The battlefield trembled under the weight of encroaching darkness. Heartless swarmed the outskirts of the Powhatan village, forming a living tide of teeth and claws. Shadows, Nightfangs, and the agile Hollow Prowlers spilled into the trees, their soulless yellow eyes flickering like dying stars.
But from the eye of the chaos, Aqua stood unmoving—her cerulean eyes calm, precise. Her cloak billowed in the rising winds, her stance firm, and her hand wrapped tightly around the shaft of the Tidal Scepter, which pulsed faintly with flowing magic.
Then, she exhaled.
A single, deliberate breath.
And the storm began.
A surge of magic exploded beneath her feet. The Maelstrom Veil snapped into place—water spiraling upward in a protective vortex, deflecting the first wave of lunging Shadows. They slammed into the whirling tide, tossed back and shredded by the torrent's razor edge.
Aqua flicked her wrist.
Three globes of water shot from the Scepter—Hydrosurge. They hovered in the air like sentient comets, darting through the swarm with surgical precision, crashing into Nightfangs and erupting in cascading detonations.
Behind her, Pocahontas and John Smith held the rear, desperately defending retreating villagers.
But Aqua didn't look back.
She stepped forward, and the tide followed her.
With a graceful motion, she spun, casting Triple Blizzaga. Three massive icy shards spiraled out, each trailing light and frost. They smashed into a trio of Hollow Prowlers mid-pounce, impaling them into frozen sculptures that shattered an instant later.
More poured in.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
Still, Aqua advanced.
"Raging Storm." Her voice rang clear above the din.
Three tornadoes of flame spun into being around her, dancing in tandem with her elegant steps. The fire surged outward as she cartwheeled through a charging wall of enemies, activating Firewheel. Enemies screamed—those capable of sound—before being reduced to cinders in her wake.
The battlefield was chaos.
But Aqua was elegance incarnate.
As the pressure mounted, she leapt into the air and hovered, her Tidal Scepter glowing brighter. Water warped, then froze mid-motion. The scepter reshaped, flowing like a ribbon before solidifying into her elegant bow—
Glacial Empress's Grace.
The frost along its limbs crackled with power as she drew the first arrow.
"Disappear from this world. Be gone."
Stormcaller Arrow. She loosed it without hesitation. The arrows pierced a few Hollow Prowler's chests—then erupted into a chain of arcing lightning that jumped from Heartless to Heartless, reducing a wide swath into smoking piles of ash.
Another arrow nocked.
Volcanic Burst.
The fire-based arrow collided with a Shadow cluster and detonated with a concussive force so fierce the ground split beneath it.
From above, she rained arrows—Typhoon Barrage now. Compressed wind-infused projectiles scythed through the battlefield, slicing limbs and scattering formations. She followed up with Blizzard Lance, freezing an entire line of advancing enemies, then shattered them with a blast of Thundaga Shot, the shards exploding in violent disarray.
Below her, the ground glowed faintly from residual magic.
And Aqua kept firing.
But the battlefield shifted.
From the treeline emerged a second wave—faster, meaner, more organized. The elite units. Dozens of Nightfangs charged like a hunting pack, darting through the remains of fallen comrades, coordinated and relentless.
Aqua shifted styles instantly.
Back to Tidal Scepter. Her feet hit the ground, and she whispered a new incantation.
"Aetherial Flow."
Orbs of pure elemental energy shimmered around her. She danced between the enemies, directing the orbs like conductors of a symphony. They struck with precision—slamming into Nightfangs mid-lunge, blocking attacks on villagers behind her, and detonating to shred encroaching threats.
The battlefield was a painting of movement—Aqua flowing like water, yet unyielding as ice.
She summoned six Seeker Mines, embedding them in the soil.
As the Nightfangs charged again, the mines activated, trailing under the Heartless like predators.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The explosions lit the forest in pulses of blue and violet flame.
And then it happened.
A massive, black-furred Heartless leapt from above—a Hollow Prowler Alpha.
Aqua cartwheeled away, the beast's claws tearing the earth where she'd stood.
She vanished.
A shimmer of light, and she teleported behind the creature—mid-air, already drawing her bow.
Compound Blitz.
Fire + Thunder + Ice.
The arrow twisted with unstable energy—red lightning dancing over icy flame.
She released.
The arrow struck the Alpha dead center. It convulsed, exploded in a shriek of elemental chaos—frozen, incinerated, and electrocuted in one moment.
The blast leveled trees and carved a crater of glass into the soil.
Aqua landed, panting, and reformed her scepter, twirling it once.
She'd decimated nearly half the field.
But more still came.
Helios' spear flashed to her side. Skuld descended like a whirlwind of wind-blades. Pocahontas unleashed another gale as John Smith reloaded.
Together, they carved a path through the swarm.
Still, Aqua's magic began to wane. Her reserves were dipping low.
The heartless knew it as more and more focused in on her.
They surged in one last desperate wave, hoping to overwhelm her.
Aqua didn't hesitate.
She drew power from deep within and extended her hand.
"Lightbloom Arrow."
From her bow, countless arrows of multicolored light shot outward—her Shotlock ability in full bloom. The arrow twisted through the air, each shimmering with an elemental pulse—fire, ice, thunder, water, wind, and light.
They slammed into enemies one by one. The Heartless evaporated in rapid succession, their numbers thinned to mere shadows on the edge of defeat.
Finally, Aqua lowered her hand, her breaths short, her body shaking from the effort.
Silence.
Only the crackle of dissipating magic and the wind through scorched trees remained.
John Smith looked around, wide-eyed. "You… you just did all that?"
Aqua's expression remained serious. "This is what we do."
Pocahontas nodded silently, her eyes wide with awe—but filled with admiration. She wondered if one day she would be able to do such a thing
Skuld smiled. "You really are something else."
Helios gave a faint grin, stepping forward and twirling his spear once. "You certainly live up to your title, Master Aqua."
She chuckled, brushing hair from her face. "Let's hope I didn't use too much energy before the big one shows up."
Helios' grin faded slightly. "Doesn't look like it'll be a problem...it's on its way."
The wind grew still.
The trees trembled.
The ground quaked beneath a distant, heavy footstep.