Konoe Ayatsuki Mercury

Konoe Ayatsuki Mercury (コノエ＝アヤツキ＝マーキュリー), more commonly known as Nine (ナイン) and the Great Mage Nine (大魔道士ナイン), is 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). She is a playable character in BlazBlue: Centralfiction known as Nine the Phantom (ナイン＝ザ＝ファントム) and is the boss in Act 1: "Phantom of Labyrinth" of Arcade Mode.

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 mage'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, even going so far to attack Trinity Glassfille, one of her closest comrades, and her lover Jūbei. 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. She undermines Hakumen for his attempts to stop her in achieving her plans and she punished her own daughter, Kokonoe, for using Celica 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, but would do so if she has to.

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, her intentions were indeed selfless and noble, though her methods were quite extreme, and she even sacrificed what remained of her life to grant her loved ones enough time to stop Izanami, proving that deep down, she is still a hero.

History
Konoe is a magician who went by the name of Nine. The name "Nine" comes from her being the ninth member of the Magic Association's Ten Sages. Celica A. Mercury is her younger sister, Shūichirō Ayatsuki was her father, and her mother is deceased. She was the lover of Jūbei of the Six Heroes, and one herself, as well as the mother of Kokonoe. She was the first person to achieve the rank of the Ten Sages while still being a student. Konoe's role in the story is further explained in the novel, BlazBlue: Phase 0, where Ragna tells her to beware of Terumi.

She was chosen as the Ten Sage with absolute authority regarding the Black Beast matter.

She passed down her knowledge of magic to mankind during the Great Dark War. During the Great Dark War, she created the Arch-Enemy in order to help humans fight against the Black Beast. After the war, she discovered what Terumi's future plans were, and he "killed" her, giving Kokonoe a motivation to despise Terumi. She created the Arch-Enemy using human transmutation, a process that requires thousands of human souls. It is said that the magical power used to create Mu -No. 12- belongs to Konoe. It is known that the process through which the Arch-Enemy were created involved the compressing of Magic Element into a solid unit, then implanting the unit with the soul of a Black Beast. This compression spell, known as Infinite Gravity, was used by Konoe to create the Arch-Enemy and defeat the Beast, and later by Kokonoe to implant a Black Beast's soul into Detonator: Ignis. Konoe is also known to be the creator of Burning Red.

Immediately following the Great Dark War, Konoe released the souls from the Arch-Enemy, with the exceptions of the Ice Sword: Yukianesa, Snake Pair: Ouroboros, Demon Guns: Bolverk, and Phoenix Wing: Rettenjō. She and Celica later buried the Machine God: Nirvana in the area that would become the 4th Hierarchical City "Naobi" many years later.

As Phantom, she is responsible for the injuries that plague Jūbei throughout BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. After having encounters with Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, Jūbei, Hakumen and Celica A. Mercury, all are left stunned at their realization that she is Nine.

Relius Clover is the one that prepared Phantom's current vessel, while it is Hades: Izanami herself that is sustaining her existence. Despite this, her soul is still unstable.

She was tasked with preparing the core of the Highlander: Takemikazuchi for the Emperor.

She encounters Hakumen and Platinum the Trinity, and after Platinum uses her Arch-Enemy, Thundering Roar: Muchōrin, it is revealed that she is Nine. Rachel Alucard theorizes that Terumi pulled Nine's soul from deep within the Boundary and put it into a vessel, making her the "ultimate pawn". However, despite the brainwashing placed upon her, Nine shows signs of resisting, and Hakumen says that her hatred for Terumi still burns.

Phantom comes face to face with Jūbei after the latter attempts to strike down Hades: Izanami. Hades: Izanami decided to let her restrictions on Phantom go, and allowed her pawn to fight at her full strength as a brainwashed Nine. After taunting Jūbei with her newfound ability to speak once more, the two engaged in combat; it is assumed that Nine was the victor, as she returned to her master's side soon after the engagement.

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, Teleportation 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. 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 Descending Colors -Colorless Void- (降臨せし無色の終天無極 -カラーレスヴォイド-), 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, Attack of the Endless Deep Crimson -Crimson Raider- (果てなき真紅の襲撃−クリムゾンレイダー−), 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 Convict Amethyst -Mauvette Roar- (断罪せし紫苑の咆哮−モーベットロア−), Vanity of the Ridiculously True Scarlet -Scarlet Vain- (嘲笑う真緋の虚栄−スカーレットヴェイン−), 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−) 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 Raging 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−) 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 "Kagutsuchi", and can pull characters into the Phantom Field at will. Nine even created an 11th Arch-Enemy 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 Green -Seamoss Gate- (原初たる翠緑の門−シーモスゲート−). 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−) 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−) increases if both her Active and Stock Slots are full.

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

Trivia

 * Konoe was already researching techniques that combined science and magic, even before the events of BlazBlue: Phase 0.
 * 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 Kiln of what appears to be blood and her clothes are hanging from a rack nearby.
 * In the Phase Shift novels, her name was noted without the "A.", as Konoe Mercury.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Konoe has the most extensive move list in the playable roster, with 20 different spells at her disposal.
 * 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.