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.

88. The strongest warriors

Chapter 84: The strongest warriors

Cloud continued to go on the offense, somehow surprising Cecilus since he didn't expect Cloud's Buster Sword to move with such speed.

The Blue Lightning continued to move around with create speed, turning into literal lightning when going all around Cloud but every time he closed in to attack, the warrior with blonde hair managed to block off the attack.

"You are pretty impressive! What a legendary opponent you are!"

As Cecilus shouted this, he moved for a straight forward attack on Cloud, wanting to see if the warrior with the heavy looking sword was running out of strength any time soon.

Cloud looked confident at Cecilus as he managed to read what Cecilus's attack patterns were going to be, allowing him to deflect both swords with efficiency.

This continued on for some time until the darkness that was lingering around the blue lightning started to increase, allowing the first divine general to increase in both power and speed.

Cloud noticed this and was barely able to dodge two of Cecilus's attacks.

'This is bad.'

Cloud quickly jumped back a few feet away, trying to gain some distance from the Divine General.

As he did this, a sudden blue lighting approached him.

This forced Cloud to quickly summons a side blade in order to dual wield and counter both of Cecilus's swords at once.

As their weapons collide with extreme force, Cecilus once again started his compliments.

"You are just filled with tricks! That's what I like! It makes this legendary fight quite entertaining. It would be disappointing if you had this much skills only to lose in a dishonorable way."

"Don't worry about that, I won't lose."

"That's what I want to hear!"

Cecilus jumped back to break the blade lock before moving fast once again, becoming the literal blue lighting.

As he was the blue lighting, he was going in circles around the warrior, waiting for the right moment to strike.

While he was doing this, Cloud took a moment to think of a strategy.

He knows that Cecilus and him are still around the same level of strength and speed, with the darkness surrounding the divine general giving him just the edge to beat him.

He was tempted in using his own darkness, knowing full well that this could give him the advantage though he refused.

("How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved.")

It would be a disrespect to that promise, especially considering that he didn't use it against Sephiroth, someone he would totally use the darkness to eliminate.

Not just that but he also wants to walk a different path that can rely on the light.

As he was continuing to think for a strategy, Cecilus found his opening which prompted the divine general to go for the kill.

Cloud sensed this attack, prompting him to quickly use his side blade in order to block both of Cecilus's swords.

As he barely succeeded in doing this, the blue aura from earlier in the fight had returned. This allowed the warrior from another world to push the divine general back if only barely.

"That aura of yours...it's so cool."

Cecilus complimented this as well, finding it similar to his blue lightning.

Cloud was a bit caught off guard by this, not expecting to find an opponent that enjoys speaking in such a positive manner...well, one of a few.

"Thanks..."

As he said this, Cloud in his blue aura took the chance that he pushed Cecilus back as an opportunity to go on the offensive.

He pushed himself from the ground and towards the first divine general, using all of his strength on this attack.

As his buster sword that he was holding on his right hand managed to connect with Cecilus's sword from his right hand, he used all of his strength to start pushing Cecilus into a corner.

Although it was taking all of his strength in this attack, he was still going to give it his all on the next move.

He swung his side sword, aiming to disarm the divine general at least on the sword he was blade locked with.

Before this could happen, Cecilus knew what his opponent was trying to do which prompted him to quickly use his left hand's sword to block this attack, causing them to be in another blade lock with both blades of theirs.

"Haha…oops." Cecilus said as he saw that they are once again stuck. "This is embarrassing."

"..."

Cloud did not respond to this, if anything he tried to overpower the divine general in the hopes that he'll gain the advantage.

As he was at his limit of strength, he suddenly heard a voice, like a whisper in the wind:

"Is that all you got. How disappointing."

'That voice...'

Cloud's anger was starting to boil, knowing full well that the person talking to him was Sephiroth, or at least a voice of the one winged angel in his mind.

He was being mocked that he wasn't progressing much in this fight which did had sparks of darkness surrounding him.

'...no, I won't use the darkness. I'll rely on my own strength!'

With this determination against the real sephiroth or even the one that's on his mind, the blue aura around the warrior increased as well as his strength.

The blade lock eventually broke with Cloud's swords almost landed a hit on him.

"Close!"

As he said this, he swiftly counterattack his opponent which forced Cloud back. As he blocked off the attacks thrown towards him, he put away the side sword and decided to focus his attention on just using his buster sword.

As he held his sword with both his hands, he blocked all of Cecilus's attacks with some difficulty.

As he was on the defensive, he waited for the right moment before changing the tables.

The second Cecilus's attack with both swords left him open for two seconds, allowing him to move his buster sword towards the divine general's stomach area.

Cecilus noticed this and quickly moved his two swords to block the attack.

Even though the Blue Lightning was able to block off the attack, Cloud with his extra strength was able to lift up Cecilus onto the sky.

As he was flying up, he prepared to push himself back down only to see his opponent shot himself towards him.

As Cloud swung his Bluster Sword, Cecilus blocked the attack only to see that six separate swords appeared around him.

"Hm? What's this?"

Cloud didn't respond as he began to move all around the area.

He did this for three seconds before grabbing one of the six swords and charging at Cecilus with it.

The Divine General was more than eager to counter this attack, seeing that his opponent's speed was faster than before, probably rivaling with his current max speed at this very moment.

As he blocked the first attack, he was caught off guard by the amount of force Cloud was using which caused the Dream Sword to be knocked out of his hand.

"Hm. Okay."

Using his remaining sword, the Fiend Sword, he blocked the next attack with enough strength to not lose this one.

As Cloud went back to attack for a third time with the third weapon while Cecilus prepared himself for the attack.

As the two weapons clashed, the two were able to tell that the other was increasing in strength.

Cloud was increasing in speed and in strength with each weapon he grabs while the darkness controlling the first divine general increases his strength to match Cloud's.

This continued for two more times until finally Cloud was above Cecilus, with a powered-up Buster Sword.

Cecilus looked up in amazement to the amount of strength his opponent had, having figured that this was a possibility since he can sense a crazy amount of power deep within him.

The two clashed swords once again, with Cloud's strength being enough to cause Cecilus to be send towards the ground.

The moment Cecilus hit the ground, he had crashed hard enough to cause a large crater.

Cloud glided down to check on Cecilus, knowing that he shouldn't be killed since he was forced to fight because of what the Organization XIII did to him and the other divine generals.

As he went to check on the blue lighting, he suddenly felt a dark presence right behind him. He turned around and swiftly attempted to block the attack.

His instincts served the warrior from another world well since Cecilus was indeed attacking him from behind, no longer holding anything back though he didn't seem like himself either.

He had his eyes closed while a mixed of blue lightning and darkness was surrounding the divine general.

'Something's not right here.'

Cloud felt that this wasn't right.

"Cecilus? Are you alright?" He asked, worried for the divine general's sake.

Cecilus remained silent as he just continued to attack him.

While Cloud was continuing his fight with Cecilus, Sora looked at his surroundings, noticing that Halibel as him completely surrounded with the three clones.

"Nothin' personal, kid."

"...I won't give up."

Sora knows that Halibel is under some kind of possession due to the darkness that is emitting around him.

In their previous encounter, he hadn't sensed this kind of darkness at all and yet he now is noticing it.

'I'll free you from this!'

With determination on his heart, he blocked each attack from the four Halibels with some effort before charging at one of the clones.

Once he closed in on the clone, he used all of his strength to land a blow on Halibel hitting the wolf man's stomach area.

As he did this, he manage to send the clone a few feet back, causing the clone to crash to the ground with force, injuring him.

As Sora did this, he started to block off the kunai being thrown towards him by the real Halibel and his two remaining clones standing side by side with him.

The Keyblade Master quickly deflected each kunai thrown towards him before pointing his keyblade at the three wolf men.

"Watera!"

Sora fired a strong water attack, managing to land this attack on the real Halibel since the attack was aimed directly at the middle wolf man.

Halibel attempted to dodge the attack yet Sora's magic was fast enough to hit his chest area.

This caused Halibel to be sent a few feet away, prompting his two clones to charge directly towards the Keyblade Master.

"You really are an amazing fighter, Sora."

"So are you."

Sora responded with a smile on his face, respecting his opponent.

He waited for a moment before beginning to block the attack from the two Halibels.

As he managed to do this, the injured clone Halibel returned to the fight.

He was about to stab the boy in the back yet the Keyblade Master was barely able to dodge the attack thanks to having sense the darkness from the clone.

He looked at the clone with concern, knowing full well that this darkness was more potent, prompting him to look at Xehanort who was observing his and Cloud's respective fights.

"What did you do to them, Xehanort?"

"..."

Xehanort had a blank facial expression, not responding to Sora's question. This got the keyblade master to worry for a moment.

'Whatever is causing the darkness to increase on Halibel, I need to do something and fast.'

Sora looked at the other two clone Halibels, noticing that they also had a dark aura that wasn't there previously.

This caused his worry to increase, prompting him to turn towards the real Halibel's direction only to notice that he had manage to teleport right in front of him with the wolf man moving his arm to stab him.

"Wha—?"

Sora was caught off guard with this sudden speed which prompted his fight or flight to kick in.

"Reflect!"

Just in the nick of time, he was able to create a barrier that not only protected him but pushed back all four halibels away from him. As the barrier was up for a few seconds before disappearing, Sora couldn't help but think of one question.

'What did Xehanort do?'

He knows that Xehanort had done something to Halibel, possibly Cecilus and the other divine generals he and the Organization had captured since he could sense that there's still a light within the wolf men...just locked behind a large amount of darkness.

He looked at Kingdom Key for a moment before switching it out for Shooting Star, having a feeling that a slightly stronger keyblade will help him in this fight.

He could chose something stronger yet he doesn't want to cause too much harm to his opponent since he's being possessed by darkness.

After having changed his keyblade, he looked at the four Halibels, both sides staring each other down for a few seconds before resuming their fight.

One halibel ran towards the right side, another ran towards the left side, the third ran straight towards Sora's direction, and the fourth stayed behind as he prepared to throw dark kunai at the keyblade master.

Sora noticed this, figuring that he's being surrounded by the three halibel clones while the real one was preparing to attack from a distance.

Sora waited for a moment before starting to block off the attacks thrown towards him from three different sides.

As he was on the defense, he suddenly felt the three Halibels moving faster and faster, making the boy question if its them getting strong or him getting weaker.

He thinks this since he remembers that after his fight against The Witch of Envy back in the Pleiades Watchtower, he was weakened.

His fight with Sephiroth is proof of this since he struggled to hold his own against him. Before he could even think more into it, the Halibel in the back began to attack from long range.

This prompted the three Halibels to change their fighting patterns in order to accommodate for the fourth Halibel.

Sora noticed this yet he wasn't afraid of this, still filled with confidence and determination to save the wolf man.

While Sora was doing everything he can against the four Halibels, Cecilus and Cloud once again ended up in a blade lock.

'I need to end this fight...that darkness in him keeps increasing!'

Cloud realized that Cecilus's darkness was increasing each second that past and with a world that favors the darkness...this will become a problem if he doesn't do something.

He jumps back in order to break the blade lock just so he could start a barrage of attacks on the divine general.

Cecilus easily blocked each of the warrior's attacks, the darkness possessing him having managed to increase the speed and strength to the Blue Lightning enough to be above Cloud's overall stats.

Just before Cecilus could change defense to offense, Cloud waited for the right moment before attempting to thrust his weapon onto the divine general's chest area.

Cecilus with his dream sword attempted to push the attack away and onto another direction that's away from him only to realize that Cloud was baiting him to do this.

The warrior looked at Cecilus with a blank expression, not really wanting to do harm yet knowing that it's either this or being killed by the Divine General.

He waits for the right moment before moving swiftly with his sword, managing to land a few blows on the Blue Lightning's chest area.

As Cecilus received some damage, Cloud took the opportunity to try and knock the divine general out with one big strike.

He goes for one last swing only for the dark aura around the first divine general created a dark barrier to prevent Cloud from ending the fight.

"What?"

The dark aura surrounding Cecilus covered him completely which caused Cloud to jump away from his opponent's location, keeping a distance for safety reasons.

As he was a few feet away, he looked at the darkness consuming Cecilus in a matter of seconds before a heartless symbol appeared in the Blue Lightning's chest area.

'He...became a heartless...?'

As Cloud was shocked by this sudden new problem, Cecilus heartless charged towards his position with rapid speed.

The warrior saw this and was barely able to block off the attack, seeing that's once again dealing with a more powerful version of the Blue Lighting.

While all of this was going on, Sora continued to block and block each and every attack whether that'd be close or long range.

Yet the more time he must put effort in blocking, the more of his strength gets depleted...and they still must confront the other Organization members and Sephiroth himself.

There's also the witch that Roswaal had warned him about back when him and the group returned to the mansion from the events of the water gate city of Pristella.

With all this pressure increasing, he knows that he needs to do something and fast before Halibel does manages to beat him.

"Reflect!"

He created a barrier around him to prevent either of the four halibels to attack him while he's using fromchange with Kingdom Key.

As he was in his formchange, he quickly was able to move fast enough that the three Halibels in close range with a dark aura surrounding them to be overwhelmed by the boy's fighting tricks.

Sora threw his keyblade at one of the Halibels, causing that one to be caught off guard and to receive a strong hit to the chest area.

As he received this hit, the keyblade continued to go through Halibel and went on for a moment before returning back like a boomerang.

This caused this clone of Halibel to receive a second hit only this time on his back side. After this happened, Sora grabs Kingdom Key and begins using Sonic Blade.

This ability allows the keyblade master to charge with Kingdom Key at the Halibel closest to him.

These seven attacks nearly left that Halibel knocked out of the fight since Sora's focused attacks were enough to do some serious damage.

'Sorry Halibel...but I can't let that darkness in you to increase.'

As another clone was knocked out, the remaining Halibel clone and the real Halibel still standing, Sora in his Second Form looked at the two with determination.

"Stand down, Halibel. I don't want to hurt you."

"..."

Halibel remained silent and just continued to attack, with the clone going for close range while the real one was attacking from long range.

Sora charged at the remaining clone Halibel that's charging towards him.

As him and the wolf man clone clash, Sora was able to overpower him.

He was able to use an ability he calls Ars Arcanum.

This ability allows Sora to unleash a flurry of thirteen slashes towards his opponent, making it extremely hard to block it all out or avoid since his speed and strength have a sudden boost in power while his magic abilities he can do drops down by a good chunk.

As Sora and his keyblade started to glow before doing this ability, Halibel attempted to block all of the attacks, yet he was overwhelmed within seconds.

He was only able to block two attacks and dodge the third before the fourth attack managing to land on his right side.

This hit was what allowed Sora to land the rest of the nine strikes he had left in this ability.

Once he was done, the remaining Clone Halibel fell on his knees as he was barely able to stay conscious.

Sora didn't want to go all out the way he did, yet he needed to get to the real Halibel if he wants to free him from the darkness possessing him.

The moment the clone had collapsed to the ground, he along with the other three Halibels disappeared.

This left the real Halibel to face the Keyblade Master on his own.

Sora looked at Halibel with a calm expression, not wishing to fight someone who's being forced to fight yet that calm expression turned into concern when he saw that all of a sudden the dark aura around Halibel consumed him similar to Cecilus.

'What?!'

Sora was not only concern for Halibel's safety but angered by what was going on, seeing that the wolf man had become a heartless of sorts the moment a heartless symbol appears on his chest area.

"Halibel!"

"..."

The heartless Halibel remained silent, oddly smoking off his pipe as his usual self would.

The keyblade master turned towards Xehanort with an angry expression, knowing full well that the Organization leader is responsible for what's going on.

"What did you do? Xehanort!"

"A little experiment."

Before Sora could question the old Keyblade Master anymore, Halibel continued their battle by attempting to stab him in the face with a dark kunai.

Sora was able to dodge the attack while doing one of his own, landing his Kingdom Key on his opponent's right side.

As he landed this hit, he quickly tried to finish the fight as fast as possible by using Ars Arcanum.

Just as he was about to use the ability, Halibel managed to recover from the previous attack and move fast enough to land a hit to the boy's stomach area with an elbow hit.

This knocked the wind out of Sora for a moment, causing his Second form to revert back to his usual attire.

Sora attempted to quickly recover from this, yet Halibel did not stop attacking.

He landed a few punches to the face before managing to kick the keyblade master up onto the sky.

As Sora attempted to recover from this only for Halibel to teleport right in front of the boy and kick him hard enough to land on the ground with enough impact to cause some damage.

"Seems like this is your limit, Sora."

Xehanort spoke in disappointment, seeing that the Keyblade "Master" can't handle someone like Halibel when increased with darkness.

As he said this, Sora slowly got up with his determination still there.

He had heard what the old Keyblade Master had said and yet he didn't care about it.

He knew that he needs to save the wolf man from this darkness no matter what.

As he was back on his feet, he spit out some blood.

This shocked him since he hadn't been injured like this before. Sora looked up at Halibel's direction only to see the wolf man be right in front of him.

"Wha—?!"

Sora get kicked in the face by the wolf man, suddenly shocked by this surprise attack.

Halibel teleported above Sora in an attempt to go for another attack.

Before the wolf man heartless was able to connect his attack, Sora felt the world suddenly stop as he was feeling hopeless at that moment.

Despite his determination high as always, a part of him feels that he isn't good enough.

He still feels inadequate to be the master of Natsuki Subaru, the person Rem loves, someone who can be there for his friends.

If it wasn't for everyone in his life constantly being there for him, saving him when he needs it, he knows he would be nothing.

These feelings were also amplified having seen all of Natsuki Subaru's deaths as well as everyone else's deaths...including his own in one loop.

As these feelings were circulating on his mind, he suddenly remembered Kairi. He remembered when she saved him from remaining a heartless, when they were reunited in the World that never was, when she was waiting for him right before the guardians of light went up against the seekers of darkness for a second time in the keyblade graveyard.

He also had memories of Rem roaming his mind, both before and after her first encounter with the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony.

These two being in his mind were able to help him keep on fighting, prompting him to move fast enough to block off Halibel's attack.

As he did this, he was sent flying towards the ground once again only this time he had a chance to land on his feet.

The moment he recovered, he was able to jump away from Halibel's kick.

Sora landed a few feet away from the wolf man heartless for a brief moment before charging straight at him.

As the keyblade wielder closed the gap between himself and his opponent within a few seconds, he took the opportunity to once again throw a barrage of close range attacks.

Sora landed a couple of hits before landing a heavy hit with everything he had.

This heavy attack was able to send the wolf man flying up on the air long enough for the keyblade wielder to point his keyblade directly at him.

The moment he had a straight shot towards Halibel, the tip of his keyblade began to glow for a few seconds before firing a ray of light.

This light not only hit the admirer of Kararagi in the chest area where his heart is located but it went through him.

This attack somehow managed to eliminate the darkness that was possessing him as the wolf man's body had disappeared, essentially freeing him.

Halibel began to fall towards the grown, looking unconscious.

Seeing this caused Sora to put away his Kingdom Key while running towards the location Halibel was going to crash in on his fall to the ground.

Once he reached him, the boy managed to catch the wolf man's unconscious body.

"I got you!"

As Sora was holding onto Halibel, he set the wolf man down to check on him.

He did this for a moment before he concluded that the wolf man was alright physically though just to make sure, he used the last of his magic to heal any injuries that he could have.

Once he used Cure on Halibel, he turned his attention towards Cloud, seeing that his friend was managing to push Cecilus heartless back.

The blonde warrior continued to land a multitude of attacks on the divine general.

Sora noticed that any more hits and that might actually cause Cecilus to be killed.

Despite the fact that he doesn't know about the first divine general, he knows that he isn't in control of himself.

This prompted him to point his keyblade at Cecilus, hoping that what he did to Halibel will work with Cecilus.

As he pointed his keyblade, it once again started to glow on the tip of the keyblade for a few seconds before firing a ray of light.

"Watch out, Cloud!"

Cloud heard Sora's warning, prompting him to quickly jump away from Cecilus.

As he did this, Cecilus was left wide open for Sora's attack to pierce through the chest area where his heart was also located.

Similar to Halibel, Cecilus's darkness that had consumed him started to fade away, freeing him from the darkness having taken hold of him.

Once the darkness was completely gone from the divine general's body, he collapsed to the ground.

Cloud lowered his guard for a moment has he went to check on his opponent, wanting to make sure he was okay.

As he goes to check on the first divine general, Sora turns towards Xehanort with a glare. He points his keyblade at him while saying,

"It's all over, Xehanort."

"Not quite." The old man spoke with confidence. "It was impressive that you beat two of the strongest warriors in this world...but you still have three others to get through if you even wish to take me on."

As Xehanort said this, he pulled out three cards which caused Sora to be on guard.

Xehanort smiled when he saw the boy chosen by the keyblade react in a defensive manner, prompting him to throw the three cards onto the ground, which caused the cards to glow with a bright light.

After a few seconds, the bright light had dimmed away to show three separate divine generals surrounded by a dark aura.

Cloud noticed this and quickly went to stand next to the Keyblade Master after having made sure that Cecilus will be alright on his own unconscious.

Once Cloud had managed to stand side by side with Sora, he got his weapon ready for battle. As he prepared himself, he turned towards his friend's direction to see that he was a bit nervous.

"Don't worry Sora, we won't lose."

"..." Sora turned towards Cloud's direction with a slightly surprised facial expression.

"We haven't lost yet and we never will."

"...right!"

Sora turned forward and looked at the three divine generals with a confident facial expression, having been once again motivated by a friend.

"We won't lose."

As Sora said this, he got himself into his fighting position, ready for battle himself. Xehanort saw this and couldn't help but see through this façade.

Before back in their battle in Scala Ad Caelum and even in the capital a little over a year now, he saw a different resolve than the one he's seeing now.

His smile fades as his serious facial expression takes over, curious to see how the keyblade wielder and his ally will handle against three powerful opponents after having had a tough fight already.

He snapped his fingers to indicate the start of the battle.

Mogro Hagane, the tallest of the group and also the eight divine general charges into battle first.

He moves one of this large bronze inorganic mineral arms to attack Sora first, viewing him as the biggest threat while also confident that this one hit will be enough to kill his opponent.

Sora quickly blocks the attack only to be sent flying back since the attack was stronger than he had thought.

As this happened, Groovy takes his opportunity to start his fight with Cloud by taking out his short purple sickle and attempt to slice off the warrior's head clean off.

Cloud noticed this and was fast enough to not only dodge the attack but he did not hesitate to counterattack.

He started to once again be engulfed in a blue aura as he was prepared to eliminate the little opponent only for Goz to step in and block off the young man's attack with his large golden mace.

"Hm?" Cloud was surprised by this.

"What the?! He's mine!" Groovy spoke in a snarky tone, angered by Goz's interference. Goz simply ignored him and just continued to face off Cloud, both in a blade lock of sorts.

Groovy got up and quickly went around to try and kill Cloud with an attack from his back side.

Cloud was aware of this, prompting him to respond to Groovy's sneak attack by ducking while also managing to break away from the blade lock.

As Cloud successfully gained some distance from the two divine generals, he quickly started to formulate a plan on dealing with the two.

While thinking of a strategy, Groovy charged at him.

As he swung his sickle once again at Cloud, the warrior blocked off the attack while keeping an eye on Goz's moment.

Seeing that the fifth divine general was preparing to attack Cloud, he took this chance to go on the offense against Groovy by swiftly swinging his sword.

The divine general was able to block the first three swings from Cloud before the fourth one caught him off guard.

The fourth attack managed to leave a small scar on his left cheek, having just barely avoid a fatal blow.

Cloud looked with a strong determination as he saw the opening he needed.

He quickly used his left hand to grab his buster sword while using his right hand to make a strong fist before landing a strong punch to Groovy's face.

This attack had done some damage and even sent him flying a few feet away, Cloud quickly turned towards Goz's direction to block off his heavy attack.

As his buster sword clashed with Goz's golden large mace, he was almost pushed back from the attack since he was caught off guard by the amount of strength the fifth divine general has.

'He's strong...'

Cloud could tell with the attack from Goz's mace that had the mace hit him, he could've been killed.

Cloud and Goz looked at each other with a serious gaze before the two threw their attacks that ended up canceling the other.

This continued for a bit with the two throwing their own attack only to cancel each other out until Groovy jumped back into the fight, having extreme rage in his eyes.

"I'll kill you!"

Groovy swung his sickle once again though has he did this, he also prepared to use one of his dual hatchets to do a secondary attack.

Cloud waited for a moment before changing his trajectory of his attack towards Groovy's direction, clashing swords while managing to dodging Goz's mace swing.

As Groovy and Cloud's weapons clashed, the sixth divine general swung one of his dual hatchets at his opponent.

Cloud noticed this which prompted him to move his head out of the way of the attack.

As he does this, he uses his strength to push Groovy away from him in order to block off Goz's attack.

As the buster sword blocked off the mace's attack, Cloud looked with a bit of stress, seeing that he's in a bit of trouble here.

Despite managing to keep up with the two divine generals, he's actually very low on stamina and strength thanks to his long fight with Cecilus and against the large amount of heartless that had covered the capital of the Vollachia Empire.

'If I make one simple mistake, I'm done for.'

As Cloud acknowledge this, he continued to block the attacks from both Groovy and Goz.

While this was going on, Sora got up after having received one hell of a hit from the eight divine general.

Sora looked forward to see Mogro slowly walking towards him, the dark aura around the divine general slowly increasing.

The Keyblade Master knew that if the darkness in Mogro covers him completely and turns him into a heartless similar to Halibel and Cecilus then he might actually be in trouble.

As Mogro was closing in on Sora, he began to move a little faster and faster with each step until finally closing the gap in order to continue the fight between himself and his opponent.

The divine general threw another punch towards his opponent, prompting Sora to dodge the attack rather than blocking it as he knows that he's currently not strong enough to block Mogro's strong attacks.

Just as Sora had managed to dodge the attack and prepared his counterattack, Mogro began to spin his arm like a drill while moving that said arm towards Sora's position.

The keyblade master was surprised by this, barely having enough time to react by jumping high enough to avoid getting caught by it.

As he was on the air, he began to feel his confidence drain since this would normally be a perfect time to attack with magic abilities yet at this moment, he had not enough power to use magic, even the low tier magic.

He remained in the air for a few seconds before landing back on the ground, quickly going on the defense the second he landed since Mogro went for another attack.

He swung his large hand while it was moving like a drill towards the keyblade wielder. Sora dodged to attack only for Mogro to go for another attack with his other free hand.

Sora had only three seconds to react, knowing that these attacks are enough to do some fatal damage.

Being the only way to survive, he moves his keyblade towards Mogro's second swift attack, knowing that this was his best chance in surviving.

As Kingdom Key connects with Mogro's right hand, Sora uses all of his strength that he could muster to prevent himself from being sent flying again for blocking an attack.

Sora's at current full strength was barely enough to push back Mogro's drill hand, having managed to stop the hand from moving like a drill.

The divine general was surprised by this, not expecting his opponent to do this after his very first attack managed to send him flying despite having blocked the attack.

This made him understand that he was underestimating his opponent, prompting him to increase the speed of his attacks as well as his strength he puts behind them.

"Impressive. You are stronger than expected."

As Mogro complemented Sora for being stronger than he looks, he started to throw a barrage of attacks at the boy.

Sora noticed these attacks and knew that he had to pick up the pace in regards to his speed, knowing that just one hit will lead to his end.

Sora dodged each attack thrown towards him, with each second spend on defense, his strength was waning.

He had used everything when facing off against the large horde of heartless at the beginning of this battle as well as going all out against Halibel and his three clones.

Now that he's facing an opponent that is stronger than him, his mind was starting to plant seeds of doubt, feeling that he isn't enough to help his friends from this world win against Xehanort.

After all, even if he does beat Mogro and Cloud beating Groovy and Goz, they would still need to deal with Xehanort.

This is when Sora saw his situation for what it is, extremely difficult with a slim chance of success.

Even if they do beat everyone, Xehanort could easily take them all down without breaking a sweat.

'How can...we win...?'

This was something that Sora asked himself, feeling that doubt grow within him even more until...

"Sora!"

Cloud shouted as he swiftly grabbed Sora and managed to pull him away from Mogro's barrage of attacks.

Sora snapped out of his feelings of hopelessness as he saw that Cloud had managed to save him.

"Remember what I said, we won't lose."

"..."

Sora remained silent, feeling disappointed in himself that he was reminded by Cloud once again that they won't lose this battle.

This made him think back of his first big fight against Ansem, how he had managed to separate Donald and Goofy from him while growing in power.

Despite Ansem's attempts at victory, he had managed to reunite Donald and Goofy back into the fight and managing to beat Ansem.

He then recalled his fight against Xemnas with only Riku by his side.

Despite the battle being long and hard, the duo was able to defeat the Organization leader at the time.

And then there was the final confrontation with the real Organization and how that situation had gone down.

Recalling these three big fights helped fuel the flame that was dimming in Sora's heart.

As he was motivated once again, Sora and Cloud looked at the three divine generals, seeing that the trio were preparing to attack simultaneously.

"Hm. We can beat them...we just need to coordinate with each other."

As Cloud said this, there was a sudden swish sound that past by both him and the keyblade wielder, catching the two off guard.

Someone had joined in on the fight with their target being Groovy, having managed to catch the sixth divine general off guard as well.

This unknown force came in and landed a kick so hard that Groovy was sent flying all the way until he crashed into a building, causing the building itself to collapse.

It took Sora and Cloud a moment to look before seeing that the unknown person that had joined the battle was Arakiya herself, the second divine general of Vollachia.

"Arakiya!" Sora shouted with a surprised tone.

"Hm. So, you are still in this fight." Xehanort spoke in a blank tone. He was a bit surprised by her return to the fight yet nothing he didn't foresee.

He snapped his fingers from his right hand which caused the dark aura around Mogro and Goz to consume them the same way Cecilus and Halibel were consumed.

Arakiya was taken aback from this, prompting her to jump back all the way towards Sora and Cloud's position.

"What's going on?" The second divine general asked, uncertain of what was going on with their opponents.

"...the darkness is taking hold of them." Sora spoke in a serious tone.

"...what have I missed?"

"We have to beat them if we want to deal with Xehanort." Cloud answered as he got himself into fighting position alongside Sora.

"Nothing that we can't handle."

"Careful, that darkness covering them as also increase their strength." As Sora gives this warning to Arakiya, Mogro and Goz both suddenly move extraordinarily fast.

The two close the gap between them and their targets in order to start fighting. Arakiya used water magic in an attempt to eliminate Mogro first.

As her water hit the eight divine general, it was able to push him back but not do too much damage.

This caught Arakiya's attention, seeing that eight's defenses have gotten stronger thanks to this darkness the Keyblade Master had warned about.

As she chose to take on Mogro, Cloud waited for the right moment before clashing weapons with Goz once again, this time much prepared for the increase in strength his opponent had gotten.

Sora noticed this and quickly took the chance to move in on Goz, knowing that taking one of these divine generals will prove to be beneficial for their side.

As he attempted to attack from the side, suddenly Groovy returns back into the fight while also covered in the same darkness that's also covering Goz and Mogro.

As the sixth divine general was charging in at Sora, the keyblade wielder changed his attention from Goz to Groovy.

As he did this, he quickly blocked Groovy's heavy attack.

"...A three on three fight...this is fair." Cloud said, seeing that they are all now on even grounds.

As he was on a blade lock of sorts with Goz, he turned towards his left side to see how Arakiya was holding herself.

Arakiya was able to use all sorts of magic to keep Mogro at a distance, preventing him from attacking her.

Viewing this for a few seconds gave Cloud a good gauge on how Arakiya was doing against Mogro.

He turned towards his right side to see Sora and Groovy's fight, seeing how the Keyblade Master was managing his own against the small divine general.

Sora and Groovy swung at each other which caused their respective weapons to clash with each other, pushing the two back a bit before doing it again and again.

Cloud was confident that Sora will be able to stop Groovy on his own, prompting him to return his focus on Goz, feeling that he's the strongest out of the three divine generals.

While Sora, Arakiya, and Cloud were preoccupied with Groovy, Mogro, and Goz, Kyda was finally waking up from having been knocked out from Xehanort's kick to her face.

As she was slowly getting back up on her feet, she looked forward to see that Sora, Cloud, and Arakiya were taking on three opponents while Xehanort was observing the fight closely.

She was tempted to go and fight off Xehanort yet she recalled that Olbart and Yorna were both unable to even scratch him, and the two were clearly stronger than her.

This made her hesitate since she was over her head at this point...

"...what can I do?" She asked herself, knowing that her current strength can't really do much at all. As she asked herself this, she looked around to see Yorna and Olbart were still down from their fight.

This prompted her to check up on the two, wondering if they were even alive.

The first she checked was Yorna, being the closest to her.

As she got close to the divine general, she checked for a pulse first just to make sure that she's still alive.

Once confirming that Yorna was still alive, she looked at the injuries Yorna had sustained in battle which prompted her to ask, "How can we beat that monster...?"

As Kyda said this, she was scared since she doesn't know how they can beat Xehanort. Just by seeing the battle Sora, Arakiya, and Cloud were having against the three divine generals helped indicate that this is nothing Xehanort can't handle on his own. As she was trying to see how she could help Yorna, she turned towards Olbart to see how he was doing. As she did this, she suddenly saw a young girl with amber eyes and light blue hair appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh? Who are you?"

"..."

The girl remained quiet as she looked at her surroundings, finding it disgusting before turning her attention towards Xehanort.

She summoned a weapon that had an appearance like that of a boomerang towards the old man while shouting in a bratty manner:

"Hey baldy! Don't think I won't forgive you for what you did a few days ago! I'm here to kill you!"

Xehanort's gaze turned away from the fight happening in front of him towards the girl in blue.

At first he was merely curious to know who was trying to get his attention, thinking that perhaps it was some warrior not worth his time until he saw that it was someone he had been interested in capturing.

"Ah yes, the girl that can command the dragons. Madelyn Eschart."

The girl looked at the old keyblade master with a stern and hatred look, remembering full well on what the old man had done many days back.

---

Madelyn had been working in finding the one who killed Balleroy Temeglyph, wanting vengeance on his killer yet her investigation had been interrupted when a sudden dark portal had appeared.

"What?"

Madelyn had pulled out her weapon with her dragons all preparing for battle. As they waited for a moment, two unknown figures in black coats appeared out.

These made the divine general and her dragons to be on the defensive since some random people were just appearing at their own home.

"Who are you?"

Madelyn spoke with anger, annoyed by the presence between the two.

The two unknown figures looked around for a moment, noticing that the dragons were all preparing to attack them right then and there.

This prompted the two in black coats to reveal themselves, one being an old man while the other a younger fellow with short platinum-blond hair.

"I asked who're you two idiots?!"

"Quite the attitude you have, little one." The old man said as he pulled out a key shape sword out of thin air.

This caught Madelyn's attention, never before having seen such a weapon like that before.

Seeing the key shaped blade made her start to think that perhaps this old man may know what had happened to Balleroy Temeglyph.

She prepared to have her dragons attack the two unknown intruders only for the blonde one to pull out three separate cards before throwing them towards three of her dragons.

Without hesitation she commanded her dragons to attack the two intruders while she herself charges in directly towards them.

The blonde one smiled as his three cards hit their intended targets, causing the three dragons that got hit to suddenly be sucked into the cards themselves.

Madelyn saw this and was left stunned, shocked by what had happened.

This left her open for the old man to easily land a simple hit onto the blue haired girl.

With one simple hit to the gut, she was sent flying a couple of feet away from the old man, causing all of her dragons to target him.

The old man looked at the large horde of dragons all targeting him with no fear or concern.

He put away his keyblade as his ally created a barrier of cards, which surprisingly managed to hold them back.

"Too easy."

As the blonde one said this, he knocked each dragon he closed in on with a simple kick from the looks of things, prompting some of the dragons to retreat as they can see that this was a futile fight.

As a majority of dragons had left, those that stayed were being knocked out one by one within a few seconds.

Madelyn slowly got up with her body being in pain while also feeling intense anger in her heart.

Watching the dragons she cares deeply for getting hurt from the blonde haired man with the black coat caused her to charge at him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Madelyn swung her weapon with everything she had, managing to catch her opponent off guard and land a hit on him.

As the blonde haired man in the black coat received a strong hit to the head, Madelyn used her superior strength to land a kick on her opponent's stomach area to send him flying onto the ground with intense force.

Just as he was going to hit the ground, the intruder managed to land on his feet while throwing five cards at Madelyn's direction.

Before they can even reach her, one of the dragons began to fire a strong amount of fire breath.

This was enough to destroy the cards before they could even do anything.

Madelyn smiled as she saw an opening to attack the old man, seeing that he's defenseless.

As she swung the weapon towards the old man, she was suddenly stopped which caused her to be puzzled for a moment before realizing what happened.

The old man smiled proudly as he was holding onto the tip of Madelyn's weapon with his right hand while his left hand was behind his back.

"Is this all you have?"

"Grrrr!"

Madelyn attempted to kick the old man in the face only for the old man to not only dodge the attack but also threw Madelyn away from him.

"You think yourself strong but you are nothing more than a child."

"Don't look down on me, scum!" Madelyn shouted as she landed on her feet. "As the ninth divine general, you're a dead man!"

"Hm. A divine general?" The old man asked this with a skeptical tone before pulling out his keyblade to easily block off Madelyn's weapon. "What disappointment."

The old man spoke out with clear disappointment before easily knocking her down.

Madelyn received a strong hit to the face with immense strength.

This was more than enough to knock the divine general out.

Just as Madelyn's knocked out body landed on the ground, the remaining dragon quickly grabbed onto the girl's body and swiftly left the area.

As the dragon was leaving, the blonde haired intruder was prepared to take the dragon down only for the old man to stop him.

"Let them leave. They won't be a problem to us."

"Shouldn't we capture that divine general?"

"No. She isn't much of use to us. Though those dragons are."

As the old man said this, he looked at the cards that contained the dragons captured.

As the intruders picked up the cards and left, Madelyn was able to briefly see the two from a distance before everything went blank.

---

A group of warriors gather with a young Cecilus looking up at the sky, feeling bored in the island he had found himself.

'When will the real story begin?'

This was a question on his mind, wanting something that'll make him witness a legendary battle or even participate in one.

As he was walking onto the spectator sit of the arena, fully aware that another sparka event was about to take place with five new people.

One good look at them made the blue lightning think that they are just going to die a painful death.

'How disappointing.'

He sat down and just watch as the five members in this sparka were arguing right before Gustav started the match.

The exact moment he said to the five members that they can start, suddenly a large amount of dark creatures started spawning in all around the island.

This caused the Mabeast that was preparing to kill the five members to change its attention to the dark creatures as it views them more of a threat.

As it turns it's attention towards them and starting to attack the dark creatures, Gustav turned towards the dark creatures surrounding him which forced him to shout:

"Everyone! Fight off these creatures!"

All the warriors from the gladiator island pulled out their weapons as they began to protect themselves from the dark creatures.

Young Cecilus looked at the creatures surrounding him, leaving him at first curious since he's never seen anything like these creatures.

He waited for them to attack first before countering with everything he had.

As he put just a bit of effort, he realized that at least these dark creatures were nothing of a threat (at least to him).

He looked around and although the shadow type heartless weren't at all a threat, he did found the design of these creatures uniquely fascinating.

As he was admiring the way these creatures looked and fought, he noticed three of the members from the now cancelled sparka event approach him.

"You three are still alive. How fortunate. It seems your story won't end here. Hey, where are the other two members of your team?"

"We don't know..." the bald haired one responded, still hesitant to work with anyone of his "group". Cecilus remained silent for a moment, seeing this as nothing more than normal to leave behind members that don't serve a genuine purpose.

"It doesn't matter to me...though I wonder if you three can survive those creatures approaching us."

"What?"

The three members turned around to see a few soldier, Darkball, and Bandit type heartless approaching them.

This intimidated the lizard man member enough to cause him to go to the wall nearby before blending with said wall.

The man covered in blue tattoos had a sword ready for battle, seeing that he won't be able to run away.

The man with rust colored haired one was also seeing that he can't run away from the threat in front of them.

Cecilus kept his arms crossed as he prepared to watch a fight between weaklings.

Despite it not being a worthy fight for him, he was curious to see if the three (or well in this case the two humans) can overcome this obstacle.

Before the fighting began, he wished to know the names of these two new members to the gladiator island.

"What are your names?"

There was a moment of silence, with the two new members of the island left a bit uncertain on why the boy was just standing there without a worry in the world.

"...Weitz Rogen." The man with tattoos spoke first.

"...Idra Missanga."

"Well then, Weitz, Idra, show me what you can do."

Idra and Weitz were both silent as they saw that they were dealing with probably twenty to thirty heartless.

The two looked at each other for a moment before charging at the heartless, seeing that this is their best chance to survive.

As the two were forced in a position where they not only need to fight but count on the other, Cecilus crossed his arms as he could see that the two were doing okay but not the battle he was expecting.

He did watch Idra and Weitz barely hold their own against impossible odds, but the fight didn't seem legendary.

As he was hoping something would happen, he turned around to see a large blade swung at him.

The young version of the first divine general was able to dodge this sneak attack, left impressed that one of the creatures would even dare to try something like that.

"Alright, let's see what you can do."

Cecilus moved swiftly towards the Dual Blade heartless type, looking like a blue lightning.

This speed was too fast for the heartless, which allowed Cecilus to easily eliminate it with only one strong hit.

As the heartless disappeared, Cecilus put away his swords with a disappointment.

"Isn't there any true strong fighters around?"

As he asked for this, he looked at Gustav's direction to see how the man in charge of the island was doing.

As he turned, he saw the big man managing to take out seven heartless within three seconds despite how two of them were around his size in height.

Although it has been rare to see Gustav fight, he was still not impressed.

He can easily beat everyone in this island without any sort of effort, meaning that if the creatures attacking them are having trouble with any warrior in the island, then it isn't worth being excited for...even if some have cool looking weapons and designs.

He sat down somewhere near the lizard man's location, having a feeling that the coward of the group was nearby.

Once he sat down with his back on the wall, he closed his eyes as he began to doze off only for a sudden corridor of darkness to appear right in front of them.

"Hm?"

Cecilus has never seen this before, prompting him to be skeptical since he does not want to be all excited only to be disappointed.

He got up and waited for a minute before noticing two people walking out of this corridor of darkness, both unknown people wearing dark coats.

"Curious, who are ya two?"

The two black coats turned towards Cecilus and noticed that he had an odd strong aura despite looking so passive and calm.

This prompted the two coat people to reveal themselves showing their faces.

"Oh?" Cecilus tilted his head, having a gut feeling that the two unknown people are much stronger than anyone he has fought currently.

This prompted him to pull out his swords and prepare for battle.

The old man looked at the young Cecilus with a curious look.

"You look ready for battle without even knowing if we are an ally or foe."

"I can tell by just a look." The young Cecilus spoke out in such confidence that it impressed the old man and his ally.

The blonde haired opponent pulled out a card and was about to throw it towards Young Cecilus's direction only to be stopped by the old man.

"Allow me."

As the old man said this, he pulled out a key like blade before setting himself up for a fight.

Cecilus saw this and couldn't help but be interested to see what the old man can do...whether or not he will truly prove to be a challenge.

"Cecilus Segmunt, The Blue Lightning."

"...Xehanort, Keyblade Master." Xehanort spoke respectfully, finding Cecilus as a respectful warrior despite being a kid.

He oddly started to be reminded of a friend, prompting him to allow the kid to attack first.

Cecilus created blue lightning as he moved in such high speeds that any normal warrior would've died ten times over.

Xehanort waited for the right moment before blocking Cecilus's attack, having to put a little bit of effort.

As he blocks the attack, Cecilus goes for a second attack with his other sword only for the old man to easily dodge the attack.

"Amazing!"

The young first divine general said as he can tell that this warrior despite his age is holding back severely. He jumped back as he looked with interest.

"Ya know, it would be fun if you didn't hold your strength back."

"So you've noticed." Xehanort spoke calmly, finding it impressive that the kid was able to detect that his strength is a lot more than he's currently using. "If I went all out, you wouldn't survive."

"If that were to happen, then so be it. I'm not afraid of death itself."

As Cecilus finished speaking, he charged in once again, using all of his strength and speed to try and force Xehanort to go all out as well.

The keyblade master stood standing tall with his keyblade lowered to the ground, waiting for the right moment to block off his opponent's attack.

The second Cecilus went for the attack, thinking that Xehanort was being arrogant for lowering his guard only for the Keyblade Master blocked the attack within the two seconds he had to react.

Xehanort smiled as he was about to finish off a strong opponent only for him to sense someone attempting to attack him from the side.

He looked and saw a lizard man attempting to punch him.

With his free hand he caught the punch while also blocking Cecilus's second and third combine attacks since the divine general had saw an opening to continue to throw a few more attacks.

While the young Cecilus did this, he had noticed the lizard man having suddenly gained the courage to fight an opponent that is surely beyond his capabilities.

This caused him to be curious on what his ally will do next, whether or not he can even survive any counterattack thrown towards him.

The lizard man looked at Xehanort directly at his eyes and couldn't help but be overwhelmed with fear, knowing that this might be it for him.

Just as Xehanort was about to attack, he sensed two more presences attempting to join in on the fight.

He looked and saw that Weitz and Idra were joining in.

He did view their foolishness as commendable but considering that he needs to start moving along with his plans, he needed to push the weaklings to the side.

He had a strong grip on the lizard man's fist as he threw him towards Idra and Weitz's direction.

As the three were knocked to the ground, Cecilus quickly threw a barrage of attacks on the old Keyblade Master, wanting to see if he can keep up with his full speed.

Xehanort could tell that this is probably the fastest the kid warrior can go, impressing him more and more each second their battle continued.

Eventually though he started to gain the upper hand by teleporting out of Cecilus's view, catching the boy off guard before receiving a powerful hit to his side.

This caused him to be sent directly towards a wall, crashing into it as well.

This strength was enough to knock the warrior out though with non-fatal injuries.

Xehanort smiled as he nodded at his ally, prompting the blonde haired man to pull out a card and toss it towards Cecilus's unconscious body.

As the card was about to hit the divine general's body, it stopped mid-air and began to glow.

As the card was glowing for a few seconds, it eventually sucked Cecilus into itself before the card floated its way back towards the blonde haired man's hand.

Once he retrived the card, he looked and was surprised by what he saw.

"Interesting."

He handed the card over to Xehanort which also surprised him as well.

The boy he had been fighting had suddenly turned into a grown adult, causing the old keyblade master to question whether Cecilus was turned to a kid because of a choice he made or because someone else had done it to him.

These questions would only go away when he and his ally heard someone scream in rage.

This caused the two to turn towards the direction of the voice, noticing a dragon as well as a familiar girl.

The two watched as the ninth divine general land in front of them, looking with determination and hatred.

"I'm surprised you found us here." Xehanort said with a bit of respect to Madelyn. She did not care for what Xehanort had to say, she wanted to kill him. After how he humiliated her and her dragons before, prompting her to point her weapon directly at him.

"I will kill you right here!"

"Is that so?"

Xehanort's smile turned into a serious one, viewing Madelyn annoying compared to Cecilus, who did provide more of a fight despite being in a kid form.

Madelyn stared at Xehanort with an intense gaze before starting their fight by going on the offense.

The old keyblade master waited for a second before easily blocking off the girl's attacks.

Although this was beneath him, he had noticed Madelyn had gotten stronger since their last encounter.

This did make him curious if the darkness that he senses in the girl's heart is what's helping her get stronger.

As he was thinking this, the dragon above them charge directly towards the old man, wanting to assist Madelyn in avenging the other dragons that are gone now thanks to Xehanort and his ally.

Xehanort sensed this which prompted him to turn towards his ally.

"Luxord."

"On it."

Luxord grabbed a few cards before tossing them towards the dragon's direction.

As the cards were moving rapidly towards the dragon, it responded by firing a powerful fire breath which managed to destroy the cards before they could have done something.

After doing this, the dragon dives towards Luxord and Xehanort's position only for a couple of dusk type nobodies to suddenly start attacking him from its sides.

This distracted the dragon long enough to for Luxord to jump towards the dragon's location to land a hit with a simple kick.

Once this attack landed, Luxord threw three separate cards that had X's on them at the dragon.

Before the dragon had the chance to react to Luxord's cards, they suddenly exploded.

With the dragon having taken damage from the explosion and the combine attacks of the dusk type nobodies, it eventually collapsed to the ground.

Madelyn noticed this, causing her rage to skyrocket enough to where her movements and strength increased. Xehanort noticed this yet he wasn't at all fazed.

He did felt some respect for Madelyn, watching as she was fighting a foe that was clearly leagues above her and yet she wasn't backing down.

"You are very strong...I'll give you that." As Xehanort was saying this, it took him three seconds before he had gained not only the advantage but was able to finish the fight in one hit. "But you are in my way."

Madelyn was once again defeated by Xehanort only this time she had managed to gain some respect from the old Keyblade Master.

As she was on the ground unconscious, Luxord approached the old man.

"Shall we capture her as well? She could prove very useful."

"...No." Xehanort spoke in a serious tone. "Leave her be. I suspect she will come across our paths once again."

"Wouldn't she be more useful as an asset for what your planning with these divine generals?" Luxord questioned, finding it more useful to exploit the darkness that was in her heart already.

Xehanort was aware of this, but he didn't like the idea of giving Madelyn a chance to catch up to their strength and having her be the catalyst of their experiment going wrong.

"For now, let's see whether or not she can prove to be useful in our next encounter."

"As you wish." Luxord said as he didn't necessarily care in the end. He looked around the island, seeing that the battle was continuing on with some of the gladiators having fallen to the darkness.

"It seems like there's nobody else that are worth the trouble. Let's go."

"Understood."

Luxord nodded and created a corridor of darkness in order for him and the old Keyblade Master to leave.

As they left the island, Gustav looked at the two leave and immediately knew that the emperor was in danger.

---

"Hey baldy! Don't think I won't forgive you for what you did a few days ago! I'm here to kill you!"

"Ah yes, the girl that can command the dragons. Madelyn Eschart."

Madelyn had not forgotten what had happened in their previous two encounters and was prepared to give up her life if it meant killing her opponent.

She prepared to attack Xehanort yet she felt someone tug her shoulder.

She turned sharply to see if it was a threat only to recall that there was the Shudraq girl that had showed respect to her earlier.

"Yes?" Madelyn spoke in a sharp tone, wishing to get a move on from whatever Kyda was doing.

The female shudraq warrior didn't like interrupting someone's desire to fight a strong opponent, seeing that it's rude for a warrior to do that but in this case she knew that Madelyn has no chance against Xehanort.

"Don't. You aren't strong enough to face him alone."

"Pfft." Madelyn did not like hearing this, prompting her to pull her arm away from Kyda while responding in an aggressive tone, "What makes you think that?! Do you think of me as weak?!"

"N-No...th-that's not—"

"Then let me fight him. I can beat him."

As Madelyn said this with an annoyed tone, she slowly started to approach the old man, filling herself with confidence as well as hatred.

Whoever killed Balleroy Temeglyph is now the second person she hates, with Xehanort having reached first.

She pulled out her weapon and began her third confrontation with the old Keyblade Master.

As she closed the distance, she swiftly made her move for a kill hit only for Xehanort to pull out No Name Keyblade once again and block the attack with ease.

Kyda was not surprised by this since she expected Xehanort to easily block her attack yet she was extremely concerned for the girl's safety.

As she watched Madelyn attempt to do something against the old Keyblade Master, Kyda felt a presence behind her.

She turned around and was surprised to see that there was suddenly a large army of warriors gathered.

"Hm? Who are you all?"

Kyda asked as she prepared herself for a possible confrontation against the unknown warriors.

As all these warriors were seemingly arriving to the battlefield, Kyda noticed that Yorna was slowly starting to get back up.

This prompted Kyda to approach the divine general to check up on her, surprised that she would manage to get back up. As she got close to her, she began to ask,

"Are you alright?"

"...I'll be okay." Yorna said in a calm tone, not wishing to worry her ally. She turned towards Xehanort's direction and was surprised to see Madelyn there, facing off such a monster. "When did she arrived?...Actually, how long was I out?"

"N-Not sure, I woke up myself not so long ago but she had arrived a couple moments ago...as well as these warriors."

"Warriors?"

Yorna turned towards her back side to see that there were indeed warriors there, looking like they had arrived from a long journey.

As she looked at the large amount of warriors, she had noticed someone familiar.

"Gustav."

Gustav approached Yorna, seeing that the seventh divine general was still alive yet looking very beaten.

This caused him to ask:

"Yorna Mishigure. It is good to see that you're alive. What has transpired while we were on our way here?"

"That monster over there." Yorna pointed at Xehanort's direction. "He needs to be taken care of if we want to win."

Gustav turned towards the battle that was taken place between Madelyn and Xehanort, having noticed this before a while back when the heartless had not only interrupted a sparka event but attacked all the residence of the Gladiator Island.

He knew full well that this threat shouldn't be mess with considering that he managed to capture Cecilus, arguably the strongest warrior he had known.

"I see. Well then allow us to help in this battle."

As Gustav said this, he turned towards the army he had brought to aid the emperor before raising his arm up to signal that they are about to go into battle.

All of the warriors had been warned that if they attempt to run away, they will die by the curse from the Gladiator Island he still has.

While it is justified to rest should they get injured, they will also be killed if they try to fake being injured.

That was the deal Gustav made with all of the warriors from the island if they wanted to leave the island.

As he prepared to go and charge at the old man, Xehanort had noticed Gustav and his men arriving.

What gave away that they were from the Gladiator Island where he had captured Cecilus was because he had recognized the lizard man, Weitz, and Idra in the mist of the army.

This did surprised him that three weaklings managed to survive the horde of heartless he had sent there.

This prompted the old keyblade wielder to smile as he wanted to test something out. He threw the last remaining cards past Madelyn and right in front of Gustav and his army.

As the cards landed, a bright light shinned around the area before revealing the dragons Luxord had captured only engulfed in darkness.

Madelyn turned around as she was curious to see what was the bright light suddenly only to see that the dragons Xehanort and Luxord had captured were now being shrouded by darkness.

Gustav and the others were caught off guard by this, prompting them to prepare themselves for a fight. Madelyn was just left in horror by this.

"No...what did you do to them?!"

As Madelyn said this with hatred in her voice, reaching a new level of anger that caused the darkness in her heart to increase.

She wanted to kill the old Keyblade Master so badly but even with this rage, she did not let it completely consume her.

She ditched her fight with Xehanort in order to help free her fellow dragons from the darkness that was possessing them.

As she did this, Yorna and Kyda saw that Xehanort put away his keyblade as he returned to watching over the fight between Sora's group and the three divine generals.

The two females dislike this since they know that Xehanort could simply attack the boy with the key and his group after they have exhausted themselves in beating the three divine generals.

This prompted the two to put their focus on dealing with Xehanort once again while Gustav, Madelyn, and their forces work on facing off the possessed dragons.

As Kyda and Yorna managed to bypass the dragons without getting their attention, Madelyn got in between Gustav and the dragons, knowing that she should be there to free them.

While she prepared for an inevitable fight, she turned towards Gustav to inform her:

"Tell those weaklings to not hold me back or they will die."

"Understood."

Gustav nodded before turning towards the warriors of the Gladiator Island to inform them all with a serious and loud tone of voice,

"Everyone! Don't hold back if you wish to survive!"

As Gustav said this, all of the warriors cheered as they prepared for the biggest fight of their lives only for a sudden amount of dusk nobodies to appear behind the dragons.

Gustav, Madelyn, and the others were all shocked to see this, seeing that this fight has gotten even harder than before.

Madelyn looked over at Xehanort, seeing that he was possible the one responsible for these sudden enemies appearing.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, she charge into battle alone, confident that she'll survive this first part.

As she started her fight against her possessed dragons, Gustav and the forces of the Gladiator island would assist her when Weitz, Idra, and their lizard man ally known as Hiain Yatz go into battle as well, wanting to help Madelyn out after she had saved their lives when the heartless had them cornered after Xehanort had knocked them out back in the gladiator island.

As the three go into battle, Gustav and the other join in as they see three foolish and weak looking warriors throwing themselves into danger despite the odds of survival being against them.

With this going on, Xehanort smiled as he saw that the dragons would provide some form of usefulness for him before turning towards Sora's fight, noticing the boy starting to lose ground on his fight.

This was something that interested the old keyblade wielder, seeing that Sora might lose before even having a rematch.

As he continued to watch, he did notice Yorna and Kyda approaching.

"Come to lose once again?" The old Keyblade Master asked while not bothering to look at their direction.

This was something the two women took note of, seeing that Xehanort views them so insignificant that he wouldn't bother to look at them when speaking to them.

Yorna looked at the direction the old man was looking to see that he was focused on the fight between Sora and Groovy.

She watched how the boy was fighting with everything he had against a divine general, prompting her to turn towards Kyda to ask her,

"How much strength do you have left in you?"

"...not a lot." Kyda said with a disappointed tone at first before changing up her attitude. "But that won't change the fact that I'll fight till the very end."

Yorna smiled at this, seeing that Kyda's determination is still burning within her soul, prompting her to try something that could help give them the advantage in this fight.

While these events were transpiring, Sora and Groovy were both intensely throwing every attack they had at full strength, not holding anything back.

As the two were trading blows, Sora's strength kept weakening, having been pushing himself beyond those limits he has in him.

With no magic abilities being able to use and only one potion left in his arsenal, the Keyblade Master was slowly beginning to doubt himself.

He can see for brief moments Cloud and Arakiya's fights and could see that despite the two being as tired as him, they seem to be retaining their strength while his is slowly weakning.

'Why is that? Why am I...losing strength?'

This was a question he didn't understand.

Ever since his fight with the Witch of Envy back in the watchtower, his strength had been shifting from full strength to around the same strength as his pupil.

This problem is shown more during his current fight with a possessed Groovy, how his strength was fluctuating during the fight where it made it not only inconsistent but hard to tell when he should be blocking or when he should be dodging.

Despite this issue, Sora was somehow keeping up with Groovy's strength and speed up until the possessed divine general landed a powerful kick to the gut, causing him to get the air knocked out of him.

"Tsk...!"

'I-I c-can't...lose...'

As Groovy was about to attack him once again, Sora could only think about Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Subaru, Emilia, and Rem.

As he thought about his closest friends, Groovy was suddenly kicked in the face by Kyda, interrupting his attack that would've been a fatal hit to the keyblade wielder.

Sora was stunned when he saw this while also surprised by Kyda's interference.

As Groovy was sent flying a few feet before crashing onto the ground, Kyda turned around towards the Keyblade Master, checking up on him.

Sora looked at the Shadruq woman and was concern by her glowing red eyes.

"Kyda...are you—?" Before Sora could finish speaking, Yorna approached the Keyblade Wielder and helped him back up on his feet while responding to what his question was going to be.

"She's fine. We just did the soul marriage technique."

"Soul marriage technique?" Sora questioned with a pondering tone.

Before anything more can be asked on this technique, the three of them noticed Groovy charging at them after recovering from the attack.

Sora prepared to continue his fight with Groovy only for Yorna and Kyda to get in front of him.

"You should focus all of your strength on the true threat...that monster with the key."

"Wait but—" Sora didn't want to leave this fight to Kyda and Yorna since it was his yet Yorna once again interrupted him.

"My daughter put her trust on you. Don't fail her."

"Daughter...?"

Sora was left stunned by this but before he could even think more into it, Yorna and Kyda charged at Groovy to begin their clash.

As this happened, Sora closed his eyes for a moment before turning his attention towards Xehanort.

The last time the two ever clashed was when he attacked him in the capital only to be knocked out in one hit.

"...Well, this is a long time coming." Xehanort pulled out No Name Keyblade, confident that it'll end the same as last time.

"..." Sora didn't say anything as he held Kingdom Key with a tight grip.

Although he was hesitant on facing the old Keyblade Master once again, he knows that he needs to beat Xehanort before he causes anymore harm to this world.

He gets into his fighting position as he says in a serious tone:

"It's all over, Xehanort."

"Hm."

Xehanort tilted his head, recalling this line from his battle with the young keyblade wielder back in Scala Ad Caelum.

Thinking back in that fight, he did felt that a part of him might have underestimated his opponent.

This time though things are different, he's still a lot stronger than Sora especially at the boy's current state that he's extremely exhausted from the constant fighting he's been thrown in.

"If you truly believe that it'll be like our fight in the Scala Ad Caelum, then you are sadly mistaken, Sora."

As Xehanort said this, he teleported in front of the boy as he started their battle.

Sora was once again caught off guard by this yet he was able to block off this attack...just barely.

As he used all of use strength to block off the first attack, Xehanort used this opportunity to teleport behind the boy to land a surprise back attack.

Sora sensed this and quickly dodged rolled out of the attack though he did felt the tip of Xehanort's keyblade cut a small piece of his hair.

"Impressive." Xehanort said with a genuine tone due to not expecting Sora to have this amount of strength and speed left in him. "You have grown far stronger than when we last clashed at the Capital."

"..."

Sora remained silent as he remembered that encounter all too well while also recalling that Rem was hurt by the old Keyblade Master.

Thinking about all the damage Xehanort has done not just to this world but to all other worlds, to all of his friends from every other world.

This helped once again steel his determination despite the gap of strength between himself and the old keyblade master.

He charges at Xehanort the moment he sees a chance to attack, not wanting this fight to drag in anyway.

As he attempted to finish his opponent in one attack, Xehanort smiled as he easily blocked away the attack.

"Attempting to finish the attack in one hit? How foolish."

Xehanort took this opportunity to land a couple of hits on Sora, having left the keyblade wielder opened for such brutal quick attacks.

As the boy was in pain, Xehanort swiftly throw a dark fireball at his opponent, causing Sora to get send flying a few feet away.

As he flew a few feet, the boy landed on his back violently, causing him to feel all sorts of pain.

"I won't deny that you've grown far stronger than before, Sora. But I've also been increasing in power. And with this world favoring those who use the darkness, it would be natural that I would be beyond your strength."

Sora slowly started to get up, knowing that what Xehanort was saying is true.

He could tell that the hits he had received were not even close to one hundred percent of strength.

Once he was back on his feet, Sora knew that he needed to change his keyblade from Kingdom Key to Ultima, knowing that it's strength and power could help close a bit of the distance in strength...no, even if he did something like that, he's body is still worn out from the constant fighting.

He looks at his kingdom key with a serious look before putting himself into his fighting stance.

"I...refuse to lose."

Sora charged at Xehanort with everything he had in him, once again attempting to land a strong enough attack that could end the fight.

Xehanort noticed this, prompting him to once again block off the attack while also looking disappointing.

"Hm. How disappointing."

Xehanort was not surprised to see that Sora can't do much.

Just as he was about to finish his opponent, someone managed to tackle him just as the No Name Keyblade was about to strike the boy down.

As this person managed to save Sora, Xehanort turned towards his right side to block off an attack from two sword attacks simultaneously.

As the old keyblade wielder looked at his new opponent, he saw that it was a female warrior with blonde hair.

He wasn't concern by this since he can tell she isn't a real threat to him.

Just as he was about to easily knock her out, another two warriors came in and assisted her by attempting to attack the old man from different sides.

One of the warriors had a helmet and only had one arm while the other was wearing a purple suit.

He pushed the two warriors back for a moment before blocking off a strong kick from a girl with blonde hair.

This girl was actually pretty strong, prompting him to smile since he might have some challenge.

As he also pushes the teen girl back, the three warriors with swords surrounded him.

This intrigued the old keyblade wielder since he has some more opponents to deal with.

While these events were happening, Sora had felt someone tackle him to the ground and at first was confused only to feel the person that tackle him suddenly press their lips to his.

He knew immediately who this was since only one person would do something like this.

'Rem.'

After a few seconds of this, Rem hugged Sora tightly as she was extremely worried for him, especially when knowing that a witch is after him.

"Sora-kun! Sora-kun!"

This left the boy stunned for a few seconds before returning the hug, understanding that Rem was worried for him.

As the two hugged for a moment, Rem got off while also helping Sora get back on his feet.

"Are you okay, Sora-kun? Are you hurt?"

"I-I'm okay..."

Sora knew that this was probably a lie from him but he did not wish to worry her. She was able to see through it.

"There's no need to lie, Sora-kun. I'm here to heal your wounds."

She began to heal Sora, knowing full well that her love was at his very limit.

Using water magic, she started to heal some of his wounds while Sora turned towards Xehanort, noticing Medium and others fighting off against the old Keyblade Master.

This made him worry for a moment before Rem patted his head, snapping him from his current thoughts.

"There's no need to worry for them, Sora-kun. They can hold their own. Once I've healed you, then we can go help them."

"...Okay."

Although being strict with him, she was also being caring towards the keyblade wielder and considerate of his worries.

Sora just closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest up, knowing that he will need every ounce of strength if they wish to beat Xehanort.

As he rested, he looked at the fight and saw that Louis, Medium, and Tiga were on the offensive against Xehanort all the while Al took the role of defense, protecting them from the old man's deadly attacks.

Xehanort blocked coordinated attacks from Louis Arneb, Medium, and Tiga before teleporting behind Louis, viewing her strength as threatening.

Just as he was about to take her down in one hit, Al blocked this attack.

This surprised the old man since the way Al moved was as if he had known what was about to happen.

This prompted Xehanort to try and attack the one armed warrior only for Louis to take this chance to attack, seeing that there's a brief opening.

Just a second before her kick landed on the back of the old man's head, Xehanort teleported out of the way and quickly turned his sights towards Medium.

He appeared in front of the female warrior and swung his keyblade swiftly towards her.

Medium was barely able to block off the attack though as she does this, one of her swords instantly shatter when making contact with the No Name Keyblade.

This left Medium both impressed and shocked by Xehanort's strength as well as the keyblade's power.

"You really are strong."

"..."

Xehanort did not care for the compliment and was prepared to eliminate the foe in front of him only for Louis and Al to quickly block off the attack with their combined strength.

This was barely enough to protect Medium from being harmed while also pushing the old Keyblade Master back.

As the two manage to succeed in this, Xehanort would only see this as a small inconvenience.

He jumped high up on the sky as he used his free hand to create a powerful darkball.

Once this was created, he took no time in throwing it directly towards Louis Arneb and Al's location.

The former Sin Archbishop of Gluttony recalled this move from Sora's memories, which allowed her to know just how dangerous it is.

"Careful! Attack is dangerous~TSU!"

Al figured though hearing this from a former Sin Archbishop was something he needed to take into account.

The two split in different directions, avoiding the attack and the explosion that it created once it made contact with the ground.

As they barely survive this attack, Louis was suddenly hit by Xehanort's keyblade on her right side, not having sensed the old man teleporting right next to her.

As Louis was sent off flying, Xehanort was preparing to finish the teen girl off for good only to move his head slightly towards the right side to avoid Tiga's attack.

"Leave that girl alone, old man!"

"Hm."

Xehanort turned towards Tiga's direction as he heard what he shouted. He looked at the young man with a blank facial expression, not viewing this 'opponent' as a threat at all.

He swung his No Name Keyblade at him in an attempt to finish the young man out only to be surprised that he managed to dodge it.

"I can tell you are looking down on me." Tiga spoke in a calm and respectful tone. "But even so, I will show you to not underestimate me."

Tiga went on the offensive after he finished speaking, wanting to prove not just to the old man that he's a worthy warrior but to himself, that's he's worth being someone that can stand side by side with Melty.

'I'll be someone that can stand by you, Melty! I promise!'

As Tiga said this, he looked at Xehanort while analyzing the best course of action to take in beating him.

He compared his strength and speed to his opponent's, knowing full well that the gap is so absurdly long.

Even with this fact in mind, he did notice that Louis almost managed to land a hit on the old Keyblade Master.

This made the young man think that despite the obviously big gap between himself and his opponent, there's still a chance to land a hit on him which is something they desperately need.

He quickly formulated a plan that has a very slim chance of succeeded but being better than the alternative, he initiated said plan by going on an aggressive offense against the old Keyblade Master.

Xehanort blocked each attack with ease though he can see that Tiga is planning something, prompting him to play along for now just to see what exactly his opponent's plan is.

Tiga continued on his aggressive offense for a minute before going into the next phase of his plan, managing to get a blade lock.

Xehanort was intrigued by this, wondering if Tiga thinks that a blade lock would really help him get the upper hand.

He continued to play along as he allowed himself to be in a blade lock only to see that his opponent suddenly dropped his sword.

"?"

Xehanort was puzzled for only a second before noticing that Tiga was attempting to land a punch on him.

This prompted him to catch the punch easily with his left hand.

"Was that really your plan? All that for a vain punch?"

"Not quite."

Tiga moved his left leg in an attempt to kick him in the gut area.

Xehanort jumped back just as Tiga's foot had made an inch of contact.

As the old Keyblade Master jumped a foot back, Tiga quickly grabbed his sword from the ground in order to block the old man's quick attack.

The second Tiga goes to block the attack, the sword he was wielding shatters into pieces.

"Wha—?!"

"You are quite a nuisance."

Without any hesitation he hit Tiga in the chest area with enough force that he was sent flying while also receiving a brutal chest injury.

As Tiga gets sent flying, Al and Medium both proceed to attack the old Keyblade Master in unison from two different locations.

Xehanort flawlessly dodged the two attacks at once.

As he pulled this off, he managed to hit Al in the side of his helmet with enough force to send him crashing towards the ground while having his free hand pointed towards Medium to fire a power darkball towards her.

Xehanort smiled as he prepared to take the female warrior down only for Kingdom Key to knock away the darkball.

"...?"

Xehanort landed on his feet while turning towards the direction of where Kingdom Key came from to see Sora standing tall.

This attitude had the old man's attention for a moment before jumping back, avoiding Rem's attack as she slammed onto the ground which created a crater.

She looked up towards Xehanort with anger in her facial expression before throwing her morningstar towards the old man's direction.

The old Keyblade Master did not hesitate to block this attack.

As he did this, Rem took the chance to summon her oni strength by having her horn come out and both her strength and speed to increase.

She charged at the old Keyblade Master and attempted to land a punch on him.

Xehanort dodge the attack and was about to knock her out the same way he did back in the capital of Lugnica only for the blue haired maid to use her oni speed to dodge the attack.

As she avoided the same attack that had caused her defeat last time, using her skills she had gained from before and after her first encounter with Lye Batenkaitos in order to not lose so easily against Xehanort.

The old man saw this but before he could try another attack on the blue haired oni maid, Sora jumped in and clashed keyblades with him.

"Got your motivation to fight once again?" The old Keyblade Master said in a serious tone.

"You won't win, Xehanort."

Although Xehanort felt like yawning when hearing these words from Sora yet he had noticed something.

When Sora spoke out that this is the end for him in their encounter earlier, he could feel the doubt in Sora somewhat seething his heart but right now, that doubt is minimal.

'I wonder if he will put up a true fight.'

Hoping to see Sora's true potential, he pushed away the keyblade wielder before gaining some distance from him.

Once he did this, he waited a moment before pointing his No Name Keyblade towards the boy while saying,

"Show me your power, Sora."

As Xehanort said this, he had a smile as he was somewhat excited to see what the boy's capable of.

Before he charged at the boy, Rem walked by Sora's side as she had her morningstar ready for battle.

"Sora-kun won't fight alone!"

Sora turned towards Rem and seeing that she's right to fight by his side.

Rem turned towards Sora for a moment before smiling at him, prompting him to smile back before the two noticing an injured Louis Arneb, an injured Tiga, Al, and Medium approach them.

"Are you okay?"

"We're fine...we'll some of us are." Al responded as he can see Tiga and Louis were seriously injured.

He didn't care much for Louis Arneb being injured but towards Tiga, he was concerned for him since he was just a regular human being.

Sora turned towards Louis and Tiga, noticing instantly that the two were hurt.

"You two should rest."

"No...W-We can't...let you fight that monster alone~tsu." Louis spoke with every ounce of strength she had, wishing to use everything she had to protect Sora.

Before Sora could respond to her, Tiga spoke for himself.

"You'll need everyone's strength...if you wish to beat him." Although Tiga is injured, he's still determined to fight even if it's just with his bare hands.

Sora didn't want this since he feared that Tiga or Louis could get themselves hurt in this fight.

"But you're both hurt. I can't just—"

"It's okay, Sora-kun." Rem said as she gentle set her hand on the boy's shoulder. "They can still fight. We have to trust them."

Rem didn't like the idea of having Louis or Tiga fight when they are injured but if their roles were reversed, she would want to still fight alongside her love regardless of injury.

Sora was still hesitant to allow this but Rem's words somehow where able to calm his worries.

He closed his eyes for a moment before nodding at Rem.

"Okay."

Sora turned towards Louis and Tiga to tell them,

"Just please be careful."

"We will!" Louis said with excitement in her voice, as she wanted to help Sora out.

Tiga just made a simple nod as he understood Sora's concerns and will take them into account.

They all turned towards Xehanort, each and everyone of them determined to win this battle. Xehanort smiled as he saw that a true challenge as emerge for him.

"Now then, shall we begin?"

---

Right before arriving to help Sora in his fight against Xehanort, Vincent was leading the group closer and closer to the center of the capital of Vollachia.

"How much closer are we?" Medium questioned while holding onto an unconscious Louis Arneb. Vincent remained silent for a moment as he observed his surroundings before responding with,

"A moment. We are close."

Medium remained silent as she started to think about her brother and whether him and Melty are safe.

While these thoughts were on her mind, she felt Louis Arneb starting to move around, waking up.

"Hm? Hold on guys."

Al, Tiga, and Vincent turned towards Medium as they notice what she said.

Once looking at her direction, they saw that Louis Arneb was waking up.

As the teen girl was waking up, she was taking a moment to recall what had happened before jumping up from where she was at.

"Where is he~TSU?!"

"Louis, calm down. Everything is okay."

"..."

It took the former Sin Archbishop a moment before realizing that she's no longer in the fight with Xigbar.

This allowed her to calm down.

"Where are we? What happened to that evil man?" Louis asked Medium, not recognizing the hallway they are at.

"Someone's got him taken care of while we're on our way to help Sora."

"Sora-kun!"

Louis jumped up with glee when hearing the boy's name, having wanted to be by his side.

Vincent looked at Louis with a blank facial expression before turning around.

"Come on. We have no time to waste."

Al agreed with this and was the first to start following the emperor while Tiga, Medium, and Louis were standing still for a few seconds before also following the emperor.

As they were a few feet away, someone blocked their path.

Vincent took note of this, prompting him to halt the group before telling the person,

"Out of the way."

"..."

"Are you deaf? I said out of the way, vermin." Vincent spoke in a stern tone, not wanting be wasted anymore time.

The person turned towards the emperor's direction in a menacing like manner, causing Vincent to be on guard.

"...That's no way to speak to me, the Imperial Prime Minister, Bertstetz Fondalfon."

As he revealed himself to be the prime minister, Vincent and his group notice a dark aura surrounding him.

Without hesitation or a second thought, Vincent used the power of the Yang Sword Vollachia to burn the Prime Minister where he stood from a distance.

A fire did engulf Bertstetz yet Vincent could tell that the fire wasn't harming the Prime Minister's body or soul.

"What's wrong, 'Emperor'? Is something wrong?"

"Tsk. Seems like I'll have to eliminate you myself." As Vincent figured this out, he turned towards Medium and the others to tell them, "Continue on. This man is my responsibility."

"Wait, are you sure we should leave you here on your own?" Tiga asked, not liking this. Vincent only gave him a sharp look, causing Tiga to be taken a step back.

"You should listen to him." Bertstetz spoke out in a calm manner. "My problem is with the emperor, so I suggest you leave us if you wish to not get involved in what's about to happen."

Medium didn't want leave Vincent on his own despite how he usually acts which almost made her protest to leaving the emperor to deal with the prime minister on his own only for Al to grab her arm while saying:

"Let's get going."

"But what about—?" Before Medium could finish her question, Al interrupts.

"He can take care of himself. We should focus on the main reason we even left that fight with the Organization guy to the clown."

"..."

Medium was at a pause for a moment, recalling that the clown magician had told Vincent that Sora was in trouble since he was facing against a powerful foe.

After a few seconds past, she nodded at what Al had said before following him towards Sora's location.

Tiga wasn't too conflicted by this since his objective has been to find the keyblade wielder though a part of him didn't like leaving an ally behind.

Louis Arneb was indifferent about everything since she only cared about was helping Sora in anyway she can.

Once Al, Medium, Louis, and Tiga had left off, Vincent and Bertstetz looked at each other with a killing gaze.

"How did you survive the dark creatures attack?"

"The old man with the key had offered me a chance to take you down, having warned me that you had survived the initial assassination."

"Of course. The Organization's head. I had always suspected you would betray me."

"I only act for the greater good of this empire!" Bertstetz spoke with a proud voice. "Everything that is happening will cleanse the weak and bring forth the true strength of Vollachia."

As the Prime Minister said this, the dark aura around him increased with heartless popping up around him.

"Now then Emperor, it is time for you to die."

"Is that right?" Vincent spoke sharply as ever while summoning the Yang Sword Vollachia. "Well then, Prime Minister, your services are no longer required."