//------------------------------// // Darkness and Light // Story: Reaper: Grand Charade // by Ise no Kami //------------------------------// Feelings of determination echoed through Azrael's footsteps as he walked down the streets of Canterlot once more, though only he could feel that rhythm. Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy followed behind him, still suspicious of his intentions and thoughts, but otherwise lost in this unfamiliar district of the city they called home. Not Azrael, however; though he had only been out on the surface of this city for a short while, he could feel the place he had once called home. And he knew exactly what waited for him there. Yet his prize came to him early. As the group approached one final corner, a familiar face rounded it coming the other direction, a shaken girl with scarlet hair... "Shimmer!" Rainbow called out as the group rushed forward to help their friend. She collapsed on the ground, and they all knelt down to support her. "Glad to see yer okay," Applejack remarked, before turning to Azrael. "Say, how'd you know she'd be here?" "A little birdie told me," he replied cryptically, standing and moving forward. Shimmer reached up and grabbed his arm, bringing him to a stop. They turned to look into each other's eyes, and in that moment Azrael knew everything she had been through...and understood her desperate, silent plea for him to stop here. To not fight the twisted monster just around the corner. To not become that dark beast. He responded with a light smile, raising his arm slightly to clasp her hand in his. "Don't worry about me," he reassured her. "I'll be just fine. Just need to do something real quick." With his other hand, he pulled one of his swords an inch out of its sheath. "Funny. I was hoping to avoid hurting anyone else. Still, figures that violence would be the one thing he would understand. I doubt he knows anything else." He let go of Shimmer's hand and his sword, and walked forward to face destiny. Around the corner, he saw the final resting place of his old home. The magic blast that had ripped the Lulamoon Mansion apart had turned the surrounding gardens to desert, a broken gate opening into barren and blasted ground. Where the actual mansion stood, a new building had been built, a segmented and simple black structure built by the government to suppress the magic still leaking through. The barren land between the gate and the building was scorched, the remains of a minefield that had been blasted apart. Standing in the middle of this scorched battlefield was Daniel, waiting for his opponent. "Were you waiting long?" Azrael asked, a smile on his face as he drew his blades. "Not really," Daniel replied, calling forth his scythe and raising it toward Azrael. "I knew you'd come, after all." They locked eyes, effectively shaking hands across the distance before their battle. A second later, they rushed across the wasted garden, their weapons held behind them, ready to swing. They finally met, their blades finally clashing and ringing forth an echo that rang for many blocks beyond the battlefield. From there, the battle raged. Azrael, with his other blade free, swung forth, but Daniel twisted his scythe arm, hooking Azrael's caught blade and twisting it out of the way. In this motion, he narrowly avoided Azrael's left stab, and forced his opponent to move. Azrael jumped back, and Daniel responded with a few tendrils of astral mist. Azrael effortlessly blocked these tendrils as he landed, splitting them apart as they touched the black metal of his blades, but Daniel took this moment to rush forward once more and strike. Azrael, seeing this, opened his wings and strafed around, swinging to strike Daniel from behind. Daniel responded by continuing the momentum of his scythe swing, catching the black blade at just the right time. "You've gotten better," Azrael noted, shooting his opponent a cocky smirk. "Not by that much," Daniel shot back. "You just caught me off guard." The two jumped back from each other, only to rush back and strike at each other. The sounds of metal on metal rang forth and echoed out from the barren courtyard as their blades clashed repeatedly. Azrael slowly stepped back as the fight went on, getting overwhelmed as Daniel's attacks came forth in an unending storm of slashes. What stood before the white alicorn was a berserker, bearing down on him with the brunt of his power, what power he could use given the edge Azrael's swords gave him, in an attempt to simply crush the swordsman with brute force. Azrael could keep up, but with no signs of an opening, he couldn't do much else. He realized this battle would never end, unless he made his own opening. And there was only one way he could do that... He unfurled his wings and took to the sky, where he called forth his power upon his grounded foe. Daniel disappeared in a flash of white as the ground below him was blasted apart. As the dust settled, however, an azure bubble remained. It quickly cleared, its purpose as a shield complete, and revealed that the reaper had donned his Nightmare armor. Azrael, seeing this form for the first time, first thought to make a wisecrack, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the dark knight jumped up at lightning speed to strike his flying foe. Startled, Azrael flew up higher, and threw down more white bolts. As one bolt approached the Nightmare knight, he simply struck it down with his scythe, the blade infused with astral energy. He didn't negate the magic, as Azrael's swords acted; no, his power cancelled it out. It was then that the white alicorn got a look at Daniel's Nightmare eyes. What he saw reflected back...was hatred. This wasn't the fair fight Azrael had expected, not anymore at least. His opponent wanted to destroy him, and his only choice was to fight back. Immediately after landing, Daniel jumped forth once more, surrounding the airspace around the battle with sinister tendrils of astral energy as he soared into the sky. Using the tendrils as stepping stones, he rose up to Azrael's level, and brought down his scythe in a single crushing blow. Azrael simply sidestepped the attack, beating his wings to avoid the curved metal. In his rage, Daniel immediately sent those dark tendrils at his foe. Azrael dove into a corkscrew and held out his blades as he spiraled, negating those tendrils he didn't dodge outright. One bolt of azure energy got through his defenses, barely clipping his wing as it shot past. He came out of his corkscrew, righted himself, and shot upward to strike the dark knight while he was exposed. In response, Daniel simply swung around and blocked Azrael's swords. His blind rage appeared to speed up his reflexes, allowing him to spin around at lightning speeds. Realizing the futility of finding an opening, Azrael decided to fight fire with fire: total offense vs total offense. He pushed forward on the blade clash, catching Daniel off guard and gaining some ground. They soared through the sky, bounding all over with wings and dark tendrils, clashing blades as they bolted from place to place. The sounds of their battle now echoed forth across the city, and citizens miles away could now see their aerial battle. Finally, after a long and drawn out clash, Azrael got the advantage. He landed a blow on Daniel, staggering the Nightmare knight. Seeing this golden opportunity, he unleashed as much magic as he could muster on his opponent, causing the sphere of astral tendrils around them to dissipate as the reaper fell to the ground below. Azrael paused to catch his breath, only for Daniel to shoot up a dark green laser, clipping his wings and sending him plummeting to the ground as well. Daniel made impact and skidded across the ground as his momentum continued, chunks of his Nightmare armor flying off and disappearing on each impact with the barren earth. As he flew, he regained composure, his eyes returning to their blood red color. As his momentum started to fade, and the last of his armor was ripped off, he conjured an astral wall behind him, catching himself and letting him charge forth. Azrael landed much more gracefully on his feet, only to be immediately rushed by the charging reaper. The force of his charge sent Azrael flying into the wall of the base behind him, finally wearing him down. Daniel approached to finish the fight, but Azrael wasn't done just yet. He rushed forth, surprising the reaper and slicing his ribs. The reaper jumped back, but took another slice to the back. They met once more in the center of the barren garden, blood now leaking from their injuries. Azrael took one more look into his opponent's eyes, and was surprised to see the emotions behind them had once again changed. The rage, the lust for destruction, was gone, but in their place was grim determination. The fight had gone on long enough, and the reaper was ready to finish it. In turn, Daniel saw this same determination in the white alicorn's eyes. With one final, silent nod, the two rushed forth and swung. A few seconds later, as they stood with their backs to each other, both combatants buckled back as blood rushed forth from their new wounds. Azrael fell to the ground, still conscious but seriously injured. Daniel, on the other hand, clutched his wounds in pain, vanishing his scythe to hold in his pain. With great effort, Azrael flipped upward to see his opponent still standing. The reaper turned to him, and though the alicorn was too weak to speak, his eyes conveyed the question hanging silently on his lips. "I'm not completely human," Daniel answered without prompt. "I can and have survived worse. Gotta give it to you, though: if I was pure human, you would have killed me." "You gonna...finish me off...?" Azrael choked out. "Of course not," Daniel replied, kneeling down to his fallen opponent and holding out a hand. "Yeah, sorry about that. Think I went overboard there. That said, you held up pretty well against the worst I could do. C'mon, let's get you patched up." Daniel grabbed Azrael's arm to help him up...and froze on the spot as a spear of light pierced his chest. The spear radiated light into his body, burning his insides. On top of the injuries he received during the duel, the reaper finally reached his breaking point, falling back as he lost consciousness. "I never expected you two would destroy yourselves," Lockheart taunted, as she came on the scene with a handful of officers. She held up a hand to call the attention of her posse, then pointed it toward the broken warriors. "Take them in." As the agents lifted the limp bodies, Azrael stared at his captor in contempt. "You still think imprisonment is the answer here?" "You have no right to talk!" Lockheart snapped back. "Not with my partner lying dead in his own truck!" Azrael fell silent. He knew he had left Thatch alive, and for him to be dead now... He was dragged away in silence as he pieced together the hell that was about to commence. As the agents brought the warriors in, Shimmer and her friends looked on in fear. Their best fighters had just been captured. The next move...was up to them.