Echidna Parass

Echidna (エキドナ パラス Ekidona Parasu) was a member of the Apostles of the Stars, and the closest one to Creed.

Appearance
Echidna has a rather gothic appearance, with dark make-up and her long, green hair covering her right eye. She wears a red undershirt, with a white jacket, decorated with red roses. In the manga Echidna wear a black strapless dress with a belt and red jacket over it. Echidna has very good vision, 20/7 in one eyes (3.0 in Japanese measurements) and 20/8 (2.5 in Japanese measurements) in the other.

Personality
Echidna Parass is courteous and polite, greeting friend and foe alike the same way. But she is more importantly someone cold, distant and calculating, who rarely loses her calm, even when surprised or angered. She is extremely devoted to Creed, with whom she appears to be in love; yet she is by no means blindly obedient, as she often voices her opinions out loud. Echidna is perhaps the only Apostle of the Star (with the possible exception of Doctor) who dares give Creed open lectures and expresses her opinion out loud, though she often does so to distanciate herself with possible blames.

Echidna seems to disdain her past. She is very dedicated to the Apostles' cause and confident in her abilities. She is also a quick thinker and she knows how to analyze a situation. She seems to despise those whom she deems weak, though in a much lesser extent than Creed. Deep down in her heart, she is afraid of Creed's most twisted projects but she never demonstrates it.

History
Before joining the Apostles of the Star, Echidna was a famous actress. (International star would be more accurate.) Apparently her talent and her beauty led her to the top in a few years. She has been featured in more than twenty movies and won many awards. Because of this, she is sometimes recognized by her enemies, who wonder why she joined a terrorist group. Echidna's past of fame is further displayed in the anime, in which Charden and Kyoko go to the cinema to see one of her movies (apparently a romantic one) and in which everyone in a room full of people recognized her immediately after she entered.

Revolution Arc
Echidna is one of the Apostles Creed gathers on Clarken Island before the terrorist attack on the World Conference, during which they slaughter twenty country leaders and all the soldiers who protect them. Echidna is seen during the slaughter, casually sitting on a car surrounded by Shiki and her victims' corpses, discussing with Shiki. She tells him that he kills people rather cruelly to which he replies that she is not one who can give lectures about this.

The Mad Gunman Arc
Echidna takes part in the other attacks on the sub organizations of Chronos, and witnesses Durham's execution, cynically stating that this is the end for him.

Cerberus Arc
When Creed has the thief for hire Rinslet Walker brought into his castle, it is Echidna who prevents her from escaping, using her power to give the impression that she stabbed her. Echidna later restrains Rinslet and tells her that if she tries to escape she will kill her for real, and that Creed will certainly kill her no matter what. Echidna brings back Maro, Charden and Leon to the throne room after the three Chrono Numbers who stormed into the castle to kill Creed has escaped them. Shiki demands to be told everything about Creed's true goals and the secret experiments on nanomachines, and Echidna seems bemused by the fact that they thought Creed was relying only on Tao.

Echidna then strikes the Chrono Number V Nizer Bruckheimer from behind with a gunshot in the heart, that Nizer barely avoids at the last second, still being critically wounded. She then joins the fight between Creed and the Numbers, bringing Maro and Shiki along with her. When the castle is about to explode, Echidna opens a gate that leads all the Apostles of the Stars to their airplane. She later returns into the fray and takes Creed to safety. After the castles explodes, Echidna scolds Creed for overdoing it and losing his arm.

Lucifer Arc
The following day, after Creed murders the doctor whom he coerced to take care of his wounds, he asks Echidna to search for Train Heartnet, the main protagonist and Creed's former partner. Creed resolves to destroy everything that creates Train his environment of bounty-hunter, with the delusional hope that it would bring him back to his side. Echidna traps Train's partners Sven Vollfied and Eve and teleports them into a church where Creed is waiting for them, before telling Train and Rinslet about Creed's intentions. Echidna then goes to the church and asks why Creed hasn't killed Sven yet. When Train takes the "Lucifer" bullet that Creed destined to Sven, he and Echidna departs and join the others Apostles.

Echidna leads a squadron of the Shooting Star Unit (the Apostles of the Star's regular soldiers) into the house of the world's greatest nanotechnologist, Dr. Tearju Lunatique. Doctor and Shiki visited Dr. Tearju a few days earlier, to require her cooperation for the creation of a nanomachine that would make Creed immortal, and Echidna came to ask what her answer would be. Given that Dr Tearju refuses to work with them, Echidna (who suspected this) brought with her the newest Apostle of the Star, Eathes a monkey able to copy anyone and to transform into them. Eathes transforms into Dr Tearju, who then becomes disposable, and Echidna orders her soldiers to shoot her down. Tearju is saved by Sven, Eve and Train who were in Tearju's house and Echidna witnesses Train's new ability: the devastating "Rail Gun shot."

Irked, Echidna tries to stab Train, but her attack is predicted and countered by Sven, and Echidna departs, reflecting on the threat posed by the trio.

Alliance Arc
When Train, Eve and two fellow bounty hunters enter the Apostles' manor on Clarken Island, she greets them, prompting one of the bounty hunter to recognize her. She teleports Creed in the entrance, as the demented anarchist wants to speak with Train. After Creed orders the remaining Apostles to kill Train and his comrades, Echidna monitors their progress in the control room. She watches Eathes depart, commenting on how Eathes now acts like a human, and then watches Doctor's experiment on the "Berserker" nanomachines expressing her disgust. Later, Echidna gives orders to the soldiers of the Shooting Star Unit, while worriedly witnessing the defeat of every Apostle. Creed joins her and they both see that the Chrono Number I Sephiria Arks has snuck into the manor in person to challenge Creed in a duel, and Echidna brings them both to Creed's private quarters.

As almost every Apostle has been taken down, Echidna resolves to unleash the Phantom Star Brigade, the first five members of the army of cybernetic super-soldiers that the Apostles of the Stars are trying to create, in spite of them still being in the testing stages. She dispatches three cyborgs in the manor to deal with the Chrono Numbers VII, X, IV and VIII and goes with the other two on the midair bridge that leads to Creed's quarters, waiting for Train, Sven and Eve. When they arrive, Echidna only allows Train to pass, as she'd rather hand him to Creed, confident that none can defeat Creed who gained immortality. Echidna then orders the Golem Cyborg and the Flying Cyborg to dispose of Sven, Eve and Eathes, whom she labels as a traitor because they forced him to guide them through the manor.

When the cyborgs are defeated, Echidna decides to take the matter into her own hands and attacks Sven with a multi-sided shot. However, Sven's newfound power the "Grasper Eye" enables him to dodge every attack, from every side. Echidna then activates a grenade and warps it near Eve. The young girl owes her life to Eathes, who kicks the grenade away because Eve protected him earlier from the Flying Cyborg's attack. Furious, Echidna lashes out insults but Sven simply asks her why she does so much for a madman like Creed.

After Train defeats Creed and Leon brings them both to the midair bridge, Echidna listens to Train telling Creed that he must bear the weight of his crimes as a human. When Eve destroys Creed's nanomachines of immortality, reverting him to a mortal state, Echidna does nothing to stop her, as she confesses that she was afraid all along that Creed would become something out of her reach. She then departs with Creed and takes him to a house in the mountains, taking care of the man he has become.

Anime Plot
Echidna always remains by Creed's side and accompanies him when he invades the building of the World Conference. She enters the room of the gathering through one of her gates and introduces them to Creed who kills them all.

Echidna takes part in the showdown of the ancient castle and she monitors the battle of Clarken Island like she does in the manga, but when she comes to warn him that the Chrono Numbers arrived on the Island, Creed is busy playing the piano and focuses only on Train, barely paying her any attention. Also when she tells him that Leon has been defeated, he answers that he never knew anyone by that name. (To emphasize Eve's point that Creed doesn't care about him.) Echidna engages a one-on-one battle against Sephiria Arks who came to kill Creed. The battle is unexplained seen accelerated (perhaps to fit the tempo of Creed's song on the piano) and Sephiria manages to knock her out by using one of her own holes.

When Creed is defeated, Echidna departs with him and brings takes him to a house in the mountains to treat his wounds, but she soon sees that he is fully healed and that he is watching away, perched on the window. Creed and Echidna later appear during the final stages of the battle against the Zero Numbers and "Eden." She gets badly wounded when taking an attack from the Zero Numbers' leader Mason Ordrosso, who was aiming for Creed. She laments that all she was able to do for him was to die in his place but she ultimately survives.

After that, she continues living with Creed in their mountain house, as the former anarchist is painting a landscape.

Equipment and Abilities
Gate:Echidna's power of Tao is called "Gate." She is able to create two holes in space that links two different places and enables her to warp between one place and another. When she uses a Fuda (a piece of paper with an incantation written of it) in which she concentrates her ki, she can create much bigger holes that link more distant places and which can be used as a mean of transport by several other people. Because of this she is often tasked to transport the Apostles of the Star from one place to another, or to bring "guests" to where Creed wants them.

Echidna's power isn't limited to creating only two holes, she can create many holes at the same time and link one hole to several others, which makes her power extremely useful in battle. Echidna often attacks and participates in battles, but she is never seen fighting for real, even though Shiki describes her as an elite warrior on the same level as every other Apostle of the Stars. A claim that she fullfils without any doubt. She uses either a dagger or a gun in battle and she is seen wielding these with great proficency. She is even seen using grenades. With her power, Echidna can attack at distance and strike from any side she wants, making her attacks unpredictable and almost unavoidable. When she attacks with a gun, she fires several bullets and sends them into a hole, before creating several holes around her target to strike from several points at the same time. No doubt that she can use her power to turn her enemies' projectiles and weapons against them, or make an attack that her enemy has just dodged pass into a hole to strike again. One can even imagine how nightmarish it would be if she were to empty a full load of bullets, and continuously harrass her enemy by sending them over and over through multiple holes.

Echidna usually uses her power to strike by surprise, appearing unnoticed from behind and landing a fatal blow. She specializes in stealthy attacks and surprise strikes. (Pretty under-handed ones.) It is likely that she uses her power over her ki to locate people in another room or place, to be able to strike them from where she is.

There is a mistake in the anime about Echidna's power, as her arm is once seen appearing through different holes at the same time. This is likely a downright misinterpretation, as it is made clear that Echidna cannot duplicate what she warps through her holes.

Marksmanship: Echidna wields a gun in battle, which she puts through one of her portals to attack from an opponent's weak point.

Creed Diskenth
Out of all the Apostles, Echidna was the closest one to Creed. She showed unquestionable loyalty, and genuine care for him. Despite following his every command however, Echidna did not like his plans, and was concerned for his well-being after the man had become an immortal. This was why she allowed Eve to remove the nanomechanics from his body, stating that she didn't want him to turn into something that is out of her reach. In the anime, Echidna willingly takes a harsh blow meant for Creed by Mason Ordrosso, telling the former Apostle that only she can protect him.

Trivia

 * She is the only member of the Apostles with a catch phrase.
 * After Kyoko's departure, she becomes the only female Apostle. (This is only in the anime, and Viz's English translation of the Manga where Shiki is a male.)