Prelude here: https://brendansversus.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/prelude-palutena-vs-aqua/
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
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In the middle of a seemingly endless black void, a young, winged teenager was currently running toward the left. He soon came to a stop, having seen a rectangular red-and-silver box in front of him. Kicking it, both the box and the boy himself were consumed in a bright flash of light.
“Equipped!” He shouted as the light faded away, revealing his full appearance. He was now covered head-to-toe in golden gladiatorial armor. Strapped to his right forearm was a mirror-like shield, and in his left hand was a bow adorned with armor similar to his own.
With the Three Sacred Treasures now equipped, a golden, gate-shaped portal emerged behind Pit, which he quickly stepped out of. The moment he did so, his wings became covered in a blue aura as he took flight.
“So what’s the problem, Lady Palutena? I mean, if we’re busting out the Three Sacred Treasures this early, then I’m guessing it must be pretty serious!” Pit said aloud, seemingly to no one.
“You guessed right, Pit.” A feminine voice responded, speaking to the angel telepathically. “Today’s mission’s going to be taking a different route. You’ll be heading into the Realm of Darkness.”
“The ‘Realm’ of Darkness?” He repeated, sounding somewhat confused.
“Yes.” Palutena responded, using her telepathy to send him a vision of a shadowy world covered by dark blue landmasses and a dark gray sky. “As its name suggests, the Realm of Darkness is inhabited only by those whose hearts have been tainted by evil or malice.”
“Okay.” Pit said, sounding uncertain. “And why exactly are we going there? Are some of the baddies in there trying to escape and take over? Has someone fallen in there that we need to get out? Or are we dealing with a dark lord who’s trying to ‘plunge the world into an eternal darkness from which no light can recover’?” The angel questioned, doing his best hammy supervillain impression to sell the last part.
“You’re half-right. For some reason, it seems that portals have been opening throughout the world, leaking out thousands of the realm’s population, the Heartless, into our own.” The goddess of light explained.
“So we’re going to try and force them back?”
“Already covered.” A younger, brattier voice answered, one that Pit immediately recognized.
“Viridi! It’s been awhile- wait, why are you here?” He asked, his tone going from a nice greeting to one of confusion.
“Are you kidding? Do you really think I’d just sit back and let these… these things try to ruin the Earth? They’re worse than humans!” The goddess of nature snapped. “So, Pit, for now you can consider our little grudge off the table. We’ve got more important matters to deal with!”
“Right. As I was about to explain, Viridi already had it covered. Right now, the Forces of Nature, Centurions, and the humans have all teamed up to fight the Heartless.” Palutena revealed. “So while they’re defending the front lines, we’re going to be taking the fight to their home turf.”
“So you mean we’ll be heading into the Realm of Darkness? How are we going to do that?” Pit asked.
“Well, that’s where the tricky part comes in.” The goddess admitted. “You see, unless you have a significant amount of darkness in your heart, it’s impossible to create a portal to the Realm of Darkness. So I decided to try using some mementos that have already been through the realm to find where the next one would show up.”
“What kind of mementos?” Pit asked, sounding slightly worried.
“Oh, not much. Just a shoulder piece and a few, uh… peculiar swords. If I had to guess, they might belong to someone who fell through the realm some time ago.”
“Wait, so someone actually fell through the Realm of Darkness? Do you think they might still be alive? Could someone actually survive in a world like that?”
“Judging by how old and dusty most of this equipment looked, it would be a miracle if they did survive that long.” She admitted, sounding sympathetic as she spoke. This soon changed, however, as she noticed each of the weapons begin to give off a strange reaction. They were becoming coated in an aura of darkness, and that could only mean that…
“Pit, the portal’s opening! And from the looks of things, it should be here right… now!”
The moment Palutena finished speaking, a tear opened in the middle of the sky. It was pitch-black, with a dark blue aura emanating from its edges, and spilling out of it was a waterfall of shadowy creatures. All of them had pitch-black skin and glowing yellow eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. Most of their troops consisted of extremely tiny imps, but there were also dozens of more shapely beings. Several were more humanoid and armed with various weapons, others took on a more gargoyle-esque shape, and there were even a few animalistic ones here and there.
“Whoa! There’s so many!” Pit said, astonished at what he was seeing.
“And if we want to get in there, it’s going to take everything we’ve got! Are you ready?” As she asked this, Palutena forced the Power of Flight to send her servant rocketing toward the portal at faster-than-light speeds. Several of the Heartless seemed to perk up as they saw the screaming angel hurtling toward them, but before they could react to this, they were crushed into mush by the living battering ram that was Pit.
“Ow! Owowowow! Owowowowow!” He muttered as he rapidly slammed into hundreds of shadowy beings. “Isn’t there an easier way to do this, Lady Palutena?”
“Sorry, Pit. It’s either this or I wait for another portal to open somewhere else. Just try and hold on a bit longer!” She reassured him.
“Alright, I’ll tryyyyyyy!” He responded, the last word becoming a scream of panic as the portal seemed to suck him in.
“Pit! PIT!” Palutena screamed worriedly as the void closed around him, and with it her telepathic connection suddenly died. Fear began to grip the goddess of light’s heart as she looked to her side and noticed something: the blades and shoulder piece had stopped reacting. This meant that Pit was trapped in the Realm of Darkness by himself. He could be fending for himself against thousands of Heartless at this moment, and if he died-
Quickly pushing those thoughts from her mind, Palutena grabbed hold of her makeshift trackers and several of Pit’s own weapons. Then, with a frantic panic taking hold of her mind, she ran out of her temple at top speed and leapt forward, activating the Power of Flight to carry herself through the sky.
‘Don’t worry, Pit!’ She thought to herself as she telepathically commanded several dozen of Skyworld’s Centurions to follow her. ‘You won’t have to wait for much longer!’
Looking down at the shoulder piece in her hand, she noticed it was beginning to give off a strong reaction. In tandem with this, another portal opened up, this one a good distance away from her, and from it thousands of Heartless emerged, all of them intent on converging into one point: Skyworld. Refusing to let them touch her home, Palutena immediately waved her staff through the air, erecting a massive barrier around Skyworld.
With its safety secured, the goddess of light charged forward, her men obediently shooting down the enemy with their arrows or bowling them over through brute force. This was creating a clear pathway for Palutena, but there was just one problem: the Heartless’ numbers were proving quick to overwhelm the Centurions, and she was running low on troops. Realizing this, she summoned forth a massive construct of wings, and with it she began to fly faster than before! Their wingspan was so vast that the several rows of surrounding Heartless didn’t even have a chance to react before the light-based creation incinerated them. All the while, Palutena was dodging and weaving in midair, taking out hundreds of minions within seconds and ever so slowly reaching her goal. But it was then that a hollow sound made its way to her ears, an audible indication that the gateway was about to close!
‘No!’ Palutena thought desperately. ‘I need to keep going!’
With that, she increased the Power of Flight’s output, causing a blue cone to envelop her as her body repeatedly flew past the speed of light! She tore her way through hundreds of Shadows, reducing them to wisps of smoke through sheer speed alone. She felt like her body would give out from the pressure, but through sheer, unadulterated willpower, she kept pushing forward! A scream of adrenaline-fueled determination escaped Palutena’s lips as she soared through the crowd, flying straight into the Corridor of Darkness’ seemingly endless expanse!
Once she had passed through the gateway, Palutena collapsed onto the ground. Upon doing so, she noticed that it seemed to be composed of a gray, almost sand-like substance. Looking up, she saw that her surroundings were dotted with various black-and-purple rock formations, and laying before her was an endless ocean of water, one that shone a dull gray under the cold moonlight.
Just by looking at this, Palutena could tell that she had successfully entered the Realm of Darkness. Exhaustion briefly threatened to overtake her, but a quick wave of her staff and some light magic proved quick to dispel her tiredness. With a sigh of relief, the goddess stretched her legs and prepared to begin exploring the area. Fortunately, it seemed she wouldn’t need to search far, as her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a battle not too far away!
Gliding as fast as she could, the green-haired goddess soon spotted the fight, as both combatants were currently flying through the air. The first thing she noticed was Pit, and how this battle had visibly taken its toll on him. His entire frame was covered in numerous burns and lacerations, while his breathing was audibly growing heavier with each second. His body language suggested that he was seconds away from passing out, yet he was still forcing himself to stay in the game. But even with this defiance, it was clear he wouldn’t last for much longer. Entire chunks of armor were now missing, the Mirror Shield’s frame was adorned with numerous cracks, and his bow was suffering from similar damage.
Despite these damages, his attacker was showing no restraint. In fact, they were moving so quickly that all Palutena could make out was a blurry silhouette wreathed in a violet aura! The blur shot into the air, ascending far above Pit, who instinctively raised the Mirror Shield to block the oncoming attack.
KRACKT!
Unfortunately, while he proved successful in doing so, this final attack had proven too much for his shield to handle. With only one strike, his attacker had caused the Mirror Shield to explode into numerous metal shards, and the attack itself still had enough force to send Pit crashing into the ground! He rolled across the sandy terrain for several seconds before finally coming to a stop, coughing up several flecks of blood as he tried to push himself out of the sand.
“Pathetic.” A feminine voice spat venomously. “If this is the best you can do, then your world deserves to be lost in darkness.”
Upon hearing this, Palutena noticed the silhouette begin to clear up, revealing the form of a woman.
She was tall, sporting bleached-blue hair and towering over Pit by four inches. Her upper body was covered by a black-and-blue, high-collared halter top, with two black, intersecting straps fastened across her chest. Her lower half was covered by a pair of black shorts, and draped above it was a black strip of cloth tied around her waist. A pair of black, tattered bell-sleeves hung loosely around her arms, which Palutena noticed were far darker than the rest of her pale skin. The same could be said of her legs, even though they were covered by black, thigh-length stockings. A pair of pointed, armored silver boots covered her feet, each one sporting a sharp hook at its end.
Some time ago, this woman had been the calm, kind-hearted Keyblade Master known as Aqua. Thanks to a recent corruption inserted into her, however, she had taken on a new identity: the embittered, cruel Anti-Aqua.
The moment Aqua’s silhouette cleared up, Palutena could feel an odd reaction emanating from the relics she’d picked up. Concerned, she summoned the smallest one, the shoulder piece, into her hand, and that’s when something unexpected happened.
Almost as if it had a mind of its own, the piece suddenly ripped itself free from her grasp and flew toward the blue-haired swordswoman at blinding speeds! The blades immediately followed suit, with each one materializing itself and hurtling toward Aqua, who had suddenly shot toward Pit! She reeled her blade back, no doubt to deal a killing blow, but several flashes of light suddenly consumed her body, causing her to stop mid-swing. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time, but she could still recall exactly what it meant.
Looking down, she stared at her newfound weapon. Instead of a key-shaped sword sporting a silver handle and a long, black blade, she found herself wielding a light blue sword with wave-like engravings along its shaft and teeth. In the middle of its blade was a black circle containing a blue, star-shaped pendant. The sword stayed like this for several seconds as she inspected it, only for it to revert back to its original appearance, much to her confusion.
‘How could it have come back after so long?‘ She thought to herself, ‘and if this has come back, then-‘
She cut herself off and looked to the right, finding a silver shoulder piece now attached to her tattered clothes. Out of curiosity, she attempted to press her hand against it, but at the same time she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Pit was beginning to stir!
Realizing this, Aqua swung the Master’s Defender, but that was when something surprising happened!
CLANG!
Aqua’s corrupted eyes widened in surprise at what she was seeing, with her supposed victim sharing the same reaction.
“L-lady Palutena?” He stuttered. At hearing her name, the green-haired woman in front of him gave a hard push with her staff, forcing Aqua to back off.
“Pit, are you alright?” His savior asked, sounding heavily concerned.
“Honestly,” he said between heavy panting, “this isn’t as bad as it looks. I can still take her!”
“Not in that condition you’re not!” She responded, almost as if reprimanding him. Once she’d finished speaking, a golden portal appeared behind her. “After what you’ve been through, you need to rest.”
At seeing the portal, Aqua’s eyes widened. How had this woman managed to open a portal to the realm of light so casually?
’And more importantly,’ she thought as her grip on the Master’s Defender tightened, ‘if it was so simple, why didn’t Mickey, Riku, or the others open one to save me all that time ago?’
“But what about the Heartless? And what are you going to do about her?” Pit asked.
“I’ve got the Centurions on standby back at Skyworld, and as for her,” Palutena smiled before declaring, “let’s just say I’m planning on giving her a little divine intervention!”
“Er… no offense, Lady Palutena, but speaking as someone who just got my butt kicked by her, I think we might want to try avoiding her. She doesn’t seem like the type who wants your-“
FWING!
While Pit was in the middle of speaking, his employer activated the Power of Flight, causing him to let out a cry of “heeeeeeeelllllllpppp” as he was forcibly flown into the portal. Aqua prepared to leap after him, but the gateway disappeared as soon as Pit had entered, leaving her alone with the green-haired woman.
“So you’re Palutena? That boy, Pit, seemed to enjoy mentioning you when we fought.” Aqua told her.
“Well, it’s good to know my reputation’s been growing, even if it is among some less than savory places.” Palutena responded jokingly, only for her tone to become more serious as she said “But that doesn’t explain why you viciously attacked him!”
“That? It was to teach him that his trust in you was misplaced. He seemed so sure that you’d save him and return him to the realm of light in no time. Tell me, how long did it take you to save him? Months? Years? A decade or two?” The mage asked, her tone growing increasingly bitter as she recounted the growing amounts of time.
“Only six minutes, 35 seconds. Why?” Palutena asked, her voice trailing off and her eyes lighting up in shock as she realized something. “Wait, the way those weapons reacted… how long have you been down here?”
“I gave up trying to figure that out long ago.” Aqua responded, her tone broken and bitter. “Just like I gave up on thinking I could ever escape from this shadow prison. And with what you just did to save him, you’ll eventually have to do the same. You can deny it, but deep down you’ll eventually realize you threw away your last attempt at returning to your home.”
“And what makes you say that?” The goddess asked as she tapped her staff against the ground. Upon doing so, a golden portal appeared behind her, only to disappear as she tapped it again. The sight of this was enough to incense Aqua, which only grew as the goddess began to smirk at her. With rage clouding her mind, she charged toward Palutena, who put her shield up just in time to block an attempted slash.
“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” The mage asked furiously. “No one could summon a portal from here to the realm of light so easily!”
“I take it you haven’t met me, then!” Palutena responded playfully as she pushed Aqua off. The bluenette quickly regained her footing, however, and glared at her.
“Oh, I’m sure we can get to know each other,” Aqua paused as she entered into a fighting stance, “once you’ve joined me in the darkness!”
“Sorry, but I’m more of a fun in the sun kinda goddess.” Palutena responded as she placed her staff against the ground, causing a halo and wings to appear behind her. “But I’ll be more than happy to purify the darkness that’s infected your heart!”
With that, both women stared each other down, almost as if daring the other to make the first move. They kept their grips firm on their respective weapons, waiting for any sign of their opponent preparing to begin their attack. Then, after three seconds of preparation, one of them chose to act!
Palutena thrust her staff forward, rapidly firing out three blasts of light that flew toward Aqua at blinding speeds. In response, the mage ran toward them, using her agility to cartwheel past the first two before leaping above the third. As she began descending, Aqua swung her Keyblade down, only for Palutena to respond by quickly bringing her shield up.
CLANG!
The two weapons collided, producing a shockwave that sent both skidding back. Palutena proved quick to recover as she pointed her staff forward and fired off another volley of blasts. Just when it seemed that they were about to hit her, however, Aqua’s body vanished into a purple void. The moment she vanished, Palutena let out a cry of pain as she felt a sharp blade slice across her back, courtesy of a rematerializing Aqua. The goddess of light attempted to deliver a counter-attack, but before she could do so her target vanished once again! Reappearing to Palutena’s side, the embittered swordswoman this time charged forward and delivered a slash, pushing her opponent forward.
Before she even had time to recover, the green-haired deity found herself repeatedly struck across the face as Aqua performed a spinning slash, ending it with a final swing that launched her divine adversary several feet back. As she attempted to fight through the pain, Palutena began focusing her enhanced hearing, all the while mentally preparing herself for the mage’s next attack. She could hear the air currents shifting around her, focusing on one specific point… there!
“Counter!” The goddess announced, entering a defensive stance just as Aqua delivered another slash. The moment it made contact, Palutena responded by bashing her shield against the mage’s face, eliciting a grunt of pain as she stepped back. Refusing to give her opponent a chance to recover, Palutena gave a shout of “Angelic Missile” as she slammed into Aqua, knocking the mage into the air and launching her a considerable distance. While she watched this from afar, Palutena gave a quick swing of her staff, causing a bright light to momentarily flash close to Aqua’s current landing position. Just as this light had faded, Aqua’s eyes snapped open as she backflipped through the air. Her feet hit the ground…
BOOM!
And immediately detonated the Land Mine that Palutena had set up, sending her flying back toward the goddess. Despite this, the Keyblade Master managed to reposition herself once again, this time utilizing a forward flip to land perfectly on her feet. Upon doing so, she leapt toward Palutena, closing the distance between them in seconds.
“Sonic Blade!” Aqua shouted as she launched herself toward the goddess, thrusting her Keyblade forward. For a brief moment it seemed that the sword was about to make contact, but then…
“Bumblebee!”
Palutena disappeared in a flash of light, only to suddenly reappear behind Aqua, who seemed unaware of this change in position. With her opponent now open, the goddess threw her staff forward, using her telekinesis to strike the bluenette in the back…
Or at least it would’ve done so, had her adversary’s entire body not vanished into thin air. She reappeared almost immediately, repeating the prior gesture and sending the green-haired deity forward. Aqua then teleported a third time, delivering yet another Sonic Blade strike that Palutena was unable to react to. She couldn’t even register the pain before three more Sonic Blade attacks slashed across her body, causing her to grunt in pain.
As the pain finally began to register through her opponent’s mind, Aqua reappeared in front of the deity and delivered an underhanded slash, launching her through the air. Disappearing in a flash of light, the Keyblade Master soon reappeared and followed up with another swing. As Palutena hit the peak of her ascension, Aqua teleported once again, this time appearing above her and slamming into her with an overhead swing. The moment it made contact, Palutena found herself hurtling toward the ocean at dangerous speeds, but she proved quick to correct this.
Taking a page out of her opponent’s book, the Goddess of Light let out a cry of “Warp” as a bright light encompassed her body. She reappeared on top of the ocean, which she mentally noted seemed rather solid for what should be in a liquid state. Before she could think about this any further, however, an audible splash cut off her thoughts. Looking toward its direction, she saw Aqua rushing toward her, though her weapon had once again changed form. But instead of it being a Keyblade, she now wielded a massive, glowing purple longsword made of light, a visible indicator that she had managed to tap into the Bladecharge Command Style.
Using her newly elongated sword, Aqua unleashed a long combo slashes, all of which Palutena was having trouble keeping up with. While she could block a swing here or there, Aqua’s speed was quickly overwhelming her. With each strike, her body became further wracked with pain as she experienced the light blade’s full power.
‘Her strength is impressive!’ She thought as Aqua threw out a spinning slash. Though this left her reeling, the goddess pushed it aside as a smirk appeared on her face. ‘But let’s see how she deals with that strength being used against her!’
“Libra Sponge!” Palutena called out, causing a blue aura to surround her for a split second. Though Aqua noticed this, her sword was already in mid-swing, and the goddess was still sent staggering back when it struck. With her opponent left open, the Keyblade Master delivered a rising slash, dragging the divine warrior into the air as she did so. As they ascended, Aqua dished out three more swings, with each one hitting its mark and eliciting another grunt from the goddess of light. Once they’d hit their peak, Aqua prepared to finish her combo as she brought her light-blade back, igniting its tip in flames.
“Triple Firaga!” She shouted as she swung it through the air, producing three fireballs that slammed into Palutena’s body and sent her crashing through the ground. A groan emerged from her throat as she pushed herself back up, looking up just in time to see Aqua raise her sword into the air.
“Farewell!” She said as the weapon drastically grew in height, extending roughly six feet in an instant. Keeping a firm grip on its hilt, Aqua then began spinning her sword through the air, moving so quickly that all Palutena could register was a purple-and-white blur before-
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The construct had struck her six times, each one producing a new cut as it targeted a different part of her body. After the sixth slash, Aqua paused for a brief moment to raise it through the air. Then, just as quickly as she’d brought it up, the corrupted mage slammed her weapon back down. The sword was moving fast enough that Palutena barely had any time to react, but just when it seemed that it was about to rend her in two, the goddess managed to speak two, barely audible words.
“Brief Invincibility!”
BOOM!
As her Keyblade returned to its original form, Aqua looked toward where her opponent had been, expecting that she’d see a corpse or at least some kind of remains. Instead, her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Palutena running toward her in a surprising burst of speed, looking none the worse for wear and now armed with a new weapon!
Although the sight of this was enough to leave her momentarily shocked, the Wayfinder user recovered just in time to raise her Keyblade.
CLANG!
The two weapons collided, resulting in their blades locking into place as both women stared each other down. As they pushed themselves in this struggle for dominance, Aqua took note of her opponent’s new weapons. They appeared to be a pair of red, wolf-shaped gauntlets, both sporting three blades that were wreathed in flame.
Gritting her teeth, Aqua began pushing back, causing Palutena’s knees to buckle. Realizing she wouldn’t get anywhere like this, the goddess leapt away, causing her opponent to stumble forward. Noticing this temporary weak spot, Palutena aimed one of the Wolf Claws forward and began unleashing a rapid barrage of fiery blasts, all of which hit Aqua dead-on. Refusing to let her recover, Palutena burst forward at top speed, closing the distance between them almost instantly. Then, using the Wolf Claws’ speed boost to her advantage, the goddess of light began unleashing dozens of slashes within the same timeframe. With each slash, Aqua’s already tattered clothes were torn even further asunder, and her body became adorned with numerous scratches and lacerations. The claws had even begun setting her ablaze, eliciting a brief cry of pain.
“What’s the matter? Can’t take the heat?” Palutena taunted as she continued dishing out slashes. While in the middle of this seemingly endless combo, however, a wave of power suddenly left the goddess’ body, signifying that her Brief Invincibility had run its course. Despite this, she paid it no mind. Libra Sponge was still active, and there was no way Aqua could recover in time!
As this thought ran through her head, Palutena threw out another slash-
“Enough!”
-and was quickly proven wrong as Aqua threw her left hand forward, erecting a spherical barrier that caused the goddess’ attack to harmlessly bounce off.
“What?” Palutena questioned in shock as she reeled back, noticing that she hadn’t even left a scratch on the barrier. With her opponent now left open, Aqua aimed her Keyblade through the air, ready to activate another spell.
“Slow!” In tandem with this word escaping her lips, a wave shot out of the mage’s body, with Palutena immediately feeling its effects. Her movements had become sluggish, almost as if she was trying to wade through a river of mud. To make matters worse, Aqua was already prepared to take revenge, having raised the Master’s Defender as she lunged at the goddess.
Using a combination of her speed and teleportation, Aqua immediately began overwhelming her comparatively slower adversary. With every microsecond that passed, another twelve strikes would impact Palutena’s body from all sides, creating more bruises or cuts on her skin. And while the Slow spell had affected her reaction speed, the deity could still feel the pain overwhelming her mind, each strike bringing her ever so closer to blacking out.
’This must be what Pit felt like during their fight.’ She thought as the Master’s Defender opened up more cuts on her body. ‘Each strike seems to be delivered with intent to kill, and I don’t have any way to fight back, unless…’
Palutena’s expression shifted from a pained grimace to a smug look as she prepared to activate another one of her powers. Unfortunately, this smugness would soon falter as she noticed a black blur heading toward her face.
SHING!
Palutena let out an involuntary grunt of pain as she was sent hurtling through the air, her grip on the Wolf Claws weakening with each inch she flew. Seeing this, Aqua immediately leapt into the air to meet her, reaching the goddess in a matter of seconds. Then, with blinding speeds, the Keyblade Master threw out two more slashes, creating an X-shaped scratch across the deity’s chest. Before Palutena could fully recover, Aqua raised the Master’s Defender into the air as she shouted two words:
“You’re done!”
As these words escaped her lips, six bolts of lightning shot down from the heavens, striking the goddess of light hard enough that she screamed in pain.
[Stop music]
She hit the ground almost immediately, the impact forcing her to cough up blood as she rolled across the dull, gray ocean. As she placed her hands against the ground, the goddess of light noticed two things: the first was another drop in energy, showing that the Libra Sponge had finally ended. The second was that her body was no longer burdened by the Slow spell, which caused her to become reinvigorated as she pushed herself back up. While doing so, however, something in the water’s reflection managed to catch her eye. Aqua was pointing the Master’s Defender directly at her, and a small sphere of white energy was gathering at its tip. Looking up, Palutena met her opponent’s gaze just as the mage said one word:
“Gotcha!”
With that, dozens of multi-colored salvos shot out from the blade’s tip, each one corkscrewing through the air as it approached the goddess at faster-than-light speeds. Rather than panic or show even the slightest bit of worry, however, Palutena’s only response was to give a mischievous smirk before activating another of her powers.
“Reflect!” In tandem with this, a red barrier tinged with a golden outline suddenly manifested in front of her. The blasts made contact…
FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM!
And were quickly sent back to their sender. In response to this seemingly impending doom, Aqua began twisting her body through the air, with each blast missing her by only a few centimeters. Once she had managed to avoid each of the blasts, the mage raised her Keyblade into the air and quickly slammed it against the shield.
The moment the Master’s Defender struck its surface, the Reflect Barrier exploded into a flurry of minuscule shards, only to disperse before they’d even hit the ground. Rather than be concerned by this, Palutena instead rushed forward, attempting to catch the Keyblade Master off guard while she was still preoccupied with landing. Using the Wolf Claws, she threw out an X-shaped slash to the chest-
CLANG!
“What?”
-only to meet Aqua’s Keyblade, but that wasn’t what confused her. That honor went to what the weapon was doing. It was floating in front of Aqua, almost as if suspended in midair, and both it and its wielder were now coated in an aura of light.
Pushing against the goddess’ gauntlet, Aqua forced the arm off her Keyblade with enough force to leave her briefly stumbling back. Then, using Spellweaver’s telekinetic abilities to her advantage, she commanded the Master’s Defender to begin striking the goddess. It first delivered an ascending slash that smacked Palutena across the face multiple times, causing her to reel back. Seeing this, Aqua briefly reeled her arm back, taking the Keyblade with her, before proceeding to just as quickly throw both of them forward. The ebony sword spun through the air, sending Palutena back even further before suddenly returning to Aqua in a flash of blue light. The Keyblade Master swiped her arm through the air, with her weapon reappearing and following her directions immediately. Numerous gashes began to appear on Palutena’s body as the Master’s Defender tore away at her body, its teeth cutting through her skin with each time they made contact. A diagonal, upward slash from Aqua only added to this agony, causing Palutena to step back as a fiery pain shot through her mind. At this point the only thing the green-haired victim wanted was for this combo to end, and it seemed her attacker had the same idea!
“Farewell!” Aqua declared as she pointed her Keyblade forward, firing off a white orb that slammed into Palutena and sent her flying through the air! A scream emerged from the goddess’ throat as she hurtled across the sea, only stopping when she slammed into the ground with a loud SPLASH!
The moment she felt something solid beneath her, the goddess placed her gauntlet-clad hands against the ground and pushed off, allowing her to backflip onto her feet as she continued skidding back. She then dug her Wolf Claws against the ground, creating a series of ripples as she slowed herself to a halt.
While returning to her feet, the goddess’ eyes widened as she noticed that Aqua was flying toward her at top speed, having already brought her Keyblade back to deliver a finishing blow. Instead of reacting in fear or attempting to brace herself for this seemingly impending doom, Palutena’s response was a sly smile. Seeing this caused Aqua to realize something was wrong, but by that point her Keyblade was already in mid-swing. The sword sailed toward Palutena’s neck…
Gritting her teeth, Aqua attempted to exert Spellweaver, just enough that she’d be able to force the Master’s Defender to deliver a killing blow. But much to her frustration, nothing happened. No matter how much she exerted herself, the Keyblade refused to budge an inch!
With her opponent now subdued, Palutena took a brief moment to use Health Recovery once again, sealing up several of the cuts and removing the bruises adorning her body. Now healed, if only slightly, the goddess of light rose back to her feet.
“Phew!” She sighed, stretching her arms and legs for a second before turning her attention back to the captive Aqua. “You know, you’re looking pretty stressed out there. Normally I’d suggest taking a dip in a hot spring to calm your nerves, but given how our current spot’s pretty… lacking, we might have to improvise a bit.” Materializing her staff once again, she continued by saying “I’ll just have you take a quick dip in the ocean. How’s that sound?” She asked jokingly. Realizing what her opponent was planning, Aqua opened her mouth in an attempt at protest, but this proved to be a poor choice as Palutena tapped her staff against the ground, forcing the captive mage into the gray abyss beneath her.
Falling.
That’s the best way Aqua could have described what she was going through right now.
The moment she entered the water, Aqua felt herself get pulled under its current, her body slowly sinking deeper into its depths. Palutena’s telekinetic grip cut off the moment she was submerged, and no matter how much she kicked or stroked her arms, Aqua only found herself descending further into darkness. Her vision was already going dark, and with each inch she sank another black spot appeared.
‘So this is it, then?’ She thought to herself bitterly. ‘I fight in vain for over a decade, only to meet my end fighting someone who naively believed they could save me?’
With this final thought, Aqua closed her eyes, fully prepared to accept her fate, but then-
Tap
She felt something hit her in the back. Eyes snapping open, she looked toward its direction and found herself staring into the soulless yellow eyes of a Shadow. Another tap caused her to turn and find a second Shadow. In fact, the bluenette quickly noticed that she seemed to be surrounded from all sides! Everywhere she looked, hundreds of yellow eyes stared back at her. For most Keyblade users, this would have been a troublesome sight, but Aqua was no ordinary Keyblade user. She stared at their eyes, noting how they seemed vacant, empty.
‘Are they… awaiting my orders?’ Aqua thought to herself. For a split-second, a flicker of a smile could be seen on the pessimistic woman’s face. ‘Alright, then. If they’re going to serve me, then I know just what to do first!’
Back on the surface, Palutena stared down at the pool’s surface in worry. It had been several seconds, but Aqua’s body still hadn’t broken the surface. Had she pushed her too far in? Was it possible to still get her out? Or-
Whatever Palutena’s next thoughts were going to be suddenly cut off as she noticed something bubbling to the surface. At first she thought it might be Aqua, but as it drew closer she could feel a massive wave of darkness emerging from… whatever that was. And given how large it seemed to be, it was safe to say the goddess didn’t want to stick around to find out what it was! With a quick use of Warp, the goddess rematerialized a safe distance from the entry point, and she was just in time!
Not even a second after she’d done so, a massive pitch-black pillar shot out from underground. This pillar soon solidified and spread apart to reveal that it was comprised of Heartless. To be more specific, Palutena noticed that it was made up of Shadows, the small imps she’d destroyed during her trip through the Corridor of Darkness. They were moving so quickly that she couldn’t count the exact number, and it seemed that there was no end to them!
‘But how could they have gathered here so quickly? Unless-‘
Whatever hypothesis Palutena was about to make became cut off as the Demon Tower slammed into her, sending the goddess flying back. As she saw the massive spiral extend outward, no doubt to consume her, Palutena’s only response was to leap back as she slashed through the air, firing off an X-shaped slash that burned through several rows of Shadows. Seeing this, the tower’s occupants shot toward Palutena at blinding speeds, seemingly intent on crushing her beneath their combined weight. Rather than be worried about this, however, she instead erected another shield around herself. The Shadows collapsed onto it-
THOOM!
Only to be repelled back by an equal, if not superior, force generated by the barrier. The thousands of Shadows were dispersed upon contact, leaving them defenseless, and Palutena was more than willing to capitalize on that!
“Super Speed!” She announced as she rushed forward, her feet moving so quickly that they couldn’t even be seen. With this new boost in speed, entire swaths of the yellow-eyed imps were reduced to wisps of smoke, either because the Wolf Claws had burned each one to death upon contact or from her boosted speed causing her to crush them underfoot. The goddess continued running in circles, clearing out several other rows, but it seemed that the collective consciousness was learning from their predecessors’ mistakes. Rather than continue trying to overpower her one-on-one, they began to join up once more, forming into a massive coil of darkness that lunged forward. Unfortunately, they would quickly realize what a horrible idea this was when they collided with the goddess, only for a man-sized hole to appear through their frame as Palutena’s Super Speed led her to ram into multiple Heartless and send them flying out.
Noticing the airborne creatures, Palutena wasted no time in firing off one charged shot, burning through each of the Shadows before she’d even hit the ground. Once she had hit the ground, Palutena looked back just in time to see the Demon Tower lunge toward her, forming into a giant maw ready to swallow her whole.
“Sorry, but goddess of light is not on the menu!” She said somewhat sternly as she activated one of her powers. At the same time, an entire portion of the Demon Tower had been blown away, causing the rest of it to begin collapsing onto the ground. The Shadows broke apart, but they proved quick to regain their bearings as they rushed toward Palutena, who was now sporting a light smirk as she flew toward the monsters.
“Heavenly Light!” She shouted as her body became surrounded herself in an aura of light. The moment she made contact with them, the Shadows that were closest to her became vaporized while the others split off, resulting in what could only be described as something akin to Moses parting the Red Sea. The Shadows were now split into two rows, and it seemed their dwindling numbers were starting to get to them. Their eyes were changing colors, going from yellow to a deep shade of red, and each one was starting to act more erratically. The two split paths then merged back into one, piling on top of each other to produce a red-and-black tornado.
This tornado briefly ascended into the air before proceeding to just as quickly come down on Palutena, who put up a barrier just as Heavenly Light had ended. The barrier appeared before her-
KRACKT!
Only to shatter as the Heartless proceeded to use themselves as a living battering ram! With their opponent now defenseless, the Demon Tower’s movements became more erratic as it corkscrewed through the air numerous times, slamming into its opponent at full force once.
THOOM!
Twice.
THOOM!
Three times.
THOOM!
Four times.
It then reeled back, no doubt to continue the combo, but it was during this time that Palutena had realized something: the Demon Tower was comprised of a seemingly endless supply of Shadows. And given how often they stuck together, it was safe to say that she could exploit this!
The Demon Tower prepared to spread itself out once more, but Palutena proved quick to react. Raising her arm into the air, she conjured up a massive pillar of light, causing the Demon Tower to reel back as its entire front row was burned away. It reeled back from the pain, but little did it know that its misfortune was about to become much worse.
“Watch this!” Palutena said tauntingly as she summoned her staff and raised it into the air. “Black hole!”
In tandem with these words, something seemed to open up from inside of the Demon Tower, and with it the living structure broke apart, unable to support its own weight. With the Shadows no longer obstructing it, one could see what had caused this damage. It was a black sphere, one coated in a purple aura that seemed to possess some sort of gravitational effect. No matter how hard the Shadows struggled, nor however many times they tried to reform into the Demon Tower, they all found themselves pulled back into the ebony maw.
As she watched this from afar, Palutena’s only response was to smirk before activating her next ability.
“And Mega Laser!” Once this command had escaped her lips, a massive, pink laser shot out from Palutena’s hands. It rocketed toward the former Demon Tower at faster-than-light speeds, and before they even knew what had happened, each one found itself vaporized by the massive beam.
Once this beam had subsided, Palutena took a brief moment to admire her handiwork. The Mega Laser had completely vaporized the Demon Tower, and nothing was left for Aqua to- wait, Aqua!
Palutena’s eyes widened. She’d been so caught up in trying to get rid of the Demon Tower that she’d completely forgotten about its summoner. She scanned the area, searching for some sign that the Keyblade Master was still nearby. Her ears picked up the familiar sound of the portal emerging behind her, but as she turned to face it-
“Fall!” Aqua’s voice called out. At hearing this, Palutena noticed something was off. Instead of the voice coming from one angle, it seemed to be coming from all around her, almost as if there were multiple Aquas! Her surprise only grew when, rather than being hit with a single attack, she was hit in her blind spot by three rows of homing orbs. These balls of light slammed into the deity, causing her to grunt in pain as she stumbled forward. The moment they hit her, she noticed that, for whatever reason, these blasts seemed to be stronger than Aqua’s previous attacks. While the goddess wasn’t aware of it, the reason for this added power was because her opponent had replaced her Keyblade. Rather than the Master’s Defender, she had chosen to switch it out with another weapon: Brightcrest, the blue Keyblade from earlier.
At seeing Palutena’s reaction, Aqua grinned, which only grew wider as she noticed the deity’s grip on her Wolf Claws was now weakened. With this knowledge and the opportunity ripe for the taking, the mage chose to strike!
Using her teleportation, she reappeared in front of her divine adversary and gave an upward swing, hitting hard enough to break her guard and send her soaring through the air! Teleporting once again, this time the mage summoned three copies of herself, each one surrounding Palutena from all sides.
“It ends now!” All four declared as they raised their Keyblades into the air, performing pirouettes as they gathered energy into the tips. The energy began to grow into massive orbs of light, and from these orbs emerged numerous crystalline blades, all of which shot toward Palutena at blinding speeds! They exploded upon making contact, eliciting more grunts of pain from their victim as she was sent further into the air with each one. Once these blades had stopped appearing, Palutena began descending through the air, and that was when the Aquas decided to strike!
Keeping their Keyblades in the air, the Aquas forced spikes to emerge out of the balls. Then, once the goddess had entered their line of sight, they closed in! For a brief moment it seemed that she was about to be skewered by the spiked balls, but that was when something unexpected happened. A spherical barrier, one similar to Aqua’s own, suddenly surrounded Palutena. As a result, the spiked balls didn’t grind themselves against their intended target, but even then they were still managing to do a fine job.
With each second that passed, a horrible scraping sound would ring out as the spikes scraped against the barrier, and a crack would begin to form against the defense. It was slow at first, with a barely visible crack, but this would soon grow in size and frequency with each passing millisecond. With only five seconds of struggling, the shield had become covered with cracks and chips, and it seemed the shield would cave in at any second! Not helping matters was that each of the spiked orbs had begun glowing brighter, which Palutena immediately recognized wasn’t a good sign. As the orbs had reached the peak of their shine, Palutena spoke one word:
“Warp!”
As this word escaped her lips, the deity disappeared in a flash of light, and she proved to be just in time! Not even a millisecond had passed before the shield was shattered like glass and each crystal exploded into its own flash of magic, briefly coating the entire ocean in a blinding light! Several seconds later, this light had subsided, and with it Palutena had reappeared. She looked around to see that the area was unaffected by the explosion, but that didn’t change the fact that her opponent had managed to release an attack of that caliber.
‘And since she’s probably going to try something like this again, the only option I’ll have is to try and take her out before then. The only question is how. She’s pretty vicious, and with those clones I don’t think I could last for much longer. Then again…’ she paused for a brief moment and looked down at the Wolf Claws. Recalling her previous clashes, she came to a realization. ‘Given her reliance on magic, I should probably focus on using physical attacks. But since she seems to be figuring out the Wolf Claws…‘
She paused again, dismissing the Wolf Claws as she summoned forth a new weapon. It appeared to be some sort of sword, with silver armor coating its blade. The armor itself was adorned with blue and gold accents, resulting in a weapon that looked more like it belonged to her opponent.
‘Maybe it’s time to try beating her at her own game!’ Palutena finished as she grabbed hold of the First Blade and leapt toward Aqua, who had just hit the ground. Upon seeing the goddess charging toward her, First Blade already in mid-swing, the corrupted swordswoman proved quick to raise her Keyblade in defense.
CLANG!
The two weapons produced a quick clash of sparks upon their collision, with Aqua briefly stumbling back because of her attacker’s strength. Noticing this, Palutena swung the First Blade through the air, firing out a blast of energy that served to further stagger the Keyblade Master. While her adversary was still recovering, the deity attempted to follow up by delivering an upward slash to the chest, but Aqua seemed to have other ideas. Just when it seemed that the First Blade was about to send her into the air, a familiar portal consumed the mage.
Now knowing what to expect, Palutena waited for any sign of Aqua’s reappearance. This wouldn’t be long, as a purple void opened up several feet from her. Palutena braced herself in preparation for an attack, but this apprehension soon became confusion as Aqua walked right past her, not even bothering to use her Keyblade when she drew close to the goddess.
“Your persistence is impressive.” The mage admitted as she continued walking forward. Palutena opened her mouth to respond, but her words died in her throat as another portal emerged several feet away. From it emerged… another Aqua?
“But it doesn’t matter how hard you struggle.” The new Aqua declared as she continued walking in a straight line. A third portal opened up not long after, ejecting another copy onto the ocean surface!
“Try as much as you like, but no matter what you do…” the third Aqua cut herself off as a fourth portal emerged.
“You’ll only get to experience the pain and loneliness I’ve felt firsthand!” The final clone finished as she and the others continued walking in their respective directions. In a way, it was almost as if the four Aquas were slowly trying to box her in, but Palutena didn’t let this get to her. In fact, she was all too willing to take advantage of it! One of the copies began walking forward-
THWOOM!
Only to be struck head-on by a blast of energy from the First Blade. Rather than react to the hit, however, it suddenly vanished into thin air, causing Palutena to cock an eyebrow.
“Oh, relying on illusions, are we?” She asked. The moment she saw the other three begin approaching her, the goddess gave a brief chuckle as she activated three of her powers. “I’ll admit I’m impressed, but there’s just one problem: I can already tell where you are!”
Upon hearing this, Aqua’s eyes widened for a brief millisecond, only to quickly return to normal. Palutena had to be bluffing. There was no way she could’ve-
FWOOM!
A blast shot out from the First Blade, a decently-sized orb that slammed into Aqua- the real one- faster than she could react! The moment it made contact, her clones dissipated, causing Palutena to smirk as she leapt forward, firing off three more shots from the sword. As the pain faded from her system, Aqua looked back to her attacker and saw the three blasts that were coming toward her. She responded immediately, throwing her hands forward to erect another barrier, but she would soon realize the horrible mistake she’d just made. The shot flew into the barrier…
And quickly passed through it, almost as if the shield didn’t even exist! All Aqua could respond with was a confused “Wha-“ before the blast hit her. She grunted in pain, which would only increase when the other two blasts hit her. She looked back up at Palutena, intending to retaliate, but that was when her eyes widened in surprise! Whatever was in those blasts must have done something to her, as the mage found herself stumbling around the ocean uncontrollably, almost as if her body had a mind of its own! Gritting her teeth, she tried to aim Brightcrest at the goddess, but it was then that she realized doing so was almost impossible! For whatever reason, her arm would keep twitching and swinging in every possible direction. It was like her body had been injected with a gallon of caffeine! Fortunately, she had just the spell to get rid of it!
“Es-!”
“Cover your eyes!” Palutena shouted, cutting off Aqua’s declaration of ‘Esuna’ as she summoned a bright flash of light. The moment it appeared, Aqua’s utterance of the spell morphed halfway into a pained scream as her eyes were bombarded by the light. It was almost as if she was staring directly into the Sun! Even after the flash had faded away, Aqua still found her vision clouded by white, but even that was slowly fading away.
Unfortunately, this recovery wouldn’t occur fast enough for the mage, as Palutena suddenly rammed into her at top speed. The Keyblade Master attempted to regain focus, but her newfound blindness, when combined with her inability to aim, rendered these struggles moot. All she could do was experience more pain as Palutena repeatedly tackled her at top speed, emphasizing each impact with another slash from the First Blade. She could feel her body growing weaker, and while her vision was beginning to clear up, it still wasn’t acting fast enough! By now, her entire body was wracked with pain, sporting cuts and bruises across her entire frame, and she felt like she was about to lose consciousness at any second. But even with this pain overwhelming her, Aqua still forced herself to remain conscious. If she could survive in here for over a decade, she’d be able to survive this onslaught!
As these thoughts ran through her opponent’s head, Palutena had placed both feet against the ground before leaping toward Aqua once again. The moment she heard this sound, the still-blinded bluenette turned toward its direction, keeping her grip on Brightcrest as she prepared to declare the name of another spell. At the same time, Palutena activated one of her strongest powers, the one that would finally allow her to end this fight: Instant Death Attack. The goddess of light swung the First Blade as hard as she could, and as she felt the air pressure from her opponent’s arrival, Aqua activated her magic command!
“Stopga!” The Keyblade Master shouted as she raised her sword into the air, firing a white light from its tip. The moment it emerged, Palutena suddenly stopped mid-swing, her blade only inches from Aqua’s chest. Upon feeling the goddess stop her assault, Aqua gave a light smirk before using Brightcrest to activate two more commands.
“Esuna!” As this word escaped her lips, four balls of light shot into the air around her, only to quickly descend back onto the ground. In tandem with these movements, Aqua felt her sight finally return, while two waves exited out of her body. With her body now back under control, Aqua activated another command: “Heal!”
The Curaga activated, signified by a flower blooming above her head as an aura of petals surrounded her body. Now fully revitalized, she turned her attention back to the prone goddess and gave a pointed glare. Her eyes then drifted to the First Blade, the weapon that had come so close to ending her life. Her gaze hardened, and then, with a swing of Brightcrest-
SHATTER!
Her opponent’s weapon was split in two, with the top half collapsing onto the ground. Another upward swing disarmed the goddess of its other half, and before it had even hit the ground, Aqua began her retaliation!
Switching back to the Master’s Defender, she delivered a heavy, two-handed slash that struck Palutena across the chest.She followed up by throwing out two swift slashes to the face, striking hard enough that they likely would have staggered the deity had she been able to move. To end this combo, Aqua wreathed her Keyblade in flame and leapt forward.
“Heat Slash!” She shouted as she corkscrewed through the air, drilling into Palutena’s body with her fiery Keyblade. But even after this, Aqua still wasn’t finished! Pointing her Keyblade into the air, the mage then began gathering fire into its tip, conjuring up a massive ball of flame. No, calling it a ball of flame was incorrect. What she was creating seemed more akin to a miniature Sun, and from this fiery sphere emerged dozens of smaller bursts of flame that rocketed toward her adversary at faster-than-light speeds! Within only a few seconds, all of these fiery projectiles had slammed into Palutena. Coincidentally, just as the Firaga Burst had dispersed, both Palutena’s time stop and her activated powers had also run their course.
Almost as if it were some sort of delayed reaction, once her movement returned to her, Palutena’s body began to register the pain inflicted on her. As she was sent skidding back, gashes appeared on her chest and face, while her skin became adorned with numerous burns.
‘Wha- what was that?’ She asked in surprise as she opened her mouth, unintentionally coughing up blood that stained the water beneath her a deep crimson. As she struggled to push herself back up, the goddess noticed a flash of light appear above her, and her eyes widened at what she saw.
Descending upon her from above was Aqua, who quickly flipped through the air and slammed onto Palutena’s back, sending her crashing into the ground. Coughing, she attempted to push herself back up, only for the Keyblade Master to crash down on her again. This repeated a third time. A fourth. By the fifth, the surrounding water beneath the deity had shot into the air, only to suddenly fall back into the sea. Once Aqua had come down for the sixth time, something odd happened. The moment she made impact, Palutena let out a pained scream as her body exploded into its own flash of light. These screams echoed across the Realm of Darkness, causing the various Heartless to look around in surprise, and it would soon fade into silence. Looking down at where her opponent had once laid, the corrupted mage soon rose back to her feet and began walking away.
“Good riddance.” She declared in annoyance. But despite what she believed, her fight wasn’t done just yet.
Though Aqua wasn’t aware of it, her opponent still lived, albeit thanks to a hasty last second decision. The moment she felt the tips of her opponent’s boots make contact with her back, Palutena had decided to take a gamble, and from the looks of things, it seemed to have paid off!
With the Keyblade Master’s back now facing her, Palutena began thinking of the various ways she could go about handling this. From what she’d experienced so far, the mage was more than capable of handling herself both up-close and in long-range. And with Aqua’s speed and teleporting, it was safe to say the goddess had no chance of trying to overwhelm her.
‘At this point, it might be best to try a stealth approach.’ She realized, though she mentally noted the slight problem that Playing Dead would only last for so long. There was also the fact that Aqua seemed to be quickly adapting to each of her weapons. ‘Unless-‘ Palutena’s eyes widened as she remembered something. There was one weapon in her arsenal, a technique so potent and unexpected that her opponent wouldn’t have a way to counter it! But her gaze soon turned sour as she remembered a slight detriment: she’d need to survive long enough if she wanted to use it.
‘Well, looks like I’ll just have to play my cards right and hope for the best.’ She thought optimistically as she summoned a new weapon. It was a gnarled, silver rifle with a jagged handle. Its two-pronged barrel was a deep blue, with a red jewel in its middle. The barrel itself seemed to be made of some sort of crystal, with the handle sharing similar structure. Unlike the barrel, the handle was purple and shaped like a deformed triangle, with one of its pointed ends jutting out unevenly.
Pointing the Lancer Staff forward, Palutena fired off a green, crystal-shaped blast that struck Aqua in the back, causing her to stumble forward. Gritting her teeth, the mage snapped her head back to the shot’s location and swung her blade, only to meet thin air. Three more blasts hit her blind spot, only adding to her growing irritation. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed another enormous crystal hurtling toward her and, while still trying to maintain a cool head, swiftly cartwheeled out of its range. Once she’d come to a stop, the mage began thinking.
‘Is this someone else, or did she manage to trick me?’ A small trace of a smirk emerged on her face as she continued with ‘Well, whoever you are, you’re in for a rude awakening!’
“Go!” She shouted, raising the Master’s Defender into the air as she conjured up a straight line of light green circles sporting gold-and-red outlines. Though she was somewhat confused by this, Palutena continued her plan as she took a few steps forward, each one accompanied by another shot from her staff. Unlike before, this time Aqua seemed to be prepared, as she quickly turned around and raised her Keyblade in defense. The projectiles soon met the flat of her blade, and once they had dispersed, Aqua smirked.
“Found you!” She declared as she threw her Keyblade at the invisible goddess, chucking it hard enough that it spun through the air numerous times. Instead of being concerned, however, Palutena only responded by activating Sky Jump, causing her to take an enormous leap through the air as the Master’s Defender sailed right past her. Upon landing, Palutena noticed something run toward her current position, but before she could attempt to fire at it-
BOOM!
It exploded, launching her back several feet. Before she even had a chance to recover, Aqua’s Keyblade slammed itself into Palutena’s back, eliciting a grunt of pain as she was forced to stumble forward. Sensing these movements, 2 of the remaining 3 mines began moving forward, but this time the goddess was ready! Pointing the Lancer Staff at one of the explosives, she fired off a charge shot. The blast made contact almost immediately, resulting in a loud BOOM as its target detonated prematurely. This result would then extend itself to the next mine, which suffered the same fate. Another shot was fired at the final explosive laying to Aqua’s right, causing it to burst into nothingness.
Before Aqua even had a chance to comprehend this, several projectiles slammed into her, all from different angles. Looking around, she began searching for any sign of her attacker. While on this search, another projectile struck her in the chest, but that was when she noticed something odd: the attack seemed to be invisible! Realizing this could only mean one thing, Aqua teleported away, this time just as three more shots had flown toward her.
“Trying to trick me with invisibility? If I was still able to feel it, I’d be impressed.” Aqua admitted upon rematerializing. “But it doesn’t matter how good you are at hiding or where you move, because I can still flush you out!”
Once these words had escaped her lips, the mage began gracefully spinning around, starting off in a crouching position as hundreds of rapidly-fired blasts of light emerged from her body. The moment these projectiles emerged from Aqua’s body, they immediately homed in on Palutena. Seeing this onslaught, the goddess of light gave a single command:
“Reflect!”
Much like before, a red barrier erected itself in front of her, and it was doing a decent job. Any projectiles that struck the shield bounced off, intercepting another of its ilk and canceling them out, but these proved to be few and far between. Almost as if she had predicted her opponent’s actions, Aqua’s position rose higher, turning into a pirouette. In tandem with this, the balls of light also rose through the air, causing each one to begin flying around the shield and intercepting their lone target. Not helping matters was that the orbs that did hit the barrier were starting to wear down its integrity. Small cracks were beginning to appear on its surface, almost like a car window being constantly pelted with rocks, and these cracks were rapidly spreading throughout the barrier. Palutena didn’t even have the time to use her final Warp; in fact, she couldn’t even try another means of escape. Once the barrier had exploded, the remaining light projectiles- which were now in the thousands- slammed into her simultaneously, eliciting a pained scream from the deity as each ball exploded into a massive flash of white! The blinding light lasted for roughly three seconds, but once it had faded Palutena collapsed onto the ground.
‘Just another minute and it’ll be done.’ she thought sluggishly as pain wracked her body. Propping herself up on one knee, the goddess of light began pushing herself back up, though the fight was clearly taking its toll on her stamina. ‘I just… need… to last…’
Before she could finish these thoughts, pain flared through her once more, causing her to audibly collapse onto the ground. Noticing this, as well as the ripples from her opponent’s collision, Aqua lunged at the goddess, but just as she’d started to swing her blade-
FWING!
Palutena had managed to activate the Power of Flight, causing Aqua to hit thin air as her former target began soaring through the skies. While she ascended into the air, the goddess of light switched out her weapon once again. This time she held in her hands a massive bow. Its limbs were curved and silver, sporting razor-sharp edges on their tips and pink armor around the limbs themselves. Its grip was pitch-black, and there seemed to be no string. Or at least that’s what it seemed.
Pulling her left arm back, a drawstring suddenly appeared in Palutena’s hand, with an arrow-shaped bolt suddenly appearing between the string and grip. The moment she let it fly, the arrow turned red and homed in on Aqua, making direct contact and forcing her to stagger back. As she regained focus, the brainwashed mage began keeping her ears focused, waiting for the moment she heard any suspicious noises. The sound of three arrows being fired quickly alerted her, and it was then that she decided to act.
After cartwheeling past each of the projectiles, Aqua threw herself to the side once again, this time just barely avoiding being grazed by another oncoming shot. Once it had faded, she leapt through the air to dodge yet another blast.
“Looks like you’re having some trouble there!” Palutena called out, taunting her. “Would it help if I came down to your level?”
“I appreciate the offer, but-“ Aqua paused as she switched Keyblades. For a brief moment she held Stormfall, a navy blue sword with a black handle and a rectangular frame sporting four teeth, but this changed with a sudden flash of light. Now she stood with her feet atop two silver pieces that were connected to on elongated version of the Keyblade’s frame. Jutting out of this frame’s middle was a silver cone-shaped extension that resembled some sort of medieval lance. She sat on the lower half of the sword’s hilt, which had morphed into a seat, while the top half currently lay in her grasp as a massive bow.
With her Keyblade Glider materialized, Aqua pressed her hand against her shoulder pad, coating her entire body in a suit of blue and black armor. Now that she’d been granted the protection of her Keyblade Armor, the mage soared after her adversary and continued by saying “I’d rather meet you at yours!”
As her opponent drew closer to her, Palutena responded by firing a charge shot, but Aqua proved quick to respond as she swerved to the left. Undeterred, the goddess fired off three more shots, all of them hurtling toward her armored opponent, but this would meet the same result. Once the third had flown past her, Aqua got up from her seat and tilted the bow, using her left hand to hold it still while her right pulled back its nigh-invisible drawstring. Then, with inhumanly fast speed, she fired off several blasts of her own, each one rocketing toward Palutena so quickly that she barely had any time to react to them. The keyword was barely.
Although it was somewhat difficult for her to do so, Palutena was managing to either dodge or weave through each of the Wing Arrows. Each time they’d approach her, she would twist her body at enough of an angle that they’d miss her entirely while also letting her to get some of her own shots in. Unfortunately, she seemed to have underestimated her opponent’s speed, as each of the Fortune Bow’s arrows would either be avoided entirely or meet the flat of Aqua’s bow.
Realizing they were getting nowhere fast, both women responded to the situation differently. Aqua began pushing the acceleration on her glider, forcing it to boost toward the goddess at dangerously fast speeds. With how fast she was going, it was likely the spearhead on her lower half would run Palutena through before she could even comprehend it! And it was this fact that made the deity’s response all the more confusing.
Rather than aiming at the speeding aircraft in an attempt to throw her off course, as she had expected, Aqua found herself witnessing an extremely odd sight. The goddess of light had instead pointed the Fortune Bow upward, notching the drawstring back as a green, arrow-shaped bolt of energy appeared before her. Once it had been summoned, she fired the projectile into the air, causing a small green light to begin ascending into the otherwise dull gray sky. Though this action left Aqua perplexed, what happened next caused her expression to become one of visible surprise. The single arrow suddenly split off, morphing into countless copies that began raining down from the heavens, all intent on running through one target: her.
As she watched the rain of arrows approach her, Aqua’s only response was to steel her gaze as she continued to push forward. A determined shout emerged from her mouth as she erected a barrier before herself, summoning it just as the arrows slammed into her! Each arrow that made contact with the barrier immediately bounced off, though they were still leaving their mark. Cracks were rapidly spreading across the barrier’s surface, and Aqua, noticing this, responded by pushing her feet down as far as they could go! An audible KRACKT rang out as the barrier shattered, leaving the remaining arrows to batter the mage’s body. Even with the protection of her Keyblade Armor, Aqua still found herself grimacing in pain as each shot left a mild stinging sensation, but she forced herself to continue pushing forward. Another determined cry rang out from the Keyblade Master’s throat as she boosted through the onslaught, ignoring the pain of the arrows until finally-
FWOOM!
Like a bat out of hell, she shot out from the barrage of arrows, forcing the jet boosters on her glider to go into overdrive as she finally broke through the surface! Now free from the constant pain, she began looking around the arena, only to notice Palutena attempting to gain distance with the Power of Flight. Upon seeing this, Aqua raised an eyebrow.
‘So after all of that, she’s started retreating?’ She thought skeptically. ‘Why? She doesn’t have anywhere to hide this time.’
As these thoughts ran through her head, Aqua began boosting forward, all the while firing shots at the retreating deity. As her enhanced senses picked this up, Palutena once again began dodging the various projectiles, this time from behind, and looked toward her attacker with a smirk.
“It looks like someone needs to work on their aim!” The goddess taunted. “At this point I could probably dodge these in my sleep.”
Upon hearing this, Aqua grit her teeth. She was really getting tired of her opponent’s lip service, and at this point the only thing on her mind was getting Palutena to shut her mouth! In tandem with these rage-fueled thoughts, the Keyblade Glider suddenly boosted toward Palutena at unimaginable speeds! It was moving so quickly that the deity’s cocky smirk became a look of shock as she just barely managed to swerve to the side. Despite avoiding impalement from the spearhead, however, she still found herself letting out a cry of pain as the weapon grazed her side.
Looking down, she noticed a sizable cut on her skin, though the pain from her previous injuries made it harder to make it out. Her vision was starting to blur and black spots were beginning to dance in her eyes, but she proved quick to rectify this as she activated her final Health Recovery.
With her wounds now patched up, Palutena looked back up at the Keyblade Glider, which she noticed was rushing toward her once again! Desperate to survive the attack, the goddess of light spoke one word:
“Counter!”
Realizing what this meant, Aqua attempted to stop her glider’s descent, but she was too late. The vehicle slammed into Palutena’s body-
THWACK!
Only for her to respond by striking its front with the Fortune Bow, which she had split into two blades. The moment they struck, Aqua found herself descending back toward the ground, and it was during this time that Palutena began thinking.
‘If I hadn’t countered that last attack, she probably would’ve been able to finish me off right then!’ She thought to herself. ‘And given the anger I’m getting off of her, I’ll need to end this now before she has another chance like that!’
With this thought in mind, Palutena replaced her weapon, exchanging the Fortune Bow for her staff. While this was occurring, Aqua had only just recovered, and as she prepared to bring her bow up to face-level, the goddess said something to her.
“I’ll give you this, Aqua. You’re strong, probably moreso than any other mortal I’ve met.” She admitted as a blue light began gathering from above. “But I don’t think even you can survive something like this! Now, witness the full power of…”
The energy had just hit its peak, and as it was seconds away from activating, Palutena revealed its name.
“The Palutena Glam Blaster!”
[Stop music]
Once these words had escaped her lips, the energy fired itself out of the sky, forming into a massive beam that threatened to engulf the entire beach. Aqua stared up at it in shock for a brief moment, but this soon faded, being replaced by a hardened glare as she waved a hand in front of herself. A blue-and-purple line of energy briefly sparked across the ocean beneath her, followed soon after by the line erupting into another of the mage’s barriers. Though unlike the previous ones, this barrier had a major difference, as it now encompassed a most of the sea and even some of the shoreline. The moment this massive shield became erected, it met the Palutena Glam Blaster at full force, and from there it became a struggle for supremacy.
In a manner similar to the shield and spear paradox, the building-sized laser collided against the similarly built defense, with neither one making the other budge. The barrier would slowly grow in size to defend its master, but the Glam Blaster would counter this as its creator poured more power into it, stifling the defense’s growth. Aqua would then respond in kind, resulting in what amounted to an unending stalemate as neither side managed to overpower the other.
Or at least that’s what it seemed.
Though it was hard to tell at first, small cracks were beginning to spread across the barrier’s surface, much like what had happened earlier with Palutena’s own. Realizing this, Aqua prepared to teleport herself away, but just before she could-
The barrier gave way, breaking into hundreds of pieces as the laser came down on Aqua. Even with her Keyblade Armor, she could still feel the massive beam burn away at her body. In fact, the power behind it was enough that she screamed, both from the pain and a sudden boost of adrenaline that had entered into her system. She began pushing as hard as she could, trying to focus enough that she could teleport away, but at the same time she began to notice the laser’s energy slowly growing brighter. Realizing this could only mean one thing, Aqua’s scream of exertion only grew further as she began pushing herself. A purple vortex emerged behind her, but at the same time the energy from the beam had faded into a blinding white.
[Stop music]
For a brief moment all seemed silent throughout the Realm of Darkness. Nothing moved, nor did any of its inhabitants speak. All that could be heard, if anything, was a blank white noise. This would change as the excess energy from the Palutena Glam Blaster faded from existence, revealing the damages it had caused.
For starters, the massive portion of ocean it had struck was now reduced to a crater the size of a city block, with steam rising off its edges as the surrounding water attempted to fill the newly created void. Additionally, the beam’s heat had caused several feet of the shoreline to form into glass, creating a wall of jagged spikes that stuck out at various angles.
As she watched the ocean begin consuming the newfound hole, submerging it in the same gray water as everything else, Palutena began looking around the area for some sign that Aqua had been caught in the blast. Given her opponent’s previous uses of teleporting, it was safe to assume she could’ve escaped in time, and if she did, then she could very well be hiding. The goddess of light kept her guard up, though she knew that at this point there wasn’t much left she could do if Aqua did survive. Using the Palutena Glam Blaster had left her heavily exhausted, as her ragged breathing could attest to, and her body was starting to ache from the exertion. Her knees buckled, and the goddess soon found herself collapsing onto them, panting heavily as she placed one hand against the ground. She attempted to push herself back up, but then-
SCHLICK!
A sharp pain suddenly shot through Palutena’s mind, causing her eyes to shrink as she let out a strangled gasp. Sticking out of her body was a large purple spike that had become embedded in her stomach. Though she could still feel the pain, Palutena looked up to find the culprit responsible: it was Aqua, still sporting her Keyblade Armor, though its frame was now adorned with numerous scuffs and burn marks. She was no longer wearing her helmet, allowing the goddess of light to stare back at her attacker’s hateful, angered glare.
“How- how did you-“ Palutena began to ask, only to cut herself off as she involuntarily coughed up blood.
“Survive?” The Keyblade Master finished. “Only thanks to this.” She gestured to the armor. “If I hadn’t put it on, that Glam Blaster of yours might’ve actually been able to kill me. But since it didn’t…” she looked her opponent in the eye before continuing with “it looks like I’ll be the one finishing you!”
Before Palutena could give a response, her opponent suddenly vanished, only to return in a flash of light as she jammed a second spike into the left side of deity’s rib cage. Another flash, and this time a third impaled her through the cage’s back end. A fourth spike lodged itself in her back, followed by a fifth and sixth that became embedded in the right side of her ribs. A seventh was jammed into the front, and then to deliver the coup de grace, Aqua shoved the final spike into Palutena’s abs once again, this one appearing right next to the original. Once it had made contact, Aqua teleported back to her original position, though this time her back was facing Palutena. She swung her Keyblade through the air, and in tandem with this seemingly minute gesture-
BOOM!
The spikes of energy exploded into a massive shockwave, taking Palutena with them as her dying screams echoed throughout the area. Remembering the last time something like this had happened, Aqua kept her guard up, waiting to see if her opponent was faking her death once again. She stood still for five seconds in search of a sign, and when it didn’t come she dismissed her Keyblade. Even though she knew her former opponent likely couldn’t hear her, Aqua still chose to give her some parting words.
“You fought well, even if it was a lost cause. I’ve been trapped here for over a decade, and nothing will ever change that. Still,” she looked back at where Palutena had once stood, “even if it was for a brief moment, you did manage to stir up that sense of hope I abandoned not too long ago.”
After these words had escaped her lips, Aqua looked ahead and began trudging forward, ready to continue her unending trek through the Realm of Darkness.
When it came to physicality, it’s safe to say that Aqua had Palutena heavily outclassed. Although Palutena herself doesn’t have that many feats of her own, scaling her to her servant, Pit, would actually give her some pretty impressive stats. Pit has been shown to be capable of harming Hades, who was able to create, maintain, and violently shake a dimension filled with multiple stars, which would come out at Multi-Solar System Level. Given that Pit was able to defeat Hades, and Palutena should be comparable if not superior to him, it’s safe to say she should scale to this. Further evidence supporting this can be seen with how she aided in Hades’ defeat by using her energy to charge the cannon for the Great Sacred Treasure, which was the weapon ultimately responsible for killing him. How does Aqua compare to this?
Outside of actually having more concrete feats of strength and durability, she’s also got Palutena’s number when it comes to scaling. Due to being a Keyblade Master, she is on par with other Keyblade wielders like Terra. A possessed Terra was strong enough to force Donald Duck to use his full power against him. Keep in mind that Donald has been shown to contend with Xehanort, who at the time wielded both the true χ-blade and Kingdom Hearts. When he wielded these, Xehanort intended to use them to reset the universe. Given Aqua’s status as a Keyblade Master, she would also be superior to the likes of Donald and Goofy, who were both able to fight this amped Xehanort without the need of any power-ups; which would put them, and by extension Aqua, at Universe Level.
In short, Palutena gets completely destroyed in strength and durability, but what about speed? Once again, Palutena’s feats in this department come from fighting (as well as scaling to) Pit, who was able to fly to the other end of the solar system in seconds, which would put both him and Palutena herself at 1.8 million times the speed of light. Similarly, Aqua’s best feat would come from keeping up with Sora in battle. Sora in turn is comparable to his Nobody, Roxas, who could fly from Radiant Garden to the Skein of Severance in a matter of seconds. This puts Sora (and by extension, Aqua) at over 66 million times the speed of light, well above anything Palutena has under her belt.
Similarly, Aqua also takes experience. While Palutena’s definitely the older of the two, the amount of times she’s actually fought someone can be counted on one hand. There’s the time she battled Pit while possessed by the Chaos Kin, and when she fought a group of sentient vegetables. By contrast, Aqua’s spent her years fighting against various threats such as the Unversed, the Heartless, other Keyblade wielders, Maleficent, Hades, and she’s even defeated her own clone three times. Intelligence, on the other hand, is a bit harder to determine. Palutena’s demonstrated the ability to come up with impressive strategies and deduce an opponent’s weaknesses, while Aqua’s mastery of swordsmanship and magic would prove more beneficial in combat. It’s hard to say who has a definite advantage here, so I’ll just list this part as a tie.
Then there’s the matter of their weapons. Palutena’s staff, Wolf Claws, Fortune Bow, Lancer Staff, and First Blade gave her an edge in variety, but there’s just one problem: outside of the first two, she’s never shown the ability to use them in a fight since her combat experience, as mentioned above, is limited to just two fights. By contrast, Aqua’s always shown expertise in using her Keyblades to fight in both close-quarters and long-range. There’s also the fact that each item in her arsenal gave her some sort of advantage over Palutena. Destiny’s Embrace could let her deal more critical hits, Brightcrest boosted her magic, the Master’s Defender boosted the strength of her attacks and could let her restrain Palutena in chains, the Keyblade Armor provided better protection, and the Keyblade Glider gave her better long-range options in addition to better mobility.
When it came to powers, both had some impressive abilities and shared the power of teleportation, but Aqua’s magic gave her a massive edge in both range and versatility. She could defend herself with barriers (as well as inflict various status effects on Palutena), use the elements to attack Palutena, render the goddess helpless by removing gravity or freezing her in time, draw her back in if she tried to escape, and Aqua could even heal herself or cure any status effects inflicted on her. The Command Styles only further this advantage, as they grant her more versatility in fighting styles and make her more unpredictable. That’s not to say Palutena didn’t have her own advantages here, though.
Going by the powers Palutena herself has, she could use her ability to create barriers to defend herself, restrain Aqua with telekinesis, or summon the Palutena Glam Blaster to blow Aqua to kingdom come. Then there are the in-game powers that Palutena herself created. Her various healing options could counter Aqua’s own, Super Speed and Lightweight let her lessen the speed gap, Eggplant and Tempura Attack would temporarily leave Aqua unable to fight back, and she could grow stronger by using Libra Sponge or Power Charge. Finally, powers like Interference and Playing Dead would also serve to make Aqua’s fight more difficult in their own ways. Unfortunately for Palutena, there are several problems that prevent her from using any of them:
-The stat gap is so massive that Aqua could easily blitz and one-shot her before she even thinks of using any of her powers
-Each of the in-game powers have a limited number of uses
-Her playful personality and refusal to take situations seriously meant she wouldn’t prioritize using her haxxier powers
-Barriers could be easily shattered
-Soul Manipulation is countered by the Keyblade Armor, which is designed to protect users from attacks that target their heart and soul
-The various status-inducing attacks could be cured by Esuna, assuming they hit Aqua at all
-Instant Death Attack likely wouldn’t work due to its low chance of activating
-Interference could remove Aqua’s powers, but she can easily destroy the tower or just move out of its range
-Her various defensive buffs would only delay the inevitable
-Palutena Glam Blaster requires a long time to charge, and even if she managed to fire it Aqua could negate it with her barriers
Finally, there’s Aqua’s transformation: Anti-Aqua. While it’s only available through certain circumstances, it still gives Aqua a fair number of advantages. With it, she could teleport freely along the battlefield, summon clones to boost her attacks or psyche Palutena out, and she could create Demon Towers to overwhelm the deity through sheer numbers. And while Palutena’s light manipulation meant she could easily take out several of the tower’s Shadows, the several hundred or so still alive could easily gang up on her or try to devour her.
To sum it up, Palutena had comparable intellect and more varied weaponry, but Aqua took this due to her massive edge in the stat trinity, larger arsenal, more versatile magic, and a potential numbers advantage.
Palutena was a tough warrior in her own right, but Aqua was the one who held the KEY to victory!
The winner is Aqua.
Aqua (Winner)
+ Massive edge in the stat trinity
+ More experienced
+ Larger arsenal
+ Keyblade Armor and barriers gave her better defenses, with the former also protecting her from Palutena’s Soul Manipulation
+ Keyblade Glider gave her better mobility
+ Magic gave her better versatility
+ Didn’t have a limit to how many times she could use her powers
+ Command Styles granted her more versatile fighting styles
+ Anti-Aqua gave her an advantage in numbers
+ Esuna could cancel out Palutena’s status-inducing attacks
+ Would take the fight seriously from the start
= Intelligence
– Eggplant Attack and Tempura Attack could temporarily render her incapable of fighting
+ But that’s assuming they’d be able to hit her
– Interference could cancel out her powers
+ But she could easily destroy the tower, move out of its range, or blitz Palutena before it’s ever summoned
– Instant Death Attack could kill her
+ But her massive speed advantage and its low chance of activation make this unlikely to occur
– Palutena Glam Blaster could do some serious damage to her
+ But that’s assuming it charges in time, and that she doesn’t counter it with her defensive options
Palutena (Loser)
+ Light Manipulation would prove effective against Anti-Aqua and her Demon Towers
+ Larger variety of weapons
– But she lacks experience using most of them
+ Could briefly make herself stronger with Libra Sponge, Energy Charge, and Trade-Off
– Though the massive speed gap means that the latter two would be useless and detrimental, respectively
+ Super Speed, Lightweight, and Virus can temporarily lessen the speed gap
– But Lightweight would also double the damage she receives
+ Larger amount of healing options
+ Eggplant Attack and Tempura Attack could temporarily render Aqua incapable of fighting
– But that’s assuming they’d hit her
+ Could cancel out Aqua’s powers with Interference
– But Aqua has several ways to get around it
+ Instant Death Attack could kill Aqua
– But this isn’t likely to occur given the speed gap and its low chance of activation
+ Palutena Glam Blaster’s wide AOE and massive firepower meant it could seriously damage Aqua
– But it requires time to charge, which Palutena wouldn’t be able to get
= Intelligence
– Heavily outclassed in the stat trinity
– Powers had a limited number of uses
– Far slower
– Less experienced
– Smaller arsenal
– Inferior defensive options
– Less mobile
– Less versatile arsenal and fighting style
– Wouldn’t take the fight seriously, which prevented her from utilizing her haxxier powers
– Demon Towers could likely wear her down due to their numbers
– Esuna canceled out her status-inducing attacks
– Keyblade Armor rendered her Soul Manipulation useless, though that’s assuming she’d even use it
Brendan’s Versus Battles 