Fate Averruncus

"Puppets cannot oppose or defy the puppet master." - Fate Averruncus (Cosmo Entelecheia's motto)

''"If you try to save everything, you will merely end up losing everything." ''- Fate Averruncus (to Negi)

Fate Averruncus is a mysterious and extremely powerful child mage, who serves as the central antagonist for the first part of the manga ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi ''and the foremost rival of the primary protagonist Negi Springfield. He first appears during the Kyoto School-trip Arc, and later reappears as the primary antagonist in the Mundus Magicus Arc. He looks human but he is in fact a construct, more akin to a magical homunculus.

Fate is in fact the third incarnation of a mage warrior created by the ominous Mage of the Beginning as the second in command of the evil secret society Cosmo Entelecheia. (Perfect World) His lord and his two previous selves have been defeated by Nagi Springfield, the legendary "Thousand Master," the incredibly powerful hero and father of Negi.

Personality
''"'I am quite aware of the morality and the significance of my actions." ''- Fate Averruncus

Fate Averruncus appears to be calm and collected, but he is in fact distant to the point of being almost emotionless. Even in the rare moments when he is seen smiling, his eyes still express nothing. As such, he regards things with cold logic and finds difficult to understand those who follow their heart. He has a rather nihilistic view of the world, dismissing the magical beings of the Mundus Magicus as "illusions". He doesn't hold himself in higher regards, as he calls himself a "mere doll" devised to enact his lord's plan. He seems to value destiny very much (hence the name he chose) and he frequently states that those whom he calls "puppets," (including himself) cannot escape their fate, as opposed to "real people" who have the right to live in peace.

Fate has no qualms about getting rid of people dangerous (or useless) for him, coercing or turning people into stone forever, (though he doesn't really enjoy it) and he fights without mercy, but he will never kill anyone when he can avoid it. He is indifferent and he acts out of a strong sense of duty rather than malevolence or ambition. He is very devoted to his lord's objective, which he describes as his only reason to exist, and his ultimate motivation is to save the population of the Mundus Magicus from its upcoming collapse.

Fate lacks emotions but not personality and tastes. He enjoys having a nice cup of coffee, (he drinks seven cups a day) relaxing in a peaceful place and more than everything, fighting with the few people able to match his immense power. He also prefers direct confrontation over coertion. He openly disdains incomplete and biaised points of view and never hesitates to point the contradiction in someone's reasoning. However, he speaks very formally, he respects his opponents and recognizes any people's qualities to their rightful worth. He is also generous, having given shelter to many orphans whom he sent to school.

Fate is gentle towards his partners and his followers, taking the responsibility of their failure instead of blaming them and congratulating them for their efforts. If he first resents people who managed to strike him, (or to best him in a general way) he soon develops an interest in them, hoping that they will grow strong enough to fight on par with him. He states that Negi is the only enjoyment he has left, and in spite of his fierce dedication to his "mission," the child prodigy interests him even more than his own goals.

It is stated that Fate is way more human than the two Averruncuses before him. Indeed, given that his personality wasn't set, he is able to make his mind on his own "as his thoughts lead him" and he is slowly learning to listen to himself and to understand his emotions.

Powers and Abilities
"Vishu Tal Li Shutal Vangait" - Fate Averruncus' magical key (the sentence which channels his magic into the spells he chants)

"If he'd noticed me... the lot of us would be either a bunch of pretty statues, or else sent off to Cosmo Entelecheia by now." - Kotaro Inugami (about Fate's power)

Fate is one of the most powerful characters in the series. He is highly proficient in both western magic (chanting spells) and eastern magic (summoning and spellcasting through bewitched papers) and he mostly uses spells chanted in Ancient Greek, more powerful than the common spells in Latin. As the "Averruncus of Earth", he has a strong affinity with the Rock Element, being able to conjure magical spears of stone, stone stalagmites of variable size which erupts from the ground for offensive and defensive purposes, and numerous flying Obsidian Blades which he uses to strike from every side or to unleash a fearsome attack, which slashes everything over a very large area in a matter of seconds. Fate has displayed the abilities to conjure sand from the ground to form barriers around him and to attack his foes, to hurl rocks, to causes small tremors and to control the Earth element without spells.

Fate's two signature attack spells generate a huge cloud of petrifying smoke, and a beam of light which destroys everything in its past and turns any living being into stone. (He can fire the latter from one eye, in a Basilisk-like fashion.) He can fire gigantic waves of damaging Obsidian Stakes or homing Petrification Darts, cast attack spells that bypasses his foes' magical defenses, and even worse, cast a highly dangerous "eternal petrification" spell whose effects cannot be canceled.

His most powerful spells are the "Tearing Earth" that conjures a gigantic and devastating onslaught of magma from molten earth, and the "Stone Pillars of the Underworld," which makes many skycraper-sized, black pillars of stone appear in the sky and hurls them towards the ground at high speed, crushing anything in their path into dust. He also has a lesser affinity with the Water Element, which he uses to create replicas of himself, serving in battle as decoys. When he performs oriental summoning, he calls forth demons or water spirits.

Fate is also immensely skilled in martial arts. (His technique looks like chinese kempo.) He uses his magical power like ki to perform teleport-like dashes, and impregnate his fists with his magical energy to increase the power of his blows and to fire energy blasts. Also, he sometimes wields a huge sword made of stone. He has a highly enhanced perception of his surroundings that enables him to notice the faintest changes in a very large area. Finally, he is protected from any physical harm by a multi-layered, mandala-like barrier of magical pentagrams around him. Striking him for real would mean bypassing the entire barrier.

Fate almost always uses his magic for fighting, but he has also displayed more common powers, such as levitation, walking on water, teleporting through portals of water, cancelling spells and creating a magical field to capture people, which are described as high-level magic. He also invented a spell that copy someone with a bewitched bookmark, which he can then use to transform into the one he copied; perfectly imitating him, (or her) both physically and psychically.

Fate also owns several powerful magic artifacts. His most powerful weapon is a magical staff called the "Code of the Life-Maker" or the "Staff of the Beginning." This staff enables its bearer to warp reality following his desire: by vastly magnifying his own attack-spells, making attacks disappear, creating another dimentional plane, sending people into another dimension and summon them back under his control, or bending time and space themselves. Whether the staff can warp reality in itself or only the reality of the Mundus Magicus has yet to be revealed, though the latter seems more likely. He has access to many models of this staff. He and his highest ranking followers use the most powerful of them, and his summoned demonic soldiers use the most basic ones.

Finally, Fate is very knowledgable when it comes to magic and magical history. He has heard about anything and anyone that fits into theses categories, and as such he can react to virtually any new situation.

Background
"It is a truth that would cause most to sink into despair and curse the gods. Indeed that is all whom I had previously observed reacted." - Fate Averruncus (about the secret of the Mundus Magicus)

Fate is the third existing Averruncus. He was created twelve years before the start of the series in the Mundus Magicus: a world in a different dimensional plane, whose base in the real universe is the planet Mars, populated by mages, magic humanoïds and mythological creatures. Twenty years ago, Primum (the first) Averruncus, was the second in command of the secret society Cosmo Entelecheia, ruled by the mysterious Mage of the Beginning. This society planned to destroy the world, following the same motivation as the present-day Fate, but acting in a much more sinister way.

Cosmo Entelecheia staged a worldwide conflict known as the "Great Mage War" and manipulated it to kidnapp Asuna, the princess of the kingdom of Vespertatia, to use her ability to use her magic-cancelling power in a ritual to destroy the entire Mundus Magicus. However, the Ala Rubra, (Crimson Wing) a team of extremely powerful mages warriors led by Nagi Springfield, managed to discover the truth and reached the gloomy palace of Cosmo Entelecheia, where they defeated all the society's generals, including Averruncus himself. Ultimately, Nagi and his Master Filius Zect managed to defeat the Life-Maker at the cost of Zect's life.

Eventually, the Mage of the Beginning returned through Filius Zect's body and created Secundum, and later Tertium to restart his goal. Tertium followed his older "sibling" all around the Mundus Magicus and assisted him in a battle against Nagi, whom he trapped in a magical field, but to no avail. At some point, when he was flying around the Mundus Magicus and reflecting about his role, his core started to malfunction due to its unusual configuration and he fell to the ground. He was rescued and taken care of by Luna (who would later become his partner Shiori) and her older sister. He spent three days recovering in their house, where he learnt to enjoy coffee, before departing. When he returned to their house, he found out that the entire village was set ablaze by humans who had maimed Luna's sister. Secundum greeted him and told him what happened before relocating Luna's sister into the actual "Cosmo Entelecheia" an edenic alternate reality. As he was about to do the same to Luna, Tertium killed him from behind, refusing to fulfill his duty that way.

Ten years before the start of the series, Tertium fought Nagi again in the city of Istambul. Nothing is known about this battle yet, except that Nagi was trapped somewhere outside the world, with everyone believing him to be dead.

Terium assumed the name "Fate" and given that his lord has been sealed away, he ttook command of the remnants of Cosmo Entelecheia, planning to fulfill his duty at last. He walked the Mundus Vetus (the real world) several times, seemingly gaining contacts in the Istanbul Association of Magic, to which he pretends to belong. He also rescued 62 orphans, among whom five humanoid girls who willingly joined him and became his Pactio Partners. (Partners in battle bound to him by a magical contract called the Pactio, which grants them a powerful magical artifact.) These Partners go by the codenames of Shirabe, Homura, Shiori, Koyomi and Tamaki. They have a neverending gratitude for Fate and are fully devoted to him.

First encounter with Negi
Fate Averruncus first appears during the Kyoto Trip Arc. Negi Springfield, the primary protagonist, (son of the Thousand Master, child prodigy, mage in training and english teacher of a class of female, middle-school students) goes to Kyoto with his class for a school trip. He also needs to give a letter to the Kansai Association of Magic.

In Kyoto, a female western mage named Chigusa Amagazaki tries to kidnap Konoka Konoe, one of Negi's pupils and close friends, as she is the daughter of the head of the Kansai Association of Magic. (Who is also a former member of the Ala Rubra.) Given this inheritance, Konoka wields an incredible magic power, which Chigusa wants to use. Chigusa tries several times to kidnap Konoka and fails, until she recruits Fate who takes the matter in hand. He sneaks into the Association Headquarters, in spite of its powerful magical wards, turns everyone into stone including Konoka's father and easily abducts the young girl, warning Negi that he cannot do anything against him before bringing his captive to Chigusa.

Chigusa uses Konoka's magical power to unseal the Ryomen Sukuna no Kami: a gigantic and immensely powerful demon whom she places under her complete control. Negi and his partners fail to prevent the summoning and are confronted to Fate, who effortlessly overwhelms them without even using half of his power. Hopefully, they are saved by Evangeline Mc Dowell: a dreaded vampire sorceress and Negi's former enemy, whose immense power matches Fate's. Evangeline defeats Fate, forcing him to flee, and seals the demon again, ending the threat for good. But what Fate was really looking for and why did he was hired by Chigusa Amagazaki remain unknown.

Later, a high-ranking demon under the human disguise of Count Wilhelm Josef Von Hermann appears in Mahora Academy. (the huge campus where Negi teaches) He abducts almost every girl in Negi's class who knows that he is a mage, and later challenges Negi to a fight. Negi and Kotaro Inugami, a ten years old man-wolf and former associate of Chigusa, manage to defeat Hermann. It is only revealed much later that Hermann acted on Fate's order, to gather information about Negi, his Pactio Partners, and Asuna's mysterious ability to cancel magic. Fate also offered to free the then-captive Kotaro if he were to fight Negi, but was turned down. Kotaro then broke free of his own to warn Negi.

Mundus Magicus Arc
"I cannot find any meaning in erasing them, but at the same time I also have no reason not to." - Fate Averruncus (about Negi's Party)

Negi, his Pactio partners and all his other friends form a team called the Ala Alba, (White Wing) and set out to the Mundus Magicus, hoping to find clues on what happened to Nagi Springfield. Unfortunately for them, they enter the magical world at the very same moment and place as Fate Averruncus and his generals. Negi inexplicably feels Fate's presence, prompting the villain to "come and say hello," nearly killing Negi with a spear of stone. Konoka, who has been learning magic and who develloped immense healing abilities manages to save Negi's life, but Fate's group destroys the Gate between the Mundus Magicus and the Mundus Vetus, before dispersing every member of Ala Alba (as well as several of Negi's normal pupils who followed them) all around the Mundus Magicus. They then destroy the ten other gateports between the two worlds and frame Negi and the Ala Alba for these crimes, putting high bounties on their heads.

As Negi and his friends struggle to earn their living in this new world and try to reunite with the others, Fate has them constantly watched over by one of his followers, the mercenary swordswoman Tsukuyomi. Meanwhile, Negi, who managed to reunite with many of his friends, becomes the apprentice of Jack Rakan, (a former member of Ala Rubra whose power rivals that of Nagi himself) learning to master the "Magia Erebea" a forbidden technique of Dark Magic, devised by Evangeline Mc Dowell herself, which considerably increases his power but which puts an heavy strain on his body and mind and threatens to turn him into a demon. Negi and his friends go to the ruins of Ostia, the capital of the fallen kingdom of Vespertatia, where the last gateport to the Mundus Vetus is located and where a festival is held to celebrate the twenty year aniversary of the end of the Great Mage War. Negi learns that his friend and Pactio Partner Asuna Kagurazaka is in fact Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia: the former Imperial Princess of Twilight of Vespertatia, which explains her magic-cancelling power. The members of Ala Rubra took her to the Mundus Vetus after Vespertatia's destruction. They erased her memory, hoping that she would live a peaceful normal life.

Fate later confronts Negi during the festival, organising "peaceful" negociations around a cup of tea, threatening to attack every passer-by if Negi doesn't listen to him while his partner confront Negi's, keeping them from interfering. Fate offers to escort Negi and all his friends back to the real world, if Negi promises not to interfere with his plans. He tells Negi that he may be the son of the savior of the Mundus Magicus, but that doesn't force him to bear this world's burden. He also confesses that he plans to destroy the Mundus Magicus, cryptically stating that he has a very good reason for doing this. While Negi hesitates, an outraged Asuna hit both boys and berates Negi, stating that he cannot forget what the denizens of the Mundus Magicus have done for them. Negi then discovers that Fate planned to use a powerful magical artifact to compel him to respect his words, should he have promised not to oppose Fate. Fate then laughs, stating that he prefers this situation of frank antagonism over an unsatisfying coerced truce.

The two boys then engage a battle, but in spite of his huge progress Negi is still no match for Fate. Meanwhile, Asuna is captured by Fate's partner Shiori, who assumes her appearance and takes her place. Kotaro Inugami and Nodoka Myazaki (one of Negi's Pactio Partners whose artifact can read anyone's mind) appear in the fight between Fate and Negi and manage to learn Fate's real name: Tertium. (A name which he intensely dislikes.) Fate is ultimately forced to flee when Negi, Konoka, the Fake Asuna and Jack Rakan enter the fray.

Later, Negi and his team analyse the information they got about Fate's plan, and Rakan shows them a movie he made, which depicts the fights between Ala Rubra and Cosmo Entelecheia. Meanwhile, Fate and his followers are holding Asuna captive in their old lair, the Gravekeeper's Palace. Fate agrees to explain his motivation to Asuna, but he first unlocks all the memories of her past, stating that it would be better for her to understand if she remembers everything. Recovering all her memories plunge Asuna into a coma of one week, during which she is taken care of by her fellow captive and Ala Alba member Anya.

Later, Negi and Kotaro are forced to fight against Jack Rakan himself, who states that if they cannot grow strong enough to defeat him, they cannot hope to stand a chance against Fate. They both ultimatelly manage to end the battle against Rakan in a draw through an important teamwork, in a match broadcasted in the entire Mundus Magicus, which Fate watched with the utmost attention.

Towards the end of the festival, Negi and his team are invited in a ball held by Kurt Godel: the Governor General of New Ostia and former member of Ala Rubra, who wants Negi to join him at any cost. Fate, under the shape of a young man, sneaks into the Governor's palace and prepares to joins the ball, but he is found by Jack Rakan who challenges him into a fight. Fate is then joined by his four Pactio Partners who attack Rakan, but they don't stand a chance against him and are effortlessly dispatched. Fate himself is no match for Rakan and his only choice left is to use the Code of the Life-Maker. Fate then uses the magical staff to drag Rakan into another dimensional plane and gains the upper-hand.

Meanwhile, the Governor's palace is invaded by Cosmo Entelecheia's armies of shadow creatures as well as a monumental shadowy demon led by Dynamis (Dunamis), one of Fate's Generals. The creatures use lesser copies of the Code of the Life-Maker to make many of the gang's friends from the Magical World disappear. Dynamis then personally attacks Nodoka the mind reader, whom Fate deems too dangerous. In the ensuing skirmish, Nodoka manages to to temporarily gain control of Dynamis' Code of the Life-Maker, gathering information about the divine artifact right from Dynamis' mind. As for Jack Rakan, he manages to escape Fate's dimension but he is ultimately defeated and he disappears right before Negi's eyes. Fate and Dynamis then depart stating that the moment of the final confrontation has yet to come. The Ala Alba later manages to destroy the monumental shadowy demon, and Nodoka reveals that if they find the original Grand Master Code of the Life-Maker, they will be able to bring back all the people who disappeared.

Later, the Ala Alba unmasks the fake Asuna, who reveals where the real princess is held captive. While the Ala Alba prepares to invade Cosmo Entelecheia's headquarters, Asuna awakes and confronts Fate, who reveals that the Mundus Magicus was artificially created, and that the magic that sustains it will sooner or later be depleted. When this happens, the Mundus Magicus will collapse and all its humanoïd and mythological denizens (who are in fact products of the magic that sustains the Mundus Magicus) will vanish from existence, while its human denizens will be cast on the actual planet Mars where no-one can survive. This explains why Fate keeps calling the Mundus Magicus an "illusion."

Fate tells Asuna that he plans to combine her magic-cancelling ability with the Grand Master Code of the Life-Maker to erase the Mundus Magicus and relocate its entire population into the "Cosmo Entelecheia". It is later revealed that Fate's group destroyed the gateports that link both worlds to gather the magical energy used in them, in order to use it for their plan.

Shortly after, Fate is seen reflecting upon Jack Rakan's words about dismissing destiny and having fun, which seem to have made an impression on him. Tsukuyomi notices it and challenges him into a sparring battle, during which she tells him that he is more human then he realizes, and that he should accept his own feelings. Later, Fate admits that he wants to fight Negi more than everything else, given that fighting is his only way to truly interact with people.

Invading the Gravekeeper's Palace
The Ala Alba eventually manages to sneak into the Gravekeeper's Palace. There, they are greeted by (what seems to be) Zazie Rainyday, the least talkative and most mysterious student in Negi's class. Fate and his partners are puzzled by "Zazie's" appearance, as they never saw her before, but Fate's comrade the Master of the Grave reveals that she brought her here as they are old friends.

"Zazie" (in fact her older sister Poyo Rainyday) traps Negi's party into a replica of the "Cosmo Entelecheia" but Negi manages to break free from the spell, driven by his desire to speak to Fate, whom he no longer regards as an enemy. Negi directly adresses Fate, knowing that he is watching them, and tells him about a plan he hatched to prevent the collapse of the Mundus Magicus. Hearing this, Fate (who doesn't believe it at all) angrily remarks that Negi is disappointing him. Meanwhile, an infiltration squad led by Kotaro Inugami and his partner Natsumi (whose artifact turns people invisible and unnoticable) encounters Fate himself. Kotaro attempts to take down the white-haired mage but only to realise that this would automatically fail and put them in danger.

Negi and many of his Pactio Partners then engage an all-out battle against Dynamis, backed up by three of Fate's Pactio Partners. Negi succumbs to the "Magia Erebea" and transforms into a demon, easily defeating the powerful Shadow-Wielder. His allies manage to stop his transformation as he is about to finish Dynamis off, but he faints shortly after.

With the only one able to oppose Fate unconscious, the members of Ala Alba engage a stealthy approach to reach and rescue Asuna without fighting Fate, but they need to hurry, as the white-haired boy has begun the ritual to rewrite the Mundus Magicus.

The Final Showndown
Kotaro's infiltration squad, joined by all of Negi's allies able to fight, manages to sneak to the place where the ritual is being held. (Fate almost notice their intrusion and launches a preventive attack without seeing them.) Then Chachamaru, a robot-girl and another one of Negi's partner, uses her artifact (a very powerful Laser-Satellite) to fire a tremendous blast that bypasses the magical energy protecting the palace. Fate blocks the attack but cannot prevent Kotaro's squad to storm into the scene. Fate recognises Natsumi's artifact of invisibility and angrily launches a huge wave of petrifying arrows, before being locked in combat against Kotaro's mightiest beast form. Three of Negi's allies are turned to stone but the others manage to steal the Grand Master Code of the Life-Maker and to rescue Asuna.

Fate then pierces Kotaro with a huge stone stalagmite, saying, "The likes of you people cannot hope to hinder our plan." Chachamaru fires her Satellite-Laser at him again and Nodoka relocates the whole group so that they avoid the blast. Just as Negi's allies think that they're safe, Quartum, the Averruncus of Fire, appears and blows Chachamaru in half. Quintum, the Averruncus of Wind attacks Nodoka with a bolt of lightning, just as she's about to relocate the group again, and retrieves the Grand Master Code of the Lifemaker. Dynamis reveals to Chisame (another one of Negi's partners) that Fate, the Third Averruncus, isn't their only trump card. Sextum, the (female) Averruncus of Water then appears behind the bewildered Chisame and regenerates Dynamis.

Each group of the Ala Alba is overwhelmed by one of the Averruncuses, who incapacitates several of them. However, Negi recovers and helped by the Master of the Grave who restrains Sextum, he defeats the overconfident Quartum with surprising ease. Meanwhile, Fate himself reemerges and stands against Quintum, stating that he would not allow him to harm his prey's comrades. He first gets pummeled by his "sibling" but, reflecting again on Rakan's words, he takes him down and proceeds to complete the plan by his own hands.

Fortunately, before he can start the ritual, Negi appears with all his comrades to settle their score once and for all. After Fate refuses to negociate, they engage their long-awaited decisive battle. Now that Negi has assimilated the "Magia Erebea" within himself, he has grown powerful enough to fight with Fate on an equal footing, much to Fate's delight. Meanwhile, Shirabe manages to bring Asuna back to the altar in spite of Negi's comrades. Negi and Fate fight evenly until Negi assumes his powered-up lightning form and manages to drive him back, and Fate finally understands what it is to have fun. He praises Negi for having reached his level before asking if he is fully aware of the risks of the "Magia Erebea," which he compares to the Mage of the Beginning's power.

At this point of the battle, both realities begin to merge and the Gravekeeper's Palace appears upside down in the sky above Mahora Academy. After a small talk in which Negi tries to work out their differences, Fate tricks him into a handshake to hold him in place and both boys unleash their most powerful spell, resulting in an apocalyptic blast which levels their entire surroundings. As he is caught in the onslaught of magic, Fate remembers his first months of existence and his meeting with Shiori and her sister.

As Fate stands seemingly unscathed in the aftermath of the battle, he is confronted by manifestations of Nagi Springfield and Jack Rakan who appear through Negi's body due to the reflux of the "Cosmo Entelecheia" and berate him about his goals and his life. Then, Negi offers to have a decisive attack and that the winner would gain his foe's alliegance, but Fate admits defeat and agrees to help Negi in his plan to save the Mundus Magicus, under the absolute condition that if he were to make the slightest mistake he would then reactivate Cosmo Entelecheia.

Negi enthusiastically starts speaking about his plan when they are both pierced by a dark beam, exactly as Nagi and Tertium were twenty years ago. The ominous figure of the Mage of the Beginning then appears soon followed by all the past members of Cosmo Entelecheia, Dynamis and the last three Averruncuses. They label Fate as a traitor to be disposed of and viciously attack the two exhausted children, who are saved at the last second by Evangeline McDowell and the remaining Ala Rubra members. After Negi and Asuna manage to destroy the Mage's projection, he is seen watching the victory celebrations from the sidelines.

Aftermath
"There is nothing I can't perform, as long as it is installed" - Fate Averruncus (speaking of his new job with his usual detached outlook)

After everyone from the Ala Alba, save from Negi and Asuna who are working on the alternate plan, returns to Mahora for the rest of the schoolyear, Fate is tasked to replace Negi as the english teacher, in order to better understand humans. (Much to the Ala Alba's chagrin.) There, he is prompt to discourage the students who harbour crushes on Negi, stating that Negi hasn't enough time to deal with it since he has to work (with him) to save the Mundus Magicus.