The cavern shook as another Fat Bandit slammed its fists into the stone floor, molten fire spewing in thick arcs toward Helios and the two children behind him.
Helios darted backward, deflecting a flying sword with a narrow parry of his Keyblade. "Back!" he barked at Aladdin, pushing the boy and Alira further into the tunnel they'd come from. "Retreat to the previous chamber—now!"
"But—!" Aladdin started.
"No arguments! The room we just passed had already sprung its traps. This one hasn't. If we fight here, one wrong step and the whole ceiling might bury us!"
With no further protest, Aladdin grabbed Alira's hand and darted back through the archway, ducking a spinning Luna Bandit that screamed past like a burning disc.
Helios followed, spinning around mid-leap and lashing a barrier of light behind them—cutting off a wave of Fortuneteller spells that smashed against the radiant wall in bursts of blue ice.
The moment his boots hit the familiar stone floor of the cleared chamber, Helios landed hard and skidded to a stop.
From behind came the rumbling hiss of breath and power.
Jafar had arrived.
He walked slowly into the cave's threshold, black cloak swirling like smoke. Behind him, the tunnel walls pulsed unnaturally. From every corner, more Heartless crawled, floated, and slithered.
A second wave.
Thirty Bandits. Another Heat Saber. Four more Fortunetellers. The Solid Armor had caught up, dragging its spiked fists across the stone with an echo that sent shivers down even the Heartless' ranks.
Helios narrowed his eyes.
"Aladdin!" he called over his shoulder. "Get her to the corner—keep her safe."
Aladdin didn't question it this time. "Come on," he whispered to Alira, ushering her behind a stone outcropping where the treasures were sparse.
Helios stood alone between the swarm and the children.
He had no room to spare. No margin for error.
With a breath, he brought his Keyblade into a reverse grip, lowered it to his side, and began pouring his will—not into the light, but into the other half of himself.
The darkness answered.
His Keyblade pulsed—first silver, then black. The light drained from one half as the dark swelled, curling like smoke around the steel. The blade itself shivered, then unfurled, shedding its rigid edge like snake skin.
Metal flowed. The shaft elongated. The silver vanished.
What remained was long, black, and sinuous—a whip of thorns and jagged segments. At its end, a wicked purple thorned blade shimmered into being, shaped like the fang of a dying god.
The air pulsed. The cave groaned.
Helios raised his weapon—a dark, twisting spiral of metal and hunger.
Slánú na nDoimhneacht (Salvation of the Abyss)
The Heartless paused.
Then they surged forward.
The first Luna Bandit leapt. Helios snapped his arm back and cracked the whip forward. The blade at the tip curved midair, wrapped around the bandit's throat, and slammed it into a pillar with bone-crushing force.
He twisted again, the whip curling around a second enemy. The moment it coiled, Helios funneled dark energy through the weapon—and the thorns bloomed. Purple spikes erupted from the binding, shredding the enemy like paper.
He stepped into the flow of battle, dancing between chaos.
The whip blurred into a circle, striking enemies around him in a multi-hit combo that sent shockwaves of dark energy pulsing outward. Each lash cut with a real edge and then again with delayed shadow-echoes. Helios smirked, thinking to himself that he would name this technique Vow Severance.
The Fortunetellers began casting again, forming frost orbs in their palms. Helios snapped the whip skyward.
Helios spun the whip, and crescent-shaped arcs of dark energy shimmered into being above him, then rained down like moon-shaped blades, smashing the mages out of the air in a flurry of stinging impacts. For this, he would go with Midnight Rain.
A Fat Bandit opened its mouth to spew fire—
Helios flicked his wrist and shot the blade tip of the whip forward.
Fang of the Abyss.
The spear-like tip drilled through the flame, striking the Heartless' head just before it erupted with dark flame and sent the creature slumping backward, its body shattered into dark particles.
But the numbers kept coming.
Even as he cut one down, two more replaced it. The Solid Armor moved into position, dragging itself with terrifying force. Its fists were clenched.
BOOM. A shockwave. Then, a rush-punch straight at Helios.
He whipped his arm around and the whip began to vibrate as if it were singing, giving off a low hum that disoriented the armors' aim just enough. He named this song Serpent's Hymn.
He ducked the blow.
But not the follow-up swing. The Solid Armor slammed him with a backhand. Helios tumbled backward, slammed into a pillar, and effortlessly pulled himself free, and looked upon his foes with a dark smile.
The Heartless surged again.
Alira peeked over the stone. "He's… losing."
Aladdin gripped the scimitar Helios had given him earlier.
He looked at her—this quiet, strange girl—and knew that whatever Helios had been doing… it wasn't for treasure.
Aladdin stood. "I'm going in."
Alira looked up. Her eyes widened—not in fear, but recognition.
The boy might be stupid, but he was brave. But Helios said to wait, so she would and because he said for them to both wai,t she grabbed his wrist, stopping the boy.
Meanwhile, Helios staggered up again.
The whip retracted, coiling around his arm like a serpent.
The Heat Saber charged, blades glowing molten.
Helios pointed the whip forward—and whispered, "Come then, guys. Let us both find out what this darkness whip, when wielded with malice, looks like. I'm sure it'll be a sight to see."