Ira

"Who we really are, you ask? There is no one more pathetic than we, who have abandoned our human flesh. In the end, all of us only exist to fight till death in this pitiful hell; talking to a sinner who is about to become a corpse right here won't gain me anything. However... just for this once I shall reveal the name of your killer. My name of bane is Ira. Engrave that into your heart for eternity!!"

- Ira to Misuzu Kusakabe in their first encounter.

Ira (イラ Ira) is a Black Knight and an antagonist in Sin, Damnation and the Atonement Girl arc.

Personality
Ira is a powerful and proud warrior of Index, the largest magical organization within the world of 11eyes and 3days. He is loyal to his leader, Avaritia and eager to complete any mission. He seems care for his comrades but it is unknown whether he loves Invidia like she loves him. Even if that is the case, he still prioritize his duty as an apostle of Index over his personal feelings. On the other hand, Ira appeared being very agressive and angered, especially if he loses. However, he still loves combat and would do anything for fighting an enemy and like Gula, he learned to fight as a warrior, showed in the battle with Misuzu.

Biography

 * Main article: Sebastianus of the Holy Bone

Ira's true identity is Sebastianus of the Holy Bone, an apostle of Index. In 1945, he lost his life trying to commit a double suicide with the witch Lieselotte Werckmeister, but failed. His leader, who is later known as Avaritia, managed to seal her in the end, but also at the cost of his own life. To protect the seal, the only survivor of the incident, Superbia, called back the souls of the dead apostles and bound them to the bodies of the Larvas, forming the Black Knights. However, due to certain reasons, she also had to erase their memories. Sebastianus was resurrected as Ira, remembering nothing but his mission to protect the seal.

Fragments
In 2009, the fragments of the VoidStone, now in the body of six teenagers, was gathered in Red Night and the Black Knights decided to destroy them. They never got the chance to do that in their first encounter, however, as Red Night ended before any of them could attack. Ira appeared to be quite angered about this. After Gula was defeated, he was the second to assault the Fragments.

He set out and engaged Misuzu Kusakabe at her school. Without saying anything, he quickly closed in and pulled off a five hits combo, which ended with Misuzu being sent flying. As he was about to attack Kakeru and Yuka next, Misuzu stood up and returned to battle, saying that she could beat him. Ira was surprised that she was still alive after receiving his attack and commented 'this should be interesting'. When Misuzu tried to summon her weapon, Ira attacked, but what he attacked turned out to be a fake. The real Misuzu was a few feet away, successfully summoned her sword. Misuzu managed to injure Ira by surprising him with the length of the sword, which bought time for her friends to run away. Enraged by Misuzu tactics, Ira focused on fighting her first and intended to chase the others later. Despite the difference in means of fighting, the two appeared to be equal in talents. Misuzu, however, feared that her friends would be assaulted by another Black Knight, so she used both her sword and shikigami to put Ira out of commission.

Ira was heavily injured, but managed to chase off Misuzu by his sheer willpower. Invidia, who was fighting the Fragments at the time was horrified at Ira's wounds, but he told her to focus on their mission. She agreed and took on Yukiko and Takahisa while Ira fought Misuzu and Kukuri. Ira managed to disarmed Misuzu but, unfortunately, Kakeru Satsuki's Eye of Aeon awakened. Ira was caught off-guard and was stabbed in his right eye. Refusing to be defeated, he struck back and gave Kakeru a fatal blow in the stomach. He continued his battle when Kakeru was unconscious, but as Red Night ended, he appeared to have reached his limit and had to be taken back to the crystal palace by Invidia.

Final Endeavor
On October 21, much to Kakeru's gang surprise, Ira engaged them once more. Saying that he would avenge Gula's and Acedia's deaths, he engaged Misuzu in battle. Due to his injuries and, as he stated, his remembering of his true self, Misuzu had quite the upper hand. When she was about to deliver a killing blow however, Ira used his right knee and elbow to block her Raikiri. He counter-attacked with a fist, both sending Misuzu flying and breaking her arm at the same time. Ira threw Raikiri at Misuzu to finish her off, but Kakeru unexpectedly caught it midair, apparently by using his Eye of Aeon. Kakeru then writhed in pain; Ira threw a punch to kill him. However, Yuka unconsciously used her power, which seemingly nullified all the magical forces that was used to strengthen Ira's attack. As a result, Ira's fists disintegrated when they touched Kakeru's body. As he was horrified at the scene, Misuzu summoned Kogarasumaru Amakuni and defeated him. Before dying, he told his killers to enjoy their transient victory as long as they can, because the end was coming.

Anime
In the anime, Ira made his first appearance when Kakeru, Yuka and Misuzu stumbled upon the crystal altar inside the Red Night. His next encounter was earlier than in the game, however, as both him and Gula set out to annihilate Kakeru, Yuka and Misuzu. While Misuzu was busy fending off Gula, Ira chased after Kakeru and Yuka. He found them hiding inside a car, but before he could crush them, Kukuri intervened and Red Night ended shortly afterwards.

In his next appearance, Ira attacked Misuzu and began to win, however his true opponent came to the Kusakabe's aid, Yukiko. He was at a disadvantage as Yukiko's inhuman speed and deadly skills were beyond his capacity. Mid-battle, he managed to grasp Yukiko's pattern and retaliated, but Yukiko continued to assault him even more fiercely. Before she could deal a fatal blow however, Invidia stabbed her from behind and join the fight, although the battle was interrupted yet again by Takahisa and the ending Red Night.

In episode 5, Ira encountered Kakeru again, this time without Misuzu to aid the latter, as she fought with Invidia. Kakeru attacked, but Ira shoved him aside easily. But when Ira decided to kill Yuka in front of him, Kakeru's power awakened, enabling him to foresee Ira's incoming attack. Ira was aghast, seemingly having recognized the Eye of Aeon's precognition power, but refused to believe that he was dealing with the Eye itself and continued to attack. This time, Kakeru leapt behind Ira and used Raikiri to cut him in half, successfully killing him, though Kakeru over-exerted himself to do it.

Later on, in episode 9, Superbia used her shikigami to create a fake versions of the defeated Black Knights, including Ira, to fight Kakeru. They were easily defeated, however, as a realized Kakeru could foresee all their attacks and realized they weren't real.

Powers&Abilities

 * Martial artist expert: Ira is a Black Knights who specializes in Chinese martial arts. He attacks with great power, speed and agility, all of which can easily kill a relatively strong fighter within the first strikes.
 * Unyielding willpower: Ira's most fearsome aspects however, is his willpower and the ability to quickly counterattack his enemy even when being heavily cornered. Despite being put at great disadvantage during his final battle due to him remembering his real identity, he defeated Misuzu and almost killed Kakeru, if it was not for Yuka's intervention.

Relationships
Invidia: Invidia showed clearly that she loved him, but Ira's feelings toward her are actually unknowns. It is possible that he loves her, but apparently, he sees her like a trustworthy comrade, and prioritizes his mission than his actual feelings, ordering her to continue their mission despite his wounds. In the past, they had nearly the same relationships, albeit closer. In the anime, their love relationships is not mentioned.

Misuzu Kusakabe: Misuzu has been his main opponent during his battles, and the two of them have nearly the same strength. Finally, after Yuka used her power, he has been killed by her.

Kakeru Satsuki: In the anime and manga, Ira despised Kakeru as a weakling who was incapable of using the Eye of Aeon. Ira's arrogance led to his demise against Kakeru in both the manga and anime.

Trivia

 * His name "Ira" means "Wrath" in Latin.
 * Ira is the one of the main protagonists of the fancomics featuring the Black Knights on the Internet, and Superbia's sidekick. He appeared being a lot goofier and somewhat an otaku, calling often Superbia "onee-san".