Tenma

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Tenma was orphaned in childhood and spent time among society’s poorest people, giving him firsthand knowledge of cruelty and wrongdoing. Sasha and Alone were his childhood friends 40 44.

He was brought to Sanctuary at a young age and trained there for years under Dohko. By the time he met Wuxin, he had become the Pegasus Bronze Saint and had challenged almost every Saint in Sanctuary below the Gold Saints 24 25.

The legend that Pegasus once wounded Hades made Tenma famous throughout Sanctuary. He resisted being identified with that mythical figure, insisting that his own limited strength did not justify everyone’s expectations 23 24.

Appearance

Tenma is a smiling, exceptionally youthful boy whose face still retains its childishness 23.

• Cloth: Silver-gray Pegasus armor 23.
• Blessed accessory: A woven grass wreath worn on his wrist, bearing Athena’s blessing 48.
• Soul form: Translucent and illusory after Alone’s attack, with an afterimage-like manifestation of his Pegasus Cloth 43 48.
• Underworld disguise: Wuxin coats his soul and manifested Cloth in death energy, turning the armor black and making him resemble a ghost warden 43.

Personality

Tenma is earnest, competitive, and eager to improve. He seeks unfamiliar opponents after exhausting most of Sanctuary’s available sparring partners, but also values fairness: before fighting the Clothless Wuxin, he formally apologizes for needing to wear his armor to compensate for their difference in strength 24.

His discomfort with the Pegasus legend comes from honesty rather than indifference. He wants to give others hope but cannot comfortably claim another figure’s achievements. Wuxin’s suggestion that he make the legend real strengthens his resolve, while the Soapberry mission gives him a concrete way to help Sanctuary that does not depend on an uncertain myth 24 43.

His courage can become recklessness. During their escape through Hell, he regrets missing opportunities to fight Specters until Wuxin reminds him that exposing themselves would invite overwhelming reinforcements. He is nevertheless loyal enough to protest when Wuxin proposes remaining in the Underworld alone 45 49.

Tenma is compassionate and willing to reconsider his assumptions. Initially condemning all of Hell’s punishments as proof of Hades’s wickedness, he revises his understanding after Wuxin distinguishes punishment for wrongdoing from Hades’s claim to rule humanity 44.

Abilities & Skills

Pegasus Ryusei Ken

Tenma’s signature technique releases countless silver fist-lights resembling a meteor shower 24.

• Barrage attack: Covers a broad area with repeated strikes; his opening use against Wuxin drives him underground 24.
• Coordinated attacks: Distracts Du Pont so Wuxin can strike from behind, and later catches Elhart’s scattered bat forms after they evade Sekishiki Meikai Ha 43 50.
• Soul-form use: Remains available while Tenma is separated from his body 42 43.
• Limits: Wuxin criticizes its scattered force and recommends concentrating repeated hits on one point. Faster opponents can evade or intercept it, while Du Pont withstands the barrage without injury 24 25 43.

Close-Quarters Combat

Years of Sanctuary training allow Tenma to fight with punches, kicks, and quick positional adjustments 24 25.

• Recovers from an early counterattack by kicking off the arena wall and attacking from above 24.
• Sustains a prolonged exchange with Wuxin, who finds a decisive opening after 123 exchanges 25.
• Loses speed and resistance to soul restraint as the fight drains his stamina 25.

Soul Resilience

Tenma can resist soul-targeting attacks and continue fighting without his physical body 25 42.

• Breaks free of Wuxin’s first Sekishiki Meikai Ha through a sudden rise in soul power 25.
• Escapes an encirclement of ghost officers in the First Prison 42.
• Is nearly immune to ordinary physical damage as a soul, but remains vulnerable to the Second Prison’s spirit-corroding rain 44.
• Survives Alone’s otherwise soul-destroying blow because of Athena’s blessing, not through unaided durability 48.

Pegasus Cosmo

Pegasus’s Cosmo is uniquely required to make the divine Soapberry tree near the Great Waterfall of Blood bear fruit 40.

• The fruit is needed to create a Demon-Subduing Rosary capable of preventing Specters from resurrecting 40 43.
• Tenma agrees to stimulate the tree, but successful fruit collection is not documented in the supplied events 43 50.

Equipment & Items

• Pegasus Cloth — His silver-gray Bronze Cloth. Its legendary association with wounding Hades gives it exceptional prestige, although Tenma initially notices no major difference between it and other Bronze Cloths 23 35.
• Pegasus Cloth fragment — Given to Wuxin by Sage for the rescue mission. Its karmic connection to Tenma, reinforced by Sasha’s blessing, allows it to point toward his soul 41 42.
• Woven grass wreath — Carries Athena’s blessing and preserves Tenma’s soul after Alone strikes him 48.
• Persephone’s nectar — A consumed divine gift that can nourish souls; raises Tenma to Silver Level but obliges the recipients to undertake a task in repayment 48.

Relationships

• Wuxin — Sparring opponent, rescuer, and Underworld companion. Encourages Tenma to grow beyond the Pegasus legend; Tenma addresses him as “Senior Wuxin” and objects to abandoning him in Hell 24 43 49.
• Libra Dohko — His teacher. Wuxin conceals Dohko’s reported death during their Underworld journey to avoid creating further difficulties 24 45.
• Sasha / Athena — Childhood friend and the goddess he serves. Her blessing preserves his soul, and she asks Wuxin to bring him back 40 41 48.
• Alone / Hades — Childhood friend whose awakening as Hades leads to Tenma’s near-fatal injury and separation from his body 40 48.
• Persephone — Grants him strengthening nectar and sends him to the Seventh Prison. Her requested repayment is directed primarily at Wuxin rather than Tenma 48 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Meeting and Sparring with Wuxin

Tenma approaches Wuxin after hearing that a strong Saint Candidate has arrived at Sanctuary. Their discussion about the Pegasus legend becomes a challenge to turn its promise into present-day reality, followed by an arena duel 23 24.

Although Tenma escapes Wuxin’s first soul restraint, Wuxin wears him down in close combat and wins with a second Sekishiki Meikai Ha. Afterward, Tenma warns him that Specters have infiltrated Sanctuary. He later celebrates Wuxin’s receipt of the Crateris Silver Cloth, openly envying his promotion 25 35.

Near-Death and Underworld Rescue

Alone’s awakening as Hades leaves Tenma near death after a single blow, casting his soul into the Underworld. Sage considers him indispensable to Sanctuary’s chances in the Holy War and sends Wuxin to recover him 40.

Wuxin finds him in the First Prison, where Specters are hunting his soul for capture and sealing. After initially mistaking his rescuer for an enemy, Tenma helps distract Du Pont, accepts a death-energy disguise, and agrees to undertake the Soapberry mission 42 43. His capture is specifically demanded by Hypnos and Thanatos, making the search a priority for the Underworld’s forces 44.

Persephone’s Garden

Cerberus tracks the pair through the Second Prison. After Wuxin kills the hound, Pharaoh attacks, and Wuxin shields Tenma as both are hurled into a protected garden 45 46.

Orpheus brings them before the garden’s mistress, later identified by Wuxin as Persephone. Her nectar raises Tenma to Silver Level, but the gift comes with a demand to obtain a Searing Heart Spirit Flame seed from Hephaestus 47 48 49.

Seventh Prison

Persephone transports them to the Seventh Prison, shortening their route to the Great Waterfall of Blood. Wuxin decides to send Tenma home once they obtain the Soapberry fruit and complete Persephone’s request alone, overruling Tenma’s objections 49.

Before they reach the waterfall, Elhart detects Wuxin’s living blood and exposes their disguise. Tenma’s Pegasus Ryusei Ken damages Elhart’s bat forms; he then fights the ghost wardens while Wuxin confronts their commander 50.