Chapter 78: Odds stacked against you
Garfiel charged at Ansem and started to give it his very best, knowing that he can't hold back any of his strength unless he wants to end up dead. As he was throwing every attack he could think of, Otto continued to watch from a distance as he was doing his best formulate a counter to Ansem.
'Unlike the previous one, this one's a lot dangerous. He has techniques and abilities that can easily kill us if we aren't careful. He's also very fast, I can tell that Garfiel-san is just barely able to keep up. Man, this is just the worst kind of luck.'
With these thoughts in the merchant's mind, he looked carefully at the way Ansem was fighting, seeing that he isn't one to rush in. He noticed that the Organization member was very smart, calculative. Garfiel continued to swing everything he had in him, trying to land a hit yet the Organization member continued to dodge each attack with ease.
"Is this the best you got?"
"Don't underestimate me, ya bastard!"
Garfiel's desire to win increased with each swing of his fist, prompting his strength and speed to slowly start increasing. Ansem took note of this development, knowing that eventually the demi human boy will catch up to his strength and speed if this continued.
He continued to dodge for a bit until he saw an opening for the briefest of seconds. This was all Ansem needed to turn the fight from being on an easy defense into an easy offense. He landed a strong backhanded punch to the demi human's left side of his head, causing him to start bleeding from his left side.
"Fuck!"
As Garfiel shouted in pain, Ansem attempted to try and land another hit on the demi human boy only to feel his feet suddenly shake.
This second distraction was all Garfiel needed to start attacking the Organization member once again.
Ansem created a dark barrier around himself as he figured that the merchant was preparing to attack from a distance.
'I'll eliminate the brains, then eliminate the brute.'
With this plan made by Ansem, he teleported out of the barrier of darkness just has it was destroyed by one of Garfiel's most powerful attacks.
The demi human boy was caught off guard by this and quickly started to look around to see where Ansem went.
Otto had noticed this as well and before he could act, he realized that the Organization member had teleported behind him.
'Oh no!'
"Take this!"
Ansem's about to eliminate Otto by slicing him up only for Garfiel to use his divine protection to save his best friend. He had smashed the ground hard and fast enough for the ground underneath Otto to push him high up, away from Ansem's range of kill.
The seeker of darkness looked up and was prepared to shoot a dark ball at the merchant only for Garfiel to quickly charge at him, preparing his right arm for a powerful punch.
This prompted the Organization member to turn his attention towards the demi human boy, firing the powerful dark ball at him. Garfiel noticed this and quickly used his full strength to punch away the dark ball. Once this was successful, the Shield of Sanctuary uses his other arm to punch Ansem himself.
The Organization member created a powerful barrier to block off the demi human boy's hit. As Garfiel's right fist hit the barrier, the Shield of Sanctuary smiled as he moved his right arm back. After a couple of seconds, the boy swings his right arm towards the current barrier, transforming his arm into beast form mid throw.
This added strength was enough to destroy the barrier, forcing Ansem to jump high enough to avoid the attack. As he did that, Garfiel's arm quickly reverse back his right arm back into its human form while quickly moving towards Otto's position to catch him.
"I got ya, brotto!"
"Th-Thanks!"
Garfiel quickly starts running away from Ansem while carrying Otto on his arm. Ansem notices this and quickly begins to fire a barrage of dark waves towards the two.
"G-Garfiel-san! Watch out!"
Garfiel heard Otto's shout and was able to react fast enough to dodge each attack thrown towards them. While he was doing this, he started to ask his best friend,
"Do ya have any kind of plan t'beat th's bastard?"
"No...this one's a lot stronger and faster than the last one we confronted in Priestella."
"Hm. Yea but there's gotta be somethin' we can do th'take him out."
"I'll need time to come up with something."
"Then allow me t'hold him off!"
As Garfiel said this, he jumped far enough to set Otto down on a safe area before turning his attention towards Ansem, confident that he can buy Otto some time to formulate a plan. As he looked at Ansem's direction, he ran towards his location. The Organization member was intrigued to see the demi human boy still attempting to fight him alone.
"Bravery won't save you, boy."
"Th's ain't bravery! It's me never givin' up! Ya may be stronger than me, but my amazin' self'll defeat ya no matter what!"
The second he finished speaking, he jumped up high enough with everything he had to reach Ansem's location on the air. As he was closing in, he swings his left leg in an attempt to land a powerful blow on the Organization member.
Ansem noticed this and quickly reacted by shooting lighting towards the boy, forcing him to immediately go from offense to defense. As Garfiel dodges this, Ansem took the opportunity to grab the boy by the head before using his immense strength to throw the boy towards the ground.
As the Organization member does this, he also begins to shoot several discs of dark energy towards the demi human boy, wanting to end this farce of a battle. Otto saw this and quickly used every bit of mana he could muster without overusing to create a strong earth barrier around Garfiel as he crashed onto the ground, creating a crater in the process.
"UI Dona!"
With the dome shield being created, Ansem's discs of darkness were blocked off. The Organization member turned towards Otto, seeing that the merchant is widen open. Without a second thought, he charges towards the merchant, preparing to end his life before he can somehow turn the tides to his favor. Otto looked up and noticed this, prompting him to smile.
"All according to plan."
He threw a couple of red stones near him while jumping away, managing to just barely avoid Ansem's attack. As he avoided the attack, the five red stones he had dropped started to explode with the Organization member caught by the impact.
'I'm not strong in any means but I had planned in the case I was forced to face one of you Organization XIII members.'
Otto quickly started to run away from Ansem's location, trying to keep his distance while attempting to enter the forest, knowing that he will have the advantage if he goes inside. As he was closing in on the forest, Ansem was about to catch up with him, incredibly annoyed at this point by the sheer fact that Otto and Garfiel refuse to die.
'Crap! I didn't think he would be this fast!'
The merchant was startled by Ansem's increase in speed but he wasn't done yet, he still kept going with his plan. He continued to run with every ounce of strength he had in him, not giving up despite the odds being stacked against him.
"Time to die!"
Ansem shouted as he was about to shoot a powerful dark ball at the merchant. Just as he fired the dark ball, Garfiel broke out of the barrier and managed to reach the dark ball in time before it hit Otto Suwen.
"Tsk!"
"Ya ain't gettin' Brotto!"
"You insolent brat!"
Ansem swung his arm with Garfiel also swing his arm, causing the two to clash fists strong enough to cause the ground they were in to shake. Garfiel prepared his other arm for another punch while Ansem prepared to use a dark ball on the boy.
"Garfiel-san! Follow me, quickly!"
"Ya got it, Brotto!"
Garfiel quickly jumps back while also managing to punch away the dark ball Ansem threw at him before catch up with Otto into the forest. Ansem stood still as he looked at his two opponents go into the forest.
'Do they really think that the forest will give them any kind of advantage?'
As he closes his eyes while also crossing his arms, looking very disappointed. A couple of powerful versions of the shadow heartless appear around the Organization member. After a few dozen had appeared, they started to make their way towards the forest in search of Garfiel Tinsel and Otto Suwen.
While this was going on, Rowan dodged each attack thrown to him by Xemnas. As he was on the defensive, the Organization member looked very bored as he continued to fire lasers at the mercenary.
"You're such an eyesore."
"And you are annoying. If all you can do is attack from afar, then you aren't much of a challenge."
"Is that so?"
Without any hesitation, Xemnas teleports behind Rowan and prepares to easily strike the man down with a simple swing of his energy blade created from his right hand. Just as it seemed like Xemnas was going to easily take down the mercenary, in a surprise twist Rowan was able to block off the attack almost as if he was expecting the attack from behind.
"Hm?"
"I may look old, but I trained the finest of individuals. Meaning that I'm a lot stronger than most."
With that said, Rowan managed to push away Xemnas's attack and tried to stab the Organization member's throat. Although Rowan was fast, Xemnas was much faster. He blocked away the attack before teleporting towards a feet away from the mercenary.
"Running away now, are we?"
"Don't get so full of yourself."
As Xemnas said this, he surrounded the mercenary with a large amount of lasers all around.
Rowan wasn't impressed by this, yet he took this attack seriously, knowing that one hit from one of the lasers would mean death to him.
Once the lasers all started to be fired directly towards the mercenary, he deflected each attack without much problem.
As each laser started to go from one at a time to two at a time, the speed of each one being shot towards him started to increase.
Rowan took note of this, seeing that his opponent was trying to finish him off in this attack.
Not wanting to give Xemnas the satisfaction of beating him, he quickly waited for the right moment before attempting to escape the surrounding laser beams.
As he barely managed to avoid getting completely hit by every single laser beam, he did receive a few hits which burned a part of his back and a part of his left arm.
'Damn, seems like it was unavoidable getting hit. Hurts a shit ton.'
Despite this thought, Rowan continued on by charging straight towards Xemnas, not afraid to face death head on.
"You are dangerous but still beatable."
Xemnas stood silent as he watched Rowan close in towards him, a bit impressed by the mercenary's determination to win. Not for the sake of others but just because he desires to win. That's something he can respect yet that doesn't mean he won't hold back.
He had both his blades out when Rowan was throwing some attacks. Xemnas easily blocked each attack thrown towards him, still having the advantage over the mercenary though he has noted that the mercenary was starting to adapt to the battle.
Every attempt to try creating a laser beam to attack behind him was met by the mercenary managing to quickly block off the attack before returning his focus on the close combat fight. Seeing that his opponent won't easily be beaten, the Organization member quickly started to use a couple of tricks he had used against Sora and Riku. He teleports all around the mercenary, managing to catch Rowan off guard.
Before the mercenary could try to figure out where Xemnas was going to teleport, the organization member had managed to grab his head with a tight grip before tossing him up on the air. As Rowan was on the air, he tried to figure a way to land without injuring himself only to receive some injuries from the kicks he received from his opponent.
After a few kicks, the Organization member grabbed Rowan's head once again. The mercenary tried to stab him in the face only for Xemnas to grab the tip of the sword before using his strength to destroy it with a simple tight grip. Rowan was shocked by this while Xemnas looked disappointed.
"I expected more from you, then again you are a weakling."
"...heh...don't underestimate...the strength of Vollachia...!"
"Hm. I don't need to. I already see it myself."
As he said this, he kicked Rowan towards the ground. This would've surely had killed the mercenary, something he wasn't afraid off. Just before he had hit the ground, someone jumped in and catch him mid-air.
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, I got you."
Rowan looked to see that Theresia was there, saving his life.
"Wait, why are you here? You should be helping the others."
"Yeah but we can't leave you behind."
"We?"
Once Theresia had allowed Rowan to stand on his own, he looked to see that it wasn't just her that had returned but also Grimm and Carol.
"And the others?"
"We told them to go on without us."
"But you are more needed when the captured divine generals arrive."
"I know but I trust the others that they can beat them. Just as the four of us will beat this opponent here."
As Theresia said this, she looked at Xemnas with a serious facial expression, confident that the four of them together can beat him while also knowing that Garfiel and Otto are taking on another Organization XIII member.
'Those two will have a tough time...but I believe in them. I believe they have the chance of beating their opponent just as we are going to beat our opponent.'
With her motivation increasing, she pointed her sword towards Xemnas while saying with a sharp tone,
"My name is Theresia van Astrea, the previous Master Swordsman, and the one who will defeat you."
"Hmph. We shall see."
As Xemnas said this, he got his two blades ready for battle while Grimm and Carol both stood side by side with Theresia, ready to back her up.
"We will win this together, Lady Theresia. Grimm and I are ready."
Grimm nodded at this, showing that he agrees to what Carol had said. Theresia smiled as she had her two closest friends close with her, fighting with her. This made her smile as she charged at Xemnas. Rowan grabbed his broken sword and prepared to join in the fight, seeing that he can still fight even with a broken sword.
'This time you will be beat!'
Subaru and Beatrice both managed to eliminate a couple of shadow and neoshadow type heartless blocking their path into the city. Vincent and the others watched as the keyblade wielder and his great spirit cleared the path for them to enter the capital from the corner they were in.
As they entered, they noticed Zarestia suddenly crashing down onto one of the houses nearby.
"What the?"
"What happened?"
Both Subaru and Kenichi questioned, knowing that the great spirit of murder wouldn't just easily be thrown towards a house just like that.
"You'll be having some company soon."
'Hm?'
Subaru was caught off guard by Vanitas's random comment only to end up understanding what he meant a few seconds later.
"Hey. Up here."
Subaru, Beatrice, Naoko, Vincent, and the others all look up to see the person that was speaking to them. As they look up, they noticed that it was an Organization member. This one was wearing an eyepatch in one eye with his hair being tied to a ponytail.
'The Organization!'
Subaru held Beatrice's hand tightly as he had his keyblade ready for battle. Kenichi got in front of Naoko as he prepared to protect her from the Organization member with Medium protecting Flop.
Vincent prepared to summon his Yang Sword Vollachia in case this Organization member is enough of a threat to force him into a fight. The Organization member looked at them with a condescending smile before starting to speak,
"Why are you all so tensed up? It's a beautiful day."
"Shut your mouth. We know that you are here to attack us!" Subaru shouted as he pointed his keyblade at the Organization member. The Organization member looked at Subaru at first with an annoyed facial expression for the briefest moment before having noticed the keyblade. This caused him to smile once again,
"Ah yes, the keyblade's apprentice. How's it going? Have you gotten any better or are you still pretending to be the hero?"
"Don't disrespect Betty's Subaru! El Minya!"
Beatrice without hesitation or mercy attacked the Organization member by firing a barrage of purple like icicles.
The Organization member was pleased when he saw this as he quickly pulled out his two arrowguns to rapid fire at the attacks thrown towards him, managing to counter Beatrice's attack.
Seeing this as a problem, Vincent pointed his hand towards the Organization member's direction and attempted to destroy the man's soul with the power of the Yang Sword Vollachia.
The Organization member noticed this and managed to not only avoid the attack by teleporting out of there but he teleported behind the Vollachian emperor.
"Did you really think something like that would work on me? As if."
Vincent summoned his Yang Sword Vollachia and quickly swung it directly towards the Organization member. The threat smiled as he easily evaded the attack.
"If that's the best you got, then you all are good as dead."
"Don't underestimate us!"
Subaru shouted as he started to swing around his keyblade towards the Organization member, having left Beatrice side to fight the threat on his own with Vincent preparing an attack of his own.
"For a so-called Keyblade wielder, you really are pathetic. I've seen better keyblade wielders than you, and even they were considered weak."
"Mock me all you want but I won't be discouraged!" Subaru shouted with pride, aware that he is weak but not allowing that fact get in the way of achieving victory.
"He speaks the truth. You may have a strong will but weakling is still a weakling."
'Shut up, I'm not talking to you!'
"Technically you are now, moron."
'Tsk!'
Subaru continued to increase the speed of his attacks, hoping that this little increase would do something yet it was merely wishful thinking. The Organization member dodged and dodged until he finally was bored enough to counter easily.
He made his arrowguns disappear before grabbing the tip of Subaru's Rebirth keyblade with his left hand while using his right one to land a punch on the boy's face.
"Pathetic."
"Leave him alone!"
Medium shouted as she joined in on the fight and started to swing her swords around towards him. The Organization member looked at her with a bored facial expression, viewing her nothing more than a nuisance before managing to land a kick on her. Medium was caught off guard by this and was sent into one of the buildings.
"Sister!"
Flop shouted with fear in his voice, prompting him to start running into the building, wanting to check up on her. As the merchant went into the building, the Organization member pointed one of his arrowguns directly at Subaru while he was recovering from the punch.
"I honestly don't understand why the old coot didn't just did this from the start. Anyway, let's end this charade."
Subaru looked at the Organization member with a bit of fear in his eyes, knowing that his opponent has a point. Had the Organization attacked with everything they had at the Emilia camp, they probably would've been wiped out even with Sora at full power.
Recalling the attack on the capital, Xehanort easily one shotted both Sora and Rem without breaking a sweat.
"Seems like you have realized the truth. Had we really tried, we would've killed you all. Not even that Sword Saint would've been able to stop us."
'I hate that you are right...but even so, we wouldn't give up! It'd be stupid to think that we would just lay around and allow ourselves to be killed. That's why I have to give it my all!'
With his determination once again burning within his soul, he summed his invisible providence ability and managed to get a lucky shot on the Organization member. The Organization member was dumbfounded by this, prompting him to completely look at the boy with a serious look.
"Didn't think you had some sneaky tricks like that. I won't make that mistake again."
The Organization member prepared to rapidly fire his arrowguns at Subaru only to notice an odd dark aura around him.
'This is interesting. Does he think that would intimidate me?'
The Organization member slowly got up as he prepared to fire his two arrowguns at the boy. Subaru looked at his opponent with a serious look before charging at him with Vincent also joining the boy's side.
"Two on one. This should be fun."
"Three on one you mean!"
Kenichi said as he joined his son and the emperor in charging towards the Organization member, preparing to help his son in taking their shared opponent down.
Subaru looked back to check on his mom, noticing that Beatrice was standing side by side with Naoko, implying that she will protect her contractor's mother.
Subaru smiled at this before turning to look at his opponent with a serious facial expression, ready to take the Organization member down.
'No matter what, we will beat you!'
Subaru started the attack by swinging his keyblade first, prompting the Organization member to jump back, having felt that this attack would've done some damage to him.
As he jumped back, both Vincent and Kenichi closed the gap and started to thrown some attacks at him, prompting the Organization member to teleport above the three while having his arrowguns pointed specifically at Natsuki Subaru.
"Gotcha now!"
He begins rapid firing at the keyblade wielder, confident that this will kill the boy. Subaru wasn't afraid when he saw this, if anything he was ready for it.
"Reflect!"
As Subaru shouted this, he turned off his wrath witch factor and allowed his body to still keep its strength in order to allow his magic abilities to be strong. As the barrier was created all around the boy, the Organization member's barrage of lasers was all deflected away.
As the Organization member stopped firing, the barrier had disappeared while at the same time Subaru pointed his keyblade at his opponent.
"Let's see you handle this! Fira!"
As Subaru shouted this, with everything he had he created a powerful fireball from the tip of his keyblade before shooting it towards his opponent. The Organization member was surprised by this and ended up getting hit by this attack.
"Hey! Watch it!"
The Organization member said as he teleported a good distance away from Subaru's group. Vincent didn't want their shared opponent to try and escape them, prompting him to run quickly towards the Organization member's location with great speed.
Subaru and Kenichi were surprised by this for only a moment before quickly following his lead. Vincent closed the gap and started to swing his sword all around with great speed, forcing the Organization member to dodge each attack.
"Wow, you are pretty impressive. You might actually be a challenge."
"Hmph. You are facing the Emperor of Vollachia. You better accept your death if you wish it to be a painless one."
"Nah. I like doing things the hard way!"
"Then I shall make sure your soul burns to a crisp."
With this threat having been said, Vincent's will had made his sword create a powerful fire that is design to destroy whatever it touches to a crisp. The Organization member notices this and could tell that this fire is lethal, prompting him to teleport all around Vincent to avoid getting caught by the fire.
While the Organization member continued this strategy, he eventually found it boring and annoying that he teleported away from Vincent in order to not only catch his breath but also have the chance to counterattack.
He prepared his two arrowguns for maximum speed and damage, deciding that it's time to go all out against the Emperor of Vollachia.
'This time you won't be getting out of this alive.'
He prepared his weapon for an ultimate attack only to notice that someone was trying to do a similar attack that Vincent had tried on him. He jumped out of the location he was in and turned towards his left side to see a couple of arrows shot towards him.
He quickly used his arrowguns to destroy all the arrows shot towards him before looking to see who's attacking him. As he turned to see who it was, he noticed that Al had suddenly managed to land on the top of the building he was in before charging at him.
'Got you now.'
Al swung his sword at his opponent, managing to get his attention. The Organization member teleported behind the one armed warrior in an attempt to kill him by shooting him in the back.
"Time to say goodbye."
The Organization member said as he rapid fired a barrage of lasers at Al. Although this seemed like it would be the end, Al managed to quickly block a couple before turning around to dodge the remaining ones fired at him.
'Hm? How was he able to deflect those attacks? He shouldn't have been able to know where the attacks were going to hit...'
With this thought in mind, he quickly teleported next to Al in an attempt to kick the warrior on his side only for him to teleport once again as a powerful fire attack from two directions were heading straight for him.
As he teleported away once again, he noticed that Vincent and his small group were approaching him from one side while Priscilla was approaching him from another side.
"Okay, now things have gotten interesting."
Just as the Organization member was going to start his attack, he felt the presence of a fellow ally of his.
"Do you require some assistance, Xigbar?"
Xigbar turned towards his ally, having a more serious look.
"Luxord. Weren't you suppose to be taking care of Sora with the old coot and his young self?"
"Yes but seeing that you were struggling, I chose to come here and assist you." Luxord said as he prepared his deck of cards. Xigbar shrugged this comment off by saying,
"I have the situation perfectly under control, but if you wish to intervene then be my guess."
As Xigbar said this, he quickly teleported behind Vincent, Subaru, and Kenichi to try and kill the three while he had the chance.
"Sayonara!"
He fired his shots rapidly towards the three, prompting both Vincent and Subaru to act with Subaru creating a strong barrier around himself and his father while the emperor used his sword to cut down the lasers heading towards his position. As he was managing to keep the three of them at bay, he smiled as he knows that he's going to win this fight.
'Once these three are done, I'll help the old coot in taking down that keyblade wielder.'
Xigbar continued to increase the his attack speed and strength while Beatrice and Naoko were looking from a distance. Beatrice wants to help her contractor, knowing that he's in danger. The only reason she can't is due to the limited amount of mana she has left. Naoko wishes to do something, she wants to help her son and husband before they end up getting hurt.
'I have to do something. I can't stand on the side lines! Not when my family needs me!'
("You two should only help as support. Since you two have no real combat power, try to not get yourselves killed.")
("Hey! We can help out in other ways than just being in the back!")
("Try not to be a liability then. Now, let's make our way in.")
'I'm not some defenseless woman! I'll prove my worth not because I want to prove to that man but because I'm part of the Natsuki Household!'
Naoko pointed her right hand directly at Xigbar's direction, with the love for her family and wanting them to be safe driving her determination.
'Remember what little Beako-chan said, create a crystal, picture it. Just like before! Focus, Natsuki Naoko!'
Having remembered the sensation when she first used yin magic against Sephiroth, she replicated it and managed to create even more purple like crystals all around the Organization member.
"Eh? What the?"
Xigbar lowered his arrowguns as he was surprised by the sudden appearance of the large amount of purple like crystals. At first he thought it was Beatrice since she had used this ability on him earlier yet he turned around to see that Naoko was standing there, looking completely strained.
He was surprised by this but only for a moment. Since this didn't feel threatening to him, he just started firing at the crystals as they all started to be fired at him in unison.
While he was countering the attacks, Subaru and his group all watched at how Naoko was able to create a powerful attack.
Subaru and Kenichi have seen this before, both knowing that she's been training her ability to use Yin magic with Beatrice.
Vincent had been intrigued by this, seeing that Naoko can be useful. Subaru looked at his mother and could tell that she was using everything she had, prompting him to also assist.
"Dad, catch!"
Kenichi turned towards his son the moment he heard this, a bit confused for a few seconds before seeing the Rebirth Keyblade tossed to him. As he caught the keyblade, he noticed his son pointing his hand towards Xigbar's direction.
"El Minya!"
As Subaru shouted this, a barrage of crystals was created just to be instantly fired at Xigbar, not wanting to give him a chance to react. Xigbar felt the crystals heading towards him from his backside, forcing the Organization member to teleport out of the area to avoid the attack. Once he pulled this off, Luxord jumped in and quickly charged at Subaru, Vincent, and Kenichi's direction, targeting them first.
He threw a couple of cards to surround the three, isolating them from the rest. While he was doing this, Priscilla and the Shudraq army had arrived near Naoko and Beatrice's position as they all looked at Xigbar. The Organization member turned towards Luxord's direction, noticing that he is currently facing off against Natsuki Subaru, Natsuki Kenichi, and Vincet all on his own.
'Hm. They don't stand a chance.'
Having this confident thought, he pointed his right arrowgun straight towards Priscilla, noticing the sun princess looking at him with a cold and sharp facial expression. All Xigbar did was smiled as he started to say,
"Make this entertaining. It would be ashamed if you lost oh so fast."
"Hmph. Underestimating us will be your downfall."
"As if. I know your strength. You all, even together, don't stand a chance against me."
"Then let's change that!"
Xigbar turned towards the direction of the voice, noticing that it was Al swinging his sword with everything he had. The Organization member was not threatened by this, if anything he saw an opening to kill the warrior. He pointed his arrowgun at him and fired it without mercy, confident that he can take out the weakling. To his surprise, Al dodged it before the laser had left the gun, catching Xigbar's attention.
'Hm? He knew where I was firing. That's not normal.'
Wanting to test something out, he fired a barrage of attacks with his immense speed, confident that the one-armed warrior won't be able to survive this. As the lasers were going faster than normal, Al deflected each attack in a manner that gives Xigbar the confirmation that he could see the attack before it happened.
"...hm. You know what, you might actually be interesting. Being able to see an attack before it happens might make things more fun."
"..."
Al stood silent as he had himself in his fighting stance. Xigbar was prepared to attack only to teleport away as Priscilla once again used her Yang Sword Vollachia to try and burn the man's soul with the fire produced by the sword. Al turned towards Priscilla to tell her,
"Princess, allow me to take care of this guy. I can beat him on my own."
"Is that right?" Xigbar said as he had teleported a few feet away from Al. Priscilla looked at Al with a serious facial expression before pulling out her fan.
"Do you believe you stand a chance against him, Aldebaran?"
Al stood silent as he looked at Priscilla. Although nobody can see Al's face due to his helmet, Priscilla was able to tell that her 'knight' had a serious facial expression, indicating that he was confident in his abilities. After a few seconds of silence, she just turned around before commanding her army to continue moving their way towards the center.
"Wh-Where are you going, Priscilla-sama?"
"To help the Keyblade Master. I suggest you two stay with us."
"No! Betty will stay to help her contractor, in fact."
"Then stay. The choice is yours."
As Priscilla said this, she along with the Shudraq army, left the area and started to head towards the center of the city. As they were leaving, Naoko turned towards her family's direction to see that Luxord had surrounded the entire area with cards, making it hard to see what's going on with her husband and son.
'Please be safe...'
Beatrice looked at the cards and wanted to do something yet due to her limited amount of mana, she could only watch.
'Don't die...Subaru...'
Louis was breathing heavily as she was backed into a corner, having been using everything her Gluttony witch factor can offer her to stay alive. Pride looked at her with a blank facial expression, looking completely unfazed by all of her attacks.
'Come on body, we can't lose...we can't lose...we...don't...want to die...~tsu...'
Louis started to shake with fear as she remembered how it felt to die, with some of them being extremely agonizing.
'We don't want to die...'
Tears started to be formed as she was in complete fear of the possibility of dying. Pride noticed this which prompted him to smile sinisterly.
"Are you really going to cry? Man, you really are pathetic. I was expecting more from a fellow Sin Archbishop but I guess a baby will always be a baby."
"..."
"...talk. It's boring to just be talking by myself."
"..."
Louis continued to stay silent with tears streaming down her cheeks, still stuck in a state of fear. Pride looked disappointed as he started to approach the little teen girl, completely bored by this entire encounter since they started fighting. As he was near the little teen girl, he just gave her an annoyed facial expression before lifting his sword up.
"You know, if you hadn't been such a baby right now, maybe you would have my respect but seeing that you really are weak, I'll just end you right here. Goodbye you pathetic excuse of a Sin Archbishop."
"W-We...W-W-We..."
"Hm?" Replica Riku was a bit curious by what he was hearing. "What? You have something to say? Spit it out before I kill you. Hurry up."
"W-W-W-W-We..."
"Spit it out!"
"We...Don't Want To Die!"
As she shouted this, Pride was suddenly punched on the face. During the fight, Louis's punches were strong but nothing life threatening but this one punch was different than the others. This one was out of desperation rather than pure strength.
'So she can prove to be a problem when pushed towards death.'
Pride quickly recovered as he looked at Louis with a serious facial expression, preparing his dark fireball for an attack. As he was doing this, what caught him off guard when Louis was suddenly teleporting all around, still completely engulfed in fear.
'We don't want to die! We don't want to die! We don't want to die! We don't want to die!'
Louis started to attack Pride with everything she had, surprising him since he was actually taking damage from the teen girl.
"Grrr—back off!"
Replica Riku threw the dark ball at Louis in an attempt to get her to back off, having had enough of her attacks. As he threw this attack, Louis with her immense strength punched away the attack without hesitation while looking with fear in her eyes. Replica Riku was annoyed by this, prompting him to increase the darkness within his body, allowing him to withstand more hits.
While Louis continued on her aggressive offense, Replica Riku eventually found the opening he needed to change the fight from being on the defense to being back on the offense. He barely dodged one of Louis's punch while also managing to land his own punch onto the teen girl's stomach.
"You really are strong but nothing compared to me. It's time for you to perish along with the rest of your friends."
"N-No! We won't die!"
Using Lunar Eclipse, she quickly used a leaper technique which gave her the opportunity to gain some distance from the Sin Archbishop of Pride. As she managed to do this, she started to run without hesitation, seeing her chance to escape.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Replica Riku using the combined power of darkness and the power the witch of vainglory had given him, he managed to increase his speed to quickly catch up to Louis Arneb within seconds. The little teen girl was terrified when she saw this, understanding just how wide their gap in power really is.
Wanting to avoid Replica Riku's attack, she stopped herself from running in order to focus on dodging the attack. As she barely avoided Pride's sword, he ran for a couple of seconds before turning around with a powerful dark ball ready to be thrown.
"You really are pissing me off!"
"We won't die~tsu! (Not again. Not ever again!)"
The fear was still fresh in Louis's mind though she was still ready to give it her all.
'Sora-san, Naoko-chan, Kenichi-san, and even Subaru-kun are all relying on us, we must not fail them~tsu!'
She charged at Pride with everything she had in her, using the fear in her to keep her senses sharp while also forming a plan to counter her opponent's dark ball. Pride smiled when he saw this, seeing that this is his chance to end his opponent.
"This is the end for you."
He threw the dark ball with everything he had, confident that this will be enough to kill her. As the dark ball was rapidly approaching Louis, she closed her eyes as she was prepared to counter the attack. Before she had the chance to, someone had suddenly jumped in with between the two.
'Huh?'
Louis and Replica Riku were surprised by this since they didn't expect someone random to jump in, let alone sense someone around. This person was at first hiding underneath a coat, hiding his identity while using his rapier sword to block off the Replica Riku's attack. As the mysterious man managed to succeed in doing something like this, two other unknown people approached Louis with one of them checking up on her while the other was prepared to protect her.
"Are you okay?" The unknown person checking on Louis asked, checking up all around the little teen girl's body. Louis was unsure whether to trust this person, not knowing anything except that this person was female because of the voice. After a few seconds of staying silent, she just nodded as a response. The unknown woman smiled underneath her hood, having a genuine joy that the teen girl was alright. Replica Riku lowered his sword as he questioned the unknown people,
"Who are you three supposed to be?"
"Pardon me, it is rude to not reveal ourselves to an opponent." The unknown man said with a sincere tone of voice. He took off his coat to reveal himself to be wearing a long violet suit with gold highlights and black pants and boots. This mysterious man pulled out his jet-black bowl-shape hat to set on top of his head before grabbing his rapier weapon.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Tiga Rauleon but you can call me Tiga." As Tiga in a respectful manner said this, he pointed his sword directly Replica Riku. "Now then, you won't get away for hurting this young lady."
"Ha! You think that because you are dressed all elegant, you can beat me? A Sin Archbishop?"
Tiga continued to have a smile despite hearing the fact that he was facing a Sin Archbishop, showing that he's confident in his abilities.
"Even so, I'll be your opponent from here on out."
"Hmph. I'll make sure to take away that smug look on your face."
With Pride having said this, he teleported next to Tiga with his sword ready to kill. As he swung it, Tiga had noticed this and quickly deflected the attack, barely managing to do this with only three seconds to react. Pride was surprised when his new opponent had blocked the attack, prompting him to start teleporting all around, hoping to catch his opponent off guard.
Just as it seemed like Pride had the upper hand, Louis had suddenly jumped into the mix and landed a kick. Pride was shocked by this, forcing him to quickly change up his strategy by creating a group of totems to keep a distance between himself and his opponents. As he did this, he quickly jumped away in order to gain some distance. Once he got his distance, the totems he had summoned had all exploded in unison.
'That should them off.'
He thought pridefully, confident that his power has grown much stronger to the point that his unique abilities can eliminate the strongest of fighters. As he was about to leave, he noticed a fireball thrown towards him. This left him confused for only a couple of seconds before he used his sword to swipe away the attack.
"So, you are quite strong."
Replica Riku just looked at the smoke with a serious facial expression has he heard this, knowing that this fight is far from over. Once the smoke had gone away, Replica Riku noticed a floating small squirrel.
"And who are you?"
"Someone who's going to beat you."
The Squirrel talked with confidence as she prepared another fireball. While this was going on, Louis turned towards Tiga to tell him,
"We need to warn Sora-san~tsu!"
"Sora-san? I don't know who that is but stay with us, we will keep you safe."
"B-But it's our job! We have to warn Sora-san about what's going on!"
"We?...well, if it's important then I'll accompany you. Me and someone close to me. We aren't going to let you go all alone."
"...much appreciated." Louis said with a timid voice. She was uncertain about these new people yet she couldn't deny that more allies would be very helpful to them. Tiga turned towards the other unknown person, having noticed him take off his coat.
"Salum, Pooka, think you two can handle him?"
"...yes..." The man spoke with a serious voice.
"Of course! This guy doesn't look tough at all!" The Squirrel confidently spoke out as she fired another fireball. Replica Riku didn't took this comment lightly which prompted him to power himself up. Seeing this made both Salum and Pooka look serious, preparing themselves for the fight of their life. Toga quickly grabbed the unknown female's hand while telling Louis to lead the way. Louis nodded at Toga and quickly made her way towards the city.
"Come on Melty, let's get you out of here."
"O-Okay!"
The unknown woman listened and ran alongside Toga, both of them following Louis into the city.
Sora and Cloud both charged at an Assault Rider type heartless, both fighters landing a couple of hits from multiple areas before landing the strongest combined fatal hit. As the two did this, the heartless was defeated within a few seconds.
The two took a moment rest up for a few seconds, allowing the duo to observe their surroundings to see how much progress they have left.
"You are pretty good." Sora spoke, admiring just how skilled Cloud was.
"You aren't half bad yourself. You've definitely grown stronger since we last saw each other."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. Makes our rematch that much more intruging."
"Right. But remember, no dark powers involve." Sora said as he had fond memories of having met Cloud during the Coliseum. Although they weren't friends at first, he is happy they are friends now. Cloud chuckled when he heard this before noticing the remaining heartless starting to gather together.
"Let's focus on finish this fight."
"Okay."
The two turned their attention towards the remaining 200 hundred heartless. Three were Darkside type heartless, a couple of possessor type heartless, twenty-five neoshadow type heartless, fifty soldier type heartless, and the rest being shadow type heartless.
"Hm. These ones don't seem like a challenge." Cloud said as he was preparing his sword for one large strike.
"No they don't, not when we are working together." Sora spoke with confidence as he prepared Kingdom Key for another set of heartless to slay. The two gave each other a nod before charging towards the remaining heartless.
As they were closing in on the heartless, a couple of soldier type jumped high up to try and attack the duo only to be easily cut down by Cloud. Sora smiled at this as he turned his attention at the possessor type heartless, seeing them rapidly making their way towards his direction. He waited for a moment before swinging his keyblade around, landing fatal hits on each possessor type heartless.
'These aren't that strong...but I have to be careful, I doubt that this will be an easy win for us.'
Being very skeptical, he kept his guard up while taking on the shadow heartless that started to charge at him and Cloud. The two without struggle started to strike each of the shadow heartless down without much effort, both noticing that the shadow heartless were oddly weak in this final wave of heartless.
'Something's wrong here. This is too easy.'
Cloud started to think this as they were already halfway through the fight. As he had this in mind, the three Darkside type heartless started to move. Sora and Cloud noticed the three darkside heartless making their move, prompting Sora to quickly use a powerful Thundaga to destroy them with a swift attack. As he did this, the three darkside heartless were destroyed which made Sora and Cloud even more suspicious that something is going on.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah...something's not right here."
As the two had said this, they continued to take out the remaining shadow heartless and the neoshadow heartless. Once all of the heartless had been taken care of, the two would've taken this opportunity to rest up since they accomplished their jump, yet they had felt something was wrong. The two looked around with caution until suddenly three separate demon towers of shadow heartless exploded from the ground and surrounded the two warriors.
"That's new. I didn't think that they could combine like that." Cloud spoke with some interest, a bit curious on what more can the heartless do. Sora took note of this, prompting him to respond with,
"They are more dangerous like this but nothing the two of us can't handle."
As the keyblade master said this, both him and Cloud were back to back with their weapons ready for battle. Cloud took a moment to process on what Sora had said, prompting him to have smile.
"Right."
The two charged at the one together, wanting to swiftly eliminate one of them in order to take out the other two separately. As they were landing a couple of hits on a Demon Tower, the eyes of the shadow type heartless turned from yellow to dark orange, indicating that they are preparing to go on the offense.
"Watch out!" Sora shouted as he pushed Cloud out of the way, aware of what the demon tower's destructive attack. As the Keyblade Master was able to shove away his friend, he took the hit which send him flying into one of the buildings nearby. Cloud was a bit angry when he saw this happen, prompting him to quickly land on the ground on his two feet.
The second he landed on the ground, he charged straight towards the demon tower they were currently facing with everything he had, accidently summoning a bit of darkness. As this darkness was in Cloud, he felt the sudden surge of power once again, being reminded that those with darkness are much stronger. He didn't want to use this extract strength yet for this one moment, he allowed it.
He swung his sword with everything he had, allowing him to land the fatal blow to destroy the demon tower heartless. As he completed this, he quickly calmed himself down in order to dispel the darkness from his heart before turning his attention towards the two remaining demon tower heartless. He prepared to charge at the two remaining heartless until he suddenly felt someone swiftly past him.
"Huh?"
"I got this!"
As Sora said this, he switched Kingdom Key onto a keyblade he hadn't used in a long while, Two become one type keyblade. Once he pulled this keyblade out, he started to increase his strength and speed on the closest Demon Tower Heartless, managing to land a barrage of blows on it. As he did this, the Demon Tower Heartless started to retaliate on the Keyblade Master, attempting to land a hit.
Sora was prepared for this, he took a moment to strengthen his footing before swinging his keyblade just as the demon tower swung itself at him. Once the two attacks collided, Sora prepared himself to overpower his opponent only for Cloud to quickly jump into the fight and land a massive blow on the heartless, cutting it by the center while it was distracted.
As he landed a strong hit, Sora took this opportunity to quickly land his own massive blow which caused the Demon Tower heartless to disappear. With only one of the demon tower heartless left, Cloud and Sora both turned towards the remaining heartless with the two starting to reach a point of tiredness.
"How are you holding up?" Cloud asked as he was preparing himself for this final heartless. Sora stood silent for a moment, feeling a little fatigue yet he was still more than ready for a battle.
"I can still fight. You?"
"I'll be fine. This thing doesn't stand a chance." Cloud had a smile of confidence when he said this. Sora noticed this and smiled as well, happy to see his friend and ally confident in their shared strength.
The two waited until the demon tower heartless started to move its way towards them. Once the heartless was closing in, the two didn't hesitate to charge at it and land a couple of attacks on it.
As the two were on the offensive, the demon tower of heartless eventually started to float with all of the shadow type heartless smushed together, turning itself into a Demon Tide type heartless.
"This is new."
"Watch out!"
Sora shoved Cloud once again in order to have him avoid the attack. Although he did this last time, this time he was able to block off the attack unlike the previous one. The Demon Tide charged at the two though it wasn't able to land a hit on Cloud and Sora had managed to block off the attack.
As the swarm of shadow type heartless was moving around the area through the air, a couple of shadow heartless had left the large hive and started to individually charge at the two warriors. The two noticed this and quickly started to take care of the shadow type heartless first before returning their attention on the demon tide.
The demon tide continued to move around quickly before slamming itself on the ground. Sora and Cloud both avoided this slam by jumping out of the way. Having remembered from his previous fight against the demon tide during the keyblade war, he knew that it was going to jump out somewhere near him or Cloud.
The two looked around for a moment before noticing the demon tide preparing to burst out of the ground where Sora was standing. Just before the demon tide could surprise attack the Keyblade Master, he quickly dashed himself out of the way just in the nick of time.
As Sora dodged this, he quickly charged at the demon tide and landed a couple of hits with Cloud coming in and providing some assistance. As the two were on the offensive, this changed when the eyes of the shadow type heartless turned red.
This caused the two warriors to quickly back off as the demon tide was moving around the entire area with great speed. As the demon tide was going around the battle ground for a moment, it eventually started to go in a circle, surrounding the core with a load of shadow type heartless while also sending some of the heartless towards the two warriors once again.
"Tsk. This is getting annoying. We need to finish this before that thing gets the upper hand."
"We will beat it. We just need a plan."
Cloud and Sora both took a moment to think before one of the two had something in mind.
"Do you have a powerful finishing move?" Cloud questioned as he began taking down the shadow heartless that were approaching them. Sora stood silent for a second before quickly switching himself into the Ultima keyblade before using it's formchange. As he turned into the Ultimate form, he responded to Cloud's question,
"I was saving this for the fight against the divine generals...but it seems like it's needed."
"I'll make an opening for you. Just get ready to finish this."
The moment Cloud finished his sentence, he charged at the demon tide with his sword ready to start the barrage of attacks he had in mind. Once he closed in, his weapon started to glow blue right before he swung at the demon tide. The second the first attack landed, he separated his weapon into six separate small versions of his weapon, all glowing blue and hovering around the demon tide.
Without hesitation, Cloud started to slash at the heartless with the nearest sword to him before grabbing another one, increasing the speed of his attack and the strength he puts behind the attack. As he continued this a couple more times, each attack being much stronger and faster than the other, he eventually reached the final strike.
Hovering above the demon tide, he put everything he had into this strike in order to create the opening Sora needed to destroy the heartless. Once he slashed down with all of his strength, he managed to make a gap big enough for Sora to strike directly at the core.
"Now!" He shouted at the Keyblade Master, prompting Sora to glide his way towards the core with his sword-like blade prepared to deliver the final blow on the demon tide.
As he was closing in on the heartless, the demon tide quickly tried to protect itself by sending a large swarm of shadow heartless to intercept the keyblade master.
Sora noticed this and knew that if he dealt with these shadow heartless, then the demon tide would have enough time to cover the gap that is revealing its core. Cloud saw this and was going to intercept the shadow heartless only for a separate swarm to attack him.
'Darn! I don't have time for this!'
He quickly did his best to push his way through the heartless yet the amount of shadow heartless that he had to cut through was enormous. This made the warrior realize that he wasn't going to be able to assist his friend. Sora had also noticed this and yet he wasn't scared. He knew that even if they fail to take down the heartless right here, they will have another chance later during the fight.
'Even so, I can't give up on this chance. Cloud worked so hard to get me an opening, so I won't waste it.'
With determination, Sora charged in and was prepared to face off the large wave of shadow heartless thrown towards him until a couple of arrows came in and started to eliminate them one by one.
"Huh?"
Sora turned towards the direction the arrows were fired to see that there were a lot of Shudraq warriors all preparing to fire another set of arrows with Priscilla leading them. The sun princess moved her free right hand towards the direction Sora was at before using the power of the Yang Sword Vollachia to cause some serious damage to the shadow heartless near the boy while also avoiding him in the process.
Before Sora could say anything, he noticed Priscilla was giving him a look, one that's telling him that this is his chance. He nodded at her before taking this chance to close the gap between himself and the demon tide core with the Shudraq and Priscilla helping clear the way. Once he closed the gap, using every ounce of strength in him, he shoved the sword-like blade onto the core of the demon tide.
As he did this, his sword-like blade started to glow a bright light all around the area until the light completely consumed the entire demon tide heartless and those shadow heartless roaming around independently from it. Everyone looked away from the bright light until it finally went away with Sora being the only one there, still in his Ultimate form.
As he was still floating where the demon tide core was located, a large heart appeared for a few seconds before floating up onto the sky, disappearing in the process. Sora slowly glided towards the ground while reverting back onto his normal attire with Kingdom Key at hand, completely worn out from the fight.
Once he was on the ground, he wanted to collapse yet he still had energy left in him. Cloud, Priscilla, and the Shudraq warriors all approached Sora to check on him, noticing that he was tired from all the fighting.
"You did a pretty amazing job." Mizelda spoke as she was impressed that the keyblade master was able to take on the monster.
"Yes, well done Keyblade Master. You performed admirable, as expected."
Priscilla said as she hid her smile underneath her fan, admiring how resilient Sora was against the demon tide. Sora just nodded at Priscilla with a smile before turning towards the sky, smiling as he felt that the strength he had wasn't just his own but everyone he's connected to. As they were all taking their time to rest, Mizelda took the opportunity to say,
"Those were a lot of creatures you two took out. That's more than impressive, it's outstanding."
"Thanks...but the credit goes to Sora. He's the reason we were able to defeat all those heartless."
Sora was a bit surprised when he heard this, causing him to smile at his friend for the kind words he was told.
"We both did it together, Cloud. I wouldn't have done it without you."
"You are strong regardless of whether I fought by your side or not."
"Thanks." Sora said, appreciating the kind words Cloud was saying. He took a moment to look up at the sky.
'Donald. Goofy. Riku. Kairi. Thank you for lending me your strength.' As Sora thought this, he closed his eyes and smiled. He pictured them on his mind, all of them on Destiny Island waiting for him.
'...I miss you guys.'
As he thought this, he suddenly felt something off. He looked around with a serious facial expression, catching the attention of the others.
"Are you okay?" Taritta asked as she took note on the shift of Sora's personality. The others also took note of this, prompting them to start getting their weapons out.
"Did you sense something, Sora?"
"He sensed me."
Everyone turned towards the voice, having noticed that the atmosphere had shifted into a dark one. Once they saw the person, they all saw that it was Xehanort himself.
"Xehanort."
"Sora. Good to see you again."
"Hm. And who are you?" Cloud said with a serious facial expression. Xehanort turned towards the warrior with the big sword. He didn't recognize him yet he was aware that he was like Sephiroth.
"Anyway, congratulations on taking down all those heartless. It's to be expected of the Keyblade's chosen one."
"What do you want?"
Cloud was a bit caught off guard by the way Sora spoke, how serious he was.
Priscilla herself was prepared to burn the soul of Xehanort, knowing that the old man is trouble, especially when remembering how he easily one-shotted Sora back when the Organization attacked the capital of Lugnica.
Xehanort looked at Sora for a moment before having a sinister smile, prompting him to respond with,
"I'm here to see if you have what it takes."
"For what?"
"As the main Guardian of Light."
Once Xehanort said this, he pulled out a couple of cards that belong to Luxord. He tossed three of them, one of them landing near Sora's direction, another near Cloud's location, and the last one near Priscilla's location.
The card thrown near Sora created a bright light before having Halibel appear. The card thrown near Cloud also created a bright light before having Cecilus appear. Lastly, the card thrown near Priscilla's location had also brighten up the area before having Chisha Gold appear.
Sora and Cloud were both surprised and a little excited to see their respective opponent, Sora seeing this as a chance to save Halibel while Cloud saw this as a chance to have a rematch with a skilled warrior like Cecilus.
"Halibel!"
"Hey kid, been a while." The wolf human said as he smoked his pipe.
"Are you okay? As the Organization done anything to you?" The Keyblade Master asked as he was worried for the wolf human. Halibel appreciated this and wanted to respond but Xehanort took this opportunity to say,
"Your connection to this creature won't help you, Sora."
"And why is that?"
"Cause kid, I'm your opponent."
Sora looked at Halibel and noticed that darkness was hovering all around the wolf human. This left the boy in shocked for a brief moment before having his face turn serious, realizing that he's going to need to save Halibel from this.
"Sorry kid, I can't disobey the old man..."
"Don't worry Halibel, I'm going to save you!"
As he said this, the Keyblade Master got himself into his fighting stance with his Kingdom Key ready for action. Halibel created three more of himself before he along with his clones charged at Sora, starting the fight.
While that was happening, both Cloud and Cecilus had their weapons ready for battle as they see that they get another chance to face each other.
"This is going to be the grandest of battles."
"I won't be going easy on you."
"I expect you to not go easy. That kills the fun of this battle. I want this to be the most amazing battle!"
Cloud could feel the strong energy of darkness inside Cecilus unlike before, making him think that this has something to do with the Organization's doing. With this in mind, a blue aura could be seen around Cloud's sword, showing that he's prepared to go all out in case Cecilus's newfound darkness had given him a massive boost in power.
He waited until Cecilus prepared himself before charging at him, wanting to have the divine general under the control of the Organization to have a chance to protect himself. As Cloud closed the gap between the two, Cecilus smiled as he swung both the Dream Sword and the Fiend Sword to counter Cloud's Buster Sword.
As this was happening, both Priscilla and Chisha Gold looked at each other. Priscilla gave him a cold look while he gave her an indifference facial expression, a little surprise to see her once again yet he didn't think too much into this.
"So, you are working for someone else? How typical." Priscilla spoke with disappointment as she held her fan near her face.
"Are you implying I'm betraying someone?" Chisha questioned with a curious look.
"Vincent Vollachia." The sun princess said.
"Hm. I serve the Vollachian Empire."
"Hmph. You say that but all I see is a slave to those who would want the destruction of this empire."
Chisha didn't respond to this, if anything he just gave the sun princess a death stare. Priscilla didn't care much of this while Mizelda, Taritta, Kuna, Holly, and the other Shudraq all pointed their weapons towards the divine general.
"What would you like us to do, Sun Princess?" Mizelda said as she was preparing to take on the divine general. Priscilla stood silent as she was thinking on why would Xehanort send Chisha Gold to face her.
"Hold on for a moment." She said to Mizelda before turning her attention towards the divine general, "Why would that old keyblade master chose a weakling like you to face me?"
"Don't underestimate me. Last I checked, Prisca lost."
"Hmph." Priscilla pulled out the Yang Sword Vollachia with a bit of fire in her eyes. "Don't bring up that name. I'm nothing like her. I suggest you chose your next words carefully."
Chisha wasn't threatened by what Priscilla said or by her pulling out the Yang Sword Vollachia, if anything he was a bit excited. He pulled out his white fan while also an aura of darkness started to consume him.
The Shudraq warriors were all on edge when they saw this, a bit afraid that Chisha was going to easy whip them out meanwhile Priscilla understood what this meant.
"Do you really believe a little power up can help you? Against someone that is loved by the world?"
"Loved by the world or not, this darkness allows me to fight, even better than in my prime Prisca Benedict."
"I told you not to call me by that name!"
Priscilla started the battle between her and the divine general by commanding the fire of her weapon to burn her opponent to the very soul. As the fire was rapidly closing in on him, Chisha smiled as he swung his white fan to push away the fire with the power of darkness assisting him on this defensive move.
As he did this, Mizelda and the other Shudraq warriors fired their arrows at the divine general. Chisha Gold took note of this and simply blocked each of the arrows fired at him with his white fan, showing how weak their attacks are compared to him.
"If that's the best you got, then I'm disappointed. The Vollachian empire should take care of you guys."
"Hm?"
Priscilla looked at Chisha a little puzzled before noticing a few portals of darkness suddenly appearing for a moment. As the portals were disappearing, a couple of vollachia soldiers appeared, all looking like they are being possessed by darkness.
The Shudraq were all on edge when they saw this, seeing that this isn't going to be an easy fight. Taritta turned towards Priscilla to ask,
"They seem possessed; do we restrain ourselves?"
Priscilla stood silent while also having noticed that the Vollachian warriors were being possessed by the darkness. The Sun Princess figured that it was Xehanort and the Organization XIII doing. She closed her eyes while moving her fan before responding to the Shudraq warrior,
"If you are forced to, kill them. But incapacitate them."
"Understood."
As Taritta nodded at this, she quickly informed the other Shudraq. While this was going on, Priscilla pointed her sword at Chisha Gold to tell him,
"You won't win. The world will lead me to victory."
"You may say that but the moment you are on death's door, remember that you brought that upon yourself."
Once Chisha Gold said this, both sides charged at each other, beginning their fight with everything they got.
Heinkel, Kafma, and Kyda were running around the city, taking out any heartless that either tried to escape the city or tried to attack them. While they were doing this, the three of them felt a shock wave.
"What's going on?" Kafma questioned as he felt that something was wrong.
"Who knows, who cares." Heinkel said as he continued to move through the city with Kyda and Kafma following behind. The two were a bit on edge hearing just how cruel the Lugnica warrior sounded, especially when he didn't joined up with the others to help Rowan, Garfiel, and Otto.
"Do you think he just hates everyone?" Kyda questioned, theorizing that Heinkel is just a bitter person. Kafma would also think this yet that wasn't what he was sensing from the man.
"That's not the case. He makes a fuzz about everything but I think that woman, the Sword Saint, she might be the key to how that man's feeling."
"Really?" Shudraq warrior spoke in a surprised tone of voice. Kafma stood silent, he wasn't a hundred percent sure if that was the case yet this was the only theory he could come up with. The three walked and walked deeper into the city until they encountered Arakiya and her group.
"Oh, you must be with the Sword Saint's group." Yorna stated, having remembered Heinkel and Kafma being with Theresia van Astrea. "We heard you were attack by those Organization filth."
"Yes. But the Sword Saint is taking care of them right now." Kafma responded to what Yorna said.
"That and the other two boys." Kyda added.
Yorna, Olbart, and Arakiya all took note on what was told, seeing that the Sword Saint's group had to split up if they wished to make the best of the situation.
"Do you think they will be alright?" Arakiya asked, wanting to know if they believe on the others to hold their own. Kafma and Kyda were both confident that with the female Sword Saint helping Rowan, Garfiel, and Otto take on the two Organization members, yet they were curious on what Heinkel was thinking. The two turned towards him to see what he would say about it. Heinkel took noticed of this, prompting him to close his eyes in annoyance.
"They'll be fine."
As Heinkel said this, they suddenly noticed a bright light off on the distance, prompting the two groups to be on their guards. As they were, they swiftly moved towards the location of the bright light, caught off guard by it.
"What do you think that was?" Kyda asked as she prepared her weapons for combat. Arakiya looked up at the sky to see if it could be one of the Organization members yet she saw nobody.
"Whatever that was, it can't be good." Yorna responded.
"Regardless of what it was, we must tread carefully. We don't want to get caught in a fight that will get us killed."
"Ha! Sounds very cowardly coming from a Vollachian general." Heinkel spoke in a very boastful manner. This annoyed Kafma since he has been treating Heinkel with enough respect than he would for any member of the kingdom of Lugnica.
"You really are a pain in the ass."
"So are you. Now focus, something's happening."
"Hm?"
They all turned forward to see that an old man floating while Sora and Cloud were both facing Halibel and Cecilus respectively. Arakiya was angry to see Cecilus once again but in this context, she understood that he's only fighting because he's being controlled yet her focus turned more towards Priscilla and Chisha, seeing the two standoff.
'Princess!'
Arakiya was about to go and assist Priscilla only for Heinkel to grab her arm with a tight grip.
"Let go off me, scumbag."
"Don't be stupid! We shouldn't run into battle like a dumbass!"
"I said let go!"
She pulled her arm away from Heinkel and was prepared to run only for Olbart to point something up.
"Is that old man the one known as Xehanort?"
Arakiya stood silent as she looked at the old Keyblade Master, feeling rage in her heart since he was the one responsible for her initial capture.
"Yes. It's him."
"Then we shall take him on first." Kafma stated, confident that all of them combined could pull this off.
"That would be easily said than done, wouldn't it?"
Arakiya, Olbart, Yorna, Kafma, Kyda, and Heinkel all six got their weapons up as they heard a voice from someone not familiar to them. They all turn around to see a corridor of darkness appear, revealing the person to have spoken to them to be none other than Young Xehanort.
Seeing that he's from the Organization, they immediately knew that they were in for a fight. Heinkel looked at the group for a moment before turning back towards Xehanort, seeing that he's observing the fight.
'Hmph. Old Bastard. He can just sit around and watch until we all tire ourselves out. One of us as to deal with him at the very least.'
Understanding the problem of having all six of them face Young Xehanort, he stepped up and walked in front of the group before setting himself into his fighting pose.
"Allow me to take care of this bastard. Go and finish off that old prick so we can end the fighting for good."
"Wait, are you sure you want to be the only one fighting an Organization member?"
"...I'll be fine. Now go!"
As Heinkel shouted this at them, he charged at Young Xehanort with everything he had, somewhat confident that he can at the very least buy them some time.
The three divine generals, the Shudraq warrior, and the general all were concerned yet they understood that someone needs to fight off against Xehanort since the Keyblade Master and his ally were busy with their separate opponents.
They all nodded at Heinkel before leaving him to face off against Young Xehanort, everyone but Kafma. Kyda noticed this and quickly asked,
"Is something wrong?"
"Go on without me. I'll give him some assistance."
"Wait but—"
"I know, he's stubborn like hell but I know fighting one of these guys alone is trouble. So I'll just give him some backup. You just need to make sure that the divine generals we have don't get themselves captured. That'll be your job. Understood?"
Kyda wanted to say no but having a moment to think on what Kafma had said, she knew that someone had to keep an eye on the divine generals they have. Considering that the Organization had been capturing them, it wouldn't be far fetch to say that they wouldn't try to capture the ones that aren't in their control.
"Just try not to die."
"I won't."
The two nodded at each other with respect before separating. Heinkel was swinging his sword at Young Xehanort yet he didn't even bother to pull out his keyblade. All he did was dodge and dodge like it was nothing. This continued for a few seconds until Young Xehanort was prepared to end this fight with a simple cast of magic.
"You are honestly pathetic if you call yourself a warrior. Now die."
"Not so fast!"
Kafma quickly created vines to try and entrap the Organization member only to see that Young Xehanort was very fast. Heinkel turned towards Kafma's direction, a bit out of breath but angry by the fact that the Vollachian general didn't listen to him.
"What are you doing here?! Leave me be!"
"Don't be stupid as well! Alone, you'll die in vain."
"And together we have a better chance?!"
"Not really but better to die with an ally by your side than alone."
"...whatever. Just don't get in my way."
As Heinkel said this, he charged at Young Xehanort once again. Kafma rolled his eyes at this before following behind. Young Xehanort looked at the two with a blank facial expression, unimpressed by what he's seeing.
"Hm. This should be an easy battle."
While this was going on, Arakiya and her group all arrived near Xehanort, catching the old man's attention.
"Hm? Oh. It's you again." The Old Keyblade Master spoke, a bit surprise to see Arakiya once again. "I didn't think you would've been freed that easily."
"Oh trust me, I'll make sure you pay tenfold for that, you bastard." Arakiya said as she was preparing herself for a frontal assault. Yorna also felt anger in her heart, for the people she loved that had fallen pray to the heartless all because of the Organization.
"You...I'll make sure you pay all the innocent lives of Chaosflame with your life! I swear they will be avenged!"
As the two female divine generals were preparing to start the battle, Olbart just stood back as he was preparing to watch the fight, wanting to know how exactly Xehanort fights. Kyda arrives to the scene just as the battle is about to start. She looks at Olbart, questioning him.
"Are you just going to sit there?"
"Just watch."
"But—"
"Just watch."
Kyda was unsure on what she should do but considering that the third divine general is just allowing the second and the seventh to fight the old man alone. She got her weapon ready just in case, yet she listened to the old man and stood next to him, preparing to watch the fight unfold.
Xehanort looked at the two female divine generals with a serious facial expression at first before having a smile. He pulls out the No Name Keyblade while saying to the two,
"Show me what you got."
Author's note:
So, I realize that there's a lot of fights on this big battle of Arc 7, so it will have a few more additional chapters than expected so I don't rush any of the fights that are super important. Also I forgot to answer a specific question in the last chapter, how did pandora escaped? Well she was just tossed over into the corridor of darkness and send somewhere else in the world of Re:Zero, not necessarily trapped.