Ribelio Strada

> "*......OCT Second Lieutenant. Ribelio Strada...... Third Unit, no contact with the demon group.*"
> ― Ribelio's short introduction to Russell Burrows[source]
>
>

**Ribelio Strada** is a supporting character that was first introduced in Season 8, as the Second lieutenant of OCT and captain of the Third Unit of the force send to Lhaplus to deal with the terrorists.

From Season 11 onwards, he became one of the playable characters. His Demon Admin Code in OCT is **LIVING DEAD**, his official Demon name in season 11 was **Demon of Indomitability**.

## Appearance

Ribelio is a young man with orange hair and blue eyes and he is usually seen with a cold face. One of his notable features is the star-shaped scar that he received from his battle with Spica. From Season 9 to Season Final 1/2, Ribelio is seen wearing a light-gray operational camouflage military winter uniform adorn with fur on the collar, wrist, and hem, in addition, the logo of OCT can be seen on his arms. Ribelio wears bands on his arms, legs, and body and he seems to carry a small backpack, on his belts there are three black pockets. His gray gloves with orange triangle lines are connected to his belt by black strings. Ribelio wears considerably long boots with orange lines and they are connected by a set of bands to his uniform, in addition, they have metal protection on the knees.

When his murderous impulse is enabled, his eyes turn red and the scar on his forehead bleeds.

Ribelio describes himself as having a nasty face while Russell Burrows describes him as being unreadable due to his always-seen poker face.

## Personality

Ribelio was stated by Russell Burrows as "still young, unknown with a bad attitude". True to this, Ribelio himself is quite hot-blooded and easily loses his temper despite his usual composed look. He dislikes doing whatever he deems to be a nuisance (e.g. introducing himself repeatedly) and often shows an annoying expression when doing so. Due to the lack of seriousness in his attitude and for becoming a lieutenant at a young age, Ribelio was not well-respected in OCT despite his role being one of the leaders. Additionally, despite being a lieutenant, Ribelio is not above using foul words, disrespecting his superior, and occasionally picking fights with his seniors. However, he has a caring side that is rarely shown to anyone and is only known by SOLID-7, Spica, along with Noel and her friends.

However, despite his attitude, Ribelio is shown to be a logical person as soon he read about Noel's profile then doubted both Noel and Rusell Burrows, as their actions are unnatural and make no sense to him. Later, notice the unusual change of OCT in Lhaplus and Spica's attitude in Triela.

The encounter with Spica has made Ribelio come to value the reality of **knowing that sometimes his will alone can't be helped**. This is what motivates him to look for Noel to persuade her to go down to OCT with the guarantee of her companion's life so that she wouldn't regret it the way he did. It also makes Ribelio start to view the idea of "willpower" as some sort of "drug that dulls the ability to judge", which triggers his current attitude and the way he acted.

His history of becoming a demon has caused him to sympathize with those whose been in the same situation as him. For instance, Noel for being "Demons who don't want to become a demon", and Fugo as the latter receiving Spica's offer to give himself in to save his friends.

In Season 11, after reuniting with his friends and reconciling with Spica, Ribelio puts off his humanity and embraced his demon self, naming himself **Demon of Indomitability** instead of the name Living Dead and abandoning his old conception of willpower after renewing himself. With his new ideal and spirit, Ribelio becomes more serious than he used to be, no longer giving in to his temper and disrespecting his superiors like used to. In addition, Ribelio is willing to use his powers and go against Luce and Burrows to reclaim OCT and while doing so, he comes to support Noel to uncover Burrows' plan.

## Relationships

### OCT

As the Second Lieutenant of OCT and commander of the Third Unit, Ribelio was given the overall power to command the Third Unit of the force sent to Lhaplus. However, he was not well-respected as a leader due to his age and attitude.

#### Dratton Bergman

Ribelio has a rough relationship with his commander because the latter's constantly bossing him around, often making use of his demonic power along with his immortality, and constantly view him as a living weapon rather than a soldier. As for Dratton, he did not give the young second lieutenant any respect as a captain and only considers him as a rookie of OCT, and he often reprimands him for his attitude. In addition, Dratton only considers Ribelio as a useful tool as a demon but allowed him to fight as a soldier as he wants as long he gave him a wanted result.

However, despite their rough relationship, Ribelio did acknowledge the importance of Dratton's role within OCT as demonstrated in Season 11, Ribelio becomes skeptical at the news of Dratton's disappearance and Luce takes overall control of the forces of OCT in Lhaplus. Dratton in return, values Ribelio's power as a demon and his ability as a soldier despite the latter's attitude towards him, proven by his conducting the demon soldier into the secret special force and making him an authorized demon despite making an illegal contract with the devil he supposed to kill.

In Season Final 1/2, as Dratton returns to Lhaplus, they cooperate and stripped Luce of her position in the military and try to arrest her. As Dratton returns, he gives Ribelio a newfound respect after realizing the latter has become mature and witnessing the young lieutenant going all himself and fighting against Luce despite his current situation just to reclaim the organization to its rightful position. After hearing Ribelio's conjectures, Dratton decided to let Ribelio capture Luce while he deals with the mess that Fugo caused in the city.

#### Luce Marie

Similar to his relationship with Dratton, Ribelio did not have much impression about Luce other than being another older member who underestimates him for his age and thus holds no animosity towards the latter despite her bossing him around. Demonstrate in the meeting with Russell Burrows, that Ribelio is intimidated by Luce just by her questioning him about what he said about her age, to which he replies by taking it back the moment he sees and hears her expression and tone. Suggesting that the former would avoid provoking her and get to her nerve would be the last thing he did. Nonetheless, compare to Dratton, their relationship is much healthier until Luce shows her true colors to him and his friends as she tries to wipe him out to gain absolute command of the force in Lhaplus.

As Ribelio learns about her true colors and her nature as a demon, he tries to take her down by allowing Luce to do whatever she likes and then bringing her actions to light but failed and his whole team gets ambushed and then arrested by the members of OCT. As soon he got out of his imprisonment, he unhesitatingly goes against her again and tries to prove her true nature to the whole OCT. This time, with the return of Dratton and with Ribelio's instant testimony of Luce abusing her power and explaining her bizarre power, they stripped Luce of her military position and Ribelio was given the responsibility to capture her.

In one of the routes, if Luce manages to survive Oscar's "Thrust", she will immediately leave the underground and attempt to hide to recover and summon another devil to save herself. Before she could even do anything, Ribelio and Spica appear with several soldiers under his command along with SOLID-7 as they has waited for her and corner Luce, and successfully captured her.

#### SOLID-7

They are his comrades during his time as an ordinary soldier in OCT and they share a strong bond as they have been through many missions together. It is evident that Ribelio deeply cares about them, even surrendering himself to Spica and accepting to be her toy despite did not wish to become a demon so that they can live.

On the other hand, SOLID-7 never forget Ribelio and they have continuously searched for him. Despite having their official name changed to SOLID-6, they still introduce themself as SOLID-7. Once they found out that their long-searched comrade is now one of the demon soldiers in OCT and that he has been suffering Spica's tormenting ever since, making they immediately targeted the devil. Despite what they have been through, they accepted Ribelio even though he is now a demon and willingly listened to him and accept the choice in stopping Spica.

#### Spica

Despite being a demon and devil pair, they have a complicated relationship ever since their fateful encounter, Spica gains overall control over Ribelio's murderous impulsiveness, and Ribelio starts to view the idea of "willpower" as some sort of "drug that dulls the ability to judge" and that sometimes with his will alone it can't be helped.

However, according to Ribelio, Spica has mellowed out ever since and the pair has accompanied each other in secret missions. Spica is willing to accomplish Ribelio's request whenever she feels there's no need to turn it down, the pair seems to have an occasional dispute as seen in Season 8 when Ribelio rebukes his devil's childish tendencies in making snowmen.

In Season 11, after learning about Spica's past, Ribelio starts to become understanding of Spica but due to their tension, he is unable to express his feelings about her. After a heart-to-heart conversation with Noel, and encouragement from his friends, Ribelio came to express his true self and accept Spica. They reconciled after engaging in a duel for Spica lets out her tantrums, while Ribelio enables Fallen Down for the first time. After the fight, they later learn their true enemy and he starts to care about her more as a comrade.

### Allies

#### Noel Cerquetti

Ribelio is skeptical of Noel at the beginning and questions her motive in every action as he felt suspicious that a 15-year-old girl with prestigious background signs a contract with the Devil just to kill someone she did not know for no reason, which is unnatural for him. This curiosity of him is what makes the Second Lieutenant try to find and reach out to the young witch to learn more information about her.

Upon learning and knowing her, he offers her a chance to surrender herself to OCT. On the one hand, it is to save her and her friends from being targeted by the national force as Ribelio sympathizes with her and her friend's situation, and wishes not to fight them as enemies. On the other hand, his offer also allows Noel and her friends to take their revenge on a different path of being protected by the country. However, the negotiation failed as Noel and Caron retrieved Oscar and return to Lhaplus.

Regarding being a demon, Ribelio viewed Noel as similar to him as both are forced to become demons against their will and despite his attitude, Ribelio did care about Noel to some degree as shown in his consideration of her on several occasions, even admitting that even he does not want to fight her. The former also shows some jealousy towards the latter as Noel has things that he does not have as she has her friends' love and support, and a devil who always accompanies her and granted her wish. In Noel's perspective, she regards him as a friend and was fond of Ribelio as much as she fonded her friends after knowing him in Season 8, and viewed him as an ally as well as a rival but is happy with him nonetheless. In addition, Noel takes note of Ribelio's sweet tooth and uses hot cocoa to ease down the atmosphere in the mountain cave in Season 11.

Demonstrated in Season 11, both are willing to lend each other their help as Ribelio subconsciously and without thinking, tries to save Noel from the fall from the mountain in Triela, later Noel decided to return the latter the favor for saving her and letting her and her friends go despite having many chances to capture them. They later become allies at the end of the same Season when Ribelio decides to support Noel and both become allies working on taking down Luce and Burrows to pay Noel a favor for not only saving him and his friends from an arranged war but also helping Ribelio to realize feelings and reconciled with Spica. Additionally, she and Caron also help him realize the perpetrator who set him and his friends to die and her true color.

Their relationship is similar to the relationship between Noel and Jillian as both swirl around Noel as friends and rivals. It is also the center that serves as a twist that allows Noel to successfully achieve her revenge and allows both Fugo and Oscar to avoid severe punishments and become authorized demons. Leading to the good ending of the series.

#### Caron

Ribelio does not have any hard feelings or antagonistic relationships with the raven-headed devil despite their initial relationship as enemies for their position as OCT and terrorist as he wanted to understand his contractor more. However, his history with Spica and being a demon makes Ribelio not fond of the latter due to being a devil and later accuses him of turning Noel into hell for taking her on the extremely dangerous path of vengeance.

However, he is jealous of Caron as much as he is jealous of Noel as the latter is a considerate devil who will grant his contractor's wishes, in contrast to his childish yet sadistic devil partner, while Caron would occasionally advises Ribelio on his feelings. They later become allies as he decided to support Noel to take down Burrows and Luce.

### Enemies

#### Russell Burrows

> "*Ribelio Strada...... I can't read him at all. Still young, unknown, with a bad attitude. He doesn't seem to compare with other officers but......*"
> ― Russell Burrows' thoughts on Ribelio[source]
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Both meet for the first time during a meeting after a month since Oscar gets captured by Ribelio in the container yard. The Mayor noted how young the Second Lieutenant was, as well as his attitude and reputation. However, Russell admits that he cannot read him but comments on the latter as a "black box" he should watch out for since he cannot imagine how a national military organization has someone like him among the leaders.

Unbeknownst to Russell Burrows, Ribelio is suspicious of the Mayor of Lhaplus as much as he is skeptical of Noel from the beginning and he commented that the latter is somehow unnatural to him and stated that he will find out Russell Burrows' true colors. Upon meeting with Noel in the abandoned cottage, he learns the truth about the Mayor from her. Despite hearing from the terrorist, Ribelio immediately believes her after linking each event but as Burrows is related to the national government and holds power and influence in Lhaplus, he cannot directly face him or allow Noel and her companions to continue their terrorizing actions and tell them to surrender themselves and fight him in a different route where they are protected by the nation's power.

In Season 11, Ribelio decides to fight against Burrows along with Noel upon learning that he had cooperated with Luce to eliminate Dratton and him for the latter to regain his control over Lhaplus as Luce takes control of the OCT Special Force in Lhaplus as well as using his friends to wipe him and Spica out.

## Powers and Abilities

### Demon abilities

After contracting Spica, Ribelio attains some demonic abilities that are extraordinary compared to normal humans.

#### Immortality

According to Spica, Ribelio has a non-stop regenerated body thus he can fight non-stop and he is immortal thus no matter what it is, he cannot die. This also makes him unique compared to normal demons who just simply recover faster than normal humans. Ribelio only needs a few seconds to recover from his injury and rose back from his fatigued state as he can recover immediately even if he receives Dratton's red-hot weapon at close range.

Spica describes Ribelio as "a monster that revives after a while even if his head was cut off".

#### Enhanced Speed

As shown in his first battle with Caron, Ribelio is extremely fast and he can move at lightning speed which caused Caron to have no choice but to be cautious of him.

#### Enhanced physical endurance

Upon becoming an immortal demon, Ribelio has extraordinary endurance that exceeds human endurance. He is shown to be able to withstand Caron and Oscar's attack while still standing. Later, survive the underground collapsing along with Dratton and Spica.

#### Fallen Down

In season 11, upon learning Spica's past, later with Noel and his friends' encouragement to speak out his feelings, as Ribelio chooses to confront his contract, he decided to put off and surpasses every impact on him he successfully Falls for the first time and then engages Spica in a duel. In this state, Ribelio's demonic strength and power came to the maximum and allow him to take on Spica.

### Other Abilities

#### Leadership skill

As the Second Lieutenant of OCT and being the Third unit commander, Ribelio is highly stated to have leadership ability. He was able to corner Fugo's group and captured Oscar at the beginning of season 8.

#### General combat skill

As a soldier, Ribelio is well-trained in combat and able to wield many types of weapons. Considering his past in SOLID-7, he has accomplished much of dealing with demons despite being human before his encounter with Spica. Before joining OCT, his habit of picking fights out of boredom gave Ribelio the experience of common street fights.

#### Intelligence

Ribelio is very intelligent and a logical thinker. Of all people, he doubted and questioned Noel's motive in signing a demonic contract just to kill someone out of nowhere which is unnatural to him, and felt suspicious of Russell Burrows as he notice some part of his that isn't logical at all. He is shown to be a skilled strategist in combat as shown during the duel with Caron.

## Weakness

### Price

Despite being powerful, Ribelio still suffers from the price which he received from Spica, and he has to go through phases of extreme bloodlust at any time Spica want upon being her toy.

## History

### Past

Back in the day, Ribelio would pick any fight out of boredom. One day, he met and pick a fight with a man who defeated him and offered him a place in OCT. Together with his new companions whose names were Luca, Nola, Baldo, Amelia, Nero, and their leader (Gasperi) they formed a team called SOLID-7 and fought many threats to society, including demons and devils until one day they encountered Spica and the demon who contracted with her. They easily defeated the latter but got taken down until only Ribelio was left. Spica offered him to "become her new toy" in exchange for letting his friends live and he reluctantly accepted. After the event, the group was scattered into different teams but unbeknownst to SOLID-7, Ribelio has become a demon.

As for Ribelio, when he believes that upon becoming a demon he will be arrested and get treated as a criminal then get punished. However, instead of being arrested, he was put into the demon unit of the organization along with Spica.

Before the main story of season 8, Ribelio rose to become the Second Lieutenant of OCT at some point in the past.

### Season 8

At the beginning of Season 8, he and his unit are engaged in a battle with Fugo's team in a container yard of Lhaplus and they have successfully captured Oscar Dressel. However, instead of giving him to the OCT, Ribelio decided to secretly keep him imprisoned in one of the mountain cabins and interrogate him every day in an attempt to earn the information of Noel's whereabouts for a month.

He was later seen in a meeting with Russell Burrows, Dratton Bergman, and Luce Marie as leaders of OCT. And he lied about the fact that the demon group is still on the run. He was shown to be intimidated by Luce after he said to her "Know it for your age" during the conversation. After the meeting, he is seen talking with Spica and both came to where they imprisoned Oscar and torture him again but failed as he refuses to give them any information.

Later on, he found Noel and Caron's hideout in one of the mountain cabins and attempts to have a conversation with them but ended up in a duel due to Noel and Caron keeping their guards up towards him after he introduced himself as one of the commanders of OCT. The duel ended with Ribelio who is trying to kill Noel in his uncontrollable bloodlust and Spica reveals the truth of Ribelio's power which make Caron have no choice but to accept their offers for a conversation. There, he learns the true reason why Noel made a contract with a demon and became a terrorist and immediately believes her. Just when Noel thought that he is an ally, Ribelio told her to surrender and give in to OCT as they will give her a position and this will also protect her friends. However, Noel refuses and starts talking about her will in revenge to make Ribelio lose his cool. Instead, he told Spica to knock them out and take Caron and Noel to separate places.

When he is alone with Noel, he gave her a drink to warm up and expresses to her his belief that they could join teams as being "demons who don't want to become a demon and for being the same type of demon. He then told her about his past, how he joined the OCT, and how he became a demon. He later leaves her alone so she can think more about her decision. However, the negotiation failed as Noel reject his offer by rescuing Oscar and returning to Lhaplus.

When Noel and Caron are on their way to return to Lhaplus along with Oscar, he along with OCT force attempts to stop them by firing a rocket launcher at them. And gave them a chance to surrender themselves, once again he expresses that he did not wish to fight Noel and blames Caron that he took Noel to hell, rebukes their will, and says that they would end up regretting like him in the past. However, as Caron and Noel unlock their new power **The Mortal Linker**, they were able to stop Ribelio and OCT from following them, Ribelio also expresses to be a bit of jealousy of Noel having a Devil that will always be there with her. Before leaving, Caron told Ribelio to have pride and don't regret his decision in saving his friends in the past.

Ribelio was seen lying on the road with Spica came to him. He looks at the sky and says that if Noel and Caron have talked about their will like that then they should prove it to him.

### Season 9

He is seen in the meeting room at the HQ of OCT and receiving the information regards of Fugo's team in Lhaplus. Later forced by Dratton to fight as Living Dead as he had failed the mission to eliminate Noel and was shot by the latter's red-heat gear in front of Spica but then rise again from the ground. He later leaves the room to make some preparation but then question the current OCT on his way as he can sense something evil within the organization as he was recruited as a demon soldier along with Spica, but then leave his thought aside.

He later corner Fugo's team in the city along with Dratton and try to find Fugo's team inside Melloy after the latter blows up the ground. After finding Fugo and tossing him dynamite, Ribelio informs the latter about Noel's group and orders them to surrender to avoid his friends from being harmed and warns them of the consequences. However, Spica interferes and enables Ribelio's impulses and takes on Fugo, when she offers the other side a deal to ensure his friends' safety, Ribelio looks at the latter and sees his old self of fighting with someone whose stronger than him and becomes what he is now. In contrast to their expectation, Slug gets Fugo to get back to his sense and the demon blow them up from the ground, cutting them off for good.

He later engages Oscar in a duel, which he ends up being buried under the debris as Oscar triumphs victory and gets to reunite with the whole group at the end. He then thinks of Fugo's walking his wreck but as the latter escapes Melloy, he lamented on Dratton and his belief as Noel and her friends' enemy are not them but Russell Burrows and they will just slip through OCT till the end as Melloy collapses.

## Etymology

* His name means "Rebellion Street" in Italian.
	+ The name **Ribelio** came from the word **Ribellione** meaning "rebellion" in Italian.
	+ Ribelio's surname **Strada** means "street" in Italian.

## Trivia

* His representative color was the operational camouflage pattern orange.
	+ His representative color is similar to Noel Cerquetti's representative color.
* He is similar to Noel in every perspective:
	+ Both are individuals who become demons, not by their will.
		- While Noel was tricked into becoming a demon, Ribelio become a demon since he have no choice but to save his friends.
	+ Both have the same representative color orange.
	+ Both carry great willpower and charisma for the objective they are following.
		- However, Ribelio has forsaken his will due to his past but manages to reclaim it upon his meeting and later cooperation with Noel.
	+ Both are the representative member who inspires their groups to follow them.
	+ Both have a Great Devil being their companion.
	+ Both suffered great damage physically and mentally to their price upon becoming a demon.
	+ Both have wielded firearms twice in the series.
		- While Noel only wields handguns, Ribelio wields a rocket launcher and later three types of firearms depend on the player's choice.
			* In Season Final 1/2, the player can choose between a machine gun, a shotgun, or a handgun for Ribelio to wield in the first half of the season final to shoot Luce's car in the car chase.
	+ Both are among the Demons to have a Devil companion.
		- However, there is a difference while Spica is using Ribelio as her toy, Caron viewed Noel as a companion and never manipulates his demon companion. Caron cares about her more than making use of her, and he always aids and supporting to Noel in every way.
	+ Both are aware of their Devil's past.
		- However, while Noel learns about Caron's past with Russell Burrows not long after becoming a demon, Ribelio only learns of Spica's past a while after becoming a demon.
* He is also similar to Fugo in some aspects as both are delinquents in their background, they are not above using foul words, and being hot-blooded young men. They also inspired their team as Fugo for his gang while Ribelio for SOLID-7.
* In Season 11, it is revealed that his HP was ∞, indicating his immortality.
	+ He has the highest HP among the playable characters.
* In Season 8, he is revealed to be a sweet tooth.
	+ During Noel's stay with Ribelio, if the player chooses Super Sweet Dark Cocoa instead of Coffee, Ribelio will jump into his temper.
* According to Russell Burrows, Ribelio wasn't well-known to the public among the leaders of OCT.
* He is the fourth demon introduced to have a Devil as his companion. The first was Russell Burrows, followed by Noel Cerquetti, and Jilian Littner.
* Ribelio is also the second one to prevent Noel from her revenge out of goodwill for her sake. The first is Jillian Littner.
	+ However, while Jillian wants Noel to abandon her revenge, Ribelio offers her a much safer route to take her revenge on Russell Burrows.
	+ His reason to antagonize Caron is the same as Jillian's. Except that he only considers him a devil.
* Ribelio is not well-respected as a Second Lieutenant by his men and fellow leaders
	+ Dratton treats him as a rookie for his attitude until Season Final 1/2.
	+ Luce may be friendly to him while subtly looking down on him for being a young lieutenant.
		- However, as revealed in Season Final 1/2, she looks down on anyone, including Ribelio as she considers the others' motives and strength as inferior to her while thinking of them as boring for their lack of ambition in her aspect.
	+ The members of the Third Unit never consider him a leader outside their missions and treat him as their fellow demon soldier, even talking to him and Spica casually.
		- Gasperi commented on how he and Spica were well-pampered and doted on by the other members.
		- According to one of the two members of the Third Unit in Season 11, some of them were already in the organization longer than Ribelio and Spica and even long before he became Second Lieutenant.
* According to Amelia, Ribelio becomes the Second Lieutenant while did not study or graduating from a military school.
* The crimson marks cover his body in his Fallen form resembling the edges of a pentagram star.
	+ It is understandable because Spica becomes a devil because of a star.
	+ Moreover, "Spica" is the name of the constellation of Virgo.