Velvet Crowe

**Velvet Crowe** (ベルベット・クラウ, *Berubetto Kurau*), is the fictional character, and main protagonist of the Project Blazblue Cross Zone's *Tales of* *Berseria* created by Yoshiharu Gotanda. She is a human woman who transformed into a Therion granted with the powers to consuming daemons and absorbing their souls, although she refers herself as a Daemon.

Originally kind and family-oriented girl, sadly a tragedy turned her into a strong, angry, and bloodthirsty woman fueled by vengeance and was subsequently imprisoned because of an incident that happened on the Scarlet Night three years prior to the events of the story in her village. After breaking out of her island prison Titania, she battles the Abbey and their Exorcists who have shed their emotions in pursuit of victory against Daemons.

She holds a grudge against Artorius, her brother-in-law, the man she desires to kill for sacrificing her younger brother in front of her and took everything away from her during the incident three years prior in a single night. Due to having an imbued daemon hand as a vessel bandaged up in her left arm, she is shunned and, by the voice of Artorius and the Abbey, is also mentioned to be a being which is to be feared by the world.

During her journey across regions, she comes across a very young boy called Laphicet, who changes her with his pure heart and soul. She is depicted in the game's logo. Devouring daemons with her left arm during her time locked up in the prison island Titania, and her actions would eventually lead her to become the first "Lord of Calamity".

"*But even in the depths of despair, only two things mattered to me. The taste of blood-soaked flesh... and revenge upon one man.*"

—Velvet Crowe.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Cristina Vee (English), Rina Satō (Japanese), Not Known (Albanian), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Biography

Originally a kind and family-oriented girl, Velvet became a vengeful woman fueled by hate due to the traumatic events she went through on the Scarlet Night three years prior to the events of the story. She fights with a blade mounted on her right-hand gauntlet, her feet, and her powers to create, control, manipulate, and change her body to darkness as a daemonic weapon to devour daemons, humans, and malakhim alike.

A woman who once had a friendly, no-frills personality. But that changed three years ago when she became embroiled in a certain incident. Since then, she rarely smiles, and always seems filled with rage and hatred. A mysterious power consumed her on that day that transfigured her left hand into something that was non-human. She usually has her hand bandaged to hide it.

### Appearance

Velvet is a fairly tall, slim young woman with jet black hair. Her eyes are a piercing yellow.

#### Past

Three years prior, she used to fully plait her hair, that reaches past her waist, before tying it off with a red hairband. She seems to normally wear it in a loose braid. She used to wear a red shirt with belt-pouches and brown pants as well as maroon boots. She also used to wear a different gauntlet without having the need to bandage her arm up.

#### Current (Main Story)

Velvet has grown her hair extremely long, and messy, which drops to floor-level; towards the bottom her hair is plaited into big braids that are tied off by a bandage-like band around the tips. Her hair-strands curve towards the left-side of her face and she has mid-length hair which is plaited and tied by a smaller bandage-band resting on her left shoulder. She dresses in dark colors and tattered clothing, and her left arm is perpetually bandaged.

Her outfit consists of a revealing ruby-red corset which reveals her midriff and the top half of her breasts. It is possible her clothes have been torn during her adventures. The red corset has an insignia visible below the belt which it hinders below. The same belt rests of her hip and above her torn, black jean trousers, which now look like shorts. The jean trouser has a chain, multiple belts wrapped around her right leg and a few which spiral towards the lower half of her left. Over her corset, she wears a black jacket in the form of a robe with red-velvet lacing; the jacket is ripped towards the bottom and is tightened towards her chest by the belt.

She wears protective armor on her footwear as well as one extra armor plate on her right shin. She wears the same armor in the form of an arm protective gauntlet which rests above the same material as her coat; the material arches its way up to and wraps around her middle finger, highlighted by a rhombus-shaped piecing. The same gauntlet is where she rest her lance-blade in battle. Her left arm is wrapped and bandaged up because of the alternate appearance it could take in public, and battle.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Gold
* Age: 16 (Scarlet Night), 19 (main story)
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 170cm
* Weight: Not Known

## Background

Velvet originally lived in the village of Aball, where she primarily hunted prickleboars for a living, and was taking care of her ill little brother Laphicet Crowe. She and her brother were the only Crowe siblings left after their older sister, Celica Crowe, was killed by daemons during a Scarlet Night three years prior. Artorius, Celica's husband, was tasked with protecting the village and his family from daemons, and he taught Velvet everything he knew about his maxims to apply in combat. Velvet was generally optimistic, and deeply cared for the people around her, especially her brother Laphicet.

However, on the Scarlet Night, a massive outbreak of daemonblight turns all of the villagers into daemons. Worried about Laphicet's safety, Velvet rushes outside the village to a nearby shrine, where she finds Artorius killing her brother in some kind of sacrificial ritual. Devastated, she tries to save her brother from falling into the shrine, but Artorius cuts off her left arm, causing both to fall into the shrine's depths. Laphicet was offered as a sacrifice to the fifth Empyrean Innominat, while Velvet was expelled out of the shrine with a new daemon arm, having been transformed into a Therion. She kills all of the surrounding daemons in a blind rage, but quickly finds out that the daemons she has killed are the villagers that Velvet knew. Artorius quickly takes her down, and locks her up in the prison island of Titania for three years.

One day, a malak named Seres sets Velvet free from her prison to help her get revenge on Artorius, who has now formed an authoritarian society called the Abbey. Determined to avenge her brother's death, Velvet sets out on her long quest for revenge.

Velvet is shown to act very cruel, cynical, and only cares about her goal. She has no qualms about killing anyone who stands in her way, and has racked up a large body count of daemons, malakhim, and exorcists alike. Despite this however, Velvet still has her old feelings hidden inside of her, and is shown to secretly care for her comrades, especially a young malak whom she named Laphicet because he resembles her deceased brother. Eventually, she learns to reconcile her actions after learning the truth about Innominat, and becomes more determined to defeat Artorius in order to make a better world free of "reason". Her battle with Artorius is less "evil vs good", but more "chaos vs order".

## Personality

"*Velvet was originally a simple girl who loved her family, but the incident three years ago changed her. Her smile is gone, and it's now cold anger and hatred that drives her.*"

—The *Tales of Link's* description on Velvet Crowe.
Three years ago before the incident, Velvet was described as a very kind, unpretentious, companionable, and loving woman, holding a deep love for her family and having a sensible head. Her little brother and many of the villagers often believed she was too athletic to land a husband. She loved her family and the people of the village until the events of them being massacred by a mysterious figure.

After the incident and the massacre of her loved ones ever since then, however, she and her life completely changed and she has locked away her carefree heart. She suppresses her kindness and feeds only her standoffish rage and driven by hatred in her heart. Now, all that remains of her facade is a dark and gloomy character who will do anything to achieve her goals. She is a being who is shunned and by the voice of Artorius Collbrande and the Abbey, is feared by the world. She feels loneliness in life, having to continuously went through multiple experiments and injections, face many conflicts and build up hatred. As a result, she almost never smiles.

Despite this, it is until three years later, in which she meets a very young malak boy called Number Two, who she have named after her brother later on "Laphicet", manages to draw out some of her old self. Because his orders were to harm the party, Velvet unconsciously saved him after forcibly using him by commanding him to hurt members of his affiliation and then pulling him along onto the fleeing ship. She acts rude and frustrated with him because everything she talks to him about is referred to as an "order" by him, until she teaches him the ways of life, she gains back some of her emotions of which were buried deep in her memory. It is because of her, that Laphicet began to attain a purpose in life, which makes her happy inside. As the story progresses, Velvet becomes an older sister figure of the team, particularly to Laphicet.

Driven by vengeance, Velvet inevitably shuts herself from all other emotion, viewing them as nothing more than obstacles that would hold her back in her goal to kill Artorius, whom she once loved and trusted. His betrayal ultimately spurred a distrust in Velvet that results in her only using people for her own advantage, never forming friendships until Laphicet and the other group members wear down Velvet's cold exterior. Contrary to heroic protagonists fueled by a need to help others and pursue good-intention motives that involve enacting the moral kind of justice, Velvet's rogue path opts for a more personal and less moral kind of justice, not unlike Yuri Lowell's vigilante approach to things in *Vesperia*.

Although Velvet's rage keeps her pressing forward and fighting for the one thing she believes will deliver her resolve, she nevertheless holds to her former self in vulnerable moments, often showing a tenderness that surprises the other protagonists, who only know her current self. Laphicet is typically the cause of this vulnerability due to his likeness of Velvet's dead brother. However, Velvet wrestles with connecting and disconnecting the two in her head, knowing they are different people but never fully suppressing her softer emotions she still retains. Ultimately, Velvet spends much of the game's plot in a trance-like state that is only broken when her resolve falters, her rage and sorrow conflicting in her mind and confusing her to the point that her internal struggle eventually reaches a climax.

Velvet can also be quite stubborn when people, usually females, become close to Laphicet in any form. This can be seen when Laphicet and Eleanor were starting to have private conversations and becomes jealous that the former will not tell her about them. Afterwards, she tells him to prioritize her before Eleanor—saying that she is "first" and Eleanor comes "second", therefore he should speak to her about his problems before blushing at what she said. Velvet is also quite sisterly/motherly and overprotective regarding Laphicet, when she scolds Eizen and Rokurou for teaching him, unnecessary knowledge regarding e.g the untrusting of women.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Niko
* Magilou's Menagerie
	+ Laphicet
	+ Rokurou Rangetsu
	+ Magilou Mayvin
	+ Eizen
* Dyle
* Sorey's Group
	+ Sorey

### Family

* Celica Crowe (older sister)
* Laphicet Crowe (younger brother)
* Unnamed mother (Deceased)
* Unnamed father (Deceased)

### Neutral

* Seres
* Eleanor Hume

### Enemies

* Abbey
	+ Artorius Collbrande (Ex-Brother-in-Law)
	+ Oscar Dragonia
	+ Teresa Linares
	+ Shigure Rangetsu
	+ Melchior Mayvin

## Abilities and Powers

### Combat Skills

#### Fighting Style

Her Break Soul is Consuming Claw, which causes Velvet to be therionized resulting in unleashing the power of her left arm. She gains certain buffs depending on the type of enemy she strikes and enables her to unleash a special arte. Her health constantly decreases in this state, but she also deals more damage in proportion to the amount of health she loses. Her mystic artes are Lethal Pain, Annihilating Crash, and Impulse Desire. She also has a dual mystic arte with Laphicet called Innumerable Wounds.

#### Artes

##### Martial Artes

* **Slicing Foot**:
* **Tearing Thorn**:
* **Gouging Spin**:
* **Swallow Dance**:
* **Twin Whip**:
* **Avalanche Fang**:
* **Harsh Rebuttal**:
* **Water Snake's Wake**:
* **Moonlight Cyclone**:
* **Soaring Dragon**:
* **Rising Moon**:
* **Rising Falcon**:
* **Heaven's Wrath**:
* **Inferno Torrent**:

##### Hidden Artes

* **Searing Edge**:
* **Mega Sonic Thrust**:
* **Shell Splitter**:
* **Shadow Flow**:
* **Slag Assault**:
* **Grounding Strike**:
* **Cerberus Wave**:
* **Banishing Thunder**:
* **Binding Frost**:
* **Scale Crusher**:
* **Defiant Conviction**:

##### Break Souls

* **Consuming Claw** (コンジュームクロウ, *Konshūmu Kurou*; literally meaning "Consume Claw"): A sweeping claw attack that Therionizes an enemy, allowing Velvet to exploit their elemental weaknesses. Following combos will end with special Break Artes, attacks which are specific for the type of enemy that is currently Therionized.
* **Heaven's Claw** (ヘヴンズクロウ, *Hevunzu Kurou*): The second level of Velvet's Break Soul. Velvet swings her daemon arm upward, leaving behind streaks of red energy and unleashing a burst of malevolence in front of her. Once activated, Velvet will perform a flurry of swipes with her daemon arm.
* **Hell's Claw**:
* **Nightmare Claw** (ナイトメアクロウ, *Naitomea Kurou*): The forth level of Velvet's Break Soul. To activate it, Velvet has to be in Therion Mode for twenty seconds. Once activated, Velvet will unleash a frenzied barrage of slashes with her daemon arm.

##### Mystic Artes

* **Lethal Pain** (リーサル・ペイン, *Rīsaru Pein*): Velvet's Level 1 Mystic Arte. She dives into the enemy with a kick, follows up with a couple of slashes with her wrist blade, and then finishes with a sweeping claw attack with her daemon arm.
* **Annihilating Crash** (絶破滅焼撃 / 絶破滅衝撃, *Zeppa Messhougeki*; literally meaning "Stop Ruin Burning Attack" or "Severing Destruction Impact"): Velvet's Level 2 Mystic Arte. She impales the enemy with her wrist blade before using her daemon arm to blast them away with a burst of energy.
* **Impulse Desire** (インパルス・ディザイア, *Inparusu Dizaia*): Velvet's Level 3 Mystic Arte. She performs a barrage of slashes with her wrist blade and daemon arm, and then unleashes a powerful energy attack that raises the ground around the enemy.
* **Innumerable Wounds** (イニュメラブル・ワウンド, *Inyumeraburu Waundo*; literally meaning "Innumerable Wound"): A dual mystic arte with Laphicet, where Laphicet sweeps the enemy into the air with his papers, which then scatter around the air as Laphicet forms a magical glyph beneath the enemy. Velvet advances and slashes the enemy with her gauntlet-blade while ascending by jumping on the scattered papers. As the enemy begins to fall, the magical glyph is fully formed, and the enemy lands on a glowing sphere, propelling it back into the air. Eight ephemeral blades then form around Velvet, landing on circles around the glyph as Velvet descends to stab her enemy down on the glyph. At the center of the glyph, energy expels in a cross shape of darkness while the surrounding circles that were stabbed earlier by the ephemeral blades release pillars of light energy.

### Feats

#### Strength level

* Can break through boulders and stone walls with ease.
* Threw a small rock at someone with enough force to send them flying backwards.

#### Speed

* Easily avoided attacks from Oscar Dragonia, who was moving faster than the human eye could track.

#### Durability

* Has high pain tolerance, and can continue fighting even after sustaining injuries.
* Can survive in extreme temperatures (whether cold and/or heat) without protective clothing.

#### Skill

* Has killed and devoured numerous daemons, malakhim, and exorcists over the course of her quest for revenge.
* Successfully escaped Titania with the help of Seres.
* Decimated the port town of Hellawes, which was under the rule of Teresa Linares.
* Broke through the fortress of Vortigern with Aifread's pirates.
* Slowly undermined the Abbey's control all over the Midgand empire.
* Defeated all four high-ranking exorcists (Oscar Dragonia, Teresa Linares, Shigure Rangetsu, and Melchior Mayvin).
* Has awakened the Four Elemental Empyreans by shoving the souls of the exorcists she's devoured into a volcano.
* Eventually defeated Artorius Collbrande, and the fifth Empyrean; Innominat.
* Has fought and defeated Phoenix, the world's strongest Normin.
* Has sparred with Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell, who are from another world.

### Weaknesses

* Has very poor durability despite her strength, making her a glass cannon, and she lacks a proper healing factor.
	+ She dislocated her shoulder from falling off a tower, and had to be healed by Seres.
	+ She got stabbed by Artorius a few times and nearly died, and had to be healed by Laphicet.
* Strength feats are sometimes inconsistent. She once struggled to break open an ordinary wooden door in Vortigern.
* Is very prone to losing her temper, which can result in her being reckless and not caring about her own safety.
* Has unstable behavior and suffers from many emotional breakdowns. If pushed to the limit, her own emotions will drive her insane.
* Her Therion Form slowly drains her health when used, making it not very useful in a long battle.
* Has lost the ability to taste anything but blood.
* Is allergic to cats.

### Equipment

* **Wrist Blade**: Velvet's primary weapon. A retractable blade attached to a gauntlet that she wears on her right arm, originally used for hunting prickleboars. The blade's length is somehow longer than the gauntlet it fits into.
* **Hidden Foot Blades**: Concealed blades in Velvet's shoes. Used in a lot of of her kicking attacks.
* **Sorcerer's Ring**: A ring that Velvet obtains from devouring Seres. It grants her the ability to activate her Break Soul attacks and her Therion Mode.

## History

### Past

Ten years before the story, she lived a quiet, warm, and happy life in a small village of Aball along with both her older sister Celica Crowe, and her younger brother named Laphicet Crowe—who she used to refer to her brother as "Laphi". From a very young age, it has been hinted at many times that Velvet's parents had passed away. As a child, Velvet never went to school.

#### Meeting Arthur

At the age of nine years old, both Velvet and Laphicet, were introduced to a man with white hair by Celica. They had become close to him and eventually became a brother-in-law, started living under the same roof. The man named Arthur, under whom she trains.

One day during a *Scarlet Night*, of which was the crimson hours of darkness, her village was attacked by daemons, and she and Laphi had ventured out into the forest with Arthur witnessing a shocking splurge of events. On this night, their older sister was killed and passed away, leaving Velvet to take care of Laphicet together with Arthur. The siblings took a few days to recover from the event and the accept the death of their sister.

On that same night, the more malaks arrived, one of which was a woman named Seres. Arthur's malakian companion, Seres, could not be seen or heard by Velvet but by her brother and Arthur only.

#### A Stolen Happiness

Three years before the story, at the age of sixteen, despite the loss of Celica and her unborn child, Velvet still leads a happy life, caring for her sickly brother. A few days before an upcoming Scarlet Night, Velvet is doing her usual errands. The next day, she wakes and notices that Laphicet is not at home and begins to look for him. Her search takes her to Tranquil Woods, where she finds her brother, who happened to take a break on his way to the cape. She takes him and they talk a bit, but they are soon attacked by a daemon and Velvet attempts to fight off the monster while giving her brother a window of escape. However, she is unable to do so, and Laphicet encourages the daemon to attack him. It gives into his taunt and knocks Laphicet on the ground with Velvet as he attempts to give her a comb.

Velvet loses conciousness and wakes in her bed during the Scarlet Night with the comb in her hand and her brother nowhere to be seen. She rushes outside to find daemons attacking the village, much to her horror, and she rushes to the cape in hopes of finding her brother. There she sees Arthur together with Laphicet. Relieved to see her brother alright, she rushes to him, but a binding arte is placed upon her, and before her very eyes, Arthur kills Laphicet and drops him into the shrine's depths. Velvet breaks free from the arte's shackles and jumps into the hole, catching her brother with one hand while hanging onto the shrine's edge with her other. Arthur remarks how Velvet acts on emotion and that nothing can save Laphicet now, dropping the two into the shrine.

A mysterious entity devours Laphicet, and a bright light emerges from the shrine. Seeing her brother dead, Velvet is fueled with rage and swears to avenge her brother by killing Arthur. The same mysterious entity curses her with daemonic powers in her left hand. When she is thrown from the shrine, daemons attack her, but she strikes back and devours them on instinct. Arthur notices this and calls her a "therion". He then asks her to look around, and much to Velvet's horror, she discovers that the daemons she devoured were Aball's inhabitants, among them her deceased childhood friend Niko. With her psyche shattered and fatigued from the fight, she collapses as malakhim begin to appear and Arthur reveals his real name: Artorius Collbrande. He takes her to the prison island Titania, where prisoners and daemons are kept and thrown to her so she can devour them.

From this event onward, she grew her hatred all on Artorius and vowed revenge on him for killing the townspeople, as well as her brother.

## Synopsis

### *Tales of Berseria*

#### Escape from Titania

Three years later, a malak red-haired woman named Seres arrives at Titania and rescue Velvet. After breaking free from her shackles, Velvet went into a mad rage and slaughtered all the squads of guards within her sight. After experienced the first display of her slayer powers (evinced from past experiments), Seres tells Velvet that Artorius is located in the capital Loegres, where he leads the Abbey. Left without a choice, Velvet decides to trust the Malak and make her way out of the prison, retrieving weapons and fashioning herself an outfit for her escape. After overhearing some soldiers discuss of a shortcut to the docks, Velvet decides to initiate a prison riot with Seres' help by releasing all the prisoners by unlocking arte-locked prisoner cells.

After doing so, the two come upon Rokurou Rangetsu, who, after hearing from Velvet, he asks her about the whereabouts that he can find his blade sword, Stormhowl, to which she promptly responds that it was down below. He thanks her and rushes on there to retrieve it. As the two make their way through the prison, they then run into meet Magilou Mayvin, a strange self-proclaimed witch who quickly disappears on them. As the duo venture to the shortcut to the Watchtower, they dispatch the guards within the area and climb the watchtower to use the shortcut.

Realizing that the shortcut has already been destroyed, Velvet suddenly jumps down from a high distance, using her power to maintain her balance. Seres wonders aloud about Velvet's condition, with Velvet muttering that it was the Malak's fault. As Velvet and Seres make their way to the front docks after making their way through the shortcut, they happen upon a praetor-rank exorcist, Oscar Dragonia, who, with the help of the two malakhim accompanying him, fights the women.

Seeing that Velvet will not go down so easy after defeating Oscar in battle, he attempts to incapacitate Velvet with a use a ball of dark energy on her by throwing one of his Malaks at her. Unfortunately, Velvet proves too powerful for the Malak and misses, then he is hit with Oscar's spell, causing him to experience the blight and turns one his malakhim into a corrupted dragon. The newly transformed dragon goes berserk and attacks Oscar and his remaining Malak by striking them against a wall and temporarily stuns them. As it tries to attack Velvet, who intends to fight him head on, but Seres takes a lethal blow while covering her and blocking the attack with her back and is fatally wounded.

Velvet rushes to the wounded Seres and wonders about her intentions, with the malak woman then says that there is a flame in her heart that cannot be quenched and asks Velvet to devour her, as it will complete her oath and Velvet can unleash her true potential. A reluctant Velvet grants Seres her request and eats and absorb the dying Seres, with the latter stating a crushing truth to Velvet in her final moments. As Velvet absorbs the Malak, she experiences Seres' memories flashing through the other's mind and realizes her true identity, receiving the Sorcerer's Ring, Brunhilt, that allows her to use the deceased Malak's powers.

With it and Seres' powers, facing the dragon once more, Velvet is able to defeat it so that she can absorb and devour it. Oscar watches in horror as Velvet consumes the dragon with her darkness powers and proclaims that she will absorb and devour any and everything if they dare to get in her way. Velvet uses the dragon power she just absorbed to send a fireball towards Oscar, terribly burning him and blinding in one eye in the process. His Malak ushers the flaming Oscar out of the prison, allowing Velvet to exit towards the docks, and steal a ship.

Upon reaching the docks, she looks at the anchored vessel and is greeted by Magilou and Rokurou who follow her out of the prison. She decides to take in the pair as she needs a crew to help her sail the ship. After leaving the prison, the group set sail for waters unknown.

#### Halted Plans in Hellawes

With the storm surrounding the Titania, the group crash-lands at the Figahl Icecaps, where Velvet is healed with artes by a mysterious malak boy who reminds her of her dead brother. A daemon suddenly attacks them and Velvet strikes back, and in the confusion, the boy loses the map of the empire while running away with a compass. Intending to repair the ship in order to reach Loegres, the three go to Hellawes, following the malak boy, who returns the stolen compass, into a secret tunnel into the city. There they discover that, due to smuggling, the shipping guild's activities were suspended and will not be lifted until Dyle is sentenced and killed. Despite hearing that Dyle is a daemon lizard now, Velvet and Rokurou go in search for him while Magilou searches for her "traitor".

The two make it to Beardsley, where they happen upon a crying praetor exorcist named Eleanor Hume, who is deeply touched by Abbey's inability to have exorcists cover every village and protect humans from the daemon threat. When Eleanor leaves the village, they learn from a girl that a lizard daemon is living in the nearby Hadlow Hollow and were given two apples to not reveal this secret. While Rokurou enjoys the apple, Velvet is dejected to find that she has lost her sense of taste. They then follow the information into the foreboding cave, where they discover an exorcist floating face down in a pool of tar, evidently dead. Dyle then appears from behind, growling, and launches an attack. After being defeated, Dyle reveals to them that the whole guild was involved in the smuggling and was trying to make him their scapegoat, proclaiming his intention to exact his vengeance by attacking Hellawes. Velvet spares Dyle but cuts off his tail, explaining that by bringing his tail to the authorities, she will lower their guard, allowing him to exact his vengeance, and her to steal a ship amidst the confusion.

After returning to the shipping guild, Velvet reveals she knows the truth about them and blackmails them into helping her to repair the ship. However, after checking its condition, the guild members tell her that the ship's keel is busted and is thus irreparable. Returning back to Hellawes in the hopes of finding a new ship, Velvet and Rokurou are informed that a witch is to be executed, and that this was a trap set by the praetor exorcist Teresa Linares to draw them out. Velvet and Rokurou then head back to Dyle, who remained in Hadlow Hollow and devised a new plan: Velvet and Rokurou will attack the city head-front, while Dyle will sneak in via a secret tunnel, set the warehouse on fire, and snatch a ship for them. With the attack commencing the next day, the group proceeds to rest in the cave. Velvet dreams that she is woken up by her deceased brother, Laphicet, believing everything that has happened to merely be a nightmare and momentarily losing herself to this delusion. Her dream soon becomes the real nightmare as Laphicet states that he has to go to the shrine of tranquility, the location where he was killed. Velvet attempts to stop him but is restrained by Arthur's artes, reenacting the events during the red moon.

Velvet awakens from her nightmare, notably dismayed at the dream she had. During the day, the group sets out for Hellawes and initiates their plan. Velvet and Rokurou enter through the front gate, defeating the exorcist guards before being surrounded by another group of exorcists led by Praetor Teresa with a bound Magilou by her side. A battle ensues with Velvet and Rokurou struggling to hold on against the superior number of exorcists. The situation becomes dire, however, when Teresa orders "Number Two" to attack, which he does so successfully by casting an arte on Velvet. Thankfully, at this point, a huge explosion occurs elsewhere due to Dyle setting fire to the flamestone warehouse, distracting Teresa and allowing Velvet to strike a decisive blow, knocking her to the ground. Velvet and Rokurou run toward the port, comically abandoning Magilou, who exclaims in protest while running to catch up to them. Teresa recovers and issues an order to her exorcists to pursue the group, but is eventually dissuaded as help is needed to put out the fire at the warehouse. Thus, at the city's port, Teresa intercepts the group with only the help of her two malakhim. Another fight ensues, but Velvet and Rokurou quickly attain the upper hand.

At her wits end, Teresa orders Number Two to rush launch a kamikaze attack on the group. This is swiftly countered by Velvet, who launches a high kick to his head to interrupt the casting of the arte, and another kick to the side of his head, which sends him flying to the side, incapacitating the malak. Velvet then attempts to finish off Praetor Teresa but is blocked by Praetor Eleanor, who abruptly enters the fray. Faced with two exorcist praetors, Velvet grabs Number Two with her daemon arm, threatening to eat him unless he knocks the praetors back. Number Two registers this as an order and casts an arte that explodes, knocking back the praetors, who are shocked that the malak obeyed a demon. Velvet and crew seize the opportunity, boarding the ship that Dyle had stolen for them and escape, leaving Hellawes to be destroyed by the fire.

#### Encounter with Pirates

On the ship, Velvet instructs Dyle, who is steering the ship and acting as navigator, to set a course for the capital and current location of Artorius: Loegres. Rokurou comments about Velvet bringing Number Two along with them, prompting Magilou to add that he would be a useful tool, leaving Velvet irritated that Laphicet's lookalike was being treated as disposable. Rokurou yells from the deck for Velvet to check the ship's heading with the compass, which she proceeds to do incorrectly by constantly moving the compass. Number Two interjects, informing her that the compass is built to function even while the ship is rolling, allowing her to correctly use the compass. Velvet asks for Number Two's name and is surprised to find out that he is only known as a number. She offers the compass to him to use but is disappointed when the malak clarifies if that is an order, and eventually remarks that he should keep his mouth shut.

Suddenly, a cannonball blasts the ship, causing it to rock violently such that the compass rolls overboard and into the sea. Dyle identifies the attackers as Aifread's pirates, and Velvet orders him to steer the ship toward land as their ship possessed no cannons to counterattack with. On land, the pirates surround the group, and a pirate malak identifying himself as "The Reaper" challenges Velvet's group to a fight. After he is defeated, the pirate malak reveals that their fight was a test and that the pirates have done Velvet's group a favor. He explains that their previous course would have doomed them, as the group would have smashed right against the gates of Vortigern, an enormous sea gate accompanied by a fortress, built to block the narrow sea route to Loegres. The pirate malak suggests an alliance between the two groups, but Velvet is skeptical about his integrity, causing the malak to enter the West Laban Tunnel, heading toward Vortigern alone.

Ultimately, Velvet decides that there is no other option and pursues the malak into the tunnel along with Rokurou and Number Two, agreeing to his proposal of an alliance. The malak, however, issues a warning to the group that he suffers from the "Curse of the Reaper", which plagues both him and those around him with misfortune, claiming that he could flip a coin a thousand times and still land only on tails. He tosses a coin to Velvet who catches it and returns his toss, claiming that it does not matter to her which side the coin lands on, as she would flip it to whatever she wanted anyway. The malak opens his hand to see the returned coin and reveals that Velvet had tossed a heads on the very first try. The pirate malak then introduces himself as Eizen, first mate of the Aifread pirates.

#### Opening the Gate of Vortigern

With the addition of Eizen, the group continue toward Vortigern through the West Laban Tunnel. After some time, Number Two starts trailing behind the group and is attacked by a monster. Initially wanting to cry for help, Number Two remembers that Velvet told him to keep his mouth shut, leading to the group being unaware of the danger he was in. Thankfully, Eizen notices the approaching monster and kills it with an arte, saving Number Two. Velvet scolds Number Two for keeping quiet, to which he replies that it was an order given by her. Realizing that her remark almost led to disaster, Velvet grabs Number Two and tells him that was not what she meant, expressing exasperation at his robotic behavior. Eizen deduces that Number Two was bound to an exorcist and reveals to her that malakhim have free will just like humans, but their wills are sealed upon binding with an exorcist.

Deeper within the tunnel, Velvet meets one of the Turtlez, a group of traveling merchants with turtle shells on their backs, and forces him to sell his goods at market prices with no concern for his protests about profit margins. Exiting the tunnel, the group sees an unguarded entrance to the fortress but discovers that it is guarded by a barrier that vaporizes anything that comes into contact with it. They proceed down the cliff and find another entrance guarded by exorcists. The group swiftly dispatches of the guards, who suddenly change into daemons, and head into the fortress. There, they find another guard who is quickly defeated and loses his helmet in the process. The helmetless guard is then pinned into a wall by Eizen, who breaks his finger and threatens to continue breaking more unless he reveals the way to both the control room and the battleship. Left with no other choice, the guard gives the group directions before being knocked out by Eizen. The group proceeds to the control room to find a key to unlock the room, where the two levers that open the gates are.

While searching the room, Velvet finds the key while Number Two finds a compass on a tall shelf. Attempting to take the compass results in it falling onto his head, causing a large bump and him keeling over in pain. Velvet walks over and taps him on the head, telling him that pain is not a bad thing, as it is proof that one is alive. The group then heads toward the battleship, where they encounter a praetor who claims to be using the Rangetsu sword style, agitating Rokurou, who steps forward to fight him. After the praetor is defeated, he reveals that he studied under Legate Shigure Rangetsu of the Abbey, but Rokurou calls him out for lying, claiming that Shigure would not have taken anyone as a disciple. Meanwhile, Velvet, Number Two, and Eizen, having defeated the exorcists on the battleship, return to Rokurou to find that he has killed the praetor. The group proceeds to unlock the sealed door, make their way to the levers and pulling them, finally opening the gates of Vortigern. Accomplishing their task, the group returns to the roof, where the helmetless guard reappears and changes into a daemon known as "Guardian". Guardian charges Number Two, causing him to drop the compass when he is pulled to safety by Velvet. The group then engages in a battle with the Guardian.

After defeating the Guardian, the group stands atop the edge of the roof, preparing to jump down onto their pirate ship passing through the opened gates, with the exception of Number Two, who is looking for his dropped compass and spots it under the body of the defeated Guardian. When the ship is in position, Eizen and Rokurou jump, but Velvet notices that Number Two is going for his compass and turns around to see that the Guardian has awoken and is ready to strike Number Two. Number Two dodges the attacks but is sent flying over the wrong side of the roof by the wind generated by the strikes of the Guardian, triggering a flashback where Velvet sees her brother Laphicet when he was falling into the shrine. Velvet makes a dash for the falling Number Two, and while the Guardian winds up to strike her, it is hit by a cannon shot from the pirate ship below fired by Magilou. Velvet barely manages to grab onto Number Two and promptly climbs back up onto the roof, moves to the other side, and jumps down onto the pirate ship, using its sail to break their fall. As the crew sail toward Loegres, Number Two asks Velvet what a "Laphicet" is, to which she responds that it will be his new name.

## Etymology

The term in her name, *Velvet*, is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel. By extension, the word *velvety* means "smooth like velvet." Velvet can be made from either synthetic or natural fibers.

## External links

* Velvet Crowe *Aselia*
* Velvet Crowe *Heroes Wiki*
* Velvet Crowe *Tales of Wiki*
* Velvet Crowe *Tales of Berseria (Official Website)*

## Notes & Trivia

* Velvet is the first solo female lead protagonist in the *Tales of* series.
* She shares the same last name as Tytree Crowe from *Tales of Rebirth*.
* Velvet's outfit was originally an alpha design for Rutee Katrea from *Tales of Destiny*.
* Velvet is allergic to cats. In a skit, she avoids going to Katz Corner in order to conceal her allergies, which results in her sneezing. Strangely enough, in the special skit that comes with a pre-ordered copy of *Tales of Berseria*, Velvet claims her favorite animal person is a Katz despite in spite of her allergy. In another skit, Velvet admits that she is a dog person, stating that dogs do not betray.
* Due to being portrayed as a character of *darkness* in the story—she shares similar traits to Heldalf, such as her daemon arm and her title as the Lord of Calamity. Whereas Laphicet shares similar traits as Sorey, both of which are from *Tales of Zestiria*—the distant squeal. This is a foreshadowment on how the Shepherd brings light to the world from the Lord of Calamity.
* In *Tales of Zestiria the X*, while sleeping in Meirchio, Sorey has a dream in which he meets Velvet, where she encourages him to follow the path that he believes in.