Izayoi

Izayoi (イザヨイ) is Tsubaki Yayoi after she awakened the Zero Weave: Izayoi. This is her alternate form that is playable starting from BlazBlue: Chronophantasma.

Appearance
Using Tsubaki’s form, Izayoi’s physical appearance remains the same, with the exception of her red hair being tied into a ponytail. Her armor being a sleeveless, purple, skin-tight bodysuit with a short, slender, white outfit, and white, knee-length boots. The armor bears a slight resemblance to the armor worn by the Murakumo Units, but with two shields floating around her instead of swords, and an overall less revealing outfit.

Personality
Izayoi is shown to retain Tsubaki’s desire for justice, but while she was under the influence of Mind Eater, she believed that the Emperor and the World Void Information Controlling Organization are not to be defied, and that she was the “Sword of the Emperor” herself, and gave Noel, Makoto and Jin death sentences.

After Makoto, Noel, and Jin managed to free her from the spell, she realized that Izanami’s justice is a lie and decided that she will fight for a justice she believes in as an individual: to fight for the people she loves and the friends she cherishes.

History
Izayoi is the true form of the Sealed Armament: Izayoi that Tsubaki undertakes to don the power of Immortal Breaker. This form was awakened multiple times, all of them reverted by Amaterasu Unit’s Event Interferences, save for one, when Noel materialized it with her power of the Eye. She was still under the influence of Izanami’s Mind Eater in all occasions, but managed to break free the last time thanks to her friends. Tsubaki regained herself once more, but felt lost as she knows the Emperor’s justice is a lie. However, with the support of Hakumen and Mu-12, she decided to fight for the justice she believes in and for the friends she cherishes. Turning away from the darkness of the past, she takes up her sword to punish all crimes and seek out the true light.

In the finale of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Tsubaki joins Makoto Nanaya and Bang Shishigami in the fight against Relius Clover, Carl Clover, and Litchi Faye Ling inside Asphyxia, a hidden dungeon below 8th Hierarchical City “Wadatsumi”. They try to give Bang an opening, so he can activate the device on the Kushinada’s Lynchpin, but the tag-team of Nirvana and Ignis proves to be a formidable force to reckon with. They succeed, however, as Valkenhayn R. Hellsing appears and breaks the stalemate state.

At the end of BlazBlue: Centralfiction, she has taken up Hakumen’s Okami, adopting a persona similar to him and approached Rachel Alucard with the intent of killing her. However, she stays her blade when Rachel comments on willing to explore that “hell” if it means finding the person she harbored love towards despite having forgotten his name.

Powers and abilities
Upon awakening the true form of the Sealed Armament: Izayoi, Izayoi became an incredibly powerful being who is the sole person able to kill Observers. As well as this, her Immortal Breaker ability is capable of killing any immortal being due to the fact that the Sealed Armament was designed to target Observers. Her weapon is a prototype of a Murakumo Unit, an Anti-Observer Armament. Replacing the shield and sword is a halberd with an energy blade, whose length can be altered for single powerful strikes and is even capable of teleporting in the same fashion as the Murakumo Units. The shields on her waist can open up in a winged formation to reveal thrusters, enabling flight.

Izayoi’s Drive is Scarlet Justice (スカーレットジャスティス). Pressing the Drive button puts her in a state called Gain Art where both her blade and her shields emit a green glow. During this mode, all of her specials are enhanced and instead of running, she flies in a slanted arc towards and above her opponent using her shield boosters while gaining a double back dash that pulls her upward. However, these specials consume her Zero Weave gauge, which is represented by 8 magatama similar to Hakumen. She can fill up this gauge by attacking with specials while in her default mode. Her Overdrive is Freedom Justice (フリーダムジャスティス) where the gauge fills up automatically. She also displays the ability to summon slashing attack drones in her Slaver Trans-Am (スレイヴァートランザム) Distortion Drive.

Trivia

 * Naming
 * The word “Izayoi” (十六夜) means “sixteen nights” in Japanese. In astronomy, a moon that is sixteen-days-old has just passed its fullest phase, so it is at this point that its brightness begins to decline.
 * Nearly all of Izayoi’s moves are references to the Gundam series, in particular Gundam 00 and Gundam Seed/Gundam Seed Destiny.
 * Scarlet Justice: Justice Gundam
 * Freedom Justice: Freedom Gundam
 * Banshee Lancer: Gundam Banshee
 * Sonic Saber: 00 Qan[T] Full Saber
 * Crusade Seraphim: Seraphim Gundam
 * Strike Fall: Strike Gundam
 * Valkyrie Astraea: Gundam Astraea
 * Aegis Blade: Aegis Gundam
 * Noir Edge: Strike Noir Gundam
 * Mirage Thruster: Gundam Astray Mirage Frame
 * Justice Phorizor: Justice Gundam
 * Slaver Trans-AM: Trans-Am System
 * Judge of Destiny: Destiny Gundam
 * Appearance
 * Her eyes are red, but in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma player lobbies, her pixel model’s eyes are blue. Even though Tsubaki was freed from Mind Eater, her eyes are still red as Izayoi. In BlazBlue: Centralfiction, her pixel model’s eyes were changed to red.
 * Other
 * Izayoi is one of the only characters, alongside Jin, Noel, and Hazama, that has a playable alternate form. Izayoi is the alternate form of Tsubaki Yayoi.
 * Izayoi, along with Taokaka, is one of the characters in the series whose taunt damages the opponent.