Sora shook his head as the bright white light cleared, the symbols of summoning disappearing from the sky.
What the hell?!
What he saw next freaked him out.
The man's long silvery hair gave way to a long black trench coat and one angelic wing. He turned, showing his deep blue eyes and a long thin sword.
"What… I have to face a child?"
Sora took a step back, grasping his Ultima Weapon in a death grip.
"What is this…" the man looked up to the sky, "Just what is this, Zeus? This isn't the champion of Hades you told me about!"
He paused, reaching a hand out to the side and letting his wing stretch.
"So it's a different sort of champion that must be tested? So be it… perhaps he may actually provide some semblance of a challenge.
The silver haired warrior leapt forward, using his long blade to strike out at the kid. However, Sora rolled underneath the attack and dealt 4 quick strikes using his large keyblade, causing Sephiroth to disappear.
He looked around, unsure of himself.
"What? Was that it?"
He turned around just in time to see the man appear again with another thrust. He dodged out of the way as the man struck again.
This time, he deflected the technique and was greeted with a sneer from the man as he drew in powerful fire energies.
"Power of darkest flame, attack with fury… Fire pillar!"
Using his quickened skill with air currents, Sora pushed through the air at amazing speed to dodge the amass of magic.
He looked forward as the flames leapt up, while priming his keyblade for his next technique.
He reared back and tossed his keyblade through the flames, hitting his target.
"Strike!"
He tossed it again.
"Raid!"
And again…
"Raid!"
And finally, he let loose with a final powerful throw.
"Judgement!"
All strikes hit home, as Sephiroth stumbled back, using his sword for balance. He raced at the boy, executing 4 slashes of his own and causing the boy to leap back and cast his own magic.
As healing energies washed over the boy, the silver haired warrior's eyes gleamed as odd energies appeared in his hands.
Sora watched the hand motions and quickly readied his blade for another strike raid.
"Bloody magic, sate my thirst for the tainted soul! Sin Harvest!"
However, before the wielder of the Masamune could finish his spell, the Ultima Weapon slammed into him and caused him to lose focus.
"Damn child, you'll pay for that!"
He sneered, waiving his arms and creating a multitude of meteors that flew towards Sora. Thanks to his Dodge Roll technique that he had been perfecting since he learned it in Traverse Town, he was able to get by most of them except the final massive one that knocked him back, but left him still alive.
He muttered a quick curaga, rushing at Sephiroth, but before he could reach there, the warrior vanished and Sora sensed him at the other side of the arena and he quickly locked his sight on.
The hands were performing the motions for another Sin Harvest, and he didn't have enough magical energy left for another strike raid.
Sora gritted his teeth, leaping into a series of Dodge Rolls faster than humanly possible…
"Bloody Magic…"
Halfway there…
"Sate my thirst…"
Almost…
"For the tainted soul…"
Almost…
"Sin-"
Got him!
Sephiroth stumbled back, dazed, as Sora suddenly seemed to become empowered by his very weapon. He leapt into the air, words springing to his mouth.
"Ars Arcanum!!!"
He went through his own sword combo, hitting the silver haired warrior left and right, making him unable to counter. But instead of stopping the combo like he normally would, he started up another one, words coming to him once again.
"Most powerful of sword techniques! I call upon you with the fullest strength of my heart… empower my Keyblade! Omnislash!"
He let loose with Fifteen straight techniques, finally leaping up into the air and coming down with a diagonally projected Sonic Blade technique from there.
However, the strength of his heart could not let him stop. He launched into another combo as foreign words sprang to his lips.
"Renzokuken!"
Another flurry of techniques again… and then the Lionheart key chain flared up around his belt… yet another combo…
"Lionheart!"
Launching Sephiroth into the air with his techniques, he leapt up to continue them, and finally… the final blow resulted in the battered warrior falling back to the ground.
He leaned on his Masamune as Sora floated slowly back to the ground.
Coughing softly, he began, "It looks like you beat me… I'm impressed, no one has previously been able to perform such a feat before…"
He coughed again as a soft light fell on him.
"I have one final request before Zeus calls me back to Olympus to… punish me, I wager… I ask that you…"
He paused, shaking his head as if to clear his mind.
"You… Sora. That's who you are, isn't it? Look, no matter what my son does, I ask that you look out for him… it's not his fault. Be a good friend to him."
And he disappeared, just as strangely as he had appeared there.
But what did he mean… look out for his son? Who could possibly the son of whoever that man was?
"Who… was that?"
He felt the presence of someone else in the arena, and turned to see Cloud and Leon staring at him intently.
"The answer to your question is: Sephiroth… the former master of swordsmen."
Cloud shook his head, "Former, that is, until you came along…"
"But…"
Sora was having trouble thinking, having most of his energy gone from him after the fight.
"Who… could be that man's son? And why would he ask me to look out for him…"
Leon shrugged, "Maybe you know his son, perhaps?"
And suddenly it came to him…
Of course, the man obviously had a vantage point from somewhere beyond… he knew what was going on… he had to… the key was in his sentence…
"It's not his fault…"
His son did something wrong…
"Be a good friend to him."
And the person had recently been on his mind, especially after returning from Hollow Bastion…
The hair color… the eyes, even the sneer was the same… it was…
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A/N: And that's where I end it! Don't worry… said person in question is gonna have his own section of a story soon enough! Gimme your feedback, please! I love to read it! All the recent comments have been lovely, and I know you're gonna like what's coming up!