Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 12: Castle Oblivion part XII
As Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy looked at the two members of the Organization, their eyes slowly narrowed. While they just met Zexion and where aware of him, they had not yet seen Lexaeus. This making Kairi wonder if perhaps the 'XIII' for this 'Organization', was indicating the actual number of members they had. 'Though...if there are thirteen of them, do we even stand a chance?' the girl mused to herself as they all prepared to fight.
"I don't suppose you guys are just here to talk?" Sora questioned, glancing to each of the two briefly.
"Perhaps afterward." Lexaeus stated firmly while stepping to the side a bit.
"For now...I wish to fight you, Keyblade Wielder." he continued, his gaze being firmly directed toward Sora herself.
Whom blinked briefly before glancing to her three friends; "You guys got this?" she questioned, yet she seemed confident that they would be fine.
Upon receiving a nod in response, Sora then moved to the side to match Lexaeus' positioning. Though her eyes were fixated on the large man, she occasionally looked to Zexion, as if to make sure he wouldn't be getting involved. This not going unnoticed by Lexaeus however, to which he rested his axe-sword upon his shoulder. "Don't worry about him...he knows better than to interrupt me during a one-on-one fight." he claimed, just as a black and red aura wiped up around him.
As it did, the air surged violently through the hall, nearly pushing the group back from the force. "Whoa..." Sora uttered out as she stood firm against this gale.
'This guy definitely has a lot of power in him, I might be in a bit of trouble.' she continued while narrowing both eyes and readying her Keyblade.
During this standoff, Zexion gazed to his own trio of opponents for a few seconds. Each of them just waiting for someone to make the first move, which the steel blue-haired man decided to take. Him swiftly waving one of his hands through the air, creating a magic circle in front of him that instantly shot a beam of magic toward the three. Narrowing their eyes a bit further, this trio each took in a sharp breath as they split away from this attack.
Goofy took the opportunity to rush then at the man with his shield up, blocking the beam as Zexion changed its direction to aim at him. At the same time, Kairi and Donald shot multiple beads of fire that arced down at the man. Seeing these rapidly approaching, Zexion lifted a hand out to the side to create a barrier. While the beads exploded violently against this shield, it didn't budge at all as the area around him simply filled with smoke.
Glancing around briefly with a narrowed gaze, Zexion knew one or more of them would be using this attack as a distraction. Yet his attention mainly focused on Goofy, as he could still barely see said dog through the smoke. Though, he quickly realized that the beam was no longer connecting against Goofy's shield, to which his eyes immediately tilted upward as the anthropomorphic dog lept into the air. Him then spinning his body to throw his shield at the man, to which Zexion himself glared slightly.
The 'Goofy' he saw on the ground being an illusion created by Donald, acting as yet another distraction. In this moment of watching the shield come spinning toward his head, Zexion knew his concentration on the beam of magic would cause his barrier to drop before it could deflect the attack. And altering the beam itself wouldn't be fast enough as it was currently too far off its mark and scorching the wall at the far end of the hall.
"Tch!" he let out in frustration as the beam faded and his shield solidified.
This not only deflecting Goofy's attack, but also a number of lightning bolts that shot through the smoke and in his direction. "This might be more challenging than expected." he uttered to himself, just before all four of them were blasted to the side and the smoke disbursed instantly.
Seconds before, Sora's eyes continued focusing on Lexaeus as they both readied themselves to charge. It was the large man that moved first however, as he seemed to just appear in front of the teen with a powerful downward swing. In the split second it took for him to complete this arc through the air, Sora began taking on a small smile while lifting her free hand. With both feet planted firmly on the floor, the brown-haired girl grasped the weapon coming toward her and caught it.
Though the momentum of the axe-sword carried forward a few millimeters more, it came to a sudden stop as Sora grasped it tightly in her hand. The resulting shock wave slamming into the others and nearly causing most of them to be blown against the walls. Yet both Sora and Lexaeus were now locked in this battle of power, the former of whom was slowly beginning to generate her own dark aura. Something of which made the large man slowly gain a smile of his own, the two appearing to be fully even in terms of sheer strength.
Even as they continued pushing against one another to try and force the other one back, neither side budged in the slightest. "Most impressive." Lexaeus uttered out silently before they both lept away from each other and grasped their weapons in both hands.
"I didn't expect her to actually be equally as strong as Lexaeus of all people. Maybe Axel or Larxene would have been better." Zexion muttered, pushing himself off and away from the wall.
He then turn toward the many beams of light racing in his direction, which rotated around and in front of a charging Goofy. Whom swiftly reached Zexion's barrier and slammed his whole weight against it. Upon impacting though, the beams also collided and actually caused the spell to shatter. However, the steel blue-haired man merely smirked lightly as he knew the fragments of his barrier would explode. Which would prevent the dog from actually reaching him for an attack.
Yet in the moments of expecting these detonations, Zexion's eyes slowly widened as they didn't come. Leading for Goofy's shield to slammed into him without resistance, pushing the air from his lungs while being flung back and into the wall behind him. Between his gasps for breath and groans of pain, the man noticed Donald holding his staff out with a clear dispelling magic on it. Though not strong enough to negate his barrier, it was strong enough to negate the explosions for when it would brake.
"Tch! So 'that's' how you did it before." he whispered almost voicelessly from the lack of oxygen.
Just as he stood back to his feet and created another barrier around him, they were all pushed back once again. Lexaeus and Sora slamming their weapons against one another, causing sparks of metal to flash between the two. But as they retracted to swing again, the other four luckily braced themselves, as their next clash was even stronger than before. The two delivering each attack with all their might, kicking up a powerful gale that seemed to surround them.
These strikes even releasing what seemed to be sonic-booms that kept a continuous vortex of wind swirling through the hall. Yet it simply made Zexion groan once more as he turned to his own foes, all of whom seeming to have found a means of bracing themselves against this 'terrain hazard'. "Alright, enough playing around." the steel blue-haired man claimed while seeming to hover slightly off the floor, to which his barrier slowly faded.
At the same time, he brought both arms out to the sides with his tome floating directly in front of him. In doing so, a series of magic circles appeared around Zexion in a dome-like formation. Each one rotating slightly, as a series of lightning bolts began shooting from the centers of these circles. While the impacts of Sora's and Lexaeus' clashes disbursed the lightning that came toward them, the other three quickly had to hide inside a barrier.
Said shield however, was quickly beginning to crack from the sheer number of attacks striking against it. This led for Goofy to come up in front of Donald and Kairi, him wanting to be ready for when their magic faded. In seeing the worry in the three's eyes, Zexion smirked lightly as he flexed his hands slowly. In doing so, the power behind his magic greatly increased as the bolts of lightning began to arc specifically onto his singular target.
'So that spell acts as an area of effect when first cast...but it can be focused with enough concentration. But if I remember correctly from Merlin's lessons...that spell probably isn't fixed on him.' Kairi thought to herself while kneeling down, breathing heavily.
The barrier around the three rapidly began to break apart, to which even the exploding shards disbursed from the sheer volume of lightning striking toward it. Once it fully shattered apart, Kairi and Donald pushed against Goofy, whom was slowly sliding backward from the force of Zexion's attack. However, the dog's shield held strong against all the electricity, even with multiple sparks crackling around him. "I gotcha fellers~!" he called out over the loud surge of lightning flowing around them.
"And I've got you two." Kairi whispered while pressing her hand against the floor.
Where of which, a large magic circle flared to life. While an identical circle appeared directly beneath Zexion, the man didn't even notice, as his eyes were too focused on his opponents. After taking a moment to examine the magic Kairi created however, his eyes widened slightly. In the moment he looked down to see the circle beneath him, he was instantly teleported to the other circle. All the while, Kairi, Donald and Goofy appeared in Zexion's place. The former two pushing their own magic into the magic circles the man created, each of which had remained in place.
In doing so, the steel blue-haired man was swiftly overwhelmed by lightning that shocked through him. Within moments, he was blown backward and against the far wall. As he slumped to the floor unmoving, it was obvious that the trio had won. Seeing this, they each looked to one another and smiled widely with a high-five. Though, they immediately turned to Sora and Lexaeus as they slammed their weapons together again and again.
"You are strong, there is no doubt about that." the large man stated as he and the girl pushed against each other, trying to gain the upper hand once more.
"But you lack true strength." he continued, taking a step forward before spinning to the side.
This made Sora's eyes widen as she couldn't stop herself from moving forward. This allowing Lexaeus to use his rotating momentum to deliver a blow to the girl's back, knocking her further forward and into the wall. After impacting, her body briefly went limp as she took in a few shallow breaths. The strike to her back definitely hurting quite a bit as the teen wobbled on her feet, yet she still slowly turned around to face the man. "What do you mean by that?" she asked silently, struggling to catch her breath.
"Exactly what I said...if you cannot figure out what that means, then you will never gain it." was all Lexaeus responded with in a firm tone.
However, he immediately held up a hand, just as the other three were about to rush toward him. "You have proven yourself, so I will allow you to pass." he declared, dismissing his weapon and relaxing his stance.
"But know that you will face even greater hardships ahead...so prepare yourself." the man finished, before vanishing in a corridor of darkness.
Once he disappeared, the group then noticed that Zexion was also already gone. Though there was a brief pause between the four, they soon let out a heavy sigh before many more breaths of exhaustion. Each of them being pretty spent after each of these fights, one after another. "Maybe we should take a break?" she suggested silently as she turned toward her friends, just in time to see Marluxia behind them with his scythe swinging down upon the three.
"Stopja!"
Things are ramping up pretty fast, but we'll see how things go.
I'll try to get 13-15 done for next week. I might have gotten too ambitious with doing five chapters per week, especially since I'm rewriting them, rather than just reworking what was already there. Hence why they're a little bit shorter than the normal chapter. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed these two chapters. Until next time.
