Re: Kingdom Hearts: Hearts in Unison (Chapter 19 posted)
Aww... <3 Aqua is a really strong woman and you describe the fighting scene really perfect..
Meh xD Keyblade wielder is always 'popular' to the Heartless
Many thanks, I practice writing battle scenes so I do hope they become more interesting over time.
Aqua and Sephiroth are both top tier fighters and none of them is crippled, so it's probably natural it goes a bit faster and more intense, lol.
Of course Aqua is strong, lol, Sephiroth had to use more of his power to fight her than he had to to with Sora (the "brat" he fought a month ago, to which he referred in chapter 18 is actually a throwback to Sora fighting him in KH 2 ;D).
Yep, they will always be after you if you have a Keyblade, that's canon stuff.
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Anyways, I'm deeply sorry for this long delay since proofreading took Nov a bit longer this time due to RL issues.
Now chapter 20 is
finally there though to conclude Aqua's first arc and give her something to brood over.
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XX. Shaken beliefs
"What brave determination, you apparently do have some credibility for getting the title of
"Master", although your overview of the greater picture is narrowed to a fault. Very well...that was surely entertaining, but I have someone to find. So I will take my leave now. Good luck with the bunch of dark critters, mighty Keyblade Master."
Aqua scoffed at him as he turned away from her...
What a snobbish, arrogant jerk.
The army of heartless had by now crept closer, blocking the path away from the beach.
Sephiroth shortly closed his eyes, letting out a disdained snort.
"Petty worthless annoyances...looks like they want to get trashed that badly."
"Your way's blocked? Mighty warrior of the shadows?" Aqua retorted with a sarcastic remark, standing beside him.
He smirked. "...not really."
"Oh, I get it...you are so conceited that these low lifeforms are not even worth a flick of your oversized blade? How about I clear a path so that I don't need to see you any longer?"
His smirk widened.
"Interesting offer. You're certainly someone to take note of. I wonder if we will meet again in the Realm of Light one day? Of course only if you manage to escape...someday. However, this has nothing to do with conceitedness, to erase these fools, even in their own territory, is nothing more than dusting. These are not some of the more dangerous species. So how about doing some cleaning before I go?"
Sephiroth raised his Nodachi again, going into battle stance beside Aqua this time.
She hissed again at his cutting remarks, but nonetheless she
had to admit he was a strong warrior and that his confidence was not a facade but backed up by tremendous power.
Sighing, she got into battle stance as well.
"Fine, I'll admit you're a real strong opponent and your power deserves to be taken seriously, but don't expect me to gain any respect to your warped views. This will be nothing more than a small alliance of convenience for the time being."
"Agreed!" With these words, Sephiroth stepped forward and swung his blade horizontally around, bisecting nine Heartless in one stroke.
Aqua blasted five more with a Triple Firaga before jumping up releasing another volley of Prism Rain, blasting apart two Invisibles and four Neoshadows.
Another Invisible charged with raised sword, which she blocked with the barrier, sending it flying with Counter Blast. Sephiroth cut blindingly fast through two more Neoshadows with one fast slash, destroying both with multiple hits.
As a group of more than twelve Shadows attacked, he only snorted dismissing, his blade suddenly shining in a purple glow.
"Cut..." Sephiroth charged forward, starting a wild slashing combo with his glowing sword, annihilating the Shadows with ease.
...vanish!" With the last of eight strikes, he swatted away three more Neoshadows.
Conjuring up another Ice Barrage, Aqua also eliminated a whole group of different heartless.
"They don't back off one moment." She snarled, dodging the attacks of two more Neoshadows before obliterating them and seven more Shadows with a sweeping Thundaga-spell.
"Not really suprising, as the radiance of your shining heart and the Keyblade keeps attracting them." Sephiroth snickered, gloating while slashing apart six more Heartless.
Destroying two more Shadows with a short Keyblade-combo, Aqua just completely ignored Sephiroth's antics and jumped up, casting another Thundaga right in the middle of another group.
One of the real big ones came forward now, raising its big hand to a strong punch.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing....as Sephiroth's Nodachi now shimmered in a bright
light.
Jumping upwards in a diagonal drive he elegantly sliced the Heartless in two with a long vertical upward strike.
Using the momentum, he comboed with the fast down-diving attack stabbing his blade in the ground again amidst the army, wiping out more than twenty Heartless around him with the erupting sharp rockformations while the purple shockwave emanating around him took out still more foes in the vicinity.
What a show-off, bragging about his powers like this. But well, I have something to show myself...
Taking on the imaginary "challenge" Aqua charged forward, performing a full physical combo on one of the bigger, sword-wielding Heartless, enabling her finisher in the process.
"Farewell, monsters!" She shouted, spawning eight huge purple-white energy spheres around her.
Jumping up she swatted one sphere after the other with her blade into the bulk of the remaining army, each exploding in a bright energy burst also taking out hordes of monsters.
Slashing more Neoshadows to pieces as he witnessed the vast magnitude of destruction, Sephiroth gave away a short snicker and a low hum; his way to express acknowledgment of Aqua's power.
As she landed again, three more Shadows and five Neoshadows immediately jumped at her, only to be either torn to shreds or tossed away by an Aeroga-spell.
Over two thirds of the amassed army had been destroyed by now, leaving only a few Invisibles, a bit more than twenty Neoshadows, a bunch of approximately fifty Shadows and eight of the towering big Darksides.
Despite all the losses they did not even once seem to think of retreating.
Another Invisible charged directly at her, which Aqua blocked with her barrier again.
Instead of sending it flying with Counter Blast, this time she brought up Master Keeper and stabbed the thing through the chest, eliminating it.
Turning around, she sent a Triple Firaga into another group of Shadows, blasting them apart before elegantly stepping aside to dodge a claw-swipe of a Neoshadow.
Slashing it apart, she noticed Sephiroth blasting four more Neoshadows with more energywaves shot from his blade, then conjuring up a flaming meteor surrounded by dark energy, destroying the second big one with it.
As the third Darkside now came forward, blasting some dark orb projectiles from the hole in its stomach Aqua charged at it, kicking two Neoshadows aside in the process and decapitating a regular Shadow with a sideway-swing of Master Keeper.
Jumping up another time Aqua charged a round of Prism Rain again, targeting the foe's dark orbs.
Flying off, the rainbow-colored energy blasts collided with the Darkside's projectiles and dissipated them.
The Keyblade master added a second jump in midair to her first again, bringing herself on the same height as the Darkside and casted a Blizzaga-spell directly in its face.
The monster roared in pain, tumbling a step back before swinging its arm to swat Aqua away like a fly.
She however let herself just drop, causing the arm attack to miss.While falling, Aqua conjured up another Thundaga, blasting the Darkside with a round of lightning.
Not leaving it one moment to recover, she drove forwards immediately after, blasting a Thundaga Shot at it before cartwheeling aside once and fire another Triple Firaga.
Weakened by the barrage of strong magic attacks, the Darkside bent forwards in a daze. Switching to another level of her battle mode, Aqua started to charge energy for three and a half seconds before unleashing several salvos of destructive light energy projectiles by gracefully spinning around, obliterating the Darkside with the sheer power of Lightbloom, her ultimative crowd control ability.
Several additional Shadows and Invisibles got also caught and blasted apart in the barrage of magical attacks...causing even a slightly impressed whistle from Sephiroth, who just had slashed apart four more Shadows with his Reaper-attack.
"Now I see that title of Master is really not wasted on you despite all your flawed views. Very well, let's end that miserable battle by annihilating the rest of those worthless critters."
"Who has the flawed views is a matter of viewpoint." Aqua snarled back, jumping over Sephiroth slashing apart two Neoshadows with a wide horizontal swing.
"Stubborn as if having a head of concrete." He mocked as he teleported above her, conjuring up a barrage of smaller flaming meteors, blasting apart two more Darksides, leaving only three remaining, as well as a last bunch of Shadows, three Neoshadows and one measly Invisible.
The remaining Invisible now charged forward with raised sword, but to Aqua's horror not at her or Sephiroth, but at the old man in the black coat who now sat on the rock at the water again.
"Sir, watch out!" She screamed, turning around to chase after the Invisible.
The old man turned slightly and raised his hand, a dark shield blocking the sword-strike of the heartless. Flying back, the monster prepared another charge, as the old man let the shield disappear and blasted the Invisible with three dark fireballs, much to Aqua's surprise.
"Now take a look at this..." Sephiroth whistled interested. "...seems the old loon remembers something."
One of the three remaining Darksides let one fist directly strike at the silver-haired swordsman; only to be blocked by a green energy shield. "Fear not..." Taking one step forward after the block, Sephiroth slashed once, dealing multiple hits to the towering monster, then, as it came crashing down, slashed a second time bisecting it right through the lower torso.
"Like I said, it's just like dusting off your clothes." He said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Aqua snapped out of her surprise that the old man used dark powers and blasted the remaining Shadows and three Neoshadows with an Ice Barrage followed by a Thundaga, leaving only the last two Darksides intact.
"Time to finish that "dusting"." Aqua proclaimed, surrounding herself with three roaring pillars of fire, charging at one of the Darksides with Raging Storm.
"Indeed..." Sephiroth jumped up and performed a mid-air Octaslash slicing the last Darkside to pieces while Aqua burned up the other by repeatedly rushing it with her Raging Storm.
"That concludes the army of misguided meaningless monsters." Sephiroth said with a monotone voice, his Nodachi disappearing in a flash of light.
Aqua sighed exhausted as she let herself fall to the ground, at the same time relieved that he dismissed his weapon, indicating that he didn't want to continue
their fight.
Still...he's got an amazing stamina...
Dusting off his coat again, he turned towards her for the last time. "It was a really refreshing sparring match I must say. I had to use more of my power than I originally intended. As a reward, I'll give you one last piece of advice...although you may see it as "warped view" again. If you really want to escape this realm and return to the realm of light you need to broaden your views and not reject darkness. Rejection causes it to hold you even further."
Her mouth shot open, she not entirely sure what to answer, as he turned around completely, his wing shedding some feathers. "Anyways, I have to resume my search. Farewell, shining Keyblade master, maybe until next time."
Sephiroth now stepped forward in a firm and fast pace, leaving Aqua and the old man alone without turning once again.
Remaining there sitting on the ground, Aqua tried to calm down her breath. The old man slowly stood up from the rock and approached her.
"I think we should change our location. Having taken place here, the battle will attract more heartless, especially since you used that Keyblade."
She looked at him with an uneasy flicker in her eyes.
"Oh...so you're alerted now because I used darkness to defend myself from that attack? I don't remember how or why I can do this...it was a reflex one could say. I did not suddenly change into a monster."
Shaking her head, she sighed again. "No Sir, that's not it. I...I am just totally lost and in confusion, I just can't believe some random stuff blabbered out by a user of darkness...those types of existences try to deceive and trick you to fall to darkness yourself. And yet, on the other hand; why do his words still bother me that much?"
"Sounds like you have much things to think about...let us walk together to another location and leave you time to think undisturbed." He offered.
"Fine enough...that may be the right thing to do now..." Aqua whispered back, getting up slowly and starting to walk away from the dark meridian beside the old man in the black coat.
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I can imagine that unlikely team-up was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it? *ggg*
