Adversary

Creation of the Adversary at Black Heaven

For the boss in Odium, see First Adversary.

“When the gods were running wild, the will of the world decided it wanted order. So it called for a weapon. The Adversary. You.”

― Shensung to the player

The Adversary, also known as the Ace of the Alliance, is a member of the Maple Alliance and the in-game moniker of the player character. As the identity of the Adversary is the player, any class in the game can be the Adversary. Although the player is known as the Adversary, this title refers to any chosen Vessel, known in full as the Vessel of an Adversary, who has been fused with a Seal Stone or a Godsphere, granting them the power to face higher beings, such as the Ancient Gods or Transcendents, in combat.

History

The Ancient War

The Elders of Grandis

After the Primordial God created the Overseers to quell the chaos of the Ancient Gods, the Overseers chose twelve of the most outstanding Anima in the world and tasked them with creating beings who could defeat the gods. These twelve elders of Grandis were given much by the Overseers, including a long lifespan and researchers to aid them in their experiments. The Overseers also created a relic called the World Heart, which could strip a god or a godlike being of their power. Using the World Heart as a template, the elders created relics known as the Godspheres. As these man-made Godspheres were weaker than the World Heart, they did not possess the power to drain the energy of higher beings, nor did they share the conditions required to awaken their power. Instead, the Godspheres had their own unique conditions - namely that they would only awaken in response to the collective determination of the people, such that their immense power could never be monopolized by a single individual. In the laboratory of Odium, the elders began conducting experiments to fuse mortals with the Godspheres in order to give them the power to match the gods. The elders created mechanical Guardians to defend the laboratory, as well as to identify suitable test subjects. Worthy candidates were known as Vessels, who would then be experimented upon in order to be fused with the Godspheres. The elders used a combination of magic and cybernetics to enhance their Vessels and make them stronger, as well as to forcibly make them compatible with the Godspheres. Their early experiments resulted in a number of failed test subjects, some of whom became monstrous abominations sealed away in the laboratory or deemed defective and thrown off the edge of Odium.

The First Adversaries

Over time, the elders began perfecting their research and were soon able to successfully unite the Godspheres with their Vessels, creating demigods known as the Adversaries, whom the researchers of Odium described as the Adversaries of the Gods. The first Vessel to successfully become one with a Godsphere was known as the First Adversary - known also as the First Explorer, who had mastered the four branches of combat - warrior, magician, bowman, and thief - wielding a sword, staff, bow, and dagger in battle. Imbued with the power to challenge the gods, the Adversaries began the conflict that would one day be known as the Ancient War. This war began with the Adversaries' attack upon the Ancient Gods of Tallahart, the seat of power for the supreme god Noctis, with the conflict quickly spreading as the Overseers' war upon the Ancient Gods engulfed the world itself. With their experiments succeeding with great results, the elders began mass-producing more Adversaries in order to subdue the gods and end their chaos. However, the one critical flaw of the elders' research was that due to the nature of the brutal experimentation, their Adversaries lost everything that made them human - their memories, their emotions, their free will, and their sense of self - thereby reducing them into empty shells devoid of anything except their single-minded obsession to fulfill their assigned purpose as Adversaries of the gods.

This lack of humanity was called contamination by the elders, who were shocked and disgusted with themselves for having taken away the humanity and free will of so many heroes of the world. Nevertheless, as they had been given a direct mission by the Overseers to end the rampage of the wild and unaccountable gods, the elders continued with their research, despite knowing that they were committing grave atrocities and compromising all the core values that they held sacred. Soon after, the elders also realized another side-effect of their Adversaries - one which had been directly created by the Overseers themselves. The Adversaries' power to destroy higher beings made them a great danger to the world, for while they were working to end the chaos of the gods, allowing such powerful and dangerous weapons to remain in the world was a grave risk, as their mere existence had the potential to usher in a new age of chaos, equal to that of the Ancient Gods. For this reason, it had been ordained that the fate of every Adversary - from the moment that they awakened - was to die soon after fulfilling their purpose. As a result, their Adversaries - after defeating the gods - began falling one by one. Because of this, the elders continued requiring candidates for their experiments to give rise to more Adversaries.

Grave of the Gods

At the same time, the war continued progressing as the elders had hoped, with the gods falling one by one to the Adversaries' power. As the end of the war approached, only two strongholds of the gods remained - Tallahart and the holy land at the edge of Grandis, where the holy city of Cernium would one day be built. In Tallahart, Noctis' immense strength allowed her to effortlessly defeat the Adversaries who came to face her, leading her to believe that none could harm her or her twin sister, Luce. Though Luce had doubts about the war, Noctis promised her sister that the Adversaries were nothing more than puppets for the Overseers' selfish fears and that the Adversaries' blades would never reach them so long as they fought an unjustifiable war, for which she invited the Adversaries to keep attacking, declaring that upon their graves, the world would start again in Tallahart. Meanwhile, the other gods of Tallahart began to fear the Overseers, as the creation of the Adversaries directly challenged their faith in their immortality. As stronger and stronger Adversaries were sent forth from Odium to attack Tallahart, the other gods betrayed Noctis in an effort to steal her immense power. By kidnapping her sister, the gods forced Noctis into an agreement to surrender her power in exchange for her sister's life, though the gods nevertheless stripped Luce of her power and banished her from Tallahart. Though the gods of Tallahart claimed Noctis' power, they were unable to handle that power, resulting in Tallahart's destruction and the gods being sealed away by their Adversaries, earning Tallahart the moniker, Grave of the Gods.

Defeating the Last God

With Tallahart's time coming to a close, only one god remained at the edge of Grandis, and the elders continued their experiments to create an Adversary to confront the last god standing. One test subject underwent the brutal experiments, though he was ultimately deemed a defective Vessel. The test subject was thrown out by the Guardians and sent plummeting from the sky, with his body - which had been replaced by metal - causing him to sink to the bottom of the sea. There, however, he encountered a giant anglerfish, whose light helped him begin the process of creating a large tower in order to escape the ocean. Because of the experiments, the test subject's body would not tire, and so he spent centuries laboring to escape the bottom of the ocean and reach the surface. Meanwhile, the elders continued searching for a suitable Vessel. Though test subjects were typically brought in from outside Odium, there were several Vessels that existed within the ranks of the researchers. In particular, there was one researcher named Kaling, who was deemed a suitable candidate for experimentation, despite the research team's reservations about whether she would be compatible with the Godsphere. A researcher named Aroa warned Kaling that the experiments would be incredibly painful and that she may face unending pain or even death as a result, as well as the possibility of her humanity being stripped away from her. Despite Aroa's warnings, Kaling - who was considered the most kind-hearted researcher amongst them - gladly agreed to undergo the experiments, despite knowing the risks, as she had a strong desire for peace and had full faith that the experiments would bring about that peace. However, though Kaling underwent the brutal experiments, she was ultimately deemed a defective Vessel.

While Kaling's ego was unable to be fully erased, she was nevertheless affected to a certain degree by the contamination, which began stripping away her humanity and compassion, leaving her obsessed with fulfilling her purpose to defeat the Ancient Gods. Aroa, who had previously warned Kaling about the nature of the experiments, discovered that Kaling had created four mechanical monsters imbued with energy. Kaling explained that while the researchers had Vessels and Godspheres, they lacked the power to fill the Vessels in order to make them stronger. She revealed that while her four machines were small, they could amass great power by consuming other small monsters, which could then give rise to an extremely powerful Adversary. Despite Aroa and the other researchers recognizing the signs of contamination in Kaling, they turned a blind eye to her experiments, refusing to believe that the contamination could affect even the best of them.

Over time, however, the elders and the researchers began realizing that the contamination was beginning to spread to them from their Vessels, slowly eroding their humanity. Hoping to stop the contamination, an elder named Weio proposed that they create an object known as a mysticant, which could cleanse them of their contamination and wash away their grave sins. Several elders refused, claiming that they should view their lack of humanity as punishment from the Overseers for their abhorrent crimes. However, some of the elders agreed with Weio and began experimenting alongside her to create an object to stave off their contamination. Their efforts resulted in the creation of the bell mysticant, whose ring would be able to cleanse their sins and their contamination. However, as the bell would only ring in the hands of someone with an exceptionally pure heart, Weio - a sheep Anima - left the bell with a sheep Anima village, entrusting them to find someone who could make the bell ring.

By the end of the war, the contamination completely took hold of Kaling, erasing her morality and causing her to fall to evil. After she released her four monsters - Hundun, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie - into the world, her creations began consuming fiends and terrorizing the entirety of Grandis with impunity. Aroa soon confronted Kaling and ordered her to terminate her research immediately, claiming that it was a complete failure. Aroa explained to Kaling that her monsters had become known as the Four Perils and that they were causing great harm to the people of Grandis. However, Kaling retorted that Grandis was already embroiled in war and chaos, even without her creations. She then claimed that once the Four Perils consumed enough monsters, she would combine them and create an extremely powerful Adversary who could defeat the last god and win the war.  Before Kaling's experiment could finish, however, the last god was defeated in a climactic battle, in which their blade carved a great scar across the holy land. Having been felled by their Adversaries, the Ancient Gods' bodies were sealed away across the world, lying dormant for ages as they recovered from the injuries sustained in battle.

End of the War

At the end of the war, the elders realized that they could no longer turn a blind eye to Kaling's madness and had her seized from Odium. Zigang - the leader of the elders and Kaling's mentor - confronted her and declared that she had created monsters and that she was no longer his disciple. Turning his back on her, he ordered another defective Vessel named Master Tai Yu to handle Kaling and her Four Perils. Tai Yu successfully sealed Kaling away, trapping her under the hardest and heaviest rock in Odium, which Tai Yu bound in place with golden chains and countless sealing talismans, after which he began hunting down the Four Perils. After the war ended, the elders realized that their contamination had critically worsened, which threatened to completely erode their humanity. They also realized that though the war had ended, their research to create beings strong enough to destroy a god had the potential to give birth to a new age of chaos. For this reason, the elders, in accordance with the will of the world, decided that they would clear away their research and sequester themselves from the world to prevent the contamination and the secrets of the Overseers from leaking out.

With no Godspheres left in Odium, the elders took the World Heart - the original template made by the Overseers - and forcibly fused it with Hundun, the strongest of the Four Perils. As the World Heart's power was so strong that even they could not handle it, the elders hoped to deplete its power to ensure that no one would be able to misuse it. After fusing it with Hundun, the elders used him as the power source of Odium. Meanwhile, Tai Yu sealed away the other three Perils, though the elders kept the truth about Hundun secret from both Tai Yu and the researchers. The researchers, using some of Kaling's old research, created the Constables - sentient robots made in the researchers' own image, with their Anima features replaced with metal equivalents. The Constables were then tasked with maintaining the laboratory in the researchers' absence. Additionally, the elders left Guardian Kalos, the strongest of their mechanical Guardians, to serve as the laboratory's sentinel. With Hundun and the World Heart powering such a vast and complex mechanical system, the elders hoped to slowly deplete the World Heart's power throughout the ages.

With all the Adversaries meeting their demise as a result of their preordained fate, the divine power of the Godspheres - originally stemming from the World Heart - permeated deep into the land. The power of the First Adversary, who had met his fate after fulfilling his mission, was imbued into the leaves of the Maple Tree, his favorite resting spot, where it lay dormant, awaiting the one who would inherit his will. In addition, his spirit was imbued into the World Heart, where he served as a guardian to protect the World Heart's power from the unworthy. The elders then locked all remnants of their research - including the monstrous creatures born from their failed experiments - inside the laboratory, tasking their Constables and Guardians with safeguarding Odium. With all traces of their research cleared away, the elders used their power to create Shangri-La, also known as the realm of the sages, where they chose to imprison themselves in order to stop the contamination from spreading.

Meanwhile, the defective Vessel who had been thrown off Odium into the sea had completed building his tower to escape the ocean after centuries. Upon reaching the surface and seeing the rising sun, he believed that he had never been a failure, but rather, the elders had deemed him one because they were afraid that they had created an Adversary even more powerful than they were. The test subject, whose humanity - similar to Kaling's - had partially been stripped away by the experiments, was left obsessed with becoming an Adversary, despite the fact that he was incompatible with the Godsphere. With his free will and morality taken away, the test subject single-mindedly continued building his tower for ages in an attempt to reach Odium and prove that he was capable of fulfilling his mission. Upon reaching Odium, however, Guardian Kalos detected that he was a defective Vessel. Declaring that the test subject was unworthy to enter Odium, Kalos destroyed the tower and reduced it to rubble in an instant.

The test subject once again fell back to the bottom of the sea, where he realized that if he could not reach Odium himself, then he would need to use a true Vessel to clear the path for him. The test subject continued rebuilding the tower repeatedly and began stealing the Guardians protecting Odium each time before Kalos destroyed it. He then enchanted the tower and turned it into a magical artifact, in which he created statues that contained his memories. Potential Vessels that came in contact with the statues would be transported to a subspace containing the reprogrammed Guardians, which would attack the Vessel to determine whether they would be deemed worthy by Kalos. The test subject then enchanted the tower so that it would rebuild itself each time that it was destroyed. Though it naturally took a lifetime to complete, the presence of a Vessel would accelerate its completion within less than a day. Because of this, the tower became known as Karote, the Unending Tower.

Age of the Transcendents

Following the end of the Ancient War, the Overseers, to restore order to the universe, ordained that only three worlds - Maple World, Grandis, and Tynerum - should exist. These three worlds, which had once been connected as one, were separated into different dimensions and governed by the three laws of light, life, and time. To enforce the three laws and to ensure that the Ancient Gods would never rise again, the Overseers created three Transcendents for each of the three worlds. The power of the Transcendents suppressed the Ancient Gods, who were to remain forever sealed away in their unnatural slumber. Despite this, however, one Ancient God - the Divine Bird, Shinsoo - was tasked with protecting a particular bloodline on Maple World, which had grown intertwined with the Transcendents, such that a descendant of that bloodline would one day awaken to become a replacement Transcendent should the need arise.

During the Ancient War, Shinsoo had taken pity on the people of Maple World, who had been suffering immensely from the chaos of the Ancient Gods. Shinsoo took it upon herself to protect humanity from the carnage with her immense power. After the end of the war, Shinsoo - who had been tasked with watching over the birth of the new Transcendent - used her power to create the floating island of Ereve, which became a seat of power for members of that bloodline, with each of their descendants ruling as the Empress of Maple World after accepting Shinsoo's divine power. Shinsoo also created the Piyos, a race of bird-like creatures, who would carry out her will to aid the Empress. To defend the Empress, Shinsoo bestowed a portion of her power to a guardian known as the Knight of Light, who used the power of light inside their Soul Shield to serve as the Empress' protector, with the Knight of Light's title and power being passed down across generations to worthy inheritors chosen by the Soul Shield.

The Seal Stones

Eons later, the Black Mage awakened as the Transcendent of Light and enacted a plan to liberate the world from the hold of the Overseers, whose fixed destiny kept humanity anchored to an unavoidable path of annihilation. He began a war of conquest to draw out heroes that would seal him away, which was part of his plan to create a convergence of worlds. A magician named Freud began researching the forgotten power of the Godspheres in order to find a way to stop the Black Mage from destroying the world. Just as the elders had used the World Heart as a template to create the Godspheres, Freud extracted the power of the World Heart, which had permeated deep into the continent, and refashioned them back into gems that he called the Seal Stones, as they had been created as tools to both seal the Black Mage and to restore the damage done to broken lands. Freud and the Heroes distributed the Seal Stones across Maple World, while using five others to seal the Black Mage away for hundreds of years. After the death of Empress Aria and her Knight of Light, the Knight of Light's successor inherited the Seal Stone that Freud had given Shinsoo, which he safeguarded inside the Soul Shield over the centuries.

The First Adversary's Will

Centuries later, an Explorer on Maple Island inherited the will of the First Adversary, whose consciousness rested within the Maple Tree. The Explorer discovered a maple leaf imbued with the First Adversary's residual power, with Sugar returning after ages to guide the Explorer on their fated path once again. During the Explorer's travels, the Black Mage was freed from his seal, causing him to lay waste to Maple Island. With the Black Mage's shadow threatening to destroy their home, the Explorer - with the First Adversary's guidance - used the residual power of the Adversary inside the maple leaf to defeat the Black Shadow before the Explorers of Maple Island used the Seal Stone of Victoria Island to undo the damage done to their home.

A New Adversary

With the Black Mage's return, Empress Cygnus formed the Maple Alliance in order to combat the fallen Transcendent and his forces. One member of the Alliance quickly rose through the ranks with their immense strength and courage, causing them to be known as the Ace of the Alliance and garnering them the full trust and loyalty of the Alliance and its members. As the Alliance battled the Black Mage's forces, the Seal Stones hidden by the Heroes were discovered and destroyed by the Black Wings, leaving the Seal Stone of Ereve as the last Seal Stone in existence. During the battle of Black Heaven, the Ace of the Alliance was fatally poisoned by Gelimer's Retoxin gas, leaving them on the verge of death. In order to save their life, Cygnus and the members of the Alliance used the Seal Stone of Ereve, reviving the Ace of the Alliance. Unbeknownst to them all, however, the Seal Stone recognized the Ace of the Alliance as one who represented the will of the people, causing it to choose them as its Vessel and transforming them into an Adversary. Elsewhere, the Black Mage sensed the creation of the Adversary, which he described as a twist in the axis of destiny. Soon enough, the Black Mage succeeded in removing the Transcendent of Time and the Transcendent of Life from the board, allowing him to create the Arcane River behind the Gate of the Present for the final stage in his plan.

The Arcane River

Vanishing Journey

Soon after the Arcane River's creation, the Adversary was summoned to the Temple of Time by the Memory Keeper, who revealed that the Erdas - the building blocks of reality - were being drawn into the Gate of the Present, giving rise to a new world. In order to learn the power to harness Erda, the Adversary met the Goddesses of Maple World, Grandis, and Tynerum, from whom they obtained the Arcane Stones. With the power to manipulate Erda, the Adversary first entered the Vanishing Journey, where they learned that an amnesiac Temple Keeper named Kao was the Adversary from another timeline, and that Kao had gone back in time to stop the giant monster Arma from draining their Arcane Power.

Reverse City

Before continuing along the Arcane River, the Adversary investigated Reverse City - a city from Friends World which had been drawn into the Arcane River as a result of the White Mage of Friends World fusing his world with Maple World. There, the Adversary faced off against T-Boy, the cybernetic son of the Angler Father, who had founded the Angler Company many years ago in his quest to become a true Adversary. Though the Adversary managed to defeat him, T-Boy was nevertheless able to ascertain that the Angler Company could use the Adversary to complete Karote and open the path to Odium for the Angler Father.

Chu Chu Island

Continuing past the Vanishing Journey, the Adversary helped the people of Chu Chu Island - created from the spontaneous fusion of various Erda in Maple World - by feeding the friendly giant Muto, who then saved them from an attack from the evil monster Gulla.

Yum Yum Island

Near the village of Chu Chu Island was a smaller landmass known as Yum Yum Island, where Kaling - after breaking free of her seal eons later and becoming an Apostle of Gerand Darmoor - conducted experiments to create a Godsphere for Grandis's fallen Transcendent of Life, who sought to create an Adversary of his own. By fusing the Erdas of the most powerful monsters in Maple World, Kaling hoped to replicate the strong constitution of a Vessel. She also attempted to create a Godsphere, though her flawed, contaminated Godspheres - whose power was contained within her blue buttons - were unable to be replicated with the full power of a true Godsphere. During their journey, the Adversary encountered Kaling's creations on Yum Yum Island and destroyed her greatest creation - a fusion made from the Erdas of Afrien, the King of Onyx Dragons, whose Erda Kaling had sought to use due to Afrien's association with Freud, who himself had created successful Godspheres in the form of the Seal Stones. Though the Adversary defeated the Afrien fusion, Kaling later returned and decided that with all her experiments being failures in the end, she would instead move on with her other plans.

Lachelein

In Lachelein, the Adversary discovered that Lucid, an elven Commander of the Black Mage who could manipulate dreams, had turned on her master and created the Dreaming City in order to show him a world of festivities and happiness, thereby hoping to change his mind about erasing himself from the world. There, the Adversary worked with the 'awakened ones' of Lachelein in order to stop Lucid and end the nightmare around the city.

Arcana

In the forest of Arcana, the Adversary worked with the spirits of the forest in order to lift the corruption upon it. During their mission, they discovered that a mysterious girl had corrupted the forest with her presence as she had walked through Arcana some time ago.

Morass

Deep in the Morass of the Arcane River, the Adversary discovered that Commander Arkarium was leading Tana - the mysterious girl who had corrupted Arcana - towards the Black Mage. Tana's unparalleled ability to control the Erda - combined with her fragile mental state - caused her to trap the Adversary inside a replica of her memories of Kritias, in the final years before the kingdom's fall. After breaking free from the memory, the Adversary helped Tana defeat Arkarium before Tana moved forward without them, intent on helping the Black Mage put an end to the world and her unending pain alongside it.

Esfera

In Esfera, the Adversary - with the help of Alliance reinforcements - encountered Commander Will and learned that Tana was Aeona, Grandis's missing Transcendent of Light, and that the Black Mage planned to absorb her power in order to gain her power of creation, which would enable him to create a new world after destroying their existing world with the power of destruction. While facing Will, a masked figure appeared to aid them on the mission, with both the masked figure and Will revealing to the Ace of the Alliance that they were 'the great Adversary' who was destined to face the Black Mage. After the Adversary defeated Will, they were faced with a choice to kill Tana and stop the ritual. However, thanks to Kao's intervention and warning in the Vanishing Journey, the Adversary made the unexpected decision to spare Tana's life, resulting in the Black Mage taking Tana's power and creating the Black Sun, Tenebris.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Adversary encountered Dimensional Cracks across Esfera that allowed them to glimpse into Kao's timeline, in which they discovered that Kao's lack of Arcane Power - drained from them by Arma - had left them weakened and unable to protect Ollie - one of the Alliance reinforcements dispatched to aid them - resulting in Ollie's death. This event had pushed Kao into choosing to kill Tana, though their inability to awaken the power of the Adversary meant that Tana - a Transcendent - could not be killed by any human attack, allowing the Black Mage to successfully conduct the ritual anyway.

Sellas

With the final battle against the Black Mage looming ahead, the Adversary and the Alliance advance guard undertook a mission to Sellas, a region beneath Esfera, where they successfully obtained Tana's necklace, which had fallen beneath Esfera during the mission. Believing that a Transcendent's possession could help them in the battle ahead, the Alliance recovered it and kept it for the final battle.

Moonbridge

With the time of destiny at hand, the Alliance launched its airfleet to Tenebris, having learned from Shinsoo that three elements were needed to defeat the Black Mage: the Adversary, the Seal Stone, and the strong determination of the Alliance. At Moonbridge - the path to Tenebris - the Adversary helped Empress Cygnus hone her fierce determination to lift the spirits of the Alliance as the Giant Monster Gloom sought to crush them with the Black Mage's fierce malice. With Gloom's defeat, the path to Tenebris was laid bare, with the Alliance recovering Gloom's Core in order to analyze it.

Labyrinth of Suffering

Advancing on Tenebris, the Adversary was caught in an illusion by Commander Hilla, who sought to break their resolve and offer their soul to the Black Mage. Despite her efforts, however, the Adversary, with the help of the masked figure - revealed to be Orchid - was able to partially awaken the power of the Adversary, breaking Hilla's illusion and allowing them to defeat her once and for all.

Limina

Together with Orchid, the Adversary continued forward towards the Black Mage, using a small portion of the Seal Stone's power with their strong determination to sacrifice themselves for victory in order to break the Labyrinth Core and revealing Limina, the true surface of Tenebris. By following the light from Tana's necklace, the Adversary discovered the Genesis Crux, the seed of the new world, which the Black Mage would use to conduct the Genesis Ritual. Regrouping with the Alliance, the Adversary discovered from Gloom's core that the Black Mage had created the Path of Destiny, manipulating events for centuries in order to create the conditions required to achieve his goal. Though the Adversary began to fall into despair, Cygnus strengthened their resolve by reminding them of all the impossible things they had achieved, rallying together the greatest heroes of the Alliance and leading them to face the Black Mage. Their battle transcended the plane of existence as the Black Mage - gaining the power of creation and destruction together - ascended to become a being that transcended the Transcendents, rivaling the Overseers themselves.

As the time of Genesis approached, the Adversary attempted to awaken the Seal Stone, though their determination to die merely channeled a fragment of power that could not destroy the Black Mage. However, Tana's formless light appeared to guide the Adversary, helping them learn that their will needed to match the will of the people in order to awaken the Seal Stone's full power. With the understanding that they needed to focus on their will to survive alongside those they wished to protect, the Adversary used the full power of the Seal Stone to destroy the Black Mage and the Genesis Crux. Following this, the Adversary - after scattering into Erda - met the White Mage in the Erda Flow, where he revealed to them that their choice to spare Tana was the moment that they had stepped off his Path of Destiny. He explained that Kao's failure in the previous timeline had shaken his faith in the integrity of his plan, and that after reexamining everything he understood about the nature of humanity, he had ultimately realized that he had lost sight of the value of life in his pursuit of a perfect world. With the Adversary showing him a different path, the White Mage used the power of creation as his final act to restore the Adversary and the fallen Alliance soldiers to life, believing that a world led by good-natured people like them would be more perfect than anything he could have created with the power of the gods.

Genesis Weapon

Following the Black Mage's death, the Alliance discovered the Genesis Weapon, which was imbued with the power of creation and destruction. The Adversary defeated the afterimages of the fallen Commanders in order to awaken its full power, with the Commanders' memories revealing that the Black Mage had left the Genesis Weapon behind for the Adversary in order to arm them against Gerand Darmoor and the Overseers, as he had aspired for something more than the creation of a new world, though the Adversary was left wondering what it was that the Black Mage had truly wanted them to do.

Continental Grandis

Convergence and a New Age

Some time after the Black Mage's death, the Adversary followed Grendel the Really Old on his path towards understanding the Black Mage's motivations, allowing them to discover that the Transcendents had been created to suppress the Ancient Gods. With the Transcendents of Maple World disappeared, Grendel the Really Old traveled to the border between worlds, where he broke the dimensional seal between Maple World and Grandis, completing the fusion of the two worlds. As a result of this convergence, the sharp collision of Erdas generated the new, volatile Sol Erda, which overwhelmed the Goddesses of the three worlds. In order to help them, the Adversary discovered a way to speak with the Sol Erdas, who infused their power into the Adversary's Arcane Symbols. In doing so, the Adversary learned to harness their power and gained a new mastery over the Erdas that exceeded that of the Goddesses themselves, allowing them to wield the power of Sol Erda in the new age faced by the world.

Cernium

Soon after the convergence, Prince Carlisle of Cernium crossed the seas of Grandis in order to find the Adversary and enlist their help in saving the Holy City from an imminent High Flora invasion. Hoping that the Adversary was the prophesied Chosen One who could wield Azor, the holy sword of the Sun God Mitra, Carlisle asked the Adversary to grasp the blade, though they immediately felt a huge surge of hostility from Azor. Soon after, the Adversary began working with a High Flora librarian named Aaron, who revealed that the Adversaries were the ancient enemies of the gods, and that the sword had likely been hostile because it had sensed the power of a Godsphere inside the Adversary. The Adversary and Aaron then continued to work together to find the true Chosen One, with the Alliance believing that Seren - a Celestial whose people were descendants of Mitra - was the true Chosen One, though Seren refused to claim the title, believing herself unworthy.

As the Apostle Havoc led the High Flora army to invade Cernium, another Celestial named Gilmore appeared to claim Azor for himself. With the Alliance working to repel him, the Adversary continued researching with Aaron in order to learn more about the sword. Their investigation led them to discover the origins of the Adversaries, who had been created by the will of the world in order to end the primordial chaos of the gods, and learned that the Godspheres were holy relics that operated on a similar principle as the relics of the gods; namely, that the Ancient Gods' relics chose their wielder by recognizing only one who had the support of the god's followers. As the battle for Cernium proceeded, Seren ultimately awakened as the Chosen One and defeated both Havoc and Gilmore with the power of Azor, saving the city from annihilation. Following their victory, Aaron revealed himself as Gerand Darmoor and forced Mitra to possess Seren, with Mitra using Seren's body to fight the Adversary. In the wake of the battle, Azor was shattered by the Adversary, and Darmoor used the chaos to destroy the Adversary's Seal Stone, leaving the Adversary as only an incomplete Vessel.

Hotel Arcus

Several months after the mission to Cernium, the Adversary and the Alliance were directed to Hotel Arcus in the desert by Cosim, a member of the Angler family who had turned on his father. There, they raced against Senya Angler to find the power of Archelon, a dormant Ancient God sleeping beneath the deserts of Arcus. Though Senya managed to seize the superweapons beneath the hotel, Archelon's robotic body - created ages ago by his friend to help him live with humans - rebelled against Senya's command and took back control of the superweapons. Following Senya's defeat, Archelon agreed to provide aid to the Alliance, with the Seekers of Grandis - adventurers in search of treasure - returning to the hotel with the reawakening of the gods.

Karote

Soon after the mission to Hotel Arcus, Nicky Angler arrived in the guise of a Seeker to lure the Adversary to Karote. Recognizing the Adversary as a worthy Vessel, the tower began completing itself at a rapid pace as the Adversary fought against the reprogrammed Guardians stolen from Odium. While fighting the Guardians, the Adversary saw the Angler Father's memories, shocking them with the revelation that there had once been a laboratory that had created Adversaries in the distant past. At the top of the tower, the Adversary and Nicky faced Kalos the Guardian, who deemed the Adversary a true Vessel, while claiming that Nicky was a false Vessel made from stolen Odium technology. Nicky then revealed himself as T-Boy and hacked into Kalos, attempting to use him to kill the Adversary. The resulting battle destroyed Karote, with Nicky realizing that his father had programmed his reckless behavior in order to lead him to self-destruct after his use had been spent. In his final moments, Nicky rebelled against his father by pushing the Adversary to safety and revealing that Gerand Darmoor had been working with the Angler Company in order to destroy the Adversary's Seal Stone since before they had even reached the end of the Arcane River. With Nicky falling to his doom, Cosim appeared to rescue the Adversary as the path to Odium was laid bare.

Odium

Soon after the mission to Karote, the Adversary and the Alliance worked with Cosim to enter Odium, where they discovered that the Angler Company had invaded and hacked the Guardians and Constables. With the help of Master Tai Yu, who had been called by Cosim, the Adversary fought past Senya and Laha Angler in order to enter the laboratory. As they did, however, the Apostle Kaling arrived to seize Hundun, who had been trapped inside Odium for ages. However, Kaling was forced into an altercation by Laha, who had been tasked by her father with recovering any material relevant to the power of the Adversary, including the Four Perils. As the two fought, Hundun spoke to the Adversary and revealed that they were a Vessel who had gone against their destiny, while also retaining their ego, unlike the Adversaries of Odium. In order to rebel against his fate, Hundun bestowed the World Heart upon the Adversary at the cost of his life, with the spirit of the First Adversary testing their resolve to wield its power. With the World Heart nearly depleted of its power, Tai Yu led the Adversary to Shangri-La, the realm of the sages, where the Adversary hoped to enlist their aid in restoring it.

Shangri-La

In Shangri-La, the Adversary met with the elders of Grandis, who were shocked to discover that the Adversary was not only a Vessel who retained its sense of self, but they were also one who had avoided the Adversary's destiny, despite having fulfilled their purpose by killing a god. They revealed that the Overseers, believing that allowing such powerful beings to remain unchecked would throw the world into chaos once again, had ordained that the destiny of every Adversary was to die after fulfilling their purpose. The Adversary then realized that Darmoor had destroyed their Seal Stone in order to change their fate, as they would not have been able to keep living if the Seal Stone had remained inside them. Believing the Adversary's existence went against the will of the world, the elders ordered the Four Symbols to seal both the Adversary and the World Heart inside Shangri-La forever. Just then, however, Kaling - with the help of several traitorous elders - forced her way into Shangri-La and unleashed her three Perils, including Hundun, whom Darmoor had revived with the power of life. During the battle, Kaling revealed to them that they were not the Adversary that Darmoor was looking for. Following her defeat, the World Heart drained Darmoor's Transcendent power inside of her, killing her and the Perils.

With Kaling's death, the remaining elders admitted that, despite their reservations, they would allow the Adversary to leave Shangri-La as repayment for having saved them. They explained that the World Heart in the Adversary's possession was the original Godsphere made by the Overseers, and that it had the ability to strip a god or godlike being of their powers. They also revealed that they had attempted to drain it of its energy by using it as the power source of Odium, though they had never expected that the World Heart could steal the power that it erased in order to restore itself. They explained that, unlike the Godspheres and the Seal Stones, the World Heart did not respond to the collective will of the people. In order to restore its power and learn its activation conditions, the Adversary resolved to set out on a new journey. Shortly before leaving, the Adversary and Gaon - one of the Four Symbols - learned that Kaling had left behind several contaminated Godspheres, which contained her memories, in order to further the contamination of the elders and the researchers. The Adversary destroyed all the button Godspheres and saw Kaling's past through her memories, in which they learned that the reason why some of the elders had betrayed Shangri-La and joined Darmoor was to escape the will of the world.

Destiny Weapon

Before the Adversary's departure, the elders learned that the Adversary wielded the Genesis Weapon, which had been given to them by the Black Mage. The elders determined that the Genesis Weapon's full potential was yet to be revealed, and so they aided the Adversary in combining the Genesis Weapon with the power of the World Heart by defeating afterimages of Chosen Seren, Kalos, and Kaling, allowing it to surpass its limitations and transforming it into the Destiny Weapon, capable of growing stronger as the World Heart did.

Arteria

Following the battle of Shangri-La, Darmoor sent his Apostles throughout Maple World and Grandis to steal the power of the Ancient Gods and the Transcendents. In Maple World, the Adversary and the Alliance battled against Reina, who invaded Ereve aboard Arteria and extracted Cygnus's Transcendent powers.With the help of Shinsoo, who bestowed her power upon the World Heart, the Adversary fought against Reina and her invasion force, though Cygnus was mortally wounded and forced into a coma. In the aftermath of the battle, Shinsoo surrendered the full remainder of her divine power, falling into a deep slumber alongside the Empress.

Carcion

Soon after, the Adversary traveled to Carcion in order to protect Keira, an Ancient God and a friend of Gaon. There, they faced off against Limbo and two of the traitorous elders of Shangri-La - Shensung and Xula - who were experimenting on the Anima of Carcion in order to find a suitable test subject for their Adversary experiments, which used a strange combination of Adversary and Specter research, such that the elders were researching the existence of a 'special soul', which allowed a host body to retain their humanity when injected with a Specter soul. During the mission, the Adversary learned to consciously wield the World Heart, rather than it acting independently, allowing them to absorb Darmoor's Transcendent power mixed into the High Flora pollutant that infected the water, as well as Keira's divine power. Following the mission to Carcion, the Adversary met with Keira and learned of the two conditions required to absorb the power of a god: either to defeat them or to make a pact with them. In the aftermath of the battle, the Adversary discovered that the World Heart, having grown even stronger, was now reacting even more sensitively to the Specter energy in Carcion in the form of a rejection reaction, despite having remained unaffected by that same energy at the start of the mission. They also learned that Seren had asked them to meet her at 'the place where the world starts again', where she had discovered the Primacy, a Grandisian resistance militia.

Tallahart

After the Apostles' raids to steal the power of the Ancient Gods, the Adversary traveled to Tallahart in order to stop the High Flora from taking the power of the Ancient Gods resting within. There, the Adversary discovered that the World Heart had grown even stronger after the mission to Carcion, even responding to their innate determination to defend them from their enemy's attacks. With the help of an Ancient God named Luce, posing as a Seeker, the Adversary entered the city and confronted the phantasmal visions of the gods' wrath and witnessed memories of the Adversaries of Odium who had been dispatched to face them. Facing off against the Apostle Baldrix, his adjutant Veronica, and the Knights of the Einherjar, the Adversary and the Alliance were aided by the Primacy, who sought revenge against Baldrix for attacking their base in the past. Together, the Adversary and the Primacy worked to fight the Knights of the Einherjar, absorbing the power of Tallahart's gods along the way and strengthening the World Heart. After Luce was killed by Baldrix, the Adversary discovered that Luce was the twin sister of the supreme god Noctis, who had begun the tradition of the immortals being worshiped as gods long ago. Believing that Baldrix sought to take Noctis's power, the Adversary fought and defeated him, with Baldrix revealing that Darmoor would soon enact a great culling to purge the unworthy from his true paradise. The Adversary then met with Noctis and struck a deal with her, surrendering Luce's power recovered from Baldrix in exchange for her power and all the other gods of Tallahart.

Morning Star Banquet and Tallahart's Ghosts

Following the battle of Tallahart, the Adversary worked with the Primacy to infiltrate Gerand Darmoor's villa, where the New Year's banquet would be attended by the Apostles. During the mission, the Adversary discovered that there was great tension amongst the Apostles, and that a major High Flora operation would soon take place. Soon after, the Adversary worked with Gob - an Ancient God who was both Archelon's friend and an ally of the Primacy- to stop the spirit of a Tallahart god named Prague from reviving himself. They also discovered that an Ancient God named Jupiter was gathering all remaining gods in order to make their stand against Gerand Darmoor.

Selection and Powers

Vessels and Compatibility

During the era of the Ancient Gods, the elders extensively researched how to create an Adversary. The two main components for an Adversary are a Vessel and a Godsphere, which are then fused together. Vessels can be distinguished into two categories: a true Vessel and a defective Vessel. True Vessels are those who are compatible with a Godsphere, while defective Vessels are those that have been rejected by the Godsphere. Although it remains unknown what the criteria are for determining a true Vessel, it is speculated that what determines the success of a Vessel is whether their ego can be erased upon fusing with the Godsphere. Kaling, the Angler Father, and Tai Yu were all considered to be defective Vessels, with all three initially retaining their sense of self for a time after the conclusion of the experiments.

The player is the only known Adversary capable of retaining their humanity and sense of self. While the reason for this is unknown, it is speculated that it is due to the Adversary being organically chosen by a Seal Stone, rather than being forcibly fused. The Seal Stones and the Godspheres both respond to the collective will of the people, and at the time of the Adversary's creation, the Seal Stone of Ereve had responded to the deep desire of the people of Maple World for the Adversary to be saved from death. It is possible that this organic, symbiotic fusion is the reason why the Adversary retained their ego, as the wish of the people was for the Adversary - as a person - to survive unscathed, for which the Seal Stone recognized them as a Vessel of the people's will and chose to fuse with them on its own accord. Additionally, Hundun - who was fused with the World Heart - retained his ego, although the World Heart drained him of his powers and left him dependent on the power cycling through it to keep him alive. It is possible that the unique properties of the World Heart resulted in him retaining his ego, as the World Heart does not respond to the will of a population, meaning that it would not necessitate Hundun to be an embodiment of the people's will, for which his ego would not need to be erased.

Contamination and Mysticants

The erasure of the Vessel's ego is accomplished through a combination of magic and cybernetics, which not only erodes the test subject's sense of self but also enhances their innate strength and power. The loss of humanity in a Vessel is known as contamination, or alternatively, corruption. This contamination appears to be transmissible, as both the elders and the researchers were affected by it over the course of the experiments. The exact properties of contamination are unknown, although given its transmissibility, it is likely magical in nature, possibly generated and exacerbated by the power of the Godsphere being fused with the Vessel's body and mind. Kaling and the Angler Father both demonstrated symptoms of contamination after the experiments, while Tai Yu did not, despite having undergone the same experiments. Based on the possibility that the experiments sought to completely erase the Vessel's ego, and given that Kaling, the Angler Father, and Tai Yu all demonstrated some level of individuality, it can be inferred that defective Vessels possess varying degrees of contamination depending on the extent to which their ego was erased through experimentation. It is also possible that the contamination of defective Vessels occurs due to their proximity to completed, fully-contaminated Vessels in the laboratory, or it could be a mix of both reasons.

Through an unknown influence, countless cursed objects known as mysticants were brought into the world, manifesting as ordinary objects. In a book written by the elders, it was described that mysticants existed independently of their will. The elders later created the bell mysticant in order to cleanse the contamination that had spread to themselves and the researchers. It was also described that the bell is capable of cleansing the evil energies of other mysticants, as any sickness caused by a mysticant can only be cured by another mysticant. In the same book written by the elders, it was explained that the bell had been created as a unique amalgam of their own will and purpose. Given that the bell was made to cleanse the contamination, and that it has the power to purify the evil energies of mysticants, it can be speculated that mysticants contain a portion of the contamination of the Adversaries. The paintbrush mysticant, which holds the ability to gouge out happy memories and paint them on a canvas, is indicative of this, as the loss of memory and emotion is a symptom of the contamination. Although the bell was capable of cleansing the evil energies of the paintbrush mysticant, it was later revealed that the ringing of the bell did not erase the contamination of the elders and the researchers. Though the reason for this is unknown, the elders believe that it is indicative of their sins being beyond forgiveness. This can be interpreted to mean that while the bell is capable of cleansing evil, the sheer magnitude of the elders' contamination is beyond its capacity to purify.

Though it was thought impossible by the elders, it is possible for contamination to be reversed. The only known instance of this happening is with Kaling, who subtly began regaining her ability to feel after spending a year with the private investigators of Cheong-woon, who had rescued her from her seal. Though Kaling had originally intended to merely use them to find the Four Perils, there were evident signs of her feelings beginning to return, such as her smiling softly at a flower that the investigators gave her as a gift. After the investigators were all killed by Qiongqi, Kaling began experiencing immense sadness and guilt after finding the investigators' final gift for her amidst their bodies. Because of this, it is highly likely that contamination - described as a lack of humanity - can be naturally cleansed through immersing oneself in humanity. As the elders had sequestered themselves away from humanity in order to stop their spread of contamination from affecting others, it is likely that this is the reason why they never learned of this. In the midst of Kaling's grief, Gerand Darmoor approached her and hoped to recruit her as his Apostle by telling her that he needed her research. As a result, Darmoor intentionally chose to feed into the effects of Kaling's contamination by enabling her hardwired obsession with fulfilling her purpose through completing her research, which exacerbated the effects of her contamination and ensured that her feelings would fade away. Kaling would later describe that there was a chance that her lost, resurfaced emotions would have persisted, had she been given enough time to process them. Because of this, there is a possibility that Kaling's contamination could have fully been erased given enough time, had Darmoor not interfered in the process of her regaining her humanity.

Although there is no known way of erasing contamination outside of immersing oneself in humanity, it is possible to halt its exacerbation through a counteracting force of balance. For this reason, the elders created Shangri-La as a convergence of the four seasons, with its harmonic energies stopping the worsening of the contamination. It can be speculated that Tai Yu, who was said to be one of the last Vessels in Odium, was spared from the contamination, as the laboratory was shut down soon after the experiments on him concluded, meaning that there would only be a short amount of time that he would have been exposed to the contamination before moving to Shangri-La and spending most of his life in its natural harmony, which would prevent the contamination of the elders from spreading to him. Additionally, as Tai Yu spent many years in the outside world, meeting others, and raising Hoyoung, it is possible that any amount of contamination within himself was erased through his choosing to strengthen his ties to his humanity. Tai Yu would often emphasize humanity existing above the earth and beneath the heavens, making it possible that this trigram helped him retain his humanity, and possibly also to ensure that Hoyoung would not become contaminated by the elders and the researchers while he dwelled in the Hermitage in Shangri-La.

Powers

An Adversary is a unique amalgam of mortal and god, closer in status to a demigod, though true demigods are those descended from gods, such as the Celestials, who were descendants of Mitra the Sun God. Though mortals are unable to harm higher beings, such as Ancient Gods and Transcendents, this limitation can be circumvented by utilizing a relic containing the power of such a higher being. The Seal Stones and the Godspheres, which contain the power of the Overseers, allow Adversaries to kill immortal beings by calling forth a divine blade. The conditions to awaken this divine power in an Adversary are similar to the conditions required to awaken a Seal Stone or a Godsphere - namely, powerful determination and willpower. However, there are certain caveats to the type of determination needed to awaken the relic. In the case of the Adversary, their initial attempts to summon the power of the Seal Stone in Limina allowed them to harness a small fraction of the Seal Stone's power through their strong individual determination to sacrifice themselves, allowing them to destroy the Labyrinth Core - an object created with the power of the Transcendents - just as they were able to destroy Azor, a holy relic of Mitra, during their battle with Seren. However, this output of power was shown to be insufficient in killing the Black Mage himself. As the time of Genesis approached, Tana emerged from the Genesis Crux and revealed to the Adversary that the world was crying out that it didn't want to disappear, and because of that, it would not lend its power to the Adversary, who was ready to kill themselves for the sake of victory. Her words helped the Adversary realize that they had been prepared to sacrifice themselves all the while that they had faced the Black Mage, but what they had instead needed to believe was that they needed to survive and save everyone, including themselves, not to give up on themselves and die for the sake of a world that wanted them to live.

From this, it can be seen that an Adversary's intention must align with that of the world, as the Seal Stone only awakens in response to the will of the people. As the Adversary is meant to be an embodiment of that collective will, the Seal Stone will not activate unless there is a synchronization of the Adversary and the people's will. In the case of the Adversaries of Odium, the Adversaries were stripped of their individuality, emotions, and sense of self, hardwired with only a singular desire to fulfill their purpose. As the player is the only known Adversary to have retained their sense of self, it can be assumed that the reason why the Adversaries of Odium were turned into unthinking, tenacious machines was to ensure that they would be selected by the Godspheres as compatible Vessels, as they held nothing inside them except their desire to carry out the people's will. In the case of the player, the Adversary required a strong desire to survive - an act that fundamentally required them to have a sense of self and an ability to care about themselves. In the case of the Adversaries of Odium, their singular drive was to kill the gods, not to survive, as the fate of every Adversary was to die immediately after fulfilling their purpose, which the player did not know at the time of fighting the Black Mage. It is possible that this is a result of the Adversary having lived and fought alongside the Alliance, causing the people of Maple World to respect and care for them, whereas the Adversaries of Odium had been created in a laboratory far removed from the world, because of which, the people from the time of the Ancient War would not have known the Adversaries personally, meaning that their deepest desire would only be for the gods to be defeated, not for the Adversaries to survive, allowing the Adversaries of Odium to easily summon the power of the Godsphere with their programmed determination.

Weaknesses and Limitations

There are several major weaknesses to the power of an Adversary. The first is that in order to use the full power of the Adversary, there must be sufficient determination summoned, along with a proper synchronization with the determination of the world. This was seen several times in Limina when the Adversary erroneously believed that they must be determined to sacrifice themselves. This was also seen when Kao was unable to kill Tana in their timeline with the Seal Stone, as they were facing extreme psychological distress due to Ollie's death, preventing them from summoning enough determination and resolve to awaken the Seal Stone's power. Another limitation is that the power of the Adversary itself does not guarantee victory, as it simply allows one to face higher beings. The Vessel's innate strength plays a significant factor in such battles, as seen when the Adversary was severely wounded after being overwhelmed by Mitra's power, as they were barely able to win the battle by destroying Azor, which itself was only possible because Seren had been resisting Mitra's possession. In order to circumvent this, Kaling attempted to have the Four Perils consume countless fiends, whose power would be added to a Vessel in order to greatly augment their strength.

The greatest weakness of an Adversary, however, is that they are destined to die after fulfilling their purpose. This limitation was created by the Overseers in order to ensure that such powerful beings as the Adversaries would not remain and cause chaos in the place of the Ancient Gods. The precise nature of how death occurs is unknown, as it was stated that the Adversary was only able to avoid their destiny by Darmoor destroying their Seal Stone, suggesting that the Seal Stone itself is responsible for inflicting death upon the Adversary. However, the Adversary did, in fact, die immediately after killing the Black Mage and fulfilling their purpose, as their physical form was destroyed and scattered into Erdas. Soon after, the Adversary spoke with the White Mage in the Erda Flow, after which they were resurrected back in the physical world through the White Mage's final act of creation. Because of this, it is possible that it was the White Mage, not Darmoor, who changed the Adversary's fate by destroying and recreating them, thus satisfying the Adversary's fate to die and then returning them back to life. If it is true that Darmoor changed the Adversary's fate, rather than the White Mage, it remains unknown why the Adversary continued living many months after fulfilling their purpose. Given that the elders were the ones who speculated that Darmoor changed the Adversary's fate, it is possible that they were unaware that the Adversary had already died and been resurrected by the White Mage.

Known Adversaries

Adversaries

The player (formerly) - The player was once an Adversary upon fusing with the Seal Stone of Ereve at the end of Black Heaven, although the Seal Stone within them was shattered by Gerand Darmoor following the battle of Cernium, leaving them an incomplete Vessel.

Kao - Kao, the player from another timeline, was an Adversary who was fused with their timeline's version of the Seal Stone of Ereve. Upon being sent back in time by the Black Mage, both Kao and the player existed as Adversaries in the same timeline until Kao sacrificed themselves to save the player from Arma.

First Adversary - The First Adversary, known also as the First Explorer, was the first known Vessel that successfully fused with a Godsphere. He was guided through his destiny by Sugar until his death, and his power was contained within the maple leaf that the Explorer inherited. His spirit lives within the World Heart and tests the resolve of those who wish to claim it.

Hundun (possibly, formerly) - Hundun was forcibly fused with the World Heart by the elders before being enslaved as the power source of the laboratory. He then gave up the World Heart to the player at the cost of his own life. It is unknown whether Hundun was a true Adversary or not, as the properties of the World Heart - which are unique from that of the Godspheres and the Seal Stones - are currently unknown in regard to how its fusion with a Vessel functions.

Vessels

True Vessels

The player - Though the player has lost their Seal Stone, they still remain a true Vessel of an Adversary and have the ability to fuse with another Godsphere.

Kao - As the player from another timeline, Kao was a true Vessel until their death.

First Adversary - Given that he was able to successfully fuse with a Godsphere, the First Adversary was a true Vessel until he met his end.

Hundun (possibly, formerly) - With the assumption that Hundun was an Adversary, it also means that he has been demonstrated to be a true Vessel.

Chief Lyon (possibly) - As it is stated that only a true Vessel can destroy a Godsphere, even a contaminated one, Lyon destroying a button on Yum Yum Island suggests that he may be a true Vessel.

Defective Vessels

Angler Father - The Angler Father was deemed a defective Vessel and thrown off the edge of Odium. He eventually created Karote in order to have a true Vessel open the path to the laboratory and founded the Angler Company.

Kaling - Though Kaling was deemed a defective Vessel, she continued researching in Odium and eventually created the Four Perils. Kaling and her creations were later sealed away, although she broke free from the seal and became an Apostle of Gerand Darmoor, though she was later killed by the Adversary.

Master Tai Yu - Despite being a defective Vessel, Tai Yu was highly trusted by the elders and was responsible for sealing away Kaling and the Four Perils. He was then tasked with bringing peace to Grandis and eventually adopted Hoyoung after finding the abandoned Anima child in a destroyed village.

Unnamed Afrien Fusion - Created as a Vessel to be fused with a Godsphere by Kaling, this Afrien fusion was ultimately deemed a defective Vessel, despite being created from the Erdas of Afrien, who was described as a being who had gotten closer to the power of the Godsphere than anyone, as he was bonded with Freud, the creator of the Seal Stones.

Yum Yum Island fusions - All the artificial fusions in Yum Yum Island - including Caster, Muppy, Bappy, and Puptail - were Vessels created by Kaling, who ultimately deemed them all failures.

Nicky Angler, Senya Angler, Laha Angler, Cosim - Created with the technology of Odium, Nicky was constructed by the Angler Father in such a way that made him nearly indistinguishable from a true Vessel. Nevertheless, Kalos was able to discern him as a fraud, though a well-made one. Along with Nicky, all his siblings who were constructed by the Angler Father were presumably created in the same way, making them false Vessels as well.

Trivia

• In MapleSEA, Archenemy was used instead until the Carcion Octo Festa Update, where it was changed to Adversary. As a result, all Achievements and terms referring as such were renamed accordingly.