The day had worn Helios down, both physically aally. His grueling routine—suffering under Sephiroth’s brutal training, enduring Malefit’s increasingly perilous lessons, and then teag Skuld—had left him drained. Cure spells healed his body, but they did nothing to ease the fatigue or restore his dwindling stamina. As he id on his bed, staring at the ceiling, the weight of exhaustion threateo pull him into sleep. Yet he knew rest wasn’t an option. Not yet.

  Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand, his body wobbling uhe strain. With a deep breath, he activated his Dark Form. Shadows coiled around him, melding into his being, and his energy surged, the weariness momentarily suppressed. In this form, Helios was a pletely bck silhouette, his glowing amber eyes pierg the darkness with an otherworldly iy. His skin shimmered with ahereal, glossy sheen, highlighted by faint blue streaks. The transformation granted him strength and focus, the boost he o keep moving.

  He opened a portal, stepping into the Crystal Fissure. The familiar hum of the glowing crystals surrounded him as he emerged. The air was cool, filled with the faint, mystical hum of magic resonating from the walls. Helios barely had time to orient himself when a shot zipped past his ear, striking a crystal and causing it to shatter in a burst of glittering fragments.

  “Well, well,” came a mog voice, ced with amusement. “Looks like I found the someone who’s been making a mess of town.”

  Helios turned slowly, his glowing eyes log onto the figure perched casually on a ledge above. It was Braig, the sharpshooter apprentice of Ahe Wise, his dual Arrowguing loosely in his hands. Their metallic purple and silver finish gleamed faintly in the light of the crystals, the curled heart insignia on their design matg the emblem on his gloves.

  Braig smirked, cog his head to the side. “Naughty boy, aren’t you? Care to expin what you’re doing sneaking around here?”

  Helios’s fave nothing away. His voice, distorted slightly by the shadows enveloping him, was calm but carried an edge of warning. “What do you want?”

  Braig chuckled, his demeanht but his eyes sharp. “Oh, nothing much. Just a name. Maybe a hint about what you’re up to. You know, the usual.”

  Helios’s gaze narrowed, his pierg amber eyes gleaming. “And if I refuse?”

  Braig’s smirk widened. “Then we’ll have to do this the fun way.”

  Without warning, Braig raised his Arrowguns and fired a volley of shots. Helios reacted instantly, summoning his Keybde in a burst of bd white light. The shots ged off the bde, sparks flying as Helios deflected them with swift, precise movements.

  Braig’s smirk faltered as his eyes flicked to the Keybde. “Where’d you get that?” he demanded, his tone suddenly serious.

  Helios didn’t answer. Instead, he tilted his head, his voice cold and deliberate. “Who’s asking? Braig? Bragi? Or should I say… Luxu?”

  The rea was instantaneous. Braig’s eyes widened in shock before narrowing dangerously. “Who the hell are you?” he growled, his tone low and threatening. He fired another round, the shots whizzing through the air with deadly precision.

  Helios leapt to the side, his dark form blending seamlessly with the shadows as he evaded the attack. He retaliated with a series of Fire spells, the fming projectiles streaking toward Braig. The sharpshooter dodged with practiced ease, his movements fluid as he returned fire, f Helios to blod deflect the shots once more.

  The two cshed, their battle sending shockwaves through the cave. Braig’s relentless barrage of gunfire filled the air with a deafening cacophony, while Helios tered with calcuted strikes and bursts of magic. Fireballs and shimmering bullets collided midair, creating dazzling explosions of light ahat illumihe cavern.

  Braig darted across the ledges, using the terrain to his advantage as he kept up his assault. “You’ve got some nerve,” he called out, his voice eg through the cave. “Throwing names around like you know something. Care to share with the css?”

  Helios didn’t respond. Instead, he dashed forward, closing the distaween them. His Keybde fshed as he swung it in a powerful arc, f Braig to leap back to avoid the strike. The force of the attack sent a shockwave rippling through the cave, causing several crystals to crad splinter.

  “Touchy, huh?” Braig taunted, firing another round of shots as he backflipped onto a higher ledge. Helios deflected the bullets with swift movements, each etal reverberating through the cavern.

  The battle grew fiercer, the cave trembling uhe strain of their attacks. Crystals shattered, their fragments raining down like shards of gss. One particurly rge crystal broke free from the ceiling, crashing to the grouween them and kig up a cloud of dust and debris.

  Braig used the chaos to his advantage, vanishing into the shadows. “Yood,” his voice echoed from somewhere above. “But I’ve been at this a lot lohan you.”

  Helios spun, his glowing eyes sing the cave for any sign of movement. He barely had time to react before Braig reappeared, firing a trated burst of shots aimed at his legs. Helios leapt into the air, flipping gracefully as he sent a barrage of Blizzard spells toward Braig ialiation.

  The icy projectiles streaked toward Braig, but he twisted midair, avoiding them with almost insulting ease. “ry,” he said, nding on a nearby ledge and firing another round. Helios deflected the shots, his Keybde spinning in a blur of motion as he closed the distaween them once more.

  The csh of steel and magitensified, each strike and terstrike shaking the cave further. Crystals began to fall more frequently, f both batants to dodge and reposition stantly. The air grew thick with dust and the hum of chaotiergy.

  Helios gritted his teeth, his fatigue threatening to catch up with him. He knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer—not after everything he’d ehat day. He needed an opening, a way to escape before the cave colpsed entirely.

  As another massive crystal fell between them, shattering into a thousand pieces, Helios saw his ce. Using the debris as cover, he summoned a dark corridor, the swirling portal of shadoearing behind him. Without hesitatioepped through, his form vanishing into the darkness just as Braig’s volley of shots struck the ground where he’d stood moments before.

  When the dust settled, Braig stood alone in the cave, his Arrowguns lowered. He sed the area, his expression a mix of frustration and intrigue. “Slippery little shadow,” he muttered, holstering his ons. A smirk tugged at his lips as he turo leave. “Guess I’ll just have to find you aime. Whoever you are. Think you escaped, as if.”

  Ba his room, Helios stumbled as he emerged from the dark corridor, his body trembling with exhaustion. He barely had time to catch his breath before Kurai’s smooth voice, almost amused spoke. “You’ve been busy, haven’t you?” it said, its tone dripping with mock camaraderie. “Another sparring partner already? And here I thought Sephiroth and Malefit were enough for one boy to handle.”

  Helios shot Kurai a tired gre, colpsing onto his bed. “Enough joking around,” he muttered. “You know I ran int. He’s the st person I wao run into here.”

  Kurai’s form flickered, its shadowy features twisting into an expression of mock surprise. “Really you seem eager to annouo the man you know who he was. I thought you wished to learn something which was why you did that. I trust it was… educational?”

  Helios groaned, closing his eyes. “He’s dangerous. Too sharp for his own good. Looks like my training sessions will have to stop so we y low for a while.”

  Kurai chuckled, the sound low and serpentine. “Oh, I have no doubt. But let’s not dwell on that, dear Helios. After all, you survived. And you’ve learned something new from all this, haven’t you?”