The Twilight Will

by Demonabyss

What if Roxas decided not to merge with Sora? What if he went on his own adventure, visiting worlds much darker than what Sora visited? What would happen and what would he become? Spoilers for KH, CoM, 357/2, and more. 5th world - Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

36. Day 412: Dark Day of the Rising Sun

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

The Twilight Will

By Demonabyss

Chapter 36: Day 412: Day of Darkness in the Land of the Rising Sun

Three wolves, a large fox, a spider, a Poncle, and a young girl raced through the twisted forest back to Laochi Lake. The forest itself seemed to alter in order to let them pass without incident or needing to be guided. Nothing attacked them, not possessed trees or even the Heartless. It was like the forest knew what was coming and wanted to prevent it by any means necessary. The group raced on and quickly went through Wep'Keer where most of its inhabitants were either inside or missing. With the blizzard now in overdrive in comparison to before, it was obvious to see why. The group, not wanting to stop, continued on to the Laochi Lake, where the blizzard seemed to be concentrating itself.

Visibility was down to just a couple feet in front of them as they ran. Issun once again voiced the thoughts of the group. "Sheesh! What's up with this nasty blizzard! I mean, where the heck does this thing come from!?" he asked frustrated.

Tammy answered him gravely. "Lechku and Nechku are getting desperate now that Lika and the sword Kutone are here. They must be using as much of the blizzard god's power as possible to try and freeze Laochi Lake and keep the Ark there." They soon came to the altar. While four torches were lit, there was no one anywhere. "Where is everyone? We can't make Lika pray in this weather by herself," she said concerned before looking up at the Wawku Shrine gate. "Oh crap," she muttered. They all looked up and immediately agreed. Even with visibility reduced so badly, they could still see the gates of the shrine halfway open with icy, snow, and wing shooting out in a constant icy eruption.

The group raced up to the shrine to find Kai, Kemu, Samickle, and Tuskle all at the doors, trying to close them and making little progress. "What's everyone doin' here!? Hey! We brought Lika, everyone! So what's up with this nasty blizzard!?" Issun asked impatiently.

The deer-masked girl Kai spoke solemnly. "It's... It's the Day of Darkness." Above them, the sun had turned to a darker gold color with a section taken out.

The shaman Tuskle spoke as well. "This day comes once every hundred years. Now it's upon us again. That's why the monsters are making the blizzard even fiercer. Even worse two men came through here and …" She trailed off for a moment to collect herself before continuing. "How could anyone be so irresponsible at a time like this? They destroyed the gate here on their way to the Wawku Shrine!" she declared both enraged and scared.

That raised everyone's suspicion. "Two men? What two men?" Kumotome asked confused.

The masked woman sighed before explaining. "I tried to stop them, but one was brightly dressed and had a sword of energy and the other was dressed in a black coat similar to the one Roxas wears." That caught everyone's attention, especially the Nobody in question given the description of the second man's clothing. There was only a small group of people who would be on this world wearing a coat like his and NONE of them were his friend. "And they were through the gate before I could do a thing. Now Kamui could freeze over whether the eclipse comes or not!" she despaired. She then turned to the group, specifically the little girl in green on Oki's back. "It won't be long before the eclipse makes the sun disappear. If the Volcanic Incantation doesn't start Ezofuji erupting, Kamui will get colder until it freezes over completely. Please, Lika! We're relying on you to make this work!" she said desperately to the child.

The child looked down in thought before answering. "... ... Oki always told me what kind of Oina he wanted me to become. He told me to be a good Oina and use my power to help everyone. Do you think it'd help everyone if I prayed like I always do? Who cares about this stupid blizzard! I'm gonna pray for our mountain to come back to life!" Oki himself said nothing, silently proud of the little girl who was like a little sister him.

The shaman smiled at the determination in the little girl's voice. "That's my girl! Let's go, my little warrior! If you don't start the incantation soon, it'll be too late!"

Roxas turned to Samickle as the two left for the altar near the lake. The Oina warrior was trying as hard as possible to close the gate and cut off the ice storm erupting from it. Looking at the gate and then down at where the altar was, the Greater Nobody summoned a group of Samurai much to Samickle's and Kemu's surprise. "You; try and close that gate or at least keep it from opening any further," he ordered the Lesser Nobodies. They immediately complied and started to help close the gate, though it was really slow going. "Samickle, you need to go down and protect Lika while we all head into the shrine to deal with the demons and the source of this blizzard. I wouldn't put in past them to try attacking her while she's trying to say the incantation," he explained.

The blue clothed Oina warrior looked at the Samurai Nobodies that were making very slow but steady progress in closing the gate before turning to look at the group, Oki specifically. "I will do what is necessary to protect my people, I expect you do the same," he said to Oki. The dark colored wolf nodded silently in agreement. With that, Samickle ran down the path to take up a guard position near Lika as she struggled to say the Volcanic Incantation. With that the group entered the shrine through the slowly closing gate.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

They entered to find much of the floor had been iced over. In the distance however, was the main gate along with what looked like two cannons. Oki spoke before they moved any further. "We must be careful. The ruins of the Wawku Shrine are built much like a fortress and lie within Ezofuji. It's a strange place discovered by the people of Wep'keer long ago. At the peak lies an altar with the statues of the twin demons. And the trail up there is littered with odd contraptions. The twin demons' altar statues came to life and terrorized this land long ago. They were defeated and imprisoned by a legendary Oina hero. But it seems they have broken free and are once again wreaking havoc. This can't just be a coincidence. Unfortunately the demons came and took it over before we could secure it," he explained.

"We must be careful then," Kumotome said from Roxas' shoulder. "Many ancient machines may have become active again since the demons woke up just as many other things in Nippon have awoken since Orochi's revival. How this ties into Yami and the Ark of Yamato is unknown right now, so we must remain on guard."

Rao then chimed in from Compass on Roxas' arm. "There is something else Lord Roxas. While I am sensing minor demons in the shrine, other than Tamamo-no-Mae, I am not sensing any higher level demons."

"Are you saying that Lechku and Nechku aren't even here?" Oki asked indignantly.

The spirit of the priestess displayed a three dimensional map of shrine, showing a few glowing points. Since merging with the device, its scanning capabilities combined with her spiritual awareness allowed it to detect things that normally would have been impossible. A group of points were shown near the entrance, indicating their group. Near the top were two points colored silver. "No. I'm picking up two powerful sources of energy near the summit. I think these are the twin demons, but they don't feel like demons," she explained before highlighting two other points on the outside of the shrine. One was a dull yellow color and the other was pitch-black. "These two are also giving off a great amount of energy. One is highly spiritual in nature, though it seems corrupted somehow. The other is akin to a high level Dark One," she explained.

"A Heartless? It's probably under the control of whoever the other person is. But who would have that kind of control over the Heartless and why would they be here?" Roxas asked out loud. However, in the back of his mind his suspicions grew about what or rather who the energy sources belonged to.

"It doesn't matter," Oki growled. "Right now we need to focus on finding the source of that blizzard and shutting it off."

"Oki's right. Let's move out people!" Issun ordered. They went forward and encountered a couple of demon cannons. While they had a slow rate of fire, the shots themselves were incredibly fast. Amaterasu had to use the Veil of Mist technique in order to slow them down and then send them back with the Power Slash technique. Both cannons were destroyed and the group went through the front gate.

The interior of the shrine was massive, as if most of the mountain had been hallowed out and replaced with a fortress. There was a central shaft in the center which what looked like the remains of a spiral path around it. Up above they could see various catwalks leading to doors on the side to other rooms and to the outside of the mountain. There were spires of ice littering the walls, floors, and ceiling of the place as there were a few cracks allowing the cold and moisture to get in. Immediately in front of them was a metal gate sealed by a Lockjaw demon. Having dealt with these living locks before, Roxas brought forth Sun Tale and slammed it into the demon's eye/keyhole. In a small blast of light, the lock was gone and the gate opened. Moving to the center, they found a pond that had been frozen solid. Using the nearby torches, Ammy thawed the ice and created a geyser with her Waterspout technique, allowing them to move up the shrine.

The spiral ramp they were now on was guarded by more cannons that were destroyed the same way as the ones at the front gate. To add to the difficulty, sections of the rap had been replaced by massive gears with the walkway attached to them, spinning at high speeds to prevent anyone from using them. Rather than look for the switch necessary to stop them, a simply application of the Veil of Mist and the group continued on. They soon found that the spiral walkway stopped at a catwalk, leading to a couple doors and another walkway. However, it was guarded by what looked like a massive spider whose abdomen was bright orange red with fire. Kumotome explained what they were. "Flame Spiders, used often by demons in colder climates as both guards and mobile heat sources. Like Blocking and Platform spiders, they tend to stay in a certain area, but are extremely dangerous if you get too close," she warned.

Taking another path, they went through a door leading to a hallway of massive gears. Making their way across, Roxas had to comment on the machinery. "What is with all these gears and such? This place seems less like a shrine and more like a factory of some kind," he said as they exited the hallway to the outside of the mountain.

Tammy commented as they made their way outside, avoiding more Flame Spiders as well as a few, minor Blizzard Plant Heartless. "No kidding. Many of the machines I used on Oni Island were based on structures like this, but those were for moving it from place to place. These seem to be made for moving something else, though I'm not sure what," the fox said as the group came to a more open area. Near the other side was a large machine with three wheels spinning at high speeds. Above the wheels was what looked like a sacred object of some sort connected to a large horn that wouldn't be out of place on a large record player. Out of the horn spewed out nearly a solid beam of snow, ice, and wind, feeding the blizzard that was blanketing the area. "Finally, the source of the blizzard. I'm sick of shaking icicles out of my fur. Where are the guards though?" she asked curiously.

In front of them appeared a Great Tengu. The demon was about twice the size of Roxas in human form and resembled a large red face with a long nose and court hat. Out of the sides were two large bird wings and in place of legs were bird legs ending in sharp talons. The wings and legs were covered in black feathers that were caked in blood. The thing screeched a horrible bird-like call and instantly, four Chill Ripper Heartless appeared. The fox growled to herself, "I had to open my big mouth."

"AMMY FRY 'EM!" Issun called out to which the sun goddess eagerly complied and used the Fireburst Technique on the whole group. After encountering them before, she knew fire based techniques were quite effective on ice based Heartless. While the miniature solar explosion heavily damaged the Chill Rippers, it had an opposite effect on the Great Tengu. The exposure to fire caused it to change shape. The creature's legs straightened out while the main body shifted to a more humanoid form. It was wearing a white hakama and a black robe with short sleeves and extensions to partially cover its wings, which were now on its back, its face revealed to be a large mask that it now carried on its left arm as a shield and the long nose was removed from the mask to become a strange fan. "Oh crap," the Poncle muttered as the Tengu in Chaos Mode reared back and swiped the fan.

Immediately the group was hit by a powerful whirlwind, knocking them all back, Oki and Tammy hitting the cliff face hard, even destroying part of it. Reacting quickly, Roxas brought out Eco Surge in Vulcan Fury mode and peppered the Tengu in bullets that it blocked with its mask shield. "Take out the Heartless while I keep this guy busy!" he called out. The others did so, focusing on the Chill Rippers that had recovered from the Fireburst. While they dealt with the Heartless, Roxas had to deal with the Tengu who was solely focused on him. Screeching in rage it dived at the Nobody who jumped out of the way and continued to fire on it, now with Arc Wielder mode. Again the demon blocked the attack with its shield and countered by launching spears of ice.

Having seen this attack and similar ones before; Roxas quickly switched to Astral Blast and Sun Tale. With a Power Slash he sent the ice spears right back at the creature, causing it to screech in pain and rage. Getting an idea, Roxas used another Brush Technique, one that he hadn't had a chance to use before, Deluge. Immediately the entire area was caught in a torrential downpour of rain, soaking everyone and everything, much to his companion's annoyance given the cold. It however, had a much more drastic affect on the Great Tengu just like the Fireburst did. The cold water seemed to shock it badly and forced it back into its more bird like form with its shield becoming its face again. Seeing an opportunity, Roxas dashed forward and jammed it into the "mouth" of the creature when it screeched and activated Voltage Storm. Roxas gave a sinister grin as he did so. "Eat this!" Immediately the surge of electricity raged through the demon causing it to convulse and spasm wildly just before multiple beams of electricity exploded out of the creature's back and headed right towards the blizzard machine.

Both the Great Tengu and the machine were destroyed by the assault, causing the demon to die and fall over the side of the cliff and the blizzard which had been plaguing everyone to finally stop. All that remained were snowflakes gently falling down as the weather returned to normal. With the machine destroyed, the massive horn that had been sitting in it emerged from the wreckage and flew out into the sky. Issun jumped up and down in excitement from his perch on Ammy. "Look! I think it's here! That 13th and final brush technique you lost! We finally found it!" he exclaimed as a constellation formed in the sky.

Eagerly filling in the missing stars, the constellation was complete. With the final star, it filled in and came alive, showing its form to be a massive white bull with a large horn around its neck. The world shifted to that of the Sacred Realm as the bull turned and addressed the group that had freed it from its prison. "Ah... Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all... In your absence, I took shelter here, only to become trapped. Beings of evil defile the world with impurity and darkness. Like a mighty snow flurry, I, Itegami, god of ice, have returned! I grant you the ability to freeze your foes to absolute zero. I am the last of the 13 gods you sought. You now possess the power to put an end to the evil forever!" he exclaimed triumphantly. Everyone watched as Itegami took his horn and blew out a trumpeting call. With that call, the other Brush Gods appeared and flew towards the Ice God. They all condensed and formed together to create a single Divine Instrument, Solar Flare.

Solar Flare took the form of a ruby red disk with one side carved in intricate flames and the other a perfect, polished mirror. Around the rim of the disk, flames flared out in a beautiful azure green color with highlights of orange and red. Every color fire could naturally be emitted from the disk in swirls and ribbons of flame. The Reflector spun around swiftly and attached itself to Amaterasu's back, restoring her full power. Now she truly looked like the goddess of the sun.

"Well that's all well and good," Tammy snarked, "but I'm freezing and that shower you gave us didn't help anything," she said with an accusing glare at Roxas who just shrugged and smiled apologetically. The fox just sighed, knowing the Nobody only did it to take out the Tengu. "Since the blizzard is shut off, let's dry off in the cave and warm up before we continue on," she said motioning to the open doorway that had been revealed during the battle.

Once inside, they started a small fire using some branches and quick Fire spell. They kept an eye on the entrance while they warmed up and started to talk about what to do next. "So now that Itegami is free and the blizzard has stopped, do you believe the demons will go after Lika to prevent her saying the incantation?" Oki asked concerned.

Kumotome answered from her place on Roxas' shoulder. "I doubt it. Though her saying the Volcanic Incantation will heat up the land, it will not release the Ark of Yamato which seems to be their primary concern. It has remained frozen all this time despite the Twin Mountains erupting in the past, so there is no reason to believe it will change now," she explained. The then motioned to Kutone on Oki's back. "More likely they will focus on you and that sword. Since you are already here and the prophecy states that if that sword awakens and is returned to the shrine, then it WILL release the Ark, you are a much more logical target," she reasoned.

"The Ark, the Ark, what's so damn special about the Ark of Yamato?" Tamamo-no-Mae asked irritably as she was sick of hearing about the thing. "I know that Yami thing is sealed in there and that it manipulated me at Ryoshima Coast, but from what you've said before about Orochi powering the Ark and the survivor, you make t sound like the Ark is the reason for everything that's happened in Nippon since Orochi's revival months ago," she stated skeptically.

"Isn't it?" Roxas asked rhetorically, catching everyone's attention. "Let's look at the facts. Amaterasu and the Twin Demons were revived shortly after Orochi was. She was then tasked to collect the Brush Gods who were scattered around Nippon and clear out the demons. Suspiciously, each Brush God was near an area that required that god or a demon that had a weakness to that god. The Spider Queen was restrained by the power of the Flora Gods, Crimson Helm's fire was smothered by Kamigami's winds, Kasugami the mist god was literally in the same house as Blight who was weakened by that mist, and finally we have Gekigami the thunder god at Oni Island, whose power was needed to get through the fortress and beat Tammy," he explained. The fox in question just grumbled but didn't contradict him. Roxas' mind continued to work as he laid this all out and walked it through. "If it had happened once, that would've been just chance, twice then it'd be coincidence, but three or more and it becomes a pattern. They were always found right where Ammy needed them. For crying out loud Tachigami the Rending God was found almost literally where she first woke up. What are the odds of that?" he asked reasonably to which everyone had to agree that when looked at all together it was highly suspect. "Next is the fact that each of the demons, after they had been killed, their essence would fly up and head north, to the Ark and to Yami specifically I'm assuming."

Both Tammy and Kumotome shivered at the thought of what Roxas was implying. "It would make sense," the spider said slowly. "My essence was ripped from me and then what remained was discarded into that ship with that corrupted Heartless. I imagine the same happened to the other major demons that Amaterasu has slain. The only reason I survived is because I was once human, and thus was able to hold onto enough of myself to reform into a Nobody." The arachnid then turned to look at the kitsune. "I would guess the same would have happened to you had you been killed. Though who would be arranging all this and why I don't know," she said calmly.

"Personally I think it's that half baked prophet. He did say he was interested in the Ark as a way to the heavens, is always showing up when he's not wanted, and is never around to do any of the real work," Issun griped.

The Nobody just smirked, "For once Issun, I think you're right."

"First time for everything," Kumotome muttered loudly.

"Shut it!" the Poncle replied.

"Waka has been around during each part of your journey and has tried to manipulate you into a scheme to send the demon essences to the Ark to revive it. I believe that he's the survivor in the story which would explain how he knows so much about it," Roxas explained.

"But why do all this? Why manipulate Amaterasu and the demons? What purpose does it serve to raise the Ark if it's full of demons and this Yami creature you speak of?" Oki asked confused.

The Keyblade user sighed in frustration. "That's the part I haven't figured out yet. I don't know if he's a willing agent of Yami's, a controlled slave, or an ambitious idiot who wants power for himself. I think it has to do with what the Ark really is. The story suggested it was a life boat, but that doesn't explain why it would be full of demons. In any case, we've waited too long here. We need to get to the summit and find Lechku and Nechku. I have a feeling we'll get a number of our answers once we find them," he said ominously as the group left the cave and headed back into the shrine, now armed with the power of Itegami, the Ice God. However, before they left the area, something rattled from the remains of the machine that had held Itegami captive.

The front three wheels of the machine fell into the snow, revealing in the inner workings. In the center of the machinery was a large crystal snowflake with several lines stretching from it made up of cold swirling energy lined with polished sapphires. The sapphires glowed with light blue energy and were curved and shaped like swirling tear drops, like one half of a yin-yang symbol. The snowflake and the lines floated out of the machine for a few moments, as if happy to be free, before flying towards Roxas and focusing around his left forearm. The snowflake changed and reformed into a metal bracer colored white with blue highlights with a snowflake symbol on the back and several kanji relating to purification and winter. The sapphire beads wrapped around his arm in a double spiral pattern without touching and floated around his arm casually, similar to how Amaterasu's rosaries did around her neck. He could feel the cold they emitted, but not unpleasantly, like a soft winter breeze on a sunny day. "What is this?" he asked out loud in surprise.

Surprisingly it was Oki who answered. "Those are the Tundra Beads, a divine instrument that was enshrined here long ago. They harness the power of winter to protect and take down enemies. It looks like those demons were using them to keep the machine working despite Itegami's cold," he explained. The Greater Nobody looked at the rosary in curiosity. He turned and saw several flame spiders in the area. Bringing his arm back and holding his hand like he was using a whip, he tried to imitate when he had seen Amaterasu do with her rosaries. The Tundra Beads responded to his will and extended from his arm, lashing out. Unfortunately, like when he first got a gun, he wasn't very good and only barely nicked the large demon spider. However, upon contact the spider was frozen solid as it instantly retracted and coiled again around his arm. The weapon had long range, wide area of attack, and was really fast, however it was hard to control and it would be some time before he was proficient with it. Deciding to leave it for now the group continued on back into the shrine.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

They continued up the shrine, using various brush techniques to keep going. The age of the place had knocked out many of the stair cases and forced them to find other ways to move up. Using the Catwalk technique on walls, freezing flame spiders solid with Blizzard, the Vine technique to slingshot to new platforms, the Veil of Mist and the Power Slash to take out more cannons, there was no way a normal person would've been able to get this far. They also came to more rooms with massive gears spinning wildly. Again they couldn't see what the machinery was for, but it definitely looked like a factory of some sort.

As they made their way through the various twists, turns, and traps in the shrine, each thought about the situation. Amaterasu was concerned with the eclipse. Even though she had recovered all her central lost Brush Gods, she still wasn't at her full true power due to the lack of praise and faith the world currently had. While she would still retain her divinity during the eclipse, she would be much more vulnerable to curses and demonic powers. She knew they would have to face Yami, whatever it was, and they would need all the power they could get. Though their group was strong, she worried if it would be enough to face down a creature that fed on the essences of greater demons. Similar to the sun goddess's thoughts, Tamamo-no-Mae was also concerned. Though she had only seen a projection of the creature that called itself Yami, she had felt its power and more terrifyingly its hunger for her power, her life, and her essence. She did not want to see that thing in person, especially if it was at full strength from the greater demon essences it had absorbed. She would keep that thing trapped in the ark by any means possible.

The Ark was also on the mind of the Oina warrior as they made their way outside once again. Oki glanced at his sword Kutone as the continued on. While he wanted to defeat the demons, he knew that if he awakened the sword that it would lead to the rising of the Ark of Yamato and the monsters within. With the blizzard stopped and Lika reciting the Volcanic Incantations, he didn't need to slay them but there was no telling what else they may do to the land and his people in order to keep the Ark contained. For this he was now glad that he had not been able to awaken the sword, though now he was worried as to what would awaken Kutone. The fact that he had slain so many demons and yet the blade would not yet glow silver meant that simply sacrificing demons to the sword wasn't what was necessary to awaken it. With the situation as it was, he was stuck with the same problem as before, how to awaken the sword, though now it was to make sure it would NOT glow silver. Until he figured it out, he would have to be careful with the blade and return it to the altar as soon as possible after the Twin Demons were slain so as to minimize the chance of raising the Ark.

The group eventually made its way to the top of one of the mountains. It was a large open area with what looked like a clock for the main platform with several large metal trees all around. Pendulums hung from them going back and form in perfect time. Before any of them could do anything, a barrage of energy blasts rained down from above. "LOOK OUT!" Roxas yelled out, causing the group to scatter. Looking up, they saw Lechku and Nechku flying down, large wings flapping and as soon as the Greater Nobody saw them, several pieces about the Ark of Yamato fell into place. Each of the twin demons looked like a massive owl, easily two stories tall, with massive wings and talons along with arms that were scrawny but also riddled with muscle, and were small and short compared to their bodies. Both held a cane and had a metal top hat along with wearing an intricately styled toga and a monocle covering one of their eyes, Lechku's the left and Nechku's the right, giving them both the look of a gentleman like Roxas had seen in London. While they were similar, they were both distinctive. Lechku resembled a great horned owl while Nechku was a snowy owl. What was most telling of all however to Roxas were the fact that their bodies were made up of machinery, with their main torsos being clocks. Lechku's was an analog clock with Roman numbers, while Nechku's was a clock with flipping pieces bearing old numerical kanji from zero to nine on three slots, above which was a decoration piece of a night sky with a crescent moon and stars. Under the clocks were a mass of cogwheels and mechanisms, and hidden underneath these were their deadly talons with razor claws, now pulled up behind the mechanisms as they flew down.

This answered some questions but raise many more. Those answered were why they had not shown up on the scan as demons and why they were so obsessed with keeping the Ark contained. Simply put, they weren't demons, they were robots. But that raised the question of who built them and programmed them to keep the Ark contained? From what he had seen, this level of technology was beyond what the people of Nippon generally had. There was also the question of their relation to the creature called Yami. They needed answers and they weren't going to get them if they simply blew these two birds up. Plus the Nobody had a feeling that doing so would cause them to play right into the hand of whoever or whatever had set this fiasco up, given what he had deduced from Amaterasu's previous journey's.

Transforming into human form, he held out his hand to his friends. "Stand down everyone," he ordered much to everyone's, including the twin demons', surprise.

Issun as usual was the first to voice their thoughts. "Stand down? ARE YOU NUTS!? We're here to take down these demons to keep them from freezing all of Kamui!"

Roxas sighed but didn't take his eyes off the two "demons" who were watching intently. "First off, we destroyed the blizzard machine so they can't freeze Kamui anymore and second they aren't demons, they're robots."

Now everyone was confused but for different reasons. His friends were confused at the term itself and the owls at how he knew the term in the first place. Kumotome voiced their confusion. "What is a ... robot?"

Roxas lowered his hands as he explained. "A robot is a mechanical worker or servant. Give them instructions or a directive and they'll carry it out no matter what. Simple ones are usually used for tasks such as making things. More advanced and complicated ones can think and solve problems just like you or I could ... just like these two have," he said as he stared at the two massive, metal owls. He then held up his arm and opened up Compass. "Compass, can you connect with them so that we can talk with them?" he asked the computer

The Precursor machine sprang to life as code flew across the screen. [Establishing connection ... connection established ... accessing communication protocols ... communication systems operational,] it intoned as it finished.

The Greater Nobody then addressed the twin demons directly. "I am Roxas, state your designations and functions," he said clearly. After his experience in Haven, he knew to be clear and exact when dealing with machines.

At first there was no response until an older male voice with a strange metallic echo came from Compass. [Designation: L3-04202006. Code name: Lechku. Function: Sentinel.]

Shortly after, a second male voice sounded over Compass, sounding younger than the first. [Designation: N3-09302010. Code name: Nechku. Function: Sentinel.]

"Sentinel?" Roxas asked confused for a moment. "That means you guard something, the Ark of Yamato?" he asked.

[Affirmative,] they responded in unison.

"What is the Ark of Yamato and what is Yami?" he asked clearly.

They were silent for a moment before speaking. [Vessel designation: AY-042008. Code name: Ark of Yamato. Classification: Prototype Military flagship.]

Issun piped up at that. "Military? You're telling us that thing is a war ship!?"

[Affirmative.]

Tammy voice her own question, "What about Yami, can you tell us anything about that?"

They replied immediately. [Negative. No data exists for entity designated Yami.]

Everyone was silent for a moment before Roxas asked another question. "You said the Ark was a prototype. What's so special about it? For that matter, how did it end up in lake outside a shrine?"

The two owls turned their heads slightly towards each other and a light projected from their monocles. The light solidified into a 3D image of the Ark in its full glory. [Ark of Yamato was created as a prototype military flagship by Moon Tribe. Primary modification was addition of experimental weapon of mass destruction. Code named: Empty Death. Prior to vessel's and weapon's completion, local demons rebelled causing production and research to halt."

"Why were the demons rebelling?" Tammy asked curious.

The image changed to show a metal pod of some kind containing a common imp. [Demon energies were used as a power source for advanced machinery.] It then switched back to the Ark. [Local civilians attempted to use the Ark as an escape craft to reach Nippon outpost. Demon rebellion leader Orochi and local demons attacked the ship, causing it to crash next to outpost, suffering heavy damage and loss of power. Units Lechku and Nechku were activated via safety protocol 02516: All lost or disabled military hardware must be recovered, contained, and or destroyed.]

"I get it. Since you couldn't destroy the Ark or return it, you had to make sure it was contained at all times, hence freezing the lake and making sure it didn't receive enough power from demon essences," Issun stated figuring it out.

[Affirmative.]

The kitsune asked another question. "What's this Empty Death thing anyway? What kind of a weapon is it?" she asked curiously though she had a good guess.

The holographic image shifted to show a large black, metal sphere with glowing markings that seemed to shift colors and patterns ominously. Despite its deceptively simple shape, they could all feel something wrong from it, despite being just a hologram. [Weapon: Empty Death. Prototype biomechanical massive assault mech powered by multiple types of demonic energies. Able to assume multiple configurations based on need and energies supplied.]

"Biomechanical? You're telling me that thing is alive!?" Issun exclaimed in surprise.

[Affirmative.]

Oki decided to ask a question of his own, now that he had a better idea of what the Ark and its contents were. "The sacred sword Kutone, what's its purpose in regards to the Ark?"

The image changed to a replica of the sacred sword. [The sword Kutone is a manual override for the Ark, forcing it to activate regardless of power levels. However, if the Ark is reactivated without proper power, it will cause massive system failure. Current power levels of Ark are at 80%. The system override will only work if the sword Kutone is active,] the massive owls explained.

The Oina warrior looked at his sword again before speaking. "And what is necessary to activate Kutone?" he asked so that he would know what NOT to do.

THWACK. THWACK.

Before either of the robotic owls could answer, two blades flew from above and struck each in the forehead, emitting massive amounts of electricity. Everyone turned to see a familiar brightly colored swordsman standing on a cliff with another person in a black coat similar to the one Roxas wore. The two owls went nuts, jerking and spasming badly as the energy arced all over them. Compass then chimed in, flashing an ominous red as it did so. [Alert! Virus detected in Units Lechku and Nechku. Primary programming being overridden.]

"That's not good is it?" Issun asked rhetorically as the twin demons took flight once more, their eyes now a burning red.

"No it's not," Roxas muttered before he turned back towards Waka and his companion. "WAKA! What are you doing!?" he demanded angrily.

The monk just chuckled. "Ah monsieur Nobody, I am simply correcting the mistakes made by ma chérie Amaterasu," he said lightly as he and his black coated companion jumped down on the opposite side of the group with the corrupted robot owls on the other. "Now then, Lechku, Nechku, kill the kitsune," he ordered coldly.

Roxas' eyes widened as he realized what that meant. The Ark was at 80% power right now from the 4 greater demon essences it had absorbed so far; The Spider Queen, Crimson Helm, Orochi, and Blight. It didn't take a math genius to realize that one more greater demon like Tamamo-no-Mae would be enough to bring it to full power. Summoning Two Become One and Sun Tale, he dashed forward to take the colorful clown out quickly. "Like hell!" he cried out only to be met by a familiar coat and familiar weapon.

The taller person in the Organization coat had blocked the attack with a Keyblade of his own, one that the Nobody recognized from some time ago. The guard was made by an angel wing and demon wing around the handle with a blue eye at the center point. The blade was a long, extended demon wing with dark blue coloring and blood red membranes. The teeth of the key on the weapon were made by a second angel wing. "Hello Sora, it's been a while," a dually familiar voice spoke from under the hood of the being holding Way to Dawn.

Roxas' eyes flashed red as he spoke. "My ... name ... is ... ROXAS!" he roared as threw Riku away with a surge of crimson energy and with that, the battle begun. Each choose and faced off against a different opponent. Roxas jumped after Riku who went up the cliff to a higher platform, Amaterasu and Tamamo-no-Mae faced off against the twin demons Lechku and Nechku, and Oki held the sacred sword Kutone ready to face off against Waka and his energy sword Pillowtalk.

The two metal owls took to the air and began circling the white wolf and kitsune. The gold demon Lechku was the first to attack, swooping down at Tammy. The large fox jumps to the side and counters with Ninestrike and Thunderedge. The owl barely dodged as the storm swords slash at him. Nechku also got into the fight, pulling off his hat and summoning a number of knives that he launched at the sun goddess. Having seen this type of attack before, she countered with Power Slash and sent the attack back at the silver owl. It cried out in pain but stay air born.

Meanwhile Oki was crossing blades with Waka, who used both his energy sword and his normal one. While Waka had the advantage of two blades to Oki's one, the Oina warrior was able to hold his own against the prophet as Kutone was able to stand against the energy sword Pillowtalk. Unfortunately, Waka had far more experience and was pushing the masked warrior back, almost as if he was playing with him, which just frustrated Oki more and more, especially with his internal conflict with his sword. "Why ... have you done all this!? Why have you allowed the gods to be captured and used to cause misery!?" the Oina swordsman demanded as he blocked and parried as best as he could.

The colorful prophet just chuckled as he blocked another counterstrike with ease. "As I told ma chérie, I seek a path to the heavens and if I have to manipulate some naïve people and gods to do so, so be it," he said nonchalantly as he pressed his attack.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

Roxas stood with both Two Become One and Sun Tale at the ready, staring down the one who had taken Xion from him and nearly wiped him from existence. "You'll pay for what you did to Xion!" he declared as blood red, midnight blue, and silver gray energy crackled along his coat. While he was tempted to change forms, he wanted to save them as a trump card in case the bastard decided to sucker punch him again like the last time they faced off.

Riku gazed calmly at the Nobody, barely noticing the new Keyblades that had replaced Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "You're a Nobody, you weren't meant to exist and need to be returned Sora. The worlds need him," he stated calmly with his arms crossed and his Guardian Heartless floating behind him.

The Greater Nobody just snorted. "More like you need to relieve your guilty conscience ... Ansem," Roxas replied and smirked as he noticed his opponent frown with a nearly unnoticeable twitch. That was all the warning he got before Riku teleported right in front of Roxas, hoping to catch him as he did the last time. However, the Nobody was ready for this and flashed up and over the Heartless, leaving a present behind. Riku was surprised that it wasn't Roxas in the Guardian's hand but a large sphere wrapped in orange paper strips with blue spheres and sun bursts painted on them. He then noticed it also had a short burning fuse.

KA-BOOM!

Roxas smirked as Riku was blasted back by the Cherry Bomb. Quickly switching out Sun Tale for Lunar Eclipse and activated Shadow Dance while performing his signature move Duel Stance. Riku and his Guardian Heartless cried out in pain as he was hit by multiple Duel Stance strikes, one right after the other, to their exposed backs. Once he was in front of the Ansem look-alike, he switched out Two Become One for Eco Surge in Vulcan Fury mode and let loose a barrage of bullets. The afterimages copied the change and attack, multiplying the bullets fired several fold. This was quickly aided by several beams of Light thanks to his Event Horizon ability. Roxas may have been worn out from his trip through time, Orochi, and the shrine, but damn if he wasn't going to pay this bastard back for what he had done.

Riku immediately put his hands forward and created a Dark Shield to block the assault. This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be. The last time the two had faced, they had been on pretty even grounds until Roxas had reclaimed both Oathkeeper and Oblivion and took him down, forcing him to use the Darkness he had gained from Ansem. After that he had captured the Nobody pretty easily, though that may have had to do more with the boy's shock than anything else. He shook his head as he noticed several beams of Light firing down into the ground and coming at him from his sides, being emitted by small shields with the symbol of Nothingness on them. Reacting quickly, he flashed away in a bolt of Darkness the same way Roxas did with his Flash Step ability. He backed off for a moment in order to reassess his options.

Seeing a quick lull in the battle, Roxas downed a spare elixir he had as he knew he would need to be ready for the battles ahead along with some Steel Fist and Steel Soul Sake. He shook his head as the steel spirit infused alcohol hit him. While they weren't nearly as potent as a few of the drinks he had sampled back in Sei-An City or at the Naughty Ottsel in Haven, they still had a bit of a kick due to their enhancing properties. Clearing his head, he got ready for round 2 with Riku.

The Heartless started things off by launching several blade rings made of energy. Roxas had seen this attack before when he battled the Red King, only this time he had the perfect counter. Once again switching his Keyblades, he now held Sun Tale and Astral Blast. He brought Sun Tale forward and moved it like a rapier, slashing the air in front of him with blinding strikes that confused Riku until he saw each move create a line of black ink mid air with a corresponding line appearing and striking each of his energy rings. This all happened in a split second just before the rings were sent flying back at him. His eyes widened as he quickly brought the Guardian in front of him to block the attack. He had little time to recover as Roxas used Voltic Storm, launching multiple beams of concentrated electricity at him. Flying back to avoid the beams, he quickly gathered energy and rushed at the Nobody with incredible speed.

This too was countered by Sun Tale's abilities as Roxas used the Veil of Mist technique, same as when he and his friends had faced Blight. Instantly the world around them was covered in mist and Riku seemed to move in slow motion. Switching back to Eco Surge, this time in Peacemaker mode, he fired on the Xemnas look-a-like, causing him to be blown to the other side of the cliff. Roxas allowed himself a smirk and sneer. "Come on Ansem, or is it Xehanort, is that all that the power of Darkness can do?" he taunted. If Riku was going to treat him like and extension of Sora, then he would do the same to him. He then dismissed his Keyblades for a moment and held out his hands. His right hand had a Void Sphere while the other generated a swirl of Dark Arrows while a few Light Shields also appeared. "You need to branch out!" he cried as he launched all three Primal Element attacks at once.

Riku brought forward the Guardian again along with his Dark Shield, blocking all the attacks. The Dark Arrows didn't do much as they were spread out and unfocused, the Void Sphere hit the Guardian hard, pushing them both back as the Light beams from the Light Shields attempted to pierce his defense. The Keyblade user in Heartless form couldn't believe the trouble he was having against the Nobody. He should've been able to overpower him like before, but none of his attacks had gotten through. The Nobody kept switching Keyblades to instantly adapt to whatever he did. That one that looked like a large brush was especially annoying. Even worse was that he had used powers from Light, Nothingness, and Darkness! Most people tended to have a close connection to Light or Darkness, never Nothingness and very rarely both Light and Darkness, but never all three! 'How much more Darkness will I need in order to revive Sora?' he thought to himself as he kept his shield up. He knew he could tap into more of the Darkness that Xehanort wielded, but there was no telling what effect it would have on him. He shook his head and had launched blasts of black fire at the Nobody, hoping one of them got through.

As the two waged war on one another, Roxas glanced to see how his comrades were doing. Unfortunately, it wasn't as well as he was. Waka was playing with Oki and could easily overpower the Oina warrior if he wanted while Ammy and Tammy were having problems against the owls. Simply put, as long as they stayed in the air the two of them could not do any heavy damage. 'Damn it, I need to help them, but I'm stuck dealing with this moron,' he thought as he dodged another of Riku's Dark Firaga attacks. Worse yet was that he couldn't concentrate enough to summon Nobodies for reinforcements and suspected that Riku would do the same with Heartless if he did so. 'If this goes on, the twin demons will kill Tammy and the Ark will be fully powered! We need help!' he thought wildly.

As to answer his prayer, a shining bolt came and struck Riku, sending him flying off the platform and into Waka, saving Oki from taking more damage in the process. Everything stopped as they turned to see a second white wolf, similar to Amaterasu, but sporting some distinct differences; the biggest was the shining light coming from him as he was at full power while Ammy was still weakened from the eclipse. Issun immediately identified the wolf. "Isn't that you... From 100 years ago, Ammy!? I don't get it. What's that old self of yours doing here!?" he cried out in surprise.

Shiranui turns and caused a Whirlwind, sending Riku flying back and nearly clear off the cliff with nary any effort. Everyone's eyes widened at the power the sun god displayed. Roxas turned to the white wolf with a smirk. "Think you can handle him," he said motioning to Riku who was regaining his balance. The wolf barked with his tail wagging happily. "I'll take that as a yes," he said before he turned and as before, went right at Waka. The Tao Trooper captain's eyes widened in surprise as Roxas came at him blindingly fast with Astral Blast and Leviathan, forcing him away from Oki. "Oki, help Tammy and Ammy take down those owls!" he called out as he activated Tidal Strike, wrapping the blade in arctic water and freezing Waka's metal sword while Astral Blast crackled with power against Pillowtalk, causing the energy sword to phase, flicker, and warp from the raw energy. Seeing his former opponent being held off, the Oina warrior switched to his wolf form and went to aid the sun goddess and kitsune. With the change of opponents, the tide of the battle shifted greatly.

Lechku took his top hat off and summoned a bomb while Lechku did the same only instead summoning a large lightning rod similar in design to Ninestrike. Reacting quickly, Amaterasu used Inferno to trigger the bomb right away while Tamamo-no-Mae did the same with a Thunderbolt, overloading the lightning rod. Instantly, both metal owls were stunned by the backlash, leaving them vulnerable. Normally the two could only do minor damage as the owls remained air born, but with Oki's control over ice energy, he was able to form a massive crossbow on himself that allowed Tammy and Ammy to launch themselves at Nechku and Lechku, attacking them at extreme close range and finally bringing them down to the ground.

The arrogant clown Waka was now on the defensive as Roxas assaulted him with both Keyblades and Event Horizon. Unlike Oki who only had one sword and a limited arsenal of abilities to back his sword skills up, Roxas had multiple Keyblades and various abilities from the three Primal Elements to aid him. Even worse, Waka was used to dealing with normal humans, demons, or even the odd Brush God, but not a Nobody. Humans he could overpower or manipulate, demons were vulnerable to sacred talismans, and the Brush Gods could also be manipulated. The young swordsman in front of him with the ice and lightning swords were none of those things, so he had no easy way to deal with him. It also didn't help things when the boy switched out the blue ice weapon with a red fire one in a flash of arctic water to infernal fire. Immediately, Twilight Blaze ignited as Roxas pulled down and locked his metal sword in the Keyblade's teeth while still attacking with Astral Blast. The electric Keyblade and Pillowtalk clashed hard, causing bolts of electricity to arc around them as the High Voltage ability tried to electrocute Waka. In short order, the metal sword heated to the point where Waka couldn't hold onto it and hand to let go, jumping away from Roxas as he did so. Smirking, the Nobody cocked his arm threw Twilight Blaze and the sword over the side of the cliff and a moment later summoned Twilight Blaze back to his sans the sword. With a grin he resumed his attack, Waka on the defensive more than ever.

Riku was having the same trouble against Shiranui as he had against Roxas, though not to the same extent. While the wolf didn't have the Primal Element attacks the Nobody did or different Keyblades, it instead had the same ink/reality warping capabilities that Roxas' paintbrush Keyblade had only several times more powerful. None of his attacks could get through. 'I have to get Roxas back to Sora or else he'll become a Heartless again, this time permanently,' he thought grimly as he steeled his resolve. "I have no choice," he muttered before he was engulfed in Darkness, giving into Ansem's power even more.

Everyone stopped fighting to see Riku surrounded in a whirlwind of Darkness. When it faded, they could all feel the new power emanating from this form. Interestingly, while Ansem/Riku himself hadn't changed, the Guardian Heartless had. It now encased its owner in a sphere of solidified Darkness, with an opening in the front showing Riku was the source of the Darkness. The Guardian was now five times the size it had been and connected to the sphere on top. Out of the sides of the sphere half formed demon wings that seemed to act like sails more than anything. Once the Darkness cleared away and everyone saw the form, interestingly it was Roxas who first said something. "Another form!? Riku you bastard!" he cried out as he attacked Waka twice as hard to finish it quickly in order to help Shiranui.

Immediately the Heartless Guardian sent out crescent shaped waves of Darkness at the divine wolf. Again, Shiranui countered with the Veil of Mist and was barely able to jump over them. However, as soon the technique ended, Riku rushed right at the wolf, hitting him hard. The wolf growled as he dashed forward towards the massive Heartless. However before he could get close, a sphere of Darkness encased the sun god, causing massive damage as he was assaulted from all sides while floating helplessly. He was then slammed into the ground followed by a massive wave of gravity pushing him back, along with most of the other combatants on the summit. He quickly followed that up with multiple beams of Darkness that spread out and homed in on the sun god. Shiranui tried to dodge but unfortunately couldn't evade them all. The beams of Darkness were devastating to Shiranui for two main reasons. First was that he was a sun god, an entity based primarily on Light, on balance. Second was that while he wasn't affected by the eclipse in this era, he did not have the full faith of the people in either era to back him up, thus his power wasn't quite at maximum, though still more than his counterpart Amaterasu.

Shaking off the blasts, the sun god dashed forward, faster than Riku predicted and slashed away with his own Solar Flare. Wanting to end this quickly so that he could take down Roxas, the Heartless Guardian grabbed the snarling white wolf and slammed him into the ground repeatedly before throwing him into a tree. Deciding to put the wolf down so that it couldn't interfere anymore, Riku sent out a wave of Darkness Cutters.

Oki, seeing their comrade and the one who had helped them against Orochi about to be killed, separated himself from the fight against Lechku and Nechku. He swiftly changed back into his human form and blocked the various Darkness Cutters. However, doing so had a result that almost no one could have predicted.

The sacred sword Kutone blazed with silver fire.

Oki's eyes widened as it finally hit him like an avalanche why the sword had been silent this whole time. The sword was meant to be a failsafe for a WAR ship, meaning that it was meant to keep it out of the wrong hands, hands that would use it for destruction. Ergo the sword would only activate for one who truly wanted to help and protect others and not themselves. The sacred sword Kutone, defender of Kamui, could not possibly wake while the heart of its wielder was clouded with selfish desire. That is why he couldn't defend Kamui with this sword, let alone protect the lives dear to him. Unfortunately, this just caused more problems.

Upon seeing the sword activate, Lechku and Nechku's original programming asserted itself somewhat and the two used their trump card. The clock on Lechku struck midnight as the counter of Lechku reset to 000. They synchronized their systems and in a flash of energy, everything stopped. The color of the area inverted as everything was held in a grip not unlike the Stopga spell. Time was frozen for everyone except the owls themselves. Issun tried to speak. "What the heck!? I can't... I can't move! I... I can't even breathe..." he rasped. He then noticed the owls moving towards Oki and Tamamo-no-Mae. The Poncle's eyes widened in alarm. "Oki... Tammy... Get away... from... there..."

Even with Kutone trying to negate the strange magic, Oki was unable to move to stop the two machines. "You... demons... Curse you!" He watched helplessly as the silver owl Nechku flew closer and raised its cane, charging the point up with energy to strike him down while Lechku made his way over to the kitsune to do the same.

Just as Nechku was about to strike a killing blow against Oki however, Shiranui, not from this era originally, broke free of the time-freeze and knocked Oki out of the way, only to get struck down by the machine's attack. The spear like cane ripped right through the weakened sun god as the time freeze ended with both the demon's clocks now moving forward. Roxas eyes widened as he watched the sun god go down and seeing the gold owl still making its way over to the stunned kitsune to carry out his orders. Having had enough, he transformed. Forcefully pushing Waka back, the greater Nobody was engulfed in arctic spectral energy as his two Keyblades were replaced by Eco Surge. "WRAITH!" he cried out in a voice like a banshee. Once transformed, he launched himself at Lechku, blasting away at point blank range with Eco Surge in Arc Wielder mode. The gold owl clawed at the transformed Nobody but was unable to get a grip the electricity caused havoc with his systems. Wraith Roxas then switched his weapon to Wave Concussor mode and charged it to full power. "EAT THIS!" he yelled out as he jammed it in the robot's beak and released the trigger.

Lechku's head exploded in a blast of red Eco as the Nobody landed easily on the ground. Quickly taking aim, he charged his weapon again, this time with more of the strange spectral energy that transformed him along with 13 smaller energy charges that formed a ring around the main charge. Taking aim at the silver owl, Roxas unleashed Wraith form's final attack, Ether Assault. The mana based plasma blast ripped through the weakened robot's chest with the 13 auxiliary blasts striking any joints and or weak points. The sentinel was ripped apart, leaving the battle field changed.

Now it was a semi-disarmed Waka with Riku in Ansem's super form against Oki, Tamamo-no-Mae, Amaterasu with Issun, and Wraith Roxas with Kumotome. Shiranui was barely alive after the impalement he had received from Nechku. Roxas stood ready, aiming Eco Surge at Riku as Waka slowly backed away from the group with Pillowtalk in hand. "What now clown? You can't reactivate the Ark without a fifth source of greater demon essence and Kutone and there's no way you can take all of us on without the owls," Roxas stated calmly.

The colorful swordsman scowled for a moment before speaking. "I may not be able to use Kutone, but there is more than one way to reactivate the Ark. As for the required essence ... I'll just have to use a substitute," he said calmly right before he jammed the energy sword Pillowtalk through Riku's back.

Every one stood in shocked fascination as the Darkness was drained right out of Riku and into the sword. Riku mouth opened in a silent scream as the Heartless Guardian faded away, leaving only his main body paralyzed as its power was drained away. It got to the point where the image of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness faded and the true form of Riku appeared; a teenager with short white hair, still skewered on the energy blade. Just before it looked like he would be erased, Waka pulled the blade out, letting the limp form of Riku fall onto the snow covered summit. The Darkness solidified on Pillowtalk, turning the blade a pitch black as it formed around it. A blood red guard formed around the handle in the shape of the Heartless emblem with a few small energy blades jutting from the end of the weapon, forming the outline of the top of the heart. The Darkness imbued Pillowtalk looked like a pseudo-Keyblade, specifically the Keyblade Ansem tried to use to release Kairi's heart from Sora back in Hallow Bastion. "It may not be greater demon essence, but the essence of a greater Dark One should do as a passable substitute. Now my friends, I have a warship to reclaim, au revoir," he said arrogantly before leaping off the side of cliff, going down the mountain the quick way.

"Like hell you are!" Wraith Roxas cried out as he jumped after the Moon tribe member, Light Wings snapping into existence as he gave chase. The rest of the group stared in shock, wondering how they would get back down the shrine in time to help stop Waka with a critically injured Shiranui and an unconscious teenager.

The twin demons which had suddenly awoken atop Ezofuji, and tried to lay waste to the land of Kamui were defeated. They disappeared in a burst of petals, thanks to Oki, Amaterasu, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Roxas. However, a giant cloud, black as night, cast a shadow on the scene. Blight... Crimson Helm... the Spider Queen... Orochi... The essences of each were swept into the cloud as it moved. It drifted toward the Ark of Yamato at the bottom of Laochi Lake. "The Ark of Yamato is beckoning all of the world's darkness within." Tuskle's words echoed ominously, awakening Amaterasu's heart as she watched her companion chase after Waka to stop him from raising the Ark.

All the sacrifices, all the life lost in the name of good... Was it all in vain? Shiranui, Amaterasu's 100 year old incarnation, was fatigued and exhausted by the intense battle. However, when Shiranui noticed the glow of Oki's sword, Kutone, a sly smile seemed to crease the wolf's tired lips. Satisfied with this bright glimmer of hope, Shiranui struggled to rise and put every last ounce of strength into passing through Ishaku's gate back in time... Back home... As Amaterasu, Issun, Tammy, and Oki looked on, they were fully aware that Shiranui headed back into the face of danger... to the battle with Orochi. After saving Nagi from the clutches of death and aiding them in their own quest, Shiranui would die a hero, marking the beginning of the legend of Orochi. His journey was done, but they still had one more task to complete before their own was finished.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

Roxas raced after Waka, the one who set everything up right from the beginning. It all clicked together. Waka was the survivor of the Moon Tribe in the legend. He was the one who had guarded the Moon Cave and allowed Orochi to be released in order to kick start Amaterasu's journey to hunt down the greater demons. With each one slain he was able to power the Ark of Yamato and raise it from its frozen prison. The sword Kutone and the Twin Sentinels had been the last obstacles in his way. However, because of Roxas and his interference, Tamamo-no-Mae was never killed, thus her essence was now beyond his reach, and now he was going to use a substitute. Instead of the essence of a greater demon, he was going to use the essence of a greater Heartless. 'This moron has no idea what he's messing with. If that much Darkness is forcibly combined with the four greater demon essences ...' he thought as he took shots at the Tao Master who either dodged or blocked with the Darkness imbued Pillowtalk.

The two came to the base of the mountains, to Lake Laochi, where the Ark slept and many of the Oina tribe stood waiting for them to return since the blizzard stopped. Waka, instead of going to the shrine, went to the Ark itself. Before Roxas could get to him however, he opened a panel on the bow and jammed the energy sword into the conduit found there. Roxas landed shortly after as the Darkness in the sword was drained into the ship. Immediately the Nobody opened fire, trying to keep the Tao Master away from the ship and stop him from activating it. Waka jumped away before any of the shots could hit him, allowing the Darkness to seep into the ship and forcing it to awaken.

Wraith Roxas landed on the bow and immediately tried to pull Pillowtalk from the ship, only to be blasted back harshly by a pulse of Darkness as soon as he gripped the blade, making his forearm go numb from the shock. The warship started to rumble as that last infusion of energy woke it up. Having no choice, Roxas jumped off and glided to the shrine.

Amaterasu and the others quickly returned to the foot of Ezofuji. There they saw Lika, praying intently. The storm had subsided. Then, as if to celebrate their hard won victory, the twin volcanoes of Ezofuji erupted in great pillars of flame. The villagers felt the warmth on their skin and wept tears of joy. However, Oki merely surveyed the scene stoically, remaining silent. Although the evil demons had been driven away, the thought of having taken the sword and caused so much grief weighed heavily on his heart. The only one who could ease the burden of his woes was Samickle. The chieftain who had rescued Kemu from the shrine stepped forward. Silently, he approached Oki, offering an outstretched hand. His eyes betrayed the complexity of the emotions behind the gesture. Oki, realizing the gravity of the scene, extended his hand in turn. The moment they shook hands, Wep'keer was reborn into a village far too strong to ever fall victim to evil again.

At that moment ... a brilliant flash of Darkness pulsed forth from the Ark, striking squarely on the frozen surface of Laochi Lake. Though the lake had never shown any sign of melting, cracks began to open up along its surface. The legend of the iron ark, Yamato, said to have fallen from heaven, and the holy Laochi Lake which it called home, was revealed to be more than a mere legend before all those present.

The Ark of Yamato was a massive ship that looked like a cross between a spaceship and a standard sailing ship. It was made of a dull silver metal with blue energy lines running across its surface. What drew Roxas attention the most were the images on the side of the ship. The lines took on six strange symbols with one of them seemingly shifting back and forth. Going from the bow of the ship and moving back, the first was of a large spider, the next of a four legged creature holding a sword, then a large form with eight heads and a tail, and the fourth was a skeletal figure holding two swords. The fifth was interesting as it seemed the ship was trying to adapt to something as it kept shifting from an image of a canine with nine tails to the Heartless emblem and back again. The last symbol on the ship was larger than the others. It was a circle with what looked like several extensions wrapping around it, almost like a claw or hand. It wasn't hard to figure out what these represented, the demon essences that had been absorbed into the ship, though it looked like the Ark was having some trouble trying to substitute the Darkness from Riku for Tammy's demon essence that it had originally been configured for.

Roxas de-transformed as his friends came down from the shrine as a door opened up on the side of the ship and a rainbow bridge of energy formed. He looked to see Oki carrying an unconscious Riku on his back and snorted. "Why'd you bring him down here? Couldn't you have left him up there?" he asked with a snarl. He was tempted to blow his head off right now, but he had bigger problems at the moment.

Oki propped the boy against a large rock before answering. "Better to know where you enemy is then to wonder," he replied. The Nobody nodded in agreement before looking back at the Ark. "The wall of ice shall shatter and open the way to the heavens when Kutone glows silver." The prophecy's wall of ice is not the demons' blizzard. Rather, it is the ice on our perpetually frozen lake. It seems you were right all along my friend," he said as he gazed at Kutone which was still glowing silver. He then turned to the sun goddess and spoke calmly. "Amaterasu... If that ark is the way to the heavens, then you must embark upon it. Though we have not known each other long, I can already tell what sort of being you are. For you, the realm of the gods lies ahead. It is a journey the rest of us cannot take. You knew that, didn't you, Amaterasu?" he said sadly. As much as he wanted to, the Ark was no place for him.

Stepping forward, Roxas stood ready. "Given the Darkness used to raise that thing, I'm coming as well."

Kumotome piped up from her perch on his shoulder. "Where you go, I go, child of the Void," she stated simply.

Tamamo-no-Mae followed suit. "I will join you as well. The bastard who ruined my family is in there and I aim to pay him back for it," she snarled.

As they made their way across the bridge, Issun suddenly spoke up, his voice quieter and more nervous than normal. "W-Wait! Wait, Ammy! You know what'll happen if you cross this rainbow bridge and board the Ark of Yamato, don't you? I mean, that boat is bad news. The people of Kamui all know that. It's the most hated and feared thing in all the land. Even legends have nothing good to say about it or Laochi Lake. And you know there's no turning back once you board that thing," he warned.

The sun goddess gave a sad wolfish grin. "I have the resolve to do what needs to be done my friend. I ... we will not fail," she replied quietly and calmly.

The Poncle looked at her for a moment before speaking. "I see... Well, I guess this is it then. Ammy... Don't you go dying like you did 100 years ago." He was then quiet, as if wanting to say something. They waited patiently for the tiny artist to speak. "Um... Well... We've been through a lot together. How long's it been since we first met? It all started in the valley of Sakuya's chest... Then we laid the smack down on Orochi... Then meeting Roxas and Kumotome... We even went inside an Emperor's body, traveled to the bottom of the sea, and even to a whole other dimension. Then, before I knew it, I found myself back in my own land. And now it all ends with the appearance of the legendary Ark. But for you, it's just the start of an even greater adventure. Sorry, Ammy... I'm afraid this is where we say goodbye. As I told you from the beginning, I joined you so that I could steal those 13 brush techniques of yours. We've found them all during our travels, and now each and every one has been etched into my mind." To demonstrate he drew a small flower in mid air in front of the wolf, much t her surprise. "It's not like I've mastered them yet, but... I plan on having loads of fun with my newfound skills. It's a bit sad to see you all go; even the spider, but ya all gotta do what ya gotta do! Take care of yourselves, pals," he said sadly.

Roxas nodded solemnly as the tiny artist bounced away. "You as well Issun. We all have our paths to take and yours is in Nippon. Who knows where we'll end up," he said with a chuckle.

Tamamo-no-Mae also chuckled, thinking of Dark Wonderland where her people had ended up. "Isn't that the truth? Go make something of yourself you little pest. You've got the Brush Techniques; go use them for everyone's sake."

Kumotome decided to put in her two cents. "Maybe someday we'll see your work in someplace other than a brothel, but I doubt it," she snarked with a grin.

"SHUT IT!" he yelled back, though they could tell he had a smile as well.

While she didn't like it, Amaterasu knew he had to go. The Ark was no place for normal beings, even Poncles. "I understand Issun. I will miss you my friend. You take care as well," she said quietly.

The solemn moment was ruined however by appearance of Waka. "At last... At last, a path to the heavens has opened up. Oh, fantastique! How long have I yearned for this moment? 200 years? No, it must've been much longer," he stated with glee at the end of the rainbow bridge.

Rage flashed across the kitsune's face as she brandished both Ninestrike and Thunder Edge. "YOU!" she snarled as lightning arced from between the two weapons.

He chuckled at them, seemingly ignoring the female fox getting ready to light him up like a Christmas tree. "It has been a fun time my friends, but I'm afraid only one of you is worthy of the trip to the heavens and decreed by destiny to board the fabled Ark of Yamato. The rest of you never had a ticket, and you never will!" he exclaimed arrogantly.

The Keyblade wielder snorted at him. "Really... and what exactly constitutes worthiness? Being a traitor, a backstabber, a manipulator, or just a plain coward like you?" he stated much to the colorful man's ire. "You set up this entire insane quest right from the start for Amaterasu, just so you could revive this glorified hunk of junk. The greater demons, the Brush Gods, Susano, the Moon Cave, Sei-An City, the kitsune clan, even Oki and Kutone with that fake prophecy. At this point, I just have one question for you clown," he stated clearly.

Waka raised an eyebrow in curiosity from his perch on the side of the ship above the open door. "And what would that be child of the Void?"

"Who are you?" he stated clearly to everyone's confusion. "I know you're the survivor mentioned in the legend about this thing, that's the only way you could've known so much about it and be able to set all this up. Most would ask why even bother, but I think that has to do with who you REALLY are. A civilian wouldn't have the combat skills or ability to manipulate demons and Gods so well and they wouldn't be able to survive being in a ship full to brim with monsters that want to kill them. So I ask again, who are you really?" the greater Nobody asked in a deceptively calm tone of voice.

The Tao Master chuckled. "I will give you this child of the Void, you are far more perceptive than I would have given you credit for. Still, that is not for the likes of you to know, au revoir," he said dramatically before disappearing into the ship just before Tammy's twin lightning blast connected.

"Almost had him," she growled as Roxas walked up to the open door.

"I suppose it really doesn't matter at this point who he is. We still have a job to do," he said as he brought a hand up and encountered a force field preventing him from moving forward. Then taking a stance he brought his hand back and summoned Two Becomes One, charging its Aura Blade as much as possible. "As for this being worthy stuff and destiny, if some colorful idiot thinks he can play chess master with my life or the lives of anyone I care about," he said ominously as thoughts of Xemnas and DiZ flashed through his mind. He then thrust the blade forward into the shield, piercing it with the Aura Blade and violently shattering it. Roxas smirked at the result as fragments of the force field fell away and faded. "Let's see how he'll handle it when I switch to demolition derby," he said with a cruel smirk before walking in, followed closely by the sun goddess and kitsune. From the bridge, Issun watched them enter for a moment before hopping down to the awaiting Oina tribe. He had his own mission to complete and knew time was short.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

The inside of the Ark of Yamato was ... dark ... and damp ... and stank about half as bad as Haven City's sewers. It absently reminded Roxas of a metallic version of the Sunken Ship where he first met Kumotome as a spirit. Despite the upper portion once being held in ice, under the ice it had been water and thus it seeped into everything. Though the ship hummed with new life as systems started and lights came on with red lines of energy becoming active. More than once they had to be careful to not step in seaweed or the remains of a few fish. Tammy was the first to voice her concern. "So we're in, where do we go? This ship is huge and we have no idea where that bastard went or where this Empty Death thing is," she said seriously as she kept her two lightning swords ready. She could feel Empty Death ... Yami even from this distance, as if she were just a little kit again and it was a massive tiger waiting to pounce.

"Go left," Kumotome said suddenly from Roxas' shoulder. They looked at her with a question in their eyes. "I feel ... something familiar. I think it is the demon essence that was stolen from me. If we follow it we might find where it and the essences are being held." They continued on, not having any better options at the moment.

They eventually came to a massive room. It had a central platform with five pathways leading to what looked like massive containers of energy. Each container was inscribed with one of the symbols that they had seen on the outside of the ship, with one of them shifting back forth. It was the container that presumably was meant for Tamamo-no-Mae's essence and was now holding pure Darkness in its place as like outside, it kept shifting from a nine-tailed fox to the Heartless symbol and back again. As they entered they were surprised by the appearance of a spirit. The ghost was of a heavy set man with blonde hair and pale skin wearing a toga. The most distinctive thing about him was that he had a pair of small wings sticking out of his head. Another strange difference was that while nearly all of the people Roxas had met in this world had what would be called an Asian appearance, this spirit had a European appearance.

The Spirit was surprised at their presence. "My goodness! I can hardly believe it! My eyes may have been enveloped in darkness all this time, but I know when I see a divine being before me! Okami Amaterasu, you've returned home! I, Marco, would like to welcome you on behalf of all Celestials!" the Celestial Being Marco said enthusiastically. He continued on, seemingly not seeing or outright ignoring the Nobody, kitsune, and spider. "Oh! I made a mistake. I said that you'd returned home, but of course I was wrong. This is the inside of the dreaded ark which fell from the heavens. It's nothing like our wonderful home, the Celestial Plain. Alas, only my spirit remains in this world. It's been imprisoned here for many years. Perhaps it was my destiny. Okami Amaterasu... I'd be so grateful if you could bestow upon us a small gift. Not only for me, but for the others who succumbed to death. In exchange I will give what I can. I'm sure that it would lift everyone's spirits."

"Got anything to eat?" Roxas asked suddenly, surprising the spirit and causing everyone to look at him. "What? We've been running around since yesterday, racing through Yoshpet, traveling through the spirit gate, fighting Orochi 100 years in the past, racing back with Lika, getting through the shrine, fighting those robots, and now here. All I've had is some elixir and some steel spirit sake, I'm hungry," he stated bluntly.

Marco nodded in understanding. "It seems you've been through quite a bit. I do have some leftover rations from the ship's cargo bay that were sealed and still good." Amaterasu gave over some money to the spirit merchant. While the rations weren't the tastiest thing they had ever had, it was certainly better than nothing.

As they ate, Roxas went over to what looked like the main hub of the room. It was a raised circular platform with a short stairway. Inscribed on it was the claw-like symbol he had seen on the side of ship. Looking at the other symbols and what they represented, he wondered how a claw represented what he assumed was Empty Death, aka Yami. Before he could dwell on it more, he encountered another spirit. This one was a young woman and like Marco she had blonde hair, large wings extending from her head, wore a white toga, and had the same type of European appearance. "Goodness! If I'm not mistaken ... you're traveling with Okami Amaterasu! Who would have thought I would see her again after all this time? All my waiting under the dark, cold ice has paid off. We Celestials may have lost our physical form... But our spirits live on and are with her for all eternity!" Celestial Being Hakuba exclaimed happily.

"What happened here?" he asked carefully so as not to upset the spirit.

Hakuba sighed before speaking. "We were heartbroken after the battle on the Celestial Plain, when Amaterasu fell to this world with that monster. We managed to escape before it happened, but... Little did we know the tragedy that was about to befall us. After we ran away from the battle, we boarded the Ark of Yamato hoping to get away. But not long after we set sail, countless monsters appeared from the depths of the ark. Having nowhere to run, all of us were devoured by the monsters. This ark, which was built by the lunar civilization, turned out to be a cargo ship designed to transport thousands of monsters. Not long after setting sail, the ark lost its rudder, and plummeted down to this world. The Celestials on board, each and every one of us, were slain. I don't know why the Moon Tribe built such a thing. But when the ark fell to this world and brought such tragedy... Well, it was nothing short of a disaster. It seems that the ark has begun to move again after all this time. But this place is like a nest of dark beings. Please take care that you and your companions are not sucked into the darkness."

"What can you tell me about those containers?" he asked as the others joined him.

The Celestial turned and shivered as she gazed at the now powered containers. "They were meant to house the essences of greater demons and channel them into the ship. The essence in each container manifests itself as the demon it came from, though wild and feral, as they have been separated from the mind and soul of creature they were once bound to. You can shut them down by going in and defeating the essence in each container," she explained.

Roxas looked at the containers and then at the lines of red energy feeding into the central control. While they could go through and defeat each demon, it would tax their resources and he had a feeling they were getting short on time. Glancing at the sun goddess, he knew her power would wane as the eclipse got closer. Moving to the side of the central hub, he pulled out Rejection of Fate and pried open one of the panels. He had learned quite a bit about technology from his time in Haven, including how to mess with it. He connected Compass to the machine and brought up a panel. "Compass, hack the systems and see what if anything you can gain control of," he ordered.

[Affirmative.]

"What are you doing? I was under the impression that the people of this land were unfamiliar with this type of technology," Hakuba asked curiously.

Roxas just smirked. "I'm not from around here. Anyway, I would bet anything that that clown Waka set this with the intention of having Amaterasu fight her old enemies again in order to both buy time and wear her out so that he could take control of this ship. Thing is ... I don't play fair." Compass chimed in at that moment, listing the systems it had acquired access to. He then smirked as he looked over what was available. "Perfect. Compass, shut down all cooling systems to the primary essence containers and run them as hot as possible," he ordered his computer.

[Affirmative. All cooling systems deactivating. Raising essence containment unit temperature to max for all units.]

Tamamo-no-Mae saw what he was doing and was impressed. While she was not familiar with technology as advanced as this, she understood enough to know what he was doing. "Impressive Roxas. By disabling the cooling systems and running them hot, you plan to force them into emergency shut down," she stated as slowly, one by one, the containers went dark, the energy lines changing from red to blue as the backup systems took over. "In the mean time, can you tell us anything more about the Ark and its history?" she asked the Celestial spirit.

Hakuba nodded and began speaking. "This ark was built by the lunar civilization as a rescue boat; at least we believed it so. It had been enshrined in the Celestial Plain for many years. We believed it would be safe. In order to ensure our future existence, we fled to the Ark when the monster attacked us. How could we have known this ark would become our coffin!? I don't know... Maybe it was our destiny. Perhaps it was all decided from the start. That monster, Orochi, who attacked the Celestial Plain, had suddenly come flying across the sea of stars. And after destroying our people and our homeland, it went on to cause pain and suffering in this world. Perhaps ... perhaps it was all pre-ordained by the Moon Tribe," she said the last part more to herself than her audience. Shaking her head, she continued, this time addressing Amaterasu more specifically. "Long, long ago, you and Orochi fell together to this world. Then you waited for the Chosen One to put an end to Orochi's life. You waited patiently for countless moons, until finally the Chosen One, Nagi, was born. Together you sent the monster of the moon to its fate. You didn't realize it, but that was just one ripple in the wave of darkness! It's exactly 100 years since the legend of Nagi. The monster was quietly recovering its strength for all those years, until it used Nagi's descendant, Susano, to complete its revival. And once again it tried to destroy this world. When you defeated it, the next stage of its plan began. It cursed the land with its evil power. And the world was soon overrun with monsters from the Ark. Orochi's evil essence was more than enough to power them all. The smoldering powers of darkness exploded throughout Nippon. And the world was thrown into a storm of chaos never seen before. After that ... well, you saw with your own eyes. The evil powers that left those monsters you defeated have all gathered here in the Ark of Yamato."

As she finished speaking, the last of the containers shut down due to their built in safety measures. The central control lit up as a pillar of light shown down. Roxas summoned Sun Tale and Two Become One. "Okay, this will probably lead us to Empty Death ... Yami. We take him ... it down and this nightmare is over. I want you both to be careful. This thing runs on demonic essence and it probably has it out for both of you. Ammy, I want you to be careful, with the eclipse you won't be at full power." The kitsune and wolf both nodded and the group stepped into the light, beamed away to another part of the ship as the spirits of the Celestials watched on it worry and hope.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

They were transported to a large open, arena-like area with several spires all around along with odd torches around the parameter. Above them all around were the various constellations representing the different Brush Gods. The place was dark with only a small amount of light coming from the power lines in the floor and the constellations. The group's attention was immediately focused on Waka, armed with Pillowtalk and another sword, fighting against ... a sphere? It was a pitch black sphere floating a few feet above the ground and was about two stories tall and wide. That wasn't the thing that caught their attention the most though. It was the presence of the sphere, what assumed to be Empty Death, aka Yami. It was sickening, corrupting, as if all the hatred, ruthlessness, and evil in the world caused by humanity, by sentient creatures, were all compacted into this one ... thing. There was also this need ... this hunger for destruction and death that emanated from Yami that it was almost physically visible. Quite frankly, Roxas was getting seriously ill and starting to become afraid from just being near the thing. Tamamo-no-Mae and Kumotome weren't much better as they could feel that hunger for power, ANY power, wash over them. Rao, inside Compass, retreated deeper into the machine to try and hide from the creature despite being already dead. Only Amaterasu seemed unaffected, though it was hard to tell, as she stared at her polar opposite. While she was a deity of light and creation, Yami was a monster of darkness and destruction.

Waka turns around and sees the group, surprised that they had gotten there so quickly. He himself looks very worse for wear despite them only being separated for a short time. "There you are, Amaterasu and with the Nobody and kitsune as well. I thought I could handle this before you arrived, but you were much quicker than I expected. It seems I have met my match. Heh heh... This brings back memories, ma chérie! Remember when we faced Orochi together on the Celestial Plain?" he asked rhetorically only to get a growl in return, ironically from both Amaterasu and Yami, though from Yami it had a metallic echo to it. It seems the Lord of the Land of Darkness did not like being ignored in any way. The colorful swordsman continued, seeming not to care about the black sphere's rage. "Behold... It is shrouded in darkness, but make no mistake. This is none other than Yami, the evil Ruler of Darkness. It was he who slew the Celestials on board this very ark and brought misfortune upon the land of mortals! Of course, it's too dark to see his true form now," he motions to the black orb that is outlined in a corrupting dark blue aura.

Suddenly, the ground trembles as the whole ship seems to shake. Tamamo-no-Mae speaks first. "What's happening!?"

Waka speaks again. "And so it begins... The dreaded Day of Darkness is upon us!"

Outside, unseen by those in the Ark of Yamato, the moon moves to cover the golden orange sun, blocking out all light in the land. The creature Yami seemed to revel in this moment as a sickly black and blood red aura appears around the sphere along with crimson lines of energy. The lines seem to depict a base with wings or petals pointing upwards. The darkness clears and they finally get a good look at the sphere, a perfectly round object made of black metal with lines across its surface, only some of which are currently lit up. The creature seems to glare at them, despite having no discernible face, and roars, waves of dark energy flowing out of it. The energy converges on both Ammy and Tammy, hitting them hard.

In a flash, an orb of light shoots out of each of Ammy, Tammy, and Sun Tale and into the upper portions of the area. They break apart and Roxas recognizes the orbs for what they are, the powers of the Celestial Brush Gods, their symbols adorning the various orbs. The orbs encircle Yami as it pulls the powers into itself, the constellations depicted around them falling apart into stardust. Both the wolf and fox are forcibly changed into their mortal forms, an ordinary white wolf and a worn old fox. Solar Flare and Thunder Edge had vanished along with their divine power, though Ninestrike remained. Sun Tale, drained of the source of its power, changed into a worn, faded, and damaged version of itself, looking like little more than a broken toy. Immediately, Roxas went over to his friends, casting Cura on both to try and heal them and get them back on their feet as he switched out Sun Tale for Rejection of Fate.

Waka seemed to have a cruel smirk on his face at seeing them fall, particularly the kitsune. "Distorted time and space brings about this phenomenon. This ill-fated day only occurs once every 100 years. Nobody, not even the gods or demons masquerading as gods, have the power to stop it!" he proclaimed arrogantly. He then chuckled as he saw the Nobody glare at him. "200 years of planning, manipulation, and work and you come in and nearly ruin it all child of the Void. When you saved that worthless fox, I thought my plans would be undone without that final demon essence. Instead I was able to find the perfect substitute from that Dark One. He seemed obsessed with you, so it was easy to get what I needed."

The greater Nobody glanced at Yami and noticed something, something that the clown in front of him had missed and then smirked, much too said clown's ire. "You're a fool. Did you honestly expect this to work? Even if I hadn't come along, Yami here still wouldn't have obeyed you and moreover you went and mixed in Darkness with demon essence. Not a smart move."

Waka raised an eyebrow in question. "Oh and how is that? Seems to have worked out just fine as you can see, Empty Death is up and running and once I hack its systems, my plan will finally bear fruit," he stated plainly.

Roxas just laughed, causing the pink clothed swordsman to frown. "You idiot. Darkness is a Primal Element, beyond the understanding of any being; be they divine, demonic, or anything in between, just like its counterparts Light and Nothingness. The demons and you thought it just another source of power, but it is beyond that, far beyond your understanding, not that you or the demons really tried. You only cared about the end result and not the method, resulting in more mistakes then you know. Even someone like me, who can use the power of Darkness, Light, and Nothingness safely and has done so, barely understands what they are and what they are truly capable of. Darkness creates Heartless, what you call Dark Ones, from the hearts of other living creatures. Empty Death ... Yami is a living creature. In short, you've made him part Heartless and the thing about Heartless is that they only listen to the strongest and if they become stronger than their masters or perceive them as weak ... they turn on them," he said as he pointed back at Yami.

Turning quickly, Waka's eyes widened as the Heartless symbol flashed on the outside as Yami faded to black once more. Only this time, it had two eyes appearing on its surface, two large yellow eyes. Then a jagged line appeared, splitting open to reveal a mouth of jagged teeth and dripping corruption. Without warning, tentacles of Darkness shot out and wrapped around Waka's limbs, immobilizing him and dragging him into the swirling abyss that was Empty Death. Amaterasu and Tamamo-no-Mae watched in horrid fascination as the manipulator of Nippon was engulfed in Darkness. He screamed out chants and orders, trying in vain to escape before the mouth closed and he was gone. Tammy snorted and muttered quietly as she was still in pain, "I would've preferred to have killed the bastard myself, but I suppose I can accept this, given the irony of it all." She then noticed Yami returning to its previous form and seemed to be shaking in rage. "Oh no," she muttered as the sphere seemed to open up, the top half splitting apart along the lines into four even parts like a twisted metal flower.

In the center of where it opened was a much smaller orb, a glass sphere with what looked like a cross between a fish and an undeveloped human. Its skin was pitch-black with makings disturbingly similar to Amaterasu's only in dark blue. The thing glared at them with eyes full of rage and hatred. Even more telling was that they could FEEL the raw need to destroy coming from this thing. The creature, the true essence of Empty Death, gathered energy into itself.

Seeing Tammy and Ammy still hurting from having their divinity forcibly ripped from them, he stood before them and brought Rejection of Fate in front of him, summoning the Mirror Wall as soon as Yami fired a beam of corrosive, destructive energy that was half as wide around as it was. The beam hit the wall dead on and kept it up. The Mirror Wall could reflect attacks, but not against a continuous bombardment of this scale from a god/weapon of mass destruction. Rejection of Fate was starting to heat up and spark violently as Roxas tried to keep up the barrier keeping him and his friends from instant death. Seeing its prey weakening, Yami produced two large mechanical arms with massive buzz saws and began ripping into the Mirror Wall. The Nobody held his ground as he tried desperately to hold onto Rejection of Fate with both hands. However, he paled when he heard a sound over the roar of energy and whirling of saw blades ... a cracking sound. Looking he saw his Keyblade was literally starting to crack and fracture from the stress of maintaining the Mirror Wall under this assault, testifying to how powerful this thing was to be able to overload a Keyblade like this. The cracks spread along the weapon and in the Mirror Wall itself. The stalemate held for a few moments longer before something gave.

CRACK! KA-THOOM!

The Mirror Wall exploded outwards, knocking Yami back and ending its onslaught while also knocking Roxas back just as hard into one of the pillars surrounding the arena. The shards from the destroyed Mirror Wall stopped in mid air a few moments after the initial explosion before shoot back to Rejection of Fate and were absorbed into it. The Keyblade itself was cracked and twisted; looking like it had been in a train wreck, with one of its teeth missing and was sparking badly with Light, Darkness, and Nothingness. Slowly getting up, Roxas was sore from the hit but reacted immediately to Kumotome's yell. "LOOK OUT!" He immediately dived to the side and dodged back as far as possible. Looking back he saw Yami in its closed sphere mode again retracting a large hammer into itself. While it had missed him, Rejection of Fate took more of a pounding, added to the damage done, before it was left there as the battle continued.

Tammy saw her chance and dashed at the metal sphere, brandishing Ninestrike. She slashed at it, causing sparks to fly and the creature to roar in pain. With that distraction, Roxas materialized Twilight Blaze and threw it to the white wolf. "Ammy, catch!" The wolf caught the handle in her teeth and also slashed at the metal construct. Yami retaliated by pulling out one of its saws and slashing at them, causing them all to back away. It then started to bounce, slamming into the floor and damaging it, leaving noticeable craters as it tried to crush them with its size. What was also strange was that around the edges of the craters appeared black patches that started to spawn Shadow Heartless. Summoning Two Become One and Astral Blast, Roxas used a wave of Chaos blades before going after Yami with both blades and his Light Beams. The dark god continued to try and simply crush them, producing more Shadows and creating massive holes in the area. However, after a few more hits from Ammy and Tammy, Yami stopped, the red lines dimming to gray, and started to convulse. As it did, an orb of light with a familiar kanji flew out of the sphere, split in two and entered both Roxas and Amaterasu. Immediately, the sun goddess was restored to her divine form, red markings, Divine Instrument, and all.

It then hit Roxas what had happened. This thing had taken their divine power due to the eclipse and because it was vulnerable to them, but it couldn't completely hold onto the powers and was trying to kill them before it lost control. Their attacks loosened its grip on one of them, specifically the one that Amaterasu acquired first after being revived, Rejuvenation. Switching out Two Become One with Sun Tale, it too had been partially restored; he called out to his companions. "Hit it from all sides, the more damage we do, the more God powers that'll be released," he cried out as he slashed through the Shadows.

"You got it," the kitsune said as she rushed in and slashed at the sphere with Ninestrike while Amaterasu did the same with Solar Flare. Yami could not handle multiple attacks like this in its current configuration. As a result, it soon convulsed again and another light orb emerged, split into three, and flew into each of them, restoring the Power Slash Brush technique. This also had the effect of restoring Tamamo-no-Mae's divine form, though reduced as she only had one tail. It did however restore her use of Thunder Edge which she used with relish.

With the loss of another power, Yami started to launch missiles at them while producing a pair of saw blades and then started to spin to cut them down. Having seen many attacks like this before, they all used their recently reacquired Power Slash to send the missiles back and stagger the creature. Seeing it staggered, they attacked with Solar Flare, Thunder Edge, and Tundra Beads. While he wasn't skilled with them, with a target as big as a small house, he didn't need to be. Under the assault, the dark god released another orb, this one split in two and shot to Amaterasu and Sun Tale, restoring the trio of Greensprout techniques. With this power, the sun goddess immediately used Bloom on the black sphere, forcibly opening it and stripping Yami of its armor, revealing the orb containing its core. Both Ammy and Tammy went to town while Roxas kept the Shadows off them.

Seeing that this wasn't working, Yami closed up, covered itself in Darkness, and floated to the center of the arena. Violet and crimson energy sparked around it as the energy condensed around it. In a flash it had changed. While it was still a black metal sphere, the energy lines had changed from red to an aqua green and were now running horizontal along the thing, looking more like circuitry. "That can't be good," Kumotome muttered from her perch on Roxas' shoulder.

Her prediction proved true as the sphere split floated in the air, not touching the ground and covered itself in flames. It then came at them, leaving trails of fire along the ground. While its first form had represented humanity's desire for destruction, this form seemed to embody its need to burn everything. This was made even worse as rock-like Heartless appeared from the scorched earth, looking like balls of magma given legs and yellow eyes. The Fiery Globes made to attack them as Yami kept coming at them like an angry sun. Roxas countered with the Tundra Beads, using the ice to take as many out as possible while Amaterasu and Tamamo-no-Mae attacked the sphere the moment the flames died down. The opening was short lived as the top half of the sphere separated along the lines and became a series of platforms that seemed to curve over, almost as if they were held together by an unseen spring or wire. The two dodged as the platforms whipped and slashed at the ground, trying to crush them.

Barely avoiding the attack, the two countered with their Divine Instruments, causing the sphere to reform, stagger, then flip the few top sections up like a barrel being opened. Out of the opening came the fourth light orb, this one restoring the power of the Cherry Bomb to the trio. The kitsune grinned at this and immediately used it on this twisted jack-in-the-box. Rolling a Cherry Bomb into it, the resulting explosion forcibly separated the sphere along the lines into platforms that hovered in the air at different levels with the core sitting on one of them stunned. Amaterasu continued the attack by leaping up and slashing at the core as it roared in pain.

Again, after taking enough damage it reformed and the top flipped open again; this time releasing the power of the Watersprout to the trio. Yami hovered in air and split into platforms. The smallest platform on the bottom was engulfed by fire and tried to slash at Tammy, leaving a trail of scorched earth, Fiery Globes, and Red Nocturne Heartless. Roxas switched to Eco Surge to take out the Heartless while the next platform from the bottom ignited. Seeing a pattern and not wanting more Heartless to appear, Tammy now at three tails was able to use Deluge to drench everything. Immediately the platforms reformed into a sphere reeling from the shock of the rain. One Cherry Bomb later and it was platforms again, this time with the core on the highest platform. This didn't even slow down Amaterasu as she jumped up and attacked, doing heavy damage.

Reforming to avoid more damage, Yami was forced to relinquish its sixth orb, the Crescent technique, to both Roxas and Amaterasu. Roaring it rage, the sphere covered itself in flamed and attempted to ram Amaterasu only for the kitsune to use Deluge again, stunning it once more from the swift change. This time, on instinct, the sun goddess used the reacquired ability and painted the moon on the dome of the arena. The waning moon appeared and so did a massive ghostly image of Nagi that performed a downward slash, cutting the sphere clean in half and forcing the core to drop to the ground between the two halves much to its surprise. It seemed they were not as alone as they thought. Smirking at the opportunity, Roxas switched Eco Surge to Super Nova mode and took aim. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yelled out to which his companions complied and got a safe distance as he launched the rocket. Roxas would swear Yami's eyes widened in surprise just before the mini-nuke hit.

Enraged at technology, its domain, being used against it, Yami reformed and once again covered itself in Darkness and evil energy. Tamamo-no-Mae scowled as it shifted to a new configuration. "How many modes does this damn thing have!?" she cried out in frustration as the sphere reappeared, this time with blue energy lines going vertically along it. Roxas opened fire while the wolf and fox tried to use Power Slash. None of the attacks got through. The Nobody even tried his Primal Element attacks, but those had no effect as well as Yami used the Darkness it had absorbed to shield itself from them. It floated a few meters above the ground and suddenly opened up sideways. It extended, revealing three massive reels the begun to spin like a slot machine. It seemed this form represented humanity's need to gamble and take unnecessary and dangerous risks and ironically was much more defensive than the previous forms. "The spinning is annoying," she stated before she Power Slashed all three reels at once. The images stopped on three different pictures. Going from left to right they were a snowflake, a lightning bolt, and a bomb. "Those can't be good," she muttered as her prediction was quickly proven true.

The first symbol, the snowflake glowed and out of the top of the machine it summoned massive shards of ice. Seeing this attack again, they tried to reflect the attacks back with Power Slash, but with only partial success. The next symbol glowed and a vent opened on the underside of the demonic slot machine and started to rapid fire orbs of electricity. Roxas and Ammy dodged while Tammy deflected them with Ninestrike and Thunder Edge. The last symbol glowed and produced a bomb on top of the machine. Reacting quickly, Roxas launched a Firaga at it, igniting it early and causing it to explode and damage Yami, much to its rage.

The twisted god reset the reels and they spun once again. Taking a chance, Amaterasu Power Slashed them and this time got three blue circles with Yami's symbol on them. Immediately the machine started to convulse and short circuit badly. "What the!?" Roxas said in surprise as another light orb was released, restoring the trio's power over wind with the Galestorm technique. In rage Yami spat out torrents of flame that were quickly blown away by the reacquired technique. As the dark god reset the reels, it hit Roxas as to why. This form represented gambling and taking unnecessary risks and for any gamble to be valid, BOTH sides had to have the possibility of winning AND losing. In this case, Yami lost. "Hit the reels! Those symbols are the jackpot!" he yelled to his allies.

"Got it!" the kitsune replied with four tails behind her as she Power Slashed the reels. This time the symbols came up a flame, a demon face similar to those demon locks, and the Heartless symbol. With the activation of the first symbol, Yami launched a torrent of fire that was quickly blown away like the last one. The next symbol caused it to launch spheres of demon essence similar to what cursed trees threw. These were sent back with some well timed Power Slashes. The last symbol, the Heartless one, caused Yami to generate mechanical Heartless, specifically two Guardian Heartless.

The Guardians were large, dark grey, funnel-shaped, mechanical Heartless with a diamond-shaped opening in their fronts, exposing their glowing, yellow eyes. Two dark grey, diamond-shaped guns are mounted on either side of their bodies. Each of these guns sported a red, pyramidal spike on both ends. There was a black ring that acts somewhat like a gyroscope hovering around each of their bases, despite not being directly connected to the Heartless. These rings bared a vague resemblance to the top half of the Nobody symbol. The Guardians had a red spike on the top of their heads, and their Heartless emblems were just below the opening for their eyes.

Recognizing them, Roxas took to the air to take out quickly as the reels started once more. While one was quickly destroyed, the other fired off an energy beam, aiming for Tammy who blocked with both her blades. Once the attack ended, she slashed at it herself while Amaterasu stopped the reels. They resulted in the three blue symbols again, causing a massive malfunction and the loss of another light orb to the three of them, this time containing the Inferno technique. Yami launched twin waves of ice to try and entrap them. An application of Fireburst cleared the ice shards away quickly.

Once more the reels spun and were stopped by a Power Slash, this time ending with a flame, a snowflake, and a demon face. The trio avoided and countered the attacks as best they could, though they were definitely more powerful and wild than before as Yami's rage continued to grow. The reels spun and were stopped a third time on all three of the blue symbols, forcing the mechanical monster to relinquish the Veil of Mist technique to Roxas and Amaterasu. It rage nearing its maximum, Yami floated to the center of the arena again as it knew with that technique they'd be able to slow down the slots to whatever they wanted. In a flash of black, violet, and crimson energy, it reconfigured itself into its fourth form, representing humanity's tendency to misuse power of any kind.

The sphere now bore yellow energy lines going vertical on the sphere with a few horizontal ones. Out of the bottom of the sphere appeared two robotic legs and out of the sides came spheres with long energy whips. Yami roared in rage and began swinging the whips, going on a rampage as it tried to take out the three of them. It also started to launch missiles again along with going air born for short spans dropping bombs.

The group scrambled to get out of the way of the mech's wild attacks. Without warning, it raised both arms straight up. Instantly they changed into replicas of Ninestrike's blade. "Move out of the way!" Tamamo-no-Mae yelled as she knew exactly what was coming.

Yami slammed the twin blades down, creating a shockwave of electricity. This gave them a moment to counterattack, trying to do as much damage as possible as it started to swing again with its electric whips. The front of the sphere opened to reveal a ray emitter. It then shot out of beam of destructive yellow energy similar to what it used to break the Mirror Wall, only more focused than before. The beam scorched the ground as it tried to hit one of the members of the group. It quickly retracted the emitter and showed the core, looking enraged at them. Ammy countered with a Power Slash, stunning the monster and forcing it down. Once again they rushed it to damage Yami directly. All at once, the limbs retracted in as the lines faded. A hatch opened and a light orb shot out to the three of them, restoring the Catwalk technique.

Using the technique, the three retreated to the top of the spires to regroup, much to the dark god's irritation. The core revealed itself as it launched missiles once again. Tammy and Ammy sent them back with well placed Power Slashes while Roxas launched another Super Nova at the core. The shockwave blew the mech flat on its back, forcing it to release another light orb, this one containing the power of the Thunderstorm technique for the three of them. The kitsune was really happy to have this power back. This was short lived as Yami started to produce Heartless again, specifically four more Guardians and two of a new kind of Heartless, Devastators.

The Devastators were mechanical Heartless that have large, spherical, black heads with glowing yellow eyes encased in a funnel-shaped suit of armor. They each had a flat helmet with a jagged, black antenna on the top. At the base of the funnel was a large turret with a violet shaft and a black tip. Three lavender, H-shaped pieces floated around the tip of the cannon. They also had four cylindrical "legs". None of these legs were directly connected to the Heartless, and instead levitate around them. The Heartless seemed to have two forms. At first they appeared as a tank-like, ground-based one in which it walked along the ground using their legs for locomotion and their turrets for attacks. They then switched to their other form; a levitating, aerial one that used its legs to bludgeon opponents and seemed to use its turret to remain floating. The Devastators were predominantly black and covered in yellow computer circuitry with their Heartless emblems is on their fronts, just under the rim of the funnel.

Changing into her half-way form, Tamamo-no-Mae jumped on the top of one of the Devastators and skewered it with Ninestrike, before jumping to take out the other. Roxas meanwhile used Eco Surge in Vulcan Fury mode to take out of the Guardian Heartless. Meanwhile, Amaterasu kept Yami busy as it kept trying to crush the sun goddess but kept having its core assaulted as it attempted to better focus its attacks. Over all it was insane as Yami kept launching missiles and creating Heartless to keep Roxas and Tammy at bay and from helping the sun goddess. However, said goddess was much more agile than it was and could avoid most of his attacks fairly well. Simply put, Empty Death had been created for wide area combat against armies, not one on one/three combat against a small group of highly powerful and specialized adversaries. This was made more apparent when it was forced to give up another light orb, this one restoring the trio's power of the Blizzard brush technique, the technique that Roxas had been hoping for.

Summoning Sun Tale he called to his allies. "Everyone, use Blizzard on that thing and then as many Cherry Bombs as possible!" Amaterasu and Tamamo-no-Mae did so with relish, knowing their friend's plan. Instantly, Yami was frozen in a small glacier in the center of the arena with its core exposed. In a flash of smoke, 9 Cherry Bombs appeared around the mech, much to the dark god's surprise and anger. For a third time, Roxas switched Eco Surge back in and aimed a super nova missile at the cluster of Cherry Bombs. "Eclipse this, asshole," Roxas sneered before firing the missile.

KA-THOOM!

The resulting explosion nearly blew them all off the area platform. What was left as the dust settled was a heavily damaged and darkened sphere with various panels blown off with the entire thing smoking badly. Everything was silent for a moment before Roxas let out a sigh of relief and walked over to where Rejection of Fate had landed. His Keyblade was shattered and twisted badly, though it was still in one piece, mostly. One of its teeth was missing along with part of the guard and it was twisted and crumpled worse than a car bumper in a head-on seven car pileup. Looking at the Keyblade he was sad to see it in such a state and hoped he could find a way to repair it. At least it went to a good cause to defeat Empty Death and reclaim the twelve light orbs representing the Brush Gods and their techniques. 'Wait ...' he thought for a moment as he mentally went through all the techniques they had reclaimed until it hit him. NONE of those orbs had contained Amaterasu's signature ability of Sunrise. That meant ...

The Nobody turned around in time to see both the wolf and fox get caught by Yami's electric tentacles, crushing them and surrounding them in corrupted black and crimson energy. One by one the constellations that they had restored by collecting the orbs faded away as the powers were outright destroyed by the dark god's power being forced into the two canines. "Oh no you don't! WRAITH!" Roxas yelled out as he transformed in a flash of ethereal blue energy and flew forward at incredible speeds. However, it was too little too late as the mech opened up and blasted him at point blank range just as he had gotten close enough to try and free his friends. In moments, the last of the constellations and the Brush Gods with them faded back into stardust, forcing Tamamo-no-Mae and Amaterasu back into their mortal forms before the corrupt god tossed them hard into one of the pillars.

The arena became pitch back with only the blue energy lines on the arena floor emitting light as the eclipse completed outside. The Day of Darkness was here. Yami surrounded itself in Darkness as it assumed its true form. In a flash of energy the lines on the sphere became red again, but they didn't have a symmetrical pattern like the previous ones. The reason for this was quickly show as the parts outlined in red separated from the sphere, revealing blood red energy underneath. The parts flexed in unison as dark energy condensed around them. Yami lifted itself into the air and righted itself, showing that it had become a massive dark, claw-like right hand outlined in crimson energy with the core, the source of evil, in its palm and was connected to the main sphere by two large pipes, similar in appearance to bones. This was Empty Death's … was Yami's true form, humanity's own hand which is the source of all Evil.

Even worse, though Roxas couldn't see it at the moment, he could feel it both from his own senses and from the Chaos Tear that on the other side of the metal sphere from where the clawed hand extended from was the Heartless symbol. This thing had adapted to Darkness far better than any creature Roxas had ever known, even better than Xehanort and Riku, as if it were made to do so. This was made even more apparent as Heartless started to appear out of the very darkness that surrounded them. They were easily twice the size of Roxas, humanoid, muscular, with two long crooked antennas out of the back of their heads and long claw-like fingers on each hand. The Nobody recognized them as Neoshadows, but saw they were different once they fully formed. They had thick, bright, blood red energy lines on their bodies similar to Yami's with the kanji for Darkness on their chests in a circle connecting the lines along with large mouths with jagged teeth. The most telling difference was that their eyes were blood red along with the inside of their mouths. These were Subruoshadows, Yami's personal Heartless.

Roxas, Amaterasu, and Tamamo-no-Mae tried to stand up before the god of destruction and his servants could attack. They were wiped out from the change as well as the very presence of this form. They could feel the relentless hate, the unchained rage, and the pure Evil coming off of this thing as a constant pressure that threatened to crush them in their weakened states. Kumotome and Rao were even more restrained as they could do little to help other than bear witness to the conflict. However, before the destruction god and his legion could attack, a voice pierced the endless darkness. "Bah... That furball's always spacing out like that. Ammy can't get anything done without my help! Even with Roxas, Rao, that fox wench, and that spider!" Issun?

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

More voices start to pierce the darkness and for each one, transparent images of the speakers appeared around the trio. "Is that doggy crying somewhere, sis? Is that why the sunshine has disappeared? What about that nice boy Roxas?" the child Camellia sobbed in question to her sister Camille.

The older sibling replied quietly, in a tone that was sad and wondering. "I haven't seen the doggy for a while now... Did my saying there's no such thing as gods cause all this?"

Another child's voice rang out, this time a young boy's. "Snowy, the hole-digging king... I never dreamt that you were a god! You're gonna make Hayabusa a nervous wreck if you don't get that sun shining again soon," Mushi said playfully.

Princess Fuse spoke this time, surrounded by her five loyal canines. "Amaterasu... Thanks to you, we can protect our village by ourselves. But you must be strong and triumph over evil, for the Canine Warriors so dearly wish to see you once more!"

The firework maker from Shinshu Field, Tama, spoke as he worked tirelessly on a new explosive. "Hm... That god sure was burning with passion. I dunno what happened, but if that mongrel doesn't come out of hiding, I'll have to send up a really big one to reignite that passion," he said fervently.

Mr. Bamboo and his granddaughter looked up at the darkened sky together in contemplation. "Ho! So that wolf was really a god? And her companion a warrior from another world? Perhaps I should have made an offering of my bamboo ware. It may be my fault that the sun has ceased to shine."

Kaguya stood next to her grandfather, holding him close in the darkness. "We can both make an offering grandfather; for I know Amaterasu and Roxas will not let the sky remain dark."

In London, Nan Sharpe and the patrons at the Mangled Mermaid gazed at the image that had been delivered to them. "So you sly fox, you were even more than you said. Who knew that you bore such a weight on your shoulders? I know you won't let them bloody evil bastards take you down without a fight," she said confidently. A cheer went up in the pub at that declaration.

In Kamiki Village, the village elder stood with his wife looking at some beautiful paintings of Amaterasu, Roxas, and Tamamo-no-Mae. The elder, Mr. Orange, spoke to his wife as he gazed into the darkened sky. "Who would have ever thought that that rascal was really Shiranui reborn!?" he chuckled to himself.

His wife, Mrs. Orange, mused to herself out loud. "My, my. How that god loved my Cherry Cakes! Could this darkness be caused by hunger?"

The sake brewer Kushi stood with Susano looking at an image of Amaterasu. "Snowy... Did something happen to you? Why has the sun suddenly disappeared?" she questioned concerned.

The swordsman Susano just crossed his arms and laughed loudly. "Fido won't roll over and play dead for evil! No comrade of mine would dream of it! Ha ha ha!"

Within Queensland in Dark Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts gazed at the magnificent image of Tammy, gazing into the darkened sky of her realm. "So you went to see it through to the end little fox? Then as your Queen, I order you to return the sky to normal and OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Oki also stood with an image of Roxas, Amaterasu, and Tamamo-no-Mae. "Something in your brushwork touches the heart, Issun. You never abandoned your life as an artist after all. When one tries to master something, it ends in either success or failure. But it is in the attempt itself where you find the true value. Believe in your own power and walk your own path," he said as he thought of his friends and his own experiences.

Deep beneath the wave, the Draconian Queen Otohime gazed at a similar image. "Issun... I see you have finally heeded your calling. Your resolve is plain to see in your drawing. It has the power to move people's hearts and inspire their faith in the gods and more! Amaterasu, Roxas, their faith shall be your power!"

In Ponc'tan old man Ishaku was jumping in joy at the artwork he was holding. "Ha ha ha! He did it! My grandson did it! Look at the spirit behind this beautiful brushwork! He truly deserves the title of Celestial Envoy! It's work like this that can show the true glory of the gods and more and guide people to the right path. There's one thing I'm sure of, Amaterasu. You've found a much better companion than I could ever be!"

Within Sei-An City Issun was giving out images of Amaterasu, Roxas, and Tamamo-no-Mae to everyone. Thanks to the whirlpools all around Nippon along with some help from the Oina tribe, the Satomi Canine Warriors, and even the Cheshire Cat, he had been able to distribute the images to everyone in Nippon and Dark Wonderland that they had encountered on their journey. The paintings showed Amaterasu, Roxas, and even Tamamo-no-Mae performing great acts and or winning impossible fights like those they had fought in Dark Wonderland.

Issun called out to the crowd as he handed out more and more drawings of the trio. "OK, everyone! I know it's kinda hard to see in this darkness, but get a load of my latest work! Issun the wandering artist presents his interpretation of the great sun goddess Amaterasu, the demoness defender of Dark Wonderland Tamamo-no-Mae, and the dimensional warrior Roxas! Can you hear me, you three? You're not floundering about without me, are ya? You gotta pull yourselves together! I finally chose my path. And I have the resolve to see it through! I've started to roam the land as your missionary Ammy. But you three gotta take care of things on your end, too! Don't look so sad. Just psych yourselves up like we always did, remember?"

The Poncle then started to pass out more paintings, making sure to keep everyone's attention. "Oops, I almost forgot. Check these out, everyone! It's the great god Amaterasu descending from the heavens! Pretty good, huh? Ammy was smiling down from the sky just a little while ago. Something musta disturbed the furball's concentration, though. That's why the world has gone dark. Without Ammy, we can't take a refreshing nap outdoors. Rice won't grow. Plants and flowers will wither. Laundry won't dry. Monsters will roam about like they own the place. In other words, our world will be a total mess! No one wants to live in a world like that! Especially me! So, c'mon everybody! Let's join together to call upon the great god. Let's show Ammy that we truly believe! Put your hands together and pray. Let's make our gratitude obvious! I mean, we shouldn't pray only when we want something. We should consider how the gods must feel once in a while. We should even take on some of their burden. If you pray with all your heart, maybe the sun will cheer up and show itself once again, lighting our world with its heavenly glow! After all, the best thing about the great god Amaterasu is that happy-go-lucky spirit! Right, Ammy? Answer if you can hear me, ya big fur ball!"

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

All over Nippon and beyond, all the people whose lives had been touched by the trio, human, demon, and everything else, prayed for their saviors. They clasped their hands together in prayer, creating small lights of faith and hope, sending them into the sky above and to the three of them. The lights appeared in the Ark of Yamato, like numerous living stars encircling them. A few at first and then many began to fly into them, showers of stardust erupting as they did so. As more and more the lights entered them, the constellations were reignited once more, brought back to life by the prayers of the people they had met and helped. They started coming so fast that the trio was hidden by the light. Then above them, an image of Amaterasu's sun appeared, shining in a massive ball of fire and light.

All three were reborn. Amaterasu had finally been awakened to her full power. Shining silver light emanated from her body as her divinity was felt by all. Her coat was the purest white, feather like extensions had grown larger and wing-like, and the red markings on her body had become more pronounced and intricate. Tendrils of holy light waved from her back where Solar Flare rested.

Tamamo-no-Mae was similarly reborn from the faith of demons, both in Nippon and Dark Wonderland. Like her counterpart, she was in her full nine-tailed kitsune form, with the extensions having grown larger and more pronounced, like sword pointing out from her shoulders and back. Her fur had changed from an off white to a deep, midnight black that seemed to shift to dark blue or purple, as if someone had taken a chunk of the night sky and wrapped her in it. Her nine tails swayed behind her like an elegant fan. In place of masks, each tail was adorned with a kanji for a different aspect along with a different color ink on the end. Going from her right to left, it was red - flare, orange - burst, yellow - thunder, green - storm, white - divine, blue - torrent, indigo - paths, violet - freeze, and black - sword. Her face was still covered by a mask that now shined like silver with the divine markings on her face and body glowing a neon red color. She stood with both Thunder Edge and Ninestrike on her back, crackling with incredible power and ready to fight.

Wraith Roxas had also changed from the infusion of prayer, faith, and the will to keep going even at the darkest of times. Eyes burned with mystic blue smoke/mist with similar energy wrapping around his wrists, ankles, shoulders, and around his waist like a belt, giving off particles of frost and water. His coat was now silver-white with navy-blue oceanic swirls with sharp snowflakes. The Tundra Beads had reacted to the transformation and were now in the form of an ethereal Chinese dragon that wrapped around his torso with the head looking over his shoulder with two silver fire eyes. Finally, his whole body seemed insubstantial and phasing in and out in a steady rhythm, looking more like a wraith this form was named for. With Eco Surge in one hand and Sun Tale in another, he stood ready for battle. All the kanji on Sun Tale blazed to life as the symbol for divine shined over all of them. Amaterasu howled while Tamamo-no-Mae roared. Wyrd Wraith Roxas pointed at Yami and declared fiercely despite his serene appearance. "LIGHT 'EM UP!"

Thus began the battle of gods, a demon, a Nobody, and Heartless. Immediately a barrage of missiles appeared in the air while Yami lift two fingers in the air and conjured a tornado. This was countered by the trio acting all at once. The kitsune, using her multiple tails used Power Slash on all the missiles, sending them back at Yami. Amaterasu took out the tornado with her own Whirlwind technique, overpowering Yami's. Roxas took aim with Echo Surge in Peacemaker mode and let it rip. Instead of just an orb of plasma energy, a massive blast shaped like a wolf's head shot out and curved, taking out a number of the Subruoshadows and sending their Darkness to the wind as it howled.

Enraged beyond all reason, what little it had to begin with, Yami retracted into the sphere and covered itself in a poisonous green miasma. However, before it could attack, the sun goddess used her signature power of Sunrise, lighting up the entire arena and stunning the creature of Darkness badly. The metal claw tossed out the core which Tamamo-no-Mae attacked with fervor. The Heartless tried to defend their master but were assaulted by Wyrd Wraith Roxas who was ricocheting around the arena like white and blue comet, shooting any Heartless that appeared, despite more taking the place of those he destroyed.

The claw recovered and swiped up the core, placing it back in the center of its palm. Reacting quickly, it started to throw orbs of pure electricity at them, sending out shockwaves to try and stun them for its minion Heartless to attack. They dodged or in Tammy's case deflected the shots, causing them to damage the Heartless more than them. It then put its palm to the air with the core above it. It charged up as if to fire just like it had in the beginning. This was cut short, literally, by Amaterasu's Power Slash. It was stunned for a moment before it flew at the goddess in a rage fueled punch. She dodged easily as Yami ran right into the two storm blades of Tamamo-no-Mae, receiving thousands of volts of electricity for its trouble.

It roared and attempted to crush the fox only for her to leap out of the way. The massive claw opened up and quickly charged up. Just as it ready, Wyrd Wraith Roxas got in front of it with his weapon in Arc Wielder Mode. The two fired and resulted in an energy duel, with a volatile sphere in the center made of light blue and sickly yellow energy. The Subruoshadows tried to attack Roxas in order to break the stalemate, but were repulsed by Amaterasu and Tamamo-no-Mae defending their partner. Keeping one hand steady with Eco Surge, he summoned Sun Tale in the other and created a Cherry Bomb near the open palm of Yami. Unable to do anything as the fuse burned, it summoned more missiles, only to have those countered by Tammy again. Just as the returned missiles were about to hit, the Cherry Bomb went off, forcing Yami to cut off its end of the beam. It then took the hits from the missiles and then from the energy sphere itself as it smashed into the destruction god unhindered.

Yami was hit hard and slammed into one of the towers around the arena, cracking it badly, causing it to spark badly with parts falling into the pit below. Shaking it off, it pointed a clawed finger at them and flaming meteors rained down instantly from the sky. The trio dodged, the canines leaping and running between the explosions while the Nobody seemed to twist and curve around them as living energy. As they dodged, Yami turned around, grabbed the tower and ripped it off its foundation, leaving broken pipes and sparking wires. It then threw the tower at them. Reacting quickly, all three of them Power Slashed the tower to pieces. However, the remains kept flying at them. With Eco Surge in Needle Laser mode, the Keyblade user let loose on the shrapnel, causing a storm of mid-air explosions and creating a smoke screen.

From behind that smoke screen came Tamamo-no-Mae roaring like the demoness she was with both blades sparking wildly. Thrusting both blades down into and through the back of the hand, she pinned the massive mechanical monster to the floor where it writhed under millions of volts of electricity from both the divine and demonic blades. With the monster pinned, Wyrd Wraith Roxas charged his weapon to full power in Peacemaker mode. The ethereal dragon wrapped around him curled around his arm and positioned itself so that its mouth was around the charging blast, increasing its size and changing it to look like a sphere of holy fire. "Eat this! ETERNAL ETHER ASSAULT!" he yelled out as he let loose a massive beam of holy dragon fire. The blast ripped through Yami, tearing apart its mechanical form as it writhed in pain, unable to get away due to being pinned to the floor by Tamamo-no-Mae's blades. The mech was torn apart by the blast, large chunks of metal and machinery flying off as the final attack washed over the destruction god's form like an infernal tsunami. When the attack ended, it was still in one piece, more or less, and finally wedged itself from the floor. The kitsune summoned her weapons back as the black metal claw tried to regain its bearings despite its form sparking badly and leaking Darkness, energy, and fluids like broken strainer. The palm opened to show the core, the fish like creature glaring at the trio with more hatred than possible for any creature.

In that instance, Amaterasu dashed forward with Solar Flare spinning so fast that it became a blur, as if she were literally wielding a slice of the sun itself. Twisting around the Solar Cutter arced forward and in a flash of light and fire, went through the entire body of Yami, bisecting it right down the center of the creature's face, right between the eyes. A moment of silence, then a primal roar of pain as Empty Death ... as Yami itself screamed and writhed, its body and power finally falling. All the Subruoshadows dissolved into Darkness as their master's power dissolved. Beams of Light shown from the line where Amaterasu had bisected it as it seemed to implode and collapse on itself. In a flash it compacted itself into a small sphere, no bigger than an orange, before it exploded into a fine mist of Darkness, with several streaks shooting out like fireworks, all of them faded away into nothingness. What remained ... was silence.

With their enemy destroyed, Roxas de-transformed back to normal and collapsed onto his back, completed worn out from everything. The time traveling, lengthy fights, transformations, getting little to no rest or time to recover had worn his reserves down to next to nothing. He ached in all over and wanted nothing more than sleep for a week at the moment. He turned to his two companions who still shown with faith fueled power, though not quite as bright as initially. "We did it," he said simply with a wide grin.

"Ha ha, that was a glorious battle," Tammy exclaimed cheerfully before turning serious for a moment. "Roxas ... thank you. You've done so much for me and my people, getting us a new home and justice for my ancestors ... thank you."

Amaterasu nodded in agreement. "I wish to thank you as well Roxas. You helped us all even though you didn't have to and as a result we saved everyone from the Dark Ones and Yami. Thank you," she said softly but sincerely.

The Nobody just smiled, "I was glad to do it." On a whim he summoned Rejection of Fate again only to find it in the same state as when he had dismissed it, twisted, broken, and looking beyond repair. He sighed in disappointment, wondering what he could do about this. The original keychain for the weapon had been created by the moogle who had resided in the Castle that Never Was and it had been useful ever since he had acquired it. It had become even more cherished as he used it and Two Become One as his go to weapons. Now it looked like little more than scrap metal even though he could still feel power within the weapon, apparently Rejection of Fate was more than its name; it was the weapon's attitude. It would not lie down and die if it could help it.

"It seems we did not come out unscathed," Kumotome said from his shoulder, also gazing at the broken weapon. It was sad to see such a thing happen, especially to a weapon that had basically saved their hides from Yami's initial attack. Even with her expertise and experience with magical artifacts and weapons, she knew it would not be easy to repair Rejection of Fate if it was possible at all.

Roxas dismissed the Keyblade, still tired from everything. Slowly he propped himself up to a sitting position looking at the two canines in front of him. "I'll deal with that later. Right now I have an important question for all of you." He then paused as they all looked at him in curiosity. "Do any of you know how to drive this thing?" he asked while motioning to the Ark around them. The two canines looked at each other in surprise, not sure how to answer that.

-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-

Outside, the eclipse ended as the sun shown brighter than ever, lighting up all of Nippon and then some. The people cheered at seeing the sun shine, knowing they their champions had won. Many started to party, celebrating the victory and the end of the dark times which had plagued their land for some time now.

Off to the side, Riku remained propped up against the cliff, unnoticed by the cheering people. Unseen by them, he was engulfed in Darkness, reforming him into the Heartless of Xehanort once more before disappearing in flash of Darkness. The only thing left behind was a small mark, a symbol placed on the stone, barely visible unless you were looking for it. It was of a circle with what looked like a clawed hand. After a moment, that faded as well.

Journal Day 412
Yami: I ... don't know how to describe Yami. This horrifying entity has been also called "Empty Death". It sought complete destruction of anything and everything. For eons, it had been locked in the Ark of Yamato as an ultimate weapon, but one that turned on everyone, even its creators, assuming it had them. Round, cold, and desolate as the moon, Yami has never been depicted as a human or animal in any drawing and for good reason. It was simply too inorganic in appearances to warrant such portrayals. Yami took on a ring form when attacked, rendering blows useless, forcing me and my friends to rely on counter attacks to damage or stun the thing. Even Primal Elements barely did damage to this thing, especially when it was infused with Darkness. In most legends, gods are portrayed as good or evil; as representations of specific animals such as Amaterasu as a wolf. This is not the case of the dreaded Yami. This thing belched fire, lightning, and ice, with only some of the onslaught able to be deflected. The beast attacked violently, with speed and unpredictability with different forms representing the evils done by humanity's own hand. Its inorganic nature resembled machinery more advanced than anything I've encountered so far, leading me to believe that it is likely the source of all machines on this world. Despite this, the core of Yami looked like some sort of partly human fish with black skin and blue lines of divinity. It makes me wonder what this thing was before it got that mechanical shell and was turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

The worst part about this ... creature is that I don't know if it's truly gone. All the hate, rage, and lust for destruction that I felt ... it just disappeared. Even Heartless when destroyed leave something behind, whether an item, a heart, or even wisps of Darkness, they leave something and Yami was far more than a Heartless. For it to disappear so completely worries me. It makes me wonder where all that power and hate went ... and what it plans it do.

AN: That was NOT an easy chapter to write. As I've said before, it's difficult to make something that was epic to begin with even more epic, but I think I did well here. There was also no place that felt right in terms of possibly breaking it into two chapters, so I kept it all as one chapter. In any case, I hope everyone likes the upgraded mode for Wraith Form. Like Vajra Vengeance Form, Roxas CANNOT use this form without a compatible outside power source, in this case a source of praise/holy based energy. The next chapter will a little bit of wrap up and the introduction to the next world, which will be VERY different from this one. It'll be like a demon screaming, like an angel singing, like the pounding of creation's hammer upon the anvil of time. It's going to be awesome!