Fate Averruncus

"Puppets cannot oppose or defy the puppet master." - Fate Averruncus

''"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 in ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi''. He is the first and foremost rival of the primary protagonist Negi Springfield, and can be considered as a counterpart of some sort to Negi. He first appears during the Kyoto School-trip Arc, as a mercenary, but his goal and identity remain unknown. He later reappears as the primary antagonist in the Mundus Magicus Arc; where his past and his objectives are unveiled little by little. He looks human but he is in fact a creation, more akin to a magical homunculus. He describes himself as a "mere doll."

Fate is in fact the third incarnation of a mage warrior, who was apparently created by the demonic Mage of the Beginning to be his right-hand man. His lord and his two previous selves have been defeated by Nagi Springfield, the legendary "Thousand Master," an incredibly powerful hero, savior of the Mundus Magicus and father of Negi. He plans to erase the Mundus Magicus (the magical world) and rewrite it entirely, in order to "save" it.

Many fans believe that further in the manga both Fate and Negi will team up to defeat the Megalomesembria government but this is highly unlikely.

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 cold and detached, to the point of emotionlessness. Likely because of his nature as a creation, he doesn't seem to feel actual emotions. Even in the very rare moments where he is seen smiling, his eyes still express nothing. He regards things with cold logic and thus, he 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 "mere illusions" who doesn't really exist. He doesn't holds himself in higher regards, as he calls himself a "tool" devised to enact his late 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 can chose their lives, and have the right to live in peace.

Fate isn't cruel though. He has no qualms about getting rid of people dangerous (or useless) for him, coercing or turning people into stone forever, (albeit he doesn't really enjoy it) but he will never kill anyone when he can avoid it. He is rather 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 real 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 speaks very formally, (even impersonally) calling people by their entire names, save from those whom he knows personally, or who perks his interest. He values strenght above all and despises incomplete power, but not powerless people. He respects his opponents and recognizes any people's qualities and talents to their rightful worth. He is also generous, having given shelter to many war orphans and sent them to school. Fate is gentle and forgiving towards his partners and his followers, taking the responsibility of their failure instead of blaming them, congratulating them for their efforts and leaving them free time and free will. If he ressent people who managed to strike him at first, he soon develops an interest in them, hoping that they will grow strong enough to fight on par with him, and enjoying to witness their progress. He states that Negi is the only enjoyment he has left, and that the child prodigy interests him even more than the success of his plan.

It is stated that Fate is way more human than the other two Averruncus before him. Indeed, the flashbacks shows the first Averruncus as a malevolent person, who enjoys his high rank in an evil organization bent on destroying the world, who likes to taunt his ennemies and who kills people without second thoughts. Yet he already had Fate's admiration for very strong enemies, even if he didn't seemed to respect said enemies as much as Fate does.

Powers and Abilities
Vishu Talri Shutal Vangait - Fate Averruncus' magical key (the sentence which channels his magic into the spells he casts)

Fate is one of the most powerful characters ever seen in Negima! He is regularly described as a top class fighter, whose strenght was estimated over 8000, around six time the firepower of the most dangerous magical warships.

Fate is highly proeficient in both western magic (chanting spells) and eastern magic (summoning creatures and casting spells through magical words written on papers) and he mostly uses spells chanted in Ancient Greek, more powerful than the normal spells chanted in Latin. He has a strong affinity with the Rock Element, being able to conjure magical spears of stones, as well as stone stalagtites of variable size, which erupts from the ground for offensive and defensive purposes. His two signature attack spells are a huge cloud of petrifying smoke, and a beam of energy which destroys everything in its past and turns any living beings it touches into stone. His most powerful spell known so far is the "Stone Pillars of Hades," which conjures many gigantic, black pillars of stone that appears in the sky and hurls them towards the ground at high speed, crushing anything in their past into dust. He also has an 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 chi to perform teleport-like dashes, (simple, double or aerial) and impregnate his fists with his magical energy, to increase the power of his blows and to fire energy blasts. Also, he was once seen wielding a huge sword made of stone. He is protected from any physical harm by a mandala-esque barrier of magical pentagrams around him, which, according to Negi, is not a normal human technique. Even the attacks that do strike him doesn't seem to really hurt him.

As a fighter, he almost always use his magic for battling, but he has also displayed other more common powers, such as levitation, walking on water, teleporting through portals of water, and cancelling spells, 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 conjuring countless arrow-shaped projectiles, making attacks disappear, creating another dimentional plane, sending people into another dimension, or bending time and space themselves. Wether 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, which likely belonged to his late lord, the Mage of the Beginning. 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, mages and magical history, being able to recognize anything or anyone that fits in these categories. He heard about the most secret and forbidden techniques of magic, and can react to almost any 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 Averruncus of Earth, the third existing Averruncus. The exact details of his birth and his two reincarnations are not known. He was born 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, the first Averruncus, (a young man in his twenties) was the second-in-command of the evil organization "Cosmo Entelecheia," (Perfect World) ruled by a mysterious and unfathomably powerful, Dark Lord-looking mage, known only as the Mage of the Beginning, or the Life-Maker. This organization planned to destroy the world, likely following the same motivation as the present day Fate, (given that the Mage of the Beginning speaks about an "eternity," which he describes as "the only compromise able to save all souls") but acting in a much more sinister way.

Cosmo Entelecheia staged a worldwide conflict, known as the "Great Mage War" between the Hellas Empire and Megalomesembria: the two major political forces of the Mundus Magicus, by infiltrating the spheres of power of every country. Then, they manipulated this war to enact their actual plot, kidnapping Asuna, the princess of the kingdom of Vespertatia, (who wields a magic cancelling power and is a descendant of the Mage of the Beginning himself) using her ability in a ritual to destroyed the entire Mundus Magicus. Arika, the elder princess of Vespertatia hired the Ala Rubra: (Crimson Wing) a team of extremely powerful mages warriors, led by Nagi Springfield, to solve this crisis. Nagi and his comrades managed to discover the truth and reached the gloomy palace of Cosmo Entelecheia, where they defeated all the organization's generals, including Averruncus himself. Then, the Mage of the Beginning personally entered the fray, killing Averruncus and nearly wiping out the whole Ala Rubra with a tremendous wave of energy. Ultimately, Nagi and his Master, Filius Zect managed to defeat the evil mage, at the cost of Zect's life; while Princess Arika managed to unify every army in the magical world to cancel the ritual.

To this day, there is still many unanswered questions, mostly about the Mage of the Beginning's identity, goals and nature. The demonic mage could very likely be the creator of the Mundus Magicus, and he may even be linked to Filius Zect, who claimed to have lived "2600 years of despair" and who vanished after the Mage of the Beginning's demise. Also, the whole kingdom of Vespertatia was later destroyed in circumstances still unexplained, likely because of the magic-cancelling energy used in the ritual to destroy the world.

Averruncus was reincarnated, and he likely sought revenge against Nagi, whom he fought ten years ago in the city of Istambul. The two mages defeated one another. Averruncus was destroyed and reincarnated for the second time, while Nagi was trapped somewhere outside the world, with everyone believing him to be dead.

Fate returned to the Mundus Magicus and took command of the remnants of Cosmo Entelecheia, planning to fulfill his late lord's goal. 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; and made several travels around the world, whose reason has yet to be explained. It is during one of these trips that he first met Negi Springfield. He also rescued 62 orphans, among whom five half-human 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 are named Shirabe, Homura, Shiori, Koyomi and Tamaki. (These are code names, given that Shirabe's and Shiori's real names are respectectively Brigitte and Luna.) 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, she 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, bringing her 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 try to prevent the summon but not to avail, and they are forced to fight against 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 remains 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 Asuna, Negi's closest friend and first Pactio Partner, as well as almost every girl in Negi's class who knows his secret about being mage, and later challenges Negi to a fight. Negi, helped by Kotaro Inugami, a ten years old man-wolf and former rival, manages 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.

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 than Fate Averruncus and his generals. Negi inexplicably feels Fate's presence, prompting the villain to "come and say hello," piercing Negi with a magical spear of stone and nearly killing him. Konoka, who is learning magic and who develloped immense healing abilities manages to save Negi's life, but the best fighters of Ala Alba are quickly defeated by Fate and his followers. They manage to counterattack but Fate 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. He then destroys the ten other gateports between the two worlds and frames 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 servants, the mercenary swordswoman Tsukuyomi. Fate, his generals and his five Pactio Partners then spend the two following month preparing their plan. Meanwhile, Negi, who managed to reunite with many of his friends, has become the apprentice of Jack Rakan, (a former member of Ala Rubra whose power rivals that of Nagi himself) and is training hard to master the "Magica Erebeia" 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.

Negi and his friends goes 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 princess of Vespertatia, who got abducted by Cosmo Entelecheia during the Great Mage War, and was rescued by the Ala Rubra. 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, far away from the troubles and the dangers of her past. Which explains Asuna's magic-cancelling abilities.

Fate later confronts Negi during the festival, organizing "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 confess 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 and to force him to respect his words, should he had 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 engages 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) appears in the fight between Fate and Negi and manage to learn Fate's real name: Tertium. (A name which he intensely dislikes.) Fate chases after Nodoka and nearly turns her into stone, but he is ultimately forced to flee when Negi, Konoka, the Fake Asuna and Jack Rakan enter the fray.

Later, Negi and his team analize the information they got from Nodoka's artifact about Fate's plan, and Rakan shows them a movie he made, which depicts the entire Great Mage War, focusing on the fights between Ala Rubra and Cosmo Entelecheia. Meanwhile, Fate and his followers based themself in the Gravekeeper's Palace: the abandoned lair of Cosmo Entelecheia, where they are holding Asuna captive. 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 ultimatelly manage to end the battle against Rakan in a draw, in a match broadcasted in the entire Mundus Magicus, which Fate watched.

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 costs. 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 which he created, and gains the upper-hand.

Meanwhile, the Governor's palace is invaded by Cosmo Entelecheia's armies of half-demons half-shadows creatures as well as a monumental shadowy demon led by Dynamis: 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 he deems too dangerous. The dark mage tells her that those who disappeared were sent to the "Cosmo Entelecheia," an edenic endless garden outside the universe. In the ensuing skirmish, Nodoka manages to to temporarily gain control of Dynamis' exemplary of the Code of the Life-Maker, gathering information about the divine artifact right from Dynamis's mind. As for Jack Rakan, he manages to escape Fate's dimension but he is ultimatelly defeated and he disappears right before Negi's eyes. Fate and Dynamis are then confronted by the Ala Alba, but they chose to 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 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 (who discovered the truth about the Mundus Magicus) prepare to invade Cosmo Entelecheia's headquarters, Asuna awakes and confronts Fate, who explains everything to her. He reveals that the Mundus Magicus was artificially created, and that the magic that sustains it will sooner or later be depleted. When this will happen, the Mundus Magicus will collapse, 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 use her magic-cancelling ability to relocate the entire population of the Mundus Magicus to the "Cosmo Entelecheia," before erasing the Mundus Magicus and rewrite it entirely. It is later revealed that Fate destroyed the gateports that link both worlds to gather the magical energy used in them into the last gateport of Ostia and use it to enact his plan.

Balthus Dire 23:51, April 21, 2010 (UTC)