Mathilde "Quebec" Philippe

**Mathilde Philippe** is a former mage from the Grand Order of Magi's Terra Nova Covenant, who was aspiring to become a member of the Veil, but thanks to Order Politics and the fact that she came from a "Fifth Rate mage lineage". Along with Charles Blanc, she went freelancer after leaving the Order before joining The Snake Tong. All her training to become a member of the Veil served her well and she quickly earned a spot in Unit 13, the "Spellswords". Despite her humble origins as a magus, she has honed the skills available to her and has become a deadly combatant and hunter of enemy magi. While Charles and Kabaylo outclass her in terms of magical versatility and Asuka is above her when it comes to Reinforcement potential, and Elsie is a more effective stealth and illusionist, Mathilde makes up for it with her raw combat skill.

## Background

Born to Sleeper parents, and a minor history of magic in her mother's side, Mathilda was born with unremarkable potential for magic. While her mother was made aware of magic thanks to her grandfather, who in turn learned magic for the sake of honoring his mother, Mathilde did not have a proper teacher for magic as a kid, and she only relied on the grimoires and journals kept by her grandfather. This did not stop her from delving deeper into the world of magi and Mathilde was eventually able to join the Grand Order through hard worker and persistence.

Upon joining the Order and becoming part of the Terra Nova Covenant, Mathilde immediately experienced prejudice from many of her peers. The fact that she came from a lineage that pretty much let their magic tradition die marked her as a mere commoner in their regal eyes. While there were people she got along with in her time with the Order, the only true friend she gained was Charles Blanc, who she met during a Materia Class. A rather talented magecrafter, if eccentric, he gave her the nickname "Quebec" since she started calling him "Florida Man" as they got closer as colleagues. He was one who did not care about lineages or prestige, and simply treated her like an equal. He even helped in making different enchantments and equipment that helped her get an equalizer when fighting magi with superior magic.

She started enjoying the combat classes to the point where Mathilde decided to dedicate her focus to fighting magi using martial arts and weapons, with the goal of becoming a member of the Veil. She realized that even with her disadvantages, she can still hone herself to become an enforcer of magic in this conflict-ridden world. This did not end up well for her, however, as many higher ups and aristocrats in the ranks viewed her as not fitting the Veil. Her applications were constantly rejected and any promotions were torpedoed by many who did not want to see a lowly commoner joining their ranks, along with those who already viewed her in a negative light within their Covenant.

At first Mathilde paid no heed to those who tried to get in her way, thinking that she just needed to train more so she could prove them wrong. But after the 20th rejection, she had enough, and was already considering leaving the Order, as she viewed it as a place that did not want her. The final straw, however, was when Charles was kicked out of the Order for humiliating a mage from a noble lineage with a weaponized fleshlight during weapons sparring. She found the whole fight hilarious, but found that Charles being kicked out just for using an unconventional creation win sparring to be outrageous. Not only that but the noble's lackeys planned to kill Charles the following night, if not for Mathilde's intervention.

The duo ended up becoming freelancers instead, finding little work in the Americas before deciding to take their chances in Asia. Mathilde quickly found out that the Snake Tong was open to those who deemed themselves useful and she gave it a shot. Impressed with her abilities despite her non-magus origins, the Tong accepted her into their ranks, and she convinced Charles to join soon after. The two eventually joined Unit 13, with Mathilde joining first and Charles after his little Antarctica incident. Finding a new place to prove herself and a group that gives her the sense of belonging and duty, Mathilde became a loyal member of the Tong, enthusiastically training in more ways to combat magi thanks to the Snake techniques she gained access too. She also became the de facto hand-to-hand specialist in Unit 13, being the frontliner along with Asuka.

## Personality

A fiery magus who constantly feels the need to prove herself, Mathilde is the type of person who constantly tries to go above and beyond, as a way to show that she's not some weak magus. She regularly trains during her free time, especially her close quarters combat skills. The constant derision from many of her peers in the past has engraved itself into her mind, and she unconsciously feels that others are looking down on her, and the only way to alleviate this is through rather intense methods, such as full contact sparring are yelling at someone. This has made her rather excitable when she and her team has to fight a mage or assault a fortified mage workshop, as it gives her an opportunity to beat the shit out of an enemy, especially if it was a magus from the Grand Order. This also meant that she initially butted heads with Kabaylo, the leader of Unit 13 and someone who came from an aristocratic Balete background but after a few exchanges of words and fists in sparring, both earned each other's respect as they acknowledged each other's capabilities.

Mathilde is notorious for making menacing scowls and glares, especially when she puts in all the anger and frustration into intimidating an enemy. This has also resulted in Mathilde unconsciously presenting herself as unapproachable due to the scowl she normally wore, even though she considers it her "neutral" expression. But it doesn't take much to set her off, and she's prone to violent outbursts if angry enough. This prickly and wrathful demeanor aside, she does show her softer side to those she cares about. As Charles would say, "She's a Tsundere Québécois". One example was when she coldly told Charles that they are nothing to each other anymore and storms off, leaving Charles stunned silent because he accidentally wiped out a few pages in her family grimoire after an experiment. Mathilde then angrily storms back about ten minutes later to give Charles a bowl of soup since he hasn't eaten anything yet for hours due to said experiment.

Due to the fact where the magic she could use is limited, Mathilde has developed an analytical and tactical approach when dealing with magi, which is surprising to many as they thought she just brute forced her way to victory. While she certainly uses violence with extreme prejudice in battle, that was just one part of the plan. She has become perceptive enough to catch the magic and and hidden tools and weapons used by her foes. She violently swoops in for the kill only when it was a guaranteed win. She's also the type to study her allies as it allows her to factor in their own abilities in their plans to take down a target. Years of sparring and fighting magi, she has found that simply striking before thinking is an ineffective way to kill, so she has taught herself many ways to take advantage of her foe's vulnerabilities. If they wear armor, she'll find the weak points in it or expose them to Weakening Curses. If they are reeling from a hit, she'll make a surprise attack to strike the enemy down. Even the enemies who think they're safe by flying or running away will find Mathilde using Razorline hooks that can pull them in or slice them up. And if all else fails, she can drop flash grenades or sucker punch enemies to disorient them. No matter the situation, Mathilde will have an answer for it.

She takes pride in the history of her family's magic, despite how underwhelming it is from the perspective of magi with longstanding lineages. Every note, every entry in the family grimoire is valued by Mathilde, and while she is unable to use 90 percent of the magic recorded by her family, she has nevertheless studied them along with the lessons in the Order as a way to familiarize herself with the magics of other magi she might fight.

Although her moniker of "The Red Death" is something she considers badass, she's more comfortable being called Quebec. She was once asked if this was due to pride for being a French-Canadian from the titular city and province, but she dismissed such notion and simply stated that "It's more casual, and I prefer casual". Speaking of which, while she normally talks to people in English, she almost always swears in French when angry or frustrated.

## Abilities

### Magic

Her modest background in magic has limited the amount of spells Mathilde can cast, but she has meticulously studied the fundamentals and have improved the basic spells she has to the point where she has mastered the two specifics she honed, Reinforcement and Weakening. She uses Reinforcement to augment her physical capabilities, weapons, and armor, allowing her to strike at a foe with such force in a single or a few blows. Weakening on the other hand, the opposite spectrum of Reinforcement, was also studied by Mathilde as another equalizer in combat. She can fire off projectile curses that "Weaken" the concept of something that is hit, whether the armor of a foe or their very skin's concept of 'protection', allowing her to cut off a hand with just a slash of a knife. Weaken can also slow down the speed and mobility of a foe when hitting their legs or feet, or leave them practically blind or deaf by hitting their eyes and ears, making them vulnerable to a coup de grâce. She also uses Reinforcement to heighten her senses, and she has also grown to be sensitive to detecting magical energy residue of specific magi, making her an excellent tracker once she's gotten the profile of a target.

### Martial Arts

As Charles once said, Mathilde has mastered the magical art of casting "Fist". Mathilde has adopted a mix of martial arts, picking up useful techniques and discarding those she did not deem helpful in fighting. She's picked up the styles used in Veil training, and her connection to the Tong has given her access to numerous drillmasters who has taught her different styles, from Katja's "Iron Fist" to the Lim's family's "Forest Fist", to the explosive Bajiquan styles used by colleagues who prefer short-ranged but high impact fighting. She's constantly on the look out for more useful styles and techniques she can adopt into her "Fist of the Quebec Star" style, a name given by the Florida Man in her team. She's also picked up weapon-centric techniques, such as Arnis/Kali used by the Snakes for knife and sword fighting.

### Equipment

**S11 'BB' Bulletproof Body Suit**

Standard issue magic armor that Snake Tong provides its members. It is a black suit which was made to be bulletproof (tested with 9mm, 7.62, NATO/.308) and provides magic resistance, dispelling low level spells. It is considered to be one of the iconic uniforms of the Shiai-shi. Suit is made with a composite of multiple magical materials, a major one being Huohuan Bu Silk from a Spider Yaoguai. This makes the Suit durable (enough to withstand modern gunfire and magical projectiles), easily enchantable with magic, and has innate fire resistance. If the Suit was stained, one simply needs to burn the area with the stain and the mess will soon disappear without damaging the cloth.

**Snake Key**

A standard issue Shiai-shi Key, Mathilde preferring a standard combat knife design. The blade itself was made with special materials that are not necessarily strong enough for heavy combat. The pride of the Pranaja Empu smiths, the steel during forging blessed the property to disperse mana. Since it disperses magical energy, the blade of the knife can't be reinforced with magic. However, the reason why it's named a key is because users can create holes within certain points of a Bounded Field. Since the blade merely disperses mana and not outright destroys it, it creates thinned and weakened areas in a Bound Field that is more susceptible of being bypassed physically without triggering an alarm for the owner.

It can also be used against an enemy using Reinforcement on his body. If the Key is stabbed onto the target's arm, for example, the magical energy of the reinforcement spell disperses to other parts of his body and his arm is now more weakened thanks to the lower amount of mana for reinforcement. Fang could then exploit this weakness and perhaps send in air bullets to enter his body from the arm, which is no longer as protected as the rest of his body.

**"Shroud Ties"**

Shroud Ties are standard issue magic armor and head protection, cleverly disguised as neckties that allow them to blend in with the Bulletproof Snake suit style. By pulling down the tie and channeling mana through them, the ties transform into balaclava masks that provide full coverage of the head and neck. The material is made to be as bulletproof as the suits and also provide the same magical protection. The Shroud Tie can be deactivated by the user removing the mask, and it will turn back into their necktie forms.

Mathilde's Mask is designed with a red knife sigil in between the eye sockets of the mask.

**Razorline**

An enchanted wrist-mounted grappling wire and hook, compactly designed as a bracelet that lets it be hidden within the sleeves of the Snake Suit jacket. The Razorline launches wire made of solidified magical energy that can be used to ensnare a target's body or their limbs, disarming and preventing them from escape. It is especially useful when catching flying opponents or targets that use Reinforcement to jump high into the air. The Razorline comes with its own "Mana Battery", saving the user from using their own mana to make the wire. True to its name, the wire created by the Razorline is enchanted to be sharp and can be further sharpened by casting Reinforcement on the wire, discouraging foes from breaking free carelessly. It is also enchanted to forcefully drag a target back to the user, closing the gap if they are unable to resist the pull. Mathilde is one of the best users of the Razorline in General Affairs thanks to her constant usage of it in missions.