Nana (七), more commonly known as the infamous Hafuru-mono (はふる者; lit. "the entomber"), is the Blessed Regalia who was sealed away for committing "a grave sin in order to protect its master" (according to Kiun) a very long time ago, to the point of becoming partially mythical. She was released by Bishamonten, who then proceeded to give her her name, becoming her new master.
History
Nana was originally a girl from an Emishi village who was killed by an invading army when she attempted to protect her father. After her death as a human, she was summoned as a Shinki by a deity she refers to as "Aya-sama". The invading country, flying under Heaven's banner, expanded its borders into Emishi territory and decided to purge the entirety of the Emishi clan and their gods. However, when Heaven struck down Nana as an ordinary shinki, she was revived as a Blessed Regalia, and returned to strike down their ranks. According to what Iwami tells Kazuma, during one of her attacks, the Hafuru-mono committed the terrible sin of "disavowing the source of all life", that is, harming the cardinal goddess Amaterasu - ruler of the Heavens and personification of the sun. In response to this unprecedented strike, the Heavens were left with no other option but to seal Nana's soul inside a special cubic stone and keep it guarded in a cave.
Nana attacks Amaterasu
As the month of October begins the Gods once again leave their domains and gather at Takamagahara for Kamuhakari - a meeting of the gods. Knowing that the god guarding Nana's box would be away during this event, Bishamonten sneaks away from the meeting and goes to the cave all by herself to try and see what is inside. She finds the cube sealed with an ancient spell where Nana is imprisoned and releases her. As the Hafuru-mono hears Bishamonten's name (which implies an allegiance with the Heavens) upon her release, she goes berserk and starts attacking her, shouting about "savages who attacked her village" and wanting to die. During the fight, from which Bishamon comes out victorious, her reason for releasing Nana are revealed. Bishamon wishes to eliminate the Sorcerer without putting any of her own Shinki in danger, especially after seeing what Chiki's ability caused Tsuguha. She therefore decides to name the legendary Hafuru-mono, whose extraordinary powers would supposedly allow her to be immune to Chiki's influence and inflict damage to the Sorcerer. With the promises of "Heaven's head on a platter" and a final resting place, Bishamon convinces the Hafuru-mono to lend her her power.
Appearance
She is a young female shinki who wears old traditional Japanese clothing that has been ragged. She has messy black hair and has a rather unkempt appearance.
Personality
Immediately after being released by Bishamonten, she attacked her due to the fact Bishamonten smelled like the heavens. Having spent centuries being sealed away, she appears to have become somewhat savage, though she still retains her memories and sanity. She is disgusted with the heavens who not only killed her master but all of her friends and has stated she would rather die than submit to them. However, after Bishamonten promises to give her a resting place alongside her friends and revenge against heaven, she agrees. Even after agreeing, she still belittles Bishamonten due to the way she orders her around and because she is still a God associated with the heavens. She is easily amazed and startled by the world around her, at one point stating the trains were monsters that ate humans and hugging Bishamonten when she was startled though quickly jumping off her when she realized what she was doing. She has a temper and gets angry easily, understandably so. Because of her past, she has sympathy towards those with a grudge against heaven, as shown when she realizes the reason Father hates the heavens and Gods so much is because he once had someone he loved who the heavens murdered. She is also very murderous and vengeful towards heaven, as shown in chapter 61 where she and Bishamonten slayed numerous Gods but she still said it was not enough.
Nana's main goal is to get revenge on Heaven and finally die properly. She is so driven by this that even after having her human past revealed to her, she shook it off and declared that she was eager to die fighting again.
Plot
Bishamonten uses the New Year's party as a way to sneak away without suspicion from the gods and release the sealed hafuri. While the hafuri attacks her and states she would rather die than help the Gods of heaven who murdered her master and friends, Bishamonten promises to give her a resting place and revenge against heaven in exchange for her help, which she agrees to. Bishamonten then names her Nana and the two set off. Bishamonten takes her to look around the town and she is taken by the sights though still apprehensive of Bishamonten. When Bishamonten realizes Nana is hungry, she tells her to wait while she gets her food. Nana goes wandering around the town and goes to the fields which remind her of her old home. Bishamonten hands her some onigiri and asks her what she thinks of the town, but Nana simply snatches the food away and eats. Later Bishamonten once again equips her and goes to Hiyori's school to find out who is the sorcerer. She notices only Hiyori's and Fujisaki's heads move to see her, so she deduces correctly that Fujisaki is Father. She asks why he has been creating discord and he says he is sick and tired of Gods and humans and wants to torture them. Before she can kill him, the heavens arrive to punish both her and Nana.
Abilities
Shikki's form
Finally, the released soul becomes Bishamonten's Shinki. She is given the name Nana (七; lit. "seven"), with the vessel reading of "shichi". As weapon, her name is 七器 Shikki, and she transforms into a full set of clothing consisting of a skirt with a black belt and knee-high boots made of deer pelts , along with bindings around the chest and forearms, a cape and a mask covering the eyes designed like the head of a bird of prey with the addition of horns. Along with the clothing, Shikki also comes with a curved sword with a decorative wooden handle.
Shikki also has the ability to spawn a swarm of locusts that will both devour enemies and serve as a mode of flight.
Trivia
- According to chapter 60, the reason why she was named without the "Ha" sufix was because Bishamonten never had any intention to consider her a part of her family or to become attached to her.
- "Aya" means father in a dialect spoken in the Iwate prefecture. This reflects her Emishi origin.