Mission 43: Eliminate the giant Heartless

Mission 43 in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a mission at Beast's Castle that finds Roxas and Xaldin hunting down two nasty Heartless.

Summary
''A giant Heartless has surfaced in Beast's Castle. Team up with Xaldin, find it, and eliminate it at once.''

Objectives

 * Track down the giant Heartless!
 * Defeat all the Heartless!
 * Defeat the Dark Follower!

Story summary
Roxas helps Xaldin to destroy two Heartless threatening the Beast and those in his castle. While there, Xaldin decides to investigate the Beast further and delightedly learns about the spell surrounding his rose. Later, Roxas and Axel discuss the nature of being Nobodies and the memory of emotions.

Mission walkthrough
You will enter in the Courtyard. Hope you like Pureblood Heartless, because there will be a ton of them on this mission, including two groups in the center and on the eastern side of the Courtyard. The main door to the castle is sealed off, so you will have to enter the castle through the secret passage into the Entrance Hall Upper Level. Still more Heartless line the way, but you will want to head towards the door to the Ballroom in the center of the northern curved section.

Jump down into the Ballroom proper. Nothing here yet, so try to head through the bottom doors into the Entrance Hall. Oh wait, there they are! Possessors, Shadows, and a Gigas Shadow pop up behind you. The Possessors and Shadows do not respawn, so feel free to take them out if they are in your way. Continue as you were, into the Entrance Hall.

There's nothing in the Entrance Hall but more Shadows and a Unity Badge, so after collecting your spoils, head up the stairs to the East Wing to collect another of the chests. There are some Mega-Shadows, but nothing difficult, so if you already have the chest, there's really no reason to go there. Backtrack to the Entrance Hall, then head up the stairs to the West Hall.

Upon entering the West Hall, you'll be hit with a massive number of respawning minor darkness. With Xaldin's help, this shouldn't be terribly difficult, but keep an eye on your health all the same. Once you've taken them all out, head for the north end of the hall, and your goal presents itself: the Dark Follower, who looks a lot like Darkside's cousin, and acts a lot like him, too. Take him out, and you'll automatically RTC after the cutscene.

Challenge Mission
Wait until you have Glide and a higher level before handling this mission to help make it easier. Since Dark Follower has the same abilities as Darkside, the same strategies used in Mission 14's SP challenge mission should work here in regards to using a Keyblade that specializes in aerial combat such as Abyssal Tide, Leviathan, or their upgrades. Quickly rush to the West Hall, then take out Dark Follower as fast as possible. With both Xaldin's help and the fact that time isn't as restrictive nor is Dark Follower as difficult compared to the challenge from the earlier mission mentioned above, it should be too hard to accomplish this mission in time. If you are still having trouble wait until later when you can upgrade High Jump to at least LV2 to help make it easier.