Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 21: Castle Oblivion part XXI

Kairi blinked a few times to Zexion, as the man narrowed his eyes on her. The pair currently standing in what appeared to be the middle of the entrance hall to Hollow Bastion's castle. This bringing back several memories for the teen, making her briefly glance around before turning back to her opponent. "Looks like you're not very happy about our previous fight." she said silently while shrugging.

Though the young man huffed briefly, he just shrugged his shoulders in response. "It's not so much that I'm upset toward you...it's the simple fact that I don't know what spell you used. I've been wanting to know how you forced us to swap places like that, but I have yet to figure it out." he claimed, to which the girl blinked a few times.

"Really?" she uttered out in a bit of surprise.

"Indeed...such magic is not only powerful, but also highly impressive in general." Zexion answered as he nodded his head slowly.

Kairi looked down a bit sheepishly as it was only now that she actually realized just how amazing Merlin really is. She then cleared her throat and offered a quick shrug toward the older teen; "Well...I don't think I can show you the spell now, but maybe if we find ourselves on the same side...I can teach you some time." she said in a soft voice while offering a small smile.

While the steel-blue-haired man nodded his head in response, he just looked down to the tome that appeared in his hand. "I would like that." he hummed out in a silent tone, an ever so slight smile appearing on his features.

"I suppose we should begin." Zexion continued, watching the girl bring up her magic staff.

"I guess so." Kairi responded silently, quickly catching onto the idea that this fight seemed to be more for show than anything else.

Both of them understanding that this was simply an opportunity to test their own powers and abilities against each other. Something they were eager to do, as the auburn-haired girl had grown quite a bit since the last time they got to fight fully. The group battle preventing both of them from truly using their most powerful spells. So now that they were the only ones here, they could use anything and everything at their disposal.

With a shared gaze of recognition, the two gained small smiles and immediately cast their first spells. These being shields to protect them, of which they seemed to create in perfect unison. Following this though, Kairi then formed a large white magic circle in front of her. It glowing brightly as seven beams of light shot into one spot, merging them together and blasting a massive beam at the young man. Whom had formed his own magic circle directly under his feet, it flashing a deep purple before expanding a few meters as it slowly spun.

As the beam struck into Zexion's shield, it seemed to rapidly weaken before actually disappearing within the radius of the purple circle. The older teen then held a hand, summoning several smaller magic circles in a triangle formation over his head. Each of these rotating around each other as they started to become a blur of yellow. This almost immediately becoming supercharged with electricity, as they sparked with power while continuing to spin.

Blinking many times to this, Kairi then narrowed her eyes and quickly examined these spells. But even with a close glance, she didn't recognizing either of these magics. With a shake of her head though, the auburn-haired girl allowed her beam attack to drop and settle on shooting several balls of fire her opponent. Just like with the previous attack however, the magic seemed to just disappear the further into the purple circle's radius it got.

"Biggest rule for a mage fighting another mage, the first one to finish their preparation spells...usually wins." Zexion declared with a small smirk, making the girl quickly attempt to cast another defensive spell.

In a quick flash of blue however, a burst of ice suddenly impacted Kairi's shield from above. Like a flash freeze, the auburn-haired girl was instantly trapped within her own dome as it was surrounded by a pillar of ice. Glancing around in a bit of a panic, Kairi then turned toward Zexion. Whom seemed to be lifting the purple magic circle with one hand, while lowering the trio of circles with the other.

As he directed these three to point toward the girl, the electricity surrounding each circle began building more and more. With a solemn gaze of understanding as to what was to come, Kairi dropped her shield and shot a blast of fire into the ice. This creating a hole in which she could escape, yet just as she was about to rush out, a massive bolt of lightning engulfed her. Upon which, the rest of the ice almost seemed to explode from the impact and created a cloud of snow, ice shards, and cold mist.

Yet as Zexion waited for this to clear, he saw Kairi shoot out in the opposite direction from where he struck. The auburn-haired girl having immediately backtracked, just before his attack hit. Her then using the opportunity to break the rest of the ice, as to escape without the man realizing. Now that he had however, his eyes trailed the girl as he slowly pulled the three circles over to keep shooting this lighting at her.

Of which caused massive amounts of carnage on the previously untouched walls. The paint, decorations, and tapestries were all burned away in the path of this attack. It even destroying the magics Kairi left behind to attack the man, as the sheer force of this lightning instantly overpowered them. Seeing this over her shoulder, the girl gulped down briefly before an aura of lightning surrounded her form.

Using her increased speed, Kairi stayed ahead of the beam as she swiftly rushed up the stairs that lead to the next floor. But instead of escaping into another room, she just kept moving across the upper level. Kairi then flipped over the lightning, as she knew Zexion couldn't see her from his angle and was merely trailing where he thought she was. 'Alright...lets see if this works.' she mused to herself briefly while landing back on the floor.

After doing so, the teen then turned and leapt off the second floor, just to the side of where the man was standing. All the while, she created a trail of magic circles that spun to life and began shooting flames at her foe. As Kairi touched down near of where she first started, she rapidly turned around to face Zexion. Her eyes narrowing when seeing her spells being dispelled by the lowering purple magic circle, all while bringing the three circles above his head once more.

Once the large circle moved to the floor again, Kairi let out a breath. It now being clear to her as to what this magic was and how the older teen was using it. "I see." she whispered to herself before rushing to the side as several magic circles appeared under her feet.

These producing quick bursts of fire that were obviously placed there as a trap, yet the teen just moved away and narrowed both eyes on Zexion. 'So...he has a radius of antimagic around him, but it's not active unless it's not on the ground. And it doesn't do anything to magic directly above him...otherwise, those would have disappeared too.' she thought swiftly, giving a quick glance to the three magic circles spinning over Zexion's head.

'Plus, he's able to keep a barrier around him as well. It's like he has the perfect shield against any magic user. Guess I've got my work cut out for me on this one.' Kairi continued with a small smirk on her features.

The auburn-haired girl then touched her staff onto the ground as she ran, trying to get out of Zexion's line of sight. But as she tapped the floor with her staff a second time, the man was clearly examining the spell she was attempting to cast. Within an instant, his eyes widened before narrowing a moment later, to which he held his hands out. As the tome started floating in front of him, dozens of red magic circles appeared all along the walls of this hall. Then without delay, meteorites began flying through each of these circles.

Kairi blinked briefly before she immediately had to start flipping, dodging and avoiding these attacks. "Now this is just unfair." she uttered out to herself as she continued running.

The impacts of these large rocks rapidly began destroying the once rather beautiful hall. Everything that could be broken or shattered, was pulverized in a matter of seconds. The only things that remained somewhat intact were the entrance, and the second floor door leading further into the castle. At the same time, Kairi began noticing a bit of a pattern in the attack. This allowing her to have an easier time in avoiding these large boulder-like meteorites that hurled toward her with great speed.

'Great to have confirmation that he can still cast spells while still inside that circle.' she mused to herself in a bit of a huff, all as she began to pant.

Yet Kairi soon gained another smirk while narrowing both eyes and glancing to the man in the center of the purple magic circle. "Alright...lets try this again." she whispered silently while picking up speed.

Kairi tapped her staff on multiple areas of the floor as she moved, each one being on a spot that was less destroyed than the rest of the area. Yet despite her swifter movements, Zexion could still see this and began targeting these spots with the meteors. Because of this though, the young man's concentration was more focused on destroying these points, than it was on the teen herself. "I'm not going to let you use 'that' spell." he declared, almost to himself as his eyes were narrowed on the girl's path.

But as the seconds ticked by, Kairi's speed began to falter and her ability to dodge lessened. Many of these large stones nearly hitting her by the time the red circles around the room faded, the spell coming to an end. Noticing the exhaustion the girl was showing, Zexion lift the purple circle, and lowering the trio of spinning circles. As he pointed them toward the girl, the young man smiled lightly while offering a nod of acknowledgment. "You're smart to have thought to use 'that' spell, but it looks like you couldn't do it in the end." he declared with a shrug of his shoulders.

Gazing to him, Kairi just panted a few times as she smiled back to him in acceptance. "I guess we'll see." she uttered out with a shrug of her own.

While Zexion raised a brow briefly, his eyes widened in realization when noticing specks of light all over the room glow brighter. These having been case on the very meteors he had been sending toward the girl. In an instant, these lights created snaking lines on the ruined floor and came right toward him. Zexion immediately began pulling the purple circle down, while lifting the three circles up.

Despite doing so in time, the lines appeared to push against the purple circle as it began to shrink. "Tch! Magic Blitz...or at least a variation of it. A simple, but powerful spell." he uttered out silently.

"It's my own take on it." Kairi claimed, making Zexion's eyes widen even more as she was directly above him.

"But here's Sora's version!" she continued while a series of orbs formed in front of her before shooting down.

Letting out a gasp and near growl, the steel-blue-haired man held a hand up. This allowing the three spinning circles to unleash the powerful blast of lightning, which hit against the spheres and held them at bay. At the same time, he then flexed his other hand, and causing the purple circle to instantly stop in its reduction. It being clear that he was pushing back against the girl's magic, but there wasn't as much strain in his demeanor as there was in Kairi's.

As they continued surging their magic reserves into these attacks though, Zexion slowly gained a small smile. "You know...I think you have what it takes." he whispered softly, yet the girl was still able to hear it.

Blinking briefly in question as to what he meant, the man suddenly allowed his spells to just drop as he was swiftly overtaken by a burst of white magic.


I really wanted to give Kairi a moment to shine. So I figured that letting her fight a member of the Organization solo, would be a good way of doing that. And unlike Sora and Riku, she doesn't even have a Keyblade...yet. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, I'm hoping to have chapters 22-24 for next week. Until next time.