Armor of Eraqus

The Armor of Eraqus is a boss exclusive to Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix. It is a data simulation of Master Eraqus's Keyblade Armor, and it is fought within the "Light's Lessons" battle in the Mirage Arena. It wields the Master's Defender in battle.

Design
The Armor of Eraqus is a sentient suit of Keyblade Armor that wields Master Eraqus's Keyblade in battle. Its torso is covered with dull, faded green armor that sports a small Mark of Mastery symbol in its center. The rest of the armor on its arms, legs, and chest are predominantly bronze and silver. Its pointed, armored boots are black and gold and its upper arms and thighs have wide, supplementary armor with gold edges covering them. The Armor of Eraqus's helmet is silver with a gold chin with jagged "teeth" and a Terra's Mark symbol of the same color adorning its forehead. The helmet is also decorated by three long, thin, silver pikes on its top and sides. Its hands and neck are covered by a black material.

The Armor of Eraqus's name reflects how it is the Keyblade Armor of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua's master, Eraqus.

Strategy
As the boss is a simulation of Master Eraqus, it possesses and will utilize some, if not all, of Master Eraqus's attacks, as well as a few light-based attacks of its own. The Armor of Eraqus can perform a long powerful combo with its Keyblade, throwing the player into the air during the combo and using a different combo finisher depending on the character being played; as Terra, the boss will perform a series of downward slashes that create shockwaves, knocking the player upward and leaving them up for more damage; as Ven, the boss will perform flying slashes similar to Stratosphere and Air Drive; as Aqua, the boss will perform a Barrier Surge-like attack and finish with a slow moving magic bubble. It is advised to block the boss's attacks and counter with a Reprisal to damage the boss and gain invincibility. The boss can perform Eraqus's Sonic-Blade-like attack, shoot magical orbs that home in on the player if not deflected and several magical blades that will seek out the player; both projectiles can be deflected back to the boss to damage it.

The boss can create magical blades to its will, periodically ensnare the player in chains of light, and if successful, will gain a seal on its back and changing many of his attacks. His Sonic Blade-like attack will be changed to resemble a Iaido-style technique, inflicting many hits and its basic Keyblade combo will be quicker and may ensnare the player in a seal, lifting up the player and slamming the player back into the ground with a downward slash, similar to Marluxia's Flower Storm in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. It can use the seal to stun the player as a counter-attack, leaving him or her open to more attacks. Like Master Eraqus, the boss will create five fiery pillars which will follow the player around before disappearing. It can create rotating lasers of light, but will constantly move the lasers up and down, making them difficult to dodge; the player can avoid damage completely by moving to the far reaches of the arena. Apart from that, depending on the character (Terra, Ven or Aqua) you are playing against it, the boss will use a different Command Style and his desperation moves will change each time he ensnare the player with the chains. switching between the seal, and the Command Style.

If played with Terra he will use Critical Impact and in his desperation move uses its light chains to bind Terra and pull a large chunk of the arena up and shoot it with a powerful blast of light. This attack requires the player to continuously press to break free of the chains bounding Terra and perform a dash at the right moment to avoid the resulting explosion of the attack. When played with Aqua, the boss will battle you with Spellweaver and the desperation move will be to create large, spinning lines of light of different colors that will go around all over the field, with each one causing a different status effect. The player should dodge the attacks by Cartwheeling continuously until it ends. Finally if the player uses Ventus to battle the boss, the boss will use Fever Pitch and will create two large, slow-moving tornadoes with his chains as the desperation move. In this case, the player should stay as far away from the tornadoes and the boss until the attack ends. All his Command Styles are a faster version than the ones used by the characters and all the desperation moves can be predicted as the boss will fly into the air. Using Mine commands, as well as dark-based commands can help in defeating the boss. Dodging, Blocking, using Reprisals and Shotlocks are critical in avoiding his attacks and damaging him. Commands like Unison Rush can be used to avoid his desperation move.

All in all, in Birth by Sleep Final Mix, Armor of Eraqus can easily be seen as the easiest of the secret bosses. Though he can deliver death with a few swift blows combined with carelessness, he is the least aggressive. He is almost immune to ordinary physical attacks, even guarding like Eraqus himself, but he can be harmed with Shotlocks, especially while powering up an attack and while the seal is on his back, which has the side effect of lowering the boss's guard. The difficulty level of the boss fight is toned down in the HD 2.5 ReMIX version.