Dead

Dead (デッド, Deddo) is a major character in Black★Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul.

Personality
Dead's personality is quite childish, carefree and joking. Despite being a Black Star, Dead seems to have negative feelings to her job of collecting souls (saying that the purified souls disgusted her). When she fights she shows calm and wit that lets her use the lamentations of her enemies against them. She has a strange attraction to Rock, which is evident whenever she is around.

In her former life, she was a more sweeter person who loved her fiancé, and was possibly a somewhat forgetful person, judging by some of her lines in the penultimate chapter.

History
Dead was a married woman who died in a traffic accident. Unsatisfied with an abrupt end to her happy life, she wishes to resurrect and reunite with her husband. As a result, Ram encourages Dead to consume strong-willed souls throughout the Threshold in order to strengthen her own power and one day fulfill her wish.

One day, Dead spots Rock from a distance after the latter defeats a Stagnant Soul named Jack, and comments that Rock has yet to reach maturity. On a separate occasion, she takes Rock to her arms after the latter becomes exhausted from battling Hanako Nakamura, a Stagnant Soul whose past memories resonate with Rock's. Dead thanks Rock for her effort and consumes Hanako's soul, astounding Rock's partner Ron.

Unbeknownst to Rock, Dead takes her to bed and the two sleep together. She later reveals herself as Black Star No. 012270 when they enter the base of Black Stars' operations. Dead leads Rock to the base's lowest level, where Stagnant Souls that cannot be purified are kept in stasis. She then releases one and invokes them to draw out their memory and emotions before consuming their soul. In the aftermath, Dead encourages Rock to discover her own past so she can one day claim her soul as well.

Much time has past, and Dead is seen readying herself to feast on a Stagnant Soul who goes by the name of Kaede. She is however interrupted by Rock and Ron when they knock one of her Skulls away. She later returns only to witness Kaede confessing her love to Dead. Disinterested with Kaede's changes, Dead flatly rejects her confession and plans to leave, but is stopped by Rock, who helps Kaede to change her appearance to face Dead in a different light. The two Black Stars quarrel, accidentally revealing Kaede's true gender in the process. Assuming that Dead would not accept her identity as a result from the stigma she suffered in previous life, Kaede attempts to take Dead by force, claiming that love is to be fought for, but Dead tells her that love should be a two-way relationship, while Kaede's infatuation is merely one-sided without consideration for Dead. Kaede, having realized her mistakes, states she wants to understand more about Dead, and that she still likes her. Dead replies she cannot reciprocate Kaede's feelings, but still gratefully accepts them. She then gives Kaede a kiss before consuming her soul.

After Rock discovers her past and overcomes the trauma of truth, Dead confronts her in a one-to-one battle, believing that her soul is ripe enough for consumption. Dead is however outmatched by Rock, but she refuses to give up, much to Ram's disappointment. Ram then tells Dead that she has been lying all along, and her wish of resurrection is simply too far-fetched to achieve even in the Threshold. Shocked by the revelation, Dead breaks down in despair and becomes a Stagnant Soul.

As a Stagnant Soul, Dead's conscience fades into recollection of her former life, and she begins to destroy the surrounding area in vain hope that she can break her way back to the mortal world. Jiou sends forth numerous Black Stars to quell the threat, but they fall to Dead's attack, including Jiou themself.

As Dead attempts to attack Ram, who is merely observing the event unfold, Rock blocks her attack and fights back in an attempt to bring Dead back to her senses. After blasting her wings off, Rock comforts Dead, saying that she does not want her to disappear, which causes Dead to partially regress back to her former self. Dead then reminisces her daily routine, lamenting that should she admit that she cannot return to her previous life, then she would truly become dead from the inside. Realizing she is at a dead end, she feints a desperate attack at Rock, allowing the latter to fatally wound Dead as she gives Rock a last embrace. In her final moment, she sees her husband in her vision, happy to be reunited again as her body dissipates, leaving her soul behind.

Abilities
Unlike her other incarnations, she, like Rock, has the ability to cause a green flame to appear from her right eye. This is due to her being a Black Star.

As a stagnant soul, her enlargened skeletal wings on her back could be used as massive arms that could keep her high in the air, and also function as weapons to strike and crush her enemies.

Trivia

 * Dead has the habit of chewing anything around her when she sleeps (i.e. a teddy bear or Rock's hair).
 * With every stagnated soul Dead devours, the stronger and more "sadistic" she becomes.