John Crassman
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| Black Legion Inner Shadow Rank 5 "The Reaper" | |
| John Crassman "The God Reaper" | |
| Player: Darwin | |
| Basic Data | |
| Class Focus: | Godkiller Shadow Lord (Senkaku) Earth God (Shakujin) |
|---|---|
| R & D: | N/A |
| Level: | Elite Tier SS~ Rank (Inner Shadow, Current) High Tier SS~ Rank (During first battle against Loyce's Demon Lords) SS~ Rank (With Senkaku and Shakujin) Elite Tier SS Rank (As Outer Shadow Reaper) |
| Occupation: | Inner Shadow (Formerly) Outer Shadow (Formerly) UNITY Superhero (Formerly) Student (Formerly) |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | John Crassman |
| Known Aliases: | Inner Shadow Reaper, Inner Shadow Crassman, Johnny Crassman (By Tina and Taylor Hunt), The God Reaper |
| Identity: | Secret |
| Species: | Dogma Contracted Human Earth God (Dogma Bargain) |
| Age: | 52 |
| Height: | 198 cm |
| Weight: | 236 lb |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Grey |
| Blood Type: | Unknown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Birthplace: | Detroit |
| Birthdate: | Unknown |
| Nationality: | Unknown |
| Current Residence: | Trion, Gasket's World (Current) John's Barracks (Formerly) |
| Religion/Faith: | Christian |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Engaged |
| Known Languages | |
| Unknown | |
| Known Relatives | |
| Taylor Hunt (Wife) Tina Hunt (Sister in Law / Outer Shadow / Auxiliary Shadow) | |
| Known Powers | |
| Immense Physical Prowess, Immense Chakra Reserves, Dogma of Equivalent Exchange: Level 1 Senkaku (Advanced), Level 2 Shakujin (Advanced) | |
| Training / Abilities | |
| Limit Breaking Physical Condition, Master Combatant, Advanced Chakra/Ki Mastery | |
| Equipment | |
| Collapsible Polearm, Reaper's Scythe | |
| Footnotes | |
| John Crassman is a character in Darwin's Great Akuma Universe | |
"In the face of overwhelming power, the power to bend reality and the narrative of this world, the most important thing is to stay true to oneself. To stay true to your character. A Reality Anchor is only sufficient in resisting its effects, but it will be not enough to fight against a being who weaponizes reality warping to a monstrous level like Loyce. To fight on equal grounds with a reality warper, you need to wield yourself."
- John Crassman on the fundamentals of his chakra techniques
Inner Shadow Reaper, born John Crassman, was an immensely powerful Inner Shadow serving The Black Legion Organization, and is a major supporting character during the events of Beyond the Gods.
According to the Dogma of Equivalent Exchange, John is said to be the "strongest man of the human race" due to the sheer magnitude of accomplishments he had achieved even before accepting the Dogma's Bargains for The Great Akuma's power. Later on, in an attempt to increase his battle power and save Taylor Hunt's fate, an Outer Shadow John Crassman obtained two levels of the Great Akuma: Level 1 Senkaku, the Lord of Shadows and Level 2 Shakujin, making him a Shadow Lord and Earth God, unknowingly at the sacrifice of all his Auxiliary Shadows including his lover's sister, Tina "Terra" Hunt. However, despite possessing the power of the Shakujin, as a result of the Earth God being Level 2 and not Level 1, John cannot access the higher Stages of the Dogma Bargain, resulting in his Bargain not being an Akuma Grade like his fellow Inner Shadows even after becoming an Inner Shadow himself.
Throughout the story, it is revealed that John, like Aaron, was an infamous SS Ranked Outer Shadow who had amassed a terrifying reputation for killing deities despite being human, making him one of the oldest SS Ranked Outer Shadow legends even before Dainsleif's service to the Black Legion. Known by many as the feared God Reaper, John was also revealed to be the first Outer Shadow in the history of The Black Legion Organization to defeat an Inner Shadow, and consequently, the first human to be granted the title of Inner Shadow through a trial of combat. The Inner Shadow that Crassman had defeated would be none other than Avara, the Goddess of Fertility, leading to the events of He Kills Gods as a Man and the birth of The God Eater.
After his final battle against Loyce Hal, in which the Inner Shadow crippled the Demon King and reduced his overall power by 33%, John retired from his duties as an Inner Shadow due to his extensive injuries. However, Crassman remains temporarily stationed in Trion to keep the people of the Champions Universe safe from the Vessels of Vala.
Appearance
"The two of us sat across from each other at a table. A waitress nervously served us two cups of tea. I recognized this woman; she was always upbeat and smiling no matter the customer when Sarah and I used to visit her shop.
But the moment she made eye contact with Inner Shadow Reaper, her face turned pale, and all of her movements became laced with indecision and panic."
- From Inner Shadow Reaper, Beyond the Gods
Crassman is depicted to be a very tall, muscular, and commanding man in his older years, with scruffles and a military hairstyle. When unkempt, his hair is seen to be spiky, however, in more formal settings, his hair is slicked back. John also possesses ice-blue eyes. In combat, John frequently dons a black robe or coat of varying designs depending on his environment, and black combat gear underneath. Additionally, John is also seen wielding a black scythe that takes on a myriad of physical forms, due to its response to the Inner Shadow's chakra aura affecting the molecular bonds of the weapon.
It is said that even when outside of combat, the Inner Shadow emits an overwhelming aura so powerful that even conventional natural occurrences tend to "avoid" his presence. As shown when Reaper sat with Dainsleif in Trion, where the trails of steam from a cup of tea avoided John, it is believed that the Inner Shadow's abundance of death chakra is so intimidating that it affects even the order of the world. When being served tea by a waitress, Aaron Hope commented how the waitress who had been known for her bubbly and charismatic personality seemingly appeared visibly distraught by Crassman's intimidation.
WIP
Personality
John is shown to be a very composed, stoic, mature, and hardened middle-aged man, reinforced by many years of experience both on the battlefield as well as in life. As an Inner Shadow of the Black Legion Organization, Crassman also exhibits a very strong sense of duty and responsibility for his subordinate Outer Shadows, valuing each member and demonstrating the degree to which he cares for those under his chain of command. As a result of his experience, John had also taken a form of mentorship role toward Aaron Hope and Sarah Ultear, teaching the two his chakra techniques. When Aaron had become overwhelmed by the attack of Vala's Vessels on Inner Shadow Gasket's world, John offered his help while also providing guidance to the Outer Shadow.
Contrary to his intimidating aura and appearance, John is surprisingly kind and patient. This is especially so when he is with his wife, Taylor Hunt, to which many who knew the couple commented on John's affectionate side as a husband. Even after the events of his encounter with Loyce Hal, John's fatherly instincts never left the Inner Shadow. As was shown when the Inner Shadow interacted with one of the waitresses in Trion, John remarked that her clumsiness had reminded him of his wife and that Taylor would have wanted their daughter to be just as "innocent and adorable".
Powers and Abilities
- John destroys Loyce's Subordinate Demon Lord Armies
"Flip a coin and I can make it land on heads every time. Tell me to grasp a pound of fire in the palm of my hand, and I can will it to be so. But even I couldn't make Crassman fall in battle through my subordinate Demon Lords. For he had destroyed not one, not two, but forty-seven thousand of my Demon Lord armies in the span of six days. No Hero in my eons of conquering worlds has ever accomplished such a ridiculous feat of strength."
- Loyce on John's immense physical prowess
John "Reaper" Crassman, as expected of an Inner Shadow to the Black Legion Organization, is among one of the strongest entities to ever exist in The Great Akuma Continuity. Considered the forefront of the battle power of the Organization, John displays an immensely daunting combat prowess that has eclipsed many of the top enemies encountered throughout the story by several orders of magnitude. The greatest testament to Crassman's power was shown in Beyond the Gods, where John singlehandedly held his own against multiple Vessels of Vala including Jekyll, Loki, Sarina Ultear, Guardian, and Space Marine Achilles of Thetis, even gaining the upper hand until the intervention of June Lucia. One Vessel alone was strong enough to completely overpower Aaron Hope even with the assistance of his subordinate Auxiliary Shadows. Throughout the climax of the story, John was able to hold his own against the likes of Great Demon Lord Loyce Hal, even managing to injure and reduce the Ultimate Primordial Demon's battle power by 33% to allow Aaron and his forces to stand a better chance against the esoteric entity.
John is rated Elite Tier SS~ Rank, putting him at a level of prowess far surpassing the Vessels of Vala and even the members of The Dark Hexagram. According to Inner Shadow Gasket, John's perceived strength could theoretically do battle against all six SS Ranked Outer Shadows including fabled Aaron "The God Eater" Hope and Great Demon Lord Kon Larum and come out victorious.
The strength John boasts is extremely overwhelming, such to the point where he can set off instinctual predatory defensive mechanisms in most living beings. When battling Loyce's forces, many of the armies of Loyce's subordinate Demon Lords instinctively avoided Reaper, even those who did not hone their sensory abilities to detect danger. Upon drawing out more of his combat power, the sheer presence of Inner Shadow Reaper was enough to completely cripple and defeat an entire horde of Demons.
"This guy was so terrifying that even bullets didn't want to go near his aura!
How broken was this dude?!"
- Aaron Hope on John's reality-breaking abilities, from Ultimate Divine Demon Lord, He Saves Gods as a Man
Immeasurable Chakra Reserves: John Crassman is considered by many a grandmaster-level chakra practitioner and is the greatest chakra user of all time. The degree to which Crassman can wield his gargantuan chakra reserves has given him a terrifying reputation that is supplemented by the scale of his accomplishments. According to Inner Shadow Gasket, the chakra that Crassman wields has allowed him to ascend to the level of esoterics, allowing the Inner Shadow to step into the realm of causality, influencing the order of the world through the sheer power of his chakra-enhanced strikes.
- Final Circle Style: A unique martial arts technique honed by Crassman back when he was an Outer Shadow to fight on par with Inner Shadow Avara. The style is optimized to integrate John's Aura of Death, and makes use of scythes to deliver devastating arcs of destruction. In its early stages, the style was capable of fighting and holding its own against an Inner Shadow despite Crassman still being an Outer Shadow. After many years of refinement, the Final Circle Style cemented as one of the most terrifying styles in the Black Legion Organization as it targets an opponent's soul and existence. Though not exactly an Anti-Narrative, Outer Shadow Dainsleif compared the style to be similar to the esoteric power in that direct strikes could lead to narrative deresolution due to its destructive nature.
- Strike True: As a result of the style making use of Reaper's Chakra, John's strikes can bypass causality, allowing them to deal damage even if the strikes do not land on their target. When John battled Loyce Hal, the Demon Lord displayed speed that far surpassed the Inner Shadow, however, still took damage from John's slashes despite dodging his attacks.
- Judgement and Penance: John assumes a defensive stance and overloads his body with Death Chakra. Doing so causes all life to be siphoned away, entering John's body in a manner similar to osmosis. This technique makes use of the world's nature to fill any "voids" of life energy by redirecting the life energy of any living being. By influencing the reality of the world through his chakra, John can bypass any higher rules that attempt to make a subject exempt from this phenomenon, as shown when Inner Shadow Avara attempted to use her status as a Life and Fertility Goddess to bypass the chakra redirection. When the technique was first used, John's appearance took on the form of a skeleton, implying that Judgement and Penance was a self-destructive technique. However, after being refined for many years and used again against Inner Shadow Empire, John's appearance took on the form of an angel, indicating that John had found a way to remove the self-destructive properties of the technique.
- Shadow Guillotine: John slows his opponent down by influencing both the spatial reality as well as his opponent's motor functions using a chakra wave, then proceeds to channel a surge of chakra into his opponent's nervous system by making contact with their chin. Doing so releases an enormous amount of pressure which implodes all existing vessels and biological systems in his target, essentially decapitating them.
- Sunsplitter: John unleashes a devastating arc with his scythe, disintegrating his opponent through sheer concussive chakra. The move, when paired with Strike True, deals tremendous amounts of damage to his target, however will consume a significant amount of chakra. The arc is said to be so powerful that it is capable of destroying entire planets and stars, something that Crassman had originally developed the move for.
- Intimidation: As a result of the nature of Crassman's chakra, the Inner Shadow passively emits an overwhelming wave of chakra to his surroundings that causes many to lose their will to fight, or dampen their ability to concentrate by being filled with a sense of fear. This power can lead to many of John's opponents being knocked unconscious without the Inner Shadow even taking action. The intimidation that John can emit is so frightening that it is said that even inanimate objects appear to "avoid" the Inner Shadow, as shown when Aaron Hope attempted to fire his MP7 at Crassman, only for the bullets to freeze in mid-air.
- Advanced Emission Chakra - The Aura of Death: As chakra is based solely on its user's life force, the power's nature is greatly influenced by the user's characteristics. In John's case, his chakra takes on the nature of Death in response to his guilt for killing Tina Hunt and his Auxiliary Shadows in exchange for Senkaku and the Shakujin. When channelling his chakra at higher intensities, the soul energy passively corrodes and overwhelms its targets by afflicting a sense of necrosis which withers at their lifeforce. Crassman's Aura of Death has been considered by many to be a notorious case of this, with many succumbing to his aura before the Inner Shadow even engages in battle. When John unleashed a part of his Aura at Aaron Hope and Sarah Ultear to test the two Shadows, the former seemingly froze in terror despite Ultear's life being in danger. Aaron would later admit that since the Aura's main target was Auxiliary Shadow Ultear, only a fraction of the Aura had been directed to him, which was enough to break the willpower of the Black Legion's strongest Outer Shadow.
"I narrowed my eyes, ripples of distortion were emanating from their clash.
No.
It wasn't just distortion...
Reality itself was being torn apart.
This was the power of a clash between two Inner Shadows."
- Aaron Hope on John's battle against Inner Shadow Empire, from The Sword and the Reaper, Beyond the Gods
Tremendous Strength: John's strength is daunting, as a result of his many years of chakra usage shattering the limits of his human body. During his battle against Avara as an Outer Shadow, Crassman displayed monumental strength by clashing with the godly being, who was strong enough to slice entire mountains in two with her swords. In his battle against Loyce Hal, in which the latter used Supercosmic Fire Magic, John's strength evolved to the point where he was capable of slicing Loyce's fireballs which were said to be "planet-sized". When the Inner Shadow clashed with Loyce, the strikes of his attacks, against the Ultimate Primordial Demon's own strikes emitted shockwaves which tore reality apart.
