Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts

Part 51

Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.

A/N: Just two small heads up.

1st, for those wondering, Kairi's new keyblade is called: Dearly Beloved. This name was suggested by KakeruPB, so much appreciation for the support.

2nd: It's a long one…be prepared…

Without further ado, let's wrap things up!

*Security Room*

The dark keyblade cleaves through the machine just as Ignis sidestepped the blade, metal and circuits split in half as a dark wave tears through the ground and strikes the larger monitor.

Ignis tosses a dark dagger at the fallen keyblade wielder, skirting around the man just as Terra deflected the attack. The warrior fired a barrage of darkness towards Ignis, destroying the walls and other machines and computers surrounding them while Ignis runs and leaps over the monitors to evade the attacks.

He jumps over a dark fireball while simultaneously throwing more daggers at Terra with an equal amount of speed. Terra raised his armored arm to block the daggers, doing so gave the dark user a chance to cut the distance between them and sped at him. Summoning his spear, Ignis jumps into the air and dives towards Terra. The pawn of Xehanort stabbed his keyblade at the spear, the two tips colliding.

The shockwave of the two weapons hitting shock the whole floor, shattering the glass on the monitor screens, even short circuit a few of the machines in turn. Ignis dismissed his weapon to front flip over the other world warrior, landing behind him and jumping backward as Terra spins around to slash at him. Terra rushes into Ignis as the man drew his daggers and imbued them in black ice. Extending them into near short sword sized weapons, Ignis meets Terra's dark keyblade with precision and deft movement that rivaled even the nimblest of thieves.

Terra's strikes were a cut above Gladiolus without a doubt, yet Ignis had met this adversary with quicker and wily movement, feinting some strikes and using Terra's raw power against him to leave openings for Ignis to exploit. Terra slams his keyblade down upon Ignis, only by crossing both frozen extended daggers was he able to prevent himself from being split in two. The advisor slowly begins to bend at the knee from the sheer weight and might of Terra despite only using just one arm.

Terra's blade inches closer to Ignis, the edge of his keyblade nearly touching his nose as the ice begins to crack and break apart. Terra smirked at the older man, until Ignis's body began to take a shadowy ethereal form, and then his blade phases through Ignis' and he stumbled forwards. Terra turns around to see a foot into his face, throwing him on his back before he stands Ignis. With a flick of both hands, Ignis summons blackish-grey flames from his hands and throws them both at Terra.

The dark warrior sinks into the ground just as the flames reached him, scorching the ground he once laid on.

He emerges from the ground behind Ignis, his armored arm shifting into a red and violet heartless claw. Lunging forward with a swipe of his new deformed limb, Terra's claw tears through the monitors. Ignis summoned his dark spear and plunged it into the ground deep enough to become a makeshift pole, pressing his body against the spear to hold against Terra's strike. The claw couldn't even throw Ignis aside, the spear holding against the powerful limb despite the runaway train like strength of the attack. Ignis summoned his dagger and plunges it into the limb, piercing it. He runs with his dagger imbedded into the dark limb as sparks of lightning trace the opening created by his dagger.

Ignis, using his right hand, channels another dark fire and upon his foot slamming before Terra, he slammed his palm into his chest. The fiery blast explodes and sends Terra flying across the room and straight into the wall. The force behind Ignis' attack almost destroyed the wall Terra slammed into were it not made of superior metal; Terra even spits out blood. Not even Gladiolus damaged him to that degree.

Ignis looked at his land hand and sees his glove burn away to nothing as well as his sleeve covered and licked by black flames. "Blast it…", he curses to himself, "I'm going to run out of gloves by the end of all this".

Terra pries himself out of his wall with a growl, the darkness growing more thicker and slowly his heartless limb returns to a human form. He snarls at Ignis and dashed to him, too fast for even the enhanced advisor to pick up. Toughening his body and crossing his daggers in a defensive stance, Ignis was met by a keyblade striking his guard with inhuman strength, immediately throwing him into the air. His guard broken and the force sends him crashing into the large monitors with a heavy slam.

His back slammed into at least three monitors, the shockwave of the attack shattered the monitors and some even exploded from the impact. He could feel the shards embedding in his back as well as the sparks of electricity and burning sensation of the intense heat. Ignis is certain had he not been empowered by the darkness this would have likely killed him.

Ignis groaned in pain as he falls forward off the monitors and bounced off the control panel before rolling onto the floor and on his side. Blood seeped from his back and the agonizing pain told him he must have broken a few bones from that attack. He grunts out and quickly draws a hi-potion from the pocket dimension and crushes it, restoring his body.

Ignis gets to his feet quickly as Terra approached him, his wounds likely healed, and his strength replenished. But the anger in his eyes, however, gave the advisor a good notion that he might have been underestimated, likely his experience fighting Gladiolus gave him a false impression of the king's men's power. It was no time to feel smug however, most importantly when Ignis knows this man was still holding back.

He loathed to say it, but the gap of power between them is vast, possibly more than his and Ardyn's. Terra's keyblade glows sinisterly as he clenched his armored hand. 'I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to be this troublesome…', he confesses, 'Riku's abilities have truly grown is he can manipulate the darkness to restore sight…'. Ignis draws his daggers out again, in a pouncing stance and begins to formulate a plan of attack.

Truly he knows victory against this man of the dark was not going to be achieved, at best he bought time for Riku and Lunafreya to escape and reunite with the others. But it would seem Terra has lost interest in fighting, or rather, being distracted. 'But the games end here, boy'. He raised his hand to aim, his hand glowing in ominous dark aura. Ignis ponders a form of strategy to evade that attack and not being torn asunder by his keyblade, even wondering if a magic flask could at least buy him more time.

Then Terra was suddenly attacked. From behind him, a strange nobody jumped on his back and staggered him. Likely caught off guard by the sudden appearance and insubordination of a nobody, Terra grunts and lowered his arms to try and shake off the offending traitor. More of those nobodies begin to swarm him however, dog piling on him and some wrapped their long segmented limbs around Terra's arms and legs while others used their bodies to weigh him down.

A speechless Ignis could only gawk at the sight of this, unaware of nobodies having the power to even consider betraying their more powerful allies. One nobody holding Terra with their arms turns to Ignis, making the man raise his dagger in preparation for another fight. It instead, gestured the door on the right leading further into the fortress, like it was telling the man to flee. Ignis slowly lowered his weapon, unconvinced but as Terra trashes and tries to break free, the sandy-haired man begrudgingly had no choice but to flee.

Ignis quickly runs out of the security room as Terra tried to tear apart the nobodies, leaving the room and escaping into the fortress.

He runs down an empty hallway for a while, uncertain as to where he could go or where would the others likely have taken, before he finally stopped to catch his breath. Placing a hand on the wall beside him, the advisor allowed himself to pant and finally cease any more strenuous activities. Collecting his thoughts and breath, Ignis relaxes his posture and tries to think of where could Riku have guided Lunafreya, or perhaps Gladiolus managed to rescue Aqua.

His thoughts were broken when he felt a presence, and it wasn't anyone he knew either. In a place like this, there was only one way to be sure. As fast as he could Ignis elbows the other occupant of the hallway in the face. High on adrenaline and not focusing on the facial features of the other, Ignis quickly placed his leg behind theirs and throws them onto the floor with a "thud" and placed his dagger against their neck.

'WHOA WHOA! Calm down man!'.

Ignis frowns at this person, seeing he was wearing the same black coat as Xigbar before, except he is younger with fiery red hair that almost resembled a porcupine with green eyes. The look in them shows alarm and there was bemusement as if he was used to this form of greeting. Ignis, however, found no amusement in this man, instead, he just stared at him. 'Hey man, no need to go all murder on me…', the redhead answers.

More of those nobodies rose from the ground near them, five in total and they eyed Ignis. They crouched into a pouncing stance. However, before they attacked, the man waved his hand. 'Hold on a minute guys! I think good ole scars here may have been given a bit of a bad impression of me!', the redhead said, waving off his nobodies. This does nothing to curve the worries within Ignis, if they follow this man's command then he had to be a nobody, or something akin to Xigbar. The redhead looked at him.

'Look... you wouldn't happen to know a kid with spiky brown hair? Or a girl with red hair? Wears pink?', he asked. '…and if I do?', Ignis warningly says, pressing the dagger against his neck. The man grunts. 'I'm a friend of theirs…Kairi? We were training together!', he revealed. Ignis' gaze lessens at the information, and upon recollecting, he recalls Kairi mention she indeed was training with another novice of the keyblade though he must have neglected to retain the information on her partner.

'And how do I know you're not another of Xehanort's vessels?', he questioned. The redhead sighed. 'Look at my eyes buddy, do they look like his? Or maybe, Xigbar's?', he asked in a monotone manner. This confused Ignis before he remembered Aqua explaining to them about all vessels of Xehanort carried his eyes color, Xigbar being a prime example of this. His however were green, and his light is more akin to Sora's, just not as strong.

Satisfied by the answers he was provided and after assessing his strength and comparing it to his own, the specs wearing fighter gets off him and dismissed his weapon. The black coat cladded man gets to his feet and rubbed his neck. 'Who are you then?', Ignis asked. 'Name's Axel', he introduced, before pointing to his head with a cocky smirk, 'Got it Memorized?'.

Ignis gives him a look devoid of amusement, rolled his eyes. 'After everything I've seen so far, remembering you could be a trial I'd almost be glad to fail…', he remarks. Axel gives the older man a scoff in a good-natured manner before he folded his arms. 'And you? What do I call ya?', Axel asks. 'I'm Ignis, a friend to Sora and the others'. Axel's smirk disappeared slowly as his face takes a frown. 'Where's Kairi? And what the heck is going on here?'.

Ignis looked down and sighs. 'Its…a very long story', he starts before shaking his head, 'But I'm afraid that will have to be for later. Currently, we're in the middle of a rescue'. Ignis quickly gave Axel a short version of their circumstances, detailing how they met Sora and company to how he was captured, Kairi jumping the train for their friend, and how they were fighting hell and the dark realm itself to rescue them.

'That kid…', Axel grunts out, rubbing his neck before he smirks. 'Well then, let's go find them!', he says encouragingly. He pats Ignis on the shoulder and runs ahead, yelling to follow him. Not too far behind, Ignis chases after Axel…

*Lower Levels*

Gladiolus cleaves his masamune through the guard armor heartless' torso, splitting the steel while he soared through it. Like a wild bear Gladiolus tears through the heartless as if they were made from wet paper, the legendary sword slicing and cleaving through all.

He lands on top of two soldiers, boots crushing their heads as he spins around with the sword, cutting down two large bodies despite their dense rubber stomachs. The man then stabbed an armored knight through the torso and ran with it in front of the warrior. The blade plunges into more of the knights and knocked some heartless aside before Gladiolus stabbed them into a pillar. The stone pillar cracks and breaks apart from the force of his attack.

It was stuck within it, however, forcing Gladiolus to release his grip on the blade and draw his shield from the pocket dimension. Armed in his right hand, Gladiolus slammed it into the ground as the eyes went red, fired a wave of flames that engulfs the heartless around him, killing some while damaging others.

A solid armor leaps into the air and body dived towards the shield. Gladiolus lifted the shield and punched it, firing a blast of ice towards the fat heartless. Upon impact, it was encased in ice, frozen solid and when it was close to the warrior, Gladiolus punched it with the shield, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He spins around in time to deflect an attack from an invisible heartless, the attack pushed Gladiolus backward only by an inch.

Gladiolus punched the shield again as the heartless kept applying force with its blade, leaving itself exposed to Gladiolus' shield firing a breath of flames. The heartless was reduced to ashes in seconds, letting the warrior of the king to recall his blade, dismiss his shield and strike down another large body.

On the far side, Aqua elegantly fights on with grace and magic at her disposal. Aqua leaped into the air as darkball heartless chase her, munching at air like hippos. The master of the keyblade backflips and aims her keyblade at them. 'Stop!', she cries. Glyphs of clocks appeared around them before ultimately slowing down and halting all movement, giving the blue head the chance to wipe them out. Aqua performs her Shotlock ability, the Prism Rain.

She fires rainbow-colored spheres at the dark balls hitting all six of them and she did this a total of four times to the heartless surrounding herself and Gladiolus before she dives back down to the floor the moment her stop spell ended along with the existence of the dark balls.

Back on her feet, Aqua spins her keyblade with on hand and enters her command state, Spellweaver. Her body glows in light as her keyblade hovers around her like she was telepathically wielding it, flicking her hands around to make her weapon slice and slash at the heartless that persisted in claiming their hearts. While her keyblade tears through the battlefield Aqua fires all sorts of magic at the creatures, light base magic in the form of spheres that soared all over and even bounced off the walls and floors.

Aqua jumps over an armored knight and uses several of their heads as stepping stones to hop across the field of the darkness, blasting the slaves of the shadows with more magic while the keyblade zooms and hovers around striking those that would harm its wielder. An arm suddenly launched out from the horde and nearly grabbed the master had she not used her teleport spell to warp above it in time.

Tearing through the mass amount of shadows came a large monstrous heartless with black skin. Its entire body is wrapped in teal thorns and both of its wrists and ankles still have manacles on them. The chains on its arms are broken, but the chain connecting its feet is not. It has a heart-shaped hole in its chest. It has large red, toothy maw, and beady, glowing yellow eyes. While it is muscular and has large hands and feet, it also has rather thin limbs. Each of its limbs sports three digits with long, red claws and has two enormous, orange horns and a massive, orange mane.

It snarls at Aqua and tries to grab her, only for her keyblade to come back and slash it's thin arms, forcing the creature to leap around like a wild animal, crushing its kin. The keyblade soared back to Aqua as she backflipped and catches her weapon with her right hand. The light around her bodies glows more dense and powerful as she begins to spin around, creating a small cyclone of light magic that acted like a whirlpool for the heartless to be sucked up and destroyed.

Aqua moves around the battlefield, spinning faster and faster like a ballerina, even kicking a leg up for the effect. The heartless that were sucked up by her attack were being destroyed one by one while sucking in more of the creatures to even the playing field. Even the dark thorn, while it wasn't sucked in thanks to its massive size, was helpless to fight against the master's devastating attack. It tried to grab her but the spell warded off the unwelcomed touch and nearly tore apart the hand in the process.

Aqua finishes her magical dance and upon stopping her cycle, she waves her keyblade around and creates a crystal made from ice. With one final swipe of her keyblade, the crystal explodes and decimated the horde around her, freezing the area around the guardian of light and killing off several of the more powerful forces of the darkness. While the dark thorn wasn't slain with its brethren, it was wounded enough for the master to leap at it and take a swing at the creature.

With a flash of light brandishing her keyblade, Aqua slices the head of the thorn and allows the body of the creature to fade back into darkness.

Thrown onto his back thanks to a surprise attack, Gladiolus grunts out in pain before rolling backward and onto his feet. He grunts out at the invisible that had the balls to attack him and rewards it with a toss of his shield that lacked the same "grace" Goofy often displays and just ripped through the heartless and even struck another guard armor's floating hand.

Gladiolus pants as his sword is laid on his shoulder, somehow even heavier then it usually is. Shaking his head, he swung upwards and slices through two soldiers in time and after that, he kicked a neo shadow right in its glowing orb-shaped head. Joining him at his back, Aqua glared down the heartless that weren't slowing down in numbers or strength. Sweat glistened off their skins, their bodies wracked with fatigue and the never-ending horde only heightened their weariness.

'Heh, Blue? I'm on forty-four…', Gladiolus chuckled dryly as he raised his sword. 'Pfft…seventy-six', Aqua replied with a grunt, striking down a heartless that jumped at her. 'What? Oh come on!', Gladiolus growls, laying down his sword onto a knight, letting the weight of the blade do the work. Gladiolus scoffs, 'It's because you're using magic!'. Aqua snickers as she fired a shard of ice at the flying rats in the air. 'Oh? And what is your shield using?', she challenges.

Slowly their banter died out as more and more strong heartless begin to show up and swarm them, some of which Aqua glared at, knowing their full potency. It didn't help matters that the darkness in the capital was strengthened them much like in the dark world, these were more powerful than the ones they had encountered previously. Between the empowerment of the dark and the blight as well as only having two guardians to fight, the tides are strongly against Aqua and Gladiolus.

Not unless…

Looking at the keyblade in hand, and then her left hand, sensing her magic, the woman nods. 'Gladio, do you have an ether on you?', she asked. The shield ponders it before he reaches in his pocket dimension and plucks out the only one he'd ever carry. 'Sure, what's up?', he asked, handing it to her. Aqua downs it and feels her magic replenishing to full before she says: 'Remember that spell I used back at Costlemark?'.

'The one that knocked your ass out?', the shield remarked, blocking an oncoming attack from an invisible. 'Yeah…', Aqua states. Slowly her keyblade begins to glow in that same light she used that time, encasing her body. Her eyes took on a more glowing light to them, the magic coursing through her body like she was absorbing every source of mana all around her. She feels an immeasurable amount of magic within her before she lets out a cry.

A wave of light exits from her while her feet leave the ground and slowly she ascends into the air, her keyblade floating around her. She grabbed hold of it and extends herself into a star, a surge of magic covered her body in a grey-green glow. A new command style, Ultima Mage.

Aqua's keyblade shifts into a staff as tall as her, using the same design as her keyblade with a single crystal blue gem atop of the rod, two prongs on the sides with her emblem stamped onto the rod. The master grabbed the staff and aimed her free hand at the horde, firing a cyclone of fire and ice at them all, sucking them up and destroying them like they were nothing more than fodder to her power. She duplicates herself into a trio, the two replicas flew into the horde, bathed in aero and lightning.

They dove into the mass of shadows and monsters, obliterating them all as Gladiolus kept himself focused on striking the heartless near him while he used his shield to blast the flying heartless that flew too close to the real Aqua.

Aqua raised the staff above her and shoots a magnet spell five feet above her head, a giant version that does not even Kairi could replicate. The magnetic spell sucked up the heartless and trapped a massive horde worth of them. The master raised her hand and created a dome of the aero spell around them, but it was closer to a wild hurricane for destruction it wrought, the heartless barely lasted a nanosecond in that storm.

Finally, the master crossed both her arms around her chest as she glowed grey before she opens open and cries: 'NEO ULTIMA!'.

A pillar of the same spell formed around Aqua, acting as a barrier for herself and Gladiolus below as it begins to extend until the entire room was covered in it. The heartless were swallowed by the master spell, consumed entirely and evaporated into nothing. Not even the most powerful of the darkness could last more than a few seconds from this power, and the machines, pillars, and catwalks were swallowed up as well into nothing. Gladiolus had to duck and raise his shield to keep himself safe despite being in the inside of the spell.

When the winds ceased and the ground stopped shaking, he raised his head to see the utter destruction his girlfriend had wrought upon the world. There was practically nothing left intact, almost everything was closer to resembling a ruined dungeon not touched by a thousand generations, even back at Costlemark it looked like a palace compared to this place. Neary darkness in sight or within a mile, he'd go so far as to say possibly Aqua could have destroyed all the capital if she desired.

Speaking of which, he looked up to see her body dimmed and her keyblade disappeared, and then she falls. Whatever magic kept her up there had disappeared and it was only by pure instinct and quick reflexes did Gladiolus catch her in time, grunting slightly with the sudden weight. Memories of her being comatose flashed in his mind, making the shield check her face instantly. He sees her skin was ashen white and she shook in his arms, but her eyes were open instead of being closed.

She could barely make a sound from the way her mouth moves, Gladiolus tried to read her lips, but they were opening and closing to quick and short for him to read. 'Blue, just nod. Are you exhausted?', he questioned. Reluctantly, the woman followed his command and nods weakly, affirming his worries. 'Ok, let's get out of here before more of them come back', he says, shifting her in his arms.

As tired as he is, carrying Aqua not helping alleviate his tired form, Gladiolus quickly raced up the stairs that miraculously Aqua hadn't destroyed on them and finds himself in what a corridor of nothing but emptiness and silence. A massively welcomed change compared to the first few hours of arrival to this hell on earth. The first thing he needed to before they search for the others was to get Aqua somewhere to recuperate.

Behind him, as he walked down, slowly neo-shadows crawled out of their inky portals and then leaped to him. The shield of king Noctis only turned around halfway to protect Aqua, but before he could feel the stinging sensation, the shadows were slain in a flash of light.

Blinking, the shield looks at Aqua, weakly shaking her head. He looked again to where the shadows were before a voice calls out. 'Are you ok?'.

Gladiolus turned around to see a small mouse being approached him. When he turned around fully to face him, Aqua's eyes fell to him and said tiredly but joyously: 'Mickey…'. Mickey looked at his fellow master and gasped. 'Aqua!'.

The moment Gladiolus learned this being's name he allowed himself to relax and gently knelt with Aqua for the king. Mickey's eyes were wide with worry, likely sensing the amount of mana, or lack of thereof. 'What happened to you?', he asked. 'She's used a lot of magic, something but an "Ultima", but she's running on fumes here', Gladiolus explained. The king's face showed worry, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue vial.

He helped Aqua drink it, and the moment the last drop of the vial entered her mouth, Aqua's body glowed a dim blue before she coughed and sat up in Gladiolus' arms. Her skin returned to its normal color and strength replenished. The shield breaths out a sigh as he helps her to her feet once more, a little shaky. When she nodded to him in gratitude, she turned to Mickey. 'How did you find us?', she asked, smiling at him.

'Well, Ven went out to see if he could track Riku down, but instead, he found Sora's ship', the king explained, shrinking slightly when he dropped the info of Ventus once again going on his own, Aqua's sweet smile turned sour instantly for a moment. At that story, Gladiolus folds his arms. 'And you met Cindy, right?', he guessed. 'Yup', Mickey answers, turning to him.

'Thanks to her, we found out where Sora and the others ended up, brought her to someone who fixed our ship and as soon as could, came here'.

He then frowned with worry and turned to Aqua. 'But gosh, what happened to you?', he asked, gesturing her scar. Aqua flinched slightly, realizing that a lot had changed about her since she left the tower and a sudden realization that her new look was radically different from her old one. 'I…we've been through quite a few things since we came here', she explained. Then she turned to Gladiolus, and sees he was smirking at her, and then her cheeks went red.

Mickey blinks at the secret exchange of the two before the human master turned to him, clearing her throat. 'M-More importantly, Sora was captured by Xigbar, and likely Kairi and another friend of ours', she starts, 'We came here to rescue them, but we've been separated from the others'. Mickey nods, understandingly, 'Then we had better go and look for them, the darkness here is getting worse by the minute'.

'Hang on a sec…', Gladiolus started, raising a hand. 'Are you the only one here?'. Mickey shook his head. 'Nope, Axel went off on his own when he sensed a strong darkness nearby…and Ven…', he says weakly before Aqua glared. 'Ven what?', she demands, 'Did he run off again?'.

'…yes', Mickey sighs.

Aqua grunts in annoyance before she starts to run down the corridor, chased by Gladiolus and Mickey in tow.

*Near Crystal Chamber*

With her beautiful keyblade, Kairi brings down the Pious king with minimal effort on her part as she dashes through the battlefield like a goddess of war.

She flipped over the Oracle's magic and trident, parried the stars thrown by the Rogue and deflected the mighty blows from the Tall. She brings up her keyblade to meet with the Warrior quickly swinging her keyblade matching his inhuman speed as if she was quickly drawing a katana like himself. When he tried to swing for her neck, Kairi's cape shoots up from her back and wrapped around its weapon like a snake.

The Warrior's armed limb was held back and gave Kairi the chance to put this unfortunate soul to the rest he was denied by his ancestor. She plunged her keyblade into his heart, expelling the darkness within him and allowing his body to fade into crystals before dissipating into nothingness. Four down, more to go she listed, turning around to parry the Rogue's star and narrowly dodge the Just and her massive shield from crushing her bones.

Kairi backflipped and gives herself space to face down the remaining Phantoms, nine in total remaining if she counted right. They all hovered around Ardyn, staring at Kairi with amusement and spite in his eyes. She took pride in that, turning the odds against him and putting a stop to his plans. After everything, he's done not just to her but to those she held dear, this was a minor revenge in comparison.

The moment the Phantoms deduced that she was the true threat to their master, they relinquished their hold on Riku and Lunafreya, taking the battle to the newest armored warrior. This gave the master a chance to be healed and rest while at the same time guarding both Lunafreya and Sora at once while the former healed him. Kairi just had to hold out for the others to arrive on time for back up, then the usurper could finally be put to the sword for everything he's done.

She lifts Dearly Beloved up into her stance and readies herself for next bout with the Phantoms, until Ardyn chuckles and raises his hand to stop his minions. 'A moment', he states, halting them. Kairi immediately tensed up and fixed her hidden gaze on Ardyn, prepared for whatever trickery he had in store for them.

The man saunters onto the cleared space, eyeing Kairi and for a moment she saw a hint pride in them, however strange it may sound. 'When we last spoke, you couldn't even be considered an expert wielder of the keyblade, yet here now stands a warrior matching, dare I say, surpassing the old kings', he said with small praises. Kairi grips her keyblade tighter, waiting for it. 'I'm curious. Had I not taken your beloved away, would you have gained this power?', he taunts.

He waved his hand mockingly, 'For all you claim that he is your strength, you've certainly accumulated more power without him'. He smirks cruelly, slowly his red daemon armiger begins to form around him, shocking Lunafreya and spooking Riku. 'I'm wondering if you were able to become this powerful with him being taken away…what would happen if he is no longer among us?'. Kairi dashes towards Ardyn like a bullet, yelling and swinging her keyblade at him just a second too late.

A rain of spears falls upon Riku and Lunafreya just as Kairi reached Ardyn. Her keyblade was blocked by a ghostly mockery of the Shield of the Just, she turned her head to the others in dismay as Riku forced himself on his legs and tried to raise a barrier. The spears, however, were suddenly sliced in half before another flurry of slashes reduced them all nothing but broken crystals. Ardyn gave a small look of irritation before he pushed Kairi off his shield and addressed the unwelcome interruption to his ploy.

Warping down from above in front of Lunafreya and Riku, came down king Noctis alongside Ventus, keyblades in hand. 'Sorry, we're late…', Noctis apologizes, turning his steel-blue eyes onto his adversary, 'but plus side, I've brought help'. Ventus smiled back to him before turning onto Ardyn and the Thirteen Phantoms, then looking at Kairi in bewilderment. 'Kairi?', he asked, doubtfully. Noctis looks as well, blinking.

'Long story', Kairi surmised, 'Where's Prompto?'.

'Up here!'.

She looks to see Prompto, Donald, and Goofy coming down via elevator, waving at the girl with renewed hope in the blonde's eyes. Kairi smiled behind her visor, but then scowled when she saw how badly beaten her friend is and turned onto Ardyn. He likely has put two and two together, that the girl was "upset" that Prompto was in less than an ideal condition.

The trio reached the party, weapons drawn and in front of Lunafreya, all eyes focused on Ardyn. The man just chuckles at this, hands raised. 'Well now, it seems we have a full house of guests to entertain', he gloated, not even fazed. 'Noct, it's ever so good to see you again', he greeted, but the king just aimed his keyblade at him.

'That's "King Noctis" to you, usurper', growls his majesty. This made most of the party glance at the king before he nodded and turned to Kairi. 'Prompto told me everything you said…that this guy before me is my ancestor', he explained, then turned to the usurper, 'The true founding King'. Ardyn's smug looks disappeared, now in their place contempt and anger, king Noctis stepped forward, eyes on him.

For now, there is no battle between the light and darkness, there was no heartless, there were no keyblade wielders, there is only the two last Lucis standing before the other. The oldest one and the next generation of kings, dark red vs royal blue. Even within his pools of blue eyes, Ardyn didn't see hatred in them nor that arrogance his brother carried, instead he sees resolution, determination and even genuine sympathy.

It sickened him to his core, that this child would have the nerve to pity his ancestor for what his own did to him. 'I imagine you feel smug, knowing how your great ancestor built his kingdom upon lies and murder', Ardyn bragged. This didn't even make Noctis flinch, he just watched as his ancestor glared at him with hate. 'You lost everything, and were denied your place as king', Noctis says, almost with the wisdom of a king, 'I lost everything on that day when the empire took my home'.

He looked at the keyblade in his hand, then faced Ardyn. 'We both lost what mattered to us…but here's the difference between you and me'. Narrowed eyes, Noctis aimed his keyblade at him. 'You let that anger get the better of you. Everything you fought against you turned into, and now you brought the end of our world'. 'And I did it all in one day before supper', Ardyn bragged mockingly.

Noctis' glare darkened before he smugly added: 'But you also proved your brother was a better fit for the throne'. Now he had the full ire of the usurper, eyes burned with hatred and disgust, his armiger shifting from red to violet and dark. 'So, you're here for revenge then?', he questioned.

'For what you did to Bahamut and the Lucis? Nope', Noctis dismissed with a shake of his head, 'Far as I'm concerned, they had it coming. As did I to an extent I suppose…but'. Slowly his body glowed in that crystal light he had donned back in Altissia, with Riku the royal arm of his father begins to shine a beautiful blue light. 'I'm here for them…my friends, brothers, fiancé…', he lists, 'And bring back the light to this world'.

'But I won't do it alone…'.

The weapon of his father flies from Riku's belt and into the air, turning into the crystal-like others before it and finally, it dives to the king. Striking the king in the back and joining his armiger, all thirteen royal arms re-joined for their king, in doing so the light around Noctis glowed even more beautiful and majestic.

Aiming his keyblade at Ardyn and his legion of disgraced royalty, with his companions at his side. Quickly Noctis warped strikes to Ardyn with a yell, warping directly in front of him and swung his keyblade at him. Ardyn meets the holy weapon with his Sword of the Wise, together they warped into the air and dueled, leaving the phantoms to face the other world heroes.

Riku immediately rushed in first to take on the Conqueror, Brave Heart clashing with the gigantic axe while Ventus fought the Clever. The younger boy dodges and evades the Clever's bolts, flipping and rolling while occasionally parrying or deflecting them back at the phantom. The Clever hisses at the boy when he runs at him, keyblade being surrounded in wind. He flung the mystical weapon at the Clever, it spins around like a saw with wind.

The Clever shoots the weapon, the strength behind the attack was enough to disrupt the attack and send the keyblade skittering across the ground, but it didn't stop Ventus. The boy reaches the king and slides past it, skidding a few feet behind the king on the catwalk behind him. The king turned around to the wielder of the keyblade as it re-appears back in Ventus' hands. Ventus dashes again towards his enemy, his body glowing in a golden aura.

Ventus performed one of the oldest moves he knew that had been adopted by Sora, Ars Arcanum. He struck the Clever a total of thirteen times, striking and smashing the powerful adversary before sending him flying into the air. Spinning his keyblade in reverse, Ventus flies toward the Clever as he readjusted himself in the air and begins to fire a barrage of arrows at the boy. Ventus' body glows in a light greenish glow, and as the rain of arrows drew near to him, he vanishes.

The boy reappears past the barrage of arrows, moving faster than the Clever's eye could see as no matter where he'd fire the boy would vanish in seconds or be gone in a millisecond and then appear in two places at once. Only when the Clever looked up above him did he see his final sight would be Ventus bringing down the keyblade upon him, from head to waist. The boy flies past the Clever as its body evaporates into nothing.

The Rogue kicks Prompto aside before backflipping and throwing her star at him. The gunner quickly sits back up and clumsily swung his short blade at the star to deflect it. The attempt worked as the star bounces off the weapon but it, in turn, knocked the short blade from Prompto's hand. He got back to his feet as the Rogue rushes towards him, swinging the star at him as he just evades the lethal strikes and gets a few scrapes and nicks.

Outmatched by the power of Lucis, he should've been scared or be making more mistakes due to his clumsiness when he's in high stress. Yet Prompto didn't feel fear or anxiety to fight, rather he was seeing these as small set back and just him getting started. Prompto rolled underneath a swing of the star and rolled backward onto his feet, drawing out his Drillbreaker. He flicks a switch and spews forth a dense plume of smoke at the Rogue, completely evaporating her in white.

Next, he dismissed it and draws his pistol, along with a magic flask Noctis handed to him upon reuniting. The gunner tosses the flask above the smoke and shots it with the flawless aim of his. The bullet destroyed the flask and a cage of flames burst forth from above and falls to the smoke, burning the Rogue. The Lucis dashes out of the smoke, her clothing on fire but still she fought on against the gunner, now taking a quick aim and with a laugh, fired a single shot right into her stomach.

The attack staggered her, but not enough to take her out of the fight. Prompto steeled his heart, not afraid and ready to pay his dues. One glance to his king fighting for his life, and another to the girl who reminded him of the bonds that could never be broken, was enough for him to push his fear and doubts aside.

'I owe Noct and Kairi everything…', he says as she charges to him and raises her arm to make a swing. Instead, Prompto performs a backward roundhouse kick that knocks the weapon out her hand mid-swing. This wasn't the end, however, Prompto caught the weapon mid-air, turning around and jumped backward while he threw the weapon at her. The star spins around until it landed right into her chest, stabbing into her.

'…for standing by me always…', he continues. Staring down the Rogue, his determination shines through. 'And now…its my turn to stand by them!'. With his pistol drawn, Prompto spins and shoots the Rogue two times with powerful shots that not even the heartless shields could even hope to deflect back. Upon the third shot, the blond gunner of his majesty fires one more time to put an end to this relic.

Rogue staggers and stumbles, before she falls to her knees in defeat, but beneath her horned crown for a moment, Prompto saw in her eyes hope rejuvenated when she looked at him. She gives him a small respected smile before her body disappears along with her fallen comrades.

Riku's keyblade locks with the Conquers axe, both warriors staring down at each other. Riku's body glowing with his darkness as he pushes the warrior back and further away from Lunafreya and Sora's sleeping form. The giant throws him off his weapon and backhanded the boy hard enough to send him flying across the clearing. He falls on his back, grunting with pain just as the Conquer jumped and brought the axe down upon him.

'Riku!'.

Together, two of Sora's oldest companions jumped in front and combined their might to hold back the Conquer with a loud clang of weapons rumbling in the air. Despite the Lucis possessing greater size and strength over the two weaker members of the party, neither Goofy nor Donald budged an inch. Together they held him back to protect Sora's best friend, to his surprise and admiration. He then got to his feet and raises his keyblade. This prompts the two to yell and push the Conquer back enough, giving them space.

The Conquer staggered backward, but before he could retaliate and strike them, Goofy was already wailing on him with his shield, smacking him in the face and slammed the front body of his shield onto his chest, knocking him back. Donald aimed his staff and fired a powerful flare spell at it, the ray of flames was more than enough to push it back while nearly breaking through the incredibly powerful armor.

Donald stops his attack and with Goofy turned to Riku, keyblade now glowing in a dark light and slowly being extended via the light. With a nod, the master soars in the air with his keyblade. With a roar, Riku stabbed the Conquer in his chest, piercing all the way through and taking down another of the corrupted members of Ardyn's entourage. When the body stilled, it vanishes into nothingness, allowing Riku to breathe. He turns to Donald and Goofy, giving them a thumbs up.

They responded in kind, but then they turned behind them to see Lunafreya being attacked by the Fierce. Her barrier erected and repels the attacks but the strength behind the giant was too much for her to keep up forever, cracks begin to show in the dome. 'Luna!', the three of them cried out, running towards him. Riku was however intercepted by Wanderer, striking him and throwing him across the playing field while Donald and Goofy were attacked by the Wise.

As the Fierce breaks through Lunafreya's shield, the Oracle stumbles backward before she summoned her trident and stands protectively in front of Sora's sleeping form. The giant raises his mace again despite the woman before him, yet Lunafreya wouldn't budge nor cast her eyes aside in fear. A roar boomed from above, and next thing Lunafreya saw as Gladiolus slamming the masamune down upon the Fierce, his strike so strong it knocks back even a massive giant as the Fierce.

It dug its armored heels into the ground, staring at Gladiolus as the shield of the king stands in front of his king's fiancé. 'Are we late?', he asked, panting. Just when Lunafreya was about to ask, another voice called out to Ventus. The boy just avoids being chopped in half by the Mystic, now being contended with Kairi, he turned to see Aqua and Mickey leaping down from above and joining the fray. His eyes and smile widen with joy at the sight of his best friend, quickly running to her.

'Aqua! You're here!', he exclaims with joy, hugging her. Aqua, in turn, smiles back warmly and holds him close. They break their hug, the boy's eyes widened at her scar and new looks, but before he could ask, she gestures the battle ahead of them. 'Questions are for later, Ven, our friends need us', she instructed, summoning her keyblade. Ventus nods, and together the two apprentices of the Eraqus race towards their foes.

Before the Wise could strike down Donald and Goofy, Mickey leaped at him and struck his sword with his keyblade. Despite his much smaller size compared to the human-sized warrior, Mickey easily repels the attack and even forces the warrior to float back from the king. Now on his feet and staring down this man who would dare lay a hand his loyalist and oldest friends, Mickey readies to put an end. Donald and Goofy looked in awe and joy of their king, before nodding and getting to their feet, reinvigorated to join him.

'Good to have ya, fellas!', Mickey praised. Together the three charges to the Wise.

Gladiolus' masamune meets with the Fierce's mace, both equal in strength and speed as each strike was like two giants swinging pillars of steel at one another. Gladiolus blocks an overhead attack from the giant, not even buckling his knees or pushed back as he holds his blade up to hold against the giant. It was strange to fight like this, despite this is one of the Lucis bloodlines more powerful kings, a just and kind to his people but a complete daemon to his enemies.

If the shield of the king had the nerve to fight him back then, he would've been killed at the very first strike, shield be damned. Here now, however, Gladiolus wasn't afraid nor even worried. All he had to do is think of how far he, his king, and the others had come so far on this journey, more powerful but wiser than ever. Now, it wasn't just a king he had sworn to protect at all costs, a certain blue head had claimed his heart and that, combined with his oath to Noctis, is all the strength he needed to win this fight.

Gladiolus pushes back the old king enough to call upon his shield. The Fierce then brings down his mace on the chosen shield of the king, Gladiolus blocked it over his head. 'I served as your shield through thick and thin.', he says, reminding himself. He overpowers the might of the Fierce and throws his mace off himself with such inhuman power, even the Fierce was staggering backward like a novice trannie having be had his backside handed to him. A feat none had ever performed onto him.

The time to revel in victory was not now however, Gladiolus dismissed his shield and held his masamune over his head with both hands grasping the handle. The sword glows with the light from Noctis' armiger as the ground shakes beneath Gladiolus feet, body shook with power. 'No matter what, I've got your backs, now and always!'. With speed he had never known to possess, Gladiolus sped right past the Fierce with one stroke of his sword, the sounds of steel crushing steel rumbled in the area.

The Fierce had fallen to the shield of the Chosen King, slowly falling to his knees in defeat yet Gladiolus heard a single utter from the fallen knight. "Well done…".

Aqua deflects a strike from the Just and his gigantic shield, cartwheeling away from the tower of a weapon. Ventus jumps at him with a yell, bringing down his keyblade but the boy was caught by the giant. He struggles to break free as Aqua fired magic at the head of the Just, but she might as well have thrown dust at her for all the damage she dealt. The Just then throws Ventus into Aqua, knocking them both onto the ground.

The master grunts in annoyance as Ventus rolls off her and together they stand back up. Just merely cracks her shoulders, unamused by their resilience to her strength. 'She's so strong…', Ventus laments, frowning. Aqua, however, stands firm. 'You're going to give up now?', she teases, 'What about that promise you made?'. Ventus looks at her with a look of surprise, he saw her smile at him before she turned onto the Lucis member.

Aqua dashes forth, shifting her keyblade into the wakizashi and shurikens before she vanished into the air. The Just looked around for her, but it was too late for her because Aqua appears behind her and throws her shurikens into her spine. Though she didn't pierce far enough for bones to be broken, it was enough to wound the tall warrior. Just swung around her shield in a complete circle to try and smash Aqua, the master jumping into the air while Ventus takes advantage of there no longer being a wall to keep his foe safe.

The younger wielder of the keyblade dashes while striking the waist of the Just while above Aqua slashes at her shoulders. Together the two repeated their tactic of striking the taller warrior whenever she tries to defend herself from them but their speed and coordination proved to be her match. Aqua was in the air as she channels her magic into her throwing weapons and imbeds them with ice. 'Ven!', she said, tossing the shurikens at the tall warrior.

The shurikens struck her leg, her stomach, and her right shoulder, exploding and covering them in dense frost. This gave Ventus the chance to use his command style, Wingblade. With his body glowing in a bright blue aura, six swords of light hover around the boy in a wing-style formation. Lifting his keyblade for a second to swing back down, Ventus charges forth and with his swords following his strikes, begins to tear into the Just.

Slashes after slashes of light striking at the darkened adversary, Ventus breaks through the armor that protected the corrupted member of Noctis' family line, evaporating the dark with each strike until he performs the final attack. Throwing the swords into the ground, creating a circular magic emblem made of light. Ventus then lands in the center of the swords as a brilliant shockwave of light, enveloping the warrior of the Lucis bloodline and vanquishing her and allowing this old warrior to fall into a long-awaited slumber.

The two guardians of light gave each other a grin before they raced off to aid their companions.

Dueling the Mystic alone, Kairi fends off the possibly most powerful member of the royal family line. Somnus' armor if she recalled correctly, the younger brother of Ardyn and in some ways, the bringer of destruction to his world. Kairi parries one of his strikes as they battled on the catwalk above the others, deflecting and striking whenever she got the chance.

The Mystic's sword swings upwards and nearly splits Kairi's head from jaw to forehead had she not lean back far enough to avoid the strike. Though the tip of the blade did manage to break a part of her visor to leave a crack. Kairi jumps back and shakes her head, seeing her vision was now marred by a web of cracks, forcing her to remove her helmet and dismiss it with the hope it'll repair itself in the pocket dimension like her clothes do.

The Mystic wasn't done with her, he fired three ghostly red apparitions of his sword at her, catching her off guard as she clumsily parried and deflected them from her. Kairi had almost no time to raise her keyblade to protect her from the real sword being brought down onto her. Their blades clashed with sparks flying around them, even making the support beams holding the catwalks groan with stretches and bending the metals. Kairi grunts and pushes the Mystic off herself while swinging the keyblade at him.

But in doing so, the Mystic raised his hand and suddenly a ghostly form of his corrupted hand appears and grabbed the armored princess tightly. Kairi was tightly clutched by this, unable to mover her arms. Before she could cast a spell, darkness wrapped around her mouth, silencing her and stopping any further attempts to resist. The Mystic raised his corrupted blade and placed it near her neck, ready to perform a perfect beheading of a royal blood.

'GET AWAY FROM HER!'.

A ring of flames struck the Mystic right in the side of his head, disrupting his concentration and relinquishing his hold on Kairi and her mouth. Not wasting a chance for retribution, Kairi grabbed her keyblade and slammed it into the waist of the Mystic and throw him off the catwalk and onto the clearing with the others. Kairi looks to see joining the fray is none other than Ignis and Axel at long last, the latter with only one chakram in hand before it reappeared in his hand.

He was looking at Kairi with a two-finger salute and smirk, before gesturing Ignis and the Mystic. 'I'll deal with the wannabe knight, you check on your "friend",', he teases. 'Boyfriend now, actually!', Kairi repeats with glee for the reveal and the sight of her friend. Axel's brows shoot up with surprise, while Ventus yelled out: 'Wait, they're dating now?'.

'Yeah, about time!', Axel called back as he joined Ignis' side. Kairi looks at Lunafreya still attending to Sora, before she leaped over to her and joins her side.

The Mystic turns onto Axel and Ignis, weapons drawn and stood before it. Without another word, the Mystic dashes to them and swings his great blade, but Axel counters his strike with his blazing chakrams, throwing both at him. The Mystic quickly deflects the weapons easily, in doing so he gives Ignis a chance to strike at him.

The man had already set his daggers into a more powerful flame than he'd ever perform before, even with the darkness it shined like a beacon in the sea of shadows. Ignis rushes in quickly and plunges both daggers into the Mystic's stomach, and as he flipped back there was a massive dense burst of flames from the warrior. The Mystic growls in pain as the flames danced on his armor before he stabbed his sword into the ground before him and with a powerful gust of wind the flames were blown away.

Ignis summons his daggers again just as the sword of the Mystic glows in an ominous light, slowly expanding in length and mass until it looked like one of Gladiolus' older swords. Easily the Lucis swung it with a single arm at the two. Axel ducks under the attack as Ignis flips over it, landing on his feet before the Mystic warped to the dark user and tried to go for his neck. He was struck on the back by Axel's chakram, splitting some of his armor open and as the pyro dances around him to create space, Ignis used this opportunity to aim his palm at the helm of the Mystic.

He blasts a firaga at point-blank between them which throws the user back from the force and onto his side. Getting back to his feet, Ignis stares in annoyance and astonishment at the Mystic, though harmed, was still standing and likely ready for more. 'Blast it…what will it take to bring you down…?', Ignis asked as Axel joined his side. The red-haired man smirked in response to the question not directed at him.

'Keep hitting him until he stops moving, I guess…', he joked. 'I fear he's going to employ that tactic against us, and likely follow through with it…', Ignis responded. He rubbed his chin, before snapping his fingers, a new plan. 'I've got an idea, do you have a keyblade by chance?', he asked. Axel's smirk widens as he shifts his chakrams back into his keyblade, Flame Liberator. 'What'cha got in mind?', he says, staring down the Mystic.

'Everything we got', Ignis replied.

Together, with their weapons blazing wildly, they rush in toward the Mystic as he swings at them. Ignis skids around him as Axel meets his mystical blade with his keyblade, blocking his attack. This allows Ignis to leap onto his back and plunge both daggers into the shoulders of the ancestor. The warrior attempts to throw Ignis off him, but that was when Axel swung with all his strength to strike the weapon right out of his hands and into the air.

Ignis jumped off the Mystic with his daggers still stabbed into him, drawing his spear and encasing it with darkness as Axel's keyblade is spun around in his hand until it creates a wheel of flames. With a yell, Axel swung the weapon at the Mystic, the ring flying off his weapon and over the head of the Mystic before it entrapped him in a ring of fire. 'Ignis, all yours!', Axel called out. 'Roger!', calls back Ignis, pushing his glasses up and grabbed his spear.

He leaped into the air as the darkness ejected him higher than he hand ever performed, flipping until his spear was below him with both feet pressing down on the hilt of the weapon as he dropped like a boulder onto the knight. The spear is plunged into the Mystic's chest through until the entire blade of the weapon sinks into the ground with the body of the Mystic firmly planted. A wave of darkness washes over, unharming Axel and dousing the flames surrounding the Mystic.

Panting from the use of the dark power, Ignis gets off the defeated Mystic and is helped standing up by Axel, grinning at him. The Mystic's body slowly disappears into the shadows like his brethren, not before however it leaves one message for Ignis within his mind.

"Undo…my greatest failure…".

Together with his friends for the first time in what felt like forever, Mickey flips and hops over every strike the Wise performs, desperate to rid the world of the small keyblade master. But whenever he had an opening, the king's loyal shield would be there to deflect and protect him or that mage would blast him with magic or heal his companions.

Goofy uppercuts the knight with his shield, throwing the weapon aside when it in the middle of a swing, allowing Donald to shoot a ball of light magic at the chest and strike it with enough power to crack the chest plate open. The chance at hand, Mickey soars at him and strikes the Wise with several light-infused strikes that expelled the darkness within in the knight, breaking the armor until with one final stab of the keyblade the Wise perishes under the barrage of the combined might of the trio.

As the party gathered around, wounded and weary, they looked to the air and see Noctis battling Ardyn with the fury of a storm. The king of light struck at the man while they were almost flying in the air, his keyblade glowing in the Lucis blue light against the darkened red light of Ardyn. Ardyn's vast arsenal of weapons should have made him an equal match against Noctis, but with the keyblade and rejuvenated king, not even the royal arms of old could match the king's might.

With a strike of Night's Sky, Noctis' attack was enough to throw Ardyn through a catwalk and into a wall with a force that nearly broke the entire structure. The king stood on an unbroken catwalk and faced his ancestor, panting. The man before him raised his face to meet him, blood trickling down from his lip with his face contorted into pain for the first since Noctis had met him. A twisted side of Noctis took pleasure in that, about time this man felt what he's been causing onto others.

Ardyn barked laughter, as mad as he. 'Impressive, "King" Noctis…', he praised, mockingly, 'I thought without your precious crystal, you'd be no more than a bark pup!'. Noctis glowered at this man, and said: 'Laugh while you can, you son of a bitch!'. He grabbed his keyblade and aimed it back at him. 'This is where it ends!'.

Noctis warp strikes towards Ardyn, keyblade in hand. It was here, he could finally make this man pay for everything he's done to his friends, his home, his world.

Unfortunately, not yet.

Another member of the Phantoms appeared before Noctis to guard for his master, a sword lifted to block the keyblade. In the air, as the sparks from their weapons boomed, Noctis could only stare in horror at who would dare protect the Usurper after all he had wrought. The final phantom…the Father.

Noctis' Father.

Wielding the darkened version of his sword in his armor while hovering in the air, standing between his master and his son. The strength that Noctis had gained all disappeared and was replaced by despair at this turn of events. 'Dad…', he gasped. The Father says nothing, throws the weapon of his enemy off himself and without any hesitance or mercy, struck Noctis. The king gasped in horror as he feels the blade slice from his right shoulder to his left hip, throwing him back across the field and back to the others.

He crashes onto the wall over Lunafreya and the others, bounced off it and fell to the ground with a thud. His friends cried his name in horror mixed with fury, all eyes turned to Ardyn as he warps back to the party, rubbing his jaw. The Father standing by his side like a dutiful shield as the party raised their weapons, some standing front of Lunafreya for her safety. Ardyn chuckled as he takes in the numbers of heroes that had arrived at this world.

'What an astounding amount of guests we have here today!', he says, 'More keyblade wielders, a former member of Xiggy's group? And lo and behold, another one of Terra's "friends". The royal retinue drew their weapons and glared heatedly at the man as the warriors of light stood ready for him. Yet despite being outnumbered and even daring to say outmatched by some, Ardyn feels no fear or even hesitance. Instead, he was given an opportunity.

'Are all of you here to rescue the puppet? I hate to inform all of you that dear Sora's heart had been destroyed', he says with casual disinterest. Riku snarls at him as the others unaware looked horrified, but none more so then Kairi. She turned to Sora, realizing he hadn't so much as breathed since they rescued him. 'No…that's, that's not possible…', she gasped, trying to sense his light.

Nothing.

Not light nor darkness, she feels nothing but a hollowness within the boy. 'Sora…', she whispers, her strength seemingly evaporating as the others felt the pain tear into their hearts. Ardyn just laughs on, taking their misery like it was the sweetest bit of revenge he could ever have. 'All your struggles, all the pain you've endured, all for nothing but disappointing results', he mocks. 'What now I wonder? I hope you have eyes on someone else, princess'.

'Shut up!', Riku roars, charging towards him.

Instantly, the Father intervenes and strikes back at the boy, who just narrowly blocked the attack but was thrown off his feet. A yell tipped off the warrior and the Father turns to block Donald and Goofy's joint attack, easily using his free hand to backhand them and throw them aside like they were nothing.

The Father looked up to see Ventus jumping towards him and bringing down his keyblade with a cry of fury. The Father raises his hand, creating a silver barrier that upon Ventus striking it, reflected his attack and throws the boy up into the air with a loud *shing* sound. The four of them were defeated and being too weary to continue, leaving only the others to battle. Unamused by this vain attempt to rebel against the fate in store for them, Ardyn sighs.

'An unfortunate turn of events and you're all suddenly as useful as an empty bottle of water in the middle of a desert', he chastises like a disappointed uncle. 'Ah well…normally I'm not meant to "accidentally" extinguish the light of those for that Keyblade War…but if dear Noctis can become one, I'm sure they'll find more'. Ardyn clicks his fingers, immediately a swarm of heartless and daemons manifest around him and the entire room itself.

'It's been fun, guardians of light…but all the fun has to end sometime', he grinned. The monsters begin to attack the party, going for the downed ones first. Aqua instantly jumps to protect Ventus while Mickey guards for Donald and Goofy, leaving Axel to save Riku.

Kairi stands as the heartless surrounded her, head downcast in despair and defeat. She came this far for him, survived all sorts of hell for him, and gained so much strength to save him. What good was all that now without his heart? As the darkness begins to pool around her, almost accepting defeat to spare herself from this pain, to at least be with him again in the next world…until she grabbed her keyblade tightly and exclaims: 'FAITH!'.

Six pillars of light surrounds her, spinning quickly and evaporating the dark inhabits around her. This gains Ardyn's attention, surprised by all the ones who still had that will to fight on was her. With eyes burning with a fire that was cared for and nurtured by her journey, she gets into her stance and charges into the fight once more.

"Sora…I know you're not gone…I can feel you", she thinks as she strikes down a yojimbo, "You're here, we're all here to bring you home". As Kairi strikes down more and more creatures of the darkness, she makes one final prayer for her heart's strength. "Please, come back to us".

Noctis gritted his teeth as he pushes himself to crawl to Sora, Lunafreya being protected by Ignis with Prompto as Gladiolus is in the thick of the fight. The pain was so agonizing but he needed to keep pushing. They needed them, but more importantly, they needed Sora. True the words Ardyn spat played on his doubts, and for all, he knew that was nothing more than an empty shell of the friend who had become important to Noctis.

However, if there was anything he had learned since they joined up, its that the light always has a trick up the sleeve.

Reaching Sora, he draws his keyblade and helped place it in Sora's hand. 'Hey, buddy…', he grunts out, 'Really hate to do this…as a guy who adores sleeping for as long as he can…', he chuckles weakly as his vision goes fuzzy with blood loss. 'But…we, we could use your help right now…'.

He placed his hand over Sora's clasped on the keyblade. 'Come on buddy…', pleads the king…

*Station of Awakening*

In her embrace against the darkness, Sora hears them…

The voices of people who had left a print on his heart, the voices of those who had been with him for so long they would forever be apart of him. He feels something stir within him as he feels his limbs move and fidget, the strokes of his head from her.

'They're calling for you', she says, 'Your friends'. Sora gently raises his head to face her for the first time, but she was obscured by the light. He saw her smiling, a smile that was laced with pain and isolation. 'Its time to go back to them, Sora', she says warmly. She helps him to his feet, slowly his strength is coming back to him as his eyes get their color back. The pathway where Roxas walked slowly appears as before when they approached the ledge.

She gently pushed him onto the stairs, like a sister encouraging her nervous brother. 'Go, be with those you hold dear to your heart', she encouraged. Sora looks at her before he asked: 'Who are you?'. Gently she leans into his ear and whispers the name before the station behind him slowly fades into light as she disappears with it. Sora stares at the vacant space, then slowly walks up the stairs to where he is supposed to be.

Every step he took filled him with strength and courage he had lost, every step he felt company. As he looked to his sides, the two companions who had been with him from the beginning followed him by his side, ghostly crystal forms. He felt a surge of confidence whenever his best friend smirked at him like he had total faith in his skill. Behind him he saw the master and her long-time friend trailing close by, both smiling warmly at him.

The master's eyes shined with pride, proud of him, the other's eyes were warm and cheerful. A gentle pat on the back prompts him to look and see the smirk of the pyro, once an enemy now a friend who bears similar traits as he does. And then to his lower left, he saw the king of his companion, always cheerful and hopeful.

He feels the presence of three more people who even for a short time he has known them. The shield of a king, always protecting them no matter what, the advisor of the king, always has wisdom to spare and is one of the kindest souls he's ever met. The friend of the king, a person who desired friends, and is the first to perk everyone up to keep going. Strength of those he held dear to him, the people he is willing to face the worst of the darkness to save, the power he gleaned from them puts any keyblade to shame.

Atop of the Station of Awakening, he sees the king smiling at him with confidence radiating from his stance, and on his left, he sees her, the princess of his heart. That wonderful smile that could take his breath away and her warmth rivaling the sun. Everyone was here with him, pushing him to come back home where he belonged. Stepping onto the broken fractures of his heart, Roxas still holding the chains to keep him together with a grin.

Slowly he stepped on, walking towards Roxas as he sees the islands coming together. 'You ready to go?', he asked. Sora placed a hand over his heart, frowning with worry. He turned to his friends, each of them watching him with smiles and hope. Looking down at his heart's broken land, feeling everyone's light, he faced Roxas and smiled. 'Yeah…', he says, confidently. With a returning nod of his own, Roxas holds out the black keyblade for him to take. Sora grasped the weapon, their light shining brilliantly and engulfing the floor beneath their feet.

Slowly the station is put together as light covered it, the friends that helped put him together turn into light and when it was finished, Sora sees the station restored. The mural shows him standing before what looked to be the door to light, keyblade placed in front of him. The combination of dusk and dawn, night and day in an x formation over the door with circles holding those precious to his heart around his body. Donald, Goofy, Riku, Aqua, Ventus and Axel with a seventh shaped like a heart showing Kairi.

The colors were a perfect blend of red, golden red and blue.

He feels himself leaving the ground as the world grew brighter around him, the dark keyblade still in his hand. He sees Roxas standing there watching him ascend, a promise between them made as the boy of light returns.

'See you soon…Sora', Roxas says before he returns to his slumber…

*Eos*

Noctis grits his teeth in pain, watching his friends being overwhelmed by the monsters and the Father taking on Kairi. The girl parried and evaded his attacks but landed none of her own. Kairi was pushed back by another strike from his father, her heels digging into the ground. She fell to one knee in pain, tired and wounded, but she still faced him with fire in her eyes.

Ardyn mere watched the battle unfold, or rather slowly conclude as the warriors were being overwhelmed one by one. He gave Noctis a victorious smug look as the Father approached Kairi, blade lower and gently pressed the tip beneath her chin. The king growls, but his wound was too grievous to join the fight, and his heart screamed for him to call Sora more. 'It seems you're at the end of the line, "King" Noctis', Ardyn bragged.

He turns his smug look into a sinister grin, before saying: 'Let the princess, be the first to enter the never-ending sleep'. The Father raised his sword…

The sound a sword swiping the field rings out, loud and clear like a crystal. The Father's blade drops to the floor beside Kairi, prompting her to look at the Father in confusion before he fell to his knees, his body disappearing into nothing. Her eyes went wide with surprise when sees before her, two keyblades in his hands, standing tall and glowing like a beacon of hope, is Sora. One keyblade was Night's Sky, while the other was Oblivion.

Ardyn snarled and glared at the boy, shocked that he was suddenly back to his feet and sensed something had changed about him. Sora spins his keyblades in his hands before he holds them over his head in an X formation and cried out: 'Light!'.

The two keyblades fired what seemed like an unlimited amount of blue-whitish rays of light from them, striking at every dark creature like they were trapped in a storm of arrows. The heartless and daemons were skewered into nothing, while the light struck his friends, not harming them but healing them. One ray hit Noctis and he felt his skin repair itself, now only remaining was nothing but a scar from his Father.

The room was free of heartless and daemons, the light faded from Sora's body as he lowered his keyblades. He turned to face Kairi and there is was that beautiful smile that helped her through the darkest times, the smile she wanted to see again after what felt like an eternity apart from him. 'Thanks, for bringing me home', he said with a smile. Kairi allowed her tears to run down her cheeks, not pain nor sadness, but utter joy.

Slowly the others took in the scene before them, their long-time friend had returned from the brink. 'SORA!', Donald and Goofy cheered as Aqua chuckles happily, her own eyes shimmering with joy. Then the boy turned to his majesty as he approached him, smiling at the chosen wielder of the keyblade. Surprisingly to everyone, Sora turned, dismissed Oblivion and held Night's Sky before Noctis.

'Your Majesty', he said with a grin. Noctis smirks at this sudden courtesy, taking the key from this boy and placing a hand on his shoulder. 'Welcome back, Sora'. They both turned to Ardyn, his body now emitting a dark aura as the two warriors called their keyblades. 'Looks like the game is still going on', Ardyn growled, the blight beginning to show on his face. He became more daemonic and grotesque. His sclera turn black, his irises and pupils turn gold while appearing clouded, his skin becomes paler, and black markings appear across his face.

'Wrong', Noctis corrects as both he and Sora glowed in the light of Lucis line, 'Now, they END!'. Together like arrows of light, Sora and Noctis launched themselves at Ardyn. The Usurper blocked their attack with a combination of armiger, but that did nothing to halt their momentum as they rocketed the three of them upwards to the ceiling. Smashing through the ceilings, they break away until the returned to the surface, now a raging storm of lighting and thunders with rain booming as their battlefield.

In the skies, Ardyn throws both warriors off himself with a cry of hate, using his armiger to keep himself as Noctis and Sora fall. Until Noctis cried out: 'POWER OF LIGHT!'. All his royal arms swirled around him and a surge of power he had felt before only when he fought Leviathan rush through his body. He flies towards Ardyn while Sora called upon Oblivion to give him power.

In the sky, Noctis fires two of his royal arms at Ardyn, the Sword of the Tall and Shield of the Just. Ardyn meets these weapons with his mimics, both exploding in a fiery blue and red smoke upon colliding with each other. Both members of the Lucis line clashed in the smoke, Night's Sky meeting with Ardyn's Rakshasa, immediately clearing the smoke of their attacks while booming loudly like thunder.

They both warped all over the air, striking each other at every point they appeared, and each strike echoed so loudly all of Eos could hear the strikes. Ardyn brings down his blade onto Noctis' keyblade, enough strength to send the king falling back down to the ground. As Ardyn charged down to meet the king, he was intercepted by another weapon of light. Only a millisecond to protect his mortal form, Ardyn raised his mimic Blade of the Warrior to match Sora.

Sora's strike was far greater then Ardyn had ever dared to think, he was sent across the capital like a ball smacked by a baseball wielded by Titan. He smashed through a radio tower before crashing onto the rooftop of a six floored building he knew nothing off. Sora flipped and landed on the rooftop, in a new form that only furthered the hatred Ardyn was slowly starting to have for the boy.

Crownsguard Form.

In this form Sora wears a black vest with skull patterns around it with a black crown around his neck, a long black and red trench coat that reached behind his knees, the sleeves coated in red lines that connected to his back to form a red skull. His pants were baggy with a black belt around his waist, pouches that resembled his second adventure clothes, his boots were smaller than his usual, but they were combat boots.

Oblivion appeared in his hand, he takes up his stance and charges at the man of no consequences. Ardyn throws his armiger at the boy, only for Sora to either deflect them or flip around the weapons, air dashing at the man. He slams the blade of Oblivion onto his side before striking him at several parts of his body before Sora strikes him hard enough to send him flying into a small wall. When Ardyn bounced off it, cracking the wall and making it collapse, he faced the boy.

'That…was for Kairi', Sora said.

Ardyn smirked at him before his eyes glowed with darkness. He vanishes on the spot and reappeared behind Sora, Mace of the Fierce being swung over his shoulder. Suddenly Noctis reappeared in front of Ardyn and blocked the mace from crushing Sora. The force behind the mace cracked and decimated the floor beneath the trio, and then it collapsed beneath their feet. As they all fell through the crumbling floors, they all clashed with Ardyn's horde of weapons fighting against the two keyblades.

When they reached the last floor, Ardyn fires a wave of darkness that tossed the two outside the building through the glass walls and onto the streets of Gralea. The two skidded on the ground before rolling to their feet, Noctis firing more of his armiger at the inside of the building with Sora aimed his keyblade and performed Ragnarök, firing golden-red lasers into the building. Their combined attack destroyed the building with an explosion of golden red and blue reach over ten feet.

Within the fires, they see Ardyn was being protected by his armiger, although they saw he is wounded from their joint attack. The Usurper dashed at them, grabbed Sora by the neck and threw him into another building, then turned back to Noctis. The king performed a quick draw using Blade of the Warrior, slashing at Ardyn's torso. The attack was enough to knock back the monster only two feet from Noctis, but the king was relentless with his strikes.

He swung the blade like a wild man but with the precision of a seasoned master of the blade, hitting everywhere while simultaneously struck at Ardyn. The armiger of the Usurper kept him safe for the most part but Noctis' tenacity is something even the chancellor had to admit was impressive. He draws his Shield of the Just to finally repel Noctis' attack, throwing the king off guard and he summoned his Trident of the Oracle and lunged forth.

'STOP!'.

Ardyn's body froze with time, giving Noctis a chance to jump away from him and drop a magic flask in his steed. Less then five seconds later time resumes normally and Ardyn's foot lands on the flask, detonating it in an explosion of lighting that gave some life to the street lights for a moment. Ardyn is thrown into the air thanks to it and landed on his back with a thud. He snarls in fury as Noctis warped above him, his spear in hand. He tried to stab the man with it, only for Ardyn to warp away from the king.

Noctis was then grabbed by Ardyn, clutching his neck in a death grip. Together Ardyn ascended to the skies with his prey, chased closely by Sora from below. Ardyn uses his free hand to fire his armiger at Sora, but too add further fuel of hate for the boy, Sora warps around the weapons, much like Noctis and even himself. Except his light was closer to silver than blue or red. He even used the pommel of the Sword of the Tall as a steppingstone to leap off it and launch himself higher to Ardyn.

Sora was now on the same level as Ardyn, keyblade drawn and he brings it down upon Ardyn. The blight infested man raised his glowing hand to catch the weapon, in doing so Noctis called on the Sword of the Wise and tried to stab at Ardyn. Ardyn simply warps away from the two, a few feet before them in the air. He crosses his arms, his armiger appeared behind him as they start to take on more of the blight than the normal red color.

Slowly the dark clouds around the three begin to swirl and twist as lightning flashes faster and thunder booming louder as if it boomed in their ears. Dark lightning surges around Ardyn's body, his eyes glowing with darkness. Noctis and Sora quickly rush to him to stop whatever plans he had for them, but the lighting around him shocks them both so bad they were thrown back to the streets.

They land on their feet as Ardyn lowers himself, slowly the armiger begins to grow in numbers, now coated in dark violet crystal than his red. Soon the entire sky was full of the Usurper's armiger, like a horrible rainstorm about to be unleashed upon the world. As Ardyn laughs madly at this, Noctis looked at Sora and their keyblades, before he offered his hand to him.

'You with me?', he asked.

With a grin, Sora grabbed his hand. 'Ready whenever you are!'.

Ardyn unleashes his storm of weapons upon them just as a burst of the Lucis light surrounded the two, white crystals fluttering around them.

'Noctis!'.

'You're going down!'.

Together both warriors were shining with the power of the armiger, unleashed at its full potential. As the royal arms swirl around Noctis, Sora was surrounded by keyblades he's obtained throughout his adventure, glowing in a golden red. Together they grabbed first weapons, Kingdom Key and engine blade, their light covering them until they were ten feet long blades of light. At the same time, the performed over the shoulder swings of their blades, slamming them into the ground.

The strike was so powerful the gust of wind they created was enough to scatter Ardyn's weapons like they were falling leaves. As more of Ardyn's weapons flew towards them, Noctis and Sora aimed their hands together at once, eight weapons from their arsenals rotates around their arms. Forming a large beam of golden red and blue, before the weapons flew forth like missiles towards Ardyn while destroying the other weapons.

This forced Ardyn to call back some of the weapons to protect himself by having dozens in lines of two wrap around him like a protective shield, protecting him but not making him entirely safe from their attack.

Back to back as all their weapons appeared around them, eyes glowing with their colors, the wielders of the keyblade stare down Ardyn's storm of weapons. With Oblivion in Sora's hand and Night's Sky in Noctis' grip, they nodded.

'Let's go!', cried Sora.

'This ends now!', Noctis stated.

They both warped as their entire arsenal flies at Ardyn. The man had no chance to move so he used more of his blighted armiger to shield himself from the weapons, but he turned aghast when Sora and Noctis both appeared before him and together struck him with downward slashes of their weapons. With yells, Sora and Noctis had their entire armory of weapons fly around them as they began to destroy Ardyn's storm of weapons.

They keep disappearing and reappearing, striking all the weapons while grasping their arsenals with their free hands, combing dual-wielding with the power the two of them possessed. Soon the skies were clear of Ardyn's weapons, even his link of weapons that shields him had been destroyed. Sora and Noctis reappeared above the man, aimed their weapons at the Usurper and the rest of their arms charged forth and struck him with explosions of blue and golden red.

Together, the two wielders appeared and dropped down with their weapons, hitting Ardyn at the same time and creating an explosion of the same colors that burned so bright for a moment the light had been brought back to the world. As Ardyn was floated in the air weakly, barely holding, but the two were far from finished with this.

They both reappeared back on the ground, panting from exertion and the power they used. Noctis' engine blade begins to glow in a light Sora hadn't seen for a very long time. The weapon levitates in the air and fires off a single beam behind Ardyn, and there it was.

Eos' Keyhole.

Together the two wielders of the keyblades grasped their weapons with both hands and aimed them, Sora's crown appearing beneath their feet. Blue light circles the tips of their keys, before condensing into beams that flew towards Ardyn before melding into one powerful blue beam. The beam pierces through the Usurper, making him gasp in shock of pain as they struck the keyhole.

Instead of simply locking it like always, the keyhole created a vacuum of air as the beams dissipated, and next thing they could see, they saw the blight was being extracted from Ardyn's body. The man screams in sheer pain as his power was stripped from him and absorbed by the keyhole.

When it was over, Ardyn's body falls as the keyhole creates a loud "click" noise that shook the world, before it disappears in light.

The two wielders pants together, weapons disappearing as they finally fall to their knees, and then slumped onto the ground…

*Elsewhere*

'This way!', Aqua yelled, quickly chasing Kairi as the girl was practically flying up the stairs to reach the outside. The party climbed the stairs and reached the highway once more, taking in the destruction the three had caused as the rain begins to wither away. Then, Lunafreya lets a gasp escape her as she looked to the mountains.

They follow her gaze to see the sun slowly arisen from below and bath the world in its light once more…

A/N:

Q1: How did you find these chapters?

Q2: What did you think of the fight?

Q3: Thoughts on Sora's new form?

Q4: Sora and Noctis' limit break?

Q5: Did like having everyone fighting together?

Q6: Excited for KH stuff?

Q7: What are hoping to see next time?

Q8: Thoughts on how Sora was brought back?

Q9: The final fight with Ardyn?

I wasn't expecting to get another chapter out, especially ones that long for New Years, but I thought it'd be one last gift for 2019, especially since this is officially the longest story I've written for this site. As always everyone, thanks for supporting this story for nearly a year now.

Stay awesome but most importantly, stay safe and HAPPY 2020!