Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts
Part 18
Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.
*Several Days ago*
Punching the metal wall in restrained fury, Ravus let out a hiss of anger. The wall that he choose to lash out upon now had a sizable dent and likely, had he not controlled himself, would have turned into a hole.
Caligo's incompetence had costed the empire greatly in resources, occupying Lestallum with soldiers that could have been used for more useful tasks, but not only was it a waste but he failed to capture even the fake Noctis.
The prince's new allies had proven to be far more of threat to the empire than any of the Kingsglaives, the boy with the key alone had the power to rival the kings of yore, and those other creatures, one who can use magic like the king before, and the dog thing having the power to take on their soldiers with nothing but a shield…
Seething at the thought of the false king obtaining allies with powers greater than the empire could ever hope to mimic, any chances of capturing him have fallen to impossible. As he pulled his prosthetic limb from the wall, Ravus exhaled a frustrated breath before he resumed his march back to his chambers. If he was lucky enough perhaps, he could convince that maggot of an emperor to allow him to hunt Noctis himself.
Even then, looking at his arm, thoughts going back to the boy again filled him with doubt. It was clear that the boy was on a different level of power compared to Noctis, and that was just the boy on his own. The other two, the doppelganger and the blue woman, plus that redhead and those two otherworldly beings, the five of them are on a different level compared to the prince and his friends. Fighting them head-on as he is, even with his new arm would be suicidal at best.
'Looks like someone's having a bad day'.
Ravus didn't bother to turn to identify that voice, he was, unfortunately, familiar with this strange man. Ever since that man Ardyn introduced Xigbar to his grace, things have drastically changed around the palace. Those monstrous creatures of white were all over the place, and when Xigbar even promised his grace power that would not only even the odds against those Lucian scum but even dwarf the new heroes too.
But Ravus refused to trust that man with one eye, knowing much like Ardyn there was something eerie about him. He kept him at arms reach and would only speak to him when it was an absolute must. Then he felt an arm fall around his shoulders. 'Hey now, no need to give the literal cold shoulder there', he said in a very cocky manner, 'just wanted to see how you were doing'.
Ravus scowled at him, glaring. Xigbar was unfazed though he took his arm off the commander. 'Pretty mad, got ya', he said, hands up. 'What do you want now?', growled Ravus.
'Well word from the grapevine says Caligo, that fat pompous tool, screwed up big time', he said. With a wicked grin, he says: 'He's helped good old Noctis gain a new ally and one who trumps the other kids'.
Ravus scoffed bitterly at the man, walking off. 'Is there something else or are you here to relay the same news to me?', he spat. 'You could say that…but if I'm right, you're planning on going after the prince yourself, right?'.
Ravus stopped his march, not turning to him. 'Hey man, I get ya, and I get the whole "If I was there, he'd be dead" spiel, but let's be real here', Xigbar sung cheekily. 'If you go, either those kids will take you down faster than Caligo consuming dinner, and if they don't those two creatures will'.
Clenching his fist, Ravus turned around to tear into Xigbar, but then froze when he sees that malicious smirk on his face, one that eerily resembled Ardyn. 'What if I told you, I can give you that extra boost?', he said. He approached Ravus, his golden eye was glowing with a dark purple tinge within it. 'I've heard from Ardyn you tried to use the Ring of the Lucii, and the light rejected you', he said, his voice was toned with malice yet somehow there was a touch of understanding within it.
'You trusted the light, it rejected you and took your arm in response. So my thought is if the light abandoned you…', he listed, raising a hand to reveal a black fire in it. 'Why not ask the darkness for power?'. Ravus looked at the fires, a great power surged within it and he could feel himself being drawn into it, the temptation. Yet the darkness was like the blight…and he's seen enough of the magitek soldiers to know how much it can and would warp him.
Ravus looked away and almost walked from the dark, but then Xigbar spoke: 'Think of your sister…'. Ravus reeled on him with a snarl, but Xigbar was unfazed. 'Consider what's going to happen when your potential brother in law gets to Altissia…you think she'll be safe in his hands? That the empire will leave her be?', he questioned.
Ravus' doubts showed eyes narrowed as he stared into the flames. Luna's safety above all else, and if the light had refused to grant him its power to protect her…
'What…do you want in return?', he asked slowly.
'Oh, nothing much…just deal with the keyblade wielders', Xigbar said, 'and you do that, and I'll give you an extra boost'.
Xigbar smirked as Ravus took the flames…
*Present Day*
Riku's eyes narrowed as the group of anti-Ravus' surrounded both him and Prompto, the real one standing outside of the horde as his eyes had a yellow glow within them as the dark flames covered his prosthetic arm.
'An interesting power, Xigbar gave me…the power to control these so-called heartless…', Ravus mused, marveling at his creations. Riku glared at the anti-Ravus', bad memories resurfacing in his mind as Prompto kept switching his aiming, not sure which one he should shoot first. 'Why would you trust Xigbar?', Riku demanded.
'With the heartless under my command, boy, I won't have to fear anything. Even you and your companions', Ravus said, smugly. Riku scoffed at him. 'You're an idiot! The heartless aren't under your command, as soon as you lower your guard, you'll lose your heart!', Riku warned. "Oh jeez…so this is how Sora felt when I did this…".
Ravus scoffed, aiming his sword at them. 'Deal with them', he ordered.
The group of dark doppelgangers rushed to Riku and Prompto, sabers in hand. The boys met their charge with their own, as the master dashed towards them. With a swipe of Brave Heart, Riku sliced through the darkened saber-like cutting through butter but he cuts the shadow's shoulder to the waist, decimating it. Turning around he aimed his left hand at the two running to him and fired a dark firaga at them. The first one was smacked in the chest, creating a fiery explosion that consumed them both in smoke, until the other leaped out of it and stabbed towards Riku.
The master parried the attack, knocking the blade upwards exposing the anti and with a yell Riku stabbed it in the chest, killing it as the body faded into a black mist.
Prompto, however, struggled against the superior anti, trying to keep his distance from them whilst taking aim. The anti's speed was almost like Riku's own, able to close the distance between them and even deflect some of his bullets. When it got close to him, Prompto summoned his rifle as the blade was swung down on him. The blonde blocked the attack, though the saber sank into the steel almost cutting it in half and the power behind the strike buckled his knees.
The anti-Ravus yanked its sword out of the rife, and Prompto took this chance to unleash a barrage of bullets on the monstrous lookalike, filling its shadow form with lead. The shadow faded away, but another instantly took its place and resumed its assault on the blonde. The boy yelped and quickly rolled away from the swiping steel, summoning his pistol and took aim at the shadow. Only before he could shoot him, the anti-Ravus slammed the palm of the darkened prosthetic on his chest.
They blasted the gunner with a shockwave that Prompto felt his breath being smashed out of his lungs and he felt a bone snapping within him. He was blasted away from the monster and slammed into one of the unused airships. His body smashed into it, creating a large dent that almost tore through the steel. Prompto groaned in pain, hacking up some blood before he slipped out of the dent and fell to his knees in pain.
Hearing the crash Riku turned around to see Prompto on his knees, trying to get back to his feet after coughing up more blood. The master dashed towards him, bringing Brave Heart down on the anti-Ravus' that huddled near the boy. One slash across the back of a Ravus and then with a blast of darkness from his hand, blowing off the head of the monster. Riku reached down to check the boy, worried by the blood. Prompto gave him a weak grin in response, his teeth pinkish from the blood. They looked behind Riku and Ravus merely summoned more of his shadows.
'How much longer can you hold on, boy?', Ravus sneered.
Riku huffed in response, pulling out a potion and handing it to Prompto, kneeling to him. 'Listen, drink this, find Goofy and get going, alright?', he instructed, placing the hi-potion in his hand. 'What? But…', Prompto said, attempting to argue, but Riku shook his head. 'This is a little out of your range buddy, I'd rather bring you back to Noct alive'. He didn't ignore the hurt in Prompto's eyes, but the blonde exhaled in defeat before he nodded.
Prompto guzzled down the potion, feeling his bones mend and pain subside, Riku helped get the blonde to his feet. Riku gave him a nod and then returned his eyes to the growing numbers of anti-Ravus', keyblade slowly starting to glow.
Breaking into a sprint Prompto managed to run away into the base, gun in hand just in case. When he was far away enough, the group of shadows finally surrounded Riku in a circle as he held the keyblade upwards. Then as the light became bright enough to force even Ravus to raise a hand to block it, Riku cried: 'Here we go!'.
The keyblade shined brilliantly, the blackguard around it broke off. It spun around in the air as it grew as Brave Heart changed from a key into a long gladius sized blade. The ring turned into a decently sized shield with the Soul Eater Eye emblem upon it the face of it. The weapons flew to Riku's hands, the sword in his right and shield in left, his clothes turned into more of a yellowish color with violet lightning patterns.
Guardian form.
Riku tossed his shield at the anti-Ravus', the black weapon ricocheting off four of them with a glowing reddish light surging around each impact. While his shield flew, the master air dashed past the shadows, cutting them down one by one like a gardener weeding out the weeds. Knowing the horde will continue to grow Riku brought his fight to Ravus, swinging the gladius at him from the right. Ravus grunted just as he blocked his attack in time, the force of their collision sent dust flying across the field and even shook the ground.
Pushing Riku off his sword and letting him land on his feet, Ravus struck at him with quick and precise strikes of his saber, his thin blade clashing with Riku's as sparks flew off their strikes. Riku's shield returned to him during a swing, which he caught with his free hand and with a spin, slammed it into Ravus' arm, the force catching the commander off guard and pushed him back with heels dug into the ground.
Riku slammed his shield against the commander, but was caught by the metal arm of Ravus, stopping the momentum and with his metallic fingers clenched down upon the weapon tightly, he threw Riku over himself, sending the boy three feet from him.
In the air upside down, Riku flung his shield at Ravus with a yell. Ravus then parried the shield with great difficulty and deflected it aside, letting the weapon bounce off the ground a few feet from them. Back on his feet, Riku leaped at him and swiped rapidly at the man. Their blades met with a deadlock; a shockwave emitted from their clash. Eye dead set on each other as they tried to overpower the other with gritted teeth as Ravus' darkness started to grow.
Their lock broke and Ravus swung his saber at Riku again, only for the silver-haired boy to retort with a swing of his own, knocking the saber aside. Ravus roared as his arm was suddenly encased in purple lightning and he thrust his palm at Riku. The boy met his with his burning with dark fire and when their palms locked together, the very ground cracked beneath them, fire and lighting encasing both limbs.
'You keep using the darkness like this, along with using the power of the heartless, and you're going to end up like them!', Riku warned, flinching at the sting of electricity.
'Silence boy!', Ravus spat, his darkness growing with each passing second.
'Xigbar is using you! He's trying to turn into a heartless, and then make you a nobody!', he tried.
Ravus snarled with a feral look on his face, head butting Riku and forcing the boy to loosen his grip on Ravus' hand. The commander then slammed his palm into Riku's chest and blasted him with lightning and force, coating him a web of lighting as he flew across the field. Riku crashed through the unused airship all the way, an explosion left in his wake as he bounced off the ground repeatedly until he rolled over the ground coming to a stop.
Shaking as he struggled to get back up, Riku grunted with exertion as he pushed himself off the ground, his body ached. His clothes reverted to normal as Brave Heart changed back to its original shape. Riku pushed himself up to one leg, keyblade stabbed into the ground to get some form of support as his vision started to blur. He heard footsteps approaching him slowly, his blood leaking from all over his back, sides and his cheek.
'Is this all a "master" is capable of?', Ravus taunted, eyeing the boy. With a scoff, Ravus held his sword up. 'No matter, once I deal with you, that boy and girl will be next'.
Riku's eyes widened with fear, images of Sora and Kairi flooded his mind. Thoughts of seeing Ravus taking them down, seeing Sora being beaten by the shadows, Kairi losing her heart to them. 'Sora…Kairi…', he whispered, hand gripping the keyblade tightly.
'Rest easy, I'll make their deaths swift', Ravus promised. He then brought down his saber upon Riku, but the boy caught the saber with his gloved hand. His mismatched eyes widened with shock, Ravus attempted to pull his sword from Riku but it was like it was stuck between two boulders. Riku slowly turned his head to the man, his eyes darkened with fury.
'Big…mistake', he growled. Riku crushed the blade in his hand, shattering it in half as his own body glowed in a violet light. With a roar, Riku thrusts his keyblade straight into Ravus' chest. A violet burst of light exploded upon impact, Ravus dropped his broken saber as his jaw fell and eyes widened in horror. He was blasted into the air, ten feet into the sky to be exact. His lungs depleted of air as he looked down to see Riku suddenly vanish before him.
Then he felt a slash across his chest, but Riku was nowhere in sight. Then another slash on his back, and again no Riku to be found. Riku was using an old technique of his, Dark Aura, to disappear and reappear to strike at the man. After seven more strikes, he appeared above Ravus and aimed both hands at him. 'DARK FLARE!', he yelled. A massive black and red sphere blasted from his hands and smacked Ravus right into his stomach, charging down to the ground and upon impact, exploding.
Riku landed a few feet away from the man as his body was no longer glowing from his dark power. However, once it faded, he fell to his knees in exhaustion, keyblade vanishing as he struggled to keep himself up. Having little challenge since his venture into the realm of darkness, this certainly proved he had gotten it easy for quite some time. Still, he won in the end. That was all the mattered for now.
He attempted to stand back up, but he ultimately fell on all fours, arms shaking with pain and tiredness. He couldn't even muster the strength heal himself.
'Y-You…what…are you?'.
Riku weakly turned to see Ravus climbing out of the small hole his attack made, standing weakly over as his gear was burned and torn in several parts, hair blackened in some parts with soot, even his prosthetic looked close to becoming scrap metal, the darkness leaking out of it like a bleeding limb. Ravus' human hand was now carrying a shadowy blade, likely replacing his broken saber. 'It doesn't matter…you won't leave this place alive', he swore.
He leaped at Riku, but then when he brought his sword down, there was a loud noise that startled the boy and next thing he sees was Ravus falling backward with a cry of pain. 'Riku!'. He looked to see Prompto with his sniper rifle in hand as Goofy quickly ran to the boy and hauled him over his shoulders. 'Hold on buddy, we're gonna get going!', Goofy said, adjusting him.
Ravus, however, was relentless, despite his wounds, he still charged at Riku and Goofy. This time, however, before he got too close to them, Donald suddenly leaped in front of him, staff held in both hands. 'Force!', Donald cried. A wave of invisible force blew Ravus ten feet from them, but while he was in the air, Donald aimed below him and yelled: 'Magnet!'. A blue and red sphere appeared on the ground and once Ravus above it, he was then sucked down and back landed on the ground, unable to move.
'Come on, this way!', Prompto yelled, pulling out the Chocobo whistle.
Once the three birds arrived Goofy placed Riku on one and hopped on his, then altogether the three trotted off away from the base, leaving a wounded and defeated Ravus behind.
*Fort Vaullerey *
Sora considered himself a brave boy, after all, he's faced there were very few things that could instil fear within his heart. Xehanort's plans, for example, losing his friends, Kairi getting hurt, and of course, Riku's cooking.
But against an enemy, there was nearly nobody he feared, and he always had the confidence he'd surmount the challenge. Not this man, no, he truly feared him.
Sephiroth.
Long silver hair with long bangs that frame his face, and dresses in a black leather coat. The coat has a large collar that reaches his ears even when folded back and is kept closed by a black belt with a silver buckle around his waist. His coat has a red-violet lining in the front. It is also noticeably more tattered. Blue eyes, the sleeves of his coat end in metal rings in place of normal cuffs, and he wears black leather gloves. There is an odd, black and red, fin-like growth on each forearm.
Sephiroth's chest is exposed, revealing a grey strap around his abdomen with two black belts over it, as well as two brown, overall-like straps that intersect over his chest. He wears black pants and black knee-high boots, with two grey belts wrapped around each boot as well as a silver pauldron over each shoulder. He sports a large, navy blue wing on his right shoulder, like an angel's. In his right hand was his Masamune, a long odachi like blade that was just three inches taller than the man himself.
With Noctis and Kairi behind, he was already ready to get them to run for the hills and hold off the one-winged angel alone.
'And who's this supposed to be? You another "surprise" from that wannabe pirate?', Aranea taunted, laying her spear against her shoulder. Sephiroth gave the woman a cold smile, one that Sora shivered at and it wasn't even directed at him.
'Sora, who is this guy?', Noctis demanded, not taking his eyes off him. 'Noct, take Kairi and go!', he said, keyblade returning its original form. 'What? Why the hell-
'Look, this guy is no joke! Just go!', Sora said, his fear seeped into his tone. Kairi looked at Sephiroth, the darkness around him was nothing like she had ever sensed before. It was so cold, like being trapped in a snowstorm with nothing to warm you, his eyes were so devoid of anything but malice. 'Prince Noctis…Princess Kairi…', he mused, looking at them both. 'Such…precious lights within you two'.
He lifted his long sword and aimed at them. 'Can it protect you both? Or will it be snuffed out like everyone else?', he asked. The two held their weapons up, ready for him. Sora gritted his teeth, not risking taking them off the man for even a nano-second. Aranea however scoffed and held her spear. 'Now you listen here! That prince is MY paycheck! So why don't you get lost?', shouted Aranea.
Next thing they knew, Sephiroth swung his long sword upwards towards the dragoon. Six waves of blade-shaped energies rushed towards her. The dragoon leaped into the air just seconds before the blades touched her, the ground splitting as the energies trailed on the ground. They kept going, cutting the fences, airships and even the very walls around the bases before vanishing. Landing on a walkway, Aranea looked to the silver-haired man, still smiling coldly at her.
The trio, more so the ones not familiar with the newcomer, stared at the destruction left in wake of the attack. 'Holy crap…', Noctis said, awed. He turned back to Sephiroth, slowly starting to see why Sora was afraid of him. The man returned his eyes to the boys and girl, before he lifted the masamune into his stance, ready for the slaughter. 'Here he comes!', Kairi said.
Sephiroth vanished in a blink of an eye, and only when the two turned around behind them, did they see the man wielding the sword in one hand. He swung it but Sora was already in front of them and blocked the attacked with a loud clang. Just in time for the blade was just inches away from Kairi's neck, she even felt the breeze from the thing. Sora ran to him, keyblade dragging along the masamune and once he got close, he swung at him.
Sephiroth quickly parried Sora's strikes with inhuman speed, wielding the long sword with one hand and deflecting all of Sora's strikes.
During a parry, Noctis took this chance to warp strike the silver head, using the Blade of the Mystic. He sent three ghostly swords at the silver-haired warrior before he warped towards himself, but Sephiroth swiped the attacks away and when Noctis was close, he vanished. Noctis landed on his feet on the spot Sephiroth once stood, looking for him. 'Noct, look out!', Kairi shouted.
The prince turned around just in time to raise his royal arm to block Sephiroth's strikes, but the dark warrior was striking at him with such power and speed Noctis felt like he was being attacked by an iron golem pummelling him. Sephiroth only ceased when Sora joined in and started to strike at him, keyblade wildly striking at him. Sora managed to slam the teeth of the key into his shoulder before landing another hit to his hip, which case Sephiroth leaped back from him.
Sephiroth waved his hand, and then suddenly Sora was surrounded by orbs of pale light, trapping him. He clenched his fist and the orbs flew towards the boy, Sora quickly used barrier to block the attacks. Though he was unharmed, the moment he lowered his shield Sora was then struck by Sephiroth's sword, slashing him and sending the boy flying.
Noctis warped to his flying friend and caught him mid-flight, and then landing back on their feet. He yanked out a potion just as the winged man dashed towards them, with Kairi jumping in front of him and aiming her keyblade at the enemy. 'Triple Burst!', she cast, fire three large fireballs at the man. Sephiroth just slashed them in half and reached the party of three just as Noctis helped Sora down the potion.
Kairi raised her keyblade upwards to block the masamune, but when Sephiroth slammed his blade on hers, Kairi was smashed down onto her back from the sheer power of the former hero. Gasping in shock from the pain of the impact, Kairi looked at the sword in horror, the blade had sunk into the steel of her keyblade and had it cut any farther she would've had it in her rib cage.
Noctis summoned a great sword while Sephiroth was applying force to the sword, swinging it at him. Sephiroth dodged it easily though and swung at the prince, missing him intentionally but slicing up his t-shirt to expose his stomach.
Then the warrior vanished again and appeared in the air, glowing in an ominous purple aura. 'Descend…heartless an-
Sephiroth was then suddenly struck from above by the dragoon, plunging her spear into him and together they flew back down into the ground with a heavy thud. On the ground, Aranea stood above him with both hands on her spear. To her horror, Sephiroth had a firm grip around her spear, keeping it from touching his exposed chest. Smirking cruelly, he easily pushed the spear further and further away from him despite Aranea struggling to pierce his chest. Getting to his feet, Sephiroth released his grip on the spear.
Then the dragoon struck at him a charge, but once again Sephiroth just deflected the attack like it was nothing, exposing the woman with his inhuman strength. He raised his hand above him and said: 'Perish'. Three large pillars of fire rose from the ground in a triangle formation, large as a fuel tanker. The dragoon had little time to evade it, the flames raising her as she managed to dive out of the pillar before she was reduced to ashes.
Landing on her side, she rolled around to put out the flames, her spear dropped to the right as she panicked.
As the flames disappeared, Sephiroth turned back to Sora and co, weapons out and ready for more as he slowly walked towards them, ignoring the no longer enflamed Aranea. 'Ok, so he's pretty tough…', Noctis commented, 'Sora, any advice? You've beaten him, right?'.
Sora weakly chuckled, 'Yeah I did…when he was holding back and treating our fight like it was just an afternoon spar…and I wasn't nearly half-dead after?', he replied weakly. 'Oh…that's good to hear', Noctis said. Just as he got closer though…
'Sephiroth!'.
The man with the long sword stopped walking, smirking sinisterly. Slowly he, and the others, turned to the left to see a man walking towards him, carrying a massive sword over his shoulders with blond spiky hair. He wears a high collar sleeveless indigo shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. A pauldron on his left shoulder and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing Fenrir. He also wears a pink ribbon around his left arm, likely a tribute to someone.
Sephiroth turned to this stranger, no longer interested in Sora and company, his smirk plastered on his face. 'Good to see you, Cloud', he greeted, suave and cool, but with malice laced with it. Noctis looked to the blonde-haired man, glaring heatedly at Sephiroth as he swung his sword off his shoulder and held it with both hands. The blade was as long and wide as Gladiolus, but it looked more complex, and it was covered in bandages.
'Not running away this time? Have you finally gained the "strength" to be rid of me?', Sephiroth challenged. Cloud grunted, gripping his sword tightly. Then he dashed forwards, almost as if he was flying. Sephiroth met his charge with his own, their blades clashed with sparks, both swinging them in such speeds and strengths it was like they were just using sticks. Into the skies, they took their fight, steel clashing with each other.
Cloud is certainly in a league of his own, from what Noctis sees, the blonde man was not only keeping up with Sephiroth's insane strength and speed, every strike was countered and matched by him. Sephiroth managed to create some distance from him, then he swings his sword and created waves of energy slashes at him. Cloud, however, met his with his beam of energy, swinging a single blade sized beam at Sephiroth's own.
They exploded upon collision, but Cloud flew past the smoke of their attacks colliding and struck at Sephiroth again, swords meeting once more. The silver-haired man vanished when Cloud attacked again, appearing above Cloud and summoning more orbs to trap him. They exploded around him, but Cloud dived down back to the ground, narrowly dodging the explosion from above.
He stared up at Sephiroth, flying there smugly. Sora and the others joined his side, weapons at the ready. Cloud looked at Sora, scoffing. 'Can't help but meddle, can you?', he asked. 'Its what I do', Sora replied.
Cloud hummed, and then both he and Sora dashed towards Sephiroth, Noctis warped to him and Kairi ran towards Aranea.
Both warriors unleashed a barrage of strikes on Sephiroth, the latter was deflecting their attacks, however. They managed to bring him back down to the ground, but Sephiroth remained unharmed though, his long masamune was swinging around him like it was nothing, deflecting both keyblade and buster sword from him. Sora got closer to him after Cloud blocked the giant sword, then began to strike at Sephiroth.
Sora brought the keyblade upwards to Sephiroth's face, but the warrior dashed backward from him, missing him. Sora grunted just as Noctis warped before the man, then using Armiger state. The prince began a torrent of strikes on the warrior, weapons of his own and the royal arms flowed forth like a raging stream. Sephiroth deflects, parries and guards against each attack despite the overwhelming number of weapons yet like none had touched him yet. Noctis summoned his engine sword and joined the barrage of weapon, hoping to strike as much space as he could so that Sephiroth would eventually be overwhelmed.
Joining the prince, Cloud was striking at Sephiroth's sides as Sora changed into Element Form and summoned his Double Arrow guns and then began to rain down arrows upon the man. With the prince's armory worth of weapons striking him, Cloud's relentless strikes that caused even the one-winged angel to stagger and take minimal damage, and Sora's raining arrows, it was like he was trapped in a tornado of weapons.
While he was fending them off, Kairi reached Aranea and knelt before her. She aimed her keyblade at her and cast "Curaga" on the dragoon, healing her burns and wounds if there were any. Aranea gave the princess a bewildered look as she stood up. 'You…know we're enemies, right?', she asked. 'Well yeah…but you also tried to kill that man, so…truce?', Kairi offered, holding her hand out with a sheepish smile.
Aranea rolled her eyes before pushing her hand aside. 'Fine, just until we kill that guy…but you know it's back to prince hunting after', she promised. 'Oh, that's ok', Kairi said, a smirk appeared. 'I'll just kick your butt after that'. Grinning, Kairi ran back to join the boys while Aranea, scoffing at the gull from Kairi, leaped back into the air.
Sephiroth was slowly (VERY slowly) being worn down by the seemingly endless assault from three different directions, and then when all three finally made a strike upon him. Cloud's sword stabbed him in the gut, Noctis bringing his engine blade down into his shoulder and Sora, switching back to a blade, stabbed him into his chest. But…he just smirked at them all, unfazed. 'Humph…I suppose…it can't be helped', he mused, almost like he wasn't stabbed at all. His body glowed in a sinister red as his eyes started to shift and change into green cat-like eyes.
With one swing of his sword, he smacked all three of his attackers aside, blades yanked out of him and his wounds seemingly healed almost instantly. He disappeared and re-appeared in the air, a dark void appearing behind him as his wing spread out. 'Witness, the end'.
Meteors fell through the void, hurtling towards the party in the dozens.
Noctis grunted as he started to warp left and right to evade them while Cloud just slice and crushed the meteors, Aranea leaping off the meteors and even using some to keep herself in the sky. Kairi quickly ran to Sora's side and erected a larger than usual barrier to cover both. The meteors crashed all over the place, destroying the watchtowers, machines, docked airships, buildings and even the walls nearby.
Cloud tried to get close to Sephiroth to stop this onslaught of meteors, but because of the meteors, he had very little space to move around and each one he cuts another almost hits him. Noctis himself was starting to lose concentration, pushing his body to the limit and his pool of magic was dwindling. When he warped again to evade one more meteor, the prince was then hit by a meteor that exploded once it hit him, sending the prince to fall on the ground.
Kairi struggled to keep her barrier up, teeth-gritting as each hit felt like she was taking the meteors to the head repeatedly, the ground shook with each meteor hitting it. Aranea managed to leap off one more meteor to reach the skies above the barrage and when she set her sights on the angel. 'Let's try this again', she grunted. Aranea dove towards the warrior, her spear sparking with red lightning as she charged like a bullet.
Sephiroth glanced at her just as she plunged her spear into him, but Sephiroth managed to swing his sword at her, but this time Aranea managed to stab him in the torso just before he could stop her. In the air, the void vanished as Aranea gave the silver head a smirk, before she leaped off him, spear in hand. Sephiroth flew back down to the ground, placing a hand on his stomach but still unfazed.
The angel glared at them all as Kairi dispelled the barrier. 'Go check on Noct!', Sora yelled, charging at Sephiroth with Cloud and Aranea. Kairi ran to where the prince fell, seeing him curled up into a ball in pain, she sees smoke rising from his clothes. Kairi knelt before him, dismissing her keyblade to help him. 'Just hold on Noct, I'll heal you', she promised.
'K-Kairi…', he grunted, painfully.
'Don't move…', she started but when she turned him to face her, his eyes were now red. Above her, she could hear thunder booming loudly as the clouds gathered up. Cracks of purple lightning rocketed across the skies like a storm was on the way. How though she asked, the day was clear skies, no cloud was in sight. Then just over the horizon, her eyes widened in awe.
Looming over them all, the Astral, the Fulgurian, Ramuh, had arrived.
'N-Noct…there's a giant man looming over us…', Kairi said.
'Oh yeah…Kairi…that's Ramuh, god of thunder', Noctis grunted out.
Sora and Aranea turned to giant old man from a distance, eyes wide opened and jaws dropped. 'Holy shit…', Aranea gasped. 'WHOA…', Sora gawked. Slowly Ramuh reached out for them, grabbing Kairi and Noctis in his hand before he reached for Sora.
Aranea looked between the two inhuman fighters and the giant man that was reaching for her and Sora. '…nope!', she said, 'I do not get paid enough for this, and sure as hell not working overtime!'. With that, the dragoon leaped on top of the base walls and then leaped off into the night just as Ramuh grabbed Sora. Then the old man lifted his staff, bolts of lightning blasting of it as he raised high.
'Wait, Cloud! Get out of the way!', Sora yelled.
But the blonde didn't budge, eyes deadest on his darkness, fixed on his greatest enemy. As they drew their weapons and charged, Ramuh struck with Judgement Bolt, his staff landing dead in the middle of the base, an explosion of lighting tore the place apart, the earth raising upwards as lighting ran wild below the earth. The blast's light was so great the three handled heroes had to cover their eyes.
*Later…*
When the skies cleared, Ramuh returned them to the ground before vanishing to where the Astrals remain, all that remained of the base was rubble and destruction. Not another soul in sight. Sora looked around for Cloud but in the end, he sees no traces of his friend. Looking down as the worst thoughts begin to plague his mind, Kairi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. 'Sora', she said softly, giving him a sympathetic look.
Sora nodded in gratitude, but his eyes were downcast. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder smacking him. He looked to see a bemused Noctis. 'What are you worried about? If the guy can fight that Sephi-guy like he can, then you think some lightning bolt will do him in?', he asked. Sora and Kairi gave him surprised looks as the prince scoffed. 'Come on, if he's anything like you two, then this wouldn't stop him', he argued, 'Sides, if that one-winged jerk survived, then Cloud likely did'.
Sora and Kairi smiled back, nodding. 'Right, you're right', Sora agreed, nodding.
'Course I'm right, now let's get back to Lestallum. There's a bed with my name on it, and I don't intend on moving from it for a week!', Noctis said with a sigh, and then a yawn escaped his lips. 'I'm with Noct, I think after all that I could sleep for a month!', Sora laughed. Together the trio left the ruined base behind, their toughest fight done and luckily with minimal wounds…
A/N:
I vastly regret making this story arc revolving around fights mostly! Never again! (I hope).
Anyways, Riku and Sora are done, so how fares Aqua and the others? We'll see soon!
So normally I'd leave questions for you lovely people but I also wanted to know if *you* all had questions of your own, and since some of you I can't respond to via messages, why not ask and I'll respond to them in the next chapter? Just a thought.
Just two QS today.
Q1: What do you think of Riku's form change?
Q2: Did I do Sephiroth and Aranea well?
As always, thanks for reading, stay Awesome but more importantly Stay Safe!
