Gnosis


 * “I am Seraph Gnosis… My duty is to carry out divine retribution to sinners.”

Seraph Gnosis (グノーシス, Gunōshisu) is one of the second generation Seraphim who were created to fill the gap left by Micaela being promoted to leader of the Seven Archangels and Lucifina who had fallen.

Biography
After collecting the Mithril Ore, Luka, and the party goes to investigate the strange power radiating from the summit of Mt. Saint Amos as the place is supernaturally dark.

At the peak, they find Micaela, barely alive. Luka has a flashback to his fundamental reality self, and he immediately recognises her as his aunt. Micaela is glad to see Luka, despite her being on the verge of death. She warns them that the being who put her in this state is still here, and the party promptly feels an even greater power coming from above them. They look to the sky, and see a deformed angel. She introduces herself as Gnosis, a member of the second generation of Seraphim, whose duty is to deliver punishments to sinners.

When Luka asks if Gnosis did this to Micaela, she admits that she put her in this state, but that Micaela must also bear half of the blame for it. Micaela living out her days on earth caused her power to dwindle and therefore put her in a state where Gnosis could kill her. If Gnosis had fought Micaela while she was still at her full power, Gnosis would’ve had no chance. She almost feels sorry for Micaela.

This scene will differ substantially from here on, depending on whether Luka took Ilias or Alice with him.

If Ilias is accompanying Luka, she’ll mention that despite Micaela losing a great deal of her power, no other angel should be able to rival her. Ilias is also unaware of any angel by the name of Gnosis, and she asks Gnosis whether she came from a parallel world. Gnosis responds that she cannot assist her at present, but in the future, she’ll be able to answer all of her questions, implying that she has some loyalty for Ilias as an angel.

If Alice is accompanying Luka, she insults Gnosis’ cowardice for attacking Micaela only after she was severely weakened. She challenges Gnosis to come down and fight her. Gnosis informs Alice that the current cross-world deviation by her and Luka is at 26%. Although greater than average, it’s not at a critical level just yet. However, if she executed each of them right now, chaosization would accelerate by up to 125%, and the damage caused by it would increase by 67%, effectively dooming the world. Also, she remarks that Luka is the son of Marcellus, the man who has deviated more than anyone else from the original timeline. She won't execute Luka because he’s the key to finding Marcellus. As much as she wants to execute them, she cannot, as the consequences of doing so are too great. In short, the Seraphim can’t intervene directly unless the person in question deviates too much from their own history. She then leaves the party alone as Micaela disappears.

She is fought in Part 2 on the Alice route (on the Ilias route, Zion is the one faced instead). When the team reaches Esta, Luka is projected alone in a parallel version by Raphaela, where Ilias’ word is the law and everybody is safe under the guidance of the Goddess, albeit at the price of their freedom being completely denied to them. He’s invited by Raphaela to follow this road happily, but Saja appears and intervenes to convince him that the people shown are nothing but puppets and instead everyone should be free to do as they wish.

Once appearing back to his world, he informs his friends of this event. Afterwards, they take a boat to check if the local Tartarus Rift can be accessed and assess if there’s a link to the inhabitants’ disappearance. Unsuccessful, the team eventually comes back ashore and notices some activity coming from the Tartarus. Eventually, Gnosis comes out and decides now to eliminate them as their death would only passably increase the chaosization rate while his inquiries about Tartarus could pose a threat to the angel’s plans.

After a few minutes of fighting, Luka tells that he already saw what was on the other side. Upon hearing that he was invited to see the holy world of Ilias by Raphaela, Gnosis relents and stop attacking the group, as it means he’s one of the chosen who may decide to join them in the future. She then leaves after telling him that he’ll soon vae to make a choice that will influence the events to be.

She’s seen once again at the end of Part 2 in Ilias Temple Ruins, and intervenes with her fellow Seraphim after the Lilith Sisters kill Ilias. Both groups fight before Sonya transforms into her Apoptosis form. In both cases, Gnosis gets a part of her power absorbed after a failed attack on the Apoptosis. She’s then forced to join with the succubi to fight Adramelech who’s been summoned by Sonya. On Alice’s route, she flees the place once the threat of imminent destruction is clear. On Ilias’ route, the Seraphim behind, and asks Luka for his support to save the ones chosen by Ilias.

She reappears with her sisters during chapter 12 of "The Land of Night and the Heroes of the Seven Worlds". On the Alice Route Route, they notice Myusca, Vinum and Nemea returning to a village to attack it. They engage in a fight until the three succubi leave.

On the Ilias Route, it happens when the party gets attacked by Mysteltainn, Ogretooth and Executioner in the Château des Romances. They engage the latter three in a fight until the three succubi leave, allowing the party to continue uninterrupted.

Monsterpedia Entry
''“An unknown Seraphim whose existence has not been recorded. Equipped with mechanical weapons throughout her entire body, she specializes in annihilating foreign enemies. She appears to be a mechanical being, but further details are unknown.”''

Attacks

 * Attack – One Foe
 * Proselytizing Fellatio – One Foe (Luka), Pleasure Attribute
 * Drill – One Foe, Auto Hit, Physical Attribute
 * Heat Rush – 3 Random Foes, Physical, Fire Attribute, Burn (10%)
 * Ice Charge – 3 Random Foes, Physical, Ice Attribute, Freeze (10%)
 * Fiery Exhaust – All Foes, Physical, Fire Attribute, Burn (10%)
 * Frozen Exhaust – All Foes, Physical, Ice Attribute, Freeze (10%)
 * Shock Wave – All Foes, Physical, Lightning Attribute
 * Full Gatling – One Foe, Auto Hit, Physical Attribute, 4 Hits
 * Beam Scythe – 5 Random Foes, Auto Hit, Physical Attribute
 * Mass Dispel – All Foes, Dispel All
 * Unspeakable Word – All Foes, Auto-Hit, Nuclear Attribute, Burn (80%), Slow (80%), Stop (80%), Learnable

Strategy
Faced on the Alice Route, she can really put the hurt on your team with her numerous attacks. High dodge can be a necessity to limit her damage output, and even then, there's still a chance she uses her two auto hit attacks in a row. Confusion is curiously effective on her, but is not particularly reliable. She's resistant to most status effects otherwise.

Her mechanical structure makes her weak to water and lightning, and exploiting this weakness (particularly with a freshly trained taoist) will shorten the fight a great deal and may just earn you victory before her attacks finish you.

Evaluation
''“Gnosis…⁉ I don’t know of this Angel… Let’s devise a strategy from what you’ve learned after your battle. Your enemy seems to be using all kinds of magic. Silence is effective against her, so use it to seal her magic.''

''Confusion also connects easily and is worth using. Despite the fact of being an angel, she’s still a machine which makes her vulnerable to Thunder and Water. That’s roughly all I can advise you. But, what is this angel… ……..”''

Trivia

 * As of part 2, she is the only angel who can use Makina skills and attacks.
 * "Gnosis" is a Greek noun meaning "knowledge". In Gnosticism, it has the specific meaning of an immanent form of knowledge or transcendent insight that could free humanity from the constraints of earthly existence.
 * Her way of speaking, her design and her h-scenes are very similar to an Apoptosis