Brandish μ

Brandish μ (ブランディッシュ・μ (ミュー) Burandisshu Myū) is part of the Alvarez Empire as one of the Spriggan 12, the protection guard of Emperor Spriggan. She also leads her own team inside the Imperial Army, the Brandish Squad. Knowingly able to bring a nation to its knees, she garnered the epithet "Country Demolisher" (国崩し Kuni Kuzushi).

Appearance
Brandish is a young woman, age-wise around Lucy Heartfilia's, who wears her green hair in a bob with bangs cut above her eyes, along with two, blue cross-shaped objects attached to the sides of her head like horns. She also wears cross-shaped earrings. Her standard style of dress shows off the front of her body. She wears something akin to that of a burgundy swimsuit showing her huge bust and a fancy coat with blue fur around the collar. In addition, she wears a gold choker around her neck with chains attached to it. She completes her outfit with a pair of dark-colored high heels; the Alvarez Empire's mark is on her right thigh.

Personality
Brandish has been shown to have a very calm, but waspish attitude. She has stated that she dislikes troublesome affairs and has shown a desire to avoid conflict when possible, choosing to look at situations in a logical way, although as highlighted by Dimaria Yesta she occasionally can be quite irritable, moaning in annoyance or sighing in displeasure when it comes it to anyone, or anything she dislikes. She is without fear of death or torture, piquing her enemies to assassinate her while refusing to disclose any information of herself. When it comes to her soldiers or underlings, she has little affection or sympathy for them, carefree when ordering them around while justifying that she considers them her "pets", although mentioning she does take care of them if they correctly do her bidding. She lacks naivety, while showing she can be manipulative and deceptive when need be, as demonstrated when she deceived Lucy into undoing her restraints, ensnaring her once liberated.

Her mother's murder has affected her greatly and her misunderstanding that Layla is the perpetrator results in her desire to obtain revenge on the Heartfilias. Despite this, she regrets having to murder Lucy as a way of getting over her death, and sheds remorseful tears as she tries to go through with the act. After traveling to Star Memory with Aquarius and learning the real tragedy behind her mother's death, she reacts at her murder with horror. Unable to change the outcome these events, she collapses into a hysterical fit of tears, showing that even under her unflappable exterior she is also vulnerable to sadness when it comes to her loved ones.

Despite all the revelations, she still retains her allegiance to her Emperor and wishes to neither be pitied by her enemies nor join them.

Alvarez Empire arc
As Marin Hollow is fighting against members of Fairy Tail on Caracole Island, Brandish arrives and asks Marin how long he is planning to fool around. The humongous amount of Magic Power she exudes greatly terrifies Natsu and Gray. Marin compliments her appearance, while Brandish tells him to stop doing so, as it disgusts her.

With Natsu and Gray preparing for a fight, Brandish surprises everyone by revealing that she is actually on the island to eat some star mango gelato, and becomes incredibly upset upon seeing that the stand that sold the dessert was blown up. Marin blames the attack on Natsu and Gray (despite it being him that destroyed the shop) to try and rile the woman up, though a disappointed Brandish merely states that she is going home. Marin attempts to stop her and gets flustered when she demands that he return Erza and Lucy to their comrades, and, when Marin complains, Brandish exerts her power and makes the island emerge from the ocean, greatly shocking everyone and forcing a scared Marin to comply with her request. With Lucy and Erza returned, Marin reminds Brandish that they are looking for an Alvarez insurgent, though Brandish says she doesn't care, stating that Ishgar wouldn't dare come at them even with a spy's information. As the two proceed to leave, Natsu calls out, reminding the woman that Marin hurt one of their comrades, and that he won't let such a thing slide. In reply, Brandish turns and "disintegrates" Marin, telling the group that they are now even and stating that they should just stay down and not make events more troublesome. Telling the Fairy Tail Mages that Makarov is alive, Brandish recommends that, for his sake, they back down and do not further their plans of infiltration. With one final warning of Alvarez's power, Brandish uses her Magic to make Caracole Island shrink in an instant, and leaves the Fairy Tail Mages in the ocean as she casually departs back to the Alvarez Navy ship stationed nearby.

Once back in Alvarez, Brandish has a now miniaturized Marin paint her toenails. Marin endlessly compliments her before asking to be returned to his original size. Before she can reply though, Dimaria Yesta opens her door and says she heard that Brandish let the Fairy Tail members go. Brandish, not even taking her eyes off the magazine she is reading, retorts that she didn't let them go but rather that it was a pain so she didn't stop them. Marin then chimes in, complimenting Dimaria and Dimaria tells her to return him to his normal size so she doesn't feel like she is talking to a bug, but Brandish brushes it off as too much of a pain. Dimaria tells her she will need him before telling her that the Spriggan 12 has been summoned by Zeref, causing her to once again state everything is such a pain. Brandish then grabs Marin between her toes and raises him up, saying she doesn't like Dimaria as she is uncute and in Marin's words, she fails. Later, Zeref calls the Spriggan 12 to a meeting. When Zeref states that their attack on Ishgar will begin soon, Brandish expresses once more what a pain it is. Zeref tells her to not say that and asks what happened to her listening to him. Brandish replies that her actions and what she says are two different things, even if it is a pain, as long as Zeref orders her to do something, she will. Dimaria then chimes in that nobody likes someone that doesn't think before they speak, causing Brandish to reply that the one she doesn't like is Dimaria. After Zeref asks God Serena about the difficulty of his task, Brandish points out her disgust at his overly flamboyant actions, to which God Serena simply smirks and thanks her.

With the invasion in full force, Brandish avoids the battlefield, instead taking a bath at Lucy's apartment. Lucy walks in on her, shocking the Fairy Tail mage. Brandish is happy to learn it was indeed Lucy's apartment and tells her that she left an impression on her. Lucy asks her what she is doing there and Brandish tells her to get in the tub with her. Lucy protests but Brandish tells her to not make her repeat herself. Seeing Lucy's hesitation, she picks up Marin and packs him away, saying problem solved and tells her to get in. Lucy still refuses and Brandish then glares at her. Brandish tells Lucy that they lost the moment she stepped foot in town as it would take her a second to shrink the town down but she does not wish to do that. Brandish tells Lucy that as long as she listens to her, she will be fine and that she takes good care of her pets. Lucy asks why she is doing this, and Brandish responds by shrinking the building next to them. Brandish gives Lucy her last warning as the Fairy Tail Mage then complies.

As Lucy enters the tub, Brandish looks at her and says she is not that cute. She then pulls out a cat ears headpiece and tells Lucy to put it on. Lucy initially refuses but is eventually coerced to put them on. Brandish then puts her hand over her mouth as her eyes flare open wide, worrying as to what she has done as she claims the cat ears have made Lucy adorable. Brandish then says she has seen Lucy before somewhere and Lucy says it was likely Sorcerer Magazine where she modeled but Brandish says Ishgar magazines do not interest her. Lucy then proposes that it was the Grand Magic Games but Brandish does not know what that is. She then says she just can't remember as Lucy asks if thats really the reason she came here, to which Brandish replies that it is. She then tells Lucy to take off the cat ears as they are having a serious conversation. Brandish then asks Lucy to wash her back for her. As the Fairy Tail mage does so, Brandish continues to ponder before coming to the realization that Lucy is Layla's daughter. After Lucy confirms this, Brandish turns around angry and begins to shrink Lucy's apartment, forcing Lucy to rush out. Outside, Lucy asks what happened between Brandish and her mother but Brandish says it is too much trouble so will not be talking. Suddenly, Cana Alberona arrives and fires a card at Brandish, telling her to get away from Lucy. Lucy seizes the opportunity to pull out the capsule Marin is trapped in, slamming it to the ground and stepping on it and surprising Brandish. Lucy then activates Star Dress and Brandish's demanor calms. As Ajeel's sand surrounds the town, Brandish covers her nose and mouth and laments that Ajeel is making things unnecessarily harder again. Once the dust begins to clear, Brandish begins to sneeze uncontrollably. She says there is something wrong with the city as there is a weird pollen everywhere as she continues to sneeze. Noticing she has hay fever, Cana takes the opportunity to knock her out with a blow to the back of the head Cana and Lucy then grab her and haul her back to the guild.

One night passes, revealing that Brandish has been imprisoned within Fairy Tail, with her arms behind her back as well as her ankles restrained in Magic Seal Stone cuffs. Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine keep watch over her, commenting on how calm and docile she has been throughout her capture. Even when the two older members of Fairy Tail make lewd comments about her physique and possible positions to put her in, Brandish remains unflappable, even intimidating Macao and Wakaba simply by glancing at the pair. After Lucy and Cana interrupt the two, Lucy once more asks Brandish what her connection to her mother is. Brandish refuses to speak though and tells her that if she plans to kill her, she should do it now. Lucy says she will not be treated as a prisoner of war but once more asks about her mother. Brandish, now sitting up with a smirk on her face, tells her they should kill her while they have the chance as she is sitting in the middle of their base and that this may be their only chance.

Now alone in her cell, Marin wakes her up as he teleports in. Brandish says she knew that he would come for her as he is a clever pet. She then tells him to get the chains off her, saying that Fairy Tail won't know what hit them when she is free. However, Marin responds by grasping her neck and beginning to strangle her, saying he has been treated as a slave and that is why he has decided that she has failed and applies more pressure around her neck, causing her to gasp for air as her eyes water from lack of oxygen.

Brandish soon awakes in the infirmary, her restraints having been re-positioned for more comfort, where she learns from Lucy, Cana and Porlyusica that the former two saved her from Marin after she lost consciousness. She then questions why they would save her, positing torture as a possible option, but Brandish expresses surprise when Lucy says that she doesn't believe that she is a bad person; Brandish then agrees to tell Lucy about Layla as long as they undo her handcuffs and give Lucy and her privacy. Cana and Porlyusica remove the chains from Brandish's cuffs and exit the room, allowing Brandish to comfortably reveal that her mother's name is Grammi and that she was one of Layla's servants, and was the one who received the key of Aquarius when Layla stopped being a Mage, much like how Zoldeo received Capricorn and Spetto received Cancer. After saying that Grammi took extraordinary care of Aquarius' key, Brandish asks Lucy who she received Aquarius' key from; when Lucy says her mother, Brandish reveals that Layla killed Grammi to take back Aquarius' key so that Lucy could have it. Calling Lucy naive when she denies that to be the truth, Brandish moves off the bed, knocking over a vase of water in the process, and tearfully suffocates Lucy in an effort to avenge her mother. However, before Brandish can succeed, Aquarius herself appears to save Lucy and inquire about her key.

Brandish proceeds to silently watch Lucy and Aquarius' reunion, and then has one a comical one of her own with the Celestial Spirit, who explains that they played together a lot when Grammi owned her key. However, when Aquarius tells Brandish to not punish Lucy for Layla's sins, Brandish denies herself to be able to do such a thing; in response, Aquarius says that Layla didn't, and couldn't have, killed Grammi, and to prove such a thing takes the girls to Star Memory (where the two girls take the form of mermaids), a collection of all memories of all Celestial Spirits, to show them the truth. While in Star Memory, Aquarius shows them the deal Lucy's ancestor, Anna, made with Zeref, and the original Eclipse Plan that sent five warriors into the future to defeat Acnologia, before moving on to explain that to complete the plan, Layla opened the same Eclipse Gate Anna used on July 7, X777. Aquarius explains that Layla located all the Celestial Spirit Gate Keys gold keys except her own, as Grammi had moved to Alakitasia, and thus supplemented her key with her own life force, which opened the Gate, but at the cost of her health. Brandish then painfully witnesses the memory of Grammi visiting Layla seven days later at her home, where she returns Aquarius' key for Lucy's use, and then her subsequent murder at the hands of a crazed Zoldeo. The girls exit Star Memory, where Lucy comforts Brandish and asks her to be friends with her like how their mothers were friends. At that moment, however, Happy bursts through the door with an unconscious Natsu (who has stopped moving entirely), begging for someone to help him.

As Brandish looks quietly at the situation in the room, it is revealed by Porlyusica that Natsu is suffering from a tumor and won't survive as no doctor in Ishgar can perform the necessary surgery. However in an act of redemption, Brandish asks her cuffs be removed so she can shrink the tumor to a non-lethal size; the operation being a success with Natsu recovering in the infirmary. Brandish later returns to her cell, only to be accompanied by Happy and Lucy who thank her for saving Natsu, although the Shield of Spriggan reminds Lucy that she is a prisoner of war and that the Celestial Spirit Mage's naivety would get her killed one day, concluding to her that she doesn't want to partake in any camaraderie, requesting to be alone. Aquarius asks to have a quiet word with Lucy, mentioning to Brandish that she hopes they cross paths again, angrily calling her out to respond to which Brandish reluctantly obliges.

Later, everyone present within the Fairy Tail Guild building, Brandish included, are spirited away to an alternate dimension by Jacob Lessio, a member of the Spriggan 12. However, as Lucy later points out to Jacob the fact that his teammate Brandish is amongst the people he has erased with his Magic, Brandish, along with her partner, Marin, is successfully transported back to the guild hall. She goes on to watch in awe as the Fairy Tail Mages combine their efforts and defeat Jacob.

Back in her cell, Natsu goes to thank her but she simply shrugs before saying she never thought Jacob would be defeated and now knows why the emperor told them not to take their enemy lightly. However, she states they will go no further in this war as the Eight Month approaches. Confused, Lucy and Happy ask what she means, to which she replies that in her continent, August is the month of calamities and the people live in fear of this time and this is the legend that has been passed down for centuries. Later, when Natsu is planning to confront August, thought to be the strongest Spriggan, Brandish (still free from her cell) claims that, if August is the strongest man, then Irene Belserion would have to be the strongest woman. Later, she states that giving this information is a one time thing, she continues and says she can't betray her homeland and will continue to refuse becoming an ally, to Fairy Tail, in any capacity. But because she's still in debt to Lucy, she is willing to negotiate with August. She states that, excluding Irene, no Mage is capable of defeating August. According to her she has no personal relation with Irene, thus she wouldn't be able to stop her. However, she has known August since she was little, and she might be able to persuade him to pull back.

Magic and Abilities
Mass Manipulation: Brandish's Magic gives her the ability to alter matter, with Erza noting that she wields this Magic at an incredible level; enough to topple entire countries single-handedly to which she has been given the epithet "Country Demolisher". She was able to effortlessly alter the shape and height of Caracole Island, making it much larger than its actual size, and then shrink the island down to a slither of land so small that there was only room enough for her to stand on it, subsequently dropping all inhabitants of the island into the sea. She can also use this Magic on people, as shown when she shrunk her partner, Marin Hollow. In both instances, the entire process seemed to happen so fast that many witnesses believed her targets to have been outright disintegrated.

Immense Magic Power: As a member of the Spriggan 12, Brandish has an extremely large amount of Magic Power, which is great enough to terrify Gray and Natsu. According to Gray, her amount of Magic Power is exceptionally overwhelming, and Lucy stated that calling her Magic Power huge would be an understatement.

Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Brandish has displayed some skills in grappling. With her Magic Power sealed, she managed to subdue Lucy by tackling her to the ground, maneuvering behind her back and restricting her limbs while also smothering her with one hand, all of which she did before Lucy could scream for help.

Trivia

 * Brandish appears to suffer from severe hay-fever that causes her to sneeze uncontrollably if pollen in her near vicinity is disturbed.

Quotes

 * (To Team Natsu): "I'm sorry but I... simply have little tolerance for anything I find tedious."
 * (To Fairy Tail): "Consider this a warning: Stay away from us. There are twelve wizards in Alvarez of my caliber. It would be ill-advised to start a war you have no chance of winning."
 * (To Emperor Spriggan): "How I feel and what I do are two different things. It might be annoying, but if it's an order, you know I'll follow through on it."
 * (To Lucy Heartfilia): "The only way to avenge my mother... is to take your life! Sorry, but... you have to die!!"