Chess Belle (Anime)

Chess Belle (チェス・ベル) is a seventeenth progenitor vampire in the Seraph of the End anime. She is often seen with Horn Skuld where they both serve Thirteenth Progenitor Crowley Eusford.

Taking part in the invasion of Shinjuku, Chess helps capture Moon Demon Company members. She would also be one of the targets of the extermination mission the humans launch on vampire nobles in Nagoya.

Appearance
She is very short with a hourglass figure. Chess has chin-length iris-blue colored hair and bangs that frame her face. Like all vampires, she has red eyes, fangs, and pointed ears though hers are not visible. Chess also has visible lower lashes.

For attire she wears a headband that matches Horn's. Chess also wears a matching black collar and a white cape that reaches past her buttocks.

Like Horn, she wears an attire with a low cut that reveals her cleavage. She wears a black and white dress in which the detached black sleeves begin from her hand to near her shoulders. A blue bow decorates the front of her bodice, and the dark gray of the dress emphasizes her breasts and hips as it trails down to the front of her skirt. She has a large bow at her tailbone in the back of her dress. Two white skirts layer over each other and reach down to her knees. She wears black stockings that reach right above her knees. Chess wears blue high heels.

Personality
Careless and playful, Chess can act endearingly immature and childish as well, which foils the more serious and mature behavior of her partner, Horn.

She is very fond of both Crowley and Horn, and Chess can usually be found in their company. She gets jealous easily as when Horn was allowed to drink Crowley's blood. Chess has difficulty controlling her desire for blood, so Chess tends to kill the humans she drinks from.

Maintaining her demeanour in battle, Chess drew her sword to defend herself from Crowley's practice with an enchanted weapon. Similarly Chess remains earnest when fighting and is committed to acting in her group's interest from deflecting manifestation powers against Crowley to intervening when Yu attacks.

Shinjuku Arc
Chess descends through the air along with fellow seventeenth progenitor Horn Skuld to land behind thirteenth progenitor Crowley Eusford. They are outside the walls of Shinjuku where smoke rises from the human city due to a vampire invasion that they are a part of. Seeing him before Shinoa squad, made up of squad leader Shinoa Hīragi and Mitsuba Sangū with Black Demon cursed gear holders Yūichirō Hyakuya, Shihō Kimizuki and Yoichi Saotome, Chess wonders why Crowley is wasting time on these humans. With the seventh progenitor, Ferid Bathory, requesting Crowley on the front lines, Chess heads with him by effortlessly leaping across buildings and leaving Shinoa squad behind. 8

She arrives with Horn and Crowley at the defence line having taken a detour, where Ferid is planning to have all the humans die aside from Yu who Mikaela Hyakuya wants to save. With her arrival fortifying the vampire's position, the plan has now changed from exterminating to capturing the Moon Demon Company to have them as livestock. As the humans attempt to retreat as ordered by Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose, they are pursued by vampires. As one of them, Chess has her sword drawn yet kicks Mitsuba over. With her captured, Chess then bites into Mitsuba. She keeps her pinned to the ground even with Yu staggering in her direction whilst he has a large dripping branch wing coming out if his shoulder having undergone a significant partial transformation. The battle for Shinjuku is lost for the vampires with the arrival of the main unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army led by Lieutenant General Kureto Hīragi as well as Shinya Hīragi. Chess manages to escape even though nobles were meant to be captured by the humans11 and later Chess is laying on her front as she plays a game of chess with Horn with her whip beside her.

Nagoya Arc
At Nagoya City hall, Chess is drinking from a Moon Demon Company soldier. Along with Crowley and Horn they were targeted by a forty five member army and after nineteen died, the rest were taken as hostages and tied to crucifixes outside. Remarking that she has had way too much to drink, Chess is told the hostages are not supposed to be killed, so she simply tells the human he cannot die without her permission. Realizing it is too late she apologizes for Crowley, she just got carried away. Told it is no problem, Chess asks Horn whether she heard that and she can have some while the human is still warm. Asked when she is going to learn some self-restraint since she is a noble not a savage, Chess replies if Horn keeps acting uptight like that she is going to miss all the good stuff, before happily asking whether lord Crowley agrees with her. At first unsure of it, Chess complies with Crowley’s request to come over to him. She draws her sword in time to block the fallen soldier’s one Crowley swings into her yet Chess sent crashing into the wall from the force of Crowley’s strike. Whilst there is heavy structural damage with Chess stuck there, she is unharmed. Chess asks what did he do that for. Regarding whether a human or vampire blade is stronger, Chess replies whichever weapon Crowley holds is bound to be the stronger one. Scoffing that Horn is offered to drink the blood from Crowley’s finger as he tests the cursed weapon on him, Chess asks if she can have a drink when Horn coyly declines. Stating no fair, why does Horn get to taste it, Chess watches blushing with her finger on her lips as Horn drinks.18 She is stood nearby unharmed from Yoichi’s cursed gear manifestation of Gekkouin that has crashed to destroy the outer wall of the room they are in. She watches Crowley toss the avian shaped power for it to explode harmlessly against the wall. Asking what that weird thing was, Chess saw it as some kind of exploding bird. When another attack does not come, Chess recommends that they could have some fun and go to hunt them down themselves. She asks Crowley what he means when he says that humans have a bad habit of making stupid decisions, especially when the smart choice is against their orders. Chess hears the humans may have a hidden agenda. Hearing that Ferid would be wanting to hear of this attack, they are to gather as much info as possible. Chess shares how she does not like lord Ferid. She feels he is always trying to seem so mysterious and finds that annoying. She does not deny that whenever Ferid is around there is never a dull moment. She happily agrees to the new plan of attack to capture the commanders and seize the one with the most info. Whilst the humans are attacking, Chess remains with Crowley and Horn as the vampires below battle. With Guren's squad, Shinoa squad and Makoto Narumi's squad taking part, Chess observes as the hostages are freed and when Norito Goshi has used his illusion generating cursed gear to give the appearance that many soldiers are attacking. She stands by as Crowley swings Guren and Shinya into the city hall. Helping to carry out the plan to capture the commanders at a leisurely pace, Chess enters a meeting room with Horn where Guren and Shinya are and asks why can they not just start the show already, she is feeling thirsty. She stands by bear the wall overseeing Guren fight Crowley and watches Horn prevent Shinya from interfering, using her whip. In the room where Guren and Shinya have escaped to, she peers from behind Crowley having joined him there.19 Whilst Crowley has captured Guren, Shinoa squad are attempting to rescue him. Chess arrives with Horn and uses her sword to block the flying red katana swords, a manifestation power of Yu’s cursed gear, Asuramaru, and deflects them to have the blades disappear. With Yu charging, Chess brings her weapon down on him with such force that when Yu defends from it it he is pressed into the floor to crush some tiles. With Horn raising him into the air with her whip, Chess capitalizes on the support to stab towards Yu. Despite her weapon being blocked by Shinoa and her scythe, the force behind it knocks both Yu and Shinoa over. With Horn she tears apart Yoichi’s Gekkouin arrows and Mitsuba’s Tenjiryu fire power. When Crowley recognizes Yu as the one who freaked out at Shinjuku and almost killed a bunch of their troops, Chess wonders why Crowley will not allow Yu to be killed. Chess asks why not, and to look at Yu, he is asking for it when he does not want to leave Guren behind. With all but Guren retreating, Chess loves playing chase and pursues them. Chess is startled at the molten fire that bursts into existence before her. Asking what it is, Chess comments it is hot. Stone blocks the path in front and magma erupts and flows in the volcanic environment Chess is stood in. She does not take part as Shigure Yukimi attacks Crowley, neither when Sayuri Hanayori attempts to rescue Guren with Goshi defending her, or when Mito Jūjō engages Crowley. She considers Crowley super impressive by breaking the illusion along with the outer wall of the city hall.20 Interrogating Guren, she tells him to start talking already and questions how did he and the other humans get such strong powers and who gave them. After hitting Guren again she concedes to Crowley and Horn and says she will be gentler this time when reminded Guren is to be kept alive. She steps on Guren’s head and asks whether he is comfortable down there. Chess turns to see Yu rapidly coming towards her with a sword and is defended by Crowley. As before Chess awaits nearby with Crowley left to enjoy his fight. However with Yu savagely attacks Crowley to little avail, Chess leaps on Guren to prevent him interfering with the battle and has her hands on him as he speaks. She appears shocked at the curse marks across Yu’s face culminating in a black horn stabbing out from his head. When Kiseki-o ’s Devil’s Coffin power has appeared and begun to count to nine, with Kimizuki arriving as well, Chess watches as Kimizuki throws Yu into a large black eel like blob with a huge fanged mouth that bursts from the coffin. After escaping to the floor below after a circle is sliced around him, Chess is unable to follow due to apparitions of Gekkouin and Tenjiryu. 21 Four months later, Chess is standing with Horn, Ferid and Crowley amongst other vampires including Lacus Welt and René Simm. She awaits a group of aircraft to land which contains vampire nobles including third progenitor Lest Karr.

Natural Abilities
Being a vampire, Chess is far stronger and faster than a human and possesses supernatural reflexes as well. This is to a greater extent on account of being a seventeenth progenitor. Chess can leap across great distances and the force behind one of her sword strikes can impact the ground a for stands on.

Weapon
Chess wields a double edged rapier that has a golden colored protective hilt and rain guard in addition to a dark brown grip. The blade itself is gray colored, long and thin and tapers to a point near the end.

Quotes

 * Um, Lord Crowley? What are you doing wasting your time with these humans?" - A question for Crowley when he is facing Shinoa squad.8
 * “Uh, I’ve had way too much to drink.” - After drinking a human to death, even when hostages are not supposed to be killed.
 * “Hey human, you can’t die without my permission, okay? I’m so sorry lord Crowley, I got carried away!” - The human cannot die and the reason why.
 * "But Lord Crowley, whichever weapon you hold is bound to be the strongest one isn't it?" - Replying to Crowley's desire to ascertain whether a human or vampire weapon is stronger.18
 * “No fair, why does she get to taste it!” - Jealous that Horn was afforded the chance to drink blood from Crowley’s finger.18
 * “What was that weird thing, some kind of exploding bird?” - Asking Crowley what Gekkouin, an attack from Yoichi’s cursed gear bow, was.19
 * “We could have some fun and go hunt them down ourselves?” Playfully suggesting a course of action when another attack does not come.19
 * “I don’t like lord Ferid he’s always trying to seem so mysterious, it’s annoying.” - Sharing her perspective on the seventh progenitor when Crowley mentions gathering intel for him.
 * “Why can’t we just start the show already? I’m feeling thirsty.” - Something planned for Shinya and Guren after finding them.
 * “Huh? But look at him, he’s asking for it.” - Confused as to why they cannot kill Yu who just wants to save Guren.19
 * “Oh come on start talking already. How did you and the other humans get such strong powers? Who gave them to you?” - Chess interrogates Guren on the origin of their cursed gear weapons, suspecting that someone gave them.21

Trivia

 * "Chess" is an American diminutive form of "Francesca" which means "free." It is also the name of a strategic board-game and her role fits as her character marks in position of checkmate.
 * "Belle" is a French given name which means "beautiful."