Ryura

“	You really think you can defeat the Four War Gods? Don't make me laugh!	„
	~ Ryūra

Ryūra is the leader of the Four War Gods, and the main antagonist of Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island.

He was voiced by Nobutoshi Canna in Japanese and Kristian Ayre in English, the latter of whom also voices Yuji Sakai.

Biography

Ryūra and the other three War Gods, Jūra, Kyōra, and Gōra, attacked Horai Island out of contempt for half-demons, as many half-demon children lived there, but the priestess Kanade sacrificed herself to hide their Spheres of Power inside the Cauldron of Resonance, rendering Ryūra and the other War Gods powerless.

The War Gods would sacrifice half-demons to restore a portion of their power, scratching them in the back to give them the Mark of the Four War Gods, preventing them from escaping the island. Ryūra gave Inuyasha the mark this way just outside the island, while Gora drained blood from Kikyō. Also, whenever the island would appear, Ryūra and the others would attack villages and slaughter anyone they could find, although without their power they could not leave the island for long without fading away.

In the present day, an unmarked half-demon, Ai, escaped the island, and Ryūra sent Gōra to bring her back, but Gōra was killed by Inuyasha. When Inuyasha and the gang arrived at Horai Island, Ryūra fought Inuyasha and defeated him with his Wind and Thunder Blades, but walked away from the fight, disappointed that Inuyasha wasn't a worthy opponent.

After Inuyasha was pulled into the Cauldron and escaped after being given the Spheres of Power by the spirit of Kanade, Ryūra released a clone of Kikyo created from her blood. As the War Gods could not open the box containing the Spheres of Power, Ryūra had the Kikyo clone open it, and the War Gods obtained the Spheres of Power to restore their power, including Gōra, who was revived.

Though no longer needing to sacrifice the half-demon children, Ryūra attacked them anyway as they tried to escape, but Inuyasha fought him, and, using the Backlash Wave against his two swords, destroyed him.

However, his Sphere of Power survived, and revived him, along with the other three War Gods, merging them all together into one War God, to which Ryūra was dominant, with his face in the center, Kyōra and Jūra's faces to the side, and Gōra part of his body. Inuyasha fought the War Gods, who seemed unstoppable, with Ryūra taunting Inuyasha that he was still a disappointment to him. Powered up by the firefly spirits of those who were sacrificed, Inuyasha and Kagome combined an Adamant Backlash Wave and a Sacred Arrow, respectively, to destroy Ryūra forever, along with the other three War Gods and their Spheres of Power.

Personality

Taking the assumed role of leader of the Shitōshin, Ryūra is extremely confident in his own strength and abilities, as well as the immense demonic powers of his three comrades. Arrogant and sadistic, he enjoys causing suffering whenever the opportunity arises, going out of his way to slaughter the half-demons on Hōrai Island before leaving. Much like his 'brother' Kyōra, Ryūra seeks powerful opponents to battle. He expresses his disappointment in Inuyasha for not being as strong as he had hoped, finding him weak and unchallenged. Ryūra, like the strongest and most powerful demons, despises half demons, including them among the ranks of humans, branding them as weak and mundane compared to the superior powers of the Four War Gods. He, along with the other three war gods in their full-fledged combined form, are ultimately defeated by this assumption of weakness in half-demons.

Powers & Abilities

• Mark of the Shitōshin: As a War God, Ryūra can brand another being particularly that of a half-demon with the mark of the four war gods by slashing across their backs so that if they enter or are already on Hōrai Island then they are unable to leave. Every fifty years that passes the mark glows and causes immense pain to the victim that acts as a sign that a new sacrifice must be made so that the War Gods can reattain some of their sealed powers. However, if a War God is killed then one mark disappears until all of them are gone thus allowing the half-demon to leave Hōrai Island of their own accord.
• Aerokinesis & Electrokinesis: Ryūra has the elemental ability to create, manipulate, and control the air and wind, thunder and lightning through both his own power and his Wind & Thunder Blades.
  • Lightning Storms: He is seen multiple times conjuring extremely powerful storm clouds, blasting his enemies away with strong bolts of lightning/electricity in a very similar fashion to Hiten.
  • Wind Breezes & Slashes: When he confronts the half-demons on Hōrai Island, he displays the ability to simply whisk his opponents away if they are a nuisance, showing off his air/wind-based abilities. Also before that, Ryūra was able to instantaneously create invisible wind slashes that sliced Inuyasha along with some of the houses behind the half-demon before he could react.
• Master Swordsman: Ryūra has shown himself to be a very skilled swordsman as he was able to easily overpower Inuyasha wielding Tessaiga with his equally large swords and push the latter around with simple slashes. His dual wielding swordsmanship allows him to apply the same skill and power that Inuyasha puts into Tessaiga to his Fūjinga and Raijinga equally and he even called Tessaiga within Inuyasha's hands wasteful.
• Immense Demonic Power: As the leader of the Four War Gods and a powerful dragon daiyōkai, Ryūra is extremely powerful where even when most of his power through his power sphere is sealed away by the priestess, Kanade, he is still capable of dominating the likes of Inuyasha to the point where his power started diminishing before Kagome intervened. When his power sphere returned, Ryūra became even more powerful where he pushed Inuyasha to the point of hopelessness though through sheer determination, Inuyasha proved to be stronger and defeated Ryūra.
• Enhanced Strength: Even when most of powers is sealed away by Kanade, Ryūra is strong to easily repel Inuyasha wielding Tessaiga away with just one slash of his sword and the latter couldn't even compete in raw strength either. When his power sphere returned, Ryūra became strong enough to easily send Inuyasha flying around and casually broke apart the diamonds created from the latter's Kongōsōha after defending from it with his arms alone just by flexing his arm muscles when some were embedded in his arms.
• Enhanced Speed: Ryūra has shown himself to very fast where he immediately conjured a tornado from his wind blade just after pushing Inuyasha back during their initial battle before the half-demon could react to further push him back. During their second battle, Ryūra was able to create invisible wind slashes that sliced both Inuyasha and the houses behind him before he even noticed after regaining his power sphere.
• Immense Endurance: Ryūra is extremely durable and resilient where he emerged unscathed from his initial battle with Inuyasha and during the second Inuyasha couldn't even damage him before the final clash. Ryūra even endured the Kongōsōha without suffering any damage from it just after defending against the attack with his arms alone while Naraku couldn't defend from it even with his powerful barriers.

Weapons

• Fūjinga & Raijinga: These are the demonic swords of wind and thunder that are also Ryūra's signature weapons which he wields with masterful use. When used together, they can create and command wind and lightning as an extension of Ryūra's innate abilities with them. They are very durable with the wind blade easily blocking a sacred arrow from Kagome. They broke when Inuyasha slashed through them with Tessaiga. They reappeared in the hands of the merged War God but were destroyed again after the merged War God was killed by Inuyasha with Adamant Backlash Wave.
  • Tornado: Ryūra can create a spiraling tornado straight at his enemies.
  • Earth Dragon Gale: A defensive technique where Ryūra creates a spiraling dome of wind that can easily repel the Kaze no Kizu even when his power sphere is sealed away. Overall it resembles a barrier created from wind compressed together rather a barrier generated by yōki.
  • Dragon Lightning: This technique is similar to that of Sesshōmaru's initial Dragon Strike where he has lightning strike his enemies as well. There are some differences, however, where rather than generating the lightning directly from his blade and slashing it forward, Ryūra points the tip of his thunder blade towards the sky and it calls down a lightning bolt directly from a cloud to electrocute his opponents.
  • Wind Blast: Ryūra can have his wind blade send a blast of formless wind that can cause damage to those caught in its path.
• Power Sphere: Like the other War Gods, Ryūra has most of his powers placed within a blue sphere which is placed on his forehead between his eyes. This is rather disadvantageous since if his sphere is taken from him then his power diminishes and he must sacrifice a half-demon once every fifty years or else his power and form dissipates.
  • Recombination: Later on, it is also revealed that the power sphere is actually a container for his spirit as when he was defeated and killed by Inuyasha, he managed to avoid complete death by having his power sphere hold his soul to merge with his brothers to create a merged War God.

Trivia

• Ryūra is destroyed in a similar style to Menōmaru, the villain of the first movie, though in Ryūra's case Inuyasha uses a more powerful variation of the Backlash Wave, having obtained the adamant power of Hōsenki I in the middle of Season 7. He is the third villain to be destroyed by a combination of Backlash Wave and a Sacred Arrow, second being Hoshiyomi.
• Ryūra has some dragon features to his appearance, as the Four War Gods are based off the Four Sacred Animals. Jūra is the tiger, Kyōra is the phoenix, and Gōra is the turtle. Hoshiyomi's demon ninjas also have a similar theme.

External links

• Ryūra on the InuYasha Wiki