Apostles of the Star



The Apostles of the Star is a terrorist organization which gathers the main villains of the manga Black Cat and the major part of its anime adaptation. It was created two years before the start of the story by the serie's main villain Creed Diskenth and his second-in-command Shiki. Every member of this organization wields a special power that they gained from a mystical art known as the Tao. The organization also has access to considerable wealth, that enables them to conduct scientific research in the fields of nanomachines, with the intent to turn regular people into superhuman fighters.

The Apostle's proclaimed goal is to bring about a global revolution, in order to destroy the secret organization Chronos, which controls one third of the world's economy and politic from the shadows, in order to reshape the world. Unbeknwost to most of them however, Creed uses the group as mere pawns to fulfill his goal of becoming an immortal God, and looks like what Creed plans to make of the world: somewhere were only gifted people who follows his rule would have the right to live.

the Tao
The Apostles' main source of power. The Tao is a mystical oriental art developped and used by the population of "another continent" called Yamto. People who lived in this land were called the Tao Masters. They all had a power of Tao and they knew how to make a potion called the Shinkito (the Spirit Drink) that can awake a power of Tao dormant in someone. (If someone drinks it without having a power of Tao, he dies.) Shiki and Maro, two of the few surviving Tao Masters came in contact with Creed Diskenth, who was at this time a renegade eraser from Chronos. As the three of them had a score to settle with the organization, they joined side and started to recruit Tao wielders from all around the world.

A power of Tao is always linked to its wielder's skills and personnality. This power calls upon its wielder's ki (life energy) and needs a difficult and extremely rigorous training to be fully mastered. Using carelessly a power of Tao without proper training would consume its wielder's ki; and if someone were to use an untrained power of Tao continuously his ki would end up depleted, leading to his death.

Every Apostle of the Star masters his or her power to the point of perfection and gains from it immense might and beyond-human fighting abilities; putting them on an equal footing with the Chrono Numbers themselves. (Chronos' elite military brigade: a group of thirteen supreme warriors, each one of them being unmatchably skilled in the use of a particular sort of weapon.) Aside from their unique power, the Tao wielders also gain the ki-based abilities that follows. (However, few of them are seen using it.)

- To feel anyone's ki, enabling them him to locate anyone in a close perimeter without seeing them and to detect whenever someone uses Tao in a larger scale. The best trained Tao wielder are even able to notice a dormant power of Tao inside someone.

- To manipulate their own ki to vastly increase their phisical prowesses. Some being able to manipulate someone else's ki.

the Nanomachines
Creed never planned to use only the power of Tao to bring about his "revolution." (Much to Shiki's dismay.) Doctor, the scientist of the Apostles of the Star also conducts secret scientific experiments revolving around the use of Nanomachines, which only a few Apostles are aware of. The nanomachines are molecule-sized machines able to manipulate DNA whic serve as a pivotal plot device in the series. The nanomachines used in Black Cat have the science-fiction properties to manipulate and even to transform the body in which they are injected.

The nanomachines are first mentioned in the first Story Arc when Torneo Rudman, a wealthy weapon dealer, and one of the sponsors of the Apostle of the Star conducts experiments to create a super soldier; while sharing the data with the Apostles. Torneo created a young girl named Eve, (who later becomes one of the serie's main protagonists) with countless nanomachines inside her body which enables her to transform at will partially or completely.

At first, the Apostles of the Star use the nanomachine to heal injuries, but they don't stop there. They create nanomachines called "Lucifer" able to turn people into self-regenerative monsters. During the last arc of the story, other much more developped nanomachines are revealed to fulfill various fighting purposes; including the "God Bless" which makes Creed immortal.

Major Members
All the Apostles of the Star with a power of Tao. They all follow Creed's desire of a global revolution but their overall motivation vary. Some of them follow their own beliefs, which can make them disagree with their demented leader, some simply want to kill as many people as possible and other are devoted to Creed.

Creed Diskenth
The leader of the Apostles of the Star and the series' primary antagonist. Creed is a deranged, homicidal and narcissist pychopath who wants to rule the world forever and selectively control its population, in order to reshape it following his twisted ideals of perfection.

Creed was once an assassin working for the secret organization Chronos, which he despises. He was the partner of Train Heartnet, the word's strongest fighter, before Train was appointed as the Chrono Number XIII. He admires the ruthless assassin that Train was in these times to the point of obsession and he tries everything to make him join his side.

Creed is a extremely skilled swordfighter who wields the power "Imagine Blade," a blade created from his ki with variable lenght, sharpness and visibility; which transforms and gets more and more powerful as the story progresses. He ultimately gains immortality through the use of nanomachines but he loses it after his ultimate defeat at the hand of Train.

Shiki
Creed's first follower. Shiki is an extremely powerful Master of Tao and the one who brews the Shinkito, which granted every Apostle his or her special power. Shiki is a woman in the japanese original manga, but her gender was changed in the anime and several occidental translations. She wears a mask that restrain her power of Tao during most of the story, in order for her her to train continuously and to reach absolute mastery of her incredible power.

Shiki is one of the few survivors of the Tao clan, who declared war to Chronos 25 years ago and ended up almost wiped out after a long and grueling war. She and her fellow Tao Master Maro want to prove the value of the Tao and to spread it all around the world, but she ultimately discovers that Creed only regards the Tao as a mean to achieve his own selfish goals.

Shiki's power enables her to create insects from her ki, which she uses to brainwash peole, to fly, to watch over the Apostle's domains and of course to fight. In battle, she mostly relies on huge and powerful insects but she can also channel her ki through Fudas (paper with an incantation written on it) to unleash extemely poweful attacks.

Maro
Shiki's lifelong friend and fellow Tao Master. Maro is a big man who looks like a sumo wrestler. He is very physically strong and he has the power to control gravity, which he uses to crush everything around and to "squish his foes like a frog." Though far from stupid he is very proud of his status of Tao Master, which often leads him to underestimate his enemies.

Doctor
The scientist of the Apostles of the Star, who leads the researches on nanomachines. Doctor (whose real name, which is only revealed in the anime adaptation, is Kazuo Kanzaki) appears at first as a regular and rather friendly member of the Apostles of the Star, whose abilities enables him to heal he wounds. But he is more than meets the eye. Doctor is in fact a mad scientist who only regards humans as guinea pigs. He is also the closest thing to a friend to Creed, and while Shiki serves as the Apostles' second-in-command, Doctor is Creed's actual right hand man. Doctor's power enables him to create an alternate dimension where he controls absolutely everything.

In the anime, when Creed is defeated Doctor is revealed to be part of the Zero Numbers, and the one who undertook the scientific realisation of the Eden Project.

Echidna Paras
A former actress with worldwide fame who joined the Apostles of the Star. Echidna is the second closest person to Creed and has the same rank as Doctor among the Apostles of the Star. She appears to be in love with Creed and she follows his every whim, serving as the last line of defense between Creed and the sweepers during the final battle. Her power enables her to open gates that link to different places and serves as gateways. As such she is often tasked to transport the Apostles from one location to another, but she also uses it to strike her enemies from several sides at the same time. When Creed is defeated, Echidna brings her away and takes care of him.

Sharden Flamberg
A young man clad in black, with a silk top hat and very courteous manners. His only villainous trait is that he is a member of the Apostles of the Star. He has the power to control his own blood to shape it like weapons, and he serves as a field agent for the Apostles along with his partner Kyoko. Sharden holds an unexplained grudge against Chronos, which he yearns to destroy in order to make the world a better place. He ultimately defects from the Apostles when he fully realizes the magnitude of Creed's madness.

Kyoko Kirisaki
A young high school student with the power to create extreme heat and to breath fire. Kyoko is a very immature and fun loving teenage girl who regards the Apostle's revolution as a party. Like her friend and partner Sharden, Kyoko mostly serves as a field agent. She ultimately defects from the Apostles alongside Sharden so that he "wouldn't be lonely," and later meets Train Heartnet whom she falls in love with. Train then makes sure that she would no longer be targeted by Chronos after she swears never to kill anyone.

Leon Elliott
The youngest member of the Apostles of the Star, Leon is a thirteen years old child who lost his parents and his older sister in a civil war, causing him to developp an intense hatred towards adults and society. He has the power to control air and wind, which enables him to fly on a snowboard. He is defeated by Eve, who convinces him to leave the Apostles of the Star, during the final battle.

In the anime, he led a gang of orphaned children which he left to join the Apostles. He returns to them after Creed's defeat and he later takes part in the battle against Eden.

Durham Glaster
A deranged murderer dressed like a cowboy, with the power to fire blasts of pure ki from his gun. He sets out to defeat Train and gets beaten, which prompts Creed to kill him for insubordination.

Eathes
A monley with a power of Tao who only appears in the manga. Eathes can copy people and transform into exact doubles of them, which enables him to understand human speach and to speak fluently. Eathes copies Dr Tearyu to get her knowledge about nanomachines, helping Doctor in making Creed immortal. He ultimately reforms and is last seen walking in the streets under a human shape alongside Leon.

Preta Ghoul
A demented former clergyman who broke free from jail thanks to the Apostles of the Star. Preta is a serial killer with the power to wither and decay anything that comes in contact with his ki. In the manga, he is defeated during the final battle by the bounty hunter River Zastory. In the anime, he is defeated by Train's partner Sven Vollfield.

Deek Slasky
A young and crazy serial killer who only appears in the manga. He has the power to create and to control ice, which he uses to protect himself from almost every attack. He is defeated by Sven during the final battle.

Igor Planter
A demented eco terrorist who kills anyone whom he sees damaging a plant, who appears only in the anime. He has the power to crate and to control plants and flowers but he ultimately dies during a battle against Train and Eve because he drank too much Shinkito.

the Phantom Star Brigade
The Phantom Star Brigade only appears during the final battles of the story, when almost every Tao-wielding Apostle has been taken down. They are the product of the Apostles' ultimate project to create bio-engineered super soldiers.

The Phantom Star Brigad consists in five elite members of the Shooring Star Unit (see below) who were fused with their weapons and turned into cyborgs through the use of nanomachines. It must be noted that they are all psychopathic killers who were transformed willingly, in order to gain incredible might "that can rival with the powers of Tao." Their half-robotic body gives them enhanced strenght and durability and protect them against guns and convenional weapons. They are also equipped with powerful weapons such as gatlings, machine guns, missiles and flamethrowers.

There is a "Golem" cyborg filled with countless gatlings and machine guns who gets defeated by Sven; a Flying cyborg who can separate his body in two who gets defeated by Eve; a Snail Cyborg able to hide in his shell to perform a rollout attack, who gets defeated by the Chrono Number VII; a snake-like cyborg who gets defeated by the Number X; and finally a huge four-armed cyborg who gets destroyed by the Numbers IV and VIII.

the Shooting Star Unit
The Apostle's regular soldiers. They form an army of masked warriors fanatically devoted to Creed, who blindly obey the Tao wielders' command. The were part of the terrorist organization from the very beginning but they aren't revealed until around the middle of the story. There is many of them in each hideout of the Apostle of the Star. They mostly serve as guards and field agents who operate in lage group under the command of one or several Tao wielder, but some also serve as butlers.

They all wear a special armor that can withstand an explosion. Because of this, they can only be defeated by striking their mask or the gaps in the joints of the armor, (invisible from the outside) or by an attack powerful enough brak through the armor. They are all very skilled warriors and marksmen, who use machine guns, normal guns or retractable daggers hidden in their sleeves. Some can even cary a bazooka or a battery of missiles. When defeated they even have a self destruction mechanism that they won't hesitate to use.