Zeta

Zeta (ゼータ) (Ζήτα), formerly known as Lilim (リリム), is the sixth member of Shadow Garden and one of the original "Seven Shadows", as well as a descendant of the "Beastkin Hero" Lili. She is the head of exploration and espionage, and also founded her own secret sub-faction out of disagreement with Alpha's way of policy.

Appearance
Zeta is a female Beastkin from the Golden Panther clan, having blonde hair, large cat ears, purple eyes, and a long tail. Zeta is described as an exceptionally beautiful beast woman with a gorgeous tail and golden-colored ears, and she is even considered an unparalleled beauty even among the beastkin races.

She wears the customary Slime Bodysuit with a large cape settled over her left shoulder in the light novel, while her anime design omits the cape thus far. A stylized jacket embraces her arms and upper torso and opens under the sternum, where an area exposing her cleavage presents itself. Her jacket has a short frontal length that ends around her ribs section, while the back continues to the length of her calves, with puffy fur accents at the collar and waistline, and a section of exposed skin along the hips stretching into the back region. She also has an asymmetrical legging, with two solid gold rings circling her right femur while having three parallel belts circling her left femur. In the light novel, her suit has frilled pant cuffs just before her heels. In the anime and game, her leggings don't have frills but rather boots with a V collar and cuffed endings above the short heeled shoes with a simple gold lining over the metatarsal.

While exploring the world, Zeta dresses appropriately for the location she finds herself in, especially in the anime. For a jungle when investigating a pyramid, she wore standard khaki shorts and a jacket with exploratory boots. Another instance was her in a snowy tundra amid penguins, she wore heavy winter attire. While riding a fishing boat out to sea, Zeta can be seen wearing a cute sailor girl outfit similar to a schoolgirl uniform, but this look is more personal fashion than a location requirement.

As Zeta did not debut until Volume 5, her choice of wardrobe is limited to her Shadow Garden uniform and what the anime and games presented.

Personality
Zeta was born as Lilim in one of the most prestigious tribes of the therianthropes, the Golden Leopard Tribe. Even the King of the Beastkin would have to show deference to someone who was a member of that tribe. She is the direct descendant of the "Beastkin Hero" Lili, who defeated the demon Diablos, which makes her bloodline and family exceptionally well esteemed, even among the Golden Leopard Tribes. Many settlements followed the Golden Leopard Tribe, and she was the eldest daughter of the chieftain who had ruled the tribe for time immemorial.

Though therianthrope babies are supposed to go through battle training like sword skills, fighting, and magic, her parents chose to keep her away from all those common Beastkin philosophies. They noticed that Lilim was a very intelligent and knowledge-hungry girl. Therefore, her parents taught her with the best possible knowledge they could manage and collected books from all possible sources: humans, elves, beastkins, vampires, etc., so that Lilim could use those books and self-teach herself. Lilim ended up growing as a caring girl who was loved by everyone and loving to everyone as well. Even though it is a common practice among the Beastkins that their daughters are sent for marriage to a suitable partner at an early age, Lilim had been outstanding from a young age. She had been painstakingly nurtured and raised because it was considered better to keep her in the family than to marry her off.

After becoming the victim of demon possession and learning that she was suffering from the possession, she begged her parents to burn her alive to purify her. However, her parents refused to do that, and her father entrusted her to her mother's care. He then went on a solo journey to look for a cure for demonic possession. He was convinced that there is a cure as it was written in the elven books that demon possession can be cured, and due to the knowledge passed down to their tribe about the truth of the heroes being females and the demon possession not being a curse but a blessing which bears the sign of the hero's bloodline. However, due to other ambitious rival tribal groups being manipulated by the Diablos Cult, Lilim's father was caught by the Cult of Diablos, being led by Petos, who was posing as a priest of the church. In desperation to save her, Lilim's father used their sacred technique, which would turn him into a full beast but would definitely kill him. He entrusted Lilim and her brother to his wife and strictly instructed her mother to protect their children with her life. Her mother, after reaching a safe distance, entrusted Lilim with her half-year-old brother and then turned back to face the enemies off so that she could protect her children.

Petos later caught Lilim and showed her the severed heads of her father and mother. At this time, Lilim was already past her breaking point, and a deluge of tears streamed from her eyes. In a desperate attempt to save her brother, she tried her best to protect the little life that was entrusted to her; she begged Petos to do anything to her as he pleases but spare her little brother. But Petos killed her brother by beheading him in front of her while Lilim was still carrying him. It was the last straw. Lilim's heart died at that moment, and the caring and loving girl named Lilim became as cold as ice. Her hatred for the priest and the religion of the church burned deep inside her heart, and she lost all possible purpose in life. It was only her hatred that was keeping her alive while she didn't care whether she is dead or alive as long as she could take revenge on the people that massacred her entire family and clan. Lilim then wished for power as she thought knowledge was useless as it couldn't do anything. Lilim was frantically mumbling that she would kill all of them and she made a promise to herself that she will kill them all and she wished for power and cried out loud for power. It was at that point Shadow noticed her voice and in turn told her that "so you wish power?" and showed her his atomic spell. Even though, according to Cid's own admission, the spell was only 60% complete, but it was so overwhelmingly devastating that Lilim was trembling in awe with his power. After meeting Shadow and Alpha and then joining the Shadow Garden afterward, Lilim, now known as Zeta, fell madly in fanatically in love with Cid. It was her hatred and her admiration for her master which is still keeping her going. For not to become swayed from her objective she has changed into the habit of not speaking much and not to become close to anyone despite being a member of the seven shades and the original founding member of the shadow garden. The only person she feels she is close to is shadow.

Despite being a Beastkin, who is mostly known for being wild brutes, Zeta is smart and level-headed. While she still prone to getting into fights, she isn't as much of a "loose cannon" as Delta. She has also shown to be a tomboyish loner, usually doing her missions on her own and only cooperating on a team if the situation demands it.

Compared to the rest of the Seven Shadows, the hatred that Zeta feels for the Cult of Diablos is so great and far more intense that she is so determined to do whatever it takes to achieve the Cult's destruction, which leading her to be even more extreme in her actions that she is willing to sacrifice anyone in order to achieving her mission that she would allow mass casualties to occur.

Zeta willingness to do anything for her goal stems from her experience of witnessing her family and clan being murdered right before her eyes by the Cult of Diablos, even Zeta truly wants Shadow Garden to rule over the world with Shadow as its new god once he attained immortality to ensure that humanity won't make the same mistakes again. Because she had seen how hopeless humanity is for their unintentional role in bringing the Cult to power, Zeta is far more willing to allow collateral damage to occur.

Like her fellow Beastkin, she also dislikes undergarments as she finds that they restrict her movement and thus she does not wear them.

Powers & Abilities
Zeta is the fourth strongest member of Shadow Garden, surpassed only by Delta, Alpha and Shadow. She is noted by Cid to be the most talented amongst the "Seven Shadows", describing her as "good at whatever she does", with the potential to surpass even Alpha if she would just address her weak points. She is also the third best in controlling her magic power among the "Seven Shadows", after Beta and Epsilon.

Physical Prowess
Zeta possesses less strength compared to the "berserker" Delta, but in turn has more self-control. She specializes in reconnaissance and tracking between the Seven Shadows and the other Beastkin. However, Zeta is able to take on and hold a fight without any problem, even with the members of the round table.

Keen Intellectual
It is Zeta's most distinctive trait, she is capable of manipulating and hiding information in order to achieve her aims. Zeta has also shown to be quite calculating, always looking for the most optimal way to achieve her goals, this has led her to be Shadow Garden's head of intelligence, which gives her an incredible amount of autonomy.

Zeta is also aware of her limitations, despite disagreeing with Alpha's leadership, Zeta never seeks to directly confront her. Unlike Delta, Zeta is aware that a fight with Alpha would be extremely difficult to win, and that there are more efficient ways to achieve her objectives.

Innate Weapon Mastery
Zeta has a natural "Gift" of being able to perfectly master any weapon she holds that can serve her purpose, be it swords, scythes, spears, and other things, maybe even firearms. But, because Zeta has adept at handling every type of weapon when learns to use them very quickly, she gets bored after using them until she discards them easily and intends to look for other new weapons that she can try. Cid laments on the fact that she could've mastered them if not for that flaw.

But if the situation requires it (when she is doing her duties as a member of Shadow Garden, when fighting in hard combat), she uses the same weapons that she used to finish the fight quickly. This is certain cases surprised Shadow when he was training her, without telling her, since he had to practice very hard and extremely during all his life and after reincarnating, he did not meet someone with this kind of talent to dominate and other things, weapons.

Within the game of "The Eminence Of Shadows", when Zeta was little, she wields 2 blades in the shape of crescent discs which look like a combination of weapons; Chakram, and the Blades; "Deer Horn Knives, When she grows older, the design of the weapons changes to a type of weapon, in the shape of a giant Disc or boomerang, but with sharp edges, and a moon-type design, capable of fatally cutting any one of her enemies, very quickly, and like all boomerangs, the weapon returns to the hand of its user.

Swordsmanship
Having an innate talent to handle any weapon she wields, if she didn't have the habit of discarding them shortly after using them, her Swordsmanship level would be at the same level of Alpha at least, who is the second in command of all of them, also the other members of the 7 shadows and in Shadow garden in general. As such, Zeta is the third strongest in Shadow Garden's Swordsmanship level, only being surpassed by Alpha and her lord, Shadow.

Stealth Expert
As Zeta is in charge of covert operations, she usually acts alone by exploring the world and gathering intelligence by conducting reconnaissance and investigation activities because of her specialties in stealth and infiltration.

Observation Skill
Zeta operates largely as an silent observer when she not proactively involved with her Seven Shadows during any mission. She can deduce the habits and behaviors of others around her by watching their reactions or behavior from the outside.

Battle Aura
Due to how talented Zeta is, she can exude an aura so strong that she brought a Named Child down to its knees without even lifting a finger.

Magic
Zeta is very proficient In using magic often said to be good at everything she does. During her fight with Delta in later volumes of the light novel, she was able to produce multiple black swords from the darkness and black mist. A technique said by Cid to be equal to the Blood Queen, even Cid complimented her magic mastering.

Standard Equipment:

 * Slime Bodysuit: Like all members of Shadow Garden, Zeta wears, as standard, a suit made of Slime, created by her master Shadow, very efficiently, with 99% magical conductivity of it, and has good use of it.


 * Slime Weapons: Her weapons in the game is two moonblades.

Red Mist Form
Zeta, like Alpha, possesses the ability to use the "Red Mist" of vampires, allowing her to hide, move, and dodge deadly attacks thrown at her. At the same time, it allows her to detect and locate attacks and objects, whether magical or not, that are very difficult to see or detect.

However, like the rest of her abilities, unlike Alpha's abilities, Zeta does not fully master this special technique, so it can become a skill, even defective, due to Zeta's weak points.

During her fierce combat against Delta, for daring to steal and trade the fish that she had given to her lord, Zeta used this ability to avoid Delta's attacks but, since she did not want to perfect it, she could not use it very well, leaving her tail exposed, which gave Delta an easy chance of knowing where she was hiding.

Quick Flash Subtle
Zeta can use her magic to move against her enemies very quickly. This ability was taught to her by her master, Shadow, just like the other original members of Shadow Garden. Unlike her partner and rival, Delta who moves when she goes hunting her prey in a wild way for the most part, Zeta likes to be subtle and silent to take her enemies by surprise when they are very strong, as any wild cat would do when camouflaging with the environment to get closer to its prey.

Deadly Daggers
Zeta possesses the ability, throwing projectiles from the Slime daggers, at high speed, capable of causing a strong death, due to the magical power infused into the daggers, said ability was acquired based on the abilities of the "Deadly Daggers", of the vampires, (specifically Elizabeth), after managing to collect a blood sample from them.

Rain of 1000 Swords
TBA

Dark Magical Gaze
Through a sinister gaze, combined with her magical power, Zeta can cause any enemy she wants to kill to suffer a deadly magical overload, which then causes them to explode within a few seconds, leaving no bone or organ behind. and only a trace of blood remains. During the rescue of his lord Shadow's older sister, Claire Kagenou, within a magical sub-dimension, which simulated the environment of the Royal Academy of Midgar, Zeta murdered a Named Child of the Cult of Diabolos, using her new technique, which just by looking at him sinisterly, after saying a few bloodthirsty words, The Named Child called, "Dark Smile", he began to bleed heavily from his ears, eyes, mouth and nose, and then exploded in a few moments, leaving with him a pool of blood.

Weapon Explosive Combo (Game)
TBD

Weakness
Cid points out, and states, that Zeta is extremely talented and practically exceptional at everything. But her only weakness is her fickle tendencies, like getting bored of learning a skill that he doesn't even practice them to the point of mastering or evolving it, be it a weapon or a skill as such. This is what prevents her from becoming an "All Master" like Alpha.

Trivia

 * The letter "Z", in the Greek alphabet, usually represents the use of Weapons, or weapon as such, which fits with the talent that the character has, with complete mastery of weapons.
 * Zeta's design was revealed first in the anime since she has not yet had a major role in any story arc.
 * Unlike the other Seven Shadows, who want to support Shadow while staying by his side, Zeta looks out for his well-being even if it means spending most of her time away from her master.
 * The game "The Eminence in Shadow: Master of Garden" reveals more of her character and her relations within the group, as well her role. She was responsible for the Investigation of the Cult Hideout, while also searching for a new main base for Shadow Garden.
 * Due to being absent for the majority of the series thus far, it is still unclear if Zeta is aware that both Alpha and Epsilon are capable of healing the possession.
 * However, in the game at Young Alpha Character Stories, Zeta notice that Alpha can cure the possession. (It is not yet clear if the events or information that the game provides about the characters can be considered canonical).
 * Zeta, like Delta, tends to like to mark her Master's belongings whenever she can, like all feline traits of hers.
 * Zeta does not wear undergarments because it's uncomfortable for the Beastkin. However, Delta does wear simple ones.
 * Zeta is the only survivor of her clan and the last of the Golden Panther Tribe, due to the Cult, particularly Petos killing all her family members, including her little brother just to capture her and the desire to be promoted into the Rounds and massacred all the other clan members of her tribe to prevent information leakage.
 * Unlike other members of Shadow Garden, Zeta is willing to make even more morally ambiguous actions than them with her end goal being the resurrection of Diablos so that Shadow will attain immortality and become the god of the world in order to ensure it will not be led astray again by another evil cult.
 * With the reveal that Zeta is planning to resurrect Diablos to immortalize Shadow and expected to be discarded for her actions. It is unknown Whether her betrayal is genuine or an attempt to push them away to avoid guilt of killing people she saw as family.