The crystals, shining even in the depths of despair— It is said that hope can be restored if the ten surviving warriors can take hold of them. Now, the journey begins for the Warrior of Light...
The Warrior departs on his quest to find the Crystals, and soon encounters his rival Garland, who he quickly defeats. Garland fades into darkness but warns the Warrior his hope is an illusion and the world will betray him. The Warrior continues on and meets Cecil and Tidus, injured by an assailant who attacked them and stole something from Firion. The Warrior follows Firion's pursuit of the assailant and finds him engaged with Sephiroth in the Planet's Core. Dismissing Firion to rejoin his friends, the Warrior battles Sephiroth.
Though he is victorious, Sephiroth is not killed and shows the Warrior the rose he stole from Firion. Sephiroth questions the Warrior's reason for fighting: when he claims he fights to end the war, Sephiroth replies the Warrior takes pleasure in the fighting just as he does, and fades away to meet with Cloud.
Continuing on, the Warrior encounters Ultimecia, who tells him the Crystals are fabrications not worth fighting for. The Warrior refuses to listen and the two battle - the Warrior is again victorious. Ultimecia warns the Warrior his comrades are losing hope in their cause, and teleports away. Shortly after the Warrior finds Squall, who tells him Cosmos (actually Ultimecia in disguise) told him to fight for his Crystal alone. During Squall's story, the two battle at this time (though it is not shown during this chapter); Squall defeats the Warrior, proving he is strong enough to continue alone, and the Warrior continues on his journey northward satisfied with Squall's resolve.
Later, Cosmos appears to the Warrior and warns that evil forces are gathering ahead, but the Warrior is undeterred. He tells her that as long as they do not give up and hope onto their hope, they will eventually prevail, and it was Cosmos herself who taught him this. Cosmos chooses to believe in his words and allows him to keep going.
In Pandaemonium the Warrior finds The Emperor, who tells him he owes him since the Warrior's fighting caused a ruckus allowing Bartz to escape capture. Claiming that the Warrior's struggle is in vain, the Emperor gives him the chance to swear fealty to him, manifesting a Crystal for the Warrior if he accepts. The Warrior instead shatters the Crystal, aware it was an imitation, and the two do battle. The Warrior wins and the Emperor begins to fade, telling him his faith will waver when he learns the truth. Garland steps in and tells the Warrior he cannot die as long as the Warrior lives, and invites him to track him down if he wishes to learn the truth of the war.
At the Land of Discord, the Warrior meets Garland, who tells him the war of the gods shall continue for eternity, and thus they too are fated to fight in an endless cycle that has no end. Garland says the Warrior should abandon his hope and learn to take pleasure in combat as Garland has, but the Warrior replies Garland is pitiful for submitting to destiny, and now that he knows the truth of the war he will find a way to end the cycle of conflict. The two fight again and the Warrior defeats Garland, this time winning his Crystal. Garland fades, but laughs that when all ten Crystals are gathered the cycle can indeed be broken.
Without the cycle to dictate events destiny's chains will be broken and even the gods cannot foresee what will happen - a world of true chaos will be born. The other Warriors of Cosmos arrive with their Crystals, and the group heads to meet Cosmos with all the Crystals in their grasp.
A Multichain at B3 will trigger the Physical Critical Rate Up emblem and chain all four enemies. Enemies in the Warrior of Light's story use accessories that activate increasingly large boosters as the fight goes on longer, raising their damage output more and more. For this reason it is important to end fights quickly. The Warrior also never has access to an Assist in the storyline, so EX Mode-enhancing accessories are more useful than in others, since their negative effects are irrelevant.
A Multichain at C4 will chain the five enemies here, the emblem restoring HP before each battle. A KP Gambler can be found on the world map before this gateway, and can be used here to triple the winnings for a potential 75 KP. Alternatively, the player can save the KP Gambler for the next gateway.
A Straight Chain B2 can chain all five enemies, the purple emblem raising the stage Bravery and making meeting the KP Chance easier. The player can make use of their KP Gambler here if they did not before, and with the KP Bonus found in the treasure chest can double their winnings for a total of 150 KP.
A Straight Chain at E5 will chain three enemies here with the Physical Critical Rate Up emblem active, leaving only the Hard Battle Piece blocking the Stigma of Chaos.