Chapter 15

Sora was barely able to roll aside in time, and unable to hold in a gasp when the shrapnel kicked up by the impact of the mace tore into his back.

"Quick…but not quick enough." Titan said, bringing up his mace again.

Without warning, a vial full of a strange yellow potion flew out of nowhere, shattering against Titan's armor. Titan reeled back, his yellow eyes widening has he felt at the splashed area.

"A Soft potion!" He roared, clearly dismayed.

SORA! That potion weakens rock! You have to attack him now, before his armor hardens again! Roxas shouted inside Sora's head.

Sora got up uneasily…He wouldn't be able to strike Titan down as he was right now…but…

"Donald! Goofy! Riku! GIVE ME STRENGTH!" He shouted, as the powers of his outfit activated for the first time since he'd defeated Organization XIII.

All three of his stunned friends vanished in a burst of light. Sora floated into the air, his clothing turning silver and black. An unseen wind held him aloft, and Oathkeeper floated out of his hand to hover behind his back, joined now by another keyblade. This one was mostly an azure hue, and resembled a crystalline feather. It was the Ultima Weapon. This was undoubtedly Sora's mightiest incarnation for the keyblade, but he used Oathkeeper out of personal prefrence. He now let both Keyblades float behind him, and turned to face Titan.

"Oh no…what a pain. I'd forgotten about that form…" Titan growled, and rushed at Sora.

Sora used his mind, and unleashed a blinding counteroffensive at Titan. Oathkeeper easily parried his attack, and the Ultima Weapon struck in the area the potion had splashed. As Titan staggered back, Sora struck faster than the eye could follow again and again, finally taking a hold of both Keyblades.

"ARS ARCANUM!" Both swords exploded with a golden radiance as Sora struck at Titan's weakened armor again and again. Finally, Sora finished his attack, and landed in his normal clothing, holding only Oathkeeper. His friends walked out of nowhere, ready to fight.

Titan got up, breathing heavily.

"You've certainly…earned your reputation…runt…but we'll have to settle this later." Titan grabbed his summoning gems and punched the ground, vanishing in a cloud of dust.

Sora barely avoided falling to the ground. He was exhausted.

"Should we go after him, Sora? He probably went to the Underworld." Riku asked.

"We should first get Hercules back home…he needs to rest up…so do we, I think…" Sora groaned in reply.

The haggard group made their way back to the main coliseum.

Elsewhere, in the Underworld…

The man that had accompanied Titan had been watching the fight through an odd basin of water Hades sometimes used to spy on his enemies. He'd opened the midnight-blue traveling cloak he'd been wearing, but kept the hood on. Under the cloak, he was actually dressed in a businesslike black suit. Had he thrown off the cloak and put on a tie, he might have looked more like a businessman than anything else.

There was suddenly a burst of dark energy behind him, and another person walked out of the black smoke.

This one was wearing a nondescript grey coat, also containing a smaller hood than the other man's cloak. The coat had a pair of long sleeves, ragged at the ends, which covered the newcomer's hands. A huge scarf obscured the lower half of his face, while all that could be made out above his nose were a pair of glinting spectacles and a few bandages.

Under the coat, he was wearing a large number of belts, each holding several different kinds of potion. The man looked very out of place in the Underworld; it was likely he looked out of place anywhere but some decayed, dark laboratory.

The first man looked away from the basin, briefly surprised.

"Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here, Faust? I wasn't expecting you to leave your little dungeon."

"Iramaul sent me to check on your progress. What have you accomplished so far?" Faust's voice was cultured and indicated he was older than his companion. He spoke in a rather disinterested semi-monotone.

"Titan has already engaged the Key Bearer. He'll be here shortly."

"He lost?"

"We underestimated Sora…and he had help."

"…The Nobodies again?" Faust growled.

"There's at least one trailing Sora at all times…he hit Titan with a Soft potion to weaken his armor. If that hadn't happened, Titan would have had to just leave after knocking them all out to avoid killing the group. He's vastly beyond them in hand-to-hand combat."

"Why didn't you just have Hades send some dead warrior after them?" Faust asked, cocking his head.

"Simple. We're under orders to throw the battle if it's clear that Sora can't win. However…Titan doesn't follow plans or politics while in combat. I wanted to see how Sora did when his opponent wasn't pulling his punches." The cloaked man replied.

"Ah. Researching your foe…very good."

"Faust, Iramaul is not fond of wasting time. He wouldn't have just sent you to check how I've started my strategy for this world. Why ELSE are you here?"

"Friendly warning. "Typhon" and "Senku" will probably be here shortly." Faust pronounced the names with distaste. The cloaked man's head snapped up, clearly alarmed.

"WHAT? This is MY assignment! Why is he sending THOSE two here?"

"Iramaul's a cautious fellow. He's not taking any chances with Sora."

"I don't trust Typhon. He's a liability in my tactics."

"Don't screw this up, and they'll just watch. Iramaul just said that you needed backup. Now, if you'll excuse me…I have to go back to "my little dungeon." I'll await your report."

And with that, Faust vanished. Titan walked up. He noticed his partner's dismay.

"What? What happened?" He asked.

"Faust came…Typhon and Senku are on their way here." Titan also groaned in irritation.

"Iramaul's not being patient. It's going to get someone killed one of these days! Typhon can't follow orders to save his life! Why would he send THEM?"

"I don't know…but we can't screw up. There's no margin of error for us."

Olympus Coliseum

Phil helped Hercules off to his room to lie down. The goat man ran back to Sora and the others.

"What happened? It looks like that big guy did a real number on Herc!"

"I think he was with the Remnant…we're fighting them. We're going to go see if Hades is in on this…" Sora said, and the group headed for the Underworld entrance.

Underworld

Hades was obviously agitated.

"So…not only did you guys not manage to kill Hercules, but the brat and his pals are coming DOWN HERE to pick a fight with me?" He said, his tone dangerous. The cloaked man held up his hands in a calming gesture.

"Don't get agitated, Hades. Titan was merely there to weaken Hercules, Sora, and the others. Now that the "Hero" is resting to recover, it is no trouble at all for a Shadow or some such Heartless to enter his room…and with his strength gone, Hercules is nothing but a beacon for every Heartless on this planet. We'll have the prisoner I resurrected deal with Sora. Then we'll keep our bargain."

The man waved a hand, and a very tall, human shape rose out of the river of death.

"Go. Kill the intruders." The dark shape nodded, and trudged off, its movements jerky, like something without a soul to guide it.

Hades watched the prisoner go curiously.

"Hey, that thing he's holding…I've seen one of those before. Wait, isn't that—"

"Very good, Lord Hades. You've figured that out quite fast. Sora will not be pleased to meet that person when he enters the underworld…and once that's done, Sora won't be bothering us."

"Then Jerkules is toast?"

"Your hated enemy is a few moments away from being a meal…and then a memory."

Hades started chuckling.

"I gotta hand it to you guys…you've made my day. Let the games…BEGIN!"