Akuma

Akuma (アクマ, Akuma lit. demon) take up the majority of The Earl's army and serve as his "foot soldiers." When one is mourning for the loss of a relative or a friend, The Earl appears to them offering to resurrect that member for him/her. However, the resurrected soul becomes the power source for The Earl's weapon and must obey his orders thus becoming akuma. The Noah Family also have absolute control over the Akuma, regardless of their levels, via a form of telepathic control that they can also use to communicate with the Akuma.

In contrast, an akuma "converted" by Cross can resist orders from the Earl for a limited amount of time. Akuma "wear" the skin of the one who resurrected them. They use this to blend in as Exorcists cannot tell the difference between akumas and humans (with the exception of Allen Walker).

The akuma share a metal core made up of dark matter that resembles a simplified human skeleton. Their blood also contains a virus which rapidly travels through the victim's body, marking it with pentacles. The virus can be spread by blood bullets of a high caliber shot by a Level 1 Akuma. Eventually, the body crumbles into dust and gives off poisonous gas. However, Exorcists with a parasitic-type Innocence can force the virus to recede and nullify it, giving them near immunity. In fact, Arystar Krory III drinks the Akuma blood from flasks to gain power boosts, but overdosing renders him vulnerable to the poison. Members of The Noah Family are also immune to it, as Jasdevi drank an entire flask of Chomesuke's blood with no ill effect (aside from the urge to vomit in disgust).

The Akuma also has the ability to evolve into higher levels, gaining strength as they do so, Level 4 being the highest seen so far. Each level Akuma becomes more humanoid than the level before it(though some Level 2 Akuma seem less humanoid than before). As its evolution continues, the embedded soul deteriorates. An Akuma-producing plant, referred to as the "egg", is required to create Akuma. It has been stolen by the Exorcists and been destroyed. Despite this, The Earl is in the process of creating a new one. There is a special significance to the evolution of an Akuma as stated by The Earl, of which the Exorcists do not know of. The Exorcists along with The Order think they are but mere killing machines. The Earl intends for the knowledge of their evolution a secret. If akuma are destroyed by a force other than Innocence, the soul is consumed by dark matter and is utterly destroyed, or their soul is just lost period without getting consumed by Dark Matter. Some Akuma do eat humans.

Level 0
A Level 0 akuma is the Akuma right after being created. It is only the metal skeleton which is presented similarly to a model kit format when still unoccupied by a soul. The human soul is the dominant personality, but it is still bound to The Earl's control. The ends of the arms varies from Akuma to Akuma. The separate 'bones' are not connected in any way, but rather hover near where they would be connected. After a soul occupies the skeleton, a pentacle along with its host's name below it will be inscribed on the forehead of the skeletal structure. No matter how inhumane an Akuma becomes upon reaching level 2, the level 0 remains in its skeletal form.

Right after the skeleton is occupied by a soul, the Earl immediately orders it to kill the human who summoned it and wear the skin.

Level 1
Level 1 consists of a floating ball shaped creature with dozens of gun barrels protruding from it that fire large bullets. The gun barrels are flexible and can be bent to face any desired angle without affecting its firing capabilities. Level 1 Akuma appear to be able to fire beams of energy from an opening beneath their face. This attack is called "Akuma Cannon" by the Earl. The souls inside a Level 1 Akuma have the bodies and clothes of their original forms. However, their faces are rather distorted and there is a chain around their necks expressing the intense pain and sadness of the trapped soul. Level 1 Akuma exhibit something of a transition from the deterioration of their human personality into an evil personality for level 2 later on as observed in their increasing obsession to simply kill and may, hence, show zombie like behaviour in their human form. A Level 1 Akuma will advance to a Level 2 once it has fulfilled a substantial quota of kills of humans and exorcists.

Blood Bullets
The bullets shot by the Akuma contain a poisonous virus. The bullets are made of the blood of the Akuma, which is deadly to the human flesh. Upon hitting someone, the virus spreads rapidly, causing pentacles (dark purple stars) to appear on the victim's skin, cracking and corroding the human's body, causing them to crumble to pieces. Only those with a parasitic Innocence like Allen Walker or Suman Dark are immune to the virus. Krory can suck the virus out of other humans that were hit by an akuma blood bullet, but if he drinks too much Akuma blood, he slowly succumbs to the virus. The Noah Family is completely immune to this virus, as Jasdevi drank an entire flask of blood, with the only ill effect is the urge to vomit.



Level 1.5
Level 1.5 is not an actual level per se, but more of a mid-way point for a Level 1 Akuma. The only difference is that the Akuma becomes rounder and more spherical, with the ends of the barrels on the surface. Their facial expressions appears to show more instances of emotions closing in to a personality as of a Level 2 (in the anime, a level 1.5 Akuma grins like a maniac when it successfully anticipates and counters Allen Walker's attack from behind a building). Their bullets can also penetrate barriers that normal Level 1 Akuma bullets can't.

Level 2
Level 2 produces a dramatic change. They develop a unique ability and a sense of self. Level 2 Akuma are capable of intelligent thought and are largely independent, though they still maintain unquestionable loyalty to the Millennium Earl and the Clan of Noah. The souls of Level 2 Akuma seem to become more deteriorated. The souls inside of these Akuma can't seem to be identified at all and are in a fetal position, wrapped from head to toe in bandages. Level two Akuma are known to have the face of a Level 1 akuma in their vital areas such as the head or chest most of the time. Level 2 Akuma come in all shapes and sizes (some have even appeared simply as a gas, fire, dolls, a demonic court jester, even a playing card, and they especially take form of animals) and they have no common appearance. Thus far, Level 2 is the only state in evolution where appearance is varied as 1, 3, and 4 all maintain the same shape with only subtle differences. They also have different powers, such as copying a person's appearance (mirror image), emitting "ice fire" which hurts worse than normal fire, creating blades of air, emitting destructive sound waves, and creating bubbles that absorb water from everything they touch. Some Level 2 Akuma even carry modern day weaponry such as homing missiles and various types of firearms that resemble machine guns and so on, as observed in the manga. After murdering enough people, it can evolve to Level 3.

Level 3
Level 3 brings perhaps the most terrifying changes of any previous stage. Regardless of their appearance in Level 2, all level 3 Akuma become bipedal, roughly 8 to 9 feet tall, with sharp jagged teeth, and wear what looks like medieval armor that covers most of their bodies. Their Level 1 face (the one like a human face) is under the mask they wear, shown when Lenalee was up against Eishii and when she destroyed him the mask deteriated and showed the Level 1 face. The only difference between each other is the color of their armor and the helmet design of each one is unique. In addition to this, they receive a massive power boost. A Level 3 Akuma is easily capable of standing up to multiple Exorcists in combat and usually has an extremely powerful ability in addition to its greatly improved strength and speed. Their abilities seem to revolve around the use of Dark Matter, the polar opposite of Innocence. The souls embedded in the Level 3 Akuma are near gone and appear as a floating dark mass with eyes. Before Edo, the appearance of a Level 3 was rare with most of them being stationed in Edo and isolated from the rest of the world. As the Exorcists grew stronger though, the Earl was forced to turn to more powerful Akuma to bring them down.

Giant Akuma
During the fight at Edo, The Earl revealed that a mass number of Level 3's can fuse together to create Giant Akuma. Due to their gigantic size they are slow but have long arms and legs to attack directly but their movement is awkward and easy to dodge if paying attention. Their skin is also very durable making it hard for an average Exorcist to do any damage to them. They can also perform an attack known as Evil Star Gita which fires rapid beams at any and all directions. While still a high risk opponent they seem to lack much of any ability to think for themselves and are generally seen taking orders from the Earl or a Noah. Bookman has commented on this and upon seeing them fuse at Edo has stated that "The idiot machines have simply combined to make a bigger idiot machine".

Level 4
Level 4 is the most powerful and destructive Akuma known to the Exorcists so far, surpassing even the strength of the Noahs. Despite its immense strength, like all other levels of Akuma, the Level 4 still has to obey the Noah clan, though they no longer have to obey the Skulls, unlike the Level 3.

The Akuma takes the form of a child-like creature with a bloated stomach. There is a black star on the Akuma's stomach and a lit, closed-ring, "halo-like" oval above its head and wings on its back ironically making it, the strongest living weapon thus far, look like a childish angel. The remnants of the human soul, though not seen by the viewer, is apparently such a grotesque state that Allen Walker needed to vomit from just a glance of it. A Level 4 Akuma has a great amount of speed and power, far superior to the Level 3 Akumas.

When Lulu Bell attacked the Black Order's headquarters, he brought a small army of Level 3 Akuma. The Earl has also hinted that the Level 4 is a stepping stone to something even more terrifying, which is hard to picture.

Attack on the Headquarters
After the attack on headquarters, within the dead body of a giant Akuma, emerged a sort of womb which devoured many of the victims of Lulu Bell's attack. From this womb a Level 4 Akuma was born. Prior to this encounter, no Akuma above a level 3 had been seen. The Level 4 has been seen to create great balls of energy from its hands and is able to block attacks using it hands and fore arms. The Level 4 which attacked Headquarters was able to fend off attacks from multiple General-level Exorcists before finally being defeated by the combined efforts of Cross Marian, Allen Walker, and Lenalee Lee.

Attack on the Orphanage
A second Level 4 Akuma has appeared in the manga and attacked Allen, Kanda, and Marie to keep them distracted while the weaker Akuma capture a young boy named Timothy. This Level 4 has the ability to morph it's arms into powerful Gatling-guns which fire the same poisonous bullets that Levels 1 and 2 use. This Level 4 was going to use a beam attack to kill Allen, when suddenly the 14th in Allen came out for a split moment. Consequently, the Level 4 stopped as soon as it realized a Noah was in front of it. Even though the Level 4 is cockier, and crazier than the other Akuma it's still able to be destroyed through a combined effort of Allen and Kanda.

Marc and Claire
When Claire died in an accident, her husband Mark cursed God for it. The Millennium Earl then came and offered to resurrect Claire, of which Mark accepted. However, Claire, under the Earl's control, was forced to kill Mark and wear his skin against her will. She became a Level 1 Akuma, and was eventually killed by Allen Walker, saving Claire's soul.
 * Seiyū (Claire): Yuri Amano
 * Seiyū (Mark): Tokuyoshi Kawashima

Leo and his mother
Leo is a friend of Jean, and the two of them has started an Anti-Akuma squad to stop the Millennium Earl, despite being normal humans. However, after Leo's mother died, he accepted the Earl's offer to bring her back, despite knowing the consequences. As such, Leo was killed and his mother wore his skin, becoming a Level 1 Akuma. She was sent by the Earl to kill Jean for interfering with his plans, but was killed by Allen Walker before that can be accomplished, thus saving the mother's soul.

Mana Walker
After Mana died, a distraught Allen Walker accepted the Earl's offer to resurrect his adoptive father. As a result, the Akuma Mana became a slave to the Earl's command, and was ordered to kill Allen and wear his skin. However, Allen's Anti-Akuma Weapon awakened, and destroyed Mana, saving his soul, though not before sustaining a cursed eye.

Pierrot
Pierrot (ピエロ Piero) is the first Level 2 Akuma to appear. He originally is a Level 1.5 Akuma, on the verge to evolving to a Level 2. He is a jester-like Akuma, with extreme arrogance due to his returned personality. His special ability is the ability to copy the appearance and abilities of others, due to his skin is like "paper mirror", and can peel off such copied layers and put it on others. However, as he is a mirror image of his targets, his disguise is left-side right, which is somewhat of a giveaway. He is eventually defeated by a combination of efforts from Allen Walker and Yu Kanda. In the anime, it is said that Pierrot is a male Akuma with a female soul.
 * Seiyū: Hidenari Ugaki

Clock Squad Akuma
A squad of three Level 2 Akuma selected by Road Kamelot to attack Allen Walker during his visit in the Rewinding Town. Their original group also consisted of three Level 1.5 Akuma and another Level 2 Akuma that resembled a centipede and had three tongues. The four of them were destroyed by Allen Walker in the initial bar fight. There was also another Level 2 Akuma that was destroyed by Allen in a dark alley when it attacked Miranda Lotto. Its mid-section resembled Ice's, but appeared to sit on a lamp shade, had one arm that seemed to just float in the general area that it should be, and had a head that looked like a poorly made temari with a mouth held together by the Level 1 Akuma face that was on the side of its head, who was referred to as "Akuma". In the manga, it had the ability to float around what looked like floating bowling balls, but in the anime, it shoots beams of purple energy from its mouth like the Centipede Akuma.

Ice
Ice (アイス Aisu) stands on two bulky looking arms with a wind key on his torso, which later turns into his "gas fire" form. Even though he takes the form of "fire", Ice still seems to possess the mechanical qualities of all Akuma (this is shown when Allen slices off his arm in his "gas fire" form and bits of gears and bolts are shown in his wound). He wore his Level 1 Akuma face as an armband. Ice posed as a pickpocket to trick Allen and Lenalee into chasing him so Road could capture Miranda. His pickpocket skin had long hair and a brown jacket. Ice's special ability to to use "Ice Fire", blue flames that burn at 100 degrees below zero, freezing his opponents. He was ordered by Road to self-destruct, and Allen failed to reach him in time, which resulted in the soul being destroyed by the Dark Matter.
 * Seiyū: Nagasako Takashi

Kazekiri
Kazekiri (風切 Kazekiri) has a pair of double-bladed wheels for arms, resembling buzz-saws. He was one of the few Level 2 Akuma who's Level 1 face is still its true face. His ability is "Kazekirikama" (Wind Cutting Sickle), in which he creates a mass amount of air blades by spinning his arms. He was the last of the three Akuma to be destroyed, by Lenalee Lee, who kicked his face out from behind, thus saving the soul trapped within.
 * Seiyū: Mogami Tsuguo

Pang
Pang (パング Pangu) has four heads and five faces, counting the Level 1 Akuma face, which appears on every level 2 Akuma, which he wears like a belt buckle, and has an arm band on one of its arms. He also resembles a candle. His special ability is called "Pang Voice", in which he produces destructive sound waves. He was the first one of the three to be destroyed by Allen, who had jumped onto the top of his head and shot at it, saving the soul trapped within.
 * Seiyū: Matsuda Yuki

Eliade
Eliade (エリアー Eriāde) is a Level 2 Akuma who valued beauty, but her Akuma nature made her feel ugly. She can produce bubbles that can drain off all water contents of anything that makes contact with these bubbles. When she encountered Arystar Krory III, he made her his woman. Eliade took care of Arystar, in the hopes of not letting him discover that he is an Exorcist. However, this went awry when Allen and Lavi came to their castle, of which Allen's evolved cursed eye revealed to Arystar that Eliade is an Akuma. Arystar was forced to kill Eliade, saving her soul.
 * Seiyū: Okamoto Maya

Eshi
Eshii (エシ Eshi) is a Level 3 Akuma who was an artist in life, to which makes him yell out "TITLE" before making his action. He has the ability to manipulate gravity with Dark Matter chains. He was sent to kill Lenalee Lee and other Exorcists, all of whom were en route to Edo. After a grueling battle, Lenalee managed to kill Eshii, using his gravity against him, saving his soul.
 * Seiyu: Ryusei Nakao

Sachiko/Chomesuke
Chomesuke (ちょめ介 Chomesuke) is a Level 2 Akuma who has been modified by General Cross Marian. Her human form is a beautiful woman named Sachiko (サチコ Sachiko). She was sent by Cross to warn the group of Exorcists, after they defeated Eshii, to turn back due to the impending danger, but at their refusal, she acted as their guide. Despite being modified, Chomesuke could not resist the Earl's command, and due to Cross' programming, she has been designed to self-destruct if her Akuma's blood lust nature surfaces. Eventually, this is what happened, and since she did not die by the hands of an Innocence, it may be presumed that her soul was lost to the Dark Matter.
 * Seiyu: Nazuka Kaori

Thread
A Level 3 Akuma that was killed by Allen. He was hand-chosen by Tyki Mikk and used Noah's Ark to enter the Asia Branch in order to capture Allen, and therefore was accompanied by a Tease. He was able to break in, but was caged in the large room where Allen had trained. In order to keep Thread from going too berserk, Fou took the image of Allen and trapped herself in the room with it. When Allen got in, Fou was nearly dead. He was the one to reveal the Noahs' whereabouts, and was the first Akuma to be destroyed by Allen's gamma form. He had the ability to send energy "threads" from cylinders on his arms into their atomic and slowly decompose the structure hit. Thread was unique in that in his final moments, he cooperated with Allen, giving him information on the Noahs and even repenting slightly from his murderous nature. This could also have been due to the fact that Thread was touched by Crown Clown, the Innocence had freed his mind somewhat, and his murderous intent had been subdued slightly. Thread himself stated that he was feeling "good". His trapped soul was the first to confront Allen through the cursed eye. His soul begged for the destruction of the Akuma and for Allen's love. After Allen performs Cross Grave, Thread's soul smiles and thanks Allen, grateful for his release. At the end of episode 69, in a mini cartoon, Kanda asked Allen who is he. Allen said "It seem he doesn't have a name." Then Thread popped out saying "Is that true?!" and cried.
 * Seiyū: Ito Kentaro

Kawamura
Kawamura is a Level 2 Akuma who has been converted by Cross Marian, just like Chomesuke. She was to rendezvous with Chomesuke in Edo, but was killed by three monstorous Level 3 Akuma. As such, Kawamura's soul was destroyed.

Lesley
Minister Lesley is an Akuma who is also a diplomat placed at an enemy country against Cyril Kamelot. Cyril and Lesley were supposed to sign a treaty to put both of their countries at peace, but under Cyril's command, Lesley attempted to shoot Cyril, only to hit his assistant instead. This was part of a plot for Cyril to reinstate war, so the Earl could create more Akuma from the tragedies of lost lives.

Alma Karma
After the Noah Family awakened Alma Karma from his comatose phase that he was submitted when Yu Kanda slashed him years ago, Alma became an Akuma. After a large fight with Yu Kanda Allen sends Alma and Kanda to a secluded spot where so far it seems he has died

Mimi
Mimi is an anime only character. She is a level 2 akuma and is very loyal to Lulubell. In her human form, she is a young girl with white hair which was tied in pigtails and she wore a maid suit. Her Akuma form is a large dragon, in which she can create tornadoes at her opponents. She can also perform a partial transformation, turning her hands into steel fans, and launching smaller scaled whirlwinds. When she was still alive, she was a servant of a princess. She was very close to the princess and when she died of illness, the princess made a contract with the Millennium Earl. She was ultimately killed by Allen Walker, thus saving her soul.
 * Seiyū: Atsuko Enomoto

Sophia and Angela
Sophia and Angela was an anime only character. She is a level 2 akuma. She was first introduced in episode 33 where Kanda and finder Gozu went to the "Forest of No Return". She was a beautiful young lady with long brown hair. Her akuma form is what looked like a grey akuma with long brown hair in golden armor. Her special ability is to see people's mind and project them to make it look like a dream. It is known that her twin sister, Angela, got chosen to be the village's witch. One day, Angela died in the witch's cottage. There, she made a contract with the Earl.
 * Seiyū: Ayako Kawasumi

Nalei (Mina)
Nalei is an anime-only character. Allen Walker met Nalei during his time in India with the widow Urmina. Nalei's sister Mina worked as a maidservant to the widow. Nalei was a close friend of Allen's and wanted to become a doctor. He became an Akuma when Mina died. He was destroyed by Allen.