Blade

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Blade
Naming
English	Blade
Japanese	ブレイド (Bureido)
Personal Information
Age	17
Height	175cm (5'9")
Status	Alive
Classification	Artificial Adept Mino (formerly)
Septima	Azure Striker 蒼き雷霆（アームドブルー） Aoki Raitei (Āmudo Burū) Azure Thunderclap (Armed Blue)
Affiliation	Sumeragi Institute Minos
Relatives	Kohaku (Younger sister)
Technical information
Stages	City Slums Medical Center Sumeragi Secret Bunker 1
Weaknesses	Photon Detonator
Music
Theme	Hidden Beneath The Mask 仮面の下に隠すものは
Battle Theme	Lightning Berserk ライトニングベルセルク
Appearances
Games	Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX (Debut) Luminous Avenger iX 2 (Cameo)
IRL
Japanese Voice Actor	Yui Ishikawa (石川由依)
Created by	Inti Creates
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"iX... I've given you my word that I'll protect Kohaku and the others."
—Blade, Luminous Avenger iX

Blade is the Sumeragi Institute's current leader and the secondary antagonist of Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX. Defeating her in Medical Center grants the EX Weapon Darkness Trigger.

Once Kohaku's older sister and the leader of their group of young Minos, Blade was captured in a Sumeragi raid and forcefully implanted with Azure Striker septimosome from the body of Gunvolt, which gave her the ability to control electricity. Following the success of this procedure, Demerzel brainwashed Blade into his loyal servant, seeking to have her play the role of "king" in his new world order. After a vivid reminder of her past, however, Blade broke free from her brainwashing and assisted Kohaku and Copen in destroying Demerzel.

Luminous Avenger iX 2 reveals that Blade, as Sumeragi's official second-in-command, was promoted to its leader after Demerzel's destruction. She has since used her authority to maintain peace between Adepts and Minos.

Website Description

• English site
• Japanese site

An Adept with an electric Septima who is affiliated with Sumeragi. He is a ruthless warrior who exterminates Minos without question according to Sumeragi’s orders. Blade is under the direct command of Sumeragi’s supervisory AI, putting him above even the most elite Falcons. His combat prowess is said to be the pinnacle within Sumeragi.

スメラギに所属する、
雷撃のセプティマホルダー。
スメラギの命じるままにマイナーズを処分する冷酷な剣士。
スメラギを統率する管理AI直属の部下で、
選りすぐりのエリートである翼戦士（よくせんし）以上の権限を与えられている。
戦闘の実力も、スメラギ内ではトップクラスである。

Appearance

Blade is a young woman with long blond hair and light blue eyes, with a large scar across her left cheek. Before her capture, she wore a red shirt with a high collar, a white under-layer and trousers, and black thigh-high boots. She also wore a black glove on her left hand and a black band on her right wrist.

After she was captured by Sumeragi, her attire changed completely. Her hairstyle changed tied into a ponytail and a pair of pigtails, and she now has a white helmet with two horns and a blue diamond-shaped crystal in between, as well as a visor with two glowing blue eyes covering her real ones. She wears a black and blue cloak with blue-highlighted shoulder pads and a large armored collar. Underneath she wears a black bodysuit and a pair of white armored boots, each with a spike on the foot and two near the kneecap. She wears blue metal gloves with sharp fingertips. Blade also carries six scabbards and a segregated sword that can separate into a whip.

Gallery

Main article: Blade/Gallery

Personality

While Blade's personality is explored very little, it is implied that she had a strong sense of responsibility, given her sacrifice so that Kohaku and the other Mino children could escape a Sumeragi raid. When asked about her, Kohaku describes her as follows: "My sister was an amazing person. She was strong, brave, and honest... She was always quiet, and yet, still managed to be an amazing leader for everyone."

While under Demerzel's control, Blade is taciturn, only concerned with her primary mission of eliminating Copen as the last real resistance of the Minos. Activating Berserk Trigger empowers her Septima to complete her mission, but also causes her to go insane, unable to do anything but howl, scream, and occasionally shout about her mission to "kill iX", though it seems Kohaku's name triggers her to fight the mental reprogramming, if only a little.

Upon being released from the Butterfly Effect, Blade is initially confused at what happened, until she remembers her capture and experimentation by Sumeragi, before being horrified at how she turned on her comrades. Copen's encouragement, however, convinces her to use her newfound powers for good.

Plot Role

Background

Once one of many Minos hiding from Sumeragi's persecution, a young woman willingly surrendered herself to Sumeragi's forces in order to allow the other survivors, among them her little sister Kohaku, to flee, while she was captured in her place.

Demerzel, having never let go of wanting a "king" piece to serve as his top enforcer after Gunvolt's refusal to join him over a century ago, chose to have the septimosome extracted from Gunvolt's corpse implanted in her. She proved compatible with it and successfully became an artificial Azure Striker Adept much like Gunvolt was.

He then gave her the name "Blade", made her undergo brainwashing to forget her old life and instill an unbreakable sense of loyalty to Sumeragi in her, gave her the highest known position under himself in Sumeragi, and had her kill many Minos as part of his genocidal reign. This brainwashing required routine maintenance, and Blade was told there was a time limit on how long she could be active, ensuring she would return whenever it was on the verge of wearing off.

Blade implies in the mission briefing for Sumeragi Secret Bunker 2 that she knows the Butterfly Effect's true nature. It is possible that she saw the Butterfly Effect or had its origins explained to her at some point while under Demerzel's brainwashing.

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX

City Slums

Blade is deployed to intercept "iX" as he carves into a Sumeragi force. She ignores his queries about the Butterfly Effect and commences battle. Just as she is about to finish off the Luminous Avenger, a smoke bomb rolls out of nowhere, obscuring the battlefield and allowing iX to escape from Blade. As Blade prepares to pursue them, she reaches the end of her "time limit" and is forced to withdraw.

Medical Center

Blade makes a second attempt to take down iX, this time in a Sumeragi medical center that he's broken into for reasons unknown to her. Just as iX backs her into a corner, the Butterfly Effect activates her Berserk Trigger, unleashing the full power of her Septima and turning her into a rabid beast in the process. Blade seems impossible to stop for even a moment, until Lola mentions the name "Kohaku", sending Blade into a screaming fit as the name makes a slight crack in her mental programming. iX sees this as an opportunity to snag the medicine he came for and runs with it, leaving Blade to thrash and scream.

Sumeragi Secret Bunker 1

Blade is deployed one final time to intercept iX as he breaks into the facility below Building 13. To ensure both her compliance and the success of the mission, Demerzel chooses to have Berserk Trigger activated from the start, making an already tough opponent for iX even more dangerous.

While the Avenger triumphs again, he's slowly being worn out by Blade's perpetual rampage, causing him to drop a pendant in a moment of weariness. The pendant flips open to reveal a picture of Kohaku and her sister, causing Blade to go through another screaming fit before her mask breaks, revealing her identity and freeing her from the Butterfly Effect. Recalling what happened to her and what she has done as Demerzel's pawn, Blade is horrified and full of regret. iX merely tells her to make up for it by going to the surface and protecting Kohaku and the children as he dashes deeper into the bunker.

Ending - New Dawn

Just as Demerzel's copies surround Kohaku at gunpoint, Blade swoops in and cuts one down. While Kohaku is confused as to her sister being alive and her attire, she is egged on by Blade telling her that iX requires her help. As Kohaku runs ahead, Blade faces down the other clones, ready to pay back the injustices Demerzel has committed to her and her comrades.

After Kohaku deals the final blow to Demerzel, she and Blade leave Building 13 with iX and Lola in tow, reuniting with the children as dawn breaks on the horizon.

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2

Blade has little direct presence and no dialogue. Her first mention is in the intro's recap of iX1, where it mentions Blade is helping Copen and co. maintain the peace they've won.

Conversations with Kohaku and Null reveal that following Demerzel's destruction, Blade took over the reins of Sumeragi, and set to work repairing relationships between Adepts and Minos. While Kohaku is happy her sister is working to protect the peace they've all strived for, she's also frustrated at being unable to spend any time with her, since she keeps busy with work all the time.

The only physical appearance Blade makes is in the Normal Ending, where she rushes to Kohaku with teary eyes at their reunion.

Powers and Abilities

Blade was originally a Mino with no exceptional powers. However, upon being captured and experimented on by Demerzel, she was implanted with the powerful Azure Striker Septima, which grants her dominion over lightning and electricity and is said to be one of the most powerful of Septima. After gaining her Septima, her strength was such that she was able to defeat Copen in their first fight, only failing to kill him due to Kohaku's timely intervention.

In battle, Blade is a skilled swordsman who fights with a segmented katana that can elongate into a whip for long-range attacks, as shown in her Raiden Galient and Thunderandal skills. Blade can conduct electricity through her katana, often using it to fire blasts of electricity that travel along the ground. The segmented parts of her katana can also be used as lightning rods to guide her Crashbolt skill. She can also use lightning as a catalyst to teleport.

In times of desperation, Demerzel can use the Butterfly Effect to activate Blade's Berserk Trigger, hijacking and enhancing the strength of her Septima. However, this comes at the cost of turning her into a rabid killing machine.

Blade does not use Prevasion, purportedly because she lacks a Prevasion-enabling pendant.

Boss Battle Skills

• At the start of all encounters - even when berserk - Blade will not move or attack for the first time until the player does so. Blade's first attack is always Dash Cut.
• As long as Blade is not attacking, you cannot shoot her head-on as she deflects the lasers with her sword. This no longer occurs once Berserk Trigger has been activated.
• EX Blade (exclusive to DLC) is immune to all EX Weapons, except Muse's Kiss.

Skill	Description
Dash Cut ダッシュ斬り	Blade rushes forward and slashes at the player with her sword. With Berserk Trigger activated, this skill becomes electrified, piercing Prevasion. It also leaves a trail of electricity as it goes, meaning jumping behind Blade is unwise. Both versions of this attack deflect untagged laser shots. EX Blade's Berserk Trigger causes this skill to send a shockwave and sends electric spheres flying up from her trail.
Spin Slash スピンスラッシュ	Blade leaps into the air towards Copen, spinning as she does so. Can cancel into Crash Break. With Berserk Trigger activated, this skill becomes electrified, piercing Prevasion. EX Blade's Berserk Trigger accelerates the speed of this move.
Crash Break クラッシュブレイク	At the peak of a Spin Slash, Blade stops and thrusts her sword downwards, jamming it into the ground and sending electric volts in both directions either side to her. Afterwards, she will remove the sword from the ground, leaving behind a piece, and continue her attack pattern. After a period of time, the piece will explode, also sending out volts. It can be destroyed by attacks from both Copen and Blade. Berserk Trigger causes this attack to electrify the entire ground on impact. EX Blade's Berserk Trigger causes this move to also drop four Crashbolts at specific distances from Blade's impact zone, leaving small spaces in between.
Thunder Zanber サンダーザンバー	Blade begins using this attack from phase 2 onward. She summons a bolt of lightning that envelops her completely, cancelling any Tags. Another bolt will also strike any blade segments she's embedded in the ground. She then sends a wave of electricity towards Copen. Berserk Trigger increases the size of the bolt and the number of waves launched. EX Blade's Berserk Trigger replaces this move's shockwaves with two spreads of Crashbolts directly targeted on Copen's position. The Crashbolts will spread outwards from the impact zone, requiring quick Bullit Dashes to avoid.
Raiden Galient ライデンガリアン	Blade begins using this attack from phase 2 onward. She extends her sword and whips it towards Copen before turning it rigid again, making it a platform he can stand on. She then sends an electrical current through the sword. Crush Reloading into the whip will shatter it. Berserk Trigger allows this attack to launch spheres of electricity upwards and downwards from the sword as it jolts and shatters, and Blade can immediately cancel this attack if Copen goes behind her. EX Blade's Berserk Trigger accelerates the speed of this move and causes this move to launch a tighter spread of spheres. Blade will also keep the whip rigid and electrified for longer if she's at one end of the screen.
Berserk Trigger ベルセルクトリガー	Blade's 1st Special Skill, in which her Septima is hijacked and controlled by Demerzel using the Butterfly Effect, boosting her attacks considerably at the cost of turning her completely rabid. Berserk Trigger is activated from the start in Blade's final battle, so her Special Skill is replaced by Thunderandal. EX Blade will activate a second Berserk Trigger on her final health bar, fully restoring health, accelerating attack speed, and modifying all attacks, as well as turning her electric effects from blue to green. If EX Blade stays lower than 1/4 of her final health bar while she stops attacking, she will activate this skill again, restoring all of her health while still keeping her second Berserk Trigger mechanics, meaning precise control of boss HP is needed during this battle. Note the Berserk Trigger resurrection is not infinite and will repeat only 8 times.
Thunderandal コレダーデュランダル Collider Durandal	Blade's Special Skill in her final battle. She teleports with a Crashbolt, extending and retracting her sword in a series of electrifying slashes Teleports to one end of the screen in a Crashbolt. Marks 5 segments of the ground before slashing whip-sword-fragments into the ground, sending Crashbolts bursting from the marked areas and directly above her. Slashes low to the ground, sending the fragments flying forwards. Reconnects the fragments and unleashes a gigantic diagonal upwards slash. Crashbolts back to the center of the field, resumes normal attack pattern. EX Blade will use this as a standard attack after activating Berserk Trigger, with accelerated attack speed and Crashbolts dropping directly above her during steps 2, 3, and 4 of the attack, reducing evasion windows. Additionally, as she teleports before and after this move, two Crashbolts appear around her.

Boss Battle Voices

Normal

Event	Translated	Romaji	Japanese
Dash Cut	Let’s go! Slash!	Iku zo!(1) Zan!	行くぞ！斬！
"Backflip"	Hah!	Haa!	はっ!
Spin Slash	Hmpf!	Fun!	フン！
Crash Break	Fool! Yaah!	Amai! Teya!(2)	甘い！てやあ！
Thunder Zanber	Come! Hmpf! Destroy!	Kitare! Fuu! Messe yo!	来たれ！ふっ！滅せよ！
Raiden Galient	Eat this! Haah!	Kurae! Haaa!	喰らえ！はあっ!
1st Phase Down	I will dispose of the enemies…!	Teki wa shobun suru…!	敵は処分する…！
2nd Phase Down	I can’t lose…!	Makeru wake ni wa…!	負ける訳には...!
Berserk Trigger	W-what's this…!? Huuh… UWAAAAHHHH!!!	Ko, kore wa…!? Uuu… Uuuuaaaa!!	こ、これは...!? ううっ...うううあああああっ!!!

(1) Blade will only say "Iku zo!" (Let's go!) for her first Dash Cut at the start of the battle, which is triggered by the player moving or doing an attack. Afterwards, she will only say "Zan!".
(2) "Teya" is a kiai, a shout that a Japanese combatant yells when they are in the process of performing an attack.

Berserk

Event	Translated	Romaji	Japanese
Dash Cut	GAAUUHH!	Gauu!	がうっ！
Spin Slash	HAAHH! DEYAAHH!	Haa! Deyaaa!	はあっ！でやあっ！
Crash Break	Hah! DISAPPEAR!! HAAUUHH!	Haa! Kutabare! Hauu!	はっ！くたばれ！はうっ！
Thunder Zanber	UUUOOOHHH! HAAAUUUHHH! FUUUHHH! YAAAAHHH!	Uuuoooo! Hauuuu! Fuuu! Yaaa!	ううおおおっ! はううっ！ふうっ！やあっ！
Raiden Galient	SHRED! BEGONE!	Kizamu! Kiero!	刻む！消えろ！
1st Phase Down	DESTROY… ALL…!	Subete… hakai…!	スベテ…ハカイ…！
2nd Phase Down	LORD… DEMERZEL…!	Demaazeru… sama	デマーゼル…サマ…
Thunderandal	UUUUHHH! THUNDERANDAL!! UUUOOOHHH! SEIIHH! DEYAAHHH! HAAAUUUHH! UUUHHHAAAUUUHH!	Uuuuu! Koredaa dyurandaru!! Uuoooo! Seii! Deyaa! Haaauuu! Uuuaauuu!	うううーっ！！！コレダーデュランダル!! ううおおーっ！！せいっ！でやーっ！！はああーうっ！！ううああううっ！
Defeated	GUHAH!	Guhaa!	ぐはっ！

Special Skill Chants

Berserk Trigger:

• English and Korean versions
• Japanese

01011 01001 01100 01100
01011 01001 01100 01100
01011 01001 01100 01100
BERSERK TRIGGER

BERSERK TRIGGER（ベルセルクトリガー）
(The chant is unchanged)

Thunderandal:

• English
• Japanese
• Korean (with Eng tl)

Wicked blade agleam
Barbarous and bathed in darkness
Cleaving all in its path
THUNDERANDAL

COLLIDER DURANDAL（コレダーデュランダル）
(The chant is the same as the English version)

어둠에 가라앉는 것은 흑뢰의 마검.
광폭하고 잔인한 천둥이여, 적을 난도질하라.
Bathed in dark thunder, the wicked blade sinks into darkness.
Furious, barbarous thunderstorm, shred my enemies apart!
COLLIDER DURANDAL

Musical Themes

Title	Context	Composer	Audio
Hidden Beneath the Mask 仮面の下に隠すものは	Blade's theme, which plays in non-berserk encounters.	Ryo Kawakami
Lightning Berserk ライトニングベルセルク	Blade's boss battle theme.	Ryo Kawakami
The Sword Opening the Future 明日を拓く剣	Theme of the scene where she saves Kohaku. References Kohaku's theme, Positive Girl.	Ryo Kawakami

The track notes of the Medical Center stage theme, Before Night’s Curtains Rise, do not mention Blade at all.

Track notes:

• Hidden Beneath the Mask

Blade’s theme track. A mysterious sword warrior hidden beneath a mask reinforces the feeling of mystery, and to feel the burdening background hidden behind (that image), I made it taking attention into incorporating Japanese chords’ vibration accompanied with piano phrases. This track’s melody has actually a secret to it. Read the description for “The Sword Opening the Future” for the details.

• Lightning Berserk

The track of the battles with Blade. It’s a powerful foe, fast and shooting lightning at you, so the music reflects that feeling. The melody for this track, apart from being an evolved version of “Hidden Beneath the Mask”, it has another trick to it; it reuses phrases and tones from another track. When you speak of lightning... It’s “him”, right?

• The Sword Opening the Future

The track that plays in the scene when Blade gallantly rushed to save Kohaku, who’s in trouble. To express the bond of both sisters through the music, I included a certain “trick”. I took out the melody from “Hidden Beneath the Mask” and “Positive Girl”, glued them together and added a new accompanying… Ta-dan! This is the end result! When composing a song, and to avoid issues, I stare at the score and wrote the 3 songs at the same time. It was a hard task, but the joy you feel at completing the puzzle is so great.

Trivia

• The names of Blade and the Falcons are all derived from various films. "Blade" is taken from Blade Runner, a 1982 science-fiction film.
  • Both works involve their protagonists revolving in futuristic dystopia worlds for rebelling against corrupt systems.
  • Blade having her identity concealed is a reference to the mysterious status of Rick Deckard, the protagonist of Blade Runner.
• In-universe, "Blade" is a codename, not Blade's real name. Her real name is unknown.
• The blue diamond shapes on Blade's shoulder armor also appear on the upper arms and back of the coat worn by Demerzel's human form.
• Blade's mask is inspired by a type of Japanese spirit known as an "Oni".
• The names of two of Blade's attacks reference 20th-century mecha anime:
  • Thunder Zanber references the Daitarn Zanber swords from Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3.
  • Raiden Galient references the Galient Blade from Panzer World Galient, the first known whip sword in Japanese pop culture. The term "Galient sword" is also used to describe the whip form of Blade's sword in her concept art.
• Blade's incantation for Berserk Trigger is written in binary code split into four parts. When "011" or "010", the designations for lowercase and uppercase letters respectively, is placed before each, it translates to "kill" or "KILL".
  • Translating the line as it is results in "ZX", an incidental reference to the Mega Man ZX series, also developed by Inti Creates.
    • It's important to note that translating the line as it is leaves it with unused, meaningless numbers at the end, however.
• "Thunderandal" is a combination of "thunder" and "Durandal", an indestructible sword wielded by the paladin Roland. This mirrors Gunvolt's Luxcalibur being a combination of "lux", Latin for "light", and "Excalibur", the legendary sword wielded by King Arthur. The incantations for the two also mirror each other in all languages.
• On the iX1 Halloween wallpaper, Blade's costume was that of a barbaric Grim Reaper. This is a reference to Asimov on the first Azure Striker Gunvolt Halloween Wallpaper, who not only dressed as the Grim Reaper, but was also in the exact same pose.
• Blade is referred to as male in English promotional material for iX1, and her gender is left unspecified in Japanese promotional material. In-game, Lola mistakes Blade for male before her helmet breaks and her face becomes completely visible. It is unknown whether the gender-concealing effect of Blade's helmet was intentional on Demerzel's part in-universe, but if it was, it may have been for the sake of making Blade appear more similar to Gunvolt, who Demerzel envisioned her as a replacement for.
• Blade’s backstory is similar to Amica's from Dragon Marked for Death, another Inti Creates game. Both are young women who were kidnapped during a genocidal raid and turned into a masked warrior.
• Blade is the only Azure Striker (other than the merely-mentioned original) who has never been heard saying the catchphrase "Oversurge! Azure Striker!"
• Blade and Kirin are the only two Adepts who appear in Luminous Avenger iX 2, the latter as a DLC boss.
• In some of her early concept art, Blade's eyes are orange like her sister Kohaku's. However, they are blue in her final design.
• Blade has the most screen time out of all the iX1 bosses, appearing in three different stages, as well as cutscenes.
• Copen obtaining Darkness Trigger from Blade in Medical Center is the only time in the series where he obtains an EX Weapon from a boss who survives the fight.

• Blade as the secondary antagonist of iX1 has notable similarities to Omega, the secondary antagonist of Mega Man Zero 3, also developed by Inti Creates.
  • Each is a masked, ponytailed swordsman who is the main antagonist's strongest servant, introduced as the boss of the intro stage and fought again later.
  • Partway through the game, the main antagonist makes them even stronger by linking them with the fairy-like entity that much of the series' conflict revolves around (the Dark Elf for Omega, and The Muse via the Butterfly Effect for Blade).
  • Near the end of the game, it is revealed that they were originally related to a protagonist, but the main antagonist transformed them by "reprogramming" and physically enhancing them.
  • Their poses in their main artwork are also similar.