Nine=The=Phantom

**Konoe=A.=Mercury**, also known as the **Great Mage Nine**,

## Appearance

Konoe 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.

## 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.