Zenaïx approached the old church. It had two small towers on each side of the giant archway. The walls reflected the feeling of a medieval church, as the walls were made of stone with stained glass windows on each side of the arch. A stone staircase led up to the massive wooden doors, each engraved with a cross in their surfaces. The angel snickered as he saw that his goal was just several meters in front of him. Two zombies rose up beside him as he sprouted his wings. The zombies were armed with swords; they lifted them up, about to strike the devil's wings.
"Now," he hissed. "It all ends here!"
As the zombies were about to strike the severing blows to the wings, two red lasers shot the swords out of their hands, and two giant keys destroyed the corpses, returning them into the ground. The angel turned around to find that the attackers were Ryona and Kyūbi.
"This ordeal is not over yet, Zenaïx," said Ryona in a tone that sounded like he was issuing an ultimatum. "If your wings are going to be severed, your end is what will follow!"
"No," Zenaïx hissed. "This is only the beginning…the beginning of the end!!!"
The man transformed into his devilish form, and proceeded to destroy the two Guardians that were interfering with his triumph. He unraveled the chain around his torso and flung the mace end at them. Though it appeared to be the size of a small basketball, it grew to ten times its size and almost crushed the two under its massive weight. Kyūbi shot lasers at the devil, but they only skimmed the surface, doing very little damage. Ryona warped in front of the oncoming lasers, and with a swing of the two Keyblades deflected them back at the devil. Zenaïx took flight to avoid them, and lifted his mace to take aim at Ryona. About to swing the devastating mace, Kyūbi warped in front of him and forced the spinning weapon to wrap around his Ethereal Blade, and the kitsune threw the devil down.
"You have no idea of the great lengths we'll go to stop you," said Kyūbi at the falling devil.
"Heh," Zenaïx smirked. "And you have no idea what abilities I hold."
Kyūbi suddenly realized that the mace had wrapped around his arm, and he was being yanked down by the devil. The kitsune tried to unravel the chains, but they gripped tightly to his arm, showing no signs of letting go.
"Those chains are at my command, demon. No matter how hard you try, I can just further tighten my grip on you!"
"That may be a fact," acknowledged Kyūbi; he suddenly smiled. "But can you control them to avoid this?"
Kyūbi grabbed the chain, and with all his might yanked the devil up towards him and sharply kicked him in the chest. The concentration on the chains was broken, and Kyūbi's arm was freed. Now free to use both arms, the kitsune dove down at the plummeting devil, and fired a barrage of Ethereal Blades at him. They struck the evil Zenaïx and he crashed into the earth, creating a shallow fissure and a vast cloud of dust upon impact. Kyūbi descended and landed softly on his feet beside Ryona.
"I have to admit," said the kitsune, "This guy is not going down easily."
"As expected," said Ryona. "He still has his wings, so he won't die, but that doesn't mean we can weaken him down."
The two prepared themselves for Zenaïx's next move. Suddenly without reason, Kyūbi suddenly pushed Ryona out of the way. The boy was surprised at the demon's actions, but soon saw the reason. In a split-second after Kyūbi pushed Ryona, the blade end of the devil's chain had pierced through the fox demon's upper-left torso. Hadn't Kyūbi pushed Ryona out of the way, he would have been stabbed in the heart.
"Kyūbi!" Ryona screamed in shock.
The dust settled, showing a badly injured devil, grasping the chain tightly.
"Damn it," he hissed. "I meant to kill the boy. No matter; I'll kill you just as painfully as your human friend!"
The chains wrapped around the wounded kitsune; a metallic boa constrictor around its prey, ready to strike with its sharp fang. Ryona quickly acted and looped the blade through the narrow space of the Oathkeeper's blade, wrapped the chain around it, and stabbed the Keyblade deep into the ground. Without having to worry about the devil's sword getting to Kyūbi, Ryona charged at the long chain, swing wildly at it with the Oblivion Keyblade, trying to free Kyūbi. The devilish Zenaïx laughed.
"It's pointless," he yelled. "The chains are stronger than pure titanium; you'll never break them!"
Ryona stopped, seeing that his attacks were doing more damage to the Oblivion than the chain. He then shot his attention at the devil.
"Then how 'bout I break you!" he cried, throwing the Keyblade at the malevolent entity. The devil enshrouded himself in a force field, deflecting the Keyblade and expanding the cracks that had already formed from the attacks on the chain.
"Foolish," said the devil. "You're all weak; an embarrassment to your own races!" The devil forced his chain to destroy the Oathkeeper and raised it to stab Kyūbi. "Now you'll see the price of defying me; your friend's soul is mine!"
"Kyūbi!! No!!!" Ryona cried out as he turned to see the blade loom ominously over the trapped kitsune.
The blade thrusted downwards; Ryona shut his eyes, unable to bear the sight that his friend was about to die. He heard the tearing of flesh as he heard the blade come in contact. Believing his brother was dead, Ryona opened his eyes, near the brink of tears, but found a surprising situation. The blade had just stopped short of Kyūbi's head, just lightly touching his hair. Ryona looked back at the evil Zenaïx; the devil was frozen in shock as his wings fell off, bursting into flames.
"But…how," Ryona puzzled at what just happened.
"Keep your filthy blade off the fox!" a voice boomed.
Something zipped past Ryona's head and towards a black void. A hand reached out and grabbed the object; it was a chakram. Then out of the void came a young girl in white and a wounded husky, both of whom were helping a man in a singed black coat walk out.
"Shukaku!! Phoenix!!" Ryona was stunned; so happy to see his brother and dog that he wanted to rush over and hug them.
"Heh, don't think you were gonna' go through with this without me gettin' a piece of the action," the tanuki demon laughed.
Despite the joyful atmosphere created by the reunion, the evil devil wanted to ruin it all.
"So the demon and dog still live, and you have managed to sever my wings," he hissed. "But I still have your friend's life in my hands!"
The devil proceeded to try to kill Kyūbi, but the chain would not move.
"What!? What's wrong with…my power…my power is failing!"
The seemingly trapped Kyūbi became enveloped in a red glow; he looked at the devil, grinning as the chains started to crack.
"Heh, strong as pure titanium, huh?" Kyūbi laughed. "With your power starting to fade, our own powers are being restored. It would also appear that your chains are only as strong as your power. And…you can clearly see that I still have plenty of power to spare!"
The chains shattered, and the kitsune was freed from the metallic prison. However, something went wrong. He suddenly collapsed, having lost a lot of blood from his chest wound. The devil snickered at the turn of events for the demon.
"It would seem you overlooked your current situation," he said, then started bolting for the church's stairs. "This world is at its end!!!"
Ryona warped in front of the demented devil and assaulted him with the Oblivion. The devil took a powerful swipe at the Keyblade, shattering it to pieces, and punched Ryona with such great force that the boy was sent flying a great distance forward. The force of the punch was enough for Ryona's flying body to force the doors of the church open. Stunned a little bit, Ryona stood up, just standing a little ways in front of the archway. The devil pursued to run up the steps.
"It's over! Be grateful that I'll kill you before I bring torment down on your beloved family!" The devil screamed with bloodlust and murderous intent in his eyes.
Ryona struggled to think.
'C'mon Ryona,' he stormed in his head. 'Concentrate…focus…the fight is not over yet.' Ryona closed his eyes; he envisioned a sword in his right hand. The sword had a white-silver, light blue blade enveloped in light. It's hilt was a silver-bronze color and had a unique shape to it. 'Almighty sword…bestowed upon me by fate, come to my aid now!'
Ryona opened his eyes; the wicked Zenaïx was now in front of him, about to lay a killing blow with his claws.
"Wallow in the afterlife, you pathetic wretch!" The devil screamed as he went to kill the boy.
Ryona arched his right arm back as if about to stab him, but there was nothing equipped.
"Ryona!" Diana cried out, seeing that her unarmed brother was about to be killed; she shut her eyes.
In a split-second, there was silence; not a single sound was heard at all. Diana opened her eyes and saw the end of the battle right in front of her. The devil was frozen in this midst of his attack. In Ryona's hand was the same sword he envisioned in his mind. The blade had stabbed through the heart of the callous Zenaïx.
"Your power is no more, Zenaïx," said Ryona. "With all my strength no longer hindered by your power, I was able to bring forth the blade of your bane: the Sword of Light!"
Ryona pulled the blade out of the devil. The defeated entity stumbled backwards, and fell down the stairs, withering away into darkness. When he reached the bottom step, the dark angel had vanished forever into the depths of the darkest abyss. Ryona looked at the bottom of the steps where Zenaïx had vanished.
'So,' he thought. 'That angel was an Anti-Soul from the beginning.'
Ryona made the sign of the cross in front of him after sending his sword away. He then sprouted wings from his back and hips and descended to the others. Shukaku and Kyūbi managed to stand up, having recovered rapidly from their wounds ever since the fall of Zenaïx.
"Ah," sighed Shukaku in relief. "It's great to have all my regular powers back. Though I have to admit, I'll miss bein' Axel."
"Are you joking?" said Kyūbi, surprised. "Any later and I would've died from a simple flesh wound!"
"Please guys," an annoyed Diana spoke. "What matters is that you're alive and we have won. The world is safe, Zenaïx is gone, and…" She was unable to say anything else as Phoenix rushed past her and jumped on Ryona after he landed.
"Phoenix!" said Ryona joyfully as he caught Phoenix, and fell backwards to the ground. "Phoenix, I'm so glad you're all right!" Ryona hugged the husky close as he received endless kisses from him.
"Well," said Shukaku. "He's got his energy back, so I guess he managed to recover quickly." Kyūbi and Diana nodded in agreement, and then Shukaku turned to Diana. "Wasn't there anything else you were gonna' say before this?"
"Well…um…" said Diana, unable to say anything; she choked a little on trying to get the words out.
"It's okay, Diana," Ryona said, standing up. "You don't have to say anymore."
Diana looked down on the ground, feeling guilty.
"It's just," she said. "I wished I could've done something to help out more."
"C'mon; are you serious?" Shukaku asked in a surprised tone. "You're the one that reminded me that the Nobodies were capable of opening warp gates! Not ta' mention you and Phoenix helped me up here! If ya' hadn't done that," he wrapped his arm around Kyūbi. "Kyūbi here would've been shish kabob for sure!"
Kyūbi smiled at the comment, giving a little chuckle.
"It's true," the kitsune said, walking towards the girl. "Even though it may not have looked like much, your actions had saved my life. Even the smallest things can prove to be of the most valuable asset in desperate times, and what you have done for Shukaku had proved that to be true." Kyūbi lifted his hand and placed in on Diana's shoulder. "Who knows…maybe one day, you will be able to find your strength, even in the most unexpected times and places."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Kyūbi," said Ryona.
Diana was left virtually speechless at the kitsune's words, feeling a sense of strength growing inside her already. Unable to find the words to say, she hugged the kitsune. Shukaku went around the two, trying not to disturb the touching moment, and stood beside his human brother.
"So," he whispered to Ryona. "Do you think she'd make a great Guardian?"
Ryona paused as he watched his sister and the handsome kitsune embrace each other in a loving hug.
"Yes," he finally said. "Maybe one day, she will become a Guardian." The boy gazed upwards; a star flew across the night sky. "Only time knows when that will be. But until then…I'll be her protector forever more."
"Heh, I'm with you on that…Ryona," smiled Shukaku as he embraced his arm around his moral friend. Ryona then laid his hand on Phoenix as he sat beside him, also looking up at the sky.
Diana and Kyūbi stopped hugging each other and gazed up at the sky, seeing the distant million stars in the lucid night sky. All five of them watched as some of the stars shot across the sky, breathing peaceful sighs, knowing that the entire world was safe and peaceful once more.

---

Part 5 of the Halloween story, now at an end.

Shukaku & Kyūbi © Masashi Kishimoto
Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix
Ryona & Others ©