Black Mage Commanders

The Commanders of the Black Mage

The Commanders of the Black Mage are the most powerful leaders of the Black Mage's army. They have been responsible for carrying out the Black Mage's will and causing great destruction across Maple World.

Organization

Unlike the Apostles of Gerand Darmoor, the Commanders of the Black Mage are not part of any formal military structure or hierarchy. Each Commander operates independently with their own individual forces, carrying out the Black Mage's will and following his orders alone. The Commanders come from a variety of different backgrounds and positions, with all of them being recruited by the Black Mage for the purposes of achieving his goal to create a new world. With the exception of Will, all the Commanders were led to believe that they would prosper in the new world, though the Black Mage intended to eliminate the Commanders before they could learn the truth about his true goal and impede him. With the death of the Black Mage, Will remains the only active Commander still loyal to the Black Mage, with Lucid remaining comatose and all other active Commanders having been killed.

Active Commanders

Commander	Title	Race	Minions	Enemies	Status
Will	King of Spiders	Human	Shadow Knights Rachael Cassius Spider Monsters	Zero Tana	Alive
Lucid	Dream Master	Elf	Wightmares Dreamkeepers	Mercedes Shade	Alive
Lotus	Wing Master	Spirit of Darkness -> Human (Cyborg)	Black Wings	Gelimer Phantom	Deceased
Hilla	Red Witch	Human	Undead Army	Phantom Magnus Orchid	Deceased
Arkarium	Guardian of Time	Human	Netherworld Monks	The Demon Damien Rhinne	Deceased
Von Leon	Lion King	Human	Corrupted Monsters of Lion King's Castle	Ryude Anti-Black Mage Alliance	Deceased

Will is a scholar from Magatia who was deeply interested in the Transcendents and their fates. Through painstaking research, Will deduced that Rhinne, the Transcendent of Time, had created a successor centuries ago to inherit her powers in order to stop them from falling into the Black Mage's hands. He also concluded that the Black Mage's true purpose had not been the destruction of Maple World, but to create a new, perfect world free of the Overseers' influence. Driven by intellectual curiosity, Will sought out the Black Mage after he was freed from his seal, becoming his most loyal Commander in turn. Will was tasked with keeping Rhinne's successor from becoming the Transcendent of Time, and though he was unable to prevent their awakening, he was nevertheless able to split the child into two - Alpha and Beta - and prevent them from inheriting the full power of the Transcendents. Later on, Will was tasked with carrying out the ritual in Esfera to allow the Black Mage to claim the power of creation from Aeona, Grandis' Transcendent of Light. Following the Black Mage's defeat, Will was arrested and confined in Ereve, where he placed Grendel the Really Old on the path to learning the Black Mage's true motives. Will would then escape and flee, with Mihile and the Dawn Warriors being tasked with recovering him.

Lucid is an elf of Elluel who deeply idolized Mercedes, wishing to harbor Mercedes' affection for herself. In her childhood, Lucid discovered that she had the ability to control her own dreams, in which she played out her fantasies of receiving adoration from Mercedes and the other elves. After Mercedes chose Athena Pierce to accompany her on her journey to fight the Black Mage with the other Heroes, a distraught Lucid ran away and used her powers to erase her existence from the other elves' memories. After the Black Mage's curse struck the elves, Lucid remained awake within her icy seal for centuries, trapped within her own dreams. Driven mad from her isolation, Lucid projected her consciousness and accidentally stumbled across the Black Mage's mind. Recognizing her talent, the Black Mage bestowed his power upon Lucid and freed her from the ice, promising her eternal life and a chance to see a new world. To hear that such a powerful being needed her was all that Lucid wished, for which she carried out his task of creating an illusion in the Gate to the Future, in which the Black Mage reigned victorious, in order to demoralize the Maple Alliance. Soon after, however, Lucid peeked into the Black Mage's memories and discovered that the new world that he wished to create was filled with utter darkness, in which not even he existed. As the Black Mage was the center of Lucid's world, Lucid betrayed him and created Lachelein in the Arcane River, where she hoped to change his mind about ending his existence by showing him a world of festivities and joy. After Lucid betrayed him, she increasingly began losing control over her own dreams until she was finally trapped in her own nightmare. However, she was saved by Protective Mask - an entity she had unconsciously made in Mercedes' image to save her from her nightmare - leading her to fall into a coma, with Mercedes bringing her to Elluel to watch over her until she reawakened.

Lotus was originally a Spirit of Darkness who was given a human body by the White Mage, who bestowed the form to Lotus and his twin sister, Orchid, in exchange for them helping him understand darkness. After the White Mage became the Black Mage, Lotus and Orchid were recruited as his twin Wing Masters, wreaking havoc and chaos upon humanity, whom they regarded as little more than playthings. Lotus was responsible for killing Empress Aria during her negotiations for peace, causing Phantom to join the Heroes to exact revenge upon them. During the final battle at the Temple of Time, Phantom severely wounded Lotus and placed him in a coma for centuries, with Orchid founding the Black Wings in order to find a way to revive him. Orchid employed the help of a scientist named Gelimer, who secretly transformed Lotus into a Xenoroid under his complete control. After forcing Lotus to turn on Orchid, Gelimer turned Lotus into the central computing system for the enormous airship Black Heaven, with which he planned to rain Retoxin bombs upon Maple World to erase human emotion. Orchid and the Maple Alliance then worked together to defeat Lotus, who reunited with Orchid briefly before Gelimer, furious that Lotus had broken free from his control, used a kill switch to terminate Lotus. Later, in the Labyrinth of Suffering, Lotus' soul was pulled from the depths of death by Hilla, who forced him to fight against the Adversary and Orchid.

Hilla was the most beautiful and talented Shamaness of Azwan, adored by her people for her flaming red hair and powerful illusion magic. Over time, however, Hilla began fearing the loss of her praises as she began growing older, to which the Black Mage offered her eternal youth in exchange for becoming a Commander. Hilla readily offered Azwan and its people to the Black Mage, using her new powers to create an undead army to serve her eternally. Hilla was suspected to have driven the Anti-Black Mage Alliance mad, causing Von Leon to pledge himself to the Black Mage for the Alliance's destruction of his kingdom. Centuries later, Hilla attempted to overthrow Empress Cygnus by pretending to be the true heir to Ereve, though her efforts were foiled by Phantom. Hilla was also responsible for spreading fake Elixirs of Everlasting Youth, drawing out even greater obsession and madness in the tyrannical Queen Areda of Ariant, plunging the city into chaos. In the Labyrinth of Suffering, Hilla - reborn with greater power from the Black Mage - placed the Adversary in a powerful illusion to break their spirit, though the Adversary - with the help of Orchid - was able to break free from their despair and defeat her once and for all, causing Hilla's youth to fade away as she perished in black flames.

Arkarium was once the High Priest of Rhinne, the Transcendent of Time, with his magical mastery being called upon by King Hekaton of Kritias in his quest to extract immortality from Tana, who, unbeknownst to them, was Grandis' Transcendent of Time. Years later, Arkarium had a vision of Rhinne having her powers stolen by the Black Mage. In his neverending hunger for power, Arkarium joined the winning side and became a Commander of the Black Mage, betraying Rhinne and helping the Black Mage seal her away. Arkarium was bitterly jealous of the Demon, who was regarded as the Black Mage's right hand, and after the sealing of Rhinne, Arkarium traveled to southern Leafre, where he killed the Demon's mother and manipulated Damien, the Demon's younger brother, into serving him. Centuries later, Arkarium - after the Black Mage's unsealing - traveled back in time to kill the Heroes and the Demon in the past, at the moment they had been weakened following the battle. Unable to find the Demon, however, Arkarium hoped to take Rhinne's powers to break Freud's time barrier preventing time from flowing any further than the moment the Seal of Time had been made, though he was foiled by the Silent Crusade. Arkarium was responsible for Damien's career as a Commander, though he was soon overwhelmed by Damien's ambitions and was nearly killed in the process. Arkarium was then tasked with bringing Tana before the Black Mage, though Arkarium secretly plotted to take Tana's power for himself, unaware of her role in the Black Mage's plan and believing that Tana was an unworthy vessel for her power. However, Arkarium's greed proved to be his undoing when Tana effortlessly vaporized him, leaving him in a snake body to beg the Black Mage for help. However, the Black Mage - finished with Arkarium - killed him at last, putting an end to the snake's jealousy and greed.

Von Leon was the Lion King of El Nath, famed for his bravery and sense of justice. After the Anti-Black Mage Alliance was driven into massacring his people and his beloved wife, Queen Ifia, Von Leon was recruited by Hilla into joining the Black Mage. With the Black Mage's dark power infused in him, Von Leon gained the power to transform into a fierce lion creature, using his abilities to wipe out those who had taken everything from him. Von Leon's attack resulted in a mercenary named Ryude into lighting a beacon that signaled the end of the world, resulting in the six Heroes gathering together to stop the Black Mage. Having completed his revenge, Von Leon remained in isolation within his castle, allowing the Commanders to use it for meetings. However, Von Leon - despite remaining loyal to the Black Mage - remained largely inactive, taking no part in the Commanders' mission in Maple World or the Arcane River. With the Black Mage's power flowing inside his veins, Von Leon remained unable to die or be killed, with his curse preventing him from being able to see or hear the ghost of Ifia, who called to him from within the walls of the castle. Following the Black Mage's death, the dark power inside Von Leon disappeared, allowing him to pass into the next life and reunite with his true love.

Defected Commanders

Commander	Title	Race	Minions	Enemies	Status
Orchid	Wing Master (formerly)	Spirit of Darkness -> Human	Black Wings (formerly)	Black Mage Gelimer Phantom (formerly)	Alive
Guwaru	King of Spirits	Spirit	Spirits of Maple World	Black Mage Magnus Ephenia Luminous (formerly)	Alive
Magnus	Tyrant	Nova	Specter army	Kaiser Cadena Nova people Guwaru Hilla	Alive
The Demon	Black Mage's Right Hand (formerly)	Half-Blooded Demon (1/2 Demon, 1/2 Human)	Mastema	Black Mage Arkarium	Alive
Damien	Sword of Destruction	Half-Blooded Demon (1/2 Demon, 1/2 Human)	Demon Army Von Bon Pierre Crimson Queen Vellum	The Heroes Arkarium Alicia The Demon (formerly)	Deceased

Orchid was originally a Spirit of Darkness who was given a human body by the White Mage, who bestowed the form to Orchid and her twin brother, Lotus, in exchange for them helping him understand darkness. After the White Mage became the Black Mage, Orchid and Lotus were recruited as his twin Wing Masters, wreaking havoc and chaos upon humanity, whom they regarded as little more than playthings. After Lotus killed Empress Aria, Phantom swore revenge upon the twins and severely wounded Lotus, placing him in a coma for centuries. Vowing to bring her brother back, Orchid formed the Black Wings in the present day, utilizing their resources to gather energy and materials for Gelimer, the Black Wings' mad scientist, to revive Lotus. Under Orchid's command, the Black Wings began gathering and destroying the Seal Stones in order to break the limitations on the Black Mage's power in anticipation for his eventual return. Eventually, Orchid was betrayed by Gelimer, who turned Lotus into a Xenoroid under his control and had him attack his sister. Orchid was rescued by the Resistance, who watched over her as she remained in a coma, hoping to bring her to justice once she awoke. During the battle of Black Heaven, Orchid tentatively worked with the Alliance to defeat Gelimer, who had turned Lotus into the central system for the airship. After Lotus' death at Black Heaven, Orchid concluded that the Black Mage had been manipulating events for centuries, which had resulted in Lotus' death. Furious, Orchid sought out Guwaru in order to use her Spirit of Darkness powers to get revenge on the Black Mage. Orchid then helped the Adversary in Esfera and Tenebris, assisting them in the battle against the Black Mage. Following the Black Mage's death, Orchid disappeared without a trace, leaving the Alliance to send an investigation team to track her down.

Guwaru was the King of Spirits, with his power strong enough to be considered a Great Spirit. After Alicia and Rhinne had their power stolen by the Black Mage, the balance of the world shifted as the balance of the Transcendents fell toward the Black Mage and his darkness. As Guwaru's power was tied to the world, the shifting balance caused him to grow corrupted alongside thousands of lesser spirits under his influence. During the final battle, Guwaru's powers were stolen by Magnus, with the Black Mage's sealing causing Guwaru to return back to normal. Centuries later, Guwaru - with the help of the Alliance - worked to undo the corruption of the lesser spirits, which had formed the Stone Colossus. Following Black Heaven, Guwaru helped Orchid regain her original Spirit of Darkness powers and aided both her and the Adversary in Limina to help them reach the Black Mage and the Genesis Crux.

Magnus was a Nova warrior who pledged his true loyalty to Gerand Darmoor, Grandis' corrupt Transcendent of Life. After being mortally wounded by the Former Kaiser, Magnus was tasked by Darmoor with traveling to Maple World through an Interdimensional Portal, where he served the Black Mage in order to gain greater power and learn more about the Black Mage's goals. After stealing Guwaru's life energy to restore his lifespan, Magnus returned back to Grandis, where he spent decades attempting to take the power of the Outrigger, a holy relic containing the power of the Ancient Gods of the Nova. Shortly before the Black Mage's seal was broken, Hilla traveled to Grandis and confronted Magnus, learning that he had never been loyal to the Black Mage from the beginning. Hilla then fought Magnus, with the outcome of their battle remaining unknown, though Magnus remained in Heliseum until the Maple Alliance and the Nova defeated him and retook the capital, with Magnus and the Outrigger being pulled into a portal by an unknown power.

The Demon was a half-blood demon from Tynerum, leaving the dimension and crossing to Maple World with his mother and younger brother, Damien, while escaping from the tyranny of the pure-bloods. As the Black Mage began gaining power, the Demon joined him and became his most loyal Commander in exchange for the protection of his family. Serving as the Black Mage's right hand, the Demon was responsible for defeating Rhinne during the siege on the Temple of Time, allowing the Black Mage to take her powers and seal her away. The Demon was bitter rivals with Arkarium, who was jealous of the Demon and his position as the Black Mage's most trusted Commander. In retaliation, Arkarium attacked his family home after the Black Mage broke his word and ordered southern Leafre - the site of the Demon's family home - to be destroyed. Believing his family to be killed, the Demon swore revenge and wrote to the Heroes outlining his betrayal, with his battle with the Black Mage weakening his protective shield and allowing the Heroes to seal him. Centuries later, the Demon - having placed himself in a protective egg to heal from the battle - awoke in Edelstein, where the Black Wings had drained his energy. After being rescued by the Resistance, the Demon joined forces with them to get revenge on the Black Mage, with his path eventually bringing him to join the Alliance and confront Damien, who had become a Commander himself.

Damien was the Demon's brother and a weak half-demon with no wings. After Arkarium attacked his family home and killed his mother, Damien's latent demon powers awakened, with Arkarium manipulating Damien into believing that his demon powers had killed his mother. Promising that the power of the Transcendents could bring his mother back to life, Arkarium recruited Damien as a Commander, with Damien living a life of slavery in Tynerum for centuries as he recruited the half-bloods into an army to conquer Maple World. Damien was responsible for creating the Seal Guardians to trap Alicia in Root Abyss, hoping to keep her there until her full power returned. After Alicia was rescued and placed under Shinsoo's protection, Damien used the Sword of Destruction - a demon blade created from an experiment to replicate the power of the Transcendents - to wound Shinsoo and kidnap Alicia after she returned to full strength. Damien then used the demon army to find the Abyss Crystal in Friends World, which he used to take Alicia's Transcendent of Life powers for himself. However, Damien was overwhelmed with the power of the gods, resulting in him being defeated by the Heroes and the Demon once and for all, with the Demon burying his body in their family home. Later, in the Labyrinth of Suffering, Damien's soul was pulled from the depths of death by Hilla, who forced him to fight against the Adversary and Orchid.

History

The Seven Commanders

Centuries ago, the White Mage began his research into the ultimate light, hoping that it would help him bring about peace. However, his research led him to the divine realm, where he learned that the Overseers deliberately kept the world incomplete and stagnant on a predestined course for extinction. Vowing to break their hold on the universe, the White Mage awakened as the Transcendent of Light and became the Black Mage. Believing that the Overseers had placed humanity on an unavoidable destiny for destruction, the Black Mage came to believe that with no way to save the world from its preordained end, the only path to salvation was to create a new world in its place. Knowing that the Overseers could only shape the universe by using the Transcendents as their proxies, the Black Mage sought to remove their influence from the world that he would create by destroying the Transcendents. In this way, he intended to create a new world free from any preordained end from the Overseers' machinations.Though he was standing against a primal power, his sole advantage was that the Overseers, in creating a fixed universe, made it so that all possible futures could be calculated based on known variables. While some mortals possessed the ability to see fragments of the future, the Black Mage was able to take advantage of the fixed variables in the universe in order to divine all the countless futures based on those fundamental laws. In this way, he could manipulate events to ensure that his plans succeeded. Because of the laws governing the universe, Transcendents were incapable of destroying each other or themselves. To circumvent this, the Black Mage amassed an army of monsters and gathered seven Commanders to lead them:

• The Spirits of Darkness, Orchid and Lotus, had once been granted human bodies by the White Mage in exchange for helping him understand the darkness. After he recruited them, the Black Mage also granted them the power to manipulate gravity.
• The King of Spirits, Guwaru, was corrupted and turned to evil as the balance of the Transcendents shifted towards darkness.
• The Red Witch of Azwan, Hilla, was the most beautiful and powerful Shamaness of Azwan. As she continued aging, she feared losing her beauty and power. When the Black Mage came to recruit her, she betrayed her kingdom in exchange for eternal beauty and the power to resurrect the dead.
• The Nova warrior from the world of Grandis, Magnus, arrived in Maple World from the Interdimensional Portal on Grandis. In exchange for becoming a Commander, the Black Mage gave him power and healed the injuries he sustained at Kaiser's hands, as well as extending his lifespan after Darmoor's treatment shortened it.
• The High Priest of the Goddess Rhinne, Arkarium, was once the most devout of the Goddess' priests until he had a vision of the future in which the Black Mage would reign victorious. Choosing to serve the winning side, he swore his loyalty to the Black Mage.
• The Lion King of El Nath, Von Leon, was a wise man who ruled El Nath benevolently alongside his beloved wife Ifia. As El Nath was perpetually covered in snow, the kingdom was comparatively poor, though its people were happy. When stories of the Black Mage's destruction began to spread, the Anti-Black Mage Alliance was formed. The coalition approached Von Leon and requested that he join, but Von Leon refused to involve himself, as he didn't want to create a target on his kingdom, believing that the Black Mage would leave them alone since the kingdom had little to offer. After the alliance had been driven mad by the Black Mage's forces, its members stormed his castle, resulting in Ifia's death. In despair, Von Leon sold his soul to the Black Mage in exchange for the power to exact revenge on those who destroyed his kingdom and his true love.
• The Demon was a half-blood demon who left Tynerum with his human mother and half-blood brother Damien, soon settling in Leafre. After realizing that the Black Mage was planning to destroy Maple World, he swore his loyalty in exchange for having the Black Mage promise to ensure the safety of his family. He soon ascended in power and became the Black Mage's most loyal and powerful Commander.

The Winter Bard

Soon after becoming a Commander, Von Leon used his powers to curse the people within his castle, transforming them into monsters. As the surviving knights attempted to fight off the monsters, a mercenary-turned-bard named Ryude went to investigate after seeing smoke coming from the castle. Inside, he found Von Leon speaking with Hilla, who told him that with his revenge finally being complete, the Commanders had been ordered to attack Ereve. Realizing that the world was in danger, Ryude and his allies attempted to light the beacon for the Dragon Master's Tower, a tower created by Freud to signal the end of the world. Von Leon and Hilla sieged the tower in an attempt to stop Ryude, but he and his allies bravely fended off the Commanders' forces in the blizzard. Though all of them perished, they were able to light the beacon, which gathered many people, including six powerful fighters who eventually became the Heroes of Maple.

Attack on Ereve

As the war raged on, the Black Mage unexpectedly reached out to Empress Aria and offered to send an envoy to Ereve in order to negotiate terms of peace. The Black Mage sent Lotus and Orchid and ordered them to lay waste to the city and kill the Empress. Furious at the death of his lover, Phantom joined the Heroes to exact revenge on her killers.

Taking the Temple of Time

In the last days of the war, the Black Mage and his Commanders prepared to siege the Temple of Time. As the sole restriction on the Transcendent of Time was that they could alter the fate of anyone but themselves, Rhinne knew that she couldn't stop the Black Mage from taking her power. However, she attempted to create a new future by creating the Child of the Goddess through her teardrops, who she hoped would succeed her as the Transcendent of Time in the distant future. Rhinne handpicked loyal priests to take the child to safety and watch over it in a different dimension that she created with her time magic, thereby masking the power of time within her child from the Black Mage. Soon after, the Black Mage arrived with his Commanders and attacked the Temple of Time. Arkarium then blinded Rhinne, while the Demon stunned her in place, allowing the Black Mage to steal her Transcendent powers by using the Abyss Crystal, which had been formed with the power of darkness after his awakening as the dark Transcendent of Light.

Using its ability to steal the power of divine beings, the Black Mage took the power of time from Rhinne and used it to seal her in ice within the Temple of Time. As the Abyss Crystal would need to recharge for many years before it could be reused, the Black Mage decided to hide it in a secure location where no one could find it. With his new powers over time, the Black Mage opened a portal to a subspace that existed between Maple World and a parallel world called Friends World, which loosely mirrored the people and events of Maple World. Though both Maple World and Friends World existed within the same dimension, a dimensional barrier separated the two worlds that made it impossible to travel between them. For this reason, the Black Mage stored the Abyss Crystal in the subspace between them, thereby ensuring that no one would be able to take the crystal before the time was right.

Soon after, the Black Mage sensed Tana's existence in Kritias after having manipulated her into traveling there. In order to keep her there until the time came to take her power of creation, he used Rhinne's powers to travel back in time to Kritias of the past, moments after Hekaton's Ascendency failed. He then ordered his forces to invade Kritias, ensuring that any trace of Tana's existence would be erased in the siege, and finally sealed Kritias away into a pocket dimension, where time would stand still for its citizens until the time came for the Genesis Ritual. However, using the stolen powers of another Transcendent caused the Black Mage to weaken. Furthermore, it caused an Interdimensional Portal to appear in Maple World. After conquering the Temple of Time, the Black Mage decided to set into motion the fateful events that would cause him to be sealed. He praised the Demon's contributions in the battle while deliberately ignoring Arkarium's efforts, knowing that it would make Arkarium jealous of his rival. While the Demon rested after the battle, the Black Mage ordered the other Commanders to destroy the rest of Ossyria.

Arkarium went to the southern region of Leafre, where he attacked the Demon's family and killed his mother. This caused Damien's latent demon powers to awaken, resulting in the destruction of their home. Impressed by his power, Arkarium convinced Damien to join him by claiming that it was Damien's awakening that had resulted in his mother's fatal wounds. He presented an illusion of Damien's mother preserved in time and explained that only a Transcendent had the power to revive the dead. However, he also stated that the Black Mage would have full control over the new Transcendent of Time after Rhinne and suggested that they could turn back time to revive his mother, but only if Damien swore his loyalty to the Black Mage. With Damien as his underling, Arkarium hoped to use him as insurance against the Demon.

The Final Battle

When the Demon awoke after the battle, he heard the news of the attack on Leafre during a meeting and rushed to his home, only to discover that it was in flames. Furious that the Black Mage had broken his promise to leave his family alone, the Demon stormed into the Temple of Time. After running into his servant, a pure-blood demon named Mastema, he ordered her to deliver a letter to the Heroes that outlined his betrayal, as well as logistics of the troop deployment in the Temple of Time. The Demon then headed to the Black Mage's throne room, but was stopped by Arkarium outside the door. When Arkarium refused to step aside, the Demon began fighting against him. Before they could unleash their full power, the Black Mage opened the doors to allow the Demon entry, after which Arkarium left to go hunt down the Heroes. The Demon engaged in a fierce battle with the Black Mage and managed to destroy his protective barrier, but he was ultimately no match for his former master.

Meanwhile, Arkarium arrived to see Mastema delivering the letter to the Heroes. Arkarium attacked Mastema, who was gravely wounded, forcing her to take on the form of a cat in order to survive. Using the information from the Demon's letter, the Heroes began formulating their strategy to invade the Temple of Time. However, Aran was soon wounded while protecting the survivors of the Commanders' attack on Ossyria, leaving the remaining Heroes to plan their attack on the Temple of Time without her. With the Black Mage's enormous army of dark creatures quickly closing in on their location, the Heroes decided to evacuate the refugees to Victoria Island before facing the Black Mage. While Freud and Mercedes oversaw the evacuation, Phantom, Luminous, and the pirate hero pushed ahead to first deal with the Commanders. After Aran awoke, Freud and Mercedes went on ahead to fight the Black Mage as Aran single-handedly held off the Black Mage's army, allowing Athena Pierce and the others to escape.

Elsewhere, Phantom, Luminous, and the pirate hero began facing off against the Commanders, with Phantom breaking off in order to go after Lotus and Orchid. He engaged in a fierce battle against the twin Wing Masters and savagely attacked Lotus, putting him into a coma. As Phantom disappeared, Orchid vowed to revive Lotus and took his body away from the Temple of Time. Meanwhile, Luminous and the pirate hero headed towards the Black Mage's throne room when they were stopped by Guwaru. Just as they were about to fight, Magnus appeared from behind and stabbed Guwaru, absorbing the spirit magic inside of him in order to permanently lengthen his lifespan, which had been cut short by Kaiser's attack. Declaring that he was done with Maple World, Magnus left and used the newly created Interdimensional Portal in order to return to Grandis.In the throne room, the Heroes sealed the Black Mage away by drawing out the stolen powers of time through the Seal Stones, with the sealing spell powered by the pirate hero sacrificing his existence.

Over Centuries

Before he was sealed, the Black Mage cast a final curse upon the Heroes, which slowly began freezing them in ice. Centuries in the future, after the Black Mage's seal was already broken, Arkarium used his time magic to open a crack in time, allowing him to travel back to the moment after the Black Mage's seal was created, hoping to kill the Heroes and the Demon while they were weakened from the battle. Though Arkarium was able to find the Heroes collapsed across Leafre, he was unable to find the Demon, whom he particularly wanted to get his revenge on. Because of this, Arkarium hoped to go back even further in time to kill the Demon before he betrayed the Black Mage, thereby making it so that the Demon wouldn't be able to weaken the Black Mage's defensive barrier, which would cause the Heroes to fail and be killed easily. However, Arkarium found the he was unable to go back any further, as Freud had used his own time magic to create a powerful Barrier of Time that would make it impossible to travel back in time any further than the moment the Black Mage's seal was made, thus preventing any of the Commanders from stopping the Black Mage from being sealed.

Though Freud's time magic was extremely powerful, his limitations as a mortal meant that the power of a Transcendent of Time could break through the barrier that he had created. As Rhinne and her child were already in the custody of Will - a future Commander recruited by the Black Mage centuries later, tasked with imprisoning the Transcendent of Time - Arkarium hoped to take Rhinne's powers long before she would be given over to Will in his present day. In order to take the remainder of Rhinne's Transcendent powers that the Black Mage hadn't taken, Arkarium planned to break the seal on the Black Mage to reach the area where she had been sealed away, knowing that the Heroes were in no position to stop him. Soon after Arkarium traveled back in time, however, several agents of the Silent Crusade pursued him in order to prevent him from achieving his goals.

After the Black Mage was sealed away, the Commanders disappeared from Maple World, awaiting the fated day when the Black Mage would return. In that time, Orchid cared for her comatose brother, desperately trying to find a way to wake him up. Unbeknownst to her, Lotus learned to project his soul outside his body and attempted to reach his sister, although his cries were left unheard. Lotus also learned that he could possess the bodies of others and used his new ability to erase all records of the Black Mage and the Heroes. Though not confirmed, it was speculated that Lotus was also responsible for inciting a war that took place 300 years before the present. Meanwhile, Damien - who had been exiled to Tynerum alongside the other half-blood demons who had been driven out of Maple World - began raising an army to someday conquer Maple World for themselves. In Tynerum, the pure-blood demons attempted to sacrifice Damien and the other half-bloods to the Sword of Destruction, and while the others' souls were absorbed into the sword, Damien was chosen as its wielder, granting him the power of a weapon designed to replicate the power of the Transcendents themselves.

The Black Wings

In the present day, Orchid came across a scientist named Gelimer, who promised to revive Lotus. However, Gelimer secretly planned to transform Lotus into a powerful android that he alone would control. To help Gelimer gain the massive amounts of energy he needed, Orchid founded an organization called the Black Wings. She manipulated the Black Wings by leading them to believe that she planned to revive the Black Mage, who would grant all their wishes, tasking them with gathering the Seal Stones and destroying them to break the limitations on the Black Mage's power in preparation for the day that he would be resurrected. The Black Wings then took over the energy-rich town of Edelstein and began gathering enough power for Gelimer's experiment to revive Lotus. Using the energy harvested by the Black Wings, Gelimer began creating an army of androids, as well as using a mixture of alchemy and science to create powerful Xenoroids like Xenon and Beryl, using them as prototypes for eventually perfecting Lotus.

Soon after the formation of the Black Wings, Cygnus was discovered to be the heir to Empress Aria. After learning this, Orchid sent her forces to attack Ereve. However, Cygnus accepted the power of Shinsoo and led the army of Ereve to victory. She then formed the Cygnus Knights to fight the Black Wings and prevent them from reviving the Black Mage. Meanwhile, a Resistance had formed against the Black Wings and approached the Cygnus Knights for a joint attack. However, a Black Wings officer named Eleanor the Black Witch sieged Ereve and prevented the Knights from aiding the Resistance, which suffered heavy losses. This caused a rift between the two groups, as the Resistance believed that the Knights had betrayed them.

Return of Legends

Over time, the Heroes began to awaken from their curse. As they trained to regain their strength, they began to battle the Black Wings over the Seal Stones. Aran fought many Black Wings officers - as well as Orchid herself - although she was unsuccessful in stopping them from taking most of the Seal Stones. Meanwhile, Evan was manipulated into helping the Black Wings steal the Seal Stones before Aran could stop them. Though Gelimer attempted to use the Seal Stones as power sources for his experiments, he was unable to draw out their immense power, as the limitation of the Seal Stone prevented their power from being monopolized by any individual. As a result, Gelimer gave up on using the Seal Stones for his experiments, allowing the Black Wings to destroy them. Around this time, Hilla attempted to depose Cygnus as the rightful heir to Ereve, though her efforts were foiled by Phantom. At the same time, after hearing that Mercedes had returned, Orchid deliberately sent Black Wings henchmen to attack Elluel in order to provoke her, even going so far as to kidnap a child from the town.

After Mercedes defeated her and took back the child, a furious Orchid attempted to invade Rien and steal the Seal Stone of Victoria Island, though she was driven from the island by Aran and Phantom. Following this, Phantom began investigating the disappearing records of the Heroes' battle with the Black Mage, suspecting that someone was deliberately erasing them. His investigation led him to discover that Lotus' soul had been wandering the world outside his comatose body, destroying historical records of the battle for unknown reasons, as well as potentially having incited the mysterious war from 300 years ago. Driven by revenge, Phantom discovered Lotus' body in the Verne Mine and attempted to finish him off, only to find that Lotus had manipulated him into coming close enough to his body for him to possess Phantom. Lotus then forced Phantom to travel to Ereve in an attempt to murder Empress Cygnus, though he was driven from Phantom's body by the spirit of Empress Aria, who asked Phantom to give up his quest for vengeance and instead protect the world as a true hero.

During this time, the Demon - who had spent centuries healing in a protective egg - woke up in Edelstein, where he discovered that the Black Wings had drained most of his power by using the egg as a power source. After being rescued by the Resistance, the Demon joined forces with them, believing that they had a common enemy in the Black Mage. As he began investigating the fate of the Commanders, he discovered that the half-blood demons of Tynerum were being led by a mysterious new Commander, who, unbeknownst to the Demon, was Damien, whom he still believe to be dead. Additionally, the Demon's investigation also led him to discover that the minions of Arkarium planned to steal the Forbidden Book of Alchemy in Magatia, which contained the secrets of alchemy written by the Black Mage. In particular, the book detailed the art of creating and destroying magical substances, with which he hoped to destroy the Seal Stones. However, the Demon, who had recently awakened after centuries of hibernation, stopped his minions from escaping with the book, with the leaders of Magatia agreeing to destroy it before it fell into the wrong hands.

Dimension Invasion

With the Black Mage's resurrection imminent, the Commanders began making preparations to move out of the shadows after centuries. Suspecting Magnus of having deserted his position, Hilla infiltrated Tyrant's Castle in Heliseum and confronted Magnus, whom she gave one final chance to explain himself. She asked Magnus why he had never bothered to attend the Commander meetings, even though he was alive and well, and asked whether he opposed the Black Mage's will. Magnus simply laughed and asked if the seal would be broken soon before congratulating the Commanders for all that they had accomplished thus far. Hilla told him to keep his mouth shut, but Magnus was merely amused that he seemed to have struck a nerve. He reminded Hilla that he had never promised his utmost loyalty to the Black Mage and explained that Gerand Darmoor used very different methods than the Black Mage, adding that he wouldn't embarrass himself further by continuing to play a part in such a ridiculous masquerade. Hilla appeared genuinely upset by Magnus' betrayal and, holding back tears, she told him that it was only right to call him an enemy, swearing that she would take back everything that the Black Mage had given him. Magnus sneered and replied that it should have been that way all along, as he could use a good fight. They then engaged in a fierce battle, the outcome of which was unknown.

The Big Bang

In order to verify the status of the Black Mage's seal, one Explorer - with the residual power of the Adversary inside a maple leaf - was able to open the Gate of the Present and discover that one of the Seal Stones powering the Seal of Time had cracked. While attempting to replace the broken Seal Stone with the Seal Stone of Victoria Island, the Black Mage was able to shatter the Seal Stone completely and free himself of his seal. Following his resurrection, the Commanders returned back to his side, working under his command to eliminate the other Transcendents, as well as to create the Arcane River in preparation for the birth of a new world. In response to the Black Mage's resurrection, Empress Cygnus united the world leaders of Maple World under the banner of the Maple Alliance.

Azwan Investigation

After the Black Mage's return, the Alliance conducted an investigation into Hilla, who had returned alongside the lost city of Azwan. There, the Alliance discovered that Hilla had used her powerful illusion magic to create a mirage of herself in the tower, while her true self remained elsewhere on Maple World. Meanwhile, Hilla - in the guise of a wandering dancer - began spreading Elixirs of Everlasting Youth to the people of Ariant, including Queen Areda, though these elixirs merely drew out hidden insanity and obsession in the drinker, causing Ariant to fall into chaos.

Siege of Heliseum

With Magnus having seized control of Heliseum, the Nova formed a union with the Maple Alliance to launch an operation to retake the capital. Together, they drove back the Specter army and pushed into the city, where they discovered that Magnus had been spending decades attempting to take the power of the Outrigger, the holy relic of the Ancient Gods of the Nova, whose will prevented Magnus from claiming the Outrigger's power. The Alliance then successfully defeated Magnus and his three Guardians, though Magnus and Velderoth managed to escape after a mysterious vortex pulled Magnus and the Outrigger away. With Magnus' defeat, the Nova reclaimed Heliseum and officially joined the Maple Alliance, pledging to help each other defeat the corrupted Transcendents of their respective dimensions.

Gelimer's Betrayal

In the Verne Mine, Gelimer moved Lotus from Orchid's room to a new area of the laboratory called the Evolution Lab. There, he finished transforming Lotus into the perfect Xenoroid, making him far stronger than his prototypes, Xenon and Beryl. Orchid soon discovered the Evolution Lab and demanded to know why he had moved Lotus without her permission. She threatened Gelimer and reminded him that his experiments should have concluded months ago. Gelimer promised that Lotus would awaken imminently and demonstrated his claim by releasing Lotus from his pod. Orchid was overjoyed to see her brother awaken, but she quickly grew confused when he wouldn't respond to her. Gelimer then commanded Lotus to execute Program Alpha-97, which caused Lotus to turn on his sister and drain her half of the Wing Master powers. Gelimer revealed that he had succeeded in taking control of Lotus, who himself had the ability to control others, and explained that he had deliberately kept Lotus' brain in hibernation, since his powers were all that Gelimer wanted. Severely injured, Orchid weakly asked Gelimer why he needed Lotus' body. Gelimer explained that the Black Mage required a vessel, not another follower, and with that, he left Orchid to die and took Lotus with him.

Soon after, the Resistance discovered the Evolution Lab and found an unconscious Orchid, whom they brought back to the Secret Plaza. Claudine briefed the other Resistance leaders on what had happened between Orchid and Gelimer, adding that Orchid was now just like a normal little girl without her powers. She explained that she hadn't put Orchid in prison because of her fragile condition, though she hoped to make Orchid pay for her crimes soon enough. In order to learn more about what Gelimer was plotting Claudine decided to send Belle to investigate the Evolution Lab. Several days later, Brighton rushed urgently to Claudine and informed her that Orchid had managed to escape. Meanwhile, Orchid traveled to the Evolution Lab, where she encountered a hologram of Lotus, which had been created as the interface for the Evolution System. Orchid quickly realized that the hologram was an AI created by Gelimer and grew angry, causing the last remnants of her Wing Master power to manifest. The AI detected Orchid as a threat and attacked her, immediately knocking her out. The Resistance then discovered Orchid and brought her back to the Secret Plaza, where Claudine treated her injuries.

Soon after, she spoke with Brighton and explained that though she had done all that she could medically, Orchid had fallen into a coma. Just then, Belle arrived from the Evolution Lab and explained her findings. She told them that the Evolution System had evolved by itself without any changes to its internal system and begrudgingly admitted that Gelimer was a genius, despite how much it pained her to say. She explained that the system was capable of making its own judgements, allowing it to evolve into a stronger model on its own. Having recognized Orchid as a strong enemy, it had enhanced its own system to accommodate. As they wondered what this would mean, Orchid suddenly called out to Lotus from her coma, surprising the group. Far away, Lotus shed a tear for the sister whom he had been forced to turn against. Gelimer was surprised to see Lotus crying, as he had believed that he had suppressed all of Lotus' emotions and desires. As Gelimer set out to correct the behavior, Lotus also called out to Orchid. As the Alliance continued to use the Evolution System in order to learn more about it, the system recorded the combat data of countless Alliance members and imprinted it onto Lotus in order to have him analyze and enhance his own battle algorithms, thus making him even stronger. Soon after, Gelimer sought out the Commanders and presented Lotus' enhanced body to them, claiming that it would be the perfect vessel for the Black Mage to inhabit. Though the Commanders were plainly aware of Gelimer's hidden agenda, they nevertheless accepted him into their ranks in order to use his talents, though they refused to make him a full Commander. With the support of the Commanders and free from Orchid's oversight, Gelimer was in the perfect position to achieve his goals unobstructed.

The Lion King's Castle

An Alliance investigation by the Resistance agent J and the Adversary into the Lion King's Castle revealed the fate of the Anti-Black Mage Alliance, which had been driven mad by the Black Mage's forces and forced to attack Von Leon's kingdom, resulting in Von Leon becoming a Commander. After discovering that the cursed remnants of Von Leon's people and the Anti-Black Mage Alliance roamed as monsters and ghosts, J and the Adversary realized that though Von Leon remained a loyal Commander, his spirit had been broken by the loss of his people and his wife, for which it remained unlikely that he would continue acting on missions for the Black Mage.

Root Abyss

Now working as a fully active Commander, Damien continued to gain influence with the half-bloods of Tynerum in order to raise his own army. After he was brought back to Maple World by Arkarium, he was soon approached by Von Leon during one of his first meetings with the Commanders. Damien was intrigued to learn that Von Leon was a kindred spirit, one who had lost loved ones and chosen the path of revenge. After Damien approached him, Von Leon told Damien that some things were impossible, even for the Black Mage. Damien was surprised and asked why Von Leon was so interested in him. Von Leon ignored the question and asked if Damien had ever felt as though what he was doing might be pointless. Damien told Von Leon that he was one to talk about stopping his quest for vengeance, as there was no going back for either of them after selling their souls to the Black Mage. Von Leon then told him that, even if his mother were to return to life, Damien's tainted soul wasn't fit to be anywhere near her, explaining that he was sure that Damien expected as much, but to be so close to something without being able to touch it was a fate worse than death.

Soon after, the Commanders learned the location of the World Tree and Damien was tasked with recovering her. He and his army traveled to Root Abyss, where he discovered Alicia slowly regaining her powers. Rather than capturing her then, he told Alicia that he needed her at full strength and placed a seal on Root Abyss to prevent her from leaving. To guard her, he created four Seal Guardians: Von Bon, Pierre, the Crimson Queen, and Vellum. However, the Alliance soon discovered Root Abyss and managed to free Alicia, who was then brought to Ereve and absorbed inside the gemstone on Shinsoo's forehead for her safety. With Alicia's recovery, Damien revived the Seal Guardians and attempted to engulf Victoria Island with dark energy, for which the Alliance began working to defeat the Seal Guardians again once and for all.

Taking the World Tree

After Alicia regained her full strength under Shinsoo's protection, Damien led the demon army to Ereve, where he fought and mortally wounded Shinsoo using the twisted power of the Sword of Destruction. Damien then captured Alicia and escaped with her, after which he plotted to claim Alicia's Transcendent power for himself, thereby gaining mastery over life and death to revive his mother.

King of Spiders

Will was a magician and a scholar who was deeply interested in the Black Mage and his goals. In his childhood, Will had hypothesized that Rhinne had created a contingency plan after knowing that the Black Mage would seal her away, concluding that she had created a vessel to eventually inherit the power of the Transcendent of Time. As he grew older, the Interdimensional Portal reappeared in Maple World, causing him to grow increasingly curious about its role in the Black Mage's grand design. Through his research, he had learned that the Interdimensional Portal was an aberration that occurred when a Transcendent stripped the power from another Transcendent and used it. He had concluded that the Interdimensional Portal was a sign of collapse, and that if left unchecked, Maple World and Grandis would destroy one another. Though he had initially wondered whether it was part of the Black Mage's plan to destroy Maple World, he hadn't been able to believe that simple destruction was all that the Black Mage had planned, as there were far simpler methods to destroy the world.

He had noted that the Black Mage had deliberately introduced countless variables into his plan, despite knowing that they would get in the way of his goal. Will had pondered endlessly about the Black Mage's goals and had wondered whether it was ambition, a thirst for immortality, intellectual curiosity, or simply a desire to plunge Maple World into chaos. He soon began to grow frustrated when his research simply brought him back to the beginning.Just then, however, that thought triggered an epiphany. He decided to look back to the beginning when the Black Mage had been the White Mage, before he had become the Transcendent of Light. Will successfully finished his research and concluded that the Black Mage's goal was to create a new, perfect world that was free from the influence of the Overseers. He also realized that the Black Mage's sealing was part of his plan, and so he became certain that the Black Mage would return.

After the Black Mage's seal was destroyed, Will sought him out and became one of his most loyal Commanders, intent on satisfying his intellectual curiosity by seeing the new world that the Black Mage planned to create. With the spider-like powers he received from the Black Mage, Will became known as the King of Spiders. Soon after, the Black Mage discovered the dimension where Rhinne had hidden her successor. He then entrusted Will with overseeing Rhinne and her child, and ensuring that her successor would never awaken as the new Transcendent of Time. With full authority over Rhinne and her powers, Will decided to move Rhinne from her icy prison within the Temple of Time and transferred her over to the same dimension where her child and the priests hand-picked to serve them were trapped. Around this time, the Black Mage manipulated Guard Captain Kellad and his Sharenian Knights into serving him with unquestionable loyalty, transforming them into the Elite Bosses. Inspired by the devil Ergoth Dunamis, who had trapped the knights in a perfect replica of Sharenian, Will used Rhinne's powers to recreate the prison dimension into what he called Mirror World, a replica of Maple World. However, Will soon realized that he was unable handle the immense power of Rhinne's child. In order to weaken them and to corrupt them with his influence, he split the child into two beings. He trapped the girl inside the Child of the Goddess' own temple and brainwashed the boy into serving him and his Shadow Knights, who had been tasked with keeping the boy trapped inside Mirror World.

Dimensional Cracks

With the return of the Black Mage, Arkarium attempted to get revenge upon the Heroes and the Demon by opening dimensional cracks with his time magic, causing the Silent Crusade to investigate. In the Temple of Time, Arkarium created a rift that led to the moment immediately after the Black Mage had been sealed, where he hoped to eliminate the Heroes and the Demon while they were weakened. However, Arkarium - unable to find the Demon - attempted to travel back even further beyond the time barrier created by Freud, which prevented time from flowing backwards before the moment the Black Mage's seal had been created. As this would require the power of the Transcendent of Time, who had already been given over to Will, Arkarium hoped to take the power of Rhinne in the past when she had still been sealed away by the Black Mage. However, Arkarium's attempts were foiled by the Silent Crusade, who stopped him from taking Rhinne's power in the past.

Mirror World

Under Will's careful machinations, the two halves of Rhinne's successor were constantly prevented from meeting each other, with the boy's memory being wiped each time he discovered her. However, the two siblings eventually reunited and began working with the priests to regain the full power of time. Though Will attempted to stop them by using minions created with the power of Mirror World, as well as one of the priests themselves, the twins - Alpha and Beta - nevertheless collected the Goddess Teardrops which Will had hidden across Mirror World, allowing them to fully master their time powers. However, Will - who had corrupted one of the twins with his influence - revealed that they would not be able to awaken as full Transcendents as long as one of them was corrupted, hoping to manipulate the twins into destroying each other in an attempt to remove the corrupted one.

Nevertheless, the twins refused to harm each other and faced Will, who revealed that Rhinne - still sealed in deep slumber - would attempt to attack any corrupted being seeking to take her Transcendent powers. To his shock, however, Rhinne instead attacked Will and revealed that a mother's instinct to not harm her children was far stronger than the call of the Transcendents. After Will was defeated, Alpha and Beta were given Rhinne's full Transcendent power, though when the twins learned that Rhinne and Mirror World itself would disappear when the transfer was completed, they sacrificed the majority of their power to recreate and maintain Mirror World and Rhinne, who was resurrected in the form of a child. Following this, the twins were approached by the Commanders, who offered them a chance to join the Black Mage and become Transcendents of both Maple World and Grandis, which were slowly fusing into one world because of the absence of Transcendents over the centuries. Alpha and Beta then bought themselves time by claiming that they needed time to explore Maple World and think on the offer, which the Commanders granted.

Stone Colossus

Centuries ago, Guwaru had been corrupted by the shifting balance of the Transcendents when Alicia and Rhinne had lost their power, resulting in him becoming a Commander against his will. With his power corrupted, an enormous giant called the Stone Colossus - a being comprised of thousands of lesser spirits who had been given the power to move with Guwaru's spirit magic - had grown corrupted as well. Following the Black Mage's sealing, both Guwaru and the Stone Colossus had returned back to normal, though the Black Mage's return had resulted in the corruption in the Colossus returning. For this reason, Guwaru attempted to protect the Colossus' heart from the dark creatures that sought to turn it to evil. With the help of the Alliance, Guwaru was able to undo the corruption on the Colossus, for which he thanked the Alliance and revealed that he did not intend to join the Black Mage again. He also told the Alliance that the Black Mage's actions were quite strange, as he had made no attempt to gather an army for invading Maple World.

The Dream Master

Centuries ago, Lucid had used her powers to erase her existence from the minds of all the elves and decided to spend the rest of her life inside a perfect dream, oblivious to the passage of time. However, even she was affected by the Black Mage's curse on the elves, trapping her in ice. Unlike the other elves, Lucid's power caused her to remain painfully aware that she was asleep, and she soon came to view her dreamscape as a prison. Though she longed to awaken from her dream, she felt the centuries slowly pass with no hope of escape. In desperation, Lucid projected her consciousness as far as it could go, allowing her to inadvertently stumble into the Black Mage's dreamscape. Sensing Lucid's presence, the Black Mage recognized her talents and promised her eternal life and the chance to see the new world he would create in exchange for her loyalty. To hear that such a powerful being needed her was all that Lucid desired, and so she readily accepted his offer.

The Black Mage freed Lucid from the ice and ordered her to create a false future in the Temple of Time, one in which he reigned victorious after Empress Cygnus betrayed the people of Maple World. Lucid broke into the Temple of Time and used her powers to manipulate the Gate to the Future, creating the dreamlike illusion which the Black Mage had asked her to make. The false future Lucid had made sowed the seeds of mistrust amongst the people of Maple World. Hoping to regain their trust, Cygnus mobillized the Alliance in the hope of uniting the people against the Black Mage and his forces, allowing them to prove that the future in the Temple of Time was nothing more than an illusion created by a new Commander. In order to further spread mistrust, Lucid expanded her illusion of the ruined Victoria Island to include a destroyed Perion and spread that vision in the form of a nightmare that all the people of Maple World continually experienced whenever they slept. With mass hysteria spreading from the endless nightmares, the Alliance mobilized their forces in order to erase the link between the dream world and reality, thereby saving the people of Maple World from the nightmare.

Black Heaven

Having finished preparations for his master plan, Gelimer used Lotus as the central processing system for Black Heaven and launched an immense arial invasion of Maple World to rain down Retoxin bombs, hoping to evolve humanity by erasing human emotion and creating a hive mind of perfect drones under Lotus' command. In order to stop him, the Alliance reluctantly worked together with Orchid, who had awoken from her coma and sought revenge on Gelimer for enslaving her brother. Together, the Alliance successfully defeated Gelimer and Lotus, causing Black Heaven to crash near Edelstein. Following the battle, Orchid - after realizing that the Black Mage had manipulated events for centuries, including Lotus' death - sought out Guwaru to reclaim her original Spirit of Darkness powers after losing her Wing Master powers with Lotus' death. Meanwhile, the battle of Black Heaven resulted in the Alliance using the final Seal Stone - the Seal Stone of Ereve - to save the life of the player, awakening them as an Adversary. As the people of Maple World celebrated the defeat of the Black Wings, Arkarium reported Gelimer's defeat to the Black Mage, though he added that Gelimer's death had been assured when he had approached them with deceit. However, the Black Mage ignored his words and instead told him that the shape of destiny had been twisted, and that a new Adversary had appeared with the power of the Seal Stone. Arkarium offered to handle them personally, but the Black Mage forbade him from intervening, instead tasking Damien and his demon army to carry out their next move.

Heroes of Maple

Under the Black Mage's orders, Damien was tasked with recovering the Abyss Crystal, which the Black Mage had kept safe in the subspace between Maple World and Friends World as it recharged following his use of the crystal to take Rhinne's power. However, Damien coveted the power of the Abyss Crystal for himself, intending to use it to take Alicia's power, for which he manipulated the Heroes into obtaining it for him, though his path led him to reuniting with the Demon, who was distraught to learn that Damien had become a Commander. Nevertheless, Damien rejected his brother's pleas to stand down and instead stole the Abyss Crystal from the Heroes, absorbing it into the Sword of Destruction and using it to consume Alicia. After Arkarium learned about his betrayal, Damien - using the power of the Transcendent of Life - destroyed Arkarium and forced him into a snake body.

Damien then attempted to drain the life force of Maple World, though his mortal body was unable to wield the power of the gods, causing him to grow unstable. As a result, Damien was ultimately defeated by the Heroes and the Demon, who buried Damien's body at their family home in Leafre. Following the battle, Alicia scattered her life force across Maple World in order to restore vitality to the ruined land. With the Transcendent of Time divided and weakened, and the Transcendent of Life scattered, Hilla reported to the Black Mage that everything was going according to plan. With the time of destiny approaching, the Black Mage declared that it was time to allow the Alliance to enter the Arcane River, after which he ordered Arkarium - who returned to human form after barely surviving Damien's attack - to bring Tana, sealed in Kritias, to him.

Mirror World Invasion

As the Gate of the Present opened to lead into the Arcane River, Will began preparing an experiment to test the Adversary's resolve in anticipation for a crucial moment in the future, in which they would be faced with a choice to either kill Tana or spare her life as the Black Mage attempted to take her powers. For this reason, he tasked one of his Mirror World minions, Rachael, to manipulate the Adversary into gathering ingredients to create a chimera, which Rachael pretended to be her sick sister, with Will using the Black Mage's power to create his own artificial Mirror World monsters to invade Maple World. As the Silent Crusade battled the invading monsters, the Adversary was faced with a choice to either kill or spare the chimera, without knowing whether Rachael was telling the truth about having forcibly turned an innocent person into a monster. After seeing the Adversary's choice, however, Rachael revealed that the monster was not her sister, after which she reported back to Will. Pleased with learning about the Adversary's choice, Will recalled his artificial Mirror World and retreated in preparation for the ritual to take Tana's powers.

Lachelein, the Dreaming City

Though Lucid remained fiercely loyal to the Black Mage, she soon discovered that the Black Mage's ideal world was one of total darkness, in which not even he himself remained alive. Distraught that the center of her world was intent on erasing his own existence, Lucid defied his instructions and created the city of Lachelein in the Arcane River, hoping that showing him the festivities and joys of life would change his mind about ending his life. In Lachelein, Lucid forced the citizens to go through the motions of enjoying themselves, with the Adversary eventually arriving to stop her. Around this time, Arkarium also arrived in Lachelein while escoring Tana, whose delicate mental state made her prone to outbursts of uncontrollable power. For this reason, Arkarium forced himself to politely ask Lucid to take down the barrier around Lachelein so that he could pass through, to which Lucid agreed, claiming that she wouldn't stand in the way of the Black Mage's orders. After Arkarium left, the Adversary worked with several citizens of Lachelein to break Lucid's dream and defeat her once and for all. With Lucid's ability to control her own dreams gradually weakening after turning on the Black Mage, Lucid was defeated and eventually trapped within her own nightmare, completely abandoned by the Black Mage.

Morass, the Swamp of Memory

After leaving Lachelein and passing through Arcana, the Adversary encountered Arkarium leading Tana through Morass. In her unstable mental state, Tana inadvertently created a replica of Trueffet and trapped everyone in her memories. However, the Adversary and Arkarium both managed to break free. Believing that Tana was unworthy of the Black Mage, Arkarium planned to steal her powers for himself. As the Adversary battled him, Tana regained control of her powers and effortlessly vaporized Arkarium, who barely managed to survive by transforming into a serpent. Eventually, he came across the Black Mage, who had been created in Morass as part of Tana's memories of being sealed away. The echo of the Black Mage then revealed that the real Black Mage had commanded him to kill Arkarium, crushing him to death soon after.

Esfera, the Origin Sea

In Esfera, the Origin Sea, the Adversary and the Alliance advance guard arrived after chasing after Tana, who had been captured by Will to conduct a ritual that would allow the Black Mage to take her powers. With the help of Orchid, who had disguised her identity to assist the Adversary for the final battle, the Adversary learned about Tana's true identity as Grandis' Transcendent of Light, and that the Black Mage intended to take her power of creation alongside his own power of destruction to destroy and recreate the world. The Adversary was then faced with a choice to kill Tana and stop the ritual, or to spare her life and allow the Black Mage to claim the power of two worlds' Transcendents. Against all odds, the Adversary made the pivotal choice to spare Tana's life, reaffirming their commitment to saving everyone, rather than sacrificing someone who had asked them for help. As a result, the Black Mage absorbed Tana's powers and prepared to enact the Genesis Ritual, while Orchid fought Will and defeated him.

Tenebris

With the final battle approaching, the Alliance launched its fleet to the Black Sun, Tenebris, in order to fight the Black Mage. After crashing on the surface of Tenebris, the Adversary wandered through the Labyrinth of Suffering, in which Hilla - reborn with greater power - attempted to break their spirit so that she could offer their soul to the Black Mage. With the help of Orchid, who revealed herself as the one helping them in Esfera, the Adversary used the power of the Seal Stone to break free of Hilla's illusion. Hilla then summoned the souls of Lotus and Damien to fight the Adversary, though they were nevertheless able to defeat her once and for all with Orchid's help, resulting in Hilla losing her eternal youth and perishing in black flames as an old hag. With the labyrinth destroyed, the Adversary and Orchid - along with Guwaru, who channeled his power through Orchid's mask to aid the Adversary - worked together to fight the Black Mage and the Elite Bosses alongside the greatest heroes of the Alliance, putting an end to his designs once and for all. With the Black Mage's death, Von Leon - whose immortality was tied to the Black Mage - finally perished as well, allowing him to reunite with Ifia in the afterlife. Meanwhile, Orchid vanished after the final battle, and with Guwaru refusing to reveal her location, the Alliance dispatched a unit to track her down and bring her to justice.

Convergence

After the final battle, Will was found lying unconscious in Esfera after being defeated by Orchid, after which he was taken captive. While being interrogated by Grendel the Really Old, Will produced a core that contained the Black Mage's innermost thoughts, which resulted in several dark monsters appearing in Ereve and breaking him free as Grendel went on a journey to understand the Black Mage's motivations. During this journey, the Adversary encountered Lucid, who was saved from her nightmare by Protective Mask - a safeguard which Lucid had unconsciously made for such an occasion which bore the appearance of Mercedes. Later on, the real Mercedes took Lucid under her custody and escorted her back to Elluel, where Lucid remained in a coma. Meanwhile, Mihile and the Dawn Warriors were tasked by Neinheart to find and recapture Will, who remains the last active Commander of the Black Mage, despite the death of his master.

Trivia

• The identity of all the Commanders were revealed across a span of three years, from 2010 to 2013:
  • Von Leon: First revealed in 2010 in the Lion King's Castle storyline during the Big Bang Update. Confirmed as a Commander during the Demon's storyline in the Legends Update in 2011.
  • Lucid: First revealed (as the Dream Master) in 2010 in the Gate to the Future storyline during the Chaos Update. Confirmed as a Commander in 2013 during the Twilight Perion storyline. Revealed by name during Shade's original storyline in the You & I Update in 2014.
  • Orchid: First revealed in 2011 in Mercedes' storyline during the Legends update.
  • Demon: First revealed in 2011 in the Demon's storyline during the Legends update.
  • Damien: First mentioned in 2011 in the Demon's storyline during the Legends update. Revealed as a Commander in 2013 during the Root Abyss storyline in the Unlimited Update.
  • Lotus: First mentioned in 2011 in the Demon's storyline during the Legends update. First in-person appearance in 2011 during Phantom's storyline in the Justice Update.
  • Arkarium: First revealed in 2011 during KMS's version of the Silent Crusade storyline in the Advance of the Union update.
  • Hilla: First revealed in 2011 during Phantom's storyline in the Justice update.
  • Magnus: First mentioned in 2011 in Phantom's storyline during the Justice update. First in-person appearance in 2012 during Luminous' storyline in the Tempest Update.
  • Guwaru: First mentioned in 2011 in Phantom's storyline during the Justice update. First in-person appearance in 2012 during Luminous' storyline in the Tempest update.
  • Will: First revealed in 2013 in Zero's storyline during the RED Update.
• The Alliance quest for Explorers released during the Advance of the Union Update had Kyrin reveal that the Black Mage originally had seven Commanders. Although there were technically eight Commanders when counting Orchid and Lotus as separate people, the game's frequent references to the twins as part of a matched set is likely the reason why both Orchid and Lotus are counted together as the singular Wing Master in the Black Mage's army, which is the origin for the concept of "seven original Commanders".
• In CMS, merged worlds are named after Black Mage Commanders.