Ilya Mao

### Occupation

BladerFormer Member of BC SolGreat Aerial Tour CompetitorWorld Youth Challenge 3rd Place WinnerMember of Nexus

## Anime/Manga

### First Appearance (anime)

Novas Collide! Bel vs. Rashad!

**Ilya Mao** (イリヤ・マオ, *Iriya Mao*) is a character appearing in the anime/manga series, *Beyblade Burst QuadDrive*. She fights with her Beyblade, Magma Ifritor Ciquex-Q Jaggy-Q+Wave-4.

## Appearance

Ilya is an average-sized girl with pale skin, yellow eyes with light green eyeshadow, and short cerulean hair with two red strands in the front and bangs that rest between her eyes. Her attire consists of a white tucked-in t-shirt with a blue vertical stripe on the front, a dark-red jacket with crimson pads on each shoulder and elbow, a black rolled-up pair of shorts with the insides colored white, a white belt with a golden-orange buckle, a navy-blue pair of thigh-high stockings with golden knee-pads, a dark-red pair of boots with white panels on the front and orange roller skates built into them, and a black pair of fingerless gloves. She also sports a red helmet with a white center, cat-like ears and a horizontal white stripe from each cheek region. Her helmet also includes an orange visor which she occasionally displays, and three thin black lines like a cat's whiskers.

## Personality

Ilya has a rather playful, relaxed attitude. Being extremely strategic and calculating, she tries to get into her opponents' head. Outgoing and snarky, she is also shown to be quite mischievous, since she made a bet with Bel Daizora, stating that the loser would have to be the winner's servant for an entire day.

Despite her seemingly care-free nature, Ilya is very passionate about Beyblade and challenging strong opponents, considering her prime reason for joining BC Sol was to challenge Free De La Hoya and Valt Aoi and has a rather competitive nature, and gets rather upset when she loses, retracting from other people and maintaining a serious demeanor for a while, as shown after her battle with Lui Shirosagi.

Ilya seems to have little regard for rules, an example being when she had a battle with Bel despite not being allowed to do so when the show wasn't filming.

Ilya has a few cat-like eccentricities, such as wearing a cat ear helmet and hissing during battle.

## Biography

### *Beyblade Burst (Manga)*

Ilya Mao's only appearance was in a flashback during Rashad Goodman's battle against Bel Daizora in *Clashing Beliefs!! Demon King Bell VS Supreme King Rashad!!* when Rashad was furious after everyone was cheering for Bel, a small flashback showed Ilya left him as he was getting way too serious on blading.

## Beyblades

* **Magma Ifritor Ciquex-Q Jaggy-Q+Wave-4**: Ilya's Quad Beyblade in *Beyblade Burst QuadDrive*.

### Special Moves

* **Magma Smash**: After riding the upper deck of the Beystadium, Magma Ifritor jumps off and crashes into the opposing Beyblade with a powerful strike with the Magma Blade, causing critical damage to the point of Bursting.
* **Beast Dodge**: Set in High Mode, Magma Ifritor utilizes the Jaggy-Q Tip & Wave Armor Tip's rotation to avoid an opposing Beyblade to dodge the attack.
* **Double Windmill**: As they charge and collide toward one another, Balkesh and Ifritor build up speed as their Blades grind against each other while rotating in their respective spin directions, creating two barriers that rotate against one another to deflect the opposing Beyblades' attacks.

## Official Description

Beyblade Burst QuadDrive
Ilya Mao was last seen wandering the land, battling opponents to hone her skills. Now, this up-and-coming Blader has returned to her old stomping grounds at BC Sol. A sharp strategist with an even sharper tongue, Ilya knows just how to dissect every opponent she faces.

## Anime Appearances

### Beyblade Burst QuadDrive

* *Episode 10 - Novas Collide! Bel vs. Rashad!*
* *Episode 11 - The Dark Prince Strikes! Bel vs. Free!*
* *Episode 12 - Dark Prince One Day! Minion the Next!*
* *Episode 13 - Knight of Dragons! Guilty Lúinor!*
* *Episode 14 - MVP! Great Aerial Tour's Landing!*
* *Episode 15 - The Dark Prince Returns! Devastate Belfyre!*
* *Episode 16 - Ring of Light! Glory Regnar!*
* *Episode 17 - Reversal! Reversal! Great Counterattack!*
* *Episode 18 - Disbanded! The Dark Prince Goes Rogue?!*
* *Episode 19 - Regnar's Wrath! Glory Pendulum!*
* *Episode 20 - Reckless Panic! Bag of Tricks!*
* *Episode 21 - Rekindled Flames! Prominence Phoenix!*
* *Episode 22 - Wild Crimson Dance! Prominence Shaker!/The Shield Trap of Hatred!*
* *Episode 23 - Perfect Gear! Chase the Phoenix!/Scorching-Hot! Battle with the Supreme King!*
* *Episode 24 - A Great Uproar! Hell's Gate!/My Partner! Extreme Battle!*
* *Episode 25 - Great Clash! Bomber and Halo!/Bonds! Valt vs. Rashad!*
* *Episode 26 - Dangerous vs. Greatest!/Explosion! The Final Battle!*

## Relationships

### Rashad Goodman

Ilya and Rashad were members of BC Sol at around the same time. The two befriended each other during this time, until Ilya left BC Sol, stating she "wouldn't get stronger by staying here". After the two meet again, they seem to be on good terms. Rashad is quite strict with her and Bashara due to them being members of his team.

### Bashara Suiro

Since the two are members of the same team, they get along well, often talking to each other and frequently working together during battles.

## Trivia

* Ilya is the first main Blader in the *Burst* series to be female.
* Ilya is the first female Blader in the *Burst* series to have her own unique Beyblade, rather than a generic Beyblade consisting of older parts.
	+ The second such female Blader is Pri Forsythe and her Lightning Pandora.
	+ Both Bladers own Hasbro exclusive QuadDrive System Beyblades.
* Despite Ilya being a prominent part of the supporting cast in the QuadDrive anime, she does not play a major role in the manga. She makes a brief appearance in a flashback, where she is revealed to have parted ways with Rashad due to him battling too harshly and didn't find herself fit with his ideals.
* Ilya is the third of four *QuadDrive* characters whose initials are the same as their Bey: Magma Ifritor, the others being Bel Daizora, Rashad Goodman, and Phelix Payne.
* Ilya shares her birthday with Akira Yamatoga, making them the third pair of *Burst* characters to have the same birthday, the first being Toko and Nika Aoi, and the second being Phi and Hyde.
	+ They are also the first pair to not be related.
* Ilya's appearance and mannerisms seems to be based on the catgirl anime/manga trope.
	+ Ilya's surname "Mao" may be a reference to a cat's meow.
* Ilya's surname "Mao" (マオ, *Mao*) is also Mariah's Japanese first name.