The battle between Twilight and the centaur had ensued at a brisk pace. Magical missiles and cold fusion laser beams were shot back and forth between the two. Neither were willing to give up so easily.
Down below, Adagio crawled over to Octavia, and held onto her. She was far too weak to actually pick her up and carry her away from the situation and the door that Blueblood had fled behind was locked. All she could do was huddle up and keep her warm with whatever body heat she had left. “...I’m sorry, friend. You didn’t deserve this.”
Up above, the fight was in full swing with Twilight managing to keep up with the centaur just enough speed from her flight. The fact that she thought ahead and had a coat on kept the cold air out for a while, but she was slowly being overtaken by the excess chilly air.
“Chu!” she paused mid-flight to sneeze, which left her open for a punch from the centaur.
CRACK!
It all happened so fast that the untrained eye wouldn’t be able to process it. As soon as the fist made contact with Twilight’s body, she had the wind knocked completely out of her with her glasses being broken completely in two. She recoiled with a horrified set of crossed eyes as she coughed up spittle and a few drops of blood by force. “AAAUGHH...!” The impact was so fierce that it sent her into a shock as she was knocked down to the ground, and sent skidding across the floor of the alley until her body came into contact with the brick wall of another building.
BLAM!
At this point, the alley’s ground had been covered in a layer of snow that somewhat cushioned Twilight’s impact, but still left her in a daze for a second.
“Urgh...how is she so strong…?” Once she came out of her fuzzy state of mind, she locked eyes onto the corner of the alley where Adagio and Octavia were buried under the snow. “...No...they’re probably in a state of hypothermic shock. They won’t last much longer…”
The giant centauress took a few, thunderously heavy steps in Twilight’s direction and roared down at her, blowing a greater amount of cold air her way. “Give yourself up now! You can’t fight back against the might of the Goetia!”
“Ach!” Twilight held up one of her hands to shield herself from the freezing winds. Her magic kept her skin layer from freezing, but she had to make a decision and fast. Continue to fight this giant equine-humanoid beast or try to save her friends as quickly as possible?
WOOSH!
Then, from out of nowhere a shadowy figure leapt out of the darkness and in front of Twilight, blocking the centaur’s magic with a black, spherical shield. His body was a black mass of billowing darkness, making him unrecognizable from his appearance alone. However, his voice was still the same…
“So tera-slow…”
“Who...who are…?” Twilight mumbled as she looked up at the shadowman.
It took a second for the wendigo-taur to realize who it was as well. “What? Who are yo--wait...you’re that sniveling teacher! I thought I told you not to get involved!”
“My students are more important than my career…” he called out to her, unafraid of displaying his true nature with his eyes a solid gray color. “If losing everything means their safety...then I’ll gladly divide you by zero.”
“P...Professor…?” Twilight tilted her head in disbelief. Was this man using dark magic and fighting for the safety of other people? “...How is this possible...dark magic is...it’s...it corrupts the user.”
“Who gives a flying frick about corruption?” he said to her from over his shoulder, “Can you still fight?”
“...Mm,” she nodded and stood upright, only for the centaur to laugh in response.
“Oh please! Spare me your sensational heroics!” But just as she got ready to attack once more…
BRRRATATATA!
“EEEK!”
From the other end of the alley, the sound of bullets firing off at a rapid pace could be heard which caused the minotaur to stop dead in her tracks. The source?
A very angry, fashionable young woman with a minigun made of her diamond construct material which shot smaller diamonds. “GET AWAY FROM THEM YOU HEATHEN!” she screamed up at her, “You mess with my friends, you mess with me!”
“Rarity?!” Twilight gasped from her end of the alley with a mix of relief and shock as she stared at the weapon her friend had created. “...Unique and off the rails. Yup. That’s Rarity alright.”
Now surrounded, the massive centaur monster had to deal with opponents from multiple directions at once. But she was more than confident. “Hmph…”
With a snap of her fingers, a giant dome of ice surrounded and blocked off both Aidon and Twilight. And immediately after, Goetia flung a massive icicle in Rarity’s direction.
While a shield may have blocked it, there was always the risk of it piercing through and still striking Rarity if it was strong enough. “Ah!” So instead, she dove out of the way, dropping her weapon in the process.
SHINK!
Sure enough, the icicle spear pierced her minigun construct and destroyed it instantly, reducing it to harmless snowflakes.
“Oh...It. Is. ON!”
With newfound determination, Rarity clenched her fists and punched them together, generating more of the transparent diamond construct around them.
To which the centaur replied with an unimpressed scoff. “You? Throw a punch? Seriously? This is the same girl that cried bloody murder when her nail polish ran out!”
But Rarity wasn’t intimidated at all. She stared up at the centaur with narrowed, focused eyes. “Try me, darling.”
Eager to send another feeble human into the pavement, Goetia gleefully obliged and threw one of her fists down in Rarity’s direction.
SNATCH!
...Only to be met with a massive open palm of the same size, made of diamonds. “Eeergh…!” she grit her teeth and struggled to keep her hand’s projection against the centaur’s. Her heels started to dig into the snow, and were slowly forced backwards towards the street. “Er...T-Twilight…? Mr. Professor? I could really use some help here!!” she cried out hysterically.
Her prayers would be answered soon enough.
With a combined blast of runic and dark magic, Twilight and the professor would both blast their way out of the icy prison that they were once trapped in.
And as soon as she laid eyes on the situation, Twilight came up with a plan on the fly. “Professor. I’m gonna get Adagio and Octavia out of here. Stall her as much as you can.” Even though he was a dark magic user and uncertain of Aidon’s intentions, the fact that he would risk himself for the safety of others… “I’ll have to trust him. Our enemy is too strong for me to fight alone.”
His mouth became visible with a confident smirk appearing against his jet-black body of miasma. “Leave the calculations to me…” With a quick flash of darkness, he raised his hands upwards, causing massive black and purple spikes to appear which impaled the hooves of the cold centaur.
“RAGH!!” she shrieked from the pain which caused her to flinch hard enough to let go of Rarity.
Twilight swooped in, and grabbed both Octavia and Adagio’s bodies through the snow. They were barely breathing at this point, but there was still time. “Rarity! Get them to a hospital! Fast! They’re likely suffering from hypothermia which is--”
“Now is not the time!” Rarity squealed while loading the girls onto a stretcher-like construct made with her magic, and immediately took off with them towards her parked car. “Stop that thing, Twilight!”
Once the innocent girls were safe, Twilight was able to focus once more. “Okay...now to finish this…” She turned around to see the centaur grunt and struggle against the dark spike rods that were jammed into her body. “...Just what is he, really?”
Unable to move, Goetia breathed a beam of icy daggers down in Aidon’s direction.
“Tera-slow once again,” he retorted while casually performing an evasive roll to escape the beam.
The dark spikes not only prevented Goetia’s movement, but also greatly reduced her accuracy. The pain she endured did a number on how well she could focus--in that she wasn’t able to. At this point, she had fully succumbed to rage and had lost sight of obtaining Adagio’s magic. Now? All she wanted to do was be rid of this pesky professor…
“DAH!” she cried out, “Why are you so stubborn?! You’re not even of this world! Why do you fight so harshly to protect it?! They’ll shun you for utilizing dark magic and place restrictions on you just for being different. Is that what you want--to live as someone else’s puppet?!”
Twilight had flown back up into the air, and charged directly at the centaur. “Magic doesn’t make the person! It’s what you do with it!” And wiith her fist charged with magic...
CRACK!
She delivered a flying superhuman punch that was hard enough to daze the centaur. “Professor! Finish her off!”
“Such simple equations...that are finally mine.”
Aidon lifted his hands, forcing the dark spike rods to travel up and through the wendigo-centaur’s body until she was covered in a series of interlocked, woven dark threads that actively suffocated and suppressed her magic.
“...” Twilight watched with a gaping mouth as she saw the true potential of what dark magic could accomplish. “This is…”
“Stand back, Tetra-Twi,” he called out to her, “I’m about to crunch her fractals…”