This is it! The final (numbered) chapter! Will the Brotherhood prevail?
Chapter 23 – Wisdom and Courage
The wraith flew into the confines of the floating palace within the void, his spindly fingers tightly clasped around his head. His oily blood poured down along his face, and through one of his sunken eye sockets, he spotted a sibling at the end of a grand hallway.
The woman, very much human in appearance and draped in a white dress decorated in gold sashes, glided over to him. The light from the translucent walls reflected oddly across her silver headdress. Personally, he always found her appearance to be arrogant and sickening. Today was no different.
She jabbed two fingers against Kneph's wound and inscribed a rune that sealed it. At no point did her grey eyes focus on what she was doing. It appeared that she was fixated on something much more interesting, wherever it was she was staring. That was one of her many unnerving traits.
"Brother, you should know better than to desecrate our home with your wounds," she said suddenly, her tone monotonous and devoid of emotion.
"Did I have a choice?" Kneph hissed in reply. "The mission is complete."
The deafening silence that ensued annoyed Kneph. "Do you not believe me? I slew the hero myself."
"It is not I that casts doubt upon your accomplishment," the woman responded cryptically.
"Well then, who is it? ...Spit it out, Safine!"
"The Globe of Guidance says otherwise."
A cold fear shook Kneph. Safine glided down the west wing of the hall, leading her brother to the resting place of the globe. An oversized set of glass doors opened at her beckoning, leading to a cylindrical room devoid of any furniture. An unnatural light emanated from the walls themselves, focused on an ashen pedestal in the center of the room.
A dark substance bubbled up from the platform, hoisted into the air by an unknown power and forged into a liquid sphere. The Globe of Guidance flashed violently at its core, hosting a storm of power that even the demons didn't fully understand; having it been bestowed upon them by their father, they never questioned it.
The light in the room was drained as the globe's power was called upon. The murky core of the globe slowly gave way to a distant scene of a land of rolling green hills and a bright blue sky, oblivious to its recent tragedy. A sharp light suddenly radiated from the land and obscured their vision, though it was impossible to pinpoint its location from that angle.
"The intense aura of a special soul still burns brightly in that world, particularly in the land of Hyrule," Safine stated, letting the light fully encompass her sight. "Father will not be pleased."
Kneph growled. "That means..."
"There is another..."
"You!" Kneph shrieked in realization. "You are the one that eluded me for all of these years!"
Zelda said nothing, but bore into the demon with a defiant gaze as he continued his meltdown.
"Why did I not obliterate her after all of this time?" Kneph knew the answer to his own question. If the last royal was killed, it would be a crippling blow to the kingdom and spark an exodus. There would be less people to terrorize and murder, making his job dull. Yet, how was he supposed to know that a simple princess held a champion soul? Peach was considered a fluke by the demons, but then, none of them really understood what it took to give a soul that special branding.
He caught Zelda's gaze and it brought him back to the present.
"It's not too late to fix this!" He dove for Zelda with his sword outstretched, filling the skies with his indignant scream. The princess was deceptively agile and leapt aside, opening her palm and releasing a fiery blast that caught the demon in the face. Kneph slammed against the mountain wall; his ghostly appearance was more solid than ever.
Zelda had never been so close to him before, and took the moment to study the monster that had terrorized Hyrule for so long. Just the sight of him made her blood boil.
"To think that all of your random killing sprees didn't bring you any closer to your goal," she said, emasculating his pride. "That sounds like an appropriate conclusion to your story...a sad, pitiful story."
Kneph had a few choice words of his own for Zelda. "You wear a brave face, but for a princess that claims to care about everything within her land, it must be eating your core knowing that all of those sprees could have been prevented had you just given yourself up from the beginning!"
I didn't know, Zelda thought, and quickly realized that she was falling into his trap. She summoned Nayru's Love, shielding herself from the sudden lightning bolt cast from Kneph's finger. The bolt was reflected and clipped Kneph's form. The demon looked more annoyed than hurt.
Link lunged for Kneph, spinning into a blur with the Master Sword. The demon narrowly avoided the spinning slash, letting Link whirl to a halt by Zelda, using his body to shield her. There was a subtle fury in his cerulean eyes that unnerved Kneph. The wraith would never admit to being afraid of anything, but he certainly was cautious.
"Don't listen to him, princess!" Link exclaimed. "Nothing short of his demise would have ever stopped his killing sprees."
"Well isn't this a special moment! A princess and her knight..." Kneph outstretched his fingers, producing electrical tendrils from the tip of each one. The tendrils whipped the ground before ensnaring Link and Zelda, holding them high above. "Now you can look longingly into each other's eyes as you die slowly."
"FORE!"
Peach swung the golf club with all her might. The impact sent Kneph reeling into the mountain wall once again, and bent the metal of the club in the process.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," Peach said, tossing the broken club aside. She then winked at the demon, "forgot about the rest of us, huh?"
Lucario burst through the rocky wall and grappled Kneph into a full nelson; the spell that once inflicted his right arm had worn off. "I think he forgot about me too! Your form is awfully solid for a wraith. Is this a side effect of the Tempest...or are you simply dying?"
Zelda closed her eyes and held her arms outward in an attempt to receive the bow and light arrow once more. "If I strike him with the arrow now, it will surely be his end."
Link looked concerned and asked, "Do you have enough power to do that again?"
"I...may need some time," she admitted. It was much harder summoning the light arrow again so soon.
Kneph's form suddenly became wispy and transparent again, and he quickly slipped out of Lucario's grasp. He countered with a wide slash of his sword, forcing Lucario to roll away. He chased after him but found his blade clashing with Marth's.
"We never quite got our rematch since the battle in the ruins," the prince said, making a quick jab. The demon hissed in reply.
Marth began a marvelous combination of slashes with the Falchion that resembled a dance; his feet glided across the ground like a waltz on the still surface of a pond. Every elegant twist of his wrist, every cut of the air left a trail of demon blood along the earth beneath his feet.
Marth did a somersault over Kneph, leaving a wall of water in his wake that collapsed upon and disoriented the demon. He started his Dancing Blade attack again from behind, cutting into Kneph once more until the demon could no longer take it and released an earsplitting screech.
A massive bolt of lightning drilled into the ground, separating Marth and Kneph. When the dust settled, some of the clouds above had descended upon them with frightening immediacy. Kneph disappeared into the mist with a pained laugh. Lightning bolts were hurled Marth's way, forcing the prince to take cover behind a large rock near one of the hot springs.
Roy's heart was beating faster than ever. "Is he trying to escape?" he asked. They were too close to winning this to let Kneph run away again.
"No, this is just one of his last defenses," Lucario said. "When he summoned the Tempest, he was making it clear that he had no intention of returning to Azazel without completing his task."
A bolt of lightning cut through the mist and struck the ground close to where they were. Lucario countered by tossing an aura sphere in the direction of the bolt.
"Nice try," Kneph's voice taunted, a whisper riding along a breeze. He lashed out with another bolt.
Ike stabbed the ground with Ragnell and molded the earth before him, erecting a rocky wall shaped like a semicircle. He motioned for the others to take refuge behind the wall.
Roy found himself somewhat annoyed by Ike's antics. "You really shouldn't be doing that while you're still hurt."
Ike brushed him off, "I told you already that he didn't hurt me much."
"Do you want to bring attention to us?" Lucario interjected irately. A bolt of lightning crashed against the wall and took a piece of it off as if to make Lucario's point for him.
"I don't want to sound ungrateful for the protection, but we're sitting ducks here," Peach said. "Does anyone have a plan?"
"We strike him dead," Zelda stated definitively. She closed her palms as the golden bow with a single arrow materialized in her grip. "This is the last arrow I can summon. If we can't keep him still..."
"If it doesn't work, we'll find another way," Peach told her.
"No, this is going to work," Link growled abruptly. "I'm going to make it work, and I've got a plan..."
Another bolt crashed into the earthen barrier. Peach emerged from the debris and waved her arms forward, summoning a blast of wind that cut a swath down the middle of the mist. Link hurdled over the barrier and into the opening Peach gave him, where he spotted Kneph near the mountain wall. He once again found himself crossing swords with the demon.
"You are not as fast as the blue swordsman," Kneph taunted. "Why did you join a team that didn't need you?"
"Do you really want me to switch places with Marth? Because last time the two of you went at it, you were losing pretty badly."
Link made a broad slash with the Master Sword. Kneph dove into the mist for protection, which only served to annoy his opponent.
"No more running!" Link shouted into the haze, hurling the gale boomerang around him. The mist was pushed outward, revealing Kneph.
"I see that you are eager to be buried a second time," Kneph said coolly, keeping his distance.
Link spun the Master Sword in a taunting motion. "You know, I can understand your cowardice. You don't have a soul, so you can't be reincarnated when you die. When you're gone, you're gone, and no one will care. Just one of the 'perks' of being a demon, I guess."
"It's better than being a weak mortal with a meaningless existence. You are simply ants waiting for your overlords to crush you...and then there are freaks like you that come back to be crushed a second time."
"Meaningless, really?" Link questioned with a chuckle. "You have no friends, your siblings are probably as grotesque and cutthroat as you are, your 'father' cowers in the depths of void, and you can't experience the emotions or appreciate the things that make life worth living. It sounds like being a demon isn't all it's cracked up to be. I bet you secretly wish you were one of us weak mortals."
Kneph was livid. Demons had their pride, and part of that pride was self-proclaimed superiority to mortals. Kneph could not formulate his disgust in words, choosing instead to lunge at Link, and right into his trap.
Link hurled his shield forward, hitting Kneph square in the face. With his second hand free and the demon stunned, he gripped the Master Sword with both hands and cut through him with all his might. He barely gave Kneph time to scream in pain before he drove the sword into the wraith's solid body and pinned him to a rocky wall.
He backed away in awe as the demon writhed and snarled in futility. Kneph was at his mercy, the mass murderer of Hyrule reduced to a thrashing animal tacked to a wall. For a moment, Link forgot where he was. Part of his core, the boy known as Link Jensen, welled with satisfaction seeing the boogeyman get his just desserts after haunting his dreams for ages. But the hero within stirred; it was not enough to trap Kneph. The job was not done.
"Now, princess!" Link called out. He felt a gust whip against his back; Princess Peach brought forth winds to part the mist once again, revealing Zelda with the light arrow.
"You were right about one thing," Kneph suddenly said, ceasing his struggle with the Master Sword, "I don't cling to things in this life...the ones you claim are worth living for. But you do, and if I can't destroy you with my last breath, I will take one of those precious things from you!"
With a chilling shriek, Kneph tore his body through the Master Sword and dove for Zelda. The princess unleashed the golden power of the light arrow, but Kneph moved just enough to avoid the streak of light.
Link did not realize that he reacted until he saw the arrow barreling straight at him through the concave-shaped barrier he summoned in his outstretched hands. The light arrow rode along the curve of the barrier, shooting back from whence it came and burrowing into Kneph from behind. Any scream the demon could utter was drowned out by the whine of the light energy obliterating his being. When the light receded, Kneph's cloak-like body lay in the dirt, slowly dissolving into the black substance deemed demon's blood. The mists of the Tempest had disappeared.
Link stood over the remains, a vat of mixed emotions stirring in his stomach. Kneph was finished, and yet he could not bring himself to rejoice. He was left with more questions than answers.
"Why did you do it?" Link thought aloud. "Why would you go through the motions that would lead you here? I know what I'm fighting for, but there had to be more to you than just murdering innocent people. It was all so...pointless."
"Pity?" Kneph hissed, his face emerging from the bubbling pool. "Spare me. I did Father's wishes so that I could continue to live life as I pleased, which just happened to be grinding you ants under my heel. Perhaps you forgot what I am."
Roy pointed the tip of his sword dangerously close to the demon's face. "A lot of grinding you're doing there, dying in a molten puddle of yourself."
Link sighed. "Starting a war to consume all of the worlds...really, what's the point? What could Azazel possibly get out of this? Everyone loses in the end...even you."
Kneph uttered a small, cynical laugh. "He simply wants you to know the suffering he has. You deserve it."
"We deserve it?" Link repeated incredulously. Kneph's laughing face finally melted with the rest of him, the repulsive face that haunted Link and Hyrule for so long finally cast into oblivion once and for all.
"I would not let his words confound you," Zelda said after a sigh of relief. "He was not quite what we would consider to be 'in the right mind.'"
Link shook it off, quite literally, shaking his body and letting the weariness of battle, troubling memories of Kneph's past atrocities, and future uncertainties fall away.
"You're right," he finally replied. "He was a murdering fool and we're rid of him. Everything he's ever had to say means nothing. He can't hurt anyone anymore."
Peach pointed to the sky as the sun began to break through the remnants of the Tempest, its rays beaming onto Death Mountain. "It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day after all."
"Enjoy the view," Lucario said. "We earned this moment."
"Yes," Zelda agreed. "And so has Hyrule. Today will be a day of rest, but tomorrow...tomorrow will bring the start of reconstruction."
Zelda walked down the path leading away from the castle. Her resolve was fortified, as she believed strongly in what she needed to tell the people of Hyrule. It also helped that Link was by her side.
Together, they emerged in the ruined square of the castle town. The ruins were packed to the brim with men, women, children, gorons and zoras. This was Hyrule, and it was awaiting the words of its princess.
She looked over the masses and cleared her throat.
"As many of you know by now...Link, our hero, is alive and well. It is with great joy and relief that I can also announce that Kneph, the demon that has plagued us for so long, has been slain!"
Link opened the palm of his hand, letting broken fragments of Kneph's mask and sword slip through his fingers and fall to the ground below. The reaction within the crowd swelled, first as a murmur and then a thunderous roar as piece after piece of the demon's possessions clattered onto the broken road below.
The princess raised a hand to calm the crowd.
"The reason I wanted to speak to you all is that Kneph now only exists in our memories, and it is where we shall leave him. Today marks a new era, an era of reconstruction. We will rebuild in the memory of those lost, as well as those in our future. Kneph will be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of Hyrule's history.
"I will not tell you a lie. Other beings like Kneph do exist, and they may one day turn their sights on Hyrule in his absence. However, we not only have Link to defend us, but the Smash Brotherhood as well."
Zelda and Link stepped aside, revealing Marth, Lucario, Roy, Peach and Ike. The Brotherhood was no longer a group working in secret, or at least that's what they decided of their presence in Hyrule. Seeing their work and dedication firsthand made Link feel proud to be a part of the Smash Brotherhood.
"These individuals, each one a hero from lands afar, also helped destroy Kneph and believe in keeping the peace," Zelda continued, recalling their deeds. "They are as deserving of praise as Link is.
"But even with their help, rebuilding will not be easy. This is why I ask all of you, every free hand, to help in restoring Hyrule. It is an arduous path we walk, but I know that we all agree that it is worth it."
Link's mind started to wander; he knew the gist of Zelda's speech since she had already recited it to him. One thing she said did stick out for him: the path towards tomorrow would indeed be arduous, perhaps even daunting.
The lingering of Kneph's death helped him realize that he was not closing a chapter in his life, but opening a brand new one. This was something much greater than the Smash Brotherhood or even Hyrule, and only a handful of people, champions or not, were going to meet it head on.
His concerns melted when he looked into the clear sky, the beautiful sky that was once strangled by Kneph's evil storm. No trace of the Tempest remained. It was that, and the fact that he only just realized that his hand was interlocked with Zelda's, that he realized two truths:
The fighting is not futile.
And anything was possible.
But wait, there's more! There are two more updates: the epilogue, which should wrap up some loose ends and give a hint of what to expect from Soul of a Smasher Volume II, and the afterwords, where I will reveal some background stuff and even more about the sequel. If you've got some questions about this story or the rest of the series, now is the time to ask, because I'll answer them in the afterwords.