Arc 1 Age of the Dark Omen, Chapter 7; The Sleeping Sword, Trials of Power, Courage, & Wisdom!
Inside the Basilicom everyone is now gathered as the Sage is now released from their prison. The Sage is a young girl in a Sorceress attire, and her body is a ghostly white. She is Sarina the Sorceress Sage.
"Thank you for rescuing me from that Giant, they were using my power as the source to power it. They also needed fighting energy to power it enough." She explains to them.
"I Expected, I'm glad I found out why a Tournament was made." Isaac said since he had a suspicious feeling before. "Well since we freed you, do you have any info that might be useful?"
"Yes, however I have no info on where the last Sage is. The Knight is currently unknown cause I can't sense her presence here strangely." She explains which they look disappointed about.
"Rozen must have placed the Sage in a different Dimension. He is quite smart on his part, I can try to see if I can find records on the location. However, it might take about 3 Months to search." Histoire explains as the CPUs sighed knowing the same routine she does.
"3 Months?!" All the guys ask in disbelief.
"We don't have that much time, you know! Rozen will come after the CPUs at some point!" James argued. "Forget about that, we should probably focus on finding the Blade."
"Speaking of that, I know how you can find the Sword that Seals the Darkness in Lowee's deepest forest." The Sage mentions it and that gets their attention. "The Forest is like a maze, follow the breeze and it will lead you to the resting place of the Sacred Blade. That is all I can give to you, I must return to the others." She disappears leaving them.
"Time to find the Sword. I am hoping we can solve the riddle she gave us, let's go head to Lowee guys!" Isaac says.
"I'll keep a watch on the CPUs just in case Rozen comes here again." Selena tells them and they leave the Basilicom. "I wonder if I should tell them about those. I wanna hope that nothing bad happens to me."
-Start Opening; Neo Angelique Abyss; Joy to the World (SMBHotS)-
(Scene starts off with Jeff in a fiery magma land, next is James pulling out his Fusion Sword in a large city, next is Alex summoning his Dark Magician inside an Egyptian tomb, then to Isaac pulling out the Master Sword from the stone pedestal. Next is a large view of Planeptune's Basilicom as the sky changed from a sunny day to a blood red sky with fire burning the land.)
While bewildered in a panicked world
(Rozen's Battleship reveals itself from invisibility from above the Nation of Planeptune, as a young silver haired girl on the balcony accompanied by Histoire opening her eyes up to the sky. Then the 4 Main Protectors head out towards their adventure.)
I saw your profile while believing in awakening (Oh, Daybreak)
(Scene starts with Jeff unleashing a roar attack against Xander who is covered in Iron Scale skin, to James clashing blades and using his powers against Collin and Vexen.)
I decided I wanted to be reticent, so
(Then to Alex having his Dark Magician attack Arfoire, and then Isaac in a sword fight against the masked dual swordsman.)
I'm growing to love this huge future
(Then it goes to Selena and Tempest fighting against Dark Army soldiers until they get surrounded by a large group of them.)
The sublime genuinely is just…
(Inside Rozen's ship are the many enemies that the CPUs fought years ago, while all Four CPUs are in HDD form inside capsules which seem to be draining their power, then to a large cannon starting up with Rozen turning with an evil grin on his face and laughing.)
Truth (Where is it?) in some cases (Blindly looking for it) Laugh at us with harsh eyes, but… (We can go out)
(From inside the battleship Metal Jeff attracts many machine parts to form into Neometal Jeff facing against the Protectors.)
I want to protect your innocence as it is
(The Four sages then start disappearing and then start forming into four new figures.)
In the dawning sky…
(Jeff and Co gather together as they attach the Goddess bands on their wrists now connecting to their selected goddess.)
Now, accept the light shining on you from above with both hands
(Jeff leaps high towards Rozen as both clash their fists causing a powerful explosion.)
with a pure smile and as much sunrise as you please
(Young Jeff runs forward then takes a leap becoming his adult self and unleashes a Roar at Rozen's men. Then Young James runs quickly grabbing the Fusion Sword becoming his adult self and throwing a Fire blast at the soldiers. Then it shows the four new protectors staring up at the dark blood red sky staring straight at Rozen's flying Battleship.)
There's no longer anything to fear. Beyond the horizon we just walked towards. Now, come on! It's a new beginning (The power to aim for the distant future)
(Right on the top of the battleship, the four fighters get blasted away fighting Rozen who is unleashing his full strength.)
Let's go! To the endless Joy to the World!
(Rozen then transforms into his Final Form as the four warriors stand ready to face their greatest challenge.)
End Song
Arriving in the land of Lowee the four guys are walking through the land going towards the forest area, the one which has been mysteriously foggy for quite some time now.
"This is the forest. Blanc told me this forest strangely got like this 7 years ago. She had no idea why it became like this." Alex explains to them.
"Ok, but now the Sage told us we would have to follow the breeze to find the sword." James says repeating what they were told. "There is a breeze, but how are we supposed to follow it? I'm already confused about how we can do this."
"Well there are some unlit torches here, and there is one we can carry. Maybe these are a clue. Jeff if you could." Alex says and Jeff blows fire on the two torches lighting them. "Ok, so now what do we do?" Jeff looked closely, seeing the embers from the fire blowing from the slight breeze.
"Do you guys notice the embers being blown from the breeze? Maybe that is the answer to following the breeze, we follow where it is blowing towards." Jeff assumed.
"Let's give it a try." Alex picks up the makeshift torch and lights it. He moves forward as the others follow behind him. Alex kept watch of the torch to see if the embers would fly, he would stop when the embers did blow in a different direction and they continued on the path set for them through the mysterious fog. Then they pass through a large hollow Log to find an area with a giant Tree. Near the base of the tree is a stone platform and in the center is a Sword with a silver hilt, a black gem in the center and the blade is a shiny white color. "That must be it over there." The four go over close to where the Sword is placed. "Are you ready to pull it out Isaac?"
"Yup, but for some reason… I barely feel any power from it." Isaac explained to them, and they were wondering what he meant.
"Maybe it's your imagination, go ahead and pull it out." James tells him and Isaac stood right in front of the Sword and grabbed the hilt. Once he did, time seemed to have stopped and it felt like his soul was brought into some sort of Spirit Realm.
"Where am I? What is this place?" He asked, then looked to notice the others are not with him. "Guys?! Where are you?!"
"You were the only one brought here Isaac." A familiar voice spoke behind him and he turned around realizing the voice had belonged to the masked guy called Zekken. Only this time part of his face is shown, by that his left eye is covered by a patch. Since Isaac could see most of his face, Zekken reminds him of Jeff slightly. "This is the Spirit World, where you will be tasked with Three Trials. Wisdom, Courage, and Power. Each of them has a different set of challenges for you, and at the end of them you will be facing me in each of them. However in the 2nd and 3rd Trials I will be much harder to beat. If you can clear all of them, you will release the full power of the Master Sword."
"So that explains why it seemed to not have much sacred power." Isaac assumed after listening to Zekken's explanation.
"Yes, you are correct. Also I have other information that may interest you, but you'll have to beat me in the final Trial to get it. It will be the key to defeating Rozen for good!" He tells him which piqued his interest. "Now then, I will see you at the end of the First Trial. Be careful since most of your abilities have been removed and most of your items as well. You can obtain new items as you go through them, but you'll be using them against me at the end of each Trial." He finishes and leaves the area. "Without further ado, let the Wisdom Trial begin!"
The area around Isaac shifts into a puzzle room, so Isaac had to solve some puzzles to go onto the next Floor. Each one was difficult to understand for him, but luckily he was able to solve them. Few of them had some monsters in them but he was able to get through no problem. Once he solves the puzzle on Floor 8 he gets transported to a large room.
"Congratulations, you passed through all the puzzles. Very well done Isaac, just what I expected from you." Zekken tells him.
"What do you mean by that?" Isaac asks him, a bit confused what he meant.
"I can't really tell you why, at some point in the future you might find out." He explains clearly trying to wait until the right time. "Now then, I'm sure you remember how I used magic during my fight with Jeff." Issac does remember that he launched Fire magic which seemed like a stupid move to do, however it was only for Zekken to test how strong Jeff could be. What he doesn't know is that Zekken has multiple magic elements he can use. "Let's begin the first round of our fight."
-Play SAO OST; Luminous Sword-
Isaac takes out a spear he has acquired and charges at Zekken doing a thrust attack which Zekken jumps over it. Then he conjures fire to toss at Isaac who ducked and then jabbed his opponent who then tossed a water spell knocking him back a bit.
"Water?! So you know more than just Fire magic?!" Isaac asks him.
"Of course, but it's not just those I know how to use. Aero!" Zekken casts a wind attack blasting Isaac farther than before. "Blizzard!" Then he casts an ice spell which Isaac dodged and then tossed his spear causing Zekken to dodge it, but he didn't realize Isaac was expecting him to dodge it which gave him the chance to bring out his shield to bash him in the stomach. He then pulls out his bow with a bomb arrow with quick timing and releases it, getting a direct hit. Or he thought so, until the smoke cleared revealing a large ice barrier with a big crack in the center.
"So you can even do interesting tricks with them, alright now this has just got interesting." Isaac says as he runs grabbing the spear again. "Alright, so he can use Fire, Water, Wind, and Ice. Though he said he is only holding back until the end of the other trials." Isaac charges forth at Zekken getting ready.
"Water!" Zekken casts a water spell at Isaac who swings his spear, dispelling it and throwing it at Zekken who dodges and catches it. "You'll have to do better Isaac." He tells him then sees Isaac had pulled out a sword thrusting at Zekken leaving a red gash at his side, (Imagine it like hits from SAO). Then he does a spin leaving another one across his chest. "Damn. Alright, nice job there. Guess you surprised me there!" Zekken charges at Isaac holding the spear he caught and clashing their weapons together. Isaac having to use a shield gives him an edge since he could rebound the spear and strike Zekken. "Thunder!" Suddenly Isaac gets hit with an electric attack.
"Seriously?! How many Elements can you use?!" Isaac asks him, surprised that he can use a lot of magic.
"I can use 8 elements of course. I am an Elemental user, I am able to control different elements at once." He explains, as he stomps the ground causing cracks from the ground going towards Isaac and shoots out a large Earth spike at him. He reacted quickly but barely dodged it as it only missed him by a hair length. He backs away noticing some sort of light shot coming at him which he blocks with his shield and dodges an incoming large shadow saw blade halfway in the ground that was coming at him.
"Earth, Light, and darkness I'm assuming." Isaac assumed looking back at Zekken.
"Yup, those are the eight elements I use. I have more surprises in store for you when you complete the other Trials first." He tells him as he casts more elements at Isaac.
"Darn it, he isn't giving me a chance. Ok I need to improvise in this situation!" Isaac thought to himself then quickly pulled out his bow shooting a couple of bomb arrows at Zekken who brought up an ice barrier to cover himself from it.
"That's not gonna work Isaac, you'll have to-" Once he removed the barrier Isaac was nowhere to be seen.
"Right behind you!" Isaac's voice spoke up as Zekken looked behind, seeing him high in the air holding his bow with another bomb arrow set to release. "Checkmate!" He releases it which Zekken had no time to cover from it and gets a full on blast from the bomb arrow.
-End music-
For a moment there was no movement until the smoke started clearing and Isaac could see Zekken getting back up from the blast.
"Nicely done Isaac, beating me will increase the sword's power. You still have to clear the other Two trials. The Trial of Courage will test your bravery against large opponents or facing some of your fears." He explains as he starts to disappear. "I'll see you at the end!" He vanishes as Isaac is transported to a new area.
"Alright Trial of Courage, bring it on!" Isaac shouted ready for more to come at him. He starts off with riddles of different paths sky diving towards which of the paths is true. Next were challenges of taking out his fears, and lastly a maze with skeleton monsters wandering and a few that were zombie like that screech to hurt your ears. Luckily Isaac got through it with only slight trouble and reached the last floor where Zekken waited.
"You did really amazing Isaac, still to prove you can gain this power of the Blade you have to beat me. So for this round I'll only use 4 Elements this time." Zekken tells him which confuses Isaac.
"4? How will that be harder?!" He asks and feels like he might regret what he asked. Zekken raises his right hand to the front and suddenly a white sword with an angel wing hilt, has mixes of light blue, light purple, and gold on the blade, and at the hilt is a hollow heart that connects from the hilt to the blade. "A Sword?" After the reveal Zekken runs towards Isaac which surprised him and blocked the incoming swing. "What in the?! He can move fast?! So he was holding back before!" Isaac quickly reacts fast, blocking the swings.
"You can't keep guarding forever Isaac! Fira!" Zekken says launching another fire spell but this one seemed stronger. "Higher grade spells, if that is what you were wondering, some of the elements I use have that kind of power."
"If I had to guess the other ones they would be Water, Thunder, Blizzard, and Aero." Isaac guessed.
"Not bad, you got them. Thundera!" Zekken unleashes a stronger thunder spell at Isaac which got attracted from the metal he had equipped.
"Drat! Of course you'd use that to get me." Isaac said as he continued clashing blades with Zekken. "Ugh, How can I do this? He clearly is a well skilled swordsman. How did he get this good? And what other surprise will he have in store in the last Trial?!"
Isaac carefully watches how Zekken moves and both trades slashes hitting and damaging one another, of course even though the damage wasn't real the pain is. The pain was great, but Isaac got back up to fight Zekken as hard as he could until he knocked him down to win.
"You did really amazing Isaac, you passed the second Trial. The Final Trial will be Brutal, I won't lie. You might have some big troubles through the Trial of Power. But we will see once you get to the end if possible!" Zekken tells him as he gets back up again, he then vanishes once again as Isaac is brought to the last Trial.
"Trial of Power. Last one, then I can obtain the True power of the Master Sword. But something is off, I still think that the Master Sword barely has any Sacred Power even after the Trials. I can still tell from my real body still gripping the handle. This doesn't make any sense." Isaac says to himself still questioning about the sword. But he couldn't get distracted now, he has to complete the last trial quickly.
As Isaac goes forth taking on large and strong enemies that appeared in the last Trial, most of them were large enemies that are normally seen out in dungeon areas of Gamindustri. He went through 14 floors of enemies and tricky situations until he finally got to the last floor where Zekken awaited once again.
"Once again Isaac, I'm easily impressed that you were able to make it here. You have great Wisdom to solve the puzzles, you gained Courage to stand up against your foes, and you obtained Power to defend the weak and helpless." He says to him. "Now for your final task before you can obtain the Sword's full power. You will be facing these first!" next to him four shadows are created into duplicates of himself being shadow copies with white eyes, each wielding something different. The two on the left wield a Large Stone like Sword, and a bow, the two on the right have a trident, and a scimitar and shield. "Defeat these shadows, and you get to fight me."
-Play Kingdom Hearts 2 OST Sinister Shadows-
The first move is made by the shadow with the scimitar and shield as it charges at Isaac. He reacts quickly blocking with his shield then notices the shadow with the bow leapt above releasing an arrow though he barely dodged it. He then gets hit by a Wateraga spell from the one holding the trident, and rolls away from the shadow slamming the Giant Stone Sword that would've crushed him.
The Great Sword user stomps causing the earth to launch Isaac into the air as the bow user releases a bomb arrow blasting him giving immense pain. The Scimitar user then unleashes a Thundaga attack shocking Isaac adding extra damage from the water spell he got hit with. Isaac got back up then saw the Bow user used Wind to launch itself into the air and fire a volley of arrows at him.
"Each of them has their own unique element, I just need to take them out one by one somehow." Isaac thought to himself while dodging the incoming attacks. He tries releasing a bomb arrow at the bow user, but it gets blocked by the great sword user creating a rock wall to cover their ally. "Are you serious?!" He quickly runs away dodging another Thundaga spell that would've hit him. "Great, they can protect each other. That makes it all harder to deal with!"
The 4 shadows were not giving him a break or a chance to even attack or strike them, each of them were well coordinated and did combo attacks. Though Isaac had noticed it takes a short amount of time to reuse their spells. He had to do some planning until he shot some bomb arrows into the sky distracting them. He charges at one of the shadows, but the great sword noticed what he was doing and slammed it's sword creating an earth attack to hit Isaac.
"Got you!" He said as he dropped a bomb near him then raised his shield to block the blast, but also launching him and stabbing the shadow wielding the bow causing it to vanish. He fires off multiple bomb arrows to explode near the other shadows, and slices the one holding the great sword making that one vanish. "Two, down now just you both left!"
"He's doing really well." Zekken says to himself as he watches Isaac dodging and attacking the last two shadows to deal with.
"I am certain he still realizes the sword will still not have all it's sacred power." A voice spoke in his mind.
"I know, there is more than meets the eye. However, from what we can see… the time for him to revitalize the Sword's Sacred power will be much later." Zekken says as Isaac stabbed the trident shadow, and quickly shot the last shadow with an ice arrow winning the fight. "Very well done Isaac, you have beaten the shadows. Though you look a bit worn out from that fight so I'll make this even for us." Zekken lifted his hand towards Isaac which his hand glows a light green aura and suddenly he felt no pain on him. "Also I'll give these to you." From Isaac's hand and arm he is suddenly equipped with the Master Sword and a new Shield. "Since this is your final challenge, you will gain the same shield back outside the Spirit Realm. But first you must defeat me."
-Change Music to Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix OST The Other Promise-
Zekken moved his right hand to his left summoning the white sword from before, and he does the same thing only with his left hand to his right summoning a black sword with a demon wing hilt, on the center of the blade it has a chain design with a purple gem in the center of the hilt. Once he is ready, he runs at Isaac as the two clash against one another.
Although what Isaac wasn't expecting was him dual wielding and having fast reaction timing with their clashes. As he has gotten hit a couple of times, but he has rarely struck Zekken. His movements were so quick that he is behind Isaac using afterimages.
"Ok, now I'm in trouble! He's not giving me an opening this time, and his reactions are quick, you barely can even react!" Isaac thought to himself as he defends from a swing from behind. Zekken then uses the afterimages to swerve around and strikes Isaac again. "Dammit! I can't use my powers here dude! This is almost impossible!" Isaac tried swinging at Zekken only to slice at an afterimage. "It's like I'm watching him get there, only to hit just an afterimage. Maybe I can strike him before getting to the spot I aim for." Isaac blocked any incoming attacks from Zekken until he thrusted at an empty area, however Zekken got struck on the side which stopped his movement. He looks up getting bashed by Isaac's shield and suddenly gets locked in place by some strange power. "You may have stopped me from using those four abilities, but I can use these other abilities that I gained after the trials!" Isaac starts slashing Zekken multiple times up to 15 times and he thrusts his sword knocking Zekken some distance from.
"Very well done. However, allow me to reveal a new ability of mine!" Zekken says as he tosses his black sword and from above a figure in a black cloak whose face is shrouded by the hood appears and catches the sword. They land next to Zekken. "Like I told you, I said I was gonna make this hard for you and I am not holding back alright?"
"You really want to do this for him? We are wasting time here." The mysterious cloaked figure says with a male voice. "We should be back in the other place with everyone else."
"I know, I teleported them there for a reason!" Zekken argued with the cloaked male. "I just want to test if Isaac has the capability to take the job in hand." Isaac looked confused about what they were talking about.
"Was that guy even talking? I didn't hear anything from him." Isaac thought as it seemed like he strangely couldn't hear the cloaked figure speaking. "Also what did he mean by taking the job in hand? What job?" He wondered what Zekken was talking about.
"Well that can wait, first just help me test his power." Zekken says to the cloaked figure and the two charge at Isaac each with a sword in hand. He blocks the two attacks, but he gets blasted by the person in the black coat from a possible magic spell. The two continue pushing Isaac back as he tries swinging at the cloaked figure however it seemed to go through like it did nothing.
"What? Why can't I hit him? Is he like a projection that I can't hurt, but he can hurt me?!" Isaac thought, then blocked a strike and quickly dodged a swing from Zekken. "What the heck is with that guy?! Just who is he?!"
"I can't tell you exactly, but I can tell you that a part of your friend is outside somewhere in the world." Zekken replied to Isaac's question.
"What? I don't even get what you are saying, I'm ending this!" Isaac says charging towards him clashing blades with Zekken and then does a powerful spin attack which knocks the clocked person away some distance, cause he blocked it. However Zekken was knocked down from the attack as Isaac leaped pointing the sword downward and stabbing the sword into the chest area.
-End Music-
Isaac pulls the sword out and backs away as he watches Zekken stand back up with the red gash slowly vanishing.
"Congratulations. You have completed all the trials, now the sword shall have its power back to full." Zekken tells him, however Isaac can tell the sacred power is still not enough.
"It can't be, I can tell that the sword definitely does not have all its power!" Isaac replied.
"Sadly it is true, I'm afraid that more than that was taken from the sword. But there is a riddle I'll give you to find a way to restore it to full glory. "From Realms beyond they sleep, the flames of Four shall be the Key." That is what I will tell you." Zekken says while Isaac still looked confused. "Now for what really matters. The final sage sleeps in a realm created by a senior Planeptune CPU. That is where they are."
"Wait, how do you know where the last sage is?! And what do you mean by Senior Planeptune CPU?!" Isaac asks more questions.
"I can't tell you everything, there will come a time when I will tell you all the answers when we meet again." Zekken tells him.
"Wait, I have one more question. Why did you use a different name Jeffrey?" Isaac asks him and Zekken snorted.
"So you know who I am… I don't use that name so it would confuse all of you. But my new True name is "Lux". That is the name I use for who I am. We will meet again Isaac, tell Histoire the whereabouts of the final sage. She will know the answer to the riddle." Lux says as his last words before disappearing, and slowly Isaac starts returning to the real world.
Back in the deep forest Time starts up again as Isaac fully grips the sword slowly pulling it out of the pedestal. He turned around and raised it high in the air while the three guys behind him watched him do that as sunlight peeked through the branches and shone on the blade. He swung the blade around a bit to get a feel for it, then instantly he sheathed it away in a new holster that strangely appeared on his back.
"Alright! So we finally have the sword. The only problem is the sage is unknown to us." James says as Isaac turns to them.
"Actually, I just had a private conversation with Zekken or rather Lux." Isaac tells them.
"Really how? And why?" Alex asks him.
"I'll explain on the way, first I have something that Histoire should be able to help us figure out!" Isaac tells them and he runs off as the other guys follow him while Jeff wonders what happened.
"Did he really talk to that masked guy? He never left that spot, unless they talked in his mind that could make sense. We'll just trust Isaac actually learned something." He thought to himself and started to quickly catch up with the others.
Now the Blade has been obtained, however Isaac notices the Blade isn't as powerful as it should be. What mysteries are hidden from these riddles Isaac was told? Who is Zekken, and why give Isaac the name Lux? Many more questions and answers will come by later in the next chapter!
