Grendel

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## General Characteristics

### Armaments

Fists and legs (claws & kicks)

v **·** e

> “By the Lead of Fragile Chain, I'm Existing Here——
> I am Nightmare, I am Grendel Biting Myself...!!”
> — Van, during his transformation into Grendel Alter and Sin
>
>

**Grendel** (魔装鬼 グレンデル), also known as the **Demonic Gear Clad in Blue Darkness: Grendel** (黎を纏い魔装鬼 グレンデル), is the mysterious Shard armament form Van Arkride dons in certain circumstances.

### Appearance

As Grendel, Van appears clad in a fit, flexible full-body armor which stands taller than his human body by approximately one head's height. The form prominently displays his thin but defined musculature with long arms. Van has glowing waist-length hair falling from behind the armor's helmet while possessing extended glowing claws and toes on each limb. Van's Grendel form possesses a gray-bluish armor with glowing turquoise energy lines. The glowing hair has a dominant turquoise gradient fading to yellow-orange tips. The claws and toes are also turquoise colored.

### Background

Hello there, beautiful. May I have a moment of your time?Please be aware spoilers for *Trails through Daybreak* may be present in the following section. Hit [Show] on the right if the show must go on. Adios, amigos!

The exact circumstances surrounding Grendel's origin and nature are yet to be revealed. Van originally takes on the form when in a life-threatening situation and continues to use it when facing formidable opponents. Upon its first usage, the AI from his Hollow core Mare manifests in the real world and displays sentience that should not be possible under normal circumstances. Mare asks Van whether he will 'don the nightmare' or not each time she is invoked and waits for a response.

Quatre Salision describes it as being composed of extremely high density shards. Later, it is revealed to be a form of restraint that separates Van from Vagrants-Zion.

**There we go, the end of spoilers. Thank you for your time!**

### *Trails through Daybreak*

> “Will you don the nightmare? Or won't you?”
> — Mare to Van, during his first transformation
>
>

During Prologue: "Spriggan of Downtown" (旧市街の裏解決屋(スプリガン)), Grendel first manifests when Van Arkride struggles to pull though and protect Agnes Claudel against two drug-enhanced members of Almata. At this time, his Xipha's hollow core Mare appears after Agnes's great-grandfather's Oct-Genesis glows.

Mare cautions Van about overusing or being too eager to use the form. Upon trying to use the form in Tharbad, Van instead glows red and an error seems to occur, leaving Van reeling in pain. A voice tells him that he scarcely needs to don the nightmare, as he is himself the nightmare.

When trying to extract answers about Grendel from Mare, the party calls her out in Dirke Memorial Park while fighting Raglan=Jule. Although they cannot comprehend everything Mare states, they discover she is influenced by something external and is therefore able to lend power to Van. Should Van overuse it, he will become something else.

Two alternative forms of Grendel, **Demonic Gear of Creeping Blue Darkness: Grendel Alter** and **Demonic Gear Awoken from the Blue Darkness: Grendel Sin**, are used in Chapter 5: "White Night Carnival" (白夜のカルナヴァル) and Finale: "For Your Return Someday" (いつか還る貴方のために), respectively.

> “Now then, Van... Will you awaken from your dream, or will you remain asleep?”
> — Mare to Van, during the battle against Gerard
>
>

Van enters Grendel's true form when fighting Demon Gerard, Grendel Sin. Using this form, he is able to take back the Diabolic Core from Gerard, but in doing so he becomes Vagrants-Zion. Mare states this is Van "casting off his restraints as Grendel and embracing his true self."

Van would later don the form to fight his demonic self and use it to cast the Core into the reaches of the Infinite Boundary.

### *Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin*

Grendel is used again to fight with Grendel-Zolga and its own Hollow Core AI Altera. By the end, Grendel's mystery is not resolved.

## Gameplay

Van Arkride can don Grendel for certain storyline battles, The transformation significantly boosts his stats and makes Van capable of attacking twice in the same turn. Additionally, using S-Boost will grant him another action, thus making him able to perform a total of three actions in a single turn.

His basic attacks can be used as many times as desired. His physical and magical attack crafts will deal their respective damage type and can be used once per turn. When in Full Boost, Grendel can expend 100 CP to utilize an S-Craft.

During Kuro's Intermission, Van gains the Craft **Take the Grendel** that allows him to become Grendel for 3 turns. This is only available in certain fights against strong opponents.

## Gallery

### *Trails through Daybreak*

Official RenderKey VisualOfficial OST Special Jacket Visual ArtPromotional screenshotPromotional screenshotPromotional screenshotConcept artConcept artConcept art
### *Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin*

Official RenderPromotional screenshotPromotional screenshotPromotional screenshot
## Trivia

* Grendel is the name of a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem *Beowulf*, described as "a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our human kind."