//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2- The Shadow King VS The Spectral King 
// Story: A not so Deadly Battle 
// by Lieral 
//------------------------------//

"Royalty. Symbols of command and power," Rainbow Dash spoke with a deep voice. "But sometimes this power is not entirely used for good, or not used for good at all, like with our old enemy: King Sombra, also known as The Crystal King,"

"And Nico Di Angelo, the legit son of Hades and refered as The Ghost King," Pinkie Pie adjusted a black tie. "Just to be clear, Nico is definitely in the first category, he did some mistakes but deep inside he's on the right side,"

"Good to know, we already had more than enough problems with royalty creature," Rainbow show a poster with pictures of several old enemies. "Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis, Prince Tyrek, King Sombra, Just to name a few,"

"Now that you mentioned that... That's strangely true,"

Suddenly a door opened startling the two ponies. "Hey girls, Rainbow said she wanted the new Daring Doo book and that I should bring it here... What are you two doing?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she looked at the big table, lots of papers and a professional television camera in front of her friends.

"Hey Twily," Pinkie waved at her friend. "We're discussing who would win between King Sombra and Nico Di Angelo,"

"What? Why? And more importantly, are you discussing a book character and didn't call me?" She teleported between the two and conjured a couch for her own. "Now we can start,"

"I don't know if I'm surprised or not that you're so eager," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Anyway, let's get started,"







"I think is very safe to assume that everyone here knows who is King Sombra, but not all know about who he was before becoming the king we know," Pinkie Pie flipped a few pages. "But I think Twilight would be the best one to explain that,"

"Thanks for the word Pinkie," Twilight cleared her throat and assumed a very serious tone. "More than a thousand years ago, close to the borders of the Crystal empire, a lonely Colt was found by imperial soldiers. They tried to talk with him and ask from where he was, but he answered them with the just one word, and it doesn't matter what they say, he always replies the same thing: 'sombra',"

"Really?" Rainbow asked. "And how do you know that?"

"I've read his diary,"

"You what?"

"Anyway, the soldiers decided to take him away from the cold and take him to an orphanage. There, they decided to give him a name, and as such they gave him as name the only thing he could actually pronounce. In the orphanage, he was teach how to properly speech and study to become a better pony,"

"We know that didn't really worked," Rainbow chucked.

"To be fair, that wasn't entirely his fault. He suffered constant abuse from other foals, from the orphanage or not, for being strange and a Blank Flank too,"

"Oh, poor thing," Pinkie Pie looked sad, but a second later she assumed a thoughtful expression. "Did any of you noticed that Equestrian kids are usually pretty mean? Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Tempest's old friends, Fluttershy's bullies and the list goes on,"

"Despite that being a good debate let's get back to what really matters today," Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Of course. There he befriended a girl like him, she was Radiant Hope. She was also a blank Flank and called strange and as such, suffered a lot of bully too,"

"Told ya,"

"They quickly became best friends," Twilight continued as if she had not being stopped at all. "They lived together, played together with some 'fairy' that only Hope could see and make plans for the future. Especially to one day see the Crystal Heart during the Empire's biggest celebration, but their plans were quickly destroyed as in the very day of the celebration Sombra felt really bad,"

"He was taken to the hospital where he agonized for hours, until the celebration stopped, and finally he fell asleep. And even more sadly, that repeated again in the next year and every single year after that,"

"Wow, I can't imagine how obsessed he became in seeing the Crystalism," 

"The answer is: A LOT. He wanted more than anything to be like the others and see the celebration with Hope, but one year, things got even worse. His body was almost consumed by darkness and shattered, but Hope managed to help him with her magic, and finally earned her Cutie Mark as a healer. And not long after that, she was called to study with the Princesses,"

"Princesses? Not only Celestia?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, both princesses. Anyway, he knew she was going to left him behind, and ran alone to the cold desert. There he found a black rock that was used to seal the threats that were once known as Umbrum. They were a dark race of monster like creatures that even Queen Chrysalis was scared of them. And they told him that he was one of them, destined to become their king and free them from their prison. With his newfound origin he unleash his total powers. Despite the lack of any cutie mark, he is amazing with dark magic,"

"Finally I can have a part," Rainbow complained. "He can use magic like most unicorns, from the basic very powerful laser beams, teleport, teleci-something I don't care, and many other stuff,"

"Like mind control, turning ponies to stone like he did with Princess Mi Amore after he learned about his tragic future, torture his enemies using traumatic memories and even become almost entirely made of sheer shadows to become giant," Twilight took a deep breath after saying all of that. "And his magical energy was insane, a thousand years ago he lost to Luna and Celestia, and when he returned with Hope's help he still could keep up with Princess Celestia,"

"Sure, Celestia is clearly rusty and even more than her sister to be entirely honest. But she's still an insane monster," Pinkie Pie faced Twilight. "We can say that, right? Is a compliment,"

"I'm not so sure it's a compliment..."

"Anyway," Pinkie ignored her. "As every good monarch, Sombra can summon his fellow Umbrum to battle. They're ferocious creatures that looks like it came from Madoka Magical, but they're numerous and despite being really ugly, they definitely can do some good damage together,"

"And one of his signature moves are his anti magic black stones," Rainbow Dash assumed. "They're almost impossible to destroy and can be summoned at will, that ignoring the fact that it can even break the tree of Harmony,"

"Sombra might be mean or whatever, and even if his past doesn't justify everything he did, there's no denying he's a terrifying king," Twilight nodded solemnly.





"During most of his life, Nico Di Angelo thought he was just a normal kid, but spoiler alert: He wasn't," Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. "I mean, if he was just Normal, he wouldn't be here,"

"That's... Actually true," Twilight spoke thinking. "Anyway, Nico was a young boy, living with his sister, Bianca Di Angelo, in a very strange hotel/Cassino called Lotus," For some reason Pinkie Pie frowned and crossed her hooves. "In this hotel, time flowed differently, and the two kids that lived during the second war lived a very normal live there until they're rescued and sent to an intern school, where they met the one and only Percy Jackson around 2010,"

"Their lives were about to change that day. Until then, they had no one besides one another," Rainbow assumed the speech. "They were rescued from a Manticore by Percy and met the Artemis Huntresses..."

"AND BIANCA JOINED THEM DESPITE BEING TOLD THAT SHE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE HER BROTHER ALONE!" Pinkie Pie hit the table in an outburst of fury.

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash stared Pinkie with wide eyes and a slightly scared expression. "Well, that's actually true but..."

"NO 'BUT' SPARKLE," Pinkie yelled and both her friends hugged each other in fear. "SHE'S A HORRIBLE SISTER AND THE FACT SHE DIED TO PROTECT PERCY DOESN'T MAKES HER BETTER!"

"Okay Pinks, let's calm down a bit okay?" Rainbow tried to interject, but a single angry look from the pink pony makes her shut up. "You know what, if you want to talk go ahead, we can wait,"

"OF COURSE I WANT!" Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "Anyway, after the loss of his 'sister'," She quote with a heavy frown. "Nico discovered that his powers might be bigger than he ever imagined. His rage opened the ground and summoned the corpses of dead warriors, and after that, he was claimed as the ONLY son of Hades himself,"

"Yes, that's true," Twilight finally let go of Rainbow Dash and cautiously sat down on her own couch. "Nico found a way to the underworld, where he finally met his father, and mainly, finally started to learn about his own powers as well,"


"And surprise, he was powerful as hell," Rainbow Dash grinned. "He could control the corpses of anything around him, or summon help from the underworld. He can teleport with shadows, even if doing this for long distances tires him out. When angered the stones and ground around him shatters and breaks apart, the air gets colder and even other demi gods like him avoids even being around, like Jason Grace admits, he would rather being around an unpredictable God than being around a furious Nico. Man that's something,"

"And to help him out he uses a sword made of iron from the underworld that not only gets bigger after absorbing the souls of his victims, but can hurt monsters and even cut the shadows itself," Pinkie Pie smiled as normal again. "And he also has an excellent eyesight capable to see far in the distance and also can sense not only his enemies but also the 'death aura' that allows him to notice when someone close to him is about to die, making him perfect to locate enemies for sample,"

"Indeed, and he has somewhat resistance to illusions since he was capable to see the Tartarus of his universe as it truly is for days," Twilight said. "And if you're wondering why this is important, let's take in comparison another insanely powerful demi-god, Percy Jackson. He saw what Tartarus looks like for less than a minute, and the almighty son of Poseidon almost went crazy. And Nico saw it like this for DAYS!"

"And that calls for Nico's biggest feat. His INSANE willpower. He avoided becoming crazy with Tartarus and was only captured when the monsters in Tartarus's heart managed to take him down. He lived in coma for days inside a jar, and when he got better he summoned the corpses of many warriors so he could kill them again to regain his strength, and remember the shadow travel? He used that on himself, Rayna, coach Hedge and a 12 meters tall statue to travel through miles and miles, crossing countries in seconds,"

"That's true, but he had a small help from Reyna to endure the burden, and he also had to sleep for hours to regain his strength, but he did this so many times that he almost dissolved inside his own darkness," Twilight adjusted the glasses that weren't there a second ago. "But despite not showing any real endurance feat, his willpower definitely shows how far he can go,"

"And he's also extremely good in combat. To the point where he can defeat 8 Romans in less than 10 seconds," Rainbow was almost bouncing on her couch. "But his most dangerous power is one that he gained through his heritage,"

"Oh yeah," Even Pinkie looked excited. "The Spectral King received this name for a reason. He can kill anything,"

"You might be thinking: 'Of course he kills. He has a sword!" Twilight spoke as if she was another person, just for comedy effect. "And we'll, sure. He can kill with his sword, but his biggest power is the one that just kills. His wrath will paralyze his victims in fear and then the ground will open to lock him in place and then he will turn you into a ghost by force and sent you to be tortured in the underworld without judgement, without pity, after all, like he said. In the underworld there's only... Justice,"

"That's creepy as hell," Rainbow pretended to shiver. "And so fucking awesome. As we already saw, many of Nico's powers can tire him out very quickly, but he had proved time and time again how fierce the son of Hades can be,"





Slow, strong footsteps echoed in the dark corridors of a castle so dark as that all the ghostly light that illuminates it seems even weaker than a dying candle. The underworld will hardly be a place to have a very positive vibe, but it was not something that bothered the young boy who was walking towards his father's throne room.

Nico Di Angelo walked calmly with his hands in the pocket of his aviator jacket while his black sword hung beside him.

After a myriad of dark corridors she finally reached his destination, and as expected, on his great throne made of bones and souls Hades was waiting patiently. "Good to see you boy," He said with a wry smile.

"What do you want?" Nico replied dryly. "You wouldn't have called me here without a reason,"

Hades scratched his beard. "Can't I want to spend time with my son?" Nico's response was only to frown, making the God of the Underworld sigh. "But of course it wouldn't work. I have a task for you. Far from here there is an enemy that needs to be taken down. He didn't follow the script's fate, and it needs to be eliminated,"

"Understood," Nico turned on his back ready to use the shadow travel to teleport, but a big black portal appeared in front of him. He turned and saw his father with a somewhat concerned look.

"Good luck boy," he said in a rueful voice. Nico turned towards the portal and entered without looking back.





Nico cautiously left the portal, already looking around for any threats. Apparently, he had been transported to some kind of large crystal square in front of an even bigger castle. The other houses were far away and spread out in a circular fashion, almost forming some kind of weird arena.

The portal behind him closed and he cautiously put his hand on the sword hilt. He looked towards the north and found a large staircase that went towards the castle. At the top, stone statues of two horses or ponies that had pegasus wings and unicorn horns were frozen in an eternal expression of surprise.

"And who would you be?" From the top of the stairs a strong, cold voice questioned. Nico watched him silently and had to admit that it definitely looked like a black unicorn with a red cloak and armor talking to him. "Why do you come to MY kingdom with a sword in your fists, young boy?" The unicorn asked and slowly and dignifiedly started down the steps towards the square.

"Before asking my name, why don't you tell me yours?" Nico retorted, wielding the styrene sword.

"Haha, it seems fair," The unicorn laughed dryly. "I am King Sombra, Sovereign of the Umbrums ... And of you as well,"

"I'm sorry, majesty," Nico felt a familiar shiver down his spine. The feeling of knowing that the aura of death is present in the fight ... But he didn't even know which side it was on. "But I will not bow to tyrants like you,"

"We will see that, boy,"


FIGHT


Sombra's horn shone with an almost putrid black color and immediately afterwards three laser beams were thrown from it in a straight line and with mind-boggling speed. Nico rolled to the right and dodged the first one, and with a curse in ancient Greek he threw all his caution aside and ran towards the tyrant.

Sombra descended the steps of the palace with a small and arrogant smile of superiority on his face when he saw the boy struggle to escape his simple attacks, but he was slightly surprised to see him manage to leave the first assault intact.

Nico continued running towards the King with his sword drawn without ever taking his eyes off him, but suddenly a small flash happened and in the next second, Sombra was no longer there. He refrained as soon as he noticed a presence behind him and without even thinking twice he turned his body attacking with the sword, and for a microsecond he saw Sombra’s evil smile before he disappeared again without being hit.

Nico searched for the enemy with all his senses on high alert, and with much displeasure he felt a presence just above him, and in the next second a powerful blast of energy hit the place where he was raising a heavy cloud of dust and dirt.

Sombra lightly landed a few meters away from the last attack as if he had already won the battle, but frankly, he was fully aware that the boy had survived. He doesn't seem to be the type to fall easy, so all he had to do was wait and see where the boy would attack from when the smoke dissipated.

And soon his patience was rewarded. On the left side of the smoke he began to see a body forming and with extreme speed he invoked a series of black spines to impale his opponent. He smiled when he saw that there was a deformed body at the brutal ends of his last attack. So it was with great displeasure that only the corner of his eye noticed something coming out of the right side of the dirt cloud.

Nico advanced with lightning speed and reached the King before he could even react, and attacked with the sword first with a thrust that pierced Sombra's armor as if it were butter and continued to attack from the left and the right making many deep cuts in his body and ending with a rotating attack that cut across the tyrant's left flank.

Sombra screamed in pain and hatred with each new attack he received and teleported away again attacking with a new shower of lasers from his horn, this time his eyes shone with malice and pure black magic.

Nico defended two of the attacks and rolled on the ground to dodge two more, but unfortunately three or four attacks hit him on his arms and chest, and many more seemed to be coming. Then, he jumped in the shadows and disappeared.

Sombra made a surprised expression when he saw him disappear and started looking around, but found nothing in the distance anywhere, when suddenly from his own shadow the boy appeared, brandishing his sword and almost hitting his neck. He jumped back several feets and stopped breathing hard, but a satisfacted smile was growing on his face as he watched the boy having problems breathing too.

Sombra raised his head with dignity. "You are a very good boy," He took a few cautious steps towards his opponent. "Very good. What do you think about joining me?"

"Will I join you?" Nico gave a single dry laugh. "But of course. A beautiful idea. How about putting me on a leash and calling me a slave at once?"

Sombra shook his head slowly. "You have courage. And power. But wisdom would be welcome. With our powers and an army, nothing would stop us, you already noticed that, didn't you? I am the Prince of Umbrum, I can give you the power you want,"

"King Sombra. Prince of Umbrum. You seem to really like royalty," Nico spin sword and held it with both hands with the tip pointed towards the ground. "But I don't even see a subject to give you the nickname for those titles,"

"A subject you say," Sombra smirked, showing his canine teeth. "Well, you want to see my subjects. I will give you my little monsters,"

The air around him trembled for terrible seconds, and little by little monstrous and bizarre creatures began to form in front of Nico, who cursed in ancient Greek, and before long a powerful army of Umbrums was present, alive and strong like ruthless monsters watching him, hungry for the boy clear in their eyes.

Nico screamed and pierced the ground with his sword. The ground split and the square opened. Skeletal hands and hooves emerged one after the other in a frightening display of power an army of the living dead rose and faced the enemy army with its empty stares as the floor closed again.

"So you also had an ace up your sleeve," Sombra gave a single dry laugh as Nico stood up with sweat dripping from his forehead. "Well then. If it's an army battle you want. UMBRUMS: ATTACK!" He stood still while his entire army advanced with the resounding sound of thunder during a thunderstorm.

"ATTACK!" Nico cried out with his arm outstretched and his own personal army of demigods and dead ponies advanced on his enemies. He stood up and removed the sword from the floor, breathing heavily for a few seconds, but soon he followed his army with a determined look.

And so the battle began. Spectral umbrums destroyed ends of skeletons and zombies, but soon they were also destroyed in a frightening numerical deadlock.

In the meantime Nico and Sombra were lost to sight. The boy was looking for the tyrant with his powerful eyes, but the enemies were very numerous. He decapitated two umbrums and dodged a third by kicking him away with a kick. But many more were soon arriving, so with another determined shout he advanced on a dozen Umbrums with the sword firmly in his hands.

Sombra was not much different. He was far more capable than any skeleton alone, and destroyed one after the other with lazers and with great ease created shields of magical energy to protect himself. He scanned the surroundings looking for the main opponent, but found nothing until something rolled up to his leg.

He looked down and saw the beheaded head of an Umbrum a second before it evaporated. He looked around coldly and noticed the growing corpses of his subjects and a growing anger began to overwhelm him. He was not sentimental to his servants. He barely cared about them, but seeing them dead, fallen and defeated in the chaos that was the battlefield filled him with hatred.

They were HIS subjects. HIS PROPERTY! And to see them in such a pathetic state ... unacceptable.

He conjured up his magic with all his hatred, and soon his body fell apart. He became ethereal and smoky, his horn and eyes glowed green and red as he grew in size and destructive power until he became almost as big as the crystal castle behind him. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed wildly and conjured up giant lasers that obliterated everything in his view. Human skeletons, ponies, and even Umbrums, nothing was spared in his rage.

Nico soon noticed the great destructive mass forming and for a second he was too shocked to intervene, until the mad tyrant began to destroy everything. Nico protected his eyes from the dust that rose in the room made up of the remains of creatures killed by the enemy.

He clenched his teeth at hearing Sombra laughing and returned his eyes to the King. He ran towards Sombra who heard his accelerated steps and turned to face him. He again illuminated his horn and unleashed a colossal amount of black magic in a single ferocious attack, but Nico jumped several feet high and dodged the attack that destroyed most of the square and continued towards Sombra.

He dug his sword deep into Sombra's chest which screamed in pain and confusion. How could he be hit in this form? Injured? Humiliated?

He started to fidget violently in an attempt to throw Nico away and ended up crushing and destroying everything and everyone in his path. Umbrums, skeletons or even crystal stones, nothing could stand while he raged, but the boy clung firmly to the sword that opened the tyrant's chest further. After almost a minute, Sombra used his magic to grab Nico and hurled him onto the floor on his back with such force that the whole square cracked.

But he didn't come out intact. Sombra returned to his normal form, coughing up almost as much blood as it dripped from his chest. He looked up heavily at the boy who was coughing when all the air was removed from his lungs on impact, but he was getting up again.

Sombra felt his eyelids tremble with rage, but he gave a final cough before he composed himself. "You’re good boy. Very good,"

"We already had this conversation … Didn’t we?" Nico stood up with shaking knees while holding the side of his body with one hand and the sword with the other.

"I'm going to say one last time, boy, join me," Sombra offered with a very... Sincere expression. "You are too powerful to die for something as futile as a fight for stubbornness," He took a weak step forward. "Accept my offer, and rule like King,"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, King Sombra," Nico took a deep breath before smiling and looking at the king in the distance with pride and satisfaction. "But I refuse!"

"Such a shame," Shadow closed his eyes and his horn lit up one last time, and at Nico's feet several black spines rose in a split second and pierced the boy in the ribs, left leg, right shoulder and left arm .

Sombra took a deep breath again. Apparently his job was done. He walked limping toward the castle before looking at Nico again with rage. The boy was alive, he was certain of that. So, he decided to give one last parting gift to the boy that destroyed his army, wounded him and his pride, and even refused his generosity. Dying was too easy. He stared at him down again.

Nico stared at the floor with an almost empty gaze. His body ached, the black stones that impaled him drained the rest of his life. Is that so? The end of Nico Di Angelo? He didn't like the thought. Failing a mission, losing a fair fight, all of this hurt him more than his external injuries.

It was then that a sudden scorching pain hit his brain. Nico stared glassy as painful and disgusting memories assaulted him. The pain of losing his sister, the pain of being rejected by everyone. The fear and dread of seeing Tartarus in its true form for days. The pain of being from another time, his humiliating confrontation against Eros, and even the feeling of being useless when he saw his best friend Reyna hurt by that weak, frustrating demigod... Annoying.

Nico closed his eyes.

Sombra stood still watching the boy's life drain away. He had gone too far to just be left there. The king finally released the breath he didn't even know he was holding when he saw him close his eyes.

"Long live the king," he intoned to himself.

It was then that a shiver hit him. A chill in his soul that made even the last hair on his body stand up. He looked around and saw that the crystal walls started to freeze and freeze. He looked around for a cause. something was wrong, something was... Terrifying.

An echoing scream cut through the night. Sombra turned and saw the demigod screaming with a sincere, cold and scorching fury. The black stones around him shattered with a sudden explosion of power and emotion and Sombra stared at him in terror.

Nico walked towards him slowly with his sword gleaming at his side. Sombra tried to use his magic, whatever one he could think, but his brain seemed to have forgotten how to do it. He tried to shudder back when he saw the image of his own death walking towards him, but to his hooves the ground broke and trapped him. He tried to escape, to pull his legs, but his head hurt, his nose was bleeding, and every fiber of his body was filled with a new feeling as he raised his head and found the devil's calf staring at him from above... Terror.

"You were right, Shadow," Nico raised his sword with a look as icy as the air that came out of his mouth steamed the air. And without hesitation he made a single quick and clean cut that beheaded the tyrant's head at once. "Long live to the king,"



KO


Nico took a deep breath and held his side with his hand. He slowly walked away from the dead body of his enemy and used his shadow travel one last time, this time he did not appear anywhere close to Equestria, but went to the realm of his father to tell him that the threat had been dealt with.





"Okay, I have an important question," Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. "How do we go about hiring this guy?"

"To say that this fight was interesting would be the least," Twilight ignored her and started the explanation. “Despite the differing approaches, Sombra and Nico had a lot in common and what was needed to counter attack each other, "

"For example, Sombra clearly had an advantage in magical arsenal and long-range combat," Pinkie began to speak.

"It's true, but Nico had all the physical advantages and the short distance. Sombra never had a real physical feat, be it strength or endurance, but Nico certainly did," Rainbow Dash arranged a handful of paper by hitting them on the table calmly. "He was definitely stronger, faster and more resilient,"

"And even though Sombra can teleport, Nico can shadow travel, which nullifies the advantage," Twilight put the tips of the hooves together. "The same can be said about the army, even if unlike Sombra, Nico wears out when invoking them, mental resilience is his strong point,"

"Don't even tell me, Nico has in a few years gone through much more than demigods go through their life. He endured the real tartarus for days. Just by comparison, another demigod, Percy Jackson, also saw the real tartarus for a few seconds, and it almost drove him crazy, "Pinkie exclaimed.

"Not to mention traveling miles and miles with two companions and a twelve-meter-high statue. Nico certainly gains in physical and psychological endurance," Rainbow added. "But you can ask yourself: What about the giant shadow form of Sombra? Shouldn't it be intangible?"

"It should, but Nico has already been shown to be able to cut the Shadows created by a Giant made to suck the life out of anything, so it's not absurd that he can actually hit Sombra with his sword too," Twilight read her papers again. "Not to mention that Sombra loses almost all sanity in this mode,"

"In short, Sombra could do some damage to Nico from a distance, but Nico sure could take it, and once he gets close, well, he's going to do a LOT more damage to Sombra," Pinkie Pie took the final command. "And although they balanced on some points, it was only a matter of time before Nico used his maximum powers, and cut shadow straight into oblivion,"

"And the winner is: Nico Di Angelo!" Twilight announced with pride.