Shattering the Stars

Unbreakable Love

...Yeah, not much to say... This is going to be a shorter chapter, but I hope it's all the more sweeter. Please enjoy.
-Justan

Shattering the Stars
Chapter 30: Unbreakable Love

"L-Luigi..." Mario whispered, his tone full of regret. Kirby's Passion let go after a bit, the Star Warrior realizing that no amount of love could mend this right away.

Eight took off his bandana, keeping silent for a moment in respect for Luigi. Though he and the green plumber weren't close, he valued him as an ally and man. The amount of honor he had for each of his fellow crusaders was unimaginable.

Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by debris being pushed over. From the remnants of the staircase, the captain slowly and painfully got up, only a few bruises lining his body. His hair drooped in front of his face, only the heavy stare of his eyes marking any sign of his presence. Eight sensed him, glancing back in horror to see that the enemy was still kicking.

"It's going to take a lot more than emotion to kill me!" the captain spelled it out quite plainly. The bated breath the crusaders held vanished, the hopes that they had finished the captain going out the window. Now on alert, Eight, Amy, and Kirby felt their muscles immediately tense up. "Now gaze at the splendor of this lovely, beautiful violence!!"

Raising his arm into the air as he did many times before, the captain charged, the crooked, demented grin on his face holding onto Amy. It reminded her of Sycther, his own smile often coming up in her nightmares. She found herself unable to move, but thankfully, Eight blocked the incoming slash of light with his shield, engaging the captain with his own sword. The impact of their weapons connecting produced sparks, threatening to ignite the dry, broken wood at their feet.

Mario was at a loss. He gave that beatdown everything he had, yet it still wasn't enough to put an end to this miserable excuse of a human being. In fact, the mere idea of the captain being human had left the conversation long ago. This man, this thing, he didn't have a soul!

"WAH!" Eight's sword recoiled from the devastating slash from the captain's blades of brilliance. Upon looking at his weapon, there was a tiny crack in its sheen thanks to the blow. "K-Kirby! Empyrea told us that you could go into some kind of 'Overdrive'! That'd be really helpful!"

"Poyo!" Kirby joined Eight, ready to help. Eleven right by his side, even though he was still wounded, they approached the captain together. Kirby held his paws back to summon a Giga Force Blast, the most powerful thing he had at his disposal when he and Eleven were abruptly kicked with incredible force, soaring across the room at blistering speed.

"Shatter against the wall, fools!" the captain said as Kirby and Eleven smashed into the very wall he spoke of. Kirby was mostly fine, his squishy, soft body being much more difficult to damage, but Eleven was only injured more.

"MARIO! Stand up! Help us!!" Amy pleaded, holding her Dualies shakily. The captain still wore his twisted smile, only bringing back more terrible memories of Sycther. "Ah!"

Amy jumped away from a slash from the captain's weapons, the attacks instead hitting Kirby. Again, his puffy, pink body protected him, but it contorted like rubber, driving the Star Warrior into the ground further, dazed. With a tiring effort, Kirby tried to bring out his Warp Star, hoping to use the Passion to take into overdrive and somehow fight against the captain, but as the fiend loved to say, it was useless.

The captain's blade hummed, light bending while he was going in to strike. For Mario, all sounds were drowned out, his ears only filled with the rhythmic beat of his heart. His vision was narrow, and everything felt fuzzy, the Firebrand almost fizzled out due to overexertion. Finally, he turned his head to see what was going on behind him, his eyes locking on to the captain's fist. If he could somehow keep the slash from hitting Amy, maybe he could use the Passion to reflect it.