Cult of Diablos

The Cult of Diablos (ディアボロス教団) is an ancient, secretive, and power-hungry organization that serves as the primary antagonists of The Eminence in Shadow. Considered a little-known myth at best by the public, their existence is carefully concealed as they covertly operated throughout the world to manipulate global affairs under their regime from the shadows, seeking to maintain the society under their control while using demonic power that came from the essence of Diablos to gain immortality so that their perpetual rule will be eternal.

Throughout their entire history, the Cult held dominion over nations as they have extended their members to reach of many high-ranking positions across the world and manipulated history behind the scene, having long distorted the truth about the Three Heroes and renamed the "Curse of Diablos" into Demon Possession. The Cult seek to ultimately resurrect the demon Diablos to gain further power in cultivating the Tears of Diablos which are used to grant its leaders immortality and strength for continuing their reign, as well as abducting and experimenting on descendants of the Heroes to further improve their research knowledge.

The Cult of Diablos had managed to maintain its secrecy and operate without opposition for many years. They successfully eliminated any potential threats that arose, ensuring their dominance. However, their unchallenged reign came to an end with the emergence of a new opposition known as Shadow Garden. This underground organization, shrouded in mystery, boldly exposed the existence of the Cult to the world and directly opposed them. Shadow Garden relentlessly destroyed the Cult's operations, causing significant losses and overwhelming the Cult.

Realizing the extent of the damage they had suffered, the Cult found themselves in an unstable position. In an attempt to regain control, they decided to utilize their public connections by framing Shadow Garden for their own crimes. Recognizing the gravity of the threat posed by Shadow Garden, the Cult concluded that they could no longer underestimate their adversaries. Consequently, they chose to put an end to their internal conflicts and unite their forces. After centuries of factional divisions, the Cult aimed to focus their efforts on destroying Shadow Garden, acknowledging the immense danger they posed.

Overview
Little is known about the organization other than controlling the world by resurrect the Demon Diablos and continuously using its powers in order to maintain the Cult's rule. They have mostly focused on their research to create a drugs from Diablos Cells that can grant tremendous strength and immortality, but have not been able to perfect it because it still has very strong side effects.

The Cult of Diablos has tricked the world into condemning the descendants of heroes who develop symptoms they call Demon Possession and are turned the "possessed" over to the Church where the Cult later uses them as ingredients for their experiments in perfecting the Tears of Diablos, as well as eliminating all threats so there will be no obstructions that can disrupt their work.

After the appearance of a hidden organization called Shadow Garden which suddenly learned their existence, they embarked on a quest to thwart their plans by destroying the Cult's operations, especially their main mission in the process of refining the Tears of Diablos and opposing their domination over the world by exposing their crimes. As a result, the Cult received immeasurable heavy losses and considered Shadow Garden as their greatest adversary.

History
Long ago, a sinister Cult gathered orphaned children from three races - Humans, Elves, and Beastkin - with the intention of subjecting them to horrific experiments. These innocent children were implanted with "Diablos Cells," extracted from the blood of the fearsome demon Diablos. Most of the children perished, except for three girls, one from each race, who displayed compatibility with the cells. The Cult continued their twisted experiments on these three girls, augmenting their abilities and equipping them to become formidable weapons. The Cult's ultimate plan was to send them as adults to battle the Demon Diablos and obtain more of its potent cells. Strangely, among the kidnapped children was Aurora, whose transformation into the demon Diablos remains a mystery.

Years later, the Cult dispatched these three children, now known as the Three Heroes, to exterminate the demon Diablos. They succeeded in defeating the demon and sealed its dismembered body within the Sanctuary. However, the victory came at a cost, as the Demon Diablos cursed the heroes and their descendants, bestowing upon them the "Curse of Diablos."

To sustain their power, the Cult devised a method of cultivating "Diablos cells" from the remains of the defeated demon. They harvested its blood and flesh to create an imperfect but potent drug called "Tears of Diablos," granting incredible strength and immortality. Nonetheless, the drug had its drawbacks, requiring an annual dose and limited to only twelve doses a year, each produced by one of the twelve members of the "Knights of Rounds," the Cult's leadership. Determined to overcome these limitations, the Cult seeks to develop a perfect drug without side effects, resorting to heinous measures such as reviving Diablos and conducting prolonged experiments on the descendants of the Three Heroes.

The Cult's influence is far-reaching, as they have clandestinely infiltrated high-ranking positions in various domains, including royalty, nobility, politics, military, economics, education, and even religions throughout history. Operating as a deep state, they have manipulated historical records, renaming the "Curse of Diablos" to "Demon Possession." This deceitful act caused the descendants of the heroes who sealed Diablos to be persecuted and abandoned, making them easier to capture for research purposes. They go to great lengths to erase all traces of the truth about the Three Heroes, spreading disinformation to further cloud their history. Those who stumble upon the truth are ruthlessly eliminated or, in rare cases, forced into becoming members of the Cult. Even the Holy Church of Divine Teachings is not immune to their influence, as some of its upper echelons are members of the Cult, while the rest of the Church and its believers remain innocent and oblivious.

Despite being a powerful organization, the Cult is not a monolith; rather, its members have the opportunity to advance their own ambitions. The highest-ranking individuals, known as the "Knights of Rounds," form their own factions, with each member leading their group and naming it after themselves. Internal power struggles between these factions have persisted for centuries, further complicating the Cult's structure and dynamics.

It is worth noting that despite their title, the Cult of Diablos does not actually worship Diablos and merely desire its power and are thus not truly a Cult, though Zenon does refer to it as a religion. Visions of the past within the Sanctuary, best shown in the anime adaptation, depict them (at least at the time of Diablos) to be more akin to evil scientists and researchers than a religion. While in the present day, they largely resemble as a secret society or conspiracy, although they have never stopped their experiments.

Organization Strength and Influence
The Cult of Diablos is depicted as a paramount organization in the world of Eminence in Shadow. They possess unparalleled power and advanced technology that surpasses that of all countries in the world. The Cult's influence extends to all government-affiliated positions, be it bureaucratic, civil, or religious. They have the ability to manipulate governments, and if necessary, they can brand any country as the world's enemy and incite neighboring nations to destroy it.

The Cult operates with utmost secrecy, eradicating any evidence that could link back to their organization and eliminating individuals who may pose a threat to their hidden agendas. This includes members who have become liabilities or possess knowledge that could expose them. The Head Librarian warns Alexia Midgar that the Cult would not hesitate to harm the families and friends of their targets to protect their secrets and maintain their existence.

While the true extent of the Cult's strength in the world is unknown, they are considered the mightiest military power in the world of Eminence in Shadow. Despite their belief in their enormous manpower and reputation, they are not invincible, as proven by the conflict with Shadow Garden and their allies, who managed to overwhelm the Cult's abilities. Though the Cult suffered numerous losses, they remain confident in their organization's stability due to the widespread influence they wield.

Membership
The Cult of Diablos is an organization that has grown its roots all over the entire world. Existed since at least since Diablos' rise, and had manipulated the Three Heroes into killing Diablos so they could take the demon' remains as their research foundation, by extract the power of Diablos and gain immortality for themselves and to use its power along with their influence to dominate the world, even they'll commit any atrocity to achieve it.

The Cultists are shown as power-hungry, self-serving, and ruthless, caring little to nothing of the lives they trample and end in pursuit of their self-interested goals. A handful of their agents have been shown to have once been decent people, but have been long broken by the Cult into joining their ranks, with the Cult having established 'traps' to lure in occasional would-be heroic individuals for elimination or forced recruitment. The vast majority of the Cult, however, is compromised of the "Children of Diablos" who are raised within the organization, even the Cult will eliminate any outside individual who has even the slightest idea about any of their activities that ties with the Cult as a rule.

Most of them are in key positions that are respected by the rest of the world, allowing the cult to carry out their criminal activities without suspicion which they have been doing this for hundreds of years, most especially in killing the descendants of the Three Heroes.

The Knights of Rounds are twelve extremely powerful cultist knights and the true leaders behind the Cult of Diablos. The Named Children are the most powerful of the cult's soldiers, either coming from the 1st and maybe even the 2nd Children. The Cult's Third Children are just brainwashed people who are meant to be killed, whether or not they accomplished their missions. Second Children are about the same but they retained their sanity.

Children of Diablos
The Children of Diablos (ディアボロス・チルドレン) begin as orphans or young citizens (typically from poorer families) who possess magic affinity, even the smallest amount, that the Cult kidnaps and brings to their special facilities to be raised under the Cult's eye.

These children will undergo a brutal regimen of harsh training, brainwashing, and administration of drugs that kills most of them in order to become the vanguard of the Cult of Diablos with their combat power having far surpass any normal knight.

It's said that fewer than 10 percent of them manage to "graduate" (survive) this process. Subsequently these graduates are organized into rankings of 3rd, 2nd, and 1st.

The 3rd Children: Among those who managed to survive the perilous process, some unfortunate souls are deemed worthless and labeled as failures among the graduates. These individuals are considered nothing more than disposable pawns by the Cult, as their minds have become too corrupted to divulge any classified information under interrogation. Despite their status as failures, these individuals possess fighting prowess that surpasses even the average knight, making them valuable assets for the Cult's sinister purposes.

The 2nd Children: They are mentally stable, while the relatively few 1st Children are said to be considered some of the most powerful warriors alive, possessing very significant power by the world's standards. They serve as subordinated to the 1st Children.

The 1st Children: They are the strongest among the Children of Diablos, they are allowed to appear in public, but have to limit their powers and use of red pills.

The Named Children
Among the Children of Diablos, those who have provided exceptional contributions to the Cult are granted a name. Most "Named Children" are 1st, but a 2nd being named is not unheard of, if rare.

These generally receive a position ranking from a lieutenant to a commander or general, since it is said that this position is enough close to the "Twelve Knights of Rounds". If any member are able to fulfill the requirements well, they will have the opportunity to fill in or replace a previous 'seat' holder from the available twelve positions.

Knights of Rounds
The Knights of Rounds (ナイツ・オブ・ラウンズ) are the leadership echelon of the organization, consisting of the twelve strongest cultists. Gaining a Seat position among them could bring an unbelievable amount of influence, prestige, and wealth. Being "Named" is almost considered a requirement as a gateway for a position in the Rounds.

Each member of the Knights of Rounds will take 1 drop of the Tears of Diablos annually to maintain their demonic strength and immortality. Only twelve drops a year can be produced, which is incidentally the number of Seats within the Knights of Rounds. Thus all the other members in the Cult hope to join the Rounds by gaining a Seat, seeking both the immortality and power promised by the position. It is possible to lose a Seat, with Lutheran having lost his and seeking to regain it.

There is also another requirement to become a candidate of the Knights without being "Named" and 1st and 2nd Children are allowed to participate. The Rounds candidate will be selected if the leadership have acknowledged their strength or they have be nominated by their leader, which is a member of the Knight Rounds from their respective factions, or if they have completed a very significant contribution to a operation mission given by the Cult.

Although twelve Cult members hold seat positions within the Knights of Rounds, the hierarchy is complex and dynamic due to the friction of internal discord inside the gathering circle as the highest authority position itself does not necessarily to dictate the overall hierarchy. Each seat's number does not determine the level of authority positions, as Knights of Rounds members strategically strive to increase their own influence within the organization. This is achieved by making important contributions, accumulating power, and forging influential connections.

Not even one member of the twelve Knights could simply doing a selecting any member randomly as a candidate for filling a vacant position from the available seats and there are some fierce infighting on any different faction within the Rounds. Each faction seeks to advance their own interests by placing their pawns in positions that grant decision-making power. As a result, every Rounds' member with more powerful seat position attempts to lead and entice others, including tempt any opportunistic cult members by promised of promotion and make them to become a member of the Rounds, including all of its associated benefits and immortality. This drives members to commit any atrocity and perform dirty work, regardless of how inhumane or homicidal deed that they use for whatever it takes to ensuring their allegiance to the Cult with/without the intention of ever fulfilling the position.

When a member obtains a Rounds position in an available seat, their positions are not considered the same as equal since there are varying levels of achievement among any Cult's Knights they own, in addition to the strengths and abilities that the members have. Consequently, communication between members relationship is often strained and minimal interact to each other. Such was the case with Perv Asshat who almost joined to become Knights of Rounds with his weak track record of achievement. However, he aligns himself with various factions, playing along for the time being until his position within the organization becomes more powerful enough.

Five years after the appearance of Shadow Garden, Fenrir remarks that the Knights of Rounds has degraded in quality and someone with a weak track record of achievement like Petos who should never be able to obtain a Seat position normally, blaming Shadow Garden and the Cult's leadership for having grown complacent due to their immortality. Furthermore, it's revealed by Petos as he states that with the destruction of the Sanctuary at Lindwurm and the release of the demon Diabolos' left arm, the annual production of the Tears of Diablos has been reduced from twelve to nine and may soon be eight, which leading to intensifying factional conflicts and make the Cult's "Rounds" members desperation grow increased thus they were in a great hurry to revive Diabolos' other body parts.

In fact, Petos had told Fenrir that he would not be getting the demon's tear drops if the number of drops was lower than expected or a new Rounds member had been appointed. That means the number of Knights of Rounds members has been adjusted based on the number of drops that have been produced, but thanks to the Shadow Garden making the number of Rounds itself has also decreased as they don't have to worry about the short supply.

Origins
Many centuries ago, a scientific cult emerged with an ambitious goal—to unravel the mysteries of magic in their world and attain immortality. In their relentless pursuit of knowledge, they resorted to dark, cruel, and unending experiments on young boys and girls who displayed magical aptitude. Among these unfortunate subjects was a girl named Aurora, who became one of their earliest experiments in magic.

The cult members imprisoned their subjects within isolated and domed environments, providing simulated surroundings in an attempt to pacify them. Inside these confined spaces, they subjected the children, especially Aurora, to numerous injections of various magical substances, some of which were even of demonic origin. As the years passed, Aurora transitioned from a girl into adulthood, and the constant experimentation took a toll on her, causing her powers to spiral out of control.

In an explosive display of unleashed fury, Aurora shattered the cult's facilities, triggering widespread chaos in the world as a consequence of the torment inflicted upon her. The cruelty she endured eventually led her to embrace her dark side fully, and she ascended to become the first Demon King, known thereafter as the fearsome Demon Diablos.

Founding the "Divine Teachings" Generates Conflict with the Templars
TBA

Discovery Scientific Results from Inventor Research Scientist, Lord Laugus
Centuries passed, and the cult's obsession with unlocking the secrets of magic and achieving immortality persisted. To attain these goals, they sought out promising scientists to perfect the enigmatic Diablos Pearls. One such scientist was Lord Laugus, whose brilliance and insanity made him a valuable asset for the cult. He quickly rose to the esteemed 11th seat within the prestigious "Knights of the Round," a position of great authority and influence.

Initially, Lord Laugus worked alongside Nelson and other scientists to perfect the Tears, another magical project of the cult. However, his interest soon shifted, becoming fixated on something he deemed even more valuable—the study of "Parallel Worlds and the Origin of Magic." As Lord Laugus veered away from the Tears' research, the cult grew increasingly concerned, as the Tears project held paramount importance to them.

Despite their efforts to pressure Lord Laugus into resuming his work, he eventually managed to escape the confines of the cult's laboratories, leaving no trace behind. Faced with this setback, the cult leaders entrusted the task of perfecting the Devil Pearls to scientist Nelson, who now held the 11th rank. Despite Nelson's best endeavors, he came to the conclusion that he could not achieve the same level of perfection as Lord Laugus, even if they were to bring him back.

The cult's relentless pursuit of perfection led to catastrophic consequences when their attempts to refine the Devil Pearls resulted in a devastating explosion. Forced to abandon their current scientific facility, the cult members sought a new location to continue their endeavors.

Realizing that rectifying the flaws of the pearls required drastic measures, the cult decided to explore various means, including reviving powerful Devils and studying the blood of ancient heroes. Over the years, they resorted to kidnapping the descendants of the Three Heroes, using their blood to conduct experiments and cultivate Diablos cells in pursuit of their elusive goal.

Cult's First Unusual Report
Approximately five years ago, a report surfaced concerning a daring attack on a demon-possessed carriage by an unidentified group. Fenrir, suspicious of the report's implications, was determined to handle the matter to prevent any potential problems. However, the "Rounds" decision seemingly confirmed that the monstrous entity responsible for the attack was not a significant threat. Consequently, they chose to overlook the incident, not realizing that the true perpetrator was the bandit group who attack the carriage until they are decimated by Cid Kagenō. It was only then that Cid discovered the existence of a possessed child, who would be later known as "Alpha," and the birth of the clandestine organization called the "Shadow Garden."

Following the matter case, the Rounds began to receive a series of distressing reports concerning numerous carriage attacks, the destruction of several branch headquarters, and the deaths of numerous members, including those among the esteemed Rounds themselves. This alarming pattern persisted for the last three years.

Abduction of Claire Kagenō
The first true meeting between the Cult and Shadow Garden happened when the Cult abducted Cid's sister, Claire Kagenou by Viscount Olba two years ago. In order to be able to save his daughter Millia from Demon Possession, Olba is ordered by the Cult on a mission to monitor the heiress of Baron Kageno to see if her blood is "compatible" or not before being brought to the testing facility. Later at night when Claire was preparing before heading to the capital and attend the Academy, the Cult had successfully kidnapped her after they infiltrated her family home and kept her in a secret branch base.

Just as Olba was going to check on Claire after noticing that her symptoms had been cured, he was alerted that there were intruders attacking their facility and rushed to deal with them, only to find his men slaughtered by seven women in black who belonged to an organization called Shadow Garden, with knowledge of the Cult of Diablos' existence and their top secrets. Olba was surprised that an outsider could know the organization he was affiliated with and its supposedly undisclosed secrets whilst he trying to fight them, only to be completely overwhelmed. Knowing that he would not be killed until he passed on information about the Cult for them, Olba decided to retreated from the fight and alerted headquarters about the mysterious group's existences by escaping through a secret trapdoor.

After escaping from them, Olba runs into a young boy who he thinks is the leader of a newly discovered organization and tries to fight him. However, Olba felt an overwhelming difference in strength until he decided to consume most of the strengthening pills to show him the powerlessness of reality. Nonetheless, the young boy managed to block his attacks with ease until he used a large amount of magic power to then slashed Grease in one strike and with dying in the aftermath.

With all the Cult members in that base, along with Olba were already killed, Claire was successfully rescued from her confinement by Shadow Garden and returned to the Kageno mansion. However, this would not be the last meeting between the Cult and Shadow Garden. Rather, this was just the beginning of the Cult's first and biggest obstacle to their goal. The Cult's leadership noticed the repeated operation failures because there were suspicious movement from the Midgar Kingdom controlled by Fenrir's Sect faction territory, which in resulted in his faction fell into decline.

Princess Alexia's Kidnapping
The second meeting between the Cult and Shadow Garden would come when the Cult kidnapped Princess Alexia Midgar, planned by Zenon Griffey from Fenrir's Sect faction. Zenon's intention of kidnapping Alexia is to extract her royal blood which will then be used in the Cult's experiments in order to raise his position to occupy the 12th Seat in the Knights of Rounds.

Despite using the arranged engagement method as a powerful approach thanks to his status, the plan for being able to bring Alexia to the testing facility was very difficult especially in the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy and with the princess being difficult to interact with until Zenon learns that Alexia has approached the son of a lower class noble named Cid Kagenō. It was then that Zenon carried out his plan by having his subordinates kidnap Alexia to be brought to the Cult testing facility under the Midgar Kingdom's capital and frame Cid Kagenō to make him as a scapegoat which puts Cid as the main culprit by taking the fall for his crimes and then accused him of being the ringleader in kidnapping the princess.

The next day after successfully kidnapping Alexia, Zenon and his followers prepare an arrest attempt to detained Cid by accusing him of being the main suspect of the princess' "disappearance" and torturing him under the false accusations they made up, although the young man did not yield as he still honestly confess of his innocence despite being subjected to brutal acts of torture.

As a result of this action, all of Fenrir's faction's hidden bases and facilities in the royal capital were simultaneously destroyed as their hideout had been discovered by Shadow Garden who had mobilized their forces to take revenge against their actions under the unjust torture of Cid Kagenō because the Cult had not known that he had another identity, namely as Shadow who is also the leader of Shadow Garden to which assumed that Zenon's act has brought Shadow Garden attention.

With the situation getting worse, the Cult scientist who was Zenon's benefactor that had helped him in his mission by extracting royal blood from Alexia tried to inject a disfigured creature to rampaged across the city until the creature confronted Iris Midgar, and was then killed by Alpha.

Then, Zenon Griffey returns to the facility where Alexia Midgar is being held to be moved to a safe location while the situation is still chaotic. However, he is suddenly surprised by Shadow's appearance which hinders his intention to take the princess and the two of them fight. The fight ended up being one-sided as Zenon was overwhelmed by Shadow who beats him mercilessly and mocks his so-called superior swordsmanship, even though Zenon was strengthened by using the red pills. The fight ended when Shadow vaporized Zenon into oblivion using his ultimate attack "I Am Atomic".

By the time the Knight Order had conducted their thorough investigation at the Cult's destroyed facility, they managed to collected most of the classified documents and items the day following Princess Alexia's rescue by Shadow Garden. However, the Cult was cunning enough to anticipate the investigation and had already destroyed the remaining evidence by setting fire to the warehouse, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Despite their attempts to cover their tracks, the incident brought the existence of both Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos to the world's attention.

Midgar Academy Terrorist Attack
The Cult has recently learned of an organization known as Shadow Garden, which has been causing disruptions in their operations across the country for the past five years. Initially underestimating Shadow Garden, The Cult believed it to be easily crushed and not a significant threat. Nonetheless, they devised a plan to ensure that Shadow Garden would not hinder their future endeavors. Lutheran Barnett, the former 12th seat with ambitions to be reinstated in the Knights of Rounds, assumed the identity of "Sir Gaunt" and ordered his henchmen to commit misdeeds throughout Midgar Kingdom, attributing these actions to Shadow Garden, along with the assistance of Rex.

Their intention was to provoke contempt and enmity toward Shadow Garden on a global scale and thus, the Cult used the name Shadow Garden as their way to act on serially massacre the citizens in the pretense to deliver a "death judgment" on their killing spree, even the members of Knight Order have become their victim. While the Knight Order investigated a series of murderous attacks on citizens, Shadow Garden also went on search and successfully captured one of the Cult's minions and began interrogating him. When Lutheran and Rex received the report of the lost contact, Lutheran dismissed it, stating that they had already located the item they needed, which is their priority being its retrieval.

Under Lutheran's command, The Cult forces took control of Midgar Academy, rounding up students and killing anyone who resisted, in order to frame and discredit Shadow Garden as the primary enemy. Meanwhile, Rex's mission was to retrieve the Eye of Avarice's control unit from Sherry Barnett's hands while dealing with interference from the Crimson Order knight, Glen and Marco Granger. However, Rex's report to Lutheran and informed him about the artifact control unit failed retrieval much to his anger by threatening him, until he heard Rex's reports that some of their men had been taken out by a highly skilled individual, leading to assumed that their actions had manage to get the Shadow Garden's attention before Rex and his men immediately went out to search for the artifact.

As Lutheran waited for Rex (unaware of his death at the hands of Shadow), the Cult began to attacking the students for their amusement. Suddenly, the magic-blocking field was disabled when Sherry threw the artifact's control unit at the auditorium hall. Empowered by their magic, the students fought back against The Cult forces. In that moment, the students fight back when their magic has return against the Cult forces after being rallied by Princess Rose Oriana. On the fight, Shadow along other members of Shadow Garden joined the fray and engaging the Cult's forces in combat. Realizing he was losing control of the situation, Lutheran activated a system that caused the auditorium and the rest of the school to burst into flames. He sneaked into his room and burned some incriminating books to hide his involvement.

While deciding to escape, Lutheran suddenly met Cid Kagenō inside the room and tells him that he already knows his true identity which he praises Cid for his perception much to his surprises as he took off his disguise. Cid questioned Lutheran's motives, which he replies that he did everything to reach the top he once was and started searching a way to cure his disease. Lutheran confessed to Cid all his misdeeds, including the murder of Sherry's mother and manipulating Sherry for his selfish purposes. When Cid wonders if Lutheran used Sherry for his selfish reasons, he confirmed his statement. Cid, disinterested in Sherry and her mother's fate, urged Lutheran to act before someone else intervened. In a tense confrontation, Cid and Lutheran faced each other, but in an unexpected twist, Lutheran fatally struck down Cid, causing him to fall through the window.

Shortly after, Shadow appears before Lutheran, realizing that he is already at disadvantage because of his experience. With no other choice, Lutheran decide using the Eye of Avarice to its full potential as his only chance to win against Shadow's superior skill because Lutheran cannot win against Shadow at his current state. When Lutheran acquires an immense magical power and his disease has been cured, he starts attacking Shadow. However, even with this newfound magical power, Lutheran's attacks proved ineffective against Shadow as he is not able to making a scratch on Shadow and still continues to attack him.

Despite acknowledging Shadow's strength, Lutheran taunted him that he will fail by revealing his devised plan to framed him on this incident so that the world will despises him and his organization. To his shock, Shadow remained undeterred, stating that their path would not change regardless of public opinion. Enraged, Lutheran claims that Shadow isn't afraid of becoming the world enemy is an arrogance and prepares to kill him. But in a swift turn of events, Shadow disarmed Lutheran and retaliated by proceeds stabbing his limbs in a manner reminiscent, also recalls Lutheran about how he killed Sherry's mother when Shadow pierced his heart the same way he did until twisting his blade. as Shadow did stabs him in the heart the same way he did until twisted his blade. While in his final moments before he dies, Lutheran discovers that Shadow's his true identity is actually Cid Kagenō.

After the incident, the Midgar Kingdom's government labelled Shadow and his organization as an enemy to the kingdom and is wanted for mass murder, kidnapping, arson, and robbery. Despite their successful effort to bring Shadow Garden being branded as criminals, this was not enough to hinder them from continuing their mission.

Sanctuary Infiltration
Before the "Goddess Trials" event, the 11th Seat Knight of Rounds, Jack Nelson the "Avaricious" order Venom the Executioner to kill the Archbishop Drake because of his dark rumors about corruption and missing orphans have reached as far as the royal capital, in order to erase the evidence from Princess Alexia and the Crimson Order before they arrived in Lindwurm and trying to investigate him. Jack Nelson have an audit with Alexia, explaining that she was there to investigating the archbishop death. But, Nelson said that the church will be handling the investigation and already send the letter to the king Klaus Midgar.

Jack Nelson appointed to be an Acting Archbishop to replacing Archbishop Drake and hosting the "Goddess Trials" until the end for last challenger named Cid Kagenō to show, only to find Shadow appear at the stadium surprising the audience. Nelson order his men to gather the Church’s Paladin to surround Shadow, until he shock as he didn't activate any summons and saw the figure of ancient warrior known as Aurora, the Witch of Calamity. Nelson states to the princesses and miss Natsume Kafka that Shadow is unfortunate to summon her as she is the most powerful witch in all of history. Shadow and Aurora only face each other until they start fighting, as Nelson commented that Shadow is just observing and dodging all of Aurora's attacks and surprisingly defeats her with a single slash. Shadow decide to leave after shocking everyone, until the barrier breaks and a magic door suddenly appears in the middle of the arena.

Nelson startled and wonders if the magic door is responded to Shadow and worthy enough to pass through the Sanctuary. As the door starts opening, Nelson gives orders to evacuate the citizens and cancelling the trial. He then tries to make Alexia and the rest leave, but Shadow Garden appears led by Alpha and asks the princesses to not do anything until the door is closed and then enters the door. Epsilon had defeated Nelson's guards and states he will be coming with them inside the gate. Nelson refuses and calls his guard Venom to kill Epsilon only to sees Venom have been cut down. Epsilon then asks Nelson if he saw anything, he states didn't see anything and then grabs him and jumps into the door. Other Shadow Garden members take Beta (posing as Natsume Kafka) as "hostage" and suddenly Princess Alexia and Rose jump in as well.

The group follow Alpha as she explains that the Sanctuary is the place where the hero Olivier cut the Diablos left arm and they sealed it in Lindwurm. They came to learn more about the Cult and its goal, but knowing that Nelson won't talk so they decide to see for themselves as Alpha points at a statue of the hero Olivier that looked like a woman, surprising the girls to which Alpha even showing her face, which is the same as Olivier to them. Nelson then realizes she was a possessed, but she wasn't compatible and supposed to be dead. Alpha states they know the truth behind the Three Heroes and the Demon Possession, from which the cult want to maintain the situation under their control, even suspecting that the Cult goal isn't just reviving the demon and states they should proceed to see for themselves by exploring the Hero Olivier's memories.

Nelson pretend to follow the group, while luring them into the Sanctuary Center defense system as the group enough explore the facility and arrived at the Sanctuary center, they know that the Cult's true objective is to create Tears of Diablos which grants extraordinary strength, as well as immortality with its main ingredient is Diablos cells cultivated from the demon's body and the hero's descendants blood. Nelson then confirming every Alpha guess she had to confirm, until she exposing his true affiliation as a 11th Seat Knight of Rounds, which he confirms by stating that he is Nelson the "Avaricious" and separating them into groups. As he faces Alpha and Delta, he multiplies himself by making copies and stated that they will fell regret for baring their fangs against the "Cult".

Delta started by easily cuts down Nelson's copies, but feels something is wrong as Nelson explains that the closer they are to the center of the Sanctuary, the more of their power is drained, to which Alpha adds that at the same time the closer is Nelson to the center, he gains more power. Nelson was hoping to get them even closer, but states this is far enough to be able to defeat them. Even though Delta is loosing power, she still obliterating his copies, which makes Nelson shocked by her power and the memory starts break. Nelson surprised over hundred of his copies has been erased, which Alpha states that even if he was able to create a hundred copies, they all still have one brain and he couldn't control them all that well. So, Nelson then calls for Olivier to come and join him, but at the same time the Epsilon's group join Alpha and states they are done with the investigation and can leave. Nelson is surprised that they are running away, but Alpha explains their objective is to cut off the source of power and now know how the Sanctuary defenses work, so they will be returning again.

As Alpha and the rest leave, Nelson starts wondering what to say on the reports to the fellow rest of the Rounds and guesses he will explain to them that he lured them to the Sanctuary in order to expose their identities and with Alpha's blood they can perfect their experiments. Before he leaves, a notification appear and it said that someone is in the Sanctuary's center, which he decide to personally deal with the intruder along with Olivier.

Nelson appears and only saw two figures, Aurora and the boy (unbeknownst to him that the boy is Shadow) and sends Olivier at them and the boy goes to face her, even knowing that she is quite strong. Olivier attacks the boy and manages to injure him, making Nelson orders Olivier to finish him off until Aurora then jumps in and asks him to stop, knowing that no human can defeat Olivier and tell the boy that he done enough. Nelson laughs at her, noting that without magic she can't do anything, but if she agrees to help him, he will spare the boy. But, the boy interrupts them, stating that he doesn't need help and they shouldn't assume he will lose. Annoyed, Nelson orders Olivier to kill him and she jumps in and stabs him. But, the boy stating he got her while opening his right eye and then grabs her and bites her neck, ripping it and defeating her.

Nelson wonders how the boy still alive after being stabbed and he explains that it was easy to survive a stabbing, if protecting the vital organs and arteries, much to his surprised to see that Olivier getting defeated by a kid with no magic. But, Nelson states that she was just a copy and with his amount of magic he have in this Sanctuary's center, he summons countless copies of Olivier. Several of them attack the boy until he opens his right eye and defeats them using his magic, much to Nelson surprised that the boy is able to use magic as he explains that he just tempered with the magic until it was too solid to be absorbed which took him some time, but its something simple.

Nelson felt that's not possible to which he did not believe when he heard boy's explanation about the method and orders the Olivier copies to kill him. The boy fights them, but as his wound continues to bleed, he decides to take out all copies at the same time and start casting his ultimate spell "I am the All-Range Atomic". One of the Olivier copies stabs him in the heart before he finishes the spell. However, the boy is unaffected and finishes his spell and unleashed the explosion to which obliterates all Olivier copies, along with the chained door, holy sword, then Jack Nelson and everything else inside the Sanctuary.

Hearing the news of the Sanctuary is wiped out from existence, the cult placing more notoriety for the Shadow Garden by using the authority of the Midgar Kingdom's government from the shadows. Even so, they cannot covering the Sanctuary because the public noticing and Princess Alexia explains to her older sister, Princess Iris Midgar that she wants to investigate the Holy Church of Divine Teachings because the Acting Archbishop Jack Nelson was part of the Cult and deducing that there must be a big organization that are be able to keep the Sanctuary a secret from the public, to which Iris also had suggested the same thing to the King Klaus Midgar, their father. But fortunately for the Cult, the King told both princess to not do anything and they didn't care about Nelson's death because they will choosing another replacement for the 11th Seat.

But, the Cult's greatest fear is that the Sanctuary that had been destroyed in Lindwurm that was once the sealing place for the demon Diablos' left arm has been released, which their fear is that the quantity amount of the Tears of Diablos given to the Knights of the Rounds for their strength and immortality will likely begin to decrease. Because of this, they will postponing the election candidate for occupying the 11th and the original vacant 12th Seat until the confirmation of how many drops will be produce this year.

Bushin Festival Tournament
The Oriana Kingdom is a puppet state of the Cult of Diablos for a long time ever since the Black Rose. But, the current king of Oriana, Raphael refused to hand over his daughter Rose to the cult and decided to find ways to free his kingdom from their oppressive control by forged an alliance with the Midgar Kingdom to build a force to rebel against the cult and send his daughter to attended their academy because her interests in taking up swordsmanship, in the secret hope to protect her from harm.

The Cult considering his action as a treason for breaking the old agreement and try to oppose them, they decide to brainwashed him by ordering Doem Ketsuhat to drug the king with the help from his collaborator, Queen Reina. Doem try to curry favor with the 9th Seat Knight of Rounds, Mordred, and his faction to help him receive a promotion to become a candidate for occupying the Knight Rounds 12th seat if his mission from the cult has been successful. Mordred agreed on helping him, in exchange for Doem's backing support in the cult's upcoming internal power struggle.

Raphael then discovered that Duke Asshat's adopted son, Perv was in league with the cult and began gathering evidence of the man's crimes. However, Raphael would noticed that he was being drugged and realized this was a scheme plotted by the cult. Knowing he will lose sanity and become a mindless puppet, Raphael did one final act; he hid the "Ring of Succession" from the cult, which was actually the key to the "Black Rose" after he altered it so that the gateway could only be activated by Rose. Not only that, he recorded his last will and testament inside the Ring along with all evidence of cult's crimes.

After the king become Cult's puppet, Doem notices that the king already hidden the ring from him. So, while Mordred decide to search the Ring's hiding place, Doem will be visiting the Royal Capital of Midgar with the objective to retrieve Rose Oriana under the pretense of their engagement.

Perv meets Rose and he smiles at her along with his subordinate after he presented her brainwashed father to her. Rose drew her sword and attacked him all sudden, but his subordinate called for some guards to apprehend her. Rose, now framed as a criminal, fled with Perv warning the princess to surrender herself before the festival ended, or he'll order her father to make him kill the king Klaus Midgar. Perv also notices that Rose showed signs of possession, which means she will become a prime material for the cult's experimentation.

So, Perv and his collaborators then dissuaded Midgar's government not to get involved in interfering with Rose's affairs and personally want to handle it themselves. Later, Perv Asshat and his puppet king have a meeting with Princess Iris to discuss about the security plan for the Bushin Festival, but he doesn't feel it needs more security. When Iris states that his condition looks good because the report about him being attack is different from the report she received, Perv agrees as he saying that the news story was a little exaggerated and guesses that Midgar worries that easily because of Alexia's kidnapping. Perv then heard that Iris personally went looking for her and he intends to follow the same and to have Oriana solve their family problems themselves. Perv then add that every business will be take care of by himself for the negotiation, rebuilding princess order and appearing in the Bushin Festival. Even Perv sympathize Princess Iris' worry and ease her concern that Oriana Kingdom will not do anything that trouble her.

Perv later meets Iris Midgar again at the tournament when she, who is suspicious of Perv, discusses and asks about Rose's predicament but Perv calmly expressed confidence that she will return to him once she calmed down. He explains that his puppet king will be attending the festival tomorrow citing not feeling unwell and apologized that the security that had been prepared was in vain, Iris explains that his father, king Klaus Midgar will be also watching from tomorrow.

Perv and Iris watch the tournament when the match between Annerose Nichtsehen and Mundane Mann. Iris had a feeling that Mundane will possibly win the match, and Mundane won against Annerose and compliments Iris's observation. After the match was over, Perv had his men search Mundane Mann's background, believing he might be a potential threat to his plans because it will be a problem if he is a denizen of underworld society backed by the Lawless City, even Perv dismisses the idea of Mundane have a connection with Shadow Garden and doubts if they have the motive to take action at the Bushin Festival.

Before going to the final tournament and meeting with King Klaus Midgar, Perv drugs King Raphael again and tells his men to cover its odor sweet with perfume. Perv also waited for Rose to arrive at the tournament because of his threat at her, even if she didn't come he would make his puppet king kill King Klaus and start a war resulting in the Oriana Kingdom's annihilation and loss of his status. But, Perv doesn't care because the cult's plans to install a puppet leader in Midgar Kingdom are already underway. Perv is also worried about what Shadow Garden may do and that they may be working with Rose, so he preparing to increase the cult's forces around the tournament arena stadium.

Upon arriving at the tournament for the final match, Perv, along with King Raphael Oriana, met up with Iris once more only to become wary when Beatrix was there, who took notice of something off about the king. Perv also thought of getting rid of Princess Iris if she were to become a hindrance but he decided to forget about it, due to Beatrix's presence which would become even more troublesome if she decided to make a move against him. Even Perv has to be on high alert about Mundane Mann because he never found anything about him no matter how hard Perv searches, which means Mundane is a pro and has some objective. So, Perv decides to wait until the predicament outcome of the match between Iris and Mundane.

He watched Iris's match against Mundane and was shocked that Iris was taken down in one strike. Suddenly, Rose Oriana arrived and she killed her father, along with wounding Perv. Outraged that he lost his puppet, Perv ordered his knights to arrest Rose only for them to be stopped by Mundane Mann who revealed himself to be Shadow.

Novel/Manga
Perv sends his men after Rose as she flees only to see the men he chose have been killed by Shadow and he watches Shadow against Beatrix but she was overwhelmed. Perv witnesses in horror as Shadow's fight ends with Beatrix losing even with Iris Midgar's help, as he bests both of them. Also, Perv witnessed Shadow emitting a large magic vortex from his body in the tournament.

Anime
Perv wants to stop her, but all of his men are already dead by Shadow Garden members. By the time Beatrix decide to jump and clash with Shadow, Perv uses the chance to escape and running back to Oriana Kingdom without stopping at the embassy, leaving the dead puppet king Raphael Oriana which will be return through Marquess Grant, who is the leader of the anti-chancellor faction.

In Oriana Kingdom, Mordred hear about the report of Perv failure mission in securing Rose was due to Shadow interference during the Bushin Festival Tournament and conveyed his disappointment, to the point where he was forced to beg his superior’s forgiveness for his failure. Perv also told his superiors that as long as the cult holds the royal family, Rose won't be able to stay hidden. Plus Oriana's situation is already at chaos with the loss of their king, Perv is sure that Rose can't ignore it and will definitely come back.

Mordred tells Perv to taking care at Oriana Kingdom's business first, while waiting for a news about the "Ring" hiding place and hope not to disappoint him too much, before he goes to the meeting with his fellow Rounds finally decide to get serious about crushing Shadow Garden.

Great Trading Company Conflict
TBA

Oriana's "Black Rose" Civil War Wedding
TBA

United on the Verge of Cult's Total Annihilation
Learning about their failed operation in the Oriana Kingdom, all members of the Knights of Rounds (except Fenrir) had convened the Round Table council meeting this year to discuss the topic of the Cult's recent losses and decided that Shadow Garden must be eliminated by stating that they become a formidable threat after considering their blunder with the result of their failure operation mission and the destruction of their base of operation facilities, including the Sanctuary at Lindwurm that used to be the sealing place of the Diablos' left arm, even many of their member have been killed, including two Rounds member, leaving 3 vacant seats position in the Rounds.

With the released of the demon's left arm, the Cult was began to running out of Tears of Diablos that would grant immortality to the "Knights of Rounds", which made this intolerable and the Cult "Rounds" members desperation grow increased thus they were in a great hurry to revive Diablos' other body parts. Hence, they sent out aid to assist Fenrir, who was not present at the meeting with the mission to revive Diablos' right arm that was kept in the Sanctuary at the Midgar Academy, to resupply the Tears and needed to decide on whether or not the 3 vacant seats would be occupied, considering how many drops to be produced this year.

As a result, the number of drops has decreased even further with the amount produced not as much as in previous years, which is estimated to be around maybe nine to eight drops. Loki, another Rounds seat member and hostile to Fenrir ignite their fellow Rounds by reminding them about the repeated failure of Fenrir and his faction which already become the problem for the Cult and make a decision that Fenrir will not take any of the Tears until his mission for reviving the right arm is success, which make an approval decision on Loki suggestion.

In the end, the Cult decided to stop factional strife and are now united for the first time in centuries due to the threat of the Shadow Garden and trying to set up an "operations" to eliminated Shadow with Loki as its leader. As a result of the council's decision, they sent Petos to Midgar Academy as an emissary to meet with Fenrir and inform him of the decision that had been made in the meeting.

The Academy Disappearances
When their operations in the Oriana Kingdom ended in failure, the Cult lost their foothold in Oriana after Shadow Garden had already eliminated their influence. Afraid that their existence would be exposed by Shadow Garden's actions to the point where their hold on the religion would be threatened, the Cult uses their connections within the Holy Church to create a faux story of their puppet ruler, Rose, being a patricide who summoned the Black Rose in the first place and turning the nation into a heretic state, resulting other nations cutting ties with them and their trade being severely restricted. The Cult also began gathering a large number of troops in the neighboring country to launch an "inquisition", intending to completely annihilate the Oriana Kingdom to cover any traces of their activities.

At the same time, the Fenrir's Sect Faction is still carrying out the mission from the Cult to awaken the Diablos' right arm in the Midgar Academy to resupply the Tears of Diablos that granted immortality for the Knights of Rounds which are currently starting to decrease.

Using false evidence, the Cult has also managed to manipulate the Crimson Order into believing that the Cult of Diablos does not exist and that the Shadow Garden invented it to cover up their crimes.

Equipment and Artifacts
Over time, the Cult has created, collected, and stolen many artifacts, weapons, and other things around the world in order to increase the power of their organization and its members by using it as living force weapons to strengthen to the members and becoming powerful entities, at the same time as said things, they possessed the power, to repel or even capture powerful Demonic entities or not, belonging to parallel dimensions, or to be able to collect a sample of their blood or meat. Said artifacts and weapons that the cult has had consist of:


 * Red Pills and Tears of Diablos (Used by Cult members and their superiors which are the 12 Knights of the Round Table, also by their allies, Gettan)
 * Swords
 * Fire Arms (Anime only) (Equipment that are normal for the Cult and its members to use and maybe improve)
 * Magic Sealing Chains
 * Eye of Avarice (Used by Lutheran Barnett, to cure his disease and gain magical power)
 * Sanctuary (Used by Cult members and their superiors as territory they created)
 * The Holy Sword of Olivier (Weapon that can only be used by Olivier's direct descendants)
 * The Holy Sword of (Freya) (Weapon that can only be used by "Freya" direct descendants)
 * Invisible Magic Sword (Used by Mordred, as his special weapon)
 * Black Rose (Used as a portal gate that can connect to the Realms)
 * Blood Fang (Used by Fenrir, as his special weapon)

Knights of Rounds
The Knights of Rounds are executive that hold the highest authority within the Cult, which consist of the organization's twelve strongest knights and receive the "Beads of Diablos" in granting them demonic strength and immortality. However, each member becomes the leader of their respective faction.

Current Rounds Seat Holder

 * Loki, Unknown seat
 * Hela, Unknown seat
 * Jormungand, Unknown seat
 * Fenrir, 5th seat (Deceased)
 * Mordred, 9th seat and the "Knight Beyond Men" (Deceased)
 * Petos, 10th seat
 * Acting Archbishop Jack Nelson, 11th seat and the "Avaricious" (Deceased)

Former Rounds Seat Holder

 * Lord Laugus, 11th seat (Deserted, Deceased)
 * Assistant Principal Lutheran Barnett / Sir Gaunt, 12th seat (Deceased)

Children of Diablos
The Children of Diablos serve as the Cult's vanguard, with them operating behind the scenes in exercising their authority by exploiting their influence position which can be earned through blackmail, sabotage, manipulation, conspiracy, even assassination.

1st Children

 * Marquis Zenon Griffey, prime candidate of the 12th seat (Deceased)
 * Rex, the "Game of Betrayal" (Deceased)
 * Kouadoi, the "Raging Gale" (Deceased)
 * Viscount Jean, the "Dark Smile" (Deceased)
 * The Black Spider (Deceased)

2nd Children

 * Viscount Olba (Deceased)
 * Royal Chancellor Duke Doem Ketsuhat, 12th seat candidate (Deceased)
 * Crimson Order Vice Commander Hubb

3rd Children
These children are the 10 percent who are deemed worthless; bearing no names, and as such, will never be recorded below.

Associates
Over time, the Cult managed to persuade or force the individuals of other races and people with different statuses and positions to temporarily work with them from the outside and complete missions requested by the Cults leadership before being able to fully enter the organization, acting as collaborators, conspirators, sleeper agents, and spies. Regardless of their loyalty, they are easily expendable for the organization.

Enforcers

 * Executioner Venom the Wandering Swordsman (Deceased)
 * Gettan, 12th seat candidate (Deceased)

Accomplices

 * Queen Reina Oriana (Deceased)

Insider

 * Isaac (Deceased)

Sect Factions
Considering the fact the Cult exists since ancient times and all attempts to oppose them were swiftly dealt with, they become arrogance as they always been at odds with each other member that always wishing for eternal life and ruling the world from the shadows, as well as possessing wealth and fame. Also, doing engaged in the strife tension of internal power struggles against each other faction, because their own desired of selfishness and greed as they only lusted on the demon's power which they have not worked together for hundreds of years.

Each member of the Knights of Rounds has their own faction, which divided into 12 different Sect faction using their name on their faction; namely:
 * Loki's Sect Faction
 * Hela's Sect Faction
 * Jormungand's Sect Faction
 * Fenrir's Sect Faction (Defunct)
 * Mordred's Sect Faction (Defunct)
 * Petos's Sect Faction
 * Nelson's Sect Faction (Defunct)
 * Lutheran's Sect Faction (Defunct)

After the emergence of the opposition from the shadow organization called, Shadow Garden, the Cult leadership still looking down on Shadow Garden because their own delusional self-assurance on their own capabilities as they believe that they be able to destroy them.

By the time the Cult realized that Shadow Garden thwarting every mission and territory base which they operated also wiped out every member of the cult present including the Rounds members, their strength became greatly reduced and their personnel were far less than they had possibly recruited, making the Cult are completely unprepared to oppose an organization of far greater size than any of their other opponents.

Because the Cult can't be sure to verified about the Shadow Garden organization's strength as they doing a pretty good job to hiding it from them, the Cult "Knights of Rounds" having convened a council meeting called the "Round Table" after the failure mission in the Oriana Kingdom, which they have finally decided to take the Shadow Garden's threat seriously, as well as ending the factional disputes and now united for the first time in centuries.

Nations under the Cult's influence control
The Cult of Diablos has control over every country within their grasp thanks to their sphere of influence all over the world, as well as having many connections that has been built up since the founding of the organization and organizing the country into sectoral territories of each faction to carry out their operations in the shadows.

Trivia

 * The name of Diablos from Spanish word and Diabolos (διάβολος) from Greek word, often translated as "Devil".
 * The Knights of Rounds are based on the Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legend, with some members even sharing the names of the real knights.
 * Within the Cult "Knights of Rounds" members, there are some names are also inspired by gods and divine beasts from Norse mythology, such as Fenrir or Loki. In the game The Eminence in Shadow: Master of Garden at "Seven Shadows Chronicles" story, there are two members' names revealed, namely Hela and Jormungand.
 * In the anime, it is revealed that the Cult of Diablos symbol is used as a symbol for the Holy Church of Divine Teachings religion.
 * The creation of the Demon Diablos, although it was a failed initial experiment of the cult, after a while they were happy to have created a supreme magical being, who had what they Ahnelaban, so they decided to call their organization as; "The Cult of Devils".
 * In the Anime the Cult’s assassions wear the same outfits as executioner Venom, it is not known whether a assassins are a section built from his students or whether they imitated him.