Chapter 13: Broken spirit
Subaru and Emilia both worked on defense while Puck worked on the offensive side of things, confident that he could land a deadly blow on Xigbar yet he was somehow evading each attack effortlessly.
This forced Puck to use lots of mana in hopes that he can land a single attack while Xigbar continued to dodge each attack, not feeling that he was in any danger at the moment yet he did start to get bored.
He fired one of his laser arrows only to be deflected by Subaru using his Keyblade to deflect off the attack. He used his keyblade as a bat and with all the strength he could muster, barely hit the laser arrow away from Emilia.
"Impressive kiddo, but that was just me barely even trying."
"I'm not done yet, jerk!" Subaru quickly used Blizzard on Xigbar, sending a crystal of ice directly at his position. Xigbar dodged the attack effortlessly and was about to shoot Subaru until he received a hit from Puck's attack.
Puck smiled and took the opening he got thanks to Subaru to fire numerous amounts of ice towards Xigbar, confident that this will kill their opponent. Puck, Emilia, and Subaru watched as the fog from Puck's attack began to fade to see Xigbar frozen in a block of ice.
"Ha, as if he had thought that the combination of me and Lia wouldn't be a problem for him."
"Hey! I helped!"
"True, it was thanks to you I got the opening. Than-"
There was a pause on Puck's sentence when the three of them started to hear the ice break slowly, which got the three to get their guard up.
The ice broke slowly and slowly until all of a sudden it exploded, sending ice all around the area.
Subaru used Reflect to block any ice from hitting the three of them before seeing Xigbar looking at the three as if nothing happened to him.
"Was that all you got? Man, talk about disappointment."
Puck, Emilia, and Subaru all three looked at Xigbar with some fear for a moment before showing determination, each of them wanting to protect the other. Subaru was the one to continue the fight by charging at Xigbar, forcing Emilia and Puck to provide cover for him.
As Subaru was closing in to Xigbar, he quickly jumped high up while shooting multiple laser arrows at Subaru.
This forced the young boy to do another Reflect spell to block off some of the attacks with Emilia and Puck taking care of the rest.
'Damn, this guy is going to be tough to beat!' Subaru thought to himself, seeing that this is a losing battle if he can't do something.
As Subaru's barrier breaks, he quickly jumps towards Xigbar to land a hit yet he ends up missing. Xigbar smiled and quickly pointed it directly towards Subaru's heart, ready to finish him off.
He fired his laser arrow yet Puck immediately got in front of the boy to create an ice shield to protect the two.
Xigbar noticed this and quickly turned his sights on Emilia, seeing that she was open.
"Seems like you left the girl all alone. How bad protectors you two are."
Xigbar pointed his left arrowgun at Emilia, confident that he would be able to hit her with just one laser arrow.
Subaru and Puck both noticed this and tried to stop Xigbar with Subaru using Fire and Puck firing an icicle at him, yet Xigbar fired the gun before disappearing from the attacks of the pair.
Both of them turn towards Emilia, seeing her unfazed by the attack she created and an ice barrier that was strong enough to block out the attack.
Subaru and Puck both quickly went to Emilia's side with Subaru being able to block out another of Xigbar's attacks right when Emilia's guard was down.
Just as Subaru was able to do this, Xigbar teleports in front of him and lands a punch that sends him flying into a building wall.
"Subaru!" Emilia shouted in shock of seeing someone she cares about get hurt, which gave her some anger inside her and Puck.
The two increased their aggressive attacks towards Xigbar, slightly forcing him to start giving it a bit more effort on his part once he received two strong hits on his left leg and right arm.
Reinhard and Crusch both charged at Young Xehanort with everything they had, having him on the defensive for a moment.
As Reinhard and Crusch were both able to push Young Xehanort into a corner, Crusch used her strongest attack to hit Young Xehanort in the chest.
Surprisingly she managed to land a fatal blow, allowing Reinhard to disarm the keyblade wielder before also slashing his chest.
Young Xehanort looked at the two and smiled before jumping back, showing that the attacks didn't really faze him yet he was intrigued by the duo.
He re-summoned his keyblade before charging at the two, managing to push the pair back.
"You two are very annoying."
Young Xehanort's attacks were fierce, pushing Crusch back while Reinhard was able to hold his own without too much trouble.
With each of the attacks, Young Xehanort was pushing Reinhard back to which he started to feel that this opponent could be much stronger than Sora.
This thought caused his Dragon Sword Reid to unsheathe, making the Sword Saint aware that his opponent is much stronger than he perceived.
Crusch noticed this and realized that she should back off along with Old Man Rom, having done a couple of attacks yet knowing that he can't keep up with the speed between Crusch, Reinhard, and Young Xehanort.
"I'm sorry but I will not be useful in this fight, Sword Saint. I hope you can accept my apology for that."
"Don't worry about it, Miss Crusch. Just stay safely with Felix."
Crusch nodded at Reinhard before heading next to Felix, both of them curious on just how powerful Young Xehanort is considering that he shares the same weapon as Sora.
Old Man Rom and Felt both looked at the situation with Rom sensing that Young Xehanort might be much stronger than he looks while Felt started to tell Reinhard to beat Young Xehanort by showing support for the Sword Saint.
"Don't you dare lose to this loser, Reinhard! You can beat his smug ass!"
"I appreciate your support Miss Felt but please, watch your language."
"I can talk as I please, now beat him!"
Reinhard smiled when he heard what Felt said, causing him to get motivated in wanting to face off his opponent.
He pointed his sword while telling that he is prepared to face off the keyblade wielder in front of him.
Young Xehanort stood silent for a moment, asking Reinhard for his full name to which the Sword Saint gave him his full name.
"Van Astrea...? Hmm, that name sounds familiar, should you be related to someone named Theresia Van Astrea?"
Reinhard stopped in his tracks alongside Crusch and Felix, all three curious to know why Young Xehanort would ask this.
Reinhard closed his eyes before answering Young Xehanort's questions that he is the grandson of him.
Young Xehanort was left paused for a moment before pointing his keyblade directly at Reinhard in a slightly calm manner.
"Although I don't care about you all, my future self mentioned that he met her during my mark of mastery. In order to show that I honor a future promise I will make to her, I will not kill you but I will defeat you here and now. You stand no chance against me."
Reinhard was unsure on what to do with the information he just heard from Young Xehanort, unsure on what to do with someone that knew his grandmother.
Before he could get his thoughts straight, Young Xehanort charged at him with everything he got.
Reinhard looked up and deflected off the attack approaching him, feeling such a strong impact from his opponent.
As both Reinhard and Young Xehanort continued on their fight, Subaru had managed to return to the fight and assisted both Puck and Emilia in continuing to be on the defensive while Xigbar was on an aggressive offensive.
"Damn it, we need to do something about this, Puck."
"Don't worry Subaru, we will handle this together and beat this man!"
Subaru and Puck nodded while the two protected Emilia as she waited for her moment to fire a powerful ice spell that'll take Xigbar out.
With the two managing to hold their own quite well with Subaru using all the magic in him to use Reflect while Puck provided ice shields to block most single attacks.
As the two were working hard to protect Emilia, Subaru realized a threatening attack heading towards Emilia.
Puck attempted to block the attack yet his shield was destroyed, which forced Subaru to use his Reflect magic only for the boy to realize he used up all of his magic.
Seeing this made him realize that the only way to protect Emilia is to move her out of the way.
He shoved her to the side in order to get her to safety while receiving a shot in the chest by Xigbar's attack.
"Subaru?!" Emilia shouted towards Subaru, in shock that he took a hit from Xigbar's attack, even surprising Xigbar himself since he did not expect Subaru to use himself to save Emilia.
As Subaru was falling to the ground, all his mind can think of is how he doesn't want to die.
'Damn it all! This was the best loop! I...I don't want to die...'
Subaru's vision was blurry for a moment, not wanting to die he tried to get up yet his body was too injured from the hit he received; all he could see is Reinhard using a powerful attack on Young Xehanort while both Puck and Emilia started to counter everything Xigbar threw at the pair.
As it seemed it was over, he could see a silhouette of a person with cat ears approach him. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before he felt his life returning back to him, causing him to open his eyes with all the energy in the world.
"Nya, that was close, wasn't it, Subaru-kyun?"
"Huh? Felix, you saved me."
"Can't have nyou dying here."
"That's right, Natsuki Subaru. We won't let you fall like that." Crusch approached Natsuki Subaru while she was speaking to him, surprising Subaru that they would help him considering he is supporting Emilia for the throne.
He got up and thanked them before he turned towards his right side to see Sora and Rem both arriving at the scene.
This gave Subaru a smile on his face since he has his master by his side now, giving them hope that they will win this time.
As he arrived, Priscilla and her attendant both arrived from one of the alleyways with Al managing to defeat one of the darklings with his sword while Priscilla just walked around calmly.
In another alleyway Julius along with many knights arrived with Anastasia by their side.
'This might just be the best path so far, now we just have to beat these two.'
Subaru approached Sora and Rem, telling the duo that he is happy to see them before asking them for their assistance.
Sora and Rem looked towards Emilia and Puck's direction to see Xigbar, bothering Sora since he was worried, he would eventually encounter Xehanort himself.
Sora then turned towards Reinhard and noticed Young Xehanort fighting him, with the two seeming to be on equal grounds.
This prompted him to choose to assist Reinhard, knowing that Young Xehanort is a much bigger threat.
Subaru and Rem both joined in against Xigbar, managing to change the fight with Rem and Puck taking the offense while Subaru and Emilia took the defensive side.
Rem charged at Xigbar with Subaru deflecting all of his attacks, Rem used her flail to almost land a hit to Xigbar's face, making the organization member to see that the fight is a bit more interesting.
Just as Xigbar manages to dodge Rem's attack, Puck took the opportunity to use a much stronger barrage of icicles in an attempt to kill Xigbar yet he was faced enough to deflect each of his attacks with his own barrage of laser arrows.
Sora quickly joined Reinhard by his side once both him and Young Xehanort gained a distance from each other.
As Sora joined Reinhard's side, Young Xehanort looked at the Keyblade wielder with a hatred look in his eyes before he began to speak,
"Sora, we meet again. I have to say, for one who abused the Power of Waking, you somehow reached a world that is beyond reaching."
"I honestly don't know how I got here but why are you all here? My friends and I defeated you all."
"You are right, you and your friends defeated us. I should have returned to the time whence I came yet I'm here. Only my future self knows what is going on, perhaps we should ask him ourselves."
Sora and Reinhard both noticed this before on the building above there was a corridor of darkness created to have someone walk out.
Sora felt his hand shaking, Reinhard lowered his guard, Rem and her group all stopped fighting Xigbar when they noticed someone else returning to the scene, lastly Xigbar himself jumped up to stand next to Young Xehanort.
As another person with the black coat appeared, he took his coat off to reveal that it is Xehanort himself.
Sora began to feel fear in his heart as all the trouble that his friends and him went through against the Organization has now been pointless since they are back and from what he can see, much stronger than before.
"All of this was decided, by one who is a Master among Masters. We return to this world to recreate that faithful war between the seven pieces of lights and thirteen pieces of darkness and truly forge the keyblade."
"Xehanort!" Someone in the background spoke, causing everyone in the ground level to turn towards the direction of the voice to see Wilhelm.
Xehanort turned towards the voice and was genuinely surprised an old friend like Wilhelm is still walking around after the many years it had been since the two had crossed paths.
He smiled at the Wilhelm and quickly told the old man he was happy to see him to which Wilhelm said,
"You have changed yourself, Xehanort. What is the meaning of this attack?"
"I have nothing to do with this attack, the person who brought Sora, myself, and all of the other organization members is responsible for this. I have a feeling that it doesn't matter, as long as my goals can still be accomplished then it's all the same for me."
"What plans would that be, Xehanort?"
"To watch the world be engulfed in darkness to see it be redone by light, just as it was done before."
Wilhelm looked at Xehanort and was disappointed to see that an old friend he considered his trusted ally many years ago had gone downhill.
Reinhard looked at his grandfather and could tell it is tough to see an old friend go the dark route.
This prompted Reinhard to step in the conversation and to warn Xehanort that he will stop him. Xehanort looked at the young man and noticed the sword he was wielding.
"Ah, this must be part of the family of Van Astrea. Seems like Theresia must not be along with us...that's a shame. She would've been useful-"
"Xehanort!" Sora shouted with anger in his heart, having a feeling that the corrupt master is going to cause so much pain to the world he just got accustomed to.
This caused the keyblade wielder to jump up to the building in order to attack him, not wanting to allow Xehanort to create another keyblade war in the world he is in.
Xehanort looked at Sora and could see that the boy was a much brighter light than the last time they had encountered each other in Scala ad Caelum.
He smiled before he pulled out his dark looking Keyblade, confident that his strength was much superior to Sora.
"Sora, you are quite the keyblade wielder, unlike any I've ever seen. Despite having abused the Power of Waking, you find yourself into another world, one that requires a strong will. Although you are pretty strong, but you still lack the capability to truly stop me."
Sora jumped high up and with Kingdom Key in hand he attempted to take out Xehanort only for the Old Master to easily deflect his attack.
Sora was shocked by this, uncertain how he is weaker than Xehanort despite how the last time he was able to handle him on two occasions, one when he was using the X-blade and the second being when he was fighting him to save Kairi's heart.
Xehanort smiled before he swung another attack at the young boy, landing a deadly blow that ended up sending him flying to the ground.
'No...I can't let Xehanort...hurt my friends...'
Sora ended up hitting the ground hard enough to create a large crater, causing Subaru and the others to be shocked by this.
Priscilla, Anastasia, and Crusch all were in shock to see someone who managed to land a hit on the Sword Saint be easily defeated with one attack.
Priscilla was disappointed by this yet she believes that he could still prove more useful than Xehanort.
Although the old keyblade wielder is much stronger, he is one who wouldn't listen to her while she can find a way to manipulate the young boy.
Anastasia knows that investing herself in Sora would be wiser since she suspects Sora would end up defeating the old keyblade wielder and possibly surpassing the Sword Saint, giving her a much better profit than someone who wants to watch the world be engulfed in darkness.
Crusch herself didn't trust Xehanort in the slightest when he first appeared and after seeing what he did to Sora, she is even more certain that Xehanort would be a much bigger threat to the kingdom of Lugnica.
"Sora-kun!"
"Master Sora!"
Both Subaru and Rem were left in shock and anger at what Xehanort did to Sora, leaving the two to go after Xehanort.
Rem jumped high to attack Xehanort only to be met with a strong kick to the gut from Xigbar while Subaru was met with another one of Xehanort's allies who also wielded a keyblade yet he was wearing a dark mask that covered his entire face.
Subaru attempted to attack this new threat but he was easily defeated with one attack. Emilia, Reinhard, Puck, and all the others attempted to help yet Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort appeared in front of them to prevent anybody from interfering.
Puck tried to attack Young Xehanort yet the keyblade wielder easily knocked Puck to the side, forcing Reinhard to charge at him. Xemnas stepped in and blocked Reinhard's attack, meanwhile the new opponent looked at Subaru with disgust and disappointment.
"I'm a little disappointed that Sora didn't teach you anything, which makes me question why you have a Keyblade? A weakling like you doesn't deserve it."
"I'm...not a weakling...!"
Subaru began to stand up, despite the injury he got from the opponent in front of him. All the knights, the candidates, his allies, and his enemies looked at the boy as he continued to stand up even though the attack should've knocked him out.
As he was standing up, the keyblade wielder underneath his mask smiled with joy before landing another hit on Subaru's face, resulting in breaking the boy's nose.
Subaru got knocked back to the ground, feeling all the pain in the world while Emilia and the others all shouted his name, all worried for him.
Rem got up from having been knocked down from Xigbar and quickly got her horn out before charging at Xehanort again.
Both Xehanort and Xigbar were slightly impressed by what they are seeing, causing Xehanort to alert Xigbar to assist the others while he sees what the blue hair maid is made of.
Xigbar nods and quickly starts shooting at the group, preventing anybody from getting through to help Subaru while Xehanort waits until Rem starts attacking him.
Xehanort got his keyblade and deflected the attack without much trouble.
As Rem tried a second attack, Xehanort smiled before disappearing from her vision which surprised the maid herself. She looked around before hearing a voice behind her,
"For someone who cares so much for that boy, you are pretty reckless."
Xehanort waited for the right time before easily hitting her towards Sora's position, causing Rem to be unconscious as she was sent flying to the ground with her horn returning back inside her forehead.
Reinhard noticed this and quickly jumped up to save the blue haired maid from being killed while Felt and Old Man Rom joined in the fight against Xemnas, Ansem, Xigbar, and Young Xehanort.
Old Man Rom charged at Xigbar to attack him while Felt deflected off the attacks from their opponent.
Although the laser arrows were powerful, Felt somehow managed to deflect them off with everything she got, managing to push them away.
Crusch took on Young Xehanort with everything she got, knowing that one single mistake could cost her life while Julius took on Ansem with the knights backing him.
Julius using his spirit arts attempts to land a blow on Ansem yet Ansem uses dark fireball attacks to push the knight back and any other knights that tried to get closer to him.
Emilia and Puck both worked together to push back Xigbar and Xemnas as best as they can until Reinhard joined back in the fight to face off Xemnas again.
Subaru attempted to get up again, which Emilia noticed and quickly told him to stay down, worried for his safety while firing icicles towards Xigbar.
"You should listen to her, she knows you stand no chance at all. You are not a true keyblade wielder, if anything, you are a fake."
"...Then why...did the keyblade choose me...?!"
"Who knows but that should be corrected."
The opponent of Subaru was prepared to strike down the young boy yet Subaru was quick witted to grab some sand from the ground to throw it at his opponent.
The organization member with the mask was blinded by this for a moment, giving Subaru the chance to hit him.
Just as he was about to hit his opponent with a strong attack, the keyblade wielder deflected the attack before proceeding to beat him with a barrage of attacks.
These attacks were enough to make Subaru feel like he is about to die, with his face having taken many of the damage and a few of his ribs taking massive damage.
"Ha! I like your spirit, trying to play dirty like that but I wasn't going to allow you to get away with a sneaky attack like that."
The opponent proceeded to beat Subaru with a couple more attacks before eventually hitting him hard enough to send him flying towards Subaru's allies.
Emilia and the others eventually stopped their fight to protect Subaru, Sora, and Rem.
Subaru looked up and saw that the person beating him up was holding his keyblade, causing him to attempt to lift his hand to call the weapon yet the person with his weapon started to hold the Starlight keyblade.
This person held Starlight tightly until the entire keyblade started to glow due to the cracks that were appearing all over the weapon.
"W...What are you..."
"I'm just making sure that a phoney like you doesn't keep this weapon, unworthy of a weakling like you. You are a weak and pathetic fool, Natsuki Subaru."
The person continued to do this until finally the keyblade produced a bright light before showing that it is shattered into pieces, leaving Subaru in complete shock that his weapon given to him a month ago is now gone.
"Okay Vanitas, it is time to go."
"You sure, Master? We can take them out right here, right now."
"I agree with the boy, you old coot. Why not finish them now?"
"It is all according to plan."
"Whatever you say, you old coot."
The organization members begin to leave in their own corridors of darkness with Xehanort overseeing everything to make sure nobody tries to follow them.
As this is happening, Wilhelm shouts to Xehanort with the old corrupted master to give his old ally a blank stare, showing no care for his former friend.
Once Xehanort leaves the scene, Julius orders the knights to search the city for more heartless while in the distance Priscilla and Anastasia both think about what they had just witnessed.
The two concluded on their own that Sora's enemies are back for revenge yet the two have high hopes on the young boy's ability to overcome this obstacle, both of them wanting Sora for their personal gains.
Emilia looks at Subaru and proceeds to ask Felix to heal him which he complies after having seen someone like Subaru risk everything for Emilia despite having been weaker.
As Felix started to heal Subaru, he looked at Emilia and had a tear go down his cheek before passing out, feeling as if the loss of his keyblade broke something inside.
Emilia saw this and quickly shouted Subaru's name in worry for the boy she had saved a month ago.