Profound Darkness

The Profound Darkness is a Darker Aberration and a major antagonist in EPISODE 3. It is the main target of the Emergency Quests Perennial Apocalypse and The Endless Darkness.

Story

Persona made the ultimate sacrifice for its one true friend: by using the Clarissa's power, Persona absorbed the corrupted Photons consuming the player and Matoi and took them into itself, causing it to transform into the being known as the Profound Darkness, a volatile, failed clone of Xion created and corrupted by the Photoners whose existence solely revolves around the destruction of the known universe. With the fate of both Oracle and the universe hanging in the balance, ARKS dispatches every last reserve to a corruption influx above the planet Naberius to intercept and destroy the Profound Darkness.

Perennial Apocalypse/The Endless Darkness

A.R.K.S.

Throughout the Emergency Quest instance, an Enemy Annihilation Rate gauge will appear at the top of the screen. This percentage value is raised by clears of Perennial Apocalypse across the entire Ship. When the Enemy Annihilation Rate reaches certain thresholds, an A.R.K.S. buff will apply to all players currently participating in the Emergency Quest, indicated by a voiceover from a Council of Six member appearing at the top left of the screen. A.R.K.S. does not apply to players who have already cleared the Quest.

• 30%: Invokes A.R.K.S. Level 1. Maximum HP of all players is dramatically boosted.
• 70%: Invokes A.R.K.S. Level 2. Maximum PP of all players is dramatically boosted.
• 100%: Invokes A.R.K.S. Level 3. Natural PP restoration rate of all players rises significantly.

Battle

The fight with the Profound Darkness consists of five phases.

General Battle Notes

• Weakness:
• Enemy Class: DA (Darker Aberration)

Phase 1

• At the start of the fight, the Profound Darkness will fly around the battlefield until it positions itself in front of your spacecraft. Each of the "parts" on its body is a smaller ligament that performs various attacks, depending on the part in question. At first, only one part will engage players. Once enough damage is done to Profound Darkness, it will start attacking with two parts.
  • Claws:
    • Snaps twice, then lashes out and grabs a player. The grabbed player will be lifted up, then slammed down into the battlefield; this deals AOE damage to anyone standing near the impact while dealing massive damage to the grabbed player, which is likely to kill them. The grabbed player can mash the Jump key to escape the grab.
    • Snaps three times while lashing out.
    • Inverts itself, then uses the one claw on its other side to spawn walls. Players are unable to pass through these walls, and they cannot be climbed without the use of certain Arts and Skills, such as One More Jump. However, they have relatively low HP, so they should be destroyed as soon as possible.
  • Eye Array
    • Fires laser beams from each of its eyes.
    • Fires a shotgun-like blast of projectiles that do damage and inflict the injury status (reduced maximum HP). This can be cured with Anti.
    • Fires three slow-moving orbs that home in on players; if a player comes into contact with one, it will deal damage while inflicting the Bind status. This can be cured with Anti.
  • Scythes
    • Extends to the middle of the battlefield and starts slashing.
    • Slashes numerous times in front of itself
    • Does short chops, sending out slash waves
  • Mouth
    • Emits a roar that knocks players away
    • Launches itself forward across the platform twice to hit players
    • Creates a vacuum sucking players towards it, then explodes doing damage
• In addition, the Profound Darkness will also use the following attacks:
  • Flies away, then is seen destroying Platform Ships in the background. The debris from the destroyed Ships will fall on the battlefield, indicated by an AOE marker.
  • Flies over the battlefield, then plunges its head, indicated by an AOE marker.
  • Uses its head to slash across the battlefield. This attack can recur multiple times in succession.
• Each of the individual parts can be destroyed to reduce their damage. Once a certain number of parts have been destroyed, it will reel back. The following behavior is dependent on the difficulty of the Quest.
  • Normal to Super Hard: The Profound Darkness enters a stun phase where its core is exposed and is vulnerable.
  • Extra Hard: The Profound Darkness approaches the platform with two parts shielding the core, then calls upon more parts while Bits spawn. Destroying all of the Bits will cause the Profound Darkness to enter a stun phase exposing the core; the stun period is determined by how long it took to destroy the Bits as well as damage done to Profound Darkness - the stun will immediately end if the HP threshold for the next phase is reached.
    • During this segment, the Profound Darkness will use the following attacks along with the attacks of the two parts:
      • Fires a massive laser from its core that inflicts high damage and knocks back players.
      • Recalls all bits to it, then unleashes a burst attack that destroys the Bits while inflicting close-ranged AOE damage. This attack ends the segment and returns to the normal phase.

Phase 2

A time-space distortion is invoked, causing the background to turn white.

• In Perennial Apocalypse, Profound Darkness will gain a weakness to 2 random weapon types.
• Adds a deadly attack where it flies away, then charges up energy. It will then ram the battlefield with a field-wide attack; this attack deals enough damage to likely kill without A.R.K.S. Level 1. This attack can recur multiple times in succession (always twice from opposite directions in Extra Hard), and it will recur periodically during this phase.
• Otherwise identical to Phase 1, except that Profound Darkness will now engage with 3 parts simultaneously

Phase 3

The Profound Darkness unleashes its true form from its core: a giant, humanoid golden-armored creature.

• The Profound Darkness will use the following attacks:
  • Unleashes an AOE burst that hits an immediate area in front of it.
  • Sweeps hand across arena, leaving a marked area on the floor that will explode after a small delay.
  • Smashes its hands twice into the arena, then smashes with a double fist. The final attack deals enough damage to likely kill.
  • Holds one hand on the battlefield while firing orbs and lasers. The core on the chest (if it is present) will be out of reach during this attack, making it difficult to hit without Ranged attacks or Techniques.
  • Draws players to the center of the battlefield, then summons laser beams from the sky to inflict damage.
• During this phase, Bits will spawn. Destroying all Bits will cause the Profound Darkness to reel back. The following behavior is dependent on the difficulty of the Quest.
  • Normal to Super Hard: The Profound Darkness enters a stun phase where it is vulnerable.
  • Extra Hard: A large, eye-like core bursts from its chest, and the Profound Darkness continues attacking with additional projectiles and lasers coming from the core. Dealing enough damage to the core will cause it to break and cause the Profound Darkness to enter a stun phase.

Phase 4

The Profound Darkness creates a pocket dimension, transporting the player into a one-on-one fight with Persona.

• Persona uses its normal appearance for this portion; however, if Story Quest 3-7 has been completed, it will be replaced with an identical copy of the player's appearance.
• During this phase, all other players disappear; however, the damage dealt by each individual player is still added up, and certain effects will apply across all iterations, such as Weak Bullet and Jellen.
• Uses the following attacks:
  • Fires fast moving orbs at the player. Can fire them in either solo or double salvos.
  • Summons laser beams from the sky that deal average damage and Stun.
  • Summons a giant energy blade, then drops it down at the player's position. This attack deals enough damage to likely kill. This attack almost always comes after the laser beam attack.
• During the battle, the screen will become increasingly distorted; if enough time passes without Persona being defeated, it will unleash a field-wide attack that inflicts 999,999 damage. This can be avoided with invulnerability effects such as Photon Blast.

Phase 5

• The behavior of this phase is dependent on both the performance in Phase 4 and the Quest difficulty.
  • If Persona was not defeated during Phase 4, the Profound Darkness will attack once more, using the following attacks:
    • Sends out a pulse that deals average damage to the area in front of it.
    • Slams its head down, dealing average damage.
  • If Persona was defeated during Phase 4:
    • Normal to Super Hard: The Profound Darkness collapses on the battlefield. This is a permanent stun phase that lasts until it dies.
    • Extra Hard: The Profound Darkness will spawn a giant eye-like core from its face, then engage in a final showdown. Bits will also spawn, but it is not necessary to attack them. Inflicting enough damage to the core will cause it to break, causing the Profound Darkness to enter a permanent stun phase.
      • In addition to the above-mentioned attacks, it will additionally fire a massive laser that tracks the Bit cluster. This laser deals average damage, but does not stagger nor does it hit multiple times.

Solo Training: Heaven and Hell

• Spawns at the end of Stage 10 after all other enemies are defeated.
• Identical to Phase 4 of the actual fight, but has increased HP and slight AI adjustments.
  • Over End usage is now semi-randomized; it can use it after either attack, or will not follow up the Satellite Cannon attack with Over End.
  • Will never use the OHKO attack.