Hello folks, welcome to the latest chapter of Kingdom Hearts - Awakened Fate. As promised, we will be concluding the Dive To Heart sequence of the first games prologue here today. There aren't as many changes here as there were last time since it's just a boss battle throughout the chapter.
I have, however, given Sora a new ability with its own set of rules that was inspired by a certain ability used by Corrin in Fire Emblem Fates and a power belonging to another character from a different but popular video game franchise. Let me know if you figure out who the second video game protagonist is.
Banjofan: You're welcome. I am glad you are enjoying my story.
TheGallopingCupcake: Thank you for your kind words. Reading them made me feel very happy and invigorated. Glad you liked my cameos. There's a plot related reason why I used that trio but I am not revealing that for a long time to come.
Hope you all enjoy the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the any characters or creations of the Final Fantasy franchise, the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the Disney Franchise, or the Fire Emblem franchise. This story was created solely for the express purpose of providing entertainment for fun and the chance to improve my abilities as a writer.
Kingdom Hearts – Awakened Fate
Chapter 03 – The Nightmare's Conclusion
Present Time,
Unknown Location,
"Can't we talk this out? Please?" Sora called out to the massive monster standing before him. He barely resisted the urge to take a backwards step, well aware that he was dangerously close to the edge of the painting. The red and black clothed boy did not wish to trip and fall off the pillar.
Regardless of whether it heard or even understood the young islander's request, the obsidian goliath did not react in anyway. Looking up at its face, Sora wondered if the thing even could speak with its mouth covered up by a few of the black tentacles sprouting from its head. While not a single tentacle was emerging from where the creature's mouth should be located, on account of its humanoid appearance, at least two of those appendages were wrapped over said location in a manner reminiscent of bandages.
'Does this thing even need to breathe air?' a small part of Sora's frantic mind wondered. He had noticed how those particular tentacles reached up to cover where the tall creature's nose should be as well.
The spiky haired teen's thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when the goliath started to move. Leaning forward, the monster stretched its right arm out to the side, preparing to swing it at Sora. The thing likely intended to try and knock him off the pillar's ceiling with said limb.
Hissing under his breath at the sight of the approaching attack, the red and black clothed boy forced himself to move forward a few steps in spite of his fear. Watching the large obsidian arm fly towards him as he did so, Sora rolled forward at the last second in an attempt to avoid getting hit. The spiky haired teen felt the limb fly over his body, nearly rubbing against his heels as it continued on its way.
Quickly ending his roll and pulling himself up into a kneeling, Sora looked over his right shoulder to see what the creature intended to do with its right arm next. The blue eyed boy was a little annoyed when he saw it coming back towards his much smaller body in the form of a backhanded swipe. The oversized limb was also moving at slightly lower elevation, rendering another roll ineffective as a means of escaping the attack.
Pushing himself to his feet, Sora carefully watched the limb approach him. Once he was sure it was close enough, the spiky haired teen crouched down and leaped over the large obsidian colored arm. He just barely managed to achieve the necessary height to avoid getting struck in mid-air, feeling and seeing the thing just miss the tips of its toes as it moved underneath his body.
Landing on his feet a moment later, Sora looked up at his assailant's face. He watched as the colossal figure silently rose back to its full height, seemingly done trying to swat him as if he was an annoying fly. For now at least.
'Do I go after the legs? Or try hitting the arms?' the still panicking teen thought to himself, trying to decide where he was supposed to attack such a huge monster.
His chances of winning were beyond slim here. It was clear however that the young islander had no choice but to fight this colossus if he wanted to get out of this strange place, never mind survive this battle.
Having been looking right at the monster while those questions burned through his mind, Sora was had a clear view of the creature when it started moving again. One thin brown eyebrow climbed up the teen's forehead slightly when he saw the obsidian giant lower itself into a kneeling position where it stood. The monster lowered its tentacle bearing head as it did so, shifting the focus of its gaze from Sora to the two tentacles acting at its feet. In that same moment, it also crossed its large arms over the heart-shaped hole in its torso, obscuring the wound from Sora's sight.
'What is it doing?' the red and black clothed boy asked himself. To his eyes, it looked a lot like this thing was hugging itself. An action that seemed completely out of the blue to the spiky haired teen, rendering him too confused to even contemplate trying to launch an attack himself.
With surprising speed, the obsidian goliath suddenly uncrossed its arms and threw them to its sides while raising its head to look up at the silvery light looming far above the pillar. Sora's eyes grew wide with shock when a large sphere of constantly swirling black and purple fire suddenly appeared out of thin air right before his eyes. Large enough to cover Sora's entire body, the blazing flame resided within the confines of the monster's heart-shaped hole.
Fearing that the tall creature was about to launch the fireball at him like a makeshift missile, Sora started running to his right in hopes of avoiding the attack. He theorized that if he could circle around the still kneeling goliath, he might be able to avoid whatever was coming next.
A reasonably loud popping noise reached the spiky haired teen's ears almost immediately after he started running. Knowing it came from the large monster's location, Sora turned his head to look at the creature over his shoulder. His blue eyes found a fairly large orb of made what he could only be describe as swirling white, purple, and black energy moving through the air between him and the goliath.
It was heading straight towards the young islander and seemed to be following him. When Sora made a sharp turn to his right and started running in that direction, the sphere made a wide arc as it turned to follow him.
Looking past the new arrival for a second, Sora's gaze went to the still kneeling black titan. He saw that the strangely colored fireball was still attached to the beast's torso. So if that wasn't what was currently flying towards him, where did this new sphere come from?
Turning his head so he could face the direction he was heading, Sora saw that he was coming close to the edge of the painting. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stop running in spite of the orb chasing after him. Since it had somehow come from the large goliath, the spiky haired teen resolved not to let it touch him. Standing in place, the red and black clothed boy waited for the strange orb to catch up to him. At the last possible second, he threw himself towards the painting's center as hard as he could.
The sphere didn't have enough room to turn and chase the young islander after his sudden maneuver. It slammed into the portion of the painting said boy had just been standing on, exploding as soon as it made physical contact with the pillar's ceiling. The sword wielding boy heard the detonation as clear as day behind him and momentarily felt the heat it produced reaching for his feet while he dived through the air.
Coming to land somewhat awkwardly on the right side of his body, Sora heard another popping motion before he even had a chance to pull himself off the painting. The sound was almost perfectly identical to the previous one and it once again came from where the obsidian goliath was located.
Looking up, the spiky haired teen's blue eyes widened when he saw that the monster had somehow launched another one of those strange energy spheres at him. Having just started its attack run, Sora saw that the new energy sphere seemed to have somehow burst out of the large fireball still hovering within the colossal figure's heart-shaped hole.
Given that he was now even closer to the monster than he was before, the strange sphere had even less distance to fly over before would reach Sora. With a huff of discontent, the young islander forced his body to roll to the left and move further away from the goliath.
He just barely managed to avoid getting hit by the large orb, vacating the spot he was lying on just in time. Another small explosion erupted where the sphere slammed into the painting. An explosion Sora had just barely managed to turn his face away from in time, wanting to protect his eyes from the heat and the flare.
Pulling himself up to his feet as fast as he could afterwards, the blue eyed boy heard that odd sound once again. Looking over his shoulder, he turned and saw that the goliath had launched another one of those strange spheres at him. The spiky haired teen noticed that the large fireball seemed to be fading away where it hovered in place now, having lost much of its previous luster.
As he focused his gaze on the approaching threat, a sudden idea came to Sora's mind. Narrowing his eyes at the sphere, the spiky haired teen admitted to himself that was tired of running away and took hold of his sword with both hands. Once the glowing sphere was close enough, Sora swung the weapon as if it was a baseball bat and slammed the curved blade against the multi-colored surface of the orb.
To his surprise, despite having been counting on this this maneuver to work, he succeeded in knocking the flying sphere away from it. Pushed to the side by the sword, the sphere went flying towards the edge of the pillar. It exploded a few seconds after Sora knocked it aside, right before it reached the painting's rim.
'A delayed reaction?' Sora asked himself, slightly curious. He felt the air shift behind him and recognized it as a silent signal that the goliath was changing its posture again. 'Well, at least I now know swatting those things out of the sky will actually work. That's good.'
Turning back towards his large opponent, the spiky haired teen saw the creature again stood at its full height. The orb of swirling black and purple flames had completely vanished, not a single trace left behind to commemorate its momentary existence. The now absent fireball's owner seemed content to just stare down at Sora with its glowing yellow eyes, its body barely twitching in place as it loomed over the teen.
Taking the chance he believed was being presented to him, Sora ran towards the creature's left leg. Once he had come close enough to his target to attack it, the young islander swung his sword at the tentacle on the base of the limb, holding the weapon with both hands as he did so.
Right before the sharp edge of his weapon connected with the obsidian appendage, a shroud of purple colored flames suddenly erupted without warning around the monster's makeshift foot. The fire crawled up from the pointy tip of the tentacle and reached as high as the monster's large knee. The heat the new blaze emitted was enough all by itself to make Sora feel as if he had just been punched in the gut by a large and unseen fist.
The spiky haired teen instinctively cancelled his attack and recoiled from the tentacle shaped foot, not wanting to risk setting himself on fire by continuing the maneuver. Repeatedly jumping back a few steps to get away from the sudden blaze, Sora watched with wide blue eyes as the purple flames vanished as quickly as they appeared. The conflagration had seemingly waited for him to move back a certain distance before dying down.
Panting slightly and nearly consumed by the fear brought on by his most recent near-death experience, Sora struggled to calm himself down. Lucky for him, his opponent didn't seem to mind waiting for the teen recovered and just stared down at Sora as he did so. The young islander didn't take too long to regain his composure.
'Ok. Going after the legs won't work then,' Sora thought to himself once he had regained his self-control. He scowled slightly, feeling a mixture of anger and consternation. The feet were the easiest portion of the creature's large body for him to attack and they just had to come with some sort of dangerous defense mechanism. 'Wonderful. Now how am I supposed to fight this thing?' the young islander asked himself.
Likely oblivious to Sora's bitter thoughts, the oversized monster decided it had waited long enough and that it was once again its turn to attack. Out of the corner of his left eye, Sora saw it slowly clench the overly long fingers of its right hand into a fist.
As the red and black clothed boy lifted his head to better see what was going on, the goliath raised its newly made fist and pulled the appendage past its head. A seething mass of purple flames and black shadows appeared out of thin air and surrounded the enclosed hand during the motion. Believing the goliath was going to try and punch him with the now flaming appendage, Sora leaped to the side as soon as he saw the limb start to move forward.
His guess was partially correct. The monster was indeed throwing a downwards flying punch but the flaming fist was not aimed at Sora's current location at all. Slamming against the surface of the painting, the appendage came to rest where Sora had been standing before the obsidian colossus had first tried to swat him with its arm at the start of the fight.
The purple flames and flying shadows around the fist vanished from the oversized fist as soon as it connected with the pillar's ceiling, the collision generating a small shockwave in all directions. The sudden gust of air reached Sora and threatened to knock him off his feet where he stood. He barely managed to remain standing through the sudden assault, an idea blossoming in the back of his mind during the struggle.
"I think the big guy just gave me a chance to do some damage to him," the spiky haired teen told himself. He quickly regained his balance once the wind died down. Before he had the chance to charge towards the large hand, Sora saw a sight that caused him to freeze in place.
A small pool of swirling black and purple liquid was starting to appear on the pillar's ceiling, spreading out from where the large hand rested against the painting. It didn't stretch out very far from the appendage and formed a circle around the enclosed fist, covering a sizeable portion of the painting's primarily yellow painted surface.
The mere sight of that familiar water once again caused Sora to feel extremely uncomfortable for some reason. Even after managing to forcefully push that feeling to the side, the young islander still hesitated to advance. If he stepped into that water, something he had to do if he wanted to reach and attack the goliath's fist given its diameter, would he be dragged under the puddle's surface again?
'I got to take the chance,' the spiky haired teen told himself, trying to harden his resolve. Breaking into a run, he forced himself to cross the distance between him and his target.
It took him eight rapid steps to reach the edge of the puddle. His left foot made contact with the water first and the blue eyed boy winced at how could the black and purple water felt against his bare skin. To his surprise, the water didn't attempt to pull him into fathomless depths again. In fact, the spiky haired teen could feel the base of his foot make contact with the solid and unyielding pillar's ceiling just beneath the liquid's surface. He wasn't going to sink into this stuff here, a realization that brought a large surge of relief to the young islander's heart.
A grin broke out on Sora's face, partially due to joy at his recent discovery and partially out of terror he still felt in regards to this whole situation. Continuing his advance, he waded through the puddle and raised his sword overhead with both hands while he moved. Coming to a stop before his target, Sora brought his weapon down in a powerful swing and slashed the obsidian goliath's thumb.
The red and black clothed boy definitely saw and felt his blade make contact with obsidian flesh in front of him. But, as was the case with the smaller creatures he fought earlier, there was no mark of any sort to indicate he had struck the goliath just now.
Ignoring that, Sora raised his weapon again and slashed at the monster once more. He proceeded to attack it again and again as fast as he could, an almost wild desperation to his movements. The spiky haired teen felt every single one of his strikes landed without fail but he never left a single mark upon his foe.
All the while, he remained unaware the numerous small dark shapes with glowing yellow eyes that were slowly rising out of the strangely colored water around him.
After managing to land strike number twenty one against the large monster's hand, the spiky haired teen paused to catch his breath and began to wonder just how many times he was going to have to hit this thing before it burst into black smoke like the smaller creatures from before. The similarities between its appearance and theirs is what made him think the giant would fade away in a similar manner. But that theory failed to tell him how many strikes it would take to win this fight. One hundred? Two hundred? Five hundred? A thousand?
That particular train of thought only served to remind the young boy just how much of an uphill task bringing this titan down was going to be. But it was a challenge he had no choice but to see through to the end. Assuming he wasn't supposed to just power through it for as long as possible.
Surely, the silent voice would intervene if things got too tough for the spiky haired teen, right? It had kept him alive so far and clearly wanted something from the young islander. Unfortunately for Sora's resolve, said possibility was not particularly reassuring at this time.
After raising his blade with his right hand alone in preparation to perform strike number twenty two, Sora cried out in surprise and pain. He felt something small and sharp suddenly stab him in the back without any sort of warning. Staggering a single step forward on instinct, the red and black clothed boy quickly spun around to see what had just attacked him.
As he came to a stop, his blue eyes managed to just catch a blurry black mass decorated with two glowing yellow dots flying up to his face just before it smashed into his chin. The sudden strike immediately caused his head to reel back while simultaneously knocking the dazed teen off his feet. It was only his back coming to rest against the large obsidian fist behind him that prevented Sora from falling into the swirling pool of black and purple liquid.
"What-" the young islander started to say, slightly disoriented after the sudden blow. A sudden coughing fit took hold of him, preventing the brown haired teen from finishing his sentence.
Before he had a chance to regain control himself, Sora felt himself getting slashed in both legs near simultaneously by sharp objects. A loud scream erupted from his mouth when he felt that sensation, the pain rendering him unable to continue standing upright on his legs alone. Throwing his left hand out to the side, Sora grasped a section of the goliath's fist just before he started to fall down. His grip was just tight in enough to stop his collapse.
Reopening his blue eyes a moment later, Sora lowered his head and lurched slightly in surprise when he discovered that three of the small creatures from two of the previous pillars were standing before him. More of the beasts were pulling themselves out of black and purple water swirling around Sora's feet.
Were they using the liquid to cover up their arrival on this pillar? Or was the goliath somehow using this water to call them to its side? Either way, the sight of these familiar monsters caused Sora to feel a rush of anger. Anger that only multiplied when he realized that they were the ones who just attacked it and that one of them had hit him in the back. He hated it when someone did that.
"Oh, great. You guys again," Sora all but snarled the words.
Seeing one of the creatures approach from his side, he lifted his right leg up just in time to avoid getting slashed there again. He stomped his assailant in the head as hard as he could with the attached foot but the blow didn't seem to faze the beast at all.
Slashing down with his right hand and striking the creature on the head with his sword did make the beast buckle slightly. Ignoring the hand of the colossus for now, Sora slashed the thing two more times. Both blows landed on the creature's head and it transformed into rapidly fading black smoke right after the second one had landed.
Unfortunately, another monster with a completely identical appearance took its place. After lifting his head slightly, the young islander saw that these creatures were continuing to grow in number and closing in on him, pinning him against the goliath's hand.
'Not good. They're swarming me,' Sora thought to himself, swinging his sword at another one of the creature's when it tried to stab him. He hit the approaching claw and blocked the approaching strike instead of slashing the monster on the head by accident. After executing a quick backhanded slash, Sora managed to hit the creature on its face.
'I need to get out of here,' the red and black clothed boy thought to himself, stabbing his sword forward and poking that same monster in the face with the weapon. The blow managed to drive it back slightly while its brothers closed in one the teen. Another one of the strange creatures even placed itself directly in front of the monster Sora had just attacked, making it impossible for him to strike at his target for a third time.
More of them were appearing on the other side of the giant's hand, Sora realized, after seeing one of these monster leap over the large limb from the other side out of the corner of his right eye. It landed amongst its brothers and soon turned to face the spiky haired teen as well. Its arrival only increased the notion that the spiky haired teen was stuck in a bad situation.
A hiss broke out of his lips when one of the creature's managed to stab him in the upper portion of his right leg. He really needed an escape plan, right now. Help ended up coming from a most unexpected and unlikely source.
Without noticing any sort of forewarning beforehand, Sora suddenly felt the enlarged fist he was pressed up against vibrate slightly behind him. At the same time what little he could see of the darkly colored liquid, thanks to the all of the small monsters now surrounding him, vanished from the pillar's surface. It felt like the water just faded away into thin air around his feet.
The exact moment after the strangely colored water disappeared, the young islander felt the obsidian goliath begin to actually move instead of just vibrating in place. Quickly tilting his head backwards in order to look up at the thing, Sora discovered that the colossal monster was in the process of rising back to its full height. And it was unintentionally taking Sora along for the ride thanks to the spiky haired teen's unsteady grip on the monster's right hand. Lifting the red and black clothed boy into the air, the black colossus proceeded to carry the young islander over the heads of its much smaller minions.
"Wow," Sora cried out after being suddenly rendered airborne against his will. One of the small critters tried to stab him in the left foot while he ascended but he flew out of its reach just in time. Another one of the creatures jumped at him from the right but its leap fell short of the boy as he continued to rise higher and higher.
Sora's unexpected ascension didn't last long however. Due the rather weak and awkward nature of his grip on the large hand, it soon became impossible for Sora to maintain his hold on said appendage. It slipped out from between his fingers while in the process of slowly uncurling itself, causing the spiky haired teen to plummet back towards the circular mural below him. Landing feet first, the island raised boy wasn't able to keep his balance this time and promptly fell forward onto his hands and knees.
The good news was that he had not landed among the small black colored monsters with glowing yellow eyes. The bad news was that those beasts were only a short distance behind him and the brown haired teen could hear that some, if not all them, were currently running towards him. Throwing himself onto the left side of his body, Sora immediately began to roll sideways as quickly as he could to gain some distance between himself and the critters.
Rising into a crouch after stopping his roll a short distance away from where he had landed, the sword wielding boy wasn't happy to see that his latest maneuver wasn't as effective as he would have liked it to be. One of the creatures was almost upon him, racing towards his body on its flat feet. Another one decided to jump over its brother and this creature flew towards Sora's face with a claw ready to stab him there.
Simply ducking down where he crouched caused the second monster to sail harmlessly over Sora's head. Once it had flown past, the young islander rose to his full height and engaged the monster running towards him. Stepping to the side to avoid the slashing claw aiming for his stomach, Sora slammed his sword down upon the creature's head while holding the weapon with his right hand alone. He quickly struck the thing two more times in a similar manner, once on the head and once on its small back.
The creature burst into black smoke right before Sora's eyes after the third blow landed. The smoke very soon disappeared, not leaving even a single piece of soot to smear the portion of the painting the monster had just been standing on. Pushing that observation aside, Sora focused on the battle.
He could see more of those strange creatures coming his way, including the one that had previously leaped past him. Since that monster was alone right now and coming at him from a different direction than the rest, Sora decided to focus on it first.
Slamming his sword onto its round head with a two-handed downward swing, the young islander all but squashed the creature against the pillar's ceiling. As he moved past the flattened monster, the spiky haired teen slashed the thing two more times while holding his sword with his right hand alone once more. He didn't need to look back to know it had burst into smoke behind him. The faint popping sound that reached his ears as he moved away was proof enough that it had happened.
Running away from the other critters and ignoring how the motion was causing a painful fire to ignite in his chest, Sora looked up at the large goliath with his left eye. He wanted to see what it was going to do next since it was literally the biggest threat to the blue eyed boy's existence right now.
To the spiky haired teen's surprise, that particular monster was just standing in place, looking down at Sora with its glowing yellow eyes. The obsidian goliath seemed content to just stand and watch as Sora fought against its smaller comrades. What was its game? The thing could easily squash him flat with one hand if it really tried. It was so tall the colossal monster didn't even need to try and walk towards Sora to do that. Can it actually walk on those odd feet?
The sound of rapid footsteps reached Sora's ears and pulled him out of the new spiral of questions consuming his mind. His lungs felt like they were burning inside his chest and it was getting difficult to breathe. Forced to come to a halt by these discoveries, the spiky haired teen turned around as fast as he could and saw three of the small monsters were about to reach his location. As soon as he laid eyes on the trio, the one on the far right of their loose V-shaped formation decided to leap at Sora's face.
Crouching down to avoid the attack, Sora lifted his sword into the air before him with an upwards stabbing motion. He managed to poke the creature in its small belly with the weapon's tip just before the thing flew over him, pushing it slightly higher and disrupting its balance in mid-air as it flew past.
One of the monster's perfectly identical brothers closed the distance remaining between it and Sora in the meantime. The creature slashed at his left leg with its claw but the young islander managed to pull said limb back just in time to avoid the blow. Taking a hold of his sword with both hands, the red and black clothed boy attempted to bring the weapon down on the monster's head with a two handed chop.
The attack never landed.
The last member of the trio decided to perform a flying head butt while the brown haired boy was focused on its partner. Launching itself through the air, the creature proceeded to slam headfirst into the flat side of Sora's descending sword. The collision caused the jumping monster to fly away from the young islander while staggering the teen at the same time, cancelling out his intended attack.
The monster Sora had been trying to attack took just now advantage of his somewhat paralyzed state and stabbed the spiky haired teen on his right foreleg with one of its small claws. The boy cried out because of the pain from the blow. His voice rose slightly in pitch when the monster he had poked in the belly earlier returned and stabbed him in the back. Bending forward slightly as a result of the latest attack, the brown haired boy almost head butted the monster that just stabbed him in the leg by accident.
"I am seriously getting sick and tired of you guys," Sora snarled as he pulled himself back to his full height. As he raised his head, there was a very faint and repeatedly flickering glow emanating from his blue eyes. Said glow disappeared completely as soon as he was done talking.
Growling in an almost animal-like fashion, Sora held his right arm and the currently attached sword out to the side before quickly spinning in place. His sword managed to strike both of the creatures that had just assaulted him in the head, knocking them back slightly. Recalling that he had struck the one behind him once already just before his spin came to a stop, Sora decided to deal with it right away. To give himself time, he stabbed forward with his right hand and pushed the creature in front of him further back with his sword.
With that done, the spiky haired teen leaped off the painting and twisted around in mid-air. Lifting his sword up and over his shoulder with both hands now grasping the hilt, the brown haired boy brought it down upon the monster's head as he landed. The creature burst into smoke upon contact and the sword continued its descent, slamming harshly against the pillar's circular ceiling.
'Again,' Sora thought to himself, grimacing as he watched the weapon vibrate slightly in his hands while his arms grew numb from the elbow down.
Spinning in place again, he tried to attack the monster currently behind him but the final member of the trio had returned without the teen noticing until it was too late. It stabbed him in the thigh before he could fully finish turning around, causing Sora to stagger backwards as a pained cry left his lips.
"You're done," Sora angrily announced to the creature as soon as the pain had passed. Dimly aware that his arms were no longer feeling numb, he looked down his target with angry blue eyes. An unwelcome disruption prevented the young islander from immediately following through with his declaration.
A sudden whoosh of air slightly above his head caught Sora's attention. The young islander looked up and saw that the large goliath was done standing like a statue for now. It had shifted slightly in place, moving its left arm in a manner that clearly signified it was preparing to perform a backhanded strike. Its target was clear to the fourteen year old even before the oversized limb started swinging in his direction.
"Seriously? Now?" the red and black clothed boy called out to the colossus. He wondered what was going through the creature's brain. Did it actually even have one?
One of the two critters directly in front of the spiky haired teen chose that moment to stab him in the stomach with its small claw, bringing another cry of pain from Sora's lips. He managed to recover just in time to leap over the goliath's moving arm.
To his annoyance, Sora saw that the two monsters he was fighting just now were short enough for the limb to pass harmlessly over them. One of them had even begun to peel itself onto the painting using that weird shadow trick of theirs, having started the process just before or while the colossal arm flew over its head. Taking his eyes off it for now, Sora focused on the other monster and swung his sword towards it with his right hand as he descended back to the painting.
The creature staggered when the blade made contact with its round head as Sora landed on his feet beside it. The small beast wasn't able to make a single move before the spiky haired teen regained his bearings and struck it two more times. The third blow caused the thing to burst into smoke.
Looking over his left shoulder, Sora saw the now fully flattened monster had decided to run away from the teen but he had no time to follow it. The blue eyed boy saw that another one of those strange creatures coming at him from his left. Turning towards the thing while swinging his sword, he intercepted the monster's claw in mid-stab.
Both the small creature and the young islander recoiled from the impact. As in similar such incidents, Sora had the faster recovery speed and he nailed the creature with a vertical upwards slash to the chin. Twisting his wrist slightly as the swing came to an end, Sora performed a backhand swing and harshly slapped the monster on its cheek with the blade. Before he could press the advantage, the sensation of something small and sharp stabbing him in the back reached his brain, causing his body to stagger forward.
'What,' the spiky haired teen thought to himself in confusion. Turning his head to look over his left shoulder again, he saw another one of the small monsters standing right behind him, twitching its head in a slightly erratic fashion.
'When did it get there?' the young islander wondered, having neither seen nor heard its approach. Was it the same one that had flattened itself earlier and attempted to run away? Did it circle back around or was this another one that used the same shadow trick to soundlessly sneak up on him?
The small monster Sora had been about to defeat chose that moment to remind the teen it was still alive by stabbing him in the stomach. A cry of pain burst from the young islander's lips as he bent over slightly. As the creature withdrew its claw from his stomach, an angry growl erupted from Sora's throat.
'This is getting ridiculous,' the teen thought to himself in aggravation. Out loud, he barked, "Back off."
Once again throwing his right arm and the currently attached sword to his side, Sora rapidly spun in place while swinging the weapon in a wide arc. The blade struck both of his assailants as it cut through the air, the one Sora had almost defeated bursting into rapidly fading black smoke upon making contact with the sharp steel edge. As the second beast reeled back from the attack, Sora grasped his sword with both hands and he struck the creature's face two more times with the weapon. Like its counterpart, it burst into black smoke after being hit three times by Sora's sword.
Panting heavily as his exhaustion threatened to consume him, Sora didn't bother watching the latest puff of smoke fade away in front of him. Looking over his shoulder again, the spiky haired teen could see more of these strange yellow eyed creatures were coming towards his location. Meanwhile, the obsidian goliath was still looming above him where it stood and watching Sora with its glowing yellow eyes.
Scowling at the sight of the thing, Sora raised his sword and swatted at the closest of the approaching critters, driving it back with a blow to the head. Silently, the red and black clothed boy asked himself, 'Even if I get past these things, how am I supposed to take the big one down?'
The legs, the easiest part of the goliath for the spiky haired boy to reach, were clearly not a good target for him to focus on. What was to stop that monster from once again summoning that shroud of purple flames around its foreleg if he got too close? And while he managed to land a fair number of blows upon its right hand earlier, how many more did he have to land on the monster for it to finally disappear? Assuming he actually did any damage to the large creature by striking its fist earlier.
Once again losing sight of the battle due to the questions currently running through his head, Sora failed to see one of the smaller critters approaching until it was too late to do anything. Slipping past his guard, the monster proceeded to stab the teen in the side of his left leg. As he cried out from the pain, Sora felt the limb buckle beneath him.
Releasing the grip his right hand had on his sword, the spiky haired teen just barely managed to plant the appendage against the mural covered ceiling of the pillar to prevent him from falling flat on his face. Swinging his sword in a wild manner with his left arm, Sora tried to slash at the monster that had just attacked him to no avail. It had done the sensible thing and pulled itself back out of range before he could attack.
Before the sword wielding boy managed to get back on his feet and chase that monster, one of its brothers leaped onto Sora's back from somewhere behind the spiky haired teen. Its sudden arrival and surprising weight succeeded in driving him face first onto the painting. Luckily, his head was turned slightly to the side so Sora's right cheek slammed against the image instead of his nose.
Not done tormenting him, the creature on Sora's back proceeded to poke him from above with one of its small claws. The attack brought forth another cry of pain from the brown haired boy's mouth. Another monster, possibly the same one that had stabbed him in the leg a short while ago, decided to join in the Whack-A-Sora game. It slashed him on his left shoulder with one of its small claws just before the monster standing on the pinned teen's back stabbed him in the back again.
'Got to get this thing off of me and back on my feet,' Sora thought to himself through the pain, just barely suppressing another scream as he felt the beast on his back stab him for the third time in a row.
If he stayed here on his belly like this, it was all over for the spiky haired teen. He was a defenseless and sitting duck in this state, an easy target for both the small creatures harassing him and the obsidian titan looming over them all.
Refusing to allow any of these monsters to just attack him with impunity, Sora pushed his body to the right and started to roll across the painting in an attempt to dislodge and crush the small monster on his back. It was a struggle to get moving due to the monster being heavier than it looked but the sword wielding boy managed to succeed in doing so. He failed to crush the creature beneath his body when he rolled over the critter but getting it off his back was enough for Sora at the moment.
After being forced by his exhausted form to take a second to catch his breath, Sora pushed himself up with his arms and leaped to his feet. Said feet landed dangerously close to the edge of the pillar and Sora was momentarily stuck rooted in place, a rather powerful amount of shock surging through him as he realized just how close he had come to falling off the edge of the painting. With wide blue eyes, he looked down at the all-consuming darkness below his location while his toes poked over the pillar's rim and wiggled slightly in mid-air.
Snapping out of his stunned state shortly after it had begun, Sora whirled around to continue the battle. He turned around just in time to receive a stab in the gut from one of the small monsters. As he cried out because of the pain from this attack, Sora just barely managed to resist the urge to take a step back. The young islander was well aware that there was nothing for him to stand on behind him. He knew he couldn't fight these things effectively while keeping himself from falling off the edge of the pillar at the same time.
Grunting through his teeth, the spiky haired teen raised his sword over his head and took hold of it with both hands. He brought it down hard on the head of his latest assailant, practically cleaving the beast in two with the blade because it burst into smoke before him the very second Sora's weapon came into contact with its forehead. The young islander just barely stopped himself from hitting the painting with his sword, not wanting to feel the vibrations from the impact going up his arms again.
Wanting to get away from the edge of the pillar, the spiky haired teen lunged at the small monster closest to his location, releasing the grip his left hand had on his sword as he did so. He slashed at the creature with his right hand alone holding the blade and knocked the thing aside with a single blow.
Before he could try and finish the small beast, he saw another one jumping at him from the side. Ducking under the thing, Sora decided to change targets and ran up to its descending form. He struck the beast from behind three times in quick succession as it came to land awkwardly on the painting's surface. It burst into smoke after the last attack landed on its small back.
Turning around, Sora did a quick visual head count of all the small creatures left on the pillar. He was going to ignore the big monster as long as it just stood over the center of the painting and left him alone in turn. The red and black clothed boy still wasn't sure how exactly he could hurt that thing and but he knew if focused on that creature right now, the smaller ones would not hesitate to gang up on him like they did earlier. There may not be as many of them now, but it was too big of a risk for the spiky haired boy to take with his current level of fatigue.
'Four more to go,' Sora thought to himself once he was done counting the small monsters. He could hear his breathing coming out in heavy gasps and the fire burning fiercely in the center of his chest was a raging storm. He didn't have much time left before he would collapse from exhaustion.
Blue eyes narrowed when two of the small monsters did that transformation trick of theirs directly in the spiky haired teen's line of sight. Flattening themselves against the primarily yellow colored mural, the two beasts started moving towards Sora. The other two were also heading his way, running on their flat feet but not moving as fast as their flattened counterparts. The one closest to Sora seemed to be trying to circle around the brown haired boy, likely intending to try and attack him from either the side or the back.
Knowing he wouldn't be able to injure the creature while it was in this state, Sora merely kept his gaze on the monster for now. He planned to attack the creature as soon as it had finished peeling itself off the pillar's ceiling. After turning slightly in place to keep the thing in his line of sight, the spiky haired teen felt a large gust of wind fly over his head.
Looking over his shoulder to find out what caused that sudden feeling, Sora saw that the obsidian goliath was once again kneeling where it stood. It was also hugging itself again, covering the majority of the large heart-shaped hole in its torso with its long arms. The sight of the colossal creature in that position caused Sora's eyes to go wide with horror.
"Again," the teen cried out, speaking directly towards the goliath. He wondered why the wretched thing was choosing now of all times to try and blast him with those strange energy spheres.
Something small and sharp struck him in the side of his stomach before Sora could decide what to do in response to this sudden development. Crying out in pain, he stepped away from whatever had hit him on instinct. Looking down at his feet, the sword wielding boy saw that the small creature he'd been planning on attacking had peeled itself off the painting and stabbed him in the side while he was distracted by the goliath.
Before Sora could retaliate against the smaller critter, he felt another gust of wind blow over his head. Realizing that the larger monster was about to launch its own attack on the blue eyed teen while his back was turned, Sora wasted no time in attacking the small monster standing before him. He slashed it three times in quick succession with his sword, each attack striking the beast on the head. Like the rest of its kind, the thing burst into rapidly fading black smoke upon the third hit.
Twirling around where he stood, Sora intended to use his weapon as a makeshift baseball bat once more and knock aside the first of the approaching energy spheres. He had only a second to realize he was too late before that one slammed into his upper torso, exploding against the teen's body the instant it connected with Sora. The force of the explosion was strong enough to send the young islander on a short trip through the air.
After landing painfully on his right arm and nearly hitting the side of his head against the painting, Sora scrambled to get back on his feet. His first move was a long sideways roll to get away from where he had just fallen, knowing by the faint popping sound he barely managed to hear that another one of those spheres was on its way. It slammed into where he just had been lying down on the painting within seconds, the resulting explosion nipping at Sora's feet just as he pulled himself to his full height and started to run further away from that spot.
Knowing the monster was going to fire at least one more of those attacks, Sora ran across the surface of the painting in hopes of escaping it. He saw one of the smaller creatures step into his path a short distance in front of him, the strange monster likely trying to intercept the spiky haired teen and slow him down.
Not wanting to risk getting stabbed by one of its short claws, Sora forced himself to stop and slashed at the thing with his sword. He was a little surprised to see that one hit was enough to make this monster burst into smoke before him. The red and black clothed boy shook his head, understanding he must have struck this creature twice at an earlier point in the fight without being able to land the final blow until now.
This encounter almost cost Sora as the brown haired teen saw another one of the strange white and purple spheres flying at him out of the corner of his eye. Not trusting himself to be able to spin around in time to knock it away, Sora instead decided to leap over the thing when it got too close.
As it made contact with the section of the painting directly below him, the sphere proceeded to explode just like its predecessors. Sora was far enough away to not come into contact with the colorful eruption but the shockwave it generated still managed to disrupt his balance in mid-air. The spiky haired teen landed ungracefully upon the pillar's ceiling, falling to one knee as soon as he made contact with it. Using his left hand to steady his body this time, Sora just kept himself from falling onto his face at the last second.
One of the surviving yellow eyed critters decided to remind Sora that it was still here. Coming at him from the side, it stabbed the spiky haired teen in his right hip while he was pushing himself back up to his feet. As a cry of pain left his lips, Sora stumbled in place and just barely managed to keep himself from falling back down again.
Out of the corner his eye, he saw that the black skinned colossus was pulling itself back to its full height. Just like before, it only fired three of those glowing spheres in succession before stopping the attack. Suspecting that said goliath was just going to stand there and watch him for a while, Sora decided to use the time until its next attack to destroy the remaining two critters on this platform.
Rolling a very small distance to his left in order to put some distance between himself and his latest attacker, Sora quickly pulled himself to his feet once he came to a stop. The monster decided to leap towards his face when the young islander looked at it. Swinging his sword towards the creature, Sora watched as the blade and claw harshly slam together. Both combatants recoiled from the impact, the distance between them increasingly slightly as a result.
Bringing up his left arm, Sora quickly switched which hand was holding his sword and slashed at the creature while it was still in mid-air. His first attack hit it in the belly while the second one slammed into its forehead. Slashing upward in a vertical manner, Sora's last blow landed on the creature's chin with enough force to knock its head backwards before it burst into rapidly fading black smoke.
'Where's the last one?' Sora thought, silently ordering himself to find the creature and get rid of it as quickly as possible. He spun himself in place in order to locate the thing.
He quickly discovered said creature was nearby and leaping towards the young islander. By sheer accident rather than skill, Sora's weapon slid under the approaching monster's guard and slapped it in the belly with enough force to knock it away from the surprised teenager. Nearly dropping the sword from the force behind the sudden collision, Sora watched with wide blue eyes as the creature flew a short distance away from him and landed ungracefully upon the pillar's ceiling.
Soon realizing this was his chance to get rid of the thing, the spiky haired teen quickly closed the short distance between them and struck the creature two more times while holding his sword with both hands. It burst into rapidly fading black smoke upon the assault's conclusion, leaving the red and black clothed boy with only the obsidian goliath for company on top of this circular pillar.
Even as his breath came out in heavy huffs and puffs while his lungs felt like they were being used as fuel for a non-existent inferno, Sora felt a small grin work its way onto his face. He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment at having successfully defeated another batch of these strange monsters. The grin disappeared from his face when he remembered just what he had to do now.
"…All right. Now for the big guy," the spiky haired teen told himself, his low voice displaying a steep lack of confidence. A very unusual occurrence for the usually upbeat teen.
Forcing himself to turn and face the beast, Sora looked upon the titan just in time to see the creature start pulling its right fist backwards in preparation for another punch. His blue eyes widened at the sight of purple flames and black shadows covering the obsidian appendage one again. Afraid that the burning fist was actually being thrown in his direction this time, Sora started running to the side.
He needn't have bothered because the goliath wasn't aiming for him at all, just like before. The flaming hand descended with great speed towards the painting and slammed into a section several footsteps to the right of Sora's last position. The collision simultaneously dispersed the flames and shadows swirling around the appendage and created a shockwave that extended outwards in all directions. Having braced himself for the last part, Sora managed to stay on his feet with a little effort when the rush of air reached him. The fierce winds did force him to close his eyes out of an instinctive urge to protect them though.
Once the shockwave died down, Sora turned to regard the newly planted limb, intending to slash it with his sword as many times as he could. Before he took even a single step, the spiky haired teen saw another small circular pool of black and purple water stretching out from beneath the oversized fist. Quickly reaching the same size as the last one, it covered a small section of the pillar's mural covered ceiling. And while gazing at the newly formed pool, the red and black clothed boy saw that more of the small yellow eyed monsters were already rising to their flat feet.
Their numbers weren't as great as the last group's yet but the mere sight of the obsidian colossus summoning reinforcements one again was the last straw for the young islander. His patience, which had taken blow after blow during his forced stay to this strange place, finally slapped. There was no mysterious force inside his body to hold back the red hot anger rising in his chest. An emotion that quickly consumed both his heart and mind.
"Again! Are you kidding me?!" the thoroughly infuriated teen bellowed, holding his left fist up to his eye level and shaking it before his face. His right hand had a death grip on his sword and was seemingly locked in some sort of contact to see what break first under the pressure, the hilt or Sora's fingers.
None of the creatures before the teen, neither the goliath nor its much smaller minions, reacted to in any way to the teen's physical gesture and angry words. Given that they were both being directed at the soundless voice that was pushing Sora along ever since he first came to this strange void instead of the monsters in front of him, the red and black clothed boy couldn't bring himself to care.
Throwing his left arm to the side in a slicing motion, Sora pulled his head back and glared up at the shimmering white light hovering far above his location. His eyes were flickering slightly as he gazed upon the mist-like shine.
"What's this all about?! How much more do you expect me to fight?!" the teen loudly called out to the mysterious voice, his blue eyes were locked onto the distant light. "What do you want from me?!"
He received nothing but more silence for his cries. Not a single word from the strange voice popped into his mind. Whoever this person was, they were refusing to speak to him once again. Ignoring him and his wishes to leave.
The rage in Sora's breast nearly doubled in strength at the thought. The faint flickering turned into a powerful blue glow that completely covered his eyes just before he opened his mouth once more.
"ANSWER ME!" the spiky haired teen bellowed at the top of his lungs.
As soon as those two words left his lips, the glow emanating from his eyes instantly increased in strength by a massive amount. To look upon them was to look at two miniature blue suns. And the changes did not stop there.
The strange glow quickly spread out from Sora's eyes to cover the rest of his body, starting with his face. The rest of his head, including his hair, and neck were the next to become shrouded in the azure light. His crown pendant and accompanying necklace remained untouched as the glow extended to cover his entire torso, shirt and jacket included, and both his shoulders. The glow extended down the length of his limbs, covering both skin and clothing, as it rapidly stretched all the way to the tips of his toes and fingers. Only then, once everything but Sora's sword was enshrouded in the light, did the crown pendant also become encased by blue light, seemingly sinking into it as if it were water.
The transformation happened in less than a second, with the curved form of Sora's recently acquired weapon the only thing untouched by the light. For just a single instant, the young islander resembled a giant blue light in the shape of a human rather than an actual teenaged boy. A single instant because this strange transformation dispersed as quickly as it came.
A sudden shockwave, greater than all the ones that had tormented this pillar before it, erupted from the teen's form and threatened to send the obsidian goliath's newly summoned minions flying off the painting. As it raged on top of the pillar, the blue glow burst off of Sora's body as if the whole shroud was made of glass and something had just struck it, shattering the light into many small shards. Those shards rapidly faded away from Sora, who emerged from his glowing cocoon quite drastically changed.
A faint glow still emanated from his eyes, tinted blue around his irises and silver on the whites and pupils, as infrequent and small bursts of blue lightning briefly appeared around his heavily modified body. Much of the color had faded from his spiky brown mane, the locks of hair almost completely white as every single spike was now pointing away from his face, the tips vertically pointing upwards in roughly the same direction. Three horns resembling steel blades now erupted from his head, also pointing backwards in a vertical fashion. The smallest horn, which was barely a third the size of its two colleagues, possessed a slightly hooked appearance while it poked out from the top and center of his forehead. The larger horns poked out on opposite sides of his head just above his ears and possessed a rough L-shape as they did so.
Sora's entire forehead, the top section of his nose, and the upper half of his cheeks were now covered in elongated and diagonally placed silver scales. These scales were outlined and kept separate from one another by faintly glowing blue lines. The back and sides of his neck were adorned with a similar scale pattern, which extended down to cover much of his shoulders. The glow of the scales' outlines were visible through short sleeves of Sora's jacket. As shown by the glow also emanating from beneath his coat and shirt, the scales also covered the majority of his back and the sides of his torso before coming to end just above his waist. Two powerfully glowing veins of blue light were located on his back, breaking the uniformity of the scales located there. They stretched down from his shoulder blades, their tips forming a triangle formation with Sora's belly button around his waist while the shape of these new lights caused them to resemble large curving fangs.
While his upper arms remained unaffected, the majority of Sora's hands and forearms were covered in that same scale like pattern. Thin lines of blue light were emanating from underneath his fingerless gloves and across his forearms. His fingers themselves were unaffected by the scale-like pattern, but his fingernails had lengthened slightly and now curved faintly like claws. His toenails were in a similar state. While his feet, waist, and upper legs were untouched by the scale-like pattern, the scales and their blue glowing outlines covered much of his forelegs.
Snarling like an enraged animal as he glared towards the goliath's outstretched fist and the small creatures around him, Sora appeared completely oblivious to the chances that had come to his body. His mind was consumed by a raging whirlwind of rage, the volume of his anger reaching levels no one in Destiny Islands believed the normally easy-going spiky haired teen was even capable of achieving.
A loud bellow left the transformed teenager's mouth as he gazed upon his foes, exposing the fact that his teeth had somehow transformed into small fangs inside his mouth. In the next instant, Sora was streaking across the platform and heading straight towards the goliath's closed fist. He appeared utterly unaware of the fact that he was moving almost three times as fast as he was before and that his body was no longer wracked with growing exhaustion. Small momentary blue sparks were left in the air to briefly mark his trail as he moved, disappearing as quickly as they came.
Three of the small creatures had already pulled themselves out of the puddle of swirling water and they were running to engage the teen. Sora slammed into the first one like a freight train, swinging his sword vertically in front of him as he did so. The curved blade sliced the monster in two with a single blow, the two parts quickly changing into rapidly fading black smoke. Not slowing down his charge in the slightest, Sora pushed right on through the dark haze, causing it to briefly cover his leg and belly.
As he started running past the remaining two members of this trio, Sora spun in a circle while throwing his sword out wide. The sword struck the monster on his right in the head, the creature turning into smoke even though the attack had been little more than a glancing blow. Its counterpart had been in the process of leaping towards Sora's left shoulder when the blade reached it, causing the weapon to slice the monster in half at the hip. Like all its brothers before it, the creature burst into rapidly fading black smoke.
Facing forward at the end of his spun, the outraged teen continued his advance. Seeing another of the creature's leaping out of the strange liquid on a collision course with his face, Sora roared like an enraged lion and slashed his sword horizontally in front of him. Slamming directly into the black monster's right side, the weapon managed to just push the creature out of Sora's path right before it burst into black smoke like all the others.
Seeing another creature trying to stab him in the left foot as he completed the slash, Sora instinctively realized he wouldn't be able to reposition his sword in time to block the creature's stab or attack it first. Therefore, he pulled back his left leg and kicked the monster in its round head. This time, the act carried enough force to send the thing flying off its feet. It moved through the air until it slammed hard against the enclosed fist of the obsidian goliath, which was still resting were it had landed on the painting's surface.
Fearlessly striding into the black and purple liquid surrounding that oversized appendage, Sora destroyed two more of the small monsters with furious downward chops of his sword. One of their brothers leaped at him from the left but Sora merely backhanded the creature in the face with his left arm. The dismissive counterattack sent the creature flying off the edge of the pillar. Not even bothering to confirm if that creature was gone or not, Sora leaped across the distance remaining between him and his main target, raising his sword above his head as he did so.
Swinging the weapon down with all his might, Sora struck the large hand with a fierce downward chop as he came to land before it, his feet causing a large splash when they struck the strange water and the ceiling of the pillar beneath it. Despite feeling the sword make contact with the giant's fist, there was still no mark of any sort to indicate that any attack had just landed. Taking a hold of his blade with both hands and striking the black appendage two more times with it had the same result.
'Nothing. Still nothing. Why?' Sora thought to himself, the words sounding like a growl in his mind as they broke through the angry crimson haze enveloping his mind. Something small and sharp struck the teen in the upper section of his right leg, diverting his attention from the goliath's hand.
Grunting more out of annoyance and surprise than a feeling of actual pain, the transformed teen looked to his right and saw one of the smaller critters had come at it from the side. Even with all the rage clouding his mind, the young islander quickly realized that the pain he just felt was a result of this thing stabbing him in the leg with one of its small claws. Lips peeling back with an angry snarl, Sora swung his sword at the beast with his right hand alone grasping the hilt. The blade of his weapon vertically slashed the creature's round head and the beast turned rapidly fading black smoke where it stood.
His sword coming to rest at his side afterwards, a sudden idea came to Sora when he saw the smaller creature's destruction. The thought managed to punch through the cloud of anger in the transformed teen's skull and enter the brain lurking within in the skeletal confines. Looking up at the tentacle covered face of the obsidian goliath, a small frown appeared on Sora's face as he considered whether to go through with the sudden notion or not.
'It's worth a shot,' he decided after a moment, struggling to resist the powerful urge to just chop everything around him into tiny pieces. 'Now how do I get up there?'
Seeing one of the smaller monster's leaping at him from the corner of his right eye, Sora lashed out with his blade and struck it in mid-air. The beast vanished immediately upon being struck, its smoky remains momentarily covering a portion of the sword while the weapon cut through the air.
A slight rumble now coming from his left caught the red and black clothed boy's attention. Turning slightly in place, he saw that the goliath's large arm was shaking slightly in place. Quickly looking down, Sora witnessed the final moments of the swirling pool of black and purple liquid before it went and faded away around his feet. Not a single smudge or trace of it remained to tarnish the painting Sora stood on.
A quick look around him showed that there were six of the small critters standing near him. At least a few more were probably on the other side of the obsidian titan's fist, the large hand shielding them from the transformed teen's gaze.
That same hand was now starting to rise off the platform's ceiling while its owner was pulling itself back to its full height in the center of the painting. The sudden movement was taking away Sora's best and likely only chance at reaching the giant monster's head. Realizing this, Sora's glowing eyes widened in surprise for a moment before narrowing in anger as he growled lowly.
"No, you don't," the angry boy snarled, the words directed more to himself than the obsidian goliath. Bending down slightly, the teen launched himself into the air and managed to land on top of the slightly uncurled fist.
His balance wavered as his new perch continued to move under his bare feet. After managing to steady himself slightly by grabbing the large dark colored limb with his left hand, Sora looked up at the goliath's face and saw it staring down at him with its glowing yellow eyes. Snarling like an angry beast, Sora started to climb up the thing's long arm as quickly as he could.
He barely made it to the monster's elbow before he was forced to slow his movements down to the rough equivalent of an awkward crawl. The constant shifting of the large arm beneath him made it impossible to move swiftly and keep his balance at the same time. If Sora just hastily rushed towards his destination, he would very likely slip and fall back towards the painting. As angry as he was, the young islander understood that fact and moved accordingly.
Looking to his left by accident or sheer coincidence, the young islander saw the goliath's left arm was starting to move as well. The horned teen's eyes widened when he saw the attached hand was coming towards him, fingers spread in a manner that clearly indicated the colossal creature intended to grab Sora's much smaller body. The sword wielding boy scowled at the thought, having not the slightest intention of allowing such a thing to happen. Instead, he decided to take advantage of the approaching appendage and use it to reach his goal.
Crouching down slightly with some difficulty because of the moving mass beneath him, Sora waited until the last possible second before he jumped. After barely managing to fly over the goliath's open hand, the red and black clothed boy proceeded to land on the beast's left forearm. Rolling slightly when he landed, Sora just barely managed to grab onto the thing and keep himself from falling to the painting below him.
Looking up at the monster's face, the spiky haired teen grinned somewhat savagely as his locked onto those of the pitch black titan. Quickly pulling himself to his feet on the creature's left arm, Sora let loose a wild cry and leaped towards the monster's head. As his body ascended to a slightly higher altitude than his target, he raised his sword overhead and grasped it with both hands just before he started to descend. Roaring as he came down, Sora slammed the weapon directly between the monster's glowing yellow eyes as he fell past his target.
When he saw the large goliath's upper body reel back from the sudden blow, a wild grin broke out on Sora's face. The young islander could admit to himself that he was slightly disappointed by the fact that the colossus managed to stay on its tentacle-like feet rather than completely fall over from the blow. Still, the visible confirmation that he had finally done at least some damage to the monster was extremely invigorating for the spiky haired teen.
Managing to land on his feet, Sora crouched down in place and pulled his right hand away from his sword in order to steady himself with it. Hearing footsteps coming from his left, Sora simultaneously raised his head to see what was coming while lashing out at with his sword. He watched as his blade slammed into the charging form of one of the small black critters, horizontally striking it in the face.
The beast promptly dispersed upon contact with the sharp edge of said sword. Swiftly climbing to his feet, the spiky haired teen saw more of those monsters coming towards him and called out to them.
"Come and get some of this," he yelled. To articulate his point, he swung his sword at the closest of the approaching monsters. The creature vanished as soon as the left-handed swing connected with its face.
An excited grin broke out on Sora's face, prompted by this latest victory and the strength coursing through his body. He didn't know why but the spiky haired teen finally noticed how his body was absolutely brimming with strength and energy he didn't know he had. More than he had ever felt before in his life. He felt like he could take on the whole world, all the worlds, by himself. It was absolutely fantastic.
Alas, all good things must come to end.
Without warning, the young islander's exhaustion suddenly returned full force and it was much greater than before. Its arrival was so sudden that Sora cried out as if he had been physically struck and fell down to one knee, barely managing to steady himself with his right hand. His body was briefly encased in another cocoon of blue light and when it faded, his horns and scales had vanished. His spiky locks had returned to their original appearance while his eyes were no longer glowing.
'What… why now?' the teen thought to himself, still oblivious to the changes that had just vanished from his body. His lungs were struggling to fill themselves with air and felt as if they were being crashed by walls of hardened cement after being set on fire. 'What's going on? I was winning!'
Noticing one of the small monsters running straight towards him, Sora tried to get back up in preparation for its arrival. His body might as well have been frozen in place for it refused to obey his commands, his limbs barely even shuddering in place as he tried to rise. The young islander realized he wasn't going anywhere the mere second before the creature reached.
The small monster stabbed him in the shoulder as soon as it was close enough to do so. Sora cried out from the pain and fell on the left side of his body, wondering in the back of his mind why this monster seemed to hit twice as hard as its counterparts. Was it somehow stronger than them or was it all in his head?
More pain blossomed throughout Sora's body when another one of these strange creatures stabbed him in the back, having come up behind the sword wielding boy without him noticing a thing. Somehow managing to curl himself into a ball while he screamed, the young islander accidentally let go of his sword and felt the weapon slip through his fingers.
Lifting his head off the painting slightly, the spiky haired teen saw the weapon lying on its side within arm's reach of him. All he had to do was just stretch out his left arm and it would once again be in his grasp. His desperation to retake his weapon only grew when Sora saw another one of the small creatures running towards him one of the corner of his eyes. However, just as he started to reach for the sword, the weapon vanished without a trace before his eyes upon being consumed by a faint flash of white light.
'What' Sora thought to himself, feeling a strong mixture of confusion and horror overtake his heart. He was so consumed by the feeling he barely noticed when one of the monsters surrounding him stabbed him with its small claw again. He did notice the pain from that blow and the pain he felt from when another monster hit him in the back. 'How am I supposed to fight these things without a weapon?'
The pillar suddenly rumbled beneath him, dragging the spiky haired teen from his morose question as he felt something slam against painting, the impact site a short distance behind his body. Forcefully rolled onto his back by the shaking, Sora looked up past the round heads of the four small critters surrounding him and met the glowing eyed gaze of the obsidian goliath with his own blue eyes.
Having apparently recovered from the sword strike to its face, with the curved blade yet again failing to deliver any sort of scratch to the goliath's body, the massive beast had just punched the painting with its right fist. Its left fist came down as well, causing the pillar to shake beneath Sora again when the closed hand harshly came to rest against the pillar a short distance to his left.
'I am going to die,' Sora thought to himself, feeling absolutely terrified as he looked up at colossal monster's glowing yellow eyes. More terrified than he had ever felt before in his life. 'Not here. Not like this. It can't end like this.'
The young islander failed to notice that a circular pool of black and purple water suddenly appeared between him and the painting, spreading out from directly under his back to cover a circular portion of said mural. The red and black clothed boy only became aware of it after his body suddenly started to sink into the large puddle, which was much deeper than the previous two despite how there should still be a solid flat object directly beneath the surface of the water. The blue eyed boy immediately started to try and pull himself out of the liquid, ignoring how the small creatures around him just stood and watched him sink before their glowing eyes.
Don't be afraid.
Sora barely noticed the silent voice's words popping into his head just then. He was a little too distracted trying to get out of the swirling water. An attempt that was utterly foiled when black smoke began to rise out of the large puddle. The separate strands curled around the spiky haired teen's torso and limbs, somehow latching onto him like they were long vines instead of wisps of smoke. Their grip was incredibly strong and heavily restricted the teen's movements while pulling Sora deeper into the dark water.
You hold the mightiest weapon of all.
Not bothering to ask the voice why it was speaking to him now of all times, the young islander continued to struggle against his bindings. His tormentors, the large obsidian goliath and its smaller minions both, continued to just stand and watch him do so instead of taking the chance to attack him again. Sadly for the spiky haired teen, all Sora managed to achieve with his struggling was turning his body around so that he was lying flat on his stomach instead of his back as he continued to sink deeper into the strange water.
He craned his neck back in a desperate attempt to keep his head out of the black and purple liquid as the smoke slowly dragged him deeper and deeper into it. Sora could feel the pull on his feet grow especially strong, causing them to start sinking at nearly twice as fast as the rest of his body.
So don't forget:
Ironically, his feet descending on their own was what finally pulled Sora's body into an upright position amongst the black and purple water. Considering that the liquid was well past his waist and quickly climbing up to his armpits however, the change wasn't as helpful as Sora would have liked. Especially since strands of smoke were still restraining him and pulling him deeper into the bottomless puddle.
He continued to struggle valiantly all the same but his right hand was soon pulled under the water's surface by the smoky trail grasping it in spite of his efforts. No matter how hard tugged it, the spiky haired teen couldn't pull it back out. The smoke's grip upon his right arm seemed to have doubled in strength after the limb entered the water. Its hold, assuming something else wasn't clutching Sora's right hand instead right now, was unrelentingly tight as it dragged the appendage deeper into the water.
Deciding that particular hand was a lost cause, Sora focused on swinging his left arm above and around his shoulders, trying to find something he could use as leverage to pull himself out of this stuff. Unfortunately, his hand found nothing but empty air all around him no matter which way he threw it. Even the small forms of the critters surrounding him were too far out of reach to be of any help right now. A brief moment of fatigue was all the smoky trails attached to the limb needed to finally drag it onto the surface of the swirling water. Sora tried, he really did, but he failed to pull the thing free and it too sank beneath the black and purple water.
Craning his head back to keep his eyes out of the swirling liquid, which was now almost reaching his chin, proved to be a mistake. Some of Sora's spiky brown locks got caught by whatever was dragging him down, and his body started to sink slightly faster than it had a moment ago. The young islander could do nothing but wait to drown because he couldn't even turn his head from side to side due to the tight grip on his hair.
Before the liquid ultimately swarmed over his head and robbed him of the ability to see, Sora's terrified blue eyes found themselves once again meeting the glowing gaze of the obsidian goliath. The massive monster peered down at him without emotion. Except for the tentacles still moving about its head, the creature was as still as a statue.
Soon, the dark water swam over Sora's face and blocked out his sight. Everything just seemed to fade away and turn to black, becoming unimportant to the spiky haired teen. He was suddenly beset by a powerful and unrelenting urge to fall asleep shortly after everything fade to black. Sora tried to resist the lure to return to slumber and ultimately failed. But he did feel the silent voice tell him one last thing before he drifted into oblivion.
You are the one who will open the door.
'What door? I don't understand,' the spiky haired teen thought, barely managing to think the words through the gentle but unrelenting call to sleep consuming his mind. Oblivion welcomed him with open arms.
And then, Sora felt and heard nothing at all.
And Cut. That's a wrap.
Writing this battle was a little tricky because of how the Darkside heartless likes to just stand in the center of the arena for the majority of the fight. I gave the ability to physically attack Sora with its arms so that it could have more methods of attack and heighten the danger Sora will feel when he fights its. You've probably noticed I avoided doing air combos so far right? I found that to be a little too advanced for Sora at this stage in jis journey.
As for the aura of flames around its feet, I needed a real reason for Sora not to go after them. They're obviously the easiest portion of the Darkside's body for him to attack and it didn't feel right just making them invulnerable without explanation like in the game. If I was fighting a giant monster for the first time and scared out of my mind, I would try going after the closest and most vulnerable looking portion of the thing I could reach first. Therefore I gave the legs a dangerous defensive power to encourage Sora to stay away from the Darkside's feet. We've already seen that the Darkside heartless has the ability to manipulate dark fire in canon with the sphere in its chest so such a defensive aura doesn't seem too impossible. Before you ask, the Darkside on Destiny Islands is going to be a tougher than this one here and I am planning on giving it a few more abilities.
Sora's new rage induced transformation was an honest to god pain to right mainly because I couldn't actually make up my mind about what it would look like, even though it is still in an incomplete state. I was never really a fan of Corrin's featureless mask transformation state in Fire Emblem Fates so I decided to replace that with something else by combining elements from an ability used by the protagonist of another video game series. It took me five rewrites before I got Sora to a transformation I was happy with as I didn't want to go full dragon or even half dragon just yet. In term's game mechanics, I will explain how this thing works in the next chapter but can anyone figure out how this thing works before then? :)
That's all for now folks. I am off to watch a movie with the family and then get back to KH3. Sora is at level 95 and my gummi ship is at level 60. Still not entirely a fan of the new gummi ship system but it's growing on me slowly. I've decided to get the Ultima Weapon keyblade for once and I am going through all the side-quests and mini-games necessary to acquire it. See ya next chapter.
