This picture was drawn a long time ago, the only reason I haven't uploaded it was that I was upset with the scan of what I consider to be one of my best pencil sketches yet. However, my new scanner has been most agreeable to me and produced this well-reasonable image.

The idea for this was just a one-off messing around one, likely inspired by Symphony X's music:

Azura fights and is subsequently defeated by a master swordsman who seeks vengeance for the murder of a close friend. Rather than finish him off, the man decides to let him die slowly in agony and leaves him mortally wounded and incapacitated to bleed to death. However, an underworld demon who has been watching Azura throughout his life is impressed by his ability to kill and destroy without emotion or remorse and offers him an ultimatum: His soul for an eternal life of servitude.

Azura gladly accepts and is bound into the demon's service, chained to immortality by the magical shackles on his wrists. In this form his fur is jet black and he possesses a powerful degree of destructive magic. Although he still feels pain, he cannot ever be killed while he wears the irons of his slavery which he cannot remove, even if he wanted to. It is for this reason he wears little armour as mortal weaponry has little permanent effect on him.

He is forced to obey any commands his master gives him but most of the time this simply entails a massacre here, the burning of a village there and for the best part he has no problem with working for the demon. Still he is latently uncomfortable with taking orders from others and subconsciously seeks to find a way to overthrow the demon and win back his freedom.


Basically, this was just an excuse to 1) Create Azura in a slightly different form and 2) Draw lots of fur. I love drawing this fur. I swear doing all those muscle contours with it was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever drawn. I like drawing the shoulders and upper arms best.

Anyhow, for clarification:
Yes this version of Azura is ridiculously overpowered to within Gary-Stu dimensions and
No it won't ever be used in any storyline I create involving Azura. It's just a concept sketch I did for the lulz and general awesome. I probably won't draw it again, although I might take some of the better design features and merge them into the normal version of the character.