Azul the Cerulean

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|-|Azul the Cerulean=
|-|Arch Azul=
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==Summary==
Azul the Cerulean is one of the Colored Tsviets and one of the major antagonists of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, as well as a minor character in Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.
In the aftermath of the Wutai War, Shinra's diminished military forces were facing trouble from the Genesis Army and anti-Shinra activists such as AVALANCHE and remnants of Wutai's Crescent Unit. The company was forced to recruit new members for their forces, while their special department, the Turks, were in charge of searching for potential candidates for Shinra's special private military unit, SOLDIER. Azul, exceptionally strong and only feeling truly alive in the midst of combat, was one of those prospects. He travelled the world looking for powerful opponents to challenge, eventually being captured by the Turks and sent to Midgar. When Azul learned the secrets of SOLDIER, he excitedly followed along and decided to became the strongest.
Azul's obsession with power and determination to prove his strength led him to be sent to Deepground where he he easily and rapidly climbed the ranks, becoming a Tsviet. Not satisfied, Azul volunteered to become the subject of the Metamorphize Project, a shape-changing experiment which allowed the subject to take the form of powerful monsters, the same ability displayed by Vincent Valentine. The procedure was a success and Azul gained the power to turn into a monstrous Behemoth called Arch Azul. His strength and these ability made Azul worthy of becoming one of the Tsviets who'd receive a color epitheth, gaining the title of "the Cerulean".
He would later swear loyalty to Weiss the Immaculate -- the strongest warrior ever in Deepground and follow him in his rebellion in Deepground and eventually his plans to awaken the Omega Weapon to cleanse the world, which would lead to clash with Vincent himself.
==Powers and Stats==
Tier: to | to 
Key: Azul the Cerulean | Arch Azul
Name: Azul the Cerulean
Origin: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Classification: SOLDIER, Tsviet, Bio-agumented soldier
Powers and Abilities:
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Superhuman Physical Characteristics; Expert Marksman; Expert in Hand-to-Hand Combat; Barrier Creation (Strong enough that he referred Vincent's gun as "toy"); Energy Manipulation; Shockwave Generation; Explosion Manipulation; Transformation (can use a variant of Metamorphize, similar to Vincent's transformations, to become Arch Azul). Resistance to Mind Manipulation (despite constant Mako Baths, like all soldiers in Deepground, he never suffered Mako Poisoning) and Corruption (Type 3, he never became a Makonoid even with prolongued exposure to Mako).
|-|Arch Azul=
All previous abilities, except for weapon related ones; Large Size (Type 0); Statistics Amplification and Statistics Reduction (His physical power and durability are noticeably increased, but is also noticeably slower); stronger Energy Manipulation; Crystal Materialization, Energy Projection and Homing Attack (can shoot energy crystals from his horns that follow his opponent)
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Attack Potency: Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level (Could match Vincent in their fight) | Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level, possibly higher (Overwhelmed Vincent with his sheer power in their first encount, and matched him in the second)
Speed: Massively FTL+ attack and reaction speed (while not as agile as his fellow Tsviets, still managed to fight Vincent) | Massively FTL+ attack and reaction speed (Stronger than before, but his movements seem overall more sluggish)
Lifting Strength: At least Class G, likely higher (Is unfazed by Vincent's physical assaults, who is comparable to Tifa Lockhart being able to easily overwhelm him. As Arch Azul, Vincent couldn't match him in terms of strength until using Chaos)
Striking Strength: Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level (Can hurt Vincent with his attacks and gunfire) | Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level, possibly higher (His attacks prove to be deadly to Vincent, and a well aimed one, when Vincent lowered his guard, left him heavily wounded)
Durability: Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level (Can endure Weiss' moves while he held back, as well as Vincent's attacks) | Multi-Solar System level to Galaxy level, likely higher (Is almost unaffected by Vincent's physical attacks, who needs to resort to his Galian Beast Limit Break and Magic to deal lasting damage, which even then only managed to very briefly knock out Azul. It wasn't until Chaos stepped in that Azul was truly defeated)
Stamina: Very high. Like his fellow Tsviets, Azul can fight entire squadron of trained, and even enhanced, soldiers and monsters with little effort. In his days in Deepground, constant conflict was normal for its member, where Azul was one of the people unquestionably on the top. During the events of Dirge of Cerberus he engaged in fights with Vincent, a conflict between Deepground and the WRO and had his final battle, never showing signs of exhaustion. Azul also is very resillient to damage, being able to take large amounts of punishments and keep going; even after Chaos Vincent impaled him with his giant cannon, Azul lasted long enough to give one final speech.
Range: Standard Melee Range with physical attacks, several Hundreds of Meters with his cannon and energy projectile.
Standard Equipment:
Azul Firing.jpg|Azul using his Cannon
Azul_Cannon_Artwork.png|Design of Azul's Cannon by Tetsuya Nomura
*Giant Cannon: Azul's weapon of choice. A massive cannon which can alternate between rapid fire akin to a gatling gun or slower, much more powerful shots similar to a cannon proper. The greatest downside of this weapon is that Azul, despite being very skilled with it, cannot operate as swiftly as his fellow Tsivets can fight with their lighter weapons.
Intelligence: Above Average. Azul despite his brutality and savage fighting style, is a very experienced warrior who has been on the battlefield for many years, facing many kinds of different opponents. He has shown to properly assess situations at hand and pick the most viable choice during missions to ensure the better result.
Weaknesses: Similarly to his leader Weiss, Azul enjoys fighting strong opponents and can prolong fights to goad them into giving their all or trying harder instead of finishing them off quickly. Additionaly, while his Arch Azul form gives him a large boost in raw strength and physical defenses, his resistance to magic remains the same and has a noticeable loss in speed, and the transformation can be forcefully broken if sustaining too much damage.
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
*Azul the Cerulean
**Barrier: A powerful shield Azul keeps active which can easily stop Vincent's gunfire and needed a much stronger firearm to break.
**Grand Shockwave: Azul pounds the grounds with his massive strength, causing a large expanding shockwave, followed by many smaller explosions.
**Metamorphize: Like Vincent's case with Hojo, Azul was subjected to horrible, experiments by the scientists of Deepground, that granted him the ability to take a more monstrous and powerful form: Arch Azul, a large behemoth like creature that vastly increases his destructive power and defenses at the cost of some of his speed and agility. Unlike Vincent, it's likely that Azul, in his search for power, willingly accepted the experiments conducted on him, and has no problem controlling his monster form, while Vincent struggles to not go berserk with forms aside Galian Beast.
*Arch Azul
**Flying Energy Crystals: Azul concentrates energy on his horns, which create small energy crystals, and then shoots them at his enemies. These will home on the targets.
==Gallery==
Azul-Artwork.jpg|Artwork of Azul by Tetsuya Nomura
Arch Azul Artwork.png|Design of Arch Azul by Tetsuya Nomura
BC_Azul.jpg|Azul in Before Crisis
VIIBC_Azul.png|Azul in combat in Before Crisis
fff_ff7dc_artwork_04.jpg|Azul, Rosso and Shelke
Tsviets.jpg|The Colored Tsviets in Mako Reactor 0
==Notable Matchups==
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
Category:Characters
Category:Final Fantasy VII
Category:Antagonists
Category:Science Fantasy Characters
Category:Brawlers
Category:Gun Users
Category:Shockwave Users
Category:Transformation Users
Category:Statistics Amplification Users
Category:Statistics Reduction Users
Category:Energy Users
Category:Forcefield Users
Category:Large Sized Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Video Game Characters
Category:Game Bosses
Category:Sadists
Category:Super Soldiers
Category:Final Fantasy