Characters / Trails Series Erebonia Thors Class VII New

Trails Series Main Character Index
Kingdom of Liberl: Estelle's Party | Liberl Royalty and Military | Liberl Civilians
Crossbell State: Crossbell Government and Influential Groups | Crossbell Police and Military | Special Support Section | Crossbell Civilians
Erebonian Empire: Erebonia Imperial Family and Four Great Houses | The Ironbloods | Erebonia Military | Thors' Staff and Instructors | Thors Class VII (Rean Schwarzer | Original Class VII (Part One, Part Two) | New Class VII) | Main Campus Classes | Branch Campus | Erebonian Civilians and Major Groups | Imperial Liberation Front
Republic of Calvard: Calvard Miscellaneous | Arkride Solutions Office
Other Nations: Remiferia Miscellaneous | Elsaim Miscellaneous
Notable Groups: The Bracer Guild | Ouroboros (The Seven Anguis | Enforcers) | Jaeger Corps | Septian Church
Others: Ancient Zemurian Civilization | The Sept-Terrions and the Holy Beasts | Posthumous Characters

Class VII: Special Operations (circa S.1206)

In the year S.1206, with the opening of Thors Branch Campus, a new Class VII is formed, initially comprised of three students, with Class VIII's Ash Carbide and Class IX's Musse Egret later transferring in. Together with original Class VII member Rean Schwarzer as their Instructor, they serve as the main cast of Trails of Cold Steel III and IV.

To see the members of the original Class VII, click here.

Warning: spoilers relating to events/reveals that happen during the first two games shall be left unmarked. Certain spoilers relating to the third and fourth game, as well as Reverie, however shall remain tagged.

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In General

• Asleep for Days: Juna, Kurt, and Altina end up comatose for nearly 2 weeks between the end of Cold Steel III and the start of Cold Steel IV from shock and exhaustion from Millium's death and the release of the Curse. Ash had also been in an Angst Coma for around the same time after nearly killing the Emperor while under the Curse's influence.
• Badass Crew: Much like their predecessors. While they're not going to be stronger than them anytime soon, New Class VII's teamwork and overall combat ability is high enough that they're able to hold off Rean during his curse fueled rampage. Prior to that, through the use of Soldats, Ash and Juna were able to put a crack in Zector's sword, and with the addition of Kurt, bring Cedric in Testa-Rossa to his knees. Of note, is that unlike their predecessors, there was never a case of any of the members of the New Class VII breaking, or being unable to form a Combat Link with one another, as was the case between Jusis and Machias or Laura and Fie.
• Color-Coded Characters: When it comes to the Branch Campus's Panzer-Soldats, New Class VII end up preferring the models that just so happen to be painted in a color that they're often associated with.
  • Pink Drakkhen II: Juna
  • Blue Spiegel S: Kurt
  • Red Hector Mk.II: Ash
  • Green Kestrel Beta: Musse
  • Black Goliath Noa: Altina
• Empowered Badass Normal: They all use second generation Soldats, which normally don't have the unique abilities of Divine Knights. However, their status as Valimar's secondary contractors allow their Soldats to use some of Valimar's abilities, such as combat links, Ex-Arts, Spirit Path travel, and remote-controlled movement.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: While not to the same degree as Old Class VII, the members of New Class VII are still rarely seen hanging out with each other outside of story-related scenes.
  • In particular, the pairs of Ash and Altina and especially Kurt and Musse have scarce interactions during the Cold Steel games. Reverie slightly alleviates this by having Altina and Ash accompanying Rean in chapter 2, while Kurt and Musse do the same in chapter 3. The latter pair are also featured in the Episode set at Astraia.
  • The trope is taken even further once the two Class VII's join up. Aside from Millium and Altina, the old and new members don't have much in the way of interactions.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Towards Rean in Cold Steel IV after he loses himself to the Curse of Erebonia and starts rampaging. Thanks to the ARCUS II connecting them and everyone else with Rean's heart, they succeed.
• Humongous Mecha: Due to the new curriculum at Thors, every member of New Class VII can pilot Panzer Soldats, allowing them to freely team up with Rean and Valimar against other enemy mecha whenever the Branch Campus' models are available.
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: Just like their predecessors, they don't get why looking at the other Rean in Reverie brings tears to their eyes.
• Interclass Friendship: Like the previous group, they're from various class groups who nonetheless form a solid bond.
• Military Maverick: Compared to the members of the original Class VII (who were much more disciplined during their time as students), the members of New Class VII are much more insubordinate. They disobeyed direct orders from Rean to stay put during their field exercises in Saint-Arkh and even hijacked a Panzer Soldat in the process. During the field exercises in Ordis, they also snuck out at night to tail Rean during his investigation into Raquel without any permission. Rean outright says their antics during the first chapter alone, which involved the aforementioned hijacking of a Soldat, would have warranted a court-martial if they were actual soldiers, and their at times less than reverent attitude towards him and their other instructors' orders and authority definitely would be grounds for discipline in a more serious military setting.
• Power Trio: Juna, Kurt, and Altina form this dynamic after their first battle together in the Keep until Musse and Ash join Class VII in chapter 3. This carries over in Cold Steel IV, where the three of them rouse the old Class VII into looking for Rean while also searching for Musse and Ash to rejoin them after getting separated in the aftermath of the Cold Steel III.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Just like the old Class VII, the class contains a bunch of teenagers from widely different backgrounds. This time, the class includes a Hot-Blooded Crossbellan who only enrolled via an invitation, the youngest member of a noble family with a Legacy of Service, an Artificial Human who is a member of the Intelligence Division, a scheming girl who is a member of one Erebonia's four noble houses, and a delinquent from a Red Light District who often snarks at everyone.
• Summon Magic: In Cold Steel IV, the members of Class VII can briefly summon their own Soldats during regular battles.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Altina, Juna, and/or Musse's bonding events in Cold Steel IV show their feelings towards their instructor blossoming. If one of them is chosen for the fireworks scene, then while Rean refuses to romance any of them while they're his students, he states that he is willing to revisit the topic if they're still interested when they're older and have graduated.
• Three Plus Two: The class initially started out with just Juna, Kurt, and Altina, but they're later joined by both Ash and Musse halfway through Cold Steel III.
• Two Girls to a Team: Inverted, as there's only two guys in the class when not counting their instructor.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Collectively, all five members are this towards Rean as they seek to gain his approval as his students. It gets stronger when they meet Old Class VII and see how much more experienced and talented the group is which pushes New Class VII to further themselves even more in order to keep up.

Juna Crawford

Juna in her traveling clothes

^{Juna in her Branch Campus uniform}

^{Drakken II}

Voiced by: Nao Tōyama (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)

Appearances: Azure (Kai releases) | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

A girl from Crossbell who previously trained become an officer of the Crossbell Police Department. After Crossbell was annexed by Erebonia in S.1205, she was involved in a demonstration that saw her credits at the Crossbell Police Academy voided, and thanks to Claire Rieveldt's intervention was offered a chance to resume her education by transferring to Thors Branch Campus in Leeves. There, she becomes a member of Class VII, which she also uses as a chance to learn more about the country that occupied her homeland.

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• Action Girl: Compared to Altina who uses Claiomh Solais and Musse who uses a rifle, Juna is the girl who uses tonfas and either gets up close and personal to enemies or fire at them at a distance. In a cutscene in Cold Steel IV, poor Kairi gets to be on the receiving end of her police training when she gives him an armlock after mistaking him for an enemy.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Gives this to both her siblings and Altina. She ends up on the receiving end of from Rean in a few events.
• Affectionate Nickname: Randy calls her "Junie"^*"Ju-bou" in the original Japanese a term she's not all that happy with. Ironically Juna herself likes to do the same with Altina whom she calls "Allie"^*"Al" in the original Japanese.
• Ambiguously Bi: Like the majority of the Class VII girls, she's one of Rean's romance options. At the same time, she's also very likely to comment on how beautiful other female characters are upon being introduced to them (especially with Old Class VII).
• Angry Collar Grab: Does this to Rean during Chapter 2 of Cold Steel III while in the middle of her Heroic BSoD after learning about the Bird Cage, screaming at him to give them Crossbell back. Downplayed, as it was as much a desperate plea as it was anger.
• Ascended Fangirl: She is a major Fangirl of Lloyd and the rest of the SSS, and gets to fight alongside her heroes in Cold Steel IV and Reverie, much to her joy.
• Badass Biker: Due to her experience at the Police Academy, she gets to drive one of the three-seater bikes of the game. Kurt being her passenger in Chapter 2 is pretty much payback for her not getting to ride the horse in Chapter 1.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Her cheerleader and her Crossbell Guardian Force DLC outfits show off her stomach, fitting for New Class VII's resident Ms. Fanservice.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Even when she wasn't quite fond of Erebonians, she held great respect for Claire since the latter stepped in on her behalf to restore her academic credits at the police academy after the Jerkass Army Officer in charge revoked all her credits after she protested against Lloyd and the other members of the SSS being branded as criminals.
• Berserk Button: Mentioning Erebonia's annexation of Crossbell or badmouthing the city in general is this for her, but she gets especially vexed if anyone badmouths the SSS. She became annoyed in general throughout Chapter 2 due to the many changes the Empire brought to the city, but loses her temper first and foremost when Kurt wonders out loud if Lloyd became a wanted man by resorting to terrorism to free Crossbell, Juna explodes and goes on a tirade of how great he was and how the rest of the SSS was in the right.
• BFG: Her second S-Craft, Valiant Charge has her using a larger versions of her gunbreakers that fire a large Wave-Motion Gun at her enemies.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When running into Campanella near the end of Act I of Cold Steel IV, Juna quickly and vehemently cuts him off when he tries to Break Them by Talking:
  Juna: SHUT UP! Just shut the Hell up!
• Big Sister Instinct: During the flashback to when she and her family were under attack from a Calvardian Gunship, Juna threw herself on top of her younger siblings preparing to take the blast hoping to at least make sure they survived.
• Birds of a Feather: She hits it off well with Estelle in Cold Steel IV, which Tio attributes to them being cut from the same cloth.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: The beginning of Cold Steel IV happens on her birthday. Considering she and the others had just woken up after being Asleep for Days after seeing Rean trigger the Great Twilight after going berserk and the Empire was gearing for an all out war with Calvard which would drag the entire continent into it, she had too much on her plate to bring it up or celebrate.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The Tsukkomi to Musse's Boke. It can sometimes bring to mind Estelle's interactions with Olivier during Trails in the Sky.
• Book Dumb: Downplayed. Even if you get all the prerequisites and answer her exam questions correctly, Juna can only finish 45th in the midterm exams at best.^note The player only needs to answer two questions for her as all the other questions are spread out towards the rest of Class VII. While 45th is above average overall, she's the lowest scorer in Class VII, as everyone else finishes in at least the top 20.
• Boring, but Practical: Due to its wide range, speed and defense debuffs, acceptable CP costs, and Juna not having to move from her position, players would be spamming her Gemini Blast towards her enemies.
• Break Meter: Her starting Master Quartz and her Brave Order Sledgehammer/War Hammer are all about breaking the break gauge faster.
• Break the Cutie: She eventually experiences a severe breakdown, after the reality of Crossbell's occupation fully hits her and the truth of the birdcage incident is revealed, causing her already shaky self-esteem to completely shatter. This results in her ending up in a depressive state where she's unable to perform her field training due to a refusal to get out of bed.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Her large bust was enough for one student at St. Astraia to call her "Onee-Sama" in the Japanese script. And of course, Gwyn has to comment on her "nice body." Roselia, of course, takes notice when performing a Skinship Grope on her in Eryn's Hot Springs.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Even after Chapter 2, she just can't bring herself to tell Rean "thank you" for saving her and her younger siblings, even during her bonding event in Chapter 3 despite Jessica and Louise setting up a chance for her to do so. She finally averts this in Cold Steel IV after Rean is rescued from the Black Workshop. Ironically enough, she doesn't have as much trouble confessing her feelings for Rean should the player choose to attend her bonding events in Cold Steel IV.
• Casting Gag: Nao Tōyama voices a red-haired, energetic girl who becomes close friends with a serious, pragmatic boy voiced by Takuya Eguchi. Now where have we seen that before?.
• Cheery Pink: Bright pink hair, then wears a bright pink jacket during Cold Steel IV and tsundere moments aside, is an energetic Nice Girl.
• Child of Two Worlds: She was born in Crossbell and after the occupation made her home into an Imperial province she ended up attending Thors. She was initially less than pleased with the arrangement with some (understandable) misgiving towards Erebonia, but over time, her experiences with the rest of the Branch Campus and the New Class VII allow her to change her views and see not all of the Empire or it's people were bad. By the end of the Cold Steel saga, she's come to see the Branch Campus and Erebonia as a second home and hopes that Crossbell and Erebonia will be able to improve their relations and co-exist peacefully in the future.
• Combination Attack: With Kurt during a cutscene in Cold Steel IV; while liberating Eryn Village via Avon Hill, she combines her Brave Smash with his Twilit Blades in a manner similar to Rean and Crow's Deadly Domination.
• Continuity Cameo: In a recursive Early-Bird Cameo, the Kai versions^note and subsequently official English versions, as the Crossbell duology was Remade for the Export of Azure have her showing up at the Crossbell Police Academy, replacing the nameless police trainee that was there in the previous releases. According to Word of God, this was the result of developers putting her there on a whim.
• Cool Big Sis: Towards her siblings Ken and Nana, and a surrogate one towards Altina.
• Cross Promotion: In Cold Steel IV, one of her DLC costumes transforms her into Kuon.
• Cry into Chest: At the end of chapter 1 in Reverie, she cries into Rean's chest after finding out that Crossbell gets invaded again.
• Cuddle Bug: Constantly hugs Altina when given the opportunity, even when she's asleep!
• Dash Attack: One of her Crafts is Brave Smash,: the same move as Lloyd's. In Reverie, it's replaced with Valkyrie Smash.
• A Day in the Limelight: Gets to shine as the protagonist for the first act of Cold Steel IV when Rean is captured by Osborne and taken to the Black Workshop.
• Determinator: Except for one Heroic BSoD moment, Juna doesn't have an ounce of quit in her. This actually expands into full blown team leadership at the beginning of Cold Steel IV when Rean is MIA and she has to rally her despondent classmates.
• Deuteragonist:
  • She shares this position with Kurt in Cold Steel III, as both are newbies to what is happening behind the scenes of both Erebonia and Crossbell, in contrast to Rean. Juna has a very prominent role in chapter 2, while Kurt is more relevant in Chapter 1 & 4. Both are consistently present in every chapter, however.
  • She plays this role even further in Cold Steel IV, to the point that after Rean ends up being imprisoned within the Black Workshop, she's the one who temporarily takes up the mantle of protagonist and field leader of Class VII in his stead throughout the entirety of Chapter 1.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Was on the receiving end which resulted in her joining Class VII as clarified in Punished for Sympathy.
• Does Not Know How to Say "Thanks": Downplayed; Rean ended up saving her and her siblings' lives during one of Calvard's attacks on Crossbell. While she is definitely grateful to him, his being the national hero of The Empire, which annexed her home, gave her mixed feelings towards him, which made her reluctant to thank him at first. Her opinion of him came to change after seeing that Rean was not as bad as she thought she'd be and definitely wasn't proud of the invasion, culminating in her finally expressing her thanks to him in Cold Steel IV.
• Dual Wielding: She uses Gunbreakers, a pair of tonfas that are also guns in both of her hands.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Flareness Heart became Burning Heart in the English version of Cold Steel IV.^note As such, the English version gives the impression that it's the same Craft as Lloyd's, while the Japanese version just had them being similar.
  • Her upgraded Brave Order was called Thor Hammer in the Japanese script, but the English version changed it to War Hammer for some reason.
• Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, she has a robotic copy fought during Chapter 4 of Rean's route. It can later show up as a Hollow copy in the True Reverie Corridor.
• Expy Coexistence: Gameplay-wise, she's basically a female Lloyd but with the addition of guns. Character-wise, Juna is quite similar to Estelle as both are Book Dumb Genki Girl who acts as The Heart who pulls together her group of friends and inspires them. The similarity is even noted in-universe when the two finally meet and work together in Cold Steel IV.
• Extra Turn: Her Quick Star Craft allows her to have her teammates to move on the next immediate turns along with a speed boost. It's also the name of her EX-Art when made as a support member during mech battles which has the same effect.
• Family Theme Naming: Together with her mother and sister, the first names of all three end with "-na".
• Fangirl:
  • Of the SSS, even bordering on otaku level. She also ends up becoming a fangirl towards the members of Old Class VII after meeting them.
  • Also somewhat to Mishy, even if not to the same degree as Tio or Jingo. Unsurprising as her father works at Mishelam.
• Fantastic Racism: Downplayed. She's somewhat prejudiced against Erebonians thanks to the annexation of Crossbell by the Empire, but admits that she doesn't really hate them either. She even gets over it rather quickly once she befriends Kurt, Altina, and her other schoolmates at the Branch Campus. She's also quite respectful towards Claire who was responsible for recommending Juna to Thors Branch Campus in the first place.
• Friendly Rivalry: Seems to have one with Jessica in the tennis club, as well as Ada in Panzer Soldat battles.
• Genki Girl: She has a very lively personality. Unfortunately, this also makes it easy for her to get worked up, with Erebonia's occupation of Crossbell being the most common trigger.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed, but she basically admits at one point that she's jealous of Rean for having close personal connections with some of the members of Old Class VII whom she considers to be amazing people.
• Guest-Star Party Member: For the prologue of Reverie as she's only available for the first battle and then leaves as she has to escort the Orchis Tower staff to safety, leaving the SSS to take out the rebels by themselves.
• Hammy Herald: While introducing Tio, she ends up hamming it up so much that Tio has to tell her to calm down.
• Heal the Cutie: After her Break the Cutie ordeal, she's able to put herself back together with the constant support of Kurt and Altina, who deeply empathize and cherish her, and Rean's recorded message which gives her the resolve to step up and be hero in Crossbell's time of need, in place of her heroes who can't. This culminates in Cold Steel IV as she's able to rouse a depressed Class VII into action and rally everyone into saving Rean, despite the overwhelming odds.
• The Heart: Frequently serves as this to the group whenever the situation calls for it. The official site for Reverie goes so far as to call her "the heart of the combined Class VII." This is perhaps best exemplified during Chapter 1 of Cold Steel III, when Kurt is upset about being left behind by Rean.

  Juna: Listen, Kurt. I get that you want to sound all tough and grown up and talk about how you accept the way things are...

  Juna: But the look on your face is telling me a different story.

  Kurt: ...

  Juna: What's wrong with just saying, "I'm frustrated I got left behind"?

• Heroic BSoD: When Campanella reveals how the SSS were effectively imprisoned in Mishelam after Erebonia conquered Crossbell with Rufus confirming it, she undergoes one and spends the remainder of the Chapter 2 not wanting to get out of bed right until the finale after a Dare to Be Badass speech by Rean.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In a flashback cutscene, she puts herself between a Calvardian gunship and her siblings, clearly intending to take the bullets for her family. Thankfully, Rean and Valimar intervene.
• Hot-Blooded: She only has two volumes: normal and really loud and passionate.
• Humongous Mecha: During the Knight/Soldat battles, she pilots a Drakkhen II. Her stated reason for doing so even after the other types were brought for use by the Branch Campus is because "it's the easiest to control."
• Hypocritical Humor: Berates Ash and Kurt for their disrespectful attitude towards Rean around the start of the third game, despite her doing more or less the same at first to an even greater extent as a result of her Tsundere nature and Rean's role in Crossbell's annexation. Altina lampshades it. She also dislikes Randy calling her by the nickname "Junie", but sees no issue giving Altina a nickname "Allie" despite the latter's attempts to refute said nickname.
• I Choose to Stay: During the Summer Festival in Cold Steel III, she reveals to her classmates that she had been enrolled at the Branch Campus to restore her academic credits at the Police Academy, which had been revoked. When Altina asks her if she plans to return to the Police Academy once her credits have been restored, Juna simply pats her on the head and reassures her that after everything they went through, she'll be sticking around at the Branch Campus to stay with New Class VII. She followed through on that as she's still at the Branch Campus by Reverie, despite Crossbell having regained independence, there's nothing stopping her from going back to the Police Academy, whereas Randy immediately returned to the SSS.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Her Gunbreakers, which are combination of tonfas and guns, making her able to change modes and attack at either close or long range.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: She has extreme pride for homeland, and a boisterous personality to match. Beneath the surface, however, lies an inferiority complex that could cause her to breakdown at any moment.
• I Owe You My Life: In her backstory, it turns out that during Rean's time in Crossbell he had saved her and her siblings from a Calvardian gunship.
• Jerkass to One: Despite her misgivings towards Erebonia's annexation of Crossbell, she's mostly respectful to her classmates and instructors, and comes to hold the former Class VII in high regard. Aside from Kurt following the aforementioned Accidental Pervert moment, and Ash, the only Erebonian character she really shows any ire towards is Rean who she disrespects to the point of near insubordination due to his role in the annexation, though she softens up later on.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": As a major Fangirl of the SSS, she quickly becomes VERY excited when she manages to meet and fight alongside her heroes in person.
• The Leader: Among the New Class VII students, she tends to serve as the default leader of the group. And it shows when she's the one to end up rousing everyone else into action the beginning of Cold Steel IV in order to find a way to save Rean.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Her swimsuit costume for◊ Cold Steel IV has her hair unwrapped and reaches all the way to her shoulders. She also briefly has her hair down during Olivert and Schera's wedding in the true ending of Cold Steel IV. It doesn't last long as she eventually has Alisa tie it back once more.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Kurt. Among the members of New Class VII, the two are particularly close, often cheering each other up, and being the most frequent duo in battle.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft in Cold Steel III is Excel Breaker, with Cold Steel IV and Reverie adding in Valiant Charge. When piloting the Drakkhen II, her finishing move is Brave Rush whilst her union attack is Excel Burst.
• Love Epiphany: During her bonding events in Cold Steel IV, she slowly starts to realize that she's falling for Rean and even refers to the way she feels about him as her "first important feelings". This eventually leads to her confessing to him in her third event.
• Mistaken for Romance: After seeing her make up with Kurt during Chapter 1 of Cold Steel III, Altina claims that the two's relationship has "progressed." But while Juna is clearly blushing as she denies the accusation, the two never go beyond close friends during the arc, making it this trope instead of She's Not My Girlfriend.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: Her gunbreakers are effectively tonfas with built-in submachine guns, allowing her to attack from up-close or from a distance.
• More Dakka: Her Gemini Blast Craft has her unloading a lot of bullets to a wide area. In Soldat battles, this can hit multiple opponents.
• Moveset Clone: Her Valkyrie Smash and Burning Heart Craft's are similar to Lloyd's Brave Smash and Burning Heart. Justified as she is a major Fangirl who idolized Lloyd and the SSS and learned to fight at the same police academy Lloyd had.
• Ms. Fanservice: Compared to the other girls of New Class VII, she's more likely to be marketed for Fanservice. Also note that, if one of them is singled out for their figure, it's always Juna.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: As a result of her complicated feelings towards Rean, she tends to single him out on the occasions she gives praise to the Old Class VII.
• Nerf: Juna's Sledgehammer Brave Order was horribly powerful in Cold Steel III thanks to its cheap cost of one Brave Point that allows players to break the break gauge three times faster. Cold Steel IV balances this by increasing its cost to two brave points and reduces the efficiency by half unless players pick up the trial chest that increases the break gauge damage to 250%.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: She was one of the highest-scoring students at the Police Academy, but in Thors, she ranks a little above average due to the more difficult curriculum.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: She sometimes makes bold remarks without thinking them through, like when she referred to Crown Prince Cedric as a spoiled brat in Cold Steel III Chapter 2...right in front of Prince Olivert and Princess Alfin, his older siblings; even Altina called it tactless. Thankfully, Olivert and Alfin took it in stride, mostly because her account of Cedric's character wasn't wrong.
• Ordinary High-School Student: Downplayed; she's the closest thing to a normal teenager in the New Class VII; Kurt and Musse are Blue Bloods with the latter being a Teen Genius in charge of the Weissland Army, Altina is an Emotionless Girl and Artificial Human who has been working for the Intelligence Division, and Ash who is a Delinquent who grew up in a Red Light District and is a survivor of an infamous False Flag Operation. By contrast, Juna grew up in a stable middle class family.
• The Outsider Befriends the Best: She is from a middle-class family in Crossbell, which was recently annexed into Erebonia. She was enrolled into the Branch Campus by recommendation by Claire (an Ironblood), where she ends up as part of the New Class VII, which results in her becoming classmates with two imperial Blue Bloods, one of whom is head of the most powerful noble family in the empire, and a member of the intelligence division, with the empire's national hero as her homeroom teacher. She then becomes acquainted with the other members of the original Class VII (the majority of whom have also gained positions of prominence) and even members of the Imperial family through her adventures. Her fellow clubmates in the tennis club, Jessica and Louise, are also stated to be from more well-off backgrounds than her, with Jessica herself also being a Blue Blood.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Juna is really dedicated on her tennis club work.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: She slaps Kurt after her chest accidentally lands on his face. Thankfully, like Alisa before her, she realizes that this was wrong and does apologize to him.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Going by hair color, she is the pink girl to Kurt's blue boy. Cold Steel IV takes this further by having Juna wear a new pink jacket to contrast Kurt's blue clothes.
• Pink Heroine: Her hair, tonfas, and soldat are all pink, and becomes the de facto leader of the New Class VII and Supporting Protagonist for the third and fourth games.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Her Magical Girl DLC outfit shown in the Magical Girl Alisa sidestory from Reverie has her hair growing to waist-length as part of the Transformation Sequence.
• Punished for Sympathy: How she got into the Branch Campus in the first place. After Lloyd and the other members of the SSS were branded as criminals by the Empire, she protested the decision. This resulted in the head of the police academy, an Imperial Army officer, to revoke all of her academic credits. Claire thankfully stepped in and restored half of them, and recommended her to the Branch Campus to get back the rest.
• Rage Breaking Point: Throughout Chapter 2 of Cold Steel III, she's shown getting extremely irritated at the many changes Crossbell has undergone under Imperial rule. When Campanella brings out an Aion, she explodes. Unfortunately, its soon cut down short when Campanella informs her of how her heroes in the SSS have been hamstrung and imprisoned in Mishelam under Imperial decree so that they can't interfere with Erebonia's policies.
• Ramming Always Works: Her Brave Smash Craft (and its upgrade in Reverie, Valkyrie Smash), and her Valiant Charge S-Craft, has her ramming at her enemies at full speed. Then there's the prologue of Reverie where after firing a few shots at the Orchis Tower windows, she rams the hijacked Hermod to the tower, bringing the SSS in tow.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Her enrollment at the Branch Campus was done with Claire's assistance as a way to restore some of her academic credits from the police academy, which had been revoked when she publicly protested the decision to brand the SSS as outlaws. While she was at first less than happy with the arrangement, she eventually came to enjoy her time there and the valuable experiences she had, culminating in her coming to see New Class VII as her True Companions and the Empire as a second home.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: To Kurt, being much more brash and energetic to the more stoic and calm swordsman.
• Remember the New Guy?: Despite not appearing in any games prior to her introduction in Cold Steel III, Juna is treated as being well-acquainted with the SSS as if she were always a character in the story. The Kai remasters of Zero and Azure would retroactively add Juna and her siblings as NPCs in Crossbell to address this discrepancy.
• Required Party Member: She must be in the active party for the battle against Mariabell and Campanella in Cold Steel IV.
• Rescue Romance: As Juna herself admits, she likely started developing feelings for Rean ever since he rescued her and her siblings from a Calvardian gunship during the annexation of Crossbell. However, thanks to his role in the event and their initially somewhat vitriolic relationship that came as a result, it's not until her bonding events in Cold Steel IV that she comes to realize this.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Tsundere antics aside, she's a mostly bright and cheerful soul, eventually becoming The Heart for the New Class VII.
• Rousing Speech: After finding out that Osborne is Rean's dad, she rouses Class VII's spirit, both old and new, to go and rescue their friend and teacher.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: She's the lively girl to Kurt's cool-headed guy.
• Say My Name: Hilariously screams Mishneider's name when it flies up in the sky and self-destructs itself in Rean's chapter 4 in Reverie. She claims she got caught up in the moment.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: If somebody implies that she might have a thing for Rean, she'll usually be quick to deny it.
• Shock and Awe: Some of her attacks have lightning properties.
• Shower Scene: She gets a cutscene in Cold Steel III taking a shower, wrapped around in a bath towel.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When meeting Campanella at the Crossbell Wetlands in Cold Steel IV, Juna wastes no time reading him the riot act when he tries to play his mind games on them as payback for their spat at Orchis Tower.
  Juna: SHUT UP! Just shut the Hell up! I've known this since we met at Orchis Tower, but you—you're the worst! None of this involves you, and you STILL choose to make things worse for everyone with that crappy little grin on your face! Sharon and the major are both struggling to make choices they can stand by. But what about you? Do you think about a single thing you do!? Does anything even matter to you!? Then.. you go on and mention the one who betrayed Crossbell...*draws her weapons* It's time someone knocked that stupid grin off your face!
• Sixth Ranger: To the SSS in the prologue of Reverie, though she's only playable for the first battle.
• Space Master: Her secondary element is Space.
• Stance System: Can switch between melee "Striker" and ranged "Gunner" modes at will. In fact, she was the only character in Cold Steel III who could do this.
• Status Buff: Cold Steel IV gives her the Craft Burning Heart, which gives her a buff in strength and defense and grants one brave point. Unlike Lloyd's however, it doesn't give her an Extra Turn.
• Stone Wall: Juna's gunbreakers add extra defense while in Striker mode, and lend themselves well to evade counters while in Gunner mode. This, combined with her mandatory Earth slot, makes her a natural tank. Reinforced even further in Cold Steel IV, where she gets a self buff that increases her defense.
• Suggestive Collision: Ends up in this with Kurt after the two fall down the trap door during orientation resulted with her landing on top of him with her chest on top of his face.
• Supporting Protagonist: When introduced in Cold Steel III, she has about the same amount of relevance as fellow Class VII members Kurt and Altina. However, she becomes the defacto protagonist for Act 1 of Cold Steel IV complete with her own set of heroic speeches. Once Rean comes back, she's back to being his support along with the rest of Old and New Class VII, though the characters do acknowledge her newfound leadership capabilities.
• Tears of Fear: Flashback to when Rean saved her shows her crying when staring down the Calvardian gunship that nearly attacked her and her siblings.
• There Was a Door: In Reverie, rather than going through the front door and climb up the stairs, she pilots a Zolge with the SSS riding along to the top of Orchis Tower, crashing the window.
• Time Master: Her Quick Star Craft has all her allies within its vicinity up move to the top of the turn count.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's the most tomboyish and hotheaded of all the girls of New Class VII compared to Altina who is The Stoic Emotionless Girl and Musse who is a Blue Blood and The Tease. She's also this to some extent compared to her Tennis Club members such as Jessica who is stoic and proper, and Louise who is somewhat ditzy.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is the most tomboyish and hotheaded of the girls of New Class VII compared to the stoic Altina and Musse who is a feminine Blue Blood. With that being said, pink is still her favorite color, and she openly adores Mishy. Several of her bond events show that she's also quite decent at cooking and sewing.
• Tsundere: Starts out as such at the beginning of Cold Steel III, due to her prejudice against Erebonia after the empire annexed Crossbell. She eventually softens up once she realizes that not all Erebonians are bad. The chip on her shoulder is understandable, given the occupation of her homeland and that she was forced to transfer to the branch campus to save her academic credits.
  • She's especially one towards Rean thanks to his role in helping to secure Crossbell for the Empire, which is very apparent in the way she compares him to Lloyd. Even after coming to realize that he's not that bad a person, she often ends up annoyed with him for various reasons such as when realizing how much of an unknowing charmer he can be. And as mentioned above in Cannot Spit It Out, she has a hard time trying to thank him for saving her and her siblings way back when. She admits in chapter two that it's mostly her taking her frustrations of Crossbell's annexation and her feelings of powerlessness in the aforementioned incident out on him. Her character note even outright calls her a tsundere as well.
• Weak, but Skilled: Her Soldat gameplay works like this. Though her Drakken has the lowest stats of all the different Soldat models available, her crafts and abilities are among the most useful.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Old Class VII in Cold Steel IV for supposedly moping around for two whole weeks without even attempting to search for Rean (even though it was established that they only woke up a week before she, Kurt, and Altina did).
• You Must Be Cold: At the end of Rean's chapter 1 in Reverie, Rean lends her his coat after sensing her outside sitting in the snow.

Kurt Vander

Kurt in his traveling clothes

^{Kurt in his Branch Campus uniform}

^{Spiegel S}

Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi (Japanese), Yukana (Japanese, as "Kurtina"), Joe Zieja (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

The younger half-brother of Mueller Vander. Raised with a strong sense of duty, he initially hoped to become the future guardian of the Arnor family much like his relatives before him. That is until Chancellor Osborne released the Vander Family from their duty. Disappointed, he withdrew his application to enter Thors Military Academy, but Mueller convinced him to sign up for Thors Branch Campus instead.

---

• Accidental Pervert: His first day at school has Kurt accidentally falling on his back with Juna's cleavage over his face, ending up in the same position as Rean did with Alisa back in the first game.
• Ace Pilot: Downplayed. During Act 3 of Rean's route in Reverie, he takes out over a dozen unmanned tanks and armored cars in his Spiegel, which qualifies him by the real-world definition, but he's not on par with the other examples, like his instructor.
• Action Initiative: His Wind Blade Brave Order, and its upgraded form Thunderbolt, greatly decreases the party's delay, allowing them to quickly attack the enemy.
• Always Someone Better: Played for Laughs, as a frequent joke in Cold Steel III is how Sidney is concerned about Kurt being better than him at everything.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In Cold Steel IV, before their final fight against Cedric and Shirley, he asks Cedric (if, by some miracle, he defeats both Rean and Rufus) if he is even ready to fight against Osborne despite worshipping the ground that he walks on. Needless to say, Cedric has a breakdown.
• Ancestral Weapon: Should one attend all of his Bonding Events in Cold Steel IV then it's possible for Kurt to obtain the twin swords of his ancestor Roland Vander^*The very same Vander who was Dreichels the Lionheart's childhood best friend and right-hand man during the War of the Lions as a cosmetic weapon change.
• Badass Family: Another member of the prestigious Vander family which included his older brother Mueller and his uncle Zechs. While he does feel pressured by the rest of his family's accomplishments and is still a ways off from reaching their level due to his young age, he still proves to be quite capable in a fight as the rest of them.
• Big Brother Worship: He has nothing but praise for his elder brother Mueller. Though this also plays into his own issues as his admiration means he's constantly comparing himself to the latter and finds himself wanting in comparison.
• Blade Lock: Briefly when sparring with Rean during his final Bonding Event from the third game.
• Blow You Away: His Primary Element and Default Master Quartz, Sirius, are both of the Wind element.
• Blue Is Calm: His hair, eyes, and wardrobe are all blue, and he is the calmest member of New Class VII.
• Blue Is Heroic: His hair, eyes, clothing in and out of uniform, and the Spiegel S he pilots are all blue, and he's one of the good guys.
• Blue Means Smart One: He is associated with the color blue, and he scored the highest out of all of his classmates during the midterms. It's downplayed since it was clear Musse was much more intelligent and dethroned him as their best scorer.
• Bridal Carry: Does this to Sully of all people in Cold Steel IV when they're escaping from Heiyue.
• Broken Ace: He's a brilliant student and talented swordsman, to the point where he's reached Intermediate rank at the tender age of 17. He's also plagued by self-doubt and general insecurity due to his inability to utilize the main Vander style due to his build. Even more prominent, however, is his inability to come to terms with the fact that he and his family were abandoned by the Royal family. All of this comes to a head in Chapter 1 where Rean tells him and the rest of the team to stay behind after being told to investigate Ouroboros. When he confronts Rean about this and is bluntly told that his sword skills and resolve are not enough, Kurt excuses himself and leaves, clearly in emotional pain. Fortunately, Juna is able to put things into perspective by telling him to confront his feelings and getting to admit to himself that he was upset over being left behind by Rean.
• Brutal Honesty: When the class have to choose a club to join, Kurt bluntly tells Rean that he considers club activities to be a waste of time, saying that every hour he spends in a club is one that he could spend training. In hindsight, this is an early sign of his insecurities and tendency to push himself too hard.
• Call-Back: His second S-Craft, Gemini Judgement, is effectively the same as his older brother Mueller's Righteous Witness but modified to be used by his dual swords.
• Can't Catch Up: Most of his bond events involve this one way to another, whether about his inability to catch up with Juna's enthusiasm, his brother's fame, or even Rean's skill.
• Celibate Hero: He never displays any real interest in romance, even questioning the appeal of it in Cold Steel IV.
• Chick Magnet: The female students in Classes VIII and IX all consider Kurt to be quite attractive. He also has at least three girls who have no issues coming all the way from the capital to Leeves just to see him, much to his discomfort. The St. Astraia Episode in Reverie also shows Wayne's younger sister Myka developing a crush on him.
• Classy Cravat: Part of his outfit in Cold Steel IV.
• Combination Attack: With Juna during a cutscene in Cold Steel IV; while liberating Eryn Village via Avon Hill, she combines her Brave Smash with his Twilit Blades in a manner similar to Rean and Crow's Deadly Domination.
• Counter-Attack: His default Master Quartz, Sirius, increases the powers of its wielder's counterattacks.
• Cross Attack: His Twilit Blades Craft has him launch a cross shaped Sword Beam from his blades. His second S-Craft, Gemini Judgement also starts with his swords glowing into the shape of a giant cross before slashing the opponent with them.
• Curtains Match the Windows: He has bright blue eyes and hair.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Kurt's Sword Dance Craft acts as a Super Mode that amps his speed and strength up. However, unless you reuse the craft or finish the fight by his fourth turn, he's going to clutch his heart down in pain and waste one turn doing nothing, in a very similar way as Lloyd's Burning Heart. Averted in Reverie, where the move's upgrade, Blade Dance, no longer has a drawback, much like how Burning Heart no longer leaves Lloyd unconcious for a turn as of Cold Steel IV.
• Death from Above: His Ragna Strike S-Craft ends with him leaping into the air and launching some lightning from his swords before charging at them with a diving sword strike.
• Determinator: In Reverie, after getting flung over a cliff from his father at the Eisengard Mountain Range, he decides to climb up the cliff he got flung from in order to fight his father again and finally beat him.
• Deuteragonist: He shares this position with Juna in Cold Steel III, as both are newbies to what is happening behind the scenes of both Erebonia and Crossbell, in contrast to Rean. The game alternates between the two of them when it comes to focus, with Kurt's character arc being at the forefront of Chapter 1, whereas Chapter 2 is far more Juna focused. Both are consistently present in every chapter, however.
• Dual Wielding: He uses two swords which differ in length.
• Dub Name Change: In the Japanese versions, his self-buff craft was called Sword Dance in Cold Steel III and IV and Blade Dance in Reverie. In the English versions, the names were swapped.
• Elemental Eye Colors: Has blue eyes (and hair), which matches his secondary element of water.
• Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, if chosen as a party member in Chapter 4 of Rean's route, he'll have a robotic copy to fight. It can later show up as a Hollow copy in the True Reverie Corridor.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: As a Vander, he's a student of the Vander school of swordsmanship. In his case, unlike his father, brother and uncle, Kurt uses the dual blade style of the school, as his naturally slender physique gives him low compatibility with the main style which uses large great swords. After becoming Rean's student, he also starts incorporating techniques from the Eight Leaves One Blade style into his fighting style as well.
• Force and Finesse: The Finesse to the rest of his male relatives, as his lack of muscular physique resulted in him taking up the more agility focused dual blades style in contrast to them all using BFS. Also Finesse compared to Juna and Ash whose styles use more brute force with their respective tonfas and axe.
• Friendship Moment: During Chapter 4 of Reverie, he can tell that Juna's concerned about her family in Crossbell, so he reassures her that they'll be alright.
• Genius Bruiser: Downplayed as he's not big and muscular, but he's a swordsman, and he ranked first in the midterm exam in the Branch Campus and third overall in both Thors schools, behind Cedric and Ada.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Towards Ash in Cold Steel IV, lifting him up by his collar to snap him out of his Heroic BSoD that came about from blaming himself for starting a war.
• Heroic Lineage: The Vander family has served as the Imperial Family's bodyguards since the time of Dreichels the Lionheart. His trying to figure out what to do with himself after Osborne relieves them from this duty plays a strong part in his Character Development.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Suffers his fair share of doubts due to his build not being made for his family's traditional Greatsword Style and his being relieved of his duty as a guard for Prince Cedric which he saw as his once goal in life. Comes to term with it over the games.
• Humble Pie: Initially thinks little of Rean and his skills, attributing his success as a hero to Valimar's strength. While he's not far off, Rean is still a skilled warrior (who was also trained by Yun Ka-Fai, the very same man who once trained Cassius Bright) and thus far above Kurt's level. He quickly comes to realize this during Chapter 1 and becomes much more respectful.
• Humongous Mecha: He initially piloted a Drakkhen II during the Knight/Soldat battles, but he started using a Spiegel S as soon as it became available, citing how the machine's improved specs allow to make full use of his twin swords.
• Hypocritical Humor: During Ash's episode in Reverie, he pokes fun at his instructor's popularity by pointing out how some girls clearly only came to visit their school to see Rean. Cue some other girls fawning over him instead.
  Juna: You're one to talk, Kurt.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Due to his physical stature, he wasn't taught much of the main Vander style (greatsword techniques) and had to settle for the branch style (dual swords) instead.
• Innocently Insensitive: Wonders out loud if Lloyd and the other members of the SSS were made wanted due to resorting to terrorism to gain Crossbell's independence right in front of Juna, who naturally gets pissed at him for it.
• The Lancer: To Juna, being her closest companion while also serving as her Foil.
• Legacy of Service: His family, the Vanders, have served as the Imperial Family's Guardians since the time of Dreichels the Lionheart over 200 years prior to the series, with Kurt himself having been trained and prepared for the role since he was young. Osborne relinquishing the family of this duty after the Civil War has left him listless at the start of Cold Steel III.
• Like Brother and Sister: He and Juna share a notably close bond, but have little to no real Ship Tease.
• Limit Break: His S-Craft in Cold Steel III is Ragna Strike, with Cold Steel IV, as well as Reverie, giving him Gemini Judgement. When piloting the Spiegel S, his finishing move is Ragna Impact, whilst his union attack is Mistral Blade.
• Making a Splash: His secondary element is water.
• Military Brat: His father, brother, and uncle are all in the Imperial Army.
• Mistaken for Romance: Despite Altina thinking that he and Juna had something going on during Cold Steel III Chapter 1, nothing in the Erebonia arc suggests that the two developed anything beyond a close friendship.
• Muscle Angst: He's rather displeased by his naturally slim physique as it made him incapable of using his family's signature Greatsword Style.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: To Ash, being a literal Blue Blood and more even tempered and proper gentleman compared to his Hot-Blooded Delinquent classmate.
• Odd Friendship: With Ash, due to the latter being something of a delinquent while Kurt is more of an honors student.
• Only Sane Man: As pointed out during Ash's Daydream in Reverie, he's the only member of New Class VII who never really gave Rean a hard time.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The blue boy to Juna's pink girl, going by the color of their hair. Cold Steel IV takes this further by having Kurt wear predominantly blue clothes while Juna dons a new pink jacket.
• Practically Different Generations: He's 15 years younger than his older half-brother Mueller.
• Pretty Boy: Deconstructed; his looks are commented on multiple times, with Jessica even thinking it unfair how he can be prettier than the girls. However, he doesn't seem comfortable having his "pretty" looks pointed out, partly because his relatively frail stature compared to his more manly relatives means that he's not really fit to learn the Vander's main style of swordsmanship.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The rational blue oni to Ash's red. The sign is in his hair color. Also this to Juna to some extent.
• Remember the New Guy?: He is Mueller's younger half-brother, but had never even been mentioned prior to his appearance in III.
• Required Party Member: He must be in the active party for the battle against Cedric and Shirley in Cold Steel IV. This also applies to the mech battle against Cedric in Testa-Rossa immediately following.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: He's the cool-headed guy to Juna's lively girl.
• Shared Signature Move: His second S-Craft, Gemini Judgement, is effectively him performing his older brother Mueller's Righteous Witness S-Craft from the Sky trilogy.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Somewhat. Speaking to an NPC in Crossbell has him surprised that the Empire's class system isn't practiced elsewhere, and during Juna's Heroic BSoD admits that he at first thought that Crossbell's citizens would be relieved to be annexed by Erebonia before his visit to the city showed him otherwise.
• Ship Tease: In Cold Steel IV, he has some moments with Sully. He ends up having to give her a Bridal Carry whilst escaping Heiyue in Chapter 1, and the two have to hang out with each other after Kurt's mom Aurier takes an interest in her.
• Shock and Awe: His Ragna Strike S-Craft incorporates lightning, an element commonly grouped with wind in this franchise.
• Smart People Play Chess: He's part of the chess club, is the number one academic student at the Branch Campus, and got the third highest midterm exam scores of both schools.
• Spin Attack: His Tempest Edge Craft has him spinning while slashing his enemies.
• The Stoic: Much like his brother Mueller, he's pretty cool-headed and rarely raises his voice unless he's particularly annoyed with someone.
• Straight Man: Kurt is this to every single one of his classmates. Dude just can't catch a break.
• Sword Beam: His Twilit Blades Craft has him shoot black and white energy slashes from both of his swords, inflicting Arte damage. Ragna Strike also features lighting being shot from the swing of his swords.
• Thanks for the Mammaries: Gets one from Juna after they both fall in the ground◊, very similar to Rean and Alisa's position in Cold Steel I.
• Took a Level in Badass: As of Reverie Chapter 1, Kurt's Sword Dance Craft has been replaced with Blade Dance, which doesn't leave Kurt unable to act for a turn after its duration is up.
• Unfulfilled Purpose Misery: Part of his issues at first. As a Vander, he was raised and trained since childhood for the duty of using his blades to protect the Imperial Family. Osborne stripping his family of that position left him rather listless until he joined Class VII.
• Unknown Rival: To Cedric. Cedric is dead keen on talking down Kurt every time they face each other, whereas Kurt doesn't want anything to do with the former himself thanks to his attitude. After their final battle in Cold Steel IV, they're implied to have settled into a more Friendly Rivalry.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: Forms one at the end of his second S-Craft, Gemini Judgement.
• Waistcoat of Style: His default outfit in Cold Steel IV, along with his casual clothing has this.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: More like "well done student" but he desperately wants to prove himself to be useful to his teacher Rean in chapter 1 but Rean brushes him off by stating that his swordsmanship is still inadequate (Rean is ordered by the empire to track down Ouroboros so it is official military business). He at least does get some acknowledgement from Rean after helping him defeating one of the Aions though Kurt knows he's got a long way to go before catching up to Rean.
  • Also this with how he constantly compares himself to the rest of his family and feels inadequate by comparison.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Ends up posing as a student at St. Astraia Girls' School named "Kurtina"◊ during his Episode in Reverie, complete with an altered voice.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: His Twilit Blades Craft envelops one of his swords with white energy and the other with black energy.

Altina Orion

Altina, as a teenager, in her traveling clothes

^{Altina, as a teenager, in her Branch Campus uniform}

^{Altina as a preteen, with Claiomh Solais}

^{Goliath Noa}

Voiced by: Risa Taneda (Japanese, Cold Steel II), Inori Minase (Japanese, Cold Steel III onwards), Xanthe Huynh (English, games)

Appearances: Cold Steel II | Northern War | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

A 12 year-old girl of few words and with an unknown connection to Millium. Much like with the former and Airgetlam, Altina has her own robotic companion named Claiomh Solais. Although she worked for the Noble Alliance throughout the Erebonian Civil War, she's later revealed to be an agent of the Intelligence Division sent to spy on them. She later accompanies Rean and serves as his partner during his time in Crossbell, and again during the North Ambria campaign several months later.

About a year and a half after the civil war's end, Altina, now 14, is enrolled as a student of Class VII at Thors Branch Campus for the purpose of monitoring and assisting Rean.

---

• Academic Athlete: Joins the Swimming Club at the Branch Campus, and proves capable of keeping pace alongside her older and more experienced clubmates. She also scored third highest at the midterms out of all her classmates at 12th place overall.
• A-Cup Angst: She's the only girl in New Class VII who isn't well-endowed in the chest department (unsurprising given her age), and the first hot spring scene from Cold Steel IV Chapter 2 shows her being unamused at Aurelia's "overwhelming presence."
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
  • She's constantly on the receiving end of headpats thanks to Rean. She's not amused the first time he does it, asking if he was thinking anything indecent when he did, but by the time of Cold Steel IV, she's actually asking him to give her a head pat at the end of their link victory sequence.
  • She also received one from Juna as well during the Summer Festival.
  • Martin S. Robinson gives her one in Episode 9 of the Northern War anime. She did not appreciate this at all, however, making a disgusted and shocked face before threatening him with Claiomh Solais to never do it again.
• Affectionate Nickname: Millium calls her "Tilly", and Juna calls her "Allie". She's more receptive to the latter.
• Age-Inappropriate Dress: She's younger than Millium, but wears a more revealing outfit that bares her midriff. Averted in Cold Steel III as she wears her her school uniform◊ for a majority of the game.
• Aloof Big Sister: Inverted, as she acts aloof to her older sister Millium, whose antics are shown to grate on her at times. Of note, as that in she forgoes the usual Japanese Sibling Terminology in the original Japanese dub when addressing her, usually simply referring to her by name.
• Always Someone Better: While specification-wise she's better than Millium, Altina feels like Millium is much better than her in every way and struggles to get out of her shadow in Cold Steel III. It's to the point where she's willing to become a sacrifice if it helps protect Rean and her classmates, only for Millium to swoop in at the last minute and sacrifice herself to protect Altina, Rean, and everyone else.
• Androids Are People, Too: From Cold Steel III onwards, she's shown to hold some insecurities about her status as an Artificial Human, wondering if she's more than just a tool to follow orders. Her experiences with Rean and the rest of Class VII (who all make it abundantly clear that they consider her as a person and as one of them regardless of her origins) and her ensuing Character Development allow her to come to terms with herself and become a much more expressive and sweet girl.
• Anger Born of Worry: During chapter 1 of Cold Steel III, she gets angry at Rean for using Spirit Unification to save the Class from an Archaism ambush when they both already know that it's taking a toll on his body. This is the first time she's ever shown losing her temper.
• Animal-Eared Headband: When activating Arcadias Gear S-Craft, she gains a headpiece shaped like pointed ears, fitting with her title of the Black Rabbit. Her Kitty Noir swimsuit and casual outfit also include a pair of cat and rabbit ears, respectively.
• Animal Motif: The Black Rabbit. Her outfit in Cold Steel II even plays this up as her hood has "rabbit ears" so to speak attached to it, and her Arcadias Gear S-craft has her gain an Animal-Eared Headband of similar shape. Ash freguently refers to her as a bunny.
• Anti-Villain: During Cold Steel II, she fights alongside the Noble Alliance against Class VII, even kidnapping Elise and Alfin, and goes on to assist in the annexations of Crossbell and North Ambria. However, it's clear she did so not out of malice or any personal vendetta, but because she was Just Following Orders, and as an Artificial Human who had only been recently activated, lacked any real will of her own at the time. By the time of Cold Steel III, she's no longer a villain.
• Artificial Human: She is Millium's "younger sister," created the same way but for a different purpose. The term used in this series is "homunculus".
• Ascended Extra: Goes from an antagonist in Cold Steel II as an agent of the Noble Alliance to one of the leading heroes of Cold Steel III as a member of the new Class VII at Thors Branch Campus.
• Attack Reflector: Ebon Barrier, which works like Airgetlam's own barrier except that it can also reflect physical damage back upon the attacker. She gains another Craft in the third game that also combines this with Stealth. Her Brave Order, Ebon Crest and its upgraded form Ebon Crystal, casts one over the entire party for a few turns.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She is the youngest member of the New Class VII at physically 14. Because of this, both Rean and Juna to an extent are shown to dote on her at times.
• Badass Adorable: She's as cute as a button and has no problems with telling her personal robot to smack people, even if they're the corrupted Divine Beast of the Earth Sept-Terrion.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Is noted to have this during a music class in Cold Steel III which is then shown to be used more often at certain points in Cold Steel IV when needing a distraction. The epilogue slideshow of the True Ending of Cold Steel IV also shows her briefly singing during Olivert and Schera's wedding.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: She initially only saw herself as a tool that could only function when given orders. Her Character Development was kickstarted by Rean and the others from Class VII and the Branch Campus treating her as a normal girl and comrade to cherish and encouraging her to live how she wants to instead.
• Become a Real Boy: She is an Artificial Human just like Millium but then develops emotions throughout Cold Steel III. The bad guys are actually counting on this so that she could have a soul and sacrifice her to forge the Divergent sword.
• BFS: Her new S-Craft in Cold Steel IV has her using one.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens to her in Cold Steel III during Chapter 4's Panzer Soldat training battle. After her Goliath Noa is taken down to about half HP, she ends up mind controlled, knocking out Class VII's Soldats, and forcing Rean and Valimar to defeat it and knock her back to her senses.
• Brutal Honesty: Doesn't show much in the way of tact.
• Bunnies for Cuteness: Known as The Black Rabbit and is the adorable Token Mini-Moe of New Class VII who Juna can't stop hugging, and Rean can't resist headpatting.
• Casting a Shadow: Her primary element is Time, fitting her title as the Black Rabbit.
• Character Development: Goes from being an Emotionless Girl to one of the most emotional characters of the main cast.
• Color Animal Codename: She's known as the Black Rabbit.
• The Comically Serious: Her initial Emotionless Girl personality did not make her exempt from providing humorous scenes, especially when she's paired and contrasted with other more eccentric characters such as Millium.
• Cool Board: For her S-Craft in II, Ragna Bringer, she transforms Claiomh Solais into an enormous sword and rides on it while attacking the party.
• Costume Evolution: Her canon wardrobe is as follows:
  • A black full-body suit in Cold Steel II.
  • Her Branch Campus school uniform.
  • A black sleaveless shirt, white shorts with black thigh-high boots, and black detached sleaves.
• Cry into Chest: When rescuing Rean from the Black Workshop in Cold Steel IV, she immediately rushes forwards to hug him and buries her face into his chest while shedding Tears of Joy. Her first Bonding Event has her on the receiving end with Rean hugging her tightly with his face to her chest, crying in worry about her putting herself in danger.
• Cultured Badass: From Cold Steel III onwards, she shows talent for drawing and singing while still being as capable of fighting as ever.
• Cuteness Proximity: Juna sees her as absolutely adorable and becomes bit of a Cuddle Bug around her as a result. She is also the most frequent target of Rean's headpats.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Known as the Black Rabbit, and appropriately enough, wears primarily dark colors, her primary element is time, and her combat shell Claiomh Solais has a black color scheme and more sinister design than Millium's Airgetlam, but is no longer an antagonist after Cold Steel II and goes to become a rather sweet girl.
• Declaration of Protection: Makes this with Rean during her Bond Events, vowing to become strong enough to protect him as he had done her due to his Martyr Without a Cause tendencies. She also does this when attempting to perform a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Cold Steel III, until Millium beat her to it.
• Defeat Means Friendship: She was initially an enemy of Rean and Class VII and ended up fighting them at several points throughout the Civil War, but became an ally from Cold Steel III onwards. Also played straight during the Magical Alisa sidequest in Reverie where she was initially an enemy before becoming an ally after being defeated in battle.
• Disapproving Look: She gives a flat stare at Rean whenever she thinks he's doing something indecent, or at Millium whenever her loud exuberance starts to grate on her.
• Double Agent: Her role in the Civil War during Cold Steel II, she was shown assisting the Noble Alliance but was in fact taking orders from Rufus and Osborne.
• Dub Name Change:
  • The English translation changed her nicknames from "A-chan" and "Al" to "Tilly" and "Allie", respectively.
  • Claiomh Solais's nickname is changed from "Ku-chan" to "Sammy."
  • Any instance of "Noir" in her crafts or orders is replaced with "Ebon."
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Rean, Elise, and Alfin don't hold her kidnapping of the latter two during the Civil War against her too much. Juna, likewise never brings up her role in assisting in Crossbell's annexation against her, in contrast with Rean who she gave the cold shoulder towards at first.
  • Chapter 1 of Rean's route in Reverie has her apologizing to Teo and Lucia Schwarzer for kidnapping their daughter and Princess Alfin during the Civil War. Like their children, the couple hold no ill will towards her as they recognize that she had only been a child that was Just Following Orders.
• Elemental Hair Colors: She has Mystical White Hair, which matches her secondary element of Mirage.
• Embarrassing Nickname: In Cold Steel II, Claiomh Solais is nicknamed "Sammy" by Millium much to Altina's annoyance. Juna also ends up using this nickname as well. She also not a fan of the Affectionate Nickname that both Millium and Juna come up with respectively either, but decides to just let them stick. In the English dub, Juna refers to Altina as "Allie" while Millium refers to her as "Tilly". Ash also refers to her as bunny.
• Emotionless Girl: She does show some emotions, but she's usually The Stoic for the most part of Cold Steel II. She grows out of this in Cold Steel III where she shows a variety of emotions.
• Enemy Mine: In the drama CD, The Remote Town of Alster, she helps Class VII fight a group of Jaeger dropouts. Rufus ordered her to chase after the group and either recover or destroy the Soldat they stole from the Noble Alliance.
• Energy Weapon: Brionac, basically her version of Riot Beam. Note that in Cold Steel III, the Goliath Noa's cannon attack shares the name, hinting at some sort of synchronization between it and Claiomh Solais.
• Evil Counterpart: Though evil is stretching it, Altina basically served as Millium's antagonistic counterpart in Cold Steel II. Both use giant floating dolls as weapons and are the complete opposites in terms of character, something their color schemes also represent. Altina, being the Black Rabbit, is stoic and reserved while Millium, being the White Rabbit, is jovial and childish to a fault. Of course, by Cold Steel III, this no longer applies.
• Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, if chosen as a party member in Chapter 4 of Rean's route, she'll have a robotic copy to fight. It can later show up as a Hollow copy in the True Reverie Corridor.
• Freak Out: When she wakes up in Cold Steel IV, she has a freak out over Millium's death and Rean losing it.
• Fun with Acronyms: Oz is short for "Originator Zero".
• The Gadfly: She deliberately talks about Rean's antics to others without the important context in order to portray him as a perverted womanizer.
• The Glomp: Proceeds to perform a surprise hug on Rean during her final Bonding Event of Cold Steel III in imitation of Millium, and remarks that it felt it warm and nice. Does so again while shedding Tears of Joy in Cold Steel IV after rescuing Rean from the Black Workshop, then after returning to Eryn, performs it again on him after he woke up after being Asleep for Days from exhaustion.
• Hates Being Nicknamed: Several characters (Millium, Juna, and Randy) have addressed her with various nicknames. She does not appreciate them, not that it stops them from continuing to use them.
• Height Angst: At times she's shown to be less than pleased by her short stature. Such as during Chapter 1 of Cold Steel IV'' when while searching for the other Branch Campus students they were separated from and a bus passed by them. While Randy, Juna, and Kurt managed to check the bus as it passed by and confirmed that nobody they knew was onboard, she laments how she was unable to see anything.
  Juna: Haha...I guess this was a tall-students-only test.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When the party is being overwhelmed by the Nameless One at the climax of Cold Steel III, she tries to sacrifice herself to give Rean the Sword of the End to give them a chance to survive, only for Millium to step in and take her place.
• Hidden Depths: She's shown in Cold Steel III to be a skilled painter as well as a good singer. The latter trait in particular sees its fair amount of usage in Cold Steel IV whenever Class VII needs a distraction to help them progress forward on their front.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: As of Cold Steel III, she stands at 148cm (4'10"), and out of all the girls in the New Class VII, she's closest to Rean, who was 178cm (5'10) tall during this period.
• Humongous Mecha: In Cold Steel III, after trying the other four Panzer Soldats and not really developing a preference for any of them, she ends up being the only student at the Branch Campus who can properly utilize the Goliath Noa, leading her to test it in a mock battle against her classmates. She ended up getting in a trance-like state afterwards, and after Rean gets her back to normal, the Goliath isn't seen for the rest of the game. She gets it back in Cold Steel IV, though unlike her classmates, she can only summon it for an attack.
• Just Following Orders: The only reason she had acted as an antagonist in the second game was because she had been ordered to do so by Osborne, and as an Artificial Human who had only recently been 'activated', lacked any will of her own.
• Laser Blade: Her Maser Arm Craft has one of Claiomh Solais' arms encoated in energy before slashing down on the enemy.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: She had her memories of the Black Workshop erased before being activated, she regained some of them during the latter portions of Cold Steel III and Cold Steel IV.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: It comes with being a full-fledged party member in a sequel to a game where she was previously an antagonist. The Reveal at the end of Cold Steel II that Altina was working for Osborne and the Intelligence Division is something that's even casually mentioned by her early in Cold Steel III to her classmates.
• Leitmotif: One of a few characters to have one that is solely dedicated to her, simply named "Altina".
• Leotard of Power: She ends up in a leotard, gloves, and boots whenever she activates her Arcadias Gear.
• Light 'em Up: Like her sister Millium, she has Mirage as her secondary element from Cold Steel III onwards.
• Light Is Good: She has white hair and has Mirage as her secondary element, and is no longer an antagonist from Cold Steel III onwards, becoming a rather heroic and kind girl.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft in Cold Steel II is Ragna Bringer. For Cold Steel III, she instead has Arcadis Gear, with Cold Steel IV, as well as Reverie, adding in Solaris Bringer.
• Little Miss Snarker: Gains bit of a sharp wit in Cold Steel III, though not to the same level as Fie. Mostly in regards to Rean.
• Meaningful Name: Claiomh Solais is named after a legendary sword from Celtic Mythology. At the end of Cold Steel III, she would have been used as a sacrifice to create a Sword of Plot Advancement to kill a Divine Beast if Millium hadn't intervened.
• The Mole: Like Rufus, she's really on Osborne's side during Cold Steel II.
• Must Make Amends: When meeting with Elise and Alfin in Cold Steel III for the first time, she apologizes for kidnapping them during the civil war and expresses a desire to make up for it.
  • When meeting the Schwarzers in Ymir at the beginning of Rean's route in Reverie, she immediately brings up how she had abducted their daughter and Princess Alfin and bows her head in apology, claiming she had no right to set foot in Ymir for what she did. The two reassure her that they don't blame her as they realize she was just a child following orders and deserves to be there as much as the rest of Class VII.
• Mysterious Past: She doesn't really know herself, though she gives Rean two words to reflect on: Black Workshop. This is eventually revealed to be a branch of the Thirteen Factories.
• Mystical White Hair: An Artificial Human with whitish-silver hair, though it did look to have a dark shade in Cold Steel II.
• Navel Window: Her hoodie from Cold Steel II has a slight opening around her stomach that left her navel exposed.
• Never Bareheaded: Most of her outfits include something to cover her head, such as the hood from her Cold Steel II outfit, or the hats she wears with her school uniform and her Cold Steel IV traveling outfit.
• Not So Stoic: Happens as she grows from her initial Emotionless Girl characterization. Chief examples include her Freak Out over Millium's death at the end of Cold Steel III, and her rushing to Rean in a tight embrace with Tears of Joy in her eyes in relief after rescuing him from the Black Workshop.
  • When Martin S. Robinson gives her a headpat in the Northern War anime, she has a shocked and disgusted face before summoning Claiomh Solais to intimidate him with a warning him to never do that again.
• Not Used to Freedom: Shown once she enrolls at the Branch Campus in Cold Steel III. Having been a spy and receiving orders since her 'activation', she's shown to be unused to making her own choices or decisions, with her first Bonding Event having her struggle to decide what club to join and initially thinking of having Rean pick for her, only for Rean to stress that she needs to make her own choice and understand what she wants to do for herself. She outgrows this through Character Development as she learns how to live how she wants to.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: She wields her BFS one handed in her second S-Craft in Cold Steel IV.
• Optional Party Member: In Cold Steel II, she's playable in Japan through DLC and in the West by purchasing her Phantasmal Mirror in the epilogue.
• Powered Armor: Her S-Crafts Arcadias Gear and Solaris Bringer have her turn Claim Solais into a suit of powered armor she wears into battle allowing her to fly, and fire Brionac as Shoulder Cannon.
• Precocious Crush: Her bonding events in Cold Steel IV show her developing one towards Rean, who, at this point, is an adult while she is barely a teenager physically.
• Promoted to Playable: Downplayed in that there were ways to play as her in her debut in Cold Steel II (see Optional Party Member above), but they came at a cost. Cold Steel III marks the first time where she's in the main party by default.
• Proper Tights With Skirt: She wears tights with her school uniform.
• Rei Ayanami Expy: A white haired Artificial Human and Emotionless Girl and love interest of the hero who is meant to be sacrificed to create the Sword of Plot Advancement instrumental to the bad guys' plans. Fills out all the checks.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Her combat shell, and several of her offensive Crafts in Cold Steel III are named after weapons from Celtic Mythology.
• Required Party Member: She must be in the active party for the battle against Claire and Lechter in Cold Steel IV.
• Robot Buddy: Claiomh Solais, Airgetlam's Evil Twin.
• Sacrificial Lion: The entire purpose of Altina's creation is to serve as Millium's replacement in the creation of the Sword of the End. For the sake of this, she's enrolled at Thors Branch Campus and made a student of Rean's in order to ensure that the Ironbloods don't end up becoming too attached to her the way they did with Millium. This trope is then averted when Millium herself decides to take her place on the chopping block instead.
• Sibling Team: With Millium whenever the two are in the same party such as when Schmidt introduced Einhel Keep.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Millium, her "older sister." Millium is a Genki Girl who is mainly associated with the color white and is a straight hero while Altina is The Stoic, is associated with the color black, and is an antagonist that Rean and company repeatedly fight against prior to her being revealed as The Mole for Osborne.
• The Smart Girl: The most analytical member of New Class VII before being upstaged when Musse shows off her intelligence in Cold Steel IV.
• Sweet Tooth: Loves pancakes as shown in Cold Steel III and her victory quote with Musse in Reverie has her wanting some.
• The Stoic: She makes Fie look like a Genki Girl in comparison.
• Targeted Human Sacrifice: She was created for the purpose of being sacrificed to become the Sword of the End for the Great Twilight. She attempted to follow through with her role by performing a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Cold Steel III, only for Millium to take her place.
• Tears of Joy: Shows some when rushing forward to hug Rean in relief after saving him from the Black Workshop.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Her Solaris Bringer S-Craft ends with her kicking a BFS at her enemies.
• Token Mini-Moe: As of Cold Steel III she is this to the new Class VII and for the whole Thors Branch Campus, being very small and about 14 when everyone else is at least 16.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Is shown to be rather fond of pancakes.
• Tyke-Bomb: Her connection to a branch of Thirteen Factories strongly implies this.
• Unbroken Vigil: After Rean fell Asleep for Days after escaping from the Black Workshop, she is shown to have watched over him while awaiting his recovery, even falling asleep on the bed next to him. When he wakes up, she immediately hugs him in relief.
• Unprovoked Pervert Payback: Upon seeing Rean in her room after waking up during the Intermission of Cold Steel II, she immediately attacks him with Claiomh Solais. She continues to bring up this incident and labels him indecent from that point onwards through Cold Steel IV.
• What Is This Feeling?: Got quite a few moments in III. Most notably during Chapter 3, when she thinks that she'll have to do something if Musse or Ash get in Rean, Juna, or Kurt's way, only to wonder why she included the latter two.
  • She has another one during her bonding events in Cold Steel IV this time towards Rean, where Altina admits that when compared to Juna and Kurt, her feelings for Rean are something different.
• When She Smiles: It comes with being the resident Emotionless Girl. The lack of any visible emotions on her face the majority of the time only makes the few times when she does smile all the more sweeter.
• You Are Number 6: Model Name Oz74.

Musse Egret

Musse in her traveling clothes

^{Musse in her Branch Campus uniform}

^SPOILERDuchess Mildine Juzelith de Cayenne

^{Kestrel Beta}

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

A girl born into the noble family of Count Egret. She dropped out of St. Astraia Girls' School after the Erebonian Civil War. Inspired by the Imperial Army, she enrolls into Thors Military Academy - Branch Campus Class IX half a year later. She ends up transferring to Class VII in Chapter 3.

---

• Affectionate Nickname: Reveals to Rean that her alias, Musse, was originally one of these that her parents used to call her before their deaths.
• Aggressive Submissive: She frequently acts as The Tease to Rean, but when he actually reciprocates her feelings during her final Bond Event in Cold Steel IV, she's left a stammering and blushing mess.
• Ambiguously Bi: While Rean is the primary target of her flirting, she’ll flirt with others as well, including girls.
• Animal Motifs: Fitting for someone with the name "Egret", Musse has a strong association with birds, right down to her poses and mannerisms. They show up in a lot of her artwork and also make appearances in several of her crafts. Her preferred Panzer Soldat model is the Kestrel, which is specialized for agility and shares a name with a type of raptor.
• Anti-Hero: Musse works towards the defeat of Osborne, but through very manipulative means behind her classmates' back, ultimately brainstorming a coordinated assault on Erebonia by foreign countries, which she estimates would result in casualties in the millions in the best-case scenario. She's fully aware of how bloody and tragic this would be, and that it would go against the ideals of Olivert and her classmates, but believes this to be the only way to stop Osborne and The Great Twilight for good. She is shown to be genuinely torn up over the inevitable bloodshed from her plan to the point that she's nearly Driven to Suicide, so when a less bloody alternative is made available, she is all too eager to accept it.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: After concentrating for a few moments, she can predict the actions of groups of people throughout the entire continent to a degree of accuracy that makes it very close to future-sight. Doing so severely tires her out, though.
• Badass Bookworm: She scores the second best out of her classmates at the midterms and is revealed to be a Teen Genius who concocted Mille Mirage and is more than a match for the other Chessmasters in the setting and is quite formidable in a fight with her firearms or the magic Vita taught her.
• Badass Fingersnap: She does a finger snap before the ice flower in Brilliant Shot shatters.
• Badass Normal: Her ability to predict the future isn't due to clairvoyance, Gnosis-enhanced analytical abilities, or the residual Sept-Terrion power to see causality, but simply due to her own genius and skill.
• Beach Episode: Her third bonding event in Cold Steel IV takes place at Ordis' beach. It's also there where she confesses to Rean and makes it clear by kissing him on his lips.
• Beam Spam: Her second S-Craft, Galaxia Volley, has her summon numerous copies of her rifle, which then repeatedly blast the enemies with beams of orbal energy.
• Birds of a Feather: She got along quite well with Alfin while both were at St Astraia due to their love of being The Gadfly. She's also shown to get along well with Renne and Nadia, two other girls with capable analytical abilities who often play the role of The Gadfly.
  • Her Bond Events with Rean in Cold Steel IV shows that she considers herself rotten for her role in Mille Mirage due to the heavy bodycount that would ensue in even the best case scenario, to the point she's nearly Driven to Suicide from guilt and believes she deserves to die for it, similar to how Rean feels about himself for triggering the Great Twilight.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: A sidequest in Cold Steel IV has her disarm a soldier about to shoot her grandfather by shooting his pistol out of his hand. She later shoots Claire's gun out of her hands at the end of her boss fight after the latter tries to commit suicide out of guilt for her crimes.
• Blue Blood: While her being a noble is pretty obvious from the start, Chapter 3 shows that she's actually from the highest noble family in the empire. Yes, that Cayenne family.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: From time to time with Juna. She's the boke.
• Boobs-and-Butt Pose: Musse's S-Craft cut-in showing her in her school uniform utilizes this pose◊.
  • She also performs the pose during the Magical Girl Alisa sub stories at the end of her Transformation Sequence and victory pose.
• Boyish Short Hair: Inverted; she has the shortest hair out of the girls of New Class VII but she is also the most conventionally feminine of them.
• Broken Ace: As Duchess Mildine, she shows herself to be a genius strategist and charismatic figure who spearheaded a strong international alliance to counteract Osborne's attempts to incite a World War and is more than a match for the other Chessmasters in the setting despite only being sixteen years old. Depite this, the pressures of the upcoming war as well as the guilt from inevitable casualties that would ensue from even the best case scenario of her plan are shown to be eating her up from the inside to the point she becomes nearly Driven to Suicide.
• But Now I Must Go: In Cold Steel IV, after Rean (and Celine) are abducted by Osborne and crew, she leaves the party by using a feather from Grianos' remains and joins Vita and the others at Pantagruel. When the party meets up with Musse at Osgiliath Basin, Juna tells Musse to rejoin them after one speech and Musse complies.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: While it doesn't receive as much attention, Musse's chest is almost as big as Juna's,^note According to Cold Steel III's "Character File Notebook," Musse's bust measurement is only 1cm smaller than Juna's. and Cold Steel IV Chapter 2 points out the impressive difference in size between her and Renne, despite the latter only being a year younger.
• Character Tics: Twirls some strands of her hair at the end of her victory quotes or when planning mischief.
• The Chessmaster: Is able to anticipate and manipulate world events on a level comparable to that of Osborne or Cassius. The metaphor is made explicit by characters (including herself) comparing her to a game player moving pieces on a board.
• Classy Cravat: Wears one in her school uniform to denote her noble heritage. Wears an even bigger and fancier one as Duchess Mildine.
• Cleavage Window: Musse's DLC costume from Cold Steel IV, "Exotic China◊," has an opening in the chest area.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Her purple eyes signify her noble status.
• Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: She does this in her post-battle dialogue with Rean, making him back away by reflex.
• Cutting Off the Branches: In her Bonding Event during Chapter 4 of Cold Steel III, the player can choose to either let her wash Rean's back or clean his ear after beating her in a game of Vantage Masters. Regardless of whichever one is chosen, her washing his back is brought up as the canon choice when she's brought to the hot springs in Eryn.
• Damage Over Time: Her Moulin Rouge Craft can inflict Burn while her Oiseau Bleu Craft can inflict Freeze.
• Death Seeker: It's made clear in her Bonding Events in Cold Steel IV that the guilt of Mille Mirage and the inevitible bloodbath from even the best case scenario have made her this, as she had a derringer custom made for the specific purpose of killing herself should things go south. When Ouroboros attacks the Pantagruel, she orders the ship to ram the Glorious in a suicide attack with every intention of Going Down with the Ship, stating that it's only fitting that the woman who masterminded a plan that risked millions of lives lose her own life then and there. Rean, and her other friends manage to talk her out of it.
• Deliberate Under-Performance:
  • One of her Bonding Events in Cold Steel III has her intentionally perform poorly during target practice so she can invoke a Hands-On Approach from Rean by asking for his assistance.
  • When the full depth of her intelligence is shown, it becomes apparent that she also wasn't giving it her all during mid-terms which is confirmed in Reverie as she manages to score first place at the end-of-the-year exams when Rean offers to treat her to dinner as motivation.
• Driven to Suicide: One of her bonding events with Rean in Cold Steel IV has Rean forcibly pulling out her derringer that is loaded with live bullets. Rean notes that it's not for assassination since the gun's range isn't even that far. Musse then starts unloading her grief about the fact that she's pulling off her plan that requires millions of people to die.
• Dub Name Change: Her original Brave Order had a relatively minor case of this, going from Celebrate Arts in the Japanese version to Arts Celebration in the English version. Her upgraded Brave Order is more notable case, going from Akashic Arts to Aetheric Arts.
• Ear Cleaning: In her Cold Steel III Chapter 4 bonding event, she offers to clean Rean's ears as one of two potential rewards for winning their match in Vantage Masters, the other being her washing his back. Rean is not enthusiastic about either reward and looks very uncomfortable in both scenes.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Does this regularly despite wearing a short skirt.
• Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, if chosen as a party member in Chapter 4 of Rean's route, she'll have a robotic copy to fight.
• Firing In The Air Alot: Her Sapphirl Rain Craft has her fire her rifle in the air as she heals her allies. Her second S-Craft, Galaxia Volley starts with her firing her derringer in the air.
• Firing One-Handed: Some of her attacks has her fire her rifle with only one hand.
• First Kiss: Gives her first kiss to Rean in her third bonding event in Cold Steel IV.
• Foil: To Claire. On the surface the two seem totally different with Musse as a cheerful and always smiling student and Blue Blood while Claire is an serious adult commoner and member of the RMP. They both also have a fair amount of Ship Tease with Rean, though while Musse is unashamed The Tease towards him despite being younger than him, Claire is more uncertain due to being older and her own initially thinking of him as a Replacement Goldfish for her dead younger brother. Both are competent women defined by their great intelligence and analytical skills, both fight with Orbal firearms and have the same Orbal Element slots of Water and Space, with their S-Crafts involving a Reflecting Laser and also have the same Japanese Voice Actress. Both also play different roles in the Great Twilight, being on opposite sides, yet both show the same amount of guilt over the inevitable casualties that will ensue from their actions and plans to the point of being Driven to Suicide even while seeing them as necessary.
• Forceful Kiss: During one of her Cold Steel IV bonding events, she kisses Rean on his lips while he's caught off-guard, as he thought she was going to hand him over something. Them being on the beach in their swimsuits isn't helping things.
• Foreshadowing: When Elise and Alfin first see her, they're surprised by her name despite being clearly familiar with her, and come close to referring to her by a different name before correcting themselves. We later learn her real name is Mildine de Cayenne, heiress of the Cayenne family.
  • Of her offensive crafts, Oiseau Bleu has her say, "Azure Wings, shoot," which has her Shaping Your Attacks as a bright blue bird and Moulin Rouge has her fire a large number of flaming red swords from her gun. Both are meant to foreshadow her connection to Vita Clotilde, the Azure Abyss who had a Familiar in the shape of a Blue Bird and also had a Dancing Blade Craft that conjured similar swords. Sure enough she also taught Musse some magic, and even loaned her a similar lavender-scented perfume to try and seduce Rean.
• The Gadfly: Aside from being The Tease towards Rean, she generally likes making comments to mess with others, ranging from teasing Elise about her Big Brother Attraction, to teasing Ash about his heart of gold, to making Kurt dress in women's clothing for her amusement.
• Good Counterpart: To her Evil Uncle, Croire De Cayenne. Both end up leading an uprising consisting of members of the Nobility to oppose Osborne. Difference is, Croire was a Non-Action Big Bad who did so solely to protect and restore Noble privileges that Osborne's reforms had overturned and to put himself in charge of the Empire and was willing to work with Ouroboros and financing terrorists to accomplish said goal without a care for the lives lost in the resulting bloodshed. Musse, meanwhile, starts Mille Mirage for the sole purpose of preventing a war and spread of the Curse of Erebonia from claiming more lives, is more than willing to risk her life by fighting at the frontlines herself, actively opposes the members of the Ouroboros (though she has a former Anguis as an ally), and feels a tremendous amount of guilt over how many people will die from Mille Mirage even in the best-case scenario to the point she's nearly Driven to Suicide.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her casual outfit, travelling attire in Cold Steel IV, and the dress she wears as Duchess Mildine de Cayenne, are all purple or at least have purple colored accents.
• Gratuitous French: Her Oiseau Bleu and Moulin Rouge Crafts both have French names (translating to Blue Bird and Red Mill respectively), tying into how her home province of Lamarre seems based on France.
• The Gunslinger: She uses an orbal arts rifle in battle.
• Healing Shiv: Her Sapphirl Rain craft fires a bullet into the air that restores HP and cures ailments of any allies in its radius.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Considers herself rotten for her role in creating Mille Mirage which would include millions of sacrifices even in the best case scenario to the point of keeping a gun on hand to commit suicide if things go south.
• Humongous Mecha: During the Knight/Soldat battles, she pilots a Kestrel Beta, as she claims that the extra mobility makes it the best to use for sniping.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Attempted to use them on Rean twice.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: She is really taken off guard if Rean chooses her for the fireworks event, since out of all of the women in his life, she expected that she'd be the absolute last option he'd pick, as he had seen her true nature.
• I'll Be in My Bunk: How serious she's being is up for debate, but when she sees Rean's Spirit Unification in action for the first time, she praises him for looking dashing, and mentions that "he'll be on her mind all night" while blushing.
  Juna: Why do you have to make EVERYTHING sound sexual?!
• An Ice Person: She conjures an ice flower in her S-Craft Brilliant Shot. Her first attack Craft, Oiseau Blue, also has a chance to inflict Freeze.
• Insecure Love Interest: Despite the confident and flirtatious air she constantly puts on, she's well aware that all of the teasing she gives Rean is simply a bunch of empty words. She considers her true self to be "rotten," and thinks that any other woman would be far more worthy of Rean's time.
• Instant Expert: Vita had taught her some basics in the use of magic, and shows to be rather adept at it in IV, being able to assist and support more experienced users such as Emma in tasks such as teleporting the Class to and from certain locations or creating a beacon for Rose to send the Soldats the Class' way.
• Instant Runes: Her Penta-Shot Craft has her form a magic circle beneath the enemy to suck them all into the center so she can shoot them.
• Irony: Her ancestor Orthros started the War of the Lions to crown himself Emperor but was put away by Dreichels to bring peace the the Empire. In Cold Steel III and IV, she's trying to put a stop to Dreichels' reincarnation, Giliath Osborne, from starting a large scale war.
• It's the Only Way to Be Sure: Her plan for dealing with Operation Jormungandr is, essentially, uniting the rest of western Zemuria against Osborne and Erebonia, which will result in a war that will likely see millions killed. Her guilt over this course of action saps her of her will to live, and she nearly throws away her life on multiple occasions afterwards.
• Kimono Fanservice: Wears a kimono as part of the Eastern tea club.
• Lap Pillow: She gives Rean one during the above Ear Cleaning scene.
• Likes Older Men: Frequently acts like The Tease towards Rean, who is four years older than her.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft in Cold Steel III is Brilliant Shot, with Cold Steel IV, as well as Reverie, throwing in Galaxia Volley^*Lord Galaxia in the original. When piloting the Kestrel Beta, her finishing move is Aurora Cannon, whilst her union attack is Resonance Shot.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Inverted as despite being the most feminine of the girls of the New Class VII, she has the shortest hair out of all of them. Invoked in her appearance as Duchess Mildine where she wears waist-length hair extensions.
• Long-Lost Relative: She's the niece of Duke Cayenne who had gone missing for some time prior.
• Long-Range Fighter: She fights exclusively from a distance with her guns or orbal arts whereas her other classmates are capable of fighting up close and personal to a certain extent.
• Luminescent Blush: If she's chosen for the fireworks scene in Cold Steel IV, she blushes and stammers.
• Mage Marksman: She uses an orbal rifle in combat and has a decent ATS stat, with her normal attack, Moulin Rouge Craft, and both of her S-Crafts dealing magic damage instead of physical. She later also gets an Orbal powered derringer which is the focal point in her Penta-Shot Crafts by using it to cast a a magic circle to suck in and attack enemies. Her Brave Order also improves Arts strength while heavily cutting down EP cost allowing the player to spam very powerful Arts in succesion. Is also revealed to have learned actual magic from Vita in Cold Steel IV.
• Making a Splash: Her primary orbal element is water, fitting for a native and rightful heir of the port city of Ordis as well as her connection to Vita.
• My Nayme Is: The "e" in Musse is not silent. Her name might be better spelt "Mussé."
• Never Bareheaded: Her Branch Campus uniform, traveling outfit, and Duchess Mildine ensemble all include her wearing a hat.
• Nice Girl: Much like Rean and Laura before her, she's a noble in a class of commoners yet never thinks any less of them because of it.
• Nom de Mom: Her last name, Egret, was actually her mother's maiden name which she goes by to hide her true identity as Mildine Juzelith de Cayenne, the heiress of the late Duke Alfred de Cayenne.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Has outright clung to Rean's arm on a few occassions while acting as The Tease towards him, and her link victory quote with him in Cold Steel III has her lean towards him, making him back up.
• Not So Omniscient After All: She can briefly see future events, but not to what extent. She did predict that Osborne will try something against Olivert, but not the how as Aurelia and Vita claim in their conversation. She can easily be surprised just as much as everyone else when things happen in a direction she wouldn't have known.
• Off to Boarding School: After her parents died and her uncle took the family title, she was shipped off to St Astraia by her uncle so that she could not be used as a focal point for any opposition to her uncle's policies.
• Oh, Crap!: Played for laughs in Ash's episode in Reverie; when Principal Aurelia points out how one of Ash's obligations as Student Council President is to choose the other members of the council, Ash gets a devilish smirk on his face that gets Musse uncharacteristically nervous, as she's realized that Ash is going to choose her as payback for nominating him without his consent.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Rean chews her out for trying to order a kamikaze attack by ramming the Pantagruel into Ouroboros flagship near the end of Act 2 of Cold Steel IV, she can only look away without a word. Juna and Ash are suitably shocked by how meek she is acting considering her usual attitude as The Tease.
• Palette Swap: The bikini she wears during her third Bonding Event in Cold Steel IV is a white recolor of Coquettish Blue, her DLC costume from the previous game.
• Parental Abandonment: Her parents died in a ship accident when she was 6, after which she was taken in by her grandparents.
• Perpetual Smiler: She almost always has a cheerful teasing smile on her face, unless she's getting serious such as her contemplating suicide from guilt over the inevitible casualties from Mille Mirage.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: The Magical Alisa side story in Reverie has her short hair grow long enough to gain some rather large pigtails as part of her Transformation Sequence.
• Raised by Grandparents: Has been raised by Count and Countess Egret, her grandparents, since the death of her parents.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Being the previous Duke Cayenne's niece, she is actually the remaining heir of the Cayenne family, who are descended from Prince Orthros.
• Red Herring: Many fans suspected she has an ulterior motive regarding her crush on Rean. Nothing really happens, as she apparently was trying to seduce him for no reason other than him being her type, and in fact, her being suspicious actually manages to hide Ash being a lot more important than initially thought. And then it turns out that said Red Herring might be a different kind, as both Vita and Aurelia claim that "Lady Mildine" managed to foresee some of the events that were going to happen, like Aurelia becoming the principal of Thors II for starters. Everything else is saved for Cold Steel IV just like Emma did for Cold Steel II.
• Redeeming Replacement: To her uncle, the previous Duke Cayenne, once she's nominated as the candidate to succeed him thanks to his continued imprisonment. Unlike her uncle Croire, her ancestor Prince Orthros, and her great uncle Marquis Ballad, Musse's main priority is to help protect the Erebonian Empire and its people rather than seize power for herself. She's completely opposed to Osborne's plans to start a war with Calvard and all her work is aimed at preventing that.
• Reduced Mana Cost: Her Brave Orders, Arts Celebration and its upgraded form Aetheric Arts reduce the EP cost of all Arts used by the party by 80% for ten turns(12 after upgrading) along with an AST boost, making it possible to spam high level arts with minimum cost. It was nerfed in Reverie to only a 60% reduction, and the AST boost is replaced by the Order restoring some EP.
• Reflecting Laser: She fires a laser beam from her orbal arts rifle into a previously conjured ice flower in her Brilliant Shot S-Craft. Said laser beam reflects off the inner surface of the flower until the flower shatters.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Musse's not actually experienced despite her nature as The Tease, as she's actually one of the more embarrassed members of the New and Old Class VII when it comes to the mixed baths in Eryn.
• Rightful King Returns: Or rightful Duchess in this case. During the Provincial Council, she reveals her identity as the daughter of the late Alfred de Cayenne, and becomes Duchess Cayenne after her great uncle Ballad's failures catch up to him.
• Royalty Superpower: Her nigh-clairvoyant intelligence is stated to be a result of being distantly related to the Arnor House.
• Say It with Hearts: Constantly, especially towards her instructor Rean.
• Shaping Your Attacks: Her Resonance Shot attack in Soldat battles has her firing blasts of orbal energy that take the form of three soaring birds.
• Shorter Means Smarter: At 155 cm, she's the second shortest member of the New Class VII and scored second highest out of them all on the midterms and is revealed to be a Teen Genius and The Chessmaster who founded Mille Mirage and the Weissland Army to counteract Osborne and Operation Jormungandr.
• Sixth Ranger: Shares this position with Ash. Although they're available from time to time, it's only after you've reached Chapter 3 that they officially join Class VII in Cold Steel III.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Acts like this around Rean, regularly acting as The Tease towards him, her Bonding Events show that this develops into genuinely loving affection.
• Space Master: Her secondary element is Space.
• Squishy Wizard: She has the best Arts stats and highest EP pool of the class, but her physical strength and defense and HP are rather low.
• Status Buff: Her Brave Order can increase the party's ATS stats for a few turns. It sadly loses this ability in Reverie in exchange for only restoring some of the party's EP.
• Status Infliction Attack: All of her offensive Crafts can inflict various status effects, with both of her S-Crafts having a 100% chance to inflict a random ailment.
• Stepford Smiler: It's revealed in Cold Steel IV during one of her bonding events that she's just really good at hiding her emotions but clearly can't bottle it up when someone calls her out on how she feels about her actions. Her event scenes with Rean make it clear that the responsibities of leading the Weissland Army and the inevitable casualties that will result in even the best case scenario of Mille Mirage is effecting her despite her attempts to hide it with her regular cheerful teasing demeanour, as she's shown to be near Driven to Suicide, ordering a derringer for the sole purpose of commiting suicide, and her ordering a kamikaze attack on the Glorious with full intention of Going Down with the Ship.
• Student Council President: Defied during Ash's Episode in Reverie; despite Ash pointing out how she would be the obvious choice for the role, she claims that it isn't her style, as she prefers to do things from "behind the scenes," causing her to make Ash run without his consent or knowledge. This does end up biting her in the butt, however, as Ash chooses her as the Branch Campus' first Student Council Vice-President.
• Taking You with Me: When Cedric has Ouroboros attack the Pantagruel, Musse plans on staying in the Pantagruel and ramming it into the Glorious so that the others can escape. However, Olivert and Osborne's surprise appearance put a stop to that.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Regularly states her affections for Rean without shame, even if the player doesn't pick her for the romance option.
• The Tease: She frequently words her sentences in a needlessly sexual way, and she definitely enjoys Rean's troubled reactions to her flirting. The tables can turned if Rean selects her for the fireworks scene in Cold Steel IV, as she stammers and blushes all over the place.
• Teen Genius: As leader of the Weissland Army she proves to be a prodigy at strategy, politics, and trickery having foreseen the Civil War and the lead up to the Great Twilight years in advance to convince the rest of the Nobility, and several other people of importance in and out of Erebonia, to lend her their aid.
• Tragic Keepsake: She reveals in one of her Bond Events in Cold Steel IV that the pink yukata she wears for the Eastern Tea Ceremony club used to belong to her late mother and she had it resized to fit her.
• Undercover as Lovers: When having to infiltrate Ordis during Cold Steel IV, she immediately clings to Rean's arm and claim they were engaged and that she wanted to see the sights with her fiancee before he's drafted to war to better sell the performance to the guards. Rean was caught off guard, while Musse was utterly non-plussed.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: In spite of the Volleying Insults, she and Ash still make quite the team, and his episode from Reverie shows her being genuinely concerned for him.
• Volleying Insults: Her daily interaction with Ash can be summarized into this, though she never uses outright insults. Nothing offensive here.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Her finisher in Soldat battles has her fire a beam towards her enemies.
• What the Hell, Hero?: On the receiving end twice from Rean in Cold Steel IV. First from her having a gun designed specifically for her to use to commit suicide. And again near the end of Act 2 when she tried to have the Pantagruel ram into the Society's flagship in a desperate kamikaze attack.
• White Sheep: To the Cayenne family, considering her uncle was an Upper-Class Twit and Big Bad Wannabe, her great uncle Ballad was a Fat Idiot, and her ancestor Orthros was The Usurper.
• Worthy Opponent: In Cold Steel IV, Osborne sees her as this.
• Yaoi Fangirl: As befitting a former Astraia student. She even gets to meet Dorothee, the author of her favorite books.
• Young and in Charge: 16 years old and already the head of the most powerful noble family among the Four Great Houses. She's also this to the Weissland Army in general, as it's through her planning and working together with Aurelia and Vita that the army came to fruition in the first place.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: One sidequest in Cold Steel IV has the group run into Mariabell Crois, the latter then refers to Musse as a spirited woman who lets no one tell her what to do, with some approval. Musse responds with an uncharacteristically dry expression and a sarcastic thanks.

Ash Carbide

Ash in his traveling clothes

^{Ash in his Branch Campus uniform}

^{Hector Mk. II}

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese), Austin Lee Matthews (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

A delinquent who grew up in the slums of Raquel, a city in Western Erebonia known as "Entertainment City" thanks to its various attractions and the like. He earned respectable reputation from the Imperial Army and Bracer Guild after forming a team to chase off brigands during the civil war. He then enrolled into Thors Branch Campus and was enrolled in Class VIII through the recommendation of someone who knows his past. He ends up transferring to Class VII in Chapter 3 of Cold Steel III.

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• Agent Scully: Firmly doesn't believe in the "occult" side of Erebonia. Unfortunately for him, he's neck deep in it the more he involves himself. And he already is involved in it himself thanks to his curse in his left eye.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: As he finds out in St. Astraia, one of the students thought he had the "bad boy" vibe and she likes it. This is in stark contrast to Tatiana, who was scared of Ash until she found out he wasn't so bad.
• Angst Coma: Goes into a coma at the end of Cold Steel III after shooting the emperor.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: His Agent Scully moments above occur despite having seen Celine, a talking cat, Rean's powers and other Divine Knights up close. The others are quick to lampshade this.
• Badass Biker: Much like Rean and Juna, he knows how to drive a bike.
• Badass Longcoat: Wears one as part of his outfit in Cold Steel IV.
• The Big Guy: He's the tallest of the Class VII students, being even taller than Rean, the instructor, and he definitely prefers power in his fighting style. It's why his preferred Panzer Soldat type is the Hector.
• Birds of a Feather: Hits it off rather well with Crow when the former joins up as both were the resident troublemakers of their respective classes.
• Blood Knight: Dude really loves to wreak some havoc, even at school. In Cold Steel III Chapter 3, he brings out his weapon, points it at Bardias—a brigadier general who has very much earned his rank—and wants to fight the guy.
• Brutal Honesty: Ash does not mince words and just says things outright.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: He's a Hot-Blooded Delinquent and The Big Guy for the New Class VII. His main weapon is a large axe to emphasize his preference for brute force in battle.
• But Now I Must Go: His side episode in Reverie has him planning to leave the branch campus as he feels he's not worthy to be with them after nearly killing the emperor, despite the emperor himself having personally pardoned him and then sweeping the entire thing under the rug. His classmates and Tatiana, however, do not allow him to go through with it, and Aurelia gives him an assignment where he honors the Thors Academy as the first Student Council President of the branch campus as an atonement to honor the royal family.
• Chain Pain: He incorporates this with his weapon in one of his crafts and his S-Craft.
• Chekhov's Gun: Literally in his case as the gun he uses to shoot the Emperor is the same gun he took from one of the downed Calvard mercenaries back in Chapter 4 of Cold Steel III.
• Chivalrous Pervert: His bedroom has a pinup of a woman in a swimsuit, he's made several perverted comments towards several female characters, and is an avid reader of porn, but doesn't go to the degree of harassment and does have a heart of gold.
• Clark Kenting: He does this in Cold Steel IV because he is wanted for attempted assassination of the emperor (the curse was involved but a normal civilian wouldn't know anything about that). So he disguises himself by wearing a wig and glasses around towns. The people at Raquel however know that it's him right away when they first see him.
• Critical Hit Class: His Brave Order Crazy Hunt (upgraded to Infernal Hunt) greatly increases the party's critical hit rate along with boosting their strength and speed for a few turns. His Default Master Quartz Scorpio also increases damage to attacks on enemies in the Break status (which are already guaranteed Critical Hits).
• Curse: His left eye is implanted with the Curse of Erebonia, with the condition that he "needs to kill the ones responsible for Hamel." This is what eventually leads him to shooting the Emperor. It disappears in Cold Steel IV after Juna, Kurt, and Altina convince him to live on and join them in finding their missing instructor.
• Custom Uniform: Wears his blazer unbottoned with the sleeves rolled up and wears a red shirt underneath, in contrast to the regular dress shirt his other schoolmates wear.
• Dash Attack: He does this at the beginning of his S-Craft Belial Raid.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He's from Hamel. It's self-explanatory at this point.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has a rather sharp tongue and isn't above taking the piss out of anyone around him.
• Death from Above: His first craft, Void Breaker, has him jump up high and bring down his axe towards his opponents caught in the radius. His second S-Craft, Sinner's Revelry'', ends with him jumping up into the air and launching numerous darts at the enemy.
• Delinquent: It's in his profile, and one of the things he does is belittle Rean for being the government's lapdog. Ironic in that he's also Lechter's spy.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Smacks McBurn in the face with his Switch Axe during Chapter 2 of III before taunting him. Then calls Arianrhod an old hag during the battle at the Black Workshop in Cold Steel IV.
• Doomed Hometown: Another survivor of Hamel.
• Dub Name Change: His upgraded Brave Order was called Volcanic Hunt in the Japanese version, but was changed to Infernal Hunt in the English version.
• Easily Forgiven: Everyone from Class VII, and even his own friends in Raquel and the Imperial family themselves, are very quick to forgive him for shooting the Emperor and consequently sparking a war with Calvard. This is because they (correctly) believe that he was manipulated or coerced into doing so, and he wouldn't have done something so heinous of his own free will, with Eugent himself being fully aware of the Curse from the start and believing he deserved it for the Tragedy of Hamel.
• Elemental Eye Colors: He has red eyes, which suit his primary element of fire.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first scenes with Rean and the New Class VII is to insult and taunt their members, solidifying his Delinquent characterization.
• Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, if chosen as a party member in Chapter 4 of Rean's route, he'll have a robotic copy to fight.
• False Flag Operation: A victim of one as he's from Hamel. Then he inadvertently starts another one when he shoots the emperor with a gun made from Calvard.
• Flechette Storm: One of his new crafts and his second S-Craft in Cold Steel IV has him tossing darts at enemies.
• Flipping the Bird: Does this even surprise anyone considering who Ash is? See it for yourself.◊
• Genius Bruiser: Much to everyone's surprise, Ash does rather well in his studies and actually enjoys reading books in his free time. He is also in the literature club.
• Given Name Reveal: As revealed by Joshua, his real name is Johan.
• Has a Type: In a discussion with Rean in Cold Steel IV, he mentions his type of women being 'a girl who keeps things tight and who is flexible'. Gustaf immediately remarks that Tatiana fit both, briefly leaving Ash stuttering.
• Heroic BSoD: Clearly is shocked that he shot the emperor in Cold Steel IV.
• Hidden Depths: Shows that there's more to him than his tempermental delinquent attitude as he's shown to be part of the literature club and ends up scoring in the top 20 during the midterms.
• Hot-Blooded: The most tempermental and aggressive of the new Class VII.
• Humongous Mecha: During the Knight/Soldat battles, he pilots a Hector Mk.II, as the extra power is needed to properly use his Switch-axe. Notably, he "borrowed" Randy's for Cold Steel III's first 2 chapters until the Branch Campus got another one for use by the students.
• Irony: A survivor of a False Flag Operation that started a war with Liberl ends up starting the biggest False Flag Operation by shooting the emperor with a gun made in Calvard.
  • Also regarding his curse. The curse commands him to "kill those responsible for Hamel", and is meant to lead him to trigger the above False Flag Operation, and kickstart the conditions for the awakening of the Great Twilight. The irony is he does have a hand in ending "the one responsible for Hamel" as part of Class VII... Ishmelga, the one who spread the curse that caused the Hamel incident in the first place.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Very abrasive and rude, though he shows a softer side later on.
  Juna: He was definitely a troublemaking punk, but he wasn't selfish or irresponsible. And despite his lone-wolf, tough-guy act, he'd always help us when we needed him.
• Last-Name Basis: Often with various people unless he calls them by a nickname instead. By Cold Steel IV however he starts referring to Kurt and Juna by their first names, signifying how close he's gotten to his classmates. Altina still ends up getting the "Little Rabbit" nickname however. He's also this towards Joshua though he refers to him as Astray instead of Bright.
• Left for Dead: In Hamel at the start of the Hundred Days War. The other survivors saw him fall shortly after his parents were killed and assumed he had died as well, so they fled for their lives without him, not knowing that he had actually just fainted from shock.
• Limit Break: His S-Craft in Cold Steel III is Belial Raid, with Cold Steel IV, as well as Reverie, throwing in Sinner's Revelry^*Guilty Carnival in the original. When piloting the Hector Mk.II, his finishing move is Belial Ripper, whilst his union attack is Riot Combo.
• Mighty Glacier: He has high physical strength and defenses, but is also one of the slower members of the New Class VII.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: He always gives the wrong impression that he would rather be left alone, but as characters like Musse point out, he is a kind individual.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction to shooting Emperor Eugent in Cold Steel III. While he was under the influence of the Curse at the time, he insists it was More than Mind Control and is shown to be uncharacteristically subdued and melancholic over it. Even after being Easily Forgiven by the Imperial Family as they all know he was Not Himself at the time, he still hasn't forgiven himself for it by the time of Reverie.
• Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: During the Civil War, he was the leader of a gang that repelled thieves and brigands away from Raquel.
• The Nicknamer: Towards the three primary members of Class VII. He calls Kurt "Pretty Boy"^note Young Master in the Japanese script, calls Juna "Wild Filly"^note Shrew Girl in the Japanese script, and calls Altina "Little Bunny"^note Rabbit Girl in the Japanese script. This is not the case with Rean and Musse where he opts to simply call by their last names. By Cold Steel IV, he refers to them by their names, calling Juna by her first name and Kurt by his last name, though he still retains Altina's nickname.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: With Kurt, as Ash is a Hot-Blooded Delinquent and Chivalrous Pervert who grew up in a Red Light District, while Kurt is a well-manered and stoic Blue Blood who shows little interest in romance.
• Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: In Cold Steel III, he defeats Xeno in Vantage Master by playing three Vanish cards. While Xeno suspects he cheated, there's not enough proof to accuse him, since Ash's play is possible^note While three Vanish cards goes above the mana cap, it's still possible to get around this with mana crystals in-between Vanish usage., albeit heavily reliant on luck.
• Odd Friendship: With Kurt. Their personalities are almost 180 with each other, but it never stop them from being good bros. Case in point, Kurt is the first guy that Ash asked to accompany him slacking off from their duty and instead go into the casino in Raquel to have some fun with the hot girls. Kurt's reaction? "No".
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Swings his axe one-handed in some of his attacks.
• Parental Abandonment: His birth parents were killed during the Tragedy of Hamel, he was taken in by a hostess in Raquel named Ellen who then died of a tumor 6 years prior to when Cold Steel III started.
• Playing with Fire: His primary element is fire, fitting his Hot-Blooded delinquent personality.
• Put on a Bus: After shooting the Emperor and going into a coma, he becomes unavailable for the final segment of Cold Steel III.
• Red Is Violent: His eyes, axe, Soldat, and the shirts he wears in his Custom Uniform are all red, and he's the most temperamental member of the new Class VII.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The rowdy red to Kurt's blue. The color of his shirt helps rest the case.
• Remember the New Guy?: He's revealed to have been a survivor of the Hamel incident all along, and a childhood friend of Joshua's to boot, but no mention of him was ever made when the incident was originally covered in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Justified: in IV, Joshua reveals that he had only seen him passed out and deemed him dead. Only later did he find out that Ash was Johan.
• Required Party Member: He must be in the active party for the battle against Claire and Lechter in Cold Steel IV.
• Retractable Weapon: His weapon, a Switch-axe, can change in battle from an axe into a scythe. When in scythe mode, the scythe head can detach from its snath while still connected by a long chain.
• Revenge: Played with. He wants revenge for Hamel, but not out of his own free will - it's because of his curse that keeps telling him to "kill the one responsible". Osborne volunteers, even pointing to his head to do so, only for the emperor to step up for the job even though both were never responsible for it. Ash himself can't believe their claims because he at least believes there's no way someone who would just step up to volunteer to get shot to calmly claim responsibility for the incident, but the curse is just too strong for him to hold that he shoots the emperor. After the curse is not holding him down anymore, Ash barely, if at all, thinks about revenge seriously.
• The Scapegoat: Becomes one after he shoots Emperor Eugent, being labeled as a Calvardian Spy and used for instigating the people of Erebonia into a war against the Republic.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After he wakes up in Cold Steel IV, he ends up escaping from the Pantagruel airship using his Hector and heads towards Hamel.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: His disguise when he goes to the emperor's room after knocking out a butler working at the castle. This is a costume that players can get in Cold Steel IV for Ash.
• Ship Tease: By Cold Steel IV, his classmates and friends at the Branch Campus ship him with Tatiana. He's not amused.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Fittingly, as the resident Delinquent, he swears the most out of all members of the Branch Campus.
• Sixth Ranger: Shares this with Musse in Cold Steel III. Although they're available from time to time, it's only after you reached Chapter 3 that they're officially joining Class VII.
• Skyward Scream: He screams into the air whenever he uses his Unbound Rage Craft.
• Smarter Than You Look: The others in Class VII were naturally surprised to learn that the resident Delinquent is part of the Literature club and is smart enough to reach the top 20 during the mid-terms. It's even implied by Musse he could have scored higher, but chose not to.
• Status Buff: His Unbound Rage Craft grants a large buff to his strength for two turns. His Brave Order Crazy Hunt (later upgraded to Infernal Hunt) increases the party's strength, speed, and Critical Hit rate for a few turns. 
• Student Council President: As seen in his Episode in Reverie, he's become Thors Branch Campus' first student council president. He was very reluctant at first, not helped by how Musse deliberately chose not to tell him that he was Class VII's candidate, but he ends up accepting it.
• That Man Is Dead: Always refers to himself as Ash and not as Johan.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: He can never seem to get one up on Musse until the end of his episode in Reverie, where he uses his new authority as Student Council President to make her his vice-president, as payback for her entering him in the election without his consent.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He is initially a very rude young man that doesn't give enough respect to his companions, and only a select few people can see the kindness deep inside. By the end of Cold Steel IV, thanks to the efforts of his friends and being free of the curse of Erebonia, he is more sincere with the friendship and attachment he feels towards his classmates and Instructor and has actual, true smiles, more often - as it can be seen in the wedding photo right by the end of the game.
• Tsundere: He always acts like a jerk but is actually kind and gentle. Of course, he'd rather not admit this himself.
  Ash: Anyway, stop coddling him, already. The guy's a grown-ass man.
  Kurt: ...So you say, but you were just as eager as the rest of us to stand watch.
  Juna: Oh, yeah. I thought for sure you'd just ditch, going on and on about how much you 'don't care.'
  Musse: Oh, it was just so sweet... He sat right by your side, the very picture of concern. ♥️
  Ash: L-Like hell I did! Quit making shit up, ya damn snitches!
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In his case, it's literal thanks to the curse in his left eye as it always keeps commanding him to "kill the ones responsible for Hamel." Unfortunately, he shoots the emperor who was innocent, which then sparks off the chain of events that allows Osborne to officially declare his war on the Calvard Republic (as the gun Ash used belonged to one of the captured Calvardian agents) and subject every Erebonian citizen from 19 to 45 to the draft.
• Variable-Length Chain: The chain in his Switch-axe's scythe form can be very long one may wonder in which part of his weapon it is stored.
• Verbal Tic: Often starts his sentences with "Ha," or some other expression of laughter.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Given his personality, most of his friendships end up being this. It's most notable with Musse, as the two often insult each other, yet have remarkably good teamwork.
• Volleying Insults: His daily interaction with Musse can be summarized into this. It almost always end with Ash on the losing side though. Nothing offensive here.
• Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: In contrast to his other schoolmates, he leaves his blazer open and replaces the usual white collared-shirt with a red one that he wears untucked with his sleeves rolled up, denoting his status as the resident delinquent with little respect for authority and propriety.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: Holds his axe like this during his idle pose in battle.
• Wham Shot: A literal one when he shoots the emperor thanks to his curse. It then starts off a chain of events that changes Erebonia as a whole.
• Whole Costume Reference: His clothes in Cold Steel IV resemble what Rean wore in Cold Steel II save for the color scheme being brown and his pants torn in a few places.
• You Remind Me of X: Angelica notes that Ash reminds her of how Crow used to be and that she makes Rean take note about him. Surprising no one, when the two finally meet in Cold Steel IV, they get on like a house on fire.

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