Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 22: Castle Oblivion part XXII
Riku and Lexaeus stared one another down for a moment before the former briefly glanced around the area. The pair being in an all too familiar room that brought back a number of painful memories for the silver-haired teen. It being the place where he allowed Ansem to consume him, as well as where he fought against Sora. But the harshest memory was when said brown-haired girl scarified her heart in order to release Kairi's. Shaking his head of these thoughts, Riku turned back to the large man and moved into a battle-ready stance.
Seeing this, Lexaeus lifted his axe-sword onto a shoulder before clenching his free hand into a fist. A split second later, a powerful aura of red and black energy flared around him. Of which kicked up a gale within the large hall and nearly pushed Riku backward from the force. However, the teen stood firm while narrowing both eyes, preparing for whatever attack would be coming. Once the winds died down though, neither combatant made a move. Both of them just gazing at each other, waiting for their foe to initiate the fight.
Seconds ticked by before Riku tensed his free hand slightly, making Lexaeus tighten the grip on his weapon. In the blink of an eye, the pair vanished before clashing in the center of where they once stood. A percussion wave echoed out from around them, causing all the glass in the room to shatter instantly. Even the lights on the ceiling rained down in tiny shards around the two. Both of whom pressed their weapons against one another, creating a large flood of dark energy to surge out from them. Narrowing their eyes, grinding their teeth and even growling slightly, the two fighters continued to try and push the other back.
Despite Riku using both arms though, the large man was only using one to hold back his blade. A sense of frustration boiled in the teen's mind, yet he just narrowed his eyes and suddenly pivoted himself to the side. As he did this, Lexaeus lurched forward and past him. At the same time, the teen spun himself around and made a slash toward Lexaeus' back. There being a series of black flames radiating from the weapon as he swung it.
This attack was blocked however, as the man brought his weapon over this exposed area. At the same time, Lexaeus stopped his progression with a heavy step on the floor. Which bent ever so slightly inward from the force of his foot, to which he then turned around to face Riku. The boy himself having leapt into the air for a stab toward the man's neck. Though, with his expertly honed reflexes, Lexaeus caught the blade in his free hand. The embers of darkness not seeming to do anything as they just coalesced around the large man's hand.
Gazing up at Riku, Lexaeus kept said teen suspended in the air as both their eyes narrowed on one another. "Not good enough." was all he said before throwing his foe to the side.
With a low, yet strained growl, Riku managed to rotate himself while in midair to land his feet on the wall he was rocketing toward. Once he did, the silver-haired boy then pushed off with great strength and thrust his Keyblade at the man's chest. The wing-shaped weapon gaining even more black flames across its blade as he went. Watching this carefully, Lexaeus gave a brief nod as his opponent was moving far faster than before. At the last second, the man merely moved to the side of the attack, avoiding it entirely. But just as Riku brought his hand out to help flip himself off the ground, he suddenly found himself halted.
Widening his eyes in shock, the teen looked up as the large man had a hold of his ankle. Before he could attempt to escape though, Lexaeus immediately swung Riku in an arc before slamming his body into the floor. All air evacuated his body in an instant, making him painfully gasp for air. But he didn't get a moment to catch his breath, as the man released his hold and swung his axe-sword at him. Riku swiftly rolled out of the way from this attack before flipping onto his feet.
Despite the harsh contraction of his lungs, the silver-haired boy managed to refill them as he started breathing normally. Once he did, his eyes managed to refocus on his foe, as said man just gazed toward him silently. Though Riku could hear his heart beating his chest, he could still perceive Lexaeus' words as he spoke. "You cannot win with your current skill." he declared in a stern voice, narrowing his eyes slightly.
The boy paused from these words for a moment, yet he then readied himself to continue fighting. "We won't know until I try." he claimed firmly, not letting the man discourage him.
"You misunderstand." Lexaeus retorted, his tone seeming to be oddly informative.
"You wish to use your speed in order to get through my defenses. Then utilize powerful strikes to quickly take me down, since smaller attacks would be too ineffective against me. However, I've focused my entire fighting style for that exact method of attack, so you're currently facing me at my best." he continued as Riku's eyes widened briefly.
The silver-haired teen's shock coming from the simple fact that the man was actually telling him this. 'He basically just told me to change how I fight so that I can find a weakness...but why? Does he want me to beat him? Or is there something else he has planned?' he mused to himself quickly, to which his eyes slowly narrowed once more.
"Alright...lets say I believe that, what sort of fighting style should I be using?" Riku questioned in a clearly suspicious manner.
"That is for you to figure out on your own, I cannot give you the destination...only the direction in which to travel." Lexaeus answered silently, yet there was an underlining motivation that made him sound like a teacher.
"Right." the boy muttered out as he wasn't entirely sure whether or not he should believe the man or not.
'Whether or not he's telling the truth, I do need to change my approach. If he gets me even just once with that weapon of his, it'll be hard to make a comeback.' he thought to himself, shifting himself to the side slightly as he readied to make his next attack.
Seeing this, Lexaeus lifted his axe-sword upon his shoulder and narrowed both eyes on the teen. Whom suddenly rushed forward, leaving a streak of black in his wake. In the blink of an eye, Riku was already in front of his opponent making a slash down at the man. But while Lexaeus brought his free hand up to catch the blow, he felt a strong impact on his right side. Letting out a brief grunt from the strike, Lexaeus turned his gaze toward what caused this hit.
Yet he didn't get the chance to see what it was, as Riku altered the direction of his blade and struck his opponent in the chest. This knocking the man backward a few steps before he caught himself, to which his eyes narrowed a bit more. Not being sure just what happened, Lexaeus just readied for whatever attack the teen would attempt. Which came in the form of another rapid charge, only this time he came from the right side, instead of straight on.
Gripping his weapon in one hand, Lexaeus decided to ignore everything except for the teen. Him immediately swinging down at Riku, but the silver-haired boy actually disappeared the moment his axe-sword slammed atop of him. Instantly following this, the large man felt a blade slash against his back as Riku appeared there. Which lead for him to attempt a swing toward the teen in pain-filled retaliation, yet his target was already gone. "Interesting..." Lexaeus uttered out silently as he wasn't sure how his foe was doing this.
"You haven't seen anything yet." Riku declared, now being high above the man with both feet kicking off the ceiling.
As a large amount of darkness surrounded his weapon, the teen shot down at Lexaeus with a powerful swing. Said man narrowed his eyes while gripping his own blade with both hands before meeting Riku's swing with his own. The strength and power behind both weapons caused darkness to flare around the pair, ripping through the walls and floor. As they clashed though, Riku turned his forward momentum into a flipping roll. This also pulling the darkness from his blade, down into both legs to propel him further.
Doing so allowed him to avoid the full force of his opponent's swing, and to deliver a knee to the man's face. The attack channeling the darkness in his legs, creating an explosion of dark power that pushed Lexaeus off balance. Then, once Riku landed on his feet, he swept both of the large man's legs out from under him. This making Lexaeus hit the ground with a harsh boom, yet his eyes remained fixed on the teen. Allowing him to watch as Riku created a portal to step through, which instantly let him know just what was actually going on.
"I see..." the large man uttered out while throwing his axe-sword into the back of his foe, just before he could go through the portal.
Upon impact, Riku was sent tumbling to the side and away from the portal he made, which instantly snapped shut. Seeing this, Lexaeus brought his hands and legs up before flipping back to his feet. At the same time, Riku used his roll across the floor to push himself up as well. The two then gaze a quick glare at each other, now knowing they would have to change their fighting styles. Yet it was clear, just from the few attacks that they both landed, the silver-haired teen was still the most hurt.
"Most impressive. Using your powers of darkness to move quickly and to even use portals to mask your movements...you've indeed found a means of getting past my defenses." Lexaeus began with a slow nod of his head in acknowledgment.
"Well...after seeing your reflexes, I figured I'd need something more than just better speed." Riku claimed as a small smirk curled his lips.
"Plus, it's currently more 'cost effective' to use my dark powers this way." he continued, shifting into another battle pose.
Listening to these words, Lexaeus gave a slow nod of his head in response. "I see, conserving your strength so that you can use your dark powers to their full effect and not drain stamina." he said, his gaze ever so briefly shifted toward his weapon on the ground.
With a knowing smirk, Riku then charged at his foe once more. Doing so lead for Lexaeus to stand his ground, curling both hands into fists as he kept them up in a defensive manner. Once the teen moved within range though, the large man remained entirely still before suddenly dodging to the left. As he did, Lexaeus avoided the stab toward his right side. Riku having created a portal directly ahead of where he was stabbing, as well as one aimed for the man's ribs.
But even though this was meant to prevent the large man from reaching his weapon, he retrieved it anyway. After doing so though, Riku just turned toward his opponent and readied another portal on Lexaeus' right once more. Yet the moment he dashed forward and to a portal he made in front of himself, he was met by an impact in his chest. Coughing out the air in his lungs, the teen took a step back to try and breathe one more.
While he did, Riku saw that Lexaeus had thrust his axe-sword through the portal he made. This making it so that went he tried to go through, he ran into the weapon instead. 'Looks like I won't be getting away with cheap tricks anymore.' the silver-haired boy thought quickly before he then swiftly blocked Lexaeus' upward slash.
The force of his swing however, caused the teen's weapon to fly right out of his hands. With his eyes wide, Riku could only watch as the large man rotated the arc of his attack in order to come back down. Seeing this, Riku barely managed to bring his arms up defensively, attempting to block the initial blow. Though Lexaeus didn't hesitate as he continued his swing, he couldn't help but wonder why his opponent decided to guard instead of dodge. By the time he noticed the swirls of darkness surrounding Riku's hands though, it was already too late.
In an instant, the silver-haired teen thrust his hands forward and Lexaeus was engulfed in a wave of dark energy that consumed most of the room itself. "That was close." he muttered silently, feeling the painful throbbing of his chest as it was definitely going to bruise.
Riku then looked around, just watching the room continue to be filled with darkness. Yet it slowly disbursed, much of his power being drained from this attack. "Maybe I should have saved that." the boy added to himself, looking around for any sign of his opponent.
But in the midst of this search, Riku only saw a shadow appear over him before a powerful impact hit him in the back. Which felt as though it might even break the boy's spine as he was sent flying into the far wall where his attack never reached. Both before, and after colliding with the wall, the teen was crying out in pain. His whole body shaking with every shallow breath, as he began casting healing magic on himself over and over again.
"You lured me into attacking so that you could use that technique." Lexaeus muttered, half of his jacket being torn away and exposing part of his chest.
"It was not only powerful, but also a well suited attack for someone like myself." he continued with a nod, watching as Riku slowly stood back to his feet after many castings of the Cure spell.
"However, if there is one thing to take away from this fight...I want you to learn this; people are at their most vulnerable in the moment they believe they've won." the man called out in a firm manner.
Though the silver-haired teen wobbled a bit on his feet, he gaze a heavy glare toward his opponent. Despite the clear pain-driven anger in his eyes, Riku did appear to have some level of recognition for Lexaeus' words. "Thanks for the advice." he muttered silently while flexing his hand.
This causing Riku's blade on the ground to suddenly fly forward and actually stab into the man's back. With a gasp in response, Lexaeus looked to this wound from over his shoulder with a bit of surprise. Yet the weapon soon vanished and reappeared in Riku's hand, just as said boy was leaping through the air with a slash. The large man brought his axe-sword to block the attack, but stopped midway through. A small smirk curling his lips as he just gazed at Riku in acceptance; "Well done." he uttered out as Riku's attack came down on him.
Sorry these chapters are late, and that I only finished 22 and 23. But I actually ended up rewriting both of them multiple times, as I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I hope you all enjoy them regardless and will let me know what you thought. Until next time.
