Chapter 36 Maleficent's power and Riku's possession
Riku panicked when the keyblade left him and returned to Sora. He knew that he wouldn't be able to win against so many adversaries without it. So he fled to the castle chapel. As he ran down the halls he wondered why the keyblade had chosen Sora over him. Surely his heart was stronger than Sora's wasn't it? "Why? It was mine. Why did it pick him?!" Riku asked. "Know this. The heart that is strong and true shall win the keyblade." Riku turned around and saw a figure in a brown robe. His face was covered in shadow and his ethereal body gave off a dark blue aura. Riku recognized him as the man that enabled him to open the door to darkness. With his aid, the islands he grew up on were cast into the darkness and he was free to explore the cosmos. Why had he chosen now to appear? "Are you saying that my heart is weaker than his?" Riku asked. "For that instant it was." He spoke. Riku shook his head in disbelief. The keyblade was supposed to be his by right. "However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow stronger." He said. "What should I do?" Riku asked. "It's quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being become darkness itself." The figure spoke. He then began to walk towards Riku, his body fading as he stepped closer and closer towards him. Riku's body glowed with an eerie green light when the stranger disappeared. He looked upwards at the stain glass skylight on the ceiling his last thoughts were of Kairi and his vow to save her. 'Whatever it takes.' Riku thought before his consciousness faded into the darkness.
In the hall beyond the chapel, Maleficent stood before a large machine. The purpose of this device was to reveal a secret keyhole using the seven princesses of heart. The princesses slumbered in glass capsules connected to it. The hearts of Alice, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, Snow white, and Aurora generated beams of pure light that catalyzed the portal. However the portal would not be complete until Kairi's heart was within their grasp. "So, I see the path has emerged at last." Riku said. Although now another voice echoed alongside his own. "Yes, the keyhole to darkness." Maleficent said. "Unlock it, and the heartless will overrun this world." Riku warned. "What do I care? The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use its power to rule all worlds." Maleficent boasted. "Such confidence." Riku said. He then held out his hand dark energy gathered and expanded until it formed a weapon in his hand. The shaft and hilt of the sword was pitch black. It had a red circular guard and the tip of the blade was razor sharp. It also had a single curved tooth that gave the outline of a heart. Maleficent stared in awe of the newly forged sword. However the moment was shortly lived when they heard the door to the chapel opening. "The king's fools are here. I'll deal with them myself. You stay here and guard the princesses." Maleficent ordered.
The chapel interior was lined with sconces that burned with green fire. And below each sconce was a statue of a crow. The altar had depiction of a black rose on the cobblestone floor and on it stood Maleficent. "I'm afraid you are all too late. Any moment now, the final keyhole will be unsealed. This world will plunge into darkness. It is unstoppable." Maleficent proclaimed. We all readied our weapons to fight the horned witch. "We'll stop it. After coming this far, there's no way we're letting that happen." Sora said. "It's over Maleficent. After we defeat you, we'll bring the people you kidnapped back to their homes where they belong." Kirito said. "We already defeated your league of villains. You're just another drop in the bucket." Asuna said. "You poor, simple fools. You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil!" Maleficent raged as she held up her hands and staff. The circular alter rose beneath her. The platforms' under side glowed with her dark magic and she cackled as she swirled her staff and created a storm that rained purple lightning upon us. Sora jumped and grabbed on to the platform, but it rapidly spun to throw him off. Asuna managed to jump high enough to land on the platform, but before she could attack maleficent called two defender heartless to shield her. With their large bulk it was a simple matter for the m to push anyone off of the limited space. The Beast roared as he leapt and knocked the defenders off and crushed them under his mighty hands. Strea tried to get in an attack of her own, but maleficent turned into a wisp of green fire and moved to the other side of the chapel. The altar flipped to toss Strea off and returned to its mistress when she rematerialized. "Meteors of heaven, unleash my fury!" Maleficent commanded.
She opened a portal in order to call meteors from the vast reaches of space to crush us. "What are we gonna do? That attack is massive!" Yuuki exclaimed. "I have an idea, but we're gonna need time to pull it off." Kirito said. "Donald and I can make ice barriers. That might slow it down a bit." Asuna said. "What are you planning Kirito?" Sora asked. "I'm going to summon Simba. If we can put enough magic power into it, maybe we can send those meteors back at her." Kirito responded. "Will that even work? It's not like that one time in traverse town." Donald asked. "If Kirito thinks it'll work, I'm willing to try it." Sora said. "But what if the barriers aren't enough?" Strea asked. "If that happens, I'll push them back myself." The beast said. "Beast…" Sora said. "My life is of little consequence, if it means that Belle will be safe. I'm sure that no one would miss a monster like Me." the beast said. Asuna walked up to the beast and slapped him. The beast growled in response to the stinging sensation on his face. "What was that for?" the beast asked. "For talking like an idiot! We have one rule in this party, and it's that nobody dies. That includes you." Asuna said. "You're serious?" he asked. "Those are the rules A-hyuck." Goofy said. "Very well. I won't put myself at risk unless absolutely necessary." The beast said.
And so everyone hastily went to perform their tasks. Asuna and Donald created six walls of ice that were more than a foot thick while Kirito summoned Simba again so that he and sora could begin charging. Goofy along with Yuuki and Strea were cheering for everyone to succeed. "Do you really think this will work?" the beast asked. "No time to think about it now. Here they come!" Donald said. The meteor shower pummeled in to the frozen barriers. Walls of ice steadily cracked and shattered one after another. But as each wall fell, the meteors lost speed. By the time the last wall was breached, the two of them had more than enough energy charged into the red maned lion. The strength of Simba's roar caused the very ground to shake as it pushed the meteors back at Maleficent. The horned witch raised the altar and used it as a shield to protect her from the brunt of the counter attack. However in doing so the altar shattered and she lost all the power she had stored in it. Winded from her exertion, she made a hasty retreat through a dark portal where she first stood. "Phew we did it." Donald said. "Not yet. We have her on the ropes. Everyone drink some potions to recover your strength. Let's strike while the iron is hot." Kirito said.
The portal maleficent created led to a large atrium behind the chapel. Her hand was clutched to her chest as she raggedly breathed and limped away from her attackers. Riku emerged from a portal of his own to aid maleficent in her hour of need. "Need some help?" Riku asked. "Riku!" sora called as they entered they atrium. Kirito's eyes widened when he noticed the weapon Riku possessed. "No way… is that-" "Yes. A keyblade. But unlike yours, this keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate…" Riku swiftly stabbed the keyblade into Maleficent's chest. "Behold! Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!" when Riku finished his chant, he removed the keyblade from Maleficent's chest and retreated through the dark portal from whence he came. "This is it! This power!" she chuckled. "Darkness… The true darkness!" Maleficent shouted as her body became engulfed in a huge torrent of green fire. The flames scorched the roof and her dark miasma spread through the ground as she changed into a fearsome dragon. The dragon was pitch black with a purple underbelly. It stood on four legs with talons the size of daggers. Its head bore Maleficent's horns and two fish like fins on its sides. The inside of her maw glowed an ominous yellow no doubt from the fire in its belly and smoke exhumed from its nostrils. It also had bat like wings on its back, but in the enclosed space they doubted the dragon could use them. "A dragon… We're fighting an actual dragon!" Asuna exclaimed. "I know, isn't it awesome?" Yuuki asked. "Save your enthusiasm for when we kill It." the beast said. "Alright guys, let's slay a dragon." Kirito said.
The malefic dragon rose on its hind legs and slammed its front legs on the ground creating a large shock wave. Then it spewed green flames from its burning maw. Donald and Asuna tried to extinguish them with their ice magic, but it had no effect. "Legends tell that dragon fire is hotter than the flames of hell. No ordinary magic can extinguish it." the beast said while he clawed at its impervious hide. "Then let's fight fire with fire." Yuuki said as she transformed into her dark form. "Dark firaga!" Yuuki casted a ball of blue fire that slammed into the green flames. Upon impact the flames clashed until both of them faded. "Yes!" Yuuki cheered. "I hope you got more of those, because she's not stopping!" Sora said. Maleficent continued to spray her green fire like a flame thrower throughout the area. Between the dragon fire and the shockwaves maleficent created it was very difficult to find an opening. Goofy managed to get behind maleficent, but she did a 180 to attack him. Then she called a ring of fiery green orbs that sought us out like homing missiles. This time Sora got behind maleficent only to have her pull off the same defensive maneuver again. "That's it! She doesn't want us attacking her from behind!" Kirito said. "That must be her weakness." Asuna said. "Alright here's the plan. Strea and I will run up behind her. When she turns around to attack us, Kirito and the beast will climb its back to attack." Asuna said. "Alright, let's do it!" Sora said. Just as they had planned Asuna and Strea distracted the dragon long enough for Kirito and the beast to mount it. Kirito sliced at the spikes on Maleficent's back causing the dragon to rear back its head and screech in pain. The beast then leapt at the dragon's head and locked the dragon's maw in a head lock. Try as it might, the dragon was unable to escape the beast's grasp. And while the beast held it down, Strea raised her great sword high and cut off its head!
With the dragon slain, its head and body along with the numerous thorny vines on the walls burned away and vanished. All that was left of maleficent were here tattered black robes. Which riku promptly stepped on after the epic battle was over. "How ironic. She was just another puppet after all." Riku said. "What?" Donald asked. "The heartless were using maleficent from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool." Riku explained. And once again he disappeared through a portal. Maleficent's robes vanished soon after leaving behind a little red gem. "What is that?" Yuuki asked. "It's a summon gem. It's like the one we use to summon Simba." Kirito explained. "Maybe maleficent was able to draw power from it. It could prove useful to you." The beast said. Sora picked up the little red gem and placed it in his pocket. He noticed that it was warm to the touch. "All that's left now is Riku." Kirito said. "I know. It's time to finish things with him." Sora said.
Authors note: happy late Christmas every body! i would've had this up two days ago, but the site was having problems again. so here it is the new chapter. also you guys are probably wondering about the new cover image right? get this i actually drew it myself. by hand, just a good old piece of paper and a number 2 pencil. i was trying to make one that resembled Aincrad hence the key chain, but then i got stuck on the teeth, i thought about making them look like the letter k, but then it just looked tacky. so i used the sort of cross guard on Kirito's elucidator. so what do you guys think?