Diablo (World of the Strange)

Diablo is a fictional Tyrannosaurus appearing as the main antagonist in the World of the Strange story series. He has the ability to shapeshift into any other creature that he desires, including snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and other dinosaurs. He is also the fabled archenemy of the Giganotosaurus named Zang and is known throughout the entirety of the dimension as a crazed, dangerous, tricky, shapeshifting mastermind who wants to rule the entire dimension and then Earth. He is the oldest son of the now-deceased Tyrannosaurus named Sophie and the older twin brother of another Tyrannosaurus named Xin.

Appearance
Diablo is a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex. He is 80 feet long and 40 feet tall. His colors consist of mostly black with red stripes and he has yellow eyes. Like all members of his species, he has sharp teeth, two fingers on both hands and three toed feet. Whenever he changes his shape into another creature, he retains his same color scheme of red and black, but the red part of his color scheme is not always in the form of stripes.

Personality
Diablo is a very sinister, overconfident, foolhardy, arrogant and heartless Tyrannosaurus. As an overarching and feared figure, he is most known for not only his tyranny as the leader of his army, but a capable trickster who likes to fool people into thinking he is another creature by assuming the form of anything that may naturally have the same colors as he does (like a snake or a lizard). This suggests that he can be quite cunning and manipulative.

He also has a twisted sense of humor, as he will relentlessly search for prisoners with aid from members of his massive army and bring them to his lair in the volcano for usually no apparent reason, torturing them physically and mentally. This was shown when he brutally thrashed around Blizzard (Zang's wife) in order to get Zang to attack him. Once he did, he would attack the Giganotosaurus. If his prisoners refuse to do what he says later on, or if one of his own minions refuses to follow an order, he is not above killing them or brutally torturing them.

Towards all of his minions, however, he is more forgiving and usually understands why they have failed in a quest. However, he will not tolerate recklessness from his minions, as shown when he immediately sent out two more of his goons to search for specific prisoners and bring them back to him. This mission in particular actually exemplifies his impatience, as he sent one of his other minions, a Pterosaur, out to tell the same goons he sent earlier that they have less than a week to accomplish their mission. If they return later, there would be trouble.

As a predator, Diablo is never above just eating people he encounters. For instance, when one unnamed man was out walking on a road in a town he lived in, Diablo ran out and devoured him out of nowhere. Aside from the fact, when he wants to get rough in fights, he will transform into his modified "Beast Mode" form and proceed to viciously attack his opponents, usually ending with him killing and eating them.

Overall, his ruthless nature and overconfidence in his duels proved as his biggest flaw. During the duel he had with a monstrous, good-guy Arkosaurus, the mutant dinosaur succeeded in knocking Diablo down the cliff into the abyss below, even though the Arkosaurus got stabbed and therefore killed by Diablo.

Powers and abilities
Diablo is easily one of, if not the most powerful enemy in the entire World of the Strange. This is true for a number of reasons.

Superior Strength: Diablo's most notable physical capability without supernaturality involved is his vast strength. He was able to run straight through walls and destroy them without difficulty, burn down an entire fortress in his dragon form, and knock Zang aside using brute force. Depending on the form he takes otherwise, he gets stronger and stronger. This also happens when he changes his body size into something bigger than his natural size.

Shapeshifting: Diablo can change his shape into any desired creature. He has been shown to transform into a snake, a lizard, a tiger, a leopard, a rhinoceros, an alligator, a crocodile, an elephant, a piranha, a shark, a turtle, a Komodo dragon, a pterosaur, other kinds of dinosaurs, a crab, a goat, and a hippo (all of which were colored black and red with yellow eyes). He can also change into mythical creatures, including a dragon.

Invisibility: Diablo can turn invisible at any time he wishes, albeit partially or completely. He rarely ever uses this ability, however, only occasionally using it to fool opponents.

Bite Force: With the great amount of strength he possesses, Diablo also has a very strong bite force that he can use to crush even the hardest material on Earth, including stone or steel.

Beast Mode Form: Whenever he feels as if he is at a low advantage, Diablo can assume the form of what he refers to as "Beast Mode", which is typically a very large, armed and powerful form. While said form is not as powerful as when he is a dragon, he is still covered in many spikes as a form of defense.

Size Changing: Diablo can change his size to anything he desires. He can go to as small as an ant, or he can become over 1,000 times his natural size (the size selection is unlimited). As he increases in size, he becomes stronger and stronger than when he is at his normal size.

Flight: When he assumes the form of a flying bird, bat, pterosaur or a dragon, Diablo is capable of flight.

Fire Breathing: Diablo can breathe fire in his dragon forms, disregarding the type of dragon form he takes.

Swimming: When he assumes the form of a fish, turtle, shark or crocodile, among other aquatic creatures, Diablo is an able swimmer. However, in his normal Tyrannosaurus form, he cannot swim well because of his short arms.

Immortality: Diablo is virtually immortal, having been around since the Early Cretaceous period 80,000,000 years ago. Since the World of the Strange has been inhabited by dinosaurs for 10,000 years into the present day, this means he is 80,010,000 years old. However, he hasn't aged or weakened at all since the Cretaceous ended. This grants him immunity to age, illness and most forms of physical harm. However, he is not entirely invincible, and can still be killed by drowning, having his neck snapped, or his head getting cut off, but he is somehow able to put himself back together again and continue living his never-ending life as if he was never killed.

Weaknesses
With his amount of power comes his weaknesses as well.

Beast Mode: While Diablo's "Beast Mode" form is strong and tough, it has its disadvantages. For instance, when he turns into this to make combat easier, he is incapable of shapeshifting into anything else. If he wishes to do so, he must transform into his original form before transforming. In his "Beast Mode" form, Diablo is likely incapable of swimming, therefore this would have resulted in his death had he not turned into his original form and turned into an aquatic creature, though whether he did this or not is unknown.

Size Change: If Diablo becomes smaller than his natural form, he will become weaker in physical strength, therefore forcing him to turn larger again to gain greater physical strength. When he is already extremely large and strong, his dexterity is less precise and therefore he is capable of causing far more damage than he intends on doing. An additional weakness is that if he alters his size as an ordinary Tyrannosaurus, he cannot transform into another creature. If he wishes to transform, he has to revert back to his original size. He can, however, become larger or smaller whenever he transforms into another creature.

Swimming: As mentioned, Diablo is incapable of swimming in his Tyrannosaurus form due to his small arms, therefore forcing him to turn into an aquatic creature, such as a fish or a shark.

Origins
Diablo was born 80,000,000 years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period when dinosaurs still existed. From the start, he lacked supernatural powers such as shapeshifting, but he was still black and red, as seen today. His younger brother Xin later hatched into the world, and the two of them were the only eggs that ever hatched. There were many other eggs, but none of them hatched. Diablo and Xin lived alongside their now-deceased father Ziphor, whose spirit they keep with them in an urn.

After the Cretaceous period started coming to its end, Diablo and Xin were apparently among the causes of the end of the Cretaceous, attacking and killing slower dinosaurs. He and Xin managed to escape to safety unharmed, but their father and only parent wasn't so lucky, being struck by a meteor in the leg and killed by it with a broken leg. Diablo and Xin carried their father's body with them to the World of the Strange, where they watched Ziphor become a spirit. After that, they crafted an urn that would become their father's home in the afterlife. They would later use said urn to contact their father's soul for guidance.

Over time, however, Diablo began forgetting about their father, and believed that he could do anything by himself. He developed an interest in finding ways to put darkness into light-toned things, and made it his goal to rule the entire dimension and, over time, take over Earth with it. He would destroy anyone who dared get in his way as well. However, the path would not be easy; he eventually would find himself confronted by a mortal Giganotosaurus named Zang, who defeated him twice before.

Their first duel ended with Diablo being thrown through the erupting volcano in the middle of the dimension he formed into his lair, while lava was bursting out of the opening. Diablo survived the fall and was smart enough to turn into a pterosaur, fly through the lava, and emerge unscathed. Their second duel ended with Zang and Blizzard (his wife) cornering Diablo at the edge of a cliff over a lake. As Diablo roared at them, preparing to keep fighting, a giant Rhamphosuchus leaped out of the lake below and grabbed Diablo in his jaws, before plummeting back down into the water, dragging Diablo with him.

Diablo survived the fall, however, and escaped the lake. The Rhamphosuchus leaped out of the water onto the shoreline and tried to grab a hold of the evil Tyrannosaurus, but he wasn't quick enough. Diablo had already disappeared into the surrounding rainforest, and wasn't seen again for a long time. By everyone, he was presumed dead, when in reality he was alive and well. In fact, he was watching the conversations of other characters from afar in the shadows with great delight.

Current Role
Diablo recently came out of hiding and returned to his volcano where his army was waiting for him, and declared that he wouldn't allow Zang or anyone else to defeat him. Therefore, he contacts the greatest Evil Dinosaur Council to aid him in defeating Zang and his own army. The Arkosaurus was among the dinosaurs who were rounded up by Zang to help take out Diablo. Diablo succeeded in killing the Arkosaurus, but the Arkosaurus had not bled out just yet and attacked Diablo, pushing him over the cliff. Diablo fell thousands of feet into the abyss below, roaring all the way down. The Arkosaurus then peacefully passed away and faded into a cloud of dust, indicating he turned into a spirit.

After falling down the edge of a cliff, Diablo quickly assumed his true physical form, turned into a fish, and swam away. After he made it back to a shoreline, he returned and told his backstory to a group of mischievous story-telling observers.

Much more of his past was revealed during this time. Apparently, while telling his story, he and his brother Xin involved themselves in the Cretaceous period extinction event; while meteorites struck and Earthquakes divided the land up, the two theropods attacked the older, smaller and weaker dinosaurs, continuing to do so as they followed the masses to the opening portal of the World of the Strange. He then revealed that he was disguised as a snake during that time, but still retained his shapeshifting ability. Using it, he turned into a crocodile and scared the observers into making way for him to leave, which Diablo does.

After leaving, he encounters and rallies his army, who all loyally follow him. They vow to destroy Zang, but whether they succeeded or not is unknown because they do not appear again in the story. Most likely, however, Diablo and his followers (including Xin, who Diablo recovered earlier) failed to defeat their enemy, and were defeated themselves.