Blood Skelter (Japanese: ブラッドスケルター モード, Buraddosukerutā mōdo) is a game mechanic in the Mary Skelter series. Blood Skelter is defined by a Blood Maiden's general lack of clothing, with pink patterns along their body and non-human body features such as animal legs or becoming merged with a Blood Weapon.
About[]
Gameplay[]
In game, a Blood Maiden may enter Blood Skelter if their Blood meter is full while having high Corruption. While in Blood Skelter, a Blood Maiden cannot be controlled and may attack allies as well as enemies. Due to the stat boosts they gain from it, other Blood Maidens may be easily killed if they end up attacking allies.
Corruption is able to be purged through the "Purge" command on the Mary Gun (or in Mary Skelter 2, through the Purge action command), but it will have no effect on a Blood Maiden in Blood Skelter. To revert a Blood Maiden's Blood Skelter, use of the "Life Purge" command is needed. Life Purge costs substantially more of Jack's Blood (or Mind Balance in the case of Mary Skelter 2) over standard Purge, which can lead Jack to become stunned (or in Mary Skelter 2, Nightmare Jack may enter Ripper Mode).
In Mary Skelter 2, Nightmare Jack may enter a state called "Ripper Mode", though it is largely unrelated to Blood Skelter, Jack retains Ripper Mode as a human. It has not been officially confirmed if "Ripper Mode" is Jack's or a Blood Youth's version of Blood Skelter, as this feature may have been added to keep the gameplay consistent since it is not acknowledged in lore.
Lore[]
| "I think it will prove interesting if you keep what we shared here secret." |
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| This section contains major spoilers for the story of the Mary Skelter series. Read at your own risk. |
Blood Skelter in lore is considered a death sentence for Blood Maidens, as prior to Jack's arrival at the Dawn, there was no way to revert a Blood Maiden's Blood Skelter state. While in Blood Skelter, a Blood Maiden loses all sense of reason and acts instinctively, attacking everything in sight. Since Blood Skelter provides a massive boost to combat ability, dealing with a Blood Maiden in Blood Skelter can be difficult, and since Blood Skelter cannot be reversed naturally it is better to kill them outright.
Blood Skelter can come about as a result of prolonged exposure to Marchen Blood, while also being under high mental stress. Most Blood Maidens outside of Dawn tend to die inside Blood Skelter, either being killed by someone else or dying from exhaustion.
Upon Jack's arrival at Dawn, it is discovered that his blood is able to not only cure Corruption, but also reverse Blood Skelter.
While in Blood Skelter, a Blood Maiden cannot physically age and their body will not decompose. In Mary Skelter 2, Cinderella retains her child appearance and mentality despite being in Blood Skelter for at least 10 years as a result of this. In Mary Skelter: Nightmares, Little Mermaid's body is discovered to be completely pristine despite being dead for almost 10 years due to her having died while in her Blood Skelter state.
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