Chapter 21: Bringer of Misery; Struggle for Survival
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.
"Crono's Theme" - Chrono Trigger OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Tower of Providence" - YS IV: Memories of Celceta OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Iris" - YS IV: Memories of Celceta OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Divine Wind" - Dynasty Warriors II & III OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"Mysterious Person" - Dragonball Z Unreleased OST. Scene 4 (First Half).
"Power & Glory"; The Templars' Theme – Dynasty Warriors II & III OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
"Last Moment of the Dark" - YS Origin OST. Scene 5 (First Half).
"Termination"; The Fierce Deity's Theme – YS Origin OST. Scene 5 (Second Half).
"Heroic Goku Theme" - Dragonball Z Unreleased OST. Scene 6.
Having shaken the group of adventurers to their sheer cores, the 'Templars of the Weeping Stars' manage not only to overpower and overwhelm nearby seaport city Kaiohdrahl but almost everything and everyone in their wake; truly a horrifying speed and efficiency within their former military training that leaves a frightening impression upon further-off living members of the continent.
In arriving to the once-lovely metropolis of fish and beach, Link and his companions soon find themselves up against a wall fairly quickly by the experienced men; although the soldiers themselves pose little to no challenge, it is the Templars' charismatic commander himself that manages to put an end to not only the city...
But the former Hero of Time himself.
A shocking revelation that leaves the once-confident party racked with doubt and hesitation yet also a fierce and powerful level of determination; in having their close companion killed, and so easily at that, the remaining heroes all unanimously decide to press on regardless and take the attack to their enemy – the Templars and Velkarez himself, commander and former Stralanavian colonel.
When there they at last discover the man's elusive ambitions; in his maddened desire to re-unite the continent of Aurelia, Velkarez pools together what small mercenary company he begins with in Stralanavia and essentially becomes AWOL – 'Absent Without Leave'. He and his comrades abandon their military duties and, over the years in attacking small settlements and towns, eventually grow their numbers through Velkarez's own charisma and personal magnetism.
In killing many throughout the once-peaceful continent of Aurelia, Velkarez hopes to re-unite the mainland into one just as it used to be in the pre-Divine Divide era. Although his motivations may be somewhat noble, his methods in doing so are less so; so much so that he leaves scores of bodies in his wake and people everywhere begin to fear the name of the Templars' themselves.
In hoping to rescue his mentor Scaverin from self-prisoning, the nearby Raynard opts to drop everything else he's doing in order to avenge his former rival Link and travels with the rest of the group to Tiverpool Castle. When there he manages to turn the tide unexpectedly for the surprised and overturned heroes temporarily, but it isn't very long before Velkarez's indomitable endurance rears its head and harasses the warriors near-permanently. Even in the large increase in power that Raynard displays, he still cannot find a way through Velkarez's seemingly impossible defence; a horrifying situation indeed for the heroes.
With little options left on the table, they hope only to find some way through the despair and anguish...
Scene 1
"Zelda..."
She stirred in and out of consciousness, the familiar tenor she remembered so well echoing across the walls of the dark void they hovered in.
"Zelda...!"
At last she opened her sky-shaded eyes and, to her shock, the smiling-faced Link levitated high above her, somehow completely restored. She widened her eyes in surprise and her breath caught within her throat as she reached up to touch him. The younger blonde surprised her however and leaned his hands softly to rest on her slim shoulders.
"Link how are you-?"
"Zelda I need to know something."
She blinked back at him curiously, doubtful and unsure.
"W-What is it...?"
"Tell me about the power of the sacred triangle in your hand...," he smiled down at her. She furrowed her brow back at him, feeling an odd kind of insincerity in his words. "The power of the Sainted Three themselves!"
"But you... already..."
"How is it that your family has such links to its incredible power?! Tell me!"
Zelda's eyebrows rose up in sudden realisation and, like receiving the revelation that she was in a sleep paralysis nightmare, began to struggle within the ghost-like boy's grip above her.
"No...," she murmured out, wincing. "You're not Link!"
Like magic the once sociable blonde boy's face contorted into a low-chuckling smirk and, as it did, it morphed very slowly into the Velkarez's adult form and face. He chortled on down at her as he began to tighten his grip on her shoulders.
"Is it your blood perhaps?" Velkarez asked, smirking away unsuccessfully. "Or... perhaps it's..."
FLASH
"Ngh...!"
At last Sheik's consciousness restored to her. She swung her blurred vision in her surroundings only to find most of her comrades seemingly having fallen in battle; they all lay on the ground or were propped up against the throne room's many walls, like the poor unconscious Barkner.
"Hmph..."
The deep-baritone of her enemy made her dart her cerulean eyes 'round in surprise only to find the folded-armed Velkarez himself glaring back at her, smirk ever drawn across his bloodied and bruised expression.
"It would certainly appear that the Hylian royal family have safeguards in place to prevent this kind of thing, hm?" The grinning commander claimed, eyebrow rising up as he did. Sheik could only blink her surprised red-orbed eyes back at the muscled man in curiosity, her memory a little fuzzy. "How incredibly shrewd of them..."
"Why don't you just let them all go?"
Velkarez, surprised by the introduction of another voice, turned his frizzy-haired head in the direction of its source only to find the firmly-frowning form of one of his prisoners. A woman by name of 'Petrova'. She lay down in what seemed to be the cells beneath them all, her long dirty-green hair hanging over her eyes as she glared on back up at him.
"Let them all go?" Velkarez hung the curious query in the air, his smirk taking a more amused tone to match his entertained expression. "Now why on earth would I do that?"
"Seliva and I aren't under your control anymore." The dark-green haired woman spat back, glaring into his own hardened-eyed gaze.
"Hmph...," Velkarez huffed out, his smile soon upturning into a satisfied smirking chuckle. "And I am student no longer... professor Petrova..." The man finished out in a smarmy upturn of his smirk.
"You're pathetic," the woman repeated, her scowl unchanging. "A would-be has-been, half-finished in his training and far too arrogant to match."
"I've always enjoyed our debates together...," Velkarez chuckled on, entertained. "But once I have access to that which eluded the would-be 'great' Ganondorf of your once-great country...," he began again, slowly swinging his frizzy-haired head 'round to eye the surprised-eyed Sheik as she took a step back as if intimidated. "Once I gain the true force to govern all... just as the Sorcerer once did..."
As he marched slowly toward the gasping Sheik she stepped backward to match his pace, hoping at best to avoid him and his hungry-eyed gaze.
"Even should you only possess one fragment of the holy Triforce... it matters not," he continued on madly, the look in his eye telling indeed. "The almighty godlike divinity of its power will elevate me beyond even deity's wildest dreams..."
"N-No! Let me go!"
She struggled as he laughed, inevitably catching up with her small form and reached down to grasp at her white scarf, pulling her up to meet him.
"What a pity... that Aurelia's capital's princess won't live long enough to see the Templars of the Weeping Stars spread across their country...," he grinned on hungrily, Aegir very quickly snaking down his fingers and spreading to infect the yelling Sheik. "I'll do what your last would-be usurper failed to do... and take true command of the continent of Aurelia," Velkarez claimed boldly, his eyebrows rising up as he spoke. Sheik, her strength finally failing her, shut her tear-stricken eyes and gave in to the man's overpowering grip, his strength simply too great. "This land... and yours... are mine!"
VVVVVV...
Just before he managed to finish his extraction technique, Velkarez's brow furrowed in curiosity as he narrowed his eyes in a similarly suspicious fashion before him; an odd shimmering appeared in and out of his arm and, only very late in did he realise it was a third party.
Essentially another person's intervention.
He widened his eyes and cursed out loudly as he inevitably let go of the wide-eyed Sheik, back-dashing to safety as he gripped at his right wrist, rolling the hand around as if it were injured.
"What on earth was that?!"
–
2
Only the remaining conscious Sheik could turn her blonde-haired head in surprise to the revelation that saved her life; she lay now in the grip of a familiar-looking face she once thought deceased. The happy-go-lucky smirk of the young Link stared back at her from above; he nodded his blonde-haired head up at her. Dressed ever in his recognisable and iconic Kokiri tunic, he carried all the same gear he had up until his late demise.
"L-Link...? Wha-? How-?"
"Yo! Mini-Sheik!"
She blinked back at him, the tears lightly splashing 'round her ducts and staining she scarf she wore as she did. Realising he was simply confusing her he briefly shut his eyes and chuckled through his nose before lightly shaking his head down at her.
"I-Is it really you...?" She whispered out, the tears growing stronger as they flowed more freely down her cheeks. The would-be Sheikah reached up with one of her bandaged hands to paw at his right cheek softly, drawing a half-surprised frown from him. "Are you real...?"
His frown upturned back into the silly shut-eyed smirk he always wore, ever the positive one. "'Course it's me dumb-dumb!"
In great spite to his childish insult and the gravity of the situation they found themselves in, Sheik found herself laughing in response, perhaps in some form of mad relief.
"You..."
Velkarez's hardened baritone effectively brought the two childhood companions out of their own world and crashing back to reality; Link swung his new-gained frown 'round to face the desolate battlefield and his face blanched in response.
"Ray...," he murmured out sorrowfully, frowning on as his oceanic eyes briefly caught the sight of his unconscious and fallen mercenary friend. "Al... Bark... Impa-sensei..."
"Even Vassia fought with us to the end...," Sheik sniffed out, her lower lip quivering. Link briefly eyed her in soft-faced melancholy before soon finding the form of the violet-haired Palashian princess herself, also lying in a broken and beaten heap nearby. "It's all my fault..."
"No...," Link mouthed out quietly in the Hylian princess' direction, re-facing her. "It could never be your fault... ever," he spoke quietly, shaking his head as he did. "More mine if anyone's..." He finished, this time in a half-nervous chuckle as he did.
"How sweet..."
Link's initially softened frown soon hardened again and he swung his narrow-eyed gaze up to match his old enemy's, soon finding the now bare muscled man folded-armed and in fine form in great spite to his heavy-looking injuries.
"So... you are the reason this band of fools chose to press on to attack my company regardless hm?" The Templars' commander posed forward, burnt eyebrow rising up as he did. "To have lost so many lives over the single existence of one boy... and a Hylian at that...," Velkarez continued on, deep-green eyes narrowing into the glaring ocean of his enemy's. He scoffed on as he finished his sentence. "What folly."
"They ain't fools," Link merely batted back, his blonde-haired head lightly leaning as he spoke. "They're my friends."
"Hmph...," Velkarez merely huffed back. "I'm more curious on how you survived to be honest..."
Link's own brow furrowed in silence, unwilling to give any information up.
"I'm fairly certain you died; it was I who ended your life... after all...," the former colonel claimed, tilting his own head as he did. "Could you also be connected...?"
The listening youth rose one of his own eyebrows in curiosity. "Connected...?"
"Why, to the holy Triforce of course..."
The chuckle on the man's baritone made it obvious he was fishing for information. Link merely twitched his left cheek in response, eliciting a half-eye narrowed grin from the watching Velkarez.
"Interesting...," he murmured out. "Truly... interesting..."
As Velkarez's firm baritone echoed out ever curiously Link merely frowned back as he descended his form lower to place Sheik down, eliciting a softened gasp from her as he did.
"D-Don't... you can't...," she began hurriedly and worriedly, reaching her bandaged arms up to paw at his own lingeringly as he stood back to his feet. "Don't leave me again..."
He cast his comforting smile back down at her and shook his head, opting to take a leaf from her own book and very briefly gave one of her slim hands a light squeeze as if to help ease her concern. "I'll be okay," he whispered back. "I promise."
"Fairly confident for having lost the previous encounter..."
Velkarez's next words managed to make the listening Link re-rise his head up in a newfound firm-faced frown.
"Aren't we...?" He finished, this time in a confident-eyed smirk that saw the watching Link opt to flex his fingers, as if to ready himself for combat.
"I'm pretty sure I can handle you this time," he answered in a calm-eyed frown. "I made a big mistake when we duelled each other last...," the youth continued on, reaching up to grab the belt hanging his equipment. He hefted it over him and placed it clanging down noisily next to the surprised-eyed Sheik, leaving even a doubtful-faced frown on the watching Velkarez. "And I won't make that mistake again."
"Do you really think you can take me without your weapons?" The muscled man posed forward, eyebrow rising up as he briefly eyed the lying Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield. "Even with them I ran you through last time."
"Last time I underestimated just how strong you were."
Link's sudden response, no form of enmity or even impatience found within his tenor, made the interested Velkarez raise up his frizzy-haired head in a lightly-amused chuckle.
"Is that so...?" He murmured out curiously, eyebrow rising up as he did. "Then come... show me, young Hylian... show me your strength."
Former Stralanavian Colonel
Velkarez Grigovich
CRACCCKKK...
The ground cried up in further misery as Link's newly-restored boot broke it apart in his next step forward; his oceanic eyes narrowed and, like a light, he was off. As if fired by a very ballista itself, Link's low-flying form careered on like an arrow and he glared on back at the folded-armed Velkarez as he swung up one of his bare fists to meet his enemy's.
Acting quickly, the standing Stralanavian rose up his own left arm in a diagonal defensive manoeuvre before swiftly side-stepping the landing youth's inevitable spinning roundhouse, barely avoiding its travel. The smirking commander slammed a quick fist of his own, caught by the contrastingly scowling-faced Link, their figures and forms just far too quick for the watching Sheik to even keep up with in spectating.
"So... fast..."
CLASH
CLASH-CLASH
CLASH
The two enemies, seen as mere dots in the air, met with powerful-sounding slams and assaults as they collided roughly. The surrounding geometry soon found itself crumbling, any remaining pillars and parts of the very wall itself all dropping in response to their incredible raise in physical strength and speed.
As Link landed on one of the many slow-descending marble pillars, the smirking-faced Velkarez re-appeared as an after-image high above him before chuckling as he dropped down to dive-kick near him. The blonde youth side-stepped with the small room he was given before darting his body out of the once-armoured man's inevitable follow-up strikes. He reached up and, as Velkarez swung a long and lunging punch over his dodging shoulder, the youth grappled at his extended limb before yelling out in effort as he pulled him over in an effective somersault.
The wide-eyed Velkarez at last dropped his incessant smirk, this time in place of a legitimately surprised frown as he was sent careering back down to earth at a horrifying speed indeed; the similar-faced Link gave immediate pursuit and caked his boots in fire-shaded Aegir as he cannoned his form down in chase.
WHHIIIIINE...
Velkarez, just milliseconds before hitting impact, luckily somersaulted his own body 'round in swift recovery before widening his eyes and bringing up his two crossed muscled arms skyward in defence; successfully billowing up a likewise gargantuan aura of Quintessence and Aegir, his own dull-white in colour.
CRASSSSH-DROOOOOOOOOM-SKRRRRRRRRRR
The two remained in their hard-eyed struggle before, eventually and soon as well, the re-smirking Velkarez found the balance very quickly shifting between them. When Link realised it however, it was far too late; he gasped and attempted to kick off of the man's arms to back-flip away to safety but the smirking-faced Velkarez used his very Aegir-shroud itself to form sheer arms of magic-like quality to reach up and grapple at the boy's extended body.
"Ah...!"
KERRRASSSSHHH
In that single gasp the young Hylian was suddenly and violently thrashed savagely back into the ruined marble floor beneath them; he could barely utter a word as he collided ruthlessly with it, offering a cough of light blood as he rebounded off the ground from the sheer agony he suffered. Velkarez chortled on in amusement as he rose up his right leg, presumably to stomp and finish off the youth with, before the glaring-eyed Link's form shimmered in and out of itself.
SMASH
As the tall man inevitably drew up rubble and wreckage from his attempt, he gave out a small huff as he watched the blonde's figure glimmer away as if to be a simple after-image. He removed his foot from the wrecked area before, very slowly, re-asserting his posture; Velkarez breathed in and out in a gradual process as if to calm his nerves, almost as if he were waiting for something. Sure enough, the shimmer re-appeared directly on the commander's top rear-left and Velkarez's wide smirk re-drew itself all across his maliciously-held expression.
He swung up his muscled left arm to catch the quick-moving Link's inevitable punch before at last giving vent to a cacophonous laugh, slated only to match the brutal counter-attack that followed; a grappling swing that saw the wide-eyed Hero of Time go overhead and smash horrifically against the hard surface below. Velkarez's smirk widened ever further as he brought up his free right fist and, rapidly-charging it with dull-white Aegir, he chuckled on cruelly as he bent forward to send it swinging down on the fallen boy.
DROOOOOOOOOOM
In a meaty-timed explosion of sheer power that saw their battleground lit up in another smoke-filled enigma, the watching Sheik rose up her bandaged arms to block the impending wind that blew from the powerful strike. As the smoke permeated on around his tall and heavily-injured form, Velkarez very slowly drew his eyes around as if to search for any possible survivors. Seemingly satisfied in his short search, he chortled quietly to himself and re-opened his mouth as he shut his deep-green eyes as if in lament.
"What a shame...," Velkarez smirked on sarcastically. "And after starting so strong t-"
FWIP
The Stralanavian's eyes widened in a bout of legitimate surprise and he darted them both to his back; the sound, and sudden movement at his rear, made him realise that a form had somehow re-appeared directly behind his position. He didn't even have to turn 'round to face it to correctly deduce that it was the relatively small form of his enemy, the newly-grinning young Link himself. He stood ever in his telltale confident-faced smirk fists clenched at his side as he stared forward, small and pointed ears perked up as if to listen for any change in his older opponent's movement or behaviour.
"This is unheard of...," the firmly-frowning form of Velkarez thought to himself, eyes glaring forward as he ruminated on. "There's no convincing argument that this boy is a Hylian," he silently began, his brow furrowing in thought. "The Hylians were slavers, all of them, living on the fake legacy they inherited from their make-believe gods..."
So then why, he began again...
"Why is this boy so strong?"
–
3
As the smoke clouds surrounding the pair of fighters eventually dissolved out in the air, the grinning-faced Link jabbed an elbow backward in assault. The glaring-eyed Velkarez's tall form shimmered through the boy's limb before swiftly vanishing into and away from it; one more after-image. The former Kokiri's grin soon fell into a hardened frown of his own and Link darted his eyes 'round in swift search for the missing Templar.
FWOOSH
"Link!"
It was only when he caught the soprano of his close companion far-off from him and a rapidly-approaching sphere of powerfully-whirring Aegir energy that Link clocked it on full-contact toward him. Faced with no other alternative in the sheer size of the humongous dull-white-shaded projectile, Link smashed his boots roughly and fiercely into the marble ground beneath his toes before pulling his arms back and hanging his open palms over one another horizontally. A bright-blue Aegir of his own loaded up with frightening speed, almost as if to match the fast-approaching projectile, before the boy at last responded to it.
"Shinku HADOKEN!"
FWOOSH
KERRRASSSSHHH-DROOOOOM-KRRRRR
It didn't take long for the strenuous technique to wear the young Hylian out and, as he caught his breath in a fairly quick gasp he double-took behind him only to widen his eyes at the sight waiting for him in his undefended rear. The low-smirking Velkarez stood imposingly over the straw-haired boy, his eyes narrowing lightly as he chuckled on down at him maliciously.
SMASH
"Agh...!"
As the youth was inevitably sent flying from the fierce counter-attack that Velkarez had previously set up, the former colonel followed up his assault with a glaring-eyed vanish. He re-appeared directly behind the high-flying boy, primed and ready to continue his offensive. It was only when the former Hero of Time's small body began to approach his own that a flash of light emanated out from his body, surprising not just the watching and grunting Velkarez but the gasping Sheik far-off from their position.
When the flash eventually subsided the careering Link's Hylian form had, somehow and inexplicably changed to a Goron; the watching Velkarez, unable to even answer the incredible phenomenon, could only widen his eyes as he opened his mouth to voice his shock.
"What in the name of the SORCERER?!"
As the new grinning-faced Goron rocketed into the man's face, Velkarez's sudden shock essentially opening him up, the new form Link inhabited laughed on as he smashed his new muscled rocky-bodied fist directly into the yelling military man's face.
SLAM
"Gurgh...!"
As Goron Link landed, skidding roughly against the already ruined marble floored ground below, he smirked on in satisfaction as he rose up his left arm. Palm opened up and pulsing with a dull aura of Aegir, the ground ahead of the high-flying Velkarez responded; it shot up to meet him in a savage and ruthless combination of rock bursts that essentially acted as his prison. The man roared out in urgency, arm reached out in hatred toward the smirking Link as his tall muscled form was inevitably ate up by the pair of huge boulder-brown pillars.
CRASSSSSH
Velkarez's deep-baritone scream was cut short almost as soon as the rock pillars landed, leaving the grinning Link merely to lower his superior left palm and admire his handiwork. It was only when the blinking Sheik watching nearby whispered out his name that he double-took in her direction, his smirk soon dropping in favour of a sheepish-faced frown.
"Oh," he blinked back at her, realising she must not recognise him. "Don't worry Zel," he chuckled on well-naturedly, raising up one of his muscled arms to rub the back of his head as his oceanic eyes shut. "It's me."
KERRRASSSSH-DROOOOOM
Rock flew everywhere in a sea of spitting shards that made the frowning-faced Link swing his Goron head 'round, narrowing Darmani's eyes back at the perhaps inevitable result of his own counter-attack; hanging briefly in the air and heavily-injured to match, Velkarez huffed on in noticeable effort as he slowly descended back down to earth, his earlier entertained smirk now dropped only to be replaced by a bloodied and hate-filled lowly-held scowl.
He panted on as he re-opened his mouth to voice his thoughts. "I thought you were supposed to be a Hylian...," the former Stralanavian colonel growled over quietly enough that Link had strain Darmani's ears just to hear him. "Can you shape-shift now...?"
"Kinda...," Link merely answered him with, his ever telltale grin returning to him as he folded his buff rock-like arms back at the man, leaning his body to the side as he did. "Let's just say it's... a disguise." He finished in an elusive grin, his teeth shining on in amusement as he did. Even as angered by the counter-assault as he was, Velkarez's scowl slowly gave way to an entertained smirk of his own and he chortled to successfully display it.
"Hmph...," he huffed out, bringing up his own injured arms to fold similarly, re-rising his burnt-haired head to overlook his opponent in the smarmy fashion he had come to be known with. "You certainly are an interesting one... Hylian and Goron... eh...?"
FLASH
Link's own smirk quickly fell when he noticed the man's form flicker; an obvious sign of superspeed. His oceanic eyes darted 'round to swing behind him and, sure enough, the once-armoured man had re-appeared directly behind him as if to ambush him from the back. Realising that the wise commander was clearly opting to go for some form of fake out, Link's smirk returned to his face as he confidently drew the deceased Darmani's Aegir through the Goron Mask he now wore so well into a fierce aura of fire-like Aegir. As it slowly surrounded his body and dimly gave him some form of protection, he rose up his left clenched arm to intercept the similar-faced Velkarez's fast-descending fist; a feint of defence.
"Hmph...," Velkarez huffed out satisfyingly, his eyes widening in seeming knowing as he laughed in his next sentence. "Predictable!"
VRUM
Velkarez uttered out a gasp and his eyes widened a second time but, this time, in shock; as he swung his fist down to match his smaller opponent's twist, the aura surrounding his form responded to the muscled man's touch and glowed on boldly as it erupted in his face.
KRSH
The sound of glass being shattered knocked noisily against the walls of Kaiohdrahl's throne room, leaving great ripples of morale in the grinning Link's wake as Velkarez inevitably was sent flying back from his counter-offence somehow. Velkarez swung his body back into an acrobatic aerial flip to recover, growling in half-anger and annoyance as he did; eyes boring a hole back into the held-turned grinning-faced Goron that stared back at him.
"Hmph...," the glaring-eyed mercenary began, a twitch to his scowl as he landed slowly. "Feeling rather...," he started again, his scowl gradually slipping up into a half-amused bloody-faced smirk of his own. "Confident... aren't we?" He bantered on.
The standing Goron Link merely re-folded his rocky-bodied arms back at the man as he turned to face him, seemingly fairly pleased with himself.
FWIP
The sound of Aegir being tapped into made the listening youth blink and regain his old curious frown, darting his oceanic-eyed gaze 'round in swift search only to find small rocks of the nearby lying debris lightly flying up to meet Velkarez's form. The Templars' commander smirked back at the watching Link in a confident-eyed look of his own before movement to their sides, Velkarez's right and the gasping Link's left, both made them swing their query-filled looks 'round.
"Lord Velkarez!"
"Boss!"
Two soldiers, joined by a small collection of mercenaries behind them, all rushed in brandishing multiple weapons and armour as if readied for war itself.
"Let us deal with this swine!"
"Yeah we'll fu-"
"NO!"
Even the listening Link couldn't help but upturn one of his own eyebrows in shock, swinging his surprised-eyed frown 'round on the roaring baritone of his prideful enemy. Velkarez stood in another hate-filled glare, his eyes directed at his own company of Templars now staring back at him in similar-eyed shock.
"B-But boss, why?!" The second soldier called out, wincing. "We can easily-"
"I do not need your assistance Hector!" Velkarez snapped back pridefully, his face contorted to match his angered tone. "I have already eliminated most of this shapeshifting trickster's troops...," he began again, his scowl slowly slipping back into its superior-faced smirk as he re-eyed the watching Link. "I put it to you... what's one more...?"
Almost as immediately as he finished his cruelly-spoken sentence, the school of high-flying rocks and debris were sent careering toward the standing Link; he narrowed his oceanic eyes back at them before swiftly side-stepping and darting his head out of the way as they inevitably passed by. Eventually, and soon as well, the folded-armed Velkarez chuckled on sadistically as he manipulated the large amount of stone and rubble merely with his Aegir and mind; an incredible technique at that, even for a man once-thought to be simply a brute.
"Now it's my turn." The newly-smirking Link shot back, faltering the once-thought indomitable smirk of Velkarez's own plastered on his expression.
SMASH
CRASH
KERASH
The flying debris soon found itself being broken, one by one, as it flew 'round the grinning-faced Link; he swung his powerful Goron fists directly into each predictably-moving one before the watching Velkarez eventually grew impatient. With annoyance creeping into his motives, he narrowed his eyes and increased the amount of rocks and debris floating 'round to catch the transformed boy with.
"Let's up the scales...," the watching Velkarez began, his annoyed frown quickly morphing into an amused smirk. "And double the fun."
The amount of rocks and boulders now darting 'round the quick-moving Link made even the watching Templars all murmur out in surprise, sheerly at the speed at which he moved to be able to avoid them all. Eventually, however, the youth had seemingly had enough. He sent both large arms to his sides and yelled out in effort as he channelled what seemed to be a dark-brown shaded aura of Aegir; one of the last remaining abilities and powers of the fallen spirit resting within the Goron Mask himself, Darmani the Third.
FROHHHH
CRICK-CRICK-CRICK-CRICK
The countless number of rocks and boulders were all blown apart in the great display of Aegir-like fireworks, leaving the watching men and Velkarez himself in fairly unimpressed murmurs and frowns.
"Hmph..." The watching Velkarez huffed out, eyes narrowing forward as he did. He turned his frizzy-haired head 'round, as if to examine the debris-strewn battlefield in their wake, before slowly regaining his light smirk as he did. He re-faced the confident-eyed youth before tilting his head and raising up his two muscled arms.
"What's he...?"
Link's quietly-voiced query was answered almost as quickly as it was asked; the ground began to rumble, and quite violently at that, leaving the wide-eyed young Goron near stumbling in surprise from the sheer strength at which the ground rumbled. It was only when a rather large side of an already near-broken part of the throne room's wall ripped right off that Link realised where the source of the noise and power came from; his oceanic eyes both widened at the sheer monster size of the new piece of wreckage.
He's gonna use that to attack me with, he thought.
"Let's see how you deal... with this one." The former knight grinned back at the youth before widening his own eyes and grunting out as he pushed forward his open-palmed left hand. Like magic, the gargantuan part of the wall came hurtling toward the wide-eyed Link; utilising a mixture of his own and the deceased Darmani's Goron-like strength, Link slammed both his boots deep into the ground below him to get a decent foothold before narrowing his eyes forward. Sure enough, as the wreckage fast-approached him, it knocked violently into his Goron-like grip.
CRASH-SKRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
"Hngh...!"
As half-expected, the sheer size and power with which it was tossed forward caused Link to begin skidding savagely backwards, directly aiming him for the other side of the wide room's wall. He sweated from sheer exertion of attempting to stop its traction and movement and, finding very little success in doing so, he reached deep into his brain to find some other quick method to victory.
This doesn't look good, he thought worriedly.
KERRRRASSSSHHHH-RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
The watching Templars all let loose the dogs of war in morale-raising cries of cheers for their commander, grins in their voices as they watched the young shape-shifting Goron's form easily lose sight between the wall and the debris.
FLASH
Even behind the wreckage, however, the noise and very brief sight of a far-off light emanated out from within the pair of sandwiched walls, effectively silencing the yelling men. They all narrowed their eyes and furrowed their brows in curiosity as the light that briefly twinkled between the walls lit up again, this time ahead of the original piece of huge wreckage sent for its enemy. When the light dissipated, a new form and figure completely re-appeared in a confident-eyed grin; he stood tall and slim as opposed to the Goron's stubby, short and muscled form, ocean-blue skin in colour.
Unlike his other form, he wore a similar head-fin to his close companion's Alwyn; a full and uninjured one that would probably have made him envious. Two long strips of skin delved down from his head, the bottoms shaded up in light-blonde almost as if to hearken back to its original owner's own colour of hair. Just like his Goron counterpart however, he wore the Kokiri tunic lower half and two large boots that matched the original's and even carried his adult form's fingerless gloves; a telltale sign of its disguiser.
The new Zora that clearly stood before them grinned on in satisfaction, fists clenched in the air as he landed rather gracefully, his body held low before he swiftly took off upward, flipping acrobatically to gain his old space back. The unamused deep-faced frown that Velkarez wore very quickly ascended upwards into a half-impressed smirk, chortling as he did.
"Hmph... impressive."
–
4
As the once-armoured Templars' commander chortled on, the new form that Link took merely flashed his own closed-mouthed smirk back, tilting his blue-shaded head in response.
"So...," Velkarez began again, brow furrowing in deep-thought as he re-folded his arms. "You are Hylian... Goron... and even Zoran...," he started quietly, rising up his burnt-haired head as he likewise arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "Could it be you're even human at all...?"
Link's smirk widened, but only a little; choosing to display his defiance to the man via a simple gesture. He ran his fingerless gloved thumb across his nose in his signature of disrespect, merely opting not to voice a worded reply at all.
"How about... we up the stakes to this little game?"
This time Link's grin fell in place of an unsure frown and he opened up Mikau's deceased mouth to speak. "What stakes?"
"Bol'she nikakikh meshkov s peskom."
The listening blonde youth could only blink back at the man doubtfully, unable to even understand the difficulty-spoken words coming through to him. Velkarez swung his head back and laughed before regaining his old widened smirk and re-opening his mouth to elaborate.
"It's Stralanavian...," he spoke this time in modern Hylian. "It means 'no more sandbagging'...," the man began again, his deep-green eyes lightly narrowing as he unfolded his arms to briefly flex his fingers back at the youth. "What do you think, hm...?" He spoke quietly, eyebrow rising up in curiosity. "What say we stop flexing our muscles and... finish this fight?"
The hardened narrow to his eyes he spoke in the inflection of his sentence made the watching Link briefly narrow his own before tilting his head a little in curiosity.
"Sounds good, but..."
Velkarez chuckled again, seemingly entertained by the youth's doubt. "What's wrong?" He batted back insultingly. "Not certain you can take me?"
Link's smirk descended down from his facial expression, instead giving way to a worried-faced frown; a frown that he twitched only once in response.
The words of the Sorcerer reverberated on in his mind.
"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."
If this goes on the way he said, then this guy's gonna kill me again, he thought.
So what do I do?
The lure of Kage Narumono's Shinzui, and of the Fierce Deity Mask resting in his possession, was looking mighty alluring right about now.
"Killing you again shall be sheer delight..."
Velkarez's knowing and malevolent-sounding chuckle made the Zoran-disguised boy rise up his oceanic eyes from his worried ruminations, his brow furrowing on as he listened, almost as if to wait for another answer to present itself before him.
"You should be flattered...," the Templars' commander began again lowly, deep-green eyes narrowing as he lowered his open-palmed hands to rest at his similarly lowered sides. He set apart both his muscled and torn-clothed legs apart as if to give himself more room to fight with. "Not once in my entire military career have I been backed into a corner this badly...," the former colonel chuckled on in amusement. "Your little company of companions are quite resourceful for rats."
Link's deep-faced frown hardened ever further, twitching on as he listened intently.
"But once I go all the way here I won't hold back...," Velkarez spoke firmly, his eyes narrowing as he spoke as if in warning. "You may not even have a body for your companions to bury..."
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
The listening Link gasped out quietly to himself, turning his eyes downward as he felt the ground begin to shake. It was only when he double-took in Velkarez's direction that he realised the source was, of course, from him; the former Stralanavian colonel merely smirked on lowly back at him in a kind of knowing, menacing look in his eye. The dull-white aura of his powerful Aegir grew denser and thicker, turning to resemble sheer fire itself; seemingly a signature of his rapidly-rising strength.
This is it, Link thought in another twitch to his troubled-faced frown.
This is where I have to make a decision.
Fight on as I am or turn to Kage and the Fierce Deity.
"I have to at least try before I think about them..."
His silently-held worries and ruminations were answered by a silent shut-eyed sigh, breathing on through his nose as he re-opened his eyes and clenched his fists again.
FWIP
The sound of Link's superspeed echoed on out of his body as he sped 'round the muscled man to his undefended rear, his new Zoran body held lowly as he clenched both fists at his side as if to charge forward with. He, very slowly, began to advance forward in a careful narrow-eyed shuffle.
"You Hylians..."
Velkarez's hardened baritone made the youth rise up his eyebrows and stop advancing almost immediately, his nerves risen up to correctly display his anxiety.
"All so stubborn... so adamant...," Velkarez began again, eyes narrowing into the deep wreckage-strewn battlefield where Link once stood. "Clawing desperately for the former reigns of power you once commanded... that you fail to understand any other possible ending to this confrontation."
Link's hardened frown twitched again as he listened, unwilling to move from his current position.
"Just like flies... floating ever closer to the spider's web to die," the former colonel spoke in a harsh growl to his baritone, eyes narrowing in the inflection of his sentence. He shut his deep-green eyes and shook his head as he lightly rose up his hands to shrug, almost as if to add to his degree of lament. "But what can I do...? When I offer you a peaceful way and you throw it back in my face..."
The watching Zoran-disguised boy's sea-shaded eyes widened, both in growing horror to the realisation of the Sorcerer's words and the terror of their inevitable truth; it very brief, momentary, but he felt a glimpse of change in the muscled man's Aegir. Once thought to be fairly high in its normalcy it was now infallibly high; something that the watching Link could barely believe.
It was a height that he had felt not even within Ganondorf or Majora's Mask.
"W-Wha-?! But that's-!"
"With this increase...," Velkarez answered the shock-faced boy, his hardened eyes narrowing. "Not even your companions will be able to bury what remains of you."
FWIP
CRACK
It was movement, and super-fast at that, but far too quick for the watching Link to even take note of let alone follow; the glaring-eyed Velkarez re-appeared, suspended in mid-air, seemingly having cracked the grunting youth across the face with his extended left elbow. Inevitably Zora Link found himself stumbling back a few steps, his nose having been broken in the ruthless exchange. He finally managed to stabilise his footing and gasped on in a mixture of shock and agony, rising up his left finned arm to wipe away at the small trickle of blood that fell from his new wound.
"I can't even see him now...," the worried-eyed boy thought to himself, watching the man's newly-standing form as carefully as he could. "Maybe... maybe the Sorcerer was right..."
Maybe only Kage and the Fierce Deity can take this guy on, he finished anxiously.
FWIP
Again the Templars' quick commander vanished without a trace and Link's senses tightened almost he had half-expected, he wasn't ready for the abrupt sweep the lightning-fast soldier struck him with, knocking him over. Zora Link grunted out as he ran out his left-palmed fist to catch the ground below him to recover.
CRACCCCK
"Ah...!"
Link's oceanic eyes widened, both in abject horror and agony; somehow, in great spite to the man's long-winded sweep, Velkarez found a way to follow-up his assault by slamming another elbow directly into the boy's lower chest. The Zoran-disguised youth found himself dropping slowly to his knees in a manner similar to the fallen and unconscious Raynard, shaking violently and taking in sharp pained breaths. He coughed out small plumes of blood as he dropped his right palm to the marble floor beneath him, his left gripping his horribly-injured chest as he did.
"Strike... now... while my back is turned."
Velkarez's words, so hazy-sounding to the horrifically-injured Zoran-disguised Hylian, could only sound like garbles and muffled noise; he grunted on and gasped out continually, sweat coming down in droves from the sheer exertion his body went through.
"What's wrong...?" The knowing Templars' commander began again, deep-green eyes narrowing as he swung his burnt-haired head 'round to glare down at the kneeling youth superiorly. "Has the illusion at last wore off?" He asked. "Have you finally begun to see the truth?"
Link's thoughts went back to the knowing words of the ever-wise Sorcerer and how this would inevitably happen to him.
If this goes on, he thought.
I'm going to die again.
And they won't bring me back this time either.
"I have to try... I can't give in to the Shinzui yet!"
In those hardened words echoing out boldly through his mind he, very slowly, rose up to his feet to darken the back-turned Velkarez with his own glower of hatred. He swung his right leg up in an obvious, if quick assault, that the firmly-frowning muscled man shimmered out of; seemingly his body moving at an incredible speed that not even he could follow anymore. As Velkarez inevitably responded with a swift roundhouse of his own, Link somehow managed to avoid it before narrowing his oceanic-eyed gaze downward as he descended on the man's form. He rose up his fist, widened his eyes and grit his teeth in effort as he swung it down to strike him.
FWIP
SMASH
Perhaps expectantly, the lying Velkarez's figure shimmered again before eventually vanishing completely leaving the horribly-injured Link to gasp again as he bent down on his knees and coughed out a small plume of blood, the weight on his recently-gained wound seemingly taking its toll on him.
"I commend you... truly..."
The vision Link possessed grew hazy and blurry again as he shakily rose up his Zoran-bodied head to face the folded-armed Velkarez staring back at him; this time he wore a half-amused smirk drawn about his hardened bloodied expression.
"Aside from your other Hylian companion... no other man, let alone a simple child has managed to push me this far... or even survive this long," he finished, this time in a hard-eyed growl to his glaring baritone before his frown upturned into another amused smirk. "Now... don't think me vain... but are you impressed...?"
There's no way I can beat him like this, the kneeling Link thought to himself tensely, shaking on in agony as he struggled to recover. He lowered his blue-shaded head, eyes scrunched shut and teeth grit as droplets of blood slowly dripped down from the white choppers he wore.
"The Sorcerer was right..."
–
5
"What a waste..."
The blonde boy was forced to rise up his head this time to face the slow-marching man, eyes widened in light-faced surprise; sure enough, the folded-armed Velkarez stood imposingly and superiorly over him, glowering on as if in some form of disapproval and disappointment.
"Somehow I knew... even if I asked... you'd give me the same answer as that rat of a Hylian I beat into submission," the former Stralanavian colonel claimed, eyes narrowing on as he spoke firmly. "You both could have seen amazing things... a steady diet of war for growing boys... countries falling to our company's might... and Aurelia all uniting under one banner once more, free of tyranny!"
Link re-lowered his head, scrunching shut his eyes in a forlorn scowl as he did, blood staining the marble floor beneath him in despair as he did.
"Hmph...," Velkarez began again, his brow furrowing this time, perhaps in some form of pity. "Perhaps only some of us are destined for greatness..."
The fallen Link actually managed to feel the high-standing Velkarez's next assault coming, perhaps a slow one, but this time he reached reluctantly back into his inventory and pulled out a face-painted mask.
The one thing he did not want to rely on.
As he shuffled it as best he could over the Zora Mask he already kept over his face, it reacted almost instantaneously; a bright light flashed in his eyes and only grew stronger, joined by a powerful-sounding aura of white-shaded Aegir that managed to force even the wide-eyed Velkarez stumbling a few steps back.
"What in the-?"
SHHHIIIIIIIIIING...
Velkarez's curious query was soon answered, but not timely, as the short burst of white-shaded Aegir grew so powerful it managed to encapsulate not only his own form but the wide-eyed Velkarez's.
"Boss!"
"Commander!"
"Link!"
The sounds of the pair's comrades and companion all floated up into the air, joined only by the dull sound of the aura that echoed out to mix with the sight of the beautiful ambience before them. As half-expected, an unnatural wind kicked up to push all watching from even approaching let alone interfering in the inevitably-divine event. As the wind, and heightened wall of Aegir all eventually dissipated, the watching crowd all murmured out as their eyes slowly adjusted to their old surroundings as if to look for their missing champions.
Velkarez grunted out in surprise, bringing down his muscled arms blocking his shut eyes and re-opening them only to blink forward in further query. Standing before him, no longer the short young Hylian he remembered exchanging fists with, was a new figure entirely; an adult form, like him, that glared on down at his open-palmed, silver gloved hands. As opposed to the youth's once-bright blonde hair a curtain of deep-silver instead sat upon his head, matched by the new silver plates of armour he sported on his torso and lower half.
A similarly-coloured under-shirt and tunic, a little darker in colour sat underneath the plates. Along with the big brown boots that sat on his legs it truly looked like some twisted, alternative variant of the young boy Velkarez had been fighting.
The Stralanavian warrior narrowed his eyes back into his new enemy's and found merely spaces of pure eerie white as opposed to the deep-oceanic he was used to.
Who is this, the worried Templar thought.
Deep-crimson and firm-blue face-paint sat upon his expression, written under his eyes and over his brow respectively; somehow, as Velkarez stared back at him in examination, he felt like he had seen him somewhere before. Just as with the original young Hylian himself, he had a faithfully-looking silver-coloured hat resting on his head and two small and pointed ears sitting on the sides of his head.
Sitting also on the new man's back was a long and twisted great-sword; a fearsome looking blade indeed.
It was only when the new form of his enemy re-rose his white-spaced eyes to glare back at him that the once-confident Velkarez found himself near taking a step back, panic very slowly gripping at his nerves.
Something felt off in the air about this new person, he thought.
"Something divine and other-wordly."
Harbinger of the Hero of Time's Destiny
The 'Fierce Deity'
FWIP
Velkarez at last took the step backward that he had been putting off when the deep scowl of his new enemy stood imposingly and threateningly over him, his new tall adult form towering even above Velkarez's once-commanding own figure.
"W-What the-?"
Shocked by the youth's new sudden burst of godlike speed, he could barely open his mouth to voice his surprise when he felt the man merely reach up and grapple at one of his hands.
CRACK
"Agh...!"
Shocked again by the sheer level of overpowering physical strength in which the new form of his enemy commanded over him, Velkarez grit his teeth as he began to pull angrily at his right hand in an unsuccessful tug-of-war. The Fierce Deity, his hardened-eyed glaring expression unchanging, opted to merely remain eerily silent as he pressed down further on the man's fingers.
CRACCCK
"ARGH!"
Almost immediately the once superior-faced man's scowl grew even worse as he drew his boots deep into the marble floor beneath him, dropping to his knees as he used his free left hand to grip at his right arm. At long last, following his odd and divine-like transformation, the Fierce Deity spoke.
"Tenchi no hedatari-o-mikiwame rarenu to...," he began lowly, his new baritone a mirror to his old adult form and yet somehow different; a kind of filter flowed through it, not quite alike to Kage Narumono's, a more divine and godlike one that seemed to suit his new form more. "Wa awarenari..."
Velkarez's deep-green eyes widened as he re-opened his mouth to roar in a mixture of agony and effort; as he glared back up at the Fierce Deity a huge spinning aura of black-shaded Aegir formed around them, perhaps a defensive technique in order to regain his positioning and freedom. Unfortunately for the former colonel, however, it seemed to do little but kick up wind; the watching Fierce Deity's glaring-eyed gaze was unchanged and only his beautifully-curtained silver-shaded hair bounced around as a result of the technique.
At long last, however, the Fierce Deity deigned to let go of the wide-eyed Templars' commander; in a sudden and bold back-dash, Velkarez's roar was cut short as he skid a few yards safely away from the tall looming form of his new opponent. He gasped out continually, eyes widened as globs of sweat dropped from his forehead, as if he had been frightened out of his sheer life; a fact that carried over into the mad-eyed look he carried as he rolled his injured right wrist around, as if to restore its feeling and blood flow.
"What... what are you?!" He called over, his eyes narrowing into the deep white spaces of his enemy's. "You can't be the same boy! You just can't; it's just impossible!"
Just as before, the Fierce Deity opted instead to stare eerily and oddly back into curious-eyed gaze of his own enemy's, a ghost-like look in the deep white spaces of his eyes.
"Commander!"
"Boss!"
At last reminded of his soldiers' presence, Velkarez swung his shock-faced frown 'round on the men before widening his eyes. His nerves seemed to loosen up just a little when he noticed them.
"Let us deal with this!"
"We'll kill 'im for ya!"
The glaring-eyed commander's ugly-faced scowl returned to his face as he double-took in the direction of the wide-eyed Sheik. Anger took over and he re-opened his mouth, presumably to give voice to an order.
"Kill the girl."
Sheik swung her blonde-haired head 'round and, unable to move from her grievous injures earlier, could only widen her disguised-red eyes as the men behind her all let loose war-cry yells in their quick advance forward, weapons all singing steel as they exited the sheaths and belts they carried.
SHHHIIIIIIIIIING...
An odd kind of ethereal Aegir formed up around the young girl's form, deep-silver in colour and diamond in shape; the men all stopped, surprised. Velkarez, similarly perplexed, swung his burnt-haired head 'round to widen his deep-green eyes back at the caster only to find the glaring form of the Fierce Deity, his left-palmed fist extended outward. He lowered it slowly before similarly gradually turning his silver-haired head 'round to glower back at the grunting Velkarez.
"Kill her, men!" Velkarez spat out angrily, his eyes briefly glaring into his enemy's before he re-faced his right. "Kill her!"
The nameless soldiers all let loose their yells again as they ran toward the knelt would-be Sheikah and she scrunched shut her eyes as she brought her hands up to rest on her head, almost as if to protect herself. When the men's weapons perhaps inevitably bounced harmlessly off of the diamond-shaped aura that encapsulated the gasping Sheik, the watching Velkarez's scowl twitched on in further growing rage; he darted his head 'round to glare over at the tall Fierce Deity.
"What did you do?!"
"Seinaru sankakkei no chikara wa anata no monode wa arimasen..."
The listening Templars' commander could only rise up his eyebrows as he grunted out back in surprise, leaning his head a little backward as he did.
"Ancient Hylian...," he murmured back in modern language, eyes narrowing in examination. "What in god's name are you?!" He yelled over this time, an angry filter to his once-calm baritone.
Again, as ever, the Fierce Deity merely opted to stare spookily back into the hardened-eyed glare of his enemy's.
"Rrgh... men!" The man began again angrily, turning his glare on the surprised-eyed regiment of his soldiers. "Kill the caster!"
ROAAAAAR
In a single yelling scream joined by their narrow-eyed comrades, the remaining Templars all called out in war-cries as they turned their weapons and advance on the standing Fierce Deity; the watching divine-like youth opted not even to turn 'round to face them, his eyes remaining hardened on the twitching scowl of the watching Velkarez.
Almost as quickly as the men all rushed for him were a large number of them simply blown away; the glaring-eyed Fierce Deity darted his pupil-less eyes 'round to cast his glower on them and, like magic, a gust of wind-driven Aegir blew a number of the soldiers careering back whence they came. As they tumbled and rolled in pained grunts, swords and axes singing noisily as they also crashed to the ground, the remainder left of the now relatively small force all leapt at him with their weapons drawn and ready.
CRACK
SMACK
KRRRRICK
WHAM
The mixed military men all let out calls of agony, surprise and anger as the nimble form of the Fierce Deity easily and near-effortlessly danced 'round their attacks before swiftly issuing out each attacking member a counter-assault in his evasion; an effective defensive strategy, but only for those with much superior strength and speed. The watching Velkarez, knowing of this fact and having it sink deep down into his worried consciousness, began to twitch his hardened scowl once more in rapid-growing horror.
SHHHIIIIIIIIIING
The sound of the twisted great-sword came singing noisily off the godlike figure's back and, as it did, its wielder widened his ghost-like eyes as he spun his form in a super-fast twisting motion; essentially a variant of the Spin Attack.
SLICE-SWIPE-TEAR-RRRRIP
In savage strikes indeed, the twisted great-sword managed to cut through the yelling men's armour and even down to their skin and bone; a horrifying sight for the watching Sheik and Velkarez. As the poor nameless Templars all fell to the ground bloodied, battered and bruised, the Fierce Deity at last recovered from his swift assault to turn his leaning-headed glare back on the watching Velkarez.
"It... it can't be...," the Templars' commander whispered out, taking a step back from the leaning-headed Fierce Deity. "Y-You're him..."
The Fierce Deity's hardened expression remained unchanged; his mouth similarly opting to remain closed.
"'Akuma'...," Velkarez whispered on ominously. "Said to be a harbinger of Aurelia's end itself...," he hissed out, a mixture of disdain and shock. "It was once predicted... that when you appear... this continent, and the world, will sink into darkness forever..."
"Ima...," the Fierce Deity at last spoke, his adult baritone with a divine-like filter flowing through it. "Anata wa kyōfu o shirudeshou... Velkarez."
The listening man, having been named by the mysterious godlike figure before him, could only take another step back as he began to slowly shake.
That's ancient Hylian again, he thought.
"Now... you will know the horror... Velkarez."
It was somewhat difficult to translate word for word; it was a form of ancient Hylian so dated that very little words of it existed in books today.
"But... this should be impossible...," Velkarez growled out lamentably, his grit teeth managing to near-muffle his words as he spat his sentence out hatefully. "I thought the power from your holy Triangle pieces was completely cut off!"
It was only when he felt the same level of Aegir from the unchanging glaring-faced Fierce Deity that Velkarez widened his eyes again, his scowl growing ever worse, if that were even possible.
"It's coming from you!" The man roared out, rage and anger taking over his great fear of the new godlike opponent he stared back at. "All this power is coming from you somehow!"
Once again, the Fierce Deity opted to merely glare wordlessly and eerily back into the widened deep-green eyes of his horrified and raging enemy, his aura of silver-shaded Aegir filling his body like a dull-looking fiery coat.
"You can't take Kaiohdrahl from me!" Velkarez barked over hatefully, a desperate kind of quality creeping into his once-stalwart words. "I won't let you! Now DIE!"
Opting this time instead to pull back both his muscled palms, he rapidly charged them both up with whining Aegir before re-widening his eyes and roaring out in effort as he sent it rocketing forward; a huge streaming projectile that, perhaps inevitably, merely bounced off of the unmoving and unchanged Fierce Deity's silver-coloured aura.
"Damn you, Akuma!" Velkarez screamed out hatefully, turning his left arm out to his far side. In response to the Aegir that whined within, his silver spear came flying ever faithfully into his grip to follow him as he began to charge forward in a deft sprint. "You may be a legend but you're still just a lowly Hylian! And I'm going to prove it!"
The Fierce Deity, his expression at last changing, opted to stand fully to attention before twirling the twisted great-sword he carried within his silver-gloved grip. Velkarez's scowl grew worse, animalistic even, his saliva flying out from his wide-open mouth in a maddened desperate frenzy as he leapt forward in one final assault. The watching Fierce Deity narrowed his ghost-like eyes back at the man, briefly lowered his own form and re-widened them as he met the man's charge with his own, weapon in both hands. He opened up his mouth to speak, seemingly for the final time to the once-armoured man.
"ISSHUN SENGEKI!"
CLAAAAANNNNNGGG-FWIP
The watching Sheik only managed to catch sight of the pair leaping toward one another; once they came within punching range, they both disappeared into what seemed to be a big black mist, effectively denying her and anyone else watching to spectate on the detail of what was happening. Only the sound of sword and fist tearing through flesh echoed on out, bouncing savagely and hatefully against the walls of Tiverpool Castle's throne room.
After quite a sizeable number of strikes and confirms light at long last returned to the throne room and, as it did, so too did the forms of the standing Fierce Deity and the wide-eyed and kneeling Velkarez; the two on opposite sides, Velkarez stared down at the ground in a wide-eyed shocked bloody-gurgling gasp as the narrow-eyed Fierce Deity stood imposingly in a double fist-clenched glare, his legs far apart from one another and his great-sword gripped tightly in his left-fingered hand.
A kanji character of ancient Hylian sat upon his back and Sheik never even had to squint to confirm its translation; a single word.
'Heaven'.
–
6
"Iku...," the Fierce Deity began, his godlike baritone a kind of mirror to the blonde boy's original adult's tone of voice. "Kokū e..." He finished in his hard-faced narrow-eyed glare.
"Im-Impressive...," Velkarez could only gasp out amidst his bloody-filled coughs, shakily and agonisingly turning his horrifically-injured head and body to face the boy with. A kind of entertained and mirthless grin adorned on his similarly destroyed face, his body slowly vanishing into dust from the leg up. "'Akuma'... same name as the one in the ancient books...," he chuckled on out hopelessly, blood dripping from his chin and mouth as he spoke, not without great difficulty. "Well played... Sainted Three..."
Sheik, her eyes widened in pure bizarre shock, could only blink back at the mystifying scene before her, still covered head-to-toe in the diamond-shaped protective covering that the Fierce Deity encapsulated her in.
What does all this mean, she wondered silently.
"No...," she began thoughtfully, brow furrowing at the low head-held form of her close companion now-turned aggressor; the Fierce Deity himself. "I think the more appropriate question is... who is he now?"