Cid Kagenou

"Once you decide where you're standing is the peak, you stop moving."

- Shadow

Cid Kagenō (シド・カゲノー), formerly Minoru Kageno (影野実), is the titular antihero and protagonist of The Eminence in Shadow series. After a premature death, he reincarnates into a world of swords and sorcery. Choosing Shadow as his nom de guerre, he leads the secret organization Shadow Garden. He lives out unfulfilled chūnibyō (厨二病) fantasies of being an enigmatic shadow broker, unaware that his creative scenarios are close to the truth.

Appearance
Cid is a slim young man with an athletic frame, short black hair, and black eyes. His facial features are average, without impressionable qualities. A countenance that is forgettable as it is generic. His new body has similar characteristics to his previous appearance as Minoru Kageno. As a dark knight squire, Cid wears the compulsory male uniform of Midgar Academy. The standard navy-blue blazer with gold shoulder straps and a white dress shirt. A casual appearance is facilitated by keeping the black apron necktie loose. White loafers and navy-blue trousers round out the bottom. The costume Cid selected for Shadow is an ebony slime bodysuit, styled like a popped collar overcoat. Gold and purple trim adorn a dark jacket, shirt, pants, and high boots. A long hood casts a shadow to hide the upper half of Cid’s face. The only discernible facial features are his mouth and the glow of artificial red eyes.

Other Masquerades
Throughout the series, Cid has had many aliases and just as many outfits. Shadow Garden's technique to create indistinguishable facial masks, utilizing various cosmetics and a clay-like slime base, has proven monumental to his master of disguise routines.


 * Mundane Mann (ジミナ・セーネン): Previously a fallen aristocrat from the Altena Empire, Cid borrows his face to enter the Bushin Festival. The mask presents a pale face with baggy eyes, a drooping mouth, and unkempt facial hair. A hunched back and cheap equipment assist in Cid’s desire to look “weak”.


 * John Smith: For Cid’s second dalliance in Lawless City, he adorns a double-breasted black suit over a pin-striped dress shirt. A black skinny tie is kept tight around his neck. The final items are straight-tipped shoes and fingerless gloves. Anonymity is maintained through the use of a dominion mask. The whole outfit has an “FBI agent” aesthetic.

Past Life
In his previous life, Minoru Kageno possessed a tall and toned physique due to his constant training. His face was plain, having short black hair and black eyes, resembling his post-reincarnated life as Cid Kagenō. As a student of Sakurazaka High, he wore a standard white school coat, a light blue shirt, blue pants, and a blue tie. On Earth, he operated as a vigilante, using the alias Fancy Hoodlum Slayer. The outfit was all black, and a balaclava (ski mask) covered his face.

Background and Personality
"We all go through life amassing things we cherish. We acquire friends and lovers and jobs… and it keeps going from there. But on the other hand, I cut things out of my life."

- Cid Kagenō

From early childhood onward, Kagenō (in both lives) has had an abiding fascination with shadow broker characters. Leaders of cabals and puppet masters secretly exert enormous power and worldly influence. They never function as final bosses in narratives but cast long unseen shadows that cover the world. Kagenō was and still is obsessed with becoming a genuine shadow broker. Lionizing and pretending to be heroes or villains is a natural progression of imaginative play. Many children outgrow this developmental phase, but those who take longer are sometimes called chūnibyō. Cid’s megalomania has gone past simple chūnibyō fantasies, as he vows permanent loyalty to becoming an eminence and refuses to outgrow it. Cid spares no effort or expense in achieving his dream, endlessly training and coming up with elaborate scenarios or dialogue for his routine. He expresses open contempt for those who have abandoned their ambitions but offers sympathy for people perceived as having suffered similar hardships.

In his past life, Minoru Kageno realized that there was a glass ceiling on strength. No amount of martial arts can protect him from a dozen guns or a nuclear bomb. Authentic shadow brokers would survive firing squads or explosions. Attempting to offset this deficiency, Minoru Kageno endeavored to acquire magic or chi, but nothing brought a magical metamorphosis. It was only after reincarnating that the glass ceiling shattered, opening a plethora of possibilities. In his new life, Cid retains the pride of a Warrior; continuing his martial arts and swordsmanship training from his past life. The only difference is the incorporation of magic into practices. He recognizes power and technique but respects those who understand the intricacies of battles. Brute strength and borrowed power are abhorrent to him.

To achieve shadow broker efficiency, Cid separates things in his life into two categories: “Stuff I Like” and “Stuff I Do Not Like.” The latter category imputes no malignity, merely apathy. He dedicates his complete attention to his likes or desires and disregards everything else. The pruning process is continuous, chipping away ever more at his life until the only thing that remains are things he cannot live without.

Cid differs from his lascivious school friends, articulating a lack of interest in relationships or marriage. His relationship with Alexia happened by mere happenstance; after concluding the farcical relationship, he rejects her offer to make it serious. Other women have misinterpreted Cid’s actions as romantic gestures when he had no such intention. Associating with the Seven Shadows has inundated him with beautiful individuals, making him apathetic towards attractive women. He has described the Seven Shadows as friends and frequently thanks them for playing along with his role-playing. Periodically, Cid can get envious or annoyed at the constant success the Seven Shadows have garnered utilizing his otherworldly knowledge but tolerates many of their decisions. The planned destruction of the Mitsugoshi Company is one of the exceptions, even if he had good intentions. A personal philosophy of Cid’s is that relational contretemps resolve themselves over time. Ignoring others becomes an appropriate and valid social strategy with this view. He has received several sharp lessons that maintaining an insouciance approach does not always work.

Cid can show some capability for compassion or his version of it. After Lutheran admits to killing Sherry’s mother, he confesses his modus operandi for dealing with his life. He mentions cultivating relationships, followed by describing his self-imposed restrictions. When asked if he was indifferent, Cid replied he felt “slightly disturbed”. He spares Sherry from the horrible truth about her mother’s death, accepting his role as the villain that killed her sweet step-father. Cid shows similar compassion to his sister. His usual attitude towards Claire is aloof, spurning all her advances to have a closer relationship. In one instance, Cid conveys honest support when he assumes she is going through a chūnibyō phase.

An ambiguous element of Cid’s personality is his feelings towards others. Cid’s behavior and statements towards characters are contradictory. It is open to interpretation if he views people as props, individuals, or some combination of the two. Rhetorical actions strengthen Cid’s mob character persona but disregard feelings for those involved (e.g., confessing to Alexia, choosing Skel and Po for his cover, attacking bandits to protect his sister Claire). Actions like these reinforce the prop view of people, but his sympathy for Sherry and empathy for Claire support the notion of people as individuals.

The theory Cid maintains is a shadow leader’s identity is always the person whom you least expect. He accomplishes this by masquerading as two separate personas: Background Character Cid and the Mysterious Mastermind Shadow.

In his civilian persona, he maintains a below-average grade at the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy and actively seeks activities to advance his “normie” status. These behaviors can range from befriending moderate students to further an average presentation or confessing love to a popular girl to receive rejection. Cid will enthusiastically allow himself to be beaten or stabbed if he believes it will display an ordinary existence. Extreme actions, like self-induced cardiac arrest for the sake of dying a pathetic death, are constantly explored and perfected.

Role-playing as Shadow, he is obsessed with appearing cool and mysterious, muttering ominous lines and putting on grandiloquent performances. His aesthetic choices are determined by whatever fantasies or story clichés he thinks would be cool. An example is his participation in the Bushin Festival under the false identity of Mundane Mann. It was solely to fulfill his specific fantasy of being a mysterious fighter who is at first laughed at for looking weak, but surprises everyone with his unexpected strength. Everyone believes his impromptu acting is genuine, while Cid thinks people are actors or obeying the ‘Yes… and’ improvisational rule. Communication problems complicate these circumstances. The Seven Shadows keep him in the dark about their activities; they believe their omniscient leader is aware of everything. Cid’s ambiguous statements feed into this misunderstanding, allowing the projection of their interpretations. As a result, he often does not understand what is occurring or comes to some erroneous conclusion. Success is solely due to Cid's ingenuity, competent subordinates, and luck.

Powers & Abilities
While under his "Mundane Mann" guise, Iris Midgar recognized Cid as possibly the "strongest in the world", be it martial arts or magic. In fact, he is actually the strongest in several worlds, defeating a demon from another dimension without much difficulty. Despite having yet to demonstrate his full strength, all of Cid's battles so far have ended in overwhelming victories, easily defeating high-ranking Cult of Diablos and Knights of Rounds members, with the only opponents he had to get a "little serious" against being the Mist Dragon, Aurora's projection, Elisabeth, and the aforementioned demon.

Superhuman Physical Prowess
Cid is an extremely powerful warrior with physical strength strong enough to shatter concrete with just the shockwaves of his attacks, as shown in his battle with Beatrix. Even without mana, Cid appears to be able to take out dozens, if not hundreds, of zombies without breaking a sweat due to a lifetime of martial arts training, as shown in the Sanctuary with Aurora. Even when showing such unnatural levels of strength, he always seems to be holding his punches, as each time he pulls out a new level of physical prowess to match his opponent. With his earthling knowledge of how his body works, Cid can dodge attacks with minimal movement and, when taking physical attacks such as stabs, he 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.

During his physical training on Earth, it is speculated that he reached enough strength to be able to break and bend wood and certain hard metals, ranging from copper to normal iron. Even after reincarnating, he still repeated everything he had already experienced plus what he was experimenting with himself since he was a baby, from controlling his digestive flow, to being able to stand up at a young age, without anyone noticing, to the point that when he learned magic, he reached levels beyond what was imagined, being able to run tirelessly at very fast speeds without using magic, due to the experiments he did, until he controlled his heart rate and normal body temperature.

Superhuman Senses
Through training in his childhood and experimentation with his magic both on himself and otherwise, Cid developed heightened human senses beyond what a human, whether a magical warrior or normal person, can. have, having a better range of vision, better hearing, and better control of the touch of things, among other things.


 * Superhuman Reflexes (Developing): Cid developed the ability to dodge without problem, in a semi-instinctive way, the shots of pistols and semi-rifles, to a degree and age, that should not be possible for any magical knight, either from a young age or an adult, even at a young age., it would be difficult for them to dodge or block one of these shots from firearms, since these as such travel at a speed of more than 1080km / h, unless of course, they use magic in part to resist the damage. This is seen when Cid Kagenō killed the bandits in a caravan where he would meet the Elf girl who would be called Alpha.


 * Superhuman Detection (Developing): Even a few moments after being reborn as "Cid Kagenou", he was already aware and felt the magic that circulated him, even before he was old enough to even feel, use and know about magic, ( It is speculated that this was thanks to the training in Buddhism and meditation that he undertook before dying on Earth), since then, he improved his detection both in the magic that he had in himself, as in that of other living beings, and in the environment in which he was surrounded, be it earth, water, fire or air, even his magic wave changes. This allows him to react at the moment or just before a change in his environment happens, allowing him to react to danger before it occurs. During the Terrorrist Attack on the Midgar Academy, Cid was the only one who noticed immediately that everyone's magic was sealed-absorbed and at the same time he noticed the arrival of enemies near the place before all.

Intellectual Dexterity
Despite his defects of Chunnibyou, he has proven to have and developed a cunningness capable of advanced calculations at the level of elite soldiers. This allow him to take the best decisions on the battlefield, and rarely when Status in a facet of "Mob" with total calm, since although Cid ah demonstrated and confirmed, that although it can come out in some form of strong fighting, or to be able to defeat their opponents, he worries that the people who can Find your Ruminer, can be hurt or dead. This is seen when he faces powerful opponents like, the Vampire Queen Elisabeth, in the red tower of the City without law, Shadow knew that if he did not desire, even if he hurt, of the golden modes that he had in his body of slime, and that if he had not gone, a little serious, against Elisabeth, a little seriously against her, although he could leave the fight, those present around him would die. And when faced with demon king Ragnarok, since when he found face to face with this, Cid immediately knew that if he faced in a gross force fight, I would lose, that if they fight in the capital of Oriana, everyone would die, except him, and that if he allowed this demon to launch his powerful attack against him, in his Shadow's alias, even if he came out unharmed, the collateral damage would have destroyed the entire capital of Oriana, During his fight against Aurora projection, Cid only focused on watching her fight, while he dodged her attacks with amusement, to know what she was capable of, and for fun, before finishing her off with a quick and lethal attack, wishing that she had faced him with all her might.

This skill as such has, is seen below the cunning and ingenuity of its subordinates and disciples, Gamma and Eta, since they have shown to have a very strong talent so far in those part, compared to Cid, without them being ells account.

Movement Reading
Thanks to the development and training of his previous life in Martial Arts, plus the Arts of Fencing, his experience, and what he reproduced and repeated in the other world, plus his study and acquisition with magic, Cid developed a capacity very strong, to be able to read, study, understand, among other things, the movements of his opponents, whether they attack him, or something else. This allows him to make any difficult confrontation, among other things, that comes his way seem like child's play, since while most (if not almost) all Otherworld warriors rely heavily on, of his super-fast attacks, plus his confidence in the power of his magic, among other things, Cid for his part, does not need to depend for the most part on any of that, since according to him, the development of fencing , among other arts in hand-to-hand combat, in that world, is lacking.

When Cid, either in his Shadow alias, or in another aspect of him, empowers and combines his combat reading ability, with his other abilities, plus magic empowerment, he becomes a master prodigy in everything, be it that this not only allows him to adjust and analyze the movements of his opponents, but can even, in certain ways, copy their fencing, fighting or attacking style, improving it in his own way, in a much stronger way, similarly, when it replicates the attacks or special techniques, of those opponents who exert magic on it.

Master Swordsmanship
Before reincarnating, Minoru displayed a desire to become an 'Eminence in the Shadow' and began practicing various fencing styles and martial arts, 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 age 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 to the pinnacle of human limits. He can use three distinct types of swordplay: one style is based on perfection in the fundamentals, not on talent, power, speed, or the use of magic, but on endless amounts of effort in training; another style is his stylish swordplay, which is very artistic and flashy; and the last one is the natural swordplay. During his fight against Beatrix, Cid as Shadow also showed that his swordsmanship is super-fast, superior to that of any other being in the world, during a span of a few seconds, (if not in 1 second), both Shadow and Beatrix fought so quickly, that they cut every drop of rain in a very large cubic radius within the fighting arena, without using magic and special techniques in it, except for the fast magic-level flashes that they used on their feet to move, all this while Iris Midgar witnessed everything until Cid decided to take it a little serious against Beatrix, but in the anime as such, he didn't take it one bit seriously against Beatrix or Iris Midgar, when she joins the fight against him, but instead, Shadow took it easy and entertaining.

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 Shadow was the world's strongest Spellsword. 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.

Despite having reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and its styles as such, for Cid, he still believes that he has not reached the end of everything, so whenever he has time to train, or when he faces an opponent that he considers strong or interesting, he usually lets them attack him first, in order to know how they fight, and adjust to their combat styles, if necessary or by choice, he can even copy their swordsmanship, or styles, if they are of your interest.

Cid is already classified as a master and instructor of the sword, since when he welcomed the seven girls who would be the " Seven Shades", 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 rarely 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 can 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 he fought as Shadow in the " Goddess's Trial" 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 able to predict his movements and understand how he behaves 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.

Master Combatant
In his previous life, as Minoru Kagenō, he practiced and mastered various disciplines such as karate, boxing, mixed martial arts, Buddhism, yoga, meditation among other, 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, becoming practically a master in all the known martial arts that he learned before reincarnating. 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 mastery of the various martial arts of his previous life, Cid refined his utility of them into new combat methods, relying on simpler movements than the contemporary styles of his second life. When Cid fight against Iris Midgar and Beatrix during Bushin Festival, he throws them both away using a technique from Jujutsu, and 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
Even though he has a mentality that ranges from a 15-year-old teenager to that of an 8 or 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 Shadow', 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 its technology and resources exponentially.

Deceptive Shadowy Look
Cid can cast a cold stare of death or extremely dark bloodlust, which combined with small minor movements of his hands and body, makes those opponents who are not close or not equal to him in the level of swordsmanship and other things, makes his opponents feel very strongly intimidated. This causes the survival instincts of his opponents to be activated strongly by the fear of death. Anyone in Cid's presence will experience hallucinations of how he would die in the future of him against Cid, often in various possible ways, either beheaded or mutilated.

Normally, with just a Dark Look, plus the intent to kill, or his dark presence, Cid's opponents feel instinctively scared, but when they realize how powerful Cid is, in the aspect that he shines. Even if they can't see it, just by feeling it, they can be very scared or overwhelmed by said ability, especially for Beastmen. As was the case with Delta, whose name was Sara, when she met him in her childhood, when she met her future lord, she instantly realized how dangerous Shadow was, with only the dark look that he had, plus the tremendous power that he emanated, Sara knowing instantly, that she would never beat him, not even in his best condition.

But when Cid combines his gloomy look, his intentions to kill, among other things, with very slight movements of any part of his body, this allows him to be able to play, manipulate or break the mind of his adversaries, on an instinctive level, which caused that these, if they do not possess sufficient mental resistance or sanity, to face or resist, the idea or facing the fact, that they can die, can cause them to collapse, both physically and mentally, in a variable way.

When Iris Midgar faced Cid as "Mundane Mann", he threw at her just by staring at her. The result how she would die if she thought of facing him, which in the end, partially breaks her spirit to fight although she tried to hit him, which results in her losing the Bushin Festival shocking everyone, including her father, the King Klaus Midgar.

This ability as such, although it can be learned, requires an intention of control at the level of the desire to kill and manipulate things in one's favor, although Cid had managed to learn this ability on his own, Cid developed it, to a level, well above normal, to the point that it could seem real. Beatrix, it seems, has basic knowledge about said ability, but it seems that not even she can exercise it at such a high level as Shadow, when she witnessed Mundane Mann, exercising said ability, against Iris Midgar, in the final of the Bushin tournament. She was fascinated, seeing a warrior, who could perform a technique, which even for her is new, and for the first time that the presence, they manage to understand, in the normal part, what Mundane exercised on the battlefield, At the same time, he understood how terrifying, that said technique was, for those who did not have the level, more than mental, than physical, to be able to face, before the idea, or vision of death.

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.

Antihuman 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 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 when she saw that it didn't affect her at all, she tried a poison that she made herself believe, which she says, can kill even a dragon, but it didn't work against her master 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.

Invulnerability to Bullets
Through magical experimentation on a biological level that he did on his own body, reinforced with training and partly with the magic that circulates in his body without using it as such, Cid acquired invulnerability to well-advanced powerful firearms used by hand, used by the military and soldiers, which prevents him from leaving unharmed from said bullets without any scratch. During his instance on earth, Cid is his marital status, when he was assaulted by some elite assassins, he pretended that he had died, but seeing that his performance did not work at all against said assassins, he became very angry. That caused Cid to reveal himself as such, prompting one of the assassins to shoot him from less than 1 cm, right in the forehead, with a well-developed pistol that could kill "knights". With bullets capable of piercing the armor of the tanks, but Cid took the filler shots, without a scratch, and then proceeded to kill them.

his ability as such, although it makes him invulnerable to firearms and damage from strong metals such as steel and iron, apparently cannot protect him from magic-infused weapons. Since his invulnerability is based on magic, therefore he keeps his Slime Suit in use in it, when he does not have it available, he tries to dodge or block strong attacks with magic, or sometimes takes advantage of the situation he is in, to be able to fight back, while the injured and protect their internal organs. As such Cid if he likes, he can weaken said invulnerability at will as such, by using his magic so that normal weapons penetrate him as far as Cid wants them to hurt him, to avoid raising suspicions of his hidden powers.

This is seen when Cid lets normal metal spikes sink into his legs, while he is being interrogated in the first chapters, during Alexia's kidnapping, Cid here deliberately weakens his ability, with his magic.

Longevity
Cid mentioned that he can magically extend his lifespan although with time, he began yearning for eternity since he still wants and plans to continue his role as the Eminence in Shadow. Initially, at the God of War Festival arc before he meets Rose Oriana, he thought of living for 200 years. Then, in Red Moon Incident arc when he saw Elisabeth's treasury at the Crimson Tower, he decides to live 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. When he turned 16, he said that he could live until he was 600 years old through the use of his magic which grew in proportion as he gained more strength and power with the time that he trained and experimented on himself.

In the end, Cid admits that he yearns for eternity as such, to be able to continue his fates and desires for chunibiio, forever, so if he continues with his increase in magical power, plus the training, and magical experiments he does, Cid believes that in some near future, he may gain eternity along with a practical immortality.

Magic
Cid has refined the control of his magic throughout his life, combined with biological experimentation with his own body, through magic. Unlike the red color of normal magic users, Cid's magic is purple and resembles the pattern of a circuit. This as such is considered as something immune and practically suicidal, since not even the strongest members of the Cult of Devils itself, (the Knights of the Round Table), have dared to experiment at an extreme level with their own Magic, along with their immune system and your body itself. According to Cid's words, although he is aware of the extreme risk that this entails in part, since on one occasion he was about to lose control of his magical power when he began to experiment with himself, he managed to regain control. Thanks to his efforts and investigations, He managed to develop different ways of using his magic, at an extreme level, while developing properties and defenses of these, among others, which are:

Magical Eyes: Cid is able to use his magic to change his eye color. Cid has changed his black eyes to red and red to black.

Extreme Magical Growth: thanks to the magical and biological experiments that Cid did with his own body, plus the research he did in excess, after regaining control of his magic, Cid managed to make his magic grow supernaturally from Proportionally, Shape passes the days, months, and years, making his body and magic become more powerful, in turn, than his core, maintaining extreme control of it, which Cid often diverts part of his magic, to its vitality, to increase its useful life time.

This type of use, experimentation and management of magic, affects your magic system and network, as well as your genes, which makes it very different from the magic that others have, practice and exercise, since when one is born, the One's magic reaches its limit of natural growth, and even if one does special training, it would not make it increase more than one could inherit it from their predecessors in part. This makes Cid fly a magical being, who can no longer be considered something human, even for the members of the Cult of Diablos themselves.

Extreme Healing Magic: Cid developed the strong ability to heal all kinds of serious injuries in the body, regenerating damage at the biological and organic level at the cellular level, returning them to a state as if they had never been damaged, from old damage that leaves scars to the bones, even Damage such as the spine and the heart, in just a few moments, making them function normally again, while and after someone has died within a few minutes, considering it a magical method of revive, even with itself. in extreme cases, Cid can even regenerate or reattach severed limbs from a person's body and even himself.

Initially, when Cid was only 10 years old, they could only heal the wounds as normal, with the scar on it, but upon reaching his teens, he managed to restore the skin so that he didn't have any scars at all.

This is seen when Cid, in his John Smith disguise, heals Yukime's wounds for the second time, removing the old scars she had, and regenerating her heart, damaged by the sword that Gettan ran through, during the trade wars. (The thing about regenerating the members, has only been mentioned in the web novel, it remains to be confirmed in the anime). Of the other abilities that healing magic has, his are like those of: Anti-Seductive Magic: Due to Cid's strong disinterest in the seductions and charms of beautiful girls, either in his Shadow alias or in his Marital status, Cid's magic reacted accordingly, making Cid both passive and active, very resistant, to the point of being immune, to the charms, manipulations and mental seductions, of those who try to manipulate his mind and body. This is seen, when Yukime, they try to seduce and charm Cid, in his Shadow alias, with his great beauties and supernatural charms, like a fox maiden, but Cid showed no interest in her, and left her aside.
 * Demonic Possession Healing Magic: He can cure children who are Demon Possessed, thanks to the experiments he did with the first possessed girl, who would be called Alpha, for a month that took him, (2 months in the light novel), allowing to eliminate the magical lack of control from the body of the girls afflicted by the curse of Diabolos, while also restoring their bodies that were mutating and rotting, to normal along with the corresponding age. At the same time that it restores their consciousness to normal, it removes the damage that was between the magic base, along with the soul, from the afflicted individual's body, restoring it to its normal state.
 * Malignant Afflictions Healing Magic: Cid, by developing the ability to cure demonic Possession, (ironically), plus the capacity for extreme control over magic, his experimentation with it, among other things, achieved the ability to remove all kinds of curses or magical and natural afflictions. of people's bodies as such, such as being able to remove the vampire's curse, which can kill a person or in certain cases turn them into a familiar called "Goulh". (The full extent of said healing magic has yet to be seen.)

Magic Extreme Control: Thanks to the multiple strong experiments that he did since childhood with his magic, with his body, with the bodies of others already dead (they were not innocent), and adding the experiments with Alpha, Cid gained extreme control with his magic, which It allows you to mold it, bind it, compress it, in other cases, when you are wielding it, allowing you to do anything with it, without losing control of your magic as it grows over the years, months, and perhaps days.

At first, he could only resist the strong techniques that he developed and used, when he was barely 6 years old, but with the passing of time, when he turned 13, he managed to execute them and continue perfecting his magic without problems.

Supreme Magic Defense: 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.

Concealment and Condensation Magic Extreme: 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 Nelson, the 11th seat Knight of Rounds from Cult of Diablos, 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"). but although it can evade and deceive the magic power measurement detectors, such as those of the Midgar academy, and the battle power measurement eye of the "Undefeated Dragon", it still does not possess the ability to evade those magic power meters. elevated and of the sacred type, as it was in the case of "the test of the goddess", in which Cid saw that once the combatant enters the arena, even if one hides his power, he cannot deceive the detector of said power. place, and an opponent will be invoked according to the level of magical power and abilities in part of it, so Cid in his Shadow alias, was forced to participate.

Magic Biomanipulation: Due to the multiple experiments that Cid has done with his own body, through the use of his magic among other things, Cid can control and move the position of his internal organs to a certain extent with his blood vessels in part, to avoid serious damage that they can kill him.

Temporary Magic Deactivation: Cid also, if he likes, can deactivate certain abilities that his body has acquired, to avoid raising suspicions of what Cid really is, which is Shadow. This magical ability as such, although it may be something sub-sequential, is difficult to acquire since for this, a very great control of one's magic is needed, among other things.

Dilling magic: Cid can also use his magic in a very minimal and stealthy way, to be able to take out the heart of his victims in a super-fast and stealthy way in 1 second, in a lethal and sadistic way, without them being able to react a few seconds before dying. This is seen when, in his Mob facet and in his Shadow attire, he assaults the corrupt guards of the kingdom of Midgar, when leaving a bar, and when he annihilates a Devil Cult Lieutenant, to save 559 and 664 and 665.

Mind Magic Resistance: Cid has a strong resistance to magic that confuses, disorients and in certain cases, creates hallucinations, using his magic as a cover, without any problem and without spending magic itself as such, to the point of being immune to them, with the passing of time. time. due to the experiments, he did with magic on his body, plus how to use it on himself. He can also use the magic that circulates in his body, to protect himself from those attacks that use the elements, that carry a lethal death, in the form of a curse or Spell. When Cid in his childhood fought against the Mist Dragon, in Alexandria, he was able to fight without being affected by the deadly mist released by the dragon, and that surrounded the old capital, along with his Seven Shadows.

Extreme Magic Recovery: Cid has a great supernatural magic recovery capacity, allowing him to recover at least 6 to 10 times the magic he has at a percentage level in less than a minute. This is seen when during the kidnapping of the students of the Midgar Academy, both Cid and his companions had some explosive collars on their necks that removed 1-5% of their individual magical power. After 1 minute or so, Cid was not worried since he was recovering the magic being taken from him, countering the effects immediately.

Unevenness and Extreme Magic Reserve: Cid seems to have a very large reserve of mana, as when he had an explosive necklace, his necklace showed that her mana reserves were at 9999, (which is the maximum level, of magical measurement of the necklace, implying that Cid has more power than can be measured). Cid is also able to manipulate his mana reserves where he had the collar display that his mana reserves being 600. During his conversation with Issac while posing as Suzuki the collar had displayed an unbelievable amount of mana.

Standard Equipment:



 * Broadsword: After being reborn in to the Kagenō family, upon him being trained as a Dark Knight while attending the Midgar Academy, Cid uses a Broadsword in his public persona.
 * 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 can 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. In terms of defense when he uses it, it becomes so effective that Cid doesn't even need to make him change shape to protect himself from powerful burst attacks, either from artifacts or from his enemies.


 * Slime weapons: Cid is also able to use the slime jelly to create swords, knives, claws, and projectile weapons, Cid can also transform his slime weapons into other weapons.
 * Slime Sword: Cid uses the slime jelly to create a sword, this is one of the main weapons that Cid uses with his slime. Cid also dual wielded a second slime sword.
 * Slime Crowbar: Cid had used his slime jelly to create a crowbar. But it has never been used in battle as Cid transforms his Slime Crowbar into his Slime Sword.


 * 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 Mann, 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.(Ohys-Raws) Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute - 20 .gif
 * Iron Crowbars: Cid before and after reincarnating, managed to perfectly master the Iron Crowbars from the construction workers and use them as his second favorite weapon in short-range combat. Curiously, he exercises them based on the art style of " Tonfa", being able to use them very well either made of his Slime suit or taken in a normal way, when he fought against Beatrix and Iris Midgar. Cid saw one of those crowbars in a building and he wielded them for pleasure and excellence for condo, capable of dominating them and easily repelling the 2 swordswomen simultaneously for a long time. But to his surprise, Beatrix broke them, although he expected it since it was made of normal metal.


 * 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 at the Great Trading Company Conflict when he assumes the secret identity of "John Smith" against his members of Shadow Garden subduing them without much problem, (which is the Numbers three squad team consist of 664, 665, and 666, also specifically against Alpha), and then during his fight with Gettan. He also uses magic threads but as Shadow against Ragnarok during the civil war at Oriana Kingdom's capital.

Overdrive
A technique used by Cid, that enhances extremely his overall abilities limits such as his magic and physical abilities. This had allowed him as a 6-year-old to defeat one of the country's worst criminals, Scarface. (So far, he has only exercised this ability once, as no one has forced him to use said ability again to date, even after his eyes turn red.). Cid developed this technique as such, managing to reproduce, in a controlled manner, the effects he experienced when he began to experiment with the magic he had in his body, among other things.

Bionic Perception of Time
Through the use of magic, Cid is able to perceive and see everything that happens around him in a way that makes time stand still around him, allowing him to move semi-fast, dodge, and read the movements of his enemies. opponents, down to the last second, or millisecond, even if they are very powerful. During his childhood, at the age of 13, while training with his older sister, Claire Kagenō, Cid while sparring with her, while she attacked him. Cid used this ability, allowing himself to move in such a way that time had stopped around him, and he practiced how he could defeat his sister, while he brushed against her without hurting her, while she didn't notice anything, and She remained still, along with her normal surroundings. then Cid returned to her normal posture, where he blocked her attack, making time flow again as normal.

This ability and special technique, as such, is considered, as a kind of Time Manipulation, semi-temporary, since Cid, demonstrates, that he can readjust said ability, to make the notion of time around him return to flow, slowly, allowing you to see in more detail, and sometimes feel, the deceptive, surprise, or special movements of your opponents, which allows you to adopt the most appropriate way to react to the situation, whether as a Mob, or in his Shadow alias. During her first encounter with Beatrix, the acclaimed "goddess of war" and master of the elven sword, Beatrix launched a surprise attack on Cid, but this ability Bionic of Time, to study and see how she, really it was, allowing time to move again, very slowly. knowing that she was only testing him, since Beatrix perceived, or believed that he was, someone strong, learned Cid, a surprised Mob posture, and then fell and pretended that he was surprised that she attacked him, once that time, returned to flow normally.

(To the present date, it is unknown for how long Cid can exercise said ability, but it is understood, that as Cid grows in power, the more his abilities evolve more).

(It's possible that Bionic Perception of Time gives Cid a better insight and an enhanced perception of time and preserves time much slower.)

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) 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.

Before the Seven Shadows were gathered and when rescuing Zeta before joining Shadow Garden, Cid uses a low-powered "I Am Atomic" (at least it was in an incomplete state). In the manga version, it causes a huge explosion reminiscent of a nuclear explosion at the moment of thrusting, creating a large hole that changes the terrain. In the anime version, the scale of destruction is further expanded, and instead of thrusting, the sword is swung on the spot and detonated. At the time of "I Am Atomic", it is a technique that blows up the surrounding area, so the difference from I Am All Range Atomic is almost invisible.

It seems that the damage range can be adjusted to some extent, and when it was used against Zenon, Alexia, who was nearby, suffered no damage at all. In the battle with Beatrix and Iris at the Bushin Festival in the anime version, contrary to the above, Cid showed a huge range of damage that covered the entire Midgar Kingdom capital (however, at this time, he didn't intend to use it, so he used it by blowing it on the cloud).

The technique as such is classified as the type that can break or destroy any sub-space and sub-dimension as such, since by affecting the space itself, it can destroy any isolated space, whether magical or not, as it was the case of the Sanctuary, which was not a physical place, but magical in itself, and was in a sub-dimension between the surface of the city of Lindwurm, and the land itself.

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.gifI Am the All-Range Atomic: A variation of "I AM ATOMIC" which is an esoteric technique designed to annihilate everything within a small range in all directions 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 Cult of Diablos's Sanctuary, which was in some kind of hidden dimensional plane, in which Cid and Aurora were trying to escape.


 * Shadow "I Am Recovery Atomic" Gif.gifI Am Recovery Atomic: Used in the same way as "I AM ATOMIC", he heals people within a large radius. This technique is used for the first time to cure all people of their physical damage and curses at a genetic level, and stop the rampant control of the Vampire Queen, Elisabeth, in the Battle of the Red Tower at the Lawless City. This technique, unlike the "I Am Atomic", instead of people being outside the magic dome to avoid danger, they must remain inside it, in order to be cured of any damage or curse that they have experienced bodies.


 * I Am Atomic (Focused): A variant of the "I AM ATOMIC", said technique, focuses all of Cid's destructive magical power on the sword, and instead of dealing area damage, instead, releases a powerful magical burst focused on one person or a little more, with equal damage output, and a range that can travel to the horizon, (if Cid likes it). The level of damage and length of range can be adjusted like the rest of the other techniques, so it is possible, in a few chances, that a fragment of the individual remains, if the damage does not cover his entire body. During his battle against a Mordred transformed into a strong demon, for eating the meat of Ragnarok, in the civil war, in the capital of the kingdom of Oriana, Cid in his alias and Shadow, he used this technique to tear apart the entire body of Modred in a contained way and focused only on him, leaving only Modred's head on it.


 * I Am Atomic Sword: A variation on "I AM ATOMIC" in which magic 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. Cid uses this technique when he's in his "Shadow" persona (in Earth, the people from Messiah settlement he is called "The Black Knight"), Cid holds his sword horizontally and his magic light gathers around his sword, spiraling in a bluish-purple glow as it converges at the blade’s tip with his sword extends forth until stretches across the ground to the horizon in less than 1 second. the technique as such, consequently, creates strong gusts of wind in the sona, semi-shear, which can damage or destroy fragile solid structures in the process, lasting a couple of seconds, similar to the aftershocks of a strong earthquake. Then, Cid released his attack against a slavering horde of Magical Beasts during the Stampede on the settlement which his attack cleaves forth with a flash of light that bisects the night, shredding through all who stand within it until its wake as a bluish-purple afterglow drift by and illuminates everything the sword sliced through. Everything as far as the eye can see was all slain, whether its beasts, trees, and buildings alike—now has a perfect horizontal line cut through it.


 * Utsusemi no Atomic: A variation of "I AM ATOMIC", where Shadow's sword splits into nine swords that transform into nine dragons. These dragons descend on the enemy and eat them alive with each dragon consuming a part of the enemy. The first chews the right arm to pieces, the second chews the left arm, the third shreds the right leg, the fourth does likewise to the left one, the fifth and sixth rips the body into two, the seventh pierces through the chest, while the eight severs the neck, and finally -- the ninth holds the head between its jaws. He used this technique to finish off Fenrir at the end of the academy kidnappings arc.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ                                                       ㅤ
 * I Am Atomic Rain: A variation of "I AM ATOMIC" seen only in the Web Novel where Shadow initially shapes his slime into wings and flies into the air. Mana then collects onto the wings until it rains down below him, creating a large crater. This technique was used in the Web Novel in order to kill Maximilian and to make a point to him about quality of magic over quantity.

Magic Projectiles
Cid can magically detach and shoot small pieces of slime from his suit as high-velocity projectiles speeding as fast as bullets with the point of the fingers of his hands. These projectiles have enough force to pierce a person's heart or skull and since they are just his own magic power, Cid can also shoot these attacks very efficiently without problem. He uses this in full effect when mowing down dozens of fake Shadow Garden members.

Power Bestowment
Cid acquired the ability to share and transmit part of his magical power permanently, allowing those who receive it to not only to be cured of any affliction magical or not but also to increase their magical power immensely with better control and even much higher damage. Upon receiving Cid's magical power, they turn one with him in a certain way, allowing him to understand its power 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 magic he spends 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 in her demonic-possessed state while experimenting.

Elemental Manipulation
Cid can control various natural elements that which he can handle efficiently, either to heal, attack or defend himself. The most prominent elements are Darkness, Light, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Fire which he has used throughout his life until now. Cid mediates the combination of various elements to extreme degrees and is speculated to be able to control natural Phenomena, such as:


 * Fire Generation: Cid is able to create a purple fire with his magic.


 * Light Manipulation: Cid has the ability to create a purple light using his magic.


 * Weather Manipulation: Cid has the ability to psionically control and alter the forces of the atmosphere with his magic, creating changes in the weather at a wide range of distances. During his battle against Beatrix and Iris Midgar, Shadow gave them a demonstration of his power, being able to completely clear the entire rainy climate with thunder, using a portion of his magic, derived from his ultimate technique, in the kingdom of Midgar, already for only later, instantly disappear from the place without a trace.


 * Shadow, Water Currents.gif), against Iris Midgar and Beatriz.]]Water Manipulation: Cid can alter the bodies of rivers, lakes and, in extreme cases, the seas themselves by embedding his magic into it and turning them into his territory of management for whatever he likes, whether it be transporting, throwing attack or defend. However, Shadow also mentions magic does not flow very well in running water, so he considers the ability not as effective or practical as his regular attacks. Since Beatrix stated the ability is attributed only to vampires as well as Cid calling it the "Secret technique of Witchcraft", it is speculated that Aurora can manipulate all types of liquids and not just blood.


 * Wind Generation: Cid is also able to create strong windstorms by either swinging his sword or quick movements, his generated windstorms are powerful enough to dispel Alpha's Red Mistform technique and make it as if it's naturally occurring wind.

Soil Pressure
Through the use of his magic, Cid can exert a strong stomp against the ground which then causes a tremendous seismic pressure of magical gravity, capable of fatally crushing all those who receive them and instantly destroying their internal organs and bones from the impact. Until now, only Beatrix and barely, Iris Midgar, were able to resist the damage exerted by this ability of Cid being Shadow during his fight in the kingdom of Midgar, but that was only because he held back and had no intention of killing them. It is also speculated he did that just to see how much they could resist.

Ebony Swirl
Shadow can unleash the powerful magic of a jet-black, omnidirectional whirlwind in a controlled manner with his Slime Sword, which that can eradicate multiple enemies by violently cuts apart them like paper going through a shredder in just a few seconds.

During the Ghouls attack in the Lawless City, he effortlessly used this technique to kill all of them instantly while saving a magic swordswoman from Magic Swordsmen Association. Later, Shadow used it again to eradicate all Magical Beasts to stop entire "Stampede" on Messiah when he's on Earth.

Birdcage of Darkness
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 except his remaining demonic arm.


 * Prison of Black Chains: An improved version of the Birdcage of Darkness, Cid, by using the slime from his suit, can create powerful magical chains made of slime, which unlike the magic threads he used to dismember the body of the Demon King Ragnarok, they are made to immobilize the body of his opponent. According to Cid's words, no one has been able to break them. During his time on Earth, while Cid was together with Beta searching for a way back to the Other World, Cid used this enhanced version to immobilize his old friend Akane Nishino's magical rampage from her "First Knight" status while he was Shadow.

Serious Dash
By boosting himself with mana, Cid is capable of traveling at superhuman speeds of at least 1,200 km/h. 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: Sub-Relativistic+ (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).
 * Afterimage Creation: 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 counterattacks not work on him. So far, only 2 people have seen it: Annerose, Elisabeth and Alpha.

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.


 * Shadow, Raindrop Steps.gifRaindrop Steps: Cid can move instantly but very stealthily by becoming one with the natural environment, at the level of consciousness and magic. This allows him to hide, and disappear from one's sight, along with his presence and detection, in a supernatural way, making his physical body unable to be recognized or distinguished by the senses of living beings (either human, and other races), such as those with strong magic detection, or have a normal connection with nature. When Cid faced [[Beatrix]] for the first time, he used this supernatural ability against her in a contained way which allowed her time to react before he hurt her. According to Beatrix, the ability is extremely terrifying since it is impossible, even for her, to distinguish if he is in front of her or not, likening it to calculating how many raindrops had fallen (Hence the move's name). It is speculated that if Cid, in his facet of Shadow, had gotten a "little serious" exerting said ability against Beatrix, she would have already died instantly.

Bursts of magical cuts (Game)
Cid in Shadow's alias, has the ability to launch powerful and fast, burst attacks, magical cuts with his sword, either slime, or normal, at long distances, in a normal way, capable of annihilating in a few seconds, to any enemy, that crosses him. Although this technique as such is apparently easy, according to Modred's words, it is not at all, since to be able to perform such magical attacks requires great control of one's magical power, plus extreme training in it, something that not even the 12 members of the round table, of the Diablos cult, have been able to dominate it.

Up to the current date, only Epsilon, Alpha, and Shadow have been seen to be able to perform said magical attacks, making such a technique very dangerous as such, being practically difficult to dodge attacks of this kind, or the power detect them on time, in a few moments. The other members of the Seven Shadows, such as Gamma, Beta, Delta, Zeta and Eta, up to the present date, have not been able to dominate and carry out sayings, attacks, without depending on the manipulation of some element as such, such as the wind, or using a specialized weapon for it.

(Although it is game information, it is considered canonical as such)

Water Walking
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, and again during his battle with Beatrix and Iris in the anime.

Air Travel
Cid can leap and channel magic into his slime suit to perform air jumps and glide through the air, which is act as a paraglider, allowing him to indefinitely stay in the air for extended periods as if he were flying. This is seen in more detail, when Cid in his shadow alias, stood in the sky, during his demonstration of powerful magical power, in front of Beatrix and Iris Midgar, in the capital of the Kingdom of Midgar.


 * Light Speed: Shadow demonstrated that if he sets his mind to it, he can fight at speeds similar to those of Lightning, allowing combat, even aerial, to be fought in a very fast, overwhelming, and instantaneous manner, which from the perspective of the terrestrial public, seems to only last a few minutes. moments, and that in the sky, there is a rain of luminous silhouettes. When he combines this ability with the rest of his abilities and techniques, they can turn him into a truly monstrous being.Shadow VS Elisabeth - Air Combat gif.gifg her fight against the Vampire Queen, Elisabeth, who was in a state of uncontrollability due to the power of the Red Moon, in the Lawless city, seeing that she was destroying most of the gold coins that Shadow had kept in his Slimo Coat, while he was protecting those present around him, shadow decides to take something serious, and decides to "play", an aerial combat against Elisabeth, fighting an overwhelming battle, while everyone present witnessed it. The battle lasted for a while, until Shadow decided to end the battle once and for all, telling Elisabeth that "Tonight's game has lasted too long."

Wall Clinging
Through the use of magic, Cid can cling, walk and stay fixed on walls or any solid structure. In the anime, he uses this ability to avoid his sister, Claire, and get out of a room visit by sticking to the ceiling so as to not be seen. Cid can also exercise this ability unconsciously since he stuck to the ceiling again, only this time while asleep, to avoid an infatuated Rose trying to get into his room on the train at night. It is speculated that he can stay fixed on these structures without using magic like a ninja.

Enhancement of Magical Senses
Cid can enhance all five of his senses through the use of magic, allowing him to sensitize and exceed beyond the capabilities of what you already have enhanced, to the point of noticing the little things that cannot be perceived or detected, though Of course, as Cid had said before, it is still far from being compared to the tracking and hearing abilities of the Beastmen. Cid can exert his sense enhancements, both passively and actively, at any time he wants, implying here that if he wanted to, Cid could see, feel, or perhaps even be able to touch, those things that hide before him, supernaturally. When he fought against Aurora projection for the first time, during "the Goddess's Trial", Cid passively noticed that invisible and intangible magic chains surrounded Aurora, that they could not be seen, or touched, even for one of the soldiers the strongest of the magic knights, who would be like Iris Midgar or Beatrix, could notice, realizing that due to those restrictions, Aurora's projection couldn't fight to its full potential and that partly left him with pity, which at the same time ending made him finish the battle fast.

When disguising himself as "John Smith", Cid reinforces his eyes with magic to detect the micro differences between the counterfeit bills made by Yukime and those of the Mitsugoshi Company.

Mob-Fu
In his "civilian" persona, Cid never displays his true power and practice what he calls Mob Fu, or the art of losing battles with style. He has created 48 Ultimate Forms (Not including the "Hidden Techniques"), which are used according to the situation he is in. Known forms include:

Spinning Guard, Bloody Tornado
Upon 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 feint death. 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 that 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 of Deception
Before reincarnating, Minoru religated himself to be a mob character a role called "Background Character A", where he made himself look like average. Back when he was a student at Sakurazaka High School, Akane remarked that his grades and athletic abilites were average. After reincarnating he would religate himself to be "Background Character A" again. Making him seem as generic with everyone seeing him weaker than his sister. While trying to make himself a background character, he often use Suzuki Hope as a model to make himself look like a mob. Cid's facade as a background character, he's been able to hide his true persona from Alexia Midgar who was able to see a person's true persona from a glance, and Beatrix.

Master of Acting, Vocal, and Disguise
Outside of his combat abilities, Cid is a master actor who successfully portrays himself as a mundane individual as well as other secret identities. Other than his Shadow persona, Cid has adopted several disguises to further benefit in his dream of becoming "the Eminence in Shadow", such as Mundane Mann and John Smith. Whenever he switches personas, Cid provides a different tone and inflection to each of his characters.

Knowledge of Science and Business
Knows various sciences; economy, commerce, and agriculture, among others which he has managed to retain although in a somewhat vague way from his previous life. That knowledge has served to help him educate his subordinates nearby, "the Seven Shadows". He trained them since they were little when he rescued them. They have used the knowledge taught by Cid to manage to recreate and use 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 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 she liked his music.

Supernatural 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 Cult of Diablos' 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.

Intellectual Observation Deductive Analysis
Cid is very intelligent in his analysis similar to a detective. As when he was able to uncover Lutheran Barnett in his Sir Gaunt guise. And when he was transported to Japan, when investing Yuudai's death he tries to defend Akane Nishino by immediately pointing out that a knight of Akane's caliber shouldn't be able to generate dull cuts on Yuudai Saejima's body and he solves the mystery of the magic collar bomb under his "Suzuki Hope" identity.

Power Mimicry
Cid can able to replicate any technique he's seen by copying his opponent's signature move and improved with, until he used them as his own techniques immediately in perfect moves after seeing them do it only once in battle. He copied Aurora's Blood Magic using water as a substitute with such precision. He also mimics Epsilon's advanced slime techniques to improve his disguise abilities and defeats Fenrir by copying his ultimate technique after just seeing it once, much to his amazement.

Skilled Master
Cid possess excellent teaching abilities, as he was able to teach his sister on how better handle her magic. He taught the Seven Shadow combat and various subject after they joined Shadow Garden.

Skilled Poker Player
Cid has proven to be a good player in shuffling cards, playing cards and poker, whether with or without using cheating methods. During a card game with his Mob companions, Cid managed to beat them cleanly, leaving them without money to eat, during the break from classes at the royal academy in Midgar.

Trivia

 * His past name 影野 実 has 野 used as an ateji for の; alternatively, 影野 read together means "shadow field", as in Shadow Garden. Also 影野 corresponds to 陰の in 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 Jitsu in the title while in the name 影野 実, 実 is read as "Minoru".
 * His new life's family name is カゲノー, Kagenō. When read in the Japanese naming order, Kagenō Cid, it becomes "Kageno Cid", as in "Cid of the Shadows".
 * Cid/Minoru's surname Kagenō (影野) has the kanji 影 meaning "shadow".
 * Cid Kagenō also has another meaning. Cid means "Lord" in Spanish and Arabic while Kagenō means "Of the Shadows" in Japanese. This together translates to "Lord 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.
 * In the Light Novel and Web Novel, during the trade war incident, Cid wrote a Message to Beta, encrypted, made of 5 different languages, (dialects in part, but they are treated as languages, and in the beginning they were), which means, that Cid knows 7 to 8 languages from his previous world.
 * Throughout his training, Cid collected various rare and expensive items such as art and antiques from the loots of various bandits he defeated until he had enough money and other things, in order to live comfortably as an eminence in the shadows.
 * Cid as such without knowing it, is the owner as such of Mitsugoshi, and although Gamma told him that he could use the money and resources of his company, as his lord Shadow wants, he partly accepts it, since he does not agree the money earned from Mitsugoshi, as his own, and instead worries that such a company could be ruined, by his actions, which according to him, "fail", but in truth not.
 * Cid so far is the only man who has refused Yukime's charms and lewd proposals to her surprise and disappointment. Though not in the end, it does not seem to bother Yukime in part, since until now, he had to make a living using such means to gain power.
 * 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.
 * When people saw Cid's "I am Atomic" spell, they believed it was an artifact that went out of control, as people can't believe that one person could have so much magic power and declare it an impossibility.
 * In response to a threat that the armies of Midgar Kingdom would seek to apprehend Shadow, Cid demonstrates "I Am Atomic" has the range to completely annihilate the entire capital city of Midgar Kingdom in a single blast. Thus, the military power of any nation is nothing against Shadow.
 * It is speculated that its most powerful destructive technique can cover an area of around 1,000 and more than 3,000 km², since in general, a capital of a country usually has a territory of area, or surface, of between 1,000, to 3000 km² at average level.
 * While in the light novel and manga, Cid in his role as Shadow, stopped Viscount Olba strong sword, with the fingertips of his hand, in the anime, Shadow had to use the tip of his sword to this, (which makes it clear that Cid has a little more strength as such).
 * It is unknown how much Cid Kagenō can carry and lift, but as per his speculation and understanding, he can lift, the same as Eta, which is 100 tons, without any difficulties, and almost rivaling Delta's innate strength, due to to his constant practice of staying in shape.
 * He often speculates that he may not be the only person to reincarnate in the other world, though it's unknown if there are others.
 * According to Alexia, Shadow reached a sufficient level to generate chaos in the world, since during the "Goddess's Trial", Aurora was invoked as an ideal opponent for Shadow. According to the trials, Shadow has great power comparative to Aurora, known as the witch who brought ruin to the world.
 * According to Iris Midgar, the ability that Shadow used on her that made her lose her fighting spirit was something similar to what Iris's teacher taught her in her childhood, called "The Vacuum". But, when she saw this attempt in Mundane Mann, she realized by the time she lost, what Mundane had exercised on her was at a much higher level than she could ever reach, no matter how much she trained it in her own way.
 * According to Beatrix, Shadow's "sword" is as if it is merged with nature itself, akin to some kind of natural phenomenon i.e., like raindrops or lightning, which makes it very dangerous since like any natural phenomenon, it is unknown when or where it will attack until it is too late to protect oneself.
 * Shadow confesses to Iris Midgar and Beatrix, that only his name and his way of acting are all that he is, that everything else that has happened is just a fanciful fiction of his mind, unaware of the Cult's reality and their centuries of machinations. But they only take it as a strong insult that motivates them to fight even more.
 * Shadow admits that he only likes to remember people that are very powerful, in swordsmanship, in magic, and other things. Acknowledging that he has only barely admitted Beatrix as one of them, because she pales from the correct handling of magic. Meanwhile, he sees Iris as an amusing but somewhat regrettable case, seeing that she threw away her swordsman's pride by relying on a magical artifact, only to try to kill him. At present, it is speculated that, apart from Beatrix, Cid remembers Aurora as she was a comparative opponent. This is apart from the training he did with Delta, and also Elisabeth and Ragnarok, who were the only ones that forced him to get a little serious.
 * Only nine out of the 600+ members in the Shadow Garden have received their power directly from Shadow. These being the original Seven Shades, Victoria (No. 559) and Rose Oriana (No. 666).
 * Only Ten people have received power directly from Cid. These are the Seven Shadows, his sister Claire Kagenō, Victoria (No.559), and Rose Oriana (No.666).
 * Cid in his "Suzuki Hope" disguise, shares the same initials as Sherlock Holmes for his highlighting intelligence, amazing analytical ability, and his deductive prowess.
 * The general public knows Cid as the "Warlock" or "Demon Shadow", a being from the depths of Hell who commands an army of beautiful temptresses to commit acts of terrorism such as attacking colosseums, government institutions, and religious centers. The Cult of Diablos knows him as Shadow, the master of Shadow Garden and the male leader of an all female secret society that seeks to overthrow their control over the world.
 * Minoru was already so obsessed with being an eminence in the shadows on Earth, that he hunted down and brutalized biker gangs, earning the name "Ski Mask Berserker." When he returned to Earth as Cid via the Black Rose, many of the Earthlings feared his monstrous strength.
 * Cid exerts his magic in a strong way, combined with an apparently cold and serious look, and his eyes change from light black, to strong red, but it does not remain active constantly. It is speculated that these eyes will only remain active in that color constantly, when Cid, in his Shadow alias, decides that he should get a little or really serious.
 * In some scenes of the anime, Cid is seen changing his eyes red, in scenes where he did not exert his magic at all, in front of people he knows, such as Beta, Rose, Iris Midgar, and Claire Kagenō in episodes 4, 10, 20, and 21.
 * Cid unknowingly went through the "Eighth Grade Syndrome", which explains why his actions and dreams have to be fulfilled on a whim, and although he knows in part what that is, he does not realize that he still suffers from it. But despite this, due to the performance of his background character, no one until now knows that Cid suffered this, before and and after his reincarnation.
 * Despite having a lack of common knowledge in some areas, which becomes his weaknesses, Cid has shown that he has intelligence and comprehension, to learn very complex to simple things. If he finds himself in need of it, he puts in full commitment to it. Thus, he gains more wisdom and other things to achieve his goals, which reduce his weaknesses, gradually becoming the person that his Shadow Garden members believe he already is, but without eliminating his ambitions and manner to behave in part.