Shadow (SF3)

Shadow is the main antagonist and final boss of Shadow Fight 3. A living legend, he was once a respected hero, before he attacked the Dynasty and Heralds Dome, razing everything to the ground. Now, he has become an evil tyrant who is hated by everyone that suffered because of his deeds. Shadow aims to create the world where the late May is alive and well, by eliminating the current one and forming a new one on its ashes.

Appearance
Shadow appears as a muscular man with black hair, which is tied in a bun. He wears a long black pants. There are long white bandages tied on each his hands and and feets. He has many scars on his body, which are the result of his many fights with various opponents.

Story
At the end of his long adventure, Shadow began a happy life with May, the woman he loved. But, everything changed when their child was born. From May's illness, Shadow found out that the baby brought along a sentient entity of pure shadow energy known as Shadow Mind. Shadow immediately attacked in an attempt to exterminate Shadow Mind, causing the latter to summoned shadow beasts called Scourge in order to protect May and presumably, the baby. In the process, Shadow accidentally killed May. While the baby and Shadow Mind are the only ones that survived. Feeling extreme sadness and rage over losing May, Shadow refused to admit his mistake and vowed to destroy Shadow Mind. However, he could only split the entity from the baby and imprisoned it inside a glass sphere. It is then believed that the child was died before they was even born. In fact, the child is still alive, and Shadow hates his own child so much that he will immediately kill them on sight.

Moira, a local princess, touched the Sphere and she became infected with the Scourge and developed an unusually strong affinity to shadow energy and Shadow Mind. Shadow tried to save the little girl's life and took her to Bolo for a cure, to no avail. In the end, Shadow took Moira away to an island far from where she lived before. If Moira stay in this island, the Scourge cannot reach her, and Shadow told Moira to never leave the island. He also made some type of bots called Defenders to guards Moira from leaving the island.

Several years had passed, and no matter what Shadow tried, every attempt to destory Shadow Mind had failed. It was to be expected, Shadow was a warrior, not a scientist. Shadow began slaying the shadow beasts of Shadow Mind, which earned him the respect of the locals, and he was worshiped as a hero. Consequently, the locals inherited his hatred towards Shadow Mind, and so the Legion was born. One day, Shadow took the strongest Legionaries with him and started his search for a legendary shadow sword, which was belonged to a prince of a neighboring land. The prince did not obey the outlanders, and defeated the Legionaries in a fight. Shadow witnessed the fight and figured that this skillful nation might figure out how to kill Shadow Mind. Shadow asked the prince's father to help him study the Sphere. The Sphere Temple was built to keep the Sphere, and then three persons are chosen to research the Sphere and find a way to destroy it, which are known as The Three Arrows.

Shadow then took Galen, The Second Arrow, under his tutelage. When Galen found out the potential of the Sphere and convinced the Emperor to preserve the Sphere, Shadow was very angry and disappointed. This turned Shadow into the enemy of Dynasty and caused him to parting ways with Galen.

After Bolo told Shadow that Shadow Mind cannot be destroyed but has the power to destroy the world and create a new one, he abandoned his goal to terminate Shadow Mind and instead set a new goal of resurrecting May. He went through May's grave, which is a portal into the future. Emerging from May's grave many years into the future, Shadow learned about the prototype of the Accelerator Core invented by the Heralds. The Accelerator is a device that could forms time and space outward into the whole world by accelerating shadow energy particles, hence the name. It can split shadow particles, which results in an explosion. There are abundances of shadow energy around, so splitting shadow energy of such scale will cause mass obliteration. With this knowledge, Shadow plans to start a Cleansing, to recreate the whole world using the Accelerator, creating a new one where May could be alive and well.

Shadow immediatelly seizes the Legion throne from it's current ruler, Queen Iolanda. Under his reign, the Legion changes drastically. The Fortress has been changed into a cyber military stronghold, with cannons and missiles everywhere. Shadow bots are becoming common things among the Fortress, and the Legionaries willingly started using shadow energy, to the point where they become very adept at it.

With the Legion under his hand, Shadow proceeds to destroy the Lands of Dynasty. Many villages are razed to the ground, countless Dynastians died, and some are missing. The once flourish Lands of Dynasty is now turned into ruins and wastelands. Nomads are the only things left of the Dynasty, which are actively hunted by the Legion's Erasers. Shadow's motive for commiting Dynasty destruction is not explained, although he does consider them as his enemies after The Three Arrows betrayed him.

Seeking out to retrieve the Accelerator Core prototype, Shadow lauches an invasion to the Heralds Dome. After obtaining the prototype, Shadow then ends his invasion by attacking the Void Room, causing anomalies and distortions around the place. Many Heralds and shadow bots died from this attack, and the Dome is destroyed. What left of the Heralds now are glitched, desolate villages in the middle of Wasteland.

Shadow built the Accelerator in the middle of Wasteland, inside an enormous tower. The only thing he need to start the Cleansing is Shadow Mind, which can trigger the Cleansing; and Moira, who can seize control over Shadow Mind. However, Moira is not in Shadow Island anymore.

Chapter VII, Part II: Behold the Future
After searching for Moira for ten years, the Legion finally finds her location in the capital ruins. Shadow immediately heads off there to retrieve her. He slays every single Nomads that are left, only sparing one person because he hands over Moira to him. While Gizmo and the Erasers take care of the Palace, he takes Moira to the Accelerator. Now, he only need Shadow Mind to complete the Cleansing. Shadow does not even need to search for it, as his Descendant who has the Shadow Mind confronts him on the Accelerator.

Shadow asks Moira a favour, to take Shadow Mind from the Descendant and put it into the Accelerator Core. Moira pleas to Shadow to stop, as she does not want to do this, only for Shadow to ignore her. He threatens the Descendant by telling them to prepare to die, before he hops into a giant robot behind him. Shadow enters it and controls it from the inside. The robot is very huge and sturdy, and it is armed with energy blades in both its arms and a pair of missile lauchers on its shoulders. Even though it moves and attacks very slowly, the robot is steady like a rock and does not recoil from the Descendant's attacks. However, Shadow Mind has a trick up his sleeves: it empowers the Descendant to fight Shadow. After starts being damaged, the robot then charges to the Descendant to grab them. But, the Descendant dodges this by hopping onto its arm and jumps over the huge robot. Shadow Mind then blasts it from above with shadow energy beam, sending the robot all the way down to the floor below it, and the Descendant then lands just right beside it.

With the robot broken, Shadow gets out from it and fights the Descendant with his martial arts skill. Shadow's combat prowess is proven to be very deadly, as he delivers whirlwinds of punches and kicks to the Descendant. Shadow also utilizes a rechargeable shield which protects him from attacks. This is quite problematic as the shield requires a considerable amount of hits/damage to be destroyed. And even then, Shadow can easily recharge the shield again. Eventually, the Descendant manages to overcome Shadow thanks to Shadow Mind's help. Shadow is cornered and exhausted, as the Descendant approaches him. He then barely stands up on his feet again to continue fighting. Seeing this, Moira runs towards them before they can approach each other in an attempt to stop this. However, Moira briefly loses control over herself and with her power, unleashes a shockwave that pushes both the Descendant and Shadow away. This causes Shadow Mind to rises out with a physical form. When it realizes this, Shadow Mind tries to attack Moira. Shadow quickly shields Moira and tries to stop Shadow Mind and as a result, he accidentally fuses with it. Shadow then enters shadow form and with his new godlike powers, continue the fight.

The tide of the battle has been turned, the Descendant loses all the power granted by Shadow Mind and Shadow now has obtained unimaginable powers. He can conjure many weapons and use them to attack the Descendant. He can also make Shadow Mind emerges from himself and shoots out the shadow energy beam through it in a huge radius. Despite the huge power difference, the Descendant finally manages to defeat Shadow after a long struggle and emerges victorious. Shadow returns to his human form as he died. Moira runs toward Shadow and starts crying over his death. Feeling a huge grief, Moira completely loses control over herself. Her eyes glow with shadow energy and she pushes the Descendant away, knocking them out. Moira then levitates and forcefully pulls Shadow Mind out telekinetically from Shadow's lifeless body. Shadow Mind desperately tries to free itself from Moira's grasp as she throws it into the Core. Moira is successful, and the Accelerator starts the Cleansing. It releases a huge shockwave and evaporates the entire world in shadow energy.

Even though Shadow lost the battle, he has won the war. The Cleansing takes place as he wanted it to be.

Powers and Abilities
Shadow has been implied many times to be the strongest man in the world. He had been described as strong and capable, full of might and strong beyond all measures, as well as having an unprecedented power. Shadow is a very powerful fighter, as he was strong enough to slay many shadow beasts.

He also possess what seems to be a high level of knowledge as he was capable of creating the Defender bots, which are more complex than the shadow bots of Master Okada. Shadow is a long-lived human as well, as he was already senile when teaching Galen. On top of that, Shadow's will is so strong that he is capable of merging with Shadow Mind without being taken over by Shadow Mind. Bolo himself also admits that Shadow was already a tough guy, and having the Accelerator only made him invincible.

Turns out that all of these claims are true when the Descendant fights Shadow. He is capable of creating a huge robot, which is armed with many weaponry and very tanky. His combat skill is also commendable. He is capable of keeping up with the Descendant, even without wielding any weapons at all. And when he fuses with Shadow Mind, he becomes godlike, even much more powerful than the Descendant themselves with Shadow Mind.

Shadow Fight
Shadow is fought as the final boss of Shadow Fight 3. The fight can last up to seven rounds, in which the player is required to score four victories in order to be declared victorius. This fight is much different than any fights the player has fought, as it features many unique mechanics and cutscenes that takes place whenever the player won against Shadow in each phase.

In the first phase, Shadow fights by controlling a giant robot from the inside. The robot will not recoil from any non-shadow attacks. It has three main offensive abilities: it's hands, energy blades, and missile launchers. The robot can deal guaranteed critical hits with its hands and energy blades.

In the second phase, Shadow fights the player by himself. He utilizes a very deadly combat style, which is a mix of many moves combined into a number of long combos. Shadow also has a shield which protect his health from attacks. Any attacks he receive will reduce the shield instead.

In the third and final phase, Shadow fights in permanent shadow form, using his shadow powers he obtained after fusing with Shadow Mind. He can conjures many weapons to be used against the player, as well as make Shadow Mind emerges to shoot out a devastating shadow energy beam in a huge radius.

Trivia

 * Shadow was a playable and the main character in the previous installment, where he journeyed through six provinces to defeat the menacing demons and seal the Gates of Shadows he had opened.
 * One of the weapon he can conjure while in shadow form resembles the sword used by the main antagonist of the previous installment.
 * The robot used by Shadow in the fight with him likely inspired the design of Eraser's equipment, due to their colors and design resemblance.