Infinite

**Infinite** is an antagonist that appears in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. He is an anthropomorphic jackal, and the former captain of the Jackal Squad mercenary group. During a raid, Infinite was hired by Dr. Eggman to become the leader of the Eggman Army, only for him and his squad to fall at the hands of Shadow the Hedgehog while protecting one of Eggman's facilities. Ashamed of his loss, Infinite decided to obtain the power of the Phantom Ruby not only as a means of becoming stronger, but also to abandon his "weak" past self.

With his newfound power, Infinite aided Eggman by helping him expand the Eggman Empire to its largest size to date after defeating Sonic the Hedgehog. Near the end of the war with the Resistance though, Infinite would engage Sonic and Gadget on multiple occasions until he was defeated during the decisive battle for the planet.

After being pulled out of the final battle of Forces, Infinite was scolded by Dr. Eggman after they lost the war, where he was blamed for being the main reason of the loss and being called weak and incompetent. As punishment for failing to meet the Doctor's standards, the Phantom Ruby was disabled and was planned to be destroyed. Infinite, however, escaped captivity and sought to seek revenge on both the ex-resistance and the Eggman Empire, plotting to revive the Ruby and eliminate both parties.

## Personality

Before fusing with the Phantom Ruby, Infinite was a violent, heartless, and vicious gun-for-hire whose main interest as a mercenary was to earn bounties. Openly encouraging his subordinates to go for the kill, he had no qualms about taking a life. Beneath the surface, however, he harbored darker, almost unhinged desires for anarchy: when he struck the Phantom Ruby, it caused it to reveal his deepest desires in the form of a desolate, war-torn world. Implied to greatly dislike stagnation and the current world, he admittedly joined the Eggman Empire because he had grown tired and bored of the world, and desired to change it, evidently for the worse, just to provide some amusement.

Even before acquiring the Phantom Ruby, Infinite was an arrogant individual. He took pride in his title as the "ultimate mercenary" and believed himself to be a powerful foe, seeing as he denied being weak after getting beaten up by Shadow the Hedgehog. He was evidently also nearly fearless; before his encounter with Shadow, he had apparently never experienced fear himself. Even when being on the receiving end of Dr. Eggman's fury, he found the doctor to be little more than an annoyance. It was first after standing face-to-face with Shadow, a being who was able to trump his speed and strength, that Infinite found himself so shocked that he was trembling in fear. Prior to becoming Infinite, he also had at least some degree of care for his subordinates in the Jackal Squad, as he angrily confronted Shadow over the destruction of the Jackal Squad before fighting him. Prior to gaining the Phantom Ruby, Infinite was also very loud, boisterous and rough, and used very gruff and informal speech owing to his mercenary background.

After casting his old self aside, Infinite picked up a persona that greatly amplified his dark traits, becoming a much darker and more lethal figure as a result. He also gained a far colder, subdued, menacing, and outwardly composed demeanor, with his speech being more eloquent, formal, and theatrical.

After obtaining unrivaled power in the form of the Phantom Ruby, Infinite believed himself to be unbeatable, causing his confidence and arrogance to grow to astronomical heights. Though his confidence was not without validity, his hubris proved to be so great that he would at times leave his enemies behind rather than kill them, believing fully that they were no threat to him. He would also often express a strong sense of superiority when speaking, all while showing no respect for others except himself, although people like Shadow would note that he had a "big mouth". Even in battle, Infinite would remain extremely collected, aloof, calm, stoic, and confident with a cynical, nonchalant, and sarcastic demeanor; when he faced Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time, he barely spared his enemy a thought even as they engaged in direct combat. Fittingly, Infinite would also mock those who found strength in others. He is, however, able to acknowledge attributes to his opponents he deemed commendable, as he acknowledged before attacking Omega that the latter was "spirited" and during his rematch with Sonic, he begrudgingly acknowledged that Sonic had improved since their last time.

Following his change of identity, Infinite became endlessly cruel, extremely sadistic, and horrifyingly ruthless. He took great pleasure in causing pain and torment for others. He also relished in how the world's population was afraid of him and had a twisted need to see others fear him, expressing that feelings like fear, anxiety, and doubt were "delicious" to him. He even willingly let Gadget run unharmed from their battle, just so he could relish in their terrified screams. He also proved to have a dry, yet dark sense of humor.

Unlike Dr. Eggman, who would reveal his plans and motives while gloating to his enemies, Infinite chose never to reveal anything vital about himself when confronting his enemies, making him mysterious and enigmatic; when Sonic tried getting information about his power from him in Mystic Jungle, Infinite ignored all of Sonic's attempts to provoke a response from him and instead tried to eliminate him.

After gaining the Phantom Ruby's power, Infinite grew very unconcerned with the opposition, seeing military organizations like the Resistance as little more than "rabble" or insects to be crushed by him. As such, he implies during his encounter with Silver that he was perfectly happy to allow rebellions against him solely for the sake of crushing them regardless of whether said rebellions initially served his immediate agenda. Similarly, he also expressed that, due to his defeating their savior Sonic earlier, the Resistance should not have bothered fighting against him at all. On some level, however, Infinite desired a challenge, as he would wonder if the world had any real challenges left for him after crushing Operation Big Wave. Regardless, Infinite desired above all else to make sure everyone yielded to him, as he noted that "*all will submit*" when plotting to help Eggman dominate the world. To this end, he was willing to burn the whole world to the ground with his power.

Infinite's most notable character trait, however, was his inferiority complex, especially regarding any perceived weakness he might have. This was most especially apparent when he fought Shadow and was easily beaten by him. After Shadow bluntly told him he was worthless and told him to not show his "pathetic face" to him ever again, Infinite proceeded to rage about how he was not weak before ultimately subjecting himself to being fused with the Phantom Ruby, and completely discarding any trace of his old identity, to the point where he refused to show his own face. Indeed, when reencountering Shadow after the procedure, he acknowledged from Shadow's lack of memory of him that this meant his old self had been "too pathetic to remember." Other indications of this trait were shown where he expressed disgust at Eggman calling a retreat, viewing it as a tacit admission to weakness. Even after his defeat, Infinite tries to insist that he can fight on, even as he is pulled from the battlefield. This inferiority complex is implied to have developed into a mad obsession with strength, and to a lesser extent his sadism. When Shadow runs through a Phantom Ruby-made Green Hill, Infinite's thoughts are echoed through a false Omega, constantly repeating that he was not weak, almost like a paranoid reassurance, showing Infinite as a perhaps insecure individual.

Owing to his obsession with strength, Infinite also demonstrated a Darwinian view of life, which is especially evident with his fight against Gadget at Metropolis, where he declared that the weak ultimately exist solely to be vanquished by the strong, and later his admission that he underestimated how desperately the feeble will cling to life when Gadget managed to hold their own against him.

Oddly, despite valuing the Jackal Squad enough to attempt to attack Shadow as revenge for the latter wiping the unit out, he indicated during his final battle with both Sonic and Gadget that friendships are a "fleeting illusion", and that one can only rely with certainty on themselves. Whether this implied that he blamed his valuing the Jackal Squad for losing to Shadow is unclear. In addition, both Sonic and Amy noted that Infinite's existence was ultimately sad and lonely.

## Powers and Abilities

Before obtaining the finalized Phantom Ruby, Infinite was apparently a strong fighter in his own right, his skills having earned him the title as the "ultimate mercenary". However, he was nowhere near as powerful as the likes of Shadow the Hedgehog. After being fused with the Phantom Ruby, however, Infinite gained powers superior to those of the Master Emerald's. In his own words, Infinite had acquired "unrivaled" power and the "ultimate strength" through his gemstone. Infinite's newfound strength proved so great that he was able to effortlessly defeat figures like E-123 Omega and Silver the Hedgehog, and ultimately best even Sonic the Hedgehog twice, the first time with great ease. He was even able to single-handedly overwhelm the entire Resistance army during Operation Big Wave. His power was such that not even the Miles Electric was able to give an accurate reading of his capabilities.

On his own, Infinite was shown to be fairly fast and agile in his movements, being capable of high-speed leaps and lunges across several meters, although his speed was easily outclassed by Shadow's Chaos Control abilities. He has also demonstrated above-average durability by taking a sound thrashing from Shadow and then getting back up. He was also skilled at swordplay.

After Infinite's fusion with the finalized Phantom Ruby copy, he acquired the ability to generate, destroy, and manipulate virtual realities, which he could turn into virtual reality projections to interact with reality. Said virtual realities are illusions, which Infinite creates by exercising control of one's visual and depth perception by feeding the brain false information. He was able to use his projections to enable his virtual realities to interact with the real world in order to bestow powers on himself. Having no limitations to the illusions he could create, Infinite had, within the influence of his Phantom Ruby, unlimited abilities.

Within his Ruby's virtual realities, Infinite was able to make himself faster and stronger than even Sonic. His speed was so great that he was able to outpace Sonic while he was boosting. Similarly, his strength became potent enough to knock away someone of Sonic's size with enough force to crack a concrete arch upon impact. He also used his Ruby to give himself the power of flight and levitation, deadly energy beam emission, energy ball projection, self-replication, size enhancement, shockwave manipulation, gravity distortion, object materialization, and teleportation. He was even able to manifest giant monsters in his likeness, trap beings in virtual realities, create a whole sun that moved according to his will, and mimic the special techniques of others, such as Metal Sonic's exclusive V. Maximum Overdrive Attack. In battle though, Infinite primarily used his finalized Phantom Ruby copy to generate crimson cubes that he could skillfully and willingly move around. If an opponent got struck by these cubes, they would be sent into a virtual reality where they were assailed by objects manifested by his Ruby's power. He could generate a large number of these cubes and arrange them into a variety of different shapes and forms.

Infinite could also use his Ruby's power to create Replicas that cause his victims to falsely perceive the presence of other characters. These copies are described by Shadow as having "mass and form, but no heart or soul". These copies, so long as Infinite desired, could also carry the memories, powers, and personalities of the originals. Accordingly, Infinite could create an unlimited number of them. He could also alter them to make them stronger than the originals, such as making a Metal Sonic replica bigger and granting him the ability to use electrified versions of his energy cubes as well as to materialize objects to use as a shield.

Using his finalized Phantom Ruby copy's power, Infinite was also capable of limited spatial manipulation, allowing him to create Null Spaces, which are seemingly inescapable voids in space-time where absolutely nothing exists. When opening portals into Null Spaces, Infinite could reinforce such portals to expand and suck everything nearby into them.

## Weaknesses

While Infinite's illusions are formidable, they can be neutralized by someone who has a Phantom Ruby prototype. Likewise, his finalized Phantom Ruby copy's illusions only work if the target is within the Ruby's field of effect. Also, his finalized Phantom Ruby copy requires a tremendous amount of energy to function. Should its energy supply be cut off, his finalized Phantom Ruby copy would be rendered inert.

Another weakness of Infinite's is his extreme sense of confidence and constant need to satisfy his sadism. When Infinite destroyed the Avatar's squad, he willingly let them run away unharmed as he enjoyed the sounds of their screams. Later, when he had Sonic at his mercy a second time, rather than finishing him there and then, he just left, seeing Sonic as something he need not bother himself with. Both these actions proved to be Infinite's downfall when Sonic and the Avatar later ended up beating him together.