Alright people, here's chapter 16 and I hope this is a bit better thanks to tips from All-Star Gamer
Absolution’s Reign
Chapter 16
Battle Royale: Part Three
As I drew my Wind crossbow, the reapers came in for the first attack. We all split up to divide them up, most of us got three, but Xonic and I were both stuck with four. As I stood at my corner for the fight, I noticed that like the traditional grim reaper, the reaper half-hearts were nothing but bones save for the cape and the half piece of heart that was glowing in their chests.
One reaper tried to take a slash at me with its scythe, but I jumped over and fired an arrow into its skull. I turned around and saw the reaper pull the arrow out and grin at me. “What the hell?!?” I exclaimed, I maneuvered my way around the attacks as I tried to think of a plan.
Then I thought maybe we needed to stab it in the heart like vampires in the movies. “Hmmm, it’s worth a try” I thought, I waited for the opportunity and slid underneath the reaper as it jumped and fired an arrow into the heart. The reaper then howled in pain as it fell to the ground, as the darkness melted into the ground, the half piece of heart drifted into the sky before rejoining it’s other half and disappearing.
I realized then what had to be done, I yelled “Everyone, aim for the area where the heart is!”.
“What you serious?” Sora asked.
“Yeah, don’t worry about the heart being destroyed, it won’t!” I replied. They then changed tactics to aim for the heart, but as I turned back to fight again, one of the reapers got a sneak attack in and slashed me across the chest.
“Ahh! Bastard!” I said as I looked at the deep cut that the reaper left. Furious, I got up close before I switched to my katanas and stabbed it in the heart several times before kicking it back. The last two remaining reapers then seemed to converse with each other like as if they were strategizing. “Oh come on, quick bickering! As my dad once told me, the weak talk, the strong take action!” I said provoking them.
They then rushed at me simultaneously and began their assault. I maneuvered my blades around as I blocked their scythes numerous times. They then brought their scythes down in full force and I managed to absorb the attack. They pressed their blades hard as I struggled to keep them at bay.
I remembered then about what Xonic had told me about how my bracelet could sense the moment that an opponent’s attack falters. Concentrating, I waited for a chance as I kept my blades pressing against their scythes. Then the moment came; I pushed my blades in full force that knocked them off balance. My blades came down in full fury as I performed a three-slash combo on them simultaneously. The first slash left a deep cut in the bones which protected their hearts, the second broke them completely and the third I used one blade each to stab both their hearts.
I watched as they both dissolved into darkness and the heart pieces rejoined their perspective halves and disappeared. After finishing them off, I watched the others as they fought their share of the enemy. Ray performed a cross-slash that split the bone around the heart before stabbing it with one blade, while Zetssu pulled out two kunai before throwing one into two of the reaper’s hearts.
Mega used his blade as a boomerang to knock the last reaper into disorientation before he pulled out a small knife that looked like an oversized scalpel and stabbed the reaper into the heart. “Diagnosis… dead” Mega said laughing as he put the knife away.
I turned to Kairi who used her powers to transform a petal into a shruiken before throwing it into the reaper’s heart, while Elle used her power to light a fire inside the reaper that burned it to ashes. “Ohhhh heartburn” I said laughing as Elle looked at me also laughing at the joke I just made. Zetssu seemed to be in his berserker mode, judging by the way he was hacking and slashing at his last enemy before the bone finally broke and he performed a full power stab.
Sora and Riku seemed to be teaming up against their last reapers. They ran at each other and used each other’s foot as a wall before they both whipped around, performing roundhouse kicks on their own reaper. They both then used each other as a wall again to jump high in the air, they then both rode their blades down like a jackhammer and the blades pierced the bone and straight through to the heart.
Roxas was busy trying to break the bone, but could only get the bone bent out a small fraction. He fired a blast into the reaper and then snapped his fingers that made the light blast detonate and imploded the enemy. Last of all Xonic seemed to have no trouble defeating the reapers as he smashed through the bone of one reaper with his bare first which was covered in darkness before stabbing the heart with his blade.
He then wall kicked off the defeated reaper and smashed an airborne reaper to the ground, the force of which cracked the bone before bring his blade down in full force and stabbing the heart. The last one he dealt with differently, he summoned a large ball of darkness and it engulfed the reaper. The ball then rose in the air and Xonic began to close his fist which made the ball grow smaller before it vanished into thin air, but not before the heart escaped and disappeared.
“Whew, that was quite a workout” I commented.
“Yeah, I’m starting to get worn out” Kairi added. We looked to where the gods were fighting as Zeus charged a gigantic ball of lightning before smashing it into the Darkside before it vanished.
“Grrr, I swear can’t I have ONE day where things go right for me” Hades groaned as he got up from his place at the podium.
“Hades, give it up! You can’t defeat us!” Sora yelled.
“You think I’m done? Think again” Hades said smirking. He snapped his fingers and the wall behind him that lead to the underworld smashed, from beyond the wall, two half hearts appeared. One looked like a three-headed dog and the other looked like a humanoid creature, made completely out of rocks.
“What the? Rock Titan and Cerberus?” Sora exclaimed.
“Wait, something’s not right,” I said sensing the absence of a full heart in either of them.
“Like them? A personal gift from Dartanian, he gave me the pleasure of trying out his newest creations” Hades explained.
“Goddammit, he’s now got playing god on his list of devious acts” Xonic cursed.
“I suppose we have to fight them too,” I said.
“Seems so” Riku agreed.
“But can we take them? I mean I’m really tired” Ray complained.
“I think that’s what he was planning on” Sora observed.
“He must’ve found out about the tournament from Dartanian” Xonic implied.
“Well what are we going to do? I mean we’re pretty tired from the battle and they must be twice as hard as their original counterparts” I asked.
“Hmmm…” Sora said thought for a bit, “Aha!” Sora exclaimed as he thought of an idea. “Hey Herc, you still have the Olympus Stone?” Sora asked.
“Uhhh, yeah right here!” Hercules answered as he fetched it out. Hercules chucked it over and Sora caught it in his hand.
“Perfect” Sora said grinning.
“What, what are you going to do with it?” I enquired.
“You’ll see” Sora said as he raised the stone to the sky. The stone then shone a bright light and began to surround us, within a few seconds we all felt re-energised.
“Wow! I suddenly feel better! How’d you do that?” I asked.
“That’s the power of the Olympus stone for you” Sora remarked before he turned his attention back to Hades. “Now how about we send this pyromaniac back to the underworld from whence he came?” Sora said with enthusiasm.
“Heh, I’d like to see you try” Hades cackled, “Well if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get” he added before snapping his fingers to order the Half-Hearts to attack.
The half-hearts came charging at full speed, “How are we gonna fight here?” I asked, “I mean look how small the arena is compared to them!”
“Hmm good point…” Sora said as he thought for a moment, “All right Riku, you take Zetssu, Kairi, Mega, and Ray and lead Cerberus into the underworld, there a large clearing I remember that would be perfect for fighting him in” he ordered.
“Okay, all right, let’s go then” Riku said as he led them and managed to coax the Cerberus into the underworld.
“Xonic, Draco, Elle, Roxas, you’re with me, we’re gonna rock and roll with the rock titan!” Sora said as he drew his keyblade. We all drew out our weapons, and I chose to use my Earth Shotgun.
The rock titan charged at us, and we all rolled either side to dodge it, “Attack!” Sora yelled. We all charged and I began to fire shots at the Rock Titan’s leg, but the bullets seemed to be bouncing off. “What the? My bullets aren’t doing anything!” I exclaimed.
“The Rock Titan’s a hard one to damage, just keep attacking!” Sora yelled. I kept attacking but they seemed to do little damage to it.
I tried several weapons but each seemed to be doing less damage than the last one. I was starting to get seriously aggravated as I drew Absolution and started to hack and slash at the monstrosity.
The others didn’t seemed to be having much luck either, even Xonic’s Dark blade couldn’t even slice it, “Dammit, is this thing made of a material harder than diamonds or something” Roxas complained as he sent light blasts at the titan.
“Keep trying!” Sora said as he tried whipping the Half-Heart with his spearhead, but it leave as much as a scratch. Elle was having as much trouble as we were as she unleashed Firaga blasts at the foe without much succession.
Turning back to the battle,I tried a new approach, I ran up to it’s head area and began to slash at it’s head. It wasn’t phased by the assault simply swatted me away with it hand, I grabbed on to it’s hand just in time and began to slash at it’s hand but it flung me off as I hit my back, hard. “Argh” I yelled in pain as I struggled to get to my feet.
“It’s no good, I can’t pierce it,” I said in exhaustion as I stood back a bit to try and think of something. “Come on Draco, think!” I said to myself thinking hard, just then my bracelet shone in harmony with Absolution and I had another vision.
This one seemed to be of filling up my shotgun way past it’s usual capacity and then unleashing them in a kind of berserker barrage, but the shells seemed to be packed with more power and was chopping through the rock like it was nothing.
“Woah, that was weird, guess that means that the bracelet lets me do a barrage attack” I said.
“Yes but 7 enemies have to be destroyed to use it” Absolution communicated to me telepathically.
“7? Why 7?” I asked.
“I don’t know! I don’t make the rules here, that’s just how it is” Absolution said annoyed.
“Okay! Okay! I was just wondering” I replied slightly taken back by my keyblade’s sudden backlash.
“Oi Draco! Stop talking to yourself and help us beat this thing!” Roxas yelled.
Oh! Right! I said. I focused on the power of my bracelet and began to load shells into my shotgun. I continued to focus power as I loaded shells and finally loaded the last shell. “Okay then… Beserker Barrage!” I yelled as I pulled the trigger, the shells started to come out at supersonic speed and didn’t seem to be running out.
The bullets cut through the air before starting to cut through the rock like melted butter. “Woah check out Draco!” Elle commented as the bullets continued to chip through the rock.
“Alright last one!” I said as I cocked my gun for the last shot, it shot out with such explosive force it was able to cut through it enough for the rock which made it’s leg snap and it fell over.
“Whew, that was a rush!” I said as a large chunk of energy vanished, but I had enough for one more attack. “Hey Roxas!” I called.
“Yeah, what’s up Draco?” Roxas asked.
“Wanna send this giant pile of rubble back to the underworld?” I said with a grin.
“I’d be happy to, let’s do a joint attack!” Roxas said, as I drew my light handguns for the attack. “Okay, get ready…” Roxas said as he began to rise in the air, channeling some of his power to raise me up as well.
He charged his keyblade’s and I charged my handguns, then at the same time we began our assault. “Aura storm!” We both yelled as we began to fire multiple light blasts, which caused the rock titan to howl in pain as the light blasts began to chip through its body.
Then we got ready for a final blast, “Ready for this Roxas?” I called.
“I was born ready!” Roxas called back.
“Alright then” I said as we reached full charge.
“Samsara!” We yelled as he let loose our final attack and it hit the Rock Titan head on. We both landed and watched through the light as the Rock Titan began to disintegrate. Once the light had died down, we saw that the Rock Titan had been completely destroyed.
“Gaaaaahhhhhhh!” Hades yelled in confusion, anger and annoyance. I sat down, my back still sore from being thrown around like a ragdoll. Just then, Riku and the others appeared.
“Hey Sora, you get rid of the Rock Titan?” Riku asked.
“Yeah, we just finished him off, what about you? Is Cerberus gone?” Sora enquired.
“Yeah, we had to put him down” Riku said jokingly.
“Arggghhh, you!” Hades said, still in a fit of rage.
“Now do you understand Hades? You CAN’T defeat us!” Sora said with a grin.
“Grrr, I’ll get you, you pathetic mortal!” Hades said towards me, as I had been the one to start the road to destruction for the Rock Titan.
He rushed at me in a fit of rage, “Draco!” Sora exclaimed, as did everyone else.
“Hades, haven’t you heard the saying, look before you leap?” I said as quickly summoned Absolution and shoved the blade through Hades’s chest.
“Ahhhhhhh!” Hades groaned in pain as I pulled out my blade and he stumbled back a bit.
I struggled to my feet “Now, why don’t you go back to that forsaken Underworld from which you came from?” I said as I drew my grenade launcher and sent a blast his way. The force of the blast sent Hades soaring back down the stairs to the underworld, but it also knocked me back a few meters due to how much energy I had used.
“Hey Draco you okay?” Elle asked as he helped me up.
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to fight for a few days” I said.
“But what about the tournament?” Phil asked as he walked over with Hercules.
“I suppose, we’ll have to post pone it for now” Hercules said.
Mega came over and examined my wounds, “Don’t worry, I can fix this easy, just give us 2 days, 3 days at most.
“Well all right, but you all better train for that time” Phil said a bit relieved.
We all went back to the Gummi ship and I had to spend the night in the medical bay. The bed was as comfortable as the one I was used to sleeping in so it didn’t bother me spending the night in the bay. As I laid there I thought to myself, “Man I seem to be surprising myself more everyday”
“As a denizen of the twilight, you have many abilities that others do not” Absolution said to me.
“Yeah I think Xonic said something to that extent” I commented as a yawned a bit.
“But just remember, just because you have a heart of the twilight, doesn’t make you invincible, you remember how Xonic was controlled by Dartanian during the first war” Absolution said in concern.
“Yeah…” I said, not trying to think about it.
“Just don’t go rushing into every fight, there are people back home that are waiting for you” Absolution continued.
“Yeah you’re right…” I thought as I looked at a picture of my family, “I wonder what they are doing right now?” I wondered as I drifted of into sleep.
Meanwhile in the Underworld…
Hades struggled his way to his throne; clutching the wound I had given him. “Gahhh, stupid teenagers! Always getting in my way!” Hades complained. Just then a dark portal appeared and from it, Dartanian appeared.
“What do you want?” Hades said demandingly.
“You disappoint me…” Dartanian said in an uncaring tone.
“Well your ‘creations’ weren’t strong enough to take them down! It’s your fault!” Hades spat.
“No, my creations had enough power, you just took so long to actually order them to attack the Keybladers” Dartanian replied in his mocking tone.
“Ahhh, what would you know?!?” Hades retorted.
“I do not tolerate failure, and you have failed me, so you must pay the ultimate price…” Dartanian said as he walked over with his scythe in hand.
“Hey… Hey! Would are you doing?!?” Hades said as fear came over him.
“I’m going to release you from this pathetic thing you call ‘life’” Dartanian said as he raised his scythe.
“Wait, please don’t! Give me another chance! Please, have mercy” Hades said as he struggled to move away.
“Sorry, any mercy I could give disappeared with the other half of my heart” Dartanian said solemnly as he brought his scythe down, decapitating Hades. Dartanian extracted Hades’s heart before his body disappeared into darkness, along with his severed head.
Dartanian cleaned his scythe of blood and pulled out a phone and put it to his ear, “Yeah, Dartanian here, Hades has failed us, I have extracted his heart and am returning now” Dartanian said through the phone.
“Alright then, you better get back here so we can discuss our next plan” Xemnas said from the other side of the line. Dartanian hung up and put his phone away.
“What a tragic waste, all that power, and he couldn’t even control it” Dartanian said as he walked through a dark portal back to his base.
To be continued…
Man this one is long, maybe my longest chapter yet
