Character sheet for Mother of Learning. The following contains spoilers.
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Protagonists
Zorian Kazinski
The main protagonist. He is a mage-in-training at the Cyoria Royal Academy who enters a time loop after being killed on the summer festival.
- The Ace: After years in the time loop, Zorian has become exceptionally skilled to the point where his contribution to the final battle is even greater than Zach's. He's still lacking in raw power, but works around it by building advanced magical items with their own power sources.
- Anti-Hero: Though relatively mild, Zorian focuses on being more pragmatic than the other time travelers in order to catch up, resulting in him dabbling in some forbidden fields of magic.
- Attack Animal: Zorian is a specialist in Golem making and often use them in fights. He also uses monsters he subdues with mind magic, or confined in a ball he will throw to his opponent.
- The Archmage: Zorian has no real specialty except for spell formulas and mind magic, which themselves are either ignored or extremely hard to master without naturally occurring ability like Zorian has. He makes up for this by honing his shaping skills.
- Badass Bookworm: Zorian had far more success in dealing with the invaders, than even Zach, simply by focusing more on theory and tricks.
- Bash Brothers: Is this with Zach. Him and Zach are a nigh unstoppable team together.
- Beware the Mind Reader: Mind magic is considered dangerous and criminal, often listed alongside Necromacy as a dark art. People are extremely cautious around Zorian when they know he's skilled in it, even when they don't know how good he is.
- Beehive Barrier: Zorian's favorite defensive spell.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: His relationship to his family is strained at the best of times. He’s constantly in conflict with his mother, hates his father, and dislikes his brothers to different degrees. The only member he actually likes is his little sister, though even she can be annoying.
- Celibate Hero: Although three girls have willingly gone on romantic dates, he avoids romance during the time loop.
- Lampshaded. He once had a crush on Taiven but due to him being stuck in a time loop for years, his emotions have mellowed, and he only wants to be friends with her. The two of them eventually go on a date in chapter 72.
- Character Development: Thanks to the time loop, Zorian realises his flaws, opened his eyes to his sister's situation, and generally becomes a friendlier and more approachable person.
- Clones Are People, Too: Our Zorian is technically a copy of the real one create by the power of the Sovereign Gate.
- Covert Pervert: A pretty tame example. Zorian has been shown to ogle his classmates, but he likes to be subtle about it, and it won’t take up his priorities.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite specializing in mind magic, being skilled in soul magic, and dabbling in blood magic, Zorian is one of the more morally upright people in the story.
- Deadpan Snarker: Zorian almost always has choice words for whatever situation he has been put in.
- Debt Detester: Zorian did everything he could to pay back the people who helped him inside the time loop.
- The Empath: Zorian has an inherent magic ability that allows him to sense the emotions of people around him.
- The Engineer: Zorian is a master artificer; at the end of the time loop he may be the best in this field, especially considering the advantages of his mental enhancements explained below.
- Everyone Has Standards: Zorian is shown to be very pragmatic, to the point of doing some pretty dubious things. He has also shown to not be the friendliest towards people. However, he does hold himself to a level of social etiquette and has never gone too far with his actions. He has shown to be both merciful and remorseful.
- The Fettered: Despite being in a time loop with no consequences, Zorian tries to refrain from amoral actions and upholds promises that the other party does not remember even at his own expense.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He and Damien are the responsible siblings to Fortov—and to a lesser extent Kirielle.
- Grand Theft Me: He was forced to steal the body of his original self because his own was destroyed during the process of escaping the false world.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Zach. That will happen when you go through an experience like the time loop together.
- Invisibility with Drawbacks: Can turn himself invisible with magic. However, if he moves too quickly or gets hurt, the spell boundary will break.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While rather mean and dismissive of people due to often being ignored and compared to his more charismatic brothers, Zorian has moments of kindness and goes out of his way to help people. He learns to be nicer and friendlier to people over time.
- Just Friends: Explicitly stated with Taiven, and invoked to a lesser extent with Raynie, Tinami, and Akoja.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Due to his past as the neglected son in a family of status seekers.
- The Lancer: Although the story is from his point of view, he's best described as Zach's Lancer. He's the blue oni to Zach's red. They are opposites in personalities but maintain a friendly rivalry. Where Zach is charismatic, Zorian is the mastermind. He would never betray Zach and although he may work behind his back and withhold information, it's only ever for Zach's good, never out of maliciousness. He also has an opposite fighting style to Zach what with Zach fighting with mana in an outright fight and Zorian using guns and golems.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: How Zorian deals with Red Robe, and Zach's contract with the angels. He creates a highly realistic illusionary world for both, to convince Zach that he's the only person left who remembers the time loop, which frees him from the angels' geas, and forces Red Robe to reveal all the contingencies he had prepared in the event of his death.
- Mage Marksman: Picks up firearms when his spells aren't enough to fight enemies. He later develops some magic bullets and enhancements.
- Mind Manipulation: Zorian is probably the best human in this field.
- Me's a Crowd: With the simulacrum spell.
- No Social Skills: Because of his latent empathy he was unable to stand being in a crowd, until the aranea taught him how to control his power.
- Older Than He Looks: Because of the time loop, but not as much as Zach.
- Only Sane Man: He finds himself in the company of a lot of eccentric people, and tends to fit this role.
- The Paranoiac: Zorian is very unwilling to trust anyone early on in the story. Justified due to being killed once when he warned someone of the invasion.
- Psychic Block Defense: Zorian learned to defend his mind with a permanent shield from several teacher, but mainly from Mind Like Fire.
- Pragmatic Hero: Zorian is extremely driven in his goals and will resort to mind raping people if they have information related to the invasion. However, he still feels guilty about this, even if the target was irredeemable. The angels specifically note that he would completely fail their ethical requirements for an agent because of this.
- Replacement Goldfish: Mild example. His parents attempted to groom Zorian into becoming the replacement heir in case Daimen dies after Fortov bombs his exams and nearly drops out of school. It didn't stick.
- Spanner in the Works: Completely demolishes Red Robe's plans by focusing on fields of magic that are more useful as well as recruiting powerful allies, something that Zach is unable to do successfully.
- Squishy Wizard: Most combat mages in the series work on their physical capabilities. Before the time loop, Zorian had little interest in working out his body and due to the nature of the time loop, he is unable to improve his strength.
- Super-Intelligence: His mind magic allows him to use several mental enhancements he developed thanks to his simulacrums. For example, in chapter 98, he proves he can visualize in an instant something he wants to make like a computer: "spotting a few possible flaws and failure points", "quickly went through a lengthy series of complicated calculations inside his head", "repeated the process several times, gradually refining the design". He can also decode a text in an instant as long as he knows the key, maintaining focus over long periods of time, has Photographic Memory...
- Teleport Spam: Fond of doing this in fights. Unfortunately, his mana reserves prevent him from using it too often.
- The Teetotaler: Zorian had some "bad experiences" with alcohol and now doesn't drink at all. Detective Haslush doesn't mind, and takes it as an opportunity to teach him some magical Discreet Drink Disposal.
- The Trickster: Uses magic tools like explosives and golems along with his mind magic to trick his enemies to secure a win.
- The Unchosen One: Zorian entering the time loop only happened because of a freak accident and as a result he does not have all of the abilities of a normal time traveler.
- The Unfavorite: Ignored by his parents and brothers for being less charismatic and sociable.
- Weak, but Skilled: Compared to many of the other characters, Zorian has low mana reserves. As a result, he is forced to be far more skillful at his spells and tricks in order to survive in a fight. This is best exemplified when he defeats Quatach-Ichl, something not even Zach could do.
- Wild Card: Red Robe controlled everything before he entered in the loop, but Zorian upended that.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Gets many complaints from his parents for having No Social Skills, especially compared to his brothers.
Zach Noveda
A classmate of Zorian. Zach is the main time traveler of the loop, and is indirectly responsible for bringing Zorian into it.
- The Ace: He has a lot of skills, and he’s certainly one of the greatest human combat mages in the world.
- Amnesiac Hero: Red Robe deleted parts of his memory.
- The Archmage: Due to spending decades in the time loop, he is one of the most skilled mages in the series, and had expertise in just about every type of magic. At the start of the series, he's already hit the cap on his magical reserves, which is roughly six times as great as Zorian's.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Zach’s favorite and most used strategy. Though it doesn’t always work, his skill as a combat mage makes it viable.
- Bargain with Heaven: He made one with Angels in a dream. That's how he got the marker and the blessing that increase his mana reserves.
- Big Fancy House: Lives in a mansion, though the size compared to the amount of people who live there make it a depressing atmosphere.
- Bash Brothers: With Zorian. Zach uses brute strength, and Zorian finesse.
- Beam Spam: Zach's favorite way of attacking people.
- Best Friend: To Zorian, over time.
- Blood Knight: Gets great pleasure from fighting all sorts of monsters, and dies quite a few times to an elder dragon. He also battles a hydra blessed with powers from the gods for fun.
- Book Dumb: Despite being a master mage, Zach hasn't spent any time in a library that also serves as a spell encyclopedia. In addition, Zach was a complete failure of a mage before the start of the time loop and barely passing his certification.
- Challenge Seeker: He loves nothing less than fighting a strong opponent.
- Chivalrous Pervert: He loves to ogle the ladies and had used the time loop to his advantage when it comes to dating them. However, he’s shown to have always gotten to know them as people and has never disrespected their boundaries.
- Combat Medic: He's skilled in medical spells.
- The Chosen One: Zach is the original owner of the marker that lets him retain his memories in the time loop.
- The Ditz: Although he’s far from stupid, he has shown moments where doesn’t think things through. He was especially ditzy pre-time loop.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Zorian really only have the timeloop in common. It's enough.
- Fostering for Profit: His legal guardian, Tesen Zveri, has stolen nearly everything the Noveda family had. By the end of the story, his main goal in life is to restore his family fortune.
- Friendly Rivalry: Has one with his fellow time traveler Zorian about who can master new spells faster.
- Genius Ditz: Zach has spent years perfecting his magic and growing to have ungodly skill, but still acts like an idiot and fails to notice even the most terrible attempts of deception.
- Leeroy Jenkins: He rushes into battle without a plan or preparation.
- Magic Enhancement: As a part of the contract he received a blessing that doubles his mana reserves, and allow him to store and regenerate more mana without hurting his shaping skills.
- Master of All: Zach is so skilled in all areas of magic that Zorian considers him skilled in his own specialities.
- Me's a Crowd: With the simulacrum spell.
- Nice Guy: Zach is a basically decent person in every respect. It's the main reason the angels chose him to be the Controller.
- Older Than He Looks: Chronologically, he is in his late forties, but the time loop makes his body around 15-16. He still acts more like a teenager than Zorian does.
- One-Man Army: Zach is capable of taking on entire waves enemies with no support of any kind.
- Psychic Block Defense: Zach's defenses were already good at the start of the story and he improved them further on Zorian's recommandation.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Although he has impressive abilities, his basics are rather shaky. Xvim makes some rather scathing comments about it, and he's noticably more effective after he trains him.
- Seen It All: The majority of Zack's behavior in the loops can be explained as him having Seen It All. He spent a dozen resets learning to fight and kill a dragon for the novelty of that experience. He mastered frivolous magical feats and would tell different people about the time loop to enjoy their attention and be able to have real conversations because being the only person who can remember is lonely. After living the same month for decades, there was no reason to take precautions because he knew exactly who the threats were on a day-to-day basis. Once he realizes other time travelers exist and are threats to him, he drops (most of) his Genius Ditz persona and becomes Properly Paranoid, spending dozens of resets in hiding."But you know, I understand," Zach continued. "I got played like a drum by that red robed fucker that's looping along with us. He messed with my mind and was probably monitoring me somehow–"
"You're sure he's not doing it right now, right?" Zorian cut in with a question.
"I know how to shield myself from tracking magic, Zorian," Zach said frostily. "Better than you, I imagine. It's just that I usually didn't bother with it, since I thought I was the only person aware of the time loop, so why bother? Ever since that night, though, I've been layering non-detection spells on myself constantly. The asshole hasn't managed to track me down once in all this time. I doubt anyone can." - Skilled, but Naive: While very strong, Zach can be easily taken out if taken unaware due to his easygoing personality.
- Sole Survivor: Of Noveda family.
- Strong and Skilled: Lampshaded and averted. Despite having massive mana reserves that should cripple his spell casting ability, Zach manages to become an amazing Archmage. When it come to shaping skill however, Zach has nearly reached the max of his shaping skills, taking 30 years to do so, while Zorian has reached his level in 5 and nowhere near his max level because his mana reserve are low.
Zach and Zorian's group
Xvim Chao
A teacher at the Cyoria Royal Academy. He serves as a mentor for Zorian and Zach and specializes in magical defense.
- Almighty Janitor: Xvim poses as a simple teacher that teaches defense against magic, but is in fact more skilled in various fields of magic than other specialists.
- The Archmage: A master of many fields of magics. It is implied that Xvim is even better than Zach in quite a few fields of magic. The only reason that he doesn't have this as an official title is because very few people know of him, and he prefers it that way.
- Cynical Mentor: Xvim's impossibly-high standards are an act... but not by much. He's also generally willing to at least suggest amoral solutions to Zorian's problems.
- The Paranoiac: It was very difficult for Zorian to win his confidence, fortunately Xvim had prepare a secret code for the case where someone would tried to alter his memory.
- Properly Paranoid: He never lets his psychic defenses drop, and generally has a huge number of contingencies planned. As we see, there are, in fact, numerous psychics (both relatively benign, like Zorian, and outright dangerous, like the cranium rats) that would exploit him in various ways if he didn't.
- Psychic Block Defense: He's a master in this field.
- Stern Teacher: That's why no one want him as Mentor.
- Trickster Mentor: A mild example. Xvim acts as one in order to test his students' dedication, but drops this act after the first or second month. Unfortunately for Zorian, Xvim doesn't drop his act until he reaches a certain level due to being in a month long time loop.
- Weak, but Skilled: According to the author his mana reserves are average, but on the higher end of that category. Compared to Alanic, Zach, or Quatach-Ichl, Xvim is lacking in sheer strength. However he makes up for it with enough shaping skills to impress even the millennia old lich.
Alanic Zosk
A warrior-priest specializing in fighting necromancers.
- The Atoner: It is implied he had a Dark and Troubled Past, considering how knowledgeable he is about forbidden magics, and what Silverlake said.
- Doom Magnet: Because Sudomir planed to kill him, he always die at the begining of the time loop.
- Fire Purifies: One of his spell make a fire that grow stronger by absorbing the energy of chained souls to destroy more undead, and finally released them.
- Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Alanic has many connections, among Eldemar authorities, the Saintly Church, mercenaries...
- Living Lie Detector: Like a lot of priest, Alanic can tell if someone is lying or not by looking their souls, however it's not effective on people who know soul magic and can control their auras.
- Playing with Fire: He's a specialist of fire magic, to the point he can make fire that only burn what he want.
- Sergeant Rock: How he trained Zach and Zorian.
- Warrior Monk: Alanic is very upfront about his faith and a dedicated hunter of necromancers and the undead."Not every religious order is about peace and forgiveness. And even those that are usually make exceptions for self-defense, in practice if not in theory."
Daimen Kazinski
Zorian's eldest brother, a famous mage and an adventuring archeologist.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: He's a famous archaeologist.
- Chick Magnet: Many girls fall for him.
- Child Prodigy: Even before he became famous, Daimen was skilled enough to use spells that he shouldn't be allowed to even know, to Zorian's misfortune.
- The Empath: Like Zorian, however since his gift is less developed than his younger brother he didn't suffer the drawbacks.
- Famed In-Story: Known across the nation for his skill at magic from a young age.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The timeloop Daimen sacrifices his life to give Zorian a chance to escape.
- Innocently Insensitive: Isn't aware that he's a complete failure as an older brother.
- Jerkass: Both Zorian and Kirielle agree that Daimen is both mean and uncaring to his siblings. He starts growing out of this when they make it clear to him how badly he's failed them.
- Would Hurt a Child: In the past, Daimen has tested a variety of his spells on a young Zorian, traumatizing him in the process.
Kael Tverinov
A Morlock who recently join the Cyoria Royal Academy in third year.
- Alchemy Is Magic: His field of study.
- Child Prodigy: He was a young prodigy and his mother-in-law needed a disciple. After her death, he was talent-spotted by the Academy.
- Circle of Friendship: It was him who recommanded Alanic, Lukav and many others killed by Sudomir, to Zorian.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: He has a feminine voice and look.
- Good Parents: For his daughter Kana.
- People of Hair Color: In the past Morlock were a race of underground humans with barbaric customs, like sacrificing people to their gods. They're all white-haired blue-eyed.
Taiven
A friend of Zorian as well as a recent graduate of the Cyoria Royal Academy. She plans on becoming a professional battle mage.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Fits this trope to a T. Taiven enjoys dragging Zorian on adventures with her team.
- Can't Catch Up: Over the story she goes from Zorian's mentor in the combat arts and the person he goes to when he wants backup, to being essentially negligable. In the cases when she's aware of this, she is NOT happy.
- The Lad-ette: Enjoys fights as well as partying.
- The Nicknamer: She almost never use someone real name. For example she called Zorian "Roach", because they are resistants.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Her parents try to stop her from taking any risks. Considering she'd die without Zorian's help, they're not wrong.
- Strong, but Unskilled: Taiven is a very well-trained user of battle magic, but she is still young and has limited experience. As a result, compared to mid to late story Zorian, many of her attacks are straight forward and destructive.
Silverlake
A centuries old eccentric witch.
- Alchemy Is Magic: She's the best in this field, she was even able to stop her body from aging. Zach and Zorian relied on her a lot, since there many things only she could do.
- The Archmage: Silverlake is skilled in a lot of rare and esoteric magic, even dimensionalism and soul magic.
- Child Prodigy: According to her.
- Dangerous Deserter: Since the chances of escaping the time loop were too low, she choosed to accept the deal with the Primordial, and asked him to make her young again, and immortal.
- Evil Counterpart: Her original and her fight because they couldn't trust each other.
- Familiar: She's soulbound with a raven, appropriate for a witch.
- Immortality Seeker: She's afraid of death, which is why she can't use the simulcarum spell.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Invoked by Zorian in their last fight, who makes her fight the spider she sent him to kill so many times in the time loop. She also gets a taste of her own Chronic Backstabbing Disorder when she gets stabbed in the back by her alternate self, who knows herself well enough to realize there's no other option.
- Magic Cauldron: Though she mastered modern alchemy, she know when the old methods are better.
- The Paranoiac: She doesn't trust anyone, except her raven maybe.
- Really 700 Years Old: But unfortunately it took her a lot of time to discover how to stop aging, she has the Age Without Youth. That's why she experiments to find an Elixir of Life.
- Token Evil Teammate: Even before she betrays everyone, she's very clearly the most evil member of the heroes' team.
- The Unfettered: She will do anything to live forever. Anything.
- Wicked Witch: She may be the last of her kind.
Araneas
Common to all:
- Giant Spider: Araneas are an intelligent species of giant spiders.
- Matriarchy: Their species is dimorphic, males are smaller, pretty much subsentient, and not consider as real araneas. Each web is ruled by a matriarch.
- Heel–Face Turn: There is a lot of evidence that the species was considerably less moral in the past.
- Mind Manipulation: They're all masters of mind magic, which also include Telepathy, Psychic Radar, Empathy...
- Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: From Mind Like Fire:"Our names are all of similar length, but since our languages are so different, it is often hard to translate certain concepts without ending up rather verbose. Though in my opinion, many araneas also enjoy making the translation as grandiose-sounding as possible."
- Theme Naming: Araneas seem to choose their names according to their personalities.
Cyoria's Web
Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter
The first Aranea Zorian meets, and Matriarch of Cyoria's Web
- The Chessmaster: She planned to best Zorian, if possible.
- The Good King: For her web.
- Killed Off for Real: At least, the version of her that exists in the fake world. Red Robe manages to permanently eject her soul from the time loop, so no matter how many times Zorian comes back, he'll only find her empty body. The version of her that exists in the real world, on the other hand, is still alive and well and even plays a key role in helping set up Zorian's final gambit against Red Robe.
- Moral Myopia: Is, however, distinctly pragmatic when dealing with outsiders.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When she taught to Zorian, despite the fact it was not easy to work with him.
- Super-Intelligence: Zorian noted she's a master of mental enhancements, even among araneas.
Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty
A young member of Cyoria's Web and one of Zorian's teachers
- Constantly Curious: Like her name implied, Zorian felt she's like a second Kirielle.
- The Cutie: Apart from the Giant Spider part.
- Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: To Zorian.
- Spiders Are Scary: Unfortunately for her, since she really want befriend with humans.
River Navigators
Mind Like Fire
One of the most important Zorian's mind magic teacher who taught him the basics.
- Stern Teacher: She's severe and Zorian acknowledge how a good teacher she is, that's why he accepted all conditions of her web.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: She really shouldn't have told an experienced mage to hit her as hard as he can, even if he is only a beginner in mind magic.
Civilians
Fortov Kazinski
Zorian's second oldest brother, a fourth year at the Cyoria Royal Academy
Kirielle Kazinski
Zorian's 9 year old sister.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: One for Zorian. Notable since she seem to only acts this way to Zorian, the only sibling who is willing to put up with her antics. She's also Constantly Curious.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: She cannot keep a secret to save her life.
- The Gift: She has a gift for drawing.
- Good Morning, Crono: Jumps on Zorian at the beginning of every loop.
- Gut Feeling: In one iteration she realises her brother was not the same, too kind, too talented... and tried to dumped a bucket of cold water on him when he was asleep to see if he's a face-changer.
- I Just Want to Be Free: She acts out mostly because her mother refuses to let her draw, study, and forced her into an Arranged Marriage.
Andir and Cikan Kazinski
Zorain's father and mother.
- Abusive Parents: Of the emotional variety. They're both obsessed with their social status and therefore only care about their children in terms of what benefit they can get. They treat Zorian as The Unfavorite because he's not charismatic like his brothers, and Cikan refuses to let her daughter pursue her dreams or indulge in her hobbies.
- Freudian Excuse: Cikan's mother is a witch, so she grew up ostracized and having people spread malicious rumors about her. That's why she's so desperate to climb the social ladder. It's also why she refuses to let Kirielle learn magic, because witches believe that their magic is passed on through the female line, so Cikan doesn't want to give anyone an excuse to treat her daughter the same way she was treated.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Both of them want Zorian to be more of a social butterfly, and Andir specifically insults Zorian over not being masculine enough for his tastes.
Ibery Ambercomb
A fourth year at the Cyoria Royal Academy. She works as the assistant librarian.
- Magic Librarian: Serves as an assistant librarian at the academy library.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Is hopelessly in love with Fortov despite him being dismissive and outright hurting her by pushing her into poisonous plants in the final days of the month.
- Stalker with a Crush: Isn't as innocent in the poisonous plants affair as it first seems.
Raynie
A classmate of Zach and Zorian at the Cyoria Royal Academy
- The Clan: She was very proud of her shifter clan until they decide to get rid of her.
- Dude Magnet: Zach called her "our resident red-headed goddess", no wonder she got a lot of love confessions and date invitations.
- Fiery Redhead: According to Zorian she politely rejected every man who tried to court her, "except that time she punched a guy in the face because he was a little more grabby than was proper".
- Heir Club for Men: The whole reason she's in Cyoria is because her father wanted her younger brother to be heir to their clan, despite the fact that she had been trained for the role all her life. She's more than a little bitter about it.
- New Transfer Student: She was transferred in their class the year prior the time loop.
- Parental Abandonment: Her parents decided to exile her to Cyoria because they want her little brother to become the heir of the clan.
- Shapeshifting: She's a wolf shifter, and has Super-Senses even in her human form.
- Thicker Than Water: She literally shed her blood to power the spell that'll help her find and save her little brother, though she doesn't really like him.
- Wanted a Son Instead: Her father wanted a male heir and exiled her to Cyoria to replace her with her brother.
Tinami Aope
A classmate of Zach and Zorian at the Cyoria Royal Academy, and descendant of the Noble House Aope.
- Bait-and-Switch: She's from a family known for dark magic and political ambition, has been trained accordingly and likes creepy pets. She happens to be quite shy, friendly and very helpful.
- Friend to Bugs: She loves spiders and spider-like monsters.
- Mind Manipulation: She's only a beginner in this field (by Zorian's standards), and she's not "Open" like he is.
- The Social Expert: She know a lot about politics and politicians.
Akoja Stroze
A classmate of Zach and Zorian at the Cyoria Royal Academy, and class representative.
- Class Representative: As she said, because she was stupid enough to accept the role.
- Ship Tease: It's implied a few times that she has a crush on Zorian, but nothing ever comes of it.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: To Zorian, like her mother she would have preferred him to have more social skills.
Invaders
Quatach-Ichl
The leader of Ulquaan Ibasa.
- Affably Evil: Jovial, charming, polite, reasonable, and a war criminal and mass murderer.
- The Archmage: He's amazing and knowledgeable about all field of magic, even the most eclectics, like mind magic, soul magic, divination, dimensionalism, time-magic...
- Artifact of Power: He possesses the Crown of the First Emperor, an unique divine artifact that allows one to store his own mana, increasing his already insane reserve. It is also a part of the key needed to unlock the Sovereign Gate.
- Bling of War: His usual appearance, the one he use to intimidate peoples, is a black skeleton, wreathed in sickly green light, and Glowing Eyelights of Undeath. He wears a gold-decorated armor, a scepter and a crown full of purple gemstones.
- The Chessmaster: He planned to weaken Eldemar to make Falkrinea win the next continental war he foresees.
- Combat Pragmatist: He has no problems with using nasty tricks and surprise attacks.
- Create Your Own Hero: Ironically, it he was the one who (accidentally) added Zorian in the time loop, and it's mostly thanks to his superior skills and knowledge that Zorian was finally able to escape the fake world.
- Dem Bones: As a lich he manifests as an animated skeleton, and doesn't need to eat or breath.
- Disintegrator Ray: One of his favorites attack.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- He may be leading an invasion intended to kill tens or hundreds of thousands of people, but he has a clear foreign policy aim in doing so; he doesn't approve of Red Robe's plans for mass slaughter and chaos.
- He also warns Zorian when Red Robe is targeting his family, though he does have ulterior motives.
- Evil Sorcerer: He has no problems to capture souls and use them as batteries, or to make undead.
- Evil Virtues: He checks a lot of them, if not all, except love maybe. Most notably:
- He's honorable almost to a fault and will keep any deals he makes unless he's betrayed or cheated first; near the end, he also warns Zorian that his family is in danger from Red Robe, though he admits he has ulterior motives for this.
- He displays considerable Villainous Valor; while some of this is just the result of how hard he is to kill, when he realizes he's a duplicate inside the time loop, he doesn't hesitate to detonate his soul in order to benefit his main self outside the loop.
- He seems to genuinely believe in his long-term goals and ideology, as shown by his willingness to sacrifice his life for an alt-self; this is contrasted notably with Silverlake, whose alternate selves inevitably betray each other when given the chance.
- Glamour: When he needs, he takes the appearance of an elegant man with expensive-looking suit.
- The Heavy: He serves as the most visible and obvious lynchpin of the villains for most of the story, and is fought the most frequently due to his tendency to immediately attack anyone who interferes too much with the invasion at the end of the loop combined with the need to gain his crown in order to escape it.
- I Gave My Word: As he said: "I'm an honorable lich, only ruthless to my enemies, and I pride myself on my fair and honest dealing with others". In the story he always keeps his words unless he's betrayed first, which Zach and Zorian take advantage of.
- Hidden Depths: In one iteration where they manage to bargain for some training from him, Zorian notes that he's the best teacher he has ever had.
- Immortality Seeker: He explained that he intends to live forever.
- Karma Houdini: While the invasion is thwarted and he loses his incredibly valuable crown, Quatach-Ichl gets off far lighter than the other two main villains and even gets part of what he wanted out of the attack (a war between Ulquaan Ibasa and Eldemar, which destroys his political opponents' hopes for rapprochement.)
- Lack of Empathy: He's famous for his brutality, as he said he's from a different age and "find modern sentimentality in regards to war casualties insincere, hypocritical and faintly disgusting".
- Lightning Bruiser: His skeleton body is made with a near-indestructible black metal, and can display inhuman speed and strength.
- Living Legend: He's a millennia-old lich who played a major role in history. He was a General during the Necromancer's War. As Zorian said he's famous for his honorable behavior, great magical skill, and brutality in warfare.
- Magic Enhancement: Like Zach he received a blessing that double his mana reserves, and allow him to store and regenerate more mana without hurting his shaping skills.
- Me's a Crowd: With the simulacrum spell, although he doesn't use it that often.
- Noble Demon: From a certain point of view. He always keeps his word (unless he decides he's been betrayed or cheated first), and Zorian notes that he does actually have a code of honor. The problem is that his moral system is a thousand years old and from a far, far more brutal era, which makes him seem like a murderous psychopath to most people today. At one point Zorian tells him that he is famed for his honorable behavior, his great magical skill, and for brutality in warfare; Quatach-Ichl takes all three as a complement.
- One-Man Army: He proves it many times, he may be the World's Strongest Man, if we exclude transcendent beings like Angels...
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Saruwata Merenptah.
- Playing Both Sides: A subtle example; while he seems like part of the Big Bad Duumvirate and The Heavy for much of the story, he avoids binding himself completely to any side and is careful to play potential future enemies off against each other. He completely refuses to make a Deal with the Devil with a primordial, regardless of rewards, and unlike Red Robe, he works to keep his grudge with Zorian from becoming too personal, even warning Zorian when Red Robe tries to target his family. This is a big part of the reason why he ends up as a Karma Houdini.
- Psychic Block Defense: As one of the best mages, he naturally has great mental defences, although Zorian noted that he has become a bit dull, probably because he didn't have any enemies good enough in this field.
- Resurrective Immortality: As a Lich the only way to kill him is to destroyed his phylactery, but Zorian and Zach were unable to find it, even with the advantages of the time loop.
- The Strategist: He's not only the World's Strongest Man, he also has a keen tactical mind to find the most effective way to deal with any situation, and more experience than anyone.
- Suicide Attack: In one iteration, he realises he was trapped in a time loop, and decide to blow his own soul up to kill Zorian and Zach. It only failed because Zorian interrupted the iteration just in time, and it still managed to leave lasting injuries.
- Super-Speed: When needed, he uses a time accelerator spell on himself to move faster, this is only possible because he has insane mana reserves.
- Teleport Spam: How he controls the battlefield.
- Thinking Up Portals: It was him who find a way to adapt "Bakora Gates" to human magic, unfortunately for him, the time loopers stole the conception.
- Villainous Valor: When he realizes he's a copy, he doesn't hesitate to detonate his soul in an effort to take out Zorian and Zach.
- Villains Never Lie: His reputation of honesty is what make people trusting him despite the fact his brutality and the fact he has no problems to target civilians.
Red Robe
The third time traveler who knows the true purpose of the time loop as well as being heavily involved in the invasion.
- Ambition Is Evil: He was a simple lawyer who had his birthright stolen, and now he wants to be King, no matter the means.
- Amoral Attorney: Played with. He is both evil and a lawyer, but not at the same time. He was led to evil from his rage about corruption in the legal system.
- The Chessmaster: He's the reason why the invasion is as successful as it is, and the one who manipulates Zach to focus on less important tasks. However, Zorian outdoes him by being a complete and utter outside variable and a better planner and more skilled user of some field of magic.
- Deal with the Devil: With Quatach-Ichl and the Primordial, to leave the time loop.
- The Faceless: Wears a blood red robe that makes his face look like a featureless patch of darkness.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Before the time loop, he was a completely insigificant lawyer from a fallen family. When Zorian reads his original self's mind, he finds absolutely nothing noteworthy there whatsoever.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: As revealed at the end of Arc 2, instead of trying to fight other time-travelers, Red Robe exited the time loop shortly after his confrontation with Zorian at the end of Arc 1.
- Made of Iron: He has an enhanced body and was able to take 2 bullets to the chest and move around completely fine.
- Me's a Crowd: With the simulacrum spell.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Since his identity was unknown for most of the story, Zorian simply calls him "Red Robe." His actual identity is Jornak Dokochin.
- Sore Loser: He worked hard to kill as many people as possible and ruin the lives of Zach and Zorian in case he lost.
- Succession Crisis: Like Zach and Veyers, his inheritance was stolen with the complicity of the authorities.
- The Unfettered: Part of what makes him so dangerous is his willingness to do anything to achieve his goals; this also allowed him to master soul magic in the time loop, when both Zorian and Zach refused to do the evil things that would be necessary for it.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Was originally one. By the end he's utterly evil and deluded.
Sudomir Kandrei
The mayor of Knyazov Dveri, and owner of "Iasku Mansion".
- Affably Evil: He's always polite even calling Zorian "my dear uninvited guest".
- Creepy Housekeeper: Of "Iasku Mansion", a Haunted House located somewhere in an uninhabited forest.
- Deal with the Devil: Quatach-Ichl promised to turn his wife's Damaged Soul into a lich in exchange for his help.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: He want legalize necromancy for himself and his wife since he planned to become a lich too.
- Love Makes You Evil: From what Zorian discovered :"Sudomir was an unscrupulous necromancer even before then, but it was only after his wife contracted the Weeping and passed away that he'd really lost it."
- Mad Scientist: He made many horific experiments, like implanting human souls in animals...
- Mayor Pain: Sudomir had an excellent reputation among the people he governed, the city and citizens became richer thanks to him.
- Necromancer: Sudomir had countless undead he made to protect his mansion.
- One-Winged Angel: Through his experiments he gain the ability to shift into a mix of a Dragon and a Troll, he used it when Zorian finally managed to corner him after several loops. He doesn't control this form however, it activate when he loses his temper.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: He sacrificed many shifters children to get their primordial essence.
- Sleazy Politician: He completely fit the trope.
- Unwanted Revival: He kept the soul of his lost wife as a warding for Iasku Mansion.
- Weapon of Mass Destruction: He built a bomb that could release wraths, beings made of tormented souls. It is a part of his plan to legalize necromancy.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: "Iasku Mansion" is like an antlion pit for the souls of anyone die near to it, with enough room for more than one million.
