Why are they waiting? Sul hasn’t moved from the entrance of Memory’s Skyscraper, but neither have the Neoshadows. Even more disturbing, is that they’re shifting around less, almost standing still with their gazes fixed on him. Is there a heartless commanding them?

His eyes scanned over the black sea for a Novashadow or any other higher ranking heartless, but when the heartless began to sink back into their dark pools, he felt something that put his mind to the edge: fear. The heartless are scared? But why would-

Suddenly, he didn’t feel safe anymore. As if his life would end the more he waited and ignore what his instincts are telling him. He broke into a sweat before jumping as far as he could.

He does a half-flip in midair, and is more than glad he listened to his gut feeling.

Barely a foot from where he stood, stands a metallic humanoid figure. Its surface is a smooth silver, and nowhere does he see the borderlines of the pieces that were connected together. Even the joints look like they were made from one piece. Its face is that of a curved mask with a (currently) black V-visor for eyes.

The black pools, along with the Neoshadows disappear in time for Sul to land on solid ground, but a small part of him wishes one of the pools stayed open long enough for him to dive in.

He landed almost in the same place where he stood his ground, but took a few more steps back, knowing that the extra milliseconds can make a difference between life and death. Another factor to his caution is the appearance of the android, Did-Did they already complete the new model? But I thought Sora destroyed their prototype.

Two white orbs with a dark spiritual haze appear on his left and right. This put Sul back into his battle stance, and if that didn’t, the black visor lighting yellow would have.

When the four orbs disappeared, they dropped a small puppy – dull golden hair with a white underside, and cheery emerald eyes with their tongues poking out of their muzzles.

No…his jaw went slack and his eyes wide…is this why they all ran? The Heartless knew Holy Beasts were coming. I knew some Malshines could exist here, but not this powerful.

Once free of his thoughts, he noticed one of them already slid down the ramp, and is making its way as fast as those tiny legs will take it.

Sul clasps the handle with both hands and pulls it back for a mighty swing. Holy Beast licks its lips; too excited to wait, it jumps.

Patiently waiting until it’s right above him, Sul swings. But it’s intercepted by three black claws. The appendage its attached to is bulky with a sick yellow color, and strips of golden fur attached in random places. The rest of the body of the four-legged Malshine is in a similar state. Barrel stretched out and lanky. Its mane is a bunch of cotton pressed together by the puppy costume it wore, poking out from the ridges and the torn sections of the mask. The fake, fabric eyes are stretched out to impossible lengths, losing its friendly appearance and gaining a madness that would terrify the weak-hearted. Its round eyes are a white dusk, and matching the bottomless, unfeeling vibe Heartless’ eyes give off. It bares its long, sharp fangs with its abnormally long muzzle, veins pop out on it and throb as if it has actual blood.

Holy Beast rears its other claws, but Sul jumps back and avoids the attack. Its claws tearing through the concrete with ease and causing small cracks.

By the time his feet reconnect with the ground, he narrows his eyes and turns to the right.
Running to him at an adorable pace is another puppy. It leaps into the air like other one, then its form bulges all around; the fabric tearing by its real body and already swung its claws.

He hops, manages to place a hand on his head and pushes himself higher. The attack passing under him as he front-flipped and returned to the ground unscathed.

He hears the first Malshine approaching from the left. “Sonic Blade,” he moves as a blur, magic coating his blade and sharpening it even further so-

Sparks fly as blade grinds against claws. Sul’s eyes slightly widen in surprise, and Holy Beast, surrounded by a splendorous, white aura, growls at the dark user in front of it. They’re both pushed back by the collision of their magic, and they both launch forward a moment after.

They move as a near blur before their attacks collide again. Clashes between the two go off as seconds tick by. Holy Beast mostly stays supported by its hind legs to swing rapidly with both claws, occasionally going down to three and throwing a strong swing. Sul has no choice but to block those ones, fearing that if backing away means giving the Beast an opening, but he’s pushed back every time he does. It is during the blade against claw that he’s able to take an extra swipe before its second attack comes.

By the time Sul is pushed back two more times, Beast’s front body is tattered with multiple gashes, pieces of shred cotton seeping out every time it moves.

Sul is pushed back again, but in that split second, he notices the Beast’s halt as cotton spurts from its wounds. His hand moves faster than the Beast could recover, gripping the blade with both hands, rearing it back, and swinging it with a step forward.

The cotton stopped spurting, but the blade is about to reach its head until it jerks forward. Capturing the blade in its maw and bearing its fangs with a low growl.

It’s aura and Sonic Blade end as they tug-o-war with the sword. Sul, for the most part, is not overwhelmed by the Beast’s strength, only sliding forward ever so slightly. It shakes its head to jerk the sword from his grasp, but Sul holds onto it successfully.

He feels a presence coming behind him, no doubt the second Malshine taking advantage of his predicament. With little option, he realizes he needs to force his blade out.

“Zante-” the presence is now looming over him, “-tsuken.” The front and side of its teeth shatter, and before it could react, the other Holy Beast is sliced in half horizontally.

The two halves burst in a wide glow, not strong enough to damage his eyes. It fades seconds after, but another white glow overpowers it from behind him.

Sul had to turn to attack, giving the Holy Beast that trapped his blade, a clear shot at his back.
He turned his head in time to witness the Beast, maw open and emitting a bright white light, and most of all, grinning.

A heavy mass of magic is shot diagonally in the form of a pillar, absorbing his image under the light, and reaching to the building in its direction. Holy incinerates everything it touches, passing through the structure as if it isn’t there, and almost reaching the skies before fading out.

Holy Beast closes its maw and visibly relishes in what it did. The dark user is gone, and its magic was strong enough to burn through a building and beyond, leaving the areas it was close to burning red from the heat.

Something penetrates its head and through its jaw, along with a sudden pressure on its back pushing it down. The new gash made grows bigger as it’s pressed onto the black blade.

It pops into a veil of white light as well, allowing Sul to land on even ground. He frees his blade from the ground. Panting lightly, he holds onto the sword with his left hand, I *Pant* have to be more careful. *Pant* Teleport will only work two more times, and if I reach my limit-

His dazed mind only picks up a thin, long tail swinging its way until it’s too late.

Despite appearances, the Beast’s tail strikes with the strength to make him gasp for air. He’s flung back, and before he reaches the building, the fourth Beast intercepts him with a powerful headbutt. The air is forced out of him, and his strength fades enough for the sword to fall from his grasp as he flown back to the third.

He clenches his teeth, and notices the Beast is preparing Holy.

I-I need to use Teleport- he clenches his left fist with nothing in it –my sword! When- he realizes what he can use. The light soon surrounding his features, Splice-Link.

He was only a few feet away when the Beast fired, and like the previous Holy Shot, it burned diagonally through the building and nearly reached the sky.

As the attack faded, the fourth Beast looked to the side because of a familiar presence. Only to find the end of the black sword aiming between its eyes.

It swipes without warning, nearly hitting Sul who took the air for safety.

It locks eyes with him, and even though Sul jumped a long distance, the Beast doesn’t hesitate to do the same. It opens its maw and its mandibles thicken while emitting a white glow.

“Spark Raid!” Lightning surges every inch of the sword; he spins and with the momentum he obtained, flings it with the sharp end aiming at his open maw.

Holy Beast doesn’t flinch at the incoming attack, instead, readies its jaws to catch the blade.
Sul waits a second longer till his attack is about to reach, “Splice-Link.”

To the Beast’s genuine surprise, the dark user reappears behind the electrified sword, both hands already holding the handle before thrusting it in its maw, and stopping till the tip penetrates its
back.

Thunder courses over its body as both are hurled downwards by attack’s force.

It didn’t take long for the Holy Beast to burst into a veil of light as well. Leaving Sul to land and prepare for the fourth Malshine, and if the growl far behind is any indication, he already knows where to turn to.

By the time he faces it, Beast’s upper body is crouched down, and legs spread to dash at a moment’s notice.

Sul goes into his own battle pose. Eyes on the Beast until a heavy presence appears behind him.

The an-a solid force strikes all over his right side. It pushes him off his feet and sends him skidding on his other side. It’s only a few seconds until he stops; the burning pain on his arm is there, but not enough to prevent him from getting up.

Before he stands on two feet, he’s able to see what kind of attack the android used on him.

A mirror wall stands where he was, and the silver android right next to it, hand raised to chest level with a finger pointing at the mirror.

It slowly turns its head towards him, then the mirror fades off.

Sul brushes the pain away, and goes back to his battle stance with the android and the Holy Beast in mind. With the latter currently walking towards the metallic enemy, now standing upright as still as a statue.

It’s hands pulsed a blue sapphire before summoning two identical swords – coated in the same color, double-edged blade, and the crossguard ends as a spike on both sides – right above them. The moment they fall into its grasp, it breaks into a dash, and creates a gust strong enough loosen off some of the Beast’s cottons.

It moves its arms to the side, and turns its wrist so the points aim directly at Sul’s chest.

The gap closes in nearly a second, but for Sul it takes over five. His mind slowing the world around him is something he’s been honing for the last five years.

He positioned his blade, the end of his blade aimed for its chest, long before he saw his opportunity. He launches forward.

The android realizes this, and he thrusts the same time as the swordsman.

Lightning Blade, faster than the milliseconds they’re moving on, the blade glows yellow and is surrounded by lighting coursing all over, lengthening the blade by acting as a second layer.

Both are only inches from hitting their both. Both are moving at the same speed, but Sul makes the first contact with his magic.

Lightning melts through the metal once they connect. The real blade moving closer to the perforation, and the android’s blades are only centimeters away.

He lets go of the sword and leaves the momentum to do the rest. Teleport, he blinks out of existence and reappears behind the android.

In normal time, the electrified blade pierces the android’s metal skin, layered hardware and through its back, only to stop when the crossguard hits its chest. Its swords cross in an X-shape where his chest was.

As this happened, Sul has already ran most of the distance between himself and the last Beast.

Both his hands glow and eerie violet with a dark mist around them. If I can destroy the Malshine first, he leaps, right hand pulled back and ready for a swing, and the Holy Beast has its fangs bare and crouched to attack, maybe I can take down the android on my own.

He hears the noise of chains rattling, and faster than he can react, a cold binding wraps around his leg. His body is swung downwards with the force to knock part of his consciousness away.

The magic in his hands dissolves as he lays facedown on the ground. Ersatz Shadow, still impaled on the android that’s facing the dark user with three golden chains manifesting through its palm, fades in a dark cloud covered in sparks.

Sul tightens his hands into fist as the searing pain slowly subsides, but the Beast licks its lips, thrilled to see the elusive swordsman immobile for once.

It gathers its magic for Holy; the light only flickered before shutting off by a fireball – bigger than the Beast – exploding on its side.

With a cry, its engulfed in flames while hurled away by the force. The android snaps its head to the right to see the same fire attack only feet away. It uses its free hand and extends a silver finger.

Mirror Wall intercepts the explosion, but fire stretched past the edges and even past the android who stayed at the center of the shield.

With its view blocked, it didn’t see three arrows – glowing red – cut through the chains successfully.

It did, however, feel Ethereal Chains dissolve without its intention, so its visor glows brighter.

Its vision, naturally coated a yellow hue is shrouded in a white light.

The image for anything magic based is filtered as white, and there are reasons for keeping it so. One: light based magic emits (ironically) too much light that serves as a camouflage for the attack, but the android can only see the center point of the magic with nothing hiding it. Two: distinction between reality and illusion; since even the strongest of illusions are just a faint white in comparison. And third: finding living beings with any semblance of magic through thick foliage or structures…but if the said foliage or structure is enchanted in any manner…glitches in the system are still being solved.

Target: Sullivan

Auras Detected: Two

Error. Searching Files.

…1752 Hours, an unfamiliar force was sensed entering the domains of The World That Never Was before separating into two.

The fire soon extinguished, revealing an unknown foe under cloak that’s similar to the one Sullivan used.

The stranger’s appearance, due to the visor, is surrounded in a white aura resembling a bonfire. The cloak is a pale white rather than a yellow with dark shades for contrast and depth, signaling a spell to hide his magic, but the bow in his right hand is coated in a soft red, signaling a wielder. The other object on his left, a shard with a glow he can pick up even through his fist, has a similar energy reading to the one detected at 1752 Hours.

“Had you lit a flare, none of this would have happened.”

The boy, and given by tone, a teenager, undoubtedly spoke to Sullivan. The choice of words suggest a slight reprimand of some kind.

Sullivan managed to stand on a shaky leg, the other one will soon follow, after he regains the feel for it. The usage of two Teleports putting a long strain on his body, but one he can work around the pain.

“S-Sorry, Ken.” he pushes himself up, but was about to collapse as his legs nearly gave out. His eyes are half-lidded as a sluggish look soon takes over. “I…there were just so many of them.” His own voice starts slowing, “I…never had the time-”

“Forget it. It happened.” Ken takes a moment to glance back; his little brother looks like he can walk, but not much else. “Can you use the Star Shard?”

“Yes, but the android-”

“I will deal with it.” Without turning around, he hands over a crystallized star, with a piece missing and in its place is a frozen lightning of green and yellow.

Now Ken can focus on the android. The Holy Beast is still giving a dog-like cry far on the side. Most likely finished rolling around and is suffering from the burn, and if it isn’t, that’s one less enemy to worry about.

He pulls the string of his bow and takes aim.

A sword manifests in the android’s hands, but it’s bigger than the previous ones. Its hands barely fit around the handle; the blade and the crossguard are four times its normal size. Yet, he has no problem lifting it to its side, and turns it so the sharp end is aimed at its new target.

It breaks into a dash, slower than the previous one but cleared half the distance in a second.

“Blaze Link,” his bow – Pseudo Fire; the handle is covered in a rough letter, and the bow is a simple-curved design, red in color, with square metal plates on each end – ignites in a moment before he takes the shot.

Fire swirls around the arrow as it leaves its caster’s side, soars through the air and strikes the android’s face before erupting into a gale of fire.

The robotic humanoid is stopped in place. Its feet breaking through the cobblestone as it fights the force that’s pushing it back. It’s pushed back a few centimeters before the fire dies down.

Another arrow of the same kind hits its chest, igniting the second fire gale but with an onslaught of red arrow striking its body.

Ken only fires the arrow before the gale exhausts itself, and the barrage of arrows are shot from the blazing surface of his bow.

After four more shots, he holds the next and pulls back the farthest possible. This also stops the waves Flame Arrows, and the fire surrounding the bow flies off and compresses as a fireball around the arrowhead. He sprints.

The flames dissipated once more, and the robot only has the marking of a sword stabbing its chest and through its back. Plus the concentrated blaze at point blank range at its face.

It ignites into a pillar of fire the next instance.

The ripples of gust throw his hood off and the rest of the cloak – that isn’t clasped around the collar – fluttering back as a cape, revealing his short red hair and a long yellow bang curved above his eyebrow with sharp brown eyes, gray jacket hanging behind him by a silver chain attached to its neck, and running under his collarbone. He’s wearing a plain black shirt with khaki trousers and silver shoes.

His attack rips the android from the ground and throws it back as a ragged doll.

The pillar reaches the building, breaking the mirrors with the initial shockwave and melting the remaining ones. The wall soon crumbles by a heavy strike, making a mountain of debris as more joined.

The wall of the fourth floor came down, and so ended the column of fire.

Ken, bow and arrow ready, watches the fire burn out as magic is no longer fueling it.

“Sul, is it ready?”

He watched what is big brother did, and even though he’s seen him do it countless time in the field, that’s no reason to be unimpressed. “Y-Yeah, but isn’t it-”

“No,” he interrupts in a calm tone, “it’s not.”

As if to further explain, the debris are shot in random directions by a powerful gust from within.

Standing at the center, the mechanoid is sporting a new scar across its forehead down to its chin. Circuits and a few motherboards are revealed from the opening with sparks surging around.

“Sul, whenever you are ready!” The urgency is noticed in his raised voice.

The Star Shard shines white after channeling the magic he recovered, “Now!” Its light noticeably diminishes as Sul’s magic is nearly empty.

Ken leaps back and enters the teleport radius, but the mechanoid had already summoned two swords. It dashes, breaking the rocks it stomps on and closes the distance to a few yards.

It pulls the swords to the sides and swings, leaving a trail of light in the form of an X in thin air. It desummons its weapons before it jerks its head up.

A ball of light is flying upwards, shrinking almost to a small dot as its about to go higher than Memory’s Skyscraper.

The mechanoid extends its open palm at it. It fires Holy in an instant. Almost hitting the runaway targets until the sphere veered to the right.

Holy fades shortly after, and Sul and Ken pass through the dark clouds and out of the world.

The android continues watching where its targets escaped; it only moves its hand down but that’s it.

Whimpers come at its side as Holy Beast walks up to it. Its surface is mostly burned and limps as it walks. The fake face its wearing is about to tear off as the cotton, that didn’t turn to ash, is scorched black and crumbling to the ground.

The Beast is surrounded by a blanket of light; it dies down leaving the scorched cotton that fell.

With the Malshine gone, its visor flickers black. It straightens its head and stands firm, that’s when the android shuts off completely.

Returning the world to its natural, downcast silence.

Author's Note

I just want to go on record, that I did not watch the new trailer for final fantasy XV while creating this chapter.

Edit: The idea for the Malshines is something I got after watching a video from HMK. Its where I also got the name Malshines from.