Sozhe

Sozhe (ソゼ, Soze) or Emperor Sozhe is a character in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and the ruler of the Zoldaad Empire. He serves as an unwilling antagonist for most of the Zoldaad chapter. He is also a playable unit acquired through Rare Summon. Sozhe is the father of Shera and Jake

Appearance
Sozhe is a middle-aged man with brown eyes and long white hair with a vertical braid tied behind. He wears a massive red armor adorned with several golden plates, with a black suit covering his body below the armor. His waist section also features a blueish skirt and has a white scarf in his neck. His armor has a long white cape and he wields a massive blade curved in the midsections.

Personality
Sozhe is a firm and resolute individual who takes his duties as Emperor very seriously. He wishes the best for his people and constantly fights to make sure his nation can surge and raise, but is constantly impaired by the lack of natural resources, but nonetheless is resourceful enough to manage the country with the current provisions.

A man of a deep nationalistic view, he pursues a military approach to his ruling in an attempt to, in his view, improve the country's situation. While aware that this path may likely cause pain and suffering to his people, he does not yield for he believes it will ultimately serve for their good in the end, and cares little if he is hated as a tyrant, so long as his country has a better standing in the world.

Ultimately he comes to regret his actions and realizes the path he chose was wrong.

Story
It is unknown when Sozhe rose to power as emperor, but during his reign he had an affair with a commoner which bore his son, Jake as a result. In order to prevent a scandal, Sozhe had Jake and her mother distanced from him, with the truth remaining hidden from the public. He eventually conceived his second son and Crown Prince Shera some years after.

In his governance, Sozhe struggled to keep the country working. While his efficiency in handling the few resources of the country was well known, the scarcity made his job difficult. He attempted to recruit several talented people from different places, so as to improve the country's situation. One such example included the engineer Aileen from Dilmagia, whom Sozhe wanted to hire for her technical ability in creating weapons. Aileen however politely rejected the offer, making it clear that her ability was in weapon customization, making Sozhe's request of mass-producing weapons and impossible task for her and left. While Sozhe pondered if he could exploit the Fire Crystal even further, he was met by Dr. Lazarov who introduced himself as the "talent" Sozhe needed.

Using his scientific knowledge, Lazarov succeeded in improving the extraction of energy from the Fire Crystal which immediately earned Sozhe's trust in him. Sozhe then decided to pursue a much more aggressive military campaign against other nations in order to secure resources and in his words "destroy any rival". While Lazarov pondered that doing so would make Sozhe look like a tyrant in the eyes of his people, Sozhe remarked that it was of little consequence to him, so long as the nation was better. Thus Lazarov became a close adviser of Sozhe, but unfortunately for the Emperor his trust would be severely misplaced as he would be tricked into the schemes of the mad scientist's agenda.

Eventually Lazarov was able to brainwash Sozhe, turning him in his puppet who followed his "advice". Sozhe would then become an extremely cruel regent, imposing heavy taxes in his people and forcing many of them into the military, making Zoldaad a living hell, all the while the country's military strength increased. This was all part of Lazarov's plan in order to wage war with other countries to secure corpses for his sick experiments in eternal life. As the people's condition severely deteriorated, his first son, Jake decided to lead the Raven rebel movement against his father who was abusing his people.

As Rain and his friends allied themselves with Jake due to Sozhe planning an attack on Grandshelt, which would likely suffer immensely given it was rebuilding after the attack from the Sworn Six of Paladia, the two groups eventually meet with Sozhe, directly after Rain's group is tossed into the Arena. Sozhe attempting to give them a "prize" in person after the group defeats a Behemoth. Jake notes that Sozhe is behaving strangely and has Rain's party and Jake thrown into the jail.

With help from Crown Prince Shera's personal maid, Amelia, they succeed in escaping from their cell. She also tells them that Shera who has been aiding the rebels in secret has also been imprisoned on charges of treason. The group rescues Shera and together decide to venture to meet Sozhe in person as Shera is suspicious that his father changed ever since the arrival of Dr. Lazarov. As the group makes their way to the throne they have to break through monster soldiers created by Lazarov.

Upon meeting the Emperor, he congratulates his opponents for making it this far, but proclaims he won't be defeat them and that they will all be killed. Shera accuses the man in front of him as being a fake but Lazarov appears and says that the person they see is indeed Emperor Sozhe but "adjusted" by Lazarov. The sociopathic scientist, elaborates on his plan to use Sozhe for war in order to turn the world into a testing ground for his depraved science. Calling him his "most precious creation yet", Lazarov has Sozhe fight the party while he escapes.

The militaristic Emperor although far detached from his original self still proves a strong opponent, but the party succeeds in defeating him. While dying from his wounds, Sozhe is able to regain his sanity, regretting his actions, he blames himself for seeking too much power which is what made him easily manipulable by Lazarov in the first place. Knowing he chose the wrong path, he encourages his son, Shera, as he has a chance to choose a better path than the one he followed. Sozhe then passes his duties as emperor into his son, before finally passing away.

Playable Character
Sozhe's job is listed as Emperor. His roles are Physical Damage and Tank. He can equip Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Bows, Hammers, Spears, Maces, Fists, Light Shields, Heavy Shields, Helms, Light Armors, Heavy Armors, Robes and Accessories. Sozhe's arsenal focuses on decreasing enemies resistance to Fire, while inflicting Fire damage himself. He can also buff the party's resistance to Fire and their DEF/SPR. His Hell Shaft partially ignores DEF and can inflict paralysis as well to all enemies. His passive skills increase his damage against Dragon and Demon monsters by 50% and his ATK and DEF purely by using a Heavy Armor.

Boss
Sozhe is fought as a boss in the game. With 220,000 HP he has relatively high HP for the time he is faced. He relies on physical attacks and can attack thrice per turn. He uses Fingersnap which inflicts damage and dispels buffs.