Vincent Vollachia

''This page is about the character. For the story arc, see Arc 8.''

Vincent Vollachia (ヴィンセント・ヴォラキア), also temporarily known by the alias Abel (アベル), is the seventy-seventh Emperor of the Sacred Vollachia Empire. Debuting in the main story at the beginning of Arc 7, he stepped down from his position and fled the Imperial Capital of Lupugana after a coup d'état was sprung against him by Prime Minister Berstetz Fondalfon and supposed conspirator Chisha Gold, the Fourth ranking Divine General.

In actuality, Vincent attempted to lay down his own life for the benefit of his country by preventing the Great Disaster, an incident foretold to commence with the death of “Vincent Vollachia”, from bringing ruination to the Empire. He later reassumed his position as Emperor after Chisha used his ability to take on Vincent's own appearance and die in his place.

Appearance
Vincent is a young and very handsome man in his early to mid twenties. He has relatively short black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes which emit an aura of high intelligence. With a pale complexion, he gives off a sense of fragility if one was to quickly glance at him but when in his presence, Vincent's charisma emits an overpowering sense of dread and power that makes even the finest of soldiers cower in fear. As noted by Subaru, when first laying eyes on him, one cannot help but to feel like kneeling down before him.

Vincent is dressed in a long, red, and elegant coat with its collar and the front edges being black. The coat's edges are gold in colour, just like the buttons on the front and on the coat's sleeves. On its left side, there's an insignia which has a defiant wolf impaled by swords, which is also the Empire of Vollachia's coat of arms. Underneath his coat, Vincent can be seen wearing a grey tuxedo, and underneath that, a white long-sleeved shirt can clearly be visible. Vincent does not wear any special ornaments or jewelry as he doesn't seem to like being seen as ostentatious. Additionally, there are black feathers with red tips on his left shoulder, similarly to what Stride Vollachia was shown to wear.

When he and Subaru first met one another at the start of Arc 7, Vincent covered his face with a rag, concealing his face and identity. Only his dark brown eyes were visible. After removing the rag and revealing his identity to Subaru, he donned a red mask that resembled an Oni. It covered the top half of his face and had two large horns protruding from the top of it. According to Vincent, the mask possesses the ability to conceal one's identity, making it a far more effective way of hiding his identity than the tattered rags he resorted to using before obtaining the Oni mask.

While he participated in the bloodless seizure of Guaral, Vincent dressed as a dancer while under the alias Bianca with Subaru's help. He wore crimson and black clothing, black and golden ornaments, a few pieces of jewelry, a light purple cloth wrapped around his waist, makeup applied by Subaru and fine-tuned by himself, and used a long, black braided wig adorned adorned with a floral decoration.

Personality
Vincent is shown to be extremely prideful. He is shown to be cold and has little superficial compassion and mercy for the people who haven't earned it, but despite that, one cannot call him a bad leader as he's loved by some and feared by a majority of his subjects. Even when visibly worn out, wounded and on death's door, his people bowed their heads and knelled before him and no one dared to look at him with even a hint of pity or any other negative emotion. Perhaps one of his most important virtues is his rationality and his ability to make very quick decisions which almost always turn out in his favour, no matter the odds. As mentioned above, Vincent is very cold and lacks unnecessary compassion for his soldiers as in Vollachia, everything and everyone is owned by the Emperor. Despite the overwhelming political power he has, he's very resourceful and does not treat people's lives as possessions. Having said that, he had no problems in ordering one of his guards to chop off his own head. (despite Balleroy Temeglyph later explaining how the knight would not have left the hall with his life as he showed weakness which strictly goes against the core teachings of Vollachian Empire). Having said that, Vincent strongly believes in rewarding or punishing people for their deeds. Everyone should give their all, and be treated accordingly. More than 8 years after being a crucial benefactor in squashing Gladiator Island Ginunhive's uprising, Vincent swore to reward Al for his outstanding work all those years ago.

He's shown to be extremely smart and capable of making the entire Empire dance in the palm of his hand. He's easily able to manipulate people, even those who are a cut above others in intelligence. At the end of Imperial Diplomacy of Bloodshed, it's revealed that Vincent stood behind the coup itself, tricking the Viscount, Prime Minister, the Divine Generals, the Lugunican diplomats and the whole Vollachian Army into an elaborate and stretched-out plan all for the sake of signing the non-aggression pact with the Kingdom of Lugunica, as he had no desire to start a war but due to the Empire's age-old teachings, he couldn't allow himself to hastily accept the treaty.

As expected from an Emperor, Vincent knows his way with words, even being capable of outsmarting Miklotov McMahon in a verbal battle and making a fool out of Bordeaux, deceiving him into thinking he's simply belittling him when in fact, he was just citing a passage from Magrizza's Guillotine. He's easily capable of manipulating people to fall into his traps, using them for his own goals and plans. He's normally calm but does not shy away from showering his subordinates with insults or straight up ordering them to commit suicide or to not speak a word. Vincent was also noted to emit a strong presence, different from anything Julius Juukulius has ever felt; it was neither joy nor terror but something far more sinister.

Vincent shared a very intimate and friendly relationship with his younger paternal half-sister Prisca Benedict throughout their early life. Vincent was perhaps the only person Priscilla dared to trust. During the Imperial Selection Ceremony, they were forced to kill each other, however, due to Vincent's care for his younger sister, he was unable to bring himself to kill her. He devised a plan to fake her death, giving her a chance to back off and live under a new identity.

History
Vincent Abellux (ヴィンセント・アベルクス, Vinsento Aberukusu) was born as the son of Drizen Vollachia, the seventy-sixth Emperor of Vollachia. Before his birth, the Abellux family was one that was neither high-ranking nor prestigious, and they began to have ambition after he was born. When Vincent was eleven, a rebellion against his family was started by a vassal of theirs who conspired with a separate family. Despite their brilliant tactics, Vincent was able to trounce them and eliminated every conspirator. By the age of twelve, he took over his household, which had fallen into disarray during the rebellion, and they were eventually eliminated too.

Roughly 7 years before the events of the main story, Drizen Vollachia became incapable of ruling the nation, which was confirmed when he drew the Yang Sword Vollachia and burned to ash in an instant. In the following year, Vincent waged war against his step siblings in an event known as the Emperor Selection Ceremony. Vincent won the Emperor Selection Ceremony by slaughtering every last sibling of his and being the only one remaining, which gave him the right to and rise as the seventy-seventh Emperor of the Sacred Vollachia Empire.

Roughly six months before the beginning of the story, Reinhard van Astrea, Julius Juukulius, and Ferris escorted Miklotov McMahon and Bordeaux Zellgef on a diplomatic mission to the Imperial Capital of Lupugana. They met His Majesty Vincent Vollachia in the Crystal Palace, but after an unfortunate turn of events, the trio of knights and the Emperor had to flee to a nearby forest in order to save their lives. Soon after their battle with the Divine Generals who were trying to retrieve the Emperor, the squad realizes that the perpetrators are after Vincent's life. After successfully defeating the traitors who turned out to be Balleroy Temeglyph and Gramdart Holstoy, the Lugunican diplomats manage to secure a non-aggression treaty. On their way back, they come to the conclusion that Vincent was the one who perpetrated the entire coup in order to create a scenario in which he'd be "forced" to sign the pact with the Kingdom of Lugunica.

Abilities
Keen Intellect: Rather than using physical strength as his strong point, Vincent displays an impressive intellect and the capability to come up with complex and interluded plans to outsmart, outplay, and win against his opponents. Coupled with extremely strong individuals such as Cecilus Segmunt, Vincent easily won the Imperial Selection Ceremony by outsmarting and slaughtering his enemies, eventually crowning himself as the seventy-seventh Emperor of the Vollachia Empire.

Equipment
 * Yang Sword Vollachia (陽剣ヴォラキア, Youken Vorakia): As a member of the Imperial Family of Vollachia, Vincent is capable of summoning and using the Yang Sword Vollachia, otherwise known as the Yang Sword, an ornate crimson sword with light that shines like the sun. The sword appears out of thin air when the user wishes to use it and it cuts and burns whatever the user desires. The flame of the Yang Sword is also stated to protect the Emperor from anyone deemed unworthy by the sword.
 * Cloak of Concealment (姿隠しのマント, Shikakushi no Manto): A meteor that, when worn, allows a user to temporarily conceal their presence by tricking others' sense of sight. However, it can not mask things like sound, odor, footsteps, or anything else like it.
 * Two Rings with the Emperor's Crest: Following his escape from the Crystal Palace, Vincent took two rings with the Emperor's crest with him. Both rings were meteors, with one of them being able to cast fire spells and the other one's effects remaining unknown. The first ring was blown to pieces during the Rite of Blood Subaru and Vincent had to go through in order to gain the Shudrak Clan's trust, and the other ring was destroyed by Vincent during their battle with Arakiya in Guaral, which resulted in the entire room getting flooded by copious amounts of mana which inflicted temporary mana sickness to Arakiya, allowing the group to drive her off.
 * Recognition Obstruction Mask: This mask - in shape of an oni face - was given to Vincent by the members of the Shudrak Clan and allows him to obstruct anyone from perceiving him, making his identity completely unrecognizable to anyone save for the individuals Vincent himself wishes to reveal his identity too, and to people who possess absolutely certainty about Vincent's true identity. Taritta stated the mask was used a long time ago by one of the previous Emperors of Vollachia who formed a partnership with the Shudraks, in order to visit the forest without being recognized.

Trivia

 * Due to always having to be aware of his surroundings in case of an assassination due to his position as a former Emperor, Vincent developed a habit of never blinking with both eyes at the same time.
 * In the past, there were times when Vincent had to dress up as a woman in order to conceal his gender and protect his identity.
 * Across the entirety of the Vollachia Empire's history, the eight years under Vincent's rule were the most peaceful.
 * According to the author, Vincent's birthday is on December 23.
 * The author chose this date because it is the date of birth for the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who previously served as the 125th Emperor of Japan.
 * Vincent has his own named arc in the Web Novel. This also makes Vincent the first and only character featured in the story thus far to have an arc named after them.