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Ludo-Rathowm-sprite Spoiler Alert: This page contains major spoilers for the finale of the Rance Series.


About[]

Demon-King-sprite

The Archfiend System (魔王) is one of the most important features of the Planner Scenario, serving as a counterpart to the Hero System. It was devised by Supreme God Planner in order to fill the world with chaos and despair and satisfy the Creator God Ludo-Rathowm's childish desire for entertainment. The Protagonist Race and the Antagonist Race were constructed to fulfill their role as eternal enemies; portraying a never-ending conflict that would forever appease the Creator God's boredom.

The Archfiend is the ultimate life-form of the Continent, standing at the top of the Antagonist Race; maximum ruler of the Monster Realm and Fiends. The true arbiter of the Archfiend System is a dreadful entity known as Blood Memories that exists within the Archfiend's blood. Created by Planner, the blood fills the host with a tremendous bloodlust, hatred and desire to bring ruin to the Protagonist Race of present. Described as the most malicious entity in existence, Blood Memories embodies all the cruelty and hatred in the world and extends it to the Archfiend, twisting their personality and character of those that inherit the position to the point of being unrecognizable to their former self. To an extent, someone with a strong will is capable of suppressing the urges of the blood's influence but only for a temporary period of time and, with enough time, even the most peaceful and gentle individuals would turn into twisted and sadistic monsters. The intensity of the bloodlust varies depending on the individual's personality and level of strength.

Because the Archfiend is such a monumental figure in the continent whose decisions shape the lives of all that inhabit it, the eras in the calendar system of the continent are divided based on the current reigning Archfiend. In the headquarters of the AL Church a historically important flower named Aconka Flower remains. This flower is usually closed but when a new Hero or Archfiend is born, the flower blooms and speaks to everyone, informing the world of the new player.

Gele-Era

Only a single Archfiend can exist at any given time, as it is meant to be the ultimate being in the mortal world. Prior to the era of Archfiend Ssulal they also ruled indefinitely but, following an audience with Planner, the Archfiend's reigns were limited to a 1000 year timeframe. In exchange, the Archfiend and Fiends were granted an Invincibility Field that would protect them from all attacks. To circumvent this, Planner created the Hero System as well to give humanity an edge against the Antagonist Race when they were pushed to the brink of destruction. The blood of the Archfiend is also the source of their extraordinary power, strengthening even a normal girl to a godlike level. At their peak, the Archfiend easily surpasses 2nd Class Gods, although they quite don't reach the might of the 9 First Class Gods or the Three Devil Princes. The Archfiend craves the blood of the Protagonist Race, and has the ability to drain blood from its enemies.

The Archfiend is also capable of sharing their blood with other lifeforms to create powerful servants called Fiends although the process weakens the Archfiend a little bit. A set limit of only 24 Fiends was placed by the Gods however, preventing the Archfiend from creating a large force of Fiends that would spread the blood too much. If all 24 slots are filled, the Archfiend's power is at about 80% of their max potential, making the power they share with their servants somewhat close to a 1%. While this may seem low, it is more than enough to make Fiends some of the most powerful beings in the continent, which truly illustrates how immensely powerful the Archfiend is compared to everyone else. To create a Fiend, a living being must ingest the Archfiend's blood in some way. This forms a blood pact that grants the Fiend eternal youth, great power and the invincibility field in exchange of their servitude. The pact gives the Archfiend absolute command over the Fiend and they are incapable of going against the orders of their master unless their powers are nullified in some way.

List of Archfiends[]


Spoilers-Untranslated This section contains spoilers from a game that has not been translated to English yet.
Expand if you wish to read regardless.

Blood Inheritance[]

After the 1000 year period has ended, the Archfiend must choose a successor. Planner grants them a 15 year grace period for them to find someone suitable for the role, although they typically search for one long before that time comes. While anything that qualifies as a lifeform can be turned into a Fiend, only a select few can become Archfiends. The process involves a blood inheritance ritual that transplants Blood Memories into the new host. The chosen one must be someone with an innate talent for destruction, an extremely rare trait even among the large array of creatures within the continent. It does not matter if they are weak, strong, young or elder; if given to the wrong person the blood will reject them and inflict them excruciating pain and grievous wounds. If the ritual continues regardless the process could potentially even endanger their life. Even when the blood find a host with a strong affinity, the ritual typically involves a few hours of intense pain until it settles down. Once the ritual ends, the former Archfiend loses all connection to Blood Memories and is reduced to a regular member of their original race, be it human or whichever. Without the blood or the status, their personality also reverts back to that of their original self and get to live the remainder of the life like any regular mortal until their times comes naturally.

If a successor has not been secured even after the 15 year grace period, the Archfiend will lose their Invincibility Field and ability to command Fiends. Then, for the following 50 years they will being to gradually lose their powers, ultimately leaving them completely vulnerable. If a successor still hasn't surfaced, Planner will reduce the Archfiend to a blood pool and and select a new successor himself. Because the pact with Fiends is technically with the blood and not the Archfiend themself, authority over all the existing Fiends is inherited as well, allowing them to keep control of any subordinates the previous Archfiend may have acquired.

If a Archfiend is killed and their killer is bathed in enough of their blood in the process, they inherit the position and transform into the new Archfiend. If this does not happen and the Archfiend is killed without passing on the blood to someone else, Supreme God Planner will immediately select someone in the world with the capabilities to inherit the blood and forcefully turn them into the next Archfiend. Most people don't know about this and see the Archfiend as the ultimate enemy to take down but the existance of this system means that trying to kill the Archfiend is a fruitless endeavor. Even if a Hero or someone else succeeds at such a titanic mission, a new one would be selected right away, rendering the effort pointless.

Neutralizing the Blood[]

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Once the ritual has been completed, the transformation into an agent of destruction becomes something inevitable. The intense bloodlust and hatred were designed by Planner as a way to ensure that the Archfiend would bring ruin to the Protagonist Race, providing a source of conflict for the world of Ludo-Rathowm. There are some ways to delay this transformation however. The most simple one is through the consumption of a rare fruit named Hirami Lemons. These are very bitter, must be consumed on a regular basis and lose efficiency over time, but they are capable of completely suppressing the effects of the blood temporarily, allowing the host to retain their original personality and greatly suppressing their power (although their body is still much stronger than any other living being). Beyond that, any ability, item or technique to purify Soul Pollution like Fukuman or the legendary Clausen Hand are very effective at restraining the Archfiend's impulses, allowing them to retain their sanity and personality if nothing else. At its most simplistic level, just about anything that is capable of consistently soothing the host's mind and soul is potentially capable of pacifying their urges for destruction. Any such method is bound to naturally lose efficiency over time however. Once someone is transformed into the Archfiend it is near-impossible to revert back, with the only conventional method being to simply perform the inheritance ritual on someone else.

There is an alternative method to effectively restore a Archfiend back to their previous race without passing on the blood to anyone. Said method involves the creation of a special potion with a ridiculously convoluted elaboration process. The materials necessary for the first step to prepare the potion are the following:

  • Coil
  • Iron Pipe
  • Set of cellophane tape (×10)
  • Liver of a High-Grade Dragon (x10)
  • Demonic Blood Soul (x15)
  • Stamp of a 6th Class God or higher
  • Human Hearts (x50)
  • Monster Hearts (x50)
  • Star Sword Saturn
  • Star Sword Mars
  • Four-leaf clover (x200)
  • 170 years-old Wine (x30)
  • Humans that are triplets born on a March 15th (x3)

Gathering such absurdly specific materials would take hundreds of years unfortunately, and this is only the first step of the whole process. Furthermore, the fact that the synthesis of such a potion demands human hearts out of someone that is rejecting a Archfiend transformation trying to restore their humanity is a cruel irony. According to Ho-Raga, the very existance of such method is no more than a nasty prank from God.

Prototype to the System[]

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Non-canon warning: This section contains non-canonical information that is not considered part of the canonical timeline and should not be considered part of the overall storyline.



Near the dawn of the world before Planner crafted the Archfiend System he first experimented with the creation of an extremely powerful creature named Toros. It was birthed as a mere experiment from Planner, meant to test the waters before implementing the idea of the Archfiend. Although it is an extremely ancient lifeform, legend says that he may still lurk somewhere in the continent. If it continues to exist, its current whereabouts are a complete mystery however.

In the old canon described in Kichikuou Rance, Toros was accompanied by 7 proto-Fiends that it grew from the earth. The blood pact that grants the Archfiend absolute authority over Fiends had not been conceptualized at the time, with Fiends being born as mere extensions of Toros. This means that the Fiends at the time had the autonomy and freedom lacked by their modern counterparts, which allowed them to even go against their creator. According to old setting information, one of its Fiends strengthened himself enough to be able to overpower and kill Toros himself 3000 years following their birth. As an experiment, it was considered a complete failure. Learning from this mistake Planner granted the Archfiend with the blood pact to ensure servitude from the 24 Fiends.

Trivia[]

  • The Archfiend System was introduced in prototype form in Alicesoft/Championsoft's Little Vampire, a game starring Kurusu Miki. This version of the system concerns a vampire rather than a demon, who must choose a successor after 200 years of undeath, and who passes on after another 200. In this version, a male successor continues the name of "Dracula," while a female successor carries on the name, "Little Princess," creating the impression of two undying overlords. As the story was revised into the version used in the Rance series, the most recent "Dracula" evolved into the character of the Archfiend Gai, while his chosen successor, Miki, kept the name "Little Princess" as a unique regnal name.
    • In Little Vampire, the most recent Dracula's immediate predecessor was also a man, rather than a woman (Jill).
  • The original term 魔王 (mao) has been a subject of debate among different translators of the Rance series, which has resulted in several different translation choices; including Demon King and Demon Lord among fan translations and Archfiend within official localizations released by MangaGamer.
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