Beta (베타, Beta) is one of Sophia Amae's "children" and Horyang's and Cassano's "brother", a living Ignition Weapon created by the Workshop. After the events of the Workshop Battle, he joined Team Novick in order to find Cassano. He is currently residing in Koon's Lighthouse on board the Hell Express.
History
Much like his "brothers", Beta also underwent and endured countless experiments, along with many other children, until only five remained; he considered these other survivors friends or even family. One day, a Workshop researcher gathered them into one place and told them all to kill each other. The survivor would become a complete Ignition Weapon and would gain 'freedom'. The one word drove them all insane and, in the end, Beta was the one who survived. However, his body became unable to get through a single day without the Workshop's drugs. The 'freedom' he was promised was a lie.[1]
Appearance and Personality
Beta is a short boy with pale skin and blonde hair. His eyes are yellow but at times his left eye goes pitch black with a red iris; in some instances, bright blue veins can be seen through his eyes. He wore a blue hoodie while he was in the care of the Workshop, but appears to prefer dark clothes after his escape. After escaping his captors, he then wore a red cap with a crude face drawn on it as well as a sharp blue suit. In his current appearances, he wears a black t-shirt and brown shorts with a brown-striped black cap.
According to Sophia, he has a lonely and suspicious personality and has always lived in the laboratory. His statement on his "brothers" as being "halfies" may hint that he has a complete 'devil' inside of him. When he was trying to take vengeance on Viole, his attitude appeared to be quite spiteful and vindictive and he even seemed insane.
However as a result of the truth coming to light Beta has calmed down a lot. He is now a lot more sociable (in comparison to what he was) and carries an air of confidence about him, similar to Koon Ran albeit more child-like.
Image Gallery
Tower of God: Part 2 - The Return of the Prince
Tower of God: Part 2 - The Workshop Battle
Archimedes
Beta found Hatsu sneaking around the Acorn Workshop and decided to fight him, but was interrupted by Cassano and Horyang. After being introduced to his "brothers" by Sophia, he stated that he has no interest in "halfies" (likely referring to incomplete living Ignition Weapons) and wandered off.
Battle x Gamble
Viole meets with Beta.
Beta escaped from his quarters during the second round of the Workshop Battle and watched the fights from afar. During Viole's fight, Beta seemed impressed by his performance and broke into Viole's room. Upon being confronted by Viole, he told him that they were the same and gave Viole clues that led him to discover the prize of the Workshop Battle.
The Truth
After using Emile to throw off the Workshop's guards, Beta was found by Viole. The two discussed the weapon inside the latter, which Beta revealed was a fake. He also recommended Viole to steal the real weapon, giving him a key to the workshop on the island were it was located, so he could know everything.
When he was once again alone on the roof, Beta menacingly stated that he was waiting to break everything special to "him", likely referring to Viole. He was then found by the Workshop's guards and fought them off before jumping into the sea, swearing to Sophia that he would show them all the "despair" that she had created.
Tournament
Beta traps Viole at the Thorn's Chamber
Beta, after falling into the waters, was washed ashore onto the beach where the Development Tournament took place. He eventually met up with Viole in the cavern and revealed "The King Slayer Thorn" that FUG were so keen on. Beta then explained the reasoning behind its name and went on to reveal the entirety of FUG's plans to re-ignite the "dead" Thorn, so it could be used to kill Zahard, and give it to him. He also disclosed that certain Slayers and Elders opposed the plan and instead planned to fuse a soul with the Thorn so they could create an Ignition Weapon; the soul in question would Jyu Viole Grace himself. With the revelation surprising Viole, Beta trapped him within the cavern and proceeded to go about killing all of his friends.
Thorn
Sitting upon a rock, Beta grimly reminisced his past, until Cassano appeared. They talked briefly, with Beta assuring that he would make Viole feel the same pain he felt.
Overlooking the Tournament for a second, Beta leapt down into the jungle where he met Devil Bon who gave him the Regular, Medina, allowing him to participate legally in the Tournament. Not wasting a second, Beta shot off and quickly encountered Rak and Yihwa, where he asked them if they were friends of Viole. Due to their answer, Beta assumed they are nobody interesting and went off again in search for Viole's friends. On his way, he comes across Vespa who abruptly attacks him. After a brief conversation, Beta flashed past Vespa and launched an attack that was blocked by the timely intervention of Rak. Beta was confused by their reappearance and Rak confirmed that he was Viole's friend and Yihwa was Viole's "wife". After some thought, he realised they were trying to summon Viole.
Summoning
With Io feigning ignorance on the identity of the new contestant, Beta revealed the predicament he put Viole in and engaged the trio in an attempt to kill them. As he came out of an attack from Yihwa, Devil Bon relayed that Viole had escaped from the trap and had taken the Thorn with him. In anguish, Beta generated a pair of wings and flew off in the direction of the summoning station as quickly as he could.
While Wangnan and Viole reunited across screens of their respective summoning stations, Beta suddenly appeared and skewered Wangnan through the heart much to Viole and Koon's horror. Beta gloated that Viole would now watch in despair as his friends died and then proceeded to finish Wangnan off. Fortunately, Rak prevented his attack and forced Laure into action. Laure noticed Medina inside Beta's head, much to Beta's shock, and then agitated it with shinsoo causing Beta to throw up and spit Medina out. Before Beta could put Medina back in, Yihwa blew it up and, with the points their team earned as a result, Wangnan summoned Jyu Viole Grace despite having a pierced heart.
An angered Beta once again fiercely engaged Rak, Yihwa and Laure in battle utilizing his Ignition Weapon abilities and dominated until the timely arrival of Sophia and Workshop guards. After being briefly interrupted, Beta attempted to blow up the summoning station but the brunt of his attack was stopped by Koon's Lighthouses just as Viole was summoned.
Closure
Beta, irritated by Viole's appearance, launched himself at the latter and the two traded blows. After knocking Viole back and standing opposite Koon and Yihwa, Beta detailed his history and how he came to be, blaming Viole for all the despair he suffered. Beta then re-engaged Viole in battle with the two fighting evenly until Viole caused him serious damage using Floral Butterfly Piercing Technique. Not accepting defeat, Beta got up and attempted to attack Viole again but his Ignition was stopped by Viole's shinsoo blast. Realising he was no match, Beta sarcastically conceded defeat and punched Viole in the face. He continued to blame Viole for all his misfortunes until Sophia revealed that Viole had nothing to do with his creation. Beta then realised that Emile used him as he coughed up blood and fell to his knees.
Beta was seen having his injuries tended to by Sophia. He woke up in a sweat, wondering what Cassano had to do with everything that had happened.
Epilogue
When Wangnan, Koon, Baam and Goseng were told that Horyang wasn't waking up because the Devil part inside him was gone, Beta guessed that Cassano was the cause. Beta went on to say that Cassano was now "complete" and estimated that Cassano was probably stronger than him now. He also added that Emile had gone offline and that Cassano was to blame for that too, probably due to his deal with FUG.
Tower of God: Part 2 - The Hell Train
Prologue
Beta encountered Wangnan on his way to visit Horyang and stoically conversed with the former about his condition and capturing Cassano. Ran and Novick then arrived, with Ran asking Beta to join his team. Ran explained that they were going to capture Cassano and then pressed Beta for an answer. Later on, Beta was seen with the rest of the team in their quarters.
Revolution Road
After killing all the Regulars on his carriage, he meets Ran in the latter's carriage and tells him he was done on his end with no luck in finding an Express Ticket. They have a brief spat but the others come in and tell them to calm it and, after some discussion, they leave the carriage.
Once they arrived at Train City and encountered the elevator he argued as to which floor to go to until Ran just pressed for a floor anyway. On the Entrance floor, they came upon the guardian who told them to turn back as the gate was not ready to open. Ran told the person he would get through anyway and attacked but the guardian soon overwhelmed him, with Beta noting that Ran was enjoying himself. Suddenly a cloaked man raced in, blocking one of the guardian's attacks, before then introducing himself as Daniel Hatchid and explaining that the guardian was "Mirotic" and couldn't be defeated. After intimidating the group, Daniel left.
The next day as the tournament went underway, Beta went with Xia Xia to the Control Centre floor where they found out it was empty except for some pre-planned instructions. With the evidence of a trap coming to light, Beta was sent through the maze, via Hwa Ryun's directions to Xia Xia, and he soon came across the elevator that was being blocked by Ha Yura's fans. Making quick work of the Regulars, Beta discovered that the elevator had been damaged and passed on the information to his allies.
Much later on, Beta suddenly appeared on the Entrance floor and successfully landed an attack on the Mirotic guardian, surprising Aka and Moontari. Seeing a floored Ran, he told the latter he would finish the guardian off. However this proved to be harder than anticipated until Team Tangsooyook members arrived and lent their aid. With Miseng revealing Mirotic's weakness, Beta helped to finally take the guardian out.
Afterwards, they all travelled until they caught up to Viole and Boro. After Aka shouted at Daniel and the latter berated him and Boro in return, Daniel proceeded to destroy the stairs with an attack preventing them from following. However, Beta was able to use his Ignition to fly up to the platform with Ran and Boro in tow and then watched as Viole and the Thorn went berserk. After seeing Viole get pushed and fall, Beta flew over to save him after some prompting from Koon. Carrying Viole and noting that he was unconscious, Beta went with everyone to the stadium to go and sort things out.
With the tournament over and Baam unconscious, Beta informed Koon and Rak that Baam would be fine but had just overloaded on using the Thorn's power and added that he hadn't fully accepted its power. He then warned that if Baam continued to go wild with the Thorn's power, it would tear him to pieces.
The 'Name Hunt' Station
From inside one of Xia Xia's Lighthouses, Beta wondered when he would be allowed to come out.
Powers and Abilities
Being a Living Ignition Weapon, Beta possessed power that matched and even exceeded many E-rank Regulars. He is shown to have a high level of speed, as he is able to quickly attack and wound Viole before he could react[2] and easily outpaced Vespa while using a partial ignition.[3] By his own admission, he still doesn't know the limit of his speed. In terms of strength he was able to repel Rak with a kick, sending him skidding backwards even though the kick was blocked.[3] He was also able to stop Rak's massive spear, turn it around and throw it back at him.[4] While on the private trains heading to Train City, he managed to massacre a large amount of new D-rank Regulars, proving his strength.[5]
Beta is able to manipulate his Ignition Weapon to various effects such as a large foot protruding from his back, which he used to knock an opponent aside and a large hand which he used to grip the side of a cliff to slow his descent which he did without Ignition.[3] Other forms include, large and volatile spheres that he uses to fire massive shinsoo blasts and barriers to protect himself from similar attacks.[4] He is also shown to have a high level of intellect, as show when he manages to trick all the Workshop Guards about his whereabouts and also when he predicted Koon's plan of summoning Viole. Also unlike that of Horyang and Cassano, who both formerly had half of a Devil inside of them, Beta is made up of an unstable collective of many Devils.[6][7]
Beta states that, as an Ignition Weapon, going through a maze is trivial if he has previously obtained the correct path from a Guide.[8]
Partial Ignition: Dionysos (디오니소스, Dionisoseu):[3][9] He performs a partial ignition on his legs which gives him a boost in speed in a similar manner to shinsoo reinforcement. He can also summon two big legs that can hit an enemy from distance.
- Wings: He is able to generate a pair of wings from his back that allow him to fly.[4] He can fly at extremely high speeds as he reached he Item Shop in a matter of seconds considering the distance he crossed.[10]
- Arms: He is able to perform a partial ignition on his arms, in a similar fashion to how he does with his legs, greatly increasing the size of his arm and subsequently augmenting the force of his strikes.[11] He can also summon two huge arms that sprout from his back and allow him to fly.[12][13]
Partial Ignition: Phobos (포보스, Poboseu):[9] A giant demon with three holes that fires 3 to 5 baangs of shinsoo, an impressive feat considering the top five E-rank Regulars can only produce 3 to 4 baangs and Viole only recently being able to use 6 baangs.
Notes and Trivia
- All of Beta's partial ignitions appear to be named after mythological Greek gods, Dionysus[14] being the Greek god of wine, winemaking, the grape harvest and ritual madness and Phobos[15] being the Greek god of fear. It fits with the Greek origin of his name "Beta".[16]
- During the Workshop Battle arc, the bandages covering Beta's head gradually came loose until at the end of the arc they were no longer present.
- Despite having not formally entered the Tower as a Regular on the Second Floor and thus being designated a Position, Koon infers that Beta is capable of filling the Fisherman role.[17]
Quotes
- (Before punching Jyu Viole Grace in the face) "Congratulations, Viole! Now you have it all! Friends! Strength! Freedom! A woman! All of them! You're the best! Congratulations! You... bastard!!"[18]
- (To Ja Wangnan) "Listen, blondie. I will survive."[19]
References
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.95: 30F – Closure (1)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.84: 30F - Tournament (4)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Vol.2 Ch.89: 30F - Thorn (5)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Vol.2 Ch.91: 30F - The Summoning (1)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.116: 30F - Hell Train: Revolution Road (4)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.110: 30F - Epilogue (3)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.93: 30F - The Summoning (3)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.133: 30F - Hell Train: Revolution Road (21)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Vol.2 Ch.94: 30F - The Summoning (4)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.92: 30F - The Summoning (2)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.140: 30F - Hell Train: Revolution Road (28)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.147: 30F - Hell Train: Revolution Road (35)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.150: 30F - Hell Train: Revolution Road (38)
- ↑ Dionysus Korean Wikipedia page
- ↑ Phobos Korean Wikipedia page
- ↑ Relevant Korean Wikipedia page
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.229: 39F - Hell Train: Wangnan (4)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.96: 30F - Closure (2)
- ↑ Vol.2 Ch.111: The Hell Train - Prologue (1)