Characters / The Eminence In Shadow - Midgar Kingdom

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

Midgar Kingdom

House Kagenou

Claire Kagenou

Claire Kagenou

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

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

Cid's sister, who is two years older than him. She is a talented dark knight and the pride of the baron house Kagenou. As a child, Claire suffered from demonic possession but was secretly cured by Cid. The Knight Order is very interested in hiring her, but she stubbornly refuses, as she doesn't want to leave her brother alone.

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• The Ace: Claire is a prodigy who is hailed as the future of her house. She is a powerful dark knight, though she's actually quite aware that her brother has far superior potential.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: A minor case since the anime chose to adapt Cid's previous life as Minoru and Akane's kidnapping first before her debut in the second episode in contrast to appearing in the very first chapter of the light novel and manga.
• Always Someone Better: Claire knows Cid could easily surpass her, and always upset Cid fails to apply himself to unlock his true potential.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She has long dark hair and doesn't bother to be courteous, even to royalty if her brother is in danger.
• Big Sister Bully: She does nothing but criticize her younger brother and outright assaults him on multiple occasions, but that's actually because she's trying to toughen her brother up to be better. She knows her brother has potential and wants him to make use of his talent. She doesn't realize her brother just pretends to be weak.
• Big Sister Instinct: She is very attached and protective of her brother. If someone so much dares harm him, she will tear them to pieces. Not even Princess Iris is exempted from her wrath when she has her brother detained.
• Convenient Coma: After Diablos' arm fuses with her, she ends up in a coma for at least a month.
• Chuunibyou: Negative. Cid thinks she's becoming one from volume 3 onwards as her recent behaviour reminded him back when he used to act exactly like this in his previous life such as claiming her right hand is throbbing, writing ancient "mumbo-jumbo" in her secret notebook, acting erratically and talking to herself.
• Choke Holds: It's a Running Gag in the series when Claire is upset with Cid for avoiding or neglecting her. When she finds him she'll grab him by the neck, straddle on top of him, and strangle him when she's angry with him. Claire strangling Cid is not out of any form of abuse as Claire genuinely loves and cares about her brother and use force to get him to listen to her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even when locked up, she always makes time to insult her captors.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: She wins the God of War Festival only because her final opponent Mundane, whom she would be no match for given the revelation of him being Shadow, disappeared before the last match, leaving her the victor by default.
  Claire: "Annerose lost, Princess Iris dropped out, and that Mundane Mann guy got disqualified. I guess I only won because I got lucky."
• Doom Magnet: Due to her personality, overconfidence, and uncanny ability to find trouble, she often lands herself in dangerous situations.
• The Dreaded: Because of her Big Sister Bully, Control Freak, and Big Sister Instinct qualities, Cid loathes whenever Claire visits him without warning. Unless she is in danger or emotionally distraught, he will immediately hide or run away upon noticing her approach his dormitory.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: She has been training Cid intensively since childhood.
• The Empath: Claire has shown the ability to easily guess Cid's thoughts like when she was choking him for avoiding her and making her wait by his dorm for half a day. She was able to guess that he was thinking that it was a pain to deal with her and letting her hold her down while he took a nap.
• Family Theme Naming: Both Cid and Claire have C in their names. Her brother's name is Cid while it courses with her name having Claire.
• Forceful Kiss: Mary ends up kissing her during the Red Moon arc due to the latter needing blood to turn into a vampire and Claire just happened to have blood on her mouth. She isn't exactly bothered by it, however.
• Heroic Host: During the Red Moon arc, Claire comes into contact with Elisabeth's Progenitor blood. Claire's body then starts to rampage, but Aurora's spirit appears and temporarily takes over Claire's body to fight Elisabeth until Shadow appears. She leaves Claire with a seal that lets her control her powers.
• Helicopter Parents: A sibling variant. Claire is very protective of her younger brother and constantly tries to spend as much time with him as possible.
• Held Backin School: Potentially. After falling into a coma, Claire could potentially be held back and repeat a year if she misses exams if she continues to sleep due to her coma. But due to her brother wanting to sleep a little longer as he's certain that she's gonna be repeating a year, and Claire's comatose state will likely cause her to repeat a year.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Aware that her possession will mean her demise, Claire tries to toughen up her brother so that he can survive without the need for help, and deep down she just wants to spend whatever remaining time she has with him.
• Leeroy Jenkins: She lets her emotion get the better of her judgment... especially when it concerns Cid's wellbeing. Subtlety and patience are not hallmarks of her personality.
• Leg Focus: The novels had described Claire as having luscious and shapely thighs when she was wearing her negligee nightgown when she was kidnapped. In the Summer event of Master of Garden, her swimwear consists of Denim Bikini Shorts. In episode 3 of season 2 of the anime when meeting Aurora, Claire wakes up in an infirmary wearing a School Sport Uniform showing off her legs.
• Made of Iron: Claire rips the skin on her arm to free herself in Volume 1. In Volume 3, she also gets impaled by Elisabeth and manages to survive this.
• Ms. Fanservice: The novel has described Claire as having a voluptuous body.
• Power-Strain Blackout: During the Red Moon arc, her body couldn't withstand the strain when Aurora temporarily takes over due to Aurora's sheer prowess.
• Protectorate: In her side story, the reason why Claire is fond of her brother and annoyed at people calling them a mismatched pair of siblings is that Cid has always protected her from harm instead of the other way around and she knows it. Also, since she's Shadow's sister, Shadow Garden, and Aurora make it their top priority to protect her at any cost.
  • On a funny note in volume 5, Claire declares that she'll protect Cid with her newfound power only for Aurora trying to stop her because it's embarrassing since Aurora knew how powerful Cid is and not because it's an awkward moment for Claire.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Claire wears black tights underneath the skirt of her academy uniform.
• Secretly Dying: Subverted. She learned that she suffers from demonic possession and doesn't tell Cid, her parents, or anyone else about it. Unbeknownst to her, Cid has already rid of the curse from her body.
• Worf Had the Flu: Aurora is unable to win the battles Claire gets into, because Claire doesn't have enough mana for more than two or three spells. She laments the fights would have been an easy Curb-Stomp Battle if Claire had just increased her magic capacity.
• Yandere: She is violently protective of her brother, threatening to even murder bandit criminals, nobles, and royalty, along with their friends and family, if she believes they wish to harm him.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Subverted. Claire showed symptoms of demonic possession, something with no publicly known cure and that never goes away. While the symptoms did simply vanish one day she believes it is only a matter of time before they return and she succumbs to it. As such she has decided to look after Cid and put him on the path towards a good career while she still can, so he will be fine once she is gone. Little does she know that Cid had long since cured her and simply never bothered to tell her while others like Viscount Grease, Beta and Aurora are hinting at it.

Baron and Lady Kagenou

Baron and Lady Kagenou

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

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Baron Kagenou) and Mai Nakahara (Lady Kagenou)

The noble-born parents of Claire and Cid. Both regard their daughter as a bright future for the family's prestige and fortunes. However, they lament their son becoming average.

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• Awful Wedded Life: Baron Kagenou is threatened by his wife and receives zero respect from his children. Lady Kagenou regards her husband as a miserable failure of a man and treats him as such. She seems to tolerate him for the sake of their children and nobility.
• Blue Blood: Baron Kagenou is the prosperous lord of a provincial estate and several villages. His bloodline is known for its reliability in producing competent Magic Knight who serve in the kingdom's military.
• Bumbling Dad: Baron Kagenou is a cowardly, irresponsible man with few redeeming qualities. His wife and daughter offer him little respect because of this.
• Cowardice Callout: After their daughter was kidnapped by cultists, Lady Kagenou berated her husband's weakness for remaining at home and not immediately tracking the culprits down to rescue Claire.
• Eyes Always Shut: Lady Kagenou is always shown with her eyes closed.
• Henpecked Husband: Baron Kagenou lives under the domineering thumb of his wife and is often abused for being a disappointing coward. Even the maids and butlers obey Lady Kagenou over their actual lord.
• Old Money: The Kagenou estate will be transferred from Baron Kagenou to Claire, just as it was passed to him. It appears to consist of a large chateau and surrounding villages.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Most of the time Lady Kagenou speaks how Formal Characters Use Keigo, but when angered by her husband she switches to abusive Trrrilling Rrrs like a Yakuza gangster.
• Prematurely Bald: Baron Kagenou has lost a significant amount of hair and is often called "Baldy" by his wife and daughter. In the Shadow Gaiden manga they even fear that Cid would inherit this.
• Seduction-Proof Marriage: As much as Lady Kagenou despises her husband, she remains faithful to him. Her concern Cid could have inherited the Baron's male pattern baldness confirms he is Cid's father. Aurora's intuition about Claire's blood confirms she is Cid's sibling and the Baron's daughter as well.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Baron Kagenou is not hideous per se, but he suffers from severe hair loss that Cid worries could be hereditary. Lady Kagenou is an attractive woman whom Claire inherited her beauty from.
• Upper-Class Twit: Since Lady Kagenou handles most of the family's day-to-day functions, the entire Kagenou estate and hired staff consider Baron Kagenou to be a worthless nobleman.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Lady Kagenou is the real strength and intelligence behind her husband's prosperity. Normally she presents herself as a graceful and soft-spoken woman. However, when her husband becomes a coward or does something idiotic, she immediately turns into a very angry wife.

Midgar Royal Family

Alexia Midgar

Alexia Midgar

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 3 (Manga), Episode 3 (Anime)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Olivia Swasey (English)

The youngest princess of the Midgar royal family and the Madonna of the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy. She is Cid's classmate and former (pretend) girlfriend.

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• Academic Alpha Bitch: Despite looking like the Ojou, she is actually condescending and rude and her whole act is to maintain her image. The only people who know this are Cid and possibly the rest of Shadow Garden.
• A-Cup Angst: While Alexia has a decently sized bust, she is peeved about Beta's assets like the latter's comrade Epsilon.
• Adaptational Skimpiness: In the anime, she wears a dress that leaves her shoulders bare and has a cleavage window at the Holy Sanctuary in contrast to the manga in which she wears casual clothing that covered her more.
• Always Second Best: She feels that she is second best compared to her sister. The reason for this is because of a compliment Iris gave to her which the latter misinterprets. It's only during witnessing Shadow's battle with Zenon that Alexia realizes what her sister truly meant.
• Boring, but Practical: Her sword style, as she puts it, is just a plain boring accumulation of basic skills compared to her peers. But it has been recognized by the truly skilled, like Iris and Shadow.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even if she doesn't know who "Natsume Kafka" really is, she should know better than to openly antagonize someone who's popular and successful but might be hiding some dark secret.
• The Cameo: In the anime-exclusive story of season 2, she can be seen using the Mitsugoshi Hot Springs Land's sauna.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • She tries to warn Iris just how dangerous Shadow is but her sister merely thinks that he must be carrying some sort of artifact to boost his abilities. That will soon change.
  • She's the only one who thinks there's something suspicious about Miss Natsume however her attempts to convince others about this are fruitless since all of them can chalk this up to her jealousy over the bespectacled girl.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Alexia is often pitied for having average mana and no special affinity with a blade. All of her progress as a swordswoman is due to intense practice and athletic workouts. Though she is not the greatest warrior of her class, she has exceeded many who rely on mana and special abilities.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Still carries a torch for Cid despite their breakup as shown when she is unhappy at Sherry showing interest in him and learning he is forced to temporarily take up residence with Christina.
• Covert Pervert: Alexia may act like a prim and proper princess in public, but she can be quite perverse. She gets excited about Mitsugoshi's G-strings and fools Iris into buying them for her while Cid calls her out on ogling his Excalibur during the Hot Springs Episode. It's also implied that she uses Cid's Crotch Towel Slap as a method of self-gratification.
• Damsel in Distress: She got kidnapped by Zenon who wanted to use her for the Cult of Diablos' experiments.
• Declaration of Protection: Despite being scared out of her wit confronting Shadow, she announces that she'll protect her sister and her only friend (Cid) from him. Unknowingly, Cid is Shadow.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: She does this to lower the guard of the Shadow Garden impostors.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Alexia hates it when others look down on her swordsmanship and its lack of mana infusion or special techniques.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Subverted, while her treatment of Cid is played for comedic worth, it is clear he only puts up with it due to the gold he receives, and once the relationship is no longer needed he refuses her request to continue it by flipping her off. It's also noted he makes a conscious effort to not directly interact with Alexia again unless there's no way of avoiding it.
• Embarrassing Nickname: She is known as the Fencer Ordinaire for being, what appears to be on the surface, an absolutely mediocre swordswoman.
• Fake Relationship: She gets Cid to be in a relationship with her to prevent an Arranged Marriage. Cid breaks it off after Alexia's fiancé dies.
• Hate at First Sight: Almost immediately dislikes Natsume Kafka (Beta's civilian identity) upon meeting her. This is because she instinctively realized that Natsume was also putting on a fake persona just like Alexia. Natsume having a more pronounced bosom doesn't help, especially when she catches her smirking at Alexia's own attempt to show off her chest.
• Identical Granddaughter: Like Alpha who resembles Olivier, Zeta who resembles Lili, and in the Web Novel, the Human Hero Freya bears a strong resemblance to Alexia.
• Informed Attractiveness: She is indeed cute but compared to Shadow Garden's women, she is average at best. This is lampshaded by Cid and Natsume/Beta, the latter calling her cheap.
• Insult of Endearment: Calls her fake boyfriend "Fido/Poochie" mockingly at first, but less so after he grows on her.
• Irony: For someone who hates being in the shadow of her sister, Alexis is rescued and is greatly inspired to be stronger by a guy named Shadow.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While she treated Cid poorly during their fake relationship, she still is a good person due to her desire to protect her friends and country.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: To keep friends and family safe, Alexia has to minimize her knowledge about the Diablos Cult from others. The insular secrecy of Shadow Garden, her dislike for Natsume, and the disappearance of Rose Oriana result in her working alone. She becomes even more isolated after Iris grows sympathetic to the cult's propaganda.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Heart of gold aside, it doesn't change the fact that she treated Cid very badly at the time they were pretending to be in a relationship, so his refusing to be in a real relationship is a well-deserved punishment.
• Not Good with Rejection: Once her fake relationship with Cid is no longer needed, she asks if he doesn't mind continuing it for a bit longer. Due to the poor treatment he received from her, he answers by flipping her off, which causes her to attack him with her sword.
• Pet the Dog: While she was at first horrified at Millia due to her monstrous appearance, she immediately tells the researcher to stop once he mistreats and abuses Millia.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: While initially using Cid to prevent Zenon's advances, Alexia genuinely did develop feelings for her partner. This leads to her confessing that she wants to continue the relationship a little longer but Cid refuses considering how badly she treated him in those two weeks.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She begins to be more active following her rescue, wanting to take part in her sister's missions to uncover the secret war between Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos.
• School Idol: She is described as this by her class due to both being beautiful and the second princess of Midgar.
• Sexy Santa Dress: In the first Christmas event of Master of Garden, she wears a mini dress that leaves her shoulders and arms bare.
• Took a Level in Badass: By the time during the God of War Tournament, she manages to duel with Rose for a bit, though she is still vastly weaker. Rose notes that Alexia's sword technique has been influenced by Shadow's. It's not enough to close the gap in power between them, however, and Alexia loses her duel with Rose without even slowing her down.
• Tsundere: After being rescued, Alexia starts to develop feelings for Cid but of course, she's too proud to admit it. However, it's deconstructed as her initial and current treatment, especially the former where he acts as her pet/manservant for gold coins, leaving such a bad taste in Cid that he actively disrespects, ignores, and/or avoids her whenever possible.
• Woman Scorned: Cuts Cid open for finally rejecting her. In the anime, Cid gave a thumbs-down gesture instead of Flipping the Bird, making this even more disproportionate.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After gaining an ally in Claire, who is similarly Locked Out of the Loop in the White Mist arc. Her newfound ally quickly ends up in a coma, which leaves her alone once more.

Iris Midgar

Iris Midgar

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 4 (Manga), Episode 4 (Anime)

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Patricia Duran (English)

The eldest princess of the Midgar royal family and the leader of the Crimson Order.

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• The Ace: A famous graduate of the Midgar Academy, the strongest warrior of the kingdom, and one of the most accomplished Spellswords of the story.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: The 2nd season of the anime adds an interaction between her and Alexia during the Corporate Warfare arc, but unlike in the web novel where she only focussed on training to defeat Shadow and ignores Alexia's plea to do something about the credit collapse, in the anime she feels ashamed due to only training while Alexia wanting to study more subjects rather than only swing her sword around. This also causes her to take action at the end of the corporate war by taking part in the royal investigation of the MCA with her slashing open their fault.
• Adaptational Wimp: Her move of throwing her sword as a distraction to tackle Shadow during their battle was done successfully in the other adaptations but replaced in the anime with her failing horribly when Shadow knees her hard in the chin and calls her "amateur". Additionally, Iris needs to use an ancient artifact even though she despises it and decries it as "borrowed strength" to try catching up to Shadow.
• Agent Scully: She's this to Alexia as despite warning her older sister about Shadow's power, Iris denies it as to her, it's literally impossible for someone to possess such destructive power. She finally gets to witness Shadow's strength and realizes Alexia is right.
• Always Someone Better: She is obsessed with surpassing and defeating Shadow, but is unable to achieve this.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: She is the first princess of the kingdom and is officially recognized as its strongest warrior. However, her strength is all Iris is good for and she knows it. Everything else is second-rate, making her a Dumb Muscle.
• Big Sister Instinct: Upon learning about Alexia's kidnapping, Iris pulls all her resources to find her.
• Break the Badass: Her duel with Shadow (disguised as Mundane Mann) has her completely backing off and hesitating when she thinks of attacking because she hallucinates how she'd be killed if she so much as moved a single step to attack due to Shadow's Killing Intent, ending with her losing the tournament. When Shadow reveals himself, Iris decides to go all out and use her personal weapon, yet she still can't land a single hit. Shadow even mocks her use of an artifact as a crutch to compensate for her lack of strength, which shatters the last of Iris' confidence in her abilities.
• Bullying the Dragon: Iris has a particularly negative trait of messing with beings that are way above her in power and status and many people, including her own father, try to stop her from making those mistakes.
  • Iris requested the king to allow her to investigate the Church, under suspicion of being connected to the Cult of Diablos and Shadow Garden. He denied this, explaining that the Church has influence over the other countries, including Midgar, and going against them would result in their kingdom being alienated.
  • She continuously tried taking down Shadow which resulted in her receiving humiliating defeat after the other. When she tried having the entire kingdom go after him, Shadow responded by unleashing his "I Am Atomic". Had he been genuinely serious, Iris would have been responsible for getting her entire kingdom destroyed.
• The Chains of Commanding: Iris gets through this hard. After getting involved in the secret war between Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos, she loses most of her best men and the confidence of the public. She plans to win the Bushin Festival in order to regain the latter but fails due to the involvement of Shadow and being thoroughly defeated by him without even a chance to fight back. Due to the sequence of events, she eventually gets easily manipulated by the Cult.
• Cool Sword: Her personal weapon is a mythril sword enhanced with mystic runes that have the ability to envelop itself in flames and shoot them out but Shadow mocks and dismisses the weapon as a crutch to make up for her lack of strength.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end thanks to Shadow. Twice. First, she couldn't land a single hit during their official bout when he was disguised and hiding his true power. Then when she teamed up with Beatrix to fight him after he revealed himself, she still couldn't get in a hit. Being defeated so easily like this has done a number on her self-esteem.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of The Ace. She carries the weight of not only her royal family but the entire kingdom as well. After suffering her first few defeats at the hands of Shadow, she's beginning to succumb to the pressure she imposed on herself and trains hard to catch up to her opponent, thus isolating her from her sister and her royal duties.
• Despair Event Horizon: After realizing Shadow possesses power beyond her wildest imagination and the skill gap between them is insurmountable, she loses emotional control and rages in despair at her comparative weakness.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Deconstructed. Not even a small group of the most powerful knights can protect the entire kingdom. They are so few in numbers either because most of the knights are not up to Iris's standards or they are assigned other important tasks. Iris had to use her own resources so that it could continue to run. What worsens the matter is the negative public opinion that starts to arise due to the group's recent failures and Iris's defeat at the hands of Shadow. By the time of the White Mist arc, she was forced to bolster its numbers with lower quality swordsmen, who are noted to be cowardly, with one of them being a mole from the cult to lead her astray.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. While she is by no means arrogant, she does overestimate herself a little bit, to the point that she flat out refuses to believe that Shadow's power is realms beyond her own, as Alexia claims. When confronting Mundane Mann, every fiber of her body desperately warns her not to attack him but Iris refuses to and charges in. This leads her to get knocked down in one strike.
• Goofy Print Underwear: She wears panties that have a kitty image on them, a fact that her younger sister used to blackmail her to allow her to join her new task force.
• Hero Antagonist: She's a good person but unfortunately she's trying to fight against Cid's Shadow Garden.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex:
  • Iris is well aware that her only skill is her prodigious sword skill and that she actually has no head for politics or being even a decent commander, however, seeing Alpha's skill and facing Shadow shows just how far behind she is in comparison to the top echelon of Shadow Garden. Seeing how she was depending on her victory at the God of War Festival to restore her reputation, her defeat at the hands of Shadow causes her to fall into a downward spiral that just damages her reputation even further.
  • In the anime it has been shown how Iris, who was once someone full of confidence, turned into a complete emotional wreck. When Shadow enveloped the whole capital with his magic, she let go of her sword (despondently or by instinct) in a clear contrast with Alexia who only gripped hers stronger and declared that even if she were to die now, she would tread the same path willingly come what may.
• Irony:
  • While the initial relationship between her and her younger sister was very affectionate when they were younger, Alexia began to distance herself from Iris due to living in Iris' shadow. However, after Cid unintentionally helps Alexia come to terms with her swordsmanship, the relationship between them is mended. But later, Iris begins to distance herself from Alexia due to becoming bitter over her defeat at Shadow's hands and refuses to listen to her sister in regards to the Cult's existence.
  • When Alexia attempts to explain to Iris that Shadow possesses overwhelming power, Iris dismisses her warnings and is insistent that the displays of power that he demonstrated was due to the fact that he was enhancing himself with an artifact. Later during her duel against Shadow, she starts using her personal sword, which is an artifact, as she asked him if he thought that was underhanded, but he mocked her for using it as a crutch.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Like her sister, she doesn't know the extent of the ongoing secret war between Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos. Alpha personally told her to stay out of it and be an audience member as she would do more harm than good if she knew. This is taken a step further that after losing to Shadow so badly, she convinced herself the Cult of Diablos doesn't exist, wrongly blaming all their crimes on Shadow Garden, which was sustained by the constant gaslighting of the cult members in her very own Crimson Order.
• Never My Fault: Iris angrily yells at Shadow for causing destruction in her kingdom. However, the damage from the fight between Shadow and Beatrix could have been limited only at the stadium, but Iris's interference had forced it to be moved elsewhere. Not to mention that Iris's use of a highly destructive artifact to defeat Shadow had come very close to hurting or killing the people she swore to protect.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Iris compliments Alexia's swordsmanship in the past only for the latter to interpret it as pity rather than a genuine compliment causing Alexia to become the cynical person she is in the present.
• Not So Stoic: She normally acts like a calm and professional knight, but she becomes unsettled when Alexia insists on wearing G-string underwear.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: While she is a strong swordswoman by the standards of normal knights, she holds no candle to Shadow and Alpha, who are way above her league.
• Promoted to Love Interest: She is a summonable character in Master of Garden and just like other characters, her events are filled with romantic interaction with Cid despite her having little to no interaction with him in the light novel.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: In the second Christmas event of Master of Garden, she has to wear a revealing Sexy Santa Dress for the Saint's Selection contest. She is not happy to wear it and is embarrassed at how much skin it shows.
• Screaming Warrior: She begins wildly screaming at Shadow during their duel, which is a result of her believing him to be a dangerous criminal running loose in her kingdom and her prior loss to him in his disguised form.
• Sexy Santa Dress: In the second Christmas event of Master of Garden, she wears a Leotard of Power with a skirt with a slit in the front.
• Sore Loser: By her own admission, Iris hates losing. In the anime, her defeat at the hands of Shadow does a number on her self-esteem, crying/screaming pathetic tears of defeated rage after he escapes.
• Start of Darkness: After witnessing several Shadow Garden victories and being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle against Shadow, she obsesses over defeating him and his organization, neglecting her royal responsibilities and younger sister in the process.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the Web Novel, after being publicly humiliated twice by Shadow during the God of War Tournament, Iris has become obsessed with trying to defeat the leader of Shadow Garden, an impossible feat for her, spending much of her time training in a dojo to better herself. This changed her for the worse, not caring about the kingdom's other situations, thus alienating herself from Alexia.
• Unwitting Pawn: She is this towards both the cult and her father with the former using her to keep their control in Midgar and the latter wanting her to side with the cult in case Shadow Garden loses.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Alpha calls out on the princess for instantly assuming the monster is evil and making things worse by hurting her.
  • In the web novel, her sister tries to pull her out of her obsession with defeating Shadow when their kingdom is in crisis from Corporate Warfare.
• The Worf Effect: She's presented as the Kingdom's strongest fighter, yet Shadow easily defeats her and Beatrix at the same time, cementing him as possibly the World's Strongest Man.

King Klaus Midgar

Klaus Midgar

Debut: Volume 2 (Light Novel), Episode 19 (Anime)

Voiced by: Satoshi Mikami (Japanese), Dickie Sanders (English), Andrea Faill (Italian)

King of Midgar, who is somewhat derided by his daughters for his "Don't Rock the Boat" mentality, however, there are reasons behind it.

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• The Chains of Commanding: As he explains to Alexia: he is a a king first and a father second. Therefore he must choose whatever actions are necessary to ensure the survival of the kingdom.
• The Ditherer: Both Iris and Alexia are stupefied by his lack of action against both The Cult of Diablos and Shadow Garden. However, his reasons for this are well-founded. In volume 6, he admits to Alexia that he arranged for both his daughters to support one of the factions with Iris siding with the cult and Alexia with Shadow Garden so that the royal bloodline will continue regardless of the outcome of their war. Naturally, Alexia is outraged over this news and manipulation.
• The Good King: Deconstructed. He does care for the prosperity of his kingdom and its people. He is even willing to sacrifice his own happiness to achieve it. But he does so with methods that tread into a Well-Intentioned Extremist: including endangering his daughters in a powerplay between two N.G.O. Superpower.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Is very much willing to use Shadow Garden and their overt actions against the Cult to investigate the latter, even if he has to declare the former as murderous terrorists.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Unknown to either of his daughters He was actually aware of the Cult of Diablos and his overly cautious nature is out of keeping them from turning their eyes on him and his daughters. It's to the point that he even knew Perv Asshat was a member of the cult and his brainwashing of King Raphael long before anyone else, even Shadow and the rest of Shadow Garden.
• Xanatos Gambit: He has been navigating a course through the struggle between the Cult of Diablos and Shadow Garden, searching for options that will ensure Midgar remains in an advantageous scenario no matter who wins. Even if it costs the safety of his daughters.

Midgar Knight Order

Marco Granger

Voiced by: Rikuya Yasuda (Japanese), Blake Weir (English)

A Dark Knight of Midgar and a member of Iris's Crimson Order.

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• Arranged Marriage: He was once in this with Nu, back when she was Nicoletta Marquez until she contracted Demonic Possession and casted out by her family.
• Broken Pedestal: He loses faith in Iris after her leadership leads to the death of his mentor.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Despite being betrothed to Nu, he is unaware that she contracted Possession, as he was told by her family that she had died.
• Missed Him by That Much: Despite serving as a bodyguard for Sherry in the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy, he is unaware that Nu is attending it undercover as a student.
• Sole Survivor: He was one of two Crimson Order knights to survive the terrorist attack on Midgar Academy.
• You Will Be Spared: Invoked by Nu, who told the unconscious Marco that he would live because he wasn't conscious when Nu was discussing the attack on the school with Cid, since there was a chance that Marco could overhear that Cid is Shadow, as she was willing to kill him in case he did.

Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy

Sherry Barnett

Sherry Barnett

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 7 (Manga), Episode 5 (Anime)

Voiced by: Saya Aizawa (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)

A second-year student of the academy's science side, who is an expert at researching magic artifacts.

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• Adaptation Expansion: In the Light Novel, she hasn't made any further appearances after volume 1, but the anime gives her a brief appearance in the last episode of season 1, which showcases her fixation on revenge on Shadow for killing her father.
• Adaptational Badass: In the game Master of Garden, she is a summonable unit just as capable of fighting as every other character through the use of her artifacts unlike in canon in which she is incapable of fighting due to only being a researcher.
• Arc Hero: Invoked by Cid, who chooses to be her Hyper-Competent Sidekick so that she can be the hero, who saves the academy by disabling the Anti-Magic artifact.
• Badass Bookworm: Downplayed at first until Cid helps her to save everyone in the academy. Played more straight in Master of Garden where she is a summonable character just as capable of fighting like everyone else.
• Break the Cutie: She accidentally stumbles upon Shadow killing her foster father causing her to cry over him. Unfortunately, she didn't know the truth that he was an evil murderer who killed her mother.
• Broken Bird: Her mother died when she was a kid, which caused her to immerse herself in studying artifacts as a way to cope with her grief. Once her foster father also dies, she becomes vengeful towards his killer.
• But Now I Must Go: She leaves Midgar Academy to go to Rawagas Academy City but not before expressing her feelings for Cid.
• Child Prodigy: She is the foremost expert on ancient civilization and was essentially groomed by Lutheran to complete the artifact her mother refused to research due to its danger.
• Cute and Psycho: Episode 20 of the anime reveals she was severely broken from witnessing the death of her foster father at the hands of Shadow. While she's a Nice Girl, the incident has given her a more unhinged side as well.
• Damsel in Distress: The Cult of Diablos targets her to get the Eye of Avarice. Thankfully, Cid was there to get her out of many sticky situations.
• Girl of the Week: Of volume 1 due to gaining a crush on Cid and being central in stopping the terrorist attack on the school and unlike Alexia and Rose, she is Put on the Bus at the end of the volume.
• Idiot Hair: She has a prominent cowlick that curves into a spiral. Subverted since despite having this hairstyle, she's no idiot and is an expert on magical artifacts and ancient civilizations.
• Innocently Insensitive: Wanting to be in a relationship with Cid, Sherry asks Alexia if the two are still dating. After the princess reveals they aren't, Sherry thanks Alexia before leaving with a smile on her face. Unbeknownst to her, Alexia smashes her cup in anger.
• Missing Mom: Her mother is long dead, murdered by her foster father.
• Mistaken for Romance: When Cid gave her the chocolate. Cid just didn't want it and gave it to the first girl who crossed his field of vision, not thinking much of it. However in this world, Chocolate is a new (to where Sherry didn't even know what it was at first) and very popular item to the point that it isn't uncommon for people to get to Mitsugoshi, Ltd. at the break of dawn to get in line to buy it. So from her point of view, he just gave her something that he must have waited a long time in line to give her and believes he just confessed his feelings to her.
• Nice Girl: She is shown to be a very sweet girl willing to take on the dangerous task of disabling the artifact the cult uses to save everyone held hostage in the academy.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The anime has her read the news about the knights' failure to apprehend Shadow at which she smiles since this means she can still get her revenge on him.
• Put on the Bus: She leaves the academy at the end of volume 1 to study abroad.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Sherry wore black tights under her skirt.
• Room Full of Crazy: The anime shows that after studying abroad, her room is littered with wanted posters of Shadow, which showcases her fixation on revenge.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair and is amongst the sweetest characters in the cast until the death of her foster father.
• So Much for Stealth: She suffered this a lot when the school was being taken over by the Cult of Diablos. She tries not to draw attention to herself but makes simple mistakes like thinking out loud or that her shoes are making too much noise. Cid has to make sure no one gets to her and eventually personally meets with her to give her the proper advice.
• Stab the Picture: In the final episode, she stabs a picture of Shadow in a newspaper article.
• Sweet Tooth: She dumps a jar of sugar into her coffee to the point that her cup is filled with more sugar than coffee.
• Teen Genius: She is a prodigy in researching artifacts and has received invitations to study abroad. In Academy City, she became so well known for her intelligence that she has public readings for her research with even Eta acknowledging her skills.
• Token Wholesome: Unlike the other Christmas-themed outfits worn by other characters, Sherry's Christmas outfit in Master of Garden covers her whole body and makes her look adorable, unlike the sexy Santa dresses Alexia, Iris, and Beatrix wear.
• Unwitting Pawn: For her foster father, Lutheran, who only adopted her to get her to complete the artifact after murdering her mother, who refused to do it due to how dangerous it was.
• We Will Meet Again: In her goodbye to Cid when studying abroad, they both know they will meet each other again one day.

Rose Oriana

Rose Oriana

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 9 (Manga), Episode 7 (Anime)

Voiced by: Haruka Shiraishi (Japanese), Donna Bella Litton (English)

The princess of the Oriana Kingdom, who began attending the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy as an exchange student.

For tropes that apply to her after joining Shadow Garden. Click here

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• Arranged Marriage: She has one with Perv Ashat, who is a Named Child from the cult with the marriage being a ploy to take over the country and awaken the Black Rose. Naturally, she is very unhappy about this since not only is she deeply in love with Cid, but Perv is a huge asshat. This along with her discovering Perv's allegiance to the cult after seeing her father caused her to try and kill Perv.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: After killing her father, she tries to kill herself as one final act of defiance against the cult, who want to capture her only to be saved by Shadow, which allows her to escape instead.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: In her event in Master of Garden, she is jealous of how close Claire is to her brother with the two fighting over who gets to spend time with Cid.
• Cultural Rebel: Despite hailing from a kingdom devoted to arts, Rose chooses to be a swordswoman after witnessing a beautiful display of swordsmanship from her savior who later turns out to be Cid, who at the time was calling himself the Stylish Bandit Slayer. After she becomes the queen, part of her reforms include making her people more accepting of swordfighting for the upcoming war against Velgalta.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Her face in the illustrations of the first volume of the light novel is much sharper than how she is depicted in the second volume and other forms of media.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Due to Cid's determination in his duel against her and him Taking the Bullet for her from the fake Shadow Garden, Rose comes under the belief that he is in love with her. This continues due to her interpreting Cid's gestures for Devoted to You, which is not helped by the fact that from her perspective he became the apprentice of a famous pianist, went to her homeland to stop her wedding with Perv, and always kept supporting her despite the fact she became a criminal for killing her father. In reality, Cid sees her as a major player in his 'shadowbroker' roleplay and desires her to become queen to act as a Big Good in contrast to his more morally ambiguous role.
• Family Theme Naming: Her father's name is Raphel while her mother's is Reina so of course her name had to be Rose.
• Fangirl: Of Miss Natsume's books.
• Foil: Rose is this to both princesses of Midgar:
  • Alexia Migar; Both are princesses who fell in love with Cid, but Alexia was in a Fake Relationship with Cid before genuinely obtaining feelings for him and is a Tsundere towards him, while Rose believes she is in a mutual relationship with Cid due to interpreting his gestures towards her for love, which causes her to be very affectionate towards him.
  • Iris Midgar; Both are princesses but Rose is a Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold who sees Shadow as a hero, while Iris is a Fiery Red Head who deems Shadow as a criminal. Furthermore Rose was saved by Shadow, while Iris fought against Shadow with both events happening during the God of War Tournament.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Long ago, Rose met Cid when they were young. He saved her from some bandits that kidnapped her. All she remembered of him was his alias, the Stylish Bandit Slayer. She eventually realizes that her hero is also Shadow.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Due to mercy killing her father she is hated by her own country and seen as the instigator of a potential civil war. Her name gets cleared to the people of Oriana when she returns to Oriana and the king showcases the truth behind his murder thanks to the hidden message, but she is still seen as the villain by other countries due to the cult and church spreading false information that she intentionally summoned demons to take over Oriana.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Rose is forced to kill her father to free him from mind control put there by Perv.
• Nice Girl: She's a very kindhearted girl.
• Regal Ringlets: Her hair is full of ringlets and she's a pretty important noble lady.
• Rescue Romance: She fell in love with Cid after he jumped in save her from a fatal strike by a Shadow Garden impostor. Even after joining Shadow Garden, she is still in love with Cid, blissfully unaware that he is also her boss, Lord Shadow.
• Royal Rapier: She is the princess of Oriana and fights with a rapier.
• Security Blanket: For a short while she has one in the form of a Tuna King wrapper from her "date" with Cid and was the only thing keeping her sane during her time as a fugitive. When it was destroyed by Lambda, she broke down in tears.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: After experiencing love for the first time after falling for Cid, she becomes very affectionate towards him with her liking to be close to him and talk about their love. Her appendix also states that she spends her day daydreaming about Cid.
• Spotting the Thread: In volume 2, Rose knew that Shadow Garden has been framed up by some impostors after seeing the night and day difference between the swordsmanship and prowess of the real Shadow Garden members, particularly Shadow's. She notes that only the real Shadow Garden members use Shadow's swordplay.
• Stealth Pun: Rose is associated with the colour gold as seen with her magic and appearance, making her "rose gold" which perfectly symbolizes her royalty status, affluence, elegance and hopelessly romantic nature.
• Student Council President: Of Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy before her self-imposed exile.
• Take a Third Option: Rose chooses to assassinate her father rather than let Perv have her and take over her kingdom or allow her father to be controlled and start a war against Midgar.
• Token Wholesome: In the anime, she wears full-body clothing at the sanctuary in contrast to the rather revealing dresses Alexia and especially "Natsume" wore.
• Took a Level in Badass: After being cured from her Demonic Possession by Shadow, she effortlessly kills all the Children the cult send to capture her.
• Trauma Conga Line: The second half of volume 2 is not kind to her, she learns about her Arranged Marriage with Perv, she discovers that he is a member of the cult, her father is turned into an Empty Shell, her failed assassination of Perv forces her on the run while her Demonic Possession kicks, after being cured she is forced to Mercy Kill her father in public, and finally upon her induction into Shadow Garden, all her belongings are destroyed including the wrapper from the burger she received from Cid, breaking her down in tears upon losing the last connection she has to her beloved.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about her without mentioning her role later on in the story since not only does she become a fugitive, she also joins Shadow Garden.

Skel Etal & Po Tato

In General

Two of Cid's classmates and his only male friends.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: What they are to any girl they hit on due to their perversion and desperation with the girl Skel tried to give chocolate to being visibly disgusted at the sight of him and Po overdoing his research on a girl he likes, which just makes him a creepy stalker especially considering his "findings" includes private information and even the smell of her feet.
• Book Dumb: They are both struggling with their studies with the 4koma manga showing that they tried to cheat on tests with cheat sheets they bought.
• Butt-Monkey: Nothing goes right for them ranging from finding a girlfriend or trying to earn money, which is especially not helped by their creepy and desperate behavior.
• Casanova Wannabe: Their attempts to hit on any beautiful girl are futile as they soon learn said girl is already in a relationship, considers them too unattractive or creepy, or for insult to injury is only interested in Cid. In the anime, they even try to lose their virginity by going to Lawless City, which failed due to the Red Moon incident. Later in the season, they try to follow a book with dating advice written by Count Virgin Boy, who attained the honorary title of wizard at 30 years old. This goes about as well as you can expect.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Upon seeing a large amount of (expensive) Mitsugoshi goods in Cid's room along with a poster of their loan service, they both conclude that Cid is an active loaner of Mitsugoshi and uses all the money to buy their products. When in reality, Cid receives all those goods for free from Gamma.
• The Gambling Addict: In the God of War tournament, Skel bet all his money on Goldoh to win, but ended with nothing due to his former idol's loss to Mundane Mann. Po, later on, is also shown to have a similar problem, with the two of them even doubling down on their behavior by continuing to challenge Cid in poker, which ends with him leaving them millions in debt.
• Hated by All: They have possibly the worse reputation compared to Cid who is normally treated as an average student. Nobody in Midgar Academy has good opinions about them and outright hates them due to their Casanova Wannabe status. Not to mention the fact their poor treatment of Cid is also known to Shadow Garden, which causes them to scam the pair with their products, along with flat-out abuse towards them if given the opportunity.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • The two damaged Cid's reputation by spreading rumors about him crapping his pants after he got them chocolates for their schemes in confessing to girls. As if divine retribution was enacted, the two's schemes failed as Skel's target was already engaged and Po's target saw him stalking her, which left them beaten up and hospitalized. For extra insult to injury, they also signed Cid up for the Bushin Festival without his permission, which not only restored his reputation, but also gave him the attention and interest of Sherry and Rose.
  • In episode 8 of season 2, they stole VIP tickets of Mitsugoshi from Cid's room in another attempt to get a girlfriend. Naturally, the moment the Seven Shadows present realized Cid wasn't there, they were quickly ditched and their attempt at peeking at them in the hot springs resulted in them being sprayed with a liquid that stings their eyes. They couldn't even enjoy anything of their undeserved stay with them even forgetting everything that happened. And that's actually merciful compared to the unholy beatdown they could have suffered should Shadow Garden learned the truth of how they acquired the tickets.
• Money Dumb: Aside from their gambling addiction, they are easily swayed by Mitsugoshi to buy their expensive products or take a huge loan they are never able to pay back. They even admit to Cid that they don't even bother to do the math themselves and simply assume that the minimum Mitsughoshi gave to them is enough to pay it back one day^note which for the record does not and only covers the monthly interest and dismiss Cid's suggestion to increase it.
• Never My Fault: Upon losing their entire savings to Cid in a poker game, they put all the blame on Cid for beating them despite the fact they willingly bet all their savings out of Sunk Cost Fallacy.
• The Peeping Tom: In the anime, they try to take a peek at the Seven Shadows when they are using the hot springs only to be blasted with teargas in the face by Eta activating her anti-peeping system.
• Perpetual Poverty: They make very poor financial decisions after another with Skel losing all his money through gambling at the God of War festival and Po also having similar financial troubles in the 4koma manga spin-off, which caused him to subsist on the potatoes from his family's farm. Volume 5 takes this further by showing that they are essentially eternally in debt due to borrowing one million zeni from the Mitsugoshi bank with an interest rate of 2 percent per month from which they only pay back 20,000 monthly^note which is only the interest rate and on top of that they the two all lose in a card game to Cid. Twice. The 2nd season of the anime even implies that Skel would be sold into slavery due to his huge debt.
• Small Name, Big Ego: They both boast of their fighting skills yet whenever trouble comes their first instinct is to run away or hide.
• Social Circle Filler: Invoked by Cid who chose them as his "friends" due to how unremarkable they are.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: This is how their gambling addiction can best be called since they keep believing they can somehow win everything back despite only losing money constantly. Best exemplified in their poker games against Cid, who easily beats them and succeeds in taking all their normal savings, which causes them to borrow one million Zeni from Mitsugoshi Bank only to also lose that. After the end of semester exams, they try to do it again with predictably the same results.
• Those Two Guys: Skel and Po are Cid's only friends and are almost always seen together with the God of War tournament being a notable exception.
• Too Dumb to Live: In the anime, Skel and Po head to the Lawless City to mingle with the local prostitutes and lose their virginity. Even if the Vampires hadn't appeared, Skel and Po would most likely not only get swindled out of their money, they have to face the city's vicious criminals who either beat them to a pulp, kill them, or sell them to slavery.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Although shaky their friendship is, Skel and Po do show they deeply care for Cid. One example is during the Terrorist arc, both were horrified to see Cid being cut down in front of their eyes and had stayed by his side the whole time he was "recuperating" from the attack in the school ward.
• With Friends Like These...: They are both rather poor friends to Cid due to roping him into their schemes and spreading the rumor that he crapped his pants. In return, Cid also handles them poorly since they are only meant to help with his "mob" status.

Skel Etal

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 3 (Manga), Episode 3 (Anime)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Nathan Wilson (English)

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• Adaptation Expansion: During the God of War tournament, he tries to get Cid's help to find Rose to obtain the reward money. While this is quickly dropped with Cid quickly ditching him. The anime shows he needed the money to pay back his debts, which causes him to end up on a fishing boat after the debt collectors picked him up.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Skel is drawn without his cartoonishly pointy jawline and long face from the manga so he looks more conventionally attractive in the anime.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: He is transformed into a ghoul in the anime, but is later turned back by Shadow's I Am Atomic Recovery.
• Custom Uniform: Doesn't wear the standard collared dress shirt and tie for his school uniform and instead opts for an orange shirt and red scarf wrap combo with gold chains.
• Dub Name Change: He was named Hyoro in Japanese, but the official translation names him Skel Etal.
• Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: In the God of War tournament, he bets everything he has on Goldoh due to him being an undefeated warrior only to end up broke upon Goldoh's loss against Mundane Mann.
• Hero-Worshipper: He looks up to Goldoh. That is until he gets bested by Mundane Mann in the most humiliating way and Skel loses all of his money and respect for Goldoh due to betting on him. When Cid mentions that event, Skel responds in anger, having completely removed Golodoh from his life.
• Punny Name: His original Japanese name Hyoro means "thin and wispy", referring to his skinny build. His localized name is Skel Etal because his thinness makes him look skeletal.
• Working Off the Debt: In the anime, he is forced to work on a fishing boat to pay back his debts.

Po Tato

Debut: Volume 1 (Light Novel), Chapter 3 (Manga), Episode 3 (Anime)

Voiced by: Shin Matsushige (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)

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• The Ditz: He seems to be this among his group.
• Dub Name Change: He's named Jaga in Japanese, but the official translation names him Po Tato.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He left Skel to fend for himself when they ran away from the hordes of ghouls, which only gave the ghouls one more member to chase him with.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In the anime, the ghoulified Skel is able to catch up to Po and pin him down. By the time Shadow uses his I Am Atomic Recovery, Po is able to reverse the situation.
• Punny Name: Both Jaga and Po Tato refer to his short and stocky build, making him look like a potato.
• Stalker with a Crush: He basically follows the girl he likes around and takes notes on everything including her body sizes. The girl in question actually notices him and attacks him for it.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The only time he did not obtain some kind of misfortune is when he went back to his family's farm and avoided Skel's ill-fated gambling.

Christina Hope

Christina Hope

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel), Chapter 57 (Manga)

A viscountess and the daughter of the Hope Family. She has a serious and kind personality with a desire to uphold justice against evildoers.

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• Academic Athlete: She is no slouch in fighting herself and is one of the top 5 students in Cid's class.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: Christina made her debut during the Oriana Civil War arc of the web novel whereas she appeared in the light novel after that arc ended. However, this is played with since the Oriana Civil War was shortened in the light novel.
• Adaptational Nationality: In the web novel, it was implied she came from Oriana due to her mother and fiancé living there along with her appreciation towards art from Mitsugoshi, while in the light novel, there is no indication that she has any ties to Oriana and is only shown to be a noble from Midgar.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the web novel, she was able to recognize Cid and he was surprised to see her skills in combat since he considered her a mob character. In the light novel, this dynamic is inverted with Cid knowing she is one of the best students in the class and her barely knowing who he is, but having an admiration towards Shadow.
• Being Good Sucks: Due to trying to prove Eliza guilty of her crimes and protecting Kanade, she is targetted by the Night Swords for assassination with even her own father giving them his support to kill her to save his household. She is fully aware of this and hates the fact the bad guys are able to get away with their deeds while being fully aware of how powerless she is against them.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While Christina is a nice girl with a strong sense of justice, she also has a more vindicative side, which hates evil as shown by her smiles at the deaths of the corrupt Thirteen Night Swords. This eventually causes her to take on Jack the Ripper's identity once Shadow is done with it.
• Foil: Her situation with the Night Swords mirrors Alexia's situation with the Cult of Diablos since they both feel powerless to do anything against a group with more power and influence than them, which is not helped by their fathers, who would rather appease the oppressors to prevent the destruction of what their family has built up. By the end of volume 6, Christina's oppressors are gone with her gaining the conviction to kill corrupt nobles to end Midgar's corruption by becoming the second Jack the Ripper, while Alexia's enemies are still active and she lacks a way to oppose them due to lacking strength herself and having no way to contact Shadow Garden directly.
• Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps: After being saved by Shadow several times and witnessing his killing of the Thirteen Night Swords as Jack the Ripper, she decides to adopt his Pay Evil unto Evil mindset and become the second Jack the Ripper to purge the country from corrupt nobles.
• Girl of the Week: Of volume 6, which is about her investigating the clues Jack the Ripper leaves behind.
• Hero-Worshipper: After he saved her life as "Suzuki", she began to admire Shadow due to his strength and way of life. After he killed all the Thirteen Night Swords as Jack the Ripper along with saving Millia as Shadow, she became convinced his way is right and follows in his footsteps by becoming the second Jack the Ripper.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: She feels powerless against Eliza due to her ties to the Thirteen Night Blades, which makes Christina wish she could be as strong as Shadow to end evil threats. However, in the end, she decides that she doesn't need power, but conviction to act out her justice, which causes her to become the second Jack the Ripper and kill Eliza without mercy.
• Kissing Cousins: Played with since she only thinks its a family member. After "Suzuki" saves her from Isaac, it looks like he is going to kiss her with her having no objections despite him supposedly being her distant relative.
• Legacy Character: In the end of volume 6, she becomes the second Jack the Ripper to start her own crusade against the corruption in Midgar.
• Nice Girl: She is shown to be kind and is willing to partake in what's essentially a suicide mission to save the students trapped in the White Mist along with inviting Kanade and Cid to her house to protect them from the Night Swords.
• Parents in Distress: In the web novel, she heads to the war-torn Oriana Kingdom to rescue her mother who lives there.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Inheritting this mindset from Jack the Ripper/Shadow, she decides to perform evil deeds to combat the corruption in Midgar.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: After spending most of volume 6 as a Useless Protagonist, who is only a witness to Jack the Ripper's killings. She became inspired by Shadow's blood-soaked yet righteous path and decided to inherit his Pay Evil unto Evil mindset and succeed in his identity as Jack the Ripper to continue his killing spree of corrupt nobles to end the corruption in Midgar.
• Psycho Knife Nut: As the second Jack the Ripper, she uses a knife as her murder tool with her sliding a playing card into the wound of her victim after fatally stabbing them
• Psycho Pink: She has pink hair and has a vindicative streak against evil as shown by her joy at the deaths of the Thirteen Night Swords and this was before she succeeded the identity of Jack the Ripper.
• Psychotic Smirk: She has these whenever a member of the Thirteen Night Swords is found dead or killed since they fully deserve it. However, she quickly hides these with her hands to prevent anyone from seeing them.
• Rescue Romance: In volume 5, Christina falls in love with "Suzuki"/Shadow after being saved by him twice. First is from Isaac and the second is towards Fenrir.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair and is a kind girl willing to stand up against injustice.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Deconstructed, she genuinely wants to do the right thing by defending Kanade and proving Eliza guilty, but the power the latter's family has makes her unable to act with her most likely ending up dead if it wasn't for Jack the Ripper.
• Skewed Priorities: In the web novel, Christina refuses to break and enter the Mistugoshi Co. Oriana branch even when the Zombie horde is fast approaching her and Cid because it's too beautiful to be destroyed. Cid, of all people, can't believe what he's hearing.
• Something about a Rose: The dress she wears on the volume 6 cover has a rose with a card embedded into it. After taking over Jack the Ripper's mantle, the hat she wears with it has two roses on it.
• Spotting the Thread: She is able to notice something odd about Cid since despite his averageness in everything, he is very perspective at solving mysteries especially the clues Jack the Ripper left behind, which causes her to conclude that he might be a detective in disguise.
• Useless Protagonist: While she can be considered the main protagonist of volume 6, she can't do anything against the Night Swords herself and is only a spectator to Jack the Ripper's killings. She is fully aware of her inability to do anything, but thanks to Jack/Shadow, she obtained the conviction needed to succeed Jack's identity and start her own dark brand of justice like him.
• Wowing Cthulhu: In the web novel, Cid himself is very impressed at Christina, who he thought was merely a mob character, for moving up several classes of the Royal Capital Bushin Style in over a year and being Action Survivor throughout the Zombie Apocalypse.

Nina (Volume 5 Spoilers)

Nina

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)

A student of Midgar Academy and Claire's best friend. While she appears lazy and disinterested in her schoolwork, there is a hidden side to her...

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• Bodyguard Babes: She's tasked by Zeta to look after Claire and ensure no cult member gets their hands on her.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Nina isn't really good at academics or ability at the Midgar Academy but Cid notices that she hides her true prowess and that she's stronger than his sister Claire who is The Ace in their class.
• Forgotten First Meeting: It's implied that similar to Rose and Yukime, Nina was also once saved by Cid, who does not remember since he was just passing through.
• Honorary True Companion: She's serving under Zeta despite not being an official member of Shadow Garden.
• Ki Manipulation: She, like the rest of the Shadow Garden, is capable of manipulating her mana which almost blew her cover when Alexia noticed her mana output not decreasing.
• Noodle Incident: Zeta mentions her being saved by Shadow during their talk in the Midgar Sanctuary.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She plays as a Gyaru Girl type while hiding her smart and talented self as a cover to protect Claire. Cid is even surprised that she's famous for having bad grades when he asks if she is going to join the knights if they graduate since he knows that she hides her true prowess and is stronger than his sister Claire who is The Ace in their class.
• Rugged Scar: She sports a scar on her left breast.
• Strong and Skilled: Victoria notes on Nina being able to challenge the Numbers if she'd actually join Shadow Garden.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: She talks to Claire and Alexia while only wearing her undergarments. She doesn't even mind being seen with her breasts when her bra fell off later due to Claire.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about her character considering the fact she is a part of Zeta's Renegade Splinter Faction.

Isaac (Volume 5 Spoilers)

Isaac

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel), Chapter 59 (Manga)

One of the top students in Midgar Academy and Cid's classmate he cheats off during tests.

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• Book Smart: He is one of the top students in the academy, which is why Cid always copies his answers during tests.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: He is first mentioned when Cid notes that he isn't present for the test, which forces Cid to cheat off Christina instead. With the reveal he is part of the cult, he most likely was busy hearing details of the White Mist plan that would soon be initiated.
• Evil Gloating: Once he reveals himself as The Mole, he gloats to Christina about being part of the Cult that has ruled the world since time immemorial and scoffs at the idea of Shadow Garden opposing them while carrying a syringe to make Christina a 1st or 2nd Child of the Cult. However, this is dampened by the fact that said cult is already collapsing and on the verge of total annihilation from what they called a small-timer organization in just five years as well as his own demise from an ordinary pen of "Suzuki's".
• Foreshadowing: He immediately concludes that the White Mist was all Shadow Garden's doing and emphasizes what a menace they are to stir up terror in the students. This was less of a baseless accusation and more of deliberate propaganda spreading as Isaac was secretly working for the cult.
• Hypocrite: Keeps voicing his suspicion of Suzuki's secretive behavior and believing he's leading the Special Attack Squad into a trap even though Isaac himself is the one luring them to their doom since he's actually The Mole for the cult.
• In-Series Nickname: He is codenamed "Willow" by the Cult of Diablos.
• The Mole: Despite constantly accusing Suzuki as such, Issac was actually the one working for the Cult of Diabolos who then knocked out everyone in the party after leading them deeper into the white mist so the cult could use them for nefarious purposes.
• Obvious Judas: In-Universe; Due to his cynical and unhelpful behavior during the White Mist, Christina wasn't all that surprised once he revealed himself as The Mole since it was already clear that he was hiding something.
• Playing with Syringes: He tries to inject Nina with the serum they use to enhance the Children of Diablos, while also noting that with her capabilities, she could become a Second Child.
• Smug Snake: For all his bolstering about the Cult's powers and influence, their supposed absolute rule is actually dwindling due to Shadow Garden's actions with the White Mist being a desperate plan to maintain the production of the Tears of Diablos.
• This Cannot Be!: He has a hard time grasping how "Suzuki" defeated and killed him while being beyond shocked at the amount of mana being read into his collar.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Isaac considering he is actually The Mole for the cult.

Suzuki Hope

Suzuki Hope

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)

A distant relative of Christina and part of the Hope's branch family.

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• Death Glare: His last act before dying due to the magic collar bomb exploding is his severed head giving a nasty look to Cid.
• Early-Bird Cameo: It's speculated Suzuki made an appearance in chapter 10 of the manga as he was described to be short, wearing glasses and Cid's classmate, way before his debut in volume 5.
• Off with His Head!: He was unfortunate to deplete his mana reserves while practicing magic right before the white mist engulfed the school and shortly fell victim to the magic collar bomb as a result.
• Remember the New Guy?: Suzuki has been Cid's classmate since the start of school but was never mentioned until right before his untimely death from a timely bomb collar. This is justified since Cid tends to gloss over unimportant mob characters irrelevant to the plot as they should be and Suzuki is a prime example.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: So much so that Cid previously used him as a reference a few times for his mob persona and is able to easily impersonate him with room to give his own touch.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Suzuki was introduced right before exploding and Cid taking his identity with any prior knowledge of him comes from second-hand accounts by those who barely knew him.

Eliza (Volume 5 & 6 Spoilers)

Eliza

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel)

The student council vice president.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Being confronted by Jack the Ripper, she immediately drops her bravado and begs to be spared, even offering her body to him to do as he pleases. Unfortunately for Eliza, she is not here to entertain...
• Asshole Victim:
  • Discussed by "Suzuki", who notes that no one would vouch for her if she were to die from the Bomb Collar if she refused to share the magic she stole from other students.
  • In volume 6, she meets her end at the hands of Christina, who succeeds the Jack the Ripper identity and kills her in cold blood.
• Beauty Is Bad: She is noted to be beautiful yet she is a selfish Alpha Bitch lording over other students with her family status.
• Big Bad Wannabe: It seems Eliza is set up to be a new antagonist as she plans to rebuild the 13 Night Swords but Christina (in her guise as the second Jack the Ripper) kills her and ends her plans before they even start. And given Christina's goals to purge evil, the other families of the Night Swords are going to be her next victims.
• Blackmail: Even though the Night Swords including her father are all killed by Jack the Ripper, she plans to leave the trial unpunished through the dirt she got on the judge. Too bad for her, the second Jack kills her before she even has the chance.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After the death of the Thirteen Night Swords and being evicted from her house, she starts drinking to cope with her nightmare of the past week although she is still sober enough to attempt to gather the family members of the Night Swords to start the group anew.
• Hate Sink: Eliza is an arrogant Alpha Bitch, who has no remorse for causing the deaths of several students in the White Mist. After the incident ends, she knows that the Night Swords will help her evade justice and once they are gone at the hands of Jack the Ripper, she tries to recreate the group with the family members of the other Night Swords all for the sake of maintaining a position of power.
• Hope Spot: When her attempt to offer her body seems to appease Jack the Ripper, she feels relieved and starts showing more... only for Jack to fatally stab her in the chest.
• It's All About Me: When trapped in the White Mist, she forced other students to give her their magic power and left the one who refused to die all for the sake of her own survival.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Part of the plot of volume 6 is Christina trying to make sure she does pay for her crimes. In the end, Eliza does lose everything with her being evicted from her house and losing many belongings and money due to Jack the Ripper ending the Night Swords including her father with Christina finishing the job by killing her to ensure it won't be recreated.
• Kick the Dog: She has one of her lackeys punch Cid and she slaps Christina herself to show just how powerless they are against her and the Night Swords.
• Like Father, Like Daughter: Both Eliza and her father are arrogant nobles who believe they are untouchable due to their wealth, power, and connections. Too bad for them, Jack the Ripper showed them how truly touchable they were and they ultimately begged to be spared which Jack doesn't comply with.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: She is very proud of the high status her household possesses and uses it as a form of authority against other students. In volume 6, she loses these connections due to all the Thirteen Night Swords including her father being killed by Jack the Ripper.
• Walking Spoiler: For what's essentially a minor villain who is not even a part of the cult, it's hard to talk about Eliza without mentioning the crimes she committed.

Kanade

Kanade

Debut: Volume 5 (Light Novel, unnamed), Volume 6 (Light Novel, full introduction)

One of the many students who were trapped in the White Mist and a key witness in proving Eliza's crimes.

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• Ascended Extra: From an unnamed extra of volume 5 to one of the main characters of volume 6.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She is the girl "Suzuki" saved during the White Mist incident and is a key witness in proving Eliza's crimes.
• Chuunibyou: Kanade shows she has shades of this, as she becomes a bit of a Large Ham during moments and wonders if she has some hidden powers when her attackers suddenly explode around her, which was actually Jack the Ripper's doing.
• Comically Missing the Point: She thought Cid was complimenting her when he said she might make a name for herself in history even though he said it after she whispered to him that they could use Alexia, the second princess of Midgar, as a shield.
• Distaff Counterpart: She is rather similar to Cid (without his double life and insane powers) being a black-haired mob of a lower noble family, who shamelessly use their circumstances to enjoy luxuries they can't normally afford.
• Dying Declaration of Hate: Played for Laughs and subverted, once it seems that Jack the Ripper killed her, she tells Christina her dying wish is for Cid to die for abandoning them. However, she is actually still alive with the card not having harmed her at all and containing a clue.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: When it appears she was killed by Jack the Ripper, she tells Christina her dying wish before closing her eyes. Only for Christina to forcefully wake her up and tell her that the card Jack threw at her was only attached due to dried blood.
• Given Name Reveal: Volume 6 reveals that her name is Kanade after being unnamed in the previous volume.
• Jobber: She's as much a mob character as Cid, Skel and Po are and is helpless against the assassins of the Night Swords.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: While being targeted by the Night Swords for assassination, she makes use of her temporary residence in the Hope residence by eating several luxurious snacks and meals from Mitsugoshi that she can't normally afford.
• Lovable Coward: She is absolutely terrified at the events surrounding Jack the Ripper and the Thirteen Night Blades along with thinking about the idea of using Alexia as a Human Shield, but nonetheless stays with Christina even if it is only for the sake of her own protection.
• Money Fetish: In the Hope family mansion, the first thing she does is estimate the worth of the art in the hallway, but she is not skilled enough to recognize replicas from the real deal. This causes Cid as Jack to steal a replica vase, which Christina interprets as a message for her to replicate his crimes after the Night Swords are dealt with.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Her main role in volume 6 is to provide a bit of comedy to lighten up the mood in the otherwise dark story.
• Shadow Archetype: Kanade is the living embodiment of Cid if he was only just a mob and since she has no double life or great power to hide, she openly and gladly engages in her Chuuni and hedonistic side in front of company and be seen as the Plucky Comic Relief she is.

Other

Thirteen Night Swords

A group of thirteen corrupt aristocrats with a large amount of influence, who use their power to rule Midgar from the shadows. They consist of Count Goethe Moono, Count Kuzaya, Baron Grehahn, Oyano Bow, Viscount Shinobi, Marquis Jet, Count White, Count Earl Butler, Duke Dacuacain and four unnamed members.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg:
  • After Grehahn has been killed by Jack, Kuzaya offers to give the clown anything (money, women, etc...) to have his life spared.
  • After becoming the last surviving Night Sword, Duke Dacuacain drops to the ground and pathetically begs Jack to spare him.
• Arc Villain: Of volume 6 but they fall more into Big Bad Wannabe territory due to how vastly outmatched they are against Jack the Ripper.
• Asshole Victim: All of them misuse their power to get away with every crime pinned on them so naturally no one grieved when Jack the Ripper killed them.
• Big Bad Wannabe: The Night Swords were built up to be the Midgar's equivalent of the Knights of Rounds and the Arc Villain of volume 6 but made the fatal mistake of existing and Cid catching wind of this from Shadow Garden. They only lasted four days at the hands of Jack the Ripper's wrath (and envy).
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Count White assumes Jack the Ripper is out for revenge for the death of a family member or loved one and taunts the clown by saying it's hard to remember from all the people he had killed. Of course, the count immediately regrets it when Jack is right up to his face and kills him.
• Decomposite Character: They take Perv's role in unleashing Millia against Shadow from the web novel.
• Dirty Coward: All of the Night Swords would abandon anyone, even their own families, to save their own skins. Best exemplified when Oyano Bow uses his own son as a Human Shield, not that it matters when Jack just killed them both.
• The Dreaded: No other noble is willing to oppose them unless they want their household to be destroyed.
• Dwindling Party: The moment Cid knew about their existence, Jack wasted no time in culling the Thirteen Night Swords to a big fat zero. Starting with slaying Goethe Moono and his bodyguards on the first night, hanging Count Kuzaya and Baron Grehahn in public on the second, decapitating Viscount Shinobi, Marquis Jet and their siege forces offscreen before killing Oyano Bow on the third and finally finishing off the last seven Night Swords and an entire colosseum's worth of elite fighters on the fourth night.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Oyano Bow has shown to love his son and admits to him that he's going to give up his role as Night Sword to him. Then it gets Subverted when Oyano cowardly uses him as a Human Shield from Jack the Ripper who just kills the two of them in response.
• Fat Bastard: Goethe was described as rather rotund and chubby with his role in the Night Swords being an Amoral Attorney, who is in charge of ensuring that they win their cases through any means necessary, which includes silencing witnesses through assassination or bribery.
• Forced into Evil: Goethe seems to be in this as it's revealed he submitted to them after they killed his father. Unfortunately, that doesn't give him a free pass to escape Jack's wrath.
• Hated by All: It's safe to say no one in Midgar holds the Night Swords in high regard and it's only because of fear that they are forced to tolerate them. By the end, when all the Night Swords had been killed, all of Midgar immediately strips their families of their wealth and resources.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: In order to safely enjoy the show while Jack the Ripper fights against their mercenaries, the seven remaining Night Swords keep themselves protected in an unbreakable barrier. Unfortunately for them, Jack somehow managed to sneak inside the barrier, which prevented Experiment 227, Millia from attacking Jack and made them an easy target to kill.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: After spending years getting away with their various crimes, their luck finally runs out after Jack the Ripper hunts them down.
• Killed Offscreen: Oyano was confident Jack wouldn't stand a chance against Viscount Shinobi and Marquis Jet who were leading an entire siege force of elite assassins to stop him, only for Jack to cut him off by showing the decapitated heads of the two nobles, each with a frozen look of terror and a spade card embedded into them, signifying he already dealt with them first.
• Les Collaborateurs: While they know about the Cult of Diablos and their influence throughout the world, they choose to ally with them to maintain control over Midgar with them even seeking an alliance with the Loki Faction after the Fenrir Faction has been destroyed.
• Mirror Character: They share many similarities to the cult's Twelve Knights of Rounds as corrupted aristocrats both powerful and influential through unsavory means who control the Midgar Kingdom from the shadows and would later find themselves on Shadow Garden's hit list. However, there's one fundamental difference between the two groups: Cid is very much aware of the Knight Swords' existence, gets envious of the fact they are "Eminences in Shadows" and decides to put on a circus show as Jack the Ripper for them. So unlike the Knights of Rounds who continue their shady operations for years albeit slowly waning in power thanks to Shadow Garden's efforts (and Shadow's obliviousness), Jack thoroughly wipes all the Knight Swords and their elite forces out in a span of four days. Also while the Night Swords quickly work together upon the threat Jack poses to them, the Rounds at best only send one of their members or some children to a Rounds member in need rather than unite and attack Shadow Garden together.
• No Name Given: Only nine of the Thirteen Night Swords were named since the other four were just there as filler for Jack's hitlist.
• Only Sane Man: Count Butler is the only Night Sword to take the threat of Jack the Ripper seriously and tries urging his fellow Night Swords to work together and take him down. His only flaw however is thinking working together would actually give them a chance on beating Jack.
• The Remnant: Due to the destruction of the Fenrir faction, they are essentially the last major form of influence, the Cult of Diablos has on Midgar. Once Jack killed them all, he left the cult with only a few Named Children in positions of power.
• Undignified Death: The Night Swords' deaths are painfully humiliating as all of them either cry or scream in terror before Jack finishes them off, not with swords but with playing cards. Given how Jack played with them, this was intentional on his part.
  • Jack kills Oyano Bow when the latter uses his son as a Human Shield.
  • Duke Dacuacain dies Screaming Like A Little Girl after bowing his head and pleading for his life to be spared by Jack.
• Villainous Breakdown: Jack the Ripper mercilessly reduces the high and mighty Night Swords into a bunch of crying messes. Count White, in particular, has complete lost sanity as Jack kills the remaining Night Swords one by one. The count's cries for help devolves into him yelling "Anyone!" like a Madness Mantra.
• You Have Failed Me: The Night Swords swear to punish the mercenaries they hired for refusing to fight Jack the Ripper. One of the mercs just laughs at them, knowing full well what the Night Swords' fates will be.

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