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| Tenebrous Dragon Slayer Magic | |
| Kanji |
黒影の滅竜魔法 |
| Rōmaji |
Kokuei no Metsuryū Mahō |
| Type | |
| Users |
Araf |
Tenebrous Dragon Slayer Magic (黒影の滅竜魔法, Kokuei no Metsuryū Mahō), alternatively known as Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic (影の滅竜魔法, Kage no Metsuryū Mahō) is a Lost Magic of the Dragon Slayer variety that deals with, what practitioners refer to as, the "shadow of one's self" (自分の影, jibun no kage). Its only user in the modern age is Araf following the death of the Dragon Kaliya.
Description[]
Dragons are beings of incredulous, law-defying power: their very essence is the materialization of the world's elements captured within a specifically tailored physical body. Dragons are commonly created with physical elements that compose the world, such as the four classical elements and those regularly found in nature. However, a Tenebrous Dragon is born from the shadows of the world. It is a very personification of her hidden emotions and power. Even among Dragons, Tenebrous Dragons are an extreme rarity due to the nature of their creation and are regarded by their brethren as harbingers of misfortune.
What defines the power of a Tenebrous Dragon is not their destructive ability or any obscure supporting skills, but rather, the conditions that are attached to the Magic's use. All who wish to seek the secrets of a Tenebrous Dragon must be prepared to truly understand the nature of one's shadows — one's "power of darkness" (闇の力, yami no chikara). All entities in the world possess the power of darkness. It is a dormant, fearsome power that resides in the hearts of all. It possesses no inherent alignment, contrary to common depiction, but the fact that it lies dormant means that a person's most undesirable traits are generally sealed with it unconsciously. However, one's darkness, appearing in the form of their shadow, can only be described as a place of infinity within emptiness (空中無限, Kūchū Mugen). The darkness and shadows are empty, abstract existences that do not possess any physical characteristics nor bearing on the world, and yet are able to influence one's individual power through the channeling of one's innermost depths, which exists in nigh infinity. Perhaps the most vivid example of the power of darkness lies within the Ankhseram Black Magic, in which a practitioner must succumb to the depths of their darkness — apathy towards life itself — in order to realize the true depths of their power. It is then fitting, that one's shadow may only be realized in the physical world with a source of light: in this sense, the darkness almost acts as a parasite, feeding on an individual's light in order to one day devour it.
It is in capitalizing the unique existence of shadows that a Tenebrous Dragon may draw upon its incredible power. Specifically, one materializes their power of darkness through their shadow and, in doing so, all of their negative emotions alongside it. The shadow takes upon a separate personality which is constantly attempting to drown out the host personality in its power. This separation of personality enables a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer to drown themselves in their own shadow and travel in a dimension outside of the physical world. The speed in which one may travel as a shadow is on-par with that of a Teleportation Magic user, considering that shadows are not bound by physical laws of movement. Moreover, they are also capable of cloaking themselves in said shadow while in the physical realm, maintaining intangibility through similar means. That being said, in order to interact with the physical world and make any offensive maneuver, they must break free from the intangibility, thus allowing significantly skilled combatants the opportunity to catch them off-guard. Likewise, those who also possess shadow-based intangibility can bypass the gap between themselves and the Tenebrous Dragon Slayer, leading both combatants to stand on the same plane. Interestingly, those who enter the realm of their own shadow are noted to have their senses momentarily enhanced to the highest degree. It is believed that the threat of an individual's darkness devouring them vastly enhances the natural instincts of a Dragon placed within the Dragon Slayer, leading them to successfully break through powers such as hypnosis and illusion through the sheer danger their own darkness poses overpowering any external influences on their senses.
A Tenebrous Dragon Slayer's offensive power is built through creation and manipulation of shadows created within their body. Much like all other Dragon Slayers, the physiology of a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer has been adjusted to enable magical shadows to be produced from every single portion of their body. Likewise, they are capable of consuming external shadows and darkness to momentarily enhance their own power. Darkness of a particularly refined quality are even capable of enabling the Tenebrous Dragon Slayer to achieve Dragon Force. What truly defines a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer's consumption is its ability to indiscriminately devour any Magic it comes across. Shadows possess no limits to what goes within them. They are little more than a void, so-to-speak. As such, any Magic that one may cast towards the Tenebrous Dragon Slayer will be extinguished on sight, should the Dragon Slayer make direct contact with it. Of course, these other powers are incapable of fueling a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer. Instead, these external energies encounter the overwhelming darkness of a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer's shadow, and dissipate in face of its corrosive strength. Such corrosive power exists in every offensive technique in a Tenebrous Dragon Slayer's possession, for they call upon their own darkness in order to materialize shadows within their body. For this reason, extensive use of their power is detrimental to their psyche, and only a truly strong-willed individual may inherit this accursed strength.
Spells[]
Unlike the vast majority of Dragon Slayers, Araf's spells are named after the so-called monsters of Earth Land. Considering that he is a vessel for the power of darkness, it is only appropriate that his Dragon mentor opted to name the applications of his power after beings that embodied that very darkness. Although Araf initially didn't find much combat value in this naming scheme, sparring sessions with members of Dragon Soul indicate that this unorthodox naming scheme makes it difficult to predict the nature of his attacks till the last possible moment.
Tenebrous Dragon's Roar.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Roar (黒影竜の咆哮, Kokueiryū no Hōkō):
- Functionality is the same as any roar. A collection of shadows and darkness expelled from Araf's throat. It possesses the "all-consuming" properties of all of Araf's spells in that, once released from his body, it is capable of devouring other shadows in order to grow stronger. Likewise, it is also noted to be able to, to some extent, negate significantly weaker spells. Of course, this takes up power from the roar, which can slowly whittle it away if it is exposed to enough power.
Tenebrous Dragon's Therion.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Therion (黒影竜の食う魔, Kokueiryū no Kūma; lit. "Devouring Demon"):
- Functionality is similar to an "Iron Fist" spell or, in many cases, a "body covering" spell such as "Claw." It takes the form of concentrated shadows heavily bound to Araf's arm to the point where it takes near-solid form, thus possessing an incredible amount of thickness. While enhancing his physical abilities due to the nature of the spell's thickness, this spell's true purpose is to devour any Magic that it comes into contact with. Although devour is the word used, it simply absorbs it without any genuine strength coming into Araf (with the exception of other shadows). In the face of the emptiness that is the shadows, all Magic is isolated from the Ethernano of the world. As such, like all things, it slowly fades away within the shadow body of Araf.
Tenebrous Dragon's Nāga.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Nāga (黒影竜の付く蛇, Kokueiryū no Tsukuja; lit. "Coiled Snake"):
Tenebrous Dragon's Arachne.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Arachne (黒影竜の織り蜘蛛, Kokueiryū no Origumo; lit. "Weaving Spider"):
Tenebrous Dragon's Baí Zé.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Baí Zé (黒影竜の白澤, Kokueiryū no Hakutaku; lit. "White Marsh"):
Tenebrous Dragon's Gorgon.
- Tenebrous Dragon's Gorgon (黒影竜の石眼, Kokueiryū no Sekigan; lit. "Stone Eye"):