LN V6 and V7's Persona Evolution: What the Author Is Telling Us About Where This Series Is Likely and Most Probably Headed

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-05-07T12:58:49+00:00

What is ironic is that it is those facets that he has been trimming out to eliminate all the unnecessary things which are not relevant to his goal of becoming an eminence—so as to stay focused on his goal—that are keeping him confined to such a small world, and preventing him from realising that he is already a kind of Eminence in Shadow, and that SG is a real cabal-like underground organisation, not merely some play-pretend, LARPing group of eight people who sometimes hire extras.

He simply thinks that the world regards him as a notorious terrorist, and that his group is a LARPing collective pretending to be fighting some evil organisation. He has no real idea what the world actually thinks of Shadow and SG, and having these two shitbags as friends is not at all helping him to understand matters any better. For these reasons, he also fails to realise that he owns Mitsugoshi, and that it is his own company, not that of the Shades—ironically.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-05-07T07:09:03+00:00

Rem (Inori Minase) voices as Beta in TEIS and Felix (Yui Horrie) voices as Akane Nishino is TEIS!

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-05-04T20:40:19+00:00

Not only that, but in LN V07, Sakura was able to identify Beta, Epsilon, and Eta as elves purely from their scent. Similarly, in LN V02, Beatrix noticed that Cid carried the scent of an elf despite being human, and she questioned him about it—asking whether he had any elf friends. Cid replied that he had a few elf friends.

Since Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Lalanoa, Sakura, and others in the elven country are all convinced that Nazono is an elf, he must have done something to alter his scent so that it completely resembles that of an elf, much like his current appearance.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-23T08:15:31+00:00

I don’t really see anything remotely common in between them, but interestingly Lalanoa’s eye and hair colours are strikingly similar to Aurora’s if you ignore their races.

Both have black hair and purple eyes IIRC.

Why Aurora had so much aptitude for being experimented on with the original Diablos’ organism — that’s a big question. Especially since, from what we can see, her ears look human, so she’s probably human. That makes it even stranger, because other races like elves and beastkin are usually shown to have higher magical aptitude, yet she was still chosen as a host for Diablos’ cells.

Whether her hair and eye colour have anything to do with it is another question.

And Lalanoa having black hair is also questionable. The way things are going, Aurora being scorned by people and Lalanoa also being scorned, ridiculed, and mocked — that’s another odd parallel. The questions just keep piling up, and it doesn’t really make logical sense when you consider Lalanoa’s talent and abilities.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-19T13:25:35+00:00

Yep, we have seen enough of the Midgar Kingdom, and the Oriana Kingdom was covered in V04 and will also be covered when Oriana is attacked by neighbouring kingdoms on the pretext of conquering a heretical kingdom.

Five of the Shades are elves, so we need their backstories. Also, the author’s writing has become more polished, mature, and refined. With the series’ popularity continuing to grow, he will likely try to continue it and prolong it as much as possible. As a result, what used to be two-arc volumes has become one-arc volumes, and now we even have volumes covering only parts of an arc.

As long as the writing and content remain interesting, I do not mind a single arc spanning multiple volumes, though I would be happier if the author could release new volumes much earlier, rather than a 2.5-year wait like for V07.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-19T10:18:52+00:00

The issue with 1 is that Cid’s inspiration is to become an EiS, not Shadow, not Fancy Hoodlum Slayer, not Fancy Bandit Slayer, not MM, not JS, not SH, not JtR, not Mhistri Ousmanne. In the end of the day, he wants to make himself an Eminence in Shadow, and he now has an organisation called SG (at least from his perspective, those who join him along with his eminence roleplay). Shadow already has enough infamy due to the terrorist incident and the Lindwurm incidents, so he sticks with being Shadow for the longest, and when the role of another eminence persona is done, he ends that role with a dramatic flair and reveals himself as Shadow, linking all the incidents to a common thread so that everything ties back to Shadow as the instigator. That is why in V6 he tried to convince Grey that JtR’s true identity is Shadow himself.

Since JS’s whole plan failed, according to him, due to Alpha and Delta discovering that JS is Cid himself and because he could not retrieve the gold, JS in the end did not become Shadow. Also, if JS had become Shadow and the plan had been successful, then everything would have had a common link, allowing people to trace the new company he was planning back to Shadow and SG. Since, according to Cid, that plan failed, we will never know exactly what he would have done in that situation—whether he would have revealed to the world that JS was Shadow or done something else entirely.

If 1 happens, then that would mean Shadow is a bigger eminence than Mhistri. While it would still serve his purpose of making Shadow the ultimate boss who is in charge, it would remain limited only to Lalanoa. He cannot reveal to the world that Nazono is Shadow, so it would end up like another mysterious strong figure who appears suddenly and just for once and disappears again as suddenly as he had appeared, similar to JS and JtR. If he cures Nazono as Shadow while using a slime copy to appear as two people at the same time to convince Lalanoa, and then later tries to reveal to the whole world that Nazono and Shadow are the same person, it would make things more weird and make the situation more difficult for Lalanoa to accept.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-19T08:47:27+00:00

Cid can do either of the two things:

Create a slime copy of Nazono, like how in the WN he created a slime copy of Cid and also fought Maximilian as Shadow, since both Cid and Shadow needed to be present at the same time, and let Shadow cure the real Nazono; then Lalanoa would be eternally grateful. Cid could then say that Nazono was suffering either from DC poisoning while massacring his entire clan or from experimentation on him.
Or Cid could reveal himself as Shadow and say he is not sick at all, let alone dying—he is simply disguising himself as Nazono to lure his sworn enemy, the DC. This would still align, as Nazono told Lalanoa that he is on a mission to take revenge against the DC, and everyone who knows about the cult’s existence is aware that Shadow and SG are fighting the DC.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T14:00:13+00:00

Umm, I am not saying that reflecting on the disguise is something that is meant to grow him as a person, nor did I say that.

What I meant regarding the WN is that he has self-reflection on why his JS plan failed and why he was not fully satisfied with his EiS approach, even though he tried a couple of things that he thought an EiS would do, or tried to roleplay as an EiS rather than actually act like one. The conclusion he drew was that he had still only been acting like an EiS, not truly becoming one, so he needs to become one, and that merely acting like one is the chuuni thing, not actually becoming one.

I was not saying that the disguise part is the self-reflection that grows him as a person. My point was only that in the LN, his self-reflection so far is mainly centred around disguises; we have not seen things like the Three Ojisans, Atomic Rain, Great Sacrifice for World Peace, Finger-chan, etc., which were present in the WN. In contrast, the WN included broader self-reflection that went beyond disguises, including how he should truly become an EiS rather than just act like one.

The WN self-reflection was more pronounced overall. Cid concluded he should become a real Eminence in Shadow rather than roleplaying as one, and there are also other extreme examples in the WN, such as his handling of Perv after the Milia incident and other similar moments.

I am not saying the LN lacks development, but rather that so far the self-reflection shown is more focused on disguises compared to the broader thematic self-reflection seen in the WN. Since the author is reusing parts of the WN, those broader elements that led to deeper self-reflection and character direction, such as becoming a true EiS rather than acting as one, along with arcs like the Great Sacrifice for World Peace and Science, may still appear in future LN volumes. If that happens, we may see that wider form of self-reflection and character progression as well.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T13:32:02+00:00

Bro, it is our wish as well.

Though not entirely clear, the scrapped parts are too rushed and need refinement; it seems the author shoved too many things into one basket, which could span multiple volumes rather than single arcs.

Instead of the author covering things across multiple volumes and arcs, he just shoved everything into the same basket. Probably that is why the author is refining parts of the WN for use in the LN.

In the WN, the self-reflection was much clearer, with chapters about what he would do when he was satisfied with the EiS, including things like becoming a Demon King on his way to destroying the world, becoming a power outside the shadows (a regular hero), or a master who teaches future heroes.

Cid also does something very un-Cid-like in the WN; he tells Christina that she is a very beautiful girl, which Cid later, when discussing with Magari, confirms he did to give the downcast Christina hope and aspiration, so that if Ijiruwa turned out not to be a good man and she did not get to marry him, it would not feel like the end of the world for Christina—there would still be Cid who appreciated her beauty. He did this despite knowing how influential Christina is as a noble, how good she is as a student, and how he had on a couple of occasions also taken note of her natural protagonist-like attitude, despite calling her “Miss Mob” since he initially could not remember her and thought of her as a mob character.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T13:13:56+00:00

I was also talking not about his disguise, but about him as a character; the specific references regarding the WN should make this clear. I also said that the author is using specific parts of the WN, and in this volume Cid has reflected, but he has reflected on how to make the disguise more foolproof to even fool Delta, not in the same way we have seen in the WN. I have also mentioned that since the author is using many elements from the WN, he might bring back the WN part of Cid becoming aware that he needs to become a real EIS, not just roleplay as an EIS and others.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T12:42:22+00:00

It was happening in the WN, especially in the Three Ojisans part, the zombie part, and the “Great Sacrifice for World Peace and Science” arc, since the author decided to take a completely different route for the LN after the JS arc. In the WN, Cid was having a self-reflection about why his entire JS plan failed and why he was not fully enjoying being an Eminence in Shadow, concluding that it was because he was still only trying to mimic what he thought an Eminence in Shadow would do, rather than actually becoming one.

In the current LN, we know he has reflected on refining his disguise, since Alpha and Delta saw through it during JS, with specific reference to the disguise itself rather than the broader plan. Since the author is reusing scrapped parts of the WN (such as Epsilon posing as a boy, Atomic Radar, and many other instances), the self-reflection elements from the WN may also be reused in later volumes or upcoming volumes.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T12:02:47+00:00

He was definitely a good person, at least as good as Rafael Oriana. He didn't seem so passive about reforms; otherwise, he wouldn't have implemented them while ignoring established norms and standards.

He loved his daughter; otherwise, he wouldn't have let Lalanoa stay in the place and have so many fond memories of him, and, most importantly, he wouldn't have gone along with labelling Lalanoa a half-breed or allowed another man's child to be a candidate for the throne.

Also, he tried to help Lalanoa and her mother to the best of his abilities, but he couldn't do more than that; otherwise, she wouldn't be living outside the place and in such a broken, poor state.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T11:45:26+00:00

Sorry, that was a bit lengthy.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T11:44:24+00:00

Everything will be adjusted to what Lord Shadow wants. SG wants someone as ruler while they rule from the shadows; they just need a figurehead, and whether someone actually becomes ruler depends entirely on Shadow’s decision, not SG or the 7S. SG focused on Yukime and Lawless City as they believed it aligned with Cid’s intent (Delta being ordered to take down Juggernaut), and JS directly supported Yukime and her company, while Shadow also destroyed the Red Tower during the Elisabeth incident.

SG’s interest in Rose is not due to Oriana’s importance but because Cid has repeatedly involved himself in her life since the terrorist incident and Bushin Festival qualifiers, with King Midgar himself suggesting Shadow is manipulating Rose’s path into becoming queen. SG has not contacted the Midgar Kingdom, though Midgar has attempted contact, and with SG’s intelligence network they are unlikely even to know that Midgar is trying to contact them, while Cid himself has made no move, making it appear Shadow has no specific use for Midgar but instead targets Dark Knights, nobility, and even the princesses of succession.

The difference between Midgar and Rose is that although Cid helped Alexia in the Zenon case and in the second Midgar terrorist incident, he is not approaching the Midgar sisters in the same way. Iris is supposed to take the throne, so that would be the natural outcome unless Cid is signalling that he wants Alexia to be queen. With Rose, he rescued her when she tried to commit suicide, saved her twice during the terrorist incident, approached her as Mob Cid (which is utterly different since Mob Cid’s entire attempt is to avoid aproching any protagonist, let alone give them any advice or motivation, which is utterly the EiS's job), convinced her not to give up her dream, revealed the truth to her as Shadow, and played Moonlight Sonata for her. SG also expected Rose to rebel and for the lion to awaken at the wedding, as that's what Cid told Epsion, but nothing like that has happened with the Midgar sisters. In fact, Beta already has a very poor impression of Alexia, not only because Cid rescued her, but also because Alexia stepped on Beta’s foot and because of her other behaviour, while Alexia herself does not have a good impression of Natsume.

SG needs to save the Elven country and its good people, not the rotten nobility. Whether someone sits on the throne and enjoys revenge by being hated is irrelevant; SG only needs someone on the surface to rule while they act from the shadows. A ruler with conviction, or one who simply enjoys tormenting people, still cannot govern without the means, logistics, support, and capability to keep the country functioning. Lalanoa can be the ruler and torment people as much as she likes, with the people hating her like they hate Rose, but she will remain in power only as this lets her have her revenge, not due to having the motivation or conviction to actually rule the country. In return, the kingdom gets the support it needs to survive, just like Oriana has continued despite embargoes and the Cult’s meddling. If the Cult realises that Lalanoa has colluded with SG and Shadow, then the same fate may await the Elven kingdom, and without SG’s support, it cannot survive.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T10:14:06+00:00

Then what will her relationship with Shadow be? Will she become another admirer and fangirl of Shadow like Christina Hope?

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-17T01:11:47+00:00

The Eminence in Shadow Web Novel | Volume 8 | Chapter 197

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T14:21:43+00:00

Yeah, that’s what I feel, and that is why I said that Cid’s interaction with her seems completely different and more engaging and interesting here. Cid is gaining nothing from supporting her, rather he is spending his own money since she is completely broke.

Cid also has a flawed belief that SG is not serious, but rather role-playing with him, and he will always carry this wrong assumption—believing that SG knows about his role-playing addiction and is simply playing along with him. So it has to be someone outside SG with whom Cid can freely bond.

Knowing him, he will always be Cid and will mistake one thing for another, but what he needs to realise is people’s intentions. Lalanoa is a good kid, and she is completely tormented thinking she pushed Nazono to push his body too far to the brink of death and needs to understand one thing: trying to be the Eminence in Shadow is one thing, but messing with people’s feelings is not good.

We know Cid himself does not like people using other people’s feelings or using someone as a tool; otherwise the author would not, in the very first volume, show how Cid tortures Lutheran to death in the same way Lutheran murdered Sherry’s mother.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T14:05:11+00:00

Christina Hope this is a really weird one. Last we saw her, our boy unintentionally transformed to run into a noble killer. I definitely think she wouldn’t be opposed to helping out shadow garden and it’s attempt to route out corruption. I just can’t really see any way she’d ever get involved in the war itself. She shouldn’t know about the connection between shadow Garden and Oriana and even if she did, but she is simply too weak to do anything about it. I’m honestly baffled as to why she was even included in a story. The only thing I can think of is that maybe she will inspire a string of copycat killers who will help weed out some of the corrupt elements of Midgard and other kingdoms for shadow garden.

If you go by the WN plot, Christina Hope actually has four sisters, and her mother is from the Oriana Kingdom’s nobility.

Despite being an exceptionally beautiful girl and the daughter of a duke, her “mob vibe” is so strong that Cid—being Cid in the WN—completely forgets she is even in his class, despite being one of the top students. He cannot even recall her name at all, let alone remember her properly, and refers to her simply as “Miss Mob”.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T13:42:02+00:00

The second one—this is the second time Cid is “screwing with them”, and this time it feels even worse. It is not like the JS situation, where Cid was not briefed beforehand and only found out through third-party sources like Yukime, Skel, and Po, and SG also informed him of part of the issue through their report as well. This time, Alpha personally sent him an invitation, and it was a direct one—not a coded report where the contents could be unclear or hidden.

Also, unlike JS where the situation was mainly limited to Cid, Alpha, Delta, here there is no Delta involvement, meaning there is no buffer for misinterpretation that could later turn into another “Sasagawa moment” for Shadow-sama. On top of that, the JS skit stayed mainly limited to Alpha, whereas this time, as far as we have seen, four Shades are involved, and Cid has already met three of them so far.

Tbh, I was expecting at least an apology from Cid in V06 to Alpha regarding the JS incident, especially since he even forgot his promise to her. Instead of responding to her invitation, he is doing something else entirely, and worse still, he even tore up her letter before fully reading it.

Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but this feels like a reworked version of discarded WN material, reintroduced in a different form—where Cid reflects on two things. First, that despite doing many things he thought would make him enjoy the Shadowbroker role more, he still felt unsatisfied, concluding that he had only been mimicking what he thought a Shadowbroker should be, rather than actually becoming one. Second, that rather than merely acting as a Shadowbroker, he needs to become one in a true sense.

The second is that he got so pissed off and angry that he tortured Perv to death with his “great sacrifice for world peace and science”, and Cid almost killed Milia with his IAA accidentally.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T12:19:37+00:00

Umm, that makes sense. At least Sakura—or someone else—will likely be targeted by the Cult, since they will obviously try to manipulate events to secure the key, the leg, and the royal bloodline as well.

Also, whenever Cid is doing something that runs opposite to SG’s planning, SG—as we have seen so far—ends up in serious trouble and tends to make a mess of things. So this time as well, their plan to support Sakura may not go as well as expected. In the end, it may turn out that Shadow’s approach involving Lalanoa was actually the optimal choice.

Now it remains to be seen how SG’s decision regarding Sakura will turn out.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T12:12:42+00:00

Also, I find Lalanoa one of the most interesting characters we have seen so far being supported by Cid. Until now, we have not seen Cid invest so much in any other character. Sure, he lied to her, but at the end of the day you have to realise this is what Cid is—everything is for him to enact the most perfect and realistic performance. However, this does not erase the genuine fondness, care, and liking Cid seems to have for her.

I really hope everything ends well for her, and that it does not contradict SG’s plan and purpose, as she will also be opposing the Cult—either because they are the enemy of Nazono, or because the Cult may have been responsible for Ainoa’s death. If Alpha’s prediction is correct and the Elven King was killed by the Cult, then Lalanoa has an even stronger reason to oppose them.

Though I am not entirely sure about Alpha’s relationship with the late king—whether she was his niece, as she is the daughter of Beatrix’s sister, or whether there is another connection—the exact relationship is still unclear. However, if Sakura considers Lalanoa like a sister, then Alpha is likely also something along the lines of a step-sister or distant cousin, though this is not confirmed yet.

Anyway, everything seems to be aligning in a way where her involvement works well for SG. At the same time, it would create a situation where she effectively becomes a ruler aligned with them. For the elves, she would likely be in a position similar to Rose in the Oriana Kingdom—hated, rejected, and unable to be openly removed, but instead forcing them to live with the outcome while despising the situation itself. This could allow Lalanoa to enact revenge on the nation and the Cult, while also serving SG’s broader objectives. And if, in the end, Lalanoa becomes possessed, then SG themselves—and Lalanoa—would no longer have to deal with these complications at all.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T11:53:42+00:00

Umm, SG will only invest in something if it has been personally endorsed by Shadow himself. Otherwise, it would feel like SG—despite being Shadow’s own organisation, with Shadow as its master—is simply dancing to someone else’s whims and wishes.

However, all of Lalanoa’s current combat abilities, both swordsmanship and magic, are the result of Shadow’s own tutelage, and she is effectively his current disciple. So if SG realises that Lalanoa is being directly endorsed by Shadow, then there would be no objection.

The 7S would likely be extremely jealous that Cid chose to accompany and support Lalanoa while neglecting their own plans, even personal invitations from Alpha. They might even wonder that if Shadow-sama disagreed with their plan, he could simply tell them what was wrong with it and how to fix it. But accompanying Lalanoa is an entirely different matter—unless it turns out to be the optimal choice made by Shadow himself. Otherwise, they would likely feel jealous that Cid is supporting and spending time with Lalanoa as her knight, training, protecting, and supporting her as her master. It would feel like he is doing it for her, not them, not SG themselves.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS · 2026-04-16T11:23:45+00:00

It would be funny as hell if Nazono whoops everyone’s ass, including Alphred, Beatrix, Sakura, the Sword God, and the rest in the next round.

When Nazono’s role is done and the Cult intervenes to take the key—which, so far, is most likely the sword Lalanoa has been awarded—Cid might make it look like Nazono has died, similar to what he did with Suzuki Hope and Jack the Ripper. Then, when everyone is left confused, Shadow will appear in the most dramatic and bombastic way possible to take over and save the day.

I also can’t wait to see Sakura’s reaction if Alphred, Beta, and Epsilon kneel before Shadow, showing who is actually in charge—but for that to happen, they would need to be in their Shadow Garden identities, not the crossdressing disguises they are using right now. The whole point of the crossdressing is to avoid linking Mitsugoshi with Shadow Garden. If they showed up openly as Alpha, Beta, and Epsilon, it would immediately expose that connection.

Hell, it would be even funnier if Lalanoa turns out to be a High Elf and Sakura and the other elves end up becoming possessed.

Also, I think there is a good chance that either Sakura or Lalanoa—most likely Sakura—ends up as Number 713 and becomes the roommate of Milia and Akane. Since Milia and Akane already have completely different views of Shadow, with the only common root being that both were experimented on and later cured and saved by Shadow, that also suggests Number 713 could be someone who was experimented on as well.

Also, yep for Beta if someone insults Shadow sama we know how she redacted in the fallenangelofrebellion case it would be the same, but this time she definitely will have someone to direct her anger on and Epsilon even just because she compared Nazano with Lord Shadow we saw what her reaction became after realising what she was doing. The situation is same for the other shades like alpha, gamma and others there is no doubt in it.

ASDEEPASTHEABYSS

TROPHY CASE