How strong is the Warrior of Light?

[Absimiliard]

I wouldn't say first time. The narrative makes it pretty clear Ran'jit has been in the game for a long time, and he's seen his share of defeats and failures along the way. Being beaten wouldn't shake the resolve of a man of his experience. While I'm certain Ryne's rejection stung, I'm also quite sure Ran'jit's strong will and general professionalism in carrying out his duties would prompt him to fight to the best of his abilities regardless.

Ran'jit is indeed treated as Vauthry's last and greatest line of defense, but he is also summarily dismissed after his defeat, having seemingly left nary a mark on the Warrior of Light during their final encounter. Disregarding the ease of the fight itself, the way things are handled afterward narratively fails to convey any sort of real weight. He's dismissed just like any other corpse the WoL has stepped over on their way to seeing their mission(s) through.

We saw consequences with Zenos. Defeating Zenos the first time was shown to be physically taxing and quite costly, not to mention traumatizing. The same was true with his second defeat as Shinryu. He wasn't just some schmuck to be dismissed; Zenos was a monster, and the narrative makes it very clear each and every encounter with him takes everything the WoL has and more. Any one of those battles could've gone the other way very easily. These things ring even truer during their final battle, in which the WoL is left a hair's breadth away from oblivion despite having come out on top.

Frankly, their final battlefield would have become the WoL's grave as well were it not for Zenos' dying wish for them to survive being enough to stir their dynamis-laden surroundings into action.