[Excerpt from the video: The Shadowwall Incident - A Country Lost]

(...)

The person we need to examine first, however, is someone who was not directly involved in the incident but still bears a lot of responsibility: the Japanese Villain known as Kotetsu.

(A talking head segment is shown. The identifier reads: James Kawakami - Expert on Japanese Villains)

"Kotetsu was a very....atypical villain for his time. Remember, this was before the BHF, before widespread organized villainy. Kotetsu was not very physically active. He never took part in a single robbery, never killed anyone, and as far as we know he never directly laid hands on anyone or anything. Kotetsu was a supplier."

Kotetsu's Power, which he himself called Kajiya no Ryu, was able to create objects which interacted with other Powers in various ways. As he was never caught, we do not know how exactly he did it. From statements made by his many customers, once caught, we know it could take him between a few days to a full year, depending on the request, and he never allowed any other person to observe him while he was working. But the results spoke for themselves.

"The Dream Staff was a menace. It allowed Empowered with mind control abilities to hijack the bodies of sleeping people. It caused a lot of havoc in Hokkaido, leading to a lasting paranoia about sleepwalkers that is still very much alive in the area. But Kotetsu didn't just create objects for Japanese villains. He had a wide, wide reach. Anyone remember the Italian villain Aqua-Ventus? If you don't, she was a major player in terrorizing Italy's coastal area for over three decades. She could manipulate both water and wind. I bet you can see how that could be a problem."

"What I bet even most people who do remember her don't know though, is that she wasn't always like that. In the beginning, she could only control either water OR wind. It took her a few minutes to change modes every time she wanted to switch. But then she disappeared for two years. And when she came back, she wore a golden, handmade tiara, and was suddenly fully capable of using both her Powers simultaneously. Went from absolute 0 to near the top of the wanted list very, very quick."

And it is indeed because of Kotetsu that we find ourselves in this situation, though this time we are much, much farther removed from his original intent. Let's introduce the Nachtschleicher.

(Markus Schulz - Expert on Pre-Shadowwall German Villains)

"Nachtschleicher, or Night-Sneaker in English, was an old-guard villain. Robbery during the night, elaborate plans, quarrels with meddlesome heroes, all of that. And his Power was very simple. His actions did not produce sound. He could speak, yes, but anything he did without using his vocal cords was completely silent. It was....moderately useful. For a different kind of Villain. But for him, it wasn't enough. So once he heard of him he pooled all the money he had saved up from his runs and went to visit Kotetsu."

[Screen shows a picture of a black orb held by a Hero]

The Augur of Darkness that Nachtschleicher recieved gave him the leg up he wanted. Apparently it took Kotetsu five whole years to finish it, an anomaly in and of itself.

Holding it gave him the ability to bind shadows to his will. It allowed him to actually go toe-to-toe with Heroes, be the cartoon bad guy he always wanted to be. But it did not make him invincible. It didn't even make him particularly strong. He was finally captured 3 years after acquiring the item and immediately told the interrogators everything they wanted to know.

Normally, Power-Enhancing items found on Villains after capture are put in storage and Heroes who wish to use them can fill out a request form to obtain temporary ownership if approved. However, one thing that Nachtschleicher said during interrogation gave the officials pause.

He told them that Kotetsu urged him to make sure the Augur, his masterpiece, would never be used by someone who already had control over darkness. The results, he warned, could be catastrophic. It would react fundamentally different.

If another Villain got a hold of it it would be very difficult to ever topple them from the seat of power they would no doubt assume. And if a Dark-Empowered Hero got it then Caped Villainy would be effectively over in whatever area that Hero resided in.

This revelation was kept under wraps for a while, only shared with Germany's top Heroes and, of course, the Government. From Golden Goddess, the only surviving member of Germany's top hero team at the time, Schwarz-Rot-Gold, we know that a heated debate unfolded between those in the know.

In the end, since Kotetsu's creations were known for their effectiveness, it was determined that no one should use the Augur. If it really was able to bestow the kind of Power that he warned about, then it would be very, very dangerous even in the hands of a Hero.

The Augur was sealed away in a top-secret Vault where Germany kept dangerous paranatural objects and that was that.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

For about 15 years.

(A clip is shown of a gigantic lizard monster walking through the ocean, destroying a military battleship with ease. James Kawakami speaks over it.)

"We all learned about the Kaiju Crisis in School. The Villain Monstrum was the recipient of a massive boost in power thanks to a successfully cast spell of chance by a very, very lucky mage. A one-in-a-million bet. A one-in-a-million boost. What he probably didn't expect was that that very same boost would drive him stark raving mad too. On the one hand, this was good since who knows what he could've done with that form if he still had his marbles. On the other hand, this also meant that he could not be reasoned with and was not holding back at all. They managed to lure him into the ocean but after that.....He was nigh unstoppable."

A decision was made. Instead of spending an astronomical amount of resources to stop what was clearly going to turn into an international problem, Germany was called upon to act. France had a prominent Hero at the time with absolute mastery over darkness.

(A video is shown of screaming villains being dragged into an alleyway by shadowy claws, a cruel and sinister laugh echoing through the street.)

Dark Dawn was almost a reverse of The One. The Top Hero of her country, led a team of Dark-based Heroes, but instead of a man from humble origins who fought crime in the light of day as a beacon of hope, she was a rich girl with a mean streak who stalked the night as a symbol of fear. Without a doubt, she was the most powerful Hero of her time.

She was to receive the Augur of Darkness and defeat Monstrum. And afterward she was supposed to give it right back. But it never came to that.

(A clip is shown of a street in Germany reduced to rubble, Fire is everywhere, the screams of fleeing civilians can be heard.)

As it turned out, there was a leak. We still don't know who it was, what group they belonged to, if any, and how they did it, but somehow a Villain got intel from Germany's Department of Empowerment and as soon as the request for the retrieval of the Augur was made, every Villain in the country knew about it. And they all wanted a piece. Even for those without Dark Powers, the Augur would be invaluable as a bargaining chip.

(Markus Schulz)

"I honestly don't think there had ever been before, nor was there since a bigger team-up of Villains in all of history. Keep in mind that while Solidarity among Villains is strong in the lower ranks, high-tier villain groups often hated each other back then. This was unheard of. No one could've seen that coming. And it was a bloodbath."

That brings us to the pivotal moment and the woman of the hour.

(A photo is shown of a girl, a young adult, in a shoddily made villain outfit. She has her arms raised as a Hero arrests her.)

This is Johanna Johnson. A delinquent girl in her youth with the minor Power to solidify darkness she became a Villain named Schattenstich, or Shadowsting, as soon as she dropped out of school. She never made a big splash in Germany, working as a henchwoman for hire for various German Villain groups, but never doing any big moves on her own.

Until that day.

Of course, she was part of the big attack on the transportation convoy. It's not clear how much of what happened was actually planned, but given the size and chaotic nature of the team-up and her relatively low standing, it is assumed that she was just there for some extra muscle. However....

(A video is shown of a panicked German man squirming half-buried under rubble. His phone, still filming, lies on the ground. Comments are scrolling past at the side. The recording of an IRL streamer who happened to be online at the time of the attack. English subtitles are displayed under the video.)

"God damnit. I...I can't move my legs!"

( The man keeps yelling for help until something flies in his direction, hitting his forehead and silencing him. Behind the man, a heavily wounded hero carrying a box under his arm, having lost a leg, crawls backward from a Villain. Nails are floating in front of the villain and fly into the hero's face, who goes slack. The Villain grabs the box and uses a device to crack it open. Before he can pull out whatever is inside, the still Hero quickly sits up, holds out his hand, and shoots a thin beam directly through the Villain's forehead. The bad guy falls, the box hits the ground, and the Augur rolls out of it.

A group of minor villains, presumably the killed one's henchmen, discuss something amongst themselves before one of them, a familiar woman in black, picks it up. Dark tendrils immediately shoot out of the Augur and embed themselves in her wrist. She screams, contorts, and falls apart, dissolving into nothingness while her colleagues are unable to help her. Both she and the Augur are gone. Soon after, the video abruptly ends.)

At 2:14 PM the transportation Convoy departed, a heavily stacked cast of Heroes with high security clearance as guards. It was only meant to go two blocks further to a soccer field where a civilian with teleporting abilities that were accurate, secure, and stable enough for the transport of such a dangerous item was waiting. For this ability, he needed a wide, open space in the outdoors, so the nearest soccer field was chosen as the meeting point. A simple mission.

But at 2:16 PM the attack hit. Not only did the villains attack the convoy, they attacked other important spots in the city simultaneously so the Heroes had no reinforcements to spare.

At 3:03 PM the last Hero defending the Augur was killed.

At 3:05 PM Johanna picked up the Augur.

And at 3:10 PM the Shadowwall burst forth.

(A security camera video is shown of a border station between Germany and the Netherlands. The time starts at 15:08. Shortly after it reaches 15:10 the ground begins shaking. The earth cracks open and a wall of darkness erupts from the ground. Border Patrol agents run toward it, confused and alarmed.

The view switches to 8 different, more recent shots of various places around Germany's borders, the Shadowwall extending high in the sky.)

Ever since then, no one has been able to enter Germany. Although there are some who have left, all three of their testimonies about the state of Germany within the wall are vastly different and contradictory. We will examine all 3 escapees and their stories in detail later.

Many people were lost that day, not only due to the attack but also due to the wall. Various celebrities and Heroes were in Germany when the Shadowall was erected. Even Villains weren't left unscathed. The original Cirque du Freak, the progenitor of the modern Freakshow, was within Germany's borders at the time, leading to a lull in Freakshow's activities for almost two years.

Many attempts have been made to breach the Shadowwall, but none succeeded. Even The One was only able to temporarily cut an inch deep, and that while being boosted in various ways.

Though the event was disastrous, it led to a radical increase of Empowered security measures in government buildings across the globe. The use of mind-readers that perform daily scans of all personell was introduced, as well as magical oath's of secrecy that prevent individuals from speaking of certain matters or face steep and immediate consequences, both thought to be too extreme before.

It was also sadly the beginning of the massive wave of distrust and discrimination against darkness-based Empowered which persists to this day.

There are many things that can be said about the Shadowwall incident, but the thing that captures most people's imagination is the obvious: What's going on behind that wall?

Let's take look at the 3 people who managed to get out, the circumstances of their escapes and what they had to say about life within the walls.

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