While in the chaotic release state, Twilight was far from what could be considered sane. However, despite her insanity, it didn't keep her from realizing the gravity of the situation on her own way.
While she had previously held the advantage in the fight against the fake Knight, the situation had completely reversed. The head of the opponent was the only weak point left, and the increase in her abilities meant that it was much easier to defend. Twilight was forced to attack the mouths instead, and while her chaotic spells were powerful enough to actually affect them instead of simply being swallowed, that came at the cost of expending a lot more energy than she could afford to, which meant that even her increasing powers were unable to keep up, and she fell into a struggling position, trying desperately just to stay alive.
Every new spell Twilight used took two entire seconds to charge, and even though she was using her chaotic movement skills, the fact that she was only able to use spells with such a large gap between them meant that the hunger mouths could get much closer than she would have liked, and Twilight's chaotic body worked on overdrive, restoring itself continually at the same time as it was being devoured.
If the situation continued, it was clear that Twilight would lose, so she once again changed her tactics. Except that instead of simply increasing the risk, she did something a lot more dramatic.
Between one moment and the other, Twilight's body changed. Her flesh darkened and her eyes became bloodshot. Opening her mouth showed that her insides seemed to be suffering from corrosion little by little, her legs inflated and even her horn lost its luster. It looked like the Knight was being ravaged by a horrendous disease.
A few moments later, one of the mouths took a bite out of Twilight, and then it suddenly started corroding quickly, as if it had been infected by whatever it was Twilight had.
Poison magic. That was a forbidden spell created by Knight Dark Realm, the Seeker of Darkness. Twilight had mentioned it before, so it stayed on her mind, which was why she used it despite her chaotical state. It was forbidden because it was extremely dangerous not only to enemies, but also to allies and even the caster. The normal method to cast it involved blocking oneself off from the spell first, but Twilight simply didn't have the level of control necessary for such a thing, specially in chaotic release.
So she didn't really try, and instead used the weak points of the spell as a feature. By restraining the range of the magic to the limit, she was able to poison only herself, making the enemy come into harm from their own attacks, and without needing to use more energy to target her. And she simply needed to use her chaotic body to keep herself alive in the face of such a powerful poison.
The decaying mouth was eaten by three other mouths, which also started decaying, only slower. Those three were eaten as well, and finally the poison was dispersed enough to lose efficacy.
Hunger magic, being based on eating, naturally had ways of dealing with harmful substances. However, despite that, the flow of the fight shifted once again. This time it was the fake Knight that was spending too much energy and would end up running dry first... Only if the notion of energy was the only consideration in the fight, which it wasn't.
Chaotic Release was a powerful ability, but it had an immense flaw: Lack of control.
That didn't just mean that it was unreliable for achieving complex objectives, but also that it wasn't stable. Twilight had already spent a significant amount of time under the effects of having released her own restraints. Her powers had increased continually but that came at the cost of slowly slipping further into chaos, to the point where her very own existence was at risk.
In her fight against Discord, she had gone so far that the Shred of Self was forced to activate and bring her back, and that same Shred of Self had already appeared: An immaterial grey clone of Twilight, who was floating a few meters above, observing the battle. Except that this one was fairly different from the one Twilight had conjured before.
It seemed more solid, and more self aware, and yet at the same time it seemed more detached from reality. But instead of seeming less real than the surrounding environment, it made the surroundings seem less real by comparison. It watched the ferocious battle between Twilight and the fake Knight, she watched as the unicorn's body started fraying at the edges, as if something massive was trying to emerge from it.
The Shred of Self watched as Twilight finally lost what little restraint she had, and forcefully shoved herself down the various mouths, instead of trying to avoid them, being devoured completely. It watched without showing any expression, and then it opened its mouth and spoke two words.
-0-
"Crystal Mirrors." Radiant Hope cast as her opening move.
The world of mirrors changed all at once, and then every single one of the mirrors was reflecting Trixie, from every conceivable angle. The Knight had a feeling, and after a few tests saw that it was true: She had become unable to hide herself under illusions anymore. It was a spell with some similarities to Applejack's Eyes of Truth.
"Mirror Light." The enemy continued.
Dots of light released themselves from all of the mirrors and converged in Trixie's direction, an overwhelming rain of attacks.
Trixie expended one of her charges.
"Grand Illusion: Chaotic Dream!" She shouted.
All of the dots of light lost their direction at the same moment, as if they were part of a marionette whose strings had been suddenly cut. The result was pure chaos, with a multitude of attacks hitting each other and the surrounding battlefield. And Radiant Hope, the wielder of the spell, was hit by the chaotic backlash, causing her to lose her focus for an instant.
It was enough. Because when she recovered, Trixie had already teleported right next to her, another charge filling her with power.
"Grand Illusion: True Dream!" And Radiant Hope was hit by an overpowered illusion spell at point-blank range.
And she was swept into a powerful dream.
Trixie didn't waste any time, and immediately charged up an offensive spell: A powerful explosive arrow, aimed straight at the heart of the opponent.
But as soon as it was shot, the enemy teleported away at the last second. Even though she was still under the illusion.
'Another automatic defense spell?' Trixie thought, annoyed.
That was the worst part of facing Radiant Hope, Trixie felt. Not the fact that she was linked with a magical formation and thus had practically unlimited power. Not the fact that her magical specialty was good at seeing through illusions. But simply the fact that she was incredibly prepared, with all kinds of automatic defenses and ways to resist even the most esoterical attacks.
Trixie followed her teleportation. She realized that Radiant Hope was about to break out from the dream, but still had time for one more spell:
"Grand Illusion: Shifting Dream!"
For a moment, every single piece of Radiant Hope's artificial body tried to transform into something different.
Crunch!
A number of cracks appeared all over Radiant Hope, as if she was an egg that was hatching. She suddenly snapped her eyes open and snarled:
"Reflect!"
And Trixie was hit with the exact same spell she had just used.
Of course, Trixie knew how to deal with that, since it was her own spell. She simply (simple is relative) used a precise illusion to paralyze her own body and prevent it from responding to the sudden changes, and then they passed and her body was completely unharmed.
However, that took long enough that Radiant Hope was able to release another spell and restore her body (the spell was pretty similar to Rarity's Restoration spell, which gave Trixie an idea). And the Knight immediately followed up with another powerful spell to keep the advantage.
"Grand Illusion: Passionate Dream!"
And the spell Radiant Dream had been building exploded inside her horn, as Trixie's magic forced her into an uncontrolable emotion burst.
"Kih!" Was Radiant Hope's only reaction to her sudden maiming.
She flashed away like light, gaining distance from Trixie, who teleported after her.
Trixie's fighting style after becoming unable to hide was based on suppressing the enemy with superior power. It was simple and direct, and yet careful and precise, specially because her enemy actually had more power than her, and so overwhelming her with power was harder.
It was not impossible, since it was just a question of controlling the flow of the battle, but Trixie's situation was truly dangerous. She was having to spend her charges in order to keep ahead, and every spell of hers was intended to end the battle, but Radiant Hope's toughness was great enough to allow her to survive.
And Trixie's charges would not last forever.
"Grand Illusion: Complete Empathy!" Came her next spell.
Now there were two charges left, and Trixie suddenly changed her focus. Instead of a direct attack, she forcefully connected Radiant Hope's awareness with her own. It only lasted for a moment, but that was actually intended. Radiant Hope, who wasn't prepared for that, had no time to gain knowledge from Trixie's awareness, while the Knight got exactly what she wanted: She figured out where was the connection between Radiant Hope and the mirror world, the source of the endless energy she was powering her magic with.
That was what she targetted next.
"Grand Illusion: Power Surge!" And she used another charge.
The Grand Illusions she had used until them were inspired by her fellow Knights, and as such, the current one was based on Sunset. Trixie's spell seamlessly mixed with the energy of Radiant Hope and rushed into the connection, intending to destroy it.
From the mirror world itself, a burst of power rose and blocked Trixie's spell.
'Of course.' She thought 'Yet another countermeasure.'
But she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Trixie released her last charge.
"Grand Illusion: Denial of Nothingness!"
And Trixie released the illusion of an incredibly powerful blast, and turned it into reality. Something that had taken all three of the Knights previously she could now do on her own. The reality would only last for a few moments, but it would be enough to hit.
"Mirror Domain!" Faced with Trixie's overwhelming offense, Radiant Hope displayed her own trump card.
It was as if the world of mirrors converged into a point right in front of her. That single point did not grow, and yet its presence seemed to fill the entire battlefield.
The shock of the two spells was absolutely astounding. Radiant Hope's Mirror Domain was a defense based on the very concept of reflection, capable of turning part of the power of an attack against itself, but Trixie's created attack was so powerful that it managed to overwhelm even that defense.
Still, the portion of the attack that actually managed to reach Radiant Hope was still not enough to give Trixie the victory. The enemy's wounds had increased even further, but since her body was an artifact, even those were unable to significantly impair her fighting ability.
So, Trixie dashed at her, using her aura to reinforce her body and attacking with direct physical combat. She targetted Radiant Hope's wounds and tried to directly destroy the portion of her artifact body that contained the connection with the mirror world.
However, all of Trixie's efforts ended up being not quite enough.
"Crystal Shackles." Radiant Hope managed to cast.
Like lightning from a clear sky, chains of crystal restrained Trixie. She immediately tried to activate her Overdrive... but was unable to, the chains also suppressing her ability to use that technique. The Knight drove her magic into the chains, looking to break that restriction, but it was already too late.
"Heart Curse." Radiant Hope declared.
-0-
As she was fighting against the monster, Sunset couldn't help but have a slight feeling of familiarity. A powerful user of chaotic magic who was only barely guiding their powers (full control at that level was impossible)... It felt like fighting against Twilight when she was under Chaotic Release.
It wasn't completely the same, because Twilight didn't have the level of extra power that thing could use, while the monster wasn't able to compare with Twilight's spell versatility. However, it was similar enough that Sunset could use the experience as a guide.
Not that it could be considered easy. In fact, it was a lot harder than the previous portion of the fight. While before Sunset had been able to overwhelm the enemy with skillful use of her spells, now she was being overwhelmed herself.
One moment, the chaos monster had shaped itself into a dragon, breathing out a legion of chaotic insects that teleported directly on top of Sunset before exploding, with her only barely managing to expel them from her body before suffering serious injuries. The next moment, the chaos monster turned into a raging river of chaos that rushed at Sunset at near supersonic speeds, forcing her to use her extreme movement more and more to avoid it, because the river could flow through the air without any hindrance whatsoever, disregarding the laws of gravity.
The attacks of the enemy were ruthless and tyrannical: Transforming the very air into noxious poison, creating a rain of extremely sharp rock shards that left no place untouched, even creating a tornado that spread chaotic dust that could destroy everything all around the area. Despite that, Sunset was still able to counter-attack, using a combination of teleports, extreme movements and brutally powerful yet exquisitely controlled attacks.
However, it wasn't just the attacks of the monster that were tyrannical, his defenses were just as problematic and hard to deal with. Thanks to the control of the formation spirit, the monster's reactions to Sunset were quick and decisive. The enemy turned into gas, shadow, crystal or whatever else could better resist Sunset's attacks. The enemy erected countless barriers of every variety. The enemy shifted around chaotically to avoid every attack it could. The Knight was unable to make any headway.
One could say that Sunset was being completely suppressed. But that wasn't really a new feeling for her. In the countless times she had fought against Celestia during her training, she had been suppressed every single time. So despite the despairing situation, Sunset's state of mind was calm and placid as she considered what to do.
The Knight had lots of plans for ways of actually dealing with that enemy. However, most of those plans required quite a bit of setup. Sunset knew that lots of things could change very quickly in a fight, specially against that type of opponent, so such plans were unreliable at best. With that being said, Sunset turned her attention towards other avenues of strategy. It could be said that there were three different ways to defeat an opponent: The first was to attack their weakness, the first was to whittle them down, and the last was to cause them to self-destruct.
Considering the enemy, the third method was probably the most plausible, and Sunset was reminded of Trixie, who had always excelled at that sort of thing.
"Grand Basin." She declared, activating one of her most esoterical spells.
A huge and majestic water basin appeared between Sunset and the monster. That water basin seemed to be slightly spectral, and yet also incredibly solid. And after Sunset manifested the basin, the entire structure of the fight changed dramatically. For one thing, Sunset stopped moving around or doing any other spells, concentrating entirely on controlling the basin.
The chaotic monster attacked once again, this time releasing a multitude of black threads that left cuts on the space itself as they travelled towards Sunset. But when they were halfway there, just above the basin, the black threads seemed to have gone berserk and started attacking one another.
The enemy stopped feeding energy to them, but Sunset took advantage of that to take control of the remnants of the spell and sent them back at the monster, forcing it to swipe them away with a huge water paw. However, the water paw itself lost cohesion and turned into a blast of steam that shot into the enemy, who blocked with the armor.
Grand Basin was a spell Sunset had designed to fight against Twilight. It was based on the idea of interfering with enemy magic. It was not efficient enough to have good results against most magic, but since chaos magic was difficult to control, it was the perfect target for it. Sunset had managed to turn the tables and successfully snatched away the dominant position in the battle.
It wasn't like the enemy was completely helpless, though. The formation spirit could guide the chaotic spells of the monster, using a variety of different approaches to try to get around Sunset's technique. It attacked in all sorts of ways, it used multiple attacks at once, and it even attacked the basin directly, trying to find out the weaknesses of the spell.
With this, the fight between the two of them reached a strange kind of equilibrium. Sunset had an advantage, being able to deal with everything that the enemy tried, and even attack. However, it wasn't decisive enough to overcome the opponent, and she was unable to increase the pressure because controlling the basin was taking all of her power and focus.
The next stage of the battle would begin once that equilibrium was broken. And it ended up being the enemy that managed it.
"Kkh!"
Sunset struggled, but the chaotic monster had finally found a tactic that she was unable to deal with. More and more chaotic energy started filling the air. It was the most unstable and reactive type, but the chaotic monster was keeping it from activating simply by virtue of shoving that power inside Sunset's basin. She kept forcing it away but the immense amount of power was overwhelming her ability to interfere with.
Slowly, the basin was infected by the chaotic energy to an increasing degree, and Sunset started to lose control of it. Then, finally, the spell broke.
-0-
Before he could finish casting his next spell, Sombra was surprised by Rarity suddenly appearing right in front of him, specially since he knew for a fact that space was too disturbed by any ordinary teleportation methods to work. As such, he was not prepared for the Knight's attack.
"Earth Style: Grand Heavy Chop!" Rarity shouted.
She raised her earth sword and brought it down like the executioner's blade. It impacted like a boulder falling from the sky, hitting such such strength that it overwhelmed Sombra's defensive spells and aura defenses, sending him flying and actually harming him for the first time in the battle.
She stepped forward to appear next to him again and this time Sombra realized what she was doing.
It was actually flash step, a feat of pure physical strength and control, except that it was at a level way beyond anything that Rarity should be capable of doing, since moving at such extreme speeds put a huge burden on the body. But she didn't need to worry about that because of another of her new artifacts: The Horseshoe of Body.
Based on Rainbow Dash's strength enhancing skills, that artifact could be activated to give Rarity's physical capabilities an extreme boost. She wound up for an horizontal slash combined with a fire spell, but Sombra hit her away with a blast of shadows. However, before he could get time to breathe, Applejack had appeared right next to him.
Different from Rarity, what she was using was Space Step. Normal teleportation wouldn't work, but her Eyes of Truth allowed Applejack to instantly see through the disturbances in space, so it wouldn't be easy to cripple her movement. And instead of using a common attack, Applejack decided to do something smarter.
"Eyes of Truth: Spell Breaker!" She punched at the enemy.
The physical power of her blow was great, but its real worth was the magic that infiltrated Sombra's body and traveled through a very specific magical connection.
Causing Sombra's Shadow Sky to vanish. And he couldn't recast it either, because Applejack's attack had destroyed the magical formations related to it in the shadow world.
"Shadow Flood." He cast.
Like a volcano eruption, a flood of shadows exploded from the ground, forcing both Applejack and Rarity to retreat in order to escape the onslaught. But even that would not be enough to give Sombra a chance to try and turn things around, as one of the Knights rushed through the shadow flood to hit him with a punch packed with lightning.
It was Rainbow Dash, who had changed into her True Body: Lightning Channel state, which wasn't hindered by the Shadow Sky anymore. She hit him dozens of times over before being forced to retreat by another magical burst. Sombra was starting to get more and more injured, despite soaking most of the damage with the power of the shadow world.
The warlock released a series of binding spells, knowing that Rainbow Dash was fast enough to dodge most of his attacks. That suceeded in forcing her away, since the spells kept chasing her. And it was then that another Knight attacked. It was Pinkie, as should probably be expected.
"Emotion Charge: Pure Hope!" She cast.
The effects of that particular technique were dramatic. Pinkie was enveloped in a huge pony outline made out of blue energy. That outline became more and more real, until it was pretty much a copy of Pinkie, except transparent and blue.
She swiped a hoof at Sombra, who was once again thrown around by the power of the attack. It really seemed like the Knights had managed to obtain the upper hand from him.
But Sombra had actually been preparing a special spell, which was why his counter-attacks hadn't been as powerful as they could, and it was finally ready to be unleashed.
"Shadow Collapse!" He yelled.
Every single one of the Knights around them were blown away from the sheer power of that spell, but those were merely the aftershocks of it, because the true target of the spell... was the material world itself.
It happened without any indication. For a moment it seemed like the spell had done nothing, but in the next moment, a wound opened on space itself.
And one of Fluttershy's legs exploded into dust.