“Hurry up, Xanoh!” Zixan shouted as he ran through the forest.
“Why can’t you just turn us both to cloud and teleport us there?” Xanoh asked while dodging random branches as he jumped from tree to tree.
“I haven’t had the time to fully spread my clouds across the sky yet, so that method of travel isn’t an option at the moment. Just shut up pick up the pace. Better yet, get out of the trees and run on the ground before take a misstep.”
“You have absolutely no faith in me.” Xanoh sighed as he jumped to the ground.
“Xanoh, don’t test me right now.” Zixan growled through gritted teeth. “How is it possible that a keyblader plowed through a whole group of Exiled members on his own?”
Xanoh ran by Zixan’s side quietly as Zixan thought aloud. He and Zixan suddenly stopped as a sharp gust pushed itself through foliage. Immediately afterwards, an intense heat engulfed both him and Zixan.
A soft laughter was heard as some of the smoke cleared. What were once trees, stood charred and splintered stumps. Whole boulders were pulverized and the ground totally devoid of grass. Four bodies surrounded a single standing entity. His weapon, in the shape of a key, hung limp at his side as a wicked smile spread across his face.
“I can’t wait until your reinforcements come! You did send the little one back to the HQ, right?” The keyblader yelled, slightly crazed at the moment. He knelt down and pulled up the closest nobody to him by the scruff of his coat. “Answer me!”
“You’ll be sorry once our reinforcements get here…” The nobody choked.
“Oh, I’ll be sorry, will I? Nobodies are abominations! It is my, and others, job to exterminated all of them! They’ve wrecked our worlds and killed our family and friends, so now it’s time to do something about it!”
“You’re a fool! There are nobodies that are far more powerful than myself. You’d better take your opportunity to run away now.” The dying nobody warned.
“A threat?” The keyblader questioned with a smile as his keyblade began to glow white hot. “I don’t respond well to threats!”
In mere seconds, the keyblade let out a loud hiss and erupted into white flames, which swallowed everything in the surrounding area. As soon as it had begun, it was over. All that was left was the black smoke slowly fading into the air and the lone keyblader standing with his keyblade now raised triumphantly into the air.
“Nobody threatens me! You hear me? Nobody!”
The keyblader’s victory was cut short as lightning dashed across the sky and thunder expelled a deafening roar.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but a nobody did just threaten you. Hell, he even warned you.” Zixan said casually as he and Xanoh made their way into the clearing.
The keyblader quickly turned around to see two nobodies walking toward him slowly. He blinked for a second before bursting into laughter. “This is it? You two are the almighty reinforcements?”
“We’re not here to talk, okay? You’ve committed a terrible wrong. Zixan and I are here to correct it.” Xanoh spoke. “I’m Xanoh, you’re opponent this evening.”
“Do you actually think I care what your name is. It will be soon forgotten once you fade away into darkness like the others.” the keyblader retorted as he leaned on his keyblade. “Speaking of the others, if you two were so close, why didn’t you help them then?”
“They were as good as dead. There was no point in trying to step in because the fading process had already begun.” Zixan answered suddenly. “Now if that is all, let’s start this. Xanoh, blitz formation.”
With a slight nod, Xanoh disappeared. The keyblader raised an eyebrow before grasping his keyblade and quickly raising it above his head. A loud screech filled the air followed by a slight shock wave as Xanoh’s brass knuckles and the keyblade met. In what seemed like slow motion, the keyblader jabbed his keyblade into the ground, used it as support to push himself into the air and delivered a bone-crushing kick to Xanoh’s side. Xanoh’s body skipped across the ground until finally slamming into the side of what used to be a red sequoia tree.
“Oh you’re a quick one. While still under the affects of his own self-generated momentum, you stuck your keyblade into the ground, thus giving you leverage to counter with that kick. All the while Xanoh was defenseless to do otherwise. Maybe, I underestimated you.” Zixan wondered aloud.
“If you were able to catch all of that, then maybe I should take you a bit more seriously as well. Plus, you’re getting a bit comfy over there.” The keyblader noted as he watched as Zixan lounged in gray chair with wisps of mist emanating from it.
“You need not worry about me at the moment.” Zixan replied calmly as he yawned.
The keyblader gave Zixan a puzzled look before being buried under the force of Xanoh’s surpise attack. Zixan’s attention immediately turned to the sky as heard Xanoh’s triumphant laughter. However, as the dust cleared, Xanoh only found his fist buried in the ground.
“What? How could he have dodged that?” he asked in bewilderment. “It’s not–”
Standing over him was Zixan, holding off the keyblader’s attack. “Xanoh, you’re dismissed. This opponent has proven to be well above your level.”
“Zixan, I can do better, I promise!” Xanoh pleaded.
“Xanoh!” Zixan exclaimed and without a word, Xanoh sunk into corridor of darkness. Zixan, meanwhile, pushed the keyblader aside.
“You saw the whole thing didn’t you?” the keyblader asked.
“This isn’t the time for Q&A.” Zixan answered as he appeared behind the keyblader, axe readied.
Before Zixan could swing, he saw his arm, with axe, flying across the air. The next thing he could remember was a blinding light followed by an intense burning sensation. His body rolled across the ground, eventually coming to a complete stop. His coat had been burned off and his Exiled uniform was now showing. Using his one arm, Zixan managed to push himself onto his feet.
“You are even speedier than I initially thought. Good job, but now I know not to underestimate you any longer. Besides, I have business to attend to back at HQ.” Zixan ran his hand through his hair as he noted his severed arm on the ground. “You just had to chop of my right arm, didn’t you?”
“Like you said, this isn’t the time for Q&A!” came the keyblader’s voice from behind him.
Zixan ducked and buried his foot into the keyblader’s stomach. The keyblade dropped to the ground in a bright flash of light and was gone. The keyblader, however, tumbled backward only to recover and double over in pain.
“How is that possible? A simple nobody can’t be faster than me. It’s impossible!” he re-summoned his keyblade and took a step forward only to fall to one knee. “What’s happening to me? I feel...sick.”
The keyblade disappeared again and the keyblade placed both of his hands on the ground for support. Blood oozed out of his mouth slowly and his breathing became more and more erratic.
“Phantom Execution works every time.” Zixan gloated. “How does it feel to be destroyed from the inside out?”
“What are you talking about?” the keyblade spat as he slowly looked forward at Zixan.
“I must say, cutting off my arm only worked in my favor. Thanks for giving me the opportunity.”
The keyblader’s gaze immediately snapped the location of Zixan’s severed arm. It wasn’t there, but it also wasn’t connected to Zixan’s body.
“I don’t know about you, but I would have started asking question once I saw that my opponent wasn’t bleeding after losing a limb. Oh well, it’s too late now.” Zixan smiled as the keyblader blacked out and fell to the ground.
All across his back were small gray spikes. The slowly began to lift up and gathered together to reform Zixan’s arm, which reconnected itself accordingly.
“Hmm, that body wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway. I either had to end it here, create another clone or actually enter my real self into the fight.”came Zixan’s voice as he floated down from the stormy sky. “That keyblader was only average though. I wonder what the elites are capable of.”
Zixan snatched the axe out of his clones hand and the clone immediately faded away. “To kill or not to kill, that is the question.” Zixan thought as he lowered his axe over the keyblader’s head. “Wait a minute! This boy was able to outclass nearly six nobodies by himself. His heart must be frighteningly strong...strong enough to give birth to an equally strong nobody. And is heart...it holds possibilities as well.”
Zixan’s axe disappeared and he knelt down so that he could get closer to the boy. He grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head. “I think I might just have to pay a little visit to a repenting traitor.”