The Shades are antagonists in Story Mode and the first season of the anime. They are spectral beings who act under the orders of Nexus and possibly other Keepers as well.
They are a manifestation of the darkness found inside everyone, born from Nexus power. Thus, they are capable of assuming the form of others, expressing their darkest feelings.
There are four variants, the Shadow Soldier, the Shadow Commander, the Shadow General, and the Shadow Berserker.
Story[]
The Morning Star / The Morning Star: Conclusion[]
While Arisa and Losaria are training archery in the forest, the Shades attack them and take Arisa away. Although Losaria manages to save her, more Shades appear and capture Losaria, whom they take to Nexus to turn into her vessel.
As the Morning Star becomes present in Aleister, the Shades begin to appear in the kingdom. Arisa, Rowen, Erika, Urias, Isabelle, Luna and Eris encounter them on their way, some of them changing shape into one of the seven, but they manage to defeat them by allying themselves after crossing paths.
After returning from the dream world of Nexus, the seven encounter the Shades throughout the kingdom. Eris explains that Nexus will use the Shades to destroy everything after locking every living being in a dream, in order to then extinguish the dream world and finally destroy the world and those who inhabit it.
Testing their strength and newly forged unity, the seven heroes fight their way through the Shades and arrive at the Morning Star to confront Nexus.
The Final Loop[]
As Nexus arrives to Rivayle, the Shades invade and attack the residents.
Whispers of Purgation: Last Words[]
When Nexus is revived by Nerva and sent back to Rivayle to destroy it, the Shades return to her side in the invasion of the world. Nexus summons them during his battle against Arisa and the Titans, using some of them as living shields after turning back time.
Nerva later summons Nexus's Shades along with Belphometh's Tentacles and Taketsumi's Sootspawns to fight Yuwan.
Anime[]
In the anime series, the Shades, here called "Empty Shadows," appear along with the Tree of Woe under command of Eiji Ryūgasaki.
They possess people, turning them against the chosen seven seeking to prevent them from obtaining the Mythical Cards. Although most possessed people lose all will of their own, some retain their consciousness, being dominated by their dark feelings. Possession of the Empty Shadows is reversed by defeating the possessed in a Shadowverse battle that uses psychic energy. Upon exhausting the psychic energy, the Empty Shadow leaves the victim's body.
The decks of those possessed by the Empty Shadows obtain cards of two different classes, as well as Shadow versions of some of their cards, and cards that create followers based on the different versions of the Shades.
The people who was possessed by Empty Shadows are:
- Takuma Kibakura
- Seiya Kibakura
- Shiro Kiriyama
- Vanessa Joubert
- Vivian Joubert
- Zuo Onizuka
- Ko Habigami
- Shiori Yonazuki
- Mauro Abelard
The Empty Shadows reappear three years later during Shadowverse Flame, when Wolfram Zerga revives the Tree of Woe, spreading a dark mist across the world and plunging people into a dream.