"Get ready," Helios murmured. His tone was quiet yet sharp, carrying the weight of command. Kurai's eyes glinted in the dim light as she flicked her hand, her Shadow Sovereign forming in a hiss of shadows and steel. Beside her, Skuld steadied her breath, summoning Ravenveil Whisper into her grasp, its faint glow reflecting in her determined gaze.
The throne room exploded into motion.
Rourke's mercenaries surged forward like a pack of wolves. Gunfire erupted, the thunderous cracks echoing off marble columns as bullets cut through the smoky air. Atlantean guards struggled to form a defensive line, their spears and shields useless against modern weaponry.
"Disarm them!" Helios barked.
Kurai was the first to move. She blurred into the fray, her keyblade already unfurled into its war fan form. With each flick of her wrist, the air rippled violently. Bullets curved harmlessly around her as she spun, deflecting a volley back toward the shooters' rifles, knocking them clean from their hands. Her movements were sharp and surgical—crippling blows, tendons sliced, weapons shattered—but not a single fatal strike.
Skuld followed close behind, her keyblade already in its Zephyr Talons form, blazing with wind magic. She leapt forward, spinning through the air in a vortex of slicing gales. Rifles were torn from mercenaries' grips, metal bending with a screech under the force of her magic. A sudden burst of gale-force energy erupted from her, scattering several men across the marble floor.
"Keep them away from Kida!" Milo shouted, voice desperate as he tried to reach the princess.
But it was already too late.
Helga cracked her whip with a vicious snap, the cord wrapping tightly around Milo's wrists and yanking him off his feet. He hit the floor hard, gasping for breath. "No!" he choked, struggling to stand again, but a rifle butt slammed into his gut, leaving him sprawling.
"Stop!" Helios roared, summoning Equilibrium into his hand with a crackle of light.
Rourke smirked, dragging the faintly glowing Kida across the chamber toward the exit. "And here I thought you said you wouldn't interfere, boy. What happened to that?"
"I said that on the condition your actions wouldn't affect me," Helios shot back, his tone dark and biting. "But at this rate, you'll doom us all. You don't know what you're doing."
Rourke's shadow flickered unnaturally again—longer, darker, almost like a writhing claw—and Helios' eyes narrowed. It's starting, he thought grimly. That hunger is calling something worse.
Kurai's war fan clanged sharply as she intercepted another barrage, her voice low and venomous. "Do we kill them now?"
"No," Helios quietly whispered for only Kurai to hear. "They're more useful alive, so that these people trust that we aren't murderers. Rourke and Helga are the head. Besides, if they fall too soon, their lackeys will panic and slaughter everyone. Focus on protecting Kida for now."
"Your compassion will get us killed one day," Kurai muttered, but her strikes became more precise—crippling arms, shattering guns, never fatal.
"I don't have as much as you'd like to think," retorted Helios.
Skuld darted past Kurai, spinning through the air as a mercenary raised his rifle at Helios. Her talons flashed, slicing the barrel clean in half before she drove her heel into the man's chest, sending him flying into a column.
"Where's the King?!" Skuld cried over the chaos. Her eyes found the crumpled form of Kashekim, blood pooling beneath his throne.
"He's alive—for now," Helios muttered, his blade clashing against a mercenary's combat knife before shoving him back with a blast of dark energy. "But Kida—she's the main priority."
"She's merged with the Heart," Helios murmured, watching Kida's glowing form as she was dragged closer to the massive doors. "If we let them take her, this city will fall."
Helga spun, firing her pistol with calm precision. Kurai's fan caught the bullets midair, the rounds clattering harmlessly to the floor. "Helios," Kurai called out, "I can break their formation and cut them off. Give the word."
"Not yet. I need something from Kida in this state first," Helios said, scanning the room. He saw fear in the mercenaries' eyes now—Skuld's relentless speed, Kurai's controlled devastation, and the flickering shadows around himself had rattled them.
Rourke wasn't rattled. His smirk deepened as he barked orders. "Get the transport here quickly! Forget these clowns—they're not our concern."
As the mercenaries began to retreat around Kida, Helios clenched his jaw. "Get rid of them."
Dark energy flared around him, Equilibrium's blade extending into its whip form—Slánú na nDoimhneacht. With a crack, the weapon lashed across the floor, coiling around the legs of the closest mercenaries and yanking them off their feet.
Helga's pistol rose again, but a single flick from Kurai's fan sent her weapon spinning from her grasp. "Don't," Kurai warned coldly.
Rourke's grin faltered for the first time. "You little—"
A ripple of darkness slithered from his feet, unseen by most but clear as day to Helios. The commander's greed was drawing something to him. A dark hand reached out and merged into Rourke's body.
"You're too late," Rourke hissed, as a metallic containment pod dropped onto Kida. "She's mine now."
Helios' whip snapped forward again, but a mercenary leapt in the way, taking the strike and buying Rourke precious seconds.
But Rourke and Helga slipped through, grabbing the pod with Kida as it was airlifted away.
"Skuld!" Helios called. "Follow them! We'll catch up after we finish cleaning up!"
Skuld nodded, dashed forward, and flew after the pod.