Apsara

Apsara (アプサラ) is a secondary antagonist in Saiyuki: Journey West. She was formerly a divine song goddess before she became a member of the Devil Eight with her husband Vala.

Role in Game
Sanzo's party first meets Apsara and her husband at Helmet Peak, not soon after seeing Luna for the first time. She abruptly hops down the mountain to try to capture the Guardian and pouts when she fails. Apsara complains to her husband to forget negotiations and they take action. If her husband falls before her, she will stay on the field to avenge him. Otherwise, she retreats back to Heaven to recuperate from her wounds.

On Asura's orders, the husband and wife wait for the monk to arrive at Port Town. They issue a formal challenge for the staff at Wing Mountain. After their momentary withdraw, Apsara parts with her husband and waits along the alternate path towards Thunder Temple. Infuriated at them for defeating Vala, she morphs into her true form and faces the party within the branches of an enormous tree at Puppets Peak. Like her husband, she laughs at their efforts when defeated and disappears with taunts of the world ending.

Personality
Apsara is a wife devoted to her husband, both sharing the same sadistic pleasures and vanity. Sophisticated yet surly, Apsara is the one of the pair who openly insults those who don't impress her. She has a short temper when dealing with "dirty" mortals and wants nothing to do with them. However, she is proud of her voracious body and isn't afraid of using her wiles in battle if it suits her means.

Fighting Style
During the fight with her human form, Apsara stays atop the tall peak and snipes at the party far below her. If a male party member is within her range of attack, she may try to charm them to disrupt Sanzo and his/her crew. When she or her husband lose too much of their health, Apsara is equipped with healing spells to regenerate themselves. Her endurance is pretty high for an archer character, requiring some patience if the player tries to beat her with their flying Ryorin or Cloud-using Goku. Depending on how early she is attacked, she may also have Vala appear as her bodyguard to complicate matters further. When isolated from any support, however, Apsara's low health capacity will be the main cause of her downfall.

Her true form attacks with a vampire drain and mid-ranged web attacks, which deal minimal damage at best. Though she may look intimidating, Apsara spends a great deal of time trying to avoid direct contact with the party by crawling to high spots when the party nears her location. The twisted map and her fleeing tactics will be a bit of a nuisance for first time players, but she goes down easily with enough patience.