Rory Mercury

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Rory Mercury
Profile
Kanji	ロリー·マーキュリー
Romaji	Rorī Mākyurī
Race	Human, Demi-Goddess
Age	961 965 (4 years time-skip)
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Crimson Red
Title(s)	Apostle of Emroy Rory the Reaper
Relatives	Unnamed Parents (deceased)
Status	Alive
Professional Info
Jobs(s)	Apostle of Emroy. Religious consultant for the JSDF.
Rank	Demi-Goddess and Apostle of Emroy
Affiliation	JSDF, Emroy
Location	Special Region
Media Info
Debut	Episode 3 Chapter 4
Voiced by	Risa Taneda (Japanese) Molly Searcy (English)

Rory Mercury (ロリー·マーキュリー Rorī Mākyurī) is a demigoddess and an apostle of Emroy, the god of darkness, war, violence and death. Despite her antediluvian age, she has the appearance of a 13-year-old girl. Along similar lines, despite her delicate, petite frame, she is widely known as Rory the Reaper due to her reaping everyone that has done bad by Emroy, Apostle of Emroy, who mercilessly slaughters her enemies with her giant halberd. Her gothic lolita dress is an outfit for priestesses. In terms of age, she is the third youngest Apostle of the Twelve Apostles.

Personality

Rory has a friendly personality as seen when she immediately became friends with Yōji Itami and started sitting on his lap. However, she shows no mercy to her enemies as seen when she slaughtered a gang of bandits without any remorse. In battle, she is shown to have a violent, sadistic personality, however, she is not without a sense of justice, often targeting bandits and criminals, while generally friendly towards the common people. After the two of them fight alongside each other at the Battle of Italica, Rory becomes friendly with Shino Kuribayashi, who shares a similar "warrior" mentality and high level of combat prowess with Rory. Rory seems to rather want to help the people in need, and get rid of the ones that are of clans such as bandits.

It is hinted that Rory is trying to delay her ascension for as long as possible because when she does, she loses any vestige of human emotion she has left. Her attraction towards Itami — aside from finding him "interesting" — is also due to because she sees him as a sort of emotional anchor to the world of mortals.

Later on in the series she falls in love with Itami and said that in her long life, he was the only man she truly enjoyed being with. She likes to tease Itami a lot, however she doesn't like when she is the one being teased. She tried to flirt with him quite a lot, however all those attempts were interrupted (mainly by other girls).

She also becomes sexually aroused when people die near her as seen when she fought in Italica. Lelei La Lalena describes this as the "souls of fallen warriors on the battlefield pass through her body to be drawn to the side of Emroy". As a demigoddess and apostle, the effect on her is like an aphrodisiac.

Rory has a complex about her real age and instantly gets mad when someone mentions it. She said that she wants to spend her last 40 years until she ascends to godhood with Itami. At the same time, evident with Mizuki Kōhara and Yao Haa Dushi, Rory would take it as an umbrage when people mistaken her as a mere child.

Rory is very attached to Youji, and gets annoyed whenever the lieutenant interacts meaningfully with any other girl, like when he was talking casually to his ex-wife Risa. She also dislikes Hardy and her offers of marriage. Her love for Itami is so great that she often attempts to subdue him multiple times in forceful manners like tying him in the bed or to the point of that she nearly rapes him.

She also has a great sense of pride, as shown when she punched Itami after he valued her statuette at ¥2000 the lowest of all statuettes modeled after Apostles. They added three more zeros after that. See in Gallery Souvenirs of the Special Area and 2000 Yen.

Appearance 

Despite being 961 years old, Rory has the appearance of a 13-year-old young girl as she has stopped aging when she ascended to become a living deity in mortal flesh and blood but blessed with powers no normal humans could ever hope to gain. She has long flowing black hair with a black ribbon as a hair ornament.

As an apostle of Emloy, her clothing is a reminiscent of Earth's Gothic Lolita culture: a black dress with red frills, black stockings supported with garters and a red boots. She wields a huge purplish axe as her main weapon. 

In the anime, her lip color changes from pink to purple when she's about to get dangerous. 

Before she was chosen to be Apostle of Emroy and during her childhood, she wears a priestess trainee formal black dress.  

History

Over 900 years ago, when Rory was but a young child after her parent were killed, she was a priestess trainee at the temple of Emroy in the kingdom of Eden. There she makes loyal group of friends who finds out one of them, Belle, is a daughter of the Faun family. Kingdom of Eden used to worship Zufumut, God of Light and order. Zufumut blessed the royals by bestowing them the divine Blood Sword Diva. King who wields the Diva can command any mortals to obey. The blood sword is forged out of blood and the heart of a daughter of the Faun family, and costs the host's life when created. For generations the Eden kings ruled by sacrificing life of a girl born in the Faun family to summon the sword (for a limited time usage). But few generations ago, a benevolent king of Eden declared this to be inhumane and cruel, and banned worshiping of Zufumut. He instead chose Emroy, God of Darkness as their prime religion.

The Zufumut worshipers became outcasts and turned into a cult. Kasutori, a Eden noble who was secretly a Zufumut follower, sought to gain the blood sword Diva by sacrificing Belle. Rory and friends finds out his evil scheme to wed Belle and kill her on the wedding night to summon the sword, and tries to protect Belle. One night Rory hears a voice "I pick you". She instinctively realizes Emroy has chosen her as his apostle, but does not understand why. But upon learning Belle's fate, she takes it upon that she was chosen to save her and destroy the Zufumut cult brooding in the underground of the Emroy temple. Rory and her friends are victorious, Kasutori is killed, Zufumut cultists are captured, and Belle is saved.

Plot

Rory is first shown wandering around the desert where she meets a gang of bandits. She heard their plans about attacking the refugees from Coda, so without any remorse she slaughtered every last one of them. Some time later, she appears walking alone on the road the Third Recon Team was taking to evacuate the city of Coda. Rory becomes intrigued by the Humvee being driven by Youji, and decides she wants to ride in it as well. Unfortunately she decides to sit in his lap, while he's driving.

After significant arguing, they reach a compromise of sharing the seat, with Itami nearly hanging partway out of the vehicle. She travels with the wagon train in this fashion until the Flame Dragon attacks the convoy. She aids the Third Recon in fending it off. Rory accompanies Third Recon back to Alnus Hill along with the refugees, and joins the group that travels to Italica. Although she keeps out of the political aspect of the goings-on there, she is happy to assist in the city's defense against bandits and is instrumental in holding the city until reinforcements from the JSDF arrive to drive off the attacking force.

She is also one of the three members of the unofficial envoy to Japan. There, she expertly defends the JSDF from Mizuki Kōhara, who tried to accuse it of incompetence and of using refugees as sacrifices during the battle against the Flame Dragon. She is at first dismissive of Japan's culture and trade, until she happens upon a shop selling Gothic-Lolita clothing, admiring a white outfit in particular. She also rides her first subway train, but is terrified due to a past experience with the Goddess Hardy who rules the underground.

As such, she clings to Itami and worries him to the point where he departs from the train with his group ahead of schedule. Rory also meets Itami's ex-wife, Risa, and scrutinizes her, seemingly jealous. After arriving at a hot springs inn, Rory gets a bit of alone time with Itami when everyone else is passed out drunk, showing that she knows of the battle taking place outside. She is also in a state of arousal, to which she tries to seduce Itami. In the manga and anime, when the group is ambushed at Hakone, she obliterates the foreign special forces soldiers who came to kidnap them, however, in the light novel, Rory spends so much time seducing Itami that she does not engage in combat, with the Special Forces instead wiping each other out.

When the native population at Alnus Hill balloons, Rory assists the MP's in keeping crime down with the assistance of her new underling Myuute Luna Sires, likely due to Emroy's domain including justice.Later, when Itami decides to hunt down the Flame Dragon, Rory joins him and forms a blood pact with him, to Itami's dismay. It is only revealed later that the pact transfers all physical harm from Itami to Rory, effectively making Itami invincible. While waiting outside the volcano that is the Flame Dragon's nest, however, she is ambushed by Giselle, an Apostle of Hardy, who is intent on taking Rory to be married to Hardy.

She and the rest of the hunting party are rescued by the combined arms division of the JSDF, who received permission to travel to the area by King Duran. After Itami is transferred to commanding Special Region Resource Investigation Team 101, Rory, along with Tuka, Lelei, and Yao, follow him. Rory rides with Itami to Crety, where she aids in finding a cure for a disease which will eventually lead to death and "zombification" that has afflicted Lelei in the Arrun Labyrinth. In the process, Rory is swallowed whole by a Minotaur, but survives thanks to her regenerative powers. She is, however, unable to escape until she is rescued by Itami and Yao, after they slay the creature and retrieve the Rokude Pear needed for the cure.

Skills & Abilities

Immortality: As an apostle of Emloy, she is granted immortality. As well as immunity to aging, she will remain alive even if torn to pieces, though if the pieces of her body are separated by long distances, she can be effectively neutralized (at least until she ascends) however she can make other people immortal for time, so that every time that person takes damage Rory gets hurt instead, this can cause Rory to die.

A demonstration of Rory's superhuman strength.

Superhuman strength: Rory has superhuman strength and is able to wield her Halberd with ease. Her halberd is so heavy that ordinary people may injure themselves just trying to lift it. Due to her Halberd is as heavy as a car, she is shown to strong enough to lift a Humvee with her bare hands in order for Itami and the rest to cross an extremely narrow mountain route.

Immense speed: Rory is able to dash around battlefield at incredible speed, and outrun a speeding vehicle. During the Hakone Incident, she also managed to dodge gunshots from an assault rifle used by CIA agents but this ability is not absolute since she cannot outrun all the bullets in which she receives a few shots in her torso.

Combat prowess: Rory is very skilled with her Halberd, shredding large enemy forces and even throwing it very accurately. She is never shown fighting without her halberd. Being alive, for over 960 years, Rory is capable of going against a number of soldiers, armed with guns, and emerge victorious. However, her fighting capability has limits since she would not attempt to fight the entire JSDF, knowing fully well that they can incapacitate her with their heavy ordinance as well as the fact she was overwhelmed and immobilized by the large group Arachnid Warrior Bugs in which Itami had to save her.

Hex: Rory is capable of using Hex based spells. She often uses Hex on JSDF's vehicle and supply crate to prevent someone from stealing it. Anyone touches the Hexed objected will die a gruesome death.

High speed regeneration: Rory's body regenerates any wound it receives. Even if her body is torn apart the body parts will heal if they are stuck together. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Giselle states that an apostle can be imprisoned or even de-facto eliminated (at least until they ascend) by breaking them into small enough pieces (can be done through explosive or high caliber firearm like 50 cal), separating them, and burying them. As the result, this is also the factor why Rory doesn't try to instigate conflict with the JSDF since she fully knows that the JSDF has enough firepower to incapacitate her.

Blood Pact: Later in the series Rory made a blood pact with Itami, aiding him in exchange for his servitude after his death. The real motivation and purpose behind the pact is unknown; however, all injuries that Itami suffers appear on Rory's body, which her body quickly regenerates, so long as all her limbs stay attached.

High Intelligence: During the journey to Japan, she revealed she was able to learn the Japanese language with ease. She is also very articulate and was able to stun the politician Mizuki Kōhara into silence during a debate with ease.

Driving: During her time with the JSDF did Rory, along with many of the dark elves that chose to side with the JSDF, learn how to drive, albeit very poorly where she nearly run over someone. Furthermore, she is also unable to ride a bicycle.

Weaknesses

• Dismemberment: Like all Apostles, Rory can be incapacitated if her limbs and head being separated from her body.
• Someone shouting her name out loud: For unknown reason, she states that if someone shouts her name loudly, her power will be reduced. This is shown when Rory reminds Yao not to shout her name in battle and state that she will lose a portion of her power.
• Effects of Substances: Despite being a demigod, she still succumbs to the effect of substances as she can be so drunk from alcohols that she cannot go home by herself and need someone to drag her.

Weapon

A thief gets buried under the weight of the halberd.

Halberd: Rory owns an gigantic halberd that is almost twice her size and has a weight of a car. The halberd is shown to be sharp and strong enough to nearly cut an Ogre in half and easily slice a human's head off as well as a person in half effortlessly. The halberd is also extremely heavy since only an Apostle like Rory and Giselle are capable of carrying it and any attempt to carry it by a human often results in injuries. For example, a thief got buried under the weight of the halberd after attempting to steal from Rory in Tokyo and Komakado injured his back after trying to lift it, Rory called him a "weak". The Halberd also shown to be strong enough to be bulletproof.

Trivia

• It is explained that Demigods who ascend into godhood can claim an aspect of the Deity they're Apostles of or claim any other aspect that has no associated Deity. Rory wants to become Goddess of Love after ascending; presumably it is an aspect that is currently unclaimed. Furthermore, she also asks Itami to let her meet Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love so she can ask some experience for her role much to his confusion and hesitation. However, much to her dismay, Hardy also falls in love with Aphrodite after seeing her picture in Lelei's Earth Mythological book.
• She shares Hardy dislike of Anubis since they both think he is ugly.
• She is one of the few beings from Special Region who possess a dangerous threat to Modern-Era Soldiers, as evident during the Hakone Incident, where she butchered US, Russian and Chinese Special forces. However, the result will be different if these soldiers were equipped with heavy weapons like grenade launchers, anti-tank weapons or 50 caliber firearms as these weapons can chop her limbs easily, incapacitating her.
• She has underground-phobia since she's afraid of Hardy.
• Rory's name is a pun on the Japanese word Loli (ロリ Rori) which refers to Lolita, Lolita fashion and so on.
• Rory Mercury could be compared to that of liquid mercury metal. Like the element, she is quick and swift during a melee combat but is also deadly and extremely dangerous to anyone who dares to confront her. Also, as liquid mercury tends to change its state constantly, so does Rory's erratic and hot-tempered vile nature. In the anime even her lipstick color seems to change with her moods.
• Mercury (Mercurius) is the Roman / Latin Name of Hermes, a god from Greek Mythology. One of his duties is to guide the souls of the dead into Hades (the greek underworld).
• Mercury carried a wand, the Caduceus, that has a pair of snakes twined about it, Rory's halberd has a single twined near the axe head.
• She wants to visit Valhalla and meets Odin, the God of War from the Norse-Germanic Mythology when she has the chance to go back to the world beyond the gate, only because they have similarities.
• Rory falls deeply in love with Itami and has never been in love before.
• Rory is a heavy drinker.
• She can only collect souls of warriors who die in the Special Region not in the world beyond the Gate showing that the world beyond the Gate like Japan is out of her jurisdiction.