A blur of silver split the morning mist.
Sephiroth darted across the hillside, Masamune in hand, a ghost in motion. Each step was a dance, each movent a whisper of violence. Heartless sward in his wake—Darkballs twisting midair, Neoshadows pouncing from the shadowed grass, Invisibles gliding like malevolent phantoms with swords drawn.
But Sephiroth moved through them like wind through reeds.
He vanished, reappeared mid-strike, and scattered a cluster of Neoshadows with a series of barely-seen slashes. Black particles sprayed the air like oil, but not a single drop touched him. His coat fluttered, pristine, as if even the laws of physics dared not touch him without permission.
A Darkball lunged from the treetops, tentacles crackling with dark magic.
Without looking, Sephiroth extended a hand. A pulse of power—Shadow Flare—ignited around him. Orbs of darkness arced outward and hod in on their targets. They collided midair with shrieking detonations, erupting into miniature novas of black fire that swallowed half a dozen Heartless in screaming death.
He landed without a sound.
A pack of Neoshadows closed in, claws flashing. Sephiroth spun, his blade a blur of steel and judgnt. One slash turned into five. Five into ten. And then—
—He vanished again.
Reappeared behind the last Neoshadow, one wing bursting from his back in a bloom of shadow and silver. He whispered:
"Too slow."
His blade bisected the Heartless in a single, clean strike. It never saw him move.
From the ridge above, an Invisible raised its sword and unleashed a beam of dark energy downward.
Sephiroth lifted one finger.
Firaga Wall.
A pillar of consuming fla roared from the earth, catching the beam and turning it into a flash of light. The fire didn't stop—it chased the Invisible up the air, surrounding it in a vortex before pulling it inward like a living furnace. When the wall dissipated, nothing remained.
Dozens more poured in from all sides. He hadn't even moved from his chosen field of battle. The mountain lay behind him, the sky above—and the world dared to believe it could stop him.
Sephiroth smirked.
"So… this is the best you have? I expect more from Hades."
He kicked off the ground.
More Heartless fell in seconds. Darkballs tried to blind him with magic. He blinked through them, bisecting the lead in midair. An Invisible tried to flank him—he ducked, drove his blade through its ribs, then hurled its crumbling body into another squad.
The storm of bodies and shadows grew thicker, and yet…
Sephiroth looked bored.
He never used Heartless Angel. Not yet. That spell was his checkmate, his ace against Hades—not fodder.
This was exercise.
From the far edge of the cliff, a tremor shattered the flow of combat.
Sephiroth paused.
The ground cracked open, glowing orange from beneath.
A triple snarl echoed like a nightmare from the depths of the world.
He turned slowly, eyes narrowing.
From a ring of smoke and embers, a hulking form rose—black as sin and twice as furious. Its three snarling heads snapped and barked, drool sizzling like acid where it fell. Its body radiated heat, magma veins glowing on the ground as it stepped closer. Each claw was the size of a broadsword. Its breath choked the air with ash.
Cerberus.
Sephiroth tilted his head.
"Well," he said, voice quiet but cutting. "How would you like to be beaten this ti little puppy?"
The beast growled, its middle head snapping in recognition. Even it rembered him.
Sephiroth stepped forward, rolling his shoulders.
Masamune shimred with gathering power.
"Co then."
Cerberus roared, all three heads unleashing waves of fla and fury across the battlefield. The heat distorted the air, and a crater ford beneath its feet as it leapt with impossible speed for sothing its size.
Sephiroth didn't flinch.
When the beast landed, the mountain shook—trees fell, rocks splintered, and molten cracks spread beneath its claws.
A blur of silver t the impact.
Sephiroth was already above it, Masamune glinting in the sunlight. He spun midair, slashing a precise arc across the left head's cheek. Black ichor sprayed, sizzling as it hit the beast's burning hide.
The left head scread. The right head retaliated, snapping toward him with burning fangs.
Sephiroth vanished.
Then reappeared on Cerberus's back.
He plunged Masamune into the creature's spine, twisting it. Cerberus bucked, darkness erupting around them both. The middle head turned, jaws wreathed in fla, and blasted the sky in a jet of infernal fire.
Sephiroth backflipped from the beast's back, the fire missing him by inches. Mid-air, he spun, pointed his hand downward—Shadow Flares spiraled into existence and fired like homing missiles into the beast's torso.
Boom—boom—BOOM.
Each flare exploded against the hound's hide, forcing it back. Cerberus roared in fury, but Sephiroth had already landed behind it, blade dragging sparks across the rocks as he dashed forward again.
The two clashed like titans.
Cerberus reared up, claws swiping. Sephiroth darted under them, cutting deep into the foreleg. One of the heads tried to lunge down and bite him—he teleported again, reappearing in front of its chest and driving Masamune deep between its ribs.
Cerberus reeled, breathing fire in all directions.
The flas licked the sky, but Sephiroth remained calm. The fire curled around him like a dance, but never touched skin. He moved too fast, too precise. His speed made him untouchable.
The beast roared again.
This ti, it raised one claw and slamd it into the ground, causing a wave of molten earth to rise and explode outward.
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and jumped—high, impossibly high—until he hovered above the battlefield, wing spread wide, cape fluttering.
He raised a hand.
"Super Nova," he whispered.
Above him, the sky cracked.
A sphere of cosmic light began to form. It spun with imnse gravity, orbiting debris around its golden core. Sephiroth held it for a mont longer, letting its radiance grow.
Then he hurled it downward.
The Super Nova scread through the sky like a cot.
Cerberus looked up and braced itself too late.
The impact shattered the hillside.
Light exploded in all directions, a do of celestial fury engulfing everything. The mountain trembled under the weight of the blast, and all nearby Heartless vaporized instantly.
When the light faded, a smoking crater remained.
Cerberus staggered out of it—alive, burns covering its body, limbs shaking. But still, it stood.
Sephiroth landed gently in front of it, unscathed. His wing retracted.
"You're tenacious," he said flatly. "I'll give you that."
Cerberus snarled, limping forward, defiant even in ruin.
Sephiroth adjusted his grip.
One last charge.
The beast lunged.
He t it head-on.
Masamune flashed once—twice—three tis in succession. Each cut cleaner than the last, bypassing muscle and hide, cutting through cursed sinew and demonic resilience. Sephiroth spun one final ti and delivered a cross-slash that cleaved through all three heads in a single sweeping arc.
Silence.
Cerberus collapsed. Its body hit the earth like a felled mountain.
The ashes of battle settled around Sephiroth.
He stood alone once more.
One hand raised, and with a flick of his wrist, the blood slid clean off his blade. The Masamune shimred before returning to rest against his shoulder.
Sephiroth looked down the hill of Mount Olympus in the distance to where the gates of the Underworld were located.
"I still haven't paid you back for forcing to flee last ti Hades. I think it's ti I paid back my debt," he said, his voice low but certain.
And then he walked on, leaving the battlefield—and the broken beast—behind him.
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