The energy of the mountain side had shifted as they made their way up to the peak, and Link felt the wind stirring as they got closer. The wind got colder and stronger until it suddenly just stopped. Everything was calm, but then it got much worse; an overwhelming gust of wind came rushing up the mountain and over the peak. After a moment, the wind faded and things were calm once more:
"Let's get a move on!" Link shouted out to his friends, and they increased their paces. Link kept his eyes towards the peak and he watched as the sky darkened and a storm began to form around the mountain. Cracks of lightning split across the sky and in between the flashes, Link could detect a faint, fiery glow from the mountain summit. That glow too eventually faded, and among the flashes of lightning, he could have sworn that there was a flash of green.
They were just about 20 feet from the summit when the metallic sound of sword fighting filled his ears, so Link drew out his sword and made his final ascent over the mountain side onto the summit. He saw a frenzy of movement, and he could make out the outline of Ghirahim's back from where he stood, and the occasional glimpse of white. He heard Groose, Pipit, and Irsia pull themselves onto the summit and he knew that now was the time to ambush Ghirahim, but he found himself captivated by the duel happening before his eyes. There was a flash of green and the frenzy stopped. Ghirahim looked over his shoulder, and turned abruptly when he caught glimpse of the four warriors. Ghirahim was dressed in dark purple robes, and his eyes were a fierce shade of red. His skin wasn't the clear white it had once been, but it seemed to be tinged with purple. His hair was much darker and longer, flowing in straight locks over his shoulders. On his head was a sort of crown with angular edges, and a round crystal. He waved his hand upwards over his head and brought it down to his side, and Link watched as one of Ghirahim's barriers outlined the edge of the summit. Link was about to launch himself at Ghirahim when he heard the crunching of snow behind him, followed by a faint gasp from Irsia. Link dared not turn away from Ghirahim, but he didn't have to. Zelda had stepped forward from somewhere, and was now standing beside him. She too did not look away from Ghirahim, but Link could not resist looking at her. She was dressed entirely in white, but not in her goddess robes. She was wearing a set of white armour that covered her torso and legs, and a white cape covered her back. She had tall boots that were the same colour as her Loftwing, and he could also see the edge of her blue gauntlets underneath her sleeve. On her head was a sort of crown that protected her forehead, and it had seven distinct points. This was not the Zelda he had grown up with: this was the result of Hylia's memories and powers.
Instead of saying anything, Link nodded to Zelda, and turned back to face Ghirahim; words were not needed to settle this matter. He heard Pipit knock an arrow, and he heard Groose do so shortly after. Irsia stepped forward to stand on the other side of Link. Link lifted the Master Sword and adjusted the Hylian shield in his other hand, while Zelda held up her rapier, and Irsia crossed her scimitars in front of her chest. Ghirahim stared at them through hateful red eyes before another scimitar appeared in his free hand. Irsia circled around the summit until she was off to Ghirahim's side, and Zelda mirrored her, so that Ghirahim was vulnerable from multiple sides. Pipit and Groose moved into position so that they each stood in between Link and the women: Ghirahim would need to be on his A-Game in order to walk away from this one. Link pointed his sword into the air, and he felt the charge of his sword pulse through his hand, but he remained there. He shifted his eyes briefly to make eye contact with Zelda, then Groose, then Pipit, and finally Irsia to ensure that they were all ready. Ghirahim twirled his blades in his hands so that they were pointing at Zelda and Irsia, and Link took this opportunity: he motioned his shield forward, signalling to Pipit and Groose. They each released an arrow on his command, and Link released his skyward strike shortly afterwards; Ghirahim crossed his blades over his chest blocking the two arrows, but he left himself vulnerable to the skyward strike and he was knocked back a few feet. Link recharged his sword and heard to sound of arrows being knocked. They repeated the action, but the timings were different: first Pipit shot, followed very closely by Groose, then very closely by Link. Again, Ghirahim deflected the two arrows but was unable to deflect the skyward strike, and he was knocked back another couple of feet. Ghirahim made a low growling noise and swiftly charged across the summit and clashed swords with Link. He and Link parried each other for a while before Ghirahim was doing his best to deflect four swords at once. Link knew Ghirahim was skilled with his swords, but he would make an error and leave a vulnerable space eventually.
They duelled in this stalemate for quite some time until Ghirahim bellowed in anger, stomping his foot against the snow. A surge of wind tore across the summit and pushed them each against the barrier. Link struggled to free himself, but the wind was just too strong. A flash of green scratched at his eyes, and he looked towards where Zelda had been pinned: she was not there. Instead, she stood a few feet away from Ghirahim surrounded by a translucent, blue, stone-like bubble that reminded him of the orange crystal she had sealed herself in. From within the bubble, a large stream of fire shot towards Ghirahim, who was caught off guard and knocked to the ground: the wind stopped immediately. Zelda kept the flames steady and aimed them where Ghirahim lay on the ground; his screams ripped across the summit for a moment before he disappeared. A moment of silence followed as they each darted their eyes around the summit searching for him, but no one saw him. Just as Link's ears twitched at a faint crunching of snow, he heard a low groan escape Pipit's lips. Link twisted around to see what had happened and just as Pipit entered his line of sight, he watched as a bloodied scimitar retreated from Pipit's chest. Pipit met Link's eyes, his lips parted as if he was still groaning, and a pool of blood dripped over his lip and down his chin. Link watched in shock as Pipit fell to his knees, and fell face down into the snow.
Ghirahim stood tall and proud behind Pipit, with one scimitar held neatly by his leg, and the other still held out as if it were plunged into Pipit's back. A hot, piercing pain filled Link's chest and thickened his blood with hatred and anger. He charged at Ghirahim, who met his sword with his own, and the two began a blurred frenzy of a duel. Link's arm felt like it was getting lighter, and his swings became faster and stronger as Ghirahim seemed to become slower and slower. Link went to strike Ghirahim's arm with such ferocity that when Ghirahim blocked it, one of his scimitars was shattered by the force of the Master Sword. Ghirahim growled and lunged at Link who was beginning to feel the real power of his pain run through his veins. Link blocked the attack with his sword and threw his shield so hard into Ghirahim's face that he was sure something would have broken. Ghirahim made a muffled scream against the shield before kicking Link in the gut, pushing them apart. Ghirahim took his free hand and held it over his broken, bloody nose: a cracking noise could be heard, and when he took his hand away his nose seemed to be alright. Ghirahim opened his mouth to say something but before any noise came out, a blur of gold rushed past Link's head and made its mark in Ghirahim's neck. There was an explosion of golden light as it impacted, and when Link could see clearly again, he saw that Ghirahim was hunched over on the ground. Another flash of gold struck Ghirahim in the back, and another explosion of light shined across the summit. This time Ghirahim lay facing upwards, breathing heavily, and muttering something under his breath. He pulled himself back onto his feet and he wielded his scimitar again. He disappeared from sight, and before Link could shout to Groose, he heard the clinging sound of a bow being sliced, and Groose's shriek of pain. Link darted around to see Groose lying on the ground holding his thigh: Ghirahim had made a nasty incision instead of stabbing him. Ghirahim stood about two feet away from Groose holding the third Light Arrow. He held it with a certain expression of fascination,
"Impressive," he sneered through bared teeth, and he turned to Irsia "but it'll take more than a piece of mortal weaponry to take me from power." He then faced Zelda. "This is MY LAND! I will NOT watch as you pathetic humans spread your unworthy bodies across the kingdom of demons! I will squeeze every drop of your blood onto this mountain until it is BATHED in crimson, and then I will laugh as I feed your foul bodies to the great demons of my master's creation. Once I have obliterated you, I will walk into your village and unleash the infinite hoards of hell unto your people, and I will watch them burn, scream, and_"
"Oh shut up you half wit," Irsia coolly said, Link turned to face her, and she was forming a small sphere of magic above her hand, which was held out in front of her with her fingers curling around the ball of blue light. She raised her eyebrow, "I've grown tired of your poor manners." Irsia tensed her fingers and the sphere flew out and formed separate barriers around Link, Groose, Pipit, and Zelda, and then she seemed to slowly disappear into flames that came from nowhere and slowly covered her figure, "Burn in hell, demon." The flames around her erupted and engulfed the entire summit, and Link could hear Ghirahim's screams of agony as the flames danced around the barrier around him. Flashes of dark magic flew past the barrier, and then flashes of blue joined the chaos of the fire's wrath. Just when things couldn't get worse, Link heard Irsia shout in pain, and in a single moment the flames dispersed and the barriers disappeared. Link gained his bearings and found Ghirahim holding Irsia by the throat, and in his other hand he held his scimitar. He appeared horribly burned by the fire, his skin no longer eerie violet but a sort of charred grey.
"I've always hated your kind, the pathetic dogs you are." Ghirahim plunged the blade through her gut, and she let out a faint, almost whimper. Gusts of wind came from Ghirahim's back and twisted around Irsia: she shut her eyes in pain and spoke as clearly as she could through the winds,
"I am Irsia, chieftain of the Sheikah. May the spirits of the Sheikah serve the goddess' bloodline for eternity, and may the next chieftain find peace with the humans as I have." With her final words, Irsia dropped her head back and vanished into light. Link stepped forward as an instinct to re-challenge Ghirahim, but his foot hit something solid: he looked down by his foot and saw the third Light Arrow. He knew Ghirahim would be distracted with his accomplishment of defeating Irsia, so he only had a moment, but he couldn't be too direct.
"Zelda: my right foot hurts." Link whispered over to her, and he saw her look down to his foot, back up to him, and nod. "Maybe you can take care of it?"
"I can definitely do that, maybe you should take your… foot and put it where I can help."
"I'll take your foot and place it above my throne!" Ghirahim had returned his attention to Link, and he stood there looking at Link with a grimacing expression on his face. "What do you say child, one last duel before I spill your blood in the snow?"
"I sense a decline in Ghirahim's energy." Fi hummed in his ear again, just to comfort him he figured, despite the fact that factual statements weren't usually comforting, he found her lack of emotions calming in this particular instance. He was standing on a mountain top about to face off with his nemesis, who had ripped him from a happy life with Zelda in the sky, almost taken Pipit from him before he had known his true feelings for Pipit, he corrupted the surface which was supposed to be their new, safe home, he took Pipit from him, he injured Groose in a way that he's never seen anyone do before, and he killed the most loyal ally that would probably ever walk the surface; Link knew that this fight would determine if he would send Ghirahim to his death, or he would be reunited with Pipit and Irsia eternally.
Link adjusted the Master Sword in his hand, and re-braced his shield in the other, perhaps for the last time. Ghirahim started to walk towards Link, step by step, and Link mirrored the motion. With each step, they each seemed to gain speed until they were charging at each other.
The almost choreographed dance of their blades commenced immediately and the burning fire within Link's soul ignited a strength he had never known before; this strength didn't come from pain or suffering, adrenaline or fear, it came from acceptance. Link had accepted that this was either going to end in victory or defeat, and both of these options seemed like valid outcomes for him. On one hand, he would slay Ghirahim and he could return to the village with Zelda and Groose, and live out his days teaching the future youth of the Hylians. On the other hand, he would die a hero who had devoted his life to saving others and had died trying to protect them again. He balanced these two options in his head, trying to figure out which one had the most positive benefits versus negative, and he laughed at himself: clearly Fi was rubbing off on him. All of these thoughts warred inside his head as his body fought Ghirahim almost automatically, and Link realized that he wasn't thinking about where to block or strike, his arm merely did it for him. He had truly transformed from a student at the Knight Academy to a full blown soldier. Swing left, block right, jump back, jab towards chest, and parry: it was a long list of moves that had engrained themselves in his mind.
"Now!" Zelda yelled from behind him, and Link roundhouse kicked Ghirahim in the gut before rolling to the side of him. The flash of light indicated to Link that Zelda had hit the mark, and Ghirahim was thrown onto the ground on his back, so Link jumped into the air and sent the Master Sword straight through Ghirahim's chest. He stood there, holding the sword steady and he locked eyes with Ghirahim: he saw the vivid red colour drain slowly, and before all of the life disappeared Ghirahim whispered under his breath,
"Spiritus meus in aeternum vivere ventis, et semen maledictum adcrescit domini mei," and as the final words escaped his mouth, he decayed into a cloud of ash. Link stood there, sword plunged into the ground, staring into the blank space before him. Suddenly, the pain and realisation of what had just happened and who he had just lost swept over him and he fell over to the ground facing the sky above him, which was now beginning to clear. He let himself get lost in the clear blue of the sky, wondering if that is where death leads you; he had lived his whole life in the sky, but he had never wondered if another realm had existed above him, a realm of afterlife. He let himself close his eyes, and he saw Pipit's face all those years ago, standing in his doorway with something troubling him. He remembered how Pipit's eyes had gleamed under the starlight on the volcano, and he tried to think about all of the times they had shared together.
"Link?" Zelda had run over to him, "Link can you hear me?" Link kept his eyes shut, because if he opened them, then he would have to look at Pipit again, but this was the first time he didn't want to see him. "Link you have to get up, we can't stay here: Ghirahim may be gone, but there are still hoards of monsters that are gathering towards the mountain, and we're too weak to fight them. We have to leave." Without opening his eyes, Link sat up,
"Get our Loftwings, and grab…" the words struggled to leave his mouth, "… make sure everyone comes home with us. Groose, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, nothing some potion can't fix." Link let those words go through his mind for a moment, and then he jolted his eyes open.
"Groose you're a genius!" Link ran over to Pipit, and kneeled beside him. He pulled Pipit's head into his lap and shoved his hand in his adventure pouch, seconds later pulling out the bottle with a fairy inside. His hands were shaking and he couldn't open the bottle, so he smashed it open on the edge of his shield. The little pink fairy floated around for a second before spinning around Pipit, and Link watched as the fairy's magic showered down onto Pipit. "Come on, don't leave me yet," Link whispered as softly as he could. Slowly, Link watched as the colour returned to Pipit's face as well as the familiar heat that Link was so accustomed to. Pipit jolted awake, gasping for air: Link embraced him as protectively as he could and started telling him that he was okay.
They would all be okay.