Sora, along with Tron and White looked at Pompey with some caution.
After all the words that the Overlord of the Outer Ring had said left our group silent, he knew that the Heartless were not Ethereal beings and he wanted answers.
While Pompey looked seriously at the helmeted individual next to his Bangboo , he was grateful for the help, after all thanks to him, his life as well as some of his men were saved, but this individual seemed to know something about those creatures.
For a few seconds the atmosphere had remained silent, but everything would be interrupted when Pompey looked to the side
Sora was confused by the man's action, but then Tron appeared on his helmet's visor.
"Heartless are surrounding us" The AI said seriously.
In those thirties Neo Shadow Heartless along with three Orcus something that surprised Sora a lot to see them in this world, after all they appeared in worlds almost swallowed or influenced by total darkness
"This isn't good" Sora whispers with concern as he sees these Heartless in the place.
"Maybe their arrival was because of the Heartless boss you faced, the portal that brought them must be too big to bring high level enemies" Tron said seriously
Pompey stared at the strange creatures, but he knew they were not Ethereals, after all they did not bear the distinctive mark of these, even so he became serious looking at the three dark beings with horns and what seemed to carry large swords, without a doubt those beings reminded him of a certain tale of a demon from the ancient civilization.
"You know these beings?" Pompey asks , looking at Sora.
"Unfortunately for me, yes," Sora said as his voice change activated.
"They're not ethereal, are they?" Pompey asks seriously.
Sora remained silent, but after a few seconds he sighed "They are not ethereal, they are other beings, but they are also dangerous like the ethereal ones" He said seriously.
"Great, more strange beings coming to destroy the world" Pompey said somewhat annoyed looking at the dark creatures seriously
The Heartless stared at their two new prey, but the three Orcus turned their gaze towards Sora, the Keyblade was here and had to be destroyed, then most of the Neo Shadows and the three Orcus went to Sora, while three Neo Shadows went against Pompey.
The battle had begun
Sora had quickly dodged the Heartless' attacks and then with a quick movement he finished off seven Neo Shadows in a quick manner, the others would be destroyed by White who fired fire magic and lightning without further ado.
Pompey did his best to land a direct hit on these strange creatures, but they still managed to dodge some of their attacks, and then the three of them disappeared into the shadows, surprising the Overlord a little and looking around, but then one of the Neo Shadows jumps from the ground preparing to strike at the heart.
But his attack is interrupted when Pompey knew the enemy's movement and quickly with his weapon he gives a direct blow to the Heartless that impacts and makes it disappear.
"I've seen that strategy before" Pompey thought , after so many years of his life, he knew almost all the different strategies to finish off his opponent and then he looked seriously at his surroundings "Those things are hiding somewhere if I let my guard down it will be the end for me"
Sora had finished off the Neo Shadows, although that didn't stop some of them from hitting him, but not enough to knock him out, now he was in front of the three Orcus who were looking at him with their weapons ready for battle.
"Well... Who's next?" Sora asks seriously as he looks at his three opponents.
The three Orcus roar and then charge into battle. Sora manages to dodge the attacks and then shoot some fireballs that hit the three Heartless and uses that distraction to advance quickly and manage to deliver a direct cut to one of the Orcus , making it disappear.
"One down, two to go" Sora thought as he looked at his two opponents.
The two Orcus stared at Sora, but quickly attacked faster and using their respective attacks to try to damage their opponent, but our keyblade wielder managed to dodge each attack and despite being still in a weak state, he had already faced enemies too strong before.
At that point one of the Orcus tried to hit him with his sword, but Sora managed to block the attack, even so the other Orcus took advantage to deliver a direct hit.
Before Sora could do anything a sword hits the Orcus and Sora looks in the direction where the weapon came from and looks at Pompey in a throwing pose, then pushes the Orcus and uses his magic attacks towards the two Heartless causing damage to them and then gives a quick attack cutting the two Orcus. thus finishing them off and they would disappear without further ado
The fight was over
Pompey stood watching and saw how the two dark creatures were defeated by the strange individual, who then went to pick up his weapon, but during his walk he did not take his eyes off the stranger and then reached his objective.
"Thanks for the help" Sora said looking at Pompey
"Don't thank me...we're even with that," Pompey said seriously, then put away his weapon. "Now you'll tell me ... What were those things?" He asked seriously.
Sora was silent for a few seconds and then sighed, at least luckily for him Tron was able to create a small plan if someone discovered the Heartless like him.
"What you saw are known as Heartless" Sora said looking at Pompey
"Heartless?" Pompey asks in surprise at the name of these strange creatures.
"Let's say they are creatures that recently appeared three years ago, but not enough to be seen, after all I was in charge of getting rid of them or even the Ethereals were in charge of destroying them, apparently they don't like their company" Sora said seriously looking at Pompey
The overlord remained silent trying to process the words and information he was receiving.
Pompey said seriously.
"I understand it is something that cannot be explained, but it is the truth, and it is related to the fall of the capital," said Sora.
Pompey , hearing these words, remains silent. "What do you mean? And what does the fall of the ancient capital have to do with these Heartless?" I ask with surprise as well as curiosity.
"The fall of the old capital was the straw that made the Hollows connect more or less with the Heartless dimension, in short, little by little these beings are about to enter, but an invisible wall prevented this, but now the wall has cracks that allows the Heartless to enter through dark portals, which I am the only one who can close them" Sora said trying to remember very well the story that Tron said to tell when someone discovered the Heartless.
"What you're saying... is that this strange dimension that the Heartless come from will sooner or later connect with the Hollows ," Pompey said seriously.
"Unfortunately yes," Sora said with his arms crossed, "and I'm the only one who can close the rifts."
Pompey remained silent, but analyzing the individual's words, after everything he had said it didn't make sense.
"It's a bit hard to believe, I even think you're crazy, but what I've seen, those creatures are not ethereal at all, so I have to believe you" Pompey said with his arms crossed.
"Thank you for understanding" Sora said and then prepared to leave, but was stopped by Pompey.
"I'll accompany you," the Overlord said seriously.
Pompey 's request.
"May I ask why?" Sora asks, somewhat confused as to why the Overlord wanted to accompany them.
"You said those things, Heartless, came from portals. I need to see it with my own eyes so I can warn my people," Pompey said , "and I won't accept one as an answer."
Sora remained silent, but for a few seconds to think about it and see that tron appeared in his visor and he just nodded for Pompey to accompany them without further ado.
"Fine, you can come with us," Sora said, then summoned his motorcycle without further ado, surprising Pompey a little when he saw the vehicle again. "Shall we go?"
At that question Pompey just nodded and then got on his motorcycle and in that Sora along with Pompey and the rest headed towards the dark portal, and by Tron's words they would reach the objective in about ten minutes during the course there was nothing, Sora just looked around finding some towns that were taken by the Hollow in addition to the crystals or ethereal rocks around the place
Ten minutes later
Our group was already reaching their destination, but then they heard the sounds of a battle for the place, causing everyone to stop without further ado.
"It's the sound of a battle" Pompey said with some seriousness, but also with confusion, after all this part of the Hollow no one would come because of the danger of exposure to the Ether
"I already have an idea, who are the fighters" Sora said and then got off his motorcycle and it disappeared, Pompey left his motorcycle and followed our keyblade bearer to see what was happening.
Sora and Pompey arrived at a high place, so they could observe what was happening in the first place and what they saw left them surprised.
In the place where they were looking, there were a large number of Ethereals and Heartless battling each other, it was a battle without quarter and both sides sought the total annihilation of their enemies.
"This seems unreal" Pompey said watching the battle between the two forces
Sora was looking for the dark portal, even so he would find it quickly to be surprised by how big it was, it seemed to be the height of a two-story building.
"That explains the large amount of darkness I detected" Tron said in a serious tone looking at the portal
" Na noh " Neh (It's big, the biggest we've seen)" White said looking at the dark portal
While Sora and White were talking, Pompey was shocked by the dark portal. The individual was not lying about those portals and the Heartless creatures that came out of them. Things were going to change throughout New Eridu when he found out about this new threat.
"Great, things are getting worse now" Pompey thought seriously as he looked at a new danger for his people.
Sora finished talking to White and then communicated with Tron.
"What do you think Tron?" Sora asks waiting for an answer.
"We must wait for the right moment to attack, there are many enemies and I think you will need a lot of energy to close that dark portal" Tron said, analyzing the general panorama well and waiting for the right moment to attack.
"I understand" Sora said and then looked at Pompey who had his arms crossed and his expression that he wanted to talk "I wasn't lying when I told you that the Heartless are another problem"
"I admit my mistake, besides this battle between the Ethereals and Heartless like that big portal that I see, makes your story credible" Pompey said sighing "You said you can close the portal isn't that true"
"Yes, but we must wait for the number of enemies to decrease, when there are fewer on the battlefield then we will attack with everything" Sora said seriously.
"Fine," Pompey said , agreeing to the plan. "By the way, didn't I ask you your proxy name?"
"You can call me Keyblade " Sora said giving his Proxy alias
"Well Keyblade , then we will wait for the right moment" Pompey would say for now observing the battle that was taking place between the Heartless and Ethereals
Minutes passed and the number of enemies on the battlefield had reduced, without a doubt both sides wanted the total annihilation of the other.
Pompey looked at this seriously throughout his life he had never seen this kind of scenario if it weren't for the fact that there was a new threat in the Hollows he would have enjoyed this battle between monsters
"We have to move" Sora said and then launched himself into battle.
Pompey watches as his Keyblade ally has jumped into the fight meaning it was time to attack.
The few ethereals like Heartless noticed the presence of Pompey and Sora
The Heartless, sensing the power of the Keyblade, left their battle against the Ethereals to face their natural enemy, and the Ethereals also took advantage of the opportunity to attack anyone who stood in their way.
Sora and Pompey noticed the change in their enemies and then took their weapons and quickly prepared for the fight.
Pompey with his strength manages to expel some Heartless and Ethereals as well as send them flying, the force was enough that when they crashed they disappeared without more, Sora with quick movements manages to finish off a large amount of Ethereals and Heartless
The last stragglers tried to destroy their enemies, but like the rest they were destroyed by the Overlord and the Keyblade Warrior without further ado , and then the two were in front of the dark portal.
"It's bigger than the previous ones" Sora said looking at the dark portal
Pompey heard those words "What do you mean?" He asked with some curiosity about his new ally's words.
"In the Hollows of New Eridu the Portals were somewhat small and only a few Heartless came out" Sora said and then pointed his Keyblade towards the dark portal and gathered all the necessary energy "Step back a little" he said looking at Pompey
The aforementioned just nods to retreat a little and then watch as his ally was enveloped in a strange energy and then see a large ray of light that goes straight to the dark portal and it begins to close.
"It worked" Pompey said looking with some astonishment at this strange occurrence.
After a few seconds the dark portal closes completely, and then Sora falls to his knees somewhat tired, after all he had to use a lot of magical energy than usual, White quickly goes to Sora to see how he was.
Sora sees his robot friend's gesture and then strokes his head. "Calm down White, I'm fine, a little tired, to be honest, I didn't think I had to use a lot of energy."
"It seems the Portal that brought the Changeling was too strong," Tron said through Sora's visor. "It's best to write this down for future encounters."
Sora nodded, then looked at Pompey who approached.
"Am I done?" The Outer Ring Leader asks, looking at his ally.
"For now, but they will return, I can't doubt that" Sora said seriously as he stood up.
Pompey remained silent and then sighed, "I will have to warn the others of this new danger."
"You better not do it" Sora said seriously looking at the Leader of the outer rings
"What do you mean?" Pompey asked seriously looking at Sora/ Keyblade
Flashback
Sora was now at his Excalibur base, for now busy learning with the computer thanks to White's help, he was able to learn the basics of using this device, but his classes would be interrupted when Tron appears on the screen
"What's wrong Tron?" Sora asks about this sudden appearance of his AI friend.
"Sora do you remember those strange files on the Laptop you found in that Hollow ?" Tron said.
"Yes I remember" Sora said remembering that day as if it were yesterday
"I've decrypted the files and found something really worrying," Tron said in an even more serious tone and then showed everything he had found.
Sora and White remained silent and then looked at the files and read them, and although many were incomplete, what they read left them in shock, but White was more shocked by what he was looking at.
" Nah "Noh (What the hell?)" White could only ask in shock looking at the file that said Elixir P07
"That thing... it transforms normal humans into Ethereals" Sora said also in shock.
" Nah noh ( But he also wants those who take that elixir to be conscious in their ethereal state)" White said, still surprised by what he was reading in the first place and that a person despite being infected and being an Ethereal still retained their personalities.
"Apparently they are old files, in addition to not having much information about this strange elixir, there were many experiments, whatever we are looking at is more before the ancient capital was destroyed" Tron said with his arms crossed "And I fear that the people who are in charge of this strange elixir known as P07 may continue to operate from the shadows, I can even perceive that they took important positions, both in public security and in other parts of New Eridu and who knows"
These words left Sora and White speechless, but they had to admit that Tron had a good point, after all, whoever had created this strange Elixir could still be alive and working and perhaps they put different agents in the government to prevent them from being discovered.
"This information changes the plans" said Tron
"What do you mean?" Sora asked now not quite understanding what his friend meant.
"Sora if these people want to transform people into ethereals and have them be conscious, imagine when they discover the Heartless" Tron said.
These words left the Keyblade wielder speechless and he knew all too well the danger of trying to investigate the Heartless, the disaster of two years ago that nearly brought all the worlds into total darkness.
"We must prevent the people of this world from discovering the Heartless, that is why I have created plans, to be able to explain things well to those people who see the Heartless in the first place and hopefully it will work" Tron said.
Sora and White remained silent, but decided to listen to Tron's plans.
End of Flashback
Sora looked at Pompey with a serious look and then sighed and hoped that Tron's plan would work.
"The reason I don't want people to know about the Heartless is that, unlike the Ethereals, they can be controlled." Sora said seriously.
Pompey was left silent by the words Sora/ Keyblade said to him "What do you mean?" He asked in confusion.
" You will see Pompey , the Heartless are creatures that follow the darkness of people, but if we go to the most reasonable ones it would be the negative feelings or really aggressive mood swings" Sora said following the words that Tron used to explain to people about the Heartless "But there is also the danger that one of those people can control the Heartless"
"Wait... You mean to tell me that these things can actually be controlled?" Pompey said seriously, but also with some surprise.
"It's a bit of a long topic, but I'll summarize it for you, normal people wouldn't control even Heartless obviously because they would fall into their hands quickly, but a person who is completely evil and who has such a strong will, who only seeks their personal benefit not caring if they harm people in the process could control the Heartless, but if they hesitate or are too trusting they will be consumed by them and become one of them" Sora explained about his knowledge of the Heartless as well as following Tron's plan.
Pompey was silent, literally what his new ally was saying was crazy, but he saw the Heartless as well as the dark portal that looked nothing like a fissure that appears in the Hollows in the first place.
"Now I understand why you don't want me to comment on it, if what you say is true... many fools will try to control them to create their personal army" Pompey said "Besides, I know certain groups of raiders who would like to have monsters to open up their territory or cover routes and raid supplies" he thought about that last thing
Pompey 's words and then the Overlord of the outer ring sighs.
"What you told me is that they appeared three years ago and you fought them, that tells me that you have experience and if I haven't heard anything about them it means that you have been in charge of keeping them hidden for a long time isn't that so " Pompey said looking at Sora/ Keyblade who just nodded "Well I will take those words and make all my men who survived not talk about it and I will try to tell them that it was a new Ethereal"
"Are you serious?" Sora asks, somewhat surprised that Pompey accepted his offer.
"You showed me everything, there's no way to doubt you, and if word gets out about the Heartless, not only will the outer ring panic, but also the city of New Eridu," Pompey said , knowing well how people are and the panic that all this would cause. "But carrying all this work by yourself is a bit difficult, and what will you do when people find out about the Heartless? Because I doubt you can keep the secret, sooner or later they will find out about them."
day never comes , but if it does then I'll be prepared...thank you for understanding the situation" Sora said thanking Pompey for his understanding.
"Relax, your secret is safe with me. You said you were a proxy known as Keyblade , so I'll call you through the proxy network if there's any sighting of the Heartless," Pompey said , then retreating from the place and meeting up with the rest of his men who survived. He'll have a lot to explain to the survivors, and if he can, tell them that it was a new Ethereal who caused the disaster.
Sora watched as the Overlord left and then sighed, glad that he understood the danger of the Heartless.
"It seems my plan worked" Tron said appearing in Sora's visor
"He did it, and we're lucky that Pompey believed us and is a reasonable man. For now, we have to move through this Hollow . Something tells me that there are still Heartless around here," Sora said seriously.
"It could be" Tron said.
Sora summons his motorcycle to find the Heartless in the area and eliminate them so that they are not a threat and hoping not to encounter other portals of the size that he had to close.
In New Eridu
In an office, a short and somewhat fat man could be seen looking at many files, while he was accompanied by Sarah who was looking at some papers for the next big project of the VISION Corporation, but everything would be interrupted when Sarah's phone rang and she decided to see who it was and then leave the place leaving the man alone with a curious look.
Sarah had come to a private place to talk and then picks up her phone to answer the call
"Report" Sarah said seriously.
"So far we haven't found any of the dark creatures, but some platoons say they've seen dark beings advancing in some places, but that's all, but we're keeping an eye on it" said the voice on the other end of the call.
"So what do you think, a new kind of shadow ethereal?" Sarah said interested in the new specimens, after all the Hollows were somewhat curious in creating new mutations, there was the case of the Doppegalger that were sighted in certain Hollows.
"It may be, but recent reports from some of our advance teams have seen some rather strange creatures… they were white and had what looked like… zippers in their mouths," the voice said.
"Zippers?" Sarah asks, somewhat puzzled by this report.
"As the reports said there were only a few sightings, and those creatures were very far away... I'll be honest, something is going on in the Hollows , something very strange if I may say so," said the voice on the phone, which had a serious tone.
Sarah was left silent by the words that were said to her "I can agree with you, something strange is going on, I will have more teams investigate the Hollows more , for now we must focus on our plans and hope that nothing changes" she said in a serious tone
"Believe me, the others also want to continue with the plan, for now I say goodbye. I will send more information to you and to Bringer , I say goodbye," said the voice and then hung up the call.
Sarah looks at her cell phone and then puts it away and looks towards a window that had the landscape of New Eridu itself. "Something big will happen in the future." She thought seriously. "But will it be something that will benefit us or will it be our destruction?"
END OF CHAPTER
Well I hope you liked the chapter, and if you read carefully the Nobody's have already made their appearance.
Also, Sora or more specifically Keyblade has an ally who would be Pompey, his contact with the Outer Ring.
Without further ado I say goodbye friends
Bye