Kurai’s shadowy form flickered, its edges pulsing with dark energy. “You wish for me to infiltrate her heart… to stoke her darkness, as if she weren’t already a harbinger of it? How intriguing.”

  Helios’s gaze remaieady. “She’s holding back, restrained by her own self-preservation. She eveo have grown reliant ohe Malefit I know would rather manipute me than seek my help. I need her fully immersed in darkness, without hesitation or limitation. Amplify her ambition, her cruelty… let her drown in it.”

  Kurai chuckled, the sound slithering through the room like a serpent. “A tall order, but not one beyond my capabilities. However, uand the risks. With a being of her experience, even subtle maniputions sometimes be sensed.”

  Helios’s cold smile widened. “It won’t matter even if she realizes it. Ohe darkakes hold, she won’t be able to resist it—and even if she suspects, she won’t be able to stop you. Her focus is elsewhere, on g her new kingdom. The cracks in her defenses are there. You’ll find a way in.”

  Kurai’s form flickered as it sidered the pn. “Very well,” it murmured. “But know this—amplified darkends to… run wild. Should it grow unchecked, even you may find her more difficult to rein in.”

  “That’s fine,” Helios replied, his voice a low whisper of determination. “I don’t pn to stay here much lohings are moving quickly, and Radiant Garden is already on the edge of colpse. Soon, it’ll fall into darkness, overrun with Heartless. Ohat’s done, we’ll leave this world and move on to the .”

  Kurai drew close to Helios with barely any spa betwee spoke, “You know I quite like this side of you. I uand you like this unlike before. I hope as ‘friends’ there will be more moments like this where we uand each other.”

  “I don’t look forward to such things.” responded Helios an unmoved Helios

  The energy around Kurai grew calmer as some of it ed around Helios, “o resist. We allies, friends, and partners so of coruse we should see eye to eye. You’ve lost nothing by this but rather gain something few have.”

  Kurai’s shadowy form pulsed with a dark satisfa as its energy ed around Helios like a shroud, brushing against him with a strange warmth—a mockery of friendship and kinship fed in shadows.

  "See eye to eye…," Helios murmured, feeling the a haze cloud his mind. "Is that what we are now? Friends?"

  Kurai’s voice was low, resonating in a way that felt almost like an intimate whisper, though its words held a familiar hint of menace. “Oh, indeed. I’m with you by choice, Helios. A choice that aligns with my goals, yes, but also… with a deeper uanding.” It circled him like a dark fog, tendrils of shadow snaking around his arms and shoulders. “I would say that, between us, there’s more than just y. So, why not open yourself more to me. With it we could reach a deeper level of uandiween us.”

  Helios stiffened slightly, the warmth of Kurai’s tounatural and chilling at once, a, in the dim light of Merlin’s cottage, he found himself oddly receptive to this twisted bond. It was true that their alliance had brought him closer to his goals—far closer than he could have achieved alone. With each passing day, his dependen darkness grew, and Kurai, ever-present, grew more and more iwined with his own spirit. A, part of him resisted. Shouldn’t he stop and accept it.

  Just as Helios was about to reach out and touch Kurai an image of the his parent’s face fsh before him. In that moment a powerful light emerged and pushed away at the dark tendrils ed around him body and cleared the haze surrounding his mind. Helios then realized what had just happehat Kurai had tried to manipute and trol him just now.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” asked Helios coldly.

  “What’s the meaning of what?” asked Kurai in an equally anner.

  “Don’t py games with me. You know of what I speak of. I thought we agree so long as I pushed forward without any distra you’d make no move against me?” said Helios

  “Yes we did but that wasn’t a move against you. You seemed unusal in that moment so I wao see how susceptible you would be to my maniputions. However you broke free at the st moment. Such a shame. Regardless you wish for me to do so with the evil fairy. Very well so be it.” said Kurai in a nont manner

  Helios steadied himself, pushing down the remnants of Kurai’s dark energy that lingered around him. He could still feel the chilling tendrils Kurai had ed around him, the hazy influehat had clouded his mind and softened his resistance. But the image of his parents, a spark of light within him, had been enough to shatter what Kurai had attempted.

  His gaze hardened, watg the shadowy figure pulsing with dark satisfa.

  "That wasn’t part of our arra," he said, voice calm but ced with an unyielding edge. "You don’t test my will without my permission, Kurai. I won’t have you meddling with my mind."

  Kurai’s form flickered with what might have been annoyanusement—it was hard to tell. “e now, Helios,” it purred, its voice smooth and almost dismissive. “It was simply… curiosity. You seemed unusually receptive, so I explored. Besides, isn’t it better to know your limits? It would be such a waste if you were swayed by a mere whisper of any darkness other than myself. Never fet you are ‘my dear friend’.”

  Helios’s expression remained icy, unimpressed by the feigned inno Kurai’s tone. “Let’s be clear: I tolerate your presence because we both want something from this arra. But stray into my mind again, and we’ll see how much we truly torment one another. Are we uood?”

  For a moment, there was only silehe room’s shadows deepening as Kurai’s form rippled with a subtle, dark iy. Then, it meically chuckled softly, the sound low and eg, tinged with an edge that hi both malid respect.

  “Uood, ‘friend,’” Kurai said, the st word ced with mog warmth. “I will respect your boundaries, just as you respect mine.” It lingered for a moment longer, its presence a heavy, oppressive shroud in the dim room. “And as per reement, I will now do as you’ve asked with our dear little fairy. sider it my… apology, if you will.”

  Helios gave a curt nod, keeping his gaze fixed on the shadowy figure. “Good. Now, if we’re done here, you have a task to plete. I think you should go attend to what I asked of you.”

  Kurai’s form swirled once more before it began to dissipate, its final words a murmur on the edge of the shadows. “o be upset, Helios. We may share a goal, but never uood one another, in that moment we did. We’ve just grown closer to one another.”

  Helios remaiill, even after Kurai’s shadowy form faded from the room, its words lingering like a chill that refused to lift. He gritted his teeth, feeling the uling residue of Kurai’s influence lingering on his skin, a dark energy that seemed to hum faintly, as if mog his resistahe words echoed in his mind—“We’ve just grown closer.”