Manga / Sands of Destruction

A Seinen manga adaptation of the game of the same name, known as ワールド・デストラクション ～ふたりの天使～ World Destruction ~Futari no Tenshi~ (World Destruction ~Two Angels~) in Japan. It is darker in tone, closer to the original drafts of the game's script. Unrelated to Mars of Destruction.

World Destruction ~Futari no Tenshi~ contains examples of:

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Morte very nearly tells Kyrie that she loves him and just remembered that she's loved him for millenia, but stops herself because she still thinks she's unworthy of happiness and it's too late anyway, as she's dying of a sudden case of hole-through-the-chest.
• Achilles' Heel: All Ferals are afraid of fire; it's instictive and they can't overcome it. Being only half-Feral, Naja knows about this fear but doesn't have it himself.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Female characters are drawn with much larger chests and male characters have gone from merely Pretty Boy to gender-confusingly pretty. This is a product of the artist's chosen style being dramatically different from other adaptations.
• Adaptational Curves: As mentioned above. Lampshaded in an opening omake, in which someone (perhaps Kyrie?) mistakes Morte for a member of the Cow Tribe due to her...erm...udders.
• Alternate Character Reading:
  • Rhi'a says 「バイバイ世界」 at the end of chapter six, but the kanji 世界 have the furigana みんな beside them. This changes the reading to "everyone" instead of "world" - though, really, saying "bye-bye" to one would mean the other as well.
  • Titles for each of the angels are given as a series of kanji with an English word in katakana for the reading. The English translation renders this as the phonetic reading in large letters with a translation of the kanji as a subtitle (with the exception of Destruct, as its translation would be redundant).
    • 破壊者^note Destroyer would normally be read Hakaisha but is instead read as "Destruct".
    • 導きの姫^note Princess of Guidance would normally be read Michibiki no Hime but is instead read as "Planner".
    • 人の力^note People's Power would normally be read as Hito no Chikara but is instead read as "Creator".
• Alternate Continuity: Each adaptation of Sands of Destruction is a little different in exactly how it goes about its plot. The general state of the world and the names and appearances of the characters remain the same, but the specific plot and even characters' personalities may change drastically.
• Antiquated Linguistics: At the start of chapter 8, Rhi'a sings an ancient liturgy (she's already 300, and it may be inferred that this song has been passed down among the Dragonkin). The original Japanese uses old-fashioned verb conjugations and high-brow language; the English translation naturally fills it with "thee"s and "thou"s and other Flowery Elizabethan English.
• Anyone Can Die: Most, if not all, of the antagonists end up dead, but the protagonists aren't immune, either. Naja nearly dies in chapter 7 (and probably should have, given his injuries), and Morte does die in chapter 12.
• The Ark: The Cradle of Life is a huge storage facility with specimens from every species held in stasis. Naja even specifically compares it to Noah's Ark.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: The title page of chapter 8 features a silhouette of Taupy standing on a pile of bodies, with a clearer picture of him superimposed on it.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Vreveil is higher up the Celestial Bureaucracy than his assistant. Naturally, this means that he's more powerful all around.
• Ax-Crazy: Morte. After bombing a town, she complains that she didn't destroy it completely because you can still make out individual house foundations in the rubble.
• Bad Boss: Morte, at least some of the time. She barks orders at her sailors, who in turn call her a demon (which she thinks is funny). However, they're also seen to joke around with her.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Mentioned to be part of the makeup of the world - no matter what sort of world the Planner decides to create, there will always be good and evil, happiness and unhappiness, even if the world is as close to a Utopia as possible. It's just intrinsic to the nature of the world.
• Barrier Warrior: Vreveil is capable of creating a bulletproof barrier around himself, though he can't both attack and defend at once. Due to being linked to Kyrie, he also can't put up a barrier when Kyrie is attacking.
• The Bait: In order to bypass Vreveil's barriers, Rajiv suggests luring him into an attack, as he's vulnerable while on the offensive.
• Bandage Mummy: Rajiv ends up one after Kyrie's Destruct powers turn on him and his men.
• Beam Spam: Kyrie's ultimate attack in the final chapter involves a massive number of small lights hitting his enemy, followed by him chucking a gigantic orb of energy at him. May double as a Magic Missile Storm, depending on how exactly you see the source of that Light.
• Big Bad: Archangel Vreveil, one half of the Destruct who’s mission is to destroy the world.
• Big Damn Heroes: Chapter 10 ends with Kyrie and the others showing up Just in Time to rescue Morte.
• Big "WHAT?!": A favorite reaction to...a lot of things, really. From a lot of characters, too.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Moreso even than the game. Nobody is really and truly innocent of all wrongdoing here.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The game and anime feature Bloodless Carnage, but Taupy gets High-Pressure Blood spouting from a gash to his back and Morte ends up wearing a sandwhale's blood and guts after she kills it.
• Blood Knight: Morte really loves destruction.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: In chapter 12, Kyrie gets covered in blood from Morte being shot through the chest right in front of him.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: Morte, such as when she ends up wearing the aforementioned sandwhale's guts.
• Body Horror:
  • After Morte blows up a human town, Kyrie spots a bomb survivor stumbling out from the wreckage with burns all over his body, moaning and staggering like a zombie. It's likely that man wasn't a "survivor" much longer. A random, severed arm also lands near Kyrie's feet, complete with a good look at the bone and charred flesh.
  • A bit of an inferred horror, but considering how Kyrie's powers work, when Rajiv ended up a Bandage Mummy, it was because his skin turned to sand and fell off his body (or into its own freshly-made wound). Ouch.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Morte attempts to attack Vreveil in chapter 12, but only ends up breaking her sword on his light barrier. Then he shoots her through the heart.
• Brought Down to Normal: Kyrie loses his ability to control the Destruct Light in chapter 12.
• Bucket Helmet: Rhi'a ends up with a bucket on her head soon after meeting the World Destruction Committee. She isn't doing it for protection, though; she's just looking for Kyrie and thought perhaps he'd be in there, making it sort of a cross of this and Lampshade Wearing (though she isn't drunk; just cuckoo).
• Bullet Catch: Taupy manages to catch several of them with his hands. Kyrie squees at how awesome and cute he is.
• Call on Me: When Morte is captured, she wishes Kyrie would hurry up and help her. Guess who picks that moment to blast a hole in the side of the ship?
• Character Exaggeration: Both Rhi'a and Morte are more insane than their original game versions. Rhi'a has gone from an occasional Cloud Cuckoo Lander to spending most of her time in crazy-mode, with exaggerated child-like cuteness and naivete. Morte has gone from simply wishing to end the world because of how messed up it is (and because Stuff Blowing Up is fun and Bigger Is Better, so blowing up the whole world would be awesome), fighting only against those who actively oppose her or who are responsible for the state of the world, to outright attacking and murdering innocent bystanders.
• Chekhov's Gag: Morte's encounter with Rhi'a is set up as nothing but a silly bit of Les Yay Fanservice, but at the end of the manga, it turns out that she accidentally swallowed a drop of dragon blood, and the infinite lifespan of a dragon allows Kyrie to use his powers as a Creator to bring her back to life.
• Clean Cut: Naja's wind-and-fire wheels are apparently incredibly sharp, as despite the finger holds in the center being an inch or two thick, they slice through anything like a hot knife in butter.
• Clothing Damage: Can happen to anyone, but mostly seems to happen to Naja and Morte.
• Colourful Theme Naming: Morte wishes the beastmen would call her "Crimson Morte". It doesn't seem to be catching on, possibly because of her dislike of leaving survivors.
• Comically Missing the Point: Kyrie is shocked when Rhi'a's grandfather scolds him for complaining about the cold, as the old dragon is nothing but a bunch of bones. Naja points out that since temperature sensors are located in the skin, it's perfectly logical for a dragon made of bones to not mind the cold. Kou doesn't really think that's what Kyrie was talking about.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Morte positively freaks whenever she's rescued in chapter eleven - who are these Ferals, why are they pretending to rescue her (when everyone knows beastmen and humans have been at loggerheads for a thousand years), why is Agan hanging around with them, and most importantly, where is Kyrie?
• Compressed Adaptation: Most fans agree that characterization suffers due to the feeling of chapters of development "missing" from the plot. For example, when Kyrie tells Morte off and leaves her to go with the World Salvation Committee, it's treated as an absolutely devastating development, even though their interactions up to that point hadn't been indicative of particular closeness; the only way you'd know why it's a big deal is if you'd seen another story in the franchise and had some idea of where the plot was going.
• Continuity Nod: Naja credits Kyrie's medicinal soup with his swift recovery. In the game, Kyrie's Life Skill Medicinal Soup was probably the healing move you used most often at the beginning, as he starts off fairly weak offensively.
• Council of Angels: In contrast to the game (where Kyrie's mom is the sole Creator of the world) and anime (where it's just never mentioned), this world seems governed by at least five beings:
  • The Divine - God mentioned only in passing who provides the raw materials for creating the world and who may have engaged in some Divine Delegation, though the reasons aren't explored.
  • The Destruct - A pair of angels whose job it is to systematically destroy the world every thousand years. Archangel Vreveil is the lord, and Kyrie is his assistant.
  • The Planner - The one whose job is to decide on the parameters of the new world to be created and the kinds of people and creatures who will fill it. Just a guide, however, and is unable to actively participate in creation. Apparently suffered a bit of a breakdown (due to the Balance of Good and Evil meaning that the world will never be entirely happy), which resulted in the current Fantastic Racism. Morte Ashera is the Planner.
  • The Creator - The one who actually goes about creating the world, guided by the Planner and using the materials of the Divine. All of humanity is the Creator, including anyone who has gained a human spirit and emotions, like Kyrie.
• Cuteness Proximity: Kyrie falls prey to it around Taupy.
• Darker and Edgier: In comparison to the game and anime. Morte is truly insane and humans are eaten as well as treated as slaves.
• David Versus Goliath: Despite not being much of a wimp, Naja is smaller and slower than Aquila Rex, and is also unable to fly, which tips the scales heavily in his enemy's favor. Luckily, he also knows his enemy's Achilles' Heel.
• Dead-Hand Shot: When Morte dies in chapter 12, she lingers for a few moments, reaching out a hand to Kyrie. It falls limp when she dies, and a panel is devoted to showing it land on the ground with a small puff of disturbed dust.
• Dead Serious: Vreveil is always regarded as a credible threat, but really shows just how dangerous he is when he revokes Kyrie's powers and kills Morte for daring to interfere.
• Death by Adaptation: Morte didn't die in the original game.
• Death Wail: Kyrie lets out a pretty epic one when Morte is killed.
• Desert Punk: Seems to fall here, as while machinery is less important than your typical punk fare, the world's oceans are made of sand and the technology that is seen seems about your standard punk level (landlines are rotary phones, mobile phones and cameras are the size of a large suitcase, and Agan's ship has very large engines in addition to sails).
• Deus ex Machina: At the end of the manga, Kyrie uses his new-found Creator powers to bring Morte back to life.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Morte dies in Kyrie's arms.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Taupy and Kyrie combine their attacks so the former can land his fist on Vreveil's jaw. As it turns out, when not protected by his bulletproof light field, the Destruct is not so indestructible.
• Double Entendre: When Morte becomes a Stepford Smiler in chapter 6, a Written Sound Effect reading "zuki zuki" points to her chest. "Zukizuki" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for heartbreak or throbbing pain, but because of the character spacing, it could also be a doubling of the word "zuki", meaning something you are attracted to or a fan of. The smiling sailors eying her chest in the background makes the Visual Pun clear.
• Double-Meaning Title: Most fans familiar with the game and anime, or simply people who notice who's prominent on the cover, would assume the subtitle Two Angels refers to Kyrie and Morte - he with the power to destroy the world, she with the will. However, once Vreveil shows up, it's made clear that he and Kyrie are the two angels being referenced, as both are part of the Destruct system to end the world. It later turns out the title does still refer to Morte: she's also a celestial being, but she lacks wings and is in charge of designing the new world rather than destroying the old one.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Kyrie's powers would make him a One-Man Army...if he could figure out how to control them. Once he does, his powers are quickly taken away by Vreveil.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Kyrie attempts to tell Morte that he loves her as she's dying in his arms, but can't quite get the words out in time. She already knew of his feelings, thanks to Kou telling her about them, but still couldn't wrap her head around the idea that someone could love her, and needed to hear it in his own words. A reversal of the game, where Kyrie dies in Morte's arms and does say he loves her, which is the final thing that makes Morte stop wanting to destroy the world.
• Dynamic Entry:
  • Kyrie uses his powers to blast a hole in the side of the Ark, where the Salvation Committee is holed up, when he goes to rescue Morte.
  • When she later catches up to him among the rows of stored animals in pods, she leaps down from a high shelf and tries to land her sword on Vreveil's head - unfortunately for her, he'd just put his barrier back up and her sword shatters, subverting some of the dynamism.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Kyrie has to deal with the angst of not having control of his powers, his fate as the bringer of the world's destruction, falling for a very crazy girl who ends up shot right in front of him and who dies in his arms, but eventually is able to save the world and even bring Morte back to life.
• Eleventh Hour Super Power: In chapter 13, Kyrie regains his memories from his past lives, and also realizes that his love for Morte created a human spirit within him, giving him the human race's abilities as a Creator. Coupled with the power he already had being an Angel of Destruction, this makes him nearly unstoppable.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Ferals refer to Morte as "the Fleshy Terrorist". She doesn't find it very inspiring.
• Emphasize EVERYTHING: You'd be forgiven for thinking Murao broke every punctuation key on his keyboard except for his exclamation point. Double and triple bangs aren't uncommon, either.
• Evil Is Bigger: The human protagonists are just average-sized teenagers, and the Feral antagonists are much larger. They also have access to a One-Winged Angel form that's even bigger. Averted by Vreveil, who, as Kyrie's Evil Counterpart, is also only 172cm/5'8".
• The End of the World as We Know It: As usual, someone's trying to cause it and Kyrie is the key to making it happen. He is not amused.
• Fanservice: It has quite a bit, especially in comparison to the game and anime, which were largely free of fanservice.
• Fearful Symmetry: Vreveil is basically an over-powered, in-control Evil Twin to Kyrie. Both have control of the Destruct Light, and Vreveil, at least, is capable of canceling Kyrie's attacks precisely because they're identical to his own. Until the final chapter, in which Kyrie adds Creator powers to his Destruct capabilities; now he's the one cancelling attacks, and his own completely overpower the archangel.
• The Force Is Strong with This One: All warriors are stated to be able to sense each other's power. Taupy knows Naja is stronger than him, and both of them know Vreveil is stronger than either of them, even before actually trading blows. Aquila Rex doesn't feel any fear when facing Vreveil, perhaps the first indication that he's too arrogant for his own good. Kyrie's power is specifically stated to be negative in the beginning - as in, his attempts to help will actually hinder his companions.
• Foreboding Fleeing Flock: As Vreveil takes control of Kyrie and activates his powers, a flock of Disturbed Doves flies past Rhi'a, who is singing about The End of the World as We Know It.
• Friendly Target: Kyrie tells Vreveil he can't let him destroy the world because "someone important" lives in it. Naturally, Vreveil decides to remove the hindrance. It backfires quite spectacularly.
• Funny Background Event: Rhi'a is prone to providing them.
  • As the Dragon Elder explains to Kyrie the way the world works and his destiny in it, Rhi'a flits in and out of her grandfather's eyesockets.
  • When Agan tells the story of how he and Morte were Childhood Friends, Rhi'a hangs upside down from the ship's boom while she listens.
  • While Taupy recounts their strategy for fighting Vreveil and Kyrie pants from exhaustion, Rhi'a pokes at the various glass jars containing animals for the next world and imitates a snake.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Vreveil has six white feathered wings and resembles a seraph. He's trying to destroy the world, which seems to make it a Subverted Trope, but he's Just Following Orders, as it's the natural course of the world to be destroyed, making it Double Subverted. Turns out he's also a bit of a jerk, zig-zagging the trope all over the place. In a flashback, Kyrie was shown to have had a single pair of white wings, and he later gets them back when he gain his Creator powers.
• Go Out with a Smile: Vreveil smiles as he dies, noting that he's finally been released. Strange, considering he'd fought so hard just moments before and never exhibited any Death Seeker tendencies.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Aquila Rex ends up chopped in half vertically.
• Healing Hands: Kyrie gains them in the final chapter, though it's unclear if they'd work on everybody or only those who have swallowed dragon blood.
• Heroic RRoD: Kyrie's powers can't be used repeatedly in quick succession without causing cellular integrity failure; the stress causes blood vessels to rupture.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rajiv and most of the World Salvation Committee make one while fighting Vreveil.
• Heroic Willpower: Allows Kyrie to break Vreveil's control of his powers, allowing him to turn them on his doppelganger. Also allows Naja to survive being impaled on Aquila Rex's scepter, because Rajiv and his men are still counting on him to save the world so their sacrifice isn't in vain; he simply isn't allowed to die yet, so he doesn't let himself.
• Hotter and Sexier: While Morte and Rhi'a have always worn short skirts, it was rarely drawn attention to in other adaptations. Chapter 2 of the manga opens with Morte's skirt riding up so far that the edge of her butt is visible.
• Humans Are Special: The ultimate conclusion of the final chapter. How special are we? Our emotions and our ability to feel give us imagination and creativity beyond what any other race is capable of, including even the angels, which is why humanity is the Creator of the world.
• I Have Your Wife: Lacertus and Aquila Rex capture Morte and tell her Childhood Friend Agan to tell All-Loving Hero Kyrie that they'll kill her if he doesn't come.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Porcus Rex is so fat because he routinely eats people.
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: Actually averted - Morte doesn't complain of being cold, but just in pain; dying sure does hurt a lot. A gaping hole in your chest will do that to you.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Naja Gref ends up shishkebabbed on the end of Aquila Rex's scepter. An interesting twist, given the events of the original game...
• Insecure Love Interest: Morte secretly believes herself to be unworthy of happiness, so it takes a couple repetitions for her to get it in her head that Kyrie really does love her. Kou tells her he does, and she overhears him say she's important to him, but she still later tells him she wouldn't be surprised if he hated her.
• Kamehame Hadoken: What Destruct powers are eventually used for - in contrast to the game, where they just turned everything around Kyrie into sand, they can now be directed and thus make for much better weaponry without the risk of Friendly Fire.
• Living Crashpad: Rhi'a makes her entrance by landing feet-first on Morte's face. Luckily for Morte, Rhi'a is wearing cute little flats instead of her Combat Stilettos in this adaptation.
• Magical Incantation: The words acta est fabula are required to activate Kyrie's powers, though he doesn't have to say or even remember hearing them. He later shouts them in order to wrest control of his powers away from Vreveil and turn them back on him.
• Magically Regenerating Clothing: Averted. When characters get in a fight and their clothing is damaged, it remains so until the action is over and the scene changes; presumably, they simply changed into an identical set of clothes before the next time we see them again.
  • Actually inverted and played straight at the same time in the final two chapters: Morte gets shot through the chest, and, naturally, has a holey shirt to match. In chapter twelve, the hole is perfectly round and small, conforming only to the Destruct Light that passed through it. As chapter thirteen goes on, however, the edges of the hole seem to disintegrate more, until there's quite a big, tattered hole in the shirt - though the hole through Morte's body remains exactly the same size. All the blood that splattered seems to magically evaporate, however - while both she and Kyrie are covered in blood at the end of chapter twelve thanks to this damage, by the end of chapter thirteen, they're both pretty clean, only seeming a little scuffed instead of soaked in blood.
• Male Gaze: As a way to draw attention to the Hotter and Sexier Adaptational Attractiveness of the heroines, many panels are framed specifically to focus on their figures.
• Meaningful Echo: In chapter seven, Vreveil tells Kyrie his feelings of compassion make him just like a human. In the final chapter, Vreveil remembers their conversation and realizes Kyrie's human feelings are exactly why he's now the most powerful being in existence.
• Meaningful Look: In chapter 8, Kyrie stares at Taupy right before making his attack against Vreveil, a silent instruction to launch a tandem attack.
• Men Act, Women Are: All the male protagonists are capable warriors, whereas Rhi'a is almost always a Neutral Female, better at singing than actively participating in a fight (she makes precisely one attack in the whole manga, perhaps because she's not The Gunslinger here). Morte starts out a competent Action Girl, but as soon as her past is revealed and she remembers who she really is, she seems to forget her knowledge of battle and loses her ability to do anything but inspire Kyrie to fight.
• Mistaken for Romance: When Vreveil attempts to explain to Morte how she is connected to him and the fate of the world, she thinks he's hitting on her (and turns him down, as she's not interested in an Interspecies Romance with a winged guy). It turns out that, no, their destinies really have been intertwined since before the world began.
• Mood Whiplash: Very prone to it in general, as with other adaptations. Some noteworthy examples:
  • Page 67, Taupy is rushing in to take on Vreveil by himself, a suicide mission to allow the rest of the group to escape. Page 68, Rhi'a is grabbing Taupy and calling him a teddy bear. No warning whatsoever, aside from the fact that Rhi'a tends to equal incoming silliness in this manga.
  • Chapters 7 and 8 are largely action, while chapter 9 switches to philosophical exposition.
  • When Morte is taken hostage in chapter 10, things look grim at first...but then she makes herself at home on her captors' ship and insists that they wait on her like servants. Then things swing back the other way again, as Lacertus Rex attacks and she doesn't have a weapon to defend herself.
• More Hero than Thou: Rajiv suggests he and his men should be The Bait for Naja to launch a surprise attack on Vreveil. Naja disagrees, as such a move would be suicide. So Rajiv kicks Naja off the side of the cliff. At least it was a small cliff.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: In chapter 12, Kyrie, Taupy, and Rhi'a face off against Vreveil, but are quickly stymied as he already knows their tricks and simply takes Kyrie's control of the Light. Morte suddenly shows up and crashes her sword into Vreveil's barrier. Her sword is broken, but she proclaims that they'll beat him together. The next panel, Morte looks down and notices a sudden hole in her chest, as Vreveil shot her while she was talking.
• Mutual Disadvantage: Kyrie and Vreveil use the same form of Light, so it's difficult for them to shoot one another, as the other can simply redirect it. Due to their link, Vreveil also can't put up a barrier while Kyrie is attacking, which leaves him vulnerable to attacks from others.
• Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Naja survives being stabbed through the chest and claims it's simply because he has things left to do.
• Nonchalant Dodge: The first time Kyrie attacks Naja (with a pipe), Naja barely bothers to dodge or fight back because he's simply so much more powerful and better-trained.
• The Nose Knows:
  • Wolfmen are shown to be Scarily Competent Trackers thanks to a canine's sense of smell.
  • Naja realizes Kyrie is using a harmless flash grenade rather than his destructive abilities because he smells the gunpowder, so he charges in to attack rather than attempting to outrun the sand.
  • Rhi'a tracks down the World Destruction Committee thanks to Kyrie's scent lingering on Morte.
• No, You: When Rhi'a lands on her face, Morte complains that she got her face dirty. Rhi'a retorts that her shoes aren't dirty; Morte's face is what dirtied her shoes!
• Oh, Crap!: Most villains have a pretty epic one each time they're close to defeat.
• Omnibus: The series was eventually collected into two tankobon.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Morte, moreso here than any other adaptation. It's clear she doesn't mind innocent casualties and may even think she did them a favor by killing them sooner rather than later.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: Naja is normally subject to a lot of Half-Breed Discrimination, but it turns out his human heritage gives him a Hybrid Power: he isn't afraid of fire in the way that pure Ferals are; so long as he's not transformed into his Beast Form, his instincts are suppressed.
• One-Word Title: Several of the chapters:
  • Chapter 3: "Scar"
  • Chapter 4: "Warrior"
  • Chapter 5: "Retribution"
  • Chapter 7: "Destruct"
  • Chapter 8: "Retreat"
  • Chapter 11: "Pride"
  • Chapter 9 was only a single word in Japanese, 語り部, but the English translation adds an article to make it "The Storyteller".
• Only a Flesh Wound: When a beastman gouges his back, Taupy insists it's just a scratch and is shown still being able to jump about with ease, despite the amount of blood that splattered.
• Our Angels Are Different: They have a variable number of wings, from zero to six. Oh, and they totally end the world. That's their job (or at least the job of those we've met).
• Overly Long Fighting Animation: Yes, Kyrie/Destruct's powers are cool. That doesn't mean we need to see pages and pages and pages of them just charging up. Fire that thing already!
• Percussive Prevention: Rajiv's response to Naja trying to stop him from sacrificing himself in order to distract Vreveil is to simply kick him in the gut.
• Perpetual Molt: The title page of chapter 7 shows the Destruct with feathers flying from his wings. Averted during the actual story, in which neither he, nor Rhi'a, nor the Disturbed Doves shed any feathers.
• Pietà Plagiarism:
  • Kou ends up cradling Naja's not-quite-dead body.
  • Kyrie similarly holds Morte, who actually does die there.
• Pipe Pain: Taupy attempts to train Kyrie using scraps of pipe. Naja interrupts them, and so Kyrie is forced to fight using nothing but his pipe.
• The Power of Creation: Give to humanity, the only entity with enough imagination to sustain it. Also extends to anyone who has learned how to feel, as they have grown their own human spirit.
• The Powerof Love: Allows Kyrie to gain a human spirit, and thus access to the powers of a Creator. It also allows him to resurect Morte, calling her back to him because he wished hard enough.
• Power Palms: Destruct Light is normally gathered in the wielder's hands like your standard Ki Manipulation. Vreveil is stated to be skilled enough to not need to use his hands, but he usually does anyway.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Naja delivers a pretty epic one to Aquila Rex before their fight.
  Aquila Rex: I see: You want revenge for your fallen friends. Oh, that reminds me: I didn't quite finish you off, did I?
  Naja: In that case, my revenge...will be to make sure that's the last thing you're reminded of!!
• Pride: Chapter 11 deals with it in various forms.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: A couple of lines, seeing as how the manga likes to Emphasize EVERYTHING. The original Japanese has staccato-like marks over the characters to show extreme emphasis; the English translation renders this as an exclamation point after each word.
• Reincarnation Romance: Morte and Kyrie fell in love in the afterlife, after various incarnations together. This current incarnation just happens to be the one where they finally get their feelings out in the open.
• Resurrected Romance: Morte and Kyrie don't get to really be together until after she dies and is brought back to life by him. A gender flip of the game's version.
• Revenge: The Wolf Tribe believes that unresolved wrongs are equivalent to death, and thus vengeance is equivalent to life. Naja eventually takes revenge on Aquila Rex for setting up the situation that required Rajiv and the rest of the World Salvation Committee to sacrifice themselves; he asks their departed spirits if they feel he has fulfilled his duty.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: When Morte is captured, Kyrie's response is to show up at the villains' location and use his Destruct powers to blast a hole through their army and the side of their fortress ship.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Vreveil decides to push Kyrie's one Berserk Button and kills Morte right in front of him. Naturally, this triggers Kyrie's 11th-Hour Superpower and a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Scanlation: A fan translation is available online.
  • Tactful Translation: Sandy 87's translations sometimes fall here. While "that low-born Lacertus Rex" may be an acceptable (if rather literal) translation of ワニ師の野郎, fully capturing Agan's intent would likely require a well-placed expletive. It does at least have some Added Alliterative Appeal.
  • Too Long; Didn't Dub: The first five chapters, translated by Kuu-Scans, do not translate sound effects at all. The rest of them, translated by Sandy 87, translate some of the sound effects, depending on what's behind them that must be redrawn. Those that aren't redrawn contract a case of Footnote Fever with their translations.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Morte bombs an entire town and reveals to him that she wants to destroy the whole world, Kyrie decides to leave with Taupy, Naja, and Kou because she's crazy and a monster. He may have destructive powers, but he certainly doesn't want them - or anything to do with anyone who does.
• Seinen: Serialized in the seinen magazine Dengeki Maoh. While the plot might seem more like typical Shounen fare, the kanji reading level is fairly high.
• She Is the King: The kanji for "The Planner" include 姫, normally translated as "princess" and definitely feminine. However, Vreveil states that the Planner need not be a woman, or even the same person throughout each incarnation of the world; someone just has to make a wish about the way the world will be, and literally anyone who's left alive after he's through purging the world could take on the role. Kyrie is actually the only one to make any sort of wish, and it isn't to create a new world at all; we aren't told if he's given yet another title, or what it is.
• She Will Come for Me: When Morte is captured, she is used as bait to lure Kyrie. She's certain he won't show up because he left after she blew up a town full of innocent people and she believes he hates her. He does, of course.
• Sickening "Crunch!": When Naja is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice, he falls to the ground with a basha, rendered as splush in the English translation.
• Speech Bubbles: Normal speech is just in circles, with characters who are speaking off-panel not having a tail to their bubbles. The cloud-shaped bubbles normally used for thoughts in western comics are in fact for whispered speech here; actual thought bubbles are rendered as a series of lines radiating out in a circle. When a character is particularly weak or dying, their bubble wavers. The Dragonkin Elder's telepathy is a solid, shaded circle with white text, and Rhi'a's songs are in square boxes, perhaps to resemble sheet music.
• Staff of Authority: Aquila Rex has one. It's also sharp enough to function as a spear.
• Stationary Wings: The Destruct's wings are never shown to move. Rhi'a may or may not move hers, depending on the scene (they always seem to be drawn the same way, but sometimes have lines or sound effects implying she might flap them).
• Stepford Smiler: Morte becomes one for a bit after she realizes Kyrie was the Destruct, and she managed to drive him away (and thus lose her chance at using his powers) by being too psychotic. She puts on a cheerful face for her shipmates, but the manga makes it clear she's heartbroken inside.
• Sucking-In Lines: Before releasing an attack, it's customary to gather energy for at least a panel or two.
• Taking the Bullet: Taupy jumps between Kyrie and a beastman who was about to slash him with his claws; the little bear ends up with quite the nasty gash across his back.
• Taking You with Me: Rajiv says this is his plan for taking down the Destruct.
• Telepathy: The Dragonkin Elder is capable of speaking directly to the minds of others, and is able to transmit his memories of the last time the world was destroyed. Of course, as he's nothing but a pile of bones, he needs telepathy in order to speak; it's difficult to form words when you don't have a proper mouth.
• There Are No Therapists: Agan says Morte has talked about the end of the world since she was a child, and no one was really surprised that she joined the World Destruction Committee. Apparently no one thought that maybe the little girl who kept wanting to destroy everything might need a little help. Of course, even Morte doesn't remember why she wants to destroy the world, and it's not clear if just talking to a random person unconnected to the world's fate would have ever jogged her memory or dissuaded her.
• This Cannot Be!: Masaka! becomes one of Vreveil's favorite lines once he starts talking more often at the end of the manga.
• Tomato in the Mirror: The world is shaped by the whims of The Planner, a being who is incarnated at the end of each cycle of the world in order to guide the creation of the new one. This means the reason the world is full of Fantastic Racism is because someone wished it would be that way. Morte Asherah is The Planner, and nearly has a Heroic BSoD upon learning it.
• Torso with a View:
  • Vreveil has great control over the Light, from wide beams to tiny lasers. He uses the later form to punch a hole through Morte's chest.
  • In chapter thirteen, Vreveil ends up looking like Swiss cheese before Kyrie completely obliterates him.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Everyone in the Sand Tribe knew Morte was a little off, but Agan notes that she turned out to be even more unreasonable than she seemed. Really? So a little girl, seven or eight years old, who's only happy when she's talking about the end of the world isn't really disturbing?
• Two Lines, No Waiting: As Morte and Kyrie spend the middle portion of the story apart, the plot keeps jumping back and forth between the two of them.
• Undignified Death: Aquila Rex believes himself to die an undignified death, as he's a proud Beastlord and the one who killed him is a half-human.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: When Kyrie and Taupy concoct a last-ditch plan on the fly (using only meaningful stares) to give them a fighting chance against Vreveil, it works. When they later attempt to reuse the same plan, Taupy insists on going over it to make sure they know what they're doing; it doesn't work the second time.
• Unusual Ears: A couple of examples:
  • Ear Wings: Aquila Rex's Beast Form has wings sprouting from his head, in addition to a smaller pair on his back.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Naja's Beast Form looks identical to his usual appearance, except for his arms being covered in fur and a pair of wolf ears sprouting from his head. Aquila Rex thinks the ears look ridiculous (not that his Ear Wings give him any room to talk).
• Vasquez Always Dies: In chapter 12, as soon as Morte joins up with Kyrie and is placed alongside the cutesy Rhi'a, she winds up dead. In this case, it was likely a case of The Worf Effect in action, to show exactly how dangerous their opponent is.
• Vicious Cycle: Every thousand years, the world and most of its inhabitants are turned to sand. The few survivors are placed in a New Eden, which slowly winds down over the next millennium until it, too, must be destroyed and reborn. Kyrie just so happens to be the key to this destruction.
• Violence Really Is the Answer: Kyrie doesn't like that his powers are so destructive and kill anyone who comes in contact with that light he emits. However, learning to control those powers and to use them offensively is key to bringing peace.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Rhi'a's grandfather shows up near the end of the manga. Kou asks how he got there, as last we all saw, he was a pile of bones on the Winter Continent, but the Dragonkin Elder just says he'll tell him later. The manga ends just a few pages after that, and we never do get to find out how he crossed the Sand Sea or even knew that there was something going on that he should come see about.
• What Is This Feeling?: When Naja first sees the Destruct, he's so shaken that it takes him a moment to realize that what he's feeling is fear in its deepest form.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In order to make sure that there would be no more human slaves in a village, Morte blows it up. Kyrie calls her out on this.
• Winged Humanoid: Rhi'a is, being a dragon, but Vreveil and Destruct Kyrie get wings in this adaptation, too.
• Wrecked Weapon: Morte breaks her sword against Vreveil's barrier in chapter 12. He kills her moments later, so she doesn't get to participate in the final battle.

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