Kingdom Hearts: Recollect

Pushing Daeni off of him, Cerdic stood up. "Impossible or not, don't be an idiot. I told you to stay back and stay safe. If that thing wants whatever is in your heart you are putting more than yourself in danger by stepping in front of attacks like that. I can handle myself. So for christ sake Daeni, STAY BACK, AND STAY SAFE!" Cerdic tried to beat the idea into the thick skull of hers and he stepped up in front of her again so that she could have a moment to recover as he looked towards the creature made of darkness. It didn't even deserve a name at this point.

Readying his keyblade Cerdic knew that staying back he couldn't protect the machine and Daeni, he would have to keep the creature occupied. "This better be worth it. No one do anything stupid and don't try to stop me." Cerdic muttered to himself as he tried to muster all the courage that he could in order to be ready for this. He had always tried to take things carefully never stepping into obvious danger if he could help it, but looking back at his friends he didn't want to see them in danger either, it was the only thing he could do. He was so useless before now, he had to do something useful. Finally Cerdic got himself convinced to do what needed to be done and stepped forward and put himself on the offense, not paying much attention to the world around him as he laid attacks in on the creature to draw it's attention completely to himself. ​

 

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Thankful the device was working as expected he let out a sigh of relief and looked over to see the troubles with some horrific thing the others were having. Calling forth his keyblade he aimed it at the creature. "Cerdic watch out! Blizzard!" Without any other warning shards of ice chilled the air in the cave and hurtled straight towards the creature to strike its legs and hold it in the ground to, hopefully, slow the damned thing down. "We don't have to fight it forever! Just until the Extractor starts working!" Alder shouted as he held his keyblade in front of him. With the machine active and no more input needed from him, he was ready to fight and keep the creature at bay. He rushed to Cerdic's side to back up the fellow keyblade wielder.

 

They didn't have to fight forever, but it never seemed to take long before Ria caused major issues for them. "Well the damn thing better start working soon." Cerdic called back as he ducked out of the way of Alders blizzard attack, before sweeping up and out into an attack of his own, using Alder's attack as a distraction of sorts before he managed to get his attack in. Glancing behind him he checked on Daeni for a moment, but didn't dare take his eyes off of Ria for too long, even in the span of a second it could get dangerous. ​

 

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Alder jumped into the air and brought his keyblade down on the arm grappling Cerdic to free him from its clutches. "He's not going to be your toy!" The dark monstrosity that had formed from Ria's rage and desperation was unsettling and powerful but it was slow. He stabbed at its right hand that reached out for the extractor then spun his keyblade to increase its momentum before slashing upwards at its wrist. "No you don't!" Alder stepped back, glancing over at the extractor hoping that it was close to finished warming up by now. "Come on come on...can't keep this thing back all day..."

 

"Gah!" Cerdic cried out as he felt the dark energy of Ria trying to zap at him, like it was sucking the life from him for a brief moment before Alder stepped in to slash at it and free him. Taking a few steps back, Cerdic rubbed his wrist where it had grabbed him. "I am fine. We just need that machine to hurry up." Cerdic grabbed his keyblade with both hands. He hated the idea of being indebted to Alder for saving him, but what could he do? "Thanks, I guess I owe ya!" Cerdic called to Alder before he turned back to Ria. He was pissed now and just wanted her gone. Stepping forward Cerdic took several swings at the mass of darkness that was forming. No more defense, he would push Ria out of this cave if that was what it took to buy the time for the machine to finish booting up fully. ​

 

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And then Alder upon feeling the pain of the monster's dark blast knocking him off balance, wished he had something better to fight back with to even the odds. "Alright you son of a...wait why do I feel sluggish?" His body was heavier to move and as he began to approach the creature as it lashed out with a black arm that whipped about he knew he would likely be unable to dodge it. Still, he had his armor and that was going to bring him some protection. Aiming for a "strong offense is a strong defense" approach Alder ran as fast as his body would allow him to charge at the creature and attack it directly.

 

Just as he managed to get himself free, thanks to the help of Alder another attack came flying his way. Still recovering from the previous attack, Cerdic didn't have a chance to get out of the way before a ball of dark energy crashed into him. At the very least he had a chance to bring his keyblade up and deflect some of the damage. Staggering back, Daeni came to his side to help him but Cerdic didn't want to let her be in the forefront of this. He tried to step up and put himself between only to find his body not responding like it should. Cursing under his breath he tried his best to ready himself and move a little more on the defensive side as he still tried to keep himself between Daeni and the creature. She might not have liked being protected but they had to keep whatever it was she had from Ria, whether it was truly Marley's heart or not, he didn't want to risk Ria getting their hands on it, so he would gladly take the brunt of the damage if that is what it took. ​

 

Cerdic was at least able to protect Daeni, though with all his might going towards just getting in the way, he couldn't properly block for himself. As the claw struck out and slashed Cerdic down the middle, pain flashing through him as it seemed nearly unbearable. However before he completely collapsed a glow of green energy surrounded him, allowing him just enough fortitude to keep himself standing, if barely. Cerdic looked back to Daeni and gave her a weak smile trying to assure her that he was alright. "Looks like you have to protect yourself now kid. I don't think I can handle another one of those, and I am not going down without a fight." The creature was now attacking the machine that they worked so hard on getting up and running again. He might not have had a ton of strength left in him, but at the very least he could go down swinging. Charging forward Cerdic took his keyblade and tried to swipe at the hands that were attacking the machine, tried to push the creature back and away, or at the very least bring the attention back to him. If he could do at least that then he could buy more time for everyone else, knowing that he was cutting his own time short. ​

 

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"You took a bad hit! Don't be afraid to let me take an attack for you. We're in this together!" Alder cautioned Cerdic, feeling strange to have even said those words. Was it not that long ago that he wanted to punch Cerdic in the jaw? In the desperation of their situation they had found common ground and though Alder barely remembered the nature of their interactions together all that mattered now was that they needed to work together to survive. Alder rushed in once more and stabbed at the creature before casting a Gravity spell in the hopes he could pin it down or at least slow its assault on the generator.