Restore hope for the future by crushing the gate to the Rift whence the manikins come— Each with reflections of their own, the four head for the gate in the land of discord.
The epilogue, titled An Undocumented Battle(終章：記されぬ戦い, Shisho: Kisarenu Tatakai?) is the ninth level available on Story Mode in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. This is the last chapter of Main Scenario 012: Treachery of the Gods, and the part where the player is introduced to party battles. The player will control Lightning, Vaan, Laguna, Yuna, and Tifa as party members, with Kain as the Assist character.
Lightning, Laguna, Yuna and Vaan have entered the Lands of Discord to search for the portal to the Interdimensional Rift the manikins are using to cross into the world, and seal it. Stopping when they suspect Laguna is leading them the wrong way, they come across Tifa and Kain, and share their plan with the two. Agreeing they share the same goal of victory in spite of their differences, the six ally together to find the portal knowing it to be a suicide mission with no promise of success. Shortly after they set out Kain tells Lightning in private he doesn't expect forgiveness, and Lightning agrees that apologies are not appropriate. Lightning thanks Kain for ensuring a few of their comrades will survive to the next cycle.
As they travel the group discusses why their Crystals never appeared, and realize it is because their goals did not align with Cosmos's desires - they focused on fighting the manikins and neglected their intended purpose to defeat Chaos. Thus, by closing the portal to the rift and stopping the manikins from crossing over, the warriors surviving to the next cycle can focus on this goal. Stopping for a rest on the way, Vaan notes they've never seen the manikins' home, and Yuna and Tifa agree to look forward to the destination to stay positive. Suddenly, Exdeath and Golbez appear before them, and Golbez warns they have encountered few manikins thus far because an army of them is marching to Order's Sanctuary to attack Cosmos, the Warrior of Light her only line of defense. Deciding it's too late to make it if they turn back, they continue on, Kain remaining behind to fight Exdeath and Golbez.
Reaching the gateway that leads to the portal to the Rift, the group contemplates their decision and the possibilities that may have awaited them if they had decided to turn back, such as the possibility of having regained their lost memories. At the third floor of the gateway the group reaches the Empyreal Paradox and find the portal to the Rift. Garland, The Emperor, Kefka, Ultimecia and the Cloud of Darkness appear to stop them. Engaging the five, Lightning's group emerges victorious and the villains retreat. Another wave of manikins begins to emerge from the portal. The group discusses their decision to fight on a mission they knew they can't return from, and Lightning apologizes for dragging them along. Laguna rejects her apology, telling her they each knew what would happen. Agreeing their efforts will give their friends a chance in the next cycle, the four charge forward, Lightning remaining behind for a moment as Kain arrives before they both join them. Meanwhile, at Order's Sanctuary, the manikin army has arrived. The Warrior of Light apologizes for failing to bring Cosmos victory, telling her that the time will come when they will prevail, and asks that she believe in that future. With these words, the Warrior steps forward to defend her and prepares to battle.
In the ending FMV, the six warriors at the portal to the Rift collapse, weakened and battered. Lightning remains standing long enough to see the portal's glow subside, before she, too, falls, satisfied the portal has closed. At Order's Sanctuary the Warrior begins to falter as he fights, and Cosmos calls out to him in time for him to avoid a fatal blow. Floating into the air, the goddess unleashes a burst of energy that destroys the remaining manikins. The Warrior falls unconscious, and awakens on a high cliff to see the other Warriors of Cosmos, including Tidus, Terra and Cloud, as well as Cosmos herself, floating around him glowing with golden light. Seeing Lightning and her band, the Warrior looks up to see a draconic figure of light descend from the sky and fly around them. Lightning and the other five fade away, Lightning smiling at him before she vanishes. The figure of light absorbs light from the others, encircles the area and flies back into the sky.
The ending narration tells of Cosmos's choice to divert her energy from suppressing Chaos's power and protecting the world to saving the lives of her warriors, and that in spite of her choice and the destruction Chaos's energies wrought, Shinryu still purified her warriors, and soon they will awaken to begin the next cycle of war.
In this stage the party is introduced to the Party Piece, which pit them against multiple enemies at once. The player must choose when selecting a Party Piece, to fight Round-Robin style where each party member takes turns fighting the opponent, or Tournament style, where the two parties fight each other until one of them runs out of members. Either way has its advantages - with Round Robin the player can split up the effort among party members, while Tournament allows the player to solo the enemy with one party member. Also note that when facing a Party Piece, the player earns KP for each individual battle, with a chain multipler for beating the entire party. A Straight Chain at B2 will chain all of the enemies here.
There is no way to chain all enemies here, but as the Party Piece represents three enemies, a Straight Chain at C4 will chain the most enemies to maximize KP winnings.
This is the final gateway, and there are only a handful of low-powered enemies to fight here, so the player should not waste time using chain skills on them and conserve them for larger groups of opponents in other storylines. However, if the player wishes to do so a Straight Chain will chain both enemies.
HP recovers 100% for all characters at beginning of floor. The battles here are not fought using the character in the order the player set them, and are faced in the order given in the tabs below. The player must also fight each opponent using the specified character. Despite similarities to such, this is not considered a party battle, and thus neither ruleset for party battles apply and the player must win all battles to complete the storyline. If the player flees from any battle, re-engaging the Chaos Piece will begin the sequence of battles from the battle they fled from, earlier opponents do not have to be fought again.
