Shadow Garden

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## General Information

### **Leader(s)**

Shadow (Leader/Figurehead)
Alpha (Second-in-Command)

### **Affiliates**

Mist Dragon
Mitsugoshi Company

### **Base of Operation**

Midgar Kingdom
Alexandria (former capital of Midgar)

**Shadow Garden** (シャドウガーデン, Shadou Gāden) is an mysterious hidden organization founded by Hino Sontara also known as Shadow. Its primary goal is to eliminate the Cult of Diablos and prevent them from resurrecting the ancient demon, Diabolos.

## History

The origins of **Shadow Garden** date back to a young boy's childhood: Hino Sontara.

## Membership

Shadow Garden was initially established with only seven members and their strength that had been trained directly by **Shadow** himself were able to wipe out cult members, in just 3 years.

After the *Seven Shadows* decide to leave their master in order to expand the organization, Shadow Garden now has grown to power with their hidden headquarters Alexandria with the protection of the Mist Dragon making their base look like a natural fortress, the Mitsugoshi Company as an important fundraising base that creates innovative products which based from *"Shadow Wisdom"* to funding and administering their operations missions, also their organization membership has now grown to have over 600 members in just 2 years and still increasing because of the artifact device called “Locator of Possess” developed by Eta based on the *"Shadow Wisdom"* allowing Shadow Garden to locate the possessed girls all over the world.

Since the membership scale became huge, *Seven Shadows* and the upper members of *Numbers* have been based in a mansion built on the roof of Mitsugoshi Company in the capital, while some of the lower members have gathered in Alexandria to practice their skills and cultivate cacao and coffee trees in large plantations.

### Seven Shadows

The **Seven Shadows** (七陰, *Shichikage*?) are the first seven original members recruited and granted power directly by Shadow himself, who treated demonic possession in each girl which now will become **Shadow**'s direct subordinates also the seven executives within Shadow Garden. They spent three years with Shadow and received all of Shadow's martial arts and magic training, so it can be said that they are each Shadow's childhood friends and disciples. The Seven Shadows stand in a league of their own within Shadow Garden being as the most powerful and/or skilled with exceptional abilities. Part of that blessing is due to Shadow, who bestowed upon them part of his own magical energy. The other part is his direct teachings in martial arts, warfare, and other practices which contribute to the covert organization. Each of them mastering their respective fields: be it in combat, espionage, science, or economics.

Their strength is on a completely different level from the rest of other members, as well as the ones with high authority to govern the Shadow Garden, overruled only by Shadow himself. The overall strength and skills of the Seven Shadows had surpassed that of the Knights of Rounds members thus far revealed.

### Numbers

The **Numbers** (ナンバーズ, *Nanbāzu*?) refer to themselves strictly to the order in which they joined, not a ranking system like recruit or lieutenant. However, each set of 100 tends to be a good deal stronger than the next, so the numbers end up being a decent measure anyway. The Seven Shadows gathered nearly 600 people in just two years before hino enrolled in Midgar Academy.

The highest Numbers members from 8 to 24 are direct subordinates of the "Seven Shadows" and receive a Greek name, thus they are Named Numbers. If they are nearly the same level in ability and strength as their superiors, they are recognized by the Seven Shadows and earn their Named Rank. They have their own functions to fulfill as well and possess a certain amount of authority to give orders to other members. For instance, no.100 has seniority and higher authority than no.200, and other lower members are prohibited to give their names and are distinguished by their 'number'.

The Numbers members are regimented among 600+ agents, possibly divided into different roles based on strengths and focused capabilities. Such as soldiers, squad leaders, researchers, spies, scientists, and whatever role they need for the missions. With Kappa's intensive training in practicing magic and swordsmanship, each Numbers member's strength approximately matches at the first-rate dark knight standard for Spellswords. Most of the Numbers members also ostensibly work as staff of Mitsugoshi Company, allowing them to grow civilian personas while operating as an independent espionage outfit.

Every member with a double and triple-digit "number name" holds such titles from when they originally joined the organization in their numerical enlistment. They have a chance to climb into the higher ranks, but the requirement is that the newer members must challenge the older members, no matter how wide the numerical gap and then earn the right to challenge a high-ranking "Named Numbers" member. If the challenger number earns the opportunity, they can replace an established Named Number.

## Equipment and Artifacts

Thanks to the initial inventions of their Lord, Shadow, the Seven Shadows were able to develop all sorts of tools, outfits, and things recreated from Shadow's ideas and memories, not just improving maps and tracking. But also, to further assist them in their reporting and data collection about worship, among other things, these things are:

* **Slime Suit**: Revolutionary apparel invention created by Hino Sontara/Shadow with nigh limitless utility. Refined by Hino and the Seven Shadows since Shadow Garden's founding, the upgraded version of the suit is now used by everyone, from the Seven Shadows to all subordinates in the Numbers.
	+ **Slime weapons**: The shapeshifting ability of the bodysuit extended and hardened into weaponry for close-range, distant, and melee combat. These weapons are as finite as the mass of the slime bodysuit.
* **Locator of Possess**: An Artifact created by \_\_\_, allowing Shadow Garden to locate any girls under the effect of Demonic Possession all over the world.
* **Homing Pigeons**: Pigeons trained to find a recipient anywhere to deliver a message, a common form of communication in the world.
* **The Rolapoid**: An artifact created by \_\_\_, based on Hino's 'Shadow Wisdom', that is a reverse engineered instant camera with self-developing film.

## Known Members

### Leader & Founder

* Shadow (Hino Sontara): Official leader; organization figurehead.

### Seven Shadows

The *Seven Shadows* are the original seven members of Shadow Garden, recruited and trained directly by Shadow himself. They are named after the Greek Letters Alpha (Α/α) to Eta (Η/η) and are the general overseers of the different facets of the organization.

* [Α] Alpha (No. 01): Second-in-Command; actual leader sans Shadow.
* [Β] Beta (No. 02): Operations Coordinator; head of mission logistics.
* [Γ] Gamma (No. 03): Head of research and development.
* [Δ] Delta (No. 04): Head of medical and pharmaceutical.
* [Ε] Epsilon (No. 05): Head of espionage and Infiltration.
* [Ζ] Zeta (No. 06): Head of exploration and reconnaissance.
* [Η] Eta (No. 07): Head of Intelligence & Information.

### Numbers

The *Numbers* are those recruited by the Seven Shadows, their enumeration starts from 8 and continues onward, with the latest number recently reaching 665

#### Named Numbers

Members whose abilities were recognized by the Seven Shadows and granted a Greek number name like them, ranking from Theta (Θ/θ) to Omega (Ω/ω).

* [Κ] Kappa (No. 10): Shadow Garden's drill instructor.
* [Σ] Sigma (No. 18): Epsilon's subordinate; Teacher at Midgar Academy.
#### Regular Numbers

Nameless infantry; however, they might earn the right to challenge a Named Number for their rank by defeating a gatekeeper.

* 69
* 146