Cloud of Darkness/Dissidia (PSP)

The Cloud of Darkness is one of the villains fighting for the side of Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy. She is an entity that appears when the balance between light and darkness is disturbed, and tries to pull the world into the void. She hovers like a cloud, and attacks with the tentacles wrapped around her body. Cloud of Darkness allies herself with Kefka, Exdeath, and Kuja in her attempts to destroy everything and return the world to darkness. Her rival is the young Onion Knight who wishes to protect his friends from her.

She is set to return, along with the other characters from Dissidia, in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Attire
Cloud of Darkness's appearance is based on her Amano artwork, depicting her with pale skin and a red and black cloak attached to her wrists. Black and red coverings adorn her body, including her breasts and hips, and two mouthed tentacles extend from her back. Her alternate outfit features a blue cape instead of a red one. Her EX Mode depicts a darker shade of green resembling her appearance in the DS version.

In Dissidia 012, the Cloud of Darkness' second alternate outfit has an overall lighter appearance. Her cape and body coverings are white, black, purple, and lavender, and her tentacles are a more pale yellow and lack faces. Her body coverings also change, and she has several loops of beads along her legs. In this outfit her EX Mode colors her white and lavender body coverings a different shade of white, and gives her red blotches along her legs. In addition her EX Mode in her first alt is changed to a bright orange and yellow form with blue lines along her legs, reflecting her NES sprite color scheme while invincible.

Her Manikin version, Counterfeit Wraith, is green.

Dissidia 012
The Cloud of Darkness is seen alongside Ultimecia in the TSG Trailer at Orphan's Cradle, where Ultimecia tells her she has no intention of serving Chaos. At an unknown point in the story she is seen confronting Laguna, revealing the nature of the Manikins to him. She also explains to Laguna that she is also curious about the manner of death that he chose for himself.

Destiny Odyssey
Working with Kefka, the Cloud of Darkness targets Terra, wishing to control her and release her full power. After Terra loses control of her powers and battles the Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness arrives after the fight and kidnaps Terra. She berates the Onion Knight on his blindness to Terra's struggle during their travels and tells him he has only himself to blame for her capture.

The Onion Knight travels to the World of Darkness, where the Cloud of Darkness is standing over an unconscious Terra, proclaiming that the girl is too fragile to be of use. The Knight arrives and offers to take Terra's place as her servant, only to fool the Cloud of Darkness and strike her with her guard down, proclaiming he will defeat her and protect Terra. The two battle and the Cloud of Darkness is defeated. She fades away, leaving Terra to recover and the Onion Knight to claim his Crystal.

Recovering from the fight with Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness is seen talking to Kefka, attempting to kill off Terra from a distance before Kefka stops her as he still wants Terra to fight for him, as well as the fact that he prefers having fun before destroying her. The Cloud of Darkness later appears when Kefka realizes he cannot have Terra, cornering the girl and Cloud Strife when Onion Knight comes to their aid and helps Cloud double team the villain while Terra fights Kefka. The outcome of her battle with Cloud and the Onion Knight is not shown, but the two of them are safe once Terra dispatches Kefka.

Shade Impulse
After Cosmos is killed, the Cloud of Darkness speaks to Ultimecia, who tells her Shinryu has begun to stir, and reveals that it is Shinryu who is responsible for the cycle of war. The Cloud of Darkness is unfazed by Ultimecia and the Emperor's plans, and is focused only on the eternal Void.

The Onion Knight confronts her, and the Cloud of Darkness asks him why he still opposes her, now Cosmos is gone and that there nothing for him to protect. They engage in battle, and the Onion Knight wins. After she lost the battle, the Cloud of Darkness tells the Onion Knight that it is too late, claiming that they cannot stop the current of change. He replies that he is listening to his heart and will not run away, because the determination of his friends encourage him to move forward. The Cloud of Darkness then comments that living creatures are fascinating and that she will be waiting in the rifts of the Void. She then disappears into the darkness, going back to sleep.

If a Warrior of Cosmos other than the Onion Knight confronts the Cloud of Darkness, she will tell the party that she has had an eternity in the Void to prepare, and plans to flood the world in darkness and return it to the Void. After she is defeated, she will laugh off the conviction, and remark that they will meet again in the Void.

Battle
In battle, Cloud of Darkness' fighting style is "Bane of Life," as she uses a wide array of powerful energy beam attacks to drain the opponent's HP, and has the most HP attacks of any character. Her Bravery attacks are limited to attacks of her tentacles, but are still formidable. which can attack in one of three ways according to when the circle button is pressed a second time while attacking. Her HP attacks cover a wide variety of tactical options and can hit across multiple ranges and altitudes. A drawback is that she moves a bit slowly, and her reliance on HP attacks can leave her vulnerable to counterattacks before she can recover her Brave.

Boss
Cloud of Darkness is fought in Destiny Odyssey III, Shade Impulse, Distant Glory, and Inward Chaos.

EX Mode
Ultra Particle Beam MySeaKAyWSs The Cloud of Darkness's EX Mode is Flood of Darkness, where she loses her cape and her skin turns green, identical to her in-game appearance from Final Fantasy III. When in EX Mode, the Cloud of Darkness recovers HP due to Regen, and gains the "[Null] Particle Beam" effect, which removes the cool-down from her HP attacks, letting her recover from using them and attack again much faster.

Her EX Burst, Ultra Particle Beam, has her attack with a smaller beam of energy, then summoning a large orb of darkness. The player must hold down to charge a bar up to 120%, allowing the Cloud of Darkness to blast opponents with a powerful beam of energy. Releasing the button at the wrong time will result in the bar dropping to 80% and thus do less damage.

Equipment
Cloud of Darkness is able to equip Rods, Staves, Bangles, Hats, Hairpins, Clothing, and Robes.

Allusions

 * When the Cloud of Darkness uses Aura Ball, she laughs her characteristic laugh from Final Fantasy III.
 * In Shade Impulse II-3, when fighting the Cloud of Darkness with a character other than Onion Knight, one of her pre-battle quotes is "We have had an eternity in the Void to prepare. We will flood this world with darkness---and return all to the Void." This is roughly the same as the dialogue in Final Fantasy III when facing the Cloud of Darkness.
 * All of Cloud of Darkness's HP Attacks and her EX Burst are variations of her signature attack in Final Fantasy III, "Particle Beam" ("Wave Cannon" in the Japanese version).
 * When the Cloud of Darkness charges her EX Burst, she takes on the same pose as her original NES battle sprite from Final Fantasy III. She assumes the same pose if Onion Knight uses his EX Burst against her.
 * Interestingly, while Cloud of Darkness's attacks "Tentacle of Pain," "Tentacle of Suffering," and "Aura Ball" did not appear in any game version of Final Fantasy III, they did actually appear in the 1992 manga adaptation of the game. The manga, like the game, was written by scenario writer Kenji Terada.

Trivia

 * Tetsuya Nomura has stated that when he joined the company, he saw Yoshitaka Amano's original design of the Cloud of Darkness which was not featured in Final Fantasy III, and decided to use the design in a future game once he got the chance.
 * In the Dissidia Ultimania guide, the Cloud of Darkness is described as being genderless and merely takes on the form of a woman. This is implied by Zidane's comment, "Well, she is a lady...I guess," before battling her. In-game however, female pronouns are used when referring to her.
 * The Cloud of Darkness has the dubious distinction of having the smallest role in the game of the main playable characters. Not counting the final storyline Shade Impulse (where all ten villains are fought) and the bonus storylines, the Cloud of Darkness is fought only once while all other villains are fought at least twice. Outside of the Onion Knight's storyline, the Cloud of Darkness only appears in three cutscenes, and never speaks to any characters outside of Kefka, Ultimecia, and the Onion Knight.
 * With the exceptions of her introduction quotes when fighting Cloud, Squall, and the Warrior of Light, the Cloud of Darkness refers to herself as "we." Her use of plural pronouns is explained in her character file as being due to her two tentacles, which have minds and personalities of their own.
 * Though she and Exdeath both support the idea of sealing the world in the void, they are never seen interacting with each other. Before battle, Exdeath will even say to Cloud of Darkness, "The Void you desire is false".
 * Based on their EX Bursts, she and Exdeath have two opposite views of the Void, his being an all-consuming nothingness (which is why his gauge reduces to 0%) and hers being an all-destroying energy (which is why her gauge rises to 120%).
 * The Cloud of Darkness is the only defeated Warrior of Chaos that returns to her resting place of her own accord (unless one counts Kuja refusing help from Zidane as returning to his resting place of his own accord).

Nube de Oscuridad/Dissidia Nube oscura (Dissidia)