Jack focused his attention on Corruption and Darkness. That was what pervaded the atmosphere, like ink sinking into a glass of water, tainting everything it touched. What would they do to this world now? Who would they possess? And where was everyone? Soaring up alongside the buildings, Jack couldn't see any movement anywhere. It was as if everyone had already been killed. Was this the work of Corruption?
"Can you hear something?" Rayne asked. Jack cocked his head and listened. He heard the sound of gunfire echoing across the buildings the four of them zoomed towards the sound. The buildings they passed all looked orange, but as Jack flew closer he realized it was metal and the dull orange was the reflection of the sun. As he looked up, his eyes were captured by what seemed like a ceiling to the sky. There were huge metal protrusions that seemed to rise up on the horizon and cover most of it. The metal seemed like it was invading the sky, intruding on what it could never possess.
The four of them flew past darker buildings that seemed both black and white, and Jack realized that all the buildings were made of shining metal that perfectly reflected what was in front of them. It was like flying through a world of mirrors. The metal shimmered between bright and dark as he flew past, and it induced a hypnotic effect on Jack. It seemed like he wasn't moving forward or backwards at all, rather, it was the buildings themselves that were moving. He quickly shook his head and flew faster to where the shooting was taking place. He couldn't afford to lose concentration now.
He could hear people shouting as they approached, and when he burst out onto the surface, or out into the sun where the disorienting effect of the buildings now longer confused him, he saw a huge dragon take flight. To say it was black was an understatement. It was so devoid of colour that everything surrounding it seemed darkened as well. There were dim purple streaks all over its hard skin, but they only stood out against the pure Darkness that emanated from the dragon.
Amazingly, several ships were chasing after it. Jack had to admire their bravery. The ships were polished and shone under the sun, but as they approached the black dragon, they seemed to dim and fade, as if simply being next to the dragon was enough to suck all the life out of them and pluck them out of the sky. Jack had stopped his Rider as he had taken in the dragon, and his family were hovering next to him.
"It's Bahamut again." Jason said, gesturing towards the dragon. "How many times have we been blasted by a Megaflare?"
"We've beaten it plenty of times." Jack said, "We can do it again."
"While it's infused with a Divine Being?" Jason asked, "You must have noticed that it's not like its other summonings."
"It must be Darkness." Rayne said, "Just look at that thing."
"Doesn't matter." Jack said, "Whether it's Light, Darkness or Corruption, we'll grab them by the neck and send them back to Kingdom Hearts."
"I think not." A blast of grey Light made all four scatter, and they saw two of the Grandmasters floating in the air behind them.
"Allow me to introduce my vessel, Avomis." Corruption said, "He has become a most useful ally." The said Grandmaster was shorter than the others, and his Keyblade was actually two long knives that he held in backhand grips, like Ven and Jack. In a flash, he pushed off the wall and ran faster than any of the Rikkisons expected. He ran towards Mist, but then changed direction mid air and headed for Rayne. The other Grandmaster, Arcostan, kept Jack and Jason at bay, weaving a wall of Corruption between them and Rayne. Mist raised her gauntlet as it shone even brighter, but was thrown into a wall by a fourth Grandmaster that had appeared behind her.
"You grow careless the moment your precious daughter is threatened." Agatha said, "I thank you for possessing Hearts."
It hadn't been a powerful strike, and Mist quickly regained her footing, if such a term could be used in an aerial battle. She used a series of anti-gravity fields that repelled herself off them to maneuver. She flew straight forward, then used Aerora to fling Agatha into one of the Anti-Gravity fields. Bouncing off the fields, Agatha was flung towards her, and Mist drew her fist back to punch Agatha. Agatha quickly used her Keyblade to meet Mist's gauntlet, and they flew back from the impact. Both bumped into Mist's Anti-Gravity field, and Mist used Graviga to draw Agatha to her at an even quicker pace.
Agatha was undeterred, and she flipped in the air and held out her Keyblade. It was in the shape of a long lance, and it glowed yellow as she called: "Spellblade: Thunder!"
Mist quickly propelled herself out of the way, but Agatha took advantage of the Anti-Gravity fields and quickly followed her. Mist quickly fired off several blasts of Fira, but Agatha yelled, "Spellblade: Haste" and her lance glowed golden light and it thrust towards the fireballs at amazing speed. The Fira spells detonated between Agatha and Mist, leaving a metre behind each of them. Mist was temporarily blinded by the smoke, and Agatha's lance shot out chipped out a sizable hole in Mist's left shoulder.
"Mom!" Rayne yelled, as she gave ground to Avomis, whose quick strokes left scratches across every inch of her armour. Jack and Jason didn't have any damage inflicted upon them, but they couldn't bypass the web of Corruption that Arcostan was weaving. Jack had tried teleporting past Arcostan, but the Corruption Arcostan emitted disrupted it, and he had to quickly jump back to not suffer any blows. Jason had tried blinding Arcostan, but the effects of blindness were quickly shaken off.
Mist quickly bounced off a building and flew towards Agatha again. "Jason, Jack, you have to go after Bahamut!"
"What are you talking about?" Jack yelled "I can't just leave you like this! We're losing as it is."
"They're trying to distract us." Mist continued, sending a flurry of quick shards of ice at Agatha. "And Arcostan isn't as good at offence. We're losing because we're fighting to win. If Rayne and I just fight to hold back, we'll be able to withstand it."
Jack looked at Jason, who nodded. "We have to do it." Jack gritted his teeth and summoned his Rider again. He was about to fly off when Avomis intercepted him and knocked him off his Rider. Jack hovered at the ground, and summoned Wanderer's Judgement to his hand in the form of his Keyblade. He teleported behind Avomis, but Avomis easily dodged his strike and kicked him backwards into a building. He turned to find Jason, but saw that he was flying up towards the hole in the sky where Bahamut had flown into.
Avomis turned to Jack, but instead of striking him while he was vulnerable, Avomis flew towards another building and started dashing up it, chasing after Jason. Jack looked at Mist and Rayne, and the two were holding their own against Arcostan and Agatha. Agatha constantly lunged in with her infused lance, retreating back behind Arcostan to recharge. Mist and Rayne worked perfectly together, casting deadly combinations of magic and using the anti-gravity fields to move around. None were getting any hits on the other side, and they were in a stalemate.
"We are equally matched in skill, but can the same be said for stamina?" Arcostan asked Jack, "We will eventually overpower your family, and what then?" Agatha's lanced blazed orange with fire as she lunged towards Mist, who dodged and sent a Firaga Shot that bounced of Arcostan's quarterstaff. "Will you remember yourself as the man who abandons his family?"
"Jack," Mist yelled, "Don't listen to them. They know Avomis can take Jason on by himself. You need to go help."
Jack stood, indecisive, and thought about what Corruption could do if it wasn't stopped. He thought about the Realm of Nothingness, and the travesties that could occur if Corruption succeeded. But he also thought about Pierce, and the way Light used him like a human would use a glove; to be worn and cover oneself when there was dirty work to be done.
"Choose, Rikkison, between your family and justice." Corruption hissed.
Glaring at the Grandmasters, he summoned his Rider and jumped on, but flew towards Arcostan instead. Stunned, Arcostan raised his quarterstaff to deflect Jack, but Jack teleported behind him and shot out white fire at both Agatha and Arcostan. Both were unharmed, but Jack kept on pressing Arcostan while Mist and Rayne attacked Agatha.
"Choice between family and justice? Where the hell did you get that kind of cliché from. I don't have to make any choice." Jack yelled as he hacked at Arcostan, "I'll save my family and stop you."
"Fool!" Arcostan yelled, "You cannot go through this journey without sacrifices. You cannot summit this mountain with unnecessary baggage. You have doomed this world to me!"
"Wrong!" Jack yelled back, and his body flowed with Light, though his eyes remained brown. "I'll defeat you, Darkness, and Light, and send you back to Kingdom Hearts." And he jumped back and threw Wanderer's Judgement at Arcostan. Arcostan dodged the Keyblade contemptuously, but Jack was unfazed and Mist came behind him and yelled, "Stopga"
Arcostan only froze for a moment, but that was enough. Shining with Light, Wanderer's Judgement had changed to its Rider form and struck Arcostan in the back at blinding speed. His armour shattered as he fell down past the impossibly tall buildings to the ground none of them could even make out. Corruption wouldn't be any less strong, but it would be a while before he could use that vessel again.
Jack turned and sensed that the fight between Agatha, Mist and Rayne had been taken even further up and behind a few buildings. He started to head towards them, but sensed Agatha's presence fade away. Corruption must have wanted to minimize its losses, recognizing that even a possessed Grandmaster couldn't match up against the three of them.
He jumped onto his Rider and sped up towards Jason, hoping that Jason would be alright. Not sensing them anywhere, Jack sped into the Portal, hoping that Jason would have gotten past Avomis.
Jason was thrown off course, and Avomis pursued him relentlessly through the portal that led him through Valhalla. Jason had his back turned to the portal and he was flying backwards, not caring which direction he flew in. In front of him was Avomis, and Jason was working hard to keep it that way. They fought, and the moment Jason let Avomis dash to the side or out of his line of sight, Jason would instantly be felled by Avomis' quick knives.
Jason was fighting a losing battle and he knew it. Even though Avomis never struck a fatal hit, Jason's armour was littered with small scratches and gouges, and Jason could never hope to get a clean hit on his quick adversary.
Suddenly, Jason emerged from the portal, and his foot caught on solid ground. He stumbled backwards as his foot sunk backwards into wet sand, opening him up for the blow that would shatter his armour. Avomis dashed to Jason's left and would have dealt it had he not been forced back by several bolts of lightning.
"Why hello, old friend." Darkness said, as Vanitas drove Avomis back for a moment. "How goes your crusade of destruction?"
"I am not Light, to hide behind such noble words." Avomis said, readying himself for another battle, "My battle is one for survival, one that shall be won through destruction."
Vanitas laughed, and for a moment it seemed Vanitas was in control again. The cackle of insanity was the same as ever, and the high pitch of the sound cut through the hushed silence of Valhalla. "You're a fool, Corruption, if you think destruction is your salvation. You have grown arrogant in your aeons of solitude."
Corruption growled, and Avomis dashed towards Vanitas. The two of them started fighting, leaving Jason behind wondering why Darkness chose to make its move now. Why would Darkness risk one of its precious vessels now? Armstrong was one thing, but Darkness' hold on him was never complete, and besides, Vanitas had far more potential than Armstrong did. Complete possession was impossible, now that all the empty bodies that were the Remnants had been snatched by Light. Using one of them in battle was a huge risk.
Jason looked around, and now that all his attention was not immediately drawn to Avomis, he was able to sense that something was incredibly wrong about this place. The place they called Valhalla reached closer into the Heart of the World than anything any of them had experienced before. Here, the laws of the World were governed and twisted. Jason wouldn't be surprised if the dead could find their bodies and come back to life here. The rules of ecosystems and the environment were made, and stability of the whole world was kept. Hearts of this world made their way through Valhalla, and pass into the Heart of Gran Pulse, but sometimes they didn't pass through. Sometimes they would stay.
Still, the proximity to the world's Heart wasn't what grabbed Jason's attention. What grabbed his attention was the fact that the Light and Darkness of the whole Heart of the world was centered around one person. In shock, Jason started running to that man.
When Jason arrived at the ruins where the Heart stood, he saw a tall man dressed in purple, with the anguish and pain of every Heart that had ever existed in Gran Pulse cloaked around him in a mourning shroud of death. It was Light and Darkness together, but together they made death. Jason was frozen by the sheer size of the man, but Xehanort wasn't.
Walking up to the man was Xehanort, Darkness oozing out of his armour, still seeming pathetically small compared to the Heart of the World.
"Caius Ballad," Xehanort said, "Your plan to destroy this world deserves credit due to its sheer magnitude."
Caius looked at Xehanort coldly and raised his huge broadsword. It was purple, lined with black streaks and had a purple jewel in the middle of the crosspiece. Xehanort laughed and raised his own Keyblade. The two weapons were the same in design: huge blades wider than both their arms put together with immense power behind each swing. The two of them clashed for a few seconds, but Xehanort used his power of Darkness more effectively than Caius, and was able to thrust his hand into Caius' chest.
"Do not worry, human." Xehanort said, "I shall leave you with the Heart of your goddess, or at least enough to doom this World like you wish."
And with that, Xehanort yanked his hand out while Caius fell to his knees. "I thank Corruption for this wonderful bounty." He turned to Jason, who was standing there in awe of what had just taken place. "This is just the first step. Countless worlds will succumb to Darkness in due course."
Jason didn't know what Xehanort was talking about, but before he could do anything, Xehanort disappeared. Jason hadn't been standing there for a minute when Jack emerged from the Portal.
As Jack flew out of the portal he almost fell off his Rider in shock. He had emerged onto a beach with a dark sky, and clouds that roiled in the air ominously and a sea that was pitch black and stank of Darkness. If he looked around, he would have taken in the stone ruins along with Jason, and maybe even the crumbling temple in the distance. But he didn't see any of this. His attention was fully drawn to a tall man with purple hair wielding a huge broadsword in his hand. Of course, Jack didn't take in any of his physical features. What drew Jack's attention was the mass of Darkness inside the man. He had taken in almost all of the Darkness of the World.
How had he not killed them yet? How had he not used Darkness' power to completely obliterate the two. Caius sped towards the female youth, but the male one quickly jumped between them and thrust his short sword through the man's chest. It was only then that Jack grasped the enormity of what Darkness had done. As the man was killed and fell to the ground, Jack felt the whole world tremble and moan. It was the moan of agony of millions of Hearts, and it devastated Jack to the core. He could feel them squirming as they died, thousands of thousands of them, and he could feel the weight of their experiences and joys and sorrows.
He had failed.
At the moment, Jason crashed on the ground next to him. His silver armour was torn in several places, and even though it was all in one piece, there were so many thin gouges in it that Jack wondered how it was staying together. They heard Corruption gasp and Jack looked behind him to see Avomis standing there in shock. Part of his shoulder was chipped away, and Jack could see several other places where Jason had dented the armour. "This cannot be. What has happened?"
Jack turned and got ready to fight Avomis, but Jason put his hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "You're depleted, and he wasn't the one that did this. We have to get Raphael and leave this place before it completely falls to Darkness."
"What happened!?" Jack yelled, "What did Corruption do?"
"Corruption didn't do anything." Jason replied urgently, "Now, let's get out of here before we get overrun."
Jack wanted to yell out in frustration. He had failed. He had doomed this world to death. He had been selfish and put his family in front of a whole world. In that moment when he felt the millions of Heart writhe in torment, he realized how small his family was compared to the mass of suffering and torture that all of those Hearts suffered.
He was aware of being dragged along by Jason, though Light alone knew how he his armour was staying in one piece, and stumbled through the portal back into Academia.
Hope you enjoyed that. I'll explain what went wrong with Valhalla next chapter. I know I didn't really explain it.
