Lumine

Lumine (ルミネ) is the Reploid that X, Zero, and Axl encounter in Mega Man X8. At the end of the intro stage, Vile "kidnaps" Lumine and takes him away. After vanquishing Sigma in Normal/Hard mode, Lumine reveals that Sigma had fulfilled his purpose (thus, this game is considered "the end of Sigma"); Lumine is the first Reploid to turn Maverick at will (well, technically second, since Vile is hinted at becoming Maverick at will). Thus, he is the final boss of Mega Man X8.

In the first round, Lumine will be surrounded by 8 colored orbs--the same colors corresponding to the transporters in Gateway, and thus the same powers of the Maverick in said transporter. When he absorbs an orb, he will gain the Overdrive attack and weakness of the chosen Maverick.

After his first form, you are transported to "Heaven's Gate", where Lumine transforms into his Seraph form. He does multiple attacks, and in "Overdrive" he, after a few seconds, says "Paradise Lost!" (the subtitle of the game). In that, the sky darkens, and you must defeat Lumine before the screen completely darkens, or you lose a life and have to start back to his first form.

Lumine
Upon revealing himself as the leader of the new 'turn-Maverick-at-will' generation of Reploids, as well as the true mastermind behind the events of Paradise Lost, Lumine will try his hand at defeating the Hunters. Time to give him the new-psycho-kid-on-the-block treatment. He'll waste no time in using his DNA-copying abilities to mimick the attack patterns of the eight Mavericks. Floating around the room for the entire battle, the eight colored balls spinning and rotating around him represent each of the Mavericks. Don't bother attacking Lumine as he glows, your shots won't penetrate. Instead, wait for him to stop glowing before attacking but be quick as he'll sporadically glow on and off. Among his random taunts he'll eventually summon an energy surge and if you watch closely you'll see a small colored sphere appear above Lumine before it descends back down into his chest. Whichever color it was represents the Maverick Overdrive attack style he's about to use (black - Dark Mantis, red - Burn Rooster, etc.). Usually Lumine will start with Earthrock Trilobyte's Overdrive by jumping down into the right corner and creating the purple crystal walls. They'll travel across the screen attempting to crush you against the wall, so quickly jump up them and over to avoid damage. Naturally with the Maverick's special attacks comes their weaknesses, so you'll need to use the proper weapon depending on Lumine's current attack form (check the boss chart at the top of this page for reference). Only attack him while he's not glowing (which is a rare occurance in itself) and do your best to avoid taking damage yourself. After sending out enough waves of crystal walls, Lumine will summon the power of Gravity Antonion. He'll proceed to call in the huge blocks raining down from above, so you'll need to keep moving to hold out against the wave. Once they stop, rip into Lumine quickly before he summons the next Maverick's power.

If Lumine summons the power of Bamboo Pandamonium, stay on the floor as he hovers over to the corner, then immediately jump up the wall to avoid a quick slice attack. With Avalanche Yeti's power Lumine will blast cold air up into the screen, summoning the large floating icicles. They'll keep coming down for the rest of the battle, so you'll need to multitask and take them out as much as you can. Dark Mantis' power will give Lumine a massive swipe attack, he'll float up to the top of the screen before initiating the attack. Stay on one side of him then instantly dash to the other as the purple wave appears to narrowly avoid it, then quickly dash back to the other side as he repeats the attack. Watch out for Optic Sunflower's tracking beam, once the tracking laser appears on you quickly move to the opposite side of the room and dash away just before the beam fires. Burn Rooster's power will give Lumine the flamethrower/fire pillar attack, simply stay behind Lumine as he attacks one side of the room and jump over him as he attacks the other. Keep in mind that the flame pillars he produces won't disappate, so you'll lose the walls and have less room to move around in. Finally, if Lumine summons Gigabolt Man-O-War's power he'll unleash the massive eletrical attack from above, just watch for where the blue sparks appear on the floor and stay in the gaps to avoid major damage. Lumine will continue to rotate between Maverick attacks, so you'll need to keep your attack routine up constantly. Try to save your Life Tanks for the final battle, just remember to keep switching back and forth between your Hunters as they take damage, any red health bars you can recover are certainly worth the effort. Finish Lumine to hear one final foreboding taunt before he reveals his last trick.

Lumine's Final Form
Lumine's first and last encore will see him assume the form of a large winged Reploid, and while this appearance might be familiar to fans of the Mega Man Zero series, Lumine's laser attacks will keep you on your guard at all times. You'll face him out on a large platform before a golden cloudy backdrop, the stage for your final battle of the game. Lumine will begin on the right of the screen before diving down at you, quickly jump clear over him as he passes to avoid careless damage. Once he floats back on-screen his wing tips will glow before emitting rapid thick laser beams at you criss-crossing over the ground. You'll need to stay off the ground to avoid the beams, so keep jumping around and don't worry about taking slight damage as you touch the ground; just keep moving. During the attack Lumine will create a semi-transparent blue sphere around himself for protection, so you'll need sustained fire to break through. With the laser round over he'll swoop by again, so quickly jump over him. Back down in the arena Lumine will charge up energy in his hands before emitting weird circular laser fields around himself. The yellow bolts will slowly expand out as they rotate, try your best to sneak through the gaps as you see them to avoid damage. Once the bolts reach the edge of the screen Lumine will send out another ring of lasers as the first slowly draws back towards himself. Try your best to sneak through the gaps, just don't take too much of a beating from them and feel free to use up your Life Tanks at any point. Using X's armor suits or having the Shock Absorbers developed for Axl & Zero will certainly prove useful, as you don't want to become stunned during the firestorm of lasers. During this attack you'll have a great chance of striking Lumine without his protective barrier, so by all means fire away.

Lumine's weakness is the Drift Diamond / Hyouryuushou / Ice Gattling, all work wonders on him as he floats motionless in the air. He'll keep repeating the same attacks until you've belted him enough. Once he charges up flames around his body he'll spread his wings again as the tips glow white. Each one will expel a small laser beam up into the air before they come streaking down straight at you, so keep dashing back and forth to avoid the barrage as they hit the floor. Watch out when Lumine fires pulses of yellow lasers up out of the screen, after a second a horizontal row of lasers will come straight down from above, followed by several more rounds. Once they've all settled into the ground, each one will travel back up the screen, at which point you'll find it tricky to avoid them as they pass up out of the floor. Axl's hover works well in staying airborne while waiting for the lasers to appear, just keep yourself moving and don't take too much damage. All the while Lumine performs this attack he'll be totally defenseless, so try to keep ripping into him as much as you can. Eventually with enough of his health gone Lumine will emit a laser straight ahead off the screen. You'll now be in for a tricky dance, as individual rows of lasers will move back and forth across the screen. Stay in the gaps as best you can, and keep attacking Lumine. Axl's hover works fairly well in staying airborne above the lowest row, but don't be too perturbed if they score hits on you. Lumine will continue these waves of attacks until you drain his health enough for his final Overdrive attack, "Paradise Lost".

In this phase, Lumine covers himself up with his wings, invulnerable to attacks, unless you penetrate it. Use Zero's Z-saber Combo(or T-Breaker and/or Sigma Blade, if you have them), Axl's rapid fire, or X's charged shots to pierce through his defenses and damage him. After every hit through his defense, Lumine will quickly teleport to another point in the battlefield. Luckily, even if he did teleport, the defense will still be down. Be quick, however, as there's a time limit; the screen grows darker for every second (up to approximately 30 seconds), and as soon as the screen goes completely black, it will be an instant defeat, and you'll have to repeat the whole battle (back to Sigma). In the small margin that Lumine's entire defense goes down (he brings it back up if you're not quick enough), immediately use the "Double Attack" (if you charged up the meter) for a high-ranking victory.

Trivia

 * Lumine's second form is similar to the second form of a certain Boss in the Mega Man Zero series.
 * The attack, "Paradise Lost", is also the subtitle of Mega Man X8, as seen in the ending credits.
 * In Mega Man ZX Advent, though Albert's final form is similar to Lumine's first form, their relationship is unconfirmed.
 * Lumine is the second Mega Man X series main villain that wasn't manipulated by Sigma, the first is Gate. In fact, if anything, Lumine was actually manipulating Sigma this time around.
 * Axl's Ultimate Armor makes him strongly resemble Lumine. This is probably to match with ending (where Lumine attempts a desperado on Axl) and their type of Reploid (Axl is the first new generation Reploid; Lumine was the last.)