The primary antagonists of the later volumes. The extremely blood-thirsty royal family launches an all-out war of conquest, seeking to unify the entire continent through a Reign of Terror, as they believe is their birthright by using the Knight technology their Copper Fang Knights stole from Ernesti in Volume 4, attacking every country, including the one they stole the technology from.
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In General
- Believing Their Own Lies: The entire population, including the royalty, honestly believe that they're the good guys, and the rulers of all the other kingdoms on the continent where the story takes place somehow stole Zaloudek's rightful territory from them through treachery and backstabbing. In truth, the Zaloudek Kingdom came into existence when the Zaloudek royal family betrayed and back-stabbed the king of their own country and then usurped the throne for themselves.
- Entitled Bastard: The worst part about the Zaloudek army, especially the highest echelons, is that they honestly believe the best of everything outright belongs to them, for the least personal effort. They find the job of hunting Demon Beasts, which are a threat to all humanity, as grossly beneath them, despite the fact that this is not only the most dangerous task in the world, but is where all the world's resources come from. Anyone who objects is obviously a "rebel" or "terrorist" that deserves to be flattened.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Zaloudek Kingdom was one of the most powerful countries on the continent. They stole Silhouette Knight designs that helped them basically decimate everything in their path on their way to conquering all other countries. Then the country they stole their designs from retaliated, aided other countries in technological development, and destroyed most of the Zaloudek Kingdom's forces. Now they are struggling just to retain the territory they had before launching their campaign, with the implication that sooner or later they will be destroyed for their cruel and senseless warmongering.
- Miles Gloriosus: Almost without exception, though they boast of being "Mighty, Brave, and Noble Knights," and have the gall to believe it, they are actually entirely despicable and cowardly. They only seek out a fight when they believe themselves having all the advantages, bully the weak, and look upon those they've defeated with nothing but derision, openly scoffing at the concept of Heroic Sacrifice. Yet, when they find themselves facing the possibility of actually losing the fight, they lose all semblance of discipline and dignity, panic and attempt to flee, unless facing the threat of "disappointing their superiors," or finding themselves cornered and unable to run, and then have the gall to be outraged when they're cut down.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Through the theft of Ernies' Telestale managed to reverse-engineer its' Strand Type Crystal Tissue and Back Weapons to produce their own Tyranto which is the uncontested powerhouse on the western side of the Aubigne mountain range. Unfortunately for them when Fremmevira enters the picture, the Telestale Ernie had initially built had already been fine-tuned and upgraded into newer and more efficient models, on top of the development of even greater and varied Silhouette Knight designs that halted Zaloudeks' advance considerably as their Tyrantos' found themselves sent to the scrap heap every time The Silver Phoenix fought them.
- Patriotic Fervor: One quick speech about how Zaloudek is "destined" to rule the world is all the royal family needed to drive the army into a battle frenzy.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The population, as a whole, firmly believes that your value as a human being relies entirely on your competence on the battle-field and war accomplishments. When the Silver Phoenix Knights arrive on the scene and start tearing the army apart, many of the high-level commanders seriously and honesty contemplate suicide rather than suffer the indignity of their losses. The crown prince is no exception. He actively commits suicide rather than admit defeat and surrender when Ernesti duels him, one on one.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Thanks to easy early victories due to sheer force of numbers, overwhelming (stolen) technological advantage, and the element of surprise being on their side, the army came to believe they were invincible and could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Ernesti very thoroughly and deliberately proved them wrong, on a repeated basis.
- Unwitting Pawn: The entire army, bar the royal family, has been thoroughly indoctrinated into believing the "Tyrants" and other advanced technology was developed entirely in-country, thus when they find themselves going up against those who actually developed it, and know all its flaws, they utterly fail to understand why they're getting their asses handed to them.
- War Is Glorious: The army has seemingly been itching to go to full-out war for generations. The Copper Fang Knights stealing Ernesti's work, allowing the Zaloudek to pass it off as their own , gave them that opportunity and they cheered when Prince Zaloudek ordered all-out-war with all the surrounding nations.
- Zerg Rush: The one tactic they've mastered. While it did serve them quite well in the beginning of the war they launched, due to their overwhelming tech advantage, once Ernesti arrived on the scene with his Silver Phoenix Knights, all of whom have experience dealing with such a marked disadvantage, this tactic began losing its effectiveness in a hurry.
The Copper Fang Knights
In General
Taking advantage of Lahaila academy's open-door policy regarding people seeking Silhouette Knight training, due to the very real and constant threat of Demon Beasts, this "Knight Order" intended to infiltrate Ernesti's lab and steal the Telestarle prototypes. When Duke Dixgard called the incomplete prototypes away for a demonstration, they instead used "lure powder" to draw Demon Beasts to a city full of innocents so they could infiltrate his estate, killing a great many people, soldier and civilian alike, in the process.- Combat Pragmatist: Being a "black ops" group, this is their specialty.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Because they have a long, sordid history of treachery and subterfuge, they thought The Silver Phoenix Knights would be pushovers. The first time they stole prototypes from Ernesti, it was, by their own admission, a very near thing, even including their use of "Lure Powder." When they tried it a second time, they failed to consider that maybe Ernesti had taken precautions against future theft attempts, and were thus completely routed when they found themselves in the cockpits of mecha they couldn't operate.
- Tragic Villain: While it is true that they relish causing destruction and chaos, this was not always the case. The entire "Knight Order" was founded when every single one of its members was driven from their homelands by the ascension of the Zaloudek royal family, conscripted into this "black ops" unit, and constantly taunted with the fact that the only hope of reclaiming their ancestral homes is proving themselves through sufficient war accomplishments. The crown prince of Zaloudek specifically taunts the commander of the unit with this, repeatedly.
- Underestimating Badassery: Both times they went up against Enersti and his subordinates, they clearly and strongly underestimated them due to thinking that they're up against "mere students." Of course, these "mere students" fight Kaiju for a living.
- War for Fun and Profit: Invoked. The Zaloudek royal family forced them into this role, and sadly, they've grown to enjoy it.
- Wounded Gazelle Warcry: Combined with Dressing as the Enemy. They used stolen and badly damaged Silhouette Knights to make themselves look like loyal Fremmevarian citizens belonging to Duke Dixguard's estate to infiltrate and steal the Telestarle prototypes. They got those badly damaged Knights by using "lure powder" on a village, thus killing everyone in it and then taking the badly damaged Knights to use as disguises later.
Captain Kerhild Hietakangas
Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Anastasia Muñoz (English)
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Leads the Copper Fang Knights, and is the most powerful of them. While the protagonists can deal with the rest of them, albeit with difficulty, she can take the best of them on and win any one-on-one duel.
- Forced into Evil: Combined with Freudian Excuse. The crown prince of the Zaloudek Empire never misses an opportunity to taunt, mock, and berate her for the fact that his family's rise to power seized her lands, ejected or butchered her entire family and forced her into founding the Copper Fang Knights on the promise that if she does her job as a black ops unit well enough, she might, just might, get her ancestral home back.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: When Edgar managed to fight evenly with her, she revealed that she was holding back because he's a student. She then proceeds to impale his Silhouette Knight to a tree through the cockpit with her sword.
- More Deadly Than the Male: She's the only female member to date and is by far the most dangerous, in terms of cunning and cruelty.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: She's wholly loyal to the Zaloudek empire, even if the country utterly treats her and her men like crap.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Make no mistake, she's clearly despicable, but she doesn't kick any puppies she doesn't have to.
- Servile Snarker: She shows as little respect for the royal family as she can get away with. See the starscream entry for the why.
- Smug Snake: She expected stealing prototypes from the main characters would be as simple as a walk in the park. The first time was a major struggle that even she admits was a near thing. The second time was a complete and utter rout.
- Sole Survivor: Of the Copper Fang Knights the second time her group goes up against the main characters, and then only because she hung back watching, to gather intel, instead of fighting.
- The Starscream: While she is loyal to her nation, she is clearly not loyal to the Zaloudek royal family, nor does she have any reason to be. The Zaloudeks have clearly wronged her family, grievously, and the crown prince relishes rubbing her face in it. If she could wipe them out and get away with it, she would do so without hesitation, and they know it.
- Villain Respect: When Edgar manages to fight her to a standstill, despite being "a mere student" and fielding a considerably inferior machine, she stops, apologizes for underestimating and insulting him before unleashing her true skill, and even though she ultimately won the fight, she still calls him a Worthy Opponent because he did not let her get away unscathed, considering that her victory came at the cost of her stolen machine's sword-arm.
- We Have Reserves: While she claims to care for the "Knights" in her order, they're all just disposable pawns to her. The mission always takes priority. Always.
Crown Prince Carlitos Emden Žaloudek
Crown Prince Carlitos Emden Žaloudek
Voiced by': Ryuunosuke Watanuki (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo (English)
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: He honestly believes that all the countries on the continent where the story takes place are his family's birthright, and spearheaded the development of the "Tyrants" model Silhouette Knight to launch a war of conquest to achieve that goal. Whether his father believes this as well is unclear, but he claims the king does.
- Axe-Crazy: At his calmest, he makes Ernesti at his most bloodthirsty look sane by comparison.
- Batman Gambit: He initiates the war with the Kusheperca kingdom by launching light attacks on the border fortress, luring all the nearby kingdoms to marshal their forces there, then launching a night-time raid from the sky, where the black and red paint scheme makes for excellent camouflage, tearing all the defending forces apart at once, crushing all hope of resistance... until Ernesti shows up.
- New Era Speech: He launches his country's war of conquest and Reign of Terror with a particularly hammy one, with much Milking the Giant Cow.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: He promises "returning the nation to a time of utopia" by uniting all the countries on the continent into one nation. It is strongly implied the people he's conquered don't share his sentiment.
Cristóbal Hasslo Žaloudek
Cristóbal Hasslo Žaloudek
Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese), Aaron Dismuke (English)
- And Now You Must Marry Me: He threatens the crown princess of the country his army invaded and he captured at sword-point to marry him. If she refuses, he flat-out tells her that she'll be executed and he'd move on to one of her female relatives and make the same "offer." He then has the gall to call himself "magnanimous" by giving her a day or two to "think it over" locked in the topmost room of a tower that was a prison in her own castle.
- Axe-Crazy: He makes his older brother look sane, and that's no easy feat.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: When Ernesti has him cornered, Ernesti gives him the option to surrender, twice, warning him that if he doesn't, Ernesti has no way to guarantee his life in the battle. Rather than surrender or be beaten in fair combat, he jumps off the Levitate Ship he's riding, to his death, simply to taunt Ernesti.
- Blood Knight: He likes nothing more than going around butchering people, horribly, at the smallest excuse.
- Moral Myopia: He initiates a war of conquest, murders a king of a foreign nation, captures the princess, and almost literally puts a sword to her throat if she doesn't marry him, all with technology he knows is stolen from Fremmevaria, at the cost of numerous innocent lives. He also plans to rule the entire continent with a Reign of Terror. How does he respond when The Silver Phoenix Knights show up and retaliate, tearing his "proud" army apart like paper? He has the gall to call them "terrorists and thieves."
- Virtue Is Weakness: He calls the Kusheperca kingdom mustering their defenses in a fortress while trying to assess the Zaloudek's capabilities, "acts of cowardice, turning themselves into turtles." He also calls the princess he captures and forces to marry him at sword point, or he'd "propose marriage" to another female relative after her execution, "weak" because she dares mourn the king he murdered, her father.
- We Can Rule Together: When Ernesti manages to corner him on his Levitate Flag-Ship, routing his entire armada in the process, he offers Ernesti a peerage, and a position second only to the royal family. Unfortunately for him, Ernesti doesn't give a flip about peerage, titles or fanfare, and already has a far, far better position in Fremmevaria where he can over-ride the king, if need be, in times of emergency.
Catalina Camilla Žaloudek
Catalina Camilla Žaloudek
Voiced by: Harumi Sakurai (Japanese), Alex Moore (English)
- Altar Diplomacy: It was her idea to have Eleanora marry the crown prince, her brother, to cement Zaloudek's legitimacy to Kusheperca. Unfortunately for everyone, her brother is a crass, tactless oaf, who overtly threatened and abused Eleanora, making it clear that a marriage would never go well between them.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When she learns her brother is dead, she orders everyone out of the throne room so she can cry and wail in despair like a banshee.
- Hypocrite: She decries Eleanora as a pathetic weakling because Eleanora has little, if any skill with fielding a Knight, was devastated by the death of her father, and didn't foolishly try to resist and rage during her time in Zaloudek's captivity. Yet when her brother goes and kills himself, rather than let himself be captured alive, or admit defeat in battle, Catalina clears the throne room, so others won't see it, wails like a banshee, and calls the Kuschuperca army "rebels and murderers," claiming she won't rest until she "tears the throat out of the enemy" while refusing to do any actual fighting herself, or even letting herself be trained in using a Knight. Despite knowing "the weak and cowardly" princess Eleanora is actually fielding a Knight, and being trained in its use.
- Light Is Not Good: She has her "royal exclusive" Knight painted all in white... and she's an Evil Overlord.
- Orcus on His Throne: She never enters the fight herself. She prefers to sit on the throne of the stolen Kuschuperca capital and delegate to subordinates all the units, command, and control. She even hands Gustav her personal Knight for him to use as he sees fit, rather than let herself be trained in its use.
- Revenge Myopia: Despite knowing that her people are the clear aggressors in the war, have done some truly terrible things, and that her brother committed suicide, she spends her last appearance in Chapter 37 itching to "pay them back" (meaning the kingdom of Kuscheperca) for the losses that Zaloudek suffered as a direct result of an attack so poorly planned out that even she, a complete novice in war, had trouble seeing succeeding.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Like her brothers, she believes mourning is weak and cowardly, as a result, she orders the throne room cleared so she can mourn her brother's death.
- Women Are Wiser: At least she's clearly more level-headed and less prone to rash acts than her brothers, but she's no less bloodthirsty, arrogant, or cruel.
Horacio Collazo
Horacio Collazo
Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese), Brandon McInnis (English)
- Awesome by Analysis: He's able to reverse-engineer a jet engine by having an army commander, who has no technical skill whatsoever describe its functions to him, despite never having seen it in operation himself.
- Bad Boss: Downplayed but present. Unlike Ernesti who not only has an open door but actually encourages input from his peers and subordinates, Horacio gives orders to his subordinates, that he expects to be followed to the letter, and then leaves them unattended to their own devices while he goes and plays with his pet project(s). In volume 5's prologue, all the subordinates assigned him in the Zaloudek captured Knight workshop that he had retooled to be his lab, the subordinates and workers are visibly dismayed every time he enters the room because they all know he's going to give them new, and additional grueling work and expects it done "yesterday."
- Boring, but Practical: His overall philosophy puts him at odds with Ernesti's aesthetic-driven philosophy. He believes that weapons need not follow an aesthetic and the most important thing is that they should be functional.
- Driven by Envy: When he learns about the propulsion system Ernesti uses on his Ace Custom, he turns green with envy at the fact that a "mere fool" can grasp flying technology and concepts that he and his clan's experts in flight could never dream of.
- Evil Counterpart: To Ernesti. While the two of them are very, very similar, Ernesti places the well being of others above his pursuit of Knight technology. Horacio does not.
- For Science!: He has no moral scruples. He will do whatever he thinks he has to in order to advance his technological research and development.
- Game Changer: Like Ernesti, Horatio's invention of a flight engine allows the Zaloudek Empire to advance their world conquest plans before most countries could even react. The Zaloudek Levitate Ships he designed were instrumental in taking the Kuscheperca Kingdom's capital of Devancul in just one night.
- Improbable Age: Like Ernesti, he was a Child Prodigy in mastering the Ether Levitator technology. As such, he got on the fast track for Zaloudek's R&D department by selling his clan and nation out to the Zaloudeks. He's officially listed as very young for the role in the world-setting.
- It's All About Me: All he cares about is his own goals and interests. Everything else is merely a tiresome distraction.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Just like he only pretends to be cordial to the Zaloudeks, the empire's populace doesn't think very highly of him either.
- Laughing Mad: The laughter Enresti shows when he completed his ace custom is nothing compared to what this guy does. He laughs so hard, he manages to drown out a jet engine!
- Limited Wardrobe: In episode 5, he is described as always wearing the same few sets of outfits.
- Mad Scientist: He makes Ernesti's obsession with Knights and technology look downright sane, and that's not easy.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: He really doesn't care who wins or loses the war with Zaloudek, he just wants to master the best possible air tech so he can fly through the skies like a bird, free from all the cares in the world, completely untouchable.
- The Quisling: He sold out his nation's technology to Zaloudek in return for funding, and the authority as the top researcher.
- Servile Snarker: He only pretends to be cordial to the Zaloudeks, his benefactors. He actually holds them all in contempt for their brutality, thirst for warfare, and overall despicable entitled natures.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Bails on the Zaloudek Empire when it's apparent that they are finished.
Doroteo Mardones
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), David Wald (English)
- Evil Old Folks: He's an old man, and he's about as evil as they come.
- Honor Before Reason: Krehild has to remind him that the Zaloudek kingdom/empire could easily lose the war if its "honorable" knights kill themselves after losing a battle, and making it home alive, at least before telling their superiors what they were up against. Even then, Krehild had a very tough fight convincing him.
- It's All My Fault: He blames himself entirely for his losses to the Silver Phoenix Knights, and for the death of his liege, despite the fact that he was denied critical need-to-know information in the former, and was incarcerated at the time of the latter.
- It's Personal: He has fixated on utterly destroying Ikaruga, Ernestie's personal Knight, because "The Demon" is "responsible for the murder" of his liege, the crown prince. And will do anything he can to see it happen. Of course, the fact that he, personally, was a first hand participant in the killing of a royal from another country that did him no wrong is A-OK!
- Laser-Guided Karma: Combined with Death by Irony and Hoist by His Own Petard. He puts so much faith in his "Lightning curtain" defenses that he failed to realize Anti-Air weapons could be filled with highly flammable oil, and so his "Fire Dragon" battleship's crew gets taken down.. BY FIRE, which is how he's been ravaging the countryside and the truly heroic Kushuperca Knights and citizens.
- Moral Myopia: Killing royals from other countries, blasting forts with a massive fire weapon, literally trampling civilians en masse like an actual Demon Beast? Nothing wrong with that. His liege dies in battle? "I MUST HAVE MY REVENGE!!!"
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Unlike Krehild, he his fully loyal to the Zaloudek royal family, even if they clearly do not deserve it.
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: A rare villainous example. He takes his sword, hands it to the crown prince, and demands the crown prince kill him for losing to the Silver Phoenix Knights before testifying about their might. The crown prince and princess decide to inter him instead in a You Have Failed Me kind of way.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: He actually demands to be executed for failing on the battlefield, and coming back alive.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Combined with Revenge Myopia. He demands "righteous retribution" on the "murderer" of the prince, despite the fact that he saw said prince murder a royal himself, and that the prince committed suicide, although he doesn't know the last part, and nobody sees fit to tell him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Truly epic in scope. When Eru outwits him and turns his "Dragon's" weapons against itself, he completely loses it, lampshades his Moral Myopia and goes full tilt Taking You with Me on Ikaruga.
Gustavo Mardones
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese), Clifford Chapin (English)
- Ace Custom: His Knight somehow has an ever bigger mana pool than some of Ernesti's machines that have dual ether reactors. It took two Tzenderible bearing down on him to make him think himself outmatched and withdraw.
- Blood Knight: He makes the Zaloudek royal family look like pacifists, and the Zaloudeks want to unite the world through warfare and conquest.
- Cast From Life Span: Ernesti finds out the secret behind his massive "mana pool" in chapter 39. Horacio uses Ether Crystals as batteries. When the mana pool runs low, the crystals are pumped directly into the Ether Reactor, filling the mana gauge up again in a hurry, but doing this greatly shortens the duration of the Ether Reactor in the process, which greatly irks the all other technicians working under Ernesti.
- The Fighting Narcissist: He believes himself the epitome of beauty and grace on the battle-field, and his fighting style consisting entirely of sword-play as the embodiment of perfection. When he sees his fighting style's flaws exploited by Dietrich to result in a Mutual Kill of their Knights, he goes into a Villainous Breakdown until he's granted Catalina's royal Knight, and carte blanche to modify it to meet his needs... which involve having the Zaloudek techicians slap 36 other swords onto it and a bunch of difficult, contradictory, and impractical modifications, one atop another, purely for the sake of defeating "that dual sword bastard" Dietrich.
- Happily Adopted: He knows he's adopted, and he's very happy about it, as being the recognized son of Doroteo, he gets to indulge in all the fighting and war-fare he can, and he's such a battle-maniac that he makes the Royal Family look like pacifists by comparison.
- A Hero to His Hometown: In Zaloudek, he's a highly decorated war-hero. He doesn't really care about that, at all. He just loves to go onto the battlefield and hack people apart.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: While he's the exact opposite of a hero, at least outside Zaloudek, he has a truly unhealthy sword fetish. He's had his custom Knight equipped with swords at every possible joint and juncture, and still believes that's nowhere near enough.
- Servile Snarker: Like Horacio, he has little in the way of respect in tone or act towards his royal superiors. All he cares about is being put onto the battlefield in a fitting Knight, so he can hack people to pieces for his amusement.
- Sore Loser: As much as he loves a good, challenging fight, he loves winning more. Thus, he takes his loss to Dietrich horribly, fixating on wanting to utterly annihilate the latter to avenge his loss and never "lose to that Duel Sword again."
