AnnouHappy New Year everyone! Let's start off the new year right with ara chapter.Helios leaned ba his chair, his fingers momentarily pausing on the keyboard as the notification blinked across his s. His backdoram had successfully ied into the castle's systems, granting him access to the byrinthiwork of surveilnd data ste. A triumphant smirk crossed his face as he tapped a few keys, opening the live feeds from the secret b beh the castle.

  He had been busy for hours w oing the Master trram in Space Paranoids. With nothier to do this was something he could focus him time on as he waited for results. His aim was to repce the annoying MCP with something more banced and funal—a program he had tentatively wilight Heart. While he could have elevated Tron, this version of the security program still hadn’t learned nuances of human behavior and deaking, making it unsuitable for what he needed.

  Now, however, his attention was entirely on the castle’s hidden b. As the feed flickered to life, his smirk faded, repced by a look of intrigue. The b was bustling with activity, far more than he had anticipated.

  The camera panned across rows of Emblem Heartless, their grotesque forms illuminated by the cold, sterile lighting of the b. They ranged from the familiar Soldiers—small, swift creatures with jagged edges and chaotients—to new variants that caught his eye.

  Oype, the Air Soldier, was clearly designed for aerial bat. With their dark-skinned forms and aviator-like caps, plete with goggles and a propeller on top, they exuded an eerie bination of menad whimsy. Their bat-like wings fluttered as they hovered above the ground, their movements sharp and effit.

  Aype, the Wyvern, stood out with its rge, draian frame. Its dark red skin and tattered wings gave it a haunting, skeletal appearance, as though it had been resurrected from some long-fotten battlefield. The Heartless emblem embzoned on its chest glowed faintly, a sinister reminder of its allegiance.

  Then there were the Defenders—massive, knight-like creatures wielding imposing shields adorned with the snarling face of a monstrous dog. The shields themselves seemed alive, their glowing yellow eyes and snapping jaws making them as much a on as their owners. The Defenders loomed over the other Heartless, their bulk and power a clear warning to any who might oppose them.

  Helios’s eyes narrowed as he took in the se. The Heartless were expected, given the apprentices’ focus oure of darkness and the heart, but the sheer variety and sophistication of these ypes suggested a deeper, more advanced uanding of their creation. Things certainly were moving faster thahought.

  Helios switched between camera feeds, trying to glean as muformation as possible without drawing attention to himself. One s showed a tai chamber, where a massive Wyvern was restrained by glowing barriers as several apprentices—Even, Din, and Aeleus—observed its behavior. The creature thrashed and roared, its wings battering against the invisible walls, but it remairapped.

  Another feed dispyed a workstation where Ienzo, the you apprentice, over charts and diagrams. The boy’s sharp, analytical mind was evident in the precise movements of his pen as he annotated a series of calcutions.

  Then there was Xehanort.

  Helios’s eyes narrowed as the camera settled on the elder apprentice. Xehanort stood at the ter of the b, his golden eyes gleaming with a mix of curiosity and ambition as he oversaw the experiments.

  “So,” Helios murmured, leaning closer to the s, “this is what you’ve been hiding.”

  What truly caught his attention, however, were the two Dusks slithering iheir own taiube like pale shadows. Nobodies.

  Unlike Heartless, which were born from the darkness in people's hearts, Nobodies were formed from what was left behind when someoh a strong will lost their heart to darkness. The presence of these Dusks sighat the apprentices’ researto Nobodies had progressed much faster than Helios had anticipated.

  Their movements were fluid and alien, their long, sinuous fliding across the floor with an uling grace. Their silver skin shimmered uhe fluorest lights, their bnk, zipper-like faces expressionless yet somehow menag. The gamers who pyed did not know when these creatures were brought ie here he was witnessing their birth firsthand. That these apprentices had not only identified the phenomenon but mao ma and study it was iing. Sinobodies no matter the rank could not appear in a world of light or darkness but rather an iween world. Sihat was the case Helios wondered how they mao get a hold of one. Did something summon them here?

  “This plicates things a little. I’ll o keep a stant eye on them if things are to go to pn,” Helios muttered to himself, his fingers drumming against the desk. The apprentices weren’t just experimenting—they were perfeg their craft. If they were already produg Nobodies, it meant their grasp of the heart and its mysteries was deepening at an expoial rate. Radiant Garden falling to darkness really any day now even tomorrow so he o watch.

  His gaze returo the Dusks. Their presence meant that the apprentices weren’t just experimenting on the darkness in people’s hearts—they were actively w to uand what came after, the void left behind. This suggested a dangerous level of insight, ohat could tip the bance of power if left unchecked.

  For a brief moment, Helios sidered intervening however instead, he refocused on his own work. The Twilight Heart program he was g in Space Paranoids would serve as another vital key tool in his arsenal, a digital intelligence capable of aiding him in his long-term goals. If he could perfect it, it might even surpass the M funality, being a reliable ally in navigating the increasingly plex world.

  Still, the backdoor into the castle’s systems was an invaluable asset. With it, he could monitor Xehanort’s movements and anticipate his steps, staying oep ahead while avoiding direct flict.

  Helios’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he began fiuning the program. His mind was a whirlwind of calcutions and strategies, bang the immediate threat posed by the apprentices against his broader objectives.

  A sudden movement on one of the camera feeds caught his attention. Xehanort had turned, his golden eyes log onto the camera with an iy that sent a chill down Helios’s spine.

  “Did he notice?” Helios whispered, his hand h over the keyboard.