Hello, everyone! Before you start reading this chapter, I just want you to know that you should read the end notes by the time you reach this chapter! It's very important, and I'll have a voting poll in my profile, in which you'll understand later! That said, let's continue on with the story!
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own any Kingdom Hearts series, only the OCs!
After her talk with her Master, Ignis, true to her word, decided that she needed some time alone from the others. She needed to rest after exhausting both her stamina and magic power from the first part of the exam and from her fight with Ventus. That, and because she thought that everyone else needed some space from each other from a while, especially Terra, considering that he failed the exam. Afterwards though, once things have settled down and they all got together, things would be alright.
Therefore, Ignis decided that a stroll within the large forest in the Land of Departure was perfect for some alone time. Her friends hardly go there and she enjoyed the outdoors, so it was perfect. One of the many things she enjoyed while living in the Land of Departure was exploring the large forest a lot, though before, she used to get lost a lot. Because she's lived in the Land of Departure for many years and explored the forest many times, she knew all the routes and shortcuts like the back of her palm.
While heading deeper into the forest, Ignis felt the cool, gentle, forest breeze on her skin and grinned. She couldn't help but dance and sing to one of her many favorite songs, closing her eyes as she made her way through the forest.
Although it took a long while, Ignis finally found her favorite clearing within the forest. A large, clear, non-tall grassy field whose blades of grass felt like ticklish clouds, with amazing cool shades from the shadows of the enlarged trees above and the warmth of the sun shining down in the middle of the field. A shame there weren't any flowers amongst the grass, for it would have been even more perfect in Ignis' perspective.
After placing her head within the shadow of a tree and allowed the rest of her body to be covered by the warmth of the sun, Ignis eagerly laid back against the soft grass, giggling to herself as she rolled around the comfortable bed of grass, not caring if her hair was messed up slightly. She always did enjoy taking naps in the perfect weather condition.
Fishing inside her bag, Ignis took out her diary, scrolling through the pages until she found an empty one. Thus, she proceeded to fill that page with a brand new entry, as always as part of her daily life. However, this time, she portrayed the events of what occurred earlier during the Mark of Mastery, her feelings, and everything else that she decided to pour her heart and soul into. No, that last part wasn't anything different than all the other diary entries she put in, because each time she wrote down a diary entry, she held nothing back because her diary held all of her secrets, desires, and even her ideas about possible magic creation, combinations, and experiments that she's tested out.
As a matter of fact, the diary was a gift from Master Eraqus when she was younger. In fact, it was a special, magical diary. Not a magical diary that could store up magic power or shoot out spells. The only "magical" part of it was that it could never run out of pages. Countless books always had a limited number of pages no matter how much they had, but the special, magical diary that belonged to Ignis' possession was only special and magical in the sense that it never ran out of pages. Ignis could rip and tear out all of the pages in her diary, and it would automatically, or rather, magically, respawn new pages.
Dear Diary,
I'm...Well, I wanna say that I was so excited over today's events, but today was just...quite the day. I think I'm feeling more confused, sad, and scared than happy today. Of course, I'm not like, super, mega scared or anything like that, but today just wasn't...it didn't really feel satisfying, you know?
Okay, so here's how today went by. I woke up super early today and Master Eraqus assigned me to do my morning chores. Only stupid thing that happened was that one of the sheets kept flying off, but I'm sorta glad it did, because then, I got to meet Master Xehanort, Master Eraqus' bestie, for the first time!
What do I think of him? Well, he's an old man, of course! But, I'm not stupid enough to call him old man! Not only would that be rude, but he's Master Eraqus' longtime bestie! I could never do that to his bestie! Plus, Master Eraqus was right there, so calling him by old man would practically be a death sentence for me.
ANYWAYS! He seems like an okay guy. I'd like to say creepy, but he seems like your average, everyday, kind, elderly old man. I don't really know him that well even after today, but he must be pretty wise and powerful. Why? Because he's a frickin' Keyblade Master, and they're always freaklishly powerful and wise and stuff! Not sure who'll win between a fight between Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort, but because I looooveee Master Eraqus so much, I vote for him!~
So, later on, everyone's all gathered together in the main hall for the Mark of Mastery exam, yeah? Of course, only Aqua and Terra are the participants in this one. Which I still think is total bullshit, because I grew up with Ter-Ter and Aqua, so I deserve to have a spot fighting for the Master role, too! You know? Then again, Master Eraqus did explain how I was so close, yet not ready yet. Something about me needing to be more mature and stronger but I still call bullshit!
Still, at least one good thing MIGHT come out of all this. If Ven-Ven does real extra good and trains really, REALLY hard, he might also be considered a potential Keyblade Master candidate with me! That way, just like Aqua and Terra, we could be the new, two potential Keyblade wielding candidates for the next Mark of Mastery exam! I can hardly wait!
Well...I mean, there's a bit of a teeny little bit of problem that comes next. The first part of the exam went well. Sorta. What happened was that Master Eraqus summoned a bunch of balls of light to have both Terra and Aqua fight them. Then, suddenly, something happened to them, like some sort of power boost or something. Either way, the balls of light sorta went rampage and started getting aggressive, even to the point where they attacked both me and Ven-Ven! And we weren't even doing anything! All we did was just stand around and watch! So, naturally, we had to defend ourselves, which meant we unintentionally joined in the first part of the exam.
I think me and Ven did pretty good fighting off those balls. But...I MAY or may not have almost burned down the hallway. It's not my fault! I just wanted to cast my fire Shotlock ability and finish off the rest of those balls with it! How was I supposed to know that fire could burn through wood and cause a huge-actually, that sounded pretty dumb, even for me. I...Okay, I may have wanted to show off, so I probably did forget the fact that fire can easily burn through wood. Oops. Me and Master Eraqus didn't talk about it yet, but I just KNOW he's gonna punish me severely for what happened. We put out all the fires, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna force me to repair the burnt damage later on. ...Damnit.
Did I think my Shotlock spell was pretty cool and awesome? Yes! Was it worth it to destroy the rest of those balls of light? Yes! Was it worth it just to get in trouble with Master Eraqus? ...No.
Well, after that came the second part of the exam. It was a one-on-one face-off between both Terra and Aqua! I mean, I've seen them face off against each other hundreds of times, but this time, it was much more important because it was the Mark of Mastery! I could hardly wait to see who won! Although, Master Eraqus said it didn't really matter who won, because what truly mattered is the strength of the heart, or something between those lines.
In the end, nobody really won or lost because Master Eraqus called it off. I think he's seen enough of the fight, but I thought they were pretty good! In fact, they were equally matched! Okay, Terra and Aqua could both kick my ass any day! I think Aqua might stand a better chance than me when it comes to magic. After all, she's the better magic caster master! Heheh!~
What came after was a really huge surprise to all of us! Normally, after the Mark of Mastery exam was over, the results would be announced, but there was something different this time! An idea from Master Xehanort! Apparently, me and Ventus were going to fight each other so that we could test each other's skills and see how far or close we are to becoming true Masters! Eh, not exactly part of the exam, but I'll take it! I wanna see how close I am to becoming a Keyblade Master, too!
Looks like Ven-Ven's been getting a lot stronger than I thought! Out of all of the spars we did together, this one has to be the most toughest I've had with him! Maybe it's because he's also just as pumped and super focused as I was! Well, I definitely didn't hold back against him either, and I used a lot of defensive maneuvers against him, too! I decided not to use fire magic against him, though. Well, come on! I didn't want to create more of a mess than I already have! Besides, I have access to other kinds of magic, even if I'm not really good with them. Except for healing and shield magics. I'm plenty good with those!
But then, I did something REALLY STUPID! URGHURGRHRGHHDHKFLSBF! I FLUBBED! I TOTALLY FLUBBED SO, SOOOOO BADLY! I CAN'T BELIEVE I EXPOSED THE FACT THAT I USED DARKNESS MAGIC TWICE! FRICKIN' TWICE!
Well, that fight ended really quickly! Oh, and Terra was the only person who didn't become a Master. Only Aqua did, so yay and congrats to her! But, I really did feel bad for Terra, though. Later, Master Eraqus pulled me aside and told me it was because he couldn't control the darkness within himself. Still, at least he tried his best...? Oh, he's definitely gonna be depressed about this for a while.
I knew I was definitely in for it when Master Eraqus requested that I talk to him privately. Aaaand, I was right. He definitely scolded me and questioned why I had darkness magic. Well, I wasn't going to tell him that I've secretly been training and using darkness magic for the past 10 or more so years! That'd DEFINITELY be a worst death sentence than thinking of calling Master Xehanort 'old man!' But, Master Eraqus suspected that maybe my competitive nature might have been the reason for me to unleash darkness, as Terra's reason for his darkness was his desire to get stronger but a fear of losing. He promised that we would all get through this together, as a team.
I'm worried, though. Look, I know that darkness is super bad and evil and stuff, while light is the ultimate good of the universe, but...I dunno about that. I've been having my doubts about this, and the whole reason why I picked up darkness was because I wanted a resistance against the dark force. That, and I pulled off some wicked awesome darkness moves during my training! But anyways, on a more serious note, I dunno what I should think. I can't pull off the whole 'oh no, I accidentally used darkness' trick a second time. Unless I'n really, REALLY lucky.
But, overall, I just hope that everything will be alright after all this. I don't want Master or any of my friends to hate or shun me. For now, I think I'll just give everyone some space and some private time. I think everyone needs to, especially Terra. It's probably best if I take a nap right now. Kinda tired here.
~ Ignis ~
Upon finishing her diary entry for the day, Ignis decided it wouldn't hurt to simply read through her diary entry. About halfway reading, she yawned and put her diary back into her bag, curling up and taking a nap as her mind drifted off to sleep and into dreamland.
Later...
"...Are you fucking serious?"
Vanitas stared down at the sleeping individual that is Ignis, official third apprentice to Master Eraqus and the second-youngest of her fellow apprentices. However, her current sleeping position was anything but that resembling of an apprentice.
With her arms spread out and her legs tangled in between, Ignis let out loud snores from her open mouth as drool dribbled down her jaw. Murmurs also escaped in-between her snores as she tossed and turned, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
He spent over an HOUR, maybe even TWO, just to track down one single girl. Her! Ignis! Ventus' little crush! He spent SO much time searching for her within the training grounds and inside the main building of the Land of Departure, that he didn't even consider that she might have thought of spending time alone in the DEEP, VAST, FOREST!
The only reason he wanted Ignis was so that he could kidnap her and use her as leverage to force Ventus to run away from home! As all according to the agenda he and the old man planned! Well, Master Xehanort didn't know about his plan to kidnap Ignis, but he did allow Vanitas to use any means necessary to force Ventus out, so he probably wouldn't mind a little kidnapping. It was simple: Find Ignis. Knock her out. Take her away. Use her as a hostage to force Ventus to leave. Simple as that, right?
WRONG! It actually REALLY was that difficult to track down one, blindly oblivious redhead! He lost count of how many times he had to scout out and roam around the Land of Department by himself! And he couldn't risk summoning his Unversed to help make the search easier, because Master Eraqus would notice immediately, and he was not looking forward to a confrontation with the elderly man! He was also pretty sure that Master Xehanort would never approve of him using the Unversed in that situation as well.
It was only after recalling his memory that Ignis enjoyed exploring the forest in her free time that prompted Vanitas to head deep within the woods in search of one girl. And lo and behold, after a long time of searching, a rather pissed off and slightly tired Vanitas found the little weasel sleeping, without a single care to the world!
Lucky.
As much fun as it would be for Vanitas to reach down and strangulate Ignis, he still needed her alive. Heading towards her, Vanitas ignored the twigs and blades of grass he was stepping on.
Hearing the sound of twigs snapping and the rustling of grass, Ignis' eyes opened and she instantly sat up in confusion, glancing around, though still slightly drowsy. "H-Huh? Did I just hear someth-"
"Oh, come on! THAT WOKE YOU UP?!"
Looking ahead, Ignis' eyes diverted towards one single person that was close near her position. That person happened to be a masked individual wearing a black and red organic-looking bodysuit with a dark cloth wrapped around his waist. Although he was masked, Ignis felt that he was emitting waves of frustration and anger.
Honestly, at this point, Vanitas was just about ready to take out his Keyblade and swing it at her head to use as a method to knock her out. Painful and effective, just the way he loved it. But, just before he could contemplate on doing it, he noticed Ignis staring at him...intensely.
"Uh...What are you doing?"
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Ignis rushed up to the masked boy in a speed so unexpected, it startled him as she examined him. "You...You look so awesome!"
"W-What?"
"That outfit, Keyblade, but more importantly, that mask! Dude, you totally look like an awesome badass fighter!~ Plus, behind that mask, I bet you're all tall, dark, and handsome!~ My favorite type of guy! Hmm...But...it would be a lot better if you didn't have that skirt...Kinda a bit of a turn-off, if you ask me..."
The masked boy twitched underneath his mask. "It isn't a skirt."
"Then why does it look like one?"
"Well, it isn't!"
"Dude, if it's wavy and looks like a skirt, then I'm pretty sure it's a skirt," teased Ignis, leaning in close with her tongue sticking out. With her instincts kicking in, she leaned back, nearly stammering back as she had dodged a Keyblade sweep from the masked boy. "Whoa! Hey! Jeez, no need to get all upset at me, Skirt Boy!"
"Don't call me that! It's Vanitas!"
"Vanitas, huh? That's a pretty unique name! I'm Ignis, fellow Keyblade apprentice to Master Eraqus!~"
"I don't care who you are," spat Vanitas, crossing his arms. Then, an idea popped into his head that made him smirk underneath his mask. Well, he's come all this way, and Ignis seemed well-rested. Why not have some fun and fight her? She might prove even more interesting than Ventus is, especially since she's already proven to have darkness magic in her possession. Should he tell her that he wants to fight her?
Nah, he'll be a dick about it and catch her off guard.
"Wah!" Ignis narrowly dodged a bisecting swing from below, which only succeeded in slicing off a few frontal strands of her hair. "Hey! MY HAIR! You dick! Do you have ANY idea how long it took to grow out my hair?!"
"Like I care."
"Rude!" cried out Ignis, jumping back before summoning her Keyblade. "And here I thought you were cool, Skirt Boy! COOL!"
"Don't call me-! You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy this..." threatened Vanitas with a slight sadistic tone before disappearing in a flash.
Anticipating that he would attack frontally, Ignis raised Phoenix Fairy to block his Keyblade, Void Gear. Using Void Gear to catch the blunt side of Phoenix Fairy, Vanitas changes the position of his arms, holding the other Keyblade in place before sliding Void Gear upwards at a speed that caught Ignis off guard and sent her Keyblade flying high in the air, leaving her weaponless.
Panicking, Ignis made the foolish mistake of not only looking up where her Keyblade was, but also letting her guard down even further, allowing Vanitas a grand opportunity to strike her down. But, being the sadistic and battle-ecentric wielder that he is, Vanitas decided not to end things so quickly and slugged her hard enough to send her rolling and tumbling down the grass until she pressed down on her heels to force herself to stop.
Feeling immense pain as well as likely swelling and bruising from that one punch, Ignis hissed before gently placing a hand on her cheek. Quickly casting a Cure spell to recover from her wounds, Ignis stood up and focused her main and favorite elemental attribute, fire, onto her empty palms. She began launching fireballs at Vanitas just as he charged at her at remarkable speeds, mostly dodging or even slicing the fireballs apart that stood in his path.
Astonished by his skills, Ignis unleashed one last, but stronger fireball at Vanitas to buy herself some more time as she re-summoned Phoenix Fairy back into her hands. Vanitas leapt up and swung Void Gear downwards at her as Ignis responded with a swing of her Phoenix Fairy; both locking blades for one second once their weapons came into contact and then splitting apart once they separated from each other.
Upon landing back onto even ground with Ignis, Vanitas initiated an exchange of blows with Ignis. At some point during their exchange of blows, Ignis nearly lost her grip on Phoenix Fairy when she blocked a supersonic-like slash. However, the next slash proved too much for her since she was unable to block it on time, thus dropping Phoenix Fairy and receiving a heavy slash mark around her chest area. Fortunately for her, because she wore armor, which included the heavy chest plate armor, her wound wasn't anywhere near fatal, but her armor and herself still both took damage.
Collapsing down to one knee, Ignis gripped her wound with one hand while her other hand planted itself onto the grass and held herself steady from collapsing to the ground. Pulling her hand back from her wound, Ignis received only a few droplets of blood but mainly broken shards of her armor. Her chest armor needed repairs, but it could still continue serving as a shield, though Ignis knew she mustn't allow Vanitas to strike her in the same spot again.
"Impressive. If not for your armor, you would have died," taunted Vanitas before kicking her in the face. He yawned loudly and on purpose, if only to rile her up. At first, he wanted to fight her because he thought that she was better than that fool, Ventus, and while she proved to be much more entertaining than her, he was hoping to witness her using darkness magic. But so far, this fight was proving to be more boring and not amusing than he hoped! She could do so much more than...this!
Being sent rolling across the ground again, Ignis gritted her teeth, enduring the pain as she stood back up quickly. Summoning her Keyblade once more, Ignis rushed at him, performing a Fire Windmill technique that launched her at Vanitas while spinning her Keyblade rotationally while casting fire magic. Once she got close enough, she ceased the sword technique and delivered a downwards blow with all of her might. Sensing her dangerous intent, Vanitas jumped back, successfully avoiding the blow with his interest mildly intrigued now that Ignis was going on the offensive. To push her even further, Vanitas delivered a roundhouse kick to her armor-coated abdomen. Her damaged armor's defenses protected her from the pain of the kick, but still sent her soaring back.
Upon crashing into a tree which knocked the air out of her, Ignis still used it as support to get back up quickly. Jumping back to her feet, Ignis activated her special Command Style, Firestorm, to enhance her fighting capabilities. A fiery, orange-red colored aura and flames coated Ignis' body and her Keyblade as the user herself felt an immense surge of power flowing through her. As much as she always enjoyed the awesome raw energies from possessing such power, she also knew that she had a limited amount of time before Firestorm wore off.
Being proficient in white magic, this also included status effects as well. Therefore, to increase her chances of victory, Ignis quickly casted several spells simultaneously. Haste to increase her speed, Protect to decrease an abundance of physical damage, Shell to decrease magic damage, and Temper to increase her physical attack power. However, this left her completely drained of casting anymore magic, so she knew she must make this count. Thankfully, Firestorm should grant her fire powers temporarily without further use of fire magic and the positive status effects she casted on herself should make her even more of a challenge to Vanitas now.
Eyes igniting with determination and power, Ignis knew it was now her turn to take the offensive; having her speed and power greatly enhanced thanks to Firestorm. Ignis sprung forward, feeling the rush of wind as she swung her flame-enhanced Phoenix Fairy as swiftly and strongly as possible. To both her and Vanitas' surprise, Ignis' sudden assault shattered the part of Vanitas' helmet where his right cheek would be. Taking advantage of the situation, Ignis turned and continued her offensive assault onto Vanitas. She unleashed a large barrage of fire-based attacks when up close to Vanitas, and even with Vanitas moving faster thanks to his slight teleportation power, Ignis was able to keep up with him and eventually force him on the defensive, especially after a devastating combo of fast-paced fire slashes that finished with a large fireball explosion, harming only Vanitas as other fire-based attacks and spells would have no effect on Ignis as long as she was under the effects of Firestorm.
Bearing a bloodthirsty grin behind his mask, Vanitas energized himself and Void Gear with darkness to even the odds against her fire-enhancements. Their clash of blows became a dance of fire and darkness that lit up the shadows of the forest and caused major destruction to the environment with each exchange delivered.
Fire vs Darkness. Defense vs Speed. Protector vs Attacker.
As time passed, Ignis felt the burning aura of Firestorm waning and saw the flames surrounding her body and Keyblade beginning to die down. She knew that the moment she loses her Command Style, she'll have a huge disadvantage and wouldn't last long against Vanitas once that happens. That, and she was already at a disadvantage when she ran out of magic beforehand, and Vanitas wouldn't even grant her a chance to replenish her magic power with the two Ethers she had, courtesy of Aqua.
The moment Firestorm vanishes, so, too, will the enhancements she casted upon herself, and only then, will she lose.
'It's all of nothing!' thought Ignis, believing that only one strategy may save her time. This strategy wouldn't effectively defeat Vanitas, but surely it would at least injure him and, more importantly, grant her time to recover her strength. Vanitas leapt up and fire three destructive lightning bolts of darkness as Ignis fire three equally strong fireballs from her Keyblade, causing a massive explosion before Vanitas used the smoke as cover to get up close to Ignis. Ignis put her guard up as Vanitas continuously slashed at her, forcing her to slide back a good distance before she presumed a fighting stance.
Leaping back for further distance away from Vanitas, Ignis charged up all the remaining firepower she had within Firestorm, blasting it all in the form of a barrage of powerful fireballs that also created pillars of fire. Such an all-out assault not only create massive destruction in the area she blasted everything in, but also large sightings of smokescreens.
Ignis didn't know whether or not Vanitas evaded her fiery assault or not, but either way, she had an opportunity for recovery, and she wasn't going to waster it. Panting heavily, Ignis snagged the only two Ethers from her pocket. Popping open the lids with the flicks of her thumbs, she swallowed the contents of both Ethers down her throat until not even a single drop remained. She should thank Aqua for giving her some extra Ethers after the whole fire fiasco she created with the intention of taking out the balls of light. While her magic power isn't at 100%, at least she has magic power to spare.
Suddenly, from within the ashes and smoke, a barrage of dark-energized lightning bolts and fireballs came hurling her way. Taken aback, Ignis didn't have time to dodge nor cast a stronger Barrier spell, so she quickly conjured a basic Barrier spell that only blocked the first few magic spells before cracks swiftly formed all throughout her barrier. With her Barrier spell shattered and destroyed, the remainder of the spells blasted her back, knocking her heavily damaged self towards some trees.
Getting to her feet, Ignis groaned and clutched her side. Various injuries formed throughout her entire body, and worst, she didn't even have a healing potion with her. That meant she had to cast healing magic on herself even if it costed her a lot of her magic power due to the severity of her wounds.
Suddenly, sensing an ominous presence descending down on her, Ignis glanced up and saw Vanitas heading straight towards her. Now moving in for a fatal blow, Vanitas had teleported up in the air before diving down, raising his Keyblade to plunge down. A Reflect spell suddenly halts his attack, trapping Vanitas inside, much to his surprise. Ignis, having casted the Reflect spell on time, takes advantage of Vanitas being trapped under her spell before levitating the Reflect cage away from her, purposely sending it along with Vanitas crashing to a tree.
Ignis struggled to move about due to her injuries. Wanting to save her magic power, yet also wanting to heal the worst of her injuries, Ignis settled for a slightly stronger version of her Cure spell. "C-Cura..." panted Ignis, feeling much more rejuvenated, though only minor injuries within her body remained. Knowing that from here on, it was going to be an even tougher challenge, Ignis felt that she needed all the arsenal she could.
Which is why she slammed her hand against her left pauldron, activating her Keyblade Armor in a literal flash.
Her Keyblade Armor had the upper half of the body consisted of fully-clad armor while the lower half still had parts of armor such as the boots. The rest wasn't armor but had slight bagged pants, and a long-length robed jacket that nearly resembled the ends of a dress. The armor was mostly black-colored with streaks of gray, plus Ignis' long, red hair was magically turned into a low ponytail that flowed with the wind like a tail. It was probably made that way to make sure her hair wasn't a nuisance in battle. This armor appeared more for movement than simple defense like a normal set of armor would. Granted, it still had defensive parts for an armor, such as the gauntlets, chest plate, and helmet.
Appearing back into the fray, Vanitas glanced up and down at her new, armored appearance. "You know, if you had activated that armor earlier, our fight would have been so much more interesting," he admitted before assuming a fighting stance. "Now, show me more!"
He vanished out of thin air before assaulting Ignis with a swift barrage of slashes from left to right, right to left, pretty much in all directions. Gritting her teeth, Ignis casted Protect on herself twice to increase her defenses twicefold. With the Keyblade Armor on, in addition to the extra armor she already wore within along with the extra two protection spells, the damage was much lessened than she expected. In fact, with extra movement and armor on, she held her ground even without her Vanitas realized how futile it was to continuously attack and waste stamina without an actual strategy, he ceased his assault and vanished into the forest to conjure up a strategy and recover his stamina. Even if Ignis wasn't down for the count, his assault of attacks did chip away at several areas at her armor.
Ignis and Vanitas continued clashing with their Keyblades, dodging and moving around the forest as they ran out of the clearing to take advantage of the forest terrain. Because Ignis traveled around the forest for a long time, she had an upper advantage and would hide behind trees to dodge or to use as cover, whereas Vanitas relied on teleportation sneak attacks and the trees to launch off for faster speed and to strike Ignis. Both also attempted to take the other down not just with continuous clashes of their Keyblades, but also from firing different elements against each other. Ignis with fire, and Vanitas with ice, and soon, Ignis tried to throw Vanitas off course by using light and darkness attacks against Vanitas' dark-based spells.
Finally, their fight led them to the same, original clearing when their fight first began. However, given the destruction they caused to Mother Nature, ruined doesn't even begin to describe what they've done to the forest clearing. Both combatants could feel the heat of the burning trees through their bodies and hear the crackling flames and falling trees as they succumbed to the fires.
After firing another fast ball of darkness at Vanitas, who merely moved his head to dodge, Ignis started zooming around him in a circular pattern. Vanitas followed behind, coping her course of direction until he caught up to her in no time and swung Void Gear at her. Holding up Phoenix Fairy as her guard, Ignis successfully pushed Vanitas back from her; her defense proving superior to his speed during that last clash.
With a yell, Vanitas swung Void Gear, sending a wave of darkness towards her, forcing Ignis to roll to the side to avoid it before countering with her own wave of light. Jumping in the air, Vanitas spun around rapidly as he descended onto Ignis. Blasting a fire spell behind her to propel herself forward, Ignis avoided his attack before firing another fire spell from behind to close in on Vanitas; her Keyblade embedded with darkness magic.
Both knew that the fight was drawing to a close. It was clear from watching the battle from afar the two's main differences and battle styles. Like Ventus, Vanitas preferred swift attacks, though his attacks were stronger in terms of physical strength. With Ignis, although her speciality in swordsmanship was through defensive tactics, she had a much harder time with her new opponent compared to another speed-type user. Each blow she blocked was proving difficult as the more she blocked, the faster the attacks were becoming.
Vanitas was excited to finally engage in a bout of darkness against one of Master Eraqus' students, who were supposed to be pure full of light and lacking in darkness, with the exception of Terra. However, as they clashed with darkness-infused Keyblades and darkness spells, it was clear that though Ignis knew a few powers of darkness, she didn't have full control over the more powerful darkness spells. It took little to no effort to injure Ignis once more and knock her back with enough force that forcibly disabled her Keyblade Armor, leaving her with even less defense than before.
Vanitas has been injured several times throughout the fight, but the amount of times injured couldn't be compared to the many blows Ignis was forced to block or endure. It was thanks to her defenses that she's lasted this long, though her stamina was running low, as well as her magic power. She could conjure at least one or two more magic spells at the most. On the other hand, Vanitas could still keep going, as he was still at top condition; a clear indication of who was stronger and weaker.
'Is...is this the gap between our battle experiences?' thought Ignis, clutching onto Phoenix Fairy tightly. "How...how strong are you...?"
Vanitas smirked, getting into a different fighting stance that alerted Ignis to stay on her guard. "More than enough."
The shocked and frustrated look on Ignis' face only caused Vanitas' smirk to evolve into a shit-eating grin when Vanitas casted a full-on Curaga spell on himself, completely healing himself of his wounds. That meant that his healing spell undid all the damage Ignis made.
Wailing out a frustrated battle cry, Ignis charged up to Vanitas for a futile attack. However, Vanitas was more than prepared for this sort of reaction, as he kicked her harshly, sending her high in the air. With no time to recover and left heavily injured, Ignis was left vulnerable to Vanitas' speed-based assaults. Using the trees surrounding them as springboards, Vanitas struck at Ignis with blinding speed attacks, sending her flying further upwards and unable to counter his attacks. Furthermore, Vanitas had continuously used a Blizzard spell each time he struck Ignis, encasing her in ice little by little and freezing her. As the frozen Ignis was falling down, the speedy assault climaxes with as a heavy and concentrated slash downwards, slicing through her as the ice shatters. A bloodcurdling scream escaped from Ignis' blood-soaked lips as her ice prison shattered entirely before she crashed on the ground, unconscious and defeated.
Landing back to the ground, Vanitas made his way to Ignis, kneeling down besides her. "You're lucky that I need you alive." His hand trailed down to the blood-red Wayfinder around her neck before gripping onto it and snagging it off her neck roughly; the thread snapping off once he did so, but leaving a thin, red mark on the back of her neck. He wanted to take it as a victory souvenir from Ignis and as additional evidence to show a certain someone later on.
With little effort, Vanitas picked up her unconscious body and threw her over his shoulder before summoning a dark portal to escape the burning forest of death.
Just as Vanitas was started to head towards the dark portal, also known as a Dark Corridor, Ignis' vision flickered as she felt herself moving...or rather, being moved. Eyes widened and awake from the realization of what was happening, Ignis rattled her brain to think of a way to get out of this situation.
When she felt even the faintest of magic power still lingering inside her, she knew what to do.
With blood still dripping from her lips, Ignis tasted the metallic liquid as she gritted her teeth, struggling to cast the magic spell that could get her out. "M...M..."
Vanitas paused just as he was about to enter the Dark Corridor, sensing magic power being used. Due to being as close to Ignis as he could possibly be, which helped due to the fact that he was carrying her on his shoulder, it took a moment for Vanitas to realize that she was awake. "Shi-!"
"Mine Shield!"
BOOM! At once, explosive magical traps made contact with Vanitas and created a massive explosion. The impact of such close-ranged explosions startled Vanitas enough to have him accidentally throw Ignis off his shoulder. Due to Mine Shield's magical effect, he was effectively stunned and couldn't move for a couple of seconds. Meanwhile, Ignis was lying facedown on the ground, still alive, but close to losing conscious at any moment. Whether it was also due to Mine Shield's effect or her injuries, either way, Ignis couldn't move.
Anyone in Ignis' position would panic at their huge disadvantageous situation. After all, Ignis had no more magic power remaining, as she used the last of it up casting the Mine Shield spell. Injured, unable to move, no more magic power, and no healing potions or Ethers to save her this time. And yet...Ignis didn't seem worried.
"You idiot, delaying the inevitable, are you?!" called out Vanitas, trying to break free of his stunned magical state. "A wasted effort, seeing as you can't move, either! What were you trying to achieve with that stupid move?!"
If Vanitas was so smug from healing himself from his injuries earlier, then it was Ignis' turn to be smug for her next move, even if it was reckless.
"This."
Summoning Phoenix Fairy, Ignis stabbed it into the ground. This activated a light portal right beneath Ignis' unmoving body, which swallowed her completely before the portal closed itself automatically, having fulfilled its purpose. Whichever world she landed in, she blacked out immediately.
Ignis may not be as strong as her Master, Terra, or Aqua, but if there was an advantage she had over them besides defense, it was creativity. It was thanks to her creative mind that she's conjured up tactics and tricks that they wouldn't even imagine of doing. Furthermore, her creative mind was more active when it came to magic, due to her love and interest in it. As such, she used her creative mind to create a portal right beneath her to teleport herself to safety.
However, she doesn't often use one of the most useful powers a Keyblade wielder has, which is summoning Light Corridors, or also known as Corridors of Light, or Light Portals. This is because unlike her Master, Aqua, and Terra, she can't control the destination in which she appears through. Oh, she could still summon Corridors of Light, but the real problem was that wherever she went through, it was through a random world.
One day, while sparing with one of her friends, she had the foolish and reckless idea of using Corridors of Light to continuously teleport all around the Training Grounds for sneak attacks. It was during this time that she had recently mastered opening a Corridor of Light, as it was one of the powers a Keyblade wielder could have. Unfortunately, when she tried it out, it only led her to a random world, and it took quite a lot of efforts for Master Eraqus to track her down.
Needless to say, after that last incident, Master Eraqus forbid her from attempting such a strategy or even utilize the Corridors of Light ever again, unless he was there to supervise over her. Only until she fully mastered the power of summoning the Corridors of Light would he permit her permission to use them, with the exception being him teaching her.
But now, she broke his rule, but with good reason this time. Given her circumstances, Ignis was certain that Master Eraqus would understand. Unfortunately, she still hasn't mastered the power of the Corridors of Light, which meant that wherever she went to, it wasn't the Land of Departure. It was somewhere else. Somewhere different.
Somewhere unknown.
...On the plus side, this meant that Vanitas couldn't catch her, as he had NO idea where she currently was. She had left him in a burning forest of death, metaphorically and literally stunned as the realization hit him like a wave of heat.
"...OH, YOU BIT-!"
There! That's the end of the prologue! Just to let you guys know, if you want a visualization of Ignis' Keyblade Armor, then I got inspired by the main character, "Harbinger," from the game, Omensight! Look up Harbinger from Omensight, and you can see the details of that armor and compare that to Ignis' Keyblade Armor! Seriously, her armor was inspired by the Harbinger's armor! I'm glad that Kingdom Hearts didn't sexualize the female Keyblade Armors like a LOT of games and anime do! Seriously, exposing that much bare skin, even if it's for fan service, is just like asking to be shot by an arrow in that skin!
So, what do you guys think? The reason why this chapter took so long was because it took all of my brainpower to try and conjure up some good fighting scenes and explanations! I really think that this remake's version of Ignis and Vanitas' first battle is much better than my old version! I hope that you guys think so too!
BY THE WAY! I HAVE TO TELL YOU GUYS SOMETHING! So, remember when I said that I won't be doing a crossover world with this fanfic? Yeah, well, I've been talking to a few folks, and they've been pretty interested in having me do a crossover fanfic with a really popular fandom! Now, I know that the last time I tried a crossover world, that didn't go so well, due to the selected fandom that I chosen wasn't very popular. But, I'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments about whether or not I should add in a crossover world in this fanfic or not!
That said, I am changing up and/or keeping a few of the original worlds from my old version of the story into this new, remake one! So, you'll be expecting a lot of changes!
As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, now that this prologue is over, that means that the Land of Departure world is over, so in the next chapter, I'll be adding in a side-story from Ignis' past! So, instead of a new world next chapter, you can experience Ignis' past in a side-content story! You'll understand when you read next chapter, which won't be for a while.
Okay, see you guys later! Read and review!~