The island trembled.
From the molten crater where Te Kā had fallen, the ocean itself seemed to recoil. Waves broke and retreated, leaving the black shore exposed like a raw bone. Steam rolled outward in thick, spiraling veils, and through it came a sound — not a roar, not a cry — but a low, resonant heartbeat.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Each pulse rattled the air, and with it, the crater began to move.
Kurai planted her glaive into the ground, anchoring herself. "Something's coming up."
Her words barely carried over the hiss of rain meeting magma.
Skuld raised her keyblade, eyes wide. "It's… enormous."
The ground split, and the molten lake erupted outward. From its depths rose a creature that blotted out the sky — a serpentine leviathan of shadow and coral, its scales made of obsidian plates lined with cracks that glowed like lightning trapped in stone. The air filled with the scent of salt and burnt metal.
Its head was shaped like a dragon's skull, crowned with fins that resembled broken wings. Where eyes should have been, there were only glowing whorls — spirals of yellow light that pulsed like a heartbeat. Within its chest, a ribcage opened and closed like the gills of a dying fish, and deep inside, a heart of liquid light throbbed in rhythm with the storm.
Maui took a step back, jaw slack. "That… that's not Te Kā."
"No," Kurai said. Her tone was cold but her eyes tracked the motion with razor focus. "That's a creature of darkness born from her rage. A Heartless and a pureblooded one at that."
The creature opened its mouth and screamed.
It wasn't a sound — it was a feeling.
Every memory of loss, every pang of rage — magnified and hurled back into the world as a storm of noise.
The hurricane that followed shattered the cliffs. Lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the full enormity of the beast. Its voice carried through the wind like words broken by pain:
"YOU ABANDONED ME. I SHALL NOT FORGIVE."
Moana stumbled, clutching her chest as if the voice struck her heart. "It's… speaking—"
"It should have absorbed that memory orb we saw," Skuld said through clenched teeth. "Te Kā's pain — Te Fiti's grief. The ocean memory has become a part of it."
Kurai tightened her grip on the glaive. "True, but I doubt it's actually intelligent. It's probably repeating the word with the strongest rage."
The Abysscaller lunged.
Its body slammed across the shore like a tidal wave made flesh. Lava and seawater collided, sending pillars of steam hundreds of feet high. Kurai vanished in a blur of black smoke, reappearing atop a jagged ridge. The glaive in her hands twisted mid-swing, its blade extending, forming a scythe-like curve.
"Erebus Fang — Dusk Sever!"
Her strike cleaved through one of the creature's tendrils. The wound sealed instantly, but the leviathan recoiled, roaring as shadows poured from the cut like blood.
Skuld darted forward, blue light flaring. The Zephyr Talons reformed on her hands, claws slicing through the whipping rain. Each strike carried compressed air, bursts of cutting wind that left glowing lines across the creature's hide.
But the Abysscaller moved like a storm itself — unpredictable, fluid, relentless. One massive coil crashed down where Skuld stood. She leapt away just as the ground exploded, molten shards scattering like bullets.
"Moana!" Maui shouted. "Get back—!"
"I'm not leaving!" she yelled back, slamming her paddle into the ground. The sea surged in response, waves curling upward into a wall that caught the falling debris before it could crush them.
The leviathan shifted, its massive head lowering toward the group. The glowing ribcage in its chest opened wider, revealing the swirling heart inside — a vortex of light and shadow, spinning faster and faster.
Then came its next attack.
"Tide Reversal!"
The world tilted.
Skuld felt the pull before she saw it — gravity twisted, the sea rising upward as if the sky had become the ocean. She tumbled, barely catching herself midair using a quick Aero Dash. Moana and Maui were lifted off their feet; Kurai stabbed her glaive into the rock, anchoring them with a burst of shadow that spread like roots.
The Abysscaller's body coiled through the sky, swimming through the inverted ocean like a god of the storm.
"Everyone, hold onto something!" Skuld shouted. "The whole world's flipping!"
Maui's laughter cut through the chaos. "Best wave ever!"
The rotation slowed, and suddenly gravity snapped back. The sea crashed down, burying the shore under a wall of water. When the flood cleared, the island was gone — reduced to a jagged atoll surrounded by rising tides. Skuld was forced to protect herself with an Aero shield while Kurai used one of Darkness to protect herself, Maui, and Moana. The waves crashed into the two shields, almost breaking them.
Skuld panted, chest heaving. "We can't keep fighting it head-on."
Kurai glanced at her — eyes sharp, calculating. "Then we hit where it can't recover. Its chest — the core should be there. But we can't get to it."
Skuld nodded. "I will distract it and try to clear a way for you."
They looked at each other — the moment brief, but enough. Light and darkness aligned for a single purpose.
Kurai leapt first. She summoned her shadows, forming a bridge across the crashing waves. Skuld followed, wind propelling her steps faster, higher. Lightning and wind danced across her arms as she spun midair, both claws igniting with blue sparks.
"Tempest Break!"
The strike hit the Abysscaller's ribs dead center. The creature shrieked, rearing back — but before it could recover, Kurai struck from below.
"Moonveil Cleave!"
Her glaive slashed upward, piercing through the ribcage and grazing the glowing heart. Light spilled out — not red, not black, but green.
The ocean itself seemed to scream in response.
Waves froze mid-motion, as though time itself hesitated. For an instant, they saw it clearly — Te Fiti's heart, trapped within the creature's chest, corrupted.
Moana gasped. "That's it — that's the Heart!"
"Huh? How'd it end up there?" Maui asked, gripping his shattered paddle like a club.
But the Abysscaller was far from finished. The wound sealed shut, and its glow darkened from green to violet. The surrounding sea turned violent, waves rising into hands that clawed at the land. From each surge, new Heartless spawned — Rainborn and Brinewretches, their forms emerging like ghosts from the depths.
Kurai growled. "It's summoning new heartless."
Skuld steadied herself. "Then we remind it what light feels like."
She leapt again, slashing through the Heartless as she soared toward the Abysscaller's head. "Kurai! When I anchor it — you strike!"
Kurai's shadows coiled around her arms, spiraling into chains of dark fire. "Don't miss."
Skuld's wings of wind unfurled. She dove, claws glowing brighter with every rotation, and struck the creature's forehead with a cry that shook the rain itself.
"Freezing Gale"
Skuld cast Helios' spell Freezing Gale, which created a whirlwind of freezing cold while shooting out ice shards that froze the Abysscaller's body as it hit. The water serpent was soon trapped inside the Freezing Gale as it slowly froze while being pelted by the icicle shards. Skuld's mastery of the Aero spell had reached the level of Aeroza, and her Blizzard had also reached the level of Blizzaza. This meant her Freezing Gale was many times bigger and more powerful than the one Helios used.
"NOW!" she shouted.