Albel Nox

Albel Nox is  a main anti hero from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and an Elicoorian swordsman from the Kingdom of Airyglyph. Also known by his title of Albel the Wicked for his cruelty, he is the leader of the Black Brigade, one of three branches of the Glyphian military forces.

In S.D. 748, Albel was born to an unnamed woman and Glou Nox. Albel's father was the captain of the Dragon Brigade, the wielder of the Sword of the Crimson Scourge, and a close supporter of King Airyglyph XIII's reformation.

Circa S.D. 739, at age 15, following in his father's footsteps, Albel wanted to become a knight and join the Dragon Brigade. However, during the Accession of the Flame ceremony, he was unable to release his own individual feelings and commune with the spirit of the Air Dragon that tested him. The dragons breathed their fury upon him. Albel would have died for his hubris, but his father shielded him with his own body and bore the brunt of the flames. Glou died, while Albel survived but lost his left arm.

As Glou was good friends with Count Woltar, the count came to look after the young Albel. Due to his talents in swordsmanship and one-on-one combat, Albel began to be compared with Duke Vox and to be rated rather highly by the king himself. Despite his young age, Albel was named the leader of the Black Brigade, and the commanding officer of Shelby and others.

Albel first encounters Fayt Leingod, Nel Zelpher, and Cliff Fittir at Airyglyph's Kirlsa Training Facility. However, he only mocks the group before deciding to leave without a fight and report the defeat of his political rival in the Airyglyph military.

Albel is next seen in the Bequerel Mountain Path, where he does in fact attack Fayt, Nel, and Cliff. After he is defeated, Fayt decides to spare his life with the same excuse used by Albel at the training facility ("Easy wins have never been my style"). Unfortunately for Albel, after letting the valuable engineer Fayt escape twice, Duke Vox claims that his repeated failure was because Albel was actually a traitor, rather than an incompetent. The ploy works, and Albel is imprisoned by the King of Airyglyph.

After the Vendeeni attack, Albel is pardoned and sent with Fayt, Cliff, Nel, and Maria Traydor's group as a representative of Airyglyph in the taming of The Marquis, the King of Dragons. If Fayt is sufficiently "nice" to Albel in a certain event, which is when you spend the night in Peterny before going to Urssa Lava Caves watch the event and when Albel asks if you hate him, you say no. Albel is one of the three characters from Elicoor II who may accompany Fayt on his initial journey to Moonbase and beyond, saying that he needed to find excitement somewhere else since the war is over and Vox is dead. If Albel is not acquired then, he may be recruited upon the return to Elicoor II considerably later in the game if Peppita Rossetti did not join Fayt's band. But in this case, Fayt must fight Albel one on one in order to recruit him. Woltar will say that Albel is in the caves where the group fought Crossel.

Either way that Albel is recruited, he rather "forces" himself into the group. If he is defeated at the Urssa Lava Caves, he seems to try and force himself into the group, automatically saying "All right fools. Let's go." before the others decide whether they want Albel or not. He can be accepted or rejected this time, but if Fayt defeats Albel a second time after rejecting him the first time, he truly forces himself into joining Fayt's group and becomes permanent, whether the player wants him or not.