//------------------------------// // 405 - Melodic Onslaught // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Lex had no time to process the insanity that Sonata and Aria were spouting before the sisters pressed their attack. Chanting at the same time, the pair’s voices blended together in perfect harmony as they slowly started to circle him in opposite directions. Lex had just enough time to realize that they were casting the same spell before they finished, their voices rising to a magically-amplified crescendo. The waves of sound hit Lex from both sides, striking him with enough force that had he been corporeal his eardrums likely would have shattered from the strength of their voices. As it was, even the featureless shadows that made up his incorporeal body wavered and shook under the onslaught. Pain lanced through him despite his lack of tactile nerves, but it was eclipsed by shock. They were serious! Fortunately their spell ended only a moment after it began, but neither mare hesitated, voices rising again as they started to chant anew, this time singing different spells. But Lex knew how to put a stop to that. The curse of silence that he’d previously used to quiet Aria couldn’t, unto itself, interfere with the vocal aspect of activating a spell; it simply kept the vibrations of the vocal chords from leaving the throat, rather than preventing them from functioning altogether. But if he channeled additional magic into it, he was confident that he could silence them so thoroughly that their voices would be completely sealed, making it impossible for them to cast- “You took away my voice, Lex.” Aria’s words, only a few hours old, caused him to falter. “My voice. You were the only person who cared about what happened to me, the only one who wanted to fix me – your words, not mine, remember? – and then you snatched it right back again the first time you got angry at me.” Hesitation wasn’t something Lex was accustomed to, but it gripped him now, causing him to lose a precious second as the Sirens continued to chant. But even knowing that they’d need only a moment to finish invoking whatever magic they were going to use to continue their attack, he couldn’t bring himself to act. This entire situation was so unexpected, their stated rationale for their actions so utterly incomprehensible, that he couldn’t bring himself to lash out at them. At least, not in any way that he knew would seriously injure them. There had to be some other explanation for how they were acting- Aria finished chanting first. Smirking, she darted forward, closing the distance between them until she was right in front of him. Rearing up on her hind legs, she held her fore-hooves out in front of her, close enough that they were almost touching. Instantly, a cone of flames erupted from them, the enchanted fire engulfing him whole. Although his incorporeal state again blunted the worst of the damage, he still felt the searing heat of the attack, lurching backward. Directly toward Sonata. Her own intonation finished right on cue, and Lex barely had a chance to reorient himself before she unleashed another sonic scream at him. This time the effect was far more pronounced, and despite being having no physical presence he felt the full force of her magic smash into him like a freight train. The impact sent him hurtling away from her, careening across the station, and it was all he could do to regain control over his momentum, lurching upward as he fought to bring himself to a stop. “Aw, what’s the matter Lex?” cooed Aria, her lips curled in a mocking sneer. “Can’t slap a girl around after you’ve taken her for a ride?” “Gotta admit,” chirped Sonata cheerfully, “this is, like, totes easier than I thought it’d be!” Still reeling from the pummeling he’d taken, Lex desperately tried to figure out a strategy. But there was no strategy to be had if he didn’t understand what was happening! “What do you two think you’re doing?! Cease this and explain yourselves at once!” Sonata’s smile turned quizzical. “Um, rebelling, duh. Did you not hear that part?” “I told Sonata all about what happened last night,” chimed in Aria. “About how you’re going to either dump us or enslave us on your goddess’s say-so.” “And we’re, like, super ticked off about that!” huffed Sonata, pouting now. “So we’re not going to let you do either one!” “Exactly,” nodded Aria. “So right now you have two choices: either you promise right now that you’ll keep being our boyfriend – boyfriend, not master or owner or whatever you call it – or we make you promise!” Both of them fell silent then, waiting for his answer, but Lex didn’t reply, his eyes narrowing as he simply glared down at the two of them in silent consideration. That they were lying was obvious by virtue of the fact that both mares were overlooking the most salient part of their demand: if he refused to sacrifice his relationship with them to the Night Mare, the goddess would bring him to a swift end. Aria had been there when Harrowing Ordeal had revealed that particular tidbit, and Lex found it impossible to believe that she could have overlooked that detail now. Nor would Sonata; as much of a simpleton as she was, if Aria had relayed to her the entirety of what she’d witnessed, Lex felt certain that Sonata wouldn’t try to force him to take an action that would result in his death. Which meant that they were either lying… Or they were under some sort of malevolent influence. Despite his bodiless state, Lex felt a chill go through him as he considered the possibility that someone, or something, was making them act this way. He couldn’t imagine who the culprit could be – the only possibility that seemed remotely plausible was Harrowing Ordeal, but Lex felt sure that his summons had prevented the creature from doing anything of the sort – but at the same time, he was extremely cognizant of how similar this situation was to the last time he’d ended up in a fight with someone he cared about. Specifically, when Nosey had been possessed by Xiriel. If something similar was happening now… The quickest way to rule that possibility out, Lex knew, was to examine the girls in the magical spectrum. Viewed that way, any evidence of hostile magic on them would quickly become clear, the same way that Xiriel’s had on Nosey. But that presented a problem: in order to do so, he’d need to activate his circlet, and he couldn’t do that while incorporeal. Although all of the items on his person transformed with him when he became a shadow, only magic items that had passive functionality – such as the defensive benefits bestowed by his cloak, his amulet, and the ring around his right foreleg – continued to operate normally. Those that required deliberate activation, such as his circlet, couldn’t be used when they’d been turned into a shadow with him. But if he turned back to normal now, Lex had little doubt that Sonata and Aria would quickly renew their attack. Even if he channeled additional magic into his circlet so that it would return a detailed result instantly, rather than requiring several seconds of concentration the way it normally did, Lex had no doubt that they’d each be able to get off at least one spell – perhaps more – before he’d be able to examine their auras and change back into a shadow. Given that he hadn’t fully recovered from his fight with the princesses, and how he’d already taken not-inconsiderable damage from the Sirens’ attacks so far, Lex knew that placing himself in such a vulnerable position was extremely ill-advised. I’m going to have to subdue them first, he decided. But if that was the case, then there was no reason not to strike at their greatest point of vulnerability and silence their voices. Upsetting them was far better than having to hurt them. “Here’s my answer,” replied Lex darkly, calling upon his dark magic even as he poured additional magic into his curse…and only barely succeeded, the strain he’d placed on his system yesterday making itself known as he released his augmented curse onto Sonata. He immediately felt her struggle against it, and was surprised at the intensity of the pushback he felt. It was more than he’d expected from her, almost as if she’d boosted her resistance to deleterious magic somehow…such as the spells she’d used on everypony before the battle against the aquatic monsters, or on herself and Fencer during their fight against the ghoul army. No sooner had that realization set in than Sonata, with a surge of effort, fought off the dark magic he’d thrown at her, his curse failing to take hold. Nor did she stop there, immediately raising her voice in a lyrical chant, Aria accompanying her. But Lex didn’t wait to see what spells they were using, instead rushing upward as fast as he could, aiming to slip through the station’s ceiling before either mare could target him. This was going to be close… He made it a split-second before another fireball hit, passing through the roof of the building and into the sunlight just as he heard the explosion impact inner side of it only a few inches under him. It was followed by another shout a split-second later, the ceiling shaking under the vibrations for several seconds before the sonic assault died off. But the narrow escape brought Lex no relief, both from the residual pain from his wasted effort to augment an attack that had ultimately failed and from the worrying awareness that Sonata – and likely Aria – had taken the precaution of using her magic to enhance her capabilities before their fight had started. They knew, he realized belatedly. They knew I’d try to silence them, and were prepared for it. And if they had been ready for that…then they had likely made other preparations as well. In fact, he was suddenly sure that they had. Aria had attacked him the moment he had entered the station, even though he had come through the wall instead of the door. Which meant that she’d used her tracking spell ahead of time, the same one she’d used to follow his movements when he’d fought her, Lirtkra, and Monitor a little over a week ago. So she’s aware of my position right now, Lex realized uneasily. He’d planned on circling around and attacking the two of them from behind, but that wouldn’t work now; all that would happen would be that they’d get the drop on him instead. Not that he had many avenues of attack left anyway. The strain he’d felt when he’d augmented that curse had made it clear that he’d already taxed the magical channels in his body, whether corporeal or not, to their limit. Although he’d recovered somewhat from yesterday, he was nowhere near full strength, something that Sonata and Aria were likely also counting on. And since his thaumaturgical and divine spellcasting abilities were no help here – the former had only a single attack spell left, one far too lethal to use against anypony, let alone the mares he loved, while the latter had no attack spells at all – that left only his dark magic to fight them with. But other than minor curses, his dark magic’s only real method of attack was in creating dark crystals. Normally he’d have them thrust up from the ground to pierce his enemies, but that was a poor option here. Creating larger crystals could potentially mean impaling the girls, which was utterly out of the question, and smaller ones might hurt their legs but wouldn’t cripple their ability to retaliate with their song-based magic. Maybe forming crystals on their bodies directly, covering them from head to hoof and trapping them? So long as they could still breathe that would serve as a viable, if temporary, prison…unless they could use their sonic attack spells to potentially shatter his crystals, something which was a distinct possibility given how unusually prepared they seemed to be. Nor, he realized, could he even avoid fighting them. Simply retreating in order to deal with them later would only make him run up against the time limit the Night Mare had set for him to perform the ceremony. And if he held it anyway and they interrupted it, Lex felt sure that the Night Mare would hold that against him. Aria and Sonata were supposed to be under his control, after all. But with his magic running low, his options limited, his movements tracked, his adversaries prepared, and no options for avoiding this fight, what could he do? Staring down at the roof of the building, Lex bent all of his thoughts toward coming up with a plan.