Ku-Tsung

Ku-Tsung is NPC and boss encountered in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Ku-Tsung is one of Kaocho's two generals, the other being his brother Ku-Embra. He is considered to be a powerful warrior in personal combat, but is noted for a distinct lack of leadership and command skill. His lack of skill can be reflected by his actions while leading an assault on Ayuthay; his troops do not notice when he goes missing and remain listless. In comparison to the temperamental Ku-Embra, Ku-Tsung is said to be more reasonable. Though he is initially dismissive of the abilities of Matthew's party, he comes to respect them as worthy opponents, unlike Ku-Embra, who continues to despise the Adepts.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Ku-Tsung is a level 14 enemy. He will fight alongside Ku-Embra, and both must be defeated for the battle to end successfully.

Ku-Tsung is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting and Sleep-inducing effects. His statistics are as follows: 831 HP, 208 Attack, 49 Defense, 76 Agility, 38 Luck. He has 90 Resistance to all 4 elements.

Ku-Tsung uses the following battle commands and proceeds through the command list in sequential order with a random start point; this means that any one of the eight actions listed below can be the "starting point," and the next turn's action will be the one listed beneath what had been used, cycling back to the top of the list when the bottom of the list is reached.

• Attack: Standard physical attack
• Dragon Spark: Jupiter-based AoE (up to 3 Adepts targeted) with 80 Jupiter power and 36 extra damage
• Gong of Battle: Increases party's defense by 12.5%
• Pure Hatred: Mars-based attack with 80 Mars power and 70 extra damage. Ku-Tsung will take recoil damage of 50% of damage inflicted.

On account of being an enemy who stocked items, his chance to use one of his stocked items is effectively a separate command that does not overlap with his pre-determined schedule for carrying out other commands; while he is currently unable to use his currently "individually available" item applicably at the moment, he will default to using his remaining commands with each action. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:

• 1 Gunpowder Bomb: The party is hit by a Mars-aligned attack with 90 base damage that is spread out over 5 enemies. As a consumable item, this assumes Ku-Tsung uses this with a Mars Elemental Power rating of 100 instead of its normal rating, 80.
• 1 Rice Ration: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 80 HP to either the user or an ally.
• 1 Gunpowder Bomb: The party is hit by a Mars-aligned attack with 90 base damage that is spread out over 5 enemies. As a consumable item, this assumes Ku-Tsung uses this with a Mars Elemental Power rating of 100 instead of its normal rating, 80.
• 2 Rice Rations: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 80 HP to either the user or an ally.

Strategies

Statistically, Ku-Tsung is fairly equal in power to Ku-Embra in terms of offense and defense. Ku-Tsung, however, is slightly faster and has less HP. He can heal himself or Ku-Embra, or increase their Defenses with Gong of Battle. His Dragon Spark technique is arguably his more reliable attack, dealing an additional 36 points of damage in addition to a normal attack. Pure Hatred is stronger, but will deal 50% of the inflicted damage back to Ku-Tsung, arguably helping the player.

When attacking, it is better to target one enemy before attempting to fell the other. Which of the two to target is arguable, depending on whether Ku-Tsung's defense-increasing abilities are seen as more dangerous than Ku-Embra's incredibly damaging offenses. In either case, felling either one will ensure that the rest of the battle is easier.

Ku-Tsung is weak to all elements, possessing a moderately high Resistance of 80 points in any element. By this point, the player should have access to Judgment and Thor. If they have collected all available Djinn, they may also have access to Boreas if the player's Mercury Djinn are shuffled around. The player should have an Adept prepared to heal the party, due to the powerful attacks of the Generals. Given that most offenses are physically inclined, raising Defense can be useful, as the two generals have no way to counteract it.

Story

King Wo placed Ku-Tsung and Ku-Embra in charge of the invasion of Ayuthay. Despite an initial success, the battle came to a standstill when the people of Ayuthay hid themselves underground. As a result, the generals and their troops stand around Ayuthay aimlessly waiting for orders from King Wo. Matthew's party will only be allowed into the kingdom after he presents Wo's Letter to the guards. Matthew gives Wo's Letter to Ku-Tsung, who learns that King Wo has ordered that Matthew's group help with the assault on the city. However, this idea is rejected by Ku-Embra (much to the relief of the group). Instead, the generals order the Adepts to rid the palace of "evil spirits". The generals leave, and Matthew's group takes the opportunity to sneak off to find a way into Ayuthay to meet with Amiti.

The Generals later fight the Adepts when they attempt to leave Ayuthay with Amiti. Following their defeat, they will be imprisoned in Ayuthay's jail. Should the player speak to Ku-Tsung, he will express respect for the Adepts' abilities.

Late in the game, if Ayuthay is visited after the Grave Eclipse, both of the generals' corpses will be seen near the ancient tree, having been slain by the shadow monsters spawned by the eclipse. Should the player use Spirit Sense on either of the corpses, the generals will reveal that they hid a Treasure Note in the walls of Kaocho palace. When found, the Treasure Note provides clues to finding the Lost Ship.

Quotes

At Ayuthay

Soldier: "Excuse me...? Generals?"

Ku-Tsung: "We're busy right now!" / Ku-Embra: "We must purge the evil spirits!"

Ku-Tsung: "King Wo writes that Matthew here has come with his companions to help us with their Psynergy."

Ku-Embra: "Hah! You puny people? Help us with Psynergy? I'll believe that when I see it! They look like a pack of pups, not powerful Adepts!"

Ku-Tsung: "But the letter IS from King Wo. His Majesty cannot be wrong."

Ku-Tsung: "We've found you, vile traitors!"

Ku-Tsung: "They have made a mockery of the Kaocho military, General Ku-Embra!"

Ku-Embra: "How dare you toy with Kaocho's greatest generals? I cannot tolerate this insolence!"

Ku-Tsung: "Nor I." / Ku-Embra: "Now take your punishment, you mongrels!"

Ku-Tsung: (After being defeated) "So you truly are powerful Adepts..."

Ku-Tsung: (If spoken to in Ayuthay's prison) "This defeat doesn't tarnish my honor, Matthew. It's rare to face a great foe in combat, and I'll never forget you Adepts for the rest of my life."

Trivia

• Ku-Tsung appears to be based off of Xiahou Dun (read in Japanese is Kakōton), a historical Chinese military figure. Xiahou Dun lost his left eye (said to have been shot by an arrow in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms), which is reflected by Ku-Tsung's eyepatch. Likewise, Ku-Embra appears to have been based off of Xiahou Dun's brother Xiahou Yuan.