Maya

Maya
Aliases	Mathangi Ten Meti, Mathangi Mantra
Epithet	The Destroyer
Transliteration	Mathangi Murder-the-Gods-and-Topple-Their-Thrones
Classification	Mendicant Knight
Gender	Female
Occupation	Recluse Noodle Vendor General (former) Demiurge (former)
Affiliates	Meti Ten Ryo Incubus
Debut	KSBD 2:34
Status	Active

Mathangi "Maya" Mantra, also known as Mathangi Ten Meti, whose surname of "Mantra" means Murder the Gods and Topple Their Thrones, is a member of the Mendicant Knights and a former general who conquered 20,000 worlds. Realizing the non-sensical nature of her quest for power, she stepped down and currently resides in Throne as a drunkard and recluse. "Ten" means something like "student of" and is not her surname.

Appearance

Maya is a heavy set, dark-skinned individual. Unlike other residents of Throne, Maya appears indistinguishable from most humans and possesses thick, dark hair that falls over her face in an ornate white pin. Underneath her hair along the left side of her face is a large scar, possible from some sort of burn. Beneath her clothes she also has many scars from cuts that run along her legs and arms.

On her forehead she wears a red bindi (possibly a ley-stone), while her ears contain thick blue plugs. Her nose is also pierced, decorated by beads that hang around her face. Maya wears a long blue prayer necklace around her person and a gourd-shaped container rests at her rear.

Maya's outfit consists of several layers. At the base she wears a brown long-sleeved garment covered by a white and blue cloth that wraps around her front and waist. Over this set she wears the red greatcloak of the Mendicant Knights which hooks together at the front. Finally, this piece is covered by a yellow floral shawl with a series of tassels at the back.

Personality

It is said that Maya is foul-mouthed and habitually drunk and she appears to be quite temperamental. In her first encounter with Allison, Maya is dark and brooding, asking her what she thinks about death.

When she interacts with the noodle vendor, Maya is perfectly cheerful and praises his cooking. This joy is short-lived however, and her face suddenly becomes murderous on her way out.

Her philosophies (and theocidal proclivities) are largely a result of her contentious struggle with her master Meti.

In the early days of her training, she was highly reluctant to take any lives, even the smaller ones of animals. She was once instructed to kill a rat, but hesitated, not wishing to. Incubus, the other student, did, and Meti told her that if she had truly wished to protect it, she would have had to move quickly enough to kill him before he did.

Abilities

As a former conqueror, Maya is especially fearsome, able to kill enemies seemingly without effort. Her weapon is an apparently-broken blade called the Maybe Sword, which nonetheless can cut along an extremely long edge projected along the same line as the broken blade. She can cut angels in half with a single stroke of the Sword. It is unknown whether the force of her cut comes from her own abilities, the abilities of her weapon, something else entirely, or a mixture of these.

History

Background/Universal War

From a young age, Maya brought food from her family to Meti ten Ryo, who at that time lived in a barrel in the marketplace of the Yellow City. She asked Meti to teach her the sword, every two weeks for fourteen years, but refused to follow her first instruction, which was to cut off all her hair with the rusty sword Meti gave her. While confronting Meti, she became aggravated, taking away her food to give to a young, starving, homeless Incubus. Incubus quickly took Maya's sword and followed the instruction to cut his hair, horrifying Maya. Meti complied complied with her command and both became Meti's students in the early days of the Universal War.

As the war progressed, Maya would leave her study under Meti, becoming a wandering swordsman by the name Dark Cloud, based on her hair. She would travel alongside Incubus, as the two were all that each other really had. In their travels they were sent to relieve a garrison of 20,000 men, only to discover that they were already dead, having been slaughtered by Jagganoth. Jagganoth confronted the two about their intentions and tells them that his master who hired them, the demiurge named Jantris, was an evil man who deserved to die. Maya agreed.

Maya as a demiurge

Maya would go on to kill Jantris, take his key for herself, and become one of the last demiurges. She took the name "murder the gods and topple their thrones" and became inheritor of the word Flame, 1/7th of the name of god. Together with Incubus, she commanded the Middle Army, the greatest fighting force the Wheel had ever seen. She commanded 5 million soldiers and thousands of chariots and war shades. She also possessed a formidable arsenal of 50 excellent grade swords.

Although she held so much power, she could not rid herself of what Meti once taught her. For all of her strength she could not fight the feeling that her master had been right and that she has lost. She returned to her, along with Incubus, and they spoke, and Maya decided to cast aside her crown and sword, finding them repulsive. She fled to a small world called Daitu, where she became a farmer and had a family, as Meti had originally told her to do. Incubus found her, killed her family, destroyed her home, and attempted to decapitate her 10 times. He likely took her Key at this time but the precise time is unconfirmed.

Barely alive, she traveled to see Manamum Mana, the greatest blacksmith on the Wheel. She begged for his help, a weapon powerful enough to kill a god. He accepted her offer, so long as she shared his bed for 3 days. She complied, but as she was weak, he forcibly gave her alcohol. This continued in a spiral, increasing his demands from her for 6 years. Growing tired of her complaining, Mana gave her a pathetic sword made by an apprentice. She struck Mana, but it shattered instantly, as they both knew it would. Unbenownst to anyone, Maya had been forging her own sword, the Heartsblood Blade, the Maybe Sword. Taking the shattered blade, she unleashed the Life Cut and slashed Mana and the entire building in half.

At some point, Incubus murdered Meti and fed her body to the dogs. It may have been immediately after they spoke on Maya's return, after Maya departed her throne to become a farmer, or any other time after their confrontation when he killed her family. This was in line with Meti's stated wishes after her death but Maya remains furious with him about it.

Kill Six Billion Demons

Maya was first shown eating noodles in Hell 71. Allison believed she had found another human, but Maya was cryptic and merely quoted a phrase from the Song of Maybe. When the Guild War at Hell 71 broke out, Maya was seen still enjoying her noodles. She then ordered the noodle vendor to take cover; when the fight cleared, the vendor saw that a semi-circle around her seat was entirely clear, containing only cuts into the stone floor and the obliterated remains of fighters who had been nearby.

Wielder of Names

At the Palace of Radiance, she was seen in the crowd, was the first to track Alison after she left the ball, and remained present during the skirmish between the other pursuers of Allison's Key and the soldiers of Mottom. She did not initially appear to take part in their struggle except to defend herself by cutting a bullet from the air, but when the angels White Chain and the Juggernaut Star arrived, she confronted and effortlessly dispatched the Thorn Knight, causing it to explode and deal significant collateral damage to the palace in the process.

She fell from the palace to the ground below, injured but alive. Two children, referring to Maya as auntie, wake her up. As they retrieve alchohol for her, they find Juggernaut Star, that fell beside her, likewise alive. Despite being less impaired, Juggernaut Star departs rather than fight her again; this prompted Monkey (one of the Pursuers) to fearfully ask "Who are you?". Maya tells the children to go find their mothers, saying "Auntie Maya has a parade of fools to follow" as the other Pursuers awaken from the rubble and gather together.

Seeker of Thrones

Maya continued to travel with the Pursuers and was next seen in the Vault of Yre. She appears to be leading them, standing at the front as the Pursuers pour into the vault. She takes part in the Siege of Yre and is seen cutting a Priest of the Count in half.

King of Swords

Later, while still traveling with the Pursuers, who had at this time lost track of Alison, she stopped at a shrine to Aesma with her prospective student to pray and reflect on her master's death. When leaving that shrine, she and the bulk of the Pursuers heard the proclamation of The Ring of Power, and she followed them to Rayuba, where it was held.

Breaker of Infinities

After Jagganoth begins his attack at the coliseum and begins his war with the other demiurges, Maya looks up in the sky and hears the cacophony of the battle. arrives and prepares herself to fight Incubus. After much of Rayuba lies in ruins, she suddenly appears to save Allison from Incubus. When asked what she is doing here by Incubus, she simply responds "Protecting the rat", referencing Meti's lesson. While the rest of the battle is not depicted, Maya would later say she decapitated Incubus, not that it would stop him forever.

After the 3 year time skip, she appears outside of Jadis's temple, awaiting Allison after her escape.

Wheel Smashing Lord

At the beginning of the book, Maya tells Allison her backstory as she trains her, presumably somewhere near the rip of Throne's dayside or some other world.

Commentary

"Beware the swordsman who carries no blade." -Proverb; KSBD 4-70

"What are you doing here?" "Protecting the rat." - King of Swords 3-117 to 3-119, protecting Alison from Incubus, referencing Meti's lesson

Trivia

• The symbol on Maya's back (中) is the mark of the yet-unseen Middle Army. The symbol is also seen on Incubus' throne.
• It has been confirmed by Abbadon on KSBD Tumblr that Maya is the apprentice mentioned in Meti's Sword Manual. She served in the Middle army and enjoys eating.
• Maya and Aesma share the same epithet, "the Destroyer".
• It is vaguely implied that a figure that looks like a slender version of Maya was part of the impetus for the Universal War.
• Incubus says of the last King of his realm: "she's a fat, washed up drunk". Combined with her symbol appearing in his throne room, this may be an implication that Maya previously claimed kingship of his worlds and/or his key, and that he did not take them by force as the others of The Seven did.
• Meti specifically instructed that, if she died, her body should be given to the dogs. Nonetheless, Maya expresses resentment that Incubus did so.