I know I said that Chapter 25 was the last chapter, but this time I mean it. Of course, that's only true assuming you don't count an epilogue as a chapter, which I do not. Don't worry yourself with the semantics.
RRRP:
ChangelingRin (FF): Link's a pretty brutal character, but a Mortal Kombat-style final blow wasn't what I was going for. It's a clean way to kill; if I'd wanted to establish brutality I'd go for something significantly more bloody. Snapping the next is significantly more efficient and is more representative of Link as a character.
In vanilla OOT, I think Ingo was bewitched by Ganondorf or something to be the way he was in the adult time, so that's why he's so different in here by comparison.
RandomFFnetUser (FF): This is the last official chapter, but there IS an epilogue coming up that I'm calling a chapter so that I can say that I have thirty chapters. You may have been late to the reviewing-TOM party, but you were still the life of it!
Chapter XXIX: Finality
The Hyrulean Army was on the move, making its way west as quickly as it could. That was, after all, where scouts had reported Ganondorf's army was retreating to. The few skirmishes they had confirmed this, as the monsters always ran away in that direction. For now, it was a game of which force could move the fastest.
Link sighed as he passed the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch. His mind inexorably flitted to Old Lon Ranch, and was reminded of the time he and a contingent of Hylian knights had stormed the ruins to secure food for Kakariko. Now both of them were gone, as well as a decent number of the smaller villages that the army had passed by. At least this time, there were numerous survivors scattered throughout the ruins. They were sent all over Hyrule, to the towns that had been spared from Ganondorf's onslaught. The same treatment had been given to the refugees of Kakariko. Malon and Ingo were being moved to the frontier village of Norwich, right on the border of Hyrule and the Kokiri Forest. Link would probably go there once this fiasco was over.
"What's up, Link?" Groose asked, shaking the swordsman from his reverie. "Surprised that Zelda came along, too?"
She had. Her father had had no choice in the matter, given her own resoluteness and the fact that she was the only one who possessed the Light Arrows in this day and age.
"No, it's not that," Link replied, adjusting the shoulder strap on his tunic. It was being uncomfortably weighed down by the longsword attached to it. He'd finally gotten one, but only after the battle of Kakariko, when he hadn't really needed it anymore. "I'm just remembering some stuff. That destroyed ranch reminds me too much of… something."
"Old Lon," a feminine voice interjected, thoroughly terrifying both children when they realized just who it was. The reasoning behind their reactions was, of course, vastly different. Link was horrified because she knew exactly what he was thinking and knew why he was so distraught about it. Groose was horrified because it was Princess Zelda and he'd never interacted with her before, not to mention how the 'princess' prefix already put him on edge.
"Princess!" they both said in unison, looks of terror forming on their faces as the princess made her presence known.
"What? You were just talking about me. Did you not expect me to come at the sound of my name?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"O-of course not, princess! We're sorry!" Groose stuttered.
They walked together for some time, watching the dilapidated ruins pass them by and ever closer to the horizon.
"So… uh… 'Old Lon Ranch'? You say that like there's more than one…" Groose started.
Zelda grimaced slightly before glancing at Link meaningfully. She wanted to know if he was okay with her telling Groose the truth about what had happened in the decayed timeline. Link thought for a moment. He had told the squire that he'd tell him the truth at some point, but on the other hand, he knew that he wanted as few people as possible to know about the future past. Then again, why didn't he want people to know about it? He'd wanted to stay in that time so that everyone couldn't forget, after all. Ivan had told him to 'just tell people', and he was usually right about these sorts of things.
So he nodded at Zelda, and she began.
"Alright. Imagine a time in which Ganondorf was never arrested. In those events, the Gerudo King staged a coup d'etat and killed my father. I was forced to flee with my attendant, Impa. The prospective Hero knew and… loved the people who lived in Lon Lon, so Ganondorf razed it in an instant in order to manipulate the Hero into giving him the Triforce. He was successful, and while the Hero was sealed away, Ganondorf seized all power in the land. A new Lon Lon Ranch was created in Kakariko, making Lon Lon 'Old Lon'. Do you understand?"
"You… say that like it's real…" Groose said hesitantly. "This really happened, didn't it?"
Both Link and Zelda nodded sagely.
"Then… Pipsqueak over here is the Hero, isn't he?" the squire asked. "I guess that makes sense."
He got another pair of nods in response. "Just, uh," Link began, "don't tell anyone, please?"
Groose snorted. "You got it, oh savior of Hyrule!"
"Never call me that again," the Hero ordered, unenthused.
!0*0!
The chase across Hyrule continued, leading the Hyrulean forces all the way to the Gerudo Wasteland. Numerous skirmishes had dotted the hunt, and each of them had followed a similar formula. The Hyruleans would catch up to Ganondorf's forces and inflict their casualties. Due to their inherently chaotic nature, the monsters would begin to flee as soon as the tide of the battle turned against them, even going so far as to lob their comrades at the attacking armada in order to ensure their own safety. There were a few notable exceptions, namely the Lynels, who could effectively coordinate offensives and assaults with devastating effects, but the Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo were ensuring that the lion-centaurs went extinct by the end of the war.
The Gerudo Desert was mostly… deserted. No life dared to eke out an existence amidst the scorching sand, except the Leevers. The last of Ganondorf's forces were last seen crossing into the Haunted Wastelands, almost like they were beelining to the Spirit Temple.
Unfortunately, it appeared as though the Hyruleans were exhausted at their breakneck pace across Hyrule Field. They'd suffered through two days of nonstop marching and fighting; the soldiers would need to rest before they could continue on. Link took the opportunity to talk to Saria, something he hadn't really done in a while- excluding the time he used her as a relay for Nabooru. He also made sure that he taught at least a few of the Gerudo the Song of Storms, to remedy the problem that they had had throughout their lives. He figured he owed it to Oonamu, at the very least.
Once all that was done, Link figured that he could have some time to himself for once as the army recuperated. Maybe he'd have a nice, relaxing chat with Zelda about the nature of all those paradoxes. They'd been irking him lately. Moreover, he wished that Malon was there; she always knew how to lift his spirits. Regrettably, his relaxation time was interrupted by Groose, who told him that Nabooru had sent for both of them for some reason. Interest overcoming his unhappiness about not having down time, Link followed the squire to meet the Sage of Spirit. Interestingly, a small task force of assorted races had also gathered there, alongside the other Sages and Zelda.
"Thank you all for coming," Nabooru began. "I'll make this quick: I can get all of us to the Spirit Temple in an instant. That's where Ganondorf is going. We can end this war right here and right now."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," a Hylian knight interjected. "How could we possibly get there before Ganondorf does? I mean, most of us haven't ever been this far west, so we would be going much slower than the monsters are. There's no way that we could get to wherever it is we're going before they will. And even then, what will we accomplish? Come on!"
"What? Slow down, you're talking too fast," a Goron rumbled.
"We don't know where we're going," the knight repeated extremely slowly, using exaggerated hand movements at each word. It was insulting, and many of the Gorons looked offended. Granted, they had every right to be. In fact, everyone who wasn't a Hylian, and even a few that were, had their faces fall. It was evident that they disliked that Hylian's conduct.
"Surely I misunderstood you," another Goron said, eyes narrowing. "Surely you didn't just insult my Brother."
"Gentlemen," Impa interjected. Link hadn't even noticed that she was there. Then again, Zelda was present, so the assumption that her guardian wouldn't also be watching over the proceedings was stupid. "We are wasting time. Nabooru, like myself and both princesses present, are the Sages of the various temples scattered across Hyrule. The Spirit Temple is one such place, and a Sage can easily warp themselves and others to their respective warp altars. Does everyone understand?"
Those present nodded.
"Good. Nabooru, if you may teleport us there…"
Dutifully, the Gerudo whistled the Requiem of Spirit. Everyone excluding Link and the five other Sages present appeared bewildered, until the warm orange light of holy energy scooped them up and instantaneously warped the group straight onto the altar just outside of the Goddess of Sand.
To their terror, the monsters that constituted Ganondorf's forces had already reached the Temple, and had set up little fires just outside. Fortunately, the Gerudo king himself was nowhere in sight, and none of the creatures had noticed the sudden appearance of their nemeses. Silently, the task force sprinted across the dunes and into the Spirit Temple, unnoticed by anyone. This was done with the exception of Link, who braved the outskirts of the monster camp to visit the Great Fairy's Fountain just within the area, picking up Nayru's Love as a reward.
As soon as the strike force entered the Temple, though, they ran into a problem. There were three branching paths. The leftmost one was blocked by a torrential spout of water that no one could pass, not even the Zora. To their right was a tiny tunnel that none of the fully-grown knights could enter, let alone someone like a Goron. Above them was a larger hole that appeared large enough for anyone to fit through, but it necessitated the Longshot to access, and the Longshot was still in the Water Temple, which was beneath the entirety of Lake Hylia. Going back to there would not be prudent.
"What do we do now?" a Zora inquired, trying her best to remain calm.
"These three branches connect in a main room on the second floor," Link explained. "If me, Groose, Zelda, and Ruto go through the right side, we can deactivate the water spout on the left from the other side. That should allow everyone to pass through. If anything goes wrong, I can use Saria to talk to Nabooru. Also, Darunia, can I borrow the Megaton Hammer?"
Some of the Gorons looked affronted. Their chief, meanwhile, casually procured the tribe's legendary weapon and offered it to the Hylian. He handed it off to Groose, given how the Hero of Time could barely even lift the Hammer what with his age and Stalfos hand, let alone use it in battle.
"I'll give it back when I'm done!" Link hollered as he crawled into the small tunnel. After far too long, he emerged on the significantly hotter other side. It was at a higher temperature due to the strangely cylindrical flames that dotted the room. After he left the tunnel, Zelda exited, followed by Ruto and then Groose.
"If I never have to do that again, it'll be too soon," Groose complained, rubbing his sore back.
"You've got about twenty seconds," Ruto observed, directing the squire towards the other tunnel that led to the second story. "Might as well get it out of the way now."
"But there are doors right there!"
"They loop back into each other," Link explained solemnly. "This one's shorter. I promise."
With that, he hopped onto the central platform and began pulling himself through the tunnel. He heard a series of agonized grunts behind him as Groose clambered through the cramped space, finally reaching the other side.
"Oh, thank the Goddesses," the knight in training huffed.
"Don't be so melodramatic, Groose," Zelda sighed, exiting the crawlspace.
"O- of course, milady," the squire hastened to apologize.
"And don't call me 'milady'. I prefer Zelda."
"Yes, mil- er, I mean, Zelda…"
"Come on, let's get going!" Ruto ordered as she entered the area, storming towards the door and opening it. They followed, and after triggering a diamond switch to cause an iron grate to open, the children ascended the rough stone wall.
They left the room with a giant hole in the earthen wall and found themselves in the central chamber, complete with a miniature Sand Goddess taking up half of the room. Groose was awestruck, and Link was busy trying to figure out how they could get to the other side, so they didn't hear and see what Zelda and Ruto did.
Before the boys knew what was happening, they were being dragged back into the smaller room behind them by the other two members of their party.
"What?!" they demanded as the door slammed shut behind them.
"You didn't see that?!" Zelda, in turn, screeched. "You're lucky he didn't spot us!"
"We just saw Ganondorf walk into the Sand Goddess's face," Ruto explained smartly. "Isn't that where you fought Twinrova in the future past?"
"Yup," Link confirmed. "Well, if he's in there, then he's not going to cross us. Let's just figure out a way to get up to the other side."
"I could toss pipsqueak up onto the other platform, and then we can get both of you onto that little area," Groose suggested.
"That could work… but no," Link vetoed. "I don't think we're strong enough to lift you the whole way up. Who's the lightest one here?"
"That'd probably be me," Ruto said. "Zoras don't weigh much. It helps us float easier."
"Got it," the Hero of Time stated. "So Ruto, Zelda, me, Groose. That's our weight order. Right?"
"Right…"
"Groose is also the strongest one here. So we need some way of getting him up onto that platform first. I think the best course of action is that I get on my hands and knees to give Groose enough height to climb up himself. Then we both get Ruto and Zelda up there, and then all three of you pull me up. Does that sound like a plan?"
The plan went surprisingly smoothly, considering how quickly it had been imagined. The only issue was that Link's Stalfos hand wasn't physically strong enough to support Groose's weight on top of his own, and so he had to replace himself with Zelda to get the squire up on top.
The left hand section of the Temple was simple. Everything had already been taken care of, so all the children had to do was walk forwards. Finally, the found the first room's counterpart. In the middle was a rusted switch, which Groose was all too eager to bash in with the Megaton Hammer. This forced the waterspout to die down, allowing the Zora, Hylian, and Gerudo to jump across. The Gorons, however, weren't so eager.
"But it's water!" they argued. "We'll erode!"
"It's down," the Zora tried to argue. "All you have to do is jump over it."
"We're not exactly known for jumping!" the Gorons refuted. "We'll have you know that we're champion sprinters!"
"Fine," a Gerudo interjected boredly. "You guys can be on defense duty. Make sure none of the baddies outside try to flank us. Maybe you could set off a massive explosive that'll cripple them for the battle with the rest of the force."
Everyone seemed to like this idea, even the Hylians, so it was agreed upon. The Megaton Hammer was returned to Darunia by Link, and then the augmented force returned to the chamber of the Sand Goddess.
!0*0!
"So you saw Ganondorf go up there?" Impa repeated.
"Yes," Zelda affirmed. "How do we get up there?"
"Shouldn't we have a plan first?" Nabooru argued.
"She has a point," a Zora pointed out. "We shouldn't fight Ganondorf without having an angle of attack."
"Very well, then," the Sheikah relented. "Ganondorf has magical wards that block any sort of harm. The only exception is the Light Arrows, which the princess has access to. So we shoot Ganondorf with the Light Arrows, which will remove his wards, and then we kill him."
"What?! That's regicide!" a Gerudo burst, prompting its own cacophonous argument.
"We don't have the Master Sword, so we can't kill him anyway," Link added. Nobody heard him.
After some time, the dispute wound down. "Okay, we decided that Ganondorf's crimes in the other timeline, as well as this one, invoke an impeachment clause, effectively returning the Gerudo to a female-run society," a Gerudo warrioress declared. "So how do we stop him?"
"We can't kill him, because we don't have the Master Sword," Link reiterated. "Is there any other way?"
The crowd was silent for a moment. "Well…"
The gathered soldiers turned to face Nabooru, who had just spoken. "Twinrova set up a massive ward facing outwards, so that they could perform magical experimentation in secret. Who here is good with magic?"
Link, Zelda, Ruto, Impa, and a few others from each race raised their hands.
"Okay, I want all of you except Link to work on reversing the direction of that ward. If we flip the ward, it'll block the flow of magic within the room. And when that happens, Ganondorf will be reduced to little more than just another voe. Half of the other forces protect them, and the rest of us will keep him occupied for as long as possible. Anyone got any better ideas?"
Nobody objected.
"Good," the Spirit Sage finished. "Now how do we get there?"
"There's a hanging platform right in front of the opening," a Hylian mentioned, pointing up. "And there's a hole in the ceiling just above it. Maybe we could get up there?"
"Yeah," Link said. "We just have to go up this staircase and through that upper door. There's a little corridor engulfed in flames, and beyond that there's another small chamber. If you go through the door to the left of the one that you enter from, you can climb all the way up to the top floor. From there, it's just a few stairs from that big hole. We can do that, right?"
Everyone stared at him blankly as they tried and failed to process what the Hero of Time had just said. Link, recognizing that nobody comprehended what he had just stated, merely sighed and started ascending the stairs, the rest of the task force trailing behind him.
He walked through the door and immediately realized that the entire corridor was on fire. Worse, that fire was actively blocking their path. Without the Longshot, there was no way to get past the wall of flames.
"Does anyone know pyrokinesis?" one of the Hylians who had identified themselves as magically gifted inquired. Nobody answered to the affirmative.
A few of the Gerudo started picking up their Zora comrades and lobbing them over the wall of flames. Magicians that had access to Farore's Wind began warping their allies over to the other side of the firewall, causing the flames to sway each time.
"Hang on," Zelda ordered. "Mages! Cast Farore's Wind at the exact same time!"
Unsure of the demand, the magicians did as ordered. This time, the intense, synchronized burst of magical wind energy pushed the fire up into the air where, out of fuel, it quickly dissipated.
With that obstacle out of the way, the squadron crossed the small chasm that dotted the next area and began the demanding climb up to the fourth level. Many of them collided with the spikes on the sides of the constantly shifting wall and fell back to the bottom, mildly injured but by no means dead. Zoras began tying short ropes to the end of their spears and then launching them into the jagged stone edge, where they served as a skip for the first section of the climb.
After far too much time, the last climber finally made it to the top of the ledge, and the thoroughly exhausted battalion resumed their trek through the Spirit Temple. Thankfully, the rest of the path was simple, and everyone made it to the hanging platform facing the Colossus. The group still had some rope left, so they were able to tightrope across the expanse to conserve magic, even though they ensured to break open as many pots as possible for the precious magic vials inside.
One by one, they filtered into the Boss Room and then, together, they stepped into the final chamber, when Ganondorf awaited.
!0*0!
Silence.
The air was still, save the ragged breaths of the task force that filled the small chamber. This was the place where Link had fought Nabooru, brainwashed and hidden behind a great steel facade. Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen, which both calmed and unnerved them,
Wordlessly, they continued onwards, swiftly streaming towards the door in the back of the room. This connected to the final room, the one with the massive dais and the magical wards oozing through the walls, through a small corridor. But there was something horribly amiss. Rather than the roof chock full of runes that had been when Link had fought Twinrova in the future past, the space above them was occupied by a writhing festoon of purplish dark energy. Its purpose was unknown, but it must have been the reason that the Gerudo King had come here. The wards would shield this… whatever this was from the magical detection of the oncoming forces.
The group then split into two subdivisions; one to distract Ganondorf, the other to reverse the ward and protect those reversing the ward. Link, trailing the section stalling the King of Evil, quickly scaled the raised platform and came face to face with Ganondorf himself.
His arms were crossed, his back to the group. He was wearing the very same battle garb that he had been wearing on the day he'd assassinated the king, in the decayed timeline. It made Link sick. A massive claymore was wedged into the platform just next to him, completing the image of regality. He breathed out a sigh, although it didn't carry the usual connotations of such a noise. It was angered, violent, haunting.
"You arrived early," he said, unnervingly calm. "Earlier than expected."
Nobody said anything, partly because they were unsure of how to proceed, and mostly because the longer this silence lasted, the more time the mages would have to reverse the wards.
"I could throw you to the demons outside, but that would leave you with an infinitesimal chance to survive. I don't take chances anymore. I suppose I'll simply have to kill you all now and face the remainder of your forces later."
With that, Ganondorf clutched the pommel of his blade and wrenched it out of the stone, shards of misshapen rock coming free with the sword. He turned, and he was practically spewing black magic from the back of his left hand, the one that held the Triforce of Power. The king then slammed his open palm into the center of the enormous dais, tendrils of dark energy oozing into the rocks.
And then pain erupted throughout Link's entire body.
The Hero of Time, along with the rest of the force, collapsed. Each breath sent stabbing waves of torment dancing through him. Shakily, he got on his hands and knees, but his Stalfos hand gave out and he collapsed again. The other fighters hadn't experienced quite the same problem as the young Hero had, as they were at least able to stand up the first try.
"Bloody hell," someone grumbled. "How do we fight that?"
No one answered.
And Ganondorf was upon them, swinging his sword into the group at high enough speeds to tear a man cleanly in two. Several soldiers died right there, mostly Hylians. Yet more fell as Ganondorf cleaved through the weakened force. Each death he saw sent a cold shock of muted agony coursing through Link himself, who had only now managed to get his own feet under him. If only he could have been there, maybe they wouldn't have died.
If he hadn't been trapped in the body of a child, he could have saved them.
Suddenly, he was being tackled to the ground by Groose, just narrowly avoiding a swipe from the dark king's blade. The attack would have lopped off his hat if he had been wearing it, or his head if he hadn't been moved out of the way. He shot an apologetic glance at his squire friend before looking up from his position- and seeing Ganondorf staring down his nose at the pair of youths, a visage made even more terrifying by the violent vermillion cloud of dark magic hanging above them.
More specifically, Link.
"You," Ganondorf seethed.
"Me," Link agreed before scrambling to his feet and sprinting away. Groose tried to call out for help from the Hero, but Ganondorf completely ignored the squire in favor of flinging as many plasma balls as possible at the fleeing Hylian. This allowed an even mix of Hylians, Zora, and Gerudo to pin Ganondorf temporarily, but a violent burst of magic threw them all away like Peahat larva in a typhoon. After that interruption, he continued his pursuit of Link as if nothing had happened. His magic, augmented by the Triforce of Power, rendered him completely invulnerable to anything the task force tried to throw at him. Arrows proved useless, as they merely bounced off of his skin like it was made of steel. Knives to the back courtesy of the Sheikah did about as much to him as a blade of grass, and everything else was merely ignored. Simply put, they could not so much as scratch Ganondorf in this current situation.
A few of the mages that had been working on reversing the ward spent some energy to heal the task force enough to sustain a blow or two from the Demon King. However, this caused Ganondorf to realize that the magicians were present, and he finally changed targets from Link to the healers. This momentary lapse in battle, however, allowed the healed fighters to be able to cluster up around Ganondorf again, only to be blasted backwards yet again.
Then Groose drove his club into Ganondorf's pelvis.
It probably didn't hurt all that much due to his wards, but the attack was evidently felt just enough to make the Gerudo male instinctually scrunch up. This permitted a largely Zora force to pin Ganondorf's boots into the stone below with their spears, severely limiting his movement. After a bit of time, the king managed to yank all of the javelins out of his boots, immediately cutting down the Sheikah that was in the midst of trying to drive a kunai through his neck.
The Gerudo King finally descended from the dais, dropping down to right in front of the second half of the fighters. He would have blasted them all with a plasma ball, but he was interrupted by none other than Link himself, who leapt off the dais and bashed his Stalfos Shield into the evil king's absurdly long nose. The most embarrassing part was that Link had to physically jump up to hit him. Like Groose's attack, it didn't do all that much in terms of defeating or even harming the Hatred incarnation, but it forced him to instinctively clutch at his nose in surprise. From there, he was tackled by a heavily armored Hylian knight. The weight of the steel he wore was enough so that Ganondorf couldn't simply throw him off, so the knight was instead fried alive within his own armor. From there, it was significantly easier to roll out from beneath the steel-plated corpse and glare furiously at the small child, standing there and weilding a sword nearly one and a half times as tall as he was.
"I will destroy you, and everyone you love," Ganondorf swore. "Slowly. And painfully. In front of you."
"You tried that," Link answered. "It didn't turn out too well for you."
Snarling in rage, Ganondorf raised his blade and brought it down with a mighty "Doriyah!" Link, who was too physically tired to try avoiding the strike, instead summoned his Shield and attempted to deflect or at least block the blow.
Instead, the shield burst into a myriad of black diamonds, sending tingling shockwaves up his arm and throughout the rest of his body. One hit had spent the entirety of his magical reserves, and Link was unprepared for such an event. Fortunately, though, neither was his opponent, who stared at the little black specks with just as much confusion as Link was. It gave the Hylian enough time to sprint behind Ganondorf's back, making sure to whack his greaved leg with the longsword to keep his attention away from the mages reversing the ward. The ploy worked, thankfully, as Ganondorf's gaze remained locked on Link's face.
Now the issue was surviving long enough to make that focus matter. Link tightened the grasp on the longsword, as if to issue a silent challenge. The Hatred incarnation smirked, and levitated off the ground a few inches before literally flying across the distance between himself and Link, blades meeting with a resounding clang. To Link's dismay and horror, most of the blade of his own longsword stayed in motion, hurtling into the dark corner of the chamber. All he had in his hand now was a hilt and a tiny bit of edge not unlike what he'd had after he broke the Giant's Knife. But smaller, of course.
A searing heat made itself known in front of Link. He could only watch as Ganondorf formed a massive orb of flaming plasma between his fingers. He felt through his pouch. It was enough to kill him, and both of them knew it.
"I would ask you if you had any last words, but I don't much care," he drawled, flinging the energy sphere at the object of his Hatred.
"Saying it anyway: Nayru's Love," Link replied, encasing himself in the warm blue light of the defensive magic. The spell would render him just as invulnerable as Ganondorf for a period of time, but it cost him more than two-thirds of his remaining magical power. The electric ball bounced off of this protective shell like it was nothing. He then threw himself at the Gerudo King and tried to force him to the ground, but he simply didn't have enough strength in his body to hold the king. Luckily, a number of Hyrulean soldiers had been watching the exchange and decided that now was the time to lend their assistance. With their combined body mass, they were able to hold down Ganondorf for a bit, although the length of time would be determined by his nearly infinite magical reserves. Theoretically, this fight could go on forever.
Then things got worse.
An unearthly moan echoed throughout the chamber as a octuplet of midnight black orbs appeared out of the gloom of the violet void above them. It flung itself out of the portal like a calf being birthed, revealing an unnaturally spindly array of crablike legs. The crab analogy was augmented by the massive two-pronged claws, and completed by the rust-red armor. Ridiculously, it didn't even appear to have fully extricated itself from the purple above, but it was perfectly content with plucking several of the fighters up off the platform and lobbing them at the ground fast enough to kill on impact. A few unfortunate fellows, mostly Gerudo, were straight-up eaten, accompanied with a noxious belch of some kind of deadly toxin. Before Link could process what was happening, a claw was descending on him, closing around his young body, squeezing tight-
Link's Nayru's Love suddenly sputtered and went out, far earlier than it had any right to. The last time he'd used it, the spell had made a more constant noise as it neared its end, as well as flashing more often and becoming a slightly brighter blue. None of those things had happened this time, meaning that his magic must have been cut off. Indeed, he couldn't sense any of his magic like he could have before. That could only mean one thing: The mages had successfully reversed the ward, to prevent the flow of magic in this room. Indeed, the portal above their heads sputtered and fizzled out of existence, lopping off the head of the crab demon in the process. It smashed into the dais and stayed there, uniform black eyes seeing nothing.
"The ward is reversed! Now is the time!" they roared, confirming Link's belief. Galvanized, the whole task force save the mages themselves threw themselves at the Evil King, who- magicless- was unable to fend them all off with his sword alone. What followed was a haphazard wave of attacks that all found their mark on Ganondorf. Unfortunately, even with the wards preventing the flow of magic, the Triforce of Power kept Ganondorf alive despite any punishment the soldiers managed to give him.
Eventually, after much toil, more blood, and even more lives, he was subdued. His weapon was thrown away, and he was tied to the dais with rope they had salvaged from the tightrope across the Spirit Temple, with Zora spears stabbed through them and into the platform itself, keeping Ganondorf secured against the raised stone. He wouldn't be escaping anytime soon, especially considering the watchful eyes of the Sheikah monitoring him. Panting heavily, Link found Groose and Zelda, sank to his knees, and started laughing. At long last, it was over. This time, for good.
There we go. That's the end. There's still an epilogue that will try to tie up any loose ends that ToM leaves, but after that, it's done. No more. It's really been an experience writing this, a labor of love that's taken nearly eight months to accomplish. Thank you all so much for your time.
NOOTTD: Doriyah.
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