Instant Death Instant Death , also called Sudden Death , Death , Fatal , Swoon , Dead , KO , Fell , Dispatch , and Stun , refers to an attack that immediately kills its victim regardless of what HP they have remaining . Instant death attacks are recurrent throughout the series ; several bosses , including final bosses , are known to use instant death moves and some summons , such as Odin and Yojimbo , can also kill instantly . Instant death spells generally do not work on bosses , however , exceptions do exist . In most games , attacks that inflict instant death do not display damage points when hit , even if the attack would have inflicted normal damage if instant death had not taken effect . In some games , indicators such as the word " Death " or the abbreviation " KO " may appear instead of damage points . As with the use of curative and resurrection spells , such as Raise , instant death ' s effect is often reversed for the undead . In some games , using an instant death ability on the undead will fully heal it in the same way that using Raise would kill it , though there are some exceptions , such as the undead in " Final Fantasy XII " . Appearances . " Final Fantasy " . In addition to the abilities below , the Mindflayer can inflict Instant Death to a single target with its physical attacks . " Final Fantasy II " . In addition to abilities listed here , Coeurls can inflict instant death with their physical attacks . " Final Fantasy VI " . This status has been given a name in the Game Boy Advance release , it appears inside the Bestiary as Death found under the Status Immunity section of the enemy entry . Because of the Vanish - Doom bug , in the versions before the " Advance " remake , the Invisible status would remove the target ' s immunity to Death , meaning even bosses could be easily defeated this way . Other abilities or spells that will fail on targets that are immune to Death : Air Anchor , Cave In , Cyclonic , Hailstone , Snowball , Missile , Launcher , Gravity Bomb , Shamshir , Sonic Boom , Gravity , Graviga , Break , Cockatrice , Doom , Dischord , Tiger , and Catoblepas . " Final Fantasy VII " . The player can withstand one of any Tonberry " Knife " attacks by using the spell Resist . This only works one time as the attack dealt by the Tonberry will dispel the effect . Since the character the Tonberry attacks is random , one can wait until it is only one step away from a party member as Tonberries tend to attack whoever is in front of them prior to the last step before using the " Knife " attack . The player can also add the instant death element to a character ' s physical attacks by linking Destruct Materia with status effect Materia in the character ' s weapon . Equipping the pair in the character ' s armor will make him / her immune to instant death , instead . Enemies can also be killed by a single hit if the player performs the Overflow glitch with Vincent ' s or Barret ' s ultimate weapons . " Final Fantasy VIII " . The player can add the instant death effect to physical attacks by junctioning 100 Death spells to a character ' s status attack . " Final Fantasy XII " . All of Yiazmat ' s physical and rake attacks have 5 % of inflicting instant death . In addition , Raise and Arise can cause Instant Death to undead enemies , Raise with 70 % success rate , and Arise with 35 % . " Final Fantasy Type - 0 " . Kill sights cause instant death to enemies when in battle with them . To initiate a kill sight the cursor has to be red when the player attacks . Instant Death also has a 10 % chance to be inflicted through certain Weapons . " The Final Fantasy Legend " . Enemies that are Dead are permanently removed from battle . Ally units in Dead status can be revived according to the number of hearts they carry . Add hearts with the Heart item . Revive at a House of Life or with the Revive item . " Final Fantasy Legend III " . The target is instantly killed and becomes Fell . The player gains access to sudden death moves with the Death spell , the Ranger ' s Smashing Blow ( 25 % chance ) , Monk ' s Ghost Army and the Bandit ' s Deadly Blow attack . The Party Host ' s Pot Luck command has a random chance of executing Sudden Death that kills all opponents instantly . Some of the tougher bosses use sudden death attacks against the party , such as the , that has a chance of instantly defeating a party member with its physical attacks .