[[Chapter 19 ~ Heartfelt Tournament]]
The mix matched group of escapees trotted into the large rotunda with 5 exits, slowing their pace in order to look back at Rae who could tell them which way to take. Cloud shifted Jenny in his arms, who they picked up from the holding cells on the way back. She was still unconscious, but she occasionally let out a groan or mumbles to show that she was coming to.
John spoke up first, obviously in a hurry, “Which way, Rae?”
Rae, who was busy pestering Louis about healing his eye, stopped for a moment to look over at John, “Well, each of us took a different path. But, only two of us went in alone.” Rae spoke, pausing, feeling a little guilty, “Ben went down the center path by himself and Noelle went down the right most one. The others all went in pairs.”
“Then we should go down those paths.” Louis stated the obvious, moving away from Rae quickly, taking advantage of the distraction to dodge her prying pleas to lend her aid, “From what you told us, there were only five of you that showed up as reinforcements. One of you is here, so one of these five paths doesn’t have any backup, and we don’t know which one, but we know two only have one earthling. If we go down those paths, we’ll know for sure no one will be without a partner of some sort right?”
“He’s right.” Jenny said finally waking up in the middle of Louis’ explanation, “As long as we’ve had each other, we’ve never failed. So I’m not worried about those that went together… but Noelle and Ben. I’m really worried about Noelle…”
“Same here.” Rae stated, helping Jenny stand as Cloud let her down, “We’ll take the right most path.”
“Alright, be careful. Cloud, you go with them.” Louis said as Cloud responded with a nod. Louis looked back to John and Kichi with a nod, “And we’ll go help Ben.”
Kichi’s face seemed to brighten a bit. The two had been long time friends and the concept of coming to his rescue seemed promising, and it seemed Timmy was safe after all. If he wasn’t alone, he’d be fine. That put Kichi’s heart at peace, “Alright, let’s go! No time to waste.”
Louis smiled a little at Kichi’s regained enthusiasm and headed for the archway that led into the dark hallway and following stairwell. He stopped an inch before entering and looked over to Rae, Jenny, and Cloud as they paused before entering their pathway. Cloud looked at the three guys and spoke seriously, “I want to see all of you on the other side. All of you. So be careful.” Without another word he went down the hallway followed by the two girls. Louis followed suit and went in followed by Kichi with John taking up the rear.
The trio picked up the pace once they got to the spiraling staircase, running up the steps giving no hesitation or breaks until they’d reach their destination. The staircase seemed to go on forever with no markings or labels to say just how far they’d climbed.
“I don’t know about you guys, but after this is all over, I’m putting in a request that somebody install an elevator.” John yelled up from the back resulting in the laughter of all three.
“Right about now, an escalator doesn’t sound all that bad either!” Louis replied.
“Oh come on… this is Kingdom Hearts isn’t it? Why not get teleported or something. Then there’d be no wait.” Kichi replied to them both.
“Because then there’d be no wait or corny music to listen to while we recuperate.” Louis countered, all of them laughing again.
With their legs growing tired, their running climb slowed to a walk and their conversation halted. They took each step silently, taking deep breaths to recover. The bass ridden booms that shook the stairways before seemed to have stopped and gone quiet.
“You think those were the others fighting?” Kichi asked concerned.
“Probably… but it sounds like it’s over now.” Louis said glancing back.
“Those were close too,” John added, “I swear I heard the clashing of metal for those.”
“Yeah…” Louis said, going silent again, “Wait… you’re right! Listen!” Louis stopped and held a hand up, halting their echoing footsteps, “You hear that?”
The others listened closely, and indeed they could hear the faint sound of metal scraping against metal, “We’re close!” Kichi yelled, pushing past Louis and charging forward.
Louis stumbled back a bit but was caught before he fell by John, “Hey! Wait up!”
All three ran as fast as they could now, leaving no reserve. Even at full speed, it was taking forever. The clashes could be heard clearer, but they were becoming less frequent, “Hurry! Sounds like the battle is winding down!” Kichi yelled, pushing himself harder.
A huge gust suddenly greeted them, knocking all of them off their feet and back down several steps. Kichi lay on top of Louis and John scrambling to get up. He ran up the last flight of stairs, hearing no sound of fighting.
“Sounds like he won!” Kichi called back, the other two close behind.
They ran through the doorway without hesitation and into another rotunda, immediately examining the room. The walls were scarred all over with marks reminiscent of a rabid beast gone wild, and the floor had holes ripped through it leaving dark pits in place of tile.
“Ben?” asked Kichi, bringing Louis back to earth, his eyes focusing on Kichi’s expression. He followed Kichi’s horrified gaze to the real scene before them. Ben knelt on one knee, propping himself up frozen mid action with a blade piercing his chest and darkness flowing over his body.
“Ben?” Kichi asked again his whole body vibrating with tremors. Ben shifted slightly, his head turning to the side to glance at Kichi, a small grin shotting in his direction with direct contrast with the pain in his eyes which he covered up by squinting. Darkness then flowed over him and then from within the darkness, his body burst out in streams of light. His heart rose to the roof and vanished and Ben was no more.
Kichi’s legs gave in and he collapsed to the floor. John ran to his side and shook his shoulders, “Come on Kichi. Don’t give up. This isn’t over! We have to keep fighting.”
Louis stood unmoving, never taking his eyes of the opponent, “John…”
“What? What’s wrong?” John asked, taking his attention off Kichi for just a second.
“John, I want you to take Kichi and run through the door on the other side.” Louis stated, his expression cold and unchanging.
“No way! I’m not leaving you here alone to fight!” John protested, but was shut up as Louis roared in a tone never before heard by John or Kichi that startled them both.
“Shut up! I said go! The barrier is down! I don’t know how long you have! I’ll handle this guy!”
“Rhiko…” Kichi said raising his eyes slightly but said nothing else.
“Don’t worry.” Louis comforted him as his face softened, “I’m not losing here. You keep going and I’ll catch up. Trust me.”
Kichi looked at Louis, fully raising his head to stare, blinking the tears out of his eyes. Swallowing hard he nodded once and got up on his own, charging past the cloaked figure who did nothing to stop him. John chased after him and voiced his objections but followed Kichi out of the arena none the less.
After they’d both passed into the hallway, a barrier reformed itself over the exit. Kichi ran a few yards and stopped. John caught up and put a hand on his shoulder. Kichi shoved it off and it was then that John could see the anger in Kichi, his hands gripping into tight fists.
Kichi spun around past John in order to change his mind and run back, but darkness now covered the entrance and halted his retreating advance. Kichi roared and threw his arms forward, launching two beams from his palms into the darkness with increasing intensity until there was no energy left in him to fire. Kichi put an arm against the wall and slid down, taking a deep breath, then releasing another loud roar accompanied by one not his own belonging to the Dragon King himself sympathizing with his frustration and sadness.
John reached down and offered Kichi a hand up which Kichi finally took and stood. The two stood there for a moment watching the darkness that went completely unhindered by the attacks. Kichi and John turned away and headed down the hallway to another stairwell, where they continued to climb reluctantly, leaving not one, but two comrades behind in body, but only one in heart.
Meanwhile, Louis stood, listening to Kichi’s cries vibrating the walls of the arena. His teeth gritting together hating the pain he felt for his friend.
“Well, that was stupid.” The cloaked figure spoke, whipping his blade out at the ground in front of him, scattering drops of black stained blood on the floor, “You must really think you’re something if you’re this confident.”
Louis stood silently without an answer.
“I mean, there were three of you, you might have had a chance, but now there’s just you. You saw how one on one turned out for that other guy.”
Still no answer.
“Any last words?”
Nothing.
“Wait, maybe you’re so scared you can’t speak anymore?” the man stopped for a moment then continued, “Alright, how about this… it’s the hood isn’t it? I remove it and I won’t be as scary. How about that?”
The male pulled back the hood revealing his face. He was rather young, medium length dirty blonde hair with the poster boy deep blue eyes, “The name’s Nick, and I’m going to be the end of you.”
Louis opened his right eye at that point revealing the black sclera offset by the bright yellow orb in the center, given further shape by the snake like pupil running down the center. His eye peered into Nick’s chest, peeling away all the layers of flesh and muscle to look directly at his heart. Darkness, a wild, untamable darkness continually interweaving and rampaging as storm clouds inhabited his heart. Louis could see it all, but it seemed to him there was something more, something beyond to which he could only make out the silhouette.
“Ouch… that’s one nasty injury you got there.” Nick continued to chatter away as Louis stayed silent, “You might have wanted to get that looked at. It looks infected.”
This feeling… it’s so familiar… what is it? I can’t put my finger on it, but I definitely know this feeling somewhere… but where though?
Isn’t it obvious yet? Mateus asked in a condescending tone, I was sure you’d have figured it out by now.
[[Cue: Immortal Smoke]]
Louis’ eyes began to widen as realization set in and Nick blabbered meaninglessly on at him, “I swear, is this some sort of pity match or something? Really? Throwing this pathetic excuse for an opponent at me; talk about weak- Huh? – What do you mean he’s not? – Really? He doesn’t seem all that – If you say so…”
Louis narrowed his gaze now, reaching down to his Rapier. Nick replied with an enthusiastic, “Oh! You’re ready to fight now? Alright! But I’m not going to go easy on you!”
Louis’ blade passed a few times in front of him as he readied himself and finally said only one line, “Just shut up already.”
Louis vanished from where he was standing and came back into view right under Nick’s nose. Both using thin, quick blades, Nick was able to twist sword around and parry the rapier before it pierced his chest. As the blade passed underneath Nick’s elbow, Louis ducked underneath Nick’s blade then countered by sweeping at his legs. Nick jumped overhead and as Louis came up, he was surprised to find Nick floating in place upside-down over him.
Louis stared for a moment, noticing the subtle drifting of dust in a circle around them, then without a second more hesitation, their clash continued. Louis and Nick exchanged blows, every time matching pace and canceling each other out. Nick moved with Louis in his upside down state, keeping the shadowmancer off balance and moving backwards. Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, causing Louis to stumble back slightly to keep his footing. Nick capitalized on the situation, correcting his orientation and coming down with the sword pointed straight down.
Louis changed his mind, and let his footing give way. A backwards somersault carried him across the floor and back to his feet. As he stood, the blade impacted the floor and another gust blew out in all directions. The wind in the arena was picking up speed exponentially by the second. Louis could feel the tension in the air growing, a heaviness against his sides as wind currents pressed against him.
Nick stood to his feet and threw out his free hand, in it, another identical blade appeared. Louis grimaced, and decided it was time to switch gears as well. He sheathed his rapier and drew his two daggers.
Nick laughed, “You’re going to fight me with those toothpicks?! HA! You’re better off fighting with your fists!”
Louis ignored him and charged forward. His daggers moved faster than Nick’s heavier blades, so a few small blows landed here and there but none that did any significant damage. While Louis gained the upper hand, Nick as gaining more of a temper, “Damn it! Back OFF!” Louis blocked the simultaneous blow from both of Nick’s blasted with his daggers crossed over his chest but the swords were followed up by a concussive force that obliterated his defense. Louis flew back, watching as his opponent pulled back and threw his blade straight as an arrow with wind spiraling around it.
Louis crossed his daggers across his chest and leaned back. The blade passed over, not even an inch from his chin and he threw out his daggers. He landed roughly, unable to stick the landing with all the momentum. The daggers reappeared behind Nick and flew in for the kill. Suddenly, the daggers were intercepted by two more swords appearing from dark portals of their own. They batted the daggers into the floor where they imbedded themselves in slightly.
Louis stood up and glared Nick, his dark eye growing more menacing as the black spread like veins outward over his temple, upper cheek, and ear. Even Louis scared himself for a moment, hearing the thoughts in his head, I WILL tear that heart from his chest… then devour it myself!
He closed his eye and shook his head reopening it to glance into his heart again. The figure behind had grown larger and more prominent as well as the raging tempest of darkness, Mateus… I think I may need your help…
May? You won’t even stand a chance without my help…
“Idiot, do you get it now? You’re outclassed,” Nick yelled over to Louis, though they were close enough he could have spoke normally and gotten the same effect, even the wind as he re-summoned his abandoned blade carried his voice for him, “But, it seems you’ve forced me to get serious. For that, I’m going to tear you limb from limb!”
Louis only had a moment to spare before all 4 blades bore down on him. He twisted out of the way as one flew in from in front, another came in from the side and cut deep into his shoulder, another swiped his leg, and the last flew in and went to cut off his head but he ducked underneath and saved himself.
He ran full speed, ignoring the pain in his leg as he fired off several shots from his riffle and drew his Rapier simultaneously. His bullets traveled in vein after they were dispatched by a single autonomous blade.
Nick’s view of Louis vanished for a moment, as Louis flipped his blade in front of him and sent out a thick wave of darkness. Nick took one swing of his sword to cut through the curtain. The darkness writhed and curled around. Nick blinked once before looking down, finding the fighter, physically cloaked in the darkness all over. His rapier stabbed forward at Nick, Nick stepped back, the blade only an inch away, then all was stopped as Nick’s three other blades pinned Louis’ one in between them all.
Nick laughed hysterically, his voice mixing with another, the wind in the room was now whipping around like a hurricane, “Nice try! But I already said, you’re outclassed!” Nick’s blades pressed in and together cleaved Louis’ blade in half. The shard of the blade spun off and stuck into the wall. Louis looked to the blade then back at Nick. Nick took one swing combined with a gust of wind. His whole body was picked up and thrown. He flew, and the swords accompanied him, passing left and right until he hit the wall. Then all 4 swords converged and skewered Louis to the wall.
Nick laughed even harder, “Damb a**! Complete Dumb a**! You had your chance to live and you threw it away! And now you’re dead! Ahahahaha!”
[[Cue: Alternative]]
Louis fell to the floor as Nick’s blade’s retreated back to their master. Louis struggled to his feet, much to Nick’s surprise, “You’re still going to fight?! Hell! You shouldn’t even be standing! Why won’t you just die?!”
Nick’s blades spun forward again, cleaving all of Louis’ limbs at the joints sending him to the floor. Nick panted, his pent up rage shown through the blades that swished back and forth like cat tails when they’re frustrated.
The ethereal black sheets peeled away, burning in the open air that spun around the room. Nick took a deep breath, but before letting it out, held it when the darkness cleared. A soldier of ebony ice laid staring with its crimson red eyes at Nick. Nick’s eyes met with its, locking in place as he deciphered the situation, “W-What?”
Suddenly he spun around and blocked a much heavier blow than all those preceding it. He looked at Louis’ new form clad in black armor with a purple tint, his helmet not yet dawned. Nick asked, as both stood frozen in place, “W-Who ARE YOU?!”
Louis answered with a crazed grin, “A cliché question can only be replied to with a cliché answer…”
“And that would be?”
Louis’ helmet formed over his face, plate over plate molded into place as darkness took physical form with the strength of steel. Purple-red crystals filled the eye slots and in a demonic, distorted voice, he answered, “Your worst nightmare…”
At that moment, in a circle around them, one after another, huge spires of ice burst out of the floor. As Nick glanced around, distracted by the sudden eruption of the foreign element, and Louis pressed in on the momentary weakness. Nick jumped back as Louis’ naginata broke through the combined guard of all 4 swords, sending one into the floor and the other three into the air.
The three free swords came back a second later. Louis was ready for them, cart wheeling into a back flip, leaving a puddle of ice on the ground wherever his limbs touched the floor. Projections of ice formed out of the puddles and continued to misdirect and intercept the swords as they approached.
Nick continued to step back as the wave of ice driven by the demonic Vanguard continued to press forward despite his swords’ best efforts. Finally, his back hit the wall, and to his dismay, Louis was not even close to being halted by his best efforts. He glanced around and realized his back wasn’t against the wall, but one of the 6 pillars of ice. He quickly rolled around behind it as Louis’ naginata flew forward and imbedded itself in the pillar.
Nick continued moving away from the pillar as darkness flowed through it like an ink spill filling the many layers of a book until nothing remained clean on the blank pages. The pillar shifted then began to collapse. It continued to implode, taking shape and forming a body identical to Louis, the only difference, being the dim red glow coming from its chest. Every pillar did the same until instead six identical clones stood at alternating distances.
Nick looked around for his swords, spotting each in suspended animation within the frozen appendages summoned from the floor. He saw double as Louis took his position next to the closest clone. Both summoned crystal swords off of their arms, to which the other clones immediately followed suit, all of the swords compounded into the density of diamond.
Louis and his clones took off, first running, then skating across the floor, weaving in and out, giving Nick a hard time keeping track. As the now hard to distinguish armors reached him, Nick threw his arm forward at a random opponent, the air streaming off his hand collided with the helmet and peeled to the side over the angles of its face. The drills of wind moved like snakes through the air and plowed into the traps that held his swords back. He called out to his swords, which lit up within their icy prisons and exploded. They reappeared immediately at his sides and he took hold of one in his hand.
Louis swept by his side and then on the other, then another, and another, and once more unrelenting. Alternating in advances, the real and fakes kept Nick on the defensive. Nick spun around and connected with one, digging his sword into the copy’s. Moving away from blocking another opponent, one of Nick’s swords spun around and imbedded itself in the side of the clone’s skull. It didn’t even flinch. Instead, ice coated over it, attempting to hold it down as the others moved in.
Nick reached out with his hand and grabbed the sword and dragged it down. The sword passed through to the other end of its face and then with a skillful twist of his wrist, he plunged his sword into its chest, causing the instant break down of its entire body. Nick let go, leaving the air to carry his sword once more. He twisted back expecting another attack from behind. The clone was caught right as it raised its swords overhead. Nick waved his sword across his torso, then all 3 other swords followed suit and cut through at various angles following the same general motion.
The more clones came down on his in retaliation, his swords blocked and with a gust of wind underneath him to give a boost, he leapt over them and landed on the other side, pulling his sword around to his elbow and thrusting backwards, into the back of the 3rd to be defeated clone.
Nick found himself staring into the eyes of the real Louis a second later. Louis threw his arms up from the floor, carrying with it two sheets of ice, thin as paper and capable of cutting a person in two. Nick leaned back, the hems of his jacket’s shoulders felt the sharpness of the blades, but luckily not his flesh. Louis dropped down as a clone jumped over, bringing its swords down at the unbalanced swordsman.
The one free blade from Nick flipped over and blocked the blow but Nick found himself once more between the opponents his swords were previously holding off a moment before. The clones spun and stabbed from both sides, Nick’s blades corrected their position and put themselves on both sides of his body. With three blades occupied, keeping Nick from both moving and fighting back, Louis used the back of his clone to jump over Nick and land behind him.
Nick instinctively let go of his blade which immediately took flight and flipped around behind him. Nick felt a shiver run down his spine as the screech of the blades dragging across each other paired up with the two icy blades pressed lightly against the soft skin on either side of his neck. A tiny layer of blood coated the tips of both blades, at which Nick stared with great intensity.
With four swords at varying heights held at his sides, two from the front, and two across his neck, Nick had all his weapons occupied… or so it seemed. Nick spoke, with a nervous chuckle, “You’re not so bad after all. Too bad I’ve been going easy on you.”
Louis twitched.
[[Cue: Sons of the Wind]]
“You’ve got some skills, sure, but nothing can stand up to the powers of… a god!” Nick gripped his fists, two hidden blades lining the back of his forearms shot out of his sleeves and stabbed the legs of the ice clones. The momentary drop in pressure gave the blades holding them back enough time to press back and explode into a spinning whirlwind. The two clones were sliced to ribbons leaving only two remaining lucky enough to jump back.
All four blades joined the spinning current and spun around him with increasing speed, sparking every time Louis threw forward shards of ice to try and penetrate the guard. Nick snapped his fingers at the pinnacle of their speed and an eruption of upward force through all of them into the air. Louis and his copy were picked up in a split second and spun in a circle.
In the midst of the tornado, Nick moved to the center as the rest were flying in the air. He floated up, rising to a comfortable height then spoke once more, a red glow rising from his chest as a certain glyph sprung to life, “Only in light AND darkness does balance remain… in the absence of either…”
Louis struggled mid air, to regain his balance, but he was never much of an aerial fighter, but he’d been in so many battles so far where he’d been thrown into it, he was starting to get the hang of it. He was at least able to right himself to a point where his movements weren’t completely out of control. He listened as his opponent spoke, as his body was enveloped in a light-weight armor. Around his collar, two horn-like shapes took form as well as a breast plate underneath, his cloth cloak became engulfed and darkness, wrapping tighter, then taking physical form again as a leather like substance held tight to his skin, a mix of cloth and armor formed on his waist like a elongated loincloth, and lastly, over his face, a helmet with 3 horns formed, all colored a tan mixed with a dirty jade.
“Chaos reigns.”
Four oddly shaped, curved pillars large enough to easily crush several people fell out of dark portals at separate corners of the room. Nick’s four swords vanished as well, and four more took their place floating down, much larger than the ones he’d been using before, these stood as tall as three men. They took their place by each pillar and began spinning like drills with blades pointed to the floor.
The twister Louis found himself in dispersed, pulling apart and to his surprise, formed four simultaneous tornadoes by each pillar. The wind whipped around violently, crashing against Louis, but he firmly held his ground, freezing his feet to the floor. Nick wasn’t slow on the approach. Louis lifted his Naginata to eye level blocking the first blow with the shaft of his weapon, then the second by releasing the grip of one hand letting the naginata swing around and smack against the other arm blade.
With a thrust of his blade into the floor, Louis summoned a star formation of ice around himself. Nick leapt back quickly enough to avoid, watching for a second later where Louis spun and cut through his own defenses, sending shrapnel out in all directions. The tornadoes altered direction on a split second interval, sucking the projectiles away, spinning them inside their blustering winds then throwing them out into Louis at the center.
Louis stood unhindered by the shards of ice. Those that embedded themselves in his form, absorbed into him entirely and added on to his armor, forming spikes in random placement where ever the armor was present.
Nick floated a few inches off the floor, a small twister forming off the base of his feet. Leaning forward, the wind carried him right back into Louis. Louis blocked the whirlwind of blades coming his way as Nick spun and flipped around. There was no pattern, no flow, no contingency of energy that Louis could track. The rage expressed through the storm came from Nick as a roar of frustration emanated from his helmet.
Louis couldn’t keep up and in a matter of seconds a blade spun around as the swordsman spiraled upside down. Louis didn’t see it coming, and with a loud screech, the blade slid over his exposed stomach.
Louis stumbled back, ice crumbling off that portion of his body. Ice that coated every inch of his exposed skin shimmered, cracked, and fall away from him. The thin plates of crystal clear ice shattered on the floor. No damage was done to Louis physically, but it could easily be read from his body language he was angry. Nick didn’t pay attention however, concluding his opponent had yet to be put down, he ran in for the kill.
Nick struck with one arm right across his helmet, then once more in the face with his boot was he lifted his legs into the air with his arm. His other boot came around and planted in the face once more with a twist in place to dig in. With another press off, his opposite arm came around with the blade attached to it and sliced once more. Not even touching the ground, his body arced 180 degrees where it stopped in place. The wind collected into a single force behind the lanistsa, launching him forward. His combined blades plowed into the helmet, from both sides as Nick dragged his arms across his torso splitting cracks uniformly from the impact outward. He tore his arms away , releasing an explosions of wind and shards of the helmet. The avatar of Chaos tucked his head between his legs, allowing the wind to grab hold and rotate him midair then repeatedly front flip, slicing into Louis all the way down the length of his back till finally planting his feet to the floor with his back to Louis, tearing his arms to each side of him, all resulting in a collective sonic boom behind his back rocketing Louis forward, into the air, and then into the torrent of winds above.
Nick turned on one foot then threw his arms down at his feet to launch himself like a ball out of a canon. He flew up and the now severely damaged Louis, expecting to take him by surprise before he could recover and finish with one last blow. Nick was the one surprised however as Louis spun around, bending his body in ways unusual for a human being. Nick’s blades clashed with Louis’ Naginata, catching them in a deadlock.
[[Cue: Border of Life]]
A deep purple glow originating from the scared glyph on his lower torso tainted everything in their immediate vicinity in the dark shade. Louis, now helmetless with an exposed face, ginned with a crazed and abnormally excited look in his eyes. Both eyes were now engulfed in darkness and the pupils themselves took on the same color as the glyph.
The wind, the sound, the surrounding destruction, the two fighters breathing, everything all slowed to a stop. The world pulled away so there was only the two of them frozen in place as thoughts traversed space, “Long time no see, Chaos.”
“Mateus… you look well.”
“Don’t lie. We’ve both seen greater days.”
“Once gods always gods, even without the power.”
“It’s a shame things ended up this way. In another life, we could have ended up allies.”
“You think so? Well… until the next life then.”
“Until the next life.”
Time sped up again, and the world returned to their senses. Their weapons separated knocking both back in their respective directions. Louis flew up and planted his feet to the roof, freezing himself in place. Nick fell to the floor where he stopped abruptly a foot from the floor as all the wind begin gathering on him. Louis pulled his Naginata back coating it in darkness flowing out of portals summoned all around him. Nick waved his arm blades around with concentrated currents coating their surface, as the spinning swords at each corner of the room leveled out horizontally along the floor and spun around the entirety of the arena. The blades closed into the center of their circulation, Nick being that center, then rotated to point up. The force of the wind tore apart everything outside the tornado walls. The integrity of the arena started giving way as the opponents prepared their final attacks. The swords vanished and returned to normal size by their master’s side. The wind now moved on its own, no longer needing the help of the swords to keep momentum. Chains of darkness summoned by Louis blasted out of giant portals along the walls, criss-crossing the arena turning the field into a chaotic obstacle course with wind currents stronger than freight trains moving indiscriminately in-between.
Louis pushed off with a pillar of ice, Nick with a blast of wind. They clashed at the center, pushing wind and ice out in a sphere around them. They pushed off to the sides, using the chains as braces before flying outside the eye of the tornado.
Darkness spilled out of portals at the roof of the arena, flowing into a single point while ice summoned in close proximity flowed into the concentrated mass. Louis ran along the length of one chain then jumped down to a lower one as Nick flew in with his blades spinning around tearing away and everything in his path. Louis clashed with Nick once more for only a moment before pushing off again and gaining some distance. Nick’s blades gave chase but Louis was ready, he rolled around and swung underneath the giant chain he was standing on and used it as a shield. The blades collected onto each other and spun like a propeller or saw, cutting right through the chain.
Louis grabbed hold of the end of the chain as the released pressure pulled back like a spring, pulling him with more Gs that a person should be able to handle. But this was no battle of mortals. This was the battle of gods, two former gods longing for their previous power, given one last chance to test their capabilities in the bodies of mortals against one of their own. Nothing would hold them back, nothing would hold them down, nothing would stop them until the other was dead.
The chain entered a dark portal, carrying with it, Louis. Another chain began moving immediately after, whipping around and out of one end of the portal. Another chain, then another, and another, till soon half the monstrously sized chains were moving about the arena, their momentum capable of crushing anyone instantly.
Nick and Louis were already fighting in the center of it all, striking back and forth. A piece of Nick’s shoulder guard, a chunk of Louis’ chest place, a piece off of Nick’s gauntlet, a gash in Louis’ boot, a horn off of Nick’s helmet. Blow for blow they went at it, separating only to allow a chain to pass between. The chain continued and slammed into the floor, pulling back and dragging along with it a large section of the floor into the dark portal.
Both fighters landed on opposite ends of the arena, not hesitating for a moment as the collection of darkness above them finally released and expanded quickly outwards to engulf everything. The two dived right into the darkness, not deviating from their path to the center, in the complete absence of light the two struck with all their might. All their collective will went into one last blow. When they connected, the eruption of power shook the entire foundation of the tower in which they fought.
When light returned, the two still stood in normal clothing, both whipping their weapons around in a last ditch attempt to finish the other off; Louis, with his rapier pointed into Nick’s neck, and Nick, with his sword driving into Louis’ left breast. The world became deathly still and silence fell on the battlefield.
“It would seem… we’ve both been played for fools.” Louis spoke, a tremor running through his body.
“It sure would seem that way.” Nick replied, panting for breath.
As their views came into focus, both stood encased in chains wrapping around every limb, stopping each blade from piercing the other.
Louis blinked and observed a small, burning orb of light float by and collect into a single mass. Seymour Guado stepped forth as his arms still formed out of the pyreflies at his sides, “M appologise for interrupting your valiant match… but… this charade is just about done with, and I can’t allow my knight to fall nor a potential ally such as yourself to go to waste. Kefka recruited you somehow… I’d like to know… would you be willing to join my side instead, should our paths split.”
“Are you saying you plan to betray Kefka?” Nick asked.
In contrast, Louis’ voice came across in a different tone, “You’ve been working with Kefka this whole time?! Why the hell didn’t you tell me?!”
“That was part of the deal.” Seymour answered plainly, “In order for me to observe what Kefka is plotting first hand, I was required to risk one of my men.”
“Then why didn’t you use Cory?! Why wasn’t he used?!” Louis exploded.
“Louis… I believe you already know the answer to that. Even in the beginning, Cory was not a stable fighter, he’d only last so long and then he would break, I knew this… and even now it seems he’s managed to find a way to free himself of my control and is continuing to take part in the fighting even when there’s no reason for him to continue doing so.”
“I still don’t get why you didn’t inform me.”
“Would you have performed the same otherwise? Kefka, as odd as his antics are, is more clever than he seems, and more observant than most. He would have caught on if you had slipped up even once. The only way to ensure your perfect performance was an honest one.”
“So… what? Were we just actors?”
“To Kefka, that’s exactly what you were… in fact, I’m quite sure that is how he sees all of us; actors in his little play.”
“So, you never answered my question. Are you planning on betraying Kefka?” Nick asked once more, not allowing Seymour to avoid the question or ignore him. Even Louis went quiet, waiting for an answer, it seemed the next actions of both would depend greatly on his answer.
“No… I don’t.” Seymour answered, but before Louis could object he added, “But, I have no doubt he has every intention to betray us. With that in mind, I simply wish to be prepared to rise to the occasion. You cooperation, Sir Nick, would be greatly appreciated and welcomed.”
Both fighters stayed quiet for a moment then, in unison, all their muscles relaxed. The chains pulled away and released the fighters, dropping them to the floor. Neither found to the strength to do more than sit up, on their knees. Louis looked to Nick, and Nick back to Louis. They stared for a moment then Louis spoke, “Ah, right… I never properly introduced myself… I’m Louis Luciano. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Nick stared for a moment, baffled at how quickly Louis had changed faces from the enraged scowl he had a moment before, to the cold smile of friendliness he held now, “Uh, yeah! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Louis.”
Seymour brought together their attention, dropping his voice as he continued, “Now… where to go from here…”
-------------------------------------------------------------
