Beet the Vandel Buster

"Vandels!! In this story, that's what we call evil creatures with magical powers. Hidden in darkness, one day they appeared on the service of the EARTH, multiplying monsters and destroying the peace and order of human society. Years have passed since that day. People call this seemingly endless era... the Century of Darkness."

Beet the Vandel Buster is a manga.

The one and only line of defense humanity has against Vandels are the Busters. Mercenaries who have taken up the task of facing off with the Vandels for peace, glory, money, and as many other motivations as there are stars in the sky. Our story focuses on Beet, a boy who chose to become a Buster in emulation of his idols, a Buster team called the Zenon Warriors. However, when Beet gets in the middle of their fight with Beltorze, one of the most powerful Vandels around, he is critically injured. The Zenon Warriors give their most powerful magical weapons, their Saiga, to Beet so they can save his life. What became of them after that is unknown, but Beltorze still exists.

Three years later, Beet has become a full-fledged Vandel Buster and, with the Zenon Warriors' Saiga on one side and talented True Companions on the other, Beet has set out to bring an end to the Century of Darkness.


 * Almighty Janitor: Beet was initially marked Level eleven because he hadn't been to the Appraiser's in years. At the same time, he's much lower than a normal Saiga user.
 * Sagie seems like the Vandels' equivalent of an Appraiser on the surface. Though his connection to the Eyes of Darkness suggest there's more to him than readily apparent.
 * An Axe to Grind: The Boltic Axe.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Boltic Axe. It's the strongest of Beet's five Saiga, but takes a good 12 seconds to bring out, which is an eternity against anything worth using it on.
 * Beet learns to compensate somewhat by starting his swing while the Axe is still in the process of being summoned. The result is while the Axe takes time to bring out, once it's out it's already in use.
 * Barrier Warrior: Cruss, of the Zenon Warriors.
 * Beat Them At Their Own Game: Beet vs Frausky
 * Beneath the Mask:.
 * Bequeathed Power: A whole team of busters pass their saiga on to Beet before their (apparent) Heroic Sacrifice.
 * The Big Guy: Bluezam, of the Zenon Warriors.
 * Blade on a Stick: Beet's Weapon of Choice when not using his Saiga.
 * Which was inspired by the Zenon Warriors' Laio, and his Burning Lance.
 * The Chick: Kissu, in a refreshing change- both Poala and Milfa are full-fledged Action Girls.
 * Childhood Marriage Promise: Beet has every intention of fulfilling it, to Poala's chagrin.
 * Dangerously-Short Skirt: Milfa
 * Panty Shot: The inevitable result.
 * Eldritch Abomination: the Eyes of Darkness, most likely, though the series got cut off before we really learned anything.
 * Elemental Powers: Busters are capable of using five different kinds:
 * Playing with Fire
 * Making a Splash/An Ice Person
 * Shock and Awe
 * Blow You Away
 * Light the Way - Vandels have the same five, except with darkness in place of light.
 * Epic Flail: Alternate form of the Crown Shield.
 * Finishing Move: The Zenon Winzard. However, Beet actually has to master it, and slowly progresses from mostly hurting himself to actually hurting his opponents.
 * Five-Man Band: When Milfa and Slade are with the team, Beet and his friends qualify for this.
 * Friend to All Children: Frausky. To a point.
 * Gosh Hornet: Episode 50 of the anime has the main cast foraging for food, but extracting honey from a giant beehive is tough even with magic.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: Grineed. Just keep it polite if you know what's good for you.
 * Heavy Sleeper: Beet can stay awake for up to three days in a row, but then has to sleep for at least a full day to make up for it. He's nearly impossible to wake up during this time.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: The Zenon Warriors don't hesitate to use their power to save Beet.
 * Human Shield: Subverted by Beltorze early on.
 * The Insomniac: Beet, for three days. He then becomes a Heavy Sleeper for one full day to recharge.
 * Left Hanging: The final volume ends with a reinvigorated, reinspired Kissu preparing to face Baron solo... and there was nothing more after that.
 * Of course, many more plot points were left hanging as well- what happened to the other four Zenon Warriors? Was the Winged Knight really Zenon in disguise, or someone else entirely? Would Kissu be pardoned for his past sins? What powers did the other seven-star Vandels have, and just how powerful was Beltorze, really? And just what were the Eyes of Darkness? Where the heck did Vandels even come from, and what power did an eighth star get? Tough for you, as those answers will never be revealed.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: More specifically, Beet, Zenon is your brother.
 * Money Spider: Not literally. Busters collect money for their kills at a shop after the fact.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Beet realizes his interference messed up the strategy the Zenon Warriors would have used to defeat Beltorze.
 * Orphaned Series - after the artist injured his hand, the series was eventually left unfinished, likely for good.
 * Role Playing Game Verse
 * RPG Mechanics Verse - to the point of almost being a deconstruction.
 * Shock and Awe: Milfa's power of choice, along with Bluezam of the Zenon Warriors.
 * Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Saiga users.
 * Squishy Wizard: Kissu.
 * Talk to the Fist: Poala makes a good attempt at it with Ventura.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Beet, possessing five Saiga makes Beet formidable, but he can't use Divine Attacks worth a damn and he has to work out how to best use each Saiga as he goes. Milfa even comments that he learns everything backwards.
 * Weak but Skilled: Just about any human capable of threatening a Vandel. Though Kissu is the standout, not having much in physical combat ability, he's the only person shown able to wield all types of Divine Attack.
 * Slade as well, relying on speed, agility, and an invisible weapon.
 * "With Our Swords" Scene: Beet starts with his idols' weapons.