Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 17: Turning Tides
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The concrete floor was cracked so badly the fact it remained otherwise whole was nothing short of amazing. Sitting along the cracks, leaning on a wall for support, was John, the victor. John took in deep breaths, his body aching from the impact, his mind still trying to come to terms with the fact he’d just survived a fall from several thousand feet up. Deep down, he knew that he didn’t survive it on his own strength.
John stared at the crater, the very spot where he and Kronos had made their impact. Kronos’ body still lay where they landed, motionless even after all the time that had passed. John knew that the hide he wore was what allowed him to survive the fall, its strength softening the blow enough for John to be able to withstand it. However, the same could not be said for the one who wore it.
John sighed, looking at the still motionless Kronos. “That’s two…”
John began to stare into the sky, realizing that this time it was a lot softer—the knowledge that he’d once again been the cause of someone else’s demise. John wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but before he could decide for sure, something caught his attention. A cough—several, to be exact, and the noise forced John’s attention right back to the impact crater.
Kronos’ body finally moved, twitching with each cough. Kronos’ eyes slowly began to open.
“You are one tough bastard…” John sighed, though Kronos didn’t respond, simply staring to the sky above in silence. Neither said much for a few moments, the roars of battle being the only sound to echo.
“So, what happens now?” John asked. Kronos’ head slowly turned over, until his gaze fell on John. Kronos smirked and began to chuckle, coughing more. Blood ran from his mouth with each cough now, running down the corners of his mouth.
“It’s fine…” Though he wouldn’t admit it flat-out, Kronos could no longer feel anything from the neck down, nor could he move it if he tried. He was entirely broken, no doubt about it. Hard as he fought, the conclusion was clear, “I lost.”
Any other time, the confirmation that a hard fight had been won would have been cause enough for joy and earned relaxation. That wasn’t an option here, however, because this was only one fight of many in this war. Right now, another battle was still being waged, one that was no doubt eh most important of them all.
“You’ll be of no help,” It was as though Kronos had read his mind and chose to give his two cents on the matter, “You may have won our battle, but can you bring yourself to stand, let alone fight in your state?”
John didn’t reply, silently checking his body. Nothing aside from his wing was broken, but each limb ached in pain from the damage he’d taken over the course of the fight. He wasn’t sure how much more he’d be able to push his body, let alone if he could even get to the castle in time. But at the same time, John was not comfortable in the least with the thought of sitting there and waiting in the sidelines while his friends fought on. John let out a grunt, his entire body screaming as he forced it to move. But he’d only managed to stand halfway before his knees buckled under his weight and John fell once more.
Dammit… John thought to himself, unable to find the strength to stand again. It seemed he’d reached his limit, but he didn’t want to accept it. He still wanted to stand and fight, to see the battle through to the end with his friends at his side. But it seemed he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He needed more push, more motivation, just something to keep him going, but he didn’t know where he would find it?
To John’s surprise, it found him, and in a way he never would have expected. In the distance, he saw something. Willing his head to move, he looked over. It was the castle, and from it a light was expanding, followed shortly by an explosion of energy. The appearance and sound somehow felt familiar to him.
“Corey…” Whether it was a coincidence or not, or simply a beacon, John would never know. What he did now, was that at that moment, he’d found his strength.
To his and Kronos’ mutual surprise, John was standing once again, and he began to make his way.
“Wait…” John paused for a moment, turning over to see that Kronos had managed to move, but not to stand. He was still sprawled out on the concrete, one arm painfully raised with something clutched in his hand. It was the hide he’d worn for the battle.
“It’s clear what will happen to me, which means this armor no longer has a host,” John stared at the hide, unable to bring himself to step towards it, “It requires someone worthy of it, and I believe you’ve proven that.”
Kronos looked John straight in the eyes, the will of the warrior within him still intact even when his body was broken.
“Whether or not you are strong enough to defeat her is up for debate, but wearing this will at least give you the chance to find out,” John finally took a step towards it, Kronos’ words holding true in his head.
John reached out and took hold of the hide with his own two hands.
“Now go,” Kronos’ arm flopped to the ground, leaving him laying on his side for a moment, “Show her the warrior who finally bested me in combat.”
Without another word, John slipped on the hide armor, his body feeling its effects almost instantly. It was as if it was now holding him together, giving him the strength to continue. Immediately after, John heard a light thud behind him, but he made no effort to turn around. Instead, he remained quiet as he walked forward, heading toward the final battle of the war…
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Twilight and Rainbow continued to stare up at the castle, which was now emitting a lot of smoke. Neither of them could believe what they had just saw. Eventually, both of them averted their gazes from the sight, and moved to look to each other.
“We can’t stand here forever…” Rainbow finally said, “I don’t know what that meant. Do you?”
“No,” Twilight said, “But I just hope Corey can hold out long enough for us to get there…”
“How’s everyone doing, though?” asked Rainbow. Twilight paused. While she and Rainbow were battling Storm Claw, the chatter over the earpieces was entirely lost to her, at least. There wasn’t any updates that she could remember…
“Uh…” Applejack said, cutting into their silence, “Is anypony else seein’ this?”
“Seein’ what?” Rainbow was the first to respond, “The explosion over at the castle?”
“No, not that,” Applejack said, “I think the creatures are slowin’ down…”
There was a moment of silence before another voice chimed in: Pinkie Pie.
“I’m seein’ it too, A.J.!” she said, “They’re not glowing like they were at the start! They’re moving around like…broken puppets! Some of the flyin’ ones started falling, too!”
“Are they totally shut down?” Twilight asked.
“No, no,” Applejack said, “They’re still tryin’ to attack, but they ain’t gettin’ anywhere.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Both Rainbow and Twilight turned towards the voice, seeing a small platoon of guards, “Princess Twilight! Are you two injured?”
“We’re not out of this yet…” Rainbow shook her head.
“What’s happening?” Twilight asked, “The others are saying the creatures are weakening. Is that true? We haven’t seen them since we started dealing with him…” She motioned to the out cold Storm Claw.
“That is correct,” The guard said, “Here in South Canterlot, the creatures are indeed weakening. Their movements are very sluggish, and they aren’t glowing as brightly as they were moments ago…”
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In East Canterlot, it was much of the same. The creatures there were weakened, too. Fluttercruel could only watch in stunned silence as a few flying creatures suddenly stopped glowing, falling to the ground where they crumbled. She quickly reached up for her ear.
“It’s the same over here,” she said, “I just watched a few of them go down before I could get at them…”
Below, Rarity wasn’t exerting her magic like she was, blasting a few creatures. They swung at her, but they could barely even execute a punch or a kick before she was out of range. Some of the larger creatures simply fell over motionless before crumbling into ashes without even being touched.
“What is going on?” Rarity asked, looking around. The guards were able to push back against the opposing forces with ease now; she could only assume it was the same for the other quadrants in Canterlot.
“If I had to guess, whatever magic was sustaining them is giving out, or perhaps it was halted…” Twilight said, “I guess that blast must have been… Corey’s work??”
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“Are you sure, Twilight?” Rainbow asked, turning to her.
“If he wasn’t the one who caused it, he’s certainly pushing Norma enough to where she has no choice but to depower her forces. Her magic was stretched too thin…” Twilight summarized, “At least, that’s what I think happened. I’m still not sure how runic magic works overall. But it fits what we’re seeing now.”
There was a cough over the line, followed by another. Then, a new voice came over the line. It was raspy at first, but quickly gained strength.
“Hey, can anyone… hear me?” It was John.
“John!” Rainbow chimed in, “So you beat him, huh?”
“Yep,” John confirmed.
“Storm Claw and Slayer are also down for the count,” Twilight summarized, closing her eyes in concentration, “All that’s left is Norma herself.”
“I had a feeling…” said John, “I’m heading towards the castle now, but I’m gonna be a while.”
Twilight opened her eyes. This seemed like the best opportunity to take down Norma. Besides, she wanted everyone who was involved in her games, didn’t she? With this in mind, she slowly turned to the assembled guards, who were waiting.
“Can we leave the rest of the creatures to you all?” asked Twilight.
“In their condition, we’ll be more than enough to finish the job,” said one of the guards, “But where will you be going?”
“We’re going towards the castle,” Twilight said, “Para Norma is there.”
“And we’re going to make sure she goes right back to Tartarus by the end of the day for what she’s done,” said Rainbow, clenching one of her fists.
“But…” Another guard said, “Your injuries… Are you sure?”
“We can’t worry about ourselves right now,” Twilight said, “We’re hurt, but we’re not out of this yet. Right now, Corey’s fighting Para Norma, and if I know him… he’s probably impatiently waiting for us to come to him, to help him finish it.”
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Smoke and dust filled the entire area in front of him. Corey, breathing heavily, fell to one knee. His yellowish-white aura slowly faded, and his eyes returned to normal. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he slowly willed himself to look ahead. He couldn’t see anything through the smoke. All that he could see, was a giant hole in the walls of the castle that broke through to the outside, the light of the sun breaking through what wasn’t obscured by the smoke. As the smoke started to clear, more and more of the light began to seep through.
Corey tried to stand up, but his legs wouldn’t let him, not without a fight, anyway. Still slumped forward a bit, Corey managed to rise up enough. Despite the tense moment, Corey couldn’t help but feel a little elated.
“Being able to do that for real is still cool…” Corey panted, “But the way I feel right now… pretty sure I’ve used up way too much magic…”
There was a steady pause, where everything felt okay. Corey allowed his eyes to close in recognition of it…
“Indeed you have…” A harsh, feminine voice caught his attention, and Corey’s eyes snapped open. Focusing on the smoke cloud again, Corey could see a red glow coming from within. A moment later, Corey heard a thundering crash, and the rest of the dust dispersed due to a shockwave—a shockwave that knocked Corey back off his feet and onto his back. As Corey struggled to stand up yet again, he looked towards the now-clear area.
Para Norma was still conscious, still very much full of energy, and very willing to keep things going. However, from the looks of her cloak, she hadn’t escaped unscathed. The top part had been blown away, revealing some cloth underneath the cloak which no doubt served to protect the only shred of modesty she had. There were a few burn marks in her fur, and her mane and tail were blackened at the end. Around her, was a small crater and some debris, which she began to step out of.
“How… how did you…” Corey stumbled, trying to get up again.
“Your spell…” Norma said, “It takes quite a bit of time to cast, does it not? I only needed that much time to recharge. And look at you now. I’d wager that spell also takes up a tremendous amount of magic, something even your enhancement couldn’t compensate for.”
Corey growled a bit, struggling to pick himself up into a standing position.
Shit, this is bad… Corey thought, Looks like she’s back at full strength. That’s bad enough… but on top of that, I can barely move…
“Oh?” Norma asked, noticing Corey’s condition, “I see. Even your light magic enhancement causes you to struggle now. Have you exhausted yourself, I wonder…?”
“I’m not out yet…” Corey whispered, his horn lighting up. Green runes slowly began to dance over his body, and his muscles bulged as his body glowed, “I still have fight left in me.”
Norma snarled at this. “So you intend to be defiant right up until the end… very well. I could always use the entertainment. But your futile struggle is coming to an end, very soon!”
With that, Norma stomped her feet, red runes shining, reaching along the ground. Corey immediately tensed his legs and leapt as hard as he could when an earthen spike appeared where he had been standing just a moment ago. He staggered a bit, panting as he took in his situation.
Even my stacked buffs aren’t working like they used to… Corey thought, I really am about out of magic here.
Corey closed his eyes for just a moment as he tried to extend his senses, but it was no use. He could sense the overwhelming chill of Norma close to him, but he couldn’t feel anything past that. Where is everyone…
The sound of air being disturbed caused his ear to flick. Corey’s eyes widened as he saw a few red pulses of wind coming at him—more of Norma’s air pressure blades. With little time to do anything, Corey leapt backwards, performing the best backflip he could under the circumstances. Corey avoided getting cut by the wayward air, but landed flat on his back. Looking up, he saw more red runes crackling in the ground, heading right for him.
Corey swore under his breath as he clenched his left fist, green runes dancing off the surface before he slammed it into the floor beneath him, the resulting impact spell destroying the floor just beneath him. As he fell, Norma’s spell went off at the edge of the hole, causing a spike to impale the air where the hole was a moment ago. Corey had avoided this as well, but fell down to the next floor.
He barely managed to roll upright in time, catching himself on all fours. His entire body shook from the impact, and for a moment Corey found he had no strength to stand. However, as he began to get his bearings and return to being upright, Corey heard an explosion of rock above him, and he quickly found himself scrambling out of the way, rocks raining down on his position. Barely managing to get clear, Corey turned around, seeing nothing but smoke where he was just standing.
Then Corey heard the distinctive snap of fingers, and several smaller, blunt-edged pillars began to come at him, bending forth from the floor to come at him. Corey willed his body to move, weaving between the oncoming pillars, but his tactic didn’t work out as well as he would have hoped. As he tried to leap clear of a pillar, it grazed his foot, knocking him off balance. Unable to dodge, Corey saw from the corner of his eye one last pillar. It blasted forth from where it came from, and impacted his right elbow.
Corey heard a pop and felt a searing pain; his arm had definitely been injured, and he wasn’t sure if he could take the time to heal it. Corey fell over onto his left side, quickly pulling himself up into a kneel. His horn lit up and runes swirled into his left hand. Corey began to stand as he fired magic bolt after magic bolt towards the smoke, but it wasn’t long before he saw Norma surge forth from the smoke. She was definitely faster than she usually was, weaving between the bolts, occasionally swatting one away with her bare hand.
Corey tried to protect himself as Norma got close enough to him, but she ducked under his left punch to hit him hard in the stomach. Corey would have doubled over from the pain, but Norma pushed him up by his shoulders. Corey coughed once, but quickly regained his balance, throwing a knee kick. His leg was bounced back by a red barrier that formed where he had tried to kick, though, and he staggered back a step. With his opposite leg, he tried for another kick with longer range, but Norma blocked his kick. As he tried to recover from this, Norma moved in close, striking him with her forearm and knocking him down onto his back.
Coughing from the pain he was in, any spells that were affecting his body slowly receding, Corey struggled to once again stand up. As he began to struggle once again, Norma could only sigh.
“You fight so hard for your friends, but I have to wonder where they are right now…” Norma said, “Weren’t they going to come and back you up against me? Not that it would have helped you if they did…”
“They’re still on their way,” Corey grunted, gasping as he put weight on his right arm to try to push himself up, “And I’m going to keep right on fighting until even one of them can take my place…”
“Useless…” Norma hissed, “How can you still want to fight after being brought to this state? You have nearly no magic left in you, and one of your limbs has been broken. You can continue if you wish, but I can’t guarantee your other three limbs will survive much longer…”
Norma continued talking, but Corey slowly began to tune her out, thinking of what he could do to try to remedy the big problem.
There has to be something she’s using to power herself… thought Corey, Even if she isn’t actively recharging, it has to give off something, somewhere. Where, though… Where would it be?
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Norma watched Corey stand up the rest of the way, holding his arm for a moment. Corey’s horn lit up yet again, and his hand went to his arm. Initially, Norma wondered if he was trying to heal it. However, to her surprise, Corey leaned forward, emitting a large blast from his horn at near point-blank range. The beam, of course, didn’t do a whole lot. Norma was merely negating the magic as it came into contact with her body—weakened as Corey was, that’s all she needed to do.
“What are you trying to do now?” Norma asked, annoyed, “You’re wasting your energy!”
Corey said nothing, continuing to sustain the attack, staring straight at her as he did. Corey stepped closer and closer to her, and Norma began to feel a bit of pressure. She clenched her left hand, preparing an attack that would end Corey’s fruitless resistance once and for all. When Corey was standing right before her, still sustaining his laser, he suddenly lurched forward, reaching out with both hands, noticeably wincing as he forced his right arm to move—just another fruitless attack.
Whatever he was doing, it only annoyed her more, and so she lifted her hand towards the center of where Corey’s beam was hitting her, and began to emit a red blast of magic from it. Her attack easily overwhelmed whatever magic Corey had left in his blast, and blasted Corey backwards, his horn smoking. His right arm began to dangle, his left arm coiled around his chest. He rolled, his left side facing away from her. For a moment, Corey fidgeted around, looking very much like the worm Norma thought he was.
Then, to her anger, he stood up again, his horn glowing for a couple of seconds. However, as Corey stepped forward, ready to cast another spell, Corey suddenly let out a scream, his eyes glowing and his face glowing. He fell to his knees, holding his head, writhing about in pain. Only when she saw this did Norma start to chuckle. Then, she began to laugh.
“So that’s it for you, then!” she shouted, “Not only have you lost one of your arms, you’ve lost your horn! Any magic you can use is cut off from you now, unless that is, you want to injure yourself with it! You’ve lost!”
Corey halted, slowly looking up at her. Then, he began to stand up yet again. Norma lifted one fist, shaking it at his display.
“You still wish to keep going…” Norma shook her head, before slowly starting to smirk. She then looked up, glowering at him, “Fine by me. You were such a thorn in my side today, I have to pay you back for it anyway. Moreover, there’s something else I want to pay you back for as well…”
Norma’s fists clenched, and she started to scream at him.
“Like how someone like you, who never came from a world of magic, was able to make so much more progress that I ever could! Just how…how did you get to be this much of a pest!?”
Corey could only brace himself when Norma rushed him, barely able to get into some kind of defensive position. He was out of options… but damned if he was going to give up now.