//------------------------------//
// Heartless: One Winged Angel 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Once everyone that was leaving Traverse Town was ready to go, save for Merlin and the Fairy Godmother, Sora and the rest of the group quickly made their way back to the Gummi Ship and warped onto the vessel, where Radiant's first objective was to place Fluttershy's Heartless in her room, as she seemed to be asleep at the moment. While she did that Sombra focused on accessing the power of the ship as she modified the interior, where Leon's group watched as she first enlarged all of the rooms, to give everyone more room to sleep in their bedrooms, before getting to work on adding more. Cid, of course, was totally surprised by how she was able to manipulate the ship so easily, where Radiant explained that it seemed like the gummi blocks just reacted to her more than they reacted to anyone else, though at the same time Sombra told Squeak to deposit any additional gummi blocks he discovered during their adventures inside it. Cid also explained that the ship also had a new device that worked during battle with the enemy gummi ships, it was a collection device that would pull loot from defeated ships into their own, depositing everything into the machine that would add more material into their vessel.

Her work allowed her to make rooms for Leon's group, though as Sora got underway, so they could reach the Coliseum like Leon wanted, Sombra asked Radiant about something she had been working on since Halloween Town and smiled as a dark silver amulet was produced, in the shape of a wolf's head with small ruby eyes. Leon asked what she was working on and she told him that it was a side project, a gift of sorts she guessed, though to make it perfect Sombra used some magic to give it an enchantment, something she had Sora help her test when he took a break from piloting the ship. Sora, of course, was surprised that all she wanted him to do was wear an amulet and train for a few moments, though it was against Radiant, as she had volunteered to assist with the test, something that caused their companion to shrug as he slipped it on and held out his hand to summon the Kingdom Key. Sombra and the others sat in an observation area she had added to the training area of their ship, in case people wanted to watch someone train or rest in a protected area, and once they were ready the pair started their practice session without delay.

The results of her enchantment became known without delay, as Sora's body bulked up, his shoes transformed to avoid being ruined, and his body turned into that of a werewolf, just like what happened to Riku in Halloween Town, only his form was brown as he looked at himself in surprise.

"Woah... what did you do?" Sora asked, because he knew that it had to be the amulet he was wearing, meaning it had to be something Sombra had done to the item in question, though he did admit that his body felt stronger and faster than it had been before, causing him to think of something else, "Is it permanent?"

"I enchanted that amulet with the power to temporarily turn the wearer into a werewolf, for about a minute... Radiant says the time should improve the more the item is used." Sombra replied, showing that she and Radiant had put some time and thought into the creation of the amulet, while at the same time Leon's group was surprised by the information that was being talked about right now.

Sora nodded his head for a moment as he rushed at Radiant and tried out his modified body, where Radiant blocked a few attacks with her Keyblade while dodging others, the latter displaying that her opponent was definitely feeling the power of the amulet, and, just like Sombra said, it didn't last very long. After Sora returned to normal he removed the amulet as he and the others were told that he didn't have anything to worry about, the change would only happen with it on, when one wore it to be exact, though as Sombra collected the amulet she was pleased that it worked. At the same time it seemed like Sora was perfectly fine, that despite losing half of himself his ability to fight was just fine and he seemed to be moving like nothing had happened to him, which was good to see since they were heading to the Coliseum for what had to be a final cup before the end of the adventure. Radiant made sure to test Sora a little more, just to be sure he was alright, but in the end she also determined that there was nothing wrong with him, meaning they would be ready for whatever might be waiting for them in the Coliseum this time around.

When they finally reached the world in question Sora warped everyone down to the entrance, where they walked up to the door as Leon's group headed off to another portion of the world, meaning they might have to fight them at some point, or at least two of them in the form of Leon and Yuffie, causing them to focus on Phil as they entered his portion of the arena.

"Now Fluttershy's missing! I don't know what's going on, but this is a shame... she had some real promise." Phil said, as he had wondered where Riku went when the boy didn't show up, but now he was wondering if the group was fracturing like crazy, meaning he might only see one person in the near future based on how quickly the number was going down, which only caused him to sigh as he pulled out his board, "Listen, there's one more cup available, this one hosted by Hades, of all people... normally, I wouldn't bother, but both he and Herc wanted to see you guys fight his warriors. Oh, and Sombra, I've got a special request for you: a warrior wants to fight you one on one, whenever you're ready for such a thing."

Such a thing interested Sombra, that someone would actually seek him out as request a match with her, but decided not to worry about it as they entered the fourth and final cup, the Hades Cup, where they teleported into the arena and found that the atmosphere was darker than before, either due to it being the evening or Hades setting the atmosphere. The first match was definitely easy, it was just a couple of Shadows and Soldiers, which the group made short work of, while the one that came after was just a few Wights and a couple of Powerwilds, the latter being an enemy type they hadn't seen since the last cup they took part in. After that it was a simple manner to fight and bring down a few more Shadows and Pirates, plus beat up the legs of an Armor, before dealing with a few Pot Spiders and another Powerwild, and then being surprised by one of the blue Truffle Heartless in one of the matches. Sombra really didn't mind the assortment of enemies, because fighting in the Coliseum allowed her to steal all sorts of hearts from the various Heartless and add them to her collection, even though she would find an area to absorb them in latter.

Following the Blue Truffle's fight, with one hit and it left, the group found that Yuffie was their opponent, though it appeared that her skills hadn't really improved since the last time Sora and the others had fought her, so while they were a person down they were able to knock her out of the ring and win the battle without delay.

The next couple of rounds were more interesting as they found that the next match was a number of Bandits and Pirates, a grouping that made them be a little more careful while everyone dealt with their chosen foe before tracking down a new one to fight, making sure they weren't overwhelmed. Following that the next match was a Defender with a couple of Wights and a few Soldiers, where it was easy for them to figure out what to do first, just take down the smaller Heartless before even worrying about the larger one that was in the center of the arena. Following that they had to deal with a larger group than they were expecting, as it was a Large Body, a Fat Bandit, a single Soldier, a lone Bandit, and two Powerwilds, which meant Hades was really upping the types of groups he had entered into the arena to tear them down. Sombra dealt with the two larger foes by utilizing her speed to get around them, hitting their backs with her Keyblade, while the others dealt with the rest of the enemies, allowing them to emerge victorious as she gleefully added more hearts to her collection.

Following that came a new foe, a massive quadrupedal Heartless that had two tusks growing from it's lower jaw, a long black horn in the middle of it's forehead, while each of it's four hooves had two toes that looked like claws, while it had a light gray body with dark gray sections on it's limbs and head, a Behemoth in Sombra's eyes.

The Behemoth had a jump ability that caused the ground to shudder, since it was a massive creature and had a lot of weight in it's body, but that was only the beginning of it's powers as Sombra found that it's horn would pulse with energy and that it could unleash that power on all of them. One such attack happened to be it calling down energy orbs from the sky, like rain in a sense, which the group had to avoid since this time around they didn't have Fluttershy's magical barriers to fall back on and Sombra really didn't feel like using her magic against their foe. In addition to that the Behemoth could unleash a rather powerful blast of thunder magic, likely Thundaga based on the power that the group felt in the air, that just rained down on everyone and forced them to move out of the way to avoid being hit. Radiant also pointed out the fact that they couldn't hurt the Behemoth by attack it's legs or even it's bulky body, rather they had to target the horn, which was an interesting thing to discover, especially when one of their attacks brought it to a staggered position.

In the end Sombra found that the creature was definitely powerful and could really hurt if they weren't careful, though the group was victorious and she was able to not only claim a rather powerful heart, to be absorbed later, but they also got a new spell, Blizzaga, the third tier Blizzard spell.

Following that they encountered a Ghost and a number of red Nocturnes, causing Sombra and Donald to lash out with a burst of ice magic, putting the magical enemies down as Sora dealt with the disappearing and reappearing Ghost, which he was able to do with ease. After that was another group that was mostly filled with Nocturnes, blue ones this time, that were joined by a Gargoyle, so the group simply used fire magic to take care of the magic casters before dealing with the lone flying foe. The next match was more interesting as they had to fight another Armor with a few Nocturnes, where Sora and the others separated from each other for a moment as Donald struck down the magic users, allowing them to focus on it's arms and legs, smashing them to pieces in seconds, before Sombra slashed through the chest and quickly captured it's heart as it was brought down. After that they encountered a Black Fungus Heartless and a few green Nocturnes, but it was over in an instant as Sombra crushed them into the ground with a burst of gravity magic, which she liked to use since it was very powerful, before she and the others moved into another round to deal with more Nocturnes and a couple of Pot Spiders.

The next match after that was far more interesting as Sombra discovered a Stealth Sneak, the lizard Heartless that had been born of Clayton's heart, which was joined by a few more Nocturnes, though while everyone else dealt with the flying enemies she tracked down the lizard and put it down, while a smile graced her face as she added more hearts to the new collection she was forming. With those dealt with the group faced a set of enemies that consisted of a Wizard and several Nocturnes, where they matched elements to what all of their foes were using at the moment, while the one that followed had three more Wizards and a number of Shadows. Donald openly wondered if there was a reason for the more magical Heartless being more common this time around, but no one had anything to offer him, no explanation other than this had to be how Hades wanted to bring them down. The match following that was more interesting since there was a new type of foe to fight, a more angelic jar looking Heartless that had four golden wings on it's back, and the shocking thing was that it could wield light based magic, something that caused Sombra to absorb it's heart immediately once they defeated it, as more magic types was always a good thing.

After that was Cerberus, who paused as he noticed that Fluttershy wasn't with them and seemed surprised when Squeak ran up to one of his ears to whisper something, which, in turn, caused the three headed dog to turn and depart from the arena, earning them an easy victory and Thundaga, the third tier Thunder spell.

With the dog apparently mopping over losing the one who treated him nicely, giving him belly rubs and calling him a good boy, Sora and the others continued through a couple more matches as they realized that this one was going on for longer than the ones they had beaten in the past. Following that they fought more and more Heartless, ranging from the flying types like Air Pirates and Air Soldiers, the disappearing Ghosts, a mass of Shadows, Wights and Pirates that were joined by Bandits, some Darkballs that fought alongside the Opposite Armor, to Gargoyles, Ships, and a few Wyverns. This just told all of them that Hades was doing everything in his power to bring them down, and even then the team emerged from each battle with minor damage, before discovering that Leon and Cloud were pairing up to bring them down. This time Sombra just used her Keyblade to bring down Cloud, parrying attacks while slashing at him in turn, while the others brought down Leon, who seemed impressed by how well they had grown over the weeks leading to this day.

After dealing with them it was more of the same, tearing through more Heartless that came in the form of Large Bodies, Fat Bandits, Wights, Wyverns, Angel Star as Sombra called the angelic ones, Defenders, and a humanoid Heartless that had a sword in one hand and could disappear rather easily, an Invisible, though Sombra was annoyed those ones were the pureblood type, since it meant no heart for her to capture.

Once they cleared a few more rounds they came face to face with Hades himself, a black robed blue skinned fire whose hair was literally made of flames, light blue to be exact, though he could enrage himself and turn red, which meant none of them could hurt him. In order to bring him down they had to wait for him to calm down for a moment and turn blue for a time, though whenever he was red they had to avoid him, his fireballs, and the fire beams that he fired from his hands, a fact that was rather easily since it was hard to tell if he was even trying to bring them down. In the end Sombra found that Hades was just a disappointment, and that wasn't due to the fact that they outnumbered him, he just seemed weak when she compared him to the Nobody she had fought earlier, as that had been a challenge until she found an opening to use against him. Sora ended up knocking the god clear out of the arena with one of his attacks, earning them another spell in the process, Graviga, the third tier Gravity spell, which was when Sombra noted that they were missing only two of the third tier spells, the one for Fire and the one for Cure.

Following that they fought through a few more rounds of enemies, consisting of more Invisibles, a few Defenders, a couple of Angel Stars, and a few others that were brought low in no time at all, and the final opponent of the cup was none other than a two headed massive rock giant, a 'titan' according to Phil, that Sombra knocked down with a punch to the chest.

"You know, I knew you were strong, but... woah! Now I'm glad I have a trump card for you." Hades remarked, though he wasn't even remotely upset by his defeat, because at this point he had realized that Sombra was far stronger than even Maleficent had thought she'd be, meaning he had to take the girl seriously, and by that he meant bringing in someone to do the job for him, which was when some magic wrapped around them and warped them into a rocky area, "I spoke with Zeus... as annoying as that was... and we agreed to let this match happen somewhere else. This next warrior will be unlike anyone you have fought in the past."

"Very well. Bring him out." Sombra replied, though at the same time she jumped down and landed in what appeared to be a flat portion of the area, a starting place of sorts she guessed, all while noticing that a barrier formed around the area Sora and the others, now including Leon's group and Cloud, were standing in.

For a moment nothing happened, making her wonder if Hades was trying to kill her with boredom or something, but that was followed by the sky lighting up with magical runes all of a sudden, where Sombra watched as a figure burst out of it a moment later and landed on the ground. She discovered that it was a tall figure, male based on the build, that wore a black leather coat, open to expose his chest a little, with black pants and black boots, while his sleeves had small red fins on the ends and there was a silver shoulder piece on both of his shoulders. In addition to that the figure had long silver hair and a black feathered wing on his right side, similar to Cloud's demonic left wing, though as he stood up Sombra also found that he had a weapon, a long katana that was far longer than any weapon she had seen so far. As the figure turned towards her, however, she noticed that his eyes were slit, why she had no idea and she wasn't about to ask, though even without clashing with him it was easy to tell that he was incredibly strong, which was why Hades must have picked him, if that tale was true anyway.

"You must be Sombra, the one who dominated Cloud earlier. I am Sephiroth." the figure said, where Sombra found that he held his katana in his right hand and that his stance suggested that he was ready to do battle, which she understood since that was why she and the others had come to this world in the first place, causing Sombra to draw her Keyblade as she shifted her stance.

In the next instant she swung her blade multiple times as her foe rushed at her, swinging his blade with incredible and deadly accuracy, where Sombra's weapon blocked Sephiroth's as he appeared behind her, showing that his speed was far higher than what she could use in her base form. She went on the offensive and found that her opponent was blocking her attacks with the edge of his blade, like it was nothing, but she wanted to see if her sealed power in her base form held a candle to Sephiroth's, even though her initial thoughts were telling her that she'd have to unleash her power to even stand a chance. With such a thing in mind she utilized the full power of her speed and rushed at Sephiroth, finding that each of her swings were blocked by his weapon, and when she tried to attack him from behind he quickly spun around to parry the attack like it was nothing at all, which was impressive when she considered everything. Following that failure she flashed around the area, never stopping in a spot for more than a few seconds while the observers were no doubt seeing afterimages of her movements, before she flashed into the air and gathered her power into a dark blue crescent wave that she hurled down at her foe.

What she wasn't expecting was for Sephiroth to turn and rapidly slash at the wave, breaking it into fragments that struck the area around him while not touching him at all, and he replied by rushing up to her position and kicked her down into one of the rock pillars that were around them.

"If this is all you are capable of, after beating Cloud so quickly, than I am disappointed." Sephiroth remarked, though that was the moment that a surge of dark energy wrapped around the area that Sombra was in for a couple of seconds, but it quickly broke apart as he found that she had undergone a transformation of some sort, looking more like a dark warlord or even a dark queen.

"Well then, I'll use my full power from now on." Sombra replied, as the power her foe wielded had convinced her that this was the best course of action, and, for good measure, the collection of hearts she had collected during the Hades Cup had been absorbed as well, giving her another boost to her existing power, which was when dark energy wrapped around her Keyblade for a moment.

In the following moment Sombra rushed at her foe and attacked, where Sephiroth found that the energy looked like it had been sealed, in a sense, into the blade of his foe's weapon, like she had been planning on using another energy wave and decided not to use it like the previous attack. The reason for that thought was due to the fact that he was sure he had, for the briefest of moments, seen the markings of some spells on her strange weapon, Graviga and Stopga, plus the fact that he confirmed that neither spell was used on him in an attempt to seal his movements. With that in mind he got serious as he unleashed a burst of fire magic, in the form of walls of fire, around him with a slight movement of his left hand, which his foe pulled back from to avoid being hit by the attack, which was interesting as he considered what to do next. He knew the smart plan would be to use 'Heartless Angel', an attack of his that could annihilate one's mana supply, leaving them with nothing, and leaving them in a painful position that meant near death, unless they had a potion on hand, but part of him wanted to see what his foe had in mind.

As he considered that, however, Sombra flashed around the area they were in and the truth of her actions became known as she released her power, where she seemed to swing at the empty air in several different areas, before Sephiroth found that multiple black waves of energy came at him from all directions.

In response to that attack Sombra watched as her foe swung his blade and each swing left gashes in the ground, as in he swung his long katana and seemed to cut up the area around them while he did so, while at the same time breaking each of her attacks up like they were nothing, and despite the rapid slashes Sephiroth used he came at her without wasting even a single second. Together the two of them moved out into the rest of the area that was around them, though instead of it being like before they literally tore everything around them apart, as the power of their slashes meeting caused the entire area around them to collapse until the pressure of their attacks, much to the amazement of the observers. Sombra found that each spell she cast, no matter how she cast it, seemed to be slashed apart like it was nothing, as Sephiroth just cut his way through the fireballs and spikes of ice that were sent his way, and yet, at the same time he cast his own spell on her, calling down meteors on the area they were fighting in. Instead of letting them touch her Sombra latched onto all of them with her magic and brought them down on Sephiroth's head, or hurling some of them at her foe, where they just blasted more craters into the ground that was around them, plus she used them as cover to mask her movements as she swung at Sephiroth, who continued to block her attacks as the area that was below them was torn apart.

As Sephiroth knocked her backwards, and she was forced to guard against a few more swings that came in the form of thin blue waves of energy, Sombra created a ball of dark energy in front of her left hand and hurled it into the air, which caused her foe to stop in his tracks for a moment as he observed it. The ball expanded into a mass of dark energy that was at least triple the size of the arena that she and the others had been fighting in earlier, a gravitational mass that would crush her foe when it came down on top of him, all while the sky itself swirled around it as the clouds turned dark, which was just her power at work. Sephiroth, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the new attack at all, rather he seemed to be excited for some reason as he flew into the air, since apparently he could do that with a single wing, and slashed the massive orb apart, splitting it into multiple fragments that lingered in the air. Sombra grinned as her magic ignited and all of the pieces were pulled into the area that her foe was in, trapping him in a sphere of dark energy that was enchanted with the power of gravity itself, before she pulled it down out of the air and slammed it into the ground as she swung her Keyblade, releasing a dark wave at her foe.

The sphere exploded a few moments later and the wave was slashed apart, though this time around, as Sombra rushed at her opponent, a figure wearing a purple toga while having white hair and a white beard appeared between them and held his hands out, causing them to stop for a moment.

"I know you two were having fun, but the battle needs to stop now... the entire area is ruined and on fire." the figure said, as when the sphere was torn apart some of the darkness was turned into flames that were dancing on some of the rocks, while everything else was either cut up or just in scattered piles of rubble, "Why don't you call it a draw and promise to fight again some day?"

"Heh, you are very skilled, Sombra. Maybe one day you'll defeat me?" Sephiroth stated, because he had to admit that she was a great warrior, even with her dark power, and while they had been unable to do anything to the other he found that he was eager to see what sort of power she might bring to bare the next time they clashed.

"So are you, Sephiroth. Maybe I'll make your comment come true?" Sombra remarked, smiling at the same time, because that battle had been glorious, even if she had been unable to actually harm him, and it only made her wonder what might happen the next time she and the silver haired warrior crossed paths.

As Sephiroth smiled before taking off, showing that he was definitely pleased with the battle, Sombra returned to her base form as she returned to the others so they could return to the Gummi Ship, as she was eager to see what was waiting for them in Hollow Bastion as they hunted Ansem down to bring an end to this great adventure.