Guillotine/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

###

Jung Yoo-jung

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Lindsay Sheppard

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Ami Koshimizu

## Profile

A member of Extrinsic, Elysion's black ops squad for locating and subjugating Irregular or Corrupted Nikkes before they cause (further) harm to the Ark and its citizens. To that end, Guillotine's eye has the power to scan for brainwave patterns that do not belong to registered citizens and shut them down, allowing her to subdue Nikkes without firing a single shot. The only catch is that Guillotine must receive express permission from Ingrid, Elysion's CEO, to remove the limiter on her eye.

### Nikke Backstory

A Nikke from Extrinsic who is always off in her own world. She believes that it is her destiny to lead a solitary life. Half-obscured with an eye patch, who knows where she draws her gaze?

## Personality

Guillotine's mind is a delusional mess of eighth-grader syndrome, or "chūnibyō". She claims that a demon is sealed within her eye, and invokes the name "One-Winged Dark Lord" when using it. She even hosts a group chat dubbed "The Church of Doomseye", where she and fellow chuuni aficionados indulge in pretentious dialogue and "discuss" the "shadow war" between "The Association" (Elysion) and "The Big O" (the Central Government). Because of her grandiose delusion, her fellow squadmate Maiden would often express exasperation about her.

## Story

### Main Story

#### Chapter 12

Extrinsic squad is deployed to nonlethally subdue the corrupted Laplace. As part of the operation, Guillotine activates her abilities in order to turn off Laplace's cannon, which was thrown to the side during the Nikke's struggle against the corruption. With the crisis averted, Guillotine stops to warn the protagonist against disclosing Extrinsic's existence...mixed with some chuuni dialogue leading Maiden to be a bit more forceful in ordering a withdrawal.

#### Lion Heart

Happy Zoo beseeches the protagonist for someone to look after the shelter's animals while they're out on break. *Somehow*, the protagonist comes to the conclusion that Guillotine is the perfect candidate.

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - Guardian of Balance

The protagonist is befuddled by Exia suddenly breaking into prose about the skittering of the commonfolk. The hacker explains she got the quotes from a philosophy account that's been gaining traction among netizens, and provides him with the link for the account "darkmage".

The protagonist follows the link and finds himself in a tidal wave of philosophical posts, though he finds the strength to endure. Deciding to step it up a notch, Exia invites the protagonist to the group chat where darkmage and a few others converse and post. If he can endure the sheer amount of prose being posted in there, she'll acknowledge him as a seriously stalwart individual. The protagonist is more than up for the challenge.

The link takes the protagonist to a group chat labeled "Church of Doomseye". One of the participants named "Owner Robot" welcomes him to the chatroom, and sets some ground rules for interactions, warning that more than 3 violations will lead to a forced kick;

1. Always refer to Guillotine de Mefisto by her full name
2. Do not gainsay Guillotine de Mefisto's words
3. In the event of a rule 2 violation or your post creates a logic error, correct it immediately

After the protagonist agrees to the rules, Guillotine makes herself known. It would seem the protagonist's name reminds her all too well of "him" from "the Big O" (a.k.a. the Central Government), and wonders if they have anything to do with this. While others in chat excitedly talk about this new development, the protagonist confusedly tries to play along. He ends up disputing Guillotine's narrative that he's a long-time member of "The Big O" and and has to correct it after getting a warning for a logic error.

The narrative escalates further, with Guillotine weaving a tale of how "he" (the protagonist), her greatest rival on the opposition, lost his memory. In response the Church of Doomseye gets into a debate about who would win in a fight, Guillotine de Mefisto or "him". Steamrolling over the protagonist's objections, Guillotine proclaims she will duel the man and prove her power tomorrow.

#### Episode 2 - A Duel of the Mind

At the church, Exia has accompanied the protagonist to act as a spectator/participant. While Guillotine is making a spectacle out of this upcoming battle, the protagonist reminds her use of firearms is prohibited, particularly in a Nikke-human conflict. In response, Guillotine activates a "virtual combat field" that will render all of their attacks immaterial and invisible to the naked eye. While the protagonist is still reeling from this level of nonsense, Guillotine makes the first move, firing a "Dragon of the Deep" from her gun.

An awkward silence ensues as the protagonist realizes absolutely nothing happened. After a moment's contemplation, the protagonist throws dignity out the window and remains in-character, reeling as if struck by a powerful blow. Guillotine gloats about her almost-immediate victory, but the protagonist proclaims that he has yet to admit defeat.

The protagonist begins to chant a spell, one that Guillotine recognizes as forbidden magic. The Nikke is sent flying back from the power of the "spell" as Exia watches in awe. Guillotine stands, dust herself off, and readies to unleash [it]...before whipping out her phone to call "the Association" (Elysion). It would appear Guillotine cannot remove the patch sealing her eye without express permission from Ingrid.

All tension immediately drains as Guillotine breaks character to beseech Ingrid for permission to remove her eyepatch. While the protagonist can only hear Guillotine's end of things, it's quite apparent that the CEO is not going to be authorizing it anytime soon. Getting back into character, Guillotine weaves this development into her narrative, complaining about how often the Association treads lightly around the Big O. The protagonist simply brushes it off and lets the "duel" end on an inconclusive note, drained of all tension (and dignity).

#### Episode 3 - The Big O's Attack

Following the anticlimactic end to the "duel", Guillotine stuck around with the protagonist, the two currently in a cafe in the Ark. She makes small talk with the protagonist, never forgetting to weave her narrative about the Big O and the Association, and trying to explain why she could not "demonstrate her full power" during the "duel". The man's acceptance has Guillotine sigh about how much of a good person he is, finding it a shame the Big O has its claws in him and invites him to "defect" to the Association. Guillotine draws this big narrative of how the Association seeks to cast off the shackles of the Big O's oppression, but it can be boiled down to a simple invitation for the protagonist to join Elysion, which he declines.

Guillotine tries to say something else, but the conversation is derailed by the sounds of gunfire. She tells the protagonist to take cover as she spies a lone woman causing mayhem, assuming it's a member of a terrorist group. Hearing the panicked wails of the citizens, the protagonist tries to urge Guillotine to act, but the Extrinsic member is reluctant to move without permission from Ingrid. The protagonist claims he'll take responsibility for whatever happens while she handles the terrorist, seeing it as a duty and simply the right thing to do.

Guillotine is convinced at this reasoning, but on further observation, notes the protagonist likely won't need to do anything. The "terrorist" brandishing a gun is actually a Nikke, and if that Nikke is some berserk escapee from the scrap heap, then handling her is right in the wheelhouse of Guillotine and Extrinsic, who specialize in and are responsible Nikke execution. She elaborates that soon enough, the Association will fill the man in. As if on cue, the protagonist's phone rings.

Ingrid messages the protagonist, explaining that a mass-produced Nikke came back heavily corrupted from a mission, and escaped before she could be scrapped. While Elysion is handling the incompetent officials who let this happen, she tasks the protagonist and Guillotine with neutralizing the Nikke, authorizing the use of Guillotine's eye for such a job. It's up to the two of them to stop the rampaging Nikke and protect the citizens of the Ark.

#### Episode 4 - Execution

The corrupted Nikke strides down the street, now desolate of life as all the people have either fled or are now corpses at her feet. While firing her gun erratically, she distortedly mutters about fighting to protect the Raptures and kill humans to reclaim the surface. Guillotine and the protagonist listen to her from afar, noting how the corruption has reversed her directive, making her kill humans and protect Raptures. The two quip about how ironic it is, that the Central Government ingrains one command into the brains of every Nikke alive, and the Raptures can make it all tumble down by swapping the places of two words. Their banter allows the target to flee so the two give chase.

Upon reaching the corrupted Nikke, she thought the two were backup forces that she could easily execute. Guillotine made her presence known and stated she was tasked by the Association to execute the rogue Nikke. The target was confused why she had to die since she was just following orders albeit warped ones and why Guillotine didn't follow them as a Nikke herself. She also thought it was an urban legend that one Nikke could kill another. As a member of Extrinsic, she has the ability to do so. Seeing as this Nikke was fractured beyond repair, Guillotine decided this had to end now. She was given permission to unleash her eye, but before she could, the commander stopped her. She warns him more lives would be lost if they leave her be, not to mention the fuel that incident would give Nikkephobia groups. He and other superiors would be responsible for the fallout if anything happened so Guillotine wanted to do her job. After one more plea to try to stop her, the target puts her gun to the back of his head intent on fulfilling her directive to kill all humans. Not wanting this to go on any longer, Guillotine unleashed her hidden power.

While the commander thought it didn't live up to the hype she presented, he notices a wave escape from her eye and the corrupted Nikke fell to the ground shortly after. The "One-Winged Dark Lord" as she calls it identifies everyone not implanted with an ID chip within a one meter radius and instantly ceases their brain activity. Now that their mission is done, the fallen Nikke's corpse will be taken to a factory to be disassembled so her parts can be used to either create new Nikkes or help scientists understand corruption, all according to the Big O's plan. Only her brain will remain, but it will be discarded since it's no longer useful. She will receive no funeral because she's just a machine, something the protagonist disagrees with. His sentiment is something the Big O does not share. With the A.C.P.U. on their way to handle the mess, the Urban Legend is ready to make herself scarce. Before their investigation begins, Guillotine suggests asking Poli and Miranda if anything could be done for the fallen soldier. She believes they can help given the two are friends of his. With that said, Guillotine takes her leave, with her jacket flapping in the wind.

The officers in question arrive on the scene with Miranda curious as to why he was here. The protagonist asks if there was a way to cremate the fallen Nikke's brain and while they were confused by his request, he wanted her to receive a send off any regular human would, even if it is just one organ. Miranda was going to look into things to see if he could, but Poli granted him permission, seeing it as the right thing to do.

#### Episode 5 - Servant's Awareness

The following week, the commander was watching a news story about what happened the previous night. The media states a defective Nikke escaped from the facility and caused an accident that left 10 dead and 21 injured. Though the perpetrator was brought to justice, many citizens display their grievances about the risks of using Nikkes. Others want Enikk to prosecute the facility manager on the basis of dereliction of duty or manslaughter.

After the broadcast concluded, Guillotine made her grand entrance pleased no one other than the protagonist knew her involvement. She believes the Association covered for her so the Big O would have trouble tracking her scent. Just as important, Guillotine was happy that her mystique as a living legend would remain. If other Nikkes knew one of their own could disable their brains in an instant, they would reasonably worry for their safety. After she continued to boast, she insinuated that the two had more in common than she thought, but expressed it in a cryptic manner. The commander got the sense that Guillotine was lonely and while she admitted that was the case, she had another reason for seeing him. While dealing with the Nikke together last week, she sensed that he could be a worthy ally in her fight against the Big O and after deliberations with the Association, they would allow him to join the Golden Cross if he wanted.

Though he was confused by the name, he agreed to become a member (she was willing to change the name so he would join, but she posed worse ones like Hexagonal Daredevil Group and Ark Mystery Association so it stayed as is). This response was not what she was expecting and after she shared she thought he would find a way to weasel his way out of it or become flustered by her asking, but he knew that if anything, the latter would happen to her. As to why he agreed without hesitation, he's willing to alleviate Guillotine's solitude and wants to help her. Though she denied anything was bothering her, the commander saw her sorrow when she had to kill the Nikke. That was true, but being who she is, that alone isn't enough to burden her. Assuring Guillotine she didn't need to put on a front for him, she figured he saw right through her and called his eyes the "Super Eyeballs of Truth" for pulling her out of her quagmire. Though she accidentally killed the mood, she's glad he accepted her invitation.

Before he can officially join the Golden Cross, an initiation ceremony has to be performed. The process is similar to a knighting ceremony where the commander will bow before her, have her weapon (her gun in this case) tap both of his shoulders and ends with him kissing the back of her hand. After answering the protagonist's questions, Guillotine continued by explaining that upon becoming a member, he would become her servant for five years to prove his loyalty before he became her equal. With the formalities out of the way, the two head to the church so the ceremony can commence.

Things went well for the most part. The commander swore a vow to hold true to his values and be Guillotine's loyal servant and the "knighting" process goes without a hitch. When he kissed the back of her hand however, it was apparent she was blushing and flustered and wanted to end the ceremony. She tried to play it off as a side effect of using too much magic during the ritual before accidentally sharing that she got the idea for the kiss from events that inspired this one and initially thought nothing of it. She was surprised by how wonderful it felt and thought it was a plot from the Big O to hinder the ceremony. He could tell this was to cover for her true feelings. She was curious if kissing her affected him as well, but he was fine. She tried to hide her embarrassment again, but after accidentally revealing the kiss caused her to swoon, he had a good idea how she was feeling. Guillotine took out her phone to ask Ingrid if she could execute the commander for knowing too much about her and felt the Big O injected her with a drug to cause her heart rate to increase. Needless to say, the two got into an argument and her request was denied.

The commander can see that Guillotine was still bright red and now she was annoyed he pointed it out.

## References

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