Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


210 - Everything You've Got

“Would you like to say anything to Nosey before I kill her?”

Lex knew the question was insincere, knew that Xiriel was mocking his inability to do anything, but that knowledge brought him no comfort. Quite the contrary, he renewed his struggles, though it amounted to little more than shakily raising his unbroken foreleg to lightly tap against the tongue coiled loosely around his neck. The gesture was a futile one, he knew; even if the devil had released him, he wouldn’t have been able to cast a spell in his condition. The pain where his chest had been pierced was growing worse, and each breath was growing progressively harder to take. …have to do something, he thought dazedly, trying again to devise some plan or idea or anything that would let him keep fighting, or at least defend himself and Nosey, against the seemingly-unstoppable devil…only to come up, once again, with nothing.

Xiriel laughed, clearly enjoying the sight of Lex’s frustration and helplessness. “Aw, you won’t reassure her that it’s all going to be alright?” laughed the right head, its tone thick with cruel amusement. “Or perhaps make an impotent threat about what you’ll do to me if I don’t leave her alone? I thought you mortals loved doing that.”

The central head’s tongue reached out to flick one of the black crystals that had sprouted from the ground a moment ago. “Or maybe you’re preparing yet another last-ditch effort to win,” it mused.

“In that case,” murmured the left head, “I think I’ll get on with it. I’d hate to miss the opportunity to see the look on your face as you watch her die.”

Xiriel’s words weren’t idle. All three of its head were locked intently onto Lex, and even its leech-like maw was turned toward him. With Nosey directly behind it, the tongue around Lex’s neck lifted him higher into the air, letting him look over the belier at the blonde mare’s prone form. “dID i MEnTiON tHAt ThIs iS tHe sAmE sPElL i uSeD tO kIlL yOuR fRiEnDs yEStErDAy iN vAnHoOVeR?” screeched its fanged orifice. “iT rADiAtEs oUt iN EVerY dIReCtIOn, oVErWhELmiNg tHE sPiRIt rAThEr tHaN tHe bODy. yOuRS iS pRoBAbLy sTRonG ENoUgH tO sUrVivE tHiS, bUt pOoR nOSeY hAs nO sUcH hOpE.”

Lex heard the words, and part of his mind immediately started dissecting them for useful information, trying to figure out what “overwhelming the spirit” meant. But the bulk of his attention was focused directly behind Xiriel, where Nosey was lying on the ground. It was only because he was hurt so badly that he was able to keep the surprise off of his face.

Nosey’s eyes had just opened.

She didn’t groan or shake her head or move at all, simply making eye contact with him, and he belatedly realized that she’d been feigning unconsciousness, waiting for…what? He had his answer a moment later as her horn began to glow softly, a matching aura springing up around several rocks that were scattered nearby. Except they weren’t rocks, they were gemstones…the gemstones that had been orbiting Xiriel heads just a few moments ago, until it had inadvertently knocked them out of their flight paths when – thrashing in pain from Lex’s disintegration spell – it had flung Nosey over itself, scattering them. Now she was gathering them up, but wh-

Suddenly, he knew what she was going to do, and the realization made his heart lurch. No! he screamed silently. Don’t worry about me! Get out of here! The idea that she was going to use her last living act to try and help him, rather than save herself, was enough to renew his struggles, coughing up blood as he tried to yell at her to run. But it was useless, and an instant later Nosey brought the five gemstones together, pausing just long enough to give him a knowing smile…and flung them right at Lex.

Then everything happened all at once.

Lex’s magical sense screamed at him that the belier devil was about to release its magic, even as he heard the devil emit a wordless shout of surprise as the gems entered its field of vision. An instant later, the five of them settled around Lex’s head as Nosey’s aura sputtered out. Immediately, just as they had for Xiriel, the jewels began to orbit Lex’s cranium…and the pain in his chest disappeared, the burning sensation of not being able to breathe vanishing as though it had never existed, even though the wound remained. It was as though one of those gemstones had made it so that he didn’t need air to survive…or to speak.

Reacting before his conscious mind could fully process what had just happened, Lex raised his unbroken hoof and began to gesture as he started to chant, the words spilling past his lips even though no air accompanied them. But Xiriel was also speaking, its four voices rising as they shrieked a phrase in an unknown language in unison, and although the words were meaningless to him they were painful to hear. But Lex didn’t stop his own casting, uttering the syllables as fast as he possibly could, trying to finish before the monster in front of him.

He didn’t quite make it.

The belier devil’s spell went off a microsecond before Lex’s, unleashing an invisible wave of corruptive energy that radiated out from its body like a shockwave. Although he couldn’t see it, Lex felt it slam into him…even as he saw the force field that he’d cast spring into existence around Nosey, the transparent dome shimmering as Xiriel’s magic washed over it harmlessly, and he knew that he’d done it. He’d saved her.

It had been the wrong decision, of course. Strategically, taking the brunt of Xiriel’s spell in order to shield Nosey accomplished nothing. All that would happen was that the devil would simply incapacitate or kill him a moment later, and then dispel the force field around Nosey and do the same to her. As awful as it was, the sound decision was to accept that Nosey couldn’t be saved, and instead use the last chance she had given him to cast an attack spell at the creature and hope that it got through its spell resistance, finishing it off. That was the only logical course of action.

But that was utterly unacceptable. The thought of letting Nosey die when he had the opportunity to save her was one that Lex rejected down to the core of his being. It went deeper than his responsibility to save Equestria from this monster. Deeper than his hate and loathing for the creature that had hurt so many ponies. Deeper than his moral code. Rather, for someone who measured their life only in terms of what they’d lost, who for as long as he could remember had always been excluded, the question of what it would cost him to save her didn’t matter, even if that cost was death.

It was simply that the thought of losing one of his only friends was more than Lex could bear…so much so that it took him a moment to realize that he was completely unharmed.

“What…?” The word slipped from his lips unconsciously, unable to believe that he wasn’t suffering from any new pain or weakness or other debilitating condition in the wake of the devil’s spell. It hadn’t thought it would kill him, but for it to leave him completely uninjured? The gems, he thought to himself. They must have done it.

But Xiriel didn’t seem to share that opinion. “Unhurt?” The shock in its voices was unmistakable. “But that means you’re-”

Lex didn’t wait for it to finish, immediately rattling off another spell as he shook off his surprise. Silently hoping that one of the belier’s gems enhanced magical aptitude, he pointed his good fore-hoof at Xiriel’s left head. He received his answer a moment later as two bolts of darkness burst into existence, crossing the short distance between himself and the belier. The magically-shaped shadow-weapons burst through the devil’s spell resistance, and an instant later burst through the thing’s head, causing it to explode in a shower of gore. Immediately, Lex fell to the ground, the tongue that had been coiled around his neck falling slack now that the head it had been connected to was no more, Xiriel's screams of agony ringing out across the battlefield.

For a moment Lex dared to hope that the sound was the monster’s death cry…and then the thing’s two remaining tongues lashed out, curling around two of the gems orbiting Lex’s head – the iridescent spindle and the orange prism – and flinging them away. Instantly, the horrible pressure around Lex’s chest returned, and breathing was once again nigh-impossible, leaving him gasping and choking on his own blood. No! he wailed in his mind. How can it still be alive?! Across the battlefield, he could see Nosey – still encased within his force field – gaping in horror, her eyes wide at the sight of their enemy’s ungodly fortitude.

Then there was no more time to marvel at the belier’s resilience, as it darted toward Lex in fury. “HOW DARE YOU!” screamed Xiriel’s remaining voices. “HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!” This time it didn’t lash out with its tongues. Instead, it was the fanged maw that approached Lex, the gnashing teeth sinking into his left hindleg and beginning to draw it deeper, pulling him bodily into the creature’s toothed orifice. Xiriel wasn’t quiet as it began to devour him, continuing to roar. “I’LL KILL YOU!” it howled. “I’LL KILL NOSEY! I’LL KILL SONATA! I’LL KILL EVERY PONY IN THIS CAMP! IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD!”

…I won’t let you…

“I won’t…let you…” choked Lex, barely able to get the words out. He could feel the thing’s fangs sinking down to the bone on his leg, its gullet greedily gulping down his blood. A small part of him marveled at the fact that he could still register more pain after everything he’d already been through.

“YOU WON’T LET ME?!” shrieked Xiriel. “YOU CAN’T STOP ME! NO ONE CAN!”

…you’re wrong…

“You’re…wrong…” This time Lex was aware of it, aware of the words that the tulpa that lived in his shadow was feeding him. It had been doing that intermittently during the fight…and each time it had, it had preceded a sudden success in affecting Xiriel with his magic. First when he had been trying to force it out of Nosey, and then again when trying to disintegrate it. Other than when he’d appropriated the thing’s gemstones, those had been the only times he’d been able to affect it. But now…

“I’M GOING TO DRAG ALL OF EQUESTRIA DOWN TO HELL! THE ONLY FUTURE YOUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE WILL BE TERROR AND SUFFERING AND DEATH!” The belier’s voices were rising, its rage reaching its peak. “I WILL MAKE ALL OF YOUR KIND KNOW THE PAIN YOU’VE INFLICTED ON ME!”

…and you will know mine…

It was all Lex could do to speak. The thing’s maw had drawn him in up to his waist now, and as the fangs dug into his abdomen, he realized that he couldn’t feel them anymore. Distantly, it occurred to him that he was dying, but he had to keep going…had to…do what he could…to keep fighting… “And you…will…know mine…”

As the last words left his lips, Lex felt the familiar sensation of magic being activated. But that couldn’t be right…he hadn’t chanted, hadn’t gestured. But even so he felt a spell take shape…from himself…felt magic coalescing in his one good fore-hoof…and somehow he knew that he just had to reach out…just had to touch the thing… Inching his hoof toward where the Xiriel’s lower mouth was eating him, Lex reached out to touch it…and stopped, unable to keep going.

One of Xiriel’s tongues had grabbed his foreleg, curling just below the knee, preventing him from touching the thing and discharging whatever spell that was.

“DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T NOTICE THAT?!” it roared. “DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T BE READY FOR YOU TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE?!” Its tongue slammed his leg down, keeping it pinned uselessly as its teeth continued to eviscerate him. “THIS IS THE END, LEX LEGIS!”

His vision was dimming, and the creature’s shrieking sounded as though it were coming from incredibly far away. Nevertheless, the smile that crossed Lex’s face at that moment was one of triumph. “I…know…”