Dicathians: Leywin Family (Arthur Leywin) | Royal Families | Lances | Xyrus Academy | Adventurers
Alacryans: Vritra Clan (Agrona Vritra)
Asuras (Kezess Indrath)
Due to this character being a Walking Spoiler, all spoilers here are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Kezess Indrath
Lord of the Indrath Clan, Ruler of Epheotus
Debut: Volume 5 (Novel), Chapter 151 (Webcomic)
"Everything I've done has been to keep this world alive, and it would be wise for you to place that firmly at the forefront of any further assumptions you make about me."
The Lord of the Indrath Clan, Kezess is the Top God of the setting as the leader of all asuras and the ruler of Epheotus, the Home of the Gods. He is the father of Arthur's Parental Substitute Sylvia and thus the grandfather of his bond Sylvie. Kezess is driven primarily by his desire to preserve the world for both asuras and lessers alike. In the distant past, he exiled Agrona, the Vritra Clan, and their allies to the distant continent of Alacrya for their experiments upon the lessers of that continent, which led to the Divine Conflict that has been going on in the setting. Upon hearing of Arthur and Sylvie, he orders them to be summoned to Epheotus for training in preparation for the Alacryan invasion of Dicathen.
In all actuality, despite what he claims, Kezess is fact a tyrannical despot who is really driven by his desire to maintain his authority and power. In the distant past, long before the exile of Agrona and the Vritra, Kezess orchestrated the genocide of the djinn, a race of lessers whose mastery over aether surpassed that of Kezess and his clan. Although Kezess covered up the atrocity he had committed, eventually Agrona discovered the truth about what happened and threatened to expose him, which was the real reason for him and his clan's exile. Following this reveal, Kezess shows himself to be no different from his nemesis.
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A to E
- All for Nothing: In order to kill the Legacy and deny Agrona her power, Kezess orders Aldir to use the World Eater technique on Elenoir. It results in Elenoir being completely obliterated and the elves nearly being driven to extinction. It ends up being all for naught as not only did the Legacy manage to escape, but in doing so the treaty between the Vritra and the other asuras is finally broken, allowing Agrona to begin the next phase of his plan and prepare for a direct war with Epheotus.
- Aloof Ally: When he is first introduced, Kezess is incredibly dismissive of Arthur. He remains aloof in demeanor throughout his appearances. Even when Arthur recognizes him as his enemy and calls him out for his crimes later on, he maintains that demeanor.
- Ancestral Name: He is not the first Lord Indrath to have the given name of Kezess. When asked which number he is by Arthur, he says that there are have been so many to bear that name that counting them all would be impossible.
- Arch-Enemy:
- Agrona. He exiled him for uncovering the truth about the djinn and threatening to expose the atrocity to all of Epheotus. In turn, Agrona began preparing for war with him, leading to the Divine Conflict that drives the setting.
- Arthur. Aside from being the one responsible for Agrona's Start of Darkness and thus being indirectly responsible for all of the harm he has done onto Arthur and his loved ones, Kezess committed genocide on the ancestors of Arthur's family, obliterated all of Elenoir in a futile gambit to kill the Legacy, and attempted to purge Arthur's friends and family for going against his plans.
- Archnemesis Dad: The Archnemesis Grandfather To Sylvie. She promptly disowns him and the name Indrath once she finds out the truth. Also this to Sylvia as she was willing to turn against him and expose the atrocities he committed to Arthur.
- Bad Boss: Kezess is just as bad as his nemesis Agrona when it comes to the treatment of his pawns. The very lessers that he claims to protect are completely expendable in his eyes, and he is even willing to dispose of them should they fail him. Even other asuras, dragons included, are not exempt from these tendencies of his. He showed no grief over Taci's death and attempted to downplay his demise solely to make his position look good. To say nothing of how he sent a group of dragons that Aldir had trained to arrest him for his desertion, knowing fully well they would die at his hand.
- Bargain with Heaven: Much like his nemesis Agrona, Kezess is known to strike deals with the lessers albeit to a much lesser extent given his pride. However, because Kezess is morally no better than Agrona, making a bargain with him is little more than a Deal with the Devil.
- In Volume 9 after orchestrating the destruction of Elenoir, Kezess approaches Virion with a set of new Artifacts of Power that he claims will allow the Dicathians to retake their homeland. Virion is extremely apprehensive and reluctant about this offer - as not only was Elenoir his homeland but Kezess strongarms him into covering up the asuras' role in the atrocity by forcing him to lie to his people and keep them Locked Out of the Loop - but ultimately accepts given how the Dicathians will need all the help they can get in their Darkest Hour. The deal turns out to have far more ulterior motives than expected, as Rinia reveals that the artifacts Kezess offers will in fact enslave their wielders to his will.
- In Volume 10 after Arthur reconquers Dicathen, Kezess summons him to negotiate with him regarding his new role in the Divine Conflict and to extract his knowledge of aether. In return for Arthur sharing with him what he knows about aether at a later point, Kezess promises him his protection of Dicathen from any potential counter-invasion by the Vritra. Come Volume 11, Kezess sends his forces down to Dicathen to occupy the continent as part of the bargain.
- Betrayal Insurance: He intentionally placed Power Limiters in the Artifacts of Power he gave to the royal families of Dicathen to prevent them and the nascent Lances from becoming powerful enough to oppose him. This backfires rather badly on him, as not only do these limiters put the Lances at a severe disadvantage against the Alacryan Scythes and Retainers which leads to the loss of the war, but Arthur manages to break them with his insight into aether to fulfill the exact scenario that Kezess was trying to prevent in the first place. While he did try later on to give the Dicathians a newer set of artifacts that would enslave them to his will, they ended up refusing his offer once his ulterior motives were exposed.
- Betrayal by Offspring: Has no idea his only granddaughter has turned against him and sided with her adoptive father, on top of using her blood ties to him to manipulate the forces he sent down to occupy Dicathen to her adoptive father's favor. To an extent this applies to his daughter as while she did not betray him for his enemies, she was willing to expose his atrocities to the young Arthur and entrust the unborn Sylvie to his care in order to prevent her from being indoctrinated by Kezess and the false narrative he presents. Though it is later revealed that Kezess was aware that Sylvia had betrayed him in a sense.
- Big Bad Ensemble: While Agrona is the Big Bad, Kezess is just as prominent an antagonistic force as him with his past actions leading to Agrona becoming the monster that he is now. That being said, while he is still an irredeemable tyrant, his villainy is somewhat downplayed in that Arthur is begrudgingly willing to collaborate with him. Although both of them know that once Agrona and the Vritra are dealt with that hostilities are bound to resume between both of them.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Like Agrona, Kezess has committed many atrocities upon Arthur and his loved ones, but he has no regrets over his actions. Hell, even though Arthur is a descendant of the very people he committed genocide upon and calls him out for it during their negotiations (although he does not reveal his heritage to him), Kezess is unfazed about the accusation and defends himself by saying he did it for "the greater good", proving just how out of touch he is with the consequences of his own actions.
- The Chessmaster: Kezess is a callous manipulator of events with little regard for the lives of the so called lessers that he claims to protect as in all actuality he views them as completely expendable.Mordain: Kezess is ancient, and he has played this game many times before in Epheotus, with much greater stakes than now. Or, at least that is the case so far as he is concerned.
- Control Freak: To Kezess, all that matters is that he and his authority remain unquestioned. He is willing to go to some rather heinous extremes to ensure that.
- Create Your Own Hero:
- While Agrona (see below) is responsible for Arthur’s reincarnation, the Leywins whom Arthur would be reborn to are descended from djinn who had survived the genocide. Not to mention, Kezess’s own daughter Sylvia would go on to nurture the young Arthur and set him on the path to end the Divine Conflict and was willing to expose her father’s atrocities to him. She also gave him her unborn daughter (and Kezess’s own granddaughter) Sylvie who would go on to become not only his bond, but the very reason why he reincarnated outside of Agrona’s control. In addition, Kezess orchestrating the destruction of Elenoir and the attempted extermination of the Dicathian resistance truly earns him Arthur's enmity.
- Sylvie herself. As his own granddaughter, he is indirectly responsible for her own conception through his own daughter Sylvia. And she would go on to be the very reason why his greatest mortal nemesis is around to stand against him.
- Create Your Own Villain: Despite Kezess going to great lengths to cover up his genocide of the djinn, Agrona grew fascinated with the ruins the djinn had left behind due to his inquisitive nature and eventually discovered the truth about what Kezess and his clan had done to them. When he came forward to the Indrath and threatened to expose them, Kezess had Agrona and his clan exiled to Alacrya. In turn, Agrona began plotting revenge, leading to the Divine Conflict that drives the plot of the novel.
- Dark Secret: In the distant past, Kezess orchestrated the genocide of the djinn both out of jealousy for their mastery over aether surpassing his own and because their existence as a race of aether wielding lessers threatened his authority and leadership over the other asuras. Afterwards, he covered up what happened to the djinn to prevent the other asuras from questioning his leadership.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: In spite of claiming that he desires to maintain order in the world, part of Kezess's true motivations is that he wants to maintain his and his clan's power and authority over the asuras. He is willing to resort to exile and genocide just to ensure his power remains unquestioned.
- Didn't See That Coming: There are a few instances wherein Kezess is caught off-guard by his enemies. This is in part to his own short-sightedness making him underestimate them.
- Agrona was able to hide his plans regarding the reincarnates from Kezess until the last minute, leaving him in the dark about what he was planning and causing him to underestimate and second-guess him at every turn. By the time Kezess caught wind of the true nature of Agrona's plans, Agrona had already conquered Dicathen and summoned the Legacy.
- After his deception gets exposed to the Dicathians and they refuse the new artifacts he offered them, Kezess sends Taci to kill them all for slighting his pride while having Aldir kill off the remaining Lances in the ruins of the Council Castle. However, not only does he not realize Aldir had turned against him and sent the Lances to the djinn sanctuary to stop Taci, but he never foresaw Arthur returning from Alacrya and actually managing to kill Taci.
- Divine Intervention: Despite his policy of minimalist intervention due to the treaty coupled with his own pride and disdain for relying on the lessers for aid, there are a few times when Kezess sends his servants to directly interfere in the conflict proper.
- Twice does Kezess order a Decapitation Strike on Alacrya in order to finish off Agrona and the Vritra. Twice does the attempt fail and the Vritra take advantage of the situation. The first time around leads to the treaty that defines the Divine Conflict being established which limits the direct involvement of the asuras themselves. The second time leads to Kezess being forced to withdraw his aid from Dicathen due to having violated the treaty.
- After the treaty had been signed, Kezess sent Windsom to approach the three royal families of Dicathen - Houses Glayder, Greysunder, and Eralith - and give them two Artifacts of Power each that they would use to empower chosen servants, who would become the first Lances. In turn, the first Lances would teach others their art, which led to the rise of mages on Dicathen and thus prepare the population for the inevitable war with the Vritra-ruled Alacryans.
- When Agrona tries to manipulate the Council into neutralizing Arthur, Sylvie, and Director Goodsky by convicting them of the attack on Xyrus that his servants orchestrated, Kezess sends Windsom and Aldir down to put a halt to Agrona's scheme. Aldir kills off the Greysunders for being Agrona's puppets and to free their Lances from their control while Windsom breaks out Arthur and Sylvie. From that point onward, the two asuras - Aldir in particular - serve on the Council as advisors for the impending Alacryan invasion.
- After the end of the war, Kezess finally gets a grasp on Agrona's true plans and so sends Windsom and Aldir into occupied Elenoir to prevent the Legacy from being summoned by any means necessary. This intervention ends being an instance of the trope having Gone Horribly Wrong, as when they arrive the Legacy had already been summoned and Aldir is forced to use the World Eater technique. It results in Elenoir being obliterated, millions on both sides being killed, the Legacy escaping rendering the whole endeavor All for Nothing, and the treaty being broken giving Agrona his casus belli to invade Epheotus.
- When his attempt to take control of the Dicathian resistance gets exposed along with his role in orchestrating the destruction of Elenoir, Kezess sends Taci to exterminate the resistance to make room for more compliant pawns (on top of wanting to get back at Virion for hurting his pride in turning against him). Arthur puts a stop to that, though not before Taci had caused a considerable amount of casualties.
- Following his deal with Arthur in the aftermath of the latter's retaking of Dicathen, Kezess sends his forces down from Epheotus to occupy the newly liberated Dicathen against any potential reconquest by the Alacryans, on top of also bringing Epheotus itself out of the aether realm.
- Dragons Are Divine: In the setting, dragons are one of the eight races of asuras. As such, as Lord of the Indrath Clan, Kezess is not only the ruler of the dragon race, but of Epheotus and all asuras proper.
- Enemy Mine: In spite of Arthur foiling his plan to purge the Dicathian resistance and injuring his pride by killing Taci, Kezess nonetheless reapproaches him not only to ally with him to defeat Agrona and the Vritra, but also to extract his knowledge on aether. That being said, he had essentially brought Arthur to the negotiating table at gunpoint by having Windsom escort him.
- Enigmatic Empowering Entity: In the distant past, Kezess sent Windsom down to Dicathen in order to bestow upon the forefathers of the royal families of the continent a set of Artifacts of Power that would empower the first Lances and in turn the first mages on the continent. However to the royal families and their descendants, his motivations in doing so have remained a Riddle for the Ages. It is later revealed that his reason for doing so was to prepare the Dicathians for an inevitable war with the Alacryans.
- Enlightened Self-Interest: He gets forced into doing this trope thanks to Agrona's manipulations. Thanks to the formation of the treaty forbidding any direct participation from the asuras in the Divine Conflict, Kezess gives a set of Artifacts of Power to the royal families of Dicathen in order to give the inhabitants of the continent a fighting chance against the Vritra and their Alacryan underlings. These artifacts gave rise to the first Lances, and from them came the rise of mages among the Dicathians. In short, Kezess uplifted the Dicathians into a magically-capable society solely to give them a fighting chance against Agrona and to win the Divine Conflict for him.
- Entitled Bastard: Kezess thinks that the populace of Dicathen should be grateful to him for everything he has done to protect them. Nevermind the fact that he is perfectly willing to sacrifice them all should he feel the situation demands it from him without any sort of remorse.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His sole redeeming quality is that he really does care about his own immediate family, especially his daughter and granddaughter. He was genuinely distraught over Sylvia's death, and when he meets with Arthur for the first time since the war ended, he calls him out on how his failure led to Sylvie sacrificing herself to save him.
- Evil All Along: Kezess initially seems to be an aloof but well-intentioned individual who in spite of his demeanor actually cares for the safety of the world. He turns out to be a genocidal tyrant who only cares for the world as he sees fit.
- Evil Is Petty: Despite being the Top God and claiming that he puts the safety of the world above everything else, Kezess turns out to be a rather petty individual, and some of his worst atrocities are driven by that pettiness of his. The genocide of the djinn? All because of his petty jealousy that a race of so-called "lessers" managed to surpass him. Exterminating the Dicathian resistance? Virion refusing his offer wounded his pride and so he and all his followers deserved to die. Sending Aldir's own trainees after him knowing they would be killed by him? While it does work to discredit Aldir in the eyes of the other asuras and deter others from following him into desertion, Kezess just wanted to Kick the Dog that was his defecting general.
- Evil Versus Evil: Kezess is not only a major case of God Is Evil, but he was responsible for his Arch-Enemy and the Big Bad Agrona's Start of Darkness. The two are no better than one another with regards to their conflict and their treatment of the lessers.
- Exact Words: During his negotiations with Arthur in Volume 10, Kezess promises him his protection of Dicathen from any potential counter-invasion by the Vritra. Come Volume 11, and Arthur learns that "protection" is a full-scale armed occupation of Dicathen by The Armies of Heaven. Not only do Arthur's allies have no love for Kezess and his servants after what they have done (namely, attempting to exterminate them), but his forces also treat the surrendered Alacryans on Dicathen whom Arthur hopes to turn against Agrona extremely poorly.
- Expy: Given the inspiration from Mushoku Tensei, Kezess is the analogue to Hitogami. Both are enigmatic deities associated with the color white whom the protagonist is brought into exclusive contact with, and despite seeming to be allies at first are revealed to have malevolent intentions that cause the protagonist to turn on them, which includes orchestrating the deaths of some of their loved ones. Visually however, Kezess resembles Hitogami's Arch-Enemy Orsted, being a white-haired draconic deity.
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- Fatal Flaw: Pride, and to a lesser extent Jealousy. His pride prevents him from taking his enemies, namely Agrona and Arthur, seriously which not only gives them breathing room to accomplish their own goals against him but allows them to strike him or foil his plans when he least expects it. Not to mention Kezess is incredibly dismissive of anyone who thinks that they are better than him.
- It creates all of the problems he has to deal with in the present. His genocide of the djinn came out of his own jealousy for their knowledge of aether superseding his own and his pride preventing him from accepting their advice. Aside from it being the reason why Agrona and Arthur turned against him, he ends up frequently underestimating both of them because of his pride, and his responses to them are short-sighted and accomplish nothing for him.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: He committed genocide upon the djinn not only out of jealousy, but because as a race of aether-wielding lessers, their very existence threatened the Indrath Clan's authority over the other asuras given how they thought only they could wield aether.
- The Fettered: Because he sees himself as the good guy and claims that he does not wish to cause Collateral Damage on the world, Kezess never uses his full power to deal with Agrona despite being the Top God and the most powerful living being in the setting. This unfortunately allows Agrona to get ahead of him. Even when Kezess breaks his self-imposed restraints it is not enough to counter his nemesis, on top of him coming off as even more of a hypocrite.
- Final Solution: He orchestrated the genocide of the djinn as he deemed their uncontrolled aether arts a threat to the balance of the world. In actuality, his real motivations for committing such an atrocity were that he coveted the djinn's knowledge of aether and they refused to share it with him, and that the djinn's very existence as a race of aether-wielding lessers threatened his authority over the rest of the asuras as he and his clan had long styled themselves as the only ones who could wield aether.
- Foil: To his own Arch-Enemy Agrona in several respects.
- In terms of their demeanor, Agrona presents himself as Affably Evil and eccentric while Kezess has an incredibly dismissive attitude.
- While neither of them have any regard of the lives of the lessers and view them as completely expendable, Agrona realizes that lessers can serve a role in his plans and so has experimented on many of them to enhance their capabilities. Kezess on the other hand is such a prideful supremacist that he only reluctantly deigns himself to rely on lessers, and to a much more restrained degree than Agrona due to his own desire to preserve the world. Though in his case it is because he was hoping for the Dicathians to become strong on their own accord, which resulted in them being outpaced by the Alacryans in terms of magical development.
- This contrast is reinforced by their respective Co-Dragons. While Agrona brought his own clan and a few others into his rebellion, his main servants are not fullblooded asuras like them but instead the Semi-Divine Scythes, Wraiths, and the Legacy. On the other hand, Kezess obviously relies only on proper asuras as his main servants.
- Agrona is The Unfettered because his exile has twisted him into a monster and him being the underdog when going up against Kezess and the rest of the asuras, and so he is willing to go to any lengths to win. Kezess on the other hand is The Fettered because he sees himself as the good guy and claims he has the best interests of the lessers at heart, and so he holds back in his response to Agrona.
- As both are near-immortal deities in positions of power, they should be extremely intelligent Chessmasters considering they have lived for thousands of years. However, only Agrona truly demonstrates this requisite intelligence, as he uses the millennia he has lived to plan ahead and see the big picture which always puts him one step ahead of his enemies, especially considering that he and his forces are the underdog when facing the rest of the asuras. On the other hand, Kezess, despite being even older than Agrona, continuously demonstrates himself to be rather short-sighted when it comes to dealing with any perceived threats as his position of Top God causes him believe himself infallible.
- Perhaps due to his mindset as a scientist, Agrona is surprisingly impartial to his enemies. While he may employ liberal use of Targeted to Hurt the Hero, he does so not out of pettiness but because it can get him closer to achieving his goals. Kezess on the other hand has been known to commit some rather reprehensible acts all out of his own pettiness.
- Although they both recognize Arthur as a growing threat and could easily eliminate him on their own, they have different reasons for not doing so at the moment. Kezess wants to extract what Arthur knows about aether, while Agrona being the Evilutionary Biologist that he is wants to dissect him to find out how he works on top as a means to strengthen the Legacy's power.
- Their attitude towards Sylvie, their sole living descendant. Agrona coldly disavows her as his daughter, while Kezess has a Villainous Parental Instinct to the point of being a Knight Templar Parent.
- Genocide Backfire: Suffice to say, Kezess's penchant for committing genocide often ends up biting him back in the in the long term, as those who are affected by his actions seek to bring him to justice.
- His very first atrocity, the genocide of the djinn. Despite Kezess going to extreme lengths to cover up his crimes, Agrona ended up finding out the truth and threatened to expose him. After being exiled, Agrona swore vengeance on Kezess which led to the Divine Conflict and in turn him reincarnating Grey into Arthur. In addition, thanks to Mordain's intervention a few of the djinn managed to survive the genocide and have descendants, among which are the Leywins from whom Arthur would descend from. In turn, Arthur has made it his mission to bring Kezess, Agrona, and all of the asuras to justice for the atrocities they have committed upon the lessers of both Dicathen and Alacrya.
- The destruction of Elenoir in his failed bid to kill the Legacy. In his short-sightedness, Kezess not only killed off millions on both sides for ultimately nothing, but in doing so he broke the very treaty he claimed to uphold and gave Agrona his casus belli to invade Epheotus. Not only that, but his actions alienate the Dicathians as a whole. When he attempts to regain control of the situation on Dicathen in the aftermath, Kezess lies to the Dicathian resistance about what happened and tries to covertly mind control them. His deception is exposed and now the Dicathians view him as their enemy as much as Agrona himself.
- Given Name Reveal: When he was first introduced, the other asuras addressed him as Lord Indrath. It was not until the end of Volume 6 that Agrona revealed Lord Indrath's given name to be Kezess.
- God and Satan Are Both Jerks: At first, he appears to be the Good Counterpart to Agrona, but is eventually revealed to be just as reprehensible as him as he orchestrated a genocide in the distant past, an atrocity that led to Agrona's Start of Darkness when Kezess exiled him for threatening to expose the truth. Throughout the story, both him and Agrona demonstrate that there is no difference between them as both continue to commit various atrocities and cause Collateral Damage upon the lessers in a bid to overcome the other.
- God Couple: Kezess is married to Myre, and both are the leaders of the Indrath Clan.
- God Is Evil: He is the supreme deity of the setting and yet is a tyrannical ruler who is willing to commit genocide for the sake of what he perceives as “the greater good” and despite claiming he has the best interests of lessers at heart is willing to kill them off for slighting him or going against his plans.
- God Is Inept: As the Top God, he should have been able to eliminate the threat posed by Agrona in one fell swoop, but he repeatedly keeps underestimating him which has allowed Agrona to get the edge over him. His responses to Agrona's plans have proven to be short-sighted and ineffectual, as not only does he fail to strike any meaningful blow against him, but Agrona keeps accomplishing his plans in spite of everything.
- His ineptitude is perhaps the main reason why Dicathen falls to Alacrya in the first place. Agrona had millennia to experiment on the Alacryans, creating a magically uplifted society and an army of Semi-Divine soldiers and monsters. What did Kezess do in that timespan? He merely settled for giving the royal families the Artifacts of Power that would empower the Lances, from whom the first mages in Dicathen would arise. This hands-off approach results in a Dicathen that is magically outmatched by its neighbor to a horrific degree and completely unprepared for a foreign invasion, not helped by the fact that Agrona sent spies into Dicathen to destabilize it. Really, at the rate Kezess was going, it was an inevitability that Dicathen would fall, and Agrona merely took his sweet time conquering it with only his weaker servants.
- Another one of his biggest failings is his attempt to kill the Legacy. Not only does he fail to kill her, but he comes off as a massive hypocrite given how he obliterated a whole kingdom of the very lessers he claimed to protect on top of breaking the very treaty he acquiesced to in his bid to do so. That, as well as the fallout from Taci's death, causes a considerable stir among the Great Eight as more and more asuras begin to doubt his leadership.
- God of Order: Kezess values the preservation of order and most of his actions are driven by his desire to do so. Though he is willing to go to some rather extreme lengths to preserve order as he sees fit.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Kezess has pale white skin and hair and his attire is mostly white with gold highlights, an image fitting of the ruler of the asuras.
- Greater-Scope Villain: His genocide of the djinn is the inciting event for the entire plot, as it led to Agrona's exile and thus him starting the Divine Conflict and reincarnating Grey into Arthur.
- Green-Eyed Monster: The real reason for him orchestrating the genocide of the djinn was that he coveted their knowledge of aether, on top of his own jealousy that a race of lessers managed to surpass him.
- Gruesome Grandparent: Averted. Despite being a genocidal tyrant, he does have a soft spot for Sylvie as she is his only living descendant. That being said, his blood ties to and treatment of her do nothing to stop her from siding with her adoptive father against him.
- Hate Sink: He is a genocidal tyrant whose past atrocities were what triggered the Start of Darkness for the Big Bad - who himself a Hate Sink in his own right - and thus making him indirectly responsible for all of his atrocities. Kezess is a callous and hypocritical individual who uses the excuse of The Needs of the Many to cover up his own pettiness and desire to maintain his rule. He committed genocide upon the ancestors of Arthur's family, ordered the destruction of Arthur and Tessia's childhood home, and attempted to purge much of Arthur's remaining friends and family in Dicathen for slighting his pride. All the while, Kezess is wholly unrepentant of his actions and fails to empathize with those who have been harmed by them.
- He Knows Too Much: Anyone who uncovers what happened to the djinn, especially if they happen to be asuras, ends up either being exiled or outright killed in secret on Kezess’s orders. Mordain and Agrona are the most notable examples, and it is implied the reason why their clans did not get purged was due to their position in the Great Eight. Arthur only avoids getting struck down as Kezess wants to extract what he has learned about aether.Aldir: There were few, even among the asuras, who truly understood what had happened to the djinn. Most asuras never looked beyond Epheotus, and cared nothing for the lessers. Those who did were told a very convincing lie. Those who saw through the lie and cared were dealt with.
- A Hero to His Hometown: Kezess is a revered leader among the asuras and many follow him with unquestioning obedience. This is because not only has his clan reigned over Epheotus since time immemorial, but also because he covers up much of the atrocities he commits.
- History Repeats: In the distant past, Kezess committed genocide on the ancient djinn both out of petty jealousy for their mastery of aether surpassing his own and because their very existence threatened his authority over the other asuras. He went to great lengths to cover up the true nature of the atrocity. Millennia later, and Kezess commits genocide again, albeit inadvertently. In this case, him ordering Aldir to use the World Eater technique to kill the Legacy leads to Elenoir being reduced to a wasteland and the elves being nearly driven to extinction. This time around, with barely any way to skew public opinion to his favor, Kezess receives backlash from the populations of both Dicathen and Epheotus for this atrocity, on top of having broken the very treaty he made with Agrona to regulate the Divine Conflict.
- Hypocrite: Kezess claims that he does not wish to interfere in the setting because of his fears of Mutually Assured Destruction and his own desire to preserve the world. The genocide of the djinn, the desolation of Elenoir, and the attempted extermination of the Dicathian resistance show these statements to be false and that Kezess truly has no regard at all for the lessers, even the Dicathians that he claims to protect as he has become as much of a threat to them as Agrona.
- I Control My Minions Through...: Kezess controls his minions through a mix of fear, respect, and reverence. Thanks to him concealing his genocidal tendencies and presenting himself as a composed and all-knowing ruler, Kezess has secured the respect of the other asuran clans. That being said, Kezess is known to use fear to get his minions to do some rather reprehensible actions, specifically the fear of him punishing them or their clan for defying his orders.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Kezess has been known to commit some rather reprehensible atrocities, most notably genocide, all for what he calls "the greater good".
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: How he gets his servants to do his bidding, no matter how reluctant they are or how reprehensible the deed in question. Aldir only relents to using the World Eater technique due to the implicit threat that Kezess will punish all of the Thyestes Clan should he refuse to go through with it. After the failure of the mission, Kezess pins the blame on Aldir despite the fact that Windsom toying with Nico was what screwed the mission over.Aldir: Kneeling, I ran my fingers through the dry, gray nothing that I had created when I followed my lord's command - a command I knew was wrong the moment it was uttered, but to refuse would have risked the future of my entire clan. Lord Indrath would not hesitate to lift another one of the other - more servile - pantheon clans into the Great Eight, and label the Thyestes Clan an anathema...
- Identical Grandson: When Arthur gets a look at a portrait of Kezess's ancestor, the first Lord Kezess Indrath, he notes that the only difference between him and his identically named ancestor is that the latter has his hair cut short and wears a goatee; otherwise, their eyes and facial features are nearly identical.
- Immortal Ruler: Played With. Asuras are not truly immortal but extremely long-lived, and while all of the major events in the leadup to the Divine Conflict occur within Kezess's reign (to the point that he was around long before the rise of modern civilization on both Dicathen and Alacrya, itself a consequence of said conflict) he is far from the first ruler of Epheotus.
- Implied Death Threat: After convening with the Great Eight on the matter of Taci's death, a matter which causes considerable dissent among them when Kezess attempts to skew the narrative in his favor, Kezess adjourns them with this rather threatening remark.Kezess: We will reconvene when tempers have calmed so that I am not forced to do something...dramatic.
- Inevitable Mutual Betrayal: After Arthur retakes Dicathen, he is summoned back to Epheotus by Kezess. Even though Arthur knows by now that Kezess is a genocidal tyrant responsible for his fair share of atrocities, he begrudgingly agrees to negotiate with him. In return for Arthur telling him all that he has learned about aether, Kezess would guarantee Epheotus’s protection should the Vritra invade. Both parties know that once Agrona and the Vritra are dealt with that hostilities are bound to resume between them. After all, Kezess is not going to let Arthur’s slights against him off that easily, while Arthur intends to bring Kezess and all of Epheotus to justice for their crimes.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: His introduction paints him as a massive jerkass, especially to lessers like Arthur even though he ostensibly seeks to protect them. However, the care he shows to his granddaughter Sylvie seems to hint at a softer side to him, in particular towards his own family, and that he does have the capacity to care. Those perceptions get thrown out of the window following the reveal that he is a genocidal tyrant who holds as much regard for the lives of lessers as his own nemesis Agrona, on top of being revealed to have a petty and vindictive side to his personality.
- Just Toying with Them: Deconstructed. As the Top God and the ruler of the asuras, Kezess could easily end the Divine Conflict if he wanted to. However, he holds back his power and displays of force. This is because of his Knight Templar tendencies which make him see himself as the good guy and cause him to hold back as he rather hypocritically wants to preserve the world. On top of that, his massive pride causes him underestimate his enemies. This allows Agrona to get ahead of him by miles and even the playing field between the two of them.
- There is also the fact that Kezess has never faced any sort of major opposition prior to Agrona's exile. The djinn were a Perfect Pacifist People, while Mordain and his followers secluded themselves in the Hearth. In contrast to both, Agrona is The Unfettered and as such has been willing to go to any extreme to get an edge over him. As such, Kezess's inefficient response in dealing with Agrona has basically allowed his nemesis to get a massive head start towards achieving his goals.
- Kick the Dog: When he hears from Windsom of Aldir’s defection, Kezess sends after his rogue general a group of asuran soldiers whom Aldir had trained in the past. Basically, Kezess is sending a message to Aldir that if he wants to leave his service, he will have the mana of the very soldiers he trained on his hands.
- Killing Intent: Being a dragon, Kezess has access to King's Force, a powerful compelling aura which allows him to force anyone into submission. As the supreme ruler of the asuras, Kezess's version of King's Force far surpasses that of his minions.
- King Bob the Nth: He is not the first Kezess Indrath to sit on the throne of Epheotus, but his regnal number is not known as there have been so many Kezess Indraths before him to count.
- Knight Templar: Kezess thinks he is the supreme force of good in the setting, and attempts to justify his atrocities by saying that they are for the greater good.
- Knight Templar Parent: To say he is overprotective of his progeny is an understatement. If he had his way from the start, he would have wiped Agrona and the Vritra Clan off the face of the world the moment the latter came to him with news of his daughter Sylvia's death without paying any heed to the consequences.
- Lack of Empathy: Kezess cares for nobody but himself. He harbors no personal attachment to any of his pawns and does not care if anything happens to them. In particular, when Kezess summons Arthur to negotiate following the latter's reconquest of Dicathen, not once does Kezess express any genuine empathy for the Dicathians (on top of having ordered for the Dicathian resistance to be purged earlier on and not considering how that would affect Arthur's perception of him). When Arthur brings up the subjects of the djinn and Elenoir, Kezess has no remorse over the lives lost because of his actions, and in the case of the former actually threatens Arthur for mentioning them.
- Light Is Not Good: He has pale white hair and skin, wears mostly bright clothing, and rules over the setting’s Home of the Gods. However Kezess is anything but good, as he is in fact a tyrannical and vindictive despot with a penchant for genocide.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Despite Kezess and Agrona being tyrannical deities no better than the other on top of the former being responsible for the latter's Start of Darkness, he is ultimately the lesser of the two evils in that he seeks to preserve the world where Agrona is willing to burn it down in pursuit of his vengeance. As such, Arthur begrudgingly pulls an Enemy Mine with him against Agrona as both had been Out-Gambitted by the latter over the course of the war. Not only did Kezess forcibly summon Arthur to the negotiation table by having Windsom escort him, but Arthur knows that just because Kezess is the lesser of two evils does not mean he is any better than Agrona and should not be let off the hook for his actions.
- Complicating matters is that when Kezess sends his forces to occupy Dicathen against a potential reprisal from Agrona's forces, they present themselves as exactly that and have slowly tried to turn public opinion against Arthur, an outcome that Arthur cannot stand.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Attempts to impose one upon Arthur during their negotiations, which will devour his core if he breaks their agreement. Arthur is able to counter it by taking control of Kezess's aether. This allows him to not have to tell Kezess what he knows immediately and forces him to hold up his end first, but Kezess still has the leash in place.
- Manipulative Bastard: Kezess is just as manipulative of others as his nemesis Agrona. It does not matter if they are asuras or lessers, everyone is a pawn to be manipulated as far as he is concerned. Not to mention he is prone to lying, obfuscating, and twisting the narrative to suit his ends.
- Mystical White Hair: As a dragon, Kezess has pale white hair. In turn, as dragons are a type of asura, Kezess is not only much more magically adept than the strongest mortal mages, but his very body is infused with mana itself. On top of that, he is also capable of harnessing aether.
- The Needs of the Many: Kezess adheres to this doctrine when it comes to his actions as he is not afraid to sacrifice a few lives to save many more. Unfortunately for the Dicathians, Kezess's definition of "a few" is often much, much, much larger than what that quantity normally entails. On top of that, he tends to value the lives of lessers to a much lower degree when compared to asuras.
- To illustrate, he was willing to order Aldir to use the World Eater technique on Elenoir in a bid to kill the Legacy. This led to the deaths of millions of Dicathians and Alacryans alike, on top of nearly driving the elves to extinction and reducing their homeland to a desolated wasteland. To add insult to injury, the gambit proved to be All for Nothing as the Legacy managed to escape in the aftermath.
- When he orders the extermination of the Dicathian resistance, he justifies the act as being over their lack of judgement and faith making them a danger to their homeland. In all actuality, his true reason is a much more petty one in that Virion refusing his offer wounded his pride.
- Never My Fault: While Kezess is for the most part The Unapologetic when confronted about his actions as he justifies them by saying that they are for the greater good, there are a few instances wherein he shifts the blame for his failings onto someone else, oftentimes one of his pawns.
- When he addresses the Great Eight in the aftermath of Taci's death, he deflects all of the accusations regarding his string of failings in the Divine Conflict before closing the discussion by lying to them by saying that Taci was tricked into destroying himself, rather than admit that he screwed up and sent Taci to get killed by the lessers. Then again, Kezess genuinely believed Taci would succeed in his task, and while he was aware of Arthur's survival and Re-Power, he did not expect him to suddenly intervene and kill Taci.
- When he and Arthur first meet following the latter's retaking of Dicathen, Kezess says that Dicathen lost the war in the first place because Arthur failed to heed his advice regarding Tessia, which led to both Sylvie's death and Agrona summoning the Legacy using Tessia as her vessel. Arthur calls Kezess out on this accusation by saying that he did not know the true nature of Agrona's plans for the Legacy and got Out-Gambitted by him as well. While not mentioned, Kezess also does not admit that another reason why Dicathen lost the war was his failed Decapitation Strike on Alacrya that led to Agrona revoking Epheotus's involvement as a violation of the treaty.
- During the later part of their negotiations, Arthur brings up what happened to Elenoir and has Kezess promise him that what happened there will never happen again. While Kezess agrees to that promise, he does not accept the full responsibility for what happened. Instead, Kezess offers Arthur the life of Aldir - who carried out his order to destroy Elenoir - to accomplish what he considers justice for the act. Arthur is not at all amused that Kezess is attempting to shift the blame for his atrocities away from himself.Arthur: So your idea of giving us "justice" is to have us clean up the mess you yourself made? I know you don't think much about us "lessers", but come on.
- Not Good with Rejection: While not in a romantic sense, to say Kezess does not take very well to anyone refusing him is a massive understatement.
- When he first learned of the djinn and their mastery over aether, he at first tried to acquire their knowledge diplomatically albeit by warning them that their aether abilities would pose a threat to the world if they did not teach his clan. The djinn stated that they could not do so as aether requires one's own personal insight to master and so could not be taught in a traditional pedagogic manner. Kezess took their apparent refusal rather badly, and seeing that their continued existence posed a threat to his and his clan's authority over the asuras he called for their complete extermination and all traces of their existence wiped from the face of the world.
- When Virion is confronted by the Dicathians about the true nature of Kezess's crimes - namely his orchestration of Elenoir's destruction and the new artifacts he is offering being meant to brainwash their wielders into serving him - he confesses the truth about his collaboration and allows the populace to vote over whether or not they should take up Kezess's offer. Naturally, when the majority vote against the offer, Virion proclaims that they will refuse Kezess's hand in friendship and fight to retake their homeland by themselves. With his pride being hurt by Virion's defiance of him, Kezess orders for Virion and all of the people with him to be exterminated.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Not from Kezess himself, but to anyone who knows the true nature of the Divine Conflict, it is very easy to compare him to his Arch-Enemy Agrona as both deities are tyrannical despots who are willing to tear apart the world in their conflict and have no regard for the lives of others, especially lessers. Arthur and Seris are prone to making such remarks.
- He does deliver one to Arthur when the latter returns to Epheotus in the wake of Oludari's capture to call him out for not fulfilling his end of their bargain when it comes to averting Collateral Damage. Kezess restates to Arthur that he won't hesitate to sacrifice one life for the greater good before reminding Arthur that he himself said that he was willing to kill millions of Alacryans to save thousands of Dicathians.
- Not So Omniscient After All: As the Top God, Kezess should know everything that is going on in the setting, especially since he has agents such as Windsom to observe for him. However, he is not all-knowing as Agrona was able to conceal his true plans from and thus level the playing field between them in the Divine Conflict. This is Justified as due to the treaty that defines said conflict any direct participation from the asuras is prohibited, and thanks to Agrona having foiled any assassination attempt that Kezess orders on him it is highly likely that any spies Kezess could have sent to observe Agrona got killed.
- When he meets with Arthur after the latter retakes Dicathen, he reprimands him about how his failure to heed his advice regarding Tessia to both Sylvie's death and Agrona turning her into the Legacy's vessel. In turn, Arthur calls Kezess out by saying that he did not know the true nature of Agrona's plans for the Legacy and got Out-Gambitted by him as well.
- Not So Stoic: Normally, Kezess presents himself in an aloof and stern manner that barely betrays any emotion from him. However, when Arthur calls him out on how he has not been willing to take the fight to Agrona and the Vritra despite having already committed genocide on the djinn, Kezess finally snaps at Arthur and lets out an uncharacteristic outburst in which he tries to defend his actions by saying he has been trying to keep the world alive.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In spite of Kezess claiming that he committed the genocide of the djinn to protect the world from their uncontrolled aether arts, other characters such as Sylvia, Agrona, and Arthur recognize that what really drove him to commit such an atrocity was his petty jealousy that a race of "lessers" has managed to surpass him and his kind when it comes to the control of aether. This is reinforced by the Pensieve Flashback Arthur experiences in the third ruin. In said flashback, Kezess is clearly shown to not be buying Sae-Areum's explanation as to why she cannot just teach him how to use aether as aether requires one's own personal insight to master, showing a lack of patience on his part.
- On paper, he orders the purging of the Dicathian resistance because he deemed their lack of judgment and faith as a threat to their people and homeland. In all actuality, he orchestrated it only out of the fact that Virion refusing his admittedly ulterior offer wounded his pride, causing him to deem that they were no longer useful to him.
O to Z
- Offended by an Inferior's Success: When he discovered the existence of the djinn, Kezess was extremely jealous that their mastery of aether surpassed that of his own. On top of that, seeing a race of the so-called "lessers" wielding aether was a threat to his and his clan's authority over the asuras. As such, after failing to negotiate with the djinn regarding them teaching him and his clan their aether arts, Kezess resorted to genocide to resolve the matter.
- Orcus on His Throne: Justified. Even moreso than Agrona, Kezess has done very little himself despite being one of the main antagonists. All of his appearances occur in Epheotus, specifically within the domain of his own clan, and in said appearances he is only discussing plans regarding the Divine Conflict with either the other asuras or Arthur. This is because of God's Hands Are Tied, as due to the treaty any direct involvement on his part would lead to Mutually Assured Destruction.
- While he is aware of Agrona sending his servants to search the Relictombs, it is something he cannot respond to as not only are the Relictombs designed to repel asuras, but sending someone into the Relictombs risks his genocide of the djinn coming to light. However, given how he has discredited Agrona in the eyes of the other asuras, the risk of him exposing that secret is lessened especially since he has gone to great lengths to obfuscate the Relictombs' existence like everything associated with the djinn to the rest of the asuras.
- Out-Gambitted: Despite Kezess being a Chessmaster himself, Agrona is always one step ahead of him in the game of chess that is the Divine Conflict. And whenever it happens, disastrous consequences follow for the enemies of the Vritra.
- After exiling the Vritra Clan, Kezess hears word of Agrona's activities in Alacrya. He promptly sends a group of asuras to perform a Decapitation Strike. When the group arrives, Agrona is waiting for them with a group of Vritra-blooded mutants and kills them all. He then brings word of what happened, including the death of Sylvia who had stowed away with the group, to Kezess. In spite of Kezess's anger, the rest of the Great Eight push for what would become the treaty that defines the Divine Conflict.
- Later on during the Alacryan invasion of Dicathen, Kezess orders another Decapitation Strike on Alacrya without consulting his Dicathian allies. Not only does it fail yet again, but Agrona uses his failure to revoke Epheotus's involvement in the defense of Dicathen as a violation of the treaty. Without the aid of the asuras, Dicathen falls under Agrona's rule.
- His attempt to kill the Legacy and the ensuing destruction of Elenoir. After Kezess finally catches onto the true nature of Agrona's plan, he sends Windsom and Aldir to Elenoir to prevent the Legacy from being summoned. Unfortunately, the Legacy has already been summoned, and with the Godzilla Threshold having been passed Aldir is ordered to use the World Eater technique. The fallout from the situation is disastrous: The Legacy escaped, Elenoir is reduced to a barren wasteland and the elves are nearly driven to extinction, and Agrona now has his casus belli to invade Epheotus as Kezess has broken the treaty. The only silver lining that Kezess gets out of the whole fiasco is that thousands of Agrona's soldiers got killed as well, but that means very little as those soldiers were expendable to Agrona.Arthur: I don't think you know half as much as you pretend to. If you'd understood any of this before Cecilia's reincarnation, you would have had Windsom kill Tessia, or Nico, or even me. How has Agrona gotten so far ahead of you?
- For an example not involving Agrona, when Kezess attempts to force the Magically-Binding Contract upon Arthur during their negotiations, the latter is able to briefly reverse the bindings that would immediately force him to tell Kezess his insight so that he is not immediately affected by them. This forces Kezess to uphold his end of their bargain while Arthur can choose when he wants to fulfill his end.
- Papa Wolf: He is very protective of his close family, especially his daughter and granddaughter. Naturally the death of the former and Heroic Sacrifice of the latter affect him greatly. After Sylvie is resurrected, he demands that she be returned to Epheotus immediately. When she refuses his summons and stays by Arthur's side (due to knowing Kezess's true nature and seeing Arthur as her true father), Kezess instead tries to ensure to the best of his ability that she has an asuran escort other than Arthur at all times, as he is now able to deploy his forces following the treaty being broken and does not want to lose her a second time.
- Pet the Dog: A Downplayed example, given how it is limited to only his immediate family. When he is first introduced, he immediately takes Sylvie from Arthur and into his care. After Arthur and Sylvie return from Epheotus, Sylvie speaks of him and Myre in a respectful manner implying they treated her rather well during their stay. It is also revealed that due to Sylvie's heritage and upbringing making her a potential target for discrimination among the asuras, even from within the Indrath Clan itself, Kezess had her insulated from much of that prejudice.
- The latter part actually works against him as due to being sheltered from the rest of her clan, Sylvie did not have the chance to interact with them a lot. In turn, this makes it easier for her to side with Arthur against her own clan as she never had a strong connection with them on top of learning of the various atrocities they have committed.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Arguably one of the most defining elements of his character. Despite being a genocidal tyrant, his Knight Templar mindset makes him genuinely see himself as the good guy. As such, his interactions with the Dicathians he claims to protect have been rather sparse and capricious.
- In spite of his disdain for relying on lessers and wanting to stay above their affairs, Kezess empowers the royal families of Dicathen by bestowing them the Artifacts of Power that would be wielded by the first Lances, who in turn empowered their fellows and thus led to the rise of mages on the continent. Later, as part of his deal with Arthur, Kezess sends down his forces to occupy Dicathen both to rebuild the continent and protect it from a potential reconquest by Agrona and his servants. Nevermind the fact that two weeks earlier he had ordered for the extermination of the Dicathian resistance for going against him.
- Part of the reason why this trait defines Kezess is that Agrona frequently exploits it to gain an advantage over him. The treaty that defines the Divine Conflict came to be because of it. While Kezess wanted to deal with Agrona himself, the other members of the Great Eight feared that in doing so he would end up destroying the world, an outcome that stood against everything he espoused. It benefits Agrona by forbidding any direct participation by the asuras, which forces both sides to rely on lessers as pawns, a prospect that Kezess is rather indignant about. He knows that Kezess would do very little to empower the Dicathians, and so he empowers the Alacryans to a much superior degree.
- Precursor Killers: He was the one who ordered the genocide of the djinn, the so-called ancient mages of Dicathen, and ordered their existence wiped from history. All out of his own petty jealousy over their knowledge of aether surpassing his own.
- Purple Is Powerful: He is the Top God of the setting and in his appearance features several instances of purple to reflect his power. His eyes are purple, his skin has a slight purplish shade, and parts of his attire are purple including several purple jewels. Not to mention as a dragon he is one of the most powerful aether wielders alive in the setting other than Arthur and Sylvie and aether manifests in the form of purple energy.
- Pure Is Not Good: He is a master of manipulating mana in its purest state, but he himself is a tyrannical ruler who is jealous of those who surpass his mastery.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Averted. When Agrona brought word of Sylvia's death to him, Kezess was about to go to war with him for murdering his daughter without any regard for the consequences, but the rest of the asuras voiced their opposition towards what he was planning as it threatened to level the world and pushed for a treaty.
- Slave to PR: Part of the reason Kezess holds back his power is not only because he is a Knight Templar, but because he does not want to lose his and his clan's standing and authority among the rest of the asuras.
- He could have easily had both Mordain and Agrona's clans wiped out for opposing his genocide of the djinn, but had to settle for exiling them and covering up the nature of their disappearances because to have clans that were part of the Great Eight be suddenly wiped out for no good reason would not do him any favors in terms of publicity and reputation.
- He also treats the deaths of any asuras he had sent to die with a manufactured sense of reverence just to placate their grieving clansfolk, as in actuality he is so aloof, self-righteous, and uncaring that he couldn't be bothered to care any less about them.
- As for lessers who defy him, it is much easier for him to call for their extermination as they are not people he cares about and he can easily twist the narrative surrounding them before the rest of the asuras, especially since most asuras do not care about what happens in the outside world thanks to their doctrine of non-interference.
- Slouch of Villainy: His first scene has him slouching on his throne. While he was not revealed to be evil just yet, he still acted in an incredibly dismissive manner towards Arthur.
- The Sociopath: Like his Arch-Enemy Agrona, Kezess at his core is a near-textbook example. While he does not have a tragic backstory to make him that way, Kezess himself is so aloof and self-centered regarding his own personal desires and sense of justice that he sees everyone under his command as little more pawns in a game of chess. He is a cold-blooded manipulator who when put to the test does not care about how many lives are lost in his hypocritical desire to protect the world, and he has no empathy for anyone who gets caught up in the consequences of his actions.
- Super-Empowering: To prepare the Dicathians for war with the Alacryans, Kezess ordered Windsom to give the three royal families - Houses Glayder, Greysunder, and Eralith - two Artifacts of Power each that they would use to empower chosen servants, who would become the first Lances. In turn, the first Lances would teach others their art, which led to the rise of mages on Dicathen.
- Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Discussed. Before Arthur departs from Epheotus to join the war, Kezess tells him that he needs to dismiss his feelings for Tessia if he wants to win the war as his love for her would make her a target for his enemies to exploit. Naturally, Arthur does not, which leads to him and Sylvie's Heroic Sacrifice to allow Tessia to escape capture by the Alacryans only for that to be All for Nothing as Tessia ended up being captured again and turned into the vessel for the Legacy. As such, when Kezess meets with Arthur for the first time since then, he calls him out on how his failure to heed his advice regarding Tessia led to Agrona getting what he wanted as well as Sylvie's apparent death.
- Notably, this advice falls flat as even if Arthur had done as Kezess advised, Agrona already intended to have Tessia captured and Reforged into a Minion as the Legacy's vessel. As such, if Arthur had left her to her fate Agrona would have summoned the Legacy much earlier than he did.
- Tautological Templar: Because Kezess sees himself as the supreme force of good, he naturally believes that everything he does is correct no matter how reprehensible it may be.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He really does not like having to rely on the lessers to do the fighting for him, but has no other choice without breaking the treaty. After the treaty is broken and Arthur reconquers Dicathen, he begrudgingly reaches out to Arthur to strike a Bargain with Heaven and pull an Enemy Mine with him against Agrona, even though he despises Arthur for failing to protect Sylvie and and foiling his plan to exterminate the Dicathian resistance by killing Taci.
- Time Abyss: In spite of the asuras not being truly immortal, all of the major events in the novel's backstory and the leadup to the Divine Conflict can be traced back to Kezess's reign. He is older than the modern civilizations on both Dicathen and Alacrya. In the Pensieve Flashback Arthur experiences in the third ruin to the events leading up to the genocide of the djinn in the distant past, Kezess looks exactly the same as he does in the present.
- Time Master: His mastery of aether allows him to freeze time.
- Top God: As the current head of the Indrath Clan, themselves the rulers of the asuras, Kezess is effectively the supreme god of the setting.
- The Unapologetic: Kezess harbors zero remorse for the many atrocities he committed.
- Unpleasant Parent Reveal: Imagine finding out that your grandfather dearest, who seems to be a much better person than your Archnemesis Dad, is in fact a genocidal tyrant whose past atrocities were responsible for your father's Start of Darkness in the first place. This is who Sylvie has to contend being related to, as if being Agrona's own daughter was not enough.
- Unreliable Expositor: Considering his true nature, Kezess is prone to skewing the narrative to make him look good and to maintain his power. He often omits facts that would make his cause look bad, in particular hiding his penchant for genocide. That being said, during his negotiations with Arthur in Volume 10 he makes no effort to hide his true nature as the latter already knows of his atrocities.Sylvia: (To Arthur) And through your exposure to my people, you've certainly received a very one-sided story.
- Uriah Gambit: Combined with Xanatos Gambit. When he hears of Aldir's defection, Kezess has Windsom take a detachment of asuran soldiers that Aldir trained in the past to apprehend him. Being the One-Man Army that he is, Aldir is able to slaughter them all save for Windsom. However, while the soldiers failed to apprehend Aldir, their deaths ensured that Kezess was able to discredit his former general in the eyes of the rest of the asuras and deny him any support, on top of further breaking Aldir's mental state.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: His end goal is to preserve the world for both the asuras and the lessers. Unfortunately for everyone (especially the latter), it is a selfish goal that stems out of his desire to maintain his rule, and one that he is willing to go so far as to commit genocide just to maintain it.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Kezess is for the most part revered by the other asuras thanks to the lengths he has gone to cover up any sign of weakness or the various atrocities he committed. Though thanks to his string of failings in the Divine Conflict this image of his is slowly starting to crumble as more and more asuras begin to question his leadership.
- Villainous Parental Instinct: Despite being a genocidal tyrant, Kezess does have one redeeming quality, which is that he does care for his daughter and granddaughter. He was about to go to war with Agrona for orchestrating Sylvia's death before being placated by the rest of the Great Eight. After Sylvie is brought to Epheotus, he takes her under his and Myre's care and shields her from any negative attention she might face due to her blood ties to Agrona. Later on during his negotiations with Arthur, what Kezess is most furious with him for is the fact that Sylvie sacrificed herself to save him.
- He can be seen as a partial Deconstruction of this trope. Just because he is overprotective of his progeny does not endear either of them to him or cause them to overlook his actions. As a manner of fact, his love for both his daughter and granddaughter blinds him to the fact that they have both secretly turned against him as him being a genocidal tyrant overrules any kindness he might show them.
- Walking Spoiler: It is impossible to discuss him without revealing that he is a genocidal tyrant whose atrocities are indirectly responsible for the main conflict of the story. The fact that some characters such as Mordain, Taci, and the djinn themselves, cannot be discussed without revealing his true nature just goes to show how big of a spoiler The Reveal surrounding Kezess is and how pivotal it is to the plot.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Mordain. When Kezess ordered for the genocide of the djinn, Mordain stood against his former friend. This forced Kezess to exile him and cover up not just the genocide, but the fate of Mordain himself.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Claims that everything he does is for safety of the entire world. He justifies the genocide of the djinn by saying that their uncontrolled aether arts were a threat to the world, and if they did not teach him and the asuras how to wield it he would have to resort to what he ended up doing.Kezess: If you know what happened to the djinn, then certainly you see that I won't hesitate to sacrifice one lesser life for the greater good.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Kezess has Mystical White Hair, but in all actuality is a callous and petty tyrant responsible for much of the suffering in the setting.
- Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": He does not like admitting what he did to the djinn was an unjustified genocide and tries to spin it in a way that saves him face while downplaying how reprehensible his action was. For the most part, he presents as a case of I Did What I Had to Do to preserve the world by saying that their aether arts posed a threat to the world.
- Written by the Winners: He went to great lengths to conceal his genocide of the djinn to the point of Un-personing their very existence from the rest of the asuras. To those who are aware of the djinn and their fate, Kezess presents what happened to them as a preemptive strike to prevent them from threatening the world. He does have a way to justify this as in doing so he implicitly compares them to the wraiths, a extinct race of asuras whose warmongering aspirations led to a destructive war that nearly leveled the world and left the asuras with a species-wide Heel Realization in the aftermath.
- Yin-Yang Clash: His rivalry with Agrona is this trope, given their contrasting powers and Light/Darkness Juxtaposition. Though it turns out to be a case of Evil Versus Evil.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kezess is rather callous when it comes to disposing of pawns that have failed him. Case in point, when his attempt to take control of the Dicathian resistance is exposed and Virion decides to turn against him, Kezess decides to send Taci down to exterminate them all for stinging his pride. Even entire clans on the Great Eight are not exempt from his wrath should he deem them as having failed their purpose, though thanks to him wanting to maintain his authority among the asuras, the most he can do is simply exile them and cover up his reasons for doing so.
