0-5: Cerberus
| 0-5: CERBERUS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| General | |||
| Layer & Part | PRELUDE /// CLIMAX | ||
| Challenge | Don't inflict fatal damage to any enemy. | ||
| Music | Cerberus | ||
| Tip of the Day | |||
Attack sound cues allow you to keep track of enemies who are off screen.
| |||
| Enemies | |||
 2 Cerberi
| |||
| Rank Requirements | |||
| Rank | Time | Kills | Style |
| S | 02:00 | 2 | 3,200 |
| A | 03:00 | 2 | 2,500 |
| B | 05:00 | 1 | 1,250 |
| C | 10:00 | 1 | 500 |
- This article covers a simplified account of the boss fight for Cerberus. For more detail on the enemy, see Cerberus.
0-5: CERBERUS is the final level of the Prelude, starring the titular Cerberus as the boss of the level. This level also houses the first instance of lava hazards. The song used in this level is Cerberus.
Level
Start
Starting off the level with a short corridor, the player enters into a long chasm with a stream of flowing lava, with a door at the far end of the room. Nearby lies a walkway connecting to an opening within the wall, which acts as the main path forward around the lava. However this path can be skipped by wall-jumping off of the sides of the chasm and dashing to the end of the door.
Entering into the corridor leads into a small tunnel that the player has to slide through. The tunnel then connects to a small room where the path is blocked by a set of 3 Crushers, requiring the player to time their slide to avoid getting killed. After the presses, the player then makes it to a ledge next to a pit of grinders, requiring the need to wall jump carefully around the corner and dash to make it to the ledge. There lies the door into the boss arena which the player can then enter.
Boss Arena
Inside lies a small corridor brightly lit with lava surrounding the walls. A Checkpoint and Terminal are stationed nearby the entrance into the arena. As the player moves forward towards the boss arena the music playing slowly creeps higher as they cross into the arena.
Inside lies a large, square room bathed in orange light. Metal grates line the floor and walls with the lava behind it. At the end of the room lie two massive statues sat next to a large door, which serve as the Gates to Hell. Inscribed on the gates lie the words: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here".
Moving forward will cause the music to then stop, before one of the statues begin to move, breaking out of it's seat and stepping into the arena to halt the player.
Boss Encounter
Cerberus, or Cerberi, are large statue-like humanoids which serve as a test of movement and evasiveness, requiring the player to be able to quickly dodge it's attacks in a tight arena.
Cerberus has a set three main moves: a dash which causes the Cerberus to ram into the player, causing a severe amount of knockback; a stomp which creates a shockwave that the player has to jump over to avoid; and an energy orb which it quickly hurls towards the player, creating a large explosion on impact. This orb can be parried, but due to it's incredibly high speed it is extremely difficult to actually perform.
Even though they are quite slow when not attacking, their large area of effect shockwaves and ranged energy orb, coupled with the tight arena it is fought in, makes it crucial for the player to be able to dodge around it's attacks. Constantly moving and jumping around can make it difficult for the Cerberus to hit the player, and avoiding staying close to the walls for too long is good for avoiding the explosions from it's energy orb. Staying close to the Cerberus will also cause it to not throw it's energy orb to avoid hurting itself, but moving towards it while enacting a throw will still cause it to send it's orb.
Weapons such as the 
Core Eject and 
Pump Charge Shotgun, along with the 
Marksman and 
Sharpshooter Revolvers are useful for the fight, with the Shotguns being excellent for healing with point-blank shots coupled with Shotgun Swapping and with explosives such as Core Grenades, Overpumps, and Projectile Boosts being good sources of damage. The Marksman Revolver is a reliable tool with it's headshot damage and it's numerous techniques, and the Sharpshooter Revolver can dish lots of damage due to the tight arena space favoring it's bounces.
Once the first Cerberus has reached to half of it's health bar, the other Cerberus left dormant will awake and fight the player as well, making the fight considerably harder with less space to breathe. Killing one of the Cerberi will then cause the other to Enrage, causing it's movement and attack speed to become a lot faster.
End
After both Cerberi are defeated, the Gates of Hell start to slowly open, revealing a long staircase lined with even more Cerberi than previously before. At the bottom of the stairs lies the exit gate, allowing the player to end the level.
Challenge
For this level's challenge, the player needs to cause the Cerberi to damage themselves as the final blow, instead of normally shooting them. The player can damage them, but cannot kill them themselves, instead the player needs to make the Cerberus toss their energy orb into or nearby them and have the resulting explosion damage them. Cerberi will only throw the orb when the player is far away, but once initiated the Cerberus cannot stop the attack. Initiating the attack and then getting close to them before it is thrown will cause them to throw the orb close to them, taking damage in the process. For taking off some of their health down as low as possible, the 
Revolver's primary fire is useful for whittling their health close to death.
Trivia
- In this level, the Cerberi are shown guarding the entrance to Hell. This is in reference to the portrayal of Cerberus in Greek Mythos, where Cerberus guards the gates of Hades to prevent the dead from escaping.
- Only two Cerberi are fought despite Cerberus famously being a three-headed dog. There were supposed to be three, but two Cerberi were already too hard for the Prelude, thus why the second Cerberus in the final version of the fight joins halfway through and at half health.[1]
- The entrance to Hell is a large gate with the writing "Abandon hope all ye who enter here". This sentence is drawn from Reverend H. F. Cary's translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, where this is the last of nine verses inscribed on the door to Hell.
- This is the only fifth level in a layer, not counting secret levels.
- This is the only boss level in the game that has two bosses at the same time.
