This took a bit longer then I had planned. Partly because of having to do things for this month and partly because of family matters. Regardless I at least managed to finish it. Anyway, on with the chapter.
Disclaimer: It really should be obvious I don't own anything of either.
Shalltear made the first move closing what distance between them existed, as she readied to piece through the human in front of her with her lance. Almost immediately Sora knocked the lance away and with an expert level of skill immediately moved his Keyblade to slash at her from below.
Shalltear barely managed to push herself back dodging the swing but it didn't matter. Sora jumps forward and swung Kingdom Key into her abdomen, knocking her back from the force of the strike. Shalltear managed to stop herself from falling backwards as she drug her feets into the ground creating a trail in the earth as she came to a stop.
These first few movements could be said to have probed her unknown opponent and from what she could feel from the pain and the force behind it… her opponent was going to take way more to put down then she had first assumed. While a part of her was annoyed by that, another was excited. An actual challenge did exist. "Not bad."
"Fire!" Sora pointed his Keyblade forward as a Firaga was sent right at her. Stalltear jumped up into the air and dodged the blast. She didn't know but if the force of his attacks was anything to go by perhaps getting hit with what she assumed was his magic wasn't something she wanted to get hit by.
Still, it was her turn to respond in kind as Sora charged forward to strike at her. "But not enough [Force Shockwave]" Sora was tossed back by an invisible shockwave and had to right himself to keep from falling on his back. Landing on the ground she decided to try to end this. "Now try this [Implosion]!"
Sora body felt as if something was trying to crush it from within. Actually, he had felt a bit of a familiar taste in his mouth for the moment. Whatever it was had hurt a lot but he was able to power through it.
Meanwhile this confirmed to Shalltear that her opponent was no push over. If she had to guess he was somewhere maybe in the 90s in terms of level. Given how much had basically fallen to her such a thing was impressive. 'This might be entertaining.'
Immediately she used [Mana Since] to get an idea of how much mana her foe had and she was actually surprised. To her perspective he was nearly engulfed with flames of the stuff. Singling to her that regardless of what happened she had to deal with his magic. If he was as high a level as she suspected he was then it would be advantageous to remove this.
Casting [Regeneration] for her own benefit it was time to start the fight in earnest. Although Shalltear was immediately caught off guard as Sora moved suddenly in front of her, her eyes and senses barely registered the glow surrounding his body as Sora unleashed an upward slash knocking her into the sky.
As he came in for a second swing Shallyrar managed to get her bearing just in time to knock away his key shaped weapon. Righting herself within the air her did a moment to wonder what had happened. 'Was that Martial Arts?'
She decided to instead ignore that as she hold out her hand to push him back yet again. "[Maximize Magic: Force Shockwave]!"
Sora felt himself get tossed back this time he righted himself within the air. Immediately he tossed Kingdom Key right at her with a Strike Raid. Shalltear dodged out of the way wondering why he had tossed his weapon for a split second before it reappeared within his hands. As it did he pointed at her. "Thunder!"
A lightning bolt arched from the sky and aimed right for her. Shalltear, however, was able to rush in dodging the blast. Sora was immediately ready to block or deflect an attack aimed for him. Shallyear disappeared and reappeared behind him thanks to [Greater Teleportation] catching Sora off guard. Turning around he was met with the lance stabbing into his stomach.
He winced at the pain as he raised his hand out in front of her. "Fire!" A burst of flames pushed out from his palm blasting Shalltear backwards as the Firaga Burst exploded in front of her. "Heal!"
A flower formed above him as the healing energies of a Cura. With his pain subsiding he went back into the fight. The two clashed their weapons trading a few blows before Shalltear disappeared again using [Greater Teleportation] only this time Sora was ready and immediately dodged the swing with a backflip getting over her head and into the air.
With his Keyblade glowing with light he slashed downwards at her back as a burst of light followed soon knocking her forward. As Sora came in for a strike Shalltear swung forward causing Sora to instead slide dash out of the way rolling as he regained his bearings. For Shalltear she had made a note that despite using light in his attack there was no Holy damage.
"Wind!" Sora called out a small tornado of Aeroga aimed at Shalltear picking her up and into the sky. However, instead of the desired effect of holding her in relative place she unfolded the wings behind her armor and used the wing to fly up high into the air.
Shalltear looked down as she noticed his look of annoyance. "What's the matter wasn't expecting that?"
Sora answered by leading high into the air to attack with Shalltear almost effortlessly dodging out of the way. It seemed to her that her opponent had no means of flight. In air Sora readjusted himself and them seemed to jump again using the air itself as a means to do so. Shalltear brought up her Spiut Lance at the right moment to block the swing. Taking the opportunity she knocked Sora back, tossing him back towards the ground. Shalltear hold out her hand as a [Purifying Javelin] formed.
Throwing it at him Sora responded with a bleed slash at the attack and deflecting it. With his Keyblade aimed at her he called out for another spell to bring her down. "Force!"
Suddenly Shalltears whole form felt extremely heavy as if her very being was being crushed under the weight of gravity. With his Keyblade moving down the force pulled on her as Shalltear was slammed into the ground. Sora moved in with a sways swing before speaking to combo into another quick strike and another. As he was about to unleash another magic infused swing Shalltear blocked it with her lance.
Shalltear repeated a [Force Shockwave] knocking Sora off of her again. As he looked up he saw that Shalltear was no longer visible to him. He wondered for a split moment if she had disappeared but that was tossed aside as his instincts told him that she was still there. True enough, feeling like he was about to be attacked Sora was able to deflect a thrust by Shalltear.
His reflexes confirming his suspicions Sora jumped back and took a ready stance as he quickly ran through things he knew to help him with this. His mind landed on something Ventus had learned. "Mine!"
Appearing around him was Seeker Mines that after being formed immediately moved to his left. Shalltear who was coming in was able to get out of the way of most but not all of them. Two of the Seeker Mines blow up on her and as soon as Sora knew he leaped in too attack.
Shalltear jumped away at the last moment and dropped her invisibility. It was clear he would just use that spell or whatever to counter. "I must admit that's some quick thinking on your part but let's see you try to counter this."
Shalltear raced around him with the aid of [Time Accelerator] hoping to catch Sora off guard but such a thing didn't come to pass as Sora raised his Keyblade up. "Gather!"
A magnetic ball appeared overhead that tried to pull in Shalltear towards it cancelling out her spell as she had to resist and jump back. The magnaga ended as Sora throw his Keyblade with a Strike Raid at her without a second thought. Like before Shalltear's wings unfold as she took into the air.
Sora was about to counter with another use of Gravity magic to bring her down. Shalltear having faced it once before decided to not let it happen. "[Maximize Magic: Vermilion Nova]"
A pillar of flame consumed Sora who grit his teeth in the sudden sensation of being burned. Immediately he slammed the tip of Kingdom Key into the ground as he unleashed a spell. A wave of water erupted from below him negating the flames. Now free of the flames with small jets of steam coming off he locked his eyes on Shalltear.
To anyone who could get in close enough they would have seen that his pupils had narrowed greatly and his eyes moved almost like they were tracking a target. Pointing his Keyblade outwards a glow formed at the tip charging up. The glowing tip bursts as several bolts of lights shoot forward at his flying target. Shalltear thinking nothing of the attack simply flow out of it's way at the last moment. Only when they curved in midair and moved on a new interception course did she realize that it had locked on to her. 'A homing spell?'
Shalltear glared as she caught Sora racing besides her and threw out his Keyblade for another Strike Raid in front of her path. Shalltear stopped to avoid getting hit by it but in doing so Ragnorak hit its mark knocking her to the ground. Before Sora even had a chance to take advantage of it though he was surrounded be and being held in place by a white barrier all around.
As the grip of [Force Sanctuary] held him, Sora closed his eyes for a moment and reopened them. Light gathered around him before forcing itself out. "Light!" Shalltear watched as the energy destroyed the spell from the inside as pillars of light arched from the blast. With a quick movement he followed it up with a Zantetsuken slash.
Blood surged out of Shalltear for a moment before returning back as the wound healed. Using another of her skills during this fight. Sora, seeing this, immediately went in jumping for a Quick Blitz while she was processing the attack. Shalltear managed to bring up her weapon in time to deflect the attack. Getting some distance she was quick to retaliate with a [Maximize Magic: Brilliant Radiance].
Sora winced as the pillar of holy magic held him in place as pain washed over his form. Still, it was just to give Shalltear a moment to tip the scales in her favor. As the spell effects faded Shalltear used [Summoned Household] as a horde of shadowy creatures started to appear all around her.
Sora got flashbacks to Demyx and his annoying 'Dance Water Dance'. He was not having that at all. "Magnetic!"
A large ball of pulsating Magnaza formed as the familiars were all seeped up into it. A pulse of magnetic energy slammed them into one another and surged through their being injuring them all but Sora wasn't done. "Lightning!"
From the sky a blinding strike of Thundaza struck the ground right through the Magnaza as it pulsed. The two spells exploded into a flash of electromagnetic energy destroying all of Shalltear's familiars in a single go. Shalltear momentary blinded by the flash was meant with another quick and powerful slash from Sora. With the tip of his Keyblade glowing he turned around and started rapidly thrusting the weapon each time cutting deep into her over and over again. Each time Shalltear on instinct used her skill again pulling back the blood from each.
As Sora went in to finish the Sonic Blade with its final and strongest strike he was countered by a red-black wave not only blocked his attack but hurt him as it knocked him away.
'Enough of this.' Shalltear decided to end this right now and used [Einherjar]. The fact, she was actually being forced this far was almost commendable at how resilient her enemy was. In a way he should feel honored.
As Sora regained his bearings and was ready to attack again with a Shotlock he stopped as he watched a semi-translucent copy of his own opponent appear right in front of her. As soon as it appeared it raced forward to attack. Sora was quickly on the defensive, blocking a thrust aimed at his chest. Out the corner of his eye, he caught sight of another attack. Immediately he managed to move his Keyblade to block Shalltear's incoming attack but that left him valuable.
Einherjir took the opportunity in earnest and attacked into his side. Sora gasped in pain before sending out a small pulse of light from his being to knock them both off of him. Jumping far back to get distance he winced at bit at the wound before looking at both his opponents.
Sora cursed as he watched the semi-translucent copy charge in at him on the opposite side as soon as Shalltear did. Immediately he knew that he couldn't block both of them. His mind quickly raced on what to do. As they both came on him his answer was given.
A flash of light appeared in his free hand as the copied attack was knocked back as was Shalltear's. The True Vampire looked as an exact copy of his weird key shaped weapon was being held alone with the original. Sora gripped both Kingdom Keys as he fell into Roxas' ready stance. Duel wielding was something he could have always done, ever since he was made aware that Roxas was his Nobody. Even with him, Xion, and Ventus gone his heart seemed to be able to remember the feeling and could replicate Kingdom Key into two places to simulate it.
Sora wasted no time to counterattack. With a dash of flowmotion he kicked himself off the copy flipping over and tossing both Keyblades into it. In a flash they returned as he touched the ground and then leaped forward slashing at the copy. Twisting his body while in the air he tossed his Keyblade back at Shalltear to get her to back off, grabbed the one remaining and slammed it into the ground as a light pillar sprung forth knocking the copy away.
He summoned the second copy of Kingdom Key to his behind him as he turned around and caught Shalltear's lance using the teeth of her weapons as an improvised means to grab it. A scream escaped his mouth as he was stabbed in the back by his other "opponent".
As he felt like another swing was coming his way he put his weight behind his right foot an swung around with one arm. He knocked the copies lance out of the way while tossing Shalltear away as well. With a scream a pulse of light knocked them both back while Sora jumped back to give himself some distance.
Shalltear looked at her opponent as Einherjar raced on in to strike him. Taking the opportunity she used [Greater Lethal] to heal herself. Though as Einherjar neared to strike it was stopped by several leafs that appeared thanks to a Cure spell Sora had used to heal himself. Taking the opportunity he knocked Einherjar out of the way with one Keyblade and tossed his other at Shalltear.
The vampire didn't look at it with any need to move as the Keyblade was obviously not going to hit her. That thought was immediately proven false as Sora used flowmotion to grab the spinning Keyblade and then striking the ground in front of her. Streams of light were sent from the ground and tossed her back up.
As she fell Sora cross threw out a Strike Raid to toss her back as he jumped over [Einherjir]'s head and tossed the other. On landing he summoned back both copies of Kingdom Key. Shalltear cursed as she realized that they needed to slow him down. A [Wall of Stone] formed in front of Sora stopping his attempt to continue on for a moment.
Jumping back he readied both Keyblade and with a great leap he appeared on the other side of the wall. The stone barrier was then shattered apart with near perfect cuts to it. As he moved forward she summoned another [Wall of Stone] but like before Sora cleaved through it. Before he could strike Einherjir intercepted him and attacked him from the side sending him flying away.
Recollecting himself, Sora looked at his situation. He could keep up duel wielding and attempt to fight them both two on one but that just gave them the possibility they could outlast him with teamwork. With that thought he decided to take a chance. Sora dismissed his copy of Kingdom Key and raised his remaining Keyblade upwards. An orange glow coming from the top of the weapon as he channelled one of the strongest spells he could.
Shalltear and Einherjir both moved in on each flunk seeking to stop whatever it was he was planning but it was too late. "Meteor!"
Time seemed to slow down for the combatants. Shalltear eyes turned upwards for just a moment as she caught sight of the large burning rock that materialized overhead and slammed into the ground. An explosion soon filled the clearing as a shockwave knocked through the forest tearing down trees and knocking around any animal that hadn't instinctively ran from the battle between the two of them.
Originally the onlookers through the mirror didn't expect that the fight was going the way it did. As far as they knew this fight would have been quick with Shalltear killing the boy and it being done. To say the back and forth battle between what was seemingly equals was a shock would have been an understatement.
Ainz himself had different thoughts from the rest. The unique magic the mysterious boy had used didn't quite seem to fit with magic from YGGDRASIL. It did seem similar to another game that he knew about but he couldn't quite place it at first but as it went on he finally remembered what it was. 'His magic seems to be close to the game of High Phantasy.'
It was a popular RPG game though it wasn't to the same level as YGGDRASIL despite having created it's own version of a DMMO to compete with it around th he same time YGGDRASILwas developed. He knew about it because one of the Guild members had come from it. That did beg the question if this world had also been influenced by it much like he had seen with YGGDRASIL?
Ainz kept this to himself. Meanwhile the three onlookers with him were more blown away by how far everything had gotten.
The dust slowly started to settle on the battlefield as Sora looked at the devastation of his spell. Truthfully he had usually used the barrage variant of the spell because of this. Having all the energy in one place and in one rock would cause it to act more like an actual meteorite. Still, with how the fight was going it was better safe than sorry.
He was certain the spell was more than enough to end the fight but as the dust blew away from where she last was her figure could be seen and only her. Shalltear stopped as she looked at the boy as the dust was finally blown away. All around them was the dusk and in the distance a broken forest with some trees showing signs of being burned into charcoal.
Shalltear had to give her enemy praise as much as she didn't want to admit it. Despite knowing that he was strong enough to fight her, the fight had been enough that she could say with certainty that he had to be level 100. After all the interactions and the rather lackluster performance, if she could call it that, of the New World here was an actual equal. "What is your name?"
This caused Sora to look at her in confusion. She was asking him for his name. Which was weird given that they had been fight each other for the last few minutes. "It's Sora."
"Must say I am impressed by how strong you are," Shalltear gave him a smile as she filed away his name as something to remember. It was only fitting given that before him nearly everyone else was basically forgettable.
Unknown her though Sora was somewhat lamenting the fact he didn't have his full strength. Although he had been grateful he didn't completely lose his abilities or all his raw power like he had usually been dreading. Still, he would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed by her power regardless.
Shalltear used [Mana Sense] on him again and to her delight it looked like he had actually burned himself out.
Though if she was honest she was also burnt out as well. This just meant the fight would be decided by their combat skills and equipment. Shalltear was not going to lose to him. Although he had proven himself worthy of her respect. The two moved in to clash once again Shalltear dodging out of the way a Quick Blitz while Sora rolled away from a swing of her lance.
Sora swung the Keyblade all around him forcing Shalltear back a bit from the swing. Locking his eyes on her he was covered in the energy of Flowmotion and closed in before she could properly react, slashing into her free arm. The armor seemed to bend and break from the attack as she felt her bones break a bit under the force of the impact. She looked down to see that he had actually managed to completely break her forearm and it was only by a split second reaction that it was all she had gotten.
Shalltear didn't expect that he could use whatever that was without magic. It seemed that it was not magical in nature after all. Shalltear swung her lance hoping to catch him off guard again. It did manage to stab him into the lower side as the energy of Sora's virality flowed into her as her arm healed.
Sora, however, didn't attack back like she had expected. Instead he dismissed Kingdom Key and grabbed the lance with both arms. Pulling it out and then smashing his shoulders into hers. Knocked her off his feet he used his strength to toss her away. Being quick he jumped forward and throw an punch right into her cheek causing her to bounce a bit of the ground before coming to a stop.
Sora took the moment to catch his breath as he held his side. He decided that enough was enough and reached into his pockets. Shalltear picked herself up as she felt the place where he had punched her.
She caught sight of what looked like a potion of some sort within Sora's hands. He tossed it up as its contents spaced and circled around him. His wounds healed before her eyes. 'A healing potion?'
It seemed like it. Shalltear grabbed her lance that had landed just a bit from her and raced forward to him. Sora brought up to her as a word left his mouth. "Slow."
Suddenly the show started to move like someone had slowed down time for her. The revelation itself didn't quite hit her until after Sora had swung his Keyblade and knocked her back and out of it. He had casted a spell on her.
"Wha… how?!" His mana was gone there was no way it had been restored right? Immediately she used [Mana Sense] and her fears were confirmed. His mana was restored seemingly to full. 'How did that…'
It hit her as to how. That potion or whatever he had used on himself. It didn't just restore his health but also his mana! Horror came over her as she knew that the fight was basically over now. "Force!"
Gravity increased itself all around her as she felt herself being crushed under her own weight. Sora wasted no time and slammed her Keyblade into her, knocking her around with each swing before slashing downwards cutting into her armor as a flash of magic blasted her back. Landing she cursed as blood flowed out of the wound from the damaged armor. Picking herself back up she swung back at him.
Desperation was setting in as she knew that she had to try something or her opponent would kill her. Sora easily dodged her wild swings. His Keyblade tip charged as he called out another spell. "Thunder!"
A thundaga bolt flashed from the heavens and struck its target as Shalltear screamed as she tried to lendure the attack. It was soon followed up as a barrage of Firaga was let lose from Sora's Keyblade. The flames burning Shalltear as her natural weakness to flames made the effect more pronounced.
"Blaze!" With a scream Sora let loose a Firaza almost point blank at her. The explosion of fire blasting back Shalltear to the ground. Shalltear cursed herself bit she wasn't going to just lay down and die.
Shaking a bit she started Sora in the eye. "I'm not going down until I take you with me!"
Sora closed his eyes as his Keyblade glowed. Opening he saw Shalltear about to attack. He trusted it up as a ball of light appeared overhead with a magic circle all around him. He twirled his glowing Keyblade one hundred and eighty degrees and stabbed it into the ground. "Light!"
The circle came to life as three more balls of light formed and shot brams of light into the one overhead. The ball expanded out as the whole area was soon consumed by a pillar of light. Sora had unleashed Trinity.
Shalltear vision and body was consumed by Sora's Trinity. Her whole body felt like it was on fire as the energy destroyed her form. A single thought echoed in her mind as her death approached her.
'Who are you Sora!?'
The light faded away revealing only Sora. Sora pulled Kingdom Key out of the ground as he looked around. There was no sign of Shalltear at all and he had an idea as to why. Sora had been a bit unsure if he could have done Trinity without the aid of anyone else but it had seemed his bonds alone was all he needed.
In a flash he dismissed Kingdom Key and continued on his way.
Silence had filled the air as everyone just watched as the boy left. A word had not been uttered as they processed what had just happened. Shalltear the strongest of the Floor Guardians had been defeated, had been killed, by an unknown human.
"Lord Ainz, should we stop him?" Ainz was bought out of his own surprised when he heard Mara contacting him. Ainz watched as the boy started to leave the area and out of the mirror's view.
"No," As much of an unknown as he was Ainz was thinking about playing this safe. It was clear he had no connection at all to whomever had taken control of Shalltear. Furthermore, he had no idea who they were.
This might seem like the perfect opportunity to destroy a potential threat. Yet, he had already done basically all the work for him. Shalltear was dead and he could now resurrect her. Besides, there was a possibility that maybe this person was like him.
Though his answer caused some looks from two of the beings next to him. The one to voice their confusion was Albedo who was confused as to why he would just allow an unknown who could kill a Floor Guardian. "Why, didn't he just took out Shalltear?"
Ainz turned to her as he felt a need to explain it in such a way for them to understand. He didn't quite think telling them the truth as to why would be something he should do. "He has and has saved me the hassle of doing it myself," Ainz could tell that this wasn't what they had expected him to say. "Besides, it's clear he has no idea who we are and I have a feeling we will run into him again at some point."
Overhead the sun was starting to set as Sora had found himself back within the forest although this time he was almost certain that he had found what looked like a path of some sort. Deciding to turn in for the night Sora got to work setting up camp. "Fire."
With a small fire spell he started up the flames as he sat down in front of the camp site. A sigh escaped his mouth as he finally took a moment to relax himself. He had to fight the Seekers of Darkness not just once but arguably twice. Had to race around doing several things that needed doing, faded out of reality, waking up somewhere else, and then fighting someone else. All of this under what he assumes was a single day or maybe just two.
Though that was just for him. Who knew how long it had been for everyone else. He was actually certain a week had at least past maybe a bit more after he had left everyone for the Final World. Who's to say he faded back into reality some time in the future or maybe wherever he was it years had passed for everyone.
He shook those thoughts from his head. There was no point in over-thinking things anyway. Holding his hand out, Kingdom Key appeared again. For a moment the flames illuminated off the blade before another flash if light. Its formed morphed into that of one of the only keychains he seemed to be able to call on, Oathkeeper.
"I know that even if I can't find my way home my friends will find me," He held the Keyblade up as he looked at it. The promise that he knew was going to happen. Unsummoning his Keyblade, Sora lied down and looked up into the night's sky.
Looking towards the various stars he had wondered if his islands, if any world he knew, was somewhere amongst them.
Well, that's finally done. Now a bit of a fun fact since someone asked about it. Oathkeeper deals Holy damage per the rules of tier magic system. Most Keyblades are treated as if they deal generic magical damage unless they have the aesthetics of dealing specialized damage. As for Sora's magic and attacks some of the light spells do not deal Holy damage. However, others do. Case in point Trinity does.
Anyway, I got to go. I'll cya all next time.