Ark (character)

Ark was once called "the Oracle Knight", as well as the one who killed four of the Six Heroes.
==History==
Long before his first appearance, Ark was once the Oracle Knight, a knight who is selected to serve and protect the Oracle Maiden in the empire of Bariura. A long time ago, the Oracle Maiden received a revelation from that the Holy Emperor Karna Masta had decided to destroy humanity. Lucius then asked Ark and Ilia to defeat the Holy Emperor to save humanity from Karna Masta's plan. Ark and Ilia went to confront Karna Masta, accompanied by their friends and followers. Transported by Lucius into the Holy Emperor's refuge, they find that Karna Masta is already injured. They were then confronted by three of the Holy Emperor's Guardians seeking to protect what little was left of their emperor. After defeating them, the Oracle Knight's troops faced the Emperor himself. Despite his injuries, Karna Masta still had immense power and managed to destroy the entirety of the Troop except for Ark and Ilia. At the moment the duo resigned themselves to their fate, Lucius appears and opens a gate, sealing Karna Masta away in a land forsaken by the Gods along with Ilia.
When Ark regained his consciousness, the Great War had already begun. When Ark asked Lucius why the War still happened despite the Emperor's sealing, a disciple of Lucius claimed that the other Gods resents the humans who sealed away Karna Masta. Ark's actions had supposedly set in motion the imminent fall of Grand Gaia. The disciple then asks the Oracle Knight to lend the gods his power once again for the war, using Ilia as leverage. The disciple then orders Ark to slay the last hopes of humanity, "Six Heroes", in order to appease the Gods, so that Lucius would be inclined to save even a portion of humanity. Ark obeys, then he goes to persuade some people to fight Six Heroes; a sorceress who helped him once, a knight from La Veda who devotes his life to serve the gods, and an assassin. After he saw the Six Heroes being cornered, he came to finish them off, with the exception of Eze and Lance, who committed suicide and turned into a tree, respectively. With the Six Heroes dead, the gods turned the odds into their favor. Ark then demands for the release of the Oracle Maiden. As soon as Lucius released her, Ark attacks the Lucius with killing intent. During the last moments of the battle, Lucius saw an opening to recapture Ilia, sending her into the gate, once again taking away Ark's hope. Despairing and once again trapped, Ark swore allegiance to the Sealed God with the promise that Ilia would live. As Lucius' disciple, Ark killed many threats to the god, and was, after centuries, placed as a spy in the Imperial Capital Randall in Elgaia.
The first time Dark Figure debuts in the game is in Imperial Capital Randall, where he acts as adviser. He also appears behind Eriole in Mirvana, where the group meet the Summoner's party after the Summoner defeats Zevalhua the Supreme. When the Summoner chased Eriole in Atharva, the Dark Figure appeared to warn the Summoner about Eriole. After the Summoner defeated Eriole in The Crystal Palace, the Dark Figure appears and Eriole mocked him, revealing his true name: Ark. Ark then released his power to kill Eriole, but Tesla shielded the attack. When Ark was about to finish the Summoner off, Tilith appears and says that Ark must go to Bariura since Lucius called him.
After the Summoner passed his test in Bariura, he revealed his face and stated that he rebelled against Lucius. When the gate to Ishgria opened, he crossed the gate without hesitation in order to find Ilia's whereabouts.
In Menon, Ark revealed that soon after he landed in Ishgria, he could feel Ilia's power around Ishgria and decided to investigate it. That is when he finally understood the reason why sealed Ilia together with Karna Masta: Ilia's power as Oracle Maiden is one of the fundamental materials to seal Karna Masta. Perhaps, that was the reason why Lucius ordered to take Ilia as a hostage, since Melord needs Ilia's power in order to seal Karna Masta. After Ark tells the story, he claims that he will protect Ilia's will and challenges the Summoner.
Later on, when the Summoner and the party meets Ark in Hope's Light Castle, , , , and tries to reason with the former Oracle Knight. They relay their conversation with , who reveals the message that Ilia left for Ark. After he listened to the message, however, he bursts in despair and challenges the Summoner once again, claiming that the party doesn't know what the sorrow Ilia felt when she told the message. He remembers about his friends, who all perished in the battle against Karna Masta. After the Summoner beats him, he calms down and asks the Summoner to defeat Karna Masta together.
As the party approaches the place where Karna Masta is sealed, Ark tells the story about his battle against Karna Masta. He mentioned that Karna Masta wasn't even using his full power back then. However, Karna Masta's ultimate attack obliterated their party. The only one who remained alive at that time, besides Ilia, was Dion, who later dealt a devastating blow to Karna Masta. Standing with him and Ilia other than Dion was a necromancer who used his technique to control the corpses of himself and his friends to fight. Ark also tells the party that he will awaken Ilia's power that is sleeping in Ishgria in order to beat Karna Masta.
Before the battle begins, Ark asks the Summoner to buy some time for him while he is calling to his beloved, asking her to lend her power to the Summoner. However, Ilia didn't react and Karna Masta gravely injures the Summoner. As Ark despairs upon seeing the Summoner fall, Tilith, Karl, Seria, Lugina, and Paris comes and fights Karna Masta. During the battle, Ark suddenly feels Ilia's power, but due to the large time gap, Ilia's power alone has been weakened. Tilith then volunteered to amplify Ilia's power that dwells in Karna Masta. After the battle, Tilith suffers from grave injury, so Ark pleads Ilia to use her remaining power to heal Tilith. He decided to stay in Ishgria to look for Ilia's whereabouts, because he hardly believs that Ilia is dead. However, he promises that he will help the Summoner in however way he is needed.
Afterwards, Ark was shown in Mildran, where he is still looking for Ilia. The Summoner then decides to help Ark. In Mildran, Ark must face his fallen comrades, followed by the people he used to kill Six Heroes, and finally, the Six Heroes themselves. After the battles, Ark used his swords to break the seal and freed Ilia, but before they can exchange more words, Ark and the Summoner must defeat Karna Masta completely. After the last battle, Ark remarks that he and Ilia have a very limited time, since they have turned back into mortals now. Even so, they will help the Summoner as long as they live.
However, Ark is shown to have doubts as the Summoner meets him later. After they dueled each other, Ark finally calmed down. He then decided to walk towards the future, while bearing his sinful past, as he now realizes that sin is a part of life.
==Character==
Ark is depicted as a serious and cold man, who is burdened by his past. He's also shown to highly value friendship and the people who's important to him, as shown from his quotes in Trial 007.
In Mildran, Ilia remarks that Ark tends to act tough despite being so pathetic, and so stubborn that he gets depressed easily, much to Ark's embarrassment.
==Artwork==
==Trivia==
*According to Brave Frontier Storybook:
**He was born on March 28.
**His height is 183 cm.
**His weight is 72 kg.