Nu-13

Nu -No. 13-, also known simply as Nu-13 or Nu, is a Murakumo Unit who was sealed in the Sheol Gate, and is said to be the Sword of Hades. She is a playable character in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, and BlazBlue: Centralfiction. She appears in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift as Lambda -No. 11-'s unlimited form.

Appearance
Nu -No. 13-'s design is wholly based on the Mecha Musume concept, a design motif that includes 'humanizing' machines or inanimate objects. In the case of Nu, hers is based on swords. When not in battle, she appears as a young girl with sunken red eyes and long silver hair tied into a braid held together by a single blade. She wears a bright jumpsuit and a long flowing cape with red-colored tape seals attached to the end. She wears an eyepatch that covers her right eye. When assuming battle position, she dons futuristic sword-themed armor that features a set of eight disembodied blades that float behind her in a wing-like formation. She now dons a visor with a singular eye and horns at the end.

In BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Noel Vermillion once saw a "younger" version of Nu. She wore a blue dress and had much longer hair, resembling Noel physically. This version is also seen when Nu is affected by Amane's Astral Heat, but she has her eyepatch in this occasion.

Personality
Nu is shown to have a split personality; one that is an emotionless girl that follows orders without question and the other as a yandere who is in love with Ragna the Bloodedge.

Being a prime field device, Nu's emotions were sealed away, becoming little more than an emotionless machine who kills anyone that obstructs her programming or whomever she determines to be hostile. She was originally programmed to terminate anyone she deems hostile that came near the Gate. When conversing with anyone that isn't or doesn't mention Ragna, she speaks like a machine or in an emotionless tone and is only interested in her orders.

When around, hearing about or thinking about Ragna on the other hand, her personality changes to someone who is absolutely infatuated with him. In her mind, Nu must have Ragna to herself, and anyone who gets in her way must die, thus making her an obsessive yandere instead of an possessive one (possessive yanderes tend to kill their love interest to avoid losing them to someone else). Though this may be how she was programmed to act, it also may be because of her own unique interpretation of what little of Saya's memories of Ragna she possesses. Nu's love for Ragna has also given her the habit of using the most sexual innuendo out of the entire cast in the BlazBlue series. This especially the case when around Ragna, as she is usually giving him a "naughty" smile when using innuendo around him.

Over time Nu's yandere personality becomes more dominant over her emotionless weapon personality, mostly loosening Hazama's control over her in the process. By BlazBlue: Centralfiction she shows a lot more emotion even when she's engaged in emotionless speak. Many characters, such as Nine, have noticed that she's beginning to act a lot more different than how she used to. In this game, she has gone AWOL, free from Hazama's control at last, seeking for a way to forever be with Ragna including searching for other Nox Nyctores to merge with Ragna and fighting Hades: Izanami to create her world with just herself and Ragna.

At heart, however, Nu is a sad and lonely girl who has endured years of nightmarish torture, clinging to her memories of Ragna to give her hope. It is for this reason that she hates humans, and wants to merge with Ragna to form the Black Beast. This even extends to Hazama, Relius Clover and all other members of NOL, although she usually keeps quiet about this due to her split personality between yandere and emotionless.

In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Nu's personality goes back being more or less the same as from how she was in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger after regaining her own body. However, she seems to have acquired habits from the time her soul inhabited Lambda -No. 11-'s body, as seen during combos with Sword Summoner; she counts the hits in German, like she used to do as Lambda.

Despite being known to love Ragna very much, Nu can sometimes show anger against Ragna. The first time was in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma when he declares that he would "save" her, causing her much confusion that turned into frustration. Similarly, in Wheel of Fortune, she becomes heartbroken and betrayed after a string of confessions to Ragna resulted in him attacking her out of annoyance. This caused Nu to mentally snap then break out in maniacal laughter, beat Ragna into unconsciousness, brutally murder an already incapacitated Tsubaki and force Ragna into the Cauldron with her.

History
She, as with Lambda and Mu, was made as a replica of Saya, Ragna and Jin's sister. They seem to share some of Saya's memories, though nothing congruous. She possesses a fragment of the Azure.

that which is inherited
Nu's existence is owed to an agreement by Relius Clover and Kokonoe Mercury. When Relius desired to 'make' a Nox Nyctores, he went to Kokonoe for assistance, negotiating her help in exchange for a Boundary Interface Prime Field Device. When Kokonoe used the Magic spell Infinite Gravity, the casket that contained her doll of body began to swell and burst – giving form to the Prime Field Device. In the ensuing aftermath of the event, Roy reported to the, hospitalized, Kokonoe that Relius had escaped with Nu's body.

an evil sign
The short story, An Evil Sign, detailed the second half of Nu's birth. She was attached to multiple cables, each injecting seithr into her body, with multiple scientists raising the level multiple times. One particular cable attached to her eye, pumping huge levels of seithr into it, during this, Nu's body spasmed with life, shocking the scientists, who's job finishing her was now finished. After finalizing the schedule for her to be delivered to the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, they discussed how she was specially created by Relius Clover and Sector Seven.

However, their idle chit-chat was cut short by the arrival of Hazama, who had organized to take Nu himself under the Imperator's order. Asking that he could see her himself, Hazama wandered into her chamber alongside the chief scientist, he admired their work and touched her, exclaiming that Nu was truly the 13th unit. After the scientist left, Hazama taunted her, telling her to wake up soon; in response, Nu's eyelids began to flutter.

After the story, Nu is released and Hazama gives her the Lux Sanctus: Murakumo, her Murakumo armor and orders to protect the Gate against intruders.

BlazBlue: The Wheel of Fortune
In the original timeline, Nu descended from the Cauldron in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, scanning the area, she was overjoyed to found Ragna. However, as she spotted Tsubaki Yayoi, she demanded to know who 'that girl' was. As Tsubaki cowered in fear, Nu then swiftly attacked, claiming that she hated her, only to have the assault deflected by Ragna the Bloodedge. The Murakumo asked why Ragna was protecting Tsubaki, but was told to shut up. She said that she was the only one for Ragna over and over, but Ragna told her to shut up each time, even resorting to pre-emptively attacking her. Nu was heartbroken, thinking that Ragna had abandoned her, but then she burst out insanely laughing and they engaged in an intense fight, which ended in Ragna's defeat.

Jin Kisaragi then rushed to the Murakumo in a blind attempt to try and attack her. Detecting the possession of a Nox Nyctores, Nu temporarily switched her attention and dispatched Jin with ease. As Jin was persistent, she attacked again, and Tsubaki threw herself in the middle of the blow. Telling a wounded Ragna that she definitely hated 'that girl', Nu attacked again with a barrage of blades in an attempt to finish both Jin and Tsubaki off. Tsubaki managed to completely shield Jin, only to die from her wounds a short while later. Gleefully exclaiming that Tsubaki had died, Nu took Ragna and jumped into the Cauldron. Jin followed, saying that he would never forgive her. She was amused, but said that she would not hand Ragna over. As they fell further, she told an unconscious Ragna that it everything was just a decided story that could not be rewritten, and the fusion between Ragna and Nu would form the Black Beast that would terrorize the planet for a whole century.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
After a series of time loops, Noel Vermillion takes the place of Tsubaki as Jin's secretary. In this timeline, Jin had recently lost a battle to Ragna outside the entrance to the basement. Noel arrives on the scene shortly after and tends to Jin's wounds. Jin, barely conscience, points to the path towards the Gate saying that Ragna went down there and Noel goes down to investigate and arrest Ragna if possible.

Soon after she arrives her attention is caught by the Cauldron and seither starts to emerge and Noel flooded with memories from another life she never lived, causing her confusion. When Nu appears from the Cauldron, Noel's loses control over her body as starts acting like a machine, causing her to act like her former self, Mu -No. 12-, and is forced into a fight with Nu. The battle ends in Nu's favour and prepares to execute Noel as per her orders. Just as she strikes, Ragna appears and takes the blow in her place she constantly confesses her love for him while battling the Grim Reaper, easily overwhelming him. In the true ending, she tries to merge with a semi-conscious Ragna by falling with him into the Cauldron. However, Noel thwarted her efforts and saved Ragna's life. Nu dies after falling back into the Cauldron and failing to fuse with Ragna. This results in the destruction of her physical body but sends her soul to the Boundary.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, she is replaced by Lambda -No. 11- of Sector Seven. However, she returns as Lambda's Unlimited form in the console versions. Storywise, Kokonoe was able to turn Lambda, a failed test subject disposed by Relius Clover, into her own Murakumo unit, salvaging Nu's soul to give Lambda her ability to fight. She, in Lambda's body, assists Tager on Kokonoe's orders, though her own memories and personality are suppressed. Eventually Hazama coaxes her memories as Nu, causing complications in her programming. Under Phantom's influence, Lambda is forced into a battle against an illusion of Nu in her Story mode, becoming comatose if she loses.

In the True Ending of the story mode, Nu arrives just as Hazama is about to deal the final blow to Ragna. Her memories having fully returned, Nu takes the blow herself to protect him. She collapses into Ragna's arms, saying that she dreamt of him while she was in the Boundary, and that she will always be with him, her body disintegrating. In the process, she gives Ragna her Idea Engine, which allows him to bypass Hazama's negation of the BlazBlue, making even Hazama nervous. After the credits, Relius and Hazama can be seen looking into a cauldron saying "It's amazing how she can regenerate just by will!", hinting that Nu is still alive.

In one of the gag reels in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Nu appears in the omake endings in her yandere personality with her body still intact, albeit toned down and changed to that of a preppy fan girl devoted to Ragna.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma


After the events in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger following her battle with Ragna the Bloodedge, Nu was thought to have perished in the Cauldron alone. She is later revived by her own will to fuse with Ragna in a form referred to by Hazama as the "Sword of Hades". However, she retains her appearance and personality from the previous games. She is re-tuned by Hazama to stand in Ragna's way once again, though somewhat resisting his control in her arcade ending.

During the course of her readjustments and tuning, Hazama makes Nu fight against illusions of Ragna the Bloodedge and Mu -No. 12-. After she defeats them, Hazama is amazed at how Nu, who was still in readjustment state, was able to defeat Mu -No. 12-. Hazama then commands Nu to absorb the defeated illusion of Mu -No. 12-, but it suddenly disappears. He becomes angry at this sudden happening and blames it on Rachel Alucard. Hazama concludes that he needs to fuse them in reality instead, then tells Nu to follow him so that he can adjust her in the underground, where she is taken to the Cauldron in the Gate. Afterwards, Nu is seen smiling and happy about being able to meet Ragna soon.



Later on, after Hazama makes Phantom teleport Ragna into the Grave Marker of Bases, he then declares the start of the "Heart-Warming Reunion" and makes Nu descend to Ragna. Hazama then tells Ragna to kill each other with Nu, the Sword of Hades, for her adjustments.

After Nu recognizes Ragna, she laughs and tells Ragna that they should start killing each other. Nu and Ragna fight, but because Ragna wasn't giving his all, she tells him that he isn't doing enough for her, which forces Ragna to activate his Azure Grimoire. However, a Dimensional Interference starts in the area, and Ragna becomes unable to activate his BlazBlue. After Ragna is surprised at the fact such a huge level of Dimensional Interference is happening, Hazama tells Ragna that it is possible thanks to the Imperator's power. After Ragna tries to attack Hazama, he makes Nu attack Ragna, where she injures him. Nu tells Ragna not to take his attention elsewhere and that he should only look at her. Hazama then declares that the Banquet is starting and tells Nu and Ragna to continue killing each other as their "song" will open the Nemesis Horizon.

It is seen later that after the Dimensional Interference, the injury that Nu had given to Ragna was recorded into his Azure Grimoire, and that injury had opened up afterwards.

Later after Noel Vermillion obtained control over her power as Mu -No. 12-, Hazama ambushes her and makes Nu "observe" her and fight against her. After the fight, Nu retreats from the area.

When Litchi Faye Ling goes to Ikaruga to find Kokonoe Mercury and waits with Iron Tager, Azrael coincidentally appears and Nu appears to attack Litchi under Hazama's order. Nu easily defeats Litchi but is unable to finish her off because Kagura Mutsuki and Tager interferes and escapes with her, where Nu is left alone with the disappointed Azrael. Azrael is unable to fight against Nu because she had no fighting intents against him.

Later during the battle in the Colosseum, Nu is seen standing with Hazama while he talks to Hades: Izanami. Afterwards, Hazama tells Nu to follow him so he can give adjustments to her.

When Ragna, Noel, and Celica visit Asphyxia in order to obtain the Kushinada's Lynchpin and was about to receive Bang Shishigami's help, Relius, Nu, and Litchi assault them to stop them from activating the Lynchpin. Nu attacks Noel, and starts synchronization with her. They both enter an empty white space where Nu and Noel see each other in a mirror. After Noel declares that Nu is Noel Vermillion due to being pulled into the situation, the synchronization succeeds.

After coming back to reality, Nu tells Relius that the synchronization with Noel had finished. It is revealed that due to the synchronization, Nu had also become a Successor of the Azure. Relius then commands Nu to kill Noel since she is of no use anymore. Nu then attacks Noel, where Celica A. Mercury tries to protect her, which makes Nu attack both of them but is blocked by Ex Machina: Minerva from harming them. Afterwards, Relius commands Nu to go to where Hazama is. Ragna tells Nu to stop, but she ignores him and leaves.

Nu then arrives below the entrance of Nemesis Horizon. Hazama commands Nu to open it and pull Master Unit Amaterasu out of it. Nu activates her Azure Grimoire and prays as the Successor of the Azure to tell Master Unit Amaterasu to appear before her. The Nemesis Horizon then opens and Amaterasu becomes summoned into reality.

After Gigant: Takemikazuchi is summoned onto the earth, Hades: Izanami commands Nu to fuse with Takemikazuchi in order to control it.

After Ragna defeats Takemikazuchi and enters it with Celica, Nu appears in front of them. Nu then starts speaking in the same way of how Noel speaks. When Celica and Ragna could not tell how fast or slow the time is flowing inside, Nu tells them that because of Celica, the time inside Takemikazuchi is accelerating. After the scenery inside Takemikazuchi appears, it is shown that they were inside Magister's City: Ishana, which was the last scene the current Celica had seen before she had come to the future. Nu tells Ragna that she was waiting for Ragna for a long time and was worried because he wasn't showing up. Ragna tells Nu to stop with her current way of speaking like Noel, which makes Nu tell him that he is being mean because she is currently also Noel Vermillion, which Ragna denies and tells her that she is Nu.

Nu then tells Ragna that through the synchronization with Noel, she found out that the 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido was the place where Noel Vermillion was supposed to disappear. She tells him that on the day Ibukido had perished, Noel was being smelted as a material to be used for the creation of a Black Beast, in order for Sector Seven to win the war against the Novus Orbis Librarium. Nu then asks Ragna how a Black Beast is created, and tells him that they are created through the fusion of an Azure Grimoire and a Murakumo Unit. Ragna then asks Nu how Sector Seven knew this, where Nu tells him that someone had told them the method, which happened to be Relius Clover. Nu tells Ragna that the Murakumo Unit that was to be used as a material for the creation of a Black Beast was Noel and asks Ragna who he thinks the owner of the Azure Grimoire was at the time, where Ragna realizes that it was Yūki Terumi. Nu reveals that it was planned that Terumi and Noel were to fuse in order to create the Black Beast, but it ended in failure. She reveals that Noel wouldn't have wanted to become the heart of the man who destroyed her mind, took her family and everything away from her, even if she had died. However, she tells Ragna that everything went alright because Takemikazuchi had destroyed everything. Ragna asks Nu why Terumi wanted to become a Black Beast, but Nu tells Ragna to ask Terumi himself as she doesn't know.

Nu tells Ragna that her story is over and asks him if he had to come to destroy her, and goes back talking like her yandere self. Nu then happily tells Ragna they should start killing each other right away and that Celica can join them, although Nu would kill her immediately. Nu then declares that she will "hug" Ragna again, by which she means she will imaple him with her sword as well as actually hugging him tightly. Ragna declares that he did not come to kill Nu or destroy her, and points out the fact that she doesn't even die even if she "dies". Nu tells Ragna it is because of the Life Link that they both share, and points out that it is like a string of fate. Ragna tells her that they really need to end their negative relationship already. Nu tells Ragna that she wants to kill each other with Ragna forever, but Ragna tells her that it's over since she had asked Ragna to "save" her.

Confused, Nu denies saying anything like that, but Ragna tells her that the whole story that she had just told him was like asking him to save her. Nu then becomes even more confused which turns into frustration and tells Ragna to drop the bullshit or she would kill him for real. Ragna taunts her, asking her to try if she is truly capable of doing so since she knows that neither of them are capable of truly dying due to the Life Link she brought up. Nu becomes even more angry, while Ragna tells her to bring it on, knowing that his method of saving is rough, and the two engage in an intense battle. Ragna easily defeats Nu even without the use of his Azure Grimoire, which makes Nu go into denial of how Ragna became stronger. Ragna tells Nu that it isn't that he is strong but that she is weak, while calling her the "strongest". Nu then falls unconscious, where Ragna catches her before she falls. Ragna points out that Nu's sleeping face looks similar to Noel, where Celica comments that she looks cute. Nu is then taken out from the Takemikazuchi by Ragna and Celica.

After Nu is taken out from the Takemikazuchi, Ragna asks Celica to heal her, where Hakumen asks him why he isn't killing her. Ragna tells Hakumen that he doesn't want to kill Nu, which makes Hakumen try to kill Nu himself, which Ragna and Celica both reject against. Suddenly, Hades: Izanami appears, which makes Ragna try to attack her, but because he doesn't actually attack her, Hades: Izanami asks if Ragna wants her. After Hades: Izanami talks quietly that "Brother is rejecting her again" in Saya's voice, she tells Ragna that he cannot save her forever, where Nu then suddenly attacks Ragna from the back. Nu tells Ragna to not say something so sad as "saving her", then Ragna falls from his injury. After that, Nu's whereabouts became unknown.

BlazBlue: Centralfiction
It is heavily implied by what is known so far in BlazBlue: Centralfiction that she is no longer under Hazama's command and has gone AWOL in search of Ragna. In Nu's Act 1, she is trying to become one with Ragna and is becoming more human-like. In her Act 2, she goes after the Nox Nyctores to fulfill her desire of having a true merge with Ragna. After Nu defeated Izanami, she tried to create her world, but it was denied by Noel, so Nu vows to kill her. In Act 3, she continues to look for Nox Nyctores, and managed to find Mu, now separated from Noel, and tried to kill her but Ragna intervenes to save her and everyone from their own desires.

Powers and abilities
In battle, she summons numerous swords to keep pressure on her opponents from a distance. Her battle appearance even stems from an apparatus, resembling a large sword with a face, that breaks apart to become her armor and weapons.

Nu is a very lethal combatant on the battlefield. As a Murakumo unit, Nu boasts abnormal fighting abilities. She can repair herself and fight in tip-top shape should she sustain enough damage, making her seem almost immortal. Her Drive ability, Sword Summoner comes in the form of controlling the very fabric of space. She can alter gravity, open up rifts, teleport, fly and summon swords to wipe out her opponents with ease. In combat, it is not uncommon to see a flurry of swords materializing out of thin air and disappearing just as quickly, flying and attacking rapidly from many angles at once. Her method of finishing off opponents come in the form of combining her eight blades to create a dimensional rift that summons a gigantic sword to smash her opponents into oblivion.

Nu also shares a Life Link with Ragna, which makes her become unkillable by normal means unless Ragna and herself were to be killed at the same time, be killed by Izayoi's Immortal Breaker, or be killed by Hakumen's Time Killer technique.

Etymology
Nu's name comes from Nu, the thirteenth letter in the Greek Alphabet and serves as the beginning bit of her Murakumo serial number. 13 serves as the second half of her serial number and shows how Nu is the thirteenth Murakumo Unit.

Like Mu -No. 12-, one half of Nu's serial number, 13, also relates to death; in Tarot cards, the thirteenth card is the Death Arcana.

Trivia

 * Nu uses more sexual innuendo than any other character in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, mostly when speaking to Ragna. Such cases are: (Note: Nu almost always smiles when speaking to Ragna).
 * "You knew what you were doing that time." – Ragna's response is "I told you to shut up!" – "You were smiling."
 * "You slashed me… pierced me all over… when I was completely defenseless!"
 * "Those are one and the same. You know it hurt so much last time…! When you lashed out at me, I thought I was a goner!"
 * "But today's gonna be different. See? I even have a new body, and I can talk."
 * "How would you like it? Gentle? Or a bit more rough perhaps?"
 * "Don't wanna talk, hm? Perhaps you'll open up after something a bit more… physical?"
 * "Let's kill each other again… She can watch, if you want… or we can make it a threesome! She'll have to go first though!"
 * "Hehehehe…. C'mon, Ragna ….Let's go as deep as possible this time!"
 * "Come on, Ragna! I said more! You're not going to satisfy me with just that…! Give me more of your delicious energy…" 
 * "You're not allowed to have any other lovers, Ragna… I'm the only one who can have you…"
 * In the Japanese official website for  Calamity Trigger' s arcade version, Nu's voice actress was listed as "????" in order to hide her relation to Noel, in the same way that Hakumen, another character listed with a "????" voice actor, is related to Jin.
 * In early concept art, the blades which float behind Nu are identical to the white portion of Ragna's sword.
 * In the finalized concept art of Nu, her eyes are blue. They were, however, changed to red.
 * She seems to have three personalities: the robot which is mostly seen, her insane love for Ragna and a third one seen is one of her story paths and her Arcade ending: a girl who silently and desperately calls for Ragna.
 * Nu's Crest, along with Ragna's Crest, seems to be variations of the Black Beast's Crest, implying the fact that Ragna and Nu need to be fused in the Cauldron in order to the Black Beast can surge.
 * Nu and Noel were featured in a montage of characters who were voiced by their current English voice actress, Cristina Valenzuela. The montage was drawn by Alex Ahad, art director from the fighting game Skullgirls.
 * Nu's birthday is New Year's Eve, as well as being the last day of the year on the Gregorian calendar.
 * Many of Nu's attacks have names referencing cars.
 * True Impreza: Subaru Impreza
 * Sickle Storm: Geo Storm
 * Luminas Slave: Daihatsu Boon Luminas
 * Crescent Saber: Honda Saber
 * Supra Rage: Toyota Supra
 * Act Pulsar (Act Parser in official English localization): Nissan Pulsar
 * Legacy Edge: Subaru Legacy
 * Spike Chaser: Toyota Chaser
 * Facelift (localized as Phase Shift) – Automotive facelift
 * Nu is featured as an Avatar in the game Groove Coaster 2. She is obtainable by purchasing the "ARC SYSTEM WORKS Pack". This pack contains four songs: "CHRONOPHANTASMA", "Rebellion", "Catus Carnival", and "Awakening The Chaos".

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