Benedictus of the Bookshelf

"Humans, huh...? To be honest, they are just a nuisance."

- Benedictus of the Bookshelf.

Benedictus of the Bookshelf (書架のベネディクトゥス Shokan no Benedikkutusu) is a member of the Punishment Squad and a subordinate of Georgius of the Rainbow. He is one of the main characters in the Before Story. He became Acedia after the battle with Lieselotte.

Appearance
Benedictus is a young boy with short blond hair and blue eyes. He is rather short. He is dressed in a white suit with golden outline. The blue hood he wears also has golden outline. A red orb, which is the artificial body for his sister, Scholastica, rests on his chest. He wears blue and white shoes, each of which has a red gem on it. He also wears a monocle with golden outline on his right eye. Usually, some scrolls accompany him.

Personality
Benedictus is a young, but cocky and unsympathetic boy. He is generally contemptuous towards other people, thinking of them as a nuisance, and doesn't care about his comrades. He also has a cynical side, often stays away from people of society to live isolated. Thats the reason why he doesn't interact very much with the others, including Scholastica. His worst trait is always thinking of himself as being right, from the notion of favoring sheer power of strategies in combat to the way he thinks is right to treat his sister. This trait makes him aloof and (at times) cold towards his sister, even though he holds her dear, showing he still has a caring side and isn't such a bad person. The other reason is also because he doesn't wish to be human, and thinks his human feelings (including his brotherly love) as an obstacle. It's also revealed in a scene that he also has a soft spot for candies, and also has sometimes others childish tendencies.

Biography
Benedictus and his sister used to live in Mt. Elbrus of the Caucasus range. His family was in possession of a secret technique of making artificial bodies, and Benedictus' father, was the inheritor of it. However, he was unfortunately gravely injured in a certain battle. In his last breath, he told Georgius to take care of his son, which made the latter bring Benedictus to Index. From that point, Benedictus became the heir of the clan and unveiled the secret technique, which had never been revealed before to Index, pushing the progress of making Francine forward.

Invitation
While enjoying his boring daily life, Benedictus met his adoptive father, the Patriarch who came to meet him just to tell him about the mission to stop Lieselotte Werckmeister. Benedictus listened half-heartedly, but when the old archbishop demanded his serious answer, he agreed, but as a son instead of an apostle.

Travel by Sea
Benedictus followed Georgius to Ayame Hill and didn't interact much with people during the trip. Just before arriving at their destination, he noticed that his sister, Scholastica was busily making a paper crane. He thought it was childish, scolded her and forcefully took her psyche back to the orb on his chest, preparing to enter Uastyrdji for combat.

Commencing Operation
Having arrived at Ayame Hill, Benedictus, as well as others, realized that the entire area was covered by an eerie red Specialized Bounded Field which he analyzed. While others were trying to think carefully about the danger they were facing, Benedictus suggested blasting their way through the enemies and killing the witch with brute force. His suggestion was not neglected, but rather, integrated into another plan that required all of the squad to work together. Following Georgius' order, Benedictus left to destroy the pile of scraps in the middle of Ayame Hill.

Against the Witch
In Uastyrdji, Benedictus and Scholastica forced their way through the swarming enemies in attempts to destroy the pile of scraps that Lieselotte had set up. With sheer power, Uastyrdji was able to cut a path to their targeted destination. While Benedictus was thinking it was becoming too easy, Scholastica was afraid. As to reply her fear, a gigantic Larva appeared. Benedictus told Scholastica to open the final restrictions, and he would protect her. Scholastica was hesitant, but finally complied. As she undid the locks, Benedictus released a torrent of magical power on the creature, seemingly disabled. However, the Larva regenerated, and more crawled toward Uastyrdji. Benedictus waited for it to come close, then released his final attack, Bibliotheca Pan Magica on it at point blank range.

As the spell incinerated everything in its path, Benedictus felt strange, as his surrounding was too quiet. He began to feel anxious and called Scholastica to return to Uastyrdji for her safety. As soon as he call her however, Uastyrdji picked up sounds of the gigantic Larva earlier, making him wonder how it survived the blast. He thought it was regeneration, but it was impossible for such a large creature, he concluded that there were more than one Larva of that size from the beginning. As the situation was too dangerous, he tried to call Scholastica back again, but the Larva had already immobilized Uastyrdji but could receive her orb body. Desperate, he opened the cockpit to escape, but was only barely able to see the wriggling parts of the Larva.

Benedictus walked around, calling Scholastica's name, as he didn't find her presence around him. As there was no answer, he called her again, and saw a light at the tenth time he did it. Benedictus approached the light, and suddenly, Scholastica ran toward him and hugged him. Feeling the warmth of his sister, Benedictus was amazed, as it was like seeing his dream come true, as she had a humanoid body. When he was about to ask her how such a miracle had happened, a red tentacle bust from his right arm, making him scream in pain and terrifying Scholastica. Terrified, he tried to burn it, but could not cast any spell. The tentacle then strangled him, causing him to faint. Benedictus regained consciousness not long later, only to see more tentacles had already grown from his right arm, and was also finding its way around Scholastica's body. Benedictus forcibly pushed Scholastica away, tearing the tentacles apart, but more grew from his shoulder and dragged Scholastica closer to him. The tentacles tore Scholastica dress, then began to caress her. Benedictus begged them to stop, but to no avail. The tentacle began to pull Scholastica's limb aside, so that Benedictus could rape her. Struck with terror, Benedictus begged them to stop, but his body still moved on his own.

He helplessly watched as the tentacles grown from his body violently raped Scholastica. As they finished, the tentacles ripped Scholastica into pieces. Both shocked and disgusted with himself for being a monster and having killed his sister, Benedictus mentally broke down, thinking the scattered body parts of Scholastica as Scholastica herself. While he was still unaware that he was under Lieselotte's illusions, the Larvae dragged him out of Uastyrdji and then tore him apart. Lieselotte witnessed the scene nearby, calling him boring.

Relationships
Scholastica of the Bookshelf: Benedictus and Scholastica are siblings, and he wears her orb containing her psyche on his chest, and can communicate by telepathy with her. It's obvious that Benedictus loves and cares about his sister, and is afraid that her existence could disappear. In the battle, he acted protective toward her and had been shocked when Lieselotte forced him to rape and kill her, causing him to mentally break down. It's hinted that his deepest desire was her to get a true body, but as it is impossible due to the curse, Benedictus gave up this wish, resulting to a cold attitude to his sister.

Patriarch: Benedictus is his adoptive son, but acts indifferent, even insolent toward his father, which irritates the latter, but he seems to love him, despite being a simple human. He showed a bit of deference toward him, which he never did with the others, as he accepted to go on mission to Japan, because he asked him, and as his son, which could imply that he sees him as his only father.

Equipment

 * Batraz (バトラズ Batorazu): As Benedictus was born in a cursed blood line, his body from below the neck was discarded. His artificial body is specifically designed so that its image does not deviate too far from the real one. Apart from this purpose however, Batraz also comes with a few additions convenient for his status of a magus.
 * High-speed chanting: Benedictus' artificial body allows him to shorten the time of casting spells by enabling high-speed chanting, which reduces most long incantations to a mere single line.
 * Amplified magical power: Batraz also increases Benedictus' firepower when using magic, although how much is never explicitly demonstrated.
 * Dzerassæ (ゼラセ Zerase): The red orb on Benedictus' chest does not simply house the soul of his sister but also contains all of his relics and grimoires, all of which count up to 600. In his time, having such a high number of magical artifacts was already devastating enough for a lone magus.
 * Uastyrdji (ワステュルジ Wasuteyurujii): As his artificial body is generally not suitable for combat, Benedictus is equipped with a combat machine that can further boost his magical power.
 * Bibliotheca Pan Magica (万魔図書館 (ビブリオティカ・パンマギカ) Biburiotika Panmagika; lit. "Magic Library" in Latin, "Myriad Grimoire Mansion" in Japanese): Uastyrdji releases Dzerassæ, then open its arms and concentrates its internal magical power. While Benedictus chants the incantation, six magic circles appear behind Uastyrdji. When the incantation is finished, a huge magic circle appear in the front and release a enormous blast of energy, wiping everything in sight. This spell can only be used while Uastyrdj's internal settings are fully unlocked, however.

Other abilities

 * Photographic memory: Benedictus has good memorizing ability, as he is from the same family line as Georgius. While he is far from being able to memorize everything in a flash, he can correctly remember and compare the tastes of candy he ever ate so that he can share the experience later with Scholastica.

Trivia

 * His name is the homage to a Saint, likely St Benedictus of the Nursia, who found a religious Catholic institute. He also had a sister called St Scholastica.
 * Benedictus is one of the youngest members of the team, with Scholastica, though his real age is kept unrevealed.
 * In the anime, during the scene where the apostles turn into Black Knights, one silhouette is similar to Benedictus' appearance in the game, but it's unknown if the person is him or his sister.
 * The reason why Lieselotte made him seeing himself as a monster is possibly because of his inferiority complex, which made him contemptuous toward humans. Why he was forced to rape and kill Scholastica is however unclear.
 * More generally however, Benedictus's death was made in the form of a puppet show, with Lieselotte being the puppeteer. This is Lieselotte's way of ridicule her opponent, as Benedictus was also called the 'Puppeteer' once in the story.
 * He is nicknamed "Bene" by Samson.