Helios walked away from Skuld, the echoes of her earlier distress still lingering in his mind, and turned his attention to the puter. His fingers moved swiftly, navigating through the system to che the current state of the castle. The feed revealed Braig, Din, and Aeleus at the castle gates, fighting valiantly to hold back the releide of Heartless.

  Their teamwork was a sight to behold. Din wielded his spear with precision, keeping the Heartless at a distance while Aeleus charged his massive ax, deliveriating blows to thin the horde. Braig, with his arrowguns, expertly picked off aless that mao break through their frontline defeogether, they formed an effective triad, holding the line against the encroag shadows.

  But the tide turned quickly as Air Soldiers and Wyverns desded from the skies, their aerial assaults f Braig to redirect his focus to defending himself. The Defenders joihe fray, ung massive fireballs that forced Din and Aeleus into a defereat. Their coordinated efforts began to falter as Soldiers and Knights emerged from behind the Defenders, crashing into the gates and overwhelming their defenses.

  Forced to retreat, the trio fled back toward the castle interior. The gates shuddered uhe relentless assault, and Helios watched with a mix of detat and curiosity.

  The camera feed shifted, showing Malefit’s arrival. The Shadows and Neoshadows surged toward her, but before they could attack, the Defender Heartless turned against their lesser terparts, blog and pushing them back. A sly smile pyed on Malefit’s lips as she surveyed the chaos, her presence radiating and over the Emblem Heartless.

  Kurai’s voice slithered into Helios’s mind, ced with satisfa. “Looks like your deal with the evil fairy has borne fruit. She’s practically reveling in her new army. What now?”

  Helios leaned ba his chair, his gaze steady on the s. “Now,” he said, “I o ehe appreransition into Nobodies. It’s the step.”

  With that, Helios turned his attention to the floorboard he had pried open earlier, pulling out the hard drive he had hidden there. It tained vital data, including information on his modifications to Space Paranoids and his researto the apprentices’ experiments. But now, he had a new goal: retrieving updated data on the apprentices’ Nobody experiments.

  “I’ll heir new findings,” he said to himself, a pn already f in his mind. “And I should grab Cid’s data while I’m at it. After that, Radiant Garden is meanio me.”

  Kurai chuckled. “A pragmatic decision. Effit. I approve.”

  The voice faded as Helios moved with purpose, opening a dark corridor to Cid’s workshop. Emerging into the familiar space, he quickly located the sole housing the Gummi Ship program along with the design he created. Retrieving it, he smiled at the thought of using it to modify the Eclipse Drifter when he recimed it iure.

  As he prepared to leave, something caught his eye. Resting on the floor near one of Cid’s workbenches were three translut, blocky, crest-shaped jewels. Helios crouched down, pig one up to exami more closely. Its faint glow and crystalliructure were instantly reizable.

  “Lucid Shards,” he murmured, his mind rag. The synthesis material from the game—so they existed here too.

  Kurai’s voice returinged with amusement. “Ah, yes. Lucid Shards as they’re named in your memories. You’ll find they’re quite useful like that dull boy pying hero. Why are you so surprised?”

  Helios frowned, pocketing the shards. “They didn’t drop in the Dark Realm. I assumed they were just a game meiot something I o myself with here.”

  Kurai’s ughter was dark and smooth. “Of course not. The Dark Realm doesn’t dense dark energy the way the Realm of Light does. These shards are the result of the dark energy of the heartless you and that light girl destroyed crystallizing uhe influence of light. Only in worlds where light thrives they form.”

  Helios sighed, irritated at himself for overlooking the possibility. “So they’re created wheless are destroyed in the light. And here I thought synthesis materials were a non-issue.” He g the shards again. “I’ll o find the Moogles now. If they’re still alive.”

  “Ever resourceful,” Kurai mused. “But you’d better hurry. This world is desding into darkness by your own hand. They may not be around much longer. If they are still alive then it must be due to sheer luck.”

  Helios ched his fists, frustration simmerih his calm exterior. He hadn’t sidered the Moogles’ potential usefulness, and now he could only hope they had survived the chaos. “Two. Two Moogles are all I o get started,” he muttered, more to himself than to Kurai.

  He stood and opened another corridor, stepping through and reemerging in Moogle tral, a bustling hub Lea had once described as “a pce to find stuff you never knew you needed.” The lively market was now deserted, the once-vibrant stalls abandoned in the chaos. Shadows danced in the ers, but Helios moved swiftly and silently, his dark form cloaking him from dete.

  His eyes sed the area, searg for any sign of the small, furred traders. In the distance, he spotted a faint movement. A pair of Moogles were huddled behind aurall, their pom-poms quivering as they whispered to each other. Relief flooded through Helios, but he knew better than to approach openly.

  Carefully, he stepped closer, dropping his dark form as he did. “Hey,” he called softly, keeping his tole. The Moogles froze, their wide eyes log onto him.

  “You’re not a monster, kupo,” one of them said warily, clutg a tiny satchel. “What do you want?”

  Helios crouched to their level, keeping his movements slow and deliberate. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he assured them. “I need your help. And I help you iurn.”

  The Moogles exged a gheir fear tempered by curiosity. “Help us how, kupo?” the other one asked.

  Helios smiled faintly. “I get you out of here. Somewhere safe. But I’ll need your expertise.”

  The Moogles hesitated, but the sound of distaless stirred their urgency. Finally, they nodded. “Alright, kupo. We’ll help you.”

  Relief washed over Helios as he opened a corridor. “e with me,” he said. “I’ll expihing once we’re safe.” The Moogles followed, their trust tentative but growing. As they stepped through the corridor.