Phases (.hack)
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The Eight Phases, later known as Avatars or Epitaphs, are fictional boss monsters from the .hack franchise that encompasses several video games, anime and manga. They are a threat to players in both in the fictional MMORPG "The World", and in the real world.
The Eight Phases of the Wave originally existed only in the Epitaph, but as Morganna began to malfunction she made them into parts of herself, forming her own data into the monsters, and sending them to capture Aura and halt her growth. Despite their power, each of the Phases was eventually defeated by Kite and the .hackers.
Following the Twilight Incident, the data of the Phases were reclaimed by the Salvage Plan created by Jyotaro Amagi. They were placed into special PC bodies known as "Epitaph-PCs" which allowed their tremendous power to be controlled by players.
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[edit] Skeith, the Terror of Death
[edit] Skeith in .hack
Skeith The Terror of Death is first seen in the final episode of the anime .hack//Sign, summoned by Morganna. It first Data Drains Sora, causing his player to fall into a coma and rewrites his character data into Skeith's characteristic red wand. It then goes to Net Slum to recapture Aura, but the main characters escape from it. Skeith appears chasing after Aura in .hack//Zero and .hack//Liminality.
Skeith next appears in the .hack//Infection video game, chasing Aura around the dungeon of "Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field". After Skeith Data Drains Orca, Kite receives the Book of Twilight and begins his quest to solve the mysteries of The World. In the finale of .hack//INFECTION Skeith reappears in "θ: Chosen Hopeless Nothingness" where it finally captures Aura, splitting her into three fragments. Also, it is here where Skeith is finally defeated by Kite. Upon destruction, its remains are hijacked and rewritten by the Cubia virus, giving Cubia a physical presence in The World.
In the original Japanese version of Infection, Skeith's staff was a Celtic cross, but it was changed to the design used in Sign for the English release.
[edit] Skeith in .hack//G.U
In .hack//G.U., Skeith is controlled by Haseo, the main character of G.U. and an Adept Rogue. After his friend Shino is PKed by Tri-Edge and put into a mysterious coma, Haseo dedicates his character to become a PKK, bent on killing every PK he encounters. He develops a reputation on The World, becoming known as "The Terror of Death", originally Skeith's title.
Skeith itself is seen in the beginning and end of the final episode of the .hack//Roots anime, symbolizing that it is within Haseo. It is awakened after Haseo is defeated in a fight in .hack//G.U. Vol.1 Rebirth. While Haseo uses Skeith's power to defeat any opponents at first, it is later showed that using it recklessly lets Skeith's original programming take over and destroy anything in sight. Haseo uses Skeith throughout the games, and it changes shape twice as Haseo gets stronger.
Like all Phases, Skeith is redesigned from Infection. In G.U., it is black with gray and yellow highlights, has connected limbs, and wields a scythe instead of a staff. Skeith retains its Data Drain ability, and can now fire energy blasts from its hands.
[edit] Innis, the Mirage of Deceit
[edit] Innis in .hack
Kite encounters Innis The Mirage of Deceit, a Phase resembling a large, partially destroyed stone tablet, at "Λ: Resurrecting Confused Judgement" in .hack//Mutation. True to its insidious nature, it scatters various mirages and copies of itself throughout the dungeon. These disappear with the defeat of the original Innis, yielding a fragment of Aura's data.
[edit] Innis in .hack//G.U.
Innis is controlled by Atoli, a Harvest Cleric that resembles Shino, a friend of Haseo's who was supposedly PKed by and sent into a coma by "Tri-Edge". Innis was originally controlled by Shino, but left her body when she was Data Drained. Innis is stolen from Atoli by AIDA in .hack//Vol.1 Rebirth, and when it is returned to her in .hack//G.U. Vol.2 Reminisce, Atoli herself is infected by AIDA and uses Innis to fight Haseo's Skeith. The AIDA use Innis's power to seal off the headquarters of the guild Moon Tree, trapping the minds of the players there inside the game. It also caused mirages of Atoli's depressing past.
Instead of a stone tablet, Innis has changed into a white, green and blue humanoid form without legs which bears a similarity to the sillotte from the original Innis. It wields an orb of energy in each hand, and can turn these orbs into enormous swords of light. On her back is a wheel-like shape with several spikes on it.
[edit] Magus, the Propagation
[edit] Magus in .hack
Magus The Propogation, the third phase and final encounter in .hack//MUTATION, takes the form of a long central branch with twelve small offshoots at its sides, thereby resembling an oarboat or tree. Kite is forced to battle it at "Λ: Pulsating Worst Core" at the end of .hack//Mutation. Though it is defeated, the infection of The World spreads wildly as a result, and upon returning to Λ Root Town, Carmina Gadelica, Kite and BlackRose see that the appearance of the town, along with all other servers' Root Towns, has been changed drastically (Most notably the blood-red lake in Carmina Gadelica, as well as several other changes).
[edit] Magus in .hack//G.U.
Magus is controlled by a Steam Gunner named Kuhn. He is first seen awakening Magus's powers in .hack//Roots. In .hack//G.U. Vol.1 Rebirth, Kuhn is first seen using his Avatar while intercepting an AIDA that was in the process of an attempted possession of Atoli. Haseo also got his first look into the power of an avatar battle as he watched him attack, protect break, and data drain the AIDA at hand. After this battle Haseo confronts Kuhn with questions on what he had just witnessed, leaving Kuhn no other choice then to invite him to Raven's @Home. Kuhn later uses Magus to battle Skeith in order to teach Haseo the dangers of an Avatar.
Magus has changed significantly since his debut in .hack//Mutation. Magus now has a more humanoid torso with arms and a head, but still retains a long tail with leaf like protrusions instead of legs. It is colored green and yellow. Some of Magus's abilities seem unchanged, such as his strategy of dropping leaf bombs around his target. Kuhn also reveals a hidden ability of Magus called "Propagation", which according to Pi will propagate all kinds of data. While vague, this may mean that Magus can easily withstand Data Drain by allowing a clone to take the hit. Kuhn seems rather unscathed after being Data Drained by Skeith, in contrast to Pi, who is on the brink of losing consciousness after her battle with it.
[edit] Fidchell, the Prophet
[edit] Fidchell in .hack
Fidchell, The Prophet, is found in "Σ: Turbulent Distrusting Ice Wall" in .hack//Outbreak, and appears in the form of an unusual mask or shield. Upon Fidchell's destruction, Kite receives the second fragment of Aura, as well as an enigmatic prophecy concerning the infection spreading to the outside world as well as divining that the coma victims up to this point will not be saved. Shortly after his victory, Kite checks his news feed and sees that what was foretold is coming to pass - in the form of power outages and networking errors across the world.
[edit] Fidchell in .hack//G.U.
Fidchell is controlled by Yata, the guildmaster of the "Raven" guild. In the first half of .hack//Roots, Yata was the behind-the-scenes leader of the guild "TaN", which was out to capture Ovan. TaN was disbanded after a series of unfortunate events and he abandoned the Naobi as a character and recreated himself as Yata. Yata awakens Fidchell in the final game, .hack//G.U. Vol.3 Redemption. Upon defeat, Fidchell makes a vague prophecy of Ovan's plan to use the Rebirth ability and it's unintended revival of Cubia.
Fidchell's design is remarkably different. It has a humanoid torso with a platform-like lower body, and four large eye-like discs floating around it. Fidchell's head is floating above its shoulders, and consists of an orb with several spikes and one circular red eye, its face resembling that of Fidchell's mask. Fidchell color scheme is made up of red and yellow.
[edit] Gorre, the Machinator
[edit] Gorre in .hack
Gorre, The Machinator, appears at "Σ: Chatting Snaring Twins" as the final encounter of .hack//Outbreak, assuming the form of two floating boulders with identical demonic expressions. With Gorre's defeat, Kite puts the few remaining Phases on the defensive, allowing his allies more time to plan an offensive against them.
[edit] Gorre in .hack//G.U.
Gorre is controlled by Sakubo, a player who claims to be twins who control one character (switching between "Saku" and "Bo"), but is rather one person with split personalities. However, both halves of Bo's personality speak separately while controlling Gorre. Even more astonishing is that both Saku and Bo speak simultaneously during Data Drain. Gorre is awakened in .hack//G.U. Vol.2 Reminisce, after Sakubo is infected by AIDA.
As with all Phases, Gorre's appearance has changed from the first series. Saku and Bo appear to control two red and blue nymph-like dolls sitting atop two wing-line "legs". Only one personality seems to control Gorre at a time, the other will hide behind one of the wings. In a comedic fashion, Saku and Bo will bicker over who gets to control Gorre.
[edit] Macha, the Temptress
[edit] Macha in .hack
In .hack//Sign, Macha appears as a small "cat player character", whose appearance eventually leads the Crimson Knights to investigate Tsukasa. It appears as a anthropomorphic feline with purple and white fur in this incarnation, approximately 3 feet tall and wearing gray wizard-like clothing. In this form, Macha possesses several enigmatic powers, such as teleportation and flight. Despite apparently conversing with Tsukasa, no voice is ever heard from Macha. After disobeying Morganna to save Tsukasa, Macha is Data Drained and its data becomes scattered.
In .hack//Outbreak, Macha's fragmented data coagulates into an apparent Player Character named Mia. Her memory hazy, Mia believes herself to be an experienced hacker who has edited her character data into the appearance of a tall purple anthropomorphic cat with green clothing. Bits and pieces of her former existence seem unforgettable, however; Mia soon befriends a shy Wavemaster named Elk because of his similarity to Tsukasa. She also feels attracted to Aromatic Grass, as it reminds her of Tsukasa's kindness.
With the increasing infection of The World, Mia becomes erratic, alarming Elk. At the bottom of "Σ: Graceful Tempting Fallen Angel", Mia appears and implies her nonexistence outside The World. She then transforms into the Phase Macha and attacks Kite and his party. They are forced to destroy her, which yields the third and final segment of Aura. Mia is revived by Aura in an optional (but canon) quest after beating the final game. Mia is later deleted during 2Project G.U." in order to extract Macha's Phase data from her.
In contradiction with what is stated in the easter eggs on the Liminality DVDs, "Aromatic Grass" does not contain fragments of Macha's data.
[edit] Macha in .hack//G.U.
Macha is controlled by Endrance, the champion of the arena, who uses a thin sword weapon and is Elk, Mia's friend from the original games. In reality, he is quite weak, but uses his Avatar to win most challenges in the arena. Endrance has plenty of female fans, Saku included, whom he has absolutly no interest in. When first shown, he constantly has a small pet cat on his shoulder which is the only thing he shows affection to. Upon his defeat at Haseo's hands, the cat reveals itself to be an AIDA construct.
Macha appears with a purple humanoid torso and a large rose-like skirt. Its head is feline, and wears something similar to a bridal veil.
[edit] Tarvos, the Avenger
[edit] Tarvos in .hack
Tarvos, The Avenger, is the seventh phase and is encountered at "Ω: Cruel Vindictive Scars". It appears as a deformed snake, pierced through the head by a gigantic nail. It is defeated by Kite as part of Operation Orca, one of the team's first offensive moves against the Phases since the beginning of the infection.
It is widely considered the most difficult Phase battle, due in large part to its "Cursed Death Play" skill. This move inflicts 9999 damage to a single character, killing him or her instantly. Tarvos also casts high-level dark magic and is extremely resilient, alternately invincible to physical and magical attack. In addition, after being Data-Drained, Tarvos's speed, magic power, all increase dramatically. However, its tolerance capabilites are dropped.
[edit] Tarvos in .hack//G.U.
Tarvos is the first of the phases that Haseo encounters, controlled by Pi, a female Tribal Grappler. Due to Pi's infection of an AIDA, she loses control of her Avatar in .hack//G.U. Vol.1 Rebirth, and Haseo is forced to use Skeith to tame it.
Tarvos retains only little of its iconography from its first form in .hack//Quarantine. Tarvos appears in G.U. as a humanoid figure with wing-like appendages protruding from the head (similar to Pi's hair). These appendages can shield Tarvos from harm (one particular tactic used during the Protect Break phase of the fight). The nail manifests as a staff impaling Tarvos through the abdomen. When Tarvos uses a Data Drain, it will fire from this nail. Tarvos generally attacks by launching needle-like missiles at the target.
[edit] Corbenik, the Rebirth
[edit] Corbenik in .hack
After Kite sacrifices his prized bracelet in order to defeat Cubia, Corbenik, the final phase, launches a surprise attack on the Ω server. It first appears as a large seed, which Kite manages to defeat despite the lack of Data Drain. The seed then sprouts, and transforms into what resembles a giant leaf, and in this form is protected by a special barrier which negates all attacks. Sensing that the battle is now nigh-unwinnable, the coma victims of all the Phases arrive to smash the barrier, forcing Corbenik into its third form.
Morganna fuses with Corbenik to become a group of floating eyes. During the battle, the server begins to crash. However, through the efforts of Junichiro Tokuoka and Mai Minase during Trismegistus, the battle is moved to a mirror server where Kite manages to claim victory. The infection levels decrease and The World returns to normal. Corbenik's name derives from the fictional castle that supposedly houses the legendary Holy Grail, which ties into it's title of The Rebirth.
[edit] Corbenik in .hack//G.U
Corbenik is controlled by Ovan, a player who helped Haseo out when he first logged on and was about to be PKed. In .hack//Roots, Ovan was the Guildmaster of the Twilight Brigade. Ovan has a large metallic "tube" on his left arm, which contains a powerful AIDA known as Tri-Edge.
Corbenik has changed greatly from its appearance in Quarantine. Instead of a simple blob figure, it takes on a humanoid shape very similar to Skeith, but with a different color scheme and head. Due to the AIDA infection, Corbenik has a giant black arm protruding from its left shoulder, and the left arm itself is a giant axe. Corbenik mainly uses dark purple crystals to attack, which are shot at Haseo, and he can also summon a number of AIDA. Corbenik also has a second form, which is just like the regular one but with a gigantic red glowing cannon for a left arm, which is a direct result of Tri-Edge's increased infection rate of Ovan's character data. In addition, Corbenik has a hidden power, Rebirth, which when activated starts a forced reboot of The World, clearing it of all viral infections. However, this requires Corbenik to be "killed" in battle by the combined power of all eight Phases wielded specifically through Skeith, the incarnation of Death in The World.
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