Els von Klagen

Els von Klagen (エルス＝フォン＝クラーゲン) is a supporting character in XBlaze – Code: Embryo and XBlaze – Lost: Memories. She is a long-time friend of Kuon Glamred Stroheim and a messenger for the Magical Association.

Appearance
Els is a young girl with back-length baby blue hair and violet eyes. She wears a dark blue blazer-like jacket with a white cloth on top that is rimmed with blue fabric; she wears a blue scarf on top. Underneath is a white collar shirt, a white skirt with a dark blue pattern, dark blue knee-length socks, and white boots.

Personality
Seemingly a paragon of politeness, Els has won the approval of even Mei Amanohokosaka, a woman who hates members of the Magical Association. Her love for Japanese culture extends to her having a longing for travelling all around it. She is praised for her perfect grades, earnest behaviour, and hard work, being a sensible worker with impeccable manners. She does have childish quirks, however, being likely to do immature acts for Kuon Glamred Stroheim’s attention, even though she generally has it to begin with.

She has an unrequited love for Kuon, being one of her longest standing friends, and being one of the few people to properly understand her feelings. Ultimately, her relationship with Kuon may be comedic, but it’s stronger than most may realize.

History
Els is a messenger from the Magical Association who applied to inspect the progress of  Kuon Glamred Stroheim’s mission to take down former Ten Sages members Drei, Acht and Sechs. She has known Kuon for many years and has a deep infatuation for her, doing anything to be next to her side. At one point, Els tried to become dorm mates with Kuon, so she lied to the resident advisor about Kuon’s behaviour and the two ended up sharing a dorm as a consequence. Despite all of this, Els is one of Kuon’s closest friends and the two have a rigid bond, being the only person who understands Kuon’s feelings and what she was going through.

XBlaze – Code: Embryo
Els first appears in Chapter 6 outside of the Himezuru residence, she startles Es and Tōya Kagari when she stares directly at the residence (something that the average person shouldn’t be able to do thanks to a barrier around it). After a brief discussion with the duo about her identity and reasons for visiting, Els was invited into the residence to await Stroheim’s return. After beseeching Tōya, Es and Hinata Himezuru to say that Kuon was a burden so the two may return to the Magical City of Ishana, all three disagreed, claiming Kuon to be wonderful company; with this, Els had an outburst, exclaiming that she harbored feelings of love for the Blazing Witch. It was with this rash outburst that Hinata was moved, as such, she extended an invitation for Els to stay the night, to which she gladly accepted.

The following day, Els went shopping with Es, Tōya, and Kuon. While out, they met Hinata and Akira Kamewari – Els followed Kuon’s orders to drag Tōya away from the duo, telling him that ignorance was not attractive. As they continued shopping, they came into contact with Acht. Els issued a warning to the Ten Sage, demanding that she come to the Magical City of Ishana and repent for her crimes, or be executed by their authority. After her demand was rejected, she watched as Acht demonstrated her Drive, and was present as she left after her show of force. The day after, she and Kuon started searching for the missing Akira, only to arrive late at night to see him as a Union with Hinata, Es and Tōya snared within his Drive.

Soon after Akira left, Els introduced herself to Mei Amanohokosaka, miraculously earning her seal of approval. She then left to help the others. Back inside the Himezuru residence, Els, Kuon, and Mei conversed about the next plan of action, with Els noticing that Mei was holding some info back. Alongside Kuon, she rebuilt the barrier that protected the Himezuru residence from the naked eye, and talked to her fellow conjurer about her suspicions with Mei’s lack of information. She offered to go back to Ishana to hack into its systems and find out more about the Wadatsumi Mass Vanish Incident, and left the following day, much to Hinata’s dismay.

Back at the Association, Els hacked into the main system, finding out as much info as she could about Wadatsumi, Sōichirō Unomaru, and the Embryo. Once she had found out all the info she could, Els sent a long letter to Kuon, detailing everything; the letter was read out to Es, Tōya, and Mei. This information proved instrumental in the group’s later decisions.

In the epilogue, Kuon returned to Ishana, and sent a letter with Els back to the group in New Yokozaki City. Apparently, Els would not be quiet about her dreams of returning to Japan again.

XBlaze – Lost: Memories
After the events of Lost: Memories Els returned to Ishana with Kuon and Marceline.

Powers and abilities
Even though she has not been seen in combat, Els still has a good grasp on sorcery, with her own attribute being defensive sorcery; with Kuon Glamred Stroheim’s help, she can set up incredibly strong barriers that even members of the Ten Sages would struggle with. Despite her apparent combat shortcoming, Els has a remarkable knack for finding information, finding types of info that would usually be shut-off to any other conjurer; this is due to her remarkable ability of hacking, being able to even hack into the Magical City of Ishana’s database without being spotted. Her ability to convincingly lie has also proved to have gotten her out of several serious scrapes.

Trivia

 * Her name is localized as Elise (エリーズ). However, knowing that her name in Japanese version is written as Erusu (エルス), it may suggest her name is in fact Els or Erus.
 * Els’ birthday is on the 1st of April, commonly celebrated as April Fools' Day, a day dedicated to hoaxes and playing practical jokes on others. Coincidentally, she shares the same birthday with Arakune.
 * Els is one of two confirmed LGBT characters, sharing this similarity with Shiori Kirihito.