Chapter 28x: Forgotten Challenge

BGM: Forgotten Challenge (KH: Re:CoM). I don't claim the rights to the song.

A Black Knight walked across the Fragment Crossing, returning to his self-imposed post at the top of the Altar of Naught. However, just as he was about to go to the Edge of Despair, from the top of Memory's Skyscraper, he heard someone shout his name...

"ORYX!!!" he heard a familiar voice shout. The Black Knight looked atop the Memory's Skyscraper, where an orange-coated man stood.

"I know that voice... somehow..." the Black Knight responed. "Your name... it is Jake, is it not?"

Jake Hartmut jumped down the Memory's Skyscraper, landing smoothly on the platform just in front of the doors. The Black Knight slowly strode up to him, staring at the orange-coated warrior he could barely remember.

"Your voice... I know you. You... the one named Jake Hartmut," the Black Knight said. "Who are you?"

"In some small way," Jake muttered, "I'm your brother. However... I'm also your assassin."

"What business do you have in killing me?" the Knight asked.

"If I kill you, Roy might die," he answered. "Even if he doesn't, he'll never reach his full potential with you dead."

Roy... Hartmut? Is that... my true name? Who I truly am?

Jake made hand seals, then tore open a hole in space-time. He pulled a flamberge out of it.

"Prepare yourself, Roy. You see... even if your armor's unbreakable, I'll kill you," Jake said. "No matter what."

Roy...

The Black Knight unsheathed his purple Keyblade... Alpha Weapon.

"I see... you truly are... him..." Jake muttered. Jet-black lightning bolts began to spread across his skin. "Then I'll fight you as I would fight him... unrestrained!"

"If you would fight me as if I were someone else, then I shall give you no quarter," the Black Knight replied. "Your darkness is strong... but it won't be enough."

"We shall see," Jake replied to the Black Knight's comment.

The two rushed at each other. The Black Knight attacked Jake's shins, but was hit in the head. He was unfazed, stood up, and struck at Jake's chest. Jake parried the blow, but the force of the Black Knight's stroke sent him skidding back. He then jumped atop the Skyscraper, while the Black Knight followed with a sonic screech. On the roof, the two attacked and parried each others' strokes at sonic speeds, while the Black Knight used the sounds to attack Jake's ears. It proved mildly successful, reducing Jake's sensitivity to sounds.

The Black Knight knocked Jake off of the Skyscraper, then gave pursuit. Jake put up his blade after landing, blocking the Knight's attack. The Black Knight jumped back to his original position. Jake rushed at him, making several high-speed strikes, but didn't even manage to scratch the Black Knight's armor.

The Black Knight moved to strike Jake's left arm, but was blocked. He took a few more ineffective attacks, then attacked Jake's right arm, but was blocked once more. Jake backed off.

"I see... regular physical attacks are meaningless," he said, making hand seals. "So how about some special moves?"

Jake's grin was illuminated by the lightning from his Chidori.

Jake charged ahead, intending to kill the Black Knight with a Chidori to the heart. The move connected...

but only scratched the Black Knight's armor.

"WHAT?!" Jake shouted. "A Chidori punches through anything... why can't I hurt your armor?!"

"My armor is filled with the darkness of time," the Knight answered. He then grabbed Jake's wrist and threw him back. "Unless you control light, you cannot pierce it."

The light of the Keyblade...

Jake closed his eyes.

"I see... so you are him... you truly, truly are him..." Jake smirked. "So be it."

A great dark aura began to flow out of Jake. The Black Knight had to brace himself, despite his heavy armor, against the force of the darkness. The Black Knight lowered his arm after the darkness subsided.

Jake... had turned into a monster. His Level 2 Cursed Seal.

"Only more darkness," the Black Knight said. "It won't help."

"It's my hope," Jake said with a voice distortion, "that my darkness will overwhelm yours. If this isn't enough, not much else is."

"Such a fool," the Black Knight replied. Jake jumped atop a building, and the Black Knight gave pursuit. The two jumped across the buildings, parrying and striking at supersonic speeds. Each blow sent out a shockwave of force that runbled the buildings they were on. Jake blasted the Black Knight with Chidori, Swamp of the Underworld, and a variety of other moves, but with his sonic powers and impenetrable armor, all was for naught.

After several minutes of attacking atop the skyscrapers, the two moved back to the Memory's Skyscraper. Rain began falling, and lightning rumbled the air. After hypersonic strikes and parries that sent the rain flying around them, Jake and the Black Knight stood locked in a contest of strength.

"Roy... my brother," Jake sneered as he pushed the Black Knight back. "Don't you remember?"

"I vaguely remember a Roy," the Black Knight answered. "He's a murderer, his soul stained with blood that drips from his aura. I'm not him... I protect."

The Black Knight began to push back.

"I know you... you're... my brother," the Black Knight said. "I care about you. So why are we fighting?"

Jake's Cursed Seal receded to Level 1.

"Why are we fighting?" Jake asked. "Maybe because of what you've done... someone with a soul like yours can't be allowed to live."

Jake pushed the Black Knight back.

"No... I'm me! Oryx, the Black Knight!" Oryx replied, shoving Jake back into a building. "I'm not Roy! He's a destroyer of life... I'm it's guardian!"

Oryx struck Jake three times in his chest, tearing open bloody cuts. He turned around and sheathed his Keyblade.

"You... brother," he said. "Leave this place and never return. If you do, I'll be waiting."

Jake sneered, then disappeared into a dark corridor.

"My real self... I wonder if he's as terrible as Xemnas said..." Oryx muttered to himself, walking off.

END CHAPTER 28x.