Mahoraga

Mahoraga (マハラカ, Maharaka) is a secondary antagonist in Saiyuki: Journey West. He is the first member of the Devil Eight to encounter Sanzo's party. He was formerly a renowned snake god before he converted as a Devil.

In Hinduism and Buddhism, a Mahoraga is a type of dharmapala -wrathful entity- who serves under Gautama Buddha. Together with Kimnara and the members of Sakra's family, Mahoragas are gods of music. Their bodies resemble humans except they have a cobra or python's neck and head. Though recognized as snake gods, they are said to be a genus of dragons.

Role in Game
Sanzo first encounters Mahoraga when they visit Lady Kikka in a dream world constructed by him. He introduces himself as the Dream Master and marvels at his fortune for finding Lady Kannon's staff so easily. After slapping the dryad to silence her, he demands the monk to free the Guardian and hand him the divine staff at once. Sanzo refuses to give into the villain and the serpent retaliates with force. Standing unaffected from his defeat, he departs before his creation shatters. His knowledge of the staff and Guardians continues to worry the monk as his/her party travels to India.

While Sanzo reaches Pteron, Mahoraga is working elsewhere and makes Kid Pyric his pawn. Granting the wanting child a fraction of a Devil's powers, he desires to use the boy against Sanzo for his own ambitions. He is disappointed when Pyric loses and takes action himself by confronting Sanzo at Mount Stone. Though he morphs into his real form for the battle, he is defeated and retreats with indignation back to Heaven. Suffering grave wounds, he asks his defeat be kept a secret from Asura. With Deva's permission, the serpent is taken away to be healed by Garda. He remains out of commission for the rest of the story.

Personality
Cold and shameless devil, Mahoraga reveals in his immortal powers and seeks to prove himself as a mighty entity. Though technically a member of the dragon species, he has a conceited view of his race being superior to their roots. When he overhears Nagini complaining to Deva about their failure to retrieve Sanzo's staff, Mahoraga is insulted when the dragon didn't consider him an influential candidate for retrieving it. Forming a grudge against the dragon, he plots to prove himself better than her in every way. He is humiliated when his plan fails and his pride refuses to accept Nagini's kind gesture to heal him.

Fighting Style
The terrain for Mahoraga's fights are seemingly made to completely favor his long distance tactics. In the first fight in his dream world, he is positioned high atop a tall pedestal and snipes at Sanzo's party with poisonous arrows. His minions guard the series of rising stones leading toward his location, a few of them also shooting arrows to impede the player's progress. Mahoraga rarely moves from his position, forcing the party to worm their way to him.

Players can use Goku's Cloud ability or Ryorin's Wereform to reach Mahoraga's position in one or two turns. There, they can hit Mahoraga with their strongest attacks for a snappy victory. However, they might be instantly targeted by the rest of the monsters on the field and maybe in danger of losing their health too quickly to their attacks. To properly support the team, the players may have want to put their fliers on temporary standby while the rest of the party makes their way through the pedestals. When the rest of the party is in support range, their fliers can help take out the monsters intruding the longer path.

Mahoraga's second encounter is plagued with a distorted and jagged terrain that prevents many characters from moving normally. The floating serpent can transport himself four spaces in any direction to avoid terrain effects entirely. He can also cast damaging water magic and has a chance of poisoning Sanzo's party. His monsters are equipped with long distance magic to keep the player's characters at bay.

Even so, the players can also use the terrain to their advantage. They may retreat to either corners of the map and merely wait for the monsters to come to them. If they choose to focus on defense, the party can defeat each villain individually until the boss remains. Mahoraga's attacks maybe a hindrance if he floats closer to ally members, but they are not too damaging for even low-leveled characters. The hardest part of the battle maybe dealing the final blow to him, as he may evade for quite some time if the player's formation has a single opening for escapes.

Both of his battles contain the Emperor's armor as treasures on the map, which are strong pieces of equipment. They are also required if the player wants to obtain the Emperor Guardian later in the game.