Konoe Ayatsuki Mercury

**Konoe Ayatsuki Mercury** (コノエ＝アヤツキ＝マーキュリー *Konoe Ayatsuki Mākyurī*), more commonly known as **Nine** (ナイン*Nain*) and the **Great Mage Nine** (大魔道士ナイン *Dai Madōshi Nain*), was a magician, one of the Six Heroes, and one of the Ten Sages. After her supposed death by the hands of Yūki Terumi, Konoe mysteriously came back as the servant of Hades: Izanami, **Phantom** (ファントム *Fantomu*). She is a playable character in *BlazBlue: Centralfiction* known as **Nine the Phantom**(ナイン＝ザ＝ファントム *Nain za Fantomu*).

## Appearance

Konoe has long, bright, vibrant pink hair and bangs with contoured feathery strands that cover her left eye. She has yellow eyes and is well-endowed. She used to wear a dark purple witch’s hat and a Magic Association uniform, with the additions of a tied purple ribbon and cape, along with long black straps attached to her sleeves, long black curved leggings that reach to her mini skirt, and black slippers with stilettos. During the Great Dark War, she wore a black magician’s coat. Konoe wore the coat loosened and opened, which showed her sleeveless white collar shirt with a purple Windsor knotted tie.

As Phantom, she wears a purple cloak with a high collar with red blood zig-zag almost like zipper, and two long, white scarves ending in red rags that resemble flames. She also wears a large, pointed hat that conceals her face.

In *BlazBlue: Centralfiction*, she retains her witch hat as Phantom, except it’s adorned with a slit accented with the pink fabric on her dress. Much of her physical form is the same before becoming Phantom, except her hands and fingers are larger and longer, her nails are sharper and her hair is longer and wilder. She wears a purple collar with an attaching magenta cape, a short revealing purple and pink dress matching with two separate long sleeves, black gloves, long black curved leggings with dark purple trimmings and dark purple heeled slippers. As seen in one of her win poses, the pink portions of her outfit eerily glow. Her eye color remains the same, but her sclera has become black. However, whenever she sheds her stoic demeanor and reveals a more sadistic side, they change from black to a glowing red.

During her youth, she had her hair tied in a ponytail, while the fringe covered her left eye that was covered by a black eye patch. She wore a simple purple and white uniform that stoped above her thighs; two black braces hanged from the bottom. The uniform was accompanied by a lavender tie and a pair of huge black and purple cuffs. She also wore a pair of brown tights and royal purple shoes with black heels.

## Personality

Prior to her descent into madness as Phantom, Konoe was a person who liked to do things her own way, a trait shared by her daughter. She is a kind-hearted individual who cares about her friends, especially her younger sister Celica. However, she was not easy on Kazuma. Although she seems to have a mature and serious personality, she can be somewhat impulsive and violent when angered, as shown when she attempted to use a fire spell on Bloodedge for annoying her. She was this way even with her lover, Jūbei, before falling in love with him as well as rash, headstrong and independent.

Before having her daughter, Konoe had more time on her hands to delve into magical legerdemain. This was likely due to the fact that she was the best in her field of expertise. Unlike her daughter who was a whiz with science, Konoe had an ability, charm and prowess with the magical arts. Being the best in her field and from her expertise and leadership, it was easy to see why she responded to others the way she had. These would psychologically determine her to be right-brained and eccentric, if not at least eclectic. Konoe also displays a poor sense of direction similar to her sister, seen when they walk together in the wrong direction during the search for their father.

As Phantom, however, all of her personality has seemingly vanished. She no longer speaks nor has any signs of any emotions whatsoever; becoming an empty shell in comparison to what she was before. While as Phantom, she attacks anyone who is deemed as the Emperor’s foe, going so far to attack Trinity Glassfille, one of her closest comrades, and her lover Jūbei and even punishing her own daughter Kokonoe for using Celica. When her restrictions as Phantom are released, Nine retains her same arrogant tone and confidence in her abilities; however, she no longer has concern for the well-being of her former comrades and family. Despite this, she still retains her memories, taunting Jūbei about their former relationship before engaging him in battle.

However, in *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift* and *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, she shows signs of resisting, indicating that she is regaining her original sentience. In *BlazBlue: Centralfiction*, Nine is confirmed to have regained her original sentience from the beginning, but she has acquired a bleak view of the world from being driven mad through all the time she spent in the Boundary. She wishes to destroy it so she could recreate it with her desires in mind and is not above using those around her to achieve her goals. Fiercely determined and viciously vindictive, Nine wants to exact vengeance on the people who caused her so much pain and suffering. Despite her vendetta against Izanami and Terumi, Nine purposely worked for them for her own ends. She retains her characteristic condescension and arrogance, though taken to new and alarming levels, along with a stoic but nevertheless volatile disposition.

It seemed she had completely detached herself from both her family and her former comrades, save for her sister, Celica, an attachment which led to her own undoing and defeat. Some examples include undermining Hakumen for his attempts to stop her in achieving her plans and punishing her own daughter, Kokonoe, for using her younger sister in the events of the previous game. However, there are instances where she acts differently depending on the person she is interacting with. For example, she blames Ragna for everything that’s terrible with the world and would not hesitate to punish him relentlessly. In another instance, she shows sympathy toward Tsubaki Yayoi, who she relates to with regards to being a helpless victim of circumstance. She has even expressed reluctance in harming children, as seen when faced against Carl and Nirvana, but would do so if necessary.

However, underneath all the immense indignation, Nine never lost her humanity. Everything she had done throughout the events of the fourth game was all for the sake of granting everyone’s wishes, most especially that of the people she loves and not just Celica and herself. She was simply so determined to bring her plans to fruition that she would not let even the people she wants to save intervene, even to the point of openly antagonizing them. Even her affection towards her husband never truly wavered as she was very much pleased that she got the chance to be protected by him one last time before she passed. In the end, while her intentions were indeed selfless and noble, her methods were quite extreme, going to the point where she sacrificed herself to grant her loved ones enough time to stop Izanami, proving that deep down inside, she is still a hero and she loves those that are not only close to her, but the ones who also care about her.

## Powers and Abilities

Recognized as the greatest mage of the Great Dark War, whose power and knowledge far surpasses mankind’s understanding, Nine has shown to be one of the most powerful characters in the *BlazBlue* universe. She is also hailed by many as the genius creator of both Magic Formula and the Arch-Enemy Event Weapons. Responsible for introducing magic to the human race, her contributions were pivotal in the Black Beast’s hard-fought but eventual defeat. Nine is capable of utilizing many types of sorcery and magic, showcasing her power through spells such as Gravity Seed, Infinite Corridors, Mind Eater, transition magic and even her own original spell, Infinite Gravity.

In her playable iteration, Nine is capable of wielding the powers of fire, water, and wind that she can combine to cast a wide variety of powerful spells (with a majority of them having long-winded kanji that are alternately read in specific English names). These include, but are not limited to, a sphere of electricity, a gravity field, vines to attack opponents, a mirror and a disembodied goat skull to block attacks, and unstoppable pillars of dark energy that erupt from the ground after a set time has passed. Nine is also capable of animating her cape and using it as a weapon, mostly to block attacks. She can also make it change into various shapes, such as wings for flight or large hands to grab opponents. She can also project massive beams of dark energy from both her hands and feet, conjure powerful explosions, and create bindings and arrows of magical energy that grow stronger the more powerful the spells she has in her slots. Nine is also capable of flight, levitation, and teleportation. Finally, her Astral Heat, **Endless Sky of the Colorless Descent -Colorless Void-** (降臨せし無色の終天無極 -カラーレスヴォイド- *Kōrinseshi Mushoku no Shūten Mukyoku -Karāresu Voido-*), involves calling down scores of meteors from the sky, much like that of her daughter, Kokonoe Mercury, but on a much grander scale.

While Nine is a master of all manner of magic, her preferred method of offensive magic manifests in the ability to manipulate fire as the names of her Overdrive and Distortion Drives reference fire in some way. Her special, **Assault of the Extremity Deep Crimson -Crimson Raider-** (果てなき真紅の襲撃−クリムゾンレイダー− *Hatenaki Shinku no Shūgeki -Kurimuzon Reidā-*), has Nine envelop herself in flames and charge at her opponent. She has the ability to shift between her original, cloaked, and current form in a column of fire. Her idle pose and official artwork have her occasionally holding an ember of fire in her hand. This fact is also evident in animated cutscenes as well as both Arcade and Story Mode Illustrations.

She can summon a creature known as Hi no Kagutsuchi which serves as an extension of her powers. The creature aids Nine in battle by striking down her opponents with its limbs, which she uses in her **Roar of the Convicting Violet -Mauvette Roar-** (断罪せし紫苑の咆哮−モーベットロア− *Danzai Seshi Shion no Hōkō -Mōbetto Roa-*), **Vanity of Ridiculously True Scarlet -Scarlet Vain-** (嘲笑う真緋の虚栄−スカーレットヴェイン−*Azawarau Mahi no Kyoei -Sukāretto Vein-*), and **Strong Pressure of the Violating Pale Blue -Navy Pressure-** (蹂躙する蒼碧の重圧−ネイビープレッシャー− *Jūrin Suru Sōheki no Jūatsu -Neibī Puresshā-*) attacks. It can also breathe a massive stream of fire from its mouth when Nine uses the Overdrive version of her Distortion Drive, **Ending Annihilation of the Savage Miraculous Flame -Flame Banisher-** (荒れ狂う炎灼の消滅結尾−フレイムバニッシャー− *Arekurū Honō Yaku no Shōmetsu Ketsubi -Fureimu Banisshā-*)and can devour her opponents before transforming into a cage of fire when using her Astral.

Since establishing her presence in the Embryo, Nine has gained the power to create aptly named phantoms of the rest of the playable roster as well as ones of herself. In fact, it is presumed that every fight setting in Act 1 of *BlazBlue: Centralfiction* is of Nine’s creation as they all occur within the Embryo. She can also manipulate the world within the Embryo in other ways such as replicating areas of Kagutsuchi, and can pull characters into the Phantom Field at will. Nine even created an 11th Event Weapon in secret known as **Corpse Burial: Requiem**, powerful enough to cause Event Interferences akin to the Master Unit itself. Her final act of magic before passing away one last time involved tapping into the Requiem’s power to stop time for a week in order to stall Izanami long enough for Ragna and the others to find a way to stop Izanami.

Aside from her vast magical skills, Nine is also a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, using powerful kicks to attack enemies. However, as seen from her playable iteration, she prefers a more magic-centered style of combat, though is able to use magic at close range and amazing speed.

Unlike the majority of the current playable roster, Nine does not have a Drive. Instead, she has two slots from which she can store spells that she can cast whenever the Drive button is pressed. Her Active Slot is where the spells that were combined from her normal attacks are stored. Her Stock Slot is where she can store a spell for later use in battle (or switch it with that in her Active Slot) with the use of her Special, **Gate of the Primitive Jade Green -Seamoss Gate-** (原初たる翠緑の門−シーモスゲート− *Genshotaru Suiryoku no Mon -Shīmosu Gēto-*). Whenever her normal attacks connect or are blocked, a spell is stored into the Active Slot and can be combined with additional attacks to create new spells.

Two of her Distortion Drives involve the spells in her Active and Stock Slots. **Nova Samsara of the Chosen Vermillion -Cardinal Nova-** (選ばれし煉朱の新星輪廻−カーディナルノヴァ− *Eraba Reshi Neri Shu no Shinsei Rinne -Kādinaru Nova-*) inserts random spells in both slots and the damage inflicted by **Catastrophe Burying Prison of the Burning Azurite -Azurite Inferno-** (燃え盛る藍銅の獄葬災禍−アズライトインフェルノ−*Moesakaru Randō no Gokusō Saika -Azuraito Inferuno-*) increases if both her Active and Stock Slots are full.

Her Overdrive, **Burning Red** (バニングレッド *Baningu Reddo*), allows her to store spells in her Active Slot even if her attacks are on whiff.

## TMNT X Pokemon

She originally worked with Shredder due to her brainwashing. But soon, she was able to break through it and change sides to defeat Shredder

## Trivia

Naming
* Konoe’s last name, Mercury, comes from the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth: a powerful god whom had three forms, Hermes Trismegistus. Wisdom, writing, magic, alchemy and astrology were this one god’s domains under the various guises.
	+ '’mercury*is also a periodic element, Hg, with an atomic number of 80. It is commonly known as quicksilver.*
* In the *Phase Shift* novels, her name is noted without the “A.”, as *Konoe Mercury*.
* Konoe’s spells are all named after crystalline substances. Her Exceed Accel, Overdrive, and specials have colors in their names. The names of her Distortion Drives have a word that relates to fire.

Other
* Konoe’s birthday, April 30, falls on Walpurgisnacht. In Germanic folklore, Walpurgisnacht, also called *Hexennacht* (Dutch: “Witches’ Night”), is believed to be the night of a witches’ meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains. Fittingly, it is also the name of her personal musical theme.
* Konoe was already researching techniques that combined science and sorcery, even before the events of *BlazBlue: Phase 0*.[9]
* Konoe is shown to have quite a sweet tooth, a trait that Kokonoe, her daughter, inherited. She claims that sweets help clear her head, something her daughter also agrees on.
* When Amane Nishiki uses his Astral Heat on her, “Me” appears as her younger version.
* When Relius Clover uses his Astral Heat on her, she is bathing in a cauldron of what appears to be blood and her clothes are hanging from a rack nearby.
* In *XBlaze – Lost: Memories*, her files have name “kn”, which possibly stands for “Konoe”.
	+ If the player attempts to name her “Nine”, the game will say: “It isn’t quite time yet…”.
	+ If the player attempts to name her “Konoe”, the game will say: “After checking the database, you cannot use the inputted name. Sorry…”.
* In a *BlazBlue: Centralfiction* Gag scenario, she appears as the “Busty Witch Nine”. And when Trinity Glassfille appeared as the “Magical Girl Trinity”, she broke character, and started yelling at the latter’s, saying that it was her fault all that happened to her.