//------------------------------// // Chapter 35: To Dance. // Story: A Demon's Second Chance // by Perfectly Insane //------------------------------// Shining hadn’t noticed me put on the amulet, completely focused on Chrysalis. It must have been because of the anti-magic rocks, but I didn’t feel any different after putting it on. It was heavier than I expected, otherwise there wasn’t much of a difference.  Even that strange compulsion to wear it was gone, I couldn’t even really say why I put it on.  “Oh, a trinket of some kind? That won’t help you, not with this in your proximity.” Chrysalis tapped the bag, “And I’ll make sure, even if you manage to get close, you won’t be able to touch me!” Her crooked horn sprinkled with a brilliant green before a bubble-like shield encased her and a few feet around her, just like she did with Trixie. “No.” I muttered under my breath. My vorpal knife couldn’t cut through her shield, the one Shining gave me likely wouldn’t be able to do much else. I grit my teeth, glancing at Shining once more in hopes he’d have some solution.  Instead, all I got was a very small grin.  He leaped forward, landing on the shield as his hooves scraped against it, slamming the sword down on the center.  I half-expected it to bounce back like my knife did, and for Shining to tumble to the ground. To my surprise, with a deafening clang the sword dug into the bubble, cracking at the source of impact and spreading to the rest of the shield; threatening its entire structure.  Whatever mockery Chrysalis had died on her lips, her mouth ajar as she recoiled like she’d been hit by the sword itself. Soon, the magic gave in to his weight and crumbled to the ground in shards as Shining descended on top of her, taking once more another swing at her. Chrysalis managed to duck away from it, a few strains of her seaweed hair getting snipped.  “You whelp!” she began to hover in the air, horn charging so bright for a second I saw spots. Shining kept his sword up like a shield, baring his teeth as he peered at me.  “Chara, now!”  My knees nearly buckled under my weight, I tried desperately not to give in to the unease and collapse on the ground. I held my breath, trying to stop shaking so much as I leaned down and took the first steps forward. Maybe it was the alicorn amulet, or how I felt the last time I conjured a knife, but I felt so heavy, so sluggish, as I moved. Slow, and like getting to Chrysalis would take far too long.  Regardless, I pushed through it, shifting my weight with each step and practically jumping to get to her. Halfway there she turned her attention to me, sneering before enveloping herself in her magic and just…vanishing.  I mentally froze, trying to comprehend what happened; surely she didn’t just disappear. Then I recalled how the amulet gave Trixie the ability to teleport, and that she at least matched Chrysalis in power. With a distant thud, my head snapped to the side where Chrysalis had landed, grinning as she stood proud.  “She can teleport now?” I heard Shining mutter, readjusting the grip and bending down his neck. “Great. At least it’s draining, she can’t do it forever.” “No, but I can do it much longer than you can keep struggling!” She shouted as she glistened in magic, once more creating a barrier around her. This time it was much smaller, covering basically just her and a few inches of the grass around her. “Go ahead and try breaking it this time. I want to see you give in to despair this time, to give up. I should have dealt with you back at the castle. Or, maybe,” she placed a hand on her chest, the other on her hip as she raised her chin. “You just can’t get enough of me?” Shining audibly gagged, spitting at the ground beside him as he grimaced.  “You’re disgusting.” “And you’re a pain in my ass that won’t fade.” She glared first at Shining, then her pinprick pupils shifted over to me, scowl only deepening.  “Both of you. I see that you’re alone, and reinforcements would have helped you by now after that display. Hmm,” she extended one of her wings, placing the end on her chin. “Perhaps, with the odds in my favor here, I should end you here now, before you prove to be even more trouble than I suspected.” Her horn, while constantly staying a lit, began to charge more as a hole formed in the barrier. “Yes, I think that would make this entire catastrophe worth it. Die!” She shot out another bolt of energy, this time aimed at me. I jumped out of the way towards Shining, just barely getting scraped by it. I winced as a burning sensation stabbed me in the hip and traveled all the way up to my neck, searing me with an agonizing intensity before finally fading. Part of the hoodie had been singed black, burn marks on my skin from where the spell had grazed me.  Rarity wasn’t going to be happy about that.  “Chara, I need you to listen to me.” I placed my free hand on my side, sucking cold air through my teeth as I tried to assuage the pain. “We can’t beat her like this; she’s just going to keep blasting us with her magic and staying in her shield until we die. So, I have a plan.”  In the moonlight, something reflected off of Shining’s sword. Small markings were on the blade, mostly lines that occasionally formed circles or squares of some kind. Runes, maybe?  “I’m going to carve the biggest hole I can in her shield. Once I do, I need you to get inside, grab the bag, and get out. Then, you run as far as you can. I can handle the rest.” “By yourself?” I kept Chrysalis in the corner of my vision. She bent her neck, ears flickering like she was trying to better hear us. “What if she tries to control you like you mentioned?” “If she hasn’t yet, I don’t think she will. Besides,” he twirled the sword in his grip, swinging it around and pointing it towards Chrysalis. “I’d rather not put you in danger if she does. If you could get away, that’d be enough for me.” “I can’t ju—” With a zap, another bolt came out. Shining was ready this time, getting in front of me and taking most of it with his sword. He dug in his heels, clenching his jaw so tightly I could hear it.  “We don’t have time to argue! Get ready, because I’m moving in.”  I could see his muscles coiled, his entire body bracing and going rigid as he dug his hooves into the ground. Any words I could muster would fall deaf on his ears, all I could do was follow suit. The dagger’s handle buried itself into the palm of my hand, I made myself as small as I could; a skill I’ve garnered quite well over the course of my multi-life.  Not a single noise broke the silence of the woods for a few seconds, it was overbearingly tense. Just as suddenly as it started, Shining leaped forward, lowering his sword as the tip sliced passing grass. I barely had time to react, once again stumbling over my feet like a baby as I moved behind him.  With steam coming off of her horn, Chrysalis charged up another blast. This time, Shining preemptively moved to the left, tilting his head as if to gesture to me to follow. Once I did, he turned the sword upside down in his grip, skidding to a stop as he slammed the end of the sword into the shield. Sparks flew with the force as they met, the tip just barely poking into the other side.  With a grunt, and a low scraping noise that was grating to hear, he swiftly cut a hole in the barrier. It fell to the ground with a crack and split apart, but the rest of the barrier stayed and the small opening he’d made was quickly closing.  I didn’t need to be signaled this time.  It was a tight fit, but I managed to slip through. Chrysalis once more was encompassed by blindingly bright magic, giving me just the smallest window to do something. I didn’t try to grab it, instead opting to swipe at the straps with my dagger. I closed my eyes once I made the motion, hearing the clunk of my blade clashing against her shell, then a ripping noise, a thud, and the whoosh of teleportation before I felt the shards of the barrier trickle onto my face and dissipate.  Once I opened my eyes, the bag was right there on the ground. Straps cut and the top half was completely gone, somehow it hadn’t tipped over and was just sitting there. I blinked, panic striking my brain as I moved without thinking, dropping the dagger and picking up the bag; which was much heavier than it looked.  That shouldn’t have surprised me really, it was literally a bag of rocks.  “What?!” Chrysalis, now on the other side of the clearing, reached for the bag only to notice that just the straps were still on her. “No! Give that back you thief!” Her forked tongue jutted out of her mouth as she let out a reptilian like hiss, leaping off the ground as her wings buzzed, much faster without the rocks weighing her down.  “Chara, run!” Shining met her halfway, taking a swing at her with his sword and very nearly clipping one of her wings. My arms held the bag closer, as I wondered for a moment what if I just put it in the pocket dimension in my backpack. If it works, then that should mean it's otherwise immune to the effects of the rocks.  Then again, even if it does, I’d have to explain what I did with the bag to Shining. And I couldn’t see that going well. Mayb I shou– “Chara!”  Chrysalis, barely being held back by Shining, shot a beam at me. Shining managed to hit her with the pommel of his sword, knocking her off balance as it just barely missed me. The edges of my hair getting burned due to my absentmindedness, I could actually smell it.  “Run, now!” I didn’t need to be told thrice.  I picked a random direction and started moving as fast as my legs could carry me, which wasn’t very fast with the combined weight of the amulet and the bag.  Right as I got to the edge of the clearing, Chrysalis made an attempt to chase me, only to tumble into the ground as Shining tackled her.  “Enough of this!”  With a wave of fire over her body, Chrysalis transformed into some kind of creature. Head like a lion but with horns, the tail of a scorpion, and with wings. Not nearly as big as the hydra, but it towered over Shining just as effectively.  It hit Shining with its tail, knocking him to the ground and sending the sword a few feet away from him. Chrysalis’ new wings spread as she took flight, coming towards me with fangs bared and horns pointing towards me like a spear.  Right as I got outside of the clearing, I saw Shining’s horn spark to life. A huge, bright blue barrier formed in the clearing, trapping Chrysalis on the other side. She hit head first into the shield, fracturing it but not nearly enough to break it. “You!” Chrysalis screamed as she turned to Shining, who chuckled in response.  “Should have flown away when you had the chance.” He stood up, picking up his sword in his magic this time. “Chara, I won’t tell you again; get out of here.” I faltered for just a second, before one of the rocks dug into my chest. Not enough to bleed, but hurting enough to take my attention.  I pivoted on my heels, going into the darkness of the woods without a second thought. I had no light source other than the occasional beacons of moonlight, so all I could do was move in one direction and stay that way. Eventually, I came across a fallen over tree with a hole in it; the abandoned home of some poor animal.  Once I placed the bag in, along with a few rocks that had slipped out, I had a choice to make: Fumble through the woods until I got to Ponyville, or go back and help Shining. It would be so easy to abandon him, to find my way to Ponyville and rest somewhere until everything was over. To finally make things right with the others.  To see Fluttershy again.  However, if I did that, there’s a good chance Shining would die, or worse; That would tear Twilight apart. Even worse, if she found out that I was with him and I let that happen…she’d never forgive me.  And I’d never forgive myself.  “Heh.” A chortle made its way out of my throat “Stuck in the woods with the chance to flee or to save a pony that I barely know. My life really is a constant reset, huh?” No one responded. Not even the late night bugs.  I closed my eyes, slowly spreading my arms as I took in every iota of the cold-night atmosphere. With a spin so abrupt it nearly gave me whiplash, I spun in the direction I came, moving before those anxiety-riddled thoughts could infect me. The second guessing and paranoia could be kept at bay with some counting and reciting.  The dictionary I got before came to mind. I repeated words I hadn’t found a use for, doing so in alphabetical order and trying to come up with sentences that fit them. It kept me preoccupied and my mind away from worst-case scenarios, if nothing else.  It wasn’t until I saw the blue barrier did I stop moving and realize how tired I was. My breaths came out in heaves, pricks of cold air stabbing the inside of my lungs as I just tried to not die. I leaned against a tree, only barely able to see Shining and Chrysalis through the other side of the barrier.  I saw their outlines more than them, really. The light coming from Shining’s horn, feet away from his hovering sword. He was keeping his distance from Chrysalis, who was still in the same form as before, was a large shadow that only stood out because of the magic coming off the sword.  If I didn’t know better, it almost looked like they were dancing in the dark.  With a sharp inhale, the amulet called to me. Not with words, nor with telepathy. It was more similar to the kind of narration I often gave to Frisk. It was immediate, and the message was received with no barrier, no room for interpretation.  Use me. I could have said no. I could have refused. I could feel the tug, the rope around the palm of my hand, digging into my skin and burning the tighter I held on. I could let go.  But if I did, then why did I bother putting it on? It was even easier to conjure the knife then last time; I pictured the knife in my hand, and it was there. Tints of blacks speckled in the red, and just the slightest bit of green in the handle. The bizarre thing was I didn’t feel that wave of thrumming energy through my body like before. Not that sense of lightness, not that pressure.  In fact, I didn’t feel anything at all. That same disconnect when I was summoned towards the statue, that same dissociation when I put on the amulet, it was there more potently than before in every inch of me. It spread to my mind like a fog, blotting over every thought and emotion.  I was numb. I was nothing. Just like the void.  A drip.  I glanced down, noting a splatter of something black and viscous on the shield. Then more of it. I peered up, half-expecting that it started to rain, only for a tingle to rub my brain and remind me that I’d seen that residue before. I brought my hand to my eyes, pulling it away and finding it drenched in the same black, putrid bile like liquid.  I fiddled with the amulet, glaring at my reflection in the amulet. I was bleeding from my eyes again, but not just them this time. My nose, my ears, some of the pores on my cheeks, even my mouth; though I couldn’t taste it. It was so thick and constant I couldn’t even see the paleness of my own face, just my eyes.  They were still red.  The void inside of me was leaking.  I needed to cut something.  With no sensation at all, I reached forward, holding the knife like a pencil as I drew a half of a circle. It was big enough to fit me, and that’s all that really mattered. Once I stepped through, Shining jumped away from Chrysalis, taking his sword with him and standing almost the opposite side of the barrier. I could tell he was facing me now, but whatever he said was as silent as the rest of the forest.  Chrysalis, on the other hand, got…smaller. The holes in her stature were visible again as she bent over, resembling a large candy cane with chunks poked out of her. A dark green, glowing liquid came from her mouth and spewed on the ground. Although dull, I could make out every other word she was saying.  “Vile…rancid taste…what…” she wiped her mouth, leaning in my direction with a single glowing eye in my direction. Poking out from the ripped curtain of her hair. “are you?” I was tempted to answer ‘a demon’ like I had to the diamond dogs; it was true, after all. But, with Shining here, that wouldn’t have made the best impression. Oddly, Cadance came to mind. Specifically, how she described me as wrong.  It finally hit me what it was that felt like that to her.  “You feed on love, right?” My voice sounded wet, like I was talking underwater. I couldn’t even say if she heard me properly, but I continued to speak anyway. “Choke on mine.” The way her eyes half closed as she fully faced me was all I needed to know my message got across.  There was a flash, a very brief torch in the darkness, as her horn lit up. I heard it before I saw it, a bolt of raw magic coming towards me, with full intent to erase me. To turn me to dust.  I jumped to the left, my arms swaying left and right like branches in the wind as my feet hit the ground. Again, I didn’t feel light, but I didn’t feel heavy either. It was the same as the amulet talking to me; a command. I spoke, it obeyed. No hesitation, no feedback, no sensation.  Even that stinging in my hip was gone.  A small, disgusting laugh came out of me. I raised my arms in a shrug motion, closing one eye as my slick lips broke out into a condescending smile.  “What, did you expect me to stand there and take it?” The words didn’t feel right in my mouth; like a mock impression of somebody that I’d only heard of second hand. However, it did just the trick for pissing Chrysalis off and getting her attention on me.  In an instant, she’d teleported in front of me, about to cast another spell before gagging. Wrinkling her nose and curling her lip as she began to charge her horn. I steeled myself, tightening my grip around the blade, which felt natural in an unsettling way.  Luckily, I didn’t need to do very much. Shining quickly fought through that brief falter to attack, swiping at Chrysalis’ wings. With a deep growl, she yelped in pain as she noticed at the last second and flew away; but not unscathed.  In that clash of blue and green, I saw the tip of the sword slice off the ends of her wings, it falling to the ground like a leaf from a dying tree. It wasn’t enough to stop her from flying, but it was something.  “What are you doing back here?” Shining’s voice was gruff and came in between breaths. “And what have you done to yourself? That amulet, I can tell its…” he paused, jutting his chin as his mouth hung open for a few seconds with a leer at my neck. “Wrong.” “I came to—” My words were cut off as something climbed up my throat, dispelling out my mouth as I nearly fell to my knees. It was, for lack of a better comparison, as black as the night. Wetting the grass in a puddle at my knees. I wiped my mouth, finding my sleeve was now covered in my blood. “Help you.” “You shouldn’t have. You’re here for a few seconds and you already look like you need more help than I do. But…” he trailed off as he shifted his attention back to Chrysalis, whose borderline incandescent eyes were scanning the entire inside of the barrier over and over again. “You’re here, and I doubt I could buy you another chance to escape, at least not without giving her the same opportunity, so thank you. However, you look like you’re about to fall over any minute, so i’d prefer it if you stayed back.” “I’m fine.” I said through a gargle. “Really.” “I don’t believe you. That being said, I can’t afford to keep my eye on you either. So do what you want.” In a final exhale, he caught his breath. Dropping his head and reestablishing his posture. “Like you do anyway.” He muttered the last part, which was pointless in the silence of his shield.  “Enjoy your respite?” Chrysalis asked as she spread her arms, another wave of green magic traversing over her body. “It’s the last one you'll get.” With her own casting working as a torch, we watched as she broke and bent in ways that were gratingly unnatural to watch. Crick and creek, bend and break, we stared as she grew and grew into something terrifyingly recognizable.  A hydra.  Not as large as the one I’d encountered in Boggy Bottom, as she was barely large enough to hit the roof of Shining’s shield, but she had all the unique heads and features otherwise. On appearance, I should have felt something. Maybe a phantom pain in my leg, or a churning of my stomach.  But there was nothing. Nothing at all. “Oh, great. A Hydra. Small one, at least.” Shining spun his sword. “Listen, we need Chrysalis alive. She’s the newest zealot, she could know about the pecking order. The thing about changelings is whatever you do to them when they’re transformed doesn’t transfer over to them normally; it just wears them out. So what I’m saying is, as long as she’s a hydra,” he swallowed as it started coming towards us, the magic around his horn sparking as the barrier became smaller. “Go for it.” One of the heads pulled back, coiling like a spring and prepared to launch. Knowing what was coming, I held my arms to the side and leaped to the left, feeling the specks of dirt hit me as the ground combusted with force. Without looking, I swiped with my knife, expecting to encounter some kind of resistance or friction or even just to bounce back.  Instead, there was a loud thud, as it was like I cut through the air itself.  Once I landed on the ground, all I saw was a decapitated hydra head. No blood, or organs, or even a skull. It more resembled a paper-mache outline. It took a few seconds for it to register that I did that, much like when I cut open that diamond dog.  This time, however, there was no lingering shock; no underlying disgust at what I’d done. Just this sense of acknowledgment that almost bordered on pride.  If I could think properly, I might have hated it.  Another head leaped at me, this one I managed to jump over. It was strange, but I’d never hopped that high before. Was my body lighter, or did not feeling its weight just mean I wasn’t restricted by it? In the air, I watched as Shining avoided his own head of a hydra, stabbed a sword into its neck deep enough to support his own weight as he climbed on its neck. I followed suit, stabbing my knife into the neck of the head below me as I tried to stay on my feet. All three of its remaining heads let out a howl as they began to shake, rising with Shining and I on it.  I held on desperately to my knife, barely having the strength not to fall off and hit the ever more distant ground. Very soon, I’d be hitting the roof of the shield, and I’d be forced off.  I needed to move.  While holding on to my knife, I began running up the neck like a hill; slicing open its scales along the way. Halfway there, one of the remaining heads tried snapping at me, forcing me to jump off and try to land on the top of its torso. I used my knife to catch myself, hanging onto the handle with one hand and digging into the scales of the hydra with the other. I was strong enough to pull myself up, only to be greeted by the reptilian face of the creature I was standing on.  I couldn’t smell its breath, but I had no doubt it was as rancid and vomit inducing as the last one.  “Chara!” Shining shouted as he stabbed it in one of its eyes, preventing it from swallowing me whole. The head he had climbed on earlier curled around to face us, coiling in the same way it had before in my direction. I rolled behind the towering neck beside me, hearing the sound of my shirt getting torn but not feeling any pain.  Its teeth had ripped a hole in my hoodie and left a deep gash in my other hip, which was leaking blood just as black as the one coming from my face. I must have lost a lot at this point, but I couldn’t feel it yet.  I raised the knife over my head, stabbing down into one of its nostrils deep enough to pierce through and hit its tongue. I flipped over and landed between its eyes, yanking back with all my strength as I tore its face open.  And then, just as quickly as we’d gotten on top of the hydra, we were falling. With a woosh and the burning flames of transformation, Chrysalis had changed to her normal self and the ground we were standing on was gone from under us. I couldn’t even feel the wind blowing against me, or the stickiness of the blood on my face as my hair blotted my vision almost as much as the blood that was constantly wetting my eyes.  Chrysalis, barely more than an outline of black and green, stood below us. Her body moving up and down with heavy breathes as she leaned her head upward, horn alighting that showed her weary scowl as she grimaced at us.  She said something under her breath that I couldn’t hear, then made another barrier. This time, so encased around her she didn’t have any room to move; like a full body corset made of magic. I brought the knife to my stomach, holding it as tightly as I could manage in between my soaked hands. There was this strange snapping noise as I landed on the top of her shield, jamming the tip of my knife into the top of it; right where her horn was. It pierced the shield, but with more resistance than I’d have liked. I skewered the shield, missing her horn by inches and instead nearly gouged out her eye. The tip was millimeteres away, her pupil constricting as it approached.  “Are you stil—” I tried to speak, cut off by a cough as black painted a puddle on her shield. I could feel my legs shake as the knife struggled to support my weight. “Afraid of me?” I stared deep into Chrysalis’ eyes, so deep that I saw my own reflection. Red standing out among the array of black, even as black as it was. Specks of white poking out, with the blood making it appear like I was smiling.  Is this what Frisk saw before I took their soul at the end of their slaughter? Chrysalis’ pony-like ears splayed back, the tendons in her neck stood out to the point of being visible; I could even count her pulse if I tried. She opened her mouth to say something, only to hold that tight, silent stare.  Then, with a wheeze, she caught her breath.  She teleported away, leaving me to once more stumble on the ground and just barely catch myself. I tried to stand up, just to fall to one knee as my left leg refused to cooperate. I peered back to see why.  My foot was broken.  At least, I think it was broken; it certainly wasn’t supposed to bend that way. I once more put pressure on it, my leg giving out and putting me back on the ground the moment I put in the effort. I shifted my weight to my non-broken leg, able to hobble on it well enough with my other leg barely scraping the surface.  “What is this for you!?” Chrysalis yelled, not as far away from me as she had been before. Shining’s barrier was smaller now, leaving maybe enough room for me to run across once. If it really had, or that was just my imagination, I couldn’t tell.  Either way, the enclosed area had this sense of familiarity to me. I had nowhere to go but enough space to dodge a magic attack if it was sent towards me.  It’s like I was in a box.  “Do you think this makes you some kind of hero, to defeat the queen of changelings? My kind will starve without me!” I didn’t answer her, too preoccupied in finding Shining. It was hard to tell if my vision was getting worse as it was tainted with liquid shadows, or if he had just stopped casting magic, but I didn’t see him anywhere.  “No, maybe your goal lines up more with that of Shiny. Hatred, is it? You hate me for what I tried to do to your pony friends on that pathetic farm, and now that you have the chance to strike me down before I could do it again, you felt that familiar taste of hate and acted on it just like he did. That’s right isn’t it? You’re as driven by hate as I am.” “Hate you?” Did I hate her? Maybe, if the amulet wasn’t keeping me in a state of dullness, there would have been a spark of something. Hatred for killing my friends, for making me watch, time and time again. For forcing me to betray Fluttershy, to betray all of them.  For killing me, so many times.  But I didn’t.  There was nothing at all. “How could I hate you?” I took a step forward, letting my right arm fall and stay as limp as my leg as I held my knife entirely in my right. “You’re just a number.” Something about that drove her to rage. She sneered, raising her chin as the air particles around her became visible. She charged her horn, extending her wings as she bared her fangs.  “Die!” Something was off with the color of her magic, or maybe it was her color in general. It seemed…paler, almost faded. In fact, as I managed to dodge her beam and watched her prepare another one, it continued.  She was becoming white. Everything was.  The ebony tentacles of night still plagued everything else in sight, however Chrysalis herself was pure white except for her magic, which had stayed its green. It was so odd, yet so bizarrely familiar. It was exactly like what Frisk used to see.  I could only assume the amulet was doing this. That, or I was finally losing my mind.  I got closer to her with each attack I managed to evade, proving far more difficult than before with only a leg and a half working. Every time I did, I kept hearing this rattling noise. Like everything else occurring tonight, there was a strange sense of familiarity to the sound. I heard it every couple of seconds, it was just a problem of telling where it was coming from, and where I’d heard it before.  By the third attack, I recognized as it grew louder that it was coming from me. After the fourth, I remembered where I’d heard it before. It was on my deathbed, when my body was fighting despite me having given up. It was coming from my throat, my failing lungs, my living corpse.  I was dying then. Was I dying now? Before I realized what I was doing, I swung at Chrysalis. She didn’t even try to conjure a shield, putting up her hands like she was surrendering.  Maybe she was as I sliced off one of her hands.  I heard that same noise when I struck the diamond dogs, that ‘ping’, and some part of me expected numbers to follow. It fell to the floor with a thud, green blood pooling where it landed.  Chrysalis shrieked, backing away from me until she hit the wall of the shield. More blood spurting from her nub. Her shrieks of pain were only momentary though, as she clenched her teeth together with so much strength I could have sworn I saw one crack.  What I saw instead, however, gave me far more pause.  It was a sign. Two, to be specific. The large, orange x with the word ‘mercy’ on it hovered to my left, while the sword with the word ‘fight’ was on my right. Like the menu, they were within an arm's reach, though I had the inclination that this choice couldn’t be made by touching my hand against one of the buttons.  There was a noise that blocked out the rattling, gradually going louder with each space between. It wasn’t Chrysalis. While I could see she was saying something, her words didn’t reach my ears; or didn’t register if they did.  The only thing I could was the rapping, the drumming, the thumping, of my heart beat.  Thump, thump.  Thump, thump. Thump, thump. I raised my right hand, the two buttons still hovering before me, with the ‘fight’ button blinking on and off. Chrysalis’ eyes once more constricted, pushing herself against the barrier as much as she could, pupils darting back and forth to find a way out. Her horn sparked with magic, whatever attempt she made at casting magic fizzled out before it could turn into something.  In the instant before my arm came down like the guillotine of an executioner, the shield behind her dropped. Chrysalis uncemeronously fell backwards, landing on her wings with a grunt as she looked upwards.  Standing above her was Shining, who was gripping only the blade of his sword in his magic. With a single thrust, the handle was slammed into Chrysalis’ face, her entire body briefly jumping off the ground before going limp. Her eyes remained closed and body still as Shining walked around her, keeping his sword at the ready and gaze locked on her before turning to me.  “Chara, I said we needed her alive! Alive! You were about to kill her, weren’t you? What were you thinking?!” “I…” The knife slipped from my hand, either because it had grown too slick or I just didn’t have the strength to hold on to it anymore. Once it left my grasp, it turned into red specks of dust and blew away, in spite of the fact that there was no wind.  “Wasn’t.” He started saying something, but I couldn’t hear him over the rattling of my own wheezing. Or I could be choosing not to.  I was going to kill her. I would have leveled up, I could feel it.  It was still the only thing I could feel. “Shining.” I interrupted whatever he was saying to me, bringing my hands up to my neck. They were trembling violently, I could see it. “I’m going to take off this amulet. When I do, I want you to take it from me and make sure no one ever touches it again.” His chin fell to his chest as he scowled at me, or maybe he was scowling at the amulet itself? I couldn’t tell. “Is that an order?” “Don’t make it.” He scoffed.  “Fine. but I want to know everything you know about that amulet, and why you made a contract with Trixie to get it.” I gripped the amulet, slowly lifting it off. Whether it was because I had no energy left in me, or the amulet itself was resisting, but I had to strain to finally get it off from my neck; like a choker that was the only thing keeping me breathing. The second I could see it in my hands, I tossed it towards him. It slid across the ground, landing at his hooves.  I expected pain, a lot of pain. Or some sort of sensation at all. Instead, there was still this sense of nothingness, in me and in my mind. My body shook, but there was no cold, no shock, no shiver, there was nothing at all.  It would have terrified me if I could have felt it.  When I took the first step, the blackness coming from my face consumed my sight, and overtook everything.  I passed out, with a final thump from my heart.