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. In the original title, she was resurrected after a thousand years when the dark lord Xande brought disorder to the world. To pull the world into the void, she stood in the way of the Warriors of Light.

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 first seen talking to Kefka. She doubts that they can use Terra, 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. Some time later, Terra gets 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.

Destiny Odyssey VI
When Cloud (Strife) and Terra encounter Kefka to find the Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness teleports in. However, the Knight appears and teams up with Cloud (Strife), 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 is described as a "HP Breaker", as she uses a wide array of powerful darkness-themed attacks to drain the opponent's life, 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.

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 pratically chain together her HP attacks. Her EX Burst, Super Cannon Wave, 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.

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 1000 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.
 * Cloud of Darkness is one of the two characters to not be called by their name. The only other is the Warrior of Light.
 * When referring to her as simply "Cloud," it might cause some confusion for some game players between the Cloud of Darkness and Cloud Strife, the (male) hero representing Final Fantasy VII.