"Holy crap, I've never seen something this amazing before," Irma quipped as she stared out at the Lanes Between. After all, this was W.I.T.C.H.'s first time in the Gummi Ship, and their first time witnessing the Lanes Between. "So this is how you guys travel between worlds?"
"Exactly," Maylin responded. "This is the Lanes Between, a sort of road map that connects the worlds together."
"I guess I always assumed that the Oracle opened portals to wherever you were going, like we did for so long," Will stated.
"Himerish actually said that he created the Gummi Blocks, what our ship's made of, and infused them with the power of the Heart," Haruka explained. "That power is basically what allows the Gummi Ship to travel the Lanes Between without the actual Heart."
"He said it was a backup plan in case a wielder of the Heart was incapacitated, dead or otherwise, after everything that happened with Nerissa," Maylin continued.
"Definitely sounds like something I'd do," Taranee responded.
"It looks like we're coming up on the enemy base, as it were," Haruka stated, looking ahead towards the large structure that represented the world where Future Lily was waiting, no doubt alongside the remaining members of the Organization.
"Yeesh, talk about intimidating," Hay Lin admitted. "And I thought Nerissa's lair was bad enough as it was."
"We'd better prepare ourselves for some fighting," Nick stated matter-of-factly. "I'm pretty sure the rest of the Organization is gonna be in our way, too."
"You think Elyon may be there, too?" Cornelia wondered. "We haven't seen her since the end of the invasion, remember? You guys said she just jumped into that dark portal after the Organization's leader?"
"Most likely, if we're all converging on this place," Nick replied. "She probably knows this is our best chance to finish this."
"All right, ladies and gentleman, we have arrived!" Haruka proclaimed. "What say we end this madness once and for all?"
"Oh, you know I'm all for that!" Irma exclaimed.
"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Haruka giggled. "Prepare for landing!"
(In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love. May your hearts be your guiding key.)
The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present:
W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart II
Story Created: January 2nd, 2017
Story Rated: T for Teen
Starring
Bryce Papenbrook as Nick Kelly
Eden Riegel as Marie Kelly
Cassandra Lee Morris as Maylin Rae / Meiling Li
Cherami Leigh as Haruka Rose
Kelly Stables as Will Vandom
Candi Milo as Irma Lair
Kali Troy as Taranee Cook
Christel Khalil as Cornelia Hale
Liza del Mundo as Hay Lin
Christine Marie Cabanos as Lily Kelly
Serena Berman as Queen Elyon Portrait
Story Summary: A year has passed since Nick, Maylin, and Haruka saved the heart of all worlds from being consumed by the darkness. Things are getting back to normal in Heatherfield, but true peace is always a fleeting dream. New arrivals start pouring in, including a girl from the future who claims to be the daughter of two of the Guardians, strange new creatures very much unlike the Heartless, and a group of black-hooded tyrants who only aim to bring destruction to the worlds. To save the multiverse from these new threats, Nick, Maylin, and Haruka must once again take up their keyblades and travel through many worlds to keep the balance of light and darkness in check. But what does the mysterious Organization XIII truly want with the worlds?
On Today's Episode: Nick and his friends have finally arrived at Future Lily's stronghold, the Iridescent Abyss, which is a very special world that protects the dimensional barriers. With cracks beginning to show in the barriers due to Xehanort's schemes in Sora's dimension, our heroes must fight their way through Future Lily's castle and past the remaining members of Organization XIII before her fiendish schemes can come to fruition...
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to W.I.T.C.H. or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Elisabetta Gnone and Disney if we're talking the cartoon. The only things of this story I DO own are any characters created by yours truly for the story. Any characters or things I don't own, I am just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of my readers. The same goes for any anime, video game, or comic book series that will be represented here. Besides, if I did own W.I.T.C.H., which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
Episode 25: A Dream of Non-Existence
"Whoa," Irma gasped as the entire group beheld the seemingly infinite majesty of this strange world, the Iridescent Abyss. The sky was a bright mix of neon colors, giving it an alien-like feel. The overall structure of the world seemed to resemble the Sky of Beginnings, in which most of the "ground" was a cloudy, almost transparent structure, even as it formed what appeared to be buildings and alleyways. Far off in the distance, an absolutely massive castle could be seen floating above the city, eclipsed by an even larger heart-shaped moon.
"Um... why do I get the feeling that's no moon?" Will wondered, glancing at the strange moon.
Nick thought for a few seconds, until he remembered something that Xion had told him during the Great Pretty Cure Invasion.
"Talk about falling right into a trap," a voice stated. Nick looked over to the right, and leaning against the cliffside was another hooded figure with blue eyes and short black hair. In her hands was a keyblade resembling Nick's original Kingdom Key.
"Come on, don't tell me you don't see it?" Xion stated. "Xemnas is using you to defeat the Heartless as part of his big master plan."
"Wait, wait, I'm confused about two things," Maylin answered. "Why does Organization XIII want to get rid of the Heartless? Isn't that counter-productive to them being here in the first place?"
Xion just sighed in exasperation. "Do I really have to explain it?" Xion groaned. "Every Heartless slain by the keyblade releases a captive heart. That's what the Organization is after."
"Then, what are they going to do with the hearts?" Haruka asked.
"I can't say," Xion answered. "I'm already risking a lot by telling you this."
"Captive hearts..." Nick whispered before realizing what she had meant by that. "Oh, shit. Girls, that's no moon. That's Kingdom Hearts!"
"Wait, what?!" Maylin shouted. "I thought we locked away Kingdom Hearts after we beat Izanami-no-Mikoto!"
"We did, but I just figured out what the Organization's plan is," Nick continued. "That's what Xion meant when she told us the Organization's collecting the hearts that we free whenever we destroy Heartless. They're taking those hearts and using them to make their own Kingdom Hearts!"
"They're out of their minds!" Marie exclaimed.
"That means we'd better find our way to that castle and finish off the Organization before this gets any worse," Haruka stated.
However, no sooner did the group set off into the strange city than they were surrounded by a large swarm of Nobodies of many different types at the base of a tall skyscraper.
"What the hell?!" Maylin shouted, summoning Spellbinder. "Where did all of you freaks come from?!"
It seemed like every type of Nobody the group had encountered on their journey was now swarming them, with every intent of eliminating them.
"There's too many of them! What do we do?!" Haruka exclaimed, summoning Rumbling Rose.
"Either we stay and fight, or we cut a path through them," Nick responded, summoning Flying Memory to his hands. "What do you girls wanna do?"
Marie had summoned Darkgnaw and was about to blast a path through the swarm, only for someone to fall from the sky and smash her keyblade into the ground, unleashing a radial shockwave of light that decimated a good chunk of the Nobodies, even if they kept spawning in.
"Elyon!" Cornelia exclaimed.
Elyon stood proudly, holding her Starlight keyblade out and causing a group of Nobodies to back away.
"Yeah, who else wants some?!" Elyon shouted, dashing into the fray and swinging Starlight left and right to easily cut down enemy after enemy.
"Let's follow the queen's example and get to stomping, everybody!" Irma proclaimed as she flicked her hand out to summon Abyssal Tide.
The rest of W.I.T.C.H. followed suit, summoning their keyblades and charging into the horde.
Despite the massive numbers of Nobodies, with so many keyblade wielders engaged in battle, it wasn't long before gaps began to show in the gaggle of enemies.
"Hey, Nick!" Elyon exclaimed. "You wanna finish this off with a combination attack?"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Nick proclaimed. "Let's wreck 'em!"
One of the Samurais lunged for them, but Nick and Elyon countered by standing close to each other and unleashing a rapid flurry of attacks to destroy not only the Samurai, but any other Nobodies that got close to them during the barrage.
"That all ya got?" Elyon teased.
A Berserker marched towards them, but Nick and Elyon warped to the Berserker and began stabbing it multiple times from both sides, before leaping back and firing a cannonade of light and dark energy bolts that converged on the Berserker and destroyed it.
"I'll take 'em," Nick stated as more Nobodies rushed them.
First, Nick and Elyon cloaked their keyblades in a magical aura and rushed forward to make two wide slashes, cutting down dozens of Nobodies. After that, Nick and Elyon raised their hands and created thirteen energy blades that they spun around them in a cutting circle, destroying more Nobodies.
"They just keep coming!" Cornelia shouted, smashing Rockbreaker into the ground to create rock spikes around her that shredded a good chunk of Nobodies.
"Then let's finish this," Elyon proclaimed.
Nick nodded, and as more Nobodies tried to overwhelm them, Nick and Elyon leaped into the air, tossing their keyblades above them. The two keyblades pointed towards each other before emanating large energy orbs from them, blue for Elyon's Starlight, and yellow for Nick's Flying Memory.
The two orbs met in the middle and began drawing the Nobodies into them one by one much like a Magnet spell would. After about seven seconds of this, the spheres exploded outwards, going on to completely clear the area of hostiles.
Once everything was calm again, Elyon landed gracefully on the ground, only to be knocked back to the ground by way of Cornelia throwing herself at her.
"Easy, Corny," Elyon giggled. "I'm doing okay, don't worry."
"How long were you stuck in the darkness?" Cornelia asked. "We were so worried about you, you know..."
"It wasn't too long, actually," Elyon admitted. "I found a way out by following Xemnas' trail out of the realm of darkness, and then I booked it before he found me out, since I didn't want to risk a battle with the entirety of the Organization. I may be queen, but even I don't like being outnumbered."
"And yet we were all heavily outnumbered a few minutes ago," Irma teased.
"The difference is, those were generic mooks," Elyon proclaimed.
"...point," Irma conceded.
"I figure you're all here to stop the Organization?" Elyon stated to the group.
"And my daughter," Nick replied.
"W-wha... whoa, whoa, time out here, you've got a kid?!" Elyon gasped. "How many chapters did I miss here?"
"Honestly, it's quite the tale," Maylin giggled.
Before Maylin could tell the bullet points of their adventure, a corridor of darkness opened just ahead of the group, and a member of the Organization walked out of it.
"Oh, just decided to cut the middleman out and fight us right here?" Nick taunted.
The figure threw his hands out and summoned two keyblades to his hands, that being Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
"W-wait, he's got keyblades?!" Marie shouted.
"Then this must be Roxas," Nick replied, switching his keyblade to Acrossing Two so he could fulfill the promise he'd made to Xion.
And it seemed to be working, as Roxas visibly tensed up upon seeing that keyblade.
"W-where did you get that?" Roxas challenged. Nick simply raised Acrossing Two into a battle stance as Roxas charged and attacked with both keyblades.
When their weapons clashed, Nick was momentarily blinded, and when his vision cleared, he could see himself standing on what appeared to be his Station of Awakening.
Roxas wasted no time and began their fight by hopping back, spinning both keyblades in his hands. Nick steadied himself, only to barely get his own keyblade up in time to block a torrent of light and dark energy circles that had shot out from Roxas's attack.
Nick took his chance to slash at Roxas a few times, only for him to surround himself with light and move around at speeds Nick could barely keep up with.
Once Roxas stopped, he began to lash out at Nick with multiple strikes from differing angles. Nick parried the strikes he could and blocked the ones he couldn't until Roxas jumped back and then shot forward like a lightning bolt, leaving a trail of dark energy behind him. Nick couldn't react to this attack in time and was sent flying clear across the arena, though he was saved from falling off of the platform by an invisible barrier.
"Close one," Nick quipped.
After picking himself up, Nick saw Roxas gliding right towards him, and readied Acrossing Two. Just as Roxas ripped forward with a powerful overhead strike, Nick struck low, knocking Roxas off balance so he could strike with an uppercut that knocked him into the air.
Nick's victory was short-lived, however, when Roxas simply flipped back to his normal posture, then performed a flying somersault down to the platform with keyblades extended, creating a cutting light circle around him as he spun. Nick only had time to leap backwards out of the way.
Roxas stood up, glaring at Nick. "Why do you have that keyblade?" Roxas proclaimed.
"Are you remembering her now?" Nick shot back.
"Answer me, damn you!" Roxas growled, raising Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
Nick took the hint and charged forward, leaping into the air to avoid a low-hanging tornado slash and leap off of Oblivion so he could pop Roxas into the air with a Finishing Leap.
Nick waited for his opportunity, knowing Roxas was most likely going to recover and counter with that somersaulting spin attack. Just as he did, Nick swung Acrossing Two upwards, unleashing a Ripple Drive that sent Roxas stumbling back to the platform.
Just as Nick was about to run in and attack, Roxas swung his keyblades out, and this caused pillars of light to shoot out from him, flying in seemingly random directions to keep Nick guessing.
Roxas stood up, twirling his keyblades before rushing at Nick again, swinging haphazardly and causing more light pillars to fly at Nick.
During a gap in the assault, Nick spun Acrossing Two before swinging it vertically downwards, unleashing a Gravity Break that struck Roxas hard, causing him to lose his balance and the pillars to stop flying towards him.
Nick decided against taking the chance to attack, since he knew Roxas would likely counterattack just as quickly and render his attack moot.
As expected, Roxas surrounded himself with light and glided towards Nick again, this time slashing in an X formation that sent a wave of light and a wave of darkness thundering across the platform towards Nick.
Nick leapt over the attack, facilitating an overhead strike to get the most out of his attack, only for Roxas to parry it with Oathkeeper and shove him back.
Roxas swiftly leapt back, his keyblades extended, before leaping forwards in a powerful spinning attack, his body tinted with both light and darkness as he spun.
Nick slammed Acrossing Two into the ground to propel him into the air, safely out of Roxas's way. Once he landed, the two combatants locked eyes with each other before charging at the same time.
As Roxas continued his charge, Nick juked to the side to avoid a double forward stab, then blasted forward with a Sonic Blade attack that sent Roxas flying back into the air.
After recovering, Roxas swung Oathkeeper and created a wave of light that Nick easily deflected. Nick responded to this by using a Strike Raid to keep Roxas in his place.
"What did you do to her?!" Roxas shouted as he landed on his feet and charged for Nick again.
"What makes you think I did something?!" Nick shot back.
"Why else would you have her keyblade?!" Roxas growled.
The fight quickly devolved into a wild frenzy of attacks, Nick slicing through the empty air with each strike and Roxas returning Nick's attacks double with both of his keyblades.
This stalemate continued for a short while, until Roxas backflipped over Nick to the center of the arena, rising into the air. The aura surrounding him began to shimmer and wobble as he did so, and the purple void around them changed into a rusty, dark orange skyline.
Columns of light and darkness surrounded Roxas as he charged up, giving the arena a rather radiant look reminiscent of a church.
Eventually, Roxas thrust his keyblades to the sky, and this caused wickedly strong bolts of both light and dark electricity to rain down from the heavens and bombard the arena.
Nick had to resort to some wicked dodging to make it through the assault, only to be clipped by one of the bolts and get knocked to the ground. As this happened, the bolts continued to drop from the sky, striking Nick every now and then while he was helpless to avoid it.
Roxas slowly floated back down to the platform as the electric barrage subsided, smirking proudly.
Nick, however, managed to pick himself up, damaged but still able to fight. Roxas inwardly complimented Nick for his tenacity before renewing his double-directional attack.
After a while, the two combatants rushed each other, time seeming to slow down as they approached.
Nick took advantage of a tell in Roxas's stance to avoid his attack and strike back with a Slapshot that sent Roxas into the air and made him lose his grip on his keyblades.
Nick raised his hands and, responding to his unsaid call, the keyblades spun around and flew down to his side, floating behind him.
Nick easily picked up on Roxas's shocked expression, but decided not to give him an opportunity to recover, going immediately on the offensive. Nick noticed that, as he continued his string of combos, Oathkeeper and Oblivion would attack with a will of their own, slashing at Roxas with spinning strikes, forward piercing attacks, and even warping around to strike from multiple angles.
After a while of this, Roxas surrounded himself with light and glided around the arena, not giving Nick a chance to continue attacking him with his own weapons.
Nick stood his ground, inwardly debating what to do next. However, this moment of inaction had cost him, as Roxas had used the light to cloak himself as he warped behind Nick, attempting to throw him with what appeared to be a german suplex.
Nick was able to shake Roxas off, but the Key of Destiny had accomplished his intent; Nick had been distracted enough for Roxas to retake his keyblades.
Deciding he'd mull on that later, Nick began another charge, Acrossing Two held high. Roxas prepared to strike in both directions...
...only for Nick to simply shove him back when he was close enough.
Roxas wondered what Nick had hoped to accomplish there, but when he looked back at Nick, he cursed his own cockiness.
Nick took a step back, twirled Acrossing Two, and ripped forward with a mighty Zantetsuken, cutting straight through Roxas's body.
Roxas stiffened up, his hands opening and his keyblades clattering to the ground and vanishing in streaks of light. He collapsed to his knees before just falling unceremoniously onto his back.
"I didn't hurt her, Roxas," Nick explained. "That evil version of my daughter backstabbed her when she was trying to tell us how to stop them. That's why I have her keyblade, because she wanted to tell you she misses you."
In response, Roxas just smiled. "Hey, if you see here again... tell her I said thanks for holding on to that keyblade," Roxas stated.
"You can tell her that yourself," Nick replied.
Roxas nodded, conceding his defeat as his body faded away. When Roxas had vanished, Nick found himself being transported out of his Station of Awakening and back to the Iridescent Abyss, where everyone was waiting for him to return.
"Is everything okay, Nick?" Cornelia asked.
"Yeah, you just up and disappeared on us!" Maylin exclaimed.
"Did you take care of Roxas?" Marie wondered.
Nick twirled Acrossing Two in his hands. "Another black coat down for the count," Nick proclaimed. "And I fulfilled the promise I made to Xion."
Nick twitched slightly, having sensed hostile intent, and swung Acrossing Two to push his newest attacker away.
To his annoyance, it was another horde of Nobodies, mostly Berserkers and Samurai, but also including a new type of Nobody. This one was mostly light grey, save for a small area on either side of its waist, which was a darker color, and some black markings. It appeared to wear a long robe that covered almost every part of its body, including its face. The Nobody's hands were seemingly permanently connected by the sleeves of the robe, and its individual arms were only distinguishable by the black seam of the sleeves. The Nobody's head sported a black cross pattern that wrapped around the back of its head, and its shoulders were pointed. The lower half of its robe was mostly featureless, except for a few stray black markings and a white Nobody emblem at the bottom.
"Okay, suddenly a new challenger approaches!" Maylin exclaimed.
"That's so not fair," Haruka groaned. "Why do they wait until now to send their higher-ranked flunkies to fight us?"
Nick was about to raise his keyblade to go on the offensive when he felt a powerful surge of energy within him. His entire body began to shine with a large silver aura of light.
Instinctively looking behind him, he noticed that the same silver aura was emanating from Maylin, Haruka, and Marie at the same time.
And they all had wickedly large smiles on their faces, as if they knew what was about to go down.
"I bet you're all thinking the same thing, right?" Haruka quipped.
"I am if you are," Marie giggled.
"Well, what the heck are we waiting for, you guys?!" Maylin proclaimed. "Let's do this thing and send them home crying!"
Nick stood at attention as the girls approached him.
Maylin hugged his right arm.
Haruka took his left hand into her own.
Marie embraced him from behind.
The auras surrounding them joined into one and began to flow into Nick's outfit. Maylin, Haruka and Marie vanished from sight as Nick threw his arms outwards, light exploding from his body and clothes.
The light from Nick's transformation was so intense that even many of the Nobodies backed away, sensing the massive jump in power.
When the light finally faded, the members of W.I.T.C.H. could only stare in awe at Nick's newest Drive Form.
"Can I say 'holy crap, that's awesome?" Irma quipped. "Because holy crap, that's awesome!"
Nick's clothes had changed to shades of silvery white and black, with the symbols on his pant legs resembling an eye with a wind pattern around it. Nick's own Oathkeeper and Oblivion were floating behind him like folded wings, his clothes systematically flickered white, and two large sparkles of pure white light were orbiting around Nick, with a white wisp following them. He was also floating above the ground, his clothes and hair slightly flowing as being held by the wind.
"Now that is definitely what I'm talkin' about!" Final Form Nick proclaimed, his voice sounding like Nick, Maylin, Haruka, and Marie were all talking at the same time. "All right, let's see what this baby is capable of."
One of the Samurai began to attack, but Final Form Nick simply glided forward to meet his opponent, his keyblades opening slightly behind him as if unfolding his 'wings'. Final Form Nick swung his arms and both keyblades telekinetically responded, spiraling around him in sweeping attacks to deal multiple hits to the Samurai.
Another Samurai tried to flank Final Form Nick from behind, but he simply cut a flip in mid-air before thrusting both keyblades forward in drill attacks, defeating that Samurai as well.
A couple Sorcerers began to attack with their magic cubes, but Final Form Nick leaped to avoid the strike. His keyblades began to spin around him, thus protecting him from the cubes.
"Yeah, you're boned now," Final Form Nick taunted, lunging forward and combining his keyblades end-to-end before throwing them forward into the Sorcerers as they rapidly spun. Final Form Nick then telekinetically pulled the keyblades apart and made them clash with each other three times, creating bursts of energy from the clashes that finally destroyed the Sorcerers.
A lone Samurai lurched forward with a one-two slash that actually knocked Final Form Nick into the air, but he quickly recovered and retaliated by spinning his keyblades end-to-end in front of him while floating forward, catching the Samurai in the attack. Final Form Nick then slowly rotated as his keyblades begin rapidly oscillating up and down beside him, dealing rapid damage to the Samurai. Finally, Final Form Nick performed two backflips while rising higher into the air, his keyblades attached to his feet, before diving straight down with the keyblades also pointed downward, splitting the Samurai in half in the process.
One of the Berserkers began to slowly back away, but Final Form Nick wasn't having any of that, laying in to the Berserker with a flurry of spinning attacks before spinning his keyblades in a wide circle, jumping into the air and rotating in a circle, spinning a keyblade on either side of him, then spinning his keyblades outwards before performing a final back flip to the ground, the Berserker already gone.
"Holy crapbaskets, he's murdering them!" Hay Lin exclaimed.
Final Form Nick turned around to face the rest of the swarm, already raising his keyblades to blast them away with magic spells.
Much like Master Form, Final Form Nick's spells acted differently when he used them. Firaga was a large ring of flames extended by a longer ring of fireballs with the finisher adding two more massive rings of fireballs, Blizzaga released two giant chunks of ice at once with the finisher rapidly firing off four alternating ice chunks at a target before Nick turned upside down to fire one last double shot, Thundaga dropping three gigantic bolts of lightning per cast with the finisher dropping multiple massive bolts at once, Aeroga creating a tornado around himself with the finisher creating a much large tornado that exploded outwards with wind blades around it as well to extend its reach, and Waterga causing large bubbles to rise up from underneath its target with the finisher being Final Form Nick surrounding himself with a gigantic bubble before popping it and causing a shockwave of water to emanate outward.
Once Final Form Nick was finished with his berserker magic barrage, not a single Nobody had survived.
"I reiterate," Irma stated. "HOLY. CRAP. BASKETS."
"That was awesome, you guys!" Will exclaimed.
"Heh, what'd you expect when we became a silver whirling dervish of ultimate destruction?" Final Form Nick before splitting apart.
"Yeah, that form seems VERY overpowered when you see it in action," Maylin giggled.
"I was gonna suggest we save Final Form for the stupidly-overpowered enemies or the gigantic hordes," Haruka stated. "Wouldn't wanna rely too much on it, right?"
"Oh, wow, I've never been on such a massive power trip before that," Marie laughed.
"All right, everyone, let's get moving," Nick proclaimed. "I don't think we can afford to waste anymore time here."
"Um... slight problem with that," Hay Lin quipped, pointing towards the nearby alleyway that led out of Memory's Skyscraper and into the Brink of Despair. The castle could be clearly seen from this point, but there didn't seem to be an entrance or any way to get in from their current vantage point.
"Ooh, that could definitely be a problem," Maylin stated. "How do you suggest we go about this?"
"Leave that one to me," Elyon replied, walking into the Brink of Despair with the rest of the group following close behind. When they stopped at the very edge of the cliff that signaled a dead end, Elyon raised Starlight, pouring power from the Crown of Light into her keyblade before firing a beam of light that streaked through the darkened sky and towards the castle.
When the beam actually hit the castle, a large pathway made of refracting blue light formed at the edge of the cliff, thus allowing everyone passage into the castle.
"All in who's going in," Elyon laughed as the group began their trek up the path to the castle.
Meanwhile, at the very top of the castle, Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, could be seen gazing up at the heart-shaped moon that was their Kingdom Hearts. More hearts continued to flow from all over into the moon, and Xemnas couldn't be more pleased at the results.
Even if this was the second time he'd tried this, Xemnas understood why he was doing it again, even if he was destined to fail at it a second time.
As soon as Future Lily's plan was complete, it wouldn't matter anyway.
"Yes, my Kingdom Hearts," Xemnas proclaimed. "Rejoice and feast on these hearts we offer. Shine your pale light on this empty realm. Share your power with all Nobodies."
As he continued contemplating, Saïx appeared through a corridor of darkness. "Lord Xemnas. Is Kingdom Hearts ready?"
"Very soon," Xemnas answered.
"Then... I can end this charade?" Saïx wondered.
"Indeed," Xemnas answered.
"How I've waited to hear that," Saïx sneered.
"Just be careful," Future Lily proclaimed, appearing through her own corridor of darkness. "These brats are tricky, after all. They've already slaughtered most of you."
"I do not fear them," Xemnas answered. "And, it is as you have said. Once you are finished, there will be nothing they can do."
Future Lily glanced at her reflection in No Name. Despite everything she'd done, she often wondered what her father would have thought of her for walking the path she did.
It was because of him that I'm walking the path I am, Future Lily thought. And that is unforgivable.
"I'll give it this," Irma quipped as she swung Abyssal Tide to cut down another Dusk that flew towards her. "It's definitely got the 'spooky castle' vibe down pat."
"So, do we just keep climbing?" Cornelia asked. Elyon had gone ahead to scout for danger and possibly take out a threat or two.
Maylin pointed forwards, towards the large elevator of Crooked Ascension. "Elevator up, you guys!" Maylin proclaimed.
The group took the elevator up to the next floor, occasionally dealing with a few rampant Samurai, before reaching the long, winding stairway of Twilight's View.
"Very homey," Hay Lin giggled.
"I'd be on your guard, everyone," Nick responded. "I've got a feeling we're being watched..."
With that in mind, everyone summoned their keyblades as they made their way up the stairs and into the bottom floor of the Hall of Empty Melodies.
"And that definitely counts as suspicious," Maylin proclaimed. "A big, open room with nothing there? I'm willing to bet..."
Maylin didn't even get to finish her sentence, as a barrage of laser bullets began to fall from the upper balcony of the room. The bullets exploded on impact with the ground and forcing W.I.T.C.H. to take a few steps back to avoid the barrage, only to be locked out from the large platform by a magical barrier.
"Have you been a good boy?" a voice called out from atop the higher balcony.
Having recognized that voice from way back to their first return trip to the Blue Sky Kingdom, Nick glanced up to the balcony and saw Xigbar standing there, his arrowguns at the ready.
"I guess you haven't, huh?" Xigbar quipped. "You know, you little brats have really put us in quite the pickle, haven't you? I guess that's why the keyblade chose you. But oh, man, did it pick a dud this time. Not a single one of you look like you're even half the hero the others were."
"Are you done rambling, old man?!" Nick shot back.
"Rambling? As if," Xigbar retorted. "All I'm trying to say, boy, is that your time is up."
Xigbar wasted no time in combining his two arrowguns into a sniper rifle of sorts and taking aim from his perch.
"Oh, that's not fair!" Maylin shouted. "Stop being a dumb little camper and get down here!"
"You'll have to make me!" Xigbar laughed, firing laser bullets from Sharpshooter and forcing the four keyblade wielders to stay on the move.
When Xigbar decided to fire a larger bullet from his arrowguns, Nick saw something about this particular bullet and skidded to a stop, readying himself for the attack despite the shouts of his friends.
"Gotcha now!" Xigbar exclaimed, firing a much larger blue laser bullet. The Freeshooter definitely didn't expect Nick to bat the bullet back to him with Acrossing Two, then warp around a couple times as the bullet came back to deflect it a second and third time.
"You clever little sneak," Xigbar admitted before warping down to the bottom floor. However, he immediately warped a few feet away, hanging upside down in midair as if the laws of physics didn't apply to him.
"Okay, is that weird to anyone else?" Haruka wondered.
Xigbar began to fire bullets in random patterns from his aerial "perch", leaving Nick to quickly understand that, due to Xigbar's warping abilities, they wouldn't be getting anywhere in this fight unless they found a way to get him back to the ground.
"Heads up!" Xigbar proclaimed, warping to behind Nick for a sneak attack, only for Nick to quickly raise Acrossing Two and deflect the bullets back at Xigbar, knocking him to the ground.
Not intending to waste a single second, Nick was on the move before Xigbar had even touched the ground, slashing at him at least four times before blasting him into the air with a Ripple Drive.
Maylin quickly tagged in, hitting Xigbar with a Blizzaga to the chest followed by a Thundaga from above. Before she could cast a third spell, Xigbar recovered and warped away, using his spatial powers to shift the Hall of Empty Melodies into a long, narrow pathway, with Xigbar perched at the opposite end.
"What do you think of the new backdrop?" Xigbar taunted.
"Dude, is this really the time?" Marie responded, rearing back before launching a Dark Firaga straight for Xigbar. The Freeshooter couldn't warp away in time at the speed the attack was coming and got blasted in the face by it, returning the arena to normal.
"Guess not," Xigbar admitted, returning to his warping-and-shooting strategy.
When Nick deflected another volley of shots and brought Xigbar back to ground level, this time, Haruka was the one to attack, landing three clean hits before ending in her Groundspike finisher, in which she jammed Rumbling Rose into the ground and caused spiked pillars of rock to explode upwards from the ground around her.
Even as he went flying backwards, Xigbar warped away, this time changing the arena into a box-shaped arena with an intersection of platforms meeting in the middle.
"Come on already, get a new act!" Maylin exclaimed, firing off a Thunder spell only to have it fizzle out against invisible barriers lining the intersections. "Oh, you cheap little..."
Marie solved that problem by leaping into the air and unleashing a Dark Break, homing in on Xigbar's darkness to pogo bounce off of his head with Darkgnaw at least five times before dive-bombing him on the sixth, the arena returning to normal.
"All right, guess it's time to get serious," Xigbar stated before once again changing the arena, this time to a small square that barely gave the four wielders any room to move around in. "Look what I saved up for you!"
Xigbar began to warp all over the Hall of Empty Melodies while firing laser barrages from every conceivable angle. Nick and the girls dodged as best they could with their limited space, even if this led to a few bullets clipping them on occasion.
After about a minute of this attack, Xigbar warped to high above the arena, both of his arrowguns glowing with a dark sheen. "Let's see how you dance, boys and girls!" Xigbar laughed.
Xigbar raised his guns to the sky and fired a large blast. Not even a split second later, what appeared to be hundreds upon hundreds of laser bullets were converging on them from all directions.
Nick and Maylin silently nodded to each other before raising both of their keyblades and casting Reflega at the same time, creating two massive prism barriers around the quartet just as the lasers began to batter at them.
"Come on, jewel shield, hold true..." Maylin muttered.
There were so many lasers that the first Reflect couldn't hold and eventually shattered completely, leaving the lasers to continue striking the second barrier.
Thankfully, by the time the barrage had finally stopped, the second barrier was still standing, even though it was very battered and had holes in it from the ferocity of the attack.
Once his attack was over, Xigbar warped down to the ground and right in front of the group, intending to shoot at them through one of the holes in their barrier.
Big mistake, Nick and Maylin thought.
To Xigbar's surprise, Nick and Maylin slashed their keyblades at the barrier, which shattered and caused myriad lights to burst around them, throwing all the damage the two barriers had absorbed (I think we can safely assume it was a lot of damage) right back into Xigbar, stunning him long enough for Nick to rush up and slice through Xigbar's body with a Zantetsuken.
"I... I lost? Me?" Xigbar gasped as he fell to his knees, unable to hold his arrowguns up anymore.
"All right, you," Nick growled. "What did you mean by 'the others'?!"
In response, Xigbar just laughed derisively, even as his body began to fade away.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Xigbar taunted as his body disappeared into darkness.
Deciding to just write Xigbar's words off for the moment, Nick glanced towards the entryway, where the barrier keeping W.I.T.C.H. away finally dissipated and allowed them to catch up with their friends.
"Wow, that looked pretty intense," Irma quipped. "Kind of a shame we couldn't participate in that."
"Yeah, we would have stomped him so much quicker if it had been nine on one!" Hay Lin proclaimed.
"That leaves three," Haruka stated. "We're almost done here, guys. Let's get moving and finish them off before something else decides to go wrong."
And with that, they left the Hall of Empty Melodies behind, not realizing that Red and Black Fang were watching events unfold from a much higher vantage point.
"Well, I'll be," Red proclaimed. "This castle is simply perfect for my plans. Perhaps we should... acquire it for ourselves. What say you, Black Fang?"
Black Fang didn't look as convinced, glancing up at Kingdom Hearts. "I'll admit, it's a really nice place, and the setup would be perfect, but..." Black Fang stated. "This is an in-between world, which means it's way too close to the darkness. The Heartless won't listen to us here!"
In response, Red simply grinned evilly. "Once again, my dear partner, you underestimate what I am capable of," Red responded, clutching the handle of his staff.
The group continued to make their way up the castle, passing through Naught's Skyway and dealing with more Nobodies. Despite the large numbers, the Nobodies easily fell to Final Form's astounding power.
"Hey, I can see Kingdom Hearts more clearly from here," Taranee stated.
"I still wonder what exactly they're going to do with it once they've finished it, if they actually do before we're done with them," Marie wondered.
Maylin glanced downwards, towards the neon city below them. Suddenly, a horrific thought came to mind.
"I think I know what they're planning," Maylin admitted, everyone's attention now squarely on her. "The Oracle said this world's actually a sort of defense against dimensional travel, but there's cracks in it thanks to Xehanort's meddling. What if the Organization's trying to create a new Kingdom Hearts to gain the power to destroy those barriers?"
"That is twenty kinds of not good," Nick realized. "If those barriers fall, that means Xehanort and his own cronies are gonna have free reign of our dimension, and I'm not sure if we can handle all of that at once."
"Then let's move right stat now," Marie replied. "I think we still have time to stop them."
No more words needed to be said as the group made their way out of Naught's Skyway, through the second floor of the Hall of Empty Melodies, and into Proof of Existence.
This area appeared to be a multi-tiered mock graveyard for the members of the Organization, containing twelve stelas arranged by the rank of each member from left to right then top to bottom, with digital panels in the floor before the stele acting as epitaphs depicting the member's title and weapon. Each of the stelas actually seemed to operate as portals to other rooms in the castle, but ten of them were destroyed, with only two of them still active. The way ahead was blocked by a large ethereal bubble blocking the doorway.
"Aw, nuts, are we stranded?" Hay Lin asked.
"I think we have to go through the two remaining portals and take care of whoever's inside," Haruka responded, studying the gateways. "Most likely Xemnas' last two toadies. Once we get rid of them, we should be able to move on and get to Xemnas before it's too late."
"So, which one should we go to first?" Cornelia asked.
"How about this one?" Nick stated, pointing to the portal that read "The Gambler of Fate". With everyone in agreement, the group crossed through the portal into Havoc's Divide, a large and sloped area with a clear view of Kingdom Hearts.
Before Irma could make a joke about the tiny arena, a corridor of darkness opened up in the middle of the arena, allowing Luxord to step out.
"You!" Nick proclaimed, remembering Luxord from ALfheim Online and how he'd set the Grim Reaper on the raid party.
Luxord grinned and snapped his fingers, causing giant playing cards to appear and circle everyone but Nick. When the playing cards moved away, Nick's allies had vanished.
"What did you do to them?!" Nick shouted, summoning Dimension Tripper to his hands.
"I'd rather we just skip the formalities," Luxord responded, raising his hands and causing an hourglass charm to appear on Nick's chest. When Nick looked up, he saw a similar charm on Luxord's body as well.
"The first to run out of time is the loser," Luxord continued.
"All right, then, you're on, gambler boy," Nick proclaimed.
TIME START
Nick: 20:00
Luxord: 20:00
Nick decided to cut out the middleman and charge right for Luxord, only for him to place a shield of cards in front of him. Nick slashed through the cards quickly and prepared to strike Luxord, only for another card to fly out of nowhere and strike Nick in the chest, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.
Nick: 19:30
Luxord: 19:10
"Talk about a sore loser when it comes to poker players," Nick joked, checking his hourglass. He had only lost a little time to that last attack, whereas Luxord's seemed to be emptying a little faster than his own.
"A joker, are you?" Luxord replied, holding up two more larger cards and flinging them towards Nick, who simply slashed Dimension Tripper through them. When he looked up again, Nick noticed that Luxord's time was going down slightly faster for each card that he cut down. And Luxord seemed to not notice this, giving Nick a fiendish idea.
Nick: 19:15
Luxord: 18:50
"Come on, you poker washout, you call that cutting the deck?" Nick shouted. To his enjoyment, Luxord took the bait and flung more cards towards Nick that quickly joined the shredded remains of the other cards Nick had already cut down thus far.
Nick: 19:07
Luxord: 17:20
"Where's your eye for the game, numbnuts?!" Nick taunted. More cards, all of them cut down. However, unbeknownst to Nick, Luxord had finally caught on to Nick's scheme, and threw a bigger card towards him.
Nick: 18:52
Luxord: 14:33
"He's making this too easy," Nick quipped, swinging Dimension Tripper to cut down the larger card, only for it to disappear before he could complete his swing.
"What?" Nick gasped just as the card reappeared and slashed at him multiple times from different angles. When Nick was finally able to retaliate and destroy the card, he had lost a good chunk of his remaining time.
Nick: 15:22
Luxord: 14:21
"That was lucky," Nick proclaimed.
"Luck is like that," Luxord stated. "A window of opportunity can open and close in the blink of an eye. It's whether or not you can jump on the chance when it arises that determines a man's fate. Let's hope you can stand up to the odds."
Luxord surrounded himself with cards before leaping into one and shuffling five of them across the floor and eventually having them surround Nick.
"Look closely now," Luxord taunted.
Nick stood still and studied the cards as they floated around him. He saw four types of cards: a card that had nothing on the back, a card that had a fireball on the back, which would most likely damage him, a card that had a clock on the back of it, which Nick realized he should stay away from, and a card with Luxord on the back.
When he saw Luxord's card get close to him, Nick made his move, tapping the card that showed Luxord with Dimension Tripper, pulling the Gambler of Fate out of the card and leaving him vulnerable. Nick took this chance to start attacking, landing five hits before leaping into the air, slashing for more times and finishing with a Hurricane Period, pushing Luxord back towards the entryway.
Nick: 14:08
Luxord: 12:31
"How'd that feel?" Nick challenged.
"A challenge, is it?" Luxord responded, setting four cards up in front of him that rapidly rotated between showing Xs and Os on their faces.
"Do you know the rules?" Luxord asked. Nick watched the shifting patterns until they slowed down enough for him to slash Dimension Tripper through the card with the O, causing Luxord's time to drain more and giving Nick an opportunity to blast the Gambler of Fate with a Thundaga spell from above.
Nick: 13:44
Luxord: 09:37
"Hey, it looks like I'm gonna win," Nick taunted.
"Don't squander your time," Luxord proclaimed, once again surrounding himself with cards, this time throwing the cards at Nick before he could react. Nick jumped and dodged to the side to avoid the cards that were flying at him at incredible speeds. Nick was able to cut a few of them down, but he opted to simply dodge the faster ones and not risk losing time unnecessarily.
"Who's the one squandering?" Nick laughed, leaping over another card and swinging Dimension Tripper to cut down a card that had been approaching from behind.
"Still quite the joker, I see," Luxord replied, flinging more cards from his seemingly unlimited supply towards Nick, who cut them down with his keyblade one by one. After a while of this, Nick leaped towards a nearby wall, then propelled himself off of it and towards Luxord, using a Magnet Splash to slam Gambler of Fate into a nearby wall.
Nick: 13:09
Luxord: 06:54
"Look who's on top of the game!" Luxord shouted as he disappeared and littered the arena floor with dozens of his cards. Nick began to dodge the ones he could even as Luxord continued to teleport around and slash him with larger cards. Nick tried to make sure to avoid as many attacks as possible, as those larger cards seemed to take quite a bit of time off of him when he got hit by them.
Nick: 05:09
Luxord: 05:27
After about two minutes of this, Luxord retreated to the entryway, blocking Nick's pathway with a row of gigantic cards that formed a wall around them.
Four of the cards began to cycle through showing Xs and Os on their faces, just like before.
"Watch closely," Luxord taunted.
Nick studied the cycles for a few seconds, then pointed towards the first card with Dimension Tripper just as it hit O and stayed there. Even so, the other three cards continued to cycle.
Guess I gotta get O on all of them, Nick thought.
After catching the third O, the last one began cycling so fast that it was hard for Nick to keep track of, but he kept himself focused, knowing this one was going to determine the outcome of this fight.
Deciding to just take a chance, Nick pointed Dimension Tripper towards the last card.
It had stopped on the O.
While Luxord gasped in shock, Nick raised his free hand, and all of the nearby cards flew into his hand.
Flashing a grin to Luxord, Nick threw the cards out so that they all struck Luxord at once, rapidly dropping his remaining time to one second.
While Luxord was staggered, Nick was already on the move, ripping forward with a Zantetsuken.
And that was the end of it.
FINAL RESULT
Nick: 03:01
Luxord: 00:00
Luxord dropped to his knees, his strength rapidly fading. "You... you play the game quite well," Luxord conceded as he faded back into darkness, accepting his defeat with grace.
Once Luxord had faded away, a few more cards appeared, floated around the arena, and vanished, returning the rest of the group to Havoc's Divide.
"Holy crap, Nick, are you okay?!" Maylin exclaimed.
"Yeah, no worries," Nick responded. "Let's keep moving."
After crossing back to the Proof of Existence, the portal crumbled to dust and rubble behind them, leaving only the one portal at the far right of the room, which read "The Luna Diviner".
"Just one more and we can go after the big cheese," Irma stated. "Let's hope this guy actually puts up a fight."
"Um, Irma, I wouldn't be saying that if I were you," Will admonished as the group crossed through the portal to Addled Impasse, a large chamber with a massive stained-glass window that gave a clear view of Kingdom Hearts, even as more hearts continued to flow into it. "Knowing our luck, the next guy we fight could be super difficult."
And sure enough, Saïx was standing by the window waiting for them, his claymore, Lunatic, clutched in his hands.
"You've done well, Nick," Saïx admitted. "Much better than we ever expected, and definitely much better than Sora did."
"All right, you, where's Elyon?!" Cornelia shouted. "We haven't seen her at all since we entered the castle. Did you jerks do something to her?!"
Saïx simply scoffed. "Who really knows? I expect that she's catching up with her 'friend' from the darkness," Saïx proclaimed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cornelia shot back, summoning Earthshaker to her hands.
"She doesn't need you anymore, Cornelia," Saïx taunted.
"Oh, what, like we're supposed to believe that pack of lies?!" Nick proclaimed, aiming Dimension Tripper for Saïx.
Hefting Lunatic onto his shoulder, Saïx took a couple steps forward. "Well, you don't have to if you don't want to. But you can believe this, keyblade wielders. Organization XIII has determined that you have outlived your usefulness. Look there."
Saïx pointed towards Kingdom Hearts in the distance. "Our Kingdom Hearts," Saïx proclaimed. "Thanks to all of you, we have collected countless hearts. Can you feel their euphoria?"
Saïx turned Lunatic over in his hands, revealing its razor-sharp edges. "And now... you die," Saïx growled, his voice sounding much more unhinged.
"It's nine on one this time, nutball," Hay Lin reminded, summoning Wind Maker. "You really think you can take on all of us at once?"
Saïx raised his hands to the sky. "Moon, shine down," Saïx proclaimed, rising into the air while Lunatic began to glow, his body wrapped in what appeared to be bright blue flames.
"Um, does anyone think we should move?" Taranee asked.
Sure enough, Saïx let out a feral roar before dropping back to the ground and swinging Lunatic wildly. Each swing of his claymore created blue shockwaves in abundance.
"Yeah, we need to move!" Maylin exclaimed, and the entire group scattered in different directions to avoid Saïx's berserk attack.
Haruka, always known for noticing things others didn't, began studying Saïx as he rampaged around the room, creating shockwaves wherever he struck and even throwing what appeared to be copies of his claymore to create even larger shockwaves.
"Any suggestions, guys?!" Hay Lin shouted over the din of Saïx's roaring.
"I think we need to knock him out of his rampage," Haruka explained. "Notice how he immediately went berserk when the fight started? I can tell that he relies mostly on his berserk state to do battle, so I think if we can knock him out of it, he'll be easy pickings for all nine of us."
"Okay, but how do we do that?" Irma asked, firing off a quick Water spell to douse some of the flames left behind by Saïx's shockwaves and give her some breathing room.
"I'd try going for one of those copy claymores," Haruka quipped.
"Leave that one to me," Nick proclaimed, rushing towards one of the dropped claymores while Saïx was on the other end of the room, and picked it up in his hands, suddenly floating a bit off the ground as he did so.
Saïx approached quickly, still swinging Lunatic like a, well, lunatic, and even though he struck Nick with it a few times, it didn't push him back or stagger him.
Nick took his chance to attack while Saïx was surprised, swinging the claymore overhead three times, each hit lifting Saïx into the air, before finishing with a barrage of spinning strikes that broke Saïx's berserk state, causing him to lose his blue glow as he fell to the floor.
"Ugh... I misjudged you..." Saïx admitted.
"Damn right you did," Will proclaimed, lifting Innocent Sign.
All nine keyblade wielders charged towards Saïx and struck at the same time with their weapons.
Saïx could only stand in place for a few seconds before losing his grip on Lunatic, which clattered to the ground and vanished into nothingness. Looking up towards the heart-shaped moon in the distance, Saïx weakly reached for it in his last breaths.
"Kingdom Hearts..." Saïx gasped. "Where... is my heart?"
With that, Saïx had spoken his last, collapsing to his knees and fading away.
"Ooooookay, is it me, or was that fight kinda an anti-climax?" Irma wondered.
"Like I said, it was nine against one," Hay Lin giggled. "And we're all keyblade wielders. He didn't stand a chance."
"Come on, girls, we need to get going," Nick proclaimed. "All that's left is Xemnas, then we need to find Lily and end this once and for all."
With everyone agreeing to get the lead out, the group made their way back through the portal to Proof of Existence, and now that the way forward was finally open, crossing through Naught's Approach, a walkway on the outside of the main tower, and into Ruin and Creation's Passage, a large room with floating platforms over a gigantic abyss and paths that remained invisible until approached.
After leaping up to slice a Sniper in half, Nick noticed something strange coming from the entryway to this room.
Marie suddenly stiffened in her spot, and Nick knew something bad was about to happen. Sure enough, when Nick glanced back towards the entryway, he saw what must have been thousands upon thousands of Heartless swarming in, almost like a tidal wave.
"Oh, crap! MOVE IT!" Maylin shouted, and the group charged up the pathways towards the upper exit even as the Heartless continued to slowly but surely march upwards.
Even when they finally reached the exit to the Altar of Naught, the problem just seemed to get worse, as still more Heartless were now pouring in from the windows and ceiling of the room.
"Oh, god, there's gonna be no end to this!" Marie shouted.
"Come on, we can stop 'em!" Irma exclaimed. "All of us together!"
Feeling more invigorated by Irma's words, the entire group readied their keyblades for a skirmish...
...only to be interrupted by Red and Black Fang appearing in front of them through corridors of darkness.
"W-what the heck?!" Will shouted.
"Be gone, Guardians," Red proclaimed, hefting his staff. "Leave these foul creatures to us."
"Um... let me see if I've got this right," Cornelia stated. "You two are helping us?!"
"Red, there's no way we can take them all," Black Fang admitted. "Just look at how many there are!"
"Make no mistake, Black Fang, I will be sending them after Xemnas and that girl," Red answered. "Unless... you'd rather fight them on your own?"
Black Fang looked around at the Heartless swarm, then the keyblade wielders, considering all of his options.
"Frankly, buddy, I'd rather run!" Black Fang shouted.
"Off with you, then," Red stated.
Black Fang was about to actually turn and run, only to nearly crash into Elyon, who had come down from the Altar of Naught to investigate the surge of darkness she'd sensed.
"Well, if it isn't miss sprightly queen," Black Fang mocked.
"It's up to you if you want to run away," Elyon stated, Starlight resting on her shoulder.
"What, you mean abandon ship? You're out of your mind," Black Fang responded.
Red glanced back at his enemies, a smirk on his face. "Do not misunderstand this, you brats," Red proclaimed. "This is not redemption for me. I am merely paying you back for what happened during the Invasion. And do not forget, once I have destroyed them all, this castle will be mine."
"Hey, opportunities like this don't come along every day, you know," Black Fang replied before joining his master in a fighting stance. "Bring it on!"
After readying his own personal weapon, Red and Black Fang charged towards the horde of Heartless, already flinging dark magic attacks every which way to blast clusters of Shadows aside.
"We have to hurry up," Elyon proclaimed.
"But what about them?" Nick retorted. "Villains or not, we can't just let them get turned into Heartless chow! That's a fate worse than any death!"
Elyon just shook her head. "They're doing what their hearts command. We can't interfere with that," Elyon explained. "Besides, we need to take this chance while we can."
Nick glanced back at the two villains, still knocking Heartless aside with wild abandon, and realized that Elyon was right.
After a quick regroup in which Elyon used her Healing Light spell to fully heal any wounds the group had taken fighting their way through the castle, they all made their way through the gateway and into the Altar of Naught, then up the final stairway to the very top of the castle, where, predictably, Xemnas was waiting for them, beckoning towards Kingdom Hearts.
"Soon," Xemnas stated, acting as if he didn't know the group was there. "Soon, it will be time, and then we may begin. Warriors of the keyblade, go forth and bring me more hearts."
The entire group summoned their keyblades with a rather dramatic cry of "NEVER!", all pointing their weapons towards Xemnas.
"Denizens of light, answer me this question," Xemnas asked. "Why do you hate the darkness so?"
Irma chuckled before lowering Abyssal Tide slightly. "Aw, come on, we don't hate the darkness," Irma admitted. "Sometimes, it's just kind of... well, scary."
"But the world... this entire universe is made of both light and darkness," Haruka proclaimed. "One can't exist without the other, because they're two sides of the same coin."
"Makes you wonder why we're scared of the dark sometimes, heh," Marie admitted.
"It's because of what's lurking inside it, right?" Will answered.
"Then allow me another question," Xemnas continued, unconvinced. "You claim to accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light. So why is it you loathe us who teeter so precariously on the edge of nothing, turned away by both light and darkness, and never given a choice?"
"Simple, really," Nick replied, switching his keyblade to Oathkeeper. "It's because of what you and your kind do to our worlds."
"That may be. But... what other choice might we have had?" Xemnas explained.
"Oh, put a sock in it, robe boy!" Maylin shouted, hoping to put Xemnas on edge to give them an advantage. "You're just a bunch of Nobodies who don't even exist! Stop claiming you're sad about this or that when you're not sad about ANYTHING!"
Maylin winked to her comrades to let them know she didn't personally think that way, having seen proof that even Nobodies could grow new hearts over time. She'd seen it personally when Axel had defended Hayate from his own foot soldiers.
However, Xemnas simply laughed it off. "Very good, young mage. You don't miss a thing," Xemnas stated. "I cannot feel... sorrow. No matter what misery befalls the worlds. No matter what you think... what you feel... or how you exist."
Nick had just about had enough of Xemnas' speech and prepared himself to attack, only for Xemnas to raise his hands and cause a circle of energy to surround the Altar of Naught.
After just a few seconds, the light became too bright to see, and Nick was forced to shield his eyes.
When he could see again, Nick was seemingly alone, having been pulled into an illusory room which was comprised of the large skyscraper he'd seen back in the dark city and almost nothing else.
Xemnas was standing in front of him, extending two long, lightsaber-like blades from his sleeves.
Nick readied himself as Xemnas glided closer, swinging Interdiction twice in wide attacks. Nick quickly parried both hits with Oathkeeper before striking back with a quick three-hit combo.
Before Nick could use a finisher, Xemnas wrapped himself in a sphere of darkness and moved a short distance away. Nick rushed over to attack Xemnas as he came out of it, only for Xemnas to raise his hand and create a lattice barrier in front of him, forcing Nick to skid to a stop.
"Note to self, do not touch the barrier," Nick quipped to himself.
When the barrier dissipated, Nick immediately went back on the offensive, smacking Xemnas around with baseball-style swings, only to be blasted backwards by another barrier.
This didn't discourage Nick, who quickly righted himself and charged back towards Xemnas like an all-star slugger after the game-winning hit. When he got close enough (and the barrier had vanished), Nick began to spin circles around Xemnas, his keyblade creating gleaming after-images in its wake. Xemnas was sucked into the path of the spinning keyblade and sent stumbling a few feet back.
Xemnas retreated into his dark sphere, only to move to behind Nick and start performing a long-winded but graceful combo that forced Nick to put all his focus into defending himself. It was tricky at times, but Nick was able to block or deflect each attack.
However, Xemnas wasn't finished just yet, and again warped to behind Nick and striking him with a large bolt of lightning before he could react. Wondering why he could suddenly feel his strength draining, Nick quickly saw that three large crystals were surrounding him, occasionally zapping him with small bolts of electricity.
Xemnas retreated to the base of the skyscraper before warping himself up to the top of it. "Come closer, if you dare..."
Nick decided to take the possible bait, running up to the base of the skyscraper and spinning Oathkeeper around him to shatter the crystals that were shocking him. Glancing upwards towards the top, he saw Xemnas waiting for him.
Deciding not to keep him waiting, Nick spun his keyblade in his hands before switching it to Oblivion and jumping off of a nearby guard rail so he could start running up the side of the skyscraper.
As Nick continued to wall run, Xemnas leaped off of the roof to meet him, extending his energy blades as he did so.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Nick and Xemnas approached each other.
Xemnas attempted to strike with both of his blades in a double forward stab, but Nick raised Oblivion to parry the attack before vaulting over Xemnas. Never one to waste an opportunity, Nick smashed Oblivion downwards, striking Xemnas and throwing him down towards the ground.
Nick immediately pursued, and right when they reached the third floor, Nick and Xemnas traded attacks for a bit before Nick was able to catch Xemnas off guard and slam him directly into the skyscraper.
The force of this sudden attack left Xemnas stunned as he fell unceremoniously to the ground, giving Nick all the time he needed to finish the battle with a Zantetsuken.
Xemnas just glanced at Nick in his death throes, accepting of his defeat.
"So... it wasn't a fallacy..."
His last words spent, Xemnas fade away, leaving Nick alone in Memory's Contortion.
"All right, now how exactly do I get out of here?" Nick wondered, slinging Oblivion over his shoulder.
The answer to that came in the form of Memory's Contortion distorting heavily, almost appearing to glitch out. After another bright flash that forced Nick to shield his eyes, he was back on the Altar of Naught, where all of his allies were understandably worried for him.
"Jeez, Nick, you really need to stop vanishing on us," Irma laughed.
"How'd you do?" Cornelia asked, sounding hopeful.
Nick just smiled, holding his keyblade proudly. "Ladies, Organization XIII is officially no more."
"SWEET!" Maylin shouted. "One problem down, and only one more to go!"
"Did someone call for me?"
Nick didn't even have to look behind him to know who was calling to him.
"Maybe," Nick quipped, turning around to face his future daughter. "What's it to you?"
"I take it you've already figured out what I intend to do with the power of Kingdom Hearts?" Future Lily stated.
"Why else do you think we're here?" Irma teased.
"And I assume you honestly think you'll be able to stop me?" Future Lily laughed, leveling No Name towards Nick.
"Lily, haven't we been over this before?" Nick quipped, hoping he could get through to her.
"I'm warning you this one time," Future Lily growled, already on edge after her last conversation with Xemnas. "Don't try and pull any of your nonsense over my head."
"After what you did when we fought Grima, I really thought I'd gotten through to you in some way, Lily," Nick continued, ignorant of Future Lily's warnings. "What would your father think of this path you've chosen for yourself?"
Darkness exploded from Future Lily's body at this, forcing everyone backwards with its sheer pressure alone.
"MY FATHER IS THE REASON I'M WALKING THE PATH I AM, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Future Lily screamed. "I LOST EVERYTHING TO THE HEARTLESS, AND YOU SERIOUSLY ASSUME YOU KNOW MY PAIN?!"
Nick steadied himself, casting a Reflega barrier in front of everyone to protect them from whatever Future Lily was about to do.
He definitely didn't expect Future Lily to leap into the air, seemingly transform her keyblade into metallic wings, and start flying into the air, away from the group...
...and towards Kingdom Hearts.
"Oh, crap, she's retreating?!" Hay Lin shouted.
"No, she's going for Kingdom Hearts!" Haruka exclaimed.
Future Lily slowed to a stop just in front of Kingdom Hearts and placed her hand directly onto it, feeling its power begin to flow into her.
"Hear me, o great Kingdom Hearts, origin of every heart," Future Lily proclaimed. "It seems that our time has come. But know this. I will grant you as many hearts as it takes for our purpose to be realized. I granted you all the power you now hold, thanks to that meddlesome Organization. It makes sense that you can no more be complete than I without you. O great Kingdom Hearts, lend me your power, so that we may erase this entire multiverse! The power to recreate everything! The power to erase the fools that hinder us!"
"Lily, stop it!" Nick shouted. "This isn't what your family would have wanted!"
"Hearts quivering with hatred..." Future Lily chanted, her body and essence bursting to full with the power that Kingdom Hearts was granting her. "Hearts burning with rage... hearts scarred by envy... so many believe the heart's true nature to be beyond understanding. But it's not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!"
Kingdom Hearts began to shine with a massive, otherworldly light, and eventually sucked Future Lily straight into it.
"Um, where'd she go?" Irma gasped. "Did she actually go straight into Kingdom Hearts?!"
"I really can't believe that's supposed to be your daughter in another dimension, Nick," Hay Lin replied.
"I don't think we have time to be sitting around, girls," Nick stated. "We have to find a way to follow her!"
As if fate had been waiting for Nick to say that, sparkles of light began to converge near Kingdom Hearts, eventually forming into a gigantic door. Light began to leak from the underside of the door, forming a luminescent path to the door that connected to the Altar of Naught.
"Well, ask a silly question," Nick laughed.
"I think... the worlds gave us this doorway," Elyon gasped as she realized the implications. "The worlds, the people on them, the friends all of you have made... it seems they want us to be the guardians of their destiny."
"Well, then who the heck are we to say no?" Will stated. "Let's do this thing already!"
Marie took a few steps forwards, towards where Nick was standing. "Once we go through that door, there's no turning back," Marie proclaimed. "It's victory... or oblivion."
Marie glanced back at her brother. "So, big bro... are you ready?"
To be concluded...
New Drive Form acquired!
Final Form
Form Focus: Merge with the spirits of Maylin, Haruka, and Marie to unleash the keyblade's true power.
Drive Gauge Points Used: 5
Advancing Form Ability: Glide (Press [] in mid-air to ride the wind. Keep the button pressed down for longer action.)
Action Abilities:
Final Arcana: Handling the keyblade with great skill, unleashes a powerful finishing combo move to a single target.
Final Strike: While spinning in midair, deals a powerful finishing combo move to a single target.
Final Arts: Unleashes a powerful finishing combo move to get rid of several targets at once.
Auto Assault: The keyblade automatically unleashes attacks in various situations.
Crime & Punishment: A keyblade held in each hand unleashes powerful magic spells.
Support Abilities:
Synch Blade: Equips a keyblade in each hand. The ability of the left hand weapon becomes available as well.
Form Boost: Increases the duration of the user's Drive Forms, slowing down the consumption of the Form Gauge.
MP Hastega: Increases MP restoration speed by 75% after MP is fully consumed. Equip more to increase the effect.
On the next episode:
Maylin: THIS IS IT, EVERYBODY! At long last, the finale has arrived!
Haruka: Why does this particular journey feel like it took so much longer, despite how long it actually was?
Marie: Well, there were the other stories the author's been working on, right?
Nick: Oh, please don't start breaking the fourth wall like Neptune does. Her antics are enough...
Haruka: Next time is the final battle, dear readers! We're heading into Kingdom Hearts itself to stop the evil Lily from using its power to destroy all of existence!
Maylin: We're not spoiling any of the fun, so you'll just have to come and read it for yourself! But trust me, it's going to be one heck of a showdown!
Nick: Next time on the final episode of W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart II, "The Beginning of the End"!
Nick, Maylin, Haruka & Marie: May your hearts be your guiding key!