"This world, bound by Akasha's chains, shall turn to dust. Yet the cycle knows no end, and all shall be reborn anew. For now, those who are lost shall vanish into the boundless void..."
—Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker, Triangulum arc Game Over screen
Canopus (カノープス) is the main antagonist of Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker.
Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky and found in the Carina constellation. In India it is known as Agastya and is the cleanser of waters, due to the belief that the star calms the Indian ocean. In Chinese constellation, it is known as Shou Shen which associates with longevity.
Canopus is the entity behind the administrator system, the Akashic Record, and a fail-safe device responsible for dealing with any exceptions to the system that cannot be handled by administrators.
Canopus lies dormant most of the time, only awakening in case of an unexpected error. When the Anguished One first reset the world, Canopus awakened as it treated the Anguished One's unauthorized access to the Akashic Record as an 'error', since the Anguished One was not a proper administrator. Canopus thus interfered and attacked the Anguished One to prevent the world from being reset. This attack is foiled by the Protagonist who took the brunt of the attack instead, resulting with the world being successfully reset at the cost of heavy damage to the Protagonist's data in the Akashic records, which caused him to cease to exist in the second world.
Upon successful rewinding of the world, Canopus awakened once again as it detected another error - the absence of a proper administrator. To fix that error, Canopus created the administrator Arcturus and its swords Denebola and Spica. The newly created Triangulum moved swiftly to destroy humanity as humanity itself is now deemed a threat to the administrator system. Yamato and the entire party were able to defeat Denebola and Spica, but only Yamato and Anguished One survived in the battle against Arcturus and the world is already nearly engulfed by the Void, leading Yamato and Anguished One to reset the world again.
In the third world, Canopus awakened again to fix two errors - one, the lack of a proper administrator, and two, the absence of Yamato in the world, as Yamato chose to stay in the Akasha Stratum to salvage the Protagonist's data in order to preserve his existence. Canopus created the Triangulum again to fix the first error, and then proceeded to create a human-Triangulum hybrid, Cor Caroli, to replace Yamato's existence in JP's and the Hotsuin clan. That hybrid was Miyako Hotsuin. Furthermore, Canopus initiated a complete shutdown of Astrolabe to prevent any further misuse of the system.
Friday
Miyako and Anguished One revealed the existence of Canopus to the party on Friday. Since Canopus is responsible for the lockdown of Astrolabe, the party deems it necessary to defeat Canopus so that they can restart Astrolabe and manipulate the Akashic Record. However, Miyako proclaims that it is impossible to defeat Canopus as it is the embodiment of the laws of the universe and thus indestructible. Furthermore, Canopus possesses the four basic "Factors" that compose the world - heat, force, time and space. This makes Canopus both impervious to any attacks in the world, and able to counter any attack in the most effective way. However, the party discovers that the simultaneous existence of both Yamato and Miyako was an irregularity that Canopus cannot comprehend, causing Canopus to lose its indestructible property. The party also comes up with the idea of taking some of Canopus's "Factors" and turning it back against Canopus using Skill Crack. The Anguished One expanded the capabilities of the Skill Crack system to support this new function.
Saturday
Similar like Polaris in Septentrione Arc, Canopus serves as the final boss in whichever route the player chose. Before facing off against Canopus itself, the party will need to defeat its four "Factors" and gain their abilities in order to have a chance at completely destroying Canopus.
Endings
Note:Significant plot details follow.
Guardian
After Canopus' defeat, the party returns to their world, and the Anguished One reminds the player of the risks of volunteering to become the new Administrator. Daichi is the first of the party to regain consciousness, and notices that the Anguished One, Miyako, Yamato, and the protagonist are missing. Finally realizing the protagonist's intentions, he hurries off to stop it, but is held back by Yamato. As Miyako's Administrator device activates, she prepares to be sacrificed and serve as the protagonist's sword, only for the Anguished one to step in her place and take that role. With all the pieces in place, the next regression occurs.
Peace has finally come to the new world, and Daichi and Io are seen at their graduation ceremony. Daichi hesitates, having the feeling that something important is being forgotten, but he can't figure out what exactly is missing. The view pans over the new, intact world, with the protagonist and the Anguished One watching over humanity, now free from Canopus and the other Administrators.
Great was their sacrifice...
But sovereignty for mankind was the reward.
Humans will continue to walk.
They will fall. They will rise.
And they will continue to walk.
Forever shall they strive to reach their potential...
After the credits, the player receives a message:
The world goes on...
Let's survive.
The player receives the Guardian achievement for seeing this ending.
Endless Battle
The party decides to, after Canopus' defeat, utilize the Astrolabe to regress the world and sustain it. With knowledge of their battle prowess in tow, having defeated the Septentriones, Polaris, and the Triangulum, they also choose to fight the next Administrators-to-be and their Swords. While the path will be long and arduous, and a single defeat would spell the end of mankind, they would also repeatedly use the Astrolabe to regress the world and undo the damage by the past battles each time. The party prepare to begin their war as the Anguished One commences the next regression.
Strife and suffering await those who
Cast off dominion to seize their own fate.
Will their efforts lead to liberation?
Or to ruin?
When the party regresses the world, the protagonist goes back to the start of the Triangulum Arc's plot, right after he and Daichi finishes a mock exam. Soon after, an earthquake happens, and both their phones receive a message from Nicaea v2.1. Tico appears, telling them the next Administrator-to-be has begun the attack with a much shorter time of reprieve, and that they will be serving the party once again for the upcoming war.
Look to your side, should your strength falter...
Your brothers and sisters stand beside you.
After the credits, the player receives a message from Nicaea 2.1:
The cycle continues...
Let's survive.
The player receives the Endless Battle achievement for seeing this ending.
Strategy
The party first faces the Factor of Heat. As they make their way up the battlefield, the Factor of Heat will have one of its tendrils glow red, and cast Flame Fanfare, which inflicts low Fire damage to all teams on that tendril. If that happens, the next time the Factor gets a turn, that same tendril will use Origin Flame which inflicts a larger amount of Fire damage. Defeating the Factor of Heat will greatly enhance elemental magic offense.
Next, the Factors of Time, Space, and Gravity are faced together, each of them enhancing the other. Space grants all Factors infinite attack range, while Time grants all Factors the ability to engage enemy teams twice. With no other demon teams around and a cracked Factor in tow, defeating the remaining Factors should be easier. Space boosts the party's movement range when defeated; Time increases Curse and Almighty damage; Gravity increases Phys damage. Factor of Time is most likely the last of the Factors to go down, due to its incredible durability, ability to completely heal itself, and immunity to Phys attacks. However, factor-amplified elemental attacks will be capable of doing significant damage despite its resistances.
Canopus itself is guarded by 3 Matrixes and several Gene guardians. All four factors should make defeating them incredibly easy in spite of these enemies sporting thousands of HP to scale with the factors' buffs. Be aware of moments where a Gene can engage individual parties from a distance and get many hits in. When Canopus gets a turn it will use Culling of Roots to do Almighty damage to all of the player's teams on the field.
Canopus will, at the start of each skirmish, use Distortion, which will inflict mild Almighty damage and occasionally inflict the Curse ailment. Its Earthly Stars attack is a Physical attack that can hit each party member twice, which can spell trouble if replicated with Dual Shadow and if it also inflicts Stone. Once severely damaged, it will launch several other Genes and change its skills, attempting to heal off the damage it has sustained. Still, a persistent assault should bring it down without the extra Genes ever getting a turn to act, especially since the party has been drastically augmented by cracking the Factors.
A wise choice would be to bring along Ice, Elec, and Force Dances on teams, each buffed with their respective elemental Amp, in order to fully exploit the weaknesses on Canopus and its Factors. Hold nothing back as Canopus is very durable, with incredible Vitality and massive HP.
Due to Yamato and Miyako's coexistence causing an error that Canopus cannot acknowledge, the Shards here begin seizing up and can be permanently killed.
Canopus is the only boss which bears the "Star" race title is given the Japanese race title different from its ancient Chinese name. "Kongen-Nushi" (根源主) means "Lord of Origin", which fits its role in the story. Canopus' actual ancient Chinese name is "Laoren Xing" (老人星), meaning "Star of the Old Man", which refers to Shou Shen.
