Chapter Text
The water below the Battlefield pulled into the center of Link’s hand, and exploded with overwhelming ferocity. So forth, the world was painted—or more so—consdensed into a magnificent temple holding scales on the bottom of each ice pillar that merged seamlessly with the floor and ceiling. The pattern stretched on for only the gods knew how long, and the center was only identified by Link and Pit staring down one another.
Pit stared into Link’s eyes, Drill Arm at the ready.
In those eyes… he saw the glimpse of someone burdened with responsibility.
In contrast, Link saw exactly what he couldn’t become. “My kingdom has fallen, because I couldn’t beat you before.” The “newfound” Hylian smiled with a villainous glee, raising a dropping hand as if he was going to dance. “However, I’m not that useless. I’ll “slay” you no matter how many kingdoms it takes!”
Pit gritted his teeth, “You’re STILL focused on that?!”
Surviving Penance is impossible—but it’ll give him an even worse punishment next timealA I just gotta figure out a way to break this domain!
However, Link had come to an epiphany. The reason Pit had survived the fury of Death Mountain was because only a certain aspect of the environment was being utilized. Here, the goal was to make sure that breaking or “escaping” was meaningless.
To do this, Link’s soul-energy marked the most minute details of the Domain, the air cackling like electricity as he took two, earth-shattering steps forward!
The moment his foot touched the ground, Pit aimed his drill to one of the pillars, channeling as much Divine Energy as possible! “Gotcha!”
He said that word with absolute certainty as the drill burst forward! Twoosh! Unfortunately, it didn't even leave a dent.
“Huh?” Pit stood confused. The rule was simple. The more soul-energy there was, the more Divine Energy was able to be expelled.
But Link had something for that. In fact, he had words as well. “It’s always been a race, huh? Well, looks like I'm faster.”
Pit’s Divine Energy didn't take the Magic of the Domain into account, so…
LINK’S SOUL-ENERGY WAS FAR, FAR CLOSER TO THE FINISH LINE!
“Now,” Link sent an omni-directional wave of soul-energy outwards just by flinging his hands outwards. Ultimately, this didn't affect Pit, but rather the entire landscape. “INFINITE HARDENING!”
Crystals shone brighter and the floor slightly lost its slippery texture! It was obvious now that even with these weapons, he couldn’t do so much as put a scratch on the inside. He’d await more brash and bold ideas, and instead, charged forward with his Upperdash Arm! “Hrraaaggghhh!”
Link faced the attack head on with a smile—and took the blow like a champ! The force threw his chin up, but he brought it back down in an instant to stare at the angel with a look that screamed he wasn’t scared.
While the Upperdash Arm still resided in the air, Pit brought it down—only to be thrown off balance with Link planting his hand on his elbow, and redirecting the angel right into a pillar by twirling. His form was soft, yet unbeatable—the epitome of Hylian Kata!
Although bruised, Pit headed in for another round of Melee. However, even the most direct strikes lost any possible impact, for Link’s movements, and seemingly his skin, held no care for the balance of anything. But the twentieth time he’d been flung away, Pit stood up and paused.
The weight of the Upperdash Arm was getting to him.
Link’s body held the property of ice—that property being its slipperyness. While this weakened short range attacks, he could yield his flesh with the freedom of an eagle with long range attacks.
𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!
Light formed into an instrument of ice with two interconnected blades. A long, shard of crystal, that Link would prop up to his shoulder like a spear, and fling at Pit with full force, one leg lifted off the ground as if his torso was thrown along with it.
The reaction time of the angel was exceptional with or without heavy weaponry. His wings carried him into the air at the last second, leaving the pillar to crash into the ground. One of the best courses of action was taking the air to clear your head and also equip a bow or a cannon.
Link, of course, would not allow such so easily. He had recognized the angel’s patterns now.
Fwooom! Krash! Boom!
Crystals of all sizes, masterpieces in sharpness and the art of killing, were flung at unprecedented speeds! Soul-energy was being exuded in each and every one like the ammo of a machine gun. Even though they were quite straightforward, switching directions was a detriment to momentum.
At one point, coming right off of a close call, he was on a head on collision course with another. His heart thumping and his mind/body firing off on all cylinders, he’d make a sharp turn downward at the last second, then followed with a crescent upbringing!
“Close…” He muttered. Link was still within his sight, and the mindset now was: If Link could hit him, then so could he!
Link caught what Pit was trying to do, and made sure the next throw would intercept his flight pattern once for all! However, when it was supposed to strike the wing, Pit twisted his body into a tighter spiral and matched the flow—except, the flow of the shard ended in its imprisonment into the wall.
“Damn it!” In a flush of anger, Link’s soul energy grew rampant, and he extended his dominion over to the pillars—making spikes lash out of the one Pit resided behind. In spite of this, Pit zoomed out from hiding into a searing arc, ultimately unaffected and Arrow of Light at the ready. Palutena’s Bow made a reappearance!
In retaliation, the two pillars in front of Pit twisted and contorted into each other with the rising of Link’s palm. It was as if the landscape remained unchanged, and for the Arrow of Light, it was semi-true. It lost momentum, but blasted through the ice!
Link jumped to the side, leaving the wintry explosion behind and alone. Like Popo and Nana, he’d glide over the ice—smooth, and yet possessing great speed. A few arrows marked his trail, but not him, and upon honing closer to the angel, propelled upwards with soul-energy.
Pit caught his movement just in time, and departed his blades to counter the shard Link thrusted forward. Now, the two were locked in the air.
“How’d you survive the Commandant?” Pit posed a question, the struggle equal.
“...I’ve been punished all my life.”
Pit would take note of those words…
Skiing!
The clash broke, and Link tried to get a quick swipe, but the angel flew higher into the air. Touching the ground, the Hylian sent forth a cascade of spikes that meshed together to create the ultimate—unavoidable weapon of death.
“You never fight on head on…” Pit muttered, slicing and dicing away at the ice, the upper half of his body becoming a blur of colors as he put his utmost and dearest physical effort to destroy the ice once and for all. Link kept exuding soul-energy at an impossible rate, and while that allowed him infinite attack power, it was eating away at his body.
Tch!
Link expanded his control to the wall behind Pit, another convergence of spikes out to kill! And yet…
Boom!
Unbeknownst to Link, one of the Arrows didn’t reach its end upon hitting the wall, and was redirected right towards his construct.
Link was disappointed, and let up on the assault. Instead, he’d go for a different approach. “If I die right here, angel, I don’t think I can forgive myself.”
The binding of shards that held a bush like appearance warped into a humanoid, fish like army with spears in hand, all at the ready to battle. “The souls here hold as much conviction as I do to protect this land.” He said, “In their hearts—even if you kill them—the lives they’ve lived will never be forgotten by me.”
Pit landed onto the ground. The overuse of his Power of Flight caused his wings to twitch.
This isn’t good. Pit declared, sweat running down his forehead. This Domain is way more logical and powerful! There’s no clear openings or cracks, and I don’t have a Xiphoid Function to neutralize something like this…
This Domain, in reality, was only a fraction of what could be an even greater Domain.
However, Xiphoid Functions and any effects of Divine-Energy, could not neutralize something that practically didn’t have a complete form.
Link had been aware of this fact through Truth ever since he had obtained his method of accelerated progression.
March.
March.
March.
Soldiers, in circles of ten, with more life into their weapons than eyes approached Pit eerily in perfect rhythm. At a single command from Link, they all launched forward.
“Sorry…” The angel muttered an apology as Divine-Energy ravished the air. He closed his eyes, and got into a stance to slice them all in one shot. Before he did, though, he swore to have seen the eyes of pure sadness and regret… staring right back at him.
Fwoooosh! He became a tempest—one that mercifully tore apart anything in its path. Water replaced the blood of the army, and upon touching the floor, they were reduced to ashes.
But their work wasn't done.
Some of Link’s soul-energy was outside of the Domain, and so, he could either expand or condense the barrier without ultimately harming himself. Not just that, but there was also…
“Look out, Pit…”
“Huh?”
Link’s eyes carried bold, dark lines.
“I have soldiers… above you, too!”
Naturally, those words caused the angel to look up, and—
—No way! A horrifying cluster of soldiers, spears as ready as they could possibly be without the damage of their comrades, reigned down like a giant rock falling from the sky.
“Viridi!” Pit shouted, “Got any more pa—”
“Not a chance! Find a way to deal with it yourself!”
That answer made him recoil.
There was a certain emotional depth behind it.
Nevertheless…
“..Alright, then.” Pit knew he couldn’t keep slashing at everything forever, but the thing was—it was illogical for a metaphysical barrier to not have an escape route.
A soul-user would have to figure out every property of the layout to know where it was—which would take the Domain lasting three whole hours at most.
For Pit, no matter how much Link condensed or expanded the Domain, the truth was that the initial height was always there.
This Metaphysical Barrier held two entire layers. That was apparent when Pit kicked the ground with a glimmer of Divine-Energy, and felt a cascade of soul-energy below.
He thinks he can keep me up here.
Well, if that’s your plan…
So, before the army could consume him, Pit—the Pit—dug a hole into the ground with the Drill Arm, and went underwater! Splash!
Due to the familiarity in Link’s mind of the current era, the Domain fixed the hole instinctively, leaving the army to be eviscerated.
Link frowned. “You think you can escape me in my Domain?” He asked, “You’re only going to pass through… the ocean bearing my hate!”
Blurb! Blurb!
While Divine-Energy sought to resist instead of fighting, Pit felt something within this blue, dark sea that overthrew the cold completely.
The soul-energy of pure hatred… that stretched to every corner.
The only question in Pit’s mind now was: How could one be so heartless?
Downward he went. Down, down, down, and no surface was in sight. The only skin this place showed were the walls bearing dark tunnels, but even those brought no certainty for an escape. Like the sea, perhaps this was only a spec of progress.
But where there was darkness—a light was destined to follow.
Pit saw it, of course at the tunnel in front of him. It was faint, but it was convincing enough for him to barrel through. The deep, blue crevices were still visible in the ice-free walls, and while that was admirable, the true scenery resided beyond the light.
Finally, he could breathe again. The water ended at the opening with the same exact size of the entrance, and allowed for a beautiful waterfall to aid the crown rock in the epicenter of it all— a configuration of over a thousand of tiny rocks. Thousands of other holes, equally placed, committed to the same thing.
There, in the epicenter, Pit could see much clearer versions of the inhabitants of Zora. To further the difference, this crew seemed to be holding instruments.
The shining star seemed to be the one in front of them. The man who held a guitar forged from the skeleton of a dead fish.
Is this… some kinda band?
All of the sudden, a rough singing would break through the waterfall’s ambience!
“Oh, baby, baby, listen to me!
A revolution is here!
We’re the ones who are gonna be free!
But that girl, our vocalist!
She’s lost to the fight!
Without her voice, we can’t be there tonight!”
That caused Pit to think back to the army he had torn through, and he found it baffling that even at the sight of those eyes who could’ve very well been the vocalist, he barely hesitated to execute them.
The guitar man continued, everyone else behind motionless.
“Our new king ain’t fair!
These waters can’t hear the sound!
The sadness leaves us gasping for air!
How are we supposed to stay around?!”
“...Link..”
“Somebody! Anybody! Please guide her back before the war takes its toll!
Oh, by the Three, if I die like this, peace will never reach my soul!”
And then, the Zora inhabitant finally spotted Pit, shaking him to the very core.
“Will you save her? Oh, please do, the one who guides!”
With that dying wish, the man, and the band faded away.
Pit landed onto the epicenter, sensing Link’s soul-energy growing stronger, signaling that he was growing closer. As he flapped his wings up and down to free them of the water, and his attention drew to the ground where just a second ago, a soul was pleading for his help.
No wonder these people were desperate for help. These waters had been filled with the hatred of an unfair king.
However, Pit didn’t think he was in the right to judge this time. That surge of satisfaction he felt with placing that Commandant upon Link—even with the eyes of his former comrades in mind, made him stare at the Divine Energy of his palms. The force that had caused so much destruction to the Battlefield.
He sighed, staring upwards at the giant ceiling of rock.
The point of this operation was simple, but this confliction in the angel’s heart prevented a quick endtime.
The First Angel ever on earth… shot his bow to make people fall in love. Those who desperately needed it.
Right now, he deemed Palutena’s Bow unable to be used by him.
In exchange for that, he drew out…
𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑵𝑼𝑺’ 𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑩
The malevolent club built from a benevolent former ally during the Paranormal Subspace Operation. Gee, how in the world did he carry this thing?
He needed to prove himself.
He wouldn’t let the resolve of the soul he saw go to waste.
He’d help them… and defeat Link at the same time.
Winning by saving!
The stage was set.
Meanwhile…. Link was soaring through the water as effortlessly as sealife; Pit’s location was shown as a twinkling light by the Domain. In this ocean of hate, there were trails of light that were obviously made by him, and by seeing them, a struggle was formed once more.
This ocean held everything…
Yet, Pit wasn’t being crushed under the weight as much as Link was. So much freedom in darkness, yet in the light he found disparity.
At the last second, he lost his ability to breathe, and such a scare left him gasping for air as he arrived at Pit’s location.
“Did you even know it?” Pit posed a question.
“What are you talking about?” Link inquired, finally catching his breath.
“Someone in the Zora Tribe is looking for their lover.” Pit explained, “And because of you, he won’t get that! Isn’t a king supposed to care for his people?”
“You were the one who gave me this place.” Link argued without a tint of anger, “The people and I are free to do whatever we want.”
“You’re controlling them.”
“They’re more than willing to sacrifice themselves if it means protecting the Tribe. Isn’t that what everyone should do for us to prosper?” Link asked, “Your friend—the me before Zelda—wanted everyone to have good hearts, right?”
Pit’s expression hardened. “So what?”
“So why am I the only hero?!” Finally, the hylian expressed anger, “I built this place! They’re finally respecting me! You’re the enemy, so what gives you the right to judge me?! Their dying wish… is for this kingdom to prosper no matter what! That’s what I’m gonna do!”
Pit couldn’t express even one-billionth of his disappointment in words.
That disappointment was directly only towards Link, though. It extended towards himself, as well.
Now, the true battle of this domain began.
And the Song of Healing that played in the background foretold the story that needed this fight to see its ending.
Chapter End