Sky, Lexus, and I all stood with our weapons ready for any fight. Just in front of us, Chess Queen sat behind her chess set, Ezekiel standing to her side.
The room we were in was massive, similarly structured as a throne room. There were only three doors in this room, the one we had come in through, and two other ones on opposite ends of each other off to the side.
Sky stepped forward towards the Haters before us, "We've taken your castle, and you have no where else to run. Surrender now, or else we'll have to drag you both out of here."
But at that same moment, I watched as one of the white bishops on Queen's chess board moved forward.
Chess Queen noticed this as well and simply chuckled, "So, you must be Darkened5ky, right hand man of Shadow, and one of the strongest warriors in this game. I must say that it's surprising that you're also the bishop in this game."
Sky glanced towards me with a confused expression, which I only shrugged back. Meanwhile, Queen continued as she moved one of her black pawns on the chess board, "In the real world, a bishop or priest were the ones that people went to for protection against demons and evil spirits. Some people would call it the power of god, while others looked upon it as magic. Though, I must say it is ironic that you are the one who uses the least amount of magic in combat than the rest of your team does."
Lexus stepped forward, "What are you rambling on about?"
At the same time, one of the white rooks moved forward on the chess board. Queen smirked, "I'll tell you in a second, for I know who you are. Lexus, the non-brony who joined Team Equitum for the first boss battle, and bearer of the Element of Honesty. It seems that you are the Rook."
I frowned, Why is she calling us different chess pieces?
Queen smirked at us as she moved one of her bishops on the board, "Rooks, or what other people may call castles, were used as fortresses for many people. They were places where a damsel in distress was hidden to be saved from a dragon." She chuckled, "Of course, in your case, Lexus, you protect your damsel from a hydra."
The mare continued, "And I won't forget about you, Shadowflame. You are the knight. The knights are the ones that lead the charge against the enemy. They are the ones that are sent by their king to defeat their enemies."
I frowned at Chess Queen, "What does this have to do with anything?"
"Don't you see? You are nothing more than pawns in this game. At the start of every chess match, the knights or the pawns are the first to be sent to fight, though they aren't expected to survive. Then afterwards, the rest of the pieces are used to outsmart the enemy and trap the king in checkmate. This means that you, Shadow, are being sent in to die in this game first by none other than your own king, otherwise known as Jupiter."
I felt my magical grip on my weapons tighten, "No. Jupiter is my friend. He only makes the decisions that allows everyone to survive."
Queen only chuckled, "But not everyone survives, do they? I'm sure you remember what happened to Rex."
I glared at her with fury at the mention of Rex, "Shut up! He didn't die while fighting. That was murder from Discord. You've been killing everyone off in the exact same way for months now. Why are you doing all of this?"
Queen smirked at me, "Well, first you should know that I wasn't originally a hater before. I was actually a pegasister that wanted to be here. Of course, I joined the Haters because they were the most likely to win."
Lexus glared at her, "That's not true. We've already collected five of the elements."
"But how much have you lost in the process?" Queen asked, "Face it, you'll never win because you have two enemies to fight against. On the other hand, we Haters only have one enemy: You."
"Well, that's going to change today." I replied, "Blaze!" Inferno instantly lit up in flames as my ability took effect.
Queen smirked at me and my team, "Foolish pawns. Did you forget that I am the queen? I have pawns of my own." Suddenly, her horn began to glow and two large bodies of blue code appeared between us and her.
The bodies of code began to condense in size, but then the code disappeared, revealing a unicorn to her left and an earth pony to her right.
The unicorn was dressed in a magicians robe, and had no weapons in sight. The earth pony was dressed in full, pitch black armor, a long sword and a shield strapped to its back. Neither of them had player ID's, but just above each of them there was a health bar and a small line of text: <Chess Queen's Minions> If they didn't have Player ID's, then that meant that they weren't players at all, just NPC's.
Queen laughed as her minions appeared before us, "As you can see, I'm a summoner. I can summon my own personal army at will. Allow me to introduce you to my pawns, the Mage and the Dark Knight." She released a small chuckle, "Let's see if you three can handle my pawns and my knight." She glanced towards Ezekiel beside her, "Ezekiel, it's time to redeem yourself."
Ezekiel grinned as he drew his sword and shield, "Gladly." Instantly, he flapped his wings and took up position between me and Queen. The Mage and the Dark Knight took up positions on either side of Ezekiel, ready for battle.
Meanwhile, Sky and Lexus took their positions beside me. Sky glanced towards me, "Don't worry about the pawns. Lexus and I will take care of them. Ezekiel will most likely go after you, so you'll need to take care of him."
I nodded, "Good. See if either of you can reach Chess Queen. We can't let her summon any more pawns."
There we stood, facing each other. By following the gazes of our opponents, it was clear concerning who was going to fight who: Me against Ezekiel, Sky against the Dark Knight, and Lexus against the Mage.
I brought my sword up to face Ezekiel, "All right, let's do this."
And then, we converged.
Ezekiel's blade crashed against my shield, causing me to be pushed back quite a ways. But before I could counter his attack, the Hater began to strike against my shield with several blows from both sword and shield, moving faster than I could have anticipated.
I cursed to myself as I hid behind my shield from every strike Ezekiel dealt towards me, Crap, if this is his normal speed, then he must have been holding back when we fought on the airship. That means he only fought me to get my attention. He was leading me right into this, and I fell for it.
Meanwhile, as I was busy cursing my own stupidity, I could see the two other fights in the room out of the corner of my eye.
Sky was busy dealing with the Dark Knight, who was armed with a sword and a shield. Due to his speed and the lack of armor to burden him, Sky was naturally the first to strike against his opponent. However, each time Sky attacked the knight with a flurry of strikes from his dual blades, the knights armor would protect him from most of the dealt damage. This meant that Sky could only chip away a tiny bit of the knight's health bar.
Meanwhile, the knight would only see Sky's blows as a minor annoyance and would instantly try to hack away the unicorn with a crushing blow from its sword. Sky would block the knight's strike, which would slide him back a few feet, but then he would immediately keep slashing his swords against the cold, black armor.
Lexus, who was busy dealing with the Mage on the other side of me, wasn't in any better shape. The Mage would cast spell after spell at the pegasus, who did his best to fly out of the way. Lexus was able to dodge almost every spell that was fired at him, but whenever he tried to fly closer to the Mage, the unicorn would fire a pulse of magic that would push back Lexus, bringing his health meter down slightly.
I cringed as I saw the situation we were in, We won't be able to keep this up. We need to change this fight before Chess Queen can summon any more minions. I continued to hold my grip on my shield as Ezekiel continued to hammer away at my shield, trying to get past my only form of defense.
But then, I got an idea.
I frowned at the idea. It wasn't the best one I've ever had, but it was the only one I had. I took a deep breath, Well, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. And then, in between one of Ezekiel's continuous strikes, I pulled my shield back, flipped it so it was parallel to the floor, and then threw it like a frisbee, right towards Ezekiel's face.
As soon as my shield left my magical grip, I felt a sudden pain come from my chest as Ezekiel slashed his sword across it. I winced at the pain, but luckily my cloak served as a weak armor and the blow only reduced my health bar by 1/4th. But my pain was rewarded as I watched Ezekiel's eyes widen as he saw my Kite Shield fly out of my grip and right between his eyes.
Immediately, I received a satisfying *CLUNK* as my metal shield connected with Ezekiel's head, causing the Hater's eyes to roll to the back of his head as he fell back against the ground unconscious.
With Ezekiel taken care of, I turned my attention towards Lexus and the Mage. I turned to see that the Mage was occupied with trying to hit Lexus with all of its magic power, which meant the unicorn wasn't aware that I was coming after him next.
I flared my horn and a stream of fire shot out from my horn, right towards the Mage. Unfortunately, the Mage's defense against magic was fairly high, so my spell caused very little damage. However, the force of my spell was powerful enough to push the Mage backwards, knocking him off balance.
I yelled towards Lexus, "Take him out!" Instantly, the pegasus looped back around in midair, heading straight for the off balanced Mage with his spear ready. As soon as Lexus reached the unicorn, he began to fly in circles around the disoriented mage, slashing away at the minion continuously with the tip of his spear. The Mage's health bar dropped dramatically as Lexus continued to ruthlessly take him down. And then, when the Mage's health was in the red zone, Lexus flew a small loop in the air, only to come crashing back down into the unicorn, his spear stabbing into his opponent's chest.
The Mage let out one final grunt as it's health bar emptied and it burst into blue code. Now, only the Dark Knight remained, who was still fighting against Sky. I turned to Lexus, "Hold off Chess Queen. Make sure she doesn't spawn any more minions."
Lexus nodded and flew towards Queen. Meanwhile, stepped in beside Sky with only Inferno in my grasp, lighting up the dim room with the flames coming off of it's blade.
Sky glanced towards me as I joined in next to him, just barely dodging another swing of the knight's sword, "This guy's armor is as strong as heck. I can't find any way to deal any real damage."
I frowned as I observed the knight's black armor, jumping out of the way as he swung at both me and Sky with his sword. But then, I had another idea. (And no, it did not involve me throwing my sword at him, like I did with my shield for Ezekiel.)
I glanced towards Sky, "Well, you know what? This armor reminds me off that old dutch oven we used for camp outs."
Sky paused for a moment, but then realization dawned on him as he glanced towards my flaming sword, "Okay, I'll distract him. Once you have an opening, light him up."
With that, Sky leaped forward at the knight, swords drawn and ready to strike. The knight slashed downwards at the oncoming unicorn, but Sky was easily able to sidestep the strike. But then, the knight slashed his sword sideways at Sky, and the unicorn blocked the blow with both of his swords. Taking one of his swords underneath the knight's blade, Sky then struck the knight's sword upwards, knocking the enemy off balance and giving me the opportunity to strike.
Immediately, I lunged forward towards the knight's exposed chest and stabbed Inferno through his chestplate. As I had expected, the knight's health bar didn't drop very much, but then I flared my magic, making the flames that covered my sword larger while my blade was inside the knight.
In ELO, earth ponies don't have a lot of natural defense against magic and spells, even with armor. But in this case, it was being inside the armor that was killing the knight, as the flames of my sword roasted the earth pony in his protective coverings.
Instantly, the knight's health bar dropped down to zero and he disappeared into blue code.
With the last of Queen's minions dealt with, Sky and I turned our attention towards the leader of the Haters' Guild. We both turned to see Lexus trying to land any sort of hit on Chess Queen with his spear, but the unicorn still sat behind her chess board, defending any attack coming towards her by levitating her tower shield between her and the oncoming strikes.
Lexus, agitated by the fact that he couldn't get past Queen's shield, flew straight into the barrier with all of his weight, but he was thrown back as Chess Queen used her shield as a paddle and smacked the pegasus away from her. Lexus landed with a grunt against the floor before Sky and I, and we quickly helped him get back onto his hooves.
Meanwhile, Queen placed her shield beside her again, literally laughing at me and my team, "I see all of my pawns weren't lying when they called you three the best fighters in ELO. But I'm afraid that all of your efforts are in vain, for I have already gained the upperhand, or should I say upperhoof, in this game of ours." She began to move one of her black bishops on her chess board, "I've captured one of your pawns, or should I say, two of your comrades." As she spoke, she moved her bishop into one of the white pawns on the board, placing the captured pawn to the side of the board.
Suddenly, one of the side doors opened and two unicorns stepped through and entered the room. But then, my team all gasped as they saw who they were dragging behind them.
In the magical grip of the Hater unicorns, two players were dragged into the room and then placed on either side of Chess Queen. The first was a purple pegasus mare with a pink mane and a crossbow on her shoulder. The other prisoner was a white unicorn with a black spiked mane and a bow and quiver of arrows strapped over his shoulders. I couldn't believe it. The Haters had captured Siren and Eclipse.
I glanced towards Eclipse and Siren where they laid, making eye contact with both of them. They both seemed worried, angry, and scared at the same time, panic written across their features. Their health bars were both completely full, but there was a small yellow mark to the side of their health bars: The symbol for paralysis.
I glared towards Chess Queen and the other two Haters, Dang it. They must have paralyzed both of them during the fight outside.
Queen let out another chuckle, "I have a proposition for you three. Join my army of Haters and I will spare these two. But if you refuse, or even try to take them from me by force..." Suddenly, the two unicorns holding onto Siren and Eclipse both pulled out a short black dagger and held them inches away from the necks of their hostages, "... We'll kill them."
Sky glared at Queen, "Let them go, now!"
The mare only chuckled, but then she was cut short as the door behind me and my team was suddenly blown off of its hinges. I quickly whipped my head around to see the large figure of Cordon standing in the doorway, anger and rage clearly written on his face, "No one captures my team members and gets away with it."
The gray alicorn flapped his wings and took up position in front of me and my team, "Release them, NOW!"
Chess Queen smirked, "Ah, Cordon, the new alicorn in town. Leader of Team Vortex and one of the newest recruits into the Knights of Harmony. My, this is a pleasant surprise. I know that you're anxious to save your team members, but I must warn you: Take another step or wing-flap forward, and they'll both die.
"You see, the knives that my pawns hold are very special and very rare. They are both poisoned blades and a single prick from one of them will for sure kill a player in 5 seconds, quick enough to kill any player and no hope for recovery."
We all gasped, except for Cordon. He was too determined to get his team members back, "Release them before I come over there and kick your trash."
Queen ignored him, "So, what will it be? Either join my guild, or watch your friends die right in front of you."
Cordon growled at Queen, "Why I oughta..." He was about to run forward, but he was stopped as I grabbed his tail in between my teeth and pulled him back.
I shot the alicorn a glare, "No, Cordon. Don't! You'll get both of them-" Cordon flapped his wings and took to the air, ignoring me completely. As soon as Cordon took off, heading straight for Queen with his battleaxe, I watched in horror as the two unicorns holding Eclipse and Siren captive plunged the tips of their knives into their throats.
"...Killed."
The five second kill time of the poisoned knives began, and the health bars of their victims began to quickly deteriorate.
5...
Time seemed to slow down as I reacted. I glanced towards my team mates as I ran towards Siren, "Guys, help Eclipse!"
4...
I saw the Hater standing over Siren's dying body, and a certain rage lashed out inside me. I held the handle of my flaming sword like a spear and threw it point first at the Hater.
3...
The tip of my blade stabbed through the Hater and he was thrown back against the ground from the force of the projectile. I knew the blow wouldn't kill him, but it would give me enough time to save Siren. I ran up next to Siren's dying body, pulling up my player's menu.
2...
I frantically opened up my inventory, searching through all of my items for an antidote. But then, I found it and quickly tapped the item icon with a hoof and it appeared in my grip.
1...
I quickly opened the stopper of the potion and poured the liquid down into Siren's mouth. Luckily, Siren was still somewhat conscious and she swallowed the liquid.
0...
I paused as I glanced towards Siren's health bar. It had stopped in the red zone, only a tiny sliver of health remaining. I breathed a sigh of relief as I began to fish through my inventory for a health potion, "Oh, thank goodness. I just made it in time."
I quickly pulled out a health potion and gave it to Siren, to which the pegasus thanked me for it, her paralysis status now gone.
I turned towards where Eclipse laid, to see that Lexus and Sky had managed to save him just in time as well.
But then, my attention turned towards Cordon and Chess Queen. Apparently, the sheer force of Cordon's strikes had caused Chess Queen to abandon her place behind her table, and now her chess board and its many pieces were scattered across the floor. Now the two were fighting on foot, Chess Queen defending herself with her tower shield as Cordon hammered away at it with his battleaxe.
But then, after only a few seconds, Cordon struck the shield one last time, the protective barrier's endurance ran out and it shattered into blue code, leaving Chess Queen defenseless.
Queen fell to the floor as her shield disappeared, and Cordon held his ax steady above her, ready to strike again if it was necessary. However, despite her predicament, Queen only laughed, "So, it has come to this. You risked the lives of your own team members to defeat me. I suppose now it's safe to say that you've captured me."
Cordon showed a hint of satisfaction, "You're little game of chess is over."
Queen only smirked at him, but then glanced towards me, "In every game, the round isn't over until the king is defeated. As I told you before, I am the queen, not the king. This game has only begun, and it will never end until the king is defeated."
I glared at her, "Who is the king then?"
The mare laughed, "You'll just have to find out who it is on your own." She paused for a moment, glancing around the room. But then, she let out a small chuckle, "And while you're at it, you might as well try to find my knight. It seems that he fled during all of the action."
I frowned, "Knight?" But then, realization hit me, "Ezekiel!" I glanced around the room, and sure enough, the pegasus was gone.
Suddenly, the doors of the room burst open and several members of The Knights of Harmony began to file into the room, only to see the sight before them. Jupiter soon stepped out of the crowd of players.
He walked up beside Cordon, standing just before Chess Queen. Queen smiled as she saw the head admin, "Ah, Jupiter. You don't know how nice it is that you could join us. Too bad you couldn't have seen your pawns fight against me. Typical that a king like you would cower near the back of the game board while your forces did all of the dirty work for you."
Jupiter remained emotionless, "Chess Queen, due to the crimes and acts of murder that your guild has committed, I am placing you and your guild under arrest." He turned towards the other players in the room, "Take them away."
Two players then picked up Chess Queen between them and began to walk her out of the room. But as they walked out, they passed by me and Chess Queen shot me a small smirk, "I'm guessing your bishop hasn't fully uncovered the power he holds."
I frowned at Queen in confusion, but she laughed before I could say anything, "Don't worry, it won't be long before he discovers it."
With that, the players hauled her and the other Haters away. With everyone beginning to head for the airships, every Hater captured and bound on the ships. But first, shaking off the small moment of confusion that Chess Queen had given me, I retrieved my weapons and ran back to the ships with the rest of my group.
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The flight back to Canterlot from the Everfree Forest was only about two hours, but to me, as well as everyone else, it seemed like an eternity. Sure we captured almost every Hater from the Haters' Guild, but a few Haters had managed to escape, including Ezekiel. I also ventured a guess that there were a few small teams of Haters who weren't at the Guild's Headquarters when we had attacked.
And to make matters worse, we had lost two of our guild members in the fight. They had been killed in action, but I couldn't help but think, We almost lost four, two of which were my closest friends.
My gaze wandered over to where Cordon stood on the deck of the ship, Cordon risked the lives of his own team members, and they were too close to dying before I acted. What if I hadn't been able to save Siren? What would've happened if Eclipse and Siren had died?
But then, the familiar words of Rex echoed through my mind, "Make the choices that you need to, so that the ones you fight alongside survive. Don't ever forget that."
I sighed to myself, I made a promise to do what I could to save everyone. If I'm going to still abide by that promise, then one thing's for certain: Cordon needs to leave.
But then, we arrived at Canterlot and the airships landed in the castle's courtyard, just as the sun was beginning to descend towards the horizon. Ramps lowered from the ships and everyone began to escort all of the Hater prisoners out of the ships and into the castle dungeons. Meanwhile, I began to walk down the ramp and off of the ship, Cordon not too far ahead of me with his team.
I took a deep breath. Crazy enough as it seemed, I was about to pick a fight with an alicorn. Here it goes.
I stopped and shouted forward, "Cordon!"
Cordon stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me, "Yeah, what do you want?"
I glared at him, "Back at the Haters' Guild, you almost caused the death of both of your team members because of your reckless actions. I've held back and given you several chances for you to improve, but you haven't proven to me that you can change and take everyone else into account when you fight. Now, I can't stay back and watch while you constantly put everyone into further danger. I won't let your actions kill anyone else. I want you to leave the Knights of Harmony immediately."
Cordon scoffed at me, "Are you crazy? Why would I leave? I'm not that big of a problem to you am I? Besides, my team would never let me leave." He glanced towards Eclipse and Siren, "Right?"
The two of them seemed hesitant to reply, but then, Siren spoke, "Cordon, I hate to admit it, but Shadow might have a point. You have been acting a bit reckless, and... I almost died because of it."
Eclipse nodded, "You're our friend, Cordon. But you haven't been acting like Cordon we knew before, back before everyone knew you were an alicorn. But, maybe if you listened to reason-"
Cordon snapped at the unicorn, "Oh, so you're both siding with him?" He pointed a hoof towards me, "Fine, be that way." He turned back towards me, pulling out his battleaxe in the process, "You want me to leave, right? Well, I'm not leaving without a fight."
I paused for a moment, but then I realized that there was only one way to truly make Cordon leave forever, "Cordon, I challenge you to a duel."
I could hear several gasps come from the group of onlookers that surrounded me and Cordon. Cordon glared at me, "What are your terms?"
"If I win, I want you to leave Team Vortex, leave the Knights of Harmony, and never return."
Cordon's glare turned into a vicious grin, "Fine, but if I win, I want you to leave your team and the Knights of Harmony. And in addition to that, you will give me your Element of Harmony: The Element of Courage."
I hesitated for a moment, Crap, that's a large price... But then, I nodded towards Cordon, ... But it's one I'll have to take if I want to keep everyone safe.
I opened my players menu and went to the duel page, hitting the button, "Initiate Duel."
Over where Cordon stood, I saw a duel request appear in front of him and he accepted. Once he accepted, the duel counter appeared above both of us and began to count down from a minute.
I drew my sword and shield while Cordon wielded his ax. Behind me, I heard Sky and the rest of my team shouting towards me,
"Are you crazy?"
"Shadow, don't! That's suicide!"
"Have you seen Cordon fight? One hack from his ax and you're dead!"
I glanced behind me towards them, "Sorry, guys. But this is something that I have to do." I turned back towards Cordon, holding my shield between me and him. If anything, Cordon would be the first to strike.
The timer continued to count down:
10...
9...
8...
7...
6...
I took another deep breath, "No backing down. I need to win this."
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
The counter's bell chimed, "START!"
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A/N: background music is optional.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
As I had expected, Cordon was the first to strike as he flew straight at me with blinding speed. I barely had enough time to raise my sword in shield in front of me to brace the sheer force of the attack. And even then, the momentum of Cordon's lunge drove us both back quite a few feet.
Once we had both stopped sliding, I lashed out with Inferno, taking a swipe towards Cordon's chest. But the alicorn quickly brought up the hilt of his ax and blocked my sword. Cordon jumped away from me with a flap of his wings, his horn glowing with green aura. I quickly lit my horn in anticipation of any magical attack.
But then, Cordon fired a huge gale of wind from his horn, directing it down towards me. In return, before the wind reached me, I fired a raging inferno of flames towards the oncoming gust. Our two magical forces collided with each other and began a frantic contest for power as we both tried to overcome the other's spell.
While Cordon and I were unaffected, everyone else who were watching were not. I continued to fee my magic power into my spell as I briefly glanced around to see every onlooker begin to run for cover. But they all still stayed close enough to watch the rest of the duel.
But as my magic meter reached half full, Cordon's gale of wind ceased and the alicorn came flying over my wave of fire, battleaxe raised to strike. Ending my continuous stream of fire, I jumped out of the way as Cordon came crashing to the ground where I last stood. Recovering as quickly as he had struck, Cordon turned towards me and began to throw blow after blow with his battleaxe, each one as quick as the last.
I parried, I blocked, I avoided almost every strike that Cordon threw at me. Once I found the right opportunity in between his attacks, I would squeeze in a small jab with my sword and bring his health bar down bit by bit. But I didn't dodge every hit, and Cordon's ax would nick or scratch me, but they weren't any solid blows.
I started to breathe hard as I continued to fight against Cordon's endless attacks. I was starting to tire out, Ugh, I knew he'd be tough, but at least he hasn't landed a solid hit on me yet.
Cordon swung his ax across, which I blocked with my sword and shield. The resulting force sent me back a foot, but I jumped back towards Cordon to continue the fight.
There's one difference between Cordon and me: I can't lose! If I lose, then that'll put everyone else in more danger. I have to win. The memories of Eclipse and Siren coming within an inch of their lives flashed before my eyes, I have to win this for them. I can't lose.
I swung my sword as hard as I could towards Cordon as I rebounded back into the fight,
I can't lose!
*CHINK!*
My eyes widened in horror as I heard the distinct sound of metal, the familiar noise... of a sword breaking in half. Time seemed to stop as I looked down at Inferno in my grasp, the top half of the blade having been torn off by a powerful swing of Cordon's battleaxe. My sword, my most powerful and favorite sword that I've ever had, burst into blue code and disappeared, leaving me with my shield as my only weapon to defend myself against Cordon.
Cordon, seeing that I now had no other way to strike back, began to attack me with even greater ferocity than before, causing me to hide behind my shield to defend myself.
I cringed as Cordon continued to beat my shield with the blade of his ax, Crap, Inferno was my strongest sword. I could try to equip another one of my swords, but Cordon would probably win the duel before I could even use it. And even if I did use it, none of my other swords would break against Cordon's ax. But then, my thoughts stopped short as I realized that I did have a sword that surpassed Inferno in endurance, but not strength. The sword was called Almighty: Rex's sword that I had kept since he died.
I frowned as i continued to hold my ground against Cordon, But Rex's sword is a two handed weapon. I can't equip it when I still have my shield. It'll take too long for me to put my shield back into my inventory and pull out my sword. I guess I'll have to get rid of it now.
Without a moment of hesitation, I flared my horn and my shield was suddenly engulfed in fire. Once it was covered in fire, I leaped backwards out of Cordon's reach, and just like I had done with Ezekiel, I threw my shield towards Cordon's head. Unfortunately, Cordon knocked the flaming projectile out of the air with his ax, but a distraction was all that I needed.
I quickly began to run in a circle around the courtyard, opening my player's menu as I ran. Cordon spotted me as I ran and his horn began to glow with green aura, ready to fire another blast of wind.
Meanwhile, I quickly tapped into my inventory and began to search for Almighty as I galloped as hard as I could. But then, Cordon began to fire off several gusts of wind in quick succession, all of them aimed towards me as I ran. Fortunately, Cordon couldn't aim well when he was faced with a moving target, but I felt very unsettled as the gales that he fired blew my mane and tail through the breeze of each shot.
But then, I found Almighty in my inventory. I quickly tapped on it and equipped it, making its sheath appear on my back. Just then, Cordon knew he wasn't going to hit me any time soon if he kept firing his blasts of wind, and his continuous rounds of shots ceased. I grabbed the hilt of Almighty on my back with my magic and I drew the blade out of its sheath.
The sword was heavier than my usual swords, but not by much, which meant I'd be able to use it just fine. Believe it or not, I had trained and upgraded Almighty in the past, so that it could still be used if I needed it. Turns out that now was the time that I needed it. I stopped and turned towards Cordon, my sword raised towards him.
Cordon raised his ax towards me, a cocky grin on his face, "So, I guess you aren't running? This is still your last chance to flee."
I glared at him, "Let's end this. BLAZE!"
But then, that was when something extraordinary happened. As soon as I activated my ability, flames appeared around Almighty like they usually would. But then, the flames descended down the blade, past the hilt, and then the flames completely surrounded my body. The flames didn't hurt, in fact they sort of awakened me. I felt so alive with that much power and energy surrounding me. I realized that this was new, but I didn't care. I was literally in the heat of the moment. (Ah, the puns.)
Cordon looked a little shocked as I burst into flames, but then he regained his composure. He quickly flapped his wings and took to the sky, only to loop back down to the ground in a nose dive. He then flew only a foot above the floor of the courtyard, flying fast towards me with his ax.
I began to gallop forward to meet his charge, the flames around me helping to surge me ahead with speed that I never had before. We both yelled as we charged towards each other, weapons raised as we were about to collide.
But then, in the split moment that we collided... I can't remember what happened at that moment. All I saw was a flash of light and a sudden pain near my chest.
I opened my eyes once I had come to a stop, the flames surrounding my sword and myself had both died down already. I looked down towards one of my legs to see a scar of red code cutting horizontally across it. I glanced up towards my health bar...
....
... It was still in the green zone.
I glanced back towards Cordon behind me, who had landed back on the ground on his hooves, his battleaxe had dropped to the ground beside him. His health bar was in the yellow.
I had won the duel.
The game chimed as a text appeared above me: Victory!
No one cheered. They merely stood in utter shock. But then, Cordon collapsed to his knees and his wings drooped as the massive weight of reality finally came crashing down: He had lost.
Without any form of emotion, I put away Almighty back into its sheath, picked up my shield again, and walked past where Cordon sat. As I passed him to leave, I didn't even glance back as I spoke, "Cordon, you have until sunrise to prepare yourself. But once the sun is fully over the mountains tomorrow morning, I want you gone."
With that, I walked back to my team base, alone. I was so exhausted by the day's events that I don't even remember getting into bed and falling asleep.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I blinked my eyes open as a thin trickle of sunlight began to raise over the horizon of Canterlot, travelling through my window and lighting up my room.
I groaned as I sat up off my bed, "Ugh, I didn't sleep well. I guess that duel against Cordon really took a lot out of me." But then I glanced towards my window and saw the sun beginning to rise for the day, "Oh, yeah. I told Cordon that he needed to be gone by the time the sun was fully visible. I guess that means he only has about ten or twenty minutes before he has to leave." I shrugged, "Good riddance."
I hopped off my bed, but then my hooves clattered against something on the ground. I looked down at the floor to see my shield, Almighty, and my cloak scattered on the ground. I sighed, "I guess I was too tired to even bother putting everything back in my inventory. Oh, well. I better get everything ready for the day."
I picked everything up with my magic, but then I noticed that my shield had several dents in it, due to the strain that I had put on it yesterday. I frowned, "Hm, I'll have to ask Violet if he can fix tha-"
It was then that I caught my reflection in the metal of my shield. I saw something against my side that hadn't been there before, but I couldn't fully make out what it was from just the dull reflection of my shield. I slowly turned my head towards the unknown thing against my side.
But then, as soon as I saw it, I gasped and my muscles all tensed up in shock. At the same time, the gray objects against my sides suddenly unfurled, causing me to panic even more, making me drop all of my items in the process. My weapons landed hard against the ground with a loud clatter, but I didn't care about that as I continued to stare with wide eyes at the feathered covered, gray appendages that were attached to both of my sides.
I couldn't believe it: I had woken up with wings.
I was an alicorn.
I was on the verge of panicking, What the- What the heck is happening? Why am I an alicorn now? The only alicorn that was possible in this game was Cordon, but that was only because of his... I paused for a moment with wide eyes, ... His ability.
I quickly opened up my player's menu and went to my player's stats. I looked up towards where my Blaze ability had been before, only to see that it had been replaced with another ability: Apotheosis.
I inhaled sharply, My Blaze ability is gone. Now I have the alicorn ability. But then I saw a small box of text beside the Apotheosis ability that read: The ability, Blaze, can still be used along with Apotheosis.
Oh, I guess my Blaze ability isn't gone after all. But how did I get Apotheosis in the first place?
But then, a sharp knock at my door quickly jerked me out of my thoughts. Sky's voice suddenly shouted out from behind the door, "Shadow, wake up! It's Cordon. He's... Well, you better come and see him for yourself."
My eyes widened in panic, Oh no. I can't let anyone see me like this. I quickly glanced around the room for anything that could hide my wings. But then, my eyes fell onto my cloak, laying on the floor. I quickly snatched it up and tried to put it on. But my wings were still sticking up, keeping my sides from being completely covered.
Meanwhile, Sky knocked on my door again, "Shadow! Wake up! This is important! I'm coming in."
I began to breath hard, Crap, how do you work these wings? I quickly tried to concentrate on my wings, and then I willed them to move like I would have with an arm or leg. Luckily, my wings then curled back up to my sides, allowing my cloak to cover them again. I had to admit, the feeling of my wings moving sort of unsettled me. It was like I had another pair of arms attached to my sides. But I ignored the feeling as Sky opened my door and walked in.
I turned towards Sky, trying to hide the panic that came with waking up with newly grown appendages, "What is it?"
"It's Cordon. He's at the city gates, but he's sort of different now."
I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"I think you better come and see for yourself."
I nodded, grabbed my weapons off of the floor and equipped them, and then followed Sky as he galloped out of the base and into the city streets.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The whole time the I followed Sky through the city, I remember asking myself, Why did I hide my wings from Sky? He's my best friend, and I could trust something like this to him. I shrugged, I guess that was just me panicking. I guess I'll tell him later.
But then, the Canterlot gates came into view. But as Sky and I arrived, we saw that a giant group of players had gathered around the gates, all of them looking at one thing. We soon reached the crowd and with a few pushes and 'Excuse me''s, we reached the gates to find our usual group waiting for us.
But then, my eyes rested on Cordon and my jaw dropped in shock. He still looked the same except for two key two differences: His horn was gone, and his wings were gone as well. Cordon, the proud and boastful alicorn was now back to a normal Earth Pony.
Cordon glanced towards me, a hint of humility and sorrow in his eyes, "Oh, Shadow. You made it." He sighed, "As you can see, I'm not an alicorn anymore. Well, since I don't have wings or a horn anymore, I would try to talk you into letting me stay here." He paused, "But I lost the duel. I always keep my word, so now I'll be going."
He turned towards Eclipse and Siren, his only team members. As I looked at them, I could see that they were sad to see Cordon have to go. Cordon gave them a small smile, "I'll see you guys later. You're your own team now. Eclipse, I'm making you the leader of Team Vortex. Now you only have two team members, but you'll need to recruit some other players because this game will only keep getting tougher. You both need to survive."
Eclipse and Siren nodded, "We will."
Cordon nodded, glancing back towards the sun as it was almost completely visible behind the mountains surrounding Canterlot, "Well, I guess its time for me to go." With that, the gray earth pony turned around and began to walk away from the gates and outside of the city.
But before he got too far away, he suddenly stopped and turned around, glaring at me with a newfound hatered, "Shadow, remember that this won't be the last you'll see of me. I'll come back someday and I will defeat you in a duel. I will come back for revenge." Before I could respond, Cordon turned back towards the road and galloped off.
I could only stare as I watched Cordon galloped away into the distance, Cordon lost his alicorn ability, and now I have it. That could only mean that I got the ability after I defeated him. I felt a sense of panic as I realized that I had made a massive discovery.
Apotheosis would be transferred to another player after the original bearer of the ability was defeated. But since Cordon was the first pony to receive Apotheosis, I figured that he didn't know about this fact yet. He hadn't seen that I was an alicorn now. But if he did, then he would've known that I had become an alicorn after defeating him in the duel.
My eyes widened, If anybody saw me as an alicorn now, then they would connect the dots too. Then news would spread and then everyone would know the truth about Apotheosis. I could see it now: Power craving players would hear about this and then come after me to try and take the ability for themselves. If I told anyone that I was an alicorn now, I'd put myself into a very dangerous situation.
I shook my head, I can't let anyone know that I'm alicorn now. I'll have to keep it secret from everyone, including my own team.
But then, I shook out of my thoughts as Sky tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see that everyone had left the gates. Now only my team and Team Vortex remained.
Eclipse and Siren walked up and stood before me. Eclipse spoke first, "Shadow, Cordon was our friend and we were a bit hesitant to see him go. But..."
Siren continued, "But we talked it over with Cordon last night. We told him about everything he was doing, how his actions were affecting others and he was just ignoring everything. He was already a bit shocked by losing to you in the duel, and he finally saw reason why you would want him to leave. But he said that he would leave because it was his choice, not because it was the penalty for losing the duel."
Eclipse interjected again, "He wanted to leave on a journey of self discovery, he said. He wanted to improve himself and get stronger out in Equestria, not by sitting here in Canterlot."
I frowned, "Why are you telling me this?"
Siren paused, "Well, we do feel a bit bad that you sent our friend away, but you're our friend as well. You were right that Cordon needed to go, because it would be better for everyone, including him. You were thinking about everyone else, so we just wanted to say that no matter what our opinion may be, we'll follow you to the end."
Eclipse nodded, "We're not angry at you, but we're not glad either. But we're still allies, and we'll still help you when we can."
I was a bit taken aback by their response. I mean, I had just sent away their team leader. Shouldn't they have been angry with me? I quickly regained my composure, glancing at both of them, "Um, thank you."
With that, Eclipse and Siren turned back towards the city and continued with their day. I looked back towards my team. They all seemed oblivious as to what I was feeling right now. I mean, my mind was full with everything that had happened: We had just barely captured the Haters' Guild, I dueled Cordon and won, I caused Team Vortex to lost their leader, and I became an alicorn. The only thought I had was along the lines of, Why do I have to have such a weird life?