| Sephiroth VS Vergil | |
|---|---|
| Season | 4 |
| Overall Episode | 87 |
| Season Episode | 16 (Season Finale) |
| Air date | December 20th, 2017 |
| Written by | Nick Cramer |
| Animated by | Torrian Crawford Jerome (Assistant) |
| Episode link | Rooster Teeth YouTube |
| Episode guide | |
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| “ | Season finale! Which grim silver-haired swordsman will be victorious? | „ |
Sephiroth VS Vergil is the 87th episode and Season 4 Finale of DEATH BATTLE!, featuring Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series and Vergil from the Devil May Cry series in a battle between villainous silver-haired swordsmen. Sephiroth was voiced by Kamran Nikhad and Vergil was voiced by Marc Soskin.
Interlude
(*Cues: Invader - Jim Johnston*)
Wiz: The great philosopher Plato once said, "The measure of a man is what he does with power".
Boomstick: But to these guys, power is the measure of a man.
Wiz: Sephiroth, the fearsome One-Winged Angel of Final Fantasy.
Boomstick: And Vergil, the half-demon Son of Sparda from Devil May Cry. He's Wiz & I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Sephiroth
Wiz: Through the millennia, legends were passed of a source of unlimited energy: the Promised Land. Unfortunately, all hope of finding this sacred ground had been lost. Until the Shinra Electric Power Company excavated the remains of a being believed to hail from the very land they sought.
Boomstick: They called this weird, naked, purple lady Jenova and thought that if they could bring her back to life, she could help them find the Promised Land. But apparently, they just didn't have any Phoenix Downs.
Wiz: If they couldn't resurrect a being who could lead them to the Promised Land, Shinra decided they would simply create their own. After many experiments in fusing Jenova's cells with those of a human's, they finally found their savior. His name was Sephiroth.
Boomstick: With hair like that, it's no wonder he was created in a lab! Look at how majestic that mane is.
Wiz: According to Final Fantasy lore, Sephiroth has to use an entire bottle of shampoo and conditioner every single time he bathes.
Boomstick: Why do you know that? Did you join his fan club or something?
Wiz: Uh, for research! But Shinra wasn't interested in Sephiroth for his hair, instead, he was an essential part of their SOLDIER program.
Boomstick: Wait, wait. This electric company has their own private military? I'd hate to miss a payment with those guys. Especially if they sent Seph after me. I mean, look at the ridiculously long sword he keeps with him! That's his Masamune. This seven-foot, two-inch behemoth of a blade is a lot like the Nodachi swords they used back in Feudal Japan. But instead of wielding something long with two hands like those, Sephiroth only needs one.
Wiz: Even that speaks nothing of his effectiveness as a warrior.
Boomstick: Yeah, you know when people spread legends of someone, they usually make him out to be even better than he really is? It's the total opposite with Sephiroth.
Wiz: With his superhuman speed, strength, and durability, Sephiroth was instrumental in ensuring Shinra's victory in the Wutai war, conquering the last free nation on the planet, he returned home a legend.
Boomstick: But all those warm, fuzzy feelings of victory didn't last long. While on a mission to the town of Nibelheim, Sephiroth found a bunch of books on the Jenova project. That's when he discovered he was a secret science project the whole time.
Wiz: The truth crushed Sephiroth and drove him mad. In a rage, he annihilated Nibelheim, but was stopped by a mercenary named Cloud Strife. Sephiroth was impaled by the Buster Sword and fell... to his death.
Popup: Shinra officially declared Sephiroth as "Killed in Action."
Boomstick: Oh. Well, that's disappointing... which is what I would've said, if Sephiroth hadn't been dropped into a hole in the ground that led him to the giant Windows screensaver called the Lifestream.
Wiz: The Lifestream is a buried river of energy which basically maintains life across the planet. Normally merging with the Lifestream is the equivalent of entering the afterlife, but not for Sephiroth.
Boomstick: And this is where things get weird, so buckle up! Still conscious, Sephiroth's essence floated through the Lifestream for years until he absorbed enough energy to rebuild his body. With the energy of the Lifestream, he can control other beings with Jenova cells.
Wiz: Including the corpse of Jenova, who he manipulated like a puppet and disguised as himself.
Boomstick: Oh what the hell! That's his mom!? Who would do that to their own mom!? I mean, I know she's a genocidal alien monster, but c'mon! She probably makes a good breakfast...
Wiz: But Sephiroth's descent into the Lifestream offered him even more. It transformed him from a mere super soldier into the most dangerous being on the planet. He's strong enough to throw a man hundreds of feet skyward, move at supersonic speeds, and withstand brutal stab wounds through vital organs.
Boomstick: He's got illusion powers that can trick people by creating an entirely fake scenario. He can lift people with his mind, including himself and then he can just fly! That's how it works, right?
Wiz: Additionally, Sephiroth can cast magic thanks to his on hand Materia. Materia is crystalized life energy which grants different powers depended on the type of Materia used.
Popup: Materia is composed of energy from the Planet. After submerging into the Lifestream, Sephiroth no longer needs Materia to cast magical techniques.
Boomstick: This lets Sephy attack with fire, lightning, ice, and earth-based magic. He can block attacks with Barrier and Reflect, and heal himself with Cure and Regen. And ever since jumping into the Lifestream, he's had unlimited access to his magical powers.
Wiz: With his new godlike abilities, Sephiroth began a plan to stop mankind from drying up the planet's life force.
Boomstick: That... doesn't sound so scary. Does that mean he's an environmentalist, or ...?
Wiz: But to do this, he decided to use Black Materia to summon a giant meteor to destroy the planet and absorb all of it's life energy for himself.
Boomstick: So like, an opposite environmentalist, a planet vampire! I mean, we're talking about a guy who kicked a dude through solid concrete, murdered the crap out of a thirty-two foot serpent with a spike through the face, and tanked a dragon's flamethrower attack without getting a teensy bit hurt.
Wiz: A particularly impressive feat considering this attack was capable of one-shotting fellow soldier Zack Fair.
Boomstick: Uh, Wiz? You might need to up your prescription, cause that's definitely Cloud.
Wiz: No no, Cloud was just recalling false memories there, it was really Zack. However, it was Cloud who impaled Sephiroth pre-Lifestream with the Buster Sword.
Boomstick: Holy God is it huge! It's like, two feet wide! You'd think a stab from that thing would just cut him in half, but Seph just kind of shook it off.
Wiz: And in his rematch with Cloud, he blocked an attack strong enough to crater the metal around him. Considering the diameter of the crater, the surface area of Sephiroth's feet, and assuming the most likely steel composition, I estimate this attack to equal nearly sixteen hundred tons of force.
Popup: Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, has said Sephiroth was nowhere near his full power in Advent Children.
Boomstick: Sephiroth can use that wicked sword to lift wannabe heroes by their rib cage, slice through skyscrapers, and shoot energy beams that can shred these huge Mako Cannons. And from the Lifestream, Sephy figured out he could create new bodies or take on other forms.
Wiz: These forms greatly resemble creatures found in Christian and Jewish mythology.
Popup: The "Sefirot" refers to the ten manifestations of God. Also, the Lifestream itself is very similar to the Gnostic concept of the Absolute.
Boomstick: He certainly looks the part when he goes into his ultimate form.
Wiz: Regardless, Sephiroth does possess a single black wing, a blatant symbol of his fall from grace.
Boomstick: So basically Final Fantasy does everything it can to not be subtle, just like Sephiroth's most devastating attack: Supernova, which decimates an entire solar system! Wait, if Seph is that powerful, how does anyone ever beat him?
Wiz: Don't get the wrong idea here. There's a lot of debate as to how Supernova actually works, but I think it's pretty clear Sephiroth isn't creating the explosion himself. Rather, he's transporting his foes to a specific point in time in an alternate dimension.
Boomstick: Careful Wiz, don't sell him short...
Wiz: Just look at him! When he uses the attack, reality literally crumbles away like glass. This is identical to the animation for certain Summon creatures. According to the Official Crisis Core complete guide, Summons draw their targets into their own unique space in order to attack. And this is no different. In the Dissidia fighting games, Sephiroth goes for a simple approach and opens a dimensional hole to the explosion. The attack is even described as sending "destruction even into other dimensions." And if he could summon planet busting meteors at will, why did he go through so much trouble to get the Black Materia, which literally summons meteors?
Boomstick: That would explain why the Supernova doesn't hurt him. He's not really there, just using those illusion powers of his. With all these powers, I can't believe Cloud and his friends were able to take him down.
Wiz: He's not invincible, but he's damn powerful. Ever persistent, Sephiroth departed with a final, chilling promise.
Sephiroth: I will never be a memory.
Boomstick: Why does he sound so bored?
Vergil
Wiz: Two thousand years ago, a great mutiny transpired in the Underworld. The demon warrior Sparda rebelled against his evil master, Mundus. To protect the world, Sparda did his best to seal the connection between Hell and Earth.
Boomstick: But then Sparda got lonely, or maybe it was just a sausage fest in there. Either way, he snuck out of hell long enough to knock up this chick named Eva, and she popped out a couple of awesome demon slayers! Nice choice!
Wiz: You may remember the younger of the two, Dante.
Boomstick: Oh yeah, he fought that witch chick with the hair.
Wiz: But the eldest and potentially deadliest brother was the one and only, Vergil.
Boomstick: Vergil and Dante were rivals from birth. Dante was a goofball, Vergil was serious. Dante hated being a demon, Vergil loved it. It's that classic odd couple scenario.
Wiz: But then one fateful day, in an act of vengeance against the late Sparda, a group of rogue demons separated the two brothers and killed their mother. Vergil was believed to be dead. But in reality, Vergil survived and set out on his own path to seek his father's immense power for himself.
Boomstick: And he's 100% equipped to be a butt-kicking demon slayer just like his Pops. As a half-demon, Vergil can jump several times his own height, move at supersonic speeds, and heal himself quickly kinda like that Wolverine guy. He can tough out getting stabbed through the lungs, intestines, the heart, body parts I'm pretty sure most people need.
Wiz: Not if my experiment has anything to say about it...
Boomstick: What was that?
Wiz: I said not if Vergil's abilities have anything to say about it!
Boomstick: Well, sadly for any human, demon, or human-demon who gets in his way, Vergil also happens to carry some extra deadly weapons on hand, including a spiffy katana called Tomato!
Wiz: Yamato.
Boomstick: Eh. It's said that this sword can supposedly cut through anything, even dimensions, and probably tomatoes! Actually Yamato was the exact thing Sparda used to seal Hell from Earth in the first place.
Wiz: Vergil's sword fighting prowess draws from his Dark Slayer Fighting Style, which emphasizes teleportation, lightning quick movements, and even quicker slashes straight from the sheath. This technique is directly influenced by Iaijutsu, the real life Japanese art of the quick draw. And thanks to Vergil's demonic powers, he can attack so fast the blade seems invisible.
Boomstick: Eh, the only thing better than fighting with one sword is fighting with eight! With Vergil's ghostly Summoned Swords he can turn himself into a living Beyblade, fire them like a machine gun, or make it rain!
Wiz: Blades may be Vergil's bread and butter, but if he needs to focus on brute strength, he switches to Beowulf.
Boomstick: He can charge up blink-of-an-eye punches and kicks that hit like a cement truck made of lead and KO some of the toughest demons in just a few hits. And hey, looks like he digs Street Fighter!
Wiz: There's one more trick up Vergil's sleeve. Thanks to his demon blood, he can access a form known as Devil Trigger, and this mode amplifies everything.
Boomstick: His strength, speed, and healing all get a huge boost, making him several times deadlier than before. Plus, it just looks badass!
Wiz: In his quest to become as powerful as his father, Vergil's abilities skyrocketed. He's taken down dozens of demons in the blink of an eye, and escaped an illusion from the sorcerer Arkham which makes normal people go crazy.
Boomstick: But if anything's gonna show off what a Son of Sparda can really do, it's pitting him against his bro. Sure, Vergil can easily avoid Dante's bullets, but why dodge them when you can spin your sword, line them all up, and fire them back like a boss?
Wiz: In the same battle, they briefly created a twelve-foot diameter open space in a heavy rainstorm with nothing but their sword swings. On average, storms can fill up a cubic space of as many as thirty raindrops. So Vergil and Dante must have destroyed a hundred and eight thousand raindrops in less than a second.
Boomstick: If Vergil can swing his sword that fast, I'd bet he'd make a killing mowing lawns, or chopping meat at the deli, or giving haircuts, or doing that thing where he chops bad guys to pieces so fast they don't realize they're dead yet! Like when he popped Beowulf, the monster, not the weapon. Then he punched him so hard he flew up fifty-five feet and hit the ceiling!
Wiz: When comparing Beowulf's size to Vergil, he appears as large as an elephant. Given what's available, this seems like our best measure of Vergil's strength, but there is one issue. The Devil May Cry series makes frequent use of slow-motion to depict the absurdity of its characters, and this could be another case.
Boomstick: So let's look at another slow-mo feat: the rainstorm fight.
Wiz: At one point, the rain freezes in place for about 2.5 seconds as Vergil and Dante keep moving, indicating a fourteen thousand five hundred percent speed increase in real-time. Applying the same degree to the Beowulf punch gives us an acceleration speed of about four thousand eight hundred eighty-two feet per second. With that in mind, we can use that to apply our previous data to use that maximum height sans ceiling and determine Vergil's striking strength to be seven hundred twenty million newtons of force.
Boomstick: That's a lot!
Popup: Vergil scales to Dante, who blocked a punch from The Savior. Assuming limestone composition & generously measuring the punch's speed and distance, that was only about 1/2 the force of Vergil's Beowulf punch!
Wiz: It matches Vergil's incredible toughness too.
Boomstick: We already mentioned his incredible healing factor, but it's even more overpowered than you think. Vergil once got completely cut in half, but healed so fast that it's impossible to even notice!
Wiz: And his regeneration ability can be worn down.
Boomstick: Yeah, that's how this weird, jester guy beat him.
Wiz: But it takes a lot to pull off. And Vergil can always just use Yamato to hop through dimensions to get away if he wants.
Boomstick: Sadly, Vergil never got to rule the demon realm like he wanted.
Wiz: Instead, the Demon King Mundus permanently transformed Vergil into his puppet, irreversibly manipulating his mind in the process.
Boomstick: And then Dante kind of uh... exploded him... But one or two losses against someone who's basically goddamn Satan hardly make him a weakling.
Wiz: Hell and Earth trembles before the power of Vergil.
Vergil: It would be fun to fight with the Prince of Darkness. If my father did it, I should be able to do it too!
Death Battle
(Cues One-Winged Devil - Therewolf Media)
Vergil walks with his blade sheathed among abandoned castle ruins, until he stops and notices Sephiroth appear right behind him.
Sephiroth: Hmm.. you are powerful. I can see it.
Vergil turns around towards Sephiroth.
Vergil: Who are you?
Sephiroth: Your despair.
Sephiroth readies Masamune and charges towards Vergil, preparing to attack.
FIGHT!
The battle begins with Vergil and Sephiroth repeatedly clashing blades, with Vergil successfully repelling his opponent. When Sephiroth charges again after being forced back, Vergil teleports and switches to Beowulf, and attempts to strike Sephiroth with a diving kick. In return, Sephiroth uses Wall to block the attack, before following up by using Shadow Flare on an airborne and vulnerable Vergil.
Vergil is knocked back by the attack, but is no worse for wear, and the two begin speeding around the battlefield while repeatedly clashing with their attacks, with Vergil switching between Yamato and Beowulf partway through. Eventually, Sephiroth gets the upper hand with Masamune's superior reach and stabs Vergil through the chest, prompting him to teleport away.
Vergil: Okay, you're strong.
Vergil then prepares to draw Yamato again.
Vergil: But are you fast enough?
Vergil dashes towards Sephiroth at blinding speeds, getting behind Sephiroth right as he begins to charge, slashing the One-Winged Angel. He then follows up with a Judgement Cut.
Vergil: Don't move.
The attack harms Sephiroth, tearing off some of the skin around his chest and causing him to start bleeding.
Sephiroth: Ngh.. I suppose it can't be helped.
Sephiroth sprouts a single wing and then causes multiples of himself to appear, and they all charge at Vergil. As he's clashing with one, Yamato goes through the copy's Masamune, confirming that they are illusions, which disappear when Vergil lands a good hit on one. He looks around as the copies fly around him.
Vergil: They're fake?
Three Sephiroths jump towards Vergil.
Vergil: Stop wasting my time.
Vergil enters Devil Trigger mode and uses another Judgement Cut to destroy the illusions at the same time. He then proceeds to clash blades with yet more illusions, once more utilizing both Beowulf and Yamato. He then looks around and sees yet more illusions flying around him.
Vergil: You're going down!
Vergil then uses his Summoned Swords in conjunction with his weapons to once again fight the horde of illusions, even repelling multiple of them at once. Once his Summoned Swords run out, he looks to see continuous illusions charging at him. Growing tired of it, he uses Judgement Cut End to dispatch of all of them. As he does this, the real Sephiroth re-emerges, having healed himself during the distraction, and then proceeds to reveal Supernova.
Sephiroth: Behold the truth!
Noticing the sudden shift around him, Vergil turns around.
Vergil: What is that!?
Sephiroth: Super... nova.
As Sephiroth explains his plan, the scene shifts to a Final Fantasy 7-esque cutscene showing the Supernova in action, with Vergil appearing in the party menu with 9999/9999 HP and Devil Trigger. It also uses Final Fantasy 7's cutscene for Supernova.
Sephiroth: I saw you could pierce the fabric of our dimension, so I cast an illusion to disguise this. Witness oblivion!
At Sephiroth's behest, the Supernova begins incinerating Vergil. As he's burning and screaming in agony, he reaches for Yamato and slices his way out of the dimension. In his weakened state, he drops out of Devil Trigger and his clothes and body are covered with burns.
Vergil: I'm... free.
The critically injured Vergil sighs in relief on escaping Supernova, but is then impaled by Sephiroth, who begins to lift Vergil up into the air via his sword. As this happens, Vergil drops his sword and sheath, too weak to do anything else due to the damage taken from Supernova.
Sephiroth: Hmph... So you are.
Sephiroth then slices Vergil in half, ending the Dark Angel's life.
KO!
Results
Boomstick: Mmm... extra crispy.
Wiz: These two were extremely powerful swordsmen, but Sephiroth's cunning and stronger abilities led to his victory.
Boomstick: Wait a minute. I thought the lore said Vergil's sword could cut through anything! Why didn't it cut through Sephiroth's sword?
Wiz: Yamato was a unique weapon, but its legend clearly exaggerated. On multiple occasions it's clashed with Dante's blade and even a common rocket launcher without cutting through either, and sometimes required an exuberant amount of force to cut through tougher materials. But let's discuss the REAL facts.
Boomstick: Like strength! With Beowulf, Vergil could do seven hundred twenty million newtons, right? But there aren't a lot of good Sephy strength feats to compare.
Wiz: First, let's compare Sephiroth to a fellow 1st Class SOLDIER who had also been experimented on with Jenova's Cells... Zack Fair.
Boomstick: Remember him? He's the Not-Cloud guy who fought that giant dragon.
Wiz: At his peak, Zack could cut through a large metal door with one swing, seemingly with most of his strength. Given the size and width of the door, this feat's sheer strength comes out to nine hundred eighty million newtons.
(Cues Fire Surfer)
Boomstick: And Seph was way stronger than Zack! In fact, look at their strength stats when they fought that dragon! Sephiroth was three and a half times stronger than Zack!
Wiz: Putting Sephiroth's strength at over three billion newtons. That's almost as must force as thirty Hiroshima bombs.
Boomstick: Strength isn't everything, though. Vergil was technically faster than Sephy, but Sephiroth has handled people of similar speeds before. Plus, Sephiroth could survive plenty of hits because his healing power is broken.
Wiz: The capabilities of Vergil's healing factor was nearly unprecedented, but it had its limits. In contrast, Sephiroth's healing abilities were only limited by his pool of magic... which was unlimited.
Boomstick: Well, he also had to take some time to cast each healing spell, but that's why he distracted Vergil with his illusions.
Wiz: We know Vergil was susceptible to illusionary and mental attacks, as it's happened to him multiple times and even lead to his in-canon demise.
Boomstick: And Sephiroth's illusions could hide his ultimate technique. Yeah, Vergil's healing was pretty awesome, but it was never gonna hold up to an exploding sun to the face.
Wiz: Vergil put up a good fight, but he could not match Sephiroth's superior strength, magic and techniques.
Boomstick: Looks like this devil's cried for the last time.
Wiz: The winner is Sephiroth.
Original Track
The track for the fight is "One-Winged Devil" by Werewolf Therewolf. It is a dark and somber track that is primarily rock with hints of orchestra and piano. The rock is likely associated with Vergil due to the metal nature of Devil May Cry's soundtracks while the more somber, orchestral parts evokes Sephiroth's theme from Final Fantasy VII.
The track's title combines the alias of both characters. Sephiroth is known as "The One-Winged Angel" while Vergil is a demon and comes from the Devil May Cry games.
The cover image features four of Vergil's Summoned Swords going through Sephiroth's single wing.
Trivia
- The connection between Sephiroth and Vergil is that they are both silver-haired swordsman from video games and they are both the main antagonists of said games. In addition, they are the sons of powerful beings (Jenova and Sparda respectively) and seek to obtain their power. Sephiroth also has an angel motif to him, often referred to as the One-Winged Angel by fans, while Vergil is half-demon, creating an Angel/Devil contrast between the two. Both have an integral connection to their games' protagonists (Sephiroth was initially assumed to be Cloud's old partner and is responsible for the destruction of Nibelheim, whereas Vergil is Dante's twin brother) and both have been revived from death.
- This is the first Season Finale that features two antagonists/villains fighting against each other, with the next one being Thanos VS Darkseid.
- This is the ninth episode to be both a One Minute Melee and a Death Battle, after Deadpool VS Deathstroke, Hercule Satan VS Dan Hibiki, Green Arrow VS Hawkeye, Vegeta VS Shadow, Natsu VS Ace, Lucario VS Renamon, Luigi VS Tails and Mario VS Sonic (2011), and with the next seven being Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Ryu VS Jin, Link VS Cloud, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Ken VS Terry, and Mob VS Tatsumaki.
- Coincidentally, One Minute Melee's rematch between Vergil and Sephiroth aired only four days before this episode was officially announced.
- Thus, technically, this is would also be the "5th" fight to have been a One Minute Melee before it was a Death Battle and also the "second" fight that was a One Minute Melee before becoming a Death Battle that happened after Hyper Gauge left ScrewAttack.
- For future reference, we will not be counting the rematch as an individual fight.
- Thus, technically, this is would also be the "5th" fight to have been a One Minute Melee before it was a Death Battle and also the "second" fight that was a One Minute Melee before becoming a Death Battle that happened after Hyper Gauge left ScrewAttack.
- Like Link VS Cloud and Yang VS Tifa, in-game bars from Final Fantasy VII were used toward the end of the fight. Unique to this episode was Vergil's health being shown along with his Devil Trigger gauge.
- Unlike Dante VS Bayonetta, this episode actually showcased some footage and panels from DmC: Devil May Cry, which is from a separate continuity from the original series. This may have been done due to Vergil's brief appearance in the original series.
- Despite Force Edge being listed in Vergil's Arsenal, the weapon is never shown in his battle.
- It was revealed in the Death Battle Cast that followed this episode that this was because it was deemed that Force Edge didn't provide Vergil any benefit that he didn't already get with Yamato.
- With an animation runtime of two minutes and fifty-seven seconds, this is the shortest season finale fight.
- Safer∙Sephiroth is mentioned but never used in the battle. It has been stated that this is because there are no good 3D models for that form.
- Bizarro∙Sephiroth is never specifically mentioned.
- It's worth noting that Sephiroth's official Japanese voice actor, Toshiyuki Morikawa, happened to voice Dante in the Devil May Cry anime series.
- During his battle with Sephiroth's illusion clones, Vergil utilized one of Chun-Li's super moves, Hoyokusen, to dispatch one of them.
- Vergil knowing Street Fighter was already mentioned by Boomstick after he saw Vergil performing a Shoryuken with Beowulf.
- This is the final episode to play the original Death Battle theme.