Cardinal Virtue



Cardinal Virtue (風林火山) is one of Lexaeus's weapons in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Cardinal Virtue+, the upgraded version, is his most powerful weapon. To wield Cardinal Virtue, Lexaeus must have the Pandora Gear attached.

Design
The Cardinal Virtue has a han blue color and has a black and gold semi-circle set in its pommel. The counterweight and blade are separated by a gold cross with a silver border and a red diamond in each of its side arms. The counterweight and blade, when viewed together, resemble a misshapen “X”. The counterweight is quite long and has an indentation halfway down its length. It is black with gold edges, a flat tip, two red semi-circles decorating its lower edge, and a thin red line decorating the upper half. The blade is even longer and has an indentation roughly three-fourths of the way down its length. It too is mostly black with gold edges. It also shares the thin, red line decorating its top half. Its upper edge sports two semi-circular notches, while the tip is flat and flares outward.

Etymology
The weapon's English name refers to the cardinal virtues of Christianity: Justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude.

Its Japanese name is a reference to a quote from Sun Tzu's The Art of War which was used as a battle standard by the Sengoku period daimyo, Takeda Shingen. In the original passage, the quote reads:

"Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest. In raiding and plundering be like fire, be immovable like a mountain."