Helios twisted, Slánú na nDoimhneacht arcing through the air with deadly grace. Each snap carved shadows across the sandstone, the blade-tip spinning with malevolent elegance. The Heartless had surged forward without hesitation—but their arrogance was misplaced.
The whip coiled around a Bandit's scimitar mid-swing. With a jerk of his arm, Helios sent the weapon flying into the cave wall where it embedded with a clang. Before the creature could react, he spun low, dark energy trailing his motion, and swept the whip's edge across its torso. The impact wasn't just physical—echoes of darkness bloomed a second later, reducing the Heartless to smoke.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this thing. Now hurry up I'm in a bit of a rush," said Helios with a smirk and a condescending tone.
Behind him, a Luna Bandit dove from above.
Helios twisted the hilt in his grip as he poured dark energy into the whip. Soon the whip developed what looked like bladed segments all across it switching the weapon's form into a whip-sword mode mid-motion.
"Oh, that's interesting. Hmm, then I'll use it like this. Let's call this move Fang of the Abyss."
He jabbed upward, the segmented weapon curling like a living snake. The blade hardened at its tip, forming a spiral drill of dense shadow — it pierced straight through the creature's ribbed armor, detonating in a flash of purple.
The cave shook with the aftershock.
As the battle raged like a controlled storm.
Helios ducked under a swipe from a Bandit, then twisted to the side as a Fat Bandit unleashed a gurgling stream of fire. The flames rolled toward him, but he flipped backward, cloak flaring, and landed in a crouch.
"That was close," he muttered.
Then moved.
His whip-sword uncoiled with a shriek of steel.
CRACK!
The barbed tip lashed across the chest of a charging Luna Bandit, sparks flying as the creature's momentum was redirected mid-lunge. It spiraled past Helios and slammed into a Solid Armor, staggering them both.
Another Fat Bandit roared, drawing back its stubby arms to summon a wall of flame.
Helios flicked his wrist upward.
"Hmm, how best to defend with this? Oh, I've got it then this one will be Twilight Lash."
Three crescent-shaped blades of shadow erupted from the whip-sword's arc, slicing through the Fat Bandit's fire charge mid-cast. The spell exploded in its throat, igniting it from within. The Heartless belched black smoke as it collapsed backward.
Before Helios could breathe, the Heat Saber descended — blades alight, spinning like molten fans.
Helios channeled darkness and retracted the whip-sword and to his surprise, the weapon transformed into a sword mode. He then caught the downward strike with the new sword mode, the steel-on-steel impact rippling through his arms.
He twisted, sliding to the left letting the Heat Saber's attack fall on the ground. Once again he channeled darkness extending the whip as far as he could it transformed yet again into its original whip mode. He then dragged the whip behind him, barbs scraping sparks from the stone as he move closer to the Heat Saber.
He whispered, "This move will need a cool name so let's go with Midnight Reversal."
The whip shifted to its sword move and the blade broke into segments mid-slide, expanding behind him — then snapped forward in a looping crescent. It hooked behind the Heat Saber's knee and yanked. The armored Heartless fell forward, its heavy torso slamming into the ground with a resonant BOOM.
Helios finished the motion with Phantom Snare, launching the whip-sword turned whip into the creature's exposed flank, pinning it down with a sharp thud.
But there was no time to finish it off.
From above — four Fortunetellers floated downward in formation, casting Blizzard glyphs in mirrored spirals.
Helios raised a hand.
A wall of dark energy erupted around him in a dome, absorbing the freezing crystals in a haze of cracking ice and hissing steam. He burst from the dome with a lunge, flinging the whip skyward like a lasso.
"Fang of the Abyss."
It spun wide, forming a black spiral tipped in violet thorns that pierced through two of the Fortunetellers mid-hover, bursting them into smoke.
The others tried to retreat and regroup, but Helios retracted the whip fast — then sent it streaking out again in Whip-Sword Mode, tip now shaped into a serrated half-lotus of compressed darkness.
"Shadow Orchid."
It bloomed mid-air — spinning blades that cut through the remaining two like a blender of nightmares.
The cave trembled under the lingering energy.
Helios landed and panted slightly. The whip trembled in his hand like it was alive.
'It's adapting… responding to me and the changes I want even faster as time goes on.'
From the tunnel's mouth came the echo of marching.
Reinforcements.
Three Bandits. Two Luna Bandits. One Solid Armor.
He rolled his neck and advanced. "Good, I still need more practice."
One Bandit raised its sword and charged. Helios stepped in low.
"This move is inspired by the Dark Hide. Silent Maw."
He thrust his whip forward — not at the creature, but at its shadow. The thorns snapped down into the darkness on the ground, and a pulse of void erupted upward — ensnaring the creature in its own silhouette. It then vanished, devoured by black tendrils.
The Luna Bandits danced in with blinding speed, spinning their dual crescent blades.
Helios ducked and sidestepped, the whip flowing with him like a ribbon in water. One blade grazed his shoulder — but he twisted the hilt sharply, converting the whip into a bladed whipe sword around his waist.
"So these shadow blades can't hurt me that good to know. Spiral Reaping."
He spun — full-bodied — dragging the whip in a spiraling cyclone. The Luna Bandits were too close, and both were flung away, crushed into the cavern wall by the rotational force and exploding in flashes of smoke.
The Solid Armor came next.
It lunged, arms wide — fists glowing red.
Helios didn't flinch.
He let it come.
And just before impact—
"Abyss Lock."
The whip snapped forward, the links extending and wrapping around the creature's arms, legs, and neck. The final segment — a jagged, glowing thorn — drove itself into the creature's chestplate where its Heartless emblem pulsed.
Helios raised a hand.
"Now I should be able to manipulate the dark energy inside. Is this how you do it? Detonate."
The dark energy surged through the links like liquid lightning.
CRACK! BOOM!
The Solid Armor exploded in a controlled shockwave that sent tremors through the floor, scattering debris and coins into the air.
Helios landed on one knee, breathing heavier now.
But it wasn't over.
A whisper of movement behind him.
A shadow moved.
Too late.
Jafar.
In the chaos of battle, he'd slipped past the outer melee — cloaked in black fog, shrouded by the chaos he himself had unleashed.
Helios spun—
But not in time.
WHACK.
Aladdin was struck across the chest and hurled to the ground with a cry. The scimitar clattered against the stones.
Jafar stepped on his chest, pressing down with cruel satisfaction.
In his left arm, he held Alira tightly at the waist, his cobra staff's gleaming ruby eyes pointed directly at her head. His hand tightened on her hip, anchoring her in place like a trophy.
The battle froze.
Helios halted, whip at the ready, but unmoving.
Jafar's smirk was a crescent of arrogance. "Your blade dances like a jinn's lullaby," he said silkily. "But in the end — it's all noise."
"Let her go. If you do I'll only break that one arm holding her," Helios said, voice razor-thin.
The cobra staff hummed ominously. "No. I believe I hold all the leverage now. The boy — dead if I wish it. The girl — just as easily turned to ash. So…" He leaned forward. "Die for them. Or watch them die for you."
Helios didn't move. His hand was steady on the hilt. His breath calm.
But his mind? It was already calculating.
The Heartless pulsed around them, silent now, waiting for orders.
Jafar's control over them was stabe — for now.
"I must admit," Jafar added with a sneer, "I'm very curious to see what a powerful warrior such as yourself looks like when he begs."
The serpent staff hummed with gathering magic, its eyes burning brighter.
Alira didn't speak.
But her gaze flicked—not to Jafar—but to Helios.
Waiting.
Trusting.
Helios did not blink.
The coiled blade at his side hummed, darkness rippling in his palm.
Jafar chuckled. "What now, boy? Will you use your darkness kill me and her too?"
Helios exhaled.
And smiled.
Kurai's dark voice echoed in his mind, "I wonder if he would say these words if he knew what you planned for the girl."
A whisper of darkness flickered behind his eyes.