Laus Barn/Biography

History
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 four siblings were also members of the church, but each and everyone of them died at some point in time. He also married a woman named Debra and had three children with her, with two of them having been taken in by the church. 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.

In Volume 2, 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. Before confronting Meiru's forces, Laus visited the outlaw city of Andika using his astral projection in order to inform its ruler Baharl Devault of the church's mission, and to give him a message from the pope about reminding him of where his true loyalties should lie. Despite Laus not understanding the true nature of the message, Baharl knew full well that the pope was aware of the secret that he had kept from 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.

Laus later met with Meiru after she expelled a faint trace of her mana that was weak enough for only him to detect. She asked Laus to have the church's support in her bid to take over Andika from Baharl since they were the true rulers of it. Laus was sceptical at first, but decided to consider her proposal after she claimed that she was much more valuable than Baharl due to her being in possession of Ancient Magic as well. Laus was also shocked after learning from Meiru that Miledi and her comrades were not a part of her pirate crew, but rather affiliated with an organization that was dedicated to overthrowing the gods. Having all the facts laid out before him, Laus decided to give Meiru his answer after consulting about it with his superiors. The following morning, Laus told her that the church would support her coup, but only after he and his knights would first appear and abduct Baharl's daughter Diene due to her status as an Atavist (unaware that she was also Meiru's half-sister, as well as the reason she wanted to rule over Andika). Meiru and her forces decided to attack Andika before the church could make their move. While the pirates, Miledi and Oscar caused a riot throughout the city, Meiru and Naiz would rescue Diene in her hidden room deep underneath the city. Unfortunately, Diene had already been take away by her father when they arrived. Laus appeared before them soon after and demanded why she did not wait for the church to complete their mission, as per their agreement. He then realized that rescuing Diene was Meiru's true goal and deduced that the two of them were related. Laus resolved himself to kill the pirates in the name of Ehit. Just then, Miledi suddenly appeared behind Laus after Naiz created a portal for her to cross. She attempted to attack him, but soon discovered that she was was actually facing his astral projection. Laus then returned to his physical body after proclaiming that he would bring divine justice on all his enemies. Miledi and Naiz appeared before the templar knights as she began her second fight with Laus. Melidi had managed to hold back Laus, as well as killing several more of his knights. Their battle was interrupted, however, when a giant monster, known as "The Divine Beast Leviathan", had been released from its seal. Miledi left the battle in order prevent Andika from sinking after its seal on the Leviathan had been undone and had Oscar hold back the knights. Oscar had managed to kill more knights thanks to his array of powerful Artifacts. When Laus confronted Oscar, he asked where Miledi came up with the phrase about living in a free world, to which Oscar told him that she inherited it from the late Belta Lievre. Upon realizing that Belta had died, Laus lost the will to fight due to the sorrow he felt from learning what happened to the girl he rescued years ago. Oscar then left Laus in order to help Miledi fight the Leviathan. Laus and his forces ceased their engagement until the Liberators' fight with the monster was finished. After Miledi and the others successfully killed the monster, Laus ordered his knights to retreat after witnessing the Liberators' full power in action, as well as the fact that his knights had been reduced to one fifth of their initial numbers due to their previous battles. Before they retreated, however, Oscar attempted to ask Laus about his relation to Belta, but Laus quickly cut him off by reaffirming his status as a templar knight that served Ehit.

After retreating from his failed mission, Laus returned to the church's main cathedral and reported to the pope about his encounter with the Liberators. Expecting to be punished for his failure, the pope decided to not reprimand him and acted as if it was no concern to him, much to Laus' shock. As he was leaving the pope's chambers, Laus met up with the Apostle Ahat (who was disguised as Baharl's subordinate Ace). Laus recognized the face she was wearing after seeing Ace in Andika, but quickly dropped the subject after becoming disturbed by Ahat due to not sensing a soul insider her. Laus' brief encounter with Ahat caused him to critically think about the recent chains of events that had transpired and came to the disturbing conclusion that all the death and destruction was just a means for Ehit to find amusement.

In Volume 3, Laus met with the other leaders of the Holy Church to discuss their defeat at Andika. While everyone was convening for the meeting, several members, such as Head Cardinal Baran Distark and Templar Knight's Forth Division Commander Morcus Greant expressed their critique of Laus and believed him to be the reason for their loss, while others like First Division Commander Lilith Arkind and Paragons of Light Commander Mulm Allridge stood up for Laus. Soon afterwords, Pope Lucifer arrived and presented with him a woman named Ainz Arsalk that he claimed was Ehit's chosen oracle. Ainz then proceeded to tell the leadership of the church about the members of the Liberators that were in possession of Ancient Magic, as well as revealing the location of one of the last remaining within the beastman nation, the Haltina Republic that was located in Pale Forest. Lucifer then ordered the church to wage war on the republic in order to capture the person with Ancient Magic and bring them to their cathedral, to which Laus would be a part of. After the meeting, Lucifer and Ainz met with Laus in private and revealed that the other person in possession of Ancient Magic was among the Demons. Furthermore Lucifer explained that this revelation would lead to an eventually outbreak of war between the two races, much to Laus' surprise, and claimed that it was the Demon's Lord's existence itself that was what drove his people to war. Lucifer then confided his confidence in Laus to be able to bring the church victory when such as event would occur. Laus was hesitant after hearing such a revelation, but vowed to give it everything he had for when such a war would occur. As Lucifer left Laus, Ainz approached him and and told him that everything has occurred to Ehit's will and that Laus must cary out his duties for their god. A confused merely reaffirmed his commitment to serving the church before Ainz took off.

Once Laus completed his duties for the day, he returned to him home and was greeted by his personal knight Reinheit Ashe. After noticing the fatigue on Laus' face, Reinheit asked him if he was alright, but Laus assured him that he was fine while expressing his opinion that he was just getting soft. Reinheit attempted to cheer Laus up by affirming his belief that Laus was still strong and the two headed for the entrance to Laus's home. Once Laus entered inside, he was cheerfully greeted once more by his youngest son Sharm, who stayed up late in order to see his father. A moment later, Laus' wife Ricolis and his mother Debra approached him and also welcomed him home. As Laus' family was having dinner, his wife and mother addressed his refusal to have another wife in order to give birth to more children that would serve the church and Ehit. Sharm attempted to diffuses the tension by brining up another topic, but was stopped by his grandmother. Laus, however encouraged his son to speak up and the two discussed about Sharm's lessons from school. During the conversation, Sharm asked his father if certain Demons were actually being good people in spite of the church teaching its followers that they were the enemies of their god. This immediately shocked Sharm's family, and while Ricolis was angered at Sharm, Laus encouraged his son to speak up by asking what encouraged him to ask such a question. Sharm explained that he hoped that the Demons were good so that both they and Humans would not have to fight each other after years of constant warfare until the rise of the current Demon Lord Rasul Alva Igdol. Laus got angered after hearing this rational, but was not upset because of his son's way of thinking; rather it was having come to the realization that Ehit had always orchestrated the ongoing wars between the Humans and Demons. This display of anger scared Sharm and the rest of his family, but Laus came back to his senses and assured his son that he was not mad at him. He even went further as to agree with Sharm's wish that the Demon Lord was a good person.