Groose just about breaks into tears when he sees that, at long last, Zelda’s alright. He grabs Link by the shoulders to shake him one more time and runs up to give the old woman a hug. As he turns back to Link and Zelda, there’s an explosion at their feet, knocking them down and conveniently leaving Link too woozy to fight back for the rest of the cutscene. Ghirahim steps out from behind a pillar and takes Zelda, planning to go back into the past and revive Demise there. Groose tries to stand in Ghirahim’s way, and only gets knocked out the way and his hair mocked for his trouble. Ghirahim makes his final taunts and heads through the gate to begin his ritual. Once he’s able to stand again, Link follows Ghirahim through the gate; Impa didn’t fare any better, but tells Link Ghirahim’s gone out the front door.
As Link leaves the temple, Ghirahim summons fences so Link can’t take the direct route down. He dances around Zelda’s unconscious body for a bit, (badly) singing his theme music, before starting to use his magic on Zelda while Link watches rather than start running. Ghirahim summons a bunch of minions and sends them on a suicide charge against Link. Most of the Bokoblins are little more than speed bumps (I wonder if someone at Koei Tecmo saw this and got ideas); some carry bombs, which is really not all that great an idea since Link is smart enough to jump out of the way but none of the Bokoblins are. Along the way, Link has miniboss fights against Moblins, Blue Bokoblins, Bokoblins with horns that summon allies, and Stalfos. When Link reaches the bottom, Ghirahim surrounds himself with a barrier and summons one final wave of Bokoblins.
Once they’re all dead, Ghirahim is frustrated Link made it through the horde so fast. He knows he’s made a mistake toying with Link in their past duels, and he’s not going to repeat it this time. He’s not playfully bantering with Link, not promising to only beat him within an inch of his life. The form he takes reveals that the skin on his hands from the last fight is in fact all over his body, he clanks with every step, and at one point he turns into a demonic sword. He raises himself and Link on a platform, planning to beat Link bloody then toss him to his death.
For the first phase of the fight, Ghirahim’s attacking Link with his fists and feet and absorbing his attacks with his arms. These attacks drive Ghirahim to the edge of the platform, and as he teeters, Link can deliver another blow to send him falling. Ghirahim summons another platform so he doesn’t fall all the way, but still lands painfully, giving Link a chance to jump down with a Fatal Blow. As the fight goes on, he holds his hands up to block attacks from certain directions, which calls back to when he was toying with Link and doesn’t seem like a particularly smart strategy, but whatever. After three Fatal Blows, Ghirahim lets the platform fall to the ground, and staggers to his feet, revealing the repeated strikes have torn a hole in his chest, revealing a glowing orange gem heart.
The next phase is the obligatory final boss Dead Man’s Volley sequence: Ghirahim sends a spinning beam toward Link, Link knocks it back a few times, Ghirahim gets stunned, Link pokes the gem with sword thrusts. After Link’s done enough damage here, Ghirahim pulls out a giant sword; when Link attacks, Ghirahim blocks, but a chunk of the sword is chopped away if Link attacks from the right direction. If Link does enough damage to the sword in time, Ghirahim’s left vulnerable for more pokes to the heart.
Finally, Link’s done enough damage to Ghirahim that Ghirahim can’t fight anymore. Ghirahim still doesn’t understand how Link’s able to beat him – “You think I can’t defeat you? You think I can’t win?? [1] Boy… what are you?” But his frustration turns to laughter as the seal starts glowing red; the ritual continued during the fight, and now it’s complete. The Imprisoned rises from the seal and devours Zelda’s spirit, transforming it into Demise’s true form (which resembles Oni from Street Fighter IV with dark hair – well, dark hair that becomes flaming hair when Demise powers up) while Ghirahim laughs. Demise draws the sword Ghirahim turned into earlier from Ghirahim’s body, then Ghirahim disappears into the sword – he’s Fi’s evil counterpart.
Link stands before Demise, ready to fight. Demise notes Link and Zelda, and sends Zelda’s body flying; Groose comes out of the temple in time to run and catch her as she lands. With her safe, Link turns back to Demise, who’s amused by Link’s courage and determination, saying the humans of his day didn’t have someone like that. He agrees to give Link a chance to battle him, and creates a portal to an extradimensional space and teleports through. Groose shouts down that there’s still hope for Zelda, as long as Link can defeat Demise fast enough. Fortunately, “fast enough” allows enough time for Link to return to Skyloft to heal and restock potions before coming back for the final confrontation.
Next: The beginning.
[1] Yeah, I’d say evidence for this is starting to stack up.
