Characters / The Eminence In Shadow - Seven Shadows

The Eminence in Shadow Character Index
Shadow Garden (Cid Kagenou/Shadow (Cid's Other Identities) | Seven Shadows) | Cult of Diablos | Midgar Kingdom

The Seven Shadows

The first seven members who have joined Shadow Garden, all of whom have been healed by Cid himself along with receiving training and "Shadow Wisdom" from him. While initially working with their savior and master to fight against the Cult of Diablos. After rescuing his sister, Claire Kagenou, they decided to temporarily part with their master to expand Shadow Garden from a small group to a full-scale organization. They are the strongest members of Shadow Garden only below Shadow himself with many of their members specializing in certain skills including leadership, intel, business, combat, magic control, espionage, and science.

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In General

• Alphabetical Theme Naming: The first members of Shadow Garden are named after Greek letters. This all started when Cid internally called Alpha "Shadowbroker Subordinate A".
  Cid: A or Alpha. Either works.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As Shadows' earliest subordinates, the Seven Shadows are considered to be in another league when it comes to strength compared to the regular members of Shadow Garden.
• Badass Adorable: Even at 12 years they were already strong enough to easily defeat the mooks and even Named Children of the cult, while still looking like adorable children.
• Beta Outfit: When Shadow Garden started with just them and Shadow, the Seven Shadows all wore identical slime suits. By the time Cid became fifteen, their slime suits diverged in design to complement their own tastes.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Their English name, "Seven Shadows", is a literal translation of "Shichikage", which works fine in Japanese since Shadow's name there is in Gratuitous English.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Much like Cid and possibly because of him, each of them seems to have their own set of peculiarities:
  • Alpha seems to be the Only Sane Man among them but supplementary material reveals that she is a Workaholic, to the point that Cid and the other Seven Shadows have to organize a party for her to take some rest. She also shows signs of Complexity Addiction, which is perfect for operating a secret society of technological and philosophical wonders that seeks world domination, but further diminishes her lack of a social life outside work.
  • Beta is an overzealous Shadow-Fangirl, to the point of writing an entire novel about him and trying to undermine Alexia for the crime of dating Cid in the past.
  • Gamma, who at first glance seems to be like a well-mannered Ojou, is hopeless at athletic pursuits to the point of regularly tripping when walking in high heels.
  • Delta is a Dumb Muscle Blood Knight, who has to be kept in check by Cid or Alpha, lest they risk her going on a rampage in order to satisfy her desire for fighting.
  • Epsilon spent a significant effort and time refining her slime bodysuit manipulation to give herself Fake Boobs.
  • Zeta is a Stealth Expert who doesn't often report to Alpha, much to the latter's chagrin. She ends up being a subversion since it turns out she actually has her own agenda behind Alpha's back.
  • Eta is a Mad Scientist who barely sleeps and likes to experiment on people to satisfy her scientific curiosity, with her profile in Master of Garden outright describing her as "somewhat psychopathic".
• Character Signature Song: All of them share the outro "Darling in the Night" which they take turns singing at the end of the episode.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: When Shadow Garden first started out, they were all 12 to 14 years old yet they led over a hundred members, who were several years older than them with some of them even once being knights or instructors for the military.
• Childhood Friends: Cid and the Seven Shadows have been together since they were young.
• Co-Dragons: The Seven Shades function as this to Shadow and have greater authority than the regular members of Shadow Garden, as they can issue orders to them and often direct their actions. The only exception is Delta, due to her Dumb Muscle nature.
• A Day in the Limelight: The seven of them are the focus of the anime-exclusive Hot Springs Episode due to Cid going MIA for a while under the belief they are angry at his betrayal during the Corporate Warfare arc.
• Foil: The various shades have an interesting clash of characteristics in these examples:
  • Alpha & Zeta: Both are regarded by Cid as the most perfect beings in Shadow Garden but while Alpha is a Workaholic individual, Zeta is anything but. Alpha runs Shadow Garden with kindness while Zeta creates a splinter group and is willing to dirty her hands to achieve her goal.
  • Delta & Zeta: Both are prodigies from their respective therianthrope clan but while Delta is Unskilled, but Strong and a Dumb Muscle individual, Zeta is Strong and Skilled while also being a cunning, calculative individual. They both want Cid/Shadow to Take Over the World, but while Delta has a Missing Steps Plan with the only part being for Cid to have at least 10,000 children, Zeta plans to make him immortal through awakening Diabolos so he will become the god of the new world once the cult is defeated. Also while Delta tries to get her plan approved by Alpha, Zeta keeps her plans in the dark.
  • Gamma & Eta: Both are the brains of Shadow Garden but while Gamma is good with people and negotiations earning her the leadership role of the Mitsugoshi Group, Eta is feared even by her own fellow members due to her willingness to do human experimentation in the name of science and is only stopped by Alpha.
  • Gamma & Delta: Both are Unskilled, but Strong but Gamma is hopeless in athleticism but is smart, while Delta is athletic but a Dumb Muscle. Because of those reasons, Cid gave them both the same advice when it comes to fighting: "Infuse your attacks with lots of magic".
  • Zeta & Eta: Both are morally ambiguous and are willing to do what is necessary to further their goals but while Zeta is out in the frontlines engaging the cult, Eta is in the rear doing research in order to take down the Cult.
  • Beta & Epsilon: Both are beautiful elves in their own right, but while Beta is a natural, Epsilon is slime enhanced. They're also regarded by everyone as the pinnacle and pillar of culture due to Cid's teachings, Beta (Natsume Kafka) for literature, and Epsilon (Shiron) for music, specifically piano.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Hilariously Played for Laughs in the mobile game's "Amnesia" anniversary event. When Cid's afflicted with amnesia after hitting his head, Alpha quickly orders everyone to keep their mouths shut about Shadow Garden and Cid being Shadow around him so as to prevent any potential information leaks. The Seven Shadows later take this opportunity to try and convince Cid he and each respective member are in a relationship.
• The Magnificent Seven Samurai: They are the earliest and most elite members of Shadow Garden, with each having their own specialty that they focus on:
  • Alpha: The Leader. Field commander of Shadow Garden and actual leader of the organization.
  • Beta: Knowledge Broker. Intelligence and infiltration of academic circles. Maintains organization archives. Responsible for the collection of forbidden knowledge such as Blood Magic.
  • Gamma: The Smart Guy. Controls the corporate assets of the organization. Responsible for finances, property acquisition, and logistics. De facto second-in-command after Alpha and helps Eta with new ideas for products based on the "Shadow Wisdom" they gained from Cid.
  • Delta: The Big Guy. When subtlety fails she's the wrecking ball sent to destroy everything.
  • Epsilon: The Spy Master. Human intelligence gathering, covert actions, and assassinations. Focuses on foreign political circles.
  • Zeta: Stealth Expert. Internal security and geographic exploration. Locates and confirms the existence of lost artifacts and forgotten civilizations. Operates independently from the rest of Shadow Garden.
  • Eta: The Engineer. Cryptography, research, invention, and infiltration of scientific circles. Somewhat under Gamma's supervision via budget control.
• Ms. Fanservice: All of them are attractive women wearing skintight suits accentuating their figures with much of the series' merchandise and mobile game giving them outfits to further showcase their beauty.
• Nom de Guerre: The Seven Shadows has certain monikers given to them by Cid himself. The currently known ones are:
  • Beta - The Steadfast
  • Gamma - The Weak
  • Delta - The Tyrant (Alternatively The Suicide Weapon or The Loose Cannon)
  • Epsilon - The Precise (Alternatively The Faithful)
  • Zeta - The Talent
• One-Woman Army: As they are personally trained by Shadow himself, each of the Seven Shadows is extremely powerful and formidable in their own right. During the Lindwurm Sanctuary Arc, Rose notes that a nation itself will have to expend a considerable amount of resources just to subdue one of them.
• Praetorian Guard: They are considered elite members of the Shadow Garden and they serve to protect Shadow or just accompany him in battle.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Upon closer examination of their personalities and habits, it is noted that each of them has a particular sin that they are subject to:
  • Alpha: Pride. Due to being the The Ace of the Shadow Garden, and Shadow's earliest subordinate, Alpha is considered the Number Two of the organization and will vigorously defend her position due to the closeness it provides her with Cid. Someone trying to lay claim to it will be one of the only things that will provoke her fury, as Delta discovered.
  • Beta: Lust. Due to her zealous worship and love for him, Beta has developed a great desire to be physically intimate with Cid. She is also an expert at using her beauty to manipulate others into giving her what information she is after.
  • Gamma: Greed. Due to being the president of Mitsugoshi, she has shown a great desire to expand its power and influence across the entire world. This is predicated on her lack of combat skill, as she yearns to be useful to Shadow by any means necessary.
  • Delta: Gluttony. Due to her therianthrope nature, Delta has an obsessive desire to hunt and quite an insatiable appetite.
  • Epsilon: Envy. While originally proud of her intellect and skills, upon joining the Shadow Garden, she realized that her fellow Seven Shadows were superior to her in their respective fields. And despite her beautiful face, her true petite frame lacked appeal compared to others more gifted such as Beta, leading to Epsilon resenting her.
  • Zeta: Wrath. Due to the Cult massacring her family and clan, Zeta has developed quite a thirst for revenge, as she revels in making her enemies pay for their sins.
  • Eta: Sloth. Eta is noted to be very lazy when it comes to things that she does not care for as it is even shown that she had to be cartwheeled by other Garden members rather than simply walk.
• She Is All Grown Up: Especially empathized in the anime and Master of Garden is that they grew up from small adorable children into beautiful women with the only exception being Epsilon, who fakes her mature appearance with her slime suit.
• True Companions: While they do quarrel with each other at times, they have shown to value each other deeply and consider each other companions for life, as well as a family of sorts.
• Undying Loyalty: Like the rest of Shadow Garden, of course, but it's taken up a notch with the Shadows specifically, since they all know Cid from childhood, and were each personally saved by him. Their devotion reaches fanatical levels, to the point where they'd be willing to take their own life if they ever came to believe Shadow doesn't need them, most if not all of them revere him as some sort of godlike figure, and Zeta in particular is willing to work in secret to actually make him a God, even if it means going against the rest of the organization.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Among the Seven Shadows, there are several rivalries or members that like to quarrel with each other for various reasons yet they are still united in their fight against the cult and care about each other's wellbeing:
  • Beta and Epsilon have a rivalry due to their mutual affection for their master: Shadow. Initially, the rivalry was one-sided due to Epsilon's jealousy towards Beta's assets and Beta not acknowledging it, but it started to heat up when Epsilon underwent her own "growth spur" and incited Beta's jealousy by claiming that Cid was ogling her.
  • Gamma and Delta have a slightly strained relationship because of Delta's habit of picking on her due to her lack of combat prowess.
  • Zeta and Delta have a habit of quarreling due to their Cat/Dog Dichotomy, as Zeta likes to pick on Delta by pointing out her Dumb Muscle nature.
  • Eta especially likes to use Beta as an Unwitting Test Subject such as tricking her into eating or drinking certain inventions with weird side effects yet it is clear that Eta won't go as far to outright kill Beta for the sake of science with their fight over the rights over Akane being non-lethal to prevent the other from serious harm.
• Weapon Specialization: The Master of Garden video game reveals that each Shade has their personal weapon(s). The reason they stick to using swords is to let them be a symbol of their organization and also to ensure the cult won't be familiarized with their fighting styles.
  • Alpha: A longsword
  • Beta: A compound bow
  • Gamma: A broadsword
  • Delta: A pair of metallic claws
  • Epsilon: A scythe/harp
  • Zeta: Two Chakrams
  • Eta: Slime.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: It really isn't much of an exaggeration that they need to think fast on the fly to make sure their plans work out with their master's unpredictable behavior, which they view as very calculated and precise.

Alpha

Alpha

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 1 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese), Christina Kelly (English)^{Other Languages}Laura Blanc (French), Angelina Markiefka (German), Federica Simonelli (Italian)

A young elf who is the same age as Cid, whom he found after one of his bandit raids. He succeeds in curing her possession and then tells her about the Cult of Diablos. He named her Alpha and founded Shadow Garden with her, making her the first of the Seven Shadows.

In the following years, Alpha finds six other girls who suffered from possession. After training with Cid for several years, the Seven Shadows leave Cid's home to expand their operations with Alpha as their leader. Five years after Cid saved Alpha's life, she has transformed Cid's Shadow Garden into the most powerful force in existence.

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• The Ace: When Cid rescues Alpha, he initially notices that her overloaded state has more mana than him. Alpha is strong, intelligent, beautiful, and effectively the actual leader of Shadow Garden. Both Princess Rose and Alexia separately comment that while Shadow may be the ultimate threshold of strength, Alpha has at least reached the level of his footing. Master of Garden shows even during the earliest days of Shadow Garden when the younger Seven Shadows had a bout with the Mist Dragon, Alpha was the only one who could actually inflict damage to the dragon whereas the rest did not cause so much as a scratch.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Just seeing Alpha angry makes Delta quiver in fear and stop whatever she was doing prior. In Delta's flashback, Alpha gets challenged by Delta for the position of second-in-command of Shadow Garden. It's unknown what happened but obviously, Alpha won since Delta loyally serves under her.
• Beautiful All Along: Thanks to Cid's experiments, Alpha was restored, and much to his surprise, Alpha's actually a beautiful young girl.
• Berserk Button: The only thing that'll make her break away from her calm, stoic demeanor is if anyone dares to take her spot as Number Two. Delta was the first to receive Alpha's full-blown wrath.
• Black-and-White Morality: Alpha admits to Gamma that she thought Shadow Garden was the force of good and the Cult of Diablos was the force of evil. However, after listening to Shadow's Badass Boast, this inspires her to have Shadow Garden take any action, including illegal and shady ones to accomplish their goals even if means having the entire world against them.
• Childhood Friends: She is Cid's first friend following her rescue.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • More noticeable in the anime and game.
    • Upon learning Cid's romance with Alexia, Alpha greets her master, loosely dressing herself in the Midgar Academy school uniform.
    • In the Master of Garden's Valentine event, it's implied Alpha placed a rule in Shadow Garden that no one in the organization should get ahead in making romantic advances with Cid.
  • In Episode 8 of Season 2, while discussing with Shadow Garden on who should join on the hot springs date with Cid, Nu tries to elect herself only for Alpha to throw slime daggers at her in response.
  • In volume 6 of the light novel, she jokingly tells Cid she was a bit jealous over the amount of concern and attention he gave to Rose.
• Complexity Addiction: Alpha formulates elaborate, long-reaching plans to defeat the Diablos Cult. The most vital of these operations never reach full maturation, because Cid stumbles into them and unknowingly "solves" the situation with a faster method. Alpha credits these victories as proof Cid is a genius and visionary beyond compare, when in reality Cid did something absolutely random that seemed badass to him. This spurns Alpha to formulate plans even more worthy of Cid. A great example of this was the Credit Crisis. While ingenious, the Cult seized the opportunity and were secretly planning to "cash out" of the crisis before Shadow Garden was ready. However, the Cult failed because Cid cashed out before the Cult was ready, and accidentally told Shadow Garden where he hid the money so they could save themselves. Alpha believed Cid knew the Cult was going to pull the rug first and Cid did it before anyone else could because he's unstoppable.
• Family of Choice: She considers everyone in the Shadow Garden as her real family.
• Foil: To Yukime. The two fell in love with dark-haired figures that are considered the World's Strongest Man. What differentiates them is that Alpha cannot find it in herself to seek revenge against Shadow, when he was John Smith, after he betrayed her while Yukime spent years devising a plan to destroy Gettan's whole life.
• Hero-Worshipper: Alpha seems to hold some measure of respect for her ancestor.
• Heroic BSoD: During the Corporate Warfare arc, Gamma had to temporarily take command of Shadow Garden due to Alpha experiencing this to the point of nearly crossing the Despair Event Horizon. Fortunately, Cid's letter got deciphered by Eta and managed to snap Alpha out of it and cry Tears of Joy.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Outside of battle prowess, Alpha is actually a better leader than Cid. In fact, she is probably too competent for her own good, as Shadow Garden grows at an alarming rate.
• Identical Granddaughter: She heavily resembles her ancestor, Olivier.
• It's All About Me: Alpha surprisingly has some shades of this, particularly when it relates to her relationship with Cid.
  • After discovering that Cid (as John Smith) is going to "abandon" Shadow Garden, Alpha seems more concerned about her own fate rather than the other members, even implying she's ready to leave them as well if Cid asks her to join him.
  • In Episode 8 of Season 2, when pondering about the supposed group date, Alpha thinks it's an attempt by her master to have her join him to the hot springs, though she later corrects the statement to include the rest of the Seven Shadows.
• It's Personal:
  • Alpha loves Shadow Garden like her family so anyone that dares harm them would result in the instigator's brutal demise at her hands.
  • In the anime, Alpha is furious that Zenon's men had framed Cid for Alexia's disappearance, even killing some of them.
  • After believing Delta has been killed by John Smith, Alpha confronted the man to avenge her.
• The Leader: Alpha is practically the leader of Shadow Garden since Cid doesn't do anything but indulge in his fantasies as a power in the shadows. She is highly competent, mature, determined, and charismatic. All of the Seven Shadows acknowledge her as having the highest authority in the organization beneath Shadow and loyally follow her orders.
• Long-Lost Relative: Given that they are both descendants of Olivier, it is heavily implied that she is the niece that Beatrix is desperately trying to find. However, neither of them knows about the other.
• A Mother to Her Men: Alpha cherishes her friends. When she learns of Delta's disappearance, she gets enraged to the point she heads out to assassinate the person who presumably killed her on her own to ensure no more of her dear friends get hurt. She also tries to understand and quell Zeta's massive feelings hatred to no avail.
• Master of All: As Shadow's earliest recruit, Alpha is shown to be highly adept in many aspects, such as physical combat, magic power, leadership, etc. Though, she is outmatched by her fellow Seven Shadows in the field that they specialize in.
• Ms. Exposition: During the Holy Ground arc, Alpha reveals to everyone present the origin of the Three Heroes and the Cult of Diablos' true goal.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is a golden-haired elf with a nice ample bosom and a sensual voice. Several other people note her beauty.
• Naked on Arrival: When she is restored to her elven self after initially being a rotting meat lump monster due to the possession curse, she is introduced completely nude.
• Number Two: She was Cid's first member of Shadow Garden. She handles most of the operations whenever Cid is not around. When Cid takes over, his commands take precedence over Alpha's.
• Selective Obliviousness: Alpha often ignores Zeta's massive hatred of the cult and thinks of her as family. Gamma notices that Alpha is unusually optimistic about her view of Zeta despite the signs of discontent showing during her report to Alpha in volume 5.
• Sexy Secretary: Alpha acts as this whenever Beta is unavailable to tend to Cid. The anime puts a bit more emphasis on the "Sexy" part as she loosely dresses in the Midgar Academy's school uniform all the while making suggestive poses in front of her master.
• Step into the Blinding Fight: Alpha releases a red mist to hide inside and confuse John Smith. Once his guard is down, she strikes.
• Subordinate Excuse: She has become Married to the Job because Shadow Garden is her way of proving Undying Loyalty to Cid. It also lets her be alone with Cid as Number Two.
• Super Smoke: Alpha is capable of using Elizabeth's technique after Beta brings back the samples of the Blood Queen's samples after her fight with Shadow. Cid is impressed with this feat during his "John Smith" disguise and is so far replicated by her fellow monstrous shade Zeta during her fight with Delta in Volume 5.
• Took a Level in Badass: With help from Eta's research into demonic possession, Alpha is freely able to change her sword's form all the while maintaining its strength. She is also able to activate a red mist for camouflage. Cid took note of this and is impressed.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The anime shows Alpha having a huge fondness for burgers. A trait shared by her relative, Beatrix.
• Troubled Fetal Position: In the anime, she takes this position during her Heroic BSoD when under the belief that Shadow abandoned her.
• Unwitting Test Subject: Cid initially wanted to sell Alpha to the Church because he deemed her a lost cause until he changed his mind and experimented on her to increase his own power. Of course if he hadn't done it, Alpha would never have returned to her original elf form and would have stayed a piece of rotten meat till she died.
• Workaholic: The "Eminence in Shadow Gaiden" manga reveals that Alpha barely has time to relax, having been so busy building up Shadow Garden to be an effective force. This is further compounded by the fact that she is the only member of the Seven Shadows to not have an identity for civilian use.

Beta

Beta

Other Names: "The Steadfast" (Moniker), Natsume Kafka (Civilian Name)

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 2 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Inori Minase (Japanese), Annie Wild (English)^{Other Languages}Emilie Marié (French), Anne Ewelina (German), Laura Cherubelli (Italian)

The second of the Seven Shadows. An elf who is the same age as Cid and Alpha. Beta has made it her life goal to write "The Chronicles of Master Shadow". Being a talented author, she uses her connections as Natsume Kafka to gather information for Shadow Garden.

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• Adaptational Skimpiness: In the light novel and manga, she simply wears her civilian attire as "Natsume", which only includes a Cleavage Window, while in the anime she wears a dress with an Impossibly-Low Neckline.
• Ambiguous Situation: In the Hot Springs Episode, Beta is used by Eta as part of an experiment to verify a legend, with said legend requiring the tears of an elven princess. Beta claims she is of elven royalty and even has familiarity with elven relics such as Mordred's Cool Sword. Between this and that her tears succeed in awakening a slumbering dragon sealed within the hot springs implies she is of royal descent, though it's unconfirmed as of this writing.
• Badass Bookworm: Beta's hobby is reading books and stories. When initially inducted into Shadow Garde, she felt remorse for killing others, causing Cid to regale her with the stories from his old life. Not only did the method help Beta remove any trace of guilt in killing, but also made her become the extremely loyal subordinate she is today. She is also a Femme Fatale Spy armed with about a hundred ways to kill an opponent.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Natsume was supposed to be scared when Shadow Garden held her hostage in the Goddess of War Trial but looks like she's enjoying it a bit too much which Alexia isn't convinced in the slightest. She eventually manages to get the voice down but has to work on her poker face to match the panic in her tone. This is averted in the manga where her acting is way more believable to make room for other jokes.
• Big-Breast Pride: She is quite proud of her large chest, especially since it surpasses Alexia's. If Epsilon's jealousy is any indication, Beta has the largest among the Seven Shadows.
• Birds of a Feather: Despite Beta coming from a different background, personality, and so on, she shares a lot of traits with Alexia and Rose due to all three wanting to bring peace and justice to their world, and all three care about/love Cid. Beta willingly acknowledges this after the fight between the latter two.
• Blood Magic: By the end of the Red Moon arc, Beta gains the ability to manipulate blood much like the Blood Queen.
• Bodyguard Babes: The sole reason she befriended Rose and Alexia is to protect the two princesses from the Cult of Diablos.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: According to Master of Garden, Beta specializes in archery and wields a longbow as a nod to her heritage of being an elf alongside the standard-issued slime sword. However, she has yet to use a bow in the main series.
• Butt-Monkey: She is usually the one at the receiving end of Eta's experiments with her being given a drug that caused her to strip, being knocked unconscious by Eta so she can experiment on Akane, and the anime even has Eta force Beta to cry to see if the legends of the hot springs are true.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: For her disguise as Natsume, she wears a pushup bra to further enhance her already enormous chest size to unattainable levels. It proves helpful for interrogating men and annoying rivals like Alexia.
• Camera Fiend: In volume 4, after they got transported in Japan, Beta has fallen in love with the digital camera and has always brought it to document Shadow.
• Childhood Friends: Beta was already acquainted with Alpha prior to both of them meeting Cid.
• Clark Kenting: Beta masquerades as Natsume Kafka, a famous author who writes popular stories based on the stories Cid told her about such as Red Riding Hood and Romeo and Juliet.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Beta severely dislikes Alexia for dating Cid for a while. She always makes attempts to ridicule the princess whenever they pair up and even removes her from her chronicle, placing herself as the Damsel in Distress her beloved master saves.
• Elective Mute: Ordered to by Cid in order to spy on the humans of Earth.
• Femme Fatale Spy: She's beautiful and looks so delicate that no one in the world could ever see her as dangerous, making her a great infiltration expert to get vital intel. Only Alexia sees that she's shady.
• Heroic Seductress: She isn't shy about using her beauty to manipulate her targets into giving her what information she is after.
• Irony: During the Japan arc, she issues death threats to Fallen Angel of Rebellion in an online forum due to the latter insulting the Black Knight. Unknowingly, both Black Knight and Fallen Angel of Rebellion are Cid who decides to Troll Beta after deducing her to be Silver Haired Elf Babe.
• I Should Write a Book About This: Throughout the series, Beta is writing a book based on Shadow's adventures. It's called The Chronicles of Master Shadow.
• It Gets Easier: Beta used to have trouble sleeping after killing and was only able to do so since Shadow would often tell bedtime fairy tales to her. This actually helped set her own path as an author and willingly follows Shadow for it.
• It's All About Me: Beta has shades of this. She willingly kidnapped Akane Nishino just so that she can learn more about Earth.
• Jack of All Stats: Beta was stated to have reasonable proficiency in every field but doesn't excel in any of them, unlike her fellow Shadows. Hence her Nom de Guerre is "Beta The Steadfast".
• Knowledge Broker: Due to her identity as a famous writer, she has managed to gather a large number of influential contacts, which allows her access to information not readily accessible to the public or even a princess such as Alexia.
• Lazy Alias: During the Japan Arc, Cid easily deduces her online identity "Silver Haired Elf Babe" due to the fact that it consists of her features.
• Meaningful Name: Her civilian identity shares the first and last name as Natsume Sōseki and Franz Kafka respectively, both famous and influential novelists like herself.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is a beautiful elf with a huge bust. Out of all the beauties that comprise Shadow Garden, Beta is one that gets the most focus.
  • Between her and Alexia, Beta/Natsume gets the most applause from the people of Midgar due to her sheer sex appeal.
  • On Earth, she discovered and wore a BDSM outfit and a school swimsuit and decided to keep them to seduce Cid.
• Mystical White Hair: She has short silver hair.
• Omniglot: Beta is easily able to pick up languages, mastering Japanese (More or less) in just a couple of days.
• Proud Beauty: She knows she is a knockout and has no problem making use of her looks to wring information out of targets.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: When she and Shadow are on Earth, they pretend to be siblings.
• Secret-Keeper: In the Japan arc, it's heavily implied Beta either knows or suspects Cid is originally from Japan. While she does divulge the events of the arc to the rest of Shadow Garden, she keeps mum about her own findings.
• Sexy Secretary: She is the one tasked with reporting to her beloved Shadow, loving every minute of it.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: During the early days of Shadow Garden, she was initially terrified of her master until over time, she grew past that and revered him as a God-like being.
• Stalker Shrine: In her room, Beta has a wall covered with sketches of Shadow and his analects.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Beta hides her memo pad within her cleavage.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: In Japan, she was promptly banned in an online forum due to giving death threats towards username Fallen Angel Of Rebellion for insulting the Black Knight, who was actually Cid who decided to troll Beta after instantly knowing it's her due to her username Silver Haired Elf.
• You No Take Candle: Despite being in Japan for a while, her mastery of the language is noted to be rather broken and rough unlike Eta, who completely mastered the language despite only using snippets Cid gave her.

Gamma

Gamma

Other Names: "The Weak" (Moniker), Luna (Civilian Name)

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 7 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori (Japanese), Elissa Cuellar (English)^{Other Languages}Sabrina Marchese (French), Tatjana Pokorny (German), Elisa Giorgio (Italian)

The third member of the Seven Shadows, an elven woman, who is two years older than Cid. Gamma manages the internal affairs in Shadow Garden. In public, she is known as Luna, the president of Mitsugoshi, Ltd., which acts as a merchant front for Shadow Garden and sells commodities based on the stories Cid shared with her.

Gamma has strong magic potential but incredibly poor eye-hand coordination which is why she is considered the weakest amongst the Seven Shadows.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the light novel and manga, her slashes were simply strong due to being empowered by tons of mana, the anime however shows they can also cause explosions.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Basically what her swordplay amounts to, just rapidly and violently jabbing/slashing the air at full power in hopes that it would eventually hit her target. Shadow had even encouraged Gamma to do so as teaching her actual fighting skills is a total lost cause.
• Badass Bookworm: Zig-zagged. Although she is the weakest among the Seven Shadows, she does have tons of mana, speed, and strength yet she lacks any fighting skills to make use of them. However, she does have great intelligence with the proof being her capability to make Mitsugoshi a powerhouse despite some vague information from Cid in his previous world, impressing Cid himself.
• Battle Cry: "SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!"
• Brains and Brawn: Amongst the Seven Shadows, she's the Brains to Delta's Brawn.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: The Kage-Jitsu anime short reveals that Gamma gets drunk very easily. Even eating a few alcohol-laced chocolates is enough to make her dizzy.
• Chessmaster Sidekick: Gamma is the smartest of the Seven Shadows, but one of the reasons why she respects Cid so much is that she believes he's an even greater Chessmaster than her.
• The Consigliere: Gamma is responsible for the financial and logistical side of Shadow Garden. Alpha coordinates with her to execute the organization's long-term plans and bounce ideas. Whenever Alpha has doubts about where Shadow Garden is heading, Gamma is the one who reassures her they are treading the right path.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Gamma is a very attractive girl, but she has a habit of tripping over when wearing high heels. in fact, due to her clumsy nature, she is declared the weakest of the Seven Shadows.
• Driven to Suicide: Averted; In her introductory chapters in the light novel, she mentions ending it all due to the feeling of helplessness as she's clumsier than even their newest recruit (Delta at that time) until Cid intervened and introduced a new path for her.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Her nickname is Gamma the Weak since she is by far the worst combatant of the Seven Shadows.
• Flanderization: The frequency in which she trips and falls over from wearing high heels increases in the manga, even tripping while standing still.
• Foil:
  • Gamma is the opposite of Delta, yet Cid thinks that makes them very similar in a way. He's given up teaching them how to fight, since Delta acts almost on pure instinct, but lacks intelligence, while Gamma is extremely intelligent, but lacks intuition and coordination. He ended up giving them both the same advice: "Infuse your attacks with a lot of magic."
  • Though it's not emphasized, she's also something of a foil to Cid himself. Cid's magic power is not top tier, but with his knowledge of many martial arts, intense training, and grasp of magic that allows him to use his power in a ridiculously efficient way, his actual combat prowess is very far above his theoretical weight class. Gamma has immense magical power, ridiculous strength, and speed... but is such a piss-poor combatant that she struggles against adversaries she should have steamrolled.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: She tries improving her martial arts skills but after multiple attempts, she realizes that she isn't suited for fighting. This ends up subverted when Cid introduces a new path for her.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Gamma runs the popular Mitsugoshi, Ltd., which is a front for Shadow Garden, but she does not resort to dirty practices in contrast to the Major Corporate Alliance.
• The Klutz: Gamma is extremely clumsy. This is the reason why she is the physically least adept fighter of the Seven Shadows. For instance, she is prone to falling onto the floor to the point that it's a Running Gag because she's not used to wearing high heels.
• Legacy Character: Gamma's civilian name wasn't originally hers as it belongs to a long line of Lunas of Luna. LTD. The previous president was so impressed by her entrepreneurship and business savvy that she allowed her to take over the company and lands, which would later become Mitsugoshi, free of charge on the condition that she must adopt the name as her public persona.
• Lethal Joke Character: Gamma may have a severe skill issue and everything else when it comes to fighting but still packs an immense punch in raw power alone. If only she could not trip everywhere and cause explosions and collateral damage to the surrounding area on accident (Rather than on purpose like Shadow) every single time she battles.
• Meaningful Name: Her civilian identity "Luna" translates to "Moon" in Spanish which can be seen properly during nighttime when Shadow Garden operates in the shadows. It can also refer to her company Mitsugoshi acting as a Shadow Garden's front by hiding in plain sight just like the moon.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her first official appearance has her wearing a Little Black Dress attached to a checker that exposes her chest and back.
• Naked on Arrival: If the flashback of her seeing Cid/Shadow's purple light for the first time is any indication, she was also restored to her elven self in the nude like Alpha was.
• Non-Idle Rich: Gamma is the head of the Mitsugoshi Group, which is responsible for securing the funds for the Shadow Garden. She is Crimefighting with Cash and also uses her position to help Cid with whatever he needs.
• Number Two: Whenever Alpha is unavailable to command Shadow Garden, she takes control of the organization until Alpha is ready to resume her duties again.
• Phrase Catcher: Often receives the response "Your nose is bleeding." whenever she trips and falls face-first hard on the ground in the anime.
• Running Gag: She has a quirk of tripping over her high heels because she ain't graceful. This hindrance becomes deadly in combat when combined with her charging and haphazardly swinging her sword around at full speed.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Cid encouraged her to shout "Swish!" (Manga) or "Fwoosh!" (Light novel) with every sword swing as a Battle Cry and be more intimidating for her otherwise silly but still deadly swordsmanship.
• The Smart Guy: Having been taught by Cid, she has become very intelligent. She is not only running a high-class business corporation but also acts as the strategist of Shadow Garden.
• Super-Toughness: First Leaf strikes her with his sword, but all he gets out of her is a comical "Ow!" while his blade is dented from the impact.
• Uncle Pennybags: Her role within Shadow Garden is managing their budget, which causes her to start Mitsugoshi to finance Shadow Garden's activities.
• Undignified Death: While Gamma herself hasn't fallen victim to this trope, dying at her hands is not only painful but extremely humiliating to her rival combatants, given her utter lack of skill and fighting finesse that heavily contrasts her immense strength. First Leaf of the notorious Clover assassins finds himself bested by her amateur technique of flailing her sword around willy-nilly at high speeds while yelling "Swish! Swish! Swish!" then finished off when she trips as usual and the sword accidentally impales his head.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Despite having an enormous amount of mana as well as high levels of durability and strength, she lacks any kind of fighting skills to make use of them, which is why she is called the weakest among the Seven Shadows. Her assailants were even surprised someone with as much power as she lacked the skill to actually use it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She has a rivalry with Delta for disrespecting her regardless of how high her rank is compared to the latter. However, upon learning of Delta's disappearance in Volume 3 after she encountered John Smith, Gamma is the most worried among everyone, thinking she might have been killed.

Delta

Delta

Other Names: "The Tyrant"/"The Suicide Weapon"/"The Loose Cannon" (Moniker), Deltan (Civilian Name), Sara, (Former Identity)

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 5 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (Japanese), Raven Troup (English)^{Other Languages}Charlotte Hervieux (French), Lara Schmidt (German), Katia Sorrentino (Italian)

A canine therianthrope, Delta is the fourth member of the Seven Shadows and the same age as Cid. Once hailed as a prodigy of her tribe, she was driven out when she was 12 after she began suffering from demonic possession. When she saw Shadow, she immediately submitted to him, who subsequently healed her.

Delta is described as fighting like a loose cannon. She relies mostly on instincts, but her ferocity, supernatural strength, and speed make her the physically strongest fighter of the Seven Shadows.

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• Adaptational Skimpiness: In the anime, her slime suit is reduced to a string that barely covers her privates during the battle in the Holy Sanctuary and when meeting Cid to go bandit hunting, she wears what's best described as a nightgown instead of normal clothing like in the light novel or manga.
• Affectionate Nickname: Shadow is known only to her as "Boss Man" in contrast to the more formal "Lord Shadow" like the rest of Shadow Garden.
• Amazonian Beauty: She has a toned figure and just like all other Shadows is considered to be very attractive. Her outfits leave her midriff bare just to show off her abs.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Inverted. Her bodysuit has an opening for her well-toned abs, but she's the least feminine of the Seven Shadows.
• The Berserker: Delta is nicknamed "Suicide Weapon", "Gunshot" or "The Tyrant" because once she starts getting into a fight, it's hard to stop her. She doesn't have any patience to follow complicated plans and just charges in without thinking too much.
• BFS: During a battle high, Delta can unleash ridiculous amounts of mana to manifest the Iron Slab, a huge broadsword made up of almost her entire slime bodysuit and expanded to the point it eclipses the entire battlefield. She uses the flat end as a warhammer to smash hundreds of enemies to death all at once such as Nelson's Clone Army.
• The Big Guy: Delta's only duty is to fight. All Alpha or Shadow need to tell her is who she is supposed to kill.
• Blood Knight: She revels in fighting much to her enemies' chagrin. In fact, Delta was raised to be The Social Darwinist. The canine therianthropes are proud fighters who loathe weakness and believe that Might Makes Right. Delta immediately submitted to Shadow because she saw the clear power difference between him and her. She later also obediently follows Alpha's commands after Alpha beats her.
• Brains and Brawn: Amongst the Seven Shadows, she's the Brawn towards Gamma's Brain.
• Bully Hunter: Subverted, in Master of Garden, she states that she saw some bullies picking on the weak. So she beat up the bullies for picking on the weak... and then went after the victims for being weak.
• Cain and Abel: She is the Cain towards her siblings' several Abels since she kills them without remorse for being weaklings. Not to mention the fact they were never even close in the first place with her two full-blooded brothers being bullies.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Due to Delta's Dumb Muscle nature, she couldn't be trusted to keep secrets hidden. It's precisely for this reason that Cid sent her to hunt Juggernaut to keep her busy, even commenting that its Nothing Personal for him, due to this fact.
• Cassandra Truth: Because of her Too Dumb to Fool traits, Delta is arguably the only person in the world who has seen Cid's true personality. She often repeats things he's said to her word for word, but because those statements are nonsensical or outlandish, everyone else believes Delta is misquoting Cid.
• Chainmail Bikini: This happens during the Holy Ground arc where Delta had to transform her slime bodysuit into bikini armor in order to control her magic.
• Chase Stops at Water: In volume 5, Zeta threw her chase off by leaving her alone at the sea.
• The Chief's Daughter: It's later revealed that Delta was the child of the chieftain of her tribe. She could have been made the next chieftain because of how strong she was compared to her other siblings but her tribe was patriarchal and did not allow a female member to become the leader.
• Cute Monster Girl: Her ears and tail are clear signs that she is a therianthrope, but she is otherwise a very attractive girl with a voluptuous figure.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She has one of the sadder backstories amongst the Seven Shadows even before suffering from Demonic Possession. In her childhood when she was Sara, she had to take care of her ill mother, had to hide her strength and hunt alone, and was bullied by her two full-blooded brothers. All for the sake of staying with her mother until the end.
• The Dog Bites Back: Once her mother succumbs to her illness and her brothers continue insulting their deceased mother, Sara immediately kills them without remorse while using the same logic they kept using to mistreat her.
• Dumb Muscle: She is nearly the perfect superhuman, being the strongest when it comes to sheer physical strength, but her sole flaw is that she is not that smart.
• Expressive Ears: Delta's dog ears do this whenever she senses Cid.
• Four Is Death: She is the fourth member recruited to Shadow Garden and the most violent when it comes to fighting style and hunting down enemies, never leaving anyone alive in their pursuit.
• Genki Girl: Bloodthirstiness aside, Delta is surprisingly cheerful and energetic.
• Given Name Reveal: The first of the Seven Shadows to have their previous name revealed as her brother, The Third Leaf, refers to her as "Sara" when pleading for his life. She, of course, rejects the name and proceeds to slash his throat out.
• The Glomp: She loves to hug Cid whenever she sees him, much to his annoyance.
• Ironic Echo: When murdering her two full-blooded brothers, she uses the same words they used to justify bullying her.
• Lazy Alias: In the Hot Springs/Pool Episode, Zeta states that her civilian identity goes by the name "Deltan", which is just her name with an "n" at the end.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Delta is mostly subdued with regards to Shadow Garden but when totally pissed or in a particularly frenzy mood, she'll bust out her Iron Slab and unleash massive amounts of power worthy of her title as "The Tyrant" to crush everything in sight. In volume 5, Zeta knew how screwed she is when Delta is in this mode after severely wounding her using the Blood Queen's technique and proceeds to bail the first chance she gets despite their rivalry. Cid also mentioned that if Delta had carried out the attack, it would have decimated the entire school dormitories and everyone in it off the face of the world.
• Lightning Bruiser: She is a canine humanoid possessing superhuman strength and senses and has the speed to match them.
• Little Bit Beastly: Delta is a therianthrope, specifically a canine type, and has several canine features such as her ears, fangs, and tail.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Delta reveals to Cid that she has hundreds of brothers due to the twenty or so concubines her father mass-mated with.
• Might Makes Right: She respects strength and power above all else, with most of her affection for Cid coming from her awe at his overwhelming power, and she tends to look down on those she considers weak.
• Missing Steps Plan: She admits to Cid that her plan for world domination does not go further than him having 10,000 children.
• Morality Pet: Before her mother died, she always took care of her ill mother and endured tons of abuse from her siblings. Once her mother succumbs to her illness, she immediately kills her two full-blooded brothers.
• Ms. Fanservice: The anime especially ups the amount of fanservice she gives by giving her several scenes with her nearly naked along with several scenes with Cid/Shadow focussing on her curves while cuddling her master.
• The Nose Knows: Delta is quick to comment Cid smells like a cat or fox soon after he has seen Zeta or Yukime, and equally as prompt to replace their scent with her own. These aspect is also how, unfortunately for John Smith (Shadow's latest in-disguise cover), that Delta is immediately able to discern his true identity, despite John bathing thoroughly as well as adding loads of cologne to help offset that, sadly to no avail from Delta's scarily-superior sense of smell.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Using her canines, Delta takes a bite out of the greatsword a Nelson clone tries to use against her in Volume 2.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Under the orders of Cid and to keep her away from Alpha for a while, he sends her to Lawless City to assassinate Juggernaut, the ruler of Black Tower. Considering the fact she came back unharmed, she clearly succeeded. Funnily Kagejitsu shows she was able to easily behead her target, while the anime only shows the crumbled remains of Black Tower on fire with her howling on top of it.
• Percussive Therapy: Discussed. The reason why Cid usually lets Delta do her own thing is that when the latter is stressed, she either vents it off by beating someone (Usually Gamma) or destroys the local environment like the forest or a vegetable farm.
• Prehensile Tail: In the anime, she kills her brother by impaling him with her tail.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Upon discovering John Smith's true identity too early, Cid assigns her a "secret confidential mission" to hunt down Juggernaut the Tyrant in Lawless City and take her time in doing so. However, her sudden disappearance causes Shadow Garden to assume the worst that John Smith killed her which was not helped in the slightest by finding strands of her tail hair forcibly yanked out^note Cid had accidentally pulled on Delta's tail to stop her from telling the others and tossed the loose hair away and Cid's sinisterly vague answers on her whereabouts^note "[Delta] just went to a better place, that's all" and "Delta has gone to a faraway place" meant as in literally, not heaven.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: Due to her race, she can track any target even from a very long distance.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: She does not care if her clothes get destroyed and sometimes lounges around naked or scantily clad.
• Slasher Smile: She sports this whenever she's on the hunt.
• Secret-Keeper: Under orders from Shadow, Delta keeps his involvement in the Corporate Warfare confidential from Shadow Garden.
• Sibling Murder: Thinks of nothing when killing her own brother (Although she had to be reminded by him that he is her brother in the first place because of Massive Numbered Siblings) but didn't do so out of malice as he was simply part of the assassins she was ordered to kill and he failed to talk her out of it.
• Strength Equals Worthiness:
  • This is the reason why Delta follows Shadow, as having sensed that he was the most powerful being she encountered, she immediately submitted to him after sensing his power.
  • It is also why she obeys Alpha, as Delta challenged her for the position of second-in-command, and it is implied that she lost to her.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Due to Delta's characteristics, once she's ordered to "hunt" by either Cid or Alpha, only a select few can even throw her off like those two and Zeta.
• Super-Senses: Delta's instincts are one of the most developed among the Seven Shadows. She has keen eyesight and hearing and her sense of smell allows her to track down and identify people easily, even when they are in disguise, such as in Volume 3, when she instantly realizes that "John Smith" is actually her master.
• Take Over the World: Similar to Zeta, she also wants Shadow to take over the world, but unlike her she also wants Alpha's approval for her plan, which is for Cid to have 10,000 children.
• Third-Person Person: Delta refers to herself in the third person showcasing her child-like personality.
• Tranquil Fury: She wags her tail in a certain way when she is angry, even if she doesn't show it on her face. In Volume 3, she meets one of her brothers who works for the enemy. The knowledge of meeting one of the people that forced her into exile said person working with the enemy and begging her to be spared by offering her to be made the enemy's concubine leads to Delta being fed up with this and wasting no time to behead her older brother.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She's extremely strong, but too feral to effectively use her strength. Cid even mentions she could become more powerful than Alpha if she would learn not to go berserk all the time.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Additional information reveals that Delta was once a sweet girl looking after her sick mother. Unfortunately, she suffered nothing but abuse from her father and siblings and after her mother died, she radically changed into the Blood Knight we know today.
• Verbal Tic: Sometimes says "Oh-woof!" to begin her sentences in the light novel.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She has a rivalry with Gamma. Delta mercilessly beat Gamma up whenever they sparred, but they do care about each other.
• White Sheep: Delta was this to her clan as she would never harm the weak until personal tragedies molded her into a bloodthirsty wild beast. Thankfully, having been adopted by Shadow Garden allowed her to regain some of it.
• Willfully Weak: Until her mother's death, back when she was Sara, she hid her strength and hunting talent so she can stay with her mother till the end.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: A tragic case. After being ignored by her family for her whole life, she finally got their recognition after displaying her newfound strength and hunting skills. Then she got possessed and her family cast her out of the pack.

Epsilon

Epsilon

Other Names:: "The Precise"/"The Faithful" (Moniker), Shiron (Civilian Name)

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 15 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Ellen Evans (English)^{Other Languages} Marine André (French), Andrea Wick (German), Giulia Bersani (Italian)

The fifth member of the Seven Shadows, who is two years older than Cid. Epsilon was born into an elven noble house until she showed signs of demonic possession and was driven out, at which point she was found by Cid who saved her.

Epsilon specializes in controlling magic, though the only reason she practiced this was because she wanted to impress Cid with her perfect body.

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• 24-Hour Armor: Epsilon wears her slime bodysuit the entire time to give herself the perfect body shape.
• A-Cup Angst: Epsilon is very conscious about her looks since it doesn't help her seduce her beloved Shadow. It's revealed that she and all female members of her bloodline possess slender but flat bodies. But she uses her slime suit to give herself much larger Fake Boobs, and acts like she has Big-Breast Pride.
• Adaptational Badass: In the web novel, Epsilon is nearly defeated by Mordred, one of the Knights of Rounds who lead the Diabolos Cult. In the light novel, Epsilon goes toe to toe with Mordred, with only token assistance from Beta.
• Adaptational Modesty: In the light novel and manga, Epsilon wears a revealing dress that shows off some "skin" or slime in her case along with translucent parts. The anime instead has a simpler red dress that fully covers her body, but still shows off her "curves".
• Advertised Extra: While she is far from a minor character, she does get some promotion in certain volumes such as her character introduction being included in volume 3 despite only being mentioned in the passing and being featured on the cover of volume 5 for the sake of showcasing Shadow with the rest of the Seven Shadows despite not having any appearance or even being mentioned in the volume itself.
• Always Someone Better: Both played straight and Played for Laughs. She is beaten in martial arts thanks to Delta, beaten in intellect thanks to Gamma, and as for charms, Beta beats her by a long shot due to many, many factors. On top of that, she can't even be a Jack of All Trades since Alpha beats her as a Master of All.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: At one point in the web novel, Epsilon prepares to kill herself rather than let the Cult of Diablos get any information out of her. Thankfully, her master saves her.
• Break the Haughty: Downplayed. Epsilon took pride in her beauty, intelligence and battle prowess before she was cast out of her house. The demonic possession robbed her of everything; so when she was healed and accepted by Cid, she fell in love with him and wanted to serve him. However, after she joined Shadow Garden, she was forced to admit that she was not better than any of the other Seven Shadows at anything. She still has pride, but she respects the order of command and the people who outclass her.
• Berserk Button: Don't figure out that her figure is fake. At the minimum, she will release murderous intent; if it is anyone outside the Shadow Garden she will subject them to He Knows Too Much.
• Death by Looking Up: How she makes her proper debut in episode 10 by launching a magic attack on a Third Child upon Cid's cue that vertically and graphically tri-sects the child.
• Determinator: In the web novel, despite receiving a massive wound she still manages to elude the cult members chasing her and finally reaches a place to hide until Cid comes to back her up.
• Elegant Classical Musician: She's a former noble who works as an elegant pianist using songs her master told her about.
• Fake Boobs: Her main drive in developing her slime suit. Due to the fact they're just molded slime, they also have a tendency to wobble with the slightest of movements.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Justified. She's using her slime bodysuit to give herself the perfect figure.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite coming off as snobbish and rude to most of Shadow Garden and generally everyone not her master, Epsilon truly believes in her organization's cause and cares a lot for her subordinates. At one point in the Web Novel, she genuinely sympathizes with Millia due to their shared circumstances as victims of Demonic Possession, to the point she is willing to beg her beloved Shadow to spare the girl (when it seems like he will Mercy Kill her) so that she can be given another chance in life.
• Large Ham: Whenever she starts praising her master. As Cid puts it, she's the kind of person that exaggerates.
• Lazy Alias: Her civilian identity goes by "Shiron" which is similar to her actual name without the first two letters.
• The Magnificent: Her nickname is "The Precise" for her delicate and refined control of magic.
• Master of None: Epsilon originally had pride in her mastery of various skills, such as combat and intellect. However, after joining Shadow Garden, she discovered that her skills placed her second from the bottom as her fellow Seven Shadows are considered monsters in their areas of expertise. This is eventually subverted when she gains mastery over her magical precision, becoming the most skilled at magical technique aside from Shadow.
• Master of One Magic: She is an expert on magic control, earning the title The Precise. The fact that she has maintained her Impossible Hourglass Figure disguise for years shows the level of skill she possesses. Her primary use of her magic is a slicing attack which she sends straight at opponents, usually decapitating them.
• Ms. Fanservice: Epsilon's beauty and physique make even models jealous. The physique part is later subverted: Epsilon actually uses her slime Suit to alter her rear to be shapely, tighten her stomach, increase her height and create large fake breasts to look like a mature woman.
• My Suit Is Also Super: Epsilon's slime suit became this after she experimented on it multiple times. Thanks to her thick slime padding all over her body, she has incredibly high physical defense. This is what saves her from Venom's sneak attack and later Mordred's.
• Pride: This is a trait that she still retains from her noble heritage despite no longer being part of it. Whenever Cid compliments her, it can get to her head so much she becomes unbearable to even her comrades in Shadow Garden.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: In the web novel, Epsilon's cover story when joining the Black Rose is that she (now he) is Cid's younger brother who wants to be alongside him.
• Riches to Rags: Epsilon was once an elven noble with everything handed to her on a silver platter, and she took pride in her heritage. That is until she is discovered to have demonic possession and was cast out and hunted down like an animal. By the time she reaches her mutation stage, Epsilon's mind is filled with revenge and desires to get even with everyone who has betrayed her.
• The Rival: Epsilon sees Beta as a rival for her master's affections and tries to compete with her. But the latter couldn't care less until Epsilon sports "breasts" that surpass even hers.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Eta's a shield that nullifies everyone's slimt suits, she leaves immediately to prevent anyone from discovering her secret.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: During the Oriana Civil War arc of the web novel, Epsilon uses her slime suit to mask herself as a young boy. Her cover story is that she is Cid's younger brother who wants to join the Vow of Black Rose.
• Through His Stomach: While she first joined Cid, Epsilon cooked a rabbit for him. She was ecstatic that he found it delicious, and Master of Garden expanded this by giving her a lot of lines related to making food for Cid.
• Traumatic Haircut: In the web novel, Mordred cut her hair in his assassination attempt on her, which she barely survived.
• The Worf Effect: In the web novel, Epsilon is the first of the Seven Shadows to be seriously wounded in battle, in order to establish the threat level of Mordred, one of the Knights of the Rounds which spearhead the Diabolos Cult.

Zeta

Zeta

Other Names: "The Talent" (Moniker), Zetan (Civilian Name), Lilim (Former Identity)

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel), Chapter 55 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Ayaka Asai (Japanese), Dominique Meyer (English)^{Other Languages} Sybille de Montigny (French), Cindy Kepke (German), Deborah Morese (Italian)

The sixth member of the Seven Shadows. A therianthrope who is in charge of stealth and travels through the world alone to gather intel.

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• The Ace: Cid notes that she, alongside Alpha, are the most perfect beings in the Shadow Garden with their talent.
• Adaptation Expansion: She makes more physical appearances in the anime, unlike the light novel in which her first appearance came in the fifth volume.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: One of the most literal cases, her character design was first revealed for the anime unlike the Web Novel in which she made no appearances and the Light Novel in which she debuted in Volume 5.
• And Then What?: Zeta fears that after the complete collapse of the Cult, Shadow Garden would have no purpose anymore and disband. Hence, she forms a faction behind Alpha's back with the goal of resurrecting Diablos to make Shadow immortal and the god of the new world.
• Battle Aura: Due to how talented Zeta is, she can exude an aura so strong she brought a Named Child down to its knees without even lifting a finger.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Cid notes that Zeta is the most talented person with the capacity to even surpass Alpha in terms of ability, which is why his moniker for her is "Zeta the Talent", but she quickly becomes bored after learning a skill, which prevents her from fully mastering them.
• Cat Girl: Due to hailing from the golden panther clan, Zeta is a cat-like Therianthrope which leads her to butt heads with Delta, a dog Therianthrope.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: It turns out her lack of appearances until Volume 5 wasn't just due to intel gathering and/or being sent on missions, but also creating a Renegade Splinter Faction for her own personal agenda separate from Alpha's.
• The Chief's Daughter: Her father was the head of the golden panther clan and unlike Delta's father, he did not try to kill Zeta upon finding out she suffers from Demonic Possession.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Her past is even worse than other members of Shadow Garden despite or because her parents did not disown her and fully loved her no matter what, who are then killed one by one by the cult once they found out about her ancestry and demonic possession. While she was saved by Shadow, the ordeal left her with a far greater hatred against the cult than any of the other members of Shadow Garden.
• Death by Origin Story: She became Zeta after her father, mother and younger brother were all murdered by the Cult of Diabolos.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: When the priest send by the cult managed to corner her, she begged him to at least spare her brother only for him to behead the baby held in her hands without any hestitation.
• The Dreaded: Unlike the others, Zeta has made quite a name for herself. The Cult of Diablos is wary, of high alert, and has known her in comparison to the other Shadow Garden members and Aurora herself warned Claire against her.
• Freudian Excuse: Her willingness to do anything for her goal stems from her experience of witnessing her family and clan being murdered right before her eyes by the Cult of Diablos. Alpha tries to remove the sparks of hatred in Zeta's but is met with scorn by the latter.
• Given Name Reveal: In the same volume she debuted in, her original name was revealed as Lilim when Zeta reminisces about the time she was saved by Shadow.
• Godhood Seeker: An interesting case where Zeta isn't interested in godhood herself, but wants to make Shadow a god, believing humanity will be better off under Shadow's guidance. Zeta also believes Shadow is at least interested in the possibility of immortality but is too kind to actually seek it out. Unbeknownst to her, Cid is very interested in the prospect of living forever and even devised a spell that would increase his lifespan by at least 600 years, though he's disappointed all he gets is an extra six centuries.
• Going Commando: The Kage-Jitsu short reveals that Zeta doesn't wear undergarments as Therianthropes tend to not wear them which is clearly highlighted by her Navel-Deep Neckline.
• Good Parents: Unlike other members of Shadow Garden. Her parents did not abandon her upon finding out about her Demonic Possession with her father instead desperately tried to find a cure, which ended with him discovering the cult and someone in Midgar capable of fighting against them.
• Identical Granddaughter: Like Alpha who resembles Olivier, Zeta heavily resembles the therianthrope Hero Lili, who guards the Diablos arm in the school sanctuary.
• It's All My Fault: She blamed herself for the death of her family due to her Demonic Possession.
• Irony: The main reason why she wants Shadow to attain immortality is so that he can reign over the world as a god. However, Cid actually plans on using immortality to disappear for centuries until the world forgets about him only to return to showcase his powers once more.
• Jack of All Trades: Cid notes that Zeta is practically good at everything if not for her Brilliant, but Lazy tendencies, which prevents her from becoming a Master of All like Alpha.
• Last of His Kind: She is the last of the Golden Panther Tribe after Petos massacred everyone including her little brother just for her and the desire to be promoted into the Rounds.
• Lazy Alias: The Hot Springs/Pool Episode reveals that her civilian identity goes by the name "Zetan", which is just her name with an "n" at the end.
• Multi-Melee Master: Like her master Shadow, she's adept at handling every type of weapon but she gets bored and discards them easily. Cid laments on the fact that she could've mastered them if not for that flaw.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her uniform contains one, thus giving a diamond view of her ample chest. Master of Garden explains it is done in an attempt to seduce Cid.
• No Place for Me There: After achieving the goal of obtaining eternal life for Shadow, she is fullly prepared for him to likely take her life in retaliation for the lengths she would have to go.
• Overzealous Underling: She created a splinter faction with the goal of making Shadow the immortal god of the world and is willing to seriously endanger Claire in order to resurrect Diabolos in order to do so, fully accepting that her master may kill her for it.
• The Power of Hate: Her raison d'etre in Shadow Garden, which Alpha tries to quell to no avail.
• Razor Wind: Zeta, during on of their talks with Nina in the Sanctuary, uses this against the latter for the crime of not adding -sama on Cid's sister Claire.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Volume 5 shows that she created one between herself, Victoria, and Nina (who is not a member of Shadow Garden) so she can perform tasks behind the organization's back. While they still want to defeat the cult, they want to go further by taking over the world and making Shadow its god after he attains immortality.
• Rings of Death: Zeta's favorite specialized weapon are the chakrams and casually executes members in the Fenrir's faction during one of their talks with Nina in the school sanctuary.
• Sole Survivor: She is the only survivor of her clan due to the cult killing all her family members to capture her and all the other clan members to prevent information leakage.
• Stealth Expert: Cid notes that if Zeta is serious, no one could possibly chase and catch her. She is usually in charge of exploration, intelligence gathering, and espionage for the Shadow Garden. In Volume 4, Alpha is usually exasperated at her for not even reporting towards the former often when she heard the news of Zeta accompanying Cid back to Midgar and in Volume 5, she manages to throw off an angry Delta much to Cid's amazement.
• Super-Deformed: In the manga, the dark and brooding Zeta often turns into a chibi white cat when she acts like one around her "master" Cid.
• Super Smoke: Zeta, like Alpha, is capable of turning into mist using the Blood Queen's technique and is shown into great effect against Delta. Cid even compliments her for it.
• Take Over the World: In the game Master of Garden, she asks Cid what his dream is only for her to constantly make it clear she wants it to be world domination, even when she's younger. While Played for Laughs during the game it is elaborated upon in Volume 5, which shows she truly wants Shadow Garden to rule over the world with Shadow as its new god once he attains immortality to ensure that humanity won't make the same mistakes again.
• Unknown Character: In the web novel, she is never shown nor even mentioned despite her importance as one of the Seven Shadows.
• Unseen No More: While it is always stated there are Seven Shadows, Zeta was never mentioned until Light Novel Volume 4 before making her full debut in Volume 5.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As Lilim, she was a sweet and kind girl, who deeply cared about her family till the point she was willing to let them kill her once she is afflicted with Demonic Possession. Their deaths at the hands of the cult is what drives her to exterminate them and make Shadow the god of the new world she envisions.
• Virtue Is Weakness: The reason she creates a Shadow Garden splinter group with Nina and Victoria is that she believes Alpha's kindness will spell doom towards Shadow Garden on top of the organization possibly disbanding after the Cult is defeated. This is also her line of thinking on what holds back Shadow from being immortal and ruling the world.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Unlike other members of Shadow Garden, Zeta is willing to make even more morally ambiguous actions than them with her end goal being the resurrection of Diabolos so that Shadow will attain immortality and become the god of the world in order to ensure it will not be led astray again by another evil cult.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After a harsh journey and both her parents sacrificing themselves, Lilith was able to reach the ocean. However, she was immediately captured by Petos, who murders her little brother and shows the heads of her family and clan members to sink her into despair.
• You Killed My Father: She hates the Cult of Diabolos for the murder of her entire family.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Zeta, during one of their talks with Cid, is willing to bear the world's hatred for Shadow.

Eta

Eta

Other Names: Eta Lloyd Wright (Civilian Name)

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel), Chapter 62 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Voiced by: Reina Kondo (Japanese), Genevieve Simmons (English)^{Other Languages}Eileen Fuhrmann (German)

The seventh member of the Seven Shadows. An elf in charge of research and tech development, she helps in creating most of the unique equipment that Shadow Garden uses.

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• Adaptation Expansion: She makes more physical appearances in the anime, unlike the light novel where her first appearance came in the fifth volume.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: One of the most literal cases, her character design was first revealed for the anime unlike the Web Novel in which she was only mentioned in the Oriana arc and the Light Novel in which she debuted in Volume 5.
• Anti-Magic: Eta has been able to create a magic zone that prevents her opponents from using magic.
• Badass Bookworm: Unlike Gamma, who is knowledgeable in business but lacks fighting skills, Eta does have skills in fighting despite spending most of her time in her lab as shown by her mastery of slime weapons, which allows her to morph them into many weapons to attack with. Not to mention the potency of her inventions if she were to unleash them.
• Beware the Silly Ones: While Eta is usually a lazy sleepyhead, who talks slowly, she still is one of the Seven Shadows and amongst the strongest members of Shadow Garden especially if she were to use her inventions. The fact Beta called in help from Nu, Lambda, Chi, Omega, and Epsilon to get her to free Akane, which failed due to them not expecting her Anti-Magic disruption barrier truly showcases how feared she is within the organization.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: She spends 10 hours a day asleep and spends only a few hours at work with the implication that she spends the rest of it lazing around yet she is in charge of research and tech development while making many breakthroughs.
• Crazy-Prepared: In the Mitsugoshi Hot Springs Lands, she installed a system to stop peeping toms, which can be activated with a button.
• The Dreaded: She is feared even by her own Shadow Garden comrades due to her desire to experiment on them or other individuals who happen to be unfortunate enough to end up in her care.
• Energy Absorption: She was able to invent a shield that can absorb magic power, this is highly effective and revolutionary since shields are rarely used due to their magic conductivity being twice as consuming compared to swords.
• For Science!: She is very interested in discovering and studying new things. This is why she loves hearing Shadow talk about "Shadow Knowledge" and in Master of Garden has stated that she kept taking notes when afflicted with Demonic Possession until the condition worsened.
• Gadgeteer Genius: She is shown to be Shadow Garden's primary researcher and scientist, as she is shown to be very capable of coming up with whatever invention that Gamma requests of her. She is shown to be able to create, repair, and even improve ancient artifacts.
• Genius Slob: She is the most intelligent member of Shadow Garden yet her research room is a huge mess, which only she can navigate through.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Until Volume 5, in the light novels Eta was only mentioned a few times by Shadow Garden aside from a brief part from her perspective. Like with Zeta, the anime averts this and shows her working alongside the other Shadows and taking part in the raid to free Cid's sister.
• Laborious Laziness: In Master of Garden, she spends four days without sleep to build a magic tool that will find and pick her research tools so she doesn't have to do that herself. It becomes a "Shaggy Dog" Story afterward once she realizes that she can just extend her reach with slime to pick them up.
• Lazy Alias: Her civilian name is simply Eta with a middle and last name added.
• Love Potion: In Volume 5 Eta made some happy pills and let Beta drink them due to the latter being depressed about the failure of her Japan trip when her loot got damaged on their way back. It ended in Beta tearing her clothes and wailing, much to Alpha's chagrin that she cuts Eta's research budget due to reasons of human experimentation.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: While shields are rarely used due to the fact they consume twice as much mana as swords, she was able to invent a shield capable of absorbing magic attacks, which includes swords imbued with magic, thus bypassing said flaw.
• Mad Scientist: Played for Laughs, The members of Shadow Garden are usually afraid of her when it comes to researching, both Master of Garden and Volume 5's profile calling her somewhat psychopathic.In Volume 3, Beta is hesitant to give her the Blood Queen's samples lest she wanted to become Eta's lab rat while in Volume 4, Alpha gives Beta the task of taking care of Akane Nishino instead of Eta out of fear of her given free reign. This is taken more seriously in Volume 6 when she tries to use Akane as research material with her planning to remove Akane's vocal cords and drain her brain.
• Meaningful Name: Her civilian identity "Eta Lloyd Wright" is a direct reference to the world-renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
• Mirror Character: Just like Sherry she is a researcher, but while Sherry researches artifacts from ancient civilizations, Eta's research is more based on creating tools from the modern world through Cid's descriptions.
• Money Fetish: The main reason, she does research for Alpha is for the sake of increasing the funds for her personal research, which gets cut a lot due to Alpha disapproving of her amoral actions.
• Morph Weapon: She makes the most use of the slime weapon's malleability using it to transform it into swords, shields, spears, and lances to counterattack.
• Never My Fault: When trying to use her new Brain Sucker No. 23 on Akane, she states that if the machine fails, all the blame will go to... Sherry since she based the machine's functions on Sherry's research on the relation between magic and the brain.
• Obviously Fake Signature: When trying to take Akane as her test subject, she makes a document that looks like it was written by Alpha, which states that Eta is allowed to experiment on Akane alone. However, Beta is quickly able to see that the document is forged since while the handwriting is perfect, she also notices it is written slowly and lacks the vigor Alpha usually has when writing.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: She is the primary researcher of the demon, Diablos, creating new magical techniques based on the information collected and also easily able to decode Cid's message using five different languages.
• Omniglot: Due to learning from Cid that all languages of sapient beings have similar rules, Eta was able to use this knowledge to decipher his message (which uses five different languages from Earth) earlier than planned and even managed to master the basics of Japanese. This allows her to have a proper conversation with Akane, who notes that unlike Beta, who only could speak broken Japanese despite going to Japan herself, Eta has a much better mastery of it.
• Playboy Bunny: In the Hot Springs Episode, she transforms her slime suit into this to use as a swimsuit.
• The Quiet One: Eta rarely speaks, even in the anime adaptation. When she does talk more often like in the Kage-jitsu anime shorts or Master of Garden, she tends to speak slowly in a halting, Terse Talker manner.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: When trying to pick a swimsuit to transform her slime into, Alpha tells her that she cannot use anything too proactive, which prevents Eta from making her slime see-through or turn it into a sling bikini. She does however settle for a Playboy Bunny suit.
• The Stoic: Unless with Cid or concerning his "Shadow Wisdom", Eta doesn't show much emotion to the point of bordering on The Comically Serious in the Kage-jitsu anime shorts.
• Sleepyhead: Eta has a habit of dozing off while either working or even during important meetings. She even has a habit of Sleepwalking around the Shadow Garden's base and hitting into wall, thus forcing the other members to retrieve her.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: As her research notes in Volume 5 reveal, she tried to knock Cid/Shadow out with an elixer strong enough to knock out dragons so she can research his brain. It only failed due to Cid being immune to it with him noting the bitter taste.
• Unseen No More: After only being mentioned a few times throughout the volumes, Eta finally makes a physical appearance in volume 5.
• Virtue Is Weakness: A trait she also shares with Zeta. In her research log in Volume 5, Eta comments on Shadow being too kind to deal with the corrupt politicians and the rotten knight corps in the Midgar Kingdom that if she's given a choice, she would level and destroy everything from the ground up because it's too bothersome to deal with.

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