A 10 x 30min Action-Adventure Adult Animated Series
HOOK
What if you sold your soul to the devil in exchange for the power to avenge your murdered family only to find out that the killer was already dead?
In order to avenge her murdered family, a grieving teenage girl summons a giant severed demon hand in exchange for her soul.
But when she finds out the elusive killer she is pursuing is already dead, she sets off in search of a way to void her deal with the devil, and ends up on a wild adventure so epic that the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
A white-knuckle revenge saga with an irreverent twist, Null & Void is a seriously hardcore adult animated series that delivers one hell of a punch.
Synopsis
After her family are murdered by a callous debt collector, a grieving teenage girl named Nova Rezadi makes a revenge pact with Nemesys, the Spirit of Vengeance, and is granted the Severed Hand of the Demon King— literally a massive, invincible battle hand— that will obey her every command until the pact is fulfilled.
But when she discovers that her family’s killer has already died of natural causes, Nova attempts to void the pact and learns all too late that the only way out is by completing another act of vengeance.
Unwilling to get innocent blood on her hands, Nova sets off with Knuk— the nickname she gives to the severed hand— in search of another way to scrap the pact and ends up stumbling into an epic, high stakes adventure full of demonic forces, futuristic armies and mythical beasts who all crave the power of Nova’s five-fingered super weapon for themselves.
Over the course of their journey, Nova and Knuk form alliances that eventually become a new surrogate family for Nova, one she no longer has to avenge but protect. Love transforms Nova from a heartbroken teenager into a heroic defender, and in the process, changes Knuk from a vengeful demonic spirit into a symbol of defiance and hope for the war ravaged region they live.
By the end, Nova and Knuk have become so inseparable that Nova’s crusade to be rid of Knuk turns into one to keep him. Unfortunately, this change of heart comes with great peril, as the price for staying together will eventually mean facing off against the Spirit of Vengeance himself, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
storyworld
Null & Void is set on Earth, but not a version any sane person would recognise. Spirits, demons, monsters, aliens, cyborgs— you name it— all cohabit this reality. It’s a surreal melting pot; a cosmic soup of limitless creative potential.
The series takes place within a group of eternally warring nations known as the Voltic Bloc, a near dystopian, semi post-apocalyptic, third-world region eking out a precarious existence. The land is war ravaged, the politics fractious, the systems corrupt. It’s overpopulated with refugees, outcasts and fugitives— all fighting for a slice of salvation.
It’s a dangerous and brutal age but amidst the lawlessness, a dubious moral code has taken root, propped up by the difficult-to-argue-with notion that might is right— conditions ripe for vigilantes, mercenaries, and warlords to thrive. This is the Wild West on steroids.
Nova’s quest will take her through the Bloc’s most extraordinary and tumultuous regions: the endless sprawling slums of The Trench, the eerie wasteland of Crater Plains, the labyrinthine metropolis of Hyperion City; even into the Spirit Realm itself.
At the time of Nova’s story, a tentative armistice has maintained a years long ceasefire but with so many competing factions and a ruthless dog-eat-dog mentality, the inevitability of plunging back into war is never far from reality. As our series begins, this threat looms closer than many would like to believe…
the pact
Forging a pact with the Spirit of Vengeance is not something to be taken lightly. It is a deal signed in blood, and it comes at a terrible cost: you gain an otherworldly supernatural power, but what you trade is your soul.
Once Nemesys has been summoned, there are no refunds, no 30 Day Cooling Off periods. A deal with this devil is a one-way trip to eternal damnation. When the act of vengeance is complete, Knuk drags your soul back to the spirit realm where you become a slave to Nemesys for the rest of eternity.
So grave are the consequences that even the most psychotic of vengeance seekers think twice about making this pact. Only someone completely out of their mind would agree to it, or in our case, a moody teenage girl…
Nova has just turned eighteen but she looks years younger. She’s petite, even elfish, but to say she’s cute will have you picking your teeth up off the floor.
Nova is a stone cold badass. She drinks like a fish, swears like a sailor and fights like a feral animal. Her sass-mouth and hair-trigger temper means she’s always in strife, but since punching faces is her favourite pastime there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.
She wasn’t always this way, however. She was once a cheerful, goofy weirdo— one who loved spicy food, reading awful romance novels and bringing home stray animals. She had a palpable lust for life in all things, but her greatest joy was her family. She felt so safe and loved with them that her heart was always full.
Needless to say, when her family were murdered her joyful spirit died along with them. The loss robbed her of her lust for life and replaced it with an all-consuming desire for revenge. Even selling her soul to the devil seemed a small price to pay.
So when she discovers her murderous quarry has already shuffled off this mortal coil, it’s no wonder she is once again left feeling dead inside. Expecting an express ticket to Hell, she suddenly finds herself marooned in purgatory.
A nihilistic apathy takes root and she pardons herself from ever giving a shit about anything again. Now all that’s holding her back from being able to indulge in full-time, lost soul lonerism is a giant severed hand that won’t let her out of its sight…
nova
knuck
The Severed Hand of the Demon King, or simply Knuk as Nova calls it, is a hulking, two tonne, seven foot tall abomination in the shape of a massive severed hand. A being of raw brute strength and near invincibility, it stands as a burning symbol of revenge.
Knuk is power, incarnate. His fingers are thick as tree trunks, his skin strong as armoured plating. He can jump thirty stories, flick battle tanks like peanuts and pound through twenty feet of concrete with ease. He is a living weapon of mass destruction.
When Knuk is first assigned to Nova, he shows no signs of sentience. No personality. No soul. He responds with perfect obedience and military-like precision to any request she makes. He can’t speak, doesn’t eat and doesn’t need to breathe. Where he gets his energy, how he sees, hears, and whose body he was dismembered from, are all a mystery.
Eventually we learn that Knuk was once one of the most powerful beings to ever exist. He was an ancient Demon King who challenged Nemesys for his throne only to be mercilessly torn limb from limb. To serve as a warning to future usurpers, the Demon King’s soul was entombed in his own severed hand and cursed to reap souls as Nemesys’ pawn until the end of time.
Nova and Knuk’s growth from vengeance and apathy to love and mercy is the major transformative arc of the series.
She’s an orphan without a family. He’s a hand without a body. They both know what it’s like to be dismembered from where they belong. This unspoken understanding forms an unlikely bond.
In the beginning their relationship is purely contractual. To Nova, Knuk is simply a weapon for exacting vengeance. To Knuk, Nova is no more than an assignment.
Over time, their relationship begins to deepen. As Nova sets out to rid herself of Knuk, her facade of nonchalance is slowly whittled away by the friends and allies she makes along the way. Despite her best efforts, she learns to care again and through her desire to protect those she’s grown close to she discovers a new reason to live.
We also watch Knuk’s gradual transformation from a coldhearted killing machine into a devoted defender. The more time he spends protecting Nova, the more his militant nature softens and signs of compassion, even affection, begin to shine through.
Slowly but surely, their relationship changes from master/slave, to allies, to friends, and finally, to family.
Unknown to either, the unlikely love that forms between them is the key to their salvation, for the great secret of Knuk is that he is bound to Nova only as long as there is vengeance in her heart. Once the blessing of love overcomes the curse of revenge, both Nova and Knuk will finally be set free.
The ancient prophets believed that a time would come when Nemesys would breach the cosmic divide and lead his army of enslaved souls against humanity in order to harvest all life from the mortal realm.
Upon that time, a mighty warrior will arise with the ability to wield the Spirit of Vengeance’s own power against him. This warrior will raise an army against Nemesys and banish his forces back to the spirit realm.
Once victory has been achieved, the warring factions of the mortal realm will finally be united and peace will reign across the land for a thousand years.
Of course, no one believes this is anything more than a fanciful tale— until the drums of war become to deafening to ignore…
The peril
From single episode adversaries like big game hunters who think Knuk will look good as a trophy head on their wall, to series spanning, world ending threats like rampaging Demon Kings and the Spirit of Vengeance himself, it seems every villain in the world is out to get Nova and Knuk for one reason or another.
And just when they think they’ve defeated the toughest combatant out there, there’s always another more fearsome foe lurking in the shadows…
of the mortal realm
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In the demilitarised zone that stretches between the great warring nations stands a massive ghetto called The Trench. Home to the Voltic Bloc’s most impoverished and marginalised people, its single largest landowner is a greedy slumlord who goes by the name, Count Devereux.
Devereux claims to be following a noble path by keeping his tenants off the streets but really he’s robbing them blind while spending lavishly on himself. To intimidate those not paying up, Devereux employs ruthless thugs as debt collectors. Always looking for new recruits to join his army of collectors, Knuk has just the qualities he’s looking for…
While it may appear that he comes from aristocratic stock with his eloquent speech, graceful gait and immaculate dress— don’t be fooled. For when he takes off his signature white gloves, he transforms into a monstrously grotesque chimera, a ferocious brawler powerful enough to bring even the mighty Knuk to his knees.
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Description text goes hereOut in the desert sands of the vast and barren Crater Plains, the rogue military general Lucian Morze is gathering his troops. The victim of a purge by the supreme dictator Stomek Graulin, Morze dreams of executing Graulin and retaking the mantle of power.
To do so however, he needs more firepower, and Knuk has got the goods. Morze plans to clone Knuk in order to create an entire legion of indestructible battle hands. But first, he needs to catch him and decides Nova will make the perfect bait.
Like Devereux, Morze is more than he appears. Hidden beneath his heavy military issue trenchcoat is a pair of golden feathered wings. Long before he was purged from Graulin’s army, he was banished from the divine army of the sun goddess, Hyperiel. With the ability to fly and a beaming golden sword to contend with, defeating this fallen angel will take everything Nova and Knuk have got.
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From his war room in the heart of Hyperion City, the tyrannical dictator Stomek Graulin rules with an iron grip. The leader of the most powerful country in the Voltic Bloc, Graulin is easily the most dangerous human on the planet.
Even though Graulin has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal at his disposal, his greatest weapon is his mind. With his vast intellect he can convince anyone to see his point of view, but his powers of persuasion go far deeper than that. Graulin is also the world’s greatest telepath. Able to control minds, implant thoughts and invade dreams— he has weaponised his psychic ability to lethal effect.
Like all dictators, Graulin wants to hold onto power at any cost and after Morze’s defeat the only threat left to his reign is his own mortality. With Knuk’s invulnerability, Graulin believes he can master even death and he’ll stop at nothing to discover the secret of Knuk’s eternal youth.
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Sinew is a sickly, pestilent shapeshifting ghoul that evokes abject terror in all who lay eyes upon her. A living nightmare, her skin is toxic to the touch and rots the flesh. With the ability to vaporise herself into a mist, she can pass through any defence and allow herself to be inhaled by an unsuspecting victim, painfully killing them from within.
Sinew acts as Nemesys’ bloodhound. A devoted follower, she serves her master obediently and is unrelenting in accomplishing whatever task he assigns. Calculated and meticulous, she attacks with cunning and stealth— she’s the perfect assassin.
When Knuk goes AWOL and betrays Nemesys for Nova, Nemesys sends Sinew to the mortal realm to retrieve him. Since the easiest way to do this is to simply kill Nova, Sinew tries to end Nova’s life with dogged determination.
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Lord Bashi is a colossal ancient being who, for eons, was the undisputed ruler of the demon kingdom. Growing a thirst for conquest, he challenged the Spirit Realm’s overlord, Nemesys, who defeated him and entombed his soul within his own severed hand.
Standing a staggering 70 feet tall, Lord Bashi is the largest foe that Nova and Knuk face. With no soul to control it, it fights with a senseless, excessively destructive style, levelling cities and scorching the land.
After Sinew’s failure to kill Nova and retrieve Knuk, Nemesys is forced to resurrect Lord Bashi’s soulless body and send it to the mortal realm to reclaim Knuk for itself. Once released, it goes on a rampage and wreaks a path of destruction the likes of which the world has never seen.
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Lording over all dark forces is Nemesys, the Spirit of Vengeance. Nemesys is a being of pure nihilistic malevolence. Its life-force is fuelled by acts of revenge, so its goal is to keep the world in a constant state of conflict and turmoil.
The more vengeance out there, the more powerful it gets, so not surprisingly the armistice that keeps the warring nations at peace is an obstruction he cannot tolerate.
If Nemesys gets strong enough, he will be able to open a permanent rift between the mortal and spirt realms, enabling his army of enslaved souls to pass through and plunge the world into endless warfare until he has drained every last drop of blood from humanity.
As Nemesys is already a spirit, there is no way to kill it, so keeping it locked away in the spirit realm is the best that Nova and Knuk can hope for.
As capable as Nova and Knuk are, they learn they can’t do it alone. They need allies to help them solve mysteries, train in new fighting techniques and reveal things about themselves they never knew.
Not to mention for someone like Nova who has suffered so much trauma, she needs the support of her allies to fill the void in her heart and remind her that love is the most powerful force of all…
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Plum is an orphan street kid who becomes Nova’s guide and unofficial private investigator when she arrives in The Trench. He is a jolly, bumbling goofball which irritates Nova at first but eventually charms her.
Despite appearing like an incompetent buffoon, Nova soon realises Plum is hyper intelligent when it comes to all things electronic and mechanical. He’s also not lying when he claims to know every nook and cranny of The Trench— his photographic memory is a marvel unto itself.
Plum has a great mind, but his greatest asset is his heart. Nova’s misconceptions about him being a witless fool change when she discovers a great act of self-sacrifice he has made to protect those less fortunate than him. He is generous and merciful even to those that seek to harm him.
Over the course of the first season, Nova and Plum become extremely close and Nova feels she’s found a new best friend, only for Plum to be tragically ripped away from her at her darkest hour…
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Sister Renata runs a convent and orphanage deep in the underground tunnels of The Trench. To finance both, she and the other nuns operate a smelting plant that turns the leftover debris of war into building materials that Devereux uses to build his slums.
A kind and comforting woman, Sister Renata has a secret past. She was a highly decorated soldier who fought valiantly in many of the great battles during the great war. When Nova is defeated in combat, Sister Renata agrees to train her and helps her discover an inner strength she never knew she had.
Later in the series, Nova returns to her with an even greater request— to guide her in the final war against Nemesys. With great reluctance, she accepts the mission. Returning to the battlefield, she again proves dominant and plays an important role in the final victory.
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Darius is a forgetful, near senile old scatterbrain who also happens to be one of the world’s leading experts on demonic lore. If anyone knows how to nullify Nova’s vengeance pact with Nemesys, it’s him. Unfortunately, finding the Scholar isn’t going to be easy.
Initially unbeknownst to Nova, Darius is being hunted by General Morze and he’s placed a generous bounty on his head. The General wants to pilfer his knowledge of demon anatomy in order to build his legion of Knuk’s clones— something Darius wants no part in.
Nova teams up with Darius to keep Knuk from falling into General Morze’s clutches and along the way he becomes a grandfather-like figure to Nova. He is also the one who champions Nova as the chosen one who will one day fulfil the ancient prophecy, eventually introducing her to the Order of the Flying Fist who will ensure her protection.
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Before Knuk and Nova arrive in Hyperion City, the Order of the Flying Fist were seen as little more than a delusional cult. Doubt over their legitimacy was even beginning to take root within their own own factions, that is until Knuk steps through their door…
The Order’s followers worship Knuk like a God. They praise and pamper him endlessly and grow euphoric— some even hysterical— in his presence. They repeatedly claim they are prepared to die for him should he wish it, even willing to demonstrate it en masse to prove their devotion. Nova of course finds the whole thing extremely cringeworthy but none-the-less values their loyalty.
When the final battle against Nemesys is about to begin, The Order put their zealousness to good use and spread out across the globe to rally humanity to their cause. As the war kicks off, the Order’s leadership become Nova and Knuk’s vanguard and many will fall gloriously in Knack’s defence as they have dreamed of doing for so long. Yet no matter how brutal and bloody their demise, they always die with an elated smile on their face…
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During the penultimate battle with Nemesys in the final season, many of the foes Nova and Knuk have fought along the way flip to become allies and fight alongside them. Their personal grudges become trivial in the face of such overwhelming evil and they willingly join the fight for the survival of the entire mortal realm.
The army that forms around Nova and Knuk for this final war will make for a motley crew, but no matter how overmatched and outnumbered they may be against Nemesys’ forces, Knuk and Nova are now proud to call them their friends.
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After finding her family’s killer is already dead, Nova teams up with local street kid, Plum, to find a reclusive scholar who may know how to void her vengeance pact with Nemesys, but only if she gets through the slumlord, Count Devereux, first…
———
Nova arrives with Knuk in The Trench in search of her family’s killer. There she meets Plum who shows her where the killer lives. Nova ambushes the killer, but discovers she has the wrong man and learns her true quarry died not a few days before. Nova now tries to get out of her vengeance pact with Nemesys but learns the only way is to commit another act of vengeance which she doesn’t want to do.
With her sole purpose in life unfulfilled, Nova is lost and goes home to wallow in self-pity but Knuk persists in following her. Wanting to be rid of him, she hears of a Scholar in demon lore that may know how to void the pact and starts looking for him. While searching, she finds Plum being harassed by debt collectors and intervenes. Grateful, Plum agrees to help her track down the Scholar.
By defeating the debt collectors, Nova brings herself to the attention of the slumlord Count Devereux. Devereux is impressed by Knuk and figures he’d make a great debt collector so sends his men after them. When Nova discovers that Knuk, not Plum, is now Devereux’s target, she cockily sets out to teach him a lesson. Her hubris results in her getting badly wounded, forcing Plum to take her into the deep tunnels under The Trench to hide while she heals.
In a secret subterranean community, Nova meets Sister Renata who runs the orphanage that raised Plum. Sister Renata is revealed to be a former legendary fighter from the Great War and she offers to train Nova so she will be formidable even without Knuk. While Nova trains, Plum reads a text written by the Scholar and learns a secret about Knuk’s power and of the great doomsday prophecy.
Once Nova has healed, Plum assumes they will continue searching for the Scholar, but Nova decides Devereux needs to be dealt with first. Recognising that Devereux’s power comes from his wealth, Nova and Knuk rob Devereux’s banks to plunder his fortune and give the loot to the people— it’s here that Nova realises Knuk’s power can be used for good. Furious, Devereux takes matters into his own hands and attacks with such force that Nova now realises that Devereux isn’t just feared in The Trench because he is wealthy— he can fight as well.
Nova and Knuk now square off against Devereux and their brutal fight ends in tragedy when Plum is killed trying to protect Nova. As Plum dies, he makes Nova promise not to avenge him as killing Devereux will fulfil her pact with Nemesys.
The show now flashes back to the day Nova’s family were killed three years earlier. We see how joyful and loved Nova was before their brutal and senseless murder by the debt collector. In the final moment, Nova remembers a detail she had long since forgotten: the killer said he was working for Devereux. The painful revelation triggers an enraged response from Nova which turns Knuk into a conduit for channeling the dark power of Nemesys, turning Nova into her super-powered, possessed form called Banshee Nova.
Devereux now powers up also into his chimera final form and they fight like hell before Banshee Nova and Knuk finally defeat him. Near death, Devereux goads Nova to finish him but Nova remembers her promise to Plum and resists. Devereux gloats as he makes his getaway but is stopped short when an unruly mob of his own disgruntled tenants descend on him and finish the job.
The season ends with Nova recovering back at Sister Renata’s convent. After a sad funeral for Plum, Renata asks if Nova still plans to find the Scholar despite now seeing that Knuk can be used as a force for good. Nova reaffirms she only wants to be left alone and declares she will continue her search. She’s then informed that a nun from a convent far away in a place called Crater Plains has found evidence of the Scholar in the form of a wanted poster— it appears other people are searching for the Scholar as well…
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After locating the Scholar in the remote Crater Plains, Knuk becomes the target of rogue warlord, General Morze, dragging Nova into a fight that will force her to see her vengeance pact fulfilled.
———
With the Scholar’s wanted poster in hand, Nova and Knuk arrive in the post-nuclear wasteland known as Crater Plains. Locating the Scholar, he initially flees from them as he presumes they are bounty hunters after the reward. They catch him and barely get time to set the story before getting drawn into combat with a local militia led by the rogue warlord, General Morze. After they fight their way free they learn from the Scholar that Morze put the bounty on his head.
Having been ousted in a purge by the nation’s Dictator, Morze plots to assassinate the dictator and restore himself to power, but he needs to build an army powerful enough to rival the dictator’s first, which is why he seeks the Scholar. He wants the scholar to help him negotiate an alliance with the demons but when Morze witnesses Knuk’s power, he realises simply capturing Knuk and cloning him to create a legion of subservient demon battle hands would be far simpler.
Meanwhile, Nova asks the Scholar if he knows how to void her pact. To her dismay he replies there is only three ways the contract ends: die, commit an act of vengeance, or defeat Nemesys himself— and only the third option allows for you to keep your soul. Depressed, Nova makes plans to head home and await her fate, but Morze intervenes and manages to steal Knuk before they’ve get away. Nova is ambivalent about rescuing him until the Scholar informs her that the consequences of allowing Morze to carry out his planned use for Knuk would plunge the region back into all out war.
So with the Scholar’s help, Nova goes back for Knuk and rescues him after an intense assault on Morze’s military base. They manage to destroy all the clones before they can be released except for the larger, mutated prototype. Nova now has her final battle against Morze who transforms into his ‘Fallen Angel’ form to combat Banshee Nova while Knuk goes knuckle to knuckle with his mutated clone.
After destroying the clone and defeating Morze, Nova gives him a chance to surrender but he refuses and tries to detonate a nuclear weapon in a final Kamikaze act leaving Nova no other choice but to kill him. His death triggers the fulfilment of the vengeance pact and a dark portal opens up to take Nova’s soul back to Nemesys. Nova accepts her fate, but in a final dramatic twist, Knuk rewards her previous loyalty to him by destroying the portal gate before Nemesys can take her.
In the aftermath, Nova and Knuk have strengthened their bond— no longer weapon and master but comrades. Having witnessed their incredible courage and strength, the Scholar now starts to believe the ancient prophecy could be true and asks Nova to accompany him to the nation’s capital to meet a secretive Order who may be able to help with voiding the pact. Despite still not believing she could be the ‘chosen one’, Nova agrees with renewed hope she can save her soul and the trio set off for Hyperion City.
Back in the Spirit Realm, Nemesys is furious that Knuk has defied him and calls forth a terrifying shape-shifting ghoul named Sinew. He commands her to bring Nova and Knuk to him— failure is out of the question…
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Nova travels with the Scholar to Hyperion City where Knuk is gravely wounded by Sinew, the first disciple of Nemesys, forcing Nova to accept aid from Stomek Graulin, a tyrannical dictator with a sinister secret agenda.
———
Nova, Knuk and the Scholar arrive in the buzzing metropolis of Hyperion City and discover that their victory over Morze has made them notorious. Nova feigns annoyance at the attention but it inflates her ego none-the-less. When Sinew shows up and attacks them, a cocksure Nova grossly underestimates her adversary and receives a rude awakening when Knuk is easily bested by this frightening new enemy. It’s only through sheer luck they are not killed as a posse of eccentric strangers arrive just in time and whisk them away to safety.
Back at the stranger’s hideout, they reveal they are members of the Order of the Flying Fist— just the group the Scholar was looking for. Nova learns they are a doomsday cult who believe the ancient prophecy and have been waiting for Knuk and Nova’s arrival for a Millenia. They fawn over the duo and praise them as the future saviours of humanity— a role Nova is loathe to assume. In any case, Nova is too troubled by Knuk’s injuries from his fight with Sinew to indulge in fantasy. The wounds are already beginning to fester. Nova fears Knuk will not survive without treatment, but even the Scholar is at a loss as to how to administer aid.
Meanwhile, news of Morze’s defeat has reached Stomek Graulin— a tyrannical dictator who refuses to let go of power. With Morze gone, Graulin can now focus on conquering the one last threat to his ability to hold power: his own mortality.
Believing drinking demon blood gives everlasting life, Graulin launches a plot to cajole Nova into bringing Knuk to him. When his spies tell him that Knuk has been gravely wounded, Graulin invites Nova to his citadel under the guise of honouring her for defeating Morze and offers his state-of-the-art medical research lab to treat Knuk’s wounds. Though highly suspicious, Nova accepts the offer as she has no other alternative. She soon regrets the decision however when Graulin betrays her, imprisoning her and stealing Knuk away to perform cruel experiments.
Meanwhile, Sinew stalks Nova and Knuk back to Graulin’s citadel and stealthily dispatches the Citadel Guard. She finds Knuk in the lab but is blocked from taking him when Graulin shows up. Unwilling to lose his chance at immortality, Graulin drinks an experimental elixir of Knuk’s demon blood, unleashing an incredible telepathic power. Sinew and Graulin now engage in an epic battle.
With the Citadel Guard out of commission thanks to Sinew, The Scholar and members of The Order easily sneak in and rescue Nova. On the way to rescue Knuk, the Scholar reveals that while Nova was imprisoned he found a cure for Knuk but it unfortunately involves Nova changing into Banshee form— something she has not yet figured out how to do on command.
Back at the lab complex, Sinew defeats Graulin by turning into a mist and rotting his body from within. With Graulin dead, Sinew once again goes after Nova and Knuk. Before she can harm them however, Nova transforms into Banshee Nova which heals Knuk in the process. Together they deliver a destructive combined attack on Sinew, forcing her to open a portal and retreat back to the Spirit Realm.
Nova and her allies now drop their guards as they celebrate their victory resulting in a fatal error: just before the portal closes, one of Sinew’s tendrils lassos Knuk and drags him back into the Spirit Realm. Not willing to abandon her comrade, Nova makes the reckless decision to dive in after him. The portal closes behind her and her allies are left blinking in shock as Season Three finishes on a cliff hanger…
-
As the time of the prophecy grows near, Nova and Knuk fight their way out of the Spirit Realm only to find the Mortal Realm in a far greater state of crisis— all masterminded by Nemesys’ devious design.
———
Season Four begins with Nova alone in the strange and eerie Spirit Realm as she sets off in search of Knuk. Encountering a benign spirit, she gets directions on where Knuk was taken and also asks whether the spirit knows how to get back to the mortal realm. The spirit replies that only a summoning ritual performed by someone in the mortal realm can allow for a crossing. Nova silently prays that the Scholar is trying to do just that.
Nova travels on and arrives at a vast open plain where she witnesses first hand the massive army of cursed souls that Nemesys has amassed. She now finally accepts that the prophecy is real. She then hears the sounds of combat nearby and sees Knuk fighting off a platoon of enslaved souls. Nova rushes to his aid but with so many to fight they decide to flee.
Searching for a place to hide, Nova and Knuk enter an immense cavernous hall where they come face to face with the giant calcified corpse of Bashi the Demon King himself with his missing right hand. Distracted by the overwhelming discovery, Nova takes a moment to realise they are not alone… for the first time since the summoning ritual, Nova and Nemesys come face to face. While frozen in fear, Nemesys cryptically congratulates Nova on already being his most ‘useful soldier’ and tells her he’s thrilled to now finally get to enslave her soul. He moves toward her with murderous intent but just before he reaches her a portal opens— the Scholar frantically waves her and Knuk through from the other side. Nova and Knuk escape through the portal which closes behind them. Displeased, Nemesys turns towards the towering figure of Bashi, a scheming look in his eye…
Now back in the mortal realm, Nova and Knuk are aghast to find that the world has dramatically changed. Even though they were only in the spirit realm for a few hours, many months have passed in the mortal realm. While they were gone, Graulin’s death created a power vacuum which every military commander and political leader felt was their right to fill. Infighting erupted which escalated into a full blown military conflict. The nation is now divided up into territories with Hyperion City the epicentre of a fierce power struggle.
Absorbing this, Nova reflects on how Nemesys called her his most ‘useful soldier’ and she’s struck by an epiphany: Each arch-enemy she has defeated has been a pillar of power that— while corrupt and oppressive— were keeping the region stable. Their removal has thrown the region into chaos and she realises that this was Nemesys’ plan all along. He has been using her like a pawn to do his bidding without her ever knowing it.
Meanwhile on the outskirts of the city, a group of Sorceresses are performing a mass ritual to open a gaping portal many times larger than any we’ve previously seen. From the shadows within, countless enslaved souls start pouring through followed by Bashi the Demon King who bellows out an earthshaking roar. Nova, Knuk now launch an attack on Bashi while The Order take on the enslaved legions. The battle is insanely destructive as Bashi lays waste to the city. Meanwhile the Scholar makes his way to the portal where he finds all the sorceresses have committed ritual suicide. The Scholar now tries to close the portal alone.
Banshee Nova and Knuk triumph in forcing Bashi back through the portal and into the spirit realm. The Scholar is mere moments from closing the portal when he is suddenly decapitated by an unseen force. Nova looks on in horror as Nemesys now emerges through the portal, blood dripping from his clawed hand. Everyone’s worst nightmare has now been realised: Nemesys has made it to the mortal realm… the final battle between humanity and the spirit realm is about to begin.
-
The final showdown begins… Nova and Knuk must unite the warring factions of their homeland if they are to stand a chance of driving Nemesys and his legions back into the Spirit Realm for good, but doing so will require one of them to make the ultimate sacrifice…
———
Nemesys is now in the mortal realm, and with the carnage and bloodshed going on, he is growing stronger by the second. Nova, Knuk and their allies try to attack him but they are quickly repelled, many dying in the process. Nova and Knuk and the other survivors retreat, making a plan to regroup back at Sister Renata’s convent in The Trench.
Safe for the time being under Renata’s protection, Nova and her allies try to work out a plan but come up empty— even if they could overpower Nemesys enough to drive him back, they cannot open a portal without the Scholar. Nova blames herself for it all, expressing that her desire for revenge is what led to this. Accepting responsibility, Nova pledges an oath to correct her mistake.
Emboldened by Nova’s conviction, Renata declares she may know a way to help them and shares with Nova a secret that no one outside her sisterhood knows. She takes the allies to a sacred place and calls forth the sisterhood’s patron saint Hyperiel, the Mother Goddess of Mercy, who Renata invites to possess her. Nova begs for help, but while Hyperiel confirms she can open a portal, she is powerless against Nemesys at his current strength. She tells them that to weaken Nemesys they must cut off his energy supply and to do that they must quell all the conflict going on across the region. For that is the antidote to the curse of vengeance— mercy and forgiveness.
Having become cult heroes following the toppling of Morze and Graulin, Nova and Knuk are are elected by the group to be the spokespeople for their peace campaign. They record a message and use the sisterhood’s network to broadcast their message across the land. Gradually they are able to calm the bloodshed and focus the people on their true enemy: Nemesys.
Feeling his life force growing weaker, Nemesys realises what Nova and her allies are doing and so gathers his strongest fighters to go hunt her down. The sisterhood warn Nova that Nemesys is coming for her, and together the allies prepare to make their final stand. Nova realises that she is now about to fulfil the final stage of the prophecy— she truly is the chosen one. Before the final battle begins, Nova is forewarned by Renata that should she be successful in defeating Nemesys, her pact will also be destroyed, which means Knuk will disappear. In other words, in order to save the world, she will have to sacrifice her closest companion.
As Nemesys marches towards them, Nova’s allies assemble around her and she notices that many of the foes she fought throughout the series now stand alongside her as well. In her final speech, Nova reminds her fighters that they are not fighting to destroy their enemy, but fighting to protect their comrades— hatred will only empower Nemesys more.
The final ultimate battle now begins. While Nova’s allies fight the legions of enslaved souls, Nova and Knuk fight Nemesys in an insane, God-level battle that’s like nothing we’ve seen before. Their battle rages with many twists and turns until Nova and Knuk finally get the upper hand. With Nemesys considerably weakened, Renata channels Hyperiel who opens the portal and with a final last show-stopping punch, Nova and Knuk smash Nemesys back into the Spirit Realm for good.
The allies rejoice, but for Nova and Knuk, the victory is bittersweet. Free from the pact, Knuk now starts to disappear. As Nova shares a final tearful farewell with her beloved brother-in-arms, a surprising thing happens— Knuk speaks. Defeating Nemesys destroyed Nova’s pact, but it also freed the Demon King’s soul that was trapped inside Knuk. As his spirit disappears into the ether, the Demon King expresses his gratitude for freeing him. Now even though Nova has lost her friend and protector, she is content knowing his soul is finally at peace.
The series finishes with Nova and Knuk immortalised as heroes of the nation. A new republic forms following the signing of a peace treaty and the new nation’s flag is designed with a severed fist as the emblem— not as a symbol of war and power, but of valour and virtue. Once the fanfare has died down, Nova is now free to return to the normal life she has for so long craved. After all this time, she is finally rid of the vengeance in her heart.
End of Series.
-
After making a pact with the Spirit of Vengeance, Nova attempts to use Knuk to get revenge on her family’s murderer only to discover he’s already dead, leading to an unexpected situation.
———
A prologue brings us up to speed on the state of the warring nations.
Arriving in The Trench, we’re introduced to eighteen year-old wild child, Nova, and the haunting Severed Hand of the Demon King, Knuk. We learn Nova is in search of a debt collecting cyclops that murdered her family but her leads have dried up.
After getting in a brawl in a gangster bar for asking too many questions, Nova and Knuk meet a goofy local street kid named Plum who offers to show them where the cyclops lives for a fee.
On route, Plum inquires why she’s pursuing the cyclops and Nova explains the revenge pact she made with Nemesys to avenge her murdered family.
They arrive at the cyclops’ lair and Nova pays Plum. As they say their farewells, Plum invites Nova to contact him if she ever needs help tracking down anyone else as he claims he knows the city better than anyone. She thanks him and Plum leaves.
Nova now prepares for the fight of her life but when she launches her attack, she discovers her target is actually the cyclops’ twin brother and that the real killer has died of natural causes only days earlier. Taking in the situation, she realises she’s actually gatecrashed the Cyclops’ funeral.
Gutted, Nova returns to the Sorceress who brokered her deal with Nemesys hoping to get the contract nullified and have Knuk returned to the spirit realm.
However she is shocked to learn that even though her quarry was already dead, the deal still stands and the only way to get rid of Knuk is to commit another act of vengeance.
Knowing she has no one left to avenge, Nova arrives at the sobering conclusion that she’s likely going to be stuck with Knuk for a very long time…
-
After Nova and Knuk fight off Plum’s debt collectors which draws the unwanted attention of the powerful slumlord Devereux, the trio team up to track down a reclusive scholar who may know how to void Nova’s vengeance contract with Nemesys.
———
Having poured everything into her vendetta, Nova now has a deep void in her life. All she wants is to be left alone to wallow in self-pity, but of course having Knuk shadowing her every move makes that impossible.
She tries various ways to get rid of Knuk to no effect. Out of desperation, she returns to the Sorceress and pleads for help. Taking pity on her, the Sorceress tells Nova about a reclusive scholar who’s an expert in demonic law and may know a way to break the deal, however no one has been able to locate him in years.
Courting hopelessness, Nova contemplates suicide at a bridge but is interrupted by the sight of Plum being dangled over the edge nearby by debt collectors as he owes a substantial sum to the powerful slumlord, Devereux.
When Nova intervenes, the debt collectors recognise her— they were there at the gangster bar brawl and got their asses whooped. Armed to the teeth this time, the debt collectors attack and Nova and Knuk still manage to beat them up.
Grateful, Plum inquires how he can repay the favour and Nova asks for his help finding the Scholar. He agrees on condition that she protect him from the debt collectors should they return and she accepts the terms.
Nova and Plum now set off together to find the Scholar with Knuk never far behind.
A coda shows the beat up debt collectors returning to Devereux’s heavily fortified estate to confess their failure in procuring Plum’s debt due to the presence of Nova and Knuk. Intrigued by Knuk’s power, Devereux expresses his desire to have Knuk for himself but concedes that it may require some bigger predators to catch this prey…
-
Nova, Knuk and Plum battle a Big Game Hunting squad sent by Devereux while searching for clues about the Scholar in the ruins of an abandoned law library that happens to be home to a giant mutant spider.
———
Nova has a nightmare about the day she summoned Nemesys. We see her discussions with the ‘broker’ Sorceress, the summoning ritual and the opening of the portal. Nova steps through and has a terrifying encounter with Nemesys ending with the Vengeance Pact.
After waking up, she finds Plum has pulled a cyber-sleuthing all-nighter and discovered the Scholar’s last known place of employment was a law library destroyed in the war. Nova is impressed by his unexpected hacking prowess. The pair then reason that staff records may have survived the destruction and set off to find out.
On the way to the library, Knuk fends off a team of highly trained Big Game Hunters. Nova queries Plum if its normal for Devereux to hire such expensive mercenaries to retrieve a debt as measly as Plum’s, but Plum is as surprised as she is.
They arrive at the ruins of the library and are forewarned by a soldier standing guard that the place has become the nest of a giant mutant spider. His platoon were sent in to kill it but none returned. With the Big Game Hunters on their trail, Nova and Plum decide to take their chances.
Scouring the ruins, they pass by the devoured corpses of the army platoon. They then locate the staff archives and discover the spider has laid its eggs inside the same room.
While Plum searches for the Scholar’s file, the Big Game Hunters pounce. Knuk and Nova engage them in order to buy Plum more time but just as he finds the file, a Hunter’s grenade destroys the archives. The explosion also alerts the spider to their presence.
Finding her eggs destroyed, all hell breaks loose as the spider attacks and kills all the hunters except for the Chief Hunter. The spider now turns on Knuk, so Knuk battles the spider while Nova duels with the Chief ending in a combined victory for Nova and Knuk.
Before Nova knocks out the Chief she interrogates him about why Devereux sent him and he breaks the news to her that Knuk, not Plum, is now Devereux's target.
The ruins collapse as they make their escape. Outside, Plum informs Nova that regrettably he was unable to save the Scholar’s file but he did manage to save something else— a book on demonic law written by the Scholar himself.
-
Fed up with Devereux’s intrusions into their quest, Nova cockily decides to confront him head on despite Plum’s advice, leading to a wakeup call that almost costs Nova her life.
———
Plum proposes they read the Scholar’s book to look for clues to his whereabouts but Nova’s mind is elsewhere. She was insulted that Devereux thought he could steal Knuk and cockily declares she needs to put him in his place. Plum warns against underestimating Devereux but Nova dismisses his concern, believing she’s invincible as long as she has Knuk.
The trio head to Devereux’s estate where they’re surprised to be graciously welcomed in as Devereux is expecting them. Plum declares it a trap and refuses to go in but Nova isn’t fazed and ventures on with Knuk.
Entering Devereux’s lavish manor house, Nova is greeted by a manservant who says he will show them to Devereux. Along the way, he explains that after learning of their triumphant victory over the Big Game Hunters, Devereux wished to make peace.
They are shown through to a stately drawing room where Devereux is supposedly waiting for them but as soon as they enter a forcefield imprisons Knuk and they realise they’ve walked into a trap. Devereux appears as a hologram and expresses his wish to make an exchange: Nova can live if she hands over Knuk. Nova refuses and so Devereux issues a kill command to his manservant who unexpectedly transforms into a lethal, blade-wielding, cyborg assassin. Now as Knuk tries to smash his way out of his forcefield cell, Nova fights desperately for survival against the deadly killing machine.
Meanwhile, Plum has grown anxious outside after not receiving word from Nova so he hacks the surveillance system and is alarmed to see Nova fighting a losing battle with the cyborg. Figuring the forcefield is powered by the estate’s energy grid, he hacks it and diverts a surge of current into the forcefield causing it to overload and explode.
Now free, Knuk immediately crushes the cyborg and scoops Nova up. As they make their escape, the manor turns into a booby trapped fortress and Knuk defends against an arsenal of weaponry until they eventually blast out to freedom.
Finally out of harm’s way, they reunite with Plum who sees that Nova is critically wounded. With more of Devereux’s assassins hot on their trail, Plum decides to take her to a safe house to heal and ushers Knuk down into the underground sewer system of The Trench…
-
Having sought sanctuary in Plum’s hometown while she heals from her duel at Devereux’s compound, Nova spends her recovery time mastering new skills under the tutelage of a warrior Nun. Meanwhile Plum studies the Scholar’s text and learns several of Knuk’s secrets.
———
While leading Nova and Knuk through the labyrinthine tunnels under the city, Plum explains the tunnels’ Great War origins and how they are now residence to a subterranean underclass driven underground by crime and poverty.
Arriving in a deep cavern, they find a smelting plant run by a convent of roughneck nuns who melt down relics of the Great War for scrap. Their labour funds an orphanage and its revealed that this is where Plum grew up. Plum seeks out the head nun, Sister Renata, who agrees to nurse Nova back to health.
As Nova heals, she expresses regret for underestimating Devereux and acknowledges she is not invincible. Through wise counsel, Renata helps Nova realise that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so if Nova wants to win her fights she must become as formidable as Knuk. Renata then reveals she was a highly decorated soldier during the Great War. Nova requests combat training from her when she has healed. Renata agrees.
As they train, Nova notices how much the tunnel community are suffering and Renata informs her Devereux's greed is to blame. Renata also tells Nova that Plum’s trouble with the debt collectors is due to selflessly assuming the orphanage’s debts so Devereux would stop harassing the nuns. This further cements Nova’s admiration for her humble ally.
Meanwhile, Plum reads the Scholar’s text. He gleans valuable information about Knuk’s origins and how Nova can harness his power. He also discovers a prophecy that foretells of Nemesys’ attempt to conquer the mortal realm and the great warrior with the ability to wield the dark lord’s own power who will rally humanity to defeat him.
Earlier it’s established that a gruesome cave troll has been raiding the convent in search of children to eat. When the nuns alert Renata that the troll has returned, Nova offers her and Knuk’s services to drive it away. Renata however challenges Nova to handle the troll herself to test her new training and resolve. Nova agrees and ends up defeating the troll.
As they say their farewells, the nuns promise to spread word to their nationwide network of convents to keep an eye out for the Scholar. Nova is grateful. On their way back to the surface, Plum asks Nova if they will be resuming their search for the Scholar now. Nova affirms this but says she can’t leave without giving Devereux a parting gift…
-
With new skills and wisdom, the trio return to The Trench with a new plan to smash Devereux’s stranglehold over the city by robbing him of his wealth and power.
———
Assuming that Nova’s idea of a ‘parting gift’ is a rematch with Devereux, Plum is concerned that if she kills him Knuk will drag her soul back to the spirit realm. But Nova eases his concerns and suggests she has a way to hurt him far worse than simply murdering him.
Deducing that Devereux cares about his wealth more than anything else, Nova hatches a plan to rob each of the big four banks where Devereux keeps his fortune, reasoning that without his money he is powerless and his stranglehold over the city will crumble.
Earlier it’s established that Devereux has won the support of the citizenry by preaching that every penny he receives goes towards rebuilding the city’s infrastructure following its destruction during the Great War. By exposing his immense cash reserves Nova knows it will expose his flagrant corruption.
So on the day of a groundbreaking ceremony at Devereux’s largest ghetto tower block yet, Nova and Knuk gleefully perform a series of brazen smash and grabs. Plundering the banks of every last dollar, they deliver their loot to Devereux’s construction site just as he is turning the first clod. Plum interrupts and gives a short speech to the gathered masses about Devereux’s treachery. Then to Devereux's great horror, they hurl the riches out into the ecstatic crowds. Furious, Devereux commands his men to attack but the trio effortlessly slip away with the help of the mutinous crowd who savagely descend upon Devereux’s men.
Back in safety, Nova and Plum joyfully celebrate their triumph and their bond grows ever closer. Later as the celebrations wind down, Plum points out the irony that Knuk is a brutal weapon of vengeance yet Nova has somehow turned him into a symbol of hope. He muses that perhaps having Knuk around might not be such a bad thing. Ruminating on the notion, Nova can’t help but see his point.
Meanwhile, across the city, Devereux watches from a vantage point as a crazed mob ransacks his estate. Seething with a cold fury, he declares it time to take matters into his own hands and deal with Nova himself…
-
After his public downfall, an enraged Devereux decides to take revenge into his own hands and attacks the trio with devastating consequences.
———
Having stayed up all night celebrating, Nova and Plum sit on a roof top and take in the red dawn of a new day, feeling hopeful. When Plum declares it a whole new beginning for the city, a sinister voice hidden from view replies that unfortunately for them it’s the end. Nova and Plum looked shocked as Devereux steps out of the shadows.
Nova attempts to ward Devereux off by vowing he will regret any attempt to harm them. Devereux is unperturbed, so Nova commands Knuk to attack with a flying fist. To their astonishment, Devereux effortlessly blocks the attack and with a simple flick of his finger, sends Knuk rocketing back. It’s the first time in the whole series thus far that Knuk has been stopped in his tracks. Nova looks genuinely fearful for the first time and tells Plum to run as she and Knuk square up to fight for their lives.
Devereux now launches a blistering attack with superhuman speed and strength causing Knuk and Nova to defend with everything they’ve got. Windows shatter and concrete turns to rubble as the two-on-one slug fest rages over several city blocks.
Eventually Devereux seizes an opportunity and delivers a crushing blow to Knuk, rendering him unable to get up from. Already battered and exhausted, Nova now stands against Devereux alone who hardly looks to have broken a sweat. Nova attacks with everything she’s got but Devereux brutally picks her apart with bone-crushing shot after shot until— bleeding and broken— she can no longer stand and collapses at his feet.
Gazing down upon her smugly, Devereux delivers a classic villain soliloquy before picking up the rotor of a helicopter that was destroyed during the fight. He positions himself to behead her, execution style, but just before he can, a demolition wrecking ball swings in from out of nowhere and smashes Devereux through a wall.
Devereux extracts himself from the rubble to see Plum running over to once again try to evacuate Nova from the battle zone. Slipping in and out of consciousness, Nova has just enough time to glance up and see Plum’s smiling face as he reassures her that she’s going to be okay before Devereux javelins the rotor blade directly through his heart.
Nova screams in anguish as Plum falls to the ground. Nova crawls to him as he breathes his last breath, all the while, begging Nova not to avenge him— he wants her to run, to go far away and live her life. He makes her promise. Nova obliges and promises she will. Plum looks briefly relieved then the light leaves his eyes as he dies. Cut to black.
-
Plum’s death triggers a flashback to the night Nova’s family were killed and a repressed traumatic memory becomes the catalyst for unleashing Nova’s true power.
———
Over black, text fades up: Three Years Earlier.
Nova rides the subway as a fifteen year-old girl. We think she’s alone until we reveal her family— her father, mother and little brother- is riding alongside her and watching over her in a caring way.
The episode now follows Nova and her family through their day leading up to the fateful moment where they were murdered. It’s her little brother’s birthday and they’re taking him to a video game arcade. There’s moments of playfulness and tenderness— they’re a regular, wholesome family.
At the arcade, Nova is away from her family for a moment at the exact time a speeding car crashes into the arcade, cutting her off from them. The injured driver is being pursued by a motorcyclist who pulls up and aims a gun at the driver. The driver pulls out his own and a fire fight ensues ending in the death of the car driver. Nova’s parents are struck and killed by stray fire in front of Nova.
As the motorcyclist finishes off the car driver, execution style, he then robs the man of his valuables and then starts to leave. On his way out, he comes across Nova’s critically injured little brother and shoots him dead as well in what we perceive is a mercy killing.
As he walks off, Nova crawls to her brother, and cradles his lifeless body, sobbing. He gets on his bike to ride away and tells the terrified onlookers not to say anything to the police, otherwise his boss Devereux will come after them next. This comes as a shock— Nova has just remembered that the true person responsible for her family’s death was Devereux.
Cut back to the current day where Nova cradles Plum in her arms in the exact same way she cradled her brother. Devereux leers and makes a quip about Plum’s debt now being paid. Nova glares at him with pure vengeance in her eyes. Devereux laughs it off but stops when an ominous aura starts glowing around Nova.
Nova levitates off the ground. Knuk rises from the rubble, his life force suddenly renewed.
Devereux’s face fills with alarm as Banshee Nova— possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance himself— screams a blood curdling wail. The final battle is about to begin…
-
The final showdown: possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance, Nova unlocks her full hidden potential, but Devereux still has a hidden secret of his own…
———
An eerie calm hangs over the city. Nova, Knuk and Devereux stare each other down in a classic showdown moment before launching into their ferocious final battle. This time however, the powered up Nova and Knuk gain the upper hand. The gloves have come off.
Problem is, Devereux reveals he is yet to take his off. When he does— literally by taking off his white aristocratic gloves— he transforms into a wild, grotesque chimera-like creature. We now learn that this is Devereux’s terrifying true form.
Nova looks briefly taken aback as Beast Devereux snarls. A split second later their ultimate battle resumes with unmatched ferocity as they exchange attacks powerful enough to level city blocks.
After laying waste to half the city, the brawl ends up on the roof of Devereux’s manor house. With one last final surge of effort, Nova and Knuk finally overpower Beast Devereux and annihilate him with a sickening combination of strikes, blasting him down into his manor and atomising the entire structure.
As the dust settles, the mangled body of Devereux lies in a gaping crater. Banshee Nova looms over him as he struggles to breathe. He taunts her with a leering smirk to hurry up and finish him off for good. Nova raises her hand causing Knuk to levitate off the ground. Knuk forms a fist directly above Devereux, poised to deal the deathblow.
In the shadow of that mighty fist, Devereux laughs and says he’ll see her in hell. Just as she’s about to command Knuk to kill him she stops and we see a flashback to when she promised Plum she will not avenge him which rouses her from her demonic state.
Her eyes return to normal as she regains control of her senses. Nova tells Devereux she’s not going to kill him. Devereux laughs, believing only a fool would grant him mercy. Nova replies she gave her word to Plum she wouldn’t kill him, but they made no such promise…
Devereux glances around and realises he’s surrounded by a hostile mob of his tenants. The smile wipes from his face as the mob descend on him and in his weakened state he’s unable to fend them off. Nova watches for a moment as they tear him apart before she collapses and passes out.
-
Following Devereux’s defeat, Nova returns to Plum’s hometown to lay her friend to rest and reaffirms her mission to find the Scholar so she can finally escape her pact with Nemesys.
———
Nova regains consciousness back in Sister Renata’s convent. Knuk of course is there holding an ever watchful vigil over her. Her relief to be alive is quickly overshadowed by her guilt over Plum. Sister Renata informs her they have already retrieved his body. They have been planning to hold a funeral for him as soon as Nova was awake.
Nova asks to see him and Renata shows her where Plum lies so she can pay her respects.. Later, she gives her friend at tearful farewell at his funeral and does a small speech about how Plum helped her move past vengeance and find joy in life again.
Afterwards, Renata asks Nova if she has decided what she plans to do about Knuk— whether she will continue her quest to get void the vengeance pact or will she choose to keep him around. Nova replies that if keeping Knuk means losing more people that she cares about like Plum then she still sees Knuk as more of a curse than a blessing.
Renata then tells Nova that they have received a lead on the whereabouts of the Scholar— a nun from a convent out in Crater Plains has found evidence that he resides out there. Nova asks for evidence and Renata hands her a piece of paper— it’s a wanted poster for the Scholar— Nova’s not the only one looking for him…
We now cut to an aerial shot of a vast hundred mile long crater, large enough to contain its own ecosystem inside.
Down at surface level, a figure trudges through the wasteland past the shredded, rusting hulls of mammoth, long forgotten war machines— It’s the Scholar. He looks as if he’s about to die from dehydration and starvation. He collapses into the sand next to a sign that says, Crater Plains, 10 Miles.
Unable to go any further, he awaits death but instead hears an approaching convoy of heavily armoured military vehicles. The lead vehicle stops and a camouflage clad figure steps out and walks over to where he lay. The Scholar looks up as the mysterious military man says “hello there, old friend…”
End of Season One.
Themes & Metaphors
As the wise ones say, revenge is never the answer. But if we know this to be true, then why must it taste so sweet?
Null & Void is about the timeless struggle between forgiveness and revenge, retaliation and mercy, and hope and despair. It makes the argument for the fruitlessness of vendettas and the absurdity of choosing conflict over peace. And it shows how our greatest strength and courage comes not from a desire for self preservation, but from having someone to protect.
Ultimately it demonstrates how forgiveness, mercy and love can be the antidote to a divided world.
The Severed Hand of the Demon King is a symbol of revenge and coveted power, but in relation to Nova, it's also a metaphor for the emotional barriers we put up to protect ourselves from getting hurt. Knuk becomes a crutch that stunts Nova’s ability to mature and evolve. Only when she emancipates herself from her dependence on Knuk is she able to realise her true potential.
Themes & Metaphors
As the wise ones say, revenge is never the answer. But if we know this to be true, then why must it taste so sweet?
Null & Void is about the timeless struggle between forgiveness and revenge, retaliation and mercy, and hope and despair. It makes the argument for the fruitlessness of vendettas and the absurdity of choosing conflict over peace. And it shows how our greatest strength and courage comes not from a desire for self preservation, but from having someone to protect.
Ultimately it demonstrates how forgiveness, mercy and love can be the antidote to a divided world.
The Severed Hand of the Demon King is a symbol of revenge and coveted power, but in relation to Nova, it's also a metaphor for the emotional barriers we put up to protect ourselves from getting hurt. Knuk becomes a crutch that stunts Nova’s ability to mature and evolve. Only when she emancipates herself from her dependence on Knuk is she able to realise her true potential.
Null & Void is peak adult animation. Made for a mature audience, it combines hardcore action, bizarre comedy, true horror, thrilling suspense and tear jerking emotion. Its also very fucking cool.
Subtlety and restraint have no place in this show. The highs will be delirious, the lows will be gut wrenching, and the world-building mind boggling. The story is an epic saga with the highest possible stakes. Beloved characters will die in droves. Heroes will suffer crushing defeats. Enemies will triumph despite their villainy. No punches will be pulled. Shit will get biblical.
The violence is unapologetically brutal. Not gratuitously gory, but visceral and intense. The action sequences will be hyper destructive and dizzyingly wild. It’s all wanton carnage and ghoulishly good fun.
Even though it’s a heavy hitting show in terms of its themes and story, it never takes itself too seriously. It has a generous dollop of irony and satire and a rich streak of dark humour that will be subversive and provocative at times, especially in how audaciously and irreverently it deals with death and destruction.
Style & Technique
Null & Void will be rendered in premium, prestige, anime influenced animation of the highest calibre— worthy of rivalling the great anime production houses of Japan.
The creativity will be super trippy, weird and wild but with a gritty textural look and dramatic, high impact lighting and shading.
The show will focus heavily on creating unbelievably sophisticated fight choreography that pushes the dynamic use of animated camera movement to the absolute max.
It’s imperative that its technique be hand drawn, cell animation in the classic anime style. The organic look and feel this creates is crucial to establishing a nostalgic connection and signalling that it is true anime and not just a derivative rip-off.
Visually dazzling. Hyper detailed. Painstakingly complex. Super stylish. Creatively daring— Null & Void is anime of the highest order.
Structure
Null & Void has a serialised structure delivered in 5 seasons of 10 episodes.
The storytelling will be delivered in lean and snappy sub-thirty minute episodes that are designed to be incredibly moreish. We’re going for short, sharp, hard and fast.
The episodic plot lines will typically have an A-plot, B-plot structure with greater season and series arcs carried out over the top. Episodes ending in cliffhangers, major reversals and surprise twists will be de rigueur.
Each episode will feature at least one badass fight sequence with a low level villain building towards a major boss fight at the end of each season and culminating in all out war and an epic showdown with the arch-antagonist at the end of the series.
Inspiration & Antecedents
Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
One Punch Man
Mob Psycho 100
FLCL
Tekkonkinkreet
Chainsaw Man
Full Metal Alchemist
Naruto
Akira
Ninja Scroll
Battle Angel Alita
Nausica Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke
Creators Statement
Null & Void began with a sketch of a warrior girl riding a giant severed hand drawn sometime in the early 2000s. Years later, the phrase ‘null and void’ sounded cool as the moniker for a couple of badass bounty hunters. Later still, the Null & Void bounty hunting duo was merged with the sketch of the girl and the severed hand resulting in the characters taking their current shape. All of this was inspired and informed by a lifelong, deep admiration for classic Japanese anime.
Fast forward to 2021 when Studio Goono was invited to pitch a music video concept for a new Salvatore Ganacci song. Winning the bid, Nova and Knuk were then brought to life as the animated antagonists of the titular recording artist by a team of talented animators. With the release of Ganacci’s Fight Dirty music video, the world of Null & Void was introduced to a global online audience who collectively recognised how under utilised these dynamic characters were and passionately pleaded for the music video to be turned into a series.
After another year spent refining the concept and developing the narrative, we’ve finally completed our series bible for Null & Void and are ready to share it with the world. Needless to say, we love it. This show is the culmination of our life’s work as dedicated filmmakers and ardent cinephiles. We’ve poured every ounce of our creative juices into crafting it up to this point, and we’re super excited to give it so much more.
All we want is to make a series that thrills and inspires others as much as we were by the anime we watched as teens and young adults. For us, this is pure, unabashed childhood dream realisation in the making. Call it hyperbole if you want, but we feel it’s true: Null & Void is the show we were put on this planet to make.
What The Fans Are Saying
“Over 9.5 million views on YouTube”
— Best Animation — M-V-F Awards, Brazil
— Best Animation — Berlin Music Video Awards
— Best Animation — Clipped Music Video Awards
— Best Animation — Films on Phone Festival
— Silver Clio — The Clio Awards
— Silver, Animation category — 1.4 Awards
— Nominated for Best Animation — UK Music Video Awards
— Nominated for Best Animation — Australian Director’s Guild Awards
— Vimeo Staff Pick
— 1.4
— Shots.net
— BoooomTV
— Directors Notes
About The Creators
Based in Sydney Australia, STUDIO GOONO is the creative enterprise of lifelong friends and film fanatics Will Goodfellow and Tom Noakes.
Will and Tom have been collaborating as a writer-director duo since meeting in their first year of university in Brisbane, Australia back in 2004.
After nearly two decades of hustling their way up the food chain of the Australian film industry, they have built a globally recognised body of work spanning commercials, short films and music videos. Feature films, television series and animation are next on the list.
Check out some of their previous work at www.studiogoono.com
