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The Beginning After The End Royal Families
(aka: The Beginning After The End Lances)

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The continent of Dicathen is home to three major kingdoms: Elenoir, the kingdom of the elves, Sapin, the kingdom of the humans, and Darv, the kingdom of the dwarves. Each of these kingdoms has been ruled by the same royal families since their inception, respectively Houses Elenoir, Glayder, and Greysunder. These houses have maintained their rule due to being the same families whom the asuras gave the Artifacts of Power used by the Lances as a means for preparing the Dicathians for an inevitable war with the Vritra-backed Alacryans. Following the young Arthur's rescue of Princess Tessia of Elenoir and him spending his childhood in her kingdom, her family decided to approach the other two royal families in order to unite the continent under a new ruling body known as the Council.
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    In General 
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: At the end of the War Arc, Agrona launches an assault on the Council Castle by forcing Alduin and Merial to make a Sadistic Choice. Only Virion and a few associates - Arthur, Tessia, Sylvie, Alice, Eleanor, and Bairon - are able to escape. As for the rest, Buhnd is killed fighting Cadell, and Alduin, Merial, Blaine, and Priscilla are executed in the aftermath by being impaled on spikes.
  • Armchair Military: The Council spends the war safely sequestered within their floating castle where they plan out the defense of Dicathen. This is for both morale and practical purposes. The former is because as the leaders of Dicathen, the loss of any member of the Council would be disastrous for wartime morale. The latter is because most of the Council members are either in an advanced age, lacking magical proficiency, or both. As such, the Lances act as the Frontline Generals during the war.
  • Cosmopolitan Council: The Council is composed of the three royal families of Dicathen and thus all three races are equally represented. Though given how the dwarves are heavily compromised by the Vritra, they get less representation as their seats experience quite the turnover after the deaths of the Greysunders.
  • Deal with the Devil/Les Collaborateurs: All three of the royal families are forced to collaborate with Agrona at one point or another during the leadup to the War Arc and during it. The Greysunders are willing collaborators while the Glayders and later the Eraliths get cowed out of Agrona threatening their children.
  • Divine Right of Kings: The reason the three royal families have remained in power since the founding of their kingdoms is because of the Artifacts of Power that were bestowed upon their forefathers by the asuras. These artifacts are behind the power of the Lances who serve as their chosen servants, and the existence of these artifacts is kept a closely-guarded secret even after the Lances themselves step into the limelight to prevent wars from breaking out over them.
  • Ermine Cape Effect: They are always seen wearing very fancy clothing befitting of their royal status, which often sport ermine capes themselves.
  • Ethnicity Monarch: They are interchangeably referred to as either the kings and queens of their races or their respective kingdoms, given that each kingdom is a racial nation.
  • Founder of the Kingdom: Each of the three houses are responsible for founding their respective kingdoms.
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble: As the Council is made up of Dicathen's kings and queens at its onset, its membership has an equal balance between them. This only lasts until the Greysunders are purged by Aldir, who joins the Council as a strategic advisor. Then during the War Arc proper, the Greysunders's spot on the Council is filled by Rahdeas and later Buhnd.
  • Genghis Gambit: When the Council reveals the existence of Alacrya to the populace of Dicathen, Arthur notes that they are subtly presenting the new continent in an antagonistic light and realizes they are doing so in order to give the three races a common enemy to unite against.
  • The Good King: The Glayders and Eraliths are fair rulers beloved by their subjects for the most part. The Greysunders on the other hand are not.
  • Heir Club for Men: Inheritance for the royal families is passed down through the male heir. Arthur only learns about this from Albold, who tells him that because House Eralith has no male heirs, he (Arthur) may very well become the Heir-In-Law should he marry Tessia.
  • Noble House: The three are the highest houses in all of Dicathen, having ruled over their respective racial kingdoms since the dawn of civilization on the continent.
  • The Purge/Ruling Family Massacre: They get subjected to this by both sides of the Divine Conflict.
    • When Arthur and Sylvie are Arrested for Heroism in the aftermath of the attack on Xyrus Academy, they are only saved by the intervention of Windsom and Aldir who dispose of the corrupted Greysunders while pragmatically sparing the reluctant Glayders.
    • At the end of the War Arc, Agrona launches an assault on the Council Castle and has the surviving members of the Council - the Glayders and Eraliths - impaled on spikes to mark the end of his conquest.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: Being the kings and queens of Dicathen, they wear very elaborate robes and dresses when in public.
  • Ruling Couple: Each of the royal families revolves around the current king and queen of their respective races, and most of the time characterization befalls both the king and queen equally.
  • Supporting Leader: The Council members are mostly leaders in a diplomatic and political sense as much of the actual military leadership during the war is carried out by the Lances who are bound to them. This is because most of the Council members are either in an advanced state of age, not magically adept, or both which makes them ill-suited for actual combat.

House Eralith

    In General 
The ruling house of Elenoir, the kingdom of the elves. Arthur first meets them after he rescues Princess Tessia from slave traders and escorts her back home. Out of gratitude, they take in him for three years before allowing him to reunite with his family. They go on to become some of Arthur's closest allies, to the point of being a second family to him.
  • Like a Son to Me: They view Arthur as an honorary family member due to his rescue of Tessia and subsequently living with them for three years, to the point that he is effectively their Heir-In-Law and becomes one of their Lances (regardless of whether or not he underwent the knighting ceremony).
  • Meet the In-Laws: In Volume 3, after Arthur gets hospitalized following him Taking the Bullet for Tessia in their Team-Fighting Mechanics class, Tessia and her family visit him right as Arthur's own family are tending to him, causing them to meet the Leywins for the first time.
  • Mystical White Hair: Their hair is gunmetal silver in color and all of them are very magically adept.
  • Shipper on Deck: They are all very supportive of Arthur and Tessia's relationship and frequently tease both of them about it.

    Virion Eralith 

Virion Eralith

King of Elenoir, Commander of the Tri-Union Alliance

Debut: Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic), Episode 5 (Anime)

Voiced by: Keiichi Sonobe (Japanese)

The former King of Elenoir, Virion is Alduin’s father and Tessia’s grandfather. He becomes Arthur's tutor and confidant, and in the leadup to the War Arc is pulled out of retirement to become the Commander of the Tri-Union Alliance.


  • Abdicate the Throne: He abdicated the throne of Elenoir to his son Alduin after the war with Sapin.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Downplayed. In the novel and webcomic, he is introduced after Alduin and Merial as he is with them when they reunite with Tessia after Arthur brings her home. In the anime, he is introduced ahead of them as he orders the guards restraining Arthur to let him go.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. Despite his family's hostility towards humans in light of the war and his own wife Lania's death, Virion is relatively nice to Arthur when they first met and views him as a curiosity. In the anime, he's noticeably less nicer to him than he was in the source material as he calls him a "human savage", though he eventually warms up to him.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Is called "Gramps" by both Arthur and Tessia.
  • Assassination Attempt: As a major leader, Virion has a history of being targeted for assassination. Though he ends up surviving these attempts on his life, it comes at a great personal cost to himself.
    • In the past war between Sapin and Elenoir, Virion’s wife Lania foresaw his death at the hands of assassins sent by the then-King of Sapin. She kept looking into the future to try to find a different outcome in spite of Virion pleading her not to as her divination powers were Cast from Lifespan. She was able to buy enough time for the war to end with Blaine Glayder usurping his father and Virion surviving, but by then she had burnt up so much of her life force viewing potential futures that she died a few weeks later having aged years in that timespan.
    • At the close of the War Arc, Alduin and Merial end up betraying Virion out of a Sadistic Choice that Agrona offers them between either letting Tessia waste away and die or letting his forces into the Council Castle to assassinate Virion. However, Virion manages to escape the castle along with Arthur and Bairon.
    • After he refuses Kezess's offer after being confronted by the rest of the resistance about the ulterior motivations behind it, Kezess orders Taci to kill him and everyone else hiding in the djinn sanctuary for defying him. It is only thanks to Arthur's sudden return and slaying of Taci that Virion gets to live to see another day.
  • Bargain with Heaven: Gets subjected to a rare malevolent example as God and Satan Are Both Jerks is in full effect. He is forced to collude with Kezess and the asuras in the aftermath of their destruction of Elenoir when they reapproach him with new Artifacts of Power that could empower the Dicathians to retake their homeland. To say he does not having to collaborate with them for the crimes they have committed on top of having to lie to his own people is a massive understatement. Eventually, the asuras' deception is exposed and - after allowing the resistance to vote upon the matter - Virion refuses their offer.
  • Bearer of Bad News: After Goodsky's death, Virion agrees with Arthur that as Tessia's grandfather, he should be the one to break the news of her mentor's death to her. However, Tessia overheard their entire conversation which only worsens their situation as her mind is clouded by grief and anger.
  • Benevolent Mage Ruler: Was this during his time as King of Elenoir, as not only was he a fair and just ruler but he was also a silver core mage with a potent beast will to match.
  • Betrayal by Offspring: Is sold out by his son and daughter-in-law when the Big Bad offers them a Sadistic Choice between his life or his granddaughter and they choose the latter, in the process allowing the Alacryans access into the Council Castle and forcing the Dicathians into hiding. In the aftermath, Virion has to disown both of them for this transgression, but Tessia refuses to abandon her parents, which leads to disastrous results.
  • Big Good: Virion plays this role in the leadup to the War Arc when Aldir pronounces him the only suitable leader to head the Tri-Union Alliance against the impending Alacryan invasion. He continues to play this role even after the Alacryans conquer Dicathen, albeit under the coercion and manipulation of Kezess and the asuras who seek to cover up for their own misdeeds, in particular the destruction of Elenoir, his own homeland. In that state, he is forced to lie to his own people about what happened. When the Dicathians discover the truth and Virion turns against him, Kezess decides to wipe the slate clean. Only the timely return of Arthur from Alacrya foils his plans. Afterwards, Virion steps down so that Arthur can take command.
  • Blow You Away: Is a proficient wind mage.
  • The Chains of Commanding: Suffice to say, the strain of serving as the supreme commander of the Dicathians during the War Arc puts considerable duress on Virion, especially as he had been forced out of retirement. So much that he ends up communing with his late wife Lania and the unconscious Director Goodsky in order to lift some of the burden from him. It only gets worse for him after the loss of the war, his family, and his homeland. Not only does he still have to serve as overall leader of the resistance in spite of all the loss he has endured, but he gets strongarmed by the asuras into being their puppet.
    Virion: Alduin and Merial, Blaine and Priscilla — they're all doing what they can to help, but in the end, they turn to me for orders now that Lord Aldir has pronounced me the only fit leader of the Tri-Union's joint military forces. Cynthia, I've already outlived my wife. I don't want to live longer than my children and grandchild, too. I don't think I can take it.
  • Converse with the Unconscious: After Director Goodsky falls into her coma in a failed bid to extract the geas binding her, Virion ends up paying frequent visits to her unconscious body in the leadup to the Alacryan invasion out of remorse over allowing her to succumb to such a fate. In one of these visits, he discusses the many regrets he has been keeping to himself, in particular the fact that he had just allowed Tessia to participate in active combat.
  • Cool Old Guy: While Virion is past his prime, he is still a silver core mage with a potent beast will to match, so he is still capable of defending himself if necessary. In the leadup to the War Arc he has frequent sparring sessions with Aldir to keep his mind sharp as the acting commander of the Tri-Union Alliance. Not to mention many people look up to him as the main figure of authority during the War Arc.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: When he activates his beast will, he turns into an almost featureless black humanoid with long hair and vaguely feline features. In spite of that form's monstrous appearance, Virion is one of the good guys and ends up being the Big Good.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: He was powerless to save his wife Lania after she died in his arms after overexerting her divination powers - which were Cast from Lifespan - to save him from being assassinated.
  • Flash Step: His beast will allows him to pull this off, alongside actual teleportation.
  • Generation Xerox: Inverted in a rather nasty fashion. His own son and daughter-in-law were forced to sell him and their people out to Agrona in order to save his granddaughter's life. Later on following their deaths and his granddaughter's capture, Virion is forced to collaborate with Kezess, the opposite end of the Divine Conflict and a deity who had proven himself no better than Agrona in orchestrating the complete annihilation of his homeland, in order to give the resistance a chance against Agrona's regime. And like his son and daughter-in-law, Kezess orders Virion to be killed when he has outlived his usefulness to him, though thanks to Arthur's timely return Virion gets to live to see another day.
  • Good Wears White: He is usually seen wearing white robes, especially during the War Arc as the supreme commander of the Dicathians.
  • If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: When Arthur is discussing the Legacy and her possession of Tessia after he and his entourage have linked up with Seris's rebellion, he has a vision of Virion's face twisted with anger and despair when the prospect of having to Mercy Kill Tessia is brought up.
    Arthur: Could [Virion] ever forgive me if I killed his granddaughter, no matter the reason? Could I ever forgive myself?
  • Insult of Endearment: He refers to Arthur as "Brat".
  • Last Request: Discussed. He confides to Arthur that after all of the misfortune that has befallen the elven race and the sacrifices he has been willing to make to ensure their survival, his last wish before he passes on would be to walk with his granddaughter beneath the Elshire Forest once more.
  • Like a Son to Me: Views Arthur as his surrogate grandson given the time he spent living in Elenoir. Becomes a lot more poignant when Arthur returns from Alacrya, as by then he is the only family member Virion has left after the loss of all of his family until he manages to free Tessia from Cecilia's control.
  • The Mentor: Virion acts as Arthur’s childhood tutor during his stay in Elenoir. He teaches him (and the audience by extension) much of how the setting works, including the magic system (moreso than the encyclopedia Arthur had read as an infant), mana beasts, and beast wills. He also helps Arthur overcome the Power Incontinence from prematurely awakening his mana core.
    • As Tessia's grandfather, he also functions as a tutor to her. He is frequently seen sparring with her to hone her physical combat skills.
  • Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Ever since Lania's death, Virion has kept an artifact with him that allows him to commune with an echo of his late wife. As he goes through the Trauma Conga Line, Virion ends up using this artifact more often than he used to in order to relieve himself of the pain he ends up enduring. Virion is seen using the artifact right before the Dicathians elect to refuse Kezess's ulterior offer after he allows them to vote on the matter, as he knows that dire consequences will follow from defying the ruler of the asuras and he needs the strength and vindication to endure the coming storm.
  • The Mourning After: He has never moved on from the death of his wife Lania, to the point of keeping around an artifact that allows him to commune with an echo of her.
  • Mr. Exposition: He serves this role a few times. First when it comes to illustrating how the magic system works (as mentioned above) and then later on he tells Arthur of the origins and relationship between the royal families, the Lances, and the asuras.
  • Noble Fugitive: After the fall of the Council Castle at the end of the war, Virion is forced to go into hiding due to being both the Sole Survivor of the Council and the acting leader of the Dicathian resistance.
  • Old Master: Played With. On paper, Virion is one of the strongest mages in Dicathen as a silver core mage with a potent beast will (with the only ones stronger than him being Director Goodsky and the Lances), and his years of experience have allowed him to train both Arthur and Tessia in both physical and magical combat. However, while he is a far more formidable combatant when compared to most of the Council, his advanced age and position as the overall leader of the Tri-Union Alliance means he mostly serves as a Supporting Leader as his death would be a major blow.
    • If that was not enough, the enemies the Dicathians face far outstrip their strongest mages in terms of magical power, putting Virion at even more of a disadvantage. To say nothing of the Trauma Conga Line he undergoes, as by the time Arthur takes command after his return from Alacrya, Virion is willing to relinquish overall command to him after everything he has been through.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Sadly ends up outliving his only son and his daughter-in-law as they are executed by the Alacryans.
  • Panthera Awesome: His beast will is derived from a shadow panther.
  • Parental Substitute: Due to acting as his childhood tutor during his stay in Elenoir and helping him recover from prematurely awakening his mana core, Arthur comes to view Tessia's grandfather Virion as an honorary grandparent and even refers to him "Gramps" like Tessia does. This is especially apparent following the end of the War Arc, as Virion is one of Arthur’s few surviving family members from his childhood alongside his own mother and sister and Tessia.
  • Parents Walk In at the Worst Time: He ends up walking onto his granddaughter straddling Arthur in a very compromising position, causing her to recoil off him in embarrassment.
    Virion: I wanted the two of you to get closer but...I didn't think I'd be walking into this!
  • Papa Wolf: He is naturally very protective of his family. When Uto taunts him about what he plans to do to Tessia should he get his hands on her, Virion activates his beast will to get the Retainer to back down.
  • Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Using his beast will deepens his voice to near-demonic levels.
  • Rebel Leader: After the loss of the war, Virion ends up becoming the main leader of the Dicathian resistance. He steps down as overall leader once Arthur returns.
  • Retired Badass: Was this at the start of the story due to having abdicated from rulership of his kingdom. As much as he would like to live out his sunset years in peace, the invasion, conquest, and utter annihilation of his homeland forces him out of retirement.
  • Scylla and Charybdis: The predicament he finds himself during Volume 9. He had been approached by the asuras - who had just destroyed his homeland of Elenoir and nearly driven his race to extinction - with a set of new Artifacts of Power that they claim will grant his people the power to retake Dicathen from the Alacryans. With barely any other options, Virion is forced to collaborate with them while lying to the resistance about what had happened. When Rinia exposes that the new artifacts will enslave their bearers to the asuras, Virion comes clean and elects to refuse the asuras' offer. This immediately leads to the asuras attempting to purge Virion and all the people under his care, which is only stopped by Arthur's return.
  • Skyward Scream: His reaction to Cynthia Goodsky's death has him collapse to his knees and scream in anguish.
  • Sole Survivor: Other than Tessia (who is Fighting from the Inside as the Legacy has possessed her body), Virion is the sole survivor of his family after the war. He is also the sole survivor of the original Council, as they had been executed by the Alacryans at the end of the war. Though with Arthur being able to free Tessia from the Legacy, Virion is no longer the only survivor of his family.
  • Supporting Leader: As Virion has long since retired from active combat, he acts as a leader in a supporting capacity while the majority of the actual military leadership is carried out by Arthur and the Lances. Later on after Arthur returns from Alacrya and becomes the overarching Big Good, he has Virion shift to a political role as a figurehead that the surviving elves can rally around. When Arthur discusses with him his plan regarding the fourth keystone, he leaves Virion as the acting commander of Vildorial in his absence, as he knows Agrona will strike during the time he is away.
    • Despite reinstating Virion in a military role, Arthur also orders him to take his people to safety away from what he believes will be Agrona's intended targets, as he wants Virion and the surviving elves to live so that they can rebuild Elenoir after all they have suffered during the war.
  • Stepford Smiler: His jovial and upbeat demeanor hides the fact that Virion secretly harbors many regrets, in particular having never moved on from the loss of his wife Lania. He stops hiding his regrets from the War Arc and afterward as he gets wrung through the Trauma Conga Line.
    Arthur: Gramps is always so cheerful and loves joking around...I never would've thought that he had such a tragic past.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Upon hearing of Aldir’s demise from Arthur and being presented with the fallen asura’s weapon, Virion expresses a hint of regret over his death. Even though Aldir destroyed his homeland and nearly consigned his race to extinction, Virion still had some respect for the asura.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He only agrees to an Enemy Mine with the asuras - after they destroyed his homeland of Elenoir - out of the fact that the resistance will need all the help they can get to retake Dicathen from the Alacryans. He makes it explicitly clear to Windsom that he will never forgive them for the atrocity they committed against his people and homeland and is only working with them because he has no other choice.
    Virion: Damned your games, Windsom. Don't think I've forgiven your crime against my people. I spread your lie only because I have no other choice. Knowing what the asuras did would shatter whatever little hope remains in Dicathen.
  • Teleportation: Capable of doing this through his beast will, which takes the form of him dissolving into shadowy particles before reconstituting himself.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Naturally views the destruction of his entire homeland and near-extinction of his people by his erstwhile asuran "allies" as an act he will never forgive them for.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Out of all his family, he gets put through absolute hell both during and after the War Arc. First, his homeland gets conquered, then his own son and his wife are forced to betray him in order to save his granddaughter’s life and get executed by the Alacryans, his honorary grandson vanishes, his granddaughter is captured and his homeland gets obliterated by the asuras, then Kezess approaches him and forces him to lie to his own people about what happened in return for his aid, and finally, once Kezess’s deception is exposed and Virion turns against him, Kezess deems that the Dicathian resistance has outlived their usefulness to him and orders their extermination. It is because of all the suffering he has endured that causes Virion to hand over leadership to Arthur.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Buhnd, going all the way back to their youth.

    Lania Eralith 

Lania Eralith

Queen of Elenoir

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 131 (Webcomic)

"Inside and out, you are a beautiful man, and you have lived a beautiful life. And I will always protect you."

The former Queen of Elenoir, Lania is Virion’s deceased wife, Rinia’s older sister, and Alduin’s mother. She died during the war between Sapin and Elenoir after sacrificing herself to save her husband.


  • Always Someone Better: Was this to her sister in terms of divination powers, Lania's visions would often be much more longer, detailed, and frequent. Though this was also a case of Cursed with Awesome given how said powers were Cast from Lifespan. On a more positive note, Lania was renowned for her beauty and grace and was viewed as the pride of Elenoir.
  • Benevolent Mage Ruler: Was this during her time as Queen of Elenoir, as not only was she a fair and just ruler but she was also a powerful deviant mage due to her divination powers.
  • Cast from Lifespan: As divination is a deviant form of magic, she is forced to draw from her lifespan instead of her mana core in order to use her divination powers. It ended up killing her.
  • Cursed with Awesome: She was able to see into the future, but at the cost of draining from her lifespan every time she did so.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: She passed surrounded by her husband and their son and daughter-in-law.
  • Heroic RRoD: In order to prevent the death of her husband at the hands of assassins sent by the then-King of Sapin, Lania used her powers to look into the future, which allowed the family to avoid or counter the scenarios she saw. However, each time the outcome remained the same, and she was forced to overuse her powers until Blaine Glayder overthrew his father and brought the war to an end. by then though, Lania had burnt up so much of her life force she died shortly afterwards.
  • Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Ever since Lania's death, Virion has kept an artifact with him that allows him to commune with an echo of his late wife. As he goes through the Trauma Conga Line, Virion ends up using this artifact more often than he used to in order to relieve himself of the pain he ends up enduring. Virion is seen using the artifact right before the Dicathians elect to refuse Kezess's ulterior offer after he allows them to vote on the matter, as he knows that dire consequences will follow from defying the ruler of the asuras and he needs the strength and vindication to endure the coming storm.
  • Posthumous Character: She died during the war and her death had a major impact on her family.
  • Rapid Aging: Overuse of her divination powers caused her to age from a beautiful young woman to that of an aged elder, with her passing only a few months after the war's end.
  • Seers: She was able to look into the future, though overuse of her powers cost her her life.
  • Virtual Ghost: Virion carries with him an artifact that allows him to interact with a memory of Lania. He ends up using it as he goes through the Trauma Conga Line to relieve himself of the suffering.
  • World's Most Beautiful Woman: In life, Lania was famed for her enchanting beauty which earned her the adulation of all of Elenoir.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Played With. As part of her and her sister's knowledge of divination, Lania knew that any outcome she foresees is preordained, and that looking for an alternative outcome only changes the circumstances in which said outcome occurs. In spite of foreseeing her husband's death, that did not stop her from attempting to avert every attempt on his life. While she was ultimately successful in preventing his death, she had overused her powers and died a few weeks after the war's end.
    • This is actually explained given what Arthur learns in the final keystone about Fate. He learns that Fate cannot be controlled, but rather understood and thus influenced as it can only be altered through one's actions, willpower, and belief. The chances of altering Fate can be increased if more people assert their will and vision upon it. While Lania's understanding of Fate is imperfect, the reason she kept foreseeing her husband's assassination was exactly because the then-King of Sapin kept trying to kill him and thus was unknowingly exerting his influence on Fate.

    Alduin Eralith 

Alduin Eralith

King of Elenoir

Debut: Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic), Episode 5 (Anime)

Voiced by: Kentaro Tone (Japanese)

Virion’s son, the current King of Elenoir, and the father of Tessia.


  • Embarrassed by a Child: The young Arthur calling Alduin out for his racism against humans is what leads him to change his perceptions and form the Council.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: After Arthur is brought before the Council and imprisoned, Alduin overhears a conversation between Blaine and Dawsid about handing over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona. He then has Aya covertly bring a message to Arthur letting him know of the plot against him and that he had Virion escort his family to safety, but that he cannot do anything else for him at the moment.
  • Heel Realization: After the end of the war between Sapin and Elenoir and the death of his mother, Alduin could not bring himself to forgive humans. It was not until Arthur rescued Tessia from slave traders and called him out on his racism to make him have an epiphany. In turn, this would lead to the formation of the Council.
  • I Have Your Wife: Is forced to betray his own people in order to save his daughter's life.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He alongside his wife Merial and the Glayders are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra.
  • Sadistic Choice: At the climax of Volume 7, Agrona forces him and his wife to choose between the lives of Tessia or Virion. They choose the former.
  • Tragic Bigot: A former example. He used to hate the humans not only for their war against his kingdom, but because said war led to his mother's death. However, the young Arthur saving his daughter Tessia and calling him out for his racism leads Alduin to abandon his prejudices.

    Merial Eralith 

Merial Eralith

Queen of Elenoir

Debut: Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic), Episode 5 (Anime)

Voiced by: Yu Shimamura (Japanese)

The current Queen of Elenoir and the mother of Tessia.


  • Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: Merial presents herself as a proper queen, while Tessia has been extensively training to fight since her youth.
  • I Have Your Wife: Is forced to betray her own people in order to save her daughter's life.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She alongside her husband Alduin and the Glayders are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra.
  • Sadistic Choice: At the climax of Volume 7, Agrona forces her and her husband to choose between the lives of Tessia or Virion. They choose the former.

    Tessia Eralith 

Tessia Eralith

Princess of Elenoir, The Lunar Goddess

Debut: Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 16 (Webcomic), Episode 4 (Anime)

Voiced by: Kana Ichinose (Japanese), Abigail Blythe (English)

Characters in The Beginning After The End Royal Families
"I guess you're right. I can't save them all. At this rate, I won't catch up to him."

The Princess of Elenoir, Tessia is Arthur's childhood friend whom he first meets after he rescues her from slave traders and brings her back home. Arthur would live with her and her family for three years before he was eventually able to reunite with his own family. Due to the circumstances of their first meeting and her own growing feelings for him, Tessia aspires to catch up with Arthur and be as strong as him. She becomes the protégé of Cynthia Goodsky, the Director of Xyrus Academy, and the Student Council President in time for Arthur enrolling at the academy. From there, their relationship would continue to grow as both find themselves caught up in the impending Divine Conflict.


  • Adaptational Modesty: In her assimilation sessions with Arthur, Tessia ends up removing her robe as Virion states that the process would work better with less clothes on. In the webcomic, she keeps her robe on during the assimilation with that specific detail by Virion being omitted.
  • Adoptive Peer Parent: To Sylvie. She was physically eight years old when she first hatched. When Sylvie assumes human form after breaking the seal placed upon her, people mistake her for Arthur's Our Phlebotinum Child with Tessia.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Arthur affectionately refers to her as "Tess".
  • "All Grown Up" Remark: Arthur is taken by surprise to see how much Tessia had matured when he sees her again for the first time in four years during the new student orientation at Xyrus Academy and is taken aback by her newfound beauty.
  • And Call Him "George": When Tessia first meets Sylvie, she gives her a crushing hug that the latter begs Arthur to save her from. Despite Sylvie not appreciating this overwhelming display of affection, she warms up to Tessia later on as she comes to view her as her surrogate mother.
  • Anger Born of Worry: There are quite a few times when Tessia gets mad at Arthur for putting himself in danger or making her worry about him and his well-being. As he puts it himself, he could never bring himself to despise her.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: After her first assimilation session with Arthur, Tessia calls out Arthur for his evasiveness over advancing their relationship and his apparent immaturity, in the process declaring to him how serious her feelings for him are.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: Given how Rinia's visions revolve around You Can't Fight Fate, in all of her visions of the future Tessia was fated to become the vessel for the Legacy, who was summoned by Agrona to help him conquer all of reality. The most she could have done was ensure that the circumstances in which Tessia was captured and turned were the least disastrous in the long-term.
  • The Apprentice: Gets taken under Director Goodsky's wing as her apprentice in accordance to the elven education system. After Goodsky is rendered comatose after the attack on Xyrus Academy, Aldir takes her under his wing in the leadup to the War Arc.
  • Back for the Finale: After getting captured and turned into the vessel for Cecilia at the end of Volume 8, Tessia does not return until the end of Volume 11 when Arthur cuts the Threads of Fate binding Agrona and Cecilia, which excises Cecilia from the world and allows Tessia to regain control of her body. She rejoins just in time for the Vritra Clan's defeat and Arthur having to face the Indrath Clan and their genocidal ambitions.
  • Badass in Distress: The state she finds herself in when she gets captured by Nico at the end of the war. She only manages to escape for the time being because of Arthur and Sylvie's Heroic Sacrifice. And then she gets captured by him again and turned into the vessel for Cecilia, with her not being freed until Arthur manages to excise Cecilia from her body.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Tessia quickly grew attached to Arthur due to him being the only person outside of her family to treat her with genuine kindness.
  • Berserk Button: Tessia does not like being treated as either a child or an object that needs protecting, as she wants to prove that she can be independent and fend for herself. Although initially Played for Laughs (as seen when she punches Feyrith for calling her "delicate"), it is eventually Played for Drama in the leadup to the War Arc. While those who treat her that way have good reason for doing so as Tessia often gets Targeted to Hurt the Hero that is her Love Interest Arthur, her chafing and rebelling against said treatment has sometimes led to unintended - and sometimes outright disastrous - consequences.
    Tessia: What the hell was the point of training so hard if everyone treated me like some glass sculpture?
  • Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Kathyln's Veronica. While both are princesses, Tessia is the Girl Next Door as Arthur's childhood friend and her features give her a mystical yet approachable aura, where Kathyln is a Defrosting Ice Queen with Raven Hair, Ivory Skin.
  • Big Damn Kiss: She gives her first kiss to Arthur while he is in the infirmary following him Taking the Bullet for her during their Team-Fighting Mechanics I class.
  • Big Damn Reunion:
    • After running away from home and getting kidnapped by slave traders, Tessia gets rescued by Arthur who proceeds to escort her back home. When they arrive, her parents and grandfather are there to meet her where they have a tearful reunion.
    • On Arthur's first day at Xyrus Academy, Tessia attempts to Invoke this trope as she fantasizes how their reunion will turn out given how it has been years since she last saw him. However, it ends up being Subverted as she encounters him attempting to break up a fight. Given her position as Student Council President, she is forced to act sternly towards him. Not helping matters is that Lilia says she has been living with Arthur for years now and Clive attempts to countermand Arthur for his attitude which sees him being flung into the air. In the aftermath, Tessia is seen holed up in her room out of frustration. That night, she gets a more tender and intimate reunion with him as they reconcile over the earlier incident.
    • After being allowed to participate in the war, Tessia is assigned to a dungeon infested with Alacryan mana beasts. However, when she and the Dicathian forces arrive at the entrance they find only the corpses of mana beasts. When Tessia opens the door, she finds Arthur sitting Atop a Mountain of Corpses, having dealt with the mana beasts in the dungeon for them before she gets glomped by Sylvie. After returning to base and Arthur's debriefing, the two of them are left alone where they proceed to have yet another personal reunion.
    • After getting possessed by Cecilia, Tessia is ultimately freed when Arthur severs the Threads of Fate between Agrona and Cecilia, which severs Cecilia's ties to this world and allows her to pass on. Afterward, while Tessia did regain control of her body, it seemed as if she was not long for this world regardless due to the injuries her body sustained as she has Regis relay to Arthur that she won't make it and is content to die in the arms of her lover and their daughter. However, Arthur instead uses one of the Tears of the Mother pearls he received from Veruhn to save her life. Afterwards, the two of them are brought to Epheotus, and when Tessia wakes up she reunites with Arthur and his family.
  • Blow You Away: Her other notable elemental affinity is in wind magic.
  • Bully Hunter: Part of her resolutions upon first becoming Student Council President of Xyrus Academy is her desire to crack down on bullying on campus. The academy already has a problem with battle mage students looking down on scholar mage students, but with the recent inclusion of elves and dwarves it is anticipated that cases of racial distrust and discrimination will arise. Tessia makes it clear that any sort of bullying will not be tolerated and that anyone who dares will face strict discipline.
    Tessia: I, for one, will not tolerate any sort of aggression or bullying based on the trivial fact that one is a scholar mage instead of a battle mage.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Invoked. After seeing Mordain warn Cecilia to back down by effortlessly incinerating one of the Wraiths, Tessia briefly retakes control of her body to attack Mordain in order to convey to Cecilia just how far she is willing to go to stop her.
  • Came Back Strong: Played With. In Cecilia being excised from her body, Tessia's body sustained fatal injuries due to Cecilia being in the integrate phase wherein she has become dependent on mana to survive and her removal took away her body's ability to control her mana flow. When Arthur uses one of the Tears of the Mother pearls to save her life, Tessia's body is not only healed but she gains a brand new white core, which is the stage below integrate.
  • Character Development: When first introduced, Tessia was a lonely princess who secretly harbored a rebellious streak. After being rescued by Arthur, she sought to become strong enough to stand beside him and be seen as a mature young woman. However, after the attack on Xyrus, Tessia was sheltered in the Council Castle for protection which caused her rebellious tendencies to grow. This costs her dearly in the War Arc as said tendencies led to her being captured and turned into Cecilia's vessel, among other catastrophes. After partially regaining control of her body and learning the truth about Arthur, Tessia finally matures in response to seeing Cecilia's immaturity and how she mirrors her own flaws.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The elderwood guardian beast will she receives from Arthur. While seemingly a powerful boon to Tessia, she frequently suffers Power Incontinence while attempting to assimilate it. As it turns out, the elderwood guardian Arthur extracted it from was a failed Vritra experiment. This allows Agrona to exert control over Tessia at a crucial moment near the end of the War Arc, when he forces her parents to let his forces into the Council Castle on the pain of letting her waste away and die. However, after Cecilia takes over her body, Arthur learns that the beast will is in fact the only reason Tessia's soul survived being overwritten by Cecilia which gives him hope that he can save her.
  • Childhood Friend Love Interest: To Arthur. After saving her from slave traders, he wound up living with her family in Elenoir for three years before leaving to reunite with his family. Their shared childhood together leaves a growing infatuation on Tessia’s part, and when they reunite years later in Xyrus Academy she attempts to trigger a Relationship Upgrade between the two of them. Arthur, knowing that he is mentally much older than Tessia, asks her to hold off their relationship until they are adults to which she reluctantly agrees. Later on during the War Arc, their relationship does advance a little with them promising each other to get together after the end of the war.
  • Child Prodigy: While nowhere near as talented as her Love Interest, Tessia is nonetheless highly talented for someone the age of 13. As part of her education, she is taken under the wing of Director Goodsky and is able to succeed at her regimen when the few who have come before her have failed, all out of her desire to catch up with Arthur. Not only that, but at that age she has also become adept at plant magic in spite of the intense difficulty when it comes to learning it due to the lack of reliable teachers.
  • Child Soldiers: The Precociously Talented Type. Tessia is 17 years old by the time of the War Arc, yet is one of the most powerful combatants on the Dicathian side thanks to her extensive training with both Virion and Aldir on top being a silver core mage with a powerful beast will. The only flaw that holds her back is her own emotional maturity and lack of proper field experience.
  • Class Princess: A literal example. Tessia's high status as both a princess and the Student Council President makes her a figure of authority and respect for the student body of Xyrus Academy. Her exceptional talent and enchanting beauty is what the students admire her for. While she is a kindhearted and compassionate individual at her core, Tessia is known to put on a stern front whenever she needs to reinforce her own authority. On top of that, given the circumstances of her attendance, Tessia seeks to uplift and promote racial harmony on campus and stamp out any instances of racism that emerge.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Tessia is notably jealous of any other girl who gets close to Arthur. When she and Arthur first reunite at Xyrus Academy, their reunion - which had already gone awry thanks to it being when Arthur had been stopping a fight - gets even more heated when Lilia recognizes Arthur and says that she had been living with him for a while. During their first proper day of classes together, specifically during their Team-Fighting Mechanics I class, Tessia is not happy to see Claire putting her arms around Arthur.
    Arthur: She seemed to think I should only extend courtesy to those members of society outside my potential dating range.
    • Played for Laughs in a few original scenes in the webcomic. Tessia is not happy to see Arthur get smothered by Angela when they arrive at Helstea Manor, who then promptly proceeds to smother her as well much to her chagrin. Later on in the War Arc when Arthur takes Kathyln out for a dance, Tessia is somehow able to sense it happening despite being stationed miles away as she suddenly feels angry and punches Darvus as a result.
  • Cooldown Hug: To Arthur after his father's death.
  • Crush Blush: Is easily prone to blushing when in the presence of Arthur.
  • Cry into Chest: Frequently cries into Arthur's arms whenever she is feeling emotional.
  • Custom Uniform: As the Student Council President of Xyrus Academy, Tessia wears her own distinct and elaborate uniform.
  • Damsel in Distress: Tessia has to be rescued by Arthur several times throughout the novel, which is not helped by the fact that her being his Love nterest means she gets frequently Targeted to Hurt the Hero by his enemies as a form of Flaw Exploitation. Especially after she gets turned into the vessel for the Legacy, though he is eventually able to save her from her fate.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Like Arthur, Tessia's beast will functions in this fashion. In particular, Virion warns her to try to avoid situations wherein she has to use the second phase of said will given her lack of control over it, especially as she had been known to experience unusual instances of Power Incontinence from her attempts at assimilating it. It turns out that it is far more dangerous to her and everyone around her as it was derived from a failed Vritra experiment, which means Agrona has been able to control her.
  • Deus Exit Machina: After the end of the War Arc, Tessia is one of the strongest mages left for the Dicathian resistance as Arthur and Sylvie are presumed dead and the Lances are scattered across the continent. However, when she goes off to Elenoir on a mission to rescue her people from Alacryan captivity, she herself is captured by Nico and turned into the vessel for Cecilia. Her loss further exacerbates the resistance's situation, especially her grandfather Virion as she is the sole family member he has left. Tessia is not freed until Arthur unlocks the final keystone, wherein he uses his newfound understanding of Fate to excise Cecilia from Tessia's body.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight/Dying Declaration of Love: Happily Subverted. After Cecilia is excised from her body, Tessia is left on the brink of death as Cecilia's removal took away her ability to regulate her mana flow given that she was in the integrate phase wherein her body had become dependent on mana to survive. Tessia has Regis relay to Arthur, who is cradling her body, that she's not going to make it and at the very least she is happy to die in the arms of the man she loves. However, Arthur does not give up on saving her as he uses the second Tears of the Mother pearl he received from Veruhn to save her life.
  • Dual Wielding: After activating her beast will during her spar with her grandfather, Tessia conjures a pair of mana swords, though it is noted dual wielding is not her forte.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: Her suit of armor during the War Arc sports a lot of intricate patterns which makes her stand out when compared to the standard rank and file.
  • Emerald Power: Activating her beast will surrounds Tessia in an emerald aura complete with Facial Markings of the same color, and she is able to create emerald-colored mana weapons.
  • Enemy Mine: After getting herself trapped in the Relictombs, Cecilia begrudgingly reaches out to Tessia for aid in escaping. Tessia agrees in return for not only letting retake control of her body if she chooses, but to teach her how to use magic without a core now that her body is in the integrate phase. It does not last long as Arthur excises Cecilia from Tessia's body and sends her back to Earth.
  • Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Upon meeting Arthur's parents for the first time, Tessia proceeds to curtsy to them as a sign of respect.
  • Everyone Can See It: Pretty much everyone who sees Tessia with Arthur can instantly recognize that she is in love with him.
  • Exact Eavesdropping:
    • After Tessia and her party return from the dungeon they were stationed in, Arthur and Virion have a private discussion about how they are going to break Goodsky's death to her. Right after they agree that the latter should be the one to break the bad news, they walk into Tessia herself who has been overhearing their conversation the entire time.
    • Later on during the military ball, Tessia sneaks away to follow Arthur and her grandfather. She overhears them talking to Gideon about their attempts to find out whether or not Rahdeas is a traitor. As with the above incident, she gets caught.
  • Expy: Given the novel's inspiration from Mushoku Tensei and her status as Arthur's main Love Interest, Tessia has parallels all three of Rudeus's Love Interests.
    • Regarding Sylphiette (her primary inspiration when considering the other potential Love Interests for Arthur), Tessia is an elf with Mystical White Hair who has a green color motif (and hair under certain circumstances), has a Childhood Friend Rescue Romance with the protagonist after he rescues her from perilnote , reunites with him at the Magical Academy years later as teens, and confesses her feelings to him which he later reciprocates.
    • Regarding Roxy, Tessia is a highly talented young mage with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality, ran away from home when she was young, Thinks Like a Romance Novel when it comes to her love life, and ends up being targeted by the Big Bad as part of his Evil Plan - Hitogami attempts to kill Roxy before she can give birth to Lara, while Agrona intends to make Tessia the vessel for the Legacy.
    • Regarding Eris, Tessia is a young noblewoman-turned-Lady of War whose family takes in Arthur for a portion of his youth, is an Insecure Love Interest who wants to become strong enough to be worthy of him, and ends up as one of the Sole Survivors of said family following a tragic incident.
    • In addition, Tessia is also an analogue to Princess Ariel despite the latter not being one of Rudeus's Love Interests, being a princess who becomes the Student Council President of the Magical Academy they attend and a major political ally to Arthur.
  • Facial Markings: Using her beast will gives her emerald markings around her eyes.
  • Failed Rescue Attempt: At the end of the war, Tessia leaves the djinn sanctuary without any authorization in order to rescue her parents. When she arrives in Etisin, she finds their bodies impaled on spikes and paraded around by the victorious Alacryans to mark the end of their conquest.
  • Fallen Princess: After the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen and the execution of her parents, Tessia is no longer royalty. To add insult to injury, she is then captured and turned into the vessel for the Legacy. And if that was not enough salt on the wound, immediately after being possessed by the Legacy her own homeland gets completely obliterated by one of her former mentors in a futile bid to kill the being possessing her.
  • Fatal Flaw: Her being a Rebellious Princess, later on coupled with her desire to prove herself as an independent and mature woman. In her youth, it was due to an argument with her parents that led to her running away from home and getting kidnapped by slave traders. After being rescued by Arthur, Tessia aims to become stronger to prevent such a scenario from happening again, but it only leads to her making the same mistakes later on as she ends up clashing with authority at the expense of everyone around her. She gets better about it after partially regaining control of her body in Volume 11.
  • Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: Merial presents herself as a proper queen, while Tessia has been extensively training to fight since her youth.
  • Fighting from the Inside: In the climax of Volume 8, Tessia is kidnapped and turned into the vessel for Cecilia, the Legacy. At the end of the next volume, when Arthur and Cecilia meet at the end of the Victoriad, Arthur is about to perform a Mercy Kill when Tessia takes control for a moment thanks to her beast will and begs Arthur to save her. In Volume 11, it is revealed that after falling into Seris's trap at the end of the previous volume, Cecilia entered the stage after the white stage, the integrate stage. However, this also led to Tessia being partially released from Cecilia's mind, letting her regain control of her body anytime, which she ultimately does at the volume's conclusion when Arthur completely excises Cecilia from her body.
  • First Love: Tessia is Arthur's first love in his reincarnation, and vice versa as he is her own first love.
    • Second Love: Though considering Cecilia was his first and only love when he was Grey, Tessia is technically his second.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: Right before she and Arthur arrive in Zestier, the latter jokingly refers to her as "your highness". Once they arrive, she is revealed to be not just any ordinary elven girl but the very princess of their kingdom.
  • Ghost Memory: After her mind is partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, Tessia is able to view Cecilia's memories which is how she learns of Arthur's past life.
  • Gilded Cage: After the attack on Xyrus Academy, Tessia was sheltered inside the Council Castle to protect her as much as possible. She views this treatment as stifling for no matter how much stronger she gets, Virion and Aldir refuse to let her leave as the prospect of her dying could significantly affect Arthur and his performance in the war, not just her own family.
  • Girl Next Door: Tessia is Arthur's Childhood Friend Love Interest and frequently exhibits a Nice Girl personality towards him alone.
  • Grand Theft Me: At the end of Volume 8, she is captured by Nico and turned into the vessel for the Legacy.
  • Green Thumb: Her primary elemental affinity is in plant magic. Her beast will allows her to tap into the powers of the elderwood guardian, itself a Botanical Abomination made of vines.
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: While Everyone Can See It that Tessia is in love with Arthur, she normally takes the attention in stride. However, right before the military ball during the War Arc, her teammate Caria asks her where "her handsome lover" is at the moment. This causes Tessia to yell out that he isn't with an embarrassed look on her face.
  • Helpless Good Side: Played With. When Cecilia first possesses her body, it seems Tessia is all but gone. Then when Arthur is about to Mercy Kill her at the end of the Victoriad, Tessia briefly retakes over her body via her beast will and begs Arthur to save her, revealing that she is still alive to some extent. However, after Cecilia enters the integrate stage after falling for Seris's gambit, Tessia's mind is partially freed as a result. This not only allows her personality to become more prominent as she frequently calls out Cecilia for her continued obedience to Agrona, but allows her to temporarily regain control of her body at times though Cecilia remains the dominant personality. She does not regain complete control of her body until Arthur severs the Threads of Fate keeping Cecilia tied to the world.
  • I Just Want to Be Badass: After Arthur saves her from the slave traders, Tessia desires to catch up with him and become strong on her own accord. This leads her to become a Child Prodigy in plant and wind magic, on top of her falling under the tutelage of Cynthia Goodsky and succeeding at her normally harsh training regimen when all others have failed. Later on the leadup to the War Arc, she seeks to prove herself on the frontlines whilst chafing at how overprotective her family and superiors have been towards her.
    Goodsky: My training regimen is not easy; the few who have tried before her have all failed. [Tessia] is only able to keep up and continue because of her desire to catch up to you, Arthur.
  • I Want My Mommy!: Her very first lines in the novel are her yelling for her mother and father to save her after she got herself kidnapped by slave traders.
  • If We Survive This: When she and Arthur are alone on the Wall facing the impending horde of Alacryan mana beasts, they promise each other that if they survive the war to get married afterward.
  • In Spite of a Nail: In the first time loop Arthur experiences upon entering the fourth keystone, he manages to avert the fateful bandit ambush that saw him being separated from his family which in turn would have led to him saving Tessia from the slave traders. In spite of this change, when he attends Xyrus Academy in that time loop Tessia is still there as the Student Council President despite Arthur not having been around to save her and thus inspire her to become stronger. The external implication being that either she did not run away from home like she did OTL or if she did that her family sent a rescue party after her.
  • In the Hood: In the leadup to the War Arc, when she leaves the Council Castle for the first time since the attack on Xyrus Academy two years ago, Tessia conceals her identity by wearing a grey cloak that obscures her appearance.
  • Insecure Love Interest: Despite everything she has done to catch up with him and her earnest desire to become strong on her own, Tessia continues to feel inadequate when compared to her lover.
    Arthur: Why is it so important for you to catch up to me, Tess?
    Tessia: Because only then will I have the confidence to tell you that I love you again.
  • Interspecies Adoption: She (an elf) and Arthur (a human) are the surrogate parents of Sylvie (a dragon/basilisk hybrid).
  • Interspecies Romance: Her Love Interest, Arthur, is a human.
  • Kidnapped for Experimentation: Or rather Kidnapped to Become the Legacy's Vessel. After the end of the war, as part of the next stage of his plan Agrona orders Nico to capture Tessia to become the vessel for the Legacy. She narrowly escaped capture at the end of Volume 7 thanks to Arthur and Sylvie's Heroic Sacrifice, but it ends up being All for Nothing as at the end of next volume, Nico is able to capture her and successfully turn her into the Legacy's vessel as Arthur is not around to protect her.
  • King Incognito: She does not tell Arthur she is elven royalty when they first meet. As such, he is taken by surprise when he learns who her family is upon arriving in Zestier.
  • Lady of War: When she matures, Tessia becomes a graceful Warrior Princess.
  • Living with the Villain: In Volume 12, Arthur and his family - Alice, Eleanor, Sylvie, and Tessia - are brought to Epheotus after the end of the war as Political Hostages so that Kezess can force him to uphold his end of their bargain.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Prior to meeting Arthur, Tessia barely had any friends, let alone anyone outside of her family who treated her with kindness.
  • Love Confession: In Volume 7, Arthur declares his feelings for Tessia and they promise each other to get married once the war is over.
  • Made a Slave: Narrowly Averted as Arthur was able to kill the slave traders who had kidnapped her and bring her back to her family.
  • Magic Knight: While Tessia is a conjurer rather than an augmenter, she nonetheless has received a lot of physical combat training from both Virion and Aldir. In the War Arc, she wears her own suit of armor and wields a Royal Rapier.
  • Megaton Punch: She ends up punching Feyrith into the sky when he accidentally provokes her Berserk Button by calling her "delicate".
  • Missed Him by That Much: Played With. The webcomic has Tessia covertly visit Eleanor's birthday party so that she can drop off a birthday present for her. When one of the maids attending her asks her why they are leaving right after dropping off the present, Tessia tells her that she wants Arthur's focus to be on his sister that night, for she will soon be seeing him again in Xyrus Academy.
  • Moment Killer: Happens a few times between her and Arthur.
    • When Arthur and Tessia reconcile after the incident following the student orientation, Elijah stumbles across them being intimate with each other. Considering that Tessia is the Student Council President, Elijah gives Arthur a smug grin as he walks off.
    • In the webcomic, shortly before their Class Trip Arthur attempts to help Tessia integrate the beast will that he gave her into her mana core. However, the attempt gets derailed by playful teasing between the two of them which leads to Tessia tackling Arthur to the ground. At that moment, Tessia's grandfather Virion walks in on them and remarks that he didn't expect to come across something that he thought was far more intimate. This causes Tessia to realize that she is straddling Arthur in a rather compromising position, causing her to jump off him in embarrassment.
    • After Arthur's encounter with Windsom, he arrives in Zestier right in the midst of Tessia suffering yet another case of Power Incontinence from her beast will. After saving her, the two gaze into each other's eyes...right before Virion interrupts them.
    • Played for Drama at the end of Volume 11. After all the hell both have been through from the end of the War Arc and onward, Arthur has finally managed to free Tessia from Cecilia's control. As he holds Tessia's unconscious body, Arthur contemplates how he is going to face her as she knows all that he had kept from her. His contemplation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Kezess - accompanied by Myre, Windsom, and Charon - who orders for both of them to be brought to Epheotus.
  • Morality Chain: Is one to Arthur, being one of the people he cares for the most. Rescuing her from her fate as Cecilia's vessel becomes one of his driving goals after the end of the war.
  • My Greatest Failure: After regaining control of her body, she views her unsanctioned mission to rescue her parents at the end of the war as this. Not only did she fail to save her parents as they had been executed by the Alacryans, but in the ensuing battle Arthur and Sylvie were forced to sacrifice themselves to save her life.
    Tessia: I chose to go to my parents that day, and Arthur and Sylvie almost died - no, in a sense - they did die - because of my decision.
  • Mystical White Hair: She has gunmetal silver hair and is highly adept at magic like the rest of her family.
  • Near-Death Experience: When Cecilia is removed from her body thanks to Arthur severing the Threads of Fate that bind her to reality, Tessia's body experiences massive backlash as her body had been in the integrate phase and Cecilia's removal took her away her body's ability to regulate the mana she needed to survive. In the aftermath, it seems Arthur's efforts to save her were for naught as Tessia is on the brink of death once again. However, as with Chul beforehand, Arthur uses the second Tears of the Mother pearl to resuscitate Tessia's body, saving her life.
  • Nepotism: How she became Student Council President in the first place before she even started formally attending Xyrus Academy, though it is never called out at all. Her grandfather Virion was old friends with Director Goodsky, who took her in as her apprentice and had her on-campus for over a year before she started attending and thus appointed her to the position, especially as she was trying to promote diversity and harmony between the three races. However, unlike most examples of this trope, Tessia has the aptitude, intelligence, and talent necessary for her to fulfill said role.
  • Next Tier Power-Up: After Arthur uses a mystical orb he received from Windsom to placate Tessia's beast will, her mana core jumps straight from dark yellow all the way to silver stage.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Tessia is equally guilty as this as her own Love Interest Arthur. While in his case it stems from his desire to protect his loved ones (especially her) and it biting him back much later, in her case it stems from her own emotions getting the better of her in the heat of the moment.
    • Her first battle as a commander in Elshire Forest. Her forces number 200, against a much larger force of Alacryans. They cannot retreat as civilians have yet to evacuate, but on the bright side reinforcements are close by and they simply have to hold out until then. What happens instead is that Tessia loses her cool, breaks formation, and starts running around the battlefield trying her best to help, ignoring the fact that without her to lead (and her being the most powerful mage present) her troops are getting decimated. Suffice it to say that Aya is livid about the whole business.
    • Disregarding both Virion and Arthur's advice not to venture out of the djinn sanctuary to look for her parents. Made especially worse by the fact that the cast suspected Agrona is using her mana core to track her, and in doing so putting everyone else in danger by leaving. The whole trip ends up being in vain, as her parents were summarily executed, and Tessia ends up causing the deaths of even more soldiers as Nico is trying to capture her alive and proceeds to make her submit by slaughtering her allies. Even when Arthur and Sylvie come down to save her, they are forced to face off against both Nico and Cadell in a doomed battle. Arthur manages to get Tessia to safety but not without losing Sylvie in the process and being assumed dead, which breaks the morale of what remains of the Dicathian army.
    • Evidently, she had not learned her lesson after Arthur and Sylvie's Heroic Sacrifice to save her, as she goes off on a mission to her occupied homeland in order to rescue as much of her people as she can. Inevitably, the mission goes wrong as Nico arrives and Tessia is captured and turned into the vessel for the Legacy. If that was not enough, Windsom and Aldir arrive intending to kill her in a bid to deny Agrona the Legacy's power, and the ensuing battle sees Aldir obliterating all of Elenoir with the World Eater technique. In short, her decision effectively negates Arthur and Sylvie's sacrifice, advances Agrona's plan, destroys her own homeland, and further demoralizes the Dicathians in one fell swoop.
  • Noble Fugitive: As the war draws to a close, Tessia becomes the highest priority target for Agrona's forces as he intends to capture her to turn her into the vessel for the Legacy. Rinia even stresses it to Arthur to keep Tessia away from the Alacryans if they want any chance of retaking their homeland. Her warning ends up being in vain as Arthur gets marooned in the Relictombs after sacrificing himself to save Tessia from capture, only for Tessia to be captured anyway on a subsequent mission.
  • Odd Name, Normal Nickname: Her nickname is the rather normal-sounding "Tess".
  • Only Mostly Dead: When Cecilia takes control of her body, it initially seems Tessia is all but gone. However, when Arthur is confronted by Cecilia after the Victoriad, he attempts to Mercy Kill her only for Tessia to retake control of her body and beg Arthur to save her.
  • Out of Focus: As part of the major shift in the status quo after the end of the War Arc, Tessia's screentime drops drastically due to Arthur being stranded far from home. While she does get a fair amount of attention when compared to the rest of Arthur's old supporting cast in the few POVs back in Dicathen, she eventually gets captured and turned into the vessel for Cecilia with her survival left ambiguous. It does not help her case that Caera is introduced as a Contrasting Replacement Character for her as Arthur's companion and confidant at the time. Tessia does not reenter the spotlight until she partially regains control of her body due to Seris's gambit. After Arthur completely frees her, Tessia fully comes back into focus as a main character.
  • Patient Childhood Love Interest: What she wants to happen between her and Arthur, as she has been in love when him back when he first rescued her. The problem being that Arthur is mentally much older than she is, and thus cannot quite reciprocate. As of Volume 7, Arthur returns his feelings for her as they promise each other to get married after the war. In Volume 11, after being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, she tells Cecilia that she intends to keep that promise she made with him. In spite of everything that has happened and knowing the full truth of Arthur's reincarnation and the mental age gap, she still loves him.
  • Parental Substitute: She and Arthur are Sylvie’s surrogate parents, though given how Sylvie isn’t able to assume human form until much later on, they treat her more as a pet at first. Once she does, people begin mistaking Sylvie for Arthur and Tessia’s Our Phlebotinum Child and they begin to see her as their daughter.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: After Arthur frees Tessia from Cecilia's control, he carries her unconscious body in this fashion.
  • Political Hostage: After Arthur frees Tessia from Cecilia's control, the two of them are brought to Epheotus by Kezess. This is because Kezess intends to use the lives of Tessia and the rest of Arthur's family as leverage to get Arthur to uphold his end of their bargain.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: Using her beast will dyes her hair dark green.
  • Power Incontinence: Tessia experiences a lot of difficulty when it comes to assimilating her beast will as it repeatedly fights back against her. As such, Arthur has to be the one to help her with the assimilation process and rescue her whenever she loses control over it. It goes to the point that it ends up taking control over her body on two separate occasions, with it taking both Arthur and Virion to save her. Even so, Virion and Aldir note how that there is something unusual about her beast will. As it turns out, the true reason is because the elderwood guardian Arthur extracted the beast will from was a failed Vritra experiment, which gave Agrona control over her life.
  • Raised by Rival: That dragon that has viewed her as her surrogate mother since she was a little kid? Little would she know at the time that said dragon is the only living descendant of the two deities who would ruin her life, one by invading her homeland and having her Reforged into a Minion, the other by obliterating her homeland in a futile bid to kill her and the being possessing her.
  • Razor Wind: Is able to unleash blades of cutting wind in combat.
  • Really Royalty Reveal: When she is first introduced, Arthur and the audience have no idea that she is in fact the Princess of Elenoir. As such, hearing the guards greet her as "the Royal Princess" when they arrive in Zestier takes him by complete surprise.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Volume 11, after being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, Tessia often takes the opportunity to call out Cecilia for her misplaced loyalty to Agrona, that her Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse, and how she is not helping herself by believing his manipulations.
  • Rebellious Princess: Tessia sometimes gets into arguments with her family, which leads to her running away. In turn this gets her into more trouble than she anticipated.
  • Red Baron: The Lunar Goddess. She got this title as she is described as being as beautiful as a goddess but as untouchable as the moon.
  • Reforged into a Minion: After the end of the war and Arthur's apparent disappearance, she goes on a secret mission back to Elenoir only to be captured by the Vritra and turned into the vessel for the Legacy.
  • Rescue Introduction: She is first introduced after she gets kidnapped by slave traders, whom Arthur proceeds to kill in order to rescue her.
  • Rescue Romance: After Arthur saves her from slave traders, she develops an attraction to him which only grows as he spends three years living with her family until he leaves to reunite with his family. Arthur does not reciprocate at first due to knowing that he is mentally much older than her.
  • Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Subverted. At the end of the war, she goes off on an unsanctioned mission in order to rescue her parents only to find their impaled bodies.
  • Royal Rapier: Her weapon of choice during the War Arc.
  • Royalty Superpower: Combined with Superpowerful Genetics. Due to being of pure elven lineage on top of being from the royal family, Tessia's aptitude as a mage is much higher than anyone else near her age.
  • The Runaway: It is revealed that the reason she got kidnapped by slave traders in the first place was because she had gotten into an argument with her parents and ran away from home.
  • School Idol: Tessia is one of the most popular students on Xyrus Academy for multiple reasons. She is the Princess of Elenoir, the Student Council President, and is renowned for both her intellect and beauty. Almost all of the male students in Xyrus fawn after her knowing she is out of their league, while for the female students it is a mix of both admiration and envy.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: After being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, she discovers the truth of Arthur's reincarnation due to looking into Cecilia's memories, but she does not hold it against him for keeping it a secret from her (though it does become one of the issues they have to sort out before resuming their relationship after he completely frees her). Though Arthur infers that Tessia would have learned the truth about him from Cecilia anyway, and even if Cecilia was not in the picture he would have told her the truth after they got married as seen in one of the time loops in the final keystone.
  • Sole Survivor: After being freed from Cecilia's control, Tessia along with her grandfather Virion are the only surviving members of House Eralith.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: As part of her beast will, Tessia is able to create weapons out of pure mana, usually swords.
  • Strong and Skilled: Tessia has received physical and magical training from some of the most experienced individuals in the setting and ends up becoming a silver core mage with a potent beast will that synergizes with her own elemental affinity, which makes her one of the most powerful mages in Dicathen. However, despite her potential she is held back by her maturity and lack of proper experience.
  • Student Council President: When Tessia first arrives at Xyrus Academy, Goodsky makes her the student council president not only because she is her disciple and has proven to be very talented, but in order to help integrate the academy given the incoming elven and dwarven students as she is the first non-human to hold the position. Tessia dislikes her new position because it prevents her from be openly friendly with Arthur when she finally sees him again, as she has to put on an example for the rest of the student body.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: As Student Council President, Tessia acts in a stern fashion to put on an example for the rest of the student body and show that she means business in the face of any racism she may face for being an elf. However, in front of those she cares about - especially Arthur - that front collapses to reveal her Girl Next Door personality from their youth given her feelings for him.
  • Suggestive Collision: In an original scene in the webcomic, Tessia ends up pinning Arthur to the ground after he playfully teases her about how scared she used to be when they first met. It is not until her grandfather Virion walks in on them that she realizes that she is straddling Arthur in a rather compromising position, which causes her to jump off him in embarrassment when it gets pointed out.
  • Super-Power Meltdown: When Cecilia is removed from her body, Tessia is left on the brink of death as her body was in the integrate phase wherein it had become dependent on mana to survive, and Cecilia's removal took away her ability to control her mana flow. Fortunately Arthur uses one of the Tears of the Mother pearls to stabilize her, giving her a new white core and saving her life.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: While she and Cecilia are stuck in the Relictombs following the latter's fight with Wren, Tessia feels a degree of sympathy towards Cecilia even though she took over her body. Not only does she recognize that Cecilia has had an unpleasant lot in both of her lives, but Tessia herself recognizes how her flaws reflect her own. However, she still feels that Cecilia's Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse.
  • Taking You with Me: Invoked. After Mordain warns Cecilia not to test his patience by killing off one of the Wraiths escorting her, Cecilia is about to order the Wraiths to retreat when Tessia briefly retakes control of her body and attempts to attack Mordain. Tessia does this in order to let Cecilia know how far she is willing to go to keep Arthur and those she loves safe, namely that Cecilia herself has to die.
  • Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Suffice to say, Tessia being Arthur's Love Interest puts her in the crosshairs of a lot of his enemies.
    • In the leadup to the attack on Xyrus Academy, Draneeve tells Lucas that his plan to defeat Arthur involves targeting Tessia. Sure enough, during the attack Tessia gets incapacitated by the Radicals with Lucas threatening to desecrate her body in front of Arthur. It backfires on both of them as Lucas gets subjected to a Cruel and Unusual Death by Arthur and Draneeve gets Reassigned to Antarctica for almost compromising Agrona's plan.
    • In the aftermath, Tessia ends up being sheltered by her family in the Council Castle as the risk of her dying would have considerable repercussions on Arthur's psyche and could negatively impede his performance on the battlefield. Kezess even obliquely tells Arthur that "it would be wise for [him] to close [his] heart to the Elven Princess" before Arthur leaves Epheotus to join the war.
    • While Agrona had planned for her to be the vessel for the Legacy, Nico was the one to capture her and no doubt enjoyed all of it, seeing no better way to spite Grey/Arthur by using his Love Interest as the vessel for his own dead fiancée.
    • Even after being freed from the Legacy's control, Tessia still ends up being targeted as she and Arthur are brought to Epheotus by Kezess shortly afterward. There, Tessia along with the rest of Arthur's family end up becoming Political Hostages whose lives Kezess intends to leverage against Arthur should he refuse to fulfill his end of their bargain.
  • Tears of Joy: She is prone to doing this when it comes to Arthur.
    • After seeing that Arthur managed to escape Widow's Crypt on top of him saving her from her berserk beast will, the first move Tessia makes upon regaining consciousness is to embrace him and cry out of happiness now that she knows he survived.
    • When she sees Arthur Atop a Mountain of Corpses in the dungeon she was about to enter, her eyes tear up a little upon recognizing it is him. Later on after they return to camp, the moment Arthur says that he missed her, her eyes profusely tear up as she loses all composure and proceeds to Cry into Chest.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: How she perceives her relationship with Arthur during their youth. She keeps fantasizing about him ever since their Rescue Introduction and imagines how their future will turn out, such as their wedding and children.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl:
  • Tomboy Princess: Ever since her youth, Tessia has been trained in both physical and magical combat due to her position as crown princess and the only heir to House Eralith. This makes her stand out in contrast when compared to her mother Merial and her fellow princess Kathyln, both of whom fit the traditional image of a royal lady though Tessia herself is capable of presenting her femininity.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Her homeland is conquered, her parents are forced to make a Deal with the Devil to save her life, she tries to rescue them only to find them executed, the ensuing battle sees her boyfriend and their adoptive daughter sacrifice themselves to save her, and then she gets captured and turned into the vessel for the Legacy. To add insult to injury, immediately afterwards her homeland is completely obliterated by her former mentor in a futile bid to kill the Legacy.
  • Uptown Girl: Most if not all of Arthur's potential Love Interests hail from rich noble families whom he comes into contact by chance due to being of a lower-class background, and as his main Love Interest, Tessia is no exception given that she is the Princess of Elenoir who only fell for a lower-class foreigner like him because he rescued her from slave traders.
  • Vine Tentacles: Due to her mastery of plant magic as well as her beast will, in combat Tessia is able to conjure swathes of vines that she can use in a wide range of techniques and spells, be it restraining enemies for the kill or disrupting enemy formations.
  • Warrior Princess: She fights on the frontlines during the War Arc, being one of the strongest mages on the Dicathian side other than the Lances.
  • Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Despite having trained her entire life and being one of the most powerful mages in Dicathen, Tessia lacks proper combat experience, which is not helped by the fact she was barred from joining the war effort for a long time out of fear over her death potentially impacting Arthur's performance in the war. This becomes especially apparent when she takes on a commanding role, as she completely mishandles her troops in the Battle of Elshire Forest. This results in her forces being routed, her teammate Caria losing her legs and being crippled for life, and Aya relieving her of command and forcing her to return to the Council Castle now that she has proven herself incapable of properly conducting herself as a soldier.
  • Widowed at the Wedding: In one of the time loops Arthur experiences in the final keystone, he accepts Alea's Artifact of Power from Virion and becomes strong enough to repel the Alacryan invasion of Dicathen. This is followed by him and Tessia getting married and becoming King and Queen of Dicathen. Their happiness does not last as the following night, Cadell intrudes on the sleeping couple, killing Arthur and taking Tessia back to Alacrya to become Cecilia's vessel.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Is subjected to this during the attack on Xyrus Academy. Despite her core having been boosted to the silver stage, Tessia was suffering from Power Incontinence from attempting to assimilate her beast will and was highly vulnerable at the time. Not helping matters was that she was not even expecting an attack as she had just returned from Elenoir and had been Locked Out of the Loop regarding the Radicals and their activities due to her assimilation process putting her out of commission.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She loses her homeland, her family, and her own body which gets taken over by the the Legacy.
  • Young and in Charge: Deconstructed. After her grandfather gives her his blessing to participate in the war, Tessia is put in charge of a small team despite only being 17 years old. While ostensibly the leader, her teammates are just as much there to keep her safe and Virion did stipulate to her that if she were to prove a liability that she would be immediately removed from combat. As the war progresses, she is promoted to a commander and given a much larger force to command, but in her first engagement as such her emotions get the better of her and she breaks formation. This results in her soldiers being slaughtered, and in the aftermath she is removed from her position.
  • You Are Too Late: At the end of Volume 7, she goes off on her own to rescue her parents, only to find that they have already been executed by the Vritra.

    Rinia Darcassian 

Rinia Darcassian

Debut: Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 23 (Webcomic), Episode 6 (Anime)

Voiced by: Shoko Tsuda (Japanese)

A distant relation to the Eraliths, Rinia is a reclusive individual known for her divination powers.


  • The Apprentice: Taci reveals that she was in fact a student of the Lost Prince Mordain, from whom she learned to hone her divination powers and much about the djinn and their aetheric knowledge.
  • Big Damn Heroes: At the end of the War Arc, she rescues Alice, Eleanor, and Tessia from the Alacryans after they take over the Council Castle.
  • Blind Seer: Overuse of her powers eventually renders her blind.
  • The Bus Came Back: After her brief appearance in Volume 1, Rinia returns in Volume 4 when Arthur and the Eraliths visit her abode years later. From that point onward, she becomes a semi-regular until her death in the climax of Volume 9.
  • Cast from Lifespan: As divination is a deviant form of magic, she is forced to draw from her lifespan instead of her mana core in order to use her divination powers. Like her sister, she ended up meeting the same fate.
  • Cursed with Awesome: She is able to see into the future, but at the cost of draining from her lifespan every time she does so.
  • He Knows Too Much: Her divination powers, which she learned from the exiled asura Mordain, put a target on her back from both sides of the Divine Conflict. Agrona wants to master reincarnation and fate to win the war on top of wanting to know Mordain's secrets, while Kezess was the one who exiled Mordain in the first place and although he was not aware of Mordain's survival his right-hand Windsom was aware of it, his connection to Rinia, and the threat she could pose to his master's overall plans. The latter is the one to get to her as he sends Taci down to exterminate the resistance for slighting him. In the process Taci fatally wounds Rinia who expires right after Arthur arrives to take Taci into the Relictombs and finish him off.
  • Hermit Guru: She has been living in seclusion for a long time within the Elshire Forest. It turns out this is because of her divination powers, which puts a target on her back by both sides of the Divine Conflict not only because she would be able to subvert their plans, but also because she had learned them from a Persona Non Grata in asuran society who himself is an example of this trope in how he has been living in seclusion the entire time since his exile from Epheotus and has been sought out by both as a rogue factor whose knowledge could upend the war.
  • Heroic RRoD: Just like her sister, Rinia being forced to overexert her divination powers is what eventually takes her life. After being struck down by Taci, she uses the last of her life force to guide Arthur onto how to safely defeat the asura.
  • Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Given her training under Mordain, Rinia is privy to the existence of the long-extinct djinn and their mastery of aether. Her interactions with Arthur and Eleanor have her do her best to impart that knowledge onto them without directly alluding to their existence.
  • The Mentor: After Arthur's apparent disappearance, she takes his sister Eleanor under her wing and trains her in utilizing her hereditary djinn magic.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Rinia had been an on-and-off mentor to Arthur and Tessia thanks to her powers as a diviner allowing her to see the future and letting her advise them on what course of action they should take. After Arthur's presumed death, she takes his sister Eleanor under her wing and mentors her on her family's unique magic as descendants of the djinn. However, her divination powers, plus her connection to a faction of exiled asuras, puts a target on her back by Kezess. When Kezess sends Taci to exterminate the Dicathian resistance, Taci calls out Rinia for her connection to said faction of exiles before fatally wounding her. Rinia expires just as Arthur returns from Alacrya and takes Taci into the Relictombs to finish him off.
  • Morality Chain: Discussed. As part of her advice to Arthur, she tells him to find an anchor to give him the strength to persevere through the coming hardships that he will face.
  • One Degree of Separation: Tessia's great-aunt and the seer who fortells both her and Arthur's futures is the protégé of Mordain.
  • Parental Substitute: Is viewed as a surrogate grandmother by both Arthur and Tessia, especially the latter as her paternal grandmother Lania died before she was born.
  • Rapid Aging: Like her sister, overuse of her divination powers makes her age substantially fast. However thanks to her sister having uncovered a potion that would slow down the side effects before she passed, Rinia is able to keep herself around for much longer.
  • Secret-Keeper: As Mordain's disciple, Rinia has been taught much of the knowledge he keeps, including that of aether, the djinn, and the Relictombs. In her interactions with Arthur and Eleanor, she does her best to impart what she learned from Mordain without giving away the full truth as she deems neither of them are ready for it. This is especially because both of them have been in direct contact with the Indrath Clan, who exiled Mordain and his clan from Epheotus in the first place and have been hunting them down ever since.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: Thanks to her divination powers, she knows that Arthur is the reincarnated King Grey without him knowing. She is also aware of his family's secret djinn ancestry.
  • Seers: She is able to look into the future, though at the cost of her own lifespan. It is later revealed that she learned her art from Mordain.
  • Slipping a Mickey: A benign example. When Arthur and the Eraliths visit her abode, she laces the tea she serves them with a special herbal tonic in order to knock out all of the latter so that she can have a very private conversation with the former regarding what she has foreseen in his future.
  • Solitary Sorceress: Has been living in seclusion within the Elshire Forest due to her divination powers.
  • Spanner in the Works: When Agrona's forces attack the Council Castle, Rinia intervenes to save Alice, Eleanor, and Tessia from capture and brings them to the djinn sanctuary. This dashes his plan to use their lives against Arthur, on top of delaying his attempts to summon Cecilia in Tessia's body. Later on when Kezess attempts to take control of the Dicathian resistance through the new Artifacts of Power he gives them, Rinia exposes his ulterior motives which leads the resistance to refuse Kezess's offer.
  • The Wise Woman: Rinia is an aged seer who due to her unique divination magic lives alone in the forests of Elenoir. She acts as an on-and-off mentor to Arthur, Eleanor, and Tessia, and in the case of the former (as a Secret Secret-Keeper to his reincarnation), she provides cryptic prophecies in order to steer him into the best course of action for the future. It turns out that the reason Rinia knows what she knows and why she has been living in hiding is that she is a protégé of the exiled asuran prince Mordain, who taught her the art of divination and the existence of the long-extinct djinn and their knowledge of aether, and said knowledge would have put a target on her back by both sides of the Divine Conflict.
  • You Are Not Ready: Given her ability to see the future and the knowledge she learned from Mordain, Rinia does her best to guide the protagonists without giving away the full picture of the conflict they find themselves embroiled in and the ramifications their actions will have in the future.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed. As part of her knowledge of divination, Rinia knows that any outcome she foresees is preordained, and that looking for an alternative outcome only changes the circumstances in which said outcome occurs. In the aftermath of Tessia becoming the vessel for the Legacy and Elenoir's destruction, Eleanor asks Rinia if she foresaw that outcome, to which Rinia says that it was Tessia's fate and that all she could do was ensure the circumstances it would happen in were for the best. When Eleanor asks what would have happened if she had prevented Tessia from going, Rinia tells her that in that future, the Alacryans would uncover the djinn sanctuary and not just capture Tessia, but slaughter everyone else.
    • This is actually explained given what Arthur learns in the final keystone about Fate. He learns that Fate cannot be controlled, but rather understood and thus influenced as it can only be altered through one's actions, willpower, and belief. The chances of altering Fate can be increased if more people assert their will and vision upon it. While Rinia's understanding of Fate is imperfect, the reason she kept foreseeing Tessia becoming the Legacy's vessel is because Agrona, a Physical God far more powerful than her, exerted his will on Fate in selecting Tessia to become the Legacy's vessel.

    Camus Selaridon 

Camus Selaridon

Debut: Volume 6 (Novel), Chapter 208 (Webcomic)

"The boy doesn't need to know any more than my name. I'm here to spar with him. Any information beyond that is irrelevant."

One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the War Arc, Camus is a master of wind magic. He is a veteran of the war between Sapin and Elenoir and had been in retirement since it ended, but had been called back to service in the face of the Alacryan invasion.


  • Ambadassador: After the war between Sapin and Elenoir ended, the three kingdoms would hold peace summits meant to mend relations between each other. Camus acted as one of Elenoir's delegates, leading to him meeting up with Hester and Buhnd and the trio of elders becoming training partners.
  • Blow You Away: Camus is a master of wind magic, to the point that it acts as a replacement for his lost eyesight by allowing him to sense through wind currents.
  • Blind Weaponmaster: Despite being blind, Camus is an extremely competent wind mage.
  • Classical Elements Ensemble: As part of Arthur's training during the War Arc, he requests to train with four highly skilled conjurers, each with a different elemental affinity. In said ensemble, Camus represents wind.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Out of the three elders assigned to train Arthur during the War Arc, Camus stands out as the most eccentric of the trio given his lack of care towards his appearance and social etiquette.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Arthur's first impression of Camus makes him aware of two traits: 1. He is either very brave, close to Virion, or both to be able to interrupt him without facing any reprimand, and 2. He takes very little care of his appearance or hygiene. Bottom line, Camus does not care about keeping up social etiquette or norms.
  • Eye Scream: Lost his sight during the war, as when he reveals his injury to Arthur a scar can be seen running through both of his eyes.
  • Eyes Out of Sight: His blinded eyes are covered up by his long bangs.
  • Genius Slob: A highly proficient and experienced wind mage who does not bother at all with his personal appearance. After all, he is blind and in his twilight years.
  • Hiding the Handicap: His eyes are covered by his bangs, which conceal the fact that he is blind due to injuries he suffered during the war. In fact, Arthur went four weeks training with Camus without being aware of the latter's disability until he revealed it to him.
  • The Mentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the War Arc where he improves his skill in wind magic. The webcomic reveals Virion assigned him to mentor Tessia as well.
  • The Mourning After: Like Virion, Camus never moved on after his wife's death during the war. Making it all the more bittersweet to him is that she was the last person he saw before he lost his eyesight.
  • The Pig-Pen: Unlike most elves, Camus does not bother with his personal appearance and hygiene. He has long and unkempt Wild Hair, barely displays any proper etiquette, and frequently yawns. It is later revealed that his reason for not caring about it is because he is blind.
  • Razor Wind: His fighting style revolves around slicing wind currents.
  • Retired Badass: Like Virion, Camus retired after the end of the war between Sapin and Elenoir, especially as he lost both his wife and his vision during it. This does not stop him from being a master wind mage whose elemental mastery acts as his replacement senses. And just like Virion, the impending Alacryan invasion sees him being called up from retirement to serve the war effort in a position of leadership.
  • Sensor Character: To make up for his lost eyesight, Camus's mastery over wind magic allows him to sense even the smallest changes around him.
  • Veteran Instructor: This old veteran of the war between Sapin and Elenoir becomes one of Arthur's mentors during the War Arc.
  • Wild Hair: Has long, willowy hair that he does not bother grooming due to being blind.

House Glayder

    In General 
The ruling house of Sapin, the kingdom of the humans. Arthur first meets them during the 10th Annual Helstea Auction.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: In the novel and webcomic, the Glayders make their first appearance in the Auction House Arc. In the anime, they not only make a brief cameo in the very first episode as part of Arthur providing exposition on Dicathen, but the Auction House Arc itself is moved up ahead so he meets them a few months earlier than he did in the source material.
  • Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the anime, Arthur's initial relationship with the Glayders is much more hostile. While the general story beats of the Auction House Arc are kept the same, due to the arc in question being moved up ahead of time, it is used to justify both him meeting with Director Goodsky and donning the mask wears as Note. The former is because he needs an ally in a high place to counter any influence from them (as he initially turned down Vincent's offer to enroll in Xyrus) and the latter is an additional cause for him to conceal his identity as an adventurer.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite how Virion and Aldir would have liked to have seen the Glayders removed from power for their complicity in the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, they are begrudgingly kept around as they are respected if not outright revered by their subjects. As such removing them - let alone exposing their brief treason - would be outright disastrous for the overall war effort.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: The anime has them make a brief cameo in the first episode as part of the initial exposition over Dicathen's geography and politics.
  • Generation Xerox: The Glayders have a strong pattern of repetition across generations. Curtis and Kathyln echo their parents Blaine and Priscilla respectively in appearance and magical power, but contrast them in demeanor and personality. In turn, Blaine himself mirrors his own father in the exact same respects.
  • Hereditary Hairstyle: Given how they take after their parents in appearance, Curtis and Kathyln have similar hairstyles to those of their father and mother respectively.
  • Les Collaborateurs: In order to manipulate the Council into handing over Arthur and Sylvie to him, Agrona cowers Blaine and Priscilla into collaborating with him by threatening their family, and Blaine ultimately relents due to his and Priscilla's love for their children. This leads them to order their Lances to have Arthur and Sylvie Arrested for Heroism in the wake of the attack on Xyrus Academy, followed by them agreeing to support the Greysunders in the ensuing Kangaroo Court that follows. Fortunately for them, they don't have to follow through with it as the Greysunders are killed when Windsom and Aldir intervene, and the normally unforgiving asuras agree to let their collaboration slide given the circumstances.
  • Like Father, Unlike Son: While they mirror their parents in terms of appearance and magical aptitude, Curtis and Kathyln contrast their father and mother respectively in personality. While Blaine's proud demeanor is a front for his Inferiority Superiority Complex and Extreme Doormat tendencies, Curtis is a brash and earnest individual who stands up for himself and his friends. In turn, Blaine's personality contrasts with his own father, who was a warmongering tyrant. On the other hand, Priscilla's regal appearance often gives way to a kindhearted and caring side, which her daughter Kathyln has a harder time expressing due to being a Defrosting Ice Queen.
  • Treachery Cover-Up: The Glayders' brief collusion with the Greysunders and the Vritra is covered up, for if word were to get out then Sapin would have been thrown into chaos, which would be especially disastrous given how they are in the middle of a war.

    Blaine Glayder 

Blaine Glayder

King of Sapin

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Teruyuki Tanzawa (Japanese)

The King of Sapin.


  • Adaptational Context Change: The anime makes several changes to the context behind his actions in the Auction House Arc. In the source material, Arthur using his Killing Intent to protect Sylvie from Sebastian gets covered for when Reynolds apprehends an intruder. In the anime, Reynolds fails to capture the intruder if there was any to begin with. Blaine uses Reynolds's apparent failure to not only have Arthur hand over Sylvie to Sebastian, but also to further justify his Disproportionate Restitution to the Leywins. Afteward, Arthur's frosty exposure to the Glayders is what drives him to reach out to Director Goodsky as he needs an ally in a high place to check any further moves from them.
  • Blasphemous Boast: Closes off the Council announcement and the reveal of the Lances by encouraging the people to "Grow strong and noble as not even the heavens are the limit!", which is rather hypocritical considering that it is from asuran artifacts that the Lances and thus the kings and queens of Dicathen derive their power.
  • Buy Them Off: He compensates Arthur and his family for the incident with Sebastian by giving them a sum of money. Arthur's father Reynolds naturally finds it not sufficient enough especially since Sebastian and his cohorts were merely dismissed from service without any further prosecution, but ultimately lets it go as no further trouble would arise from it.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite how Virion and Aldir would have liked to have seen the Glayders removed from power for their complicity in the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, they are begrudgingly kept around as they are respected if not outright revered by their subjects. As such removing them - let alone exposing their brief treason - would be outright disastrous for the overall war effort.
  • Dirty Business: While he agrees to turn over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra out of fear for his family's safety, Blaine is very conflicted about his course of action as he is shown collapsing to the floor in a fit of laughter. He feels bad about turning them over given how they stopped the attack on Xyrus Academy and saved his children, but he laments that he is only doing so to save his own skin.
  • Disproportionate Restitution: After the incident with Sebastian, the only restitution Blaine provides to the Leywins is to Buy Them Off while merely dismissing Sebastian and his cohorts from service. Arthur's father Reynolds is naturally very angry that neither of them were properly punished for almost getting his son killed.
  • A Doormat to His Men: Played With. Outwardly, Blaine is revered by his subjects, but covertly hides his own tendency to be a doormat.
  • Extreme Doormat: His main flaw. This is shown when Sebastian convinces him to get him Sylvie and later on when he reluctantly supports the Greysunders in collaborating with Agrona out of fear for his children. It is revealed that this stems from his own lack of power as a mage which in turn has led him to have some deep self-esteem issues and a lack of internal confidence.
  • Freudian Excuse: Downplayed. Blaine's upbringing was defined by his inability to become a powerful mage and living in the shadow of his tyrannical father. These factors - in particular the former - left him with quite the Inferiority Superiority Complex as he is oftentimes unwilling to stand up for himself. This self-insecurity not only makes him rather jealous of Arthur and his power, but allows him to be manipulated by the likes of Sebastian and later Agrona into menacing Arthur. However, in spite of his faults Blaine is still a good-hearted individual who wants what is best for his people.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Internally, Blaine harbors quite a bit of jealousy towards Arthur. Not only is Arthur an unprecedentedly powerful mage the likes of which Blaine sought to become in his youth but failed, but he eventually becomes a Lance who serves not him but Virion which makes him appear to be a bit of a traitor. However, while that jealousy was a partial factor in why he sold out Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona (the main reason being that he was afraid for his family's safety), Blaine does not outwardly antagonize Arthur that much after the deal with Agrona falls through.
  • Hereditary Hairstyle: His inherited his spiky mahogany hairstyle from his father, and in turn he passed down that hairstyle to his son Curtis.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the webcomic, a Flashback shows him running his father through with his sword in order to end the war between Sapin and Elenoir. Then rather karmically, he alongside his wife Priscilla and the Eraliths are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra.
  • Inept Mage: In spite of all the elixirs he has taken to strengthen himself, he only ended being a red core mage which is the second-lowest stage of mana core. This is one of the reasons for his sense of self-insecurity.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Blaine might act like a proud and confident king, but in secret he harbors a lot of self-esteem issues. In his youth, he wanted to be the strongest mage in Dicathen and make his ancestors proud, but his talent as a mage turned out to be subpar and he barely broke into the red stage in spite of his wealth allowing him to afford countless elixirs and other supplements. This has led him to be somewhat envious of his wife and children, who are all much more magically talented than him. However, knowing how his father became corrupted by power and the fact that he had to end his life to stop him, Blaine never lets his envy get the better of him and tries to assert himself by other means.
  • Klingon Promotion: A rare benevolent example. He slew his own father in order to claim his throne so that he could negotiate for a peace treaty to end the war between Sapin and Elenoir.
  • Les Collaborateurs: He isn't proud of it, but he briefly agrees to hand over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona in return for his family's safety. Fortunately, thanks to Windsom and Aldir's intervention, he doesn't have to and the asuras decide to overlook his brief collaboration seeing as it was ultimately quelled.
  • Like Father, Unlike Son: Blaine's father was a warmongering tyrant, Blaine himself has a proud demeanor that he uses to hide his Inferiority Superiority Complex and Extreme Doormat tendencies, and Blaine's son Curtis is a brash and earnest young man willing to stand up for what is right.
  • Mirthless Laughter: As he is reeling in his own guilt over handing over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona, Blaine ends up collapsing to the floor and laughing at himself over the hypocritical and self-serving nature of what he had just allowed to happen.
  • Patricide: The webcomic reveals he brought an end to the war between Sapin and Elenoir by murdering his warmongering father and claiming his throne.
  • Redeeming Replacement: Downplayed. His father was a corrupt and warmongering tyrant, but while Blaine is more noble than his father ever was and has sworn to never become as power-hungry has him, he is still a very fallible individual who is known to not stand up for himself at times due to his lack of self-esteem.
  • Tough Leader Façade: He may present himself as a proud and noble ruler, but this is all a front for his Inferiority Superiority Complex over being an Inept Mage. Which much to his chagrin leads to him being a doormat to certain unsavory individuals.
  • Treachery Cover-Up: His brief collusion with the Greysunders and the Vritra is covered up, for if word were to get out then Sapin would have been thrown into chaos, which would be especially disastrous given how they are in the middle of a war.

    Priscilla Glayder 

Priscilla Glayder

Queen of Sapin

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Chiaki Omigawa (Japanese)

The Queen of Sapin.


  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite how Virion and Aldir would have liked to have seen the Glayders removed from power for their complicity in the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, they are begrudgingly kept around as they are respected if not outright revered by their subjects. As such removing them - let alone exposing their brief treason - would be outright disastrous for the overall war effort.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She alongside her husband Blaine and the Eraliths are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra.
  • Les Collaborateurs: As with her husband, she agrees to hand over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona in return for her family's safety. Fortunately, thanks to Windsom and Aldir's intervention, she doesn't have to and the asuras decide to overlook her brief collaboration seeing as it was ultimately quelled.
  • Like Father, Unlike Son: Though both Priscilla and her daughter Kathyln have Raven Hair, Ivory Skin that reinforces their regal appearance, their personalities differ in that Priscilla has a kindhearted and caring side, one that her daughter Kathyln has a harder time expressing due to being a Defrosting Ice Queen.
  • Pretty in Mink: Some of the dresses Priscilla wears have mink fur, which accentuates her beautiful looks.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She has long black hair and fair skin, and Arthur likens her appearance to that of an ice sculpture upon first meeting her.
  • Treachery Cover-Up: Her brief collusion with the Greysunders and the Vritra is covered up, for if word were to get out then Sapin would have been thrown into chaos, which would be especially disastrous given how they are in the middle of a war.

    Curtis and Kathyln Glayder 
The Prince and Princess of Sapin. Arthur first meets them at the Helstea Auction along with their parents, though their meeting gets marred by the machinations of their family's Court Conjurer Sebastian who manipulates their father into trying to get Arthur's bond Sylvie for him. Years later when Arthur joins the Disciplinary Committee in Xyrus Academy, both siblings are part of it and go on to befriend Arthur in spite of the prior incident. During the war, both siblings play a supporting role with Curtis teaching at Lanceler Academy and Kathyln staying in the Council Castle as one of Arthur's training partners.
  • Brother–Sister Team: The two siblings frequently fight alongside each other.
  • Custom Uniform: As both are members of the Disciplinary Committee, Curtis and Kathyln wear distinct black uniforms with golden trims. This makes the two of them stand out next to regular students who wear blue and white uniforms.
  • Fallen Princess: After the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen and the execution of their parents, Curtis and Kathyln are no longer royalty as they are forced to go into hiding with La Résistance.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: They become staunch allies to Arthur from their time in the Disciplinary Committee.
  • Fire/Ice Duo: Curtis has fire magic, Kathyln has ice magic.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Kathyln is often disappointed at Curtis's tendency to rashly jump to conclusions, especially since he is supposed to be putting on an example as the older brother. Over time, this leads to Kathyln becoming the sibling with the willingness to do the right course of action even in the face of adversity, while Curtis starts to become a bit of a doormat and buckles in his commitment.
    Kathyln: Are we not meant to be leaders, the hope and strength of Dicathen, not just of Etisin? Don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Do not become our father, Curtis.
  • Generation Xerox: Curtis and Kathyln take after their father and mother respectively in terms of their appearances. They also somewhat parallel their parents in terms of magical aptitude in that Curtis is only an average mage despite having a beast will (though still miles above his father who barely broke into the red stage) while Kathyln has progressed very well in her magical training. Where they differ from their parents is in terms of demeanor and personality, at least initially.
    • As the novel progresses, especially after the War Arc and Arthur's return to Dicathen, Curtis and Kathyln end up emulating their parents' personality after all - Curtis ends up becoming somewhat of a doormat, whereas Kathyln ends up Growing A Spine and proactively stands up for what is right.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Curtis, being the augmenter, specializes in close combat with his sword and shield. Kathyln, being the conjurer, specializes in blasting her opponents at range with her ice magic. Although both siblings do demonstrate aptitude in the opposite form of combat; Curtis has a few ranged spells such as his World Howl while Kathyln demonstrates some aptitude in close combat as shown when she conjures an ice spear during her sparring with Arthur.
  • Hereditary Hairstyle: Given how they take after their parents in appearance, Curtis and Kathyln have similar hairstyles to those of their father and mother respectively.
  • Like Father, Unlike Son: While they mirror their parents in terms of appearance and magical aptitude, Curtis and Kathyln contrast their father and mother respectively in personality. While Blaine's proud demeanor is a front for his Inferiority Superiority Complex and Extreme Doormat tendencies, Curtis is a brash and earnest individual who stands up for himself and his friends. On the other hand, Priscilla's regal appearance often gives way to a kindhearted and caring side, which her daughter Kathyln has a harder time expressing due to being a Defrosting Ice Queen.
  • Noble Fugitive: After the end of the war, Curtis and Kathyln become priority targets for Agrona's forces due to being key figures in the Dicathian resistance.
  • Out of Focus: While Curtis and Kathyln are fairly major characters due to being the Prince and Princess of Sapin and Arthur's Fire-Forged Friends on the Disciplinary Committee, on top of outliving their parents which opens them up to play a major role in postwar Dicathen, they get pushed out of the spotlight in the leadup to the War Arc. This is because Arthur ends up becoming a Lance, and so it is his newfound cohorts in the other Lances who are close to him in the major battles to come. The situation does not change even after Arthur returns to Dicathen from his time in Alacrya, as just like the Twin Horns, the Glayders Can't Catch Up when compared to the Lances.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Related to the above paragraph. Curtis and Kathyln may be talented mages for their age and their status as Prince and Princess of Sapin makes them important figures in Dicathian politics, but in the setting's power scale they are overshadowed by Arthur and the Lances, especially after the former's return from Alacrya and empowering of the latter. To put it in perspective, Kathyln can sense that Caera - who is not considered a Retainer or Scythe and is suppressing her mana - is stronger than her.
  • Peer as Teacher: During the war, Curtis ends up teaching at Lanceler Academy despite only having reached adulthood and many of his students being either around or above his age. Kathyln on the other hand gets assigned as one of the four mentors that Arthur requests to spar with during his time training despite being Arthur's physical age.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Curtis is brash and reckless, Kathyln is calm and rational. In the War Arc, their outfits are color-coded to match.
  • Rebel Leader: Following the loss of the war, the siblings become important leaders among the resistance. After Arthur's return and the ensuing reconquest of Dicathen, he puts them in charge of Etisin.
  • Redeeming Replacement: Are this when compared to their parents. Blaine and Priscilla may be good-hearted people, but their own insecurities lead them to being briefly cowed by Agrona and the Greysunders into handing over Arthur and Sylvie. Not only are Curtis and Kathyln outraged by their parents for that decision as Arthur had saved their lives, but their youth means they are more earnest and determined than them, especially after the loss of the war and them being forced into hiding after their parents' execution.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Curtis is a headstrong and reckless battle mage, Kathyln is an aloof and reserved scholar mage. They also contrast in how they grow as mages as mentioned in the leadup to the War Arc. Curtis, while determined and hardworking, only has an average comprehension of mana. In stark contrast, Kathyln progresses rather well in her training.
  • Siblings Share the Throne: After the reconquest of Dicathen, Curtis and Kathyln become the de facto leaders of Sapin in light of their parents' deaths at the end of the war.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They begrudgingly agree to tolerate Lyra even though she paraded their parents' corpses around in the Day of Rebirth. Though they do not have to deal with her for long as Arthur has her reassigned to the Alacryan enclave in Elenoir.
  • Warrior Prince: Both of them fight on the frontlines during the War Arc and afterward, Curtis moreso due to being an augmenter.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: They are not very pleased when Arthur summons them to Etisin to meet with Lyra - who paraded their parents' corpses around in the Day of Rebirth - and naturally they wonder why he allowed her of all people to live. Arthur has to reassure them that this is only a temporary arrangement as he will be taking responsibility for Lyra.
    Curtis: Arthur, what is the meaning of this? Why did you bring us here? Why isn't this creature's head on a spike already?

Curtis Glayder

Prince of Sapin

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Mai Todo (Japanese)

The Prince of Sapin, Curtis is an augmenter who specializes in fire magic.


  • Age Lift: In the novel, Curtis is stated to be a few years older than his sister Kathyln and Arthur. While the webcomic does not make any apparent change, the anime changes him to be the same age as them, as in the Glayders' Early-Bird Cameo he is shown to be an infant alongside his sister.
  • Badass Cape: His armor sports a dark red cape.
  • Badass Teacher: Once the war begins, Curtis spends a good portion of his time at Lanceler Academy instructing new recruits.
  • The Beastmaster: Curtis is bonded to a fearsome world lion he named Grawder, whom he rides into battle as his mount.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Is protective of his little sister Kathyln, much to her chagrin. He was hesitant to leave her alone for his post at Lanceler Academy.
  • Breath Weapon: As part of the beast will he attained from his bond with Grawder, Curtis is able to use their shared spell World Howl, which causes him to breath a beam of concentrated fire.
  • Childish Older Sibling: Despite being the older brother, Curtis's rash behavior makes him come off as less mature when compared to his reserved younger sister Kathyln.
  • Dumb, but Diligent: Although he has been very diligent when it comes to his training, Curtis only has an average comprehension of mana.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Kai's betrayal, on top of the casualties that he caused in doing so and the fact that he managed to escape in the aftermath, has a severe impact on Curtis. It causes him to refuse to speak of the attack of Xyrus even two years later.
  • Facial Markings: Whenever he uses Grawder's beast will, Curtis's face gains the same markings under his eyes as his bond.
  • Fiery Lion: Curtis not only specializes in fire magic, but he has a powerful world lion called Grawder as a bond that acts as his mount in battle. When he uses Grawder’s beast will, Curtis’s face takes on leonine traits and he can use their shared spell, World Howl.
  • Fiery Redhead: Curtis has mahogany hair like his father, and not only is he energetic and impetuous, but he actually has fire powers.
  • Flaming Sword: As an augmenter who specializes in fire magic, Curtis is able to ignite his sword on fire.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: His reaction to seeing that Arthur had him and his sister meet with Lyra has Curtis point a fiery finger at Arthur as he calls him out for apparently sparing the Retainer who paraded their parents' corpses at the end of the war.
  • King of Beasts: Curtis is a prince who has a lion for a bond, and when using their shared beast will takes on leonine features.
  • Knightly Sword and Shield: He wields a sword and shield in combat and in the War Arc gets himself his own personal suit of armor.
  • Magic Knight: Curtis is augmenter who wields fire magic in combat. During the War Arc, he dons a suit of armor as well.
  • My Greatest Failure: Views Kai's betrayal and his own failure to stop the attack on Xyrus Academy as this, as it affects him even years after the fact.
  • Out of Focus: Even though both siblings endure this trope, Curtis tends to get less screen time compared to his sister Kathyln. She gets major opportunities to interact with Arthur in the Xyrus Academy Arc (as the class Kathyln shares with Arthur gets more spotlight than the one he shares with Curtis) and the first half of the War Arc (as she is staying in the Council Castle as a training partner for Arthur while Curtis is away teaching in Lanceler Academy). Not to mention that Kathyln accompanies Tessia on her ill-fated mission to Elenoir, gets one POV chapter after Arthur returns from Alacrya, and ends up representing Sapin in the postwar Council. Curtis barely gets any attention of that sort.
  • Playing with Fire: Curtis specializes in fire magic.
  • Red Hot Masculinity: Has dark red hair and clothing, specializes in fire magic, and has an impetuously masculine personality.
  • Red Is Heroic: Apart from his mahogany hair, Curtis's outfit in the War Arc has dark red clothing underneath his armor on top of sporting a cape of the same color.
  • Ring of Fire: Is able to create fiery barriers in combat to either trap his enemies or shield his allies.
  • Shōnen Hair: Befitting his character as a Stock Shōnen Hero, Curtis has spiky hair.
  • Stock Shōnen Hero: Curtis pretty much fits this trope. He has a brash and energetic personality with some Book Dumb elements (as in, he only has an average comprehension of mana and jumps to rash conclusions at times), has spiky mahogany hair, wears red clothing, wields fire magic, fights with a sword and shield, and has a noticeable lion motif down to having one as his mount and familiar. Except not only is he not the main protagonist, he's not even The Lancer, and for all of the talent he and his sister have as mages they get supplanted by stronger characters on the power scale as the story progresses.
  • Trauma Button: Curtis is haunted by his failure to stop the attack on Xyrus Academy. As such, whenever he sees Claire again it serves as a painful reminder of his failings, especially since she still bears the scars she received during the attack and was rendered powerless due to her injuries.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Despite being a beast tamer, Curtis only has an average perception of mana.

Kathyln Glayder

Princess of Sapin, The Ice Princess

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by:

"Our purpose here is to serve the people of Etisin, and all of Sapin. This panic, infighting, and fatalistic complaining hardly does so. We are not defeated, so we are not abandoning our duty."

The Princess of Sapin, Kathyln is a conjurer who specializes in ice magic.


  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Kathyln has black hair like her mother and is incredibly aloof and reserved at first.
  • At Least I Admit It: When Kezess sends his forces to occupy Dicathen in Arthur's absence, Curtis and Kathyln are briefly swayed by their corrupt advisors to trust the dragons over Arthur. After the dragons show their true colors during Agrona's final assault on Dicathen by abandoning the Dicathians to their fate, Kathyln calls out their advisors by admitting it was her mistake to accept their counsel in trusting the dragons over Arthur.
  • Barrier Warrior: Kathyln is able to conjure walls of ice in combat to shield herself and her allies.
  • Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Tessia's Betty. While both are princesses, Kathyln is a Defrosting Ice Queen with Raven Hair, Ivory Skin where Tessia is the Girl Next Door as Arthur's childhood friend and her features give her a mystical yet approachable aura.
  • Child Prodigy: Is noted to be a proficient ice mage despite her youth.
  • Child Soldiers: The Precociously Talented Type. Unlike her brother Curtis who is already an adult by the time the War Arc begins, Kathyln is roughly 16 as she is around Arthur's age. Her mastery of ice magic makes her a rather potent combatant. However, despite her and Curtis joining a team in the leadup to the war to get combat experience, when the war actually begins both get reassigned away from the frontlines with Kathyln staying in the Council Castle. However, after the end of the war Kathyln becomes an important figure in the resistance and finds herself involved in further combat, in particular Tessia's ill-fated mission to Elenoir.
  • Classical Elements Ensemble: As part of Arthur's training during the War Arc, he requests to train with four highly skilled conjurers, each with a different elemental affinity. In said ensemble, Kathyln represents ice.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Initially starts off as cold and aloof, but thanks to her interactions with Arthur she begins to show a softer side. In particular, she apologizes to him over the incident with Sebastian and how her father conducted himself even though it was years ago.
  • Disappointed in You: She tends to be quite disappointed with the way her family conducts themselves at times. She was incredibly disappointed in her father for the incident with Sebastian and apologizes to Arthur years later. She also gets disappointed with her brother's rash actions. Later, she and her brother are outraged at their parents when they have Arthur Arrested for Heroism in the wake of the attack on Xyrus Academy as it was he who ended the attack and saved their lives.
  • Expy: Considering the novel's inspiration from Mushoku Tensei, Kathyln is based on Roxy Migurdia. Both are physically petite young women who are talented mages proficient in water and ice magic and who develop an attraction towards the main protagonist.
  • An Ice Person: Kathyln specializes in ice magic. She is even known as "the Ice Princess".
  • Magic Missile Storm: As a conjurer, Kathyln's style of combat revolves around hitting her enemies with hails of icy projectiles.
  • My Greatest Failure: Like the rest of the party who accompanied Tessia on the ill-fated mission to Elenoir, Kathyln views Tessia's capture as their shared greatest failure, if not taking it a step further compared to the other survivors.
  • My Nayme Is: Her name is a variation on Kathleen or Catherine.
  • Not So Stoic: Despite being known for her aloof demeanor, when Kathyln reunites with Claire at the military ball during the War Arc her eyes are lined with tears over seeing her former superior.
  • Out of Focus: While less so when compared to her brother Curtis, Kathyln gets hit especially hard as a potential Love Interest to Arthur. While she was introduced as a contender to Tessia, she gets gradually pushed aside as Arthur prioritizes his relationship with Tessia. Then comes the end of the War Arc, wherein not only is she shafted along with the rest of Arthur's old supporting cast due to him being stranded far from home, but Caera enters the picture as another potential Love Interest and forms a closer albeit mostly one-sided dynamic with Arthur in his time away from home, which further pushes Kathyln away.
    • It does not help that Kathyln does not interact that often with Arthur's family. The only time she gets to interact with his parents is when their families first meet during the Helstea Auction, and it is mostly a cursory interaction. While she does get to interact with Arthur and his sister during the first half of the War Arc, their parents are away with the Twin Horns (though the webcomic does show her accompanying Arthur when he meets up with them after they were attacked). In addition, just like her brother Kathyln Can't Catch Up when compared to Tessia or Caera as she is the weakest of Arthur's potential Love Interests in terms of magic.
  • Politically Active Princess: Justified. After the reconquest of Dicathen, Kathyln and her brother become some of the most important political figures in Sapin if not the entire continent due to being the heirs to the Glayders, who were executed at the end of the Alacryan conquest. After Agrona's defeat, Kathyln becomes the representative of Sapin on the postwar Council.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Like her mother, Kathyln has raven black hair and porcelain white skin that makes her resemble a doll, to paraphrase the way Arthur describes her appearance upon first meeting her.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Conjures an ice spear during her sparring with Arthur.
  • The Stoic: Kathyln is not a very emotive individual, and even when she starts becoming a Defrosting Ice Queen she still does not talk that much when compared to others.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Tessia's Tomboy. Kathyln is a traditional princess and mage who prefers to fight from a distance by blasting her enemies with ice magic and stays behind in the Council Castle during the War Arc. Tessia is a Tomboy Princess and Magic Knight who fights up close with a Royal Rapier and serves on the frontlines during the War Arc.
  • Winter Royal Lady: Is known as "the Ice Princess".

    Grawder 

Grawder

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 42 (Webcomic), Episode 10 (Anime)

Curtis's bond, a world lion his father bought at the 10th Annual Helstea Auction.


  • Beast of Battle: Acts as Curtis's mount in battle.
  • Bond Creatures: Grawder is Curtis's bond.
  • Breath Weapon: His World Howl spell allows him to breathe a concentrated beam of fire.
  • Dire Beast: As a world lion, Grawder is much bigger than real life lions to the point that Curtis can ride him into battle.
  • Facial Markings: Has distinct markings below his eyes, which also show up on Curtis whenever he taps into his beast will.
  • Fiery Lion: A lion that is not only associated with a competent fire mage but is able to breathe fire.
  • King of Beasts: Grawder is a lion who is bonded to the Prince of Sapin.
  • Multiple-Tailed Beast: Has two tails.
  • Panthera Awesome: He is a monstrous lion.
  • Pets as a Present: He was won by Blaine at the Helstea Auction and given to Curtis to be his bond.

    Sebastian 

Sebastian

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 33 (Webcomic), Episode 9 (Anime)

Voiced by: Tetsuji Ota (Japanese)

"I'm offering you a chance to contract with me. You should be grateful, and obey."

The court conjurer of the Glayders and one of their royal guards. He antagonizes Arthur during the 10th Annual Helstea Auction as he covets his bond Sylvie.


  • Adaptational Context Change: Though he covets Sylvie and attempts to use his history of service to the Glayders as a card to get them to hand over Sylvie to him, the anime changes the context from the source material. In the novel and webcomic, his initial attempt to steal Sylvie gets foiled by Reynolds apprehending an intruder, which temporarily lets Arthur off the hook for unleashing his Killing Intent. In the anime, there is no such intruder, which leads to King Glayder confronting Reynolds for his apparent failure as a security officer and deciding that Arthur giving up Sylvie would be appropriate recompense.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance:
    • In the webcomic, he makes an early cameo as Arthur is returning home from his day off shopping as he notices Sylvie, explaining how he came to covet her in the first place. And while not necessarily an appearance by himself, an original scene shows two of his agents meeting in the shadows discussing how to get their hands on Sylvie for him.
    • In the anime, due to the rearranging of events, he instead makes a cameo in The Stinger of the episode before the one covering the Auction House.
  • Adaptational Explanation Extrication: In the novel, his narration during the Helstea Auction reveals that he hails from a family of elite conjurers. In the webcomic, his backstory is omitted.
  • Arc Villain: Is the antagonist of the Auction House Arc, as he covets Arthur's bond Sylvie and attempts to obtain her for himself.
  • Back for the Dead: He unexpectedly returns as a slave trader only for him to get killed by Olfred.
  • The Bus Came Back: After his brief role antagonizing Arthur at the start of Volume 2, he reappears in Volume 6 as a slave trader operating out of Arthur's birthplace of Ashber.
  • Court Mage: Was the Glayders' court conjurer, but after the incident at the auction house he was stripped of his position.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: He makes a brief appearance at the end of Arthur's day off in the webcomic, as he glances at Sylvie walking alongside Arthur.
  • Embarrassed by a Child: In his bid to get his hands on a rare mana beast, he thought he could easily kill the young boy she was bonded to if that was what it took for him to acquire her. Little did he know that boy had a beast will from a dragon, which he uses to stop time and break his leg with his bare hand. If that was not enough, the fallout from the incident has him stripped of his position by the royal family. He continues to nurse a grudge towards that boy as the one who ruined everything for him.
  • Entitled Bastard: Believes that he is entitled to a bond like Sylvie not only because covets her and is more deserving of her than the insolent child that he views Arthur to be, but because he wants to be rewarded for all his years of service to the Glayders.
  • Evil Cripple: Arthur puts Sebastian in his place by crippling his right leg. Even a decade later, his leg remains crippled and his personality remains as vindictive and covetous as it was from back then.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: He antagonizes Arthur all because he covets his bond Sylvie.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: He was once an associate of House Glayder who served them for many years and he came to enjoy the decadence that came with his high position. Then he attempted to get his hands on Sylvie, which resulted in his right leg being broken and him being stripped of his position by the Glayders to avoid any further embarrassment. Afterwards, he was reduced to being a slave trader in a rural town with a broken leg. He laments how much he had lost in his drunken banter with the disguised Olfred.
    Sebastian: When I served the royal family, women rushed at the chance to get in bed with me. But once I was relieved of my position, those same tramps treated me like some sort of insect!
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: Despite Sebastian nearly getting the young Arthur killed in his bid to acquire Sylvie, King Glayder only merely has him dismissed from service without any further punishment. Reynolds is naturally outraged that the man who nearly killed his son is being let off that easily, but Arthur tells his father to let it go. Four volumes (or roughly a decade In-Universe) later, and it is shown that Reynolds didn't have much to fret over as Sebastian had quite the fall from grace afterwards; he was reduced to being a slave trader operating in a rural town (albeit the Leywins' old hometown of Ashber) with a crippled leg. If that was not enough, Sebastian finally meets his end when Olfred encases him in magma.
  • The Man in Front of the Man: He manipulates King Glayder into getting him Sylvie.
  • Man on Fire: Combined with Taken for Granite. Olfred kills him by encasing him completely in magma.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: After being stripped of his position and having to make do as a slave trader in Ashber, Sebastian remarks an added benefit of his new situation is that his magical prowess as a orange core dual attribute conjurer makes him practically a god to the lowlifes he finds himself living alongside.
  • Pick on Someone Your Own Size: He ends up coming into opposition with Arthur as he covets the latter's bond Sylvie. After getting stripped of his position over his failed bid, he nurses his hatred of the boy as the one who ruined everything for him.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: He covets Sylvie as he recognizes that she is no ordinary mana beast, for if she was able to form an equals contract with Arthur at a young age, then she has the potential to grow beyond A-class. What he does not know is that it is because she is a dragon and thus a Physical God.
  • Right in Front of Me: While conversing with Olfred, Sebastian tells him of how he fell from grace and pins it all on "that damn brat", unaware that the very boy who caused his downfall is standing in front of him. Though he does not recognize him as years have passed since then and Arthur is all grown up.
  • Taken for Granite: After Olfred kills him, all that is left of Sebastian is a statue of molten lava, as hardened lava has completely entombed his remains.
  • Trouble Follows You Home: Variant. After being stripped of his position, Sebastian ended up operating out of Ashber, the Leywins' former hometown and Arthur's birthplace.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Was perfectly willing to kill the young Arthur just to take his bond for himself. In the anime, he literally attempts to incinerate him on the spot for his refusal with nobody else around to witness him.
  • Wound That Will Not Heal: His crippled leg remains with him for the rest of his life.

    Hester Flamesworth 

Hester Flamesworth

Debut: Volume 6 (Novel), Jasmine: Wind-Borne Episode 8 (Webcomic)

"After all, no matter a bird tries to swim, it will never impress a fish."

One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the War Arc, Hester is a master of fire magic befitting her status as a Flamesworth. She is Trodius's older sister and Jasmine's aunt. but has been away from her family for a long time due to being one of the royal guards for the Glayders.


  • Adaptational Early Appearance: In the webcomic, Hester makes an early appearance in the Jasmine: Wind-Borne side story, when she comforts the young Jasmine after she got exposed and humiliated during a party their family was hosting and encourages her to find her own path in life.
  • Ambadassador: After the war between Sapin and Elenoir ended, the three kingdoms would hold peace summits meant to mend relations between each other. Hester acted as one of Sapin's delegates, and while she had met with Buhnd before during the war as part of Darv providing assistance to Sapin, it was their first time meeting with Camus. The trio of elders would go on to become training partners.
  • Bodyguarding a Badass: Her official duty is safeguarding Princess Kathyln, who at the time is already a dark yellow stage conjurer and a prodigy at ice magic. Notably, this extra security turns out to be warranted as Kathyln, while a Child Prodigy, is still far from ready from entering active combat.
  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to Trodius's Cain. Trodius is an Abusive Parent who controls House Flamesworth with a draconian grip, Hester is a reasonable and worldly Cool Aunt who opposes what her brother has done to their family.
  • Classical Elements Ensemble: As part of Arthur's training during the War Arc, he requests to train with four highly skilled conjurers, each with a different elemental affinity. In said ensemble, Hester represents fire.
  • Cool Aunt: To Jasmine. After her brother Tristan exposed her elemental affinity during a party much to the embarrassment and ire of their father, Jasmine ran out of the party out of fear and shame only to run into Hester. After a heartfelt conversation where she told Jasmine about their family's corrupt values, she tells Jasmine to accept what kind of mage she is and find a way to express herself.
  • Covered in Scars: As a result of her being raised The Spartan Way like the other members of House Flamesworth, Hester's body has many scars.
  • The Mentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the War Arc where she improves his skill in fire magic. On top of that, she has also been a partial tutor to both her niece Jasmine and Princess Kathyln. The webcomic reveals Virion assigned her to mentor Tessia as well.
  • Mentor's New Hope: As Kathyln's guardian and mentor, Hester recognizes that her charge bears much similarity to her niece Jasmine, who was forced out of their house for failing to meet or conform to her brother Trodius's draconian expectations. Regretting that she was not able to do much for her niece, she at the very least is glad that "[Kathyln has] found good people to lean on" such as Arthur as a step towards averting what happened with Jasmine.
  • Playing with Fire: As a Flamesworth, Hester naturally lives up to the family name and is a master of manipulating fire magic.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Hester is a mature and refined lady and wears her hair in this style.
  • Technicolor Fire: Her affinity for fire magic allows her to conjure blue flames.
  • War Hero: Like her brother Trodius, Hester became renowned for her performance in the war between Sapin and Elenoir, especially for her role in the Battle of Etisin.
  • White Sheep: Her time away from her house as one of the royal guards of Sapin has led to Hester realizing that her house's values had become skewed and corrupted, especially during her brother Trodius's time as the patriarch. She imparted her newfound insight into Jasmine in the latter's moment of weakness, which inspired Jasmine to stand up for herself and break free of her father's influence.
  • Workout Fanservice: Variant. In her stint training Arthur, she exchanges her royal guard uniform for a training outfit that bares her midriff and arms.

House Greysunder

    In General 
The ruling house of Darv, the kingdom of the dwarves. Arthur first sees them at the announcement of the Council, but he does not meet them in person until he is Arrested for Heroism after the attack on Xyrus Academy where they attempt to convict him for the attack. As it turns out, they are in fact in league with Agrona and the Vritra Clan, which gets them killed when Windsom and Aldir intervene.
  • Hufflepuff House: Of the three royal families of Dicathen, the Greysunders get the least amount of focus. Not only are they the last of the three royal families to be introduced and have no heirs for Arthur to interact with throughout the novel, but the most impact they have on the story are as Agrona's puppets on the Council who try to convict Arthur and Director Goodsky for the attack on Xyrus before being killed by Aldir.
  • Les Collaborateurs/The Quisling: The Greysunders are revealed to be willing pawns of the Vritra, which leads to them being killed by Aldir when he and Windsom intervene to stop the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie by the Council to the Vritra. Their spot is then filled in by Rahdeas, who while seemingly a Redeeming Replacement turns out to be just as bad as not only is he also a collaborator to the Vritra, but one who has been serving them for much longer than the Greysunders have. It is not until he is replaced by Buhnd that the dwarves get a representative who is truly loyal to Dicathen.
  • Royally Screwed Up: The Greysunders are notorious for being a corrupt and ineffectual house with a weak hold over their kingdom. The fact they willingly turn to Agrona only makes them even worse. Even Rahdeas, despite also being in league with Agrona, views the Greysunders' rule as one that will drive the dwarven race to ruin.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Where the Eraliths and Glayders are normally decent royal families, the Greysunders are a corrupt, greedy, and power-hungry house who are quick to pledge themselves to Agrona when he approaches them.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: In contrast to the Eraliths and Glayders, the Greysunders do not get much focus before they get killed by Aldir. Not only are they the last of the three royal families to be introduced and have no heirs that Arthur interacts with, but the only time they demonstrate their character is when Arthur gets falsely Arrested for Heroism in the wake of the attack on Xyrus Academy as they reveal themselves to be corrupt and power-hungry individuals, which only makes Aldir's purge of them a well-deserved fate.

    Dawsid Greysunder 

Dawsid Greysunder

King of Darv

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic), Episode 5 (Anime)

Voiced by:

"Ignorant! Do you consider yourself on the same level as the Lances? You should take a knee at the very least, as a sign of respect."

The King of Darv.


  • Adaptational Dye-Job: He has brown hair in the novel, but graying white hair in the webcomic.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: In the novel and webcomic, he first appears at the Council announcement. In the anime, he appears in a brief scene when Alduin tells Arthur about the teleportation gate, as he is there alongside him and Blaine.
  • Adipose Rex: Is the king of the dwarves and even for his race he is rather stout in appearance.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Despite being the King of Darv, Dawsid isn't afraid to bow down to Aldir to get him to spare both him and his wife. Unfortunately for the two of them, Aldir was already planning on killing them regardless as it was his objective in the first place.
  • Bait the Dog: Dawsid initially seems to be a reasonable individual when Arthur first hears him speak at the Council announcement, with him preaching the same rhetoric about unity that Alduin (who Arthur trusts) and Blaine (who Arthur distrusts) are promoting. However, when Arthur first meets the Greysunders in person after being Arrested for Heroism following the attack on Xyrus Academy, Dawsid and his wife attempt to prevent him from speaking up while demeaning his background and pressuring the other monarchs to censure him. Sure enough, it turns out they are willing servants of the Vritra.
  • Bullying a Dragon: When Aldir arrives to kill them, the Greysunders summon their Lances to defend them. Both they and their Lances are overconfident about fending off this mysterious intruder and throw insults and threats at him the whole time. Unfortunately for them, as an asura Aldir effortlessly knocks out both of the Greysunders' Lances before ordering them to release their Lances from their service. Afterwards, Aldir kills the Greysunders and takes control of their Lances.
  • Dirty Coward: Is willing to sell out to Agrona not just to save his and his wife's lives, but also out of greed. In his final moments, he is begging Aldir not to go through with killing him.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Makes a brief cameo in Episode 5 in the shot of the kings facing the teleportation gate, long before his proper introduction.
  • Fat Bastard: Even for a dwarf, Dawsid is rather overweight. And he is a willing collaborator to Agrona and the Vritra Clan.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: He and his wife were about to engage in this when Aldir arrived to kill them.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: In the webcomic, when Aldir makes it clear he has no intention of sparing the Greysunders after they have released their Lances, Dawsid is only able to let out a "You-" before his life is ended by the asura's Eye Beams.
  • The Quisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona.
  • Villain Raises a Toast: He and his wife raise a toast after handing over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, though they do not get to enjoy their triumph for long as Aldir arrives to kill them.

    Glaudera Greysunder 

Glaudera Greysunder

Queen of Darv

Debut: Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

Voiced by:

The Queen of Darv.


  • Adaptational Hairstyle Change: She wears her hair in a ponytail in the novel, but has long braided hair in the webcomic.
  • Bullying a Dragon: When Aldir arrives to kill them, the Greysunders summon their Lances to defend them. Both they and their Lances are overconfident about fending off this mysterious intruder and throw insults and threats at him the whole time. Unfortunately for them, as an asura Aldir effortlessly knocks out both of the Greysunders' Lances before ordering them to release their Lances from their service. Afterwards, Aldir kills the Greysunders and takes control of their Lances.
  • Evil Redhead: Has bright orange hair and is a corrupt ruler willing to throw in her lot with Agrona.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Her name is spelled Glaundera in the novel, but Glaudera in the webcomic.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: She and her husband were about to engage in this when Aldir arrived to kill them.
  • The Quisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona.
  • Villain Raises a Toast: She and her husband raise a toast after handing over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, though they do not get to enjoy their triumph for long as Aldir arrives to kill them.

    Rahdeas (Unmarked Spoilers) 

Rahdeas

Debut: Volume 6 (Novel), Chapter 183 (Webcomic)

"My only regret is you won't be here to see our people triumph. If only you were bound to me...instead of that asura."

The representative of Darv on the Council after the deaths of the Greysunders, Rahdeas is the foster father and guardian to both Olfred and Elijah. Despite his kindly demeanor, he is in fact one of Agrona's top collaborators on Dicathen, having pledged himself to his service long before the Greysunders.


  • Bald of Evil: Rahdeas's head is clean-shaven.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When he is first introduced, Rahdeas appears to be an amicable and friendly individual, and Sylvie tells Arthur that they ought to spend more time with him in order to learn more about Elijah. In truth, Rahdeas is a malevolent individual who far from the kindly old elder he presents himself as is in fact a willing servant of Agrona and has been scheming to cause chaos among the Dicathians and bring the entire continent under Agrona's control.
  • The Chessmaster: Rahdeas is a schemer, and has been setting up events to not only cause the downfall of the Greysunders but also to bring Darv completely under Agrona's fold.
  • Evil All Along: Despite his kindly and grandfatherly demeanor, Rahdeas is in actuality a willing servant of Agrona and the Vritra.
  • Evil Old Folks: Rahdeas is old for a dwarf, and Olfred, himself an aged individual, calls him his father. And Rahdeas is a willing servant of the Vritra.
  • Eye Scream: His left eye is non-functional as the scar on his face goes down it.
  • Fantastic Racism: He has a rather racist attitude towards the humans and the elves, a response to their own instances of racism towards his kind.
  • Foil: To Cynthia Goodsky. Both are elderly individuals who have ties to the Vritra Clan and Alacrya which has led them to keep everyone around them Locked Out of the Loop and have acted as a Parental Substitute to one of Arthur's closest friends. Goodsky is a former Alacryan spy who turned against her people and wound up Going Native in Dicathen to prepare its inhabitants against her people's inevitable invasion and as Tessia's mentor has become somewhat of a surrogate grandmother to her. Rahdeas on the other hand is a native Dicathian turned The Quisling and raised Elijah as a Tyke-Bomb as part of his role in Agrona's overall plan.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar going down the left side of his face, an indication of his two-faced nature as a collaborator of Agrona's.
  • He Knows Too Much: Due to knowing much of his master's secrets, he is Killed Offscreen in the same fashion as Director Goodsky and Uto - by being impaled with black metal spikes - right before Arthur gets the chance to interrogate him again.
  • Like a Son to Me: He took Olfred in when he was just a Street Urchin and raised him his entire life, leading to Olfred developing an Undying Loyalty towards him. Which caused him to join his master in serving Agrona.
  • Meet the New Boss: At first, he seems to be a more decent individual to lead the dwarves than the corrupt and ineffectual Greysunders. Then it turns out that not only is he a collaborator just like them, but has been colluding with the Vritra long before even the Greysunders came into the fold.
  • Parental Substitute: He is the surrogate father to Olfred and later Elijah. The former he treats well as his surrogate son, the other he is only raising on Agrona's orders and intentionally keeping Locked Out of the Loop on his origins.
  • Poisonous Captive: After being imprisoned for treason, he attempts to sow doubt and discord among the Council and their associates.
  • The Quisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona. He may or may not have been the first of Agrona's servants in Darv as he had already been scheming to cause the Greysunders' downfall for quite some time. When the Alacryan invasion comes, Rahdeas's collaboration with the invaders turns Darv into their main staging hub and access to the intercontinental teleportation gates.
  • Secret-Keeper: He has been privy to Agrona's plans for the reincarnates. Thus he knows Elijah's true identity and origins and has intentionally been keeping him Locked Out of the Loop.
  • The Starscream: Was planning on usurping the Greysunders for a long time, as when he tells Olfred to become one of their Lances, Rahdeas tells him that it would only be a temporary arrangement as he already planned their downfall.
  • Traitor Shot: When Jagrette's frozen corpse is displayed at the military ball, everyone takes an interest including the Council. The one exception is Rahdeas, who keeps his distance with a strained expression on his face. Given that he is revealed to be in league with the Vritra, his reaction makes sense as what he is witnessing is a setback for both him and his masters. However, it turns out this was intentional on Arthur and Virion's part as they were trying to confirm if Rahdeas was in league with the Vritra, with his reaction being evidence.
  • Unpleasant Parent Reveal. Or rather Unpleasant Parental Substitute Reveal. Elijah's testimony of Rahdeas paints him in a somewhat decent light and when he meets Arthur he acts in an affable manner towards him. Then it comes to light Rahdeas is a traitor who has been serving Agrona for a long time.
  • Unseen No More: Was frequently mentioned in passing by Elijah as his guardian, but did not make an appearance until the start of Volume 6 when he introduces himself to Arthur for the first time.
  • Walking Spoiler: Minor example. He cannot be discussed without revealing his status as The Quisling and one of Agrona's servants, on top of having been the one to raise Elijah entirely on his master's orders and being aware of his plans for the reincarnates.

    Buhndemog Lonuid 

Buhndemog Lonuid

Debut: Volume 6 (Novel), Chapter 208 (Webcomic)

"You gotta do better than that, young general."

One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the War Arc, Buhnd is a master of earth magic. He is an old friend of Virion, and goes onto become the new representative of Darv on the Council following Rahdeas being arrested for treason.


  • Affectionate Nickname: He is referred to with the nickname of "Buhnd" by those around him.
  • Ambadassador: Buhnd has a history of being an envoy for Darv. During the war between Sapin and Elenoir, he was part of the delegation his kingdom sent to assist Sapin, leading to him meeting with Hester. After the war ended, the three kingdoms would hold peace summits meant to mend relations between each other. This led to Buhnd and Hester meeting with Camus, and the trio of elders would go on to become training partners.
  • Badass Beard: Due to being the closest the novel has to a stereotypical dwarf, Buhnd has a long white beard and is a powerful fighter. This is in sharp contrast to King Dawsid and Rahdeas, both of whom were non-combatants.
  • Badasses Wear Bandanas: Wears an orange headband and is a very tough individual.
  • Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He is the one member of the Council (barring Virion) who is actually capable of holding his own in a fight as seen by the fact he personally helped trained both Arthur and Tessia. This makes him part of the last line of defense when the Alacryans invade the Council Castle, which leads to him fighting Cadell and getting burned to death as a result.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Disregarding the traitorous Greysunders and Rahdeas, Buhnd is the first member of the Council to die, as he is killed fighting Cadell during the takeover of the Council Castle.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Despite his intimidating appearance, Buhnd is a boisterous individual who is surprisingly easy to get along with.
  • Characterizing Sitting Pose: Introduced sitting cross-legged on a rock, cementing his status as a down-to-earth (no pun intended), no-nonsense badass.
  • Classical Elements Ensemble: As part of Arthur's training during the War Arc, he requests to train with four highly skilled conjurers, each with a different elemental affinity. In said ensemble, Buhnd represents earth.
  • Cool Old Guy: Like his old friend Virion, Buhnd is a venerable figure but is still a powerful mage capable of defending himself if necessary.
  • Contrasting Replacement Character: To the previous leaders of the dwarves on the Council, the Greysunders and Rahdeas. Aside from being a Redeeming Replacement as his predecessors were loyal supporters of Agrona, Buhnd is actually a powerful earth mage and can hold his own in combat when his predecessors were never shown to be fighters.
  • Deathbed Confession: As he lays dying after being fatally wounded by Cadell, Buhnd tells Sylvie of the location of the sanctuary beneath the deserts of Darv and how to reach it.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Buhnd is a master of earth magic.
  • Elemental Armor: Is capable of forming an armor of stone around himself.
  • Establishing Character Moment: When he first appears, Buhnd is sitting cross-legged on a rock, and when he introduces himself to Arthur he shakes his hand which allows the latter to notice the calluses. Then Virion reveals that he and Buhnd are old friends, followed by a bit of friendly banter between them. This leads to Arthur recognizing that Buhnd is a dwarf he can trust, especially after having been exposed to the treachery of the Greysunders, Rahdeas, and Olfred. The fact that Buhnd is able to give him a good spar shortly afterward further sets him apart from his predecessors.
  • Man on Fire: He is burned from the inside out by Cadell.
  • The Mentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the War Arc where he improves his skill in earth magic. The webcomic reveals Virion assigned him to mentor Tessia as well.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: He is killed by Cadell during the attack on the Council Castle.
  • Modest Royalty: While merely being of high status as an elder rather than an actual member of House Greysunder, Buhnd tends to wear relatively modest attire.
  • Redeeming Replacement: Unlike the Greysunders and Rahdeas, Buhnd is not a servant of Agrona and is fully loyal to Dicathen.
  • Scary Black Man: A physically imposing Boisterous Bruiser of a dwarf whose skin is darker than the Ambiguously Brown Olfred and Mica. However, he is much nicer than he looks.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Able to conjure weapons out of the earth.
  • Stout Strength: Probably the one dwarf in the novel who actually fits this trope, as he resembles the stereotypical image of a fantasy dwarf as a tough bruiser with a squat and rotund figure and long white beard. Further reinforcing this image is that Buhnd is attuned to the earth and loves to drink.
  • Token Heroic Orc: He ends up being the leader of the loyalists in Darv and Rahdeas's replacement on the Council. Arthur speculates that Virion introduced him to Buhnd solely to alleviate any would-be prejudices he may be forming against the dwarves after witnessing their leaders' collaboration with Agrona., though he also wonders why Buhnd was not selected as the Greysunders' replacement instead of Rahdeas.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Virion, going all the way back to their youth.

Lances


    In General 
Six elite mages appointed to protect Dicathen, being are among the very few mages who have reached the white core stage. Their origins are tied to the royal families of Dicathen whom they are oathbound to serve. In the distant past, the asuras gave the forefathers of the royal families a set of Artifacts Of Power that they were to bestow upon their two most powerful subjects in a special knighting ceremony. These chosen servants would become the first Lances, and through their artifacts they gained insight into mana itself. In turn, they would teach their newfound insight to those they deemed capable, giving rise to the first mages on Dicathen. Though their existence used to be classified for the royal families alone, in recent times with the discovery of Alacrya the Lances have gone public, and in the face of invasion from the other continent would step forward as Dicathen's strongest defenders.
  • The Ace: As white core mages enhanced by asuran Artifacts Of Power, the Lances are the strongest mages on Dicathen and their reputation precedes them. Some of them were prodigies even before gaining their artifacts. Olfred and Mica graduated at the top of their classes in the Earthborn Institute, while Bairon as a scion of House Wykes was undoubtedly a prominent lightning mage beforehand even if he only became a Lance thanks to his family's influence.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Variant. In the webcomic, while they still make their first appearance at the announcement of the Council, each of them are individually named right there when in the novel they only get named in a later chapter covering the aftermath of Alea's death.
  • Alike and Antithetical Adversaries: Played With. Both the Lances and Scythes are representatives of the different polities of their respective continents (the kingdoms and Dominions respectively), but the Lances are of different races (humans, elves, and dwarves) in contrast to the Scythes who are ostensibly all human (albeit with the blood of the Vritra rendering them all Semi-Divine). Aesthetically this is reversed, as the Lances all wear white, gold, and red ceremonial uniforms and silver and gold suits of armor over black robes while the Scythes in their promotional image have no shared uniform of the sort.
  • Ancient Order of Protectors: The Lances have been around since the royal families took power in the distant past when the asuras gave them the Divine Right of Kings through their Artifacts Of Power. The asuras intended for the Lances to become the defenders of Dicathen, and it is from them that the first mages in Dicathen arose. The Lances' existence was kept secret for centuries as they covertly protected Dicathen from the shadows, until the discovery of Alacrya and the formation of the Council pushed them into the limelight.
  • Artifact of Power: The Lances draw their power from their unique artifacts, which are what elevate them into the white core stage.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: They are all very talented in both physical and magical combat, which earned them the right to wield their artifacts. In turn, they serve as the Council's generals during the War Arc.
  • Badass Cape: They always wear red capes on both their ceremonial uniforms and suits of armor.
  • Betrayal Insurance: Their artifacts possess two forms of this trope. The first is an Explosive Leash that the artifacts' bearers can use in the event the Lances turn against them. The second is a Power Limiter that the Indrath Clan put in place to prevent the Lances from becoming strong enough to overthrow them.
  • Big Damn Reunion: After Arthur returns from Alacrya and slays Taci, the remaining Lances (excluding Aya, who died in the battle) have a tearful reunion with him, embracing him in the process.
  • Big Fish in a Bigger Ocean: The Lances are the strongest mages in Dicathen, but in the grand scale they fall short of most of their enemies. They are shown to struggle beating Alacryan Retainers, let alone the Scythes and - Epheotus forbid - actual asuras. This is explained as the asuras who empowered the Dicathians had a hands-off approach when it comes to empowering them due to their Alien Non-Interference Clause, while the Vritra Clan had spent millennia experimenting on the Alacryans to make them unnaturally powerful. After Arthur returns from Alacrya, he breaks the Power Limiters on his fellow Lances' artifacts, allowing them to finally reach their true power and fight their opponents on an equal footing.
  • Big, Thin, Short Trio: The surviving Lances as of Volume 11 sans Arthur fit this dynamic. Bairon is tall and muscular, Varay is lithe and feminine, and Mica is a dwarf with a rather childish appearance and demeanor.
  • Blood Oath: The actual knighting ceremony that empowers the Lances was not depicted in full until Volume 11 in one of the time loops Arthur experiences in the final keystone, namely one where he accepts Alea's artifact from Virion. In the ceremony, both the artifact holder and the prospective Lance draw blood from their hands and let it coalesce upon the artifact. Afterward, it takes a few days for the newly knighted Lance to assimilate their newfound power, oftentimes in an isolated area.
  • Can't Catch Up: Averted. Thanks to Arthur breaking the Power Limiters on their Artifacts Of Power, the surviving Lances are expected to become much stronger than they used to be, though Arthur is still miles ahead of them in terms of power. Come Agrona's final assault on Dicathen, and the Lances are able to fight the Scythes on an equal footing. Mica is able to cripple Dragoth and force him to retreat albeit she herself was badly injured, Bairon is able to hold his own against Seris, Cylrit, and Melzri (although the former two were holding back as they had been Forced into Evil and the latter arrived after he had been winded down), and Varay single-handedly fends off a force led by Echeron and Mawar with her killing both Retainers.
  • Character Focus: The Lances are initially background characters when first introduced, but from the War Arc and onward they become among Arthur's closest allies and receive a lot of spotlight. It helps that their power is what allows them to keep up with him against the enemies Dicathen faces, and once he returns from Alacrya after his Re-Power he prioritizes strengthening them first before the rest of his allies in light of the true threat that they all face.
  • Chest Insignia: Their armors sport a golden eagle on their breastplates.
  • Classified Information: The existence of the Lances used to be kept a closely guarded secret among the royal families given their role in enforcing the Divine Right of Kings. It is not until the announcement of the Council that the Lances step into the spotlight in order to serve as paragons for the Dicathians to rally around, and even then while their existence is made public, their origins and source of their powers remain classified in order to prevent wars from breaking out over their artifacts.
  • Create Your Own Hero: It is revealed that the Indrath Clan - the ones who empowered the Lances in the first place - are in fact a faction of genocidal Knight Templars who not only used the Dicathians for their Proxy War, but are willing to turn on them when they have outlived their usefulness. Not only that, they intentionally put Power Limiters on their Artifacts Of Power as a form of Betrayal Insurance to deter the Lances from becoming powerful enough to overthrow them. After Arthur saves the resistance from Taci, the Lances have sworn themselves to his side in opposing the Indrath, and on top of that he breaks the Lances' Power Limiters to fulfill the exact scenario the Indrath hoped to avoid.
  • Custom Uniform: The Lances wear unique ceremonial uniforms that exhibit the same white, gold, and red setup. While these uniforms feature several shared elements such as their signature red sash and cape, all have unique elements depending on the individual. For example, Olfred's has a fur mantle on his right side while Mica's is the only one with shorts rather than full pants.
  • Dwindling Party: As of Volume 11, only four of the Lances are left, one of whom joined during the War Arc. Of the ones who died, one died before the war began, one was revealed to be a traitor and was duly killed off, and one died saving the rest from the wrath of an asura.
  • Elemental Powers: All of the Lances are elemental deviants of one sort or another. Alea is a Green Thumb, Varay is An Ice Person, Olfred is a Magma Man, Aya has unique Casting a Shadow powers, Mica is a Gravity Master, Bairon has Shock and Awe powers, and Arthur is a Master of All turned aether-wielding demigod.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: Their Custom Uniforms are all white with gold highlights and details and red sashes. Their suits of armor are elaborate panoplies of gold and silver on top of black robes. In both, they are always seen wearing elaborate red capes.
  • Explosive Leash: There is a surprisingly dark contingency tied to their Artifacts Of Power. Should a Lance go rogue, then their master can invoke the artifact said Lance is bound to which would kill them instantly. This is especially pronounced in Olfred's case, for he knows that should word of his treachery come out that Aldir - who has been holding onto his and Mica's artifacts after killing the Greysunders - would immediately kill him via this contingency.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: The Lances' ceremonial uniforms all sport a sash going from their right shoulder, and feature different elements on their respective shoulders. The female Lances have an epaulette on their right and a pauldron on their left, while the male Lances have a half mantle on their right; for their left shoulders, Olfred's has a fur mantle while Bairon's has an epaulette.
  • Faustian Rebellion: In the distant past, the first Lances were given their Artifacts Of Power by the Indrath Clan. In the present, with the Indrath being revealed for the genocidal Knight Templars that they are, the Lances have sworn to stand against them. Arthur even breaks the Power Limiters that the Indrath placed upon their artifacts as a contingency should they rebel against them, allowing the Lances to unlock their true power so that exact scenario comes to pass.
  • Flight Is the Final Power: As part of becoming white core mages, they gain the ability to fly.
  • Frontline General: As the strongest mages on Dicathen, the Lances carry out the bulk of military leadership both in the war room and on the frontlines.
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble: They become this trope at the start of the War Arc with Arthur replacing the late Alea. This balances out the gender ratio so that there are three male (Arthur, Bairon, and Olfred) and three female (Varay, Aya, and Mica) Lances. As of the latest volume, they are still this trope as both Olfred and Aya have died.
  • Good Wears White: Their ceremonial uniforms are predominantly white.
  • Instant Allegiance Artifact: Combined with My Master, Right or Wrong. The knighting ceremony that empowers the Lances binds them to their Artifacts Of Power and thus whoever holds them. They are compelled to follow the will of said holders on the pain of death.
  • Legacy Character: The mantle of Lance has been passed down throughout the generations.
  • Magic Knight: They are all very talented mages and elite knights in service of their kings and queens, and are highly capable in both physical and magical combat, regardless of if they are augmenters or conjurers. In combat, they wear the requisite suits of armor to protect themselves.
  • Military Mage: The Lances are elite Magic Knights who have been empowered by the kings and queens of Dicathen into becoming the strongest mages on the continent.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: In being oathbound to their kings and queens, the Lances are compelled to follow their every order regardless of how wrong it might be. This is best shown when the Greysunders summon Olfred and Mica to defend them against Aldir, leading to a case of Good Versus Good (although Olfred turns out to be still this trope towards another master, who is just as loyal to Agrona as the Greysunders). This is compounded by the fact that the Lances' artifacts allow their bearers to kill them as a contingency.
  • Next Tier Power-Up: Their artifacts were what pushed their cores straight into the white stage.
  • Nom de Guerre: They provide the Trope Image. Each of the Lances has their own distinct codename that was used back when their existence was kept a secret, but after being revealed the codenames exist as a formality. Said codenames are also reflective of their own elemental powers.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: While the Lances' ceremonial uniforms follow the same general design pattern, they all have distinct elements that distinguish them from one another. For example, they all have different jackets, Olfred wears has a fur mantle on his right while Bairon wears an epaulette, and Mica is the only one to wear shorts rather than long pants.
  • Not So Invincible After All: Played With. When first introduced, the Lances were posited as the strongest mages in Dicathen. Then Arthur finds the dying Alea at the bottom of Widow's Crypt, which shocks him as he never thought there were forces capable of killing them. It turns out that Director Goodsky - being a former Alacryan spy - was aware that the Alacryans were far ahead of the Dicathians in terms of magical power and knew the Lances as they stood would be hard-pressed to come out on top, but kept it secret from them that there were forces capable of easily killing them. It goes to the point that by the time the War Arc begins, Alea's death is still covered up to maintain morale across Dicathen.
  • Oathbound Power: The Lances are bestowed their power by the knighting ceremony that binds them to whoever bears their Artifact of Power, and it results in their core jumping straight into the white stage. While in theory a Lance could pull off a Faustian Rebellion while still using their newfound power, the artifacts come with a built-in Explosive Leash that allows the holder to dispose of the treacherous Lance.
  • The Paragon: In revealing their existence, the Lances are meant to be exemplary figures in the eyes of the Dicathians. In practice, the Lances are less than moral figures until the coming war gives them quite the wake-up call.
  • Power Limiter: It is revealed that Kezess had these put in the Artifacts Of Power that empower the Lances to prevent them from becoming powerful enough should they turn against him. Thanks to Arthur's newfound insight from his time in the Relictombs, he is able to break these limiters, which allows the Lances to gain their true power.
  • Rebel Leader: After the war, the remaining Lances end up splitting up to lead various rebel groups in retaking their homeland from the Alacryans.
  • Ring of Power: Their empowering artifacts take the form of elaborate rings that are worn by their respective monarchs (or whoever is holding their binding oaths).
  • Split and Reunion: During the war, the Lances tended to not see eye to eye with one another. After the loss of the war, the Lances were split up with Arthur being marooned in the Relictombs, Bairon guarding Virion and the djinn sanctuary, and Varay, Aya, and Mica hiding in the Beast Glades. It was only after their Near-Death Experience fighting Taci and subsequent reunion afterward that the surviving Lances resolved to amend their differences and become better than who they used to be.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Given that they are the pinnacle when it comes to mana manipulation, the Lances are able to effortlessly conjure arms and armor out of their chosen elements. Varay, Olfred, Mica, and Arthur (especially post-Re-Power) make the most use of this trope.
  • Super-Empowering: The Lances derive their power thanks to their Artifacts Of Power, which were given to the forefathers of the royal families by Windsom generations ago. In turn, the original Lances would teach those that they deemed strong enough how to manipulate mana, giving rise to the first mages on Dicathen.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During the War Arc, the Lances did not get along with each other. After the end of the war, the Lances are split up in the aftermath of the Alacryan conquest. Following Arthur's return, the four survivors admit their flaws and resolve to be better individuals than who they used to be. From that point onward, they work much better as a team and are able to lead the Dicathians to retake the continent.
  • The Worf Effect: Despite being supposedly the strongest mages on Dicathen, they are frequently put in situations wherein they lose to much stronger opponents such as Vritra Retainers (Uto) or Scythes (Seris, Cadell, Nico). To say nothing of what happens when they fight Taci, who is able to overpower them all in spite of being a boy by asuran standards. After Arthur's return from Alacrya and him breaking the Power Limiters on their Artifacts Of Power, the Lances are expected to become much stronger and thus better at holding their own against such powerful opponents.

    Alea Triscan 

Alea Triscan

Aureate

Debut: Volume 3 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

"That's a pretty strong bloodlust you're emanating toward a Lance."

The youngest among the Lances, known for her extremely acute senses and ability to manipulate plant magic. In the novel, Arthur finds her dying at the bottom of Widow's Crypt having been slain along with her team by an unknown party, whereas in the webcomic he meets her by chance at Xyrus Academy.


  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Not only is she named much earlier at the Council announcement like the rest of the Lances, but she and Bairon appear in an original scene where she meets Arthur much earlier than in the novel.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Uto cuts off all of her limbs to render her helpless.
  • Ascended Extra: Alea's role in the webcomic is much bigger than in the novel. Not only does she meet Arthur much earlier and impart on him some advice and insight, but the circumstances that led to her fateful mission to Widow's Crypt are shown. This makes her death have much more impact than in the novel.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played With. While Uto blinds and cripples her, her face is left relatively unmarred aside from the blood streaming from her eye sockets.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Uto cripples her mana core, rips out her limbs, cauterizes the wounds so she doesn't bleed to death too quickly. And finally plucks out her eyes, while making sure she survives long enough to listen helplessly as her men are slaughtered.
  • Developing Doomed Characters: In the novel, she was only introduced when Arthur found her dying at the bottom of Widow's Crypt. This is not the case in the webcomic as she is given more Character Development by way of a few additional appearances prior to her death. Namely, these additional scenes have her interacting with Arthur wherein she opens up about her own insecurities to him as well as setting up the events that led to her death by showing how she took up the fateful mission to Widow's Crypt as the rest of the Lances were tied up at the time.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in tears in the arms of Arthur.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: For the grave sin of chipping one of his horns (which are the source of his power as a Retainer), Uto decides to stop toying with her and give her a rather graphic and drawn-out demise before letting her listen in on him slaughtering her helpless soldiers.
  • Eye Scream: Gets blinded by Uto so that she can helplessly listen in on the carnage he inflicts upon her helpless troops.
  • Forced to Watch: Or in this case listen. After Uto cripples and blinds her, he leaves her dying body to listen in on him slaughtering her soldiers.
  • Green Thumb: Her powers are nature-based.
  • Heel Realization: In her last moments, Alea laments that despite having spent her entire life pursuing power and status, she will have no one mourning her passing.
  • Mystical White Hair: Her hair is platinum blonde with a slight turquoise green sheen, reflective of her status as a master of plant magic.
  • Nom de Guerre: Her codename is "Aureate".
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Feels inadequate and weak compared to the rest of the Lances.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Is portrayed as such in the webcomic. Aside from being named like the rest of the Lances at the Council announcement, Alea gets more character development and gets to interact with Arthur and impart some advice onto him. Then she takes up a mission that leads her into the Dire Tombs, where she and her entire team get slaughtered by Uto before Arthur discovers her dying. This is shocking to both Arthur and the audience as not only had Alea been established as being among the strongest mages in Dicathen as a Lance, but her killer is eventually revealed to merely be a Retainer, emphasizing just how outclassed the Lances and by extension the Dicathians really are in the face of the Alacryan invasion.
  • Super-Senses: Her senses are highly attuned compared to normal individuals, which allows her detect Arthur's Killing Intent even though he was concealing it.
  • Tempting Fate: In her earlier encounter with Arthur in the webcomic, she says to him that "Maybe we'll run into each other again" right before she leaves with Bairon. When Arthur crosses paths with her again, it is when he finds her dying in Widow's Crypt like in the novel.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: In the novel, she is only introduced right as she lays dying in Widow's Crypt. The webcomic rectifies this treatment by giving her additional appearances beforehand to flesh out her character.
  • You Remind Me of X: When she first meets Arthur, she says he reminds her of her little brother.

    Varay Aurae 

Varay Aurae

Zero

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

The first human Lance and the most powerful among them, Varay acts as the de-facto leader of the Lances. She is a highly proficient ice conjurer.


  • The Ace: Varay is the strongest of the Lances by a fair margin. At least until Arthur Came Back Strong as an aether-wielding demigod.
  • Adaptational Dye-Job: Her eyes are dark brown in novel, but dark grey in the webcomic. Season 6 and onward undid this by changing them back to brown.
  • Always Someone Better: The rest of the Lances see her as this. Though later Arthur surpasses her.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Loses her left arm fighting Taci.
  • Artificial Limbs: After losing her left arm to Taci, she replaces it with one made of ice.
  • Battle Trophy: After killing Echeron, she takes up the fallen Retainer's glaive and holds it aloft in order to get the Alacryans to retreat. It doesn't work.
  • Badass Boast: Delivers one when she, Aya, and Mica capture Lyra as she calls her out for acting as Agrona's Mouth of Sauron.
    Varay: Every word you speak is heavy with untruth. You are a liar, and a murderer. I am Varay Aurae, and I won't let you hurt another Dicathian.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Pulls off one with both Aya and Mica when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them.
  • Cool Big Sis: Tessia comes to view her as her surrogate big sister during her time being sheltered in the Council Castle.
  • Curtains Match the Window: In the webcomic, her eyes are grey to match her snow-white hair. Later changed in Season 6 and onward as her eyes became dark brown like they were in the novel.
  • Death Flight: In her fight with Echeron and Mawar, she completely freezes the former before letting him drop from the sky and shatter upon hitting the ground.
  • Determinator: The loss of her king and conquest of her continent barely slow her down.
  • Elemental Armor: As a display of her mastery of ice magic, Varay fights while encased in a beautiful ice armor that she can manipulate into whatever form or weapon she prefers.
  • Elemental Embodiment: She is able to summon an ice dragon to bring icy death towards her opponents.
  • Elemental Weapon: She complements her ice armor with a crystalline rapier.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Varay initially had long hair, but eventually her hairstyle became a short military style crop due to the severity of the war taking its toll upon her.
  • Expy: Given her status as a high-ranking female Frontline General with an elaborate ceremonial uniform and Mystical White Hair (down to having an identical hairstyle when first introduced), known for being The Ace, and who lives by a My Master, Right or Wrong doctrine, Varay draws inspiration from Selvaria Bles.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: When encasing herself in her ice armor, her eyes glow bright blue.
  • Hidden Depths: Is highly competitive and even has shades of Blood Knight to her character as she enjoyed sparring with Arthur.
  • An Ice Person: Manipulates ice at will.
  • Ice Queen: This is her personality archetype. Varay does not let her emotions get in the way of her duty.
  • In the Hood: Like her charge Tessia, Varay conceals her identity by wearing a grey cloak that obscures her appearance as she is escorting her outside of the Council Castle.
  • Kill It with Ice: Kills Echeron by freezing him from his arm to his core, before letting his frozen body drop from the sky and shatter upon impacting the ground.
  • Late to the Action: She, Bairon, and Olfred attempt to intervene in the Radicals' attack on Xyrus Academy, but are impeded by the shield they have commandeered to prevent any outside aid from coming in. By the time the Lances manage to break through, Arthur had already put a stop to the attack.
  • Magic Missile Storm: In combat, Varay excels in hitting her opponent with hails of icy projectiles.
  • The Mentor: Takes Kathyln under her wing in the leadup to the War Arc, which works out rather well as they both specialize in ice magic.
  • More Dakka: Tends to overwhelm her enemies with pure destructive force.
  • My Hero, Zero: Her Nom de Guerre is this. While specifically a nod to the concept of absolute zero, it also reflects her status as the initial leader of the Lances.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Has no qualms sending Arthur into what is likely to be his death, as her obedience to her king is absolute and most likely because of her blood oath.
  • Mystical White Hair: She has literal snow-white hair befitting of her status as a master of ice magic.
  • Near-Death Experience: Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • No Social Skills: Is impossibly clumsy in social situations outside of her role as a Lance. This works against her, as she has trouble inspiring Mica and Aya to continue the fight.
  • Nom de Guerre: Her codename is "Zero".
  • Not So Stoic:
    • Despite her stoicness, even she is shaken by the destruction of Elenoir. She was also deeply affected by Aya's death and tearfully embraced Arthur upon his return.
    • Played for Laughs in a scene that was exclusive to the novel. As Varay is leading Arthur up the stairs in the Council Castle, her charge gets lost in his thoughts which prevents him from noticing that she stopped. As she was a step above him and his arms were cuffed, his hands end up colliding with a certain intimate region of hers. This causes Varay to break her stoic facade as she lets out a shriek with her face red with embarrassment, much to Olfred's amusement as he saw the whole event.
  • One-Woman Army: During Agrona's final assault on Dicathen, Varay goes off on her own to intercept the Alacryan strikeforce sent to attack Etisin, which is led by the Retainers Echeron and Mawar. She is able to fend them all off, killing the former before driving away the rest with a nova of ice.
  • Orphaned Etymology: Her codename is a reference to the concept of absolute zero, which while reflective of her elemental affinity would not have been known to a society caught up in Medieval Stasis like Dicathen.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Threatens to torture Lyra and hang her corpse over the streets of Etisin as she had done to the the Council.
  • Pure Magic Being: As a result of her battle against Echeron and Mawar, Varay enters the integrate phase.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Her surname is derived from the Aurae, a group of nymphs in Classical Mythology who were the daughters of Boreas, one of the four Anemoi and the god of the north wind, storms, and winter.
  • Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: After the war, she is reminded by Mica about how she threw an entire glacier at Nico back in Etisin which ultimately failed as he melted it completely with soulfire.
  • Royal Rapier: Her weapon of choice, often formed out of ice.
  • Spirited Competitor: Beneath her Ice Queen personality, she exhibits a competitive tendency.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Is able to conjure a wide variety of weapons and constructs made of ice.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Despite her coldness and Ice Queen personality, deep down she cares about the other Lances and Dicathen as a whole.
  • Suggestive Collision: In a scene that was Adapted Out in the webcomic, as Varay is leading him up the stairs in the Council Castle, Arthur gets lost in his thoughts and thus fails to notice that she had stopped. As she was a step above him and his arms were cuffed, his hands end up colliding with a certain intimate region of hers. This causes Varay to break her stoic facade as she lets out a shriek with her face red with embarrassment.
  • Team Mom: To the rest of the Lances, who she perceives as unruly children.
  • To the Pain: After capturing Lyra, she describes what she and her sisters-in-arms will do to her if she does not talk. And given how Lyra had paraded the bodies of Dicathen's kings and queens in the wake of Agrona's triumph, the words that come out of Varay's mouth simmer with barely-concealed rage.
    Varay: I do not desire to bring you pain, and would much prefer it if you simply gave us the information we need. If you make me, however, I will freeze off your ears, then your nose. I will turn your eyes to ice and scorch your flesh with frost. Mica will constrict these cuffs until your legs crack and your hands are crushed to a useless pulp. Finally, if you suffer through all that and still will not talk, I will break out your tongue, pierce your core, and hang what little is left of you over the streets of Etisin for all to see, just as you did to our queens and kings.
  • Torture Always Works: She, Aya, and Mica kidnap Lyra and torture her for information on the highest-ranking Les Collaborateurs in Dicathen, who they then proceed to assassinate in a string of hit-and-run attacks.
  • Visible Silence: Is usually silent and reserved.
  • Watching Troy Burn: She and her sisters-in-arms are flying over the Beast Glades when Aldir destroys Elenoir with the World Eater technique and can do nothing but watch the destruction unfold.
  • Weather Manipulation: Downplayed. While not truly an example of this trope, Varay is able to manipulate the moisture in rain clouds to form needles of ice, creating the illusion of an icy rain of hail spikes. She can also use the moisture to form an impromptu icy cocoon to shield herself from attacks before shattering it into a barrage of icy projectiles.

    Olfred Warend 

Olfred Warend

Balrog

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

"Those born sipping milk from silver goblets need to be made aware of their ignorance"

The first dwarven Lance, Olfred is Rahdeas's foster son who has Undying Loyalty towards him. He is a powerful conjurer who excels in manipulating magma and creating golems.


  • Achilles' Heel: His Hell Armor may be nearly impregnable, but it dulls his senses. It is what allows Aya to get an edge over him as he is unable to detect the strands of wind magic she ensnares him with before promptly asphyxiating him.
  • Adopted into Royalty: Variant. He was once a Street Urchin who was taken in by Rahdeas, a high-ranking elder in dwarven society.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: His only sin is loyalty to a traitor and quite a few other characters express some pity over his demise. Especially Aya, who had once considered him a close friend and was aghast to learn of his betrayal and subsequently having to put him down.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Olfred has brown skin, but it is hard to pinpoint what exact ethnicity he is supposed to be.
  • Anti-Villain: Olfred is a remarkably affable and talkative individual even though he is ultimately an antagonist, and even then he is only working with the Vritra out of his loyalty to Rahdeas. He does not like causing Collateral Damage as during his final duel with Aya, he takes steps to ensure that no innocent dwarven lives end up becoming casualties from their fight and stalls for time to allow his Alacryan associates to escape through tunnels he created, for once he knows the coast is clear he can safely unleash his full power. After the fight ends and Aya has him at her mercy, he requests that Mica be spared as she had no part in his and his master's plans.
  • Badass Cape: His Hell Armor sports a cape made of flowing magma.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Rahdeas being the first person to show him kindness is what causes Olfred to warm up to him in spite of him having been doubting and suspicious of everyone else beforehand. This unfortunately is what causes him to join his master in collaborating with the Vritra.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite Olfred being oathbound to the Greysunders, Aldir holds back when fighting him and spares him because he needs the dwarven Lances alive for the coming war.
  • Elemental Armor: His Signature Spell, Hell Armor, clads him in a suit of magma.
  • Foreshadowing: His codename of "Balrog" ends up being rather fitting as not only is he a master of magma magic, but he ends up being in league with the demonic-seeming Vritra out of loyalty to his master, who is a willing collaborator with them.
  • Flying Seafood Special: In order to transport Arthur to the Council Council in the wake of the attack on Xyrus Academy, Olfred conjures up a giant flying manta made of magma.
  • Foil: To his fellow dwarf Lance Mica. Olfred was a Street Urchin adopted into high society by Rahdeas, has a reserved and laid-back demeanor, fights by conjuring magma golems, and is ultimately a traitor to Dicathen out of his loyalty to the traitorous Rahdeas. Mica on the other hand was born into a prominent noble family, has a childish and energetic demeanor, is an Unskilled Yet Strong gravity mage who wields massive maces in combat, and ultimately was loyal to Dicathen the entire time.
  • Freudian Excuse: Averted. His harsh upbringing on the streets of Vildorial left Olfred with quite the distaste for his own race. But he becomes evil not out of his upbringing but out of loyalty to Rahdeas, the one individual who ever showed him kindness.
  • Good Armor, Evil Armor: Double Subversion. His Hell Armor looks demonic in appearance, but as one of the Lances Olfred is supposed to be one of the good guys, even if he was briefly under the thrall of the Greysunders. Then it is revealed that his true loyalty lies with Rahdeas, who himself is a traitor to Dicathen and a collaborator to the Vritra.
  • Honor Before Reason: He would rather die than abandon his traitorous master to Aya's horror.
  • Irony: Despite Olfred having been suspicious of everyone since his youth on the streets, the kindness Rahdeas showed to him is what causes him to follow him into villainy, when the young Olfred would have refused Rahdeas's kindness if he had known or suspected his ulterior motives.
  • Late to the Action: He, Bairon, and Varay attempt to intervene in the Radicals' attack on Xyrus Academy, but are impeded by the shield they have commandeered to prevent any outside aid from coming in. By the time the Lances manage to break through, Arthur had already put a stop to the attack.
  • Magic Knight: Despite being a conjurer, Olfred is perfectly capable of engaging in melee combat. He often clads himself in his Hell Armor where he crushes his foes into submission with molten fists, if his army of magma golems had not already dealt with them already.
  • Magma Man: His power comes mainly from his mastery of fire and magma.
  • Marionette Master: He is able to summon magma golems to battle alongside him. He also conjures a manta made of magma to carry Arthur to the Council Castle.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: His ultimate loyalty lies not with his continent or his race, but with his master and benefactor Rahdeas. Who as it turns out is in league with Agrona. In addition, as a guard for House Greysunder who eventually became one of their Lances, Olfred stood by them even though they were greedy elitists who looked down on everyone, even their own race.
    Olfred: The reason I can do all this, without hesitation...is because it's what you desire.
  • Neck Lift: Kills Sebastian by grabbing him by the neck and encasing him in magma.
  • Nom de Guerre: His codename is "Balrog".
  • Obfuscating Disability: When he is conversing with Sebastian, he pretends that he is a human who sustained horrific injuries to both his face and legs during a house fire in his youth, justifying why he is wearing a mask (to conceal his identity as a Lance) and shorter than Arthur (who is posing as one of his slaves).
  • Only Sane Man: Often comes as such in the company of the other Lances. This stems from his youth on the streets wherein he was suspicious of everyone around him.
  • Penny Among Diamonds: Disregarding Arthur, Olfred is the one Lance who does not hail from any high-ranking Noble House. Rather, he was a Street Urchin who was taken in by Elder Rahdeas.
  • Regretful Traitor: He had genuine camaraderie with Aya and it pained him deeply to have to betray her, but his loyalty to Rahdeas came first.
    Olfred: If it is any consolation, I never wished for it to come to this. I'm sorry, Aya.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Downplayed. When he is working with the Alacryans on Rahdeas's orders, they view him as unfit to lead them due to him being a traitor to his homeland.
  • Ring Out: When he is defeated by Aldir, he gets a Finger Poke of Doom that destroys the wall behind him and sends him flying across the courtyard. To add insult to injury, the attack renders him completely naked. He is only lucky he didn't get sent flying out of the castle considering it is floating high up in the sky.
  • Secret-Keeper: As Rahdeas's adopted son and most trusted servant, Olfred has been privy to his master's secrets. These include his collaboration with Agrona and Elijah's true origins.
  • Shadow Archetype: To Elijah. Both were raised by Rahdeas, himself one of the Vritra's top servants in Dicathen, but where Olfred developed an Undying Loyalty to his master and would follow him in betraying their homeland, Elijah never developed the same level of devotion to Rahdeas that Olfred did and his interactions with Arthur and his friends led him to open up. And then ultimately Subverted when it is revealed Elijah's true identity is an individual who willingly serves Agrona and the Vritra on a more personal level than Olfred ever did.
  • Slipping a Mickey: Had to drug Mica shortly before Uto arrived so that she would not be involved with his treasonous actions (and prevent her from intervening if she chose to turn on him).
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Able to shape magma into any weapon he needs, most prominently his Hell Armor.
  • Street Urchin: In his youth, Olfred lived alone on the streets without a home or a family, and was always suspicious of others. Then Rahdeas took him in and raised him as one of his own, in the process causing Olfred to let his guard down to him and develop an Undying Loyalty to the one he considered his father.
  • Token Evil Teammate: The one Lance who betrays Dicathen.
  • Tragic Villain: His loyalty to a traitor makes a traitor out of him as well.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Rahdeas, who had taken him off the streets and raised him as his own son. A loyalty that drives him into following his master into collaborating with the Vritra.
    Olfred: He was the man I respected as my father and savior. Even if I disobeyed the king, I would never disobey Rahdeas.
  • Villainous Valor: Even when Aya has the threads of his life in the palm of her hand and is about to execute him for treason, Olfred calmly faces his death with remarkable bravery and dignity.
  • Warrior Therapist: He is easily able to point out the hidden personality quirks and nuances of his fellow Lances, as shown when he calls out how Aya and Mica's behavioral traits would have gotten them ostracized from society. In the novel, he lets out a bemused laugh when he witnesses Varay's Not So Stoic reaction to Arthur's Suggestive Collision.
  • The Worf Barrage: Despite summoning his Hell Armor, he gets literally knocked out while clad in it by Aldir when the latter comes to kill the Greysunders. And Aldir was holding back the entire time.

    Aya Grephin 

Aya Grephin

Phantasm

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

"It's common sense, dear. As a fellow Lance, you know this is one of the few advantages I have."

The first elven Lance, Aya serves as the Lances' interrogation and torture specialist. Her unique abilities revolve around stealth and illusions.


  • Aerith and Bob: Her name is relatively mundane when compared to other elves.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Her shadow powers - in particular the way she uses them to torture her victims - has ostracized Aya from those around her. At least, according to Olfred after he reveals his true colors.
  • Big Damn Heroes: When Arthur is on his mission with Olfred and Mica, Aya trails behind them so that she can come to Arthur's aid should anything - namely the dwarf Lances turning out to be traitors - come to pass. She comes to Arthur's rescue when he is cornered by Uto and the traitorous Olfred in Ashber. Later on, she pulls off another one - this time with both Varay and Mica - when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them, and Aya has to sacrifice herself to prevent him from finishing off her comrades.
  • Blow You Away: Her shadow powers are derived from her innate capacity for wind magic, and she is capable of a few wind-based spells in combat. This is made a lot more apparent in the webcomic, as Aya's illusions are bordered by white and green.
  • Casting a Shadow: Her powers revolve around her ability to manipulate shadow magic.
  • Confusion Fu: Her fighting style revolves around confounding her opponents with her shadow magic, manifesting as Mysterious Mists and illusions.
  • Decoy Getaway: Her illusions allow her to pull this off. During her fight with Olfred, he initially seems to prevail when he punches a hole in her chest. Except it turns out to be an illusion
  • Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it multiple times, but the destruction of her homeland and genocide of her people really takes the cake.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Takes Olfred's betrayal hard.
  • Freak Out: Understandly does not take well to the genocide of her people.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Aya might be the most stable of the Lances, but that does not get in the way of her duties as an interrogator.
  • The Heart: To the Lances (barring the late Alea), as she is the most centered and frankly least homicidal.
  • Heartbroken Badass: Life is not kind to Aya, but she soldiers on until the very end.
  • Heroic BSoD: Suffers one after the death of her king and queen, then again after the destruction of her kingdom.
  • Heroic RRoD: In her Self-Destructive Charge against Taci, she overexerts her mana core to make her illusions more realistic in order to fool the asura into thinking he killed the remaining Lances. It works, but she dies in the process.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: She sacrifices herself against Taci to save Bairon, Varay, and Mica, distracting the asura's attention and making him think he killed the other Lances. The only reason it does not end up being a Senseless Sacrifice is Arthur's timely return and slaying of the asura.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Her failure to save House Eralith whom she was sworn to weighs heavily on her.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During her fight with Olfred in Ashber, the latter punches through her chest with a magma-clad fist. Though it turns out to be one of her illusions.
  • It Is Not Your Time: She says this to Bairon before sacrificing herself to save him from Taci.
  • Just Whistle: During the mission to Ashber, Aya covertly trails behind Arthur and the dwarf Lances in the event that the latter turn out to be traitors. She gives Arthur a special orb that he can break in the event of an emergency, which he uses when he is confronted by Uto and Olfred reveals his treason. While Arthur deals with the Retainer, Aya deals with their traitorous comrade and the Alacryans.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: She is aghast about not only learning about Olfred's treason, but having to be the one to execute him for it.
  • Marshmallow Hell: In the Lances' introductory scene in novel, she gives Mica this treatment.
  • Master of Illusion: Aya's specialty is her ability to conjure illusions for use in battle and torture.
  • Meaningful Name: Her Nom de Guerre is not only reflective of her aptitude for illusory magic, but moreso because of her ability to hide behind enemies before assassinating them.
  • Mook Horror Show: In her Big Damn Heroes moment when she comes to Arthur's aid against Uto and Olfred, she makes her presence known by shrouding the underground chamber they are in with black mists to confuse the Alacryan soldiers present and pick them off one by one.
  • My Greatest Failure: Feels that her greatest failure is that she was elsewhere when her people needed her most.
  • Mysterious Mist: As part of her deviant magic powers, Aya is capable of generating black mists to envelop her opponents and give her cover to move around.
  • Nom de Guerre: Her codename is "Phantasm".
  • Razor Wind: As with most wind mages, Aya is capable of this in combat.
  • Self-Destructive Charge: Dies attempting this on Taci.
  • Supernatural Suffocation: Though she takes no pleasure in doing so due to their friendship, Aya kills Olfred by enveloping his armor with strands of wind magic which she then uses to asphyxiate him.
  • Terror Hero: Her modus operandi involves instilling fear into her enemies in the heat of the moment with her shadow magic.
  • Torture Always Works: Among the Lances, Aya specializes in torture and interrogation. Her shadow magic allows her to subject her captives to terrifying illusions and screams to make them talk. After the war, she, Varay, and Mica kidnap Lyra and torture her for information on the highest-ranking Les Collaborateurs in Dicathen, who they then proceed to assassinate in a string of hit-and-run attacks.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Alas, poor Aya. Is betrayed by her fellow Lance Olfred, with whom she had developed a true camaraderie, and is forced to put him down herself. Her home country is overrun and her people either enslaved or scattered. The king and queen she is oathbound to are forced to betray the war effort out of a Sadistic Choice and are unceremoniously executed for it. Princess Tessia is captured and assumed dead, which is immediately followed by their former ally Aldir nuking her entire country from orbit, driving the elven race to near-extinction. She does not live to see Dicathen reconquered, as the asuras betray the Dicathians yet again by sending one of their own to purge them with Aya being forced to sacrifice herself to stall him.
  • Watching Troy Burn: She and her sisters-in-arms are flying over the Beast Glades when Aldir destroys Elenoir with the World Eater technique and can do nothing but watch the destruction unfold. And given that Elenoir was her homeland, Aya predictably breaks down in anguish.
  • World's Most Beautiful Woman: Is stated to be impossibly beautiful thanks to a careful use of her powers to appear as such. Gradually loses her luster as the war takes its toll on her.

    Mica Earthborn 

Mica Earthborn

Ohmwrecker

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

"WHAT LIMITS? MICA HAS NO LIMITS!!!"

The second dwarven Lance, Mica is a scion of House Earthborn, a wealthy and influential dwarven house responsible for founding the famous dwarven Magical Academy known as the Earthborn Institute. She is a Child Prodigy and powerful manipulator of deviant gravity magic who specializes in wielding massive maces or hammers in combat.


  • A-Cup Angst: Her childish appearance leaves Mica jealous of more well-endowed women regardless of race.
  • Aim for the Horn: She defeats Dragoth by ripping off one of his horns.
  • Air Jousting: Her duel with Dragoth over the Wall has them take to the air.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Narrowly Averted. Olfred points out that Mica's lack of understanding of proper mana manipulation and her childish demeanor would have ostracized her from the rest of dwarven society were it not for her family's name and influence
  • Ambiguously Brown: Mica has brown skin, but it is hard to pinpoint what exact ethnicity she is supposed to be.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Acts as this to Varay and Aya and looks the part, even though she is Older Than They Look.
  • Badass Adorable: Mica looks and acts a like a cheerful little girl, but as a Lance she is one of the most powerful mages on Dicathen.
  • Badass Family: She is a scion of House Earthborn, and after the end of the war, she and her siblings are active members of La Résistance and fight to reclaim their homeland from the Alacryans.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Pulls off one with both Varay and Aya when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them.
  • The Big Guy: Despite being the shortest among the Lances, Mica is the one among their number most inclined towards physical combat and her gravity magic allows her to create massive maces or hammers to crush her enemies.
  • Big Guy Rodeo: In her fight with Dragoth - who is far larger than her - she ends up latching onto him while both are airborne. She ends up ripping off one of his horns.
  • Big Weapon, Little Wielder: She looks like a little girl even for a dwarf but wields a massive Humongous-Headed Hammer more than thrice her size for her weapon.
  • Blood Knight: Mica loves a good fight due to her violent nature and will not hesitate to tell her opponents of the harm they are about to experience.
  • Brawler Lock: As her duel with Dragoth over the Wall reaches its climax, the two of them end up grappling each other midair. It ends with Mica wrenching one of his horns clean from his head.
  • Breakout Character: Out of all the Lances, Mica earned a surprising amount of popularity due to her unique design, fighting style, and personality quirks. This not only led to her becoming one of the four leads of Volume 8.5, but even earned her a spot in Arthur's party when he ventures into the third djinn ruin.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The outcome of her duel with Dragoth has Mica breaking his right arm and tearing off one of his horns, which forces him to retreat and renders him much weaker than before given how his horns were the source of his power. However, Mica is in no state to celebrate as she barely survived the encounter, and the only reason Dragoth and the Alacryans break off their assault is because they discovered that Arthur was not under the Wall.
  • Campfire Character Exploration: During Arthur's mission with the dwarven Lances, they end up camping shortly after setting out which is used to explore both Olfred and Mica's characters as they open up to Arthur and vice versa. This is moreso for Mica's character, as Olfred's had been explored beforehand. The ensuing session reveals her background as the heiress to House Earthborn and as an Unskilled, but Strong Child Prodigy, her personality quirks, and her working relationship with Olfred.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite Mica being oathbound to the Greysunders, Aldir holds back when fighting her and spares her because he needs the dwarven Lances alive for the coming war.
  • Carry a Big Stick: Her weapon of choice, which combined with her gravity magic leads her to wield maces and hammers over thrice her size.
  • Child Prodigy: She demonstrated her proficiency at a young age and ended up graduating at the top of her class at the Magical Academy her family founded.
  • Cheshire Cat Grin: Does not lose it even when circumstances are dire.
  • Creepy Child: Played With. She is Older Than They Look and resembles a child, but she enjoys threatening people with grievous bodily harm and torture. And often as not, she will follow up on her threats.
  • Cute Bruiser: She looks like a little girl even for a dwarf, but fights up close and personal with a massive mace or hammer.
  • Cutesy Dwarf: A literal example of this trope, being a dwarf with a childish appearance even by their standards that belies her true age.
  • David Versus Goliath: Given her small stature even for a dwarf, Mica tends to be dwarfed (no pun intended) by most of the opponents she fights. However, this is especially apparent when pitted against her Evil Counterpart Dragoth, himself The Brute and the most physically imposing of the Scythes. When Agrona orders his second invasion of Dicathen, Mica and Dragoth end up fighting each other at the Wall. As Mica had her Power Limiter removed recently, she barely manages to defeat Dragoth by ripping off one of his horns.
  • A Day in the Limelight: She is one of the four leads of the Interquel novel, Volume 8.5.
  • Elemental Armor: Combined with Improvised Armor. During the assault on the Wall, Mica ends up using the shattered remains of a black iron spike that had been used to break open the gates to weld together an impromptu suit of black iron armor to protect herself during her subsequent clash with Dragoth.
  • Eye Scream: Loses her left eye when fighting Taci.
  • Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Gets into a fight with Olfred all because he called her an Old Maid for her calling herself "beautiful" in front of Arthur.
  • Flipping the Bird: When she and Olfred retire for the night after Arthur breaks up their fight, Mica's conjured abode sports a giant middle finger to spite Olfred for starting the fight over her being an Old Maid.
  • Foil: To her fellow dwarf Lance Olfred. Olfred was a Street Urchin adopted into high society by Rahdeas, has a reserved and laid-back demeanor, fights by conjuring magma golems, and is ultimately a traitor to Dicathen out of his loyalty to the traitorous Rahdeas. Mica on the other hand was born into a prominent noble family, has a childish and energetic demeanor, is an Unskilled Yet Strong gravity mage who wields massive maces in combat, and ultimately was loyal to Dicathen the entire time.
  • Flying Brick: Like the rest of the Lances, Mica is able to fly, and as a Pint-Sized Powerhouse she hits extremely hard when compared to her size.
  • Genki Girl: Subverted as it's mostly a façade. In truth she is violent, vindictive and driven.
  • Glass Eye: After losing her left eye, she replaces it with one made of onyx.
  • Gravity Master: Her powers are based on her mastery of deviant gravity magic. Though she often uses earth magic as well.
  • Humongous-Headed Hammer: Whether or not she ends up fighting with a mace or hammer, you can expect her armament to have a head that is more than twice her size.
  • Luxury Prison Suite: In the fallout from Rahdeas being arrested for treason, Mica is temporarily detained in a rather decent prison suite with a full bed, couch, and other amenities while she is being investigated for any potential ties to the traitor. Fortunately enough, she gets cleared of all charges and is let out.
  • Magic Knight: Despite how her magic looks, rather than being an augmenter Mica is in fact hails from a long line of conjurers. Yet far from being a Squishy Wizard she acts as The Big Guy among the Lances with her being able to conjure and wield massive hammers.
  • Marshmallow Hell: In the Lances' introductory scene in novel, she is on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of Aya.
  • Near-Death Experience: Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Nom de Guerre: Her codename is "Ohmwrecker".
  • Old Maid: Implied. She gets awfully defensive when Olfred points out that despite nearing fifty, she hasn't had any success in relationships, to the point that it causes her to get into a fight with him.
  • Older Than They Look: She looks and acts like a child, but is actually fifty years old.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • Mica is normally a Third-Person Person, but sometimes - especially in serious moments - she will revert back to using personal pronouns. This is apparent when Arthur and the resistance retake Vildorial, for when Mica gives out a Rousing Speech to the city's populace she reverts back to using "I" when she reconciles with her people.
    • She may be a fearless Blood Knight most of the time, but the Battle of the Bloodfrost leaves her deathly afraid of facing Nico again, given how he nearly killed her, Varay, and Aya
  • Perpetual Smiler: Mica is always smiling, even in the midst of the carnage.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She might be small even for a dwarf, but her appearance belies the fact that Mica is unnaturally strong, especially given her mastery over gravity magic.
  • Proud Beauty: Calls herself beautiful in front of Arthur and takes pride in doing so. Though Olfred points out that she is merely trying to overlook both her childish appearance and the fact she is an Old Maid.
  • The Prankster: Has this dynamic with Aya. Though it is revealed to be her own clumsy attempt to cheer up her fellow Lance.
  • Rock Theme Naming: Mica is named after a type of silicate mineral known for its ability to be split.
  • Secretly Wealthy: Is the heiress to House Earthborn, a noble, wealthy, and renowned family in Darv who are second in influence to the royal family of House Greysunder.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Her mastery over earth and gravity magic allows Mica to create massive hammers and maces for herself to wield.
  • Team Mom: To her small team of dwarves investigating a disturbance in Darv. So much so that she is willing to give up a fight against Seris to save their lives.
  • Third-Person Person: Mica tends to speak using her own name instead of personal pronouns, though she does revert to the latter in serious circumstances. This does not apply to her narration in her POV chapters as she uses regular pronouns.
  • Token Heroic Orc: During the war, her kingdom is divided due to being heavily compromised by the Vritra and their agents. While Mica is far from the only dwarf who remains loyal to Dicathen, she ends up being the most prominent one in the long run as the other notable example of this trope among the dwarves, Buhnd, gets killed off at the end of the war. Afterwards, as one of the Lances Mica ends up becoming one of the leaders of the resistance (even getting more spotlight via the 8.5 spinoff), but this coincides with more sympathetic dwarves being introduced including her own family members.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Given how she is a literal Cutesy Dwarf, Mica qualifies as an example due to being the smallest among the Lances and the most childlike in terms of appearance.
  • Torture Always Works: She, Aya, and Varay kidnap Lyra and torture her for information on the highest-ranking Les Collaborateurs in Dicathen, who they then proceed to assassinate.
  • Trojan Prisoner: While on a mission to Ashber during the war, Mica and her fellow Lances Olfred and Arthur are forced to disguise themselves. Their disguise has Arthur and Mica pose as Olfred’s slaves while they investigate a slave ring for signs of Alacryan activity.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Mica barely understands the basics of mana manipulation, so her skill as a mage comes from both her own intuition and her power as a Lance.
    Mica: It's really easy, you know. You just have to imagine the world going up or down. Then you grab it in your hand and release!
    Olfred: You'd have an easier time learning from a pebble. Miss Earthborn comes from a long line of famous dwarven conjurers, but even among them, she's considered a genius. She's learned magic through intuition - she doesn't even known the rudimentary concepts of mana manipulation.
  • Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Invoked. She tells Bairon to take up Taci's spear as "there is no better way [for him] to pay [his] respects to Aya than using it to kill a few more asura", on top of being a powerful weapon in its own right due to being Forged by the Gods.
  • Watching Troy Burn: She and her sisters-in-arms are flying over the Beast Glades when Aldir destroys Elenoir with the World Eater technique and can do nothing but watch the destruction unfold.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Variant. In a postwar meeting in Vildorial, Mica says under her breath about how Arthur lying about his whereabouts as part of his plan to unlock the final keystone got many Dicathians killed, Evidently, she is not happy about how he lied to everyone and isn't around to clear up for himself, as Mica herself barely managed to defeat Dragoth.
    Mica: We were your friends, Arthur. You could have told us. We could have helped. So why?
  • The Worf Barrage: Despite using the full force of her mace against Aldir when the latter comes to kill the Greysunders, he effortlessly holds it back before destroying it and knocking her out with a Finger Poke of Doom. And Aldir was holding back the entire time.
  • Wrecked Weapon: During her fight with Aldir, he shatters her mace using a single Finger Poke of Doom which knocks her out in the process.

    Bairon Wykes 

Bairon Wykes

Thunderlord

Debut: Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic)

The second human Lance, Bairon is the older half-brother of Arthur's nemesis Lucas Wykes. He is a fearsome lightning manipulator who wields a spear in combat. While Bairon is righteous and takes his duties seriously unlike Lucas, he nonetheless antagonizes Arthur for his murder of his younger half-brother.


  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Not only is he named much earlier at the Council announcement like the rest of the Lances (with him being named last to hammer into Arthur just how influential the Wykes are in Sapin and how big of an enemy he made with Lucas), but he and Alea appear in an original scene where he meets Arthur much earlier than in the novel (if only briefly, as he ends up scolding Lucas for his misconduct).
  • Arch-Enemy: Develops this dynamic with Arthur over the latter's execution of his younger brother Lucas. Though they reconcile later once the latter returns from Alacrya.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: Is able to instantly collapse the barrier surrounding Xyrus Academy.
  • The Atoner: After the loss of the war and Arthur's apparent demise, Bairon becomes overprotective of his former comrade's sister Eleanor out of remorse for the way he treated him.
  • Avenging the Villain: His first direct interaction with Arthurnote  is him wanting to kill him in retribution for him killing his younger brother Lucas at the end of the attack on Xyrus Academy. It defines much of their interactions until Arthur returns from Alacrya and the two of them reconcile.
  • Badass Back: He is shown from the back in his Early-Bird Cameo in the webcomic, revealing his imposing, scarred frame and conveying how powerful he is compared to his younger brother whom he towers over.
  • Battle Trophy: After Taci's death, Bairon inherits the fallen asura's spear.
  • Big Brother Instinct: To Lucas. Even though the latter became a deranged maniac and mass murderer, he still expresses considerable animosity towards Arthur over his execution of his younger brother. Though he admits later his anger towards Arthur was about the insult to House Wykes, especially after they betray him and Dicathen. During the time Arthur was marooned in the Relictombs and Alacrya and thus presumed dead by the Dicathians, Bairon took in his little sister Eleanor under his protection out of atonement for his treatment of him.
  • Break the Haughty: Is subjected to a rather nasty one during the end of the War Arc and onward. When the Alacryans invade the Council Castle, he gets effortlessly defeated by Cadell and barely survives, on top of experiencing the same Trauma Conga Line that the rest of the Dicathians get subjected given the loss of the war. Then, he secretly returns to Xyrus in the aftermath in order to rescue his family, only to find out they had become Les Collaborateurs to the Alacryans. To say this is a major blow to Bairon is an understatement, and after barely surviving Taci's rampage he resolves to become a much better person than he was before.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: As if barely surviving his fight with Cadell wasn't bad enough, later on he turns himself into pure lightning for a chance to hurt Taci who still survives the attack.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted to make Arthur pay by any means for his brutal execution of Lucas and the offense against his family's honor. He gets what he wants at a very great cost when Arthur and Sylvie sacrifice themselves against Nico and Cadell at the end of the war, making the Dicathians lose morale as Arthur was their only chance to victory and Bairon regrets it deeply. Thankfully, Arthur had survived and eventually returns to Dicathen, allowing Bairon to finally make amends with him and they reconcile.
  • Bodyguarding a Badass: Downplayed. After the end of the war, Bairon becomes Virion's bodyguard. While Virion is a silver core mage and has been kept as sharp as possible due to his sparring with Aldir in the leadup to the war, he is still past his prime and could not hold himself against the likes of the Scythes or Wraiths, let alone actual asuras, on top of the outcome of the war and the loss of his family having left a considerable scar on his mental state.
  • Character Development: Bairon started as a prideful and smug noble in line with the rest of his house, and was incredibly hostile towards Arthur because of the death of Lucas. During the War Arc, while he was able to tolerate his presence, he was still unwilling to cooperate with him which led to the loss of the war, his family becoming Les Collaborateurs and betraying their homeland, and Arthur being presumed dead which causes him to protect Arthur's sister Eleanor out of guilt. When he reunited with Arthur after the fight with Taci, he tearfully embraced Arthur along with the rest of the Lances, and after the Siege of Vildorial he finally reconciles with Arthur over his role in Lucas's death.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: After the war, his loyalty is torn between Virion and what remains of the Dicathian resistance and his family that welcomes their invaders. He chooses the former as he realizes just how corrupt his family has been all along.
  • Diligent Hero, Slothful Villain: His Sibling Yin-Yang dynamic with Lucas. While both brothers have benefitted tremendously from the amount of boons their wealthy family has bestowed upon them, Bairon is shown to be dutiful in his efforts where Lucas only cares about acquiring more power to the point that he is complacent about improving himself. Bairon even reprimands Lucas by telling him to stop hiding behind their family's money and influence and grow strong on his own accord, which Lucas never takes him up on as he ends up being executed by Arthur for his role om the attack on Xyrus Academy.
  • Due to the Dead: In an original scene in the webcomic, Bairon is shown returning Lucas's body back to their father in the hope that he would receive a proper burial.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: In the webcomic, before he is officially introduced along with the rest of the Lances during the Council announcement, Bairon makes a brief cameo during Kaspian's warning to Arthur about how powerful House Wykes is. He appears from the back while towering over Lucas, hinting about how strong Bairon is when compared to his younger half-brother.
  • Electric Blade: Given his status as a master lightning mage, Bairon is able to infuse his spear with lightning.
  • Forged by the Gods: Wields the spear of the asura Taci as a trophy after Arthur slays him.
  • Given Name Reveal: In the webcomic, when Bairon is first brought up, Kaspian merely refers to him as Lucas's half-brother. His given name is not revealed until the announcement of the Council and the reveal of the Lances.
  • Good Versus Good: Aside from his animosity towards Arthur over Lucas's death which lasts until the end of the War Arc, during the second Siege of Vildorial he ends up fighting Seris and Cylrit who at that point have been Forced into Evil due to Agrona's Villain Override.
  • Heel Realization: After Arthur's apparent death and being betrayed by his family, Bairon realizes how much of a jerkass he had been and sees the error of his family's ways.
  • Hero Antagonist: To Arthur. Until after the end of the War Arc and the ensuing Trauma Conga Line making him finally see the error of his ways and making him reconcile with Arthur.
  • Honor Before Reason: When he and Arthur reconcile over Lucas's death, Bairon reveals the true reason for his anger was Arthur's insult to his family whom he has now come to realize were no better than what his brother had become. This statement is reinforced by an original scene in the webcomic detailing how he returned Lucas's body to their father, as Bairon is shown to have some restrained disgust over how his father is badmouthing Lucas yet bears it out of familial obligation.
  • It Is Not Your Time: Aya says this to him before sacrificing herself to save him from Taci.
  • It's Personal: His enmity towards Arthur is over the latter's execution of his younger brother Lucas, which he views as a grave offense to his family's honor. This enmity lasts a long time until Arthur returns from Alacrya, as by then both he and Bairon have been put through hell during the war and its aftermath, on top of Bairon having undergone a Heel Realization after finally turning against his corrupt family.
  • Late to the Action: He, Varay, and Olfred attempt to intervene in the Radicals' attack on Xyrus Academy, but are impeded by the shield they have commandeered to prevent any outside aid from coming in. By the time the Lances manage to break through, Arthur had already put a stop to the attack.
  • Lightning Bruiser: A literal example given his Shock and Awe powers.
  • Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Exhibits this contrast towards Cadell, whom he is the Good Counterpart of and ends up fighting at the end of the War Arc. Bairon manipulates lightning magic, whereas Cadell prefers to incinerate his enemies with soulfire.
  • The Mentor: Takes Curtis under his wing in the leadup to the War Arc.
  • Morph Weapon: Can mold lightning into all manner of weapons.
  • My Nayme Is: His name is a variation on Byron.
  • Nerves of Steel: To his credit, Bairon refuses to back down in the face of impossibly stronger foes.
  • Near-Death Experience: Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Nom de Guerre: His codename is "Thunderlord".
  • Not So Stoic: Normally, Bairon presents a stoic and professional front as one of the Lances. However, in front of Arthur his stoicness sometimes gives way to a barely-concealed rage given how he had killed his brother Lucas. Later on this is reversed as he tearfully rests his head on Arthur upon the latter's return from Alacrya and slaying of Taci, as the asura had nearly killed him and everyone in the djinn sanctuary.
  • Poor Communication Kills: His refusal to communicate or trust Arthur jeopardizes them severely during the latter half of the War Arc.
  • Rejected by the Empathic Weapon: Subverted. He is able to wield Taci's spear as Taci did not have a strong bond with his weapon.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Initially does not forgive Lucas' murder at the hands of Arthur, even though the former was clearly a mass murderer and Beyond Redemption. The loss of the war, his family becoming Les Collaborateurs and betraying him, and his near-death fighting Taci all lead to him reconciling with Arthur upon the latter's return from Alacrya, specifically after the Siege of Vildorial.
  • Shock and Awe: His powers are based on his mastery of deviant lightning magic.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: He and his younger brother Lucas end up having this dynamic in the long run. While both are prodigious mages in their own right, partially thanks to their family's resources and elixirs, Bairon became strong in his own right while Lucas kept hiding behind their family's influence. Eventually, while Lucas ended up dying a mass murdering terrorist, Bairon had a Heel Realization after the loss of the war and getting betrayed by his collaborationist family and would go on to become the White Sheep.
  • Spotting the Thread: In an original scene in the webcomic, Bairon and his men are clearing out a dungeon infested by abnormally powerful mana beasts when he comes across a tattered piece of cloth. Despite how innocuous his finding might have seemed, it brings about some troubling ramifications as not only do his men say no one had been in that dungeon for a long time, but when it is analyzed, it is revealed to have been woven from a mana beast that either has not yet been discovered or is not native to Dicathen. Naturally, given the recent discovery of Alacrya, all signs point to it originating from the other continent.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Arthur notes that Bairon and Lucas share similar facial features despite how different their physiques are. Both have a straight, high-bridged nose, a narrow, lofty gaze, and of course blonde hair.
  • Super Breeding Program: Is a product of House Wykes's outright illicit endeavors to create powerful mages, which has resulted in him becoming a powerful lightning mage. And that is before he becomes a Lance and gets the requisite Artifact of Power.
  • Super-Senses: Learns Arthur's trick of infusing himself with lightning to augment his reflexes.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With the rest of the Lances. And especially Arthur though later he gets better.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Get defeated by Cadell, feels guilty over Arthur's apparent death, gets betrayed by his family as they become Les Collaborateurs with the Alacryans, and barely survives Taci's rampage with Aya being forced to sacrifice herself to save him and the rest of the Lances. No wonder he resolves to become a better person in the wake of all that he has endured.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: When push comes to shove, he stands with Virion and the Dicathian resistance against his collaborationist family.
  • Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Following Taci's death, Arthur gives Bairon the fallen asura's spear. While Bairon does not want to at first because Taci killed Aya, Mica argues that nothing would be more respectful to Aya's sacrifice than slaughtering asuras with weapons of their own making.
  • Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: It is noted that while Bairon is a fearsomely powerful Magic Knight, he lacks proper combat experience. Even though he has read up much on military history and tactics as part of his upbringing, the books he has read are mostly out of date and have only second-hand accounts.
  • White Sheep: While Bairon is initially an antagonistic force to Arthur due to being the older brother of Lucas, he is shown to have some genuinely sympathetic traits, such as wanting Lucas to stop hiding behind their family's influence and to become a better person on his own. However, it is only after the war that he starts to become better than the rest of his family due to the Trauma Conga Line he suffers (in particular, his repeated near-death experiences fighting much stronger foes and learning his family became Les Collaborateurs to the Alacryans) giving him a nasty case of Break the Haughty. Afterwards, he ends up making amends with Arthur after the latter returns from Alacrya to lead the Dicathian resistance Back from the Brink.
    Bairon: My pride blinded me to the evils of my family. My rage wasn't even about Lucas, but your insult to our house. I was a fool, Arthur. And I'm sorry.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Is willing to murder Arthur on the spot to avenge Lucas's death, and would have gone through with it if not for the intervention of the other Lances. Though he eventually comes to regret it and apologizes to Arthur later.

Alternative Title(s): The Beginning After The End Lances

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