The battle started before either of them even moved. From the Astral Plane, their auras clashed together. If a person could actually see what was happening, they would be able to see two magnificent creatures across from each other in a fierce contest for superiority. Where the Didact stood, could be seen a great wingless dragon of blue energy; electricity danced across its spine and around great teeth. Poised opposite from it, with a maw dripping of slime and venom, was a giant insect of green energy, akin to a great centipede with sharp wriggling claws and legs. One roared with relaxed authority and burning passion, while the other only clicked and swayed eccentrically with large chitinous movements; the Great Serpent of Time versus the Great Parasite of Love.
Chrysalis made the first move, bursting upward towards to the Didact. She moved fast: so fast that the Didact almost didn’t catch her in time. His arm raised and he wrapped his hand around the top of her foot; their contact made their auras explode with energy, causing much of the objects around them to shatter and fly off away from them. In an instant, he brought his arm back down, Chrysalis’ foot still in hand, and crashed her down to the floor, another explosion of astral energy bursting from them.
Chrysalis kicked out with her other foot and separated herself from the Didact, getting upright as swiftly as possible. From there, she swept out her leg and caught the Didact. Like she planned, he was pulled to the ground and she turned to pummel him. Chrysalis only managed to land a few punches before the Didact countered and began to block the rest with matching speed. When he saw her hesitate, the slight millisecond that counted, he shot his palm up into her stomach and popped a burst of energy into her body, getting her off of him. Both managed to return to their feet before either could do anything with their compromised position.
It is important to state that in the span of the few minutes of the last paragraphs, neither party had used any substantial amount of magic. Both Chrysalis and the Didact were completely charged with magic, and both were on even footing.
Like everything before, it was Chrysalis who changed that first. Using her changeling magic, she was split into three different versions of her; each as real as the original. “I outnumber you three to one Didact...”
“Then it is an even fight.” The Didact wasted no time moving to more advanced magic: a specific technique known as the Mobius Form. Starting with his legs apart and his hands to a shoulder height, the Didact swung his arm down in one, brief motion. The result was an explosion of temporal energy that slashed through the air in front of him towards the Chrysalis’. A duck; a flourished kick outwards; an explosion of venomous magic to counter. The Didact leaped up and cleared her blast. With a combat roll, he made his way closer and found himself in front of the first clone.
The Chrysalis seemed to move as fast and as aggressively as the original: her punches and kicks assaulting the Didact with a good amount of force. Nevertheless, he blocked every single one, without a single bead of sweat forming on his brow or a single bit of fatigue. Then came his turn to counter...
One: 360 defensive block... Like when he killed the cleric in the dining room, time itself bent as his thought, everything slowing down as he took it all in. The Chrysalis punched, her fist glowing with green-colored magic. Without second thought, he raised his arm and caught her forearm with his wrist.
Two: wrap and contain... His hand snaked around her forearm and moved with a methodical and breathtaking speed. Before the Chrysalis clone could even react, he had her arm being crushed against his muscles and his side, unable to break free.
Three: strike... Final results: dislocated shoulder, split skull, death in under a minute and a perfectly executed three-point... Like clockwork, the Didact’s body moved in sync with his thoughts. He lifted his elbow up into a 45 degree angle and lashed out. The metal bone structure landed across her head and, combined with the force of his movements, caused the elbow to depress into the grey matter and for his other side to jerk backwards, leaving her arm ripped from its socket. With nothing else needing to be done, he let the clone drop like a ragdoll to the floor as green blood slowly pooled around her head.
The second Chrysalis charged her magic into her fists, the insane smile on her face was erased and a look of psychotic rage was seared into her eyes. She sprinted forward, crossing the distance with little trouble, and raised her fist to his head. The Didact leaned back, still focused with austere concentration, and Chrysalis’ blow only struck the air in front of his face. As it glided harmlessly in his sight, he lifted a hand and pushed her arm further across her chest, making a second strike from her improbable. With her body tangled, he could now focus on the-
His head was thrashed to the side with violent force. The Didact was kicked to the ground, the third, main Chrysalis having appeared behind him and struck. He felt thick for not having remembered that he was fighting two people, and that both were insane: meaning psychic incalculability, eccentric unpredictability and a great determination than any sane person could never achieve.
He didn’t have time for this; he needed to get to the Abinadi Ckes as quickly as possible, before the Inferi could do anything to Twyla or even Dr. Aurel.
No, he needed to focus. This was survival, and a Graduate 3 rank in Krav Maga was only helpful when he focused. Nothing would break his concentration; nothing could break his concentration. If he broke his concentration, he would surely lose: and losing, meant certain death.
The Didact cleared his mind and let his body move like clockwork, never once taking a move back or having to redo a motion. A punch; a jab; a kick thrown at his head; each one was nothing more than an equation to be computed into his mathematical head. Both of the queens were attacking him from the front, and their moves became more and more predictable with each step or swing. With patience, he waited for the right moment; calming striding backwards with their momentum and aggression; careful to keep his arms up and hands blocking his head.
His patience was worth it; after a couple more seconds, the time presented itself and he swung his arm to the side and landed a blow on the right Chrysalis’ neck: which recoiled her into the way of the other. Both stumbled over each other, the main queen finally giving up on her number’s game. The clone became a green fluid and was absorbed into the queen like a ravenous meal to her body. She took a step forward and her head dropped down, as if she was stumbling.
“You...” The voice was merely a whisper. “You... insolent... pompous... nobody!” The rage inside of the changeling queen was sweltering. Her aura glowed, physically glowed, with fiery emerald. Her sharp fangs were bared and clenched to the point of her mouth bleeding, the lime liquid let flow from her lips like little streams. She snarled like a wild beast, and, even with all of his experience, the Didact felt a twinge uneasy.
“DIE!” She surged forward and landed a blow in the Didact’s stomach before he could react. The force shot through his spine, and he reflexively collapsed so the alloy wouldn’t break. The action, however, left him open to the full mercy of her anger, and her speed made further blocking impossible. He was utterly defenseless, and was suffering terribly.
Chrysalis brought her knee up, and the bone struck him directly across the head. She stopped and only stood over him as the Didact dropped to the ground, limp and pathetic, coughing up what seemed like gallons of the black liquid. The changeling queen was completely disregarding her limits, and had resolved to attack him with her full power. She didn’t care whether the ship was torn apart in the process or not, as long as it meant she defeated her enemy.
Looking down at the form on the Didact hovering above a pool of petroleum, she couldn’t help but let out a slow chuckle. The Inferi had filled her head of stories about him since their agreement began. They told her about some titan- a monster that was the stuff of the worst nightmares- the Man who had caused the deaths of millions upon millions, innocent or otherwise (it mattered not to her). They spoke of the greatest Chronomancer since the Master himself and of a soldier who had the blood of a dragon. As she looked down at him, all she saw was a pitiful excuse of a creature; a man grovelling for his strength at her feet.
“Killing you would be a kindness,” she said, interrupted only by his coughing. “You’re not worthy of all the fear-filled stories that the cowardly Inferi tell me. If they are afraid of some pitiful excuse like you, then perhaps I should simply let my changelings kill all of them here and steal the Marker for myself. Then the world would die by my hands, instead of some weak species from another land.”
She kicked at his stomach, causing the Didact to roll over onto his back. The queen bent down and picked him up by the neck. With her magic, it was no strain to her to lift his large form. She lifted him higher than her head and smiled a gentle, psychotic grin.
“Goodbye Lord Didact... enjoy the afterlife...”
He coughed once more, and realized that there was no other option.
***************
Crack! Whiz, whiz! Crack, crack, CRACK!
The remaining guard fell with a bullet shot directly into his throat by Jovian. The group- the five Elements of Harmony, the five Galaxias and Crescent Star- now stood in front of the door to the ship’s bridge. When the Didact kissed her, Celestia’s mind was flooded with information, including how to get to the bridge from where they were. She knew what to do when they entered; commandeer the room, pilot the ship, and wait for any further orders from the Didact himself on the Abinadi Ckes.
“Are you ready Rarity?” The arabian nodded firmly and Celestia stood at the door controls and typed in the appropriate code to open them.
“Now!” The door opened and Rarity burst forward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Four of the bridge officers were tranquilized before anyone inside the room knew what was happening. While the remaining eight thought to look towards the door, two more were incapacitated. Another was stuck when they finally thought to get to cover. Only five remained as the rest of the group poured inside.
“What is the meaning of this! Where are all of the guards?” shouted one of the officers from behind his cover, to no one in particular.
“They won’t be joining us,” Celestia only replied, “We’re taking this ship.”
The shipmaster descended from his observation deck with a pair of pistols ringing in his hands. They all dove for cover quick as the rain of bullets came upon them and, luckily, none of them were hit. Pinkie fired her snare gun and the electrified ropes were launched, wrapping around the shipmaster and causing him to spasm off the ramp and onto the deck below.
“Rarity, if you could?”
She nodded and moved towards another position as she reloaded her tranquilizer rifle. It was a blessing that Rarity had as good of an eye as she did. She never missed her mark, not once, and that meant that the bridge crew could be spared from a death by their hands.
Not that it mattered, Celestia thought, it seems like leaving them alive to face the wrath of their Prophet of Truth is a punishment worse than death.
The muffled sound of a tranquilizer fired was met each time with the dull thud of an Inferi officer collapsing to the ground unconscious a few moments later. After five shots and five thuds, Celestia motioned for the rest of them to stand.
“Fluttershy, can you take the communication’s chair over there on the side? Yes, that one. Excellent. Rainbow and Applejack, take the pilot’s chairs in front. Vulcan, you’re gonna be here and monitor engineering. Jovian and Rarity, you two will station at weapons. Luna, take the ops. position.” Celestia strided up to the observation deck and gestured for her father to follow her. As she reached the top, Celestia snapped her fingers as she remembered the important part.
“Kemput...” The machine dinged in acknowledgement as she spoke, “plas al zuruck kamenda funktier die parai Inglisch.”
The ship computer hesitated for a second, but eventually chimed in response. “All command functions set to English. Awaiting orders ma’am.”
Celestia smiled with satisfaction. “Excellent, thank you; please standby.”
“Princess Celestia... you might want to take a look at this...” The princess gazed down to see Crescent Star, leaning over the shipmaster’s unconscious form. His hands were aglow with his maroon aura, hovering above the man’s head.
“Dr. Star, what on Astra are you doing?”
“Sire, princess, the shipmaster’s brain is being affected to an advanced dark magic. Someone purposefully placed an enchantment on his thoughts...”
The king raised an eyebrow to this, before turning to Luna below. Understanding what he wanted her to do, she moved to the closest bridge officer to her and performed the same magical scan on the body that Crescent Star did.
“Tis the same with this one as well, father.”
A wild thought crossed Celestia’s mind. “Could that spell be the cause of their blatant aggression?”
Crescent Star thought it over. “The magic is affecting the parts of their brain that deals with logic and emotions... so it’s highly likely. I can try and work to de-spell it if you’d like, princess...”
“Try it only on one of the officers, just in case it doesn’t do anything to help.”
Crescent nodded and gestured for Luna to help him remove the spell on the shipmaster. It would take time; anywhere between ten minutes if they were lucky or an hour if they were excruciatingly careful.
Celestia was assured that she left in in the right hands, so she continued with what she was going to do.
“Jovian, what are the weapon capabilities and the classifications of this ship?”
There were a couple buttons pressed on the console in front of the prince. After several failed attempts, he finally managed to pull up the ship’s information.
“ISC Ioseph Kaleir; Inferi Prophecy-class corvette. 6’000 tonnage with a crew of 390. We have two missile launchers at both ends with 200 missiles in stock, six standard cannons and a special armament that runs the length of the top labeled as a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon.”
“Any information on that?”
“Nothing in detail, but by the looks of it, it isn’t something to take lightly. We also have several gyrokopter drones in the hangar that can apparently be used as scouts and as cannon fodder should it be necessary...”
“Please see what buttons you can press to launch one or two of those to scout where they said the Marker is.” Jovian nodded and then went to doing just that... pressing which buttons eventually lead to their deployment.
“Give me a moment...” he pressed something and the gyrokopter indicators lit green, signaling their departure. “I have it. They’re on their way now Tia...”
There was a large bang and the entire ship rumbled as if there was a massive earthquake. Metal creaked with strain and the thick glass window began to crack with spiderwebs. Everyone on the bridge was thrown to the ground, but ultimately the ship remained intact and everyone unharmed.
Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the floor. “What in the name of Tartarus was that?”
“Jovian, did something happen to the drones?”
“Nothing I can see from here sis; the console says that they are completely operational and just left the hanger.”
Celestia grimaced with frustration. It wasn’t good to not know what was happening around her. There were still hundreds of Inferi soldiers on board and she doubted that they would approve of their prisoners having commandeering their ship. Anything could have happened, and she wouldn’t be able to know whether it was for better or for worse until it was too late.
Deep down, she hoped that the Didact was alright...
***************
“Goodbye Lord Didact... enjoy the afterlife.”
The Didact coughed out the little of blood left in his mouth, the taste of petroleum making him want to vomit. Chrysalis was purposefully making this difficult. Surely she understood what’ll happen to her if he went all out on her, right? Either way, ignorance was no excuse. He was getting pissed that he was being left with no choice; now there was nothing more left to do.
The hanger suddenly was filled with a low humming, which was soon replaced with the dull roar of motor engines coming to life. Two drones began to hover above the floor, their helicopter blades deafening the room and creating a fierce gale, and rotated around to leave the hanger. Chrysalis was instinctive to turn her head to see what was going on. This was the Didact’s chance; that split-second opportunity that made it that much easier. With a powerful breath, he sucked in as much air as he could, charging the magic inside of him.
“Roar of the Temporal Dragon...” He breathed out with massive force, and a powerful magic came from his throat and mouth. Chrysalis recoiled in anger and pain, the magic breaking through her protective aura and scalding her skin. The powerful blue flames pushed her back and crashed her into one of the deactivated drones. The roar simply dragged it along in its force, and the drone eventually smashed into another close by. They both exploded violently and shook the entire hanger; the roar itself seemed to shake the air, a massive quake echoing through the walls.
The Didact clawed his way to his feet. With the queen off of him, he could finally focus on healing himself. The dark energy around him was absorbed with such ravenous force that his aura glowed brighter than ever before; the blue-white light as blinding as the sun in the sky. His cuts closed; his bones returned to their places; his blood was once again flowing through his veins, through his mechanical heart. Chrysalis wanted an all out fight, she finally had one. Come what may, he will not hold back against her again.
The explosion that caught her didn’t do any damage compared to what his magic achieved. Chrysalis emerged from the flames relatively unscathed. The anger in her eyes were beyond anything that a normal person could feel. It was a psychotic bloodlust; the queen didn’t just want him dead now, she wanted him mutilated; torn piece by bloody piece.
She charged at him, screeching with rage and with fists ignited with green fire. The Didact didn’t even flinch and when she pulled back, ready to punch, he lifted his hand and caught her fist in his palm. The colliding force exploded to the side and Chrysalis’ eyes grew wide with disgust.
“Claw of Time.” Without strain, the Didact lifted his foot above his head and then brought it down upon her head. She was flung downward and to the side, blue flames flickering on her head and cheek, searing into her flesh. The pain only made her even more furious, and she charged him once more, without thinking.
“You say I am the pitiful one.” As she assaulted him with a flurry of blows, the Didact calmly blocked or dodged each and every one. “You tell me that I am scum and dirt, but look at you now...”
His words only deepened her primal rage. “Shut, UP!!!”
“You’re the one who is pitiful here. I feel sorry for you; for what you have done in what you thought was right; how you lost everything in the process; I feel sorry for you...”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!!!” Green fire and venom spewed from the queen’s mouth.
“You’re right; why should I waste such words on someone as lost as you?” His game was over. With one swift movement, he planted his palm into her stomach. Chrysalis gasped in pain at the blow, and slowly, quietly, found herself collapsing down onto his palm.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her ear, “Time Dragon’s Pulse.”
There was only a dull thud as a flash of light burst through his palm. The effect of the magic was evident; as soon as he had finished, Chrysalis dropped down to the ground in silence; the battle was over.