Battle above Rabanastre

The Battle above Rabanastre was a battle in Final Fantasy XII. It opposed the Archadian Imperial Fleet led by Vayne Solidor to the Resistance forces led by Marquis Halim Ondore IV. The battle was fought in the skies above the capital of Dalmasca, Rabanastre.

Vayne Solidor, after being crowned Emperor of Archadia, decided to deal with the problem of the Resistance personally. He entrusted Dr. Cid and Judge Gabranth the mission to locate the Sun-Cryst and harness its power, while he lured the Resistance out of hiding. Atop the Pharos at Ridorana, Cid met his death, and Reddas destroyed the Sun-Cryst. The power unleashed was then used by Vayne to power the world's largest Airship, the last creation of Cid: the Sky Fortress Bahamut.

Using the airship's powerful Mist-charged cannons, Vayne hoped to destroy the Resistance's fleet before all the people of Rabanastre. At first he succeeded, using the Alexander as a shield and Judge Zargabaath as a secondary commander. However, the smaller Resistance Airships managed to get past the blockade and started attacking the huge airship.

Meanwhile, Vaan, Ashe, Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Penelo arrived at the battleground on the Strahl. At first, Ondore was not willing to allow Ashe to infiltrate the Sky Fortress, but Vaan imitated Larsa's voice and assured him that they were going to try to persuade Vayne to end the pointless war. The group managed to reach and enter the fortress, only to find it guarded by the elite of Archadia's troops and machinery. They managed to get past the Imperial Swordsmen, the Imperial Gunners, the Imperial Hoplites, the Mastiffs, the Sphere-Rooks, the Spinnner-Rooks, and the Helm-Rooks, reaching the elevator, where they found Gabranth, whose only objective left in life was to kill his traitorous brother. They defeat Gabranth one last time, heavily wounding him, and rode the elevator to the room where Vayne awaited them.

Vayne was ready to face the party, but he did not expect that his own brother, Larsa, would turn his sword against him. A fierce battle ensued, where Vayne was easily defeated by his four adversaries. Before being struck down, he used the power of Manufacted Nethicite to knock out Larsa and transform into Vayne Novus. Gabranth saved Larsa from Vayne's next attack, and took his place in the battle. The group managed to weaken Vayne even further, allowing Gabranth to stick his sword deep into Vayne's chest. Vayne then fatally wounded the Judge Magister, but then it was Larsa that used manufacted nethicite to prevent Vayne from dealing the death blow while Vaan succeeded in mortally wounding him.

Vayne managed to escape from the party and get outside, where he was met by Venat. The latter gave him its power as a way to thank Vayne for freeing history from the hands of the Occuria, and Vayne used that power to fuse parts of the Bahamut with his body, becoming a giant mechanical dragon called The Undying. The party fought Vayne's last form and defeated it, making it explode into a cloud of Mist. Ashe and her party, including Larsa and Gabranth, fled Bahamut aboard the Strahl. Larsa announced his brother's death and succeeded him as commander of the Empire, and proceeded to order a cease-fire, which was quickly upheld by Ashe, Ondore, Zargabaath, and Basch, who took his dying brother's place as Judge Magister. The Sky Fortress, depleted of its energy as well as its commander, began collapsing, but was steered by Balthier and Fran to crash-land just outside of Rabanastre.