Laus Barn

Laus Barn (ラウス・バーン) is a major character in the spin-off "Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō Zero" series.

He was the former Commander of the Templar Knights before joining the Liberators. He was also the creator and caretaker of the Barn Labyrinth in the Divine Mountain.

Appearance
Laus is fairly young man, but looks much older than he is. He has a receding hairline and many wrinkles on his face.

Laus later shaves his head in order to hide his thinning hair.

Personality
Despite being taught to worship the Holy Church since his birth, Laus has doubts about following their doctrine. He is fully aware of how brutal they treat those that do not follow their teachings, and he is greatly disturbed by it. Even so, he believes that following the church's teachings is the best option for himself and those that he cares about.

Laus is very sensitive about his appearance. He gets upset whenever he is accused of looking much older than his actual age.

Biography
Laus was born into the influential Barn family of the Elbard Theocracy. He was discovered to be an Atavist at a young age, as well as in possession of Ancient Magic, and was indoctrinated into the Holy Church. Laus managed to rise through the ranks until he eventually became the commander of the church's templar knights. His father and 4 siblings were also members of the church, but each and everyone of them died at some point in time. Despite all of the time he worked for the church, and also his family being devout followers to their religion, Laus had severe reservations about its teachings. Even so, he choose to keep them to himself for fear of being branded a heretic and getting himself and those he cared about killed.

One day, Laus happened to come across the body of the divine priestess Belta Lievre after she had been tortured and executed for discovering the true nature of the church's god Ehit. Laus spontaneously decided to save her after he remembered once hearing her pray for humanity's freedom. He retrieved her body and revived her in an alleyway in the Theocracy. After successfully reviving Belta, Laus told her to run before he left her to fend for herself.

Years later, Laus was tasked with eliminating Meiru Melusine and her comrades due to her growing reputation as the "Saint of the Western Seas" seen as affront by the church. Laus brought 100 templar knights with him and attacked their base out in the ocean. Meiru and her forces were able to hold back against the templar knights, but overall, they were outmatched. Meiru was about the be killed by Laus, but was saved by the leader of the Liberators Miledi Reisen. Together with her comrades Oscar Orcus and Naiz Gruen Caliente, Miledi managed to help turn the tide of the battle, with Miledi herself fighting Laus. During their battle, Miledi expressed her desire to free the world from the gods' influence, to which Laus suddenly remembered Belta Lievre due to her having made a similar statement in the past, and suspected that the two of them knew each other. Laus was eventually overpowered by Miledi and decided to order his forces to retreat after several templar knights had been killed.

Relationships

 * Miledi Reisen - Laus was greatly influenced by Miledi's personality. Although she constantly annoyed him with her insults, Laus saw Melidi as an incarnation of freedom and started to believe that was possible to end the gods' rule over humanity after seeing her in action.
 * Ehit - Laus greatly resented Ehit after realizing that all the chain of events that he has witnessed was just a way for the mad god to find amusement.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Breastplate of Nullification - Standard for all templar knights. It has a barrier that nullifies magic.
 * Gauntlet of Nullification - Standard for all templar knights. It has a barrier that nullifies magic.
 * Iron Boots - Standard for all templar knights. It allows the wearer to walk mid-air.
 * Divine Arbiter - A mace Artifact which was the strongest Artifact that the Holy Church was in possession of. It possesses great strength, magic reflection properties, the ability to control its own weight as well the ability to unleash mana shockwaves when it strikes.

Physical Abilities

 * Expert Combatant - Laus is an incredibly skilled fighter. He has earned a reputation as the Holy Church's greatest warrior.

Magical Abilities

 * Immense Mana - Being born an Atavist with the ability to directly manipulate his mana, Laus has immense amount of mana, being able to cast a wide number of spells rapidly without becoming fatigued. He is even able to use his signature Spirit Magic to revive the dead.

Skills

 * Mana Manipulation - A skill to use magic without chants and magic circles.
 * Spirit Magic - An "Ancient Magic" originating from the "Age of Gods", which allows the user to manipulate the soul of a living being directly. It's possible to revive a living being back from the dead (time restriction applicable), or transfer the soul of a living being from one body to another, or even into a non-physical body as well, practically granting any living being immortality. The true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with the negative material possessed by living thing'. To be more specific, this magic could also interfere with things like energy inside the body that was magic power, heat, electricity, then thought, consciousness, memory. Those who have mastery over this magic can even create an artificial consciousness, and allow it to inhabit any body they wish.

Spells/Attacks
Spirit Magic
 * Soul Shock - A spell that bypasses all defense and strikes the soul directly.
 * Phantom - A spell that creates a fake soul to fool people's senses.
 * Solid Specter - A spell that let it’s user have an out-of-body experience. It separates the caster’s soul from their body, and let them then freely control their separated soul.