Ti felt like it passed differently inside the ring of fire as it isolated Kurai from the rest of the world. Even sound couldn't pass through and the flas themselves made no sound so the world was quiet.
Kurai sat cross-legged in the center of the blazing inferno, her silver and black coat untouched even by the wind that blew outside the barrier. The flas crackled and surged outward, fed by a magic not of this world. They weren't ordinary flas. They shimred with an eerie golden-red hue, imbued with Hades' power—an invisible barrier surrounded them, one that rejected all darkness, severed teleportation, and bent space around it.
She had tested every escape thod.
Umbral Step could trigger but only allowed movent within the confines of the fla ring. Eclipse Mirage simply fizzled against the wall. Even attempting to summon a corridor of darkness only resulted in sparks and backlash, forcing her to retreat inward instead of outward.
And so, Kurai sat in silence, her eyes closed, her breath deep and steady.
Inside, she condensed her darkness—not just gathered it, but crushed it, refined it into a dense, obsidian point within her body. The shadow within her Keyblade began to shimr. The war fan form humd at her side, faintly reactive. Still, she ignored it. This was deeper and even a lapse in concentration could fatal.
Every drop of darkness she had accumulated across her journey was pulled inward. Her aura shrank until it was little more than a dark silhouette in the center of the ring. Even the fire around her dimd, sensing the unnatural stillness at her core.
She rembered Hades' words.
"Magical flas. Can't teleport out. Can't walk through them. They'll last 24 hours, give or take. You're off the board."
He'd laughed, smug. But he'd underestimated her. As most do.
Kurai opened her eyes. They glowed eerily white like when she first awakened—brighter than before, pulsing like dying stars about to erupt.
She whispered, "Break."
The darkness detonated.
A colossal shockwave burst from her body, a 360-degree surge of pure, condensed shadow. It crashed against the flas like a rising tide slamming into brittle glass. For a mont, the two forces clashed— fire against abyssal energy—and the forest floor trembled under the strain.
Then the ring cracked.
With a final, echoing shriek, the fire was consud, and the invisible force field shattered like crystal. Smoke surged outward, blanketing the woods for miles, and in the center, Kurai stood tall, her coat flaring as if caught in a silent gale.
She exhaled once. "That took longer than I thought."
A corridor of darkness ripped open behind her. Without another word, she stepped through.
Mount Olympus was quieter now. Kurai erged on the sa path Hades had ripped her from earlier. It was bathed in faint starlight and moon glow, though the air still crackled with Hades'residual magic. She could still see the statue of Zeus on the summit ahead. But sothing felt… off.
The air had shifted. A lingering scent of sulfur and scorched rock. Faint tremors, not from the earth, but from battle.
She ran.
Shadow platforms ford under her feet as she darted forward, covering ground at inhuman speed. The wind howled around her, but she kept moving, tracing the echo of dark magic. Blood had been spilled—recently.
She erged over a ridge and stopped.
Below her, a massive crater had ford from a recent impact. Cerberus, the three-headed hound of the Underworld, lay at the center, body battered, black blood pooling beneath it. Smoke hissed from its wounds, but its chest still rose and fell. Its heads twitched. Not dead. Healing. Waiting.
And near its flank stood Sephiroth.
The swordsman's coat was torn along one side. Blood stained the hem of his sleeve. His breathing was steady, but heavier than usual. His chest rose and fell with exertion. Sweat clung to his brow. Masamune was planted in the ground beside him, its blade slick with blackened ichor.
"Still standing, I see," Kurai said as she descended in a silent step.
Sephiroth didn't turn. "Barely. You look worse."
Kurai smirked faintly. "Hades trapped and I needed to use quite a bit of strength to break free."
She raised her hand and with a sharp motion, teleported Cerberus' unconscious body several hundred ters away to the area she had just co from.
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "That was good. I wouldn't want to waste more ti fighting it again."
"Yeah," Kurai replied, turning to face him fully. "It was healing. Slowly. Another five minutes, it would've chased you down to lunged at your throat."
"Tch."
She studied him for a mont longer.
"Do you know where Helios is?"
Sephiroth's expression didn't change. But his silence said everything.
Kurai's smile faded. "You can't sense him either, can you?"
The swordsman shook his head once.
Her crimson eyes narrowed, glowing faintly. "Then that bastard took him to the Underworld."
For a brief mont, her posture faltered. Not weakness—restraint. She breathed in slowly, smoothing her aura.
Sephiroth watched her carefully. She could tell he was considering his next words. Perhaps he was about to offer to go with her, or ask how they'd deal with the curse that would drain their strength once they step foot there.
But she didn't give him the chance.
"You need to keep climbing," she said, her voice cold and flat. "The statue of Zeus—reach it. If Helios planned this right, the old man will appear and we can at least put Hades in check long enough for us to regroup."
She turned on her heel and began to walk away.
Sephiroth reached out slightly, his hand lifting as if to stop her. His mouth opened, but no words ca.
She didn't look back.
As her silhouette faded into the shadows below, Sephiroth lowered his hand. He stared at the mountain peak ahead.
Then, without a word, he continued the ascent.
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