Nina Antalk

Origin

Nina in her early teens

Nina was born in the Senou City of Schneibel to a noble family of Antalks which were famous for their Military Artists. She had lived her life in riches and relative luxury. She was spoiled and she was neglecting her Military Arts training. Nina had been longing to escape the binds of her city and see the whole world. Schneibel is famous for being the birthplace of Electronic Spirits. Through the Rigzario System many young E-Spirits born every year to later set off for a journey to inhabit new cities. At one time Nina spotted a fairy robber, someone who steal Electronic Fairies for money. She fought the robber, but the man appeared to be too strong for Nina. With a last ditch effort she managed to take away the E-Fairy but she had ended up falling into the depths of of the Mechanical Department. Suffering critical injuries, Nina was at the the verge of death. Many Electronic Spirits, including the protector of the city Schhneibel were flocking around Nina. One of the Electronic Fairies took mercy on Nina and healed her wounds, at the cost of its own life.

Nina Antalk, 1st year student in Zuellni

Thanks to the sacrifice of that little Fairy Nina managed to survive. Although her view of the world did a drastic turn. Nina felt guilty and swore to become stronger, strong enough to protect anyone she holds dear. She started taking her Military Arts training more seriously. Yet she didn't gave up on her dream of traveling around the world. Nina secretly took the entrance test for school and ran away from home. She and her childhood friend Harley took a Roaming Bus and traveled to the Academy City of Zuellni. When her parents got wind off Nina's selfish actions they set a letter containing a ticket back to Schneibel and the following words: "Besides this, we won't give you any help." Meaning the Antalk family cut all ties with her. Nina joined the Military Arts department while Harley became a DITE mechanic. To fund her tuition fees she was working part-time as a janitor in the Mechanical Department. There Nina accidentally met the E-fairy Zuellni and they became friends. From then on Nina swore to protect the city and became even more focused on the Military Arts. Due to her impressive skills she became a platoon member in her first year, a feat unusual for Military Arts students. She joined the 14th Platoon and soon participated in the next inter-city military arts competition against the Academy City of Melnisc. Barely, but Zuellni had lost the battle, partially due to Nina's blunder at the end.

Nina felt guilty and desperate. With the last defeat Zuellni was down to a single Selenium Mine. Selenium is the energy source of Electronic Fairies. Losing all of the Selenium Mines meant the death of Zuellni. Desperate times called for desperate measures. After thinking for a while Nina decided to form her own platoon. Despite everyone else's opinion she quit the 14th Platoon and applied for the student council president to form the new 17th Platoon.

Creation

Nina's concept art from the anime

Nina Antalk is the secondary lead of Chrome Shelled Regios written by Shuusuke Amagi and illustrated by Miyuu. She appeared as early as in the prologue of the light novels, in the first volume. In the anime adaptation she was featured in the first episode dubbed "The City That Possess Consciousness". Nina's Japanese seiyu was Ayahi Takagaki and her English dub was done by Brina Palencia.

Nina is the captain of the 17th Platoon and Layfon's superior and one of his potential love interests. Nina has short blond hair (often described as "golden" in the light novels) with a pair of p

etal-like hairclips on each side and one strand of hair poking out in an ahoge fashion. She usually wears shorts or mini skirts accompanied with long stockings in a zettai ryouiki style. Nina was often called beautiful but her attitude is rather tomboyish. She's strong-willed and very passionate about Military Arts. In many aspects Nina is the opposite of Layfon who possess great power yet little motivation to fight.

Character Evolution

Nina is a girl with strong resolve. She's dutiful and serious with a strict moral code. She's proud to be a Military Artists and possess a strong desire to protect Zuellni.

[continued later...]

Major Story Arcs

Volume 1 - Chrome Shelled Regios:

Nina while testing out Layfon's skills in combat

Nina started forming her own platoon but she was facing a great crisis. She had Harley Sutton as their DITE mechanic, Felli Loss for Psychokinesist and Sharnid Elipton the sniper. The fresh 17th Platoon only needed one additional member, a good attacker. She watched the entrance ceremony of the freshmen, expecting to find someone fitting that criteria. There was a commotion between two Military Arts students but a freshman skillfully took down both of them with ease. He was Layfon Alseif, someone enrolled in the general studies. Later, the student council president called Nina in. Karian Loss asked her if there was someone Nina found worthy to recruit into her platoon. First she answered "No" but then she quickly added "...he's in the general studies". With a smirk Karain told her that Layfon had already transferred into the Military Arts department and asked Nina to take him into the 17th Platoon. At first Nina was suspicious and refused to accept the president's offer. But in the end she had no choice. Nina called Layfon to the 17th Platoon's training room. She wanted see the new member's abilities in person. She let Layfon chose any of the practice Dites then challenged him to a sparing match. Nina didn't hold back and attacked with full force. Yet she and Layfon fought on even terms. In excitement Nina asked whether Layfon knows any external Kei techniques for which the boy nodded in confusion. Nina released a blast of Kei but Layfon was unable to block the attack. He fainted and was sent shortly to the hospital.

On the next night Layfon was surprised to meet Nina in the Mechanical Department. Turned out they had been both working at the same place part-time to earn extra money. They exchanged bentos and had dinner together. Nina asked Layfon about his home city and his reasons for coming to Zuellni. She also talked about her own family and how she ran away from home to study aboard. Their conversation got interrupted with one of the workers asking Nina to find Zuellni.

[continued later...]

Abilities and Powers

General:

• High Kei Output: Nina possesses Kei above the average Military Artists. Thanks to Layfon's training, the speed she can generate Kei and the amount she can store increased gradually. Nina is skilled in both internal and external Kei plus able to combine the two together for more complex techniques. Her output with Kei increase exponentially by the activation of the Haikizoku's powers.

• Haikizoku: Nina is possessed by the Haikizoku, Melnisc. After the initial struggles she managed to tame the enraged electronic spirit, allowing Nina to channel the being's great power. By turning on a mental switch Nina can let the energies of the Haikizoku fill her body while also surrounding her in a flaming golden aura. By using the Haikizoku's power, Nina's Kei increases drastically alongside with a huge boost in her physical abilities.

• Kei Sense: Nina is able to sense Kei over relatively long ranges. In addition Layfon taught her how to "see" the flow of Kei, allowing Nina to slightly read into the enemy's attack pattern and analyze their techniques.

• Super Speed: Nina has impressive speed. In base she can fight so fast normal people are unable to see her movements. With Raijin she goes beyond that and her movements were too fast for anyone but Layfon to perceive. Later by the Haikizoku's boost Nina dodged lightning bolts and remarked they were easy to avoid. Accompanying her speed Nina has great agility and grace. Albeit she's a longshot away from being comparable to a Heavens Blade Successor.

• Super Strength: Nina has superhuman striking force and strength. Even in base her attacks generated shockwaves that could be felt from dozens of meters away and break the armor-like shells of the Filth Monster larvae. With Raijin Nina was able to hit the head of a giant monster with such force it was sent flying for many hundred meters like a cannonball. With the combined power of the Haikizoku and Raijin Nina was able to fly through the many kilometers thick membrane of Durindana.

• Lightning Manipulation: By using Kei Nina can manipulate the element of lightning. She primarily uses it to perform Raijin but she can also channel electricity into her Dites for great effect. Using the boost from the Haikizoku Nina managed to cover a monster larger than the city of in electric shocks, enough to make the creature howl out in pain.

• En Travel: Using the En network between Electronic Fairies Nina is able to teleport over long distances. Although useful, this method only allows Nina to travel between the various cities. At first she did it involuntarily by Zuellni's will but later she learns how to control this power.

Weapons:

Nina's iron whip Dites

Nina dual wields a pair of heavy Iron Whip Dites in combat. These look like rapiers, except the blade was replaced with a thick metal stick with several rings to be used like batons. They're made from mostly black DITE material which offers great durability in exchange for low Kei conductivity. Harley commented that Nina's build and output with Kei would require the lighter and highly conductive white alloy instead but Nina had stubbornly denied it. Gradually she used to the weight of the iron whips and made her own style to fit the weapons.

Later, after Nina's output combined with the Haikizoku's power broke her Dites, Zuellni replaced them with a new pair. These new Dites had the same appearance yet were capable of channeling unlimited amounts of Kei. Using these Nina was able to use her entire power with her attacks, to shocking effects. Her raw power became easily comparable to a Heavens Blade Successor.

Techniques:

• External Kei Burst - Thunder: Nina crosses her weapons then releases a wide burst of lightning-like energy. The attack is weak and against skilled Military Artists it's only useful for knocking them away. Albeit the technique should be stronger with the aid of the Haikizoku.

• Sakkei: Nina suppresses her Kei and hides her presence. Useful for ambushes and stealth missions. Although Nina's skill isn't at the level of Layfon and Sharnid, she's at least capable of sneaking up to Military Artists slightly above the average.

• Combined External and Internal Kei - Gongoukei: Two-step defensive technique which allows to take powerful attacks without seemingly any effect. First, Nina releases a concentrated burst of external Kei to intercept the opposing attack. Following that she reinforces her body with internal Kei to withstand the remaining impact. The whole process must be timed perfectly for optimal effect. The technique can also be used offensively if Nina releases more energy than the power of the opposing attack, knocking the enemy away or severely harming it. Also, supposedly Nina cannot completely block attacks with power above hers, neither use Gongoukei against an attack she wasn't expecting.

• Combined Internal and External Kei - Raijin: Using both internal and external type Kei Nina charges straight at the enemy while enveloped in a lightning-like aura. Raijin increases Nina's speed, strength and destructive power exponentially while also releasing multiple strikes of lightning in her path. This is a technique for absolute offense. Byusing Raijin Nina hit a giant monster's head like it was shot out from a cannon and sent it flying for many hundreds of meters. Furthermore, with the combination of Haikizoku's power Nina was able to drill through several kilometers of armor, hides and skin in an instant, traveling from Grendan to the nearby city of in less than a second.