End of the world


 * "On that day, the World was changed forever..."

The End of the World, also known as the Collapse, the Cataclysm or The Apocalypse, is the destruction of the World of Balance in Final Fantasy VI by Kefka Palazzo.

After the attack on Thamasa, Emperor Gestahl and Kefka raise the Floating Continent, uncovering the Statues. When the party attacks the Floating Continent, Kefka attempts to revive the Statues, but Gestahl, knowing the alignment of the gods affects the shape of the planet, urges Kefka to stop. Gestahl uses a variety of powerful magic to attack Kefka, but his attacks fail and Kefka uses the power of the Statues to mortally wound him, before pitching his body off the Floating Continent. Afterwards, Kefka begins repositioning the Statues, destabilizing their magical field.

Through the intervention of Shadow, the party is able to escape to Setzer Gabbiani's airship and flee the Floating Continent. If the party decides to wait for him, within the last five seconds of the Floating Continent's destruction, Shadow will arrive, stating, "I'll be blown to bits before I can even collect my pay..." and join the rest of the party on the airship. If the party doesn't wait for him, Shadow will die. The Statues being out of alignment result in imbalance of power, shattering the world's main continents into a series of islands, releasing many sealed monsters like Deathgaze, Humbaba and the Eight Dragons, killing countless people and animals and destroying Setzer's airship, from which the party bails just in time, though they all wind up separated from one another in the chaos. This new world comes to be called the World of Ruin, where many plants refuse to grow, monsters infused with magic roam the wasteland, and Kefka comes to be a god and is worshipped as such. Now the sole ruler of the world, Kefka rains down doom and destruction with the Light of Judgment from his tower.

Trivia

 * The end of the world was briefly foreshadowed in the title screen for the game, with the thunderstorm as well as the text for the game being engulfed in flames and eventually cutting to what is implied to be destroyed towns.

Apokalypse Апокалипсис (Final Fantasy VI)