//------------------------------//
// XXII. Smother 
// Story: The War in Heaven 
// by voroshilov 
//------------------------------//


“The Emperor declared to his Legions: ‘Go forth, those of you loyal to me. Sing your victories across a million worlds. Proclaim the glory of your Emperor and the strength of his Empire.’ And thus they went forth across the worlds under the Emperor’s Red Banner. Those who heard of the deeds of the Emperor and his loyal soldiers were awed by them, to which the Emperor declared: ‘Join us, revel too in the glories of your Emperor. Go forth and claim the galaxy which your Emperor and his Legions have made yours.’ And thus they went forth.”


- The Triumph of Perseus by Lucia Winter -


The Victorious Jubilation had roared to life, climbing high and flying at speed towards the Citadel, which, according to Nicholas, stood about a thousand miles from where they had boarded. The few glances Penumbra had gotten of the Imperial lines were awe-inspiring, there were tens of millions of soldiers, at least, facing off against the daemons, who would have looked little more than a singular block with only intermittent spats of colour were it not for the tanks separating them. Just behind the first few lines of men rolled what Kyhron identified as Monolith mobile firebaces: two kilometre long armoured beasts that were essentially an entire military base on tracks larger than buildings. They bristled with cannons, firing constantly into the sea of daemons that lay ahead.

The cruiser had begun to take fire over the course of the next hour, with a call coming over the intercom shortly afterwards to get to droppods. The entire pod bay, a hundred or so pods in all, was full of soldiers, some wished them good luck, others simply climbed into their pods and waited, resigned to fate. Penumbra was led to a pod containing a single, black armoured Ranger, a Captain by the three gold chevrons on his left shoulder plate, who nodded to her as she entered. Luna and Rarity were given their own pod, the dropmaster attaching them in and running them over the basics of operating the pod. Cecilia was led to her own pod, as were the three Shade Guard and Ar'Aknos, though the dropmasters mostly left them be, confident they knew how to operate a drop pod.

Penumbra's heads up display flashed up a timer: '10 minutes' which began its countdown as the pod doors all closed with a click and hiss. They sat in darkness for a moment, before the walls flashed and revealed a clean view of the outside, the dropmasters ensuring the pods were ready before hastily evacuating, giving one last salute to everyone. The central pillar's screens flashed up, revealing the face of Emperor Nicholas.

"The enemy shall be swift, you must be swifter. Disembark your pods the moment you land and secure the main gate. Myself, Kyhron and Neveron will deploy from the cruiser, from there we will assist in the seizure of the gate, then in breaching the Citadel. Prepare yourselves."

With a roar of cranes, the pods shunted forwards, detaching from the platform and moving to hover over the pod bay doors, beyond which lay the Citadel. With a siren and flashing red lights, the pod bay doors made a mechanical clunk and opened steadily, revealing the immense size of the Citadel, which covered a large portion of the view.

Penumbra's timer flashed on one minute, every second going by heralding another flash. The central pillar flashed up a timer as well, synced exactly to Penumbra's own, which gave her Ranger companion a countdown too.

"Hey," they shouted, drawing Penumbra's attention, the alicorn looking round the central pillar to view their helmeted face, "good luck, we're all rooting for you."

Penumbra nodded. "Thank you." She thought about wishing them good luck too, but knew better.

Her timer began an audible countdown from ten, "10. 9. 8. 7."

Fire from below began to burst around the pod bay doors, though the cruiser's shields held it off.

"6. 5. 4."

With a thunderous screeching, the cruiser returned fire, bolts of orange speeding down and detonating all around the Citadel and surrounding field, steadily silencing the anti-air fire.

"3. 2. 1."

The timers all collectively flashed zero, with a shrill beep entering her ears, before everything suddenly jolted downwards. With a clunk, the pods detached, falling near in unison straight down. The ground fire took out some, knocking others off course slightly, but the hail of fire from the cruiser kept the worst of it away.

The cover fire from the cruiser stopped only a few seconds before the pods made landfall, embedding into the floor to allow their occupants ease of escape. With a mechanical hiss, followed by a loud bang, the pod's door burst off, the Ranger leaping out, Penumbra following close behind, creating a shield against where she assumed the enemies were. A few daemonic bullets impacted it, dropping harmlessly to the ground when they did, but otherwise she was mostly clear to move.

What few daemons had been close by had been sent reeling by the impact of the pods, then almost wholesale destroyed by the Rangers. Those who remained were forced back towards the gate, with the Imperial forces close behind. The gate stood about twenty metres tall, built out of a material that seemed to be a white wood with a thickness of nearly a foot, it was slightly ajar, with individual daemons coming through every couple of seconds, only to be quickly cut down by the Imperials who were almost upon it.

When the first line was only a few metres from it, the gate swung open, revealing a titanic daemon, like a knight but nearly ten metres tall, armour fused into its body. It roared out and brought forwards its mace, swinging wildly towards the Imperials, hitting entirely its own allies but intimidating enough that the Imperial line stepped back.

"Back," yelled Cecilia, emerging from the blob of Rangers, "deal with the other daemons, this one is mine."

She rushed the titan, though the daemon didn't seem to notice until she was practically right next to it. It swung out its mace, trying to blindside her, but found that Cecilia only dug into it with her sword and latched on, using the momentum of the mace to jump to the titan's shoulder. The daemon roared out in pain, its mace now sporting a burning patch where Cecilia's sword had impacted it. She landed gracefully, slicing a tendon, before using the titan's helmet as a grip to fling herself up and onto the top of its head. The daemon, still roaring in pain and flailing its one working arm to try and swat Cecilia off of it, stepped backwards, evidently aiming to use the Citadel's walls to remove her from its head. Fortunately for her, the daemon's plan was entirely obvious, prompting her to thrust her sword straight down, aiming to destroy everything in its head.

The daemon fell silent, smoke pouring from its mouth, nose and ears, before it toppled backwards, crashing on top of a group of its allies, Cecilia landing beside it, decapitating an imp-like daemon on landing. Her allies pushed forwards, with Belial punching a hole straight through a small knight daemon with his cannon. The final group of daemons left, mostly imps, were quickly evaporated by the arrival of Nicholas, Kyhron and Neveron.

"There is not time to be lost," Nicholas called everyone in, "secure the gatehouse."

Rangers, led by Cecilia, rushed past him, cutting down what few daemons remained inside. The gatehouse was cleared in a few moments, though the gate opposite its entrance was locked from within. Nicholas stepped up to it, regarded it for a moment, before grunting and calling up Penumbra.

"This gate is covered in powerful wards," he said, "I will need to smash it open." He brought forth Oathbreaker, slamming the sword into the material just above the lock, causing it to splinter and crack, but not fully shatter.

Outside, a horde of daemons had begun their approach, stretching for as far as the eye could see from the threshold. Most were imps, though there were a fair few knights, small and large, amongst them, all aiming straight for the gate, where the Imperial forces were camped.

"Continue breaching the door," Kyhron shouted, "I will deal with them."

He stepped outside, making some distance between the gate and himself, already aware of what he would have to do.

He was alerted to a presence to his left, turning to regard Cecilia, one of his adopted sisters, who was stood straight and firm, weapon in hand.

Another alert, now to his right, he turned to regard Ar'Aknos, a brother not through family but through experience, who stood straight and firm, weapon in front of him, ready.

Then another alert, just behind his left elbow, he regarded the presence of Neveron through their psionic link, a servant - to some - but also a great friend, who stood straight and firm, standard raised in challenge.

A final alert, to his left again, he turned to regard Belial - as the Zelians would say - cousin - a fighting partner - who stood straight and firm, weapon levelled against the approaching horde.

"Return," Kyhron ordered, tone brokering no argument.

Cecilia laughed. "And let you have all of the fun?"

Ar'Aknos laughed. "And let you kill more than me?"

Neveron laughed. “And let them die without seeing their opponent’s banner?”

Even Belial laughed, "and let you get all of the glory?"

Beneath his shadowed exterior, Kyhron smiled. "Very well. Close the gate behind us."

A dozen Rangers worked to push each segment of the gate closed, whereupon it locked with a click automatically. Another smash by Oathbreaker prompted the Rangers to adopt defensive positions around the gatehouse, preparing for the inevitable breach.

On the fourth hit, the inner gate broke down, Oathbreaker carving through a small knight's head as it did so. A few imps turned with shock, only to be sliced apart by the Neophytes, who straightened up and sheathed their swords the moment the little courtyard was clear.

There was a path carved out of a stone slightly darker than the quasi-soil around it, leading up to a thick tower. Penumbra recognised it from Kyhron's briefing, the first major turning they would have to take: up the tower and across a bridge to another tower almost identical to it, though taller. The PHALANXs, Rainbow Dash amongst them, forged ahead, Emperor Nicholas heading up the back with Penumbra, Luna and Rarity with the Shade Guard.

"We'll hold them off," a Ranger, Commander by the golden star on his shoulder plate, said, "hopefully we'll keep them off your back at least a little while."

Nicholas nodded. "Your sacrifice will not be forgotten," he said, "nor shall it be in vain."

"Yes sir, give them hell."

The first tower apparently contained nothing but a staircase, which wound up along its walls until it eventually stopped at the roof, with no room connecting it. Each step was about two metres thick, enough to fit the whole group walking single file with comfort. About three quarters of the way up, there was a wider step, about six metres long, attaching to a bridge that led out to another tower, the insides similarly identical. Though they caught the odd glimpse of daemons outside, they encountered none in either tower.

At the top of the second tower, they reached another bridge, this one leading to a much thicker tower, with a pair of imps stood aimlessly half way along it. A pair of pops from a PHALANX's gun and their bodies crumpled, slowly melting as the group passed them.

The tower they entered actually had rooms, though what purpose they had was unknown. The first they entered was a foyer of some kind, a large staircase leading up and into what appeared to be a dining room, though there were only three chairs, randomly placed, around the twenty metre long table, with no other decoration save the chandelier, that provided light even though it wasn't lit. There was only one imp inside, who again was killed with a single shot from a PHALANX. So far, oddly, they had encountered no real resistance, though that could have been due to the Light's forces being stuck outside, as Penumbra was beginning to suspect.

She quickly rescinded that suspicion when they entered the next room, a rotunda about fifty metres in radius containing a few hundred imps and a few dozen small knights, with one of their larger counterparts in the centre. It took the daemons a moment to notice the new arrivals, before, with a collective roar, they all charged, imps at the lead, knights behind.

Their roar was matched by the shrill shrieks of rifle fire, cutting apart several imps at a time. Though for every imp that died a knight got a step closer to the PHALANXs, using their smaller brethren as meatshields. Luna and the Neophytes jumped forwards, guarding the PHALANX gun line with their swords and staves, cutting down any imp or knight that got close enough. The Grand Master stood behind, Rarity with him, firing off shots from her twin laser pistols. The halo around the Grand Master's head had extended to beneath his eyes, as he cast spell after spell to enhance the speed and strength of the Neophytes and Luna.

Emperor Nicholas sailed overhead, using wings to gain the height advantage over his target: the large knight. The beast swung out with mace and fist, but was useless in a fight against Oathbreaker, being sliced clean in two as Nicholas pushed himself downwards with his wings, slamming into the ground as the perfectly severed knight splattered beside him. His comrades pushed forwards, Luna impaling a pair of imps with her rapier, whilst the PHALANX Em headbutted another imp to death.

"Be wary," Nicholas said, "our enemies are innumerable and they will throw everything to stop us. Keep your guards up."

Penumbra did not drop her guard again, keeping her longsword ready at all times, wreathed in an aura of magic. Nicholas stood at her side, Oathbreaker grasped firmly in his left hand, his right partially covered in black flames. The PHALANXs, Rainbow included, scanned their surroundings as they went, turning back and forth to make sure every angle was known to them. The PHALANX pony's mechanical wings flexed out instinctively, ensuring they were ready and able to take flight at a moment's notice.

The next room they entered was smaller, like a vestibule for a larger room, which it turned out to be. They entered a rotunda similar to the previous, though this one only contained three imps, who quickly collapsed into heaps, though the PHALANXs had not fired their weapons.

Emperor Nicholas stood at the end of the room, Oathbreaker dripping slightly with brand new daemonic blood. He motioned for the group to approach quietly, which they did, surrounding the door to the next room, identical to the previous.

"This next room," Emperor Nicholas whispered, "holds a number of enemies, be ready, we may need to make an escape."

Rather than let the PHALANXs breach, Nicholas entered first, blowing the door off with a punch, sending it flying into the new room. A dozen or so imps were killed by the missile, with a small knight losing most of its fighting ability as the door, covered in daemonic gore, wedged firmly into its knee. There were at least a thousand assorted daemons in the room, which was far larger than the previous rooms, with a large, stage-like protrusion on its far end, with something obscured by a thick, grey curtain. There were two exits, barring the way they had entered, to the left and to the right. Their objective was to the left, though the right exit was closer.

The PHALANXs opened fire first, once again, and Nicholas took flight to use his various ranged abilities to their maximum effectiveness. As before, Luna and the Neophytes fronted the line, using their melee to protect the gunline of PHALANXs and Rarity, with the Grand Master casting enhancement spells to his allies. Penumbra flew up alongside Nicholas, firing off bolts of magical lightning from her horn, focusing her fire on the various knights.

With each knight killed, something seemed to thunder closer to the stage. Every thud gradually got louder and caused more vibrations, until a massive silhouette was just about visible through the curtain. When the final knight fell, the curtain evaporated, revealing a massive daemon, twenty feet tall, clad in silvery armour clearly separate from its body, with a pair of simple cleavers in its hands, its head half covered by its breastplate, the rest protected by a wide brimmed helmet, a pair of curving horns on its head.

The massive daemon seemed to laugh. "Now." Its voice was guttural and seemed to sound wet, "You die."

Nicholas directed a pair of shadow blasts at it, intending simply to stagger it. "Move," he yelled, "keep moving."

The group charged through the few remaining daemons, aiming for the left exit, following their objectives. Overhead, Nicholas continued with his shadow blasts, with Penumbra reluctantly retreating last, after recognising he wouldn't stop until she did. Nicholas was the last to pass through the door, which he slashed at with Oathbreaker, collapsing a part of the tower on top of it. 

“That should buy us some time," he said, floating back to the group, who were already into the next tower, which was mercifully empty for the time being.

"What was that?" Rainbow asked, voice slightly frantic.

"A Paladin," Nicholas replied, "an old warrior of the Light, though this one has been fully possessed, halfway between person and daemon. Enough free will to be dangerous but a slave to the Light nonetheless."

"And how do we kill it?" Penumbra asked, more interested in ending the thing than where it came from.

"We don't," Nicholas replied, "not yet, anyway. We must push forwards, every second we do not gives the Light more time to react."

The room above them was similarly empty, as was the room above that. Oddly enough, the entire tower was empty, allowing them to make their way to the next with no resistance, then through that and onto a large, keep-like structure.

The entrance to it was guarded by a portcullis and a pair of imps, all of whom were destroyed the moment they came into view. Nicholas stood in their place, Oathbreaker dripping with daemon blood, having appeared apparently out of nowhere. His cyan eyes burned less brightly than they had before, almost dulled, though none had the time to ask him why.

A pair of knights lunged clumsily at him, before everything from their waists down collapsed backwards, their torsos continuing to move a few metres before similarly coming to rest. Nicholas had clearly moved, though none of his group had seen him do so. He had vanished from sight, presumably further inside the keep.

"Enter," he called out, after a second, voice deeper than before, though Penumbra chalked it down to the keep's echo.

The group entered to behold a whole army of slaughtered daemons, everything from imps to small knights to a pair of large knights who were slumped against the far wall, notably missing their faces and, when Penumbra went to look, most of their backs. Oathbreaker glowed green, the glow penetrating the layer of daemon blood that covered it, giving it a silvery sheen. Nicholas was stood with his back to the group, facing the large stairway that led to the next level, a veritable carpet of daemonic corpses at his feet.

The PHALANXs rushed forwards, Luna, Rarity and the Shade Guards close behind them. Only Penumbra turned back to Nicholas, whose eyes were completely grey, but evidently still glowing. She made a motion to ask him about it, before the titan floated past her, Oathbreaker laying a thin trail of blood in his wake. She had no idea how he had done what he did, and, in the current situation, she presumed it'd be too difficult to find out. But, she knew it was effective, and thanked him for it within her thoughts.

The mezzanine floor above was clear, no daemons to be seen, though many could be heard on the floor above. The PHALANXs stood on guard over the bottom of the next stairway, awaiting Emperor Nicholas' commands. He surveyed the floor for a moment, before floating forwards, stopping at the bottom of the stairway.

"Push through," he said, "head through the door on the right, then up the stairs and to the left."

He vanished again, daemonic screeches, roars and shouts of pain echoing down the stairs. The group charged up, forced to pause for a moment at the sheer devastation Nicholas had wrought in the space of a second. They stood before a carpet of dead daemons, two imps thick, with Nicholas about twenty metres away, Oathbreaker buried into a large knight's face, the daemonic flesh around the impact point burning with black and green flames. An imp had been impaled on the claws of his left foot, having launched itself at him, expecting to catch him off guard; a small knight collapsed to the floor behind him, a gap carved through its abdomen, up, and straight through its head, Nicholas' right first covered in daemonic gore.

It was the Grand Master who pulled them forwards, urging them to ignore Nicholas, whose armour had begun to take a greyish colour, his flesh becoming a mixture of its usual pinkish-beige and a light purple. His wings appeared to have gotten thinner, too, also taking on a more purple colour, with faint twinkles - like stars - hovering near them, though Penumbra assumed that was just a trick of the light.

The group followed the route Emperor Nicholas had given to them: right, up, then left. Again, they encountered few daemons, only a pair of imps in the two rooms they entered, who quickly became a pair of former imps with two pops of a PHALANX's rifle. The room they had been directed to had the floor plan of a dodecagon, with eleven identical doors leading off it, the twelfth side holding the staircase. They formed a ring, covering all of the potential entrances, and waited for Emperor Nicholas.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, with Nicholas appearing at the top of the stairs. His armour was now clearly grey, with his skin a light purple and wings thin enough to see through, a slightly lighter purple than his skin. His eyes were a light grey, which could have been mistaken for white, though they did not glow anymore.

He levelled his sword against a door, in a general forward direction from the stairway. "There," he said, voice clearly deeper than it had been and with a sinister hint behind it, "advance."

He floated forwards until he was about five metres from the door, which suddenly exploded outwards, the position of Nicholas' hand bearing Oathbreaker changing by a minuscule amount when it did. Through the threshold of the now shattered door was a corridor, wide and tall enough for floating Emperor Nicholas, which went on for about fifty metres until it met another door. The group moved forwards, Nicholas at the head, with the Emperor repeating the same tactic he had on the last door, stopping before it, with it exploding out a second later, sword hand moving minutely, only Penumbra seeming to notice.

The splinters of the door killed four imps standing just beyond it, with one of the largest splinters crippling a small knight as it cut through one knee and out of the other, practically tying it together. The knight was the largest daemon in the room, which, within an instant, became the largest corpse in the room. Nicholas had, once again, moved, now floating at the very centre of the room, his armour much whiter, his skin a darker purple, wings being almost see through and dotted with little stars, his eyes almost a uniform white.

The group stepped over the daemon corpses as best they could, observing what appeared to be like a dead end, no doors, windows or any other potential exits leading beyond the room.

"Hey," Rainbow said, "this is a dead end. What are we doing here?"

A rumbling came from all around, though seemed to be coming from Nicholas. He hovered in place, a menacing aura around him, before the three walls they hadn't come from collapsed, the three floors of tower above them buried into a larger tower a kilometre or so away.

One of the four largest towers, which ringed the main tower and the central spire above that, was in view, though there was no path to it. To the group's far left hung the Victorious Jubilation, covered in gashes but still firing, torching the areas they had passed through earlier with its plasma lance and causing general destruction and chaos with its main batteries.

Chunks or rubble, large enough to stand on, appeared between the group's tower and the larger tower beyond. The chunks hovered in place, suspended by some invisible force, clearly intended for the group to jump along. The PHALANXs went first, hopping onto the first chunk which did not even wobble, remaining firmly locked in place by whatever was holding it up. Led by Douglas, they jumped to the next platform with relative ease.

"Come on," the PHALANX Captain shouted, "let's get going."

Rarity, Luna close behind, was next, though far slower and with more caution than the PHALANXs. The Shade Guard followed, apparently seeing the jumps as little more than par for the course. Penumbra went to follow, but looked back at Nicholas, still hanging in place, the same menacing aura around him.

She paused for a moment, questioning how to ask him what she wanted to know. "Can you..." She paused again, before shaking her head, dissuaded by something within. "Nevermind."

She leapt onto the first platform, foregoing usage of her wings, save to give herself an extra boost on the grounds of the potential anti-air fire. Whatever had scarred the Victorious Jubilation she would rather not have been hit by.

Eventually, the group reached the final three platforms, keeping separated so as not to potentially knock their friends off. There was a wall ahead of them, with only a tiny balistraria allowing them to see inside, though, obviously, none of them could fit through it. Then, suddenly, the wall was punched through, a gap at least twenty metres wide and forty tall had been made, Nicholas floating within.

The group quickly followed, jumping into a large, spiralling staircase, enough room for all of them to stand abreast. As the PHALANXs, Luna, Rarity and the Shade Guard forged ahead, searching for the next level, Penumbra regarded Nicholas again. His armour was ashen white, skin a dark purple, with his wings, tiny stars hovering around them, taking on a ghostly appearance, though their colours had again shifted to give Penumbra a view of what looked to be a galaxy or nebula from the outside. His eyes were a uniform white, though still did not glow, and his menacing aura had grown, making Penumbra feel oddly uneasy, as well as seeming to force her to look away.

Eventually, she caved, following the rest of the group, leaving Nicholas hovering in silence. She knew he'd catch up, there was no reason to bother him.

The group reached a large rotunda, with only one apparent exit, presumably leading deeper into the tower. It was, unlike the previous rooms, oddly dark, with the lack of lighting actually seeming to affect it. The group advanced slowly, forming a protective ring as they went.

Suddenly, Penumbra's instincts kicked in, adrenaline began flowing through her. Her enhanced, supernatural senses had detected something watching her, something that shouldn't have been. That something turned into many somethings, then many more, before the room lit up in a blaze, revealing thousands of daemons, surrounding the group.

There were eight large knights, with dozens of smaller knights and thousands of imps. What was worse, though, was the Paladin who now blocked the exit, slightly smaller than the previous, armed with a pair of double-headed axes.

It laughed, though the sound that came out sounded like someone on the verge of vomiting. "Die."

The imps surged forwards, small knights following, the PHALANXs instantly opening fire, taking up a circular formation, with the four melee oriented members of the group at the front, with Rarity and the Grand Master in the centre, firing pistols and casting spells respectively. Penumbra was grateful for her supernatural reflexes and speed, allowing her to perfectly time her strikes, without them she would probably have died almost immediately - if she would have survived that long to begin with.

The imps were not much of a trouble to deal with, with the small knights requiring a little more thought but still relatively easy. The trouble came with the large knights, whose maces would easily flatten half of the tightly packed group if they got close enough. Luckily, unlike usual, the large knights didn't simply smash through their allies, instead hanging at the back, strangely still, which would have worried Penumbra had she been paying much attention.

It was when the majority of the smaller daemons were dead that the first pair of large knights charged, attacking from opposite sides to split the firepower of the PHALANXs and hopefully destroy at least one half of the group. As Penumbra turned to face the charging knight, a horrifying thought clicked in her mind: they were fighting tactically. Previously, the daemons had only had a single tactic of charge forwards, with the smaller of their number sometimes branching out into meatshield for larger daemons territory. Now, though, they seemed to exhibit tactical thought, they had timed their assault, charging right as two of the PHALANXs reloaded the battery packs on their rifles, split up so as to divide the firepower and attention of the group.

Penumbra was, again, grateful for her supernatural abilities, her enhanced hearing recognising the approach of another knight, to her right, then another to her left. There were four of the large knights charging the group, the two who had started off first being merely distractions to allow the other two more time to move forwards. Had she not noticed, as several of her allies hadn't, she would have been unable to fire a circular burst of magic to temporarily stagger the knights and inform her allies of their two new attackers.

The PHALANXs loosed their grenades, attempting to slow down their attackers, which they did, the knights seeming to stop and step back when they noticed the grenades, again exhibiting actual, worrying thought about their behaviours. The two Neophytes brought up their staves to cast a pair of spells, only to lower them as the Grand Master stepped forwards, staff already wreathed in energy.

He slammed the pommel of his weapon into the ground, sending out a bolt of energy in front of and behind him, impacting both knights' left legs, collapsing them and allowing the PHALANXs to concentrate their fire, killing both after a few seconds of sustained gunfire.

He repeated for the other two, only for two more of their fellows to catch them and push them forwards, their inertia sending them into a head on collision with the group, very nearly crushing the PHALANXs and knocking the group down, with even the Grand Master dropping his weapon for a moment.

Penumbra rose first, horn wrapping itself in magic four times over, firing out a series of large, purple, icicle-like bolts at each of the knights, outright killing three and mauling one's leg. The two remaining uninjured knights stepped forwards, forming a triangle around the group, who were beginning to reset their positions, the PHALANXs using the now dead knights for cover. The six PHALANXs and one PHALANX pony concentrated their fire on one of the uninjured knights, sending it drifting to the right, still running but with its right leg completely destroyed and most of its torso burning.

Its other uninjured fellow got within a few metres of Penumbra, before a navy blue rapier appeared out of the end of its head, wreathed in Luna's magical aura. The knight collapsed, suddenly realising it was dead. The final knight, injured as it was, managed to take a few hobbled steps towards the group before a magical bolt the size of one of the PHALANXs pierced its skull through its eye, the knight collapsing backwards slowly.

Only the Paladin remained, still standing guard over the door. This one was clearly weaker than the one they had escaped from earlier, though still had a dangerous look about it. It gave a guttural growl, slamming the ground with its axes, goading the group to attack it. One of the PHALANXs gave a testing shot, only for the shot to harmlessly ricochet off of the Paladin's armour and into the ceiling.

One of the PHALANXs, Sam, stepped forwards, switching his rifle to its shotgun mode. He advanced slowly, clearly intending for the Paladin to attack him so he could use its arm to access the weak spots of its head, then use his shotgun to kill it.

As expected, the Paladin's left axe swung down, Sam using the jets on his armour to dodge it by a foot. Rather than land and climb aboard the arm, Sam was swatted aside like a fly by the Paladin's right axe, impacting the wall with a thud, leaving a decently sized crater behind him.

"Sam!" Aimee yelled, leaping forwards as the Paladin roared in triumph. With another swing of its axe, the Paladin smashed Aimee into the ground, using the flat head of the axe to minimise her ability to dodge.

The Paladin thundered forwards, knocking the reeling PHALANXs aside with frightening ease, using its axe like a tennis racket. The Shade Guard leapt aside, one of the Neophytes grabbing Rarity as they passed, removing her from harm’s way. Luna, however, was not so lucky, her magical shield was shattered in a single strike, with the shockwave of its destruction throwing her backwards, helmet saving her head from cracking against the wall like an egg but knocking her unconscious as it did so.

Penumbra summoned a swarm of magical shards, using them both as a shield and as weapons. She threw forwards dozens at a time, but almost all impacted harmlessly against the Paladin's armour, only a few becoming embedded into it, the rest uselessly dropping to the floor. One or two impacted areas the armour had exposed, though the Paladin didn't even seem to notice. She stepped back, firing forth even more shards as she did so, hoping the Paladin would at least slow down. It was upon her in seconds, batting her into the wall closest to her with its right axe, evil laughter bellowing out as it did so.

The wall had cracked behind her, Penumbra having collapsed into a small pile of rubble. Her head was spinning but she was not unconscious, though she couldn't focus enough to use her magic, not that it probably would have been of much use anyway. The Paladin stepped up to her, raising its axes above its head, clearly intending for the killing blow. She closed her eyes and braced for impact.

She opened them again a couple of seconds later, confused at why she was still able to, though she quickly realised why.

Before her, hung Emperor Nicholas, sword - veins glowing bright green - and fist out ready. His armour was like a shining pearl, shoulder pads widened outwards and connected behind his neck, his crown sporting a pair of blade-like protrusions on either side of his head, his skin deep purple and coursing with power just beneath it, his wings, enormous and ghostly, with an image of the cosmic web within them, galaxies shining like stars both within and without, hovering about them like fireflies. Though Penumbra could not see them head on, his eyes were glowing white, their corona visible even from behind, starkly contrasting his perfectly smooth purple head. All around him, the aura of menace had been replaced with one of doom.

"She is not yours to take." His true form's voice was deep and sinister, making even Penumbra reel back.

He vanished again, the Paladin collapsing forwards, covered in hundreds of burning slashes, a deep, fiery gash from its abdomen to its face leaking daemonic blood. As it fell, it revealed Nicholas, hovering behind it, sword eagerly absorbing its blood, glowing with an even greater hunger as it did so.

"Did," Penumbra stuttered, "did you just? Did you just stop time?" She felt almost absurd for asking, though she had to know.

Emperor Nicholas turned, his eyes burning white with time energy. "Yes."

"What the?" Rainbow, who had seconds earlier been running to Penumbra's aid, stammered, "how the? What kind of power is that?"

"The power," the Grand Master said, standing on the other side of the room, Rarity and the Neophytes next to him, "to control all of time. A power that Emperor Nicholas had long considered too dangerous to use. But, now, his true form is revealed, with all the power that comes with it now visible for our eyes. The power of the Master of Time. The Light, I can feel it, trembling in its spire, it can feel him even down here, feel its doom approaching."

"Advance," Nicholas commanded, hovering above as the group gathered together and checked their injuries. What injuries they had were either not serious or had already been treated, no doubt by Nicholas himself.

The door the now dead Paladin had blocked opened out into a long hallway, the exit visible only as a tiny speck of white in the distance. Further up there was nothing, at least nothing visible, after a hundred or so metres, though it could be assumed it was more of the same. The ceiling, hundreds of metres above them, at least, was held up by pillars twice the width of Nicholas, with no light save that from the exit and those of the group illuminating the room.

Nicholas immediately knew why.

Daemons began to swarm around them, tens of thousands of imps at least, coming from high up on the pillars or on the ceiling, with knights charging forwards from further up the hall, which stretched on into total darkness. Every one of Nicholas' attacks cut a vast swathe into the daemonic hordes, with each attack being unnoticeable save for its aftermath thanks to his time stop. A sudden gap in the daemons ahead, no doubt caused by Nicholas, gave the group the window they needed to begin their escape, before an echoing roar made them quickly hasten their escape.

From the gloom behind them came the first Paladin they had encountered, larger and clearly more powerful than its now dead counterpart, it was very wise to retreat from after how badly its weaker fellow had defeated the group. Fortunately for the very mortal runners, Emperor Nicholas' efficient fury hadn't been tempered by his transformation, rather solidly enhanced, with every one of the Emperor's swings killing dozens of daemons, each one cutting through the barrier to their goal of escape.

With a final time stop, the way was cleared, the only daemons remaining close behind them. Emperor Nicholas passed through the door first, with the group sprinting under him and across the bridge barely wide enough to fit Nicholas, let alone the far larger Paladin. Upon reaching the safety of the other side, each member of the group fell to their knees and caught their breath, preparing for the next encounter. All save Emperor Nicholas, who had landed on the bridge, daemon corpses strewn across it and the Paladin looming over him from the other side.

With a roar of action, the giant beast lunged forwards, Nicholas ramming his sword through its left shoulder. The beast roared out, though in apparent triumph rather than pain, before wrapping its giant arms around Nicholas, simply attempting to move him out of the way. A pair of small knights ducked beneath the Paladin's legs, a sudden kick from Nicholas decapitating one, but not fast enough to stop the other, who charged towards the other side, sword in the air, roaring madly.

With a burst, one of the beast's arms shattered, revealing a rapidly projectile in the form of Oathbreaker. The sword missed the knight, but squarely impacted its intended target: the bridge beyond it.

Oathbreaker, green glare near blinding, hung in place for a moment, before, with a rumble and audible crack, it entirely severed the bridge. Oathbreaker fell into the abyss below, ever more parts of the bridge falling with it. After a moment, the knight fell too, screeching in its failure, prompting the Paladin to realise what was happening.

"You," it began to speak, before Emperor Nicholas' fist erupted through its chest.

"The last word is always mine," the Emperor bellowed, before turning to Penumbra, his eyes burning out, willing her forwards, "go," he yelled, as the Paladin toppled backwards, Nicholas falling with it, "end this once and for all."

He slammed himself downwards, the entirety of the bridge collapsing under his force. The bridge, the daemons and Emperor Nicholas plummeted into the abyss, before finally vanishing from sight.