Episode 21

The Lawless City (無法都市) is the the first episode of the second season, and twenty first episode of The Eminence in Shadow anime adaptation.

Synopsis

 * -|English= Cid and his sister Claire venture to the huge slum known as the “Lawless City.” There, Cid gets caught up in the commotion caused by the Red Moon.
 * -|Japanese= 吸血鬼を退治するというクレアに連れ出され、巨大なスラム「無法都市」にやってきたシド. だが早々にクレアとはぐれ、「赤き月」が引き起こした大騒動に巻きこまれる.

Summary
One night, all the members of Shadow Garden held a meeting consisting of the Numbers who had attended along with the Seven Shadows (except Delta who still had not returned from the end of the Sanctuary mission in Lindwurm) gathered in front of Shadow at the Shadow Room to discuss the report about ongoing affairs in the assembly for the organization's future progress plans.

Beta reports that since Shadow's intervention at the Bushin Festival incident, the Cult of Diablos has not carried out any salient activities with small factions and especially the main Fenrir's Sects which is currently being reorganized has not shown any movement in the Midgar Kingdom due to confusion, from which Gamma thought it was all going according to Shadow's plan when Epsilon added that the Cult's situation of being forced to not take action in Midgar meant that Shadow Garden's position had been safe for the time being, so that they had the opportunity of allowing them to ancillary focus their main fighting force on affairs in the Oriana Kingdom without having to worry about their rear.

However, Zeta and Eta provide interesting information that recently there has been an increasing flow of money entering the Lawless City, a notorious slum that all the crimes from various corners of the world congregating where the area is outside the jurisdiction of any nation, which makes Shadow Garden wanted to send personnel if the tension would have an incalculable effect on the public and effectively disrupt their plans. When Shadow warned that there would be a storm of blood as he revealing the shining Red Moon, the members of Shadow Garden notice that this omen was reminiscent of the tragedy a thousand years ago and realized that if left unchecked, all the surrounding countries in the Lawless City could be destroyed.

Even though Alpha said not to remain silent about the approaching Red Moon precursor by deploying the Seven Shadows, Shadow tells all members of his decision to investigate this matter without realizing his true objective. Beta begins to seriously add to The Chronicles of Master Shadow about the "revival of the Blood Queen.” Gazing at the genuflecting girls, Shadow meditates on their commitment to the act. Their improvisational skills are "worthy of an Academy Award."

At the same time, Goldoh Kinmeki and Quinton, competitors from the Bushin Festival ventured into the Lawless City gaze at the menacing height of the Crimson Tower which was the mark of the Blood Queen’s domain, sovereign of the vampires. A sudden presence explains Goldy's comment regarding the wide berth residents give the entrance. The gatekeeper introduces himself as the White Demon, a ruthless criminal with a considerable bounty. He has now reduced to one arm and acts as Elisabeth's loyal "Watchdog". The loser bracket pair recognizes the name and prepares for battle.

The next morning, Claire, the older sister of Cid, is assigned to hunt down vampires in Lawless City after her victory in the Bushin Festival. She makes her way to The Dark Knight Association, dragging Cid along. Cid recapitulates past events up to the present moment, casually glancing around. Claire does not want her brother to become a fainéant and believes his participation will secure him a position in Midgar’s Knight Order. The two are stopped by a slave merchant claiming to have new pets in stock. Cid is reunited with Goldy and Quinton but only expresses vague familiarity. They were defeated by the White Demon and sold to a slave trader. Claire complains that his prices are too steep for damaged merchandise. She stops haggling and maintains one pet is good enough, placing her hand on the black-haired boy. Cid manages to break free from his sister’s watchful gaze. He spends time meandering the streets and allowing himself to become a victim of petty larceny; returning the favor shortly afterward. Cid meditates on the “dog-eat-dog” city as a group of men drubs a ghoul in an alley. An indifferent red moon abruptly sends a magical wave that resonates across Lawless City.

The beaten ghoul is invigorated and attacks the past oppressors with new strength. Humans bitten by a ghoul transform into one, yielding a cascading effect. Cid contemplates possible shadow broker scenarios as the ghouls draw near. Before Cid can make any decisions, a mysterious red-haired girl wearing a cocked hat takes out the ghoul and she introduces herself as Mary, the Ancient Vampire Hunter. Mary tells him to flee and murmurs ominous statements about being “...out of time” and a "...frenzy". All that remains after her departure is a bloody pile of corpses and a single tear running down the face of Cid Kagenou. A concerned sister subsequently arrives at a hotel room to find it vacant. Claire told her impetuous brother to wait at the inn, but he failed to listen. Across the hall, a half-naked man runs out of his room screaming. A ghoul wearing a negligee jumps out of the room. Claire uses this opportunity to vent her anger, crushing its head. She asks the staggering man if he saw “...a boy with black hair and black eyes?” The man says no, he has not seen anyone matching that description.

Two students from the Midgar Academy, Skel and Po, likewise have ventured into Lawless City which is famously known for its thriving red light district and the lascivious teenagers hope to lose their virginities but not after seeing a group of Ghouls approaching them. At that time, Marie, a prostitute who heard what she thought was a regular commotion saw a group of ghouls attacking people in the red light district through the window of her room and was nearly attacked by her customers who had now turned into ghouls until Shadow appearly save Marie's life when he beheaded the attacking ghoul. Shadow recites Mary’s lines verbatim to the shocked woman and gives his name before disappears to repeat his performance to others.

When Marie's co-worker came to tell her there was a ghoul outside when she saw Marie who was fine with the ghoul's body lying in the room which Marie said was killed by Shadow, her colleague who heard the name said to Marie that Shadow is a big criminal who had acted arbitrarily to beat up the rotten Church and he is dangerous as the Three Monarchs of the Lawless City, even though Marie thought that Shadow was definitely not a bad person. Marie immediately took advantage of the second chance given to her by packing her things to leave the Lawless City, where she ignored her co-workers' warnings because she wanted to terminate her employment contract with Marie voicing her desire to thank Shadow for giving her a life path in repaying his debt of kindness. Yukime who looked up at the top of the White Tower muttered the wish of a lucky people who could escape the chaos that occurred even though they would never let go of the past before being told by her servants that Vampire had unleashed ghouls in the city.

Claire’s sole attention is not on the ghouls' attack on visitors and residents but on the mangled body of a boy. Claire’s sniffles are interrupted by the appearance of Mary. The ancient vampire hunter points out that the corpse has neither black eyes nor black hair. Mary says she met two boys that match her description. One was smiling at the ghoul rampage, the other was kidnapped by a vampire to be a sacrifice which required the sacrifice of the blood of a living young man to awaken Elisabeth, the Blood Queen, from her thousand-year sleep. Even telling Claire that the vampires kept the information about the Blood Queen's long slumber a secret and waited for a thousand years for the night that gave great power to their race when the Red Moon rose again, where the light of the moon influenced the sleeping queen to rise if there was a blood sacrifice as stimulation. With their goals in the same location, Claire allies with Mary who is willing to help her on her target is Elisabeth, in order to save Cid by storming through a group of ghouls and follow Mary, who knows a way to get into the Crimson Tower.

With the increasing destruction in the Lawless City caused by ghouls are running rampant all over the city, making everyone become panicked like happened to Goldoh who had escaped from slavery while vigorous sprinting drag Quinton along with Po and Skel who were running fast from the ghouls. In the Black Tower, Juggernaut laughed because he smelled a big fight after witnessing the chaos in the city from the top of the tower that he remembered last happened during the Beastman invasion. The Dark Knight Association is soon overwhelmed by the ghouls, from which the majority of members have fled to the train station through the roof with only the director and a single subordinate remain at the headquarters. Their deaths seem assured, but the ghouls was immediately finished off by Shadow who was still saying Mary's lines with the Association members recognizing him as a wanted criminal.

Atop the Crimson Tower, an underling informs Lord Crimson that the sacrificial preparations for the ritual are nearly complete and the city has been proven successfully taken over as planned, but some areas have withstood the ghouls onslaught due to unexpected resistance. Crimson surmises two people are behind it: The first is Juggernaut, the Tyrant, ruler of The Black Tower. The second is Yukime, the Spirit Fox, ruler of The White Tower. Crimson disregards their efforts by claiming the revival of their Blood Queen will kill them regardless of any struggle, which the subordinate agrees but adds that there is one more person who goes around the city killing ghouls.

That exact moment, Yukime and Juggernaut were then subsequently engaged in fierce battle to finish off the remaining ghouls before the two rulers started fighting each other, until a mysterious figure wearing black clothes suddenly appeared in the middle of their fight, making both combatants stop and asked his name, which in the end Cid introduces himself as Shadow.

Trivia

 * Skel and Po's appearance is not mentioned in any currently released light novels.
 * The Japanese name for The Crimson Tower is 紅 (Kurenai or Aka). It can be translated to red, crimson, or scarlet. The official English light novel translation (translated by Hiroshi Thrasher) and anime (translated by Sentai Filmworks) both chose crimson.