Magus

"And by the Power of Magus, a drop from the Wave doth reach the heavens, and creates a new Wave."

- Epitaph of Twilight

Magus (メイガス, Meigasu) is the 3rd Phase of the Cursed Wave and was referred to as "The Propagation".

Epitaph of Twilight
In the Epitaph of Twilight, a drop from the Wave touches the heavens, and creates a new Wave, by Magus's power.

.hack//Games
Various encounters with Vagrant AI eventually lead Kite and BlackRose to the dungeon of Λ Pulsating Worst Core, where the mysterious Net Slum is said to exist. After a long trek through the dungeon the pair succeed in reaching the slum, where they are greeted by a strange host of Vagrant AIs. Helba soon appears to speak with them, but is interrupted by the arrival of Balmung and Lios. Lios tries to delete Kite, but is stopped when the system suddenly begins malfunctioning. He accuses Helba of interfering, but Helba calmly replies that she's not the one responsible; it's "Her" doing. A fierce wind blows through the Net Slum, destroying buildings and forcing Balmung, Lios, and Helba to flee. Magus then appears and begins to fight against Kite and BlackRose. An intense battle begins, but in the end Magus is defeated. However its destruction causes a great strain on The World, and spreads corrupted data throughout the entire game network, damaging every Field and Root Town in the game.

.hack//Another Birth
Magus's appearance in Another Birth is the same as in the Games. The party that fights Magus is Kite, BlackRose, and Mistral. The entire party is severely damaged by Magus's explosive leaves at first, but they adapt to the battle when Kite tells BlackRose to destroy the leaves while he attacks the body, and it is soon defeated.

.hack//XXXX
In XXXX, Kite runs into Elk while wandering around in a field filled with Aromatic Grass. Elk thinks that Kite has come for the Aromatic Grass, to try to steal Mia from him. Before Kite can explain that it's a misunderstanding, Magus suddenly appears. Kite's first instinct is to use the Bracelet, but he decides not to since he was just warned by Lios that using it damaged The World. Kite tries to tell Elk to run away, but when Elk sees Magus destroying the field and its Aromatic Grass, he tries desperately to fight it. When he realizes all his attacks are useless, Elk begins to panic. Magus prepares to Data Drain him but Balmung pulls him out of the way at the last moment. The worst effects of the Data Drain are avoided, but Elk is knocked unconscious. Balmung charges into battle, demonstrating the skill that made him known as one of The World's greatest players, but to no effect. Seeing Balmung about to share Orca's fate, Kite attacks Balmung, knocking him out of the way of Magus's attack. The next Data Drain is aimed at Kite, but Cubia drops in the way, launching his own counterattack which destroys Magus.

.hack Conglomerate

 * See Avatar Magus

Before Data Drain

 * Level: 99
 * HP: Infinite
 * SP: Infinite
 * Element: None
 * Weakness: None
 * Tolerance: None

Attacks

 * Data Drain: Magus casts its bracelet out from the tip of its head and data drains a player. This cuts their health in half and casts all status effects.
 * Earthquake: Magus slams its body on the ground to cause a large earthquake that will hit anything within range.
 * Death and Rebirth: Magus releases its leaves as it moves around. Each leaf has a timer and if they all hit zero, the entire scene will explode and Magus would return down from the sky with a new set of leaves. Depending on how many leaves are left decides the damage that is done to the whole party. If all the leaves are still on the stage, it becomes an instant kill to everyone. This attack is unavoidable once activated.
 * Light of Purity: Magus flies up and fires a brilliant light shower onto the party.
 * Dek Do: Decreases the speed of a single target.
 * Suvi Lei: Magus will paralyze one party member.

After Data Drain

 * Level: 99
 * HP: 4500
 * SP: Infinite
 * Element: None
 * Weakness: None
 * Tolerance: None

Attacks

 * Earthquake: Magus slams its body against the ground to cause a large earthquake that will hit anything within range.
 * RaJuk Zot: A level-2 wood-elemental ground-summon spell that heavily damages anything within range.
 * Ol Repth: Recovers 400 HP.
 * Dek Do: Decreases the speed of a single target.
 * Suvi Lei: Paralyzes a single target.
 * Mumyn Lei:Puts a single target to sleep.

Data Drained Item

 * Virus Core U

Trivia

 * According to early content for the series within Archives 03 and the Liminality Easter Eggs, Magus is a program designed to collect data on the human need to procreate and preserve the species.
 * Magus is infamous for holding the only attack in the game that's a 1 hit KO to all party members no matter what level they are at.
 * According to Another Birth the party that defeated Magus was Kite, BlackRose, and Mistral.
 * Within .hack//XXXX, the party that defeated Magus are Kite, Elk, Balmung, and Cubia.
 * The Magi (plural form of Magus) was a tribe from ancient Medina. Three famous Magi were the Three Wise Men, most likely making Magus another biblical reference.