Darius

Darius (ダリウス, Dariusu) is one of the main characters in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 6 and its sequel. He becomes the Seiryu of Earth (地の青龍, Chi no Seiryuu) for this era in the majority of its scenarios.

He has an image song called Nise Ri no Kyoukai Sen.

Background Story
Aside from being raised within a demon village, Darius's origins are not clear. He apparently lived a peaceful life and was naturally blessed with the most powerful abilities of his people. Four years before the main setting, the legs of the previous chief were ailing and plans were made for his eldest son to succeed him. However, the heir was inept with their clan's powers and the people worried about their future. Upon witnessing the heir's agonizing training firsthand, Darius offered Rudkhane another solution: relinquish the traditional order of succession in favor of judging a chief by their own merits. Rudkhane convinced his father to accept the idea and Darius was soon named the next chief.

Once Darius proved himself worthy to be chief, he was entrusted with the clan's ancient Chieftain Mask. The mask is seeped centuries of each chief's powers and powerful yin energy. It greatly heightens the wearer's spells, letting them tap into the clan's most archaic techniques. Yet the mask is also drenched with the raw hatred and madness of many prosecuted generations. While he is disturbed by the mask's untold potential, Darius will resort to using it if it will achieve his means.

A year later, Darius had an optimistic view of the clan's future. He believed that they could somehow use their powers to benefit both human and demon society, wanting to do something to bridge the gap. Seishiro visited the demon village and proposed Darius with a trade. The demons would become government spies into foreign territory in exchange for the village's peaceful coexistence. Darius hesitated until Seishiro appealed to the demon's nationalism, insisting that the effort would be a great service to the country's future; only then did Darius agree.

The demons kept their end of the bargain; Seishiro did not. Under the guise of friendship, the commander-in-chief had members of the Demon Clan guide him to the seeds for the clan's forbidden flowers. He then had his escorts executed and proceeded to manufacture horrific experiments on soldiers using the demon flower's miasma. These experiments led to vengeful spirits being conjured within the imperial capital. Darius learned of the deception too late and demanded that the experiments be stopped at once. Seishiro responded by publicly placing the blame of the vengeful spirits solely on the Demon Clan, letting time-tested prejudices do the rest of the work. It took everything Darius had to escape with his scattered people, and only Darius survived to keep the truth.

Seeking to correct his grave error, Darius started gathering resources for his revolution. His main goal is to locate and destroy the main laboratory for Seishiro's supernatural militarization through any means possible. His secondary goal is to overthrow Seishiro. Darius is well aware that toppling the capital's most influential official would only worsen the public's opinions about demons so he originally planned to do it by himself. Rudkhane swore to be his ally to the bitter end. He had the rest of his people relocated to a faraway island away from the capital.

Darius set up a barrier around his manor near the capital and posed as a foreign antiques dealer. During his monthly selling periods, he also established a working relationship with Murasame in exchange for learning anything new regarding the Imperial Army's laboratories.

Once he becomes aware that the Black Dragon Priestess was scheduled to be summoned, Darius feared that she would only be used to bolster Seishiro's plans for global militarization. He devises a bold plan to steal her from the Imperial Army's clutches the instant she is summoned. Realizing that he would need more muscle for his revolution, Darius hires Tora about eleven months before the priestess's prophesied arrival.

A week before the main story, the Demon Clan receives word that the Imperial Army intend to preform the priestess summoning ritual. Intrigued, Darius warps alone into the dimensional portal and arrives in the Quiz Battle Toukiden world. He discreetly observes the Slayer's movements from afar. Although he is bemused by his foreign surroundings, Darius is content to have the chance to assess the Imperial Army's capabilities before starting his rebellion. He then heads back to his own world. Lady Akatsuki briefly senses his presence but figures that it was her imagination. After Darius's departure, his sentiments manifest into a Mitama to help the Slayer.

Story Events
On June 18, the prophesied date of the Black Dragon Priestess's summoning, Darius and his comrades storm the Imperial Army's grounds and Darius swipes a dumbfounded Azusa off her feet. Using his teleportation powers, he warps him and his companions away to safety. Before he can further discuss his plans, Azusa bites his hand. Her rebellious act surprises Darius enough to lose his grip on her. Although they quickly catch up to her before she is killed by a vengeful spirit, Darius remembers her unexpected fiery streak and privately catalogs it away as an element to consider for the future.

When Azusa faints, Darius proceeds with his original plan: raise the Black Dragon Priestess's powers until she is strong enough to summon the Black Kirin. Until then, she is his honored guest at his manor in the Enchanted Forest. He and Rudkhane debrief her the basics regarding her new surroundings, the Enchanted Forest, and the Demon Clan. When the topic touches on the Imperial Army, they state that simply that they aren't on friendly terms and must be stopped. They tell her that she can return home world once she gathers enough yin energy from defeated vengeful spirits; Azusa has her doubts but innocently believes them, trusting them as she sees more of the parallel world herself. They ease Asuza into her new priestess duties by patrolling with her around the capital. During one of their daily strolls into the capital, Darius eventually introduces Azusa to Café Haikaraya and Murasame.

As Azusa's priestess powers matures, she has a premonition of the spiritually possessed and defends an amnesic youth suffering its symptoms. He can't remember his real name so Azusa names him Kohaku after the color of his eyes (topaz). Darius immediately recognizes Kohaku as an atypical spiritually possessed and seeks to study him, hoping to gain more information about the laboratories and his experiences. Darius keeps quiet about his private agenda, instead offering to employ and shelter Kohaku for as long as he wishes. To instill camaraderie in their new group, Darius invites them to the lake in the Enchanted Forest and enjoy a meteor shower together.

Murasame informs them that the White Dragon Priestess's summoning draws near a month later at Mount Atago. Darius doesn't elaborate for Azusa or Kohaku about their true purpose, only stressing that it is necessary to keep the White Dragon Priestess away from the Imperial Army. On the night of the summoning, Darius teleports everyone to the mountain. This time, their infiltration is expected and Kudan's powerful barrier keeps the Demon Clan out. Darius resorts to using his trump card: he dons the Chieftain Mask and draws the Black Kirin out of Azusa's body against her will.

The mystical beast blasts through the barrier and, without Azusa consciously controlling it, runs amok. As the Black Kirin's rampage kills many in its path, Darius uses the chaos to teleport himself directly to the summoning site. He smashes the Star Clan's Dragon Gem to prevent the selection of the Eight Guardians and tries to apprehend the confused Chiyo. Kudan shields Chiyo, and Darius tries to beat the Star Clan sorcerer away. Azusa's panicked pleas and Chiyo's resonance with her causes Darius to relent, hoping to cut off the priestesses's combined powers before they grow to be threat against him. He teleports his group away from the mountain. Although their mission ends in failure, Darius is content to have at least severely weakened the White Dragon Priestess.

Darius attempts to explain his revolution to Azusa, but she is so stricken by the bloodshed and her unintentional involvement to listen. Instead, he insists that they should return to the manor together. His suddenly cold tone causes Azusa to reject him. She challenges him for her freedom, but Darius swiftly overpowers her. Seeing that she is too upset to listen to anything he has to say, Darius has Azusa locked away in her room in the manor. He intends to tell her more about his revolution with time but he also can't afford letting her escape, especially when he suspects the Imperial Army will be on high alert. Until then, Darius and Rudkhane decide to sell antiques at a fair for funds and to gauge the Imperial Army's censorship of Mount Atago. The fair lasts five days throughout the daytime hours. He orders Tora and Kohaku to guard Azusa in his absence.

Although Darius becomes aware of Azusa's discreet activities, he overlooks them. On the last day of the fair, however, he senses a powerful divine energy while entering the manor and realizes that she came into contact with the White Dragon Priestess. Darius interprets this to mean that she is trying to seek asylum with the Imperial Army. Before Azusa is brought her dinner, Darius loses his temper and privately confronts her. When Darius grabs her wrist too hard and claims to have ownership over her, Azusa panics and inwardly prays for someone to save her. Her thoughts resonates with Chiyo's, and their combined priestess powers breaks through the barrier around the manor and reunites the priestesses.

Losing Azusa is a dent in Darius's plans, but he works his way around it. While he continues his antique trade, Darisu quickly surmises that Murasame is forming a covert independent political party and appeals to him to take action, especially when Seishiro publicly announces the formation of the disastrous Force Protection Squad. When a portion of the Force Protection Squad turn into the spiritually possessed in the city streets, Darius and his companions subdue the sane squad leader, one of Seishiro's trusted subordinates. Darius uses his mask to force the man to reveal the location of Seishiro's main laboratory, which is located in the basement of Ryuonkaku. Kohaku's exposure to the spiritually possessed and his own fatigue from using the mask halts Darius's actions for a brief period.

When they recover, Darius and his group attempt to discover a method for breaking Four God barrier without relying on the Dragon Priestesses. Learning from his own sources that it is impossible, Darius decides to personally appeal to Azusa on the night of the military ball. By now, he concludes that the Black Dragon Priestess has seen enough to be aware of the corruption within the Imperial Army. Darius promises to tell her the truth about his revolution and the Imperial Army on the night of September 1 at Ryuonkaku. Azusa agrees. Darius is summoned for the challenge against Seiryu, fleeing from the Elite Squad after his role with the divine beast is finished.

Keeping to true to his promise, Darius and company tell Azusa everything when she arrives at their promised location. They plan to use explosives to destroy the laboratory. After they topple Seishiro, they plan to remove the military in the capital in favor of fair governance run by Darius and Murasame.

Their movements are noticed by Seishiro who surrounds them in the laboratory with an armed gun squad. The demons easily overwhelm them. Before Darius can kill Seishiro, the Elite Squad's abrupt interrupts him. Darius dispels their aggressions towards the demons by telling them about their surroundings, causing the Imperial Army to lose faith in Seishiro. Seeing the immediate threat of the spiritually possessed, Darius and company temporarily join forces with the Elite Squad. In the majority of story routes, he is donned the Seiryu of Earth when Chiyo uses her powers to restore the broken Dragon Gem. If the player chooses, he may be a party participant for the final battle.

The default route has Darius and his comrades withdraw from the story after Seishiro's defeat. They do nothing to help the fight against Kagutsuchi.

In the best ending, Kagutsuchi is temporarily immobilized by Azusa's Black Dragon Priestess powers. Darius teleports himself to the roof of Ryounkaku to investigate. The evil god's miasma is too much for him to handle by himself so he teleports away. From the sky, he sees Murasame in the city streets and warps quickly to his side. Darius learns of the people's paranoia and brings Murasame with him to the entrance at Ryounkaku. They play a minor prank on the panicking soldiers. After they defeat Kagutsuchi, Darius works to help rebuild the ruined capital. He happily attends Azusa's informal victory party.

Development
Following the theme of returning to the series's roots, Ruby Party made Darius to fit Akram's position into the story and to instill warm feelings of nostalgia for Haruka 2 players. The reference to both characters is purposefully done through the Chieftain Mask both characters wear and their ties to the Black Dragon Priestess. Although his general role for the main scenario was decided quickly, his personal route was an endless struggle for the writers; they wanted to keep his darker traits without making him appear too nefarious to love. At one point, they considered rewriting the main story to accommodate his route. They instead chose to go with the theme of "loneliness" for Darius and made his separation from Azusa an essential component for their romance.

Following the theme of other demons in the series, Darius is a Persian name. Ruby Party was particularly attached to the Greek Dareîos and the meaning, "he who holds firm to good." Everything about Darius, from his vocal performance and his visual design, was made to reflect his name's varying etymologies. Suzumura was instructed to sound "mysterious and charismatic", but the director feels he didn't quite nail the character until the voice director told Suzumura to "sound like a Frenchman." The golden chains, multiple rings, fur-trimmed trinket, and one-shouldered mantle are meant to give him a worldly and regal image. Designers call him a mysterious, beautiful prince with shades of childish charm.

The demons in this narrative were devised to use inconspicuous weaponry that could be used to fight on a moment's notice as a contrast to their Imperial Army counterparts. Darius was given the sword cane as a symbol of his wealth and to further differentiate himself from his demon comrades.

Character Symbolism
Darius's symbolic item is the Dahlia flower which is a synonymous namesake for the feminine form of his name in Japanese katakana (Daria). The flower was first brought to Japan by the Dutch during the Edo Period. Since the fully bloomed Dahlia resembled the Chinese peony and originated from the West, the Dahlia was mistakingly named "the Tianzhu (Indian) peony" in archaic records.

In France, the Dahlia flower was said to be favored by Joséphine, Napoleon's wife, who often boasted about the giant Dahlias she had cultivated. She obstinately refused to give away any of its bulbs and took pride in her creations. One of her maids defied her and stole a Dahlia bulb, keeping it within her room to bloom. Once Joséphine learned about the stolen flower, she dropped all interest in Dahlias. It's due to her cold reaction that the flower can mean volatility or betrayal in the flower language. Dahlias can positively mean splendor and appreciation. The pink Dahlias especially represent a maiden's sincerity.

His symbolic color is sky blue.

Talismans
If Arima and Darius have their Eight Guardian talismans equipped and start a co-op attack together, they will summon Seiryu on their target.

Visit Darius's favorite spots at least once in a single playthrough to unlock Penghou on the map. Defeat it at least once at Hibiya Park to obtain his last talisman. If Darius and Rudkhane have their last talismans equipped and start a co-op attack together, they will perform a powerful non-elemental attack on their target.