Chapter Thirty: The Angel of Death
Marluxia dashed at us, swinging widely as a scythe could swing. Roy and I both backstepped, then rushed in after he was done swinging. We attacked, but he used the long handle of his scythe to block our strokes.
"Such a cumbersome weapon..." Roy sneered. "You think you can take us down with that?"
We all jumped back a bit, but Marluxia dashed forward again. He swung at me, but I blocked the stroke, then ducked to strike his feet. He jumped over, but was slammed in the torso by Roy's massive sword.
"That was worse than a Keyblade..." Marluxia said, gasping for breath. "Why...?"
"It has an 'element of divinity,'" I said to him. "It's made up of five swords, a Keyblade, and a divine sword."
Roy brandished the sword once more.
"I call it the Judgment Blade," he said.
"Judgment or not, you can't beat me!" Marluxia shouted. We moved forward to attack him, but were stopped in our tracks by vines. He tried to cleave off our heads, but a last-minute aura burst destroyed the vines binding us. I summoned Way to the Dawn back to me, and Roy picked up his Judgment Blade just in time to block the stroke.
Marluxia growled, leaving a strained look on his face.
"You're stubborn, I'll give you that," Marluxia said with disgust. "You still don't have enough to finish it, though."
"I'm not trying," both Roy and I said.
We all jumped back.
"So then try," Marluxia sneered. He moved forward in the blink of an eye and swung his scythe to chop off my torso. I blocked the stroke in the nick of time, after which Roy swung at Marluxia again with his Judgment Blade. Marluxia disappeared, then laughed at us.
"I said to try," he laughed, "not keep fighting as if you were children."
"Careful," Roy said, anger rising in his voice. "If you push me too far, I can't guarantee your safety... and I don't want to hurt Riku."
"Oh? I thought you were a manslayer, not a guardian," he said.
Marluxia... you idiot!
Darkness began to well up within me...
I won't be insulted like this!
I felt myself become different... like long ago...
Aura began to flow from Roy, now a bleach white instead of blood red...
Marluxia stepped back in disbelief.
"I see now how you took down the light and darkness..." Marluxia said. "It's because you both embody light and darkness... a dual existence."
My dark aura and Roy's light aura surged a bit.
"Very well, then... sink into the shadow you both love so much!" Marluxia shouted, opening a dark corridor. He stepped into it, and both Roy and I dashed into it.
The other side was a completely black realm...
The Realm of Darkness.
I looked around, catching a glimpse of Marluxia's scythe. He dashed forward to attack us, but Roy vanished, and I blocked the stroke easily.
Gotta be careful... my darkness is dangerous in the first place, and even moreso in the Realm of Darkness.
I began to attack and parry Marluxia's blows at great speed, sending out small bursts of force as we did so. We jumped into the air, placing massive force in our blows, but neither of us managed to land a strike.
Where'd Roy go?
We fell back to the ground, parrying and striking all the way, dashed back, then clashed with massive force.
"I think he abandoned you," Marluxia sneered at me.
Just then, a massive burst of white energy washed Marluxia away, leaving me unscathed.
"What were you waiting for?" I asked Roy, who appeared again.
"The opportune moment," he said. "After all... attacking your opponent is meaningless if your attacks won't get through."
"I see... you work well together," Marluxia said, reappearing. "You called me the 'Angel of Death' before. I wouldn't want to betray your expectations."
He began to rise on a huge Nobody ship... smaller than Xemnas', but armed with at least four scythes, in addition to his own scythe.
Roy and I stepped back, looking up at it.
"Okay... even at the risk of my life, I'll end this!" Roy shouted. A massive burst of aura flowed ot of him, now tinted sky blue. "Riku... let's take him down. Now."
He's really serious... there's no stopping him from going all out now.
"Right," I said just before Roy disappeared. He reappeared in a stylish pose as the scythes guarding Marluxia's ship fell to the ground in the empty realm just moments later.
"I see now... you're the one we need to worry about, not Sora," Marluxia said as I jumped up to board his ship. I attacked him quickly, but was thrown back by razor-sharp cherry blossoms. I staggered back to my feet, then charged at him, burining the cherry blossoms with a burst of Dark Firagas.
I attacked Marluxia, striking at his head. He blocked, pulled back, and attacked my legs. I jumped up, striking down on his scythe, then standing on it. He pulled back quickly, while I flash stepped back, blasted him with Dark Firagas, then struck him in the head.
We both looked forward in shock as the ship began to lose its altitude. I jumped off just before it crashed to the ground, noticing the bottom was mangled beyond repair. Roy reappeared at my side.
"This is too much... I'm still recovering," he said, dropping his form. "I'll leave him... to you..."
He opened a dark corridor, then staggered through.
Great...
Marluxia stepped forward off of the destroyed ship.
"So that's his full strength," Marluxia muttered to himself.
"Not quite," I said, readying Way to the Dawn.
I dashed forward, striking his head, but was parried. I bent at the waist to avoid being sliced in half, then kicked Marluxia in the chest. He staggered back, but swung his scythe at me before I could make another stroke. I blocked the stroke, then forced his scythe to the ground.
"So... a Dark Knight," I said. "That's it... but what about that Black Knight?"
"He didn't say anything when we fought, not even grunts of effort," Marluxia said. "So what makes you think you can beat him?"
I stepped on his scythe, leaving it on the floor, then pointed Way to the Dawn at him... rather, where his heart should have been.
"It's over," I said, driving Way to the Dawn through him. Marluxia closed his eyes and accepted his death, being calm and collected as he faded into cherry blossoms.
"That Black Knight... whose Nobody is he?" I asked myself, opening a dark corridor back to the Emperor's Throne Room.