Granbell Rosso

""Kukukuku. You've acted in the service of a higher cause, Yuuki. Even my great self was insufficient to break the divine seal placed on the Holy Ark. And that's why I used you, you fool! Demon Lords, Sinners! We shall all perish here together!""

- Granbell's Resolution

Granbell Rosso (グランベル・ロッゾ) was the former head of the Rosso family, the true identity of "Luminary of Sun" Gran, and a Former Chosen Hero.

Appearance
Granbell was a withered old man with white hair and violet eyes. Despite being long past his prime, he still exuded the presence and charisma found in a ruler. Befitting his wealth and status, he was well-dressed and wore fancy and expensive clothes.

In the events of the story, prior to his death he regained a great deal of his youth, sporting a head of shining blond and a sharp expression like that of an eagle.

Personality
Granbell was originally a selfless and noble person who cared only for the welfare and safety of humans. He could not tolerate the thought of humanity being ruled over by Monsters, especially a Demon Lord, but was willing to set aside his prejudices if the benefits outweighed the cons in the long run. Over the course of millennia, his experiences in the West have left him jaded, and his purpose changed. Instead of continuing to simply protect humans, he decided to also rule over them.

During the many years of him secretly ruling the West, which was the veritable garden of the Rosso family, he adhered to the ideology that absolute power was necessary to protect humanity, and for that reason, showed no hesitation in subjecting standout individuals with the potential to become Saints and Chosen Heroes, to severe and harrowing trials without warning. He believed that if they could not overcome such trials, the protection of humanity would remain a distant thing.

Background
In ancient times, Granbell trained under Emperor Rudra Nam Ul Nasca, and was for a time hailed as the Chosen Hero of Light. To manifest his, and his master's, lofty goal of protecting humanity from the numerous threats that plagued the world, he left Rudra's side and departed for the West, going on to face many powerful adversaries. Luminous Valentine was the most powerful among the opponents he faced; the two clashed on several occasions, their powers evenly matched, but eventually came to a mutual understanding when Granbell was convinced that she sought coexistence with humans. He formed a working alliance with her and became her subordinate, cooperating with her to expand the reach of the Western Holy Church and the faith of Luminous, thus engineering a relationship where the Demon Lord Luminous and humanity coexisted. With Luminous' approval, he established the Clerics of the Seven Luminaries, an organization intended to oversee the church's daily operations, and was given all manner of political authority.

The fruits of Granbell's labor slowly but steadily bore fruit in the thousand-year period of peace brought about by his alliance with Luminous, during which he safeguarded the West from the Daemons of the north, employing the Majin Razul, an Insectar he befriended, in his service. The desperate that flocked to Luminous flourished, becoming small and eventually great nations. To strengthen the cooperation between each country, he appealed to them from behind the scenes and created the Council of the West. All was seemingly going well, but when his wife, Maria Rosso, a great pillar of support in his life, was killed by an opposing human faction, he became consumed by grief and madness. He preserved her corpse and turned it into a Servant through the forbidden magic Raise Dead, and stored in it the Love Energy supplied to him by Luminous over many years and the energy extracted from countless Otherworlders.

Granbell underwent significant changes following Maria's death and became obsessed with pursuing a world where humanity was under the grip of the Rosso family. He became active for many years behind the scenes as the ruler of the Western economy, using the Kingdom of Siltrosso as his primary base while having a sole monopoly on the region's organized crime. He also manipulated the movements of the Western council through the Five Elders, a group comprised of his descendants in positions of power in the various Western countries that held their own seats on the council. At some point, he severed his ties to Rudra, whom he was scheduled to return to after uniting the West, and began actively sabotaging the plans of the East to lay claim to the West. To that end, he cooperated with the Dwarves and sent out his own merchants to procure information to prepare for the possibility of an invasion. In the meantime, he engaged in petty competition with his long-time acquaintance, Damrada.

One day, he crossed paths with Mariabell Rosso, his 3-year-old granddaughter, whom he discovered had immense latent power. Seeing within her the hope of the Rosso family, he took her under his wing and groomed her to be his successor. Their time together, however, would not last for more than a decade due to her antagonizing Rimuru Tempest and Yuuki Kagurazaka. Mariabell's death drove Granbell to madness once more, but he quickly came full circle and regained his sanity, remembering his original purpose of protecting humanity. In a desperate final gambit, he carried out a plan, at the cost of his life, to facilitate the birth of an Awakened Chosen Hero who could protect humanity in his place.