Cloud of Darkness

The Cloud of Darkness (暗闇の雲 Kurayami no Kumo lit. The Dark Cloud) is the Final Boss of Final Fantasy III. It appears to be a green, naked, humanoid female, but only the top of its torso is shown. It is summoned accidentally from the World of Darkness by Xande, and decides to return the world to a state of nothingness. The heroes must pursue it back into the Dark World and defeat it after Xande is defeated. They encounter it twice: first in a battle they cannot win, and second at the very end of the game, where it's beatable.

Battle
Note: for DS remake only.

One way of battling this enemy is just attacking the Cloud of Darkness' main body. But an easier way is attacking the right tentacle to rid the nuisance of using its Lightning attack. The right tentacles is completely immune to physical attacks but not magic. The left tentacle is immune to magic other than Bahamut's Megaflare and Leviathan's Tidal Wave, and must be taken down with physical attacks. The Cloud of Darkness can use Bad Breath to hamper the party unless the characters are equipped with Ribbons or Aegis Shields. Otherwise, only its physical attacks pose an actual threat, until it starts to use Particle Beam.

A Devout is highly recommended for this battle due to their ability to use high level White Magic, including Curaja and Arise, more often and more powerfully than the Sage. Also, they can support the entire party with Protect or cast Holy on the Cloud of Darkness. However,Protect can only be cast on one person per turn so that strategy is optional. Warriors can use their Advance ability to deal heavy damage to either the right tentacle or the Cloud of Darkness; Ninjas are useful for their Throw ability and they can also inflict massive physical damage to the Cloud of Darkness while dual-wielding the Masamune and Muramasa.

Music
The original battle theme for the Cloud of Darkness was called "Saigo no shitou" ("Final Battle to the Death"). The Black Mages included a rearrangement of the theme in their third studio album. The theme was retitled "Kurayaminokumo" ("The Cloud of Darkness")

Ivalice Alliance
The Totema Famfrit from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and the Esper Famfrit in Final Fantasy XII are loosely based on the Cloud of Darkness.

Dissidia -Final Fantasy-
Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villians in an attempt to gain control of a number of Crystals, resulting in total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. The Cloud of Darkness is one of these villians.

Her appearance was based from the original Amano sketch, as she is now more "human"-looking with pale skin, silver hair, and a cloak. She is actually wearing clothes, albeit extremely revealing ones. She does, however, still have the tentacled mouths from her original sprite. Later images reveal that, when in EX-mode, The Cloud of Darkness changes into the familiar green skinned version of herself as seen in Final Fantasy III. Cloud of Darkness' appearances thus far have been limited, but she has been seen battling Onion Knight. She attacks using various waves and blasts of dark energy, and her tentacled mouths can extend and whirl about to attack as well.

Her voice will be provided by Ikeda Masako in the Japanese version.