Count Nightfell

Count Nightfell
Naming
Japanese	ナイト伯爵
Japanese (Romaji)	Naito Hakushaku
Also Known As	Count Night (In Japan) "Feather Hat" by Valt (manga) "Feather Cloak" by Aiger (manga) Phantom Thief (anime) "Big Brother" by Zac (manga)
Profile
Hair color	Grey
Eye color	Lilac
Gender	Male
Birthday	July 15th
Occupation	Blader Collector Phantom Thief
Beyblade(s)	Balderov Bumper Bite (Manga only) Shadow Orichalcum Aero Bite (Manga only) Shadow Amaterios 0 Xtreme' (Manga only) Fusion Aether 11Turn Zephyr' (Anime only)
Equipment	BeyLauncher LR (Current) Launcher Grip (Current) BeyLogger V2 (Current)
Voice Actor(s)
Japanese	Yū Kobayashi
English	Mickey Caputo
Anime/Manga
First Appearance (anime)	Dread Tower! The Dark Citadel!
First Appearance (manga)	The Birth of Gold God Bey (Part 1)

Count Nightfell, known as Count Night (ナイト伯爵, Naito Hakushaku) in Japan, who also calls himself Phantom Thief (怪盗, Kaitō), is a character appearing in the anime/manga series Beyblade Burst. He debuts with his stolen Beyblade, Balderov Bumper Bite.

In the Beyblade Burst Evolution manga, he returns and now fights with Shadow Orichalcum Aero Bite.

In Beyblade Burst Turbo, he makes his debut to the anime series as a guest at the Dread Tower, where he soon steals Evel Oxford's Left Astro and Right Artemis Layers to create the fusion Bey, Fusion Aether 11Turn Zephyr'. In the manga, he returns with another stolen Bey, Shadow Amaterios 0 Xtreme'.

As a Phantom Thief, he follows a code of conduct and will only steal a Bey if he can defeat it in battle. It is a test of his own merit as well as his way of augmenting his collection.

Appearance

Count Nightfell is a tall young man with gray shoulder-length hair, and lilac eyes (though probably from colored contact lenses as part of his disguise). He wears a phantom mask, which covers the right side of his face, a black-brimmed hat with a moody-blue sash and a moody-blue feather, a flowing black cape with moody-blue trim, a light-gray cravat, a black vest with moody-blue trim, moody-blue gloves, white trousers, and black calf length boots with moody-blue cuffs. He carries a gold walking cane with a red gem on the handle. The cane is also a grappling hook.

Personality

Count Nightfell is confident, daring, and fearless in his work as a phantom thief. His tone of speaking is very polite and he carries himself like a gentleman, but he is capable of being insensitive and cruel. He shows little emotion except in the heat of battle, when seeing a rare bey's performance stirs up his excitement and his lust to have it.

He is very proud of his image. He takes offense when Hyde calls him kosodoro (a word meaning "petty thief" or "cheap crook") and politely reaffirms that he is a kaito (a phantom thief). He is slightly annoyed when Valt calls him "Feather Hat" and will gently remind him that he wishes to be called "Count Nightfell." He also is very good at keeping secrets, as evident by the fact that has kept his bey-stealing double life completely hidden from Zac the Sunrise.

Count Nightfell is also a master of disguise, being able to perfectly mimic the appearances and voices of other people, as seen with Evel Oxford and Ranjiro Kiyama.

Biography

Beyblade Burst (Manga)

Count Nightfell first appeared in two special chapters at the end of Volume 4 and the beginning of Volume 5, when the WBBA received an advanced notice announcing his intention to steal the Gold God bey. Zac the Sunrise, Xander Shakadera, Valt Aoi and the Beigoma Academy Beyclub were summoned by Muraki to help protect the bey. After easily defeating an entire room full of guards and dodging all of Xander's moves to subdue him with martial arts, he states that he has not come for a physical fight but for a bey battle. Muraki entrusts Valt with the Gold God bey and Count Night uses Baldur. Valt wins and the Gold God bey is saved, but Count Night declares that he is not giving up his goal of going after the world's rare Beys.

He next appeared in Volume 8 during a tournament held at the Sagrada Familia in Spain. His aim was to steal the grand prize, a Shadow Orichalcum. The winner of the tournament, the top blader from a bey club in Madrid, challenged him and lost. As Count Night was walking off with his Minoboros, Valt challenged him with the hopes of saving the defeated boy's Bey. Valt agreed to wager his own Valtryek.

In Volume 9 he took Valtryek and offered Valt the chance to get it back by fighting him in New York. Muraki loaned Duo Artemis to Valt for the battle. When Count Nightfell easily defeated Duo Artemis and Muraki explained that it was hopeless without Duo Apollo, he produced the bey from his cloak and offered it to Valt so that he could experience a fight with the Double God Bey.

In a short color four-panel published at the end of Volume 9, it is revealed that Count Nightfell is Zac's older brother. Zac visits his brother and notices Shadow Orichalcum among his impressive collection of Beys. The brother declines to tell Zac how he obtained it, and a window into his thoughts shows him dressed as Count Nightfell.

In Volume 11, he becomes possessed by the dark energy of Shadow Amaterios 0 Xtreme upon touching the bey. His appearance is altered into a twisted, demented version of his usually composed self. Muraki approaches Aiger Akabane, currently the Asian champion, and begs for his help in recovering Shadow Amaterios. He successfully bribes Aiger into fighting Count Nightfell with a year's supply of potato chips. Aiger fails to defeat Count Nightfell, and nearly loses Z Achilles in doing so. Count Nightfell allows him to keep the Achilles in order to see how he may grow as a blader. He then leaves, still in possession of Shadow Amaterios, and still consumed by its dark power, urging Aiger to become stronger.

In Volume 12, Count Nightfell intrudes on a meeting of the Chouzetsu Awakening Supreme Council, stating that he has come to steal Chouzetsu Royal King Spriggan.  Taiga is present at the meeting, and just before Count Nightfell is about to challenge the entire council for the bey, Aiger walks in delivering Taiga’s dinner.   It is decided that Aiger will fight Count Nightfell to protect Chouzetsu Royal King Spriggan, and the Supreme Council entrusts the bey to him for the battle.  Aiger is victorious and when Shadow Amaterios 0 Xtreme is burst, the dark energy that had possessed Count Nightfell leaves his body, restoring him to his normal self.  As Count Nightfell exits through a window, he commends Aiga for becoming a fine blader, and wishes him luck in the title match.  His final words are “Someday, there will come a night when we meet again,” and he is gone.

Beyblades

• Balderov Bumper Bite: A Beyblade stolen by Count Nightfell in the Beyblade Burst manga.
• Shadow Orichalcum Aero Bite: A Beyblade stolen by Count Nightfell in the Beyblade Burst Evolution manga.
• Shadow Amaterios 0 Xtreme': A Beyblade stolen by Count Nightfell in the Beyblade Burst Turbo manga.
• Fusion Aether 11Turn Zephyr': A Beyblade stolen from Evel Oxford by Count Nightfell in the Beyblade Burst Turbo anime. It was created from combining two halves of the Left Astro and Right Artemis Layers together.

Special Moves

• Invincible Time Activation: After being launched the centrifugal force causes Shadow Orichalcum's Layer gimmick to activate, causing its claws to extend outwards to grip onto the Driver, increasing Shadow Orichalcum's Burst Resistance.
• Dark Spin: Ultizting the Xtreme' Driver, Shadow Amaterios quickly charges at it opponents.
• Dread Impulse: When in Attack Mode, Hades channels its energy into the seven hexagons on its Energy Layer. It then slams into its opponent, using its weight to deal a devastating blow. Fusion Aether can also use this move, but instead, it channels its energy into its Turn Frame instead of the outer weight of its Layer.
• Dread Gravity: While in Defense Mode, Hades/Aether covers itself in an aura and slowly closes in on its opponent, knocking them around before sending upwards in a vortex for the final blow.

Beybattles

Anime

Beyblade Burst Turbo
Opponent	Episode	Result
Aiger Akabane	34	Lose (1-2)

Manga

Valt Arc
Opponent	Chapter	Result
Valt Aoi	Special 02-03	Lose (0-2)

Manga Appearances

Valt Arc

• Special Chapter 2 - The Birth of Gold God Bey (Part 1)
• Special Chapter 3 - The Birth of Gold God Bey (Part 2)

Relationships

Zac

When not wearing a mask and stealing Beys, Count Nightfell is Zac's older brother. He is the only person in the series who has called Zac by his actual name, "Zenkuro." Zac appears to be unaware of his brother's double life. "Zac the Sunrise" and "Count Nightfell" represent night and day, the sun and the moon. They appear to be on very friendly terms and visit each other occasionally for bey battles.

Valt

Count Nightfell respects Valt as a fellow Blader and sees the potential in him. When he defeated Valt and rightfully won Valtryek, he decided to let Valt keep the bey for a time because he recognized that it was in the process of evolving. Eventually he returned to reclaim Valtryek, but invited Valt to come to New York and fight him to win it back. He genuinely enjoys his battles with Valt because of Valt's ability to bring out the true strength of whichever special bey he happens to be using.

Gallery

Quotes

• Thieving from you is an honor. -introducing himself to Hyde and Evel in his debut.
• "I'm a thief. It's what we do." -when Aiger calls him out for stealing one of Hyde's special moves.
• "Très bien! That was wonderful!"
• "If I want something, all I have to do is take it."
• "What?! How can you be so pedestrian?!" -while disguised as Ranjiro, after the latter tells him his favorite food.

Trivia

• In the anime, he often incorporates French phrases in his regular speech. This is likely a reference to The Phantom of the Opera, written in 1910 by Gaston Leroux, about a masked man who famously haunted the Paris Garnier. Count Nightfell’s phantom thief clothing and mask are very similar to the Phantom’s costume in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical adaptation of the novel.  
• The idea to include a phantom thief in the Beyblade canon may have been a nod to Hideyasu Takahashi's Kaitou Joker, another manga serialized in Corocoro Monthly Magazine. Like Joker, Count Nightfell sends advance notices announcing his intent to steal. Joker is a self-proclaimed "miracle maker," and Count Night describes his cherished Baldur a "miracle Bey".
• The Kaitou or "Phantom Thief" genre can be traced back to pulp fiction of the late 19th century. Early examples include characters like A.J. Raffles, created by E.W. Hornung in 1898, and Arsene Lupin created by Maurice Leblanc in 1905.
• After having originally been a manga exclusive character, Count Nightfell made his official debut in the 32nd episode of the Beyblade Burst Turbo anime series.
• Count Nightfell uses the golden version of the LR String launcher, presumably to change the spin directions of his Fusion Aether bey.
• He is the second Burst character after Shu to own a dual-rotation Beyblade, since Aether can switch between Left & Right mode.
• Count Nightfell is the first Burst character whose name does not share the same first letter as his Beyblade's name.
• In the Evolution manga, Count Nightfell owns a collection of Beyblades from the first generation.
• Count Nightfell's zodiac is a Gemini.