Stride Vollachia

Stride Vollachia (ストライド・ヴォラキア) was Wilhelm's mortal enemy when he was younger. He later revealed that he was the Sin Archbishop of Pride.

Appearance
Stride is a tall man with glossy dark purple hair. He is described to be handsome and intelligent looking but has a sickly complexion, and as such he cannot do any strenuous exercise. He wears clothes befitting that of nobility and acts like one as well.

Personality
As the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Stride is vain and prideful, disliking being told what to do by others, as shown when he rebuked Yaktol Suwen for trying to restrict his actions, and later did the same to Kurgan for talking back to him. He is openly rude to those he views to be lower than himself and Theresia noted that he fluently insulted others. He seems to underestimate fighters that aren't well known, as when Wilhelm and Kurgan first fought, he didn't think the former would stand a chance.

Despite this, he is a quick thinker, and praises things he finds to be satisfactory. He was willing to ignore formalities to stop Wilhelm and Kurgan's first duel in order to prevent himself from potentially losing a valuable pawn. He plots against the Kingdom of Lugnica knowing full well the power of Volcanica's protection, earning him his alias.

He is also of high status to be able to have Kurgan as his bodyguard, however the Vollachia Empire claims that he doesn't exist. He is later revealed to be the Sin Archbishop of Pride, though he doesn't have any faith in The Witch of Envy.

Stride speaks in a very archaic, regal and scornful manner. He favours using the pronoun mine venerable self (余 yo) when speaking, which is a pronoun used only by kings or emperors. He also refers to people using thou (貴様, kisama) with it having connotations of Stride treating everyone he speaks to as an inferior.

History
Stride was born during the Emperor Selection Ceremony as one of the sons of the Emperor. However, he was born sick, and his family sent him to train under Kurgan. He was fully expected to die under Kurgan's harsh training regime, nevertheless Kurgan took care of him and he grew stronger under him. After growing up under Kurgan, they approached the throne as part of the Imperial Selection. It's presumed he won the Selection, and was the rightful next Emperor. However, Stride was poisoned by his father, the former emperor, as Stride was unable to have children which was a duty expected of an Emperor. However, Stride survived the poison. Stride self-proclaims that he has the seen the truth by being on the boundary of life and death, and believes that there is an outside entity called viewers in this world.

Years later, he joined Witch Cult and received his gospel.

Years before the story, Stride summoned the the evil dragon Valgren and attacked Picoutatte with his wife Melinda. Stride conducted a series of attacks on the Astrea House and later had Melinda attack the citizens of Picoutatte with the power of her Evil Eye.

Abilities
Equipment: Stride wears five meteor rings on both hands which he can use to cast curses on people. The ring on his little finger was red and was known as the Scarlet Little Finger (朱色の小指 Akeiro no Koyubi), which was capable of casting a curse that rotted the target's limbs, eventually leading to death. He used the ring to hold Veltol's life hostage. He was able to use the other rings to cast curses on others to bind them to their will. Some examples of the curses effects include targets obeying each of his commands, and being able to asphyxiate someone from a distance when their loved one touches them.

Yang Sword Vollachia (陽剣ヴォラキア Youken Vorakia): As a member of the royal family, Stride was able to create an ornate crimson sword from light just like Vincent Vollachia.

Shinobi: Stride has hired two skilled assassins known as shinobi from a Shinobi village in Vollachia, Shasuke and Raizo.

Authority of Pride (傲慢の権能 Gouman no Ken'nō): Stride may possibly have been able to use the Authority of Pride, though no concrete examples of him doing so exist.