Ren Kurogane

**Ren Kurogane** (廉黒金) is a Minor Antagonist of ***Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Eight Souls Sword Dance*** Fanon Canon/light novel series. He is the Patriarch of the Kurogane Family, the 2nd ruling family of Japan and the League of Mage-Knights. He is a graduate of Tonrou Academy and is known as the Emperor of Darkness.

## Backstory

Born into the Kurogane family, he spent several years as a powerful magical knight and became the top ranked of his academy, Many years of his youth was spent training and advancing his power as a Knight, developing into his true strength as the Patriarch of the Kurogane family. Following this, in his Later years (His early twenties) He met a kind woman named Inori and fell for her, the two eventually married and had children, Naming them Shu, Haise, and Seito though when Haise turned 8 he was sent away due to what his father viewed as an inability to act as a Blazer because of his F Rank Status, this was given support by his wife though neither of them did it out of disdain but worry about his future if he followed the path of a knight. This was difficult for them, though viewed as necessary. Following their later years, Ren saw Haise’s name and was shocked to see his former son trying to become a magical knight. This caused him to push the School he went to (Hagun Academy) to try and fail him, having them do everything they could without breaking the rules and removing him outright as despite his Low Prana, he was undeniably a Blazer. Following his sons acceptance by both of the headmasters, he continued pushing on them though only the first headmaster did as he was requested, this was different for the new headmaster, offering the Kurogane boy a deal which his father didn’t like but ultimately didn’t object to as he was sure that his son would fail to become any sword king.

## Personality

A man believing greatly in the system of magical knights and their ranking, he carries great respect for those born with power and wishes for those born without to follow how the system is set to not create discourse doing what he can to take low rank knights and push those who don't follow the system down, forcing them into the what he views as their place (even his second son) and due to his clout can make it seem to be the right thing, attempting to make F Rank Knights live as normal people. He uses his status to do whatever possible to help maintain the Blazer system however this is not done from Evil. As Blazers are typically duel incredibly strong individuals, he views those born without power as possible victims to the strength of those born with it and because of this, he tries to take those without power and force them into the life of a normal person.

Because of this he was willing to ruin his son's (Haise) life and leave him in an orphanage. Even after learning that his son learned of his Blazer heritage, he continued working from the shadows in an attempt to force him into giving up his dream although this backfired and ultimately pushed Haise to greater Heights of strength, viewing his forgotten son as someone who shouldn't fight fate as he could inspire similarly powerless blazers into forging onward without power, thus leading to their death.

His methods have consistently put him at odds with his removed son, causing him to create animosity between them to the point Haise has declared his intent to defeat them and prove how wrong they are, his intent has driven away all of his children, with only his wife understanding his reasoning.

## Appearance

Despite Nearing 50, Ren is incredibly young looking for his age, being able to pass for a man in his mid thirties. Like his children, He has Jet Black hair but without any color to his eyes, with their brown hue easily mistaken for black. He stands taller than all of his sons, standing at over 6 feet tall. Much like his first son, he wears his hair in an unkempt manner as his work stops him from giving him much time to care about such things. Unlike his family, he's taken up a habit of smoking but restrains it to when he's alone.

## Abilities

Ren is an incredibly talented magical knight, having over 30 years of experience, he's developed quite efficiently through both failure and success into an immensely powerful knight, able to duel the best of the best and win more times than not. Even in his Youth, he was a prodigy blazer, earning the top spot of Tonrou.

### Swordsmanship

Like his sons, he's a highly skilled swordsman, using the same style as his first son, The Kurogane sword style "Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu" (旭日一心流, lit. *Rising Sun Unification Style*) which was passed down over the years from the days of Samurai. Unlike his son who uses it for raw power and speed, Ren uses it in a far more controlled and swift manner, to the point of his blade seeming to disappear due to his level of mastery.

### Personal Spiritual Armament

"Higure, Drown this world in Darkness" —Ren Kurogane's Words of Power.

Ren wields a Straight Chokuto, at 103 cm / 40.6 Inch (Blade Length: 70 cm / 27.6 Inch) with a jet black, wooden handle and wooden sheath with no guard, he commonly wields this one handed with his other hand carrying the sheath.

## Magic

Ren wields an incredibly powerful ability, Conceptual Manipulation **Darkness**. Due to this power, he can manipulate shadows and drown out light with ease. He can see in the dark as well as hide in shadows that exist though he cannot travel through them. A unique effect he's created with his level of skill over his power is that he's able drain prana from his opponents who make contact with his shadows or if used, can even absorb Noble Arts and completely rob them of Prana. If left long enough, they will lose all of their prana and be set at the level of an ordinary human, the Shadows, alongside Draining Prana can also drain Stamina if applied to his Device, allowing him to drain the stamina from a person through his strikes alongside damaging them.

## Noble Phantasm

Ren has been seen using only one Noble Phantasm and it's been a consistently used one by him, however due to its versatility and the level of skill it posses, he's able to get by with his Single Noble Art dubbed by him Kage Kōtei.