal to Tsuzuki and is one of the very few characters whose allegiance has never wavered. Momose, who is basically his Evil Counterpart, is this to Satsuki.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Momose can make herself look like anyone. She usually uses it to make herself look like a friend of her enemy so she can get close enough to surprise attack the enemy.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: So many problems in this manga could be solved if characters actually killed their enemies when they have the chance instead of just sort of wandering off instead.
