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Shinomiya Utai (四埜宮 謡, Shinomiya Utai) is a level 7 Burst Linker associated with the element of fire and was a member of Nega Nebulus before Black Lotus' disappearance. She was in the group known as Elements. She does however rejoin Nega Nebulus after meeting Kuroyukihime again. She's a fourth grader attending Matsunoki Elementary. Utai uses BIC so that she can communicate with others after the shock of her brother's death.[1]

Appearance[]

Utai has black, mid-length hair and brown eyes (bright pink in the anime). She is slightly shorter than Haruyuki.

Background[]

Shinomiya Utai was born in a family of Noh performers and started performing at a very young age. Utai enjoyed performing and thought that she would be able to continue even when she was older. However, her family traditions do not allow females to perform after a certain age, which deeply saddens her. Her brother, Mirror Masker, tried to cheer her up by installing the Brain Burst program onto her Neurolinker. However, the "Ardor Maiden" avatar created turned out to be from Utai's wish to continue being a performer.

Mirror Masker then felt guilty for installing the Brain Burst program into his sister and went to beg his family to allow his sister to continue to perform. That was when a huge mirror fell onto him, killing him. Utai who witnessed the scene lost her ability to talk, except for the two brain burst commands, as well as her life as a Noh performer.[1]

Within Nega Nebulus, Utai was the 'Fire' of the Elements, a group of element-themed Burst Linkers loyal to Black Lotus until her disappearance. During the attack on the Imperial Palace, Utai insisted on going against Suzaku at the South Gate, as she believed that all flames were under her control.[2] However, she was unable to overcome Suzaku's flame attacks and ended up in Infinite EK. Believing that her arrogance had been the cause of Nega Nebulus' defeat, she, overcome with guilt, cut off all ties with Kuroyukihime and Fūko.

Plot Outline[]

Sixth Chrome Disaster Arc[]

Shrine Maiden of the Sacred Fire[]

Some time ago, Utai had found an injured Northern White-faced Owl collapsed in her school. Pledging to take care of it, Utai kept the owl, which she had named "Hoo", at her school's rearing pen. However, the school then announced that the old school building was to be demolished, and that the students were to be moved to a new campus. Several facilities, including the old rearing pen, were not included in the new school campus. Thus, all of the animals, including Hoo, were to be euthanized unless new facilities were found. In time, all of animals except Hoo were relocated to new homes. However, Hoo alone could not find a new living area, and was thus faced with euthanasia.

Knowing this, Utai asked Kuroyukihime for help. Thus, Umesato collaborated with Utai's old school, creating the "Animal Care Club" which was going to be Hoo's new home.

On the first day of the new club, Utai walked over to the Umesato school grounds to clean the animal pen for Hoo. There, she found Arita Haruyuki, who had volunteered by accident to be a member of the newly created club. Haruyuki had already made significant progress in cleaning the pen. Through her "Ad-Hoc" connection, she communicated with Haruyuki using a chat-interface. Together, they cleaned the animal pen. Sometime afterwards, Haruyuki noticed that she was able to use "Ad-Hoc" functions without a Neurolinker. Utai then explains that she has "expressive aphasia", which robs her of the ability to speak. Thus, she was authorized to use a Brain Implant Chip (BIC) to speak through text.

Both of them unaware that the other was also a Burst Linker, they made their way to the Student Council office together. There, they met Kuroyukihime. As both Haruyuki and Utai were surprised that they both knew Kuroyukihime, the Black King explains that Utai was the former Nega Nebulus member known as "Ardor Maiden", while Haruyuki was a current member of Nega Nebulus by the name of "Silver Crow". Then, the three Burst Linkers sat down in the Student Council office to explain the situation. Kuroyukihime explains how the former Nega Nebulus was destroyed during the failed attack on the Imperial Palace.

Afterwards, Haruyuki walked Utai back to her house. There, Utai requested that Haruyuki engaged in a tag team duel with her. After accelerating, the two were placed against Bush Utan and Olive Grab of the Green Legion, Great Wall. Haruyuki noticed that Ardor Maiden, contrary to most duel avatars, had two colors as opposed to one. Instead of being completely white or completely red, Ardor Maiden's top half was white, while her bottom half was red.

In the battle that followed, Haruyuki fought against Bush Utan while Utai fought against Olive Grab. Initially, using the skill inherited from Black Lotus known as the "Way of the Flexible", which Haruyuki dubbed as "Guard Reversal", Haruyuki gained the upper hand on Bush Utan. However, midway through the battle, Bush Utan chanted the mysterious phrase, "IS Mode, activate!". A dark eyeball appeared on his chest, and Bush Utan used the Incarnate Skill "Dark Blow" against Haruyuki. Easily subjugating Haruyuki using his newly gained Incarnate Skills, Bush Utan explained that he had equipped the ISS Kit, which stood for "IS Mode Study Kit".

At this time, Olive Grab, who was also under the influence of the ISS Kit, appeared out of the tall grass. However, he was soon sniped by a fire arrow shot from Utai's "Flame Caller". Utai then began questioning Bush Utan about the source of the ISS Kits, which Bush Utan refused to answer. Bush Utan began to attack Utai using "Dark Blow". However, Utai easily defended using a Defensive type Incarnate Skill, blowing Bush Utan away. Now, preparing to use her own Incarnate skill, Utai requested that Haruyuki block Bush Utan's upcoming attack to buy her time.

Utai's Incarnate flame attack

During the activation, Ardor Maiden's face became covered with a Noh mask, while her bow turned into a hand fan. As Ardor Maiden began a Noh performance, flames began rising in an expanding circular pattern around her. The flames spread throughout the duel field, killing Bush Utan instantly. With this, Haruyuki and Ardor Maiden won the duel, while also gaining disturbing information about the spread of the "ISS Kits".

The next day, Utai once again met with Haruyuki at the Animal Care Club. After talking about Hoo for a little bit, Utai changed the course of the conversation to the topic of the Disaster Armor purification, saying that more details would be discussed at the Nega Nebulus meeting that following afternoon.

At the meeting, Fūko enthusiastically greeted Utai, smothering the elementary schooler in her chest with a large hug. As everyone settled down, Kuroyukihime began to explain the situation. She first explained the concept of "Infinite Enemy Kill", also known as Infinite EK. Within an Infinite EK, Burst Linkers stuck in the domain of a powerful Enemy will continue to be killed over and over as they respawn in the same spot, eventually running out of points. Utai then explains that during the previous Nega Nebulus raid on the Imperial Palace, she was caught in Infinite EK at the southern gate in the altar of the Super-class Enemy, the god Suzaku. In order to purify Haruyuki of the Armor of Catastrophe, Utai first needed to be rescued from her state of Infinite EK at the Castle gates.

Haruyuki found it odd how Utai, even under the state of Infinite EK, did not lose all of her Burst Points. Kuroyukihime then explained the use of the "automatic disconnection timer", which automatically logged Burst Linkers out of the Unlimited Neutral Field after a set amount of time. Using this as a safeguard, Utai had managed to escape total point-loss despite being trapped in Infinite EK.

Finally, it was time to rescue Utai from the gates of Suzaku. Setting an auto-disconnection timer, Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime, Fūko, Takumu, and Chiyuri dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field. At the Castle gates, the plan was for Kuroyukihime, Fūko, Takumu, and Chiyuri to attack Suzaku to build up the Enemy's "hate" level. While these four distracted Suzaku, Haruyuki was to fly in, grab Utai, and fly out. However, midway through the attack, Suzaku unexpectedly deviated from the normal AI settings and instead attacked Haruyuki. In the heat of the moment, Haruyuki grabbed Utai and, instead of flying up or back, flew straight towards the Castle gate. Unexpectedly, the gate opened just a sliver, and Haruyuki and Utai flew into the interior of the Castle.

Armor of Catastrophe[]

After infiltrating the Castle gates, Utai and Haruyuki took stock of their surroundings. Getting ahold of their bearings, the two, going off of Haruyuki's memories as Chrome Falcon, began to make their way through the Castle labyrinth. Once they arrive at the innermost area of the Imperial Palace, they are surprised to find the empty pedestals for two of the Seven Arcs. As they muse over the identity of the Fifth and Seventh Arcs, known respectively as "The Infinity" and "The Fluctuating Light", they are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a blue, male duel avatar.

This duel avatar, who introduces himself as Trilead Tetroxide, is the owner of the aforementioned Fifth Arc, "The Infinity". As the three converse, Trilead reveals that he, unlike other Burst Linkers, was actually trapped inside the Imperial Castle. Yearning to see the outside world, he had destroyed the seals of the Four Gates out of hope that someday, someone from the outside would walk in.

Afterwards, Trilead shows them to the deepest layer of the Imperial Palace. Here, the final Arc, "The Fluctuating Light", was sealed. However, before Trilead could explain further, Utai and Haruyuki's cables were pulled out in the real world by the other Nega Nebulus members, who were sick with worry. Right before they were disconnected, the two Nega Nebulus legionnaires scheduled with Trilead to meet once again at seven p.m. two days later.

Once they arrive back in the real world, Utai and Haruyuki begin to explain the situation to the other Nega Nebulus members. First was the issue of Suzaku's unexpected attack. Haruyuki theorizes that the Four Gods had already surpassed the limits of AI to become true intelligence, thus becoming able to act outside the system-given algorithms for "hate" and "aggro". Second was the details of Haruyuki and Utai's infiltration of the castle. Haruyuki told the legion members everything that he and Utai had seen within the Castle gates. After theorizing about the mysterious "Trilead Tetroxide" for a bit, Kuroyukihime brought the meeting back to its original purpose: purifying the Armor of Catastrophe. Once Kuroyukihime had finished summarizing what was to be done about the Purification, the meeting was adjourned. However, right before all of the legion members left, Haruyuki had a disturbing conversation with Takumu about the Incarnate System.

The following day, Utai brought worrying news to Haruyuki. Early that morning, members of the PK group "Supernova Remnant" had attacked a Burst Linker in the Unlimited Neutral Field. However, they themselves had been completely annihilated with all of them being driven to total point loss. Moreover, the one who had destroyed them was the original victim of the PK: a blue-colored duel avatar with a large piercing-type Enhanced Armament on their right hand. Judging that the aforementioned duel avatar may have been Cyan Pile, who had suspiciously called in sick that day, Haruyuki ran home to confront him.

The Binary Stars of Destiny[]

When Haruyuki was overpowered by negative thoughts from the Armor of Catastrophe at school the following day, Utai arrived to comfort him. Utai explained that the phenomenon that had just occurred was known as Overflow, where negative Incarnation overflows and affects the Burst Linker in the real world. In the case of Haruyuki, it was the Armor that was the source of the Overflow. Utai reassures Haruyuki, saying that she would be able to purify Haruyuki of the Armor's interference after the Imperial Palace escape mission.

At the meeting that followed, all of the Nega Nebulus members plus Ash Roller dived together into the Unlimited Neutral Field. Utai and Haruyuki appeared together within the Imperial Palace. Trilead Tetroxide, strictly following the scheduled meeting time, was already there. Trilead continues his explanation, which had been cut short the first time Utai and Haruyuki had visited the Castle. The Seventh Arc, known as The Fluctuating Light, was sealed within the large hall within the deepest parts of the Castle. Trilead explains that the moment a Burst Linker enters the hall enshrining The Fluctuating Light, eight extremely powerful Enemies known as the <<Eight Gods>> will begin to appear. Thus, it was impossible for one to rush through the hall and touch the Fluctating Light without succumbing to Infinite Enemy Kill.

After this explanation, Trilead led Utai and Haruyuki back up to the main section of the Imperial Palace in order to help them escape. However, while they were escaping, the three ran into a powerful Enemy who was patrolling the labyrinth. Seeing the Enemy's massive power, Utai requested for Haruyuki and Trilead to stall the Enemy for three minutes while she prepared a powerful Incarnate attack. After Haruyuki and Trilead successfully bought time for Utai to prepare, she began to unleash her attack. This wide-range Incarnate technique melted the ground beneath the Enemy, slowly drowning them in a pool of magma. Haruyuki realizes that this was a fourth-quadrant Incarnate attack - Negative Incarnation that attacked the surroundings. Utai explains that she had been practicing this negative-Incarnate attack, which she had dubbed "Flame Dance", in preparation for use on Genbu, the North of the Four Gods, under which Graphite Edge was trapped.

Haruyuki suddenly realizes that the source of Utai's negative Incarnation was "sin". Utai, even now, felt severe guilt over the fall of the former Nega Nebulus, which she believed had been caused by her pride. Thus, every time Utai used this fourth-quadrant Incarnate technique, she continuously felt the same pain inflicted on her target. Realizing this, Haruyuki and Trilead began to comfort her.

After this one fight with the patrolling Enemy, the rest of the escape went smoothly. When the trio arrived at the South Gate, Trilead destroyed the seal using The Infinity's special ability, which increased the damage of a single strike the longer the blade was sheathed. Trilead chose to stay behind in the Imperial Palace, and bid them farewell after revealing his true name. With this, Utai and Haruyuki flew through the Castle gate.

However, Suzaku materialized the instant the two flew through the gates. Blocking their way, Suzaku unleashed a high-powered flame attack. In response, Utai defended using her own Incarnate ability. However, with her entire left arm incinerated, Utai blacked out from the pain. Haruyuki left her in the care of Cyan Pile and Lime Bell while he flew back to save Kuroyukihime and Fūko, who had rushed into Suzaku's flames to allow the escape of Utai and Haruyuki.

After the three escaped from Suzaku, who had followed them to the border of the Exosphere, they traveled back down to Earth. Utai, now fully awake, greeted them with enthusiastically.

The Seven Thousand Year Prayer[]

After Haruyuki succeeded in separating The Disaster back into its original components, The Destiny and Star Caster, Utai met with him in the Unlimited Neutral Field to purify the parasitic Armor of Catastrophe. Using her Incarnate purification ability, Utai managed to purify the Armor after a whole hour and thirty minutes of dance. Afterwards, Haruyuki sealed The Destiny and Star Caster, now in card form, in the former player home of Chrome Falcon and Saffron Blossom.

ISS Kit Arc[]

The End and the Beginning[]

During the Midtown-Tower assault, Utai paired up with Black Lotus, Sky Raker, and Aqua Current to attack the ISS Kit main body. At the forty-fifth floor of the Midtown Tower, they ran into the ghost of Red Rider. However, before the four Nega Nebulus executives could get a proper explanation, Red Rider was taken over by the ISS Kit main body and began to attack.

While Kuroyukihime attacked Rider with her blades, Utai provided ranged support from the back. At one point, Utai successfully skewered Rider's right arm with an arrow, thus paralyzing it. After this feat, Rider was quickly defeated.

Immediately after the ISS-controlled Rider was defeated, the ghost Rider appeared once again. Finally, with the ISS Kit temporarily subdued, Rider began to explain the situation. After Rider was killed by Black Lotus at the meeting two years ago, a certain Burst Linker had created a copy of Rider's soul. Two years later, the Acceleration Research Society loaded the Rider-copy into the ISS Kit main body, which took the form of a giant eyeball. Then, using Rider's "Arms Creation" ability, the ARS began to mass-produce the ISS Kits. Rider then explains that if the ISS Kit main-body was destroyed, then he could activate the safety on the distributed ISS Kits, thus disabling their function. At this point, Rider's time ran out and the ISS Kit main body re-activated. However, before Rider disappeared, he asked the Nega Nebulus legionnaires to thank the second Red King for him.

After the short conversation with Red Rider, the ISS main body re-activated and began to attack the four Burst Linkers. Utai requested for Kuroyukihime, Fūko, and Akira to hold off the main-body's attacks while she prepared a powerful Incarnate Attack. After the giant eyeball was successfully held off by Black Lotus, Sky Raker, and Aqua Current, Utai activated her "Flame Dance". As with the knight in the Imperial Palace, the ISS Kit main body was drowned in a pit of incinerating magma. However, before the main body disappeared entirely, it managed to release a beam of red energy in the direction of Wolfram Cerberus. This beam contained all of the negative Incarnation accumulated by the ISS Kit main body.

After the ISS Kit main body was defeated, Red Rider enabled the safety function on all of the distributed ISS Kits, thus removing the Kits from the Accelerated World.

White Legion Arc[]

Utai took part in the assault against Oscillatory Universe during the Territories for Minato III. She was also a part of the group that was trapped in Glacier Behemoth's "Last Glacial Period" and Snow Fairy's "Brinicle".

Avatar[]

Network Avatar[]

Utai's network avatar looks very similar to her real life appearance. However, it is dressed in the clothes of a temple priestess.[3]


Ardor Maiden[]

Ardor Maiden

Her Duel Avatar, Ardor Maiden, has a Japanese priestess-like figure. The avatar was said to born from her sadness of not being able to continue being a Noh performer when she became older. She is special among Duel Avatars as she made of not one but two colors, with her upper-body being white and lower-body red. This is due to her having suffered extreme trauma from her brother's death after the avatar was already created, causing its color to change — Ardor Maiden used to be white with a dress that was only lightly red until Mirror Masker's death, which changed it into bright red. She is nicknamed Testarossa in the accelerated world.

Her Parent was Mirror Masker, her older brother.

Enhanced Armaments[]

  • Flame Caller – This Enhanced Armament is a bow which shoots flaming arrows. When the bowstring is pulled back, an arrow appears in the bow, omitting the need to draw arrows out of a quiver. In a stage without air, however, the arrows cannot burn, and will appear silver.

Abilities[]

Ardor Maiden has the ability to purify a Burst Linker of parasitic attributes. She also wields multiple support-type buffs.

  • Flame Torrent – The compartment in her left sleeve slides down which ignites a flame. The flame can then be grasped and placed in «Flame Caller», after which the flame turns into a normal arrow. While aiming, a visor appears around her left eye to improve her aim. One to three digital target circles then appear in front of the arrow, ranging from big to medium to small, which then acts like a lock-on target function. Once fired, the arrow can scatter in a flaming barrage to take down a large number of foes. Also, when it doesn't hit, it sometimes creates small patches of fire around the area. "Flame Torrent" was often used with Sky Raker's flight ability in a combination attack. In this "ICBM Combo", Raker first flies Maiden into the enemy stronghold, after which Maiden uses "Flame Torrent" to bring about wide-spread destruction.
  • Flame Vortex – When using "Flame Vortex", Utai releases a single arrow, creating a narrow flaming tornado whose force exceeds that of even Vorpal Strike. The heat and force created from this attack is so intense that the projectile will fly dozens of meters even within the water of the Ocean stage.[4]
  • Superluminal Stroke – Ardor Maiden's level 7 level-up bonus. This Special Move allows Ardor Maiden to unleash a beam of light that specializes in range, speed, and piercing power. However, unlike other ranged abilities, it has no aim correction whatsoever. It is her only ability which is not affected by the vacuum of space.[5]

Incarnation[]

  • Purification (unnamed) – Ardor Maiden can purify a duel avatar of parasitic effects or Enhanced Armaments.
  • Flame Dance – Informally dubbed by Utai as such, this Incarnate ability melts the ground beneath the target's feet, drowning them in a pool of expanding magma. Flame Dance was originally designed to be used on Genbu, the North of the Four Gods. As this is a fourth-quadrant negative Incarnate ability targeting the surroundings, use of this ability is extremely harmful to Utai. When using this ability, Utai continuously feels the same suffering as her target.
  • Unnamed defensive skill – Utai possesses an unnamed defense-type Incarnate Ability.[6]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Ardor Maiden had a brief meeting with Scarlet Rain before the first generation Nega Nebulus disbanded when Sky Raker threw Ardor Maiden right in front of Scarlet Rain during the territory battles.[7]
  • Her home is an old Noh theater in Omiya, Suginami.[8]
  • She started performing Noh when she was 3 years old.[8]
  • She makes a cameo appearance at the end of Episode 24 in her shrine maiden outfit in real life.

References[]


« Characters »


Pink = Current Burst Linker | Gray = Former Burst Linker

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