 Phantom Beast Herac 
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| Anime - Manga
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 Name
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| Japanese | 幻獣ヘラク |
| Romanized | Genjū Heraku |
| Aliases | Herak, "Scum that came from the Earth" (by the Gourmet Nobles) |
| Bestiary
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| Type | Phantom |
| Capture Level | Up to 6200 |
| Length | 30,000m (Heracles) |
| Height | 22,000m (Heracles) |
| Weight | 2,000,000,000,000t (Heracles) |
| Price | Unknown (Heracles) |
| Diet | Air |
| Habitat | Area 8 |
| Related | Heracles; Daruma Horse; Janus Unicorn |
| Debut Appearance
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| Manga | Gourmet 283 |
| Anime | Episode 139 (mentioned) |
| [v · t · e] | |
The Phantom Beast Herac (幻獣ヘラク Genjū Heraku) is a powerful and legendary species that hails from the Gourmet World continent of Area 8 and, for all intents and purposes, is immortal and ageless, and because of this it is considered a creature of mythical proportions. There are many Heracs but only one is a member of the Eight Kings, the "Horse King", Heracles.[1][2]
Anatomy[]
An unhealthy child Herac.
A Herac's body resembles that of a sorrel leopard Appaloosa horse, albeit with cloven hooves and a long, cat-like tail. It has a rather sharp face with dark and bright pupils, and it has two spike-like brows and two spikes on the bridge of its nose. Adults and healthy foals have long and wild facial hair which resembles a beard and a mustache near their mouths, but they have an even longer and wilder-looking mane. A healthy child herac also has a more muscular build in comparison to an unhealthy one. A child Herac is about the size of a regular adult horse, but Heracles is absurdly enormous, to the point that it resembles a giant if compared to a city-sized beast like the Daruma Horse.
Powers and Abilities[]
As stated above, the Herac is an immortal creature that never ages upon reaching adulthood and can survive even the most lethal of attacks.
Despite being immortal, Heracs are still capable of natural reproduction, as evidenced by the existence of child Heracs. This shows that they can be born naturally and age to maturity at which point the aging process ceases.
The Heracs are a naturally powerful species, so much so that one of its members, Heracles has come to be known as one of the Eight Kings, showing that the species has tremendous power when fully honed. The physical power of Heracles is so great that it can even shake an entire super continent like Area 8.
Senses[]
Besides possessing immense strength, what truly set the species apart from most other Gourmet World beasts, is said to be their "sensitivity", which allows them to sense potential dangers, and has helped them survive mass extinctions. To this day, the descendants of the Herac still rule over the continent, Area 8 of Gourmet World.
Lungs[]
A Herac's main abilities though, lie in its incredibly powerful lungs which can exhale and inhale vast amounts of air to the point where an adult Herac can create powerful blasts of air that can destroy almost anything in their path, or even deadlier still, an adult Herac can create an airless vacuum around itself which kills everything within it by depriving everything of air. When an adult Herac exhales, it can produce a variety elements that cause all manner of odd or deadly torrential rains. These forms of unusual weather created by Heracs are quite common throughout its home continent of Area 8.
Regeneration[]
A Herac's immortality does not only protect it from aging, but also from almost any form of damage that would be considered lethal to any living creature. A child Herac body is shown capable of surviving a 100 million volt strike or even being cut into a dozen pieces.
Brunch suspects that like most other immortal creatures in Gourmet World, the immortality of the Herac attached to Elg is due to the regeneration of pluripotent cells. Before pluripotent cells take damage and die, they rapidly make copies of themselves, thus instantly forming a whole new body. However due to it being able to regenerate from having its body completely electrocuted, burnt and destroyed (which even shocked Brunch) the full mechanics of a Herac's immortality remain unexplained. According to Brunch however, the Herac fused to Elg ceased to be a mythical being the moment it was fused with him.[3]
Clonal Fragmentation[]
Elg of the Gourmet Corp., who has fused his body with a Herac, is capable of clonal fragmentation, wherein he can make a full grown clone of himself from a single split off fragment of his body. Even if he himself is cut into a hundred pieces, he will fully regenerate and all his pieces will become fully grown Elg clones. Whether this ability is natural to the Herac or is exclusive to Elg is not stated.[4]
Diet[]
Herac is an aerovore, meaning it can survive off just air alone. Breathing is like eating to it. After taking just one breath it can keep moving for a month. If it doesn't do anything, it can easily live for one year on a single breath.
History[]
Past[]
According to the Gourmet Noble, ATOM, this species was born from the Earth itself, although what this implies about this mystical species remains uncertain. The Herac species were known as ageless beings, due to their immense regenerative abilities as well as their lung capacity, only needing one breath a year to keep them going. According to both Mappy and the Daruma Hermit, the Herac species is able to live for thousands of years.
Birth of Heracles[]
Tens of thousands of years, a newborn Herac had crossed one of the legendary Rainbow Bridges created by AIR and used it to reach the other continents and battle all enemies it encountered. Its power and reputation was so great, that the mighty child was dubbed "Heracles" and would become known as one of the Eight Kings.
The Blue Nitros[]
Due to a series of events, the Herac species slowly began to weaken. This weakening was due to the Blue Nitro harvesting the ripened AIR before it could fall. Since air is their food, the Herac needed AIR to ripen and fall in order to feed, especially when they give birth. With the Blue Nitro taking the ripened AIR fruits before they could fall, the Herac were unable to breath enough fresh air to keep them sustained. Child Heracs were born premature due to AIR being unable to provide the parent Herac with the fresh air it needs to give birth to a healthy foal and the child Herac that is born is weak and helpless. Because of this, there have been no record of young Heracs being born healthy and crossing the legendary Rainbow Bridge in tens of thousands of years.
Cooking Festival Arc[]
The body of a child Herac was first seen attached to the body of the Gourmet Corp. member Elg, having done so in order to gain immortality. In the end, Elg and his Herac body were destroyed by Brunch.
AIR Arc[]
A child Herac was seen with a child Janus Unicorn and a child Daruma Horse in the Atmosphere Garden. According to Atashino's observations, the child Herac did not have enough air to breath. The Daruma Hermit then shares the history of the Herac and tells of the sadness that has come because of no new healthy Herac being born for countless centuries.
The mighty Heracles was later challenged by Heavenly King, Toriko in hopes of distracting her while Komatsu and his team prepared AIR. After violent and deadly battle with Toriko completely outmatched, it appeared that the mighty Herac would destroy him, luckily Komatsu and his team had successfully prepared AIR which produced enough AIR for Heracles to not only sustain herself but give birth to a healthy newborn Herac. With the birth of this royal child, the future of the species and that of continent of Area 8 is most assuredly a bright one.[5]
ANOTHER Arc[]
Known Heracs[]
Anime and Manga Differences[]
- In the manga, a full grown Herac's body is covered in countless tiny spots, but in the anime it has only a few large giraffe-like spots over its body.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The term Phantom Beast, in japanese ("genjuu", 幻獣 using the kanji for phantom and beast) can be translated also as cryptid or mythical beast.
References[]
- ↑ Gourmet 228
- ↑ Gourmet 283
- ↑ Gourmet 228 - Brunch explains the mechanics of pluripotent cells and is later shocked by seeing Elg break his theory.
- ↑ Gourmet 228 - Elg is completely obliterated by Brunch, but regenerates completely and clones himself from all his fragments.
- ↑ Gourmet 290