As Helios plummeted through the darkness, he reacted instinctively, summoning his dark shield to brapact. The shield, shimmering with a sinister glow, enveloped him just before he crashed into a floating piece of nd. The force of the collisio shockwaves across the fragile ptform, but the shield absorbed most of the damage. Even so, Helios felt the tremors in his bones as he tumbled across the cracked surface, quickly rising to his feet as he steadied himself.

  Around him, the keybdes that had fallen with him scattered in every dire, tumbling through the air like lost relics. Helios reached out, but before he could grasp one, a deafening crash shook the ground. The massive Dark Hide desded from above with a thunderous roar, its immense form sending gusts of wind that khe keybdes even farther away. The very h Helios’s feet cracked uhe pressure of the Heartless’s nding, threatening to break apart.

  Helios steadied himself, his heart rag as he faced the t creature. Dark Hide was rger than he remembered from his fragmented memories, its body an ominous mixture of dark purple and bck, with jagged spikes protruding from its bad limbs. Its glowing yellow eyes locked onto Helios, and in them, he saw an insatiable hunger for destru.

  Kurai was right, Helios thought as he g the scattered keybdes. heless, getting to them won’t matter if I don’t survive this.

  With a mighty roar, Dark Hide lu him, its massive cws leaving streaks of darkness in their wake. Helios quickly summoned his dark shield, blog the initial onsught. The impact rattled his bones, and he skidded backward, barely holding his ground. He o find an opening—a way to strike back before the ptform crumbled beh them.

  The ndmass groaned as Dark Hide attacked relentlessly, its cws tearing through the surface with every missed strike. Helios had no choice but to remain on the defensive, using his shield to defled ter with bursts of dark energy whenever an opportunity arose.

  However, Dark Hide was relentless. As Helios dodged and tered, the beast's speed and strength became apparent. The floating ndmass was crag uhe pressure of the battle, and it wouldn’t hold much longer.

  Helios gritted his teeth, summoning the darkness within himself. He khat if this tihe battle would drag him down into the abyss. He o end it swiftly. His foarrowed as he gathered his strength, eling the shadows around him. Dark form, much like the one Riku had mastered, coursed through him, enhang his reflexes and agility.

  The tide of battle shifted as Helios began to evade Dark Hide’s attacks with greater precision. Every cw swipe missed by mere inches as Helios moved like a shadow, slipping through the chaos with fluidity and grace. His dark franted him speed that outmatched Dark Hide’s size, allowing him to weave through its attacks.

  With each dodge, he left behind an afterimage, fusing the Heartless as it struck at empty space. Seizing the moment, Helios unched a barrage of Dark Firaga, dark fmes erupting from his fiips and smming into Dark Hide’s form. The beast recoiled, but only for a moment.

  Then Dark Hide let out an enraged roar, summoning a storm of dark energy. It spun wildly, creating a vortex of shadows and fmes that swirled around it like a whirlwind. Helios leaped into the air, flipping through the maelstrom of darkness, narrowly avoiding each fiery projectile that erupted from Dark Hide’s wrath.

  The fight escated into a deadly dance, Helios and the Heartless locked in an intetle of survival. The floating ndmass tio crumble beh them, fissures snaking across its surface. Every sed felt like ay as Helios dodged, tered, and struck back with his dark projectiles.

  Dark Hide, however, was not finished. It began to summon afterimages of itself—phantom copies that darted around the battlefield, their presence adding chaos to the already dangerous fight. Helios’s heart pounded in his chest as he maneuvered through the storm of illusions, using every ounce of his energy to avoid the onsught.

  I ’t keep this up much longer, Helios thought, his body growing weary from the strain. His movements were slowing, his strikes being less precise. His stamina was running out, and the Heartless seemed to sense his exhaustion.

  Dark Hide prepared for a final, devastating attack. Gathering all its dark energy, the beast reared back, its form crag with violent power. Helios braced himself, knowing this was the moment that would decide the battle. He had to act, or he would be ed by the darkness.

  But just as Dark Hide unleashed its attack, something shifted in the air—a movement Helios barely caught in time.

  “Dodge!” Kurai’s voice echoed in his mind.

  Helios barely mao leap to the side as Dark Hide’s attack obliterated the ground where he had stood. The force of the bst sent him sprawling, but before he could gather his bearings, he noticed something odd.

  Kurai, who had been silent for most of the battle, was o be seen.

  “Where... did you go?” Helios muttered between bored breaths, his mind rag as fusio in. He needed Kurai’s guidanore than ever.

  Dark Hide charged, the air crag with a tempest of darkness as the afterimages lunged forward in unison. Helios held his breath, ready for the impact—when suddenly, a dark corridor materialized beside him, emanating a familiar energy.

  Without hesitation, Helios dove into the corridor, the shadows swallowing him just as Dark Hide’s cws raked across the spot where he’d stood shattering the ndmass behind him. The Heartless screeched in frustration, its massive form filing as Helios disappeared into the shadows. For a moment, the world spun, and when they emerged from the corridor, they stood on another floating ptform, hidden from the Heartless’s view.

  Helios colpsed onto the ground, gasping for air. His entire body ached, his muscles burning with fatigue. Kurai hovered beside him, its energy swirling with disi.

  “Your stamina was failing, and you were moments from death,” Kurai said, its voice void of emotion. “The creature’s attack would have ended you. We are hidden from its senses now, but you must rest and recover. Another enter like that could be fatal.”

  Helios nodded, still catg his breath. “Thanks,” he managed between gasps. “But you’ve been… gone. I was beginning to wonder if you’d abandoned me.”

  Kurai tilted its head, seemingly unfazed by Helios’s ent. “You’re still of use to me. I don’t abandon my iments.” Its dark energy pulsed, briefly enveloping Helios, and infusing him with a stabilizing feeling. “Rest now. I have temporarily cealed us from its senses.”

  Helios gazed at the distant battlefield; the ndmass where Dark Hide had oood was now fractured and disiing. He watched as the massive Heartless leaped to aform, prowling for him, its glowing red eyes sing the darkness. The cracks in the ground spread like spiderwebs, aually, the entire ndmass crumbled into the abyss below.

  He sighed, still catg his breath. “What now?”

  Kurai’s dark form shimmered. “We wait for the opportunity. The Keybde you seek is still out there. You will recover, obtain your on, and then you will face the Heartless again.”