Chapter 20: Battle for Kaiohdrahl; a Glimpse into the Past
Annex of the Far-Off Dominion Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Urgency Drives Us" - Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Kagato's Organ Recital" - Tenchi Muyo OST. Scene 1 (First Half) & 2 (Second Half).
"Assault" - Final Fantasy X OST. Scene 1 (Second Half) & 2 (First Half).
"Theme of Lu Bu (DW Fire 'Mix)"; Velkarez's Theme (A) - Dynasty Warriors IV OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Breakthrough" - Dynasty Warriors V OST. Scene 4 (First Half).
"Theme of Lu Bu (DW S2H 'Mix)"; Velkarez's Theme (B) - Dynasty Warriors V OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
"Bury The Light"; Raynard's Theme (B) - Devil May Cry V OST. Scene 5 (First Half).
"Theme of Lu Bu (DW Epic 'Mix)"; Velkarez's Theme (C) Scene 5 (Second Half).
"Firelink Shrine"; The Sorcerer's Theme - Dark Souls III OST. Scene 6.
In a shocking turn of fate indeed, the once-thought near indestructible Link himself has not only been beaten in a fair duel but murdered clean.
Having at last reached the shores of Kaiohdrahl's beautiful beaches via a steam locomotive and with thanks to Palashia's efforts in doing so, Impa and the group waste little time in traversing the lovely landscape, Kaiohdrahl's main hub their destination; 'Tiverpool'. Unfortunately for them, and the people living within however, a group of former soldiers loyal to countries all over Aurelia; most of them hailing from Stralanavia to the north, choose to attack this charming metropolitan in the hopes of adding yet more strength to their elusive and mysterious cause.
Their leader, also from Stralanavia, is a former colonel of the regulars themselves; a battle-hardened man of charisma by the name of 'Velkarez Grigovich'. Said to be exceptional even amongst the senior field officers, Velkarez's skills and charm with his fellow men led him to revolt and eventually defect from Stralanavia's harsh and rigid militaristic rule. The men following him eventually all began to encompass former men of military from all nations including Palashia, Draerith, Gylomecia and even Hyrule; a fact that shakes the near unflappable faith Impa and her princess once had in their king and their military.
In arriving to the chaos-stricken city of Tiverpool, the band of heroes make quick work of the bandit-like soldiers teeming 'round the metropolis; it is only when the brash and brazen-nerved Link catches sight of his companions Alwyn and Barkner being near-struck down by a new foe that he chooses to intervene. The man, Velkarez himself, issues out a challenge to the ever-exuberant Link; a one-on-one duel with each other in their skill with their weapons. Velkarez with his silver spear and Link with his Gilded Sword.
Although the battle begins quite promising for the bold-faced youth, it soon snowballs fairly quickly when the Templars' commander starts to adapt; a horrifying revelation that sends waves of doubt through the boy's watching companions. Sure enough, as the duel reaches its climax, Velkarez finishes the engagement in a violent and brutal piercing assault; a stab that turns the once-confident bright-eyed boy to sheer mush. He falls, broken and bodied completely, in the rain-filled streets of Tiverpool and Kaiohdrahl itself as a result of his hubris and inability to listen.
Filled with rage over his defeat and loss of life Alwyn, Barkner, Vassia, Impa and even Zelda all opt to turn their initial adventure with the boy into a near-suicide mission; with little chance for back-up and even hope for survival, the group all agree in advancing on to Tiverpool Castle to take the fight to Velkarez and the Templars themselves. One final gambit lay in the cards for the heroes as they pool what little remains of their strength in a woe-driven assault directed straight for their formidable new enemies.
Raynard meanwhile, having already agreed with his mentor Scaverin to rescue him in the last minute of his torturous endeavour with the Templars, soon finds himself in the midst of a shocking discovery indeed.
Scene 1
The powerful sound of Tiverpool Castle's pipe organ's notes carried high into the throne room of its main chamber, echoing and spilling out into its many hallways and corridors. The player, a man encased in a familiar-looking kind of armour, sat on the beautiful chair he rested at as he played along a series of pleasing and cacophonous notes.
The armoured organ player, the firmly-frowning Velkarez himself, sat comfortably in his hardened glare as he overlooked the notes he played so calmly and skilfully.
"You won't get away with this."
The man turned his wavy-haired head in response to the bold mezzo-soprano that opted to speak in defiance to him; as he did, the similarly glaring face of a woman resting just a floor under him. Velkarez swung his frown down on her and stared back into her angry light-pink irises, a small grin on his face growing.
"Is that so...?" He batted back through the steel cage's holes between them, returning swift attention to the paper of the piece he played atop his new organ. "We've been... 'getting away' with this for a few years now professor...," the Templars' commander spoke matter-of-factly, briefly eyeing her as he kept his head forward before re-facing the front. "Come now," he began again, his charismatic baritone shifting to a more personable one. "Haven't I given you and Selivanova the world? Haven't I spared no expense to make you feel like one of us?"
CLINK
"You call this 'the world'?"
This time Velkarez swung his hardened head back 'round to eye the dark-green haired woman's words and, sure enough, she rose up the chains she was locked to as if in attempt to mock him. He chuckled back at her before re-facing the organ again.
"You and your daughter are two of the greatest academic minds of Stralanavia professor Petrova," he at last referenced the prisoner's name, grinning on as he spoke. "How could I not take you with us to experience greatness?"
"You're pathetic."
The sound of his organ halted, almost as immediately as the words had come out of the scowling Petrova's mouth. Velkarez's smirk soon dissolved into a disapproving frown of his own as he swerved his armoured body 'round to face the woman beneath him. A few awkward seconds drew by between them as they glared into one another's eyes, thinly-veiled hatred shared with them both before at last Velkarez opened his mouth to retort.
"If I'm pathetic...," he began, eyes slowly narrowing in scrutinisation. "Then what does that make you?"
Her scowl twitched and her light-pink eyes shot down in defeat, unable to find the words with which to respond. Velkarez's incessant smirk regained its footing and he huffed out in satisfaction as he stood to his feet, his boots clacking noisily against the beautiful stonework of Tiverpool Castle's throne room.
"There's no shame in feeling hatred for me professor," the man began again as he paced toward the throne itself, placing a calloused hand on it as he briefly eyed the woman behind him. "Even the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide himself had many that despised even the sound of his name..."
"Comparing yourself to him...," Petrova snorted out, her scowl regained. "Hah!"
"Ah yes... you're a woman of the sciences, aren't you?" He batted back, ever in his charming smile. "Well...," the armoured man started again, turning his body back to face her as he knelt down as if to give her a better picture of his new-found glare and scowl. "Talk to me like this again...," he began in his low-voiced warning, his suggestive baritone managing to make the woman rise up her dark-green eyebrows in curiosity. "And Selivanova may have a little accident with my sex-starved men..."
The woman's scowl twitched but, again, she opted to turn her eyes from his; a silent display of surrendering and resignation to the man's will. His hardened glower soon swung and upturned back into its satisfied smirk as he stood to his feet, his deep-green eyes quieting the storm that once began in them. He opened his mouth to speak the words he chuckled with; a final satisfied smirk among them.
"Good girl."
Raynard grunted out in effort as he rubbed the once-firm spikes of his night-black fringe, attempting in vain to rid it of its recently-gained droplets of water; having managed at last to find a way through the once-impregnable Tiverpool City, the young mercenary used the chaos that the Templars managed to escalate in a bid to infiltrate, his main destination the far-off castle in the back of the city.
It was only when he reached the north end of the district he ran through that he double-took to his left; surprised, he narrowed his chestnut-brown eyes through the firm rain that dampened down his spiky-haired head. The sight of a kneeling Malon gripping what appeared to be an unmoving corpse could only make him rise up his eyebrows.
Where the hell are the rest of them, he wondered silently.
Should I go over...?
He let his friendship to his one companion within the group win out and, glad he did when he walked over, he widened his eyes in a shock-faced gasp as Malon rose up her crying-eyed head to face him.
The corpse, wearing the telltale Kokiri-green of his home region, was none other than Link himself; the only companion the young mercenary could truly say he had.
"What the-?" He murmured out, frown twitching in doubt as he darted his eyes 'round the broken and bloody-faced boy's cadaver. Sure enough, he moved no more; no grin on his face, no eyes opened up to match his overconfident smirk and no weapons within his fallen grip. "What the hell happened?" The youth asked firmly, brow furrowing as his eyes darted over to the sniffing farm girl on his left.
"H-He and... V-Velkarez..."
Raynard's eyes widened a second time; this time in realisation.
He must have fought with him and been killed somehow.
But how, he thought.
There was a good chance Link's stronger than I am.
"So how could he lose?!"
"U-Um..."
Malon's stammering soprano made him blink out of his angered and horrified ruminations.
"Are you... going to find your friend?"
At last the original memory of his order from his mentor Scaverin came crashing down on him; an order to go rescue him as soon as humanly able, given his no-doubt near-death experience in Tiverpool Castle. He shook his spiky-haired head back at the girl and growled out as he reached down to grasp at her small arm. She gasped out and yelled as he forced her to her feet.
"Come on."
"W-What are you-?!"
"Just leave him!" The angered mercenary called over his shoulder, his comments obviously directed toward the shut-eyed and deceased Link. Although she wasn't inclined to drop the first friend she made since Epona, she did so in realising she wasn't able to carry him on the way. "There's no way he's comin' back now... and he'd never forgive me if I left you out here like this." He spoke out, this time in a harsher tone of his frowning-faced tenor.
Realising Raynard's intentions to attack Velkarez and the Templars with her own companions, the wide-eyed girl re-opened her mouth to speak to him.
"A-Are you gonna fight him?" Malon whispered out as she ran to keep up with the fleet-footed boy. Raynard's glowering-eyed glare fixated on the far-off Tiverpool Castle and he growled out the last words he were to speak to her on the way there.
"I'm gonna try."
–
2
"HRNGH!"
CRASSSHHH-KERASSSSSSHHH
Barkner's earth-covered fist, pulsating with Aegir, smashed brutally into a field of fast-approaching soldiers; as a result the poor men let out calls of agony and pain as they were sent sprawling and flying back whence they came. Even while a couple careered toward the closed drawbridge overlooking a small moat, they collided savagely into and through it, crying out in suffering as the hardwood used for the bridge broke.
The glaring Alwyn, wasting little time, jumped up on his hardier companion's shoulders before vaulting high into the air and tossing forward the sword-fins resting on his two forearms. Like sheer boomerangs themselves, they both flew beautifully through the air before effortlessly cutting the chains holding the drawbridge together, effectively and successfully bringing it down.
CHINK-CHINK
WHOOSH-DROOOOM
As the drawbridge inevitably dropped to the ground, and with a sickening boom at that, the firmly-frowning Impa nodded in approval as she watched from the back of the entrance to Tiverpool Castle.
"Good!" She called out, slamming her right fist into her open left palm. "Now... all forces; advance!"
In that single shout the three, joined by the watching Vassia and Zelda, all bound forward in a quick-advancing march that saw them crossing the distance of the drawbridge before them with relative ease. As they entered into the darkened hallway of Tiverpool Castle's foyer itself, they stopped, eyes quickly surveying their new surroundings; a total of three corridors stood before them, all waiting to be chosen and walked down.
"What way do we go?!" Barkner called out urgently, baring his teeth as the small rocks on his back tensed up to match his impatience.
"Settle down," Impa frowned back simply, briefly eyeing him disapprovingly before turning her attention forward. "Zelda, what do you make of this?"
"All passages will lead to him," Sheik spoke back, frowning beneath the small white scarf she wore to hide her face. "It's very difficult to find our way down in the dungeons or the bedchambers; not unless we're looking for them."
"How do you know all of this?" The narrow-eyed Vassia batted back in a suspicious-eyed query, eliciting the Hylian princess to swing her fire-eyed head 'round to face her.
"Because I've been here before."
"All right in that case, our best COA would be to pick a hallway and stick to it, all of us," the wise Sheikah ordered on out, turning her frown forward. "We can't afford to divide our forces and end up losing anyone else in an ambush."
"Ain't no skin off my nose," Barkner spoke back fairly quickly, cracking his knuckles eagerly as he glared into one of the darkened corridors before him. "I could do with some killin' or dyin' after what we just seen."
"If we run into Velkarez on the way there do not engage him alone," their hard-voiced commander continued on, ruby-red eyes narrowing as she spoke. "He can kill every one of us in a single moment's thought; we only stand a chance working together."
"Acknowledged." Alwyn nodded along, ever in his business-like hardened frown.
"Then let's move out together!" The glaring Impa called out in her inevitable order, eyes narrowed down the centre corridor.
It didn't take very long for the small group to cross the dark distance into what appeared to be the long and large throne room itself; suspicious that, on the way they hadn't run into any resistance, Impa couldn't help but keep her senses on high alert. The sound of Tiverpool Castle's pipe organ whined out powerfully and such reverberation that it left near rumbled in the ground on which they walked.
"Where the hell is he?" The eager Barkner growled out, his boulder-brown eyes darting 'round in swift search for their target of annihilation. The firmly-frowning Alwyn nodded his injured head-fin upward to their top-left and the Goron next to him traced it; sure enough, the noisy pipe organ's notes also came from the direction in which the armoured Velkarez himself sat at. He finished what seemed to be the final few notes before at last turning in his seat and casting the silently-watching group a welcome smile.
"Greetings...," the wavy-haired former knight began, stepping up from the well-handled chair he sat at, eliciting a slight creak from its body as he did. "On what occasion do I owe the pleasure of your peoples' company sir Barkner?" The man greeted on as he paced slowly and diagonally, eyes briefly scanning each scowling member before him. The watching Barkner, in response, had his own scowl twitch back at him.
"Impressive," Impa opted to shoot back, her contralto spoken in an ever-objective calm that made the listening Velkarez rise up a light-brown eyebrow. "To have taken Kaiohdrahl and Tiverpool Castle so quickly... we've only just arrived and yet..."
"Why thank you," the former Stralanavian colonel retorted with, regaining his light and near-mocking smile. "Yes... my men are fairly efficient," he elaborated on before his smile upturned into a half-amused smirk. "Well... when they need to be." He claimed, this time in an entertained chuckle.
"Speaking of which...," Impa spoke up again, brow furrowing in suspicion. "Why was it so quiet out there in the hallways and the foyer?" The Sheikah demanded, tilting her silver-haired head at him as she narrowed her eyes. "Have your men all been killed...?"
"Or did they betray you?" The glaring-eyed Sheik opted to add onto the firmly-frowning Impa's words, surprising most of the listeners.
"No," he answered simply, his frown regrowing on his face as his eyes narrowed forward at a specific member of the group. "They're all downstairs celebrating with our... other guests of the castle," he responded with before furrowing his brow in caution and re-opening his mouth. "I don't think I remember you...," Velkarez murmured out curiously, his own eyes narrowing as he watched the young girl in light suspicion. "Could you be... that blonde girl with that Sheikah dog...?"
Realising she had essentially gave the man enough of a clue to sniff her out, Sheik's frown twitched in regret beneath the white scarf she wore so well.
Velkarez's smirk slowly returned to him as he chortled on in satisfaction. "Ah... yes...," he began again thoughtfully. "If I recall there was some intel recently that Aurelia's capital's princess herself had decided to leave her home country on some ill-advised pilgrimage...," the armoured man explained on, rising up his arms to fold them as he did. "Could you be that princess... my young dear?"
Impa eyed the braided blonde youth and shook her frowning-faced head; a wordless request to stay silent.
"And the Palashian princess as well...," Velkarez smiled on, eyes scanning 'round as he caught sight of the glaring Vassia. "My... such a diverse group of companions your Hylian fellow seem to have," he started before briefly regaining his surprised frown and blinking. "Oh," he stated, his blinking frown swiftly switching to his satisfied smirk. "But that would be... 'seemed to have' now, wouldn't it? Past tense..."
Almost as if having been an easily provoked animal, the growling Barkner rolled his Goron form up into a boulder-like sphere before immediately shooting forward, as if sent from a cannon itself. The beautiful stonework and rug beneath him spat up debris and red-shaded cloth as he shot forward, drawing out surprised gasps from all those standing near him.
"No, BARKNER!"
–
3
In great spite to Impa's concerned call, the hot-footed Goron slammed his fast-rolling form into the smirking-faced Velkarez's open-palmed grip; like a Powder Keg having just been placed and colliding with a fired arrow, the pair gave off a bold explosion as their forms clashed.
DROOOM-SKRRRRRRRRRR
A pair of powerful auras of Quintessence and Aegir shot up between them, a fiery white and burnished brown, both flashing in and out of one another as if to swallow each other up. Velkarez stood unharmed, smirking on in contentment as he extended forth merely a single open-palmed hand to meet the rapid-rolling Barkner's form. Barkner, on the other hand, had his super-fast advance halted in place and his rock-like figure endlessly spun in a fierce and hatred-filled twist.
"An impressive advance...," the smirking Velkarez began, his calloused fingers soon tightening as his smirk very quickly dropped in favour of a hardened scowl. "For a subhuman perhaps."
FLASH
"Argh...!"
In an abrupt glimmer of light, the grunting Barkner's once-thought indestructible form soon found itself being bounced back by some kind of invisible force, sending him careering back in a far-off north-eastern direction.
CRASSSSSSH
As he inevitably collided with one of the many beautiful pillars resting in the throne room, the frowning Velkarez's tall figure was blasted by a surprising and sudden burst of whining light-shaded Aegir. While the initial assault merely did enough to take his attention from his rear, it did just as intended; the gasping Velkarez stumbled a step forward and widened his deep-green shaded eyes as he looked for his inevitable attacker.
By the time he realised his new opponent's form was behind him, however, it was far too late; he swung his eyes and head halfway 'round in a light gasp only to yell outright in agony and pain as the super-fast Sheik re-appeared suspended in the air behind him, before she grunted out in effort as she pierced the man's throat with a long clinking chain she carried, hardened into a dangerous blade with the power of her Aegir-control. It was only when she widened her eyes at the sight of no blood following her successful confirm that she gasped in realisation.
"No!"
WHOOSH
FWIP-GRAB
"Agh...!"
The would-be Sheikah gasped out in surprise, single fiery-eye shut as the smirking-faced Velkarez swiftly re-appeared on her undefended right side; he reached forward and immediately grasped her by the throat, lifting her into the air as he smirked up at her.
"Sometimes in the heat of battle it's simply better to leave your comrades to their foolishly-chosen lapses," the Templars' commander began all-knowingly, eyebrow rising up as he did. "I wonder what exactly you thought you may have been hoping to change in his ill-advised charge? Or indeed, your foolhardy little blonde friend?"
Sheik growled back at him and swung her hate-filled eyes to face him as she struggled within his grip, fingers reaching up to paw at his arm. An odd kind of dull-grey shade of Aegir snaked down his fingers and, as it came into contact with the gasping Sheik's neck, so too did her neck, torso and body began to be infected by the strange change in texture. Although the Aegir itself looked more like liquid than anything, as it came into contact with the girl's body, it very quickly turned her skin to what seemed to be stone.
She gasped as she watched her legs slowly harden up from the firm Quintessence her foe had command over; a revelation that left the watching Velkarez slow-chuckling into a loud and noisy maniacal laugh.
SLAM
"Grngh...!"
In shocked surprise, the wide-eyed Velkarez was struck by a Zoran boot, essentially forcing the armoured man to drop the young Sheik completely. As she fell from his grip and landed in a safe gasp of her own, she shot her eyes up to find the glaring-eyed Alwyn in hot-pursuit of the careering form of their new enemy, pulling his forearms back as he did.
SWISH-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
The sound of the sword-fins resting on his arms echoed out noisily as he swung them both horizontally and, just like boomerangs, they all swooped on into the Templars' commander's back; Velkarez flipped backwards in mid-air to recover and narrowed his deep-green eyes back into the glare of his new opponent, his initially surprised frown soon upturning into another knowing smirk.
"A former soldier...," the grinning-faced man began, his boots skidding roughly against the beautifully-cut floor beneath him. The Zoran's boomerangs both came careering back toward his new-found standing position as Alwyn's own flying form closed in; a near horrifying scene of okizeme for anyone else. As he slammed his clenched-fisted raised elbow into the smirking-faced Velkarez, Alwyn's own sizeable aura of sea-shaded Quintessence came billowing up to meet his enemy's bright-white, his attempt at offence joined by the boomerangs he threw earlier. "AREN'T YOU?!"
DROOM-SKRRRRRRRRR-FRRRRRRR
The watching remaining group members rose up their arms to block the artificial wind that kicked up around their forms, barely avoiding being sent back flying from the sheer level of energy at which the pair displayed. It didn't take long for the stalemate to end however; as Velkarez's diamond-white aura began to rise up even further, it very slowly ate through Alwyn's and the poor Zoran grunted out in best effort to keep from being overpowered.
Unfortunately for him, it looked imminent.
Static electricity began to build up from the powerful Velkarez's form and, as it did, it began to circulate and infect the gasping Alwyn's figure; a horrifying concept for the poor Zoran and his weakness to lightning.
"Alwyn get the hell out of there!"
The worried Impa's call did little to steel the man's normally calm nerves; found with little option other than to block given his new unfortunate position lest he be cut through, the former soldier grunted out with great effort as the grinning Velkarez rose up his free left arm. Pulsating with muscle, Quintessence and static electricity, it loomed threateningly over the surprised Zoran; Alwyn swung his newly-gained wide-eyed frown up and terror began to fill him.
If that hits me, he thought.
"I'm dead."
WHOOSH
FWIP-DROOM-CRASSSSHHH-KZZ
The watching Velkarez let out a half-disappointed tut as his meaty counter-attack was quickly stopped by what appeared to be a large spherical-like dome of earth and stone; Alwyn gasped and darted his head 'round behind him only to find the scowling Barkner, both his rocky-bodied hands focused toward the ground, clearly having been the author of the defensive technique. He cast his close Goron companion an appreciative nod and a smile as he did; a look not seen often for the normally-stoic tempered knight.
"Hmph... fine."
The listening Alwyn double-took back to his front in high alert, eyes narrowed as the glaring-eyed Velkarez back-dashed up into the air. Slowly descending back down from a high height, he rose up his sparkling left index and forefinger, resting them diagonally upward as he did. His darkened glower grew ever stronger, as if to match the dull-white aura of power that encircled him. Realising exactly what the maddened man was planning, Impa's fire-red eyes widened and she opened up her mouth to warn the warriors.
"Get the hell out of there!" The worried Sheikah called out. "He's going to-!"
FLASH
WHHHIIINNNE...
KERRRASSSH-DROOM
The newly-gained grin atop the watching Velkarez's expression told all that was needed to know; a revelation of knowledge that Impa was correct in her suspicions. A massive wave of white-style Aegir came crashing down in a wide angle that blew apart nearly half the very walkway to the throne itself; a horrifying reveal that left the watching Impa deathly concerned. The chortle that adorned Velkarez's deep baritone followed him as he slowly descended back down to earth, re-folding his armoured arms as he did.
"Finished already...?" The Templars' commander began, wavy-haired eyebrow rising up. "I was only-"
The man's eyebrows both rose up this time in surprise when the smoke cleared and revealed the gasping Alwyn and Barkner, both having used their barrier of electricity and dome of earth respectively to block against the massive explosion. Although it appeared to near exhaust them completely, they were at the very least unharmed.
"Hmph...," the watching Velkarez huffed out of his throat, nodding his head upwardly at his pair of opponents as if in some form of respect. "Not many have managed to block that assault... let alone tank it like that... I'm somewhat impressed."
Behind the panting Alwyn the glaring Barkner, in great spite to his own fatigue, growled out as he curled himself up into a rock-like sphere before almost immediately giving chase; rock-like spikes extending from the stones on his back. Alwyn reached out for him in vain as he passed, grunting out in effort and urgency.
"Barkner no!"
SLAM-SKRRRRRRRR
Like a chainsaw blade being ripped against sheer unbreakable silver itself, Barkner's super-fast rolling again found its home in pressuring the grinning-faced Velkarez; the armoured commander merely kept his arms folded, a near-invisible shield of dull-white Aegir rising up to protect his form as he did. With little warning however, the rather easily-provoked Goron was given a helping hand by the yelling Vassia; Velkarez darted his wavy-haired head 'round behind him and widened his eyes into a surprised frown when he found her slim form abruptly descending down on him from the sky, her small legs pulled back and her hands hanging horizontally as if to dive in on him.
CRASSSH-SKRRRRRR
The narrow-eyed Vassia grunted out in effort, her own much smaller aura of Aegir struggling madly with the folded-armed Velkarez's own towering one. He cast the young Palashian princess a simple-faced frown before upturning it into another satisfied smirk when he realised she was no-where near piercing him.
"Hmph."
"Damn it..." The watching Impa cursed out lightly, shaking her silver-haired head as if in disapproval before reaching back; the swish and swing of metal carried on out as she pulled out one of her many knives and began to dash forward, her slim form hung low as if to increase her speed. Watching from the side and seemingly also having recovered from her earlier injuries, Sheik pulled up fairly quickly behind her Sheikah mentor and readied herself similarly.
The wise woman, her hand forced by her attacking comrades, slammed an Aegir-coated leg directly into the aura of her enemy's and yelled out in effort as she, joined also by the yelling Sheik above her and the roaring Alwyn on their side. With all five of the party now focusing their attacks on the single man himself, Velkarez's intimidating aura showed little sign of faltering; on the contrary, it appeared to grow even higher. The watching Impa, her fears rising with her expectations, could only gasp out as the smirking-faced Velkarez turned his deep-green eyes to face hers in a kind of knowing look as he did.
VRING...
The sound of his wall of Quintessence whined on out; a quiet but audible signature of his next move. Impa widened her eyes and pulled her leg back, turning to her companions.
"Move! Get out of his way!" She called out as she back-dashed through the air as far and quickly as she was able. Sheik took almost no time at all to listen to her mentor and grunted out as she followed but the deadlocked Vassia, Barkner and Alwyn appeared not to listen, and instead kept their limbs focused on their enemy's aura. "I said move!" The Sheikah barked forward urgently and insistently.
At last the gasping Alwyn and Vassia listened; they grunted out similarly as they pulled their arms and legs respectively from the man's ambience before back-dashing similarly to their Sheikah comrade, leaving only the rolled up Goron himself in his ill-fated assault.
"Barkner, go!"
"Barkner get out of there!"
"Barkner for the love of the Sainted Three!"
"Barkner move!"
The sound of his four allies did little to dissuade his calamitous choice in assault; indeed, even when the dull-white signature of Velkarez's aura of Aegir climb even higher, the angered Goron's rapid-rolling continued, merely as if to feed the inevitable counter-attack that was coming.
WHHHIIINNNE...
"Now...," the watching Velkarez spoke out lowly in greeting, eyes slowly narrowing as he smirked in his speech. "Die."
FWIP
CRASSSSSSSH-DROOOOOOOM-FRRRRRRR
In only a single blink of light the aura of Aegir that Velkarez commanded rose up into a sudden and half-expected explosion, wide and expansive, filling a good portion of the throne room. The grunting remainders of the group back-dashed even further to gain more distance from the life-threatening blast, single eye shut in effort as they did.
When at last it passed only smoke and debris remained, the group watched on in baited breath as it slowly but surely dissipated, leaving only the remaining wreckage behind in the savage counter assault's wake. As they had near enough expected the folded-armed Velkarez himself stood in a half-amused smile, unharmed and as well as he had been when they began the ill-fated battle, standing in amongst the incredible display of rubble and ruin he wrought upon the once-beautiful throne room.
"Hmph...," the armoured commander began again, nodding his head upward as his smile slipped up into a smirk, directing the shocked members to a far-off corner of the room. "He's still alive... somehow."
True to his word, the shut-eyed Goron lay embedded into the wall itself, his once-thought impenetrable body wrought with blood, bruises, a nasty-looking scar and even burn marks; a terrifying sight indeed.
"We can't win this...," the watching Impa managed out as she shook her firmly-frowning head over at the scene before them. "It was mistake to come here."
"That may be...," Sheik batted back, eyes narrowing behind the scarf she wore. "But I'd do it all again in a second's heartbeat."
"I guess we gotta pay your Hero of Time back somehow...," the grunting Alwyn sighed on out as he stood up back to his feet, dusting himself off as he did. "Huh?"
Surprised by the Zoran's comment, Vassia briefly eyed him before she similarly stood back to her own two legs, regaining her usual stance as she did. "If all we can do is defy this man... then defy him I shall." She called out courageously, turning her night-black eyes 'round to glare at the folded-armed Velkarez.
"Hmph...," the former Stralanavian colonel huffed back, nodding his head upward a third time. "Go ahead... speak boldly, feel free," he began before at last unfolding his muscled arms to begin slow-marching forward. "Those will be the last words you will ever speak!"
His march very quickly escalated into a swift air-dash that saw the remaining members tense up but, before he could even cross half the distance he wanted, a brief flash of light shot in between the attacking pair and made them all widen their eyes in surprise.
When the flash of light at last dissipated before them, even the watching Velkarez dropped his shock-faced frown to narrow his eyes forward at the new signature of intrusion; standing in a similarly folded-armed pose to his new enemy's was the small form of the deeply-scowling Raynard himself, his chestnut-brown eyes glowering fresh holes into the surprised-faced Velkarez's own deep-green. The spiky-haired youth's tattered white cape blew in the unnatural wind he himself managed to kick up; a result of the massive level of Quintessence in which he utilised to presumably travel there at such a high speed.
"What's this...?" The firmly-frowning Velkarez murmured out, wavy-haired head rising up as his eyelids lowered lightly as if in examination. "Another Hylian...?" He spoke, almost to himself as his eyes briefly glassed over the small pointed ears on the black-haired boy's head.
"Raynard...?!" The watching Impa gasped out, eyes widened in her own display of shock. She double-took in her left when she clocked what seemed to be the wincing Malon, having snuck up on them from the back. The Sheikah did a quick look behind her, just to check and see if they were being further followed, before feeling satisfied and turning back down to face the fire-haired farm girl. "What the hell are you doing here?!" She called out angrily. "I gave you an order!"
"I'm sorry...," she murmured back out, cringing from the hardened contralto their leader spoke in. "But Raynard brought me; said Link would never have forgiven him if..."
Impa sighed in response, shaking her silver-haired head as she re-turned to face the front. "So... he's going to take on Velkarez is he?"
Malon nodded, swinging her own head 'round to trace the Sheikah's gaze. "So he said."
"He better have gotten a whole lot stronger a whole lot faster...," she began in reply, ruby-red eyes narrowing in scrutinisation as she spoke warningly. "Or this is going to be over very quickly."
"So... another rat joins the pack," Velkarez at last spoke aloud, his initially surprised frown soon upturning back into one of his many well-mannered smiles. "I don't believe I've seen you around these parts..."
"I don't come from here." Raynard spat back, his words like acid to the tongue. Velkarez's brow furrowed as he listened, his smile growing ever-so-slightly stronger as if he sensed the hate within his tenor.
"Yes...," he agreed. "That much is plain by those cursed ears you carry...," he pointed out, nodding his head upward as he did. "Friend to that other blonde rat were you?"
Raynard's scowl deepened, a fierce and thinly-veiled form of anger and acrimony hiding behind his silent-faced glare.
"Hmph... Hylians...," the armoured commander chuckled on, entertained. "Said to have descended from the greatest of us; those of the goddess Hylia herself," he explained briefly, drawing surprised looks from most of the listeners in the group behind Raynard. "And yet almost every one of you... I've never seen such weakness, even in children."
"You call that an excuse?" The dark-haired mercenary batted back, glowering on into his eyes as he spoke. "Killing all these people? Stealing their lives and their homes?"
Velkarez let out a boisterous laugh, pulling his deep-brown shaded hair back as he did, as if Raynard had just told a particularly hilarious joke. "You even speak like children!" He laughed out, re-opening his mouth as he did. "What are the lives of a few simple peasant people and soldiers to the grand dream of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide?!" The charismatic commander called out, this time in a widened toothed grin, bringing up one of his tall muscled arms and clenching it into an expressive fist. "To see all of Aurelia united under one banner once more! Just as in the golden era before the Continental Divide!"
"I'm not a hundred percent on my bible studies back in Hyrule...," Raynard began lowly, his eyes slowly narrowing as he leaned his black-haired head to the side in his opening retort. "But I'm pretty fucking certain the Sorcerer never intended to murder innocent people to achieve that dream."
"Hmph...," the man murmured out, his smirk devolving to a simple amused smile, lowering his fist to rest at his side as he did. "You never struck me as the naïve type... you certainly look as if you've experienced more of life than these pathetic stooges...," Velkarez claimed, nodding his head up toward the watching group from the back. "But I suppose even I'm wrong... from time to time." He finished in an amused chortling smirk, deep-green eyes lightly narrowing as he did.
Raynard's scowl twitched one last time before, at last, his body's form and figure began to shimmer in and out of itself. He re-opened his mouth to retort before he finally disappeared from common view. "We'll see."
–
4
FWIP
Velkarez's hardened grimace of his own re-appeared, bold and poignant on his facial expression as he clocked the super-fast Raynard's form advancing on him in mid-air merely a few yards from him. Steel halberd rose upward, he spun it skilfully through the air before he brought it plummeting down vertically to meet the armoured commander. As opposed to using the Aegir barrier he had grown so fond of utilising before, the smirking Velkarez chose to swing up his left armoured arm in a horizontal position almost as if to block the Quintessence-infused blade.
CLAAAANG-CLASSSH-SKRRRRRRR
Rather surprisingly the man not only managed to block the initial well-timed assault but also pushed back; in a simple thrust forward, he sent the gasping Raynard a few steps stumbling back before he replied by reaching into the sheath resting comfortably on his left hip.
SHHHIIIING...
As the silver spear the Templars' commander carried rubbed oppressively against the metal scabbard on his belt, so too did its intimidating height manage to make the standing young Hylian's scowl blanch.
But only a little.
CLAAAANG-SKRRRR
Raynard's steel halberd and Velkarez's silver spear met one another a second time; coated in sparks and in their fiery-walled Aegir, they struggled in a clash that rumbled the very floor on which they stood, leaving the watching members behind them fastening their feet to the marbled floor in fear of being blown away. Even during the intense clash, however, a bright light flashed within the scowling-faced Raynard's eyes, drawing a surprised look from the watching Velkarez; he furrowed his brow into the deep recesses of his enemy's chestnut-brown before widening his own when he realised it was an attack.
He pulled his long brown-haired head as far back as he was able and found the swift Aegir-laser briefly grazing his cheek as it passed over him. Unfortunately for the commander, however, in his defensive option to avoid the assault, now he was open; a revelation not wasted by the glaring Raynard. The young mercenary reached up with his left leg and slammed it directly into the grunting Velkarez's lower stomach; with a strong Quintessence powerfully-infusing his kneeing assault, he managed to send the gasping colonel sagging back, before the boy followed up with a grunting spinning strike of his steel halberd.
SLICE-SKRR
The robust steel easily cut through the man's armour and left another mark both on it and even on his other cheek, sending him flying backward through the air. Raynard acted on his recently-gained okizeme and leaped up high through the air to pursue, yelling out in wide-eyed battle cry as he pulled up his weapon with which to finish the engagement. Velkarez growled out in half-annoyance as he somersaulted backward in mid-air to recover, raising up his silver spear with which to block as his enemy's halberd inevitably came crashing down upon it vertically.
CLAAANG
"An impressive gambit indeed...!" The grinning Velkarez growled back out, his grin re-growing on his face as his form was slowly pushed backward through the air, Raynard's quick swings and swipes keeping him on the defensive. "You may even be more skilled than that blonde rat I ki-"
CRACK
The back end of Raynard's steel halberd met the wide-eyed man's chin and sent him sagging slowly upward, effectively silencing him mid-sentence. The widely-scowling youth finished up his pressure in a simple but effective spinning air drop-kick, slamming the gasping armoured man and sending him careering back down to earth.
WHHIIIINE...
CRASSSSH
"That 'rat' you killed...," the hateful-faced Raynard began in a low-voiced growl of his own, pulling his free right hand back and rapidly-charging it with wind-style Aegir. An unnatural air began to kick up around him; the signature of his telltale technique. "Was my FRIEND!"
WHOOSH
WRRRRRRRR-SMASH-KERRRASSSSSHHHH
The ground, and nearly everything within its blast radius, shook violently and horrifically from the huge projectile that Raynard tossed down to meet the armoured commander; the 'Final Reppuken' technique.
"He's going to kill us all!" The gasping Vassia called out, eyes scrunched shut in effort from the sheer power of the explosion before them, arms risen up to block the wind that threatened to throw her off her very legs. "How is he generating that much more power?! I beat him easily last time!"
"Right now he's the only chance that we have," Impa whispered out, eyes narrowing desperately at the inevitable fire, smoke and ruin that exuded from the detonation. "Now that Link's gone..."
The listening Sheik held back a wince as she exchanged a look between her mentor and the sight of destruction before her.
As the smoke eventually and finally lifted, leaving only massive rubble coated with a small burning fire, the glaring-eyed Raynard dropped back down to the ground and stared on intensely in patient waiting, scowl twitching as he did. Sure enough, the mound of rocks and ruin moved and he rose up his ebony-shaded eyebrows as they did.
RUMBLE... CRICK-CRICK...
The sound of smaller stone and debris falling upon itself emanated out from under it as Velkarez himself at last revealed himself, an unamused frown adorned on his face; his armour, once a brilliant black upon his body, had now been eaten away presumably by the wind-powered projectile and the explosion itself, leaving his bleeding and injured muscled torso out in full view. Even in the small bleeding injuries he carried to his face, the odd scar and trickle of blood leading down the side of his face, Raynard's scowl twitched again but this time in growing concern and worry.
That was all my natural power, he thought horrifically.
"No wonder Link couldn't beat him..."
"Remarkable..."
The man's deepened baritone managed to snap the young mercenary out of his thoughts, drawing his chestnut-brown irises down to exchange his concern with the deeply-frowning Velkarez.
"I haven't been injured like this in over a year...," the Templars' commander claimed surprisingly, frowning on as he rose up a calloused finger to lightly paw at one of the bleeding marks on his mouth before looking down at it. His deep-green eyes narrowed down at the hot-crimson before he rubbed it out with his remaining fingers and returned his glare up to eye the horrified Raynard. "I have great respect for those that can handle themselves in a fight... even Hylians."
The ending of his sentence, spoken of in such a magnanimous chuckle, made the listening Raynard's scowl twitch again.
"What say you?" The once-armoured man batted forward surprisingly, nodding his head skyward at the black-haired boy as he did. Raynard, similarly surprised, could only blink back at him as his scowl quickly fell.
"W-Wha-?"
"I'm always in need of a good protégé...," Velkarez claimed, his smirk soon devolving into a low smile. "And we are men with a real mission..."
"Hmph...," Raynard merely huffed back, his angered scowl faithfully returning to him. "You're senseless murderers," he claimed. "Every single one of you."
"Is that right...?"
The amused-sounding chortle on the man's lips did little to dissuade the glaring Raynard; he stood ever-resolute in his hateful glower, ready for another charge.
"You'd be shocked how many people have come to accept our place in Aurelia," the former Stralanavian colonel claimed, his smile ever-bold and constant. "We find they open the doors to our presence now as they learn we approach ever closer... it's almost as if they've been waiting for the Sorcerer's dream to come to fruition."
"You really like comparing yourself to him, don't you," the black-haired boy shot back, lightly leaning his spiky-haired head to the side as he spoke. "I think... if the Sorcerer saw you now...? Doing what you do in his name...?"
Velkarez's smile soon found itself dissolving in place of a half-expectant frown, as deep as it had been when he emerged from the pile of rubble around him. Raynard's chestnut-eyed scowl grew even stronger as he narrowed his eyes into his enemy's, re-opening his mouth to finish his sentence.
"He'd be fucking ashamed."
Although he spoke crudely and with an acidic touch to his tongue, the effectiveness of his words were not lost on his foe; Velkarez's frown deepened ever further into a displeased scowl of his own and he re-opened his own mouth to retort one last time.
"You'll regret those words..."
The slight smirk that appeared on Velkarez's face was barely enough for the narrow-eyed Raynard to guess as to his intentions; in a flash, the formerly-armoured man disappeared from common view and re-appeared in blinding speed to the black-haired boy's side, issuing out a swinging haymaker.
SLAM
"Gurgh...!"
A small trickle of blood coughed out from the side of the boy's mouth as he staggered backward, even dropping hold of his steel halberd. As it clanged noisily to the ground Velkarez followed his opening strike up with a grinning-faced elbow, laughing on sadistically as he towered over the small boy.
CRACK
Raynard's eyes widened and he coughed out, this time a larger deluge of blood firing up into the man's face as the young mercenary was sent smashing deep into the throne room's beautiful marble floor.
CRASSSSSSH
"Hmph..."
The smirking huff that Velkarez gave out echoed toward the silently horrified group, watching as the Templars' commander leaped high into the air and laughed on while he rose up his left muscled knee, presumably with which to descend down on the fallen Raynard. The injured youth, though falling behind in his speedy recovery, grunted out in effort as he pushed as firmly as he could against the ruined ground he lay on to send himself vaulting up high into the air in swift retreat just milliseconds as Velkarez's quick-descending assault smashed the floor up even further.
The large muscled man grinned on before grunting out as he smashed his feet firmly against the ground, effectively sending himself careering high into the air to meet his high-flying opponent. Raynard's low-held scowl widened even further to match his terrified eyes when he clocked the horrifyingly-fast form of his enemy, now mere inches away from him; the once-armoured commander smirked on satisfyingly as he swung up his double-fisted arms together in what looked like an axe swing itself, diagonally and savagely catching the yelping boy.
WHIIIINE...
CRASSSSSH
Again poor Tiverpool Castle's throne room floor blew apart in a ruthless collision of body and debris, sending wreckage and smoke out from under the similarly unfortunate Raynard's form. Velkarez folded his buffed up arms and chuckled on in further gratification as he drew his own figure down to meet his younger opponent's, rising up one of his eyebrows as he watched the stones inevitably drop out from under to reveal the gasping and injured Raynard. He now stood heavily injured, bleeding all across his face to match his clothes' new tatters and tears.
"It looks as though the tables have turned once more my young Hylian friend...," the former Stralanavian colonel smirked on, standing as tall and as intimidating as when he started the fateful engagement. "And unfortunately for you... for the last time..."
SPIT
Velkarez's smirk very quickly dropped this time when he clocked the crude and boorish gesture; as Raynard at last recovered his breath he turned his head to spit out what seemed to be a rather large glob of blood, staining the once-beautiful floor of Tiverpool's throne room. He reached up, slowly, and pawed at the caped scarf he wore around his neck and pulled it up before at last dropping it to the floor. The raven-haired boy, seemingly unfinished in his odd ritual, reached up for the bright-red headband resting across his spiky-haired head and likewise discarded it to the side.
DRUNK-KRSH
Velkarez's inquisitive frown soon took an even more curious turn when the cape and headband somehow managed to create a smaller hole in the floor, indicating their incredible weight.
"Hmph... that's impressive...," he spoke aloud in his brief frowning-faced ruminations before re-rising his glaring-eyed smirk to re-face the boy. "For a Hylian."
"I'm gonna make you suffer for all those people you've killed," the scowling-faced Raynard responded, his injured head lightly leant to the side as he did. The sight of ancient Hylian characters slowly formed on his face, torso beneath his tunic and even the rest of his body; a signature of his rapidly-ascending power. His chestnut eyes widened, his scowl worsening ever further as he re-opened his mouth, this time to bellow his words of hatred at the man. "Dreams don't come true when you're DEAD!"
–
5
FWIP
SLAM
"Urgh...!"
Velkarez's form was smashed by a super-fast form that saw him shocked and hanging lowly through the air; he reacted in a similar way to his enemy and took to the air in response, vaulting himself high in spooked and swift retreat. As Velkarez swung his narrow-eyed head 'round to eye his fast-approaching enemy he widened them both and halted his leap, desperately darting his head 'round in search for his missing opponent.
It was only when he felt a presence whizz its form behind him that the once-confident man swung his head 'round only to widen his eyes a second time, this time in shock horror. Raynard, having re-appeared high above him, flashed the former colonel a satisfied smirk of his own; a long-overdue look of defiance and contempt.
CRACK
"ARGH!"
Velkarez's agonised scream of pain followed him all the way back down to planet earth, sending him covered in smoke and light burn marks presumably from a near-invisible Aegir attack. Raynard's confident bloody-faced smirk preceded him even as his form flew down to meet the dropping Velkarez, reaching out with his relatively smaller arms and surprisingly managing to pull the gasping man in. The Stralanavian warrior widened his eyes back at the boy as they plummeted downward at high speed, their bodies held upside down.
"Die when you fall," the smirking Raynard whispered out, drawing an irritated scowl from the listening Velkarez. "No-one will miss you."
The pair's forms grew even higher in speed as the young mercenary increased it with his own Aegir, his aura essentially encapsulating both himself and his new victim; it wasn't long before they gained a respectable distance to the ground and, as they did, Raynard finally let go of the man to send him careering and roaring to the floor.
WHIIIIINE...
KERRRRASSSSSSHHHH-DROOOOOM
Having crashed the man directly into what looked like one of the room's many pillars, not only did it start crashing down on him, but also the remaining wreckage surrounding it; a horrifying revelation for any man. Again, the watching members of the heroes' party found themselves rising up their arms to block the inevitable wind that near-threatened to kick them off their footing. As the smoke and storm began to diminish, so too did the watching members calm their nerves and examine the results of the intense explosion of wreckage.
"Is... is he dead...?"
Vassia's half-doubtful whisper managed to knock the shocked look on the similarly astonished Impa's face; she swung her silver-haired head 'round to face the Palashian princess before re-eyeing the field of debris before her fire-eyed view, near-unable to find the words with which to register her surprise.
"I don't... I don't believe it...," the shocked Sheikah sounded out, brow furrowing as if in some form of scrutinisation. "After trying so hard to do it, he just..."
Gradual movement above made her turn her head up and over toward the slow-descending form of the brightly-burning dark-shaded aura of the scowling-faced Raynard; as he landed, he cast his leaning-headed glare toward the debris and wreckage of his own machination, his tensed-up nerves at last calming into a shut-eyed frown. The black-haired boy turned his head up to face the high-ceiling above him, shut-eyed and all as he re-opened his mouth to give voice to his thoughts.
"We never got to have our go-around again Link...," he whispered out quietly to himself, his eyes at last re-opening as he finished out his small speech. "But I hope I did right by you."
CRACK-TRK...
The sound of stone and rock, however small being unturned, made the listening Raynard and the silent group dart their heads in the source's direction, expressing worried looks together as they did.
CRASSSSH-DROOM
"Impressive!"
The deep-sounding baritone of Velkarez's seemingly amused laughter bounced as powerfully against the walls as the explosion he emerged in, sending apart rubble and wreckage in every all direction. The bare-chested commander now sported many more injuries; scars, bleeding marks, burning wounds and even very small parts of his skin having been cut off from the sheer strength at which Raynard had hit him with. All in great spite to how badly he looked, Velkarez also wore a wide smirk upon his bleeding and bruised face, his once silky wavy hair now burnt and frizzled.
"I've never seen such raw, natural talent! And in a Hylian!" The once-armoured commander claimed in another amused laugh, pulling his head back as he did. "T'would certainly be a shame to end what could be a fairly promising career..."
Raynard let out a half-irritated tut, gritting his teeth together as he took a wary step back from the man, his black-burning aura slowly dissipating.
"But Hylians are like cockroaches after all," Velkarez chuckled on. "Insects within insects." He finished, eyes narrowing as he finished. The dull-white aura of his own grew on, like a fire being stoked, before eventually towering as high as it did when the battle had started. The watching Raynard's once-calmed senses very quickly heightened to horror and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead as he glared back at the man, teeth grit horribly.
"How is he still this strong after all that?" The young mercenary wondered to himself, leaning his head lightly as he affixed himself to another battle stance. "Maybe this is why the Templars were feared so strongly across Aurelia..."
In a shockingly fast manoeuvre indeed Velkarez moved so quickly into the air that the watching Raynard had to double-take before widening his chestnut-brown eyes into the sky; sure enough the bare-muscled man was somehow a few yards directly above him, presumably positioning himself for a direct-descending bird-like assault. The raven-haired youth acted accordingly and grunted out as he leaped forward to evade the inevitable strike; almost as soon as he moved, the ground on which he once stood erupted into a telling blast of smoke and rubble.
Raynard swung his spiky-haired head 'round his defended rear as he hopped across the long and wide battlefield around them, the grinning-faced Velkarez in hot-pursuit behind him; the former colonel stomped his legs powerfully against each land of beautiful marble ground on which Raynard once stood, kicking up wreckage and debris everywhere.
"He's definitely stronger than I am now...," the worried Raynard thought to himself, his frown carrying him on as he leapt for his life. "But maybe I can still outrun him."
FWIP
SKRRRRR
Raynard skid his boots roughly and savagely against the marble floor below him to immediately slow his movement, eyes widened at the sight standing before him; the smirking and folded-armed Velkarez, somehow in spite to the young mercenary's own speed, managed to move so quickly he now stood before him. The watching Raynard's scowl twitched and, with teeth grit in growing terror, could barely contain it within his own likewise frightened ruminations.
"It's not possible!"
"I imagine I'd be in actual danger... if you were just a bit older," the grinning Velkarez claimed, brow lightly furrowing as he spoke. "With talent like yours... you'd easily be my equal."
Raynard's eyes darted 'round desperately, hoping to find some form of hope to help but, as always, he could not find it.
"Well... perhaps I'm exaggerating...," the chuckling man continued on, a half-sardonic tone to his voice as he did. "But it's nice to be dramatic every now and again."
FWIP
Raynard's chestnut eyes widened again when he found the man's muscled form disappear a second time.
SMASH-CRACK
The raven-haired boy's body suddenly sagged back, his head leaning forward as if he were injured badly; time regained its flow and the liquid-fast form of his enemy stood directly next to him, muscled fist resting straight under his stomach. Raynard's form began to shake and violently at that as he took a few stumbling steps back from the blinding assault. His tree-shaded eyes widened as blood slowly dropped from his mouth, the odd cough or two staining the ground beneath when he eventually lost his footing and dropped to his knees, one arm gripping at his injured chest.
The watching Velkarez smirked on in satisfaction as he re-folded his arms and leaned his tall form over the shaking and kneeling boy. "What happened to all that fervour from before, hm?" He asked smarmily, eyebrow rising up as he did. "Weren't you going to 'make me suffer'?"
The sound, and abrupt movement of the young blonde girl next to her, only made the listening Impa double-take to her left only to widen her eyes in horror. She reached out in grunting vain only to narrowly miss the fleet-footed Sheik as the younger warrior leapt forward, presumably to re-enter the fray.
"No! ZELDA!" She called out urgently.
The folded-armed Velkarez swung his burnt-haired smirk 'round in a half-curious frown only to narrow his own eyes at the rapidly-approaching Sheik before him.
"Hmph..." He huffed out of his throat.
FWIP-SKRRR
The man turned his head 'round to glare down at the skidding Sheik, having side-stepped her quick yet fairly telegraphed dive-kick.
"How rude...," Velkarez began again, his grin re-adorning his hardened and bloody face. "I suppose all those from Aurelia's capital are boorish and barbaric."
DRRRR...
Velkarez's smirk soon fell from his face when he watched and felt the level of light Aegir that built up in the back-facing Sheik; presumably her bandaged arms. Even the kneeling and injured Raynard could only swing his head up from his position nearby, chestnut eyes widened in surprise.
"What's she...?"
His premature query was answered fairly quickly and faithfully at that however, for as the would-be Sheikah swung 'round to face him, she widened her fire-red eyes beneath the disguise she wore and yelled out in great effort as she fired forward a huge yellow-shaded wave of light. Velkarez's deep-green eyes widened and he swiftly unfolded his arms to raise them up in a defensive cross; essentially a blocking stance. Although it was just as rushed as his opponent's, he managed to just barely hold his ground against the surprising massive size of the assault.
DROOM-FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The sound of the light-wave managed to bounce off the very walls of the throne room they fought in and the once-confident Velkarez soon found himself narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth in hard-won effort as he stood against the gargantuan projectile, his resolute form skidding slowly backward as he did.
"What is she doing?!" Impa called out above the din of the whining light-wave, arms rose up to block the powerful wind that kicked up around them. "Zelda get the hell out of there!"
"Just a little further Zelda!" The grunting Vassia yelled out in contrary disagreement to the surprised Impa; the Sheikah widened her eyes as she briefly eyed the Palashian princess before soon re-turning to the front and, sure enough, the grit-toothed Velkarez himself legitimately looked as if he were having major trouble in dealing with the level of the Aegir that Sheik threw his way.
Maybe she's right, Impa thought, eyes widening again.
"Maybe we still have a chance."
–
6
The sound of water dripping and dropping away nearby echoed all around his small and pointed ears, eliciting a sense of nostalgia.
Where am I, Link thought to himself, his consciousness hazy at best.
"Am I dead?"
"Far from it."
Almost as if queued to at the exact moment the man's familiar-sounding baritone came out, Link's own sky-shaded eyes swung open and he gasped. His vision, though similarly blurred and clouded, at least gave him a shape to work with standing before him; a man-shaped figure and shadow that not only sounded familiar.
But looked it as well.
I think I know who this is.
"Let's talk...," the nameless shadow began lightly, a smile in the sound of his welcoming baritone. "Link Firbrand."
The blonde boy's perception at last stabilised and, as it did, so too did the man's form familiarise back into the shadow he remembered from his travels in Termina.
The shadow of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide.
"M-Mr. Sorcerer guy...," the young Hylian murmured out in genuine surprise, eyes blinking as he swung his curtain-haired head 'round in searching, finding only what appeared to be a similar expanse to the Chamber of Sages he once recalled. "W-What... what's happening? Didn't I... die?" He asked again, his frown turning morose as he briefly recollected the last moments he could.
A duel with a near-unbeatable opponent wielding a silver spear.
The ripple-eyed shadow nodded slowly before re-opening his mouth to respond. "Yes...," he answered simply. "You fought with a man much stronger than yourself... and paid the price for it."
The former Hero of Time lowered his head in shame, his frown twitching as he listened on.
"Goddess Farore and Hylia have ordered me to bring you here with one purpose."
He gasped again as he re-rose his blinking-faced frown to express his surprise with the shadowed figure before him.
"Aurelia and Hyrule still have need of you," the Sorcerer claimed boldly, his ripple-eyed shade rising up its slim fingers to rest in a pose that looked familiar enough to the tapestries and drawings the blonde boy remembered. "In borrowing their almighty Aegir I may restore your life, body and even return you to the Light World unscathed."
"But... wait...," Link began doubtfully, brow furrowing in thought before his eyes soon widened in realisation. "T-The guys!"
The shadowed man's wavy irises turned curiously in his direction as he listened on intently.
"W-What about my friends?!" The worried youth called out, bringing up a left clenched fist to display his concern. "Are they okay?"
"For now," the Sorcerer nodded along, drawing a relieved sigh from the blonde. "But I'm afraid time grows short for them. Velkarez and the Templars' powers are unchallenged in the Light World."
"Yeah...," Link nodded back gravely, oceanic eyes lowering again in shame. "He's just...," he began again, shaking his head lightly as he shut his eyes in doing so. "Too strong..."
"Yes...," the Sorcerer agreed on in a similarly gloomy nod. "It won't be long before Kaiohdrahl, Palashia, Stralanavia, Draerith and even Hyrule itself will bend their knees to the Templars of the Weeping Stars."
Link's frown fairly quickly swung upward into a frustrated scowl and he darted his straw-haired head up to face the Sorcerer's shadow, left fist clenched again. "There has to be somethin' we can do!" The young Hylian called out passionately. "I didn't just save two countries to end up like this!"
"If you were older, had more time to perfect your fighting techniques then perhaps you could truly make a difference," the Sorcerer claimed gravely, drawing a grunting and frustrated gasp from the youth. "But... there is one last remaining card that you can still play..."
Link's eyes re-widened and he hurtled his head back up to express his surprise and desperation. "W-What is it?!"
The Sorcerer's ripple-eyed frown behind his darkened shadow grew even heavier and they narrowed lightly as he responded. "You give in to the power... of 'Akuma'."
The reality of the words with which the Sorcerer hit him with broke him like a ton of bricks; his eyes widened again and he held back from taking a step away, a chill running up his spine.
He means the Shinzui, the boy thought to himself.
Kage Narumono and...
"That godlike power in the Fierce Deity's mask..."
Revealing he could read the blonde's mind, the nameless Sorcerer nodded in another slow heavy frown, almost as if to confirm his very fears.
"If...," Link began in a light gulp. "If I just use it once... like I did in Termina... t-then... maybe..."
This time the Sorcerer shook his head in another reluctant grimace, drawing a listening gasp from the Hylian.
"The more you rely on the Shinzui and the power of the Fierce Deity...," the Sorcerer began again, his baritone knocking noisily against the walls of the dimension they rested in. "The closer you step into its shadow as 'Akuma'."
There's that word again, the listening Link thought to himself, memory recalling the odd name-drop from his adventures in Termina.
"That shadow that stalks under you... that is your link to the name 'Akuma'."
The wise and foreboding words of Yoshiyuki Miyazaki, 'the Last Garo' himself; a mysterious and elusive figure he clashed with in Rockvale Temple that fed him some rather frightening information indeed.
"Whether you give in to its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future... it matters not."
I thought that the cut-off point for that happening was back in Termina, the worrying Link thought to himself.
Just before Majora's Mask's inevitable clash he found Kage approaching him with a deal; to at last give in to the temptation of the power of the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai and become something else, something different entirely.
An existence, perhaps all-too-similar to the form of the fearsome Fierce Deity himself.
"I can do one final thing for you in this endeavour."
The Sorcerer's words, so surprising, managed to bring the astonished Link directly out of his concerned and anxious thoughts; he swung his wide-eyed frown up to face the much older man, eyebrows risen up to match his quizzical curiosity.
"I can help unlock what little potential you have at the moment in order to give you some form of a power boost... but it won't be enough. Not nearly so," the Sorcerer wisely stated, shaking his shadowed head as he did as if in warning. "Velkarez possesses far too much might to rely on it entirely."
"So... I have no chance...?" Link mouthed out quietly, a melancholic wince flavour to his likewise wistful words. "Is that what you're saying?"
The smile that grew on the shadow's face was at least visible beneath the full dark tint he carried; a signature of his well-mannered demeanour. "We always have a chance."
Amidst those words he rose up his right hand and, with merely a single hand sized upward to meet the boy, he seemingly did just as he intended. The same black shadow that filled his form also filled Link's; a powerful aura indeed that, as it made contact with him, elicited a shocked and surprised look in his widened eyes. He gasped out and, just like within the Great Fairy Fountains scattered all across his homeland, found himself slowly lifted up into the air. He hovered on in mid-air, levitating in the same surprise and elation as the Sorcerer's abilities very slowly teased out his inner strength and Aegir.
When he at last landed, and the shadowed aura dissipated, he held back yet another gasp of shock when he opened up his palms to marvel at the new immense increase he felt.
"It's... like night and day...," the young Hylian murmured out, briefly swinging his head up to face the nameless Sorcerer. "That's amazing! I might be able to win like this!"
The Sorcerer, unable to sport such confidence and optimism however, opted instead to shake his head gravely in response. Link lost his initially elated grin, now in place of a curious-faced frown.
"You cannot hope to win with this strength, however much it may feel to you now, it will inevitably fail you if you rely on it too strongly," the wizened old man claimed. "You must find an answer that does not rely on it or false hope... you know of which I speak."
The listening Link nodded in a hardened frown of his own.
He means the Shinzui, he thought.
"As always... it was a genuine pleasure sharing company with you, Hyrule's 'Hero of Time'," the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide at last finished, this time in another of his well-meaning smiles. "Even when your back is against the wall... even when you may think all have forsaken you..."
Link listened on, his eyebrows rising up as a darkened aura began to circulate at his legs; the signature of the Sorcerer's power de-materialising him from the dimension they stood in. Only the calm words of the Sorcerer echoed out within the blonde boy's subconscious as his body at last vanished from existence.
"I and the Sainted Three... will always be watching you... my son."