“By the Lead of Fragile Chain, I'm Existing Here——
I am Nightmare, I am Grendel Biting Myself...!!”
— Transformation lines
Grendel (魔装鬼 グレンデル), also known as the Blue-Darkness clad Demonic Gear Ogre (黎を纏い魔装鬼 グレンデル), is the mysterious form Van Arkride undertakes in certain circumstances.
Profile
- See also: Van Arkride
Appearance
As Grendel, Van appears clad in a fit, flexible full-body armor which stands taller than his human body by approximately one whole head's height. The form prominently displays his thin, but defined musculature. Van has glowing waist-length hair falling from behind the armor's head covering helmet while possessing extended glowing claws and toes on each respective limb. Van's Grendel form possesses a gray-bluish prominent armor with turquoise glowing energy lines. The glowing hair has a dominant turquoise gradient offsetting to a yellow-orange tip. The claws and toes are also turquoise colored.
Background
The exact circumstances surrounding Grendel's origin and nature are yet to be revealed. Van originally takes on the form when in a life-threatening situation and continues to use it when facing formidable opponents. Upon its first usage, the AI from his Hollow core, Mare manifests in the real world and displays sentience that should not be possible under normal circumstances. Mare prompts Van to take the Grendel, asking him whether he will 'don the nightmare' or not.
Upon shifting into the form, Van glows and Mare flies around him. Two voices echo the words 'By the lead of the fragile chain.' These words change to "I exist in this world by the Lead of the Fragile Chain. / By the Lead of the Fragile Chain, I'm Existing Here--" The words "I am the nightmare. I am Grendel, the beast devouring his own flesh! / I am Nightmare, I am Grendel Biting Myself...!!" are added when Grendel-Alter or Grendel-Sin are used.
Quatre Salision describes it as being composed of extremely high density shards. Later, it is revealed to be a form of restraint that separates Van from Vagrants-Zion.
Kuro no Kiseki
During Prologue: "Spriggan of Downtown" (旧市街の
Mare cautions Van about overusing or being too eager to use the form. Upon trying to use the form in Tharbad, van instead glows red and an error seems to occur, with van reeling in pain. A voice cautions him that he scarcely needs to don the nightmare, as he is himself the nightmare.
When trying to extract Answers about Grendel form Mare, the party draw her out in Dirke Memorial Park when fighting the Ragnean=Jule. Although they cannot comprehend everything Mare states, they discover she is influenced by something and is therefore able to lend power as something else. Should he overuse it, he will become something.
Two alternative forms of Grendel, Grendel-Alter (the Demonic Gear Orge of Creeping Blue-Darkness) and Grendel-Sin (the Demonic Gear Orge Awaken from the Blue Darkness), are used in Chapter 5: "White Night Carnival" (白夜のカルナヴァル) and Finale: "For Your Return Someday" いつか還る貴方のために, respectively.
Van enters Grendel's true form when fighting Demon Gerard, Grendel-Sin. Using this form, he is able to take back the diabolic core from Gerard, but in doing so, becomes Vagrants-Zion. Mare states this is Van, "casting off his restraints as Grendel and embracing his true self."
Van would later don the form to fight his demonic self and use it to cast the core into the reaches of the Infinite Boundary.
Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin
Grendel is used again to fight with Grendel-Zolga and its own Hollow Core AI Altera.
Gameplay
Van Arkride can "clad" into Grendel for certain storyline battles, The transformation significantly boosts various stats and makes Van capable of attacking with close-combat twice in quick succession and combining Crafts. Additionally, using one S-Boost slot will grant him another turn, thus making him able to perform a total of three actions in a single turn.
His basic attacks can be used as many times as desired. His physical and magical attack crafts will deal their respective damage type. They can be used once each per chain. When boosted, Grendel can expend 100 CP to utilize his S-Craft. He can also S-Break.
Grendel's S-Craft is Regal Strike.
With the battle against Vagrants-Zion, Van Arkride can use Grendel form through the Craft: Take the Grendel.
Craft List
| Name | Cost | Delay | Power | Stun Bar Multiplier | Number of Hits | Radius | Effect(s) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Blow
クイックブロウ |
0 CP | 100 | C (120%) | 8 | 1 | Single | PDF Down (S) (3 turns) | Regular attack |
| Heavy Spike
ヘヴィスパイク |
10 CP | 105 | C+ (140%) | 12 | 1 | Single | MAT Down (S) (3 turns) | Regular attack |
| Savage Hands
サベージハンズ |
20 CP | 110 | B (160%) | 10 | 2x Number of Enemies | Cone (S) | HP Absorb (10%) | Craft |
| Mortal Raid
モータルレイド |
30 CP | 115 | A (210%) | 16 | 2x Number of Enemies | Area (M) | MDF Down (S) (3 turns) | Craft |
| Destruction Fist
劫吧崩拳 |
50 CP | 125 | S (280%) | 20 | 2x Number of Enemies | Area Line | Slow (S) (3 turns) | Craft |
| Howling Roar
ハウリングロア |
100 EP | 115 | B+ (180%) | 6 | 1x Number of Enemies | Cone (L) | Impede
Hate Up (3 turns) |
Magic |
| Limited Blaster
リミテッドブラスター |
160 EP | 120 | A+ (240%) | 8 | 6x Number of Enemies | Line (M) | ATK Down (S) (3 turns) | Magic |
| Regal Strike
レイガル・ストライク |
100 CP | 150 | SS (370%) | 28 | 1+22x Number of Enemies | Area (LL) | N/A | S-Craft |
Quotes
“*Van, will you clad the nightmare or not clad it? (Grendel & Alter)
- Van, will you wake up from the dream or not wake up from it? (Grendel-Sin)”
— Mare's questions
Gallery
Kuro no Kiseki
.png "Grendel (Kuro).png (167 KB)")
.jpg.jpg "Announcement visual (Kuro).jpg.jpg (269 KB)")
.png "Van & Grendel - Key Visual (Kuro).png (3.04 MB)")
.jpg "Mare - Promotional Screenshot 3 (Kuro).jpg (267 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 1 (Kuro).jpg (213 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 2 (Kuro).jpg (195 KB)")
.png "Grendel concept art 2 (Kuro).png (226 KB)")
.png "Grendel concept art 3 (Kuro).png (575 KB)")
.png "Grendel concept art 4 (Kuro).png (1.93 MB)")
Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin
.webp "Grendel (Kuro II).webp (69 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 1 (Kuro II).jpg (577 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 2 (Kuro II).jpg (399 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 3 (Kuro II).jpg (447 KB)")
Trivia
- Grendel is the name of a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, described as "a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our human kind".
