After a tense silence, the president of Shinra finally spoke again.
He sighed. "I thought you were one of those noble souls determined to protect the world. Turns out, you're just another man seduced by the illusion of power—no different from Hojo. Sephiroth's life may have been a tragedy we created, but trying to bring him back now will only lead to countless more."
Jack Harper let out a cold laugh. "You're not a brilliant businessman. You're a master manipulator. Always dodging the truth, always burying your sins beneath politics."
Without waiting for a response, he raised his hand and used telekinesis to yank away the thin blanket covering Rufus.
Beneath it was a strikingly handsome young man. Even with bandages wrapped around his limbs and splints supporting his body, he still had the kind of face that turned heads. But Jack wasn't interested in appearances—his eyes were locked on the black rectangular box Rufus held, roughly the size of a football.
In the movie, that box contained Jenova's head.
That was why Jack Harper had come.
"Hmph. Some say the most dangerous place is the safest. Honestly, keeping something this critical so close to your enemies takes guts," Jack said, reaching out and casting Frost Grip. The box flew into his hand.
But the moment he held it, his expression shifted.
"What? It's empty?" He immediately noticed the weight was off. The box should've been filled with fluid and Jenova's tissue. But now, as he shook it, it was clearly hollow.
"Where's Jenova's head?"
"You really thought I'd store it in there?" Rufus chuckled, now standing. His expression was one of mock surprise, but with a man like him—an elite strategist who once ruled the world through wealth and force—it was impossible to tell if he was bluffing. "That box held my medication. I finished it before you arrived."
In the movie, characters sometimes acted foolishly—perhaps due to the limits of the screenwriter's imagination. But in reality, they were as sharp as their roles demanded. Especially someone like Rufus. If you weren't operating on a genius level, you had no chance of outsmarting him. A slight deviation from the original plot, and his intentions became unreadable.
Jack Harper frowned. His goal was clear: to obtain Jenova's head before the final battle, resurrect Sephiroth ahead of Cloud's allies, and seize the strategic upper hand. He had anticipated complications, but being played like this still stung.
Now he understood Kadaj's frustration—knowing someone was lying, but unable to strike. It was maddening.
Though the Force offered mind control techniques, and Saint Seiya had hypnotic moves like Phoenix Illusion Fist, Jack had never been able to master them—perhaps due to innate limitations.
Torture, then?
Rufus, sensing Jack's intent, smiled. "It's not something I'm proud of, but during Shinra's darker days, our special ops developed all kinds of interrogation methods. And as senior leaders, we trained for the possibility of being captured. Fake death, self-hypnosis, induced hysteria—I've mastered them all. Unless you think you're better than Shinra's elite agents, be my guest."
"You…" Jack clenched his fists, silently wondering: Am I really no smarter than those memory-fractured Remnants?
—
As night fell over the City of Forgetting, the three Remnants regrouped.
Unlike Kadaj, who returned empty-handed, Yazoo and Loz had made significant gains.
Loz had defeated Tifa at Aerith's old home, seized an entire crate of Materia, and kidnapped Cloud and Tifa's adopted daughter, Marlene. Yazoo had rounded up dozens of children suffering from advanced Geostigma. Tonight, Kadaj planned to merge his Jenova consciousness with the Jenova cells inside the children—awakening them as his allies.
But first, they selected high-grade Materia to fuse into their bodies and boost their power.
In Final Fantasy VII, Materia falls into three categories: Summon, Magic, and Support. When equipped, it slightly enhances the user's stats. As crystallized planetary life energy, Materia must be embedded into specialized weapons or bracelets to activate. But the Remnants, being incarnations of planetary energy, could absorb Materia directly—often unlocking abilities the original heroes couldn't access.
Yazoo and Loz each embedded four or five Materia into their arms. Kadaj took only one—but it was the ultimate Summon Materia: Master Summon, capable of calling forth every summon creature.
As the moon reached its peak, the final vehicle arrived, carrying a dozen children to the City of Forgetting. They were gathered before the spring, and across the water, Kadaj raised his voice to proclaim his identity and Jenova's truth.
"Mother has given me a unique power. And you, born of her will, carry that same strength. But the planet's will oppresses us, stunting our growth. That's why you suffer. Now, I will set you free. Together, we'll rescue Mother and take revenge on this planet!"
Blue flames surged around him as he strode into the spring. Like ink spilling into clear water, the area around him turned black… or rather, the water remained transparent, but no longer reflected the city's sacred light—appearing black under the night sky.
Though few children understood his words, the promise to relieve their Geostigma pain was irresistible. One by one, then two, then four, then eight… eventually all the children stepped into the tainted spring and drank the seemingly black, yet colorless water.
Moments later, regardless of race, every child's eyes turned a sickly green—vertical pupils like beasts. They had become extensions of Jenova, Kadaj's new army.
Seeing the Jenova aura radiating from each child, Yazoo smiled. "Heh, now we have enough manpower to search every Shinra facility."
Loz nodded. "I can't wait to see Mother again."
Kadaj stepped out of the spring, gazing coldly toward the Shinra metropolis. "But first, we need to pay a visit to our dear brother—who thinks he can stay out of this."
—
Though many forces watched from the shadows, none made a move. They all knew the true protagonist—Cloud—was about to arrive. Only then would the story truly begin.
With the roar of a motorcycle engine, the headlight of Cloud's black Fenrir pierced the darkness, speeding into the forest surrounding the City of Forgetting.
In truth, the blond warrior's mind was in turmoil.
He'd been attacked out of nowhere earlier that day. Then he ran into the supposedly dead Shinra president and learned Sephiroth might be resurrected. Returning to his secluded church, he found Tifa unconscious and his Materia stash stolen. Then Kadaj triggered a Jenova resonance—Cloud, who had Jenova tissue implanted, Being the one most attuned to Jenova, Cloud took the brunt of the resonance and crumpled to the ground. Upon waking, he was rescued by Shinra agents and learned from Tifa that Marlene had been kidnapped.
Trouble had piled up all day, leaving Cloud—never known for emotional intelligence—completely overwhelmed. Already depressed from his Geostigma, he now blamed himself for failing to protect Tifa and Marlene.
But no matter what, he had to rescue Marlene. So, despite his mental fog, he followed Shinra's intel to the City of Forgetting. Yet the closer he got, the more he remembered watching Aerith die here two years ago—stabbed through the heart by Sephiroth. The memory weighed heavily on him.
The Remnants didn't care about Cloud's emotional state. As soon as they heard the engine, they prepared for battle and opened fire. Cloud, already in a foul mood, revved his bike to ram through them. But Kadaj—clumsy against Rufus, cunning against Cloud—waved his hand, and the newly transformed children blocked the road. Cloud couldn't plow through them, swerved, and crashed.
"Heh, you came after all."
"I'm here for the children."
"Hmph. Look, everyone—this is our big brother. Too bad… he's a traitor!"
Fortunately, Cloud still bore the Geostigma, so Kadaj saw him as kin and didn't go for the kill. He pressed in with his twin blades, launching into a tirade of grievances, giving Cloud a chance to counter. Seizing a moment of distraction, Cloud swung his sword and began his counterattack.
Cloud was a classic greatsword warrior. In the game, his weapons were typically massive—taller than a man and half a meter wide. In the movie, he wielded a new modular greatsword, composed of seven separate blades that could be combined in various ways to create entirely different fighting styles. Only a battle-hardened veteran could handle such a weapon.
Back when he fought Sephiroth, Cloud's raw strength—without relying on Materia or gear—may have reached the threshold of Gold-tier. But two years of peace, coupled with his unstable mindset, had dropped his combat level to mid Silver-tier. Meanwhile, the Remnants had just enhanced themselves with Materia, were riding high on morale, and fought in perfect sync. Together, they matched the strength of upper Silver-tier warriors, overwhelming Cloud in a flurry of coordinated strikes.
In the movie, Cloud would be beaten down until Vincent, the red-cloaked gunman lurking in the shadows, intervened—rescuing him and escaping.
But this time, someone clearly wasn't willing to wait.
In an instant, a black figure burst forth, striking the Remnants with a punch, a palm, and a kick.
The trio staggered back.
Loz, the strongest and most physically imposing, specialized in brute force and defense. Despite his bulk, he wasn't slow—his near-teleportation ability made him the fastest of the three. But after taking a full-force Cloudbreaker Palm, he was slammed into the ground, leaving a crater over a meter deep.
Yazoo, the most agile, couldn't match Loz's straight-line speed, but to him, even high-speed movements looked like slow motion. He could hit fast-moving targets as if they were stationary, dodge bullets like basketballs. But even his reflexes couldn't match the Storm Kick. A single blow to the chest sent him flying.
Kadaj, less powerful and agile than the other two, had inherited the most of Sephiroth's memories. His swordsmanship was unmatched, making him the most dangerous in actual combat. Facing the Frost Fist, he didn't take a direct hit like the others. Instead, the punch landed on his twin blades, instantly coating them in ice. He had to shake them violently to break the frost.
The one who unleashed these techniques was none other than Magnor, captain of the Dark Vow.
With Magnor joining the fray, the other two wouldn't stay silent.
Golden Flash finally revealed his power. A crimson curtain of light, like an aurora, descended from the sky. Ripples spread across it, and countless magical weapons of varying shapes emerged—raining down like a storm. Yazoo and Loz were forced to retreat under the barrage.
Meanwhile, Lady Night, controlling Flora's awakened form, transformed into a half-human, half-white-deer hybrid. Her appearance now differed from her first awakening in the Claymore world. A layer of silver-white chitin armor, like a tight bodysuit, covered her entire body. Her speed and strength had increased dramatically. Though she might not match the "Silver-Eyed Lion King," she was certainly on par with Agatha of the Blood.
Facing Kadaj, she held a clear advantage. Her twin Windcut Blades forced the silver-haired youth into a defensive scramble, his twin swords barely keeping up, and he suffered repeated injuries.
However, the Remnants weren't Silver-tier warriors because of their physical prowess alone. Their true strength lay in their mastery of energy—especially Materia.
"Come forth, War God of Magic—Odin!"
With a fierce shout, Kadaj's arm erupted in blue flames. A beam of light shot skyward, surrounded by rings of glowing runes, piercing the night sky. At its peak, a towering knight descended—wearing a horned helm, clad in iron-blue armor, riding an eight-legged steed, wielding a spear and a longsword. Majestic and fearsome, he soared down from the heavens.
It was the summoned creature—Odin, the Norse god of war—called forth through Materia.