Sora doesn't hesitate.
The moment the shadows peel away from the dark-haired man and go to him instead, instinct takes over. His fingers tighten around the familiar grip of the Keyblade as his feet dig into the stone.
"Got it!"
A Shadow Heartless lunges first.
The Keyblade whistles through the air in a bright arc, sending the creature flying before Sora pivots into another swing, the satisfying thunk echoing as a second dissolves into black smoke. They aren't strong individually, he'd fought thousands of these before after all, but there were way too many.
Another pair leap from opposite sides.
He ducks beneath one, plants a hand against the ground, and twists into a spinning kick that knocks it off course before bringing the Keyblade down onto the other. Light bursts from the impact, scattering several more that had tried to close in.
Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of the man's strange black ability. Cloth? Shadow? Whatever it was, it tore through the Heartless in a way he'd never seen before. Even then, the man was coughing between attacks.
He's pushing himself.
"Hey!" Sora calls without looking away from the swarm. "You don't look so hot! Can you still fight?"
Another wave rushes them.
"Actually… " He grins despite himself, "Scratch that! We'll talk after!"
He surges forward instead of waiting, refusing to let the Heartless dictate the pace. The Keyblade flashes in quick succession, each strike driving the creatures farther from the stranger rather than simply destroying them.
"Come on!" He points the Keyblade toward the gathering horde. "If you're looking for hearts, you're messing with the wrong people!"
The nearest Shadows recoil for the briefest instant before throwing themselves at him as one.
"That's more like it!" Sora laughs, meeting the black tide head-on. This kid was insane. Clearly.
While he had promised to not kill to that damned weretiger he was finding it difficult to maintain that right then. These creatures were different and shaking off the various stabs he gives them. So soon enough his attacks shift and change, numerous small beastly heads forming from his coat's cloth tendrils to devour parts of the Heartless that tried to attack him. That seemed to be doing better as those that were attacked thought twice about trying again.
Of course, he continued to cough between the attacks. Normally it wasn't this bad but it was much harder to maintain this form of attack for long. He watches as the brunette young man just jumps into the fray without hesitating. It looked like he was fighting with a giant key but at least it seemed to be working as the creatures dissipated into what looked like smoke. Alright then. Akutagawa returns his attention to the creatures that were attacking him still though it seemed most were drawn in to the other man's baiting and fighting.
"I'll be fine!"
It was said briefly as most of his attention was clearly on the ones that weren't drawn into the other's attacks. Honestly the dark haired and dressed man was drawing near his limits with his patience. These damned things seemed to just keep coming. So finally he just gives an almost guttural growl as dozens of Rashomon tendrils shoot from his coat to then hit all the surrounding Heartless, tearing off large chunks from their bodies and watching as they either collapse or dissipate into that smoke.
It didn't stop there as the strands then shot out of the ground under the ones near the strange, crazy boy and stabbed into the Heartless surrounding the other. It was a large scale attack sure but damned if he wasn't just sick of all these fucking creatures. It was like a massacre, if all the spear-like strands weren't missing everything that could be considered a vital spot on any normal living creature. After all, he had made a promise and damned if it wasn't going to keep to it... If only to prove to Atsushi he was better than him.
Of course such a grand display of his power would leave him feeling drained and he was breathing more heavily but he was determined to remain vigilant until he was absolutely certain that there would be no more.
