The battlefield had gone silent. The echoes of their battle with the Darksides and Neoshadows had faded into the stillness of the Dark Meridian.

  Helios stood in pce, his breath steadying, but his thoughts were anything but calm.

  The pain in his chest had lessened after his Cura spell, but there was still a lingering disfort—not from physical injury, but from something deeper.

  Skuld’s light attack… it was still inside him.

  It wasn’t burning him anymore, but he could feel it. A fn energy that had embedded itself within his being.

  And then, something even more ued happened.

  As he focused on the sensation, his own light responded.

  The moment his inner light fred up, it pulled in the remnants of Skuld’s attack—abs it.

  It didn’t reject the energy. It didn’t cel it out.

  It merged.

  The small trace of Skuld’s light vanished into him, being part of his own energy.

  Helios frowned. "What… was that?"

  A deep, slithering voice chuckled in his mind. "Iing."

  Helios sighed internally. "You're still here?"

  "Always," Kurai purred. "And I must say, what I just witnessed… was quite amusing."

  Helios didn't answer, stretg his fingers as he focused on his own energy. He could still feel his darkness banced within him, but his light felt slightly different now. It had grown, only slightly though.

  Kurai's voice slithered bato his thoughts. "You’re trying so hard to wield something that rejects your entire being. Now it’s even taken in something that isn’t truly yours."

  Helios rolled his shoulders, unimpressed. "If I use it, it’s mine."

  Kurai chuckled again. "Perhaps. But yht is… unnatural. It does not behave like Skuld’s, nor like those who were truly born with it. You absorb, rather than radiate. You take and e, rather than give. Your darkness is also ging too. It does not e but expands like it's attempting to radiate. I wonder… does that mean yht will also behave more like darkhe more it grows?"

  Helios ched his fist, feeling the faint glow of his inner energy. His light wasn’t corrupted. It wasn’t tainted by his darkness. It coexisted with it.

  Unlike Skuld, whose heart shone brightly, his remained banced—his darkness was vast, his light restrained, but the two existed together in a weird equilibrium.

  And because of that… both his light and darkness now seemed to have different properties.

  He didn’t just wield light, He could also absorb it. That might be the best way for him to train his light powers at this stage.

  Kurai hummed thoughtfully. "An iing trait. But tell me, Helios, do you truly believe you stand on both sides forever? That your bance will hold?"

  Helios scoffed. "You ask that like you think I’ll fall."

  "Oh, I don’t think. I know it's simply a matter of time at this rate."

  Helios sighed, already doh this versation. "How about instead of this poialk, you make yourself useful?"

  Kurai stilled. "Oh?"

  Helios turned slightly, gng at Skuld, who stood a few feet away, breathing heavily from their previous fight. "You feel it, don’t you?"

  Kurai hummed again. "Ah… yes. Her st is like a bea in this pce. So… fn no wonder she draws in those hordes endlessly."

  That was the problem.

  Skuld’s newly awakened light was strong. To.

  And in a pce like this?

  Everything was watg.

  Helios tilted his head. "Then mask it. Do whatever you o do to keep them from sniffing her out."

  Kurai chuckled darkly. "You make such demands of me, human. Do you think me your servant?"

  Helios smirked. "No, but you don’t want me dying before I’ve served my purpose, right? So do your job."

  There was silence.

  Then, Kurai’s presence shifted.

  The darkness around them thied ever so slightly, like an invisible veil c them.

  Kurai whispered, "It is done. But do not expect me to up all your mistakes."

  Helios smiled. "Wouldn’t dream of it."

  Now that the Heartless were gone and Kurai had hidden Skuld’s presence as much as possible, Helios finally turned his attention to what y ahead.

  Somethi off.

  He g Skuld, who was still staring at him, slightly fused. "What were you doing?" she asked.

  "Just making sure we don’t attract more trouble than we o," Helios replied smoothly.

  Skuld looked like she wao ask more, but something else caught her eye.

  A glimmer of a pale light.

  She took a step forward, then another, before fully jogging toward the sight.

  Helios followed, his expression shifting.

  When they reached the spot, they found it—a battlefield frozen in time.

  The bck ground was shattered, jagged iations pierg through the darkness.

  In the ter of it all, Heartless—pletely frozen, locked in solid ice, as if they had been caught mid-attack.

  The ice had not melted, had not faded.

  Helios exhaled. "Aqua."

  Skuld turo him, eyes widening. "This was her?"

  He nodded. "Without a doubt. The magic here—it has to be hers. But the question is… how long ago was this?"

  Skuld gazed at the frozen battlefield, awe and warring in her expression. Helios stared ahead, his thoughts rag. Aqua had been here, that much was certain. But how far ahead was she now? Did she e here days ago or was it a year ago?

  They had no way of knowing—unless…

  He turo Skuld. "You’ll lead from here."

  Skuld blinked. "Huh? What? Why me?"

  Helios smirked slightly. "Your heart. It’s ected to Ventus."

  Her brow furrowed. "I don’t even remember him."

  "But your heart does."

  Skuld looked uain. "And how am I supposed to follow something I ’t remember? Besides you said he wasn’t here, so what would be the point?"

  Helios simply pced a hand over his chest. "Just trust me, please. May your heart be yuiding key."

  She stared at him for a moment, the out a soft huff. "You and your cryptic words."

  But still, she closed her eyes and pced her hand over her heart.

  Helios watched silently as she trated.

  As Skuld focused, the world around them seemed to darken. Not physically, but there resence.

  Something was watg. Helios didn’t move or react, but he k felt like something was looking at him as prey.

  Something out there had taken notice of them, and not just aless. It was stronger, smarter, and older. It wasn’t attag because it wasn’t alone. Helios felt multiple gazes, some worse than others.

  Helios let out a slow breath, his fingers curling slightly around Equilibrium.

  "If yoing to attack," he muttered under his breath, "do it already."

  Nothing.

  A cold wind swept through the darkness.

  And then—the presence of the gazes vanished.

  Helios narrowed his eyes.

  They weren’t just being watched, they were being studied. This was a hunt, not an attack.