Shadow Garden (Cid Kagenou/Shadow (Cid's Other Identities) | Seven Shadows) | Cult of Diablos | Midgar Kingdom
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Cult of Diablos
General
- Ambition Is Evil: The temptation of being in the Knights of Rounds and all of its benefits including Immortality is what drives people in the cult to commit any atrocity.
- Ancient Conspiracy: Existed since at least since Diablos' rise, and had manipulated the Three Heroes into killing Diablos so they could take Diablos' remains for their own ends, first using an arm severed from Diablos by Olivier as the foundation for their research.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Their goals are to gain power from Diablos' remains and take over the world, and they've gone about this by kidnapping, assassination, evil experiments, planting moles and puppet kings in key locations, and unleashing a zombie plague.
- Despair Event Horizon: Some of their members once tried to oppose the cult themselves only to fall to despair and join them upon the realization they don't stand a chance.
- Drugs Are Bad: All their members are enhanced with drugs derived from Diablos with the majority of them only being able to fight and unable to think for themselves. Their higher-ranked members also take red pills that enhance their strength even more with an overdose even being lethal.
- Elite Mooks: The Named Children are the most powerful of the cult's soldiers, either coming from the 1st and maybe even the 2nd Children.
- Evil vs. Evil: The anime has shown that in the past, the cult went up against the threat of vampires, who were using humanity as a source of food and could potentially subjugate the entire race if left unchecked.
- Fantastic Rank System: They have three classes for the Children they train with the Thirds being the weaklings that failed to graduate and are considered disposable by the cult. The small percentage that do manage to graduate are the Second Children, who are mentally stable. And the First Children are amongst the strongest of their organization, but still weaker than the rounds. Named Children are the Elite Mooks of the cult, who made significant contributions and are tasked with leading operations under the command of the Rounds.
- Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. Their self-assurance on their own capabilities in destroying Shadow Garden borders on suicide. Perv even lampshades just how out-of-depth they are.
- Genocide Backfire: The cult tries to eliminate every possessed females and anything that ties with them. Said people are saved by Shadow and later his mysterious armed group Shadow Garden and have desires of Revenge against the Cult. Special mention to Zeta, whose tribe got exterminated just for her.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Cult practically controlled the world for countless centuries, if not thousands of years uncontested, with any attempts to fight them in the past all ending in failure. When Shadow Garden comes into the picture, however, they suffer a series of losses that weakens them to the point where their financial situation is in ruins, they have little to no influence in the Oriana Kingdom anymore, and the dominant faction in the Midgar Kingdom is so weak the Cult can only afford to send them Second and Third children to bolster their numbers. Fenrir even lampshades this, noting how the Cult is a shadow of its former self.
- Immortality Seeker: The main goal of the Cult of Diablos is to extract the power of Diablos and gain immortality for themselves and to use this power along with their influence to dominate the world.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Thanks to Shadow, the cult is now suffering centuries' worth of punishments caused by their atrocities with their fall coming closer every day.
- Leave No Witnesses: The Cult will eliminate any person who has even the slightest idea about their activities as a rule with Mordred even stating that this is the cult's MO.
- Magitek: The Cult's Sanctuary was not a religious temple as the name might suggest, but a genetic research and cloning facility.
- Medieval Stasis: The world is experiencing something of a steampunk stasis (gunpowder and trains exist), but the Cult has access to advanced technology such as biological engineering and a laboratory complex, but hordes it for themselves to maintain control over the world. It's not until Shadow Garden creates a corporate front using Cid's knowledge from Earth, that new innovation begins to spread around the world.
- One-Winged Angel: When backed into a corner by a stronger enemy, they use a red lozenge containing drugs made from Diablos' cells to boost their abilities all the while mutating them into something inhuman.
- Organization with Unlimited Funding: Averted; In Volume 5, it is revealed that due to the actions of John Smith and Yukime, they are scraping the barrel for funding and can only afford to send 2nd & 3rd Children to support the Fenrir faction to activate the Diablos arm under the school sanctuary.
- Religion of Evil: They are worshiping a demon that has nearly destroyed the world. It's later revealed they aren't a religion at all and don't care about the demon, only its power.
- Discussed in Volume 5, Alpha points out to Rose Oriana that they need her to become the Oriana Kingdom's leader and as their proxy state since, while the Shadow Garden's might can and will easily destroy the Cult, their hold on the religion will never let them be annihilated. The Garden needs someone to expose their crimes and discard the religion thoroughly.
- Social Climber: The twelfth seat is currently vacant which leads eager opportunists, such as Zenon Griffey and Perv Asshat, to do whatever dirty, inhumane, or homicidal deed it takes for such power and immortality. However, it's implied the Knights of Rounds left the seat open to entice others into doing their dirty work and ensuring their allegiance to the cult without the intention of ever fulfilling the position.
- Take Over the World: Their other primary goal aside from immortality and power, and by the start of the story, they already are running it and will commit any atrocity to maintain their control.
- Underestimating Badassery: When Shadow Garden was first founded, they dismissed the organization as yet another futile effort to oppose them. Five years later, the organization expands tremendously and rivals if not surpasses the cult in might with them having several setbacks including: the deaths of several Knights of Rounds members, a reduced number in the production of Tears of Diablos, the complete loss of influence in Oriana, and also losing their grip on other countries, especially Midgar, due to the loss of the Fenrir Faction ant the Thirteen Night Swords.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: The Diablos Cult has ruled the world unopposed for so long that they've grown complacent and failed to innovate. In many cases, the failure to innovate is purposefully done to maintain Medieval Stasis. Then Shadow Garden appears to challenge them. In their hubris they ignore and dismiss the threat, allowing Shadow Garden to rapidly amass greater wealth and power until Shadow Garden surpasses the Cult in overall might.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Most of them are in key positions that are respected by the rest of the world, allowing the cult to carry out their criminal activities without suspicion.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Fenrir, during his talk with Petos, comments on how the cult finally stops the factional disputes and is now united for the first time in centuries due to the threat of Shadow Garden.
- We Have Become Complacent: Considering the fact the Cult existed since ancient times and all attempts to oppose them were swiftly dealt with. They are completely unprepared to oppose an organization of far greater size than any of their other opponents.
- We Have Reserves: The Diablos Cult's Third Children are just brainwashed people who are meant to be killed, whether or not they accomplished their missions. Second Children are about the same but they retained their sanity.
- Would Hurt a Child: They have been doing this for hundreds of years, most especially in killing the descendants of the Three Heroes.
Knights of Rounds
In General
- Big Bad Ensemble: The Rounds are the leaders of the cult and are responsible for the cult's atrocities throughout history.
- Cosmopolitan Council: The leaders of the cult, the Knights of Rounds, are comprised of twelve individuals. This is relevant as their concoction for immortality can only be produced in twelve:
- So far, only five of them have been introduced, Nelson (9th), Modred (11th), Fenrir (5th), Petos (10th) and Loki (Unknown) in which the first three were slain by Shadow while also killing the former tenth seat that it got Petos promoted.
- The others who shared the same fate are either powerful enough to become one (Zenon Griffey), a former member of the twelve (Lutheran Barnett), and one who's been promised a promotion by a member of the Rounds (Perv Asshat).
- The twelfth seat remains unoccupied at the moment and hasn't been for quite some time according to Fenrir.
- Dwindling Party: They already lost three members before Cid enrolled into the academy with their numbers slowly windling as the stories goes on with Nelson, Mordered and Fenrir dying by Volume 5.
Nelson
Jack Nelson
Debut: Volume 2 (Light Novel), Chapter 15 (Manga), Episode 11 (Anime)
Voiced by: Mugihito (Japanese), James Belcher (English)
The eleventh seat of the Knights of Rounds, who posed as the acting archbishop of the Holy Church.
- Arc Villain: He is the main antagonist for the first half of volume 2 due to being the Rounds members stationed in the Holy Sanctuary.
- Baldness Angst: Alexia loves to take potshots at the man's lack of hair. When she learns about his secret to immortality, she thinks Nelson's baldness is the result of it, only to learn that it's just natural.
- Bald of Evil: He's balding but quite evil.
- Death by Secret Identity: Nelson learns Alpha's identity as Olivier's descendant and plans on capturing her to save face. He didn't get far as Cid kills him.
- Dirty Coward: He is by far the most pathetic out of his fellow cult members as years of complacency have rendered him too useless to be ever able to participate in a fight.
- Dirty Old Man: When Natsume Kafka (Beta's civilian identity) asks questions about Aurora, Nelson takes an opportunity to ogle at her chest.
- Fat Bastard: He is quite obese and has experimented on countless children with most leading to gruesome mutations and eventual death.
- Last-Name Basis: Always referred to by his last name and never as Jack.
- Mad Scientist: He was one of the original researchers who studied Diablos long ago.
- Necessary Drawback: While he is able to summon an army of copies from himself in the Sanctuary, their actions are still limited to the amount of brainpower he has.
- Really 700 Years Old: He's possibly centuries old using the power of Diablos.
- Self-Duplication: He can make multiple copies of himself to overwhelm his enemies. This is rendered mute and deconstructed since the clones can't do anything since he's only one man and can't control all of them at once.
- Sinister Minister: An archbishop, secretly working with a cult that wants to resurrect a demon.
- Starter Villain: Unlike the other Rounds, Nelson lacks abilities to truly make him threatening in combat against Shadow Garden and is the first active member of Rounds shown in the present day.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Jack Nelson is a pretty mundane name for a leader of a centuries-old Religion of Evil.
- Zerg Rush: His only way of fighting is to make an army of copies of himself to wear Shadow Garden out, which fails due to how easily Delta is able to tear through them along with him being unable to control so many bodies at once efficiently.
Mordred
Mordred
Debut: Volume 4 (Light Novel), Chapter 45 (Manga), Episode 20 (Anime, Cameo)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese)
The ninth seat of the Knights of Rounds known as "The Knight Beyond Men" and "The Transcendent Spellsword" for wielding the magic Invisible Blade.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair was silver in the web novel but had changed to red in the light novel.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the web novel, Mordred was able to take on Epsilon and several Shadow Garden members with ease. In the light novel, he was nearly overwhelmed by both Epsilon and Beta and it's implied that one of them could have easily defeated him. In the anime, Epsilon and Beta also pointed out that his armour and cape are artifacts, not only just the Invisible Blade but still defeated Mordred offscreen without any visible injury and only spared him to gather information.
- An Arm and a Leg: In the Web Novel, his arm got bisected after Shadow and Aurora escape.
- Battle Trophy: In the Web Novel, he kept some of Epsilon's hair after defeating her.
- Blood Knight: He seems less interested in fulfilling the cult's goals and wants to fight the Seven Shadows.
- Casting Gag: Modred is voiced by Takehito Koyasu known for voicing DIO in Jojos Bizarre Adventure. Fittingly, Modred and Shadow's showdown involves the latter (An egomaniac villain) going insane and powering up to have a sky battle with the former (An exasperated Anti-Hero) even saying "Yare yare daze"note .
- Combat Pragmatist: In the web novel, he was able to defeat Epsilon by injuring her with a surprise attack thus forcing her to flee.
- Curbstomp Battle: In the Web Novel, he has beaten 664, 665 and even Epsilon, one of the Seven Shadows. In the LN and anime, he’s the one on the receiving end by first Epsilon and Beta, then Shadow after undergoing Fusion Dance.
- Death by Adaptation: While still alive (so far) in the web novel, he gets beheaded by Shadow shortly after his Fusion Dance with the various pieces of Ragnarok, the Ruler of the Fourth Hell Dimension. His head becomes a gateway to (and from) another dimension, specifically, the Japan of Cid's previous life as Kageno Minoru.
- Dirty Coward: Both Beta and Epsilon accuse Mordred of being this since all his power came from all the artifacts he had been using. Mordred was seriously pissed upon hearing that.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the Web Novel, his besting of Epsilon is there to acknowledge he's stronger than other villains in the previous arcs.
- Fusion Dance: By absorbing pieces of an interdimensional beast.
- Insane Troll Logic: Mordred merges with a piece of Ragnarok to have the power to kill Shadow, despite the fact that Ragnarok was easily dealt with by Shadow and he could barely keep up against his subordinates. Shadow even lampshades how that just makes Mordred dumber than Delta.
- Invisible Means Undodgeable: Both on the attacking and the receiving end of it. After managing to acquire The Invisible Blade, a long lost elven artifact, his attacks are this unless you are aware of his weapon itself or have the instincts to even dodge it. Unfortunately, his opponents are elves named Beta and Epsilon who, not only have both but the latter is even capable of throwing out invisible attacks too. The only reason he survives is they meant to spare him until they can pry out more information from him.
- Ironic Echo: He insults Beta and Epsilon by calling them small-timers when he summons Ragnarok of the Fourth Realm. When Shadow bisected its wing, Mordred praises Shadow only for the latter to return the small-timer insult towards him, earning his ire.
- Irony: Shadow reduces Mordred to nothing more than a head, like how Mordred decapitated Perv (and Queen Reina in the anime).
- Just Between You and Me: After defeating him, Beta and Epsilon bait him into explaining how the Black Rose works by appealing to his arrogance, saying that if he's so confident that Ragnarok will kill them all, then there is no reason for him to worry about divulging critical information. It works like a charm.
- Laughing Mad: He does this in Volume 4 when faced with imminent defeat against Shadow and the Shadow Garden.
- Oh, Crap!: Not only Mordred was shocked that Shadow has escaped a dimension, something he thought was not possible but also learned that he plans to reveal the truth about the Cult of Diablos and more to the world.
- Red Baron: Nicknamed the "Knight Beyond Men" for his unbeatable fighting style (even though it's not really his).
- Smug Snake: He makes a big deal about his "fighting style" that allows him to unleash invisible Sword Beams, setting aside the fact that he's actually using an artifact to do that, not his own skills. He's also awfully confident in the power of Ragnarok, which Shadow ends up defeating with relative ease.
- This Cannot Be!: He has a hard time grasping how Shadow was able to cut limb by limb and defeat Ragnarok, the ruler of the 4th realm. Even more so when he tried to assimilate its powers to him but was promptly curbstomped by Shadow.
- Villainous Breakdown: He experiences one hell of a breakdown after Shadow destroys Ragnarok, failing to grasp how such an unstoppable force could be defeated and expressing the belief that he's suffering a nightmare.
- White Hair, Black Heart: In the Web Novel, he's a handsome silver-haired man who is working for the cult. However, this was subverted in the light novel as he became an Evil Redhead.
- You Have Failed Me: Mordred kills off his subordinate for failing to report anything of significance or basically just wasting his time.
Fenrir
Fenrir
Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)
The fifth seat of the Knights of the Rounds.
- Arc Villain: The final boss for the White Mist Arc and volume 5 as a whole.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Fenrir could not think of a better way to go than being sent off by a Worthy Opponent who has finally shown him the pinnacle of power after hundreds of years but Shadow is quick to shatter this delusion with a few of these responses in rapid succession.Fenrir: [As he lies dying with a smile on his face] *Cough!* "... In his final moments, he saw the peak of martial prowess... You showed me something good."Shadow: [Boredly snaps back] "The peak of martial prowess doesn't exist."Fenrir: "W-what are you saying? You're the one..."Shadow: "There's more at the end of the peak. That's all..."Fenrir: "Oh my..."Shadow: "When people think that's the peak, they stop walking."Fenrir: "I see, so that's why I..." [Sudden realisation] "...I can't see the peak yet."[Fenrir dies, his smile now replaced with one full of regret]
- Ax-Crazy: Like White Demon, he has murdered countless people for the thrill and being able to face opponents stronger than him. This earns him the title the Midgar Devil and strikes fear in anyone who has even heard of his name.
- Black Mail: Implied. Fenrir plans to use his knowledge about Zeta as a bargaining chip towards Petos when he notices that Petos acted unusually at the mention of a golden-colored beastkin operative of the Shadow Garden.
- Blood Knight: Fenrir loves fighting strong opponents. During his talk with Petos, he gets excited at the prospect of fighting Zeta & Shadow after hearing their prowess and in the white mist, he loves the thrill of fighting Aurora (in Claire's body) and is finally ecstatic when "Suzuki" fights him and reveals himself as Shadow.
- Combat Pragmatist: Fenrir's favorite tactic is to distract and rile up his opponents in order to lower their focus and guard then quickly attack them.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: He notes that the cult wouldn't have to deal with Shadow Garden in the present if they actually put the effort in annihilating them five years earlier.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Fenrir was inflicted his own finishing move courtesy of Shadow, ripping him limb from limb, piercing his heart and beheaded in an over-the-top fashion. Furthermore, Shadow mentally breaks him by basically telling him his life's goal of reaching the pinnacle of strength was pathetically small-minded since there should never be a set goal for true power at all and how weak he was for giving up his dreams when it got "too hard". Thus, Fenrir died deep in regret and despair as his head was smashed open like a watermelon.
- Death Seeker: Despite living for hundreds even thousands of years, Fenrir can never achieve what he called the "peak of martial prowess" after religiously training for as long. Thus he had simply given up his dreams and settled for the next best thing, experiencing this peak from someone who can best him and gladly perishes before the might of Shadow. Unfortunately for him, Shadow gave him an Armor-Piercing Response that completely shattered his worldview and reignited his passion just moments before passing away.
- The Dreaded: He's regarded by Aurora as the Midgar Devil who murdered countless people to achieve the peak of martial arts. And, true to that name, he manages to fight Aurora, using Claire's body, to a standstill.
- Graceful Loser: Takes his death at the hands of Shadow in stride, having finally seen the pinnacle of ultimate strength in the thousands of years of his lifetime. Even after Shadow told him everything he believed in was pathetic and short-sighted at best, he accepted the notion and wistfully thought about going down a different path before dying.
- I Shall Taunt You: Fenrir's favorite tactic is to distract and rile up his opponents in order to lower their focus and guard. Aurora herself warns Claire against this while protecting her from Fenrir's attacks.
- Hannibal Lecture: Aside from being good at riling up opponents with a few choice words, Fenrir is also able to leave them speechless or Break Them by Talking. When Fenrir introduces himself to Claire and Alexia, he mocks Claire for even threatening to punish him by either by the knights or Claire herself. He later stumps Alexia when she mentions Shadow Garden, mocking said princess and calling her pathetic for even considering a random group of strangers to stop them. Fenrir even mentions that the Shadow Garden itself is an underworld dweller like them.
- The Rival: In the factions of the cult, he utterly hates Loki and only sucks up their cooperation due to the actions of Cid (Economically via John Smith) and the threat of the Shadow Garden (Via attrition of personnel).
- The Scapegoat: Due to the instigation of Loki, Fenrir is usually blamed by the Cult's leadership on the massive crisis they face against the Shadow Garden and is unanimously agreed to be not given a drop of the Tears of Diablos once produced much to Fenrir's chagrin. Fenrir even laments that it is due to the cult's complacency that made this problem grow larger than it should be had they dealt with it five years ago.
- Sleep-Mode Size: Fenrir usually takes the appearance of a young boy which is still strong for an ordinary individual to engage with. He gets into his old man/Midgar Devil mode when he encounters a more dangerous enemy such as Aurora or Shadow.
- Strength Equals Worthiness: Fenrir, aside from his rivalry of Loki and his faction, scoffs at the weaker members of the Rounds and doesn't acknowledge the likes of Petos and Nelson taking seats.
- Super Smoke: He's able to seamlessly blend into the background and become one with the white mist, similar to Aurora's blood technique, for sneak attacks. Shadow sees through this and blows away the mist so Fenrir loses the element of surprise.
- Tempting Fate: When Petos informed him the dwindling production of the Tears of Diablos will soon decrease from nine to eight, Fenrir jokingly claims he's glad Shadow Garden has been killing them off so they don't have to worry about the short supply. He didn't bet that he'll be next on their hit list after Shadow ripped him limb from limb with his own move.
- Worthy Opponent: As with so many Death Seeking enemies Shadow came across, Fenrir finally found someone who surpasses him and wants to die at his hands in glorious battle. However, Shadow doesn't return the sentiment since he's disappointed that this is the best the now-former fifth seater can do and now he's accepting death for thinking he finally saw the peak when there isn't one to begin with, sounding almost bored when giving his Armor-Piercing Response.
Petos
Petos
Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)
The tenth seat of the Knights of Rounds.
- Arch-Enemy: To Zeta. Fenrir notes that Petos acted unusually when he mentioned on encountering a golden panther therianthrope from Shadow Garden.
- Chain Pain: He wields a chain as a weapon during Zeta's flashback.
- Family Extermination: He massacres the entire Golden Panther Tribe due to Zeta and the desire to be promoted into the Rounds.
- Klingon Promotion: The reason why Petos is even in the Knights of the Rounds at all, despite barely qualifying and vastly underpowered for such a position, is the previous ten-seater was Killed Offscreen two years ago by Shadow and the cult scrambled to find a replacement on short notice.
- Sinister Minister: Like Nelson, Petos is a priest working for the Cult of Diablos.
- The Unfought: He's the only named Knights of Rounds so far to live past their introduction due to not fighting Shadow or Shadow Garden head-on.
- Wham Line: In a conversation with Fenrir, he was the one to reveal the yearly production of Diablos' tears, the Knights of Rounds' highly sought-after immortality pills, has drastically reduced from twelve to nine and soon to be eight. This would explain the cult's increasing desperation to retrieve Diablos' parts and why the twelfth seat is currently unoccupied all this time.
Loki
Loki
Debut: Volume 6 (Light Novel)
- Early-Bird Cameo: Loki was mentioned once during Fenrir and Petos' conversation on the subject of the latter's rivalry in volume 5 before he made his actual appearance in the next volume.
- The Nondescript: Loki can casually erase his presence that he's surprised that Cid was able to notice him during his conversation with his mole Gray.
- The Rival: Loki is in a ceaseless faction war with Fenrir due to the former blaming all their shortcomings from Shadow Garden onto the latter as The Scapegoat until Fenrir's death.
Hela and Jormungand
Hela and Jormungand
Two named Knights of Rounds with unknown seats.- The Ghost: We only learned of Hela and Jormungand through the Master of Garden gatcha game but both have yet to appear in the main series.
- The Smurfette Principle: If Hela corresponds to Norse Mythology's goddess of the same name, they would be the only female Knight of Rounds we've heard of and cultist overall in the male-predominant cult (Besides Reina Oriana).
Sergey Gorman
Sergey
The former tenth seat of the Rounds, who was slain by Shadow before he enrolled in the academy.- Arc Villain: He is the primary villain of Sturm of Velgalta.
- The Beastmaster: He tamed and controlled a squad of twelve Malaks, which were even able to give the Seven Shadows and No. 111 and 122 some trouble.
- Doomed by Canon: Since Petos is the current holder of the tenth seat, it is more or less clear that he is not going to survive the events of Seven Chronicles.
- Genius Bruiser: He is a swordsman skilled enough to become part of the rounds and smart enough to research Malaks with the Seven Shadows finding his lab after his death.
- Klingon Promotion: He obtained the tenth seat after killing its previous occupant.
- Oh, Crap!: Upon running into Shadow, he immediately realizes just how powerful the kid is with him immediately calling his Malaks to support him.
- One-Winged Angel: Once it's clear that Shadow completely outmatches him, he eats Malak flesh to turn himself into a human-dragon hybrid.
- Super-Toughness: His transformation into a human-dragon hybrid did allow him to survive Shadow's "Rising Atomic", but the attack blasted him into space where he froze and suffocated to death.
- Villainous Breakdown: He loses it when Shadow completely overwhelms him.
Other Members
Viscount Grease
Grease
Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 2 (Manga), Episode 2 (Anime)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English)
- Accidental Truth: He is the one confirming it. He had just learned about the highly secretive Diablos Cult and was surprised that outsiders knew about it.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Seven Shadow plans to extract info out of the viscount, possibly as painfully as possible.
- Dub Name Change: He's named Olba in Japanese, but Grease in the official translation.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: His defeat at Iris's hands is considered this that it becomes his Berserk Button.
- Papa Wolf: He's desperate to save his daughter, Millia so he joins with the cult to gain their help in curing her.
- Tragic Villain: Grease's only wish is to reverse the "Curse" from his daughter which finally came for her years after his death.
Zenon Griffey
Zenon Griffey
Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 3 (Manga), Episode 3 (Anime)
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese), Scott Gibbs (English)
A spellsword instructor at Midgar Academy and one of Alexia's persistent suitors who is strong enough to be a potential candidate for the Twelfth Seat.
- Arranged Marriage: Alexia is disturbed by the numerous advances he made to her. She has good reason to...
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He thinks too highly of his own abilities that he's completely shocked when Shadow can easily parry his attacks blow by blow without budging from one spot.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The guy wants to get close to Alexia so that he can kidnap her and extract her blood for the cult.
- Break the Haughty: His ego completely shatters when Shadow beats him down numerous times and mocks his so-called superior swordsmanship. After turning into his One-Winged Angel form, Zenon gets ridiculed by both Shadow and Alexia. The last thing Zenon did before Shadow finishes him off is scream in terror.
- Broken Pedestal: Once his crimes were exposed, the students who followed him left his class.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Normally, he'd be the one enacting this but his opponent, Shadow is on a whole other level than he's actually on the receiving end of the beatdown. The anime makes his defeat more humiliating as despite being in his One-Winged Angel form, Zenon is pushed back by Shadow's hand-to-hand techniques, even getting kicked in the head.
- Frame-Up: He has Cid take the fall for his crimes in kidnapping the princess. However, this act brought the attention of Shadow (Cid) and Shadow Garden.
- Kick the Dog: Zenon insults Alexia by belittling her skills and comparing her to Iris, which she hates.
- Oh, Crap!: When he realizes he is about to be vaporized.
- Too Good to Be True: The reason why Alexia is suspicious of him is his personality seemingly has no flaws whatsoever. Of course, he's later revealed as Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- You're Insane!: In the anime, Zenon calls Shadow this, refusing to believe that the latter is THAT strong. He tries to attack him only to witness his sword literally shatter upon contact with Shadow's body.
Lutheran Barnett
Lutheran Barnett
Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 7 (Manga), Episode 6 (Anime)
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
- The Bad Guy Wins: Although he's dead, he succeeded in framing Shadow Garden for his crimes. What's worse is that he died a martyr to his stepdaughter.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His loving father side of Sherry is completely fake.
- Black Knight: In his guise as "Sir Gaunt", he wears a full suit of menacing-looking dark plate armor that conceals his identity and voice.
- Death by Secret Identity: He took his knowledge of Shadow being Cid to the grave with him.
- Dub Name Change: He was originally named "Ruslan", but the official translation renamed him "Lutheran".
- Evil Cripple: He was a former member of the Rounds and when he could no longer able to do it anymore due to an illness, he tried to use various illegal methods to get back.
- Evil Laugh: His is noted to be disturbing.
- Expy: He shares a few characteristics with none other than Darth Vader, being a menacing Black Knight with a deep voice and a Badass Cape who does not take failure well, suffering from an ailment that weakens him, and being the (step)father of the main character (or at least, the person Cid considers to be the main character of this particular scenario). Unlike Vader, though, he does not feel remorse for any of his misdeeds and holds no true love for his adoptive daughter.
- Frame-Up: His goal is to have Shadow Garden be blamed for the attacks all over the kingdom and make them the enemy of the world.
- Karmic Death: Cid kills him the same way he killed Sherry's mother.
- The Mole: His true mission is to extract the Eye of Avarice.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Lutheran gloats to Shadow that even if the latter kills him, he still frames Shadow Garden for his crimes and the world will be hunting them down. To his shock, however, Shadow literally laughs in his face as he reveals that he and Shadow Garden are not bothered having the world against them. Perhaps more importantly, his death ends up turning his daughter Sherry against Shadow, as she never learned the truth of what happened that day.
- One-Winged Angel: He successfully uses the Eye of Avarice to transform himself into a demonic form. It doesn't help him an iota when Shadow comes for his head.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once his minions have been killed, he attempts to flee and burns every trace of evidence that ties the crime to him.
- Walking Spoiler: Impossible to discuss him without revealing that the mild-mannered Assistant Principal of the academy is actually a high-ranking cultist of Diablos.
- Wicked Stepmother: A male variant. He murders Sherry's mother to silence her and uses Sherry to further his agenda.
- Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Lutheran describes in detail how he murdered Sherry's mother to Cid, who then returns the favor when killing the former as Shadow.
Rex
Rex
Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 10 (Manga), Episode 5 (Anime)
Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Japanese), Jeremy Gee (English)
A high-ranked first child of Diablos, who was tasked to retrieve the artifact from Sherry.
- Adaptational Wimp: His "fight" with Shadow in the anime was hilariously even more one-sided than the light novel and manga. At least he could put up a fight at all whereas he got smacked around like a ragdoll, apparent by the amount of effort in Shadow's attacksnote , then let out a bloodcurdling scream in his final moments.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Rex gives himself the title of "Rex the Riveting Rebel" in the manga.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: This man has a severe overestimation of his own abilities until Shadow shatters that illusion to pieces.
- Bad Liar: He pretends to be Shadow Garden, but then questions if that is the correct name before constantly changing it.
- Elite Mook: Rex is a first-named child, the second-highest rank a cult member could obtain next to the Knights of Rounds, and Lutheran's right-hand man but goes down like any other mook when up against Cid.
- Entertainingly Wrong: He thinks Cid has an artifact that boosts his abilities and that he's too injured to keep fighting. He was way wrong.
- Ironic Death: Rex was introduced badly impersonating Shadow Garden as both a sign of disrespect and his own ignorance towards the organization for thinking they can stand a chance against the Cult of Diabolos. Soon after, he was killed by Cid who is not only legitimately ignorant of the Cult's existence but ensures Rex and his mooks stand no chance against the likes of him.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The last we see of Rex in the anime is Cid closing in on him to which the screen promptly goes black with only a blood splatter and his ungodly scream left to our imagination. Subverted in the light novel and manga where Rex is graphically disemboweled head-to-toe and strewn everywhere.
- Oh, Crap!: This bastard thinks he has a chance against Cid until he finds the dismembered corpses of all his men and starts wetting himself.
- Red Baron: Has the self-proclaimed title of "The Game of Betrayal" (Whatever that means) and "Rex the Riveting Rebel" (Manga only).
- Scream Discretion Shot: The last time we saw or heard from him in the anime was letting out a terrified high-pitched squeal as the screen smashes to black when Cid had enough of fooling around and finished him off.
- Stupid Evil: He attempts to pose as a member of Shadow Garden to frame them but gets their name wrong. If it weren't for the fact that everyone not knowing much about the organization, the plan wouldn't have worked.
- You Don't Look Like You: He's initially described in the light novel and depicted in the manga with a Black Cloak and Domino Mask similar to Shadow Garden's members and is around their age. This gets completely revamped in the anime where he's an adult with a unique outfit.
Perv Asshat
Perv Asshat
Debut: Volume 2 (Light Novel), Chapter 24 (Manga), Episode 16 (Anime)
Voiced by: Show Hayami (Japanese), Brandon Hearnsberger (English)
- Adaptational Karma: Downplayed; In the web novel, the public never knew about his crimes with them knowing what happened to him since Cid kidnapped him in the confusion and used him as a test subject before killing him. The light novel has his crimes exposed by a message left by King Oriana before his mind broke, which caused the entire populace to turn against him and restore Rose's reputation. Rose then faces off against him in combat and completely overwhelms him, he is then killed by Mordred shortly after.
- Adaptational Sexuality: In the web novel, Perv is a closeted gay man who is also secretly a masochist (hence the Punny Name). In the light novel, Perv is a sadist who is in a secret adulterous (and heterosexual) relationship with Rose's mother, the Queen of Oriana, thus making his name ironic rather than punny.
- All for Nothing: Even if Cid didn't steal the ring from him, he still wouldn't be able to complete his task and become Oriana's ruler since King Oriana already put a secret message detailing all of his crimes that would activate if Rose wears it.
- Arch-Enemy: Towards his fiancé, Rose Oriana, due to being the member of the cult assigned to take over Oriana and being the cause of all of Rose's misfortune.
- Beard of Evil: Has a goatee and is quite evil.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the web novel, he's killed by Cid via Mind Rape lobotomy as part of an experiment to "cure the brain-dead". In the light novel, he's beheaded by Mordred for his failures.
- Failed a Spot Check: While he kept the box containing the ring on him at all times, he never bothered to check its contents until the wedding day. Naturally, he panicked upon the discovery that it was stolen.
- Humiliation Conga: If losing Rose and King Oriana and having to flee from Shadow with his tail between his legs wasn't bad enough, Perv went through a bigger one on his supposed wedding day. In quick succession, he discovers the ring that's meant to be handed to the Cult has been stolen, Rose rejects him at the altar, his crimes are exposed, he receives a swift defeat at Rose's hands before being unceremoniously beheaded by Mordred.
- Karmic Death: He drugged King Oriana till his mind broke to turn him into his puppet, so it's fitting that Shadow broke his mind first through an experiment before killing him in the Web Novel.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Unlike his pride-filled fellows, Perv has the common sense to give up on endeavors if they prove too much to handle. In Volume 2, he rather flees back to the Oriana Kingdom and gets chewed out by Mordred rather than stay at Midgar to find Rose and be killed by Shadow.
- Meaningful Name: He's a disgusting pervert and unrepentant asshat to the extreme. Need we say more...?
- Oh, Crap!: Had a moment when he realized the box containing the ring was empty. After processing that he starts to panic. He has another when he realizes Rose has the ring.
- Pet the Dog: The only halfway decent thing he does is compliment Cid for his piano skills. He was so touched by Cid's performance that the latter managed to steal his ring without him noticing.
- Properly Paranoid: Before and during his supposed wedding ceremony of Rose Oriana, he tightens and still even doubts his security after witnessing Shadow and the Shadow Garden's prowess firsthand. He even thinks that the Cult Of Diablos isn't as powerful as they think it is and delusional to think they still have a firm grip on the world.
- Punny Name: His name in Japanese, Doem Ketsuhat, can be read as "giant masochist asshat".
- Puppet King: His goal is to control the King of Oriana and take over his kingdom.
- Put on a Bus: He is the first Cult member to survive his introductory arc. He is then absent for the next volume, returning in volume 4.
- The Resenter: He expresses jealousy and hatred that Mundane Mann is a way better swordsman than he is.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Inverted; When he lost the ring of succession before their supposed wedding day, he speculated that maybe Shadow snatched it from him but then discarded the idea because if Shadow had the ability to sneak and snatch his pocket, then the latter could have just killed him on the spot. Perv was actually right but Shadow had no interest in his life and only snatched the ring because it looked valuable to pawn off.
- Smug Snake: The man thinks that his plans will succeed except until Rose and Cid foil them every time, leading to a Villainous Breakdown.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Alongside Reina Oriana, they managed to control Oriana's king by inducing a mind-control drug in his daily food.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Rose puts a stop to Perv by killing King Oriana. He went mad because without his puppet king, he lost the ability to claim the throne.
- He immediately starts panicking upon discovering the ring missing and after his crimes are exposed to the Oriana Kingdom, he loses all composure and attacks Rose in rage.
- Villainous BSoD: After Rose foiled his plans and Shadow scares him to near death.
Gettan
Gettan
Debut: Volume 3 (Light Novel), Chapter 34 (Manga)
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)
A blind great wolf therianthrope and head of the MCA, who starts a corporate war against Mitsugoshi to become part of the rounds.
- Achey Scars: Ever since his fateful run-in with Stylish Bandit Slayer, he constantly has phantom pains and rubs the scarred eyelids over his empty eye sockets.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed; While he still attempted to kill Yukime for rejecting to join the cult with him, in the light novel and manga, he gave her several shallow cuts as a form of Cold-Blooded Torture, while in the anime, he only gave her one deep cut on the back.
- Alas, Poor Villain: No matter how many terrible things he has done, including what he did to Yukime, he still loves her and it's only when he is near death that finally regrets his actions.
- Already Done for You: His plan was to cause a credit collapse by inducing counterfeit bills into the system. However, while the collapse does happen, John Smith and Yukime beat him to it, which makes him unable to actually profit from it.
- Arc Villain: Of the Corporate Warfare arc due to being the head of the MCA.
- Bad Boss: He treats his subordinates with utter contempt and will kill them should they fail him.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Was somehow the sole instance of a "bandit" being sparred, albeit permanently blinded, by Cid as Stylish Bandit Slayer who had a track record of leaving none of his victims alive, only for John Smith (Another one of Cid's alter egos) to finish the job years later.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: He tries to force Yukime to become part of the cult by making shallow cuts on her back with his swords, which left her back riddled with scars.
- Deal with the Devil: He made a deal with the Cult of Diablos. If his and Yukime's tribe swore allegiance to the cult, they would protect them from the clan war. The offer was tempting enough for him to murder Yukime's mother when she rejects the offer.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Yukime's mother rejected his proposal to have their tribes take the red pills to defeat the invaders, he killed her in a fit of rage, which just ensured the destruction of their tribes due to the loss of the strongest Spirit Fox therianthrope.
- Eyes Always Shut: After his run-in with Stylish Bandit Slayer, Getten had sewn his eyelids shut to always have the look.
- Eye Scream: Stylish Bandit Slayer not only blinded him but also gouged out his eyes after believing he was a therianthrope bandit and had to have his eyelids sewn shut to hide the empty eye sockets. Once he took the pill, he forcibly ripped open the seams to reveal his new set of eyes.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Discovering the existence of the cult along with already dealing with the ongoing war between therianthrope tribes caused him to go over the edge under the belief that joining the cult is the only way they stay safe.
- Go Out with a Smile: He peacefully passes away sporting one once John accepts his Last Request of protecting his beloved Yukime. However, this is somewhat dampened by the fact that Cid misinterprets his final wish and leaves Yukime to her own devices when the Corporate Warfare Arc comes to a close.
- Gone Horribly Right: Gettan designed the MCA bills so that counterfeits can easily be made to cause a credit collapse. Sadly for him, Cid also notices this and immediately starts making them with Yukime.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gettan sports a scar across his face, rendering him blind. In the web novel, the scar was done by Yukime but in the light novel, it's Shadow.
- Handicapped Badass: Despite being blind, he is still a powerful wolf Therianthrope.
- The Illegible: His handwriting is anything but elegant which is expected from being blind but that didn't stop him from writing his last will and testament towards Yukime filled with repentance over what he did to her and her village and the Cult of Diablos is the one who coaxed him into doing the misdeed.
- Irony: Unlike other members of the cult, his mission's target is not Shadow Garden, but rather Mitsugoshi, which unbeknownst to him and possibly the cult is their public front. Yet his plan to circulate counterfeits could have succeeded at severely crippling if not outright defeating Shadow Garden if Cid didn't start making counterfeits before he even had the chance to start.
- Karmic Death: He had an underlying fear of losing his loved ones and the things he cherishes to others and resorts to stealing from them first as well as valuing strength above all else. Not only did he bring this upon himself by raiding Yukime's village which led to her collapsing the Major Corporate Alliance to unrecoverable shambles in retaliation but John Smith beat him senseless into a bloody pulp in a one-sided battle of strength, truly dying without anything to his name anymore.
- Last Request: Finally admitting he still deeply loves her despite everything, Gettan tells John to take care of Yukime in his dying breath. Alas, this would never be fulfilled as not only John Smith's relationship with Yukime is strictly professional on his side, but he also completely misinterpreted his request as Gettan burying the stolen gold coins in the snownote or next to some Yew treesnote and had spent a long time digging up imaginary treasure before giving up.
- The Man Behind the Man: While Garter is known to the public as the head merchant of the MCA, Gettan is the true leader behind it.
- One-Winged Angel: Averted in the anime. Once he realizes one Diablos pill is not enough to stand up to John Smith, he attempts to down the whole bottle... but John stomps down on his jaw to prevent this from happening. Under other circumstances, Cid would probably have been glad to tango with a more powerful opponent, but Gettan's perceived "theft" left him in a very, very sour mood.
- Pride: His major flaw. His inability to accept his own weakness causes him to make reckless and stupid decisions, including lashing out and trying to kill his fiancée.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Deconstructed. At first, he was pretty fair and decent compared to the more basic therianthropes but after the Cult of Diabolos corrupted him, his therianthrope nature was brought out multiple times fold, turning him into a violent asshole with a dog-eat-dog mindset. This and his misplaced pride caused him to lose his fiancée who became his enemy and received a painful death at John Smith's hands.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: He is convinced by the philosophy "If you don't want anything robbed from you, you have to rob from others" which he started by raiding Yukime's village after they refused to join the cult. However, from that moment onward, Gettan's life slowly spiraled down the drain and he eventually loses everything precisely because of his philosophy starting with his village, his adoring fiance, his eyesight, his company's assets and finally his life. In short, if he hadn't tried to rob others, they would have never thought of robbing him in the first place.
- Tempting Fate:
- Furious that Yukime refuses the red lozenges and the cult's offer to join forces, he violently lashes out at her stating "If you don't want anything robbed from you, you have to rob from others". Cue Stylish Bandit Slayer barging in for his usual hunt, annihilating all the invaders and robbing him of his eyesight as well as leading Yukime to enact vengeance by taking everything else away from him.
- He later exclaims to John Smith that his attacks are futile since he has a rapid Healing Factor thanks to the red lozenges. But as with Crimson who was the last one to make that exact claim, all it did was give Cid an excuse to punch Gettan senseless to the point it completely bypasses the regeneration and him a drawn-out, painful death.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He made a deal with the evil cult with the intention of protecting his tribe and lover. Unfortunately, his murdering Yukime's mother and torture of Yukime renders this moot.
- Yandere: Part of the reason Gettan's dead set on killing John Smith is because he thought the latter is Yukime's new lover.
Kouadoi
Kouadoi "Raging Gale"
Debut: Volume 4 (Light Novel), Chapter 41 (Manga)
A first-named child dubbed the "Raging Gale" for his wind-defying speed but alas he wasn't fast enough for the likes of Shadow.- An Arm and a Leg: Victoria chops off one of his legs immediately after he threatens to do it to her.
- And Show It to You: Shadow rips his heart straight out of his chest barehanded as he wants to pull off his new finishing move on in front of a live audience (Victoria).
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Kouadoi had his leg chopped off before his heart was ripped out by Victoria and Shadow respectively but the anime went a little differently when the former's empowerment gave the latter the energy to turn Kouadoi into a shower of blood, both times he had no time to react to either of his death.
- Dirty Coward: It's implied that even though he is the leader and the most powerful out of the cult members present, he didn't face Victoria head-on until all his men were killed off and she was seriously worn out to the brink of death. Only then did he try to kick her down and threatened a slow, painful death before she got her second wind when her savior Shadow arrived.
- Elite Mooks: Kouadoi is a fearsome first-named child in the cult with enough power to lead his own troop but Shadow absentmindedly insta-kill him thinking he was just some nobody thief Victoria got into a scuffle with.
- Informed Ability: Raging Gale is named after his supposedly superhuman speed but the only ones he's compared with are Victoria, who was already running on fumes and near death from three straight days of massacring cult members, and Shadow, who rips out his heart at marc-speed before he even had the chance to blink.
- Karmic Death: His leg was chopped clean off and had his heart ripped out like what he promised to do with Victoria and for all his claims of being a very important cult member, she and Shadow proceeded to ignore him the whole time as he slowly bleeds out to death.
- Ironic Death: Kouadoi was given the title of "Raging Gale" because of his wind-defying speed and yet had absolutely no time to react to his death from either Shadow or Victoria (Depending on iteration) when they outmaneuver and kill him at marc-speed.
- This Cannot Be!: He could not contain his disbelief that Victoria who singlehandedly mowed down all forty of his men consisting of first and second-named children was neither a Seven Shade nor a high-ranking number but a newbie triple-digit number. He holds similar astonishment when he, the so-called Raging Gale, had no time to react to Shadow ripping out his heart at near lightspeed.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He died in the same chapter/episode he was introduced in to showcase Victoria's perseverance and defiance and Shadow's might.
Dark Smile and Dark Spider
Viscount Jean "Dark Smile" and Dark Spider
Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)
A couple of First-Named Children.- Black Cloak: Dark Spider gets his name from his signature black cloak made from the finest Black Spider silk money could buy. So cool and ominous in fact that it tempted Cid to steal it for his "Eminence in Shadow" collection after killing the old man.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Cid unintentionally skewers Dark Spider on the school statue's sword after kicking him off the roof and didn't bother to clean up, giving a nasty surprise to the students and staff entering the academy the next morning.
- Leave No Witnesses: Dark Spider was sent by the Cult to assist in the revival of the Diablos Arm underneath and was actually noticed by a student. He tries to kill said student to no avail since said student is Cid/Shadow.
- Misplaced Retribution: Wanting vengeance for his predecessor, Dark Spider accuses Cid of killing Dark Smile, unaware that the actual culprit is Zeta, and immediately attacks him. Not that it makes any difference as Cid disposed of him just as fast and snatched up his coat for good measure.
- "Pop!" Goes the Human: Dark Smile is subjected to Ludicrous Gibs just by Zeta's Battle Aura alone.
- Sinister Scythe: Dark Spider dual wields scythes as weapons.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Despite being sent flying by Zeta by just parrying his attack, Dark Smile was pretty confident in his abilities until Zeta boredly subjected him with her Battle Aura that brought him down to his knees and promptly exploded.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Both are killed almost as soon as we meet them.
Gray
Gray
Debut: Volume 6 (Light Novel)
A knight investigating the Serial Killer Jack the Ripper, who is also a member of the cult working under Loki.- Frame-Up: It's implied Gray intended to pin the Night Swords' deaths onto Christina Hope, given the numerous times he throws suspicions onto her. Although by the end of Volume 6, it seems he has given it up. Given what happened to the Night Swords who also went after Christina, along with him learning that Jack the Ripper is Shadow, Gray probably rather drop the idea than become the next victim.
- Irony:
- He is a fan of detective novels written by Natsume Kafka, who is actually Beta from Shadow Garden, the enemy of the cult.
- Gray also spent the majority of his debut trying to pin Jack the Ripper's massacre of the Thirteen Night Swords onto an innocent Christina, only to wisely stop once all the members and their associates ended up dead. Unbeknownst to him, Christina was inspired by Jack to start her own killing spree as his successor the night after Gray stopped accusing her.
Maximillian
- Adapted Out: He only appears in the web novel.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He takes extreme pride in his abilities.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Maxmillian pegged that Shadow is using an artifact which he thinks is his coat yet he's not taking into account that this is Shadow's true power and his coat is just slime.
- Super-Speed: He uses this ability to kill multiple people and overwhelm powerful opponents.
- Villainous Breakdown: The more he fights Cid, the more he understands that he is screwed from the very beginning.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He promptly executes his subordinates after having Princess Clara within his grasp.
- You Monster!: Maximillian calls Shadow a Demon Lord when he sees the wings sprouting from his back.
