Ross (ロス Rosu), is a Royal Soldier and accompanies Alba on his quest to defeat the Demon King. Ross is actually the legendary hero Creasion. Neither of these names are his real name. His real name is Shion. His goal is to save his best friend Crea, whose body was stolen by the first Demon King who's also Ross' father. Ross can't kill the first Demon King because Crea is still alive within the body that is under the Demon Lord's possession. He was eighteen when he sealed himself away with Demon Lord Rchimedes [1].
Appearance
Ross has messy, spikey black hair, pale skin, and red eyes.
Like most characters in anime, he wears the same outfit throughout most of the series. His outfit consists of a navy blue t-shirt and baggy black pants, with an armored plate overlapping his chest as well as a shoulder plate and a large metal sleeve concealing his arm. He also sports a red scarf tied bandanna-style around his neck. Ross' main weapon in the anime is a giant sword strapped to his back with two hilts, but it later disappears and is never mentioned again except for a few panels in an omake. In the manga, continuing from the anime, Ross is shown to fight using magic without the need of a physical weapon.
The dagger he bought in episode 2 of the anime, used to stab Alba and the one that impales Ruki in the head, is later given to Alba as a present that was supposed to replace his sword as his main weapon, but he doesn't give it to him until the end of volume 2 stating he found it funny to watch Alba try to swing a heavy sword around all the time.
Ross' attire in volume 3 along with Crea.
In the manga, his attire changes a total of seven times, but two of these were in the Omake Manga and the New Year Special. The first is described above, which is his appearance for the anime and the first volume of the manga; the second is the same only without the armor for the duration of the second volume; the third is an all black outfit with a gold pull-tab and zipper along with an odd symbol on the left side that mysteriously disappears every so often.
Creashion about 1000 years before the start of the series.
Outfits that don't appear very frequently are his Creashion outfit from about 1000 years in the past and as a child named Shion. In the past, Shion wore a green vest over a black shirt, black shorts and a red sash tied around his waist. Travelling the world as Creashion, his outfit consisted of a white shirt and black pants under a cloak that hid the lower half of his face with the symbol Crea drew for him hanging over the left side of his chest along with the outside-type mana on the left side of his head.
Personality
Ross is a sadist for a hobby; he often torments Alba verbally and physically for the fun of it. Sometimes, he does it to make fun of the situation. He has a habit of sometimes being a caring big brother and sometimes an insensitive brute. In a comedy duo, Ross is the Boké (ボケ boke), or the "funny man" who says or do things that make no sense, to Alba, who is the Tsukkomi (突っ込み tsukkomi), or "straight man", who's often times making retorts to whatever weird things is happening.
Ross acts like he couldn't care less and can be really heartless, but deep down he really does care. He doesn't like to show his true emotions, but when they do arise he seems to act on instinct rather than logic. Because of his kind nature, he can't kill people close to him, and when he is force to, he does so reluctantly. Rchimedes, his father, commented on this. When Ross, or Shion, was just a hand flick away from killing him, Rchimedes said that he couldn't do it because his kind heart wouldn't let him.
Plot
Past
Over 1000 years before the beginning of the series, Ross was just a boy who lived in a village called Originia. When Ross was about 13 years old, he was killed by his own father, who was testing his new-found power with mana. His best friend Crea, who was with him at the time, was fatally injured, but did not die. Before Rchimedes took over his body, Crea used his awakened mana to give Ross' tattered body his own left arm and leg, so half of Ross' body is actually Crea's. Once the body transfer was done, Ross was about to kill Rchimedes with his own awakened mana, but Rchimedes informs him that Crea still lives on inside him rendering Ross unable to perform the task. Rchimedes goes on to create the Demon World bringing Originia with him. Rchimedes goes on to create the demons that inhabit his newly created Demon World, while Ross journeys for 5-6 years. Along his journey, he finds the 2nd Rchimedes (not yet Demon Lord) near Leott Village and gives him his Mana Maker-kun (Creasion-made) for him to become the 2nd Demon Lord once Ross finishes his business with the 1st. In the end, Ross manages to seal Rchimedes in a Dimensional Rift and turns himself into a dagger stabbed into his chest to keep Rchimedes from waking up. 1000 years passed in the outside world, but only 2-3 years passed in the Rift.
1000 years later (2-3 in Ross' time), Ross was released from the seal and found himself in Majiriha Desert. Soon after, Alba runs toward him being chased by a tornado. This is when they first meet. They meet again at Cord's shop after being separated by the tornado. Ross hears about the king's order and Rchimedes being revived and goes to the castle village for information. There, he introduces himself as Royal Soldier Ross assigned by the king as Hero No. 45's Royal Soldier.
Volume 1
The anime follows Volume 1 very well. Ross accompanies Alba along his journey, though he rarely helps in any fights and would rather see Alba suffer than help. Despite his sadistic nature, he means well in everything he does.
Volume 2
In Volume 2, Ross first shows up in the Dimensional Rift in the process of sealing Rchimedes until Elf appears. His sudden appearance causes Ross to blow his left arm off, but Elf quickly gets it back. Elf then uses his magic to take on the form of Crea. Ross becomes furious at Rchimedes' taunts and unintentionally gives the Demon Lord enough power to break the seal. Weakened from casting the seal, Ross was no match for the rejuvenated Rchimedes. But, since Rchimedes is an idiot, Ross managed to seal his Maker-kun in the Dimensional Rift before being kicked out into the Demon World.
One year has passed in the outside world. He ends up in the same village as Alba, who was sent to the Demon World during the fight with Noin, and Ruki, who got Janua to find Alba for her after he was lost. When they meet, Ross' first action is a greeting and then a punch to Alba's face exclaiming Alba's new height as "disgusting" and then proceeded to kick him in the gut. After all that and some other mishaps, Alba explains what has happened over the year he's been gone. Ross tells them Rchimedes is still out there and that he needed to seal him again. Alba stops him from leaving and asks why he was doing it alone. Alba is then sent to prison for saying he was a hero. From the Demon World's point of view, a "Hero" is an existence that disrupts the order of the world. Hence why he was thrown in jail, but it isn't unusual for that to happen anymore.
Abilities
Ross is very able-bodied. He can easily swing the huge sword he carries with little effort, as well as defeat monsters such as the Nisepanda in one hit. Ross' magic is also very strong, even without the Mana Maker-kun.
Relationships
Alba Früling
From the start, Ross is shown to take excessive joy in torturing Alba both physically and verbally. Even in serious matters, Ross still has time to annoy Alba and with levity. He doesn't seem to care what happens to Alba because he knows the brunet would be fine. However, when Alba's life is in actual danger, he becomes very serious, angry, and seems to move without thinking of the consequences as shown when his arm was cut off when trying to punch Rchimedes after he supposedly killed Alba. Despite is outward sadistic nature, he cares deeply for Alba and holds him dear to him as much as Crea, if not more so. In Volume 2, he tells Ruki that being mean is a form of love. This makes all his cruel actions toward everyone mean that he really cares about them.
Ruki
Ross could be considered Ruki's uncle, but isn't actually. Rchimedes may have been the first Demon Lord, but only the 2nd Rchimedes and the 3rd are blood related. Ruki goes along with Ross' harassment of Alba and even joins in at some points. Ruki is the only person Ross doesn't do anything horrible to aside from an insult thrown here and there, but that might have been a one time occurrence.
Crea
Crea is Ross' only childhood friend. He's several years older than Ross, but acts very childish whereas Ross acts like the scolding parent. Ross occasionally hurts him, but not as much as Alba. Ross acts very cold toward Crea, who just went along with it because he was also just as dimwitted as Rchimedes.
Rchimedes
Rchimedes is Ross' father as well as the first Demon Lord. Throughout his childhood, Ross acted as the tsukkomi to his father and Crea. Rchimedes was obsessed with his experiments that would always fail. Since he didn't have a sustainable job, Ross took it upon himself to get the money they needed. Even though his father is an airhead and couldn't take care of himself, Ross loved him unconditionally, even if he treated Rchimedes like trash sometimes. When "the incident" occurred, Ross could not bring himself to kill Rchimedes despite Rchimedes having taken Crea just moments before.
Lake
Lake is technically Ross' older brother. He was born before Ross, but was sent to the future where Ross is about 21. There isn't much interaction shown between them.
Cecily
Cecily is Ross' mother. She cares very much for Ross. Even though he doesn't hold as much love for her as she does for him.
Trivia
- Ross means 'horse' in German.
- He likes to see people in pain, especially Alba.
- He has been noted by Haruhara to have a sweet tooth.
- He is most likely based off of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. Ross' and Cloud's outfit and weapon are very similar.
- When his name is combined with Alba's, it would form the word "Albatross". Or in japanese 'アルバトロス' which translates to 'Alba and Ross'. Interestingly, "albatross" is a type of seagull, but this is unintentional on Haruhara's part.
- The name "Creasion" is a combination of Ross' real name, Shion, and his friend Crea's, making クレアシオン (CreaShion). Take note that "Creasion" is not pronounced as "Creation"; the vowels 'ea' is pronounced as not 'e', 'e' is pronounced as 'elephant', and 'a' is pronounced alone. The 'sion' part is pronounced as "Shion".
- The name 'Ross' was originally a name that Crea came up with, which he described as a soldier who threw away his old name.
- When he and Crea were kids, they planted an apple tree on a mountain; that tree eventually saved the entire Demon World from a great famine.
- When his true identity is revealed, Mii-chan gave him the title of "Legendary Sadist".
Quotes
"Why are you panting, Hero? You some kind of pervert?" (Ross to Alba in Episode 1)
"I like seeing people weep in despair." (Ross to Alba in Episode 1)
"'I would die for you' is what the weak say. If you're in love with someone, live for them." (Ross to Rudolf in Episode 5)
“Can you not be something unless you’re somebody else’s something? Just go and be a hero on your own. Don't worry, you can do it.” (Ross to Alba in Episode 25)
"What, the only thing that's grown is your height? Hasn't it been a year already? Haven't you become a hero yet, Alba?" (Ross to Alba in Chapter 2)