Mission 93: Believe

Mission 93 in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is the last mission in Roxas's storyline. On a quest to free Kingdom Hearts and reclaim Xion, Roxas is interrupted by Riku, who seeks the Keyblade wielder for his own accord. The dark enigma wishes for Sora's Nobody to come quietly, but Roxas has other plans.

Summary
Defeat Riku!

Objectives

 * Defeat all the Heartless!


 * Defeat the mystery man!

Story summary
Armed with Oathkeeper & Oblivion and left with nothing to lose, Roxas goes to free Kingdom Hearts while evading Neoshadows. Riku, sent by DiZ to capture Roxas, is nearly defeated by the Keyblade wielder. Riku taps into the power of darkness to subdue Roxas; doing so, however, gives him the appearance of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. As Roxas loses consciousness, Xion’s voice reassures him that although she is gone and memories of her will fade away, they will live on within Sora’s heart. Riku takes Roxas to DiZ, who begins the process of altering Roxas's memories.

The next morning, on day 358, Roxas wakes up in the Simulated Twilight Town, where he remarks that he had another dream about Sora. He changes clothes and dashes to the Usual Spot, wondering if he can finally be able to go to the beach with his best friends, Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Strategy
This is the only mission in Story Mode in which Roxas can Dual-Wield. Being able to cut through Neoshadows like butter, the first group of Heartless should be no problem to destroy. Defeat the occasional duos of Purebloods that pop up for extra experience, but otherwise evade them and head to Memory's Skyscraper. Make sure to grab the Mission Badge and Blazon, which are both located in the industrial area after the second group of Neoshadows and before the third group. One is directly up the wall to your right as you enter the gate, the other is just above the platform to your left. Battle the scripted last batch of Neoshadows and prepare for the final battle of the game.

Once the battle with Riku starts, Roxas loses his Dual-Wield ability because Riku is using the Oblivion, leaving you with the Oathkeeper. Quickly run up to Memory's Skyscraper to obtain the Unity Badge. Utilizing the Glide ability, dodge Riku's fast strikes while getting in for a quick combo. Riku can easily be taken down with Black Hole, as well as careful timing of the Block ability.

Halfway through the battle, when Riku's health reaches about four bars, he will transform the Oblivion into a sword of light and he can no longer be staggered. His weapon's reach is now longer, making his combos harder to avoid. His Dark Aura ability will also be used after the transformation. It can be dodged by gliding, or by using Dodge Roll. If you are playing this battle with the Extreme Ring, Aero spells are your best bet against Riku. A stock of twenty to thirty Aero spells should allow you to take out Riku's HP, and if you miss with too many Aero spells, you should be able to finish him off with Black Hole. The Neoshadows before the battle should be easy enough to get rid of, but when you fight the swarm, try activating Magic Hour, air-sliding away to allow movement, and then reactivating it after jumping high in the air.

Challenge Mission
One must be extremely careful during this mission. Even a single swing to the air counts as a missed attack. Limit Breaks can miss without penalty, as they are not standard attacks, but be sure to stop pressing when the Limit ends. Magic is also strongly recommended, particularly spells like Thundaga, which can hit a foe directly, even at a distance. Using Magic attacks only with Fire and Thundaga at LV5 with plenty of Elixirs to help restore them can also be a useful tactic as long as both spells have plenty of casts equipped.

However, save your magic for fighting Riku - you'll be forced to use Oathkeeper & Oblivion for the Neoshadows segment just before Riku, and simply pressing once (that is, no additional combo presses) will start a lengthy animation that deals multiple hits of heavy damage to the Neoshadows. Wait until this animation ends, and then press again to initiate it once more without starting a combo. This doesn't count as a miss as long as you score at least one hit per button-press, which is fairly easy given the range and duration of the attack.

If you don't have the resources to take down Riku with purely magic, there are some openings that can be exploited for safe hits. Riku will sometimes block your first combo hit and then put up a shield - you can bait this move by poking Riku with one attack, waiting, and then doing one attack again. Once he puts the shield up, he will stand still for a moment - if you walk around him and hit him in the back, then you can consistently get in a full three--press combo each time. Once Riku turns Oblivion into a sword of light, getting three hits is less consistent, so go for just two to be safe. This is also a good time to let him damage you into the HP range for your Limit, so you can finish him off. For a good opening to begin your limit, continue to poke him with single hits until his shield goes up again, and hit him in the back.

The Zero Gear should be equipped for this mission with three Ability Units. Use Limit Breaks to cut down Riku as quickly as possible. Since you have no recovery items or magic, Auto-Life is a must-have for this mission. Also make sure to keep an eye on Riku's moves at all times to help reduce the damage as much as possible. Both skillfully dodging and using Limit Breaks effectively are necessary to complete this difficult mission and avoiding Neo-Shadows attacks before facing Riku is just as important along with collecting the HP balls they leave behind. This mission may take multiple tries before you can get lucky enough to defeat Riku. Since there no level restrictions in this challenge, raising Roxas's level to increase the attack stat can also help.