The Colosseum was in chaos. What should have been an hours-long tournament had been reduced to a fraction of its usual time. Helios had breezed through the rounds, effortlessly dispatching opponent after opponent with precision and ruthless efficiency.
Most never even touched him. With a combination of Blizzaga, Aero, and Gravity spells, he had sent each warrior flying off the platform, knocking them out before they could even swing their weapons.
The crowd, at first excited, had quickly turned hostile. What they wanted was a spectacle. A true warrior's clash. Instead they got a cocky spellcaster eliminating fighters like they were nothing but pawns in a game. And now, at the final round, they were out for blood.
The announcer's voice boomed over the arena. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL MATCH!"
"ON ONE SIDE, THE CHALLENGER WHO "FOUGHT" HIS WAY HERE—IF YOU CAN EVEN CALL IT FIGHTING—THE MAN YOU ALL LOVE TO HATE: HELIOS!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Fight like a man!" The arena erupted with boos, the spectators jeering and heckling Helios, demanding a real fight this time.
Standing at his end of the battlefield, Helios stretched lazily, completely unfazed.
The crowd? Didn't matter.
His opponent? That mattered.
And when the announcer called Sephiroth's name, the Colosseum practically shook from the cheers.
"AND FACING HIM… THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION OF THE ADVANCED TOURNAMENT… SEPHIROTH!"
The moment his name was uttered, Sephiroth descended from above, his long silver hair flowing like liquid mercury as he landed silently on the battlefield.
He didn't acknowledge the crowd. Didn't smirk. Didn't even look at Helios at first.
Instead, he simply gripped the Masamune tighter, rolling his wrist slightly, testing his blade's balance.
Then, without a word, his glowing cat-like eyes locked onto Helios.
Helios smirked. "Guess we're not holding back, huh?"
Sephiroth said nothing.
But Helios could feel it.
The killing intent. It was immense and just being in his presence caused Helios to feel a chill down his spine. The moment the bell rang, they were already moving.
The instant the fight began, Sephiroth vanished.
The air screamed as the Masamune sliced forward, aiming to cut Helios in half before he could react.
Helios barely twisted his body in time, the blade shaving off a lock of his hair as it whizzed past.
Sephiroth didn't stop.
He twisted mid-air, slashing again—a storm of silver steel.
Helios blocked with the Equilibrium Keyblade, the sheer force numbing his arms.
Each strike was blindingly fast, nearly impossible to track. A normal warrior? Would have been dead five times over. But Helios? All the time he spent getting nearly killed by Sephiroth in Radiant Garden wasn't for show as he could only see the attacks but knew Sephiroth's attack pattern.
He was fast. Almost too fast. But he wasn't random.
Sephiroth's attacks were precise, his movements measured.
He had three major attacks he relied on in rapid succession:
Blitz Strike – A multi-hit combo so fast the eye couldn't track it meant to keep Helios from doing much of anything as he blocked.
Teleport Counter – Every time Helios dodged, Sephiroth reappeared behind him.
Heavy Slash – If Helios blocked too much, Sephiroth would use a single devastating blow that could split a boulder in half breaking his guard.
"Alright," Helios muttered, dodging another slash. "Let's see how you like a taste of your own tricks."
Sephiroth's blade sliced through empty air. Sephiroth came in for another lethal cut, but this time, Helios threw his keyblade in a spinning arc that Sephiroth dodged easily but when he looked over found that Helios had teleported. No sound of movement had been made so he didn't know where to guard.
Seconds later he sensed something from above—
Massive bolts of lightning rained down, crackling with destructive force.
Sephiroth dodged each bolt masterfully and gracefully before turning at the last second, eyes flashing.
A shockwave exploded outward, and when the dust settled—
Sephiroth was unharmed.
Helios clicked his tongue. "Figures."
Sephiroth barely reacted before vanishing again, his shadow flickering behind Helios.
Helios saw the move too late. Although he jumped back as fast and as far away as he could he still failed to dodge the attack.
A deep gash tore across Helios' shoulder.
Pain seared in Helios' shoulder as blood splattered onto the ground.
The first hit had been landed.
Helios hissed, rolling his shoulder, feeling the warm liquid bleed through his fingers and began trickling down his arm.
Sephiroth tilted his head slightly, as if unimpressed.
Helios grinned. "Now we're talking. This is getting fun. Show me everything you've got. I want to see how far I've come."
The next exchange was even more brutal. Sephiroth was relentless; each attack aimed at Helios' vital spots, but Helios adapted managing to block and defend the onslaught. However, Helios had been back into a corner where all he could do was block and he needed to break Sephiroth's momentum.
As the next attack came instead of dodging backward, he dodged sideways. Instead of blocking outright, he used Reflect to send mini-explosions back at Sephiroth. Bit by bit, he was disrupting the swordsman's rhythm.
A sudden burst of wind threw Helios sideways, avoiding the blade by a hair's width.
But Sephiroth—**expecting a teleport, not a crude self-launching dodge—**was thrown slightly off-balance.
The opportunity was there.
A ball of black fire erupted, slamming directly into Sephiroth's chest.
For the first time in this tournament's history, Sephiroth was hit. The explosion had pushed him back and his head was hanging so neither the crowd nor Helios could see the man's face or his expression.
Smoke curled around his form as he slowly lifted his head.
A small, dangerous smirk formed on his lips.
Helios exhaled. "Yeah, that's about what I expected."
This fight was far from over.