//------------------------------// // Secret Mission 4 Part 1: Deity vs Devil // Story: Devil hunter among Ponies // by Dusk Stalker //------------------------------// Authors Notice: This will be a two parter as I promise. The first one will be mostly combat throughout the mission, but hey I hope you enjoy the first part of the last Secret Mission. Tomb of Skayhir. "Trust me...I’ll catch up, Just get out of here." Twilight was in half a mind to stay here and help Dante, but the look in his eyes and the sound of the tremors was enough to know that, whatever it was charging towards them, was enough to know that it was too much for them. Twilight's horn was glowing despite the protests of the group, Rainbow Dash was yelling the loudest for Twilight to stop and let them help, but it fell on deaf ears as they disappeared in a flash of white light. Which left Dante alone with whatever it was that crashed through the archway, as debris and dust flew towards Dante, he gave a trademark smirk as he pulled out Rebellion, knowing who it was. "What kept ya big boy?" knowing all too well who it was, the stomps emitting from the dust were still shaking the foundation of the room, leaving nothing more than Dante with Rebellion on his shoulders waiting for the guest of honor to appear before him. "Come on, don't keep me waiting." Dante said to the figure behind the dust cloud, he could see red glowing eyes piercing through the mist and the swords of that glare fixed on Dante. Suddenly as he could do anything, a giant clawed hand came down upon Dante as he flipped back from the hit that was intended for him, leaving only a small crater imprinted on the floor. The room itself was shaking from the force of the blows and the only thing that could be seen to the naked eye was nothing but the red blur and the ground beneath imploding into ditches or craters and the flash of brown that was coming down upon Dante. As Dante landed on the far side of the room, a flash of brown flew out of the dust as it crashed right into the center of the room, destroying the sarcophagus and the fount where the lava was flowing out of, luckily, the floor didn't give away and the vent's weren't dented or destroyed by the resulting crash. The demon hunter could hear heavy panting from the new dust cloud as he made out a large figure inside of it. Dante tapped Rebellion on his shoulder and noticed the unmistakable outline of an antler. "Well, you grown up big boy, guess must have been those Wheaties hmm?" Dante stated to the kneeling figure in the dust cloud its eyes peering at him as it slowly rose out of the mist, Dante could see it was the same guy, the reliefs on the walls of the now destroyed sarcophagus were now shattered with each heave from the presence as it slowly rose from the ashes of the wake of destruction it caused as the being's shadow swallowed the walls of the now broken tomb and Dante himself as that smirk that was cemented on his face would never leave his sight. The figure finally emerged from the dust like a skyscraper through the clouds to see the antlers and horn of a very familiar creature as Dante whistled, " Well Dissy, old boy, looks like you been hitting the weights, hmm?" Now his full shell came out of the undying dust as it blew away from an almighty roar. His body was different as it seemed more dragon-like as scales dotted his chest and some of them were serrated to the tip of the scales. His right arm was of a griffon, but it seemed more brutal as by the spikes protruding from the tips of the knuckles as a huge blade protruded from his left arm, and of course, scales adorning the shoulder area where the base of the blade ended. Suddenly it shifted back as the surface of the blade melted back to not a lion arm, but a demonic arm as Dante could see the scales of it, he could see cat-like claws like in his devil triggered hands, but not even close to it as they seemed a bit smaller than what he could estimate. But what changed the most were his legs, instead of a goat leg and a lizard leg that graced his appearance, it seemed to be nothing but a long tail, like the body of a Chinese dragon, no legs were attached to the body as he slithered closer to Dante. His antlers were there, but his face and structure drastically morphed for the worse. His head instead of a pony, it was now a mix between a pony and a dragon head. His eyes were dragon-like along with his fangs and the structure was still pony, except for his fur, it was now scaled to mimic a dragon head as the most notable feature was now his extruded snot which had a steam rising out of his nostrils. Dante clapped with Rebellion still jammed into the ground, "Alright Dissy, now, THAT’S what I am talking about!" Discord responded with a roar to Dante's face as he could feel his hair and coat blow back in an attempt to scare him. But Discord didn't know Dante that well, as the only thing he could see him doing was stand there, not even running away from the roar and fanning his right hand in front of his face. "Whoa, you ever heard of breath mints? Or Mouthwash? Or even a dentist for that matter?" Dante continued with this readying himself to fight, "Because honestly, you have a bad breath that smells like ass and I will give you this, it smells better than what I have smelt before from others." Discord brought his demonic-like hand down which slammed down on the ground. A column of stone and dust erupted where Dante was as he flipped further from Discord as he dusted off his coat. (Boss Battle 7-Discord) "Well, you got fangs with that pair, you finally grew and I like that Dissy, now come to think of it, I miss your big mouth now." Dante continued, Discord was starting to have enough of Dante's quips as he got started to slither slowly to him. The demon hunter could only bring Rebellion to his side as he slowly advanced on the spirit of chaos, "But now it seems you rather fight than talk, but hey, I’m not complaining." They sped up as Dante was now in a jog and Discord's slither increase. "So, let’s get this Party started!" Dante and Discord were about a few feet away from each other, the half-human was smirking at this while the draconequus was giving a vile grin which showed his bare teeth, Dante could see his reflection on his teeth as he gripped Rebellion tighter as they disappeared leaving a small dust cloud hanging on the floor. The room seemed dead as it had been for thousand years.... BOOM! The sides of the tomb had a huge chunk of stone missing from the implosion of an unknown force in the room, to the naked eye there were nothing more than dust bunnies gathering and flies somehow miraculously alive in this weather. BOOM!! The middle of the room had a house-sized crater appear, it spread out from the force as it paused for a bit to reveal Dante holding Discord's demonic arm back. Dante slid back and whipped out Cerberus as he sent spikes of ice at him, Discord leapt over them and was diving towards the demon hunter, he slammed Cerberus on the ground only to be surrounded by the same ice spikes that were now monstrous and the tips of the ice glinting in Discord's eyes as he halted in the air and used his dragon like wings to fly back from the Icy shield (Million Carats). Dante continued the assault with Cerberus whipping it around and lashing at Discord who in turn was dodging each lash from the tripartite nunchaku. But some of the hits that landed were not so lucky for Discord, as every lash seemed to be rapidly grown exponentially as he used whatever demonic energy he had to break the ice off his wounds. Discord’s hand rapidly changed to what looked like a war hammer kind of weapon, the back of the hammer had a little spike and the color of the hammer was the same as his arm, Dante spun his nunchuks in the air as a smooth dome of ice was rapidly spinning around him, Discord stopped mid swing to feel the chill run down his spine from Cerberus. He slithered back as his chest puffed out, Dante switched Cerberus for Agni and Rudra, at least they were quiet for once in their lives. Discord, on the other hand, felt heat swelling up in his gut and also in his mouth, Dante could see embers leaking from Discord’s teeth and falling like leaves to the ground. As Discord opened his mouth, a massive jet of flame roared at blazing speeds towards Dante, he stabbed Agni and Rudra to the ground creating a stream of air and flame as the two separate powers were closing in rapidly, as soon as fire and wind made contact with the draconequus’ fire, the center of the room exploded, Dante leapt out of the cloud of dust like an arrow going through ones knee as he landed Agni and Rudra prepared to assault Discord. Discord noticed as his hand morphed into a sharp blade and he shot forward, Dante did the same thing, both blades out to the side cutting through the air as he was closing in on Discord. As soon as the devil hunter could see the scales of the corrupted draconequus, he suddenly slashed at the air until it frozen and brought them out further leaving a trail of fire and flame through the air. Discord was unfortunate enough to catch Dante's Jet Stream move full-blast as he tumbled back, blood starting to trickle from his wounds as he was slithering back from Dante as his hand morphed to a bladed whip. Discord swung the whip side to side as the cracks of the whip were resonating throughout the room and his eyes looking close to committing an unforgivable kill. Dante put Agni and Rudra away and whipped out Nevan as he was strumming it up and summoning a few bats, Discord swung his demonic arm in a revolution, the whip followed suit sailing right at Dante as it was whistling through the air. The devil hunter strummed Nevan and let out an invisible electric dome that made the whip parry off Dante and proceeded to dig through the roof of the gladiatorial room. The half-human then slid on his feet, trilling the strings with a screech until he hit Discord straight in the chest pushing him back and sending a few bats at his way. Discord managed to dodge all but one of the electrical bat balls, as Dante then pivoted back and the scythe blade fell down to the body of the guitar. "LET’S ROCK!!" Dante was strumming rapidly as a white and purple aura started to form around him along with sparks of lightning, as Discord knew what Dante was doing, he shot forward his whip circling above his head as it gained momentum from every pass. Dante kept strumming as the aura and sparks started to evolve into jolts of lightning were dancing everywhere he strummed. As Discord closed in to deliver a blow to Dante, he let out one long strum as a massive stream of bats and lightning left his guitar and slammed right into Discord, knocking him back full force as he slammed right against the wall. Dante had Nevan still at the ready, eyeing Discord with a cocky demeanor as he leaned on Nevan and yelled "Come on Dissy! I know you can do better than that!" Discord knew he could do better, his bloodlust was surging and howling for him to release, tempting him to finish it all; to show the true power of a god. "Come on...Release all inhibitions, show this putrid scum who you are." Discords got up and he was shaking, his eyes starting to glow all blood red as black smoke started leaking from his eyes. "Release it all, show him!" The room was shaking violently, Dante put Nevan away like nothing was happening as a grin started to grow bigger and bigger. "Show him the True power of Chaos!" As soon as that happened, a pillar of demonic energy erupted around Discord as a bellow was shaking the cave and piercing into the blizzard above as for a second, it suddenly stopped for just that moment as it could be seen that the snow stopped and started to fall to the ground, but only for a moment as the room Dante was in shaking violently. (Song Change- Dance-Rungran) "Alright Dissy, if you want to go all out." Dante was talking to Discord as he snapped his fingers and Devil Triggered right in front of Discord, his eyes started to slim down, wanting nothing more than to hear the flesh and bone grind against his teeth. Dante was glaring through his eyes and smiled, "Well, here I am... You want to go all out." Dante pulled out Rebellion and brought it to his side "Then you got it!" Dante disappeared in a flash as Discord and the energy around him disappeared. The room was silent again, the familiar greeting of dust and vermin buzzing around, this was a deathly way of a tomb as it should be. BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Another explosion and even bigger meeting of powers appeared in the center again as the only thing that could be seen by the naked eye was random explosions and debris flying everywhere. Suddenly, something froze in the center to see not only Dante still in Devil Trigger mode, but Discord changed as well, still locked in a stalemate. His scales had become more deadlier and even more twisted than what they originally were; his head became more bonelike as did his wings. Both his arms were now the same as they both were blade-like, the style on both his hands were a mix, his left hand was a broadsword and his right hand was a katana. His lower body kept its snake-like appearance but it seemed a lot more scaled has he thrashed his tail around, a Devil trigger that seemed to fit to him for the most part. Dante and Discord were still locked, as Dante pushing back Discord's crossed blades, a small crater started to form where Discord was, it seemed to work a bit but Discord brought his tail around to knock Dante out of the stalemate. Dante caught it out of the corner of his eye as he jumped onto Discord's blades and leapt off them as he whipped out Ebony and Ivory and fired rapidly, Discord was slicing the bullets away as metal started to rain from above. What can be seen between the two was nothing more than a dome cutting the air as some of the bullets that were cut were floating in midair and Dante's guns not giving up on their flash of orange and yellow. Dante dashed to the side in the air as he continued his onslaught with his guns, Discord knew that this would take forever as he swiped the air in front of him with his blades which created a shockwave that blew the bullets away, but Dante as he landed and lunged forward with his blade out in front of him(Stinger) creating a red and black twister and shockwave around him which would rival the Sonic Rainboom, The blade managed to pierce through the scales of Discord as he stumbled back a bit in pain as he used his bladed hands from crashing to the ground. Dante landed on the far side of the arena, Rebellion to his side and his Devil Trigger still active. He was now taking this seriously, you couldn't tell in his Devil Trigger, but you could tell by his actions as he parted his blade behind him and charged as he remembered a promise he made to Celestia to keep the six safe, he did that, but his promise still kept him going and if there was one thing he always swore he did, he always kept his promise. "RRRAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Dante yelled as he charged forward, Discord noticed and brought his blades to the side and blazed forwards as his blades were dragging on the ground as debris and stone were flying behind him. Both combatants’ eyes locked onto each other as they brought their blade's up to their waist and in Discord's case, right where Dante's neck was. Both closed in as the glints off their blades were now shining in each other's eyes as they were about mere feet away from each other. And in a flash they were exactly behind each other, both combatants slowly sheathed their blades or in this case Discord dismissed his blades, waiting for judgment to render who was victorious. Suddenly blood started to rain down on Dante as he could see a massive gash where Discord's heart was as it was spraying the area with his own blood. Dante turned around as he ignored the blood dripping from his hair and the blood falling from the sky to see Discord starting to revert slowly back to his normal self like when you fast forward a seed growing to see the tree blossoming. His size started to shrink dramatically and the cosmetic appearance of his demonic controlled self reverted back to what he was. As soon as Discord was normal, he collapsed onto the ground heaving with the gash on his chest. (Boss Battle Over) Discord was having an incredibly hard time controlling his breathing, he could still feel warm blood leaking down his chest and still the feeling of nothing but freedom filling his mind. Dante was over Discord's body sword sheathed as the Deity of Chaos looked up into Dante's eyes and laughed, "You know," He grimaced a bit from the wound, "That was fun." "Yeah I gotta agree with you on that." Dante nodded, "But hey, you were fun, if I was here longer and had more time, hell you would have made one hell of a bud." "Yeah, I can imagine it." Discord chuckled, still painful to even do anything. But now... I need to get this done." Dante said, knowing the promise he made wasn't even fulfilled. "I know you do." Discord said, still holding his chest and blood covering his hands, "But you aren't going to make it." Discord coughed up a bit of blood. "Let me guess, too far and by that time, Canterlot will be nothing more than a pile of rubble?" Dante answered for him as Discord nodded, Dante chuckled and kneeled right next to Discord, " I know my brother, and he ain't the type of person to let those punks get the best of him." "That's not it." Discord said as he grimaced again, " My master.... Dreadwing... He isn't the same." "Demon problems, eh?" Discord nodded, "Figures." "That... Is part of it," Discord explained, "He is attempting to harness the power of the Demon World and spread its influence across Equestria... And more... Letting corruption take over." "How do you know all this?" Dante asked, Discord was now for the first time actually serious and his eyes revealed another emotion, fear. "He whispered it to me... It was horrible" "..." The Devil Hunter honestly felt bad for the deity, as he raised his lion paw hand to and wrapped it around the half Demon's hand, Discord looked up to see Dante looking square into his eyes and knowing what he was saying, "I won't let that happen." Discord understood as he decided to Dante one favor, "Brace yourself." Dante was unsure about what he said until Discord snapped his fingers and a flash of bright white light surrounded Dante in an instant, and to where he stood there was nothing as Discord laughed, he looked down to see his legs were disintegrating as he was succumbing to his wounds, Discord gave one last toothy smile to the ceiling, "Well...." Discord's arms crumpled as he was letting his wound take hold of him, "It looks like..." Discord gave a sharp but painful nod as a pair of black shades fell on his eyes. "I am crumbling up." And with that, Discord's whole body greyed like stone and the structure of it crumbled into nothing but ash in the center of the room. The room was silent, as a gentle breeze blew Discord's ashes up to the ceiling, but up above there was a small crack from the battle that took place that was almost a forgiving but poetic thing, as a small crack of light shined upon the ashes as they magically flew up without any breeze as it went out to the outside world, almost like he was forgiven by an unknown source. But beyond that.... Discord was free. Chapter proofreaded by LyonAzakura.