As Maleficent, Pete, and the Armored Man look on at the badlands, observing the heroes push Master Xehanort into Kingdom Hearts itself, a beeping noise is heard on one of the Armored Man's gauntlets. The Armored Man moves the gauntlet to his face, and a virtual screen pops up, showing a flashing red sign. "Ahh, there she is", the man states with a satisfied sigh.
Maleficent and Pete managed to glance over at the man who informed them of the Black Box, and Maleficent asks, "Some good news?" The Armored Man closes the screen and turns to face Maleficent, "As a matter of fact, the best news I could ask for at the present time. Excuse me, for I must attend to this, but when I return, The Truth will finally be revealed." With that, the Man summons a dark portal, and vanishes into it. Pete then looks back to Maleficent, "Now that he's gone, we should take the Black Box for ourselves once it shows up!"
Maleficent grunts in frustration, but tries to keep calm now that her goal is so close, "All in good time. We still need the keyblade wielders to defeat Xehanort before the Box appears, and even then, we need to ensure it is safe for us, so be on your guard, especially around that man. I doubt anyone would freely give up such a powerful and important device out of the goodness of his heart. You and I know all too well by now how fickle a heart can be."
Ω
The interior of the Twilight Town Mansion continues to defy logic the deeper one ventures into it. Ansem, Leon, Dilan, and Aeleus have attempted to stay together as they navigated through a maze of stairs leading to seemingly nowhere, doors that reveal only more walls, and glitches in the program as pixels start becoming more frequent, items not completely rendering, or sporadic glitches that cause unnatural phenomena.
Holes would spontaneously appear and disappear, barely giving the four men time to reach to them. Doors would open, and items and furniture would pour out of them, either to block their way or cause harm to them. The four men ended up getting the sense that these glitches appeared deliberate, as if something was preventing them from reaching their destination.
Aeleus finally voiced his inquiries to his former mentor, "Master, seeing this twisted environment, and seeing it become more violent and sporadic the further in we venture, I must ask you how you were able to move Subject X here, and why she registers you as a threat even though you moved her away from us, and towards safety?"
Ansem answered, but did not face him, "My relationship with the Subject was never one of companionship, even after I saw the error of my ways and sought to spare her from further experiments. By the time I tried to move her away from Xehanort and the rest of you, I had permanently rooted myself as monster in her eyes. I was unable to help her in any conventional way, and so I was forced to intimidate her into moving to where I desired, including her final hiding place here, in the virtual world. When I had greater power over the darkness, I summoned heartless to chase her, and I tried to lead her to the destinations I had planned. Each time, though, she had gotten noticeably more powerful, forcing me to summon stronger heartless, risking both her life and my own in the process. Now, I go to her with no appearances of malice, but I doubt even now that she'll consider me a friend…"
Dilan spoke up next, "Regardless how Subject X might behave now, I will protect you, master. Your genius and your contributions cannot be lost because an experiment had gone awry. All scientists undergo failure before encountering success."
Leon showed displeasure at Dilan's statement, "She wasn't just a thing for you to experiment on! She's a living being that had to go through God know how many years of torture, while you people played with her, broke her, and did all other kinds of abuse. I can't blame her if she never trusts people again."
Dilan stopped and faced Leon, and both men appeared ready to battle each other, then Dilan said, "It is easy for you to judge us, to apply whatever values you have and label us as monsters and abusers. But she was not considered a 'living being' as you put it. Sure, her appearances could be deceiving, but we quickly discovered that she was nothing like us, and we did what was within our abilities to solve her mystery. Not one day goes by where I regret the duties we performed under Ansem as well as Xehanort. What might appear as a helpless child to you, to another it is a dangerous weapon. What might appear as a monster and abuser to you, another would see him as a savior or even a martyr."
Leon then got up in Dilan's face, "Is that what you tell yourself? How you justify everything you did, how you deal with the consequences now that you're human again? No… scratch that, I look at you now and I see that you were never human to begin with. You're a psychopath, and being a nobody just gave you the excuse to act out your sick wishes." Dilan raised his staff at Leon, who in turn pointed his Gunblade at Dilan, but Ansem moved in between the two and commanded, "ENOUGH! Now is not the time to quarrel amongst ourselves! Not when our lives are still at risk in this world."
The two looked at him, then at each other intently, and lowered their weapons. Ansem continued, "Dilan, Leon is right. There is only so much we can conduct in the name of science until we can no longer defend ourselves, until the ends no longer justify the means. Science might be cold and calculating, but we must not be. While we cannot let our emotions govern our pursuit of truth, neither must we forego our emotions to pursue the truth at the expense of others. Otherwise, how are we any better than tyrants, despots, and fascists who abuse their power and position for their own satisfaction? How can we call ourselves men of science if we reduce ourselves to barbaric practices to satiate our curiosity?" Dilan couldn't help but look away at Ansem's statement. Then Ansem faced Leon, "Though Dilan does raise the point that the values of the past cannot always be analyzed with a modern lens. Those like you who look into the past must first be weary of what they judge as barbaric, lest they redefine their entire culture based on a blanket verdict of all past achievements. Our work on the Subject nonetheless raised our awareness of the Heartless as well as other worlds, and helped develop the technology you used to defend the city from invading forces. While I cannot entirely defend our treatment of Subject X, you would do well to understand that our other works might also appear distasteful to you, but nonetheless benefitted everyone in this world. We sullied our hands to make the lives of others better, keep that in mind if we are to form a new trusting relationship from now on."
But Leon countered Ansem, "Just remember that this whole mess got as bad as it did because you were the perfect target for Xehanort. Whatever you people think you did, and however many excuses you try to make for your work, in the end you paved the way for a madman to unleash darkness on the universe, and now, here we are, paying the price. I'll trust you, Ansem, when you can finally admit your wrong doings without trying to justify yourself at any moment." The two stared at each other, Leon holding true to his statement, then Ansem bowed his head and faced forward again. Before the group could move, however, a door opened to them, but this time the door seem to actually lead to a room, and light came from beyond. The four men prepared themselves, and went through the door.
Inside, the room appeared to be one made for a child, with drawings placed on the walls, and other drawings scattered on the floor. The drawings contained recognizable figures, and seemed to accurately depict events of the past, but in an optimistic and child-like manner. Ansem judged that they had finally reached Namine's room, but the room appeared run down, weathered with age, but also seemed to endure abuse, as if someone had torn into the room in frustration and fear. Then the four men heard a noise, and noticed by the window a shadowy figure standing completely still, its face hidden by what appeared to be a black veil over its head. The black veil seemed to separate the farther down the body it went, giving it a tendril or hair-like appearance, but still the face was completely hidden. The rest of the Shadow's bodily features were hard to discern, as its entire body seemed to be covered in a black cloth with vertical red stripes, and like the veil, the cloth seemed to be cut and split as it reached the ground, giving the black dress-like garment tentacle-like appendages that slithered along the floor. Overall, the creature appeared to have the combined appearance of a generic ghost-in-the-sheets and a woman wearing a black funeral dress with a veil covering her head. But the group could not tell what gender the creature was, or if it even was Subject X at all, or if the creature was staring out the window or facing them. The immediate environment around the figure appeared to glitch in and out of existence.
Its very presence sent a chill down their spines, but Ansem raised his hand, signaling the others not to act rashly, and he approached the figure. He was confident it was what they were sent in here to rescue. "Hello, my dear," Ansem called out softly, but at the sound of his voice, all objects in the room were immediately raised into the air, and hit the ceiling, startling the four men.
But the Shadow did not move its body, however its dress started to rattle violently as if wind had caught it, and the men escorting Ansem could not help but feel it getting ready to attack. Dilan and Aeleus rushed to Ansem's side at once, and pointed their weapons at her. Ansem then cried out, "NO! Do nothing to her! That is not why we are here!" The creature then let out a moan that sounded both as a painful grown and one of sensual satisfaction, and dark tendrils lunged and charged at Ansem. In quick unison, Aeleus and Dilan fended off the tentacles, and moved to shield Ansem from the girl's sight.
Leon then moved from behind them, and pointed his Gunblade at the Shadow, firing a large energy shell at it, but the creature's veil opened up and absorbed the shot, then quickly closed again before the men could see what lay underneath. Then Dilan moved forward, "Whatever it is, it's hostile now and must be dealt with." He summoned more lances, and using his power of wind, hurled them at the Shadow, which seemed cause it to be thrown out the window. The four men ran to the window, and saw that the environment outside had appeared to be destroyed, with codes of data showing along the edges of certain destroyed structures. The sky was jet black, yet somehow there was enough illumination for them to partly see just outside the Mansion grounds, as if there was still a moon present. Then they saw the Shadow, and it was now absorbing Dilan's lances. A dark mass spread from it, enveloping the mansion, prompting the four men to jump out of the window before they were consumed as well.
When they landed, with Aeleus holding onto Ansem, they saw the Mansion disappear within the dark mass, and they realized, so did their way out of this virtual world.
Ω
Ienzo and Cid looked on the monitor, and saw that the signals of Ansem, Leon, Dilan, and Aeleus had disappeared. The two reacted in a startled fashion with Cid jumping out of his seat, and Ienzo grabbing the monitor and moving his face closer to it, as if that would help him find them. Yuffie noticed this, and got up from the desk she was sitting on and ran to them.
"What the hell?" Cid yapped, still with a cigarette in his mouth, with puffs of smoke escaping his mouth with each word. "Where are they? What happened?" Ienzo cried in fear. Yuffie approached them as calmly as she could and asked, "What happened, guys?" Then Ienzo and Cid both responded hysterically at the same time, "We lost their signal!" Yuffie looked shocked, then asked, "Wait, how did that happen? You said they should be in the mansion, right? Where could they have gone?"
Ienzo answered, "We did notice some unusual readings as soon as they went in, but it didn't appear to be cause for alarm. Now…. For all I know their signal was scrambled, or they entered another space that isn't the mansion at all…" Yuffie and Cid looked at each other with dread in their eyes. Sweating, Ienzo gripped the monitor tighter, and muttered to himself, "Aeleus, Master, where did you go?"
Ω
The four men fled the Shadow as they deflected its tentacles. "Now what do we do?" Aeleus shouted. "We head into town and find cover from it for now!" Leon answered, panting as he both defended himself and ran from the creature. The made it too the woods, which appeared to have decayed over time. The trees all looked contorted, and some of them seemed to have joined each other at the branches, while others seemed to have partially vanished into code. Part of the ground had vanished as well, leaving only a dark abyss below.
The group then made it to the wall, which looked like it had undergone deconstruction. From behind them, they heard shrieking noises and saw that the forest was being enveloped by the Shadow's back tendrils as well as a dark mass that covered the floor. Everything the black mass touched corroded into code, then even the code disappeared into nothing. "Through the wall!" Leon commanded, and the group made haste to squeeze in between the construction material that made up the wall.
Ansem made it through first, then Aeleus, then Leon. Dilan was almost through, but then his leg got caught by one of the black tendrils. He looked at them, and they looked at him helplessly, and suddenly he was pulled through the wall back to the other side, his body suffering damage from the pieces of the wall. Then his body was slammed down hard into the ground. As he struggled to stand back up, the tendril proceeded to lift him up again, but Dilan stabbed at it with one of his lances, severing it from him. Dilan then used the lance to support him as he stood up all the way, and saw the Shadow had already cleared the forest and stood mere feet away from him.
Despite not seeing its face, Dilan could feel its eyes on him, as if it already marked him for death. He summoned more lances to surround him, and valiantly took a stance to try and fend it off. Then more tendrils lunged at Dilan before he had a chance to react.
From beyond the wall, the three men heard Dilan screech, a sound that sent shivers down their bodies and made their hairs stand up straight. "I…. I never heard Dilan sound like that before…." Aeleus said as he gasped for air. Ansem looked on, his eyes wobbling as if they were about to burst, and Leon, sweating and biting his lip, yelled, "Come on! We have to get to town!" The other two men wobbled and turned around, and the three made for the town.
When they finally arrived, they could not believe the site before them. The town looked like it had undergone a violent and mind-numbing glitch, with some of the houses rooted into the walls of other larger buildings, but with no doors or windows. There was no sense of direction or gravity as the landscape curved upward, with more buildings suspended in the sky. Several buildings seemed to have joined together as they formed bridge-like constructs from the "sky" to the "ground" where the three stood. It was if the entire land had collapsed and folded in on itself.
As the three inspected this logic-defining sight more closely, they then started seeing what happened to the people. Some of them were suspended in the air, as if they were puppets on strings. Others appeared to have fused with the environment, with portions of their bodies disappearing into walls and roads. The bodies themselves were partially un-rendered, giving them a grotesque appearance of someone who had lost all their skin, and part of their muscle and fat, leaving their teeth and eyes exposed in a permanent bug-eyed grin. Men, women, children, and even animals all looked like the mannequins you'd see in a science room with their organs exposed.
"Oh God…" Leon whispered, "We… we have to find a place to hide in there…" He motioned his hand for Ansem and Aeleus to follow him, but as soon as they took a step towards the twisted Twilight Town, all the faces of the people turned and faced them, making a loud cracking noise as their necks turned. Every single one of the people now leered at the three surviving men. They made no sound, but they attempted to move and reach the group. Their bodies still caught in whatever place they were in, the bodies struggled to reach them. As the group went deeper into the town, the bodies started moving more violently and sporadically, each time one of the men got close to one, the body would flail about in unnatural speeds as if it was desperately trying to grab onto one of them. What the bodies would do once they managed to touch one of them, the men did not want to know. Then Leon heard a sound from behind them, and they saw the Shadow had already entered the town. Once it got within distance of the bodies, they then raised their arms in the air and began screaming as if they were in pain. This sight only frightened and disoriented the men even more, none of them could bring themselves to move and hide from the Shadow.
Ansem then dared to approach the Shadow, his arms and hands raised in from of him, trembling. "What happened to this town?!" Ansem gasped as he addressed the Shadow, "Was this place not….. not appealing for you? Was it really so terrible that you felt compelled to corrupt it so?!" The bodies then started weeping and howling. The three men could barely make out what they started saying amongst all the wailing, "False world! Prisoner! Lonely! Soulless! Loveless! Mission! Fleeing! Purpose! Warning! War! Darkness! Help! He's coming! He's coming! HE'S COMING!"
Aeleus couldn't bear to listen to their cries anymore, and charged at the Shadow creature, yelling, his eyes closed, wailing his massive ax in front of him, hoping he could quickly cut down the creature. More tendrils lunged at him, catching his arms and legs. He tried cutting them, and managed to cut a few, but then even more Tendrils caught up and tightened their grip, until he could no longer hold onto his ax. The Shadow then gagged Aeleus's mouth, silencing him, and as it pulled him towards it, he opened his eyes and looked upon the Shadow in terror. He tried screaming, but only muffled sounds came from his bandaged mouth. He had reached the creature, and had nearly been consumed by it before Leon fired off several shots, freeing Aeleus from its grip. The creature itself made no sound, but the bodies all screamed in pain as if they were the ones who had been shot. Leon ran up to Aeleus as he ripped up the bindings and tried to free himself. Leon then helped Aeleus back up, and then gave him his ax.
The two looked at each other and nodded, then faced the Shadow again, whose tendrils were now waving maniacally in the air. The bodies then all started yelling and growling at the two men, their hands clawing in their direction, and the Shadow slithered towards them. Leon and Aeleus got into a battle position, and Leon fired off some more shots. The Shadow absorbed them, and the bodies were heard groaning and sighing in satisfaction before changing back to growling at them.
Aeleus then smashed the ground, creating tremors and fissures, hoping to separate them from the creature by making a canyon between them. The Shadow then increased in speed and dashed towards them, but Leon fired a charged shot at the ground, causing an explosion that momentarily stopped the Shadow in its tracks. The creature itself then let out a shriek that made the men tear up in horror. Before Aeleus could strike the ground again, the Shadow opened itself up, and regurgitated a body. The body hit the ground, covered in a dark essence. The body then slowly got up, and the two could see that it was Dilan, only now he resembled his nobody, Xaldin, with the dark essence forming a cloak-like garment.
Dilan then raised his arms, and multiple lances appeared. The lances gathered together and formed a massive serpentine creature, then Dilan jumped onto the creature's back and rode it as it flew towards the group. Aeleus then leaped into the air and struck the creature with his ax, causing it to dismantle mid-air, but Dilan jumped and grabbed two of the lances, then let his body fall as he reached Aeleus. Aeleus tried to cut down Dilian, but Dilan blocked the ax with one of his lances, then used the other and managed to fatally stab Aeleus, causing him to cough up blood. Leon watched as the two fell to the ground and crashed, leaving smoke and a crater.
"Aeleus!" Leon called out, but there was no answer. When the smoke cleared, he saw the Shadow in the middle of consuming Aeleus, while Dilan slowly walked towards him. Leon saw that Dilan was too close for him to reload his gun, and prepared for melee combat. Dilan then dashed at him and swung his lances at Leon, with Leon barely managing to deflect them, but he did not let up. Leon then jumped back before both the lances struck him, piercing the ground instead. Leon took this chance and charged towards Dilan while his weapons were caught on the ground, only to be ambushed by four or lances that appeared in the air.
Leon jumped to an incredible height just as the lances all converged to his spot, and quickly reloaded his weapon while the lances changed their trajectory and homed in on him. "Do I have time to pull it off?" Leon gritted his teeth as muttered to himself, the lances quickly closing in. Desperate, Leon performs one of his limit-break finishers Fated Circle, spinning in place and releasing a shockwave from his charged Gunblade. The shockwave knocks away the lances, and knocks Dilan down. Leon then descends and lands back on the ground, and proceeds to finish Dilan before he can recover.
Leon catches up to Dilan, and begins his limit-break Sequential Sword, unleashing a series of powerful slashes onto the possessed guard. After striking Dilan seventeen times, Leon pointed his Gunblade directly towards Dilan, finishes him with the finisher Lion Heart, firing a massive explosion that completely annihilates Dilan. Tired and panting, Leon stumbles to the ground but lands on one knee. Before he could look up, he notices a massive ax swinging at him, and Leon barely rose his Gunblade in time to block the attack. Leon is then sent crashing back a ways and crashes into a wall.
Disoriented, Leon opens his eyes and sees Aeleus walking towards him, now corrupted by the creature. Leon struggled to leave the hole in the wall made from his impact, but then hands started grabbing at him. As Leon tried to free himself, he saw some of the bodies that were stuck in the wall trying to pin him in place for Aeleus to deal with him. Leon tried grabbing his Gunblade, but another body snatched it away. Leon then looked on as Aeleus marched towards him, his ax swinging back and forth. Leon closed his eyes and was ready to accept his fate, before he heard a voice cry out "ENOUGH!"
Leon opened his eyes and noticed the bodies no longer tightening their grip on him, and were now silent. Aeleus turned and faced away from Leon, and saw Ansem coming out from hiding. "Enough of this!" Ansem said, "If this is all you're capable of now, then take me! I am the orchestrator of your sorrows, so please spare him and take me instead!"
Leon then tried to free himself from the bodies, but they would not loosen, then he said to Ansem "Just get away from here! Find a way out!" But Ansem continued to walk towards Aeleus and the Shadow, his hands extending away from his body in a manner indicating his surrender. "Let Leon go" Ansem begged, "he has nothing to do with what I and my students did to you. Release him, and take me instead." The Shadow allowed Aeleus to walk to him, and punched Ansem hard in the face, knocking the old man down. Aeleus then proceeded to beat the man, punching and kicking him, as the Shadow crept closer. Leon struggled more desperately to free himself as he heard the old man grunt in pain, as his former student beat him to within an inch of his life. The bodies seemed to be cheering Aeleus on, as if they were an audience watching a fighting match. "ANSEEEEEMMM!" Leon cried.
Finally, Aeleus ceased his beating, and Ansem, lying on the ground beaten to a bloody pulp, raised his hands in the air in a pleading manner. "P-please….. just…. Finish me….." he sputtered as blood dripped from his mouth. Aeleus moved out of the way for the Shadow's trendrils, which grabbed onto Ansem and dragged him across the floor and towards the Shadow. As the creature opened up to consume him, Ansem heard Leon's voice in the distance, crying out his name. Darkness nearly consumed Ansem, who had accepted his fate, until something or someone appeared in between him and the Shadow. The newcomer's teleportation caused a small explosion, releasing Ansem from the Shadow's grip and forcing the Shadow to move back at an incredible speed. The bodies cried in pain, releasing Leon from their grip. Leon then saw his Gunblade drop from another body's hold, and ran to it and grabbed it.
Looking back at where he saw Ansem and the Shadow, the smoke cleared, and standing above Ansem was an armored man in a green cloak and robe. The armored man's back was towards Ansem, while he faced the Shadow without an ounce of fear. "Ahhh, you reveal yourself at last!" The armored man cried out to the Shadow, which was now twitching violently in place now that the newcomer's interrupted its execution.
Then the armored man turned slightly towards Ansem's direction, "I must congratulate you, Ansem, for to be able to conceal this creature in its current state, is a feat worthy of praise." Ansem focused his eyes, and seemed to recognize him. "You…." Ansem whispered, "It's you…" "It has been a long time, as you've seen better days" the armored man said while extending a hang. As Ansem grabbed it, Aeleus roared from behind him, and charged towards Ansem and the armored man. Leon aimed his Gunblade and tried to shoot Aeleus, but was too injured to clearly focus. The armored man did not move an inch while Aeleus ran towards him and Ansem. Then Aeleus swung his ax high and raised it back down, only for the armored man to casually block it with one armored hand, sending a mild shockwave in all directions away from where he stood.
Both Leon and Ansem stared at this stranger in awe as he then crushed the ax in his hand, and shot Aeleus with a powerful energy beam from his armored hand, sending Aeleus flying back and crashing into a building, a massive portion of his body destroyed from the blast.
Then the armored man helped Ansem to his feet, and the two turned to face the Shadow. The creature then caused a dark mass to flood the ground around it, then the dark mass reached the armored man and Ansem in an attempted to engulf them, but the armored man waved his hand and the dark mass stopped before him, as if a barrier had blocked its path. The shadow then screeched as it then lunged a large number of tentacles towards the armored man, but when the tendrils reached him, a green forcefield suddenly appeared and stopped the tendrils from touching him.
The tendrils pounded on the force field, but did not seem to make a dent or a crack. Finally, the armored man spoke, "Intriguing… these appendages are made out of a substance not from this universe, and the creature…" Leon could barely hear the armored man seemingly analyze the Shadow as it pounded away at his forcefield. After a moment, he heard the armored man say, "…but enough of this senseless tantrum! It is time you learned your place!" and from within his forcefield, the armored man fired another energy beam from his hands, dealing the Shadow a devastating blow. The black mass and tendrils all retracted back to the Shadow's body, allowing the armored man to disable his force field and walk towards it. Leon rushed to Ansem's aid as the armored man made his way to the Shadow.
"Are you ok?!" Leon asked, seeing just how badly bruised the old man looked, and was amazed he was still alive at all. Then Leon heard the armored man speak again, "I will not let this vile abomination extinguish you just yet, Ansem! For this world is still in need of your wisdom! However, perhaps now you'll be wise and not blindly tackle the unknown again as you did with this one. Once I domesticate this creature, I will release you from this world." The armored man now reached the Shadow, which was shrieking loudly at him, but the man waved his hand and trapped the creature within another green forcefield. The creature continued to shriek as it tried to free itself. Then the forcefield, as well as the man's armored hand started glowing, and Leon and Ansem could see the creature calming down. After a moment, the glowing dimmed and the forcefield was disabled. From what Leon and Ansem could make in the distance, what stood in place of the creature appeared to be a naked girl, though a dark shroud now covered her, giving her some modesty.
"However," the armored man said as he then turned and faced them, "I must ensure you do not repeat this mistake again." In an instant, all four of them vanished from the virtual world, their teleportation causing a massive explosion that starts to disintegrate the virtual town. The bodies cry in horror as they fall into the void below.
Ω
The armored man teleports all four of them into the lab room where Ienzo, Cid, and Yuffie are, causing another small explosion that knocks them back, and destroying the equipment. The armored man and the girl stand in place as Leon, Ansem, and the others all lie on the ground throughout the destroyed room. Then the armored spoke, "Learn from this, Ansem, start over, for you were on the correct path before this one interfered. In time, I shall return, and your world will be amongst many to prosper in my new empire!" When he finished, the man and the girl vanished into a portal, leaving the others in the room.
Ienzo crawled to his master, "Sir! Are you alright?" Ienzo grabbed Ansem's hand, and the old man gently squeezed it. "It…would seem so…." Yuffie, who appeared to be the least injured, helped Cid get up before attending to Leon, "What the hell was that? What happened?" Leon coughed, then raised his head and stared at Ansem, who stared back in return. Then Leon answered, "A lot happened…."
Ω
Maleficent and Pete then witnessed the armored man return to the badlands with the girl, and the two expressed mild surprise and confusion. "And what is this whom you've brought with you?" Maleficent demanded towards the man. The girl then emerged from behind the armored man and looked upon Maleficent and Pete.
"What is this, you ask?" the man answered in a condescending tone. "Why, this here is a homunculus, one whose existence I discovered while travelling across various worlds and read upon their histories. From what I extrapolated, this doll was stored with information, a warning if you will, before fleeing from the keyblade war. However, it seems she was stored with far more than just a message, as her energy readings radiate with a power that I can only describe as ancient and primal. As I suspected, Kingdom Hearts is not the only power source to exist…" The armored man then waved his hand towards the two, beckoning the girl to towards them. "It appears I acquired her earlier than planned, which means, I no longer need the two of you to open the box once it appears. Now, my dear" he says to the girl, "feast!" The girl then transformed back into the Shadow, and proceeded towards them.
Pete cowered and retreated behind Maleficent, but the fairy merely grumbled, "You fool! We will not back down from this! Not while I still breath! I will not let them stop us when we're so close!" She then tapped Pete with her staff, and he began to chance. Pete fell to the floor as he appeared to grow in size, his face becoming more monstrous and his body expanding in all directions. The armored man started indifferently as he saw Pete take on his Julius form, a towering version of Pete with dark blue fur, plague-stained fangs, and bright red hair. Julius wore a light blue shirt that was ripped at the sleeves, dark blue pants worn up to his chest, and dirty white gloves. Several parts of the clothes appeared to be stitched together, and one of his legs was now replaced with a pegleg. Julius also had metal bolts sticking out of his neck. This site would truly cause other to tremble, but the armored man appeared unimpressed as he allowed his new pawn, the Shadow to take on this new monster, while Maleficent stood behind smiling, assuming her empowered minion would deal with the the Shadow before she herself tries to deal with the traitorous armored man.
Julius leaped an incredible distance in an attempt to body slam the Shadow, moving at incredible speed despite his size. The Shadow veered away at the last second before Julius slammed into the ground. The Shadow then lunged its tentacle at Julius, but the brute rolled out of the way before charging at the Shadow. This time, the Shadow engulfed a large portion of the land in the dark mass, with Julius running right into the dark smog before he had a chance to react. Julius then started sinking, as if he had been caught in quick sand, and proceeded to free himself. The Shadow then ensnared Julius in its tendrils now that its prey could no longer dodge them. The Shadow then slithered towards Julius, and opened itself up and began to devour him. Despite his size, the Shadow seemed to stretch its body in order for it to envelop its prey. Maleficent watched in horror as she saw her long-time minion be consumed by a darkness that made her own seem pure in comparison.
Then she faced the armored man and gritted her teeth at him, while the man observed his new servant, and uttered "Fascinating…"
Maleficent then hurls dark balls and lightning at the armored man, but his forcefield prevents them from causing any damage, and he just stands there and looks at her with a judgmental look. Frustrated, Maleficent cries, "No, this cannot be!" She then raises her staff in the air, "Meteors of heaven, unleash they fury!" As meteors appear in the sky and fall toward the armored man, he merely raised both of his hands and shoots down every one of the meteors, destroying them until they're reduced to harmless falling rubble. The man then casually speaks to her, "I must say I'm disappointed, for I heard of a dark fae who threatened worlds with an army of heartless, commanding the vilest of villains. Yet here, now, your final minion falls to mine, and you cower at a distance and hurl spells at me. You must not be the one called Maleficent after all…"
Hissing, Maleficent responds to him, "Fool! Now you shall deal with me, and all the powers of HELL!" She then engulfed herself in green flames, and emerged in her intimidating dragon form. The armored man then addressed her, "Well now! This is more like it! But I must ask, vile fae, how long was it since you last assumed this form? And can you still control the darkness within, or have you reduced yourself to a mindless beast?" The dragon then roared at the man and shot green fire at him from its mouth, but again, the forcefield protected him flawlessly. "Hmmm" the man then groaned in dissatisfaction. The dragon then charged towards the man but was then caught in the Shadow's tentacles. The dragon turned and faced the Shadow, attempting to burn it, but the Shadow merely absorbed its flames.
Maleficent attempted to avoid the inevitable dark mass that the Shadow would use to engulf her, and took flight, but more and more tendrils grabbed onto Maleficent. The Shadow now appeared more powerful after having feasted on Pete/Julius. Then, some of the tendrils grabbed onto Maleficent's wings, preventing them from flapping and causing her massive dragon body to crash into the ground, right in front of the armored man, who did not move an inch from his place since he returned to the badlands.
The man then leaned towards the dragon head, and boastfully whispered, "Now, Maleficent, you will experience a glimpse of true darkness, and the last think you'll realize before your demise, was how ignorant you were to its might. After my servant devours you, she will be strong enough to open the box once those children vanquish my old master." The dragon roared in defiance to its fate, but then the Shadow's tendrils muzzled its mouth shut, then the man watched with pride as his Shadow servant consumed the helpless dragon, while the battle for Kingdom Hearts rages in the land beyond.