Herlous

Herlous is a Sunil Pugilist who abandons a self-destructive retreat into alcohol to become his people's foremost hero and one of the founding officers of the Black Star Army. Initially recruited because Han Xiao promises a future for Sunil, he grows into a loyal comrade, a Calamity Grade fighter, and the army's long-serving fleet commander.

Biography

The Black Star Mercenary Group

Herlous spends the years after DarkStar destroys the Sunil homeworld hiding his strength and running a small bar. His older brother Delvis, a renowned ordnance engineer, died in that attack after leaving him a journal and the tailor-made Commander Class armor Shattered Light. Herlous had reached Grade B while still young despite an aversion to training, but guilt over Delvis and reluctance to inherit the endless sacrifices expected of Sunil Supers lead him to withdraw from public life. When Han Xiao finds him, Herlous is skeptical of the stranger's claimed foresight and resents the intrusion into memories he has tried to bury. (Chapters 338 and 344–345)

The next Catastrophe forces that avoidance into the open. Watching young Sunils prepare to die and remembering Delvis's final message, Herlous retrieves Shattered Light and intervenes when a King Predator threatens the defense line. He stops the beast's charge, kills it with the Battleship Slicing Blade, and spends the rest of the Catastrophe reinforcing failing positions. He initially conceals his identity because public recognition would end his quiet life and might cost him control of Delvis's inheritance, but his choice to fight has already made that retreat impossible. (Chapters 348–350)

The departure of Fernas and the Independence Faction makes Herlous understand the wider consequence of staying hidden. Their public rejection of Sunil's demands destroys faith in the race's guardians, while Fernas reveals that he expected Herlous to replace him. Herlous does not accept Fernas's belief that submission to Godora is the only humane answer. Instead, he allows the military to present him as a new national hero, lends Shattered Light to its researchers, and listens seriously when Han Xiao offers another path: build power in the galaxy, bring large numbers of Supers back to Sunil, and eventually remove DarkStar as a threat. The prediction that he would otherwise die defending Forest City frightens him, but the possibility of changing that future turns fear into action. (Chapters 350–354)

Herlous joins the new Black Star Mercenary Group both to test Han Xiao's promises and to protect the comparatively weaker captain whose survival now matters to Sunil. Discovering that he is the group's only publicly listed Grade B gives him an immediate sense of responsibility. He resumes daily combat training after more than a decade of neglect and treats the younger mercenaries as people he must keep alive. A spar soon reveals that Han Xiao has already reached the same grade; the discovery relieves Herlous of carrying the group alone and establishes trust between them as peers rather than merely partners in a bargain. (Chapters 354–362)

That trust is tested during DarkStar's pursuit of the mercenary alliance. When Ember uses carbon control through the group's vehicle, Herlous resists long enough to tell Han Xiao not to surrender for his sake, and Ember disintegrates his left arm before they escape. Herlous has long known how frequently Sunil warriors are maimed, but accepting that risk in theory does not prevent grief when it happens to him. Han Xiao gives him an S-30 prosthetic shield arm and promises that the loss need not be permanent; Herlous continues serving despite the prosthesis being unable to channel Pugilist energy, and he helps other Sunil mercenaries enter the group so that their work can better support their people. (Chapters 398–407)

As the mercenary group survives further contracts, Herlous's loyalty becomes personal. He retrieves Shattered Light from Sunil once researchers have derived useful results, enduring an accusation that reclaiming his brother's armor is selfish. Han Xiao publicly defends the sacrifices Herlous has already made, and Herlous recognizes that he now contributes not only because of Sunil or a promised transaction but because Black Star is a comrade who protects his people in return. Aurora later regrows his left arm, fulfilling Han Xiao's promise and removing the limitation imposed by the prosthesis. Herlous remains one of the dependable officers entrusted with the group whenever its captain operates elsewhere. (Chapters 405, 471–473, and 525)

Mutation Disaster and the Secret War

When the Black Star organization has grown large enough, Han Xiao places two hundred thousand mercenaries under Herlous's command for a campaign on Planet Sunil. Herlous refuses to claim credit for aid that Black Star supplies at nominal cost, but he becomes the essential link between the army and his civilization. Seeing the force he helped bring home revive hope throughout Forest City initially raises a difficult question: if the Catastrophe ends, has his reason to remain a mercenary ended with it? His answer is that the Black Star Army has become a second home. Gratitude, shared danger, and affection for his companions give him a life beyond the burden that first drove him into space. (Chapters 591–593)

The campaign's discovery of billions of Subterranean Mutants complicates that triumph. Herlous agrees with Sunil's plan to destroy the native population because its Prophecy Stones sustain the Catastrophe, yet he privately asks Han Xiao whether extermination by a stronger outsider is ethical. He accepts that Sunil's survival has priority while remaining troubled by the resemblance to DarkStar's attack on his own people. Once Han Xiao finds a way to persuade and relocate the mutants, Herlous readily changes tactics: his troops cripple hostile nests, accept surrenders, and stop pursuing escapees so that fewer Sunils and mutants die. His willingness to voice the moral problem, then implement a less destructive answer without protecting his pride, distinguishes him from officials who continue pressing for total extermination. (Chapters 617 and 619–624)

Compromise does not eliminate the campaign's brutality. At the vast New Rock Tribe, Herlous leads an assault that is repelled with severe losses and recognizes among the dead Lana, a young former neighbor who once dreamed of becoming a soldier. To prevent further Sunil deaths, he authorizes the targeted biochemical weapon Han Xiao had left in his custody, killing the tribe after it refuses migration. Returning as the celebrated victor, Herlous comforts Lana's parents, bows to Han Xiao, and pledges to serve as his blade for life. He also insists that Sunil remember the violence committed by its heroes rather than let survival erase its victims. Sunil is saved and Herlous becomes its preeminent hero, but the experience leaves him with a sober understanding that victory can be both necessary and morally costly. (Chapters 625–626)

With his original purpose fulfilled, Herlous has to keep pace with an army expanding faster than any one officer. He begins the Secret War as an experienced Grade B combatant and field commander, fighting boarding actions and taking temporary control of Black Star forces when Han Xiao pursues higher-priority targets. The arrival and promotion of other Calamity Grades makes him fear that long service alone will not justify his authority. He responds by training more seriously—though only halving, rather than abandoning, his card-playing time—and grows from Grade B+ to Calamity Grade after seven years. The advancement is not attributed to a special external enhancement; it is the result of his natural aptitude finally being developed through sustained combat and training. (Chapters 653–657, 690, 695, and 721)

The Evolution Cube and Crimson Dynasty

Herlous's importance grows through responsibility as much as personal power. As Fleet Commander, he and Lagi lead the army through major Secret War operations when Han Xiao is absent, using the players for high-risk assaults while preserving mortal personnel and high-level officers where possible. He becomes one of the senior figures whom Han Xiao trusts to keep the organization operating during seclusion or distant missions. By the end of the war, new members recognize Herlous as an established founder rather than merely a strong Sunil attached to Black Star. (Chapters 716, 723–725, 745, 766–783)

The Army's expansion also broadens what fleet command requires. Herlous reports that growing membership has enlarged the fleet and left the logistics departments with a substantial backlog, then participates in decisions about returning forces and maintaining headquarters while Han Xiao works with the Crimson Dynasty. By the end of this phase, observers distinguish him as one of the Calamity Grades cultivated inside the Army rather than an outside expert hired after its rise. His authority therefore rests on both advancement and years spent adapting the organization's conventional forces to a much larger scale. (Chapters 780, 814, and 886)

The Flickering World

His rise also lets him guide the next generation. Han Xiao assigns the Pugilist Mia to Herlous because he is both a Calamity Grade and an officer whose loyalty is beyond doubt. Herlous promises a more relaxed teaching style than the army's severe instructors, while still taking responsibility for developing her talent. Mia reaches Calamity Grade, giving Herlous a student whose growth reflects the institutional role he has acquired: the former recluse who once refused to use his own gifts now helps turn potential into strength for others. (Chapters 985 and 993)

The opening of the Flickering World moves Herlous from battlefield officer to strategic administrator. With Han Xiao supervising remotely, he coordinates Sylvia, Lagi, Reynold, and the construction forces that turn seven awarded Star Systems into connected Black Star territory. He translates the commander's broad blueprint into stargates, warning systems, quantum infrastructure, bases, factories, and transport routes. During the Kunde conflict, Herlous leads the army fleet in cooperation with the Crimson Dynasty and accepts responsibility for promotions and compensation after Han Xiao's intervention. These duties show that his authority now rests on organizational judgment, not only Calamity Grade force. (Chapters 929–930 and 969–976)

Intelligent Plague and the Association

Later crises repeatedly place the army's distributed forces in his hands. During Manison's virtual assault, Herlous mobilizes nearby divisions to search for the remote base. When Traveler attacks near Black Star Palace, he quietly forms a fleet encirclement and prepares spacetime stabilization to block escape while Ames holds the enemy's attention. In the war against Modo, Herlous serves as chief commander of the frontline fleets; Han Xiao leaves him to control the conventional battle while he and Ames penetrate the enemy headquarters. Herlous's role is rarely the most spectacular one, but it is the command structure that lets Beyond Grade A leaders leave the main force without surrendering operational control. (Chapters 961, 1048–1055, and 1174–1177)

Seniority gives Herlous political influence as well. He leads the army's elder faction and uses some of that position to obtain resources and opportunities for Sunils, extending the protective role that originally defined him. He remains aware that factional interests can compete with the army as a whole, however, and the corpus does not portray him attempting to displace Han Xiao or Sylvia's institutional authority. His ambition is principally custodial: preserve the people who followed the army from its earliest stage and ensure that Sunil shares in the success its service helped create. (Chapters 1062 and 1086)

Information Form and the Final Relay

Nearly a century after his recruitment, Herlous remains the Black Star Army's fleet commander in the Supers Holy Land. Successive Sunil leaders visit him, and his influence has provided the civilization with resources and places for promising youths. He eventually recognizes that the arrangement is producing the same kind of dependence that once threatened Sunil under Godora. He agrees to admit one final group through ordinary army standards, then tells future leaders to stop seeking his intervention and build on their own ability. The decision also acknowledges that the army has passed to a new generation under Nero and that personal patronage must not override its rules. (Chapter 1449)

Herlous and Sylvia look back on the unlikely course that carried them from a tiny mercenary group to galactic prominence, while Han Xiao later finds Herlous still working at the new headquarters. His latest state completes the reversal of his first appearance: the man who once hid in a bar to escape responsibility now holds authority without letting either Sunil or the army depend entirely on him. He has not abandoned his people; he has decided that the lasting form of protection is to make them capable of continuing without their hero. (Chapters 1449 and 1459)

Appearance and personality

Herlous is a tall, broadly built Sunil whose skin is light blue. At his first appearance he is about one hundred and fifty years old but looks only middle-aged, with a few wrinkles beside his forehead. He is often seen in armor or an army uniform; Shattered Light gives him the appearance of a silver-blue knight with white metal plates hanging from its shoulders like a cape. (Chapters 338, 349, 354, and 472)

He is good-natured, direct, sociable, and reliable when responsibility is placed on him, but he also has a pronounced lazy streak. Alcohol is initially a means of escaping grief, and card games remain his favorite diversion even after he becomes a commander. His jokes and complaints make him approachable to junior members, while combat and command bring out a much more serious demeanor. Herlous tends to doubt his own importance and compare himself unfavorably with faster-growing comrades, yet those insecurities usually push him back toward training or work rather than resentment. (Chapters 338, 355–362, 430, 469, 688–721, and 930)

His deepest trait is a sense of responsibility that develops rather than appearing fully formed. Herlous begins by avoiding the sacrifices expected of him, then accepts danger for Sunil, loyalty to Han Xiao, command over an army, and finally the duty to limit his own influence. He can make harsh wartime choices, including deploying a biological weapon, but he does not hide their moral cost behind heroic status. That capacity for doubt makes him slower to decide than some Sunil soldiers, while also allowing him to recognize when protection has become dependence. (Chapters 348–354, 619–626, and 1449)

Abilities and class

Herlous is a Pugilist whose combat style combines a durable body, close-range pressure, projected energy, and equipment designed to amplify his natural power. He begins the narrative as a veteran Grade B who has neglected training, reaches Grade B+ through active service, and becomes a Calamity Grade after seven years of sustained development. The corpus does not give his later level, a complete skill list, or the exact biological process behind his advancement.

Pugilist energy and physical combat

Herlous reached Grade B at an unusually young age despite little discipline, establishing his power as trained Super ability supported by exceptional natural aptitude rather than an item-granted transformation. Pugilist training lets him circulate energy through his body, coat himself for defense, sharpen his senses, and turn physical strikes into destructive impacts. He is described as a semi-tank: at Grade B he can stop a King Predator head-on, survive surrounded by a beast wave, move faster than ordinary soldiers can follow, and swing an enormous blade with precision. His senses can detect hostile Supers of the same grade, but concealment, superior speed, virtual systems, and attacks that bypass ordinary toughness can still defeat or injure him. (Chapters 347, 349–350, and 361–365)

Shockwave Blast compresses his internal energy and releases it from his palms as a sustained silver-white beam. Its power and duration rise with his grade and energy output; during an early spar it throws Han Xiao across the room even though Herlous deliberately limits the attack to avoid breaching the structure. The technique is energy-intensive, visibly strains him, and is less useful when he must preserve stamina for prolonged operations. He can also project energy through weapon swings as arcs and shockwaves, giving his melee style limited ranged reach without changing its focus on closing distance. (Chapters 350, 361, and 472)

Years of combat restore the potential he wasted in seclusion. Herlous progresses from roughly the lower threshold of Grade B to Grade B+, then crosses into Calamity Grade; the narrative records the milestones but does not name a unique promotion technique. At his latest confirmed state he retains that grade, though his later appearances emphasize command rather than personal duels. His interface also shows Basic Luck Glow, and repeated card games demonstrate conspicuous good fortune, but the corpus does not establish a specific combat effect or an activation method for that passive trait. (Chapters 361–362, 695, 721, 886, and 1459)

Shattered Light

Shattered Light is a Commander Class suit that Delvis secretly built around Herlous's physique and Pugilist abilities. Stored in a compact form, its armor plates unfold into a silver-blue suit whose internal energy-conversion devices amplify Herlous's output. The increase strengthens his protection, speed, and projected attacks; Herlous estimates a gain of more than fifty percent, while Han Xiao observes an energy rise of more than thirty percent during one test. Two flexible metal cape structures convert Herlous's energy into lift through an unexplained process, allowing sustained flight and making it far harder for ranged opponents to maintain distance. (Chapters 348–350 and 471–473)

The armor is powerful but not autonomous. It amplifies energy that Herlous supplies, can be damaged by concentrated fire, and requires a Mechanic to repair it. Electromagnetic disruption can disable its visual systems, forcing him to open the helmet, and a strong traction trap can immobilize the suit long enough for artillery to overwhelm it. Herlous also spends long periods without Shattered Light while Sunil researchers study it, so its benefits are equipment-dependent rather than permanent Pugilist abilities. Its latest physical condition is not described after his early campaigns. (Chapters 352–354 and 471–473)

Battleship Slicing Blade

The Battleship Slicing Blade is Herlous's signature weapon and the main channel for his aggressive combat style. It folds into a rectangular metal block for transport, expands to roughly ten meters for sweeping attacks, and can retract to about one meter for close quarters. Pugilist energy forms a cutting aura around the blade and turns swings into arcs capable of opening long trenches, cleaving armored doors, dismembering hundreds of massed enemies, and threatening targets well beyond its physical edge. Its changing length lets Herlous alternate between area control and rapid melee pressure. (Chapters 349–350, 354, 433, 472, and 625)

The blade does not make every target vulnerable. Comparable Grade B defenses can withstand or deflect some hits, agile opponents can exploit the commitment of its broad swings, and Herlous's stamina still limits how long he can maintain large energy attacks. Against Han Xiao, his relentless close-range offense appears dominant until a feint and restraint device create one opening, after which Herlous cannot protect himself from concentrated artillery. The representative defeat shows both sides of the weapon: it makes him exceptionally dangerous once he closes distance, but it cannot compensate for battlefield control that prevents him from moving or choosing the exchange. (Chapters 361–362 and 472–473)

Fleet command and officer training

Herlous develops command ability through repeated mercenary and military operations rather than a supernatural skill. He organizes ground armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands, directs fleets across multi-planet battlefields, coordinates spacetime traps, manages withdrawals, and translates strategic goals into deployments that protect mortal troops where possible. His authority depends on communications, sensors, ships, subordinate officers, and plans supplied by the organization; it cannot replace Beyond Grade A power or prevent every casualty. Its value is continuity—Han Xiao can leave a theater because Herlous understands both the army's doctrine and its people. (Chapters 592–626, 723–745, 930, 961, 1048–1055, and 1174–1177)

He also teaches Pugilist development. Mia is his only explicitly identified personal student in the corpus, and she reaches Calamity Grade after training within the army. The text does not describe a named Herlous school, a unique teaching technique, or how much of Mia's advancement comes specifically from him, so his latest instructional role is established more clearly than its mechanics. (Chapters 985 and 993)

Power progression

Relationships

• Han Xiao: Herlous first follows Han Xiao to secure a future for Sunil and to verify his supposed foresight. Shared battles, Han Xiao's defense of his dignity, the restoration of his arm, and the rescue of Sunil turn that bargain into friendship and lifelong loyalty. Han Xiao increasingly trusts him with the conventional army whenever higher-level crises demand the commander's personal attention.
• Delvis: Herlous's deceased older brother was an ordnance engineer whose disapproval never erased their affection. Delvis's death, journal, and armor burden Herlous with grief, but ultimately provide the material and moral inheritance through which he returns to public life.
• Sylvia: Sylvia and Herlous become the principal administrative and military pillars among Black Star's early followers. They coordinate the army for decades, share an informal familiarity that permits criticism and teasing, and finally reflect together on the century their service has transformed.
• Lagi: Lagi serves as vice commander while Herlous commands fleets. They jointly lead major Secret War operations in Han Xiao's absence and share a fondness for card games, though Lagi's pessimism contrasts with Herlous's practical reliability.
• Reynold: Reynold's earlier advancement to Calamity Grade intensifies Herlous's fear of falling behind, but the competition does not become hostility. The two later serve as fellow department heads, and their card rivalry is a recurring part of the officers' social life.
• Aurora: Aurora chooses to spend a small portion of her life force to regrow Herlous's disintegrated arm. Her help ends his dependence on a prosthesis and fulfills Han Xiao's promise that the injury would not be permanent.
• Ember: Ember disintegrates Herlous's left arm during DarkStar's pursuit. Herlous fears the enormous mismatch between their abilities and initially believes Ember dead; Han Xiao's later success against him gives Herlous a sense that the injury has been avenged.
• Mia: Herlous accepts the talented young Pugilist as his student and promises to make time for her despite his command responsibilities. She later reaches Calamity Grade and becomes a notable army officer.

Items

• Battleship Slicing Blade: Herlous's signature variable-length weapon, used alongside Shattered Light to channel Pugilist energy through sweeping or close-range attacks. Its exact origin is not stated.
• Shattered Light: A Commander Class suit designed by Delvis specifically for Herlous. It amplifies his energy, protection, movement, and flight, but remains damageable equipment that requires repair.
• Delvis's Journal: Delvis's technical notebook and a keepsake entrusted to Herlous after his death. Herlous allows Han Xiao to read it, enabling the Mechanic to acquire the Ordnance Engineer subclass.
• S-30 prosthetic shield arm: A nerve-connected mechanical replacement built by Han Xiao after Ember destroys Herlous's left arm. It restores physical function and includes armor and a small shield, but cannot generate Pugilist energy; Aurora later regrows the original limb.