Description:
The first "true" boss enemy you fight in the game, Phantom is a giant rock spider/scorpion creature, with lava-like blood. He fights for Mundus while trying to further his own agenda. In any case, he is one really big spider/scorpion thingy. You must fight him on two different occasions, but there are three occasions where a fight is purely optional. One of these fights is in the courtyard in Mission 5 at Hard Difficulty or higher, so be very careful when passing through this area so you don't get nailed by a fireball the instant you step in.

Sounds:
A weird cry, stomping around with all eight feet.

Attacks:
-claw swipe (close, medium): using its front legs, Phantom swipes at Dante. It has three variations of these: a single swipe, a double swipe, or a pushing swipe. They all do about the same damage.

-tail swipe (close, medium-heavy): using its tail, Phantom swipes at Dante. It has longer reach than the claws, but it is used far less frequently.

-fireball (any range, heavy): charging up energy in its mouth, Phantom shoots a white energy ball at Dante in a straight line.

-bring out yer dead! (medium-far, light-heavy): Phantom dips its head into the ground and summons the souls of the dead. The tortured souls manifest in the form of fiery columns which shoot up at Dante's feet, tracking his last position.

-meteor shower (any range, light-heavy): the Phantom stops moving and focuses energy in its back and shoots out a white column of energy, which travels into the sky before crashing down in the ground three times, tracking Dante's last position.

Strategy:
The bosses in this game require some careful attacking to defeat. Wailing on Phantom will only get Dante killed really fast, so take your time, and attack then pull away for a moment. For the Phantom, you only have Alastor and Force Edge as your swords and the Handguns and the Shotgun. Use the Alastor and the Handgun or Shotgun.

The Phantom only takes damage in its face or on its back. The head is a more easily attacked target. To attack his back, you must jump on the Phantom itself and attack (yes, you can do that and you don't take any damage from the lava), but he doesn't always leave his back open.

The claw swipes are only used if Phantom is staring you in the face. Jump out of the way and you'll be fine. To avoid the tail swipe, stand away from the front of him (he never swipes the back of his rocky hide). The fireball is one ough cookie if you don't watch for it. The first time you fight him, you can use the cathedral's pillars to block the beams for you, but the second time you won't have that luxury. In any case, roll or jump out of the way. His fireball travels very quickly across the screen (if you don't start moving the instant you see him charging the ball, you will have a very slim of escaping it). This is also the only attack he uses when he's chasing you down hallways. The fire columns can only be escaped by nimble footwork. They come up really fast, are really large and the break in-between is almost negligible. Roll, jump, and just move really fast. The meteor shower can be avoided by always moving and rolling. And don't think you can escape by staying as far away from it as possible: despite its great size, this thing can leap great distances to squash you like an ant.

To defeat the Phantom, you must use the Alastor to deliver stinging blows to its weak points. The Stinger is really useful here. When you see the Phantom charging up a fireball, Stinger it in the face and it will stumble, detonating the ball in its body harmlessly. Use three sword strikes to deliver damage and then jump to avoid the claw swipes it will invariably use. Even better, instead of just jumping back, jump onto Phantom's back and slash him or just unload a couple of Handgun shots or Shotgun shots before it knocks you off. Repeats until it's dead. If you have Air Raid, use it. It does a lot of damage really fast. If you have DT, pound it with gunshots or DT-enhanced slashes. Increased speed means you can get off a full combo before you have to jump (if you're lucky).

Every so often the Phantom drains its energy by using a super attack, like the meteor shower. When it happens, it will stop glowing for a while. Run up and unleash some of your strongest attacks on him before he recovers!

One more note: You can get Phantom to defeat himself in the second battle by having him jump and land on the glass circle in the center of the arena 6 times. Bait him into jumping by staying behind him a lot, then running to the center when he jumps. The sixth time, he will break the glass and kill himself