Ares Srowa

**Ares Srowa** (アレス, *Aresu*) was a former member of a Hero's Party, blessed with the "*Sign of the Sage*".

Due to his so-called "intellect" and blessing, Ares was an excellent magician, but he is also proud, selfish, dimwitted and incredibly ambitious; he is also the one who ran Red (his so-called "love rival") out of the party and lied to everyone that he left of his own accord. He later betrayed the Hero Party until he was defeated and killed by Red.

He is responsible for the Heroes' Party's dissolution.

## Background

The son of a failed duke, Ares was born with the Sign of the Sage. He would later join the Hero's Party in order to restore his family's lost power. Having a low opinion of him, when the rest of the party members caught up to Red's level, Ares kicked him out of the party for not being a "*true companion*" and told everyone that he left of his own accord. However, he caused Yarandrala, Tisse Garland (the new recruit), Danan LeBeau (who is looking for Red) and even Ruti Ragnason herself to quit the Heroes' Party.

He later betrayed the Hero's party just so he could get Ruti to fight the Demon Lord, only to be rejected by her (when she declared that she quit as the Hero). After being rejected by Ruti, he foolishly fought Red, only to be defeated and killed by him when Red cuts off his hands and strikes a fatal blow to his chest with Ruti's sword, causing Ares to bleed to death and his last words were him begging Shaisandan or anyone else to save him only for his plea to fall on deaf ears before passing away from blood loss.

## Legacy

After his death, he was buried in Zoltan. However, his legacy is tarnished due to his betrayal. Even though they attended his funeral, the former heroes harbor no sympathy for him due to his traitorous actions. After Ruti abandons her role as the Hero, the Hero's party effectively disbands, with all of the former members deciding to reside at Zoltan.

## Personality

At face value, Ares comes off as a very confident and sophisticated person with a compassionate side. However, this outward behavior is revealed to be nothing more than a big fat farce. In truth, he's actually a selfish coward, who only has the guts to face those who are weaker then him and quickly runs away and hides whenever a battle happens with a strong opponent despite his incredible power as a mage. Ares loathes Red largely due to an acute inferiority-superiority complex as Red based on their divine protections. After reuniting with Red and Rit, Ares becomes increasingly power-hungry, vindictive, and delusional. Like many arrogant people, in spite of being responsible for the collapse of the Hero's party and numerous setbacks caused by his poor decisions and snobbish behavior, Ares refuses to accept accountability and blames whatever misfortune that's happening on others instead. As an example, since his idiocy in banishing Red caused the party to collapse, Ares would blame Red; which is *partially* true, as he was the pillar that supported the team while Ares was the true liability.

He's shown to have an immature side as when he discovered Red and Rit where living together he believed Red was trying to marry Rit for her nobility status (like what he would've done) and vandalized their apothecary during a temper tantrum like a spoiled brat. In short, he is a vain, egotistical narcissist. He is also a delusional pervert who is obsessed with Ruti and wanted to marry her but only to have gotten rejected by her and earned her (rightfully deserved) hatred towards him for what he did to her brother, Red.

Believing himself to be intelligent due to his blessing, he is revealed to actually be a dimwitted idiot when his so-called tactics are incapable of defeating the demon lord, earning himself stigma and being hated by his fellow party members for banishing Red as well causing members (such as Danan LeBeau, Yarandrala, Tisse Garland and even Ruti Ragnason herself) to quit the Heroes' Party which lead the party's disbandment. All in all, the only "intelligent" thing he's done in that situation is identity the lynchpin holding the group together and got rid of it; making his only success being in the destruction of his group.

After getting rejected by Ruti (when she eventually quit being the Hero), Ares suffered a complete mental breakdown where he became an insane lunatic who would do anything to get Ruti to be with him (even if it was against her will). However, it was his own actions that lead him to his own demise at the hands of Red the man he hated. In the moments of his death, Ares cowardly begs for his life his final words for anyone to save him and questioned why Red always succeeded at everything, while Ares always failed at something, while refusing to accept the truth that in reality he was weak and stupid.

## Abilities

**Fire Blast**:

**Fire Storm**:

**Tornado Attack**.

**Weakness:** Even Though he was blessed with magical abilities, Ares lacks physical prowess when it comes to actual hand-to-hand combat, such as Ruti stabbed him twice, gotten punched at the face by Yarandrala (who quits the Hero's Party) and later his hands were cut off and slashed with fatal strike to his chest by Red (who kills him) when using Ruti's sword. He also has an extremely low intelligence and poor tactics incapable of defeating the Demon Lord as well little in comparison of Gideon's superior tactics and genius. Ares' so-called "genius" has only allowed members of the Heroes' Party (such as Danan, Yarandrala, Tisse and even Ruti herself) to quit the party and abandoned their posts due to their hatreds towards Ares causing the disbandment of the Heroes' Party.

## Family

Ares hates his family, most likely because of his father being stripped of his title as Duke, Ares planned to marry Ruti in order for him alone to return to nobility while leaving his family in the dust only to failed after he was killed by Red.

### Red

Red is Ares' self-proclaimed love rival, enemy and killer.

At the beginning of their adventure against the demons, their relationship remained professional. But deep-down Ares harbored feelings of jealousy and hatred of him for being the leader of the hero's party until most of his members were able to surpass Red's skill. He decided to kick him out of their party because he had outlived his usefulness as he taunted him for being a deadweight of the party, especially for his sister. Then, further taunted his skills of being useless after they tested their skills against each other during a party one night. Even after Red left the party, it only further fueled his hatred and anger of him after most of the members of the party blamed him for banishing Gideon from their party. Now that his crew all lacked the provision and guidance needed for fighting against the demons. After Ruti reunited with Red, Ares's hatred for him grew exponentially. So he betrayed the hero's party in his failed attempt to coerce Ruti into fighting against the demon lord and to prove that he was better than Red. But was defeated and killed by Red who cut off his hands and slashed him with a fatal strike to his chest with Ruti's sword. Even when he is killed by Red, Ares still refused to accept who he really was.

### Ruti Ragnason

Ares wishes to marry Ruti in order to use her status as the hero to climb the social ladder of nobility showing that he merely see's her as a means to an end, however his plan was foiled before it could even take flight for even though she doesn't show it openly (due to her blessing) Ruti hates Ares with all her being for exiling her brother, in fact Ruti would have killed him if her divine blessing didn't force her to heal him after attacking him, this left Ares both afraid of Ruti and desperate to win her approval however all his attempts to impress her were in vain and she remained cold towards him. When Ruti is reunited with Red, Ares attempted to persuade Ruti to his side so they will kill the demon lord together only to ruin his chance by attacking Red in front of her with a wind spell this caused her to angrily reject him by stabbing him in the guts with her sword as well she declare to him that she quits being the hero for what he did to her brother. Even after his death at the hands of Red, she bears no sympathy for the deluded Ares due to her absolute hatred towards him for banishing her brother and later betraying the Heroes Party to his own selfish ambitions.

### Heroes' Party Members

For banishing Red, the members of the Heroes Party hold a strong hatred towards Ares. He tried to lie to them that Red "had left of his own accord". However, his lies and deceptions has caused members such as Yarandrala (who punched Ares at the face), Danan LeBeau (who went on searching for Red), Tisse Garland (who was the new recruit) and even Ruti Ragnason herself to quit the Heroes' Party causing the party to grow weaker and drawn nearly to its disbandment. Ares later betrayed the Party in a foolish attempt to obtain Ruti for himself until Tisse Garland used her pet spider, Mr. Clawly-Wawly to hold Ares in place, allowing Red to cut off Ares's hands and kill him with a slash to the chest for his betrayal. After his death the former Heroes' Party members (including Ruti and Yarandrala) held no sympathy for Ares whatsoever and completely labelled him as a traitor due to their hatred towards Ares for his selfishness and his delusions of grandeur, despite that they attended his funeral (albeit unceremoniously) except for Theodora Dephilo and Yarandrala who refused to attend(because they retained their bitter hatred towards Ares).

## Trivia

* He is named after the greek god of war.
* Ares habitually talks down to most people he interacts with, this includes the majority of his party members, as such has poor to non-existent negotiating skills.
* His core personality can be summed up in the expression Vain Narcissism, this can most easily be seen in how he casually disregards any skills that are common and the like, as well as the contempt he seems to show most people he interacts with
* Ares is the only known human to die on screen.
* It is unknown if he was aware that Red & Ruti are siblings or if he knew and just didn't care due to his arrogance and stupidity.
* Ares is a genre example of what happens when someone loses their common sense upon learning they have a special skill; believing it gives them the right to do what they wish.