Ramon C. Burksham

"Ramon C. Burksham"

- giving his final words of encouragement to his Apostles.

About
Ramon C. Burksham was a Dark Lord in the service of Demon King Gi and the main antagonist of Little Vampire.

Perhaps the most enigmatic Dark Lord of all, nothing is known about Burksham's background beyond the fact that he was once a Human and was transformed into a Dark Lord at some point during the GI Era. A powerful psychic with the ability to see far into the future, Burksham quickly became recognized as both a loyal subordinate and trusted confidant by Gi, who appointed him to the position of Supreme Dark Lord and leader of his personal guard. As a Dark Lord, Burksham eventually converted three triplet sisters, Arcy Julietta, Lucy Julietta and Mercy Julietta, into his Apostles, with each inheriting his clairvoyance in varying capacities.

Late into his reign, Gi became concerned with finding a worthy successor to his title after Keel Lana, the human he had initially chosen, committed suicide in agony. Resolving to create his own heir, he began to rape and impregnate various human women in the hope of finding one strong enough to bear a child who could carry his legacy. During this time, Burksham experienced a vision pertaining to the future Demon King, which inspired him to take immediate action to ensure that it would come true. Gathering his Apostles at the Monster Realm's border with the Human Realm, Burksham ordered the three to wander across the human territories of The Continent in search of an individual who could inherit Gi's power. Before sending them out, Burksham warned his Apostles that their journey would likely take a very long time, but also encouraged them to simply trust their natural instincts, believing that they would eventually fulfill their duty no matter what.

In the year GI1015, Gi became distraught after learning that Hornet, the child that he had sired to become his replacement, was incapable of absorbing the Demonic Blood Pool and thus could not become the Demon King. In his desperation, he traveled to the Alternate Dimension of 3E2 and abducted Kurusu Miki, a girl in possession of the qualities needed to carry the Demon King's blood, transporting her back with him to the Continent to pass his blood onto her. While Gi succeeded in transferring his blood into Miki, she was prevented from fully transforming into the Demon King at the last moment by her boyfriend Ogawa Kentarou, who had followed Gi from his dimension to rescue her. Reunited, the couple fled to the Human Realm in search of a means of returning to their home. With Gi having allowed himself to die at Kentarou's hands, Burksham took it upon himself to see his master's goal through to completion, and pursued the pair in order to reclaim Miki and complete her transition into the Demon King.

Burksham eventually cornered Kentarou and Miki at the summit of Mount Salen, just after they had acquired a Hirami Lemon to keep the Demon King's blood within Miki dormant. Though Kentarou attempted to protect his girlfriend, he was knocked unconscious in a single attack by Burksham, who then carried Miki back with him to the Monster Realm. After reaching the Monster Realm, Burksham traveled to top of the Tower of Evil, a peculiar building capable of awakening the evil within a person's heart, intending to use its powers to fully transform Miki into the Demon King. Before he was able to complete the process, however, Burksham was stopped by Kentarou, who utilized a Magical artifact he had acquired known as a Red Tear to drown the Dark Lord in a sea of blood. While Burksham was not killed by the item, he was incapacitated long enough for Kentarou and Miki to once again flee from the Monster Realm to safety.

Shortly after his defeat, Burksham's body was found by Noce, a long-absent Dark Lord who, sensing Gi's death, emerged from his solitude with the intention of putting his plan to free his original master, the Eternal Demon King Gele, into action. Fearing that the other man's prophetic abilities would expose his treachery, Noce killed Burksham and forcefully fed his Demonic Blood Soul to a being known as Ogin Gimp, causing his Soul to be overwritten and permanently destroyed.

Burksham was briefly mentioned during the events of Rance X by the three Julietta sisters after they were fully reunited, where they used their status as his Apostles to explain Mercy's bizarre appearance. As part of their explanation, the trio revealed the mission that Burksham had originally given them, causing a curious Rance to question each sister individually in the hope of uncovering the exact details of the vision of the future that prompted their master to send them into the Human Realm in the first place. Despite his best efforts, Rance was unable to gleam any kind of worthwhile information about Burksham's true intentions from any of his Apostles, leaving them forever a mystery.

Personality and Appearance
Burksham had the appearance of a somewhat feminine man with a lean build, chalk white skin and long white hair. He also possessed green eyes, which were surrounded by purple markings resembling mascara, furthering his refined and delicate looks. Burksham's clothing consisted of cracked purple armor, matching purple gauntlets, a light blue belt and a green cape.

Due to his very limited screen time, much of Burksham's personality is unknown, with the majority of information regarding it being derived from the secondhand recountings of other characters. He was described as being "not a bad guy" by the famed Dark Lord researcher Mieko Munekata, implying that he was relatively placid and compassionate when compared to his peers. This supposed gentleness may have been what caused him to spare Kentarou's life after incapacitating him, as he perceived killing him to be a needless effort. In his Apostles' recollection of their final interaction with him, Burksham is shown to have been a very articulate and thoughtful speaker, with every word out of his mouth bearing a tangible amount of melancholic wisdom, and displayed a great concern for the future of the world.

Burksham had a very close relationship with Demon King Gi, the person responsible for transforming him into a Dark Lord. Gi placed a great deal of trust in Burksham, appointing him as the Supreme Dark Lord before passing the position to his daughter Hornet, and entrusting him with several of his most important secrets, most notably his concerns with finding an heir to his position. Rather unusually for a Demon King and their servant, the two were described as being good friends, suggesting that Gi generally treated Burksham as though he were his equal. Burksham's devotion to Gi extended beyond the latter's lifetime, as he chose to attempt to follow through with his plan of awakening Miki as the Demon King even after Gi had been killed.

While the full extent of his relationship with them is unknown, Burksham seemed to have had a strong bond with his three Apostles, affectionately referring to them as "girls" and showing sadness over having to be separated from them. Though the Julietta sisters seemed to have reciprocated this affection, with all three loyally following his orders of remaining in the Human Realm for several centuries, their childish minds made them largely oblivious to his thoughts and feelings, with only Mercy showing any semblance of understanding of his reasons for giving them their mission in the first place.

Abilities
Burksham was noted to have possessed astounding clairvoyant abilities that allowed him to experience visions of the far future. Though the full extent of his predictive capabilities are unclear, they are known to have been even greater than those of his Apostles, all of whom became legends within the Human Realm through the accuracy of their fortune-telling. Burksham's oracular powers were viewed as a valuable asset by Gi, who looked to him as an advisor because of them, and were acknowledged by his fellow Dark Lords enough for Noce to see them as a threat to his plan of unsealing Gele.

While little is known of Burksham's abilities outside his future predicting, he is assumed to have been quite powerful, as he served as the head of the Demon King's personal guard throughout Gi's reign and was able to effortlessly defeat Kentarou in a single attack. Burksham was also capable of flight, which allowed him to travel from the peak of Mount Salen to the Tower of Evil, a considerable distance, in a matter of minutes, and possessed a hypnotic voice that allowed him complete control over Kentarou's body prior to the intervention of the remnant memories of Keel Lana.

Trivia

 * Burksham's first name can be alternately romanized as "Lemon", likely in reference to the hirami lemons that play a central role in the game in which he appears.
 * Each of Burksham's Apostles refer to him by a unique nickname derived from different parts of his full name; with Arcy calling him "Mr. Ramon", Lucy calling him "Ham" and Mercy calling him "Mr. Burks".
 * Burksham is the only former human Dark Lord to be consistently referred to by his last name rather than his first.
 * No official setting materials have ever stated that Burksham served as the Supreme Dark Lord under Gi prior to Hornet, with most instead simply mentioning the great trust that Gi placed in him. He was eventually officially confirmed to have been the Supreme Dark Lord for a time by Orion, the Rance Series' lead artist, during a Twitter Q&A.