THUMA

Thuma is Blanc's name for the method to maximize, merge with, and gain absolute control over one's yoki through combining it with the soul. Thuma is an acronym for Training Hardship Understanding Medatation and Ascention, ascention being the hardest part. THUMA is an umbrella term for techniques which allow yoki-users to ascend. Blanc claims Thuma can change hate into love. The end result of THUMA is ascension into a purer state of being. THUMA can be performed on both claymores and awakened, and possibly on other yoki-users as well. Claymores can use it without pain as this is effectively a natural evolution for them. Members of destruction squads can use THUMA to awaken "properly" with a moderate amount of pain from their rampant yoki. Awakened users must have their souls ripped apart from their yoki and have their encrusted yoki re-form around their souls completely. This process is incredibly painful, as it rips the entire essence of a being apart and is thousands of times more painful than any flesh wound.

The beginnings of THUMA are first freeing one's self from their obligations and burdens that weigh upon their soul which appears in the form of chains. The next stage of Thuma is realizing and accepting that one's yoki has a will of its own and accepting it and merging it into one's mind and soul. This merge perfectly unites the yoki, mind, and soul, and is only possible with the absence of self-loathing, a form of hate, which creates separation between the individual parts. At this point, the individual has no detectable aura unless they use their yoki. This is because normally, an aura is created by the separation and conflict of wills between the human mind and the yoki's will. This separation is caused by hatred, which pushes all things further apart. An aura is normally created as hatred has the power of creation, allowing for an aura to be made. However, the user at this point still has hatred (at the world (malice)) and must continue THUMA to ascend.

The next stages of THUMA involve training with their improved abilities until they reach and break through their limits. By learning more about themselves and their yoki and gaining understanding that their hate towards others is misguided, THUMA practitioners slowly change their malice towards others into love, allowing them to grow stronger through more yoki being able to be combined with their souls and their control over the flow of time (and thus, seasoning) increasing.

At a certain point, the original "limit" of a practitioner, the yoki escapes from inside the soul and covers it in a special armor which is unique to each individual, a purely mental awakening in the case of Claymore practitioners. Claymore practitioners never will awaken physically as the user thinks of itself as and is a human (and before this mental awakening, this will became the will of the yoki) so when the yoki needs to evolve and get stronger, forming the armor, the user's body remains human, as that is what the yoki thinks it is. For already-awakened users, the yoki is already shaped by its original host on the moment of awakening into an inhuman form. As this is now the true nature of the yoki, the user will still have an awakened form and be an awakened being after performing THUMA. Awakened practitioners of THUMA still exhibit awakened forms and a need to eat raw flesh due to the lack of a human mind in awakened (which is destroyed during awakening). In these awakened, usually the stripped yoki is stored into a physical weapon and can be called upon to gain access back to the awakened form and semi-awakening.

With more training, more armor can be created. This armor is proportional to combat ability and strength and serves to protect the soul from anything that might attack it.

After a certain point, the user will have no more hate left inside of their soul, allowing them to be able to reach ascension and a new existence. This lack of hate can be thought of in two ways, a lack of hatred towards anything, or a soul that is full of love to the point that it cannot hold any hatred inside it. Once a being reaches this point, it becomes eternal and an ascended angel.

Most THUMA practitioners decline true ascension, as this results in the user being unable to season naturally and forever be stuck with the aura they had upon reaching ascension. However, truly ascended beings can still be very potent, even if their quantity is low.

The removal of Hate is the fundamental aspect of THUMA. Hate naturally occurs in most beings due to the nature of their painful experiences in life. This hate causes the yoki to not be able to bond to the soul, and causes the yoki to have a weak soul-link with the soul of its master, causing weakness. Seasoning naturally increases the force/magnitude of the yoki, giving it enough force to overpower and merge with a part of the soul. By removing hate instead of waiting the time for the yoki to gain power, seasoning rate can be increased by reducing the "resistance" to assimilation and a being's quality can be increased (more love, stronger soul link). Practitioners of this technique don't necessarily love everything, but merely don't hate anything. The removal of self-loathing removes a being's separation between its soul and yoki, allowing the two to come together. The removal of malice removes a being's hatred of other beings (which is still still considered a part of the being, as all beings are alter-egos of yoki, and hating another being is hating something that fundamentally is the same as yourself)

THUMA has been used by the Vanguards, Zero 3, and of course Blanc, Iris, and 23.