Fain

Fain is the senior apprentice of O'Brien and one of the Yulan continent’s five Prime Saints. His exceptional speed and lightning attacks establish an early benchmark for Linley, while his leadership and resilience in the Necropolis of the Gods make him one of the expedition’s principal human combatants. (Chapters 249–250, 331–365)

Biography

The Necropolis, Deityhood, And Yulan Conflicts

Acting on his master’s instructions, Fain receives Linley at Bluethunder Peak, warns him not to hurry toward the Higher Planes, and tests his strength in a spar. Fain initially speaks dismissively of Linley’s variant Dragonblood lineage and takes offense when challenged, but restrains his pride because O’Brien ordered him to guide the younger warrior. His single controlled attack overwhelms Linley and forces him to recognize the gulf between newly attained “peak-stage” status and thousands of years spent understanding the Laws. (Chapters 249–250)

Fain later joins the Prime Saints entering the Necropolis of the Gods. He helps identify tactical dangers, uses his speed and lightning-fast fists to keep Magma Demons away from the group, and deliberately conserves energy because injuring the creatures does not permanently destroy them. During the battle with the Flame Tyrant, he remains part of the coordinated defense rather than pursuing individual glory, warning the others against encirclement and reacting to the deaths of his fellow disciples. These encounters shift his role from a remote senior expert to a combatant dependent on the expedition’s collective planning. (Chapters 331–344)

On the eleventh floor, Fain accepts that any member of the party may die and states his hope that at least one of them will become a Deity. He helps hold the rearguard while the group retreats from the Abyssal Blade Demons; when their attacks cut his body into three sections, he gets his head into the escape tunnel, regenerates, and warns Linley to withdraw if necessary. He later greets Linley’s return from a million-demon pursuit with open relief, having survived the expedition without obtaining Deityhood himself. (Chapters 357–365)

After the expedition, Fain responds to massacres in the O’Brien and Baruch territories by investigating alongside Linley. He is initially unwilling to challenge servants backed by a Deity, but joins the attack once Harry explains that their master cannot readily intervene, and he and Linley each kill one silver-robed Prime Saint. His own institutional world then collapses when Adkins’ followers destroy War God Mountain. Fain survives only by protecting his head with a divine artifact and relying on a Pearl of Life, flees to Linley, and finally reports the loss of the mountain and empire to his returning master. (Chapters 382–387, 407–414)

Appearance and personality

Fain is a thin man with short blue hair, simple blue robes, and a ramrod-straight posture. His sharp, valiant, and resolute aura is evident even before he fights, and his gaze alone is strong enough to make Linley’s soul tremble. When he gathers with the other Saints for the Necropolis, the same straight-backed bearing and sharp presence distinguish him among the assembled experts. (Chapters 249, 331)

He is proud of his age, status, and training, but capable of subordinating that pride to O’Brien’s orders and a group’s survival. Fain values patient cultivation and endurance, cautions against rushing into the Higher Planes, conserves power in protracted combat, and grows openly worried when an unknown Deity stands behind the silver-robed killers. His decision to wait for his master rather than intervene blindly in the chaos after the Great Botha Levee further shows a cautious, hierarchical temperament. (Chapters 249–250, 342, 357–358, 383, 407)

Abilities and cultivation

Fain is a Prime Saint whose long study of the Elemental Laws of Lightning produces extraordinary speed. In his first spar with Linley, azure energy crackles around him as he moves like a lightning bolt at roughly twice Linley’s speed. The force transmitted through Bloodviolet paralyzes Linley’s muscles and strikes his soul, even though Fain deliberately holds back. He explains that the decisive difference between Saints lies in the depth of their understanding of the Laws, not the shared label of “peak-stage.” (Chapter 249)

His speed remains among the best of the Necropolis party, comparable there to Bebe, Desri, and the Flame Tyrant’s compact battle form. Against Magma Demons, Fain’s rapid fists repeatedly knock attackers away before they can touch him, although the demons’ durability and his need to conserve energy prevent those blows from ending the threat permanently. He can continue fighting after severe bodily damage as long as his head survives, but this regeneration does not make him invulnerable to soul destruction or a sufficiently concentrated Deity attack. (Chapters 342–343, 358, 407)

Fain also uses external protections. A divine artifact shields his head from the wide-area attack that destroys War God Mountain, while a Pearl of Life restores the rest of his body; he recognizes that either a focused strike or the absence of the Pearl would have killed him. These tools preserve his life but do not elevate him beyond the Prime Saint level in the supplied corpus. (Chapters 352, 358, 407)

Relationships

• O'Brien: Fain is O’Brien’s senior apprentice and carries out his instructions as host, teacher, messenger, and administrator. His loyalty remains intact after War God Mountain is destroyed: he preserves the facts of the disaster, seeks refuge rather than claiming independent authority, and kneels immediately when his master returns. (Chapters 249–250, 268, 369–370, 407, 414)

• Linley Baruch: Fain first treats Linley as a talented but inexperienced junior and defeats him in a controlled spar. The two later fight as peers in the Necropolis, rejoice at one another’s survival, investigate the silver-robed killers together, and each kill one of the two Prime Saints they confront. Fain turns to Linley for refuge after War God Mountain falls. (Chapters 249–250, 331–365, 382–385, 407)

• Desri: Desri and Fain are fellow Prime Saints and central members of the Necropolis expedition. They coordinate with the wider party against the Magma Demons, Flame Tyrant, and Beholder King, and both survive to the tenth floor despite the expedition’s severe losses. (Chapters 331–365)

• Cesar: Fain once fought Cesar in a duel where their exceptional speeds matched. By the time of the Necropolis opening, their positions have diverged: Fain remains a Prime Saint entering the mortal expedition, while Cesar has become one of the Deities overseeing it. (Chapters 249, 333–336)

Items

The centralized inventory assigns no qualifying named item to Fain.