Only five people remained in the Hero's Rumble: Logan Jindrak, Aline, Tomada, Almyra and Sephiroth. The latter one stood one one side of the battlefield, staring at the four others with a confident grin. "Am I pulling my hopes too high by expecting you four to offer a bigger challenge than those who fell before you?" he asked.

Logan sweated nervously. "It's not good... Hey, Aline! You said you learned how to use Fantasia, right? Can you use it now; maybe if we sing a song and get support from everybody in attendance, we can take Sephiroth out in one shot!"

"Good idea! That's what your Dream Keeper friends does all the time to defeat bad guys, right?" Tomada said.

"I'm afraid it's impossible; I already used Fantasia earlier in the match to take out Melanie," Aline replied. "I may have learned Fantasia in the Mirrorverse, but I still have yet to properly control it. Casting it more than once a day will fully exhaust all my magic energy."

Of course, it wasn't going to be this easy. With a sigh, Logan turned around and raised his owl Buster sword again with a serious look. "Alright, get ready, Sephiroth! You're gonna fight all four of us - and we do intend on taking you out of this competition!"

"Oh? What confidence, all of a sudden," the One-Winged Angel replied. "And what makes you feel so sure as to your chances of defeating me?"

"We're gonna beat you because the Owl says so!"

Tomada suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, clutching his sides. "HA! HA! HA! Oh my gosh, I didn't see that one coming! Nice one, buddy!" Once he stopped laughing and wiped a tear away, the falcon noticed Aline and Almyra giving him confused looks. "... Oh, sorry, it's a thing between Logan and I. You don't understand, but I know what he's talking about." He grabbed his double-bladed saber and got in his stance. "Watch out, the FalcOwl Connection is back, baby!"

"The Fal-what?" Almyra asked.

"The FalcOwl Connection. That's how we call our duo," Logan replied. He charged forward and launched a Fira spell that Sephiroth blocked before they engaged in a sword fight. Logan's Owl Buster collided multiple times with the Masamune's blade, sending sparks flying everywhere. After ducking a swing from Logan, Sephiroth delivered a sword strike into his side to knock him away.

Flying not far behind, Tomada dashed at Sephiroth and slashed his double-bladed sword at his back, only to get his attack blocked. The falcon flew around at tremendous speed and into unpredictable patterns while attacking Sephiroth, Logan quickly getting back up to go help him with that task. Even against the combined assault of the FalcOwl Connection, Sephiroth managed to stand his grounds, eventually knocking Logan back with his sword before looking at Tomada. "Octaslash!" With his one wing, Sephiroth quickly and widely slashed his sword at the falcon, who surprisingly managed to dodge all of his swings thanks to his superior speed.

"Missed, missed, and missed again, pretty boy!" Tomada beamed with a grin. He grabbed his tomahawk and tossed it at Sephiroth once his combo ended. Naturally, the One-Winged Angel managed to deflect it, but in doing so left himself open to Logan who smacked him away with the flat side of his sword.

"Time for me to get into the fight!" Aline declared. "Care to cover my backs, Almyra?"

"You got it, girl!" the peahen beamed with a thumb's up.

Locked in an intense sword fight, Logan started losing grounds due to the difference in terms of swordsmanship (and fatigue) between he and Sephiroth, this last one kicking him away with force. When Tomada attempted to catch the One-Winged Angel off-guard by shooting bolts with his crossbow, Sephiroth deflected them all and responded by sending shadow fire orbs after him. Naturally, the falcon managed to avoid them by flying around, but Sephiroth then surprised him with a slash of his long sword on his wing. "Argh!" he groaned and clutched his wing in pain as he crashed on the ground.

"Seems like your path is coming to an end here," the one-Wined Angel mused as he approached Tomada, ready to take him out of the match. Before he could do so, however, a jet of lightning knocked him aside. He turned to see Almyra grinning at him.

"How about you stop playing with the boys and come dancing with a lady, handsome?" the peahen asked with a teasing grin.

Letting out a mere scoff, Sephiroth teleported himself right in front of her. "Sorry, but I've never truly been interested in romance." He slashed his sword across his opponent...only for the blade to pass through her as Almyra's body faded away like a mirage. "Huh?"

Suddenly, a big snake made of magic wrapped itself around Sephiroth's body, pressing his arms against his sides. Almyra approached him from the side and shook her head with her hands on her hips. "It's not very courteous to hit a lady with such ruthlessness... Even if that lady is just a composed mirage, eh, eh!" She began performing belly dance moves to create balls of light all around the trapped Sephiroth. Then, with one swing of her wings, she sent all those balls on her opponent at once, creating an explosion of light. "And that's what I call a deadly spotlight!"

The Mystical Dancer's attack actually left Sephiroth clutching his abdomen in pain. For the first time ever, the One-Winged Angel looked annoyed and angry; he brandished his sword and got ready to attack once more. However, he got stopped when he felt something clawing at his arm, halting his attack. As he looked at the cuts on his arm and searched for the responsible one, Aline appeared nearby after using an invisibility glyph. She was in her cat form. "Watch out for the Cheshire Cat, or you'll get clawed!" she teased with a smug grin, flexing her cat claws.

Sephiroth managed to brush aside the pain for now and began swinging his sword at the Cat Girl, forcing her to hop around and deflect his blade with her claws. Eventually, she used plant glyphs to summon vines and trap her opponent with them. "Now, guys! Attack!" Logan, Tomada and Almyra surrounded the trapped Sephiroth and began attacking him together, making sure to cause as much damage as possible.

"Stigma!" The One-Winged Angel summoned pillars of flames all around him, knocking back the three friends and burning the vines holding him back in the process.

"Guys!" Aline exclaimed.

"Don't let you guard down..." Widening her eyes, the Cat Girl turned around just in time to see Sephiroth rising his sword and then bringing it down to slash her away. After this attack, he wasted no time dashing over to Tomada, who recovered from the fire pillars. The falcon did his to deflect Sephiroth's blade as he swung it over and over again at him. Logan quickly kicked back to his feet and went to support his best friend by attacking Sephiroth from behind with his Owl Buster...in vain.

Eventually, Sephiroth managed to push back the two friends, forcing them to change tactics. "Hey, Logan! I'd say it's time for us to put that guy on ice, don't you think?" Tomada asked with a little wink.

Giving a confused look, Logan quickly understood what the falcon had in mind and smiled. "Good idea!" Pulling away his Owl Buster and turning into hi anthropomorphic snowy owl form, Logan activated his Blizzard Form, turning his Fenrir Keyblade blue and making a cool breeze dance around him. He launched slashes of ice magic that Sephiroth dodged until Logan summoned pillars of ice all around him, making them fuse to trap Sephiroth within a huge block of ice. He then charged up a ball of ice magic that he tossed at the prison, making it explode and knock the One-Winged Angel away.

"How about we add a little ice cream on top of that ice?" Tomada mused and once again activated his shaman powers. This time, he summoned a beautiful woman with a blue body clad in lingerie made out of ice. She had a crown made of ice crystals and what looked like blue silk gloves and socks. "Everyone, I present to you Shiva, the Empress of Ice! She has the power to freeze everything in an instant! How about we find out?" He looked at her, bowing down in respect, before pointing at Sephiroth. "Come on, Shiva, Diamond Dust!"

Shiva nodded a yes before gracefully spinning on herself, sparkles flashing around her body as she sent spikes of ice around Sephiroth, making them explode to not only hurt the One-Winged Angel, but also leave him covered in frost, effectively limiting his moves. Tomada was then forced to send the Empress of Ice back to her world as summoning a deity like her drained a lot of shaman energy.

Almyra decided to take action by jumping in the air and performing dance moves to summon a magical elephant around her. Because of the frost, Sephiroth could not move in time and got squashed under the elephant's full weight. "Alright! I got him!" the Mystical Dancer beamed as she performed a spin and bowed to the audience who cheered for her.

The victory was short-lived, however, as a jet of darkness suddenly burst through the magical elephant and flew straight into the peafowl, knocking her to the ground and making her clutch her side in pain. "Almyra!" Aline exclaimed in shock before Sephiroth was all over her. She deflected his Masamune sword with her claws until he broke her defense and smacked the tip of his sword's handle into her stomach. He did not halt his momentum once second and rose one hand to shoot a jet of darkness straight at Logan without even looking at him.

"Are you kidding me?! Even after all that, he can still go at it?! What kind of monster is he?!" Tomada nervously thought. Getting slightly desperate, he turned his eyes lime-green as he summoned his army of spirit animals from the savannah and sent them to attack the One-Winged Angel all together. Unfortunately, he managed to cut through all of them with ease, like hey were made of butter.

Once all the spirit animals had been defeated, Sephiroth slowly walked over to the falcon. "I hope you have a more powerful summon to call to, Shaman. The Knights of the Round, preferably."

Staring at the One-Winged Angel in despair, Tomada sighed and then closed his eyes. "Sorry, ancestors... I have nothing left..." He simply remained still and allowed Sephiroth to cut him over and over again with his long sword before placing a hand on his torso and calling a jet of darkness that knocked him out of the fighting zone.

"Tomada has been eliminated!"

"Tom!" Logan yelled, shocked to see his best friend being taken out of the competition. With a serious frown, he began attacking Sephiroth out of anger, clashing his Keyblade with the Masamune sword, every strike leaving some frost on the blade due to his Blizzard Form. The One-Winged Angel eventually slashed him away before ducking to avoid a sweep of Aline's claws. The Cat Girl launched a few attacks his way before once again calling to a plant glyph to trap him with vines.

"Quick, Almyra! I won't be able to hold him for long!" she called.

Not wasting one second, the Mystical Dancer took position before Sephiroth, pressed her wings together above her head, and gave a grin. "Be prepared for the show of a lifetime. Hypnotic Dance!" With her back straight, the peafowl swiveled her hips and body in a snake-like, alluring way, allowing her magic to affect Sephiroth's mind. Naturally, Logan had to look away to avoid suffering the effects of her dance. She stopped once she felt like she had done enough and then placed her wings on her hips. "Now, be an angel and step out of the fighting zone to stop bothering my friends and I, can you?"

"... Yes... But only after my victory!"

Sephiroth swiftly cut the vines off his body before spinning to cut the two girls with his Masamune sword. "W-What?! How can you resist my Hypnotic Dance?!" Almyra asked in shock and confusion as she clutched the part of her body that took the cut.

"That little dance you just performed was meant to make me fall under your charm, develop a romantic bond and then obey your every wish, correct?" Sephiroth asked. "While it is true that I can be very passionate about some things, the closest thing to 'love' I hold within me is my bond to Cloud - and even then, calling it love is a bit of stretch. I would define it more as a god's admiration over his own creation." Rising his hand, Sephiroth called forth more fire orbs of darkness that he sent after the Mystical Dancer and Dream Keeper of Magic Kingdom to knock them out of the fighting zone at once.

"Aline and Almyra have been eliminated!"

A lot of voices rose amongst the stands. There were now only two participants remaining: the underdog hero who entered first and had been fighting nonstop for more than two hours, and the powerful, god-like presence who entered last and took out everybody that got in his way since he stepped foot in the arena. After claiming two more eliminations, the latter actually had to take a moment and regain his composure. He had not come into this match expecting to meet people who would be able to not only stand up to him but also leave him with so many wounds. He honestly could not remember the last time anybody left him in such a state. But the One-Winged Angel had nothing to fear: he only needed to take out one final contestant before claiming victory. It should not be too difficult.

After flexing and stretching a bit, Sephiroth began looking for his opponent. At this moment, he noticed a strange red like shining on him from above and looked up...to see Logan coming his way! The young man had switched to his Limit Form and now held Bug's Justice above his head, its blade charged with black, red-outlined energy. "BUG'S BITE!" With one swing of his weapon, he launched a giant jet of energy in Sephiroth's direction, the explosion causing a lot of smoke an dust to rise.

"What happened?" someone in the audience asked

"Did he get him?"

Everybody eagerly awaited to see the result. Once the smoke and dust faded away, they got to see Sephiroth protectively holding his long saber before him. The attack did cause damage and pushed him, back a few feet...but did not make him cross the zone's limit for more. "Cheese and crackers! I was hoping to finish this off in one hit!" Logan groaned.

"... Attacking me like this was a stroke of genius. Had you hit me with more strength, you probably would've succeeded in eliminating me from this match," Sephiroth recognized. He performed a few moves with his blade before assuming his fighting stance and grinning. "Do you have anything to say before we begin our final duel?"

"Yeah: get ready to have your angel's butt kicked hard!" Logan responded, also assuming his fighting stance.

"His eyes... They do not show the slightest bit of hesitation nor doubt. There's nothing but a burning will behind his stare," Sephiroth silently analyzed. "Very interesting. Show me what you can do, Logan Jindrak..."

Logan pushed a battle cry before opening his bug wings and charging for a vertical slash that Sephiroth parried. When the One-Winged angel replied with a horizontal swing, Logan ducked and expertly planted a punch in his stomach to knock him back a few feet away. The two opponents then locked into a sword fight that saw their blades colliding multiple times, sparks flying everywhere. At one point, Sephiroth managed to slash a cut across Logan's leg, making him groan in pain. Then, the encounter ended when their swords collided and created a shockwave that knocked them back from each other.

Sephiroth rose his sword and attempted to finish everything in one go by once again dashing past Logan at an impressive speed. However, the Owl swung his Keyblade all around him to parry the invisible strikes of Sephiroth. "I did not expect you to be able to see my attack coming, let alone stop it," Sephiroth remarked. "Seems like my wounds are making me slower... Unless it is that form of yours that allows you to keep up with my speed?"

"I guess it's a little of both," Logan replied with a confident grin. However, it quickly melted away. "I'm laughing at his condition, but I'm in no better shape; my body is practically begging for a break, my arms and legs are on fire and all my wounds make it hard to move. Guess Sephiroth and I will have to make this a fight of endurance. Let's see who will snap first!"

Getting on the offensive once more, Logan moved at an elevated speed all around Sephiroth, trying desperately to break his defense without much success. As much as he wanted to manage his strength as much as possible, the young man needed to keep landing strikes if he wanted to keep his Limit Form activated. His chances of winning would drop significantly without it. In response, Sephiroth summoned pillars of fire to keep Logan at bay when he could, eventually teleporting away.

"Heartless Angel!" As Sephiroth started glowing with a ruby light, Logan quickly understood he was about to drain away his magic energy.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Logan yelled and interrupted his opponent by hitting him with a black, red-outlined energy slash.

"Very well, then! Octaslash!" Once again glowing with a dark aura, the One-Winged Angel overwhelmed the Owl with a near-endless series of swings and slashes of his long sword. Logan's Limit Form's speed saved the day as it allowed him to dodge all the attacks - even to block the final swing with his sword! Everybody was impressed by this feat, even Sephiroth seemed shocked.

Pulling the Masamune sword aside, Logan delivered an uppercut to Sephiroth's jaw before swinging his Keyblade horizontally to deliver an energy slash to his torso. From above everybody else, Zeus watched the scene unfold whilst rubbing his beard with interest. "This is quite the surprise, I must say," he thought. "Young Logan here has been in the match since the very beginning, and now, even near the end, he can still keep up with an angel like Sephiroth. Even Hercules never managed to pull off such a feat. Could it be possible that he'll defy all the odds and actually win the rumble?"

After delivering enough blows to Sephiroth, Logan charged his Keyblade with energy and rose it above his head. "Bug's Bite-" Before he could deliver the attack, Sephiroth swiftly pressed his hand against his torso and released a jet of darkness that knocked him away, just like he did to eliminate Tomada.

"Oh no! He's gonna be thrown out!" Dastan exclaimed in the audience.

Thankfully, Logan managed to compose himself and stop his momentum with his bug wings just before he could get ejected from the fighting zone. However, things weren't gonna get better for more; the attack left a lot of damage and caused Logan to clutch his abdomen in pain. "Cheese! I felt that one!"

Sephiroth surprisingly did not get on the attack again and simply stared at Logan from afar. "... Can I ask you something, Logan Jindrak? Why are you so determined to challenge destiny and defeat me at any cost?"

Logan locked eyes with the One-Winged Angel, giving him the most serious look he could. "It's very simple, Sephiroth; because a man I once idolized above anybody else declared I'm an horrible person, a coward who don't belong here, in the Magical World! Not only that, but also because regardless of my efforts, I always failed to live up to the title that has been bestowed upon me by my friends and mentors!" He rose Bug's Justice with determination. "I'm here to actually win something for myself and prove everybody doubting me - including me - that I deserve my place amongst them. So keep attacking, Sephiroth, because I have no intention to lose!"

For a moment, Sephiroth said nothing and simply allowed the wind to blow in his hair before giving a little smile. "So much passion, dread and anger... You remind me of Cloud... Hold on that all these feelings - let yourself be consumed by them! Through these feelings, you will suffer. Through suffering, you will get stronger. And only by getting stronger will you truly be able to change your destiny!"

The two opponents clashed their swords once again as they moved across the fighting zone at such an elevated speed that the watchers had some difficulty following them. When Logan came to a stop and launched an energy slash at him, Sephiroth teleported in the air and once again called to his Super Nova spell that bring a shower of meteors down on the battlefield. While he managed to avoid all of it by flying at full speed, Logan ended up leaving himself open for Sephiroth to once again hit from the side with a jet of darkness.

"Logan!" Della yelled in shock.

By some sort of miracle, Logan once again managed to stop himself before being eliminated. However, the pain was starting to get very hard to bear for him. "Stay awake... Stay awake!" he mentally screamed at himself as he fought to keep his eyes open and not fall on the ground. Before he could properly recover Sephiroth was once again all over him, using his Octaslash to deliver a combo of wide, deadly swings that Logan struggled to dodge and parry.

"This ends now!" With one final swing, Sephiroth knocked Bug's Justice out of Logan's hands and then stepped back to hit his flash technique one last time. The One-Winged Angel dashed past the defenseless Logan who remained still for many seconds...before many, deep cuts suddenly appeared all over his body. He collapsed on the ground with a loud thud. The fight was over.

Everybody in the arena was as Logan laid down not only in pain, but in pure agony, his breath heavy and his body unable to move at all. His Limit Form came to an end, his beetle mask, wings and Bug's Justice Keyblade all disappearing. "I-Is that it?" the young man asked himself. "It's really how it ends for me? After all these efforts...I once again failed... And when I was so close to actually win? Cheese! I WAS SO CLOSE! Guess I'm not meant to be a-"

"LOGAN!"

His train of negative thoughts was interrupted by a familiar voice yelling from afar. This voice belonged to his best friend, who had been allowed to get in the stands to watch the rest of the match after being eliminated. And he wasn't the only one; practically all the other participants were there as well.

"What are you doing, Logan?! Get up and fight!" Tomada yelled.

"... Tom...?"

"Is that how you want to end all of this, Logan?!" the falcon asked. "Do you want to be remembered as the guy who went the distance, but ultimately came up short?! Every day, you bash yourself because you think that you cannot to anything right for anyone and because you feel like you fail to live up to what you and your friends are supposed to represent! You always wanted a chance to prove your worth to everyone, including yourself! Well, it's there! That chance is right before you! Look around; the whole Magical World is watching!" At this point, Tomada practically had tears flowing out of his eyes. "I refuse to let you lose what you want more than anything else! So get up and kick that guy's butt, Logan!"

"He's right!" Della got up beside the falcon, also giving a serious look. "If I can survive the moon for fifteen years and return to my family, then you can win this stupid match! Come on!"

"We all believe in you, Logan!" Destiny called. "Just do the same thing you did back in the Virtual World: stand up, puff your chest out with pride and then yell in defiance!"

"Let's go, Logan!" Ezra, Jim, Sprig, Dastan and Scott yelled together.

Before long, everybody in the arena cheered for the young man. "Why are you still on the ground? Hurry up and win, Fluffy!" Aline called.

"We'll go eat ice cream to celebrate your victory once everything's done!" Toren yelled from beside the Cat Girl.

"Come on, Logan! Show everyone what us Dream Defenders are capable of!" Adam said.

From a dark corner of the arena, Jameson watched the scene unfold with tears in the corners of his eyes. "Please, Logan. I want you to win...," he mumbled.

RDJ let out a little scoff as he took the lollipop out of his mouth. "What about that speech you made in the middle of the fight? Was it just talking or do you actually intend to back up your claims?"

"You need to keep fighting, Logan!" Sunny exclaimed. "I know you're suffering a lot, but this pain will eventually disappear, and once you win, something else will take its place!"

"I forbid you from losing against that guy, you hear me?!" Roman seriously bellowed.

Liquorice rubbed her eyes in annoyance. "I can't believe I'm gonna say something so cliché, but even the smallest fry can become big with enough hard work!"

"Just give a little more effort, Logan!" Sora yelled. "I know it's hard, but I've been there before; you're very close to taking him out!"

"Show some fighting spirit, Logan!" Almyra said.

The last one to talk was none other than Rachel, who frowned with anger. "Did you forget, Logan?! I told you before today that if you decided to come here and participate in this match, then you had to go for the victory or not participate at all! Nothing has changed! I don't care how many times you've been hit or how long you've been fighting; if you don't win here and now, it'll all have been for nothing! It will still be disrespectful to what you stand for and all those you care about! So get up your lazy butt and WIN THIS RUMBLE!"

It took a moment for Logan to let all these words sink in his mind. Then, the young man actually found the strength to push himself up on his knees, his face twisted in a frown as tears started leaking out of his cheeks. "... They're right... All of them... For so long, I felt like I have done nothing but fill in a glorified supporting role amongst the Dream Defenders. With Gabriel being the Dream Keeper who saved the Magical World countless times and helped god knows how many people, Rachel training herself so hard to the point of becoming one of the ten strongest magicians in the entire Magical World, Toren and Aline becoming co-Dream Keepers despite me being in the same trio as them, Adam joining the S.E.A. alongside the best adventurers in this world, Silver becoming a close friend to the Disney Princesses, Almyra being such a good dancer that she caught the attention of Gazelle, Double D and Beth also becoming Dream Keepers despite spending so little time with us... And even before that, all my friends at school getting engaged by Disney Studios while I was the only one to fail, and my brother becoming an agent for Disney Castle... Why did I do to compare to all of that?" Clenching his hand into a fist, Logan allowed his tears to flow down his cheeks and on the ground. "I truly am pathetic... If I lose here and now...then I won't deserve to call myself a Dream Defender. I won't deserve to hang out with all of my friends, defend the Magical World with them, and laugh with them! All those days of self-pity and excuses are over! It's today that I win something for myself! Today is the day that I become CHAMPION OF THE MAGICAL WORLD!"

Not paying attention to the emotional scene happening, Sephiroth casually walked over to Logan and rose his Masamune sword over his head. "Goodbye." He brought the sword down...and somehow did not touch his opponent. He disappeared altogether! "What?"

"Over here!" The One-Winged Angel turned around to see Logan many feet away from him, a serious glare on his face. The Anubis tattoo on his hip glowed before spreading to his entire body, turning him into his Underdog X form once again. Now looking like a jackal and emanating green fire, he bared his fangs. "Let's end this once and for all, Sephiroth!"

The One-Winged Angel widened his eyes. Logan's eyes were burning with such determination that it made him feel a shiver running down his spine. With a battle cry that echoed across the entire Olympus Coliseum, the underdog hero charged forward. Sephiroth swung his sword to shoot a slash of darkness that directly hit Logan...but did not stop his launch for more. Logan delivered a punch to Sephiroth's face with so much strength that it created a shockwave everybody around could feel.

Powered up by adrenaline, despair and sheer determination, Logan charged his fists with green fire and punched Sephiroth over and over again to every possible part of his body, not giving him the chance to move let alone counter-attack, and also pushing him back. This storm of burning fists pushed him closer and closer to the edge. Before he could cross it, Sephiroth teleported himself away to the other side of the arena. The way his body trembled as well as the frown on his face indicated that he, too, was on his last legs.

"This went on for long enough!" Sephiroth held his Masamune sword horizontally before him and charged his whole body with an intense darkness. "This will be my final attack, Logan Jindrak!"

Logan turned to face his opponent, allowing the green flames on his fists to spread over his entire being. As he did so, the imposing figure of Anubis appeared behind him in the flames, as if to let him know he was not alone. The young man clenched his fists as hard as he could and, with all his determination, pushed a battle cry and charged forward. Sephiroth opened his single wing and went for the final charge.

Burning fists met Masamune sword in the very middle of the area, the two participants giving everything they had in one final attack. The impact created a huge explosion that plunged one half of the arena in darkness and the other in sacred green fire. Good thing the gods of Olympus placed a magical security barrier to protect the audience from potential harm. Following the final clash, a thick cloud of smoke and dust prevented everybody from seeing anything down in the arena.

"What happened? Who won?" Dastan asked.

"Logan...," Destiny mumbled as she trembled nervously.

Zeus stood up from his seat and ascended in person down in the arena. Using his god powers, he made the smoke disappear so he could see the final result. Logan and Sephiroth were both lying down on the round, unconscious. The Owl returned to his normal form while the One-Winged Angel no longer emanated any darkness. After analyzing the final result, Zeus widened his eyes and turned to face the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Hero's Rumble has reached its conclusion! As King of Olympus and host of this entire event, it is my pleasure to announce that the last participant standing, the winner of the Hero's Rumble and our new Champion of the Magical World..."

"...is LOGAN JINDRAK!"

The entire coliseum fell in a deep silence. Zeus was telling the truth; while they were both out cold, Sephiroth had been projected beyond the limit of the fighting zone whereas Logan was close to it, but still safe and sound within. Many seconds of silence passed...before Tomada suddenly jumped up in the air and pushed a loud yell of joy: "YEEEEEEEES!"

Everybody in the stands followed suits, and soon enough, the entire stadium cheered for the victorious young man, confetti being shot everywhere for the occasion. Aline and Almyra laughed and exchanged a hug while Roman threw a fist in the air and exclaimed: "Logan!"

Jim and Ezra exchanged a bump-fist as Sprig attempted to dance with Dastan out of joy. Della held onto her promise to cheer and yell louder than anyone else in the coliseum. As for Destiny, she was so happy for her boyfriend that some tears rose to her eyes. She turned into her normal whale form and wrapped her fins around her friends for a big group hug.

"Hurray! I knew you were going to win with flying colors!" Sora beamed, throwing his fists around in joy and even dancing a little with Dewey, who was just as happy to see his coach winning.

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy! That's quite the turn of event!" Donald Duck exclaimed, his eyes wide open as he rubbed the side of his head. "I always thought that underdog boy was on the lesser side of the Dream Defenders."

"Why's that?" Goofy curiously asked his friend.

"Well, after his participations in the Sorcerer's Arena and Magical World Grand Prix, I didn't see anything special in him - especially compared to his fellow companions such as the Dream Keeper or the Sword Mage," Donald admitted. "But now, look at him: he totally made the jump to the level of the amazing ones!"

Rachel's eyes were widened to their very limit before tears came up and rolled down on her cheeks. She wiped them away and smiled, happy for her friend. "Congratulations, Logan... You finally did it!"

Back in the fighting zone, Zeus called for the medical team to carry Logan and Sephiroth to the infirmary. "We'll give them the required medical treatment before holding the coronation ceremony," he instructed as the staff placed Sephiroth on a stretcher and carried him away. They were about to do the same with Logan, but Destiny floated down to stop them.

"Wait, I'll take care of it." The whale turned into her anthropomorphic form and gently picked up her unconscious boyfriend in her arms. As she headed for the infirmary, Destiny looked down at his sleeping form, a smile forming on her face. "Rest now, Logan. Once you wake up, everything'll be different..."

Author's note: The Hero's rumble has officially reached its conclusion! And, surprise, surprise, the winner is your truly, Logan, following a 'You can do it, we're all behind you' moment. After so much time since making his first appearance in the Magical World Saga, I thought it was the perfect occasion to give my OC his big moment to finally understand he deserves to be a Dream Defender. Even though making Logan win was my plan from the start, I tried to give all 40 contestants their time to shine in the match. I hope that I succeeded in that regard.

Back in 2021, when I tried to complete the Final Mix edition of Kingdom Hearts on my PS4, I had to take down Sephiroth on Proud Mode, which has been one of the hardest challenges of my life as a gamer. But after losing tens of times and ultimately succeeding, the level of pride and happiness I felt was off the charts. Logan winning the rumble by last defeating Sephiroth is my way to pay tribute to this achievement and happy memory.

The way Tomada laughed to Logan saying 'Because the owl says so!' is a callback to a line I used to say all the time, when I first started on this site. Since Tomada's one of my oldest friends on this site, I just thought it'd be fun to sneak in a reference for him. Also, the name I gave to their duo, the FalcOwl Connection, is inspired by the name of a real life wrestling tag team, The Rock N' Sock Connection, composed of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Mick Foley.

I hope I managed to make an accurate representation of Sephiroth in this story; the guy's such a complex character that it'd be easy to mess his portrayal. In fact, I even hesitated to make him appear at all.

Next time: It's time for the after-match party and for Logan to receive his victory reward!