//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11-3 
// Story: Dark Rites 
// by Sporkbacon 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 11-3: Spellflash


Suddenly, something hit me in the head, throwing off my concentration.  Rubbing at my temples with my hooves, I looked at the object that had knocked me from my meditation.  It was a blue potion.  I figured that it was from Ivy, so I drank it.  Immediately after tasting the potent herb mixture, I was filled with a massive amount of magical energy.  Silently, I thanked Ivy and looked out of the bush.  There was a great amount of destruction.  Corpses littered the area as I surveyed the damage.  Luckily, I saw Sophie and Ivy ready to take on the leader of the pack.
Sophie stole a quick glance back at me and nodded, knowing I was awake and ready to take on the monster before us.  I hopped out of the bush and called my crossbow to me once again.  By this time, the Blood Diamond Dog leader had overcome his stun.  Ivy and Sophie were fighting him now and they definitely needed my help.  Throwing knives and shuriken dotted the battlefield where the leader had missed.  A few throwing knives were stuck in Ivy's armor and she was bleeding from her cheek and other parts of where her skin wasn't covered by the body armor.  Sophie was a little worse.  Several knives stuck in her legs.  She pulled them out painfully, then called upon the healing mists of her aura to close the wounds.  
Angry that my friends had been hurt by this mutt, I aimed at the leader and shot a bolt at him.  The projectile struck and went through him, though he was barely fazed, after which, the wound closed almost instantly.  He was going to be hard to beat.  "Is that all you've got, little ponies!?  You face the might of the leader of the Blood Diamond Dogs!  I am Commander Har'Ghul!  This pitiful attempt at dispatching me is making me sick.  I need a real fight!"  He challenged.  His voice was gravelly and angry, like he had breathed in a lot of smoke during his life.  Sophie wiped the blood from her mouth with a foreleg.  Concentrating, she closed her eyes and unlocked the third word of her demon bracers.  Steel enveloped her entire body as the bright teal aura flared brighter.  Soon, her entire body looked as though she was dipped in liquid metal, then pulled out of it, except she had full maneuverability.  Instead of her head being coated in steel, she gained a helmet which which had a cross-shaped eye slits as well as pegasus wings unfurled on the sides of her head.
Sophie looked like a knight.  The only thing missing from her outfit was a lance or sword and shield.  Instead, her forelegs had grown almost triple the size of her second word's.  Suddenly, she spoke, "This is the power of the third word.  Tremble before my might!" She called, gesturing at the leader.  The voice that came from under the helmet was not her own, but hers with a valiant-sounding undertone, while also sounding like she spoke twice with one being barely in front of the next, like a commanding echo.  She sounded possessed by some avenging spirit.
Flapping her wings, Sophie got some altitude and flew faster than I thought possible, with the amount of metal adorning her form.  A angry comet of silver, teal, and grey smashed against the diamond dog's two-handed blade, causing him to stumble backwards against a decorative boulder.  Sophie brought back a hoof and slammed it against his defenses, causing the boulder to crack down the center, then completely shatter.  "Not bad, little pony!  How about this?!" the maniacal dog growled.  He hefted his greatsword and swung it against her, causing her armor to dent slightly and making her fly a few meters away.
During this time that he was distracted, I was chanting a new spell to use to improve our chances.  Ivy was also preparing for battle.  She was mixing together a small amount of pond water to a container which held several seeds.  As soon as I saw Sophie fall, a large burst of energy filled my body.  My anger was feeding my spell.  Feeling the power surging,  I blacked out and a book appeared in my mind.  It was the book about demonic weapons.  The pages stopped flipping and ended on the sword section.  On the page was a stylized picture of a pair of daggers going into a pair of swords.  Under the picture was a set of two words, with the third word blank. The part of the page where the swords would have gone into a larger part was empty, then slowly faded in and out.  Eventually, the third part appeared and a large two-handed blade appeared as well as the third word.
I snapped back to reality as the word that had just appeared on the page passed across my lips.  My crossbow disappeared and was replaced by a huge crystal sword that was a foot longer than my dual-wielded swords were.  I reveled in the new-found power that was coursing through my veins.  Energy surged through me as I held up the sword with virtually no effort at all.  Ivy blinked, then gasped.  "Spell...are...Are you okay?" she stammered after she gulped.  "Yeah, I'm better than okay, I feel amazing!" I replied, experimentally swinging my sword.  As I spoke, I noticed my voice change from my own to a echoing powerful voice.  It made me sound almost demonic.  Surging red and black energy flew around me as I started walking towards Commander Har'Ghul.
"Well, you look a little...Demonic.  I was wondering if you were still in control."  Ivy said cautiously, as if I was going to turncoat on her because I had become like what we were supposed to be hunting.  "Of course I'm in control.  The third word of power must give you an increased amount of power through demon magic, which makes sense because they are demonic artifacts anyway."  I explained to her, mostly guessing.  "Alright, I trust you," Ivy said, pausing.  "Let's beat this guy and take a rest.  We can worry about Sophie after he's defeated."  
"Right, let's do this!"  I yelled as I charged at him, full force of my ruby blade in front of me.  At that, Ivy nodded and threw her potion at the Commander, causing vines to sprout up through the ground, entangling him.  While he was stunned, I charged and swung my blade in an arc across his body, through the vines and into the ground.  "Now, this is what I call a fight!" the commander said, overjoyed.  The wound closed fairly quickly after I had sliced through him, though blood ran out of his mouth.  The vines still worked their way around his body, causing small blood trails to flow from his thorn punctured flesh.  He started to stagger, but regained his feet.  Clearly Sophie's attack had left him off balance. 
I took the opportunity and slashed across him several more times, bringing him almost to his knees.  A flare of demonic energy flowed outwards from him, knocking me back a few feet.  His wounds closed, though a little bit slower than before.  Shortly after, he coughed, sending a splatter of demon tinged blood to the ground.  His movements were a lot slower than before as well.  I suspected that Ivy's vines had something to do with the paralysis he was experiencing.  "This...is the...fight I was...talking about!" the commander said, staggering his words slightly.  The vines slowly constricted him tighter and tighter until he was unable to breathe.  As I brought up my sword for a final strike, I saw the look of crazed admiration in his eyes.
He had to die, though.  All of the ponies that were scattered around the park would gladly want me to return the favor.  I must release their souls by slaying their slayer.  With a battle cry, I sliced my sword across his throat, severing the vines as well as his head.  His head fell off his body and thumped to the ground.  Feeling no resistance, the vines grasped his body and pulled the corpse into the ground.  Only his head remained.
It was finally over.  If there were any more Blood Diamond Dogs, they would scatter by the time the news of their leader had been slain.  Quickly, I ran over to Sophie, whose armor was gone now.  Luckily for her, the armor had taken most of the damage and she was left for at most a few broken ribs.  She was still awake, but she was motionless, probably waiting for my medical aid.  Ivy got to her first though and administered a potion.  Quickly rejuvenated, Sophie got up and hugged both of us.  Well, she would have hugged me, but I was still holding my huge sword.  I dispelled my sword so I could hug her back.  Calmly, I released the spell and came down from my power trip.  I hadn't realized how much power maintaining the spell took, taking on that form had drained me quite a bit..  
I fell backwards on my haunches and shook my head.  When I looked up, I saw Sophie and Ivy standing there, looking a little worried, but mostly happy.  "Level three Blades, huh, Spell?"  Sophie said, softly.  "Most ponies don't unlock that tier until they've had their bracelets for more than a year or so."  "Well," I started, "Since my special talent is demon magic, I figure these things come to me a little bit quicker."  Sophie nodded.  "Anyway, we should probably get back to my house before the authorities show up and blame us," Sophie pointed out.  "I think we all could use a good meal and a nice long rest." I said, grinning.  
We left the bloodbath for Ivy's plants to clean up.  "After a certain amount of feeding, the plants would become sated and disappear." Ivy said.  My guilt was growing a bit after hearing that.  "What about the ponies that died here tonight?" I asked.  "Good question," Ivy said, putting a hoof to her chin.  "We could blame it on local wildlife, if someone asks us."  Sophie suggested.  "If you ask me, I'd rather not think of it.  Just recalling the images in my head makes my blood boil." I commented.  "Agreed." Sophie and Ivy said in unison. 
After we left the park, it was really late.  There were almost no ponies outside to speak of.  If anything, there was a few outside of a bar on one street corner, but they were probably too drunk to notice.  We finally arrived on Sophie's street and made our way to her house.  "Before we have dinner, we should probably wash up."  Sophie asked of us.  "Me first!" Ivy shouted as she sprinted up the stairs.  Sophie giggled and said, "Does she always do that?"  I sighed and said, "Yes, yes she does..."