Chapter 87: Arrival of...
"Watch out!" Rem shouted as she quickly threw her weapon directly towards Xehanort, preventing him from easily knocking Tiga out of the fight. Sora and Al both charge in at Xehanort and try to land a hit by attacking from two different sides only for the Keyblade Master to swiftly block away both attacks at once.
"Is that all you got?" The old Keyblade Master said as he pushed back Sora and Al, disappointed by what he's dealing with considering the numbers are on Sora's side. The Keyblade Wielder looked at the old Keyblade Master for a moment before charging at him once again.
As the two keyblades clashed, Louis and Rem both took this chance to attack the old man on his back side, hoping to land a hit. Xehanort smiled as he pushed Sora back once again before turning around to block Louis and Rem's close range attacks.
"Die!"
The two girls said this in unison as they began to throw a barrage of attacks on the old keyblade master, wanting to eliminate him for slightly similar reasons.
Rem still wishes to make Xehanort pay for what he did to Sora not just a year ago but throughout most of her love's previous journeys.
Louis on the other hand wants to keep Sora safe, the person that has given her the chance to experience true happiness.
Xehanort was a bit impressed by Rem's skills, seeing that she's improved since their last confrontation though it isn't enough to defeat him. He waited for the right moment before attacking the two girls only for both Al and Tiga to jump in and protect Louis and Rem from his attack. This surprised him for a moment before noticing Sora preparing to use magic on him.
'Hm. Clever.'
He jumped away from Rem and the others as he turned towards Sora that was floating on the air for a bit has he prepared to use mega flare.
Xehanort waited until his opponent with the keyblade fired the powerful fireball in order to see what he should use to counter. Seeing that it was a fire based attack, he moved his hand towards Sora while firing a powerful ice based attack.
As the ice attack was an equivalent to Sora's mega flare, it had actually caused the powerful fire based attack to explode prematurely. As this happened, Xehanort took the chance to teleport right behind the keyblade wielder.
Sora sensed this and quickly turned towards his back side, barely having enough time to see the old Keyblade Master's attack in order to react to it.
He blocks the attack with all of his strength, barely managing to have a blade lock with him.
Xehanort gives the boy a look as if he's analyzing him before speaking his mind in a calm gesture,
"You have yet to use your full strength."
"What are you—?" Before he could even ask his question, Xehanort easily broke the blade lock before landing a hit on the boy's stomach, sending him flying a few feet away.
"There's a greater power within you, something I'm looking for but you've yet to tap into that potential."
As the old keyblade master said this, Al and Tiga both took this opportunity to attack from two separate directions, trying to catch him off guard. Xehanort noticed this yet he was both unfazed by this attack as well as not even paying attention to the pair.
He continued to speak towards the boy chosen by the keyblade,
"You have the power to change this world, Sora. To make it go right bac to the very beginning, and yet you refuse to use that power."
"I...I will never use my power for evil."
As Sora shouted this, Al and Tiga went for an attack simultaneously only for a sudden dark barrier to appear around the old Keyblade Master.
This caused their attack to not only bounce off but also to be sent flying a few feet away from him.
As the two were on the ground, Louis and Rem both closed in right behind him for a sneak attack.
Just as their attacks connected to Xehanort's barrier, their combined strength managed to break it which caught Xehanort's attention.
"Hm."
The turned towards the two girls, surprised that the pair were just that strong.
Rem and Louis took this chance to go on the offense against Xehanort, prompting him to go on the defense just to see if the two girls will entertain him.
Rem gave him a death stare as she shouted:
"You will die, old keyblade wielder!"
As he easily blocked away the attacks, Sora gets back up and prepares to join in the attack, Medium walked right next to her to rejoin the fight after Xehanort easily sent her flying away after she attempted to go for the neck.
The keyblade wielder turned towards her, prompting him to ask:
"Are you okay? You look hurt."
"Yeah. Don't worry, I still have enough fight in me."
Medium spoke with such confidence that it inspired Sora to also have that confidence.
The two turned towards Xehanort and quickly joined in, making it into a four on one offense.
As Sora's keyblade connected with Xehanort's keyblade, Medium once again tried to eliminate the old keyblade master once again by aiming the neck only for the old keyblade master to swiftly grab both of Medium's swords by the tip with little to no effort before freezing it.
"Wha—?!"
"Enough from you."
As he froze Medium's swords, he broke them before starting to put some effort in pushing everybody back.
As he took away Medium's ability to fight with a simple attack, he prepared to hit her once again with intent of eliminating her for good only for Louis to jump in to protect Medium by tanking the hit.
"Louis!"
The former Sin Archbishop of Gluttony was in pain from this though she was still standing, refusing to allow this attack from knocking her from the fight.
"We won't...fall~TSU!"
Having said this, she goes for an attack only for the old Keyblade Master to easily block this.
Al and Tiga both jumped back into the fight to help Louis, attacking once again by two separate areas only for Xehanort to also block these attacks swiftly.
"Not impressed."
As Xehanort said this, he quickly managed to land a hit on Tiga which sent him flying a few feet away.
As this happened, Xehanort turned his attention on attacking Al only for the one armed warrior to just barely avoid the attack by ducking.
As he avoids the attack, Al quickly attempted to land a hit on the old keyblade master as he noticed an opening only for Xehanort to swiftly block the attack.
'Damn! He's fast for an old man!'
Xehanort prepared for another attack only for his focus to turn towards Rem, having noticed her trying to attack him with her weapon, morningstar.
He blocked away the attack with his No Name Keyblade before pointing said weapon towards the blue haired oni maid.
As he did that, the tip of the keyblade began to have a shadow like glow before a few shadow projectiles were fired towards Rem.
She noticed this and quickly started to punch away the shadow projectiles with everything she had before closing in on the old Keyblade Master.
As she closed in, Sora recovered in time to also join the blue haired maid in attacking Xehanort.
The old Keyblade Master noticed this and quickly teleported away, causing both Rem and Sora to stop on their tracks.
"Where did he go?"
Sora looked at Al, having heard his question before looking around, trying to see where Xehanort is going to appear next.
As they were all on guard, Rem looked at Sora and noticed the old Keyblade Master appear right behind him and prepared to attack him.
"Sora-kun!"
"?!"
Sora immediately knew what Rem was trying to warn him, prompting him to turn around and to counter Xehanort's attack.
As the two keyblades clashed, Sora was able to stand his ground all the while Xehanort was admiring how much stronger his adversary has become.
After having been over a year since their last "clash", seeing that Sora might be a worthy fighter excites him to a degree.
The two swung their respective keyblades, countering the other's attacks.
This happened a multitude of times until finally Rem entered the fight again to break this pattern.
She got close to Xehanort all the while swinging a dangerous and killable punch, using all of her strength in hopes of ending the old man.
Xehanort noticed this and quickly dodge the attack while swinging his No Name Keyblade at her, wanting to knock her from the fight.
She saw this and once again she managed to dodge the attack before she went for another physical attack.
Xehanort blocked it with his keyblade before jumping back right as Sora goes for another attack.
As Xehanort avoids another of Sora's attack, he smiled as he snapped his fingers, summoning a few variety of heartless around Sora, Medium, Rem, Al, Tiga, and Louis.
The six fighters looked around, having noticed the variety of heartless surrounding them.
Sora looked at his group members to see that Louis and Tiga were both pushing themselves beyond their physical limits and that Medium as no way of protecting herself.
He first thought for a second before summoning an old keyblade from his second adventure, Sleeping Lion, to hand over to Medium.
"Here, use this."
Medium noticed the keyblade Sora was handing her. She grabbed the keyblade and could feel the mystic power behind the weapon.
"Wow...thanks."
Sora nodded before turning his attention towards Xehanort, knowing that he needs to stop the old Keyblade Master right here and now before he can cause anymore harm to this world.
"You won't get away, Xehanort!"
"Hmph." Xehanort smirked as he snapped his fingers, signaling his heartless to start attacking the group.
While the fight with Xehanort continued, Cloud clashed weapons with Goz's weapon all the while the blonde haired warrior was reaching his limit.
'I can't lose here...I won't lose here...I refuse to lose.'
With Cloud motivating himself to keep going, continuing to clash weapons with Goz.
The two would be lock in a stalemate for a multitude of attacks right until Cloud was suddenly overwhelmed by one of the divine general's heavy attacks.
This attack had broken through Cloud's defenses, leaving him open for an attack.
Just before the attack could land, he had a memory of someone important saying to him:
("Cloud, you can have my light.")
'Tifa.'
Remembering her as well as Aerith, Leon, Cid, and Yuffie.
This gave the warrior a boost in strength, albeit temporary, to block Goz's attack.
Despite having protected himself, Goz was just strong enough to push Cloud back a few inches.
He stood standing for a moment before falling on one knee, just barely having any energy left.
As he was struggling to get back up, he had another thought in mind.
He remembered when he had reunited with Aerith and the others in Hollow Bastion, how Aerith would look at him with such a kind face.
That kind face assisted him in getting back up, not wanting to give up.
Although Tifa and Aerith were motivators for him to keep going, he looked back at the sky as he began to once again recall his dual with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
He saw that despite the three not really being on sync and Sora being a novice, he still kept going regardless of how outmatched he was.
This memory made him smile as he got into his fighting stance.
"I know that you are possessed, that you are fighting not because of your own will but that doesn't mean I will hold back."
As Cloud said this, he waited for Goz to go for the offense in order to see his opening on him.
The moment Goz swung his weapon, he saw the opening he needed to strike down his opponent, wanting to end this quickly.
As he slashed the chest area of the divine general, it did not hesitate to also land a hit on him.
He was hit on his left arm, causing him to be sent flying while the possessed divine general didn't seem fazed by the attack.
Cloud slowly got back up while having noticed Goz still standing.
This alerted the warrior that he'll need to be cautious when he goes for another strike since he knows that another hit from Goz's mace will kill him.
He got himself back into fighting pose as he prepared for Goz to attack him once again.
The divine general slowly approached Cloud before swinging his mace once again.
Cloud was surprised by the speed, yet he was able to block off the attack just on the nick of time.
Refusing to lose even with his left arm injured, he held his ground and managed to keep himself from being pushed back.
After a few seconds of being in a blade lock of sorts, a blue aura was fuming around the blonde warrior.
This was everything Cloud had in him, every inch of strength he had left was going into one last attack.
He kept pushing and pushing until finally he managed to break the blade lock with pure strength before going for another slash on the possessed divine general's chest area.
"Yah!"
As he landed this hit with everything he had, Goz was about to go for another hit until suddenly the darkness covering him started to slowly fade away.
Cloud stood standing up as he looked carefully at his opponent, noticing that the darkness was leaving him.
After a few seconds past, it is shown that Cloud had managed to defeat Goz though they both end up collapsing.
Cloud from complete exhaustion while Goz having taken enough damage that the darkness can no longer hold on to the vessel that was the divine general.
As the two were down, Arakiya, Yorna, and Kyda all three noticed Cloud's victory which increased their motivation to win their respective fights.
Arakiya fired a powerful water ability towards Mogro's left arm that was about to land on her.
This attack had managed to push Mogro's arm back.
'Alright, if he could defeat a divine general, then I should be able to. For the sake of Prisca-sama!'
Being motivated by Priscilla, Arakiya creates a fireball in an attempt to eliminate her opponent, not really caring if Mogro survives this encounter or not.
As her attack was about to land on the possessed divine general, he managed to avoid the attack entirely by dodging it.
'This speed, it's abnormal.'
Having reached the position of second divine general, she's more or less understanding of each divine generals' strength and speed.
So, seeing Mogro move almost the exact speed as Cecilus, the number one divine general of Vollachia, causes both concern as well as anger to come from Arakiya.
"You won't surpass me like this, bastard!"
She charged towards Mogro, wanting to land some damage in close range only for Mogro to start landing some hits of his own.
As a barrage of punches landed all over Arakiya, the last one was strong enough to send the first divine general flying.
Arakiya flew a few feet away before hitting the ground on her back side.
'Prisca...'
While her body's in pain, all she could think about is Priscilla, wanting to be by her side once again.
This helped her get back up, having the thoughts of the princess pushing the feeling of pain away.
Once back up on her feet, she noticed that a few stones having the heartless symbol suddenly appeared.
This caused the second divine general Arakiya to be even more on guard as she's already struggling with a powered up version of Mogro, having him summon these stones makes this an even more dangerous brawl.
Despite that, she charge right in with the person she cares for deeply on her mind, keeping her going.
'Prisca-sama wouldn't hesitate to fight, regardless of the odds.'
Confident in her abilities, she closed in on the stone creatures right in front of her swiftly before landing a few blows on the three stone creatures in front of her.
The remaining four stone heartless creatures attacked the second divine general, landing a couple of hits on her.
As she was receiving some serious blows, she continued to stay standing as she refuses to give up.
Knowing that Priscilla will judge her if she fails here, prompting her to use wind mana from one of the wind spirits she had eaten to create a powerful barrier around herself.
As she did this, she looked around for a moment before pulling out her tri-pronged wand to channel an enormous amount before managing to destroy two of the stone heartless creatures with a charged up fire magic.
Once eliminating two stone creatures, the remaining two landed a few hits on her back side only for her to not be fazed by them.
She turned around with an angered expression, wanting to eliminate these annoyances.
She charged in at the two and was able to land hits on the two creatures at full force to eliminate them.
Just as she managed to eliminate the last of the stone heartless creatures with pure strength, the heartless Mogro closed in and prepared for another wave of punches on her.
She looked at her opponent with a serious expression before jumping high up, wanting to avoid the barrage of punches.
As she's on the air, she began to snipe Mogro with water magic.
These water attacks landed on the possessed divine general, it didn't seemed to be fazed by the attack.
'Are my attacks even harming him? Or is that darkness making it hard to tell?'
With that question in mind, she continued to attack with water magic until swapping to fire once she starts closing into the ground. Wanting to keep some distance for a few seconds, she created a fire wall to keep heartless Mogro away.
Once she did this, she took a moment to think of some plan that'll reach her victory. Although she was slowly crafting a plan, she noticed Mogro walking through the fire like nothing before charging at her once he spotted her.
This caught her off guard which caused Mogro to land at least one hit on her. This attack had injured one of her ribs yet she was able to keep going by counterattacking with wind magic. Having managed to push away the possessed divine general.
'I need to eliminate him, now!'
As Arakiya was once again put on the defensive, Yorna and Kyda continued their fight with Groovy, having been motivated by Cloud's victory against Goz. Yorna with her immense strength alone clashed with one of Groovy's swords he had crafted. As the two were locked,
Kyda quickly jumped in to attack Groovy while his defenses were down. Just before she could land a hit on the possessed divine general, he looked at are before ducking, avoiding the attack.
Although Groovy had avoided Kyda, he had allowed Yorna to quickly break the lock they were in and to land a hit on Groovy's gut. This stunned the possessed divine general which allowed Kyda to land her hit on him.
As this happened, the darkness covering the divine general suddenly explode. This explosion had caught the two women off guard before having their guards up, seeing that Groovy had just gotten stronger.
The possessed divine general looked at the two female warriors before creating two gloves out of the aura of darkness coming out of him, allowing the two to see just how much trouble Groovy has become.
"Keep your guard up. I don't want anything bad happening to you."
"...I understand."
Despite having done the soul marriage technique with the seventh divine general, Groovy's power up might be a problem.
Regardless of this concern, the two proud female warriors charge at the possessed divine general.
As they were closing in on him, Groovy suddenly appeared right in front of the Shudraq warrior before landing a punch on her, sending her flying.
As this happened, Yorna attempted to land a hit on Groovy only for the possessed divine general to outwit her as well as being faster than her enough to land the punch first.
Yorna was pushed back a bit, having barely managed to tank the hit yet she coughed a bit of blood, seeing that Groovy's strength can kill her if she doesn't fight carefully.
Kyda slowly got back up with her eyes glowing red, being thankful that the soul marriage technique works since her wounds were being healed at such a rapid pace.
Without this ability, she would've surely been dead ten times over.
She turned towards Groovy and could see that he was blocking away Yorna's physical attacks. This made her think,
'How do we handle a threat like him? I know he's possessed as informed by the emperor...'
She thought for a moment before seeing that it's probably best if they stop holding back since it's clearly not working, especially when Groovy got himself a power up.
Having her mindset into a more killing intent, she charged right at the possessed divine general the moment he was about to land another critical hit on Yorna.
With her new given speed and strength, she quickly closed the gap between herself and Groovy before landing quite the kick on his face.
As Groovy was stunned once again by the attack, Yorna grabbed Groovy's head before using all her force to slam him to the ground.
This slam was strong enough to cause a crater to be created.
Yorna quickly followed this up by landing a powerful punch into the possessed divine general's chest area, not holding any of her strength back.
As this caused the crater to get bigger, the darkness that was around Groovy began to increase as another sudden explosion happened point blank range to the seventh divine general.
This sent Yorna flying back, leaving Kyda on her own to face Groovy as the possessed divine general started to get back up while also creating a sword made by pure darkness.
Kyda was feeling a bit intimidating by Groovy, surprised just how strong a divine general can be, especially when added with the darkness surrounding him.
Regardless, she was a shudraq warrior, part of a tribe that don't back down from a fight.
This allowed her to stand tall and to charge directly towards Groovy just as he charged right at her.
The two were within arm's length with Groovy starting this fight with the possessed divine general swinging the sword made of darkness being swung towards the Shudraq woman's head.
Kyda dodged this attack as she attempted to land a punch on him only for the possessed divine general to block said attack with his free hand.
The moment Groovy did this, he swung his sword of darkness at her.
She quickly moved to just barely avoid the attack before attempting to land a kick on him.
As this quick was successful compared to the punch but unlike the previous kicks she had landed, this one seemed to note even faze him.
"Huh?"
"..."
Kyda was surprised by this before receiving a hit from Groovy, causing her to be sent flying with a fatal wound.
As she was on the air for a few seconds, Yorna had managed to recovered fast enough to notice her flying towards her direction.
The seventh divine general caught Kyda before she could hit the ground violently but just as this happened, Arakiya had suddenly been thrown towards their direction.
"Are you okay?" Kyda said as she noticed how brutal Arakiya hit the ground as well how tired out she looks.
The second divine general looked at the Shudraq warrior for a brief moment before getting up.
As she got up, she gave Kyda and Yorna a look of seriousness before turning her attention towards Groovy, noticing him charging right at the trio.
This prompted her to get up and prepare for a fight with a new opponent only for her previous one to also be charging at her.
"...what do I do?" She asked to herself, knowing full well that these two together will be more than she can handle alone. Just as it seemed hopeless, two sudden knights had appeared right in front of her, Kyda, and Yorna.
"Wha—?"
"Allow us to handle the situation." The purple haired knight spoke as he prepared his six quasi spirits for battle.
The other knight didn't have anything special going except for his determination in facing a fight he might die in.
"Ready, Julius?"
"Indeed I am, Waraki."
The two knights nodded at each other before charging at the two possessed divine generals, with Waraki taking on Groovy all the while Julius took on Mogro.
Having faced these divine generals before, the finest knight was aware of what exactly he needed to do to defeat them.
He quickly avoided the attacks thrown by Mogro before proceeding to use his swordsmanship along some spirit arts to land a few hits of his own.
As he did this, Waraki also went on the offensive, attempting to break Groovy's guard yet he noticed that there was a large difference in strength as his attacks were causally blocked away.
'Well...this might be a problem.'
Groovy's yellow eyes turned orange before attempting to kill Waraki in one hit.
The knight noticed this and just barely had managed to dodge the attack, having a cut on his left cheek from the small hit he received from the possessed divine general.
With just that scratch mark, he knows that any hit on him will actually lead to his death.
He quickly jumped back as he paid close attention to what Groovy's movements are, wanting avoid any attack that could kill him.
As the divine general charges at him in swift speed, Waraki looked with determination as he waited until reacting.
He dodged the attack once again just barely before going for a stab to his opponent's chest.
As his sword had connected with Groovy's chest area for a second before the possessed divine general pushed away the sword all the while trying to land a hit on the knight's head only for Yorna and Kyda to come back into the fight with Yorna landing a kick on Groovy's face as he was open for an attack from an outside force.
"What the hell?!"
As Waraki shouted this out of pure shock, Yorna's kick managed to send Groovy a few feet away all the while Kyda quickly joined her side.
Waraki was caught off guard by Yorna's attack but what truly surprised him more was seeing Kyda.
It had been a long while since he's seen someone as beautiful as Kyda, leaving him at a pause for a second.
As he watched Kyda and Yorna charged towards Groovy to push him back, he quickly snapped his mind back into the fight.
The two female warriors landed a few punches on Groovy, forcing him back to the point where Waraki saw an opening to try and land a hit on the possessed divine general.
As the knight closed in on Groovy, he swung his sword right towards Groovy's chest area only for a sudden shield of darkness to be created to block away his attack.
"What?!"
Waraki shouted this in both confusion and frustration before he was pushed back by the possessed divine general. Just as this had happened, Kyda and Yorna took their chance to start attacking Groovy's shield of darkness.
As the three were working together to push back the possessed divine general, Julius slowly approached the battle between the possessed Mogro and Arakiya. As he was within the battle range, he waited for a moment before he combined his fire and wind spirits to create a firestorm.
"Fell Goa!"
As he created a firestorm to attack Mogro, Arakiya quickly noticed this, prompting her to jump back while also attacking the Eight divine general with water magic from a distance. As she landed a hit on Mogro's head, Julius quickly closed the gap between himself and the possessed divine general before landing a barrage of attacks on him.
As the knight and divine general land a few fatal blows on Mogro, Julius had his six spirits start circling around him and join into one whirling rainbow-hued vortex of light which is shot out from the tip of his sword.
Immediately after this, a powerful rainbow light started to glow around him before he used his ability known as Al Clauzeria to push away the possessed divine general. As Mogro was a few feet away from him and Arakiya, the finest knight turned towards the second divine general.
"You should rest."
"No. I'll be the one to defeat Mogro." As she said this in a sharp tone, she slowly walked towards her opponent's direction. "Stay out of my way."
Julius remained with a serious expression as he watched Arakiya charge in towards their shared opponent right after she finished speaking to him. Although he respects the divine general's determination to fight alone, he won't allow it.
He's already involved at this point, prompting him to wait until the right moment before joining in.
As Arakiya was landed a few kicks on her opponent, Julius's sword glew once again as he prepared to strike down the possessed divine general with one singular blow. Once he saw the opening Arakiya gave him unintentionally, the finest knight charged right in to finally put an end on this fight.
He charged right in towards Mogro and with one final slash, he landed a devastating blow, one that caused the darkness covering the divine general to finally start to leave. Once the darkness that was covering him had disappeared away, the divine general collapsed to the ground.
"That's the end of that." Julius said with Arakiya giving him a death stare.
"I had it handled." She spoke as she prepared to kill the knight.
"I understand but we are currently in a large scale war from what I'm seeing. We will need every ounce of strength to end the one responsible for this."
Arakiya paused as she started to recall that Xehanort was someone she needed to eliminate due to having not only controlled her but also being a threat to Priscilla. This prompted her to turn her attention towards Xehanort.
"Get in my way again and I will kill you."
With only those words, she went off to assist Sora and the others. Julius respected the sentiment as he turned towards the fight happening with Groovy, seeing that the shudraq warrior, the divine general known as Yorna, and Waraki were all three having some issues knocking down the last possessed divine general. Waraki was continuing to evade the attacks thrown towards him since he can't really afford tanking any hit.
All the while Kyda with her skills taught to her from her tribe took the opportunity to land a few hits on Groovy with Yorna providing some assistance as she finally pulled out her golden kiseru. Yorna managed to land a stab on Groovy's shield of darkness with enough strength to break it, giving Kyda a chance to land a kick on the face to the possessed divine general.
This ended up sending Groovy flying off onto the distance, allowing the trio a chance to take a breather. As this happened, the finest knight approached them just as they were preparing to attack Groovy after seeing that the dark aura around him once again increased. As Julius walked in front of the three, he got himself into a fighting pose while asking:
"Mind if I join in?"
"A little help would be nice." Waraki said as he got his stance ready for a fight.
Yorna and Kyda both just nodded at Julius, finding Julius's assistance appreciative before being the first two to charge in as Groovy swiftly started to move towards their position.
Julius looked at the two female warriors charging towards Groovy, respecting the two as he can see that they are still giving it their all despite being at their limit. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath before telling his fellow ally,
"Let's finish this so we may assist the Keyblade Master, Sora."
"Right."
Waraki stood up as he thought about Kishida and Yabuto, how he's fighting on their behalf. The two knights both in unison charge right at Groovy with Julius's sword starting to glow in rainbow like colors and Waraki holding his sword as tight as he could, mentally ready to win this fight.
As they were closing in, Groovy and Yorna clashed weapons with the heartless Groovy creating a sword of pure darkness to fully counter Yorna's golden kiseru. As the two were in an intense blade lock type, Kyda took the chance to try and attack from the side only for Groovy's darkness around him to create another shield of darkness to counter her attack.
She was surprised by this yet she didn't stop attacking the shield of darkness, wanting to use everything in her power to give Yorna the opportunity to land the fatal blow. Julius and Waraki both noticed this, prompting the two to quickly close the gap. Waraki went to assist Kyda in attacking the shield while Yorna was distracting Groovy with their blade lock.
This gave Julius the opportunity to go for an attack. He summoned Ia, the fire quasi spirit, to help in beating Groovy. Ia charges into Groovy, causing the possessed divine general to get set on fire.
This caused Groovy to jump away as the heartless divine general realized that it was in danger of being defeated. Once he gained some distance, Julius and Waraki took this opportunity to charge at him, wanting to finish this fight.
As they were closing in on Groovy, the divine general quickly summoned a darkness like gauntlet as he began to fire a barrage of darkness towards the knights. Julius swiftly deflected each of these attacks, having a bit more speed compared to Waraki all the while giving him the opening to land a hit on the divine general.
"Finish this, Waraki."
"On it!"
As he closed in on Groovy, he took the few seconds he had to attack right before Groovy could land a hit of his own that would be fatal for the brown haired knight.
Once he landed a hit on Groovy with everything he had, he jumped to the side to avoid the attack thrown towards him.
As he dodges the attack, the darkness covering Groovy started to fade away with the fire around him also fading.
The moment the darkness had fully gone away, Groovy collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious. Waraki looked at the divine general for a moment before smiling all the while holding his sword high up on the air.
"I, Waraki Seimoto, have defeated a divine general from Vollachia!"
As he shouted this, Julius smirked a bit since it was amusing seeing a knight act a bit like Natsuki Subaru, seeing that he's influencing Waraki as well as Yabuto and Kishida. Yorna found it entertaining hearing this since her and Kyda did most of the work.
Kyda didn't felt this, if anything she just giggled at hearing how alike he was to Natsuki Subaru. The four of them took this chance to rest for a few minutes before turning towards Xehanort, seeing that the next fight will be the toughest.
"Will you two be okay?" Julius asked Yorna and Kyda, worried that they might get themselves hurt considering how tired out they were. The two looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the finest knight.
Yorna had thought about her daughter, Priscilla, and knew that she wouldn't back down despite the odds. Kyda as a proud Shudraq warrior will not back down from a fight, especially now that she's got a power up of sorts that can prevent her from easily being killed by people like the divine generals.
"We'll be fine, let's go end that man."
As Yorna said this, Waraki and Julius nodded confidently before turning towards Xehanort's direction along with the two female warriors.
As these events were going on, Sora had pushed through the heartless blocking his way to reach Xehanort's position.
"I won't let you escape!"
As Sora swung his Kingdom Key Keyblade towards the old Keyblade Master, Xehanort smiled as he blocked this attack with his No Name Keyblade. As the attack was successfully blocked, he moved away Sora's keyblade, leaving the boy open for an attack very similar to what he did back in their brief altercation in the capital of Lugnica.
Just before those events could be repeated here, a sudden gush of wind as well as a barrage of purple colored projectiles being thrown towards him on two separate directions.
This forced Xehanort to jump away to avoid the two attacks while Sora quickly recovered his footing while also jumping back to avoid the attack. As this happened, he looked to his left side to see Ram approaching him.
He then turned towards his right side to see Subaru and Beatrice both also approaching him from that direction.
'Subaru, Beatrice, Ram.'
He smiled as more friends arrive to assist him in taking down Xehanort.
"Master Sora, need a hand?"
"Yeah."
The two keyblade wielders nod as they were happy to see each other before turning towards Ram, having been a while since they've seen her.
"How are you doing, Ram?"
"Good. Save the small talk for later, we have a fight to finish."
As Ram said this, she got her wand ready for battle as Xehanort was slowly approaching them. Sora and Subaru got their keyblades into fighting positions as they prepared for whatever Xehanort's going to do.
"So many friends you have, Sora. I wonder how you will feel when they disappear because you were not strong enough to defeat me."
"None of us will fall, old scum." Subaru spoke in defense of his master and friend. "You will be the one to disappear."
"Is that right?" Xehanort spoke in a curious tone, having sensed something familiar in Subaru's heart. As he was about to attack the group, Rem and Louis both charged right in on him as the pair of girls had destroyed their respective heartless opponents before turning their attention to the old keyblade master.
As the two closed in on Xehanort, Rem swung her Morningstar weapon right towards his head's position all the while Louis targeted the chest area. Xehanort effortlessly deflected away Rem's attack with his keyblade before dodging Louis's attack.
"I admire your tenacity." Xehanort said as he grabbed Louis's head.
"Ah!"
"But accept your fate and perish."
"Leave her alone!" Subaru shouted, prompting him to quickly use the sloth witch factor to quickly reach Xehanort's direction. "Invisible Providence!"
As the unseen hand was rapidly approaching Xehanort's direction, the old keyblade master sensed the ability which allowed him to easily slice down the hand. This momentary distraction allowed Louis to push away the old man to gain some distance.
Seeing this prompted Natsuki Subaru to use the wrath witch factor, Canis Majoris, to increase his power as he also uses dark firaga by creating the powerful fireball in his hand to throw directly at the old man. Xehanort had a smirk as he countered Subaru's attack with a simple Blizzard attack.
"Impressive."
"...!"
Subaru gave the old man a stare, annoyed by how he managed to counter his attack. Rem jumped back and stood side by side with her twin sister as the two prepared a combined magic attack on the old man.
"Al Huma!"
"Al Fura!"
With the combined attack of the two, Xehanort continued to look confident as he snapped his fingers. The moment this happened, a barrier of darkness was seen around the old keyblade master. This barrier easily deflected away Rem and Ram's attacks, forcing everyone to quickly close in on him, seeing that attacking from a distance won't really amount to anything.
Sora and Subaru leading the charge, the two were the closest to attack Xehanort. As the two swung their respective keyblades, Xehanort blocked both attacks away before turning his attention towards Rem and Ram, seeing that they are attacking from two separate areas.
He dodged the attack from the two before blocking away Medium's attack, slightly surprised by her wielding a keyblade before just disarming her effortlessly. As he does this, Yorna and Arakiya both had finally arrived to the fight and started to throw a barrage of attacks onto the old man, wanting him dead more than the others currently fighting him.
"Die!"
Both divine generals simultaneously said this as they attacked in close range, forcing the old keyblade master to quickly try a bit in defending himself. He blocked Yorna's golden kiseru with his keyblade with one hand and the other creating dark fireballs to counter Arakiya's long range attacks. As he was doing this, Al and Tiga had returned to the fight against Xehanort by jumping in by assisting Yorna in attacking from close range.
The two swung their swords at the old keyblade master, forcing him to deflect the attacks from three close range fighters while also countering Arakiya's water and fire attacks. Sora and his group prepared to join in once again, seeing this as the best chance to corner the old Keyblade Master. Xehanort realized that this could be a problem, prompting him to quickly teleport out of there.
This caused everyone to be on high alert as they don't know where the old Keyblade Master will pop up. As they all looked around, Subaru noticed Xehanort appear right behind Rem and Ram with his keyblade ready to strike them down.
"Rem! Ram! Watch out!"
The oni twins took note of this and were about to be strike down by the old keyblade master before they could react only for Julius and Waraki to step in and block away the attack with their combine strength. As the two knights just barely were able to hold back Xehanort, the old keyblade master looked at the two with a serious expression before using a bit more force to push the two back.
While doing this, Rem and Ram had enough time to quickly turn towards him before attacking him with Ram using her wind attack while Rem used Morningstar. Xehanort blocked away these two attacks before suddenly appearing in front of Ram, viewing her the most dangerous of the two twin sisters before landing a successful hit on her. This hit was landed on her stomach area before the force sent her flying across the battlefield.
"Sister!" Rem shouted with concern has well as anger, her horn slowly coming out of her forehead as her emotions are filled with pure rage. "You dare hurt my sister?!"
With her mind blanking out in a fit of rage, she charge right in with her morningstar ready to strike. Xehanort was expecting this outcome to happen, having observed that Rem is someone that can't fight normally if she's in complete rage mode. He dodged a few of the blue haired oni's attacks before seeing the opening to take her down. He swung his No Name Keyblade right at Rem's stomach area only for Sora to have jumped in and block away the attack.
"...Sora-kun." Rem said in a low voice, having regained a bit of her sanity side as she saw her love protecting her. Sora using all of his remaining strength to push away Xehanort, allowing Subaru and Beatrice to quickly use a combine attack.
"El Minya!"
With a barrage of purple projectiles thrown towards Xehanort, the old Keyblade Master countered with another Blizzard attack. As the ice managed to cover all of the purple projectiles, he sensed something about to attack him right where he was standing. He jumped back just as fire suddenly ignited right where he was a moment ago.
This prompted him to look around to see who exactly it was that did this attack. It only took a few seconds before figuring out it was Priscilla, having noticed her wielding the Yang Sword Vollachia. Priscilla looked at him annoyed as she prepared herself for a close combat fight along with Kenichi. As the two join the others, Xehanort turns towards Sora as he closed in and started swinging Kingdom Key at him.
He blocked away the boy's attacks before attempting to grab him only to start blocking Rem's attacks as she joined back in as well as Julius, Waraki, Kyda, Al, and Tiga. With six people attacking him at the same time, the old Keyblade Master knew that if more people joined in, especially powerful warriors like Yorna and Arakiya, he might be in trouble.
He waited for an opening before landing a kick on Tiga. This kick caused Tiga to be caught off guard by this, forcing him to step back from the fight, allowing Xehanort to move fast enough to knock back Waraki and Al from the fight with one swing from his keyblade.
With Julius, Kyda, Sora, and Rem remaining, Xehanort smiled as he targeted Rem next, knowing that this will cause Sora pain. Before he can even do this, more people joined in on the fight with those being Priscilla, Kenichi, Subaru, Beatrice, Yorna, and Arakiya.
"He's cornered!"
Subaru shouted as he and Beatrice quickly prepared to use a combined Al Shamak to trap the old man. Just as the two were about to do this, someone had suddenly appeared and pushed everyone away except for Xehanort who took the one second he had to teleport a few feet away from this new fighter.
As everyone was being thrown all over the place, Subaru didn't hesitate to hold Beatrice tightly to avoid her getting her dress dirty as well as avoiding her hitting the floor, choosing to instead take the hit. As Subaru landed on his back a bit harshly, he checks on his contracted spirit while asking:
"Are you alright, Beako?"
"Y-Yes, I suppose! Are you hurt?!"
"I'm okay."
As he says this, he and Beatrice get up as well as everyone else to see that someone new as arrived to the battlefield.
"...oh no."
Beatrice noticed these words coming from Subaru's mouth, hearing the fear behind the tone he had.
It took her a second before realizing that it was the one person that is considered a threat to not only her contractor but the Keyblade Wielder Sora.
Cloud and Sora both knew immediately who it was as Sora was just reaching his limit and Cloud finally having some energy to stand back up.
"Sephiroth..."
As Cloud said this underneath his breath, Sephiroth looked around for a moment, noticing many warriors were present.
"Isn't this a treat." He says this as he's been itching for a fight though something caught his attention, Cloud. "I have been waiting for this moment."
As the one winged angel says this, he lifts his arm up, causing the sky to turn dark.
"I shall show you all despair."
With those words being said, he prepared to attack Cloud first, wanting his rematch with him only to notice Subaru and Beatrice both point their left hands towards him.
"El Minya!"
With a large amounts of purple projectiles thrown towards his direction, Sephiroth remained calm as he allowed all of Subaru and Beatrice's to hit him, creating a purple dust.
Everyone was on edge by this since they have a feeling that this attack won't kill Sephiroth like that. Xehanort smiled as he created a corridor of darkness, knowing full well that this fight has shifted away from him. Once he started to leave, he looked at Sora one last time before saying to himself:
"I wonder if you'll survive him."
Once saying this, he left the battlefield just as Sephiroth charged rapidly towards Subaru and Beatrice since they ignited the fight with him first. Subaru knew that this would happen, prompting him to quickly create a barrier with Reflect around him and Beatrice to block away Sephiroth's attack. Although it did work, it was only temporary as the barrier broke with ease.
Subaru let go of Beatrice's hand has he held his Rebirth keyblade with both his hands all the while using every ounce of strength to block the one winged angel's attack. Subaru did his best to try and fight back only to have his guard broken by Sephiroth's speed and strength. Subaru was caught off guard by this and would've died had Waraki not stepped in to block off one of Sephiroth's follow up attack.
"Waraki!"
"I'm not letting you die, Subaru!"
As Subaru was stunned by this, Sephiroth looked at the knight in front of him before smiling, viewing Waraki as a warrior just by a simple glance before telling him,
"What a shame."
Without any hesitation, he easily disarmed the knight before slicing his chest area, cutting him in half.
"Waraki!" Subaru shouted as he watched his friend be killed. Everyone witnessed this but before most could react, Subaru suddenly felt an enormous amount of anger increase which caused his wrath witch factor to activate.
As Canis Majoris was activated, Subaru went on the offensive against Sephiroth, showing just how enrage he was by this. He hasn't seen those close to him die in such a long while but the fact that his friend died protecting him is what stings the most.
As he swung his keyblade at Sephiroth, he blocked away the attacks with ease while looking at the boy extremely bored.
"Disappointing."
He had expected more from Subaru, especially after their last confrontation. Right now he just views Subaru as pathetic which prompted him to create a small fireball to eventually counterattack the keyblade wielder.
"Murak!"
Beatrice shouted as she realized what Sephiroth was about to do. As both Subaru and her were floating up on the air, they were able to narrowly avoid the fireball Sephiroth threw at them. The one winged angel prepared to eliminate the two only to hear someone shout:
"Sephiroth!"
"Hm?"
He turned towards the direction of the voice to see Cloud, looking in rage and having a blue aura around charged at him. He smiled as he quickly blocked away Cloud's attack.
"One died because you weren't fast enough to stop me."
"...S-Shut up!"
As he shouted this, Kyda and Julius both stepped in to assist the blonde haired warrior by attacking Sephiroth from two separate sides. The one winged angel saw this and smiled as he knew this was an opportunity to strike two more people down.
He pushed away Cloud before turning his attention towards the finest knight and the shudraq warrior. He swung his long sword towards the two with Julius barely being able to block away the attack while Kyda took damage with a large cut to her chest area.
Julius was shocked by this but before he turned towards Sephiroth to try a counterattack, he noticed the female warrior's wound to start healing up while also having her eyes turn red.
This even got Sephiroth's attention, causing him to find some interest in the shudraq warrior. Right as he was going to attack Kyda, Julius as well as Cloud attacked him, prompting the one winged angel to go on the defense if only briefly before he quickly jumping high up on the sky.
By this point, Subaru quickly used what little knowledge he had on glide thanks to his journey in Louis's heart to grab Beatrice and to gain some distance from the one winged angel for a moment.
As Sephiroth was on the sky, Subaru and Beatrice had both reached the ground. He turned towards Sephiroth quickly to notice that he was looking at him and Beako, prompting him to go into his formchange. With the sage like attire and the shadows preparing to listen to his every command, he turned towards Beatrice to ask her:
"Beako, get mom out of here. I can't let him hurt her."
"But—"
"Trust me on this, please."
Beatrice didn't want to listen to this command since she was too afraid that Subaru will put himself into danger and possibly get himself killed. Before she could deny him, Subaru sensed Sephiroth charging at them once again which forced him to create a barrier of shadows to protect the two from him.
Before Sephiroth could even hit this barrier, Julius jumped back into the fight with Tiga, Al, and Kenichi joining in to protect Subaru and Beatrice.
Julius was the one to counter Sephiroth's attack, barely having the strength to block the attack while the other three took this chance to attack the one winged angel. Sephiroth looked at them with a blank smile as he easily blocked away the trio's offensive attacks, despite the three attacking from different directions.
The one winged angel continued to deflect the attacks before quickly countering each of them, disarming Al, almost managing to kill Kenichi if it wasn't for him dodging right when he noticed Al getting disarmed, and unfortunately Tiga wasn't fast enough to dodge Sephiroth's attack which resulted in him losing his left leg.
"Augh!"
Tiga fell to the ground as he felt excruciating pain from his missing leg. Rem saw this and quickly charged in to help Tiga while Ram covered her sister, seeing that Sephiroth as a dangerous monster.
While the oni sisters were closing in on Tiga, Priscilla slowly approached the battlefield as well as Yorna, Arakiya, and Medium, all three seeing that they'll need to help stop this monster.
Louis walked right next to Sora as she noticed him just standing, looking both shocked and in pain.
"Sora-kun, what's wrong?"
"..."
The keyblade's chosen one was looking at Waraki's corpse, completely stunned as he did nothing but watch a friend die right in front of his apprentice, saving his life from Sephiroth.
"Waraki..."
Sora fell on his knees as he was slowly remembering the first failed attempted against the seekers of darkness in the keyblade graveyard, how powerless he was to save his friends.
Louis noticed this and quickly went to hug him, wanting to comfort him after all he's done for her. As he received this hug, he continued to watch as Cloud and Sephiroth clashed swords once again.
The one winged angel smiled at this encounter, finding it entertaining when his adversary is in complete rage mode. Kenichi and Al both attempted to land a hit on Sephiroth while he was in a blade lock with Cloud only for the one winged angel to teleport out of the area for a brief moment.
Everyone looked around to see that Sephiroth was up on the air, continuing to have that blank smile as he had his attention towards Cloud.
"Stand back." Cloud warned, knowing that anybody else that gets involved will perish. Before he could try to reach Sephiroth, meteors start to appear as they come crashing down on the group.
"What?!"
Kenichi shouted as he was caught off guard by this. Cloud looked at this with a serious facial expression, prompting him to charge at the meteors, ready to strike each of them down if that's what it takes to reach the one winged angel.
Arakiya pulled out her wand to start destroying the few meteors closing in on them, all for the safety for Priscilla. Ram also joined in while Rem was healing the wound Tiga got from Sephiroth.
"Everything will be okay."
"...! Thanks..."
As Tiga's wound has closed, Rem turned towards Sephiroth's attack to join in with the others to counter the attack with water magic. Subaru and Beatrice would join in but their mana is low and any method of quickly recovering mana has run out, forcing the two to keep a distance.
As everyone was giving it their all, Sephiroth smile faded as he quickly targeted Julius, wanting to eliminate another fighter from the board. As he closed in on the knight, Julius had his quasi spirits alert him when he's in immediate danger.
Once he knew that he was a target, he looked up and quickly got into a defensive stance to block away the one winged angel's attack. As he manages to hold himself for a moment, Sephiroth eventually overpowers the finest knight and without any hesitation or comment, he stabs him in the chest.
"Perish now."
"Ghk!"
Julius coughs out some blood as he notices that he's been stabbed, shocked by his injury as well as how fast his opponent was.
"Julius!"
Subaru shouted as he attempted to use his shadows from his formchange attire to reach him. Others also attempted to reach him only for some fire pillars to suddenly be created around Sephiroth and Julius, forcing many to retreat. Once the fire pillars disappeared, a burnt corpse could be revealed next to the one winged angel, shocking many. Sora and Subaru took this the worst as one hasn't done anything to help and the other failed to even help.
"...what the hell...can we do...?" Subaru said as he turned towards his master's direction, noticing how fucked they are. Rem and Ram both charged in towards Sephiroth to take him down together, wanting to end him before anymore people get killed. Kyda also joined in as she wanted to avenge the two knights that were killed by the one winged angel.
Sephiroth looked at the two oni twins as they were closing in on him. He didn't seem fazed by the two and just created a small ball of powerful energy to throw at them the moment the pair were within range. As this small energy was right near the oni twins, the two attempted to avoid the attack but weren't fast enough since the small ball of energy suddenly exploded with the two caught in the large explosion.
Rem and Ram were both sent flying back, both still alive but badly injured with some burns in results of the explosion. The two hit the ground hard and barely had conscious. Al noticed this and was tempted to leave the fight only to notice Priscilla closing in on the one winged angel. This forced him to quickly stand by her side, knowing that she'll need him to fight against this monster.
Once he was there with her, she looked at him with a serious expression before turning towards Sephiroth. No words needed to be said as she ignited her fight with him by commanding her Yang Sword Vollachia to try at burning and cutting down the one winged angel.
Sephiroth blocked away these attacks with his long black wing, avoiding the fire from the Yang Sword Vollachia. Once this happened, he swiftly moved away his wing in order to charge towards Priscilla. As he swung his sword, Al blocked it as he didn't like the idea of this monster taking on the sun princess.
"You'll be facing me."
"Hmph."
Sephiroth prepared to swing his long sword to take down the one armed warrior right in front of him only to suddenly stop.
"Hm?" Subaru noticed this, finding it odd. So did Cloud and Sora, both knowing that this isn't like him as Cloud was closing in on him and Sora was slowly getting back up with Louis's help. Sephiroth lowered his weapon for a moment as he gave Al a look before saying:
"Interesting ability of yours but that won't stop me."
Having said this, he quickly pushes past Al to go and fight with Priscilla, viewing that his fight with Al is wasting his time. Al was caught off guard by the sudden change by this, realizing who in his authority was the 'subjugator' and who was the 'victim'.
Before he could activate the now broken territory, Sephiroth took his chance to slice off his remaining arm, having had a feeling that he needed to wait for the right moment before landing a critical blow to Al before returning to fighting against Priscilla. She blocked Sephiroth's attack, realizing just how strong the one winged angel is.
"Princess!" Arakiya shouted as she quickly attacked the one winged angel, wanting to protect her princess but to her and Priscilla's surprise, Sephiroth was expecting someone to try and step in which allowed him to see his next target. Cloud swung his sword at Sephiroth to try and take him down only for the one winged angel to avoid this attack and to target specifically the second divine general.
Arakiya clashed with Sephiroth's sword before going on the offense against the one winged angel, wanting to eliminate him as fast as possible for the sake of Priscilla. Sephiroth dodged these attacks with such ease that he just simply sliced the second divine general in half with a simple attack. Kyda, Yorna, Cloud, Al, Subaru, Beatrice, and Sora were all just shocked by this with Priscilla having a slight angered look.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted with frustration as reached the one winged angel and managed to clashed swords with him. As the two were clashing swords, Subaru knew that this loop as reached its end.
'I can't just let things be how they are...but I don't know where the checkpoint is set...'
Worried by this since he doesn't want to go through the hell that was this entire battle, he charged right in towards Sephiroth's position, wanting to fight with everything he has.
"S-Subaru, wait!"
Subaru didn't want to turn back as he knew that he left Beako behind because he doesn't want her near this monster or to get hurt.
As Subaru closes in, Sephiroth once again pushes away Cloud before turning his attention to the combine attack of Subaru and Priscilla.
He could tell that the two were enraged by him which gave the one winged angel a smile as he enjoyed this.
He deflected the attacks from the two before Cloud joined in once again, all three giving it their all until he created a barrier in front of him to block away the trio's attacks simultaneously.
"Give in to the dark."
As he said this, dark orbs appear to attack the three. This distracted them for a small period of time as they were able to easily dispatch the dark orbs only to see that this was the distraction, he needed to turn his attention at Sora.
"Master Sora!"
Using the shadows with the inclusion of the unseen hand, he pushed himself to try and reach Sora before Sephiroth did. Although this attempt wouldn't be successful, Louis got in front of Sora to protect him.
'We don't want to die...but we won't let Sora-kun die!'
Steeling herself, she prepared herself for possibly dying only for a sudden attack by a large amount of purple projectiles firing at the one winged angel. Sephiroth was almost caught off guard if it wasn't for him moving his wing in a defensive stance.
As he received the hits from this, Subaru turned towards Beatrice's position to see that she along with his mother were doing this. Kenichi and Subaru were shocked by this as well as worried that the one winged angel will target the two. This prompted the two to quickly head towards their position while Sephiroth turned his gaze that the little girl and the woman holding her hand.
Naoko had been taking a back seat this whole time and having watched many die by this monster as made her feel angry. Sephiroth swiftly started to turn his attention towards her and Beatrice, with the loli spirit out of mana and her having limited mana left to do something, she grabbed onto Beatrice to protect her from Sephiroth's attack.
"No!" Kenichi and Subaru in unison shouted as they were doing everything they can to save the two girls. Cloud attempted to also try and reach Naoko and Beatrice but his body suddenly gave up on him, having used up every ounce of strength he had.
Just as Cloud had collapsed to the ground and it seemed like Sephiroth was about to take another victim, Medium got in between them to block away the attack with Tiga's sword only for said sword to break.
This was enough to protect Naoko and Beatrice long enough for at least Yorna and Kyda to step in and protect the three girls.
Kyda and Yorna were able to land a punch on the one winged angel as he wasn't prepared for them though this attack didn't harm him as much as they wished it did.
The one winged angel looked at the two female warriors with a serious facial expression before slicing the pair down with ease.
Although he did a more fatal injury to Kyda than to Yorna, the Shudraq warrior's wound had recovered rapidly to come back into the fight.
This interested him since he wanted to know how long before the healing factor stops working.
As he lands a few more fatal hits on both Yorna and Kyda, this buys Subaru and Kenichi time to reach Naoko and Beatrice to protect the two.
Once the two were in front of Naoko and Beatrice, Subaru prepared his shadows for an attack only for Sephiroth to charge right at the two men of the Natsuki household after having injured Yorna and Kyda enough times to put them out of the fight.
As he was attacking Subaru, all he could think about was Emilia, wishing that he had gotten to see her prior to this large fight.
He stared at death confidently as he attempted to fight against Sephiroth only for all of his shadows to be destroyed within seconds before he was stabbed in the throat.
"!"
"Subaru!"
The boy knew that a confrontation like this against an unstoppable force like Sephiroth would result in his death.
But after witnessing the deaths of his allies as well as the injuries of others, he knows now that the next loop he will need to figure a plan to take down Sephiroth.
As the one winged angel pulled away his sword from the boy's throat before attempting to strike Kenichi next only for Priscilla and an injured Yorna to step in and continue their fight with him.
Subaru collapsed to the ground as he was coughing out blood. Kenichi, Naoko, and Beatrice all three quickly approached him with tears on their eyes.
"Don't die!"
"Please...don't go...!"
"..." Subaru looked at his parents and at his contracted spirit, seeing all three not wanting him to die. This caused him to tear up as his soul knew this wasn't going to be the end...but the beginning and yet...
'I...don't want to die...'
With that being the last thoughts on his mind, Subaru was beginning to see darkness.
The last thing he wanted to do was to comfort Beatrice by having his unseen hand to wipe away the tears in her cheek.
This stunned her for a moment as he gave her as well as his parents a smile before finally dying.
'No matter what...I'll save them all. We will beat Sephiroth.'
Author's note:
Honestly, I'm excited to finish this arc as we finally reach the big final fight of the arc. Hopefully you all enjoy the next few chapters.