ToB Summary

[morgrim]

Unfortunately, there isn't a detailed summary that focuses on Shigure's information, so I've written one up here! If you have any questions, let me know!

The first thing one needs to know about Shigure is that "Shigure" is actually a title given to the leader of the Rangetsu clan. The name is not one any of the Rangetsu children are born with, but rather given to the one who can defeat the previous head of the clan. Along with the name, the new leader of the Rangetsu family receives Stormhowl, an exceptionally powerful sword passed through the family for generations. The others in the family receive reject Stormhowls, the swords created at the same time that were not as strong as Stormhowl itself.

Shigure - originally named Ichirou, the eldest of the six Rangetsu children - defeated and killed his mother in battle and claimed the name and sword for himself. At the time, the family was serving a lord. The Rangetsu family teaches to always repay their debts, and ultimately, they always serve some lord or other and do whatever is asked of them. They're often tasked with doing dirty work like assassinations, but typically they serve as bodyguards. The Rangetsu family has unique styles of fighting and unique rules; these were carried over from a far-off land by their distant ancestor and they stick to these teachings to this day. Shigure wasn't exactly happy with being tied to a lord and forced to follow orders, however, and he decided he was done. He wanted to pursue his own interests (fighting the strongest adversaries he could find), and he was given an offer by someone to betray his lord and kill him. So that's what Shigure did.

The person who gave him that offer was Artorius Collbrande, an exorcist Shigure had run into some time before. And by "run into" I mean "Shigure went out of his way to track this man down and try to kill him, all because Shigure really wanted to fight someone strong". Their confrontation ended surprisingly well(?), in that Shigure was unable to kill Artorius, so he did the totally sane and rational thing and headbutted the guy, told him to remember the Rangetsu style, and ditched. Somehow, Artorius thought it would be a good idea to hire this man. It's also worth noting that during their battle, Shigure revealed that he could see Artorius' malak (which was something only people with high resonance could do). Artorius attempted to explain what he was trying to do, but Shigure didn't care enough to listen, and ditched after his blade was chipped. He wasn't "Shigure" at that point and didn't have Stormhowl, but vowed to get a stronger blade to challenge Artorius again. His intention here was clear: he was going to defeat his mom and become the new head of the Rangetsu clan.

Sometime after this, Shigure killed his mother and took over the family name. While he did kill her, somehow his mother was reincarnated as a malak with all of her memories intact. It's not clear when or how this happened, but it was presumably sometime after the Abbey gained power and exorcists became more common, so most likely within the past three years. Shigure was sent to kill her after she started turning into a daemon, but once he recognized that she was his mother, he refused to and left her alive, resulting in the one daemon Shigure couldn't kill. At some point, all of Shigure's and Rokurou's other brothers died as well, supposedly from doing what was asked of them by their lord. It was also somewhere before the Advent that Shigure met and formed a pact with Morgrim, though the exact specifics of that are not stated. Morgrim says that Shigure returned her free will to her, though we don't know the specifics of that either.

Three years prior to the start of Tales of Berseria, during an event known as the Advent, Shigure killed his lord (Count Capalus) and was confronted by thirty students of the Rangetsu style. These students were Rokurou's, and he set them on Shigure in an attempt to make Shigure overconfident in his own abilities, so Rokurou could take him down. Rokurou used their lord's death as justification for killing Shigure and taking the family title and sword for himself, but Shigure didn't really care about that and was just here to fight. He chose to fight Rokurou with the short swords, intentionally handicapping himself against his brother (most likely to make the fight more interesting on his end; he had trained with Rokurou for years and knew how his brother fought). Even worse (for Rokurou), he'd never seen Shigure use the short swords to begin with. While Rokurou was giving it everything he had, Shigure was just having fun with the fight. While Shigure didn't have much experience with the short swords, he was easily winning and had several opportunities to kill Rokurou, but he didn't. Rokurou also noted that Shigure was completely unafraid of being cleaved in half by Rokurou's imitation Stormhowl and it was because of that that he was able to get in close, which gave him the advantage. Rokurou attempted a technique he trained in secret for three years in order to defeat Shigure, but Shigure was able to block it and put a blade up against Rokurou's throat. Rokurou was impressed and asked how, and Shigure told him that he just came up with it. Rokurou had trained for years, and Shigure chided him by saying he was using too many cheap tricks and he needed to fight not with his head, but something deeper than that. Morgrim appeared at that moment and informed Shigure that they needed to be going, that Artorius was waiting for them. Shigure seemed more interested in that, so Rokurou tried one final swing, which Shigure blocked. He broke Rokurou's imitation Stormhowl and left. It was at that point that Rokurou became a daemon, though Shigure wouldn't find that out for three years. Rokurou was sent to Titania, a prison island, while Arotrius hired Shigure and made him a legate within the Abbey, as well as Artorius' personal bodyguard. (The exact specifics of this are never elaborated on.)

This brings us to the start of Tales of Berseria, though Shigure doesn't make an appearance until quite a ways into the game. He's mentioned several times as being a legate (one of the highest ranking members of the Abbey) and serving as Artorius' bodyguard, along with wanting to spill Artorius' blood more than anyone else. All of this is true, though he's not out to kill Artorius due to hatred or anything like that, it's because Artorius is strong and Shigure really likes fighting strong opponents.

When Shigure does make an appearance, it is after the party (Velvet - a daemon out for Artorius' blood for the death of her younger brother, Laphicet - a malak who was freed by Velvet, Eizen - a malak pirate in search of his missing captain, Magilou - a witch who just seems to be along for the ride, Eleanor - an exorcist on a secret mission to bring Laphicet to Artorius, and Rokurou) has had an encounter with a daemon called the Swordbreaker. This daemon attacks anyone with a sword and breaks it, and Rokurou had fought the daemon, at least until he was distracted and the daemon escaped. The party is heading through Vester Tunnels toward Port Cadnix (they were left in an unfamiliar location and once they make it to port they can rendezvous with their pirate ship) when they run into the Swordbreaker again, this time having faced off against Shigure.

Needless to say, it didn't go well for Swordbreaker. His sword is broken and Shigure is pleased he's had the chance to battle Stormquell. He tells the daemon that his body's harder than his sword (something that will be important later) before finally turning to address the party. Eleanor explains who he is and he questions what she's doing with a bunch of daemons, but he doesn't let her answer before he shrugs it off. Morgrim points out that he's ignoring Rokurou, and Shigure says he can't pass up an opportunity to tease his little brother. Rokurou reveals he's a daemon, which Shigure is excited about, and they proceed to fight. It doesn't take long for Shigure to say they're done for today and that if they want to get off the island, they'll have to defeat him at Port Cadnix. Eleanor tries to tell him that she's on a high-level mission, but Shigure interrupts her and tells her that she should have fun now that she's gone rogue, but if he sees her again, he'll kill her. Considering that she attempted to intervene in his battle with Rokurou (due to Laphicet's interference, not that Shigure knows that), it's not surprising he'd assume she's betrayed the Abbey.

Shigure heads to Port Cadnix, as he said he would, and tells the exorcists there about Eleanor. The exorcists take off after her, even though Shigure tells them there isn't a point. The party emerges from the tunnels eventually to confront Shigure again, just as he'd expected. Morgrim assumes all the exorcists who pursued them are dead. Shigure faces the party, not just Rokurou.

(Though the fight here is one where four members of the party participate - and Rokurou doesn't have to be in the party - the game treats it as though the party did not win and only Rokurou fought Shigure.)

Shigure uses his mystic arte at the end of the battle on Rokurou (regardless of if he was in the party or not), which breaks his swords and knocks him back. He's pleased Rokurou's fighting so hard, but says that now that Rokurou's a daemon he should bring more than just pretty damn good Rangetsu style. Rokurou tosses away one of his short swords and says he's not done yet, continuing to fight Shigure for a bit. Once he has an opening, Rokurou slams his free hand into Stormhowl, surprising Shigure for enough time for Rokurou to try to slam his broken blade into Shigure's face.

At this point, Velvet and Eizen rush in to go for the kill - a plan they came up with earlier since they believed Rokurou wouldn't be able to defeat Shigure on his own. Instead, Shigure pulls the imitation Stormhowl from Rokurou's back to block Rokurou's attack and then knocks Rokurou back to stop Velvet and Eizen. Shigure's absolutely thrilled by this turn of events, claiming that if he was a second slower he'd be dead. He says they'll call it good here, but if they really want to beat him they'll have to find him again when they're more skilled and better armed.

Some time later, Artorius has gathered several exorcists at The Empyrean's Throne. Melchior has developed a unique arte that they need to put into practice, and Oscar (a Praetor the party has faced off against before) volunteered for this. Artorius uses the arte on him, and shortly after that Teresa (Oscar's half-sister and a fellow praetor that the party has also faced off against) runs in, asking Artorius if the rumors are true, if he's using an experimental arte on Oscar. Artorius confirms it and she tries to remain polite, but she says she thought it was incomplete. Shigure, being the paragon of tact and grace that he is, confirms that it is incomplete and that there's a potentially fatal weakness for its channeler. Melchior also pitches in, saying that they've taken the theory as far as it'll go, but it's time to learn its control in actual practice. Teresa tries to get them to use the arte on her and when that doesn't work, insists that she should go with Oscar. Once again Shigure feels the need to open his mouth, but this time it's to say that she'd mess everything up if she intervened before Oscar could use the arte. Artorius is not a fan of Shigure opening his mouth (about this) and Shigure waves him off like it's no big deal. Artorius says he has different orders for Teresa, and removes her from the exorcists and takes her malak and passes him over to Melchior. Artorius also says he'll reinstate Teresa as an exorcist again once Oscar's completed his mission, and Oscar tells Teresa not to worry about him. Teresa is still distraught over this, and she'll ultimately choose to disobey orders and assist him, but that's not important to Shigure's portion of the story.

Once again we jump forward a bit in time. At this point, the party has successfully collected six of the seven therions - daemons that eat malevolence and channel that directly to Innominat, the fifth empyrean also known as the Suppressor. Artorius is attempting to reawaken Innominat, so the party has been trying to stop that from happening. They've been keeping the therions safe on Titania, the prison island where Velvet, Rokurou, and Magilou were all held at the start of the game. Artorius' forces launched an attack on Titania while the party was out trying to collect the last therion, and so the party has had to fight their way through exorcists using armatization (the arte Oscar was given to test out) to save the therions. All of the therions (except Velvet, because of course she's also one) are on board the pirate ship and sailing away to safety while the party attempts to escape from Titania's front docks.

That's where Artorius, Shigure, and another exorcist all show up. Shigure and the exorcist jump down to fight, while the party is split between fighting and trying to negotiate for safe passage using Prince Percival as a hostage. (This is Percival's idea; he's here because his pet bird Griffon was turned into a therion and he fled the capital after freeing Griffon.) Velvet decides she'd rather kill Artorius, so she rushes by Shigure and Rokurou who are fighting and kills the armatized exorcist. Artorius says he's got another trick up his sleeve though.

Shigure compliments Rokurou on managing to obtain an orichalcum sword, something Shigure's never seen before. They go back to fighting and Arotrius tells Shigure to stand down, that if he doesn't, not even he will survive unscathed.

That's when Innominat appears, bearing the form of Velvet's younger brother, Laphicet. (To make things easier, the younger brother will always be referred to as either "Innominat" or "Laphi" from now on.) Velvet is obviously shocked, but she snaps out of it after Eizen yells at her and she believes Innominat is another illusion. The party fights Innominat (and does a grand total of 0 damage to him) and he knocks them back. They wonder how this is possible, when they've taken all the therions off the earthpulses and Shigure explains that it was never about the amount of malevolence the therions ate. Artorius continues explaining that it was the types: greed, conceit, lust, cowardice, selfishness, and obsession. These were already obtained and the final two (hatred and despair) will be obtained once Innominat eats Velvet.

Innominat goes in to do just that, but Rokurou jumps in to fight Innominat himself. Innominat creates a sword out of paper (I guess) and then breaks Rokurou's orichalcum blade. Velvet uses that opportunity to stab Innominat, still claiming it's an illusion. He asks if she'll kill him and she screams at him to "go away" while slicing him. Innominat then asks if she wanted him (Laphi) to go away because he was so weak and such a burden. Velvet breaks and hugs him while crying, then asks Laphicet (the party member) to heal him.

Artorius explains that their plans are to use the awakened Innominat to suppress all negative emotion. This will remake humanity as beings free from sin... and by that I mean it'll stop people from feeling literally anything. There will be no malevolence generated by humans, but they won't be able to feel any positive emotions either. Naturally, the party is not here for this, and Innominat says he'll make a world free from daemons once he's eaten Velvet. He opens a portal in the floor that sucks them down like quicksand, and continues to tell Velvet that everything she did was for nothing - he never wanted her to avenge him, and it's because of her actions that he has to make amends.

Laphicet creates a barrier to protect them, but Innominat swallows them down, barrier and all. Because of the barrier he's accidentally kind of misplaced them though, but they're somewhere inside of him, so he tells Artorius he's going to look for them, then disappears into his own portal.

Shigure - who is perfectly fine with all of this, by the way - makes a snide comment to Artorius about how a blade needs to be flexible, not just hard, and Artorius is having none of his bullshit today. He asks if Shigure wants to test that theory, and Shigure shrugs it off, saying he'll wait until Artorius and Innominat have perfected their armatus. (An armatus is the fusion between a malak - or in this case, an empyrean - and a human, creating a much more powerful form; it's that experimental arte Oscar was testing out and they received data on that some...how.) Prince Percival demands to know what the Shepherd has done, and Artorius says everything is going according to plan, and he's taking Percival back to the capital.

Once again, we take a long break before Shigure shows up again. The party managed to avoid getting eaten by Innominat, and the last malevolence type Innominat needs to eat from Velvet (despair), is going to be impossible to obtain from Velvet thanks to Laphicet. Artorius and Innominat withdraw to prepare for the ceremony of suppression, which will seal everyone's will and their emotions, while the party comes up with a plan to stop this. The plan involves using four pure souls to awaken the four elemental empyreans. With these four, they'll take away some of Innominat's power and balance things out, giving the party a fighting chance at stopping them.

The problem is that the party only has two souls, because as a therion, Velvet can just keep souls inside herself, apparently. These two souls are the souls of Oscar and Teresa, killed when the party attempted to grab the last therion. In order to obtain two more pure souls and weaken Artorius' forces, they decide to target the legates. The party ends up taking over a city up north near Mount Killaraus (where they'll revive the empyreans) and telling the fleeing people to send a message to the legates. On the night of the blood moon, they'll put an end to it all.

So! Being the dumbasses that they are (okay, they have legit reasons, but still), the legates show up on Mount Killaraus to fight the party. Shigure hangs out in the volcano itself, drinking with Morgrim nearby and waiting for the party to show up. (There's a perfectly good spot for an ambush, but he specifically chooses to meet the party on an even playing field. He's also in a volcano despite being weak to fire, but that doesn't have any impact on the battle so it's fine, I guess.) The party approaches, and Rokurou sits with Shigure while the others stay out of it.

Rokurou offers Shigure his sword, which turns out to be a reforged version of his imitation Stormhowl. This time it's made from Kurogane himself; the daemon turned himself into a sword to be used to defeat the real Stormhowl. Shigure's impressed, and he hands the blade back to Rokurou and the two get ready to fight. Velvet warns Rokurou that Shigure might use an armatus, to which Shigure says that he wouldn't rely on someone else's help. Magilou points out that he's got Morgrim here, and Shigure gets mildly irritated about the accusation of using her to help. Morgrim confirms that it's the opposite; Shigure actually had her place bindings on him that were so strong he could barely move his little finger at first. He tells Morgrim to release his bindings and while the party's surprised that a human can be this strong, Rokurou prepares for battle anyway. Velvet and the other party members are going to pitch in, which Shigure is totally fine with, saying that if they don't use everything they've got, they'll never beat him.

Like all Tales of Berseria boss battles, only four of the party members can fight at a time, though the other two can switch in on command. Shigure is easily able to hold his own in this fight against all four, though he does have that weakness to fire (and a resistance against wind). In this battle, he'll use his mystic arte which deals massive amounts of damage... unless Rokurou's in the active party and still able to fight. Rokurou can counter Shigure's mystic arte, which blocks the target from getting hurt, but damages both Rokurou and Shigure.

After the fight, Shigure's still got plenty of strength left, and Rokurou's ready to keep going since he hasn't shown Shigure his "true blade" yet. They prepare to face off against each other one final time, and Shigure asks if Rokurou's sure he wants to go with the dual swords. Rokurou tells Shigure he'll kill him, and they continue to fight. They clash for a bit before Rokurou blocks one of Shigure's attacks, then twists his swords in order to toss all three blades in the air. Without Stormhowl, Shigure doesn't have anything to defend himself with, and just before Rokurou draws Kurogane's sword from his back to land the final blow, Shigure smiles.

With the slash across his chest, Shigure isn't going to be living for long, but he's impressed that Rokurou's "true blade" was actually using all three blades against him, and he falls to the ground. He tells Rokurou to take Stormhowl, as his parting gift to Kurogane. He also asks Rokurou and the party to let Morgrim go, while she sits beside him. Rokurou attempts to tell Shigure that an execution order was placed on his head because of the rumors Rokurou spread, but Shigure interrupts him and tells his brother that he was planning on leaving anyway. Shigure also tells Rokurou not to worry about the little things, and reconfirms that their life as swordsmen is a simple one, living and dying by the blade. As his final words, he muses that Artorius would be a lot more happy if he could smile like Rokurou.

That's the end of Shigure's section of canon, though Morgrim does have additional scenes because the party did indeed let her go. I won't be including those because this is already ridiculously long, but if you'd like them, let me know!