[KH/FF] Treachery of Fate: Imperfect Imposter

Chapter 50

Dedication to BananaAppleWaffle for helping me with the poll counts~!

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Everything happened so fast.

At the sight of the figure that you believed was Noa, Vanitas' shadows erupted from the ground, going straight for it. You turned to avert his hands, yet Namine once again began trying to restrain his arms. His shadows stopped midway, and he began to get her off of him once more, in attempts to not be rough and hurt her. As this occurred, Yunalesca stood from Kei's support and summoned her staff, taking on a stance as she began dancing as if she were a fluttering petal—her body making circular movements as she twirled her staff—conjuring up a light breeze in the process. Eyes closed, an insignia began to glow beneath her, and as she continued, her hair also began to wave.

You blinked, unsure how to proceed. Summoning your katana, your main goal was removing the darkness, yet, this Noa...was he real? Could it be you had only been seeing him in your head previously? Again you hesitated, and took a step back, reviewing what was before you once more: still Namine and Vanitas fought, still Yunalesca was casting, and still, nobody else had come—there was no telepathy going on, as Namine herself was too focused on stopping Vanitas. Once more, the thought of removing the darkness came back into your mind, and you closed your eyes, attempting to calm yourself.

You were trembling, and your legs were ready to give away. Noa's body—deteriorating within the darkness that was leeched onto it—was incoherently calling for help, and in your realization, was the voice that had caused you to disappear from your group previously. After a few shaky breaths, you swallowed back your own fears as your mind flashed to the last time you saw him, or rather, what seemed to be his ghost, saving you, as you saved Wasurete in an alleyway; before that, it was the morgue.

Your eyes flew open, and you made a dash for Noa, with Namine screaming your name as she caught sight of you—Vanitas taking this chance to push you forward. You jumped a few paces away from the body, and thrust your blade in front of you, clashing with his left arm, in which the darkness had hardened into armor. Using this as leverage, you flipped over the body, hitting the ground with your back to it, and facing it once more with a circular swing of your blade—blocked again in the same manner. Pulling your arms back—both from the impact and to wind up another thrust—you bolted forward, aiming at the neckline's collection of darkness, being bolted back by a gust of wind instead, towards the trees. Kei summoned himself in his dragon form, breaking your fall as you caught your breath, squinting from the wind that continued.

As Noa's body jerked around, it began to wobble towards Yunalesca. Vanitas had Namine in his left arm, and she clung to him as well, his right just a black shadow from the elbow down, staked into the ground to keep him in place. Yunalesca then, opened her eyes, glowing brilliantly an amber color as she pointed her staff at the monster. Another strong gust, and a sort of reflective wave exited from the staff, with the glow and color ever-changing, similar to the pyreflies that began to radiate off of the darkness. Shaking his head, Noa groaned in pain—his voice morphed in an inhumane way—and he raised a hand, speaking in a language you couldn't catch, as a bolt erupted from it. Yunalesca easily deflected it with the palm of her hand and took a step forward, continuing her motions of the radiant waves.

You took this moment to regain your footing, and ran along the side of the area, resummoning your katana. At Yunalesca's next wave, the monster wavered once more, and that's when you took your chance in staking your sword—dashing for it and stabbing halfway through the left side. You quickly kicked off as you did, flipping back and running in the opposite direction you had before. At this point, Vanitas began to raise his shadows once more in an attempt to stop movement from the darkness, yet in one touch, he was burned by a purplish flame that erupted at contact,following up Vanitas' own shadows, momentarily burning him until he retracted them. The ravenette cursed in pain, and as you made your way over to him, a beam of light directed towards you caused you to skid upon the pavement, leaving a burning sensation upon the right leg you had done so on. Yunalesca grabbed his attention again however, and another wave of her magic caused him to fight back in an similar, casting manner.