The battle between the three Xehanorts continued before Axel, Larxene, and Ansem's disbelieving eyes. The Heartless, Nobody, and Keybearer were all bloodied and increasingly desperate as their free-for-all prolonged the stalemate between their immense powers.
Xehanort winced as he dodged a sudden attack from Xemnas, one of his shoulder pads absorbing the blow. He hadn't expected the fight to take such a toll on his strength; individually, he suspected he could overpower either of his counterparts, but the disorganized melee was keeping him from being able to turn the tables on his opponents. Gritting his teeth, he once again used his Light Sprint to put some distance between himself and his enemies at the speed of light.
Xemnas growled, before noticing a large shadow falling over him. He barely teleported away before the claw of his Heartless's giant guardian struck the ground he'd been standing on. The Seeker of Darkness snarled in frustration.
"Hold still, damn you! Once I've killed both of you, I can leave this accursed light!"
Xehanort's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, you're leaving all right…" He growled, holding out his keyblade. "Photon… rush!"
Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody looked up, but by the time the sentence was finished, they were already far too late to prepare a defense. Xehanort, holding his keyblade before him, abruptly seemed to vanish from sight. Both of the remaining combatants abruptly felt themselves struck again and again and again by the razor-sharp feathers' edge that topped Xehanort's Keyblade. Xemnas, barely able to see from pain as he felt the blade stab through his side, realized there was a thin tendril of light that struck him and Xehanort's Heartless before they felt the pain. The attacks continued to come.
But to stab like this… Xemnas finally came to a very unpleasant conclusion.
I miscalculated…he does have an attack that moves as fast as light!
Xehanort came back into existence a moment later, flicking off the blood that coated the wicked edges on his Keyblade's feather teeth. The pause cost him, however, as his Heartless recovered more quickly than his Nobody and struck him a powerful blow with his guardian, sending him flying. Xehanort's Heartless quickly spun, expecting an attack from Xemnas, recovering some distance away, when he heard Xehanort shout.
"Cross Raid!" The Keyblade whirled like a boomerang as Xehanort threw it, tearing into the Seeker of Darkness painfully. The attack, however, was not done. Xehanort's Heartless realized he was being dragged towards Xemnas, who also took several blows before the Keyblade teleported back to Xehanort. Xehanort lost no time pointing the tip of the blade at his counterparts and firing two blasts of light at them. Even as the attacks hit, he sprinted in at the speed of light, doing a large slash to take advantage of the proximity of his stunned enemies. Before Xemnas or the Heartless could retaliate, he was already out of range, a confident smile once more on his face.
Xemnas reacted more quickly than his heartless, flying forward and peppering Xehanort with energy blasts, most of which were deflected. However, in blocking them, Xehanort was unable to Light Sprint away when Xemnas closed the distance, extending his blades again and summoning another clone. Xehanort fought defensively, holding off both Xemnas while keeping a wary eye on the recovering Seeker of Darkness. The Heartless rejoined the fray soon enough, savagely attacking Xemnas's real body and driving him away from Xehanort and his clone, who continued trading blows with great speed and skill.
Xehanort, seeing that the clone was giving Xemnas too much of an advantage in the fight, backflipped away from it and jumped incredibly high in the air. A shockwave shot out from his launch point, stunning the clone. After reaching a high altitude, Xehanort descended rapidly while building up power and holding his Keyblade in front of him.
As the blade stabbed into the ground, the impact created a huge explosion, throwing out yet another shockwave of light. Xemnas's damaged copy was thrown disoriented into the air, and Xehanort cut it to pieces with little effort.
Xehanort's Heartless, having had his back to the fight between Xehanort and Xemnas's double, took the shockwave in the back. Growling angrily, his guardian turned and shot a blast of darkness at Xehanort, catching him off guard and throwing him to the ground. Xemnas, not one to miss an opportunity, shot a blast into the Heartless' faces, and teleported while they were crying out in pain and rage to stab both of his swords into Xehanort's armored shoulders before he could get up.
"Argh!" Xehanort looked over and saw he was bleeding from his less armored shoulder. As Xemnas withdrew his swords to slash again, Xehanort suddenly grabbed his wrists and head butted him with a sickening crack.
Xemnas went cross-eyed from the impact, but Xehanort smashed their skulls together three more times before savagely kicking Xemnas in the stomach, launching him away at high velocity. The Seeker of Darkness's guardian stopped his flight quickly by backhanding him with immense strength, sending him into a tiny crater at the end of a small furrow.
Even as Xehanort's Heartless laughed, Xehanort barreled into him, slashing him several times before jumping away from the Demon Shadow's flailing claws.
"Armageddon!" He said, hovering up into the air, holding his Keyblade with its tip pointed at his opponent's face. Twenty feathers broke off of the teeth of his Keyblade, transforming into golden crystals of light before zooming into Xehanort's Heartless and his guardian, sending both of them flying. Xehanort slowly came down to ground level.
"You can't beat me," He said, watching his counterparts get up, "The light is beyond Darkness or Nothing's grip."
"Shut… UP!" Xemnas growled, charging Xehanort unexpectedly and slashing at him. Xehanort's Heartless joined in, and soon explosions flew everywhere once more.
From their position not far away, Axel, Larxene, and Ansem the Wise crouched, watching the fight.
"I don't know where they're getting this power from… There's no way anyone from the Organization could keep up with those three for a fraction of the time they've been at it…" Axel muttered, "They're gonna tear this whole place apart if they don't finish each other soon…"
"I think that may already be happening," Larxene said worriedly. Axel looked at her in confusion. "Look! Not at the fight, but at what's happening to this place!"
Axel's eyes widened as he saw the energies scattering from Xehanort's three sides were indeed changing the very landscape. The formerly light-obscured floor had become transparent, and unnoticed by the combatants, a whitish-grey sphere was drawing in Nothing energy scattered by Xemnas. Dark mist began to form below the ambient light of the After-Light, and the sky had darkened noticeably. Around the changing battlefield, the light began to take form as well, becoming a vast web of interconnected light strings, with orbs of focused light between the threads. This huge, beautifully complex web surrounded the battle in thin nets of pure light. Ansem, Larxene, and Axel noticed that light and dark tendrils were beginning to form everywhere, canceling each other out often, or being scattered by Nothing energy. The field no longer held just light… It was devolving into a primordial chaos of conflicting energies. Ansem felt an inexplicable dread develop in his stomach.
All three ducked as a stray blast whizzed overhead, exploding massively.
"This place is fast becoming too dangerous for any of us. This needs to stop!" Ansem said, putting aside his dislike for the two Nobodies for the moment. "If you can't use your abilities to stop this fight, we at least need to draw back before they kill us by accident."
"First good idea I've heard all day!" Larxene snapped, dragging Axel aside as a feather from Xehanort's Keyblade tore through the spot his head had been a second ago. As the three observers escaped, the Demon Shadow and Xehanort's Heartless plowed through the abandoned shelter, pursuing Xemnas, who agilely evaded the Heartless' attacks.
Xehanort paused. He could have sworn he just saw some movement…
His eyes widened as he remembered.
Master Ansem is exploring this area! I've got to warn-
Unfortunately, Xemnas, taking advantage of his distraction, peppered Xehanort with energy blasts, forcing him back into the fray.
Xehanort gritted his teeth as Xemnas's attacks took their toll on his armor, and focused on his light energy. Abruptly, a powerful golden aura began to form around his body, and he lunged quickly through the air, counterattacking Xemnas with renewed vigor. However, this time, the aura seemed to have improved Xehanort's attacks; with each blow he struck, a small burst of energy feathers only a foot or two in diameter followed. While the energy feathers did little damage compared to the wicked edged metal feathers on the Keyblade itself, Xemnas flew back quickly in the face of the increased damage of Xehanort's empowered attacks.
The already chaotic battlefield slowly went to hell as Xehanort and his two evil counterparts fought more and more fiercely. The Seeker of Darkness soon began noticing that orbs of light fell at random as Xehanort whirled around the battlefield, causing his Guardian immense annoyance, but little trouble to the more agile Xemnas.
Similarly, Xehanort noticed the power being rampantly released by the combatants. As he dodged one of Xemnas's blades, he was met with a kick in the face, a trail of the same kind of energy following his foot. As Xehanort began to land on his feet, a portal of nothingness opened up, depositing many weak but widely spread Nothing Bolts onto the surprised Chaser.
Is Xemnas even aware of what his energy is…? Xehanort finally noticed the orbs of light he was unconsciously forming, and saw that his Heartless was doing something very similar a moment later, when a blast of crimson lighting came out of nowhere, nearly striking him and then Xemnas soon after.
Our energy is having a distinctly larger effect than I'd anticipated… I only hope the After-Light can handle it. If Rale-Lieu and the others take notice, they'll come. While I'd have no reservations handing these two off to them, I'd need time to hide Master Ansem! I need to hope this stays secret a while longer.
Xemnas had also taken note of the random attacks happening due to the power running wild across the battlefield, and made a beeline for the Seeker of Darkness as his Nothing Bolts prevented Xehanort from dodging another bolt of lightning. Unfortunately for Xemnas, he realized too late Ansem's lightning was widespread, and took a bolt in the back before the Seeker of Darkness summoned several dark Glyphs that pelted him with lasers.
Xemnas recovered quickly, opening one hand and covering his Heartless with Nothing Bolts, considerably more powerful than the random blasts of Bolts harassing Xehanort. Ansem responded by sinking into the ground, shaking off the bolts, and then throwing a variety of dark energy disks at Xemnas.
As The Superior flew off, taking several more bolts of red lightning and a few orbs of light in the process, Xehanort finally shook off the Nothing Bolts and Light Sprinted at his Heartless, taking him out of the ground with a few slashes.
"Ars Sanctus!" Xehanort quickly struck a variety of light-enhanced hits against his Heartless, but was knocked away when the Seeker of Darkness fired a spread of shots from his lance, followed up by his Demon Shadow sending out several columns of dark energy.
Xehanort was forced to do a variety of impressive flips through the air to evade the powerful attacks raining everywhere, but was stopped cold by Xemnas, who had recovered from the Heartless's earlier attacks.
Now encased in a damaging orb of energy, Xemnas shot around the field, firing powerful blasts in every direction, harming both Xehanort and Ansem. Finally, roaring in frustration as Xemnas's bolts devastated, the Heartless countered with a powerful attack of his own.
Both Xehanort and his Nobody were again on the defensive as the Heartless fired a huge orb of darkness, which sent out a great many fast, random blasts of dark energy and slower, homing blasts to hem in the two. Finally, the orb exploded, hitting both Xehanort and Xemnas hard as Ansem laughed.
Xehanort got up slowly, breathing heavily. All bets were off now; he'd need to up his game to fight off his enemies. He heard Xemnas trying to come in behind him, but was ready this time.
"Binding of light." A web of light dragged Xemnas to the ground, where several of the passive light orbs and dark lightning hit him. Seeing Xemnas temporarily out of action, Xehnanort quickly leapt into the air to go head to head with his Heartless.
"Holy Circles!" Xehanort said under his breath, spinning once in the air. A circle of Light orbs formed around him as he got closer to his Heartless, and then suddenly fired quickly, each orb moving in a straight line from its point of origin. One hit Xemnas's prone form, and many simply detonated in midair with no targets. However, six of the orbs scythed into the Heartless with devastating effect; The Seeker of Darkness took four powerful blows, while his large guardian was struck by two more blasts due to its size and outstretched arms.
As Ansem stopped reeling and prepared to counter, Xehanort hit the ground fast and Light Sprinted behind him.
"Upheaval Slash!" He said, dragging his keyblade along the ground to send a wave of columns of light at the Seeker of Darkness.
Larxene, Axel, and Ansem were surprised at Xehanort's sudden burst of energy. Soon, however all three Xehanorts had fatally upped the Ante. Axel noticed Xehanort had to Light Sprint almost constantly to keep out of the way of his Heartless's dark attacks, while Xemnas was forced to teleport and guard far more often as Xehanort combined his advanced techniques with his unending torrent of light bolts and simpler, fast attacks like the Ars Sanctus. Larxene observed that the fake Ansem frequently sank into the ground, attempting to overcome his speed disadvantage by tripping up his opponents with ground based dark attacks.
"They're not tiring at all. They've been trying to kill one another from the beginning, but they're sprinting towards their limits…" Axel was sweating, despite his forced nonchalant tone. "This is… intense. Really intense…" Axel ran a hand through his hair nervously. "They're nuts. All three of 'em!"
Larxene nodded nervously, seeing Xehanort Cross Raid his counterparts before pinning them down with another web of light and pelting them with Light Bolts. "Somebody's going to crack soon. They can't keep this up… but I'm getting a feeling we don't want to be here when this hits the fan." Larxene noticed the intensity of Ansem the Wise's face. "What's eating you, old man? You scared?"
"Typical of a Nobody to discuss a matter of life and death as though it were sport," Ansem said scornfully, "My apprentice is fighting for his life down there. I can only rage at my own helplessness… but you two would know nothing about that, would you…" Shooting the two of them a look of loathing, Ansem turned back to watching Xehanort, now being attacked by his Heartless from below, and his Nobody from above.
Xehanort fell to one knee, cracks appearing in his armor where he'd been hit. He was aware that he'd underestimated the abilities of his counterparts. He didn't know how much more they had left, but he knew he should finish it as quickly as he could. He'd been far more wounded than he'd expected.
"I need to finish this now… before anyone else is dragged into this!" He growled. He glared at the two intruders.
"Disappear!" Charging up his keyblade, he stabbed it into the ground.
There was an explosion of light as the keyhole formed on the ground. A huge pillar of energy flew up around it, as Xehanort removed his keyblade and sprang back.
"Oh, not another one…" Axel muttered from the new hiding place, seeing the Seeker of Darkness and the Superior shared his feelings.
The column began pulsing randomly. The first pulse threw out three pillars of light that raced eagerly at Xehanort's foes, but they were blocked. However, the second shot out ten columns that closed in a random pattern. As Xemnas tried to dodge, Xehanort appeared behind him.
"There's no getting away this time!" He said, kicking his evil counterpart into the light. Xehanort's Heartless fared little better, being unable to dodge due to the size of the slow Heartless he was tethered to.
"Whoa," Larxene leaned in, "I've never seen an attack like this…"
Ansem, watching Xehanort savagely attack his enemies while the random and deceptively fast moving light bursts punished them, allowed himself to hope Xehanort had just ended the battle.
Eventually, however, the pillar died down. Xemnas and Xehanort's Heartless glared up at the Chaser levitating above them, and released a desperate burst of combined energy, striking him out of the air.
Xehanort hit the ground hard. He was wounded and tired from the energy his attack had consumed, although he took satisfaction seeing that Xemnas could barely stand, and the Seeker of Darkness was leaning on his weapon for support.
"This isn't… No…" Xemnas rasped weakly, raw disbelief in his face, "I can't lose again…" His eyes glowed slightly as his features hardened. "No… I will not allow another Keybearer to slay me!"
Both Xehanort and his Heartless felt the huge upsurge of power from Xemnas, and realized simultaneously he was putting his entire reserve of power into one massive strike.
He's turned it into an all or nothing attack! If I don't stop that blast, he'll kill all of us!
Both remaining Xehanorts came to the same conclusion. Darkness and Light exploded from their bodies as each charged up.
Xehanort held out his Keyblade. White and blue light raced along it, and a faint, sea green energy drifted off of it like mist, occasionally containing golden sparks of energy along with it. The Keyblade became so bright with the blue, white, green, and gold mixing that it became painful to look at. Sweat beaded on Xehanort's brow as this power built, his intent to protect felt fiercely from the light's holy glow.
A similar reaction was taking place with his counterparts. Xehanort's Heartless and his Guardian held out their hands. An orb of predominantly black energy with random flares of blood red, dark orange, or purple energy formed, soon growing to massive size and seeming to strain, as though it desired to be released with its user's desire to kill felt as fully as the dark he wielded.
Xemnas also put his hands together, and energy began flowing from his back and the rest of his body into his hands. Black, grey, and white Nothing bolts began forming into a loosely held together sphere of power, and Xemnas's energy blasts, both his red beams and the almost clear blue energy used for his shields came together inside this boundary. The different attacks mixed together, growing to equal the size of his counterparts'. With all his might, Xemnas intended to win this onslaught.
The field went utterly silent aside from the humming of power. Ansem, Axel, and Larxene didn't even dare to breathe.
And then… the blasts were loose.
There was a deafening roar as the three attacks struck each other, scattering random sparks of all three energies in every direction. Each fighter gritted his teeth, trying to force their attack forward. For a long time, there was a terrible sound of the fundamental energies no longer held in check pressing against each other, which sounded to Axel like planets colliding and slowly crushing each other to dust. However, none of them noticed the conflict was changing.
While Xehanort and Ansem's blasts were still striving against each other, slowly but surely, Xemnas' Nothing blast ceased grinding against the attacks. In fact, it began mixing with light and darkness, entering them and very slowly forcing the conflicting elements together.
After what felt like days of the blasts striving for victory, Nothingness slowly entering and combining both Light and Darkness, a terrible change came over the meeting point of the blasts. It began to become a large sphere of all three energies, which were now mixing in a way never before seen. As Ansem the Wise and the others noted this change with growing fear, the roar of the attacks meeting took on an almost hungry edge. The orb expanded in all three directions, absorbing more and more energy, but all three Xehanorts were so caught up in the life-or-death struggle that they couldn't take notice.
Xehanort suddenly looked down, feeling something strange. His eyes widened as he noticed the light dimming, and the dark mists and tendrils of light and nothing were being drawn towards the blast. The web of light formerly surrounding the fight was coming apart and entering the meeting point as though pulled by a vacuum of air, and the Nothing energy formerly being absorbed by the white sphere visible beneath the floor was now being drawn up into the orb of conflicting energy. Finally, the monstrous orb became visible over the blasts, and Xehanort's expression changed to one of complete horror as he saw the combination of Light, Dark, and Nothing.
"NO!" He quickly attempted to pry his Keyblade aside, but he realized to his horror he was unable to move. Watching his counterparts' faces, he noticed Xemnas and then his Heartless adopted expressions of panic as they realized they couldn't control their power. Xehanort felt a shock of pain as his beam grew along with the others'; it was like the orb they'd created was ripping the power out of their bodies!
There was a horrible noise as the energy was suddenly torn completely from the bodies of Xehanort, his Heartless, and his Nobody, and the environment was entirely drained of its energy. The orb pulsed once, twice, three times… A horrible sound emitted from it, and it suddenly sent out a huge pulse as it collapsed in on itself. A terrible vortex opened from where it once hovered.
"GET DOWN!!" Axel screamed, not caring who heard him. Larxene, caught off guard by the terrible pulse, was knocked off her feet as the vortex began, and was pulled into the air with a gasp of surprise and fright. Ansem the Wise was also being pulled forward.
Without thinking, Axel summoned his Chakram and drove one of them into the ground, quickly grabbing Ansem's wrists and making him grab it.
"Hold onto that!" He shouted, jumping after Larxene with the other one in hand.
Aware the portals of darkness were useless in midair, Axel grabbed Larxene's ankle and dug his other Chakram in hard to the wall of a damaged but still standing building between them and the vortex, stopping the pull, but only barely. Larxene managed to clamp into the wall with her Kunai, looking at Axel with an expression of mingled surprise and relief. Ansem himself was surprised; A Nobody risking their own life for others was the last thing he'd been expecting.
Axel looked at the vortex, and realized he was being pulled forward. As his expression turned to panic, his Chakram came loose and flew into the vortex. As Axel flew through the air, Larxene grabbed his hand and pinned him to the wall with a surprisingly strong grip.
The three Xehanorts did not fare so well. Slumping from lack of energy, the three were only able to keep their ground for a few moments before the vortex reached out to claim them.
Xemnas was the first to lose his footing, emitting a cry of terror as he was sucked into the void and vanished. Xehanort's Heartless tried to anchor himself with his Guardian's large claws, but was eventually pulled forward. In a moment, both were lost.
Xehanort dug in futilely with his Keyblade. He felt himself being dragged forward. In his desperation, he looked up and saw Ansem, Axel, and Larxene watching him, horrified. Xehanort's eyes held no hope; he knew he was doomed.
"Save yourselves!" He shouted, finally losing his grip on the ground, and flew into the void without another sound.
"Xehanort!" Ansem shouted, watching the last vestige of goodness in his former apprentice vanish into the void. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he watched the void collapsing in on itself with an expression of helpless rage.
The sucking winds died down, and Larxene detached herself from the wall, dragging Axel.
"Dammit! That was way too close!" Larxene shouted, unable to keep her voice from shaking.
"At least we lived…" Axel said, clearly shaken as well, "Erm… good… good save back there, Larx'." Larxene looked at him, utterly flummoxed. After a moment, she scratched her head.
"Uh… yeah. You too." She said awkwardly. She quickly took notice of Ansem walking towards the site of the meeting blasts. Smoke poured from the crater where the void had collapsed in on itself. "Hey! Old Guy! What are you doing?" She shouted in some alarm, glad to change the subject from her conversation with Axel. She quickly ran over, followed by Axel.
Ansem ignored the nobodies.
Please… if there's any chance someone survived… He finally reached the crater, joined by Larxene and Axel.
"Do you…" Larxene started, but Axel suddenly pointed.
"Look!"
There was a humanoid figure in the smoke. Ansem tried to see, but it could have been any of the three Xehanorts. Larxene tugged on Axel's sleeve.
"Axel, I don't like this. We should get out of here."
"Larxene, what's wro—"
"Don't you feel that thing?" Larxene said, her voice nearly on the edge of panic. As Ansem and Axel looked, the thing in the crater opened its eyes.
Orange eyes, crackling with a malevolent energy that made Ansem's blood run cold. Axel suddenly felt, like Larxene, a terrible power emanating from the being in the crater.
"What do we do?" Ansem said, mostly to himself.
"Run." Axel barely recognized his own voice, but saw Larxene and Ansem staring at him. "RUN! Back to the After-Naught!"
Without pause or thought, the three sprinted away as the being in the crater got up, holding up a hand. The hand glowed with power that was… an unholy mixture of Light, Dark, and Nothing, like the consuming void… along with another energy… something far more sinister.
The being stood fully, looking at its hand in curiosity, before smiling with a malicious grin…
"Excellent…"