Extinction Event: Dextera Vs Cyl-005 Blog
Made by Stars!~
“There is no compromise when it comes to corruption. You have to fight.”
A.K. Antony
Made by Stars!~
Dextera (No. 13), the boy of forgotten sins, clinging to his Baroque to purify the distorted God.
Cyl-005, Picayune Dreams of this lost vessel, humanity’s last hope of stopping the Aberration.
Planet Earth is known for many things—bringing forth beautiful life, sparking endless innovation, and above all else... taking hold of everything in sight. You’d think humanity would outgrow its greed, but that same hunger breeds war. And war demands soldiers—some more willing than others. Now, when two of Earth’s finest clash to save a desolate wasteland, only one question remains: who stays behind? Will Cyl find their way home, or will Dextera purify this broken world? Let’s find out in a DEATH BATTLE!
Connections
Both are horror-esque roguelikes that rely on dark, gritty atmospheres and grotesque visuals, with protagonists fighting against endless hordes of corrupt distorted monsters.
Both characters are assigned the sole mission of killing an abstract entity that threatens the Earth and "saving" the world, though this mission ultimately proves to be a lie. Both stories explore the idea that, even without such a threat, it is in human nature to remain corrupt and find new ways to destroy each other… both having to accept that fact.
Both were once part of an organization / political branch (the Order of Malkuth and the Government) that used them as willing lab rats and soldiers.
Both were originally composed of multiple identities / individuals within one body before being split from their other halves (the Aberration tore Picayune from Cyl’s body, and the Order of Malkuth separated Dextera’s brother from his). And when they get the chance to ‘re-fuse’ and fill up this hole inside them at the end of their journey… they both opt out.
Both end up losing their memories, becoming puppet soldiers for their groups, who use technology to resurrect them indefinitely until their tasks are completed.
This is honestly one of my favorite matchups I’ve ever had for roguelikes—both are deeply horror-themed, with a focus on grotesque visuals and unsettling atmosphere. Both follow nearly identical story arcs, and both have an insanely large arsenal to bounce off one another. There is a lot you can contrast story-wise (albeit depending on story routes); Baroque is basically starting at the end of your journey, where everything is already destroyed and you have to pick up the pieces and salvage something from a broken world. Cyl's journey is on the brink of a world that is going to crumble, where everyone has already accepted their deaths. Even down to simpler things like how Baroque is a desolate wasteland of an Earth you traverse, while Cyl's story is about traversing the space around the planet—sci-fi vs. magic, grounded decay vs. surreal detachment. And where Baroque is steeped in themes of guilt, mutation, and divine punishment, Picayune Dreams leans more into detachment, memory, and the dreamlike resignation of those awaiting the end of their lives… wasting away. Obviously, in terms of arsenal, they both have literally hundreds of weapons to throw at each other: guns, melee weapons, explosives, lasers, traps, status effects, technology, magic... it’s just one hell of a time. Baroque and Picayune Dreams are both such underrated gems—Baroque was practically one of the founders of surreal game horror, originating on the Sega Saturn, and Picayune Dreams is one of the most interesting, trippy roguelikes you’d ever find by today's standards… So to me, it’s a match made in heaven. Hope y’all enjoy the blog!~
Before We Start…
Canon
Both franchises are relatively straightforward when it comes to their canon standards. As for who is wondering what Baroque or Picayune Dreams is… Baroque is an extremely popular yet niche by today’s standards Japanese exclusive horroresque roguelike that was released on Sega Saturn, Wii, & PS2, as well as had a manga run… serving as one of the most inspiring story-based pieces in the rogue-genre about killing God to erase a corrupt world. Picayune Dreams is a modern extremely well-received rogue-like about fighting hordes in the endless vacuum of space that delves into psychedelic themes! As for what will be considered canon–Baroque will encompass all of its releases, remakes, and spinoffs (due to them not conflicting with each other), while Picayune Dreams will get the main game along with the recent Contamination Update. Baroque's sequel games often serve as remasters, with the Manga providing important clarification on the original game. On the other hand, Picayune Dreams has a single main game followed by a major update. Neither of these series has an overwhelming amount of material, but both feature extremely long main games. I’d also like to give a huge thanks to both the Nerve Tower fansite and the Picayune Dreams wiki for providing a lot of crucial information—this made the whole blog process so much easier.
Without further ado, spoilers ahead—hope you all enjoy!
All Media Used For Blog
Dextera
Comics/Books:
Baroque: The Lost Paradigm (2000)
Games:
Baroque (1998)
Baroque Syndrome (2000)
Baroque (2007)
Outside Information / Websites:
The Nerve Tower [It is literally the most in-depth site on Baroque you could ask for]
Cyl-005
Games:
Picayune Dreams
Picayune Dreams: Contamination [Update]
Outside Information / Websites:
Picayune Dreams Wiki [It is literally the most in-depth site on Picayune Dreams you could ask for]
Background
Dextera
Made by Stars!~
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May 14th, 2032.
The world was nothing but a hollow, deformed shell of what it once was—twisted into a nightmare by the event known only as the “Blaze”. Distorted entities called Grotesque now roamed the scorched wastelands, their minds and bodies overtaken by uncontrollable Baroques—warped delusions born of trauma and grief. It all began when the world first made contact with God.
The moment God was reached, the world began to fall apart. The exchange of prayers, emotions, and fractured desires unintentionally corrupted the divine being… breaking it. The Absolute God, overwhelmed by the chaotic, contradictory messages flooding in from humanity, began to leak distorted information back into the world. Reality began to corrupt.
And it only got worse.
The Archangel, once God's most faithful servant, had begun to slowly go mad. Unable to cope with the increasing instability, the Archangel—believing pain to be a signal for healing—secretly funneled more and more pain into God. He believed that if God could feel suffering, it would act like a divine immune response, triggering self-repair. But this was a delusion of his own making. Rather than healing the world, the Archangel only worsened the distortion, driving God further into instability.
As this silent war between pain and delusion escalated, the Archangel took one final, drastic action during the union of God & a boy going under the alias of No. 13: the Archangel forcibly split this man and the God apart during their original union, an act that started the Blaze itself in a wave of immense heated light.
In the wake of the catastrophe, only a few remnants of the old world remained. One of the last institutions standing was the Order of Malkuth, who blamed God for watching silently as the world crumbled. Their solution? To purify God—erase the Absolute, and build a new one in its place. There was only one person capable of such a feat.
Dextera, No. 13. The boy who originally attempted to fuse with God.
A singular, extraordinary man preserved after the Blaze, countless copies of him were made to ensure the survival of the purification ability. He was given a single instruction—a goal buried so deep inside his mind it hurt to remember. After countless simulations, Dextera arrived at the Nerve Tower, cursed with the pain of a sin he couldn’t even recall, ready to fulfill his role.
He cut through wave after wave of Grotesque, finally reaching and purifying God—erasing the world in the process. But the Archangel had other plans. He sought to use Dextera’s power to become God himself, wanting to erase the old world and create a new one without corruption. Yet despite the Archangels pleas, that same aching pain still surged inside Dextera... the world didn’t need to be changed… it just needed… another chance…leading Dextera to recreate the exact same world, over and over.
Dextera was haunted by unbearable survivor's guilt—a man who had been cut off from his original body, his twin siamese brother severed from him as a child. Dextera was the sole survivor. He carried a hole inside of him that no amount of progress could fill.
To make matters worse, the Archangel had implanted Dextera with a mission, distorted memories, and added pain, a guiding objective that was not his own. Burdened by false purpose and missing memories, he wasn’t stable. But he didn’t want to simply erase God—not just purify her, to become one with her again, as they once were. But there were two problems. God’s pain had been removed by the Archangel, rendering her unstable and incomplete. Dextera’s memories were lost, meaning he lacked a true sense of self. If they fused in that state, Dextera would vanish completely.
Across countless cycles, worlds were erased and reformed. And eventually, Dextera succeeded in returning the pain to God, and in doing so, regained his own memories. At last, they were able to unite—not in fusion, but in understanding.
Together, they realized the truth: to erase corruption or distortion from the world was a delusion in and of itself. Corruption was not a flaw—it was woven into the fabric of the world, a natural consequence of its complexity and emotion.
So instead of fusing again, Dextera accepted it.
He accepted the world, delusions and all… bringing life to it once more. He no longer wanted to be above it—he wanted to live like everyone else. And if he fell to his Baroque, to the madness and distortion he once fought so hard to erase…
Then so be it.
Cyl-005
Made by Stars!~
Picayune Moore was just an average person living on Earth. A peaceful life, close friends, a loving family, and a college degree—she had everything she ever wanted. Until the Aberration came.
A mysterious, incomprehensible force, the Aberration sent wave after wave of distorted monsters to ravage the planet. Fear spread like wildfire. Earth was running out of options, so it turned to volunteers—willing citizens trained for months, pushed to their physical and mental limits, all while maintaining intense academic performance. Picayune stood out, eventually rising to the top 1% of her unit. Yet… morale was nonexistent. The Aberration didn’t just destroy bodies—it warped emotions, senses, and reality itself. Everything felt... like a dream.
And when the team was finally deployed, it only got worse. Aberration's influence grew stronger. Picayune's fears escalated—no communication, the feeling of being used like cattle, the realization that Earth would just send more people to die in their place.
And then she snapped.
The Aberration ejected Picayune’s consciousness, turning it into pure energy. In that moment, it wiped out her entire crew. She was no longer in her body. She became something else—something more. Something that felt betrayed.
She abandoned Earth, vowing revenge on the system that sacrificed her and so many others.
But back on Earth, the government detected a lingering signal on the ship—and initiated a failsafe protocol.
Picayune was gone... but her body remained. They extracted what was left and uploaded it into a new shell: Cyl-005.
She had no memories of her past life—only a singular directive: destroy the Aberration. She would fight through her former friends, face the nightmare that ended her life, and save Earth. And in the game’s true ending, Cyl finally confronts Picayune’s essence, now fully merged with the Aberration. She convinces her former self to let go of that corrupt power, burning it away for good. With the last of it, Picayune revives their fallen teammates. Together, they return to Earth—not as the same person, but as two beings changed by everything they endured.
Even if the world remains blind to the crimes of the government...
Even if that distorted dream never fully fades...
This was the right choice… it was the happiest they had ever been.
Intelligence, Experience, & Skill
Dextera
Dextera had been a member of the Order of Malkuth for many years—even before the Blaze—where he was often regarded as extraordinary and held a respected position within the religious group. After the Blaze, many individuals joined an Executioner Squad composed of soldiers tasked with hunting the Grotesque; being a part of the squad was actually a high-rank considering even trained mercenaries had to work their way up. Through countless simulations and hundreds of deaths & training, Dextera was able to reach a level of skill that allowed him to traverse more floors than nearly any other Executioner member. Though as for intelligence, by the end of the game, Dextera had become capable of fusing with God, a being possessing knowledge of all Creation—and impressively, he was able to withstand and process that information without being overwhelmed.
Cyl-005
Cyl, along with many others, willingly joined the government’s space program, undergoing augmentations, intense exercise regimens, and advanced technological training to prepare her and her team for a deep-space voyage. Among all the applicants, she demonstrated consistent improvement and kept pace with fellow candidates ranked in the top 0.01 percentile; her old life as Picayune also netted her a college degree (albeit she doesn’t remember much of Picayune’s life, she is meant to be a clone of her same body). After the Aberration took over Picayune’s body, Cyl’s consciousness was continuously uploaded between different spare bodies, allowing her to experience hundreds of deaths and gain extensive real combat experience—eventually surpassing even her entire team, whom she ultimately killed. Her experience was so vast that she mastered every weapon in her arsenal and in the Corrupt Ending she lived out her entire lifetime (at least spanning 60 years) fighting the forces of the Aberration across the galaxy, right up until her death from natural causes; though it’s likely much longer since each death in the game is canon & Overdrives (the run progressions) can be done an infinite amount of times in theory. Her enemies included beings that had existed for eons, entities made of pure energy, the fragmented half of her psyche that fused with the Aberration, and swarms of monsters that surrounded her in relentless attacking formations.
Equipment
Dextera
Angelic Rifle
Dextera’s main weapon of choice is a weapon given to him by an Angel, capable of ‘consigning Grotesques to oblivion’. Unlike Dextera’s natural ability to transmute enemies using pain, this gun weaponizes a stronger variant by using amplified pain from the Absolute God; using ‘Littles’ as ammunition it must puncture foes in order to activate. It’s been shown to be better at purification due to the pain increase, aka all of its features are more effective than Dextera is normally. This means it’s capable of transmuting opponents into Sephirahs better than his natural means (as normal purification does not work on Absolute God), normal purification has also shown to cause so much pain that the victims become ‘depowered’, die, & get erased from existence; it’s even been shown to seal spirits & memories. Dextera can even directly use his ammo shells like needles (in the manga), puncturing enemies directly to achieve the same effects… though despite either method, Dextera only has a five bullet capacity per resurrection.
Weapons
Dextera has many categories of weapons (mostly due to being a Roguelike protagonist), the most basic of his arsenal being the many melee weapons he carries around.
Baroque has some unique status effects you’ll need to know about for the following sections, so just keep in mind:
Poison - HP will gradually decrease.
Darkness - Impairs your vision.
Lust - All Grotesques and items will appear as beautiful women (impairs visual cues for attacks).
Lethargy - Your movement becomes slower.
Paralysis - Renders you immobile.
Stomachache - Decreases your attack and defense.
Confusion - Your movement is randomized.
Coats
Dextera’s main method of armor is the many Coats that he wraps himself in, they can provide numerous defense capabilities when it comes to battle.
Imitation Wings
The Order of Malkuth are known for wearing Wings as a symbol of their religion, Dextera is no different– finding many uses for these wings on his journey.
Entrails
‘Entrails’ are basically the healing items of Baroque, being organs & meat from Grotesque–which is questionable, because they are not composed of meat. The only real explanation is that Dextera is probably eating his past bodies (yikes).
Boxes
Boxes are something that Dextera can carry on hand, usually containing items of all shapes and sizes inside (they also tend to explode making them great throwing weapons).
Ampoules
Ampoules are essentially injections of fluid that can achieve a variety of different positive effects for the user.
Brands
Brands are marks that can be implanted onto the user or targets in order to achieve a bunch of different effects.
Torturers
Torturers are essentially the BIG BOY weapons of Baroque, usually dealing massive AOE effects that enemies can’t dodge (since it’s not a projectile).
Patterns
Patterns are essentially pressure plates that can be put onto floors, once stepped on it will activate an effect multiple times until it breaks.
Bones
Bones are a projectile often thrown at enemies to achieve different effects, they can be eaten… though they are quite tough and will more likely hurt you if anything.
Parasites
Parasites (while you’d think are super dangerous to have anywhere near you) are a blessing in the world of Baroque, they can infest your body to grant you buffs that help to stay alive through your journey.
Idea Sephirah / Crystals
The Idea Sephirah is an orb that is made from turning creatures into their purest characteristics, they hold great power. Dextera has many, though the most important is the Sephirah he took from Absolute God after transmuting her. Not only did it have the power to completely erase all of existence upon appearing; but, it also gave Dextera the ability to recreate or alter the universe any way he sees fit, including its Baroques.
Support
Order of Malkuth
Dextera was a very valuable member to keep around for the Order due to his unique Purification ability–so they created multiple clone bodies that he can be uploaded to if he were ever to perish in battle. There is no distinction between the clones as each one IS him, bodies are constantly being developed in a lab via Malkuth scientists, giving Dextera an endless supply of bodies to come back from (he’s a roguelike protagonist, this is his excuse for revives). Outside of that another useful help that members like the Archangel (who is just a holographic projection) can do is return or hold onto lost items for Dextera like the Angelic Rifle if it is stolen from him.
Cyl-005
Core
Cyl's Core is her main method of attacking via firing energy bullets from it in quick succession at enemies.
Chainbelt
Fires out lasers, protecting Cyl from all directions. Constantly dealing damage to enemies within radius.
Dagger Glove
A Dagger that hits strongly, dealing high damage with high cooldown.
Eye2
A high powered, infinitely piercing beam that deals low, constant damage from your eye to as far as you can see.
Leg Saw
Periodically fires infinitely piercing saw blades in all directions around you that speed up over time.
Missile Pack
Fires a group of fireworks that seek out nearby enemies, then exploding into a big AoE of sparks.
ParaSight
Creates a parasite friend who seeks out and latches onto enemies automatically to deal continuous damage.
Yoyo Rack
Slings a YoYo, then draws it back. Hitting an enemy can make it recoil to you much faster and more often, increasing its damage potential.
Hunter’s Bow
Fires a single piercing arrow in the direction of the cursor, homing to nearby enemies and poisoning them.
Horns
When getting close to a hostile, deal high damage to the nearest enemies around you.
Hydrocillator
Creates a bouncing ball that lasts forever, bouncing around and piercing through enemies.
Flame Thrower
Constantly shoots low damage flames in the direction of the cursor, with a very high chance of setting enemies on fire.
Frost Globe
Release a big frosty nova of ice around you, slowing all enemies within its radius.
Plasma Lamp
Fires electric beams at the nearest enemies, temporarily stunning them in place.
Static Satellite
Calls down high, immediate damage on random enemies every few seconds.
Wicked Walkman
Fires a music note in the direction of the cursor, bouncing in the opposite direction after hitting an enemy.
Soul Spear
Unleash spearing beams around you from your center that pierce through enemies.
Defense Turret
Spawns a stationary turret that aims at the enemy closest to it, teleporting if you get too far.
Shinobi Equipment
Fires piercing ninja stars in the direction of the cursor before returning in your direction.
Strike Call
Calls down high damage explosions in a random location around you.
Angel Wings
The nearest enemies will be repeatedly knocked away and take low damage.
Demon Wings
While moving, constantly release a trail of demonic damage out behind you.
Volatile C4
Grants all weapons an explosive enhancement, making enemies detonate when they die and damage those around them.
Shrapnel Shells
Grants all weapons a buckshot enhancement, causing dead enemies to release shrapnel in all directions.
Telecom
Allows all weapons to sometimes release an AoE blast that deals 50% of its damage on hit.
Slime Spike
Forms a translucent spike around you, spinning and stabbing enemies that come into contact.
UltraBuster
Similar to the CORE, but fires in an accurate piercing single-line burst instead.
Chainsword
A dangerous repeatedly damaging weapon that swings in the direction you aim.
Pop Up Firewall
A suit upgrade that potentially stops enemies before they're even a problem, spiraling the edge.
Reaper Scythe
This Scythe is warm to the touch, ‘all enemies in existence’ take damage in its presence.
Corrupt Tentacle
A disgusting and slimy tentacle, it bites down hard - tethering itself onto anything it touches and does repeating damage to those who try to get through.
Blastin' Sticks
Dynamite. After being lit and thrown into the air, they come right back down and explode wherever you were a moment ago.
Funky Carrot
A carrot that has a gross smell. Almost makes you want to throw it, and if you did, it'd leave a damaging aura wherever it lands.
Lots Of Bees
A beehive that holds 'one hundred billion trillion zillion bees’. Fly out in all directions.
Midas Hand
The hand of Midas looms over Cyl, damaging those who dare to get in her pickup range. Does more damage the more worth your XP is, excluding Overdrive benefits.
DaggerFish Conch
A conch that summons a dangerous school of fish, who've bonded to you and will protect you no matter what; dashing and piercing through groups of enemies.
Stinky Cheese
Acts similar to an exploding splitting cluster bomb weapon... except it's made of cheese!
Psycho Helmet
This helmet was found beneath a government building, it allows you to see things you wouldn't be able to see otherwise. You can also run into these things, explode them and deal damage in all directions around it.
Injection
An injection that adds some extra filling to Cyl's upgrades, making them bigger and able to hit more enemies.
Energizing Battery
A battery that overcharges weapons, making them move faster and fly quicker.
IV Bag
IV Bags let you top off your health with some of that red stuff! A small HP bonus and makes Health Vials more effective. Also enables overheal, slowly decaying the points above your max HP.
Pleonexic Crown
A pretty crown that increases the radius at which XP sucked up.
Mask Of Plague
A mask that grants a small chance for any weapon to inflict the Poison status effect, also increasing all poison damage universally.
Halo
A Halo that forms a protective bubble around you, decreasing the damage you take by half before going on cooldown.
Digiwatch
A watch that increases the attack speed of all other upgrades by lowering their cooldowns, making them happen more frequently.
Overcharged Engine
An Engine that overclocks your thrusters, allowing you to reach higher speeds.
Fire Lighter
A Fire Lighter grants a small chance for any weapon to inflict the Fire status effect, also increasing all fire damage universally.
Frosty Cone
A cone that grants a small chance for any weapon to inflict the Frost status effect, also increasing all frost damage universally.
Electric Eel
An Electric Eel that grants a small chance for any weapon to inflict the Shock status effect, also increasing all shock damage universally.
Element Crystal
A crystal that enhances all the powers of the elements, making fire burn, poison decay, shock fry, and frost shatter that much more.
Fancy Cigar
A cigar takes the edge off after a rough time, giving you more time to regain your composure. Increases the duration of invulnerability periods after taking damage.
Missing Award
An award you thought lost forever—gone for so long, you feared you'd never see it again. Its sight fills you with hope. Grants minor increases to Cooldown Reduction, Attack Size, Projectile Speed, Pickup Range, all Elemental Chances, and Dodge Chance.
Blessed Monkey
This Monkey is named Baker. It has a calming aura, and her eyes tell a lifetime of stories far more interesting than whatever is happening right now. Increases Cyl's XP Modifier.
Drillers
Drills that can be used to alter aspects of your person, unlike power-ups there is no real limit to how many you can use… the only trade-off being that most of them inflict a penalty alongside a benefit.
Candy Treat
A large and delicious candy cane that grants Cyl a +10% boost to the rate at which debris and pickups spawn.
Suits
A fully optimized combat suit that grants Cyl a variety of benefits—including the ability to breathe in space. It is designed to actively sustain the wearer, even in the most dire circumstances. While its regeneration features can be a bit inconsistent… Picayune was a being made of energy & was literally exploding into nothingness, yet Cyl’s suit was still able to hold her together… This was the True Ending for the game– so it should be a valid interpretation. And while the suit’s healing capabilities are impressive, the Infected Update makes it a lot more clear that the red core on her suit is responsible, as it’s literally her ‘lifeforce’. So it should be able to bring back Cyl from pretty much anything as long as it isn’t too damaged.
Pickups
Pickups are the drifting debris scattered through space, granting Cyl power-ups and benefits whenever she happens to come across them.
Support
Government
The Government owns Cyl and the rest of her crew like property, meaning EVEN IF SHE DIES… they can bring her back as many times as they want in a new body—whether she likes it or not (her consent literally is overwritten like a program). She gets endless revivals to keep pushing forward and finish her mission, the governments ‘infinite resources’ at her disposal by their own admission… meaning realistically as long as the government is around she can keep coming back. And unlike most roguelikes where you lose everything after dying, the Government actually lets her start each run with a few weapons thanks to upgrades and suit swapping. That said, her suits are scattered randomly across space… so good luck finding them!
Abilities
Dextera
Regeneration
Dextera continuously regenerates health over time as long as he has VT available (as seen above), VT being the vitality he gains from eating. Once he runs out, the opposite occurs, causing him to gradually lose health over time instead. While what he can recover from is generally inconsistent (sometimes simply impaling Dextera is enough to take him down), it has been shown capable of regenerating large wounds, & at his peak—he was shown to be capable of coming back & recreating his body after completely evaporating.
Transmutation / Purification
Dextera has the unique ability to transform anyone that he kills into an Idea Sephirah, which is an orb that contains the person’s very ‘characteristics’ (Soul, Emotions, Existence, Reality, Non-Existence, Consciousness/Unconsciousness, Abstract Ideas, Power, Time, Personifications, Life, Death, Information); while all of his weapons benefit from this, he can simply raise his hand to achieve the same effect, & is capable of hitting multiple targets with it simultaneously. It’s been said to be capable of purifying the very soul itself, Sephirah & variants like Conscious Orbs have been shown to seal inside memories & souls, and it’s been shown to work on Littles which are the manifestation of pain.
Absorption / Death Manipulation
Both Dextera & Absolute God have the ability to fuse with individuals. When you have a close enough wave-length with the user, you’ll become one with them– one fused individual person; if not, the user overpowers their consciousness, killing the target instantly– causing them to lose themself entirely fading away.
Great Heat Wave
Even without the Idea Sephirah from God, simply coming into contact with the being can trigger an event known as the Blaze, or the Heat Wave. This more unfocused variant unleashes a wave of pure heat capable of twisting reality, corrupting it, and affecting both the bodies and minds of everyone caught within it–driving them insane. After fully fusing with the Absolute God, Dextera was finally able to set things right. While he didn’t wish to eliminate corruption entirely, he managed to restore the Earth, reversing all the damage that had been done to it, and even brought back No. 47, who had been erased from existence by the Littles. The Songbird story written before the game also backs this up, explaining that the distortion could erase someone's existence, killing them, removing concepts like language from them entirely.
Non-Physical Interaction (Non-Corporeal, Abstract, Nonexistent)
Dextera has been shown capable of attacking, picking up, and purifying Littles. Littles are not only the embodiment of God's pain, but are literally said to be angels (angels being represented by spirits in a majority of religions) and Littles are shown to be intangible at multiple intervals. Dextera has managed to manipulate & interact with Idea Sephirahs (GOD’S SEPHIRAH, NO LESS) & has even been said to be capable of wiping away all ‘Distortion’ (Baroque) from the world; such as: Souls, Emotions, Existence, Reality, Non-Existence, Consciousness/Unconsciousness, Abstract Ideas, Power, Time, Personifications, Life, Death, & Information.
Throwing (Item Bestowal)
Baroque can be a pretty strange game, but one of its more niche—yet notable—mechanics for versus debates is the ability to throw any and all equipment at enemies. Doing so applies the item's effect, exactly as described (status healing, item destruction, element debuffs, negative status effects, etc.)—meaning you can forcibly impose item effects onto others (as described in the Mechanics section of the Nerve Tower).
Cyl-005
Time Perception Manipulation
This is probably one of the more niche & handy features in the game; Cyl is capable of speeding up her own perception of time or slowing it down in order to get through lengthy sections faster or make it easier to react to attacks.
Scanning
This is one of Cyl’s primary methods of traversing space. It provides her with precise images of distant locations, detailed information about them, their health, and the exact distance between her and those targets (even if the object is Earth itself). It can also lock onto nearby pickup items, people, or places—even if they’re invisible or teleporting; ontop of displaying her own exact coordinates as she travels through space.
Non-Physical Interaction (Non-Corporeal & Nonexistent)
Cyl has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to harm foes that are normally intangible. After absorbing the Aberration, Picayune transformed into pure energy (as stated above and here)—existing in a perpetual state of both an eternal existence & non-existence—yet Cyl was still able to injure her & even make physical contact. Additionally, creatures from the Aberration are described as ghosts, souls, beings who never were, and idle energy of the universe.
Black Hole
Cyl’s primary method for handling groups of enemies? Just casually spawning a LITERAL BLACK HOLE. The exact mechanics are unclear, but it seems the capsules she carries can spontaneously generate what’s referred to as a singularity / quantum hole—a gravitational anomaly capable of spaghettifying and atomizing nearby matter, breaking it down into pure energy. What’s more, anything the black hole can’t absorb—such as pure energy—gets converted into one of Cyl’s own attacks and redirected straight back at the original attacker. The upper limit of what she can absorb and return is unknown, but she’s been seen reflecting thousands of projectiles simultaneously.
Loadout
While Cyl carries a great myriad of different items on her endless crusades, through death and resurrection she has learned hundreds of different perk combinations to increase her efficiency in battle and grant her permanent buffs.
Resistances
Dextera
Elemental / Status Effects [Fire, Electricity, Ice, Poison, Vision Impairment, Stamina Manipulation, Paralysis, Stat Lowering, Motor Function Manipulation] - Dextera & other NPCs can take hits from enemies who can burn him, freeze him solid, poison him, or paralyze him–only to automatically recover within seconds. Ignoring the fact that Dextera can recover from any status effect on his own, he has a more definitive way to resist them. The Triple Facet Coat lets him resist all the elemental effects, the Distorted Coat prevents all ailments in the game except for stomach aches and confusion, Special Wings prevent all statuses except Stomach Ache, Antiseptic Fluid prevents decay and deterioration, Stomachache Worm prevents Stomachache–meaning he has a method to resist everything simultaneously.
Transmutation / Corruption - Dextera is immune to the presence of Absolute God which causes your body to corruptedly transform into a Grotesque; he’s also been capable of changing his body back to normal after using Consciousness Orbs which turn whatever is absorbed into pure information.
Mind Manipulation / Memory Manipulation / Madness Manipulation - Dextera is resistant to the presence of Absolute God and eventually even outright immune at the end of the game & in manga; despite how it drives people mad; he was also immune to the manipulation of his memories, still remembering past runs & defying the implanted instructions from the Angels. Dextera wasn’t overwhelmed while fusing with Absolute God, despite how she literally has all information in the universe instilled into her… Dextera is also immune to Longneck’s Baroque, which made everyone in the town want to bury themselves (literally).
Death Manipulation - Anyone who tries to fuse with Absolute God dies from attempting the process, but Dextera was completely fine and did a perfect fusion. There’s also the matter of how the Littles (who are the removed pain of God) were unable to die simply due to Dextera & Absolute God’s union.
Soul Manipulation / Pain Manipulation - Dextera’s brother exists as a soul within his memories that is able to repair the permanent damage on his soul & remove his pain mentally/physically/spiritually.
Existence Erasure / Conceptual Erasure - Dextera was unaffected by the Blaze & Erasure of the entire universe; which erased people, as well as the Distortion & Baroques they stood for.
Decay / Deterioration - Antiseptic Fluid prevents decay and deterioration of items and the user.
Infection - Anything that tries to invade Dextera’s body will be eaten by ‘Cannibal Worms’ which grow stronger through eating other parasites in his body… which lets Dextera negate their effects all together.
Item Stealing - The Adhesive Sigil stops items from being unequipped & the Immobility Sigil prevents item theft and item scattering.
Cloning - It’s explained that only one of Dextera can exist at a time, whenever clones or copies of him were made they were unable to wake up until Dextera actually died… and even then it’d just become the new him after he dies. Cultivation Fluid (which makes duplicates of creatures) explicitly doesn’t work on Dextera whenever it’s attempted.
Cyl-005
Extreme Cold / Radiation / Speed Reduction - Completely fine in the vacuum of space with no consequences. Cyl is also fine using the Frost Globe which creates an ice nova all around her that slows nearby enemies.
Gravity Manipulation - Unaffected by the gravitational pull of a spaceship.
Corruption / Transmutation / Infection - Even though Cyl had prolonged contact with the Aberration—and Picayune (the person who embodied it) was literally part of her at one point—Cyl was never corrupted. The Aberration and its space-borne parasites are known to physically corrupt & mutate anyone just by being nearby (it worked on Picayune before she even reached it; it was even implied the closer they got the stronger the influence of it was). Victims have turned into things like giant brains with legs, had their limbs twisted into tails, and in Picayune’s case, were transformed into pure energy. But somehow, Cyl stayed completely unaffected by the Aberration.
Spatial Manipulation / Atom Manipulation - Cyl is unaffected by Black Holes which are said to Spaghettify and Atomize matter.
Feats
Dextera
Overall
Successfully fused with God.
Became the only person in existence capable of Purification.
Accepted the Baroque within himself.
Destroyed Saved the World.
Became a part of the Order of Malkuth.
Reconciled with his Brother.
Power & Durability
Dextera might not be known as a physical powerhouse in his universe, but don’t let that fool you—he’s got plenty of powers and abilities up his sleeve. After all, he was the one who created the Great Heat Wave!
Can vaporize people.
Survived at the epicenter of the Blaze which terraformed the entire Earth into wastelands. (17.37 Exatons of TNT) [Multi-Continental]
Remade the Universe using Absolute God’s Idea Sephirah. (Uni+ - 1.07E+27 x Universal) [Universal+ - Multiversal] (See Before the Verdict)
Speed
As a roguelike protagonist, Dextera’s growth is a classic slow climb—but once he hits his peak, the payoff is massive. By the time he reaches his pinnacle and erases Absolute God, even his speed sees a massive boost, making him just as terrifyingly quick as he is powerful.
Move in tandem with electricity.
Dodged Beam Attacks. (8% Light Speed) [Sub-Rela+]
Moves in tandem with beams that are described as light.
Remade the Universe in an ‘instant’ using Absolute God’s powers. (2.93 Quintillion c - Debatably Infinite) [MFTL+ - Debatably Infinite]
Dextera was capable of fusing his consciousness with Absolute God, despite how she was constantly absorbing ‘all information in creation’ into herself via Sense Spheres. (Reactionary Speed: 2.57E+214 c - Debatably Infinite) [MFTL+ - Debatably Infinite]
Stamina
Dextera’s most standout trait is easily his stamina. He has numerous ways to restore it mid-fight, and he’s well-known for diving deep into the Neuro Tower, battling hordes of monsters for hours on end without slowing down.
Fought through hordes of enemies as he descended the Nerve Tower with no rest; despite mentally struggling through survivors guilt & the uploaded pain from his previous deaths.
While he was attached to his brother, his heart managed to support their bodies simultaneously for many years (albeit they were both slowly dying).
Certain Items help to slow the drain of VT, giving him better stamina than most humans during the Post-Blaze era.
Cyl-005
Overall
“Obligations exhausted. Mission completed. Home called to me and with open arms; I answered.”
Eventually stopped the Aberration, saving the world in the process.
Dedicated herself to protecting Earth for her entire lifetime in one ending.
Explored the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Officially a member of the Government.
Reconciled with Picayune and helped to redeem her.
Power & Durability
Cyl has an insane amount of fire-power to throw at her enemies, it's not an exaggeration to say... she FIGHTS LIKE A TOUHOU BOSS. She will just bombard you with waves of bullshit until you die (this gif is literally just ONE of her attacks upgraded).
Can carry one hundred million, billion, trillion, ZILLION Bees… somehow. (90000000 Metric Tons) [Class G]
Blasts from many of her weapons can often make explosions that can be directly compared to planets. (531.19 Petatons of TNT) [Multi-Continental]
Can physically deploy Black Holes from her body… they are called singularities, quantum holes, described to atomize, spaghettify– yeah it’s a real Black Hole. (28.68 Yottatons of TNT - 253.4 Quettatons) [Large Planet - Star]
Speed
Given the intergalactic scale of Picayune Dreams, it’s no surprise that Cyl would need some serious speed to traverse between planets—and she delivers in spades. She's not just fast—she's built for it, with a whole arsenal of mobility tools and techniques that let her tear across star systems. Suffice to say, Cyl’s got quite the repertoire.
Plasma Lamp fires ‘electric beams’.
Eye Laser is described as being a laser beam. (1 c) [SOL]
Weapons can disperse energy at FTL speeds. (9.07 c) [FTL]
Casually flies between planets, sectors, & moons in very short amounts of time. (22.09 Million c) [MFTL+]
Cyl searches for Picayune across the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy. (3919 c - 15.9 Tredecillion c) [MFTL+]
Stamina
As a partial cyborg outfitted with numerous augmentations—many of which are designed to boost her stamina—Cyl can keep fighting for absurdly long stretches of time. Whether it’s a prolonged battle or a swarm of thousands coming at her from every direction, she’s built to outlast them all without breaking a sweat.
Capable of fighting nonstop for hours.
Fought through hordes of enemies as she traveled through the Milky Way.
Cyl managed to fight in combat for her entire lifetime up until she died from natural causes.
Scaling
Dextera
Absolute God
“Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad
Don't go mad Don't go mad Don't go mad”
While it might seem like Dextera doesn’t scale—since he only ever shoots Absolute God with his existence-erasing rifle—the weapon has to pierce the target before it can activate; aka it had to actually harm it. At the absolute very least, it’d mean Dextera was able to harm Absolute God and breach its skin with it. And there’s really no way to write this off as an outlier—the entire plot revolves around killing God to ‘save’ the world. It’s not just a one-off feat, it’s a necessary part of the story for everything to make sense. Aside from that the entire plot was for Dextera to fuse with God, become one individual, one where his consciousness wouldn’t be overwhelmed by God when Dextera achieved his peak (it’s just pretty obvious he should scale).
Created the Universe (she is literally God what do you want me to say). She upholds it at all times and the moment she dies, it literally just disappears; recreating the world causes time to be affected. [Universal+]
Absolute God absorbs ‘all information in creation’ into herself via Sense Spheres. [Universal - High Universal]
Cyl-005
Aberration / Bosses
“After what you did to us, I want to be broken. I want to be put back together stronger.”
Cyl is fully capable of keeping up with—and even damaging—Picayune, as well as every boss in the game. Picayune herself admits she didn’t expect Cyl’s body to be strong enough to defeat her, even while wielding the full power of the Aberration… and yet, Cyl still pulled it off and Cyl’s suit even managed to hold the entirety of the Aberration as it expelled a majority of its energy. It’s pretty clear she does scale, though we break this down in much more detail in the ‘Before the Verdict’ section.
The Bosses that Cyl defeats are capable of vastly altering space by huge margins. (See Before The Verdict)
Altering the colors of space (such as turning it from green to blue).
Filling it with clouds.
Filling it with water. (3.55E+29 x Universal) [Multiversal]
Making it all disappear into a black void.
The Aberration gave Picayune an 'eternal form' that is composed of pure energy described as the idle energy of the universe—an energy that would outlast Picayune's natural lifespan due to her immortality—while continuously launching enemies into space. Although the full scope of Picayune Dream’s cosmology is somewhat vague, both the space and the supply of enemies that Picayune can create and occupy are heavily implied to be infinite on numerous occasions. [High Universal / Debatably Infinite Speed]
Weaknesses
Dextera
Dextera generally doesn’t have many weaknesses to speak of, though there are at least a few notable ones. Given enough time and after exhausting all of his VT recovery items, he’ll begin to relapse—eventually leading to his body collapsing and dying, which forces him to reboot into a new one. He also suffers from severe survivor’s guilt and PTSD due to the loss of his brother, which can sometimes cause him to act impulsively. However, his most obvious weakness is arguably the limited quantity of his items. He doesn’t have unlimited uses & durability for any of them and will eventually run out of tools to throw at his opponents if the battle drags on (at least until he refills on a new run). This is why rebooting into a new body to replenish his stock is usually a viable strategy you can take advantage of on your route to the Nerve Tower.
Cyl-005
"Consent overridden. Government-mandated reasoning: 'MISSION ISN’T COMPLETE.'"
Cyl doesn’t have many major weaknesses, but the few she does have are pretty significant. Aside from the fragmented memories of her past life as Picayune, her biggest flaw is her inability to heal herself. In her game, she has no built-in regeneration—meaning she has to hope to find health pickups scattered around, making her a bit of a glass cannon. This is reflected in her gameplay too: her usual strategy is to attack from a distance while constantly dodging, since most enemies she faces can actually outgun her in a straight fight. On top of that, while she technically has a near-infinite number of revives, her existence depends on Earth and its systems staying intact. If the government collapses (there’d be no more way for them to overwrite her consent for the revives)—or even worse Earth itself could be destroyed—at that point Cyl would likely lose all purpose (it’s literally her main directive & sole purpose, as we see in the normal ending she stagnates into doing nothing after saving it)... so it’s very possible it’d mean she’d lose the will to keep going at all.
Before the Verdict
Should Cyl have Picayune’s Abilities?
This one is honestly pretty simple. Since Dextera is gaining the Absolute God's powers via the Idea Sephirah, it would make sense for Cyl to get Picayune's powers, right? No. Unlike the Absolute God's powers—which Dextera uses multiple times on-screen—Cyl never actually acquires Picayune’s abilities at any point. The closest we get is a Picayune-themed skin, but outside of a few conversation interactions, it’s clearly cosmetic and doesn’t grant her any of Picayune’s powers… if you really wanted to call it canon, it’d much more likely this skin lets you play as Picayune herself (which would obviously be outside help here). So while Absolute God is fair game for Dextera, Picayune isn’t really a valid argument for Cyl.
What’s Up With The Picayune Dream Space Feats?
This needs to be addressed due to how vague it initially appears. Whenever a boss shows up in the game, the space environment changes drastically. This can include space disappearing entirely, the color shifting, or the area being filled with things like clouds or water. However, there are three main issues we need to examine first; let’s break it down and make things easier to understand:
Is the matter being created or removed actually real? This first point is an interesting one… when I asked around in the community, many people tended to treat it like a "domain expansion"—where space isn’t truly disappearing, but rather being visually obstructed. That interpretation can align with what we see in some instances. However, there are clear flaws with that idea. There are plenty of moments where space isn’t just obstructed but visibly and fundamentally altered—such as changes in color from green to blue during a boss fight—or when the background is physically interacted with, like when it's filled with water & bosses are capable of splashing in it. So, it’s kind of a moot point to argue it’s fake. The transformations are clearly real and capable of drastically altering space. In fact, after you beat the game for the first time, the random point in space where Cyl always wakes up is changed to the background of a boss arena… There's also the fact that your locator coordinates don’t change when reality is warping (meaning it’s clearly not some sort of dimension). That’s especially telling, considering Cyl wakes up in a different, random location in space with every new run… meaning it’s very obviously far spanning—which brings us to our next point.
How can we measure the actual amount of space that has been changed? This is a really solid point. Sure, there are plenty of “void” feats in fiction that people call universal, but those are usually tied to more cartoony characters. In our case, all we really see is a vague section of space getting altered—so does that mean we can't actually measure it? Surprisingly, no. One key game feature saves us: the scanner. It can show your exact (X,Y) coordinates whenever you want and there’s no distance limit to it, meaning you can freely travel and see how much of space was actually changed. On top of that, Picayune Dreams is repeatedly described as infinite, and boss fights don’t have timers. So yeah—you can literally travel FOREVER and despite this the changes span forever across space… we can pretty confidently argue that all of space is being affected (especially given nothing contradicts it).
Does the rest of the cast actually scale to this? This is honestly the simplest answer. Not only does Cyl literally take damage from the characters responsible for these massive space-altering feats, but there’s also the way their power works. Most of the bosses get their abilities from the Aberration—an entity that is made of pure energy. Picayune absorbed most of its energy to gain all of these powers, very clearly empowering her… and yet Cyl defeats all of them, including the source of the Aberration itself (hell Cyl’s suit literally survives the Aberrations full force EXPLODING out of her). Since more energy equals more power, and that power clearly is what allows her to reality-warp & attack, it makes sense that Cyl scales to it too via dealing damage and tanking attacks… and y’know… when the entirety of it was exploding out of Cyl’s suit with no damage dealt to her.
How Strong Is The Great Heat Wave?
Well, as we've been discussing throughout this whole blog, it's a massive wave of energy that spans all of reality. That alone makes its exact composition kind of vague. I was a bit conflicted on what to actually call it—if it really was a “Blaze” or fireball like it’s sometimes described, it could be argued to hit pretty high on the Multiversal scale. Though it’s important to bring up that there’s just as many references to the Great Heat Wave being light rather than literal fire—which would also line-up honestly, since light can burn too; regardless of the take it’s best described as an enormous, reality-spanning wave of energy. What is important, though, is how it affects the entire universe—and even the time within that universe. Every time the Heat Wave goes off, no one remembers what happened except for Dextera, who describes the event as “repeating everything” (as seen above in the gif). That alone should be enough to place the wave at at least Universal+ level. The same would generally apply to the ‘Sense Spheres’ & ‘Sphere of Senses’ as they allow Absolute God to convert all matter in the universe into energy / pure information.
Bonus Art
Art by Stars!~
Verdicts & Closing Thoughts
The sheer number of things to discuss when it comes to roguelikes is overwhelming; stats aside, both had enough of an arsenal to realistically tip the battle in either direction — it's honestly a pretty interesting matchup when you break it down. Same as always, I really appreciate all of your support in reading this. Hope you all enjoy!
Stats
Generally speaking, both characters possess a massive spread of stats, but let’s start with Dextera. Even on his own, Dextera has demonstrated some strong feats—shattering massive walls, vaporizing Grotesques, and terraforming the planet with energy output clocking in around 17.37 Exatons of TNT. On the higher end, he’s gone so far as to reshape the entire universe, time included, pushing him firmly into uni+ or even multiversal territory.
Cyl on the other-hand was a bit more of a unique case when it came to her stat-spread. She once lifted a quadrillion bees—roughly 90 million metric tons—without even straining. Her arsenal includes weapons that create planet-sized explosions pegged at 531.19 Petatons of TNT, and her black hole attacks strike with enough force to vaporize large planets or even stars—anywhere from 28.68 Yottatons up to 253.4 Quettatons. On raw destructive output, Dextera seems to stomp… at first glance. But as usual with my breakdowns, scaling to other characters paints a much clearer picture.
Absolute God and the Aberration both impact entire, potentially infinite universes, but that’s not even the crazy part. While Absolute God’s giant universe-wide fireball is impressive, Cyl similarly scaled to how Picayune filled the entire verse with clouds. Being generous to Dextera (aka assuming his Heat Wave isn’t composed of light), it lands around 1.07E+27x Universal. The Aberration, on the other hand, is sitting at 3.55E+29x Universal. So if we take that at face value…Cyl—who scales directly to the Aberration—ends up being 331x stronger than Dextera at peak. Even if you're being extremely conservative—scaling Dextera’s lower-end feats around Multi-Continental—Cyl hangs out casually at planetary or even star. No matter how you spin it, regardless of the ends used, Cyl takes the AP category.
Speed is… well, it’s pretty much more of the same. Both Dextera and Cyl have the standard fare: dodging fireballs, electricity, near-light speed movement—the usual for heavyweights. But when looking at their more cosmic feats, that’s where things get wild. Dextera’s Heat Wave alone would have to propagate at speeds around 2.93 Quintillion times the speed of light, possibly even reaching infinite speed, depending on the interpretation.
Cyl as you’d expect for a space-faring game that is built around moving through galaxies, navigating interstellar sectors and clouding entire star systems just from raw movement… is pretty fast. Conservatively, her spaceflight sits at 22.09 million c, but it doesn’t stop there. In her Corrupted Ending, she searched the entire Milky Way using only the remainder of her lifespan. Even being as conservative as possible, as this is very clearly the intent behind the feat (it literally specified she looked under any land-marks in sight, all planets, all across the galaxy… even under literal rocks)-- it’d net 15.9 Tredecillion times the speed of light and using the Aberration potentially spewing out infinite mass in finite time… she’d have a matching infinite speed feat as a high-end (though realistically given the scope of both stories, finite speed was more important). Reactionary speed on the other-hand is a bit of a different story.
Fusing with Absolute God while maintaining full control of his mind puts Dextera in a whole different category—processing all information in the universe places his reaction speed at a baseline of 2.57E+214 c. Though ironically–even after scouring the series, there’s no canon instance of Dextera ever getting blitzed to warrant him physically scaling, despite the ridiculous escalations of his games. So while Cyl takes physical speed using low to mid ends, Dextera ties using high-ends and he takes reactionary speed.
Arsenal & Abilities
Given that both games are rogue-likes loaded with absurdly vast arsenals, this category was easily the most complex to dissect. Both characters have access to a ridiculous spread of abilities, but they excel in very different ways. Cyl, without question, holds the quantity and versatility edge. Her arsenal is massive—dozens upon dozens of weapons and tools, letting her adapt to a wide range of combat scenarios. She’s got all the basics: elemental damage, statuses like poison, lasers, guns, swords, and even advanced tools like Pop-Up Firewalls to gain stage control or interrupt summons. Her gameplay style often leans on overwhelming force and mobility—hit hard, hit fast, move on.
Though that’s primarily the reason it starts to lean in Dextera’s favor, what he didn’t make up for in pure versatility he made up for in practicality. Where Cyl's versatility leans toward raw firepower and AOE dominance, Dextera's toolkit is meant to be absurdly disruptive. Sure, Cyl could potentially spam her attacks and flood the area with pure AOE spanning planets, but Dextera's options are built to stop that momentum. For example, he could:
Clone Cyl.
Steal her items.
Break her gear, cause her to unequip it, or force her to drop it all.
Force her to explode spontaneously.
Erase her from existence or use an even BIGGER AOE by rewriting the universe.
Paralyze her.
Become invincible.
Steal her supply drops using Boxes.
Scan her arsenal to understand how every weapon works.
Though even more damningly: he resists nearly all of it himself. His gear isn’t just offensive—it’s counter-ready, making him a nightmare in direct combat. Even if Cyl gets in close, her only real hax edge is her Black Hole, and while devastating, it’s just one option Dextera doesn’t hard-counter.
That said, Cyl's AOE potential is still overwhelming. When she's fully stocked, her sheer damage spread and environmental pressure can buy her space and rack up serious damage. Her flight and speed mean she can kite Dextera around the map if given breathing room. But when you stack it all up—especially in a neutral terrain with no prep—Dextera simply has more reliable win conditions.
Even when both have back-up bodies, while Cyl could EVENTUALLY track down the Order of Malkuth using her scanners, Dextera is the only one who can actually prevent her from coming back near immediately without leaving the battlefield, shutting down her resurrection options before they become a problem. Cyl may be overwhelming, but Dextera’s toolkit is simply more efficient & smarter—and in this matchup, it’s the difference between life and death. So Dextera should cleanly take both Arsenal & Abilities.
Tertiary Factors
This is probably the simplest category to wrap up, so let’s run through it quickly. Intelligence? That one clearly goes to Dextera. Not only was he able to absorb and process all information in the universe without frying his mind, but he also recreated reality down to a perfect detail. That’s beyond just battle IQ—that’s universal-level comprehension. On the flip side, while Cyl technically originated from Picayune, who may have been highly educated, most of that memory and mental clarity got fragmented during the split. So even if she had the potential, it’s not something she could realistically call on in a fight. Easy point to Dextera.
Experience, however, swings the other way. Dextera may have trained and fought in extreme conditions—sometimes even alongside soldiers—but Cyl has been in nonstop combat basically her whole life. The Corrupt Ending makes that very clear: she spent literal lifetimes fighting alone, with no downtime, against increasingly hostile odds. And no, Absolute God never actually fought Dextera, so trying to scale his combat experience off that is a reach. Cyl’s longevity, perseverance, and sheer war-by-survival edge put her firmly in the lead here.
Skill is another point for Cyl. She has to actively manage a wider arsenal—weapons, tech, and strategy—all while in motion. Dextera, while smart & having complex weapons, often showcases a combat style that leans more on brute-force power, whereas Cyl is juggling dozens of high-level weapons at once. Her multitasking and adaptability edge out Dextera’s more linear approach.
Stamina is no contest. Dextera has regeneration and can push himself, sure, but even he was shown needing breaks—mentally and physically—during his journeys through the Neuro Tower. Meanwhile, Cyl is literally built for endless war. She’s cybernetically augmented to fight nonstop, her suit keeps her alive and stable, and again—Corrupt Ending has her going for hours to full lifetimes without rest. Dextera simply doesn’t have that kind of fuel tank.
So while Dextera takes Intelligence, Cyl takes Experience, Skill, and Stamina. Giving Cyl the overall lead when it came to Tertiary Factors.
Summary
Dextera
Advantages:
Better perception speed.
Smarter.
Dextera would automatically win if he managed to activate God’s Idea Sephirah. As it made him the only one with ways to stop the others resurrections without leaving the fight.
Way more reliable abilities for outlasting & ending the fight (invincibility, existence erasure, purification, combustion, poison, etc).
Had plenty of options to remove Cyl’s potential arsenal advantage (item removal, item destruction, item unequipping, item scattering).
Resisted Cyl’s status options.
I’m NGL chief… Baroque is one of the best 3-D roguelikes of all time.
Neutral:
Equal speed using high-ends.
Both had similarly helpful support.
Both had similar regeneration & resurrection methods they could use to retry the fight and could even start with a bit of equipment.
Disadvantages:
Weaker.
Much Slower.
Less Stamina.
Less Experienced & Skilled.
Smaller Arsenal.
Would lose God’s Idea Sephirah after dying the first time.
Could reflect a lot of Dextera’s attacks back at him.
Cyl-005
"I've done all I can. I can only give humanity what it wants, not what it needs."
Advantages:
Much Stronger.
Physically Faster.
Better Stamina.
More Skilled and Experienced.
Larger Arsenal.
Black Holes ontop of killing Dextera would likely destroy Absolute God’s Idea Sephirah.
Could reflect a lot of Dextera’s attacks back at him.
Scanning would eventually let Cyl find and destroy the Order of Malkuth, stopping Dextera’s resurrections.
Way wider array of weapons…
Amazing OST.
Neutral:
Equal speed using high-ends.
Both had similarly helpful support.
Both had similar regeneration & resurrection methods they could use to retry the fight and could even start with a bit of equipment.
Disadvantages:
Dextera was smarter.
He generally had plenty of options she had no options against (absorption, purification, existence erasure, combustion).
Once the Great Heat Wave was activated, she had no real way to win.
Could force her to drop, break, scatter, or unequip all of her weapons.
…though Dextera had plenty of options for taking that advantage away.
While both were undeniably powerful warriors forged through their corrupt worlds, it was always going to come down to who controlled more of the battlefield—and in the end, Cyl had just enough to pull through.
With raw strength, unmatched speed, and a relentless arsenal, she didn’t just match Dextera—she overwhelmed him. He had intelligence and hax, sure, and his revival options made killing him a drawn-out process. But those revives came at a cost—most crucially, the loss of the Idea Sephirah (the only AOE option that could overcome the speed gap) and a large portion of his gear after just one death.
And that was all the opening she needed.
With Dextera stripped of his most vital tools, Cyl was able to push through, locate the Order of Malkuth, and finally bring the endless cycle to an end—saving the world, and proving that sometimes sheer perseverance, firepower, and will are more than enough to beat God’s chosen.
The Winner is Cyl-005!
Same as last time not really much to note, I was sick a few weeks but uhhhhh–KaibaGemn research is going along well (Kamen Rider Gaim is pretty sick ngl)... the rest of the mini-blogs are nearly ready to be released (generally speaking they are all like 80% done I’ve just been a bit busy), so a bit more patience on those. Obviously there’s no next time trailer for this blog, as this is a part of the ‘mini-blogs’ that I’ve been making while everyone waits for the Tournament Winner blogs to finish-up. For anyone interested, the current ‘mini-blogs’ that I’m working on are the following:
Rust Vs Ark Survival (... Vs …)
Yi Vs Raziel (Nine Sols Vs Legacy of Kain)
Frogger Vs Pacman (... Vs …)
Bruce Wayne Vs Daisuke Kambe (Telltale Vs The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited)
Alice Vs Ellen (Mario The Music Box Vs The Witch’s House)
Army Men Vs Small Soldiers Vs Mushroom Men Vs Worms [Collab with BioGator Blogs]
Cosmos Vs Aleph (MLP Vs Cassette Beasts)
Connor Vs Gesicht (Detroit Become Human Vs Pluto)
Cyl-005 Vs Dextera (Picayune Dreams Vs Baroque)
The Knight Vs The Penitent One (Sworn Vs Blasphemous)
Ghostface Vs Kickass (Scream Vs …)
Sergey Vs Kyle (Atomic Heart Vs Dying Light)
Marnie Cromwell Vs Harry Potter (Halloweentown vs ...)
The main blogs that won the tournament and are currently being worked on during the mini-blogs are:
Kaiba Vs Kamen Rider Genm (Yu-Gi-Oh Vs Kamen Rider)
Beheaded Vs Skul (Dead Cells Vs Skul: The Hero Slayer)
Cookie Clicker VS Battle Cats (... Vs ...)
Arakune VS Merkava (BlazBlue VS Under Night In-Birth)
Outside of that though, I guess since there’s nothing else really to note… I’d like to take this opportunity to mention something while we’re here. While I do think this is Cyl’s best matchup by far, I’d like to bring up an alt MU I also really like for Dextera (that peeps should totally discuss I might add smh).
Dextera Vs Batter
I’ve talked about this with a lot of people (hi Morta you smell), and most seem to agree—it’s probably one of Batter’s best matchups. It fits perfectly with the whole idea of entering a world with the sole mission of purifying its citizens and eventually escalating to killing its God…erasing everything in the world. Sure, other MUs have the "erase everything" plotline, but Dextera and Batter both literally have the same core ability: purification. It’s pretty weird how they have the exact same very specific purifying erasure ability and that somehow hasn’t been explored in other matchups. They’re also both embodiments of two opposing forces—Baroque and Purification (given Baroque’s entire plotline is clinging onto distortion to live). One personifies distortion, the other’s absolute clarity and cleansing (Baroque is literally just OFF if it was a roguelike about destroying the world numerous times)... the contrast writes itself. Batter has the tools to keep up with Dextera’s arsenal, and it really fits the dark, gritty tone of both OFF and Baroque. They’ve both got immortality, summons, and just this eerie, philosophical weight behind them. I don’t know, man… it’s a banger. The only real problem I can think of is obscurity, but like–I’ve done obscure matchups before & Death Battle is literally meant for pushing around cool asf battles even if on the obscure side. Baroque is SERIOUSLY underrated & one of the first of its kind to push for horresque visuals in the Sega Saturn days (literally iconic what it did for the industry & while it has gotten media closer to today, we should really appreciate how great the original was with the ideas it presented)… so push this around more, seriously.
Though yeah... expect those other blogs alongside the main one to come out soon– I’ll keep working on everything in the meantime…thank you for all your support; & stay tuned!
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