Crow Watanabe

* Former Appearance
* Prince
* Current

### Enemies

Locaster Helios, Ashton Khanh, Shay Hanamura, Yuna Hanamura, Damion Halloreen, Fēng Xu, Hideko Inazuma, Hikage Ishuko, Veena Lu, Nabi Haluška, Shizuka Ikami, Cherry Amana, Windflower Amana, Shiah Bereng, Colbalt Majmua, Soul Kawasaki, Kahori, Crimson O'Connel

**Crow Watanabe,** real name **Hanako Watanabe,** is one of the main antagonists in *Challenge of the Shadows*. He was a crown prince to a royal family, alongside with his twin, Crow, but was neglected by his parents as they focused their attention onto Crow and used archaeology to solve his woes, though was scolded and ordered to cease his odd behavior. When his twin brother discovered an ancient gem, he felt that his hobby was stolen and resulted in him murdering his brother and was imprisoned in the Fallen Gates shortly after. Later on, he escapes and assumed his twins identity in order to forget his former identity as Hanako and wanting to regain the power he never had.

After escaping from the Fallen Gates, Crow stole his twins identity and roamed the northern forests, but still possessed a gem that his brother had once owned and decided to research on its origins, where he would later on discover that it was a Demon Gem belonging to the control Founding Demon, Shihai, and started to utilize it's power to ensure his survival. He later on discovered other variants of the Demon Gems and started to become infatuated with it's powers, resulting in Crow became a shard thief and began murdering users and taking their shards. Because of his high kill count, he was mainly responsible for the magic imbalance in Azuren.

## History

Crow was once known as Hanako Watanabe and the prince of a royal family after being conceived on accident by his parents, alongside his twin, Crow. Though they were said to only expect one child, it was later revealed that his mother was expecting twins and focused on her older son rather than Hanako. He was cared for by his mother during infancy, being allowed to play with his twin, and grew to love him dearly, even sharing some of his toys with him whenever his toys were broken by accident. However, when the twins were older and grew to be successors to the lineage, their parents began isolating Hanako from Crow, resulting in their strained relationship, though Hanako still held his title as a prince.

During his time as a prince, Hanako was emotionally neglected despite his high position, as most of the attention was put on Crow. He was perceived as an accident, believing that he did not have any worth to him. They did not attempt to form a relationship with him and only gave him his physical needs, yet not his emotional and psychological needs. Hanako grew to be isolated from his brother, forgetting the little memories he had of him and was hardly seen in public, yet was still sent to school and received an education alongside his brother.

Hanako was perceived as uninteresting because of his lack of magic or talents, being seen as the black sheep in the court and was not as interesting to talk to, and was often teased for acting "oddly," leaving him with little to no friends and only finding solace in collecting old toys he would see buried in the streets to bring comfort to his loneliness. He was awkward and socially stunted from the neglect, often remaining quiet unless someone asked him a question or needed assistance.

His twin brother, Crow, was seen in an opposite light: He was perceived as the family's golden child, always receiving praise from others and talked about frequently due to his high skills and talents. Many individuals had a preference for Crow instead of Hanako due to his talents and large social circle, becoming more outgoing and lively, as opposed to his reserved brother. Despite the following he grew up, Crow cared for Hanako and wanted to talk with him, though his family actively separated Crow from Hanako as an act of hiding his existence due to an accident.

Over time, Hanako gradually became jealous of his twin brother for being well-liked by his family and the people around him due to him earning his parents affection and care. He began noticing the preferential treatment towards Crow and questioned why he was not receiving the same amount of attention as he was, causing a gaping hole in his heart and desperation for approval. When attempting to gain the approval of his parents, he was scolded at and called a "mistake," saying that Crow was the child they expected and he was not. This event caused him to view his parents differently and isolate himself further from his family and his hostility towards Crow grew. The envy for Crow further grew as their affection towards him became more prevalent, He is ignored by his family when asking for favors, yet when Crow asks, they immediately respond, proving their inattentiveness to care for him, let alone form a relationship with him. Crow attempted to have a bond with him, but was often scolded by his parents and isolated further, causing the hole in Hanako's heart to grow larger.

Hanako, later on, gained a deeper, profound interest in archaeology, finding it his only coping mechanism, and began to further isolate himself and do more research on archaeology and artifacts and study more about the past through books and relics to comfort himself from the neglect and envy he was feeling for his brother. As he got into archaeology, he started to show his parents the relics he would find. He was scolded for his findings and was told to focus on his studies and to cease his "odd behavior." Hanako was saddened and started to keep his collections and findings to himself after.

Later on, Hanako saw that Crow had a medium-sized gemstone in his hand, and thought he had stolen an artifact from his room: After he was seen with this gem, he almost immediately got praise for finding such an ancient relic when Hanako had been doing this before Crow and it further erupted his jealousy. His envy for his brother slowly turned into pure hatred because he was getting attention for something he had done prior.

Crow's envy started to grow further because of his twin starting to "steal" his hobby. He at times wished Crow would die so he could have the attention after years of neglected and isolationism. He desperately attempted to get the approval of his family, yet was denied any sort of attention because of his status of being an accident. His rage became immense to an extent where he nearly destroyed his room. His thoughts of murdering his brother flooded his head, but was frightened to do it because of his soft spot. In his act of rage, he started to plan his murder in order to become the superior twin.

The following night, Hanako requests Crow to meet him in Crow's room. Thinking that they would be spending time together, Crow happily agreed and complied with Hanako's request. Crow arrived at his room and Hanako started with small talk, resulting in Crow laughing and having a back-and-forth conversation. However, this led to Hanako stabbing him with a knife. Hanako did not feel regret at first, feeling as if he stole a power he did not once have as he took the gem he discovered from his brothers counter. However, while going through his drawers, he discovered letters and found out his twin loved him and wanted others to pay attention to him, but could not as his twin being isolated resulted in him not getting to know Hanako thoroughly enough.

Hanako panicked and did not have enough time to hide the corpse due to his lack of physical strength at the time, both regretting his decision and feeling relieved that his twin was gone. Shortly after Crow's murder, his parents later found out that Hanako had murdered his twin, causing him to be put on trial for fratricide and was imprisoned in the royal jail for six months.

After the trials and six months of initial imprisonment Hanako was banished to the Fallen Gates, a prison within the North Desolates and had his wings removed so he was unable to fly. He, at first, had a difficult time adjusting within the Fallen Gates, but later on adjusted to his new life while still feeling a regret for murdering his twin, but felt himself gain back power he never possessed. After a few years, Hanako managed to escape without getting caught, still having the gem he once owned from his brother and had assumed his brother's identity. However, one day he tested to see if the gem had any sort of significant magic and discovered its mind controlling abilities when attempting to catch a squirrel and managed to manipulate the fluids inside of its body to kill it.

Fascinated by its powers, Hanako researched on the origins of where it came from by studying intensely at an ancient library. After countless weeks of researching, he figured out that the gem was apart of the control gem that once belonged to the control Founding Demon, Shihai, and later discovered that many other demon gems existed, alongside the shard users. After he uses this profound power, Hanako desired more power and decided to make a murder book that contained every shard user he could murder and take their shard from. During his height, he successfully murdered over twenty five people and took over twenty shards, satisfied with the power he now had in his hands. As he began hunting for shards, he took his brothers name and copied his personality that would aid him in gaining the trust of others.

### Sacred Meadows arc

In the present day, Hanako, now known as Crow Watanabe, began to wander the Sacred Meadows after the death of a previous shard thief, Sineater, who had died from using all of his stolen shards combined and causing him to explode. While exploring the meadows, he comes upon Locaster and the small group of shard users he had formed and sets his eyes on Windflower, who had a wind shard that belonged to Aeris, the wind Founding Demon. Due to his thirst for power and surpassing his brother, He decided to plan how he would steal the shard that was stuck in her chest after the group had discovered it lodged inside her skin. Curiously, Crow asks how she had a shard lodged in her skin. Before Windflower could respond, Cherry refuted him and became suspicious, asking him why he was asking something personal. Windflower reassures Cherry and answers Crow's question, saying that she is unsure of how it was lodged in her neck in the first place. Before Crow could explain anything, Yuna asks who he is to see why he was also in the sacred meadows.

Crow then introduced himself as "Hanako Niishima," An archaeologist who collects artifacts and identifies them from the past, ultimately gaining the trust of their group because of his profound knowledge about the Demon Gems, sharing information that they could find useful and overall got along with the members. With his kind and talkative demeanor, he was able to gain their trust and talk to them about their shards and how they had possessed them through collecting and digging them up through out the dirts and sand. Soul began to feel uptight about him due to his suspicions of being a shard thief, but Locaster had brushed it off, thinking he was a shard collector, and sought to reunite the gems as well. He was accompanied by another man, Aku, who was said to be his traveling partner. Since both had escaped a recent fire that happened in Ostravik, the team took pity on them both and allowed them in their small hideout in the forest.

While in the forest, Crow asks if either Veena or Hikage would like to hunt for some fish. Veena and Hikage, already having to fetch wood, rejected the advance because of the two being exhausted. Locaster decided to substitute for him, going to the nearby pond and using their combined magic to hunt fish. While hunting, Locaster asks if he heard of the shard thief, to which Crow responds hesitantly that he indeed is aware of the shard thief. Locaster tells him to be cautious and to hide his shards due to his accumulated amount being thirty shards. Crow nonchalantly laughed, telling Locaster he would be okay because he could defend himself.

## Appearance

Crow is described as a tall, slender man who's described as "angelic" due to his physical appearance being rather youthful and by standard beautiful to the human eye: He has extremely pale skin and long, white hair tied in a ponytail and extended to his lower back with deep black eyes that have white diamonds in his irises and has a mole underneath his left eye with a gray halo on his head which he can remove freely. Bandages are also present under his arm and are wrapped around rather messily to hide his prisoner markings and injuries.

Crow's usual attire is a white sweater with long sleeves that have gray cuffs with light gray shorts and white socks. Around his waist is a belt with two storage satchels and his body is covered with a white and gray cloak while also sporting gray boots with three diamonds vertically lined up from one another. On his neck is a thick, black choker that carried his shards he stole.

### Prince Outfit

During his time as a prince and going by the name Hanako, Crow's appearance remained relatively the same, but his hair was let down and was said to have more of a softer face and identical to his twin brother: Unlike his current self, crow used to have a pair of angel wings attached to his back before they were removed when banished.

Crow's attire was a long, white and gray kimono with long sleeves that usually hid his hands with knee length socks and gray zōri sandles.

### Current State

Crow's new appearance is shown to be rather "grotesque" as said by Locaster after Shay had used the flower gem to grow a tree inside of him. He now has eyebags with one of his eyes completely gouged out and replaced completely by an enlarged rose, the other eye instead of having diamonds has a hypnotic-type pattern in them with pulsing veins. his halo was still floating above his head, but is seemingly broken apart with multiple scars on his face, including one on his eye and a small tree branch growing out of his head. On his cheek, he has a flower pattern similar to the one of Shítǐ's mask.

As his attire remains the same, he acquired black boots with gray markings and two bandages tied onto his knees with a black cloak that is able to hide his face: His body is now covered in tree branches that are shown to still be growing inside of his with a sunflower belt around his waist and two claws, one made of dark magic and one made of fire.

## Personality

On the exterior, Crow is shown to be a keen, yet emotionless and calm individual, expressing a large desire and passion for archaeology and artifacts as he describes it as finding sources to another person or persons past: Crow is a very intelligent man as he was able to dig up relics from long ago with ease and was also able to identify where they're from easily, specifically the Demon Gems because of their power and way of communicating through glowing when another user or shard is nearby. He has mainly stated his occupation was an archaeologist, though he usually lied about this so he could gain the trust of others more easily by faking his emotions and genuineness. Regardless, Crow's many hobbies consist of collecting, having an odd obsession with finding relics from the past and re-identifying them.

Crow sees the gems as more unique than the rest of the artifacts he had researched on and has an interest in the phenomenon of the shard users and the intense magic of each gem to a point, where he had seen it as an obsession for him to find out what else they are capable of besides their powers. He is shown to be a collector of the gems and is naturally curious about their creation and origins along with other artifacts he had dug up from Azuren and other parts of the world. Crow has demonstrated to be very charming to those around him, as his mannerisms and interest in history seem to captivate the interests of others. His interest in the gems is so immense where he would study about their origins for hours to see how they came to be.

Like when he was a child, Crow can be described as somewhat introverted, staying quiet after only saying a few sentences but only talks if it is something he preferably enjoys doing, such as archaeology and collecting items from the past: He is seen as an oddity because of his behavior and off-standish persona he puts on to those around him, but over time he opens up and begins to socialize with those around him. It is noted that Crow is in some way apathetic, never showing emotions to those around him and seems discontented whenever he tries to talk about something different besides history and archaeology, easily getting bored after trying to talk about something different.

Despite him seeming unassuming on the surface, Crow is shown to be a power hungry and greedy individual, murdering shard users and taking their shards for the main motive of becoming more superior than his twin brother. He has demonstrated to be extremely manipulative and deceptive, being able to hide his true self underneath a kind, charming facade he manages to wear in order to gain the trust of others, seen when he manages to trick Locaster into thinking he was an archaeologist. Being a shard thief, Crow is a crude and boastful man, playfully taunting Locaster about all the shard users he killed and boasting about his power, possessing around twenty five shards at the time and bragging about his crimes to Team Strelitzia. Crow displays moments of bitterness, seeing Locaster as his brother whenever he was around his companions and demonstrated an immense amount of envy.

Crow has also demonstrated to be driven by envy, always being in his older brother's shadow and strives to be at an acme that makes him more superior than the rest after being emotionally neglected. His obsession with power has demonstrated to be unhealthy, going as far into killing most of the remaining shard users in order to gain more of what he desires, power and superiority among the rest. He has also proved to be an exceptional manipulator and trickster, crafting a fake persona in order to trick shard users so he could murder them solely for their shard, even fooling Locaster into thinking he was an ordinary shard user and nearly convincing Veena to assist in picking berries in a deep section of the forest. With his deception, his choice of words have proven to be meticulous, yet arbitrarily harsh; He has shown to been using profanity and calling many of the group members insensitive names, as shown when he calls Locaster weak and taunting him for losing his wings to a "measly soldier," referring to the events where Akuji had ripped his wings off.

Crow proves to be emotionally stunted, not being able to control his emotions properly, let alone start up a normal conversation with others as a result of being neglected and not given attention by his parents: His insecurities are shown when pointed out by Ashton when he attempts to calm him down, though he lashes out on him and nearly claws his right eye out of anger. Because of being isolated, Crow has little to no sense of right and wrong, shown when he killed shard users in cold blood and does it merely to gain all the shards and magic he could get his hands on: Because his parents never considered him as their son, he adapted to his belief of unlimited freedom and abuses it by taking advantage of others emotionally. Additionally, Crow is boastful, often flaunting his powers and mocking Nabi for not utilizing her powers correctly and attempting to disprove Locaster by taunting him.

## Abilities

**Overall Abilities:** Even though Crow had lost his abilities as an angel, he has demonstrated to be a very dangerous shard user. At his peak of being a shard thief, he possessed over thirty shards and was able to control all of them without difficulty, let alone killing the users that once possessed these shards. He was able to use a murder book to locate each user and murder them without anyone figuring out who had killed them. With his murder skills, he is also a very deceptive individual because of his looks and specie. Crow has demonstrated to be a prodigious fighter and always had a natural aptitude for combat after he discovered the power of the Demon Gems. His abilities are utilized to an extent where he was able to outsmart the Founding Demons Damion and Kahori during his time attempting to kill Locaster's group.

**Enhanced Speed & Reflexes:** Crow is naturally a very fast individual, being able to keep up with one or more people at a time without ever getting tired. His speed is on par with both Locaster's and Shay's speed. He is described as been fast enough to disappear in the blink of an eye and was able to keep up with even the most fastest shard users. He had managed to out-pace both Shay and Damion, both who are in the military field and had a chance at killing Locaster. Combined with his deal with Shítǐ, his speed levels increase drastically and manages to outrun both Hideko and Ashton during their fight in the Nagano mountain, the nautral borders between Misterin and Elveria. Though, his speed is ultimately hindered due to his time in the Fallen Gates and not having his wings because of them getting removed during his trial, causing some of his natural abilities to decrease.

**Enhanced Strength:** As a shard user who has murdered many individuals, Crow harbors an immense amount of strength. This was shown when he had managed to drag Yukari down a cliff even though he was hanging off of it with one hand. His strength is further proven when he was able to pick up a large sledge hammer and being able to run and swing at Locaster with ease. He was also able to go head on with Damion, who was both a former Founding Demon and Lieutenant Colonel. He had also managed to make Damion faint due to the moon mist he had summoned.

**Enhanced Stamina & Endurance:** As a fallen angel, Crow has a high level of both stamina and endurance, being able to survive getting shot or nearly killed by Locaster and his group. This is seen when he first comes back with his new and more grotesque appearance, bantering how he was able to survive on his own despite not having any of the shards, and was able to survive Hideko's gunshot to the head.

**Enhanced Regeneration:** After doing a deal with Shítǐ to grant him some of his powers, Crow gains the ability of enhanced regeneration, immediately growing back his arm after Ashton had sliced it off with his sword and regrowing partial of his head after Damion had kicked him the head hard enough to send his head flying. His regeneration is on par with Damion's, who is a Founding Demon with the most enhanced regeneration skills out of all of the group members.

**Tactical Intellect:** As a prince who was educated by many tutors and educating himself, Crow is an exceptionally clever individual, sharing an extended knowledge about the demon gems and the founding demons, along with correctly guessing Shizuka and Hideko's demon specie. He utilizes his intelligence in many different ways, as seen with his deception skills and plans to murder the users. He has also shown to take a special interest in science and managed to mix all of his shard powers at once without facing any side effects or repercussions.

## Magic Abilities

**Chlorokinesis:** Formerly possessing five flower shards, Crow has demonstrated to have had the ability of chlorokinesis. He was able to send large blasts of flowers effortlessly and is able to grow any plant he pleases. He also uses this ability by combusting users into trees in order to take their shards as a more quicker and easier method, along with having a deep sentimental connection to wildlife.

**Spirit Magic:** As seen briefly, Crow had the ability to manipulate spirit magic because of him possessing five spirit shards in the past. This is seen after he drags Yukari off a cliff, he immediately turns into a spirit to avoid death, subsequently getting away with her murder. During his return and attempting to take Windflower's shard, he uses the spirit tentacles to nearly grab onto her neck to steal it after targeting her shard and the other users within Team Strelitzia.

**Umbrakinesis:** When Crow once possessed five shadow shards, they granted him the powers of advanced umbrakinesis and is capable of manipulating large bodies of dark magic with no issue. Mixed with his own natural abilities, he was able to advance his magic further to combat Crimson's prime shadow demon powers, leaving him in a state of shock. He utilizes his umbrakinesis by using the vines the shards gave him to murder other shard users in order to take their shards and add them to his collection.

**Telekinesis:** Crow had once possessed five control shards, which allowed him to have enhanced telekinesis. He was seen using this once on Soul as he suffocated him in order to take the fire shard off of his neck and attempted to gain control over Locaster in order to take a control shard he had stolen from Shizuka, though he was stopped by Locaster due to his resistance to the control gems abilities.

**Mist Manipulation:** As a former possessor of five mist shards, Crow was able to manipulate the mist around him to utilize it in vanishing acts and manipulate its temperature, demonstrated when Crow used hot mist to supply a furnace while Akuma and him were in hiding.

**Insect Manipulation:** Crow had the ability to manipulate insects when he had five insect shards, being capable of summoning and communicating with them