Sephiroth remained unfazed, his expression as cold and unreadable as ever. He raised the Masamune slightly, his stance rexed yet poised. The Cyclops roared, the sound reverberating through the arena, and charged forward, its massive feet pounding against the stone.

  The ground quaked with each step, but Sephiroth didn’t move. He waited until the Cyclops was nearly upon him before vanishing in a blur of speed, reappearing behind the creature with his sword already sshing through the air.

  The Cyclops howled as a shallow cut appeared across its back. It turned sluggishly, swinging its club in a wide arc, but Sephiroth had already moved again, effortlessly evading the attack. He reappeared on the opposite side, delivering another precise strike to the creature’s side.

  “Not bad, not bad,” Hades said, watg with mild i. “But this is just the appetizer. Let’s see if he keep up the pace.”

  The Cyclops, though slow and clumsy, was no pushover. It adjusted its tactics, swinging its club in uable patterns and stomping the ground to create shockwaves. Sephiroth danced around the attacks with ease, his speed unmatched, but the Cyclops’s sheer resilience began to show. Despite the numerous cuts and sshes marring its flesh, the creature seemed unfazed, its anger only growing.

  Sephiroth’s lips curled into the fai of smirks. With a flick of his wrist, he poihe Masamu the Cyclops, summoning a pilr of fme that erupted beh the creature’s feet. The Cyclops bellowed in pain, its leathery skin charring from the intense heat, but it refused to fall. Instead, it grabbed a k of the broken stoform and hurled it at Sephiroth with surprising speed.

  The boulder shot toward Sephiroth like a onball. He sidestepped it effortlessly, but the force of its impact caused the ptform to shake violently, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. A single misstep now could mean falling into the abyss.

  Helios watched from the sidelines, his arms crossed as he leaned against a shadowy pilr. “Hades really knows how to set the mood,” he muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “But this Cyclops is starting to bore me. Sephiroth better this up before I fall asleep.”

  Hades, overhearing Helios, grinned. “Oh, don’t you worry, kid. Things are just heating up. This Cyclops has a few tricks left up its sleeve.”

  Ba the ptform, the Cyclops roared again, its eye glowing with an eerie red light. A beam of energy shot out from the glowing eye, sweeping across the ptform. Sephiroth barely dodged in time, the heat from the beam singing the edges of his coat. He retaliated with a barrage of Shadow Fres—dark orbs that surrouhe Cyclops before detonating in bursts of dark fmes.

  The Cyclops swung its massive club in a wide arc, but Sephiroth anticipated the move and leaped into the air, his form a streak of silver and bck. He nded lightly on the creature’s shoulder, preparing to strike again, but the Cyclops let out a guttural growl and reached up, grabbing Sephiroth by the leg with shog speed.

  “Gotcha!” Hades cackled from the sidelines, clearly enjoying the turn of events.

  With a deafening roar, the Cyclops smmed Sephiroth into the ground with earth-shattering force. The ptform cracked uhe impact, and Helios winced slightly at the sound. Despite himself, he could almost hear the familiar, ominous tones of Sephiroth’s theme musi his mind, building tension as the swordsman’s body y momentarily still.

  But the stillness didn’t st. In one swift, fluid motion, Sephiroth severed the Cyclops’s hand at the wrist, freeing himself. Bck ichor sprayed into the air as the creature howled in agony. Without missing a beat, Sephiroth leaped to his feet, his Masamune fshing in the dim light as he delivered a series of rapid, precise sshes.

  Helios watched with a faint smirk as the Cyclops’s massive body staggered, barely holding together. In a final, decisive move, Sephiroth appeared in front of the creature’s single eye and delivered a devastatiical ssh. The Cyclops let out a final, pitiful groan before its body fell apart into tless small, writhing pieces that dissolved into the inky abyss below.

  The arena fell silent for a moment, the groaning souls seeming to hold their collective breath. Then Hades let out a slow, impressed whistle, g his hands zily. “Now that’s what I call a show! Tall, dark, and terrifying—you really know how to work a crowd. Too bad they don’t cheer. But hey, they’re a tough audience.”

  Sephiroth nded lightly oform, his expression unged, and began walking back toward the edge where he had entered. His pierg gaze found Helios iands, log onto him with an iy that sent a chill down even Hades’ spine.

  Hades cpped slowly, his grin widening. “Well, well, well. Looks like the pretty boy’s got some bite after all. Not bad, tall, dark, and gloomy. Not bad at all.”

  Sephiroth ignored Hades’s taunts, his cold gaze fixed oands filled with despairing souls. Without a word, he turned.

  “Where do you think yoing?” Hades called out. “We’ve got plenty more where that came from! Don’t tell me you’re already done?”

  Sephiroth stopped, gng over his shoulder with a faint smirk. “You’ll know when I’m done,” he said simply before vanishing in a blur of motion, appearing in front of Hades to attack but the Lord of the Underworld simply snapped his fio teleport Sephiroth back to the stage, “Now now, tall, dark, and gloomy. No time to py around the seatch starts now.”

  As Sephiroth was teleported back to the ptform, his expression colder than ever. His grip on the Masamuightehe eerie length of the bde shimmering in the dim light of the Underdrome.

  Hades smirked, casually leaning ba his shadowy throne. “Let’s see how you handle Round Two, my boy. Don’t get too fy just because you chopped up one oversized meatball. Oh no, this one’s got a bit more… bite.”

  With a dramatic wave of his hand, another puff of bck smoke erupted oage. From the darkness emerged a three-headed Cerberus, its sleek bck fur glistening, eyes glowing red with malice, and drool dripping from its fanged maws. The beast growled low, its deep rumble shaking the very ptform.

  Sephiroth tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. To him, it was just another obstacle, another oppoo be dissected and discarded.

  “Cerberus,” Hades drawled, gesturing grandly, “meet your new chew toy. Have fun, boys!”