Mont Leonis (Another Ardra)

Mont Leonis is a character in War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. An alternate version of Mont, he serves as the main antagonist of the "Ashes of Apocalypse" chapter from the Another Story sidestory. Taking the mantle of Ashen King, he ends up in direct confrontation against the Will of Light and the Warriors of the Crystals as he carries out his agenda across the worlds in the Farplane.
==History==
Mont belonged to one of the many continuities that transpired during Gilgamesh and Amnelis's time loops in their attempt to defeat the Realmscourge. In this timeline they had secure the aid of Sadali Crysthea who built the Crystal Sanctum, a theocratic organization preaching ideas of peace. Mont identified with these ideals and deserted his nation alongside Lilyth, his top lieutenant.
Oelde Leonis viewed the defection as a betrayal, immediately dispatching Sterne Leonis to assassinate Mont and capture Sadali who was considered a threat. Sterne was joined by Glaciela Wezette, his fiance in this timeline, along her troops to carry out the order. Sadali, Mont, and Lilyth came under attack, forcing Mont and Lilyth to fight to try to secure an escape. Glaciela lambasted Mont for abandoning his duties to which he provided no response. Mont was resolute to defend Sadali and his goals so Sterne challenged him, which Mont accepted, knowing their battle was fated to occur.
As Mont and Sterne dueled, Lilyth battled the troops before succumbing to her wounds, being killed by Glaciela. Sterne narrowly defeated Mont, but before he could continue his move on Sadali, Amnelis and Gilgamesh appeared with the latter using his Flash ability to kill both Sterne and Glaciela, leaving the town a burning wasteland. Mont narrowly survived the encounter, found by Kitone and a young Volke who mourned the loss of his sister. Perrene arrived in the company of Kalidra, the Warrior of the Dark Crystal of the time. The two witnessed Mont on the verge of death and decided to take him to the Farplane to nurse him back to health, against their usual protocol of non-interference.
Vardia reluctantly agreed to shelter Mont and his entourage, the Warrior of the Light Crystal who had to cover for them with the Will of Light. In the ensuing weeks, Mont recovered and trained with Kitone to become stronger, even receiving some instruction from Perrene. She claimed Mont was already strong enough, but that he had to steel his heart. Just as Perrene started to feel that Mont had to be returned soon, Kalidra reached the end of his life time dying in Perrene's arms, telling her that a new Warrior of the Dark Crystal would be born. Perrene deduced that Kalidra had used the remnant of his power to return Mont's group, while returning to the Core Crystal, but the truth of the circumstances eluded Perrene for years. By Mont's own accord, he murdered Kalidra and took the Crystal that were his remains, which allowed him to travel to other worlds. Taking Kitone and Volke with him, Mont tried to journey to a world without conflict.
Mont's long journey to find such a world ended up in vain, as every world he stumbled upon, including alternate versions of Ardra were with strife thus disillusioning himself on humanity. On one such world, he met a powerful summoner contracted with many Espers, with the two sharing ideals of peace. The world's populace, however, feared the Summoner and branded him the "Dark Lord" and united in opposition to him. The espers in turn were consumed by rage and genocided the populace except Mont's group. Mont felt powerless at his inhability to protect him.
As the journey continued they managed to settle in a peaceful setting, but it did not last for long. In due time Mont was accused by a group of bounty hunters of sheltering a rebel who sought an "ultimate magic". Mont denied the accusations, but the bandits did not care reasoning they could kill Mont, label him a rebel and get a reward. Mont berated the group for their selfish and murderous ways. The bandits in turn summoned monsters vowing to kill everyone and pillage the entire village, but Mont defeated them. The victory, was nonetheless bitter as Mont reasoned they had no more business in that world, believing that rebel army to be equally self-serving. 
Finally tired of not being able to find a single world devoid of war, Mont came to a radical and twisted epiphany: All the people of power that came after them sought peace at the start, but being powerleess in the grand scope of things, made their selfish desires grow, straying from their path. Subsequently he realized he had a power no other human had which resided on Kalidra's Crystal. Believing this power to have been bestowed upon him for a deeper purpose, Mont thought he could use it to create a kingdom of true peace by destroying everything and re-create it anew as people would never learn. Realizing he could use Kalidra's crystal to tap into the true source of the power of the Warriors of the Crystals as a means to fulfill his objective, he pleaded Kitone to help him. Kitone in turn swore loyalty to Mont and reasoning that Mont was elevating himself, decided to refer him with higher honorifics. 
Their journey began again and Mont travelled to other alternate realities where Ardra existed, inspecting all those worlds carefully in order to find a link to the Core Crystals. During those travels he stumbled upon an alternate version of Oldoa who swore loyalty to him. Eventually Astrius' intervention of the Core Crystals allowed Mont to place a fragment of his own into the Core Crystals thus letting him establish a link. To make matters worse the Servants of the Void provided another distraction that allowed Mont to seize their power unnoticed. Although Mont thought of helping them out of sympathy, he ultimately desisted as their goals did not align in full.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
As the Ashen King, Mont dons an unusually shaped suit of dark armor with arrays of spikes. Uneven strands of red and black robes intermix along with the armor, and parts of his equipment feature fur. The entire suit, including red claws, leggings with sharpened toes and most noticeably, a helmet that covers the entirety of his face, reveal an imposing, even diabolical figure. Beneath the helmet, Mont looks like an older version of his main self, but with considerably longer, messy hair that flows wildly. He uses a red sword in combat.
===Personality===
As the Ashen King, Mont is an homicidal despot who commits indiscriminate acts of violence, laying waste to nations and worlds without a sign of remorse. Embittered by the attempt on his life that signified the loss of Lilyth, Mont grew resentful and disillusioned in the people of Ardra, who were in perpetual war, and who would refuse to engage in peaceful solutions.
Determined to protect Kitone, Volke, and Oldoa, whom he views as his remaining family, Mont became resolute to secure a future for them, radicalizing himself in the process. Mont came to the realization that the only way to build the utopia he so desired was to utilize the power of the Core Crystals to elevate himself into a God, to wipe the slate clean and rebuild all the worlds in the Farplane from the ashes (thus his title).
Mont is so absorbed in this target that he spares no one he views as an obstacle, even murdering the Machérie Hourne of his continuity, with whom he shared a relationship, in cold blood.
==Gameplay==
==Gallery==
;Portraits
File:Mont Leonis Another Ardra from WotV portrait 1.png|Portrait.
File:Mont Leonis Another Ardra from WotV portrait 3.png|Portrait.
File:Mont Leonis Another Ardra from WotV portrait 4.png|Portrait.
Category:Characters in War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius