//------------------------------//
// Earning a name 
// Story: My Little Slayer: Emotion is Weakness 
// by RishnaLeDestroyer 
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	A/N: After reading back over the previous chapters I found that the story seems to be shallow, with only step by step events being told. I also feel that our main character, well he doesn't have much character. In order to try to keep this story flowing, and give some suitable fleshing out of Henric, as well as room for his character's progression, I will dedicate this chapter to him, as well as trying to maintain more of his point of view in coming chapters.

Henric had been running at a steady pace for under an hour before he decided to emerge from the forest. It was late morning now and he heard the distant chatter of voices. This was probably a pony settlement, exactly what he was looking for, so he  decided to investigate.
Out of the forest there was a hill that lead down to what appeared to be a small town. Like much else in this strange world it was much brighter and more cheerful than he believed a town rightfully should be, based on what he had learned in his gloomy existence.  This pony colony did not intimidate him in the least bit, much less the pastel colored residents navigating happily through it, but he would not be fooled. He decided to get into the town with extreme caution, trying his best to remain undetected. He walked to the bottom of the hill and took cover among the bushes around a "Welcome to Ponyville!" sign. The writing upon the sign in the most painfully obvious of ways confirmed that this was indeed a pony inhabited town. From this cover he walked deeper into the heart of the village, moving from hiding spot to hiding spot in order to remain undetected while picking up on the banter of the surrounding ponies, trying to find any information that could prove useful.
After quite a bit of hopping around, Henric had a basis to plan his assault on this race with. The one in charge of this town was called "Mayor Mare." Apparently this ruler had no extra-ordinary powers over this town and the citizens just listened to her due to their need for leadership. This was not a strong bond as leadership could be provided in many different ways, so starting a rebellion would not be difficult. If he could bring down any leading figures, anarchy would break out and the residents would look up to anything they could get for some sort of order. He would be there, although not directly. He would pull strings from behind this stage until everything pointed his way, and with a militia of these magical beings he could expand to amazing heights.


~*~


Manticores, although definitely not social, did have a kind of unwritten code of kinship between themselves. They would not hunt each other, and if an alpha of their species was killed they would band together, smell down the one who did it, and tear them apart. This was knowledge passed down generation to generation within this species of monster, basicly to keep them at the top of the food chain by eliminating any that opposed their strength. When one of the largest male alphas was found sliced and dead with a very distinct scent path leading directly from his body, something was going to be done about it. Once the manticores had all conjoined around the body, a hair raising bellow bringing them, they seemed to come to an agreement and all lumbered through the forest to the left at a frightening speed. 


~*~


Henric was making his way to city hall, his best guess as to where the mayor would be found, when he heard low growls and screams coming his way. The one who could only be the mayor based on her appearance that he had pieced together in his mind based off of the talk of the ponies around town passed the bush he was hiding behind, right as a herd of manticores overtook her running and tore the mare apart. That was one thing off of his to do list, but now it got more difficult with these angry lion-like beasts swarming the town. When the manticores that had killed the mayor reached the bush he was behind they stopped, and sniffed the air. When they began to converge on him, Henric knew he had been found. He had hoped to wait this one out, but it was probably him that they were after anyways. Thinking this, he leapt from the shrubbery that had been his only shelter, landing atop one of the larger of the beasts. He broke off its tail when it shot out towards him and cut open the face of the massive creature he was on, before jumping to another manticore as it lunged for him, effectively causing a brutal manticore-lision that shattered bones and killed both of the beasts. He pulled out his crossbow and shot it for the eye of an advancer, imbuing the bolt with the energy of fire. The shot struck directly in the attackers eye, boiling blood and catching its head on fire. The beast howled in pain as the fire spread inside of its head, effectively melting its brain. Henric used his small size to an advantage, darting beneath a behemoth and ripping open its throat before spinning around to face the rest and seeing a paw flying towards him. He only had enough time to lift his shield  before the blow hit square-on sending him flying backwards.
As the effects of a severe concussion set in, all was blurry to Henric like he had had to much mead. He still rose to his feet. His arm had been broken in six paces, and no mortal had the right to still be conscious after that, but he was. He was not only conscious but still alert, although his mind was not so dead-set on fighting anymore. He estimated about twenty manticores were left, and all of them were rushing his position. Knowing there was no way to take them on in combat, he put an aegis of flame up around him, that would withstand damage until he grew too weak to maintain the field, or his concentration was entirely broken. His left arm hung limp by his side, shield still attached and his sword arm was up and ready to strike. He put a magical charge through his enchanted weapon, so all that was needed for a kill was contact with the enemies flesh and started his own charge towards the advancing wall of beast. the first one to come near him made a slash with its paw for Henric's head, met with the flat end of his blade. An extremely powerful magical current flowed through the monster stopping its heart. Another tried to pick the slayer up in his mouth, but only caught a mouthful of magical flame, which burn off its very head before consuming the rest of the manticore. Henric then tried some on the offensive darting around and made shallow incisions is three beasts, killing them all, before they caught on. As six members of the pack flew at him, Henric filtered as much magic from the around him as humanly possible through his very essence, moulding it into the pure energy he wanted, and sent it surging from him in all directions. This disintegrated the assaulting members of the team.
After this brutal bash to their assaulting force, the remaining nine manticores were far more careful with the attack on this strange creature. The one who had injured him was still alive, so they followed that alpha. The manticores spread around the smaller beast and began weaving in and and out of combat with it. Suddenly the creature shot a beam of magic, effectively cremating two of the attacking creatures.
Henric saw now only seven members of the attack squad were left. This was a much more manageable number, but he was growing weak. He had to pull down his spells due to lack of strength to sustain them with, and put up a more defensive stance. Hexes and incantations used far less energy to complete due to the fact most were actually calls to some deity, but they could not deliver a clean kill. He put up a hex to sap the strength of the remaining monsters, and deliver the energy to Rhaja, the archdemon of war. This would both weaken his foes and earn him favor on the battlefield. They kept lunging in, with grace and tactics. He was parrying their light, fast blows, but was still tiring faster than they were. He quickly learned their intricate dance of combat and held his blade at an angle which cut the throat of an oncoming manticore. He used the surprise of the others at this sudden death and leapt upon one of the remaining six manticores stabbing down into its brain. He leapt behind the carcass narrowly avoiding a blow from another of the beasts. He used his last bit of strength to send a wave of force-precussion magic at the five manticores still alive, sending them off in various directions. After this, he collapsed to the ground unconscious. Unbeknownst to him nearly the whole of ponyville had watched the entire event.