//------------------------------// // The King // Story: Out of Time // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Despite having just been beaten again by a foe that made Trunks blood boil, Trunks knew that the sooner he cut down the barrier and dealt with Tirek was the sooner he could tear the Maestro's head from his shoulders. He glanced down at Starlight to find that she had her eyes closed and her horn was glowing with a weird mixture of black and red magic. She then snapped open her eyes and fired a single beam of magic into the barrier, dispelling it almost instantly. "You ready for this?" he asked her. "Ready to watch Tirek get what he deserves for turning this world into the state it's in? Of course. Ready to watch another timeline filled with innocent being erased? That I don't think I'm ready for," Starlight replied, her voice not giving away any of her thoughts. "Come on, Tirek's in there and we won't get to him by standing around out here. Lets go." Trunks nodded and the pair walked into the city of the ruined. Memories flashed in Trunks head as he looked around at the ruined buildings, the overturned shops and carts, as well as the shattered windows and discarded belongs that had once belonged to those that had lived there. It reminded him far too much of the way his world had been as the Androids had ravaged it. He didn't need those thoughts in his mind before a fight, so he glanced down at Starlight with a raised eyebrow. "So, was that dark magic you used just there?" Trunks asked Starlight, who gave him an eyebrow raise. "You can tell the differences between magic?" "Not based on what I saw, but what I sensed. Your aura changed to a darker tone when you used that spell. Comparing that to what little I know about magic was enough to tell me that you were using a darker spell. What we call dark magic," Trunks explained. "Not a bad observation. Are you a scientist or something?" Starlight asked with a smirk. "No, my mother was. She was actually the most brilliant mind in my world. She created all sorts of things. Gas that could affect gods, shotguns that can fire ki, and of course the time machine that was my first step to becoming a time traveler," Trunks said. Then a sad smirk crossed his face and he lowered his eyes slightly. "Yeah, she really was a genius. Never could get her to keep her nose out of battle, though. She refused to sit on the sidelines. Guess that's where I get most of my willpower from." "You said was. Is your mom...?" Starlight began. "She was killed. Murdered by a foe that saw humans as nothing more than a plague and deemed us worthy of being wiped out," Trunks spat. "And all I could do was run, run and leave the woman who gave me everything to die. She survived the Saiyans, the Androids, Cell and Babidi...all to die to a fool with a god complex. Someone I should have been capable of stopping. But, like always, I failed her." "Geez, I'm sorry to hear that. But you're really strong, so I take it you beat the guy that did that?" Starlight asked. The hope in her voice died when Trunks gave her a dark look. "Yes and no. Yes as in I was able to channel the hope and will of the remaining people of my planet into a weapon that was strong enough to destroy his physical form. No as in after his form was destroyed, he became an unstoppable being of death that wiped out all life in my universe. The only way to stop him at that point was to erase my entire reality...which is what we did." "Oh my Faust..." "Mai, my girlfriend, and I were the only ones from my reality to survive. My father and his rival from another timeline aided me, along with a couple of gods, but in the end I still couldn't stop Black from getting what he wanted. The destruction of all mortals," Trunks bitterly said. There was no anger in his voice nor sorrow. Just bitter acceptance. Then he focused his dark eyes onto Starlight, shaking her to her core. "So when I say that sometimes it's better to wipe out a timeline for the sake of a brighter time, know that I am speaking from experience. Erasing these timelines will ensure that your main timeline will continue to live on...no matter how we feel about what we are doing." "Trunks..." "So instead about focusing on the past, how about we focus on the future?" Trunks asked as he put his hand on the door to enter into Canterlot castle, barely registering that they had reached their destination. "Because I've got a feeling that once we've dealt with Tirek, things are going to get-" Ultimate magic eradicated the front of the castle and consumed Trunks, getting a terrified scream out of Starlight as she hurled herself to the ground to avoid being hit by the tidal wave of magic. The tsunami of magic was so powerful that it annihilated the entirety of the buildings around the castle as well as the main street, the side streets and most of Canterlot in general. Starlight slowly raised her head up from under her hooves as the spell came to an end, looking around to find that barely anything remained standing. One of the few things that was left standing was Trunks, who was breathing heavily as magical burns covered his upper body. His jacket and sword had been completely burned away by the magic and the rest of him didn't seem to be fairing much better. But Starlight couldn't ask him how he was doing, for at that moment Tirek chose to reveal himself. He was almost the size of the castle that he had just destroyed, with black and red fur that shimmered with the magic of a world. His eyes blazed like hell fire, his black horns glistened with malice and each step he took seemed to cause the planet to shake in fear. Starlight was certain that she was going to die to the centaur from hell then and there, but Tirek walked by her without so much as a glance at her. His eyes locked firmly on Trunks, who was glaring up at Tirek with cold fury in his. "So...you are the man that is tearing apart the timelines in a vain attempt to fix what has been wrought," Tirek spoke. His voice was like the thunder in the sky combined with the roar of the waves, washing over a pony and leaving them unable to so much as move beneath the weight each word carried. "I have heard rumors of you through the shadows. They say that your cause is noble, your will unbreakable and your power...your power is of a level that calling you anything less than a god would be an insult. I know what it is like." "How on Earth could you have possibly heard of me?" Trunks snarled. He squared his shoulders and reached up to crack his neck, ignoring the pain from the burns on his body as he did so. "Every timeline I've been to aside from the main one has been erased, meaning that none of those that I have fought would ever have the chance to so much as realize you exist. or was it the Maestro or Clockwork that told you about me?" "I know not either of those names. Nor do I know which master of shadows that it was that warned me to your arrival," Tirek stated. He then slowly began to glow with a light, a light that was as sinister as it was powerful, causing Trunks to instantly go on his guard. "All I know is that the gods have finally answered my call and delivered unto me a warrior that can break me free from these chains of complacency once more. For after I obtained my ultimate power I-" Trunks fist slammed into the side of Tirek's head, snapping his face to the side and stopping him mid monologue. Yet even though he had put one hundred percent of his power into the punch, Trunks eyes widened in horror when Tirek slowly pushed back against his fist and turned his face to stare directly at Trunks. "Straight and to the point. Yes, I like you." Tirek then slapped Trunks sideways with a colossal backhand, one that sent Trunks hurtling into the city streets and beyond. He crashed through the upper level of Canterlot and fell to the commoners section, only to be greeted once more by Tirek as the centaur teleported to where Trunks had been rocketed. Magic that would make the princesses cower filled the fists of Tirek and with a bellow of glee he drove his knuckles into Trunks still tumbling body, this time sending him clean through the center of Canterlot. Trunks let out a groan of pain and surprise as he slowly began to move once more, difficult as he was deeply embedded in the stone work that made up the city. Tirek stood over him, a sad smile on the centaurs face as he looked down at his foe. "And here I had been hoping for more a challenge. But you got me to try a bit. And for that, I shall end you swiftly." Tirek channeled his power into his horns and aimed them right at where Trunks was laying, but with a roar of his own Trunks ripped himself free of the stone that had held him and launched himself into Tirek's midsection. With his strength and ki, Trunks ripped Tirek from the ground and hurled the centaur through the upper levels of Canterlot. In a blink of motion he appeared behind Tirek and drove the hell of his foot into Tirek's back, returning Tirek to the pace from whence he just came. Tirek slammed into the upper levels of the city with such force that they crashed down around him, burying the centaur beneath hundreds of tons of rock and stone. "And you shouldn't talk so much during a fight. It distracts you," Trunks spat. He turned and started to fly towards where Starlight had been cowering, before Tirek materialized in front of him within a moment. Trunks had enough time to register Tirek's appearance before a magically infused fist slammed itself into Trunks body, hurtling him through the sky. Trunks flipped around in the air and held out his hands to right himself, but when he snapped his head back towards Tirek he found the centaur channeling an unfathomable amount of magic into his horns. "Noted, Trunks. Now come. Show me your power!" Tirek bellowed before unleashing a blast of magical power so great that it torn apart the sky and earth upon its eruption. "Fine! You asked for it!" Trunks roared as he lifted both hands over his head, before layering them on top of one another and pointing them at the oncoming blast of magic. "MASENKO!" A golden ray of ki burst into life, shrieking across the sky as it hurtled towards the oncoming spell of death. The beam of light intercepted the ray of death and for a brief moment, the golden ray clashing with the black and blue onslaught of devastation. Then, to the utter horror of Trunks, the ray of golden light was slowly beginning to be pushed back. He roared once more as he concentrated more of his power into the counter attack, but it wasn't enough. With one finally bellow of victory, Tirek's blast obliterated Trunks' and consumed Trunks himself a moment later. Trunks body was consumed by pain, his mind was scattered into the wind and a the spell decimated him on a level that he had not felt in a long time. He, luckily, fell out of the wall of unyielding magic, but the downside was that he was sent spiraling down towards the lands below. With moments after falling out of the sky he would have impacted head first with the ground, if not for the fact that a mare caught him with her magic and managed to stop his descent. "Trunks!" Starlight screamed as she shook the Saiyan, who groaned before opening his eyes a moment later. "Oh my gosh, are you alright?" "No, can't say I am after that," Trunks weakly grunted as he slowly sat up, every ounce of his body covered in burns and pain. "I never expected Tirek to be that strong. And the scary thing is, I don't think he's using his full power." Starligth's mind went blank at that realization, before the sound of Tirek crashing into the ground not far from them snapped her out of it. She slowly turned around to see Tirek marching towards them, a smile on his face as he saw that hisn foe still lived. "You do not disappoint. You are every bit as strong and resilient as the rumors foretold. It will make crushing you all the sweeter." Trunks narrowed his eyes in reply as he rose to his feet, only managing to take a few steps before he was stopped by Starlight. "Are you crazy?! You can't beat him! You threw your strongest attack at him and he swatted you out of the sky! And you said it yourself, he's not even using his full power! What makes you think you can win?!" "Because he and I are the same. He's not using his full power...and neither am I," Trunks said as he walked past Starlight. He continued his walk until he was standing right before Tirek, who smiled down at him with power flooding through his veins. "Do you still wish to fight?" "Of course I do. But just give me a sec," Trunks began as he crossed his arms. "So I can change into something more comfortable." "HHHHHHHIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!" As the roar escaped from Trunks mouth the planet shook as if it was about to fall apart. The sky went black and was filled with flashes of lightning while the wind whipped with anticipation of what was to come. Tirek had to dig his hooves into the ground to keep from being blown away and Starlight, even with her magical barrier, was still sent sliding backwards. But just as suddenly as it had begun, the sudden bombardment of power came to an end and all that could be heard was the sound of Trunks now golden aura spiraling around his body. "Alright Tirek," Trunks began, his now golden and spiky hair softly waving in the aura around him. "Let's try that again."