Decus

Decus is a new character and antagonist from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.

Story
Decus is an antagonist in Dawn of the World. Decus is the leader of the Vanguard's espionage division. Decus is a simple man who cares little for the current conflict. He fights with a giant broadsword that is more than his size that is carried in a giant coffin, it appears he is the only Vanguard member that can wield it. Despite his noticeable good looks, Decus has sworn to give his heart to Alice alone. He does everything Alice does including joining the Vanguard. Even if he is aware that Alice finds him repulsive, he is willing to follow her to the end of the world. He is first introduced in his true form in Flanoir where he is praying to get Alice to fall in love with him. He apparently reeks of Eau De Seduction, a horrible smelling perfume. Decus is the reason why Lloyd Irving is blamed for the Blood Purge of Palmacosta since he has been impersonating Lloyd and framing him for terrible crimes. Towards the end of the game, after his last battle with Alice, Emil tries to kill Alice to protect Marta, but in the end Decus takes the full blow of the attack. Just before he dies he says he loves her and Alice realizes that she loves him. In the end the two die, lying next to each other while Emil regrets his choice.

In a side quest that centres on Alice and Decus, it is revealed that Decus and Alice were both orphans who lived in Hima, eight years before the game, Decus was accused of robbing some travellers. It turns out it was the orphanage owner son who had robbed them, but no one believed Decus, and so the travellers attacked him. Just before they killed him, demons attacked the orpahange and it was burned to the ground in the disaster killing many of the people inside. It was then revealed Alice made a pact with a demon to save Decus, and she learned to summon and control demons and monsters because of this. Since that day, Decus swore his heart to Alice as repayment for saving his life, however Alice rejected him. Decus saw this as his only way of repaying her for saving his life. The Orphanage remains can be seen in Hima were the graveyard is. However, in the original Tales of Symphonia, when the player gos to the Niffilhiem book optional dungeon, it is revealed that when Lloyd's group burned the book, it destroyed the pact Alice had with the demons and thus explains why she needs machines to control monsters now. Upon revealing these details to the party, Emil and the party try to tell him his life is his own and change his ways, however, he states that he will only live for Alice. The group saddened by this, then realize that while he as done terrible things, Decus should not be viewed as pure evil like they had done for the majority of the game.

Trivia
Decus' Mystic Arte is a new one that came with the game, Strum and Drang.

Although Decus is not party member, a cheat allows the player to control him and use all his attacks. This might determine in the original script of the game Decus changed his ways and decided to join Emil in his fight or this was possibly a easter egg for players with cheat devices, or the Action Replay. This cheat goes for Alice instead of Marta.