Chapter 38: The Unknown Promise
I once again appeared in the citadel. The portal to the area I was just in is still there behind me, obviously to let Alex escape if he wins, but as I turned around and reach my hand towards it the limb just seeps through the ethereal energy and distorts it for a moment. As I pull my hand back towards my face I clenched the fingers into the shape of a fist and nodded my head, swinging my body back around and holding my sword at the hip as I looked on ahead into the more advance depths of the citadel and kneeled down upon noticing some pyramid shaped device on the pillars twirling around the structure and spreading their plates out ready to fire towards me.
"Alright, lets do this…" I had no hesitation left in me, and with one quick slash where my blade slipped through the ringed fingers of my left hand I deflected three lasers back to the guns, frying the inner circuitry and forcing it to shut down to perform repairs. I then stood up and dashed on ahead through the hallway, spinning my body and performing accurate slashes left and right to deflect anymore lasers that came my way. I wasn't expecting to disable all the guns as I traveled on ahead, but as long as I avoided taking damage then I would be ok with how things were going.
As I cleared the pillars I flipped around and ran backwards as I heard a strange whirring noise coming from the ceiling above. The straightaway lead into a sudden incline as a yellow circular glow appears from holes that have opened up. In a matter of seconds, pillars of holy light thrust down and strike the ground, not only creating a tremor that almost throws me to the ground, but also melts through the mechanical paneling. Worst of all, they were being summoned at a rapid pace. If I didn't hasten my own pace, I would be incinerated. Unless…
With some quick thinking I jumped, kept my momentum while I traveled through the air, spun around, and threw my sword towards the top part of the staircase like a javelin. Once it impaled itself on the lip of the top, I turned back around and braced my arms across my face vertically, coating them in a reflective glass as the next laser comes crashing down from above. As it was made of light, a portion of the beam refracted off of the backside of my arms and thrust straight ahead in the form of an ultra thin spread of energy.
Not only does this cut through the beam it originated from, but it also has the added bonus of slicing through the slanted ceiling and the machinery that spawned the other beams. When the last beam has finished doing its job and slips away from sight, I lower my arms and turn them back to normal, looking ahead to see the blue electricity crackling through the slit in the ceiling, which I was surprised hadn't partially collapsed after what I had done to it. "Huh, I'll have to keep that in mind for a later date…" I noted to myself after blinking my eyes twice at the damage I had caused to the temple.
Afterwards, upon taking a look down at the holes made in the ground and making certain that the outside world wasn't struck by the scorching beams of light, I turned around and finished climbing the staircase, swiping my left hand towards the ground to pick up my sword and throw it over to the grasp of my right one with ease. With a quick push through the thin hallway, I ended up in another room where I was welcomed into it by nearly falling off the edge of a thin platform. As I swung my arms and body back and forth to regain my balance, forgetting in the heat of the moment that I could fly, I looked out and caught brief glimpses of beams of light spread out from place to place, intertwining together into a web that would inevitably carry someone to the other side.
Once on my feet, I look out at the puzzle presented by the beams and think about if there was a clear solution or not. The first thing I saw was the fact that the red beam of light below ended above an ice blue beam, which in turn curved around another beam until it would deposit someone onto a lone, square platform in the middle of the room. So without much else to go on from my point of view, I leaped down into the red beam and was instantly carried through the air at a speed relative to that of…Well, light! I made it out before I could even bat an eyelash, the sensation I felt upon exiting being that of volcanic warmth as I fell onto the icy blue light and was pulled around in a spiral, a powerful chill being thrust into my body before I left.
I landed on the aforementioned platform afterwards, the icy blue beam high enough above me so I couldn't re-enter it unless I wanted to. "Actually, I wonder why I can't just fly to the other side and be done with it…" I immediately turned to the right and tried to walk off, only for my body to smack into the side of an invisible barrier and rebound a few steps back. As I rubbed my damaged nose gently I said to myself in a snuffled tone "Ok, that's why…" Determining then and there that I was constricted to a maze, with the walls being unknown to everyone but the creator of this citadel. "Well, Alex would have an easy time here…Assuming the original Overlord did create this place."
With that comment mumbled to myself as usual, I turned and look ahead. There were two beams, one dark blue and another brown. I leaped into the brown one on instinct, traveling through it and getting a rather strange feeling on my skin as if I had been swiftly covered in dirt and it was dried. Upon leaving the beam, I dropped into a yellow one, which quickly zig-zagged my body back and forth diagonally through the air as I felt all of my hairs stand up on end until I left the beam and was forcibly stuck to the side of a metal plate via a magnetic force. Luckily, it was done feet first, and I could tell that all it would take is a simple thrust of the body to pull myself free.
I had two options from here on out, a foggy white beam and a green one. Considering the pattern thus far, the white one was the light I chose to fall into. As I was pulled downward and raised upward in a steady curve, I felt a gentle breeze grazing my face. Upon emerging, I was instantly tugged in by the dark blue beam of light from earlier, which had changed directions in order to catch me. I was thrust downward rapidly like a waterfall, a liquid sensation coating the area around my skin in the shape of a torpedo.
Finally, I am released into the path of a green beam of light, a tropical breeze and scent entering through my nostrils as I'm brought upwards and finally released onto the last platform. It is perfectly square in size and shape, with glowing golden rims that activate upon my arrival. The platform then moves forward, bringing me closer to the other side of the room where another blue portal awaited me. Behind the portal was a small ladder made out of a solid blue light, and I could sense Mr. Reality's presence on the next floor. "This is the point of no return…Proceed now, and you can never go back…" A voice called to me from afar, and though I knew it would not respond to my next comment I said to it anyways "Buddy, I knew that there was no return the moment I stepped into this citadel…" With confidence in my voice and pose I leaped into the portal prematurely, the platform I leapt from going back to its original location and leaving me stranded at this location.
As usual, a voice talks to me, explaining the history behind the opponent I am going to face. This time though, there was something very different about who they described. "Long ago, when the Realm of Darkness was sealed away and the many worlds were lost forever to the darkness, new worlds had to be created in their stead. These worlds were plentiful in both appearance and size, and there was a massive variety in their species. However, to prevent the errors of the other universe, a being was created to govern it, its sole purpose being to prevent dimensional and interplanetary travels to other worlds simply because of what happened before."
"It was called the Master Hand, and the being was given the appearance of a left handed glove. Its first mission was to attack the Isle of the Ancients, but when the being proved brutal by slaughtering everyone, the higher-ups intervened and split the mind and sanity into another being who resembled a right hand glove. This was given the name of Master Hand, while the other one was titled the Crazy Hand. The Master Hand, with a full control over his vast intelligence, made sure that his more destructive counterpart would be kept under control, and would only appear whenever he wished for him to."
"The Master Hand knew nothing about his one mistake in the past, for the Crazy Hand retained those memories, though he lacked the ability to mention them due to his insanity. However, since the crimes were still done under Master Hand's name even though the body was that of the Crazy Hand, wouldn't it be true that both beings were guilty of the same crime? Who is to say really…Either way, time passed without many other disturbances in the way of dimensional or interplanetary travel, yet instead of slipping into boredom, an emotion that was truly beyond the Master Hand, the being became intrigued in the inhabitants of all worlds, and wanted to test their mettle in combat."
"He chose a simple form of combat, and plucked 12 combatants from varied worlds to perform a test run on this type of battling. The goal was simple…Fighters would go through a predetermined course of other fighters until they eventually reached him. Whoever defeated him would secure freedom for the rest of the fighters. When the victor succeeded, the Master Hand returned everyone to their time periods and homes, with not even a second having passed since their departure. Later on, the Master Hand tried this again, increasing the difficulty of the course and adding in a new one that also had to be completed for victory to be secured."
"I should not really have to explain what happens after that, for that was what was recorded in history. What you do need to know though, is that after many battles, and the interference of Tabuu long ago…The two hands are still alive, unpunished for the Master Hand's genocide of the Lord of Subspace's tribe. There was a promise made by the new Elemental Overlord to defeat the Master Hand, but do you believe after knowing what you know that it would be in the right to permanently slay either one of them? This particular dilemma will be a true test of your ability to judge right and wrong…"
I dropped down from the darkness, landing on an eight-sided three-dimensional platform that consisted of a dark violet cracked rock pattern and a silver stripe that extended from the left to the right that was broken only in the center by a neon, circular spot. The atmosphere resembled that of deep space, with the black expanse filled with glowing stars of many different colors. I heard a deep, elderly yet echoing laugh coming from the left as my body froze in place and made it so I could only turn my head slightly to see who was coming. With my sword in the brace of my hand a gigantic, flying white right-handed glove came from out of nowhere, ending its flight above the opposite side of the platform directly in front of me.
It wiggled its fingers around slowly and calmly, its laugh ending as I could feel my body being freed of all bonds. Immediately taking my sword into the grasp of my right hand, I swung it out in an arch so the tip lashes against the ground, igniting the blade with crimson fire as the Master Hand made the first move against me. He flew backwards, keeping out of range until he flattens himself vertically and swings himself across the air. I defend by raising my sword into the air, and as the being smacks into me I am pushed across the ground. Before I am flung off the edge of the platform I activate my flight and continue skidding out across the air until I cushion the backside of my body with a packet of wind.
The Master Hand returns to the center of the field, but quickly rises into the sky and emerges in the background of the battlefield. He spins around like a tornado while his fingers are clenched into a fist and his body exudes a fiery exhaust. I thrust through the air the moment before the fist collides with my body, making it back onto the edge of the platform and preparing my sword for the moment where Master Hand makes it back to the center point. However, the being surprised me by not following a specific pattern, and instead it curves back around towards the front of the arena with its hand still shaped as a fist. Instead of taking the blow to give me an up close and personal shot at the hand, I leap diagonally into the air and swing my sword in an arc below me as is passes by, unleashing a wave of flame that strikes the hand and makes it flash between its normal color and red as bits of flame spread across its body.
However, while it was ignited and my body was suspended in mid-air, the hand spun itself around in a circle around my figured, moving tightly around through multiple rotations until a tornado is briefly created around me that stuns me as it knocks me into the air. Then, as I was unable to pay attention to where it went afterwards due to my sight being positioned towards the ground, the Master Hand rises above me and smacks me straight into the platform below, crushing me beneath the girth of his palm for a few seconds as I hear a bone crack somewhat in my left arm. But while the being has me pinned down, I smirked slyly and decided to surprise it with a trick of my own.
From the skins of my elbows grows a multitude of thin yet incredibly sharp thorns, which puncture through the surface of the glove and reach what I would assume is a vulnerable type of membrane beneath, especially considering how quickly the Master Hand lifts his hand up and shakes the pain away before returning to the center of the platform and giving me enough time to pick myself up and retract the thorns before they interfere with the movement of my limbs. With a quick one-handed swing of the sword that unleashes a flame wave meant to fake out the hand by getting to lift itself upward, I leap into the air just a few inches above the glove and pull my right arm behind my body as I fall down sideways and grasp my sword tightly.
After coating the arm in steel to strengthen the impact of my slash, I felt rest assured that my attack would hit in full. Much to my dismay and surprise though, the Master Hand quickly floats across the air, managing only to be struck by the tail-end of my slash as it readies it fingers in a gun-like shape and creates a glow in the tip of the two fingers pointed at me. After recovering from the force of my slash I float straight up and quickly raise my left hand into the air, bringing it down to summon forth a cascade of water from the sky that crosses paths with the two golden bullets that speed straight out of the fingers. With the water weighing it down, the bullets are knocked out of their trajectory and they proceed to crash against the ground and create an explosion that only lasts a millisecond due to the water putting it out.
I then cross my left hand in front of my face and surround the pressed fingertips with pulsating electricity that is barely contained in the area of confinement I have put them in. Thus, with only seconds until the electricity backfires onto me, I brandish my hand forward and shoot out a bolt of lightning that burns right through the center of Master Hand's body. No mark is left on the surface after a few seconds, the circular burn point fading away in a rather eerie fashion as I pull my smoking fingers back and watch as the hand clenches its fingers together with a bone-like crackling noise pushing through the skin before it spreads it fingers apart and begins taking swinging itself left and right through the air towards me.
Whether it was attempting to swat me aside or smack me around, I took the offensive here by first dropping my sword in front of my body horizontally, placing the heel of my shoe against the backside of the handle and kicking it with enough force to send it forward like a lance, causing it to impale through the center of the hand's palm and making it stop moving just inches away from my body. However, instead of staying in place, the Master Hand is quick to change tactics and it wraps its fingers around my figure, tightening its grasp as hard as physically possible to crush me within slowly but surely. Though my vision was devoid of most light, I was still able to concentrate on my blade on the outside.
Taking both of my hands and using all of my strength to push against the palm and the fingers to keep them from squeezing me any further, I then close my eyes, gather my wits, and lock on to my sword as it was now laid flat against the ground. With a quick turn around after commanding it to hover above the air, I unleash a rapid flurry of flaming slashes, each one alternating between vertical and horizontal as far as directions go until the last one strikes the backside of the Master Hand in an "X" shaped design. As the hand releases its grip on me and my body begins to fall towards the ground, the being leans back in pain and time starts to slow down. With the background becoming a swirling white vortex that consumes everything whole in a glowing light, I hear an echoing, high-pitched and unhinged laugh coming from afar, a bad omen for the battle from here on out.
When the light fades away the battlefield has changed immensely. Though the background was still that of space, there was now some purple and dark blue cosmic fog spread over the glowing stars. The platform, while still eight-sided in shape, was now thinner and more spread out, with the silver stripe replaced with a full, dark grey lane and some grated mesh now placed onto the platform to reveal some three-dimensional blue object with orange rims spinning around the center of a glowing, miniature black fusion reactor that is sending a thin beam of light downward infinitely.
After I had described the changes in my head, the new fighter, a left-handed glove that wiggles its fingers around without any sense of control as it flies through the air, stops behind me as time suddenly resumes and the battle continues. The Crazy Hand quickly becomes a fist and thrusts forward, smashing right into my backside and punching me into the open palm of the Master Hand, who clenches his own fingers together and lifts me into the air, reaching the proper height before punching down onto the ground and letting go of me at the last second. As my body hits the ground at the maximum velocity, recoil kicks in and I am bounced back high into the air, the platform shrinking rapidly in my squinted line of sight until I spread my limbs out wide and break my forced ascent.
Immediately afterwards I dispel my sword and fold my arms in front of my chest, unleashing a quick beam of fire out towards the center point between both floating hands. As the tip of the beam connects with the ground a fiery explosion grows outward in all directions, though to my dismay the hands fly in random directions to avoid being consumed by it. With the Master Hand quickly flying at me from the right in the shape of a fist I bend my head backwards to avoid having it blown clean off, and the cusp of the glove ends up grazing my nose. However, my troubles aren't over yet as reeling my head back allows me to look up and see the Crazy Hand spiraling downward with his fingers pushed together like a drill.
Flying backwards through the air to avoid it after straightening my head out, I then take my sword out and cut the Crazy Hand vertically with the tip of my blade. The being of insanity still descends though, since my mere cut was not enough to disrupt him. I then since a disturbance in the air coming from the left, and with a swerve of my head my eyes widen upon noticing the Master Hand cocking his fingers up and down in rapid succession, sending bullets after bullets my way as I weave across the air to avoid each one. The Master Hand tries to get a peg on where I will eventually end up, but when he does I figure out what his plan is ahead of time and promptly use my sword to cut the bullets diagonally with one hand so the split halves graze past the sides of my body and explode.
The explosion does nothing more than ruffle the backside of my hair, and as the Master Hand stops firing projectiles I quickly realized that the Crazy Hand was about ready to strike me from behind in some manner, seeing as the Master Hand telegraphed the arrival of his companion by wiggling his point finger in the air as if to taunt me. I fly upward to avoid a punch from the more insane of the two, who then flies below me and collides into the Master Hand's awaiting palm, releasing a dark shockwave that extends past their bodies. The Crazy Hand pulls out and shakes himself a couple times to remove the pain from his knuckles.
While they are momentarily stunned, I clench my left hand into the shape of a fist and thrust my hand high into the air after unfolding the fingers to release a burst of air from within my grasp. Wind comes collapsing in all around the two hands, and in a matter of seconds they are bombarded by a flurry of wind blades. I hear the sound of the blades scratching against their body, but am surprised when neither hand flinches at my attack. The Crazy Hand, laughing maniacally, turns into a fist and charges right out of the storm of blades towards me, the air splitting away from its body in a bullet like shape.
As friction heats up the shape around him to give him a translucent red-orange glow, I thrust my sword downward in an arc, bracing myself against the air with my feet pushed backwards as I clash against the force of Crazy Hand's punch. It was a defense I couldn't mount for long, seeing as Master Hand was still free to strike from any junction, whenever he wanted to. I shifted my eyes back and forth as I grit my teeth and pushed forward, raising the intensity of my sword's flames and successfully pushing the Crazy Hand back through the air against his will, slowing down his momentum to the point where he has to break away to avoid being cut in two.
However, as he reels back he lifts himself up, moving his fist vertically so he can pound down on top of my back while I was in the middle of my slash, hitting me with enough strength to send me hurtling back into the platform that I had long forgotten about. The collision sends a plume of dirt into the sky, covering my body and causing me to inhale a bit of it in and release a quiet yet dry cough to remove it from my esophagus. Though I do not see it from my current position, Crazy Hand unfolds his fingers from above and releases a rain of negative energy bombs condensed into a solid form.
The bombs all collide with me, making my head and legs lash back and forth with each hit until they stop. By then my back is left smoking from the impact of them all, and though I felt a bit damaged from the assault I pushed myself up while using my sword as a crutch until I stood up straight all the way. While I rose off the ground, I felt a powerful energy charging up in the air behind me. Turning around quickly, I see the two hands combining together high up into the air, their fingers pressed to form the barrel of a gigantic gun, the tip burning with radiant energy that is a mixture of both light and fire.
As the smooth orange glow expands outward towards me, I raise one hand over my forehead to defend against the brunt of it, glaring towards the sky as well as I could as I dispel my sword and in its place I create a small ball of fire that expands in size slowly. As it overtakes the area of my hand, I swing my right arm in front of my face, leaving a trail of fire behind briefly as I swing my opposite limb out to the side and create a flame in that too. I then move my arms around in a specific, circular pattern, the fire melding together when I clap my hands in front of my chest and seething into the cusp of my palms until it becomes a condensed orb that gets pulled behind my body.
With both of our attacks charged to their maximum potential, I thrust my arms diagonally into the air, unleashing a powerful beam of flame twice as big in circumference as my whole body. I cannot see the other beam at this point, the only confirmation of its launch being the fact that the impact in the center of the air causes my body to be pushed back a couple inches against my will until I can fully brace them with small, metal curves behind the heels of my shoes. Both forces try to overcome the other, and though the hands' beam proves to be stronger at first, with a brave thrust of my eyelids and a bellowing scream I tighten my muscles and unload as much fire into the beam as possible without exhausting myself in case this were to fail.
With the beam growing in size, the edge of the front of it widens and consumes the other beam, pushing through the rest of it until it is only a few inches away from the hands. After pulling my own hands away and letting the beam continue on its way, I notice the Master Hand splitting away from his counterpart out of fear for his own life, and though the insane counterpart tries to escape himself he is but a second late and the moment he turns his body he is consumed in full by the flames I launched. The Crazy Hand lets out a massive screech in pain, and unlike the other times it has been "killed" the being's entire body is disintegrated without mercy, the scream becoming nothing more than a hollow echo as my beam dies out and the area becomes covered in a bright white light once more while time grinds to a ticking halt.
When the light disperses, I am left standing on an entirely new platform. Having discarded the octagonal design in favor of a thinner, more rectangular form, the sleek metal blue surface has a rather wavy design while the diamond in the center hides a glowing red crystal underneath the metal wire cage. The rest of the platform maintains a rather advanced look, mechanical appearance. The sky has now lost all of its stars, and the cosmic fog from earlier has not only faded out slightly but there is now yellow fog out there instead of purple.
As I shook my head around to look at the scenery for a brief moment, I am taken off-guard by a sudden, high velocity punch from the side by the Master Hand. The being had been driven mad with righteous fury at the death of its counterpart, and the anger strengthened his blow with enough force to send my body twirling a mile away from the platform like a torpedo. With a burst of speed the hand makes it behind me just soon enough to catch me like it was a baseball mitt, and after tightening its grip around me it shakes me around a few times to disorient and prevent me from escaping prematurely.
It then flings me up and turns his fingers into a gun, and though my eyes are blurred throughout his actions here and now I do manage to catch the first pair of bullets as they thrust through the air and explode right upon me. The detonations send me higher into the air with each consecutive shot, until there is enough distance between me and him to give me enough time to recover and draw my sword out to cut through the last bullets he sends my way. With my body covered by the smoke from the explosion, I get a grip on where I am at and close my eyelids to listen to what the air has to say in order to peg where the Master Hand plans to strike from next.
With a disturbance in the sky from the southeast, I turn my body in that direction and use a series of vines that emerge from the sides of my shoulders to grab the Master Hand by the thumb and pinkie finger, suspending his flight as the smoke clears away and gives me a clear view of his body. However, as I was ready to strike him with some strong sword slash against all parts of his body, the Master Hand pulled his bound fingers inward, dragging me through the air to my surprise in an attempt to grab my body and crush it with all of his strength. Refusing to let the pattern of attack begin again, I disconnect the vines from my arms, and with my momentum still moving me towards the being I kick my feet outward and shoot powerful jets of flames from the soles of my shoes.
Propulsion does the rest from there on out, and I am moved away from the Master Hand the moment he closes his fingers against his palm. As I move back I smile and let out a merry breath at my close escape, taking my sword then afterwards and swinging it out to strike the Master Hand with a flame wave, followed afterwards my me turning my legs around and striking forward through the air with my left fist held behind my back. I coated it in a sharp crystalline texture and punched the Master Hand right in the knuckle of his middle finger, creating a few scars on the surface that leak out a foreign, light-blue blood for a few seconds as the being flies back and swings his hand around to shake the liquid off.
The Master Hand, upon recovering, spreads his fingers in the air and fires a laser beam from each tip, at first firing in random directions with only one actually focused on me, but after a few moments spent being evasive the hand works his lasers in such a manipulative way that he could actually cage me in and fry me. However, by using the reflective surface of my blade to deflect one of the lasers in another direction, I slip out of the incoming cage from the left side, moving my sword in such a way that the energy collides with the Master Hand's palm and burns him to the point that he stops his attack and twitches at the damage he took.
His momentary pause allows me to rush in and hit him with a powerful onslaught of flaming slashes the likes of which I had never used before. My attacks were perfectly dictated by the movement of my arms, the harmonious flurry striking the Master Hand and wearing him down rapidly. Eventually, time freezes momentarily as the being suddenly screams in its normal tone of voice and shifts straight up, its body flying in an arch through the air and away from my sight as random explosions plague it all-around. I knew what it was doing though, and that this retreat of his would give him a chance to recover and live unpunished once more.
"No, you won't escape again, Master Hand!" With burning determination set on the desire to fulfill Alex's promise to Tabuu for him, I grip my sword in both hands and hold it behind me as I pierce downward through the air to chase after the fleeing and descended Master Hand. With flames powerful enough to burn a scar in time and space reaching out past the boundaries of my blade, I close in the massive hand and swing my sword in a crushing arch that breaks the Master Hand in two diagonally. Everything then suddenly starts to slow down as the hand splits apart, the energies stored within its body collapsing upon itself as furious sparks ring out between the two halves and the entire area becomes encompassed in a glowing white light.
After feeling nothing for what felt like an eternity, the light is suddenly flushed out of my eyes and I find myself back in the citadel, my body fully healed surprisingly and my mind left wondering if that battle actually occurred or not. With a few blinks of the eyelids I say to myself "Did I really kill the two hands? …If so, then good, a great injustice has been dealt with at last…But if that wasn't real, then what was the point of me 'fighting' them?" With my mind straying more towards the former than the latter, I shook my head and proceeded towards the ladder in front of me, and with no obstacles left it was time to confront and defeat Mr. Reality once and for all.
Next Time: The Battle Continues