Kurai
Kurai is the name given to a God-like being from another plane of existence. He is a Conceptual and Magical deity of immense power, with a fundamental connection to both forces.
Currently, he is the progenitor of the Tasogare family - the source of their supernatural power. When fused with his human counterpart - he becomes the merged being known as Kagemusha.
Summary
Nascent Beginnings
A being from a higher plane of existence known as the "Sorrowful Star", Kurai is an Astral - specifically the Astral of Devastation. Initially, Kurai was seen as a bloodthirsty and sociopathic monster among his species - infamous for recklessly destroying countless dimensions for the sake of irrational chaos.
Eventually, after eons of rampant devastation on his part, he was tricked by the rest of the Astrals into a binding scenario. In exchange for his removal from their plane of existence, the other Astrals took on the burden of absorbing his malevolent essence into themselves.
While the Astrals were successful in banishing Kurai from their plane of existence, they soon began to war among themselves - struggling to maintain the incalculable amount of conceptual malice held within Kurai's essence.
Soon, the Astrals would splinter among themselves - with those capable of rising above their latent darkness choosing to hide themselves throughout existence; whereas those incapable of overcoming Kurai's darkness instead choosing to further cause chaos.
Call of the Gods
Kurai himself had been banished from the known universe and all of its adjacent infinite dimensions. Being placed outside of conventional space-time itself, his essence was soon drawn to Godspace - the conceptual realm of the Gods.
Fearing him to be an expression of the ultimate evil born of human intent - the Gods chose to engage Kurai in battle. Unbeknownst to them, their perceptions of Kurai as the ultimate demonic evil would gradually warp his appearance and nature even further - with him feeding on their negative thoughts and beliefs.
Eventually, Kurai would reach a stalemate with the Gods, unable to defeat them. Instead, repeating the decisions of his prior adversaries, the Gods chose to combine their raw power and skill into a magical spell that would bind Kurai in a magical plane of existence. The binding spell also gave Kurai a high sensitivity to magical energy - to the point of agony.
Arcana Magicka
After being bound by the combined magical might of all the known Godly pantheons, Kurai was then cast aside into a dimension known as the "Arcana Magicka" - an artificial space created through the natural flow of magic on a cosmic scale.
Excess magic, too powerful to be properly shunted into normal reality - would gradually accumulate in a plane of existence beyond the normal space-time continuum, leading to the creation of the Arcana Magicka dimension.
The Gods had hoped that by weakening Kurai and imbuing him with his newfound pain towards magic, the combined pressure of his new prison would gradually rip him apart.
However, due to Kurai's Conceptual nature as the Astral of Destruction, the chaos of his surroundings instead empowered him. After countless eons being imprisoned by the Gods, and after initially being banished by his fellow Astrals - Kurai grew to channel more hatred for existence itself.
With his foundational compulsion to cause destruction and exert his power on all around him, Kurai would eventually accumulate enough magical power to undergo a metamorphosis. Now able to free himself from his prison outside of conventional reality - Kurai would then turn his attention towards his revenge.
A Dish Best Served Cold
With his newly empowered state, Kurai immediately broke free of his restraints within the Arcana Magicka, now choosing to immediately turn his sights towards both the Astrals and the Gods. After realizing their mistakes, both groups of higher beings agreed to a temporary alliance - in a bid to end the threat of Kurai once and for all.
The battle between Kurai and his combined opposition lasted for an incalculable amount of time - with heavy casualties being experienced on the side of the Astral-God alliance. Although all of their fallen would eventually resurrect themselves, they were quickly losing more and more ground to Kurai's advances.
Eventually, Kurai's enemies created their final gambit - an attempt to circumvent the issues that came from binding him within planes of existence. The greatest sorcerers amongst the Gods came together and made a Sacrificial Pact with Magic itself - proclaiming their independence from sentient life as the price for Kurai's total defeat.
Magic answered their call and bestowed upon them an artifact of immense and unfathomable power. A sword capable of absorbing magical energy and supernatural power - seemingly without limit. The sword would then be used to fatally injure Kurai - drastically weakening him and absorbing the vast majority of his powers into it.
Cast From Heaven
Desperate to sustain his own existence, Kurai used the remainder of his near-infinite power to fight off the remainder of the Astral-God alliance, gaining control of the sword as his life force began to rapidly decline. Through sheer instinct, he used the last of his powers to teleport himself from Godspace and towards the instinctual origination point of its power - Earth.
Arriving in Japan during the Heian period - long before modern days; the last vestiges of his unsealed energy appeared before a Japanese Samurai - promising him immense power to him and his family line. The only cost being undying loyalty to Kurai himself - as he slowly regained his strength over the coming millennia.
The man, potentially an acquaintance of Taira no Masakado, was then bestowed with the sword used to seal away Kurai's essence and power. The man was the ancestor to the Tasogare family; the first to partially merge with Kurai and become the Kagemusha - the warrior of shadow.
Soon, the Tasogare family would slowly grow in both size and power - operating from within the shadows of Japan's dynamic sociopolitical climate. Each and every Kagemusha would slowly grow old, performing the binding ritual required to transfer Kurai's essence to their next of kin.
This process would go on for countless generations - before Kurai would eventually merge with the one fully capable of harboring his essence.
Modern Day
Now in the 21st century, Kurai still remains as the patron God of the Kagemusha family - guiding them through the vessel of his chosen fusee. Eventually, before Hiruzen Tasogare would pass away, the most recent binding ritual would occur - allowing Kurai's full essence and power to transfer into the body of Hiruzen's son - Akito Tasogare.
As the most powerful fusee to become Kagemusha, Akito is able to fully harness Kurai's power - becoming the strongest Kagemusha in Japan's history.
The sacrificial pact made by Akito's mother, Sakura - allowed him the ability to harness magical energy to a degree otherwise impossible for a human being. While the cost of this sacrificial pact would ultimately be Sakura's life - it made Akito the perfect vessel for Kurai's power - allowing them to perfectly fuse together in both mind and power.
As a merged entity, Akito and Kurai no longer distinguish between themselves - and instead work towards their shared goal of attaining total control over Japan; and eventually reality itself.
Powers
Astral Nature
As an Astral - a being of pure Conceptual force and strength, Kurai has several abilities pertaining to metaphysical concepts and principles. Specifically, as the Astral of Devastation and Chaos, Kurai's powers fluctuate, depending on the state of the world around him.
Reality Warping
When still operating as a separate being, Kurai, like all Astrals, had the ability to bend the fabric of existence around him; allowing him to achieve virtually any physical effect he desired.
With a thought, he was capable of immense displays of force and power - such as the immediate and complete obliteration of entire space-time continuums.
He could also break the laws of physics, allowing him to do things otherwise thought impossible by scientific observation - such as moving faster than light.
Destruction
As the Astral of Destruction, Kurai has the unique ability to annihilate lower level beings - removing them from existence itself, so long as they are not anchored to reality in some fundamental way.
Beings who are at Kurai's level of strength, or even higher - can outright ignore this ability. Although Kurai can also annihilate aspects of a being from existence as well, if he chooses to.
Chaos Empowerment
Kurai's nature also grants him an oscillating increase and decrease in strength, depending on the relative level of Chaos around him.
The more disorder, unpredictability and outright bedlam around him, the more powerful Kurai's abilities become. The more ordered, structured and peaceful the area around him is - the weaker that Kurai becomes as a consequence.
Magic
Due to his time spent imprisoned in the Arcana Magicka dimension, Kurai was imbued with an immense amount of magical power, rapidly evolving him into a magical being - beyond that of a normal Astral.
Because of his eons spent fighting both the Astrals and the Gods, Kurai has learned and developed countless forms of magic, with a flurry of spells, incantations, hexes, charms and evocations available for him to use.
Furthermore, Kurai naturally generates magical energy, after fundamentally evolving himself to become a being of magic itself.
Psionics
Due to his Astral nature, Kurai is an immensely powerful psionic being, capable of casually breaching most levels of the Astral Plane - in order to draw out psionic monsters and psionic energy for his own uses.
He can dominate the minds of weaker beings instantly and effortlessly - allowing him to project his essence onto them and completely override their inherent wills. This aspect of his nature would later be seen in the Eien no Yoru blade's ability to remove the willpower from those it stabs.
In addition, Kurai can use his psionic abilities to project illusions, absorb and project information - and even merge himself partially with the Astral Plane itself.
Kurai also has a psionic connection to those who carry his magical essence - meaning all blood-related members of the Tasogare family have a compulsion to perpetuate the will of Kagemusha.
Notes
- Kurai's backstory and history bare strong parallels with the angel Lucifer.
- Similar to Lucifer, Kurai attempted to defy the natural order of his existence, and was forced out of a higher existence for his arrogance.
- Kurai is also seen by most Astrals as being the closest thing their species has to an embodiment of Evil - a being of pure malice and selfishness.
- Every Tasogare that Kurai has merged with to form Kagemusha has become significantly stronger than their predecessors.
- This is because Kurai's control over his sealed power power gradually improves over the course of generations - aided by the Conceptual powers inherent to human beings.