Riku's journey has now taken him to the land of gods and monsters, the Kid Icarus world. Still presenting himself as someone without emotions getting in his way, he joins Pit in the battle against the Underworld Army.
Currently Pit is dealing with the three-headed Hewdraw, one of Medusa's generals. Riku meets up with Pit and they land in the city where two of the heads have fallen.
Palutena recognizes Riku's title due to some news from the "higher-ups". So for now, Palutena and Pit are glad to accept Riku's help.
Pit's covered in tasty smelling pheromones to lure out one of the Hewdraw heads, and afterwards the two head outside the town to the nearby lake to fight off the other head.
Pit and Riku work together pretty well and both of them make their way back to Skyworld to prepare for the next mission, albeit, Riku has to fly on his own for the first trip.
Next up the two go after the Reaper's Fortress in search of a clue to Pandora's location. Riku's been given a laurel on his wrist to teleport to Skyworld if necessary.
Riku helps defend Pit while he flies to the fortress, and eventually they are able to infiltrate it. Riku's taking it easy for the moment until he can figure out just how strong he is on this world, but he's able to bail Pit out of a couple sticks jams during their trip through the fortress.
After defeating the Great Reaper, the two have pieced together where Pandora is hiding and return to Skyworld to prepare to go after her.
While attempting to traverse Pandora's maze, Riku winds up having to introduce Palutena and Pit to Takashi when it turns out they can hear him through Riku's thoughts.
They continue on to Pandora's palace, which honestly, as Pit continuously points out, seems more like a fun house at this point.
Pandora is nonplussed about the whole thing, just wanting Pit to show up so they can get this over with. After breaking through her illusions, Pandora "fights" Pit, and falls to one attack.
But then she promptly holds up the Mirror of Truth to try and make an Underworld loyal copy of Pit. However, the ensuing Dark Pit winds up serving only himself, and teams up with Pit to take Pandora down.
Riku doesn't get involved, even after it seems like Dark Pit's stealing Pandora's powers to fly off and join Medusa. So now the mission priority has to flip to going after Dark Pit.
The pursuit of Dark Pit is done solely by Pit, even though Riku's following along. Riku wholly believes there's no reason to fight Dark Pit given he's not going after humans. Even Dark Pit is inclined to agree with him, and mocks Palutena for wasting time.
Medusa's forces show up and even the goddess of the underworld starts communicating mentally with the group, learning of Riku's identity but obviously, not worried in the slightest.
They eventually corner Dark Pit on a set of floating islands. While Pit seeks him out, Riku tries to have a chat with Dark Pit to convince him to just not be a dick.
Dark Pit, however, presses his luck by pushing his buttons one too many times. Riku proceeds to nearly knock him out in one shot, alerting Pit to his location.
Riku then tosses Dark Pit a Drink of the Gods, which gets Palutena questioning his motives. Riku states how he sincerely believes they shouldn't kill Dark Pit, though that doesn't mean not keeping him in line a little.
Pit duels his mirror counterpart and eventually wins, but chooses to spare him, an act Dark Pit tells him he'll regret as he flies off to who knows where.
With Pit's power of flight at its deadline, Palutena brings him and Riku back so they can resume their focus on the last of Medusa's generals: Tanatos.
With Poseidon's "help", Pit and Riku are able to fly through the splitting seas to go after Tanatos in the Underwater Palace.
Poseidon is a little weary of Riku's presence here, citing how the fight between the Elemental Overlord and Dark King dragged evil to his waters long ago.
Riku assures him he's fighting on his own here, no forces of darkness involved.
Upon reaching the palace the group are greeted by Tanatos, I mean...ahem, THanatos, emphasis on the "H".
Thanatos takes advantage of the fourth-wall of a written story for a bit to trouble the group with his silliness, but ultimately winds up losing to Pit and Riku's combined strength.
They then snag his key to the Underworld. But there's still one last bit of preparation they need to do before they can confront Medusa...Reclaim the Three Sacred Treasures.
Space Pirates, not the Metroid ones, have stolen the treasures from the constellations Palutena hid them out. Pit and Riku fly out to space to catch up with their ship before it can leave.
They have a run in with a giant kraken when they try to claim the treasures from the captain. But it goes down faster than good sushi, and the treasures are reclaimed for Pit to use against Medusa in the final battle. Short part, eh?
Pit arms himself with the treasures and Riku readies himself for battle. With the key to the underworld in hand, they open the way towards Medusa's castle.
Along the way they run into Dark Pit who, despite tons of denial thrown towards his accusers, is indeed here to help them fight Medusa.
He even pitches in the final blow against the gatekeeper to Medusa's castle, allowing the two to enter. Riku and Pit split up to defeat shoddy recreations of Medusa's generals.
Medusa tries to lure Riku to her side, citing that he may look human, but is just as much of a god as her and Palutena. And they...owe no loyalty to humanity.
Riku tells her off and then goes off to easily defeat Twinbellows. By the time he gets back to the entrance, Pit's already dealt with the others. Now they just need to make their way to Medusa herself.
They cut and shoot their way through the toughest Medusa still has to offer. Before the final battle, Pit notices that Riku doesn't really do much smiling or shows much enthusiasm and tries to cheer him up.
Riku doesn't really care, and Takashi intervenes to tell Pit not to bother given what Riku's been through.
Pit and Riku reach Medusa, who declares her intent to finish them off for good. Riku goes into Light Form and combines his holy light with Pit's and Palutena's in order to confront her immense darkness.
The heavens prove victorious, and Medusa crumbles to dust along with her castle. Credits roll, and everyone celebrates despite Riku's confusion...
"Uhhh, hello there?"
Oh goddamn it, you're here too?
"Silly Chronicler, you know death can't keep a good soul down. We must stay consistent after all."
Hades, shouldn't your soul be in Akumu's thrall right now?
"Oh you know him, he always loves a good opportunity to spice things up."
Are you seriously going to help me summarize this part?
"Just the one. Wouldn't want my name slandered behind my back now. Surely you know a thing or two about that, por qui?"
...Fine, fine. So what happened after Medusa, Hades?"
"Oh glad you asked! See, they were bedeviled by the sudden appearance of a dashing rogue, who had big, FLAMING eyebrows, and a flamboyant love of theatrics."
Hades, the true Lord of the Underworld, told Pit and Palutena that he was responsible for reviving Medusa, feasting upon her desires for revenge. But now he had grown tired of her, and wants to take center stage himself.
"Oh yes. For Pitty Pat and little Ricky, the true fun had only just begun!"
The following day, Palutena guides Riku and Pit towards a volcano housing the Wish Seed, an all-powerful seed that can, as it says, grant any wish. Pit and Riku talk about wishes a little, but Riku doesn't know what he'd want.
"Though that was such a bold-faced lie. We ALL know what he'd have wanted at the time. Though nowadays, I suppose he's perfectly content just tapping a nice hot piece of lunar goddess-"
Hades I swear to the actual God, please keep this clean.
"Oh yes I'm suuuuuuuure you'll be able to keep that up come later. How many sex scenes have you implied? Two? Three? Dare I say four?"
…Aaaaaanyways. Hades claims he's going to use the Wish Seed to revive a little girl's dead parents, but obviously nobody believes him.
"I was being totally sincere, by the way. Not MY fault the thing wasn't real to begin with."
Yes, indeed. The Wish Seed is a fake. But the way things are going, the Phoenix guarding it will attack humanity to defend this fake seed. So Riku and Pit have no choice but to defeat it.
"All according to plan too! Once flame feathers goes down I lit up the sky with beautiful fireworks that told all of humanity it was a free-for-all for the Wish Seed! But my fireworks at the time don't even compare to what Little Miss Flowery Genocide had cooked up..."
Yes, all Hades actions have done is provoke another goddess to take the stage. With nations upon nations killing each other over the Wish Seed, the world is scarred beyond repair.
Pit and Riku try to stop the Underworld Army from harvesting souls, but the true end to the fight comes from a more...permanent solution.
"Reset Bomb falls, humans die! Ah, what a lovely bunch of fireworks."
Viridi, the Goddess of Nature, uses one of her Reset Bombs to kill the warring humans, declaring her intent to see the end to all humanity soon enough for their crimes against nature.
Pit and Riku redirect their attention towards the Reset Bomb Forest she created with the intent to stop her Forces of Nature.
Riku declares that Viridi has made a dangerous enemy out of him, and he'll represent humanity in its full to kill him.
"Oooooh, such a bold claim from one who's currently abandoning his humanity, no?"
Riku and Pit dive into the forest and fight off one of Viridi's generals, Cragalanche, showing the goddess that they are not to be taken lightly.
"So after letting the little sprout have a chapter to herself, I, the main attraction, decided to return to center stage for a bit and begin a little...spat with the sprout."
Pit and Riku hurry towards the Reset Bomb Factory in the skies above, and along the way find that Hades' Underworld forces are warring with Viridi's Forces of Nature.
Despite both of them wanting to kill humans they don't really like each other much.
"Uh, duh! Have you SEEN her taste in clothes? Such gaudy shades of red don't fit her at all."
Really, I thought she didn't like you because you damage the lands while killing humans?
"I mean, if you want to be a serious buzzkill then yes."
...Aaaaanyways, Viridi suddenly tries to drop a Reset Bomb on a nearby inhabited town. Riku forces the ensuing explosion to collapse into a harmless orb by using all his strength, pissing Viridi off.
"Ah, that was a good moment. The look on little miss pissy's face when Ricky boy did that was DE-licious!"
"In fact if I recall, Ricky boy and the little sprout bicker for quite a bit during this period, don't they?"
Riku does tend to know how to get under people's skins without realizing it sometimes. Both his foes AND his friends.
"I suppose he had to develop SOME sort of personality trait after...what was it by this point? 750 thousand words?"
Shut up, Hades.
They eventually do get to the core of the factory and blow it up, robbing Viridi of her most important ammunition.
But Palutena has them continue the offensive by attacking Viridi's Lunar Sanctum, led by her commander Arlon the Serene.
Despite Arlon being as defensive as physically possible, Pit and Riku make it inside and start running through his defenses.
"Oh but as luck would have it, moonstache had a lovely trap prepared for the young Pitty-pat."
Dark Pit guards the way forward at one point. And at Arlon's behest, Riku stays out and lets the two fight. Dark Pit now has his own custom-made weapon that Pit gets envious over.
"It IS a nice staff...for a faker."
Riku does loophole his way into the fight by taking out the defense core and inadvertently knocking out Dark Pit too. Dark Pit leaves, grumpy about Elemental Overlords.
"Oh you and me both my brooding brother. Such obnoxious little brown-nosers. Guess they must take after their father, eh, Chronicler?"
Hades, I can get Futanji involved if you want.
"Oh no no no don't mind silly little ol' me, go on. What happens next in Ricky boy's grand important adventure?"
Riku and Pit make their way towards Arlon's resting place and are forced to fight him, even when Riku reveals the truth about the Sanctum's purpose.
Palutena insists on going through with this attack since she believes the prisoner will be an ally against the Forces of Nature, much to Riku's frustration.
"Try as he might, Ricky boy just cannot change the future in any way that matters. There's something rather...funny in such futility."
Arlon is defeated and the Lunar Sanctum breaks apart, freeing its strange, insectoid prisoner.
"Though that won't be important for another ooooooh, five chapters? Oooh, my soul's getting goosebumps just thinking about it all over again!"
The fight escalates back on the planet with Hades and Viridi's forces going at it again, led by the revived Thanatos and newly introduced Phosphora respectively.
Pit and Riku do their best to try and avoid getting swept up in the fighting as they pursue the commanders through the sky.
Hades and Viridi themselves provide commentary, with Hades taking a couple snipes at Riku. Eventually though Thanatos falls...Or so they expect.
"I must admit I still don't know how anyone could've seen Thanny-poo's kidnapping coming. So props to the purple lover boy just this once, I suppose."
After that strange ray of light dropped down, everyone resumes what they're doing because, well, what else is there to do right now?
"Oh I don't know? How about casually dropping the Lunar Sanctum's destruction right in the little sprout's earshot?"
Viridi does indeed learn of this from Riku's loose lips and starts understandably freaking out, calling Palutena's forces morons. Phosphora is tasked with taking them down at the Lightning Temple.
"No relation to the Part 1 one, I can assure you."
But given Riku's powers and the like, Phosphora is dealt with pretty quickly with Pit's help as well.
"Yes, a pity this plotline's quickly dropped for an alien invasion...Oh you readers think I'm joking do you? Get some taste and play Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS, and then you'll see how silly you look!"
Hades these don't get enough activity for advertising.
"I didn't even think you were capable of insulting yourself."
Guess you don't know as much as you let on, eh?
"Touche, Chronicler. After all, I AM dead, ho ho ho!"
So yes, alien invasion time. Why? Nobody but the creator knows.
Hades, Viridi, and Palutena call a temporary cease-fire to deal with the strange invaders. A new god joins the mix, Pyrrhon, the sun god and champion of justice.
"Ah, Troy Baker back before he was too good for anime. Hmmm, I wonder what the little star's doing for himself nowadays? ...Oh, The Last of Us 2. How unfortunate. Guess his career became...a swing and a miss!"
Hades I swear...
"Oh please, you need me to spice up this droll part and you know it. Just get through a couple more paragraphs Chronicler and we can get to the SPICIER stuff!"
...Fine.
So the aliens are called the Aurum and they're here to assimilate the world into their hive/horde/whatever. They fight their islands, then their brain, then finally attack the main hive itself. In the process-
"Whoa whoa cut the brakes, Chronicler! You just covered two and a half chapters in that one sentence!"
It because NOTHING HAPPENS! Its filler in the game and its filler in this story! The only reason its even in this summary is because-
"You didn't flex some creativity to just...change the plot?"
…
…
Shut up, Hades.
"Struck a nerve, did I? You cringed so hard your past self must've felt it!"
...Aaaaaaaanyways, once Pit and Riku get to the hive and destroy the core, Pyrrhon hijacks it so he can become the greatest ever or something. But then he's controlled back by the Aurum? It doesn't really make any sense but whatever. Pit and Riku defeat him, when he gets back to normal he jettisons the Aurum away from the planet, and this'll never be mentioned again.
Before heading back to Skyworld to prepare to resume the war though, Riku draws his sword, attempting to deal with a problem prematurely.
"And we all know how well THAT tends to go, don't we?"
Riku and Pit suddenly wake up and find themselves...as a ring. Recognizing the situation for what it is, Riku's pissed off at Pit for preventing him from acting. But Pit just remembers Riku attacking Palutena the last thing he saw.
Riku refuses to answer until Pit figures this out on his own. The best either of them can do right now is get the ring onto other life forms so Pit can control them temporarily.
Riku's currently deep in thought, worried about the state of the world now that he doesn't have his body. That there IS still a world remaining is curious though, making him assume that at the very least, the current enemy hasn't figured it out.
Pit possesses a little girl, then a dog, before eventually finding Magnus, a hero he met some time ago. But during this process he finds the Centurions ATTACKING the city. With a little luck, Magnus puts on the ring and Pit is able to control him.
Magnus catches Pit up on the situation. The world is screwed, basically. Palutena's forces have turned against humanity, and the Underworld is still reaping souls as well.
And on top of that, Pit's body is moving on its own to kill humans too. Though this is a frustration situation for all parties involved, Magnus agrees to let Pit control his body for now, since he was planning on fighting Pit's body anyways.
Pit does eventually get back to his body after a weary fight, but Riku's still trapped in the ring. Pit tries to beg for Palutena to answer him so he can fly, but instead is given aid thanks to Viridi.
Viridi's focused all her energy onto fighting the Underworld and Skyworld, since joining in the slaughter of humans just feels like overkill now.
She delivers the news that Riku's body is used to guard Skyworld, and indeed, said body does get in their way soon enough.
Pit's forced to defeat Riku, which Riku has confidence he can do on his own. Which, indeed, he does. And finally, Riku's able to reclaim his body.
There he reconnects with Takashi and Sodenko, who had been in a coma this entire time. They reveal that before Palutena was forced to trap them in that ring, they forced Riku's body to disconnect with Light and Darkness so he wouldn't be a major threat to the world.
Though three years have passed for this world, the unique situation with Riku's title means that time hasn't moved for the rest of the universe during this period. Riku's thankful for that much, especially as it means his own body hasn't aged during this time.
They then fly to Skyworld, which is in ruins. Palutena's visage lords over them, coldly decrying Pit's presence and declaring that she despises humanity now.
Pit demands Viridi launch him at Skyworld, but a barrier gets in the way. With Riku also tired from Pit pummeling his body, they have no choice but to retreat to Viridi's domain.
"...Whew, DRAMA alert!"
Oh goddamn it I knew you wouldn't stay quiet forever.
Anyways, once Riku and Pit are at Viridi's domain, they are both given a dip in the hot springs to help recover. But Riku's going to require some extra time in there because of some severe soul damage he took over time in the ring.
In the mean time Viridi arms Pit with some weapons she snagged out of Palutena's vault before things got really crazy, and sends him out to find the Lightning Chariot. Its the only way they'll be able to penetrate Palutena's barrier.
It seems like a smooth flight at first, but then-
"I return! Cause what WOULD this story be without my witty charm and suave tones?"
Less of a pain in the ass to summarize that's for sure.
"Yet about as dry as moldy toe fungus."
…Pit makes it to the tower that's home to the Lightning Chariot, and its master, the...Chariot Master. Loyal only to himself, the Chariot Master will not relent his trusty ride unless Pit can make it to the top and prove himself.
But its a VERY long tower, so long in fact that there's a literal loading screen in the middle. Riku at that point just gives up trying to figure out how this keeps happening.
Pit eventually makes it to the top and faces the Chariot Master in a race battle to prove who deserves the Lightning Chariot. Pit proves victorious, but the Chariot Master is pleased with the result...As he can finally pass on in peace.
Now with Riku well-rested and Pit armed and ready, its time to save Palutena at Skyworld.
Pit grabs a particular weapon as a back-up before getting on the Lightning Chariot. Riku enters Light Form to keep up with the chariot's speeds and the two of them manage to penetrate the barrier into Skyworld.
Viridi finally explains what's up with Palutena. The prisoner they broke free from the Lunar Sanctum was the Chaos Kin, a parasite that grabs onto victim's souls to control them entirely.
So in essence, the evils inflicted on this world are that bug's faults.
"But lets be real, pretty Palutena would've done this anyways if pushed to do so. About 542 doujins can attest to that."
Why did you have to bring up the doujins, Hades. Why. Why.
"You know the answer plenty well by now."
Ugh, fine.
Anyways, Pit and Riku advance through Skyworld, Pit refusing the words the Chaos Kin speaks with her voice. Hades does want Pit to defeat Palutena, but not Riku.
Riku's not even about to disagree there, as he stays behind to fend off a hoard of Clubberskulls while Pit fights Palutena outside her temple.
He draws the Silver Bow, the first weapon she had made for him, to try and get through to her. But the Chaos Kin's control is very powerful. The only way Pit's able to win is to-
"Kill Palutena, making for a happy ending for all parties involved that are me!"
...No, defeat the Chaos Kin.
But that doesn't prove to be enough, as the parasite makes a last ditch effort to drag her soul to its domain. Riku tries to stop it, but its peculiar nature makes it immune to even his Light Form.
It seems like its about to escape, when Dark Pit suddenly hijacks the Lightning Chariot and rams it into the entrance to the Chaos Vortex.
After a quick rest, it'll be time to pursue the Chaos Kin and put and end to this nightmare.
"Speak for yourself. Those three years of screaming souls lullabied me to sleep like a darling little Monoeye."
Pit and Riku chase Dark Pit into the Chaos Vortex. Riku has to use Light Form just to survive the poisonous effects of the vortex, while Pit's perfectly fine.
The Chaos Kin sends them on a wild goose chase through its many illusions, traps, and tricks.
"Including its own type of Echo Fighter! New to Smash 6...Dark Dark Pit! Oh, the screams that day will be oh so delightful."
Yeah, that's probably more likely than you ever being a fighter, Hades.
"Oh you cheeky cad."
Eventually they corner the Chaos Kin on an island, fighting through his waves of false enemies to slowly wear him down and force him out of hiding.
Dark Pit joins during the fight, explaining how important this is for him, as during the three years Pit was in the ring he wasn't able to do anything, at all. Not live, not breathe, not think, nothing.
He'd rather help Pit than accept an existence like that again.
Once the Chaos Kin is drawn out Riku attacks it with all his might, overtaxing his body out of compensation for the mistakes he had made thus far.
"But predictably, you know where this is going. Gosh, its almost like there's no character progression by this point of the story!"
Riku has to be dragged out before he dies and Pit and Dark Pit finish the job. Though Palutena's soul is returned, the Chaos Kin's essence makes one last desperate play to drag Dark Pit into the vortex.
Pit forces Viridi to activate the power of flight on him again, even though it's dangerous to his health. Pit saves his counterpart, but burns up his wings in the process and looks ready to die.
"Ooooh, how unfortunate. But hey, this is still a happy story at the end. Nobody would dare kill off their main character and commit to it. Chrono Trigger got it right oh what, two decades or so ago? So, magic hot springs?"
Yes, magic hot springs. With Riku out of commission too, Dark Pit is the only one who can save Pit. Diving deep into the Underworld, he searches for a way to heal Pit for good.
There the truth of the war becomes clear. Hades is profiting off all the souls to create his army, but the constant cycle of taking lives and losing his soldiers is creating an endless cycle with the souls that's turned the stream flowing into the Underworld into a storm.
"A Soulnado, if you would. See Shang Tsung? Eat your little chameleon heart out!"
Dark Pit eventually makes it to the Rewind Spring, but before he can heal Pit he has one last obstacle to deal with.
"After all, its not a chapter in this story without the obligatory boss fight! Oooooh Pandora!"
Yes, indeed. Using the Rewind Spring herself, Pandora revives. Not only that, she takes another dip to regain her physical body, Amazon Pandora.
...Not that it really matters. Dark Pit doesn't really care and defeats her quickly.
"He spec'd all his stats into edge instead of romance. Sort of reminds me of a little Ricky boy, no?"
Pit is dipped into the spring and returns good as new. Dark Pit gives a brief nod and prepares to leave...only to realize he can't fly on his own anymore. Viridi picks him up as a pity gift.
Now with Pit revived and Riku almost back to normal, its finally time to take the fight-
"To good ol' me! Oh yes, the fight of the ages, front row seats for all in the Underworld! The Dashing Lord of the Underworld vs. the little servant angel and the black and white brick! Who'll win? Place your bets! But ah ah ah, no spoilers~"
"Pitty pat comes flying in with the old Three Sacred Treasures trick! Ricky boy arms himself with Light Form! Oh there's projectiles flying everywhere! Can our dashing protagonists possibly hope to win...? OH! Hades retaliates with the ol' 1-2 punch! And by Me, the Three Sacred Treasures are broken in half! Oh sweet merciful Poseidon, now Hades is eating him! He's gobbling him right up like a tasty morsel!"
…
"You know, you can join in anytime, Chronicler. We'd make quite the striking commentary duo, don't you agree?"
…
After Pit is eaten by Hades, Riku stands his ground and goes Chaos Form, swearing to finish him off and save Pit.
Hades seems to have been aware of this form though, and doesn't seem too worried by it. Riku manages to wound Hades more than the Lord of the Underworld cares to admit he should've been able to.
"But of course I, granted the gift of gab, knew just the right way to get under ol' Ricky boy's skin. One quick drop of the name 'Demise' and Ricky boy was practically pissing his pants in fear."
"But you made it so easy Chronicler. Your little creation, unable to grow or learn from his mistakes, continues to let little loud-mouths like me get to him. As the truth grips him like an iron chain, he slowly loses his nerves, and thus the power of Chaos Form dwindles."
"But of course I won't take credit for this moment, my victory, my finest hour! Oh no no no. Certainly, I, of all people was chosen to be one of the Four Guardians of the 'higher-ups' due to my control over the soul, but lets be real...Even Pitty pat could've gotten under Ricky boy's skin if he tried hard enough."
"Because that's what all these words up until this point have amounted to. Nearly 1 million words, and for what? So that Riku can break down YET AGAIN when he's oh so mildly inconvenienced by an enemy? What victories has he scored to truly counteract the losses he's made? Defeating Galacta Knight? Please, that never would've happened had he not been there to begin with."
"But that describes this whole story all too perfectly doesn't it? Millions of words, yet they speak nothing. Hundreds of chapters, yet they leave behind nothing. Thousands of views, yet they are as blank as the sky. This is the legacy you wish to leave behind, 'Chronicler'? Even this summary is just a vain attempt to bolster some feeble sense of self-importance."
"Though in the end I suppose it doesn't matter. The story will go on, and you'll do what you wish even as your sanity whittles away to nothing. Why? For what purpose? Hardly anyone shall know nor care."
"Even you hardly give half a shit. After all..."
"You're letting a fictional character argue with you and win."
…
…
Hades proves the weight of his words by-
"Ignoring what you hate to hear like always isn't going to change a thing, y'know."
Hades.
"Yes, Chronicler?"
You're dead. No, you were never even real to begin with. If you've chosen this story as a way to try to cling to some semblance of relevancy given your series will likely never get a sequel again...Then you're truly, truly pathetic. And is that what you want to be? Pathetic?
That's why I've not dispelled you when I could do so with a snap of my fingers and the uttering of the word "Futanji". Because right now you're only making yourself out to be a fool. You think death is horrible? I will shunt you out of existence, where the idea of feeling and pain will cease to exist. And you will not even be able to THINK of the ramifications of this act.
So what do you choose? The sound of your voice? Or silence?
"...So, where were we again?"
That's good.
Hades proves the weight of his words by revealing to Riku that he's in possession of Link's soul. In exchange for being one of the Four Guardians, Hades was able to make a wish that put him in control of all the souls that pass in this quadrant of the universe.
Hades has been able to run amok for this long so easily mostly due in part to the ramifications of Riku's actions on other worlds. From allowing Demise to exist again or the effects of Phazon coming back on all those worlds. The rebirth of Dark Matter to enforcing the timeline on Aselia. Everything Riku has done, has only been in service to Hades' wish.
Hades then spills to the onlooking goddesses how Riku knew EVERYTHING that was going to happen due to some pre-programming efforts by the "higher-ups" to ensure all this knowledge would get to him.
Riku then gets pissed and lets loose on Hades. But with this rage comes a broken Chaos Form, and Hades effortlessly tears him apart.
Viridi sends the Forces of Nature in for a desperate back-up attack to distract Hades and give Dark Pit enough time to charge in with the Lightning Chariot to save Pit.
Hades' heart was also destroyed in the process.
"Not like that actually matters in the long run. Seriously, what WAS that thing doing inside of me?"
You mean you don't know?
"Obviously not! Why would I need one of those anyways? I'm a god! And a healthy one at that."
Its time for a desperate retreat, to plan out the next move against Hades.
Pit is sent to the forge of Dyntos to get a new weapon that might be able to take Hades down. Pit is forced to undertake a series of trials to prove his worthiness. But during the process, Dyntos takes an interest in Riku and has Palutena deliver him to his forge.
Dyntos then heals him up with a snap of his fingers and after a few attempts to get him to respond, wants to have him undertake a few trials of his own.
Riku reluctantly accepts.
The first trial is a questionnaire consisting of five questions. Riku answers who he is, cannot say what the name of his own weapon is, says he does not lie emotions, lays out all his regrets...And seriously considers undoing his own existence when Dyntos prompts him on that.
After Dyntos checks up on Pit, he starts Riku's second trial.
He hands him a button and tells him if he presses it, it'll undo his entire existence, just like he wants. Everything he accomplished, everything he felt, everyone he affected, it'll all be undone. But that means Hyrule will be fine. Phazon will have been stopped easily. Dark Matter wouldn't have been reborn.
But when faced with all that he's done and the mistakes he's made, Riku just can't press that button and make it all have been for nothing.
He refuses. He chooses to exist, and to not run away anymore.
"...Oh, what is this now?"
Wait, why are YOU surprised?
"You're not just making this up because of what I said earlier? Its not nice to retcon things mid-summary you know."
No this...actually happened. Why? I thought you were "all-seeing".
"Hmmm. Dyntos, you annoying little dwarf. Fine, I shall rightfully admit I didn't know about THIS little moment. Stubborn coot must've cut me off."
"But I hope you realize this changes very little. One moment of progress doesn't suddenly undo the stagnation of the last few stories."
Well, I never denied that, did I?
"To be frank you didn't say anything but I suppose I should just keep my lip shut now, yes?"
Satisfied with his answer, Dyntos says he's passed another trial. Then, after going back to check up on Pit and tease him some more, he returns with the third and final trial for Riku...
A figure in a black coat appears before him and draws a familiar sword...The Master Sword.
Pit, meanwhile, faces his prize, the Great Sacred Treasure, in battle for the right to wield it.
Riku struggles against the coated figure through doubts and hesitation, while Pit remains confident no matter what.
Ultimately Pit triumphs, while Riku loses to the figure, but still manages to pass the final trial.
Dyntos had worked a little trickery to snag the Hero of Time's soul from Hades' possession, then put it into a new body he built for him. This is a temporary measure though, just long enough to give Riku some peace of mind.
Link speaks in his familiar voice saying he forgives Riku for what happened back then. Riku breaks down crying and says he doesn't believe he can atone for what he's done.
Link and Dyntos both agree that there is one thing he can do...And that's to stop Hades' wicked cycle of recycling the souls of the dead alongside Pit.
Link's body vanishes and his soul disappears somewhere safer. Riku feels renewed and ready to fight one more time.
But before he goes Dyntos reveals some important information to Riku. Like, much to the young Overlord's surprise, Dyntos was the creator of his, Mew and Alex's weapons. He also reveals all their names, and a little more about their functions.
He also reveals he had a hand in creating the Star Spirits' Star Rod, Dream Land's Star Rod, Galaxia, and even supervised the creation of the Eternal Sword and Varia Suit.
But getting into all that now is pointless. There's a final battle to be fought.
The battle...for everyone's souls.
"Sadly this won't be the means by which all is revealed."
Why do YOU know that?
"The better question is...why wouldn't I?"
…
So with the Great Sacred Treasure in Pit's possession and Riku using Chaos Form, they take the fight straight to Hades in the Underworld.
The battle raged is a long and tiring one. Everyone throws everything they got into finishing Hades off. The Great Sacred Treasure goes through multiple transformations, Hades threatens to take the fight to Earth, Medusa even rejoins the fight to blow Hades' head off.
Eventually, knocked down with nothing but his gun and the power of Viridi's power of flight, Pit stands tall and charges one final shot that finishes Hades off for good, ending the war of the gods.
"And that's how I got to be this disembodied voice! See class, wasn't that a fun story?"
Hades.
"What?"
There's still the final chapter.
"Oh right, yes."
And the epilogue.
"Yes yes, that's important too, surely."
And then you're out of here.
"Oh fine, fine, I know when I'm not wanted."
Really.
A few days later Riku is rejuvenated and sees Pit and Palutena out at the edge of Skyworld. He thanks them both for letting him help, but Pit is thankful in turn for having HIS help.
Riku shakes his hand and learns to smile again, deciding maybe its fine to show emotion on occasions like this.
Riku leaves, prepared to pursue the source of the strange light that captured Thanatos.
And said person responsible, is waiting, to court him to his place...And finish a long-standing grudge.
Part 4 Story 6 END.
"...Well that was fun, but I suppose I must be off now."
Just like that, Hades?
"I mean, not much reason to stick around. I don't really care what happens next...Much like most of the people who click the first chapter and then 180 the moment they see your OCs."
Hades.
"I jest, I jest. Don't want to push anymore buttons. So, I'll be seeing you then?"
...What do you mean?
Oh nothing! Nothing! Toodle-loo, see you in Part 8!
I really need to get a new lock on this keyboard.
Part 4 Extra Chapter 2 (The Emperor Clad in Black):
During Riku's search for the source of the light that captured Thanatos, he has a run in with a curious cloaked spaceship in an asteroid field.
Attempting to communicate with the ship leads to its alleged driver, a man coated in black armor beneath the neck that refuses to divulge his name.
Riku feels a dangerous pressure from him and immediately goes into Light Form. The man decides to call this a 鍍est and begins to fight Riku with a scythe.
The type of energy the man is capable of is unfamiliar to him, and it quickly becomes clear he has monstrous strength.
Riku goes into Chaos Form and begins to fight back. Though the man is impressed, he finds it worthless in the long run.
He then activates something called a 鉄pace Drive and begins casually flinging Riku around with gravitational forces.
The man slams Riku down against the asteroid so hard it knocks him unconscious, but doesn't kill him. When Riku awakens later, the man and his ship are long gone.
Riku questions Takashi and Sodenko about the man. They find his energy type familiar but can't quite put their finger on who he is exactly.
Riku wants to pursue him, sensing he's a dangerous threat, but Takashi forbids him, stating that he's lucky not to be dead now.
Riku tenses up, cursing his weakness at this moment, and vowing to get stronger going forward.