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* WizardsLiveLonger: {{Discussed}}; [[spoiler: One of the raison d'etre of the [[ReligionOfEvil Cult of Diablos]] is to [[ImmortalitySeeker gain immortality]] via magic and are willing to go to any lengths to acquire it. Cid himself mentions that due to how powerful his magic power and reserves is, he estimates he could live up to 200 years at a minimum during the CorporateWarfare arc.]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We [[HiddenInPlainSight lurk in the shadows]], and [[KickTheSonOfTheBitch hunt the]] [[ReligionOfEvil shadows]]. [[GoalInLife That is all we live for...]]"]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We [[HiddenInPlainSight lurk in the shadows]], and [[KickTheSonOfTheBitch [[KickTheSonOfABitch hunt the]] [[ReligionOfEvil shadows]]. [[GoalInLife That is all we live for...]]"]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We lurk in the [[ShapedLikeItself shadows]], and hunt the [[BrokenRecord shadows]]. That is all we live for..."]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We [[HiddenInPlainSight lurk in the [[ShapedLikeItself shadows]], and [[KickTheSonOfTheBitch hunt the [[BrokenRecord the]] [[ReligionOfEvil shadows]]. [[GoalInLife That is all we live for..."]]]]"]]
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* HiddenInPlainSight: Anime only but a damning hint of Mitsugoshi being Shadow Garden's front is found [[spoiler: at the [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png store's statue]]]] but due to their [[ShroudedInMyth mysterious existence]], no one has been able to pick up on it.
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* HiddenInPlainSight: HiddenInPlainSight:
** Anime only but a damning hint of Mitsugoshi being Shadow Garden's front is found [[spoiler: at the [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png store's statue]]]] but due to their [[ShroudedInMyth mysterious existence]], no one has been able to pick up onit.it.
** Lindwurm [[spoiler: being the sanctuary of Diabolos arm is hinted due to one of the trinkets they sell, which is an arm.]]
** Anime only but a damning hint of Mitsugoshi being Shadow Garden's front is found [[spoiler: at the [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png store's statue]]]] but due to their [[ShroudedInMyth mysterious existence]], no one has been able to pick up on
** Lindwurm [[spoiler: being the sanctuary of Diabolos arm is hinted due to one of the trinkets they sell, which is an arm.]]
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* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[spoiler: How [[SpottingTheThread Rose knew that the Shadow Garden were]] [[FrameUp framed for the crime]] was because of three things. The swordsmanship, the prowess and that the real Shadow Garden members aside from Shadow were composed of women. She went on to warn and prevent the Midgar Kingdom from making an enemy out of such a powerful group [[CassandraTruth but was promptly ignored]].]]
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* PointyEars: Most of Cid's allies in Shadow Garden are elves, so naturally they have pointy ears to indicate this.
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* LatexPerfection: [[spoiler: In volume 2, Cid requests Gamma to make a face in order to enter the God of War Festival, in which the latter uses a variant of slime in order to change the face according to Cid's preferred appearance via Nu. Later, Cid notes in volume 4, that this was implemented by Mitsugoshi salons as part of their cosmetic surgery package.]]
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** In Volume 4, [[spoiler: Akane Nishino has this reaction when Minoru/Cid tried out his own uniform she kept as a memento. She later has this reaction when she realized Minoru/Cid saved her again after [[TransportedToTheOtherWorld waking up in the other world]].]]
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* ReincarnateInAnotherWorld: Invoked; in his previous life, Cid was a {{Chuunibyou}} who wanted magic powers so badly that in his delusions, he ''deliberately ran in front of a truck'' and died in an attempt to get stronger. Naturally, he's reincarnated into another world where he can live out all of his fantasies.
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* IfIWantedYouDead: During the [[spoiler: God Of War Tournament, Iris is forced to admit that Shadow can actually kill them if he wanted to after seeing his might when she questioned him about [[Berserk Button fleeing]] after defeating her and Beatrix.]]
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* IfIWantedYouDead: During the [[spoiler: God Of War Tournament, Iris is forced to admit that Shadow can actually kill them if he wanted to after seeing his might when she questioned him about [[Berserk Button [[BerserkButton fleeing]] after defeating her and Beatrix.]]
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* IfIWantedYouDead: During the [[spoiler: God Of War Tournament, Iris is forced to admit that Shadow can actually kill them if he wanted to after seeing his might when she questioned him about [[Berserk Button fleeing]] after defeating her and Beatrix.]]
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* SkillGateCharacters: Non Video Game Example. The memories summoned at the [[spoiler: Goddess Trials are based on the challenger's skill level. Cid, knowing this from Alexia, had to resort into transforming as Shadow to avoid blowing his cover when he was unknowingly nominated as a challenger by Rose Oriana. Due to his prowess, he manages to summon the most powerful warrior in the trial, [[TheDreaded Aurora]] [[RedBaron The Calamity Witch]].]]
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* AndShowItToYou: In volume 4, [[spoiler: after Cid is away from Marie, a then prostitute turned tavern lady whom he saved in the Lawless Town as Shadow, follows the two muggers and murders them like this. He then returned Marie's money to her, earning more affection from her.]]
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* FreezeFrameBonus: Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png statue of Shadow]] and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].]]
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* FreezeFrameBonus: FreezeFrameBonus:
** Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png statue of Shadow]] and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].]]]]
** Although Sherry debuts at episode 5, she actually first appears in episode 3 during Alexia and Cid's time at the library. This was revealed in episode 7.
** Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png statue of Shadow]] and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].
** Although Sherry debuts at episode 5, she actually first appears in episode 3 during Alexia and Cid's time at the library. This was revealed in episode 7.
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* SecretKeeper: Aside from the Shadow Garden, there are only a handful few people who knows that [[spoiler: Cid is Shadow, with them being [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lutheran Barnett]], [[TheDreaded Aurora, and Elisabeth]]. Though others like Rose Oriana, Claire Kagenou and Akane Nishino has been putting two & two together and is already suspecting it.]]
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Aurora, despite being a projection, also impressed Cid too
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* WowingCthulhu: [[spoiler:Alpha]] is one of the first individuals to ever impress Cid, using her new techniques to engage him to almost equal footing.
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* WowingCthulhu: [[spoiler:Alpha]] is one of the first few individuals to ever impress Cid, using her new techniques to engage him to almost equal footing.
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* InstantArmor: The slime bodysuit is this, as long as you channel mana into it.
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* HiddenInPlainSight: Anime only but a damning hint of Mitsugoshi being Shadow Garden's front is found [[spoiler: at the [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png store's statue]]]] but due to their [[ShroudedInMyth mysterious existence]], no one has been able to pick up on it.
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* FreezeFrameBonus: Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: statue of Shadow and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].]]
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* FreezeFrameBonus: Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: [[https://i.imgur.com/0YN4Kkr.png statue of Shadow Shadow]] and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].]]
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* DemonicPossession: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Demonic Possession]]...[spoiler: Or so the world has been led to believe, in truth it's due to the sufferers being a descendant of the Three Heroes, who were each implanted with cells taken from Diablos by the Cult. At a certain stage depending upon species' lifespan, the cells will begin to take over a female descendant's body and eventually transform them into a monster. Before Cid came along this was incurable.]]
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* DemonicPossession: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Demonic Possession]]...[spoiler: [[spoiler: Or so the world has been led to believe, in truth it's due to the sufferers being a descendant of the Three Heroes, who were each implanted with cells taken from Diablos by the Cult. At a certain stage depending upon species' lifespan, the cells will begin to take over a female descendant's body and eventually transform them into a monster. Before Cid came along this was incurable.]]
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* FreezeFrameBonus: Combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. In episode 6, a keen eyed viewer can spot a [[spoiler: statue of Shadow and the [[AmazonBrigade Seven Shadows]] when Cid enters the Mitsugoshi store, hinting the fact that Mitsugoshi is [[CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront Shadow Garden's front]].]]
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* EvolvingCredits: The ED prominently features every Shadow Garden members starting with Alpha in episode 2.
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** While making your room look pretty is nice and all, the cost in doing so is pretty high and Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. [[PerpertualPoverty Thus Cid is constantly scraping for coins and treasure]] due to being unaware that all of Mitsugoshi's funds actually belong to him.
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** While making your room look pretty is nice and all, the cost in doing so is pretty high and Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. [[PerpertualPoverty [[PerpetualPoverty Thus Cid is constantly scraping for coins and treasure]] due to being unaware that all of Mitsugoshi's funds actually belong to him.
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* DemonicPossession: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Demonic Possession]]...[spoiler: Or so the world has been led to believe, in truth it's due to the sufferers being a descendant of the Three Heroes, who were each implanted with cells taken from Diablos by the Cult. At a certain stage depending upon species' lifespan, the cells will begin to take over a female descendant's body and eventually transform them into a monster. Before Cid came along this was incurable.]]
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* DyingCurse: After being killed by the legendary heroes, Diablos placed a curse on them so that they and their descendants would suffer painful deaths.
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* DyingCurse: After being killed by the legendary heroes, Diablos placed a curse on them so that they and their descendants would suffer painful deaths. [[spoiler: Or so the Cult's propaganda goes, in reality they implanted the Three Heroes with cells taken from Diablos.]]
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** [[TheBerserker Delta]] kills [[BloodKnight very enthusiastically]] to put it mildly, almost invariably sporting this when she's in a fight.
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* StartXToStopX: Shadow Garden's plan is to hide in the shadows and tear apart the Cult of Diablos who uses the same method to achieve their own goal.
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** It doesn't matter if you're a master of martial arts or have become a hulking giant, you are still human; thus you are vulnerable and can be killed. Although Cid acknowledges this, he only focuses on death by conventional weaponry like the Taepodong. He seemingly didn't take into account other factors like blunt force head trauma and the dangers of motor vehicles, two of which were responsible for his death.
** While making your room look pretty is nice and all but the costs in doing so is high. Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. Now, he's forced to scrap by any coins that he finds on the ground or borrow it.
** Handling a PraetorianGuard is a lot harder than it seems. Not only you need money to keep the team afloat but there's also the problem with personnel. Hardly, anyone can keep up or can be at the same level as Iris Midgar and there's also the fact that has to be taken into account that anyone you try to recruit might be a spy working for the enemy.
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like treasures.
** It shown how a person with {{Chuunibyou}} is, in real world especially if taken to the extreme, an insane delusional person, and without help Cid is unlikely to be cured from it. It could be considered a miracle that Cid is as functional as he is.
** While making your room look pretty is nice and all but the costs in doing so is high. Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. Now, he's forced to scrap by any coins that he finds on the ground or borrow it.
** Handling a PraetorianGuard is a lot harder than it seems. Not only you need money to keep the team afloat but there's also the problem with personnel. Hardly, anyone can keep up or can be at the same level as Iris Midgar and there's also the fact that has to be taken into account that anyone you try to recruit might be a spy working for the enemy.
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like treasures.
** It shown how a person with {{Chuunibyou}} is, in real world especially if taken to the extreme, an insane delusional person, and without help Cid is unlikely to be cured from it. It could be considered a miracle that Cid is as functional as he is.
to:
** It doesn't matter if you're a master of martial arts or have become a hulking giant, you are you're still human; thus you are you're vulnerable and can be killed. Although Cid acknowledges this, he only focuses on death by conventional weaponry like the Taepodong. He seemingly didn't take into account other factors like blunt force head trauma and the dangers of motor vehicles, two of which were responsible for his death.
** While making your room look pretty is nice andall but all, the costs cost in doing so is high. pretty high and Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. Now, he's forced to scrap by any [[PerpertualPoverty Thus Cid is constantly scraping for coins and treasure]] due to being unaware that he finds on the ground or borrow it.
all of Mitsugoshi's funds actually belong to him.
** Handling a PraetorianGuard isa lot harder than it seems. Not seems as not only you need money do they require funding to keep the team afloat but stay afloat, there's also the problem with personnel. Hardly, finding skilled personnel as hardly just anyone can keep up or can be at is on the same level as of Iris Midgar and there's also the fact that has Midgar. Not to be taken into account that anyone mention those you try to recruit might be a an enemy spy working for the enemy.
if you don't vet them carefully enough.
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like thousands of coins and treasures.
**It shown how a person with Someone who suffers from {{Chuunibyou}} is, and persistently keeps it up in the real world especially if taken to the extreme, point of extremes is an insane insanely delusional person, and without help Cid is unlikely to be cured from of it. It could be considered a miracle that Cid is as functional as he is.
** While making your room look pretty is nice and
** Handling a PraetorianGuard is
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like thousands of coins and treasures.
**
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Updated the last line of the synopsis.
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The series has a manga adaptation, a light novel adaptation published by Kadokawa, and English translation of the light novel by Creator/YenPress. A spin-off manga, "Eminence in Shadow - Shadow Side Story" has been announced. It has been confirmed that an anime adaptation is in the works.
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The series has a manga adaptation, a light novel adaptation published by Kadokawa, and English translation of the light novel by Creator/YenPress. A spin-off manga, "Eminence in Shadow - Shadow Side Story" has been announced. It has been confirmed that an anime adaptation is in the works.
will air on Oct. 5th.
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%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1648848300088556400
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadow2_7.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We lurk in the [[ShapedLikeItself shadows]], and hunt the [[BrokenRecord shadows]]. That is all we live for..."]]
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''The Eminence in Shadow'' (Japanese 陰の実力者になりたくて！ / "I Wanna be the Power in the Shadows!") is a 2018 Japanese WebSerialNovel by Aizawa Daisuke.
Just like how everyone adored heroes in their childhood, a certain young man adored those powers hidden in shadows. After hiding his strength and living the mediocre life of a mob character by day while undergoing frenzied training by night, he finally reincarnates into a different world and gains ultimate power. The young man who is only playing at being a power in the shadows, his misunderstanding subordinates, and a giant organization in the shadows that gets trampled… This is the story of a young boy who had adored powers in shadows possibly eventually reigning over the world of shadows in another world.
The series has a manga adaptation, a light novel adaptation published by Kadokawa, and English translation of the light novel by Creator/YenPress. A spin-off manga, "Eminence in Shadow - Shadow Side Story" has been announced. It has been confirmed that an anime adaptation is in the works.
----
!! Provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: The sole outcome after a child is exposed as being infected with Demonic Possession is that her own family turn against her, killing her or selling her to the Church who will do the dirty work.
* AccidentalTruth: Cid does this repeatedly. Pretty much any time he comes up with some random idea of what's going on, it somehow turns out to be true, or he is vague enough on said topic that it looks like he was aware of it.
** Cid spent years and went through tens of thousands of iterations making up the most believable cover story possible for justifying his {{Chuunibyou}} dreams: that the Cult of Diablos is persecuting all descendants of the legendary heroes. Just one problem... his research into a believable excuse stumbled on evidence of an actual cult, and it's all true.
** When his sister is kidnapped and Beta tries to figure out where she is, Cid throws a dagger at a random spot on a map and declares she's actually being held in the opposite direction Beta had thought. In truth, he had already considered her a lost cause and was just humoring Beta. Turns out that direction was actually the location of the Cult of Diablos base where Claire was held captive.
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: After Epsilon convinces Shadow to allow her to look after Emilia, she receives a head pat from her master.
* AlternateContinuity: Initially the web novel and light novel had identical stories with the exception of the latter having revised or additional scenes added, which the author lampshaded in the afterword of Volume 3. As a result the story between the two novels starts diverging from the events that transpire in [[spoiler:the Oriana Kingdom]].
** In the web novel, Cid intentionally allows himself to get captured and helps the Royalist faction against Doem's with [[spoiler:Rose]] also helping from behind the scenes.
** In the Light Novel, [[spoiler:Rose]] is forced to marry Doem in exchange for her mother's safety with Cid planning on stirring the plot.
* AmplifierArtifact:
** The antagonist of the second arc uses one in combination with a Red Pill during his fight with Shadow, not that it does him much good in the end.
** Several characters mistake Cid's incredible power to be due to an artifact since they couldn't fathom the idea of someone being that strong naturally until they face him personally and it is clear that it is just his power.
* ApocalypseHow: The "Red Moon" is the event in which the Vampires became more powerful. Long ago when the "Red Moon" occurred, the vampire progenitor, the Queen of Bloods, and her followers were able to wipe out several countries. It was because of this that in the present day, many swordsmen gathered to plan in assaulting the Red Tower, where the Queen of Blood resides to ensure that it never happens again.
* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:Cid and Aurora discovers a dimension where there are hundreds of pods containing lifeforms looking exactly like Olivie, Freya and even Aurora herself. This further confirms that the Cult of Diablos has a hand in the demon's creation.]]
* AssholeVictim: Cid spent much of his childhood killing bandits in secret. Since these criminals has done nothing but pillage homes and murder innocents, no one will miss them.
* BadassBoast: After he and Shadow Garden were made public enemy # 1 by the Cult of Diablos, Shadow could only laugh it off and happily accepts what he considers to be a challenge.
--> '''Shadow''': If you can, bring to us all the sins of the world. We will bear it all! But nothing will change. We will still carry on doing what we ought to do.
* BadassInDistress: Most of the major arcs involved Claire, Alexia and Rose be in danger from the Cult of Diablos. [[spoiler:It's revealed the cult wants their blood to create a new hero]].
* BattleHarem: An entire following of beautiful girls swear loyalty to Cid after he saves them from near death and offering them the chance to avenge their suffering.
* BeautifulAllAlong: All of the girls of Shadow Garden are knockouts but the "Curse" turned them into these rotten lumps of flesh until Cid found a way to restore them to their true selves.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: After Miss Natsume joins into the group, it's currently her, Alexia and Rose
** Alexia(Beauty) - She is the cool-headed and proactive girl and the princess of the Midgar Kingdom.
** Miss Natsume(Brains) - She is the insightful and smart girl and is a famous author and [[spoiler:is secretly the spy from Shadow Garden, Beta]].
** Rose(Brawn) - She is the brave and noble girl and the most skilled Swordswoman in all of Midgar Academy.
* BigDamnHeroes: Shadow's entire shtick is that he comes to aid the heroes and overwhelm enemy forces with sheer power.
* BigGood: Arugably, Cid and the Seven Shadows. They founded the organization, Shadow Garden in order to combat the Cult of Diablos and prevent the resurrection of the demon. One of their major objectives is to rescue young girls suffering from Demonic Possession and heal them.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
** Alexia may seem like your traditional Princess archetypes but Cid and possibly Iris, know it's all an act and that the real Alexia is rude, bad-tempered and generally, a jerk. But when the situation calls for it, Alexia truly shows she's a good person deep down, willing to put her life on the line to protect those she loves.
** Her would-be suitor, Zenon is worse than her. He plays as the perfect gentleman in order to hide the fact that he's a cruel and arrogant agent of the the cult and wants to kidnap the princess to achieve wealth and fame.
* BodyHorror: When Cid discovered Alpha locked up in that cage, he described her looking like a lump of meat who was barely able to move at all. The manga shows some of the details. Her body looks severely rotten and there are some abnormal bumps or maybe even blood on some places with right arm and some parts of her hair relatively intact. And all she could say or tried to is a call for help.
* BrokenMasquerade: Shadow Garden's plan is to uncover the truth about the Three Heroes and expose the Cult of Diablos for their crimes.
* BuxomIsBetter: At least the members of Shadow Garden certainly think so. Epsilon for instance uses her slime suit to give her FakeBoobs because she thinks Shadow likes big ones.
* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: This is how he gets out of sticky situations. Unfortunately, a lot of students at Midgar Academy think this is his trait.
* CassandraTruth: Due to how well Cid hid his true personality and abilities, so many people believe that he is relatively harmless.
** After seeing Jimina(Cid in disguise) blowing away most of the competition, Annerose thinks he is a powerful warrior. Unfortunately, everyone she talks to refuse to believe this. This behavior is quite understandable due to the number of ridiculous ways Jimina succeeds such as cracking his neck to avoid a slash and merely sneezing to defeat a powerful attack.
* {{Chuunibyou}}: Ironically this is what Cid ''thinks'' he is. He came up with the Cult Diablos and the Shadow Garden as an excuse to act cool and dark, and realize his childhood dream of being an eponymous "eminence in the shadows"... except the years of in-depth research he put into his "cover story" turned out to have uncovered evidence of an actual cult that needed to be stopped. Still to this day Cid believes that his friends are playing a game and the people they go after are ordinary bandits, unaware that he is leading one side in a SecretWar, created a NGOSuperpower, with an AmazonBrigade that have UndyingLoyalty towards him. Along with said women believing he is TheChessmaster.
* CivilWar: [[spoiler:After the king was killed by Rose, the Oriana kingdom is divided into factions. The Royalists who stand by the Oriana Royal Family and the Doem faction who pushes for Doem to take the throne.]]
* CorporateWarfare: Happens in the Yukime and Gettan Arc.
* CosmopolitanCouncil: The Knights of Rounds are 12 extremely powerful knights and the true leaders behind the Cult of Diablos.
* CounterfeitCash: [[spoiler:Cid and Yukime]]'s plan to undermine both Mitsugoshi Co and the Great Commerce Alliance.
* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:What happens to Cid's old world where monsters roam the land now and humanity is divided into factions who fight one another for survival.]]
* CrazyEnoughToWork: What did he come up with to defend himself against a nuke? ''Become the nuke''!
* CurbStompBattle: Out of the battles Shadow has fought in, his battle against both [[TheAce Iris Midgar]] and [[WorldsStrongestMan Beatrix]] displays how much of a badass he is. [[MassOhCrap And the whole world now knows it]].
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** Claire, when she teams up with Mary in the Lawless City.
** A chapter focuses on Nishino Akane, a classmate from Cid's former life, Kageno Minoru.
** Quinton and Goldoh, revealing what had happened to them after being bought at the Lawless City.
* DefiantCaptive: While being held captive by Viscount Grease, Claire shows strong resistance to him, especially after he threatens to hurt Cid, until Grease knocks her out.
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Cid became friendly with a witch named Aurora a.k.a [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Diablos]], the very demon he is hunting for. However, Aurora wasn't actually a villain but a victim]].
* DisqualificationInducedVictory: Since Mundane Mann reveals himself to the world that he is Shadow after he defeated Iris, he is promptly disqualified, making Claire the winner of the Bushin Festival. She is not happy about this.
* DramaticUnmask: In the Holy Ground arc, Alpha unveils her true identity to Alexia, Rose and Nelson, showing them that she is the hero, Olivier's, descendant.
* DyingCurse: After being killed by the legendary heroes, Diablos placed a curse on them so that they and their descendants would suffer painful deaths.
* EntertaininglyWrong: The Shadow Garden members are time and time again impressed by how Cid is seemingly able to see through the Cult's plans and come up with countermeasures quickly. They all don't know it's a coincidence and Cid is just really lucky.
** Gamma personally believes that her intelligence pales in comparison to Shadow's. Which is false as the true genius is Gamma and Shadow is just the IdiotHero.
** In Volume 1, Gamma thinks that Shadow's disappointment over her and Mitsugoshi, Ltd. is due to the company not meeting his expectations, but he is actually just jealous of them, believing that they are profiting from the knowledge he gave them and not giving him his cut which is not true at all as the company in fact belongs to him.
** Gamma's ashamed that she had to bring personnel to locate the Shadow Garden impostors while her master has already figured it out except he's thinking about someone (Alexia) who is completely innocent.
* FakeRelationship: Alexia blackmails Cid into it so that Zenon would stop making advances towards her.
* FlippingTheBird: After Alexia starts to feel attached to Cid, she asks him to continue the FakeRelationship they had with each other a little longer. Cid, having gone through a lot of trouble thanks to her, naturally ends the relationship but does it by flipping her. Alexia didn't take it too kindly.
* ForcedIntoEvil: Viscount Grease and his daughter, Millia went through this after the Cult of Diablos kidnapped the latter to make her father become their pawn. Millia was then used to become their weapon in two separate occasions [[spoiler:until freed by Shadow Garden]].
* GetIntoJailFree: The first chapter of the [[spoiler:Oriana CivilWar]] Arc has Cid allowing himself to get captured by the guards.
* HeroicBSOD: After Alpha believes Shadow has betrayed her and Shadow Garden, she loses the will to continue on with the cause. She regains her senses after learning that her master is actually a [[TheMole mole]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Cid and his Shadow Garden were deemed suspicious by the Midgar Kingdom following Alexia's kidnapping. This gets worse when the Cult of Diablos manages to frame them for the attack on the academy.
* HoldTheLine: In Volume 3, Beta chooses to stay and fight Elisabeth until Shadow arrives to atone for letting Claire be severely injured by the Blood Queen.
* HostageSituation:
** Terrorists, impersonating as Shadow Garden members, attack Midgar Academy in Volume 1 and hold the teachers and students hostage. This is a scheme by the Cult of Diablos to frame them for the crime and make them enemies of the Midgar Kingdom.
** In Volume 2, Beta stages one by herself and Shadow Garden. She lets herself be captured so that no one will suspect her to be involved with her comrades' actions.
* HotWitch: The Witch of Calamity, Aurora is a peerless beauty with long, black hair and vivid violet eyes. Her alternate identity is [[spoiler:Diablos]].
* HumiliationConga: Two examples.
** Both Goldoh and Quinton lost against Jimina/Shadow. Later, they foolishly challenged the denizens of the Crimson Tower which results in their defeats and enslavements. The next day after that, they got sold.
** Iris gets a taste on what a real defeat is like. After confronting Jimina, she gets defeated in one stroke. She later tries again but this time, allying with Beatrix but once again, Jimina/Shadow came out on top. After that incident, her reputation was soured, losing the respect of the citizens of Midgar and the Royal Bushin Style has lost considerable amount of their credibility.
* IdenticalGrandson: It's revealed that Alpha is exactly the mirror image of her ancestor, Olivier. This also applies to Alpha's alleged aunt, Beatrix.
* IFightForTheStrongestSide: Delta was born and raised under her race's belief that the strongest must be served and those that are considered weak must be dealt with. It's because of this mindset that she submits to Cid and Alpha. [[spoiler:She later proposes to Cid that he should defeat her tribe's current leader and become chieftain. That and ''she wants to bear his child''.]]
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: During the Trial of the Goddess, Beta (as Natsume) waves to the people causing a massive applause; it's implied they were reacting toward her large bosom much to Alexia's dismay and jealousy.
* IHaveNoSon: Shadow Garden's members suffered from the possession which caused their families to disown them.
* IMeantToDoThat: Just as an assassin is about to strike, Gamma trips and her sword flies out of her hands and heads towards the assassin, killing him instantly. Once she realizes this, she tells her subordinates that it was part of her strategy.
* {{Irony}}: Epsilon tries to hide the secret from everyone, particularly Cid, that she pads her chest with the slimes to make herself look like she has large breasts. Unfortunately, Cid already knows this, but chooses not to say it, believing that Epsilon is developing her abilities.
* ItsAllMyFault: At the start of the Red Moon arc, Claire drags her brother to the Lawless City. While Claire is busy talking to the Knight Order, the city is attacked by ghouls and vampires. When Claire tries to find her brother, she finds a decapitated body and assumes it's cid. She then starts blaming herself for bringing her brother to the city, but Mary shortly after appears and tells her that the vampires kidnapped her brother.
* {{Jobber}}: Anticipating that he'll one day participate in a massive tournament, Cid has prepared 48 different moves in... losing. He calls it ''Mob-Fu'' ("Normie Technique"). When the time came however, Cid was so into his first success that he cycles through 14 other moves, completely defeating the purpose of becoming a mob character, and he had to be dragged out of the bout because everyone became worried that he might die from his ''wounds''. Not only that, he unintentionally attracts the attention of Sherry Barnett and Princess Rose Oriana.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Invoked, he specifically targets criminals to test his skills on. He even calls himself a bandit slayer.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: At the CorporateWarfare arc, Alpha battles a mysterious assailant named, John Smith ([[spoiler:Cid in disguise]]).
* LookBothWays: Cid has spent the night in a forest banging his head against a great tree while stripped of all clothing. By the time he saw the lights of a nearby truck, Cid is suffering from a massive head concussion and a possible case of hypothermia; making him hallucinate that the lights are the magic he long sought. He runs towards the source before being run over seconds later.
* LoveConfession: PlayedForLaughs. One of Cid's plans to achieve his dreams in becoming 'The Eminence in Shadows' is to confess to a beautiful girl and get dumped. Unfortunately, Alexia ''intentionally'' accepts Cid's confession much to the latter's confusion and dismay.
* MassOhCrap: Everyone realize that Shadow can kill them all any time if he wants to. He unleashes his BattleAura that is so strong that it causes weather manipulation.
* MegaCorp: Mitsugoshi, Ltd. is a trading company, well-famed for its top-of-the-line consumer goods and innovative ventures. It's secretly run by Shadow Garden who were inspired by the knowledge given to them by Shadow. They use the company to not only amass vast wealth and power but also a front for their war against the Cult of Diablos.
* MercyKill: In Volume 1, Alpha properly kills the monster (Grease's daughter) to spare her from further PainfulTransformation. It's also implied that she has done these many times before.
* MistakenForRomance:
** Rose and Sherry go through this, both believing that Cid has feelings for them.
** Yukime thinks John Smith has fallen for her when he saves her from Gettan.
* MookHorrorShow: Shadow Garden, specifically Shadow and Delta does this a lot to their enemies.
* MorphWeapon: The slime suits Cid invented and which all of Shadow Garden use are this. While slimes are normally very fragile, they are also excellent conductors of mana -- a user with excellent control over their mana can channel their mana through the slime suit and create just about anything from swords to armor to fake breasts to wings. It does take a lot of control to pull this off since the mana pathways of slimes and humans are radically different.
* MuggingTheMonster: Most of the time, the villains suffer their defeats after picking a fight against Cid/Shadow. One example is when a minion of the vampires wisely backs away from confronting two of the Monarchs of the Lawless City but when he sets his sights upon Shadow, he immediately attacks him (thinking he was weak) not knowing that Shadow is the bigger threat and paying the price for it.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Cid made a lengthy description of his training and his nudity while carrying them out.
* NukeEm: One of Shadow's main goals is to find a solution to avoid this. His answer is to become a nuke, ultimately resulting in the birth of his FinishingMove, "I Am Atomic".
* ObfuscatingStupidity: ZigZagged with Cid. He does hide his true nature as a skilled fighter but most of his actions that help further the Shadow Garden's goals is just pure luck on his part.
* OffingTheOffspring: Delta was the offspring in that situation. After being ousted for having the possession, she was hunted by her own father, but she was able to hide from him and escaped.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: In Volume 3, Delta takes on the task, given to her by Cid, in assassinating Juggernaut the Tyrant. The battle was never shown but it's perfectly clear that the she won, as a later chapter reveals Alpha confirming that Yukime is the last remaining pillar of the Lawless City.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Anytime Cid talks with the members of the Shadow Garden. He fully believes that they are playing a game and due to him saving their lives they are playing into it to make him happy. The girls on the other hand know full well that the Cult of Diablos is real and they are taking the Shadow Garden extremely seriously, believing everything he says is to further their goals to destroy the Cult.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires can grow more powerful if under a Red Moon and can actually revert back into human if they stave off blood for a long period of time. Vampire Lords aren't able to do that and if he or she swore not to drink blood, the Red Moon intensifies their pain and hunger.
* QualityOverQuantity: Cid's stance is that one should nurture his/her abilities and skills rather than using huge amounts of magic and flail it around unnecessarily.
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Alpha begs Shadow not to abandon her even after he beats her to unconsciousness.
* PowerDegeneration: The curse of "possession" is actually this -- people with high mana are at risk of losing control of it, which mutates them. Cid figured out how to reverse the transformation by experimenting on the mutated Alpha, which not only restored Alpha but also granted her control over her increased mana. During the experiments, Cid also figured out how to replicate the effects in himself, increasing his own power in the process. Every member of Shadow Garden is a girl who succumbed to the "curse" and was subsequently healed.
* PowerLimiter: The Cult of Diablos uses several artifacts and devices to deprive their opponents of their power. However, one can bypass this and retain almost all of their magic if he or she can turn it so dense that it's impossible for it to be taken.
* PsychoSerum: The red pills the Cult engineered from Diablos' blood increase mana power but come with the risk of destroying one's body and mind if they aren't already strong. They seem to be an inferior version of Cid and the rest of Shadow Garden's natural power.
* QualityOverQuantity: The series makes it clear that it's important on how magic is used rather than how much magic used. It's because of this idea that Cid and Shadow Garden are always clearly superior over the Cult of Diablos.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Shadow tears down Zenon's idea of power before showing the vile man what real power is like.
--> '''Shadow''': How terrible. Don’t pretend to be the strongest with that mere level of strength. It is an affront to the truly strong. There is no path towards that title that involves reliance on borrowed power. What true strength really is……burn it into your eyes.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Cult of Diablos wants to resurrect the demon Diablos in order to gain immortality.
* ReunionVow: In Volume 2, Beta informs [[spoiler:the now fugitive Rose that they will meet again]]. That came true at the end of the volume, since Beta made the arrangements to [[spoiler:have Rose inducted into Shadow Garden]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Shadow Garden's main goal is defeating the Cult of Diablos to avenge their suffering and save the world. They mercilessly cut down anyone that belongs to the Cult.
* RomanticComedy: Cid obviously has a distaste towards that genre. Ironically, he is doing this without even knowing it with the evidence being his UnwantedHarem comprised of his AmazonBrigade, two Princesses, [[ShyBlueHairedGirl Shy Pink-Haired Girl]], HotWitch, HookerWithAHeartOfGold and the classmate from his previous life.
* SecretWar: Between Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos.
* SitcomArchNemesis: Both Beta and Epsilon hate each other's guts due to both of them vying for Cid's attention.
* SlasherSmile: Most of the Cult of Diablos members, but also Shadow Garden members sport this.
** Shadow frequently smiles likes this when he gets to kill someone. He has done so ever since he was a kid.
** Nu is shown to smile this way when she's about to torture a Shadow Garden impostor.
* TheSocialDarwinist: The therianthrope species holds this mentality. They value strength and power, with hunting prowess being the most sought out. Any member among the tribe that shows signs of weakness will be executed immediately. Certain tribes like Yukime's are the exception to the rule.
* StartXToStopX: Shadow Garden's plan is to hide in the shadows and tear apart the Cult of Diablos who uses the same method to achieve their own goal.
* StrengthEqualsWorthiness: In Volume 3, Alpha believes if she proves her newfound strength, she could be worthy of her master's respect and able to learn [[spoiler:why her master abandoned her and Shadow Garden]].
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** It doesn't matter if you're a master of martial arts or have become a hulking giant, you are still human; thus you are vulnerable and can be killed. Although Cid acknowledges this, he only focuses on death by conventional weaponry like the Taepodong. He seemingly didn't take into account other factors like blunt force head trauma and the dangers of motor vehicles, two of which were responsible for his death.
** While making your room look pretty is nice and all but the costs in doing so is high. Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. Now, he's forced to scrap by any coins that he finds on the ground or borrow it.
** Handling a PraetorianGuard is a lot harder than it seems. Not only you need money to keep the team afloat but there's also the problem with personnel. Hardly, anyone can keep up or can be at the same level as Iris Midgar and there's also the fact that has to be taken into account that anyone you try to recruit might be a spy working for the enemy.
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like treasures.
** It shown how a person with {{Chuunibyou}} is, in real world especially if taken to the extreme, an insane delusional person, and without help Cid is unlikely to be cured from it. It could be considered a miracle that Cid is as functional as he is.
* SustainedMisunderstanding: The premise of the series. The rest of Shadow Garden thinks that Cid is their all knowing and all powerful leader who has everything in the palm of his hand. Cid thinks he's just engaging in his chuuni fantasies and the rest of Shadow Garden are just his former playmates humoring him.
* TeachHimAnger: Cid convinces Alpha to join in his cause by ''informing'' her that Diablos and the cult were responsible for her mutation and the persecution she and others like her went through. After the lie is confirmed to be real, this cements Alpha's UndyingLoyalty towards Cid/Shadow and hatred towards the Cult of Diablos.
* TearsOfJoy:
** Gamma enters in a state of bliss, crying in happiness whenever Cid uses his violet magic, reminding her of the time that power saved her from a life as a rotting corpse.
** In Volume 3, the Seven Shadows members cry out of relief when [[spoiler:they realize that Cid didn't betray them, after Beta delivers Cid's decrypted message that tells them where they can find the funds to survive the credit crisis that he brought forth with the help of Yukime]].
* ThreatBackfire: After Iris warns Alpha that she'll take her and Shadow Garden down for intervening in the knight order's business, Alpha belittles them for thinking they are worth her and her comrades' time and turns the conversation around by saying that the princess and her men are the ones intervening in their business.
* TournamentArc: Cid participates in the Festival of the God of War to play out the cliche, CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.
* ViceCity: The Lawless City is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities to be in. There is never a crime nor at least shady activity this place hasn't done, openly supporting prostitution and slavery. They are ran by three leaders who are basically crime lords. One of them is a powerful Vampire who can bring about the end of the world.
* VillainousBreakdown: Most members of the Cult of Diablos go through this after encountering Shadow.
** After being thrown around like a rag doll and taunted by Shadow, Zenon enters into a wild rage. He then completely sweats in terror before Shadow vaporizes him with his FinishingMove.
** Doem completely loses it after Rose ruins his master plan. He then goes into a VillainousBSOD after witnessing Shadow's true might.
* WhamEpisode:
** [[spoiler:Rose Oriana has become a fugitive and hunted by her own kingdom for murdering her mind controlled father. Alpha meets up with her and invites her to join Shadow Garden.]]
** [[spoiler:Cid and Beta are transported to Cid's original world and discovered that it has been ravaged by monsters. When they returned to their own world, Cid doesn't know that Beta brought his former classmate, Akane Nishino with them.]]
* WhamLine:
** "How did you know of [the Cult of Diablos]?" Thus making everything Cid has made up to sound cool turn out to actually be true.
** ''The Witch of Calamity, Aurora also goes by the name [[spoiler:Diablos]]''.
* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Cid and his two friends try to use their chocolates to get dates:
** One friend tries to get the attention of a classmate who is always by herself, only to find out it's because she has a jealous fiance when he tries to give her chocolates.
** His second friend did everything he could to find out everything about his crush from her likes and dislikes to her three sizes, unaware she noticed he was doing this and calls him a stalker.
** Cid, who couldn't care less and wasn't interesting in the chocolates, just hands his off to Sherry, the first girl he sees. She develops a crush on him.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: A version of it. In this world Chocolate is a very new and popular item (as Cid was the one who gave Gamma the knowledge of how to make it). To Cid, it's just a common treat, so he gave it away as he just didn't want it at the time. Sherry, the girl he gave it to, after finding out how difficult it would normally be to get chocolate, believes he just gave her a very expensive gift and was confessing his feelings to her.
* WowingCthulhu: [[spoiler:Alpha]] is one of the first individuals to ever impress Cid, using her new techniques to engage him to almost equal footing.
* YouAreNotAlone: Alpha always advises Cid to trust her and Shadow Garden more when situations became too much for him.
* ZombieApocalypse: When Cid arrives at the capital of the [[spoiler:Oriana Kingdom]], he learns that it's overrun with Zombies; a ploy made by the Cult of Diablos.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadow2_7.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[{{Chuunibyou}} Shadow]]:''' We are Shadow Garden. We lurk in the [[ShapedLikeItself shadows]], and hunt the [[BrokenRecord shadows]]. That is all we live for..."]]
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''The Eminence in Shadow'' (Japanese 陰の実力者になりたくて！ / "I Wanna be the Power in the Shadows!") is a 2018 Japanese WebSerialNovel by Aizawa Daisuke.
Just like how everyone adored heroes in their childhood, a certain young man adored those powers hidden in shadows. After hiding his strength and living the mediocre life of a mob character by day while undergoing frenzied training by night, he finally reincarnates into a different world and gains ultimate power. The young man who is only playing at being a power in the shadows, his misunderstanding subordinates, and a giant organization in the shadows that gets trampled… This is the story of a young boy who had adored powers in shadows possibly eventually reigning over the world of shadows in another world.
The series has a manga adaptation, a light novel adaptation published by Kadokawa, and English translation of the light novel by Creator/YenPress. A spin-off manga, "Eminence in Shadow - Shadow Side Story" has been announced. It has been confirmed that an anime adaptation is in the works.
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!! Provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: The sole outcome after a child is exposed as being infected with Demonic Possession is that her own family turn against her, killing her or selling her to the Church who will do the dirty work.
* AccidentalTruth: Cid does this repeatedly. Pretty much any time he comes up with some random idea of what's going on, it somehow turns out to be true, or he is vague enough on said topic that it looks like he was aware of it.
** Cid spent years and went through tens of thousands of iterations making up the most believable cover story possible for justifying his {{Chuunibyou}} dreams: that the Cult of Diablos is persecuting all descendants of the legendary heroes. Just one problem... his research into a believable excuse stumbled on evidence of an actual cult, and it's all true.
** When his sister is kidnapped and Beta tries to figure out where she is, Cid throws a dagger at a random spot on a map and declares she's actually being held in the opposite direction Beta had thought. In truth, he had already considered her a lost cause and was just humoring Beta. Turns out that direction was actually the location of the Cult of Diablos base where Claire was held captive.
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: After Epsilon convinces Shadow to allow her to look after Emilia, she receives a head pat from her master.
* AlternateContinuity: Initially the web novel and light novel had identical stories with the exception of the latter having revised or additional scenes added, which the author lampshaded in the afterword of Volume 3. As a result the story between the two novels starts diverging from the events that transpire in [[spoiler:the Oriana Kingdom]].
** In the web novel, Cid intentionally allows himself to get captured and helps the Royalist faction against Doem's with [[spoiler:Rose]] also helping from behind the scenes.
** In the Light Novel, [[spoiler:Rose]] is forced to marry Doem in exchange for her mother's safety with Cid planning on stirring the plot.
* AmplifierArtifact:
** The antagonist of the second arc uses one in combination with a Red Pill during his fight with Shadow, not that it does him much good in the end.
** Several characters mistake Cid's incredible power to be due to an artifact since they couldn't fathom the idea of someone being that strong naturally until they face him personally and it is clear that it is just his power.
* ApocalypseHow: The "Red Moon" is the event in which the Vampires became more powerful. Long ago when the "Red Moon" occurred, the vampire progenitor, the Queen of Bloods, and her followers were able to wipe out several countries. It was because of this that in the present day, many swordsmen gathered to plan in assaulting the Red Tower, where the Queen of Blood resides to ensure that it never happens again.
* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:Cid and Aurora discovers a dimension where there are hundreds of pods containing lifeforms looking exactly like Olivie, Freya and even Aurora herself. This further confirms that the Cult of Diablos has a hand in the demon's creation.]]
* AssholeVictim: Cid spent much of his childhood killing bandits in secret. Since these criminals has done nothing but pillage homes and murder innocents, no one will miss them.
* BadassBoast: After he and Shadow Garden were made public enemy # 1 by the Cult of Diablos, Shadow could only laugh it off and happily accepts what he considers to be a challenge.
--> '''Shadow''': If you can, bring to us all the sins of the world. We will bear it all! But nothing will change. We will still carry on doing what we ought to do.
* BadassInDistress: Most of the major arcs involved Claire, Alexia and Rose be in danger from the Cult of Diablos. [[spoiler:It's revealed the cult wants their blood to create a new hero]].
* BattleHarem: An entire following of beautiful girls swear loyalty to Cid after he saves them from near death and offering them the chance to avenge their suffering.
* BeautifulAllAlong: All of the girls of Shadow Garden are knockouts but the "Curse" turned them into these rotten lumps of flesh until Cid found a way to restore them to their true selves.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: After Miss Natsume joins into the group, it's currently her, Alexia and Rose
** Alexia(Beauty) - She is the cool-headed and proactive girl and the princess of the Midgar Kingdom.
** Miss Natsume(Brains) - She is the insightful and smart girl and is a famous author and [[spoiler:is secretly the spy from Shadow Garden, Beta]].
** Rose(Brawn) - She is the brave and noble girl and the most skilled Swordswoman in all of Midgar Academy.
* BigDamnHeroes: Shadow's entire shtick is that he comes to aid the heroes and overwhelm enemy forces with sheer power.
* BigGood: Arugably, Cid and the Seven Shadows. They founded the organization, Shadow Garden in order to combat the Cult of Diablos and prevent the resurrection of the demon. One of their major objectives is to rescue young girls suffering from Demonic Possession and heal them.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
** Alexia may seem like your traditional Princess archetypes but Cid and possibly Iris, know it's all an act and that the real Alexia is rude, bad-tempered and generally, a jerk. But when the situation calls for it, Alexia truly shows she's a good person deep down, willing to put her life on the line to protect those she loves.
** Her would-be suitor, Zenon is worse than her. He plays as the perfect gentleman in order to hide the fact that he's a cruel and arrogant agent of the the cult and wants to kidnap the princess to achieve wealth and fame.
* BodyHorror: When Cid discovered Alpha locked up in that cage, he described her looking like a lump of meat who was barely able to move at all. The manga shows some of the details. Her body looks severely rotten and there are some abnormal bumps or maybe even blood on some places with right arm and some parts of her hair relatively intact. And all she could say or tried to is a call for help.
* BrokenMasquerade: Shadow Garden's plan is to uncover the truth about the Three Heroes and expose the Cult of Diablos for their crimes.
* BuxomIsBetter: At least the members of Shadow Garden certainly think so. Epsilon for instance uses her slime suit to give her FakeBoobs because she thinks Shadow likes big ones.
* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: This is how he gets out of sticky situations. Unfortunately, a lot of students at Midgar Academy think this is his trait.
* CassandraTruth: Due to how well Cid hid his true personality and abilities, so many people believe that he is relatively harmless.
** After seeing Jimina(Cid in disguise) blowing away most of the competition, Annerose thinks he is a powerful warrior. Unfortunately, everyone she talks to refuse to believe this. This behavior is quite understandable due to the number of ridiculous ways Jimina succeeds such as cracking his neck to avoid a slash and merely sneezing to defeat a powerful attack.
* {{Chuunibyou}}: Ironically this is what Cid ''thinks'' he is. He came up with the Cult Diablos and the Shadow Garden as an excuse to act cool and dark, and realize his childhood dream of being an eponymous "eminence in the shadows"... except the years of in-depth research he put into his "cover story" turned out to have uncovered evidence of an actual cult that needed to be stopped. Still to this day Cid believes that his friends are playing a game and the people they go after are ordinary bandits, unaware that he is leading one side in a SecretWar, created a NGOSuperpower, with an AmazonBrigade that have UndyingLoyalty towards him. Along with said women believing he is TheChessmaster.
* CivilWar: [[spoiler:After the king was killed by Rose, the Oriana kingdom is divided into factions. The Royalists who stand by the Oriana Royal Family and the Doem faction who pushes for Doem to take the throne.]]
* CorporateWarfare: Happens in the Yukime and Gettan Arc.
* CosmopolitanCouncil: The Knights of Rounds are 12 extremely powerful knights and the true leaders behind the Cult of Diablos.
* CounterfeitCash: [[spoiler:Cid and Yukime]]'s plan to undermine both Mitsugoshi Co and the Great Commerce Alliance.
* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:What happens to Cid's old world where monsters roam the land now and humanity is divided into factions who fight one another for survival.]]
* CrazyEnoughToWork: What did he come up with to defend himself against a nuke? ''Become the nuke''!
* CurbStompBattle: Out of the battles Shadow has fought in, his battle against both [[TheAce Iris Midgar]] and [[WorldsStrongestMan Beatrix]] displays how much of a badass he is. [[MassOhCrap And the whole world now knows it]].
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** Claire, when she teams up with Mary in the Lawless City.
** A chapter focuses on Nishino Akane, a classmate from Cid's former life, Kageno Minoru.
** Quinton and Goldoh, revealing what had happened to them after being bought at the Lawless City.
* DefiantCaptive: While being held captive by Viscount Grease, Claire shows strong resistance to him, especially after he threatens to hurt Cid, until Grease knocks her out.
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Cid became friendly with a witch named Aurora a.k.a [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Diablos]], the very demon he is hunting for. However, Aurora wasn't actually a villain but a victim]].
* DisqualificationInducedVictory: Since Mundane Mann reveals himself to the world that he is Shadow after he defeated Iris, he is promptly disqualified, making Claire the winner of the Bushin Festival. She is not happy about this.
* DramaticUnmask: In the Holy Ground arc, Alpha unveils her true identity to Alexia, Rose and Nelson, showing them that she is the hero, Olivier's, descendant.
* DyingCurse: After being killed by the legendary heroes, Diablos placed a curse on them so that they and their descendants would suffer painful deaths.
* EntertaininglyWrong: The Shadow Garden members are time and time again impressed by how Cid is seemingly able to see through the Cult's plans and come up with countermeasures quickly. They all don't know it's a coincidence and Cid is just really lucky.
** Gamma personally believes that her intelligence pales in comparison to Shadow's. Which is false as the true genius is Gamma and Shadow is just the IdiotHero.
** In Volume 1, Gamma thinks that Shadow's disappointment over her and Mitsugoshi, Ltd. is due to the company not meeting his expectations, but he is actually just jealous of them, believing that they are profiting from the knowledge he gave them and not giving him his cut which is not true at all as the company in fact belongs to him.
** Gamma's ashamed that she had to bring personnel to locate the Shadow Garden impostors while her master has already figured it out except he's thinking about someone (Alexia) who is completely innocent.
* FakeRelationship: Alexia blackmails Cid into it so that Zenon would stop making advances towards her.
* FlippingTheBird: After Alexia starts to feel attached to Cid, she asks him to continue the FakeRelationship they had with each other a little longer. Cid, having gone through a lot of trouble thanks to her, naturally ends the relationship but does it by flipping her. Alexia didn't take it too kindly.
* ForcedIntoEvil: Viscount Grease and his daughter, Millia went through this after the Cult of Diablos kidnapped the latter to make her father become their pawn. Millia was then used to become their weapon in two separate occasions [[spoiler:until freed by Shadow Garden]].
* GetIntoJailFree: The first chapter of the [[spoiler:Oriana CivilWar]] Arc has Cid allowing himself to get captured by the guards.
* HeroicBSOD: After Alpha believes Shadow has betrayed her and Shadow Garden, she loses the will to continue on with the cause. She regains her senses after learning that her master is actually a [[TheMole mole]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Cid and his Shadow Garden were deemed suspicious by the Midgar Kingdom following Alexia's kidnapping. This gets worse when the Cult of Diablos manages to frame them for the attack on the academy.
* HoldTheLine: In Volume 3, Beta chooses to stay and fight Elisabeth until Shadow arrives to atone for letting Claire be severely injured by the Blood Queen.
* HostageSituation:
** Terrorists, impersonating as Shadow Garden members, attack Midgar Academy in Volume 1 and hold the teachers and students hostage. This is a scheme by the Cult of Diablos to frame them for the crime and make them enemies of the Midgar Kingdom.
** In Volume 2, Beta stages one by herself and Shadow Garden. She lets herself be captured so that no one will suspect her to be involved with her comrades' actions.
* HotWitch: The Witch of Calamity, Aurora is a peerless beauty with long, black hair and vivid violet eyes. Her alternate identity is [[spoiler:Diablos]].
* HumiliationConga: Two examples.
** Both Goldoh and Quinton lost against Jimina/Shadow. Later, they foolishly challenged the denizens of the Crimson Tower which results in their defeats and enslavements. The next day after that, they got sold.
** Iris gets a taste on what a real defeat is like. After confronting Jimina, she gets defeated in one stroke. She later tries again but this time, allying with Beatrix but once again, Jimina/Shadow came out on top. After that incident, her reputation was soured, losing the respect of the citizens of Midgar and the Royal Bushin Style has lost considerable amount of their credibility.
* IdenticalGrandson: It's revealed that Alpha is exactly the mirror image of her ancestor, Olivier. This also applies to Alpha's alleged aunt, Beatrix.
* IFightForTheStrongestSide: Delta was born and raised under her race's belief that the strongest must be served and those that are considered weak must be dealt with. It's because of this mindset that she submits to Cid and Alpha. [[spoiler:She later proposes to Cid that he should defeat her tribe's current leader and become chieftain. That and ''she wants to bear his child''.]]
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: During the Trial of the Goddess, Beta (as Natsume) waves to the people causing a massive applause; it's implied they were reacting toward her large bosom much to Alexia's dismay and jealousy.
* IHaveNoSon: Shadow Garden's members suffered from the possession which caused their families to disown them.
* IMeantToDoThat: Just as an assassin is about to strike, Gamma trips and her sword flies out of her hands and heads towards the assassin, killing him instantly. Once she realizes this, she tells her subordinates that it was part of her strategy.
* {{Irony}}: Epsilon tries to hide the secret from everyone, particularly Cid, that she pads her chest with the slimes to make herself look like she has large breasts. Unfortunately, Cid already knows this, but chooses not to say it, believing that Epsilon is developing her abilities.
* ItsAllMyFault: At the start of the Red Moon arc, Claire drags her brother to the Lawless City. While Claire is busy talking to the Knight Order, the city is attacked by ghouls and vampires. When Claire tries to find her brother, she finds a decapitated body and assumes it's cid. She then starts blaming herself for bringing her brother to the city, but Mary shortly after appears and tells her that the vampires kidnapped her brother.
* {{Jobber}}: Anticipating that he'll one day participate in a massive tournament, Cid has prepared 48 different moves in... losing. He calls it ''Mob-Fu'' ("Normie Technique"). When the time came however, Cid was so into his first success that he cycles through 14 other moves, completely defeating the purpose of becoming a mob character, and he had to be dragged out of the bout because everyone became worried that he might die from his ''wounds''. Not only that, he unintentionally attracts the attention of Sherry Barnett and Princess Rose Oriana.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Invoked, he specifically targets criminals to test his skills on. He even calls himself a bandit slayer.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: At the CorporateWarfare arc, Alpha battles a mysterious assailant named, John Smith ([[spoiler:Cid in disguise]]).
* LookBothWays: Cid has spent the night in a forest banging his head against a great tree while stripped of all clothing. By the time he saw the lights of a nearby truck, Cid is suffering from a massive head concussion and a possible case of hypothermia; making him hallucinate that the lights are the magic he long sought. He runs towards the source before being run over seconds later.
* LoveConfession: PlayedForLaughs. One of Cid's plans to achieve his dreams in becoming 'The Eminence in Shadows' is to confess to a beautiful girl and get dumped. Unfortunately, Alexia ''intentionally'' accepts Cid's confession much to the latter's confusion and dismay.
* MassOhCrap: Everyone realize that Shadow can kill them all any time if he wants to. He unleashes his BattleAura that is so strong that it causes weather manipulation.
* MegaCorp: Mitsugoshi, Ltd. is a trading company, well-famed for its top-of-the-line consumer goods and innovative ventures. It's secretly run by Shadow Garden who were inspired by the knowledge given to them by Shadow. They use the company to not only amass vast wealth and power but also a front for their war against the Cult of Diablos.
* MercyKill: In Volume 1, Alpha properly kills the monster (Grease's daughter) to spare her from further PainfulTransformation. It's also implied that she has done these many times before.
* MistakenForRomance:
** Rose and Sherry go through this, both believing that Cid has feelings for them.
** Yukime thinks John Smith has fallen for her when he saves her from Gettan.
* MookHorrorShow: Shadow Garden, specifically Shadow and Delta does this a lot to their enemies.
* MorphWeapon: The slime suits Cid invented and which all of Shadow Garden use are this. While slimes are normally very fragile, they are also excellent conductors of mana -- a user with excellent control over their mana can channel their mana through the slime suit and create just about anything from swords to armor to fake breasts to wings. It does take a lot of control to pull this off since the mana pathways of slimes and humans are radically different.
* MuggingTheMonster: Most of the time, the villains suffer their defeats after picking a fight against Cid/Shadow. One example is when a minion of the vampires wisely backs away from confronting two of the Monarchs of the Lawless City but when he sets his sights upon Shadow, he immediately attacks him (thinking he was weak) not knowing that Shadow is the bigger threat and paying the price for it.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Cid made a lengthy description of his training and his nudity while carrying them out.
* NukeEm: One of Shadow's main goals is to find a solution to avoid this. His answer is to become a nuke, ultimately resulting in the birth of his FinishingMove, "I Am Atomic".
* ObfuscatingStupidity: ZigZagged with Cid. He does hide his true nature as a skilled fighter but most of his actions that help further the Shadow Garden's goals is just pure luck on his part.
* OffingTheOffspring: Delta was the offspring in that situation. After being ousted for having the possession, she was hunted by her own father, but she was able to hide from him and escaped.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: In Volume 3, Delta takes on the task, given to her by Cid, in assassinating Juggernaut the Tyrant. The battle was never shown but it's perfectly clear that the she won, as a later chapter reveals Alpha confirming that Yukime is the last remaining pillar of the Lawless City.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Anytime Cid talks with the members of the Shadow Garden. He fully believes that they are playing a game and due to him saving their lives they are playing into it to make him happy. The girls on the other hand know full well that the Cult of Diablos is real and they are taking the Shadow Garden extremely seriously, believing everything he says is to further their goals to destroy the Cult.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires can grow more powerful if under a Red Moon and can actually revert back into human if they stave off blood for a long period of time. Vampire Lords aren't able to do that and if he or she swore not to drink blood, the Red Moon intensifies their pain and hunger.
* QualityOverQuantity: Cid's stance is that one should nurture his/her abilities and skills rather than using huge amounts of magic and flail it around unnecessarily.
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Alpha begs Shadow not to abandon her even after he beats her to unconsciousness.
* PowerDegeneration: The curse of "possession" is actually this -- people with high mana are at risk of losing control of it, which mutates them. Cid figured out how to reverse the transformation by experimenting on the mutated Alpha, which not only restored Alpha but also granted her control over her increased mana. During the experiments, Cid also figured out how to replicate the effects in himself, increasing his own power in the process. Every member of Shadow Garden is a girl who succumbed to the "curse" and was subsequently healed.
* PowerLimiter: The Cult of Diablos uses several artifacts and devices to deprive their opponents of their power. However, one can bypass this and retain almost all of their magic if he or she can turn it so dense that it's impossible for it to be taken.
* PsychoSerum: The red pills the Cult engineered from Diablos' blood increase mana power but come with the risk of destroying one's body and mind if they aren't already strong. They seem to be an inferior version of Cid and the rest of Shadow Garden's natural power.
* QualityOverQuantity: The series makes it clear that it's important on how magic is used rather than how much magic used. It's because of this idea that Cid and Shadow Garden are always clearly superior over the Cult of Diablos.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Shadow tears down Zenon's idea of power before showing the vile man what real power is like.
--> '''Shadow''': How terrible. Don’t pretend to be the strongest with that mere level of strength. It is an affront to the truly strong. There is no path towards that title that involves reliance on borrowed power. What true strength really is……burn it into your eyes.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Cult of Diablos wants to resurrect the demon Diablos in order to gain immortality.
* ReunionVow: In Volume 2, Beta informs [[spoiler:the now fugitive Rose that they will meet again]]. That came true at the end of the volume, since Beta made the arrangements to [[spoiler:have Rose inducted into Shadow Garden]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Shadow Garden's main goal is defeating the Cult of Diablos to avenge their suffering and save the world. They mercilessly cut down anyone that belongs to the Cult.
* RomanticComedy: Cid obviously has a distaste towards that genre. Ironically, he is doing this without even knowing it with the evidence being his UnwantedHarem comprised of his AmazonBrigade, two Princesses, [[ShyBlueHairedGirl Shy Pink-Haired Girl]], HotWitch, HookerWithAHeartOfGold and the classmate from his previous life.
* SecretWar: Between Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos.
* SitcomArchNemesis: Both Beta and Epsilon hate each other's guts due to both of them vying for Cid's attention.
* SlasherSmile: Most of the Cult of Diablos members, but also Shadow Garden members sport this.
** Shadow frequently smiles likes this when he gets to kill someone. He has done so ever since he was a kid.
** Nu is shown to smile this way when she's about to torture a Shadow Garden impostor.
* TheSocialDarwinist: The therianthrope species holds this mentality. They value strength and power, with hunting prowess being the most sought out. Any member among the tribe that shows signs of weakness will be executed immediately. Certain tribes like Yukime's are the exception to the rule.
* StartXToStopX: Shadow Garden's plan is to hide in the shadows and tear apart the Cult of Diablos who uses the same method to achieve their own goal.
* StrengthEqualsWorthiness: In Volume 3, Alpha believes if she proves her newfound strength, she could be worthy of her master's respect and able to learn [[spoiler:why her master abandoned her and Shadow Garden]].
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** It doesn't matter if you're a master of martial arts or have become a hulking giant, you are still human; thus you are vulnerable and can be killed. Although Cid acknowledges this, he only focuses on death by conventional weaponry like the Taepodong. He seemingly didn't take into account other factors like blunt force head trauma and the dangers of motor vehicles, two of which were responsible for his death.
** While making your room look pretty is nice and all but the costs in doing so is high. Cid pretty much used up all his wealth he collected over the years to make it happen. Now, he's forced to scrap by any coins that he finds on the ground or borrow it.
** Handling a PraetorianGuard is a lot harder than it seems. Not only you need money to keep the team afloat but there's also the problem with personnel. Hardly, anyone can keep up or can be at the same level as Iris Midgar and there's also the fact that has to be taken into account that anyone you try to recruit might be a spy working for the enemy.
** While Cid is a badass, even he can be slowed down if he carries anything heavy like treasures.
** It shown how a person with {{Chuunibyou}} is, in real world especially if taken to the extreme, an insane delusional person, and without help Cid is unlikely to be cured from it. It could be considered a miracle that Cid is as functional as he is.
* SustainedMisunderstanding: The premise of the series. The rest of Shadow Garden thinks that Cid is their all knowing and all powerful leader who has everything in the palm of his hand. Cid thinks he's just engaging in his chuuni fantasies and the rest of Shadow Garden are just his former playmates humoring him.
* TeachHimAnger: Cid convinces Alpha to join in his cause by ''informing'' her that Diablos and the cult were responsible for her mutation and the persecution she and others like her went through. After the lie is confirmed to be real, this cements Alpha's UndyingLoyalty towards Cid/Shadow and hatred towards the Cult of Diablos.
* TearsOfJoy:
** Gamma enters in a state of bliss, crying in happiness whenever Cid uses his violet magic, reminding her of the time that power saved her from a life as a rotting corpse.
** In Volume 3, the Seven Shadows members cry out of relief when [[spoiler:they realize that Cid didn't betray them, after Beta delivers Cid's decrypted message that tells them where they can find the funds to survive the credit crisis that he brought forth with the help of Yukime]].
* ThreatBackfire: After Iris warns Alpha that she'll take her and Shadow Garden down for intervening in the knight order's business, Alpha belittles them for thinking they are worth her and her comrades' time and turns the conversation around by saying that the princess and her men are the ones intervening in their business.
* TournamentArc: Cid participates in the Festival of the God of War to play out the cliche, CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.
* ViceCity: The Lawless City is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities to be in. There is never a crime nor at least shady activity this place hasn't done, openly supporting prostitution and slavery. They are ran by three leaders who are basically crime lords. One of them is a powerful Vampire who can bring about the end of the world.
* VillainousBreakdown: Most members of the Cult of Diablos go through this after encountering Shadow.
** After being thrown around like a rag doll and taunted by Shadow, Zenon enters into a wild rage. He then completely sweats in terror before Shadow vaporizes him with his FinishingMove.
** Doem completely loses it after Rose ruins his master plan. He then goes into a VillainousBSOD after witnessing Shadow's true might.
* WhamEpisode:
** [[spoiler:Rose Oriana has become a fugitive and hunted by her own kingdom for murdering her mind controlled father. Alpha meets up with her and invites her to join Shadow Garden.]]
** [[spoiler:Cid and Beta are transported to Cid's original world and discovered that it has been ravaged by monsters. When they returned to their own world, Cid doesn't know that Beta brought his former classmate, Akane Nishino with them.]]
* WhamLine:
** "How did you know of [the Cult of Diablos]?" Thus making everything Cid has made up to sound cool turn out to actually be true.
** ''The Witch of Calamity, Aurora also goes by the name [[spoiler:Diablos]]''.
* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Cid and his two friends try to use their chocolates to get dates:
** One friend tries to get the attention of a classmate who is always by herself, only to find out it's because she has a jealous fiance when he tries to give her chocolates.
** His second friend did everything he could to find out everything about his crush from her likes and dislikes to her three sizes, unaware she noticed he was doing this and calls him a stalker.
** Cid, who couldn't care less and wasn't interesting in the chocolates, just hands his off to Sherry, the first girl he sees. She develops a crush on him.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: A version of it. In this world Chocolate is a very new and popular item (as Cid was the one who gave Gamma the knowledge of how to make it). To Cid, it's just a common treat, so he gave it away as he just didn't want it at the time. Sherry, the girl he gave it to, after finding out how difficult it would normally be to get chocolate, believes he just gave her a very expensive gift and was confessing his feelings to her.
* WowingCthulhu: [[spoiler:Alpha]] is one of the first individuals to ever impress Cid, using her new techniques to engage him to almost equal footing.
* YouAreNotAlone: Alpha always advises Cid to trust her and Shadow Garden more when situations became too much for him.
* ZombieApocalypse: When Cid arrives at the capital of the [[spoiler:Oriana Kingdom]], he learns that it's overrun with Zombies; a ploy made by the Cult of Diablos.
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