Category:Four Heavenly Knights

Four Heavenly Knights' Battle Theme

The Four Heavenly Knights (Japanese: 四天王 Shitennō) are four extremely powerful monsters that serve as the enforcers of the current Monster Lord, Alice (XVI).

Their identities are:
 * Alma Elma: The whimsical Queen Succubus and master of martial arts and wind magic. She has a carefree personality but is largely unknown to the other Heavenly Knights and the Monster Lord.
 * Tamamo: The playful Queen Kitsune and master of earth magic. She is very loyal to the Monster Lords, supposedly having mentored them five generations straight according to a rumor, and frequently tutors them and sometimes others.
 * Erubetie: The stoic Queen Slime and a master of water magic. She despises humans due to them polluting waters and thus making them uninhabitable to her brethren.
 * Granberia: A dragonkin swordswoman and master of the Cursed Sword style, proficient in all four elements with her main one being fire. Her swordplay is unmatched and she desires strong opponents to rival her.

Usually when a Monster Lord is selected, the heir to the throne may receive a challenger, such as Cassandra during Alice XV (Fifteenth)'s coronation. However, during the last coronation, four powerful monsters rose to challenge Alice XVI.

Each competitor had their own reasons for partaking in the battle: Alma Elma simply viewed the competition as fun; Tamamo, who was Alice's surrogate mother and the mentor of many Monster Lords before her, felt that Alice was outnumbered and could possibly be unfairly overwhelmed if she did not step in; Erubetie planned to use the position of Monster Lord to eradicate the humans due to their oppression on the slimes; and Granberia wished to test her skill against the daughter of the previous Monster Lord, having no intention of claiming the throne whatsoever.

Over the course of the battle, Alma Elma left the match early purely on a whim, and Tamamo and Erubetie knocked each other out simultaneously, which left Granberia to battle Alice. Granberia managed to bring Alice "to her knees" until the Lamia saw every move that the dragonkin had at her disposal and claimed victory.

After being defeated by Alice for the right to the Monster Lord’s throne, the other combatants became the Four Heavenly Knights. This was done to aid the Monster Lord in keeping the balance of power in the monster race. That doesn't mean, however, that the Monster Lord controls them, seeing as they all tend to do their own things, some of which Alice does not approve of.

All four Knights have very different opinions on Luka. Tamamo acts like a tutor, Granberia tests him for his skills as a possible rival, Alma Elma treats him nonchalantly and seemingly only teases him when the two battle, and Erubetie initially want to outright kill him due to her intense hatred of the human race. Luka views each Knight as an obstacle to coexistence between humans and monsters, as their actions often tend to affect humans negatively, but nonetheless holds a respect for them and hopes for them to agree to coexistence.

Although players speculate that there is some form of tier or ranking system within the Heavenly Knights due to their differences in HP and level, the order they are fought, and the nature of the competition to see who would succeed the throne, they act more like knights of the round table. When Alice is questioned by Luka about their levels of ability, she states that, although they have their own strengths and weaknesses in various situations, they all have the same level of raw power. For instance, Alma’s speed and hand-to-hand fighting are unmatched, while Granberia’s swordplay is second to none.

All Heavenly Knights are capable of teleportation and telepathy and are said to possess abilities associated with a particular element. Alma Elma is associated with wind, Tamamo with earth, Erubetie with water, and Granberia with fire. However, it is possible for the knights to use skills that are associated with different elements, as seen with Granberia who displays mastery over all four elements, and Tamamo who is also shown using fire.

Under Goddess Ilias’s order, Promestein created several special chimeras, the Next Dolls, to deal with the Heavenly Knights. These were called Hainuwele, Amphisbaena, Tsukuyomi and Arc-En-Ciel, who respectively counter Alma Elma, Erubetie, Tamamo, and Granberia. Promestein analyzed the Heavenly Knights and engineered these four chimeras to defeat them by taking advantage of their weaknesses or overpowering them. The fifth Next Doll, Rapunzel, was not engineered to counter any of them.

Monster Girl Quest Paradox
In the parallel universe, The Four Heavenly Knights have returned, but their situation is extremely different. While they were loyal, if somewhat a little too independent in the original Universe, here, none of them is currently serving Alipheese the 16th: Her knights have abandoned her after a mysterious White Rabbit had evaded the knights in the Monster Lord's Castle and managed to seal her, reducing Alice to her sealed form and forcing her to chase the White Rabbit.

Should Alice joins Luka's journey, she talks to Luka about the knights, and how she's worried they haven't appeared yet (Tamamo in particular, since she has the best intel network in this world). The main heroine and Luka travel to Iliasburg to chase after the White Rabbit, and sure enough, she appears in front of them and asks if they expected to meet Granberia. Luka asks the White Rabbit how Granberia is related to this matter when suddenly a vision flash of her image appears in Luka's mind. The White Rabbit is impressed that someone like Luka has the power to see the image of Granberia from another world.

Venturing in the First Tartarus, Granberia is mentioned again in Luka's Journal: she defeated him and forced him to go back to Iliasville, which later got slaughtered by the angels. Luka from the Paradox World didn't know much or at all about the Heavenly Knights and assumes that the journal is his counterpart from this world.

Getting to Enrika after Luka gets a message from his father Marcellus from his world that they need to see Micaela, an Elf mentions Granberia again having to battle a new Monster Lord, Alipheese the 17th, who managed to draw the battle. The main heroine is surprised that someone like her managed to be on equal terms with one of the Heavenly Knights, particularly since said monster also broke the peace in Plansect Village and pushed Spider Princess and her cohorts back on the same day.

When getting to Sentora to see the power struggle of the three Monster Lords, the group is confronted by the storm which Alice thinks was created by Alma Elma. Upon hearing that kitsunes have been sighted in the Cave of Treasures, Alice mentions that Tamamo, one of the Four Heavenly Knights, must be here to get the Poseidon's Bell that would allow the party to go through the storm, which is confirmed by Nanabi's appearance. However, when Tamamo shows up, it's revealed it's only a projection created by the White Rabbit to trick everyone. Alice has difficulty believing what's happening and decides to move on as they now have the Poseidon's Bell.

Setting sail to Port Natalia, Alma Elma doesn't appear. Instead, a Succubus named Morrigan, who was first mentioned by one of the Harpies, is the one responsible for the storm. Just like Alma Elma in the original world, she goes easy on the group.

During the Queen's Cup at Grand Noah, Mephisto explains that the Queen's Cup is simply an excuse to lure out a traitor who didn't want to follow the returning Monster Lord's way of ruling. When Granberia shows up to bring Alma Elma back, the latter sides with Luka against the lizardkin. After being beaten, Granberia questions the loyalty the Succubus Queen has for the Monster Lord, to which Alma answers that she didn't swear loyalty to the Monster Lord on the throne. Still, the whimsical succubus refuses to join the party, saying that she has her own missions to do.

Following the climax of the Queen's Cup, Arthur, the Dullahan asks the Hero to investigate Yamatai Village regarding a trouble with the shrines and also where Tamamo should currently be. Arriving at the Kitsune Shrine, the heroine sees the real Tamamo, depressed, and wants to know why she is like that. Tamamo is torn between her loyalty to the Monster Lord, her plans, and her love for the world, and consequently refuses to do anything. She doesn't know why Alice's mother kicked her out of her plan, and, should Ilias be the one accompanying the hero, she tells her that she changed since the Great Monster Wars.

When the party investigates the Magical Academy for the Grand Noah Queen, they meet Alma Elma disguised as a student, and the Queen Succubus tells them that there is a secret meeting that the party needs to hear in order to prove that Mephisto is working for the Monster Lord.

It is revealed that Lilith is in league with Alipheese the 15th and Mephisto are helping her with the plan. As the party is threatened by both monsters, Alma Elma steps in and helps the party by fighting Lilith, leaving the Hero and Alice to fight Mephisto. Alma Elma unleashes her full power against Lilith, not holding back in the slightest and apparently managing to lead their fight to a draw.

After reaching Undine to form a contract with her, Erubetie shows up and attempts to stop Luka right after the party successfully won against Undyne, saying that it was the "Monster Lord's order" to do so and that she feels betrayed by Undyne's decision of allying herself with Luka. However, it's clear that Erubetie isn't using all of her strength against him because she's in conflict with herself over the Monster Lord's orders.

Alma Elma reappears once again in Lima Village Ruins as support to help the party infiltrate the Gold Fort. She tries to convince Tamamo one last time to help them, but the kitsune is still sulking and refuses to move on. In any case, the Succubus Queen non-lethally incapacitates every guard in the fort, but, upon leaving the place, the party is attacked by Morrigan and Astaroth. Alma Elma keeps them back while the party flees.

Fortunately, she reappears again in Grangold Castle, imprisoned, and says she had hurt her opponents enough to force them to recover at the Monster Lord's castle. In the meantime, Tamamo saves Merlin and Lazarus from a transformed Grangold King. When the party is beaten by her counterpart from another world, she intervenes and heals them before transforming into her ancestor form and facing her. When her unsealing spell is about to time out, she's saved by Nero and Neris.

Both of the Heavenly Knights reappear at the victory banquet. However, none of them want to join the party, with Tamamo wanting to focus on chasing her counterpart and Alma Elma wanting to chase the Lilith Sisters.

Granberia reappears when Luka has beaten Salamander. On Alice's route, the Heavenly Knight of Fire asks Alice if she knows anything about her mother's plan before leaving, while on Ilias's route, she fights the party but is beaten back, as her confusion prevents her to use her full power.

The Heavenly Knights only appear once more in part 2, when the party goes to the Ancient Temple Ruins for a third time. Morrigan explains to them the way their plan work, and Alma Elma appears to chase her. On both routes, the party ends up facing the Succubus Queen who fights seriously and finally recruits her.

Trivia

 * The Japanese name, 四天王 Shitennō, translates to the Four Heavenly Kings, which references the Buddhist deities who watch over the four gates of heaven. The renaming from "King" to "Knight" during translation may have been because they are of lower status than the Monster Lord. Additionally, Granberia and Alma Elma do not act as leaders of their own race, even if the latter does possess the title "Queen".
 * Although the Four Heavenly Knights in the game are linked to elements via the Four Spirits, the traditional iteration of the legend does not link the four kings to the classical elements.
 * However, the original legend does state that each king is a guardian of a direction (North, East, South, and West). Though not linked to the Four Heavenly Knights, this extends to another set of four monsters being associated with this part of the legend.