"That's why I alone have the power to bring about the new world order!"
—Prado, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3

Prado "The Dual Knight" is a member of the ATEMS Knights in ATEMS appearing as a major antagonist in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, the boss of the mission Hot & Cold, and one of the protagonists of its Epilogue ATEMS scenario. She is an Adept with the unusual Septima Hot & Cold, which lets her wield both fire and ice.

Website Description[]

Appearance[]

Prado exudes a rather royal appearance: she has bright chestnut hair, with a shaft of it covering her right eye, which is reddish pink in color. She wears pearl white ball earrings. For her outfit, Prado wears a creamy white open tailcoat suit with pointed ends and black buttons, an inner white shirt, a blue scarf around her neck, and coal black trousers with matching high heels. On her right sleeve is a simple red bracelet, and on her left sleeve a smaller black bracelet with a single gold feather.

When Armed, Prado's sclera turns black, and she uniquely gains dual colored pupils; her right eye is blue, while her left is red. This also applies to her armor; alongside the usual gray, white and black color scheme, her red and blue colors are split between each side, referencing her Septima, with right being blue and left being red. She also gains a metal ring with gold segments that floats behind her and constantly emits fire and ice, as well as housing a single sword holster at the bottom. Prado's Armed Phenomenon form resembles a typical suit of knight armor.

Gallery[]

Main article: Prado "The Dual Knight"/Gallery

Personality[]

Prado can be described as "overwhelmingly flamboyant," constantly talking as if rattling off a theater script only a "thee" and "forsooth" away from Shakespeare. She will even compliment her foes for displaying "chivalrous attitudes" such as concern for their allies. Her theatrics give her an incredibly self-engrossed vibe that even her fellow Knights find repugnant.

She holds great pride in her Septima's control over two opposing elements, boasting about how powerful it is, and revels in facing off against strong opponents. She admires supremely powerful Adepts like ZedΩ and Gunvolt, but believes herself to be superior even to them.

History[]

Spectrum Theater - Stand Knight[]

When she was a child, Prado held an admiration for knights. She had high hopes to meet a figure of authority someday, in that she would pledge them lifelong loyalty by their side as a knight. To that end, she trained herself in the art of chivalry while waiting for a fateful encounter.

As the day finally comes, Prado stands proud near a military academy, and challenges the man ZedΩ to a duel, at the stake of the academy being close to disappearing, and because his organization ended their sponsorship because the intuition was outdated. ZedΩ deduces she challenged him because he was the main representative, which she confirms. If Prado were to win their bout, ZedΩ would continue his support towards her academy. He agrees, eager to see her resolve, and the two engage in combat.

Prado goes first, attacking with her flame waves. ZedΩ dodges, and comments her Septima must be a fire-type. The knight isn't done however, and continues her attack by summoning icicles. ZedΩ is taken aback by the sudden change in her Septima, but dodges nonetheless. He comments in awe that she might be controlling dual Septimas at once, which Prado wastes no time boasting about. However he corrects himself after discerning it is only Prado manipulating temperature, not having two Septimas. Rattled, she comments on how he saw through her fibbing, then attempts to attack with flames once again, only for the flames to fail coming out. Rattled, but still not done, she tries using ice, only for it to also fail. ZedΩ then reveals he decomposed the atoms that creates her flames and ice, preventing her from attacking. Prado contemplates the fact in shock, while ZedΩ iterates that she chose the wrong opponent, dealing a heavy blow.

Down, but not out, Prado declares that her pride as a knight is on the line, as long as she breathes. ZedΩ commends her resolution, before striking a deal: he becomes the new sponsor instead of the support group. He also corrects himself, stating he isn't actually the representative, to a horrified Prado. She hastily apologizes, but ZedΩ assures her, saying that he did accept her challenge. He then mentions that Prado gave their duel her all, which he admires. This stirs up something inside her, and she admits she loses their duel. ZedΩ helps her stand, and in this moment Prado realizes that her chivalry has led her to this moment. He asks him to become one of ZedΩ's Knights, which he happily obliges. From then on, she swore loyalty to the Prince on her life.

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3[]

Prado makes her appearance aboard Megafloat "Neptune", having stolen the Binding Brand hidden away. She invites Kirin and Gunvolt to witness her victory, proclaiming her Hot & Cold to be a Septima with world-changing potential beyond even Azure Striker or ZedΩ's Golden Trillion. While Kirin and GV manage to defeat the Dual Knight, she still manages to escape with the Binding Brand.

When Kirin and Gunvolt first approach the Sunrise Palace, they find Prado as the first major obstacle to their advance. While Kirin wants nothing to do with the flamboyant Knight, GV reminds them that she could interfere with the mission later if they don't handle her now. Prado proclaims how joyous she is to face off against the two once more, weirding them out even as they clash. She eventually retreats, allowing the two to proceed.

Prado is seen once more in the True Ending with the rest of ATEMS' leadership. Having reached a peace agreement with Sumeragi, they return to their homeland to deal with the Primal Dragons there.

Other Appearances[]

Card-en-Ciel[]

"You must have come to witness the magnificent Prado's glorious victory!"

Prado is one of the characters from Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 featured in the crossover roguelite card-battling RPG Card-en-Ciel, appearing as both cards and an enemy.

Prado's cards possess the [Convert] function, which means her normal state card is the default one in the deck and all copies will be converted into the armored version when [Convert] is triggered, and back again if [Convert] is triggered again.

Powers and Abilities[]

Prado is a powerful Adept with the Septima Hot & Cold, which can generate both fire and ice. It accomplishes this by manipulating temperature.^[3]

Boss Battle Skills[]

Prado uses flame attacks when facing left and ice attacks when facing right. In Hard Mode, if the player moves to the other side of Prado while she's preparing an attack, she will switch to the attack's opposite elemental counterpart.

Skill	Description
Straight Rose (ストレイトローズ)	Prado lunges at the player with her sword. In-between attacks, Prado moves around the room by jumping. In Hard Mode, she may drop straight down on the player mid-jump.
Grand Burn (グランドバーン)	Fire variant of Sky Freeze. Prado jumps and charges up in midair before making flame pillars appear from the ground. The flames then leave small fires on the floor for a few seconds. In Hard Mode, the flame pillars right next to the walls are taller than the rest, extending towards the ceiling. There is also no delay between Prado calling the attack and unleashing it.
Sky Freeze (スカイフリーズ)	Ice variant of Grand Burn. Prado jumps and charges up in midair before making icicles appear from the ceiling, which remain there for a few seconds before breaking. In Hard Mode, the icicles on half of the room break first, followed by the other half. When the icicles break, they send ice shards crashing down to the floor which can damage the player, though they can be blocked by Kirin's slashes or GV's Flashfield. There is also no delay between Prado calling the attack and unleashing it.
Torch Fire (トーチングファイア)	Fire variant of Crashing Ice. Prado uppercuts into the air, before sending three fireballs at the player. The fireballs leave behind small flames when they hit the floor or a wall. In Hard Mode, Prado shoots five fireballs instead. Alternatively, phase two onwards, after uppercutting, she may instead charge up her sword in the air before using Volcanic Surge or Avalanche Piercer.
Crashing Ice (クラッシングアイス)	Ice variant of Torch Fire. Prado uppercuts into the air before sending three shards of ice at the player. The ice shards can be destroyed by Kirin's slashes or GV's Flashfield. In Hard Mode, Prado sends five ice shards instead. The ice shards also split into two smaller ice shards upon crashing into the floor or a wall. Alternatively, phase two onwards, after uppercutting, she may instead charge up her sword in the air before using Volcanic Surge or Avalanche Piercer.
Flame Corridor (フレイムロストラム, Flame Rostrum)	Fire variant of Frost Gash. Prado charges up on the ground, before unleashing pillars of flame towards the left side of the room.
Frost Gash (フロストガッシュ)	Ice variant of Flame Corridor. Prado charges up on the ground before unleashing icicles which cover the floor and wall to her right. The ice can be destroyed by attacking it.
Volcanic Surge (ヴォルカニックサージ)	Fire variant of Avalanche Piercer. Prado begins using this attack during battle phase two. She charges up with her sword on the ground, before unleashing flame pillars that appear in most of the room except for a small area near her. In Hard Mode, the flame pillars are taller, extending up to the ceiling.
Avalanche Piercer (アヴァランチピアサー)	Ice variant of Volcanic Surge. Prado begins using this attack during battle phase two. She charges up with her sword on the ground, before making ice pillars appear near her. In Hard Mode, when the ice pillars break, they split into ice shards that then split into smaller ice shards upon hitting the ground. Just like with Crashing Ice, the shards can be destroyed by Kirin's slashes or GV's Flashfield.
Waltz of Twin Elements (Bielemental Garden（バイエレメンタルガーデン）)	Prado's special skill. Prado, in midair, raises her sword and extends it to slash three-fourths of the room, before slashing again in the other direction. She then makes pillars of ice and fire appear from the floor, with the pillars next to the walls being taller. In Hard Mode, after the slashes but before the pillars, she first extends flame pillars from the floor, and then ice pillars from the ceiling.

Boss Battle Voices[]

Japanese[]

English[]

*Prado omits part of this phrase when playing as Gunvolt, instead shortening it to "Time for a duel!" in Japanese, and "It's time for our duel!" in English.

Special Skill Chants[]

Waltz of Twin Elements

Designer Comments[]

Source: Dengeki Online interview about Gunvolt 3 character design and illustration

Musical Themes[]

(C) = Composer
(A) = Arranger

Trivia[]

• Prado's motifs are the Major Arcana XI (or VIII), Justice, and fire elemental spirits known as Salamanders, with the images of a Seraph and axolotl (aka Mexican salamander) being evoked as well.^[4] This matches the Arcana motif of most Gunvolt 3 characters, and the elemental spirits motif of the other ATEMS Knights.
  • The addition of ice to her abilities may be because one of Justice's aspects is balance.
• Prado is named after the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, matching the car-based names of most Gunvolt 3 characters.^[5]
• As with the other ATEMS Knights, Prado's skill Image Pulse has a Kanji version of her Septima name not found in the story script or any other materials. Hers is "Dual Kalpas" (双劫). A kalpa is a long period of time, generally between the creation and recreation of a world or universe, in Buddhist and Hindu cosmology. A roughly similar English concept/word is "aeon."
• Prado's normal design appears to be loosely derived from an early Sistina concept.
• Prado was the only ATEMS Knight to not be formally revealed prior to the release of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, with her "debut" stream and addition of her profile to the official site occurring two weeks after. Only her name and VA were known from a cast list on the Japanese eShop page, although her power was guessed based on a screenshot of her stage.
• The arrangement of colors on Prado's Armed form - blue on the left and red on the right, as seen from the front - resembles the color arrangement of the Nintendo Switch, the platform for which Gunvolt 3 was originally developed and first released.
• Prado wielding both fire and ice, with one used depending on the direction she faces, is similar to Gill in Street Fighter III and Shyna and Zohar from Silhouette Mirage.
• In D-nizer Mode, when you first fight Prado, the "little kitten" part from her voice lines is absent, since Kirin doesn't accompany Gunvolt. However, the same thing happens in Trial Mode, where you are able to fight Prado as Kirin.

References[]

• 4gamer.net article with information about Prado.
• Gunvolt News Channel Episode 49, Prado's debut stream. Unlike most of the other boss characters, her Japanese voice actress, Sumire Uesaka, did not make any sort of appearance.

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Navigation[]