It hadn’t been Twilight’s use of teleportation that had surprised Lex.
Quite the opposite; he’d been extremely cognizant of her ability to do that long before he’d set hoof on the battlefield. She’d mentioned it to him during their brief association on Everglow – showcasing a reckless disregard for protecting information about her tactical abilities that was entirely consistent with somepony Princess Celestia had trained – and he’d subsequently known that if he ever found himself facing Twilight Sparkle in a fight, she’d leverage that ability to its fullest. And while the Equestrian version of that spell was highly limited compared to the counterparts developed on Everglow, Lex was likewise aware that Twilight would likely be able to push those limits thanks to her magic-focused cutie mark and her nature as an alicorn.
The only thing that had surprised him now was that she’d used it as a means to bodily hurl herself at the monster he’d frozen solid. It was an ill-considered tactic on her part, since while she’d succeeded in liberating that creature, she’d still – even with the inherent toughness of an earth pony and the crash-resistance of a pegasus – injured herself in the process, a pained moan escaping her lips as she lifted her head.
For Lex, whose entire plan hinged on stripping away Twilight’s mobility, it was a chance that he knew he had to capitalize on.
“Be-Behemiel,” she coughed, spitting out a mouthful of grass as she looked at where, several feet away, the hound archon was likewise lying on the ground. “Are you okay?”
“Thanks t-t-to you, Lady S-S-Sparkle,” shivered Behemiel. But the archon’s trembling was already fading, the remnants of the magical ice rapidly melting away now that they no longer encased their target. “But that was foolish,” he added as he climbed to his feet, grabbing his sword. “You know that I’m in no true danger while you’ve summoned me like this.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay for me to abandon you when you’re in troub-, WAAAAH!”
Although Twilight’s scream was one of surprise rather than pain, Lex couldn’t help but take a measure of enjoyment in it, watching as the ring of black crystals he’d conjured spread out to encircle Twilight’s abdomen. Since she’d tucked her wings in to her sides right before colliding with her summoned monster, the narrow band of ebon material – three inches wide and an inch thick – kept them pinned there now, too tight for her to yank them free, though she was already trying. “Can’t…get…loose!” she grunted, her face going red with effort.
Realizing that wasn’t going to work, she scrambled to her hooves – giving Lex a wary look, as if only now remembering that he was there, before returning her attention to the coal-colored loop of crystal keeping her feathery appendages constrained – and blasted it with a beam of energy from her horn, again falling back on the type of magic that she knew best as she tried to forcibly free her wings.
The attempt failed to so much as scratch the band keeping them pinned, which surprised Lex not in the least. His black crystals were far stronger than steel, after all, and that Equestrian spell she was using had a high degree of control but did comparatively little in the way of actual damage; a decent choice for attacking it without accidentally hurting herself in the process, though one with little hope of actually removing it. But there was another detail that Lex found far more interesting…
She uses native Equestrian magic during periods of acute stress. Twice now she’d been under intense pressure – once over freeing her summoned creature, and again now at losing the use of her wings – and in both cases she’d relied on the magic she’d grown up learning, rather than the stronger kind she’d learned on Everglow. That was-
Lex’s train of thought was interrupted as he caught sight of a softly-glowing sword rushing in at him from the edge of his peripheral vision. But unlike Twilight, his satisfaction at having scored a strategic victory hadn’t caused him to lower his guard, and he ducked beneath the heavy thrust, the blade missing him by inches.
“Lady Sparkle!” howled Behemiel, bringing his sword down in a sharp swing that Lex only barely dodged, placing himself between Lex and Twilight. “Fall back! Leave the sorcerer to me and regroup!”
That miserable cur! Giving Twilight time to regroup was the last thing Lex wanted, and he snarled silently as he sent more thin spikes of black crystal shooting up from the ground, jagged edges shooting toward the hound archon while he floated away from the creature. But Behemiel twisted by the first, bringing his sword up to block the second as he danced forward, refusing to let Lex put any space between them.
This was bad.
A glance past the creature showed that Twilight was following the archon’s advice, but only partially, distancing herself from the fighting as she glanced between Behemiel and the ring around her middle, biting her lip. If she calmed down enough to realize that she’d be better served trying to use her dispelling spell on the black crystals instead of attempting to break them off, then she’d likely have them removed in short order. As proficient as Lex was in his dark magic, he wasn’t quite as skilled with it as he was with his thaumaturgical spells. And getting those on Twilight a second time would likely prove to be extraordinarily difficult. While it might have looked effortless to an outsider, forming crystals around something required him to pinpoint the space around the target, which couldn’t easily be done if said target was moving.
But in order to keep Twilight’s attention, Lex knew he had to continue harrying her, and he couldn’t do that while her pet monster kept attacking him! Worse, he didn’t have any more spells to fight the creature with! Only more black crystal spikes, and those weren’t getting the job done!
A curse won’t be enough to incapacitate that thing unless I augment it, he felt certain. But that was out of the question. The strain he’d felt while amplifying the curse he’d laid down at the beginning of the duel had been severe enough that Lex knew he’d only be able to do that once more, and he needed to save that for when he sprung his trap on Twilight. Which left him with no viable method of stopping the hound archon’s relentless assault.
And what made that especially galling was how gravely injured the creature was. Twilight might have freed it before his frozen prison had been able to vanquish it, but it had still inflicted severe damage on the thing. Large patches of its body were suffering from frostbite, giving its black fur a bluish edge. It favored its left leg, stepping down hard on it each time it moved as though trying to wake the limb up. More than a few blisters were already forming on its face, where its fur was thinnest. But most telling was how much effort the creature needed to keep up its wild offense.
Before, it had wielded its five-foot sword as if it were an extension of itself. Now, every swing came with a pained grunt, and the period between its attacks was filled with heavy breathing. Its ears were folded back in a clear sign of exertion, and it was slower to recover its stance after each attack, notably so compared to before.
Even so, the archon didn’t let up for an instant, forcing Lex to continue giving ground as it advanced on him.
One more spell! Although he knew it was pointless, Lex couldn’t help but rage at being unable to defeat the monster when it was barely holding on. If I just had one more attack spell, I could finish it off! But he didn’t, and since no one was allowed to help him, that meant-
Wait…
There was a way!
Rushing forward, Lex abandoned all pretense of defense, passing right through the hound archon as he sped toward Twilight.
He heard the archon’s angry yell, felt the creature’s sword cut through him as he made a beeline for the alicorn, but he ignored it all. Instead, he drew himself up as he flew forward, spreading his shadowy form out as if preparing to engulf her whole. “I HAVE YOU NOW, TWILIGHT!” he roared, his eyes flaring as he prepared to use his dark magic again. “HERE’S A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT I’M GOING TO DO TO CELESTIA AFTER I’M DONE WITH YOU!”
He saw her eyes widen, grimacing as she took a step back. But the mention of his ill intent toward her mentor did what he was hoping, and her features changed into a snarl of anger a moment later. “I thought you were different!” she screamed. “I thought you weren’t as bad as everypony said!” She lowered her horn then, pointing it directly at him with less than five feet between them. “But if you’re going to hurt the people I care about…!”
Lex tensed, knowing his timing would need to be absolutely perfect for this to work…
“Then I won’t forgive you!” Twilight’s final angry shout was punctuated by a massive energy beam from her horn.
It was the same spell she’d used a moment ago in her failed attempt to free her wings, but augmented far beyond what any normal unicorn could have done. Had he not fought already Celestia and Luna, Lex knew the massive output of power would have caught him by surprise. As it was, the beam filled his vision in an instant, lancing forward faster than he could dodge.
But not faster than he could think.
And a thought was all it took to activate the dark magic he’d gathered, returning him to corporeal form and falling to the ground as he flattened himself out as much as he could, Twilight’s spell surging past him with unimaginable force.
A half-second later that force engulfed Behemiel – the hound archon visible now that Lex’s shadow form was no longer hiding him from Twilight’s sight – whole, the creature giving a pained howl that lasted barely a moment before it was cut off.
“NO!” Twilight’s horrified scream came in the wake of the archon’s as she cut off the rush of magical energy, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open as she stared at the space where her friend had been. But there was nothing left of him now, save only for the sword that dully clattered to the ground, having been raised aloft in preparation for another strike against Lex. Even that turned transparent and vanished an instant later, following its owner back to the celestial realm he’d been summoned from.
“Behemiel…” breathed Twilight, taking a half-step forward-
Only for Lex to surge to his hooves, roaring as he threw himself directly at Twilight, slamming into her with all the strength he could muster. It wasn’t much, far less than Twilight herself had managed to build up when she’d hurled herself at Behemiel less than a minute ago. But it was sufficient to drive her back now, her hooves struggling to find purchase as Lex pushed her.
Back into the area that he’d cursed before.
And this time, swore Lex silently, too focused on what was about to happen to feel any sense of accomplishment at the archon’s defeat, she won’t leave it so easily!
Still dazed by what had just happened, it cost Twilight precious seconds before she was able to separate herself from Lex, recovering enough of her wits to form a shield around herself, the dome spreading out just enough to push Lex away. Even then, she didn’t follow it up, letting the shield fade as she gave Lex a shocked look. “You…you tricked me,” she panted, only partially from exertion. “The way you made yourself a target like that…the stuff you said about going after Princess Celestia…you planned on me-”
“I did,” he spat, planting his hooves as he channeled everything he could muster into his dark magic, his horn lighting up. “The same way I planned on doing THIS!”
Around Twilight, a field of tiny black crystal spikes grew, the same as the ones he’d raised between himself and Behemiel not too long ago. But now they surrounded Twilight completely, giving her nowhere she could step without piercing her hooves. Nor was that the full extent of what he created, gritting his teeth and pouring all of his concentration into what came next…
Lex hadn’t been surprised when Twilight had teleported before. Rather, he’d simply considered himself fortunate that she’d teleported outside of the area that he’d cursed. Otherwise his entire plan might have fallen apart before it had even begun.
From the beginning, his strategy had relied on stripping Twilight of her mobility. Her wings were swift, giving her an aerial advantage that needed to be negated, and so he’d looked for an opportunity to keep her from using them. Her hooves were sure, and so he’d waited for a chance to surround her with jagged obstructions that would keep her in place. And her magic…
Realizing that he was up to something, Twilight’s horn flared as she disappeared in a flash of light…only to reappear in the exact same spot an instant later in a flash of churning purple that matched the aura around Lex’s horn, a look of bewilderment on her face.
A look that changed to recognition a second later.
He’d only heard about this after the fact, of course. The way his predecessor, King Sombra, had hidden the Crystal Heart behind layers of deceptions and traps. But the one that had interested Lex most was the trap that had kept Twilight from teleporting away once she’d retrieved the Heart. While he hadn’t been entirely certain he’d be able to pull off replicating that feat – King Sombra having been far more proficient with dark magic than Lex currently was – he’d put everything he had into trying once the duel had started, cursing the widest area he could with what he’d termed “dimensional impermeability.”
That Twilight hadn’t summoned her archon into that area had been a minor stroke of luck, since it might have tipped her off as to what he’d done. And while the hound archon had passed through the cursed area after she’d conjured it, doing so hadn’t triggered the malediction, due to it already being on this plane rather than trying to move between them. After that, only Twilight’s single use of teleporting had run the risk of finding out what he’d before Lex was ready to spring his trap, and that had also occurred outside of the twenty-foot radius he’d used his magic on.
And now, with nowhere to run, no way to fly, and no ability to teleport, Lex had Twilight right where he wanted her.
Which meant it was time to hit her with everything he had left.
Rising up on his hind legs, Lex called forth the largest mass of dark crystals that he could, raising his forelegs in a gesture that had no practical impact save to help him focus. Behind him, a mountain of the stuff burst upward, rising from the ground with explosive force. Curling forward, the black mass churned and bent, crystals forming within crystals to give it the appearance of movement as it kept spreading out, looking for all the world like a tidal wave of ebony crystal.
One that crested directly toward the trapped alicorn.
And then Lex pointed at toward her and brought his hoof down. “I WIN!”
A second later several tons of crystal fell toward Twilight.