Shiki (Black Cat)


 * This article is about the Black Cat villain. For the One Piece villain, see Shiki the Golden Lion

Shiki is a major antagonist of the manga Black Cat and its anime adaptation. She is one of the few surviving Tao Masters from the "other continent" of Yamto, who master the mystical art of the Tao. Shiki, along with her friend and fellow Tao Master Maro want to spread the use of Tao in the entire world. Two years before the start of the series, they contacted the swordsman Creed Diskenth and helped him to create the secret organization called the Apostles of the Star. Shiki is the second-in-command of the Apostles of the Star and one of Creed's closest advisors but she ultimately learns that Creed and her doesn't have the same goals in mind.

It must be noted that Shiki is a woman in the original japanese manga but that she is a man in several occidental translations as well as in the anime adaptation. This may be due to the fact that her true gender remains unknown until she takes of her mask, and even with her mask off, her face remains somewhat androgynous.

Background
Shiki was born in the "other continent" of Yamto, a faraway and mysterious island inhabited by Taoists, who mastered the mystical art of Tao, which consists in mastering the ki (life energy) to use special powers and spells. Shiki was part of the main Taoist clan, which was somehow involved with Chronos, a powerful secret organization which controls one third of the word's economy and politic. The exact relationship between Chronos and the clan of Taoists are unknown but 25 years before the start of the series, a war broke out between the two factions. Apparently, the Tao Masters wanted to overthrow Chronos and rule the world with the power of Tao but this was never fully explained.

Chronos sent out all his assassins in this war, including the thirteen Chrono Mumbers, the world's strongest fighters. After an entire month of fights, the Taoists were nearly wiped out and only three Chrono Nubers were left. Shiki was too young to take part in this war, something she ressents strongly. Agravated by the Taoists' defeat, Shiki swore to make the entire world recognize the strenght of the Tao. She underwent an extremely arduous training in order to master her own power of Tao and all the Taoists' techniques and knowledge to the point of perfection.

Shiki and Maro wandered around the world looking for a way to fulfil their goal until two years before the start of the series where they met Creed Diskenth, a renegade assassin from Chronos. Shiki revealed Creed's own power of Tao and they offered their support to the demented swordsman, helping him to create the Apostles of the Star. Their ultimate goal was to destroy Chronos and to take over the world, so that they could reshape it following their ideals. For unknown reasons, Shiki and Maro accepted to follow Creed's orders, with Shiki serving as Creed's right-hand-woman and as the second-in-command of the Apostles of the Star.

Personality
Shiki is calm, observant, calculating and slighlty sarcastic. She is very prideful and considers herself to be the heir of the Tao. She is also very proud of her status as a Tao Master and her mastery of all the arcanes of Tao, and given her level of power she has every right to be. She considers the Tao to be the most powerful technique in existence, superior to any other fighting style, and as such she considers the Tao-wielders as superior to any other warrior. Because of this she harbors great contempt for her own clan, believing that they tarnished the pride of their ancestors by losing to the Chrono Numbers, and for her opponents in a general way. However she is far from arrogant or delusional. She is rather good in analizing the situation she is in, she acknowledges any fighter to his rightful worth and she can recognize a danger when she sees one. Even if she do consider herself able to overcome it.

Shiki devoted her entire life to the Taoism and for her, spreading its use over the world is more of a reason to live than a mere goal. She has a strong sense of duty and honor, leading her to resent Creed upon learning that he simply consider the Tao and the Apostles as mere tools. Despite this she remains devoted to the Apostles of the Star and to her cause, but when she is defeated by Train Heartnet, she admits defeat and gives him advices, in gratitude for the respect he displayed.

Powers and Abilities
''"And you will know... that you and your powers before a true user of Tao... Are just like the dust that litters the ground!" ''-Shiki (to Train and River)

Shiki is an extremely powerful Taoist. When she releases her full power, only the primary protagonist Train Heartnet surpasses her, and only Creed at Level 3 and the Chrono Number I Sephiria Arks can rival her might. She wears a turban-like mask soaked with a special potion that considerably restrains her ki. This enabled her to control her power without wasting her ki and thus, her power increased over the years. The more she unveils her face, the more ki she releases and the stronger she becomes. Even with her mask on she is already powerful enough to surpass any other Tao Wielder, with the exceptions of Creed, Doctor and Maro.

Aside from her powers, Shiki is an adept fighter able to move quickly enough to dodge bullets. She masters her ki to the point of being not only able to feel other's ki and to increase her own strenght, but also to detect a dormant power of Tao in someone. She is the only one able to brew special potions, including the Shinkito (Spirit Drink) which reveals someone's power, and the potion which soak her mask.

Insects
Shiki's own power of Tao is called "Insect." She can materialize her ki to create insects with a life of their own that she telepatically controls. Every kind of insect she creates has different abilities and different purposes. Shiki's known insects are:

- Flying insects which serve as spies and which channel anything they see into a crystal ball, enabling her to keep an eye wherever her insects are patrolling.

- "Puppet Bees" whose venom enables Shiki to take control of anyone they sting. Shiki mostly uses this insect to control her victims' body while they remain conscious, but she can turn her victims into mindless robots who will do nothing but obey her commands, even if it means killing or maiming someone. Apparently, those whom she controls to this point cannot feel pain.

- Blue Moths which can secrete a powder enabling those who inhale it to no longer feel pain.

- Swarms of flying insects which she either launches at her enemies or surrounds herself with, in order ot fly at high speeds.

- Huge and powerful insects with sharp claws and fangs, which she uses as weapons and which she often rides in battle. These insects usually look like giant, mutated butterflies, mosquitos, wasps or caterpillars. Shiki can also uses these insects to bind her enemies and neutralize them, which she often does in the anime.

- Flying Blade Insect : The strongest insect that Shiki can create with her mask on. This huge mosquito-like monster can fly at incredible speeds and his stinger his sharp enough to slice a well built body in two without hitting its target full-on. When it charges at full speed it can even slice metal. The insect's body is hard as steel and as such it can uses its wings like a shield. By spinning around quicky, it can even deflect projectiles like bullets from a machine gun and possibly grenades.

When she removes her mask, Shiki releases her full might and her ki becomes so powerful that even those without a power of Tao can feel it. She can now create much more powerful and dangerous insects. She creates only one insect with her power at its maximum but it's worth a hundred of Flying Blade Insects. Moreover Shiki is now able to resurect the insects she created even if their body is completely broken. The insects are linked to Shiki's mind and as long as Shiki is conscious, they will regenerate themselves without end, meaning that knocking Shiki out is the only way to fully destroy them. Even worse Shiki can increase her insect's (already high) powers, making them much bigger and stronger without decreasing their speed as much as one woul have thought.

Setsuki
Shiki's most perfect creation. Setsuki, the Demon Insect of War is an highly powerful, humanoid hopper-like insect who somehow looks like Cell's first form from Dragon Ball. He is fully sentient, he has human-level intelligence, he can talk and he is blindly devoted to Shiki. Setsuki is incredibly strong, fast, and proficient in hand-to-hand combat, having fighting skills which rival that of a Chrono Number, no less. He can stop bullets with his fingers in a matter of seconds and he is not above using dirty tricks. Setsuki has an enhanced perception of his surrounding that enables him to counter stealthy attacks from behind. He can also fly with his wings, though he is never seen doing so and he can use his tail-like stinger like a piercing weapon. Setsuki's most powerful attack is called the "Screaming Laser," he open his "mouth" and emits a supersonic scream, before firing a laser-like beam of high-pitched soud waves, that can cut through nearly everything.

Fuda techniques
Aside from her power of Tao, Shiki masters the Tao-based art of Fudas. (Pieces of papers with an incantation written on it.) By channeling her ki through the Fuda she can cast a spell. Shiki is only seen using Fudas with her mask of. (Aside from the anime, where she only uses it to summon her strongest insects.) She may be able to use Fuda to cast regular spells but she only uses it to fight.

Shiki can throw Fudas which cause a huge explosion whenever they touch something or someone, even when they are hit by bullets, meaning that they cannot be blocked. She was seen sending many of them one after another, to overwhelm her foes. Shiki can also use her Fudas to fire powerful beams of pure ki (including the fearsome Spirit Cannon: a star-shaped, five Fuda formation which hurls a gigantic beam of ki) or to create a spherical shield of ki around her.

Moreover, Shiki can shape several dozens of Fuda into a "magical" sword which she wields with great proficiency, being able to unleash a barrage of fast and strong sword strikes. She can channel her ki to the sword to unleash higly powerful fire-based attacks, including "Hellfire" a gigantic and devastating fireball and her strongest attack "Homura no Orochi" the Scorching Serpent: a gargantuarian, dragon-like snake of fire which attacks as if it were alive.

Role in the Manga
"The warriors that Creed has assembled are among the very best, elite even among the elite. And with the addition of our Tao abilities, we should have more than enough power for our revolution." - Shiki

Shiki first appears alongside Creed Diskenth, after the primary protagonists Train Heartnet a d Sven Vollfield have defeated the weapon dealer Torneo Rudman and rescued the young nanomachines-infused girl named Eve. Shiki uses her Puppet Bees to force the policemen in charge of Torneo to shoot him, as he was of no longer use for the Apostles of the Star. Shiki then follows Train and his friend to the city of Elcida, where she uses her Puppet Bees once again to make people attack him. Train deduces that she is using Tao and manages to find her location. Shiki then tells him that Creed wants to meet him atop the Lunafort Tower.

Later, Shiki is present during the meeting between Creed and Train and she watches over Creed's hostage, the thief-for-hire and friend of Train Rinslet Walker. After Train manages to defeat Creed, Shiki uses her Blue Moth to erase the pain and calls forth all the Apostles of the Star. During Creed's coma, Shiki keeps monitoring the Apostles' actions.

When the Apostles of the Star reveal themselves to the entire world by slaughtering anyone in the World Conference, Shiki simply kills some soldiers, confident that Creed would manage to reach the world's leaders on his own. Shiki is also the one who gathers all the Apostle when Durham returns, after having been defeated by Train. She berates Durham and demands why did he vanished but he refuses to tell until Creed himself asks him. After Creed kills Durham, Shiki asks him if he plans to recruit a new Tao-wielder and what would be his next move.

Shiki spots Rinslet Walker in Stoke Town, prompting Creed to bring her into his castle, suspecting that Rinslet was a bait used by Chronos. When the Chrono Numbers V, VII and XI storm into the castle, Shiki watches the fight with great expectations, as it would be a confrontation between the Tao and the world's strongest warriors, but the Numbers manage to escape the fight. Irked, Shiki prepares to kill them on her own before they reach Creed, but the demented anarchist tells her that he already prepared an experiment with nanomachines to get rid of them. Shiki is very displeased to learn that not only Creed wasn't relying only on the Tao, but that he never told her anything about his experiences on the nanomachines. This dismay soon turns to outright anger when she witnesses the depth of Creed's obsession towards Train Heartnet. She angrily berates Creed and tell him to realize once and for all that Train would never join him, only to be silenced. Shiki is later seen demanding explaination to Doctor, as the Apostles are leaving the castle, which is about to be blown up ... another thing that Creed didn't tell her.