Grand Cross



Grand Cross (also called Grand Cruz, Holy Cross or Cross Crash) is an attack involving very large crosses which deal heavy Holy-based damage. It can be performed by members of the Belmont family and relatives. There are three versions of this attack:
 * In the first version, seen only in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, a giant crucifix appears suspended behind Richter, then multiple crucifixes rise up from the bottom, covering the whole screen and hitting anything in their path.
 * In the second version, a pillar of light surrounds the caster; several crosses then spiral up this column, dealing massive damage.
 * Finally, in the third version, a large cross of energy appears suspended behind the caster, causing damage to anything that touches it.

Even though these forms look different, the effective range of the last two versions is similar, which is anything nearby or above.

Rising Crosses
The Grand Cross item crush was first introduced in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. To cast it, Richter must be in possession of the Cross sub-weapon and activate its item crush attack. A giant crucifix will appear behind him and a series of flashing crosses will rise up from the bottom, covering the whole screen and dealing heavy damage to anything they touch.

Pillar of Crosses

 * The "pillar" version was first used as Richter's item crash with the Cross sub-weapon in Symphony of the Night. It was also the normal action for Alucard in that game when he used the Cross (100 hearts).
 * The move returned as Nathan Graves' Cross item crush in Circle of the Moon when combining the Pluto + Salamander DSS cards.
 * It was also used by Juste Belmont in Harmony of Dissonance when he fused the Cross with the Bolt Book.
 * It could be performed by Leon Belmont by using the Cross with the Yellow Orb equipped.
 * It was used as Trevor Belmont's special version sub-weapon for the Cross in Curse of Darkness (an effect similar to an item crash).
 * It was a Dual Crush available to Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin upon completing Wind's "Master the Holy Power" quest in Portrait of Ruin.
 * It's also a Dual Crush used in Harmony of Despair whenever two Belmont-like characters (Jonathan, Julius, Richter, etc.) dual crush together.

Suspended Cross
The "suspended" version was first shown to be used by Julius Belmont as one of his sub-weapon options (in addition to his normal Cross sub-weapon) in Aria of Sorrow. It returned as a sub-weapon for him in Dawn of Sorrow, although it was watered down a bit, as Julius was no longer invincible when he used the attack and it lost the vacuum property it had in Aria. He used this weapon to destroy a powerful barrier in Soma's story mode which protected the gates to the Abyss. Through a certain in-game glitch/cheat, Soma can equip Julius's version of the Grand Cross as a bullet soul (along with other Julius Mode characters' sub-weapons, like Alucard's Alucard Sword and Julius's Vampire Killer whip). Unlike Julius, Soma can move around while it is active (this is due to it being a glitched soul/weapon) and he doesn't rise up in the air like Julius.

Richter Belmont gained use of this version of the Grand Cross in Portrait of Ruin. Interestingly enough, it also retained the effects of the "pillar" version, essentially making it a combination of both versions of the attack.

Versions of this ability have also appeared in non-canon games. Kokoro Belmont used one in Otomedius Excellent called the "Lightning Sword" as her Platonic Break. This version is a horizontal beam instead of a vertical one for gameplay reasons, as this game is a horizontal-scrolling shooter rather than an action-platformer game.

Blood Cross
A bloody version of this attack, called Blood Cross, appears as a Dual Crush in Harmony of Despair whenever one of the Belmont-like characters dual crushes with Alucard or Soma.