---Chapter XI---

Riku found a landing spot and landed his gummi ship on the World of Mako. The world was formed of mostly the green liquid floating around with several marble slabs of stone floating through the green liquid Cloud mentioned as Mako. Riku hopped from block to block, making his way up to a large circular slab above his current position. When Riku made it to the large area he could see the next area wrapped in a sort of a whirlwind ahead of him.

Riku was stopped in the circular area, however. When he turned around he noticed a large, black, three headed dog in front of him. The dog began to drool and bark as it looked at the small boy. One of the heads dashed toward Riku and he jumped out of the way from the dog. The dog snapped all three of its heads back and snarled at Riku. Riku watched for the dog's next move. All of a sudden all three heads headed straight toward him. Riku rolled out of the way and grabbed the ear of the third head to wrap himself around to the top of the dog's head.

Riku drew his soul eater and was about to drive it through one of the heads when the dog shook itself and Riku was thrown into a pile of bones in the corner of the platform. Riku grabbed one of the bones and looked at it.

"It… It's still a dog, right?" Riku asked himself. Riku thought about the situation for a few seconds. He was backed off toward the edge of the platform and the dog was closing in. Riku had no choice. He grabbed the bone and tossed it over the side of the platform.

Excited by the platform, the gigantic dog chased after it all the way over the side of the cliff, plummeting to its death below. Riku watched the dog fall for a few more seconds before it became invisible in the green Mako beneath. Riku then moved toward the whirlwind, making sure to land on the platform leading to the largest area of the planet, Sephiroth's throne.

When Riku entered the area, the whirlwind immediately dissipated, leaving the blackness of space all around him as the platform began to lift itself. He looked at the ground to see several lights lit up on the platform. The lights appeared to be a map. Just then a light disappeared on the map of the universe.

"So, this is how Sephiroth is keeping track of the worlds he's destroyed. It looks like only a few more worlds are left. I better end this quick." said Riku as he walked toward the throne at the opposite end of the platform.

Nobody was on the throne, and Riku couldn't tell exactly where Sephiroth was. He drew his soul eater just to be safe as he looked around the area. Nobody was to be seen, but the scent of the darkness was all over the place. Riku knew Sephiroth was here somewhere.

"So, you're the lackey of the King's Ansem told me about." said a voice as Riku looked around. Riku turned toward the voice in the distance. All he could see was a wave of long, silver hair and glowing green eyes. The eyes seemed to be the same color as the Mako before. "I've been waiting for this day." said the voice again as it walked into visible light. Sephiroth must have been at least a clear foot taller than Riku, and was carrying a sword that was easily three times the size of Riku's soul eater. The single black wing on his back and the black robe with black pants did not give Riku any more positive thoughts about this battle.

"You're the one blowing up all the worlds and absorbing their power?" asked Riku.

"Hehehe, you have no idea what I can do." Sephiroth replied, advancing toward Riku.

"Then, where are you headed next?"

"Ah, you're afraid I'm going to absorb a planet you care about? But the darkness inside you, yes, I can feel the darkness, doesn't even care about the new planet."

"What are you talking about?"

Sephiroth said nothing and just pointed. Riku looked into space to see Destiny Islands come into view. "No!" screamed Riku. "You're not destroying this world!" Riku drew his sword to his shoulder and looked Sephiroth straight in the eye as Sephiroth prepared his sword. "Sephiroth! We end this right now!"

---TO BE CONCLUDED---

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry this chapter was so short, but believe me the next and final chapter is going to be worth it.