Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation

Who he is

The Chief Disciple leads the Seven Stars, the sword school whose formation gave the 2025 demo level its name; Chinese coverage calls the formation 七星剑阵, and some English outlets translated the group as "Seven Judges" or "Seven Judgments", but the on-screen English is Seven-Stars. He was first shown in PlayStation's Year of the Snake trailer in January 2025 and closed the S-Party, Gamescom and TGS 2025 demos. In the retail game he is an optional boss of the Mandate Encampment, fought on the burning field below the ladder near the Three Towers bell (Game8; PowerPyx, Oct 29, 2026), with the name bar "Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation" for the group phase and "Chief Disciple, Sword of Despair" for the second; the demo's second name bar, "Chief Disciple's Fallen Hope", is gone. Game8 files him and his six followers under the Perfect Transcensions and calls them puppets.

The demo's twist with Red survives. PowerPyx's collectibles guide: "If you didn't defeat Red, The Mysterious Swordswoman earlier, she'll join the fight half way through Phase 2," and the arena then holds a Memory Flower, a second Memory Flower and a Twin Fish Pendant, the last two marked missable because "if you defeated Red ... earlier, she won't join the fight, therefore she won't drop her collectibles." In PowerPyx's boss capture no second name bar appears and Red does not join.

What the retail footage shows

PowerPyx's capture (Oct 29, 2026) opens on the Mandate Encampment map at the Three Towers bell, 41% complete. From 0:04 Soul crosses a plank-and-rope bridge towards burning wooden watchtowers, and at 0:12 reaches the arena: a scorched, rubble-strewn field beside the towers, the demo's finale ground, with white-robed swordsmen waiting in a loose ring. The name bar "Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation" is on screen from 0:18 as the group closes in. The followers move together (0:22, 0:48) and the fight is a crowd fight with red flashes at 0:44, 0:50, 1:08 and 1:26, a blue parry at 1:12 and a heavy blood spray at 1:42; Soul answers with green Phantom Edge arcs. The bar empties at about 2:10.

At 2:12 the screen goes black and at 2:14 a close-up shows a hand with red threads wound through the fingers and a red bead. At 2:16 the sky is red and the leader hangs upside down from threads strung to a watchtower; the second name bar, "Chief Disciple, Sword of Despair", is on screen from 2:18 with a fresh health bar. He stays suspended for the whole phase, swinging in on the threads (2:36, 2:42) and filling the screen with fans of pale strings (3:02, 3:24, 3:46) and single red beams from the towers (3:30, 4:08); a bright flash at 2:48 and a blue flash at 3:50 mark Soul's counters. At 4:14 a white burst ends it, 4:18 is black, and at 4:20 the field is back in daylight with blue motes around Soul. The Swordsman's Summon card at 4:31 reads: "Swordsman's Summon. Summoning. Summon Health 1574, Summon Damage 22. The Xia spirit of the righteous Mandate's disciples has never faded. At the sight of this token, they will answer the call with swords in hand. In areas dense with Sha-Chi (when the icon emits a special glow), press R to summon 1 Swordsman Captain(s) and 2 Swordsman Disciple(s). They fight for up to 15 seconds and disappear early if defeated. Summons cannot stack. Summoning again replaces any existing summons. Consumes 2." The Training Grounds Key card at 4:34: "Story Item. A key hanging from a yellow jade ring. Opens the main gate to the Training Grounds."

Attacks

From Game8's boss guide (updated Oct 30, 2026), which calls the leader the main puppet and the six followers minor puppets. Phase one: the puppets form a Jump Pad for the leader's jumping slash, and a Staircase for his dashing attack, both parried; the six minor puppets also sync up for an unblockable Synced Strike with two variations, where several hits landing together can kill outright, so watch the formation and dodge. The minor puppets' own hits are weak and mostly land in time with the boss, so Game8 says to put all damage on the main puppet.

Phase two, Sword of Despair: a homing swarm of puppet strings, which Game8 says to outrun by sprinting on a path perpendicular to the boss, or to dodge through the tail of if trapped; an unblockable ranged attack, telegraphed by the strings holding him glowing red, which is dodged on the flash; and melee attacks with animations easy enough to read to block. Perfect parries and dodges trigger a Ghoststep counter. In PowerPyx's capture the string fans are visible at 3:02, 3:24 and 3:46 and the red beams at 3:30 and 4:08.

Drops

The Swordsman's Summon Phantom Edge (KeenGamer, Game8; item card in PowerPyx's capture at 4:31: Summoning, Summon Health 1574, Summon Damage 22, summons 1 Swordsman Captain and 2 Swordsman Disciples for up to 15 seconds in areas dense with Sha-Chi, consumes 2) and the Training Grounds Key (story item, opens the main gate to the Training Grounds). Silver trophy Sword Against the Seven-Stars, "Defeat the Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars" (PS5 trophy list). The arena also holds a Memory Flower, and, if Red joined, a second Memory Flower and a Twin Fish Pendant (PowerPyx).

Pre-release footage (2025 demo)

In S-GAME's demo walkthrough (kwVgxmwgkfI) the fight opens at 16:57 on a scorched field beside a burning wooden tower. The first phase is a group fight: several white-robed swordsmen move together, the leader among them, while the single name bar reads Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars. Famitsu describes it as "a seven-member boss with coordinated teamwork", and says that concentrating attacks on the one member dressed differently, the leader, is what triggers the second phase; the walkthrough cuts to the leader at 18:39 before the transition.

From 18:47 the sky turns red and the name bar changes to "Chief Disciple's Fallen Hope". The leader now hangs in the air from threads strung to the wooden frames around the arena, and his attacks fill the screen with red lines (19:37, 20:01). Push Square's description of the January trailer matches: "the Chief Disciple's minions take higher ground and start puppeteering their leader around the stage." Famitsu adds that the second phase is one-on-one, that the boss stays suspended throughout, and that his irregular rhythm made parries fail until the writer adjusted. In the walkthrough Red Wraith joins from 19:57, and the fight ends at 21:56.