Cid Kagenou

Cid Kagenō (シド・カゲノー), formerly Minoru Kagenō, is the main protagonist of The Eminence in Shadow series. He is the leader of the secret organization Shadow Garden under the moniker Shadow, which he founded to live out his chūnibyō fantasies, unaware that his imaginary enemies actually exist.

Cid Kagenō
Cid is a slim young man with a muscular frame, with short dark hair and his facial features are often described as generic and frail.

Attending the Midgar Academy, he is required to wear a uniform consisting of a dress shirt, trousers, a blazer jacket, a tie, and a pair of loafers.

Shadow
Under his Shadow guise, Cid adorns a full-body slime suit, gloves, a domino mask, and boots along with a hooded trenchcoat. This attire is dyed jet black with golden accents.

Mundane Mann
Under his Mundane Mann (ジミナ・セーネン) guise, Cid adorns a plain man's face etched atop his, a hunched back, drop shoulders and misaligned pelvis.

John Smith
Under his John Smith guise, Cid adorns a suit, fingerless gloves, and another domino mask to conceal his identity.

Minoru Kagenō
In his previous life as Minoru Kagenō, due to his constant training, he possessed a rather tall and muscular physique. Despite this, however, his face remained rather plain, with short black hair and black eyes.

Personality
"Even side characters have their battles to fight."

- Cid Kagenou

Inspired by TV shows, video games and other stories, Cid is obsessed with becoming the 'Eminence in the Shadows', a person who exerts enormous power and influence in the darkness of society. He spares no effort in dedicating himself to that goal and takes great pride in his achievements. He appreciates other people's hard work and disdains those whose strength is borrowed.

His followers believe him to be a brilliant mastermind when in reality his success comes from dumb luck, improvisation, and his superior combat prowess. In his civilian persona, Cid hates drawing attention, portraying himself as a below-average student. While in his Shadow persona, he is obsessed with appearing cool and mysterious, muttering ominous lines and performing silly antics. More than a few of his decisions are aimed at acting out various fantasies and story clichés he thinks are cool. For instance, his participation in the God of War Festival Tournament (under the false identity 'Mundane Mann') was solely to fulfill his specific fantasy of being a mysterious fighter who is at first laughed at for being supposedly weak, but ultimately shocks everyone with his true strength.

Shadow Garden is extremely loyal to Cid, and quite a few of its members hold a secret adoration romantically towards him, although Cid is oblivious to that or simply pays it no mind. It annoys Cid whenever some of his subordinates take credit for the otherworldly knowledge, they learned from him and often mistakenly think that they are using it for themselves. He likes money and prefers to earn it himself rather than rely on the funds gathered by his subordinates.

Even though he relies heavily on luck, improvisation, and physical dexterity, Cid has shown that he is intelligent and cunning, and has the ingenuity to be able to achieve some of his initial goals before and after creating Shadow Garden. For example, before the creation of his organization, he was able to create the slime suit and develop a cure for Demon Possession which was previously unknown. His intelligence and knowledge are only surpassed by 2 of the Seven Shades Gamma and Eta.

When it comes to his public persona, he is often obsessed with making himself a "mob character", seeming as mediocre as possible. An example of this behavior is shown when he befriends two young men who fit his description as average, tried to fake a confession to girl although it backfired, allowed himself to be tortured by investigators for a week and even disregarded his injuries because he felt that it supported his image as a mob character, even though he could have easily escaped or simply recovered his injuries using his powers. Furthermore, Cid will happily allow himself to be beaten and stabbed if he believes that it will make him more "mob-like". On one occasion, he stopped his own heart for 10 minutes for the sake of what he called a "mob saves the main character event".

Physical Prowess
Cid is an extremely powerful warrior with physical strength strong enough to shatter wood, concrete, and the body of strong monsters without using much magic due to a lifetime of martial arts training combined. Such is his knowledge of how his body works, that he can dodge attacks with minimal movement, and when taking physical attacks such as stabs, can redirect them to non-vital areas to avoid damage to vital organs. He also has superhuman speed and reflexes, which goes into sleight of hand; being able to pickpocket his money back right after being pickpocketed, and taking their money at the same time.

Master Swordsmanship
Before reincarnating, Minoru displayed a desire to become an 'Eminence in the Shadows' and began to practice a variety of fencing starting from his childhood and spanning his teenage years until he reincarnated. After his reincarnation, Minoru, now named Cid, repeated his training assimilating his newfound magic into it. At the age of six, he had already mastered fencing, adapting his previous style of swordsmanship with the style of his current world. His skill at using swords has been honed by training to the pinnacle of human limits. His main natural style is perfect in the fundamentals, based not on talent, power, speed, or usage of magic, but on endless amounts of effort in training. Cid can switch to a flashier style if the situation calls for it.

Even without enhancing himself with magic, he can outfight any magic-using opponent. He is skilled enough to simultaneously fight and effortlessly defeat Beatrix and Iris Midgar, two of the most accomplished Spellswords in the world. After the fight, Iris believes that Shadow was the strongest Spellsword in the world. He has also shown that he can masterfully dual-wield swords in an effective and manageable way. This skill is shown in his battle against Ragnarok, the 'Grand Ruler of the Fourth Realm', in which he uses two swords against the demon and manages to defeat him without so many problems.

Cid is already classified as a master and instructor of the sword, since when he welcomed the 7 girls who would be the "Seven Shadows", Cid disciplined them in the art both in the correct handling of the sword (as he knew ), as in magic, causing them to become very powerful. Although of the Seven Shadows of theirs, only Alpha mainly, learned their style of swordsmanship and magic at a very high level. While below her, only Beta and Epsilon handled it in a way not as high as their partner Alpha but although manageable and in their improved style.

The other members (such as Gamma, Delta, Zeta and Eta) could only manage to handle the sword well and control their magic well, since; Gamma was very clumsy in combat no matter how hard she tried because she stumbled for the most part, Delta was more of a head of muscles than of intelligence, for which reason she almost never used techniques taught by her Master Cid, Zeta has a natural talent to master and handle any weapon she uses, but she doesn't like to fully master the same weapon as she gets bored after a short time using it and Eta when she had a lazy rhythm, she practically does not go out to fight like the other "Seven Shadows" but she does know something about the sword.

Warrior Perception
Cid developed a type of Sensation, which is more than a skill, which is only achieved by the strongest elite warriors and those who have fully mastered the handling of the sword and direct combat, called the "warrior sense". Cid are able to perceive, understand and comprehend what a person who has struggled a lot is like, either in swordsmanship or in magic, which allows him to adapt and handle the situation that is presented to him when he comes face to face with a powerful enemy, to the point of using the knowledge he learns from it to ascertain his identity.

For Cid, he sees it and handles it as a type of "conversation", since for him, a fight is about exchanging words, (in the sense of techniques and some other things), while one fights with the other, when I fight as Shadow in the "Goddess Trials" against Aurora, Cid was able to feel and understand in a certain way, how Aurora handled and behaved while fighting her, which made him very excited, although in the end he was disappointed to learn that she was not there at her best and that she was just a puppet imprisoned by the tests, which made him end everything in a flash.

According to Cid's words, if the opponent does not have a soul or conscience as such, it will be somewhat easy for him to be able to predict his movements and understand how he behaves in order to defend himself more easily. Since according to Cid, when exchanging "words" with someone, for his part, has to answer him, when he faces a fragment of Olivier, Cid realized that she did not have a soul, since she did not answer him at all, neither with the sword nor with her mouth, that although she had a lot of power. In the end, it was just another puppet of the Cult of diabolos. The swordsman Beatrix also has this sense, but at a lower level, since Cid does not need to touch someone to know how powerful or what kind of ability he has or can have in part, although sometimes it is seen.

Hand-to-Hand Combat
In his previous life, as Minoru Kagenō, he practiced and mastered various disciplines such as karate, boxing, mixed martial arts, Buddhism, yoga from an early age. Around his adolescence, he reached the pinnacle of the strength of the human body, both in skill and in other respects. He was capable of dominating and defeating average thugs to people who had undergone military training. When he reincarnated as Cid, he repeated his training and grew stronger in hand-to-hand combat allowing him to effortlessly subdue power opponents with his bare hands. With his skills he defeated Gettan, delivering several blows only using his body, even though Gettan had been heavily strengthened by the Tears of Diablos.

Scientific Ingenuity
Despite the fact that he has a mentality that ranges from a 15-year-old teenager to that of an 8-10-year-old child, Cid has shown great ingenuity both in the scientific and creative parts. Since in his dreams to be an eminence in the shadows, he carried out multiple experiments at a magical and biological level while training and strengthening his body among other things, both with himself and with other bodies, (presumptuously those of the bandits and he only did it with a civilian that I already thought was dead who would it be, Alpha), which allowed him to create and develop apart from the well-known "Slime Suit", multiple things, abilities and powers both for himself, and for him to later teach his Shadow Garden followers, that sometimes he does not even know that he has developed or acquired them until and more later to find out. This peculiarity of his allows him to sometimes even create things at the last moment when he faces situations in which his powers or abilities are insufficient to solve problems quickly.

Previous world Knowledge
After being reborn into the Kagenō family, Minoru retained all of his past abilities and knowledge while studying magic. It is never explained how he retains his memories of his old life. This immensely augmented his abilities, turning him into one of the most powerful people in the world. His knowledge of his previous and more advanced world allowed his organization to develop their technology and resources exponentially.

Knowledge of Languages
Cid has mastered several languages including the language of his per-reincarnation homeland, Japanese, and other languages he learns in his pursuit of magic on Earth. He enjoys using English while speaking. He also has basic knowledge about the Runes of Norse mythology and about the Greek alphabet.

Tuned Perception
Cid has a keen perception and can distinguish the identity of other people even if they attempt to hide their identities. For instance, he was able to see through Lutheran Barnett's disguise and uncover his identity as a member of the cult and the person who organized the attack on the academy.

Stealth Dexterity
Cid in his physical and magical training, before and after reincarnating, became an expert in stealth which allows him to go anywhere he wants without being seen or detected, unless he wants to.

Anti/human immunity
Through the use and experimentation of his magic on his own body at a biological level, Cid developed a practical immunity to any type of chemical substance, poison or narcotic that is harmful to him or that harms his body, whether ingested or breathed, ranging from aphrodisiacs to deadly poisons that can kill very large creatures. This is shown to us when Eta tried to dissect her master, Cid's brain, secretly putting an aphrodisiac in his coffee to be able to study her lord without his knowledge, but seeing that it did not affect him at all, she tried a poison that She herself did what she says, she can kill even a dragon but it didn't work for her either.

It is speculated that it also has strong resistance to biologically deadly gases, such as carbon dioxide gases emanating from active volcanoes, and sulfuric acid gases.

Magic
Cid has refined the control of his magic throughout his life. Unlike the red color of normal magic users, Cid's magic is purple and resembles the pattern of a circuit. He can cure children who are Demon Possessed as well as create slime suits and swords. Other uses of his magic involve wide-area detection magic, boosting an army's combat power and mind control. He can also strengthen the defense of his slime suit to the point that he remains unscathed after receiving an all-out barrage from Maximilian, someone who has similar quantities of magic.

He also developed the ability to hide, condense and ultimately compress his tremendous magical power, which allows him to evade the academy's magic detectors and ultimately, the power to prevent his magic from being drained by artifacts that are designed for it, which According to the members of the Cult of Devils, it is practically impossible, (it is speculated that the latter was due to the teachings she learned from Sherry when she analyzed the "Eye of Avarice").

Standard Equipment:

 * Slime Bodysuit: A completely black bodysuit made from slime jelly mixed with black pigments. From this suit he can create weapons made of slime material, that is capable of stretching and he is able to extend them from any part of the suit. Unlike the members of his organization and his Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden, Cid is the only one with the ability to make his slime weapons manifest in any part of his body as he wishes, only being surpassed in magic control. and precision for Epsilon, although she has never manifested weapons like Cid does, since she is only interested in improving her body.
 * Training Weights: Cid in his marital status, whether at school or in his daily life, before and after reincarnating, wears hidden training weight bracelets on his wrists and feet, which help him keep fit and exercise, since you do not want to neglect and obsidian in your physical abilities. when he participated in the "Festival of the Goddess of War" as a mundane Man, in the middle of the finals, when he met Annerose, Cid decided to remove the weights that he had on his two arms, and later when he defeated Annerose, although it was To show off, she confesses that she was the first to make him take off his weights, implying that he only takes them off when he changes to his Shadow alias.
 * Magic Threads: Cid has achieved the ability to create and wield steel wires and magic strings that he can wield with his fingers as if he were a puppeteer. By wielding these threads, he can use them as lethal weapons creating webs of threads that can slice through the members of his adversaries and even control them without the need to move from his position at all. Cid uses these threads for the first time when he assumes the secret identity of "John Smith" against his members of Shadow Garden subduing them without much problem, (specifically against 664, 665, and 666, in the end Against Alpha), and against Gettan during the Great Trading Company Conflict. He also uses magic threads but as Shadow against Ragnarok during the civil war at Oriana Kingdom capital.

Bionic Perception of Time
Through the use of magic, Cid can perceive and see everything that happens around him in a way that makes time stop around him, allowing him to dodge and read the movements of his opponents to the last second, even if these are very powerful, being able to dodge strong attacks from his childhood to his adolescence, like those of his sister Claire, and the famous swordswoman Beatrix.

I Am Atomic
His signature technique is the result of all of his hard work to finally defeat his last challenge (of surviving a nuclear weapon by becoming a nuclear weapon) in where he pours much of his power into his blade into a devastating strike that once struck against its target, he or she will disintegrate followed by a nuclear explosion that can shake the land to pieces and even affect space. The attack can also project a barrier ensuring anyone outside it would not be affected by the attack. Notably, it does not leave any radiation behind like a real nuclear explosion.

Over time, Cid developed different versions of his ultimate technique, while fighting against strong enemies depending on where and where he is, which are:


 * I Am the All-Range Atomic: It is a variation of "I AM ATOMIC", which is an esoteric technique designed to annihilate everything within a small range in all directions, but with just as devastating destructive power. This version is used when Cid confronts multiple clone-puppets of Olivier summoned on Nelson's orders inside the Devils Cult's Sanctuary, which was in some kind of hidden dimensional plane, in which Cid and Aurora were trying to escape.


 * I Am Recovery Atomic: Used in the same way as "I Am Atomic", he can heal people within a large radius. This technique is first used to heal everyone and stop Elizabeth's rampant control, in the Battle of the Red Tower in the Lawless City.


 * I Am Atomic Sword: A variation on "I AM ATOMIC", in which light pools around the tip of his sword and spreads out, spreading across the ground, to the horizon. Cid then halves everything he finds in his path. This build allows him to directionally annihilate everything instead of an entire area at whatever enemy Cid points his sword at without damaging or fully hurting the people around him. When Modred, saw that Shadow was much more powerful than the demon king of the fourth world himself, he made the desperate decision to eat the amputated and remaining magical flesh of Ragnarok, to gain tremendous amazing power, but in the end Shadow annihilates him using, this version of his ultimate attack.

Magic projectiles
Cid can launch small magical or slime projectiles that he developed at speeds as fast as bullets from pistols with the point of the fingers of his hands, with enough force to pierce a person's heart or skull.

Power Bestowal
Cid managed to acquire the ability to share and transmit part of his magical power permanently, allowing those who receive it, not only to be cured of any Affliction, whether magical or not, but also to increase their magical power in a strong way, allowing that they better control their magical power and with an even much higher damage. Upon receiving Cid's magical power, these they turn one with him in a certain way, allowing him to understand its power and as the people who receive it develop, like Shadow, it also grows, but depending on how they handle it, and practice.

It is understood that when curing a possessed or normal person Cid spends little magic power, but when he gives direct magic power, he spends more of it. It is not known how much he spends doing it, but it is implied that 2 to 3 tenths of his magic, since his power became very great while he was developing it since he was little. Cid developed this ability after accidentally healing Alpha the first time they met.

Dark Bird Cage
Through the use of the magical threads that he used in his previous fights as "John Smith", Shadow can unleash a large, extremely lethal Network of Magical Threads, shaped like a kind of cage that cut extremely powerful enemies into multiple small pieces, from a Dragon, Even a Demon King, according to the protagonist, this technique is extremely effective against large enemies that can fly. During the battle against the demon king of the fourth world, called Ragnarok, he employs this technique that cuts almost without a trace of him with the exception of his remaining demonic arm.

Jet-black Whirlwind
Shadow can unleash a powerful black magic whirlwind with his Slime Sword, which can eradicate multiple enemies in just a few seconds, during the Ghoul attack in the "Lawless City", he used this technique to kill all of them. that there was while saving a magical swordswoman from Magic Swordsmen Guild.

Serious Dash
By boosting himself with mana, Cid is capable of traveling at superhuman speeds of 1200kph. Cid will generally avoid using this in his civilian persona as it would not make sense for a mob to be in another town within a short time.


 * Speed: Massively Hypersonic+ (Faster than when he was a 10 year old, and moved this fast), higher over time (Up until volume 2, he could be kept up somewhat by people such as Iris who are inferior to the Seven Shadows, however by volume 3, not even one of the Seven Shadows can perceive his movements)

Instant Flash
Cid can move almost instantly to any place within his radius of reach in less than 1 second, to the point as if he were teleporting, using magical power in a small amount.


 * Visual image: By moving so fast, through comprehension of magical power, Cid can leave an afterimage of himself, capable of confusing and misleading his enemies, while eliminating them. According to Alpha's words, to be able to do that, he needs a very strong magical core to support the exerted load. Cid having complete control of his magic, can stop just moments before reaching his destination without any problem, which makes counter-attacks not work on him. So far only 2 people have seen it, which are Annerose and Alpha.

Walk on Water
Cid can walk on water using his magical power on it. This is seen after Cid finishes training with his sister Claire Kagenō when they were kids in the anime.

Air travel
Cid, while wearing his Shadow suit, can use his magic to perform air jumps and glide through the air, allowing him to fly for extended periods of time.

Stick to wall
Through the use of magic, Cid can cling, walk and stay fixed on walls or any solid structure, it is speculated that he can also stay fixed on these structures without using magic like a ninja. In the anime, he uses this ability to avoid his sister, Claire, who visits him in his room and he sticks to the ceiling so as not to be seen, as a curious fact, Cid can also exercise this ability unconsciously, since when an infatuated Rose tried to get into his room on the train during the night, Cid stuck to the ceiling again but while he was sleeping.

Enhancement of magical senses
Cid can reinforce his 5 senses through the use of magic, allowing him to sensitize and overcome more than the capabilities of the human sense to the point of noticing small things that cannot be perceived, when he disguises himself as John Smith, Cid reinforces his eyes with magic to notice and see the difference between the counterfeit bills made by Yukime and those of the Mitsugoshi Company.

Longevity
It is implied that he can magically extend his lifespan. Although with the passing of time he began to yearn for eternity since he still wants and plans to continue his role as eminence of the shadows. Initially, at God of War Festival arc before he meet Rose Oriana, he thought of living 200 years. Then, at Red Moon Incident arc when he saw Elisabeth's treasury at the Crimson Tower, he decide to lives at least 300 years. He is more concerned about getting funds to live for 300 years (as he does not consider the money earned by Mitsugoshi Company as his own) and talks as if it is already set in stone that he will live for 300 years. Until when he turned 16, he said that he could live until he was 600 years old through the use of his magic that grew in proportion as he gained more strength and power with the passing of time that he trained and experimented on himself.

Mob-Fu
In his civilian persona, Cid never displays his true power, practicing what he calls Mob Fu, or the art of losing battles with style. He has created 48 Ultimate Forms, which are used according to the situation he is in. Known forms include:

Spinning Guard, Bloody Tornado
On being struck by a sword, Cid will leap back at the same time and use the one-second window to arch his body, aiming for the sky, whilst using blood bags and the momentum to make a spinning stream of blood around himself as he flies into a wall.

10 Minutes Of Being Near Death: Heart Break Mob
Starting with using magic to circulate blood to his brain, Cid can stop his heart to fake dying. Within ten minutes, Cid must forcefully restart his heart correctly or risk dying for real if he does it wrong. This technique can be combined with taking an attack which looks lethal enough to allow Cid to pretend to be dead.

Graceful Exit Stage Right
Cid will attempt to leave a conversation by stating an excuse, talking fast and leaving at the same time. This may fail if the conversation partner knows who Cid is, has a reason to talk to him, or is of a high enough social class that Cid cannot reasonably leave unless he is allowed to.

Master Acting
Outside of his combat abilities, Cid is a master actor who successfully portrays himself as a mundane individual as well as other secret identities such as Mundane Mann and John Smith.

Knowledge of science and business
Knows various sciences, both in the economy, as well as in science, commerce, and agriculture, among others, which he has managed to retain, although in a somewhat vague way, from his previous life, which has served him to educate his most subordinates nearby, "the 7 shadows", while he trained them since they were little when he rescued them, that without intending it and without knowing it, they have used that knowledge taught by Cid, to manage to use and recreate the things that he knew from his previous life.

Piano Proficiency
He is a skilled pianist who can play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", which is his favorite musical piece and for which he is most skilled with it, and has knowledge and ability to play other musical notes.

Through it, by order of his parents before reincarnating, he has become so skilled in it both for pleasure and for others. Through this knowledge, he has taught Epsilon hers how to play them and other things, while he took care of her and taught her Members, like the other original Shadows, since Epsilon told him that he liked music. her.

Luck
While debatable as an actual ability, and more or less entirely serving comedic purposes, Cid displays a humorously implausible amount of luck, with both random guesses and random information he invented on the spot often inexplicably being correct. For instance, despite being oblivious to the Order of Diabolos' existence, he informed Alpha about the cult during their first meeting, believing he made it all up, despite getting every detail correct. Following his sister's kidnapping, he randomly threw a knife at a map Beta was analyzing and claimed that it was the location where Claire was being held, unaware that he was right. The members of Shadow Garden naturally mistake this for his brilliance and insight.

Trivia

 * Not counting Alpha (whose true nature of his feelings are still unknown), so far Cid has managed to make 6 girls fall in love with him, these being: Beta, Epsilon, Nu, Victoria (559), Rose Oriana and Alexia Midgar.
 * In the web novel, "I am Atomic!" was written as "I am Taepodong!" (a North Korean-ICBM), but the author soon changed it to "Atomic" for political reasons.
 * Pre-reincarnation his name was 影野実 (Minoru Kagenou) 野 may be ateji to substitute の, thus his name is the beginning of the series title "陰の実力者になりたくて!" (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) with 実 being read as "Minoru"; alternatively, 影野 read together means "shadow field", as in Shadow Garden.
 * Post-reincarnation his family name is カゲノー (Kagenō). When read in the Japanese naming order (Kagenō Cid) which becomes "Kage no Cid", as in "Cid of the Shadows".
 * It is unknown how many languages Cid has learned throughout his previous life on earth and after reincarnating. Currently, it is known that he knows four to five languages in total including Japanese and English and the language of his current world.
 * As a curiosity, Cid has also taught both directly and indirectly his style and handling of the sword and how to control magic to the people around them, people like his sister Claire Kageno (taught him how to handle magic), Alexia Midgar (learned and persisted in his full mastery of the sword, imitating Shadow), and Rose Oriana (who practices and imitates the elegant way of handling the sword of Shadow, who knew him before as; Fancy Bandit Slayer).
 * According to Alexia's words, Shadow reached a sufficient level to generate chaos in the world, since during the "Goddess Trials", Aurora was invoked as an ideal opponent for Shadow. Since according to the test, Shadow has a level of very great power that could only be compared to that of Aurora, (who was known as the witch who brought ruin to the world).
 * Throughout his training, Cid collected various rare and expensive items such as art and antiques from the loots of various bandits he defeated.
 * Cid owes a meal to Alpha after eating her share of food she provided during the abduction incident involving Princess Alexia, but has yet to receive an opportunity to return the favor.
 * Only nine people, of the more than 600 members in Shadow Garden, have received their power directly from Cid. These being the Seven Shadows, Victoria (No. 559) and Rose Oriana (No. 666).
 * According to Beatrix, Shadow's "sword" is as if it merged with nature itself, in which were some kind of natural phenomenon, like raindrops falling, lightning falling, which makes it very dangerous, since like any natural phenomenon, it is not known where or when it will attack until it is too late to protect oneself.