| “ | Time is our greatest obsession. Who has not dreamed of returning to the past, of changing the future? Imagine the power. To see how our choices affect our lives, and then return to undo them... What would you do if you had that power? Could you eradicate the mistakes of history, and build a perfect future? Or would you be subject to fate, and be swept down the river of time... powerless to change your course? Come with me, let me show you your fate. | „ |
| ~ Caius Ballad at Valhalla |
Summary
Caius Ballad is Yeul's immortal guardian and the main antagonist of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Originally a Pulse L'Cie from thousands of years ago, he performed an incarnate summon to become Bahamut in order to protect the seer Paddra-Nsu Yeul from an invading army, perishing and completing his Focus in the process. However, the goddess Etro took pity on him, and granted him the Heart of Chaos, reviving him and granting him immortality and a mission to protect every incarnation of Yeul for all of eternity. In time, however, Caius began to see the benevolent gift as a curse, a view worsened by the fact that Etro's intervention during the Day of Ragnarok caused a paradox that cut Yeul's life short in every timeline, forcing her to die young and reincarnate again and again. This pushed Caius to the brink, leading him to begin to use the paradox effects in an attempt to end his and Yeul's suffering....no matter the cost.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 2-A, higher with Incarnate Summoning | 2-A, higher with Incarnate Summoning | 2-A
Key: Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII | Dissidia
Name: Caius Ballad, true name unknown (Caius' name comes from a warrior he had slain in the past, which he took up to honor him)
Origin: Final Fantasy XIII
Gender: Male
Age: Over 2,500 years old
Classification: Guardian of the Seeress, former Pulse L'Cie
Powers and Abilities:
General Abilities
- Martial Arts Mastery and Weapons Mastery (Of Greatswords) (Caius has consistently shown to be one of the best fighters of the trilogy. Being able to defeat Knight of Etro Lightning in battle, as well as stalemate The Savior prior to her receiving the Ultima Weapon and reuniting with Lumina. As a Guardian who has lived for thousands of years, he's proficiently honed his combat prowess to become the Ultimate guardian to Yeul)
- Blessed and Empowerment (Protection; Magic is drawing upon one's inner "Crystal Power", due to crystal energy mixing into the soil, and them confirming to share the same mythology as the classic games. This grants him the abilities of The Crystals as a result. It is stated that the Goddess Etro blessed Caius by removing his L'Cie status and implanting her own "Heart" into his)
- Immortality (Types 1 and 3-Mid-Godly; via the Heart of Chaos)
- Summoning (His Eidolon Bahamut's Eidolith is set into the hilt of his greatsword, which he can summon into battle at any point)
- Fusionism, Transformation, Empowerment, and True Flight (An Incarnate Summon fuses the Eidolon with the summoner's essence for an immense power boost)
- Radiation Manipulation (As Bahamut, he has access to the Flare and Megaflare attacks. Which are stated numerous times to be nuclear power)
- Fusionism, Transformation, Empowerment, and True Flight (An Incarnate Summon fuses the Eidolon with the summoner's essence for an immense power boost)
- Limited Death Manipulation (via Deathblow. Which can instantly kill a target at low health)
- Information Manipulation (Type 1: Fragments are nuggets of pure information made of crystal, which contain the memories and stories of various things)
- Telekinesis (Can call down meteors and raise massive rock formations)
- Life Manipulation and Limited Regeneration Negation ("Wound" damage reduces a targets Maximum HP and prevents the opponent from Regenerating to full health)
- Pocket Reality Manipulation and Summoning (Upon transforming into his Ultimate Form as "Jet" Bahamut. He creates a pocket dimension and summons two other Bahamuts to fight against Serah and Noel. This form can also grant him )
Magic
- Magic, Conceptual Manipulation (Type 2), Space-Time Manipulation, Law Manipulation, and Subjective Reality: Magic in it's basest form is projecting one's inner mind onto reality, powered by intelligence and mental strength. It is also shown in the novels to remove concepts and warp space and time itself, like the Devil's road, which the concept of time and distance was lost, and time and space were twisted to the point the past, present and future existed as one. Along with rewriting the natural order of things.
- Durability Reduction (Magic ignores durability to physical attacks requiring specific resistances to reduce the damage of)
- Non-Physical Interaction (Magic as a whole is shown to affect a wide variety of different beings, from intangible/immaterial beings to non corporeal beings, to abstract concepts like Chronodia, who's the flow of time itself, to Nonexistent beings like Exdeath and Cloud of Darkness)
- Power Modification (Including Duplication, Fusionism, Statistics Amplification, Size Manipulation, Homing Attack, Danmaku, Aura, Breath Attack, and Energy Manipulation; Magic users across the games have consistently shown the ability to manipulate the shape and properties of their own magical abilities, with even higher tiers of spells simply being considered stronger versions of the same basic ability)
- Energy Manipulation and Projection (Via various magic spells)
- Data Manipulation and Information Manipulation (Type 2; Magic is synced with Relics, which are used for Data Input and communication, Relics being tied to the crystals, which in turn are tied to Fal'Cie deities who are capable of creating entire realities composed of data such as Orphan's Cradle)
- Elemental Manipulation
- Fire, Ice, and Matter Manipulation (Macro-Quantum; via Fire and Ice magic, Both Fire and Ice related abilities are stated to affect the target's electrons, and even negate durability in the process)
- Electricity Manipulation and Pain Manipulation (via lightning magic, Lightning spells are capable of attacking the target's nerves[1])
- Water Manipulation, Air Manipulation, and Earth Manipulation(via Water & Aero spells, and Quake respectively)
- Poison Manipulation, Disease Manipulation, and Corrosion Inducement (Can inflict Poison, which is also stated to corrode the target. The Poison spell is called "Bio" in the Japanese. The Bio spell can cause diseases)
- Status Effect Inducement
- Paralysis Inducement (Via Daze, which stuns the target)
- Empathic Manipulation (via Provoke and Charge)
- Pain Manipulation (via Pain)
- Power Nullification (via Fog and Fogga)
- Curse Manipulation and Probability Manipulation (via Curse; Which lowers the targets odds of interrupting actions)
- Statistics Reduction (via Debrave, Defaith and Slow; the former two reduces an enemies physical and magical prowess, while the latter reduces speed)
- Resistance Reduction (via Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil, which lowers an enemies physical, magical and elemental resistances)
- Resistance Amplification (Capable of raising physical, magical and elemental resistances with the Viel Spell)
- Statistics Amplification (via Bravera, Faithra, Protect, and Haste spells, which the former two increase physical, magical attack prowess, protect increases one's defense, while the latter increases speed)
- Gravity Manipulation (Haste and Slow spells are stated to be able to control gravity)
- Information Analysis and Clairvoyance (via Libra; the Libra spell is stated to be as such)
- Healing and Purification (Type 3; For himself and others via Cure and Esuna series of spells respectively)
- Instinctive Action and Damage Boost (via Vendetta)
- Minor Power Modification and Elemental Manipulation (via Enfire, Enthunder, Enwater and Enfrost; Can cause basic attacks of any role to have elemental attributes)
- Energy Projection, Resistance Negation, Durability Negation, Forcefield Negation, Reflection Negation, and Invulnerability Negation (Has access to the spell Ultima; which conjures a power magic blast that ignores magic defense and bypasses barriers and reflection skills. Ultima ignores all resistances, and can deal damage even if the enemy is immune to magic)
Eidolon Physiology: All Eidolons inherit Unseen Chaos Physiology, L'Cie Physiology, and the Blessings of The Crystals, plus
- Magic, Conceptual Manipulation (Type 2), Space-Time Manipulation, Law Manipulation, and Subjective Reality: (Magic, in its basest form, is projecting one's inner mind, onto reality, and is powered by intelligence and mental strength)
- Durability Reduction (Magic ignores durability to physical attacks requiring specific resistances to reduce the damage of)
- Non-Physical Interaction (Magic as a whole is shown to affect a wide variety of different beings, from intangible/immaterial beings to non corporeal beings, to abstract concepts like Chronodia, who's the flow of time itself, to Nonexistent beings like Exdeath and Cloud of Darkness)
- Power Modification (Including Duplication, Fusionism, Statistics Amplification, Size Manipulation, Homing Attack, Danmaku, Aura, Breath Attack, and Energy Manipulation; Magic users across the games have consistently shown the ability to manipulate the shape and properties of their own magical abilities, with even higher tiers of spells simply being considered stronger versions of the same basic ability)
- Dimensional Travel (All Eidolons reside in Valhalla and are able to freely traverse through Etro's Gate to come to the aid of the summoner)
- Immortality (Types 1 and 8; Eidolons' spirits dwell within crystals known as Eidolth's and will remain alive as long as the Eidolith remains in tact)
- Inorganic Physiology (Type 2: Eidolons are mechanical in nature)
- Death Manipulation (All Eidolons can cast the "Doom Spell" which kills the target in 1800 seconds)
- Passive Elemental Resistance Negation (via Penetration: Ignores an enemies elemental resistance when attacking)
- Automatic Resurrection (via Arise; Revives the summoner to full health upon death/incapacitation. However, the Eidolon will disappear afterwards)
Abilities achieved through Bahamut
- Matter Manipulation (Macro Quantum), Radiation Manipulation, Energy Projection, and Explosion Manipulation (Bahamut's Flare and Megaflare attacks are stated numerous times to be nuclear power)
- Death Manipulation (All Eidolon's can cast the "Doom" Spell which kills the target in 1800 seconds)
- Light Manipulation (via Pulsar Blast)
- Air Manipulation (via Whirlwind)
- Fire Manipulation (via Inferno)
- Magic, Conceptual Manipulation (Type 2), Space-Time Manipulation, Law Manipulation, Subjective Reality, Data Manipulation, and Information Manipulation (Type 2; Able to resist the effects of magic, which inherently have these properties)
- Physical Attacks (via various accessories; Higher with Protect Spells)
- Elemental Manipulation
- Fire, Ice, and Matter Manipulation (Macro-Quantum; Able to resist fire and ice magic, Both of which are stated to affect the target's electrons, and even negate durability in the process)
- Electricity Manipulation and Pain Manipulation (via resisting lightning magic, Lightning spells are capable of attacking the target's nerves[1])
- Water Manipulation, Air Manipulation, and Earth Manipulation(via resisting Water & Aero spells, and Quake respectively)
- Absolute Zero (Should be comparable to Snow Villiers who can fight against the Shiva sisters. His ice magic also has Shiva's properties)
- Status Effect Inducement
- Paralysis Inducement (Via Daze, which stuns the target)
- Empathic Manipulation (via Provoke and Charge)
- Pain Manipulation (via Pain)
- Power Nullification (via Fog and Fogga)
- Curse Manipulation and Probability Manipulation (via Curse; Which lowers the targets odds of interrupting actions)
- Statistics Reduction (via Debrave, Defaith and Slow; the former two reduces an enemies physical and magical prowess, while the latter reduces speed)
- Resistance Reduction (via Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil, which lowers an enemies physical, magical and elemental resistances. The party able to resist all of these status effects, and further amplify resistance with the "Veil" spell)
- Gravity Manipulation (Can resist the "Slow" spell, which like the "Haste" spell controls gravity)
- Poison Manipulation, Disease Manipulation, and Corrosion Inducement (Can resist Poison, which is also stated to corrode the target. The Poison spell is called "Bio" in the Japanese. The Bio spell can cause diseases)
- Regeneration Negation (High-Godly) and Immortality Negation (Type 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9; Has fought various foes who possess inner crystal power, including Noel Kriess numerous times, who can severe someone's Heart and Soul)
- Age Manipulation (The Heart of Chaos granted Caius eternal youth, halting the aging process completely)
All previous abilities minus those provided by the "Heart". Though he still retains the powers of the Soul and Chaos, and Immortality (Type 4; For the Soul), plus
Same as Before
All previous abilities even further enhanced, plus
- Martial Arts (As a warrior of the cycle, Caius has experience fighting alongside and against various other characters such as Warrior of Light, Cecil Harvey, Squall Leonhart, Terra Branford, Bartz Klauser, Cloud of Darkness, Jack Garland, Sephiroth and many more, and has been able to match pace with them)
- Regeneration (Low-Godly) & Immortality (Types 2 and 8; Due to the crystal core of darkness's influence in the hands of Ardyn, warriors will not die no matter how injured they are. Is also reliant on her Crystal which can let someone return from fading from existence after Cosmos' death)
- Summoning (Can summon various Eidolons from Summonstones and the World of Illusions)
- Dimensional Travel (Characters can open Torsions, rifts in space-time to travel various dimensions)
- Sealing (Can seal off large areas and people with her will, such as Cecil sealing himself in Castle Baron or the cast sealing Kefka inside a Torsion)
Willpower Manipulation
- Supernatural Willpower and Accelerated Development (Other; A person's will is power there and enables them to do a multitude of things thanks to their will. The greater someone's will, the greater their power)
- Law Manipulation (Beings with strong wills can overwrite the laws of the world and bend them to their will)
- Creation (With a powerful enough will, once can create various things such as phone lines, airships and even entire countries and worlds)
Resistances
All previous resistances, plus
- Soul Manipulation (Can resist the powers of Zalera, the Death Serpah, who can absorb the souls of all living beings)
- Empathic Manipulation and Madness Manipulation (Type 3) (Resistant to the effects of the True Moon, which is capable of affecting the hearts and minds of all living beings on the planet)
- Gravity Manipulation (Unaffected by the gravitational pull of the True Moon, which even the Lunar Whale couldn't escape from)
- Spatial Manipulation, BFR, and Deconstruction (Atomic; Can resist the Atomos' powers, who manipulates space, crush enemies down to the atomic level and can warp them into another dimension)
- Absolute Zero (Can survive Shiva's ice attacks, which reaches these temperatures.
- Regeneration Negation (Has the same type of regeneration as Exdeath who faded away after being killed by Cecil Harvey during the events of Destiny Odissey, and can still come back through Chaos' resurrection during the events of Shade Impulse)
- Darkness Manipulation, Statistics Reduction, Corruption (Type 2), Curse Manipulation, Transmutation, Necromancy, Mind Manipulation, Time Manipulation, Time Stop, Void Manipulation, and Existence Erasure (Can fight and resist the Darkness employed by the Cloud of Darkness in combat, which has all these properties: mere exposure to it can drain the strength of living beings, turn them into wicked version of themselves or cast a curse to turn them into ghosts of different beings altogether, while also control their minds and use them as their servants. In larger amounts, Darkness begins to rob away the time of individuals until it stops and freezes them in time. Darkness can also be used to reanimate the dead, but above everything, Darkness is used to return everything to the absolute nothingness that is the Void.
- Summoning (Can summon various Eidolons from Summonstones and the World of Illusions)
- Hellfire Manipulation (Via Ifrit, Phoenix, Rubicante, and Marilith)
- Ice Manipulation, Absolute Zero, and Duplication (Via Shiva whose cold and aura are stated to reach Absolute Zero including her Diamond Dust, Shiva can duplicate herself)
- Water Manipulation (Via Kraken, Cagnazzo, and Leviathan)
- Necromancy (Via Lich)
- Spatial Manipulation, BFR, and Deconstruction (Atomic; Via Atomos, who manipulates space, crush enemies down to the atomic level and can warp them into another dimension)
- Death Manipulation and Space-Time Manipulation (Via Odin, whose Zantetsuken instantly kills an enemy and opens a rift in space time to take their remains)
- Matter Manipulation (Sub-Atomic) and Radiation Manipulation (Via Megaflare, which is stated numerous times to be a nuclear power)
- Attack Reflection (Via Carbuncle)
- Poison Manipulation and Corrosion Inducement (Via Eidolons such as Malboro, who can inflict the Poison status effect, which is also stated to corrode the target)
- Darkness Manipulation and Perception Manipulation (Via Eidolons such as Malboro and Lich, which can inflict the darkness status ailment via various equipment, which would render the target blind)
- Power Nullification (Via Eidolons, such as Malboro and Sylph who can inflict the Silence status which would render the target's ability to use magic null)
- Petrification (Via Malboro's Bad Breath)
- Light Manipulation and Holy Manipulation (Via Alexander)
- Explosion Manipulation and Self-Destruction (Via Bomb)
- Healing (Via Sylph and Asura)
- Earth Manipulation (Via Titan)
- BFR (Via Typhon)
- Soul Manipulation (Via Zalera, the Death Seraph, who has the power to absorb the souls of all living beings)
Attack Potency: Multiverse level+ (Defeated Knight of Etro Lightning, whose existence is enough to sustain the infinite world of Valhalla. A world that operates on a different plane of existence where all timelines are able to be seen from and are referred to as "Lower Worlds". Valhalla gives birth to, controls, contains, and connects multiple different timelines, of which are there are an infinite number of, which equate to infinite possibilities via The Historia Crux. This includes The Void, which is considered a mere "Shadow" in comparison to Valhalla. With Valhalla being stated numerous times to be beyond Space-Time, and the "paradoxes" caused by the Unseen Chaos, which by extension should apply to the Unseen Realm itself, is said to completely transcend time. Is also superior to Serah and Noel, who were both capable of defeating Gilgamesh and Omega in the Coliseum), higher with Incarnate Summoning (An incarnate summon sacrifices the life of the summoner in exchange to fuse with the Eidolon for a massive boost in power) | Multiverse level+ (Able to stalemate Lightning as "The Savior" prior to her reuniting with Lumina. Became the "God of Death" and ruler of the new "Unseen Realm", a title that is only fit for the mightiest of beings comparable to the likes of The Savior, and Bhunivelze themselves. Was also able to release Paddra Nsu Yuel from her Seeress Fate), higher with Incarnate Summoning | Multiverse level+ (Is comparable to the other Warriors of Spiritus and draws power from the gods of the cycle. Can damage Materia's Warriors such as Warrior of Light)
Speed: Massively FTL+ (Superior to Noel and Serah, who fought Gilgamesh and Omega) | Massively FTL+ (Can keep up with the other Warriors of Spiritus such as Garland)
Lifting Strength: Class T | Immeasurable (Is superior to Neo Exdeath and Enuo)
Striking Strength: Multiverse level+ (Able to trade blows with Lightning, who is essentially his equal at this point in time) | Multiverse level+
Durability: Multiverse level+ (The nature of the Heart of Chaos makes him very difficult to kill, and is able to with stand attacks from foes such as Lightning, Serah, and Noel Kriess) | Multiverse level+
Stamina: Superhuman, likely Infinite (It is stated that his battle with Lightning could last for an eternity if there is no clear victor, and has shown to be able to keep pace with her as "The Savior")
- Extended Melee Range (With his greatsword; Far Higher as Bahamut)
- Multiversal+ (With Magic; Magic as a whole is shown to affect omnipresent beings such as Exdeath when he's become one with the Void itself, which spans across the entire Final Fantasy Multiverse and is stated numerous times to contain an infinite number of worlds, can banish foes into the Void)
At Least Multiversal+, likely Far Higher (Unseen Chaos originates from a Higher Dimension known as the "Unseen Realm". Where the concepts of Space and Time are nonexistent due to outright transcending them, along with the stories, information, and memories that makes up the worlds below it, and is completely inaccessible to dimensions below it through normal means. Only by Etro opening her "Gate" can the Unseen Realm be accessed. The Unseen Realm exists above the world of Valhalla. Valhalla itself is a world that is stated numerous times to be beyond Space & Time, and is confirmed to be on a different plane of existence, where all timelines are able to be viewed from and are referred to as "lower worlds", which includes "The Void" which is described as a mere "Shadow" in comparison to Valhalla. The void being a structure that is stated multiple times to contain and infinite number of universes and harbor "Extradimensional Spaces" in relation to those worlds)
Standard Equipment: His Greatsword with the Eidolith of Bahamut set into the "eye". "The Heart of Chaos", an artifact that grants him eternal youth as well as the ability to regenerate. The Crystals
Intelligence: Extraordinary Genius; As Yeul's Guardian, Caius is an incredibly skilled warrior and swordsman as well as Lightning's equal in combat. Due to being immortal and having knowledge of every timeline and possible scenario through his connection to Yeul, Caius is always one step of his opponent and fully exploits this in every one of his fights with Lightning, Noel, and Serah. He is serious and callous, with thousands of years of combat experience and a ruthless nature to match, single-mindedly searching for his chance to be free of his "curse" of immortality and to liberate Yeul of the suffering caused by her constant reincarnation. Is also knowledgeable on all things related to Chaos. Whose effects can range from triggering Space-Time transcending Phenomena which causes the past and future to overlap with eachother and bring impossibilities into existence, which are directly compared to the Schrodinger's Cat Experiment
Weaknesses: Weaknesses Provided by the "Heart and Soul", Has a limited supply of magic with which to use his most potent abilities
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Body and Soul: Bestows Bravery, Faith, Haste and Regen on Caius, boosting his attacking and magic power as well as making him faster and slowly heal his injuries.
- Eye of Bahamut: Caius unleashes several dark beams from Ragnarok's hilt to inflict various debuffs on the target.
- Heart of Chaos: Bestows Reraise to Caius, which automatically revives him when he's killed.
- Megaflare: When in the form of Chaos Bahamut, Caius generates a large ball of blue fire and throws it, causing it to explode and trigger a fusion reaction at the target location.
- Gigaflare/Teraflare/Exaflare: Used only when he becomes Jet Bahamut, Caius begins a countdown from three and takes off when it reaches zero. He charges up a large fireball and fires it after a few seconds. If Caius is alone when this is performed, it is known as Gigaflare, if either Ganet or Amber Bahamut are present, it becomes the more powerful Teraflare, and if all three perform the attack, it's the extremely powerful Exaflare. All of these attacks generate massive amounts of energy through a fusion reaction on impact.
Notable Matchups
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
References
Discussions
| Discussion threads involving Caius Ballad |