KINGDOM HEARTS 3.6 Vanitas Gaiden:

Gaiden 1: Vain to Fight.

Vanitas turns around to see the person approaching him, walking up the same stairway flight that he did moments ago. As Vanitas stands in the middle of the Gazing Eye platform on one side and the unknown person proceeding to stand in the middle on the other side. Surprisingly, he is shown wearing the same red coloured variation coat of Organization XIII's that Vanitas does as a member of the Solaeris Apostoli.

"...What is this, the latest fashion? who goes around stealing other peoples' looks and presenting it to them, huh?" says Vanitas, commenting on the hooded individual. He or she remains silent, causing Vanitas to say more in return "Hmph, not one to talk, eh? fine. But just so you know...I don't like you wearing that red coat. It turns out that only seven different colours of the Black Coat are given to other both certain and specific people worthy of mention...one in those seven being yours truly." says Vanitas.

He proceeds to have the Dream Shield being held around his arm directly point at the hooded person, finally saying to them "If you're supposed to be some Manifestation of mine then fine, go right ahead. I'll beat you into next Tuesday." says Vanitas, knowing of the Manifestation ability but in this case, it is unknown if he is using his reply in reference about the ability itself in the correct statement.

Either way, the hooded individual proceeds to lift up their hand and by doing so, summon another Unversed from Vanitas' Body. This time around it takes a huge toll on his Body, feeling immense pain "G-GAAHHHH! WHAT-WHAT WAS THAT!? ! wait...are you the voice that's been talking to me all this time!?" says Vanitas, wanting an immediate answer.

Unfortunately, the hooded person points a finger towards past by Vanitas and as he slowly turns around, he sees standing right before him the Unversed equivalent of the Heartless Darkside and the Nobody Twilight Thorn. "!?" Vanitas is shocked to see this giant Unversed before revealing "This-this Unversed...I've never created one this big before! what the heck is it!? ! are you telling me...that I have always had this kind of power inside of me-hey!" Vanitas turns around, asking the hooded individual of this occurrence but whilst he was distracted, the hooded person took his or her leave.

The voice resumes speaking again directly to Vanitas "That is your hate." says the voice. "!? What!?" says Vanitas. The voice then says "That is your self loathing, your anguish, your hate. You see, all things work in tandem. Your Negative Emotions are no exception...Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hate, Hate...leads to suffering. This Unversed-this "Agony Malice"...is the embodiment of all that you despise about yourself." says the voice, saying the same iconic words that Yoda from Star Wars said and were later said by the Final Boss Necron in Final Fantasy IX.

Facing off with this Unversed identified as the Agony Malice by the voice...subconsciously, Vanitas felt himself back away an inch. But upon realising this the next minute, he steps back into the spot he moved his foot away. Saying the following words "...No way. I'm not like those idiots. Ventus, Sora, that Ventus wannabe and that puppet..." says Vanitas, recalling mental images of his more or less other counterparts-Ven, Sora, Roxas and Xion.

"I'm better then the lot of them...I am me, I am...Vanitas!" says Vanitas, further recalling how both Sora and Roxas backed away from their respective fights against the Heartless Darkside and the Nobody Twilight Thorn. But in Vanitas' case right now...he intends to stand his ground and fight the Unversed Agony Malice, determined to fight...and to win.

The battle starts off with the Agony Malice splitting itself up into multiple smaller pieces, surprising Vanitas. The pieces take on the form of Unversed Floods and whilst at times throughout the fight individually they fight separately, they at times join forces and swarm about in a manner similar to the Heartless Demon Tower and the Nobody Shell Tempest, like the latter is this swarm of Unversed fighting together based on the attack patterns of the former.

These huddled Unversed are called the "Black Spiral" and upon all of the Floods gathering together into one single formation, their Dark blue colours become completely black as a result. The unique thing about fighting the Black Spiral during this particular battle however is that they use their linear like formation to surround the Station pillar that both they and Vanitas are fighting atop on.

Leaving him no room to escape and allowing the Spiral to whack down upon him as though it was a giant hand or a hammer even. But this also works in Vanitas' favour, regarding his Demon Drive. It is still in effect during the "Boss Battle" and each time Vanitas destroys parts of the Spiral, this causes him to power up immensely.

He fills the Demon Gauge completely and by doing so, achieves a Reaction Command for the "Boss Fight" called the "Demon Counter". Vanitas uses the power of his black coloured Dream Shield to knock back the Black Spiral and then release a shining beam of Darkness from it to break apart the Spiral's formation.

This forces the Black Spiral back into multiple Floods and in turn their normal Dark blue colours. Vanitas picks them off one by one until sensing their numbers dwindling, the Floods reform back into the Agony Malice overseeing the entire platform. Like the Twilight Thorn, it has an intangible shape that can allow it to move about easy.

But unlike the Nobody counterpart, it's Reaction timing is slow and requires focus to pull off it's both quick and sly manoeuvring, making it very similar to the instinctual Heartless in this regard. Despite the focus required, it contains tremendous strength and could very easily knock off Vanitas with just a single whip of it's arm.

Actually doing so in the next minutes, thankfully enough though, Vanitas holds on to the arm before running across it and then "pressing" another Reaction Command called the "Splitting Headache". Bonking the Agony Malice on the head, it becomes unconscious but at the same time, automatically summons a temporary barrier to protect it's head with in fear of damage done to it.

Floods emerge from all it's Body, intending to protect the "host" whilst it heals. Not on Vanitas' watch, as he charges through all of the protecting Floods, eliminating them one by one. Finally, he destroys the barrier surrounding the Malice's head and with his last few strikes, he stamps the Dream Shield in an intentionally blurred moment of red and black background colours, impaling the Shield into the Malice's head as though it were a spike.

Having reached battle's end, black flames start to emit from across the Agony Malice, signalling it's death. Because Vanitas had cruelly latched the Shield into it's head and in the process it's mouth, it could not even let out it's death throws. Despite this, shockingly enough, Vanitas appears sombre about having just eliminated the Unversed.

After disappearing into flames themselves, Vanitas turns around, shocked to see that the person wearing "his" red Organization XIII coat had been watching the entire fight. "...What? are you done? you wanted to fill me up with misery, was that? hate to break it to you...but I am as cold Hearted as you can get." says Vanitas, giving an evil smile upon his face, having not worn his mask throughout this entire escapade...

"...Are you sure...of that?" suddenly, the hooded person speaks up with Vanitas yet again becoming shocked until suddenly, a bright Light emerges right behind him, engulfing him whole. "A-AAAHHH!" shouts out Vanitas in seeming pain. "You have passed the first test...at the same time, so has your "other self"." says the hooded individual.

Ultimately, it is revealed that Vanitas wakes up, sitting at the spot where he sat in the KH 3.6 Chapter-Lonesome and Lonely Vanity. Revealing that all along, this was a flashback sequence leading up to the events of that Chapter within the main story...

…"Returning" to the "present", we see him conversing the young woman previously introduced in "the other side of things" named Viridian. She lastly says towards him the following "So...may you please remove your mask so we may know about each other?" says Viridian. Vanitas himself lastly replying towards her the next following "...HECK-no." says Vanitas in a somewhat comical fashion, earning a caw from Viridian's pet crow named Karasu.

To be Continued.