//------------------------------//
// Chp. 24 - Bloodstained Sand 
// Story: Indomitable 
// by Slendy 
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A new day was upon on us as we swept into the edge of the Badlands, the once vibrant world diverged with sharp contrast at the bordering cliffs that circled the wasteland, orange peaks against lush green to yellow grass and dead brushes swept by a light breeze. The train had come to a stop to make some repairs and adjustments with magic to accommodate for the rather rough terrain that may cover the tracks, that, and there was one other problem impeding our progress.

"Bone Rush!" I brought the vibrant staff across the boulder in an 'X', slicing the rubble to manageable chunks for the Guard to move. A rockslide had blocked the tracks and left us to labor work under the sun. Though in this time Yui took to a small tent set against the train to inspect the reports from Topaz, hopefully discovering any connections to the maybe Elder Dragon causing the energy fluctuations across the Badlands. "You guys are clear!" I raised a thumb, wiping the sweat from my brow

"You heard 'em, let's see some blood, sweat, and tears!" Topaz declared, using her magic to toss aside several large rocks, herself sweating and forcing her to take off her armor to accommodate, though she did wrap her hooves with bandages for protection. "Strange how the ground just kinda... breaks, you know?"

"..." I kept silent, following her eyes across the track, the rocks were large enough to have eroded from the cliffs but then there was the unset sand and rock not far from us, deep abrasions in the earth indicated something tore the land apart, maybe in a skirmish? Which begs the question of what exactly lives out here than could do that, or better yet, what two creatures do? "One sec."

Strolling over to the tent, pages, and notes, both reports, images, and Yui's own scribbles were a chaotic mess that only she could traverse. Her mane was unkempt due to the heat and continuous thought, her wing tapping to her chin. "-taking into account the density of magic residing in the average forest, the wildlife and general ecosystem this would lead those to assume that only a creature of massive size could accommodate such a large sum of magic and energy, but would have to make several trips. Then there's the fact not a single bloody pony has seen this thing for more than an idle glance, like, come on, how hard is it to spot a monster the size of Canterlot-!?"

"Um... what's up doc?" I waved to her frazzled state, Yui smiled weakly and smacked her forehead down into the edge of the table, groaning slash whining. "Didn't peg a treasure hunter for an ecology expert, you'd fit right in with the Guild."

Yui shrugged, running her hoof down a scroll. "Pays to have your hooves dipped into as many skills as possible when traveling Equestria, comparing your fights with Monsters, the Rifts, and their traits to the leading cause of the surge have been taxing but I will admit that the excitement more than overrides the headache." I see...

"Heal Pulse," I put my paw to her forehead, allowing the soothing pink aura to envelop her head as she sighed, leaning into my palm with a smile

"Thanks, Zen," She pushed up with her hooves and pecked me on the cheek, slumping back to her notes. "Now, much as I'd love to hear you compliment my skills, and possibly flirt with me, I think Topaz wants you," Her wing pointed to the right with her head stuffed into a book. It was an endearing sight but as she said, I was needed

"No rest for the wicked," Dusting my paws off I jogged back to the Unicorn's side. "You call?" Topaz sat atop one of the boulders, her magic aura lowering the telescope with a worried frown, her aura felt anxious, so did a few of the Guards who too were pointing and conversing about what lay beyond my sight. "Is something up?"

"Indirectly speaking... take a peek." She tossed me the scope and I extended it and took a quick view of the horizon, the orange and maroon sands bobbing like still waves in the glare of the sun. "To your right, see that dust cloud forming?" 'Tiss a big dust cloud, and it formed from seemingly nowhere

It... was moving? Don't tell me it's- "Well, the good news, it's not an Elder Dragon that goes by the name of Jhen Mohran, 'cause I lack the strength to so much as tickle it," I pursed my lips, tossing the scope away with a wide blink. "It's worse."

"What could be worse than an Elder?" Topaz asked me nervously, stepping off the boulder as the cloud became visible to the naked eye, but was then dispersed as it ceased its approach, but I felt it, a faint rumble beneath my feet as it did so. Did whatever that caused the dust cloud realize I could sense it's approach? That made my stomach twist

"Topaz, would you be a good friend and please get everyone to vacate the track, I sense great danger," I relayed slowly, taking a step back myself as I conjured several swords to bolster my strength, seeing this offensive skill she ran with her hoof waving. "Oh, and get the train rolling if you don't mind, I have a plan!"

"Everypony fall back! Come on, ladies, move it!" Immediately the crowd was armed and falling back, Yui just out the corner of my eye as the rumbling grew, then - silence. There wasn't even a breeze anymore, and only the murmur behind me reminded me I had company. I couldn't sense anything

"𝐁𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥." Trinity? What-? "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐡𝐦𝐩𝐡, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."

The second her voice reached my ears I felt a sudden force puncture my soul, bloodlust, heated and raging beyond any other emotion. I yelped and dived back in time for the ground to open its maw, sand and debris scattered, inadvertently clearing the track as a roar so powerful shook the air around me. The shadow looming as I stood tall, drawing Bone Rush behind my back to face the new manifestation.

From the sandy rain a massive, black horn swept through the cloud, the right horn broken, severely warped, splitting into two smaller horns across dark blue scales stained with sand and blood. The monster possessed a pair of tuck-like fangs and a large, spiny neck frill. The tail ended in a heavy, studded club, the left point shorter and splintered. The legs were stocky and wide and the upper body was broad with thick, muscular wings. It's beady red eyes glazed with bloody fury if its roar wasn't already a cascade of rage for anything it gazed upon, myself its newest target.

The Deviant. The Massacre Demon. Bloodbath Diablos. 

Diablos didn't so much as pivot before simply charging with tremendous speed, I raised Quick Guard, effectively diverting its path into the nearby cliff to my left as it horn swept through the rock, lunging back into a charge as the head curved, smacking me across the waist and high into the air before I crashed into the sand. When I recovered I had to roll as the horns narrowly skimmed the soles of my feet, the wing threshing up a wave of sand and wind. 

Spinning I drove my staff through the thigh, lunging up and over a clockwise tail-swipe, spinning the bo-staff down with a powerful slant, followed by a Force Palm to the opposite thigh, flinching the Deviant long enough to disperse the staff and draw several frozen fists across is scales, splitting some of the fresh wounds as Diablos swung round, the maw gazing my face before diving headfirst in front of me, the tail swiping me away.

I ran, just as the dark wyvern flew from the earth, showering me in the sand as his roar stretched across the dunes, crashing into the sands to thrash his tail wide, almost catching me while I leapt over the appendage, firing two aura sphere that merely dispersed across his armored skull, digging his horn low to throw three massive boulders to obscure my view, the wings slicing through with minimal effort. The smaller stones pelting my Protect, the onyx horn battering against the crystal clear barrier between us, forcing me to my knee just to hold Diablos back.

It suddenly spun around, the tail decimating the shield and catching my side, throwing me face-first before I rolled to evade the tail and the rocks split from the earth under the sheer weight of the attack. This Deviant was far more vicious than most, even Yian didn't feel this crazy! All I could do was keep my distance and dive whenever Diablos would go for a high-velocity charge, and his wide swings with his massive club of a tail made advancing on his blindspots very hit-and-miss.

"Yui's abilities are useless without any real form of solid structures and I doubt any of the Guards' magic could penetrate Bloodbath's hide, even my attacks will take time to properly do effective damage before I pass out from exhaustion." It was a tough and almost unfair battle, and something told me deep down that was the intention

"𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩," Trinity declared while I and Diablos stumbled away from one another, the Deviant snarled as it took a second to brush its horns against the sand, crawling back beneath the earth as a golden aura hugged the outline of my body with a strange sensation that someone was holding me. Like Trinity had her arms wrapped around my shoulders and across my soul. "𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

"Haha, thanks a bunch, Trinity!" I held my thumb to the sky with a wink. "With an awesome Goddess like Trinity in my corner, this'll be a sinch!"

Trinity giggled and soon the demon emerged from the ground, charging with red lines pulsating across his scales, a roar caught between the wind. Alright, two can play Chicken. Drawing my left leg back I felt the sun's rays sizzle across my shin, licking my fur with roaring orange flames that were tipped gold, almost cooking the grains of sand under me. "Divine Blaze Kick!" 

I leapt just shy of DIablos' skull for a snap-kick, my shin connecting to the large horn of his the second the torrent of wind and muscles connected with my foot. Our two outgoing kinetic forces clashed and a powerful shockwave shook the foundations of the wasteland. Landing just shy of the tail the body of Diablos crumbled to the ground with a wail, leaving himself exposed to an Extreme Speed-Retaliate combo. Like a ray of sunlight I bounced across the battlefield, striking Diablos in his weak points, each and every contact with the scales increasing the size of his wounds, but also the depths of the Deviant's fury, merely landing on his body burnt my feet. 

"And for good measure," I took a step back and did a small run-up, performing a front flip with my right leg drawn high, a crimson glow turning tiger-orange. "Divine Mega Kick - Hyrah!"

There was a sudden spike in his corrupt heart, and the tail swung back, parrying my powerful blow. Diablos used the force applied to throw himself skyward, landing with a large plume of sand as the tail snaked through the cloud, almost taking me out with a slam, several boulders jutting from the ground between us. Silver and gold motes gathered around my hands the second I saw the horn prod through the dust, my paws bled but I caught the horn in my right, bending my left arm. "C-Counter!" I twisted my hold and slammed my fist against his fangs, shattering the left fang while disorientating the Deviant into backhanding me with his wing, my body tumbling through the dunes.

Flopping onto my back I gasped and produced two aura spheres to toss me away from the descending Deviant as it smashed through the ground in a corkscrew, thrashing up a sand tornado as it drilled into the ground, the pit sucking me closer to the eruption of sand as Diablos soared from the pitfall, landing several meters away while throwing me high like a ragdoll. 

"I got sand in my everything," I wheezed, flipping upright through the air, drawing my maw back. "Dragon Pulse!" The solid cone of bluish-purple and white energy traversed the sky, crashing into Diablos in an effort to keep his attention away from the bustling train that slowly came back to life. While landing I was forced into a tactical retreat, the horns diving left and right in vein to gouge out my organs in a single swipe

Hastily I jumped, pressing my toes to the rim of his head before jolting off the boiling surface and down the length of the tail as I sped off a good twenty meters, finally clearing me enough space to work my magic, though this hit-and-run tactic would buy me a mere few seconds at most.

I released Life Dew into my paw, sighing at the cooling relief but I was struggling. Diablos was built with the sole purpose of being a tank, Bloodbath was that and so much more and I had no other offensive measures other than to get in close and break down his armor plating; Even with the heat both from the sunlight and his body were slowly draining my energy. With Trinity's help, I can win, but that meant using every trick I had. 

Closing my eyes I put my paws together to channel my aura across my body, infused with the divine blessing I held a vastly superior reservoir of energy than ever before, now I get what Trinity's done. "Calm Mind. Nasty Plot. Swords Dance. Work Up. Bulk Up-" Still no strain, only the sensation of lightning racing to and from every bone in my body. "-Iron Defense. Agility. Laser Focus. Substitute." "

Upon opening my eyes, a nigh unbelievable amount of power blew away dust and debris before the Deviant. Tiny wisps formed as thin lines of dispersing energy conjured a rainbow aura over my body, every muscle and bone infused with unparalleled strength, my senses so sharp I could hear the cheers and yelling from afar. All of my skills brought to the height of their power. 

Diablos itself trembling as it unleashing an almighty roar that forced me to cover my ears. The veins bulged and glowed through the thick skin and scales, beating like a drum as steam rose from across its whole body, the dried blood evaporating. He took a towering stance, shaking out his wings and digging on foot through the wasteland as a tumbleweed bounced between us. 

The wyvern took the first move, charging full-throttle toward my meager frame with murderous intent. I steadied my breath, eyes sharp and refracting the rainbow light as I clenched my fists, the spectrum centering around my knuckles with a bolt of white lightning before the head came crashing down with a jagged flick of the forehead, splitting the earth and sending a wave of rock across the wasteland, my body vanishing as my body double took the blow, myself high above the Deviant, teeth bared and seething with a purple light that came crashing down in a funnel atop Bloodbath, a massive wave of sand rising high all around us.

Diablos roared, lunging from the right with his wings raised, I threw myself away from the drill0like dive, rock and debris kicked up with steam rising from the cracks in the sandstone below. From the earth, a jet of bloodied steam stung my nose, the whirlwind surrounding Diablos blowing me aside from the impact spanning the field. With both wings planted he roared, releasing all the built-up heat and evaporated blood in a searing explosion that nearly shattered my barrier.

Another frontal assault broke my shield, my body caught between the horns as I wrestled with the monster, our two auras clashing in a heated battle across the desert. I threw the head back, Metal Claw drawn to swipe at the left eye. Diablos reeled, bringing the left wing down for me to deflect, another backhand of the steel blades kept the right from doing the same. Then the horn plunged toward my throat, both sets of claws ringing while crossed with the rough bony protrusion. 

Even as the groan of my steel bones resonated like a terrible chorus in my head I kept up the strained defense, my almost prismatic sheen beginning to dilute with every second that ticked in the wasteland hourglass. Bringing my body closer, I twisted my arms downward, diverting the horn from skewering me as I plunged both sets of claws between the scales lining Diablos' boiling mug, the hot, coppery-steam made me wish to vomit but I held strong, driving my right leg back on my toes, a bright, cherry light overtaking the digits.

A sudden, horizontal kick to the jaw shook the Deviant from my shattered claws, the red arc more than saving my thighs from the threat of the deformed pair of horns. Landing on all fours I dove upward, many shades of red enveloping my right fist that crossed over the shorter horns and straight into the massive spearhead, snapping the mutation like a twig while inadvertently spraining my own wrist in the process as the two of us tumbled across the waste, sand kicked and thrashed across the land in our scuffle, wings swiped and my punches were just as sharp, neither of us I think realized who was really winning as dust clouded my senses, even Aura Sense felt fuzzy.

Eventually, our bodies flew over a ridge, the mouth wide as it roared, the claws on the left wing coming down on my left forearm while an aura sphere was clutched angrily between my right, raising it to Diablos' throat in the crawl time seemed to sedate us to. The orb left my hand, crashing into the eyes of the demon, my forearm slashed yet I managed to level my feet against the snout of the Diablos, diving high above the metal face that cut almost instantly onto the scene, time suddenly resuming.

"I like trains." 

Crashing onto the top of the train, Diablos was caught by the ram brace fixed to the head of the train, the velocity and many injuries I had purposely inflicted were enough to shatter bone and gouge out a large, red hole across the underbelly of the once-unstoppable force, the navy-blue wyvern tossed unceremoniously up and over my head, slamming into the train in a heap, flopping down two carts before the body was ultimately returned to sender, the red wisps flying from the wound to join with my ruby.

The last I saw of the Deviant was of its body sliding off the right-hand side of the train, back into the maroon sands it emerged from. "Oh Thank Heaven..." I sighed, shaking my head clean of sand. Flopping back on the train, the sound all but muffled and the gentle vibrations of the carts more than lulled me to sleep. "Oh... yeah, uwaaah, thanks for... top-up, Trinit... zzzz."

"𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧, 𝐙𝐞𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭."

To Be Continued...