Chapter Twenty Seven: Flowing Water

I quickly flew over to the Land of Dragons, where (as expected) Nobodies swarmed across the land. I forced my way through them from the grove until I was in the Imperial Square of the Emperor's castle. There was a man in a black coat waiting for me.

"More Organization XIII," I sighed.

"So, another person's come to take us on," the character said. "Too bad, I don't feel like fighting."

"Us? You mean you cowards who betrayed the Organization and won't stand up to Xehanort?" I asked. "You fools... you could never beat him."

"They picked the wrong guy to be the door guard," the character muttered, removing his hood.

Demyx.

"Ha ha! They use the weakest guy in the Organization as the bouncer?" I asked. "How hilarious."

I summoned Way to the Dawn.

"Stand aside and let me face Marluxia," I said coldly. "If you don't, you know what'll happen."

"That, I won't do. After all, the Upper Organization just needs to wait for a little while. Then we'll take the Castle," he said. "If you want to fight, sorry, I'm not willing to risk my life over this."

I dashed forward with my Keyblade, but was stopped by a wall of water.

"Well... I don't wanna die again, so..." he muttered. He summoned a sitar of water. "If I have to fight, I guess I will."

He began strumming the sitar, and water clones appeared.

There must be a hundred clones!

I began hacking at them, but soon Demyx was attacking me with geysers of water, water clones, and huge bubbles. I moved as fast as possible to keep up with all of them, but even so, it wasn't quite enough...

I closed my eyes in pain from a geyser, and all of the water clones were gone.

"WHAT?!" Demyx shouted. I looked around to see...

A Black Knight.

Is he... Number XIV?

The knight, wielding a massive purple-bladed sword with a protruding key shape, and covered in head to toe in ebon armor, stood still and silent.

"Hey, XIV! What are you doing?" Demyx asked the Black Knight.

The Black Knight shook his head, then walked off toward the Throne Room. His armor clanked loudly, and his steps thundered through the empty Square. He reached the door soon enough, when I turned back to Demyx, who was still distracted.

"Figures... he finally moves and betrays us, too..." Demyx complained.

"Don't shift your focus," I said. "I'm your opponent here."

Demyx faced me again, blasting water geysers from under my feet. I dodged them easily, then moved in to strike him; without his water clones, it would be pretty easy.

I dodged more geysers, cut water bubbles, and finally hit Demyx...

But the blow went straight through him... as if he were made of water...

My back was turned to Demyx.

"Okay. Time to get serious," Demyx said with a grave tone. I dashed back, uncertain of what to do.

He began moving toward me, shooting geysers up behind and in front of me. I dashed to the side, then struck Demyx again, though my move was still ineffective. Dodging massive bubbles at breakneck speeds, I managed to get to the bridge leading to the gates, but a wall of highly-pressurized water soon barred my path.

"You're not going anywhere," Demyx said. "I won't let you."

I dodged more bubbles, then struck him again. It was still ineffective.

"We're more powerful than before," Demyx said, keeping Way to the Dawn lodged within his watery form. "So you see, martial prowess won't defeat me now."

"Then how about... aural prowess?" I heard a familiar voice call out.

I dashed to the side to avoid being cleaved in two by the Roy's sword, which cleaved Demyx in half.

"What took you so long?" I asked, summoning Way to the Dawn from Demyx, who had quickly reformed himself.

"Oh, it's nothing," he said, brandishing his sword. "I had to get better... a long, tough battle wore me out before."

A long scar was now evident across his nose.

"So┘ you can just reform yourself if you're cut apart, eh?" Roy asked Demyx. "Well... I've got an answer to that."

He made some hand symbols, then brandished his sword again. It crackled with electricity.

"If we can't hurt him with physical moves, I'll funnel aura into our weapons to hurt him passively," Roy said as Way to the Dawn began crackling with electricity, as well.

Aura manipulation... it seems like a very useful ability.

"Aura? What's that?" Demyx asked, summoning more water clones. Roy and I began dashing around, easily slaying the clones with our electrified blades.

"Aura is the energy field created by all living things," Roy explained, brandishing his sword again as I did the same. "It surrounds us and penetrates us, binds us together and pushes us apart... unifies us and separates us."

"So... if I wanted to, I could learn to control aura?" Demyx asked.

"If you really wanted to... but it would be tough for you, seeing as Nobodies don't have aura," Roy sneered, then dashed forward, cutting Demyx down. "And even if you could, the aura of others is weaker... if you use your own aura, it's far stronger."

Demyx, though he reformed himself, seemed weaker. He staggered, then summoned more water clones. Roy and I continued to cut them down, but were pelted with bubbles, which we also sliced in two. We were tossed around by geysers for a second, but soon cut Demyx down with a combo cross slash. He groaned, then fizzled out into water.

"Still not impressed," Roy said again, making hand symbols. Our blades then glowed red-hot, and he used his sword to cut down the icy barrier leading to the gates.

"Wait," I said to him. "There's a Black Knight in there... he's the Organization's Number XIV."

"So?" he asked. "I don't care. I'll cut him down with the rest of them."

"His armor's invincible," I said to him. "Even Xehanort's Aerial Blades barely managed to do anything to him... they left a scratch, or so Axel said."

He held out a mysterious sword... it was similar to Gaia's Edge, but metal.

"This is Illumina, the Sacred Sword of Light. It taints the hearts and souls of those who touch it... but, with these hand wraps, I've never touched it. And... With this..." he said, slamming it into Gaia"s Edge, producing a shaper blade, now sparkling golden, "its taint is negligible."

"The Sacred Sword? Don't tell me... your brother..." I said slowly.

He looked down, then ran his bandaged hand across the scar on his nose.

"I did what I had to...though I regret having to do that," he sighed, then looked up. "Regardless, this sword can cut through any armor. Its powers transcend normal limits... after all, thanks to Illumina, it has a certain element of divinity in it."

"Are you sure you're up to battling the Organization?" I asked him. "You were banged up really good."

"I know I can't push myself too far, since my wounds have yet to fully heal," he said. "Regardless, I'm not about to let my friends face such powerful enemies alone."

We stepped forward toward the gate.