Chapter 23 part 1: Darkness
Riza finished off the Troupe Grimm, all that left was the Trinity. Darkness, sound, and light; the last remaining elements. She has never lied eyes on any of the three, not knowing what to expect; it scared her. Riza made her away across the pathway connecting the castle. She was surprised there was actually two buildings. The heart shaped moon watched her every step, as a guardian or the angel of death. She ran down the hall, finding the door. Opening the door, once again, her eyes were greeted by total darkness. A disembodied voice greeted her.
"Ah, Mistress of the Key, you actually made it here!" Surprise evident in the voice. If it was genuine, Riza doubted it. "Looks like I lost that bet to Furoydo. No matter, I'll kill you here." Riza felt the air get cooler, and the sound of fabric rustle. Her body went rigid with alert, her blade appearing in her grasp. "Relax, we have time to fight, I'm just opening the curtains. I think a person with your nature would like a little light," The voice hissed the last word, as if acid was poured on to his skin. The light poured into the room, chasing away the shadows that had hold of the room. The body that the voice belong to came into view; a short, dark haired man, with sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose while clinging to his ears with thin arms. "I'm Dionte, wielder of darkness," purred the man.
Riza winced, kind of disturbed that a man in his position would purr. "Whatever." Riza drew her Keyblade to her side, settling in her sideways stance. "You know, the purring, yeah, never do that again or I'll rip out your voice box with my hands and feed it to the Heartless." Riza sounded too cheerful when she voiced that threat. Dionte smiled.
"My, my. Keybearer, with that attitude why don't you join us? You can wield all the powers that you took out, and we would give you anything you like. You can even keep the key. What d'ya say?"
"What do I say?" Riza disappeared and reappeared behind the darkness user, "I say bite me," The Keyblade was swung, just missing Dionte's head. Riza leaped back, then went on the attack, Dionte deftly dodging the precise swings. When Dionte finally saw an opening, his fist shot out, striking Riza in the gut, then twisting his fist. Riza gaped, a small amount of blood coming out of her open jaw. Dionte jumped and slammed his boot into Riza's chest, sending her across the room and into the wall, cracking the stone. She slid down until her feet touched the ground, then looked up. All those shots form the Troup Grimm were merely softening her up for the last clash.
"Shadow Daggers!" Riza drew up her Keyblade as the shadow weapons leapt from the ground.
"Icy Daggers!" The two element's clashed, small explosions were the result.
"Smart, using your element against mine. Hmm, Shadow Hold!" Dionte's shadow shot out, crawling along the ground like the shadow Heartless and neo-shadows. Riza jumped then leaped off the wall behind her to escape the giant hand erupting from the ground. Riza turned as slashed at the hand, cutting it between the middle and ring finger, splitting it to the palm. The hand went back into the shadows, as Dionte pulled his hand back, blood seeping from his crippling hand wound, staining his gloves. "Shadow Guard," Dionte held out his hand as a ribbon of shadows wrapped around the wound, cutting off the blood flow. He flexed hand and winced, but pushed forth. Riza landed on the ground ready for more. "Shadow Hold!" Dionte tried with his right hand, the shadow raced on the ground moving around Riza coming from behind. Riza turned to see the hand grab her, then hold her suspended in air.
Riza smirked, "Vulpes Pulse!" The small shock wave losened the grip and she turned and thrust the Keyblade into the wrist of the Shadow Hand. The hand disappeared back into the shadows. Dionte howled in pain as a stab wound appeared on his wrist, centimeter away from a vein. He did his Shadow Guard once more the ribbon wrapping around his wrist.
"Fine, if that won't finish you, maybe this will," Dionte held his hand palm down at he ground, a shadow appeared. From it a weapon emerged, "The Kage no Kiba, the Shadow Fang." The blade was curved and the handle was longer than the blade but still too short to be a staff. "The Kage no Kiba is only part of the whole weapon, but one part should be enough to do way with you." Dionte charged, the Kage no Kiba thrusting at Riza. Riza was able to dodge the sluggish blade because of Dionte's injuries. Riza deflected the thrust, followed by kneeing Dionte in the face. The dark master tumbled across the room, stopping on his side, the Kage no Kiba sliding past him. Dionte pushed himself up, pain shot through his arms, but he clenched his teeth and got up. He picked up the Kage no Kiba, holding out his left hand, another blade appearing, similar to the Kage no Kiba, "This is the second Kage no Kiba, together, they form the..." The blades were joined at the bottom of the handles, with a click, the blade was complete, "The Twin Fangs of Shadows. With it I can channel my dark powers, and kill you." Dionte wiped the blood from his nose, then twirled his double blades staff, and charged. The thrusts were fast and powerful, small shock waves of dark energy flying off.
Riza could only dodge, blocking would result in small jolts of pain from the dark energy from the weapon. Dionte tried all the techniques he could to throw Riza off, but the agile ninja was too quick for his blades. He went for a thrust, but Riza jumped over the blade, and stomped on it, driving the blade into the ground. She stepped on the shaft and landed a powerful kick with her right foot under his jaw, kicking him into the ceiling. Dionte, thinking quickly, shifted his body so his front hit the ceiling instead of him crashing through, which would earn him more injuries. Dionte crashed against the ceiling, an oof escaping his mouth as he fell back down with a hard thud. He stayed on the ground for several seconds, panting. He felt his injuries throb, from the smallest nick to the injuries on his hand and wrist. The Shadow Guard was loosening, he could fell small trickles of blood on his palm and forearm. I have to finish, or I'll fall from exhaustion and blood loss. Dionte stood, his resolve renewed. He discarded the Twin Fang of Shadows and held out his right hand, outstretched. A dark energy ball appeared in front of it, "Dark Eclipse," the dark sphere shot across the floor dipping down, creating a wake of stone, before leaping off the ground and connecting with Riza's Keyblade.
"Rebound Blade!" Dionte's attacked was sent back at him, but the dark master merely dodged the attack.
He thrust his right hand up, "Double Eclipse!" Two spheres appeared, both slightly larger than the first. The two flew at Riza, one in front of the other. She used the Rebound Blade to send the first one into the second, canceling them out. "I'm not finished! Double Eclipse!" Two formed beside him, "Double Eclipse," two more on his other side. He launched the right set first, soon followed by the left. Riza jumped over the first set and deflected the second. "This is getting my no where," he mumbled under his breath angrily. "Fine!" He called, "I'll finish you off once and for all! Coup De Grace: Beast of Darkness!" Dionte called the last reserves of his power to transform into his true form. Darkness misted out of his sleeves and climbed up his body form his shadow like a parasite crawling over him to find the best place to feed; he welcomed it with open arms
"Like Uso, but his was the power of the Heartless, he's calling on the power of darkness itself!" Riza took a few steps back, bringin up her Keyblade.
Dionte became encased on a oval cocoon of darkness for several seconds before opening his shell. A demon clad in dark energy stood before her, claws long and sharp, a short but powerful tail twitched behind him, red eyes glowed with bloodlust behind his dark, slightly cracked glasses, and wings strong enough to keep him suspended in the air for half an hour, possibly more. "Silly keybearer, I do not call upon the power of darkness, I am the power of darkness. The human body you saw was merely a host, a vessel, so I can travel freely among your realm of light. What you see before you it the true form of darkness, a beast," Dionte's usual cocky voice had an edge to it, grinding on Riza's ears.
"Fine, have it your way!" Riza charged, and swiped at the beast but he took flight. "Come down and fight!"
"Why don't you come up and fight?" Riza took the bait, leaping up, higher than Dionte, and came crashing down. He held out a clawed hand to stop her, the hand placed on her chest. "Dark Shift," the two changed places, Riza's back to the ground. Dionte's claw glowed, "Dark Eclipse!" The blast sent Riza crashing to the ground, making a small crater. "Even the denizen of light can't overcome the powers of darkness."
The was a stir on the ground, "Don't you think...you're speaking a little too...soon, Dionte?" Riza got up, grasping her burn from Dionte's energy. Dionte looked surprised, which soon burned away to show rage. Riza drew her Keyblade, "I'm still standing, you damn beast of burden." Dionte was taken back by the insult, "Yep, you're just a burden that needs to be overcame!" Dionte growled as his anger reached a boiling point; a common trait among the Trinity, they all had explosive tempers. He roared and thrust out his arms to his sides.
"Shadow Doppleganger!" Four replicas of Dionte's beastly form appeared, all sharing the thirst for Riza's blood. They flew at her at amazing speed, claws raised to slash through the ninja.
"Kitsune Claw: Rapid Slash!" The keybearer turned fox, taking out the four clones with deadly ease. The fox glared at the dark beast before turning back into Riza. "Too bad I can't stay in that form for long periods of time. I only have enough time to execute one attack."
"Ah, the keybearer has a beastly side as well? Interesting," Dionte grinned, then put his two claws to gather, palms facing Riza, "Lunar Eclipse!" The even larger sphere appeared, with a new trait, a purple ring around the sphere. The ball was launched, the sound was louder than a cannon fire.
"Spinning Shinobi Slam!" The Keyblade was thrown, twirling like helicopter blades and just was fast. An explosion blew both back fighters. Riza drew a kunai to slow down and not slam into the oncoming wall. Dionte flipped and held the wall with his hind claws. He clapped his hands together, like a prayer. Dark energy gathered around his forearms. "What are you doing?" Riza called, genuinely curious about this technique.
"It's how us Trinity gather a large amount of energy in a short span of time," Dionte explained, than pushed off the wall. He spread his claws and the largest ball of energy appeared, "Solar Eclipse! Deflect this!" Dionte brought the ball down when he was close enough to Riza.
"I will! Backlash...!" The Keyblade glowed grey as Riza poured some of her energy into it, and slammed it against the ball Dionte was pushing down on. Riza was being pushed down, but she wouldn't let this end, "Backlash Wave!" The keyblade swished in front of her, the energy released and the energy of Dionte's attack repelled at double the force. The darkness was blown off of him, and his glasses vaporizing in the blast. The dark beast form disinitegrated and Dionte's human body was destroyed in the blast.
Riza fell back, keyblade disappearing in a burst of light. She sighed and took some deep breaths to get back lost air. She heard the crumbling of rocks to see a gapping hole in the roof and the tower that came into view had part of its roof gone as well. She chuckled, imagining retelling this tale to her demi-demon friend, InuYasha. She got up when she felt she could stand and walk without her legs giving out. She walked toward the door and opening it. She had come so far, and there are only two enemies left. Just two more. And then I can save everyone that is counting on me, even those that were lost. They are waiting for me to return what they had lost; their hearts. It's a shame that these indivduals could have had hearts if they went about it in a different way. I wounder, if they did, would I have met all the people I have? If I would have met with Ren again, if I had gotten the Keyblade? Riza shook her head, Now's not the time to ponder that. I still have a mission to accomplish. I'll wonder later, Riza jogged out of the ruined room and down a ways before a door bared her path. She reached for the door, and turned the knob, the door swinging open to reveal a white and grey room. Quite different from the others she saw.
TBC
Riza overcame the darkness. Can she overcome the element betwixt darkness and light?