Chapter 50: Xehanort's Legacy Pt 2
Within the hour, all four Gummi ships with Squall, Minfilia, Lightning and Sora piloting their ships for them to see the ruined world of Radiant Garden. "So, what is the plan Ignis?" Noctis asked as Ignis pushes up the frame of his glasses clearing up his throat.
"Okay, we have four strikes teams. We got the first team called Prime which is made of Sora, Riku, Kairi, Umiko and Terra, they will be the ones to enter the castle. Teams Alpha, Bravo and Charlie will support them and once they get inside the inner grounds. We will hold the line until they defeat Drake," Ignis said.
Alpha team is made of Minfilia, Prishe, Ulmia, Vincent, Nanaki, Y'shtola, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, Cid, and Yuffie. Bravo team is consisting of Squall, Locke, Rinoa, Celes, Lenna, Faris, Cloud, Tifa, Marlene, Aerith, Calca, and Brina. Charlie team is composed of Lightning, Serah, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, Prompto, and Lunafreya.
"Wait a minute, you guys are going to hold the line?" Sora asked sounding worried.
"Don't worry, we have a bunch of White Mages like Aerith and Luna who will keep us in top fighting shape with Ulmia using her magical voice to keep our morale and spirits high. We can do this," Ignis said sounding pretty confident.
"Seems like a solid plan to me," Riku said as he pats Sora on the back. "You ready for this?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, let's do this," Sora said as the four ships descend onto the world.
Drake is in his personal chambers getting ready to set up the ritual with the Keystones assigned to a circle formation. "Sir, they are here," Ophelia said via psychic link as the dark elf has a smile on his face.
"Good, give them the red carpet treatment. I don't want to make my traitorous sister and her posse feel unwelcomed," Drake said as the three guardians are within the outskirts of the castle grounds with a massive horde of Heartless being summoned by Ophelia.
"Now over a million Heartless will do the trick," Ophelia said with a sly smirk as the massive horde of Heartless march through the barren wastelands outside the castle's perimeter.
Sora, Kairi, Umiko, Riku and Terra with everyone else in back are within the wasteland on the outskirts of the ruined city of Radiant Garden in the distance. "Our home Squall, in total ruin," Rinoa said.
"I know but we got to stay focus. Getting Sora and the others safely to the castle is our top priority," Squall said as they noticed something in the distance.
"It's the red carpet," Lightning said as they are stunned to see about a million Heartless swarming towards them with the horde made up of Shadows, Neoshadows, Wyverns, Dark Balls, Wizards, Angel Stars, Large Bodies, Defenders, Invisibles, Gigas Shadows, Behemoths, Darksides, Demon Towers, Demon Tides, Dragonflies and Crawlers.
"It's like a Heartless buffet," Snow said to crack his knuckles with Biggs matching the same gesture with he two large men getting excitement for a good fight.
"You got that right man, this is going to be tough," Biggs said as Wedge looks meekly at the horde to be within his Magitek Armor to pilot it from the inside.
"That is the understatement of the century," Wedge said to check his mech walker as Jessie is wielding her automatic side arm.
"We can do this, just follow the plan. Right boss?" Jessie asked Cid to wield his spear with a cigarette between his lips.
"Yep, so let's give these bastards a good ass kicking for taking our home," Cid said.
"Nicely said," Cloud said as everyone draws their weapons for all 38 of them to work as a complete unit to face off the near endless hordes of Heartless coming onto them with ruthless abandon.
"Okay everyone let's go," Umiko said to wield her Brightcrest Keyblade with Ulmia using her voice to empower the heroes boosting their morale while slowing down the Heartless making them less effective in combat.
Everyone goes on the offensive to crave their way to the castle. Sora is performing a Strike Raid to destroy waves of Shadows. Sora is leaping over a dashing Large Body to strike it in the back to take it out. Sora changes to his Power State to smash his armored fists into more Large Bodies to tear through the defenses with his powerful blows.
He kicks a Large Body into the air and launch at a grouping of Neoshadows killing them off. Sora slams his fist onto the ground to unleash pillars of flames to shoot out of the ground to destroy masses of Heartless.
Sora changes to his Mage State to use Magnet Grab to toss an orb of energy to stick to a Large Body to use it like a wreaking ball to swing it into the crowds of Heartless mowing through them. He tosses the Large Body like a missile to hit a passing Wyvern to destroy it.
"Sora," Biggs appears beside him to punch a Defender to knock it's shield off its hands as he drop kicks the chest of the beast to knock it into a Behemoth. Sora sees the Roegadyn brawling with the Heartless using his species' raw strength and massive bulk to his advantage.
"Biggs, how are you holding up?" Sora asked as he is dodging a spell from a Wizard with Biggs kicking a large rock to bash it into the Wizard killing it on the spot.
"You know, busting some Heartless heads. I wanted to get some action, put my new martial arts to good use. Grave Impact," Biggs powers up his fist to hit the ground to unleash a huge rocky spike that pierces a Darkside in half.
"Yeah, where is Wedge?" Sora asked as he goes into his Power State with both Sora and Biggs punching at a Defender at the same time to launch it into a wall seeing it turn into a black mist.
"Over there in his new Magitek Armor," Biggs said as he grabs the shield of a Defender to rip it out of its hands and bash it with its own shield killing it. Bigg grabs Sora's hand and tosses him Wedge's way and mule kick a Large Body helping Wedge avoid getting hit by the monster.
"Thanks Sora, like my new ride?" Wedge said as his two legged bipedal walker with him in an enclosed cockpit fitted for his small Lalafell frame.
"Its pretty neat, you built it," Sora asked as he dodges an incoming barrage of spells from several Wizards and Angel Stars. Wedge gets in front of Sora to emit a powerful magical shield to block the spells for his barrier absorbs the energy into his mech.
"Yep, custom built it me. Magitek Laser," Wedge's mech gathers the stolen energy and releases it as a massive energy beam to crave through a mass of Heartless wiping over 500 Heartless at once.
"Don't get cocky Wedge," Jessie said as she is evading incoming energy attacks with her aerobatic while shooting her sidearm.
"I am not," Wedge said as Cid is nearby using his spear to jump on Wyverns and impale into their heads.
"Keep at it, we have to break through their ranks," Cid said as he powers up the blade of his polearm to let out a rapid assault of stabs into a Large Body. His final thrust knocks the Heartless into another Heartless to die on impact killing them both. "Explosive Wave," he swings his weapon to lets out energy orbs to bombard the Heartless.
Sora goes back into his normal state to use Sonic Blade to dash through groupings of enemies to wipe them out with each passing. He drives his Keyblade into the head of an Invisible as he leaps over the dying monster to slash down a Dark Ball.
"Sora," Nanaki swoops in and takes down a Darkside with a magic powered tackle as they both dash through the battlefield to crave groups of Heartless together.
Sora turns into his Mage State to magically lift Nanaki into the air as he curls into a ball. Sora launches him like a cannonball for him to spear through two Darksides with him uncurling to leash out with his tail empowered by magic to destroy the shield of a Defender.
Sora tosses his Oathkeeper to strike down the Defender. Vincent comes in to fire a gravity shot from his shotgun pistol to hold down several Defenders and Invisibles in a sphere of high pressure. "Ragnarök," Sora charges up his Keyblade to fire several energy beams to tear into the stunned enemies.
"Vincent," Sora said as the red cloaked man is wielding his gun to blast away multiple Heartless with heavy buckshots.
"Stay focus," Vincent said as he appears in front of a Behemoth for the beast tries to stomp on him. Vincent using his clawed hand to hold up the paw with his strength to shove it away. He dashes forward and digs his gun into the head of the monster. "Maximum Impact," Vincent fires all three barrels at once to unleash a massive combined blast to blow off the head of the lumbering beast. Dark goo rain onto the battlefield as the dead Heartless disappears into a pile of goo.
A Dragonfly is shooting energy blasts to knock Nanaki, Vincent and Sora back but Minfilia goes in and clips its wings. "Lightning Blade," she cloaks her short blade with intense electricity to fall towards the flying metal beast and slice the huge flying monster in half.
"Minfilia," Sora said to be impressed by her skills.
"Oh; hey Sora, you feel okay?" she asked as she blocks a fist from a Darkside send her flying. She regains her footing to summon a large energy wall to block the Darkside's attack. "Faith," Minfilia slashes the air for pillars of light to skirt across the ground and slam into the Darkside. She let out a wall of light pillars to destroy the weakened Heartless on impact.
"I am fine," Sora said as Sora into his Power State to punch a Large Body to launch it into a Behemoth to knock it out.
"Well we are about 30% there, keep it up," Minfilia said as Yuffie sends out her big ninja star to let out a bunch of rock spikes to impale several Heartless.
"Hey blond and busty, keep up," Yuffie said as she is beside Sora to toss her weapon to summon a twister to entrap lessor Heartless within it. Sora pounds his fist onto the ground for a pillar of flames to jet under the twister to burn all the trap Heartless into nothing.
"Watch out," Minfilia tosses her shield to slam into a Dark Ball taking it out while saving Yuffie. "Pay attention," she scolded her as she stabs into a Shadow.
"I knew that," Yuffie said as Prishe comes in to kick a Large Body into another one to turn into piles of goo.
"Banishga," Prishe tosses orbs of light to take out grouping of Heartless. She jumps on top of Yuffie's head and performs a drop kick on a Crawler's front left leg to make it fall face first onto the ground.
"That hurts Prishe," Yuffie said as the dark elf manages the head of the metal beast to kill it off.
"Sorry, I was going through the motions," Prishe said as Sora pushes toward the castle for a huge Crawler knocks him back with its hulking foreleg onto the dirt.
"Sora," Y'shtola fires a massive beam of magical energy to slice the Gummi Heartless in half along with tons of lessor Heartless being wipe out as well.
"Thanks for the save," Sora said as the Miqo'te as she is blocking in coming spells with staff empowered with a barrier.
"Don't mention it. I will cover you, Quaga," Y'shtola makes the wastelands part with fissure tearing into the earth with large rock spikes to impale more Heartless. Sora leaps over the destruction to continue forward towards the castle.
Riku is using Diablos' power to dual wield two blades to crave his way through the hordes of Heartless with Terra by his side within he Esper form using her magic to remover pockets of Heartless from the field.
"Zero Graviza," Terra cast a spell to entrap multiple Heartless in purple spheres of energy with Riku performing Strike Raid with both of his blades. "Firaza," Terra launches a huge ball of fire to take down a Crawler in a single strike in a huge fiery explosion.
"Dark Firaga," Riku fires multiple dark fireballs with Tera using Magnega to make an orb of energy to draw in all enemies within the area around its orbit. Riku's spell manage to wipe them out with ease as the duo continue to push further into the massive horde of Heartless.
"Need a lift," Locke swiftly taking down a Gigas Shadow with his dual daggers as he let out several flaming crescents taking down a few Angel Stars. He is empowered by the Phoenix Magicite
"I will help too," Celes is empowered by Shiva as she fires off multiple Blizzaza spells to turn Behemoths and Defenders into frozen statues. Locke and Celes smash into the ground to unleash a combined fire and ice shockwave to scatter them all into pieces.
"Thanks," Terra said as the couple tear through enemies with Lenna coming in to block an incoming beams of darkness with an energy barrier.
"Reflega," Lenna empowers her barrier to shoot the beams back at their sources to kill off the Wyverns and Wizards. Faris uses Syldra's Magicite to power up her body as she wields her saber to cloak it in flames.
"Heat Wave," Faris said as she swings it in an arc to let out a powerful wave of fire to kill off the swarms of Shadows and Neoshadows. "Thunder Arrows," Faris said as she launches three lightning spikes to impale into the heads of three Darksides.
She sets up her spell which forms into a triangle with anything within the space becoming zap back to oblivion. "Riku and Terra, keep going," Lenna said as she blocks a Darkside's fist with her energy barrier but the recoil knocks her into Faris.
The former pirate captain catches her younger sister. "You okay?" she asked as Lenna nods her head.
"Yep, thanks," Lenna said as Terra and Riku push forward with them dodging a Wyvern with Terra blasting it with her fireball.
"Riku, take a hands," Terra said as she grabs Riku's hands to lift him up with her flying into a horde of Heartless. "Haste," she powers up her speed to dodge incoming explosions as she spins around like atop with Riku extending his arm with blade in hand to crave through the horde.
Terra tosses him into a Crawler to divebomb into its head to kill it off with Terra using her Riot Blade to slice it to pieces.
"Riku," Marlene comes in with her dual auto pistols as she is picking off Heartless with magic infused bullets. "Big Shot," the teenager fires a powerful shot to instantly kill a Dragonfly as she leaps over a charging Neoshadow to shot it in the back.
"How are you holding up kid?" Riku asked as he slash down a Neoshadow with his twin blades.
"I am fine, Ulmia's magical voice is pumping me full of energy. I feel like I can do this all day," Marlene said as her morale and spirit are still high.
"Watch out," Aerith comes in and protects the trio with a magic shield from an energy attack. "Holyga," she summons a massive ball of light to send it flying into a huge crowd of Heartless. "Bright Lance," Aerith summons a spear made of light and lob it into the head of a Behemoth to wipe it out.
"Thanks, Aerith," Marlene said as she fires a Shadow with a bullet for a Crawler stomping onto Aerith's shield to break it and causing them to get knocked back.
"Coming through," Squall and Cloud leap at the huge Heartless to sever its legs with Rinoa coming in with a powerful energy blast to knock it into a cliff to see it burst into black mist.
Rinoa is in her Witch state with her angel wings on her back as she is hovering in the air to prepare for another spell. "Tornado," Rinoa entraps multiple groups of Heartless within it as she sets up another spell. "Burst," a giant bolt of lighting crashes into the twister to make it implode making all the Heartless disappear into black goo on the rocky floor.
Both Squall and Cloud tear through Heartless with their blades. "Sonic Blade," Cloud dashes through the Heartless with his Buster Sword to impact a Defender's shield sending it into another Defender.
Squall is slicing up enemies with his Gunblade as he leaps up and comes down onto the ground with his blade in the dirt.
Then a big pillar of fire shoots out of the ground destroy more monsters. Cloud rolls under a Darkside' fist to use one of his moves. "Slayer," Cloud powers up his blade to let out three powerful slashes to take out the beast with no problem.
"Firaga," both Cloud and Squall unleash twin fireballs to combine and take out a bunch of Darksides and Giga Shadows. Riku and Terra spot a large Demon Tower blocking their path with both Cloud and Squall going in for the kill.
"Finish Touch," Cloud empowers his Buster Sword with energy as he swings it out to unleash a huge tornado to slam into the lumbering Demon Tower engulfing it in its fearsome cutting winds.
"Rough Divide," Squall rushes in with him dragging his blade along the ground. He gets I front of the Demon Tower to perform an upward cut to cause a huge pillar of energy to surge. Both attacks together made a big implosion killing the Demon Tower clearing the way for Terra and Riku.
"Make haste," Squall said as the duo go forward to face down more enemies.
"They seem so endless," Riku said as all he sees is a wave of blackness coming down on them with Terra destroying pockets of them with explosions from her Flare spells.
"We have to keep going, no matter what," Terra said as she got hit by a large beam of darkness from a Behemoth to knock her onto the ground.
"Terra?" Riku asked sounding concerned as Terra floats off the ground to quickly regain her balance.
"I am okay," Terra said to shake off her daze as she uses Graviza to toss an orb of purple energy to pin down a Crawler.
"Final Heaven," Tifa comes in to strike down the huge machine Heartless as a large pillar consumes it completely vaporizing it. "I am here to help," Tifa said as she and Riku tear through enemies with fists and blades.
Tifa kicks the leg of Darkside to make it knell as she unleash a barrage of strong blows. "Beat Rush," Tifa hits the beast three times with her last hit launching the monster into a rock wall seeing it burst into dark mist.
"You clear to go," Tifa said as the duo moves forward.
Rika dash into a Large Body to hop on top its head to toss his Soul Eater into the air and then kicking it into a Dark Ball. Terra takes out the Large Body Riku was just standing on with the two androids coming to aid them.
"Riku, me and my brother will assist you," Brina said as she is wielding her sword to crave up Gigas Shadows with her brother Calca casting spells to destroy the lessor Heartless.
"Flame Barrage," Calca rains down fireballs from the sky and pepper the battlefield laying waste to the enemy.
"Gee, they are too many to count," Brina said to kick an Invisible while dodging the next one's blade. "Blade
"And trust me, I try to count how many we are slaying," Calca said dryly.
"Blade Storm," Brina charges up her blade to leash out several energy crescents to crave the way for Riku and Terra. "Go, we will catch up with you later," Brina said as the duo nods to head off towards the castle.
Elsewhere Drake is sensing they are getting closer as he is breathing life into the incantation of the Keystones.
"So; my sisters thinks, she can outmaneuver me. She thinks me a fool, she manage to get that girl when she is mature enough to wield the Keyblade unless the days of the Keyblade War where they send child solders to do the masters biddings. The Foretellers were fools and that opinion me and my sister can agree deeply upon," Drake said.
"The master's Keyblade, the Gazing Eye. A blade so old, it goes back to the age of Fairy Tales. We were to claim that blade but after Master Xehanort's defeat at the hands of Aqua, Terra and Ventus, that blade has been lost to time. Once I am done with my sister and her goons, I will search for it and take it for myself," Drake said.
"Sir, they are about 60% there way here," Ophelia said through their mental link.
"Well at least, she didn't pick weak servants for their cause. Get ready to fight, with your new powers. You will be able to take care of them," Drake said.
"Thank you sir, I will not let you down," she said.
"I know," he said to have a smile on his dark face to feel proud of her to cut the link. "Those kids don't know what my sister really is. She is putting up one hell of an act to get rid of me for her own objectives. Including not telling the red haired girl about her true origins," Drake said to look at the red haired woman in the painting.
He looks upon the woman's Keyblade Destiny's Embrace in her hands. "No idea what she is but she is like her mother. A little too much despite what he did to Kairi," Drake said to continue making his incantation.
Back with Kairi using her Divine State to fly above the waste field to see Wyverns, Dark Balls and Invisibles swarming her to knock her back onto the ground. She creates a reflective barrier to bounce back all the attacks back to wipe out the Heartless.
"Holy Burst," Kairi lets out mini balls of light to seek down groupings of Heartless taking them down. "Bright Lance," Kairi lets out a spear of light to pierce into the head of a Gigas Shadow to see it disappear.
A Crawler fires a beam of energy at Kairi. "Siphon Sphere," she creates a barrier around her as it absorb the dark beams energy into her body. "Laser Array," Kairi points her Keyblade to fire a big beam of light to clash with the dark beam but manage to easily cut through it and blow off its head killing it instantly.
"Kairi," Luna comes in to defend her with a barrier as she fires a Pearl spell at a Gigas Shadow to destroy it.
"Luna, good to see you," Kairi said as she fires her own Pearl spells to take down more giant Shadows.
"Likewise, we are going to make a path for you. Holyga," Luna raises her trident to conjure a huge ball of light and fling it at the incoming hordes to take out a chunk of them. Luna and Kairi combine their magic to use Refleza to deflect back lots of energy attacks and spells back at the horde to blow up more chunks of enemies.
"Luna," Noctis appears over the girls to warp strike an Angel Star to warp strike multiple Angel Stars to appear in front of the girls. He tosses several fire orbs to set off explosions to take more Heartless as he strikes down a Gigas Heartless.
"Noctis, look out," Luna block the fists of a Large Body with an energy shield.
"Thanks Luna, you must be Sora's girl. Kairi, right?" Noctis asked as Kairi nods her head.
"Oh Sora, told me about you and the others," Kairi said.
"Yeah, Sora is a cool dude," Prompto said as he grabs her shoulder and pops the Large Body in the head with his revolver to see it vanish in black mist. "Breaker Shot," he fires a shot that destroys a Defender's shield with Gladiolus deliver a powerful kick to take down the beast.
"Come on, let's show the young lady the red carpet," Gladio slams his large blade onto the ground to summon a wave of rock spikes to tear through the masses with Ignis coming with his magically enchanted daggers to set all the surrounding Heartless frozen solid.
Prompto is knocking down incoming flying Heartless while covering the others fighting the Heartless on the ground.
"Thundaga," Ignis said to cast down waves of lightning bolts to destroy the frozen Heartless. "Noctis," Ignis using magical daggers to toss into targeted Heartless as Noctis warp strike the selected targets to take them down with his blade. "Ladies first," Ignis said dryly as Kairi is taking down more Heartless with her Light spells.
"Thanks boys for the assist," Kairi to take flight again to see more Heartless coming her way. "Gee, more of these buggers," Kairi said as she blast them away with a huge lightning bolt destroying a Crawler with Lightning in her Valkyrie mode using Odin's power.
"Kairi, we will clear you a path to the castle," Lightning said as she strikes down more Crawlers with giant lightning bolts with her slashing down groups of Heartless. "Super Thunder Blade," she cloaks her Gunblade in lightning energy to crave through the limbs of the Crawlers with ease making them drop onto the ground.
Sazh and Hope use their range attacks to put down the flying Heartless as Serah powers up her bow and arrow. "Ultima Arrow," Serah said as she fires a piercing magic arrow to cut through three Crawlers in a row through the head.
"Coming through," Snow crash into the back of a Behemoth for icicle come out of the ground to impale the surrounding monsters. Snow grabs a Neoshadow to bash it into other Heartless as he swings it around to knock the other ones away.
"Kairi, let me give you a boost," Hope empowers Kairi's magic for there is a large Demon Tower coming their way.
"Thanks Hope, Laser Array," Kairi aims her weapon and fires an even bigger beam of light to clash with the Demon Tower and turn it into black goo. "Okay 90% there, master we are so close," Kairi said within their mental link for Umiko is taking out Heartless as she is in High Elf State.
"I know, we got to keep going," Umiko said to see the gates of the castle is just is very close. Suddenly a huge Demon Tide is sucking up all the remaining Heartless transforming into a massive twister for there was nothing but blackness within it and a weird glowing orb in the middle of it.
Umiko looks on to see the Demon Tide has taken in all the Heartless into itself becoming as big as a skyscraper to block the entrance to the castle grounds. "Okay, I got to focus," Umiko said as she gathers her energies to perform for a single spell. Umiko conjures magic circles underneath the massive Demon Tide for the clouds begin to part and lightning sparks flying throughout the entire sky.
Sora and the others can feel the whole area shaking for Drake can feel the surge of power from his sister as he can see the massive Demon Tide stretching into the sky.
Another group of magic circles hover over the dense mass of Heartless as Umiko finishes her spell. "Apocalypse," Umiko can see huge beams of light to tear into the lumbering Demon Tide like they came out of a machine gun peppering the dark mass in rapid succession. Each blast shaken the whole area as the Demon Tide is quickly falling apart to expose its core. "This is the end," Umiko let out one huge beam of light from the sky to strike down the core ending the threat for good.
"That was awesome," Kairi said looking proud of her as Umiko feels a little tired by that. "Master, are you okay?" Kairi asked.
"Yes, Apocalypse is one of the highest ties of magic. Only the most powerful of mages can use it without killing themselves due to the intense strain of performing it. We need to go inside," Umiko said as more Heartless appear coming after them.
"Okay, we will hold the line here until you finish Drake," Squall said.
"Right, good luck," Sora said as Umiko, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Terra go into the castle grounds to be one step closer to defeating Drake.
Meanwhile Drake looks out his window to be impressed that Umiko manage to use that spell to kill that massive Demon Tide. "So, you have improved vastly if you can pull that off, this would be a good challenge. Only one can gain Xehanort's Legacy and that will be me," Drake said as he prepares the Keystones for he is getting closer to unlocking Ragnarök.