Joshua Zephyrius

Joshua Zephyrius is the second Lesser Deific King of Ventilus and its current ruler. He is the protagonist of the Ancient Kings franchise of YFCC and the persona of Yoshiya Fukami.

Early Life (2000 ATS-2228 ATS; 778 MC-1006 MC)
He was born in Cryglen City, the capital city of Avalaera in Ventilus on October 4, 2000. His parents were Zephyrus Zephyrius and Callia Celerea. He is the eldest offspring among two children. His younger sister was named Severina Zephyrius, the current Ventilus Princess. He was the crown prince of Ventilus Royal Hierarchy. When he was over 280 years old, his ancestor Aero Celerea, granted him the authority to become the Ventilus King after his father.

When he was eight years old, he met Caitlineia Eurius, the daughter of their hospitable neighbor, which was a Ventilusian couple living in a dainty shrine, symbolizing the Pagonian spirit. They lived together as childhood friends. However, three years later, Caitlineia was separated from him by a renegade Pyronian dragoon, turning her into a slave. He swore to bring his friend back by settling the situation with the man in the most peaceful way possible.

Meeting Astreia (The Ventilus King: Year 2757-2765)
He appeared as the 757-year old Joshua Zephyrius, the protagonist of the story. He travelled along with Reius Draganea and Astreia Lucernumbrea to stop the conflicts between the Pyronian monarchy and the renegades led by the Shadow Knight. He investigated the occurrences to find a lead behind the long-term enslavement of his dearest childhood friend Caitlineia and the connection of Astreia with the Shadow Knight.

On January 2, 2757, there was a meeting among the members of Empyrean Conclave. They discussed the disputes of the Pyronian monarchy and the renegades within the volcanic territory, as well as the relation of a mage who possessed a great aptitude in the arts of Ancient Photokinesis and Ancient Erebokinesis, also known as the Moonlight Priestess. The modernization of Antiquus was also dissertated. After the meeting was adjourned, Joshua exited the Zephyeur Castle to visit the continent Pyronia.

In Calderum proper, Joshua was seen strolling around the public market. He walked along the sidewalk and met Reius Draganea, one of his close friends. They conversed, until Joshua asked Reius if he has received news from the Pyronia King. However, all of a sudden, an explosion occurred in the vicinity of the market. Most of the locals retreated to the nearest citadel. The two men hurried to the explosion site. To their surprise, they saw a battalion of Pyronian warriors. They seemed to be rebels, because they wore onyx armor instead of the usual zuccorchite armor. Their leader introduced himself as the leader of the renegades, Algis Fercolasia. Afterwards, he attacked the heroes with his formidable Blackfire Arts to distract them. The battalion slipped from their sights, but the two heroes immediately head for Salamandras Castle, the castle of the Pyronia King.

When they arrived, they saw the rebels about to fight the royal soldiers, but the Pyronia King himself intervened. He challenged Algis to a one-on-one battle in which the latter accepted. Algis demanded the maiden standing with the rebels behind him to create a barrier to surround them. The lady cast her magic to do so, causing the two contenders to begin the battle. Teardrops fell from the woman's eyes, causing Joshua to stealthily assault the rebels guarding her in an instant. He eventually subdued them, causing them to flee. After the skirmish, he approached the maiden, whom in turn hugged him. She asked him if he still remembered her. However, he did not get a clear image of her from the past. The maiden introduced herself as Astreia Lucernumbrea to refresh his memories, but he barely got a shred of memory. Fortunately, he thought she was familiar when he heard of her name. Afterwards, they reunited with Reius and went back to the castle of Zephyeur, the capital building of the continent Ventilus.

Personality
He is always calm and collected, even when at tense situations, to the extent that he is not affected by generally traumatic situations. Because of this, he can be a very cold and stern man at first sight. This trait is a great factor in his battle performance, wherein his concentration stays stable in the face of any foe. This also makes him very efficient because he does not hesitate to fight anyone as long he fully believes on what is right.

Despite his unshaken tranquility, there are only few things that can trigger his anger. First is the lack of courtesy in the face of authority. He demands that any person should show respect, if not completely obey, to the authority, despite their transgressions. He believes that any kind of formal authority is bestowed by Photos. Therefore, if any Antiquian should do any offense against the authority, he has automatically offended Photos himself. Second is when his relatives are being harmed by others. He will stand up to protect them with the capabilities he currently has. Third is flamboyant people. He hates people who flaunts his traits in the presence of many people.

He might display arrogance at times during battle, but he displays incredible prowess in using his innate abilities to back it up.

When he was 757 years old, he lived at the thought of the tragic incident 749 years ago when Caitlineia was separated from him by a Pyronian dragoon. He felt a deep sense of regret since he failed to save his childhood friend at the cost of his own life. This incident also caused him to be more melancholy than he was before. On the flip side, it also helped him to live as a noble gentleman, doing his best to give great value for women and to protect them from evil. Despite his melancholy, he kept his cool during battles involving damsels in distress.

As the Archon Emperor of the Empyrdom of Anticytheris, he is a very analytical leader. Before proceeding to war, he organizes all of his troops according to the situation at hand. However, he easily gets disappointed when any of his officers are not knowledgeable enough of his explanations, especially when these officers are newly promoted in the army. That is why he always trains them on how to use their mind well in battle.

He is a compassionate person, always helping those in need. As a father, he has indomitable willpower, willing to sacrifice himself to protect his family, especially her wife Caitlineia. As much as possible, when his wife is about to enter a battle by herself, he takes the stead to prevent her from taking too much harm, even though she cannot die. It is because he values his wife a great deal despite her current situation.

In certain occasions, he puts on a serious expression to counter Reius' jests concerning women that he secretly admires. However, he is actually flustered inside but only hides it very well. He believes that these feelings are only temporary and require no attention.

One of his hidden characteristics is his frankness and perfectionism. As a person born with the Melancholic temperament, he values perfection, which also reflects his efficiency in most activities. When he observes that a person that he knows well repeats the same mistake, he will rebuke that person. He also dislikes the attitude of people that dodge conversations by playing dumb, taking things too literally, and jump to conclusions while the perceived problem has not been completely solved yet.

Abilities
Ancient Aerokinesis (Zephyrian Style)


 * Joshua has fully mastered Ancient Aerokinesis when he was 280 years of age. He was taught by his ancestor to be a master practitioner of this magic in order to prove that his powers speak of his authority as the second Lesser Deific King of Ventilus. He possesses free control over wind, allowing him to utilize the air around him in any form at will. He is able to release a large amount of energy in few seconds to cast devastating spells associated with the latter magic. Moreover, this type of magic is highly complex; only the prophesied Ancient Kings of Ventilus are able to learn it through their predecessors.


 * Because of his complete affinity towards the element of wind, he is able to absorb wind-elemental attacks while either use it to restore his energy reserves or use it to create a stronger attack with his own Ancient Aerokinesis. In his duel against Vul, he was able to negate Vul's replicated magic by breaking down the pure wind energy and absorb it in order to add to his energy reserves. This was one of the reason that he kept going against Vul without experiencing a significant amount of fatigue.


 * Since he is of Zephyrian birth, he utilizes Ancient Aerokinesis in Zephyrian Style. As an example, he often incorporates his use of Ancient Aerokinesis with physical attacks and further enhances his proficiency in close combat through inherently high motor skills to compensate for his slight weakness against physical attacks.


 * His primary spells associated with Ancient Aerokinesis are:


 * Primeval Tempest - Joshua kneads wind energy in his palms and releases it with full force, creating a strong twister on the field, but not as a big as a tornado. This attack has three variations:
 * Primeval Tempest: Pursuit Secutor - This variant chases its target and obliterates it, unless countered with strong fire magic.
 * Primeval Tempest: Demolition Archonis - This variant can wreck multiple buildings on fierce contact.
 * Primeval Tempest: Ring Nexus - This variant takes on the form of a huge tornado lunging at a line of targets.

Ascensions


 * Joshua is able to ascend to a stronger form by using the power of the seven Ancient Keystones or their enhanced versions called the Aeternal Keystones.


 * To ascend using the keystones, he first casts a magical heptagon on his wake. From each vertex of the heptagon has a small magic circle with a line connecting them together. Each Ancient Keystone nearby will float above each circle. To harness their powers, Joshua casts a floating rune that floats before him. Afterwards, he will stretch his arms sideways and reach forth his palms towards the rune. To unlock the energy channel within the rune, he will swipe it in an upward motion with both index and middle fingers, causing the rune to dissipate. Eventually, the user will be surrounded in a beam of light and emerge from a surge of massive energy, resulting in an ascension of the user's current form.


 * However, the keystones are incredibly inaccessible because they were long lost within the planet of Antiquus.

Tachyon Magic


 * Tachyon Magic is a special type of Antiquian magic within the bloodline of Celerean family. It allows Josh to control tachyon energy in his body, thus enabling him to outlast opponents with his unknown level of speed. He can deal damage to opponents by charging his feet with high-density tachyon energy as a form of finishing attack.


 * He can use these attacks using Tachyon Magic:


 * Tachyon Kick - Joshua charges his right foot with tachyon energy. After his foot is fully loaded, he focuses natural energy into his left foot, causing him to jump at a high level of altitude. While Joshua is suspended mid-air, he aims his right foot at the opponent. Using his Tachyon Magic, he jets off toward his opponent, leaving afterimages behind. When he reaches his opponent, he slams his charged foot with full force on him or her. The attack has very high momentum because of its tremendous velocity.
 * Tachyon Edge - He can charge his Geh'amm Scwaerand with high-density tachyon energy to enhance its attack speed and to prevent enemies from escaping. After charging, he delivers a lethal slash across multiple enemies at once
 * Tachyon Multi-Edge - Another variation is to lock an opponent into a tachyon-powered series of slashes instead of one pooled slash. He uses this form of attack after restraining the opponent with swordplay. He can also use this to overwhelm a defending enemy.
 * Tachyon Myriad Edge - This is more of a finishing attack which involves a series of tachyon-powered slashes at a faster rate than Tachyon Multi-Edge.
 * Tachyon System - Josh's finishing combo attack as opposed to Tachyon Kick. This attack is more effective inside barriers.
 * He can use five variants of the skill "Tachyon Kick":

Enhanced Motor Skills


 * He can easily dodge most slow attacks through his enhanced motor skills. To an extent, he can dodge most dense attacks and even manifold attacks. He can react to attacks at a slightly faster rate, allowing him to dodge the attacks involved. Moreover, this inherent skill acts as an auxiliary for Tachyon Magic.

Ancient King Swordplay


 * As an Ancient King, he is able to wield the Geh'amm Scwaerand skillfully. Moreover, he can overwhelm other opponents by combining the adamant strength of his great-sword and his very high attack speed. He is also adept in pinpointing blind spots and weak points of the enemy as long he is familiar with their characteristics. Strangely enough, he often unsheathes the Geh'amm in a samurai-like way but attacks in a similar way to his fellow Ancient Kings.


 * In addition, he can split the Geh'amm into two perfect halves and wield them together. This is also known as dual-wielding. The Geh'amm is naturally a greatsword but can be magically split. As a result, his skill and attack speed further increases. He is the first Lesser Deific King who can dual-wield it.

Immense Intelligence


 * For an entity that has lived for more than a thousand years, he has high-level intelligence, ranging from 280-300 IQ. He is able to organize a military faction by himself. He invented most of the Empyrdom's military weaponry and consolidated knowledge for his members to use. He even invented many notable contraptions that the Empyrdom has in store. He finished magic school earning a vast range of knowledge about magic.

Electric Nullification


 * He has the uncanny ability to nullify electricity. He earned this ability in his explorations in Electrochroma, in which former King Gamma rewarded him a special Chromasapien gene that gives him the ability to resist currents of electrons that may harm his body, because he helped fend off the Regimenians from the planet.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant

Telepathy


 * As a natural-born Antiquian, he is able to telepathize with people having a telepathic connection with him. However, he cannot do this with people having no connection, unless they agreed to establish one. Simple physical contact after agreement can make the establishment successful. This connection cannot be broken unless one or two people involved pass away.

Weaknesses
Fire Magic Vulnerability
 * Compared to his Ancient Aerokinesis, he is greatly vulnerable against fire magic. Due to this uncanny weakness, he cannot tolerate high-temperature areas such as Pyronia, which he tries his best not to go there, due to the volcanic heat emitting from Mount Calderius and from the rest of volcanoes on the said continent. The heat there can only be tolerated by its own natural-born citizens. This drawback causes his battle parameters to decrease dramatically to the extent of suffering from heatstroke with a higher chance than others when in a high-temperature area. Due to this limitation, he will have a hard time fighting fire-elementals such as Louisius Salamandra, the King of Pyronia. Strangely, sunny areas do not pose a problem to Joshua, because the temperature in these areas are within his tolerable range.

Physical Attack Vulnerability
 * Due to his physiology affected by Tachyon Magic, he is slightly vulnerable to physical attacks. He compensates for his weakness by his own extreme movement speed and is also training with his fellow king Thomas Atlanteum to reduce this weakness.

Geh'amm Scwaerand
The Geh'amm Scwaerand is a divine greatsword equipped by all Ancient Kings of Ventilus. He wields the Aeris Geh'amm, the wind-elemental variation crafted by his ancestor Aero the Deific Wind. Strangely enough, this version of Geh'amm can cut through most objects but it is magically lightweight, because of the Ancient Aerokinetic magic signature imprinted within the gem of the sword's hilt. He can summon this sword if there is the presence of air or when Joshua creates air through his Ancient Aerokinesis.

Lys
His secondary weapon is the Lys, the Sacred Halberd of Ecliptic Moonlight. He only uses it against certain foes. He cannot summon this weapon like his Ancientcalibur. Under certain circumstances, it is strapped on his back. When Joshua dons the Empyrean Armor, the Lys metamorphoses into the Imperiallys, the Divine Spear of Everburning Affection.

VS Vul (1/0/0 - 0/1/0)
Location: Vul's realm

Weapons Used: Zweihander Aeris Geh'amm Scwaerand, Dual Aeris Geh'amm Scwaerand (real; replica)

Status: Finished

States Used: None; None

Victor: Josh the Hedgehog

Attack of Victory: Tachyon Myriad Edge

Miscellaneous Info
His hobbies are painting, drawing, writing antique novels, playing the violin, and traveling in Ventilus and Cryolus. The places he likes to go are windy and have low temperature. He prefers living within a boreal biome. The food he prefers eating are mostly savory, while some are mildly sweet. His favorite food is white sauce pasta. His favorite pastry is coconut buttermilk cookies. His favorite drink is minted green tea. His favorite colors are mostly within the hues of blue and green. He likes to wear trench coats and thick scarves. His favorite animals are birds and cats, while he somewhat dislikes dogs and abhors cockroaches. His favorite sport is kick volleyball. His favorite vacation venue is the Rink of Fractals in northeast Ventilus.

He likes people with good discipline and adequate wisdom. However, he greatly dislikes flamboyant people. The men he likes to be friends with are bighearted, willful, and compassionate. In terms of women, he prefers the mysterious, demure, and shy ones. Regarding appearances, he generally likes women with long hair, as well as those with braids. This is evident of his first and second wife Astreia and Caitlineia respectively, who have long hair. However, his greatest preference in choosing a woman is her personality.

He graduated after six years in Cryglen Magic Learning Center (now called Ventilus Basic Magic School), after six years in Cryglen Magic High, and after four years in Ventilus National Magic University as top-notch. He finished Aerokinetics Course and Masteral of High Primeval Magic.

His personal motto is "Art is an endless possibility".

Trivia

 * His first name Joshua is a Hebrew name that means "Yahweh is my deliverance". Particularly, in the normal concept of "deliverance", it foreshadows his separation from Caitlineia many years ago and his resolve to save her from the clutches of evil and reunite with her. This led him to another resolve: to value the safety of women as one of his greatest priorities.
 * His second name Aelianos foreshadows his trait of tolerating heat from the sun although he has a flaw in high-temperature areas.
 * He has formerly five forms of ascension: Super, Hyper, Ultimate, Infinity, and the extension Infinity Energy. Now, he only has only two ascensions like his original counterpart: Ancient Archon and Aeternum Archon.