Ares Stefani

**Ares Stefani** is a mysterious vampire hunter who lives in Romania, the country often associated with vampires and for years gripped by Count Dracula's reign of terror. He claims to be a level sixteen light sorcerer, having trained in foreign lands to gain knowledge of magic. Since he descends from the Morris Clan, he is an expert concerning all types of vampire. Recently, he has found a new ally in Isaac Finch. Finally, though he hunts vampires, he seems to fear Dracula, and doesn't want to go anywhere near the vampire's castle.

## History

All that is known of Ares's origins is that he grew up in Romania, specifically in the region of Transylvania, and was taught everything about vampire hunting by his family before leaving as an adolescent to pursue his dreams of becoming a light sorcerer. Then, at some point, presumably after being satisfied with his level of power, he returned to his hometown of Budești. Though apparently for many years, there were no vampires to hunt. Carmilla must have been in the United States for all those years, or otherwise inactive. What he did during those years is unknown.

### The Vampire Saga

After Count Dracula was suddenly revived by unknown means in January of 2017, the vampire returned to his castle in the Carpathian Mountains, along with his younger sister, Carmilla. Transylvania was gripped by blizzards, the rivers were frozen over, and the land was blanketed in snow. Ares didn't go to Castle Dracula to do something about it, but when Strigoi vampires from a nearby cave in the Carpathian mountains began to terrorize Ares's village, he made his way to the mountain cave to kill them.

In the cave, he encountered what he thought was a vampire. He attacked, but instead found out that it was Isaac Finch. Isaac told Ares that he was a tourist, merely passing through. Ares said he came to kill the vampires inside the cave, and Isaac revealed that he had been teleported to the cave by a powerful demon. Isaac also wished to kill the vampires inside, so Ares led Isaac through a secret passageway to the floor of the giant chasm at the west mouth of the cave. They walked down the stairs for half an hour and realized that the stairs were endless for some reason. First, Ares called upon the goddess Hecate to destroy any illusions. When that failed, Ares called upon the angel Cassiel to destroy the warps that were causing them to loop between the same set of stairs. Cassiel appeared, and hesitated, looking at Isaac suspiciously, before destroying the warps. Ares and Isaac continued to the bottom of the stairs and reached the floor of the chasm, where they encountered dozens of vampires.

After fighting for an unknown period of time, Ares and Isaac killed all of the vampires in the chasm. They found another cave, and when they came to its exit, in the distance was Castle Dracula. Ares was terrified of Dracula, so he attempted to go back into the cave, but lightning struck a boulder higher up the mountain, causing the boulder to fall down and block the cave. So, the only way to go was to the Vampire Castle. Ares followed Isaac to Dracula's domain. When they arrived, Dracula greeted them in the main hall, causing Ares to scream and run away in fear. He was greeted in another room in a spring by five stunning women who seduced him and had sex with him throughout Isaac's fight with Carmilla. They were revealed to be vampires and tried to drink his blood, but he killed them first, and returned to the main hall. Carmilla left Isaac because he was drunk and in no condition to fight her. Ares put Isaac's arm over his shoulder. He walked two steps, and they both fell unconscious.

Ares and Isaac woke up in a dining hall, greeted by Dracula's butler and Carmilla. The butler served Ares and Isaac smoked turkey and dressing, to their surprise. Carmilla explained that it was so they could fight without the distraction of hunger. When Ares finished, he tried to escape the dining hall, but Carmilla stopped him. The butler escorted Ares and Isaac to the Count's throne room at the heights of the castle. Dracula awaited them, sitting on his throne. He told the butler (calling him Lawrence) to leave them, and he did. Then, Dracula started the fight by dashing towards Isaac and causing winds to fly outward from him. When Isaac attempted to summon the flames from Oath Breaker, the wind blew them out. Dracula disarmed Isaac and threw Oath Breaker aside, then appeared in front of Ares. Ares stabbed the Count in the heart with an oak stake. This would work on most vampires, but on him, it did nothing. He threw Ares aside, pulled out the stake, and snapped it in two.

After Dracula fought Isaac for a bit more, Ares gathered his courage and summoned his Light Sword. He ran over to Dracula, put a magic force field around himself, and sliced the vampire's chest. However, it didn't faze him, and Dracula threw Ares to the ground and shattered the force field like glass. Ares was knocked out cold. When he came to, Dracula had left, part of the ceiling was gone, and Isaac was standing alone. Dracula returned, and told Isaac he was too weak in his current state to fight Dracula, and it would just be completely unfair if Dracula killed him then and there without ever seeing his true potential. Dracula suggested that Isaac go back to Lucifer and train more. Isaac was apported away by the demon he told Ares about.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Light Magic** - As he's apparently a level sixteen light sorcerer, he possesses the power to perform holy magic.
	+ **Cure** - Heals any one person he chooses to a small extent. Uses a small amount of Mana. Also inflicts damage on the undead.
	+ **Cura** - Heals up to five people to a small extent. Uses a larger amount of Mana than Cure. Also inflicts greater damage on the undead than Cure.
	+ **Curaga** - Heals up to five people of all wounds and instantly kills lower-tier undead enemies. This spell uses half of Ares's Mana.
	+ **Paralyze** - Paralyzes beings such as humans and other animals, lower-tier demons, lower-tier angels, lower-tier gods, and lower-tier monsters.
	+ **Banish** - Calls upon the angel Cassiel, who apports beings such as humans and other animals, lower-tier demons, lower-tier angels, lower-tier gods, and lower-tier monsters many miles away.
	+ **Poisona** - Cures poisoning from humans.
	+ **Blinda** - If someone has been blinded by a spell, this spell removes their blindness. Unfortunately, it cannot cure actual clinical/legal blindness.
	+ **Blink** - This spell creates an illusion of clones around him or whomever he chooses.
	+ **Raise** - Resurrects deceased humans who's bodies are completely intact. The spell uses all of Ares's Mana and takes ten years off of his life with each use.
	+ **Protect** - Surrounds whomever Ares chooses with a magical force field as strong as bedrock. Uses a quarter of Ares's Mana.
	+ **Clear** - Ares invokes the angel Cassiel to shatter illusions around whomever Ares chooses. This uses a quarter of Ares's Mana.
	+ **Portala** - Ares invokes the angel Cassiel to destroy portals. This uses over half of Ares's Mana.

### Abilities

* **Expert Vampire Hunting Skills** - As he was raised by Maia Stefani, who was in turn raised by a member of the Morris Clan, who were taught by the Van Helsing Clan, he possesses a vast amount of knowledge on the subject of vampires and hunting them, though he has little experience in actually doing so.
* **Swordsmanship** - He has mastered the use of his sword, simply called the Light Sword.
* **Tactician** - He has several weaknesses of vampires in his trench coat and is very resourceful with them, knowing how to use them in any situation.

## Weaknesses

As a human, it's presumed Ares possesses the common weaknesses of a human, despite claiming to be a level sixteen light sorcerer. The use of his light magic is also very restricted by how much Mana he has used.

## Trivia

* His character is greatly influenced by any of the Belmonts of the *Castlevania* video game series, e.g. his use of several vampire weaknesses like holy water, and his use of a holy weapon, and greatly resembling Julius Belmont in particular.
	+ This is because all previous canons took place in the same universe as the *Castlevania* games. Dracula, Carmilla, and Ares are echoes of the roleplays' *Castlevania* roots.