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Shuichirou Ayatsuki (シュウイチロウ＝アヤツキ Shūichirō Ayatsuki) was the father of Nine the Phantom, and Celica A. Mercury. He was an incredible scientist, responsible for having made Kushinada’s Lynchpin, and an Origin of the Grimoire that absorbs the seithr around it.
He is only referred to as “Father" during XBLAZE LOST: MEMORIES.
Appearance
As a young man, Shuichirou had light brown hair with a white fringe that he wore slicked back, and a small brown goatee. He had amber eyes that were always covered by his glasses. He was always seen wearing a white shirt with a purple tie, a gray suit jacket, and a mage's cloak on top. He also wore grey trousers and brown shoes.
As an older man in the peak of the Dark War, Shuichirou had put on weight, but his attire, for the most part, had not changed. [1] However, by the time he was found, the seithr poisoning had left him gaunt, and almost unrecognisable to even his own daughters.
Personality
Preceding the death of his wife, Shuichirou was affectionate to his family, going to great scientific lengths in order to save them from tragedy. He was a well-respected mage, scientist, and husband; he would always try to make time for his wife and daughter, even when working.
However, the death of his wife haunted Shuichirou, as he believed he could have saved her. This drove him to distance himself from Nine and Celica, and became obsessed with his scientific pursuits. At some point, he did try to mend his relationship with his eldest, but the damage was irreparable. Shuichirou became jealous, and almost obsessed with Relius Clover and Yuuki Terumi as they ploughed forward with trying to create a Kusanagi. Come the time of the Dark War, Shuichirou had become an empty shell of the man he once was, as he had gone to great lengths to create the ultimate device to finally prove he was smarter than Relius - at the cost of one of his daughters. Before he died, he had descended to maniacal laughter and gibberish, but this could be attributed to his seithr poisoning.
Biography
Nothing is known about Shuichirou’s early life, but it is known that he married a young mage in the 0th Magical City of Ishana, and they planned to raise a family together. Shuichirou was a scientist who would often venture abroad to do his studies.
At some point, his wife (known only as “Mother”) became pregnant with Konoe A. Mercury (who would later become Nine the Phantom). The pregnancy was dangerous as Konoe had an innate ability to rapidly attract surrounding seithr, which could lead to lethal seithr poisoning for both mother and child. Shuichirou quickly developed an Origin of the Grimoire that absorbed and limited the amount of seithr that Konoe could attract, and somehow turned it into Konoe’s left eye while she was still in the womb. Because of this, both mother and child survived. During this time, he was noted to be a loving father and husband, who could focus on both his research and family.
Eventually, the couple became pregnant again, this time with Celica. However, “Mother” died due to complications in childbirth. Her death would lead to Shuichirou’s descent into madness and an emotional detachment from the world. His relationship with Konoe worsened, and she began to resent him. Konoe largely blamed him for “Mother”’s death, and believed that Celica was in constant danger due to his erratic behaviours. At some point, he began development on Kushinada’s Lynchpin, going fully ahead and planning Celica, with her unique ability to dispel seithr, as the key to activate it, even if it cost her life. During the end of XBLAZE LOST: MEMORIES, he takes time off work to spend time with his daughters, and despite Konoe’s best attempts, they would still not see eye-to-eye, even after she had grown up. [2]
As a researcher and resident of Ishana, he was acquainted with Relius Clover, who was at the time, One of the Ten Sages. Shuichirou was said to have been in awe of his intellect, and was hinted to have even been jealous. At some point before the Dark War began, Shuichirou and Relius came into contact with Yuuki Terumi, who gifted them with the Susano’o Unit in exchange for them working on and developing a Boundary Interface Prime Field Device inside the First District within Japan.
This experiment to create a Prime Field failed fantastically, and the Black Beast was born. It swallowed Relius, destroyed Terumi’s body, but avoided killing Shuichirou, who had hoped to activate the now completed Lynchpin in hopes of stopping the Black Beast; without Celica, however, this was in vain. Shuichirou was left to die to seithr poisoning. Celica was compelled to search for him, but Konoe, now Nine of the Ten Sages, didn’t care for his apparent death. She took over his laboratory at the family home.
Thanks to a distortion in time and space created by the cauldron that the Black Beast emerged from, however, Shuichirou was still alive 6 years after the emergence of the Beast, even though to him, it had only been a year. Celica, Nine, Bloodedge, and Trinity Glassfille had found him within the bubble of distorted time, but seithr poisoning had thoroughly corroded his mind, and he was essentially a maniac who boasted of the Lynchpin’s superiority and that he had finally bested Relius with its creation. He begged Celica to complete his creation, and Nine smashed him into one of the walls of the lab before he finally died to seithr poisoning.[3] Shuichirou's legacy was smeared as he was remembered as the one who began the Dark War as Relius and Terumi disappeared from history.
Shuichirou’s lab would later be taken over by Nine as her base of operations where she created the 11th Nox Nyctores - Corpus Sepulcro: Requiem. Nearly 100 years after his death, Nine’s views on him would soften as she began to blame Amaterasu Unit for forcing him and Celica to repeat their fates again and again.
Library Entry
Shuichiro Ayatsuki
Celica and Nine's father. A famous researcher whose work centers around the merging of souls and objects. He is also the creator of Kushinada's Lynchpin -- a device able to stop the flow of seithr from the Boundary temporarily.
His contributions to the scientific community earns him several awards. To further his research, he leaves behind his two daughters and heads to Japan... Nontheless, the Black Beast's sudden appearance on Japan, and the nuclear attack that followed results in Shuichiro's disappearance. [4]
TIPS Entry
Father
The father of the main protagonist and her little sister. He engulfs himself in magic research and is currently overseas. Once he focuses on something he is incapable of seeing the world around him. A true researcher. [5]
Trivia
- In the Six Heroes route of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma, the scenes based on BlazBlue: Phase 0 where Shuichirou is found in the First District were altered so that he never appeared.