Kingdom Hearts III: Eternal Light
Chapter 83: War at Radiant Gardens - Part 2
The giant dragon eyed Sora and the others, showing signs of blood lust in its eyes. Sora clutched his Keyblade tightly in his grip and took a fighting stance.
"Come on Maleficent! Let's finish this fight once and for all!" Sora shouted. The dragon roared.
"Be careful what you wish for boy! You may not be able to SURVIVE!" the dragon exclaimed. It suddenly started to breath waves of fire and trapped everyone inside the flaming circle. Pete gasped.
"Whoa! Whoa! Maleficent! Take it easy there!" Pete shouted. But he started to flee as the dragon snapped its jaws at him. Mickey leaped up and dove for the second head, striking a clean blow to the head. But the strike seemed to have little effect as it swatted Mickey away.
"Take this! Thundaga!" Donald squawked. He casted a powerful lightning blast, but the dragon shook it off.
"Ha! That's all you've GOT?" Maleficent roared. Leon groaned.
"Let's see you take this ya scaly freak!" Leon shouted. Grasping his sword tightly, he built up power until the entire sword started to glow. He lunged for the dragon.
"Lion Heart!" Leon yelled. He went into a beserk of sword swings, striking the dragon ferociously and increasing damage with each swing. His finishing move slammed the dragon's heads into the ground and shook the entire cliff.
"Wha? Whoa!" Sora yelled. Donald grasped onto Goofy.
"Gawrsh! That must be Leon's real power!" Goofy yelled. In the smoke, Leon was suddenly swatted back and skidded across the dirt. The dragon rose up from the smoke.
"Dang it. That's...one tough old beast." Leon groaned. The dragon laughed in Ultimecia's voice.
"Though you beat me last time Squall, I shall not be beaten by you again!" the dragon laughed. Both dragon heads roared and up above, they saw giant flaming meteors hurdling their way.
"Look out! Meteors!" Pete exclaimed. Sora groaned and prepared to cast a spell with Donald.
"Donald! You ready?" Sora called. Donald nodded and hurried to his side. As the meteors approached, the two begun casting Gravity and it was able to catch the meteors and then fling some back at the dragon.
"Gah!" it roared.
"Ha! Not so fun when you're hit by your own attack! Is it?" Sora asked. But the dragon roared and started to breath fire again. Soon, the whole field was being burnt down by the fire and it surrounded them.
"Whoa! It's getting hot in here really fast!" Mickey called. Sora looked towards the dragon and groaned.
"Just think Sora...all of this destruction is thanks to you. You remember that crystal earlier? I didn't just get more power from Maleficent! With each Heartless you slayed, my dark crystal increased my dark powers by the strength of that Heartless. And with all you and your friends have done, we are INVINCIBLE!" the dragon laughed. Sora groaned.
"This is just like with Organization XIII. Only this time...she's FEEDING off the Heartless." Sora thought. The dragon then roared and suddenly, Sora's group was surrounded by Soldier and NeoShadow Heartless.
"Heartless! Devour their hearts!" the dragon roared. The Heartless heard the dragon's command, but they did not budge.
"What? What are you waiting for? Attack!" the dragon exclaimed. But then, it gasped when someone else approached from the cliffside. It was Vanitas.
"The Heartless obey ME now witch. You're nothing to them now." Vanitas said. He snapped his fingers and a few Unversed joined the group.
"Vanitas!" Sora called. Vanitas glared down at the others.
"Again Sora, I want the pleasure of killing you myself. So, just this ONCE, let's get this eye sore of a dragon a one way trip to the darkness." Vanitas said. Sora nodded.
"You can't! I won't let you! Your power is nothing against us! No darkness in the world can match my power!" the dragon roared. Vanitas huffed and called for his blade.
"We'll see about that." Vanitas said. He and Sora both charged for the dragon and began to attack. They went for a group assault on the left head while the others joined in the attack and struck the other head.
"Dagh! Rotten children! Begone!" the dragon growled. With a large roar, it blew the others back.
"Whoa! Man! She's one cranky dragon!" Leon groaned. He looked to Sora and Vanitas, who still were going into an attack. Vanitas' fast and powerful strikes were followed by Sora's swift combos and they pounded onto the dragon's head.
"You better survive now Sora. Because I want you all to myself when this is over." Vanitas thought, slightly glaring at Sora as they attacked. But suddenly, the dragon roared and it shook the field.
"Enough! You pesky cockroaches will not live to see light again!" it roared. Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to glow bright red and a fiery wall surrounded them.
"Prepare to be sucked into darkness! This is the END for you ALL!" the dragon shrieked. Sora growled.
"Not on my watch!" Sora shouted "I'm not going to the darkness until I finish my mission! To protect the worlds and save the other Keyblade spirits!" The dragon laughed.
"You think you can survive this Sora? Don't be a fool!" the dragon exclaimed. Sora growled.
"I know we'll live on! Because our hearts...are always stronger than anything you can throw at us! And...if I must, I'll prove it!" Sora called. He then came charging towards the dragon. Leon and Vanitas started to join him, but Vanitas suddenly stopped.
"Some other time boy." Vanitas said, vanishing in a flash.
"You're right Sora! And I've got something else to say to you too Ultimecia! You're TOAST!" Leon cried. The two leaped up at the dragon and prepared to attack. As Leon's sword started to glow, so did Sora's. The keychains on their weapons began to glow and the two attacks suddenly started to merge.
"What? What is this?" the dragon gasped. Sora and Leon attacked simultaneously, creating a giant slice of light that slashed clean through the dragon.
"NOOOO!" it shrieked.
"Ultimate Lion!" Leon and Sora exclaimed. The strike split the giant in two and it caused both halves to stumble backwards and over the cliffside and into the deep cavern below.
"GEAAAHHHH!" the dragon roared. The Heartless continued to watch before jumping down after it. The others watched and heard the large impact when the dragon hit the ground.
"I think...it's finally over." Sora panted. The others joined Sora in creeping over to the edge. They all saw the large dragon corpse on the ground and sighed.
"Yeah. It's over." Leon said. In a flash, Sora and the others turned back to Pete, still cowering behind Goofy.
"C'mon kid! Don't be mad at me. Ya gotta believe me. If I didn't keep my yap shut, that crazy witch was gonna let me have it!" Pete begged. Sora looked at his friends.
"Well, it's your call Sora." Leon said. Sora groaned.
"All right Pete. Take it easy. I'll believe you. I wouldn't wanna work with Maleficent either." Sora said. Pete sighed.
"But starting today, you're not gonna keep anymore secrets, right?" Sora asked. Pete nodded.
"Oh! Thank you so much! I'm a good boy now! I promise!" Pete chuckled. Sora, Donald and Goofy sighed while Mickey chuckled. Later, everyone joined together again at the committee center.
"That had to be the biggest Heartless threat we had since the war last year." Cid groaned.
"Parts of town are in wrecks. It's gonna take us a while to repair it all." Rinoa added. Emil and Marta sighed, wishing they got here sooner. Ansem chuckled.
"It is all right. We've went through harsher times. And I'm sure we can recover from this as well." Ansem said. Leon nodded.
"Yeah. Ansem's right. Besides, we finally seen the last of the Legion of Chaos. We just finished off Ultimecia and I DOUBT she'll be back." Sora said. Richter smirked.
"Eh? What's that for?" Sora asked.
"Nothing. Just be glad you've got ONE problem off your platter. We still have that knight and Vanitas left now." Richter said. Lloyd nodded, agreeing with Richter.
"Heh. At this point, I think we can handle anything that crazy knight throws our way." Axel smirked. Roxas agreed and so did Ventus and Aqua. Meanwhile, outside the city, Vanitas looked on before slowly walking off. But just as he did, he stood face to face with the Dark Knight.
"They're gone. It's just you and me now." Vanitas said. The knight nodded and, strangely, the two started to walk off together. But nearby, another survivor was seen watching. It was Kefka.
TO BE CONTINUED...