| “ | Round metal. Smoother and shinier than a mirror. It has a reassuring weight when held in the hand. |
” |
| —The character's evaluation of Dennies on this page. | ||
Jap:ニコ・デマラ
Kor:니콜 데마라
Ether
SupportNicole DemaraIs bymiHoYo...from the game "Zenless Zone Zero" and its derivative works.
Introduction
"Round metal."
"Smoother and shinier than a mirror."
"It has a reassuring weight when held in your hand."
"Boss Nicole, is our target this Golden Bangboo or the Silver Bangboo?"
"Idiot!"
"Of course we're taking them both!!!"
The boss of the "Gentle House" odd-job agency, who takes on various commissions related to Hollow investigations.
A "street-smart veteran" who has spent years on the streets of New Eridu, she enjoys the "reputation" among her peers that "a wily rabbit has three burrows, but Nicole has three hundred."
Due to her slick and cunning style and her habit of dealing with both sides of the law, she has been blacklisted by many clients.
She loves money, but the "Gentle House" is constantly on the verge of a deficit and carries a significant amount of debt.
Character History
- Early stage
She lived in an orphanage as a child and was later adopted by a well-known family, but chose to leave for unknown reasons and lived on the streets. During this time, she founded the Gentle House single-handedly, eventually recruiting Anby and Billy, and also met the Phaethon siblings, who run a video store as a front.
- Phaethon's Story Prologue: "Business × Strangeness × Justice"
The trio from Gentle House was commissioned by an anonymous employer to retrieve a safe stolen by the Red Fang Gang in Fourteenth Street. When cornered by the Red Fang Gang, Nicole and the others used flashbangs to attract the attention of the Public Security, but were caught in the crossfire of a missile fired by them. Anby, Billy, and the safe fell into the Crete Hollow below, while Nicole managed to escape.
Nicole went to commissionBelleandWiseThis "Phaethon" duo went to rescue Anby and Billy and retrieve the commissioned item, claiming they would pay off the debt after the job was done. Anby and Billy, guided by a Bangboo that had sensory synchronization with Phaethon inside the Hollow, escaped and reunited with Nicole and the siblings. Both parties decided to find a way to crack the hard drive obtained from The Silver first, and then find a way to take back the safe.
Nicole used her connections to find the location of the safe, and the Phaethon siblings also cracked the hard drive and found the safe's password. The Cunning Hares' customized battle plan was simple—kill The Silver, who had turned into an Ethereal, and seize the safe. While the Cunning Hares and Phaethon were infiltrating the Hollow together for investigation, the HDD system used by the Phaethon siblings to connect with the Bangboo and infiltrate the Hollow was hacked by a mysterious person who took control. This led to the Cunning Hares trio being repeatedly lured to dangerous places by the controlled Bangboo. After seeing the Hollow Investigative Association also entering the Hollow, Billy once suggested that Nicole sell out Phaethon to them in exchange for their own safe departure, but Nicole refused. Shortly after, the Phaethon siblings regained control of the HDD system at the cost of completely destroying Phaethon's Inter-Knot data. When the Cunning Hares trio asked why the siblings came back to save them, the siblings replied that since they were their Proxies, they had to be responsible for them.
The Cunning Hares trio found the safe and killed the pursuing The Silver. However, because Phaethon's account data had been deleted, the Phaethon siblings also lost their way to lead them out. Therefore, they decided to take a risk and activate the "Rosetta Data" stored in the safe, using its permissions to successfully lead everyone out of the Hollow.
Nicole paid off the debt as promised, but because the sibling who entered the Hollow activated the Rosetta Data and fell into a coma as a result, most of the debt was used for medical expenses.
- Phaethon's Story Chapter 1: "Cat's Lost Property"
Nicole accepted a commission from the Phaethon siblings to investigate the origin of the safe in the Red Fang Gang's territory, learning that the Red Fang Gang was also instructed by a mysterious force to steal the Rosetta Data. During the investigation, Nekomamiya Mana found Nicole, claiming she wanted to commission the Cunning Hares to help her find a family heirloom stolen by the Red Fang Gang.
The four entered the Dead End Hollow, where the notorious Ethereal "Dead End Butcher" resided, for investigation. At this time, Vision Interactive planned to blow up Canvas Lane to execute a new project, publicly claiming they had evacuated the original residents of Canvas Lane and intended to transport bombs through the old subway of the Dead End Hollow. Nekomata claimed to have found a child who had wandered in by mistake. After Nicole and the others confirmed that Nekomata truly wanted to rescue the child, they followed her lead and indeed found a child, learning that the child was a resident of Canvas Lane and discovering that the residents had not been evacuated as Vision Interactive announced. Nicole decided to help the residents escape, issuing a Cunning Hares letter of guarantee to every resident and letting Nekomata go out first to find the Phaethon siblings for reinforcements.
After the Phaethon siblings arrived, everyone went to hijack the train used by Vision Interactive to transport bombs and controlled Charles Perlman, the Chief Representative of Vision Interactive, intending to use the train to carry the residents into the New Eridu city area. However, Perlman's subordinates blew up the train tracks, and the plan failed. Nekomata revealed the heirloom she was looking for—a photo with The Silver—and confessed that she was actually an orphan who had been adopted by the Red Fang Gang and left after the gang became corrupt. She had originally mistakenly thought the Cunning Hares killed The Silver and wanted to avenge him, but she felt the kindness of the Cunning Hares and learned that they were not the direct cause of The Silver's death. Therefore, she gave up her plan for revenge and then took Perlman alone to leave the Hollow on foot to negotiate with the Vision Interactive members executing the demolition plan outside.
The Phaethon siblings and the Cunning Hares trio executed a new battle plan—kill the notorious Ethereal "Dead End Butcher" and use its energy to shrink the Hollow to restore the passage between Canvas Lane and the New Eridu city area. The Cunning Hares trio was responsible for holding off the Dead End Butcher, while the Phaethon siblings operated the train full of bombs to blow it up. After leaving the Hollow, Nicole immediately contacted the police and Vision Interactive's competitor, Belobog Heavy Industries, to prevent Vision Interactive from further harming the Canvas Lane residents after they escaped. All members of Vision Interactive were arrested.
Afterwards, the Cunning Hares took over the lawsuit against Vision Interactive and let bygones be bygones regarding Nekomata's previous intention to seek revenge against them. After having a meal together, they accepted Nekomata as a new member of the Cunning Hares.
- Phaethon's Story Chapter 2: "A Call from the Hollow's Heart...?"
After Belobog Heavy Industries was slandered by a competitor and an accident involving the loss of intelligent engineering machinery occurred, Nicole introduced the Phaethon siblings to Belobog Heavy Industries to assist. Afterwards, Phaethon commissioned Nicole to find the hacker Rain to crack the information in the external storage unit of Belobog Heavy Industries' intelligent engineering machinery prototype.
- Phaethon's Story Chapter 3: "The Midnight Search"
The Vision Interactive lawsuit was about to go to trial, but Rain had recently mysteriously disappeared and sent many empty messages to Nicole. After finding that the messages came from the Ballet Twins Towers, which had already been swallowed by a Hollow, Nicole let Anby, Billy, and Nekomata enter the Ballet Twins Towers with Phaethon to investigate. Phaethon and the others met Victoria Housekeeping, who were hired to manage the building, in the towers. Subsequently, Nicole urgently contacted Anby and the others, stating that all members of the Cunning Hares needed to take an airship with Nicole to the trial site. Thus, Victoria Housekeeping took over the task of acting as Phaethon's proxy, investigating the Ballet Twins Towers, and searching for Rain.
After Anby and the others rushed back to Nicole, they took the airship to attend the trial. Before boarding the airship, Anby expressed concern that Phaethon would no longer need the Cunning Hares after cooperating with the powerful Victoria Housekeeping, but Nicole said there was no need to worry. However, during the airship's journey, anesthetic gas emanated from the suitcase opened by Perlman, knocking out everyone on the airship except Billy. The airship was also hacked by the coerced Rain and headed towards the Hollow where the Ballet Twins Towers were located. Fortunately, Phaethon and Victoria Housekeeping on the other side rescued Rain in time and operated the airship to land safely on the top of Tower B of the Ballet Twins Towers. However, Perlman, who woke up early, escaped in the chaos.
- Event "Camellia Golden Week"
- Phaethon's Chronicles Season 2 Epilogue "Sunset in New Eridu (Part 1)"
(To be added)
Character Information
- The surname Demara may be taken from Ferdinand "Waldo" Demara, known as "The Great Impostor," who assumed many identities during his life, such as psychologist, engineer, and doctor.
- Nicole's EX Special Attack has two activation methods: tap and hold. Both involve firing two shells forward from a standing position. While holding the EX Special Attack, two sets of hidden animations can be triggered:
- During the charging process of the held EX Special Attack, if you quickly rotate the directional keys in a circle[2]/rotate the left stick/turn the directional wheel while continuing to hold the charge, Nicole will sit on her suitcase, cross her legs, and cover her ears; the shells fired will change from two to one.
- If you release the charge immediately after rotating the directional keys, Nicole will fall back onto the ground; the shell fired will change from a flat shot to a high-angle lob, and the range will be shortened.
- Nicole's phone prototype may be the Sharp SH251is, though the camera position is different.
Outfits
- Cunning Sweetheart
Pink! Pink! Pink! Pink is Nicole's signature color. Is your heart racing?
Want to take a photo of me? Sure!
But you'll need to pay the corresponding modeling fee. The price is definitely a bargain!
Oh, right! Can you put an ad for the Cunning Hares in the magazine? That way, I'll give you a further discount on the modeling fee~
My outfit today is perfect for street photography, don't you think?
Nicole (Support · Ether)
| Skills | Skill Description |
|---|---|
Basic Attack |
TapBasic Attack buttonActivates:
After launching a [Special Attack], [EX Special Attack], [Chain Attack], or [Ultimate], Nicole reloads and enhances her [Basic Attack] and [Dash Attack], increasing the power of her bullets. |
Dodge |
TapDodge buttonActivates:
After dodging by moving the joystick, pressDodge buttonActivates:
After triggering [Perfect Dodge], tapDodge buttonActivates: |
Assist Skill |
Trigger: When the active character is knocked back, pressAssist ButtonActivates:
When the active character is about to be attacked, tapAssist ButtonActivates:
After triggering [Defensive Assist], tapBasic Attack buttonActivates: |
Special Moves |
TapSpecial Attack ButtonActivates:
When Energy is sufficient, pressSpecial Attack ButtonActivates: |
Discharge Skill |
When a [Chain Attack] is triggered, select the character to activate:
When Decibel Level reaches [Maximum], pressUltimate ButtonActivates: |
Mindscape Cinema
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Pressurized Enhancer | Damage and Anomaly Buildup dealt by [EX Special Attack] increase by 16%; When launching an [EX Special Attack], for every 0.1s spent charging, the duration of the energy field generated at the target increases by 0.15s. "You've all been buffed by me, now get in there!" |
| Energy Accumulation Device | When the debuff from [Core Passive: Mechanical Case] is triggered, Nicole recovers 5 Energy. This can be triggered at most once every 15 seconds.
"Don't underestimate that extra second!" |
| Cunning Hare Wit | [Basic Attack], [Dodge], [Support Attack], [Special Attack], and [Chain Attack] skill levels +2
With neither extraordinary martial prowess nor abundant resources, Nicole has managed to keep the Cunning Hares running to this day by relying on her quick wits. |
| Field Expansion | When Nicole uses an [EX Special Attack], [Chain Attack], or [Ultimate], the attack range of the energy field generated at the target's location is increased, with its diameter increasing by 3 meters.
"Here, and here, will all become the Cunning Hares' territory in the future, do you understand!?" |
| Industry Figure | [Basic Attack], [Dodge], [Support Attack], [Special Attack], and [Chain Attack] skill levels +2
Despite having many enemies in the industry, Nicole has repeatedly led her subordinates to survive life-threatening situations, steadily increasing the Cunning Hares' fame and experience. |
| Corrosive Energy Field | When the energy field deals damage to an enemy, the entire squad's CRIT Rate against that target increases by 1.5%, stacking up to 10 times and lasting for 12 seconds. The duration of each stack is calculated independently.
Using higher-grade mechanical ammunition, both the powder charge and concentrated Ether content have been increased, resulting in higher damage, longer duration... and a higher price. |
Detailed Information
Searching the database for: Nicole, returning relevant results:
"Manager of the 'Cunning Hares' odd-job agency," "A street-smart individual who fought her way up," "An orphan whose parents are a mystery."
Nicole's agency was originally named "Gentle House". However, due to her cunning and stingy management style, it was mockingly nicknamed "Cunning Hares".
"This person is absolutely obsessed with money! I have no idea what she's doing with all that cash; it's like she hasn't done anything with it."
—The above information is an original excerpt from a trending Inter-Knot post: "Exposing a ridiculous handy agency, I've never seen a boss so obsessed with money!"
Regarding this, the person in question stated: "Th-this is slander! Listen up, I, Nicole, have never been obsessed with money—because I don't have any money at all!"
According to reliable sources, the Cunning Hares are in a constant state of deficit. The manager's "shrewd calculations" don't seem to have brought any positive results to the organization.
Nicole spent a considerable amount of time in an orphanage during her early years.
Rumor has it that Nicole once reached an adoption agreement with a prestigious family. However, shortly after, Nicole appeared alone again somewhere in New Eridu and began her life on the streets, which continues to this day.
Collaboration Notes
- Belle
It turns out Nicole is even more famous in the industry than I thought!
- Wise
Rather than these sharp critiques, I'd much rather see a compilation of all the bills Nicole has defaulted on so far.
Birthday
- 2024
| As Swift as a Fleeing Hare |
|---|
 "Let me see, the prize from the 141 point collection event is... a strawberry cake!" |
- 2025
| The Moon and Six Dennies |
|---|
 "The approaching apocalypse made the surviving protagonist suddenly realize that, compared to worldly success, he'd rather fulfill his childhood dream..." |
