Kingdom Hearts: Saving Life in Another World

by GreenWarrior291

After having defeated Xehanort and managed to have saved Kairi from her fate, Sora disappears into a dark abyss of Darkness. Just as it seems like it'll be an endless sleep for having abused the Power of Waking, an outsider manages to teleport the young keyblade wielder into a different world.

77. Fighting for freedom

Chapter 73: Fighting for freedom

Theresia, Grimm, and Carol all three had the chance to get to know Cloud as they were able to enter the land of Vollachia. During the travel, Cloud had been vague about his past, not wanting to disclose it with three strangers he hardly knows of but something he did disclosed was his interactions with Sora. That conversation began when Theresia asked in a calm yet friendly manner,

"Do you know someone named Sora?"

"Hm? Sora? I haven't heard that name in a while..." Cloud was silent as he thought fondly of the boy, recalling his first and last encounter with him.

"How did you two met? Are you both friends or foes?" Carol said as she was curious on the history between this warrior and the keyblade master. Cloud looked at Carol for a moment before looking forward.

"We met during a tournament."

"A tournament? What kind of tournament?" Theresia asked as she was intrigued by what the boy with the long sword was saying.

"A fighting kind. I was...misguided. I wanted to get something back and this annoying guy told me he could help me get it. So, I participated with the contract being to defeat this hero, Hercules."

Grimm, Carol, and Theresia all looked at one another, the three of them noticing some guilt hidden in the serious tone of voice. Cloud continued,

"My next opponent was Sora and his two friends. They were in my way to facing Hercules. I originally didn't want to face them but the annoying guy, Hades, was being annoying about it but made a fair point that I needed to beat them if I wanted to face Hercules. So I did just that, took on that boy with the key and his two friends."

"How did that go?" Theresia asked as she was curious whether Cloud won or not. Cloud stood silent for a second before responding.

"We couldn't finish the match properly since I was attacked by Hades' underworld dog. Hercules saved me and Sora with his two friends managed to defeat said dog."

"Really?" Carol said with a surprised tone of voice. Grimm was also impressed by the keyblade wielder's previous feats. Cloud noticed this and just kept a blank expression. He continued to speak about his first encounter with Sora,

"Despite the trouble I caused, he was still worried for my well-being. That kid is a good person."

"Wait then, why did you side with that Hades guy?" Theresia asked with a curious and concerned tone.

"Hm...I was trying to look for someone, I even tried to exploit the darkness but it had backfired."

"Oh." Theresia said as she was left stunned. Cloud noticed the reaction but didn't put too much thought into it. Carol crossed her arms as she thought of the situation before Grimm handed her a paper, wanting her to ask his question for him. She nodded at him before turning towards Cloud.

"Were you able to find the person you were looking for?"

"Hm..." Cloud paused as he recalled back in the Olympus Coliseum.

("Hey, are you all right?")

("Yeah.")

("So why did you go along with him, anyway?")

("I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired.")

("I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light.")

("You'll find it. I'm searching, too.")

("For your light?")

("Don't lose sight of it.")

He remembered his conversation with Sora, making him smile until he ended up remembering the moment he faced Sephiroth in the ring, right after his talk with the Keyblade Wielder. Reliving any moment with the one winged angel caused him to clench his fist tightly, anger boiling his blood for only a brief moment before regaining his cool. "...I did. I confronted him and we fought. I wasn't able to beat him."

"So you were looking for your enemy. Must've been a real piece of work if you had to go looking for him." Carol said as she figured that Cloud's enemy must've been someone who is a troublemaker. Cloud just gave a nod to Carol before looking forward. Theresia crossed her arms as she had many things on her mind.

"Were you able to beat him later on?" The previous Sword Saint asked as she was curious to learn more of the boy's past. Carol and Grimm both noticed this question, prompting the two to be intrigued since they want to know the boy's journey as well. Before they could get a response, the four of them noticed that they were approaching a city. The four of them looked to see that things looked peaceful at first, making the four weary.

"I wonder...why is it so quiet?" Carol said as she was slowly moving her hands towards her sword, having a gut feeling that not all is what it seems. Grimm also noticed this as well, prompting him to get ready should he need to pull out his shield. Cloud and Theresia both turned towards Carol as they took note on what she said.

Theresia didn't feel any threats around while Cloud closed his eyes to use his senses to see if they should have their guards up. The four do this for a moment until nothing had happened, causing the four to keep their guards down.

"Seems like I was paranoid for nothing." Carol says as she starting to think that the demi human war days are slowly getting to her. Grimm pats her on the shoulder as he too shares the same sentiment.

Theresia and Cloud just gave blank expressions since they didn't really notice anything dangerous for now. The four continued their walk towards the first city since arriving to the Vollachia Empire. Just as they were a mile away from the city entrance, Cloud sensed something that caused him to pull out his sword.

"We have company."

Theresia, Carol, and Grimm all three were caught off guard by the way Cloud pulled out his sword. They stayed stunned only for a brief moment before they also pulled out their weapons, trusting the young man's judgement. The four ran inside with their weapons out, ready for a battle. Once they got inside, everyone except Cloud lowered their weapons since they were stunned and shocked by the number of dark creatures just attacking everyone regardless if they were guards or civilians.

"Seems like the heartless are here." Cloud said as this in a casual voice before charging into battle, taking down three neoshadow type heartless in just one swing. Theresia, Carol, and Grimm were all very impressed by this, seeing that the large sword Cloud carries does suit him.

"Well then, I say let's help these people as well."

"Agreed."

Grimm and Theresia nod at what Carol says before the trio charged into battle with Theresia heading towards the right side in order to assist the Vollachian soldiers against two different type of heartless, possessors and bandit.

Grimm and Carol together went towards the left side as the old warrior couple worked together to save the civilians from the copter fleet type heartless.

Cloud himself was taking on any heartless he could find such as a dual blade, defender, a multitude of destroyers, and a few large body types.

One of the dual blade type heartless charges at Cloud, managing to start a blade lock for only a second before the young man's superior strength overwhelms it. The young man turns towards his left side for a second before turning towards his right side, noticing that the destroyer type heartless were surrounding him.

'Hmph. These heartless are starting to annoy me.'

The young boy waits for a moment before in a few seconds he took down each and every one of the heartless surrounding him. As Cloud with his incredible speed was able to do this feat, Theresia started to push herself towards her limits as she ends up confronting a couple of large body type heartless. She attempted to attack from the front yet her sword was stopped just as it made contact.

'Huh? What? That's weird. Normally this wouldn't happen.'

Theresia was left completely dumbfounded when her attack just suddenly stopped. Before she could try to think of a reason why this happened, the heartless in front of her swung its arms around to try and land a hit on her.

She was able to dodge the attack by jumping back a few feet away, giving her the distance she needs to charge once again at the large body type heartless. The moment she tried to slice the heartless in half by going through the front once again didn't work as the stomach of the heartless put a halt on the Sword Saint's attack.

'Again?!'

Theresia was a little annoyed by this, causing her to pout for a second before having a more serious facial expression, seeing that she will need to give it her all. She waited until the heartless tried to attack her, seeing that this time it tried to use its stomach to land a hit.

She waited for just the right moment to jump high enough to dodge the attack but to be near its head.

The Sword Saint took a second before managing to have one of her legs land on the heartless' head before applying enough force to push the head away, giving her a little moment to reach high up the sky before moving towards the ground quickly.

As she was rapidly moving closer to the heartless, its entire back was exposed which allowed Theresia to use all of her strength to stab it in the back.

This hit was successful as it caused the large body heartless to disappear, making the previous Sword Saint smile. She looked up to see that three other large body heartless types approach her in an aggressive manner.

Theresia van Astrea stood standing tall at the heartless with a confident smile on her face, having figured out how to take care of the threat.

As she charges in to deal with the threat right in front of her, Carol and Grimm both barely managed to take down most of the copter fleet type heartless.

Once the two pulled this out, the two were slowly trying to catch their breath.

While they did this, the two knew deep down that despite the efforts they give, they will eventually be a liability since their age is causing them to be rusty.

Despite this little handicap, the two are aware that Wilhelm is also in the same boat as them and is still a pretty amazing warrior much to Carol's disliking.

With this in mind, the two notice a few shadow type heartless quickly crawling their way towards the direction of the pair, prompting the two to continue fighting.

Grimm waited until the group of heartless all jumped out of the ground and towards them in attack position when he got his shield up and ready to defend not only himself but his wife as well.

As he blocks off the attacks from the group of shadow type heartless, allowing Carol to quickly go on the offense. With just a couple of swings, she was able to take out the group of heartless.

Grimm smiled as he gave his wife a thumbs up, showing how proud and amazed he was at her performance. Carol noticed this which caused her to not only smile but also give a thumbs up as well, feeling proud at her husband's strength.

The two turned towards the direction of the running civilians, noticing that a large heartless with a big sword was approaching the pair. Grimm quickly charged at the heartless with the powerful sword, clashing between the powerful sword and a strong shield.

He manages to use all of his strength to hold the heartless back long enough for Carol to go on the offense, using the same tricks they used against the shadow heartless they took down with their team work.

She waited for a brief moment before charging into the heartless, using all of her strength to take her target down with one strong hit. Just as she was about to swing, the heartless noticed her and quickly managed to react by moving its sword like weapon to block off the woman warrior's attack.

"Eh?"

Carol was shocked by this as she didn't think that the heartless would react to her. The heartless shoved Carol away, forcing her to quickly think of a different strategy. Grimm also noticed this, prompting him to also think of another strategy he and his wife could do.

The heartless went on the offense a second before Carol was about to go and attack. She was caught off guard by this, prompting her to go on the defense, blocking each attack as best as she could. Just as it seemed like the heartless was going to overpower her, Grimm with everything he had managed to land the strongest hit on the heartless' head.

Carol looked surprised as she saw how amazing her husband was, managing to take down a powerful looking heartless. Once Grimm managed to take the heartless down, him and Carol both heard a few civilians calling for help.

This caused the two to nod at each other before running to help the citizens together, as a team. As these battles were going on, eventually Theresia and Cloud both bump each other's backs, causing the two to be warry for a moment before realizing that its just each other. The two looked at the amount of heartless that were surrounding the two, prompting Theresia to ask,

"Why are there so many of these creatures?"

"I've seen this before...someone is causing all of this."

Cloud says this as he recalled the battle against the large amount of heartless in Radiant Garden. He remembered how long and hard it was fighting the abounded of heartless, making him question what the cause of the heartless appearing now.

"Think you can handle this many?"

("Think you can handle this many?")

Cloud was at a pause at what Theresia said, reminding him of Leon, how the two fought side by side in Radiant Garden against a ton of heartless. This brought a smile to his face since he was remembering a good moment.

("Well...Might be tough if one more shows up.")

"Well...anymore and things might get too difficult." Cloud said in a joking manner, trying to keep the situation from stressing them out. Theresia did notice this and smiled, seeing that there is a joking side to Cloud.

"Allow me to handle any of those that do decide to join us." The Previous Sword Saint speaks in a confident like manner, though she is also confident that Cloud is capable of handling his own. The young man smiles before the two started to take on the heartless that are surrounding the pair, the two going on the offense.

Cloud with only one swing was able to take out a hand full of heartless while Theresia required a little bit more force since she doesn't possess any of her divine protections aside from her Divine Protection of the Death God.

Although this is a small setback, she did not faulter. Her skills allowed her to keep up against the heartless. As the two were giving it their all, eventually someone else stepped in to assist the two strongest swordsmen.

This new person that joined in managed to take down a multitude of heartless within a few seconds. Both Cloud and Theresia noticed this, noticing their new ally was a wrinkled old man with impressive speed.

"Do you know who he is?" Cloud asks since he would expect someone like Theresia would know since this is her world. She looked at the old man for a moment, observing the way he looks. After a few seconds, she turned towards the young man to answer his question,

"I'm not sure but we should focus on the fight first. We can find out later."

Cloud nodded in agreement to what Theresia said before the two returned to fighting against the heartless side by side, making them a power duo. The old wrinkling man looked at the two warriors, impressed himself before using one of his sticks to eliminate a shadow heartless from attacking him from his left side while his guard was temporarily down.

Carol and Grimm both noticed the old man but couldn't think much of it since the heartless were starting to put a lot of pressure on them. Using the remaining strength, Grimm blocked off all the powerful projectiles thrown towards his wife and him by a combination of yellow opera, red nocturne, and blue rhapsody type heartless.

Meanwhile, Carol was attacking all of the shadow heartless teleporting behind them, causing the two to be stuck in the middle while the heartless are surrounding them and closing in. After she took down a couple of shadow type heartless, she turned to see that her husband was struggling to keep his defense up.

"D-Don't worry, I'll get us out of this!"

As Carol says this, a couple of thorns come into the battle as they destroy not only the shadow heartless that Carol was dealing but also the heartless that Grimm was dealing with. The two-noticed this which prompt the pair to look to see who was responsible for this.

As they look, they notice that an averagely sized man with short, bristling yellow-green hair with an adorned in a tight, black set of armor, which this man covers with a sandy-colored cloak. Along side this man was also a beautiful and tall fox woman with a thin and alluring physique with a richly-colored kimono.

Grimm and Carol turned towards each other for a moment before looking at the man, noticing him approaching them. The two slowly move their guards up as they aren't sure if these two are even possible allies. The man noticed this, prompting him to raise his hand in a calm manner while saying,

"We aren't the enemies here, so lower your weapons."

"We don't even know who you are. You could be working with these creatures secretly or try to backstab us!" Carol said with her guard up, preparing herself for a fight.

The man did not like hearing this and was about to say something with a stern look yet the woman next to him set her hand on his shoulder, prompting him to holt himself. While he does this, the woman looks at Carol with a calm facial expression.

"I understand your mistrust, you must be from Lugnica."

"Wait...how do you—?" Before Carol could finish her question, the woman interrupted her by responding with,

"The symbol on the shield, it is Lugnica."

Carol and Grimm paused for a moment as the two check the shield. Once they notice the symbol, she looks at her husband with a sharp facial expression. He just smiled awkwardly as he realized that he forgot to hide the fact that they were from Lugnica. Before Carol could scold her husband, the woman continued to speak to her,

"You two are old time warriors, that is respectable despite being from Lugnica. Although under normal circumstances we would kill you, we do require strong fighters to deal with these...creatures."

Grimm quickly pulled his paper and pen to write what he wants to say before handing it to his wife.

"What is he writing?" The man asked with a slightly hostile tone of voice.

"He is just wanting me to ask the same question I have, who exactly are you two?"

The man was once again looking hostile until the woman once again calmed him down by setting her hand on his shoulder.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves properly, to show we are allies in this conflict. Yorna Mishigure, 7th ranking Divine General."

"...Kafma Irulux, Second class general."

"Now, what are your names?" Yorna said with a serious yet calm expression. Carol and Grimm looked at each other for a brief moment before they both turned towards the duo while lowering their weapons.

"My name is Carol Fauzen-Remendis. This here is my husband, Grimm Fauzen."

Grimm nodded at Kafma and Yorna, showing respect to the two. Before Yorna or Kafma said something, the four felt the ground shaking. Cloud, Theresia, and the old man also felt this after having taken out most of the heartless that were attacking the city.

The seven of them looked to see an enormous heartless appear made up of many different shadows, and it takes on the shape of a sort of serpent without a head, the demon tower.

"This...is a problem." Yorna said as she lowered her Golden Kiseru, seeing that this creature is more or less a larger annoyance than the other heartless they have been dealing with.

Cloud was a bit surprised by this heartless boss since he didn't expect the shadow heartless to form into something this dangerous yet he wasn't afraid. He prepared to charge at the demon tower with Theresia, the old man, Grimm, Carol, Yorna, and Kafma standing behind him, ready to also join in on the fight.

"Okay. Just follow my lead."

Cloud's allies looked at him as they heard what he said, prompting them to nod before watching him charge in first. The young man closed in at the demon tower heartless within a few seconds before managing to land one strong hit, managing to eliminate three shadow heartless within the demon tower.

As he does this, the others joined in except for Yorna and Kafma, watching the old man, Theresia, Grimm, and Carol all four land a few powerful hits on the demon tower heartless. Kafma pointed his hand directly at the large heartless to fire powerful thorns, landing strong hits as well despite being from a distance.

The Demon Tower continued to take damage for a bit until finally the eyes of the shadow heartless making up the demon tower started to glow red, indicating that it was about to go on the offense.

Cloud was able to pick up on this, prompting him to warn the others to stand back as he gets the large heartless' attention by doing some damage here and there to have it focus on him.

Theresia notices this and quickly was about to go assist the young man until she noticed some odd darkness starting to be created underneath the young man's feet.

"Cloud! Watch out!"

The young man heard the warning, causing him to react by jumping high enough to avoid the heartless' attack on his feet. Once being able to avoid this attack, Cloud quickly separated his large sword into a few other swords, surrounding around the demon tower.

Theresia, Carol, Grimm, Yorna, the old man, and Kafma observe as the young man began to dash attack the large heartless with incredible speed and incredible strength, causing a large amount of darkness.

Cloud did this multiple of times, destroying a multitude of shadow heartless gathered in the demon tower until finally the young boy hovered above the heartless boss before using his final and most powerful strength to do a downward hit from the top of the demon tower all the way towards the ground.

The demon tower was destroyed with this attack, allowing the group to lower their guards for a moment since all of the heartless were taken care of. Yorna smiled as she viewed this young man as a possible contender to be a divine general since she can tell he is pretty powerful.

"That was pretty amazing, Cloud!" Theresia said as she hadn't seen such power and skill. Carol and Grimm were also pretty impressed by the young man's power. Kafma just crossed his arms as he wasn't sure what to think. Although it was very impressive skills, he can also view the young man as a possible threat. Yorna approached the young man to ask him,

"You are quite an anomaly, who are you?"

Cloud looks at Yorna, unsure if she can even be trusted since he gets some small vibes of Hades from her but at the same time, she isn't giving him any reason to be hostile. Before he could answer, a voice from the distance answers the question given to him with a calm yet threatening tone,

"He is someone who still can't get over the past."

"..."

Cloud stiffened as he knew who it was, causing his rage to increase. Theresia and the others all noticed this and quickly get their guards up, seeing the one winged angel as a threat. Kafma got in front of Yorna as he prepared his thorns for battle.

Grimm took a closer look at the one winged angel before quickly lowering his guard to write something to his wife. Once he finished this, he gave the paper to Carol, alerting her that he can tell that this new opponent is not a joke and that they should tread carefully.

She put away the paper given to her by her husband before taking a closer look at Sephiroth, sensing that he is more powerful than he looks. This causes her to quickly get in front of Theresia, worried that she might lose her all over again. The previous sword saint noticed this, causing her to question her friend,

"What's wrong, Carol?"

"It's just...stay behind me."

"Why?" Theresia asked innocently.

"J-Just trust me."

Although the previous sword saint isn't sure what is causing her friend to worry so much, she did trusted her judgement. She turns towards Cloud as he began to slowly approach Sephiroth with his weapon ready for battle.

"Cloud, who is he?"

"...he is someone that I need to take down."

"Oh really?" Sephiroth questioned as he found what Cloud said funny. "Do you really believe that yourself, Cloud?"

"I will defeat you, Sephiroth. This time, you won't be walking away."

"We both know that you will never defeat me. You can't. So long as you still hold darkness in your heart, I will always be there."

Cloud did not responded to this though he did looked at his allies to warn them.

"Stand back, this fight is mine and mine alone."

"You shouldn't have to fight on your own, Cloud." Theresia said immediately, not wanting her new ally to face what seem to be his own demon on his own. "You can rely on us."

Cloud paused himself for a moment as he processed what the previous sword saint had said, reminding him of Sora by how worried she was towards him and how she wants to help him. This caused the young man to form a small but genuine smile before looking at her.

"You remind me a lot of him."

"Huh?"

Theresia was left confused by this statement while Cloud turned his attention back towards Sephiroth, more motivated than before to beat the one winged angel. As the young man points his large sword towards the one winged angel, he begins to say,

"It's time to end our fight, Sephiroth."

"Hm. We shall see."

Within a few seconds both Cloud and Sephiroth charged at each other with everything they got, clashing swords intensely. Theresia and the others all see this with amazement in their eyes, seeing just how powerful Cloud and the one winged angel were since their clash of swords caused a powerful wind to hit the six of them. The old man sat down as he was curious to see what this fight lies. Yorna notices how interested the old man was on the fight, prompting her to say,

"You seem very interested in this fight. Who do you think will win, Olbart Dunkelkenn?"

"Hm? The young man is interesting. His opponent is also interesting. If anything, I'm just enjoying this unique battle for my amusement."

"...I'll have to agree with you there."

Yorna says as she also has no real opinion of the fight regarding who she believes or sides with. Kafma stays silent as he just observes the fight for more tactical reasons, wanting to see how each fighter's skills are so should he end up facing them, he could find the best way to counter either one. Cloud and Sephiroth were in a blade lock for a couple of seconds before taking the moment to gain some distance from each other before charging at each other once again.

As they closed the gap, they began to clash swords multiple times within a few seconds, each one sounding much intense and sending out strong winds all around the area. Grimm got in front of Theresia and Carol as he held his shield to push back the strong waves of winds pushing them back.

Olbart, Kafma, and Yorna all three continued to stand still regardless of how strong the waves of winds were giving off. Yorna had an interested look as she could see that Sephiroth and Cloud were going all out and yet they were on equal terms in both strength and speed.

The fight continued on the ground for a minute before it started to move towards the air, both Sephiroth and Cloud not holding a single ounce of strength back since this fight is to the death. While this fight was going on, more heartless began to appear, forcing the group to turn their focus from Cloud and Sephiroth's fight towards the new group of heartless.

Kafma without hesitation begins to fight off the heartless with Yorna watching in the background, wanting to see the conclusion of the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth.

Despite how Olbart also wishes to see the fight, the heartless charged at him, prompting him to defend himself. As this was happening, Carol, Grimm, and Theresia all got their weapons out as they were being surrounded.

"Tsk. I don't know how that keyblade wielder can handle the same problems over and over again." Carol says since Cloud had explain to them what is the role Sora has being the keyblade wielder.

"Doesn't matter, we should—"

"I'm happy to see you again, Theresia van Astrea."

The entire area became stiff as the heartless surrounding them were destroyed with only Grimm and Carol confused. Theresia on the other hand was left stunned with her entire heart filled with fear since he recognized this voice. Her pressure dropped as she remembered the last time she faced this woman. Carol and Grimm both turned towards their friend to see that the previous sword saint was scared.

"Lady Theresia?! What's wrong?!"

"Pardon me, I didn't mean to scare you, Sword Saint Theresia van Astrea."

Both Carol and Grimm noticed the voice and turned to see who was speaking. As they looked at the direction of the voice, they saw that it was a petite girl with long platinum hair and having only a white cloth as clothing.

The two were stunned for a moment as they felt disoriented, as if their lifeline were being slowly taken away by just looking at this petite girl. Theresia was able to snap out of it as she saw that her friends were dying. She turned their heads away from the petite girl's direction while saying to them,

"Don't look at her! Don't look at that witch!"

"That's a bit mean to say. I'm actually here as a friend." The petite girl spoke which annoyed Theresia.

"You aren't a friend at all! You are a monster, Pandora, The Witch of Vainglory!"

Yorna, Olbart, Kafma, Carol, and Grimm all five noticed what Theresia said, causing a few of them to quickly focus their attention on the witch since that takes a higher priority while Yorna just stood silent. She would intervene against a witch, someone that threatens her goal but she knows that facing a witch is suicide. Kafma was about to start attacking the witch but was stopped by the 7th divine general.

"Don't. Focus on those creatures."

"Are you sure?"

"You dare question me?"

"...no."

Kafma just nodded at Yorna before returning his focus back on the heartless. Olbart noticed this yet he didn't really care. Seeing a witch was something that interest him more than the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth since it is rare to see any witch. Just as he was going to continue watching, he suddenly felt a dark presence behind him.

"I should commend you for that, you managed to sneak behind me without noticing."

"..."

Olbart took note of the silence which prompted him to turn towards his back side to see a man wearing an organization coat.

"Now, who are you?"

"I'm just someone who likes to gamble the odds. Now then, do you wish to play a game?" The man wearing the coat said as he pulls out a deck of cards. Olbart stood silent as he sensed that this wasn't going to be some ordinary children's card game. Despite that though, he wasn't going to back down from a fight.

"Alright then, show me what you got, young lad."

The man wearing the coat noticed this and quickly started to attack by throwing the cards at Olbart. While this was going on, both Grimm and Carol wanted to immediately fight against the threat in front of them but Theresia stop the two by getting in front of them with her sword out.

"Carol...Grimm...l-let me handle this..."

"No Lady Theresia! We can't let you!" Carol said as she didn't want her master to face the same person that took her away from them. Grimm also didn't want Theresia to fight on her own once again against the Witch of Vainglory. Theresia took notice of this, making her happy that her friends want to fight by her side but scared since she doesn't want them to die.

'Carol. Grimm. I won't...let you two get hurt. Especially by her.'

With her motivation to protect her friends strongly, she looked at the witch to tell her in a serious facial expression,

"I won't let you hurt them. I will take you down, Pandora."

"That's a very brave thing to say but I won't allow you to happen."

"Eh?"

Theresia looked has another voice spoke out, prompting that voice to step out of the shadows to stand next to the witch of vainglory. The previous sword saint was silent as she didn't recognize this boy at all and was confused on who he was. Pandora notices the previous Sword Saint's confused facial expression, prompting her to speak in a friendly manner,

"I see. You are confused. I should introduce my new follower here. The new bishop of pride."

Theresia, Carol, and Grimm were all shocked when they heard this, seeing that their situation has gotten much more dire.

"A S-Sin Archbishop? Here?!" Carol said with some hesitance. Theresia was also hesitant for a moment until she closed her eyes, thinking about Wilhelm, Reinhard, Heinkel, Carol, Grimm, Julia, Eraqus, and even Xehanort.

She knows that they all wouldn't back down from a fight regardless of the situation. She looked at both the Sin Archbishop of Pride and the Witch of Vainglory with a serious and determinate look.

"I won't cower, Pandora. My friends are here this time, so I won't lose like last time!"

"Oh. Your fear is almost gone."

"Pandora-sama, please allow me to face her and her allies alone." Replica Riku spoke as he wanted to test his skills against the previous sword saint and her two allies. Pandora looked at her Sin Archbishop of Pride with a surprised facial expression, surprised that he would want to test his own skills. This prompted her to smile with interest as she responded to Pride's request,

"I'll allow it, Bishop of Pride."

"Thank you, Pandora-sama."

As Pride bowed at Pandora, he turned his attention towards his three new opponents confidently.

"I heard you were the previous sword saint, so I hope you don't disappoint."

Theresia was unsure about this since her battle is more with Pandora than with Pride but knowing that the only way for her to have her rematch with the one that caused so much damage, she would need to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Pride.

She got herself ready for battle yet she also noticed that both Grimm and Carol were also prepared for battle alongside her without looking away at their shared opponent.

"D-Don't th-think...w-we will let...y-you fight alone..." Grimm said as he was struggling to speak, with his voice sounding very raspy.

"Grimm's right, Lady Theresia. As your humble ser—no, as your friend, I will stand and fight by your side. No matter what."

Theresia was shocked by these words, seeing that despite old age, her two friends were still going to give it their all. This made her happy since she truly will not be alone this time.

"Thank you, my friends."

Grimm and Carol nodded at this statement before the three of them prepared to charge at the Sin Archbishop of Pride. Pride himself looked at the three as he was also prepared to begin their battle.

"Let's begin this battle already, Sword Saint!"

"Trust me, Sin Archbishop of Pride, you'll regret siding with that witch!"

As both Theresia and Pride finished speaking, their respective sides charged at one another with Theresia and Pride both being the first to clash swords. Carol quickly took this opportunity to go on the offense while Grimm provided cover with his shield.

While the fight was going on, Pandora watching from the distance to seeing how things will unravel, not only with Pride's fight but also Sephiroth's fight, curious to see just how strong the one winged angel was capable of.

---

The next morning had arisen with Sora, Subaru, Medium, and Flop all four outside of the inn they were sleeping the previous night. Having been told the situation, Medium had her swords out and ready for when the attack happens as they set some traps for Todd and his group.

"Remember, we have to do this exactly as we planned." Subaru said as he chose to take the leadership role for this battle against fate.

"There is no need to look tense, the plan will work." Sora said as he wanted to inspire confidence on his friend and apprentice. Subaru notices this and simply gives a nod of appreciation towards his master, seeing what he was doing. Flop had his arm crossed the whole time as he was very uncertain of something.

"What if they act differently from what the plan says they would?" The merchant questioned since he wants to know if there is some contingency plan. Subaru did not hesitate to answer this question,

"Then we wing it."

"Wing it? That's not—" Before Flop could finish his sentence, Medium shoved his arm playfully.

"You should have faith in Subaru's plan."

"I do, I just want to be sure."

"I understand the worry, Flop, but I want you to know that M—Sora and I know what to do should the plan not go how we said." Subaru said in a reassuring tone of voice. Flop nodded before saying,

"Alright, I trust you both."

Sora and Subaru both took note of what the merchant said, prompting the two to nod at him before waiting patiently. They waited and waited until suddenly an explosion occurred in Medium's room, alerting the four that the hunt has begun.

"Let's start, we need to separate the three of them."

"Agreed."

Sora and Subaru nodded at each other as they have a plan. Subaru and Flop go one direction while Medium follows Sora to another, both groups having specific yet similar goals.

Sora and Medium both go to the front of the building where they see a lot of the residence leaving as the building started to catch fire. During this both Sora and Medium were actively looking for the three Vollachian warriors, their goal being to take out the strongest of the three, that being Jamal.

("Todd and Larkin are two calculative people, they will be the hardest to deal with, so our focus should be in knocking out Jamal first." Subaru said.)

("Wait, why Jamal? Shouldn't we take out Todd? From what you two have said, he is the most dangerous out of the three." Flop questioned.)

("Larkin doesn't fully trust Todd. Todd also doesn't fully trust Larkin. If it's just the two, they wouldn't able to agree in a single plan, making them easy targets but that requires them to lose Jamal." Subaru responded in confidence.)

Sora and Medium recalled this conversation, reminding themselves of the plan before searching thoroughly through the crowd without looking suspicious themselves. As they are looking, Medium takes this opportunity to ask,

"So, who trained ya?"

"Hm?" Sora looked at her for a moment, caught off guard by the question he was asked.

"I'm curious who trained you to fight. I was self-taught."

"Oh. Well I trained every day with Riku."

"Riku? A friend of yours?"

"Yes." Sora said with a smile on his face, recalling how many wooden sword fights he has had with his childhood best friend. "We would have countless of fights, some just for fun, others because of a bet, and a few just because we were bored."

"Ah. That's sounds like fun. Wish my brother and I had that."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, a bit caught off guard by what she said.

"My brother and I were raised in an orphanage; the caretaker was a bad person and mistreated us for so long that we have a hatred for the world. Although we are nice to people like you, we absolutely despise many of those that are bad. We want to rid the world of those bad people, make the world a better world. That is my brother's and my wish."

Sora stood silent as he processed what was told to him, understanding that Flop and Medium were not treated right when they had a childhood and yet proved to still become good people. This eventually made him think of Elsa, how she had a bad childhood and one bad event for survival caused her to become the bowel hunter. Although she is on a better path now, she still has to live with the choices she had made prior to meeting him. Sora smiled for a moment before looking at Medium confidently,

"I believe you two can change the world."

"That's nice of you to say, Sora. I also believe you and Subaru will find your parents and sister."

Sora smiled at Medium before the pair continued to look around for the three Vollachian soldiers. The two looked for a moment before noticing three oddly clothed people moving from outside of the inn towards a shady hallway.

Sora and Medium both looked at each other for a moment before nodding, both agreeing that this was possibly Todd and his group. As they agree, the pair began to follow the three oddly clothed people.

While the two slowly followed, the two had their swords ready to pull out in the case they get sneak attack. As they arrived at the hallway, they hide in the shadows as they observe the three people speaking.

"You are a fucking moron!" One of the three speak, making Sora immediately recognize that this was Jamal. "You almost got us all killed."

"You were not cautious." The second one spoke which Sora could tell that it was Larkin due to his tactical mentality and way of speaking. This allowed the Keyblade Master to see who Todd was between the three.

"I wasn't expecting them to know of our presence. That is a miscalculation on my part, one that I will correct."

As Todd said this, he pulled out his axe as he began to think carefully on their next plan in taking out the two keyblade wielders and the two allies they had with them. Larkin looks at Todd in an annoyed facial expression.

"We need chaos. If those two keyblade wielders have a hero like mentality, then they would go where people are getting hurt."

"That could work." Todd said as he looked at his axe, implying that he might want to be the one to create the chaos in order to eliminate the snakes that are the keyblade wielders. Sora and Medium were both unhappy when they heard this, not liking how they might hurt the innocent just to get to Subaru and Sora. Before either warrior could do something, Jamal looked at Todd with an annoyed facial expression.

"You aren't thinking of creating that, are you?"

"Problem with that, Jamal?" Todd said in a cold and calculated like tone. Sora and Jamal both disliked the way Todd. Jamal just crossed his arms in an annoyed facial expression,

"What? I can't question your plan after it blew in your face, literally? Jackass."

"..." Todd stood silent as he was slowly clenching his free hand, hating to be reminded of a failed plan of his. While this was going on, Medium turned towards Sora to whisper,

"Just to make sure, it's these three here that we are being hunted by, correct?"

"Yes, it's them." Sora spoke in a determined voice while making sure he wasn't heard by Todd, Larkin, or Jamal.

"Alright. Do you know which one we are hunting down first?"

Sora pointed at Jamal's direction which almost caught Larkin's attention since he took this time to inspect the area in case they were being watched. Medium noticed this and quickly pulled herself and her partner away just in the nick of time. Larkin noticed something off but he wasn't sure, prompting him to say,

"We should get moving, we don't know what rats are listening in the streets."

"Agreed."

Todd quickly led the group as they started their search for the four prey they have set in their minds.

While the three headed out, Sora and Medium checked to see that the Vollachian soldiers were on the move.

This prompted the duo to quickly follow, knowing that they are headed off in the direction where Subaru and Flop went.

Both Sora and Medium followed for a bit until the two noticed that something felt odd.

Sora stopped as he took a moment to feel the surrounding area before realizing that an arrow as been shot towards their direction.

"Watch out!"

Sora moves Medium out of the way just in the nick of time, saving her from being pierced by an arrow.

"Th-Thank you, Sora."

"No problem."

The two look at the arrow before turning towards the direction it came from, seeing that Larkin was the culprit, standing in the middle of the crowd with his bow preparing to fire another arrow.

Sora and Medium pulled out their swords as they prepared to face the archer until Sora's instincts told him that someone is right behind him.

He quickly turns to see a sword trying to strike Medium down, prompting him to quickly yell out to Medium.

"Behind you!"

Medium heard this and quickly was able to move her swords around to block off the attack from Jamal's attack.

As she does this, Sora noticed Todd's axe thrown towards his direction. Before he can act, a couple of dream eaters appeared to protect the keyblade master.

The dream eater known as Lord Kyroo uses its shield to protect both Medium and Sora from any arrows that Larkin fires at them.

The dream eater known as the Flowbermeow appears near Todd's location to land a hit on the vollachian soldiers face.

He was caught off guard by this as he looked with cold eyes at the dream eater at first before looking a bit confused.

'The hell?'

Todd tried to analyze the creature since he has never seen anything like it but before he could see a weakness, he received another attack by the dream eater.

As the dream eater does this, it quickly disappears to allow Sora to take care of the rest.

The Keyblade Master had grabbed the axe before it even hit him before throwing it to the side.

He slowly approached Todd while telling him,

"Give up. I don't want to hurt any of you."

"Why? Because you are this so-called hero that doesn't kill? Not a chance, Lugnica scum."

As Todd says this, he pulls out his sword to start a sword battle with the Keyblade Master.

Both Sora and Todd sword clash for a moment before the battle shifted into Todd going on the offense and Sora on the defense.

While this was happening, Medium was holding Jamal back for a moment before pushing him in order to gain some distance from the Vollachian warrior.

"You better be a capable fighter." Jamal said since he is jealous that Todd is facing the Keyblade Master. Medium got herself into her fighting style before responding to her opponent's comment.

"You better no look down on me!"

"Then show me what you can do!"

As Jamal says this, both him and Medium charge at each other, beginning their fight by clashing swords.

Although for the first ten seconds they were in equal terms, Jamal proved to be the stronger of the two due to his immense strength.

This forced Medium to rely on pure skill to keep up with the Vollachian soldier.

Meanwhile this was going on with Medium and Sora, the dream eater known as Lord Kyroo continued to block off Larkin's arrows.

This annoyed the archer since he is being stopped by a frog like creature.

This prompted him to try and kill the creature itself only to see another dream eater appear, this one being the same one that attacked Todd earlier.

Larkin paused for a moment as he saw the Flowbermeow create a fireball to throw at him.

The vollachian archer was prepared to use an arrow to destroy the fireball but he figured that he could use this attack for his advantage.

'That other keyblade wielder, Natsuki Subaru, isn't here. So I'll drag him here.'

He waited for the fireball to be thrown towards him before pulling out five arrows from his quiver. As he did this, he used the fireball to make fire arrows before firing them in random directions to create chaos.

As most of these arrows hit many of the buildings to case fire and one hitting one of the people, it worked in creating chaos and panic since the people all started to run around screaming.

This would eventually cause the heartless to slowly appear around the areas that people were panicking.

Sora and Medium both noticed this but were unable to break away their fight since both Todd and Jamal were giving it their all to defeat their respective opponent.

Todd kept pushing Sora back for a moment before he was able to retrieve his axe, being more useful with an axe than a sword.

As he retrieves the weapon, he begins to go on an aggressive offense to try and overwhelm the Keyblade Master.

Sora noticed this and was tempted to pull out his Kingdom Key yet he knew that he needs to rely on his pure skills to win this battle.

He dodges a couple of Todd's deadly swings before going on the offense, trying to land a strong hit on the vollachian warrior.

Todd noticed this and began to be even more aggressive, more calculative since he viewed Sora as a big threat.

While he was in this cold state, he started to mock the keyblade master by saying,

"Where is that keyblade of yours? Too cowardly to use it? Or do you simply view yourself that highly over us?"

"..." Sora didn't say anything as he continued to fight, he did not allow Todd's words to damage his determination.

While this was happening, Medium was starting to get overwhelm once again since she wasn't expecting Jamal to be able to adapt to her fighting style.

This pushed her towards her absolute limits since she was facing an opponent that is both going all out but is also restraining himself.

'This is both good and bad! Good because I have another goal to achieve but bad because right now, I'm in trouble!'

Medium was struggling and struggling but before she would lose either of her swords, a couple of heartless appeared around her and her opponent.

This heartless looked at the two before starting to attack them, forcing the two to stop fighting each other and to deal with the heartless attacking them.

As this happened to them, Larkin was still trying to kill the two dream eaters only for a few arrows to be thrown towards him.

He was able to dodge them before looking at the culprits that attacked him.

As he looked, he noticed a few armored archer type heartless preparing to fire another set of arrows at him.

He looks at these heartless with a cold expression, viewing them as cheap knockoff of true archery before starting to take them out one by one, showing what true archery is.

Sora and Todd continued their fight on equal terms until one of the soldier heartless landed a hit on Todd's face, prompting their fight to be interrupted.

The Keyblade Master quickly blocked the attacks thrown towards him by the three soldier type heartless.

He did this for a bit before managing to take the three down within a few seconds, having known the tricks the heartless use in battle.

As he succeeded in this, he turns towards Todd's direction to see how he is holding up only to find the Vollachian soldier attempting to hurt the boy with his axe.

The Keyblade Master was barely able to dodge the attack. As Todd was giving it his all to kill the Keyblade Master, he begins to say while still on the offense,

"Doesn't matter what is in my way, you and your lying ass brother will die by my hands, I'll make sure of it."

"I...I won't let you hurt Subaru!"

With making this as an exception, Sora pulled out his keyblade to quickly land a strong hit to Todd's stomach. Once this happened, with all of his strength he sends the Vollachian soldier many feet away from his location. Todd felt the pain of his stomach as he was flying all the way until he crashed into a stand.

Medium noticed this, seeing the keyblade for the first time and the overwhelming power it gives off, making her curious on who this boy is deep down. Before she could ponder more her attention was taken as more heartless start to appear.

Sora puts away the keyblade as he starts to assist both Jamal and Medium from the overwhelming number of heartless appearing. As he does this, Jamal looks at the keyblade master with both distain but respect.

Distain from the fact that he lied to them about his origin along with his family though he respects the boy since he does view him as a powerful warrior.

As he was conflicted with these feelings, he was standing alongside Medium and Sora, all three preparing themselves for the fight ahead of them as a couple more powerful heartless appear. Sora turned towards Jamal to ask him with a serious and determined tone,

"Can we work together, just this one time to stop the heartless from harming the people?"

The strong Vollachian warrior looked at the Keyblade Master with some annoyance, hating the hero like mentality the boy was spouting.

"These people should know how to fight back! The strong matter here!"

"I know you think that and it is true, the strong matter but they can protect the weak. The strong should protect them because it'll inspire more to get stronger."

Jamal looked at Sora as he was caught off guard by what he had said, not thinking of it this way.

"Hm. Why should I listen to a weakling Lugnica?"

"Because I care about my friends, they are my strength and I wish we could be friends."

"Friends?!" Jamal looked at Sora with a surprised facial expression, completely baffled what he said. "Why would I be friends with someone from that weak ass kingdom?!"

"It's not about the kingdom, it's about the person! We are all people, we all have feelings! We all fight for what we believe is right! Just because someone doesn't think the same like you doesn't make them wrong! You believe in inner strength and that's fine but there is also strength in those you put your faith in! That's also another way to get stronger; fighting for those you care about!"

As Sora spoke these words with passion, he along with Medium started to face off the heartless with everything they got. Jamal was stunned for a moment before looking at his sword, annoyed since he doesn't understand why the boy would view friends as a strength.

Regardless, he clenched his sword before pulling out a second one, wanting to go all out against the creatures that have been causing trouble to his kingdom.

As he got his second sword out, he started to assist Sora and Medium by managing to easily take down five heartless within three seconds. Sora and Medium both noticed this and were caught off guard by this for only a moment before returning their focus on the heartless.

The three fought hard to deal with the heartless together but as they were doing this, Todd looked at the three fighting. He saw an opening which made him prepared to go and finish the keyblade master until something came into mind.

'Where is Natsuki Subaru, the liar?'

This caused him to think carefully on which of the two keyblade wielders is really dangerous, prompting him to realize that it could be Subaru. This caused him to quickly approach Larkin as he finished off the archer armor type heartless. The two vollachian soldiers looked at each other with a cold expression.

"Yes Todd?"

"The other kid, he is the dangerous one."

"Is that so?" Larkin question since he believes that Sora is the more dangerous one. "I believe we should take out the boy here now while we can."

"You can do that, I'll take care of the true threat."

"Fine."

Larkin and Todd just gave each other a death stare, disliking the other before doing what their mind was set in. As Todd goes to search for the other keyblade wielder while Larkin got his bow and arrow ready to fire it at the Keyblade Master. As his bow was ready, he fired the arrow without hesitation.

'Got you now, so-called hero.'

Just as the arrow was about to hit Sora, the keyblade wielder turned around while blocking the arrow with his sword.

Larkin was surprised by this for a second by this, not expecting Sora to be able to keep fighting and then casually block off his arrow.

This angered him as he can kill a hero, prompting him to start shooting a barrage of arrows towards the keyblade master.

Sora and Medium noticed this, causing them to act with Sora continuing to take on the heartless while Medium protected the boy. After blocking all of the arrows, she charged at the Vollachian archer, seeing that he needs to be taken down.

Once she closed in on the archer, she started to go on an offense to keep Larkin distracted while Sora and Jamal both worked together to finish the remaining heartless.

During their battle, the two encountered a couple of shadow heartless suddenly turning into heartless that resemble sora, from the attire of the first journey and a similar looking keyblade made of darkness.

"The hell?!"

Jamal looked confused by this before turning towards Sora.

"Are you the one behind this?!" Jamal spoke with a threatening like tone, preparing to attack the keyblade wielder. Sora stood silent for a few seconds before responding to the Vollachian soldier,

"No...I was turned into a heartless once but then Kairi saved me."

"Heartless? That's what these creatures are called?" Jamal says this as he processes what the boy had said. Before being able to go any further into the conversation, the five AntiSora type heartless. Sora deflected two attacks from two of the AntiSora heartless while Jamal charged at the three he was facing, going all out since he feels that these heartless are possible as strong as the real Sora.

"Come on! Give me a worthy battle!"

As Jamal shouted this, he went on the offense towards one of the three AntiSora heartless, managing to overwhelm it before managing to take it down.

"That's disappointing!"

Jamal shouts as he turns his attention towards the other two AntiSora heartless, ready to take the two out. While Jamal was doing this, Sora kept holding his own against the two AntiSora heartless.

He blocked each attack thrown towards him though he was struggling, not because the heartless version of himself were strong but because he was having doubt.

Although he hadn't shown to be affected by Natsuki Subaru's book of the dead, he was actually haunted by his close friend's many deaths. Many of those deaths he could've prevented if he was fast enough, strong enough, smart enough.

This guilt was increasing by the second despite how Subaru was counting on him, making him worry if he can even save his apprentice and close friend. This bothered him and left him to almost get easily beaten by the two heartless until he heard the Vollachian soldier shout at him,

"Get your head out of your ass!"

"Huh?" Sora looked up as he noticed what was told to him, seeing how Jamal managed to overwhelm another of the AntiSora heartless before taking the chance to eliminate it before turning his attention towards the last one.

The last AntiSora heartless that was facing Jamal gave it its all, managing to almost land a fatal blow yet Jamal was able to block off the attack.

Sora was stunned for a moment since he wasn't sure what to do next, how to help his friend truly since he knows that there might be more deaths later until something came to mind.

("Do you think we will succeed in this go around?" Sora asked as he and Subaru were going to head to sleep.)

("I understand your worries, M—Sora. You are worried I'll di—loop again, I get the worry but don't lose faith. Just as you believe in your friends, I believe that you'll save my life.")

'I...I can't keep thinking like this!'

Sora snapped out of his guilt as he remembered the words his apprentice told him the previous night after discussing the plan.

He begins to overwhelm the two AntiSora heartless with his superior skills.

Jamal saw this after finishing off the remaining heartless opponent of his, still impressed by how the young boy is a skilled warrior despite that he is from Lugnica.

Sora took a few seconds before managing to eliminate the two AntiSora heartless in one hit. Once he did this, Jamal took this moment to go on the offense at Sora, wanting to face the keyblade master.

"Just cause we hate those creatures, doesn't mean you are off the hook!"

"That's too bad, I wanted us to be friends."

As Sora said this, he had put away his sword to once again temporarily pull-out Kingdom Key in order to finish the fight in one go. He dodged a few of the attacks before landing the knockout hit, sending Jamal flying into a stand.

Before the boy went to check on the vollachian soldier to make sure that he is knocked out, he turns to see that Medium is suddenly overwhelmed.

Medium was trying to land a deadly blow with her swords on Larkin yet the vollachian archer manages to dodge a few swings of her blades before landing a strong punch to her gut.

Medium was caught off guard by this and quickly tried to recover only to get slapped on the face by Larkin's bow.

This stunned her long enough for her to show an opening, prompting the archer to pull out an arrow from his quiver to stab her in the neck.

"Let's end this farce."

Larkin holds the arrow high before moving towards Medium's neck.

"No!"

Sora shouted as he quickly reacted by throwing his keyblade directly at Larkin's direction, just barely saving Medium by a second. The Vollachian Archer was also send into a small stand, giving Medium a chance to recover from the hits she received from him. Sora quickly ran towards her to check on her, hoping that she's alright. Medium takes a deep breath while Sora asked her,

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah...that was pretty awesome of you. Thank you for saving me, Sora!"

Sora just smiled at Medium before nodding at her. As he did that, the two quickly start to run into the crowd as they noticed Larkin recovering from the attack while Jamal stayed in the ruble of a destroyed small building.

"We knocked him out! We did it!" Medium said with a smile.

"All we need to do is work on the next part of the plan, take down the archer."

Sora and Medium both looked back at Larkin's direction to see that he was preparing to attack the two.

"We should get moving."

"Yeah."

The two quickly start to run into the crowd, managing to blend in with their cloaks. As this was happening, Larkin just looked at the two with anger in his eyes.

'I won't let you make a damn fool out of me! Stupid so-called hero!'

Larkin with his determination ingrained in his soul begins to chase down the two, more determined than before to kill Sora and those that side with him.

---

While Sora and Medium handled their part of the plan, Subaru and Flop were both running from the alleyway towards the streets before managing to blend in with the crowd. While they were walking without drawing any attention towards themselves, Subaru could tell that Flop was worried for his sister's sake. This prompts him to pat Flop in the back while saying to him,

"Hey! No need to look worried, your sister will be fine. Ma—Sora's by her side, he will never let anything bad happen to her."

"I know that, from the moment we all met I could tell that he is super strong but that isn't my concern."

"Oh." Subaru looked a bit shocked by this revelation. "What's bothering your mind then?"

Flop takes a moment of silences as he hears the question from his ally.

"It's about your brother."

"Sora? What about him?" Subaru asked with a confused facial expression.

"There was something about him when we all split up just now. It's as if there is some guilt holding him back."

"How so?"

"I can tell he is strong but that strength is meaningless if his mind isn't at full strength as well."

Subaru takes a moment to think on what Flop was saying, seeing that there's some pattern to this since this isn't the first time he has heard his master was feeling guilty. Although he saw that guilt the previous night, he had thought that their talk would motivate the two but it seems to not have been as effective as he would've liked.

'Damn. If Master Sora is really having issues with his strength because of this guilt, then maybe I shouldn't have told him about...urgh! There is no time for regrets at this point! I need to do something about that guilt or it'll eat him away.'

"As if your dumbass can even do anything about it." Vanitas said as he wanted to anger the boy he is trying to possess. Subaru took note of this and decided to ignore him, knowing that engaging in an argument with the Organization member won't help the situation.

He crossed his arms to think of possible ways to help his friend and master, knowing that this will also be a key to their survival. While the boy was lost in thought for a bit, he along with Flop started to hear people screaming, alerting the two that the plan as begun.

'Seems like the heartless are here.'

Just as he thinks that a few shadow and neoshadow heartless appear near them.

"And right on schedule."

Subaru pulled out his sword and quickly charged into battle, confident that he can easily take down the heartless. As he was doing this, he started to have flashes of memories coming to his mind.

("Hm. Seems like the connection is breaking. Allow me to tell you this, Natsuki Subaru. You are better off as my vessel because no matter what you do...you'll never be a hero.")

("You are useless, Natsuki Subaru. A pretender.")

("You see, I pose as a hero who is capable of fighting yet in reality I ain't nothing but a weakling who is dreaming big. I'm someone who wants all the strength but I'm weak...which is something I hate myself. Yet you on the other hand don't need anybody, you are very strong, you are intelligent as hell, and you are very cute...you can do anything on your mind and can get things done whenever you want.")

("B-But even so, you are still a hero. You took on my Mabeast and survived. You were able to take down the White Whale. And you managed to save Emilia from the Sin Archbishop of Greed.")

("I know I've done a lot of things that make me a hero but I still feel like I have a long way to go before I can consider myself a hero.")

'What kind of hero do I want to be?' Subaru thought of this since the last thing he recalled was telling his master that he hasn't yet considered himself a hero. These thoughts eventually would be pushed away once the heartless were about to overpower him with numbers.

This prompted him to smile since he didn't view this at all as a threat.

"Come on, this isn't even a challenge!"

Subaru said in a confident tone as he was able to easily take the shadow and soldier type heartless down. Once he accomplished this, he turned around to see a few shadow heartless to suddenly turn into AntiSora heartless.

"What the hell...?"

"Natsuki Subaru, watch out!"

"S-Shit!"

Subaru was barely able to dodge the attack that one of the AntiSora heartless tried to hit on his back side.

As he dodges the attack, he notices that the other five AntiSora heartless charging at him.

He quickly goes into defense mode as he begins to block each attack with everything he had, taking notice on how they AntiSora heartless weren't that strong on their own but are an effective team.

'This might be a problem. One alone I could beat but six of them at once? Man, what the hell kind of mess did I got myself this time?!'

As Subaru thinks this to himself, he begins to use all of his skills to stay on the defense, managing his own pretty well.

He blocked each attacked and took his opportunity to go on the offense when he saw the opening.

The few times he saw this opening, he was able to stab two out of six AntiSora heartless in the shoulder with enough force to cause some damage.

This caused Subaru to find more confidence in himself, seeing that all the training he has had over the past year and a half as paid off.

He isn't the strongest in terms of power or the most skilled with a sword but he has become one of the few that can hold his own in an intense battle.

'That is with just my swordsmanship skills. Regarding the rest though, I have a few tricks to keep me on top thanks to Beako.'

Just as he finishes his thought process, he smiles as he shouts,

"El Shamak!"

A burst of dark mist covers the area which does cause some panic around since they don't know what is going on, even Flop is concern by this attack. Subaru runs inside the mist with ease, managing to find all six of the AntiSora type heartless stunned by his yin magic attack.

'I better thank Beako when I see her again...I miss her.'

As Subaru was thinking of his contracted spirit, he closed the gap between himself and two of the AntiSora type heartless which allowed him to use all his strength to easily take the two down.

Subaru turns towards the remaining for AntiSora type heartless just as the effect of his yin magic had worn off, seeing them starting to move quickly towards his location. Knowing that he eventually needs to finish the fight, he raises his hand as he still feels mana in his gate.

"As much as I would like to keep fighting, I have a plan to fulfill. Now take this! El Minya!"

A couple of purple crystals formed for a moment above Subaru before being fired directly at the four remaining heartless. As a barrage of crystals were being sent towards the four, two got hit by them which instantly destroyed them.

Subaru smiled as he saw this, seeing that his attacks are starting to be effective. He continued to add more and more crystals in the hopes that this would eventually finish the remaining two AntiSora heartless only to see that they are within close distance.

"I guess I'll have to finish you two off with my sword!"

With that being said, Subaru quickly clashed weapons with one of the AntiSora heartless before jumping back to avoid the other's attack.

Just as he did this, Subaru's feet landed on the ground for a split second, allowing him to gain some balance before charging at one of the two heartless, knowing that he needs to finish this quick.

He swing his sword only for it to be blocked by the dark version of the Kingdom Key.

This didn't discourage the boy since he managed to recover fast enough for him to go on a barrage attack, giving it his all to overwhelm the AntiSora heartless before landing the finishing blow.

Flop saw this and was amazed by how Natsuki Subaru was holding his own against such strong looking dark creatures.

While he was amazed by this, he noticed and axe being thrown from within the crowd, prompting him to once again warn his ally.

"Subaru!"

"Huh?"

Subaru turned towards the direction of Flop but when he was turning half way, he saw the axe being thrown right behind the last remaining AntiSora heartless.

This caused his eyes to widen since the axe would not only destroy the heartless but also it would kill him if he didn't react quickly.

He jumped back which caused him to swiftly fall towards the ground on his back side.

While he did this as a reaction to the axe being thrown, the axe managed to destroy the remaining heartless while also managing to cut a piece of his hair off.

'Shit! That was too close!'

Subaru thought this with some fear in his eyes, completely afraid of being killed after having made it this far. He looks up a few seconds after having his heart calm down to see that it was Todd, standing in front of him with his eyes being cold and threatening like.

"T-Todd."

"..."

"Seems like you caught up to me."

"...this ends now."

Todd pulls out his sword and attempts to kill Subaru only for the boy to quickly block off the attack. As the two were in a blade lock, Subaru could tell that Todd was a lot stronger than him. Despite this, the boy gave it his all to push the Vollachian soldier back only for Todd to easily destroy the sword Subaru was wielding.

"Damn it!"

"It's time for you to die."

"Natsuki Subaru!"

Flop got in the middle of the fight by managing to tackle Todd, preventing him from easily killing Natsuki Subaru. The boy noticed this and quickly pulled out Starlight keyblade, knowing that at this point he needs the keyblade's power to save the merchant's life since Todd is looking at Flop with murderous intent.

'As much as the idea was not to show the keyblade off too much, seems like I have no choice now.'

"You do, just leave him to die."

'I won't let Flop die, asshole!'

With this in mind, Subaru charged quickly that the Vollchian warrior to knock the sword right off his hand before using his invisible providence to punch his opponent right in the jaw, hoping to knock the man out.

Todd received a powerful hit which send him flying a few feet away from the two. This was long enough for Subaru to pull on Flop's arm while saying to him,

"Come on, we have to get moving."

"U-understood! I understand already, so stop dragging me! My bangs will get messed up!"

The two began to run deeper into the city, with the sole goal of luring Todd far enough that they can easily take him down without any casualties. Todd got up with his hand on his jaw, having felt the impact of the attack. As he was feeling the pain of his jaw, he had a lot of things on his mind from this one attack.

'So he can use yin magic and some invisible attack...I knew it. This boy is more dangerous than I initially thought. I must cut the head of this snake before it becomes even more of a threat.'

With his cold and calculative eyes returning to him, he goes to puck up his axe before following the direction Flop and Subaru had gone. With Todd in their trail, Subaru and Flop continue to push their way through a couple of crowds before arriving at a bar per Flop's request.

"You sure about this?" Subaru questioned since he didn't like the idea of being in a place where Todd can kill others that have nothing to do with their battle.

"These people owe me some favors, that might come in handy."

"Alright."

Subaru and Flop enter the bar with everyone looking at them for a moment before going back to their own things. The barkeep waits as he sees Flop and Subaru approach him.

"Flop, here I thought you haven't shown your face around in a while, and here you are helping someone again huh. Even though you won't get a single penny out of it anyways."

"I'm saying there's no profit in doing that, you softy."

Subaru crossed his arms as he learns more about Flop, seeing that the merchant is a good person, reminding him of Otto. The barkeep turns towards Subaru to say,

"He's a real softy like you've heard. But, don't you get the wrong idea here. This dumbass and his sister are softies that will help anyone regardless of who they might be, in turn, there are a lot of people that are indebted to them."

"…I don't have any intention of being an ungrateful bastard either, I'll pamper him back just as much as I have been pampered." Subaru says which catches Flop's attention.

"Hahaha, I shall look forward to that! The day I'm going to be pampered that is!"

"Anyway, what brings you two here? What is Flop helping you with anyway?"

"We are here because we need a place to hide."

"To hide? From what?" The Barkeep said with his tone going into a more serious one. Subaru realized that the barkeep doesn't want his bar to become some kind of battle zone which made sense for the boy. This prompts him to answer with,

"Just some asshole who wants to kill us."

"...so an assassin?" The barkeep speculates.

"Something like that. Think you can allow us to go through the backdoor?"

"I mean if you two are in trouble, you can always ask for Rowan's help. I assume he might have some debt with this softy here."

"Okay...which one is Rowan?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"Ahh, Rowan's passed out over there at the uh, corner over there."

The barkeep says as he points towards the direction.

"Passed out at a corner...? That doesn't sound like good news."

While saying so, Subaru looked nervously at the direction the barkeeper pointed at.

Upon which, within the dim bar, and amongst several men that chattered drunkenly, he found a man who was slumped over at a table in the corner.

It was a man in his fifties, his long and disheveled hair tied up sloppily, along with his weapon of choice, a katana sheathed by the waist.

The table he had slumped over on was lined with several empty glasses; one can tell he really knocked himself out in every sense of the word before the sun had even set.

"He is the strongest here." The barkeep said which shocked Subaru.

"...That's the strongest, you say?"

"There's no doubt he's got a terrible drinking habit but, he's a master of his trade. Though he's got a terrible drinking habit."

"You mentioning that about him twice only makes me even more worried."

Subaru was extremely skeptical of this scenario, unsure if he can even trust another warrior from Vollachia considering how Todd, Jamal, and Larkin are though Medium is an exception. The turns towards Rowan to ask him if he could assist him and Flop only for his senses to go all over the place.

'I sense...a strong darkness...'

The boy quickly went towards the front door into the bar, catching the attention of Flop and the barkeep. As Subaru gets close to the front door to the bar, he opens it to look outside. The boy sees a wagon on fire being thrown directly towards his position.

'Oh shit!'

Subaru slams the door which catches everyone's attention.

"Everyone, get away from the front door!"

As Subaru shouts this, he runs a good distance from the door. Some people were unsure with others slowly panicking which prompted them to listen to the boy.

Once at a good distance, the boy pulled out his keyblade as he prepared to face the Vollachian warrior.

As the boy summons the keyblade, many including Rowan take notice of this odd-looking weapon.

"That's new."

The barkeep said since he had seen many things except a weapon like the keyblade. Subaru noticed this and realized that at this point, his master and him should just use keyblades now since they need its power if they want to destroy the heartless that are growing rampant and if they want to eliminate Sephiroth.

Everyone waits a few seconds until suddenly an explosion occurs that almost destroys the entire bar.

Flop managed to push the barkeep and pull Rowan away from possible danger, saving both their lives while Subaru created a barrier around himself to prevent death from getting him. He takes a look around to see that there were no deaths though those that were near the blast were severely injured.

This did infuriated Subaru but he kept himself in check, seeing that the one responsible was approaching him. He looked at the axe wielding opponent, seeing how cold and threatening the man's eyes still were.

"So, are you satisfied?"

"My objective hasn't been complete so no, I'm not satisfied." Todd responded coldly. This annoyed the boy since that wasn't what he was referring to.

"This guy's pretty impressive."

'Oh shut the hell up.'

"Todd, what I was referring to wasn't about me. It was about all the pain you caused here. Lucky for me that nobody was killed, that would be something I would seriously hate to have happen."

"Because you are this so-called hero. Is that why you can't bring yourself to sacrifice these people? What a stupid and weak-minded thinking. That is why you will be easily killed by me."

"The hell kind of thinking is that?! Aren't these the people you and your stupid army are supposed to protect?!" Subaru shouted as he disliked what he was hearing. Todd wasn't phased by this question at all, slowly making his approach towards the keyblade wielder.

"They are necessary sacrifices to destroy our enemies. Especially Lugnica lying scum such as yourself."

As Todd said this with conviction in his voice, Subaru could hear some of the people in the bar whisper to one another.

"Lugnica?"

"He is part of those bastards?"

"The hell?"

'Damn that asshole! Making me the enemy despite him trying to kill everyone here!'

Subaru looked with a bit of hesitance as everyone around him seemed to be giving the same cold look as Todd was giving him, everyone except Flop. Before the boy could defend himself to the people in the bar, Todd took this chance to try and kill Natsuki Subaru.

"...w-watch out!"

"Huh?"

Subaru took note on what Flop said, allowing him to react fast enough to dodge Todd's fatal attack. As he does this, he looks at the Vollachian soldier with a distained look.

'Two can play that game!'

Subaru attempted to use shamak once again in order to blind his opponent. Just as he tried this, he felt his entire body suddenly be ingulfed in immense pain, leaving him open for Todd to try and take him out.

"Re-Re-Reflect!"

As Subaru shouts this with struggle in his voice, a barrier was created just in time to block off Todd's attack. The Vollachian soldier noticed this barrier and was consumed by anger since he had the boy in his grasp and yet the boy proves to be an annoying nuisance to kill.

"This little barrier of yours won't last long, not with me as your opponent!"

Todd with everything he had begun to throw barrage of heavy attacks at the barrier, doing everything he can to break it. While he did this, Subaru took the time to recover his body.

'What the hell happened? My body rejected summoning Shamak-san...why? Did I use too much mana? Doesn't matter, I still have other skills I can use to beat him!'

Subaru closed his eyes as he took a few deep breaths, calming his heart rate for a moment before opening his eyes with determination. He got himself into defensive position and waited until the barrier broke. Once that happened, Todd charged at the boy and began to attack him mercilessly.

Subaru was prepared for this and quickly went on the defense, using all of the tricks he had learned from Sora against Todd since the Vollachian warrior was still stronger and faster than him.

Flop and the others watched as Subaru and Todd's fight got more intense with the Vollachian warrior being the aggressive fighter while the Lugnica warrior was being a calm defensive warrior.

Despite hating Lugnica, those who listened to Subaru's warning were slowly cheering for him to win since they do owe him. Flop and the barkeep were also cheering for Subaru since they disliked Todd and how he wanted to kill them all just to get to the keyblade wielder.

'Come on Natsuki Subaru, you can do it!'

As the crowd was starting to cheer for Subaru, the boy was about to deliver a strong hit only to Todd to land a dangerous hit. Todd's axe managed to hit Subaru's arm, injuring the boy severely.

"Fuck!"

"I got you."

Todd tries to use his strength to cut off Subaru's left arm only for the boy to quickly resort to using the wrath witch factor, allowing his strength to multiply.

As Subaru's body was starting to glow with a dark like aura around him, the boy quickly took this opportunity to push off Todd and his axe from going deeper into his left arm.

Once he managed to shove Todd away from him, he slowly got up with his body in pain from the wrath witch factor.

This prompted him to stop using Canis Majoris in order to stay conscious and to prevent his body from taking anymore damage.

While he did that, Todd just stared at him with his cold eyes, trying to analyze what just happened. Subaru noticed this which caused him to say,

"I will say that you got me...I will respect you as a warrior but I will never forgive you for trying to hurt the innocent people here."

"I care less about your respect. You Lugnica people are weak with your emotions. That is why I will beat you. Now stand still and perish!"

As Todd finished speaking, he set himself ready to throw his axe for a moment before committing to the act. Rowan notices this and quickly prepares to save the boy until he saw someone else beat him to the punch. Subaru was stuck in place due to his body being completely strained from having pushed his gate to the limit and for using his wrath witch factor. He just looked at the axe being thrown towards him, causing the boy to lament how he couldn't survive all the way in this loop.

'I won't let you win next time...Todd.'

Just as the boy accepted his fate, he noticed that he wasn't killed yet since he could still feel his body in pain. He opened his eyes to see a familiar figure in front of him with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

"I'm a little disappointed Subaru, I didn't expect you to give up so easily."

"..." Subaru was stunned since he didn't believe who was in front of him. The person in front of him noticed the boy's silence, prompting him to say,

"Come on son, don't just stay silent."

"S-Sorry dad, just happy to see you again." Subaru said with a smile on his face. Kenichi noticed this and smiled as well, happy to see his son again.

"Happy to see you too, my amazing son. Need some help?"

"Haha...yeah, I need some help." Subaru said with a bit of reluctant since he doesn't want his father to help clean up his mess and yet he needs the assistance. Kenichi noticed this yet he stayed confident the whole time has he turned his attention to Todd.

"Seems like we meet again, Todd Fang."

"..."

"What? Nothing to say? After the shit you pulled to harm not only these people but my son?"

"...I have nothing to say to a lying piece of shit."

"Man, that's cold. And here I thought we could've settled things peacefully." Kenichi says this with a little sarcasm as he lowers his guard.

"Where's mom?" Subaru asked as he started to wonder what happened to his mother.

"Don't worry, she is safe along with Louis."

"Okay." Subaru said in a serious tone since he was happy to hear that his mother was safe yet he didn't like hearing that Louis was okay as well. Kenichi noticed this as well, making him aware that his son still holds resentment towards Louis. He turned back towards Todd as he throws both his shield and sword to the ground.

"You know, you claim that this empire is all about strength and yet you rely on intelligent tactics rather than pure strength."

"What of it?" Todd spoke as he was trying to think of a new plan to kill not only Subaru but also Kenichi.

"You talk about how Lugnica is weak and all so how about a little wager between the two of us?"

"..."

Kenichi looked at Todd with a confident smile as he cracked his knuckles.

"Let's settle this like men, with our fists. Unless you are a fake Vollachian warrior."

Todd's eyes shot with anger as he hated what Kenichi said. In normal circumstances, he would just kill him with weapons but seeing that there is a crowd of people who are witnesses, he would need to fight with his own hands.

This prompted him to throw his sword to the ground and prepare himself both physically and mentally for a fist fight. Kenichi noticed this, causing him to slowly approach the Vollachian soldier while saying,

"Alright then, let's settle this like men."

"Hm."

Todd walked towards Kenichi until the two were only a couple of feet away, they stare at each other, both men having their motivation for beating the other.

The two stayed silent for a moment until they began their fight by charging at each other.

As they closed in, they both swing their right fist at each other, eventually their knuckles connect with force.

Surprisingly the two were on equal strength, which prompted the vollachian soldier to throw a barrage of punches towards the elder Natsuki member.

Kenichi smiled as he blocked each attack with precision, being able to use skills from another world against a trained and dangerous warrior.

He continues to block each attack while starting to say,

"You have my respects, you are a strong warrior without a weapon."

"..."

"Oh come on, I'm trying to be an honorable fighter." Kenichi said with both respect but also a little sarcastic to throw Todd of his fighting mentality. Though the only real thing he did was piss the soldier off.

"Shut up and die!"

"You'll have to try harder than that!"

Just as it seemed like Todd was going to land a punch, Kenichi had managed to not only block of the attack but he landed a strong kick to the head of the Vollachian soldier. Todd was caught off guard by this, yet he wasn't done yet.

He immediately got up and continued to fight with everything he had, preparing to use his hidden knife to end this the second he had his opening.

He continued to try and overwhelm the man with everything he had, using kicks and unique combo skills. Kenichi noticed that the difficulty had increased and yet he stayed fighting with a smile, blocking each attack with every skill he had learned in Japan.

He used many techniques such as Shotokan and Shito-Ryu to keep up as he began to realize that Todd isn't someone to take lightly. He continues to block the attacks before finally making the decision to go on the offensive by managing to land a kick to the stomach.

Todd took the hit and barely managed to land a hit on Kenichi's face, showing his resilience only to see that nothing happened except for him receiving a hit to the face as well by Kenichi's right hook.

"That was a strong jab to my face, so allow me to return the favor."

"hk!"

Todd began to block and dodge Kenichi's attacks, seeing that this man was skilled in close range combat. Kenichi tried to sweep the leg in order to trip Todd yet the soldier was able to avoid this attack.

Kenichi recovered and started to throw a couple of coordinated punches with Todd blocking them until he tried to kick the Vollachian soldier in the chest.

Todd manages to catch this kick and prepares to pull out his hidden knife to stab the man only for Kenichi to surprise when he also managed to kick him in the face with the other leg.

Due to this, he instinctively let the foot he was grabbing go with Kenichi managing to land back on his feet. As he regains his balance, he continues to throw a barrage of punches at Todd with a few kicks added in from time to time, pushing the Vollachian soldier further and further back.

Eventually, Kenichi had Todd in the ropes as the Vollachian soldier didn't stand a chance against his superior techniques. Just as Natsuki Kenichi was about to finish the fight with one roundhouse kick, Subaru and a few others notice Todd pulling out a knife.

"Dad, watch out!"

Kenichi heard his son's warning yet he wasn't phased by this since he managed to move his leg back fast enough to avoid being stabbed.

"Seems like you are resorting to playing dirty. Sounds about right for scumbags like you. Can't even finish an honorable match well honorably."

"Who gives a shit about honor? You are either strong or dead. Honor is irrelevant." Todd spoke with anger in his voice, having had enough of this farce. Kenichi's smile faded as he lowered his guard, looking at his opponent with disgust. Todd was on his guard yet he was curious,

"What? You finally going to let yourself be killed, Lugnica scum?"

"No, I just find this fight quite beneath me now."

"Beneath you?" Todd questioned as he found this sentence a load of crap.

"You might not see it since you are being like a machine right now but allow me to quickly explain. As a warrior, I'd expect you to have some shred of honor, considering that your job was to protect your kingdom and yet all I see is an amateur."

"An amateur?" Todd questioned as his eyes slowly switch around from cold to anger. "I'm a proud Vollachian warrior. I'm not just some brute that uses brute force to get what he wants. I actually think, work hard to accomplish my goal. And you call me a damn amateur?...I'll make you regret that."

"Then bring it on." Kenichi said as he gets himself into his fighting stance. Subaru looked with concern has he began to say,

"Dad, you sure you want to fight without a weapon?"

"Don't worry my amazing son. Consider this view of my fight as a lesson on how to deal with people who want to cheat. You show them what it looks like fighting the more honorable way."

As Kenichi finished speaking, he turned towards his son for a moment to give him a smile before looking back at Todd.

As he turned towards the Vollachian warrior, he notices that Todd continued the fight by attempting to stab him in the face. Kenichi with a serious facial expression blocked the attack with a simple movement. Todd noticed this and quickly went to punch his opponent in the chest.

Kenichi was caught off guard by this but he was able to recover fast enough to dodge the knife attack. As he dodges the attack, he quickly moved for a kick on his opponent's knee. Todd jumped back for a moment before jumping towards Kenichi, trying to stab him.

Kenichi noticed this which prompted him to quickly dodge the attack while grabbing Todd's right arm with both his hands. Kenichi tighten his grip on Todd's shoulder as he began to throw him towards a table nearby. Todd's back hit the top of the table with extreme force, causing it to break as he ends up getting slammed towards the ground. Once this happened, Kenichi was about to knock Todd out until a couple of heartless appear in the bar.

"The heartless again?" Subaru questioned as he found these creatures rather annoying. Rowan and the other warriors in the bar got up as they've been itching for a fight ever since Todd and Kenichi started their battle.

Subaru also prepared himself yet he turned towards his father's location first, wanting to make sure that he isn't in harm's way. As he looks at Kenichi's location, he can see that a couple of Flame Core type heartless. Seeing this prompted the boy to pull out both of his keyblades while charging at them.

"Hey! Leave my amazing dad alone!"

As Subaru shouted this, he closed in on the heartless and began his fight with them regardless of how tired out his gate and body are at this point. Kenichi looked at his son and nodded before quickly jumping back to avoid another one of Todd's attacks.

The Vollachian soldier got up and without a second of hesitation he charged at the elder Natsuki member, determined to kill him. Kenichi continued to look at the Vollachian soldier with a serious and disgust facial expression while dodging every attack thrown towards him.

"If this is all you got, then we are done here."

Without any warning, Kenichi managed to avoid getting stabbed while also landing the strongest punch on Todd's face. The Vollachian soldier dropped the knife as he took a few steps back with his nose bleeding. The two just stared at each other for a moment before a couple of the shadow heartless appeared around the two and started to attack them.

Kenichi dodged a few of the heartless attacks in order to head towards the sword and shield he had dropped prior to his fist fight with Todd. Once he reached his weapons and picked them up, he was able to quickly react to the shadow heartless trying to attack him from his backside by turning around and smacking the shadow heartless away with the shield.

Just as he does this, he goes manages to easily take down a shadow heartless nearby with his sword. While he is distracted with this, Todd quickly goes to grab his axe before leaving the bar through the back door, seeing this fight as a risk to his life. While he was making his way out, he turns towards both Subaru and Kenichi with anger in his eyes.

'You two won't escape this empire out alive, I will make sure of it Lugnica scumbags.'

With a promise of rage filled in his heart, he burst open the door and began to make his way out. The barkeep and Flop noticed this but couldn't do anything about it due to the heartless getting in their way.

Subaru, Kenichi, and Rowan all three managed to take out the most heartless out of everyone. As the two bumped into each other back to back, Subaru looked around to see that Todd is nowhere to be found.

"Seems like Todd escaped, father."

"It's fine, we will beat him the next time he decides to face us!" Kenichi said with a confident tone. Subaru smiled as he agreed with his father, seeing how Todd was humiliated by him. The two continued to work together until finally all the heartless were taken care of. All of the warriors cheered as they succeeded in the battle with no loss. During this cheering, Subaru turned towards his father to ask him,

"What brought you here to the city of Guaral?"

"Well son, your mother and I happen to bump into someone who knows her way around these parts."

"Wait who?"

---

Sora and Medium manage to hide themselves within the crowd, knowing that Larkin is hunting the two down. As they were walking calmly to give off the vibe as regular citizens, Sora begins to think back on how Jamal helped them despite how he was going to end up fighting him anyway. This made him question what are the reasons for the Vollachian warrior to help him out and why is he siding with Todd and Larkin despite not thinking like them.

'Could it be because of loyalty? Friendship? Allies? Or is it for an entirely different reason?'

Sora continued to questioned this but before he could even come to a conclusion, Medium had tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you but...that weapon that you used, what was it?" She asked with a strong sense of curiosity in her tone of voice. Sora was unsure on how to approach this since he and Subaru had agreed to not talk about the keyblade and yet Medium was aware of the weapon. He crossed his arms as he went into deep thinking for a moment before responding with,

"It's...a powerful weapon."

"So why do you care a sword? Wouldn't it be much convenient wielding this powerful weapon rather than a sword?"

"Well...it's complicated." Sora said reluctantly since he didn't want to go into anymore detail. Medium noticed this and had a moment to think before patting the boy on the back.

"You don't need to say, I get it. It's probably something you can't talk about. Just know that you can always count on me with anything, Sora."

"Thanks."

Sora said this with a smile on his face, prompting Medium to also smile as she likes the positivity her ally was giving. Just as she was about to say something that would have changed the subject, suddenly more heartless started to appear in between the people in the crowd.

"More of them?" Medium questioned as she didn't expect these creatures to be so persistent.

'There are too many people here!' Sora thought as he didn't want any innocent bystanders getting caught in this mess or becoming heartless.

"We have to stop them!"

"Way ahead of you, Sora!"

Medium pulled out her two swords while having a confident smile, still feeling the urge of a fight. Sora noticed this and just simply nodded before pulling out his sword, confident that his own skills will be enough to get them through the fight ahead of them. As both of them preparing themselves for a fight, blood splattered around the area due to Medium having received the first injury by Larkin.

"hk!"

"Medium?!"

Sora shouted as he was worried for his ally and friend while Larkin looked at the two with a serious look. He had managed to catch up to the two once the heartless created chaos, giving him an opening to do some damage to one of the two.

He pulled out his bow and arrow to make a quick shot on the female warrior's left arm. Medium felt the sharp arrow pierce her arm but not enough to keep her away from the fight.

"D-Darn...that hurt a bit."

"Will you be alright?" Sora said with a concerned tone of voice.

"I'll be okay...S-Sora. Just give me a moment."

Sora contemplated in pulling out his keyblade to heal Medium's injury but he knew that first he had to take care of the archer. He turned towards Larkin's direction, seeing that the Vollachian archer was preparing to attack him.

"Do you feel good about hurting a girl?" Sora questioned as he dodged a few attacks from the shadow heartless nearby. Larkin prepares to fire an arrow on Sora only to have to use it on the gummi copter heartless type that was approaching him from the air. As he took this heartless out, he responded to Sora's question with a cold response,

"You Lugnica weaklings won't understand that it doesn't matter who your opponents are, they must be taken down by any means necessary."

Sora took notice of what Larkin said while he easily dispatched the three shadow heartless he was attacked by before looking at the archer, seeing that he was preparing to attack him.

"You won't win, Larkin." Sora declared as he was ready to face the archer. Larkin just looked at Sora with cold eyes before responding with,

"Time to die, so-called hero!"

With Larkin extremely confident in his precision, he fired three arrows at once, wanting to end this battle once and for all. Medium noticed this and wanted to assist Sora but she still needed a moment as she was pulling out the arrow from her shoulder. Sora prepared to move to block off every arrow shot towards him but before he could do something, he sensed that someone strong had gone appeared in front of him to block away the attacks for him.

"Huh?"

"I won't be allowing some pathetic arrows to harm this boy."

"Who the hell are you?" Larkin questioned as this new opponent looked familiar to him, as if they were related to someone he knew. Sora looked at the person that is in front of him, instantly knowing who it is.

"Priscilla?"

"It is good to see you too, Keyblade Master." Priscilla said with respect towards the boy before turning his attention towards Larkin, looking at him with disgust in her eyes.

Larkin prepared to fire his arrows at Priscilla only to feel that someone is trying to sneak attack him from his back side. Larkin turned around to see a sword approaching towards his position in rapid speed, prompting him to quickly jump back to avoid getting hit.

As he manages to avoid this, he senses another person trying to also attack him from his back side. Inside of dodging this though, he quickly used his bow to block off the attack from what seemed to be an older man with red hair.

"Hmph. Annoying Vollachian brat."

"Pathetic Lugnica peasant."

The two insult each other before the heartless quickly break their fight by attacking the two. Although the man used his sword to fight off the heartless, Larkin saw this as a chance to escape since he knew that Sora had too many allies on his side. He looked at the Keyblade Master for a moment with anger in his eyes.

'Sora, the so-called hero...you will be killed by my hands, I promise you that.'

With this engraved in his heart, he makes his grand escape while Priscilla and the others assist Sora and Medium in finishing off the heartless around the area. Once this happened, Medium managed to pull out the arrow, feeling a strong sting in her arm.

Without any second thought, Sora pulled out his kingdom key to quickly cast Curaga at Medium, healing her damaged arm from Larkin's attack. Medium was surprised by this while Priscilla just smirked at how impressive the keyblade master is.

"Thanks Sora!" Medium spoke with appreciation. Sora nodded at her with a smile before putting away his weapon, not wanting to have this out on the open. Just as he did that, the one armed man with the helmet approaches him.

"Hey bro, been a while."

"Al. How have you been?"

"Been good, just here with the princess."

"Princess?" Sora questioned since he wasn't sure what al meant by that until the one armed man pointed at Priscilla's direction. "Oh. Wait, I didn't know she was a princess."

"No, well...er, it's just me calling her that out of respect."

"Is that right, Aldebaran?" Priscilla questions has she approaches both him and the keyblade master.

"Um well..."

Al was fumbling around his words since he isn't sure if Priscilla was questioning him or angry with him. She looked with disappointment before changing into a more lighter mood as she looked at the keyblade master.

"There is something I wish to know. What brings you here to the Empire of Vollachia?" Priscilla spoke with respect to the boy, knowing that he is valuable to her but also having an actual respect for him. Sora took notice of the question, prompting him to respond with,

"Me, Subaru, Naoko, Kenichi, and Louis were all send here from the watchtower after our battle with what looked to be like the Witch of Envy."

"Hold on, you and what I presume the Emilia camp fought off the jealous witch?" Al asked as he was shocked by this revelation. Sora nodded with confidence, leaving an impression on both Al and Priscilla. As the two were impressed, the other ally of theirs approached with Sora recognizing him.

"Heinkel, was it?"

"Yes, Keyblade Master. That is my name." Heinkel said with a serious tone of voice. Sora was still wary of Reinhard's dad since he disapproves of how the man treats him but he doesn't want to cause any conflicts, so he shows respect for him by asking,

"How are you doing?"

"...Okay, I guess." Heinkel response in an expressionless manner. Sora just stood silent by this for a moment before turning towards Priscilla's direction.

"Can I ask, what brings you here?"

"Mhm? Well, the world as brought me here to save a couple and a sleeping little girl."

"A couple and a sleeping little...? Wait, are you referring to Kenichi, Naoko, and Louis?!" The Keyblade Master said. Priscilla noticed this yet she wasn't sure who the keyblade master was referring to. Al quickly answered the boy's question by saying in a calm gesture,

"Yeah, we found them being attacked by those dark creatures."

"Really?!...wait, where—?"

Before Sora could ask the whereabouts of Subaru's parents and the sleeping Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, he heard a female voice answer his question.

"We are here, Sora-san. There is no need to worry."

Sora turned towards the direction of the voice to see that it was Naoko with Louis sleeping in her arms. The Keyblade Master approached Naoko, happy to see that she is alright.

"Good to see you again." The boy said with a smile.

"It's good to see you too, Sora-san."

"How is Louis doing? Is she still asleep?"

"Yeah...she hasn't woken up yet."

"Oh..."

Sora's face changed into a serious one, starting to grow more concern for her sake since this isn't normal at all. This entire situation reminded him of Rem, how she ended up in a deep sleep as well.

'Could something have happened to Louis in the hall of memories to leave her in such a state?'

While Sora was trying to figure out what could've been the case of Louis' situation, Heinkel took note on what was being said, causing him to be angered a little since it reminds him of his situation. He started to walk away from the group with Al being the one to notice this.

"Where are you going?"

"...none of your business, 'knight'."

Heinkel just continued walking as he made a quick response towards what Al had asked.

'That's very rude.'

Al thought to himself since he had been treating the drunken warrior with respect. While Al just shrugged this, Priscilla approached both Sora and Naoko, trying to keep a respectful figure since she still wants the boy to join her camp.

"I don't mean to intrude in this reunion, but we should reunite with the other man that I saved."

"Other man...oh, you mean Kenichi? Wait, why isn't he here with you, Naoko?"

"He went to help Subaru."

"Ah, I see. Then let's go somewhere private to talk. There are a few things we need to discuss."

"Agreed." Priscilla chimed in as she had a few things to speak with the keyblade master. Sora noticed this and just simply nodded at her before he led the way into the city of Guaral, using his strong bond with Subaru to find his apprentice.

---

Sora and his group managed to find Subaru and his group in the same bar Todd had attacked. As the two groups crossed paths, Medium went to quickly hug her brother since she was happy to see him alive and well.

As she did that, Subaru didn't hesitate to hug his mother, completely relieved that she was alright. Kenichi joined in on the hug, turning this from a mother and son hug into the Natsuki family hug.

While this was going on, Sora had set Louis on a large table to rest peacefully. As he was looking at the sleeping teen girl, Heinkel looked at the boy's direction with a curious look before asking the barkeep for some beer.

Priscilla sat down with Al standing on her side, waiting for her next command. Subaru and his family finished their hug with the boy saying,

"S-Sorry that we were separated."

"It's okay my baby boy, I'm just happy you have returned to us safely."

"Y-Yeah..." Subaru was hesitant when he said this since it did took a couple of deaths before he was reunited with them. Although he had died to reach this point, he still smiled since he did worried for his parents' well-being. This smile only lasted for a moment before turning his attention towards Priscilla, seeing that she was the one responsible for saving his parents. He approached her which caught her attention. She opened her fan as she watched the keyblade apprentice bow at her while saying,

"Despite the fact that we are on different groups, different camps, I thank you for saving my parents. Really, thank you."

"Hm...well then, you will have to owe me, boy." Priscilla said as she saw this as an opportunity to have a favor with Sora's apprentice. Subaru took notice of this, causing him to be a bit annoyed by this yet he kept his cool. He got up before turning towards Sora's direction, seeing that he is all alone. He prepares to go towards his master only for Priscilla to say,

"Keyblade Master, could you join us for a bit?"

"Hm?" Sora snapped out of his train of thought, that being him debating with himself whether he should use the power of waking or not. He turns towards Priscilla as he managed to process what she had asked. He gives them a nod and calmly proceeds to join the group as they prepare to discuss.

"Since we are all here, it is safe to say that one must ask, why are you all still here?" Priscilla asked with a curious tone, wondering what value is there for Subaru and Sora to help the Empire of Vollachia. She has in mind that it could be because they are 'heroes' but she also wants to make sure if there is another reason for the two to keep fighting for a different kingdom. The two keyblade wielders both look at each other for a moment, trying to think of a proper answer to Priscilla's valid question. Once they both figured a mutual answer, they nod at each other before turning towards the red princess.

"We are here to help people but also because Abel had asked us." Sora said with Subaru nodding, having thought of the same thing. Priscilla had an eyebrow raised as a new question formed on her mind.

"Who is this Abel you mentioned?"

Sora and Subaru stood silent for a moment since they weren't sure if they should reveal Vincent's name. Priscilla noticed this hesitation, prompting her to think of a possible person that has the name Abel or something related to that name. She thought and thought until a name came to her mind.

"Vincent Abellux..."

She whispered this which Sora and Subaru both caught this, making them aware that Priscilla possibly knows of Vincent. Before either of them could say anything about this, the sun princess brushed this subject off by saying,

"That matter aside, what is your plan from here?"

"Huh?"

"I assume you need my assistance in helping with your overall goal."

"Well...isn't our goal but I guess you can say it has become ours." Subaru said with a bit of uncertainty. Priscilla looked at the boy with a blank expression, keeping her thoughts to herself though her interest were more towards Sora, wanting to know the Keyblade Master's goals and intentions in this empire. Sora noticed this, prompting him to say,

"I want to help the people of this empire. Nobody deserves to be attacked by the heartless or become one of them. That is my goal."

Priscilla had two opinions when hearing Sora's declaration of his intentions. The first was more of annoyance since heroes aren't something she has cared about or fully respected due to most of them having foolish ideals that usually lead them to their deaths. Though her second thought makes her respect the boy since she knows that Sora is probably the only one capable of accomplishing his goals regardless of the odds. She closed her eyes as she tried to come up with one singular thought. After a few seconds of thinking very deeply, she put away her fan while standing up. This attract the attention of everyone around her, most unsure on what she is going to do.

"Princess?"

"Shut it, Aldebaran."

"...Please just call me Al."

"Anyway, I shall deliver your wish, Keyblade Master. With the world on my side, there is nothing that can defeat us."

"Isn't that a little arrogant?" Subaru questioned this though he wasn't against them teaming up to defeat such impossible odds. Priscilla sharply looked at the boy before responding with,

"Such a thought like that would surely lead you to your death so easily, commenor."

"As much as her speaking that way pains me, I'd have to agree, Subaru." Kenichi said out of nowhere, surprising Subaru. "Remember that you are the son of the amazing Natsuki Naoko and the great Natsuki Kenichi. Negativity as never been a trait of ours."

"Hmph. Even the old man gets it."

"Yeah...hey! Wait a minute! I'm not that old!"

Kenichi responded to what Priscilla had said, which caused Subaru, Sora, Naoko, Flop, and Medium to start laughing, with even Al chuckling a little. After having a moment of laughter, Priscilla moved her attention back towards Sora.

"There is one thing I will question, why are you using a sword?"

"..."

"It is rather odd since you would be most efficient with that keyblade of yours."

"Well...it would be risky for more people to know about the keyblade...and also wouldn't Emilia get in trouble that me and Subaru are here? In a different kingdom?"

"Well that is true...the half-devil's lackeys on a different kingdom would bring question..." Priscilla paused while Subaru, Sora, Kenichi, and Naoko all looked with a little anger at her, not liking the way she addressed Emilia. Before either of them could say something about this, the sun princess continues to speak, "...though if you were under my camp, you wouldn't get your precious half-devil in trouble."

"Wait...what?" Subaru and Al said this in unison, both surprised by what Priscilla had said. Sora remained silent while Naoko went to ask the sun princess,

"What do you mean by that, Priscilla-sama? Are you suggesting that Sora-san join your camp?"

"Yes maid, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"Woah, wait a minute. M—Sora is not going to join your camp." Subaru declared as he didn't trust Priscilla on this point. The sun princess noticed this reaction, figuring that this was going to be the reaction. She pulled out her fan and hid her slightly sinister smile,

"Then will you accept your half-devil getting in trouble for having her knight and the keyblade wielder he follows on a different country?"

"Tsk!" Subaru's fists tightened as he saw that Emilia's reputation would get damage just by him and his master being in Vollachia. Before he could say anything about that, he started to question something in Priscilla's plan.

"Wait, if M—Sora is in your camp, wouldn't you get in trouble for being in another country?"

"That's where you are wrong. The world won't allow such nonsense to stop me from becoming ruler of Lugnica."

"Are you sure...? I don't want to get anybody in trouble." Sora said as he doesn't want to cause trouble for any of his friends. Priscilla noticed this and felt a little annoyed by it.

"Stop being so gloomy, your presence isn't trouble at all, Keyblade Master. All I'm doing is providing your commoner like apprentice a chance to have his precious half-devil avoid any consequence."

"..." Sora was silent by this, a bit surprised that someone like Priscilla would go out of her way to help Emilia. Though he suspected a little that it was a possible ploy to get him to join her camp, he was instigated to ask, "Will it be a permanent thing?"

"...I'd like that but I won't force you. For now, let's just say it would be beneficial for the both of us. Once I show you that my camp is the right choice, I'm certain you will stay."

"You won't force him to stay?" Subaru questioned, not sure if what Priscilla is saying is the truth.

"Hmph. Such a low and pathetic view. I would never force anyone to do anything. I'm not selfish. If anything, I'm confident that the Keyblade Master would join me because the world will deliver him to me."

"...okay." Subaru just couldn't understand Priscilla but for now they needed to trust each other since the Vollachian Empire will need every helping hand it can due to all the dangers that are lurking around. He turned towards his master to see what he will say. Sora just looked at Priscilla, understanding the situation and her motivation for doing this. He put his right hand on his chest area as he closed his eyes, thinking deeply on whether he should go with Priscilla's idea or not. After a moment of deep thinking, he opened his eyes before moving his hand towards Priscilla's direction.

"Alright then, I'll join your camp."

"Are you sure, Master Sora?" Subaru said as he was a bit surprised by this.

"Yeah, I want to make sure Emilia doesn't get in trouble. I also know that I can trust Priscilla that this is just temporary."

"Alright then, I trust your judgement, Master Sora."

Subaru respected his master's decision with Naoko and Kenichi respecting this as well. Priscilla had a genuine smile when she heard this, seeing that the Keyblade Master knows when to listen to good ideas. Sora looks at her with a serious look at first before having a warm smile.

"I trust you, Priscilla."

"Well then...I normally think that those believes of heroes are nothing more than ideologies that try to take the high road...but for the first time in my life, I shall place my trust on one of these ideologies, Keyblade Master. So don't disappoint." She says this as she shakes Sora's hand, signaling the start of their team up.

"You can just call me Sora." The Keyblade Master said as he still feels a little weird being addressed by that title.

"I think I'll stick with Keyblade Master for now."

"A-Alright..." Sora said with some uncertainty.

"Now that that's settled, what shall be our next move, Keyblade Master?"

"Maybe starting with her." Al said as he noticed someone approaching them. Sora and the others noticed this and quickly turned to see what Al was referring to. As they look, they see an all too familiar white kimono.

"Zarestia..." Subaru and Sora whispered this in unison underneath their breaths, both of them surprised to see her once again. Zarestia looks at the two keyblade wielders, having a serious facial expression.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Subaru asked.

"I'm here because my sphere is somewhere here!"