Mantis

Mantis, known as the Black Tiger, is the former top student of the Demonic Faction Academy and an early rival of Raze Cromwell's companions. A covert operation associated with Amir and the Bonum Society transforms him into a Hybrid and leaves gaps in his memory. After surviving that scheme, he becomes Amir's student and a coalition fighter who returns for the final war in Alterian.

Biography

The Black Tiger

Mantis enters the story as the Demonic Faction Academy's celebrated top student, promoted through public challenges as a rival to the Dark Faction's rising names. He is proud, theatrical, and willing to manipulate demonstrations to build his reputation, but his speed and claw-based Qi are genuine. His defeat of weaker challengers and violent clash with Simyon establish him as a personal enemy as well as a symbol of Demonic Faction talent. (Chapters 182–191)

Their rivalry continues into the faction tournament, where Mantis again faces opponents connected to Raze. He fights with custom finger claws and a mobile, animal-like style, yet episodes of heart and bodily pain interrupt his performance. His memories of what was done to him remain unclear, showing that the physical change predates his conscious understanding of it. The acclaimed student is already being used by forces around the faction conflict before he can identify the full mechanism. (Chapters 546–678)

A body changed in Bonum's scheme

Before the tournament, unidentified people overpower Mantis's clan and do something to him that he cannot remember. Pain, memory gaps, and his shock when the beast form erupts show that he did not enter the event with informed control of the transformation. Amir watches for the change, Dame understands that placing another Hybrid in the event is part of the mission, and Bonum later acknowledges using Mantis to disrupt the faction alliance and create the appearance of a Dark Faction attack. The corpus does not show the procedure itself or identify the dimensional beast. (Chapters 655–692 and 782)

Mantis is left unconscious beside Raze after the tournament crisis, then wakes in Bonum's refuge without understanding who recovered him. He assumes that they are prisoners and joins an escape attempt rather than waiting for rescue. His changed body leaps farther and strikes harder than he intends even without much Qi, confirming an enduring Hybrid enhancement. He still refuses to be carried, attacking guards and contributing despite Raze's greater power. Once Amir and Bonum explain the refuge and their plan, his relationship with Raze shifts from rivalry toward pragmatic alliance. (Chapters 757 and 771–782)

Coalition warrior

Mantis cannot simply return to his old clan after being used in Bonum's disruption of the tournament, so he remains near the new Dark Faction order. He spends time with Amir, asks to learn from him, and joins the mixed group gathering around Raze. This choice gives the transformed fighter a place not defined by Murkel's experiment: former enemies such as Ricktor and Mada become coalition comrades rather than targets in an academy rivalry. (Chapters 798–1074)

In the war for Pagna, Mantis fights as one of the Demonic Faction's strongest former students and serves within Amir's broader coalition. His role is chiefly frontline support rather than political command. He accepts direction, participates in the army assembled against Alter and the Light Faction, and survives the conflict, demonstrating that his loyalty has moved from personal prestige toward the defense of a shared Pagna. (Chapters 1128–1274)

Reinforcement in Alterian

Mantis later crosses into Alterian with Pagna's reinforcements. The narrative explicitly identifies him as a former enemy now standing among the strongest Hybrids, and he applies that transformed body against Noble Land's golem defenses. His return confirms both survival and continued control of the Hybrid state; the supplied corpus does not establish his life after the final campaign in comparable detail. (Chapters 1721–1723)

Appearance and personality

As a student, Mantis has wild black hair parted to one side and wears his robe with one arm out, exposing half his upper body. A large black scar or scratch crosses his chest and gives rise to the name Black Tiger. He later fights with sharp black casings over his fingers. After the experiment his body is explicitly partly beast, but the corpus does not identify a single canonical beast species or provide a complete fixed-form description. (Chapters 184, 655, and 772)

Mantis begins as proud, provocative, and invested in reputation. He taunts Simyon and treats weaker challengers as material for a profitable show, yet he is also fiercely self-reliant. During the Bonum breakout he refuses a free ride and helps immediately, while his later acceptance of Amir's teaching shows pragmatic adaptability. His development is less a complete change of temperament than a redirection of competitiveness and independence toward allies he once opposed. (Chapters 184–191, 655, 772, and 1015)

Magic, cultivation, and abilities

Pagna cultivation and claw combat

Mantis is trained as an elite Demonic Faction Pagna student. He reinforces his body with Qi, uses rapid footwork and leaps, and channels cutting force through custom finger claws. Sweeps of the claws can project marks beyond direct contact, while his nimble changes of angle let him attack around conventional guards. Simyon's exceptional durability and Mantis's unexplained heart pain demonstrate early limits: repeated strikes may fail against a sufficiently hardened body, and exertion can trigger debilitating symptoms. (Chapters 184–191 and 655–678)

Hybrid body

Bonum's covert operation leaves Mantis partly beast and permanently enhances his physical performance, although the corpus does not show the conversion procedure. After waking, he crosses a room in a leap and slams down a guard with far more strength than intended while using little Qi. The transformed body reinforces speed, strength, senses, rapid healing, durability, and close-range attacks, and later lets him fight alongside Bonum Hybrids against magical constructs. Its exact beast source, energy requirements, and long-term costs are not fully explained. (Chapters 667–693, 771–782, and 1721–1723)

Mantis retains agency over ordinary movement and coalition combat after the initial disorientation, indicating that the Hybrid state does not leave him permanently feral or under Murkel's control. It also does not make him invulnerable: he can be rendered unconscious, stronger powers can overwhelm him, and the early pain suggests the transformation or its preceding procedure carried physical consequences. His latest demonstrated state is alive, controlled, and strong enough to help break Noble Land golems. (Chapters 692–755, 1128–1204, and 1721–1723)

Relationships

• Raze Cromwell: Mantis begins within the rival faction around Raze's group and later wakes beside him in Bonum. Their joint breakout establishes practical respect, and Mantis ultimately fights in Raze's coalition across both worlds.
• Amir: Amir monitors Mantis's forced emergence as a Hybrid as part of Bonum's tournament operation. After the breakout he explains the Society's role and later becomes Mantis's teacher and coalition leader, giving the displaced fighter a place in the reconstructed Dark Faction.
• Simyon: Simyon remembers Mantis as the opponent who once defeated and humiliated the group. Their tournament rematch tests Mantis's speed and claws against Simyon's developed durability.
• Ricktor and Mada: Former students from opposing faction circles become Mantis's comrades in the army assembled around Raze and Amir.

Items

• Finger claws: Sharp black casings fitted over Mantis's fingers support his cutting martial style. They are ordinary carried combat equipment in the available evidence, not the source of his later Hybrid physiology. (Chapters 655–678)