Spirit Forge

**Debut** | Chapter 1

**Spirit Forge** (心精煉, *Shinseiren,* Lit; *"Soul Smelting"*) is the name of the Quirk wielded by Shinato Iwagami. It is a shining example of the benefits of Quirk Marriages, being an immensely potent Emitter Quirk which permits him to generate enormous amounts of a unique exotic material identified as **Soul Steel** (霊鋼, *Reihagane*, Literally Meaning; *"Spiritual Steel"*) a raw and utterly alien matter which he can rapidly refine and form it into a variety forms and manifestations. The characteristics of his Quirk are shared with the powers which his parents wield, a composite unison between his fathers Quirk, Alloy Forge, a Transformation Quirk which allows the user to become all possible forms of metal, and his mothers Quirk, Quintessence, an Emitter Quirk which grants the user the ability to manifest their spiritual power in an enormous variety of ways. The benefits of these two quirks have been united within Shinato as a result of Quirk Marraige, thus giving birth to his exotic Spirit Forge power.

## Description

### Overview

Spirit Forge is an immensely potent Emitter Quirk which is the composite manifestation of both powers wielded by his parents. His mothers Quintessence has been united in rather perfect and flawless fashion with his fathers Alloy Forge, thus allowing him to spontaneously spawn a unique and otherwise unobtainable form of alien metal which Shinato has identified under the term "Soul Steel". As the title indicates, the matter which Shinato creates boasts the general characteristics of various different types of metal which boast an extremely supernatural form of spiritual power. This generally translates to the fact that Shinato's Quirk allows him to harness and generate steel which boasts the quality of unnatural and exceptional toughness, as well as effects and qualities which are effectively mystic in nature. These characteristics lay the basis for fairly unending possibilities which Shinato can take advantage of and exploit at will. Overall, the mystical alloys which Shinato can create at will are generally much, much more durable, more potent, and more powerful than that of any natural mineral that exists on the planet, due to the fact that his Soul Steel is fundamentally unlike anything else that exists, and the various objects and weapons which Shinato creates with his Quirk are generally much, much more powerful and deadly than those of conventional man-made weapons. The most common and basic application of Spirit Forge is that which allows Shinato to simply launch his Soul Steel in the form of lethal waves of shrapnel towards his opponents and targets. The hailstorms of sharpened steel fragments which Shinato can create are extremely dangerous, and boast enough power to easily tear down various forms of matter, being capable of shredding the stone walls of large buildings and ripping cars down to their skeletal frames in mere seconds. Naturally, being struck by a blast of Soul Steel launched by Shinato can at the very least, result in severe, brutal and utterly grievous injury to heroes, while average human beings are even more vulnerable, and are almost certain to be killed if struck by Shinato's Quirk.

Like his father, Shinato is capable of generating an enormous array of different forms of metal substances with nothing more than his bare hands, and can freely adjust and alter the composition and consistency of the objects which he creates, thus creating rare and extremely tough, potent forms of steel at will, the likes of which even science cannot forge. However, with the addition of the characteristics within his mothers Quirk, an entirely new dimension of possibility and power has been opened up within Shinato's power. He possesses the ability to amplify and integrate the characteristics of various aspects of his own spirits into every product he creates, thus assigning mystic and immensely supernatural effects and powers onto every piece of Soul Steel that he creates. As a result, a weapon made as the product of Spirit Forge is typically much superior to its man-made counterpart. A simple knife can be sharpened and hardened, and improved in ways which are all natural, scientific, as well as spiritual and supernatural in nature, thus giving rise to a weapon which has cutting abilities, durability, and potency the likes of which should not be physically nor theoretically possible.

### Weaknesses

Though Shinato is capable of generating a virtually limitless supply of Soul Steel, this prospect is something that only exists in theory and nothing more. Proportionate to the amount of material that he creates and attempts to harness with Spirit Forge, it becomes increasingly more and more difficult for him to properly control and manipulate. Shinato explains that manipulating the flow, shape, and form of his Soul Steel equates to tensing a muscle. He cannot keep it up indefinitely, and the effort and difficulty nvolved with the action of controlling Spirit Forge can dramatically increase depending on the power, technicality, and complexity of the forms and shapes which he is focusing the material into. Controlling his Quirk involves a focused, concentrated mind and a strong body filled with stamina. The most noteworthy example of this increasing difficulty is the various styles which compose the known named techniques Shinato has developed. His Soul Steel Explosion Style is by far the easiest form of his Quirk to control, while more complex and advanced styles above it come with an obvious increase in difficulty to control. It is possible that Shinato's body can be severely effected and even exhausted rapidly as a result of extended and more complex usage of his Quirk. One of the factors which can drain his energy is the quantity of Soul Steel he is controlling at any given point in time. Manipulating small quantities or simplistic manifestations of Soul Steel, such as most of the moves which compose Shinato's Soul Steel Explosion Style, is something which he can do on a virtually indefinite basis due to the sheer his sheer mastery, as well as the nearly nonexistant drain on his own stamina which it causes. However, bigger and more explosive techniques will inflict a more severe cost to his stamina, and continuous, extended usage of them may result in his physical energy being rapidly depleted, thus leaving him in a state of something anywhere between light fatigue to severe exhaustion depending on the nature, size, and desired effect the particular manifestation of Spirit Forge which Shinato attempting to harness. This threat of fatigue can impair all facets of Shinato's fighting abilities, and towards the extreme, can leave him completely and utterly incapable of fighting, or even endangering his life itself, due to the fact that towards the summit of his Quirks abilities, the cost of their use becomes so great that it drains his life itself.

This is attributed to the fact that the Soul Steel which Shinato creates is fundamentally a physical manifestation of his own soul and everything within it, a characteristic which he shares with his mother in that the spiritual energy she gives off is the power of her spirit itself. It is typically an assumption that to this effect, Shinato possesses an extremely strong spirit, and he does, however, unlike his mother, his spiritual energies are highly unrefined, and he is not masterful in accurately controlling them. Because of this, an exceedingly abominable threat has refined itself and festered within the depths of Shinato's power. If for whatever reason, Shinato continues to drain push himself ever beyond his limits, thus draining his consciousness, stamina, and vitality itself, his body will begin to decay and damage itself rapidly. His muscles will tear, his bones will break, his organs will begin rupturing and failing, and he will begin bleeding from various orifices as a result. It is at this point that Shinato is dangerously close to passing over a certain threshold. In a rare and extremely unlikely situation such as this, Shinato would have had to be facing down odds which would make him increasingly desperate, and it is that desperation which would have an effect on his spiritual energy. As Shinato's body rapidly deteriorates and grows closer to death, his mental faculities, awareness, and life energy itself all continue to dull and dwindle, the only thing that becomes fuel for his Quirk is his desperate emotional power. Feelings such as hate, resentment, fear, and rage, among many others, all begin to flood into his Soul Steel, giving rise to a rather unique and fairly terrifying phenomenon. It is at this point that Shinato loses total control over his own Quirk, causing it to develop a form of primal, savage self-sentience which consists only of the most powerful emotions that its user felt, thus, his Soul Steel begins to rage out of control in the manner of a wild, vicious animal. At this stage, Shinato can be considered to have blacked out completely, entering a state of severe shock and critical condition, thus rapidly approaching deaths door. He becomes unresponsive to all outside forms of stimuli, and incapable of intelligent communication or properly distinguishing between friend and foe, having become a mere vector of his negative emotional will, his form sustained and animated only by the berserk fury which also dictates the movements and abilities of his Soul Steel. The steel itself becomes exceedingly monstrous and lifelike in nature, and is prone to releasing a beastly, resonating and extremely sharp tone which is best described as a primal screech of fury and rage, a testament to the sentience it takes on. Once in this state, it is extremely unlikely, nearly impossible that Shinato will be able to return to human form under his own power, and he typically must be dealt with using extreme prejudice. Even if his body is freed from the will of his own rampaging Quirk, the chances of him surviving have fallen to near absolute zero, and even being treated with the power of multiple Quirks specializing in healing and medical qualities are unlikely to save him once he has undergone this transformation.

## Named Techniques

**Soul Steel Explosion Style** (霊鋼爆破流, *Reihagane Bakuha-Ryuu,* Lit; *"Spiritual Steel Detonation Method"*) is one of the numerous umbrella terms which Shinato uses to express the various styles of Spirit Forge. Soul Steel Explosion is the most common and basic style in which Shinato uses the powers of his Quirk, and is a method of various techniques which are primarily offensive in nature, allowing Shinato to project his Soul Steel in a largely raw and otherwise unrefined state, in the form of powerful, large waves of matter which can be functionally interpreted as blast waves of dangerous, jagged shrapnel. It is shown to be a rather highly potent style which, aside from granting Shinato a considerable powerhouse status, can augment and improve his agility and movement abilities as well, by emitting the power of Spirit Forge in the form of propulsive forces from his hands and feet, or even grant Shinato a form of functionally legitimate defense by focusing the shrapnel of his Quirk into the form of a turbulent wall in front of him, thus shielding him from various forms of enemy attack and causing anything that touches it to be torn to pieces on contact. Being a style of attack which can effectively be considered a highly destructive method of blasting, the waves of mystic metal which Shinato unleashes are shown to boast enough power and potency to function on the same basis as the powers and skills of any powerful emission hero, being similar to his mother due to the function of this ability, due to his inheritance of her soul-based powers.

* **Dark Shine Blast Wave** (黒閃光爆風, *Kokusenko Bakufuu*) Shinato generates a field of countless jagged fragments, flakes, and shards of raw Soul Steel from his hand. The name of the technique is attributed to the signature, brilliant darkened lustre which composes the appearance of the unique material that Shinato spawns. He then launches this steel in the form of a powerful, high speed and heavily condensed wave of shrapnel towards his opponents. The shards of mystic steel which compose the form of this blast all spin and dance with the speed of a high category tornado, thus granting a drilling, boring, and extremely lethal cutting effect onto the attack which can result in severe injury, and even immediate death for his opponent if they cannot successfully avoid it or they do not have a proper form of defense set up against the attack. A normal human being typically has no chance of surviving this attack, while most heroes are left with severe lacerations, cuts, and their bodies being utterly filled with Shinato's shrapnel, perhaps resulting in damage that is potentially severe to their bones, organs, and muscles alike. The power of this attack is so great that Shinato can effectively drill massive holes through entire rows of buildings, and tear apart houses, cars, and various other objects as though they are nothing more than pieces of butter thrown into an industrial strength blender.