The NOISZ

For the game, see NOISZ (Game).

"Wait, you can't be serious... now?!"

This page contains story spoilers for the NOISZ series as a whole; proceed with caution.

The NOISZ ring that’s around you during gameplay

Though almost all Antiphon technology can be described both as "cutting-edge to the point that it appears magical" and "a mysterious black box", the NOISZ is far more so on both counts.<ref>Lost Data: The NOISZ</ref>

The NOISZ is a piece of Antiphon technology that is capable of fighting and purifying Noise Beasts, all while gathering energy from them. However, its incredible powers come at a cost: the user's soul is consumed by using it. Removing the NOISZ from a NOISZ user will kill them, as the device is bound to their soul.

History

The NOISZ was developed during the N Project, which was led by Gaius Antiphon and partially supervised by Beyond Antiphon. Stornel and Remora were researchers on the project.

Remora's model was the one used in the project but only due to tight time constraints and high expectations from superiors. Remora's model was wildly unsafe to use, which she covered up by generating data. Arietta noticed the irregularity of the data and informed Stornel, but no one came forward about it until Gaius confronted them. Although he knew of Remora's forgery, Gaius still had the prototype NOISZ constructed to her specifications. He forced Stornel to test it, which killed him.

Then, Gaius blackmailed Remora into completing the NOISZ, despite the N Project supposedly being shut down.

Abilities

The NOISZ is a powerful weapon capable of allowing it's user to fight in conceptual time, which is essentially lightspeed. It can also absorb the energy of it's defeated opponents, allowing it's user to become even stronger. When entering conceptual time, users become concepts themselves, and their form may change based on their ideal self-image.

Final Burst

The Final Burst is a special ability implemented into all models of the NOISZ, including the replicated models. It is essentially an ultimate attack, practically guaranteeing victory against any opponent. However, it comes at a high price; in order to activate it the user must knowingly sacrifice their life, as it is a power fueled by said sacrifice. This power also completely consumes the user's soul in the process, leaving nothing behind.

Models

The Original NOISZ

Only one unit of the NOISZ was produced, as the data for the creation of it has been lost, said to be sabotage by most Antiphon R&D staff<ref>Lost Data: The NOISZ</ref>. In the beginning of NOISZ Ignition, Beyond gives the NOISZ to the main character.

The original NOISZ was constructed from the prototype that killed Stornel, and his soul resides within it.

With no guarantee of reconstruction, it has been deemed too risky to take apart for analysis.

Imprinting

The original NOISZ possesses a unique ability: imprinting. The device creates digital copies of the souls of those it absorbs energy from. These copies can be used to temporarily allow someone else's soul to control you, effectively becoming another person. Stornel's soul guards the ability to imprint out of a fear that the prospect of immortality that it offers would motivate some people to unleash unimaginable bloodshed. Despite this, Gaius was still able to learn of the ability and find a way to utilize it himself.

The Void Crystal

The core component that distinguishes the original NOISZ from its mass-production counterparts and grants the device's unique abilities is the Void Crystal, which was gifted to Gaius by Alpha in his first journey to the World of Music.<ref>NOISZ episode G - Stage 6G</ref> It is a fragment of Alpha's power and, likewise, its essence is that of the Void.<ref>Lost Data: The Void Crystal</ref>Because of this, it is impossible for the original NOISZ to be used to truly defeat Alpha.

Mass-Production NOISZ

All attempts to perfectly replicate the original NOISZ have failed, resulting in vastly inferior copies.

On units of mass-production NOISZ that attempt to fully recreate the function of the original, the soul consumption rate is 37.2 times higher than the original.<ref>NOISZ Ignition - Stage 15C</ref> Arietta states that giving that to someone "would amount to murder." Appropriately, the NOISZ Beast technology was pre-built into these models. These models were given to the three NOISZ Beasts under Arietta's control.

Experimental Models

Unable to fully replicate the original NOISZ without producing vastly inferior copies, experimental variants were made to try and replicate it's power in other ways.

NOISZ/RS

The NOISZ/RS is one of the attempted replicas of the original NOISZ. However, its functions were not designed to completely replicate the original, instead taking the design principle of “it basically does the same thing, and that’s good enough”.

The NOISZ/RS features some substantial differences from the original unit. These include: an inability to stabilize purified Noise Beasts to the human world (they are instead sent back to the World of Music), significant differences in the experience of combat (different perception of conceptual time), omittion of the more esoteric features of the original, and the heightened soul consumption rate of other replica NOISZ units.

In order to reduce soul consumption rate to an acceptable rate, the NOISZ/RS has a core “resonant” system that uses the power of bonds to regenerate the souls of its users, with four linked users being the minimum. With this, the users' bonds are temporarily amplified, allowing them to regenerate their souls fast enough to match the consumption rate. The NOISZ/RS was created and given to the STΔRLIVHT members—Grace, Sera, Sumire, and Hakuno—by “Beyond“<ref>Lost Data: The NOISZ/RS</ref>.

Users can link together using a specialized phone app (also made by "Beyond") when apart, allowing them to fight at full power without risking permanent damage.

In True Heroes, it is revealed Arietta holds a fifth model, created to be used by Joker. Joker activates her model in Chapter 6.III.

Recombinant NOISZ

The Recombinant model is one of the attempted replicas of the original NOISZ, used primarily by Remora. The Recombinant NOISZ requires the souls of Noise Beasts to work, allowing it's user to transform into a Noise Beast-like being in combat. The consumption rate of the model compared to the other mass-production NOISZ models is unknown, but it is presumably no more dangerous then the original.

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