Anastasia Nekrion

Anastasia Nekrion is the Fourth Princess of the Demon World, Titania Nekrion's daughter, and the head of one of the palace's three principal succession factions. Her nightmare mental arts and broad offensive, recovery, and support magic make her both a dangerous individual magician and a large-scale force multiplier. Initially a guarded rival to In-gong, she becomes his recurring military partner after he saves her at Curtis, then concludes that he is better suited to rule and publicly supports his succession.

Biography

Court Rivalry and Cooperation

Anastasia first occupies two different positions: an established royal contender in the present and a feared opponent in In-gong's memories of Knight Saga. He remembers her as a gifted enslaver supported by the nightmare faction and worries that his closeness to Felicia and Silvan could cause conflict with her. Those expectations are not evidence of Anastasia's current intentions. The remembered future ends with Zephyr killing Anastasia and the other royal children; it does not make her the author of the Day of Massacre. (Chapters 37 and 60–61)

In the current succession contest, Anastasia has already accumulated far more merit than the disregarded Ninth Prince and is one of only three royal children seriously seeking the throne. Chris describes her magical ability as monstrous and notes that she, rather than her older brother Victor, leads their faction. When the palace begins recognizing In-gong, he expects her to check his rise, but her demonstrated response at this stage is controlled scrutiny rather than violence. (Chapters 41, 60–61, and 83)

The full royal gathering shows how that scrutiny works. Anastasia chooses an independent mission, with Victor electing to support her, and uses Baikal's tea party to raise topics concerning In-gong until Felicia redirects them. She and In-gong exchange intense but non-hostile smiles, while Anastasia drinks Baikal's tea without fear of poison. The encounter establishes a succession culture based chiefly on intelligence, reputation, and merits: the siblings remain competitors, but direct fratricidal conflict is neither normal nor inevitable. (Chapters 102–110)

By the time In-gong enters the Sanctuary, Anastasia remains a recognized contender but no longer defines the standard he must follow. Mitra says that Anastasia and Baikal reached the Sanctuary with guidance, whereas In-gong and Zephyr reached it through their own strength. This comparison confirms her prior achievement while also marking In-gong's emergence beyond the position of a minor faction leader she can simply contain through court maneuvering. Their competition is still unresolved, but its balance has shifted before they are assigned to the same war. (Chapter 149)

Curtis and the Succession

At Curtis, Anastasia is the senior royal commander and still treats In-gong as a competitor for merits. She sends Carlos to guide and watch his party, assigns In-gong and Felicia to the quiet rear, and intends to keep their contribution small. Paran's betrayal then destroys communications and transport, leaving her faction blind. Anastasia immediately secures the central fortress, refuses Chandra's request to escape alone, and accepts that holding the army together is her responsibility even when she correctly expects Victor to preserve his own forces rather than rescue her. (Chapters 150–158)

Anastasia conceals her fear, organizes rest under nightmare sleeping magic, and holds the western wall with lightning and fire until War's influence and magical exhaustion nearly overwhelm her. In-gong's arrival saves her from a wyvern and breaks the enemy's supernatural morale, after which she opens the gates, uses spirit magic against freed monsters, and commands the retreat toward the twelfth base. She refuses to let In-gong cover the rear alone, helps break pursuing cavalry, repeatedly restores thousands of soldiers, and finally collapses from exhaustion after bringing the force to safety. (Chapters 159–164)

The rescue changes the form of their rivalry rather than erasing Anastasia's ambitions. She contributes a prepared counter-magic scroll and commands the final Curtis operations, then negotiates instead of attempting to seize every merit: In-gong yields the western and northern recapture to her, and she promises one future favor that cannot be used against the palace. Reflecting on Victor's decision and In-gong's rescue, she accepts Baikal's lesson that royal contenders are competitors, not enemies. Back at the palace, she publicly credits In-gong with saving her and gives him Succubus Tears as repayment. (Chapters 165–175)

Their cooperation becomes sustained during the northern campaign. Anastasia joins In-gong's accelerated march as a recovery magician, supports the group against frost creatures and undead, and works with Felicia and Baikal to disrupt Shutenberg's battlefield magic. After Mitra and the palace disappear, she chooses to return to Titania, but rejoins the royal coalition against the red dragon. When In-gong ascends, she recognizes without resentment that he is more suitable to be Demon King, later fights in the north, and formally supports his peaceful succession. The final political settlement identifies her as the undisputed prospective First Queen, though the text contrasts such political marriage with the rare love matches involving Felicia and Caitlin. (Chapters 199–221, 224–230, and 231)

Appearance and personality

Anastasia is an exceptionally beautiful woman in her early twenties, with pale skin, light-grey hair that appears silver, and eyes that flash purple when she uses mental magic. Her beauty is quiet and serene but distinctly bewitching, and her presence carries the pleasant scent and attraction associated with a succubus. She has narrow shoulders and waist with a fuller figure. In battle she normally wears white armour and ties her hair back; formal scenes place her in elegant, often white clothing. (Chapters 60, 159, 163–164, 168, and 231)

She maintains an elegant voice and controlled manners even while complaining, questioning rivals, or directing an army. Beneath that poise, Anastasia is ambitious, proud, competitive, and highly practical. She can use charm or political bargaining to pursue merit, yet her duty is genuine: she refuses private escape, masks fear for her soldiers, honors the debt created by In-gong's rescue, and adapts when her preferred magic fails. Her affection is most explicit toward Felicia, whom she calls her favorite sister, while later scenes also show a gentler manner toward Caitlin and a grouchy, humorous side around familiar companions. (Chapters 107, 158, 168, 175, 201, and 203)

Powers and abilities

Anastasia is one of the palace's foremost magicians and a commander able to apply magic to individual combat, mass defense, pursuit, retreat, and long-distance movement. Her greatest specialties are nightmare mental arts and wide-area support, but she also has enough elemental power to kill large flying monsters and defend a fortress wall. Her effectiveness depends on targets, preparation, and a finite reserve of magic and mental stamina.

Nightmare heritage and mental magic

As Titania's daughter and leader of the nightmares, Anastasia belongs to the nighthag tradition that includes succubi and incubi. Nightmares are stronger at night and specialize in sleep, attraction, and enslavement effects. Anastasia is described as naturally gifted at controlling others; her purple-eyed bewitchment can seize horses and turn monsters against their former side, while her long-term spirit magic can provoke creatures into attacking one another. These techniques let her convert enemy mobility or numbers into assets rather than defeating every target directly. (Chapters 37, 159–160, and 163)

Her succubus attraction can also be directed socially. She attempts to sway In-gong during their negotiation at Curtis, but expects his Tears of a Dark Elf to resist it, showing that mental defenses can block the effect. War's red aura similarly prevents the nightmares from luring the barbarians, and undead offer no useful target for her bewitchment at all. These counters force Anastasia to change roles rather than overpower immunity: she turns to elemental attacks against War's troops and wide-area enhancement against Shutenberg's undead. (Chapters 159, 168, 175, and 212)

Offensive and counter magic

Anastasia can cast powerful lightning and fire magic rapidly across a battlefield. At the central fortress, her chain lightning kills a wyvern and jumps through as many as five targets, while a fire barrier clears enemies climbing the walls. She also uses Fire Arrow, uncontrolled bursts in an emergency, and a close-range release of magic power after evading a club. These examples show that she can defend herself at close quarters, but her primary combat method remains spellcasting rather than weapon arts. (Chapter 159)

Preparation expands that repertoire. Before the Curtis counterattack, Anastasia creates a surprise scroll that Felicia activates against Artman; it interrupts his spell and causes the accumulated magic to explode back on him. She also works with Felicia and Baikal to widen a damaged section of Shutenberg's enormous magic circle, disrupting the energy supply to thousands of undead. The first feat relies on a prepared tool and the second on combined power, so neither establishes that Anastasia can casually negate every spell alone. (Chapters 165 and 214)

Recovery, enhancement, and mobility

Anastasia repeatedly casts wide-area recovery while moving thousands of soldiers toward safety. Her recovery magic heals wounds, revitalizes bodies, and removes fatigue; during later accelerated marches she becomes able to cast it almost perfectly while running. Against the undead she simultaneously strengthens allied courage, suppresses fear, and restores vigor, effectively replacing an exhausted support caster for the whole formation. These applications make her a strategic reserve of magic as important for endurance as for damage. (Chapters 161–163, 203, and 212–214)

Her support magic also interacts with allies' movement abilities. She helps sustain “faster than the wind” during long marches and later reduces air resistance around Quanta while Felicia restores the dragon's strength, allowing several hours of maximum-speed flight. Repeated campaigning produces a clear practical progression: before working with In-gong, Anastasia had never imagined routinely burning through all her magic, but the shared operations teach her to cast high-quality spells while moving and under severe resource pressure. (Chapters 161–163, 203, 214, and 220)

Limits and costs

Anastasia's magical reserves are large but finite, and potions restore magic power without removing accumulated mental and spiritual fatigue. Sustained extreme casting lengthens the intervals between her spells; at Curtis, overuse briefly blinds and deafens her, leaves her unable to evade a wyvern safely, and later causes her to collapse after repeated recovery spells for three thousand soldiers. Even in later campaigns she approaches exhaustion while sustaining accelerated movement. Her strongest mental specialty can also become unusable against protected minds, War's influence, or undead targets. (Chapters 159, 163, 203, and 212–214)

Command and political judgment

Anastasia combines battlefield command with succession politics. She rapidly occupies the central fortress after learning of Paran's betrayal, organizes sleep and defensive shifts, uses the enemy's broken morale to launch a counterattack, and moves troops and supplies together during retreat. After victory, she balances punishment for surrendering officers against the need for manpower and against inflaming a civil conflict. She can still be deceived by a trusted subordinate and cannot predict every ally's choice, but she responds decisively once new facts become available. (Chapters 158–169)

Her political tools include faction leadership, information gathering, merit allocation, personal persuasion, and negotiated obligations. Early caution leads her to place In-gong where he can earn little credit; later respect lets her exchange a future favor for campaign merits without pretending their ambitions have vanished. Her final judgment is voluntary and explicit: after Curtis and the northern coalition demonstrate In-gong's conduct, she accepts that he is the better candidate and supports a succession without civil war. (Chapters 83, 102–110, 150–153, 168, 226, and 230)

Relationships

• In-gong: Anastasia initially treats In-gong as a rising succession rival, probes his faction for information, and tries to limit his Curtis merits. His decision to cross the battlefield alone and save her changes that rivalry into reciprocal obligation and repeated military cooperation. She ultimately judges him more suitable to rule, supports his succession, and is expected to become his First Queen through a political arrangement whose private emotional basis is not established. (Chapters 61, 107, 150–175, 201–226, and 230–231)
• Felicia: Anastasia calls Felicia her favorite sister and is relieved that Felicia is stationed away from the central fortress's danger, although the two also spar over information and factional interests. Felicia helps rescue her, activates her counter-magic scroll, urges her to reward In-gong, and later combines magic with her throughout the northern campaign. (Chapters 37, 107, 150–175, 203, 214, and 220)
• Victor: Victor is Anastasia's older brother and supports the faction she leads. During the Curtis crisis she correctly concludes that he will preserve his army rather than attempt an unlikely rescue; she does not resent that rational decision and continues seeking merits that benefit them both. Her reflection on whether she could abandon him exposes the personal responsibility beneath their political partnership. (Chapters 83, 104, 150–169)
• Baikal: Baikal is both a competing throne candidate and an older brother Anastasia trusts. She attends his tea party without fearing poison and later adopts his principle that the royal contenders are competitors rather than enemies. He supports her when news of Mitra's disappearance overwhelms her, and she urgently seeks news of him after the final battle. (Chapters 107–110, 168, 212–221, 226, and 228)
• Caitlin: Caitlin is initially uneasy around Anastasia because of the factional divide, but Anastasia's attitude softens after Curtis. She includes Caitlin in her farewell, speaks gently with her during the northern march, and becomes her battlefield ally. Both are later presented as prospective queens, though Anastasia's expected first position is political while Caitlin's match is described as an unusual love marriage. (Chapters 107, 175, 201–214, and 230–231)
• Chris: Chris regards Anastasia as a magical monster and a dangerous rival faction leader, while she meets his suspicion with controlled formality. Their relationship becomes practical coalition work after Curtis: they travel and fight together in the north, with Chris even carrying Anastasia and Felicia as a mobile spell platform during the frost battle. (Chapters 83, 107, 175, and 199–221)
• Zephyr: Zephyr is one of Anastasia's principal succession rivals. In-gong's remembered Knight Saga future has Zephyr kill her during the Day of Massacre, but that possible history is distinct from their present conduct. In the altered course they participate in the same northern and final coalitions, and Anastasia's support helps settle the succession without the feared civil war. (Chapters 37, 60, 83, 107, 199–230)
• Titania: Titania is Anastasia's mother and the queen of the succubi/nightmares supporting her faction. Anastasia chooses to return to Titania after Mitra and the palace disappear, judging that her shaken mother should not be left alone. Titania later proposes Anastasia as In-gong's queen after the succession question becomes political. (Chapters 37, 83, 221, and 230)

Items

• Succubus Tears: A thin necklace containing strong resistance to mental attacks and Anastasia's attraction ability. Anastasia gives it to In-gong as repayment for saving her at Curtis, so it is not a possession she retains. No separate item article is generated for it. (Chapter 175)