Battle above Rabanastre

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The following article is based on a subject that has not been officially named in any official Square Enix material; the current title is merely a placeholder.

The Battle above Rabanastre was a battle in Final Fantasy XII. It opposed the Archadian Imperial Fleets 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.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Awakening Bahamut

Vayne Solidor, after being crowned Emperor of Archadia, was set on war to conquer all of Ivalice. He entrusted Doctor Cid and Judge Gabranth the mission to locate the Sun-Cryst and harness its power to power up the Empire's new flagship. Atop the Pharos, Cid met his death, and Reddas destroyed the Sun-Cryst. However, before being destroyed, the Sun-Cryst emitted enormous amounts of mist that was absorbed by the Bahamut. The mist unleashed was enough to power the world's largest airship, Cid's last creation: the Sky Fortress Bahamut.

The War's Start

A group of Rozarrian mercenaries, who were hired into the Resistance, ignored orders and traveled to Nabudis for a surprise attack. They retreated into Rabanastre airspace, and as they hoped, provoked a belligerent response from Archadia. The entire 12th fleet of the Archadian army, with the colossal Sky Fortress Bahamut as the flagship, charged after them. Ondore, unable to just leave his ships out to be destroyed, sent his entire fleet out to support them. Thus the Battle above Rabanastre began.

The Battle

Bahamut approaches Rabanastre.

Using the Bahamut's powerful Mist-charged cannons, Vayne hoped to destroy the Resistance 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 attack the Bahamut.

Battle above Rabanastre.

Meanwhile, Vaan, Ashe, Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Penelo arrived to 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 the Marquis that they were going to persuade Vayne to end the pointless war. The group managed to enter the Bahamut, where they found Gabranth, whose only objective left in life was to kill his traitorous brother. The party defeat Gabranth one last time, heavily wounding him, journey on to confront Vayne.

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 defeated. 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 Larsa used his piece of manufacted nethicite to stop Vayne from dealing the death blow, while Vaan succeeded in mortally wounding him.

Victory

The Sky Fortress crashes outside Rabanastre.

Vayne escaped outside, where Venat gave him its power as a way to thank Vayne for freeing history from the hands of the Occuria. Vayne used Venat's power to fuse parts of the Bahamut with his body, becoming a giant mechanical dragon called The Undying. The party fought Vayne and defeated him. Ashe and her party, including Larsa and Gabranth, fled from the Bahamut aboard the Strahl.

Larsa announced his brother's death and succeeded him as the 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 towards Rabanastre, with Zargabaath announcing his intention to sacrifice his life to ram the falling airship away in order to save the Dalmascan citizens; this turned out to be unnecessary, as the Sky Fortress was steered by Balthier and Fran to crash-land just outside of the city instead.

Spoilers end here.

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