Kingdom Hearts: Consumed by Darkness

The silver serpent crashed down like divine punishment, its winged body spiraling through the air with an ear-splitting shriek. Bone wings scraped the cavern walls, shattering bits of obsidian and spraying dust into the air.

Helios darted forward, whipping Equilibrium into its dark form—Slánú na nDoimhneacht—the segmented whip-sword coiling like a predator. A flick of his wrist launched it forward, wrapping around one of the serpent's massive horns. Helios twisted, spinning his body mid-air and casting a Thundaga directly into the serpent's mouth, the lightning exploding like a firework of rage.

"Stay light on your feet!" he shouted, landing in a roll beside Kurai. "That thing big and slow!"

"I wasn't planning on hugging it," Kurai snapped back. Her blade shimmered in the darkness, casting afterimages as she danced toward the creature. She aimed for its underbelly, vanishing and reappearing through short-range darkness steps, slashing in a wide arc that sent a burst of corrupted energy crackling along its scales.

Above them, Sephiroth blurred into motion—a silver streak trailing behind him. With unnatural grace, he vanished and reappeared atop the serpent's head, plunging Masamune into the bone crown. A pulse of fire erupted around him. Firaga Wall, Helios realized too late.

The blast slammed into the cavern. Kurai was knocked back, crashing into a statue and splitting it in half. Helios raised a Reflect barrier in time to absorb the explosion but skidded backward, boots dragging through ash.

"Showoff," Helios muttered.

The serpent bucked, throwing Sephiroth mid-air—but the swordsman twisted, controlling his descent with an elegant spin, shadow flares launching from behind him in a curved trajectory toward Nemesis herself.

But she was no fool.

Nemesis spun, her arm morphing mid-motion into a jagged blade of obsidian, cleaving the shadow flares into ribbons. Her other hand shaped into a spiked gauntlet and she slammed the ground.

A shockwave exploded outward.

It disrupted magic, dispelled barriers, and knocked everyone back. Helios hit the cavern wall hard, coughed blood, and wiped it from his lip.

"She's stronger than I expected and our powers are severely weakened," he growled. "Time for something… new."

Helios stood slowly, rotating his wrists. Darkness gathered in one palm. He summoned cold with the other.

"Let's try this again…"

He fused Blizzaga and Aerora, spinning the energy into a miniature storm vortex around him. Ice shards whipped outward in rapid pulses, surrounding him in a Freezing Gale.

Nemesis narrowed her eyes.

She pounded the ground and sent a pulse through the floor. The ambient energy of the Underworld surged upward in response, counteracting the cold and melting the ice before it could fully spread.

Helios grinned.

"Good. You're smarter than you look."

He pressed his palm to the ground. Dark Breaker.

A spinning spike of darkness-infused jagged stone shot from beneath her, propelled by an Aerora ring. She twisted out of the way, but the stone ruptured into shrapnel needles of compressed rock, some catching her arm and leg.

As she staggered, Kurai dashed back into the fray, dual-wielding her keyblade and a shadow-forged dagger she conjured mid-run. She was faster than light, a blur of twin strikes—but Nemesis met her with a counter-punch that reshaped her hand into a flail, slamming Kurai into a statue.

Helios snapped his fingers. A series of Sleep spells detonated in midair, slowing Nemesis' next move—but not fully sedating her.

She shook it off.

"If only I wasn't weakened," Kurai groaned, climbing back to her feet. "Remind me to stab you for dragging us here."

Sephiroth landed beside them, calm as ever. "She has weaknesses. You just haven't hit them."

"Enlighten us," Helios hissed.

Sephiroth didn't answer. Instead, he blurred forward again, this time dodging Nemesis' bone-whip strikes by inches. His foot connected with her chest in a surprise flying kick, launching her into the air—just high enough for Helios to act.

"Let's see how you like this," Helios muttered.

He summoned a new spell—one he'd been developing from fragments of his own imagination.

"Flare Bloom."

A swirling mass of fire, water, light, and gravity magic bloomed midair, forming into a lotus of energy. It detonated in a pulse of heat and gravity, sucking Nemesis toward its center and slamming her into the ground with incredible force.

Dust and light exploded outward. A crater formed.

She didn't rise.

For a moment—just a moment—the chamber was silent.

Helios exhaled, his arm trembling. "She's not defeated. I doubt that blast would even take down a powerful heartless."

"No," Sephiroth said. "She's angry."

From the crater, Nemesis stood—her body shifting now. Her hands became javelins, her back sprouted bone-like wings, and her eyes glowed with divine wrath.

"Enough," she whispered.

She grew.

In a matter of seconds, she was a towering war-goddess, limbs carved from divine wrath, wings shrouding the room in shadow. Her voice boomed like thunder.

"Judgment has come."

She struck.

The serpent's tail slammed into Sephiroth, launching him into a wall.

A bone javelin nearly impaled Kurai, but she caught it mid-air with a roar of fury.

Helios, desperate now, split Equilibrium into its halves and managed to transform the halves into both of its forms—Bríon na Lú and Slánú na nDoimhneacht. One radiated light, and the other pulsed with darkness.

He blurred, darting forward between her legs, slashing at tendons and joints.

She screamed in rage, bringing down her heel to crush him—but Helios vanished mid-swing, appearing behind her, combining Thundaga and Aero into a storm spear and driving it into her back.

Nemesis bellowed. Sephiroth reappeared mid-air, Masamune spinning.

Kurai launched herself from a nearby ledge, blade wreathed in darkness.

They struck her from all sides—cutting, searing, freezing, burning.

Still, she fought.

But her movements slowed. Her form flickered.

And just when it looked like she would unleash another catastrophic attack—

She froze.

A pulse of divine energy rippled across the room.

And then…

A voice, soft but commanding, echoed from the edge of the chamber.

"That's enough, Nemesis."

The goddess paused. Her red eyes snapped to the source.

A woman appeared—tall, graceful, with pink skin and dark indigo hair streaked with pale blue. She wore a regal blue headdress and flowing dress, her very presence vibrating with ancient authority.

Nemesis hesitated. Her body shrank. She dropped to one knee.

"Hecate…"

Helios blinked. Kurai lowered her blade. Sephiroth raised a brow.

"Who the hell…?" Helios whispered.

The woman stepped forward, her voice as smooth as dusk.

"We need to talk."