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. On the original title, the Cloud of Darkness was summoned after a thousand years when the dark lord Xande brought chaos and disorder to the world. To pull the world into the Void, she stood against the Warriors of Light.

In Dissidia, she allies herself with Kefka, Exdeath and Kuja in her attempts to destroy everything and return the world to darkness.

Attire
Cloud of Darkness's original outfit is based on her Amano artwork, while her alternate outfit features a blue cape instead of a red one. Her crystallized version is colored green.

Destiny Odyssey III
The Cloud of Darkness is seen some time later when Terra is kidnapped after she fought against the Onion Knight, who is then barraged with magic attacks by the Cloud of Darkness. She then teleports away, but not before insulting the Knight verbally, saying that he is to blame for her hardships and that he is too weak save her. They meet again later in the World of Darkness, where the Cloud of Darkness is standing over an unconscious Terra, proclaiming that the girl is of no use to her. The Knight arrives and offers to take Terra's place, only to fool the Cloud and fight her head on. The Knight then fights the Cloud of Darkness, saying that, even though it's his policy to not fight someone stronger then him, he will fight. The Cloud of Darkness lost, and fades away, never knowing that it was Golbez who guided the young knight to making the decision to fight.

Destiny Odyssey VI
Recovering from the fight with the Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness is seen talking to Kefka. She doubts that they can use Terra and decides to proceed in a sneak attack, but Kefka says otherwise, claiming that her powers are the real thing. He tries to persuade how useful she can be, by demonstrating her powers like last time, when she attacked the Onion Knight by accident after losing control of her Esper powers. Later on, when Terra, now along with new ally Cloud Strife, encounters Kefka to find the Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness teleports in and attacks the other Cloud, who turns around and pulls out his sword just in time to defend himself. However, the Knight appears and teams up with the other Cloud to hold off the Cloud of Darkness, giving Terra the chance to fight Kefka one-on-one.

Shade Impulse
After Cosmos is killed, the Cloud of Darkness states that she will put everything to sleep with her hand. However, the Onion Knight appears, saying that all is not over yet. She asks him why he still opposes her, now Cosmos is gone and that there nothing for him to protect, to which the Knight replies that Cosmos is still in his heart. They engage in battle, and the Onion Knight wins. After she lost the battle, the Cloud of Darkness tells the Knight that it's too late, claiming that they cannot stop the current of change. The Knight replies that he's listening to his heart and won't 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.

Battle
In battle, Cloud of Darkness' fighting style is that of a "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 Brave attacks are limited to attacks of her tentacles, which can attack in one of three ways according to the number of the times the circle button is pressed.

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

EX Mode
Cloud of Darkness's EX Mode features her in-game appearance from Final Fantasy III. When in EX Mode, Cloud of Darkness can immediately stop an opponent's attack while in execution by executing an HP attack. The cool down after performing an HP attack is also decreased, allowing her to practically chain together her HP attacks. Her EX Burst, Ultra Particle Beam, requires the player to hold down to charge a bar up to 120% in order to severely damage the enemy with her signature attack, Particle Beam. Releasing the button too late will result in the bar dropping to 80% and a weaker attack.

Equipment
Cloud of Darkness is able to equip Rods, Staffs, Robes, Clothes, Bracelets, Headresses, and Hats.

Allusions

 * When the Cloud of Darkness uses Sphere Wave, she'll laugh: "Hwahwahwa!", which references the Cloud of Darkness’s 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 “I will cause a flood of darkness, and return this world… and your world to the Void.” This is roughly the same as the dialogue in Final Fantasy III when facing the Cloud of Darkness. In Final Fantasy III, she was revived due to the flood of darkness, and tried to return both the worlds of light and darkness to the Void.
 * The name of the Cloud of Darkness' HP Attacks and her EX Burst refer to her signature attack in Final Fantasy III, "Particle Beam" ("Wave Cannon" in the Japanese version). Her EX Burst, and to a lesser extent "[Wrath] Particle Beam", are also directly based on this attack.

Trivia

 * Tetsuya Nomura has stated that for the Cloud of Darkness, he saw a drawing of her original concept art by Yoshitaka Amano when he joined the company, and decided to use the design in a future game once he got the chance.
 * The Cloud of Darkness could be the oldest of the Warriors of Chaos (with the possible exception of Garland), since she is at least 1,000 years old.
 * In the Dissidia Ultimania guide, Cloud of Darkness is described as being genderless.
 * When the Cloud of Darkness charges her EX-Burst, she takes on a pose which is similar to her battle sprite from the final battle. The same applies to the Onion Knight if he is using his EX-Burst on her.
 * The Cloud of Darkness has the dubious distinction of having the smallest role in the game of the villains. Not counting the final storyline Shade Impulse (where all ten villains are fought), the Cloud of Darkness is fought only once while all other villains are fought at least twice. Outside of Onion Knight's storyline, the Cloud of Darkness only appears in two cut-scenes, and in a single scene in Shade Impulse speaking with Ultimecia.
 * In all of the 22 characters, the Cloud of Darkness has the most number of different HP attacks— she has 7 different HP attacks, and a pair of the same HP attack, namely Retaliation Wave.
 * Cloud of Darkness has the least Brave attacks.
 * The only time the Cloud of Darkness uses her legs to walk instead of floating is during the cutscene before her and Onion Knight's battle in the latter's storyline.