The following may contain spoilers for Episode 2 of The Eminence in Shadow, "Shadow Garden is Born", currently streaming on HIDIVE.
Episode 2 of The Eminence in Shadow, "Shadow Garden is Born", introduces both the Shadow Garden, who hunts the shadows from within the shadows and their natural enemy the Diablos Cult.
With their first encounter sparking the beginning of the conflict that would eventually shake the very foundations of the world from within the darkness, it's a mystery what makes these two groups so different, and even more important -- what they stand for.
The Diablos Cult's History and Ultimate Goal
While Cid believes that the tale of the Diablos Cult is something he made up to create the Shadow Garden, the popular stories that he had read to base this fiction on actually held several truths that Cid failed to perceive during his obsession with playing the part as an Eminence in Shadow.
The Cult of Diablos is an underground organization operating covertly to resurrect the demon of legend, Diablos. Existing for a thousand years in the world that Cid had found himself reincarnated in, the cult infiltrated several high-ranking government positions and held enough power to even rewrite history to persecute the descendants of the three heroes that defeated the demon Aurora as people with the bloodline of demons.
The Cult comprises two main groups: Children of Diablos and the Knights of the Round. The Children of Diablos are all orphans or young citizens born with magic that were kidnaped by the cult and raised in secret facilities. These kidnaped children were forced to undergo severe training and brainwashing before being forcibly injected with mana, where there was only a 10% survival rate. Those unlucky few that lived were then divided into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Children. Amongst this group, names were granted to those who provided a significant contribution to the cult, mostly including 1st Children and occasionally 2nd Children.
The 1st Children consisted of those who had managed to become both mentally stable from the mana injection and incredibly powerful warriors, though their numbers were limited compared to the 2nd and 3rd Children. The 2nd Children did not possess the same amount of power as the 1st, but were still considerably strong and were also able to remain mentally stable, while the 3rd children were stronger than an average knight but considered worthless disposable pawns due to their corrupted minds that made it impossible to leak any of the secrets of the cult.
The Knights of the Round is a group composed of twelve members that are provided with a drop of the Tears of Diablos, which allows them to maintain their demonic strength and immortality, but is limited to only twelve drops per year. Being a named Child of Diablos is a requirement for joining the Knight of the Round and each member used their respective skills or power to commit heinous experiments and conspiracies all for the end goal of resurrecting the demon Diablos.
Shadow Garden's History and Ultimate Goal
Originally founded by Cid Kageno when he was ten-years-old, the first member of Shadow Garden was an elf that had been corrupted by the 'Demonic Possession' curse that Cid later named Alpha.
During a bandit raid Cid conducted to test his slime bodysuit and weapon, he came across the disfigured Alpha and realized that she held an overflowing amount of magic power that was causing her to go into a magical overload. After performing several experiments on the mutated Alpha, Cid accidentally restored her to her original elf form. Believing that she would be useful for his performance as an Eminence in Shadow, Cid fabricated the story of how the Diablos Cult rewrote history to persecute the descendants of the heroes that defeated the demon Aurora thousands of years ago, labeling them as people with the bloodline of demons including Alpha herself.
Cid explained that the cult worshiped a demon called Diablos and was planning to resurrect the demon into their world while his mission was to stop this and destroy the cult from within the shadows they were hiding in. Alpha, furious at how the pain, rejection, and suffering she had experienced was due to this cult and the dangers that they posed, swore her loyalty to Cid and his mission -- despite Cid having no idea that the story he told was a real threat.
Together, Cid and Alpha formed the Shadow Garden intending to prevent the evil deeds of the Diablos Cult and eventually destroy them, with Cid leading them under the name 'Shadow'. As time passed, Alpha found six more girls that had been possessed with the same curse that she had suffered from that Cid converted back into their original bodies, gaining more loyal and capable members that were inspired by Cid's tales and performances to expand their influence.
Similar to the Diablos Cult, Shadow Garden also comprises two groups: The Seven Shades and the Numbers. The Seven Shades included the initial seven members that Cid restored the bodies of, who all learned, studied, and trained under Cid's guidance. Thanks to their training each member became a master in their respective fields, including combat, economics, espionage, and science. Each of these members also followed Cid's naming trend for Alpha, called Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta respectively.
The Numbers were members of the Shadow Garden recruited under the Seven Shades directly and trained by them in their fields rather than by Cid. Compared to the Seven Shades, there were several more members within the Numbers that Cid himself did not know the extent of, but each of them was a victim in some way of the evil deeds of the Diablos Cult that held an admiration for their leader Shadow (Cid) for his power, knowledge, and style -- despite it all being an act.
These two groups both have their respective infamy within in the shadows, however, as the Shadow Garden grows and foils the plans of the Diablos Cult over and over again, their battle shakes the world with Cid standing in the middle of all the conspiracy as The Eminence in Shadow but having no idea that he is role-playing on a very real, very dangerous stage.