Kefka vs. Sephiroth

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Because he had better things to do like poisoning an entire castle?

Yeah, that wouldn't be fun at all. The sounds of an entire castle having their lungs melted seems so much more fun then killing a couple of guys. He clearly made the right choice.

I'm sorry, but those just aren't valid arguments. Where do you get the idea that if Kefka killed Sabin, he couldn't continue with his plan, either by running out of time or for any other reason? It would only take a couple of seconds if he so as powerful as you claim he was, and he could easily claim they were assassins sent to kill him and Leo. I repeat, why did Kefka run for his life from a simple bodybuilder who had strayed from his gym, and couldn't even use magic?

Because then Square would have to think of a reason why he survived, or introduce a character to take his place in WoR.

But Square are the masters of poorly explained survivals. Hell, basically the whole IV cast except for Cecil looked to be dead at some point. They also did it with Duncan, so why not with with Sabin?

How many times did Sephiroth have a chance to kill Cloud and friends and not take it?

There's a subtle difference here. Sephiroth never had a reason to kill anybody other than Aeris, since she was the only one he perceived as a threat. That doesn't mean he's weak, but that he was arrogant and overconfident. Kefka would have doubtlessly perceived Sabin as a threat when Sabin tried to beat him to a bloody pulp, so why didn't he off him? Simple. He wasn't powerful enough.

Kefka never once took Sabin seriously in that entire encounter. That qualifies under the "does not perceive as a threat." At that point Kefka was a high-ranking Imperial Official inside an army base and Sabin was a brawny guy who waltzed in and decided to start chasing after him and interrupting his plans for some reason he probably wasn't aware of (assuming he cared, this being Kefka, probably not). Why should he waste his time?

This argument is often brought up in D&D circles when high-level people start handing out quests to low-level people. The answer is that the high-level people have better things to do with their time and resources, so they leave the lower-level challenges to their expendable minions.