133 Chapter 125: Preparations

While Ramiel was just thinking about things, he looked towards the door and gave a wry smile. After a few seconds, Esdeath entered the room and she froze on the spot.

"H-how can you do this to me? You just met her!" Esdeath shouted out, thinking he slept with Aqua.

Ramiel was covering Aqua's head with a barrier to block sound and he sighed. "Calm down Esdeath, I just helped her sleep, geez. Besides, don't think that I'll get fooled by that. You and I both know that you aren't my lover." He scratched his head.

Esdeath pouted at him and kneeled beside him. "I thought so, what happened to her?" Aqua wasn't really that important to her. But she started to grow on her.

"Nightmares, she was trapped in the realm of darkness after all." He patted her head and sighed.

"I guess being caged there for that amount of time with waves of heartless will definitely do something to a person." Esdeath nodded.

"I'll give this right to you for now Aqua." Esdeath snorted and walked out of the room.

After a few hours, Aqua started to wake up and she rubbed her eyes. "R-Ramiel?" She was surprised and he smiled. "What? Like what you see?"

"Yes, I mean no! W-what happened?" She patted all over her body and checked if her clothes were still on. Blushing up a storm.

"You were having nightmares remember? Just helped you sleep a bit, you were really tired huh?" Ramiel explained and Aqua nodded, remembering the pleasant massage she received earlier.

"Wait, what about Mulan? I'm supposed to be her sparring partner." Aqua sobered up and stood up.

They went outside and saw Mulan wielding the Jingu Bang, panting like a dog. Trying to hit Esdeath with it.

"More!" She shouted and Mulan nodded, swinging the staff like a madman even though her muscles were screaming.

"More!" Esdeath wasn't satisfied though, shouting out. "I think that's enough." Aqua advised her and Esdeath ignored her, staring at Mulan's form like a hawk.

"More." She smacked away the staff and Mulan collapsed on the ground. "You've got her already, she isn't Luke." Ramiel casted a regeneration on Mulan and she nodded at him thankfully.

"As expected of a general of heaven. I am still too far to best you." Mulan cupped her hands and appreciated her teachings.

"Shit, she might have developed Stockholm syndrome." Ramiel gave Esdeath a look and she pouted. "What? I'm just training her."

"Hey, everybody. While we were cleaning up some heartless, we found an army at a mountain." Sora reported and Riku nodded.

"Based on their march, they're approaching the capital." He added more information and Ramiel looked at Esdeath.

"How's the condition of the army?" Ramiel thought it was time. "They're still lacking, but acceptable for the enemies of this time period. They can fight at least 50 to 1." Esdeath saluted.

"Well done, now let's put your cultivation to use Mulan." Ramiel smiled at her and Mulan nodded with a serious expression.

"It will be my honor to save China. My family will be proud." She bowed deeply and Ramiel gave a wry smile.

"It seems that telling her that you're this jade person backfired a bit. Look at her eyes, it's like she's in a cult." Rapunzel whispered to him.

"Have you even seen a cult before? Where'd you learn that?" Ramiel didn't know where she kept on dropping those things.

"Hello, Gothel? She's basically a cultist." Rapunzel rolled her eyes and he gave her a noogie. "Okay, fine. Keep your secrets."

"Mulan, show me how your training." Ramiel looked at her and Mulan brandished her staff.

"Yes! Master Aqua, please be my opponent." Mulan cupped her hands and bowed towards Aqua.

"You don't need to be so polite you know?" Aqua sighed, she didn't even teach her that much. She's a keyblade wielder, not a pole arm user.

"Okay then, fight." Ramiel officiated the spar and Mulan started by extending the Jingu Bang. Aqua bent backwards and was quite surprised by the quick elongation of the staff.

"You've got some tricks up your sleeve huh? But you shouldn't use it that way. Or you'll run out of cards to play." Aqua advised her while parrying the staff and running at her.

Mulan didn't lose her cool and made the staff return. She tried to keep Aqua away by stabbing the tip at her and it worked pretty well.

Her opponent noticed it pretty quickly though and the key blade on her hand smacked the tip of the staff, applying immense amount of torque on Mulan's hands.

She gritted her teeth and tried to keep her grip on it, which disrupted her balance.

"Ooh, shouldn't have done that." Ramiel shook his head. Mulan's staff flew away from her hand and Aqua swung her keyblade at her.

Though Aqua went wide eyed as Mulan suddenly disappeared in place with a puff of smoke.

She looked around to see where she went and Mulan was currently transformed into a small sapling on the ground. A trump card she developed, copying Sun Wukong's ability to transform.

"Heavenly feather barrage!" Mulan used her meagre chi in order to make feathers of energy from her Fenghuang cultivation and fiery feathers were launched at Aqua.

Rapunzel and Esdeath stared at Ramiel and raised a brow. "Heavenly feather barrage? What kind of name is that? And it's definitely on the level of a party trick."

Esdeath winced at the name of her move. "Don't worry about it, Chinese moves are just like that. Pretend you didn't hear it or something." Ramiel shrugged and is immune to the chuuni abilities of Xianxia.

Aqua froze it with a blizzaga and Mulan winced at it being intercepted easily. "As expected of you master. The feathers of Fenghuang does not hinder you at all!"

In Mulan's mind, it was a heaven defying art that only the chosen of the jade emperor could use. It just needed a little bit of polishing.

"Uhh, sure. Work harder later to improve it." Aqua had a cramped smile on her face.

Mulan nodded and raised her hand, the staff returning back to her. Though it was pretty slow, because her energy levels aren't that high.

She pressed the attack and spun her staff on her hands. "Jingu Bang secret art! Revolving heaven!" Mulan swung the staff with its momentum.

It had gravity magic on it and it was released by Mulan, though only for a little bit. Because the weight of the Adamantite staff would definitely crush her if it was on its original weight.

The heavy blows came like a whirlwind, with Mulan using the spin of the staff to supplant her lacking strength to wield it.

Aqua jumped right back because she felt the staff's gravity magic decrease. Not knowing how heavy that thing was. And Ramiel created it, it's surely ridiculously heavy.

"Extend!" The staff suddenly extended and Aqua was almost hit by it. She put her free hand on her keyblade and blocked the blow with the flat of the weapon.

"That's quite heavy." Aqua was pushed sideways a bit. It was an impressive strike from someone that is lacking in strength and speed.

Aqua pulled on the staff, but she wasn't registered as its user. The 10 ton weight of it suddenly shifted onto her hand without warning and she almost face planted on the ground.

"What in the world!? Why is this so heavy, Ramiel?" Aqua squinted her eyes at him, almost being embarrassed by hitting the ground.

"What are you talking about Aqua, it's the Jingu Bang. It always has been heavy." Ramiel whistled and didn't tell them its mythology.

"Alright, alright, I think we should stop there. Mulan's gassing out and Aqua was surprised by multiple times with Mulan's ingenuity." Rapunzel clapped and she announced the end of the match.

"Yeah, you did good Mulan. And you haven't even practiced for a long time." Ramiel nodded at her and patted her head.

"O-ohh. Thank you very much for your praise to this lowly one! It is all thanks to everyone here." Mulan cupped her hands.

"Well, it's a group effort. Don't sell yourself short Mulan." Aqua patted her on the back and squinted her eyes at Ramiel.

"See? She thinks she has low self esteem. She'll think for the rest of her life that it's because of us that she got this strong." Aqua chided him and he scratched his head sheepishly.

"Alright, alright, sorry about that okay? It's my mistake." He apologized and they raised a brow.

"Did he just apologize?" Rapunzel was shocked, thinking he would be cheeky. "Hey, what do you mean by that? I can apologize." Ramiel huffed and Esdeath took a picture of the moment to always remember it. Because she might not have a chance to hear it again.

"Come on, if it's an honest mistake. I'll apologize for it, you guys are just ganging up on me now." He sighed and the girls chuckled.

"Well, this is a precious and rare moment for us to tease you." Aqua smiled and she enjoyed it too much.

"That's all you're gonna get, prepare yourself. I never forget." He squinted his eyes and they knew they fucked up.

"Your highness. What about the capital?" Mulan reminded them of the Mongols that were starting to attack.

"Ahhh, that... Yeah, let's march with the army. It will be stupid to fight an enemy army in the mountains, let's wait for them at the outskirts of the capital." Ramiel ordered and Esdeath saluted.

"Can we join?" Sora squeaked out at the side. Ramiel looked at the four of them and he nodded.

"Sora did fight a thousand heartless on his own. But this is different Sora. Prepare yourself, don't cry to me later that I didn't warn you." Ramiel returned to his carriage.

"Riku, what did he mean by that?" Sora only fought the heartless and organization XIII. He has no idea about warfare between humans. "I think we should only give them some support, Sora." Riku has no idea what the horrors of war are. But at least he's more aware of those kinds of things than Sora.

"Gawrsh, this didn't happen in the past. We should be careful Sora." Goofy reminded him and Donald nodded.

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The army marched and with Esdeath's brutal training that almost killed many of them. The soldiers were like machines, without fatigue.

They arrived at the outskirts of the capital and were split into squads all over the perimeter.

Mulan also had a small squad, accompanied by the best who Esdeath handpicked herself. A trio of a bald fat guy who is carrying a loop of prayer beads. Looking calm, but has the most strength among them.

Dirt, who's carrying two axes and doesn't speak. Because dirt does not talk.

A lanky dude with two swords, looking unreliable. But was trained to the extreme to be a human meat blender with his swords.

"Young master Mulan." The big guy faced towards a direction without opening his eyes.

"I know, Chien-po. Shan-yu and the Huns are arriving." Mulan brandished her staff and put it on her shoulders.

"Do we engage?" The lanky man had a cold look on his face. "Let them come, Ling. Dirt, go and intercept the enemies when they arrive. Ling, ambush them from the side. Chien-po, support Dirt."

Mulan created a plan, though she wasn't quite confident in holding them there with their small group.

"Heya Mulan, let's get along well together!" Sora glided to their side with Riku after scouting the enemy army at Riku's behest.

"Hello, Sora. You're going with us?" Mulan smiled at him, treating him like a little brother.

"Concentrate, Mulan. We'll go ahead and pierce the enemy ranks to create confusion." Riku took out his keyblade.

"Right, come on." Mulan breathed in deeply and stared at the incoming mongols. "Jingu Bang, extend!"

She used herself as an axle and Sora sat on one end while Chien-po at the other. Catapulting Sora into the middle of the army. While Riku started casting firagas, creating chaos.

"Let's go!" Mulan charged with the squad and soldiers were right behind them. Marching into battle.

"You've taught them well." Ramiel observed the surroundings with a pulse of Mako.

"Thank you very much for the praise." Esdeath saluted and she had a grin on her face, happy with his words.

"Hey, we gonna do something? I wanna do something." Rapunzel was swinging her legs, her chin on her palm lazily.

"Ramiel, this is like the 5th time Rapunzel asked that question. You should make her do something, it's getting out of hand." Aqua sighed.

"You're being annoying Rapunzel. Why don't you braid your hair or sell some of it?" Esdeath quipped on the side.

"Why don't I make you go bald? Now that I think of it, I can do that with my moon powers." Rapunzel squinted her eyes at Esdeath and they quarreled with each other.

"Shut up, Sora and Riku are already there. That's overkill you know?" Ramiel sighed at their antics. "Why can't you guys be calm like Samus or Tifa?"

He uttered the forbidden words. Aqua and Rapunzel immediately glared at him, thinking of who they were.

"Who are those?" Rapunzel raised a brow and her eyebrows twitched. "Heh, they are his lovers. Amazing people you can't compare to. Especially lady Samus, a soldier's temperament through and through." Esdeath smugly explained.

Aqua and Rapunzel sulked and they crossed their arms with sour expressions on their faces. "Okay, okay, sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Just be quiet okay? We've got to check if Mulan and the others will be successful." Ramiel pacified them.

The two then felt bad and remembered what they sought out to do in this place.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll observe for injured carefully." Rapunzel apologized and stared at the battle like a hawk.

"That was childish, I'm a grown woman." Aqua was ashamed. "Fuhrer, they're going to make contact." Bismarck pointed and the battle started.

Sora was with Donald and Goofy, smacking people left and right with a keyblade, a shield, and spells.

"They're not running out of people." Sora used his limit form and plowed through the enemies with ars arcanum.

"This will teach them!" Donald used a blizzaga and the Huns turned into popsicles around them.

Riku then entered the frat after his artillery fire. Whacking people with his car key.

"How's it going guys?" They were bing chilling at the center of the enemy formation, but they noticed a miasma of darkness starting to converge.

"Heartless!" Goofy cried out and thousands of heartless, along with the Huns started to fight.

"This is going to be troublesome, conserve your energy as much as you can!" Riku ordered and they began a battle of attrition while they were surrounded by all sides.

Meanwhile, at the front. Mulan arrived in front of a creepy looking balding man. "China will fall today, yet they send a woman to stop me?"

"Shan-yu, your hubris will be your downfall. The jade emperor granted me strength. I will send you to Buddha." Mulan went into a stance.

"Then I would like to see you tr-" He was about to take out his sword, but her staff extended with blinding speed and hit him right on the face.

"You wench!" Miasma leaked from Shan-yu and his yellow eyes were filled with rage.

"Tch, I was hoping that would do you in." Mulan looked towards her team, but they were busy being the commandos in helping the army to keep the enemies at bay.

"You're not the only one who is blessed, China will be mine." Shan-yu charged at her with surprising speed and Mulan blocked with the staff. But she was sent flying away due to their strength difference.

She coughed and felt her hands get numb at the violent strike. "China will not fall in your hands! Heaven has given its favor to the emperor!" Mulan stood up and was about to go in.

"Guhahaha! Heaven's favor?" Shan-yu laughed and Mulan stopped in her tracks. Seeing a surge of heartless.

'T-this is impossible, I am not the sage equal to heaven.' Her morale fell at the sight.

"Young master Mulan! Retreat behind the vanguard! We will keep them busy." Chien-po arrived with Dirt and Ling, intending to sacrifice themselves so their figurehead could escape.

Ramiel saw that they were in a pinch and looked towards Rapunzel. "You're all powered up, get in there." He patted her on the back.

"Oh yeah, it's time to shine!" She flew to the skies and her hair began glowing. "Solar flare!" A blinding light bathed the whole country and heartless got disintegrated left and right.

"She's come a long way." Aqua squinted her eyes to protect them. Rapunzel was gaining control of her powers quickly, every second that passed. She gets stronger and stronger.

"Rapunzel is too bright for my taste, literally and figuratively." Esdeath groaned as the light coming from her almost blinded her even though she closed her eyes.

"Woah, that was awesome. Did you see that Riku?" Sora gained a breather from the assault of the heartless.

"Yeah, I did... And it wasn't pleasant at all. They could have at least given us a warning." Riku got flashbanged. Grumbling on the side as he rubbed his eyes.

The soldiers cheered and Mulan looked towards the sky. "That's the favor of heaven, you will fall today!" She regained morale and charged right at Shang-yu who was blinded.

Her staff glowed, imbued with her energy. She then extended it and hit his knee. Making Shan-yu scream in pain.

"No! Impossible!" His strength left him as her ability to purge darkness as a princess of heart debuffed him.

"Answer to your crimes against the nation that is favored by heaven." Mulan swung the staff on the side of his face and Shan-yu fell unconscious.

She raised her staff as a sign of victory and the army subjugated the Huns pretty quickly after their leader fell.

"We did it Riku!" Sora went for a high five with Riku. Delighted that they protected the country.

But when he observed the surroundings, he saw corpses that were inevitable in war. Sora puked his guts out and Riku frowned heavily.

"Let's get out of here Donald, Goofy." He helped Sora who was feeling queasy and looked towards Ramiel and the others.

'What is his aim by making Sora see this?' Riku was baffled. "Riku... Is this what war really is?" Sora asked him with a weak voice.

Riku looked at him and nodded gravely. "Yes, people will die." Sora then got anxious. He went into deep thought, thinking about the incoming keyblade war.

'Someone can die... I can't let that happen.' Sora had a realization and his eyes were opened.

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At the capital, festivities were quickly prepared by the emperor and Mulan was decorated as the savior of China.

And at the banquet, Ramiel looked towards Sora who was unusually quiet. "Hmm, it seems he realized."

Putting Sora through that was cruel, a happy go lucky teen seeing mutilated bodies after the war. But it was necessary, he will be fighting against the darkness until he cannot anymore in the future.

"Isn't it a bit much?" Aqua frowned as she asked him. Realizing why he put them into the center of the enemy formation.

"This is all PEGI 12 Aqua, he'll encounter things far worse. He's clueless about what humans are capable of. It'll save entire worlds if Sora realizes this now." Ramiel explained and Aqua nodded, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth.

"But what if he falls to it? He's a warrior of light through and through." Aqua was worried.

"Hmm, it's either you die a hero. Or live long enough to be the villain. And if the latter is his fate, then it would've happened sooner or later. Besides, Riku and Kairi will ground him. If he still falls, that's all he's capable of." Ramiel dismissed it.

"Do not be too critical, Aqua. Fuhrer has always been like that. Men do not grow stronger through easy obstacles. A trial by fire will make him unbreakable." Bismarck patted her on the shoulder.

"That is if he doesn't melt and buckle." Aqua was being a worrywart and Bismarck snorted. "If he does, then he does not qualify. That's all there is to it. His role as this world's protector demands it. You will be doing a disservice to the world if Sora grows weak because of being protected all the time."

Aqua thought about it and steeled her heart. The responsibility of a keyblade wielder isn't light. "You're right, if he doesn't grow. Then countless worlds will fall into darkness."

"I'm glad you understand. Come on, let's get to work and find the next princess of heart." Bismarck led her to Ramiel who was talking to Mulan.

They saw him take out the fragment of the chi-blade from her and Mulan was bowing at him.

"Thank you very much for giving me the strength to defend China." She was happy that her father will not be in danger anymore and her family can live in peace.

"We just gave you the tools. Though you should practice more. Heaven will fight the darkness that consumed Shan-yu later. I am expecting you to help us with that endeavor." Ramiel informed her and Mulan was all too happy to be of assistance.

"Hey, Ramiel. Can I ask for a favor?" Aqua looked sheepish and he raised a brow. "Why are you still so shy, come on. Shoot your shot."

"I want to go to Ven, he's the same age as Sora. And I want to be his support for now. I can only imagine that he's lonely." Aqua sighed.

Terra is still missing and Ventus has no one beside him except Yen Sid and Mickey.

"If you want to, who am I to stop you." Ramiel shrugged and thought she was starting to make decisions of her own now. A clear upgrade on her self esteem and independence.

"Really? That easily?" Aqua was expecting him to be against it, even a bit. "Well, it is your decision. You're a grown ass woman, you can decide on what to do with your life. It's not like it's a bad idea too. If it is, then I'd advise you, but it seems you thought about it." He patted her head and she smiled.

"Okay, I'll probably see you later in the keyblade graveyard. Mickey will most likely decide that the 7 light is complete." She rolled her eyes.

"See you never." Esdeath waved goodbye with a pleasant smile. "Yeah right, I'll definitely come back then." Aqua put her tongue out and teleported with a corridor of darkness.

"Where's she going?" Rapunzel had a plate of a mountain of food with her and was using her hair to eat.

"Wouldn't your hair get dirty or something?" Ramiel raised a brow at her antics. "It's fine, I'll sterilize it later like this." Rapunzel raised the temperature on her hair to thousands of degrees and her dress lit on fire.

"Ahhh! My dress!" Esdeath snapped her fingers and killed the flame. "What an idiot."

Ramiel sighed at what the hell she was doing and looked towards Riku. "You got to return to Mickey and the others. I can feel it, organization XIII is gathered." Ramiel's chi-blade fragments were reacting.

"Where are they? We need to stop them." Donald nodded with conviction. "You already know that, or at least Michael Mouse does." Ramiel replied.

Sora and Riku looked at each other and nodded. "Thanks for the journey, will you be my friend?" Sora smiled at him.

"A friend huh? Not really, you're too young kid. Make friends at your own age." Ramiel snorted and ruffled his hair.

"Come on Sora, let's go." Riku pulled Sora, he then bowed towards Ramiel and they went back to their gummi ship.

"Fuhrer, firing up the ship now." Bismarck activated the ship and they teleported back to it.

"Go to this direction, that's where the signal of the 7th chi-blade fragment is." Ramiel pointed at a map of the worlds and Bismarck went full speed ahead.

And at their travel towards the next world, Ramiel raised a brow. "So that's what your plan is huh? Effective for now, but it won't really change anything."

They entered the world and it was falling apart. It was an archipelago, the world of Moana.

The skies were at dusk and no stars shone in the sky. It fell to darkness. "It seems they must've kidnapped Moana and strengthened Te Ka." Ramiel saw volcanoes and fire ravaged the world.

"What do we do now?" Esdeath snorted and thought it was a feeble attempt.

"We wait. Gather the other princesses of heart." Ramiel cracked his knuckles and would train them to the maximum before the battle.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.