Chapter 90: What is love
Vincent and the prime minister of Vollachia looked at each other, both preparing to make a move as they viewed the other as a threat. Right as it seemed like an unorthodox battle was about to ensue, the two noticed someone approaching them. Vincent noticed this person, prompting him to lower his sword.
"Ubilk."
"Good to see you once again, your excellency." Ubilk responded in a calm tone.
"What brings you here?" The prime minister questioned, knowing that Ubilk wouldn't just interrupt their fight for no reason.
"The stars have shifted."
"..." This sentence had caused Vincent to be silent, turning his full attention to Ubilk. The prime minister looked at the stargazer with a puzzled look.
"What are you talking about?"
"Explain yourself." Vincent said as he gave an intimidating tone.
"No need to be all mad, the great disaster has been averted. At least for now."
"The great disaster...?" The prime minister said as the darkness that had been consuming him before had started to go away. Vincent was stunned by what the stargazer had said, prompting him to grab Ubilk by the throat.
"This is no time for nonsense."
"Your excellency, I'm not joking around. The stars have shown that the great disaster has been pushed back."
"Pushed back? Elaborate."
"The great disaster will still happen, it is set in stone that the four disasters will purge the world into destruction, with one of them, the witch of the kingdom, having begun. But the great disaster of the empire has been postponed.
Whatever force that's arrived at the Vollachia Empire had somehow changed destiny."
Vincent took a few steps back as he crossed his arms, thinking on this new information given to him. While he was thinking, he question his stargazer:
"Was this betrayal from the prime minister and Chisha Gold part of a plan related to the great disaster?"
"Yes, though thanks to an unknown force, those plans were never able to begin."
"This force you are mentioning, is it someone wielding a key?" Vincent questioned as he had a feeling that Sora or Subaru were the force that shifted away the great disaster.
Ubilk tilted his head while remaining to have an odd smile on his face.
"Someone wielding a key? That's not related to the force here."
"Then what do you know about a boy or boys with a key?"
Ubilk was silent as he processed the question he was asked.
He looked up at the stars once again to see if he can learn anything related to the key.
"A boy with a key, the destined warrior chosen by chance, will be the key to our salvation...but also can lead to our destruction."
Vincent took those words to heart, seeing how important either Sora or Subaru are to them all. He turned towards the prime minister to question him on one last matter:
"Will you continue to fight against me or will you stop being a fool and help in stopping those controlling the divine generals?"
"..." The Prime minister didn't trust Vincent, feeling that even if he does help him, he'll suffer later once this was all done. Vincent knew that he was thinking this, prompting the emperor of the Vollachian Empire to tell him: "I don't have time for you to think on this choice, it's either we are allies or enemies. Choose now."
The Prime Minister gave the emperor a glare as he was being forced into making a choice that could benefit or harm the empire in the long run.
"Fine. I will help but don't expect me to be able to fight."
"No, you will be guiding those soldiers and divine generals that are under your command to fight those in black coats and a fallen angel."
"Fallen angel?"
As the Prime Minister questioned this, the three of them sensed a powerful darkness suddenly shot out off in the distance.
"What was that?"
"..."
Vincent didn't respond to this question as he figured it was probably Natsuki Subaru considering the abilities he's shown.
"Whatever is going on, the battle must end with us coming out on top."
As he said this, he began to walk towards the direction of the darkness explosion with Ubilk following behind.
The Prime Minister looked at the two for a moment before slowly beginning to follow them, wanting to see this fallen angel for himself as well as the source of darkness the three had felt.
As they were walking away, Xigbar was observing the situation.
'Hm. So his darkness was not as potent like the rest.'
This caught Xigbar's attention before he turned to see that Young Xehanort was in trouble in his fight against Reinhard.
"Oh well, seems like I'm needed elsewhere."
Vincent, Ubilk, and the prime minister arrived to the battlefield to see that Emilia and Subaru were confronting each other. That was in one direction, the other was Cloud and Reinhard were fighting against Sephiroth.
"Is that the fallen angel?" The prime minister questioned, seeing that this has to be since Sephiroth had one wing.
Vincent and Ubilk looked at him for a moment before turning towards the Sephiroth fight, seeing the Sword Saint and the warrior fighting alongside him managing to coordinate with Cloud being on the defense while Reinhard was on the offense.
The two combining their strength were giving Sephiroth some trouble, especially when Reinhard's attacks are design to kill his opponents.
This made the one winged angel smile since he's having some challenge and he's facing against Cloud.
These two things combine are what makes this particular fight both fun and amusing.
Vincent noticed this and knew that this fight wasn't one he could help since the Sword Saint of Lugnica alone can handle it.
He turned towards Subaru and Emilia's direction, just noticing the boy's new attire as well as being able to see the yellow eyes on him.
'The fool.'
Vincent without much information puzzled this with how some of the Organization members had yellow eyes to figure that Subaru was being controlled by one of them.
"Took you long enough." A female voice spoke out, almost arrogant like. Vincent turned towards the direction of this voice to see that it was Priscilla herself with Heinkel by her side as a bodyguard. "Are you just going to stand there and be useless?"
"I don't see you doing anything as well, Priscilla." Vincent responded as he turned his attention back towards Subaru and Emilia. Priscilla gave him a sharp look before also turning her attention towards Subaru's direction.
As the two were waiting to see what development will happen here, the Prime Minister looked at Priscilla very closely, curious on her since she looks familiar to him.
While this was going on, Vanitas in Subaru's body swung his weapon right at Emilia's direction after a few seconds of silence, initiating their fight.
Emilia was able to quickly create an ice sword fast enough to block away the boy's attack.
"Hm. Not impressed."
Vanitas tried to surprise attack her with another swing of his blade only for the silver haired half elf to jump back, avoiding the quick attack.
As Emilia jumped back, she shot a couple of icicles right towards Vanitas's direction.
The keyblade wielder looked at these attacks before easily destroying them with one swing.
As he did this, Emilia swiftly put her hands together to fire a beam of ice right towards his direction to try and freeze him in place.
Vanitas took note of this and instead of dodging the attack, he chose to do something else.
Once again forcing the sloth witch factor to act how he wants it to, he created to giant unseen hands to not only hold back the attack but also to cover him from receiving any kind of damage.
As he was able to hold back this attack, the unseen hands were beginning to freeze over, allowing everyone to see what only Vanitas and Subaru can see. Emilia quickly landed to the ground and started to create a few ice soldiers around her to assist in getting Subaru in one place.
Vanitas noticed this, catching his interest for a moment before creating a dark sphere around him.
"Oi! Princess! Watch out!"
Garfiel shouted as he immediately noticed a few dark shadow versions of Natsuki Subaru were leaving the dark sphere and approaching Emilia swiftly.
The silver haired half elf took note on the warning given by the Shield of Sanctuary, allowing one of the ice soldiers to confront this shadow first.
As the two attack each other, both the shadow and the ice soldier destroy each other simultaneously.
Once this happened, three more shadows with shadow design keyblades in hand had their attentions towards Emilia.
This prompted her to quickly send three ice soldiers to counter Vanitas's attack while also creating more ice soldiers.
Vanitas could see what Emilia was trying to do, prompting him to create more shadows than Emilia can create ice soldiers.
Just before one of the shadows could strike Emilia down, Garfiel quickly jumped right behind her to block away the attack with everything he has.
"Ya ain't hurtin' th'princess!"
As Garfiel shouted this, he turned towards Vanitas's dark sphere before slamming his foot to the ground with everything he had.
With his divine protection and his intense strength, he was able to create a powerful explosion underneath the dark sphere, managing to break it.
Vanitas was sent flying by this attack though he was able to quickly recover.
As he was floating on the air, he pointed his keyblade right towards Emilia's direction.
The second he did this, he fired a barrage of fireballs towards Emilia and Garfiel's direction.
Emilia was able to quickly counter this with her own attack, creating icicles to fire back on Vanitas's attack.
The two were locked in this battle for a bit until finally Vanitas teleported from where he was all the way to Emilia's location to try and eliminate her right then and there only for Garfiel to use everything he had to take the hit.
As he received one hell of a blow to the head, Garfiel gave Vanitas a glare before saying:
"Oi Cap'n...come on...don't let him win..."
With that being said, Garfiel collapsed to the ground and was finally out for the count. Emilia, Rem, Ram, and Otto were all in shock when this happened while Vanitas gave a smirk.
"Pathetic."
As he turned towards Emilia's direction, he began to say to her:
"As you can see, I'm not Natsuki Subaru. I'm not as soft or pathetic as him."
"Don't you dare say that!" She asked as she summoned two ice swords. Vanitas smiled when she heard Emilia shout with anger towards him, feeding off of her negative emotion. "Subaru is such a dunderhead...but he's also amazing. He's my trusted knight, he's someone I want by my side. I won't let you disrespect him."
"Then make me."
Vanitas taunting Emilia, charged right at her and began to throw a barrage of attacks onto the half elf.
Emilia looked at Vanitas with a determined facial expression as she blocked away these attacks while at the same time she was beginning to lower the temperature around her.
This helped to slow down her opponent's movements but only by a bit, which was something Vanitas had noted.
While the two were clashing weapons, within Subaru's heart, Natsuki Subaru and Vanitas began their fight with Subaru using formchange in order to have a better chance against his opponent.
"Alright, let's do this!"
As Subaru shouted this, the shadows from his attire quickly charged towards Vanitas's position.
The keyblade wielder looked at this with a blank expression before easily taking down the shadow hands.
Once he did this, Subaru used a few shadow hands from his attire to push him towards Vanitas.
As he was right within range from Vanitas in order to swing his keyblade right at him.
"Is this really the best you can do?" Vanitas questioned as well as being annoyed by such an easily readable attack.
The moment he finished speaking, he blocked this attack away with ease before attempting to strike Subaru down only for the boy to pull out Starlight keyblade with his free hand to just barely block away his attack.
"Don't look down on me! Unlike our last fight, I've gotten better."
"Keep telling yourself that."
As Vanitas said this, he began to overwhelm Natsuki Subaru with a barrage of different types of attacks.
Some being just quick attacks with his keyblade and others being fireballs being shot from either his hand or his keyblade.
Subaru was able to block away some of these but after a while, he was forced to use his shadows from his sage like attire to create a dome around him to protect himself from these overwhelming attacks.
"Is that all you can do? Hide? Man, you are the most pathetic keyblade wielder. Even that fool Ventus had some skills."
"..."
Subaru hated this, he hated that he's being cornered in his own heart, where he should have the home advantage.
'Damn it, how the hell do I get out of this situation? What would...' He paused his thoughts as he knew that he can't be constantly thinking on how his master would get out of this kind of situation. 'I'm not Sora, I'm not my dad, I'm just me.'
He's always had someone he's inspired to become, the first being his father and then later on his master.
After the events of the Pleiades watchtower, he has begun to think that he needs to be his own person, his own keyblade wielder that is unique to him.
'I have to get out of this my way.'
As his thought process had finished, he looked as Vanitas swung his keyblade with enough force to break his dome of darkness.
"Let's end your miserable existence."
"Not so fast." Subaru confidently said as his attire started to change from darkness to light. "Just because you broke this defense doesn't mean I'm going to let you kill me without putting up a fight."
As his attire change into one based of light, he pointed both his Rebirth and Starlight keyblade directly towards Vanitas's direction.
"Take this!"
A swift and powerful beam of light was shot towards Vanitas's direction.
He noticed this and quickly created a dark barrier to counter this light attack.
As he was able to do this, Vanitas began to sent shadow versions of himself towards the boy.
Subaru took note of this, forcing him to think quickly on how he can counter such a thing.
As he was thinking of this, he quickly pointed his left hand towards the keyblade wielder's direction.
"Counterattack!"
He began to fire a couple of large light orbs at the direction of the shadow Vanitas, managing to eliminate them on the spot yet Vanitas was making more shadows than Subaru can make light orbs.
Just before one of the Vanitas shadows were able to land a hit on him, he quickly dodged this attack before gliding away from Vanitas's direction.
Vanitas continued to send more of his shadow self, forcing Subaru to create a powerful barrier to protect himself.
With the shadow Vanitas were attacking his light barrier.
Although he was being pushed back a bit and cornered, he waited for the right moment before exploding his light barrier to destroy three Vanitas shadows that were attacking it.
As this explosion occurred, Subaru used his attire to push himself towards Vanitas's dark sphere that he resided in.
"Hey! Don't think I'll let you spam this attack of yours forever!"
Using his power from the formchange, he had his keyblade glow with a bright light as he swung his weapon at the barrier.
As it connected and managed to crack the dark sphere, it began to disappear with Vanitas taking this chance to land a hit on Natsuki Subaru while he was still in the motion to slice his dark sphere in half.
As Vanitas's keyblade connected with Subaru's chest area, he began to say:
"Did you really believe it was going to be that easy?"
"tsk."
Vanitas forced Subaru towards the ground, causing him to crash with enough force to injury him.
"Weakling. You still think that you are special? Do you believe you can even reach that foolish master of yours?"
Subaru remained silent, hating those words since well...yes, he still wishes that he could be as powerful as his Master.
"If you had the power that he has, you would be capable. Isn't that what your mind is thinking right now." Vanitas said, knowing what the boy was thinking as he was the host of the body they share. "You will always be pathetic, you will always be weak. You will never be a hero."
"Y-You say that, but I'm still here. I still saved those that deserved to be saved. That needed to be saved." Subaru said this as he slowly got back up, refusing to give up while thinking back at many people.
He first thought about Emilia and their first meeting, how she saved his life and how dedicated he was to her.
Had it not been for meeting Sora and befriending him, perhaps he could've end up obsessed with her, knowing full well that it's a possibility.
He then thinks about Beatrice and Shaula, both having been saved because of him but important in different ways.
Beatrice being his contracted spirit, someone he wants to make sure is happy while Shaula is someone he wishes to give a better life than the one she had.
He moves his thoughts to his parents, despite the trial having helped him accept the grim reality he may never see them, he's grateful as hell that he gets to be with his parents.
His mind moves onto Rem, both the one with memories and the amnesia version.
They are different and they think different but they are his friend.
Ram was another person on his thoughts, despite her 'rude' tendencies, he knows that she does care for him in her own way, something he shares.
His thoughts move to his three knight friends, remembering that in one loop they hated him for showing off, for acting better than them before being in a loop that they chose to fight by his side.
He may not have their skill but he does feel pride being seen as one of them.
His thoughts move to Garfiel and Otto, grateful for them as they are the trio of the Emilia camp.
Garfiel being someone he can rely on in a fight and show off some of his cool stuff while Otto being someone he can rely on when he needs to talk about important things.
He thinks on those outside his camp such as Reinhard, Felt, Old Man Rom, Crusch, Wilhelm, and others, knowing that they are important to him as well.
Eventually he thinks about Louis Arneb, knowing that no matter how much he hates what she had done to her...he saw that his master had a point, there was a light in her that could be saved.
Lastly, he thinks on his master and close friend, Sora. He still wishes to be him...in a way.
He wishes to be strong, to be able to protect those that he cares about without having to rely on Return By Death, and he wishes to feel useful.
Despite these thoughts, he does fully trust Sora and view him more than just a master but a friend, a brother.
"Thinking about those useless people? Oh typical of you so call 'heroes'."
Before Subaru said anything, he recalled something from Vanitas's memories. A blonde boy, Ventus, having been ask these question though phrased differently by Vanitas. This prompted Subaru to smile confidently as began to say:
"At least I have friends, people I can rely on! I may not be on their level on strength, or skill, or experience, but we are bonded together. That bond will help me win this battle."
("At least I have some! I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. My friends are my power... and I'm theirs!")
Vanitas paused as he saw something unexpected. Rather than seeing the pathetic Natsuki Subaru, he was for a moment seeing Ventus. He looked surprised for a second before giving off a serious expression while slowly making his way towards Subaru's direction.
"Do you think I was actually trying? You aren't worth the trouble."
Subaru was annoyed when he said this since Vanitas was right. Having some vague memories he saw at the Pleiades Watchtower, he witnessed the battle between Ventus and Vanitas within Ventus's heart. He knows that he'll need to bridge the gap of power between himself and Vanitas.
'I wonder if this'll work here without repercussion.'
He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath before saying:
"Canis Majoris."
The moment he said this, the wrath witch factor activated as his body was starting to glow around him while in his light version of his Rebirth formchange attire. As he did this, he pointed his keyblade directly towards Vanitas.
"You may be holding back, but I'll make sure you regret it."
As Subaru said this, he charged right towards his opponent's direction while swinging his keyblade. Vanitas looked at this indifferently for a moment before blocking away the boy's attack. As he did this, he noted that Subaru's strength was a lot stronger than his last attack.
"Relying on such a disgusting ability."
He said this while being aware of what Subaru's using.
Despite them being a part of darkness, the witch factor themselves gave of something that even Vanitas didn't like.
Useful but something he didn't fully trust due to its nature to the person it's attach to.
Regardless, he prepares to use the sloth witch factor since he's also a part of Natsuki Subaru as well.
Before he could use it, Subaru continued to swing his keyblade around at Vanitas, forcing him to block away the attacks.
While Vanitas was on the defense in his battle with Natsuki Subaru in the station of awakening, he continued his battle with Emilia in the real world, being on the offense and the silver haired half elf on the defense.
She created a few more ice soldiers as well as two more ice swords to counter Vanitas's large amount of fireballs thrown towards her.
"Is that the best you got? I expected more from you, silver haired half devil!"
"..."
Emilia didn't say anything as she continued to counter the attacks thrown towards her while being a bit unhappy when Vanitas said those words.
She knows this isn't her knight speaking...but hearing his voice say such things hurts.
"Don't say such things...with my knight's body!"
As she shouted with slight anger, the temperature around them rapidly was dropping to the point where everyone around the two fighters were forced to keep their distance.
While those not fighting were being forced back, Reinhard and Cloud continued to face off against Sephiroth.
The one winged angel swung his blade swiftly towards his two opponents with Reinhard managing to block away all of these attacks meanwhile Cloud went on the offense on him.
Sephiroth continued to do both offense and defense all the while preparing for an ultimate move on the two.
"Give it up, you won't win!" Cloud shouted as he prepared to use all of his strength to break the one winged angel's guard. Sephiroth smiled as he managed to hold his own against Cloud's attack.
"You know that won't work on me."
Cloud looked at Sephiroth with an annoyed facial expression, seeing that even with the Sword Saint's strength, somehow Sephiroth was still keeping up with them.
Reinhard had noticed with one of his many divine protections that something was off with the one winged angel.
He knows that he's a powerful warrior but he also notices that there was another power at play.
'It's like...the more time he's fighting, the stronger he gets.'
He wasn't sure but he knew that he had to go all out against this skilled warrior.
He waited until Sephiroth jumped away to gain some distance.
Cloud attempted to attack only to be stopped by the Sword Saint.
"What are—?"
"Allow me to handle him on my own. Regain your strength."
"..."
Reinhard had sensed that his ally was starting to reach his limit, prompting him to go and fight alone for now.
Cloud would keep fighting if he didn't feel the darkness in his heart trying to take over since he's already overusing his regular strength.
"Are you seriously going to the sidelines now, Cloud? How very disappointing."
This got under the warrior's skin, almost prompting him to go and attack Sephiroth only for Reinhard to once again grab his shoulder.
"Don't let him antagonize you. Rest up a bit and once you have gained a bit of your strength, you can join back in."
Cloud lowered his sword when this was said by Reinhard, managing to calm himself down before noticing Sephiroth suddenly appearing right in front of him.
"End of the line, Cloud."
Right before the one winged angel could land his surprise attack on Cloud, Reinhard was quick enough to block away the attack.
"I won't allow you to harm my ally."
Reinhard pushed Sephiroth back before starting to go on the offensive against the one winged angel, managing to push him back using all of his divine protections.
With each swing being thrown towards the one winged angel, Sephiroth slowly starts losing ground as his guard starts to break.
Sephiroth noticed this when each time he blocks one of Reinhard's attacks, his sword is barely able to hold off the power that is the Dragon Sword Reid.
He also notices that the power of the Sword Saint was starting to catch up to his, prompting him to quickly set off his ultimate world ending attack.
He snapped his fingers to create four fire pillars around him to force his opponent to jump back.
The second he saw this happen, Sephiroth took this chance to charge right towards the master swordsman's position to swing his sword.
Reinhard blocked this sword but before he could push Sephiroth back, the one winged angel took this chance to push himself all the way up, allowing himself to fly up for a bit before starting to glow.
"Hm?"
Everyone watching this specific fight as well as both Cloud and Reinhard noticed this, prompting them to be on guard as they see Sephiroth suddenly transform into a different, more angel like form.
As the one winged angel was in this form, he suddenly had a large beam of destruction that started to brighten up the area.
This drew the attention of both Vanitas and Emilia, having been enough of a distraction to put a hold on their fight.
The two looked up with Vanitas being impressed by the display of power and destructive force Sephiroth was showing off.
"A planet ending attack…now that is impressive."
Emilia didn't say anything to this as she prepared to use every ounce of mana in her if it meant that she can counter Sephiroth's attack.
While she prepared to do this, Louis continued to hug Sora while not wanting to look up, afraid that this might be the end.
Sora slowly looked up and could feel that if this attack hits the ground, everyone will die.
He didn't wanted anybody to die, especially Subaru after how much hell he's gone through because of Return By Death.
Even with this in his heart, having felt those deaths personally through Natsuki Subaru's various books of the dead as well as how badly he had failed in the past as put Sora in a stand still.
Can he really be useful? Can he save anybody when he's failed in so many loops prior?
These questions are what keep him on his knees, unable to truly act on his desire to pick up his keyblade and do everything he can to fight.
While Sora was stuck, Beatrice and Naoko were both preparing to act as the two together had enough mana to use Al Shamak to send this attack to a different dimension similar to how they defeated the Great Rabbit.
Reinhard could see that everyone was on edge by Sephiroth's attack and preparing to counter this before it was too late. He turned towards Cloud as he was ready to take this attack straight on with the remaining strength he had in him.
He turned towards his right side where Priscilla was located, noticing that she was holding her Yang Sword Vollachia, ready to fight off this attack with his father also preparing to act despite not having any real ability to counter this attack.
This prompted the Sword Saint to turn back towards Sephiroth's direction before slowly walking towards the direction of the one winged angel's attack.
'Everyone's willing to put their lives on the line, including honored father.' He paused his thoughts for a second before continuing to think, 'As the Sword Saint of Lugnica, I have to be the one to stop this monster's attack. For the sake of this empire, for the sake of the world...for the sake of my friends.'
All the mana in him was beginning to overflow as his sword started to glow with intense power, drawing everyone's attention.
"As part of a line of master swordsmen, I shall not allow you to harm this world."
Once his sword was at it's strongest point, he used his immense strength to push his feet from the ground all the way towards Sephiroth's direction.
As he was rapidly approaching the one winged angel's attack with both his hands holding his sword, ready to swing.
From a distance, Felt noticed this a light rapidly approaching the one winged angel's direction as well as the world destroying attack's trajectory.
She knew immediately that this light was Reinhard, knowing how powerful he is from his countless training sessions with Sora and Subaru.
"...you better win, you idiot."
Right as the attack was on the Sword Saint's position, all Reinhard could think of was Felt, Natsuki Subaru, Sora, his grandfather, his grandmother, and all those he's fought alongside. Everyone was giving him the confidence he needed to use everything he had to assure that this attack is destroyed.
Once his attack had hit Sephiroth's destructive attack, the two clashing had caused a powerful explosion that sent shockwaves all around the area.
"Reinhard..." Sora said as he looked at the sky, worried for his friend's sake since that kind of attack can do damage to the Sword Saint.
"Reinhart!" Felt shouted as she quickly started to run towards the direction of the battlefield, worried for him. Frederica and Petra were both caught off guard by this, prompting the two with Tanza by their side to go and follow Felt.
Crusch, Wilhelm, and Theresia started to make their way towards the battlefield right after the large and destructive explosion just as Felix had healed up Yabuto and Kishida's wounds.
As everyone looked at the dust from the attack clearing.
"Reinhard..."
Julius was worried for his friend, knowing that this attack might've been a lot more than the sword saint could handle. Everyone wanted until suddenly Sephiroth came out of the dust to focus on attacking Cloud.
The warrior saw this and quickly used the strength he had gained from resting to block off the attack just barely. Cloud and Sephiroth looked at each other with a serious expression as they were in a blade lock.
"Allowing someone else to die for you, Cloud. How disappointing."
"Shut up...!"
As the two were giving it their all in the blade lock, Vanitas looked up at the dust that had disappeared.
"Hm. How disappointing. I'd expected more from him."
"Don't speak in such a bad manner with my knight's body!" Emilia shouted as she resumed their battle, wanting to save Natsuki Subaru. She wasn't the only one who was ready to resume their fight, with Garfiel Tinsel, Rem, and Ram started to stand right by the silver haired half elf's side.
"We got yer back, princess. Together we can save th'cap'n."
"Emilia-sama, allow us to lend you a hand."
Emilia turned towards both Garfiel and Ram's direction, nodding at what the two had said, happy to have some help. They all look at Vanitas with a serious expression before initiating the fight with Rem, Ram, and Emilia firing long distance attacks towards the keyblade wielder.
While they did this, Garfiel charged right towards Vanitas's position to keep him on the defense.
Using all of his strength when throwing a barrage of attacks, managing to push back his opponent.
Vanitas moved his keyblade swiftly towards the location of Garfiel Tinsel's fist, blocking these attacks.
As Vanitas was quickly adapting to Garfiel's fighting style, the demi human boy began to add some kicks into the mix.
This bought time for Rem to join in and start to throw a barrage of attacks of her own as well, using Amnesia Rem's close range fighting style.
As Garfiel and Rem were coordinating in their attacks, Vanitas would eventually teleport right behind the pair, preparing to eliminate the pair with one swing of the keyblade only for Ram to close in onto the fight to block the deadly attack with pure brute force.
As she blocked this attack, Emilia joining in with two ice swords to continue their duel.
She moves her swords right towards Vanitas's direction.
The keyblade wielder blocked this attacks before being forced to block away Garfiel and Rem's attacks as the two swiftly turned around to attack him.
As the three were on the offensive and Vanitas on the defensive, Cloud was slowly being overwhelmed by Sephiroth's immense strength.
"No matter how many times you try, you will always fail, Cloud."
"...I don't care...I'll keep fighting, to protect them...to protect them all."
As Cloud was still fighting with all of his strength, Julius and Waraki jump in and start swinging their swords towards him.
Sephiroth easily deflected away these attacks though this allowed Cloud to go for an attack of his own.
The one winged angel detected this and quickly blocked away the attack, prompting Waraki and Julius to once again try to attack.
Sephiroth wasn't fazed by such a thing and just deflected away the attacks only for his senses to indicate that he was about to be attacked from behind.
He turned around for a few seconds to see a small girl with blonde hair swing her blade right towards his direction.
He was able to dodge this attack with ease all the while curious on who this girl was.
Before he could ask anything to this girl, he saw her filled with rage and tears as she made another attempt at slashing him with her large knife.
As he continued to dodge all of her quick attacks, she began to shout,
"Where's my knight, you jackass?!"
Sephiroth didn't say anything as he prepared to counterattack only for Cloud to jump in and block away his attack.
"You aren't harming her, Sephiroth!"
As Cloud shouted this, he pushed away the one winged angel's weapon in order to give himself an opening to attack.
As he took the opportunity to attack him only for Sephiroth to block away this attack with his wing.
The moment he did this, Felt took the opportunity to attack, trying to kill him once again.
Sephiroth dodged this attack before using his wing to smack her away from him while moving his blade to block away Waraki and Julius's attacks.
Cloud swung his sword once again while having a blue aura around him, wanting to match his opponent's strength.
As the two were on equal terms for now, Felt got back up and joined in alongside Julius and Waraki.
With the four going on the offense together, Sephiroth was being pushed back though not for long.
Similar to earlier in the fight, he began to change the ties of the fight by making one simple move.
He had his free hand create a powerful sphere big enough to hit all four of his opponents.
Once it was ready, he waited until they all tried to attack him at once to throw his counter attack on them.
Felt was fast enough to move out of the way just as the attack caused the two knights and the warrior to be sent flying a few feet away before hitting the ground.
The trio were trapped as they were stuck to the ground.
"What the hell?!"
As the three were doing their best to escape this, Felt was shocked at first before turning towards Sephiroth with a rageful expression.
"I'm going to be the one to kill you!"
"Is that so?"
Sephiroth was curious to see what Felt can do, prompting him to create a fireball to throw right towards her.
Felt easily dodged this with her immense speed as she began to run all around Sephiroth, waiting for the right moment to strike.
As she prepared to pounce at her opponent, Sephiroth closed his eyes as he spoke out in a calm gesture:
"Do you believe you, a child, could avenge someone like him?"
"...!"
This pissed off Felt enough to cause her to quickly change directories towards the one winged angel's backside to go for a backstab. Just before her knife could connect with the one winged angel's back, he calmly dodged the attack.
"Is that all you got?"
"Shut up!"
As she continued to throw a barrage of attacks onto the one winged angel, Sora stood still as he watched Emilia and her group fighting to save Natsuki Subaru while Felt in rage was attacking Sephiroth.
Louis continued to be on his side and noticed Priscilla approaching them with Al and Heinkel following behind her.
The former Sin Archbishop of Gluttony got in front of Sora as she looked at the sun princess with a serious expression, uncertain of what she's planning to do.
As she was on a defensive stance, Priscilla ignored her as she turned her attention towards Sora, watching him looking hopeless.
She pulled out her fan and placed it right next to her face, wanting to avoid giving any emotion while speaking to Sora with a strict tone:
"This is a new sight. I didn't expect someone as strong as you to look so pathetic."
"Hey!" Louis shouted with anger, "Don't speak to Sora-kun like that!"
As Louis shouted this, Sora slowly turned his head towards Priscilla's direction, having just noticed her.
"Priscilla..."
Priscilla moved past Louis, finding her an annoyance, leaving the little teen girl annoyed with the sun princess. Before she could act, Al had grabbed her shoulder with his only arm while telling her:
"Stay. Let the princess do her thing."
As Al said this, Heinkel watched from a distance while keeping an eye on the battlefield, feeling this rage towards Sephiroth.
Despite still having distain for his son for a lot of things, it still bugs him that Reinhard hasn't come back from the battle.
'...where the hell is that monster?'
While he was thinking this, Priscilla approached Sora with her anger slowly showing.
The Keyblade Wielder caught note of this but didn't really do anything about it, feeling that he probably deserves it for being inactive since Sephiroth's arrival.
Priscilla closed in on Sora and began to question him:
"Why are you standing there, looking sorry for yourself?"
"..."
"You have one of the most powerful weapons on your hands, have the potential to be unstoppable, and you have decided to stay still and watch as everyone else carries your job."
"..."
Priscilla was annoyed at Sora's silence, prompting her to slap the back of his head.
"Leave Sora-kun alone!" Louis shouted as she was angry by this action from Priscilla. Al pulled out his sword while warning her,
"I suggest you calm down. I don't wish to harm a little girl."
"We won't just allow her to harm Subaru-kun!"
Al didn't comment anymore and just held his sword with determination, ready to protect the sun princess. Priscilla ignored what was going on as she watched Sora looked at the ground while rubbing the back of his head.
"You are a hero, no? Or are you a coward?"
"..."
"Speak! I don't enjoy wasting my time with pathetic bugs."
"..."
Priscilla was getting annoyed with each second that passes, hating seeing Sora, someone who would give his life for those he cares about, looking so broken. She moved her fan towards Sora's neck, revealing that she was infuriated with the way he was acting.
"What have I told you, to stop being gloomy, Keyblade Master Sora. Those in my camp won't show this kind of weakness." As Priscilla had said this, Sora gave off a surprised expression.
Priscilla continued to hold her fan on the boy's neck for a few more seconds before moving it away and set it back near her face.
Sora looked down as all he could think about was when he had lost everyone in the first attempt against the true Organization, when Kairi was killed by Xehanort, and seeing all the times he had failed Natsuki Subaru.
("Hehe...don't worry Subaru...you'll be able to save us all...that's why I'm not afraid...but in the case you don't make it back in time...just know that I'm proud of you, you really made me...feel like I could be an actual keyblade master...")
Despite being grateful for Subaru saving him, he still feels a sting of pain when thinking to his death in a different loop. He wasn't strong enough to prevent his apprentice, his friend from dying.
"...how can I fight...without my friends..."
Priscilla was annoyed by this response, prompting her to slap the back of Sora's head once again though not with a lot of strength behind this attack.
"Strength comes from within, not through some silly ideologies." Priscilla said as she wanted to set Sora straight before she can fully allow him into her camp. "Yes, having those you care about as a motivator is not wrong but when you think that you need them to be strong is where that disgustingness begins to grow. That kind of mindset won't be tolerated in my camp."
"..." Sora was silent for a second as he heard what Priscilla was saying to him. "Why still want me in your camp?"
"Because that's what I have asked and the world shall deliver."
"...the world?"
"Yes, the world. It may be flawed, it may be imperfect, but it is beautiful."
Sora was surprised as he saw within the sun princess's fire colored eyes that she was speaking truthful, that she indeed viewed the world as beautiful. Priscilla turned her gaze towards Sephiroth's 'battle' with Felt before turning towards Emilia and her group taking on the possessed Natsuki Subaru.
"You spoke of being a hero, a guardian of light but what does that mean to you? What value is being this hero bring to you?"
Sora continued to stay silent as he began to think deeply on the question Priscilla had asked. He thought on the first adventure, when he first met Donald and Goofy.
He didn't really think about saving the worlds since he wanted to find Riku and Kairi after their home was destroyed.
He just only ended up helping everyone else because he couldn't sit around and allow bad things to happen to good people.
This eventually evolved into him being the hero that saved the worlds.
Now that he's been in this world for a long while, interacted with a variety of people, and learned many things. He turned towards the two fights happening at the same time, prompting him to respond to Priscilla's question with:
"Being a guardian of light, a hero, is to protect those I care about."
("A true hero is measured by the strength of his heart.")
No longer staying in the sidelines, he turned his attention towards Sephiroth first and was about to help Felt only for his body to suddenly stop. Felt tried once more to stab Sephiroth only for him to break the knife with a swing of his blade.
"What?!"
"I'll make it painless."
Right before the one winged angel could kill Felt, someone appeared in front of him and blocked the attack.
"I won't allow you to harm Felt-sama."
A confident smile on his face, Reinhard van Astrea pushed away Sephiroth all the while Felt had tears in her eyes.
"Your late, idiot!"
As she shouted this, she had a smile on her face, happy that her knight was not only alive but was there to protect her from this monster. Reinhard turned towards Felt for a moment.
"Apologize, Felt-sama."
As the two were happy to see each other, Reinhard turned back towards Sephiroth's direction.
"I will not allow you to win this battle, fallen angel."
Sephiroth was indeed surprised to see the Sword Saint once again in the heat of battle.
The two stared at each other before continuing their dual with Reinhard matching Sephiroth's attacks.
Cloud, Felt, Waraki, and Julius all joined Reinhard in pushing Sephiroth back, each of them motivated by the Sword Saint's return.
This prompted Sora to turn towards the possessed Subaru's fight, knowing that he should focus on saving his apprentice and close friend.
'You've died for us, Subaru. You prevented me from being dead...now it's my turn to save your life.'
As Sora charged right into battle, Louis was shocked to see Sora back to his heroic self all of a sudden.
Al and Heinkel turned towards Priscilla, noticing that she had a smile despite hiding it in her fan.
This prompted the two to turn towards Sora's direction, watching as he quickly gets in between Vanitas and his opponents right when he was about to land a fatal hit on Emilia and her group.
Prior to this, Emilia was forcing Vanitas back once Rem and Ram jumped in and continued to force him into the defensive.
As the oni twins pull this off with their synced attacks, Emilia took this chance to create a few more ice soldiers to create even more pressure onto the one possessing Natsuki Subaru.
Emilia dropped the two ice swords as she waited for the right moment before attempting to freeze Vanitas into place in order to try and talk to her knight, try and get him to free himself through her words.
Before she could have the chance to pull this plan into place, Vanitas took the opportunity to snap his fingers on his free hand to allow a few unversed to appear.
"Watch out!"
Emilia shouted as she quickly froze a few of them in place, allowing Rem and Ram to turn their attention towards the unversed right near the two, allowing the pair to avoid being surprised attack.
As the two oni sisters avoided the attacks from the unversed, Vanitas attempted to land a hit on the pair only for Garfiel to block away the attack.
"Ya ain't gonna harm anyone with th'cap'n's body!"
As he shouted this, he was close to land a hit on Vanitas's face only for the keyblade wielder to luckily dodge the attack right at the last second.
"Annoying pest."
"Shut yer fuckin' mouth!"
Garfiel shouted as he looked at the possessed Natsuki Subaru with fierce determination, knowing full well that the one he's currently fighting nothing more than someone who wants to harm his captain's reputation.
"Ya may have his body but I ain't gonna hold back."
"Such annoyance!"
Vanitas blocked a few more of Garfiel's attacks before pointing his hand towards the Shield of Sanctuary.
"Die!"
An invisible hand was created by the palm of Vanitas's free hand to try and grab the boy only for Rem and Ram to attack from the side with long range abilities to force Vanitas back.
"I've had enough of this!"
The darkness within Natsuki Subaru's body began to overflow around them, causing Emilia and the others to be on guard as this was what they felt as Vanitas's true strength.
"You are all going to die!"
"Bring it on!" Garfiel shouted pridefully.
"I won't let you stop us, villain." Emilia said as she had her guard up with her ice soldiers ready to protect her. As Vanitas was going for one hell of an attack on his opponents, Sora interfered by clashing keyblades with him.
"You! What is a weakling like you doing here? Shouldn't you be feeling sorry for yourself, so called Keyblade Master?"
"I'm done staying in the sidelines and letting others get hurt while I do nothing!" Sora shouted with determination. "That's why I'll save my friend, Natsuki Subaru, from you, Vanitas!"
With the two strongest keyblade wielders clashing, the two began to swing their keyblades in an attempt to best the other. Emilia, Priscilla, Garfiel, Otto, and others that weren't fighting watched with interest as Sora and the possessed Natsuki Subaru were just giving it their all. Priscilla smiled as she knew that this battle has already been won.
"Give Subaru his body back!"
As Sora shouted this, he managed to land a hit on Vanitas's chest area, sending him flying a few feet away. Vanitas was stunned for a few seconds from the impact before looking furiously at his opponent, annoyed by him.
"I won't give up on this vessel!"
"I will force you out!"
Sora and Vanitas continued to clash, both not holding back on their stances, their strength, and their believes.
Emilia looked at this battle and was indeed worried for Subaru's sake but also Sora as she knows that he doesn't want to cause any harm to her knight.
Rem was stunned as it had been a while since she's seen her hero in action, facing against someone that's using Subaru's body as it's puppet.
"Don't lose, Sora-kun."
Rem whispered underneath her breath, believing deeply that her hero will not lose this battle.
Otto looked at this fight and also believed that Sora won't lose...but he didn't wish to allow the Keyblade Master to do all the hard work on his own.
He approached Emilia and tapped her on the shoulder to catch her attention.
"Emilia-sama, we must do something."
As Otto had her attention, Sora and Vanitas continued to clash with everything they had, with each swing being much stronger than the last.
These clashes continued a few more times, both in a deadlock until finally Vanitas had enough.
He waited for the right moment before creating an unseen hand at the palm of his hand while pointing it towards the keyblade master's direction.
"This is the end!"
As the unseen hand was increased in size enough to grab the keyblade master whole, Sora sensed the power being used and was able to destroy it with one swing of his Kingdom Key.
"I won't fall for that, Vanitas."
"Is that so?"
As Vanitas said this, he disappeared for just a second before appearing right behind Sora, ready to strike him down.
"You are just so easy to ready, Master."
Sora was mad by the way Vanitas was speaking as if he was Subaru, mocking him when referring to him as 'master'. Before he could even counter or attempt to, Otto shouted:
"Dona!"
A wall of rock quickly formed and managed to counter Vanitas's attack, giving Emilia the chance to go for a surprise attack.
"This is for Subaru!"
She shot a powerful ice beam intended to trap her possessed knight to which Vanitas quickly countered with the unseen hand. Though when he used it this time, he felt his heart suddenly sting for a moment before coughing blood.
"Subaru!"
Emilia, Naoko, Beatrice, Garfiel, Otto, Rem, and Ram all shouted in unison, worried for their friend. Sora was calm as he knew that Vanitas wouldn't risk losing this vessel just to get the upper hand on him.
"You have been using those moves like if it's nothing, not really thinking about the repercussions it would have. That's at least something Subaru as over you."
"Oh yeah?"
Vanitas said as three shadow versions of him appeared from his back side simultaneously and quickly charged towards the keyblade master.
Sora looked unfazed as all he could think about was his friend, how he's got such a heavy burden with Return By Death.
Even if he and Rem know and can help him, he still bears the burden that he may die to save everyone.
As his thoughts were on this, he thought back to his first adventure when he realized that Kairi was in his heart the entire time.
He didn't think he would come back once he freed Kairi's heart, he knew the risks of possibly being gone forever.
These thoughts allowed his Kingdom Key to change into Oathkeeper.
The moment this happened, he looked at the three shadow Vanitas' with a calm demeanor before easily dispatching them with one single movement.
"Vanitas, you are but darkness. I've accepted that. But Natsuki Subaru, my apprentice...my closest friend is not darkness. He's also a part of the light, so you will let him go."
"..."
Vanitas didn't say a word as he was preparing himself for one last all out assault on the keyblade master, having grown tired of these talks. Right before he could make any action, he suddenly was hit by Emilia's magic.
"Now stay still." She says as she was using every ounce of mana in her to assure that Vanitas was trapped and cornered with no way of escape.
After a minute of using up everything she had, the clouds from the ice cleared to reveal Vanitas in Subaru's body trapped with only his head being able to move.
"Do you really believe this will hold me?!"
"No, not for very long." Emilia responded swiftly but calmly. "But I wish to speak with my knight."
"That disappointment? His heart is deep within darkness. He will never—"
"Subaru." Emilia said as she interrupted Vanitas. "I hope you can hear me."
Subaru was still standing, bleeding from the side of his head and his vision blurring out here and there while Vanitas had a few scratches on him.
"You really are quite the pest."
"Yeah? Well...it is my body...so I'll keep fighting until...I get it back."
"...ever the stubborn fool. You still haven't realized that I've had control of this vessel this entire time. What makes you think you'll change that?"
"Because...you have yet to truly beat me. Me, the person you call a weakling. The person you can't accept as a keyblade wielder."
Subaru pointed his keyblade directly towards Vanitas's direction.
"Blizzaga!"
As those words came out of Subaru's mouth, his Rebirth keyblade began to spark for a brief moment before firing a powerful ice attack. Vanitas scoffed at this and simple knocked the attack to the side, indifferent by the boy's attempts of an attack by this point in the fight. He pointed his keyblade towards Subaru's direction while shouting:
"What's yours is mine!"
A dark beam of energy was fired towards Subaru's direction, one that immediately spelled defeat should this attack land.
Subaru smiled as he quickly created a barrier of light with all of his remaining energy to protect himself from such an attack.
This indeed work as the barrier protected him but it also broke in the process, prompting Subaru's sage like attire to revert back into his classic ones.
'Darn...seems like I've reached the end of the road.'
Vanitas slowly walked towards Subaru's direction, having no expression at this point.
"Let's end this farce once and for all."
'I...'
Subaru was unable to think since he doesn't know what will happen to him if his body dies and he loops back.
Would Vanitas take control permanently?
That frightened him since he doesn't want to allow Vanitas to use his body for misdeeds since he knows it would harm Emilia both mentally and reputation wise.
As he tried to think of a way out of this situation, Vanitas abruptly stopped the moment he and Subaru heard a voice speak out into the station of awakening.
"Subaru. I hope you can hear me."
'Huh? Who was that? Was that...Emilia?'
As he questioned himself, the voice continued:
"Subaru, I know you are in there, I know you are strong. You are the strongest person I know. You don't give up on anybody, you are always so kind and a bit strange but you are someone I depend on. You are my knight, my boyfriend...and my...f-fiancé..."
"...what?" Most in the outside hearing Emilia speak these words were caught off guard by this while Naoko slowly looked at Kenichi with a deadly smile, still angry she missed such an important moment.
Emilia was trying her best to not get to embarrassed when saying this since her face was turning face rapidly...and yet she knew she had to get through to the boy she saved, the boy that would in turn save her, the boy she wishes to marry.
"I...I love you, Natsuki Subaru." And with her emotions having boiled up to this point after being so long since she's seen him, she went ahead and kissed Natsuki Subaru.
Within the station of awakening, Subaru felt this kiss.
Similar to his second kiss with Emilia, it was filled with fire and life though this was something that caused the entire area to glow brightly as well as Subaru's body in the real world to glow as well.
"Emilia-sama! Be careful!" Otto shouted, worried for Emilia's sake as well as being worried by whatever is going on with his best friend. As the glow was bright enough to catch the attention from Sephiroth and his opponents, within the station of awakening Natsuki Subaru glowed brighter for a few seconds before everything returned to normal...with the exception of Subaru himself.
He was wielding a brand new keyblade, forged by the love and bond he has with Emilia, his fiancée. He was also in the keyblade's formchange, being dressed in an almost similar attire to Emilia's usual attire only with his being more ice like.
He looked at the keyblade and could feel an overwhelming power flowing through him. This power was similar to how he felt when he began his contract with Beatrice...though this one was different.
He felt Emilia's strength, Emilia's love flowing through him, giving him strength.
'Thank you...Emilia-tan.'
Subaru pointed his new keyblade right at Vanitas but before he said anything, he had noticed the keychain for this keyblade. It had Emilia's hairpin, which caught his attention for the briefest of moments before returning his mind to the battle at hand.
"This is it, Vanitas. I'm going to finish you off and then, get my happy ending."
"Do you really think a new transformation will change anything? How stupid are you?"
"I'm plenty stupid but I refuse to lose. As Emilia-tan's knight, I will not lose."
"Bwahahaha! Are you serious? You've always lost! That power you hold is the only reason your pathetic life hasn't truly ended. That's why once I'm through with you, there won't be anything left of you!"
"Bring it."
Subaru spoke calmly and waited as Vanitas made the first move, going all out with a barrage of fireballs. Subaru swung his new keyblade at the direction of Vanitas's attack, creating a few icicles from thin air to counter the Organization member's attack. As Subaru successfully countered this attack, Vanitas teleport right behind the boy.
"Now die!"
Before Vanitas's attack could land, a sudden ice barrier was created by the attire Subaru was currently wearing. Although not super big, it was the right size to block off the attack and prepare for a counter-attack.
"No, Vanitas. I think is high time someone taught you a damn lesson."
He swing his keyblade and was able to push the keyblade wielder back with his new found strength. This surprised Vanitas, prompting his expressionless face to show anger as he's had enough by how long this fight's gone on.
"Enough is enough! Why don't you just die?!"
"Because, unlike you, I have people depending on me."
Vanitas was preparing to attack Subaru right where he stood only to feel a sting on his stomach area.
"Wha...?"
"You weren't paying attention to everything I was doing. While you were busy trying to eliminate me with cheap tricks, you never noticed me fire one of the icicles right into your stomach area. I was wondering when you would figure out that your injured."
As Subaru said this, Vanitas thought back when Subaru had counter-attacked, the boy had also sent another attack while he was too busy surprised by the newfound strength. Subaru closed his eyes as he began to say:
"I don't have hatred for you, Vanitas. I dislike you, yes, but you are not worth hating. Now, get out of my body and fade away like the memory you are."
Vanitas angrily tried to strike Subaru down only for the boy to beat him to the punch by slashing his chest area with the new keyblade while also in it's formchange attire.
"Tsk…I...refuse…to lose...to a...fake like you..."
Subaru had skimmed through Vanitas's memories and knew that this wouldn't be a response from the keyblade wielder. Prompting him to think for a moment before looking down onto the floor where they were standing on. He saw that their hearts were as one for now as Vanitas's side was starting to fade.
'It's possible he had some of my traits...while I gain some of his. Our hearts did combined...very unnerving.'
He didn't felt good thinking this but considering how tough he was back in the battle against the White Whale, here he had some chance. Perhaps he had gotten stronger...or as he's thinking, he got lucky that Vanitas had started to gain some of his bad traits in a fight.
'Doesn't matter...what's done is done.'
The moment his thoughts had finished, he looked up as he saw a bright light appear for a second before seeing a keyhole appear.
He smiled as he hadn't seen a keyhole in a while.
He moved his keyblade towards the keyhole before seeing the tip of his keyblade creating a beam of light right towards it.
The moment it touched the keyhole, a lock sound was heard before the keyhole started to surround the station of awakening with a bright light.
After a few seconds, the light surrounding Natsuki Subaru had disappeared to reveal him no longer in the Vanitas attire but a whole new attire.
Everyone was unsure if this was still Vanitas or if it was Natsuki Subaru himself.
Emilia and Sora both slowly approached him as he glide towards the ground.
"...S-Subaru...?"
"..."
Subaru was silent for a brief moment before giving Emilia a kiss on the cheek, surprising her and causing her face to turn immense red.
"S-Subaru...you dummy!"
As Emilia said this, she smacked the top of her knight's head as she didn't like being caught off guard by this.
"Sorry about that, Emilia-tan." As he said this, he kneeled down on one knee while summoning his new keyblade, showing it off a bit. "I, your knight, have return to be by your side. I will not allow anymore crazy people to possess my body again. That, I promise."
As he finished saying this, he turned his attention to Sora, the next person he wanted to speak with.
"Sora, you are a great Keyblade Master and an amazing Keyblade Wielder. Without you, I don't know how far I would've gone. Maybe a good amount, maybe I would've been left broken. Who knows but all I know is that from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything."
Subaru got up for this before bowing to his master...to his best friend. Sora was stunned for sure but had a smile on his face. Those words mean a lot to him as he had always seen Subaru not as an apprentice but as an equal to him, as someone he can rely on.
"Thanks, Subaru."
Subaru gave a thumbs up before Beatrice, Kenichi, and Naoko reached him to give him a big family hug.
"Subaru!"
"Sorry to worry you all." The boy said as he realized just how many he had worried when he let the darkness in his heart take control.
Garfiel and Otto both high five each other as they see their best friend is back.
Kenichi turned his attention towards Garfiel before grabbing the demi human boy's attention:
"Come on, Garf. You are a part of this family too."
"Eh...it's fine." Garfiel said, his voice low in tone which caught Naoko's attention.
"No need to be embarrassed, Garfiel Tinsel Natsuki."
"Don't say the full name!" Garfiel shouted in embarrassment which just caused everyone to laugh. As they were laughing, Rem as well as Louis ran towards Sora's position to give him a hug, happy to see him back to his self.
"Sora-kun!" They both shouted as they hugged him tightly. Sora smiled as he knew that the two were worried for him. He didn't have much to say except to just hug the two back. While this was going on, Reinhard smiled as he saw his friend was saved before turning his attention towards Sephiroth.
"This is your last chance fallen angel, surrender. I don't wish to harm you but I will if you refuse to cooperate."
Sephiroth turned towards the Sword Saint, knowing that at his current state he will lose...though that didn't matter. He was enjoying his death match with him. Cloud pointed his sword towards the one winged angel's direction while saying to Reinhard,
"Don't let your guard down, he won't ever give up just like that."
"Hmph."
Sephiroth turned his attention towards Cloud, wanting to clash with him even if it'll result in his demise. Right as he was about to attack, he suddenly felt something...off. His wounds were suddenly healed and his strength was back at full strength.
'Hm. I wonder, what kind of power does she possess?'
As he thought this, Cloud immediately realized this and swiftly charged at the one winged angel, not wanting to take any chances.
As he swung his sword, Sephiroth jumped up to not only avoid the attack but preparing himself for the next stage of the fight. Sora, Emilia, Rem, Louis, and the others all noticed this.
"Subaru, don't mean to interrupt family time but we are going to need your strength."
Subaru turned to see that Sephiroth was flying up, radiating a dangerous aura. He turned towards Sora's direction and gave him a nod before looking at Beatrice.
"You ready, Beako?"
"Always."
Beatrice grabbed onto Subaru's hand before the two walked alongside Emilia and Sora.
Al and Heinkel approached Priscilla, both curious on something.
"You aren't going to join them, princess?"
"No need. The world will grant me my victory." As she responded to Al's question, she looked at Sora, confident that he'll be the one to defeat Sehiroth. As she said this, Sora and Subaru along with those that were ready to fight the one winged angel stood right next to Cloud and Reinhard.
The Sword Saint turned towards his right side to see Felt, ready for combat.
"Felt-sama, please stand back. This battle is—"
"No! I'm not letting you get hurt like that again! I will fight! I don't care who this guy is, even if they were a witch or a dragon, I will crush them!"
Reinhard was stunned by the strong determination Felt was displaying, forcing him to obey her since he needs to trust that she can take care of herself. While this was happening, Cloud turned towards the keyblade master as he asked him:
"Are you okay?"
"...I wasn't for a moment but now I'm ready."
"We got this."
As Cloud said this, Sora nodded before turning towards Sephiroth with Kingdom Key at hand.
"Not going with your strongest?" Subaru asked.
"No need." He said as he smiled calmly. "I have you all by my side."
"Right. Our bonds here will grant us our victory."
"As they say, Nobody can lift a quain stone alone." Garfiel added as he smacked his fists together, feeling excited for the big battle ahead. As they were all ready to fight Sephiroth, from a distance Pandora and Replica Riku were watching.
"Why give him all his strength back?" Pride asked, uncertain why they helped the one winged angel. Pandora looked at her Sin Archbishop of Pride for a moment with a calm and friendly smile before turning towards Sora's direction.
"I want to test the boy. See what kind of result he will give in this situation." Although Pandora said this, she turned her attention towards Subaru, having some familiarness with the boy. "Hm. That boy...he reminds of someone..."
As The Witch of Vainglory was ready to see the fight, she noticed Emilia standing next to Subaru.
"Oh! She's here. It's been a while."
Pandora was more excited now.
Despite her interest being focused primarily on Sora, the Keyblade Master, having someone who currently possesses the Sloth, Greed, Wrath, and Gluttony witch factors as well as another that is unfamiliar to her with the girl that has the key to the door she wants open all in one place...this was quite the treat.
"Oh my, now this is quite the development."
"..."
Replica Riku remained silent as he just observed from a distance, paying close attention to the fight itself.
'Show me what you can do against that thing, Sora.'