I am the Kage-taro. Shadow Prince.
I will not be defeated!
In that moment, Ryuichi learned something important about himself. He’d never once struggled to learn because he was stupid. Or slow. Or unworthy.
He’d struggled because he’d called himself all those things. It had nothing to do with the bullies in his life or their insults.
It was his own willingness to believe in their insults. To make those things real that had kept him downtrodden. He was not any one single thing.
He was the sum of all the parts of himself that made him Ryuichi. The Kage-taro.
I am my mother’s son too.
Guardian of the Gates. There wasn’t anyone else in the entire world who could do what he did.
Not even his father. Not even with all the powers and strength his father had.
He was no match for Ryuichi.
I am not insignificant!
Without the lies clouding his vision, he saw clearer than he ever had before.
For the first time ever, he saw himself, and not the darkness he’d believed to be true.
Even as his father used shadow magic and tricks to clog Ryuichi’s vision, he saw his true worth.
His real heart.
What he’d feared was merely a reflection of his own soul. A glimpse in the mirror of his own heart.
He’d looked into the abyss, and the abyss had claimed him.
Rather than run or repel it, he embraced that darkness because he knew one truth. Only a soul in disharmony would fail.
With he and his shadow on the same side, working together, no one could stand against him. Not even his father, and all the powers and demented magic he wielded.
Ryuichi was the master now.
And his father knew it too. “I’m impressed, boy. I wonder what else you can do.”
Ryuichi readied another blow. “Me too. Let’s find out together, shall we?”
This time, he went for his father’s legs. If he could keep him from running away, then he’d have a chance to strike his evil heart and save the world.
But you’ll kill your father.
That was wrong and dishonorable. Family was family, even when they were bad.
Masaru growled at him. “You have no choice. Either you eat the dragon, or the dragon eats you.”
He was right, and he knew it, so Ryuichi attacked and kept his blows going.
Still, his father fought. Tirelessly. Fearlessly.
Scarily.
Do not falter!
