Phoenix Cantus (フェニックスカンタス Fenikkusu Kantasu, Latin for "singing phoenix") is the final boss of NEO: The World Ends with You. It is an amalgamation of the stray cognitive energy from the people of Shibuya from multiple timelines.
Origin[]
The Noise was created by Hazuki Mikagi, reborn from the unstable black bird Noise, which were destroyed at the order level and reassembled. This would help the Wicked Twisters to concentrate all their efforts on a single being. Each feather on the phoenix's tail is the karmic representation of a single temporal reversal. As Hazuki is an Angel who likely has the powers to erase Noise, however, this implies Hazuki's motive was to see if Wicked Twisters could save Shibuya using their Imagination, and the reason why he modified the Noise instead of eliminating it was because he still wanted to purify Shibuya.
Abilities[]
Phoenix Cantus consists of two battles back-to-back, with no regeneration in between. In each one, the first objective is to destroy the phoenix's tail feathers, and then to attack the phoenix head itself.
The first battle passes through the following phases:
- A straightforward battle with several of the tail feathers. Each tail feather is considered a separate Noise, and awards XP on its own, so it is technically possible to level up in the middle of this battle.
- The Phoenix will scream, pushing the team back. You must run the currently controlled character forward, past the Phoenix's attack, and into range to attack it. When you reach it, do as much damage as you can as the Phoenix will scream again after a certain amount of time.
- After a number of the previous events, two tail feathers will be activated together with the Phoenix head to attack as you are running into range.
Reducing the Boss HP to zero starts the second encounter, which also has multiple phases.
- At the beginning of the fight, the Phoenix will shoot energy balls at you while trapping you behind a wall so that you cannot approach. Just avoid as many as you can. Note that using Dodge in this situation may increase your Groove gauge.
- You then fight the individual tail feathers as before, although the Phoenix head is active and will attack party members as well. It can be targeted, but will not take any damage. Each time a tail feather is defeated, it will be destroyed.
- After a certain amount of time the above sequence may repeat. In addition, an alternative sequence may be used in which the Phoenix pushes you back and then shoots energy beams at you which you must avoid by staying out of the circular areas that appear on the ground. Beware that the playfield has invisible edges, so favor running in a circle to running in one direction.
- Once all of the tail feathers are destroyed, the Phoenix Head becomes vulnerable to attack, although it continues attacking as it did before.
Once the Phoenix is reduced to zero HP for a second time, a special Killer Remix will activate which will destroy the boss.
Strategy[]
As Phoenix Cantus possesses no weakness to any affinities, it is up to the player to create a deck with the most powerful pins they have that fit their most preferred playstyle.
The fight does come in two different phases where they will need to avoid as many different attacks as possible from all angles. It is recommended that they use light pins to keep the team healthy while attacking, and dark pins to provide additional damage when the boss' HP becomes low. Even using fire pins with a great chance to inflict burn or wearing threads to increase burn chance or extend the duration can be of benefit for the long fight.
During the attack where Phoenix backs away and releases multiple colored energy balls, the player can dodge the attack rhythmically (similarly to Soundsurfing) to collect Groove. It's advised to take advantage of this, as the player may not always have the chance to collect Groove by comboing. This does not apply to the version that uses beams rather than energy balls.
Regarding Killer Remix, it is recommended to save them until all the tail feathers have been destroyed in each phase as firing it off prematurely will only prove difficult to make full use of it during the targeting where most of the rapid fire shots end up flying towards open space or getting nullified when hitting the main body (It may still hit the tail feathers, but will require effort to find them quickly if there are only a few of them left). However, it can still serve as a good way to heal the party in case of emergency.
Trivia[]
- The final boss of NEO is a phoenix, while the final boss of the first game is a dragon, Draco Cantus. The series has a lot of references to Chinese mythology. In China, the fictional dragon and the phoenix are traditional animals that symbolize auspiciousness. Along with the kylin and tortoise, they were known as the "Four Supernatural Spirits." Dragons and phoenixes are also seen as a powerful pair and are believed to be the perfect couple in Feng Shui. Dragon is “yang” while Phoenix is “yin”.
- Over the course of the game, Rindo's Reaper Pin is shown becoming more and more intricate; by the end of the game, it shows Phoenix Cantus's Noise symbol.
- Phoenix Cantus is the only Noise with a uniquely colored Boss Noise; while most other bosses have a dark blue symbol (similarly to the original game), Phoenix's is golden.
- It is stated that each feather that you fight is a karmic representation of a single temporal reversal. There are 13 feathers in all, and Rindo has used Replay a total of 13 times throughout the story.