Per wiki policy, this page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned!
This will definitely ensure that you get the Good Ending on Azure Striker Gunvolt.
Luminous Avenger iX is the aftermath following the bad ending of Azure Striker Gunvolt, so it's natural for things to be far worse in this timeline than the good ending.
- Sumeragi has expanded its reach so far that it is basically a totalitarian state that is driving the powerless Minos to extinction in favor of a dystopian society for Adepts and only Adepts. And if you're an Adept, you are not safe either since you will be subject to living conditions seemingly straight out from 1984. You're only slightly less disposable than the Minos despite the protection Sumeragi promises you with.
- The Mino hideout Copen visits only has Kohaku and three other kids in it. Just where are all the adults, or anyone who looked like they could fight for that matter? Kohaku explains that there used to be more people, including adults within her group, but they were all killed by Sumeragi. Later on, we also found out Kohaku's sister seemingly met the same fate as the aforementioned adults. As described below, it's actually even worse for her.
- The first stage features an Adept who can revive a Mantis battle tank left in pieces in the slums and turn it into the Zombie Mantis. The scary part is that it sometimes spews piles of junk out, literally its inner guts being emptied. This model was once a Mantis Legion, the weapons deployed to stop Gunvolt from reaching Firmament after Joule was abducted, and they were quite deadly in their prime. Seeing how this was a cutting edge weapon turned relic, and even a heavily degraded and hastily rebuilt version still poses a danger to Copen, makes you wonder what twisted ideas are running through the minds of Sumeragi to recycle refuse for battle, a what weapons they've moved on to develop and now use on higher priority targets. It's also the first real hint that this is a Bad Future.
- The Lola Tank. It is Sumeragi's answer to Lola's symbol of hope to Minos, and produced en masse. It mimics everything about Lola's abilities right down to Calling Your Attacks. The design is not meant to be cute: it's a psychological tool to taunt the Minos. Worse, as you attack this enemy, it begins to show progressively more and more damage (unlike other bosses) until it reaches its last health bar, whereupon its mask shatters to reveal five red eyes and activates Darkness Trigger, going berserk by relentlessly shooting energy blasts and revving back and forth. And finally, in a desperate attempt to bind Copen, it uses Anchor Nexus and Lola has to deal the finishing blow to stop it.
- Dystnine's maturation of a Septima, Vector Cloth, after felling Stella. It just goes to show that a Septima can be made to forcefully emerge, and The Power of Hate is one way. As it turns out, this was the reason why Stella was even a Falcon, since otherwise Dystnine would end up as a test subject because of his curious nature of having a Septima despite being a robot. She didn't have a choice, or otherwise she would lose her one and only friend. Even worse, Dystnine signed to become a Falcon for Sumeragi later, and that's also not saving him from being used for experiments. It almost makes his death in Copen's hands a Mercy Kill.
- Save for Dystnine, the situation most Falcons are in are....unpleasant to say the least. It drives to the point that even if you are an Adept, you are not safe from Sumeragi, and it really makes Nova and Gunvolt-era Copen look like saints to the Adepts.
- Rebellio is on death row because he was forced to commit terrorism due to his family being held hostage. He was only hoping to see his family again, and is a pacifist. Unfortunately, Sumeragi wants Copen dead, and if Rebellio can do the job, he gets a reduced sentence. Some of his attacks are ironically themed after a guillotine and a scythe, and his special skill can snare you in thread, leaving you helpless as Rebellio attacks. If he's killed, Rebellio apologizes to his family as his last words, and he has no conflict with you. A pitiful waste.
- Like Rebellio, Stella is blackmailed to serve as a Falcon to protect Dystnine from Sumeragi. She's just a lonely woman who wanted a friend, but that's all it takes for her to be suckered into this dead end job. And if she's gone, Dystnine is dead no matter what. Killing Stella also robs a giant conglomerate of its president, meaning she sacrificed virtually everything she worked her way up to on the outcome of a fight.
- Bakto wants to run a crime family syndicate, and Sumeragi planned to free his gang from jail if he dispatched Copen, similar to Rebellio's quandary. Sumeragi has become so wide-reaching that even the mob pales in comparison.
- Blade initially starts out as a rival like Gunvolt, but in her second encounter, Demerzel hijacks her mind and Blade unwillingly activates Berserk Trigger when down to her last life bar. From that point on, she howls with pain and flies into a feral rage, performing all-out versions of her previous attacks, and her voice becomes savage. She winds up stuck this way, because her Septima has given way to control by the Butterfly Effect. However, the crowning moment is when it's revealed that Blade wasn't a volunteer or even coerced unlike the other Falcons. She's actually Kohaku's sister who let herself be captured to buy the rest of the Minos chance to escape...and was brainwashed by Asimov to become a mere tool of his.
- Crimm has a little too much fun blowing things up because he thinks it's art. His eagerness to destroy is on par with a serial bomber. Alongside Isola, he also doesn't seem to be suckered in, but it's clear that he has no interest in serving Demerzel and just wants to use it as an excuse to blow things up for the sake of personal fulfillment.
- Isola has a voice drama where she became a popular idol and wasn't evil, just ambitious. When Sumeragi got to her, they offered her a chance to become their idol to oppose Lola and turned Isola into a Falcon to harness her Septima, Companion. She also has a gruff, bossy personality when not onstage, so it's unclear if the true persona she's giving off is serious or bubbly. It appears that Isola is leading a double life, and likely has massive delusions stemming from too much time in the spotlight, or genuinely fakes it with some smooth acting chops.
- In Lola's voice drama, one of her fans just happened to be an Adept living in a Sumeragi controlled area, and said Adept was actually scared of her parents finding out that she was a fan of Lola and their conversation had to be held in secret. Considering how Lola and Copen were public enemy No. 1 for Sumeragi, it's implied that she's freaked out because her parents could hand her over to the Sumeragi military because she was listening to the enemy's idol.
- The greatest source of nightmare fuel in the game is the encounter with the Butterfly Effect machine.
- Set in a dark and dimly lit room, it's a series of transmission devices used to manipulate Septima, but it's all hooked into a giant human brain. It's so big and engorged because the mind-controlling Septima it houses has been augmented with insidious technology, and so many life-extending surgeries have sustained this brain well past human limitations, while the body was discarded. What makes this particularly awful however, is even way before we see it, Copen refuses to talk about it in front of his friends, and for good reason; this hellish contraption is Mytyl, his little sister, having her brain ripped off and being exploited and tortured by painfully extracting her Septima's influence. Then, Lola hears the sound of her crying from the resonating robotic parts. She can't even speak, and pre-battle, she makes the message "PLEASE"... "KILL ME" appear on digital screens in the room. The reveal that this is 100 years after the first Gunvolt implies she has been suffering for DECADES.
- Just what is the purpose of this thing? With all the available information combined, it's clearly there to make sure Asimov controls every single Adept entirely unopposed as all Minos die out. No Mino has a playing field with the powerful Sumeragi Adepts aside from Copen (who was already laden with cybernetic enhancements), meaning that if even he is gone, nobody left can or will stop his tyranny. That's right. Asimov captured an ill girl and took her brain to be hooked and tortured using a machine just to cement himself absolute power. Just like Dystnine above, this proves that even if you're an Adept, you are never safe in front of Asimov; as soon as the moment you are deemed useful for experimental purposes or his plans for control, you're instantly off to a Fate Worse than Death.
- Also Tear Jerker, but the Butterfly Effect's attacks will purposefully miss Copen. That is, they have openings larger than Copen himself and sometimes you even have to try to get hit by them. This thing does recognize that she's hitting her brother. Also, once slain, the Butterfly Effect spells out "THANK YOU" on the room monitors and Mytyl's brain falls apart as the attached machinery explodes, bringing her rest.
- Before this revelation, Lola has never said anything coarse or profane. When she discovers the horror placed upon Mytyl, it disturbs her so much that she erupts with anger and grief and shouts, "I'll NEVER let those Sumeragi bastards get away with this!"
- The reveal of Asimov as the head of Sumeragi. As a result of killing Gunvolt and Joule, he chose Blade and Mytyl to be the new king and queen he wanted, but the extent of his brutality in doing so makes it very clear that unlike Zonda, Asimov is not creating an adept paradise but a complete dystopia where he is a God, and whatever's left of the confident commander of QUILL is now a power-hungry tyrant and the MOST monstrous character in the Gunvolt series. You could feel sorry for killing every other villain who acted out of Well-Intentioned Extremism, had Freudian Excuses or are just plain cogs in the machine, but killing this Asimov will put a smile on your face.
- The Unrobotic Reveal of Asimov as Demerzel, a being made of pure electronic lightning who has transcended human form and mortality, and also secretly controlled every facet of Sumeragi under the guise as its AI. Copen also drops a whopper of a Wham Line to him when he says it's been over a hundred years since Copen and Asimov first met, and both of them have taken action to augment themselves to persist beyond normal human lifespans, Copen becoming a cyborg despite his aversion to Adepts and Asimov completely abandoning his humanity to become a lightning "god". Copen even thinks that Demerzel's brain has begun to malfunction after all that time and he really is insane, but it's more like he went mad with power and took to dominating the world, with his transcendence to pure lightning furthering his maniacal machinations, making him so insane that he forgot Copen couldn't possibly live for more than a century being human.
- The scene with Gunvolt and Joule laying dead on the ground in a pool of blood. It exemplifies how dark this spinoff series is, whereas the original game just showed a black screen.
- Berserk Trigger is a diabolical power that encapsulates With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
- As previously mentioned, Blade is placed under mind control to forcibly bring out the full power of the Septima implanted within her. However, her EX boss fight shows what happens when it's used while she's already lost it. It dials her insanity up twofold and she becomes a nigh-unstoppable animal. Blade has almost no downtime between attacks and moves blindingly fast. She also starts using her desperation attack as a normal move to blanket the screen in thunderous slashes.
- Berserk Trigger becomes the EX Ability Darkness Trigger for Lola following the second match with Blade, Lola having analyzed it and copied it. However, as Copen inserts the power into her, Lola transforms into her idol form, only with a fiendish appearance, emitting purple flames, screaming, and ending with loss of control. Copen considers this ability too dangerous and a failure until being convinced the powerful benefits could outweigh the side effects.
- If Lola has Darkness Trigger activated in a stage, you'll hear a shrill metal guitar chord and the song "Beyond Probability" overrides any music playing in the background. In this state, Lola tears through enemies with reckless abandon and you can power up EX Weapons. However, Lola succumbs to Blood Lust, and if she doesn't constantly have a bounty of enemies to prey on that you can target, her wrath will be redirected upon you. She will drain your life bar until you satiate her or perish. You'll bottom out with 1 HP, and that will ensure an anxious struggle to let not a single thing touch you until you get a health drop, and start the cycle all over AGAIN...
- EX Demerzel, the True Final Boss of the game. When Kohaku destroyed the glass container housing his program in sleep mode, it didn't finish him off. He's miraculously bounced back and then some, turning dark blue and using upgraded versions of all his attacks. However, if you succeed in beating him, you get the satisfaction of personally and permanently killing the bastard who made the world so corrupt.
