Julius Juukulius

Julius Juukulius (ユリウス・ユークリウス) is Anastasia Hoshin's knight and a member of the Royal Guard. He is a supporting character in Re:Zero, with pivotal roles in both Arc 3 and Arc 6. Julius also played the role of a protagonist in a spinoff novel, titled Re:Zero EX Light Novel Volume 4, which is set roughly 3-4 months before the start of the main story and half a year before the start of the Royal Selection.

He and Subaru initially started out on the wrong foot, due to their seemingly incompatible personalities. However, during the events of Arc 5, he had his name eaten by Roy Alphard, ironically making Subaru the only one who can remember him. In arc 6, they finally became friends after realizing they actually had a lot in common.

Appearance
Julius is a tall young man of a well-built muscular stature with yellow eyes and light bluish-purple hair that is arranged neatly with a strand hanging down his face. He wears the Royal Guard uniform. When he fought with Subaru, he wore a black suit with blue borders.

After his fight with Reid Astrea in Arc 6, Julius received a cut directly under his left eye. Due to the nature of the cut, Julius is left scarred for life.

Personality
As a member of Lugnica's nobility, Julius acts in a proper fashion, always having an air of nobility and conviction. He is also considerate and doesn't forget to show care toward others. He also shows a strict side, giving out accurate assessments of others whether they're good or bad, which is a result of his upbringing as an elite, and in actuality, he believes that he and others can do better than they currently are.

Julius doesn't like those who forget their place, leading him to have bad relations with Subaru for a while. While both have apologized to each other after the battle with the Hakugei, Subaru told him that he still hated him. Julius then told him that he didn't intend to be friends with him. They both became very intimate very quickly during the planning and attacking of the Witch Cult. In the end, Julius directly considered Subaru as his friend.

However, as pointed out by Reid Astrea, beneath his noble demeanor Julius is actually a very insecure person who desperately holds on to his bonds with others. This mindset seems to be the result of his parents' deaths, causing him to seek attention to fill the void in his heart. During his final duel with Reid, Julius acknowledged his flaws and began working to reforge the bonds he lost when Roy Alphard ate his name.

History
Julius was born as the son of Klein Juukulius who had run away from his noble family and married a commoner woman named Maria. Sometime later, his parents died in a flash flood and Julius was taken in by his uncle Alviero, thus being introduced to his new aristocratic life in the renowned Juukulius House. Julius lived with his family at the Juukulius House. Since the Juukulius House is very proud of their heritage and fame as excellent knights, Julius was expected to become a member of the Royal Guard. He spent his whole childhood practicing with the sword and honing his skills as a knight until he achieved the zenith of swordsmanship.

Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 1
Roughly 8 to 9 months before the start of the first Arc, Julius, together with Reinhard, formed a friendly bond with a new knight of the Royal Guard–Ferris Argyle. The two knights stood behind Ferris' back, supporting him on his endeavors in the Royal Guard. One faithful day, Julius was tasked with escorting Prince Fourier Lugnica to the Argyle Manor, in order to rescue Crusch Karsten, who has been taken hostage by Biehn Argyle, the lord of the manor. After retrieving the dutchess, Julius swiftly dispatched the remaining living corpses, who have been resurrected by the aforementioned Biehn.

Re:Zero EX Light Novel Volume 4
Roughly 4-5 months before the events of Arc 1 and a couple of months after the mysterious illness took the lives of the entire Royal family, Julius, alongside Reinhard van Astrea and Ferris Argyle, were tasked with escorting two members of the Sage Council–Miklotov McMahon and Bordeaux Zellgef–on a diplomatic mission to the neighbouring Empire of Vollachia. During their stay, the 9th Divine General of the Empire–Balleroy Temeglyph–wind up dead and Reinhard was blamed for it, forcing the Royal Guard trio to "kidnap" the 77th Emperor Vincent Vollachia and flee the Crystal Palace. In a nearby forest, they were ambushed by 8th and 6th Divine Generals Mogro Hagane and Groovy Gumlet respectively. As Reinhard held back the two Generals, Julius and Ferris fled further ahead with the Emperor, but encountered the 1st ranking Divine General Cecils Segmund. Julius and Cecilus fought but the Royal Knight was no match for the Divine General. After successfully breaking Cecilus' 5th sword, the Blue Lightning decided to fight him a bit more seriously. Just as he was about to decapitate the Spirit Knight, Reinhard came to the rescue. A short duel between the two strongest swordsmen of their respective nations followed and Reinhard came out victorious. After successfully escaping from the three Divine Generals, Julius, Reinhard, Ferris and Vincent finally had some time to breathe and plan out their next steps. Vincent revealed that Balleroy most likely stands behind the ongoing coup d'état. Before they could devise a plan, however, a group of 30 assassins from the Insect Cage Clan engaged the three Knights and the Emperor, however, Reinhard stayed behind and swiftly defeated all thirty of them. Meanwhile, while making their escape from yet another serious threat, Julius, Ferris and Vincent fell into an ambush created by the thought-to-be-dead Divine General Balleroy Temeglyph flying on his Winged Dragon who managed to snipe off Vicent's right arm by the shoulder. While Ferris healed the mortally wounded Emperor, Julius continued deflecting Balleroy's magical snipes, keeping him at bay and defending his friends. After devising a plan and using Ferris as a decoy, Julius was able to pinpoint Balleroy's location (despite the Divine General's usage of Wind and Yang magic to make himself and his Winged Dragon completely invisible), chanting Al Clauseria, causing the Winged Dragon and his rider to crash, killing the former and seriously wounding the latter. Julius and Balleroy then engaged in their final duel, which ended with the Spirit Knight's blade piercing the Divine General's chest, killing him. After the threat was finally dealt with, Julius, Vincent and Ferris regrouped with Reinhard and returned to the Crystal Palace, resolving the conflict. As a token of gratitude, the Emperor signed the previously-refused non-aggression pact between the Empire and the Kingdom, marking the Kingdom's ambassadors' mission as successful.

Roughly a month after the Imperial Incident, Julius and Ferris encountered the 1st ranking Divine General Cecils Segmund in a tavern located in the Capital of the Kingdom. Due to the danger the Divine General presented, the duo accompanied him to a tea house located on the outskirts of the city, where Cecils informed them of his plans to fight with the Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea. However, due to Reinhard's absence do to him being on a mission at the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko's borders with Lugnica, Julius had no other option but to secretly accept the Divine General as a guest in his mansion, since his presence in the Capital was illegal. After four days of hiding a Divine General inside the Juukulius House, Julius and Ferris were suddenly called to Captain Markos Gildark's office, where a man clad in white was waiting–the 4th Divine General Chisha Gold. The two knights were then given a task to accompany Chisha to his needs in the Capital and the trio set out to find the person Chisha was after. Arriving just in time, they were able to prevent Cecils from beheading the viscount Gramdart Holstoy who was behind the failed coup d'état and had fled the Empire. Having fulfilled their mission, Chisha and Cecils were prepared to return back to the Empire with viscount Holstoy, but were stopped by Capt. Marcos, who arranged a proxy match between Cecils and Reinhard.

Abilities
Divine Protection (加護 Kago): Julius has the Divine Protection of Gathering Spirits (誘精の加護), which enables him to see, talk, and be liked by Spirits, though he has to work hard to actually get liked by Spirits.

Spirit Affinity: Julius has a rare innate gift to form contracts with spirits.

Spirit User (精霊使い): Julius was contracted with six Quasi Spirits. They were known as Ia (イア, red/fire), Kua (クア, blue/water)、Alo (アロ, green/wind), Ake (イク, yellow/earth), In (イン, white/Yang), and Nes (ネス, black/Yin). His ability to use them was severed when his name was eaten however, he has since severed his contract and forged it anew, so he is able to use them again. Since then, his Quasi Spirits had bloomed into proper spirits. As Julius is also a knight, he prefers to be called a Spirit Knight (精霊騎士 Seirei Kishi).

Spirit Arts (精霊術): Julius is able to use Spirit Magic with any of his six spirits which afford him a variety of specialties from offense to support like healing. After his Quasi Spirits bloomed into Spirits, his power greatly increased as well.


 * Nect (ネクト): A high level magic that enables people to share senses within the effect area by connecting their gates. It is considered to be difficult to use, however, In and Nes can use it by pairing Yin and Yang Magic together and tuning the interference of mana between people. If it is too weak, the thoughts won't get through, yet if it's too strong, people won't know where the line between them and other people begins. Performed with In and Nes.


 * Fell Goa: Julius calls on Ia and Alo to produce a powerful magical firestorm by combining both Fire and Wind magic.
 * Combination of Spirits: Julius can combine two or more spirits in order to get himself and his friends out of tough situations, as seen when he called upon Alo and Ake in order to blow away the Imperial Soldiers and incapacitate them by encasing them into small earth domes.
 * Healing Magic: Julius can use water mana via Kua to heal his allies' wounds.
 * Enhanced Strength: Julius can call on In to boost his strength and agility, granting him superhuman abilities for a period of time.

Magic Swordplay: Julius is highly skilled with a sword as he has reached the peak of his swordsmanship and can use spirits to further augment or enhance his technique. Based on his strength alone, he could be a second-class General of the Vollachia Empire or higher.


 * Clarista (クラリスタ): Julius imbues his sword with the power of his six Quasi Spirits. Clarista and its different levels are Julius' original magic.
 * Al Clarista (アル・クラリスタ): A long range version of Clarista where this six fold spell takes the form of a beam of pure destructive energy. The light is capable of cutting through anything and everything in its path. After Julius reforged his contract with his Quasi Spirits, the power and range of the attack greatly increased, surprising even Julius.
 * Al Clauseria (アル・クラウゼリア): When casted, six different coloured spirits start circling around Julius and join into one whirling rainbow-hued vortex of light which is shot out from the tip of his sword, followed by an sizeable shock wave that sends his opponents flying. The wall as well as the vortex are composed of six elements, which are able to repel any sort of magic that is casted against it as well as any and all physical attacks.
 * El Clausel (エル・クラウゼル): Julius' spirits form a circle around the tip of his sword, which envelopes the surrounding with a pure white light that unleashes a blow that aims to pierce an opponent.
 * Al Cranvel (アル・クランヴェル): Julius' secret technique he developed long ago but never managed to properly utilize it due to his lack of experience. After he forged a new contract with his newly-bloomed Spirits, Julius calls upon their power and clads himself in their sixfold power, greatly increasing his speed and overall power. To the other party, Julius appears as if he was swallowed alive by a rainbow. This sword skill is noted as Julius' ultimate attack.
 * Julius is also able to imbue his blade with just a couple of his offensively strongest Quasi Spirits which in turn makes his blade shine with a powerful gleaming light. With that blade, Julius can cut through pretty much everything, no matter the toughness. On his journey to Vollachia, he faced off against Cecils Segmund and used this attack to break the Divine General's fifth best sword. After he reforged his contract with his spirits, the buffs he's able to imbue his sword with became overall more powerful.

Trivia

 * According to the author, Julius's birthday is July 7 and his birth flower is a Nymphaea, or water lily.
 * The name was chosen by his father, Klein Juukulius.
 * Julius' spirits are all female and their relationship with the knight dates back for well over a decade.
 * After his fight with Natsuki Subaru at the very beginning of Arc 3, Julius was in fact punished for his reckless behavior and put under house arrest for an unspecified amount of time.
 * Julius has appropriate crystals for each one of his six spirits, where they reside when not materialised.