You have to make proud the people who are gone more than ever... Being that person they loved when they were here.
Antônio Pontevedra[1]
Antônio "Balu" Pontevedra is one of the protagonists of the series Paranormal Order, present in Calamity.
He's a former retired agent of Ordo Realitas who collaborated with several veterans of the Order in some missions. He had been away for about five years and only returned at the request of Mr. Verity.[2]
Antônio is one of the Markeds from the Ordo Realitas' side. He had his silhouette revealed during the Calamity ARG and his promo art and name officially revealed on Paranormal Order's twitter profile on September 2, 2021.[3]
Appearance[]
Antonio is a tall man, being 6.2 feet tall, having a relatively well-defined physical bearing, dark hair that most of the time are combed back with gel, plus a mustache that stands out on his face, accompanied by a small goatee that does not fully reach his chin.
During his mission in Bariguara with the rest of the Team Vultures, he wore a light green polo shirt with rolled up sleeves, and blue jeans with a brown belt on display. His shirt sits inside his pants. He also wears brown dress shoes.[4] With him, he usually carries a huge axe that has a blade with hand-made protrusions and a large metal handle, whose tip is shaped like a panther.
During his first return mission, in which he met his new team, Antonio fought against the dead body of Elza Verlaz and the paranormal creature "The Needy", and during the intense battle against the monster, Balu ended up staining his shirt with a lot of blood, in addition to having cuts all over his vest, making him no longer in condition of use.
After these events, Balu began to wear a new shirt, this being white and with several yellow petals scattered around the clothes. Also being a polo shirt, it kept a large collar the sample, in addition to the sleeves rolled up.
During his mission in Italy in search of the pages of Arnaldo Fritz's Grimoire contained inside the Famiglia Leone's Mansion safe, Antônio and the other Vultures stumbled upon the home of the Mobsters completely torn apart with various bodies and paranormal creatures, also relying on a gigantic monster: the Blood Titan, Antônio is grabbed by the creature that bites and rips off his right ear, devouring it completely. Due to the Cicatrization Ritual from Dante, a huge spiral scar takes part where the member remained.[5]
During the fight against The Host in the Ordo Calamitas Ruins, Antônio had his torso and arms completely burned by the entity, with several scars and burns being seen throughout his body, the most notorious being a hand-shaped burn on his neck. In that same fight, his flowery shirt was completely destroyed, so while he remained shirtless, Dante lent his white cloak to Balu, who used it only to cover his torso, he passed by his back and left a part of his chest sample.
Now he wears a new purple outfit, the same model as the previous ones, this one that contains horizontal white zigzags all around it.
Personality[]
Antônio has a silly and joker personality, always keeping the mood happy and light when he can. In addition, he is quite protective, trying to calm his partners and prevent them from suffering physically or psychologically. He makes some hasty and somewhat inconsequential decisions, which ends up worrying his teammates. Balu also appears to have great affection for food, which explains his great physical stature.
Balu speaks in a loud tone and is smiling most of the time.[4] He does not show much fear towards the paranormal, facing it on the front line, even if he shows some aversion/discomfort with it.[6] Antônio acts with great seriousness and shows anger when faced with a situation in which someone acts by putting his family at risk.
For some unknown reason, Antônio is described as someone who changed a lot in the meantime who was retired from the Order, being almost unrecognizable by the drastically different form of his personality. He described himself as someone vengeful and full of hatred. He is also willing to hurt himself for others, stating that he has lived too long and has seen death so many times that he is prepared for when it comes.
Skills[]
- Physical Strength: Balu is a person with a lot of physical strength, mainly for being a veteran agent in Ordo Realitas. A simple punch from Balu is able to knock an ordinary person unconscious.
- Resistance to Pain: Because he is always at the forefront of combat and constantly makes use of physical attacks, Antônio is often injured by creatures or occultists. Because he is already used to the situation, he can withstand shots at point blank range or even very strong physical attacks, which would tear an ordinary person apart.
- Imposing Talk: One of Balu’s jobs was to be a seller and, with that, he learned to deal with problem people, being able to calm them easily or knowing how to keep a firm speech to know that he has control of the situation.
Biography[]
Past[]
Antônio Pontevedra was born in 1977. Not much is known about his past, apart from the fact that he is an experienced former agent of Ordo Realitas, having connections with several important names pf the mean, such as Marc Menet, Arnaldo Fritz, Aaron and Mr. Verity himself. Antônio was part of the Order’s scouting teams, and in one of these missions, along with his team (Arnaldo Fritz, Johnny Tabasco and Luciano Carvalho), massacred almost completely a family of cannibal savages, accidentally leaving the last member of the family, Theodore Bagwell, escape. It is also known that Balu had the habit of cheering his family by offering ice cream in sad moments, and that he and his brother played a lot together. At some point in his life, Antônio’s brother, the original owner of the axe he currently uses, was killed by the Lukic family gang, and his niece, Stella, died from a terminal illness. Finally, it is known that he was retired for 5 years and only returned to active by a personal request of Mr. Verity.
Calamity[]
Antônio was the first member of the team to arrive in the place of the mission, in the interior of Mato Grosso, with the task of investigating the murder of Elza Verlaz. Before the others joined, he introduced himself and was invited by the couple Cícero and Terezinha Gominho, two potential witnesses to the case, to have coffee with them. However, when he began to use all the cheese in the house to make one of his sandwiches, he and Cícero began to argue, which attracted the attention of the two agents who arrived soon after, Carina Leone and Rubens Naluti. After he presented himself as Balu and the confusion with the owner of the house be cleared up with a beer, the couple told about the strange habits of Elza, and Cícero showed them a video in which someone who appears to be the Devil carries a child around. However, the account was interrupted by screams coming from a nearby house. Balu, Rubens, and Carina ran out and faced a blood zombie that was chasing a police officer, Felipe Firmino.
After the confrontation, two other Order agents arrived at the scene, Arthur Cervero and Dante. They all decide to investigate Elza’s house. During the site’s investigation, Balu follows Rubens to a trapdoor, which he discovers hidden under a rug.[7] Then Balu leaves the house and goes to a nearby campfire, where he finds a fragment of the book "Tales of a Needy Creature", written by Daniel Hartmann. While the group visited the other neighborhood house, Balu takes on the task of maintaining Eusébio busy[8] while the agents sneak around the scene looking for clues.
With the combination of the lock, they return to the trapdoor and, after Carina unlocks it, Balu opens the door tightly and, with everyone inside, closes it to prevent other people from entering the place. In this, they hear Felipe’s footsteps and voice. Balu opens the door quickly, which causes him to panic and shoot in his direction, happily missing the shot. There, Cícero demonstrates to have made a pact with some kind of paranormal creature, which he calls the Devil, and ends up inviting The Needy into the house, the child who appeared in the video shown by him earlier. Balu often advances towards the monster, trying to stay close to him throughout the fight, even when badly injured, until he eventually kills the creature.[9]
A few days later, the team went to the Order's base for a meeting with Verity, in which, in addition to discovering the existence of several documents, they decided to go to Italy in search of other files stored in the Famiglia Leone's safe, but not before the team is named as "Team Vultures". In the country, the group headed immediately to the Leone's Mansion, getting shocked when they saw that Carina’s entire family had been brutally murdered. Searching for answers, they fought several Zombies created from the bodies that were left there, and when they managed to enter the Leone’s bunker, the security camera footage reported the killers, whom Balu had never met. Following the corridor of the secret base and peeking through the large safe door, there was the almost transformed body of Marco Leone and behind him, coming out of a portal, there was The Devil itself.
Still fearful, Balu volunteered to fight the being who controlled the Leone's patriarch, which was not effective. By thrusting his axe into the Devil’s shoulder, the being came to curse it with reddish veins on the blade. So, without further ado, the Devil had Marco’s body pull out a box with a large symbol at the top, and left the site through its portal, leaving dozens of Zombies to fight the agents. Despite several consecutive battles, the group finally managed to go upstairs in search of the rest of the family members, but what they found was a medical ward. But soon after, one Blood Titan broke one of the doors and, during the battle, tore off Antony’s right ear, leaving a large spiral scar due to the Cicatrization Ritual used by Dante.
After the battle and exploration of the site, Balu and Carina tried faithfully to drag the remains of Patrizia Leone, Carina's mother, which was transformed into the big monster they just defeated. But after numerous failed attempts, the team decided to take only a part of the creature, to perform a symbolic burial in the garden of the Mansion, as support for the new colleague, who just lost her family. The other day, the group was awaken by Agatha, who reveals that much of the Order had been sent to Italy by Verity himself, turning the bloody mansion into a provisional base.
In the five hours that Carina spends transcending, the Vultures split up: Arthur and Agatha go to eat pasta in a restaurant; Dante observes Carina in her process of transcending, while making notes; and Balu and Rubens go to the Tower of Pisa. Balu asks Rubens to take a picture of him and then takes a picture of Rubens too, with a little difficulty, on the young man’s phone. After the tour, Balu says goodbye to Rubens and says he will meet him at the mansion later. Balu then buys six ice creams of various flavors and takes them to the team. On the way, an agent picks up one of the ice cream and only five remain. Antônio offers the ice cream to everyone from Team Vultures, with the aim of cheering them up after so many tragedies on the last night. After that, the group goes to talk with Clarissa, who says she found the Devil’s Pact symbol marked on the floor in the corner of the mansion’s garden. The Vultures are summoned to a meeting with Verity, Marc Menet, the leader of Obscurité, and Agatha. Balu, always expressive and loud, says that the reunion was nostalgic, and Marc is surprised how much Antônio had changed. The group attempts to analyze Arnaldo’s grimoire and the new pages that were found. Balu brings questions about the fact that Kian is so strong that the Other Side itself has changed to try to protect itself from his threat. At the end of the meeting, the group decides to go to the Colosseum, following indications from the pages. Balu, before leaving Verity’s room, tells him that he had not gone mad and that he just only have been himself again.
Arriving at the Colosseum, Balu and the group try to convince the local security guards that they would have a VIP visit because they are journalists and want to write about the history of the amphitheater. While Dante, Rubens and Arthur were analyzing the paintings in the art gallery, Balu and Carina went to the director’s room to try to get the complete visit and thus be able to study the best research routes. Arriving on the spot, they talk to Vinicio Ludos, current director of the Colosseum museum. The two Vultures try to convince him that they were famous journalists in Brazil, but the grumpy man does not believe them. Some guards begin to surround them and Vinicio asks them if Manuel had sent them. Balu and Carina are confused, because they do not know anyone called that. As a last resort, they reveal that they are agents of Ordo Realitas and Vinicio, then, proves hostile and reveals himself as one of the directors of The Host's Production. A battle ensues and the two confront Vinicio and three other security guards. Balu and Carina kill the occultists, leaving only Tereza, one of the security guards, alive. The rest of the group arrives and Dante discovers that Tereza was lying, which causes Carina to hold her on the wall and that Rubens kills her with Johnny's knife.
The Vultures discover that they need to gather the five masks of the rulers of the Colosseum and place them in the corresponding statues to open Semper Clausa, which would be the entrance to the underground ruins of Ordo Calamitas. Balu carries the masks and, at some point, jokes wanting to put one on his face. The group gets scared and asks Balu not to joke with it because it could be dangerous. Arthur tells him that something similar happened to a friend and he had become very different than he was. Balu apologizes and says he just wanted to be an icebreaker, as always. In the library, the group finds the book about the rulers and, when they are about to read the third ruler, they hear a cry. Balu stays behind, not knowing how to be stealthy and silent, while the rest of the group goes ahead to see what happened. On the first floor of the Colosseum, they find, next to a dead occultist, the hooded figure of Joui holding a sword.
After Joui’s reception, the group solves the riddle of the Colosseum statues and opens the door to Semper Clausa. Inside, the vultures encounter the Sect of the Masks, who tells them about how the memories inside that location were unpredictable. After the masked silhouettes disappear, Verity and the rest of the Order arrive at the ruins and converse with the group. They decide to split up into squads and then the Vultures follow the path ahead. As they walk, the door closes and isolates the group from the rest of the Order. Down the stairs, they find a hall with doors marked with the Host symbol. Then, Rubens begins to explain a bit of what he knows to the team and even shows his scar on the chest, which was caused by the Host’s last game. Balu is worried about Rubens and thanks him for sharing that painful information with them.
Inside the great hall were statues of people with their names and titles written below. After Joui touches one of them and passes out, everyone decides to do the same to try to help him in the possible psychological environment that he may be. Balu then chooses the statue of Faustus, the General and as soon as he touches it, he faints in the same way as the others.
They wake up at A.D. 67, in Ordo Calamitas and within the bodies of their respective persons of the statues, however, only after a while that their consciences realize who they are. Balu, even after the shock of being in someone else’s body, tries to stay in his character to get information from the other warriors of Ordo Calamitas. However, an attack of Death begins and everyone rushes to the room where the newly conquered Relic of Energy was. The six members of the Vultures gather around it as if by a paranormal call. The relic chooses Gaius, the man to whom Carina was amalgamated, and then he becomes Amphitruo. After a confusing and awkward conversation, the group returns to their normal bodies in the present time. As soon as they wake up, Balu asks Carina how she is, since she had been chosen by the relic and lost control of Gaius. The group begins to discuss how to proceed when they hear a door open. Balu goes to check and when the rest arrives, he explains that it looked like a kind of energy barrier with a space for two Marks. In this, Balu and Rubens volunteer to enter and thus the two return to the bodies of Faustus and Amalia to play the Host’s game.
The first game was the Devil’s Coffins. As the game went on, Balu hardly had control of Faustus' actions and could hardly interfere with the dynamics. With the victory of Faustus and Amalia, both he and Rubens returned to consciousness. While the others investigate the room, which was now opened, Balu and Rubens rest in a corner and talk. Balu tells Rubens that he is not afraid to die because he has gone through near death several times and says he has become used to it. Thus, he doesn't see death as an enemy and tries to laugh at it whenever he can, so he always keeps his smile on his face, even in difficult situations. At the end of this conversation, the two meet with the group and leave for the library. In this place, the pages of the books became the same page about the Relic of Blood. The team then deduces that at each game a page about the relic would be revealed. The library also had an energy barrier, this time with room for five Marks. Everyone but Carina enters the second game.
In this game, the Vultures return to the bodies of their respective statues. Again, Balu barely manages to control Faustus' actions during play. In the end, Dante manages to control Remus and sacrifices himself along with the emperor Nero to save the others. Everyone wakes up after the game, with the exception of Dante, who is passed out and has a weak heartbeat. Balu becomes agitated, as does the entire team, and tries to look for something in the room that can help, but without success. Finally, they decide to let Carina take care of Dante while they finish the Host's Games. Then, with Balu carrying Dante carefully in his arms, they head to the next room, which had a barrier with room for four Marks. Before Balu enters, he leaves Dante lying in Carina’s lap and tells the fainting man that he needs him to stay alive to eat one Mon Amour from Balu after all that. So they go into another game.
In this game, Balu manages, at times, to intervene in the actions of Faustus. He manages to prevent him from attacking Marius, manages to avoid taking the skull that gave the power to paralyze the others and also manages to protect Amalia with his helmet. In the end, Faustus ends up being sacrificed along with Marius, resulting in Balu and Arthur unconscious after the game. Joui and Rubens comfort Carina and entrust the fainted bodies to her as they go to the final game. The two enter the Host’s last game and only Joui returns conscious. After this, creatures begin to emerge from the statues of the Ordo warriors who were sacrificed, and as soon as this happens, Balu and the others wake up for combat. They face the Unforgotten Wraiths of Faustus, Amalia, Remus and Marius. As the battle ends, a door opens and a room with a big Transcending symbol reveals itself on the floor. Dante feels called and decides to transcend as the group waits. Dante begins to transcend and another door opens, revealing a passage. The group discusses whether to leave Dante there alone and Balu says he is very important to the team. However, Arthur comes to the verdict that Dante would be fine alone and that they should follow. Once below, there was a corridor with a large door that slowly opened, revealing the Host sitting on a throne next to the Devil.
Upon entering the room, the Host is revealed to be Arnaldo Fritz, and Balu gets shocked by the information. Despite knowing that this was not his former companion, Balu proves to be upset to learn that Arnaldo would be responsible for the things that happened to him shortly inside the ruins. The Host greets him and Balu just says that Arnaldo had become even weird than it was in the past. Then the Host, the Devil and the Markeds begin to talk. The two wielders tried to convince the team to join them to defeat the Knowledge, stating that if the Masks and Kian were destroyed, Knowledge would no longer have ties to Reality and no more people like Kian would arise. To demonstrate the kind of power the Markeds would acquire after defeating the Knowledge, the Host shows the scene of Kian betraying Gal and then Clarissa appearing and torturing Gal. The Host left it up to them to decide whether or not to save Gal from Clarissa. The Vultures begin to argue, with Carina and Joui defending not saving him and Dante and Arthur defending saving him. Rubens and Balu stay quiet, however, Balu makes clear his disappointment with the young people having their hearts filled with hatred so young. Finally, Arthur pushes the button and saves Gal.
After that, the conversation about the destruction of Knowledge returns, however, the Sect of the Masks appears and also participates in the debate. After analyzing everything that has happened so far, Team Vultures decides to align themselves with the Masks, as they only defend the removal of the current wielder from the Relic of Energy, not the complete destruction of it. Balu, in his choice, takes into account everything that the Host had done bad to Rubens, mainly saying that he liked him and respected his pain and therefore would not align himself with a psychopath like the Host. The team’s choice is made and a battle against the wielder of the Relic of Energy begins.
In the main hall of Ordo Calamitas, Team Vultures, with help from members of the Sect of the Masks, face the five representations of the Hosts who ruled the Colosseum. The battle is intense and all agents are badly injured, especially Arthur, and all members of the Sect (except the Magistrate) are killed. When they defeat the variations, an energy sphere appears in the center of the hall, however, the Magistrate appears and says that this was not the relic yet. In this, the group discovers that the Magistrate was holding the Host during the first part of the fight and that now the real battle would begin. With the Magistrate protecting them, the Vultures face off against the Host of Arnaldo Fritz, having an extremely turbulent and dangerous battle. Balu suffers very severe damage and falls bleeding. Dante manages to save him at first, but the Host, hearing that Balu didn't want to die, goes towards him and says he wants to kill him. Balu is caught in a ritual that makes him have a vision of his niece intubated and very sick in a hospital bed, a scene he actually saw during his life. Upon leaving the vision, Balu tells the Host that he has seen that scene several times and that it would not be today that he would fall. Even after the team’s desperate attempts, Balu is struck by an explosion and falls dying again.Joui then manages to finish the Host, thus acquiring the first relic of the team. After this, the battle ends and everyone turns their attention to Balu on the ground. Dante tries to do something, but fails. Rubens then resurrects the man with heart massage and manages, at the last moment, to save him. Balu wakes up for a few seconds and tells Rubens that he misses her and then passes out in his arms. Eventually, he is awakened by Rubens, initially scaring him and then pulling him into a hug.
The team, calmer after the battle, are guided by The Magistrate that leads them to a room with five different mirrors. As they argue about putting his hands inside the mirrors to see what they would take, Balu walks towards the Blood mirror, throwing himself into it and seeing a disturbing vision: an ocean of red color, inverted, like an infinite stream, and several growls echoing in place. Alongside this, Balu sees a vision of his brother being torn apart by five people and turning into a horrifying creature. An ocean of feelings begins to flood his mind, and as he is pulled out, the agents see Balu with his face drenched in blood, like a beastly beast. Dante, Carina, and Arthur try to calm him down, while Joui stands in the rear, with the Relic of Energy ready. Balu manages to get out of the state of madness after Dante punches him, and soon after, he apologizes for having entered the mirror, leaning against the wall. After seeing everyone removing objects from the mirrors, Balu leaves to take a walk on the spot to rest. During his rest time, he sees Dante returning from the entrance of Semper Clausa with Verity and other agents of the Order. After explaining the situation to him, about Arnaldo being the Host and Clarissa having betrayed the Order, the group follows Verity on the way back. Balu and Rubens have a brief conversation during the return, with Balu singing a song that his niece liked. At this point, they also find out about how time works on the place, seeing that by crossing a point in the corridor, everything would be faster.
The agents follow one of the paths of Semper Clausa, which leads them to a room with a worn throne and what appeared to be a bloody chapel. The team recognizes it as the place where Clarissa tortured Gal, also witnessing the dead bodies of the Metallic Dragons and Dagan. Verity goes on ahead, starting to cry when facing Tristan's jacket thrown in the ground. Balu approaches the veteran, saying that the eyes don't always need to be open. Verity retributes with a hug, questioning where he went wrong, being answered that for Balu, he is the only person of the Order who has never made a mistake. Verity says that no matter the outcome of the battle, this will be his last. The others continue to investigate, with Balu finding Gal’s lost eye. After a brief conversation, everyone heads back to the Colosseum, with Jiro delivering a new shirt to Balu, a purple shirt. He also mentions about no one being inside the van where the agents came, leaving Verity confused. The next moment, Arthur and Dante receive a phone call and several messages on their cell phones: to Arthur, a call from Ivete, saying that several escribes and monsters were invading the Mansion; to Dante, several messages from Agatha warning that several escribes were entering the colosseum, and as no one answered her, she herself entered, carrying the grimoire. The team begins a discussion to organize in who will go to the two locations, with Balu calming Carina, who despaired remembering that her sister, Carla, was in the mansion. Balu calms her down saying that he will ensure that no one will die in the mansion, and then the team splits up. Joui, Dante, and Carina remain in the colosseum, while Arthur, Rubens, and Balu head towards the Leone's Mansion.
Upon arriving at the mansion, the three realize that everything is quiet and dark. While trying to peek through the window, Balu almost takes an accidental shot from Chloe, one of the Hell Hunters. They enter the mansion, being welcomed by Ivete, the Obscurité and Hell Hunters. Balu and Rubens descend to the basement of the mansion, meeting Samuel and Maxime Auclair, who were monitoring the security cameras in the house. They discuss how to plan to defend themselves from the invasion, and then return to the ground floor, where they meet Dominic Sy Pierre and Yuki, new Obscurité members that they hadn't yet seen, and that they came to deliver a mysterious box to Marc Menet. After organizing, the invasion begins, with Balu facing one of the several Mummies sent. After defeating it, he returns to the main hall, where everyone faces Nubi, the escribe that led the invasion, next to the dead body of his brother, Gregory. She tells of her distorted temporal perception, and that seconds for the agents were hours for her. Suddenly, she begins to cry and expel ooze from her body, which joins the ooze of the dead bodies of her allied escribes, thus forming a beast, the Sphinx Carrion.
In the combat, Balu was confronted by the Sphinx three times: in two, he was swallowed and saved by the rest of the team. In the third and final, he answers right the riddle and gets away with being swallowed. After the Carrion is defeated, the members of Team Vultures, along with Yuki and Dominic, go to confront Nubi, who nothing responds and just stands still. Then, with his axe, Balu hits Nubi’s head and kills her. At the end of the fight, Balu is spotted by Rubens playing on guitar one of the songs of the movie Tarzan, one of his niece’s favorites, besides being a strong memory that Balu had of her.
Balu, Arthur and Rubens, with the mysterious box in hand, return to the colosseum, where they witness the last moments of Joui’s life, who is beaten to death by Kian. Balu tries to console Arthur about the situation and asks him to face the battle with his eyes always open, advancing towards the center of the colosseum with his axe in hand. Kian greets Balu, who upon hearing his voice, automatically remembers an Order agent with the same voice, who participated in the Scout missions along with him. Kian tries to make T-Bag remember Balu as one of the agents that killed his family, but the cannibal doesn’t remember and keeps shooting at him. Returning to face Balu, Kian makes a maneuver and grabs his axe, sticking the weapon at Rubens who had approached. Balu withdraws the weapon and begins to provoke Kian, calling him Verity, as the members of the Order called themselves before and saying that Kian is pathetic for not having overcome his problems during his 4000 years of life, and Balu surpassed his in 10. To fire back, Kian reveals that Damir Lukic was the leader of the gang that murdered Balu’s brother, and during the battle, he takes Balu’s axe and breaks it in two, but unsuccessfully shakes the veteran, who arms his fists and blocks one of Kian’s attacks, which nearly breaks the fingers of his hand.
After an arduous battle, with Balu almost seeing Rubens die, Verity orders him and Arthur to one last attack on Kian, who was already tired and nearly toppled. Balu, with a punch, knocks Kian to the ground, who shouts again that he will still return for being immortal, but is interrupted by a blow from Arthur’s Blade of Blood in the middle of the face. Kian is knocked unconscious and Dante approaches him to place the box ring. The ring begins to form a kind of containment on Kian, who is trapped in the middle of the colosseum, unable to do anything. The battle is finally over, and soon after Carina calms Damir who was under the influence of the Uncontrollable Rage, Balu pretends to punch the escribe, saying he waited 15 years to do so, but now was a different person.
The team has a brief conversation during the rest time after the battle, with Balu arguing with Verity about what containment is in Kian and what Verity mentioned about not being able to die, being answered that some questions don't need to be answered. Balu also silently watches as Dante puts the bodies of all the dead together on the ground so he can turn them to ashes, preventing the paranormal from acting on their bodies. He sees the bodies of Boris Lukic, T-Bag, Joui and the Magistrate being disintegrated, and as a souvenir, he asks Carina’s canteen to store Joui’s ashes, handing the canteen to Arthur. Soon after this, everyone starts to leave the colosseum, because the battle had already been won.
Returning to the mansion, Balu heads towards the weapons room to look for another handle for his axe. Dante, who was looking for Arthur, finds him, saying he could try to fix the weapon. He uses his Energy Shot ritual as a kind of solder, and fixes the axe. Balu thanks him and tells him to rest, as Dante seemed to be uglier than a scythe fight in the dark. Balu leaves the room and the mansion, going to buy ice cream for the agents. After returning from the purchase, he goes to the kitchen, looking for a type of apron and finding one that belonged to Carina when she was younger. He then begins to distribute the ice cream to everyone, raising the mood of everyone.
All agents arrange everything and get on the plane back to Brazil. During the trip, Balu reveals to Rubens that he had never really fought a leopard, which is a way to calm his niece Stella when she was scared. Arriving in Brazil, the agents have their rest time and meanwhile, Balu walks the Order talking to some agents, and touring a little with Carina. Eventually, Rubens calls Balu to go to one of the hospitals in São Paulo to see an old friend of Rubens.
Arriving on the place, Balu gets surprised to recognize Rubens' friend as Johnny Tabasco, one of the agents who participated with him in the Scout mission, and the only one who removed the helmet, either to tell jokes or to talk. He is surprised by the situation, explaining that he knows Johnny, and after a brief conversation, he takes a picture of Rubens with Johnny, leaving them alone later and going to drink something. Balu and Rubens also did their rematch in a pool game, and after Ivete promise to kiss the winner, Rubens lets Balu win the match and the kiss.
Balu also attended the burial of Cesar Cohen and Joui Jouki, being silent as a way of respecting the mourning of his friends.
Rituals and Abilities[]
Rituals[]
Curse Weapon with Blood Ritual: When spending 1 EP, Antonio curses his axe (which gives 1d6 of blood), granting him another 1d6 Blood damage, being able to spend two more EP to add another 1d6. Using the ritual, Balu sticks the panther from the tip of his axe’s fist into his chest, and the blood from the opening goes to the axe’s blade and turns it into a kind of morning star, named by him as "Demon Axe".
Abilities[]
Secret Technique: Spending 2 EP (Effort Points), the user can perform maneuvers as free action during fights.
Quick Draw: Drawing weapons becomes a free action during combat.
Powerful Attack: By spending 2 EP, the user adds +5 as a bonus on an attack roll, which can be added to the skill roll or attack damage.
110%: When you take a skill test that uses strength or agility, you can spend 2 EP to gain +5 in the roll.
Silver Tongue: Whenever using deception or diplomacy, the user receives an extra die in the test involved.
Knock Down and Attack: If it manages to take down an opponent, the user can spend his reaction and 1 EP to attack him once more in the same action.
Cursed Items[]
Elemental Protection Amulet: A buckle with reddish veins with the Blood Symbol marked, that Balu affixed to his belt, securing +5 armor against Blood damage.
Cursed Cane: The old cane of Nubi; was cursed after the death of the occultist and collected by Balu after the fight against the Sphinx Carrion; however, it is not yet known what its properties are.
Arsenal[]
Axe | A rather ornate axe with a panther head at the end of the handle belonging to Antônio’s brother. After striking The Devil, the axe gets cursed with blood, gaining veins in the blade that give Blood damage. During the fight against Kian, the same breaks the axe in half, but it is restored by Dante a while after. |
---|---|
Demon Axe | By nailing the handle of his axe cursed by The Devil on your chest, the blood of Antônio begins to flow and in place of the blade it forms something like a morning star, made purely of blood, increasing its destructive power considerably. |
Bulletproof Physical Vest | A bulletproof vest capable of reducing the damage taken by physical blows and shots. |
Relationships[]
- Arthur Cervero: Balu, with his gentle personality, was extremely charismatic to Arthur in his first contact. Arthur already respected him due to his history as a veteran and thus welcomed the friendship of the elder. Balu treats him as a team partner and trusts in his abilities, even being impressed by the young man’s sniper. Balu demonstrates caring for Arthur’s well-being, offering himself as support when he needs it. Furthermore, Balu respects Arthur as leader.
- Carina Leone: Balu, since the first moment, treats Carina with much affection and affection, and Carina returns sympathetic. Balu took care of her and showed support when she had to deal with the massacre of her family, claiming to be there to protect her and help her get through it. He always tries to please Carina and relieve her of the feeling of sadness that the situation of her family generated, buying ice cream for the whole team, but thinking more about Carina, in order to comfort her.
- Dante: Despite finding the occultist a weird in general, Balu treats him well and respects him as a team partner. Dante also perceives Balu as a teammate and treats him and protects him just as he does with others. Although Balu is not very pleased with occultist rituals, he never demeaned Dante for using them in combat, despite being afraid when the man wants to use some ritual on him.
- Ivete Beicur: Balu shows a certain romantic interest in Ivete, which is evident in the 10th episode of Calamity, on which Ivete promises him a beer if they both manage to get out of the battle against the Sphinx Carrion. After this, Ivete begins to pick up Balu several times. After returning to Brazil, Ivete and Balu kiss after he wins against Rubens, who let him win on purpose in a game of pool.
- Joui Jouki: By behaving more seriously, Balu ends up not having so many moments with Joui. Even so, he seems to trust him, besides considering his strength and his companionship great qualities to have in a team. During the battle against The Host, Joui demonstrates understanding of Balu’s feelings, stating that he also sometimes feels useful only to get hit by attacks in place of allies.
- Mr. Verity: Balu doesn't demonstrate to treat Verity formally like most of the Order’s agents. In the presence of the leader, he shows himself relaxed and with little scruples to address him. Verity does not seem to bother much with this. Balu is very clear with Verity when he says that he had not gone mad, but only returned to being himself. Verity says he respects the way he deals with the tragedies and events of his own life.
- Rubens Naluti: Due to Rubens' small and frightened nature, Balu plays with him a lot, often making the young man angry. Despite this, Balu protects and respects him as a team partner. Rubens, much as he does not like when Antônio calls him by nicknames and speaks too loudly, also protects him, demonstrating reciprocity in friendship and partnership of the two. Balu is very fond of Rubens and tells him that he will always be a support for what he needs, as well as telling him not to forget who he is despite the hatred and resentment that enemies make him feel.
- Stella and brother: It is known that Balu had a brother and a niece, being mentioned by him that the axe he uses was originally his brother’s. However, his relationship with the two is not clearly known, but from his descriptions, seem to be of closeness and with affection. In addition, it is revealed that Balu’s niece became very ill and died, which left him very shaken, since the girl was like a daughter to him. Later, it's revealed by Kian that Balu’s brother was killed by the Lukic family gang
Trivia[]
- Balu is not very connected with technology, even having a very old flip cellphone.
- Balu repudiates the paranormal, even refusing to conjure rituals and transcend; the reason for this remains unknown.
- In a talk with Arthur Cervero, Antônio says he can play guitar.
- Balu hated his niece’s swimming teacher.[10]
- The "Demon Axe" form from Balu's main weapon is inspired in the Bloodletter from the game Bloodborne.
- Balu never had children.
- Several points in Antônio’s story have similarities to the Disney film The Jungle Book, as his nickname "Balu", name of one of the characters in the animation, the panther on the handle of his axe, the wallpaper of his cell phone depicting a bear and a panther and the character singing one of the songs in the film at a time of the 9th episode of Calamity.
- Balu was the first character to be taken out of the insanity state.
- Balu sang and played the music "You'll Be In My Heart" from the movie Tarzan in the 10th episode of Calamity.[11]
- Balu lied by saying that he had already fought with a leopard, being that a story he told his niece Stella to calm her when the little girl was afraid.
- In the house where Balu’s brother and niece were living, it is possible to see several axes scattered around the place, indicating that this weapon was used by his family long ago.
- Balu’s brother is known to have died at least 15 years ago, when he was about 29 years old.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Episodes | Appearances |
---|---|
Calamity - Episode 0 - "Prologue" | First Appearance |
Calamity - Episode 1 - "The Beginning of the End" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 3 - "Pact" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 4 - "Amphitheatrum" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 5 - "Ordo Calamitas" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 6 - "Games" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 8 - "Choice" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 9 - "Synthesis" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 10 - "Time" | Present |
Calamity - Episode 11 - "Warrior" | Only Visions |
Calamity - Episode 12 - "Eyes" | Present |
References[]
- ↑ Calamity - Episode 10 (watch on YouTube at 4h39m40s)
- ↑ Antônio Pontevedra's origin in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 1h07m07s)
- ↑ Twitter. Tweet from Ordem Paranormal #Calamidade (September 2, 2021)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 His first appearance in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 11m39s)
- ↑ Balu loses his ear in Calamity - Episode 3 (watch on YouTube at 2h07m29s)
- ↑ His combat stand in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 25m28s)
- ↑ Balu pulls the rug revealing a locked trapdoor with a narrow padlock in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 1h39m43s)
- ↑ Balu pretends to listen the "truth" the radios tell to keep Eusébio's attention in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 2h32m07s).
- ↑ Balu finishes the Needy after cutting off the child’s body in its true form in Calamity - Episode 0 (watch on YouTube at 4h20m51s).
- ↑ Calamity - Episode 8 (watch on YouTube at 2h47m04s)
- ↑ Calamity - Episode 10 (watch on YouTube at 4h35m40s)