*Still on his mission to recruit more powerful warriors to Chaos' side, Seymour, impressed with Vanitas' performance in his battles, makes him an offer.*
Chapter 13
Rules and Secrets
Vanitas had been so caught up in the appearance of this mysterious demon that he hadn't noticed the figure towering over his shoulder. He turned to see a tall man looming over him dressed in priest-like garbs with a staff. This newcomer boasted one of the most absurd hairstyles Vanitas had ever seen. The man had long flowing blue hair with two portions of which, were sectioned off and styled into lengthy spikes that resemble antlers of hair coming off of his head. Vanitas remained silent as he watched the man with suspicion.
"I am Seymour Guado." He announced with a gentle grin. "I've been watching you. You fought a truly magnificent battle."
"What's your point?" Vanitas coldly shot back in a low tone.
Seymour frowned at the harsh dismissal of his compliment. With a sigh he guessed he needed to hurry to the reason behind his sudden appearance on the battlefield.
"I am an emissary of the army of Chaos. God of Discord. I'm extending the invitation for you join us."
"Pass." Vanitas answered without even a fraction of a second's thought.
Seymour frowned as the boy turned his back to him and started walking away.
"I don't think you understand." He continued, "Once the fighting begins, there will be no safe haven from it. You'll be drawn into the battle regardless. And all alone, you'll meet your end."
"I'll handle it when the time comes then." Vanitas snapped back again.
Like he had handled this fight? Seymour thought.
Those words immediately flashed to mind but he wouldn't dare let them cross his lips now. A rebuttal like that would be an obvious deal breaker. He hurried to rethink his sales pitch before Vanitas had moved too far away. He was fortunate he had plenty of time as the aftermath of the battle made itself known in Vanitas' limping steps. Seymour recalled the x-blade. While Vanitas had been fighting, he noted the triumphant smile the boy wore while he'd dominated much of the fight. It was there that Seymour saw the "key" to this sale.
"As I mentioned before, you fought a magnificent battle."
"Ignore." Vanitas bluntly replied.
The gall of this boy. At any moment Seymour knew he could order Anima to turn around and blast into oblivion and that would be the end of it. Certainly the boy knew that much but he still wouldn't muzzle his attitude. The summoner pressed on with his efforts. If he was anything, Seymour Guado was persistent.
"But I notice how you truly dominated the fight when you were able to summon that special sword. I can tell that was quite the legendary blade."
Vanitas said nothing as he continued to put more distance between himself and the tall man.
"Though, I can't help but notice that you lost control of the blade near the end, and even lost it completely. What if I were to teach you how to summon that blade at will?"
The proposal stopped the keyblade user in his tracks.
"What would you know of keyblades?" Vanitas bitterly hissed as he glared back.
"Admittedly little but as you can see, we're in a different world right now. I'm sure you're just like me in that regard. Another lost soul who's world this is not. In this land, there are different rules in place. Though the shape of "true power" may vary from individual to individual, the method to invoke that power is universal. THIS, I can teach you."
Vanitas paused to ponder his words. He didn't trust Seymour at all but if this was a chance to gain perfect control over the x-blade, deep down, he knew he couldn't let the chance pass him by.
"Alright fine. I'll take you up on it." Vanitas finally answered after contemplating his options. "But, if this is a waste of my time, you'll suffer for it."
Holding Anima's leash was proving a testing ordeal for Seymour but he wouldn't let the foul attitude get to him. Garland had sent them out to recruit strong warriors, he didn't want to return empty handed.
"I can assure this is no trick." Seymour simply answered. "Let's go."
"Just a second. I've got one loose end to tie up first."
Seymour watched as Vanitas approached the fallen Sora and stood over him. He held up a hand summoning his Void Gear to appear in a swell of dark waves once again. He held the keyblade with its tip positioned over Sora's throat. Seymour raised an intrigued eyebrow at the execution about to be performed before him. His lips curled into a smirk. This level ruthlessness would serve his purposes sublimely. Just one downward thrust of the blade and that would be the end of the boy known as Sora.
Instead of plunging the keyblade down, Vanitas was foced to swipe upward instead. He deflected a fireball which had been launched at him, with its embers scattering into the air around him from the collision.
"Now what!?" Vanitas growled.
The weary and battle damaged Squall stood at the end of the road. Small wisps of smoke drifted off of his raised hand. His eyes beamed with rage as he clutched his gunblade in both hands and took off into a sprint at Vanitas. The boy responded by launching bolt of dark lightning back at the approaching swordsman. Squall stopped in his tracks and held up his hand to the attack.
"Draw." Concentrating, he quietly chanted the word as the bolt crashed into him.
The lightning was stopped by his hand and danced wildly around him. Vanitas looked on startled by the move while Squall brought the hand, seemingly holding the lightning, to his chest and drew all of the dark electrical power into himself.
"He absorbed the spell into himself. I've never seen such a thing." An impressed Seymour commented.
Meanwhile Squall continued his assault and reached the confused Vanitas. He wasted no time, driving his blade through the opponent in one swift fluid slash. Squall gaze shifted to a glare, he saw his blade striking through the dark keyblade wielder but he didn't feel the sword make contact with anything. The gunblade was passing through Vanitas like a ghost as the boy stood completely motionless. Squall quickly deduced it was an after image. Vanitas had managed one last burst of speed to evade him. Leaving behind the fading image of where he had last been.
The keyblade user appeared in the air over Squall's head with his blade held high. Squall shot him a fierce glare while he realized he had no chance to dodge Vanitas' incoming strike. The blue shadow of an unversed darted along the wall of a shop to Vanitas' back. Rue had mustered up the courage to risk taking on the wretched form one more time.
(I'LL JUST SPLIT YOU BOTH IN TWO!) Vanitas' violent thoughts echoed painfully throughRue's mind.
He pushed through it while feeling poisoned the longer he stayed linked to Vanitas. With the small body, Rue pounced off of the wall towards his enemy. The boy glanced back noticing the unverse acting out of line. Indigo light began to flow out from the small shadow creature's body as it shifted into the enormous hulking Wendigo form. Rue had used the enormous musclebound ogre-like form to crush the giant serpent that had attacked him back in Costa Del Sol. Vanitas had thought Squall was the one who couldn't react but now he stood face to face with the towering beast coming for him during his own vulnerable moment.
Rue drove one giant fist slamming into Vanitas' body which spiked him into the road at top speed and sent him tumbling to a violent stop at the base of Anima. The towering demon barely reacted or acknowledged Vanitas who very nearly collided into it. Rue landed, sending a brief tremor through the dirt road before stampeding after Vanitas in a savage rage. He reached the downed warrior about to crush him under another collasol fist when Seymour stepped between them.
"Protect" The priest chanted as he held up his staff.
A blue barrier of energy stopped Rue's fist and easily repelled him. The hulking brute Rue had become staggered back after getting repelled.
"Anima." Seymour called as he raised his staff to the beast.
The demon shifted its gaze to Rue and in an instant, he was granted the same experience as Sora and Kaldea. The polymorph warrior was spontaneously crushed under an explosive force. After taking the attack in full force, the transformation dissolved away. Rue stood severely injured with the life fading from his eyes. The single blow from anima proved far more than the warrior could bare, even with the bulkier body of the transformation.
"What….kinda power…..is that thing?" He managed before collapsing face first into the dirt.
Seymour pointed his staff in Squall's direction. The young swordsman's mind was racing now to gather up all the data from Rue's experience that he could to assess his current dilemma. He caught Anima shift its gaze towards him.
(WHATEVER IT LOOKS AT!) He finally realized while he instinctively raised a hand.
"SHELL!" He called out triggering magenta colored barrier to wrap itself into a protective sphere around him before Squall too went up in an explosion of spontaneous force released by Seymour's pet.
The smoke cleared revealing Squall within his domed shield. The defensive spell began to fracture and crack like glass before shattering completely into fading particles of magic. A heavily injured Squall was down on his knee now. He plunged his gunblade into the road and used the weapon to support himself. The shell barrier he had summoned had managed to filter out some of the raw power in Anima's attack but enough of the attack had made it through to push Squall to the brink. The warrior tried, but his legs would not respond as he attempted to push himself back up.
"That's enough for now." Seymour suddenly announced. "Anima! Dismissed!"
The creature let out a blood curdling howl as its form suddenly became more translucent before evaporating away into fading orbs of varying colors.
"Pardon me for asserting myself, but WE'RE LEAVING." Seymour commanded to Vanitas now.
Vanitas didn't appreciate the more authoritative tone Seymour was striking with him but he lacked the strength to argue. He lacked even more strength to risk attempting to engage the warriors again.
"Fine." Vanitas complied.
"Alright now, let's see how well this spell that Garland granted me works. Warp magic."
Seymour touched his staff to the floor. Light began to flood out along the ground tracing into runic shapes and patterns. Vanitas watched the symbols form into a circle of which they stood upon. Light began to flow upward, washing over the pair. Sora began to finally stir in place as he awoke. He opened his eyes, spotting the newcomer Seymour and Vanitas ahead of him. Vanitas quickly took notice of Sora rejoining the conscious.
"You." Vanitas began as he pointed to Sora. "This isn't over yet. I'm not done with you. I'll be back and when I return you'd better be prepared."
Seymour and Vanitas disappeared into an engulfing tower of light that rose up from the circle. In moments the light thinned and dissipated. No trace of the mysterious mage and the dark keyblade wielder remained. Sora, with his head still spinning, slipped out of consciousness once again as he fell back into the dirt. Meanwhile Squall was still down on his knee clutching his blade for support. The gunblade wielder was left in complete state of shock and disbelief that they had survived. He was the last one standing and even that was proving a herculean effort right now.
Squall let out a breath. Their enemies had fled signally at last that the battle was over. True they were crawling away from this fight, hanging on by a thread but at the very least, all of his comrades had survived.
~Chapter End~