Helios stood with Equilibrium in hand, black and silver threads of light crawling along its length. He cast a Cure spell to instantly seal the light wound he just got from Zack. Across from him, Zack spun his sword once in a lazy arc, then sank into a ready stance, every muscle coiled like a spring.
Helios surged forward first. His keyblade swept in a downward cut, Zack parried—and immediately Helios turned the parry into a shove, twisting his wrist to redirect Zack's blade wide. With the opening clear, Helios snapped his boot into Zack's ribs. The impact sent Zack sliding back, air knocked from his lungs, but his grin never faded.
"You really are ramping things up," Zack muttered, coughing once.
Helios didn't answer. He pressed.
His strikes flowed like a river—high cut, low sweep, reverse backhand—each one chained perfectly into the next. Zack met the rhythm but couldn't regain control; every parry only gave Helios another angle. When Zack tried to pivot into a counter, Helios slid inside his guard, shoulder-checking him hard and following with a shallow slice across Zack's pauldron. Sparks flew.
The crowd screamed.
Zack sprang back, flipping out of range, but Helios was already moving. He flicked his hand—Blizzaga—and a shard of ice burst forward. Zack slashed through it, only for Helios to whip his keyblade sideways and release Aerora, sending the ice shards spinning back like glass knives. Zack blocked two, dodged another, but the fourth skimmed his forearm, drawing blood.
"You're really going all out with the magic," Zack said, tightening his grip.
Helios answered with another spell—Thundaga, lightning raining down around Zack. The swordsman ducked, rolled, and parried one bolt with his blade, but Helios was waiting at the end of the roll. Equilibrium came down hard, sparks flying as Zack barely caught the strike. Helios's knee rammed into his stomach, forcing Zack down.
For the this stretch of the fight, it was all Helios. His footwork was tight, his angles unpredictable, his spells layered so that every clash ended in an advantage. Zack fought with energy and grit, but he was eating hits, forced onto the defensive, his style reduced to surviving.
Helios pressed the edge further. With a pulse of energy, Equilibrium split into two—the silver moon blade in one hand, radiant and calm; the black sun blade in the other, shadow-thick and humming with malice.
The crowd gasped and cheered seeing this turn of events.
Helios's next flurry came like lightning in stereo. The silver blade carved arcs of light, every strike burning bright. The black blade followed a half-beat behind, striking with raw weight, coated in darkness. Zack was hammered on both sides, sparks flying off his guard as Helios drove him across the stage.
Finally, Zack managed a desperate kick, shoving Helios back a step. He leapt high, slamming his sword down in Climhazzard—but Helios sidestepped, let the blade bite stone, and kicked Zack's knee out from under him.
Zack staggered, nearly falling. Helios's silver blade pressed at his throat.
"That was fun, but I think you're done now," Helios said.
The crowd hushed, waiting for Phil's call.
Then Zack laughed.
It started low, a rumble under his breath, then built into a wild, reckless sound. "Not yet," he said, forcing himself upright as a blast of fiery energy pushed Helios back. His sword pulsed—once, twice—as if something deep inside it was waking. His eyes flickered back and forth between the normal blue and black before stay black.
The fiery energy was then consumed by a dark energy bled from his frame, rising like heat haze.
"Uh oh," Phil muttered from the sidelines. "Looks like that kid Zack has a few more tricks up his sleeve than we thought!"
Zack's grin was wider now, sharper. His voice lost its warmth, replaced with a rasp. "Time for round two."
He moved—faster.
Helios swung, but Zack wasn't there. He'd vanished into a blur, reappearing with a slash that hammered Helios's guard. The impact forced Helios to stagger back two steps. Zack followed with another, then another—each one faster than the last. His Reverse Omnislash lit the arena, his blade teleporting through arcs of darkness, striking from impossible angles.
Helios blocked the first few, his dual blades catching sparks in the air, but Zack's pace kept climbing. One stroke slipped through, grazing Helios's shoulder; another slammed into his shin, nearly dropping him.
The Colosseum was on its feet, the noise volcanic.
Helios spat blood and shoved Zack back with Aero, but Zack just backflipped out of the blast and dove in again, this time with meteors crashing down behind him. The sky lit red as burning stones tore into the arena, explosions echoing. Helios dodged one, parried Zack's strike, only to be clipped by another meteor on the rebound. The blast sent him tumbling.
Zack landed in front of him, sword resting across his shoulders like a predator savoring the moment. "Not so cocky now, huh?"
Helios growled, pushing himself up. His eyes narrowed, both blades humming. "You're still slower than me."
They clashed again, sparks turning into firework showers with every blow.
Zack swung overhead; Helios angled his silver blade to catch the weight, pivoted with the momentum, and let his black blade lash across Zack's ribs. Zack twisted with the strike, turning what could have been a deep cut into a glancing wound, then rammed his shoulder into Helios's chest.
Helios rolled with the blow, sliding back, then snapped his wrist and launched Freezing Gale. The whirlwind roared, shards of ice slicing outward. Zack barreled straight through it, ice freezing onto his shoulder but cracking away as his sword burned with unnatural dark heat.
Helios slashed high. Zack blocked, pushed the blade wide, then tried to knee Helios in the stomach. Helios caught the leg, twisted, and shoved Zack sideways—but Zack spun with it, landing a backhand slash that cut Helios across the thigh.
Helios hissed, staggered, then shoved his hand outward—Earth Breaker. A jagged spike of stone, spun in a vortex of wind, shot upward. Zack vaulted over it with a flip, came down in a brutal overhead smash. Helios crossed both blades, caught it, but the force jarred his arms numb.
Zack pressed close, laughing now, his blows hammering like thunder. Helios's defense turned desperate, parries turning into deflections that only just avoided disaster. His earlier dominance was gone; Zack's berserk state was tearing through it.
The crowd loved it—every clash, every reversal, every scar carved into the arena floor.
Helios spat another breath, sweat dripping down his brow. His blades crossed, catching Zack's next strike, but the force drove him to one knee. Zack leaned in, blade grinding against both keyblades, his grin wild.
"You should've finished me when you had the chance," Zack snarled.
Helios pushed back, eyes narrowing. "You know you talk too much. I still have plenty of time and enough strength to finish this."
They broke apart, circling again, both bleeding, both battered. But the balance had shifted—Helios's precision had been met with Zack's frenzy, and for the first time in the fight, Helios wasn't in control.
The crowd screamed for more.