Chapter 206

The battlefield lay silent, blanketed in smoke and glowing embers. Scorched earth stretched in every direction, broken only by craters, shattered trees, and the faint shimmer of dissipating magic.

Helios stood near the center of the ruin, eyes narrowed as he scanned the air, the ground, and every flickering shadow. His grip on Equilibrium loosened as he finally let the weapon rest on his shoulder.

"Let's not relax just yet," he said, turning to the others. "There may still be stragglers. The portal took the giant heartless, but that kind of dark interference doesn't show up alone."

Skuld, seated on the edge of a broken tree trunk, gave a small nod, brushing soot from her arm. "I agree. There's still an eerie pressure lingering. We should be careful until it's gone."

Aqua stepped beside Helios, silent for a long moment. Then, as he began to walk away, she placed a hand on his arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked, voice soft but serious.

He glanced at her without slowing. "To finish saving Pocahontas. I thought now would be the best time to do so."

"I'm coming with you," Aqua said firmly. "To keep an eye on you."

Helios raised a brow but smiled faintly. "You think I'm going to pull something funny? I'm sure I've disproven your suspicions more than once now so why not trust me."

"I think," she said, eyes narrowing just slightly, "that it never hurts to be cautious. Besides my instinct tells me you're dangerous and I trust them."

Helios shrugged. "Sure whatever. Follow along then."

He turned, but not before glancing back at Skuld, who had stood and stretched.

"We'll be back soon," he told her. "Clean-up's yours."

Skuld gave him a two-finger salute, a teasing smile tugging at her lips. "Don't argue too much while you're gone. Or fight. I'll be able to feel it from here."

Helios snorted. "We'll try not to scar the sky this time. Well not that we could with how tired we are right now."

With that, he and Aqua took off at a steady jog through the blackened treeline, dodging fallen branches and drifting ash. The quiet between them was peaceful—only the occasional soft crunch of scorched underbrush beneath their boots.

After a while, Helios broke the silence. "Did you notice something strange about that heartless?"

Aqua glanced over, skeptical. "Strange how?"

"The Tusker," Helios said, keeping his eyes forward. "Every other time we fought it, it had that absurd regeneration. Near-immortal endurance. But this time... at the beginning of the battle, it didn't."

Aqua frowned, piecing the observation together.

Helios nodded to himself. "It only started regenerating after that dark energy hit it."

"You think that was the trigger?" she asked.

"I think it's more than that," he replied. "I think that energy didn't just heal it. It changed it. Evolved it. It became smarter, faster... even more aggressive."

Aqua slowed slightly, her gaze turning serious. "If you're right and I agree, it sounds like you are saying that the energy wasn't random. Someone sent it deliberately. To enhance it. And towards the end, they even opened a portal to reclaim it."

"Exactly," Helios said, eyes narrowing. "And we still don't know who."

Aqua was silent for a moment, then said, "We should go back to Traverse Town. Merlin might have an idea."

Helios gave a small nod. "Agreed."

As they crested a hill and reached the forest's edge, voices drifted toward them. There were a mix of shouts, commands, and murmured prayers. The surviving settlers and tribespeople were gathered in a makeshift clearing by the river, injured being tended to while guards kept a wary eye on the treeline.

John stood among them, pacing nervously.

As Helios and Aqua emerged from behind a thick cluster of trees—

BANG!

A gunshot split the air.

A settler had panicked at the sudden appearance of movement, and his musket fired reflexively.

The bullet screamed through the smoke—

Helios raised a hand. Equilibrium shimmered into view, intercepting the shot midair with a quiet ping of steel and magic.

"Stand down!" John shouted, rushing forward. "He's with us!"

The settler trembled, lowering the weapon with an apologetic stammer.

Helios picked up the gun's deflected slug between two fingers. After looking at it and taking a pause, he dropped it into the dirt and desummoned his keyblade, letting it fade into motes of light.

"No harm done," he said evenly. "But maybe next time don't shoot first without looking. I'll also try to announce my arrival so use words and not bullets."

John bowed his head, both relieved and embarrassed. "Sorry. Everyone's… on edge."

Aqua stepped forward beside Helios, giving a brief nod to John. "We're here to check on Pocahontas. We'll also heal the others who were injured so line them up from the most serious to the least. You can set Pocahontas aside for now."

John did as they asked and order the able-bodied settlers and tribesmen to move the least injured among them to the side and show Helios and Aqua to the critically injured people. Once done giving orders he ran over to Powhatan who was leaning over a comatose Pocahontas holding her hand with his eyes saying a prayer for her to awaken.

At the sound of John's footsteps Powhatan opened his eyes and looked over at John the man he had just ordered the exectution of mere moments ago.