A/N- Sorry for the wait. It would seam that I've fallen back into my old habitof not updating consistently.

Now, I know my fight scenes have been pretty bad so far, it's just not my strong suit. Hopefully this one will be better.

King of the Sky

Chapter IX

The Prison of Elders Part II

Sora tapped his foot as he stood in the airlock, waiting for Variks' Servitor to return and open the next door.

Chirithy, meanwhile, was floating over his shoulder, watching him with mild concern. Sora wasn't outright depressed or anything, but he was notably less cheery then usual.

"Sora, are you ok?" He asked as he hovered closer.

The Guardian took a moment before snapping out of his thoughts "hum?…oh, I'm fine Chirithy, really" he replied with a smile.

Chirithy studied Sora's face for a moment before sighing in relief "good" he said and would have smiled himself, if he were able.

Sora, meanwhile, began humming a merry tune, while they waited. It's was true that his mind had been wondering to the Cabal he'd fought, and he did regret having to kill them, but he wasn't about to break down over it. The thing that saddened him the most about it was, he didn't even know anything about them. He didn't know why they were in the Prison of Elders, he didn't know what they fought for, and he didn't know anything about them as people.

Sora knew he should be worried about his next fight, but right now he couldn't help but let his curiosity get the better of him. He wanted to learn about these aliens he was fighting.

Sora was pulled from his thoughts by Variks' Servitor, opening the next door.

"Hive spawn, thirst for your Light…kill them before they kill you" it spoke before teleporting out.

Sora paused before proceeding through, as he noticed Chirithy shuddering a little.

"Hive…why did it have to be Hive?" the Ghost lamented to himself.

Sora frowned as he reached up and gently pulled his Ghost down to face him.

"Hay, are you ok?" he asked with concern.

Chirithy blinked a few times before answering "sorry, it's just…the Hive creep me out" he admitted while looking away.

Sora just smiled at the Ghost "don't worry. You'll be fine as long as I'm here" he assured.

Chirithy felt better at seeing his smile and gave a nod before vanishing.

Sora took a breath before turning to the tunnel and somewhat regretted it, as dust drifted out, along with the foul smell of rot.

More then that though, Sora felt Darkness, polluting the air as he walked down the tunnel and the floor stoped taping and instead crunched and squelched under his boots.

Sora began to understand his Ghost's feelings on the Hive, as he walked under a bone, possibly a rib, protruding from the ground and arching over him, and the walls and floor, progressively became more overtaken by moldy and chitinous growths.

Sora finally emerged into an area, similar to the last, but somehow feeling more claustrophobic. The air was both stale with dust clouding the Guardian's view and also putrid with rot.

What little light shined in the room, was tainted green by the dust and Sora couldn't tell if what he was looking at was rock or chiton.

The massive bones and ribcages, big enough for him to jump in, where quite obvious and prevalent, along with a pool of black, viscous fluid a little further in and to his left.

Sora involuntary shivered at the stifling Darkness that permeated the room. It wasn't enough to hinder him but it was noticeable, and Sora was also beginning to miss his helmet's filters.

The Guardian lifted one of his feet and shook the gunk from his boot "ew…just what are we fighting anyway?" he thought aloud.

SREEEEEKKKKK!!!

Sora winced and covered his ears as a Hive Wizard, hidden somewhere out of view, answered his call.

Sora then heard a gurgling sound and turned in time to see a three fingered claw, reach out of the pool of black fluid and pull it's self up, revealing a lanky and almost frail looking thing in a roughly humanoid shape. Yet it's fragile appearance did nothing to hide it's vicious and deadly nature, as displayed by the chitinous bone that covered it. Only leaving a few bit of sinew exposed at it's joints and the deadly claws and lipless face of teeth, with thee toxic green eyes, staring at Sora with hunger, from it's smooth skull.

The Hive Thrall, shrieked at Sora as it's brood mates, pulled themselves up behind him and they all dashed at the Guardian with ravenous cries and claws reaching to tear into the Guardian.

Sora yelped and quickly Air-stepped away, landing on the outcropping of, what he hoped was rock, that sat in front of the entrance, and looked back to see the Thralls quickly give chase.

Sora quickly shook himself free from his daze as he saw dozens of Thralls, pouring out of airlocks around the room as well, and not just the pool.

"Welp…this is horrifying" Sora said and summoned his Keyblade and drew his sidearm, as the hoard quickly closed in on him.

Sora braced himself on the edge of the rock he was standing on and felt that old power that he'd tapped before, and just as the swarm was upon him, he jumped up, easily sailing out of their reach and aimed his Keyblade and pistol both at the mass of Hive below him and the key glowed orange as he yelled "fire!" and said element burst forth, as hot led, left his pistol.

The shrieks of the Hive, joined the smell of burning flesh as they were immolated, and not just the ones hit by the fire spell. The ones Sora hit with his pistol also seamed to burn themselves up and turn to dust as they died.

Sora landed but quickly had to turn and defect a set of claws, aimed for him and Sora spun with the momentum of his deflection and cleaved through three Thralls with a wide swing.

Sora spared a moment to glance down at the remains of the Thralls, as they turned to ash, and grimaced a little as he saw a large, three eyed worm, or grub of some sort, fall from their crumbling bodies before giving a death shriek of it's own and turning to ash along with them.

Sora had no time to linger though, as the swarm of Thralls, converged on him from all around.

Sora bit his lip as they all leaped for him with no regard for their own safety. He felt his body twitch on instinct and muscle memory though and smirked as static jumped between his fingertips.

As the swarm came within mere inches of striking him, Sora flexed his arms out and golden static, discharged from him, forming a dome around him that fried the Thralls to a crisp.

Sora took a moment to observe the carnage, or at least he tried, but more Thralls jumped out of nowhere, like a never ending hoard.

Sora gritted his teeth as he jumped away and used Flow Motion to bounce off the walls and shoot himself up on top of the giant skeleton to hopefully avoid the Thralls.

While perched atop the giant ribcage, Sora couldn't help but compare the Thralls to the Heartless, in the way they swarmed. But where the Darkness that composed them felt more instinctual, like an animal hunting it's prey, the Hive felt more malicious. Like they took joy from their actions.

Sora may have held some reservations and a little guilt over the Cabal he fought before, but he would have no qualms over fighting the Hive.

The Cabal were soldiers, but these Hive were monsters in every sense of the word. He could feel it, even now, as they hungered for his life and Light, for no other reason then to cause pain and death.

Sora aimed his pistol as he saw the swarm coming after him again and fired a few shots, but another, louder shot, caught his attention.

And just in time too, as his eyes widened at the white/blue energy that was fired at him and his shields flared as it grazed passed him, as he dropped to the ground.

Sora was forced to dodge again though, as a shadow loomed over him and a black blade, withered and scared by centuries of combat with no maintenance, came down where he had just been kneeling.

Sora quickly brought up his Keyblade to block the sword and came face to face with another Hive. This one was different from the Thralls though.

Gone was the frail build. Instead, Sora found himself facing a Hive, three times the hight and bulk of the Thralls. It's carapace had grown and hardened like armor, covering a body of muscles upon muscles, and the bone of it's skull, grown up and outward, like a budding flower, forming a horn in the front and back, and two to the sides. It's three eyes burning green with power as it pressed down it's blighted blade upon Sora, while in it's off hand, it held a weapon that was shaped like an elongated triangle. It's top and bottom formed from chitinous bone, like the Hive themselves, around a metal core, and the sword's hilt was also made of bone.

Sora couldn't help but feel revolted as the Hive Knight's lipless jaws, opened to roar right in his face and he grimaced "dude, breath mint" he quipped before twisting his Keyblade and hooking the teeth on the Knight's sword and pulled it downward and into the ground. He then brought up his pistol and fired a few rounds into the Knight but most just bounced off it's armor before the Knight knocked Sora's gun hand aside with it's own and returned the favor.

Sora grimaced as his shields broke and he jumped to the left with burns on his right side and he had to fight through the pain as he deflected shots from the Knight.

"Ahh!" Sora suddenly yelled in pain as the Thralls from before, came up behind him and raked their claws across his back.

The Guardian quickly jumped up against the giant ribcage they were fighting in and bounced off it with Flow Motion. He then bounced around inside the giant ribs a few times, avoiding the Knight's shots, before holding his Keyblade out in front of him and spinning like a drill and going through five Thralls and headed for the Knight next.

"Gah!" Sora grunted as he found his momentum suddenly stopped and he bounced back a little and shook his head before looking up and seeing the Knight had erected a shield of Darkness between them.

Sora grimaced and resisted the urge to grip his burned side as he heard more Thralls screaming at him and glanced back to see more coming.

"Oh come on" Sora moaned before lifting Kingdom Key and aiming it at the coming swarm "freeze!" He yelled as the tip of the blade glowed light blue and ice burst forth in a shotgun pattern and not only penetrated the Thralls but froze them solid and, much to Sora's relief, blocked the entrance to the ribcage, or at least made it harder, while the Thralls began tearing through their froze brood mates.

Sora then turn to face the Knight again as it dropped the shield and two more, joined it from behind as it began laughing, or at least what passed for laughing for them, as air passed it's exposed teeth in bursts.

"Seriously" Sora deadpanned as his shoulders slumped a little and he lifted his Keyblade as the tip glowed green.

Green vines, suddenly appeared and snaked up around him as he glowed green, healing his injuries. He would have preferred to let Chirithy heal him and save his last bit of mana, but he wasn't about to risk exposing his Ghost in front of Three Knights with countless Thralls about to brake through from behind.

"Uh Sora, just a suggestion but…maaaybe you should GET US THE HECK OUT OF HERE!?" Chirithy suggested with urgency as Thralls began surrounding the ribcage and trying to reach through while the others began breaking the last of the ice and the Knights held their blades up as they advanced.

Sora gritted his teeth as he began deflecting shots and backing up. His little haven had become a death trap.

He began looking around for a solution. They needed a way to get out and deal with all the enemies around him, but his mana had yet to recharge.

Sora smirked though as he glanced back at the multitude of Thralls behind him if I need more power, then I'll just get some he thought as he felt his muscles tense in anticipation.

Sora then aimed his gun and Keyblade forward as he let out a yell and the Knights quickly conjured their shields.

No shots came though.

Instead, they heard something big, hit the lead Knight's shield and playfully yell "psych" before jumping off, fallowed by the sound of spinning blades, shattered ice and dying Thralls.

The Knights dropped their shields after a moment, only to see empty space where the Guardian should have been, and behind that, a hole blown through the ice and many Thralls, still in the process of turning to dust.

The Knights growled in frustration as they charged out and saw the Guardian, back at the pool where the Thralls had first emerged.

The three Knights roared as they advanced, but Sora just smirked back at them.

They were too late.

Sora had already built up enough momentum fighting the Thralls, and as the Knights drew closer, Sora flexed as an aura formed around him and shattered.

All three Knights, suddenly found themselves flying back from a powerful slash. Their armor now sporting matching, deep gashes.

The Knights looked up to see that Sora's clothes had changed. The red in his hoodie had changed to yellow, along with the armor of his suit, while the fabric became black.

The Kingdom Key now glowed with power as well, as Sora basked in the power of his Second Form.

Sora shot forwards with incredible speed and the lead Knight conjured his shield…

…Only for it to shatter under Sora's might and drawing a scream from the Knight, as holy blade met tainted flesh.

If the other Knights were surprised, then they didn't show it as they swung their own swords at the Guardian as the last of the Thralls, jumped into the fray.

Sora just gave a downward swing at the Knight to his right though and four golden orbs of Light, formed from the tip of his blade and quickly flew around him. knocking back the other Knight and killing the remaining Thralls.

Sora then lifted his keyblade up and golden energy, arced up around him to the tip of his Keyblade, before detonating and sending the two remaining Knights further back.

Sora then jumped passed the Knight he was just fighting and slicing him in half as he went before standing in front of the last Knight.

The last Hive looked up at Sora as they both took a momentary pause in the battle.

The Knight glanced around at all the death around them, then looked to Sora and the sword in his hand…

And then it began laughing…

Sora was obviously confused by the Knight's suddenly jovial nature as it stood up. That confusion only grew as the Knight beat it's sword against it chest, almost like a sign of respect and spoke words in a guttural language that was literally painful for Sora to hear.

The Hive then charged forwards with a war cry and Sora's eyes widened before deflecting the blade and slicing through the Knight's armor, several times, until it fell to it's knees and turned to dust, leaving only a few bones and armor, along with it's sword.

Sora stood there for a moment, even as the voice of Variks' Servitor, echoed over the P.A. system.

He felt a disturbing chill run up his spine as he stared down at the ashen remains of the Hive that had known full well that it was about to die, and yet seamed almost happy as it fell to his blade.

"Hay, Chirithy?" Sora called, a little absentmindedly as he continued to stare.

Chirithy appeared next to Sora with a hum "yah?" he asked as he eyed their surroundings.

Sora was quite for a moment before speaking "do you know what that guy said?" he asked, with an oddly serious tone.

Chirithy hummed as he dug around in his databanks for a moment "I'm not entirely sure, but I think he said something along the lines of "may you carry the Sword Logic far, Light"" he translated with a little uncertainty in his voice.

Sora frowned a little at that. He still wasn't sure what this Sword Logic was, but as he held up his Keyblade and looked at it, he began to notice something.

He felt stronger.

It had been incremental, but his power had steadily risen as he killed more Hive, especially the Knights. The fact that Second Form was still holding strong, was proof of the minor boost he'd received.

Sora was broken from his introspection by a buzzer and Variks' voice, coming over the P.A. "enemies come Guardian" he spoke and the Hive Wizard from before, cried out again.

Sora quickly spun around to face the pool as Chirithy disappeared "right, fight now, think later" Sora muttered as he refocused on the new enemy, crawling out of the pool.

And it was a big one.

Easily overshadowing the Knights he had faced before, it stood well above Sora in a hunched over posture, with a heavily armored body. The only exception being it's massive head, which unlike it's smaller brethren, was not armored and instead boasted a bulbuls and fleshy form, with no discernible eyes under the overgrowth of flesh, aside from a yellow glow under the skin of his forehead.

A Hive Ogre.

Sora stared up at the massive and grotesque creature, as it roared at him, sending a strong gust of putrid air and spittle by his face.

Sora gave a light cough and waved his hand in front of his face before refocusing on the Ogre "eh, fought bigger" he muttered playfully as he got his game face back on.

The Ogre roared again, before bringing it's fists up to smash Sora, but the Guardian just jumped forwards, towards the Ogre and let the familiar blue aura, envelope him as he hooked the teeth of his Keyblade on the Ogre's waist and spun around a few times as the glow spread to the creature.

While spinning, Sora hears more Thralls shrieking and smirked as he saw them rushing out of an airlock. He then stopped his spin while bracing himself and, using the momentum and his Keyblade, hurled the Ogre into the new swarm.

Sora laughed lightly as the Thralls were crushed and the Ogre dazed and he wasted no time in jumping in.

Loud wailing, alerted Sora to the new enemy that had snuck up behind him though and he quickly rolled out of the way and spun around to deflect the bolts of lightning being fired at him and he looked up at the Wizard that had finally decided to reveal it's self, floating above the spawning pool.

It was nowhere near as buff as the Knights but not frail like the Thralls. It was also floating high above the battlefield with, what might have been tattered robes, flowing out below it. Sora honestly couldn't tell if the leathery robes, coving it's chitinous body, were clothes or the Wizard own skin. It's bone growing out of it's skull was also more like a crest, growing backwards and curving up slightly.

The Wizard gave a piercing cry, before lifting it's claws and sending bolts of Arc energy at Sora.

The Guardian deflected a few bolt before he heard the grunts of the Ogre getting back on it's feet and the ground tumbling as it stomped it's way towards him.

Sora felt the Ogre looming over him and quickly Air-stepped to the Wizard as the behemoth roared and a stream of purple Void energy, burst from it's forehead and struck where Sora had been standing.

"Gotcha!" Sora yelled as he appeared in front of the Wizard, who recoiled slightly at his sudden appearance and the Ogre roared in frustration.

Sora swung his keyblade at the Wizard but the Hive flowed through the air like water to dodge the attack and Sora grimaced as the Wizard prepared another barrage while more Thralls closed in.

Sora then held his Keyblade up while still in mid-air and he seamed to float there as a massive black sphere, formed around him with multicolored waves moving inward and the Wizard yelled in surprise as it found it's self and the Thralls, being pulled in, like a magnet before the sphere exploded.

Sora than landed in the middle of the pool with a splash, as the ashen remains of the Thralls fell around him. Sora then stood and looked around with a smirk, but then felt the ground vibrating as the Oger approached and the Wizard cried out in rage.

Sora sighed and let his shoulders slump as he turned around "really?" he muttered as the Wizard, still alive and with a Solar shield enveloping it, floated over the Ogre.

Sora grimaced inwardly though. He could feel that Second Form was about to fizzle out, so he needed to finish this fast, unless he wanted to get backed into a corner like with the Knights again.

Fortunately, he had built up enough momentum from fighting so long and smirked as he let the last of Second Form's power, explode outward.

Moving faster then the eye could see and Keyblade glowing gold, Sora dashed to the two remaining Hive and became a whirlwind of wide, spinning slashes and strikes, in quick succession.

The two Hive let out cries and grunts as thousands of slashes, cut through their armor in mere seconds, under the onslaught of Sora's Ars Arcanum.

Sora then finished with a downward strike and the Ogre gave a gurgling groan as it was bisected and fell to it's knees before turning to dust.

The Wizard was laying on the ground. It's armor and robes in tatters and minus a horn. It's shield having protected it from the worst of the onslaught but now gone. It growled with pain as it started pushing it's self up.

CALNG!

It's growl suddenly turned into a cry of pain and rage though, as the Kingdom Key suddenly flew through the air and impaled it. The Wizard then let out one last ragged breath, before crumbling into dust.

Sora meanwhile, stood with his arm still extended from the through and his armor and hoodie returned to normal. He then looked around to seen no more Hive forthcoming and let his arm fall with a sigh.

"Glad that's over" he said and he straitened up as the Kingdom Key disappeared. He frowned a little though as he looked to the gun in his hand and ejected the mag into his hand.

Empty.

It had been empty for the entirety of that last fight. Sora was so focused on the Hive that he hadn't thought to reload or even holster it to use both hands with his Keyblade.

Sora sighed as he discarded the empty mag and replaced it with the full one that Chirithy Transmatted into his hand.

"I really need to get used to using guns more" he thought aloud, before holstering the weapon.

Sora's thoughts were interrupted by Chirithy appearing next to him and looking around with a hum.

"Something doesn't feel right. Shouldn't there be one more wave?" he asked as he looked around.

Sora hummed as he crossed his arms. There had been one more wave for the last two rounds. The number of Hive that had been sent at him felt a little off too. Excluding the Thralls, he only faced a small number of Knights and one Wizard.

"Well, this was supposed to be a demonstration, so they could see how the Keyblade works, so maybe they're taking it easy on us?" Sora said with a smile and a hopeful shrug.

Sora froze immediately though and slapped his hand over his mouth as his previous lessons returned to him. Again, it was too little too late though, as mechanical sounds suddenly exploded into being, behind him, along with the hissing of steam.

"Final wave" Variks' voice, echoed out as Sora and Chirithy slowly turned to see a metal dome with symbols on it, had suddenly lifted up out of the ground.

"Xôlak, Light Collector. Scourge of Mare Imbrium" Variks' Servitor announced as the dome retracted, and with it, a wave of Darkness poured out.

Not a tangible Darkness that could been seen, like with Anti-Sora, but a more ethereal Darkness. An oppressive and omnipresent force that devoured any Light it could overwhelm, and it was trying, oh so desperately to worm it's way into Sora and Chirithy.

Sora felt an involuntary shiver, run up his spine as he felt the Darkness surrounding them and quickly flared his own Light outward in response, pushing it away from him as he refocused on the dome, as it finished retracting and the steam fell away.

Sora found his breath hitch in his throat as a massive, Hive Knight, stood up, easily matching the Ogre from before. It's horns had grown up further though and been sharpened to points with saturated edges, like a crown and it teeth were also serrated. It's carapace on it's shoulders, elbows and knees, were also pointed and serrated as well.

It carried no gun, unlike the other Knights that Sora had faced, but it's sword was equally massive as the Knight it's self, and ragged to the point that Sora was amazed it hadn't crumbled to dust, and yet he could feel incredible Darkness, radiating off it. The blade it's self almost felt hungry for his Light.

But what really caught the Guardian and Ghost's attention though, was what the Knight was wearing. Aside from the fact it WAS actually wearing something.

"Traveler no…" Chirithy muttered with horror as they took in the sight of the six strips of cloth, that had once been quite colorful, with elaborate designs, stitched together with Hive sinew and hanging from Xôlak's hip "Titan Marks" Chirithy supplied and Sora's eyes widened as he began to catch on.

Their eyes then went to Xôlak's left arm, where three bands, one of grey metal, one of formerly blue cloth, and one of green metal, projecting a broken, green hologram of an osprey "Warlock Bonds" Chirithy added once again.

Then the Hive's back, where a cloak, stitched together from at least eight others, to match Xôlak's size, hung over his back "Hunter Cloaks" Chirithy whispered with dread.

Then finally to Xôlak's neck, were a chain adorned with sixteen dead Ghost's hung.

Sora couldn't help but stare in mild horror, as the Guardian killer held up it's blade to Sora and laughed.

The Battle had only just begun.

A/N - What do think of the story so far, and the original boss Sora's about to fight.