Illustrator: @BallpitCIown

Ah, Richard Voltare… a name like a shot in the dark, isn't it? Our dear Englishman with a heart of gold—or is it iron? He's the one who stands at the center of the storm in the One Minute For Midnight saga, the very figure who rises from the ashes of a world teetering on the brink. He is the White King of the radicalized Medici, the leader of the White Roses Faction, but he wasn’t always that, oh no… Once, he was just a sociable, caring sort of fellow, with no grand plans or dark ambitions, a man you might pass on the street without a second thought.

But then… then came The Babel System, that cursed AI that wrapped its mechanical fingers around the world's internet, its technological veins. And in its infinite, unknowable wisdom, it chose Richard to be one of “The Sons of the Advent.” Why him, you ask? What makes this man so special? Ah, now there’s a question worth pondering. Perhaps it has something to do with The Babel System's mysterious goals, its grand design. Or perhaps it's something else, something hidden in the depths of Richard's own soul. He didn’t have any grand schemes, any master plans before the system plucked him out of obscurity. But then… then came The Great Fire of Sodom.

Ah, what a terrible beauty that was—a conflagration that burned through half of London, leaving only ashes and charred bones in its wake, a disaster that took thousands of lives and shattered the fragile peace. It was then, in the aftermath of that great tragedy, that Richard realized he had been given power for a reason. With half the city in ruins, with the smoke still lingering in the air, he decided he would do something, that he would not let this power go to waste.

And so, he became the pillar of the White Roses, rallying them, recruiting through persuasion, manipulation, and whatever means necessary. One by one, he gathered half of the Sons of the Advent to his side, not for conquest, not for glory, but to stop the Midnight Countdown, that dreadful prophecy whispered by The Babel System—a countdown to the end of the world itself.

But in the middle of all this commotion, this chaos of conspiracies and prophecies, there is something else that drives him, isn’t there? A hidden purpose, a personal quest. You see, in the fires of Sodom, someone disappeared, someone Richard is determined to find. And he will find them, no matter what stands in his way.

Yet, oh… what if the reunion he’s so desperately searching for is not a sweet embrace but a deadly duel? What if the one he seeks is destined to be his greatest enemy, standing on the opposite side of the board as the world teeters on the brink of destruction? What if they are fated to clash at the final hour, just as the clock ticks down to midnight?

Ah, but that’s the game, isn’t it? A twist here, a turn there, and suddenly… everything changes. So, my dear reader, are you ready to watch Richard Voltare dance on the knife's edge between salvation and ruin? To see whether he will be the savior he dreams of or the destroyer he dreads to become? Only time will tell… and time, you’ll find, is a fickle mistress indeed.