Shinya Kugimiya

**Shinya Kugimiya** (深夜正実, *Kugimiya Shinya*), also known as the **Acolyte**, is a recurring antagonist in Seventh Garden. He is an information broker and mercenary hired by Kingdom who holds the special rank of **Joker.** He is a magus of the Avaritia Archive with the Thema of *Falsitas (Falsehood)*, with the magic of *Rumor King*.

## Profile

### Background

A man born of crime, lies, and deciet, Shinya Kugimiya is a Japanese criminal of immense infamy being wanted in 74 countries and on the death list of 54 of them.

### Appearance

Shinya has a darker skin and white hair as the result of excessive tanning and the fact he suffers from Canities subita, better known as Marie Antoinette syndrome or Thomas More syndrome.[1]

### Personality

A man behind the curtain, hidden in the shadows who will do anything to get what he wants, whatever his ambitious goal is. It seems to deal with control, influence, and unlawful order. If mystery were a person, Shinya may be that person. He is noted to be manipulative, deceitful, dishonest, and untrustworthy.

## Abilities

### Magic Abilities

**Rumor King**: Shinya's magic of the Falsitas Thema, belonging to the Avaritia Archive. It has no physical manifestation in magic, because it works and manifests as influence and control. It begins with Shinya announcing a "rumor" with the command *"I heard a rumor..."* Afterwards, the magic works it's way through general contact with others such as general area, close eye contact, and physical contact. The rumor will spread through people on the conceptual level, infecting their minds. While much less useful and effective when done so, it may even distort and cause people in close proximity to hesitate before an action by forcing a reconsideration. This way, however, can be broken out of more easily. Rumor King cannot force an action to occur on it's own, but can drastically influence the actions of those it affects.

## Equipment

**The 48 Laws of Power**: A grimoire written and created by Robert Green, it lists 48 natural laws of manipulation, deceit, and persuasion and is sought after by many leaders. When utilized, it has the ability to grant temporary buffs and unique abilities to the user after they recite one of the 48 laws of power.

* **The First Law**: The first law of power states to *"Never outshine the master."* Utilizing this law, Shinya can forcibly disguise his threat level and aura to appear as a much lower one that he can forcibly adjust as he pleases. However, the level cannot ever be set to anything near zero or "Nil".
* **The Third Law**: The third law of power states to *"Conceal your intentions."* Utilizing this law, Shinya's lies become believable despite how absurd they make sound to a certain degree and those who hear Shinya will believe his lies.
* **The Ninth Law**: The ninth law of power states to "*Win Through Your Actions, Never Through Argument".* Utilizing this law, Shinya's voice is forcibly sealed for a duration. However, during that duration he can move faster, be stronger, and react and percieve actions quicker.
* **The Seventeenth Law**: The seventeenth law of power states "*Keep others in suspended terror, cultivate an air of unpredictability"*. Utilizing this law, Shinya can forcibly cause his target to begin to doubt their actions and hesitate as well as slow their thought process and make them more indecisive.

## Trivia

* One of Shinya's goals is to find the Collections of Goebbel's grimoire, which can drastically increase his Rumor King magic's effectiveness.
* Shinya also owns the grimoire **The Art of Seduction**, but is incapable of utilizing it. Shinya himself refuses to admit that it is because he is "too ugly" as the Art of Seduction can only be utilized by those with good appearances and in good physical health, in which Shinya is neither.