Bleach Fantasy II Round 14: Ginjo Kugo vs. Caius Ballad

Welcome back to another installment of Bleach Fantasy II where MechG & I once again collaborate on pitting the world of Bleach & the various installments of the Final Fantasy franchise. Last Friday, FF snatched another victory against Bleach (FF still leads 9-4 against Bleach), but many things can happen. Like MechG said, Bleach Fantasy II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. My daily schedule of Affinity, Watch-list, WBCR, & Throwback posts will be the same as always (if delayed, posts will be on weekends). Without further ado, let's get started on Bleach Fantasy II Round 14 ~ Ginjo Kugo vs. Caius Ballad. Take into account that Storyline and Powers/Abilities are the deciding factors. MechG & I will switch-off ever 3 rounds in giving the verdict. Let's jam!

Storyline (Ginjo)

Ginjo Kugo is the first antagonist to appear after the imprisonment of Aizen Sousuke. Sometime before meeting Ichigo, it was explicated that he was the very first substitute Shinigami and in recognition for this, was given a badge by 13th division Captain, Jushiro Ukitake. It is unknown on how he even got Shinigami powers, but Sui-feng added that Ginjo murdered other Shinigami in order to obtain their powers. Ginjo soon discovered that the badge given to him by Ukitake is a surveillance device and at the moment, Ginjo felt betrayed and vowed vengeance and disappeared. While he was initially a Shinigami, he met Tsukishima and took him in and taught him how to use his unique powers. Eventually, Ginjo would meet the other members of Xcution and made a pact to share their powers with one another ~ a promise that simply cannot be broken. Ichigo first meets Ginjo when someone supposedly stole Ginjo's bag ~ Ichigo just KO'd the fool and returned the bag to Ginjo, unaware that Ginjo was aware of Ichigo's wellbeing. Sometime after their first meeting, he reappears and asks if Ichigo knows Isshin, to which Ichigo at this point is flustered at the fact that Ginjo may have something against his father. Ginjo later went on to say that he wants Ichigo to join Xcution & the goal is to revive Ichigo's powers by introducing him to Fullbring. Ginjo explained Fullbring (as well as Xcution's Fullbring capabilities) and trained Ichigo on how to utilize his powers with the Shinigami badge despite not having any Shinigami powers. However, Ginjo also warned Ichigo of a man named Tsukishima, who can slip into anyone's past and manipulate them with just one slice from his "Book of End." Xcution members would "turn" against Ginjo & Ichigo only later to come to the realization that Ginjo was the man behind everything ~ Tsukishima's "Book of End" was just a ruse so Ginjo could attack Ichigo unnoticed and have his world crumble before him. He wanted Ichigo to regain his powers so as to steal them and make himself even more powerful than ever. However, that plan didn't work out as Rukia & a bunch of familiar faces show up and just give Ichigo Shinigami powers once more ~ kind of a bad plan on Ginjo's part. The two substitutes duke it out and despite Ginjo possessing a Fullbring & a Bankai, he was no match for Ichigo. Ginjo was easily killed, but later is revealed to be alive in the Soul Society alongside Giriko, Tsukishima & Ganju ready to fight against the Wandenreich.

Storyline (Caius)

Caius was born in the time before the War of Transgression (massive war between Pulse and Cocoon) into the oldest Gran Pulse tribe called the Farseers led by a young seeress in Yeul, who can see the future through the Eyes of Etro. Caius becomes Yeul’s next Guardian after defeating the previous one. He also became a l’Cie and battled a fellow Farseer warrior that had better strength and skill than him. When Caius was about to be defeated by the powerful Farseer warrior, an army invaded in an attempt to find Yeul and Caius was ordered to pull back while his opponent sacrificed his life to save the young seeress. From there on, Caius took on the last name “Ballad” to pay tribute to his greatest adversary. To protect Yeul, he became one with his Eidolon at the cost of his own life. The goddess Etro saw through Caius’ dedicated deeds and freed him from his l’Cie state and granted him immortality by placing her heart, the Heart of Chaos, into his body. However, he had to witness Yeul die and be reborn countless times as he continued to fulfill her prophecies. Caius went mad and ran rampant across the timeline to free Yeul and himself from a loop of pain, suffering, and death.

Caius’ role in XIII-2 is on two fronts: in the timeless world of Valhalla and across the timeline. In Valhalla, Caius and Lightning become fated rivals considering both were bestowed upon the blessings of the goddess Etro. However, Caius sought to kill the goddess, doing anything he can to free Yeul’s suffering while Lightning was chosen to protect Etro, thus commencing an all-out war between the two in an infinite loop. In the timeline, he’s basically spying on Serah and Noel’s adventure across time in hopes to find Lightning. They would come face to face in Oerba 200 AF and Caius accuses them of disrupting the timeline as they were fulfilling Yeul’s prophecies and shortening her lifespan. After a brief battle with Noel and Serah, Caius retreats after Yeul tells him that time changed and he accompanies her into a portal so that Yeul doesn’t see the future. He enacted two attempts to lure Serah and Noel, both centering in Academia. The first attempt failed after Yeul gives them an artefact opening a time gate to the proto Fal’Cie, Adam. With Noel and Serah making changes to the timeline, Yeul witnesses a vision and dies. The explanation of Caius entering Valhalla to battle Lightning was further explained in 700 AF after battling Noel in an attempt to make him become the next guardian, but after defeating Noel, Caius had second thoughts. After the battle, Caius found a way to Valhalla while simultaneously Yeul dies in the Dying World. While laying her to rest in the sea of Chaos, Caius receives her vision of Cocoon and Gran Pulse being saved from total destruction and that’s how Caius’ battle with Lightning came full circle. In his second attempt to lure Noel and Serah, he uses Alyssa, one of Hope’s trustees to give them an artefact that leads them to the Void Beyond. That plan proved successful and Caius’ future incarnation impales both of them into a dream state. By the time, Serah and Noel find Lightning in the far future; Lightning reveals Caius’ true plans of destroying both Cocoon and Gran Pulse to free the Yeuls. This sets up a plan to attack him both in Academia 500 AF and in Valhalla. He was eventually defeated in both his Chaos Bahamut and Jet/Amber/Garnet Bahamut forms. Caius forces Noel to deliver the final blow in the Heart of Chaos. By doing that and resolving the paradoxes, Etro dies, Serah dies, and the human world is consumed by Chaos. In the secret ending, Caius sits on Etro’s throne in the Void Beyond, gaining new immortality caused by the many Yeuls. In LR, he roams around where Etro’s temple once stood, surrounded by Chaos’ aura where he would do battle again with Lightning so that Lightning would free him from his suffering. After Bhunivelze’s defeat and in the creation of the new world, Caius kills Noel to release the last incarnation of Yeul to be with him. He then becomes dead’s new god and departs with the other Yeuls to the Unseen Realm.

Powers/Abilities (Ginjo)

Ginjo is supposedly a master swordsman and is proficient in Shunpo (speed) and has enhanced durability. Ginjo's Fullbring is titled "Cross of Scaffold" and its primary use is to fire green energy at his opponents. When he merges his badge & Fullbring, it enhances his sword's powers, can now absorb other Fullbringer's abilities, and use anyone's abilities as his own. Ginjo also has a Bankai form that pretty much enhances all the abilities I've previously said ~ enhanced spiritual power, power replication, and energy beams.

Powers/Abilities (Caius)

As a boss character and the primary antagonist in FFXIII-2, the amount of facing Caius in the game is TOO DAMN HIGH! In addition to wielding the large, dark sword, Ragnarok, Caius possesses quite a handful of powerful magic spells and with the essence of chaos, can transform into Chaos Bahamut and later, Jet Bahamut. He is fought in his normal form a grand total of five times  plus his Bahamut forms make that a total of nine battles with this guy. In his human form as I said before, he is fought five times in five different locations and time periods: Oerba 200 AF, the Void Beyond, Dying World 700 AF, Academia 500 AF, and finally in Valhalla and he can cast pretty powerful magic abilities and he can deal devastating physical attacks. To top it off he has a total of like 12-13 abilities, he’ll use all of them in at least one out of the many battles and some well he’ll just use some. During the final battle against him in Valhalla, his abilities become more organized into the traditional Paradigm roles of Commando, Ravager, and Healer (Medic). As a Commando, his abilities are Blast Wave (Caius strikes Ragnarok to the ground, unleashing purple-ish flames), Graviton (similar to the Ruin attack, but more powerful), Giga-Graviton, Inferno, Eye of Bahamut, Ultima, and Pulsar Burst (fires an array of Graviton all at once). As a Ravager, his ability is just Graviton, and as a Healer, his abilities are Heart of Chaos (restore HP), Body and Soul (stat buffer), Absolution (stat buffer again), and Dispelga. As Chaos Bahamut, Caius is fought three times: in Valhalla, Academia 500 AF, and Valhalla again and is able to cast Umbral Vise, Whirlwind, Ignis, Pulsar Burst, Obliterating Breath, Inferno, and Megaflare and they can deal very considerable amount of damage. As Jet Bahamut, he has two separate forms of Bahamut protecting it: Amber Bahamut and Garnet Bahamut and his notable devastating attacks include: Judgment Blade, Dying Sun, Gigaflare, and Exaflare (can immediately drain out a party’s HP). In LR, Caius’ abilities is somewhat dumb downed considering he’s not the central focus anymore, but as a boss, he’s still powerful enough to kick @$$ and take names. Caius is well known to patiently exploit his opponent’s weakness and hide his emotions to keep them guessing on his thoughts and motives.

Verdict
And the winner is...

Ok, let’s get on with this quickly. In Caius Ballad’s debut in XIII-2, he demonstrated from the get-go that he belonged among the long list of elite antagonists from the Final Fantasy franchise. He’s like if you combine the intellect of Sephiroth and the physique and the amount of times fought of Seymour, except Caius was fought a total of NINE freakin’ times! If you count his boss fight in Lightning Returns, make that 10 times and pretty much, he’s not easy to take down. Storyline-wise, I said in my previous verdict when he faced Aizen in the penultimate round of last year’s BF posts, Caius is one of those villains who is not exactly evil, evil. He’s just doing whatever it takes to free Yeul from her suffering and he achieved redeeming qualities at the end of Lightning Returns in becoming the new god of the dead and allowing Yeul to live a happy life with Noel, Lightning, and the others. Ginjo, didn’t have much to offer to the table in the Bleach story arcs (maybe he gets an expanded role in the current arc according to Stillmattic) and his motive was to just steal Ichigo’s power all to himself only to be defeated so suddenly. Talk about a flop for a guy who is considered the “original substitute Shinigami”, but had nothing to show for it. In terms of powers/abilities, yeah I don’t think it’s even close that Caius demonstrates a plethora of destructive abilities combined with his keen intellect and swordsmanship. Caius takes the cake here, moving on.

So who do you think won this matchup? Ginjo Kugo from Bleach or Caius Ballad from Final Fantasy XIII-2? Comment below and let us know. Reiterating again, Bleach Fantasy Round II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays w/MechG & I interchanging every 3rd matchups on giving the verdict. Bleach Fantasy Round II standings (10-4):

1) Yoruichi Shihoin vs. Prishe ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
2) Uryu Ishida vs. Hope Estheim ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
3) As Nodt vs. Vincent Valentine ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
4) Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Jecht ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
5) Shunsui Kyoraku vs. Auron ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
6) Sui-Feng vs. Tifa Lockhart ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic) 
7) Mayuri Kurotsuchi vs. Barthandelus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
8) Sajin Komamura vs. Sin ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)

9) Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
10) Tia Harribel vs. Tidus ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
11) Bambietta Basterbine vs. Rinoa Heartilly ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
12) Riruka Dokugamine vs. Ultimecia ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
13) Baraggan Louisenbairn vs. Exdeath ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
14) Ginjo Kugo vs. Caius Ballad ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)