Characters / Eastern Exorcist

Characters for the Fantasy wuxia-themed RPG, Eastern Exorcist

SPOILERS UNMARKED

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Lu Yun-chuan's campaign

Lu Yun-chuan

A young but highly-skilled swordsman, and one of the Cangshan Order of Exorcists' best, Lu Yun-chuan and his sworn brothers, Tang Wen-jie, Zhang Yi-cai and Zhang Huai-zhou, are dispatched by the order to eliminate the Mandrill King terrorizing the Northern Mountains. Unfortunately, an unexpected double-cross from an unknown traitor leads to the deaths of Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai, the third brother Zhang Huai-zhou mortally injured, and Lu being forced into exile.

Cast into the wilderness, Lu Yun-chuan is alone against the demons, as he begins his journey for revenge.

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• Cain and Abel: Of the non-related, sworn brothers variety, Lu is the heroic Abel to Zhang Huai-zhou's Cain.
• I Did What I Had to Do: As the levels goes on, Lu Yun-chuan is well aware not all the demons and spirits he destroys truly deserves their fates, but as an exorcist it's part of his job.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Lu Yun-chuan can use his chi to send a shadowy clone of himself that attacks a few meters in front of him, but the clone vanishes after a while.
• Four Is Death: There are four warrior-exorcists whom are sworn brothers, with Lu being their fourth member. All of them bites it early in the game, with Zhang Huai-zhou critically injured and the other two dead, and as it was Lu Yun-chuan who suggested them to spare a hulijing, he must take the fall for the mission's failure.
• The Hero: Of the game's main storyline, Lu is the player-controlled protagonist seeking to destroy a powerful Mandrill demon and avenge his slain brothers.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Lu's preferred weapon is his jian, and he's a Master Swordsman who knows how to use it.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's already in bad graces with seniors of the Cangshan Sect and his subsequent expulsion, but after he's forced to kill Zhang Huai-zhou, the actual traitor, he's no longer able to return home. Back in the capital city, the exorcist archives would record that Lu Yun-chuan was ultimately bewitched by a fox spirit, murdered his peers, descended into immoraility and ultimately fled the country to escape punishment.
• Hunter of Monsters: The titular demon-slaying exorcist swordsman.
• Magic Missile Storm: Lu can summon a wave of yellow energy projectiles that rains upon his enemies within seconds.
• My Greatest Failure: How he sees his failure in the prologue, and blaming himself for getting his brothers killed because of his empathy towards a hulijing.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Lets out one of these when Zhang Huai-zhou is about to execute a captured Xiaoyu.
  "Everything has a soul! We're exorcists, not killers - otherwise we're no different from the Mandrill King!"
• Recovery Attack: Lu Yun-chuan's Self-Healing ability, when triggered in Demon Slayer status, allows him a stack of self-healing effect whenever he suffers a hit. He gains one stack for every hit taken, and after the fight each stack can restore ten points of health.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a long, red, tattered scarf that flows about as he slices through enemies like no tomorrow, left and right.
• Storm of Blades: At a high enough level, Lu can summon a rain of flaming jians in place of his magic projectiles. It's best saved in areas filled with projectile-using enemies.
• Sword Beam: His jian can fire a crescent-shaped one.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Subverted – Lu does not exactly enjoy his work in killing demons all that much, but he sees it more of an obligation to his duty. That said, he does show some remorse when slaying demons with tragic backstories or doesn't deserve their fates, as seen with Shura and Chu the water spirit.
• Walking the Earth: His fate in the story's conclusion; the Mandrill King is dead, but so is Xiaoyu, the kind-hearted and innocent hulijing whom is the only person he cares about, and he's forced to kill Zhang Huai-zhou the traitor at the end. Unable to return to the Cangshan Sect, Lu Yun-chuan imposes a permanent exile upon himself in the mountains.

Xiaoyu

A hulijing arrested by Lu Yun-chuan's brothers early in the game, the trio of Zhang Huai-zhou, Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai are ready to execute her on the grounds that she might be working for the Mandrill King. Lu Yun-chuan however steps in, stopping them from harming an innocent young woman and releasing Xiaoyu, which ends up screwing them over when minions of the Mandrill King attacks. Zhang Huai-zhou, barely surviving, claims that Xiaoyu is an informant working for the Mandrill King.

In the aftermath of their failed mission, Lu Yun-chuan must seek his revenge by hunting down Xiaoyu and co-ercing her into leading him to the Mandrill King for a final confrontation. Only to find out Xiaoyu isn't the traitor he thinks she is.

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• Asian Fox Spirit: She's a hulijing, and looks like one too. Then again, she's an adorable Cute Monster Girl.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: She looks like a kind, innocent, doe-eyed, adorable young girl who wouldn't hurt a fly, and as it turns out? She is.
• Blood from the Mouth: When she succumbs from being fatally stabbed by Zhang Huai-zhou.
• Cassandra Truth: Her attempts to convince Lu that she isn't the perpetrator behind the deaths of Lu's brothers, and that she's NOT working for the Mandrill King.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: She expires in Lu Yun-chuan's arms after suffering a fatal stab from Zhang Huai-zhou.
• Frame-Up: Courtesy of Zhang Huai-zhou, who backstabbed and murdered his brothers, faked his injuries, and claims that it was Xiaoyu who ratted the exorcists' location to the demons.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She gives up her life eventually, to save Lu Yun-chuan from an ambush by the traitor, Zhang Huai-zhou by throwing herself in the path of the latter's sword.
• Kill the Cutie: After having her name cleared, where she's proven to be innocent? She's promptly killed by Zhang Huai-zhou, for no reason other than for the despicable traitor to screw over Lu Yun-chuan one last time.
• Little Bit Beastly: She looks almost human, save for having fox-ears and a bushy tail.
• Nice Girl: She remembers Lu Yun-chuan as the noble hero who spared her life, and offers to help him reclaim his honor. Even when Lu is threatening to slice her apart with his sword.
• The Not-Love Interest: After she reveals her allegiance to be on the side of good, she... doesn't end up together with Lu Yun-chuan, despite being a major character. The fact that she's killed by Zhang Huai-zhou the traitor before any proper relationship development can take place is another reason.
• Red Herring: Early in the game, Lu Yun-chuan – and the players – are led to believe that after Lu spares her life, Xiaoyu then rats out the exorcists' presence to the dreaded Mandrill King, leading to everyone's deaths, with Zhang as the only witness. But as Lu captures her halfway into the story, she pleads her innocence and maintains that she's in the blank as well, offering to help Lu seek the real traitor... which turns out to be Lu's supposed comrade Zhang Huai-zhou, a fellow exorcist-turned-traitor serving the Mandrill King, who arranged for the death of all his brothers to gain himself a promotion.
• The Scapegoat: A day after Lu Yun-chuan spares her life, Zhang Huai-zhou - the real traitor - conveniently uses Xiaoyu as a scapegoat for the massacre, arranging for the deaths of his own brothers-in-arms, leading the Snow Ape to attack Lu Yun-chuan, and then putting the blame on Xiaoyu.
• Taking the Bullet: Taking the sword, but when Zheng Huai-zhou feigns surrender before drawing his weapon to ambush Lu Yun-chuan, Xiaoyu throws herself into the direction of the traitor's jian.
• Wonderful Werewolf: Sort of, she's a werefox (a hulijing to be precise – in an early cutscene she transforms from a human to a fox onscreen) and one of the lawful characters.

The Mandrill King

A demon lord who rules over the clans of the underworld, which the budding exorcist, Lu, and his brothers are tasked with eliminating to complete their training. Alas, an unknown informant secretly gave away the brothers' location, leading to an ambush from demons led by the Mandrill King that kills two of the exorcists.

Eventually, after a lengthy, perilous journey, Lu Yun-chuan confronts the Mandrill King in his chamber within the Jingyun Mountains.

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• Better to Die than Be Killed: In the cutscene after his defeat, when King Mandrill realizes he's no longer in a position of power, and that his son, Chitian the ape demon, has turned against him as well, the Mandrill King then kills himself by ripping his heart open.
• Big Bad: He's the leading threat of Lu Yun-chuan's portion of the game, being a demon overlord who rules over the monsters. Lu needs to defeat him to atone for the failure.
• Death from Above: He can summon a rain of exploding projectiles from above the arena by pounding his staff into the ground, which Lu needs to dodge to avoid damage.
• Double Weapon: Mandrill King uses a two-sided bone staff, with bladed protrusions on each side, as a boss.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his position as the ruler of demons, the Mandrill King does have some minor degree of care towards his son, Chitian the ape demon. His expression when finding out Chitian plans to usurp him is that of pure dismay that sends him into a Despair Event Horizon.
• Hero Killer: He's the one who killed the two brothers, Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai, by grabbing them and absorbing their chi energy. With some assistance from his lackey, Zhang Huai-zhou stabbing the two In the Back.
• Maniac Monkeys: A demon overlord with a mandrill motif, and the main villain of Lu's campaign.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Being the Mandrill King and overlord who rules over demonkind, when fought as a boss he's absolutely no slouch.
• Staff of Authority: Carries a scepter made of bones, as an indication of his position as King Mandrill of the demons. The same scepter is his preferred weapon when fought as a boss.
• Throne Room Throwdown: Befitting the "king" of demonkind, the Mandrill is fought in his throne room.

Zhang Huai-zhou

One of Lu Yun-chuan's three brother-in-arms and the only survivor among the trio when Mandrill King attacks and kills everyone, Zhang was discovered by Lu, mortally injured and a mile away from the ruins of their camp site. Lu immediately carries Zhang all the way back to the city, and within the headquarters of the Order of Exorcists in Cangshan Sect, managed to nurse Zhang back to health.

Regaining consciousness, Zhang Huai-zhou informs Lu Yun-chuan that Xiaoyu, the hulijing Lu spared the other day, revealed their hideout to the demons, leading to Lu's exile from the exorcist order, and kickstarting the game's main storyline as Lu attempts to hunt down the Mandrill King and his minions to atone for his mistake.

However, after the final scene with the Mandrill King finally disposed of, Lu was bestowed another revelation, a vision of the truth.

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• Almost Dead Guy: The prologue sees Zhang Huai-zhou nearly succumbing to his wounds, and his sworn brothers Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai dead in their camp nearby. Lu Yun-chuan carries Zhang back to the city to revive him, but it was quickly revealed to be an act from Zhang to manipulate his siblings before he betrays everyone.
• Bad Boss: He's working in tandem with the demons, and in the flashback Zheng nonchalantly kills several of his own demon-mooks without any regret.
• Badass Cape: While Lu Yun-chuan wears a scarf, Zhang wears a ragged flowing cape.
• Blade Spam: One of Zhang's special moves, that allows him to perform multiple forward-slashes and stabs with his jian. He first demonstrates this attack in a cutscene where he uses his sword to turn a boulder falling towards him into a shower of harmless pebbles.
• Cain and Abel: Of the non-related, sworn brothers variety, Zhang is the villainous Cain to Lu Yun-chuan's Abel.
• Category Traitor: An exorcist who betrays his own sect to the demons and arranged for the deaths of his own brothers-in-arms can only be such.
• Evil All Along: He claims that the Mandrill King forced him to betray all his allies and he doesn't have a choice. It turns out to be a big fat lie.
• Evil Former Friend: He had served alongside Lu Yun-chuan in the Cangshan Sect for years, before deciding to defect to serve the demons instead. And he even exploits Lu's friendship with him before the boss fight by convincing Lu to spare him over their years of brotherhood… moments before trying to backstab Lu one last time.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: Wears a stereotypical-looking Chinese straw hat for his entire screentime, which obscures his eyes partially.
• Gaslighting: How he managed to convince Lu Yun-chuan that Xiaoyu, an innocent hulijing, is a traitor working for the Mandrill King. It takes a psychic vision for Lu to snap out, and even after Lu tells him the jig is up, Zhang still repeatedly tries to deny his involvement with the demons.
  Zhang Huai-zhou: Brother, I was wrong! The King Mandrill made me do it! I have no choice!
• Hate Sink: Due to the fact that most demon bosses (including King Mandrill, despite being the Big Bad) had little-to-no characterizations, are given tragic backstories (in the case of Shura and Chu), or simply doesn't do enough to leave any lasting impact, Zhang is there to fulfill the role of having a despicable character in the story. From betraying his brothers to causing the hero's downfall, framing the benevolent, kind-hearted hulijing Xiaoyu, repeated gaslighting and pulling the strings behind the game's events before finally trying to backstab Lu for the last time, paints him as the worst characters in-game.
• Hero Killer: He assists the Mandrill King in killing two of his sworn brothers, Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai. Him killing Xiaoyu on the other hand is a straighter example.
• Hidden Villain: The Mandrill King may be the Big Bad, but this guy is the true reason behind why everything else went wrong. And some more. Which isn't made obvious until more than two-thirds into the game.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: The one human villain in the story, whose deeds are several leagues worse than most of the demons and monsters.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Turncoats to serve the demons, after witnessing their powers first-hand. Starting by betraying his brothers and arranging for their demise, and then framing Xiaoyu the innocent hulijing and sending his eldest brother, Lu Yun-chuan, to a suicide mission, so that he can help demons conquer all of China.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Zhang Huai-zhou pretends to turn himself in to the sect, pleading to Lu Yun-chuan that he's being forced by the Mandrill King to betray his allies. The moment Lu Yun-chuan buys his surrender, Zhang Huai-zhou immediately attempts to ambush Lu, which would've worked if Xiaoyu didn't perform a Taking the Bullet move and letting herself be stabbed in Lu's place.
  Zhang Huai-zhou: We have been brothers in the Cangshan Sect for many years. Can you please give me a chance to right the wrongs?
  Lu Yun-chuan: Let us go downhill first. Go to our master and tell him everything!
  Zhang Huai-zhou: Alright. I'll go with you...
  [suddenly draws his sword and performs a forward-stab towards Lu]
• In the Back: How he ambushed Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai, his alleged sworn brothers, just as they're struggling in a fight against the Mandrill King.
• Manipulative Bastard: He arranged for the entire mission's failure right off the start, from getting Lu Yun-chuan ambushed by the Great Ape to helping the Mandrill King slaughter his brothers, Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai. Before faking his injuries and lying to Lu Yun-chuan about Xiaoyu betraying them.
• Mirror Boss: Lu Yun-chuan vs. Zhang Huai-zhou, two Master Swordsman of the Cangshan Sect, where most of their attacks are identical, from spamming projectiles to the Dash Attack and summoning an enchanted Storm of Blades.
• Once More, with Clarity: The prologue where Lu Yun-chuan's trio sworn brothers, Tang Wen-jie, Zhang Yi-cai and Zhang Huai-zhou, were ambushed by the Mandrill King's forces, with the former two getting killed and the latter barely surviving was replayed in a vision after King Mandrill's defeat. Only this time, Lu Yun-chuan sees the truth - as Tang Wen-jie and Zhang Yi-cai tries holding the Mandrill King down with their spells, Zhang Huai-zhou immediately backstabs both of them, revealing himself as a traitor to the exorcist sect.
• Pride: The driving motif behind Zhang's entire plan. Getting all his brothers killed, screwing over his former comrade Lu Yun-chuan who trusted him most, and working in tandem with the forces of evil in exchange for a commanding position of authority.
• Sword Fight: Lu Yun-chuan vs. Zhang Huai-zhou, in the Post-Final Boss duel. It's the closest the game has to a Mirror Boss.
• Would Hit a Girl: In the opening prologue, he gleefully volunteers to execute the unarmed Xiaoyu before Lu Yun-chuan stops him. Prior to facing him as a Post-Final Boss, Zhang tries to ambush Lu Yun-chuan one last time, killing Xiaoyu (who pulled a Taking the Bullet by throwing herself before Zhang's sword) without the tiniest shred of remorse.

Snow Ape

An albino ape-demon enforcer serving the Mandrill King, that Lu Yun-chuan challenges at the end of the prologue. The first of several bosses of Lu battles in his scenario.

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• Goomba Stomp: Being a gigantic albino ape that tower over Lu, the Snow Ape tends to jump and stomp Lu from above.
• Improbable Weapon User: The Snow Ape uses a Chinese bronze incense burner like a club.
• Maniac Monkeys: Not as much as his boss, the Mandrill King, but the Snow Ape is still a demon with a simian motif who consumes souls.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Lets out a pretty impressive one before his boss fight. Especially considering he's the first boss.
  Snow Ape: His Majesty King Mandrill! He is too grand for an inferior race like you! Get into my furnace now and give me your soul!
• Warm-Up Boss: Befitting the first boss, the Snow Ape's attacks are easily avoidable with Lu's Slide Attack, his response speed is below average, and he goes down like a punk in no time. But then again, things go downhill pretty fast after Lu's victory.
• We Need a Distraction: He's there to keep Lu's hands tied, as Zhang Huai-zhou - the real villain in league with the Mandrill King - betrays and kills all of Lu's brothers. The moment Lu defeats and kills Snow Ape, he instinctively realizes something's amiss and tries to rendezvous with his brothers, only to find them dead.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: The incense burner carried by Snow Ape can drains the souls of demons and humans alike. And the ape is more than gleeful to use it on Lu.

Shura

See the child up there?

The poor orphan lived alone ever since his parents died.
He begged for food but failed to satisfy his hunger.
He was driven to the temple in the mountains by the villagers.
He was clutched by coldness, and starved to death...

The ghost of a young orphaned boy whom, having lost his parents in a war, wandered from village to village, asking for food and alms. Unable to feed himself, the boy dies of starvation one night in the Temple of the Mountain Gods, only to be assimilated by a multitude of restless spirits.

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• Bad with the Bone: One of its main attacks, a cluster missile of burning, flying skulls.
• Barefoot Poverty: While still alive (as seen in the flashback cutscenes), the orphaned boy who would eventually become the Shura roams the village shoeless.
• Body of Bodies: In his Shura form, the demon is a cluster of deformed spirits fused into a gigantic floating entity, controlled by a ghostly little boy, fought as a boss in the haunted temple.
• Breath Weapon: The Shura's lower mouth can breathe a thick, jade-green energy beam that covers a big portion of the screen, Wave-Motion Gun-style. The only way to avoid damage is by getting to the monster's other side.
• Death of a Child: Why else would a young boy become part of a maleovalant demon haunting a temple?
• Ghostly Glide: A cluster of ghosts that remains floating for the entire boss fight.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: In the flashback cutscene, after the orphaned boy dies of starvation and is assimilated by the temple's spirits, he then sits up with his eyes glowing bright, moments before he transforms into the Shura.
• The Power of Hate: The Shura's power and desire to devour everything in sight is fueled by a child that despises the village folk, as they did nothing while the boy died of starvation.
• Quieting the Unquiet Dead: By slaying the Shura, the young boy is free from roaming the haunted temple, and may pass on in the heavens. Lu Yun-chuan gains a vision after the boss fight confirming the child is now happy where he is.
  Ghost-orphan: Mom? Mom? Mom?...
  Lu Yun-chuan: I have fulfilled your wish. No more pain for you now.
  Ghost-orphan: [Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]
• Tragic Monster: From the only child of a once-happy family, to a starving orphan (who eventually succumbed), to becoming part of a demon.
• This Was His True Form: The slain Shura reverts to the form of a young boy when he departs the mortal plane for heaven.
• Undead Child: A little vengeful ghost-boy, inhabiting a vessel made from various deformed spirits.
• Vengeful Ghost: Justified, given the boy's tragic backstory and circumstances behind his demise. Who wouldn't be vengeful after death?

Chu

Soldiers fought bravely in Hexi battlefield.
However, again and again the bad news came...
The evil bullied and insulted virtous people.
While jealousy killed all the wretches.

Once a beautiful young maiden from the Hexi Village, Chu's husband, a soldier in the Imperial Army, was sent into the battlefield, and never came back. Chu was unjustly branded as a "jinx to her family name" by the superstitious villagers, and her child taken away from her (the same boy who would later become the Shura).

After she was assaulted and raped by a trio of young punks, lowlife scums from the same village who lusted after Chu's beauty but are unable to do anything when Chu's husband was around, the village chief instead decides to sentence Chu to death by drowning, having her chained up and lowered into a well, to prevent tarnishing Hexi Village's reputation. It was here she encounters the various water spirits, turning into a powerful water-demon and emerged from the waters, to the entire village's horror.

She now haunts the waterfront of Hexi Village as a powerful water demon, in an unavoidable checkpoint Lu Yun-chuan needs to bypass.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Lu Yun-chuan expresses regret after slaying her, being obviously sympathetic to Chu's backstory and makes it a point that her bones are buried next to her son's. Who wouldn't?
• Anti-Villain: After the flashback, Lu Yun-chuan then encounters Chu, in the middle of slaughtering the entirety of Hexi Village. Being an Exorcist, Lu must fight her to rid the land of evil, but Chu has enough sentience to be aware that Lu Yun-chuan isn't one of her enemies, but a good man doing his job.
  Lu Yun-chuan: You are a sinful ghost and you've got a lot of blood in your hands. As a demon slayer, I can't just stand here and do nothing.
  Chu: Enough! They deserve to be damned! Things like this happen every day in this world. Can you deal with all of them?
• Asshole Victims: NOT Chu, obviously, but the three punks who defiled her back when she was alive, only to be among Chu's first victims when she returns as a vengeful water-demon absolutely deserves what's coming for them. To a lesser extent, the superstitious old Village elder whom she kills too.
• The Dog Bites Back: The first thing she did as a water-demon? Hunt down and murder the three punks who raped and defiled her, before going for the village chief who sentenced her to death. Unfortunately, her desire for revenge overwhelms her to the point where she's now on an unstoppable killing spree, vastly depopulating the whole village and some more.
• From Bad to Worse: Chu's entire life in a nutshell. She went from losing her husband and child, one at a time, to being lusted by jealous neighbors who secretly wants her for themselves. And then she's publicly assaulted, raped, and sentenced to execution in order to "honor her family name".
• Ghostly Glide: She spends the whole boss battle floating all over the area.
• Ghostly Wail: She lets out a shrill, bone-chilling wail periodically during her boss fight, usually before she spams projectile attacks on Lu.
• Lady in Red: While Chu wears ordinary clothes in civilian form, back when she's still alive, as a water-demon she wears red.
• The Lopsided Arm of the Law: Not her, but the ridiculously incompetent and superstitious village superiors who decides the outcome of her trial. Yes, a widow gets publicly assaulted and raped? Better kill her then, to sweep the incident under a rug and prevent the village's image from being tarnished (!!!).
• Noble Demon: Her vendetta is reserved only for the village who wronged her, and she's willing to hold back when Lu Yun-chuan appears, telling him to leave since he's not one of her enemies.
• Prehensile Hair: Her hair is longer than she is tall, and as she floats around one of her favored attacks is by using them as a whip.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When she's assimilated by restless water-spirits, Chu's eyes start glowing red. And all hell breaks loose soon after.
• Tragic Villain: Her backstory might be even more depressing than the Shura's, all things considered...
• Undead Barefooter: Chu doesn't wear shoes as a water-demon, though it could be a case of Jacob Marley Apparel instead - note that in her flashback, she's barefoot when the villagers lower her into the well.
• Vengeful Ghost: Chu's thirst for revenge over the villagers who unjustly have her sentenced to drowning leads to her haunting the well's waters.
  Right and wrong are like chaos.
  I remember every single person who once bullied, defiled and framed me.
  I remember those who treated me unjustly.
• Who's Laughing Now?: The abused widow unjustly sentenced to death is definitely the one getting a last laugh, once she rises as a water demon and goes on a killing spree. Starting with everyone who wronged her.
• Widow Mistreatment: Once a beautiful village maiden whose husband died in a war, and her being subsequently made a pariah after she's branded a "jinx" by the townsfolk. When some lowlife punks force themselves on her, the villagers decide to punish Shu instead by executing her via drowning in order to have the incident covered up.

Colonel Yin

A tiger-demon brute and high-ranking commander of the demonic forces. He's one of the few bosses who shows up in both campaigns, regardless if players are in control of Lu Yun-chuan or Xiahou-xue, where he gleefully attempts pounding them to a pulp with his bronze cudgels.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In both campaigns, if Lu or Xue defeats him, the following cutscene sees him pleading for mercy. Which is granted both times, since his boss fight is an interrogation in both instances.
  General Yin: Please spare my life. I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me and let me go!
• Dash Attack: One of Yin's special moves, with his cudgels held in front of him.
• Dual Wielding: Two bronze cudgels.
• Lightning Bruiser: Easily the fastest giant-sized bosses.
• Never Bareheaded: Yin wears a feathered, wide-brimmed hat that never leaves his scalp, even if he's spinning like crazy in circles. Subverted when he's being interrogated by Lu Yun-chuan however - Lu slices Yin's hat into half, shaving the villain's hair comically down the middle, to intimidate him.
• Panthera Awesome: A fearsome tiger-demon and a powerful boss in his own right.
• Spin Attack: General Yin can spin like a tornado while armed with both his cudgels, paired with moving himself left and right across the arena. Some timed jumping is required to avoid this particular attack.

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Xiahou-Xue's campaign

The Xiahou siblings in general

• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-hulijing. The siblings' attempts to steal an elixir from the Python Demon and turn themselves into complete hulijing is what kicks off the story's plot.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: The siblings wants to remove their human half and become full hulijing, but it doesn't work.
• Light Is Good: Both of them are clad in brightly-colored clothes, and despite their half-demon bloodline they're on the side of good.
• Little Bit Beastly: Not as much as Xiaoyu, since the siblings are merely half-hulijing, but a closer glance will reveal their animalistic features.
• Mystical White Hair: Both Xiahou siblings have long, flowing silver hair, seemingly to highlight their supernatural nature.
• Pointy Ears: A sign that the siblings aren't exactly human.
• Sibling Team: They work as a brother-sister team in heists, and even after Xiahou-Qing was reduced to a drifting soul, he can continue assisting his sister in battles.

Xiahou-xue

The heroine of her campaign, Xiahou-xue is a half-hulijing seeking a way to save her brother by reviving his body after a botched mission. When she find out a cure is hidden in the deep mountains, she immediately sets off on a quest, leaving Mingzhou City and her clan of hulijing for the first time.

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• Action Girlfriend: When she falls for Chen You-qing, a human scholar who crosses path with her halfway into the story. It goes with her being a capable, highly-skilled warrior while he is a mere scholar.
• Big Sister Instinct: Inverted, Xiahou-xue is the younger sister to Xiahou-qing, and is willing to brave a perilous quest to restore her older brother's soul back to normal. Then again, him trying to save her in the prologue is what causes his soul to be separated from his physical body.
• But Now I Must Go: In the game's final scene, after restoring her brother back to normal, she then leaves the city to travel across China with Chen You-qing.
• Dark Action Girl: She's an assassin by trade, and can kick all sorts of ass besides taking down legions and legions of demons.
• Fish out of Water: As a hulijing interacting with humans for the first time.
• Interspecies Romance: Downplayed, she's half-human, half-hulijing, and falls for Chen You-qing, a complete human. They do eventually end up together by the end.
• Little Miss Badass: She's the size of a teenage girl, and kicks all the ass she comes across the whole game.
• Meaningful Name: Xiahou-xue, with her snowy white hair, considering "xue" translates as "snow" in Mandarin Chinese. Chen You-qing compliments on her name.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: Her preferred weapon is a combination between a nagitana and a guandao, seemingly as a contrast to her brother Xiahou-qing who use curved blades, or the other campaign's hero, Lu Yun-chuan, who uses a jian.
• Oblivious to Love: Towards Chen You-qing, at first, that is until she realize he had given up his journey to the Imperial City for her.
• Spin Attack: She can perform a circular slash with her weapon, with quite a wide radius of damage on surrounding enemies. Performing this move in mid-air even allows her to float for a few seconds.

Xiahou-qing

With his sister in front.

As a Spirit Advisor

Xiahou-xue's older brother, a powerful warrior and sorceror in his own right, who gave up his life-force to save his sister Xiahou-xue. He's not entirely dead, however, as his soul is merely separated from his physical body which Xiahou-xue managed to retrieve; much of Xiahou-xue's quest revolves around trying to seek a cure to restore Xiahou-qing's body for his soul to unite with, while Xiahou-qing, as a soul, tags along behind his sister.

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• Big Brother Instinct: He uses his body to shield Xiahou-xue from the python guard, getting himself fatally poisoned in the process.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: How his physical body "dies", in his sister Xiahou-xue's arms after he's poisoned by the Snake Yaksha to save her life. Subverted that he's not really dead and there's a way to save him.
• Dual Wield: Xiahou-qing prefers dual curved swords as a weapon, at least when he still have a physical body to wield his weapons with.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: After Chen You-qing gets possessed and Xiahou-xue wants to save him, Xiahou-qing instead forbids his sister from doing so, because "the affairs of humans have nothing to do with demons". But his sister have other plans.
  Xiahou-qing: When he pays back kindness with enmity, you will know that you are wrong.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In the prologue, Xiahou-xue infiltrates the python king's mansion, only to realize Xiahou-qing is already deep within it's halls, way ahead of her. She eventually catches up with him after killing some mooks, but then...
  Xiahou-qing: There isn't enough time, I'l clear the way up ahead, keep up with me!
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: He's not exactly pleased when his sister falls for Chen You-qing, a human scholar, even appearing in spirit form to nag her over it. But he mellows out after Chen You-qing saved Xiahou-xue in one cutscene.
• Not Quitedead: Fatally poisoned, but still alive enough to help his sister as a spirit.
• Spirit Advisor: While his physical body is uninhabitable due to the poison, his soul can leave it;s vessel and reside on another body, in this case his sister's. During cutscenes Xiahou-qing periodically appears as a spirit to provide advice and exposition, and in gameplay he doubles as a mid-tier Assist Character.
• Your Days Are Numbered: If he doesn't get his physical body fixed in 6 months, his spirit will be gone forever.

Chen You-qing

He's usually a non-combatant, this is from his Let's Get Dangerous! moment.

[to Xiahou-xue] You just slayed a demon. There's no way you're bad. If you really wanted to hurt me, you wouldn't have waited until now.

A scholar on his way to the Capital City for an Imperial Exam, Chen has dreams of graduating with honours and becoming a powerful Minister, to liberate the corrupt government, but unfortunately he lost his way and ends up in the haunted Temple of Zen, where Xiahou-xue, on her journey, happens to be spending a night in.

Fascinated by Xiahou-xue's beauty, and witnessing Xiahou-xue killing a demon in the temple, Chen quickly becomes smitten with her, to the point of deciding to forfeit his participation in the Imperial Exam - and his future - to follow Xue.

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• Amazon Chaser: What starts off his feelings of affections towards Xiahou-xue? When he sees her slaying demons, that's what.
• Good Luck Charm: He carries a bronze dragon charm blessed by Taoist priests, and gives it to Xiahou-xue for "luck".
• Interspecies Romance: He is a human, and falls for the half-human, half-hulijing Xiahou-xue. They do eventually end up together by the end.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Scholar he may be, but when he sees the Blood Demon about to devour Xiahou-xue, he doesn't hesitate to grab her dropped weapon and impale the huge demon.
• Nice Guy: Friendly, helpful, compliments Xiahou-xue over her name, and volunteers to be on a lookout when demons attacks the place (oblivious that Xiahou-xue is a capable warrior herself).
  Chen You-qing: Don't be afraid. If something realy happens, I will protect you.
  [after Xue senses demons converging on the temple and notes that soemthing's amiss]
• Non-Action Guy: Since he's the sole scholar, student, and obvious non-combatant recurring character, in an action game whose heroine slices up demons like no tomorrow.
• People Puppets: Was briefly used as one when spirits in the Temple of Zen possesses him.
• Rescue Romance: He's already smitten over Xiahou-xue, but he becomes even more dedicated to her after she saved him from being possessed by slaying a bunch of demons.
• Spear Counterpart: As the Nice Guy civilain who tags along behind the hero, he's the game's male inversion to Xiaoyu from Lu Yun-chuan's story. There is a slight subversion that Chen You-qing is a human guy who follows a female half-hulijing hybrid, whilst Xiaoyu is a hulijing girl who follows the male hero.

Demon Canine

Spring, autumn, passes each year.
Children grow. Their parents grey.
The grieving bride sheds a tear.
A lonely widow on her wedding day.
The father, the mother, their greed is clear.
The faithful friend, lifeless he lay.

Once an ordinary, friendly Doberman named Ah Mao belonging to Lin Wanxi, when Ah Mao's owner was forcefully taken away, in a moment of savage grief the Doberman deliberately breaks it's own head against the pillar it's chained upon. It was then, restless souls surrounding the area absorbs the canine's grief, turning Ah Mao into a fearsome, gigantic monster as it goes on an unstoppable rampage.During her quest, Xiahou-xue inevitably faces the Ah Mao as a boss.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Xiahou-xue is visibly upset when learning the truth behind the Demon Canine's backstory, of how it killed itself just to be reunited with it's master. Unfortunately, she needs to fight the Demon Canine in order to halt it's rampage.
• Canine Companion: To Lin Wanxi, and when Ah Mao's owner is sentenced to the underworld the canine kills itself to follow her.
• Canis Major: In it's monstrous form, the Demon Canine is larger than several humans and can chomp down Xiahou-xue with a single bite.
• Driven to Suicide: It's especially sad when this trope is performed by a loyal dog. Who broke it's own head against a pillar in order to join it's master in the underworld.
• A Dog Named "Cat": A Doberman named "Ah Mao". In the Chinese Mandarin tongue, "mao" translates to "cat", although the pīnyīn is pronounced slightly differently.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Like the Shura from the other campaign, Ah Mao the friendly Doberman's eyes starts glowing when it's revived, after it's spirit was assimilated by vengeful souls, reviving it into the Demon Canine.
• Happy Flashback: Xiahou-xue learns of the Demon Canine's backstory in a vision, set during Lin Wanxi's childhood. How as a puppy, Ah Mao would spend it's days playing with it's master until she was taken from it.
• Rolling Attack: When fought as a boss, the Demon Canine can cuirl itself into a ball and bounce around the arena, causing damage on impact.
• Super-Scream: Demon Canine's howl, which leads to sonic shockwaves that can drain health from Xiahou-xue.
• Tragic Monster: A loyal dog who kills itself to follow it's master into the underworld, only to be assimilated by spirits and turning into a fearsome demon-creature? Definitely.
• Undying Loyalty: It's devotion to Lin Wanxi continues after it's death. One which is self-inflicted.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: An example with a literal dog; moments after Xiahou-xue managed to pacify the Demon Canine, having defeated it as a boss and tamed the monster, reuniting Ah Mao with it's owner Lin Wanxi, the Exorcist Tang Ming suddenly appears and kills it, for no reason other than Van Helsing Hate Crimes.

Tang Ming

Killing Ah Mao with Lin on his right looking in horror

An exorcist from the Cangshan Sect, tasked by the Lin family with retrieving Lin Wanxi, the bride. As he is a demon-hunter that appears in Xiahou-xue's part of the story, unfortunately that makes him an enemy despite supposedly working for the side of good.

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• Black-and-White Insanity: He'll gleefully execute any demons or monsters, even reformed ones.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: Wears a wide-brimmed hat that covers his eyes, not unlike Zhang Huai-zhou, although Tang Ming's headgear isn't the stereotypical Asian conical straw hat.
• Good Counterpart: To Zhang Huai-zhou; they're both exorcists and demon-hunters of the Cangshan Sect who wears similar clothing and sword-fighters, and are unavoidable boss fights in their respective campaigns, but Zhang Huai-zhou is a traitor through and through, while Tang Ming is only doing his job. It's also worth noting that Tang Ming is killed one-third into the game, whilst Zhang is a Post-Final Boss.
• Dash Attack: He can perform a forward-dashing slash with his jian held in front of him, a move similar to Lu Yun-chuan and Zhang Huai-zhou.
• Humans Are Bastards: He's not a villain outright like Zhang Huai-zhou, but killing a tamed, reformed, no-longer-evil Tragic Monster, even after being pleaded not to, is quite the dick move.
• Hunter of Monsters: Owing to being another exorcist from the same sect Lu Yun-chuan and Zhang Huai-zhou was from.
• Made of Explodium: Exploding paper talismans?
• Mirror Boss: The only human-sized boss, who fights Xiahou-xue in a straightforward duel. Every other boss opponent are gigantic monsters larger than Xue.
• Paper Talisman: Tang Ming can launch burning Taoist talismans as an attack. Prior to his boss fight, he kills the weakened Demon Canine with one such talisman, and when facing Xiahou-xue Tang will summon them periodically as ranged, exploding projectiles.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Xiahou-xue's quest is centered around a half-demon girl trying to save her brother. Tang Ming the exorcist is a random obstacle that happens to be in the way, because his mission to retrieve Lin Wanxi have him crossing Xiahou-xue's path. He's notably the only human boss in Xiahou-xue's campaign.
• Sword Beam: His jian can release crescent-shaped beams. It seems to be a standard move taught to all Cangshan Sect exorcists.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: He nonchalantly kills the Demon Canine, despite being told of the monster's tragic past and Lin Wanxi pleading for Tang Ming to spare it's life.
  Lin Wanxi: Stop following me. You can be free now.
  [releases the tamed Demon Canine to the wild]
  Tang Ming: I'm sorry, young lady. I'm just doing my job.
  [unexpectedly launches an exploding paper talisman projectile, that kills the Demon Canine]

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