Ayase Souju

Ayase Souju
Japanese Name	双樹 あやせ (Souju Ayase)
Weapon	Sword and fireballs

Ayase Souju (双樹 あやせ)) is an antagonist appearing in Puella Magi Kazumi Magica.

She is a traveling Puella Magi who collects Soul Gems from her opponents. Her targets are the Pleiades Saints.

This section may contain major spoilers for the Kazumi Magica manga!

Please refrain from reading if you haven't read the latest chapter yet.

She carries two Soul Gems, the second one housing the personality and powers of a girl called Luca. Her surname, Souju, means "twin trees". It is unknown if she and Luca are related, or if their body even originally belonged to Ayase at all.

Personality

Ayase acts cheerful and innocent, but only to drop her enemies' guard before letting loose her more vicious side. She is obsessed with collecting new Soul Gems, particularly the brighter ones of powerful Puella Magi.

History

Instead of fighting over witch-hunting territory, Ayase wanders the countryside in search of new Soul Gems for her collection. She was en route to Mitakihara Town, but decided to stop by Asunaro City after hearing about the Pleiades Saints.

Ayase made her debut in Chapter 7. She followed the Pleiades across the city and witnessed them taking a girl's Soul Gem for an as-of-yet unknown purpose. This, coupled with the brightness of their Soul Gems, made her determined to claim them for her collection. The next day, she follows Nico and Kazumi to Asunaro's amusement park, Lavie-Land. After introducing herself and showing off her gems, she taunts Nico for also having engaged in "gem picking". This leads to a battle between the two.

Eventually, Ayase is corned by Nico's clones and has her Soul Gem removed. Nico thinks she has defeated Ayase, but is caught by surprise when Luca awakens in her place and attacks. Luca reclaims Ayase's Soul Gem at the end of the chapter.