Soulcage The Soulcage is an entity in " Final Fantasy IX " . It is the source of the Mist that plagues Gaia , overseeing its dispersal over the Mist Continent from within the Iifa Tree . An undead being who has existed for nearly a thousand years , his visage is a mockery of a tree . He " cannot lie " , leading to some revelations in the plot . Story . Soulcage oversees the physical manifestation of the Iifa Tree and its functions , dispersing Mist over other continents to incense people to war with each other . When Zidane and his allies learn the Soulcage is the cause of the Mist , they kill it and , for a time , stop the dispersal of Mist over the world . It is later revealed by Garland that the Soulcage the party destroyed was merely an illusion , or the " back door " of the true beast . Soulcage ' s goal was to halt the flow of souls in Gaia and replace them with the souls of Terra , eventually transforming Gaia into a new Terra when enough of Gaia ' s spirit energy was turned into Terran energy . The stagnant Gaian souls that could not be reincarnated turned into Mist as a byproduct of this process , and was used to spark war among the people of Gaia to increase the rate at which they died , thereby allowing the Terran souls to replace the Gaian souls faster . Battle . The Soulcage is fought as a boss in the Iifa Tree . He is undead and can use LV5 Death , that kills a party member whose level is divisible by five , and Mustard Bomb , which will cause the Heat status , causing instant death as soon as a party member tries to execute a command . He also uses Shockwave and Leaf Swirl , which hit the party for minor damage , and Fira . If Fire magic is used on Soulcage , the foliage on his body will catch fire ; this will cause him to increase in both aggressiveness and power , using a unique attack Fire Blades , which is an all - Fire attack that deals 600 + damage . This can be reversed by casting Blizzard magic on him . Strategy . Being undead , Soulcage is easily defeated with a Life spell , a Phoenix Down , or an Elixir . Phoenix Down will not kill him as it will reduce his HP to a mere digit . Either Life or Elixir can kill him instantly . If the player chooses to fight him in the regular way , the best strategy is to use Bio with Vivi . If Bio isn ' t available , use Blizzara or Thundara , as Fire - elemental attacks produce a Fire - elemental counter dealing around 200 - 300 damage to the entire party . With Zidane , the best is to attack physically and Steal ( only if one doesn ' t have the Oak Staff already ) . With Dagger , use Ramuh and heal when necessary , and with Eiko use Fenrir ( Not Phoenix as it would trigger the Fire - elemental counter ) and heal when necessary . An alternate strategy would be to have Dagger and Eiko both use Cura on Soulcage . As Soulcage is an undead - type , the healing will turn into damage . At level 25 - 30 , depending on your gear , Cura will do around 1000 - 1500 damage to Soulcage . For only 10 mp per spell , this is a cheap and VERY effective method of killing Soulcage compared to using Eidolons . Etymology . In the Spanish version of " Final Fantasy IX " , Soulcage was translated as " Onodrim " . In J . R . R . Tolkien ' s Middle - earth universe , Onodrim is the name given by the Elves to the living trees that humanity called the Ents .