Chapter 44
"Dodge, idiot!"
Axel snapped from his shock and dodged a hit from Xeno. Holding his blade up, Xeno kept slashing at Axel. All of the sudden, Axel noticed that he was starting to get his energy sapped. He teleported farther back, dragging Luxord along.
"Hey!" Luxord looked more scared than angry.
"Look, we cannot win this fight. This guy can sap your energy if you go into close combat. We need a plan."
"I can challenge him into a gambling match," said Luxord. "By using the cards I have, I can make him weak and unable to fight back."
"That only works for a bit...unless..."
Xeno rushed towards them, hitting Axel in the stomach. The blow sent him towards the Beast's Castle, where Axel hit the wall of the entrance.
"You fell for it!" Luxord threw several cards at him, surrounding him with cards. "Now-"
Xeno slashed through all the cards, startling Luxord. Before Xeno can attack Luxord, Axel moved Luxord out of the way by opening the darkness portal underneath him, teleporting him to where Axel is.
"Alright, we need to do something about this," said Luxord. "Not to mention, we still have to deal with his group of people."
"I got a plan." Axel held up his chakrams. "Just follow it through."
Axel ran towards Xeno. Xeno just laughed.
"Are you hoping to win this battle by charging forward?!" Xeno brought forth his sword, ready to strike him, when Axel abruptly stopped running, throwing his weapons at Xeno. Caught off-guard, Xeno fell to the ground from the impact of the weapons.
"Hit him NOW!" Axel shouted.
In an instant, a huge selection of cards surrounded the man. When Xeno tried to cut through one of the cards, it instantly rematerialized.
"He's activated my trap card!" Luxord laughed.
"Shut up, man..." Axel surveyed the situation. Xeno still wore that confident expression. Axel realized that this is his only chance to strike him down, as he was trapped. He teleported above the cards, directly above Xeno.
"Eat fire, dude!" Axel launched several fireballs at Xeno, which exploded near him. Axel returned back to Luxord's side, clearly spent out of energy.
"How did I do?" ask Axel. "Did I at least injure him?"
"Sort of." Luxord pointed to the man. Xeno's armor has some scratches on it, but it was still working. Xeno was smiling, as he was unscathed by the fight.
"So, you seem to be fighters." He sounded amused. "Well, I needed a warm-up anyways. Thanks, red-haired man."
"What is that book?!" asked Luxord.
"As a reward for standing up against me, I will answer why this book is important to us. I take it that you have heard of the keyblade, am I right?"
"Yes, we have," said Axel.
"Well, this book was made to manufacture keyblade warriors. However, during the war, people began modifying it so that it could do anything in the world. This book, for instance, gave me immense power, along with armor. I do not know the full capabilities, but I do know that it awakens the hidden potential that is within us. It also helps us attain that power. Several of these books were made during the war, but a keyblade master sealed them off. Somehow, the seal was broken, possibly due to the heartless. Anyways, we, the descendants of someone from a different world, have the capability to handle this power."
"How did you turn into nobodies?" asked Luxord.
"That is the million dollar question, and not one that will ever be answered. At least, not now. Anyways, we will be heading off." Xeno started to walk back to his group, but stopped, and then turned to Axel and Luxord. "Can you two tell your leader that Xeno will be the only one who can interact with the artifacts? I would hate to be in your way of dominating the world."
"I would not be so arrogant, Xeno."
A dark portal opened up from the sky, and Xemnas appeared. He was wielding the eternal blades, staring at Xeno with emotionless eyes.
"As you are powerful with those artifacts, you cannot fight against me." Xemnas smiled, landing on the ground. "Now, surrender, before I remove you from existence."
"How do you know him?!" asked Axel.
"He is someone who once visited Radiant Gardens. He is known as the scholar, someone at Ansem's level of intelligence."
"Maybe even more than that," said Xeno. "So, Xheanort, how are you going to strike me down?"
The three nobodies realized that the man and his group were covered in light.
"I am assuming that you have heard the conversation. You better not mess with us." The light transported them away from the castle.
"Well, I have to ask, how did you arrive on time?" asked Luxord.
"I saw the book appear in front of me, but in the next second, the book vanished. It seems that our adversaries have more powers than I would have thought of."
"So, wait a minute, how are we going to stop these guys from messing up our own plans?" asked Axel.
"We just have to use something else to our advantage...like that King."
"What, you mean King Mickey?" asked Axel. "What would he - oh!"
"That's right...he has the keyblade. Once we finish setting up the foundation of our plan, all we have to do is use him to gather the hearts."
"That was why you wanted the tome."
"I did not think that there were other people looking for these artifacts," said Xemnas. "Well, all we can do is to just focus on the original plan and hope to create Kingdom Hearts."
"And that is how our encounter ended," recalled Axel. "We just went back to doing other stuff."
"So..." Sora was taking this in well, but he still had a lingering question. "If the neithermen formed themselves-"
"No, its not like that. The people knew that when they fuse back to normal, there would be something left behind. But yeah, what was your question?"
"I mean, did those guys research about it before Xheanort did?"
"I'm guessing yes. They are from a planet far away from ours-"
"Like Ichigo's dimension!" Sora realized.
"Yes, exactly. That guy I fought, Xeno, was carrying a sword like a shinigami."
"So...what does that mean?"
"We can find out later. We have reached base."
Sora and Axel saw the tree with the opening. "Remember, Blue might want the book. Let's try to convince her that we can handle him."
"Alright, then." Sora put down the captain and opened the door.