Demons, Contractors, Abilities info
All righty, time for a brief run down on the basics of demons in Chrno Crusade, the issue of the contract and pocketwatch and how it relates to Chrno/Rosette, and Chrno's abilities both in sealed and unsealed forms. Shouldn't be any huge spoilers, beyond some background detail that comes up in volumes 6 and 7.
Virtually every demon in Chrno Crusade lives in the demon realm of Pandaemonium. "Pandaemonium" also refers to the queen mother of demons, who gives birth to them all. Demons don't have a concept of family, as such; they see each other all as comrades. However, there is a small group of demons referred to as Sinners, and these demons are exiles from the demon realm. Chrno is one of these sinners. I won't get into the whole backstory of the Sinners here, since it's long and not really relevant.
The demons have something of a hierarchy judged by how powerful/smart they are. The lowest level of demon are legions, for example, who work through hive mentality. Chrno and his ilk are somewhere near the highest level of demon, near as I can tell; they're the most sophisticated. Another thing about legions is that they also form the molecular structure of higher level demons; so basically demons are made of smaller demons. The thing keeping the legions from 'overtaking' the demon they make up is a barrier of sorts called the geas. The geas is linked to Pandaemonium. If Pandaemonium loses control of its legions, then the geas no longer works and all other demons are overtaken by their legions. How? Through their horns.
A demon's horns are where they draw their energy from. There's something in Chrno Crusade called the Astral Line: a river of unseen energy in the atmosphere that contains all life. When something is born, their soul comes down from the Astral Line, and when they die, their soul returns to it. The Astral Line is also where demons draw their energy, and their horns are effectively the conduit. Their horns also act as antennae of control for Pandaemonium. Essentially, without their horns, demons have no energy and they "cease to exist". They die.
Chrno, in fact, is a hornless demon. He used to have horns (as evidenced by the clamps on his head) but they were torn off fifty-four years ago. Thus he can't draw any energy for himself and is almost powerless on his own. Just transforming to his demon form and flying a short distance severely weakened him when he did it on his own energy. He can survive for a considerable period without his horns, owing to the fact that he slept in a tomb for fifty years and could wake up after it. But generally, he would eventually die if left on his own. This is where Rosette and contracts come in.
The only other way for a demon to draw energy without his horns is by having a contractor. A contractor is a person (a human) who calls on the services of a powerful demon. In exchange for this servitude, the contractor provides the demon with their energy source: this being their soul. Every time a demon uses their power via a contractor, it draws from their soul and essentially shortens their lifespan. Eventually, they'll die.
Chrno had a contractor before Rosette, but it was very short lived and emo. It also didn't have the watch as a medium. Rosette's watch functions as a control for when and where Chrno's powers are unsealed. The watch has clamps on it, and when released, it bursts open and Chrno can draw energy from Rosette. The watch hands on the face also spin around; I think there's a way to tell on the watch whether her time has gone 'down' or not, since she mentions it at some point.
The watch isn't infallible, though. Chrno can and has broken the watch's seal without Rosette's consent and it did, on one occasion, go very badly. If Chrno starts losing his mind a bit and tries to draw energy without asking, the watch will spark and crackle, and if he's going psycho enough, it'll burst open as well. The watch also has a time limit function, I believe. At one point in volume one, Rosette says she's giving Chrno ten minutes, and since she was falling through the goddamn sky when time was up, I'm guessing it shut on its own.
Next, abilities.
I'll divide this up into sealed and unsealed, for coherency or... the sake of dividing this up even more!
Sealed
Chrno, despite being a 12 years old child, is a physical fighter and is still bloody good at it while he's short. He fights with a short sword, long dagger, whatever you call 'em. He's got two of them stashed in the pack he carries around, the rest of which is for Rosette's weapons. It miiiight actually be inconsistent for him to have two blades considering where I've drawn him from, but whatever. My icons are cooler like that :|b. He can ninja around fairly well with these blades, and can do some serious damage. He's above human level in that regard, but not awesomely so. He still gets hit, he still bleeds a lot... more often than not he starts the fight by getting the shit beat out of him until he snaps a little and fights back. He's also been known to fight with adult-sized swords (badly) and poles (not so badly).
He can heal himself; if left alone, his wounds heal faster than a human's anyway, but he can also heal instantly (or close to it) if he draws on the watch's power. The few times he's done this, he hasn't appeared to have asked permission, so he can definitely pull down enough power for healing without asking Rosette first. He can also do some form of barrier defense in tight spots - once again, without asking Rosette. GENERALLY he only does this if the situation is really dire and they might die otherwise.
In the first chapter, he also sends a malevolent spirit "home". They'd just beaten the thing, which was rampaging around a ship, and I'm not sure whether he put it to rest somehow, actually sent it back to where it came from or just... obliterated it nicely. Rosette opened the seal for this.
Unsealed
Hokay. As a full-fledged demon, Chrno can fight with claws and teeth and sharp pointy things. If he's riled enough, he does fight like a rabid animal, but generally it's more controlled. His hands are clawed, and he also has gauntlet-like things on his forearms which can extend into bigger claws. He can tear and rend with this stuff pretty easily. I'd say the same would go for his teeth but he doesn't actually bite anyone in canon so I'll just leave that out.
Chrno has a second spine thing coming out of the base of his skull. It's basically a long series of interconnected vertebrae, all with sharpened edges. At the end, there's a longer, more arrow-like piece. I'm guessing it can flex and move to some extent, and that Chrno has some degree of control over it. Not enough to like... I dunno... WAG IT LIKE A TAIL but enough to keep it out of his way. He uses it as a whip that cuts, pretty much. He'll swing it around very fast and slash through whatever's in the way. It's very sharp, and very effective.
It's also weird but you know. It's Japanese. They invented weird.
Another thing is that Chrno can fire energy blasts. He doesn't do this often as he is more likely to fight something hand-to-hand, but he can do it. They're fairly large blasts, but not Dragonball Z level wtfery. It's probably the same principle as when the throws up barriers - just a concentration of energy.
Aaaand there's hand-to-hand fighting, which is pretty standard only with added claws and second spine usage. If he goes batshit, though, he can level half a city like that so it's nothing to scoff at.
I think that covers it. If there's anything wrong in there, do kick me. I like being corrected.
Virtually every demon in Chrno Crusade lives in the demon realm of Pandaemonium. "Pandaemonium" also refers to the queen mother of demons, who gives birth to them all. Demons don't have a concept of family, as such; they see each other all as comrades. However, there is a small group of demons referred to as Sinners, and these demons are exiles from the demon realm. Chrno is one of these sinners. I won't get into the whole backstory of the Sinners here, since it's long and not really relevant.
The demons have something of a hierarchy judged by how powerful/smart they are. The lowest level of demon are legions, for example, who work through hive mentality. Chrno and his ilk are somewhere near the highest level of demon, near as I can tell; they're the most sophisticated. Another thing about legions is that they also form the molecular structure of higher level demons; so basically demons are made of smaller demons. The thing keeping the legions from 'overtaking' the demon they make up is a barrier of sorts called the geas. The geas is linked to Pandaemonium. If Pandaemonium loses control of its legions, then the geas no longer works and all other demons are overtaken by their legions. How? Through their horns.
A demon's horns are where they draw their energy from. There's something in Chrno Crusade called the Astral Line: a river of unseen energy in the atmosphere that contains all life. When something is born, their soul comes down from the Astral Line, and when they die, their soul returns to it. The Astral Line is also where demons draw their energy, and their horns are effectively the conduit. Their horns also act as antennae of control for Pandaemonium. Essentially, without their horns, demons have no energy and they "cease to exist". They die.
Chrno, in fact, is a hornless demon. He used to have horns (as evidenced by the clamps on his head) but they were torn off fifty-four years ago. Thus he can't draw any energy for himself and is almost powerless on his own. Just transforming to his demon form and flying a short distance severely weakened him when he did it on his own energy. He can survive for a considerable period without his horns, owing to the fact that he slept in a tomb for fifty years and could wake up after it. But generally, he would eventually die if left on his own. This is where Rosette and contracts come in.
The only other way for a demon to draw energy without his horns is by having a contractor. A contractor is a person (a human) who calls on the services of a powerful demon. In exchange for this servitude, the contractor provides the demon with their energy source: this being their soul. Every time a demon uses their power via a contractor, it draws from their soul and essentially shortens their lifespan. Eventually, they'll die.
Chrno had a contractor before Rosette, but it was very short lived and emo. It also didn't have the watch as a medium. Rosette's watch functions as a control for when and where Chrno's powers are unsealed. The watch has clamps on it, and when released, it bursts open and Chrno can draw energy from Rosette. The watch hands on the face also spin around; I think there's a way to tell on the watch whether her time has gone 'down' or not, since she mentions it at some point.
The watch isn't infallible, though. Chrno can and has broken the watch's seal without Rosette's consent and it did, on one occasion, go very badly. If Chrno starts losing his mind a bit and tries to draw energy without asking, the watch will spark and crackle, and if he's going psycho enough, it'll burst open as well. The watch also has a time limit function, I believe. At one point in volume one, Rosette says she's giving Chrno ten minutes, and since she was falling through the goddamn sky when time was up, I'm guessing it shut on its own.
Next, abilities.
I'll divide this up into sealed and unsealed, for coherency or... the sake of dividing this up even more!
Sealed
Chrno, despite being a 12 years old child, is a physical fighter and is still bloody good at it while he's short. He fights with a short sword, long dagger, whatever you call 'em. He's got two of them stashed in the pack he carries around, the rest of which is for Rosette's weapons. It miiiight actually be inconsistent for him to have two blades considering where I've drawn him from, but whatever. My icons are cooler like that :|b. He can ninja around fairly well with these blades, and can do some serious damage. He's above human level in that regard, but not awesomely so. He still gets hit, he still bleeds a lot... more often than not he starts the fight by getting the shit beat out of him until he snaps a little and fights back. He's also been known to fight with adult-sized swords (badly) and poles (not so badly).
He can heal himself; if left alone, his wounds heal faster than a human's anyway, but he can also heal instantly (or close to it) if he draws on the watch's power. The few times he's done this, he hasn't appeared to have asked permission, so he can definitely pull down enough power for healing without asking Rosette first. He can also do some form of barrier defense in tight spots - once again, without asking Rosette. GENERALLY he only does this if the situation is really dire and they might die otherwise.
In the first chapter, he also sends a malevolent spirit "home". They'd just beaten the thing, which was rampaging around a ship, and I'm not sure whether he put it to rest somehow, actually sent it back to where it came from or just... obliterated it nicely. Rosette opened the seal for this.
Unsealed
Hokay. As a full-fledged demon, Chrno can fight with claws and teeth and sharp pointy things. If he's riled enough, he does fight like a rabid animal, but generally it's more controlled. His hands are clawed, and he also has gauntlet-like things on his forearms which can extend into bigger claws. He can tear and rend with this stuff pretty easily. I'd say the same would go for his teeth but he doesn't actually bite anyone in canon so I'll just leave that out.
Chrno has a second spine thing coming out of the base of his skull. It's basically a long series of interconnected vertebrae, all with sharpened edges. At the end, there's a longer, more arrow-like piece. I'm guessing it can flex and move to some extent, and that Chrno has some degree of control over it. Not enough to like... I dunno... WAG IT LIKE A TAIL but enough to keep it out of his way. He uses it as a whip that cuts, pretty much. He'll swing it around very fast and slash through whatever's in the way. It's very sharp, and very effective.
It's also weird but you know. It's Japanese. They invented weird.
Another thing is that Chrno can fire energy blasts. He doesn't do this often as he is more likely to fight something hand-to-hand, but he can do it. They're fairly large blasts, but not Dragonball Z level wtfery. It's probably the same principle as when the throws up barriers - just a concentration of energy.
Aaaand there's hand-to-hand fighting, which is pretty standard only with added claws and second spine usage. If he goes batshit, though, he can level half a city like that so it's nothing to scoff at.
I think that covers it. If there's anything wrong in there, do kick me. I like being corrected.