Quintus
| NPC | Enemy | Trivia |
Bishop Quintus is an NPC in Arknights. He appears in For a Better Self, part of Beyond Here, before becoming the main antagonist of Under Tides.
Background
At first look, Quintus the Iberian bishop of the Lateran Church seems to be a gentle and benevolent Aegir who speaks in a humble manner and shows a pacifist outlook. However, this is merely a facade for his true nature. Quintus is actually a high-ranking follower of the Church of the Deep and had been converting the unsuspecting citizens in the abandoned oceanic nomadic cities along the Iberian coastlines into their ranks. He also acted as a local bishop of Sal Viento and had established contact with The First To Talk, the Church's "herald" and the Seaborn's messenger. Using the Church's twisted doctrine, he secretly misguide the citizens into sacrificing themselves for "the ocean" to bolster the Seaborn's ranks in exchange for "food from the ocean (that is implied to be corrupted by the Seaborn's essence)."
While Quintus appears to be an Aegir, he could turn himself into a Seaborn. However, the transformation appears to be irreversible as it could cause him to lose his sentience and be unable to communicate verbally. In his Seaborn form, Quintus grows into a gargantuan leviathan that dwarves every known Sea Terrors with eight tentacles connected to a central mass as well as his "eyes," now morphed into massive anemone-like flowers, that are even larger than that of Basin Sea Reapers. Meanwhile, he not only could spawn sprout-like critters that could cripple unwary victims, but also could release powerful, focused energy beams (though Quintus never do this in-game) and tidal shockwaves over a huge area.
Prior to the incident of Sal Viento, Quintus approached Gladiia, a high-ranking Abyssal Hunter, and persuaded her to kidnap Specter from Rhodes Island. However, he did not realize her true intention of pinpointing the Church's location to Skadi.
Story
Beyond Here
While visiting a remote Iberian village to deliver the message of the Church of the Deep, Quintus saved a child named José (not to be confused with Skadi's acquaintance Old José) from his bully Antonio. The bishop, who had witnessed the argument between José and Antonio, went on to tell the children about how the teachings of the Lateran Church are too dogmatic as well as a sermon concerning good and bad lies. Quintus went on to explain about sins and their consequences according to the Lateran Church's law, which caused Iberia's downfall after the Silence. In his conclusion, he asked the children to believe in what they always believe, follow the teachings of the Church, and treat others like brothers. After the service, Quintus took some of the children with him as he was summoned by the villagers, but they did not realize that they had become yet another victim to the insidious evangelism of the Church.[1]
Under Tides
When Skadi arrived at Sal Viento, Quintus, who had anticipated her arrival, chose to watch her from the sidelines. He also told Gladiia that he just wanted to save her and Specter by relieving them of "their pain" and that he was looking for "perfection" with the power granted by "Him (referring to the Seaborn's hive mind)." He also looked forward to see how the reunion between them will go as desired by The First.[2]
Later that night, Quintus noticed the arrival of the High Inquisitor and Irene to Sal Viento that coincided with the coming of the hundredth tide. With that said, he secretly unleashed the Sea Terrors from the church to repel them, which he claimed to be "purer" than Gladiia.[3] However, the Sea Terrors were no match to the Inquisitors and Skadi, who managed to kill them all.
The ritual ended when Sheetmetal was chosen to be the sacrifice for the Seaborn and food finally arrived at the shore the next morning. Quintus then personally appeared alongside Gladiia in front of the gathering people gave them a sermon where he wanted the Sal Vientians to enjoy the bounty given by the ocean and consoled Sheetmetal's sacrifice. Gladiia questioned Quintus' sermon, but he rebuffed her by expressing his desire to help the Iberians with all his means and make the people open their eyes to the truth across both the land and ocean. Before heading back to the church, he even told the people to "embrace the vastness before them."[4]
After the ritual, Skadi personally approached the bishop in the church and questioned him of the abnormalities surrounding the Sal Vientians. Being expecting of her visit, Quintus welcomed Skadi and then took her and Gladiia into the church's catacombs where Specter was being imprisoned. At this point, Gladiia turned against Quintus and revealed her true intention to stop him and the Church from experimenting on the Sal Vientians and his study on Specter's abnormal Oripathy. But before she could act further, The First gave a seemingly fatal blow onto Gladiia before setting its eyes on Skadi. Quintus then ordered The First to deal with Skadi, but to his dismay, the herald instead wanted to have a short "reunion" with her where he revealed the secrets of the Abyssal Hunters and the Seaborn's true nature. Had not Gladiia came for the rescue, Skadi's Seaborn blood will inevitably corrupt herself.[5]
Fuled with total anger, Quintus ordered the First to quickly eliminate them. However, The First suddenly lost its hostility towards the Abyssal Hunters out of the fact that "they are brothers and the same." Not only Quintus was shocked to see The First reacting positively to Gladiia's request to kill Quintus, but also he witnessed the death of his honorable herald by Gladiia.[6] By the time he noticed that Specter miraculously regained her temporary conscience, Quintus cursed the Hunters and swore to kill them. With that said, he crazily transformed into a Seaborn leviathan and punctured the catacombs' walls.
In order to stop the monster from annihilating Sal Viento, the three Abyssal Hunters charged forward with Gladiia leading the fight. Even though it released an energy beam from its "eyes," but Gladiia managed to blind it by striking one of its "eyes," causing it to lash out in disbelief. As Quintus fought the Hunters in desperation, he eventually realized that the Seaborn only cared for their offspring and their kind as a whole, not just themselves. This delirium left Quintus a wide open for a fatal blow delivered by the Abyssal Hunters in unison.[7]
As he was laying dying, Quintus cursed the Hunters for foiling his desire to seek "the truth." But just as Quintus succumbed to his wounds and died suddenly, he suddenly spoke in a different tone, implied to be the Seaborn's hive mind, as if he was brought back to life. He pointed out that Gladiia's fate was alreay set and vowed that the ocean will someday devour all of Terra. Just before the Hunters were ready for another round of battle, Kal'tsit appeared out of nowhere and ordered Mon3tr to destroy the church using its beam. The explosion caused the building to fall off from the cliff and Quintus and the remaining Sea Terrors were buried by the collapsing boulders, never again coming back to life.[8]