//------------------------------// // Chapter 29: Legion's Fall // Story: The Bridge Between Worlds // by Artemis Orion //------------------------------// Legion's Fall Leaving the ruins of the domed structure in the center of the city, I stepped outside, into the setting sun. I began to question my decision, on the way down; whether or not it was wise to go back into battle in my shape. It's cool. I can take him. You ready for this, Arty? I'm counting on you. "Let's do this." I took one last half step, rubbing at my chest and shoulder and trying to soothe the pain. I took a deep breath, knowing that Legion would come at any time. "You can do it, Keith!" A lone cheer came from above. Looking up, I saw Rainbow Dash, casting her shadow next to mine. "Where are the others, Dash?" "The Alicorn dude told us not to leave the dome. Something about losing the effects of the spell...?" "So... why are you out?" "Because I don't trust the guy! But we're still routing for you!" Those were her last words before streaking back into the stone building. I brought my attention back to the upcoming battle. I was still a little dazed that how I found the medallion wasn't a coincidence. Maybe I was just lucky, or unlucky. Either way, deep inside, I was content. I unsheathed my sword again, leaving the rest of items in the dome. I had nothing but my phone, but I planned to use that. "Legion! I'm here, and I'm not hiding any longer!" I shouted at the sky, knowing that somewhere, Legion would hear it. Sure enough, he did. The wisps began to materialize the immortal warrior in the open ground where I stood. He appeared a few meters away in front of me, with contempt and satisfaction on his clean, young face. If it weren't for the armour and the crazy killing intent, I think he looked about thirty. "So you've chose to stop hiding at last. The first wise decision we've seen you make yet!" "When will you listen? I never took your Medallion from you! I found it! Look, I have the book to prove it-" "Excuses won't save you now!" Legion cut me off from reasoning with him for the last time. "Shut up!" I shouted cockily in his face. "You want your pendant back, you're going to have wring it from my neck!" I held up my sword in the best defensive position I knew. "I thought you'd never ask." Legion cooly grinned. He advanced, pulling his ancient weapon from behind. I quickly inspected it as he brought it forward. It was tactically superior to my plain weapon, but I had no choice. And even thought it was a two-handed sword, Legion easily swung it with one hand. I whizzed through my thoughts, trying to find what I learned so far to my advantage. I had to find his weakness. But that weakness didn't seem to exist. He was physically impossible to kill, and recovery was almost instant. Speed and strength were definitely out of the question. I should have just asked the damn Alicorn... "Even if you tried, it is hopeless. You cannot defeat me." Legion read my thoughts again. "And it looks like the Alicorn has failed to aid you now." "He doesn't need to." "How confident you are, about your demise! Very well, let's not delay. You have a large debt to pay... in blood!" Be swung his blade while I held strong, ready for the blow. The block was successful, but not for the multiple times Legion struck. He brought his weapon round in multiple directions in a strange style of fighting. Blow after blow, the pain from previous battles began to return, straining to keep up the defense. It failed eventually. The strength of millions could only be stopped for so long. At one strike, my hand fell away, leaving my body open. It was a big mistake; Legion took another grab at my throat, choking off oxygen again. I couldn't let him weaken me too greatly, so I decided to fight dirty. I lashed out a leg, not caring if the souls felt it or not, and kicked him in the groin. He howled, but he didn't let go; instead, he slammed my body into the ground, cracking the old rocks. But the bigger blocks gave way, crumbling beneath us as we fell back down into the Underground. Legion released me in the fall, allowing me to avoid the tumble of stone that hurtled down with us. I was more prepared this time round, making sure that I landed in a roll. But as I came up, Legion just landed in one step, shaking the ground. He grabbed me by my shirt off the ground, and slammed me into another whole tall structure. It crumbled along with the debris from the surface. The second pillar that held up the city had fallen. Only two were left, diagonally opposite each other. It was a fragile position; removing one more pillar would lead to the collapse of both parts of the civilization. "You idiot!" I forced out my words, struggling in Legion's grip and the base of the pillar that he pressed me against. "Do you realize how much damage you're doing to your own home?!" "It matters not! Once we get that pendant back, we will be able to rebuild and repair!" I brought up both my legs and kicked outwards, coming into contact with Legion's stomach. He was pushed off, letting go of his grip. I quickly recovered. If I let him weaken me like before, the outcome would be as he predicted. At the same time, I couldn't fight him for too long. I had to find a way to defeat him! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What can we do?! We can't just sit here and wait!" Twilight trotted back and forth worriedly. "What if something DOES happen to him?" Her concerns were shared among the rest of the Mane Six. "Have faith, Twilight. As sure as you know Celestia raises the sun, he will win." The Alicorn calmly replied. There was determination, yet nervousness in his eyes. "With all due respect, Sir, what makes you think that?! What makes you think nothing will go wrong?!" Twilight stamped a hoof angrily, but the grey Alicorn merely shrugged it off and spread open his grey wings. "You haven't changed a bit Twilight! And I'll tell you why; I'm going to go help him. Sit tight, everypony! I will bring you news of this battle when I return." He shot off out of the dome, leaving the Mane Six in there, with cracks of orange-yellow beams of sunlight. The Mane Six sat silent. They all knew the orders that were given to them by Princess Celestia, even the ones that Keith didn't know about. But by now, they were pretty sure it didn't apply to a situation like this. "Ugh! This was just supposed to be a scouting trip! Now there's a risk of getting the first human in Equestria killed!" "You're such a worry-wart, Twilight!" Pinky Pie bounced to her lavender friend. Despite the problem, a big smile was spread across the party pony's face. "He'll be just fine!" "What makes you so sure?" Rainbow Dash remarked. "Well, he Pinkie Promised, didn't he?" Nopony else responded to the Element of Laughter. And continued in their own thoughts and actions of anxiety. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I skidded back, having held up against Legion unscathed. I thought it was impossible, and I even amazed myself. What I did know was that I was really beginning to piss of a million souls. We had fought over to an empty street, with crumbled stone buildings around us. "Why do you fight it, traitor! You know you cannot win!" "Oh, no, I'm not dying here?" I panted, raising my sword for the umpteenth time. "And why not?" "Because I Pinkie Promised!" And then it came to me. Legion's weakness. It was as clear as day, but I had never thought of it before! Ignoring the fear and pain, I threw my arms open, beckoning him to advance. For the added effect, I flashed a cheeky grin and said: "Come at me bro!" Legion burst into rage, reacting to the insult like I thought he would. He charged forward while I made a grab for something from my back pocket. He was no more than a meter away before I pulled out my Iphone and activated the camera. I put it up to the ethereal fighter's face. "Say 'cheese', asshole!" The bright flash that followed took Legion by total surprise. He stumbled back, trying to come to his sense of sight. It would seem he had forgotten the downsides of being physical again. He still suffered from the normal effects and defects of Humans. "Now, Arty!" That moment, the white mist of my Aura appeared behind Legion. Artemis Orion made for an armlock of Legion, holding down the aura's that he was made of as well. A large spiritual pressure came down on me. It was my chance, and I was going to take it. I lunged forward at the furious fighter. I sliced upwards, opening a gash on Legion's chest, where the white ectoplasm seeped out of. He cried out, and struggled against both parts of me. In the process, he dropped his sword, letting it clatter to the ground. I turned to it, kicking Legion to the ground before releasing him. Arty let him go, but didn't fade out. Instead, he tore out more souls and auras. Legion grew more and more pale as the beating commenced. He was getting weaker! I hastily scooped up his sword. As I held it up, it almost gave off power. It was also lighter than I thought it was. "Hey man, look at this!" Arty called out. I turned to my Aura, who had stopped attacking Legion. It didn't matter anyway, as Legion didn't attack for the time being; he was trying to regenerate. But that wasn't the thing that sparked my interest. In his white figure, Artemis' hand opened. A white outline of a sword appeared in the wisp. As it continued to grow, the sword became more and more clear! It was an ethereal replica of Legion's blade, and both of us were holding one. "Awesome!" Arty inspected it for himself. He had no face to show emotion, but I could hear the excitement in his voice. "Now I can really kick ass!" "Now why didn't my sword do that?" "Maybe it's because yours doesn't have six of its own magical gems embedded into it?" Arty tracked mist as he walked up to me. "No wonder Legion fought so tough!" "Speaking of which..." I brought my attention back to Legion. He had moved further off, away from me and Arty. He rose to his feet, now almost back to normal. But the tables were turned. He was unarmed. "You... what have you done?!" His face was deep red in anger. "Uh, I took your weapon?" "YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Legion cried out as he stretched out a hand again, taking control of my body and aura. Arty faded back in, along with the sword, and I became paralyzed again, the sword still in my grip. "We don't need a weapon to fight and beat you!" Legion came closer, all the while getting nearer to fully recovering. The chance would have been wasted. I mentally struggled to release its grip, bringing up the confidence and the reasons why I was here; It brought new willpower. My senses returned, breaking out of Legion's Aural coil. I stood in a ready position, wrapping both my hands around the Legion's weapon. "I know your tricks now, Legion. You can't use them again!" "Amen to that, kid!" A familiar voice echoed through the street. The grey Alicorn swooped down, not in front of me this time. He landed behind me, making it clear he wasn't fighting. "Here, kid, have this." He leaned forward as a white spark built up at the edge of his horn. He tensed, then released it, but not in an explosion. The shiny glint just floated off his horn. I stared with my mouth open at the twinkling speck. It was like a star you could touch. It flew over my head, wandering in the empty space between me and Legion. I glanced at Legion, and we made eye contact for a split second before we both returned it to the shiny dot. Quick as a flash, we both dashed for it. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was best that Legion shouldn't get his hands on it. We came closer to the star, but Legion would have made it there first! "Not if I can help it!" My heart skipped a beat as Arty jumped out of my chest, brandishing his new weapon. He swung it at Legion just before he could reach the speck. Arty faded again, but he had stopped Legion in his tracks; and that was all I needed. I reached the speck first, grabbing it in the palm of my hand. Just as I touched it, it disintegrated. "Uh, what does this do?" "... Any second now..." The grey Alicorn's mouth spread wide. At first I didn't understand, but I didn't need to. I felt it. It was like adrenaline was running through my veins! Energy charged through my entire body, empowering me and my Aura. I looked down at my body, it was getting cocooned in ectoplasm! I felt it spread over my face, my arms and legs. Soon, I was covered in the stuff, but it didn't stop there. It began to expand, to grow and become bigger. I could literally feel myself growing in height. I exclaimed in glee when I realized I had grown to twice the size of Legion. I was pretty sure my entire body was no longer visible in the mist and smoke, and that I was engulfed by my Aura. "Dude! This is epic! We're huge!" "Way to go, kid! A spark was all you needed! Use it in anyway you can imagine!" "Anything, huh?" I turned to Legion, and for the first time, his eyes were fearful. "Wrap this up, kid! You can't control that kind of power for long! FINISH HIM!" The Alicorn rocketed back up to the surface, leaving the Underground. In my powerful state, I couldn't help but rub it in Legion's face. After all his talk about my inevitable defeat, I could now prove him wrong. "Hey, Legion!" I extended an arm. Even though he was out of reach, the white ectoplasm shot forward and curled itself around the ethereal being. I held him above the ground so that we were face to face. I gave him a menacing grin, not caring whether he saw it or not. "Guess who's winning now?"