Chapter 86: Making a Stand
Reinhard and Young Xehanort both clashed weapons multiple times, each time being much harsher as the ground cracks with each clash.
'I mustn't hold anything back.'
Reinhard thought this to himself as he knew that his opponent was just that dangerous.
The two were on equal terms though unlike in their previous battle back when the Organization attacked the capital, Reinhard van Astrea was not holding any of his strength back.
He was once afraid to do such a thing since this would instantly kill his opponent but Young Xehanort has proven to be someone that can handle the true power of the Sword Saint.
The two constantly clashed weapons a few more times before the two ended up in a blade lock.
"You've grown stronger, Sword Saint." Young Xehanort spoke in a respectful tone.
"You've also grown in strength as well." Reinhard responding.
"Although this new strength as made us equals in power, you won't hold out for much longer."
As Young Xehanort finished saying this, he broke the blade lock and jumped away from his opponent, wanting to gain some distance. The Organization member's words caught Reinhard's interest.
"Would you please elaborate on that?"
Young Xehanort looked at Reinhard with a blank expression before going for the offense, wanting to keep pressure on his opponent. As he threw a barrage of attacks with his keyblade, he took this opportunity to answer his opponent's question.
"You have unbelievable strength, which makes you the second biggest threat to my future self's goal. Despite that, my abilities are more than enough to put you down."
As Young Xehanort confidently said these words, he continued to provide pressure on the Sword Saint, throwing every single attack at him.
Although some of his divine protections were helping in dodging and deflecting the attacks as well as his strength constantly increasing, he knew that eventually Young Xehanort will land a hit similar to how Sora managed to land a hit on him on their second sparring match back when the royal selection began, the day the Organization attacked the capital of Lugnica.
'He's indeed strong...but I won't falter here.'
Reinhard thought to himself as he continued to be on the defensive, viewing Young Xehanort on the same scope of strength and power as Sora.
He blocked and blocked for a bit before attempting to change the roles by powering the Dragon Sword Reid with an intense amounts of mana, preparing for one hell of a counterattack.
As he was preparing for this attack, he managed to quickly move his sword out of the keyblade's path and with immense luck, he was able to catch Young Xehanort's weapon with just one hand with minimal damage.
"Hm?" The Organization member was a bit shocked by this sudden block. Reinhard remained in a serious expression while preparing to go for a counterattack.
"Pardon me for this, but you must be put down."
As Reinhard says this, he begins to think on those he cares deeply for, Felt being on the top, Subaru being second, Sora third, and so on.
As he thinks of them, he moves his sword up as it begins to not only glow all around it but also the surrounding area he and Young Xehanort are fighting in.
As he swings his sword towards the Organization member's direction, a large explosion had caused the entire area of the city to be destroyed with many buildings being caught in the crossfire.
This explosion lasted for a few seconds before the dust settled with Reinhard standing in a large destruction he had caused in one side of the capital.
The Sword Saint didn't like this since he knows the hard work people put in constructing the buildings he had just destroyed but he needed to eliminate the Organization member he was facing off against.
Just as it seemed like he had gained another win for their side, he noticed a clock appear.
"What?"
The Sword Saint was taken aback for a moment before pulling his sword up, preparing for a fight.
As he was in his fighting stance, the clock rotated around for a moment, as if it was resetting something.
After a few seconds, the entire area had suddenly been returned to normal with Young Xehanort back on his feet, ready for a fight.
"I must say, that attack was indeed impressive. But as you can see, it didn't finish the job."
The Sword Saint remained silent as he just looked at his opponent with a serious facial expression, seeing the big issue he will have in defeating him.
'Sora did mention that he was a tough one to beat next to their leader.'
With this in mind, Young Xehanort had suddenly disappeared from where he was standing.
This shocked the Sword Saint for a second before prompting him to be on high alert.
He stood still for a moment before his body reacted on its own, having managed to detect where his opponent was.
He turns around and quickly blocks off the attack thrown towards him.
"Impressive."
Young Xehanort was impressed at Reinhard's reflexes, but he wouldn't give him a chance to counter him again.
Reinhard took note of this, realizing that Young Xehanort wasn't going to allow him another chance to turn the tables on him.
This continued for a minute more until the Keyblade Wielder was about to have the upper hand.
Just before that could happen, Reinhard took a moment to think on what his next action should be before managing to jump high enough to give himself and his opponent a large distance.
Young Xehanort looked up in a serious facial expression before swinging his keyblade at the Sword Saint's direction.
Normally, it wouldn't do anything but in this circumstance, the Organization member's keyblade had turned into a whip that could reach the Sword Saint.
Reinhard blocked the attack quickly before using his immense strength to push himself towards his opponent with great speed.
Young Xehanort noticed this and immediately blocked off Reinhard's swift attack.
As he managed to block off the attack, he pushed away the Sword Saint before creating a few projectiles around him.
Reinhard noticed this and quickly got himself into his defensive stances as he blocked away each projectiles thrown towards him.
As his sword had blocked away each projectiles, for some odd reason his weapon was rapidly moving slower and slower.
'Something's not right.'
Reinhard let go of the Dragon Sword Reid to test something out, only to find out that it's moving slow that it hasn't hit the ground immediately after having let go.
This alerted him of Young Xehanort's power, knowing now what he's truly dealing with.
He looked at the Organization member as he rapidly teleported from where he was towards his position.
As that happened, he swung his keyblade at him swiftly.
Reinhard was able to dodge just at the right time before attempting to land a punch on him.
Young Xehanort somehow managed to caught the punch as he gave his opponent an intense stare.
"Pitiful."
Young Xehanort said this with contempt has he once again swung his keyblade for Reinhard's head.
As the Sword Saint had managed to dodge this attack, he noticed that his sword was slowly moving back to normal speed.
This prompted him to dodge a few attacks from Young Xehanort before going for his sword.
As he grabs his sword, he swiftly manages to block away the Keyblade wielder's attack.
Once succeeding in blocking away the attack, Reinhard's weapon began to glow once again.
Young Xehanort saw this an immediately began to try to gain some distance from his opponent, knowing what ability he's about to use.
As he tries to teleport away, Reinhard quickly takes this opportunity to go on the offensive, having baited Young Xehanort essentially.
'For me to use that attack once again, I must be sure to weaken him in order to completely eliminate him.'
With this in mind, Reinhard manages to start overwhelming his opponent, forcing Young Xehanort to teleport only to receive two strong hits on him.
These hits were enough to trigger him to use his time manipulation.
"Time stop."
Everything within the area froze as Young Xehanort managed to get back on his feet calmly, looking at his opponent with a serious gaze before teleporting away.
As he teleported away, a giant clock had appeared a few feet away from the master swordsman with him managing to move again.
As he regained his movement, he noticed the giant clock glowing right in front of him.
At first, he wasn't sure if this was an attack or something, not until three Young Xehanorts appeared out of nowhere and charged directly towards his position.
Reinhard got into his fighting stance as he blocked away the attacks coming from the three Young Xehanorts.
As he blocked these attacks off, his senses were telling him to attack the giant clock.
Trusting in himself, he swiftly approached the giant clock as he powered up his weapon to try and eliminate it with one powerful hit.
As he was about to go for the ultimate hit on the clock, the three copies of Young Xehanort all began to fire X-shapted waves of light at the Sword Saint to land a hit while his guard is down.
Reinhard noticed this and quickly jumped in order to get out of the way of the three attacks.
As he was on the sky, the three copies of Young Xehanort looked at him before teleporting to his position.
"This is where your journey ends." One of the Young Xehanort copies said as the three swung their keyblades at him.
Reinhard wasn't fazed by this as he lifted his sword high up before swinging the Dragon Sword Reid at the direction of the clock.
This power of mana shot towards the clock with two of the three Young Xehanort copies were caught by the blast.
As these two were eliminated, the remaining one tried to attack the Master Swordsman while he was distracted in using his sword to stop the clock from doing something that would he had a feeing it would be bad.
Just before Young Xehanort's attack could connect, he was able to once again catch the keyblade before it even landed on him.
As he did this, he threw the keyblade away from him before turning towards the clock, seeing that his attack managed to reach the clock since an explosion had occurred right on it.
This explosion had caused the flow of time to return to normal, allowing Reinhard to quickly land back on the ground while preparing for whatever Young Xehanort was going to throw at him.
He waited for a moment before sensing through one of his divine protections that an attack was coming from his back side.
He swiftly blocked away a couple of ice shards fired at him.
As he succeeded in blocking the attacks away, Young Xehanort once again changed his keyblade into that of a whip, preparing for a quick attack on his opponent.
Reinhard noticed this and quickly got his guard up, preparing himself for whatever his opponent was up to.
Young Xehanort waited for a few seconds before starting to throw a barrage of attacks on him, prompting the Sword Saint to move around and dodge each attack as he can sense that blocking the attack might not be the best option.
As the two were stuck in a stalemate for a good two minutes, Young Xehanort smiled as he pulled out a red crystal from his pocket.
Once he had this red crystal, he waited for the right moment before tossing it towards the Sword Saint's direction.
Reinhard noticed this but was surprised when his opponent hit the explosive crystal, it didn't explode.
It had stayed still, as if time and space wasn't fazing the crystal as it remained floating.
This was alarming since Reinhard felt that his opponent was planning something has the red crystal was floating, unaffected by what was going on around it.
Young Xehanort reverted his keyblade back to how it was before charging at Reinhard once again, doing everything he can to keep the Sword Saint on the defensive.
Reinhard blocked every single attack with difficulty, having noted that Young Xehanort was asserting more force behind his attacks than before.
As the two were in another stalemate, Young Xehanort waited for the right moment before switching his keyblade into the whip once again.
Once he did this, he used the whip to grab the crystal before throwing it towards Reinhard.
The Sword Saint took notice and attempted to react but the speed of the crystal thrown towards him was faster than he was able to react, surprising him since this is the most rarest things to have happen to him.
As the crystal was right on him, the time seemed to have returned because it explodes suddenly and violently.
As this had happened, the Sword Saint looked forward only to see no sign of his opponent.
This prompted him to be on guard until all of a sudden Young Xehanort teleported right in front of him.
"Huh?"
"This is the end for you, Sword Saint."
Before Reinhard could react, he ended up getting fatally wounded by his opponent's keyblade, having received a large wound on his chest area.
This caused a large amount of blood to explode from his chest area.
As Reinhard suffered this wound, Young Xehanort did not hesitate to land a few more hits on him, wanting to assure that he's leaving no chance for his opponent to survive.
As he was feeling all these attacks, each being worse than the other, Reinhard van Astrea remembered something someone special to him had said to him:
("You better not die! Idiot!")
("Don't you worry, Felt-sama. I will return to you.")
"F-Felt...s-sama..."
As he said this, Young Xehanort looked as he watched Reinhard lifeless body fall to the ground from his knees.
The Organization member took the moment to look over at his dead opponent before turning around and preparing a corridor of darkness, having won a fight for the Organization XIII.
"That's the end of another tool for his grand plan."
He felt no remorse for this, despite knowing that this was the grandchild of Wilhelm and Theresia, two people he has grown a strong connection to during his adventures with Eraqus.
Just before he was about to leave, he sensed someone about to attack him which prompted him to quickly turn around and block off an attack from…the Sword Saint.
"That's unexpected."
"..."
Reinhard did not say anything, having chosen to remain silent as he and his opponent were in a blade lock of sorts.
The two used all of their strength to try and overpower the other until Young Xehanort was beginning to slowly be overpowered.
This did catch his attention has prior to having killed the Sword Saint, his power was slightly above his.
So now witnessing that he's somehow not only close the gap but surpassed his comes with some concern.
He teleported a few feet away from his opponent as he looked at the Sword Saint with a curious expression.
"You suddenly gotten stronger, after you had seemingly died. Is this perhaps a divine protection of yours?"
"You are correct, it is indeed a divine protection of mine." Reinhard responded, not having an issue giving that out.
"Hm. I wasn't aware of that little trick. I'll commend you for this, you have surprised me. That's all the praise you will get. This time, you will perish."
As Young Xehanort spoke this in a threatening manner, he prepared to continue their fight.
Reinhard got into his fighting stance while thinking about the divine protection he had gained thanks to this fight.
During his last moments before being dead for a moment, he had thought about something Sora had said to the council members back when the royal selection had started.
("Yes, My name is Sora who wields the power of the Keyblade. What gives me the strength to not only be stronger but helps me push forward is my friends. My friends are my power!")
'Power through friendship.'
Somehow Reinhard had sensed that he had received a new divine protection, one that allows his bond with those close to him to give him strength.
The stronger the bond, the more strength he receives from it.
'A Divine Protection of Friendship.'
Reinhard took a deep breath before he along with Young Xehanort charge at each other with everything they had.
'Don't you worry, Felt-sama, Subaru, Sora, honored grandmother, honored grandfather, father, I shall defeat this foe.'
As this was motivating him, he and Young Xehanort clashed their weapons with enough force to cause a large explosion where they stood.
Heinkel was still angry that his son had basically taken his fight from him, having been confident that he could hold his own.
'Damn you, Sword Saint.'
Having been angered by his son, he continues forward alongside Kafma to assist the others in their fights.
As they were moving swiftly, Kafma could only think that the ally he got paired with is someone very difficult to deal with.
"Will you be able to actually handle what comes next?" The general had asked, more or less concern that he'll be hold back.
Heinkel took note of this, yet he didn't look back at his ally.
If anything, he was angered by this question, feeling that he's being looked down.
"I'll be fine."
Heinkel said this in a stern voice, showing his annoyed tone to Kafma.
This prompted the general to remain silent from here on out.
The last thing he needs is to be in conflicts with his ally, especially if they encounter more threats like Young Xehanort.
The two took a few minutes before arriving at the large battle between the Shudraq and the Vollachian warriors covered in a dark like aura.
Although the two sides seemed to have the same amount of warriors, the Shudraq were being pushed back by the oddly strongly looking Vollachian soldiers.
Kafma looks at this fight and couldn't help but feel off.
Normally he would want to assist the Vollachia warriors but knowing who's side he's in, he prepared to jump into the large battle yet he was stopped by Heinkel.
"Hm?" He turned towards the red-haired old warrior. "What's wrong?"
"They'll be fine. Our involvement should be elsewhere."
As he said this, Kafma as well as Heinkel noticed Priscilla facing off against Chisha Gold. Kafma is aware that Chisha Gold wasn't necessarily strong compared to the other divine generals but here...he was clearly different.
Priscilla with her Yang Sword Vollachia swung with intense force, attempting to burn her opponent to dust and yet Chisha Gold was somehow withstanding the flames as well as blocking away the attacks with his fan.
Heinkel observed how Chisha Gold was fighting, knowing that if he joins, he better contribute something if he doesn't want to die.
Before either Vollachian or Lugnica warrior could say anything or do anything for that matter, they both sensed someone coming towards them.
This prompted the two to ready their weapons only to see Flop with a female stranger.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Abel's group?" Heinkel questioned, a bit annoyed that the merchant wasn't where he was designated. Flop remained silent for a second before responding with:
"We were attack by one of those Organization members."
"Then who is she?" Kafma asked in a calm manner.
"An ally." Flop responded, not exactly sure who exactly Melty is but she's someone he can trust. Kafma and Heinkel remained silent for a moment, both of them looking at the nun for a second before turning around towards Priscilla's fight.
Heinkel didn't say anything but just charged right in after he had a plan on how he could assist.
Kafma prepared to jump in until he felt his hand be grabbed suddenly by a gentle hand.
He turned to see that it was the nun.
"Is something wrong?"
"...how can we help?" Melty asked, wanting to do something than just stand on the sidelines.
Flop also wished this, wanting to assist in anyway he could despite the fact that he can't really fight.
Kafma looked around at the fight between the Shudraq and the possessed Vollachia warriors, witnessing a few shudraq warriors getting overwhelmed and killed by their opponents.
This prompted him to turn towards the two to tell them:
"Those Shudraq warriors need some help."
As he prepared to join Heinkel, Flop looked at the situation and was horrified by how the Vollachian warriors were being brutal to the Shudraq warriors.
This prompted him to start thinking of ways how he could help change the ties of the battle.
Melty looked at this fight and was more horrified by the death happening around her.
This caused her to began praying for those who died, wanting their souls to be at peace.
Flop turned towards Kafma to ask him:
"Can't you help them too?"
"My abilities should be used against a divine general. You two alone can make a difference without my involvement."
Just before he left to go fight off Chisha Gold, Melty spoke out:
"Please help us."
Kafma paused for a second before turning around towards Melty, looking at her, seeing that she's begging for assistance on this task.
It only took him a second before he turned his attention towards the Vollachian warriors that were preparing to kill more Shudraq.
As he looked at them, he lifted his right hand up which caused a couple of vines to come out of the ground and instantly eliminate them.
"I'll clear a path. Just help the injured."
Flop nodded at this before quickly going off to check on the Shudraq warriors Kafma had saved.
Melty stood standing by herself for a second before also joining Flop in assisting the injured.
While this was all going down, Heinkel had approached the battle between Chisha Gold and Priscilla Barielle with his sword ready for battle.
Once he was right in the heat of battle, he attempted to strike the divine general from the back while he was blocking off Priscilla's attacks only to suddenly move out of the way of both his and Priscilla's attacks.
She looked at the red haired drunk warrior with an annoyed expression.
"If you were going for such an attack, you should've been swift about it."
"...apologies. It won't happen again."
Heinkel stood up as he and Priscilla both glared at Chisha Gold, watching him tilt his head at the two.
"Do you truly believe having an ally by your side will change the outcome of this fight?"
"Hmph. This buffoon entered the fight all on his own. It doesn't matter to me if he helps or not, the world chosen me to be the winner of this altercation."
Chisha smirked at hearing this.
"Don't get cocky now, you haven't landed any kind of hit on me."
As Chisha said this, he was suddenly covered by the dark aura that had been surrounding him during his battle against Priscilla.
This caused the princess to take a step back by this, caught off guard.
Heinkel was momentarily surprised but he didn't look fazed by it, if anything he was more prepared for the fight.
After a few seconds, the two noticed Chisha Gold covered now in darkness with a familiar symbol on his chest.
"As he...become one of those dark creatures?" Heinkel questioned.
Priscilla had heard what was asked but she ignored him and just tried another soul attack with her Yang Sword Vollachia.
This did not work as the heartless Chisha form was set on fire for a moment before it shook the fire off.
This alerted the two that they'll have to physically strike down their opponent if they wish to win.
Despite the difficulty that this would be, Priscilla was not afraid of the challenge.
As the two were preparing for a fight, Chisha suddenly disappeared from view.
This prompted the two to put their guards up before Chisha appeared in front of the drunk warrior.
"Wha—?!"
He suddenly was kicked hard in the gut area, causing him to be sent flying a couple of feet away.
As this happened, he hit the ground with immense force which caused him to be in pain all the while Priscilla was annoyed by Heinkel's takedown.
"Weakling fool."
Just as she said this, Chisha Gold in heartless form appeared right in front of her to go for a fatal blow.
She just smiled confidently before blocking away the attack, using all of her strength to keep herself from receiving any hits.
As she was on the defensive, she observed carefully to the way her opponent was fighting.
She noticed that Chisha would through a variety of quick attacks before going for a heavy attack that requires all of her force to block off.
This helped her calculate how long before she could go for a counter-attack.
The second that she saw her opening, she moved her sword into offensive position before swinging it towards Chisha just as he was about to give a heavy attack at her.
Thanks to her timing the counter-attack right, she was able to land a hit on Chisha Gold.
As her sword connected, she used all of her strength to send him flying a few feet away while also attacking from a distance once again.
As the fire had surrounded Chisha Gold once again, this time it did some damage but nothing that could result on his death.
This annoyed her yet she wasn't worried as she now knows that she's capable of handling a more powerful Chisha Gold.
The moment she had thought this, Chisha Gold's heartless body disappeared once again but this time within a few seconds he teleported right in front of Priscilla.
Although she's a very skilled fighter, she wasn't prepared for this so just before Chisha had her, Heinkel jumped in to managed to block off the possessed divine general's attack.
"You are not harming her!"
As Heinkel shouted this, he used all of his strength to push back the possessed divine protection before throwing a barrage of attacks on him.
Priscilla pulled out her fan for a moment as she observed Heinkel take over for a bit.
She knew clearly that it was only a matter of time before he either gets injured by Chisha Gold or killed due to how big their gap in strength is...though she is finding this battle amusing.
Heinkel was moving as fast as he could, trying to break through Chisha Gold's guard in order to land a hit of his own but while he's on an aggressive offense, Chisha was easily blocking away all attacks.
Heinkel felt an incredible amount of frustration by this as not only has he not done anything in this large battle but he knows damn well that his mother and son have probably won their fights.
He's the only one that hasn't truly one the fight and the one he was in had been taken over by the person he despises the most, causing his frustration to be shown in his attacks.
Each one being much heavier than the last, wanting to win no matter what.
This was one thing on his mind, the second was the person he desperately wishes was here to watch him fight.
The one person he just wants to talk to again...Louanna Astrea.
She's the one person that he desperately wants back, meaning that he needs the assistance of Priscilla to accomplish his goal to wake her up.
'Even if it kills me...I will wake you up!'
As he continued to increase his offense to the most to his ability, Chisha Gold would eventually start to increase his strength and speed.
This immediately changed the fight into the possessed divine general's favor as he was overwhelming Heinkel.
Just as it seemed like he could be killed, he felt the fear of dying.
Although death would be honorable for a warrior, he feared it since he doesn't wish to die, not before saving his wife from her condition.
This reminded him of what had happened to his mother because of his cowardness before which led to the events with his family.
This was enough to allow him to jump back just as Chisha Gold was about to strike him down, escaping death once again.
'I still have much to do in this world, there's still someone I must save. So you won't be what'll kill me, damn Vollachia scum.'
He looked at Chisha Gold as the heartless form of the divine general started to go on the offense, forcing him to give hit his all to be on the defense.
As the Deputy Commander of Lugnica was blocking all of the attacks thrown towards him with every ounce of strength he could muster, Chisha Gold within twenty heavy attacks later was able to break the man's guard.
As Heinkel was left open for an attack, Priscilla smiled as she swiftly joined back in the fight and landed another blow on her opponent just as he was distracted.
As Chisha was hit once again by Priscilla, the Yang Sword Vollachia once again began to burn up Chisha's body though this time it started to take more affect than before as her and her ally could her the divine general grown in a bit of pain.
This alerted the two that they are getting closer in beating their shared opponent, motivating the pair to start attacking before their opponent had a chance to recover.
Priscilla was the first to attack Chisha Gold by landing a barrage of hits with her Yang Sword Vollachia.
Heinkel jumped in and landed three hits of his own, each one as tough as the last attack.
Chisha Gold continued to receive a few more hits from Priscilla before he suddenly exploded with darkness.
Heinkel took note of this and quickly managed to get in front of her withstand the hit in order for Priscilla to not get hurt.
As Heinkel was injured by tanking the injury for Priscilla, he fell on one knee with little energy to stay conscious.
Priscilla slowly approached Heinkel while she lowered her sword.
As she was next to the Deputy Commander, she looked at one of her members of her camp injured.
Normally she would just cast him to the side but considering that he put his life on the line for her.
This prompted her to continue walking towards Chisha Gold all the while telling Heinkel:
"Stay down, dog. I'll take him down."
"..."
Heinkel looked at Priscilla as she was approaching the possessed divine general, who was standing over the ground covered in darkness.
This left him annoyed since he couldn't truly beat this divine general...but he can at least say that he contributed to the fight.
As the Deputy Commander of Lugnica watched, the royal candidate slowly approached her opponent with her thoughts being on the past, how Chisha Gold and Vincent Vollachia had bested her by using Arakiya.
Despite not wanting to associate with that part of her, she does feel some satisfaction in ending the divine general's life.
As she was a few feet away from him, she pointed her sword at him while saying,
"As I told you, the world has blessed me with victory here."
Just as she was about to attack the divine general, she suddenly felt the limits of using the Yang Sword Vollachia.
As she paused, Chisha Gold slowly looked up at her and prepared to finish her off while she was temporarily stunned.
Just as it seemed like she was about to get hit, a familiar boy with spikey black hair had gotten in front of her while shouting:
"Reflecta!"
A barrier was created around this boy and the royal candidate just fast enough to avoid getting caught by another explosive attack from the possessed divine general.
As the barrier had gone down, Priscilla at first saw the boy in front of her as Sora before realizing that it was Subaru.
This left her a bit shock, witnessing that Subaru has that same potential that she saw in Sora when she proposed him to be in her camp back in the city of Guaral.
Though she was a bit surprised at herself to have been thinking about the keyblade master.
Subaru slowly turned around to ask:
"Are you okay?"
"..."
Priscilla remained silent though her she just lifted her fan up as she gave an expressionless response.
Subaru had no time to ask anymore into it as he looked at Chisha Gold, noticing that the divine general was not only covered in darkness but also having a heartless symbol on his chest area.
"That's not good."
"You moron! I told you to not leave me alone!"
A little girl shouted as she quickly managed to reach Subaru's position.
She grabbed onto the boy's hand tightly as she was giving him an angry stare.
"Hehe...sorry about that, Beako."
"You better be sorry, I suppose!" She shouted before the two quickly sensed Chisha Gold beginning to charge at the pair.
Subaru put away his keyblade has he pointed his hand towards the current threat in front of them.
"Let's focus on beating this guy."
"Hmph."
Beatrice put her free hand up as she shouted alongside with Subaru:
"El Minya!"
A large number of purple crystals are created above the pair as they began sending them towards the possessed divine general.
As this was happening, Subaru turned towards Priscilla to tell her:
"Leave this to us."
As he said this in a confident manner, Naoko and Kenichi both stood right next to their son and the great spirit Beatrice.
All four of them pointed their hands towards Chisha Gold as Beatrice and Subaru's first attack managed to push the possessed divine general back.
"Ready everyone?" Subaru asked with a smile.
His parents and his contracted spirit nodded at him before the four in unison had shouted the words:
"El Minya!"
With all four combining their mana strength, a massive amounts of purple crystals were formed all around the area, surrounding the possessed divine general.
Subaru smiled as he said to their shared opponent:
"Allow us to show you the combined power of the Natsuki household!"
Kenichi, Naoko, and Beatrice all smiled when they heard Subaru say this, agreeing that this is a combined family attack.
As all of the attacks landed on the divine general, Subaru quickly re-summoned the Starlight Keyblade as he pointed it directly towards the chest area of Chisha Gold.
The moment his keyblade was about to fire a beam of light, another sudden surge of darkness had been created.
This surprised everyone except Priscilla, seeing that whatever the Organization gave Chisha Gold, it was enough power to keep on going.
"An annoying pest."
She continued to wait until she can summon her Yang Sword Vollachia once again, for meanwhile she couldn't help but approach the boy and his family.
"You are all foolishly wasting mana. It'll only get you all killed."
"Okay, then what do you suggest?" Subaru questioned, annoyed by Priscilla's comment.
She remained silent as she pointed her fan at his weapon.
"That weapon. That's the key to success."
Although Subaru could sense that the wording was too puny, he looked at his keyblade and felt that she had a point.
He turned towards Chisha and noticed that the darkness in him was seemingly increasing with each injury he received.
He turned back towards Chisha Gold one last time before saying to his contracted spirit.
"I guess we will need to use that ability of ours."
"Is it time, in fact?"
"Indeed it is."
"What are you two planning?" Kenichi asked, curious to know what his son and the great spirit were talking about.
Subaru turned towards his father as he noticed the curious question he had asked.
He smiled as he responded with,
"Just a little combo ability I haven't had the chance to do with Beako."
"Oooh. Interesting!"
Kenichi said as he was curious to see.
Naoko was also curious to watch what combined move her son and his contracted spirit will do.
Priscilla put her fan back near her face as she watched closely to this.
Subaru held his keyblade and Beatrice's hand tightly as he asked her,
"Are you ready?"
"Always."
"Alright then, let's do it."
Subaru picked up Beatrice and carried her on his back as he started to run towards Chisha Gold.
Once they closed in on the divine general, Subaru switched his Starlight keyblade to his Rebirth keyblade before blocking away the divine general's attack.
This attack was overwhelming but nothing he can't handle.
After the hell he had gone through against Luxord, he's more confident than ever that he can fight on his own.
"Beako, now!" As he shouted this, both him and his contracted spirit shouted in unison:
"Shamak!"
A powerful darkness exploded from Subaru and Beatrice's location, blinding Chisha Gold in that moment and even forcing him to stand back as he wasn't sure what was happening.
This only happened for a few seconds before moving his fan with enough force to clear the darkness covering the area.
As he did this, he realized that Subaru and Beatrice were both no longer right in front of him.
Before the heartless form of Chisha Gold could react, a couple of purple crystals suddenly surrounded him. He looked up to see that the duo were floating up on the air with Subaru's Rebirth keyblade pointed towards him.
"Let's see what happens..." Subaru paused himself for a second, having quickly change into his keyblade's formchange before continuing, "...when we combine our best abilities against you!"
"Agreed!"
Being in a more dark sage attire, he used the shadows underneath him with the added Wrath witch factor power to pin the divine general down.
With the divine general trapped, Subaru shouted with:
"Mega Flare!"
Beatrice added more of her crystal attacks towards the attack, combining fire and yin magic together.
"El Minya!"
Chisha Gold was pushed back by Beatrice's attack before getting hit by Subaru's attack, unable to escape it due to Subaru's enhanced shadow hands holding him down.
This attack exploded point blank range on him, causing the entire area to be engulfed in flames.
Beatrice and Subaru were both just far enough to avoid being caught by the blast though the keyblade wielder began to bleed through his nose with him formchange reverting back to normal.
"Subaru!" The little spirit girl shouted as she worried for his sake.
Subaru whipped away the blood from his face while turning off his wrath witch factor, knowing that anymore will take too much of a toll on his body.
He breath heavily for a few seconds before smiling at Beako, not wanting to worry her.
"I'll be fine."
He gets smack in the head by this.
"Don't lie, I suppose."
"S-Sorry."
As he apologies, the two turned back towards the divine general to see that he was on a knee, barely standing up.
The two slowly floated back to the ground, with Subaru holding his keyblade tightly.
Somehow his instincts were telling him to point towards the divine general's chest area.
He did just that but he also turned towards Beatrice:
"Let's finish this together."
Beatrice nodded with a smile as she grabbed onto the keyblade with her contractor.
As the two held the Rebirth keyblade, the tip of it shined bright before firing a beam of light right into Chisha Gold's chest area.
As the light beam shot right through the divine general's chest, the darkness as well as the heartless symbol that was right in his chest had disappeared after a few seconds.
Once this disappeared, Chisha Gold collapsed to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
"Ya did it, my amazing son!"
Kenichi shouted as he went to give his son a big hug.
Subaru was caught off guard by this yet he felt happy by this.
Once his dad set him down, Priscilla approached the unconscious Chisha Gold with some content.
She could kill him right now for the sins he had brought to the one once known as Prisca Benedict but considering that the Organization was possessing him, she decided that his life will be spared only because of that fact alone.
If it had been any other reason, he would be dead on the spot. She once again put her fan near her face while acknowledging Subaru's accomplishment:
"You have clearly proven yourself to be more than just the half-devil's dog. Congratulations, you are worth having in my camp."
"Now hold on." Subaru sharply responded. "I'll never leave Emilia-tan's side."
"Then she shall forfeit her candidacy and join my camp as well if it will appease you."
"Wait a minute—"
Before Subaru could even finish speaking, Naoko stepped in the conversation.
"Perhaps this is a conversation after the fighting as finished."
Priscilla looked at her for a moment before nodding.
"You are correct, this pointless conversation can continue after we have saved the keyblade master."
Subaru agreed with this but before they could move out to look for Sora, they all noticed Flop, Melty, and Kafma's efforts having worked as they managed to defeat the possessed vollachia warriors, mainly the Vollachian general.
Melty had helped some of the injured Shudraq warriors before having noticed Subaru's keyblade.
Flop had also noticed Subaru, prompting him to join Melty in approaching the boy.
Subaru noticed Flop approaching, prompting a quick conversation to ensue.
"Flop! You are alright!"
"Yes. I was able to survive this battle unscathed."
"Where's your sister?"
"She's with the others dealing with one of those Organization members. You don't need to worry though, she's tough. She'll make it."
"Okay." Subaru said in a confident smile before finally noticing Melty. "Wait, who's this?"
As Subaru ask, Melty first asked him before he could get an answer to his question:
"Are...you the keyblade wielder? The keyblade wielder?"
"Technically yes but—" Right before he could even finish answering the nun's question, her eyes glowed as she quickly grabbed his hand holding the keyblade.
With the exception of Priscilla, they were a bit taken aback from the nun's sudden reaction.
Beatrice just hugged Subaru as she looked at the nun with a bit of hostility, not because she's a genuine threat or a bad person but because she's getting too close to Subaru in such a way.
Priscilla was more or less interested in what the nun wants with a keyblade wielder.
"Could we join your camp?"
"Eh?"
Subaru was not expecting this question at all.
Hell, he's a bit off by having some girl grabbing his hand.
"M-My camp? It's not really my camp."
"Can we join you still?"
"We?" Subaru asked, having just noticed that she used that word.
This prompted someone to add more into the nun's question.
"She's probably referring us two and another that's busy somewhere else."
Subaru, Beatrice, Naoko, Kenichi, Flop, and Priscilla turned towards the voice to see a spirit in a squirrel like form floating next to a man.
'Another spirit arts user?' Beatrice questioned, having realized immediately that the floating squirrel was a spirit.
"Who are you two? Who are any of you?" Kenichi asked, beating his son to the punch.
Before anything can even be answered, a sudden explosion happened.
"What the?!"
"What was that?"
Subaru looked at Melty for a moment, having heard her question.
He looked back at the explosion that had happened on his left side while answering:
"That's where Master Sora's at...we better get going."
As Subaru said this, he turned towards Beatrice and his parents to ask them:
"Are you all ready?"
Kenichi, Naoko, and Beatrice all nod at him before he turned towards Priscilla to ask her:
"What are you going to do? Will you join us in helping Master Sora?"
"What a foolish question." As she said this, she began to walk towards the direction of the explosion, having noted that the fight between Sora and Xehanort had taken them quite far from what was originally.
As she walked for a bit, she noticed Heinkel was slowly getting back up.
"Come on, dog, we have work to do."
Heinkel stared at Priscilla for a moment before getting back up, knowing that he's far from being out of the fight.
Once he's back on his feet, he proceeds to follow Priscilla towards the direction Sora's battle is taking place.
Subaru and his family prepared to follow but first he turned towards Flop and Melty to tell them:
"You should keep some distance. It's possible that Master Sora's fight will be dangerous."
"Understood." Flop said, knowing that there isn't much he can provide in terms of fighting.
Melty and the other two associated with her wish to join the keyblade wielder.
"Hold up, we can help."
"How so?" Beatrice asked, curious to know what kind of abilities can the squirrel spirit can do. The squirrel smiled as she began to create fire through one of her hands.
"My spirit arts user and I can provide some assistance."
Subaru took a moment to think to himself, he knows that perhaps his master and close friend was facing off against someone dangerous like Xehanort if the other Organization members had been appearing all around the battle earlier than expected.
With this in mind, he just nodded at both Salum and Pooka to allow the duo to join them. He turned towards Flop once again to ask him:
"Could you make sure the nun here stays safe."
Flop just nodded before watching Subaru, his family, Beatrice, Pooka, and Salum head off to Sora's battle direction. As they were heading off, Melty could only pray for their safety.
"May the spirits be with you."
Author's note:
Sorry for the wait as well as not having finished this arc this year, I was planning on having next year focused on the next arc but since how busy life's been and how long the next chapters will be, it will probably take a bit before the arc comes to an end. I can say however that we have 6-7 chapters left to go. Hopefully you all enjoy the chapter.