Crayden

Crayden is an ex-Crusader turned Emperor after killing the previous Emperor and framed Devon for this.

In the past, he had a relationship with Laquadia, but it appears as if he has grown disinterested in continuing it and seems to only follow along with her advances to make her shut the fuck up.

Fighting Crayden in the Past
In order to fight Crayden in the past, Colussia has to be destroyed and Devon need the Hourglass of Time from one of the Traveling Scholars. Upon obtaining it, head to the destroyed Colussia and head all the way north on the first map. At the end, there's a small ladder on the bottom hand right side which is fairly well hidden. Climb down it and head north again, until you reach the next screen. At the top of this screen is a purple teleportation crystal, allowing Devon to head back in time to Colussia - either to day 1 (when Caimridge was destroyed) or when Colussia was attacked by the Val'Toras.

After Devon heads back to the past in order to prevent Crayden from killing the Emperor, Devon fails to save the Emperor once more but challenges Crayden to a battle anyway, planning on stopping his ambitions once and for all.

Due to this being before Devon is sent to prison, it's a one on one battle between the two men.

The easiest way to defeat Crayden requires Devon to be a fairly high level - at least level 40 and having been given all stat enhancing items in the game. At level 41 with all stat enhancing items, Devon should have about 4100 HP. Equipping the strongest armors in the game is a must.

Stocking up on Dynamite in Arlon is highly adviced, as each Dynamite deals a flat 3000 damage to Crayden, along with having a full supply (99) of full healing potions and spirit potions, along with any spare elixirs possible to find.

Crayden has three offensive attacks:

Flame, a Fire type spell that deals about 6-800 damage.

Frost, an Ice type spell that deals about 600 damage.

A normal attack, which deals ranging damage, dealing between 1500 and 3900 on a critical hit.

When he drops to about half HP, he also gains a healing spell, healing him for about 5000 HP.

Because Devon is fighting solo, having Devon at full HP at all times is a near must. Because there's no way to know when he'll use an offensive physical attack, you'll have to take some risks when casting Dynamites. Anytime he misses you with a normal attack, especially if you're at full HP, is a free hit for you.

Once Crayden runs out of SP, he becomes much easier, because at that point, he can only attack but because of how his AI works, he'll attempt to cast spells, not having the SP to do so. As long as your HP is always full at this point, because a stray crit will kill you with anything less than full HP, you can just throw Dynamites at him until the battle ends or use your Summons if you have the SP for it, dealing a bit more damage (about 4-4500 damage).

Upon defeating him, Crayden reveals he knew who Devon's father was, saying that "Devon is [an unknown man's] son," before dying.

At this point, the third bad ending plays out and you're given an option to go back to the title screen or going back to before you fought him.

Trivia

 * He's 52 years old.
 * Crayden is hinted at to be a powerful man, having killed a Broncallo in a single blow.
 * With him starting at level 60, his starting level is currently the highest in the game.
 * If Devon chose the renegade option with Laquadia at the start of the game, Devon will say this to Crayden. Crayden, however, is disinterested in it, asking if Devon was attempting to get a reaction out of him.
 * Crayden is the only NPC turned playable character turned enemy.
 * Given how he used to have a relationship with Laquaida, it's unknown what happened between the two of them that split it up - she still seems to pursue him, but he is disinterested in it.