MARTIN ZIGMARL
MZ
The imposing, stoic commander of HOLY. For the first half of the series, Zigmarl just seems like your standard, cold-hearted corporate bureaucrat calling the shots from a high-rise. However, he hides the fact that he is actually one of the oldest, most powerful native Alter users in existence. When he finally steps onto the battlefield, the sheer, terrifying scale of his Alter Almighty completely resets the power ceiling of the show.
MARTIN THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
ALTER ENCYCLOPEDIA //
Open page →Zigmarl's Alter combines armor on his own body with the independent mecha-like Alias fighting beside him. The two forms can coordinate attacks and generate compressed-air shockwaves, giving Zigmarl both direct power and a separate attacking partner.
What changed
The refinement that helped make him powerful has also ravaged his body. By the time Ryuho sees the full Alter, the cost of HOLY's refinement program is standing directly in front of him.
HOLD, HOLY & THE MAINLAND //
Open page →Authoritarian · Compromised · Not Mujo
Zigmarl is responsible for the organization that hunts Kazuma and captures Native Alters, so the series never lets him off the hook. But his goal is not identical to Mujo's. Zigmarl still treats HOLY as a structure that can contain Alter violence and preserve the Lost Ground under Mainland pressure.
Why it matters
That difference explains why Mujo's arrival creates conflict inside the supposed ruling side. The old system is oppressive. Mujo intends to turn the people and powers inside it into raw material.
HOLY: Alter Users Policing Alter Users
HOLD Special Unit · Martin Zigmarl · Alter Enforcement Open →HOLY is HOLD's Alter-user special unit: an organization that controls Native Alters by recruiting Alter users of its own. Ryuho, Cougar, Scheris, Asuka and the rest are not ordinary police carrying unusual weapons. Their Alters are the reason the unit can pursue people whose abilities conventional forces cannot reliably contain.
Why it matters
HOLY is built around a contradiction the series keeps returning to. The institution treats uncontrolled Alter power as a danger while depending on exactly that same power to enforce its authority. That is why somebody can belong to HOLY without agreeing with everything HOLD or the Mainland does.
The Great Alter Hunt Turns Containment Into a Roundup
Open →Episode 6 · Mainland Pressure · Native Alters Become Targets
Zigmarl does not launch the Great Alter Hunt because HOLY suddenly discovers one new threat. Pressure from the Mainland pushes the organization toward a broad capture operation against Native Alters across the Lost Ground. Kazuma and Kimishima respond by trying to organize people who normally have no reason to trust one another.
What changed
The fight stops being Kazuma versus whichever HOLY member shows up that week. The system starts treating an entire class of people as a population to be processed, and resistance becomes larger than Kazuma's personal refusal to be arrested.
Episode 22 · Alter Alias · One Last Lesson
During their final fight, Zigmarl tells Ryuho that Ryuho caused his mother's death by opening the Other Side. The claim is designed to enrage him enough to reach a higher level of Zetsuei. Only after Ryuho defeats him does Zigmarl admit that the accusation was a lie.
Why it matters
It is an ugly final expression of Zigmarl's worldview. Even when he wants Ryuho to surpass HOLY, he still tries to manufacture that growth through control, pressure and trauma.
HOLD Is the Government Arm; HOLY Is Its Alter Unit
Open →Police Power · Alter Special Operations · Lost Ground Control
HOLD is the Mainland government's police and administrative power inside the Lost Ground. HOLY sits inside that system as the special unit made up of Alter users. That distinction matters because Kazuma spends the early series treating every uniform as the same enemy while Ryuho sees HOLY as the tool that keeps uncontrolled Alter violence from swallowing ordinary people.
Why it matters
Kazuma sees a cage. Ryuho sees the danger that shaped his childhood. Neither man is completely imagining the problem. The argument is over who gets to decide what control is allowed to cost.
