Chapter 57: End of Days; Revelations
Omen of Aurelia's Destruction Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan Fiction.
Featured Music: "Urgency Drives Us" – Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Underworld" – Legacy of Kain: Defiance OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"The Elder God" – The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"God in Fire"; 'Akuma's Theme – Dissidia 012 [Final Fantasy]: Duodecim OST. Scene 2.
'All of Aurelia and its capital of Hyrule will become awash in blood and darkness… for time eternal. There is no mercy or compassion in the world when Akuma surfaces his silver-haired head. Embrace the chaos He brings, for in the end that is all. Endless chaos… for time without end.'
An excerpt from one of the later entries in the 'Hylianis'; the royal Hylian bible, religiously-held text of fictional, or non-fictional events in the past. Perhaps however, in the heroes' unintentionally extended stay throughout the lands of Gylomecia, they have learned the hard way… that these events, or at least some of them, certainly have some truth to them.
Indeed, as Bryda and Cyna's civil disputes escalate into full scale war, Kaius Torquatus – a mysterious martial artist living in the lands of Gylomecia with an elusive past and history – seizes this opportunity by opting to place seeds of growing doubt within the surprisingly-easily manipulated Link's head; revelations of horror that, even with the skilled Zelda and Veronika's sealing attempts on his demonic second side's, Kage Narumono and the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai will break through their bonds within him eventually.
It is as sure as the sun will rise.
When Bryda eventually turns her northern forces upon the people of Gylomecia's capital in Whiteblood Cardinal, Kaius at long last makes his move; he and his assistant Amalda move in undetected and manage to approach the surprised Hero of Time when he is unfortunately separated from his companions, due to the blazing battle around him. When alone with the boy, Kaius makes the chance to offer him the chance to free him of his grip on the Shinzui once and for all by choosing to manipulate his Aegir chords; an extremely dangerous procedure by locating and eliminating the 'Yin' side of his Aegir, said to also be the 'evil' side.
However, this as Scaverin points out not long later, is impossible; to completely destroy a single aspect of oneself would simply be suicide. It is with this in mind that Kaius chooses, by lying to Link, he opts instead to suppress the 'Yang' style of his Aegir and thereby intensify the negative sides of his power and… at long last…
Give birth to the legend of 'Akuma', also known as the 'Fierce Deity'.
Now, having recruited the Fierce Deity to his cause by way of manipulation and in doing so eliminated both Bryda and Cyna's influences in Gylomecia, Kaius takes the reigns of command of not just Bryda's legion of soldiers but Cyna's; an incredibly-manipulative shift in the balance of military power that sees the people of the country evacuate in sheer terror, not just of Kaius' new status as a stronger warlord than the previous two, but of the dire omen surfacing of 'Akuma', Fierce Deity in the Hylian bible – the 'Hylianis'.
Impa and the remaining heroes of Link's former group lick their wounds from their earlier exchange of the battle at Corinium City, finding a small hideaway deep in the city's limits to flee from the incredible strength that Kaius and Link now command. Their tenuous position within Whiteblood Central become so strained that they are approached by current enemies, Scaverin and Raynard with offers of a temporary alliance in order to deal with the looming overhead threat of Link's new tyrannical powers. Although some members of the group such as Barkner insist on distrusting the sketchy summoner Scaverin, Impa wisely decides to agree to Scaverin's similarly astute offer.
It is only when they at long last begin to discuss a potential strategy in dealing with their once-close companion, soon discovering new and troubling facts of the mysterious martial artist Kaius, that he manages to approach their positions with men and weapons in tow; as the group head out to deal with their new threat, they at long last are confronted with Link's new terrifying transformation as a smaller Fierce Deity. As almost half expected, Link easily makes short work of every single one of them and in record time.
The only salvation the group of heroes manage to amass for themselves is a rapidly-channelled portal to an unknown dimension and plane, recently-cast by the ever-sneaky Scaverin. Before all members are able to head through the timely escape he plans for them, Zelda discovers one startling and interesting fact about Link's odd new change; while he manages to easily near-kill his former rival Raynard, he hesitates with great ferocity to end Zelda's life in much the same way.
A fact she takes with her to the dimension she travels with her group to, weighing ever heavily on her.
Kaius, Amalda and Link meanwhile however, turn their attention back to their captured headquarters of Gylomecia; to the Whiteblood Cardinal. Kaius speculates that, before turning their military prowess on the rest of the Aurelia with the Fierce Deity under his command, he correctly deduces that Impa's group of heroes plan to make one final stand; not just to save their fallen friend Link, but to end Kaius' tyrannical occupation of Gylomecia.
For now, he and his new puppet of power wait for them in the Whiteblood Cardinal…
Scene 1
Zelda gasped as she stepped through the portal, presumably after everyone else, into a wavy and strangely-echoing dimension around her. She immediately felt somewhat sick and, as she gripped onto the unconscious and wounded Raynard on her side, his arm linked 'round her shoulder he placed him down carefully and turned her blonde-haired head around her new surroundings.
An odd huge expanse of sheer black with smoke and clouds of dust dotted everywhere around her filled the immediate area and, as Zelda turned her ponytailed head around as if in search for anyone else pursuing them, she at long last set her pained nerves to rest when she saw they were all alone.
Thank Nayru, she thought to herself, holding back a sigh through her nose as she did.
"Where the hell are we now?"
Barkner's crude and half-annoyed words managed to make her swivel her blonde-haired head in her Goron friend's direction to her left; there, standing in what seemed to be the centre of the huge expanse they all resided in was her group of close companions, led as ever by her Sheikah mentor and guardian Impa.
"We're in the Void," Scaverin spoke up from the back, seemingly having entered through the portal of his own making last, casting his hardened bald-headed frown as he stepped forward to join them. His robed hands joined together; he re-opened his mouth again to elaborate further. "A plane of existence between this world and the next; it is where those who die with regrets tend to end up…"
"Is that what all that crying is…?" Alwyn prodded him, turning his suspicious-eyed gaze behind himself as he did, drawing out a half-amused smirk from the listening summoner.
"I imagine so, yes."
Zelda winced as Alwyn spoke, listening intently to the horrifying cries for help and distress, all for a second death that would not come; lost souls that travelled endlessly around them invisibly, unable to be seen presumably by those of the living.
"Well… at least we're alive…," Impa gasped out shakily from the front, shaking her silver-haired head as she did, thinking back to their fairly-recent close call against their former companion. "I fully expected him to kill every single one of us back there."
"We… couldn't even touch him…"
Impa and the rest of the group swung their briefly-surprised look on the wide-eyed Vassia, the small Palashian princess having dropped to all fours as if in sheer shock and horror. She re-opened her mouth as if to elaborate further, raising up her violet-haired head to face them again as she did.
"I… I didn't even see him… break a sweat…"
"'There is no mercy of compassion in the world when Akuma surfaces his silver-haired head. Embrace the chaos He brings, for in the end that is all… endless chaos, for time without end,'"
The sound of Veronika's ever-objective mezzo-soprano made the shocked Vassia dart her wide-eyed head 'round on the deceptively-older Stralanavian, awaiting her next words. The raven-haired fortune-teller stared back at the Palashian princess she spoke to, a simple-eyed frown on her face as she did.
"Link now has become something else; something otherworldly," she began again, casting her frown not just at the shocked Vassia but at the rest of the listening group. "It could be now that there is no-one in our ranks who can even challenge him… or this strange god-like strength he now commands…"
"Did anyone else notice how much he'd changed…?" Malon spoke up in agreement with the frowning-faced Veronika on her left, still gripping the clucking little Cuccoo she and Link once purchased back in Stralanavia together, its voice echoing out into the vast nothingness of the void they now stood in. "His hair, his clothes…"
"Yes…," Scaverin nodded in his Hylian hanger-on's direction, a hardened frown of his own adorned on his older expression. "It would certainly appear that, as long as your little friend's Yang-style Aegir remains suppressed as it is, he will descend deeper and further into his 'Yin' reserves and become this… 'Fierce Deity' spoken of in the bible," the man explained briefly, shaking his head lightly as he put on a mirthless little smirk to his face. "All these years, I left the Hylianis Militaris Ordinis because of my dwindling faith, yet to see this now…"
The listening Zelda thought back to witnessing Link's strange change to the 'Fierce Deity' through a similarly odd mask within his possession. As she leant down to the heavily-wounded and unconscious form of Raynard below her, soft-fingered palms opening up to channel healing Aegir through to his wounds, she couldn't help but feel an odd mixture of fear and growing determination to confront her once-close companion again, seemingly having regretted her earlier fall in composure when he cornered her.
And yet the memory of him faltering his final decisive blow to her stuck clearly in her own mind.
Indeed, even as the young Hylian princess lowered her head to eye the scowling shut-eyed Raynard beneath her, she thought back to how he failed to hesitate conversely when impaling his fist through Raynard's very chest itself.
Maybe Raynard was right earlier, she thought.
"Maybe I'm the only one that can get through to him."
"I imagine that, as time presses onward and your friend remains in this state…,"
Scaverin's response to a question that Zelda hadn't heard managed to pull her near-kicking and screaming out of her curious-laden inner machinations, light-blonde eyebrows rising upward in their directions.
"So too will he eventually succumb to his new change as this 'Akuma'… and become the Fierce Deity spoken of in legend fully," Scaverin finished, re-joining his robed hands together as he did. "His powers have already magnified beyond anything I've ever seen… and in merely twenty-four hours at that."
"We gotta get back over there right now then!" Barkner called out aggressively and carelessly, boulder-brown eyes widened as he 'rounded his shocked scowl on the bald man behind him. "The longer we take-"
"I know," Impa conceded quietly and unusually softly, briefly shutting her eyes in response to the Goron's maddened anxieties. "But if we rush headlong like that again we'll only all be killed… it's a miracle we even survived the first go-around."
"I suggest we all attack him together," Veronika began in retort, casting her objective frown forward. "I can do what I can to shackle him but… in the end we will require Zelda to correct his Aegir chords to end the fighting." The young-looking Stralanavian spoke up, briefly swinging her frown on the watching Hylian princess to her right. Everyone turned similarly to watch her give first medical aid to the unconscious form of Raynard beneath her, and Zelda found herself feeling fairly sheepish before she nodded back at them somewhat shakily.
"Y-Yes…," she responded. "I… I won't freeze up this time… I can't."
"Our lives are depending on this, Zelda," Impa spoke up again, this time in an uncharacteristically softened tone of her contralto, a similarly delicate turn to her usually-hardened exterior. "We absolutely cannot have any doubts behind us this time."
Zelda nodded a second time, a frown of her own face. "I'm sorry about last time…," she apologised regretfully. "But I won't this time Impa; I promise you."
Satisfied, her Sheikah guardian nodded similarly.
"Lady Impa… what should we do?"
Realising that they still had Baltus, Freda and Eryll in their party having seemingly followed them all through the portal of Scaverin's own making, Impa swung her frown on the council members' own curious-eyed expressions before re-opening her mouth to reply.
"I want you three to get to safety as soon as we hit the Light World again," she began in reply, drawing out nods from all three. "Is that understood?"
"Very well…"
"Yes Impa."
"Yes… lady Impa."
"What about these 'Lavrentius' and 'Lycidas' companions of yours…?" Scaverin posited forward curiously, tilting his bald head at the Sheikah before him. "Will they be joining us?"
She sighed unsurely and in a mixture of light frustration as she turned to face the summoner. "No…," she answered. "I don't believe they will; we all still have no idea where they both are. They could be in cages back in Whiteblood for all we know."
"What about… him?"
Alwyn's abrupt query, nodding his Zoran blue head in the direction of the unconscious Raynard to their side made them all swing their frowns on him.
"He will be fine…," Scaverin responded, casting his furrow-browed frown over at them. "Time works differently in the Void you see… and with your little Hylian princess working on his wounds…"
Raynard's very sudden and timely-apt loudened gasp made them all near-flinch from the abrupt sound he gave out, watching him wide-eyed and panicked as he very suddenly shot up from his fallen position. He darted his spiky-haired head around himself, as if to regain his bearings.
"W-Where the-? Where am I, what-? Did we win?"
"Not quite," Scaverin answered him in a half-amused little chuckle, decorated with a light smirk on his face. "We've only just temporarily escaped their wrath… for now at any rate."
Raynard winced, rising up a calloused hand to rest on his now-lowered head as if he were suffering from a great migraine, before double-taking to the knelt Zelda on his right chestnut-brown eyes widened. She shook her own blonde-haired head back at him, eyes half-closed.
"You'll be fine…," she answered. "You were injured fairly badly but I've managed to close it back up again."
"Time really does work differently 'round these parts…"
Raynard double-took a second time in his left, eyes widened at the curious-laden Barkner leaning over him as if to get a look at his injured chest.
"You ain't even got a scar on ya…"
The listening Van Garrick blinked as he lowered his eyes to his bare chest and, sure enough, not a trace of the Fierce Deity's fist remained on it; an incredible sight to be sure. He couldn't help but put on a sheepish-faced frown as he carefully half-rose his frown in Zelda's direction on his right.
"Th-thanks…" He muttered back out to her, drawing out a weak wan smile from her in response.
"All right… are we all ready?" Scaverin spoke up, turning his head around at the conjoined group around him. When he received nods from most of them he nodded similarly before about-turning and rising up one of his robed arms to open up a second portal. "Very well… then let's go."
"YAHHHH!"
FWIPFWIP-FWIPFWIPFWIP
DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
One of the poor soldiers loyal to Kaius could barely even scream out in further agony as Link slammed a superfast series of strikes and fists into him. The well-armoured man, seemingly attempting to work as one of his many practice partners, had ended up just as the others; broken badly and near-killed in the exchange… and with very little effort to boot. As the man was sent near-lifelessly tumbling and sprawling across the ground in a broken, bloody heap, the sound of Kaius' shoes clicking against the marble floor above them made the growling Link snap his silver-haired head up in the noise's source.
"Oh Akuma…," the smirking Gylomecian warlord began, disapprovingly shaking his spiked black hair as it shook with him, chuckling lightly as he did. "Whatever will I do with you…? That's the twentieth soldier you've put out of commission already," he stated shockingly, a half-amused smirk on his face. Link growled and lowered his white-spaced eyes, almost if in some form of shame. "You can't keep near-murdering all our soldiers… whatever will we use to invade Hyrule with…?"
"We don't need them Kaius-sensei…," Link shot back, re-raising his silver-curtained head to cast a glower forward. "I'll take over Hyrule… and the rest of Aurelia for you."
The listening Kaius chuckled lowly in amusement as the ever-frowning Amalda stepped out from one of the rooms he previously came from, walking over toward his back as he opened up his mouth to respond. "While I appreciate your loyalty and your drive in achieving our goals Link… I'm afraid I cannot simply rely on one soldier," he laughed lightly, his slight smirk lightly elongating. "Even if that soldier is a demi-god…"
VRRRRRRRRRRRR
All three members swung their heads in the next noise to interrupt their conversation; Link himself snapped his eyes wide open and darted his silver-curtained head 'round, almost as if he were a crazed animal sensing an approach. A second portal, much like the one they witnessed in the Gylomecian capital's streets, opened right up before them all in the middle of the ruined main hall of Whiteblood Cardinal.
Out of it stepped the firmly-frowning form of Impa, Barkner, Alwyn and the rest of her group of companions spilling out behind her; as they stepped out onto the marble floor of the main hall, the watching Kaius and Amalda stalked toward the edges of the second floor they stood on, observing quietly.
"How good of you to join us all tonight!" Kaius greeted them in a sarcastic little grin, armoured hands joined at his back as he did. "We've all been wondering where you've been… you're all rather rude guests to have kept us waiting… we have an appointment with the rest of Aurelia to get to… don't we Akuma?"
Like an animal, Link reacted to being called and snapped at the air between the watching group with his teeth, ghost-like eyes narrowing forward as he did. Impa furrowed her brow back at the demi-god boy a few feet ahead before turning her glare up on the watching pair above them all.
"How is this going to go?" The Sheikah called up demandingly, eyes narrowing suspiciously back at the armoured warlord. The listening Kaius chose to exchange a similarly curious-eyed look with the frowning-faced Amalda, now standing on his right.
"Why… whatever do you mean?"
His voice, dripping with sarcasm and glee, could only infuriate the patient Sheikah further. "I mean are you going to sic your soldiers on top of us while we deal with Link or what?"
Kaius chuckled back, amused. "Oh my no… that would just be uncouth now, wouldn't it?"
The listening Impa's frown twitched as she stood, head held straight and her ruby-red eyes focused up on him.
There's no way to trust what he's saying, she thought.
"But we don't have any other choice…"
"Fight me Impa!"
Link's sudden outburst brought the firmly-frowning Impa out of her thoughts, darting her eyes 'round to face the glaring and grit-toothed scowling face of her former student.
"Don't you remember any of it Link…?" She posited forward quietly, soon slowly revolving her silver-haired head 'round to face his, a new softer kind of frown adorned on her face. "I was your mentor… your sensei."
"I no longer need a sensei…," Link growled back at the woman animalistically before rising up his left deep-black and burnt boot to slam powerfully against the ground in a showy axe kick technique.
DROOOOOM…
"I'll grind your bones to DUST!"
The very building itself they all stood in vibrated and rumbled violently, like a small earthquake had hit it, leaving some within the group to nervously attempt to keep their stature from falling. Impa lowered her shut-eyed frown and shook her head, as if some form of disappointment before opening up her mouth to speak.
"I always feared this would come to pass…," the Sheikah murmured out, a hardened frown atop her exterior before she re-opened her eyes and raised up her head to face him with. "Well… failure or not… you're still my student," she began, speaking far more firmly than before, eyes narrowing as she did. "I'm going to take responsibility for this mess you've made… and put an end to this…"
DROOM
The very ground itself rumbled lightly from the effort that Impa exuded in lowering her own armoured arms, eyes briefly shut as if to meditate her form, before soon re-rising her arms to affix into her usual fighting stance.
"You are certain this is the best course of action…?" Scaverin spoke quietly as he stood next to the Sheikah, robed arms ever joined together, his eyes darting up to watch the smirking Kaius overhead suspiciously.
"Yes," Impa merely responded with, meeting Link's death-like growling glare with her own hardened stare. "It's the only way to ensure Zelda gets a fair shot at him."
Almost as if she were listening, the firmly-frowning Hylian princess stepped up to Impa's right side, opting not to change into her usual Sheik disguise. She spun her small arms together, yellow-shaded light sparkling from both hands as she fixated her own glower on the humongous dark-blue aura surrounding her corrupted companion.
"Commander…"
Alwyn's initial hushed greeting made the listening Sheikah furrow her brow, her eyes kept fixated on her new foe.
"I don't like this…," the Zoran followed up with, his own ocean-teal eyes briefly shooting up to watch the growling Link. "He's too strong for just you four…," he claimed wisely, seemingly referring to the glowering Raynard and frowning-faced Veronika that joined them all at the forefront. "He'll kill you all if you do this…"
"This is the only way Alwyn," Impa responded with, her expression unchanging. "The only strategy I can see working that keeps us all alive."
"But… commander…"
"I said go!" She called over her shoulder, briefly turning her head a little, eyes still fixed on her foe. The listening Alwyn's eyes weakened a little but he nodded and bowed in respect, all the same.
"Yes… commander…"
With that Alwyn, Barkner, Scaverin and Vassia all leapt up to the second floor, presumably to confront the smirking-faced Kaius and Amalda. Link's ghost-like eyes widened and he turned his growl on their quick-moving forms, hungry for battle.
"Hey!"
He snapped his silver-curtained head back to his front to find the voice coming from his former mentor.
"Forget them," she advised the maddened Yōkai with. "We'll be your meat."
This time the listening Link's scowl upturned into a hungry-eyed toothy-faced smirk, chuckling lowly and malevolently, opening up his palms and lowering them to his sides as he advanced slowly and deliberately.
All four remaining members of the party readied themselves for the bloodiest fight they'd ever seen.
2
Supernatural Yōkai of Aurelia's Destruction
AKUMA
Almost as immediately as the yelling Yōkai approached them did he leap up toward them, his very aura of dark-blue Quintessence burning and whining noisily at them; the narrow-eyed Impa and Raynard reacted as quickly as they humanly could and sidestepped deftly before grappling at the small Yōkai's exposed limbs. The gambit surprisingly paid off and, although the once-Hylian boy's aura of Aegir was so powerful it managed to injure the pair with small burns, they kept hold on his body as long as they could and with great effort expended as they did.
Veronika and Zelda stepped forward and, at opposite ends of one another, they rose up their small arms and focused them on the wide-eyed Link's silver-shaded tunic chest. He widened his eyes at them all and growled down at them animalistically and hatefully; soon realising what they were intending, he reacted.
RRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR
Although Impa and Raynard somehow managed to keep their grip on the small Yōkai, it was the surprised Veronika and Zelda that were sent spinning through the air backward from the abrupt and sudden animalistic-like bellow that escaped Link's lips. Eventually, as his aura of incredibly-powerful Aegir rose up even further, so too did the burns and the two had no other choice than to let go, also being sent tailspinning back. All four at least managed to catch their recoveries by lowering their hands at the ground in their tailspin.
"Agh…," Raynard gasped out, casting his scowl down at the agonising burns on his arms he suffered at the hands of his former friend's aura of Aegir. "How could he have gotten this strong in a single day…?!"
"Because it's not him anymore," Impa answered as she stood to her feet, silver-haired head and armoured body leant to the side as she narrowed her fire-red eyes back at their growling foe. "That there… is 'Akuma'."
"'There is no mercy or compassion in the world when Akuma surfaces… Embrace the chaos He brings, for in the end that is all,'"
Veronika's wan-eyed words made the listening remaining members of the group stiffen their nerves; words directly quoted from the Hylianis.
"'Endless chaos… for time without end.'"
Perhaps angered by Veronika's near-fatalistic speech, the growling Raynard rose up his burned fist and widened both chestnut eyes as he brought it plummeting noisily and brutally slamming down into the ground beneath them all.
CRASSSSHHH-DROOOOOM
Like a small earthquake similar to his former silver curtain-haired rival's, Raynard's ground-pound managed to bring up the very marble floor itself beneath them all into a projectile somehow; as it was stimulated up, the force of which sent it careering forward, the narrow-eyed Veronika pulled back her small bangled arms to fire forward what seemed to be projectiles of her own.
Small Soul-shaded orbs joined with Raynard's crude if, effectively-moving technique, essentially buffing and supporting it into a much-stronger one. Zelda joined them by pulling back her own arms and, utilising her light-aligned Aegir, she formed a bow and arrow sheerly out of her own Quintessence; with powerful magic came a twisting and spinning arrow that flew directly for the wide-eyed demonic Yōkai.
FWEEE…
KURRRRASSSSSHHH
As the strengthened pair of ranged assaults collided with the wide-eyed Yōkai, he reacted by bringing up both silver-gauntleted arms presumably to block with, and the very building itself that they fought in began to rumble violently. Sooner than even the tensely-watching party of four expected, the exchange ended with an abrupt explosion of Aegir between both friend and foe and, shockingly and at long last, Link began to display the effects of fatigue; he yelled out in a mixture of rage and shock, his usual tenor spliced with the baritone of his adult years as he was sent tailspinning back into the air, a hardened hateful scowl upon his lips.
THUD
When he landed facedown in the yet-unblemished marble floor beneath him, the anxiously-watching Impa slowly and carefully crept forward, looking for any chance to gain okizeme on their new foe. While the watching Zelda, Veronika and even Raynard all exchanged a beam, light-faced smile and firmly-frowning nod respectively, it was the silent-eyed Impa that was far less naïve; she merely stopped mid-sneak and furrowed her brow suspiciously back at the fallen Link, fully expecting him to stand back up again.
"Chikara no Shinzui!"
The wide-eyed Zelda, Veronika and Raynard all swung their shocked gasps 'round to the tenor and baritone that spoke within Link's shell, finding him smirking back at them and somehow levitating a few inches into the air. With both small silver-gauntleted arms held horizontally to both sides of himself, a stream of lava-burning Aegir and magic began to snake up from the ground beneath him, soon joining his small hovering figure in twists and turns. Eventually, the stream soon began to wind itself 'round most of his already-armoured body, as if it were acting as some kind of fire-elemental shield.
Soon, however, the true nature of this technique revealed itself.
"Kazan no Ude! Kaen!"
FRRRRRRRRRRRRR…
FRRRRRRRRRRRRR…
The hellfire that now consumed the small Yōkai was one of storybooks and fables; arms of satanic and otherworldly flame and fire streamed out from his already-extended gauntleted arms, essentially acting as a range increaser.
The watching Impa's scowl twitched and she opened up her mouth to curse, her morale plummeting at the sight before her.
"Fuck…"
With little warning, the hovering Link seemingly reacted to the narrow-eyed Impa's muttering and shot forward one of his burning volcanic Aegir-arms her way; the silver-haired Sheikah widened her eyes and, with a lightning-fast reaction time of her own she barely managed to evade the sudden punch his left Aegir-arm gave out.
She was not so lucky on the second go-around however.
FWOOSH
FRRRRR-KRRRRRK
Impa's ruby-red eyes widened as she was caught mid-dodge by the second volcanic arm, sending her flying through the air with it, burning away at her skin and her clothes.
CRASSSSH-DROOOOOOM
Link's maddened demonic mixture of baritone and tenor carried him on as he laughed dementedly in his action; having thrown the shut-eyed Sheikah directly into one of the great hall's many walls, immediately bringing down debris upon her to match.
"Finaaaalll…,"
The sound of Raynard's low-voiced tenor made the wide-smirking Link very slowly, and seemingly deliberately, revolve 'round his silver-curtained head as if it were some sort of machinery; when he at last faced the low-stanced Raynard, the watching black-haired boy had to briefly stop channelling his wildly-building wind-elemental Aegir energy to widen his chestnut-brown eyes back at the sight before him.
The huge toothy smirk on Link simply just wasn't human; it was something that almost looked as if it belonged to a Dead Hand. Although the sight of Link's horrifying widened toothy grin was near-enough to make him hesitate, it was the new discovery resting on Link's temple that made him narrow both eyes in curiosity.
A crest of three triangles now sat resting on his forehead, glowing as powerfully as the satanic power he displayed so easily; only the piece on Link's lower right lit up, the rest appearing dull, almost as if he failed to possess those particular pieces.
Raynard reset his hardened scowling expression and at long last pulled his right hand back forward from its back-held position, firing forward a huge projectile of massive Aegir and power.
"REPPUKEN!"
Before the watching remainders of the group the madly-smirking Link rose up both volcanic arms to catch the very dangerous projectile itself as it shot across the ground after him, like an angry snake; in a chilling scene that reminded the watching Raynard of his initial fight with the demonic Kage Narumono, the newly-transformed Yōkai form of Link began to struggle with the 'Final Reppuken' projectile in his Aegir arms, his form twitching madly and the ground rumbling violently as a result.
DRRRRRRRRRR…
Raynard swung up his gasping and effort-spent head up to the shocked forms of Veronika and Zelda to his right, nodding his spiky-haired head in Link's direction.
"Go!" He called out above the din of the noise. "Now!"
Realising that he was effectively doing all he could to provide a distraction for the girls, Veronika and Zelda exchanged a fairly sheepish nod with one another before rushing forward to Link's two sides; Zelda on his left and Veronika on his right. As they began to make the final approach, Link's twitching and near-psychotic grin very slowly devolved into the hateful-eyed scowl he was seemingly known for in his new form, white-spaced eyes darting in the two girls' directions.
Zelda and Veronika both brought up their small arms and, in almost perfect synchronisation, began to stream forward their own brand of Quintessence; Zelda's yellow-shaded light came careering and peacefully whining to Link's left as Veronika's Soul-power energy came flying and screaming forward.
FWEEEEE…
CRRRRASSSSSSSH-VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The two girls narrowed their eyes through the effort they expended together as they advanced carefully and slowly on the growling Yōkai, still streaming their expanse of magical Aegir and Quintessence. It was only when they began to make some form of progress in approaching his form however that their hopes were dashed; a second pair of Aegir-arms sprouted out abruptly and suddenly from the boy's previously-exposed left and right sides. As they easily blocked both streams of Aegir, the watching Zelda and Veronika both widened their eyes and, realising the danger they were suddenly in, halted the stream of their Aegir as soon as they could.
Sadly, however, it was far too late.
FWIP-FWIP
The two volcanic arms made of magic and otherworldly powers easily ate up the two streams of magic before swiftly shooting forward to slam their hellfire-handed fists in savage back-hands across the yelping pair of girls, sending them both lightly-burnt and tailspinning through the air. The watching Link, chuckling from his still-defending position of absorbing the 'Final Reppuken' technique he stopped earlier, at long last turned his ghost-like eyed stare back on his wide-eyed former rival Raynard before him.
The poor tired youth could only watch in growing horror and despair as the group's last hopes were slowly and deliberately snuffed out; the massive 'Final Reppuken' projectile technique he fired forward earlier was eventually petered out within the now conjoined four Aegir-arms that Link commanded, leaving only the smouldering sound of his burning wall of intimidating aura of Quintessence and power.
Thinking back to his conversation with Scaverin back in Kaiohdrahl, Raynard couldn't help but feel his stomach sink from the sheer realisation that, somehow, all of this had been pre-ordained.
"'Akuma'... is said to be some form of a Yōkai; an otherworldly near-mindless beast that preys on settlements, cities and even continents. It's written in those scriptures that when 'Akuma' finally surfaces, the end to Aurelia and the rest of the world is nigh."
Scaverin's words, as true then as they are now.
There's nothing we can do, Raynard thought to himself, horrified and anguished at the hopelessness of their situation.
"I deserve this…"
As his saddened ruminations echoed out deep in his head, he scrunched shut his chestnut-brown eyes in a mixture of angered frustration and shame.
No Aegir.
No friends.
No time.
"No hope…"
DROOOOOOM
He widened his tree-shaded eyes in sheer shock at the second explosion that rent the very cardinal building asunder ever further, this time directed to the great hall's entrance. As the two last combatants left swung their heads 'round they got a good look at the noise's source; a pair of figures stepped out of the smoke and debris of their own making, one taller and more muscular than the other and the second figure a smaller and skinnier one. When at long last the two got to look upon the two figures, Raynard recognised them immediately or, at the very least, one of them.
The muscular, bare-chested man standing before the pair of Hylians was the former champion of Palashia himself; Lycidas Marino and, standing next to him, appeared to be his rag-dressed father, mayor of Palashia and ever-carrying his recognisable walking cane with him. The pair of Palashians looked as though they carried new wounds of their own since last meeting up with the group before the battle of Corinium City, almost as if they had been down in Whiteblood Cardinal's dungeons.
Raynard could only stare back at them in incredulous shock, unable to work out their puzzling presences together.
The braided-haired Lycidas revolved his head 'round to face his father's and, as Lavrentius nodded back at him in what seemed to be confirmation, the listening Lycidas at long last leapt linearly toward the two Hylians on the battlefield, his own gauntleted fists at the ready. Link's watching white-spaced eyes widened and he gasped out suddenly, triangle-marked brow furrowing as if he were startled suddenly, like a wild animal.
FWOOSH…
FWIP
Although the fast-flying form of Lycidas leapt his figure toward the demi-god, and just as he made the final approach he very quickly vanished from sight before re-appearing behind the Yōkai, fist held up.
"HAH!"
SLAM
FRRRRRRR
Lycidas cursed out in Palashian when he found his foe having counter-attacked without even having to turn and face him; indeed, the poor Lycidas' gauntleted fist began to burn within the grip of one of Link's many new Aegir-arms of pure hellfire and lava, leaving him grunting and scowling back at the Yōkai. Link, in similar fashion to confronting Raynard, slowly swerved his triangle-marked head to face the man behind him, elongating an eerie-looking humongous grin upon his expression.
The watching Lycidas could only narrow his eyes back at the demi-god before breaking his hold on the fire-elemental Aegir-arm, skidding his weathered boots across the ground as he did.
"Shine KNUCKLE!"
The smirking-faced Link dropped his grin previously as he darted his silver-curtained head 'round, only to find the Aegir-encapsulated Raynard suddenly rushing at him, seemingly with a new technique of his own; the bare-chested Hylian, coating himself in yellow-shaded Aegir, shot himself forward; like an arrow fired from a ballista, Raynard's assault somehow managed to crack and even pierce through Link's hovering shield of four fire Aegir-arms, soon breaking them as he passed the small Yōkai.
KRRRRR-CRRRRKKKK
SMMMASSSHHHH…
Like glass being suddenly broken, and so violently at that, it left the wide-eyed Raynard vulnerable and near-defenceless in his single-minded strike; the angered Link gave his shock-faced rival a growl and glare before angrily back-handing him with his right silver-gauntleted arm.
"HRNGH!"
CRACK
"Ngh…!"
FWEEEE…
CRASSSSSSHHH
Although it didn't do much in its seeming initial intent to break the former Hylian's barrier of fire, it was enough for the watching former Palashian champion; Lycidas widened his own eyes before suddenly careering himself in a dive elbowing strike, directed at the grunting Link's chin.
CRACCCK
"Grnnngh…!"
"Vanishing DRAGON!"
FWOOSH…
RRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR
As quickly as Lycidas hit the silver-haired boy with his elbow did he spin 'round and, in mid-air, pulled both clenched fists back before outstretching them forward; he placed them ahead and joined them together, eyes narrowed as his own cloak of yellow-shaded Aegir billowed noisily. Around his aura came forth a screaming dragon, seemingly made of Quintessence itself, and as it bellowed out into the world it flew into it shot down immediately for the exposed chest of the wide-eyed Link.
FWOOSH…
KURRRRRAAASSSSSH
"GYAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGH!"
SMMMMASSHHHH-RUMBLE-RUMBLE…
Link's otherworldly scream came echoing and bellowing out of his small child-like body as the 'Vanishing Dragon' technique managed to pierce through his plated moon-blue armour and his very chest itself, sending him careering back violently and bloodily through the air. The watching Raynard, peeling himself off from one of the walls he was crashed into, could hardly believe his tree-shaded eyes.
If he was this strong back in Palashia, he began in shock-eyed thought.
"Then I'd have been fucking killed."
"Now!"
The gasping cry from the former Palashian champion at his side made Raynard double-take in further shock.
"Do what you need to do now!" Lycidas screamed out urgently and desperately.
Suddenly realising this was perhaps their one and only chance, especially given the godlike strength of the Fierce Deity would merely only revive Link's form back into a fighting fit status, Raynard rushed as quickly as his broken body would allow him.
Thankfully for him, however, the listening Veronika and Zelda having recovered from their own wounds appeared to have heard him; he caught them both moving toward Link's fallen position behind a wall of debris. Zelda gave the watching Veronika one final look, almost as if she were preparing her will for something; the small Stralanavian girl nodded back at her firmly, a similarly hardened frown atop her exterior as she awaited her companion's next movement.
The Hylian princess briefly shut her eyes as she rose up her small hands and, like magic, most of the debris littered around Link's fallen body lifted up and off of him, revealing the newly-injured small Yōkai similarly shut-eyed and sporting new bruises and injuries.
The spectating Raynard could hardly believe it; he merely watched on as Zelda stepped past the remaining rubble before at long last making the final approach to him, small sparkling fingers risen up, presumably to operate on him.
The very sight of this new transformation of Link actually wounded was a vision to behold; after giving everything he could and watching everyone else give everything they had in turn several times over in fighting him, at long last some form of human fatigue began to become apparent on him.
This won't last, he thought negatively.
"If she can't do this now we all die."
Almost as if she were listening to the very inner workings of Raynard's mind, the frowning-faced Zelda re-opened her sea-shaded eyes and set her fixated gaze forward on Link's seemingly unconscious fallen form before her; as she rose up her sparkling fingers to hover over the massive gaping hole in his broken-armoured chest, blood staining the wall behind him, a small invisible stream of Aegir began to snake forward from her fingers to meet the fallen silver-haired youth before her. Almost as immediately as it touched him however did he reawaken; ghost-like eyes widening, he turned his head her way and growled back at her warningly, the freshly-gained wound that Lycidas had just given him beginning to swirl within itself and react.
Indeed, as the wide-eyed Raynard and Lycidas stood tired from battle and watching carefully from their positions, the very gaping hole in Link's chest before them began to heal.
And at an incredibly rapid rate to boot.
"That's impossible…" The shocked Lycidas whispered out, eyebrow risen up in sheer disbelief.
Raynard growled back, shaking his spiky-haired head at the scene before him. "That's Akuma…"
At long last did Zelda appear to be making some form of progress; the snarling Link, realising her intentions, attempted with great effort to pull his body out of the wall he had been embedded into.
CRRRRACCCK
CRRRRACCCK
Both wounded arms now free, he roared out animalistically as he shot forward one of them, filled with fire-elemental Aegir directly into the gasping Zelda's own chest.
SQQQUELLLCCCH
"Ah…!"
Although the wide-eyed Veronika, Raynard and Lycidas all attempted to move forward and assist the now gravely-wounded Zelda, she turned her left hand back at them, shaking her blonde-haired head dismissively as if insisting to be left alone. The three remaining fighters could only exchange unsure frowns with one another yet obeyed the Hylian princess' ludicrous request regardless.
Zelda coughed up blood in a wincing cringe to her face, staining the hard-scowling Link's own face as he glared hatefully back at her, seemingly unable to stop whatever magic she was operating on him with. And then, something happened that not even the overly-wise Impa could have predicted.
Link faltered.
His hardened scowl dropped as his ghost-like eyes began to gradually gain colour back to them, his silver-shaded eyebrows rising up as if in shock at the sight before him; Zelda hanging over him, blood coating her mouth and tears staining her shut eyes.
"R-Rgh…"
His once-firm and resolute fist of the Shinzui began to hesitate and, in great spite to having already deathly-wounded her, his own flashing eyes began to leak tears of their own; a shocking revelation that made even the battle-hungry Link himself stop to raise up his free shaking right hand and paw at his eyes. He chanced a quick look down at the liquid as his right fingers twitched madly, his eyesight becoming blurry. A strange mixture of sentimentality and overwhelming rage bubbled inside of him as he re-rose his head to exchange his shocked open-mouthed frown with the badly-bleeding Zelda before him.
"N-No…,"
As he began speaking, she re-opened up her eyes to face his, her small stream of Aegir the only sound echoing out into the great hall around them, buzzing away quietly; only the sounds of Kaius and their last remaining friends fighting echoed out far in some other room, seemingly having moved from the second floor.
"N-NO!" Link roared back at her again, tears flowing freely now as he scowled hatefully back at her. "I-I-"
She watched him, a sad look in her blurry cerulean eye as consciousness slowly slipped in and out.
His silver-curtained hair very slowly changed; as he re-opened his mouth to speak again, it flashed in between silver and blonde, a second transformation on its way.
"I-I loved you once, but…"
Zelda's saddened frown gradually extended out into a satisfied little smile on her face, an odd sense of sorrow in her eyes that was the final catalyst to bringing him back from the precipice of madness; Link's hateful scowl soon devolved back into one of his horrified-eyed frowns and so too did his eerie ghost-like eyes gain their full oceanic colour back to them, pupils restoring themselves to human form.
Her job at last complete, Zelda allowed herself to fall to floor lifeless, her earlier smile falling from her face as she did.
"Z-Zel…"
His horrified gasp was all that left his mouth for, as she fell toward him, he dropped with her to the ground with her in his grip. Although she was essentially gravely-wounded, the similarly unconscious Link managed to at least break her fall as she dropped atop him, shut-eyed head laying side on his chest, staining his clothes in her blood.
They could both barely even hear the anxious calls that came from the watching Raynard and Lycidas but, before Link dropped into unconsciousness, he caught the blurry sight of Veronika rushing over to the two Hylians' sides, hands at the ready.
Only the image of Zelda's odd and heart-breaking little smile, stained with her tears and blood filled his vision as he fell to the ground.
