Hughes

is the main character of Omniscient First Person's Viewpoint.
After finding out about the inevitable destruction of the world through Shei, he decided to trick fate and become a different man, one that fate has never accounted for.
Thankfully, he had all the necessary tools at his disposal.
The Progenitor of Vampires, the Dog King, and the Regressor.
== Appearance ==
Hughes is described as having grey hair and red eyes. He has slightly above-average handsomeness.
== Personality ==
He is consistently upbeat using a playful approach when interacting with others often teasing or making jokes. While he may appear to be a trickster, at a glance someone who enjoys banter and wit in truth possesses a diverse personality and excels in psychological tactics.
He frequently showcases his quick thinking occasionally outmaneuvering adversaries who are more powerful, than him. Moreover, his charm is noteworthy as he can win over those who initially oppose him.
== History ==
== Summary ==
=== No Country for Criminal Men: Thrown into Tantalus ===
He was just a mere trickster, capable of 'reading thoughts,' apprehended by the Military State amidst a game of chance with unsuspecting individuals. Despite his earnest efforts to justify his actions, he was expedited through the judicial process without witnesses or tangible proof.
Within a single day, his status shifted to that of a felon. In a tribunal devoid of jurors, he received a sentence to Tantalus, devoid of any opportunity for rebuttal.
His 'mind-reading' prowess proved futile in the legal arena. The military personnel alleged that he engaged in subversive activities under the guise of gambling. The magistrate delivered the verdict, notwithstanding the conspicuous absence of evidence.
He found himself cast onto the frigid, moist ground of a detention cell, subsequently transported to the most notorious penitentiary — Tantalus.
The underlying cause for this was an insurrection at Tantalus, resulting in substantial infrastructural damage and the demise of the administrative staff. The Military State, intent on maintaining order among the inmates, opted to transfer numerous minor offenders like him to serve as labourers.
==== The Fall of the Abyss: Escape from Tantalus ====
Hughes sneakily left his friends from Tantalus, to prevent being roped in or tempted into joining their grand adventure considering his limited abilities and the allure of travelling with them. 
===== Meeting with the Star General =====
====== Arriving in the back alleys ======
He was revealed to be the legendary magician of the military state's back alleys. A mysterious, awe-inspiring but ultimately "petty" criminal of the military state, who had never been caught or of much interest to law enforcement, despite the numerous tales of his exploits.
===== Saving the back alleys from Umbra =====
Before officially engaging with Wolfen in a one-on-one confrontation he introduced himself.
====== On the run from the military state: Aboard the Mets conveyor belt ======
After the incident with Umbra and his close run in with Historia, Hughes was forced to run and was luckily saved by his some of his friends from Tantalus (the regressor, the dog king and vampire progenitor). 
He brilliantly thought of using the meta conveyor belt to prevent being surrounded and reduce the military state to only appearing at their front or back ( at least before they come to the terminal and the military state blocks them).
After briefly talking to himself about their potential role as possible poison and chaos spreaders in the military state. The kind that people need god to pray for, since the poison was already in the bloodstream and past the point of the blood flow being stopped, or contaminated blood extracted to be dealt with.
Hughes gets pressured by the regressor into revealing the truth of himself, while inwardly pondering of the Regressor’s hypocrisy considering all her unexplained treasures, powers, knowledge etc.
Regardless, partly due to his survival instincts, he commented on how he couldn’t start sharing if even she wouldn’t say anything about herself.
They have a brief argument, in which the Regressor expresses Hughes’s lack of expressed interest as an excuse ( defending her secrecy), which Hughes uses as a counter point alluding to their shared lack of asking and evenness.
The regressor rationally uses her saving him as a reasonable argument supporting her right to know why the military state was chasing him. This surprises Hughes, as she further buttresses her argument with safety concerns ( due to him being involved in Hamelin incident) and the necessity of trust and knowing the identity of their traveling companions.
Hughes agrees and resolves to tell her..Then is assisted by Tyr who tells him she’d have saved him regardless of his identity. He is ready and continues arguing with the regressor using Tyr as an example to support his silence..until she askes him again about becoming a vampire. 
Leading to him promptly agreeing to reveal his identity, with Tyr’s comments on the life of an elder vampire not being that bad. Hughes them ponder on the contradiction between vampire and life, Tyr herself just regaining her life and the problems with being a member of such a person’s lineage.
Azzy interrupts their discussion to bring food Hughes surprising him, particularly because she didn’t take it for herself.
Hughes reveals he is from Hamelin. He references how he initially said he was 1st in his middle school. And explains he went to the same school as Historia, now a star general, and Lankart, the one who freed all the prisoners from Tantalus, who had the 2 ranks below him. 
The regressor’s thoughts reveal she knew Historia and Lankart. With Lankart being called “Lankart of the shrine of the divine” in a past regression. That she had an ambiguous relationship with both of his former classmates. And her shock at him actually out performing both of them!
While considering the fact that both of his classmates became significant enough to be known by the regressor. Hughes reflects on how he went from rank 1 to a petty criminal… Only to find the regressor mistakenly placing his power as potentially higher than his classmates ( through reading her thoughts). Which scares him, as he doesn’t want to die on the front lines from misplaced expectations. 
So he explains that while Lankart specialized in magic and technology, and Historia focused on Qi arts and combat. Hughes secured first place solely with his brains. With him being a master of a broad range of subjects, gaining 1st or 2nd place in most of the subject he did through a broad range of ideas ( Thanking his secret mind reading skills in his head for the impossible feat).
The regressor asked “ You did that”.
Hughes affirmed that he was promising talent of the military state, He explained that he excelled in everything (e.g. Qi arts, alchemy, magic etc), especially tactics and strategy, with an superb comprehension allowing him to easily understand different properties of power. And he briefly thought about, but didn’t mention, the lack of depth which was revealed in his second year, which mind reading couldn’t avoid, and his continued first place despite that.
Hughes senses the regressor’s envy ( through mind reading) which he finds ridiculous considering her talent is regression. And how the proverbial grass is greener on the other side.
He talks about their equal education, but special programs, while trying to redirect and focus on his classmates but the regressor tells him to focus on himself.
His case was a bit ambiguous. While he was proficient in most areas, he wasn’t exceptional, this lead to him being trained as an Arcane dissector. 
Tyr interrupted their conversation to ask what an Arcane dissector was which he then explained.
He revealed the department had come up with the plan for the dog king and Tyr’s imprisonment. Leading to Tyr commenting on Hu’s prior knowledge on her.
He then chalks it up to those record being more academic than practical, with him having no idea on who she is as a person .
Hughes then reminisces on the difference between Tyr in textbooks and in real life. Thinking about her cold and terrifying war exploits and all the negative stores he has written about her. 
The regressor interjects on how him unsealing Jizan doesn’t align with the abilities of an Arcane dissector. With Hughes playing ignorant and passing it off as him just telling the dead woman “to stop trying to test him and to calm down the Earth Sage”.
The regressor questioned him regarding being the piped piper. With Hughes stating he was framed as the incident ruined his future. He explained that there would be no gain from killing his classmates and he wasn’t a madman! It made him a petty criminal and wanted fugitive. 
The regressor states that he is a madman, even if he’s not that kind of madman. The regressor’s thoughts reveal it was actually a suicide (which she used to collapse the military state in a timeline) ,adding to Hughes’s inner sense of fulfillment.
Despite the regressor’s scepticism on the military state framing a student, Hughes expresses that it was either Lankart, or the military state that framed him, and that he barely escaped alive.
The regressor suspicions are somewhat alleviated with the story. But her intuition makes her feel something is off, and despite not being fully convinced, she decides to listen to Tyr and stop questioning him, as an ally.
== Unique Ability: Mind-Reading ==
Hughes can read other people's thoughts and memories.
Life is like a book. One with a forward of birth, and a conclusion of death, filling the rest up with time and age as it went. If thought of it that way, his mind reading could be compared to reading a book. He could simply skim what was currently being written through the character's current thoughts or just flip the pages from start to finish.
If he wanted to, he could read it completely, from start to finish. However, it would take too long and also pose a risk to him.