Sparks screamed as the twin halves of Equilibrium locked against Zack's berserk blade. Shadow bled from him in ragged sheets, his grin too wide, eyes flickering with madness. Every swing hammered like thunder, each step gouging trenches in the arena floor. The crowd's chants split down the middle, one half roaring "ZACK!" the other "HE-LI-OS!" until the sound rattled the bones of the Colosseum itself.
Helios twisted his wrists, sliding Zack's blade off his guard. Silver Moon Lightblade and Black Sun Darkblade wheeled in his hands, arcs of radiance and shadow crossed in perfect sync. Zack pressed in, teleporting into another Reverse Omnislash, his sword lashing from impossible angles. Helios met the first strike with Lightblade, the second with Darkblade, but the third scraped his shoulder, sparks scattering.
Blood welled. The crowd screamed. Zack's aura surged, feeding on the sight. His laughter turned jagged, animal.
Helios' eyes narrowed. He exhaled once. I've seen enough. No need to test him anymore.
He crossed both blades, let them grind against each other until the spiraled guards aligned. With a clean motion, the halves clicked, silver and black threads crawling back together. Equilibrium reformed whole—two halves fused into one.
Then he tilted the balance. Darkness thinned to a faint outline, while silver radiance stretched forward, lengthening into a slim, gleaming shaft. A crescent spearhead bloomed from its tip, moonlight captured in steel.
Bríon na Lú rested in his grip, the spear humming like a live vein of light.
The crowd gasped as the transformation shone across the dust. Zack didn't wait. He lunged, sword screaming down in a murderous arc.
Helios smirked faintly. "New variable. Let's test it."
The spear slid sideways, deflecting the blow with elegant precision. Helios' free hand flicked, and a bead of Magnet pulsed in the air beside Zack's elbow. The pull snagged his strike mid-motion, dragging the angle off just enough. The sword whistled past harmlessly.
Bríon na Lú darted in. The crescent head tapped Zack's ribs. A thin arc of light flared and vanished, leaving a stinging line.
Zack roared, darkness flaring higher. He swung again, faster, heavier, wild.
Helios planted his foot, Reflect snapping into form—not a dome, but a single plate of light, flat and flawless. Zack's blade slammed into it. The tile detonated like a mine, blasting him back three steps.
The crowd erupted, a wave of awe and fear.
Helios advanced, spear spinning once. Afterimages hung in the air, pale trails that shimmered like ghostly moons. Zack lunged at them, slashing phantoms, only to be caught by a real thrust that struck just under his guard. Light echoed a heartbeat later, a Shining Echo bite that doubled the pain.
Zack's grin twisted into a snarl. He blurred into another flurry—high feint, mid thrust, brutal low sweep. Helios parried high with the spear's haft, leaned past the thrust, and let a Magnet bead tug the sweep wide. His counter was immediate: Reflect against Zack's chest. Bang—light detonated point-blank, staggering him.
Helios' voice cut through the roar, light and clinical. "Strength rises to about one and a half times normal. Speed doubles. Stamina unchanged. All in all… lackluster."
Zack spat, swung harder. "Shut up!"
Helios smirked faintly. "Sorry. Talking to myself."
The fight turned savage. Zack's berserk speed tore gouges into the stone. Each strike rattled Helios' arms even when deflected. The spear flicked, haft intercepting elbows, crescent point darting like a surgeon's knife. Reflect panels detonated in sharp bursts, each counter peeling strips of shadow from Zack's aura. Magnet beads tugged wrists, knees, even the sword's tip, redirecting his fury into wasted arcs.
Blood painted both of them now—Helios from shallow cuts along his thigh and cheek, Zack from spear strikes and his own frenzied momentum. But only one of them bled with control.
Helios let another cut nick his forearm. He watched Zack's eyes flare wide at the sight, darkness spiking in response. The berserk climbed higher. Helios' expression didn't change. "So damage accelerates the fall into frenzy. Noted."
Zack vanished into Reverse Omnislash again, teleport slashes from every angle. Helios threaded Magnet into the storm, beads tugging each strike just enough to skew. Bríon na Lú spun in tight arcs, parrying some, dodging others, Reflect detonating where parries weren't possible. The spear darted between swings, punishing gaps the darkness left behind.
Zack snarled, voice cracking under strain. His frenzy wasn't measured—it was eating him alive. The aura frayed, thick but ragged, his swings faster yet less precise. Helios saw the imbalance widening.
"Seems your body can no longer hold out," he murmured, twisting his spear against Zack's guard. "You'll burn out soon enough."
The crowd roared louder, feeding Zack more. He howled and struck again, a savage overhead smash. Helios let a Magnet bead tug it sideways mid-swing, then slammed a Reflect tile into the blade. The blast rocked the arena, staggering him.
Helios' eyes narrowed. "He really has nothing left to show me."
Bríon na Lú flared, spearhead blazing until the entire arena seemed to glow with its light. He scattered Magnet beads in a subtle pattern across the sand, a net only he understood. Zack charged into it, every swing tugged wider, every recovery slowed. A Reflect panel detonated at his chest upon impact, blasting him upward, twisting him in the air.
Helios stepped onto light itself, rising after him as if the sky had offered a staircase. The spear spun above his head, radiance building until it blurred into a halo.
The crowd hushed for a heartbeat, then erupted into thunder.
Zack roared, slashing upward with his last reserve, darkness tearing at his sword.
Helios' voice was calm, ledger-like. "Skyfall Arc."
He plunged. Bríon na Lú drove down in a spiraling corkscrew of light. It struck the arena floor with the force of a meteor. Radiance erupted in a dome, a flower of pure energy bursting outward.
Darkness screamed. It peeled from Zack in ragged sheets, burned away like grease in a fire. The black haze fled, leaving his body bare of shadow. He crashed to the sand, sword slipping from his fingers, aura extinguished.
Silence.
Then the Colosseum exploded in noise.
"HELIOS! HELIOS! HELIOS!"
Bríon na Lú dimmed, shrinking back into Equilibrium, the two-toned blade once more. Helios planted it in the sand and looked down at Zack.
The boy's chest rose and fell in heavy gasps. His eyes were blue again, grin cracked but real.
Helios smirked faintly. "Thank you," he said softly. "I had fun."
He offered a hand. Zack blinked, then took it. Helios pulled him up.
The crowd roared louder, a wave that shook the stone.
Helios let the sound wash past, mind already logging results—damage as catalyst, crowd as amplifier, Magnet for disruption, Reflect as well-placed mines. All filed away.
He guided Zack toward the waiting healers, the Colosseum still echoing with chants of his name.
And in the stands, Cloud's eyes darkened for a split second before returning to normal. Sephiroth looked on the two walking toward the area with a cold expression. The others said nothing, but the storm Helios had unleashed in Zack would soon bear consequences for all.