Daiba

Daiba is a slight, elderly man, standing about 165 centimeters and weighing roughly 44 kilograms, with white hair and brown eyes. His robes and bearing evoke an Indian yogi, and he leans on a walking stick that doubles as a magical implement.

Shrewd and patient, Daiba prefers to study a foe before committing, as he does while watching Guts battle a makara. He writes off outsiders as savages yet grudgingly respects their sorcery, and he nurses a dream of raising a great empire founded on magic. Loyal to Ganishka, he still speaks his mind when the emperor courts ruin, urging him to test the Man-Made Beherit on someone else first. In old age he complains that the young have grown weak and disrespectful, though his stay in Falconia reveals a softer streak, kind to children and generous to those who help him.

A formidable Kushan sorcerer, Daiba conjures mystical beasts such as the Kundalini through brief, nearly silent chants, and he commands animals from horses to snakes to rats. His walking stick channels spells that can entrance people into obeying his will, and his grasp of yoga lets him float in the air and stay submerged underwater for around half an hour. He can send thoughts across distance, shield himself from forces that kill others outright, and he understands the hidden nature of apostles well enough to devise the Man-Made Beherit. Long ago, as a wandering ascetic, it was he who first placed a beherit in Ganishka's hands.

During the fighting near Vritannis he reads Guts and Serpico at a glance, then unleashes the Kundalini once the Berserker Armor overwhelms his lesser creatures; the monster falls to the joint effort of Schierke, Serpico, and Guts. After Ganishka's death and the world's transformation, Daiba lies low in Falconia posing as a stablehand, rescues Erica from the apostle Rakshas, and escapes on his summoned garudas. In the Kushan capital he later lends his voice to Silat through telepathy, strains to leash rampaging magical beasts, and finally guides a captive Guts to an ancient tomb known as a stupa.