Infinite

"You may call me... "Infinite"... in the brief moments that remain to you."

- Infinite introducing himself to Sonic the Hedgehog.

Infinite is the secondary antagonist of Sonic Forces. He is an anthropomorphic jackal who used to be called the "Ultimate Mercenary". After his encounter with and defeat at the hands of Shadow the Hedgehog, Infinite became obsessed with the desire to prove him wrong about being weak. He wants nothing more than to be the strongest until he is never defeated again.

He was voiced by Takashi Kondō in the Japanese version, and by Liam O'Brien in the English version, who also voiced Archer in Fate/stay night, Caius Ballad in Final Fantasy XIII-2, as well as Nephrite in the Viz Media dubs of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal.

Origin
Infinite was originally the leader of a mercenary team named Jackal Squad. One day, the squad saw Doctor Eggman in his base with Cubot and Orbot and decided to steal his tech and sell it. When they attacked, Dr. Eggman was helpless and started raging, calling on his Egg Pawns to attack the mercenaries. Infinite still manages to successfully get through all of the Egg Pawns and to Eggman; however, just when he is ready to deal a final blow on Dr. Eggman, he misses and instead grabs the newly discovered Phantom Ruby. This distracts Infinite and allows Dr. Eggman to knock him out, though Dr. Eggman later gives Infinite the chance to join him in destroying the world (upon seeing a vision of a world in chaos that was granted to Infinite by the ruby). While his teammates try to stop him, Infinite decides to join Eggman.

Later, Dr. Eggman hires Infinite and the rest of the Jackal Squad to defend his base when it is assaulted by Shadow the Hedgehog. Infinite attempts to attack Shadow out of vengeance for annihilating the rest of his squad, but Shadow effortlessly defeats him, calling him weak and worthless before teleporting away. Enraged and devastated by both his loss and Shadow's words, Infinite was driven to gain more power, eventually fusing with the finalized Phantom Ruby.

Sonic Forces
At the beginning of the game, Infinite is first seen inside a container during his experimentation by Dr. Eggman. After mentioning his burning hatred of Sonic, Dr. Eggman gloats over Infinite in his process as he refers to him as his unstoppable creation, in which Orbot and Cubot remark that their boss now means business.

In Episode Shadow, which takes place a month before the events of the game, Infinite is now complete and wears a mask to hide his face. He soon crosses paths with Shadow again after he had dealt with E-123 Omega, who had previously fought through Dr. Eggman's base. Though Infinite believes that Shadow did not remember their last encounter, Infinite reminds him of that incident, which explained his motivation. Infinite then uses his powers to trap Shadow in an augmented reality. Although the plan backfired, since Shadow had freed himself from Infinite's control, Infinite becomes interested in seeing his power, inciting him to use Shadow's own skills in his agenda against Sonic. Infinite then leaves Shadow inside the base as it begins to collapse upon him.

Infinite assisted Dr. Eggman and his robots in an attack on a large urban center. After Sonic the Hedgehog fought off Eggman's forces, Infinite engaged the hedgehog, alongside Replicas of Shadow, Zavok, Metal Sonic and Chaos that he had created, and defeated him. Sonic was then captured and brought to the Death Egg to be tortured before being executed.

Infinite later provided Dr. Eggman with a new power that allowed the Eggman Empire to conquer 99% of the world. He was later appointed the leader of the Eggman Empire's military and worked alongside the other members of it to enforce Eggman's rule. Sonic's friends formed the Resistance against them, but they posed little threat as Infinite easily handled them.

Infinite one time had wiped out a Resistance squad and faced its sole survivor, the Rookie. Instead of killing him/her, however, Infinite allowed the Rookie to live after he sensed his/her fear, though doing so also allowed the Rookie to join the ranks of Sonic's friends and later helped rescue Sonic.

At the Mystic Jungle, Dr. Eggman dispatches Infinite to destroy a copy of the Phantom Ruby Prototype. While there, Infinite encounters Silver and the two face off. Infinite soon defeats Silver with ease-though unwittingly drops the Phantom Ruby prototype in their quick battle-and prepares to finish him off, until he is interrupted by the arrival of Sonic, whom he discovers is still alive. Although Infinite tries to taunt Sonic with his power during their face-off, Sonic fares better as he strikes him. However, Infinite still defeats Sonic and decides to spare him after seeing him as no threat. Soon afterwards, the Rookie investigates the Mystic Jungle and finds the same Phantom Ruby prototype that Infinite had dropped earlier.

Infinite later meets Dr. Eggman at Green Hill, where he reports in to tell him that he seemingly accomplished his mission to destroy all Phantom Ruby Prototypes, as he already destroys one held in his hand. Dr. Eggman asks Infinite if he ran into Sonic. Infinite confirms, but assures Dr. Eggman that Sonic was powerless against him. He then asks Dr. Eggman to move forward with their plan. Dr. Eggman agrees as he explains the plan involves eliminating the entire Resistance. After Infinite takes his leave, Tails and Classic Sonic appear before Dr. Eggman-after hearing his conversation with Infinite-and chases after him. After Classic Sonic defeated him from the chase, Dr. Eggman reveals to Tails and Classic Sonic that his plan will occur in three days, before escaping.

Sonic confronts a Shadow replica to question him, as he believes him to be real after witnessing him fight against the Resistance, only to be attacked by it. Luckily, the real Shadow appears and defeats his replica before it could land a blow on Sonic. Shadow then explains to Sonic that Infinite has the ability to alternate reality and create replicas of old foes that are formidable as the originals, something of which he had learned from his second encounter with Infinite when he studied his powers and was inspired to create replicas of him as well.

Meanwhile, the Resistance leads an assault on the Eggman Empire at Metropolis, as they believe it is their chance to succeed. However, Infinite soon appears at Metropolis and unleashes his Phantom Ruby' powers among the Resistance, using his reality warping powers to cause panic and wipe them out. The Rookie manages to escape from the augmented reality and is the last man standing as he encounters Infinite. Infinite tries to intimidate the Rookie like last time, but the Rookie now stands up to him after being reminded of Sonic, who helped encourage the Rookie with his words. During their battle with each other, Infinite recognized the Rookie as the Resistance member he spared earlier, after sensing his/her very same fear of him from last time, and decides to finish the Rookie off by summoning several cannons before him/her. However, once Infinite opens fire, the Rookie manages to dodge the cannon blasts, as the Rookie had the Phantom Ruby prototype he had found earlier that counteracts Infinite's powers. Though shocked, Infinite reminds the Rookie that they have two days left until he initiates the plan to wipe out the entire Resistance.

After destroying the Phantom Ruby's power source on the Death Egg, Dr. Eggman witnesses its destruction and orders Infinite to follow him to Metropolis. Once Sonic confronts Dr. Eggman there, Dr. Eggman orders Infinite to unleash a void called Null Space that sucks Sonic into it along with the Rookie, whom follows in to save him. As Tails becomes confused after they destroyed the Phantom Ruby's power source, Dr. Eggman reveals to him that he had a backup power source under Metropolis. However, Sonic and the Rookie soon escape Null Space with their efforts combined and make it back to Metropolis, where they appear before Dr. Eggman and Infinite. While Infinite was only slightly displeased about this, a furious Eggman had them retreat to the Eggman Empire Fortress.

Once the Resistance Army storms the Eggman Empire Fortress, Infinite confronts them with an army of his replicas. While facing Sonic and the core members of the Resistance, including the fully repaired E-123 Omega, Infinite creates a virtual sun above the entire Resistance army, which Dr. Eggman points out will fall and destroy them. Tails soon notice the Phantom Ruby prototype that the Rookie possesses in hand. Once Tails observes it, he hypothesizes that the Phantom Ruby Prototype only reacts to the person who activated it, encouraging the Rookie to run towards the virtual sun and use the prototype to take it out, though also destroying the prototype in the process.

Infinite soon becomes weak after his attempt to create the sun, forcing him to retreat to the center of the fortress with Sonic chasing after him. Once they engage into battle with each other, Infinite's Phantom Ruby recharges and is about to finish Sonic until he is stopped by the timely arrival of the Rookie. The Rookie and Sonic then take Infinite head on and defeat him. Infinite begins to fade away, but not before the latter says he can still fight, as he heads towards the power source reactor. Infinite's remaining Phantom Ruby core is still intact, in which Sonic and the Rookie give chase to. While in pursuit of the fortress' interior, they discover it to be the place where Infinite came to be.

The reactor is soon destroyed, but before the heroes could celebrate just yet, Dr. Eggman appears before them in his Death Egg Robot, revealing to them that the reactor was only a decoy and that he actually has the Phantom Ruby incorporated in the Death Egg Robot, all the while saying that he has surpassed Infinite with his machine. Using his Phantom Ruby-empowered mech, Dr. Eggman began conjuring up more replicas of his army than ever, now including replicas of Infinite.

After Sonic, Classic Sonic, and the Rookie manage to defeat Dr. Eggman and his robot in the end, the entire replica army disappears along with the Phantom Ruby that was destroyed, presumably ending Infinite as well, since he had bonded with it.

Personality
Infinite is a very cruel, sadistic, manipulative, destructive and power-hungry individual. He wants nothing more than to become absolutely powerful, which incited the Phantom Ruby being fused into his chest, and his becoming the second-in-command to Dr. Eggman's army. He is a ruthless warlord who has massacred millions of innocent lives and does not nearly show pity or remorse for it.

He is also extremely overconfident, megalomaniacal and arrogant. The powers that he receives from the Phantom Ruby make him confident in himself, stating himself to be the most powerful creature on earth. He harasses weaker, less powerful people like the Rookie, whom he abuses multiple times throughout the game. At the start he offers to spare the Rookie's life if he/she shows fear, probably meaning he would let his victims live if they are afraid of him.

He does not only insult the Rookie but also other stronger individuals like Sonic, whom he calls a "filthy rat". Even before Infinite obtained the Phantom Ruby that made him powerful and mighty, he was already sadistic, barbarous and power-hungry by nature.

Initially, he was nothing more than a violent mercenary with no regard to any life. In his first meeting with Dr. Eggman, he even wanted to kill him, only to be interested in destroying the world when Dr. Eggman gave him the offer to join him in his goal. Despite his extreme arrogance, Infinite is actually cold and calm at almost all times. Even when he loses, which is something he absolutely hates doing, he simply gets shocked and starts talking to himself, but does not otherwise lose his temper. His dialogue is much more theatrical, subdued, and certainly more menacing, probably showing that he loves to taunt his victims just as much as he loves killing them.

Perhaps his biggest weakness, besides his arrogance, is his inferiority complex, as shown after his defeat by Shadow the Hedgehog, where he throws a tantrum because he realized he was afraid of Shadow. This would culminate in his gaining the Phantom Ruby and becoming the sadistic warlord he is today. Also, he tries to make himself so powerful that no one, not even Sonic or Shadow can defeat him, and continually tries to prove to himself and others that he is not weak. This could be a sign of insecurity, egoism, or just another form of his arrogance.

Powers and Abilities
Before being weaponized, Infinite was a highly skilled mercenary. He is proficient in sword-fighting and has sharpened reflexes. His base agility is also higher than average, being able to traverse an entire jungle in a few leaps.

After obtaining his synthetic Phantom Ruby, Infinite gained the ability to create an augmented reality that achieves form through his imagination and the psyches of his victims. By simply willing it, Infinite will generate a field that allows him to control the movements of his enemies through a gas called "Ruby Mist". While in this field, he is also able to generate whole facets of reality such as people, landscapes, weapons and atmosphere. The field itself has an estimated range of around a 10-mile radius, in which he can do essentially anything to his enemies with absolute precision, regardless of his conscious effort.

The Phantom Ruby's augmented reality constructs are as powerful as their originals and Infinite is able to selectively remove their effects on reality in any way he chooses. When generating a star with which to incinerate the Resistance, Infinite withheld the sun's gravity and atmospheric range to avoid distorting the entire solar system. When generating replicas of Sonic's past enemies, he removed the personalities of the Shadow copies to make them unreasonable. Whether or not the synthetic Phantom Ruby is capable of creating fully sentient copies or if it merely creates proxies of the original being is unclear. The copies are capable of existing outside of the Ruby Mist field, but they disintegrate if they lose consciousness. Despite having never met Zavok, the Phantom Ruby was able to perfectly replicate his appearance, powers, and personality to the point where Sonic thought he was fighting the original.

At base, the Phantom Ruby's power generates a thin force field around him that can deflect bullets and allow him to fly. Though he does not take advantage of this ability: by placing Ruby Mist clouds in various locations, Infinite is able to teleport by passing through them.

The Phantom Ruby under his control, while powerful, is not stronger than the original. The original is able to fully control its augmented reality with a minimum 50-mile radius. To make up for the glaring flaw of being forced to have the original in-hand, the synthetic Phantom Ruby is designed to be smaller and hands-free. However, the synthetic Phantom Ruby does not generate its own power, requiring an external reactor to maintain the strength and stability of its augmented reality.

"Powers" Debate
Due to translation errors and conflicting ideas in narrative structure, the Phantom Ruby and thus Infinite's powers are labelled as "virtual reality" despite having effects on the real world, which would be called "augmented reality". However, a lack of explanation on the Phantom Ruby's origin and full capabilities makes it entirely possible that the Phantom Ruby is connected to a form of the virtual realm that has yet to be explored.

Evidence of the Phantom Ruby's power is based in augmented reality: Infinite is capable of generating "illusions" that function in real time and have mass. According to Tails and Dr. Eggman, the Phantom Ruby causes a being to experience and show real pain including lacerations and burns. Psychosomatic injuries are not capable of showing burns or signs of external damage; at the very worst the only signs of injury would be internal bleeding from strained muscles or organ failure due to brain trauma. Infinite is also capable of affecting gravity and Ruby Mist clouds cause beings to teleport. Assuming that these abilities are not generated directly by the Phantom Ruby's source of energy, they would be otherwise impossible to perfectly simulate using virtual reality.

Evidence of the Phantom Ruby's power is based in virtual reality:

There has been no conclusive evidence that injuries and death inflicted by the Phantom Ruby do not just appear as injuries, nor has there been any evidence that any virtual reality construct created by the Phantom Ruby is given illusory mass by the brain's reactions. It could merely be that the psychosomatic trauma is given as illusionary overcoat to further the fact that the Phantom Ruby is a weapon, and the illusions it creates do not wear off after a victim dies. Otherwise, it is possible that the Phantom Ruby is somehow capable of tricking the brain into inflicting real burns and lacerations on the body as a reaction to the illusions. As for the simulations of gravity, it is possible that the Phantom Ruby can trick the brain into thinking gravity is altered while removing any sensations that would indicate being on the ground.

Viewing the nature of the Phantom Ruby's power as a whole, the former is more likely due to the explanations are given in-game and the terminology may have simply been lost in translation.

Allies

 * Jackal Squad
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Replicas
 * Replica Chaos
 * Replica Metal Sonic
 * Replica Shadow
 * Replica Zavok
 * Replica Badniks

Enemies

 * Modern Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Classic Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Avatar
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Team Dark
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Rouge the Bat
 * E-123 Omega
 * Chaotix
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee

Quotes
"Impossible!"

- Infinite

"Fine, I will teach you to fear, then pain. And then...well, at least the fear and pain will end."

- Infinite to the player's avatar.

"I've been looking forward to finishing you and your annoying friends. I trust you're all ready for oblivion? If you're not...oh well."

- Infinite starting his final showdown with Sonic.

"Still thrashing around, I see, you filthy, little sewer rat!"

- Infinite in his first clash with Sonic.

"Is there no end to these annoying insects? I will burn your resistance to ashes and you along with it."

- Infinite preparing to finish off the Resistance army.

"Make peace with your fate. Because your lives are now over."

- Infinite about to kill the Resistance members.

"Thanks to this limitless power I've obtained, I have become unstoppable! TAKE THIS!!"

- Infinite trapping Shadow in an illusion.

"And the Resistance will yield to the Phantom Ruby's power. All will submit."

- Infinite to Dr. Eggman.

"WHAT?! Who dares!?"

- Infinite meeting E-123 Omega again.

"(cackling) The World's most powerful robot is no more a challenge than Crabmeat. As I suspected, this power is without peer... IT IS THE ULTIMATE STRENGTH! Ah, and still more wonderful, a not-so tall, dark, and brooding guest has arrived. I've been waiting for you, Shadow."

- Infinite's first words when defeating E-123 Omega and meeting Shadow again.

"I remember you. You ran from me before, you survived then, but you throw it all away now. Curious, eh?"

- Infinite thinking he remembers the player's Avatar before.

"(cackling maniacally) Ah, I suppose you would think so. Ohohoh yes. I am Infinite. You say you do not know me, and yet, I remember you so very well. To you, it was simply another in a long list of Eggman bases you tore down without a second thought."

- Infinite thinking Shadow doesn't know him.

"This wasn't part of my agenda, but I'm always happy to crush a hero. It keeps the rabble in line. Shows them that there is no hope."

- Infinite facing Silver the Hedgehog.

"...nothing. We move on to the plan?"

- Infinite ignoring something he heard.

"Seeing is believing."

- Reply to Silver before finishing him off.

"Well, look who's back from the dead. The little blue saviour. But what's that I smell? You reek of fear. Glad to see I left an impression."

- Infinite encountering Sonic for the second time.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. (to Shadow) You... You destroyed my squad. I'll show you why they call me the ultimate Mercenary! Take THIS!!"

- Before confronting Shadow.

"More ants to crush. I wonder if this world can offer me a real challenge. And as if to answer, the world sends me a trembling child. Are you going to fight and die here, or run away again?"

- Infinite meeting the player's avatar again.

"And with that, the disposal of the Phantom Ruby prototypes is complete."

- destroying the Phantom Ruby prototypes.

"Pathetic little hedgehog. Even with the Phantom Ruby weakened, I still have enough power to smash you into blue jelly. I'll show you how outclassed you really are!"

- Infinite encountering Sonic for the third time.

"There is no reason to resist. Your saviour is no more. I can taste you terror, child. All that anxiety and doubt...it's delicious. Give in to your fear, flee, screaming, and I'll let you live."

- Infinite attacking a town.

"No, wait! I can still fight!"

- Infinite's last words after Sonic and the Avatar defeated him.

"I'm shaking... Me!? Me... Afraid...!? Urgh. Pathetic!? Me... he's calling ME weak!? No! I am not weak! I'm...I'm not. I'm not weak! I AM NOT WEEEEAAAAAAK! URRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

- Infinite's villainous breakdown after he loses in his battle against Shadow, prior to his transformation.

"That day, I gave up my own unsightly face. And I let go of the old me, the one that was so weak, so that I could become stronger. And then, at last... I obtained the power. The power to make all yield to my will. I... was... REBORN!"

- Infinite explaining his origin.

Trivia

 * It is unknown what Infinite's real name was prior to his transformation by the Phantom Ruby although many fans have come up with the name Zero the Jackal which appears to be the most widely accepted name albeit unofficial.
 * Infinite's face is never seen in the game itself nor the "Episode Shadow" prequel. However, it is shown in the prequel comics.
 * Following his boss battle, Infinite fades away and vanishes, against his own will. It is unknown whether Eggman forcefully teleported him away or if the Phantom Ruby deemed him unworthy and possibly erased him from existence, allowing Eggman to harness its power for his Death Egg Robot.
 * It is strange that Infinite is not attacking Shadow directly in the main game since he hates him well before he meets Sonic. It is also unexplained why Shadow is one of the counterfeit villains Infinite produces if he hates Shadow.
 * Infinite is considered by fans to be one of the most evil villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Alongside Mephiles the Dark, Black Doom, and Erazor Djinn.
 * Infinite is one of the very few antagonists in the franchise who works with Dr. Eggman without betraying him for his own personal agenda, alongside the Time Eater.
 * According to Sonic, Infinite reminds him of the evil genie Erazor Djinn. He was the second villain who called Sonic a rat (the first being was Erazor).
 * Because of the "edgy" (a term used for something that is overly dark) nature of Infinite's character, a lot of people have made fun of the character, even to the point of it becoming a bit of a meme.
 * In addition to this, Infinite is often compared to certain Sonic "OCs" (Original Characters), where they are portrayed as powerful beings with a dark history/nature, mainly due to his design as well.
 * He is similar to Konoe A Mercury/Nine the Phantom, in fact, despite still unknown of Infinite's whole origins, both have suffered the pain of what they lost, both have been reborn into Phantom beings and both of them denies reality claiming the whole world is an illusion as both want to destroy the whole planet to recreate a new world to their images, and they both blamed the persons who pushed them to become what they are, such as Infinite blames Shadow while Konoe blames Yuuki Terumi. They also both consider their old selves as being weak.
 * It's possible that Infinite could return in future games as his fate is never specified and the Phantom Ruby is still shown to be active in the Encore mode of Sonic Mania which takes place right after Sonic Forces.
 * Infinite has fought all three members of the Hedgehog trio, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. He first fought Shadow, who drove him into becoming who he is now. Then Sonic, whom he defeated very easily during their first encounter but was later defeated by him in their final battle. And Silver, only a brief clash but defeated Silver easily nonetheless.
 * Despite being the secondary antagonist, Infinite had more screentime than his boss, as he was the one who drove the plot, committed all of the mass murders and led the attacks on many cities. Plus Infinite is fought three times, while Eggman is fought twice.