The Gladiator Gauntlet characters

Also known as Elaine of Earth, Elaine of Remus, Dawn Sentinel, Mother of Phoenixes

Appears from the start

A returning healer and student who is partnered with Iona and bonded to Auri. She begins a spatially aligned third class called Bookworm, while privately concealing that earlier biomancy has changed her into a chimera elvenoid.

Also known as Dusk Valkyrie

Appears from the start

Elaine's partner and fellow student, a returning Valkyrie whose faith is devoted to Selene and Lunaris. She assists Elaine with difficult choices and pursues her own martial studies at the school.

Appears from the start

Elaine's returning phoenix companion and a student of baking. Their bond passes experience to Elaine and gives Elaine fire immunity, faster thinking, and the ability to extend healing to Auri.

Also known as the Black Rose

First appears in chapter 2

The school's arena master and a faculty member whose safeguards remove students from staged danger. He recognizes that Elaine's public identity as a healer understates her physical combat ability.

First appears in chapter 5

Iona's growing frost-wyvern companion, who travels with her and remains closely involved in the pair's plans. Iona intends to commission new armor made with his scales for both of them, while Fenrir can communicate only a limited number of words through their bond.

First appears in chapter 7

One of Iona's moon-goddess patrons, with authority to make serious requests of her paladin. She asks Iona to answer a cultivator's deliberate insult, then accepts a plan to pursue formal punishment through the school and local institutions instead of a lethal confrontation.

First appears in chapter 7

One of the two moon goddesses served by Iona and a patron able to give her major assignments. She joins Selene in requiring a response to a cultivator's insult and approves Iona's choice to seek institutional consequences rather than use direct violence.

First appears in chapter 8

A wind elemental represented by a floating black hat who joins Elaine's under-30 Gladiator Gauntlet team. She can carry the entire group rapidly through the air without harming them.

First appears in chapter 9

Elaine's biomancy mentor and advisor at the school. She helps examine Elaine's extraordinary claim to have created the Medical Manuscripts, initially treating it as implausible while arranging for the signature and other possible evidence to be tested.

First appears in chapter 9

A very high-level devil who serves as the school's head administrator. Elaine asks him to assist Marcella and an archivist with the Medical Manuscripts inquiry, and he gains a level immediately after Elaine supplies a fresh signature for comparison.

First appears in chapter 12

A school teammate whose status confirms a vow of silence. He lends the entry fee needed to register Team Iona, leaving Elaine responsible for repayment at 16-percent interest.

First appears in chapter 14

Team Shining Shrine's scout and tactical commander in the Gladiator Gauntlet. He studies Iona's defenses, fighting style, and possible weaknesses while preparing his team for its preliminary match against her.

First appears in chapter 15

The queen's brother and Rolland's champion, identified by Iona as a major opponent in the Gladiator Gauntlet. He carries a rune-metal greatsword that makes him an especially dangerous threat.

Also known as Flora of Remus

First appears in chapter 29

An ancient director from Remus who can appear through flowers and petals. During Elaine's thesis defense, she supports the credibility of Elaine's claimed identity despite having no direct prior acquaintance with her.

First appears in chapter 29

An investigator who traces lines of signatures associated with the Medical Manuscripts. The structured similarities he finds, together with levels earned during his inquiry, support Elaine's authorship claim.

Appears from the start

A figure from Elaine's earlier life, connected to Remus and the vampire world, whom she privately believes may have survived into the present. She begins this book without confirmation of either his survival or his whereabouts.

First appears in chapter 31

A priest serving with a Ranger team that is tracking the Circus of Smiles near Palma. He shares a dangerous night watch with Livia while their group deliberately camps away from easier lodging and continues an unresolved pursuit through hazardous country.

First appears in chapter 31

A Ranger serving alongside Deimos. She argues that prolonged peace can leave a society dangerously untested and regards the team's earlier Sentinel-impostor assignment as genuine but far too minor.

First appears in chapter 31

A spider-like intelligence in Sanguino whose threads form a sensory network across the city, allowing movement throughout the network to be detected.