Aside her guitar named “Marlene”, a lot of it is chalked up to her powers in connection with the Backyard and the history of existence itself.

She makes a wry comment that the “God” who created her had a Martini in one hand, and she was talking to Happy Chaos when she said this, so it’s somewhat hard to take her seriously.

If I had to take a guess though, every aspect of her existence came from the vented frustrations of Humanity when they faced the Crusades and all the senseless death and destruction.

While Gears were something of a source behind that, I-No never made a point to confront that source herself directly outside of rescuing Asuka, and he was only a fragment of the problem that started with the Original Sage. She even caused more problems than solutions, by killing Faust, abandoning Ky to his death, and watching Sol mercilessly butcher his future kin and laughing all the while. And she was killing Valentines easily enough even long after this.

There is, however, some cutting room floor elements to I-No’s existence that future games beyond GGXX ignored or outright forgot existed.

In the original Guilty Gear XX, the Respect animation quotes with I-No’s hat have a noticeable voice distortion when the hat talks in a voice similar to hers but still different. Furthermore, an early set of illustrations imply that I-No’s eyes could shift from a Golden color of cat-like eyes to glowing red eyes indicative of a Gear.

But throughout the story she insisted she is still human, and even expressed hatred to Gears much the same as the history that spawned her.

So what is this contradiction? What’s going on here?

Remember that voice distortion I mentioned? There is one other time it is heard: in the Drama CDs right as she gathers her power to Time Travel, though she calls it Temporal Distortion.

Assuming that I-No is a physical embodiment of history itself, and assuming that she can distort that history as easily as flexing a muscle, any being living or dead that ever existed is a “part of her”.

That “collective existence” includes GEARS as well!

So in that sense, in the words of Baiken: “The Musician who wouldn’t die,” was also connected to and influenced by the existence of Gears themselves! This plus the near infinite nature of the Backyard itself should sufficiently explain why I-No existed the way she did as a walking Paradox, not to mention why her existence synchronized with Axl Low’s history and past.

With Gears it is possible to manifest many forms of life and sentience if Dizzy’s body alone is any indication! Talking wings, a complex tail, and they all act independently of Dizzy herself.

But what about I-No?

Just how complex a body did she have? To manifest music wing subwoofers from her back, a talking hat with a mind of its own that would say embarrassing things she would never actually say, and a band of demons to give her a background tune while she performed Last Will and Testament?

An early illustration of I-No in the Lightning the Argent novel even indicates that her Guitar Marlene is capable of wrapping itself around her body like an extra limb. She’s even able to make the strings stretch without breaking to slit her foes to shreds. Any normal guitar would break under that kind of abuse.

I-No’s powers didn’t stop there, either, she could even erase people’s memories of her influencing their history, like with Ky.

The only individuals she couldn’t influence were immortal beings like Raven as well as Axl Low, no matter how often she wished to be rid of him. She even tried to kill Happy Chaos if you remember their initial introductions.

Interesting to note that she never did try to manipulate Sol directly, probably because it wouldn’t work, since he never trusted her in the first place ever since the first time they ever met.

What’s most curious is how her existence is tied to Megumi Saito, the past self she doesn’t remember being like. The person she remembers isn’t Axl Low, but a man named William.

In Damon & Baby, she is seen in a Demon-like realm searching for Lost Memories, though she is somewhat non specific about how she feels when aspects of her memories are recovered. She seems easy going when she is encountered, but her emotions are just as dry as they almost always were, suggesting that even getting her memories back doesn’t fully solve the problem of her existence.

An Unlikely Future that spun in to existence from a near impossible Past. Her existence and Axl’s are both still something of a mystery.

Well, even if I say that, she chose her path in life and instead of the future she was obsessed with, she got her Past instead, which is just as well better off in her case.

If you look at everything from Happy Chaos' perspective then no one was prepared for that kind of power.

Reason being: Happy Chaos borrowed some of I-No's power in the first place (which is an extension of Axl Low's power to begin with).

While it is true that Axl Low has the same godlike potential that I-No exhibited, the difference is familiarity. Axl has only just begun to understand his powers, while I-No has been using similar powers for some time now.

When I-No finally decided to unleash her full potential on the world, literally no one, not even Asuka was prepared for what would occur.

It also doesn't help that Happy Chaos was on I-No's side during this whole incident... but, ironically, that may have turned out to be the best possible result:

Because Happy Chaos became I-No's control factor, nothing "worse" ended up happening...

Of course, individuals like Ky Kiske, Nagoriyuki, and Sol Badguy were also "variable factors" in managing that power, and if Asuka was more prepared, then he might also have been a greater help.

Though, it's because he wasn't, that he ended up creating Jack-O'Valentine.

He couldn't account for all variables, so Jack-O' was his potential failsafe if all other plans fell through.

And if Jack-O' ended up being a failure, there was one final failsafe:

Not Happy Chaos (former Original Sage), but:

HAPPY CHAOS VALENTINE.

The original "Valentine" designed for I-No personally, that was never finished.

Yet another loose end that the plot has yet to reveal more information regarding.

And given that Asuka still hasn't revealed what happed to the Flame of Corruption Seed he took from Sol... we still don't know if Happy Chaos Valentine will ever be given a "new purpose" one day.

Axl Low might still have some great amount of his powers left over from this incident, much like Delilah and other Backyard Residents do, but I don't expect Axl will improperly manage that power, for the sake of his new family (Megumi) and everyone's Future.

Even the Tome of Origin is potentially "more powerful" than even Axl or I-No, simply because it has a control mechanism over the Backyard, hence why Asuka seeks to seal it from Human hands.

In X2, it appeared I-No's main goal is to kill Sol and Dizzy while causing havoc.

Originally it was Asuka who had created Justice, so anything or anyone connected to that research on Command Type Gears was considered a "failure" according to I-No.

Essentially I-No considered Dizzy even "more of a failure" than Justice was, which she considered to be "scrap".

I-No made an attempt on capturing Dizzy as a "favor" to Asuka, but was interrupted by Sol and Testament.

While Dizzy wasn't exactly a hindrance to Asuka's plans, I-No developed a Sadistic streak around Dizzy because of her kind and gentle nature, which clashed with I-No's immature personality.

This of course, made Testament very angry and almost lose his composure around I-No, because of how badly I-No abused her.

Dizzy managed to unleash a large fraction of her strength to protect herself from I-No's true power, but Sol managed to save her from losing herself.

At the time, Necro (Dizzy's Guardian) had gone berserk, and Sol used his strength to contain Dizzy's power as much as he could...

Testament fought I-No to a near draw but she managed to escape, though Slayer chased her in hot pursuit (along with Anji Mito).

Anji (along with Raven's assistance) managed to capture and seal I-No temporarily, though Asuka had considered punishing I-No as a traitor, he changed his mind in consideration to the Universal Will as a larger threat.

I-No was later assigned the task of monitoring the Valentines that the Universal Will was generating and their impact on various other timelines.

If the Valentines proved too large a threat for Humans to handle in the Future, it was I-No's job to assassinate them, though all this really did was trigger the Universal Will to take action directly against Humans resulting in a Bleak Future.

Doing this, however, I-No learned that Sol Badguy's Future would involve being consumed by the Flame of Corruption, which she promptly warned Asuka about (though she secretly plotted using Sol's Divine Seed for plans of her own design).

Interestingly enough, the one timeline in which I-No was unable to kill Ramlethal was the timeline in which she detected the Original Sage taking action. This timeline was the basis for setting her plans in motion (which ultimately became this world's timeline).

While I-No herself held a grudge against Sol, she understood that he was a key figure in securing the events of the Timeline she desired.

As for Dizzy, Ky sent her in to hiding, so I-No was never able to track her down for any reason (even if she technically had the power to do so).

If you look at the entire story from I-No's perspective:

Everything began with the war between the Original Sage and the Universal Will.

A proxy conflict that Mankind would NEVER be fully aware of, except for I-No herself.

And the result would essentially split I-No in half.

The half that was given actuating power for change was cut off.

And the half that was "almost powerless" was made "human".

The rest, I-No had to piece together herself, and she was stuck travelling from Era to Era in order to figure all of this out.

She was even forced to "live" in an era in which the world was completely devoid of Human life and Gears roamed the wastelands of what was once Human Civilization.

This is the "Grey Future" that I-No spoke of in Xrd.

All because she inadvertently manipulated the kindness of a Young Soldier (Ky Kiske) back during the Crusades.

It was at this time that she had to learn how to master what "little" power she had and manipulate Time itself in order to change that Future.

But doing so was very "boring" to her.

All aspects of "being human" that should have been stimulating to anyone else in her position felt meaningless, because that aspect of her heart was cut off from the rest of what made her existence complete.

The more time she spent "gaining power", the more bored she got, even managing to kill off some of the most talented individuals in the world in the process (Dr. Faust and Ramlethal Valentine, to name a few).

Eventually she decided to make the world "Game Over" and to do so, she would need to enlist the Potential Power of the Original Sage's Protégé' : Asuka R. Kreutz.

But in HER current timeline, Kreutz was imprisoned by the Gears he himself had created, chained up in an underground Gear Plant facility, Karma he himself had accumulated.

Of course she was curious why someone so talented ended up imprisoned by his own creations. How pathetic could you possibly be to end up in that situation?

All the power she was given to her, while still something of a mystery to her, was all handed to her on a silver platter.

Why was she all-powerful? Why was she immortal?

The more time she spent "working under Asuka" the more educating the experience was... though she always felt like her drive and purpose were meant for a "bigger future".

Even if she could relate to a fellow Immortal like Raven, her emotions were still dried up, she could still emote, and she still could "feel", but she couldn't "experience" the true essence of being human.

It was like eating gourmet food and not being able to taste any of it.

So when she met Sol Badguy, Asuka's Rival, she had an axe to grind with him.

At first, it wasn't personal, though she felt a sense of loyalty to Asuka just like Raven did (believing in the Promise of Salvation that Asuka spouted).

But just like Asuka's odd position, Sol was even more of a mystery:

How could a man blessed with Gear Cells (power and immortality) spurn his very own existence? How could he kill and murder his own Gear-kind?

Sol was even making Weapons of Mass Destruction AS A HOBBY... (the OutRage). What kind of human does this and still picks a fight with those who treated him so well?

I-No wasn't able to grasp the finer points of Sol's Human nature... and soon enough they butted heads. I-No developed a heated hatred for Sol that would last for some time.

Meanwhile, in various timelines, a familiar face kept popping in and out of I-No's memory.

Her past was so distant and so blurry, she may as well not have ever been Human in the first place... so who exactly WAS Axl Low?

To I-No he was a weak pathetic excuse of a man. He ran away at any wiff of trouble, cried his heart out, and used underhanded and almost cowardly ways to sneak his way out of a pinch.

And he STILL had the gall to flirt with women around him!?

Even if I-No had memories of loving a man in her past... those memories were so far removed from her present self they hardly felt relevant.

I-No needed a purpose. A reason to exist. Even if she had to steal it herself (Stealing was something she was getting used to doing at this point).

Of course she knew the Universal Will probably wouldn't let her roam as she pleased, so she kept her actions under wraps for a while, only following Asuka's orders whenever it felt safe to.

She was even killing Valentines in different timelines as a hobby at this point (she was that bored).

Eventually, Axl Low escaped from Bedman's clutches (thanks heavily for I-No's assistance, of course).

Normally I-No could care less what the man had to say, but this time around he said something very fishy that caught her ears:

He'd MET with the Original Sage.

Not since her "beginnings" had she encountered the Sage, and he was part of the reason she existed the way she did!

The "Sage" was doing something, and she wanted in!

And of course, anything meant for Asuka's ears were encrypted... so of course I-No wasn't allowed to hear.

But the Future was moving in a new direction, something I-No wanted very badly... something stimulating, something different from all the grey boredom she had experienced up to this point!

That future lead to an encounter with Jack-O'... and a revelation of the Truth about I-No's existence.

She had become one with the World's existence... she was literally a manifestation of the Backyard itself.

So much potential power, and no way to know how to use it.

Asuka had his own plans to make her "even more human" than she originally was.

But that was even more boring than her current life.

Only one person could give her the "Future" she desired... the "Power" she desired.

Sol Badguy had already put down the Universal Will at this point, so it was here and NOW that she could take her chance!

Her first encounter with the Original Sage after so much time had passed was different from her initial expectations.

In fact, Happy Chaos half-expected her to kill him for what he'd done to her in the first place.

It WAS his FAULT, after all...

But if anyone knew the true implications of I-No's existence, it was him.

More than anyone else, Happy Chaos understood I-No, and understood what she had become, not to mention what she was meant to be.

Or at least, that was the "tripe" he fed I-No.

And she ate up every last morsel of it.

Her desperation to become something beyond human and understand humans at the same time was like burning a candle at both ends.

Would there be anything left to burn?

In her final moments, I-No saw the U.S. President's eyes look keenly at her desperation. The eyes of someone who knew nothing but sorrow and misery, a desire for dignity, and yet denied even that.

As well as the weeping eyes of a man who would have loved her, even if she wasn't the woman from his original timeline.

I-No's future brought her to her swift demise, but at the same time, her Past still existed somehow...

A past she had forgotten even still remained.

She herself had contradicted her own existence... a desire to understand a part of herself that wasn't SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERSTOOD.

Instead, the paradox that was I-No was undone... and the true life of Megumi Saito could now begin in earnest.

I-No explained it: her memories were blurred to the point of almost feeling like they belonged to someone else, not to mention the sequence of events didn't match up with the history of her dictated past.

Her past and her actual memories didn't match, they were a paradox.

By contrast, Axl Low couldn't convince himself that I-No was the same woman he knew. She was completely different in behavior, actions, and ambition.

It's like if you had married a woman and lived with her for 30 years only to wake up and find someone else in your bed.

It's a horrifying prospect for anyone in a relationship, but that sometimes happens in issues of amnesia or a mid-life crisis.

Axl was also struggling to fully comprehend his burgeoning powers to even "look" at I-No clearly at the time as well. He was time-slipping (changing the timeline) with great frequency due to the fluctuation of his emotions and memories.

This gets even more complex when I-No encounters her "past self" and sees a completely different person to who she remembered herself to be. Like having a split personality of sorts.

It's somewhat difficult to give a straight answer to this question.

In the PAST it was possible for Axl Low to encounter himself... as to whether or not it was his past or future self which he encountered is not entirely made clear except in one instance where his future self apparently came to cheer his present self up.

Of course, many GGXX Story Mode Ending results may or may no longer hold canonical weight within Strive's parameters of how Axl's powers work.

At some point during Xrd's events, Axl's powers stopped working in a Non-Linear fashion, and it was established that any time he asserted a New Timeline, any previous results would cease to exist.

Up to that point, Axl had never made any successful attempts at meeting with Megumi Saito... but on the half chance he was successful, it's unlikely the result would've proved stable or beneficial to him in his current state of power.

That is to say, even if he HAD met Megumi, that event would've impacted I-No more than it would've impacted himself.

As for I-No... it appears that she DID meet a "Past version" of herself just prior to her dispersal from losing to Sol Badguy... but this was a closed Paradox of a Timeline, so it would only have been possible in that realm or state of time.

As for whether or not that Past Self was Megumi or not... we aren't given a clear indication, but it is true on a technical level.

If I-No had tried to meet Axl's paradox self "William", it's difficult to say if that would even be possible or not... but if such WERE possible, it would have had an adverse effect on Axl Low's existence.

Rather, it seems that encountering the "other half" (Axl to Megumi, or I-No to William) of their personal histories would've been the worse outcome compared to simply encountering paradoxes of their own individual selves (Axl to Axl, or I-No to I-No) from previous or closed timelines.

Having "access" to different continuities isn't the same as having all "knowledge" of them.

If that were the case, Axl Low would remember every instance of every timeline he ever created... and based on his encounters with Slayer, while Slayer WAS aware of Axl Low's powers... it actually took some convincing from Axl for him to believe such a power even existed.

Of course, this also applies to I-No as well... but in her case the "original timeline" which she "remembered" was vague and fabricated to the point where she couldn't convince herself if it was real or not.

That's not to say those events didn't exist... it only supplants the idea that "different events" can't always be recalled with clarity.

If someone like I-No would have trouble remembering her own paradoxical past, what chance would Slayer or Nagoriyuki or even Raven have?

This in particular ALSO applies to the extreme with Ky Kiske... if he remembered the timelines in which he died... it's hard to say what effect that would have on Ky in particular.

And, to some degree, this also applies to Bedman's Deja Vu Dreamlike Reality: no matter how far back he can recall events... once something "dies" unless he remembers exactly how that happened, that person can't be restored.

Even in Sol's case... witnessing his past-self get killed by I-No had a drastic effect on him for a short amount of time (at least until he denied the events applied to him). That likely also applies to Ramlethal and her timelines of possibility involving I-No.

Asuka R. Kreutz posited that the "Present" is more powerful than the "Past" or "Future" events (at least in terms of how GG establishes itself).

So any event that "could happen" likely isn't as well-established as something that "already happened", whether treated as a reality, a dream, a wish, OR a memory.

For I-No's case in particular she is the result of a desire that people "wished would happen", but even if that were true, permanently establishing herself would've caused more problems than simply establishing who she "used to be" (Megumi in Axl Low's past).