Sorano

Sorano (ソラノ Sorano), formerly known by the codename Angel (エンジェル Enjeru), is a powerful Independent Mage and a practitioner of Angel Magic, as well as a former Celestial Spirit Mage. A member of the original Oración Seis, one of the most powerful Dark Guilds that once sought the destructive Magic Nirvana, she was among the few remaining members who formed the Reborn Oración Seis, and later joined Crime Sorcière along with her guildmates that formed the original Oración Seis. She is also the elder sister of Yukino Agria.

Appearance
As stated by Yukino, Sorano was a beautiful and young girl. She wore a dress which had white frills on the skirt and on the collar; a dark, short-sleeved blouse over the top of her dress; a light bow tied around her collar that fell upon her chest; and ribbons in her hair. She had light colored hair that reached just below her shoulders; the front portion was cut at about her nose level.

Sorano is a young woman of relatively small stature with pale skin, purple eyes and short silvery hair, with bangs covering her forehead. As her codename suggests, Sorano's attire is evocative of the conventional image of an angel: she wears a short dress made up of white feathers with two feathery wings that hang from her back. The dress splits just above her navel and reveals much of her cleavage, becoming more reminiscent of a vest. The deep, revealing v-cut is lined by a row of long feathers on either side, thus continuing up her torso and wrapping around her shoulders to form a sort of collar; two wing-like tattoos can be found on her collarbone and her skirt is also partially split down the middle. Sorano wears a dark-blue ribbon around her head with four bows hanging from it, two on each side, that cover her ears. Her hair is cut in a short bob, with two tresses reaching over her hair ribbon to frame her face; a piece of hair at the top curls into a halo that rises conspicuously from her head. Sorano also wears long, dark blue gloves that cover her arms passed her elbows and knee-length, dark blue stockings with light blue, feathered boots. After being released from prison, Sorano is shown to return to her previous attire, retaining her long hair.

As of X791, Sorano has become taller and her hair has grown much longer, reaching down to her back, and the tresses now reach down past her shoulders, however she still retains her blue hair ribbon, the angel wing tattoos, and the curl on the top of her hair. Her dress still has wings on the back of it, though they are smaller and jut straight out to either side, rather than hang from her back. Though more voluptuous than before, her clothing is more modest and, unlike her previous dress, Sorano's new attire is not entirely covered with feathers. Light blue fabric can be seen on either side of her waist; her feathered skirting is longer than before, reaching down to the backs of her lower legs, however, it is more open in the front, exposing her legs up to her lower thighs. The feathers taper off near her waist and continue in a single, narrow band up the middle of her torso and then split towards the top of her breasts, jutting out to either side; her shoulders are left uncovered. Instead of gloves, Sorano now wears long, wide, dark blue sleeves that are tied to her arms just below her shoulders by light blue ribbons. She has also replaced her boots and stockings with light blue, high-heeled shoes, leaving her lower legs bare.

Personality
According to Yukino, Sorano was initially a kind girl and was always supporting her little sister when their parents were scolding her.

Sometime between being abducted by Zeref's followers and acquiring her codename, Sorano, like the other members of the Oración Seis, became a cruel, sadistic, harsh and arrogant person who enjoys toying with her enemies. She does not think of her Spirits as living beings and is often seen treating them without much dignity. She expresses disgust at Lucy Heartfilia's compassion for her spirits. Ironically, her personality is the complete opposite of what an angel is despite her longing to be one of them. That aside, Sorano also tends to behave more analytically than the average individual, preferring to have detailed information of her enemies before battling them.

In X791, Sorano reveals her dislike for the world, calling it filthy and only a place full of conflict. She goes as far as saying that living as a human is a sin, for she believes all humans to be impure; including herself. As a result, she has an obsession with angels (hence her codename), viewing them as beings of perfection. Her obsession with them is so great that she dreams of nothing but herself becoming an angel, and cares little of what will happen to her own life by using her lifespan to summon her angels, for she thinks she will become one if she does that. She has also expressed extreme displeasure towards anyone who speaks negatively about her dream, as shown when Gray mocked it, causing her to fly off the handle.

Collectively, she, along with her guildmates, values freedom, unwilling to let anyone or anything compromise it. Sorano speaks of herself and her remaining guildmates as "us" and when she fights, she also does it for them, implying that she has a deeper bond with them than an average Dark Guild would normally have among their members. She later joins Jellal's Guild, as with her guildmates.

Sorano is also quite vain, complaining about how a cloak is unfashionable and bulky, prompting her to be chided. Her lighter side seems to encompass a competitive streak: in the search for Nirvana, she suggests a competition and a prize to be awarded to the winner.

History
Sorano always supported Yukino in her childhood as Yukino felt useless to her family and would always be scolded by her parents. However, one day, a group of Zeref's followers attacked her family. Her parents were killed and Sorano was captured. Her sister just barely managed to survive the attack.

After her capture by a Zeref-worshipping cult, Sorano ended up being one of the many slaves who was used to construct the Tower of Heaven, along with several other members of the Oración Seis, all of whom were children at the time. Sorano witnessed Erza Scarlet's attempted revolt and at that time she made her prayer that she would be able to fade into the sky as an angel. Later, she was recruited by Brain and left the island to join the Oración Seis, along with Midnight, Hoteye, Cobra and Racer. Her prayer to be an angel would serve as a link to Brain, and was used to contain his alternate personality: Zero; and is one of the six prayers for which the Oración Seis is named for.

Sorano eventually became a Celestial Spirit Mage and often wiped out other Celestial Spirit Mages to take their keys for herself, thereby increasing her power; one such case was the killing of Blue Pegasus' Karen Lilica, after which Sorano took her keys, most notably the key to Aries.

Oración Seis arc
Angel corners Blue Pegasus member Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki and knocks him unconscious as he uses the bathroom before using Gemini to copy the man's appearance and memories. In copying Ichiya, Angel learns that the Allied Forces are planning on trapping the Oración Seis in their base and wiping them out with the Christina. Once she finds this out, Angel ends up using Gemini to subdue Jura Neekis, effectively removing their most powerful fighter from the battle.

She then rejoins the rest of the Oración Seis after they intercept and destroy Christina. Angel taunts the alliance, stating that the Oración Seis saw through their entire plan before it even began; the group of six engages the Allied Forces in combat, wherein Angel uses Gemini to copy and defeat both Lucy Heartfilia and Gray Fullbuster.

When Brain stops his casting of Dark Rondo on the Allied Forces, Angel questions him on this, but the man then proceeds to identify and capture Wendy Marvell. After Brain finishes casting his spell, the Oración Seis leaves. Later, in the cave that serves as their headquarters, Angel expresses her doubt that Wendy's capture has much to do with Nirvana, but Brain tells his fellow guildmates that Wendy is a practitioner of Sky Magic, much to Angel's surprise. After Brain expresses his desire to revive Jellal Fernandes, Angel, Hoteye and Cobra are ordered to look for Nirvana in case his new plan does not work out. Angel suggests to her guildmates that they make finding Nirvana a race; before she can state what she thinks the prize should be, Hoteye interrupts, suggesting that the winner receive one million Jewels, an amount Angel finds outlandish.

Before setting out, Angel instructs members of one of the Dark Guilds that report to the Oración Seis to recapture Ichiya of Blue Pegasus so she can retrieve more information from him. She continues her search and later stands in awe of Nirvana's power after Jellal activates it. Despite her guild's goal have been met, Angel does not immediately regroup with the rest of the Oración Seis as she encounters members of the Allied Forces. She uses Gemini to transform into Gray Fullbuster, whose appearance, memories and abilities Gemini had previously copied and stored. Using this appearance, Angel uses Gemini as bait to lure in Natsu Dragneel, as well as do battle with several other alliance members.

Angel then reveals herself and tells Gemini to cease their attack, explaining that Wendy is no longer a priority for the Oración Seis, as her role in reviving Jellal is over. After explaining Gemini's powers to Lucy and identifying herself as a fellow Celestial Spirit Mage to Lucy, Angel tells Lucy that she likes her keys, and that she will wipe her out and take them. Lucy quickly summons Aquarius to attack Angel, but, knowing that one of her spirits, Scorpio, is Aquarius' boyfriend, Angel closes Gemini's gate and summons him to distract Aquarius. Lucy is shocked by this, and Angel criticizes her for not knowing the relationship between her own Celestial Spirits before kicking Lucy in the head. After Lucy summons Loke, Angel critiques Lucy yet again, explaining that the most important part of being a Celestial Spirit Mage is understanding the relationships of Spirits. She then proceeds to summon Aries, knowing that she is a very close friend of Loke, as they were both formerly contracted to Karen Lilica, whom Angel had killed.

Lucy demands to know how Angel came to possess one of Karen's former spirits, and Angel reveals that it was her who killed Karen and took her keys, much to the shock of Lucy, Loke and Hibiki. Much to Angel's surpise, Loke insists on staying and fighting Aries; while Angel had not planned on using Aries to fight, only to force Loke to back down, she finds the situation amusing and allows them to do as they please. However, noticing that Loke is gaining an advantage over Aries, Angel summons Caelum: The Chisel.

Angel orders Caelum to target Loke and wait until Aries stops his movement before firing, ultimately watching as the Spirit fires a blast that incapacitates both of them, which Angel laughs at. Angel then proceeds to counter Lucy's beratement by stating that Spirits can't die, making their pain is irrelevant. When Lucy angrily summons Taurus, Angel re-summons Gemini and uses Lucy's form to stop Taurus' assault and defeat him.

As Gemini brutalizes Lucy, Angel laughs at her, however when Lucy remains determined, Angel expresses her scorn at the girl; when Lucy demands that Angel release Aries from her contract, Angel becomes surprised, but then orders Gemini to beat Lucy more, saying that her method of asking for favors is flawed. As Lucy bows her head and pleads for Angel to release Aries once more, Angel states that in place of her keys, Lucy's life will be the price and orders Gemini to kill her. However, when Gemini refuses to kill Lucy, Angel forces their gate closed and calls them useless.

Just then, Hibiki appears behind Lucy and begins to strangle her, which causes Angel to laugh at the "ironic" turn of events, until, that is, Hibiki reveals that he was actually transferring a high-level Magic to Lucy: Urano Metria. Realizing that she has been tricked, Angel attempts to kill Lucy with Caelum, but she is stopped and defeated by the powerful spell, and falls into the nearby river; defeated.

However, despite sustaining heavy injuries, Angel rises to her feet and tries once more to kill Lucy with Caelum. The shot, however, veers around Lucy, missing her entirely. Aghast, Angel reluctantly succumbs to her wounds, utterly exhausted, and falls into the river. As she does so, she releases her prayer to fade into the sky like an angel, then reacts crossly when she actually falls into water.

Meanwhile, when Brain feels her defeat via his Six Prayers and assumes her to be dead, Angel senses this as she drifts downstream and dryly retorts that she is still alive. Angel is later arrested by the Rune Knights after the Oración Seis is defeated by the Allied Forces, thus breaking her contracts with her Spirits and forfeiting her keys, after which all of them, sans Caelum, voluntarily contract themselves to Lucy.

Key of The Starry Sky arc
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Tartaros arc
Angel, alongside the rest of the Oración Seis, is released from prison by Cobra. As they stand out in the wilderness, Angel remarks upon Cobra's comment about the air. She watches quietly, yet looking somewhat worried, as Brain is struck down by Cobra. Discussing what they should do next, with Angel wanting to take a shower, Cobra informs them of the arrival of their first job as Jellal and Meredy approach the group. When Meredy offers to help but Jellal tells her that he will suffice against the revived Dark Guild members, Angel comments on his rudeness. As they prepare to face off against Jellal, Angel notices Hoteye's easygoing nature and wonders if he is still under Nirvana's effects, but he tells her that this is his true personality. She proceeds to attack Jellal with an unnamed Angel Magic spell, but after he calls her by her real name, he proceeds to evade her attack with ease, much to Angel's disappointment. After the fight drags on for a while, Angel mentions that now she is done warming up.

The fight continues, with Angel downing Jellal with her Angel Magic. As her teammates also attack Jellal, Angel yells out that no chains bind them anymore. However, Jellal lands a hit on Racer and states that their freedom is fake, intending to get rid of their darkness, much the surprise of Angel and others. Angel then, however, bears witness to a fully rejuvenated Zero interrupt Jellal's claim to be able to free the Oración Seis by defeating them by attacking him with his Magic, shocking her. Seeing Jellal fall to the ground and Zero ferociously attack him further, Angel watches on, quietly commenting on the fact that Zero has made Jellal completely disappear. However, it is revealed soon after that what Angel was actually viewing was an illusion created by Midnight, as Jellal, figuring out the ploy, manages to break free from the Magic by maiming his own eyes. Seeing him break free of the spell, Angel's eyes are cast to her surroundings, where huge pillars of light begin to form. Before she can react, both she, Racer, Midnight and Cobra are all struck with Grand Chariot. Downed, Angel has no time to react as Jellal continues his advance, casting Sema and completely defeating her and her friends. From the ground, a battered Angel asks Jellal if he intends to return them to prison, becoming shocked when the man replies that he wants them to join his Independent Guild and help him take down Zeref. A week after her defeat, Angel walks along with Jellal's group through Magnolia, complaining about the robes that Crime Sorcière wear, for which Meredy reprimands her.

Alvarez Empire arc
A year after joining Crime Sorcière, Sorano meets with the members of Fairy Tail aboard her moving temple, Olympia. She turns her chair around and introduces herself as captain of the ship. The Fairy Tail Mages are surprised to see her and Happy makes the connection that she is the spy they were told to meet, which she confirms. The other members of the guild then piece together that her cover was blown, and so she came to Caracol Island to hide and because of that the island is now gone; causing her to yell that it took her everything she had to escape. She then states she owes Mest a favor, but adds that they are not comrades. Lucy thanks her, calling her Angel at first before correcting herself, referring to her by her birth name instead. Sorano grabs Lucy's bikini top and pulls it towards her. She tells Lucy she is the one that killed Karen Lilica and that she should not forget that. Erza tells her it's enough and Sorano releases Lucy. As a motion-sick Natsu and Wendy ask where they are going, Sorano states they are headed to where Makarov is. Everyone expresses their shock over her knowing Makarov's location as she slyly asks how they like her now.

Magic and Abilities
Celestial Spirit Magic (星霊魔法 Seirei Mahō): Sorano practices Celestial Spirit Magic, which allows her to summon Celestial Spirits which are Magical beings residing in the Celestial Spirit World, using the Keys of their respective Gates; when summoning a Spirit, the Spirits and their keys are enveloped with a golden light. She is very knowledgeable of the relationships and personalities of her Celestial Spirits, which she can utilize to her advantage in battle. For example, when Lucy Heartfilia summoned Aquarius during their battle, Sorano summoned Scorpio, who is Aquarius' boyfriend, and both of the spirits leave the battle to go on a date.
 * Multiple Summon: Sorano has shown the ability to summon at least two Celestial Spirits at the same time.
 * Force Gate Closure: Sorano is able to force the gate of a Celestial Spirit to close against their will, prompting them to return to the Celestial Spirit World.

Angel Magic: This Magic revolves around summoning angelic beings, each of which are capable of inflicting different kinds of damage. Sorano is able to summon these angels through the use of golden Angel Coins, with each coin representing a portion of Sorano's lifespan, and the stronger the angelic being that is summoned, the more coins required, with each Magical Golden Coin equivalent to the cost of 10. If the summoned angel is defeated, the coins will disintegrate and dematerialize and Sorano will suffer great pain. However, in some instances, Sorano can summon angels without a cost and suffer no drawbacks when they are defeated.
 * Hammer Angel: Through the use of two gold coins, a cost of 20, Sorano summons a muscular, bearded angel with a large golden hammer held in its two right arms. (Unnamed)
 * Barakiel: Though the use of three gold coins, a cost of 30, Sorano summons forth the angel Barakiel, a white angel that possesses three heads, two large wings and two large arms. Barakiel seems to have the ability to fill the area with destructive light.
 * Shamsiel: Through the use of four golden coins, a cost of 40, Sorano summons forth Shamsiel—angel of sunlight. Its appearance is that of a large, stone-like cherub with pigs in its pompadour that shoot light energy.
 * Raguel: Through the use of ten gold coins, a cost of 100, Sorano summons forth Raguel: a white angel that possesses a giant pair of wings; four long arms and seven heads, each holding a horn. Raguel blows its horns to damage its opponents with a powerful soundwave.
 * Devouring Angels: Without any shown cost, Sorano calls out a group of rounded-like angels with sharp teeth and wing-like tails to devour the target. (Unnamed)
 * Punching Angel: Sorano summons, without a shown cost, a large, muscular angel made of feathers that punches the target with great force.

Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Sorano has shown a fair amount of skill in basic hand-to-hand combat, as she is able to send Lucy flying with a simple palm thrust.

Enhanced Durability: Sorano is able to take the full brunt of Urano Metria and still rise, with her will to fight still intact.

Former Equipment
Gold Keys:
 * Gate of the Twins Key: Summons the Twins, Gemi and Mini.
 * Gate of the Scorpion Key: Summons the Scorpion, Scorpio.
 * Gate of the Ram Key: Summons the Ram, Aries.

Silver Keys:
 * Gate of the Chisel Key: Summons the Chisel, Caelum.

Angel Coins: The coins that Sorano uses in order to use Angel Magic. On one side they each have a wing-like symbol, identical to the tattoos on her collarbone. Each coin is equivalent to a "cost" of 10, which has an unspecified link to the amount of time left in her life. Continued usage of this Magic will, as a result, shorten her life, though the cumulative amount she had used up was "refunded" by Dan Straight. Sorano uses these coins to summon angels; more coins will summon a proportionately stronger angel. The strongest to be summoned was Raguel, through the use of ten coins, a cost of 100.

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
Angel appears as a playable character in the Nintendo DS Game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou upon being unlocked. In this game, Angel possesses the following moves:
 * Main: Caelum: Shoot (カエルム・シュート Kaerumu Shūto)
 * Sub 1:
 * Sub 2:
 * Sub 3: Caelum: Sword (カエルム・ソード Kaerumu Sōdo)
 * Super:

Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening
Angel appears as a mini-boss in the PSP Game Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening.

Quotes

 * (To Jura Neekis)"I won't let you interfere little children of the light... If you try you will meet with an Angel's judgement."
 * (To herself) "My prayer... to fade into the sky... like an angel..."
 * (To Jellal Fernandes)"The chains that once bound us are no more!"