Blados

"You're TALKING to them, Arcanus?! Why aren't you just KILLING them?"

- Blados

Blados is one of the elite members of the Tuaparang military, who tends to work alongside Chalis to further the nation's goals. He is a descendent of the Umbra Clan, allowing him to use the rare Dark Psynergy. He spends much of the game forcing Matthew's party to go where he wants, utilizing hostages, cave-ins, and combat to ensure that everything goes according to plan. His ultimate endgame is the activation of the Eclipse Tower, which strengthens his Dark Psynergy enough to make him comfortable betraying his emperor. After he and Chalis are defeated by Matthew's party, their ultimate fate is unknown.

Battle vs. Saturos and Menardi, Agatio and Karst alongside Chalis (by Leolab)
In a large coliseum, shrouded in darkness, three gates are being prepared to be opened. The twelve gates are set and labeled as if the arena was a gigantic clock, and several shadowy figures are stationed in the stands. The bloody corpses of the previous fight are dragged out of Gate 12, along with any debris, and the blood is cleaned off the stone floor. Gate 12 closes, and Gates 2, 6, and 10 open. Out of each gate comes a set of two warriors, one blue and one pink. Out of Gate 2 comes Saturos and Menardi, sword and scythe at the ready. Gate 6 spawns Agatio and Karst, both ready to fight, and Gate 10 spawns Blados and Chalis, who step out cautiously. Agatio and Karst quickly move to the side of Saturos and Menardi, thinking that joining with their former teammates will give them an edge against Blados and Chalis. Saturos nods to the two, and he and Menardi advance on the remaining duo. Blados, noticing this team-up, unsheathes his Nodachi and both he and Chalis take battle stances.

Agatio charges in first, casting Rising Dragon on Blados, who takes extra damage because of his weakness to Mars psynergy. Karst then strikes with Firey Blast, damaging both Blados and Chalis. Chalis retaliates by throwing Illusion Perfume at the duo, while Blados strikes Agatio with Punish, slicing him seven times, followed by throwing a Spark Shuriken, which damages both of them.

Saturos casts Potent Cure on Agatio, while flanking the other pair. Menardi, following his lead, moves at a crouch. “Why aren’t we fighting?” she asks him.

“If I’ve judged this right, we’re fighting all four of them. Wearing ourselves out is foolish at this point. Let’s just use basic attacks,” he replies. Menardi smiles at him, grateful that she has an intelligent partner.

In the battle, Agatio and Chalis are brawling, while Karst is fending off Blados. Karst has severely nerfed Blados’ attack power by stacking Heat Kiss debuffs, so she is able to heal through his attacks. Agatio has been damaging Chalis, but he has taken a lot of damage in return, since Karst cannot fully out-heal Chalis. He decides to cast Cage on Chalis, immobilizing her. The two then focus all their attention on Blados. Blados casts Shadow Shield on himself, reducing all incoming damage. Agaio and Karst’s attacks do minimal damage, and Chalis is released from the immobilization.

Saturos leaps at Blados from behind, using Heat Flash, while Menardi simultaneously attacks with Death Size. Blados takes a large amount of damage from Saturos’ attack, and Death Size’s effect kicks in, killing Blados instantly. The four of them now turn to face Chalis. Clearly outnumbered, she repeadedly casts Shadow Shield on herself to lower incoming damage. Unfortunately, doing this means that she misses most opportunities to attack, so she falls from a Meteor Blow from Agatio, of which Saturos and Menardi barely dive out of the blast area.

Agatio and Karst turn to Saturos and Menardi to talk about the battle, but instead see them adopting battle stances. Menardi casts Wish, and only belatedly do they realize that it only healed their friends. Before they can react, Saturos uses Heat Flash to get a quick surprise attack in, and Menardi casts Supernova directly afterwards. Reeling from the sudden attack, Karst has just enough time to cast Healing Aura to heal some of the damage alongside Agatio’s cast of Rising Dragon on Menardi. As Menardi is seized in the summoned dragon’s mouth, Saturos casts Pyroclasm once again, causing the ground underneath Agatio and Karst to spew lava. After the dragon explodes and she falls to the ground, Menardi uses Death Size against Karst. Karst casts Healing Aura, and Agatio uses his standard attack against Saturos. Saturos counters with Pyroclasm, and Menardi strikes with Flare Storm. Saturos looks at her in annoyance for using such a weak attackundefined
 * as Agatio casts Cage on Menardi and Karst uses Death Scythe on Saturos in a last-ditch attempt to beat the pair.

It fails catastrophically, with Cage missing and Death Scythe’s effect not working. Saturos smiles, knowing he has won. He prepares to cast, along with Menardi, the latter of whom exclaims, “Prepare to experience first-hand the horror of a master Fire Adept!” They cast Pyroclams and Supernova simultaneously, the combined release of Mars Psynergy killing both Agatio and Karst.

The battle is concluded, with one pair left standing. One of the shadowy figures watching rises to his feet and summons a blast of light from above, obliterating the remaining combatants

“Hello all. As you may know, I, Leolab, am the sponsor of this match. I’d like to make a formal announcement that I will not sponsor any more matches. Instead, I will simply supervise and make sure this arena runs smoothly, essentially staying on in an administrative capacity. Thank you, and have fun.”

* Seriously, I fucking hate the flare series

Expert's Opinion
Saturos and Menardi were the superior duo due to their superior power. Agatio and Karst were tough, but Saturos and Menardi are, canonically, stronger. Blados and Chalis were, overall, pretty weak enemies.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.