Satsui no Hado in Equestria

by Frogace55

Round 7: Training Mode

With my visitor gone and the time getting late, I began to head back to the forest, but not before promising to be back early tomorrow. My trip back to my current living space was uneventful, luckily, and I arrived back at the castle as the first stars appeared in the sky.

The timberwolf greeted me warmly as I came in, while Mirror just waved.

“So, I taste a hint of content coming from you. Mind telling me what brought this on?” She asked.

“I got some answers,” I yawned. “Now, I have a couple of appointments in the next 24 hours. Night.”

---

I found myself sitting in my mental training room and decided to over today’s events. The beating I got, I realized, was a bit like my first day at my dojo, just without the ki attacks. I went back to the memory with a smile.

“Hmmm… is this is the place?” I said, looking up from the flyer picture to the actual dojo in front. “Doesn’t look like the flyer picture.”

“You sure about this?” My mom asked. I nodded and headed in.

The inside seemed to be designed to impress, but I was underwhelmed by the trophies and medals. While I continued to look over the material things in the room, my mom was led into a office room in the back.

“Where’s the real fighters? I want to see what this place is really like, not some pathetic accolades that are probably older than me.” I said.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, one of the guys who won one of those trophies heard that and came over. I just thought he hated the disrespect.

“So, you think that we display old trophies here to recruit instead of honing our techniques.” He said. “Come with me.”

He led me downstairs to a mat and tossed me some pads. “Put these on.” I complied out of curiosity as he did the same.

“Now, this isn’t normally done, but show me what you got.” He said.

I circled around him before throwing a bunch different punches. He dodged each one flawlessly. My jabs were sidestepped, my hooks were ducked under, and my uppercut was useless. I tried a roundhouse, only for him to catch my foot and flip me into the ground.

“So, that’s what it’s like to get your butt handed to you,” I said as I got to my feet. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“Kid, you don’t want a round two…” He warned

“Not today, I want to learn how not to get beat like that.” I took off the pads and started for the stairs.

As the memory ended, Nightmare Moon appeared. She still was in the intimidating illusion.

“Right on time,” I turned to her. “Make yourself comfortable and tell me your problems.”

She mumbled something angrily under her breath and started fidgeting.

“If the problem is Luna-” She stopped, “I will let you pummel her if it will help. But first, you have to tell me your side.”

“It started 1,002 years ago, when I was ‘born’ as you would call it. You see, when a being with sufficient magical power becomes stressed, they can subconsciously create a new being in their mind to help cope. The ‘help’ I was to do was be a bottle for her despair and anger.” She started to bristle at this.

“So, the bottle eventually filled and shattered, which caused the Nightmare Moon thing.” I connected the dots.

“Yes, I was driven insane and, when I regained my senses, I’m stuck in a box made from her past sins.”

“Good news: I can definitely help you.” I said, standing up.

“What’s the price?” She asked

“You have to face her and win.”

Silence came over the dreamscape as she processed that last statement. Finally, she shouted, “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BUCKING MIND? I can’t beat her, not in a fair fight.”

“I can feel the Satsui no Hado radiating from you, you can and you will.”

“The what?” She asked

“The Satsui no Hado, or ‘Surge of Murderous Intent,’ which is the dark energy you felt when I fought Luna, and you used on your last visit here. I can teach you how to utilize it, but you must accept the challenge.”

“And if I don’t?” Nightmare asked.

“It will consume you.”

“Then I accept the challenge.” She stated with confidence. “So, what’s first? One of your techniques, endurance training, how to-”

I threw a gohadoken at her. “DODGE!”

She didn’t, as expected, and was knocked down.

“What was that? It felt like pure malice in a fist.” She gasped.

“That’s what you signed up for,” I stated. “First lesson: Killing intent. This is what awakens the true power of the Satsui no Hado.”

“Then how do you wield it without killing anypony?”

“You misunderstand…. That attack was a monumental fraction of it’s full power. Without tapping into the surge, I could easily destroy a castle.” Nightmare paled at this.

“To tap into the power willingly is not my goal for these teachings,” I stated. “I wasn’t joking when I said it could consume you.”

“You’re trying to tell me how to stay sane with this dark power? Why use it then?”

“Why not?”

“IT’S DANGEROUS!” Nightmare shouted.

“If unprepared, yes. That’s why I am preparing you. It’s an instinctual power and insanity will set in if you can’t mentally control it.” I said

“And if I can overcome it?” She asked.

“The sisters would see you as a liability and inadvertently awaken it before you could.”

Silence reigned as that last statement registered in her mind. Wordlessly, she summoned gauntlets to her hands and threw a bunch of punches at me. I parried and blocked the barrage easily, at first. But as her attacks gained speed and power, I started to take a few hits. Impressive, if this is a base for her technique, I won’t have to do much on the physical side.

Then, I saw the one thing I was waiting for: a telegraph for the finisher, in the form of her horn glowing. The little things give you away. She fired the blast, and I phrased through it and her, before hitting her with a Tatsumaki Zankukyaku in the back.

“That was an impressive combo. Not going to work in an actual fight, however.” I said.

“And why is that?” Nightmare asked as she stood up.

“Your opponent will fight back.”

She threw another punch, but this time I didn’t parry or block the strike. Instead, I caught it and countered with my own.

“That will be all for tonight.” I said. “I expect you tomorrow night.”

---

I woke to my wolf in front of me. Its eyes’ glow were the only source of light in the room. I sat in the darkness for a short amount of time before pulling out another piece of meat from that bag and devouring it. With breakfast finished, I stood and addressed my pet.

“Let’s go…. I never did give you a name, did I?”

A shake of its head was the answer. I thought for a second.

“Amaterasu?” The timberwolf shook its head.

“Balto?” Another no.

“You want something intimidating, don’t you.” A nod.

The name then just clicked. “Jigoku. It means ‘Hell’ in a language from my home.”

The wolf seemed to think on it for a full minute before accepting.

“Come, Jigoku, We got work to do.” I said.

We left the castle and arrived at the orchard by sunrise. I headed to the house and did a distinct knock.

Soon enough, I heard frenzied movement from upstairs that lasted for a concerning amount of time. Eventually, the door was opened by a muscular red stallion.

“I’m here to pay off a debt with manual labor. How can I be of assistance?” I said.

The door was promptly closed in my face. The sound of more shuffling and the door opened again, this time by Applejack.

“Wut in tarnation made you ta decide ta-”

I cut her off. “I owe you a great amount and have no way to pay for it besides labor. What needs to be done today?”

“The apples in the eastern orchard need ta be harvested and they're sum repairs that need to be done in the barn.”

“Thank you. Jigoku come, sooner started, sooner finished.” I headed towards the orchard in question.

Once there, I noticed that some of the trees had baskets by them. I got to work, punching each of those trees. After each tree was punched, Jigoku put the apples that missed the basket into the basket. After the tenth tree, I fell into a rhythm and before long every tree with a basket with it was hit. I grabbed two baskets, while Jigoku grabbed another and we took them to the barn. I actually got so wrapped up in this job that I didn’t notice how long I had worked until I heard the closing school bell.

“Let’s see if we can finish this last round before the young one shows up.” I said.

I arrived at the barn with the last of the goods with not a filly in sight.

Then, I dropped it off and turned around.

Luckily, instead of questions (Which I didn’t feel like answering), the trio of fillies screamed at the sight of Jigoku (which was easier to deal with). Jigoku decided to play the part and growl at them, to my amusement. I let this continue for what felt like a minute or two before interjecting.

“Jigoku, stop.” It complied. “Now, this has been riveting,” I took a bite out of my meat treats. “I have work to do.”

I turned to look around in the barn. “She said repairs, but I don’t see anything damaged.”

The one in the middle that happened to be wearing a bow piped up. “Mah sis took care of it already. She also said sumthin about wantin’ ta see ya.”

“Thanks for the tip. Jigoku, wanna start home. I’ll be back before dark,” I said before turning to three fillies. “First, the polite question: who are you?”

The one in the bow started. “Ahm Applebloom,” before passing to the next one, a unicorn, who said, “I’m Sweetie Belle.” She then nudged to the last one, a pegasus, who finished with, “And I’m Scootaloo.”

Then they took a deep breath and said together. “And we’re-”

“Going to bring me to Applejack? Thanks!” I said while letting off as power as I could without moving. The fillies felt it, undoubtedly, and complied instead for finishing their greeting.

I saw Applejack by her house and unleashed my ‘power flood gates’ again to get her attention. “So, Boss, tomorrow’s jobs?”

Applejack seemed stunned. “Jobs?”

“I’m paying you back for the tree and one day of work doesn’t equate.”

“Right, why?”

I stared directly into her eyes and said, “I may be MANY things but an indebted man, I am not. I pay off my favors as soon as I can.” She broke eye contact with me.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” I said and left for the library.

---

I arrived at the library and heading to the books. Taking a look at the bindings, I realized quickly I couldn’t read the text. I’m gonna have to fix that.

“Twilight, you here?” I asked. Some shuffling was heard before Spike came down.

“Oh, Spike, great, I need some help.”

“With what?” He asked.

“First, you laugh, there will be a new window,” I stated. “I can’t read your language.”

Luckily for both of us, he didn’t laugh. Unfortunately, he had the smuggest grin on his face.

“So, you need a kid’s book for letters.” He said, that grin plastered on his face.

“Yes.”

“Here.” He grabbed a book from off the shelf I was standing by.

I took a seat and read through it twenty times before I was satisfied. I was about to reshelf the book, but I remembered a rule from libraries I’d been in before. I left the book on a table and headed home.