Chapter 23: Cleave and Sunder; a Familiar Face
Hunt for the Abducted Students Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Sunshine Coastline" - YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Setting" - Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"J-E-N-O-V-A" - Dissidia 012: Duodecim OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Underground Activities" - Final Fantasy X OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"J-E-N-O-V-A Absolute" - Final Fantasy VII OST. Scene 3 (First & Second Halves).
"The Decisive Battle (FFVI)" - Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
"Mysterious Coffin" - Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness OST. Scene 5 (First Half).
"Termination"; Kage Narumono's Theme - YS II Complete OST. Scene 5 (Second Half).
In their adventure across Aurelia Link and his companions manage to blaze their progress fairly quickly; an advancement that sees them crossing through Palashia into their next destination following their great tournament toward Kaiohdrahl. Their road is also joined but separately by the individually-travelling pair of Raynard Van Garrick and Scaverin Estienne; an old companion of Link from his adventuring days in Hyrule and former right-hand to the jailed Ganondorf himself.
As they begin to approach the beautiful beach-like country they find very quickly that Kaiohdrahl, and the people living within, have been taken off guard in a daring and dirty sneak attack; the 'Templars of the Weeping Stars', a mercenary company of former knights and soldiers formed from neighbouring Stralanavia, have turned their attention to nearby Kaiohdrahl, seemingly having grown tired of preying on simple villages and cities.
With Velkarez Grigovich, an erstwhile Stralanavian colonel of their military forces leading them, the Templars run riot on the poor unprepared men of Tiverpool City and easily begin to overpower the seaport municipal. Having made Kaiohdrahl their next destination, Link and his companions very quickly find themselves caught up within the assault and, as expected, deign to offer their assistance in putting down the Templars to help the poor citizens.
It is an endeavour however that goes badly fairly rapidly; although their counter-assault manages to put a few dents into the Templars' well-chosen invasion it is the appearance of the Templars' commander himself, Velkarez, that halts their easily-won progress so quickly. Velkarez challenges the overconfident Link to a one-on-one duel with their weapons of choice; Velkarez's silver spear and Link's Gilded Sword.
Like a rushing tidal wave against hardened stone and rock, Link's once-considered fairly strong offence falls short in a saddened untimely defeat; a failure that sends ripples and waves of doubt within the once-confident members of the group. It is in the killing of their close companion however, the one bridge they all shared with one another, that they make their next ill-chosen decision; one final attack, directed for the Templars and for Velkarez himself.
Having been travelling nearby due to the machinations of his sensei Scaverin, Raynard spots the fallen Link and Malon and decides also to take them with him; a snap decision of his own that sees him joining the inevitable struggle of Kaiohdrahl's next ruler. When he arrives he finds Impa's remaining forces near-decimated from the incredible and incomparable strength that Velkarez possesses; hardly a shocking sight in light of Velkarez's particular reputation, but indeed a worrying one on his next choice.
Perhaps inevitably Raynard finds himself desiring quite fiercely to duel with the smug Velkarez and to kill him, as he killed his companion; a sentiment that the former Stralanavian colonel takes the last Van Garrick up on. As they clash and rather fiercely at that Raynard's offensive, although fairly commanding otherwise, is beaten back relatively easily by the seemingly all-powerful Velkarez; he turns the tables and, even as Raynard transforms to the stage he once utilised in the Hylian Hyrax grand finals match with his blonde-haired rival, he finds little success as the Templars commander sends him packing in his all-knowing strength.
It is only when Link somehow returns to the Light World, restored and revitalised by the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide himself, that morale slowly begins to rebound on the last remaining group member conscious; Zelda herself. Velkarez reveals his intentions in not only conquering Kaiohdrahl, but neighbouring nations as well including the Hylians' homeland of Hyrule, but also in stealing their connection to the legendary and mythical Triforce itself; three triangle pieces of all-knowing power once left by the three golden goddesses, the Sainted Three.
Although Link manages to somehow match Velkarez's incredible strength and speed, he very quickly finds himself falling short when the older man undoes his restrictions to his massive potential; a revelation that leaves the once-confident Hero of Time reaching for any possible lead to victory, even to the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai itself. Said to be a chaotic Aegir resting within the Triforce, the Shinzui is an unpredictable force of nature, knowing no good or evil, but commanding intense and near-otherworldly power; indeed, a sentiment that the existence of the Fierce Deity himself echoes.
Written in the Hylianis' Historia books as 'Akuma', the Fierce Deity is a figure referred to as a 'yōkai'; a near-demonic presence that preys on all, good or evil indiscriminately and even more horrifying... seems to bear a near matchless resemblance to Link himself. Faced with no other option than to turn to the Shinzui and the godlike power that rests within it, Link dons the Fierce Deity's Mask he gained from his travels in Termina and puts down Velkarez almost as quickly as he does; an incredible sight that leaves the watching Zelda in an eerie mixture of horror and some twisted form of reverence.
In having exorcised Velkarez's soul with the 'Rikudo Osatsu', a telltale technique of the Shinzui, Link very gladly removes the Fierce Deity's Mask and turns to rescuing not only his close companions but the poor people having been imprisoned by the tyrannical Templars in the dungeons. They meet a man by the name of Beedle, a would-be merchant hoping with great fervour and an odd personality quirk indeed to sell his new wears; a Hyoi Pear and other such goods. Also resting in the dungeons beneath are two women, also from Stralanavia; Petrova and Selivanova, mother and child.
Petrova, a former professor of academy herself, has some form of reputation within the great country of Stralanavia and thanks the Hero of Time and his companions for their role in rescuing them; Impa, of course, elects to allow them passage with them. A sentiment that the rest of the well-intentioned group share with one another. As the Kaiohdrahl royal family also recover and lick their recently-received wounds, they also show their great gratitude and near force the group to stay within their lavish walls of Tiverpool Castle itself.
While within, they receive from word from a young woman working as a loyal knight for the royal family of disappearances of students at the 'Clearwater Institute'; an academy situated not far from Tiverpool City's outskirts and Beechmere Bridge. Link, ever the rude yet generous one, opts to volunteer himself to assist them; a thought that king Alabaster and queen Ophelia both reluctantly take him up on.
Now with one more goal and job in his lap to last him the month remaining to the next national championship tournament, Link hopes to train not just his physical muscles but his brainpower as well in Kaiohdrahl's next worrying incident...
Scene 1
"Right on! Lovin' this sun!"
True to his ever overly-exuberant style of attitude and speech, the grinning Link's words carried him out past Beechmere Bridge and into the road leading down through the beautiful sands below them. He ran forward down the hill and the watching Impa behind him sighed out through her small nose in a quiet display of frustration, joined by the similarly annoyed Vassia and Malon next to her. Zelda, however, opted to show off a slightly-amused smile ever wide on her face as she joined her small hands behind her back.
"Yo, pipsqueak!"
The sound of Barkner's laughing baritone made the half-surprised Link stop in his rush only to swing his blonde-haired head 'round in curiosity, eyebrow rising up as he did. The Goron grinned on in amusement as he raised up on his rock-skinned hands to amplify his words.
"You're way too quick on it! We can't stop for sightseein'!"
The disappointed youth's grin soon dissolved into a defeated frown, his shoulders slumping as he turned inevitably to march back toward the group, hands stuffed into his Kokiri tunic's pockets as he kicked up at the sand beneath him.
"Just wanted to go try fishin'...," he muttered back as he came within earshot of the large group. "It's been ages since I got some practice in."
"What a brute," the ever-smirking Vassia responded with as she rose up her violet-haired head in similarly superiority, slim hand resting across her open mouth. "Of course you'd be interested in such a savage sport."
Link's initial disappointment soon turned to anger and he rose up his right hand from his pocket. Clenching it into a fist he rose it up threateningly as he approached her tall form and narrowed his oceanic eyes into her.
"Wanna say that again?!" He challenged her in his hardened, annoyed scowl, drawing only a loud and obnoxious-sounding laugh from the Palashian princess.
"Ohohoho!"
"Settle down!" Impa called down at the pair of children, annoyed, ever in her folded-armed frown. "The last thing we should be doing is causing any issues for knight Shanaari; she's been good enough to accept us into her unit."
"Please, don't let it trouble you lady Impa," the named knight herself responded in a similar shake of her light-brown hair, frowning on in a business-like fashion. "Although the nature of this mission may be urgent it is not time-sensitive."
"That's good," Barkner smiled on as the group began to march back on the hardened road before them, turning his rocky-bodied head to face her at the front. "I was kinda worried we'd be rushin' to get there."
"Not so, thankfully," Shanaari smiled back, shaking her head a second time as she led the group forward. "I mean... the quicker we get there the better obviously, but..." She trailed off, this time in a brief shut-eyed half-grin, leading some of the listeners into amused chuckles.
"So you guys always get good weather like this?"
The young knight turned her pony-tailed head 'round to blink down at the voice of the frowning-faced Link, marching along scruffily behind her in a rather lax posture of his own. He rested his small calloused hands up behind his head and although his general stance was fairly straight, he merely casually paced alongside Impa and Shanaari's march; a fairly realistic sense of his personality laid bare.
"Generally we do, yes," Shanaari opted to answer him with, this time in a light smile as he picked up his pace a little, so as to prevent her from having to turn to face him. "We live close-by to the beach so we tend to receive its benefits alongside any potential detriments we suffer," she explained briefly before double-taking lightly in his direction, narrowing her eyes down at him. "It's... Hyrule you and your companions come from, isn't it?"
"Yeah," he answered in his own frown, turning his half-lidden eyed expression to face the front in his march. "We're here or, were originally anyway, for the 'Kaioh Bio'."
"Oh! Of course...," Shanaari murmured out in remembrance. "That's where I recognised you from..."
"You recognised him?" Alwyn spoke up curiously from the back, eyebrow of his own shooting up as he marched along quietly.
"Y-Yes...," Shanaari chuckled in his direction, somewhat nervously smiling as she did. "The people in Kaiohdrahl have a fascination with the Prima World Tour these days; you've been on Gossip Stones all over," she smiled again, this time swivelling her smirk on the surprised-eyed Link. "'Fire Fist Firbrand' they're calling you."
"Yo that sounds cool as all hell," Link grinned back, his brow furrowing back at the young woman as he unfolded his hands from the back of his green-hat head. "I love it."
"It's a shame he's never won any of them," the ever-smirking Vassia commented on behind the blonde-haired youth, drawing a half-annoyed frown from him in response. "I mean at this rate he's going to have to-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, however, the shocked Impa's urgent call echoed out noisily to warn them worriedly.
"MOVE!"
FWIP
Taken completely off-guard and shocked beyond belief, the wide-eyed Vassia could only gasp out as the contrastingly narrow-eyed Link swept her up and back-dashed fiercely away; ahead of them, a small throwing knife of all things struck at the ground they once stood at. When he placed her back down, and gladly at that, he furrowed his brow forward at the sight that lay ahead; in broad daylight, and blocking the very road before them, a figure wearing a long and ebony-shaded cloak complete with hood to essentially block off all view of their face. Whether male or female, they stood in a fairly acrobatic stance, their black-cloaked hands held diagonally apart from one another; one high in the air backward and the other pointed down toward the firm sandy ground.
"God-damn that was fast...!" The watching Barkner whispered out from the far-off side, wide-eyed at the scene that had simply moved too quickly for him to spectate. "How the hell did you see it comin'?!"
"I didn't," the narrow-eyed Link admitted, his brow furrowing thoughtfully back at the darkness featured within their new attacker's deep hood. "I was barely able to feel 'em comin', let alone see 'em."
"Hmph!"
The disgruntled voice of Vassia did little to dissuade the hard-eyed Link's glare; he stood transfixed on his new enemy, deigning not to move his vision away from them in fear of them moving again.
"I could have anticipated that..."
"Damn it all..."
The sound of Impa's steel knife came singing out of its small sheath as she stood on the sidelines, calmly and carefully next to the similarly narrow-eyed Alwyn. She darted her fire-red eyes in quick search only to find each member of the group having appropriately scattered all across the road, seemingly all in tandem with one another.
An intelligent-enough decision... and yet one that put them all at risk regardless, having now been unable to formation up together.
"You guys all right?!"
Malon's worried call from far to the south-east made one or two of the scattered members briefly eye her only to find the blonde-haired Zelda herself standing with her safely enough, soon returning their attention to the front.
"We're fine!" Barkner shouted on back with an enthusiastic horizontal wave of his large rock-skinned arm.
"Not for long."
The group's senses, all at once, managed to stand on end as the voice that responded was not one of their own but their attacker; an odd kind of calm mezzo-soprano that made the watching Link furrow his brow in recognition.
Why do I feel like I know this person, he thought to himself.
There was a person dressed like this in Termina's Ikana Canyon.
Does this person come from the same place that sent the last one to Termina?
His memories very quickly called back on the nameless young woman of his travels that attacked him in Ikana well; it was only thanks to the satanic power of Kage Narumono that he and Tatl were both able to progress. Unfortunately, however Kage being Kage, merely murdered the nameless young woman; a regrettable trait of the Shinzui's ghost that left him little lead to work with.
"Who are you?" The narrow-eyed Shanaari called forward, leaning her brown-haired head to the side as she pulled out her silver sword and shield, presumably with which to defend herself. "Related to the kidnappings by any chance?"
FWOOOHHHH...
The deep guttural sound of wind-like Aegir being formed from before her echoed on out to accompany the powerful blast of force that came with it; the narrow-eyed Shanaari shot up her arms to block the gust that blew both her way and her comrade's, wincing on as she did. Before them all, a powerful aura of Quintessence and magical-like Aegir began to stir commandingly around the cloaked figure's feet, blasting out an invisible force of wind that made the watching group dig their heels in to prevent themselves from being blown away.
As Link watched back into the deep black of his enemy's hood, the suspicious scowl on his face unchanging, his mind couldn't help but go back to his odd battle with the last hooded figure in Ikana's well.
She seemed to use the same kind of Aegir, he thought... except for two other elements; ice and fire.
So why is this one using wind?
Maybe whoever this is doesn't come from the same organisation...
"And yet somehow... I think they do."
–
2
It didn't take Link long to get started; with little hesitation he set forth in a forward-leaping offensive, yanking out the Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield both hanging on his back and twirling the double-edged blade expertly as he did. When he made the approach into the nameless cloaked figure's territory, he narrowed his oceanic eyes and slammed the Mirror Shield forward in a deft and sudden push. A near-invisible wall of Aegir formed up between them and the sound of Link's Mirror Shield clanged noisily against it as it rebounded off of it, giving the figure time to rise up their left gloved hand.
WHOOSH
He grunted out as he was, perhaps inevitably, sent flying back the way he originally came by what seemed to be an invisible gust of Aegir; the blonde youth recovered in a swift back-flip, skidding across the sandy ground as perhaps thanks to him, the battle had already re-begun in full flow.
DROOM-FRUP
The cloaked figure flipped into an acrobatic side-somersault that saw them soaring gracefully through the air in a diagonal arc toward the far-off beach below them all, easily avoiding the glaring-eyed Barkner's slamming earthquake strike. As they soon landed, however, the narrow-eyed Shanaari leapt up to intercept and shot down her silver shield to scoop up the still-recovering form of their enemy.
Her aim was true and the cloaked figure found themselves uttering out a light grunt as the knight's silver shield, controlled lightly with Aegir, successfully caught their slim form within it and sent it upward. Shanaari kept her eyes narrowed as she essentially switched the pair's positions before at last issuing out her counter-attack; a simple grunting sword-strike that saw that mysterious figure flying backward in a second far-off flight through the air.
The Kaiohdrahlian knight almost immediately gave chase and shot off into the air after her ebony-shaded enemy and, as she began her next ill-advised approach, it was the watching Link that managed to surprise the knowing Impa in his knowledge.
"No, don't!"
Almost as immediately as Shanaari had approached, an assault ill-advised at that, she found her progress hard-blocked fairly quickly when the slim form of her enemy flipped in mid-air to recover before swiftly forming what appeared to be some kind of field of Aegir; a similarly near-invisible sphere of wind-style energy that surrounded the pair's now levitating forms. Sure enough, as the watching Impa and Link had seemingly both feared, the wide-eyed Shanaari had essentially become trapped; a horrifying situation that had confirmed itself when the glaring Alwyn's fin-sword boomerangs and Link's own Hookshot both bounced off the field of wind harmlessly.
"Damn!" The blonde-haired youth cursed out, pocketing his golden-shaded Hookshot as he did.
"I know you're all just dying to get up there to help her...," the frowning-faced Impa began out loudly enough for the group all to hear her, her lava-like eyes boring holes into the scene high above them all. "But it'd be a bad idea just to take the bait; it's obvious by this point that's what this is."
"But we can't just leave her!" Link squawked back, darting his sweat-stained forehead 'round to scowl over at his Sheikah mentor. "What else can we do?!"
"We can make 'em drop her!"
The pair swung their heads 'round to find the likewise firmly-frowning Barkner crudely pulling up massive boulders from deep underground, presumably to use as huge projectiles, before fairly swiftly tossing them skyward one at a time.
SMASH-CRASH-DROOM
One after the other they all noisily slammed and, perhaps rather expectantly, broke apart from immediate contact with the spherical shield of wind-style Aegir.
"We're wasting time!" Link called out urgently, his knuckles quickly growing white as he clenched them tightly; a sign of passion and apprehension. "For all we know she's gonna die up there!"
"For all we know she won't!" Impa countered in response, a bark almost as loud as the worried Link's. "I'm not a hundred percent on it but this feels like a trap."
"Then maybe Barkner's right," Alwyn spoke up from the side, lightly hunching his shoulders up and down; the sound of steel on his fin-swords sung out noisily as he did, almost as if having been disturbed in their sheaths. "Maybe if we just..."
FWOH-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
"How crude..."
The men led by their Sheikah commander swung their heads 'round briefly only to take note of the ever superior tone on the grinning Vassia behind them.
"Well, if you all must act so boorish...," the Palashian princess grinned on as she marched slowly forward, eyes briefly shut as she hovered her slim pale white hand to rest at her lower right side, almost as if she were lecturing the men. "Then I suppose I will have to..."
In her ongoing sentence she began to spin her relatively small frame 'round in a super-fast spiral that the watching Link recognised from their last go-around; a violet-shaded flaming wheel of Aegir that formed on her slight form, spinning as madly as she did.
"Sunset Wheel!"
In her exclamation of passion she kicked out her projectile and, as the bright-purple wheel of flame flew through the air noisily in glistening lavender, so too did the invisible shield of Aegir surrounding their enemy and comrade brighten up in incredible vista-violet as the Sunset Wheel projectile made contact with it.
FRRRRRR-KERRRRASSSSSH
Link grunted out in sheer shock at how strong the technique was; a powerful unnatural wind that kicked up from the force of it, near knocking him off his boots. He shot up both arms in front of him to cut the blasting wind in two as it near blew a hole through him, oceanic-eyed gaze narrowed through it to watch the results of the assault.
She's still so damn strong, he thought. It's almost as if she's gotten even stronger since yesterday somehow.
"Somehow that idea doesn't even faze me by this point."
His humorously deadpan-toned rumination balanced out the urgency and great concern that the group were otherwise smeared in; a mixture of doubt, consternation and anxiety, all perhaps inevitable given the uncertain and ambiguity of the situation before them all.
"There!" The smirking Vassia called out, standing up straight as she rested her left arm horizontally across her lower stomach, her right hanging atop its small hand to place her right index finger across her right cheek. "Now his Aegir is clearly visible!"
Alwyn winced ahead of their Sheikah leader, half-turning to face the Palashian princess as he did, presumably to respond with. "That's... all well and good... but..."
"But now you've endangered Shanaari!" Impa snapped out alongside the Zoran, her contralto comparatively rougher and firmer on the young girl; Vassia found herself shrinking back for once and her oh-so-superior smirk very quickly found itself dissolving as she flinched in the Sheikah's direction. "Now we have no idea if she's also injured in the blast!"
"B-But-" she began, a blink in her raven-shaded eyes, once filled with confidence now at last beginning to show cracks. She darted her lavender-haired head in double-takes toward the narrow-eyed Link on her left, turning an imploring look on him as she re-opened her mouth. "You think I did the right thing... don't you darling?"
Link's own wince, a likewise look to his old Zoran companion, carried on the awkward atmosphere between them all as he responded as politely as he could given their situation. "Just... stay in the back."
The look in the listening Vassia's eyes was an agonising one indeed; she near took a step back from the words she received, as if she was given a near fist to the solar plexus for her trouble. The watching Link, taking note of her expression, couldn't help but feel fairly bad for responding the way he did.
No, he thought.
Maybe this is good for her.
"Just like it was for Ruto."
When at last the violet-shaded flame of Vassia's Sunset Wheel projectile effect began to dissipate, the sight of the shut-eyed and clearly wounded form of Shanaari came flying out of it, arrowing straight for the sandy ground around them; her armoured body came tumbling and rolling roughly, making the watchers wince at how much agony she had seemingly gone through.
Enough potentially to make her go unconscious at that.
When they swung their eyes back up to glare at the hovering form of their unknown enemy, they merely turned their down to glower similarly behind the darkness of the hood they wore.
"How are they flying?! I can't do anything to 'em up there!" Barkner complained, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Must be some kind of special Aegir Art; I'm not sure of it." Impa shook her silvery-haired head in response, eyes lightly narrowing as she did.
"It's not the first time I've seen this."
Alwyn, Barkner, Impa and Vassia all swivelled their heads in the blonde boy's direction; the source of the calmly-spoken tenor that mystified the complicated situation ever further. Link's brow furrowed contemplatively as he merely stared back into the hidden eyes of his seemingly non-existent opponent, his mind once again going back to the odd techniques of the fallen enemy that ambushed him in Ikana well.
"There was a woman in Ikana Canyon that attacked Tatl and me," the young Hylian at last gave voice to, brow furrowing a second time. When Impa's scowl deepened a little and her head tilted at him, almost as if to look insulted somehow, Link couldn't help but wince again as he double-took in the Sheikah's direction. "Sorry... Impa-sensei. I probably should have let you know about her, but...," he began again, turning his peering oceanic-eyed gaze back up to stare curiously and suspiciously skyward. "But it was somethin' I wanted to forget at the time. I nearly died."
"Shame."
The adventurers found themselves stiffening and near flinching at the sound of the nameless cloaked figure's voice; a kind of similar high tone to Link's very own, an oddly threatening sort of mezzo-soprano.
"Ellys was supposed to at least have stolen your Triangle piece," the figure spoke onward, eliciting a curious-eyed gaze from the listening Zelda, Link and Impa. "And yet she fell to that pathetic demon of yours..."
How do they know about that, Link wondered to himself silently.
Is this person from the same organisation Kage mentioned?
They certainly seem to know who he is.
But how?
VWUM...
The sound of deep-powered Aegir echoed out above them as the figure spun 'round what appeared to be two mid-sized blades caked in Quintessence and magical-like energy; a surprise for most of the watching party bar the narrow-eyed Link.
Yet another familiarity he remembered from his former enemy.
"What are those?" Vassia asked curiously, tilting her violet-haired head as she did.
"I'm... not sure," Impa murmured out, shaking her own head. "Ethereal blades I think... I've heard among some warriors they're supposed to be weapons made purely out of Aegir."
"Which means we can't just steal them away from their wielder." Alwyn spoke up, his body tilted to the side as he stared back at the weapons of his enemy, as if to examine them as best he could from his far-off lower position.
"Then we go for the Aegir-flow!" Barkner called out passionately, clenching a rock-bodied fist up into the air. "We disable that and they're defenceless!"
"Easier said than done...," Link murmured back in response, briefly eyeing the Goron before re-facing their nameless adversary. "These people already use a different kind of Aegir that no-one else uses; we don't even know the nature of it."
"Surely they follow the same rules as we do when it comes to Aegir though...," Alwyn responded, briefly facing the unusually knowledgeable youth before glowering back skyward. "Last I checked they don't seem to be godlike or divine..."
"My organisation is."
The group, surprised by the figure's voice, flinched again and Link's eyes re-narrowed in recognition.
There it is, he thought.
That's my confirmation.
"Or, at the very least, my organisation's leader is," the figure spoke again, its mezzo-soprano suggesting a woman's voice. "'The world will either be led astray by the Sainted Three's devil..."
Link re-opened his mouth to respond and sheerly chose to interrupt her, oceanic eyes narrowing as he did. "'Or be led to glory and prosperity'," he finished for her, shaking his straw-haired head back at her. "I remember."
"'By the reincarnation of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide."
The group's senses tensed again as the woman spoke, a seemingly direct continuation of the quote he reiterated. The listening Link's memory very quickly cherry picking the words he managed to catch Kage stating to their common foe; the woman that ambushed them both in Ikana's well.
'You're hoping to reawaken him again... aren't you? Alphanion... the Absolute.'
'Said to be the only one capable of wielding the holy Triforce in all of its divine force... Power, Wisdom and Courage; all at once.'
They were words that surprised both he and Tatl at the time; something he could not answer nor prod Kage for further answers. Rather infuriatingly, Kage chose not to reveal any damnable information purely on his own whim to the blonde boy.
I'm sure even Ganondorf said something about this Alphanion guy as well, he added to himself silently.
Something about how he had access to all three pieces of the holy Triangle.
It definitely further reinforces the legends and myths about this guy.
"So is that what these people are trying to do...?" Link ruminated on silently to himself, very slowly and carefully setting his boots apart as if to prepare for another engagement. "Bring back this Alphanion guy...?"
"There was only one man within your pathetic spit of land that stood the chance of living up to the great Alphanion's godlike might," the nameless cloaked woman spoke up again, her mezzo-soprano echoing on down to the standing group of warriors. "And you all chose to imprison him..."
How does she know that, he wondered silently, oceanic eyes narrowing back at the darkness within her black coat.
"How do you know any of this?!" Impa called back up suspiciously, effectively giving voice to the glaring-eyed Link's anxieties. The listening Vassia, Malon and even Alwyn and Barkner all furrowed their brows in mixed expressions of doubt and uncertainty, made all the more curious by the worried look on Zelda's face.
"We have eyes everywhere..."
The nameless woman's words, so foreboding and ominous, left a horrible taste within the listening heroes' mouths.
"The godlike divinity of the holy Triangle was never meant for the Hylians...," she continued on, shaking her black-hooded head as she, very slowly and regulated, hovered on back down to the ground; presumably through use of her Aegir. "And yet through some sick twist of fate your bigoted race of blasphemers somehow became the favourite to possess those beautiful divine relics." She spoke again, not without some form of anger laced through her words.
The watching Link narrowed only his left eye back at the woman, unsure on how quite to respond to her oddly-placed rage.
"I will correct this...," she began again, re-raising her hooded head as she turned her glare directly on the anxious-faced Link and far-off Zelda. The black-cloaked figure's similarly darkened holes of its slim arms began to light up in a brightly-held shade of red, and a pair of Aegir-like energy blades formed out from both of them as she began to stalk slowly toward the group, her slow march soon evolving into a direct rush forward. "Starting... with you two!"
–
3
Almost as immediately as the nameless woman began her charge did Impa begin hers, an attempt to intercept that, while originally played with good intentions, ended rather badly; as the normally wise Sheikah approached the figure, she swung her steel knife diagonally upward to assault the woman she responded by darting her head out of the way and retaliating with a simple enough spinning roundhouse. Impa grunted out as she was sent tumbling and side-rolling roughly across the sandy ground beneath her, leaving the glaring Alwyn to leap overhead with a quick slashing attempt of his elongated fin-sword resting across his forearms.
The nameless figure bent her slim form diagonally backward to avoid it before countering by grappling at his extended limb; Alwyn gasped out and widened his eyes as he darted them in her direction before, soon enough, she counter-attacked by slamming one of her long legs vertically up into the man's face. It wasn't much of an answer but it was enough; Alwyn found himself stumbling a half-step backward and their nameless enemy followed up with a quick series of arm chops across the Zoran's lower stomach.
SLAM-SLAMSLAMSLAM-SMACK
"Gurgh...!"
From the sheer pressure and power that the nameless woman seemingly commanded, Alwyn's progress was sent stumbling steps backward this time and he grunted out from the agony as he was, one final donkey-like kick sending him skidding through the sandy ground beneath him. This time, however, as the unnamed aggressor made her next pursuit, the ground between the pair upsized considerably; so much so that, as she began her approach, she stopped it dead in its tracks in a glare forward.
Sure enough the ground itself soon formed a protective dome of sand and earth, all commanded by the narrow-eyed Barkner knelt from the sidelines, and began to harden into protruding spike-like blades. The woman's initial dash forward seemingly activated some form of defence within it and, as she began to back-dash backward in evasion, the sandy spikes all reached out forward as if they were sheer tentacles with which to assault.
The mysterious cloaked figure shot her body backward, skidding along the ground to evade the dome of earth between her and her prey, before she was soon met with another aggressor; she bent her black-cloaked body backward to skirt the dive-kick issued out by the yelling Vassia. The Palashian princess swung a swift spinning roundhouse kick as she landed gracefully, her form taut; the nameless assailant shot up her ebony-clothed arm to diagonally block the assault before twisting her wrist as it landed, to eventually land on the young girl's exposed leg.
By the time the wide-eyed Palashian realised her mistake it was far too late; the black-cloaked woman curled her fingers and thumb fiercely into the young princess' failed roundhouse, effectively channelling forth the odd wavy-like crimson-shaded Aegir she commanded directly into her enemy's body.
FZZZZZZZ
At last the focus-eyed Link leapt into battle and, as he swung his Gilded Sword diagonally through the air in his similarly diagonal pass through the air, the nameless aggressor found herself forced to let go of her Palashian enemy to allow her some much-needed repose. As the narrow-eyed Hylian skid along the ground next to the fallen Vassia, he half-turned his blonde-haired head 'round to near-face her, his oceanic-eyed gaze never leaving his enemy for fear of losing her position.
"You okay?" He whispered down in her direction, eyebrow risen upward as he did.
"Y-Yes...," she grunted back in a laying position, gripping her injured leg as she did; a limb now covered in the bright-red shade of their enemy's odd brand of Aegir. Rather oddly, it didn't seem to be dissipating, instead opting to persist. "I-I'm fine..."
This time he turned his head down to face her fully and held back from wincing in front of her, knowing she'd feel insulted.
Whatever this chick's hit her with ain't goin' away, he thought, very quickly examining the lasting damage dealt to his new companion.
"Get back Link!"
The youth, surprised, turned his wide-eyed head 'round only to find the disapproving narrow-eyed Impa staring back at him, her form low as always and seemingly having recovered from her earlier injury.
"If this person's after the Triangle then we can't risk you even approaching her!" The Sheikah wisely stated, nodding her silvery-haired head backward almost as if to dissuade the youth from continuing his offence. "Stay back with Zelda and Malon! Protect them!"
"But you guys need me!" The boy called back over his shoulder, spinning his head 'round to frown back at her in a likewise fierce glower of his own, desperate and urgent at that. Impa's fire-red eyes widened as she shot forward, surprising the youth and it was only when he swung his straw-haired head back 'round to check why that he realised his mistake; a lapse of concentration in taking his eyes away from his enemy. The super-fast enemy they fought against was already on him, an incredible movement speed within her, and this time she drew what appeared to be slow-forming fiery-red Aegir-blades within the confines of her cloak's sleeves.
CLAAAANG
"Ngh...!"
Impa grunted out in effort as she leapt in between the pair, rising up her steel knife to block the inevitable sideswipe their enemy gave out and, as she did, the sparkling and sizzling blaze of her two ethereal blades seemed to snake down the steel knife and infect its wielder. Much like with its previous victim, Impa soon found herself rolling near defencelessly as she landed across the sandy ground beneath her, grunting out in agony as she did. Sure enough, the odd brand of Quintessence that now surrounded the recently-injured Vassia now encapsulated Impa's form and almost completely from head-to-toe.
Just as with the Palashian princess herself, Impa seemed unable to move and called out in a mixture of anger and pain; seemingly a result of the odd effect of the alien-like power that the peculiar Aegir seem to possess.
Maybe Impa-sensei's right, Link thought to himself worriedly.
He took a step back from the glaring form of his enemy, now mere yards away from his own position, suddenly deathly aware of the great liability of not only his connection to the holy Triforce but the weapons he carried.
They'd essentially become conduits for his new enemy to use as yet more options with which to assault him.
So then how, he wondered.
"How do I beat her?!"
FWIP
The soon-small growing group swung their heads 'round in the direction of the sudden noise, eyes widened, only to find the glaring-eyed Barkner having leapt high into the air; with his newly-added height, he utilised his Quintessence to pull up hard-edge rocks from the sandy ground far underneath them all. As they all began to surround his temporarily-levitating form, Barkner's boulder-brown eyes widened to plates as he fired them all off forward as rapidly-moving projectiles.
WHOOSH
As the hardy materials flew by the wincing Link's small and pointed ears, he watched on as the mysterious nameless woman before them merely spun her form 'round in what seemed to be a simple revolving spiral. As a result the fiery and yet somehow electric-like Aegir resting within her formed out from her black-cloaked body and sizzled as it knocked one or two straight back the way they came. Link widened his oceanic eyes and, thinking quickly, ducked to avoid one headed straight for him.
Just as well, he thought.
They were also coated in that weird Aegir she has; I'd have been infected if it touched me, even if I blocked.
"NO!"
He darted his blonde-haired head 'round only to find the similarly worried form of his companion Alwyn; unable to move in time to avoid the incoming projectile, he instead brought up his sword-fins to form shields together before kneeling down. In his knelt position he brought up a peculiar rotation pull of electric-like Quintessence into what seemed to be a barrier, similar to the technique Link himself knew of Mikau's old battle prowess locked away in the Zora Mask he acquired in Great Bay.
Unfortunately for the former military man however, in blocking that one single projectile even in the barrier he knelt, the sizzling red Aegir of their enemy had somehow snuck through and successfully managed to infect him; Alwyn grunted out a Zoran-worded curse as his barrier dis-spelled, finding some difficulty in standing back up on his own two feet. The watching Barkner, realising his mistake, could only gasp in wide-eyed horror as he landed into a weak-faced wince.
"Damn it...!" He cursed further, a single sweat-drop of concern and anxiety dropping from his forehead as he struggled to maintain his standing position. Link's cerulean-blue eyes glared on as he watched the fiery-crimson Aegir crackle on lingeringly on the Zoran's body, narrowing in recognition as it did.
I can't let her hit me with any of that, he thought.
So by that reasoning I can't even use my weapons.
This chick knows exactly how to deal with us.
All of us, he finished silently and chillingly, agreed on by his consistently-spoken comrade.
"Why am I getting the feeling she's got this all figured out and we're being played like a bunch of fucking newbies...?!" The growling Alwyn hissed out from behind the sweat-faced blonde, grunting out as the fire-red Aegir surrounding his form continually wore down on him, almost as if it were exerting his physical energy.
Much like with the now unconscious forms of Vassia and Impa.
It felt unusual for the normally-calm Alwyn to be swearing and so vulgarly at that; it could only make the last remaining battle-worthy participants of the adventuring group to grow in anxiety.
She's essentially managed to lower our numbers to two, he thought worriedly.
There's something poisonous in that Aegir; I can't let it even get near me.
So how on earth are we gonna beat her?
"Hey... don't worry!"
Link darted his narrow-eyed head 'round to frown back curiously at his Goron companion behind him, eyebrow risen upward as he did. Barkner shook his rock-bodied head back at the boy before briefly narrowing his own boulder-brown eyes forward.
"I think I can zone this chick out!"
Link winced at the idea of the very suggestion, turning his head back to glare carefully at the still-standing form of their black-cloaked enemy before re-opening his own mouth to respond.
"Remember what happened with the stone Bark," he reminded the Goron, glaring back at their opponent as he did. "If that connects with that weird magic of hers and it hits us...," the young Hylian began again wisely, shaking his straw-haired head as he did in light disapproval. "Just can't risk it."
FLASH
Link's eyes widened in realisation and he darted his blonde head to his sharp right to avoid what seemed to be a fast-moving beam of light. Tiny in size, it scraped and blew up the sandy ground behind him into a meaty and powerful explosion; the black-cloaked woman used the distraction to air-dash forward and successfully managed to pass on by the surprised-eyed Hylian. He immediately gave chase as she charged at the wide-eyed Barkner, the ethereal-like Aegir-blades humming noisily as they stirred within the confines of her ebony-shaded sleeves.
SLAM
"Ngh...!"
Shocked at the sight that occurred before his very eyes, the watching Hero of Time held back a gasp of his own as he watched their nameless foe having been simply smashed across the face by the wild-employed haymaker that his companion threw, sending her careering and rolling back whence she came.
"Damn...," Link murmured out, surprised as he watched her flip backward in recovery. "Not bad." He spoke this time, swivelling back his infectious cheery grin on the similar-faced Goron.
Black Cloak reached back with her arms and, seemingly diving deep into the pools of her near-otherworldly Aegir, formed what seemed to be a portal of all things tearing up open behind her. The watching Link and Barkner could only widen their eyes, unable to even predict and fathom as to what would happen next. As they darted their heads 'round in swift search it was only a matter of time before their aggressor eventually re-emerged and, while a sudden noise at that, it was enough for the pair to swing around in shock.
Sure enough, resting high above them appeared to be the rip in the very air itself; it very quickly closed in on itself as Black Cloak came leaping out of it, her fizzling red Aegir-blades ghosting out of the darkened sleeves she carried. Almost immediately, and powered by fast-growing panic at that, Barkner made his last mistake; as he bent down to crush his boulder-like fists against the ground, he called it all up in defence. It soon surrounded him as a dome-like mound of earth and rock, all intended to block the inevitable incoming assault.
"No, BARK!"
As Link called out in a horrified mixture of apprehension and unease, he grunted out as he swung the Gilded Sword diagonally to fire forward a blade beam of similar Quintessence energy. As it flew toward the pair, seemingly having intended to separate them, it and its wielder were both far too late; Black Cloak had already managed to successfully strike the dome of earth Barkner concocted before using it to safely back-flip away in evasion, skidding safely away as she did. The observant Hero of Time cursed out, single oceanic eye narrowed in frustration as he watched Black Cloak's sizzling red Aegir perhaps unavoidably cover and infect Barkner's dome-like defensive shield-coating.
Just as the suspicious youth had managed to deduce in having seen her odd Aegir do its work with his other companions, Link found himself worrying for his Goron friend as he watched the sizzling crimson magic crackle away endlessly all across Barkner's defended form. Perhaps similarly worried that the red Aegir hadn't dissipated yet, Barkner opted not to release his defended dome-like Aegir shield; an act that constantly and consistently spent his own reserves of Aegir and energy.
He's safe, the watching Link thought.
But only so long as he can keep that shield up.
"And there's no way he's gonna be able to keep that up forever."
He briefly thought of tossing his Mirror Shield or Gilded Sword at the fizzling magic but, thinking wisely, he realised that it would do little other than infect his own equipment. Not only would it not assist his friend in peril but it would leave him with less tools with which to fight.
"When will it end?!" Link called out angrily, impatience and anxiety firing up his mood. "Tell me!"
"I'd worry more about the fact I'm aiming for you... than your little friend," Black Cloak began again, her eyes seemingly narrowing behind the ebony-shaded hood she wore as she spoke. "But yes...," she answered at last, spinning one of her ethereal Aegir-blades expertly as she stalked a step forward, ending it to point back at the glaring-eyed Link. "You are correct in your woes; my Quintessence won't leave his form for quite a while... long enough to completely exhaust his own supply of Quintessence."
The listening Link's scowl twitched in a combination of frustration and urgency, searching desperately within his mind for an answer.
But, as always within these abrupt and sudden confrontations, he could not find it.
Realising their enemy's eventual goal, he darted his light-blue eyes 'round to look for the missing Zelda and Malon and his heart felt just a little less heavy when he couldn't find them standing there watching as last he seen them.
They must have did what was smart and left to go be safe somewhere, he thought.
Better me dying out here than them.
CLANG-CLAAANG...
The sound of his Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield came jangling noisily next to him as he inevitably dropped them, eyes set and focused on his new enemy. Black Cloak's figure seemed to relax, but only a little, as she stared back at him in what seemed to be curiosity.
"How do you expect to win without those weapons...?" She posed forward, her mezzo-soprano taking on a kind of curious all-knowing tone to it as she began to slowly stalk around the boy's form, eyes kept firmly on his standing form.
"You know as well as I do that my weapons are more of a liability to me than a help... with that Aegir of yours...," Link trailed off, lightly hovering both arms horizontally across one another as if to increase the blood flow to them. "Looks like it's back to the fists...," he began again, a small grin growing on his face in great spite to his group's current dire situation. The exuberant youth, channelling a light char of fire through his knuckles, made them broil up a little as he lightly clashed them together horizontally, leaning his posture to the side as he shot his opponent an overconfident smirk back. "Just like always."
"Don't you recognise us?"
"Kinda...," Link merely batted back, single eye narrowing amidst his grinning expression. "There was one like you way over in Ikana," he explained briefly. "That coat of yours looks much the same as hers."
"Yes...," Black Cloak nodded, her steps at last stopping as she leant her own body to the side, head focused toward him. "Then you know what I'm after..."
The young Hylian almost immediately rubbed the back of his left hand, as if for the mark of the golden Triangle he remembered so well.
Yeah, he thought worriedly.
That's what she's after, just like the last one.
Makes sense when I think back on it.
His senses tensed when he felt her form stiffen presumably to charge forward and, sure enough, she inevitably came leaping ahead in a quick air-dash, the sound of her Aegir-blades whirring loudly.
CLAAAANG
–
4
Black Cloak pulled off her offensive almost as immediately as she issued it, cursing out quietly to herself as she back-dashed away safely from the incoming and abrupt steel halberd that shot down from the sky. A small form dropped down similarly, presumably its owner, before eventually rolling forward gracefully and standing up straight; the spiky-haired, folded-armed glaring-faced Raynard stared back at the pair, eyes focused on their ebony-clothed enemy.
"Ray!" Link grinned out, his earlier concern vanishing with the wind, his morale raising up to boot. "I didn't realise you were still in town!"
"Lucky you," the firmly-frowning youth shot back, briefly eyeing him before turning his glare back on the hooded Black Cloak. "Who's...?"
"We're not sure," Link answered, his thoughtful-faced frown returned to him as he fixed it on his enemy. "Not on her name anyway, but... she ain't a friend, that's for sure."
"That so...?" Raynard murmured out, light-brown eyes narrowing as he glared on back at the standing Black Cloak.
"Where are Zel and Malon?"
The black-haired mercenary double-took his head in the Hero of Time's direction before eventually re-facing him and frowning back at him. "Getting help in town," he answered, re-turning his eyes to glower back at his new opponent. "You're lucky I was still nearby; I didn't think you'd be so quick to go on errands... though I suppose you'd see this as training, huh?" He batted over, a small smirk on his face as he turned his eyes back to exchange his light smirk with the newly-gained grin on Link's face.
It was only when Black Cloak began to slowly stalk forward, however, that the pair of boys tensed up and swung their eyes back on her; as she stepped toward them in an unreadable march, Raynard unfolded his arms and Link cricked his neck from side-to-side.
"Don't let her hit you with those swords of hers," the youth whispered in his black-haired rival's ear, leaning his blonde-haired head toward him. Raynard furrowed his brow in concentration and curiosity, not daring to move his eyes from her as he spoke. "The Aegir in 'em seem to paralyse us."
Raynard's chestnut-brown eyes darted 'round in swift search and, sure enough, the fallen unconscious forms of Impa, Vassia, Alwyn and now Barkner all littered the sandy ground around them.
"I see that...," he murmured out thoughtfully, re-rising his firmly-held frown to face his foe. "Do we know what kind of Aegir this is...?"
Link's earlier cheer soon dissolved, his oceanic eyes narrowing suspiciously and carefully at the fizzling red Quintessence crackling away on their enemy's body.
"Not yet," he answered, watching on as Black Cloak very slowly stalked toward them, his hardened frown very quickly upturning into a low-held smirk. "But I'm goin' find out."
As she approached the pair of boys, Black Cloak swung her slim and taller body 'round in a swift and near-flawless roundhouse that the watching Link bent his body backward to avoid, eyes narrowed as he did. As she recovered she fairly quickly continued her offence with a pair of agile side-kicks with her remaining right leg, eliciting the frowning-faced Link to bring up his left arm up in swift defence. As he parried both blows she pressed on with a series of six further assaults, all carried this time by the sizzling ends of her gloved fists. The watching Raynard's chestnut-brown eyes widened in concern and he opened his mouth to voice it.
"Link no!"
VRRR...
The sound of Aegir whirring away dully within the fists of the young blonde however managed to allay the shock-faced mercenary; he could barely believe his eyes as he witnessed his younger rival manage to block back the seemingly unblockable strikes of their mutual foe, all merely with an additional coating of Quintessence to his palm.
Black Cloak waited for no man, however, and merely continued her offensive; as her sixth strike neared its end, she readied her free gloved hand to push away the youth's own infused hand before reaching up with her other and gripping the boy's left as he rushed it forward to inevitably counter-attack her. A struggle began between the pair, their arms slightly shaking in a presumable contest for superiority. The frown-turned-smirk on Link's face, however, told a different story; one of confidence, knowing and adaptation.
"Now I gotcha!" He called out forward, a single drop of sweat falling from his forehead as if in effort, as he glared back at the watching Black Cloak. She grunted out as she flex-opened her clenched fist before tossing his own arm to the side and darting her free palm forward in a quick-bending strike. Link widened his oceanic-eyed gaze as he, very wisely, ducked to avoid it; the fizzling red Aegir surrounding her black-gloved fist, seemingly the real issue with their enemy, managed to hit the blonde's trusty green hat in his sudden and abrupt manoeuvre, much to his chagrin.
FZZZZ
As the Hero of Time's green-shaded hat inescapably became infected with the troublesome Quintessence Black Cloak carried, Raynard narrowed his chestnut-brown eyes as he lunged a fist forward from the side to assist his companion with. Black Cloak gasped out in effort as she bent her slim body backward to evade the strike, reaching out to grasp at his exposed limb as she did, eliciting the raven-haired boy to respond in his own way; like his blonde-haired rival, he opted to utilise his Aegir-control by affixing what seemed to be a protective coating over not just his hands, but his entire body.
As Black Cloak's horrifying touch eventually made contact with him, she widened her eyes behind the darkness of her hood when she soon realised it was fruitless in infecting him; a fact that left the watching Raynard half-smirking in all-knowing prominence.
"Awesome Ray!" The watching Link called out from his knelt position, having had to shake his green-shaded hat off of his head for fear of touching it before the fizzling red Aegir had travelled downward into his body itself to infect him. He looked down at it and, like his compromised colleagues, it too lay on the ground rolling and paralysed.
It didn't take long for the quick-moving Black Cloak to advance in another offensive and she grunted out in effort as she swung her fizzling-red fists in wide haymakers, prompting the narrow-eyed Raynard to block once then duck in eventual evasion. As she followed up by issuing a quick third swipe of her fist, she grabbed his perhaps inevitable blocked arm and tossed the black-haired youth flying across the air.
She gave immediate pursuit and, as she leapt high into the beautiful blue-sky air to chase him, he grasped at one of the many palm trees littering the sandy beach to the road's side before using a mixture of his Aegir, his dexterity and agility to swing 'round it agilely into a swift counter-attack; a simple, but effective dive-kick. Surprised and successfully taken off-guard with it, Black Cloak grunted out as she was sent back where she came, eyes widened behind her darkened hood.
CRASH-CRACK
"Ngh...!"
At last a chink in her defence; the wide-eyed Link watched on as Black Cloak's slim form managed to create a small crater within the huge rocky wall behind her, a testament to the power Raynard put into his counter-assault. As she did, the two boys finally got a good look at her behind the hood as it was expectantly knocked downward from the sheer force of the assault; she carried what appeared to be a massive scar across her right green eye. Her hair, a messy and similarly spiky-style to her enemy, was coloured in through a bright turquoise.
Almost as quickly as she undoubtedly dropped to the ground did she snap-open her widened eyes and vanish from common sight; a revelation that left the watching pair of youths narrow their own eyes in light suspicion. It was only when a shimmer shot in from behind the pair that the wide-eyed Link swung 'round and dove a fire-coated fist for her form standing behind him, exuding out a shout of effort as he did.
His deft but reckless strike was parried by the newly-reappeared young woman and she glared back at him in her seeming eternal scowl as she darted her body in a sidestep to avoid the blow, before soon counter-attacking by issuing out a deft sideward chop with her free left arm. Link grunted out in surprise, eye shut from the effort of concentrating Aegir to the point of impact to prevent himself from becoming infected as he was sent staggering a few steps backward.
The narrow-eyed Raynard came rushing at Black Cloak from her seemingly undefended rear with a likewise audacious lariat, both his small but muscled arms rose upward to smash her with. Black Cloak swung her own hardened glower on her like-minded foe's face before utilising his very assault as a vault; as he advanced upon her, she leaned forward to grab his right shoulder and successfully managed to acrobatically swing herself up and around his form completely. It was essentially a somersault and one that she utilised quite effectively; when the angered Link came barrelling through a second time to attack her, she swung 'round and slammed both black-booted legs directly into him.
SLAM
"Gurgh...!"
CRASH
Like her earlier collision with the rock-wall behind them, it was Link's turn to clash with the firm surface of the hard rock-wall and clash he did; his slim green-clothed form embedded deep into the stone and earth around him, drawing out a pained groan and wince from the young boy in response. Almost as soon as the poor Hylian youth had been pressed into the wall beside them did the glaring-eyed Raynard continued his own offensive; a quick series of wild haymakers laced with Aegir and magic, whirring away noisily as they perhaps inevitably swung 'round the akin-faced Black Cloak's form.
She ducked, side-stepped, glided and even back-flipped in her slick movement to avoid the wide blows he attempted to assault her with before at last replying with one of her own; a swift sliding side-step swiping Aegir-infused boot that connected in the black-haired boy's lower stomach.
CRACK
"Argh...!"
As he came flying through the air backward as a result, his small caped form eventually crashed into one of the beach's palm trees in a rough collision; he grunted out, chestnut eyes shut in a scrunched grit-toothed scowl as he inescapably dropped to the ground. Having been stirred from their slumber, numerous spheres of fruit and produce fell from its rafters and shattered quietly as they hit the sandy ground beneath it, caking the immediate area and the fallen and seemingly unconscious Raynard in their juices.
The firmly-frowning form of his enemy, the nameless Black Cloak, cast him with the ever-hardened frown she liked to wear before at last swivelling her ebony-clothed body 'round to face the embedded Link. As she stalked toward him he began to struggle within his stone and rock imprisonment madly, wincing on in urgency, feeling fairly vulnerable as he did. Black Cloak rose up her black-gloved open-palmed hand up to face him with, her Aegir sizzling and crackling into a corporeal blade once more. Slow and gradual, much like her approach, it gave the watching Link a fairly decent idea to how little time it'd take her to finally assault him with.
"I can't believe the Shakai were worried about you...," Black Cloak murmured out, shaking her spiky-haired head over at him in disbelief as she marched toward him, rising up the fizzling-red Aegir-blade she now carried, presumably to strike him with. "You're certainly powerful for your age and especially for your era...," she began again, a tiny smirk crossing her average features. "But to us... you're just a small fry."
KRRRRR-FRRRR
–
5
Almost as immediately as she finished her sentence did she drive the sizzling-red Aegir-blade directly into the youth's defencelessly-open chest, drawing out a wide-eyed call of horror and agony from him in response. Blood perhaps inevitably came snaking down the freshly-opened wound and began to cake not only her weapon, Aegir and hand but the rest of her ebony-shaded cloak in its bright-red juices.
When the blood came creeping down the rest of her long slim arm, a testament to the sheer strength and magnitude of the attack she hit him with, she narrowed her green eyes deeply back at him as she yanked her arm back, the sound of her Aegir-blade whirring noisily as she did. At last Link's now silent form had been released from his restraints and, as he was, he dropped from them in a likewise voiceless shut-eyed and seemingly unconscious frown.
THUD
The laying Raynard groaned, a mixture of weariness and fatigue about him as he slowly rubbed the back of his own spiky-haired head, slowly rising his head up; the sight in his chestnut-eyed gaze began to solidify and become less blurred and, as it did, they widened in abrupt surprise and concern when he saw what awaited him.
"No!" He called out, scrambling to his feet. Grains of sand kicked about his boots and body as he clambered urgently to cross the distance as quickly as he could. The watching Black Cloak double-took in his direction before narrowing her eyes and glaring back at him; a silent but powerful enough look that made him curse out quietly to himself and effectively halt his rush, skidding his boots roughly against the sandy ground beneath him as he did. "Get away from there!" He called forward.
The young woman, half-curious in his warning, furrowed her brow before turning her glower down and over to the fallen and bloody-bodied Link only to find his face-down form trembling somehow. Although the boy himself was not moving, nor was he in any shape or fit way to, an aura of oppressive fiery-crimson Aegir surrounded his body and began to shake it violently somehow. The watching Black Cloak furrowed her brow forward and, opting to act against it seemingly out of what appeared to be contrarianism, she swung her Aegir-blade diagonally across his form.
VRRRR-CLAAANG
She gasped as it was knocked powerfully and boldly back by some invisible barrier between them, eliciting a surprised look from the young woman. She could only narrow her eyes in curiosity, double-taking a second time in the direction of his black-haired rival.
"What's-?"
The worried Raynard, turned his chestnut-eyed gaze 'round to stare back at her, shaking his head as he did, a single drop of anxiety-driven sweat falling from his brow.
"Just wait... and see."
She did just that and, as she turned down to get a good look at why her enemy was so worried, she soon realised why; the very ground surrounding the fallen Link's body began to tremble, albeit, very lightly. A signature of the incoming incredible strength inherent of only one potential source left within him.
And even the watching Black Cloak knew that source.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
The fiery-red Aegir circling the boy's fallen form, now visible of all things, began to bubble and fizzle similarly to her own and Black Cloak found herself glaring down at it in recognition. She rose up her spike-haired head and narrowed her eyes back down at him superiorly, choosing this time to await the upcoming challenge. The watching Raynard couldn't help grow a tiny smirk on his lips in knowing, all too aware of the imminent and incredible danger that his foe now faced.
"Grnnngh..."
As regular as clockwork came the demonic tone shift to the young blonde's tenor; a mockery of his recognisable baritone in the ruined future from which he came. He at last stirred and began to scowl as he gripped down at his previously-injured stomach; it sizzled noisily away, the power of his demonic and near-otherworldly Aegir rapidly healing it in the transition to his second persona.
HSSSSS...
"Shin'ozo..."
CRASSSH...
The ground rumbled a second time, and this time much more strongly, as the possessed boy rose up his left foot to slam boldly upon it. A small crater formed beneath him from the sheer power he exerted; a mere signature of what was to come.
CRASSSH...
Again, this time his right boot, slammed viciously upon the sandy ground beneath him as he dragged himself back up to a standing position. Blonde-haired head held lowly, and tinted fiery-red by the hellish colour of his Aegir, he rose up his free left open-palmed hand to shake its fingers and hand violently in mid-air at Black Cloak, his right hand resting on the near-healed grievous injury his host once possessed.
Black Cloak lowered her light-turquoise haired head to glare forward, presumably concentrating as her newly-reinvigorated enemy began to march and shamble slowly toward her. Very quickly however did his simple stumble soon evolve into a full-blown sprint, pre-meditated and controlled yet full of fiery-insane impatience; a signature of Kage Narumono's fighting style. He at last rose up his clawed left fist, pulsing with powerful Aegir, and snapped up his snarling scowling face to grit back at her, re-opening his fanged mouth as he did.
"Tomete KURERU!"
KRRRRRRR-SLASH
"Ah...!"
Shocked by the sheer level of intensity and speed that her new foe possessed, Black Cloak was sent stumbling through the air in a shut-eyed scowl of brief agony before soon re-opening her green eyes to find him giving inevitable chase forward. She grunted out in acute discomfort, gritting her teeth together and wincing as his fiery form grew close within mid-air; something within his hellish-red Quintessence and aura that seemed to sting the cringing-faced Black Cloak.
Indeed, a sensation shared by the gasping and similar-faced Raynard; even having distanced himself a fair bit from the battle-site, he found himself feeling great discomfort from even the interval he chose. A horrifying glimpse into the titanic and demonic like power that Kage controlled and the Shinzui surrounding it.
CRASH-CRASH-KERRRASSSHHHH
Black Cloak swung her body 'round in deft and maddened evasion to avoid the incoming swipes and strikes of the massive Quintessence-powered arms that her new enemy had control over; dense-looking and fiery at that, their texture seemingly made of hellfire's lava itself. As Kage recklessly and hatefully raked along the ground and trees nearby, he easily broke apart and annihilated all within his reach, leaving mere embers of flame and fallen wreckage in his maddened wake.
Black Cloak soon found herself on the defensive and seemingly almost permanently; as she back-dashed continually, putting her new position somewhere around the beach behind them, Kage pursued on in bloody-minded determination, hefting a huge broken-off palm tree within one of his many Aegir Arms presumably with which to attack.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH
Black Cloak let out another exhale of sheer effort as she back-dashed yet again to narrowly avoid the savage beat-down of the poor palm tree upon the sandy beach ahead of her. She reached backward and, seemingly pulling within the reaches of her own Quintessence, narrowed her green eyes forward before widening them as she blew forward a huge wave of water through her now-open mouth.
FWOOOOOOSH...
HSSSSSSSS
"Grnnngh...!"
The gigantic wave of water crashed firmly against Kage's form and, like a natural wave itself knocking back against solid rock, it parted as it hit his hellish-hot figure leaving him in a hateful-scowling glare, his Hylian host's two slim arms brought upward to block in a defensive cross-like formation. Even as he did, however, the magic-like Aegir Arms that he carried all flew off in immediate pursuit, chasing the back-dashing and leaping form of his ebony-clothed enemy.
Finding one of the other many palm trees still lucky to be standing, she leapt atop and hung on its wildly-undulating leaves. Kage roared out animalistically and cruelly and, in the revelation that her huge water-elemental wave had blocked his progress and essentially limited his range, he instead chose to use his Aegir Arms to fire off his own projectiles; maddened fiery spheres of lava that flew by the wincing-faced Black Cloak's own undulating form so fast they whizzed by her.
Eventually however one managed to hit the tree and, as it did, it took effect; the fire lit up the surface of the tree and quickly spread upward into its wildly-shaking foliage cursed out once more when she let go of her safeguarded tree as the hellfire's flame burst it apart; a powerful show of fireworks, all in great spite to the great wall of water that still hovered beneath them all. Black Cloak's form stumbled but only for a second; she narrowed her eyes as her slim figure wobbled a little before eventually settling, as she drew her Aegir down toward the soles of her feet to allow her a standing position on the water itself below her.
She furrowed her brow as she caught movement within the huge crashing waves before her, quickly deducing it as her monster-like enemy. The nameless defendant brought up her black-cloaked and red-fizzling arms and, green-shaded eyes narrowed, she seemingly bolstered the durability within her form as if to expect a sudden charge. As it turned out she was correct in her assumption; the fiery-aura form of her foe came flying up above her to descend downward, pulling his fanged mouth back.
RRROOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR
Black Cloak scrunched her eyes shut and bared her heavily-grit toothed scowl in response to the incredible guttural-like war scream of her opponent, the shock-wave of his very shout itself a passive assault in and of itself, the Aegir from within stinging her severely. Against all odds and calculations, Kage's hellish-red form came barrelling through the invisible air of Aegir she rose up between them, shocking her into a genuinely flabbergasted wide-eyed frown.
"W-Wha-?!"
CRACK
Her eyes twitched and her teeth grit together in another horrified-expressed scowl as one of Kage's many Aegir Arms shot down to grasp the front of her forehead. Almost immediately she felt the terrifying pressure of his cataclysmic inferno-like touch. The blazing heat of his fire-encased Aegir Arm inevitably travelled downward and attempted with great force to breach the second line of defence she carried; a simple-enough but effective circle of Quintessence 'round her slim form.
FRRRRRR...
CRASSSH-KERRRRASSSSSSH
The turquoise-haired young woman let out a squeal of agony and pain as she was suddenly sent soaring through the air, her form endlessly rolling and spinning from the sheer intensity of her opponent's near-godlike strength. As she landed painfully and agonisingly across the sandy road above the beach, her black-cloaked body now wrought with small tears and burn marks soon found itself embedded deep within the rocky wall behind her.
SMASSSH-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE...
As the growling-faced Kage slowly emerged upward from beneath the huge wall of water that Black Cloak had brought up earlier, his very fiery form somehow evaporating the incredibly insurmountable amount of ocean surrounding him; a sight that left the groaning young woman widening her green eyes in horror when she realised what he was doing. Kage, in utilising the powerfully-red Aegir Arms that hung 'round his form, began to channel his magical energy into what seemed to be a sphere above his crown, his demonically-red eyes glaring back at her as he did.
FWOHHHH...
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
The very ground itself shook and in such a powerful tremble that it made even the watching and far-off Raynard grimace from the sheer primal authority it exuded. Soon realising that the paralysed forms of his rival's companions were in the blast radius of Kage's inevitable finishing strike, he set off forward, head held low in a quick effort to reach their fallen positions and move them as fast as possible. Thankfully for him, however, both current combatants were indisposed in their actions; Black Cloak in her unfortunate imprisonment within the rock-wall and Kage within his Aegir-channelling technique.
"N-No!"
Black Cloak's mezzo-soprano, once considered fairly calm and calculating, was now dangerously frightened; a sentiment she easily conveyed as she, rather unsuccessfully, attempted in great vain to free herself from the rock-wall she was embedded within. In an alarming rate of time, Kage's technique had finished; one massive sphere of hellfire Aegir, crackling and pulsating madly with satanic-like strength.
"OhhhhhhhhhHHHHHH!"
KRRRRRRRRR...
"KESHITOBEE!"
FWOOSH
In Kage's maddened-faced scowling scream came the final result of his last technique; a massive ball of hellfire's Aegir that came hurtling and whining through the air, immediately setting alight to all within its similarly gigantic radius of range. The embedded Black Cloak opened up her mouth to let loose one last screech of panic and dread.
"NOOOOOOO!"
FWUP-!
…
DRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Only the standing Kage and the Hylian host he controlled was able to withstand the supernatural show of force that he himself displayed; in a low-held grit-toothed scowl of his fangs he kept his glower focused forward through the intense light that his technique began to fill the road with. The far-off Raynard, even having somehow having managed to move all of Link's companions with him to a suitable distance away, had to affix himself to the beach's ground firmly with his own Aegir. The young ebony-haired mercenary crossed his arms defensively, crouched down on one knee and scowled similarly to his old foe as the bright light of Kage's hellfire began to overtake his vision.
The background of Beechmere Bridge and its coast turned a bright white that threatened to engulf all within the blast's range, leaving all watching within a state of horror and trepidation.
