Feral Chaos

Feral Chaos is a playable character and superboss in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. An alternate form of the game's main antagonist Chaos, Feral Chaos is, as his name implies, a monstrosity that is a bestial berserker in battle, and speaks only in roars, snarls and grunts. He is, like Cosmos, an original character created for Dissidia 012. Though he is an alternate incarnation of Chaos, who is based on Chaos from the original Final Fantasy, Feral Chaos himself has no counterpart in the main series and his backstory and design are entirely original.

Appearance
Feral Chaos is primarily black, yellow, red and orange. Compared to the original Chaos he is larger with torn and burnt-appearing wings, two rows of spikes along his tail, and a broken left horn. His face is exaggerated to monstrous proportions, as are the faces on his groin and limbs, and the amulet around his neck has grown from a red gemstone to a red orb, his loincloth is shorter and the smaller horns on his forehead are larger.

In his alternate appearance "Jade Dissonance", Feral Chaos turns green and blue with yellow colors on his claws and wings. It looks like the color scheme of the Ivalice summon known as Chaos, as it appears in Final Fantasy XII, but it is a coincidence as stated in the Ultimania. A Feral Chaos in this outfit is fought by the player in the storyline "Confessions of the Creator", at which point it is said to be a Manikin-like shade of the real Feral Chaos. However, despite this color scheme being used for Feral Chaos' Manikin the player may still purchase it in the PP Catalog and use it as an alternate appearance for him.

Story
At the end of the thirteenth cycle, the Warriors of Cosmos defeat Chaos and end the cycle of war. Shinryu, displeased at Cid of the Lufaine breaking their pact and siding with Cosmos, silently offers Chaos the chance to get back at Cid, and Chaos agrees. In reality, Chaos dies and the wars end, but Shinryu traps Cid in a nightmarish alternate world where the cycles continued. In this world, Chaos continued to lose every war after the thirteenth, and during the eighteenth war finally goes insane from continued loses. He transforms into Feral Chaos, losing any shred of his former self, and goes berserk.

Feral Chaos destroys all the summoned warriors, regardless of alignment, and during the twentieth cycle he fells the Warrior of Light, the last remaining warrior. At this point Cosmos' power to summon warriors is exhausted, and to protect her from death, Cid seals her and himself in the Chasm in the Rotting Land. With his nemesis out of his reach, Feral Chaos turns his attention to Shinryu, and Cid cleaves the southern and northern continents in two, restricting them to the north for protection and sealing a Gateway on the path connecting the two. The outcome of Feral Chaos' battle with Shinryu, who had also become stronger to transform into Shinryu Versus, is unknown, but as Feral Chaos has him as a summon it would seem that he won, or at least the two came to a truce and joined forces.

At some point, five warriors appear in the nightmare world, their method of entering unknown to even Cid, though he speculates he may have done so himself subconsciously. In the form of a Moogle and having lost his memories after his sealing, Cid is rescued by the party and directs them to the north and eventually to the Land of Discord where Feral Chaos rests at the Edge of Madness, along the way recovering his memories and telling them the story of how Feral Chaos came to be. At the final Gateway the party destroys Feral Chaos, shattering the nightmare world and releasing Cid from his torment.

Battle
Feral Chaos is described as The Omega and the Alpha and fights with fast, powerful Bravery attacks as well as a variety of HP attacks that make him a potent attacker. All of his Bravery attacks cause Chase and Wall Rush, and may stagger guards or crush them outright. However, he is hindered by several disadvantages - initially his Bravery constantly depletes, and his EX Gauge and Assist Gauge are locked at empty. As he levels up he gains support abilities that negate these disadvantages. Feral Chaos's moves have a much higher CP cost than other characters, costing 30 CP per Bravery attack and 50 CP for each HP attack, even when they are mastered. He is also very large, making him easy to hit and giving him poor maneuverability in small arenas. Uniquely, the player is unable to set Feral Chaos as their Assist.

Feral Chaos can be purchased as a playable character for 350 PP in the PP Catalog once the player completes Confessions of the Creator.

Boss
Feral Chaos is the final boss of Confessions of the Creator, fought with over 120,000 HP at Level 130. He has access to Garland as an Assist and Shinryu Verus as a summon, which like the original Shinryu used by Chaos can be used multiple times during the battle. Additionally, due to unique accessories he wears, the player's EX Gauge and Assist Gauge are drained to zero whenever Feral Chaos lands an HP attack, even if it does no damage, his own Assist Gauge increases 50% faster, and he deals 400% damage in EX Mode.

A Level 95 Feral Chaos can be fought earlier in the storyline. He is significantly weaker than his counterpart, but is still a potent opponent. An accessory he wears boosts his Attack and Defense by 5%, which is enhanced by a lone Booster accessory. By this Booster after a period of time this Feral Chaos will gain a 90.0x multiplier, resulting in an increase to his Attack and Defense of 450% that renders him almost invincible to Bravery damage.

The Level 130 Feral Chaos can be fought in the tutorial when beginning the game by answering "I am a Master" to the Moogle's question. However, the player's character is merely a Level 1 Lightning, and due to the massive difference in power it is difficult to the point of being nigh impossible to win without cheating. Even if the player somehow wins, the Moogle reacts as though they lost, and there is no reward for the feat.

EX Mode
Regnum Dei QYdR5gHYDy8 Feral Chaos's EX Mode is The power of discord reveals the true Chaos. His body turns a brighter shade of red and orange, and he gains the abilities "Divine Might" and "Brutal," increasing his movement speed and his attack and defense.

Feral Chaos' EX Burst is Regnum Dei (Kingdom of God). A departure from other EX Bursts, Feral Chaos teleports the opponent and himself to a closed-in arena in a ring of fire, and the player has twenty seconds with a chance to lower their opponent's Bravery, during which time the opponent can still move and attack. When the time limit ends, or if the player presses R +, Feral Chaos will deal the final blow, Nexus Ultimus (Final Links), in which he grabs the opponent, and impales them with several of Chaos's giant swords from all directions, the more bravery the player has at this point the more damage the swords will deal, before dealing a claw thrust to deal HP damage. The last attack is seen from the opponent's perspective, shortly before the screen cuts to black like a turned-off TV screen. The EX Burst can only be used if the opponent has HP after the HP hit that initiates the EX Burst, as otherwise the EX Burst cannot be used.

Because the opponent can still act during Feral Chaos's EX Burst, it is possible for them to enter EX Mode and execute their own EX Burst during it. If this occurs, after the opponent's EX Burst executes normally, Feral Chaos's EX Mode and EX Burst are both canceled out, and the two characters return to the normal arena. However, Feral Chaos will not suffer EX Break if hit by an opponent's Assist.

Equipment
Feral Chaos can equip Greatswords, Axes, Grappling, Shields, Gauntlets, Large Shields, Helmets, and Heavy Armor. He also has two sets of exclusive equipment, the weaker pieces of which are initially obtained in Confessions of the Creator after defeating Feral Chaos in the final gateway for the first time.

Music
The theme used for the battle with Feral Chaos is "Cantata Mortis & God in Fire." This track can also be selected for random battles once Feral Chaos is defeated for the first time at Edge of Discord.

Trivia

 * Feral Chaos is the only character that only has one alternate costume.
 * Feral Chaos has the longest EX Mode name.
 * Feral Chaos utters only one word in the entire game, growling "destruction" when entering EX Mode. However, the speaker is unknown, as Feral Chaos has no credited voice actor in the credits.
 * The same sound effect is heard on the second blast of "Via Dolorosa" if it is charged until Chaos flashes.
 * Feral Chaos has the most expensive alternate costume out of any character, costing 3000 PP when the next highest being 700 for some 2nd alts.