Uspira Shintou

"Uspira Shintou, pushing her life beyond its limits in order to protect others."

- I feel like I'm still alive so I can fight... My parents died before me... Everyone who used me died before me... I think there's some reason I have to keep living... But all I can do... All I can do is fight, so... As long as there's something I can protect, I'll protect it...

About
Uspira Shintou is the general of the Ice Army of the magic nation of Zeth.

Born into a relatively normal family, Uspira experienced tragedy early on in her life when both of her parents were killed in an unspecified magic-related accident. Heartbroken from the loss, Uspira became a quiet and withdrawn person who was singlemindedly motivated by her desire to ensure that what happened to her parents would never happen to anyone else. She performed excellently in school, where she was noted to have a natural talent for the Magic Arts, and began working as a magic researcher immediately after graduating.

As a magic researcher, Uspira hoped to improve humankind's collective understanding of magic in order to minimize any and all unnecessary deaths in the field. Over time, she became close with one of her coworkers, a man who was as determined to save lives a she was, and began opening her heart to another person for the first time in her life since the loss of her parents. Uspira eventually married the man and the two continued to work closely together for some time. This newfound happiness proved to only be momentary, however, as a freak accident occurred during one of their research experiments that resulted in Uspira's husband getting frozen alive, killing him instantly before her eyes.

Broken by the incident, Uspira closed off her heart from the world and lost the will to live. Despite this, her desire to protect others from experiencing the same loss that she did remained strong, resulting in her leaving her job as a researcher to enroll in Zeth's military, where she hoped to be able to defend as many people as she possibly could before being killed on the battlefield. Uspira's talent as a mage, combined with her boundless drive to accomplish her goals, resulted in her rising through the ranks and becoming the general of the nation's Ice Army in a short amount of time.

As a member of Zeth's four generals, Uspira remained one of the most steadfast supporters of King Ragnarokarc Super Gandhi and his egalitarian policies. While other influential figures within Zeth began to turn their backs on King Gandhi, forming their own conservative group in direct opposition to him, Uspira, along with the other generals, continued to believe in his ideals in hope that Zeth would one day achieve true equality.

During the events of Rance VI, Uspira intercepted an attack from the Dark Lord La Seizel, who was attempting to invade Zeth. Though the nation's primary security system the Maginot Line forced Seizel to retreat, Uspira became severely injured by the encounter. Almost immediately afterward, she and her colleague Saias Crown were called to intercept the forces of the non-magic user rights group Ice Flame's Green Corps, who were assaulting the tower of Papaya Server, one of the Four Lords of Zeth. The two came close to defeating the group, but were forced to retreat by Saias, who feared that Uspira would overexert herself and succumb to the injuries she sustained during her fight with La Seizel.

Following the deactivation of the Maginot Line, Uspira and the Ice Army were ordered to protect a group of Zeth's secretaries, led by Secretary of Information Noemaseh, from the rioting second-class citizens in the city of Nagarmaule. While Uspira attempted to reason with the congressmen to turn their attention towards restoring power to the Maginot Line, she was continuously ignored, forcing the Ice Army to senselessly massacre countless rioters. As the monster army surrounding Zeth's border began to enter into the country, taking advantage of the confusion to quickly conquer its territory, Uspira attempted to persuade the stubborn secretaries to evacuate the area and join in the nationwide evacuation of the country. Unwilling to work alongside second-class citizens, the secretaries demanded that the Ice Army would continue defending them. Though Uspira was deeply bothered by their decision, she diligently followed their orders and stalwartly fought off the enemy forces, hoping that her inevitable defeat would prove to her superiors the necessity of mages and non-mages working together. While Uspira held off the invaders valiantly, successfully killing two captains and several other high ranking members of the monster forces, she was ultimately defeated. Immediately after her loss, Uspira was raped by hoards of monsters as revenge for their fallen comrades, where she was nearly killed before being rescued by a reconnaissance team led by the warrior Rance, who safely returned her to the refugee camp formed on the outskirts of the country. Uspira was hospitalized immediately after being brought to the camp, causing her to be sidelined for the remainder of the incident. During this time, Rance made an attempt at taking advantage of her injured state by disguising himself as a doctor performing a physical exam, but was caught and stopped by an annoyed Kaoru Quincy Kagura before he was able to have his way with her. After the monster forces had been successfully eradicated, Uspira resumed her regular duties as a general, and was later proposed to by Saias. While Uspira was flustered by his proposal, she chose to reject him, claiming that she would only consider it after Alex Valse had gotten married.

She is briefly mentioned by Rance during the events of Sengoku Rance upon requesting reinforcements from Zeth. Rance guesses that Uspira will be the person Zeth will send as a reinforcement commander both the first and third times he requests them, and expresses surprise when the commanders are instead revealed to be Rizna Lanfbitt and Magic The Gandhi, respectively.

In the non-canon Kichikuou Rance, Uspira and her colleagues are tasked with defending Zeth when the kingdom of Leazas, led by the newly crowned King Rance, begins invading it. Uspira's fate varies depending on which direction Zeth is invaded from. If Leazas attacks Zeth through the Fire Army's base in Adam Stronghold, Uspira will allow herself to be raped by Rance after he defeats the Ice Army at its base in Italia. Rance makes an attempt at recruiting her as a general, which she adamantly refuses, after which she will flee from Zeth, never to be seen again. After Kabachahn the Lightning is killed, Uspira will appear again to reunite with his orphaned Homunculi daughters Futaba and Moe, who join her in wandering across The Continent. If Leazas invades Zeth through the pathway opened up through Shangri-La, bypassing Adam Stronghold in the process, Saias and the Fire Army will appear after the Ice Army is defeated before Rance is able to rape Uspira, and attack Rance's forces in an attempt to save her. After Saias is defeated, he will ignite a magic bomb in order to blow himself up to give Uspira time to escape. Moved by the lengths he went to protect her, Uspira will refuse to retreat, choosing to instead die alongside Saias in the explosion.

Personality and Appearance
Uspira is a young and beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure, short purple hair and cold blue eyes. Her clothing consists of a purple and gold leotard with white stockings and a matching white cape to signify her position as general of the Ice Army. While her appearance is largely the same in Kichikuou Rance, she possesses longer hair with a feathered hairband in it as well as an opening in the chest of her leotard, exposing her cleavage.

Often described as being as cold as the ice she controls, Uspira is well known for her detached and serious demeanor. The loss of her parents at an early age resulted in her becoming quiet and unsociable, choosing to focus on improving her own abilities rather than interact with her peers. Despite this, for most of her life Uspira was still viewed a fairly normal person whose quiet determination was seen as uplifting by those around her. After the death of her husband, however, Uspira closed herself off from the world, becoming almost emotionless and losing any and all will she previously had to live. She has no care for her own well being, and became a general with the explicit purpose of one day being killed on the battlefield, causing her to push her body beyond its natural limits constantly, only stopping due to the intervention of others. Nonetheless, Uspira's drive to protect the weak has remained unchanging even as her emotional state has crumbled, and her love for her country and all of its people is equaled by few others as a result, showing that the ability to love has not completely left her heart.



Despite her aloof personality, Uspira is very close with all of her fellow generals. While she herself has not fully recognized it, she has come to view them as a family in the absence of her previous one, and treasures each and every one of them dearly as a result. In particular, she is extraordinarily close to Kabachahn the Lightning, general of the Lightning Army and one of Zeth's greatest mages. The wizened and calm Kabachahn is the only person Uspira feels completely comfortable opening up to, resulting in her consulting him for guidance and comfort when she is under great stress. In turn, Kabachahn has come to love Uspira like his own daughter and wishes for nothing more than for her to rediscover happiness in her life, causing him to frequently urge her to try looking for love again, which she consistently refuses. She is also beloved by Kabachahn's twin lightning fairy surrogate daughters Futaba and Moe, who view her as an older sister who they desire to emulate. Besides Kabachahn, Uspira is also close with the general of the Fire Army Saias Crown, often visiting his personal flower garden whenever she desires to clear her head. Saias harbors strong feelings for Uspira, as he is moved by her unshakeable aspiration to protect other people regardless of their place in society. Despite this, he believes that he will never be able to fully replace the hole in her heart left by her dead husband, resulting in him being reluctant to confess his feelings. While Uspira holds some amount of attraction to Saias, she is reluctant to feel love after having it ripped away from her in the past, resulting in her refusing his marriage proposal after the reactivation of the Maginot Line. Saias has not yet given up on wooing Uspira, however, and the two continue to spend large amounts of their free time together.

Uspira is also close with Alex Valse, the general of the Light Army. Uspira views Alex as a younger brother, and wishes for him to experience the happiness that she was never able to have, causing her to support his efforts in courting Magic the Gandhi. Uspira believes that Alex will one day make an ideal king of Zeth, further showing the level of love and respect she holds for him.

Abilities
As the general of the Ice Army, Uspira possesses a level of talent and skill that far surpasses the majority of mages on The Continent. She has an above average Level Cap of 32 which, while considerably lower than those of the other generals of Zeth, still grants her a good amount of potential. Her comparatively low level cap is buffered substantially by her naturally excellent potential for magic, which she has made full use of due to her obsessive dedication to protecting others causing her to constantly train to improve her abilities. She is fully capable of fighting on equal footing and even overpowering individuals with much higher level caps than hers. In addition, Uspira's lack of interest in her own safety causes her to fight with reckless abandon, allowing her to continue to fight at her full potential even after taking heavy damage. Uspira's excellent magical ability and amazing willpower were best shown during her fight with the Green Corps, a group that contained warriors who were statistically far superior to her such as Rance and Shizuka Masou, where she was able to successfully gain the upperhand against them even after having already sustained critical injuries from her fight with the Dark Lord La Seizel only hours before.

While Uspira is highly skilled in almost all forms of magic, she specializes in ice magic, to the point of being considered one of the most powerful ice mages in the world. Uspira chose to specialize in ice magic after her husband was killed by an ice spell gone haywire, in hopes that she would be able to prevent a similar accident from ever happening. She is one of the only people alive capable of casting Absolute Zero, the single most powerful ice spell in existence, allowing her to surround swaths of enemies with an unbearable blizzard of frost.

Beyond her talents as a mage, Uspira is also a highly skilled commander. She possess the Leadership Skill Level, which allows her to take command of large groups of people with excellent results. Her abilities as a military leader allowed for her and the Ice Army to successfully hold its own against the monster army as it was invading Zeth for a very long time despite being severely outnumbered, with her calm and collected leadership preventing her soldiers from giving up in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

Trivia

 * She is named "Usupira" in the English translation of Sengoku Rance.
 * She is one of the few women that Rance has failed to have sex with.