NOTE: If you've not read Part 1, I recommend doing so first.

  'Maleficent's new ride, in fact, was a giant, scaly, winged one, with pale eyes overflowing with murderous intent...


     







  "Princess, gaze upon your death.
  Savor the very last of your breath!!"

  So, this witch really did have dragon transformation powers. Well... Aurora didn't exactly not expect that...

  Diaval lunged forwards at extreme speeds through the large tunnel Aurora's flight carved through the castle, attempting to claw at Aurora, only for her to slash it the moment it came into range, leaving a sizable gash in Diablo's hand!!
     INTERRUPT
  It was at exact same moment, however, that Maleficent fired off a Firaga, conjuring an orb of fire that, unfortunately for her, Aurora managed to deflect in time. The Diamond Oculi was proving to be a great help in helping Aurora keep up with her opposition: all the same, it was high time she started playing it smart. The Child of Light promptly evaded another claw from the dragonified Diablo, in doing so darting through a door into a nearby room of the half-ruined onyx castle.

  "Follow me, if you're not afraid to fight!!"
  "YOU TEST MY PATIENCE, AND QUESTION MY MIGHT?!"

  The chase was on.

  Maleficent caught a glimpse of Aurora flying through the castle and blasted it with lightning, sending chunks of black gem and castle furniture flying as, much to her frustration, the attack missed entirely. Diaval punched a hole in the wall, only to be met with a slash from the side, opening wounds that bled black dust in place of blood!! Maleficent's attempt to engulf an entire half of the castle in green fire resulted only in both her and Diablo being at the receiving end of a Starlight spell, cast by an Aurora already on the other side of the castle, searing Maleficent's very being as the darkness of her being was burnt away!! Aurora, blitzing across the divide between the two halves of the castle in a red-and-gold blur, realized: much to her satisfaction: that her plan of utilizing her current environment and Oculi-enhanced speed was working wonderfully. For her, at least. The Mistress of All Evil, however, decided to take matters into her own hands. Alighting once more on ebony wings, Maleficent directed Diablo to attack once more, and charged a spell...

  Aurora, having landed out of sight in what was once this strange castle's kitchen in an attempt to remain out of sight, quickly used a Heal spell on herself, mending the cuts and bruises the battle had burdened her with. Now, to procee-wha-!?!

  Barreling through the stone was a massive sphere of dark energy, conjured forth by Maleficent's Dark Firaga spell! Naturally, Aurora flitted through the castle chambers at extreme speeds to avoid it, except this time the blast curved around and homed in on the evasive target, blasting Aurora out of the castle walls and into the outer courtyard, her feet carving lines in the earth as she skidded to a halt. Immediately following this, the castle was blown to pieces of black gemstone, which were subsequently thrown in all directions in a fashion akin to a child frustrated with his/her toys: the result of Diaval slashing through the foundation with his tail. Aurora held up her sword and was surrounded in an intangible orb once more, activating the Guard skill right as Diaval flew up into the air and loosed a stream of fire that further blackened the empty courtyard!! Between the Guard skill and her Tourmaline Oculi reducing the blast's potency, though, Aurora hardly even flinched.

  Aurora flew upwards to Maleficent once more and slashed, only for Diablo to do an Aileron roll in midair whilst simultaneously swiping at her with his claw, knocking her back to the ground once more. Maleficent may have earned a nick from the blade just grazing her, but she would have to ignore it for now: this was her chance!!

  "From my vengeful verdict, I shall not part
  For you, I have deemed, must indeed pay!!
  To your friends, say farewell: to the gods, pray,
  For I condemn you to die now, of broken heart!!"

  Aurora got back to her feet... only to realize that Maleficent's exaggerated gestures served absolutely zero purpose whatsoever. ...

  ...Was she going to keep-? Ohp, yeah, yeah she was.

  Maleficent bit her lip in anger. She would curse her, if it was the last thing she did!!

  "Devils, spirits that walk Hell's road
  Before my very mind doth implode,
  Rid me of this pesky load:
  Turn this girl here, into a toad!!"

  ...

  Again, nothing happened. Aurora's crown's power was, in fact, serving quite wonderfully against Maleficent's attempts to hex her. Aurora couldn't help but release an exasperated sigh. Umbra wouldn't have floated there and shouted gibberish rather than fight.



  "DEMONS WHOSE POWER I COMMAND
  TURN THE GIRL, AURORA, INTO SAND-!"

PRESS B TO SHUT MALEFICENT UP

  Aurora blitzed upwards to meet Maleficent once more, and-

  TTNNG
     INTERRUPT
  Smacked Maleficent across the face with the flat of the Sword of Maththildis in a manner that, if viewed in slow motion, would look absolutely hilarious, what with two of Mal's teeth being knocked out upon impact. Maleficent, hissing with indignation, retorted by backhanding The Child of Light... or rather, attempting to, for Aurora raised a Guard to block it once more, flying back into the wall of the castle relatively unharmed and breaking off a piece of the parapet as she landed atop it. Diaval roared to life and flew forward, a battering ram of reptilian muscle intent on pulverizing Aurora-

  Who, right then, spotted a cannon atop the wall. Already loaded, and everything!! Aurora... had an idea. ...a wonderful idea.
Weapon: Brilliant Ruby
  Right as Diablo neared, Aurora tumbled to the side, letting him crash through the wall and bury himself in gemstone once more, then smacked the cannon full-force with her now fire-enhanced blade!!

  Diablo, enraged, lashed his head around, preparing to immolate Aurora with his dragonfire-!!

  His doing so had perfect timing as far as Aurora was concerned.

BBSFFFFRRRRM

  The super-heated cannon exploded upon contacting Diablo's dragonfire-filled throat, causing him to writhe in pain and cast Maleficent off of his back!! Right as Maleficent came to interfere, however, the blue lightball Igniculus appeared in her face, and everything went white. On top of that, Aurora used her Lull Elixir on Maleficent: now, the witch was blind and moving at a snail's pace!! One more slash, and-!

  Maleficent's wings fell to the earth, reduced to nonfunctional stumps.

  There was nothing to stop Aurora!!
Weapon: Brilliant Diamond
  Aurora became a blur once more, landing blow upon blow upon blow from all directions as Diablo tried frantically to claw, bite, and thrash about to try to rid himself of the Child of Light!! Dozens of deep cuts appears in weak points in Diablo's scales, bleeding black dust as his the evil of his being was scattered to the winds!! Diablo swept his tail-
     INTERRUPT
  Only for it to be lopped clean off by a rising slash from Aurora, who used the momentum to dash into the air and charge an attack...!!

  Maleficent finally managed to swat away Igniculus, only for him to shine even brighter, blinding both Maleficent and Diablo once more!! Maleficent desperately teleported away, too panicked to start a monologue concerning her now-missing wings, hoping that she could better act from a different vantage point... but it was too late.

  Aurora fired the Light Ray spell, conjuring a beam of pure light that scythed clean through Diablo, leaving a perfect hole where it had passed through both him and the ground it lay on. Diablo didn't even have time to realize if it hurt or not when three more beams appeared from different directions, each cleaving through Diablo like he was not there.

  And then, about a hundred more or so appeared, all at the same time.

     OBLITERATED ☠

  And just like that, Diablo was little more than dark ash.

  ...

  "YOU..."


  Aurora turned around and spotted an absolutely furious Maleficent, standing atop a pile of castle rubble. Her eyes began to fill with a hateful chartreuse essence, a light that shone with the tinted fire of a raging supernova!! Slowly, she bent over, as if the power within her was trying to make her fractured form implode...

  "THEY WILL PAY."

  Diablo... died. She couldn't stop thinking that: all other thoughts were but a memory.

  "I...

  WILL...

  MAKE...

  ...THEM...

  ...PAY!!!!"

  A column of hellfire and green light rocketed into the heavens... and even Aurora had to shield her eyes.




  When the infernal brightness lowered to bearable levels, a black-and-violet-scaled dragon, a nightmare incarnate into physical form, stepped forth, and uttered but two lines:

  "Aurora. This is how you meet your end.
  Say good bye, to your tiny friend!!"

  Aurora raised her sword once more and pulled up a guard right as Maleficent threw another Fira!:


  Except, this time, arcs of lightning also shot down, from all directions.

  Directly onto Igniculus.







  A flash of light later, and the firefly fell to the ground, snuffed out.



  For what seemed like an eternity, Aurora just... stood there... trying to comprehend what had just

  SHHNNGG

  "You chose to defy me: this is your reward.
  Let's see how you face me without your sword!!"

  Maleficent had dashed forward, wrested The Sword of Maththildis from Aurora's grasp and impaled her with her own sword, then, with a mighty throw, cast it into the darkness above!! Aurora would have cursed herself for letting down her guard, but she was still busy trying to evoke an emotional response to Igniculus's death. Once again, she tr- "Rrgh-!!"
     INTERRUPT

  "My wings you've rent, my companion you slew
  Now, I repay this in full unto you!!"

  And with that, Maleficent grabbed Aurora and slammed her against the blackened earth, further widening the crater in which she lay!!

  And then, Maleficent did it again.

  And again.

  And again.

  And again.

  DIE! ONE THOUSAND TIMES, MEET YOUR DEATH!!
  THE VERY WIND IS POISON, DRAWN AS YOUR BREATH!!

  Each strike and slam further widened and deepened the crater, one of them at some point or another knocking her crown off into the distance, Maleficent's fists flying forward in a fashion that would've made one Senator Armstrong proud. Finally, the dragonified Mistress of All Evil wound up a punch, alight with green fire, and-!!

  KBKBKRRRUUUUUUUUuummmm

  From the distance, it would have looked like a nuclear bomb had went off, save the resulting mushroom cloud was a hellish green.

  Maleficent looked upon Aurora, unable to move due to the Binding Strike she had successfully landed, and grinned, a grin that radiated pure malice. A snap of her fingers, and Aurora could see no more. There was only constricting darkness...



  Maleficent cackled madly as she raised her arms to the air, calling forth a massive cloud of hellish chartreuse energies and ripping every tree in the forest out of its foundation and into the air, rending it apart piece by piece, as well as the vines from beneath the earth...


  ...and now, she was completely mummified in those vines of Maleficent's once again, being dragged deeper and deeper into the earth without end. ...and Igniculus was dead. She... couldn't give up!! There was an entire people who needed her!!

  ...but what would she do?










  What was that... voice...?

  Getting up, Aurora realized that her surroundings were nothing but a blank void, so dark it couldn't even be described as black. And within it, directly before her, stood a tall, broad figure that looked like a cross between the Wolverine and a beast from Where The Wild Things Are, with a fearsome mask and set of horns completing his intimidating image. It was Oengus, the traitor guard, the one who had pulled her from the darkness when she needed it most...

  And he would once again it seemed. "Get up. Tell me, why do you fight?"

 What kind of question is that? I know already, the answer.

  Aurora pushed herself to her feet.  ..."To save this world and mine from their shared plight."

       But... what is this, then? ...What do I feel...?

  "Then why do you let that witch hold back your might?
  This is a realm in need of your light."

  Several more silhouettes stepped forward from the nothingness around her: all of her past friends. Gen, Golem, Robert...

  ...and Rubella, the red-clad Aerostati jester woman, who came forward next.

  "Aurora, why so down? Missing sword and crown?"
  "Igniculus is gone, never to come back."
  "What nonsense!! You must get back on track."
  "But how can I, when I've let everyone down?"

  "You've not let anyone down while you live on." A new voice sounded from all around her, a... familiar voice. ...was it...?

  "You're The Child of Light, this world's last hope,
  With Igniculus's death, you've not have to cope
  For the scrolls of fate remain undrawn."


  "You say that for them, it is not too late?"
  "Remeber the world you fight for, in all of it's wonder.
  Misery, you have before torn asunder
  You must be the one to shatter the chains of fate."


  "You know the way out of this place: before, you've in darkness lie.
  "My child, all you must do now...

...and then, to white...

  "...IS JUST OPEN MY EYES."

  Maleficent, cackling madly, released the vile drill, plowing through the earth and leaving a perfect, green fire-lined tunnel in it's wake-!!

  When a burst of light blasted outwards from the earth!! The ground shook, and a spiderweb of golden lines etched themselves upon the earth!! And the drill of fire, which had blasted a massive hole through the crust... stopped.

  Maleficent, gazing down in shock, realized that not only had Aurora burst from her prison, she was holding back the vile energies...

  ...with her bare hand. The Guard skill helped.

  One push later... a golden web of light spread across the projectile's surface as well... aaand...!

KRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMM

  The entire thing exploded outwards, flaring with pure light, as if a supernova had detonated within it!! The whole of the ground that was once the forest erupted as a massive beam of light tore through it for miles and miles around and rocketed into space!! Dragon Maleficent was blasted upwards into the sky from the sheer force the radiant blast and into space, and, much to her surprise, was being chased down by a familiar red-and-gold blur-

  Who had the audacity to punch Maleficent in the face.

  The Mistress of All Evil, careening backwards in shock, crash-landed onto what was once a bridge of the onyx castle that was now flying through the cold, empty depths of space, along with countless other pieces of jet black stone that once constituted the decrepit castle. Aurora landed upon the opposite end of the bridge, catching the Sword of Maththildis once again in her hand from seemingly nowhere. Maleficent could now observe that not only had the Potent Faery Elixir restored her opponent's life force and magical energy to full, she was glowing with a radiant blue aura: the Elevate Damage spell. And she also had a new crown... one made of the finest, clearest crystal ever before seen, with facets that glimmered in the moonlight on their own accord. Everything Maleficent had worked for, everything she knew, was to be stolen from her by a mere girl? NO... NO!!!

Weapon: Brilliant Citrine
Armor: The Princess Stone






  Aurora shot her hands forward, releasing the fully charged fully-charged Light Ray she had gathered in the form of hundreds of beams of energy that could only be described as divine, all merged into one titanic cannon of light that blasted Maleficent backwards even faster than she came forwards!! She could feel herself chipping apart, piece by piece, like an ancient ceramic, the whole of her evil being scattered into nothingness as the blast that sent her back to the moon!! Said moon sparkled with a fierce light... then exploded spectacularly into a cosmic nova of celestial energies and space dust, rent asunder before the raw power the blast possessed, making way for a column of radiance that towered beyond the Oort cloud,
beyond the entire solar system,
into the empty void of space itself!!

  And just like that, The Mistress of All Evil was... gone.



  The light blast slowly faded from being... and Aurora, having caught her sword once again, slowly descended to the ground once more. The forest, at least on the visible horizon, had been completely... well, deforested. Looking up in the sky, what remained of the second moon lingered still; it was as if someone had punched the heavens in the face and given them a black eye. But it was all worth it... for now, there was no one to ruin their worlds.

Today, dear viewers, our tale of the battle is done.
So ends the tale of how the forces of light won.

  K.O.!!!!

Magus: KAMAHAMEHAAAA!! YEEES, FUCKIN' LLLLLASERS!!!

...ahem.

Tessera: Start the analysis?

Z: Yeah.

So, beginning with what Maleficent had going for her? For starters, we underestimated both Maleficent and her opponents' speeds, big time. While Aurora can keep up with her opponents, who can all potentially dodge her light-based attacks (if infrequently,) Maleficent can keep pace with the likes of Sora, at least to a degree. But even "to a degree" makes her faster than Aurora, given Sora's impressive array of feats that place him well above the speed of light.

Magus: If you really want a specific example, I direct you to the final phase of the Twilight Xemnas boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 2. You know, where he deflects an absolute fuck-ton of llllasers from all sides for thirty seconds straight? Yeah, that.

Tessera: Maleficent also possessed the advantage of having a more versatile set of powers and spells than Aurora's comparatively straight-forward magical arsenal, as well as the fact that hers do not have a limited amount of MP to run on, as well as the edge in experience given that The Mistress of All Evil is dozens of years older than her opposition. This would likely allow Maleficent to notice yet another disadvantage her opponent has over her: she's primarily reliant on possessing her one weapon. If she takes that from her, Aurora's fighting ability is decreased by quite a bit.

Z: And of course, let's not about her powerful dragon transformation! That thing changed the game big time, greatly boosting Maleficent's overall capability. Not to mention, her evil nature would mean that she could likely force Aurora's guard down via emotional manipulation, although this would be temporary at best.

Tessera: And yet, it seems, this wasn't enough.

Z: Hardly. See, while it may seem that Aurora's physical might seemingly pale in comparison to Maleficent's superhuman strength, which was only further amplified by her dragon form, remember that Aurora has traded blows with giant dragons similar to or on occasion even surpassing Maleficent in size. Aurora's physical strength wasn't outmatched enough to qualify it as a solid disadvantage.

Magus: I'll tell you what does though: their raw damage output and durability. To sum it up, Aurora's fought foes who wield several shit tons more power than Maleficent ever has, even when she was able to trade blows with Sora.

...what? A lot of her best feats are Kingdom Hearts scaling.

Z: Allow me to put it in perspective. Maleficent has traded blows with Sora, right? And Sora's also on-par with Xemnas, who, at his peak, had united with most of Kingdom Hearts, which is capable of shaping hundreds of planet-sized worlds? Not bad, not bad at all. Buuuut...

Tessera: Nox, the primary antagonist in Child of Light, is both stated and shown to have snuffed the sun, moon, and every single star in the whole of the sky out of being with but a wave of her hand. As in, that is literally the plot of the game in question. Even assuming they just meant "visible night sky," that's far more power than "hundreds of planets." And that's ignoring the likelihood that this was, in fact, all of the stars in the entire universe of Lemuria, and that Nox appeared to do so with some degree of ease. In short, Aurora could both dish out and take far more damage than her adversary, even before counting in elemental weaknesses.

Z: ...Which brings us to a good point. Why was Aurora's light-based attacks able to exploit Maleficent's weakness to good magic?

Well, first off, let's point out the obvious: Aurora is a pure soul, as portrayed multiple times, so there goes the whole "but she isn't good!" argument.

Magus: That alone doesn't cut it. Otherwise, Luke Skywalker could walk up to you and shoot you in the face with a blaster pistol, and that'd count as a "holy" attack. And that's some bullshit.

Z: Whiiich brings us to two easily overseeable details we've managed to turn up in our research. The first of which would be... well, for starters, Aurora is dead.

Magus: Wait wut.

Z: Well remember, Aurora died at the very beginning of the game. Never was she said to have been "resurrected" or "reborn," at least not until the end of the game due to plot and stuff that happened, just that she awoke in a strange land. "But what about the whole 'If mortal harm befall Aurora, return her to the altar' deal?", skeptical fans of the series might ask. Simple: entities that exist within the realm together run on a sort of life-death/re-death type deal.

Magus: So basically, Aurora's a ghost.

Tessera: Or a spirit, that's the basic gist of it. That, by the way, is why Maleficent's venomous fangs and other similar weapons proved not useful against her. Of course, that's also the reason Aurora's sword didn't burn Maleficent like iron: it almost assuredly is not such. Even if the fact that it hadn't rusted at all since who knows how long doesn't point to that, the fact that it exists in basically the spirit world and therefore doesn't possess a molecular makeup does as well.

Z: Anyways, back on track.

Secondly? Aurora is a demigod.

Magus: Alright, you've completely lost me at this point.

Z: Not all of it was explained, as sadly the game was forced to meet an ultimatum deadline for its release date and was therefore forcibly rushed, but the basic gist of it is that one of Aurora's ancestors, Erin the Conqueror, is one of four deities/deity-like beings who founded Lemuria in times long past. Therefore, as Erin's descendant, Aurora technically is slightly divine in nature.

Tessera: Throw in the classic association of light and darkness with good and evil, respectively, in fairy tale-type literature, the fact that it's highly effective against Dark elemental enemies (who number among the more aggressive/sinister), and the fact that Maleficent literally calls herself

Maleficent: THE MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL!!

Tessera: ...little question was left as to whether or not Aurora's light magic counted as holy/good.

Z: There was also her crown, which prevented any and all of Maleficent's curses from even touching her. Being turned to stone, cursed to slowly and painfully die, et cetera were all out of the question. And that Counterattack, too!! Basically, any time Maleficent attacked, she put herself at risk of being dealt damage back by Aurora's counterattack skill, which was especially crippling given her speed advantage is one of the few primary things she had going for her.

So, basically, Counterattack is literally a counter for speedblitzing.

Magus: So Maleficent had to stick with straight-up damage, and for the above reasons that just wouldn't work out too well. Of course, even then, any damage Maleficent inflicted wouldn't last long, as Aurora possessed four: count 'em, four different ways to heal herself. Granted, three of them were either Igniculus or an item...

Tessera: Speaking of, though, Igniculus managed to be just as useful, possibly a bit more so, than Diablo, matching the raven's scouting and transformed states with its light energy, HP/MP healing, slow, and... also scouting. Her varied Oculi also gave her plenty of options for combat, expanding her overall combat versatility, and her curatives were a great help in aiding her in completing the battle.

Magus: Two more important things to consider: one, Aurora has proven to very intelligent on multiple occasions, definitely enough so to match Maleficent, and two: Aurora has had plenty of experience dealing with precisely everything in Maleficent's arsenal: it's almost like Lemuria is a crash course on how to beat evil witches like Maleficent.

Z: What firmly sealed the deal here for Aurora's success was Maleficent's success was Maleficent's arrogance and perfectionism, as well as her rage upon witnessing harm come to Diablo. These personality flaws, when fighting the likes of Aurora, can really screw over a person... something Maleficent refused to acknowledge until it was too late.

Magus: Looks like Maleficent was but dust before The Child of Light's power.

...what,, expecting a pun?

Z: The winner is Aurora.

Victor: Aurora

 


++ Far greater damage output
++ Far more durable
+  Physical strength wasn't outmatched to the point of one-sidedness
+ Just as intelligent as her opponent
+ Igniculus proved exceedingly useful
+ Oculi have verastile set of effects
+ Four different ways to self-heal
+ Counterattack skill proved especially good counter to foes superior speed
+ Crown rendered most of opponent's more esoteric magics useless
+ And her physiology as a spiritual entity proved even more things, such as opponent's poison, fruitless
+ Wields Maleficent's primary weakness
+ Has experience dealing with just about everything in her opponent's arsenal
- More limited magical power variety
- Slower
- In theory could be prone to emotional manipulation
- Much of heavy-duty fighting ability based on her one weapon

Defeated: Maleficent

 


+ Faster
+ Slight edge in physical strength
+ More versatile powers...
+ As well as an infinite pool of energy from which to pull while casting them