Arth Lucifen d'Autriche

**Arth Lucifen d'Autriche** was the king of the Kingdom of Lucifenia and the father of Riliane, Alexiel, and Arkadi. Embarking on a large-scale plan to expand Lucifenia's borders, he conspired with the sorceress ESSENCE to do so. To this end, he also manipulated his wife Anne Swee and their childhood friend Prim Rogze.

## History

### Early Life

Born in the Kingdom of Lucifenia in EC 457 as a member of the Lucifenian Royal Family, Prince Arth met both Prim Rogze and her best friend Anne Swee during his childhood, becoming close friends with him. Despite their close relationship, Arth grew to resent Prim for her prideful demeanor, feeling that she was too proud for her own good.

Sometime in the early EC 470s, both of Arth's parents were killed by political dissidents, with Arth taking the throne soon after. Following this, he began planning to expand his kingdom's dominion to fully unite the Evillious region and bring them together in harmony. He eventually discarded Elphegort from his invasion plans for the time being due to the natural protection it was provided by the Lost Woods between them.

Afterward, Arth declared war on their neighbors, Asmodean and Beelzenia, and invaded one after the other. Starting to expand Lucifenia' territories, the young king became famous within the kingdom. During this time, he fell in love with Anne; asking her to be his wife, Arth was met with her immediate acceptance. After the two were married with Prim's blessing, Arth was officially crowned as the new king.

### Competition With Other Nations

Deciding to get rid of Prim and her prideful attitude, he utilized the poison Gift and had his servants stage a poisoning during a meeting between him, his wife Anne, and Prim. Seeming to narrowly avoid death, the king refused to let anyone remotely suspicious near him, primarily Prim. With Prim's family known to specialize in drugs and poisons, the royal couple had her banished from the kingdom.

As the years progressed, Arth and Anne's relationship became strained. In Ec 477, Arth became acquainted with Leonhart Avadonia and Mariam Phutapie, learning that they were defectors from the enemy countries. Soon after, he made both executive officers of his army. Around EC 480, Arth witnessed the sorceress ESSENCE defeat most of his soldiers, including Leonhart and Mariam, using magic. Approaching her, he offered her to join his forces; a week later, she joined Arth's executive officers in swearing an oath of loyatly to him at Sanosun Bridge.

After the birth of General Gaston Mouchet's daughter in August of that year, Arth permitted him to name her after their mutual ancestor, Queen Riliane Roses.

### Political Maneuvers

A few months later, he was approached by ESSENCE, who had a proposition that would benefit the both of them. Slightly skeptical, ESSENCE presented him with the Venom Sword as a "love charm", telling Arth about the angel that was housed within. With it, Arth used its power to seduce Prim when she briefly visited her home country. After several months, Prim returned to Marlon and Arth learned that she was pregnant with his child. Ecstatic, he told ESSENCE about this, with her agreeing to help him as long as he helped her collect the other Vessels of Virtue and provided her someone to experiment on for magical research.

Arth accepted these conditions, and blackmailed Prim into giving over the child she gave birth to in EC 482, naming him "Arkadi" and handing him over to ESSENCE. Arth then tasked a member of the Association, Keen Sarvo, with finding the remaining vessels using his information network. With ESSENCE's cooperation, Arth was also given access to the vessels the sorceress had already gathered, Lust and Sloth.

### The Developing Plot

As time progressed, Arth's armies gained more and more territory in Beelzenia, eventually capturing Retasan. He was also encouraged by Keen finding and collecting the vessels of Temperance, Humility, and Greed. In EC 485, Arth's relationship with Anne improved and the two sired two children together in December of EC 485, Riliane and Alexiel. Around EC 491, Beelzenia became weakened by the Purio Disease that was spreading through the country; wanting to continue his work from the shadows, Arth faked his death from the disease, instructing his soldiers to continue pushing forward before he did so.

Soon after this, Arth had one of his allies discreetly gift one of the hand mirrors of the Humility vessel to his daughter Riliane. When he learned that Anne had betrothed their daughter to Prim's son Kyle, he began plotting to get revenge on her for this, while also eyeing up the Marlon twins as possible victims. To this end, he had ESSENCE send Arkadi to Marlon Castle as a spy.

In EC 492, Arth disguised himself and traveled to Yatski village in Elphegort to gather materials for ESSENCE. Soon after he arrived, he found a pregnant Mikina Freezis unconscious at the bottom of a steep hill. After rescuing her, she explained to Arth how she was planning to have an abortion due to her and her husband's failing business. Arth, in response, gave Mikina the Marlon Spoon, promising that it would bring her good fortune before they parted ways.

Later that year, Mikina visited Arth and told the king how the vessel had produced blue flames that killed her father and the nanny holding her son when they threatened to take him away. After explaining what the vessels of virtue were, Arth told her that she had unwittingly made a contract with the Angel of Charity and that, to continue her family's blessings, she would have to become a collaborator with them. Once Mikina reluctantly joined their conspiracy, Arth had her secretly funnel some of the Freezis Firm's wealth to fund his ambitions and used its information network to support the information provided by Keen.

### Decisive Play

In EC 496, Arth had Anne infected with the Purio Disease, watching emotionlessly as she slowly died for three years until her death in EC 499. Soon after, he had Arkadi transplant the Angel of Humility to the Marlon King, having his allies send aid to the ailing Marlon at the same time. In EC 500, after learning that Riliane had been possessed by the Angel of Chastity and planned to reject her betrothed, Arth confronted ESSENCE and learned that this was her doing.

Although displeased, Arth continued on and planned to have Marlon declare war because of this. To this end, he had one of his allies convinced Riliane to write a formal letter of rejection to Kyle. He later learned that the man that Riliane had rejected Kyle for was an apprentice of the Marlon mage IR. When Marlon declared war on Elphegort, he had Arkadi learn Eater's location from Mikina and had the man killed. Afterward, Arth watched as his daughter secretly aided the Marlon Resistance as they overthrew the King of Marlon.

After the events of the Marlon Revolution, Arth learned from ESSENCE that she had removed the Angel of Chastity from Riliane and, to aid his plans, had the Angel of Humility possess her. He then watched as Riliane had Marlon incorporated as a territory of Lucifenia, soon after meeting with Arkadi and learning that their enemies in Marlon had been disposed of. He then had Riliane administrate the newly-acquired territory while he continued to manipulate the Lucifenian government behind the scenes.

### End Game

With his plans going well, Arth allowed Riliane to seek vengeance on those that Arkadi blamed for Eater's murder while having her continue his mission of conquering the entire Bolganio continent. In EC 505, Arth learned that Riliane planned to return home and had been freed from the Angel's control by Lich Arklow and his compatriots. Immediately after, Arth holed himself up in his base at an abandoned Levin church, preparing for a potential confrontation.

Once there, he had Arkadi use the Clockworker's Doll to build up an army of corpse soldiers and sent ESSENCE to stop Riliane's voyage to Lucifenia. After ESSENCE's failure and subsequent death, Arth prepared for his daughter's planned assault. During the ensuing battle, he took one of the hand mirrors of the Humility vessel as he fled upstairs into the Handbeat Clocktower.

From here, Arth oversaw the battle as it continued on, holding the Clockworker's Doll in his lap. Once Arkadi lured Riliane to the room, he calmly greeted and spoke to her. Riliane then asked how Arth was still alive, and Arth readily answered, explaining how everything had been his doing.

As Arth finished his explanation, he told Riliane that he planned to have her possessed again and serve as his agent. As Riliane yelled that he had gone insane, he showed his daughter the hand mirror he held and explained how the Angel of Chastity currently resided within it. He continued by stating that he didn't even need ESSENCE's help, motioning to the doll.

At that moment, Arkadi returned and began asking for his father's praise for taking out Riliane's soldiers. Seeming to ignore him, Arth continued by talking about the true power of the doll and how it would allow him to freely control the other angels, while also telling how it was modeled after the Virgin Mother, Meta Salmhofer. As he prepared to invoke the doll's power and possess Riliane, beginning to forge a contract with it, an enraged Arkadi stabbed him in the chest. Shocked by this unexpected development, Arth slumped over in his seat and died soon after.

### World's End

Following his death, Arth's soul was sent to the Hellish Yard and remained there. Following the Third Period's destruction in EC 999, Arth escaped and traveled to Lucifenia, though being dragged back soon after by the Master of the Hellish Yard. Within the bowels of the Hellish Yard, he was brainwashed by the Lady of Light and used to restrain Kayo Sudou. Sateriasis Venomania then used his own brainwashing magic to counteract this, breaking the Lady's control. After she then broke the boundary between the Hellish Yard and the ground world, Arth escaped once again, ending up in Asmodean before being recaptured for a second time.

## Skills and Abilities

Arth was a proficient military leader, able to effectively command both his troops and his hidden agents. As part of this, Arth was skilled in swordsplay and earned much fame on the battlefield. Arth also had a commanding presence, inspiring confidence and loyalty in his subordinates and earning respect from almost everyone he met, even his enemies. Compounding this presence was his charisma, with Arth being the object of affection for numerous women before his marriage to Anne.

Arth was also intelligent and a master manipulator; likewise, he had great influence in the political sphere and was able to maintain this influence even after faking his death and his wife, and later daughter, taking the throne in his stead. These extended to Arth's strategizing abilities. He could effectively coordinate corpse soldiers and use them to divide up opposing forces. Similarly, the king planned his actions years in advance and was decisive in using situations or people to his advantage.

## Character Connections

Anne Lucifen d'Autriche: Arth's wife. He grew to love Anne over the course of their friendship, eventually marrying her. Their marriage was temporarily strained by their inability to produce children, but they nonetheless remained close. However, despite their closeness, Arth did not hesitate to kill his wife for the benefit of his own goals.

Prim Marlon: Arth's childhood friend. The two were friends during his youth, though growing distant after Arth framed her for attempting to poison him. He later used Prim in his plans to expand Lucifenia's borders and control, manipulating her and her children to this end.

Arkadi Rogze: Arth's oldest son. Happy that his birth meant that he could manipulate Prim easier, while also having someone to use as a pawn, he only recognized Arkadi through his capacity as the king's agent. Willing to let him be experimented on and manipulated into becoming a tool, he relied on the man's skills in espionage and subterfuge for his personal gain. In addition, Arth would only show affection to Arkadi when necessary to secure his loyalty.

Riliane Lucifen d'Autriche: Arth's daughter. He manipulated her every action in order to further his own plans, wanting to turn her into the perfect pawn. To that end, he was willing to sacrifice her mental and emotional well-being. He also held a low opinion of her judgment abilities, preferring when she was a weak-willed puppet under the control of the Angel of Humility.

Alexiel Lucifen d'Autriche: Arth's youngest son. Impressed by Alexiel's thoughtfulness and maturity, Arth was proud of him and believed he would succeed as Lucifenia's prime minister. Despite this, he was not above manipulating him for the sake of his personal goals.

Leonhart Avadonia: One of Arth's subordinates. He relied on Leonhart's skills as a swordsman during his invasions of Asmodean and Beelzenia, with the two forming a close friendship. However, when he became an obstacle to Arth's plans, he was willing to have him killed off.

Mariam Phutapie: One of Arth's subordinates. He relied on Mariam's skills in espionage and assassination, with the two forming a close friendship. However, when she became an obstacle to Arth's plans, he was willing to have her killed off.

ESSENCE: Arth's partner in his conspiracy. Although amused by her secretive ambitions, Arth held the mage in high regard for her magical prowess and ability to manipulate the vessels of virtue. The two initially had a close and confidental relationship, but after ESSENCE began acting of her own accord, Arth's approval of her and her actions began to drop; in particular, he disliked how the sorceress had possessed Riliane with the Angel of Chastity.