Fanfic / The Royal Eminence

"The Royal Eminence" is a The Eminence in Shadow fanfiction, created by SkyRig.

In this What If? scenario, Minoru Kagenou died and reincarnated into a world of magic, allowing him the chance to become mysterious and powerful shadowbroker he always wanted. Unfortunately, he wasn't born as a member of a lower-class noble family, but born as the prince to the Midgar Royal Family.

As Cid Midgar, he now has to face all sorts of typical royalty drama.

The Royal Eminence was published on December 15, 2022 and is a Recursive Fanfiction to LivgardetVision's The Shadow Behind the Throne, which features a similar premise in that Minoru Kagenou is reincarnated as a member of Midgar's royal family. It can be read on Sufficient Velocity here and Archive Of Our Own here under the account Ishtar_Collective a shared account between SkyRig and TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere.

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This fanfic contains the following tropes:

• Abled in the Adaptation: In the light novels, Karen's possession was so severe she could not see out of her right eye, and even when she was cured, Alpha says she can't heal the possessed quite as well as Shadow can and that he could have restored her right eye. Since she is healed by Shadow personally in this story, Karen's right eye is fully healed.
• A-Cup Angst: Downplayed. While Alexia is nowhere near flat, she's envious of women with larger busts than herself, such as Theta and Claire. When she does realize how shapely Claire is when they go to Mitsugoshi to buy a gift for Iris and has Claire try on a pair of bras and panties, she internally rages.
  Alexia: (Thinking) So fucking unfair!
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Cid Midgar is noted by a small few to be fairly handsome, in contrast to Cid Kagenou's plain appearance.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Downplayed regarding Karen. She's still a former Named Child of the Cult of Diabolos, though their treatment of her after her possession is significantly worse than in the novels where they used her for brutal experiments and killed her parents in front of her.
• Adaptational Badass: While far from a weakling, Alexia was outclassed more often than not. Here, she's considerably stronger to the point she can overpower Zenon, even after he gets serious. Per Word of God, she would also be able to hold her own against his Third Awakener form, though she would ultimately lose.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Several characters that will appear later in the Light Novel are now featured way earlier.
  • In the light novels, Victoria is introduced in Volume 4 during the Black Rose arc. Here, she takes Beta's place as one of the Seven Shadows' founding members.
  • Petos, one of the Twelve Knights of the Round Table, made his first appearance in the light novels in Volume 5. He appears in the fanfic before the two-year Time Skip when Shadow Garden consists of only Shadow and five other members.
  • Downplayed with Karen and Omega. Both characters first appear in Chapter 186 and Volume 6 of the web novel and light novel respectively. They appear much earlier in the anime during the terrorist attack on the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy arc. Here, Karen becomes Zeta of the Seven Shadows while Omega shows up during the Kidnapping arc as a Scarlet Knight under Iris.
  • Fenrir, the Arc Villain of Volume 5, appears in Chapter 5 during Shadow Garden's search for Alexandria to discuss Shadow Garden's recent actions.
  • Kanade, Suzuki, and Christina Hope first appeared in the light novels in Volume 5. They show up during Cid's first day at school and are implied to become his social circle instead of Skel and Po.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Played with. Cid is still single-minded in his desire to become an eminence in shadow, but he's observant enough to realize that some of the so-called "bandits" he fights are actually part of a shadowy organization when they mention "the cult". That said, he doesn't consider for a moment "the cult" they speak of is the Cult of Diabolos.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed with Alexia. She still detests liars, but since they're family, she treats Cid more kindly in large part because she blames the attitude of the palace nobles for the way Cid acts.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Zenon's transformation after ingesting the imperfect Tears of Diabolos is a lot more grotesque. As opposed to having more pronounced veins in the manga and a more devilish appearance in the anime, the fanfic has him undergo Body Horror during his transformation, becoming muscular with bulging veins, his sword arm being twice as big, and a bulging left eye.
• Adaptational Wimp: While she's not one of the strongest members of the Seven Shadows, Beta was still competent in her own right and could handle herself fairly well in battle. Due to being Theta of the Numbers in this fic, however, she's much weaker and is described by Cid as being dead weight when Shadow Garden fights the Mist Dragon.
• Adaptation Deviation: In Master of Garden, Cid left before the Mist Dragon revealed Alexandria to the rest of Shadow Garden, which explains why he has trouble finding Shadow Garden's new HQ in the light novels. Since he sticks around after beating the Mist Dragon in Chapter 5, he's present for the unveiling of Alexandria.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the anime, Cid has black eyes that occasionally turn red as Shadow. Here, his eyes are naturally red; a shared trait among the Midgar royal family.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Some characters in Shadow Garden have different codenames due to joining at different periods in time or replacing certain characters. Victoria, for example, is Beta as she was the second to join Shadow Garden after Alpha and Lilim, who was Zeta in the novels, is Gamma. Claire is given Shiron's codename Epsilon and Karen becomes Zeta. The Beta and Gamma in the light novels are part of the Numbers as Theta and Chi respectively.
  • Iris' Crimson Knights are instead called the Order of the Scarlet Knights.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Cid's civilian identity was modeled after a "mob" character archetype that could easily move freely in the background like a nameless NPC you wouldn't think twice about. Since he's reincarnated into the royal family instead of being the son of a baron, Cid realizes that he can't pull off being a "mob" so he instead makes his civilian persona into a "wallflower"-like character as its the closest he can get to being a mob-like character that won't stand out.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Since Minoru was reincarnated into a different family, he and Claire Kagenou are not brother and sister and are of different social statuses, with her being the daughter of a baron and Cid being the nephew of King Klaus Midgar. Claire even swears herself to Cid as his knight.
  • Zeta and Delta do not get along and frequently argue with each other whenever they're together. Here, they're on slightly better terms in that, due to Lilim being the first to run into Delta and defeating her before Shadow arrived, Delta considers herself Gamma's underling.
  • Due to Skel and Po being chased out of the cafeteria by a mob of angry women they peeped on earlier in the day, Cid doesn't have the chance to meet and befriend them, which leads to him befriending Christina, Suzuki, and Kanade.
  • In the light novels, Kanade and Suzuki barely interact beyond being classmates and victims of the White Mist incident. In the fanfic, they're newly minted friends. Similarly, both characters become friends with Cid.
  • Alexia and Christina's interactions in the novels primarily boil down to the two working together to solve ongoing crises, such as the White Mist incident and the Jack the Ripper serial murder case involving the Thirteen Night Swords. Here, the two bond over their shared frustrations toward dealing with corrupt nobles and wanting to change Midgar for the better.
  • In their first meeting, Alpha left an unfavorable impression on Iris, dismissing her as "mere audience" for Shadow Garden's first public appearance. While still suspicious of Alpha, Iris' first interaction involves fighting with her as they fight Yoru. Alpha is also less dismissive of Iris as she's Shadow's family as opposed to being someone unrelated to him.
• Always Someone Better: This is how Alexia views Iris in terms of martial prowess. It's actually because of her inability to catch up to her older sister physically that Alexia changes her focus to political matters.
• Anti-Magic: Yoru, an enforcer of the Cult of Diabolos, possesses an anti-magic weapon. This, including his abilities (which Word of God state are equal to Alpha and Gamma, The Aces of the Seven Shadows), makes him the worst possible opponent for any spellblade worth their salt.
• Arranged Marriage: As part of a bid to unite the Midgar and Oriana Kingdoms, Klaus and Raphael arrange for Cid and Rose to marry.
• The Atoner: After Cid cures her possession and she joins Shadow Garden as Zeta, Karen throws herself into her work to make up for the evils she committed as Named Child Shooting Star.
• Bald of Evil: Jack S. Adist, Knight Commander of Midgar and a mole for the Cult of Diabolos, has a bald head that sports multiple scars on it.
• Bastard Angst: Subverted. This is what everyone assumes is the case with Cid. To them and especially his cousins, Cid doesn't want to excel because his status as a bastard child, royal status aside, earns him nothing but scorn from Midgar's noble society. In reality, Cid loves being the bastard son to a royal and commoner and takes the criticism and ridicule that comes with it like fresh air since it just helps add to his "wallflower" persona.
• Berserk Button:
  • The ill-fated spar between Jacques and Cid is this for the former, with Cid himself being a living example of this trope for Jacques. Suzuki notes how infuriated Jacques gets when the incident is brought up or referred to and knowingly brings it up to Jacques' face so he'll focus on him and not Kanade. Jacques becomes utterly livid when Cid appears in front of him to the point where, after trying to convince him not to act out since it would just reflect badly on him and his father before asking if he's still in trouble with Archduke Merde, Jacques draws his sword in an attempt to hurt Cid on the spot.
  • Three things tend to annoy Cid: People who rely on nothing but brute force, people without finesse, and people who rely on "borrowed strength". Zenon hits all three of these boxes, which infuriates him to the point he personally steps in when he originally intended to hang back and let Claire deal with him.
• Big Sister Instinct: Iris adores her sister Alexia and her cousin Cid, whom she treats like a younger brother. Like Alexia, she's appalled by the palace nobles' treatment of Cid, and later upon learning that Adist kidnapped Cid, Iris is completely livid and wants to personally hang her former sword instructor when she finds him.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Like in all other media, Zenon Griffey is a member of the Cult who pretends to be the charming and popular spellsword instructor to keep himself above suspicion.
  • This is Alexia's opinion of Christina. While she passes herself off as friendly, she easily notices how Christina's smile is "fake" like the palace nobles. It's ultimately downplayed in that while Christina does put on a facade, her real face is that of a frustrated woman who lacks the power to deal with Midgar's corrupt society. She only later realizes this in Chapter 8.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Rather than return to the Kagenou baronry, Claire swears herself to Cid as his knight. While she's definitely worthy of being part of the Seven Shadows, Chapter 5 shows there's a huge gulf in power between Claire and Cid. This distresses her somewhat as she wants Cid to rely on her, if only so she can be a "big sister" at least once. Prior to Chapter 6's Retcon, Claire was stated to take her job very seriously and nearly lopped off Jacques' head when he called Cid the Bastard Prince.
• Boring, but Practical: The "common sword" isn't an officially recognized sword style, much less a "sword style" at all. Rather, the "common sword" is self-taught swordplay that's been continuously honed and refined to where it can match other sword styles like the Bushin and Royal Bushin methods. The only current practitioners of the "common sword" are Alexia and Cid, with the former being inspired by her cousin's unintentional showcase of skill to take her "common sword" to new heights.
• Broken Pedestal: Karen was one of the Named Children of the Cult. By her own admission, she served them faithfully because she believed they had the world's best interests at heart, though her backstory implies she was raised and indoctrinated with her family's views. When the Cult learned of her possession, they wasted no time in making Karen one of their many guinea pigs and killed her family right in front of her when they protested. Karen's view of the Cult has since evaporated and joins Shadow Garden on the spot to atone for the evils she committed in the Cult's name.
• Butterfly of Doom: Since Minoru wasn't reincarnated as Claire's younger brother, her possession isn't cured until she's 15. When Cid finds her in one of the Cult's research bases, she's been possessed for five years and treated like a lab rat due to her exceptional compatibility.
• Celibate Hero: Like in the light novels, Cid has little to no interest in romance. While he does find women like Rose Oriana attractive, the beautiful women of Shadow Garden (who Cid himself recognizes as being so attractive they could snag any man they could want with looks alone) have pretty much made it impossible for him to feel any real physical attraction toward the fairer sex.
• Chekhov's Gunman: While sparring with Cid, Alexia remembers an incident where her cousin was challenged by the son of an archduke in the hopes of humiliating Cid, only to be publicly defeated and humiliated in front of his father instead. Chapter 6 introduces Jacques Merde, the archduke's son and Eliza's fiance.
• The Chosen One: Victoria believes Cid is the messiah chosen by Goddess Beatrix who will bring salvation to the downtrodden and ill while purging the world of all evil. Her history as a holy woman and this perception of Cid is why she's by far one of his most loyal.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Alpha, Victoria, and Gamma are peeved that their beloved leader is in an Arranged Marriage with Rose Oriana. Delta however doesn't mind at all and she thinks this might be the chance that allows her to become one of Cid's concubines.
  • Rose has some shades of this too as she's deeply conscious about her looks and figure compared to all the women her fiancée is acquainted with, like Victoria, Natsume Kafka, and Claire Pendragon.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Like in canon, Cid unknowingly finds ways to get beautiful women to be attracted to him with several members of Shadow Garden all desiring to marry him or becoming one of his concubines in Delta's case.
• Crisis of Faith: Subverted. In comparison to the light novel where Victoria's belief in Goddess Beatrix was utterly demolished, she believes Cid is The Chosen One sent by the goddess as a messiah.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • So far, all of Shadow Garden's confrontations with the Cult of Diabolos end this way. Viscount Grease gets beheaded by Alpha mere seconds after he undergoes his "awakening" and Jack S. Adist is Killed Offscreen.
  • Much like how the fight goes in Master of Garden, the Seven Shadows fail to scratch the Mist Dragon. The only ones who put up a good fight are Claire and Alpha, who manage to inflict damage to it, but even that barely helps them. It's not until Cid shows up that the tide turns in their favor and the Mist Dragon is the one receiving the curb-stomp.
  • Alexia's spars with Jacques Merde and Christina end in total victory for her. The former was brutalized to the point of nearly being outright murder whereas Christina went five rounds with Alexia and only managed to score only a single hit before her injuries caught up with her.
• Death by Adaptation: While Cid Midgar exists, there was a Cid Kagenou. Keyword: Was. Claire's younger brother was stillborn.
• Death by Childbirth: Cid's mother was ill while she was pregnant with him. The stress of giving birth proved too much and claimed her life.
• Death Seeker: The Mist Dragon's pact states the other party must have the power to one day kill him. He had high hopes for Alexandria and its king, but when later generations grew lax and corrupt, he rescinded the pact and wiped out the city's inhabitants. When Cid proves to be a challenge and even nearly kills him with "I AM DYNAMO", a prototype of "I AM ATOMIC", the Mist Dragon is delighted to know someone like him exists in the current era and makes a pact with him, stating he's looking forward to the day Cid will kill him.
• Delicate and Sickly: It's mentioned that Cid's mother died from the stress of childbirth while suffering from an unknown illness. It's implied by Petos that she was possessed.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation: All of the media has Viscount Grease being killed by Shadow. Here, he is beheaded by Alpha.
• Disappeared Dad: Cid's father disappeared months before he was born. The only thing he knows about him is that he is a commoner.
• Distressed Dude: Subverted. If he wanted to, Cid could easily overpower Jack and his cohorts. The only reason he doesn't is because he wanted to know what it was like to be kidnapped. To his disappointment, he finds the experience quite lacking, though it winds up working in his favor since Jack put him in the same cell as Karen.
• The Ditherer: Like in the light novels, Klaus Midgar refuses to take sides and stays neutral. The fanfic shows this also extends to court politics, which leads to some frustration among the palace nobles. The Scarlet and White Factions were created as a result of Klaus' neutrality, with one side supporting the crown princess and the other supporting a famous war hero.
• Dude Magnet: It'd be hard to list which members of Shadow Garden aren't attractive. Cid notes all of them are incredibly beautiful, with Beta and Theta being very popular with the male palace nobles.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. While they may be on the same side and can work together if needed, Alpha refuses to forgive Beta for her actions as the Saint. Not helping matters is that Beta seemingly hasn't made any attempts to apologize for her actions.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • Cid thinks that Shadow Garden is aware the Cult of Diabolos doesn't actually exist and they're just playing along with him, even indulging in his "make-believe" game by expanding the lore and story of the supposed cult. Similarly, when Jack S. Adist and his soldier mention "the cult", he thinks it's some separate shadowy religious group.
  • Alexia and Rose believe Cid willingly downplays his abilities because of Bastard Angst and that the high-ranking nobles will dismiss any achievements he makes regardless, which in turn spurns them to start their own plans to prove Cid's worth to Midgar regardless of his status. They don't know Cid purposefully hides his true power because his "wallflower" persona is someone who likes to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible.
• Famed In-Story: Like in canon, Iris is well-known among the populace for her victory at the Bushin Festival. Her increased martial prowess later earned her the nickname the Scarlet Princess. Similarly, Claire also builds up a reputation as Cid's sworn knight and leader of the Order of the Dark Knights, hailed as not only being one of the youngest knights in recent memory but also founding an incredibly competent and accomplished knightly order.
• Heel–Face Turn: Karen was originally a Named Child of the Cult of Diabolos who was later turned into a guinea pig after they learned she was possessed. This and her former teacher killing her parents in front of her destroyed her faith in the cult. When Shadow cures her possession and gives her the means to take revenge, she joins up with Shadow Garden as Zeta.
• Heroic Bastard: While Cid is formally recognized as a member of the Midgar Royal Family, the fact that his parents were unwed earns him a fair amount of stigma in noble society. It doesn't bother him in the least and his delusions aside, Cid and Shadow Garden are fighting to save the world from the Cult of Diabolos.
• In Spite of a Nail: While the circumstances are different compared to other media, Claire is kidnapped by the cult and then rescued by Shadow Garden, which in turn leads to her involvement with Cid.
• In-Universe Nickname: Cid is known as the Bastard Prince in the Midgar Kingdom, in reference to being born out of wedlock.
• I Owe You My Life: Like the rest of Shadow Garden, Karen is loyal to Shadow for having saved her life and cured her possession. Her case is especially poignant since she believes Shadow knew all along she was a member of the Cult, but still chose to save her life.
• It's All About Me: Jack S. Adist, by his own admission, is the second son of House Adist, a noble house of the Velgata Empire. House Adist, however, is described as a "noble house" In Name Only as it is a barony with next to no influence or power, even lacking a presence in the royal court. Jack's goal is to raise his house's standing, but it's also clear he views that his house's merits are made from his accomplishments. When Karen sides with Shadow Garden and disavows her former identity as the Named Child Shooting Star, even going so far as to use Jack's own sword training against him, the knight flies off into a rage and thinks she's purposefully insulting him.
• Jerkass:
  • In case his name didn't give it away, Jack S. Adist is an overall rude and elitist asshole who constantly looks down on Cid for having commoner blood. Chapter 3 also reveals he hated his brother, who spoiled him rotten in their childhood, because he saw his older brother as an "embarrassment" to their family name.
  • Jacques Merde, a second-year student and the son of an archduke, is described by Christina as being a narcissist in his youth and an Entitled Bastard who flaunts his father's status in front of everyone. He also hates Cid, both for being a bastard child and for humiliating him in front of his father.
• Killed Offscreen: Jack S. Adist is killed between Chapters 3 and 4, with the latter set sometime after Zeta's recruitment into Shadow Garden.
• Laser Blade: A rampaging possessed Claire is able to utilize her wild magic to construct a semi-physical sword as a weapon. This surprises Cid as he tried to do the same thing in the past, but wasn't able to and prolongs his fight with Claire to study her technique and hopefully replicate it in the future. He succeeds as seen in Chapter 5.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Adist accepts the cult's orders to kidnap Cid in hopes of finally being rid of him. This not only brought Shadow Garden's wrath upon him and his men, Cid cures Adist's former student Karen von Herzog of her possession, in turn leading Karen to defect and join Shadow Garden before personally killing him.
• Like a Son to Me: Klaus Midgar is incredibly affectionate towards his nephew, even going so far as to recognize him as an official member of the royal family and making him a prince despite the palace nobles' protests.
• Mad Scientist: This is how (accurately) Zeta describes Eta when Shadow Garden discusses who to recruit after they get their hands on a list of potential possessed from the cult.
• Meaningful Rename: As Cid's personal knight, Claire uses the surname Pendragon, obviously derived from "Arthur Pendragon", the king of Camelot. While this is an unintentional jab toward the Twelve Knights of the Round Table, the Cult's top executives, it also refers to her status as the leader of the Order of the Dark Knights, who are regarded as one of the best in Midgar.
• Meido: Victoria works in the Midgar Royal palace as Cid's personal maid; a role she is extremely happy to be in due to how it allows her to be close to Cid. Theta also takes up this position and fills in for Beta is unavailable, though she incorporates a Cleavage Window into her outfit.
• Mistaken for Related: Although not from the royal family, Iris notes Claire and Cid share the same hair and eye color. Between this and how she looks at him, and later her overprotectiveness as his knight, she and Alexia believe Claire might be Cid's half-sister from his father's side.
• My Greatest Failure: Klaus admitted to a five-year-old Iris that he did something that betrayed his beloved sister Sofia's trust toward him and believes she died hating him.
• Named by the Adaptation: In the fanfic, Kanade is given surname "Doe".
• Noodle Incident:
  • In Chapter 3, Cid mentions having been to Lindwurm in the past. While the specifics of the visit are not revealed, he saw something involving the Church and the possessed that left him deeply unsettled while keeping an enraged Alpha in check. This is mentioned again in Chapter 6 by Iris, who brought Cid to Lindwurm with her in the first place and was similarly affected by what she saw.
  • In Chapter 4, when Cid describes the black-robed figures that rescued him from his kidnapping, Iris recalls a similar kidnapping on him three years ago that was thwarted by the same black-robed figure.
  • In Chapter 5, Theta reveals to Cid that way before her possession, Cid had saved her once. Naturally, Cid had long forgotten this.
  • In Chapter 5, the Mist Dragon asks Claire if she's a descendant of "that witch". Toward the end of the chapter, he tells Cid he nearly died twice before fighting him; the first when he fought Alexandria's king, and the second when he fought the witch. It's heavily implied he's talking about Aurora.
• No Place for Me There: When Claire realized she was possessed, she fled her family so they wouldn't suffer the stigma of having a possessed daughter. When Cid gives her the chance to return home, Claire refuses and instead opts to stay at the palace and become his personal knight, though this also stems from her partially viewing Cid as a Replacement Goldfish for her stillborn younger brother.
• Obviously Evil: Iris' sword instructor Jack S. Adist is an all-around Jerkass who shows zero respect to Cid because of his bastard status. His first on-screen act is to tell Iris to stay away from him while calling him "garbage". Between his name and being an asshole, it's no surprise that he's a member of the Cult of Diabolos.
• Open Secret: The Cult is very much aware that Cid's personal knight is Claire Kagenou, one of their escaped guinea pigs and a subject of personal interest for Petos in regards to her unique possession. The only reason the Cult doesn't attempt to take her back is because of her startling growth in the past two years, with Fenrir ordering everyone to keep away from her until the time is right.
• Pet the Dog:
  • One of Alexia's biggest pet peeves is liars and hates people who hide behind false masks. The sole exception to this is Cid; Alexia believes Cid lies about his true strength because the high-ranking nobles of Midgar constantly give him grief and will continue to do so no matter what he accomplishes. Alexia's primary motivation for getting stronger is to gather enough political influence to where Cid will be free to show the world what he's capable of free of ridicule.
  • Alexia's interactions with the Possessed Millia. Instead of calling her an it or treating her like a monster, she refers to her as a "she" and is very concerned for her when she sees the scars caused by the cult's experiments. When a scientist tries to inject something into her that will make her run wild, Alexia yells at him to stop. Claire picks up on this and is pleasantly surprised while assuring Alexia Millia will be safe in Shadow Garden's care.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Although born out of wedlock, Cid still has the Midgar royal bloodline. The moles in the palace note Cid's unusually precise control of mana and report it to their superiors, which leads to his kidnapping in Chapter 3. Coincidentally, this also leads him to meet Karen von Herzog.
  • Due to Alexia and Cid being cousins in this story, the former does not rope him into a fake relationship to try and ward off Zenon, one of her many would-be suitors. She instead relays her suspicions of him to Cid and Rose and compares him to Jack S. Adist, Iris' former instructor who kidnapped Cid two years ago. This is implied to put Zenon in Shadow Garden's crosshairs as he's being observed by an unknown third party during his conversation with Sir Gaunt in regard to Alexia and Claire. Sure enough, Chapter 11 has Claire show up to save Alexia and Millia.
• Posthumous Character: Cid's mother is dead by the start of the story.
• Punny Name: Chapter 6 introduces a new character named Jacques Merde, whose name literally means "jack shit" in French. It's also fitting as he's an Upper-Class Twit.
• Puppet King: In Chapter 5, Theta and Epsilon report the appearance of a fourth political faction that supports Cid. On paper, the Black Faction wants Cid to take the throne despite not being in the direct line of succession like Iris and Alexia in the hopes he will bridge the gap between nobles and commoners due to being a bastard child between a member of the royal family and a commoner. In reality, Baron Albrecht (who leads the faction) wants to make Cid into this and hopefully have more control over the civilian populace of the Midgar Kingdom.
• Replacement Goldfish: Chapter 5 implies that part of the reason Claire stays with Cid beyond swearing herself to him as his knight is that she wants to live a fantasy where she's an "older sister" since she never got the chance in this story as Cid Kagenou was stillborn.
• Retcon:
  • Originally, Victoria was called Sigma and Claire was given the codename Tau. This was ultimately changed shortly after due to fan backlash, with Victoria becoming Beta and Claire becoming Epsilon so as to keep with Shadow Garden's Theme Naming.
  • Toward the end of Chapter 6, Cid sees Christina Hope, her cousin Suzuki, and Kanade Doe being harassed by Jacques Merde. Not only are the three implied to have become quick friends, but Kanade also seemed to have taken some of Christina's traits in that she believed Cid's kind persona is a mask to hide how bitter and angry he is, with his "confrontation" with Jacques being an opportunity to humiliate him. SkyRig admits to feeling that this segment didn't feel correct to him and later rewrote it, with the rewrite becoming its own chapter over on Sufficient Velocity and appropriately labeled 6.5. In the rewritten version, Jacques is accosting Kanade and Suzuki while Christina looks on and is about to intervene when Cid finally steps in. The reason Suzuki is involved at all is because he approached Kanade in the hopes of striking a friendship with her and stood up for Kanade when Jacques started insulting her. On a minor note, Jacques was originally one of Eliza's followers before the author decides to rewrite him into being her fiance.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • Iris and Alexia believe Claire is actually Cid's sister from his father's side based on how protective she is of him as his knight and how she frequently looks at him in the way Iris does with her sister and Cid. This is partially true, but Claire views Cid as more of a Replacement Goldfish for her stillborn younger brother.
  • Christina believes Cid is actually The Chessmaster who hides behind the guise of an average royal and intervenes on Suzuki and Kanade's behalf to humiliate Jacques. While this is mostly true, Cid wants to be a devious mastermind that comes with being a shadowbroker. Him confronting Jacques is also a case of Innocently Insensitive as his attempts to have Jacques act in a more befitting manner only serve to piss off Jacques to the point he blows his top.
• Secret Test of Character: Shadow Garden believes this is how Shadow recruited Zeta: He purposely let himself be kidnapped as Cid Midgar in order to make contact and ascertain Karen's character, and later put her in a position where she would either protect him or continue siding with the Cult. Since Karen showed nothing but empathy toward Cid and even tried to protect him from one of Jack S Adist's knights, she passed the "test".
• Shout-Out: Cid directly mentions Lelouch and mentions him as being one of his idols and inspirations, referring to him as the king of all shadowbrokers.
• Swapped Roles: The membership of Shadow Garden's Numbers and Seven Shadows is switched up. For example, Beta becomes Theta of the Numbers and Victoria (No. 559) becomes Beta.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • While several members of Shadow Garden have problems getting along with Victoria due to her overzealous worship of Shadow, Alpha in particular is unwilling to forget Victoria's past as a member of the Church persecuted and put countless possessed to death. It also doesn't help that Victoria is unrepentant of her actions as the Saint.
  • The Cult of Diabolos is far from united, as several of its leadership either hold low opinions of each other or try to amass more power and influence than their perceived competitors. Sir Gaunt, a former Knight of the Round, begrudgingly works with Zenon despite holding him in contempt for wanting to succeed Sir Gaunt and take his now vacant post in the Round Table. The only one shown capable of working with little issue is Petos, though this mostly has to do with the fact that he's the Closest Thing We Got as he's too weak to even be considered part of the Rounds but assumed a vacant post after his predecessor's unexpected death. In Chapter 11, Sir Gaunt intentionally stays out of the conflict, if only so he can let Shadow Garden get rid of Zenon for him.
• That Man Is Dead: Like the other Seven Shadows, Zeta denounces her former identity. She even says it's fitting how her "weak self" should die alongside her former comrades in the Cult of Diabolos. After learning the Cult experimented on possessed infants, Zeta begs her comrades to kill her if they so much as think she will betray them and return to the Cult, saying she would rather die as Zeta than go back to being Shooting Star.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Subverted. In Chapter 11, Cid wants Shadow Garden to bask in the spotlight, intending to make his appearance as the "grand finale" for their public debut. Zenon hitting his Berserk Button causes him to interfere and ends the chapter with his signature "I AM ATOMIC" spell.
• Took a Level in Badass: Alexia further practices her swordsmanship after being inspired by her cousin's remarkable skills with the "common sword". She shows off how strong she's become in Chapter 11, where she manages to not only fend off Zenon, but force him to enter his Third Awakener form.
• Training from Hell: Claire does this with her Order of the Dark Knights. Iris, who partook in the training herself, was pushed to the brink of vomiting. That said, she did take cues from Claire's training regimen and upped the ante with her Order of the Scarlet Knights.
• Upper-Class Twit: Jacques Merde is described as embodying every negative aspect there is about nobles, including flaunting his family's status while browbeating and insulting lesser noble houses.
• Villain Takes an Interest:
  • Claire is considered a person of interest to the Cult of Diabolos due to the unusual nature of her possession. Fenrir notes how her possession progressed slowly compared to other possessed and that she has a high compatibility with the Diabolos cells. As a result, they're very eager to get her back and resume their experiments.
  • Petos orders Cid 's captured, intending to study him and learn if he acquired any abilities from when Sofia Midgar was pregnant with him while she was suffering from demonic possession.
• What If?: An Alternate Universe story where Cid is reborn as an illegitimate member of the Midgar Royal Family. While some events play out as they did in canon, Cid's presence in Iris and Alexia's lives shakes up their family dynamic as well as the formation of the Seven Shadows.
• Worthy Opponent: The Mist Dragon considers Shadow Garden to be this, at least in regards to "ordinary" opponents. While he's ultimately stronger than them, he at least appreciates and recognizes their strength. He's far more impressed with Shadow after the latter nearly kills him, so much so that he forms a pact and gives Shadow Garden access to Alexandria.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Cult of Diabolos has no standards as to who they will use for their experiments. They kidnapped Claire when she was ten after she ran away from home, and Chapter 4 reveals they even experimented on possessed infants. The latter revelation horrifies most of Shadow Garden and especially Zeta, who asks her fellow Seven Shadows to kill her if she ever considers going back to the Cult.
• You Remind Me of X: When the Mist Dragon sees Cid's face, he's instantly reminded of the late king of Alexandria. The only difference between them is that whereas Alexandria's king was humble and soft-spoken, Shadow acts more confident and smug.

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