Chapter 9

A Threat Revealed!

Who Is The Mysterious Man?

[Veritas]

I looked up at the wall of missions, scanning through all the missions. I wondered which mission I should go on. Go on the one with dealing the Earth Cores in the desert? The Barrel Spiders in a warehouse by a pier? Possibly the Search Ghosts haunting an abandoned town? I just couldn't decide. Before I could decide, Sid came by and put the completion ribbon on them, meaning someone else completed the job.

"Aww man!" I said.

"What's wrong?" a familiar voice said. I turned to see Kid with Patty and Liz.

"Oh hey guys. I was about to take a job but looks like the ones I was looking at kinda got done already" I said.

"Oh, Kid! Can he come with us on our mission?" Patty asked.

"We could use his help after all." Liz said.

Kid thought about it for a minute before answering. "Fine. As long as you don't get in the way of the mission."

"Don't worry about me, Kid. I'll be the most helpful teammate you could ask for." I said.

Patty wrapped her arm around me and started shaking me around. "Yeah! We're gonna kick so much butt!" she shouted.

"H-Hey! Easy Patty!" I said.

"Come on. Let's get a move on. We don't have all day." Kid said.

We headed towards the train station. Kid informed me that the mission was at an abandoned village. Apparently some nasty Heartless took refuge there that we need to clear out. It took a minute before we got to the station closest to the village. We had to continue on foot since it was deep in the forest. I could tell this irritated Kid since he probably wanted to use his hover-skateboard to get there faster.

It took us a good 30 to 45 minutes to actually make it to the village. Abandoned was the perfect way to describe it. Sat empty for so long that nature began to consume all the buildings. Vines took over the roofs and grass grew out of stairs. Small animals ran in and out of the buildings. I peeked inside of the houses to see it was filled with tons of pollen and spores as well as broken furniture and vases. I called out to see if there was a chance of anyone being in this village besides us but there was no response.

"Abandoned is right." I said.

"You think the Heartless are in one of these buildings?" Liz asked.

"Could be but usually they just pop out from thin air." I said.

Now that I think about it, I didn't see a single Heartless. Surely we should've encountered them already. However, we didn't come across one yet, not even a single Shadow. I summoned my Keyblade to my left hand and began scanning around me. Everything was still. Even the wind was still. It was very… off to say the least. I scanned my eyes across the rotted and overgrown buildings. Nothing. Then the forest behind them. Just a glisten of light but that was it.

Wait, glisten of light?' I thought.

Just as I thought that, a red energy blast sped towards me. I raised my Keyblade in front of me and managed to block the attack.

"We're under attack? Liz, Patty, weapon form!" Kid said. Liz and Patty transformed into their pistol forms on command and landed in his hands, where he was ready to strike our foe.

I looked on into the distance to see our enemy. Heartless? That Organization girl? As the figure exited the forest walking towards us I saw that it was neither. It was a person wearing an all black outfit with black boots and black gauntlets. They also adorned a black cape that was torn at the bottom. They also wore a black helmet that covered not only their head, but face as well with a red visor. They also had a white symbol on their shoulder. They carried a gun as well as had a handle of some kind on their hip.

"Who are you?!" I shouted.

"Veritas Keyheart, I presume. You were hard to track. Especially being in that damn town most of the time." the person said, who turned out to be a man.

"I'm not asking again. Who are you? And what do you want with me?" I asked.

The man got closer to us. "They call me The Wraith. I'm here to carry out a bounty of course." he said.

"A bounty? Who placed it?" Kid asked.

"Sorry, my business ain't with you. You can run along now, fella." The Wraith said.

"Like hell I will. I'm not gonna abandon a friend." Kid said.

"I'm done with you. Take a nap." The Wraith said.

He pulled his hand back towards his waist and slammed his hand and palm outwards. Kid was then launched into one of the houses. The attacker then pulled both his arms close to his body, which caused a tree to collapse onto the building.

"Kid! Why you! Quit using your telekinesis on him and fight me instead!" I said, gripping my sword.

"First off, it's the Force. Second, you don't have to worry. You'll be dead soon enough." The Wraith said.

He collapsed his blaster down into a box and placed it onto his belt. He then grabbed his handle with a crescent guard. He pressed a button on it and a red beam shot out, extending into a sword. He spun it around before holding it in a battle stance. I got into one as well. He then ran at me, slashing horizontally which I managed to block. He then kicked me in the gut and slashed upward, slashing my chest. Luckily, he only got my shirt, which left a burn hole. I hopped away and grabbed my chest.

'That was close! I gotta watch out for that sword. One hit and I might be toast. Literally.' I thought.

"Not so fast! Get over here!" he said, extending his hand and pulling it close.

I felt my body be lifted off the ground and thrusted towards the Wraith. He held his weapon in a position easy enough to stab me. I manage to point the tip of my Keyblade at him.

"Take this! Freeze!" I shouted as a block of ice shot out the tip and collided with the Wraith's chest, knocking him to the ground. That let me go from his grip.

I ran towards him as he got up. I did an overhead swing, slashed diagonally left, right, then followed with a Quick Blitz. That combo knocked him back a bit but he flipped back to his feet. I ran towards him to slash him horizontally but as I performed it, he managed to parry me and slash my back. I could feel an intense burning pain and smell burnt flesh. I stumbled forward and raised my sword high.

"Heal!" I said, being surrounded by a healing green aura as a flower hovered over me. It managed to heal my wound and ease my that i felt my mana run out.

"That's it. Take this!" the Wraith said.

He thrusted his hands out, fingers pointed towards me. Suddenly, bluish-purple electricity shot towards me from his hands. I held my Keyblade up and managed to block most of it, with only a few stray bolts getting past. After a few seconds the lightning barrage stopped. I lowered by Keyblade a bit only to see the Wraith's laser sword spinning towards me. I rolled out the way just in time as his sword returned to his hand.

"Stop this already! We don't have to fight." I said.

"Sorry but I'm afraid we do. Once I have your head, I'll be rich beyond belief." the Wraith said.

"Wait, who ordered this hit?" I asked.

The Wraith sped forward and went for an overhead slash but I managed to raise my Keyblade and lock blades with him.

"I asked who ordered this!?" I asked.

"Can't say. I keep my employers anonymous." he said.

We pushed each other away. The Wraith went to stab me but I side stepped just in time.

"Try this then! Ars Arcanum!" I shouted.

The Keyblade was enveloped in a golden glow and I unleashed a barrage of strikes on my assassin. I ended the combo with a couple spinning slashed before landing a power-filled overhead slam slash, which sent the Wraith flying back.

"I'm not done! Strike Raid!" I said.

I threw my Keyblade at my enemy. It spun towards the Wraith, ready to strike him. Unfortunately, he managed to deflect my attack as my Keyblade flew off course into the forest. The Wraith saw his chance and ran towards me. I was anticipating this and was about to summon the Keyblade back to my hand but the Wraith stuck his hand out. Suddenly, I found myself unable to move.

'What the?! What the hell is happening? I can't move a muscle." I thought.

The Wraith kept coming towards me, sword held is a stabbing motion. Was this it? Was I gonna die right here? Ordered by an unknown person? This wasn't fair. I was desperately trying to think of a way outta this when I saw something fly out of the forest. It sped towards my attacker before stopping in front of me and blocked the Wraith's attack. It was a girl. She had long grey messy hair and wore a grey ronin style outfit with yellow accents. On her hit was a sheath to a katana that she was wielding. There was also a smaller katana on her hip as well. The mysterious girl also wore a straw hat. Strangely, the girl also had what seemed like a bushy tail.

"I advise that you leave, miss. This battle ain't got nothing to do with you." the Wraith said.

"You were attacking someone without a weapon. That ain't much of battle but more of a killing." the girl said.

"That's the point." he said.

The two broke off and the Wraith pushed her back with his magic, knocking off her straw hat where I saw that she had animal ears. She looked back at me with her orange eyes. It was weird. It felt like… I looked into those eyes before.

"Veritas, you okay? Can you fight?" she asked.

I managed to free myself from whatever power the Wraith used on me. "Yeah I can- Hey wait! How do you know my name? Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Sorano. I'll explain later but right now we gotta fight!" the girl said.

"...Fine. But after this you gotta tell me how you know my name and how you found me. Deal?" I asked.

"Deal! Now focus!" Sorano said.

I gripped my Keyblade tight as Sorano gripped her katana with both of her hands and held it parallel to her forehead. The Wraith cracked his neck left then right and then spun his laser sword around before speeding towards us. He went for an uppercut slash but I managed to block it. Sorano sped next to the Wraith and went to stab him but he flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. He extended his arm, pushing her back which gave me an opportunity to come in close. I went for an overhead slash, a stab and slash before ending with a Quick Blitz. This caused the Wraith to be knocked down.

"This'll end it! Thunder!" I shouted, raising my Keyblade high to the sky.

A bolt of lightning came crashing down from the clouds, right towards the Wraith. He managed to roll out the way. He got back to his feet and aimed his fingertips at me. Lightning erupted from them and struck me, shocking me to my core. I let out a yelp in pain. Suddenly, Sorano appeared behind the Wraith and slid her thumb across her blade.

"Fire Art:" she said, fire igniting on the sword. "Wrath of the Sun!"

Sorano then slashed down, causing a large fiery blast to shoot out her sword and collide with the Wraith and engulf him in flames. I thought that that was enough to deal with him but he let out a large pulse of energy that dispeled the flames. When I recovered from the lightning strike, I ran close to the Wraith. I spun my Keyblade to a reverse grip.

"Try this! Zantetsuken!" I shouted.

I sped past the Wraith and slashed through him with slash faster than the blink of an eye. The Wraith stumbled a bit before dropping to his knees, his helmet cracking a bit.

"Sorano! Now!" I shouted.

"On it! Blizzard Art: Icicle End!" she shouted.

Sorano leapt high into the air, sword covered in ice. She spun around before dropping the sword down right onto the Wraith's head. When the blade struck, the Wraith was then captured in a large structure of ice, immobilizing him. His mask also completely cracked open and fell apart revealing his face. The Wraith appeared to look around my age. He had short black hair with matching short beard as well as green eyes. He also had pointed ears. He reminded me of an elf in a way.

"Looks like we won." I said, dematerializing my Keyblade.

Sorano then ran up to me, sheathing her sword. "Are you okay?" she asked me.

"Mhmm. I'm good. You did great out there." I said to her.

"Thank you." she said.

We then heard clapping. I started looking around to see where the origin of it was. Suddenly, a dark portal appeared and out came someone dressed in a black long coat with a Heartless crest on the chest. I recognized the person immediately. It was Kazumi.

"Well well well. I am impressed. I thought you'd be gutted immediately but once again you've proven me wrong." he said.

"Kazumi?! You sent this assassin after me?" I asked.

"Of course Veritas. I mean, I don't wanna get my hands dirty. However, it looks like you've forced my hand. But first…" he said.

He stuck his hand out at the Wraith. Suddenly, the ice around him shattered as he fell to the ground. He then barely managed to get to his knees.

"Mr. Highwind… I'm sorry I failed. Please, forgive me." the Wraith said.

"Wraith… No, Kronos was it? My Master doesn't take such failures lightly. But don't you worry, I'll make this quick." Kazumi said.

Kazumi then held his hand out and manifested a sword out of darkness. It was a large sword that was red, dark grey, and beige. The tip had what looked like bat wings with a blue eye in the middle of them. Towards the guard was shaped like horns and the guard looked kind of like the blade. Then I noticed something hanging off. On a chain hung what looked like a yellow and purple butterfly with a blue eye in the middle.

"It can't be! Is that… a Keyblade?" I asked.

"Ha! It is indeed. Looks like you aren't so special after all, Veritas." he said.

"But how? Only one Keyblade exists within the realm of light." I said.

"That's right. There is only one Keyblade that belongs to the realm of light. But that doesn't matter. You'll be dead anyway. However, one last thing." he said.

He walked over to the Wraith, whose real name was Kronos, and readied his sword to stab him.

"Sorry Kronos, looks like the contract is officially cancelled." Kazumi said. Kazumi then raised his sword up and went in for the kill.

I raised my Keyblade and aimed the tip at him. "Fireball!" I shouted as a fiery blast shot out of the Keyblade. Kazumi flipped backwards, dodging my attack.

"Really Veritas? This man tried to kill you and your friends, yet you still try to save him. What is it? Stupidity? Illness? What?" Kazumi asked.

"Anyone can change. Even him… Even you… However, killing them won't make that happen." I said.

"Well, you know what happens next, right?" He asked. He got into a battle stance.

"I guess so." I said, getting into my battle stance.

Thank you for reading. I know I suck at uploading but I'm trying, I really am. Work takes up my time as well as lack of motivation til recently but I'm getting back into it. Also I realized I've been using the female version 'Kasumi' instead of 'Kazumi' so that will be corrected from here on out.

Anyway, is Kazumi really gone? Why did he hire an assassin to kill his best friend? And who exactly is this Sorano girl? Find out soon!

-V