Exa

Exa (エクサ Ekusa) is the Hero who dreams of monsters and humans co-existing in harmony. He values all monster and human life, and does not wish to kill anyone, firmly believing that the war can end without the complete extermination of one race. Despite his philosophy, he will make an exception for the Demon Queen, whom Exa can never forgive for the atrocious crimes she has committed, as well as for the murder of his family and friends at the hands of the latter. Exa believes that with the death of the Demon Lord, peace could be restored to the world.

Personality
While Exa acts cool and collected for the most part, he does loosens up around those he trusts. Exa is a peaceful, kind and calm individual. While calm for the most part, he does become rather short-tempered sometimes, especially around Sheila. Even when he was a boy, he was a pacifist who didn't like fighting, something his neighbors thought was a waste. This attitude is often made evident whenever he refuses to kill other monsters, and prefers to run away from a battle or discuss a solution. This irritates Sheila to no end as it often causes Exa to be in danger (and then she has to rescue him). Coupled with his willingness to give strangers the benefit of the doubt and protect humans and monsters alike, she often calls him naive and a "simpleton".

Exa disciplines himself greatly with his "righteous mind" and often refuses to talk about his more darker feelings in front of others. In Superior Cross, Exa described himself as "thickheaded, cowardly, and unable to do anything on [his] own". He reveals (to Sheila by accident) that he is always afraid whenever he fights and trembles during every battle. Still, he continues to fight on because he is the people's Hero and they need him.

Hero
After witnessing the destruction of his village at the hands of the Demon Queen (see History below), Exa decided to become the next Hero so that he could always prevent the pain of losing a loved one, whether it was from the human or monsters side.

He was trained and possibly taken care of during the rest of his childhood and adolescence by the First Hero, who taught him swordsmanship, magic spells, etc. until he was ready to become a Hero.

Abilities
Although he disliked fighting, since he was young he displayed amazing magic powers that were able to even neutralize the attack of the Demon Queen (see History below).

After many years of training under the First Hero and possibly self-training, Exa acquired great ability and magic. An example of this is when a piece of his mind is taken and goes berserk, and using Mirage he wiped out a whole forest (except for a single tree, although this was on purpose) in a matter of moments. However, he commented at that time that because of the instability of his mind he could not use his power properly, suggesting that if he had used his full powers without the presence of his righteous mind he could have brought about the end of the world.

Exa tends to use defensive magic rather than offensive magic, such as when monsters arrived at Xion's town, rather than attacking the monsters he cast a protective barrier of great magnitude around the village. Another example is when the castle was invaded, he would trap all defeated monsters inside a bubble-like prison instead of killing them.

Exa seems to be skilled in many kinds of magic, as he once summoned water out of nothing using the aid of a jewel.

Aside from his magic, Exa is very skilled in swordsmanship and combat. When fighting he uses his sword, Mirage, to deal powerful blows rather than physical attacks, due to the fact that the sword is not sharpened. Moreover, Exa has healing powers that are able to cure injuries to some extent.

History
When Exa was young, he lived in a peaceful town with his father, mother, and friendly neighbors. One day while coming back from collecting strawberries in a near forest, he found his village completely destroyed as well as all the villagers killed. While frantically looking for survivors, he found his mortally wounded mother still alive. In his way to try and save his mother, he soon encounters Sheila and Kagami who had remained after the town's destruction. Sheila, a child during that time, approached Exa with the intention to kill him; and although she was the Demon Lord, Exa fearlessly commanded her to step aside, for he had to save her mother, only to find out that she had already died from her wounds.

Amidst his despair, Exa asked her the reason why she killed humans, making them suffer so much, to which she merely replied that humans killed monsters as well; and because of her strength she had the right to live and could kill whoever she liked. And so, she stated that because of this she would kill all the humans that threatened the monsters' existence.

Exa, however, shocked by her lack of empathy and childish arrogance, tried to make her understand that her "strong eats weak" philosophy was not the solution, for both humans and monsters had minds, and the extermination of one race would cause them both pain. However, being unable to understand love and the pain that comes after losing a loved one, Sheila simply insisted on how it was foolish for "weaklings" to demand for rights such as to live, and even suggested that if he didn't want to see anymore humans die, he should destroy her and kill monsters so that a world for just humans could be achieved.

Outraged by her way of thinking and for stepping on her mother's corpse, Exa attacks Sheila, but he is easily overpowered. Just when she was about to kill him, Exa neutralized her attack with just one hand and proceeded to attack Kagami. Enraged by his actions, Sheila overpowers him once again; but before she can deal her finishing blow the First Hero appears and saves Exa. Realizing that the tides may have turned, Kagami deems it prudent to retreat and he and Sheila leave the battlefield.

Exa is left filled with anger, despair, and revenge, swearing that he would kill all monsters no matter what. However, when a tiny monster Exa had befriended during his trip to the forest suddenly returns, and the First Hero tells him that it was the monster who brought him to the village and ultimately rescue Exa, even though the chances of being killed when it found a human were very high, Exa realizes that the extermination of one race is wrong after all, for all creatures have hearts and minds. He then takes the resolution to become a Hero that would protect both humans and monsters, and achieve a peaceful world in which no one had to die. After his request, the First Hero takes Exa in his journey to train him.

Plot Overview
Years later, Exa has finally become the Hero, and has started travelling the world in search for the Demon Queen, whom even though he vowed to protect humans and monsters alike, has sweared to kill for all the crimes she had committed. At some point in his journey, Exa meets Sheila for the first time in many years (and fails to recognize her as the Demon Queen). Approaching him with the intent to kill him while distracted, Sheila introduced herself as a weak monster who had fallen in love with Exa after being saved by a dragon roaming by. Exa was flabbergasted by her confession, and refused to let her join him; but after she loudly lamented that she would die without the protection of the Hero, guilty, Exa reluctantly let her come with him, with the condition that she should never kill anyone.

At first, Exa had his hands full dealing with Sheila's spoiled and unpredictable attitude. He would often reprimand Sheila for trying to eat or kill humans. However, Exa still showed an unusual amount of trust in Sheila (as noticed by Angelica). As time passed, Exa noticed how much Sheila has changed and started to fall for her. It got to the point where he questioned his own ability as the Hero when the possibility of Sheila as the Demon Queen came to light. He became more and more doubtful when Sheila disappeared without warning. However, when she rescued him from Maya and saved Athens, Exa resolved to never question her again (in the form of a pinky promise). Still, he must now deal with his growing feelings for her as he "does not know what to do with himself" when he sees her.