Cornelius Alba

Cornelius Alba (コルネリウス・アルバ) is an antagonist of the fifth chapter of Kara no Kyoukai, "Paradox Spiral". He is a powerful Magus and a friend of Touko Aozaki and Souren Araya when the three studied at the London branch of the Mage's Association.

Background
Cornelius is a direct descendant of the Renaissance-era scholar and magus Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim. Contrary to his appearance - likened to "an agreeable youth in his twenties" in the novel - he is over fifty years old and has a cruel disposition.

Before the events of Kara no Kyoukai, he was supposed to be the next director of a Sponheim Abbey that was affiliated with the Mage's Association.

Personality
He and Touko were on good terms when they were students until Touko surpassed him in their study of Runes. He is so obsessed with this inferiority complex that he occasionally becomes deranged when speaking of her.

Alba views reaching the Akasha is a useless effort but he teams up with Araya to kill Touko.

Fate/Zero
There is a person who appears similar to Alba in Fate/Zero, but while it is hinted at possibly being Alba, the production staff of Fate/Zero doesn't confirm it. He is one of the Enforcers who participates in the 'cleansing' of the vampirism started by Norikata Emiya at Arimago Island.

Chapter 5: Paradox Spiral
He joined up with Araya and came to Japan, not because of the latter's attempt to reach Akasha, but solely to kill Touko to prove his superiority.

Cornelius was first seen by Enjou Tomoe when he notice Shiki Ryougi was being followed.

When Touko and Mikiya was examining the Ogawa Apartment complex, Alba was spying on them at a far distance.

He was devoured by Touko's familiar in the 'sealed box' after calling her by her nickname, "Dirty Red". Only at the end did he realize that he "shouldn't have gotten involved with monsters" like Touko and Araya.

Abilities
In terms of raw power, Cornelius is amongst the high end of all the magi to ever appear in TYPE-MOON works, but he doesn't get a chance to fully display his abilities during the story. Despite being an overall superior magus to both Araya and Touko, they can be called monsters that far surpass him in battle capability. He also has a bad compatibility against Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi.

His Sea of Flames (炎の海) can create a thousand-degree conflagration in less than two seconds using high-speed incantations, so he can be compared to a character in a fighting game capable of spamming Super Moves at will. He has a black hound familiar and as well as ether clumps, Slimes. He is also a puppeteer (人形師) and was responsible for the system at Ogawa Mansion, where only the brains of residents were kept alive and connected to puppet bodies. His Origin is Refutation (反証).