Kuo Shenlin

Kuo Shenlin (郭神琳) is a Lily who attends Yurigaoka Girls' Academy. She is one of the commanders of Team Hitotsuyanagi.

History
Shenlin's lifelong goal, which she was especially fervent about in junior high school, has been to take Taipei back from the Huge. She once worked tirelessly to become an elite Lily, make herself captain or commander of a strong legion, and launch an expedition to Taipei as soon as she could.

Although Shenlin has never admitted this herself, Futagawa Fumi thinks she was hoping to become part of the first-generation Legion Álfheimr. While the legion was active, Shenlin was already a skilled and diligent Lily who was capable in every regard. However, she was by no means alone in that. The Lilies known as the "Three Princesses"—Ito Shizu, Tachihara Sayu, and Kudo Sakua—were every bit her equal.

It was obviously unlikely that Álfheimr, were it to recruit new members, would scout more than one commander. Sayu was the most natural pick for such a role, with talent on par with Shenlin's and Regista, the ideal Rare Skill for commanders. In time, Takegoshi Chihana received permission from the student council to take Sayu as her Schild, and she was invited to become a member of Álfheimr (though the legion dissolved before she formally did.) Although briefly depressed by being passed over, Shenlin set her mind to joining another legion.

Not long after this, the end of Shenlin's third year in junior high school approached—the time of year when each Garden's junior high reserve teams compete for the highest rating. This serves to measure the abilities of Lilies as they enter high school. Unlike when legions are formally rated, Gardens themselves normally choose Lilies to take part in the junior high reserve team evaluation, as if they were assembling a top legion.

During this particular year, the primary reserve team had already been formally graded as A-rank and was taking part in live combat missions such as destroying Caves. Yurigaoka also has rules for the Lilies they send to the competitive evaluation: they must be deemed physically and mentally capable of taking part in live combat. This disqualified Tachihara Sayu, who had recently been injured, and Ito Shizu, whose complex family situation had taken an emotional toll on her. Kudo Sakua had also recently decided to change her command style, making all of the Three Princesses unsuitable as commanders in Yurigaoka's view.

Shenlin was thus chosen as commander of the reserve team, after which it was defeated for the first time in history by the St. Mercurius reserve team, commanded by Kaede Johan Nouvel. Futagawa Fumi thinks it must have been quite the miserable experience for her.

Upon entering her first year of high school, Shenlin was assigned to be the roommate of Wang Yujia, a new transfer student from Heimskringla. She also became classmates with Hitotsuyanagi Riri.

Stage plays
In Assault Lily: League of Gardens, Shenlin agrees to be part of Riri's new legion when asked, and Yujia joins as well, the two fighting together at Riri's side. Shenlin is firm with Yujia when she fails to have confidence in herself, but also supportive of her.

Bouquet
In Assault Lily: Bouquet, Shenlin agrees to be part of Riri's new legion when asked. Riri invites Yujia at the same time, and when Yujia expresses uncertainty about whether she's good enough to be in a legion, Shenlin tells her that she shouldn't join if she lacks the confidence. Yujia immediately agrees to do as Shenlin says and decline the invitation. This upsets Riri, who insists on at least seeing what Yujia can do, whereupon Shenlin asks to choose the method with which Yujia can demonstrate her skill.

Shenlin instructs Yujia to snipe her from a kilometer away with ten shots, informing Shirai Yuyu that "if she's accurate, I can dodge". Encouraged by Riri, Yujia lands every shot, even compensating for the fierce wind. Shenlin then admits to Yuyu that she was jealous of Yujia's family reputation and talent, and upset by her lack of confidence. Shenlin and Yujia then begin to grow closer to each other, with Yujia admitting that she was insensitive and never considered how Shenlin had lost her home.

Last Bullet
In the Assault Lily: Last Bullet event Blue Strike of the Soulmates, Shenlin and Yujia have become close friends who enjoy having tea together in the mornings, but still clash over Yujia's occasionally wavering confidence and her fear of losing Shenlin. When she hears about a strange swarm of minimally aggressive, fish-like Huge descending upon the city of Sasebo, Shenlin convinces Team Hitotsuyanagi to volunteer for the Kyushu defense forces' request for Lily reinforcements. Yujia notices that Shenlin is behaving oddly, but hesitates to confront her about it.

After fighting off several hordes of Huge, Shenlin tells the others that the events in Kyushu are an exact mirror of those her brothers wrote to her of from the Taipei evacuation zone, shortly before the entire zone was obliterated by the powerful laser of a giant, dragon-like Huge that came from the ocean. She fears that the same thing will happen to the city of Sasebo, and convinces the local naval garrison and the rest of Team Hitotsuyanagi to embark on a cruise to search for the dragon-like Huge before its laser is ready.

When they find the dragon-like Huge, Shenlin commandeers the warship's recon boat to attack it alone, coldly telling Yujia "Don't stand in my way, Yujia-san " when Yujia tries to stop her. Yujia and Ando Tazusa follow Shenlin to fight with her. As she charges at the dragon-like Huge, exhilarated by finally being able to avenge her dead brother, Shenlin is almost killed by the vicious counterattack it fires at her using its tail; she is knocked unconscious and falls into the ocean, after which Yujia and Tazusa pull her out.

When Shenlin recovers consciousness after the warships return to port, she berates Yujia and Tazusa for ruining their chance to kill the Huge and dooming Kyushu, and insists that they need to launch a suicide attack to stop it at all costs. Yujia yells back at Shenlin that she isn't being herself and would never have suggested such a strategy at in the past. Stunned, Shenlin runs away into the city of Sasebo to be alone.

Shenlin decides to go on her own to attack the dragon-like Huge again, even though it's unlikely she will accomplish anything aside from getting herself killed. But before Shenlin can do that, Yujia finds and confronts her, having a keen enough understanding of her to guess where she would flee to even in an unfamiliar city. Yujia vows to stop her from going out there alone, even after Shenlin warns her that if Yujia does that, she will despise Yujia until her very last breath. Shenlin prepares to fight Yujia, but Yujia instead grabs Shenlin and hugs her, in tears. She begs to know why Shenlin became a Lily in the first place, refusing to believe that it was just for the sake of revenge, and telling Shenlin that killing the Huge means nothing if the two of them can't be together afterwards.

Stunned once again, Shenlin realizes her mistakes. She admits to Yujia that the final letter her brothers wrote to her—just before their deaths—expressed the hope that she would find a soulmate one day, and tells Yujia that she is that very soulmate. She vows upon her family that until they can look back on their happy memories together and pass away in peace, she will never leave Yujia's side.

The two Lilies return to the harbor and, together with the rest of Team Hitotsuyanagi, attempt to devise a battle plan to kill the dragon-like Huge before it destroys Sasebo. They are saved by the timely arrival of Moyu Mashima, who has invented a long-range particle cannon based on a modified Asterion—an inaccurate weapon which only Yujia with her Heaven's Measure, when reinforced by Shenlin's Testament, can land a shot with. Heading out to sea with the naval garrison, Shenlin and Yujia use the particle cannon to destroy the Huge's deadly tail, after which Team Hitotsuyanagi is able to finish it off with the Neunwelt Tactic.

After returning to shore, Shenlin apologizes to the navy and to the rest of Team Hitotsuyanagi for the trouble she's caused, and asks the rest of Team Hitotsuyanagi if they will become friends with her. Confused, all of them tell Shenlin that they're her friends already. Yujia asks Shenlin if the two of them will be each other's only soulmates, after which Shenlin, with a giggle, tells her to keep that a secret between them.

Combat Style
Shenlin normally fights from the TZ as the center of the formation. As a Testament user, Shenlin has weaker defenses than most Lilies. She trusts in the defensive capabilities of her Mazu Relic to keep her safe and often takes risks in combat, such as shielding her legion members from attacks, or instructing Team Hitotsuyanagi to leave her exposed in order to lure the Huge in.

Family
Shenlin's father, Kuo Ruijie (郭睿澤), is a famous CHARM engineer who has become wealthy from his trade.

Shenlin's mother, Fu Yiran (符依然), is an Arsenal who has also invented her own CHARMs.

Shenlin's three older brothers—from oldest to youngest, Kuo Jiarui (郭嘉睿), Kuo Yuhang (郭宇航), and Kuo Haoyu (郭浩宇)—lived in the evacuation zone in Taipei, and were all killed there by a devastating Huge attack when she was still young herself.

Trivia

 * Shenlin's hobbies are writing poetry and reading. Her favorite literary genres are Chinese classics and books on strategy.
 * Shenlin enjoys meat dishes, pasta, Japanese food, baths, and the gongfu tea ceremony.
 * Shenlin dislikes people who lack confidence and are indecisive.
 * The characters in Shenlin's given name mean "divine" (神) and "jewel" (琳). Her surname, Kuo, literally means "city wall."
 * Shenlin's surname may be a reference to the real-world architect Kaku Morin (The character 郭 is pronounced "Kuo" in Taiwanese and "Kaku" in Japanese.)