The sun beat down upon the Colosseum, golden light illuminating the scoured stone and casting long shadows through the great arena. The roar of the wind whispered over the sand, quiet compared to the battle about to unfold. At the heart of the Colosseum, Helios stood facing Sephiroth.
Three days had passed since the Underworld. Since Kurai tore through Hades and dragged Helios back from death's doorstep. His body bore the lingering weight of that ordeal—every movement a silent protest, his joints stiff, the deeper wounds aching dully beneath the surface. Yet he stood tall, defiant.
Across from him, Sephiroth waited with the same cold intensity, Masamune gleaming at his side. No words had passed between them when they arrived. None were needed.
Helios exhaled slowly. "Ready when you are."
Sephiroth stepped forward, lifting his blade.
The fight began.
Helios surged forward, Keyblade Equilibrium flashing into his hand. He slashed once—a feint—then leapt back and gathered darkness into his grip. The metal shimmered and warped, its shape twisting. Segments unfolded like a blooming flower of blades.
Slánú na nDoimhneacht was born anew, its segmented whip-sword form writhing with condensed umbra.
Helios lashed it forward.
The weapon cracked through the air, an extension of Helios' fury. Sephiroth parried the first blow, then the second, narrowly avoiding the third as it curved around him unnaturally. The segmented blade spiraled midair, snapping toward his flank.
Sephiroth twisted and vanished in a blur, appearing behind Helios, Masamune already descending. Helios pivoted, the whip coiling around his arm to block the strike. Steel met darksteel in a flare of sparks.
Pain surged through Helios' shoulder.
Too slow.
He launched a counterstrike, flipping the whip backward over his head. It split into separate strands mid-air, forming a blackened net of lashes. Sephiroth dodged again, teleporting briefly to high ground along the colosseum wall.
Helios gave chase. Using a burst of dark magic, he leapt after him, the sand exploding beneath his feet. Midair, he rotated and unleashed Umbral Spiral, sending the whip into a vortex of slashing arcs. The technique carved gouges into the stone behind Sephiroth, who landed lightly on a nearby column.
"You're slower," Sephiroth commented, expression unreadable.
"You try getting disemboweled and see how fast you bounce back," Helios growled, grinning despite the pain. He pointed his blade upward and shouted, "Fang of the Abyss!"
Segments of the whip surged toward Sephiroth like the jaws of a serpent. He deflected one, two, three—then a fourth nicked his shoulder. He flipped backward and descended toward the ground, where Helios met him with a wide sweep.
Masamune and Slánú na nDoimhneacht clashed again. Blades locked. Sparks erupted. And then Helios forced darkness into the locked point, forcing Sephiroth to jump away as tendrils of corrosive energy erupted.
Helios fell to one knee.
His ribs ached. He coughed once, blood flecking his palm.
Sephiroth stood silently, waiting. Watching.
Helios rose again.
The moment Helios stood again, darkness rolled from his shoulders like steam, barely contained by the force of his will. Across the arena, Sephiroth took a single step forward, Masamune lowered but not relaxed. The wind stirred between them, carrying the faint scent of scorched stone and blood.
Helios cracked his neck. "Round two, then."
He flicked his wrist, Slánú na nDoimhneacht dancing in a circular motion around him like a serpent. The dark steel gleamed with the resonance of his pain—raw, unstable, but growing more precise.
Sephiroth moved.
A blur of silver and black, he closed the gap in a heartbeat, Masamune carving a near-invisible arc through the air. Helios met it with the spine of his whip-sword, the clash sounding like a thunderclap. The force sent him skidding back, boots carving trenches in the dirt. He twirled the blade segments into a tight spiral and lunged.
"Umbral Spiral!"
The blade segments exploded outward mid-thrust, becoming a corkscrewing storm of darkness. Sephiroth parried one strand, then two—but the third slashed across his ribs. A shallow cut, but it bled.
Helios didn't relent. He closed in and swung the hilt upward, recalling the whip back into a singular blade just long enough to parry Sephiroth's downward strike. The force shook through his bones.
"You're definitely stronger than before," Sephiroth said.
"You're holding back," Helios shot back, eyes narrowing.
Sephiroth's expression remained stoic. "I am because you're injured."
"Fight me seriously or leave."
With that, Helios summoned a sphere of dark magic in his palm and slammed it into the ground. Vow Severance activated.
Dark spires erupted beneath Sephiroth, aiming to bind him in a cage of shadowy blades. Sephiroth leapt, twisted midair, and drove Masamune downward in a blazing arc. The impact shattered the spires and sent a shockwave rippling through the Colosseum.
Helios was flung back, landing hard against a stone pillar. He coughed, but this time no blood followed.
Sephiroth landed gracefully.
Helios stood again, his whip-sword now flaring with a dual aura of darkness and a faint pulse of light—Equilibrium fighting to balance.
The air crackled with energy.
Sephiroth struck first.
He moved faster than Helios could fully track, and Masamune was already halfway to Helios' neck before he snapped his whip upward in defense. Sparks flew as steel scraped steel, and Helios twisted the blade to wrap around Sephiroth's arm, yanking him forward.
Sephiroth spun into the momentum, bringing his knee up into Helios' gut. The air left Helios' lungs, and he barely blocked the follow-up swing. He responded with a wide horizontal lash of Slánú na nDoimhneacht, forcing Sephiroth back.
They stared at each other, breathing hard. The Colosseum echoed with silence, then the faint rumble of a storm in the distance.
"You're still improving as we fight," Sephiroth said, tone almost contemplative.
"And you're still the wall I have to break through."
They charged again.
Steel met shadow in a chorus of destruction. Pillars crumbled. Dust rose in thick clouds. Every strike sent vibrations through the ground. Helios unleashed a flurry of chained attacks—Fang of the Abyss, followed by Umbral Spiral, and then a partial Vow Severance that carved a massive 'X' into the floor.
Sephiroth responded in kind, wielding Masamune like an extension of thought—every parry, every counter, a testament to his mastery.
Eventually, the two combatants landed on opposite ends of the arena once more.
Helios, panting, fell to one knee.
Sephiroth, chest rising and falling, remained standing but with several cuts bleeding freely.
Neither of them said a word.
Because neither of them were finished.