//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Battle in the Desert: The Devourlord Shows His Power! // Story: Soul Nomad and the Equestrians // by Devourlord //------------------------------// (Content Warning: Contains blood and violence. Viewer discretion advised.) *Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 3: The Battle in the Desert: The Devourlord Shows His Power! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence." - Jim Morrison Equestria, Two miles north of what was once Appleloosa Devourlord Revya: Level increased from Lvl. 2,367 to Lvl. 2,402 Thick plumes of black smoke continued to rise from the destroyed remains of Appleloosa. Along the dusty path away from the town walked a lone figure, the town's destroyer, Devourlord Revya. The souls from the victims of his attack provided the much wanted nourishment to temporary quell his endless hunger. However, he knew it would return, as it always had since he began down his path of darkness. Revya couldn't help but think back to the days on Haephnes, the destruction he wreaked, the lives he slaughtered without a second thought, and of course all those who tried to stop him. He could still hear their annoying voices yelling at him. "Demon spawn!" "If you focus on your petty desire for bloodshed, you'll lose sight of what's really important." "Why can't you stop doing all these horrible things?" "How's it feel being the most hated person alive?" "Pretty damn good." Revya responded out loud, echoing the same response he gave to that particular voice the first time. "You and me, together forever, till the end of time!" "Well, then I'll just have to snap your neck!" "Did you hate us? Hate us enough, to want to kill us? Kill me...?" "You have to stop this senseless destruction." "Our world might disappear completely! And you along with it!" That last one really bothered him. Haephnes had said that he would disappear along with the world if he destroyed it, but he went ahead and did it anyways and was perfectly fine. Why? Why was he still here? But then again, it was all in the past. Revya broke away from his thoughts long enough to let out a sigh. Now he was in an entirely different situation. He was in a world full of nothing but colorful ponies; a real big step down from what he was used to dealing with. Speaking of ponies, he kept sensing the same good sized group of ponies tailing him for the past couple minutes. They actually thought they were hidden from him. "How long do those morons plan on following me?" he muttered peeking over his shoulder with an annoyed look. On the sand dunes a little ways from the Devourlord's position was the 114th Battalion, an elite branch of the Equestrian Royal Guard that specialized in stealth, who was used mainly for stopping very delicate situations that Celestia really didn't want the public knowing about. And due to the mob mentality most of the ponies had, she definitely didn't want her subjects to know there was an omnicidal maniac running around that was probably going to destroy them eventually. The problem was that Revya had already sensed them from a mile away. "Oh crud...." one of the guards looking through a pair of binoculars at Revya muttered. "What is it?" another guard asked. "I think he sees us..." the guard said in a loud worried whisper. "Is he even the right creature?" another guard asked looking over Celestia's note that had just arrived a few minutes earlier. The guard with the binoculars looked back at the Devourlord and focused on him. "Let's see, a bipedal creature with a sword. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it." he responded back. "How many bipedal creatures with swords do you know of?" "Well... I would have to say none." the guard with the note responded. "Exactly." "Hey!" a voice called out to them. "Huh?!" the guards said, surprised at hearing the voice. "I know you're over there, so you might as well come out." the voice called. "Oh, crud!" the guard with the note responded. "He knows we're here!" "So much for the element of surprise..." another guard muttered. "Listen..." the first guard said to the group. "We outnumber him 28 to 1. I think we can take him." "I hope so..." a guard said to his companions. The group of 28 guards came out from behind the dune and begin to advance upon the Devourlord. However, one of the guards turned to one of the newer members of the group, a rookie Pegasus guard named Bronze Mace. "Stay here in case things take a turn for the worse." he ordered. "We need somepony to return to Canterlot to send for reinforcements if the situation gets out of hoof." Bronze Mace shakily saluted his superior. "Yes, sir." He returned behind the dune and just barely peeked above to watch the action that was sure to follow. The group of now 27 guards stopped a few yards from the Devourlord. Some of them seemed rather nervous. There was an air of death and despair around this creature. Revya, himself, remained calm and straight faced, even almost bored. The guards' battalion leader, Lance Greaves, stepped forward toward the Devourlord. "Greetings creature." he called out to Revya. "Why are you guys following me?" Revya asked gruffly. Lance blinked in surprise then regained his professional look. "Straight to the point I see. Very well." he cleared his throat. "We are on the lookout for a bipedal creature with a sword, and you seem to match that description." "So I do." Revya said calmly. "And may I ask why you're looking for a creature like that?" "It's believed that a creature by that description destroyed the town of Appleloosa." Lance replied. "Oh, that stupid little town?" Revya asked casually. "Yeah, it was a pretty boring place. Probably better off like that." The guards all tensed up at hearing Revya's comment and a few began sweating. "So..." Lance began. "You're the one who destroyed Appleloosa I presume?" "So what if I did?" Revya asked back, casually folding his arms across his chest. A few guards drew their spears at hearing that next comment. Some backed away slightly. "I'll take that as a confession." Lance said as he cleared his throat again. "In that case, you are under arrest by order of the Princesses of Equestria for mass murder." Revya cocked an eyebrow at the guards. They really thought they were going to take him in? Even if they outnumbered him, he was stronger than all of them put together. And who were these "Princesses"? He silently hoped they weren't like that crybaby child Queen Diness from the kingdom he took over a while back. The Devourlord drew the Onyx Blade from its sheathe and took his fighting stance as a twisted, maniacal grin grew on his face. The sword ignited with pitch black flames. "You guys have no idea who you're picking a fight with..." he said darkly. "I'm going enjoy snuffing you all out." The rest of the guards drew their spears and a few of them seemed to be a bit unnerved by Revya's sudden change in demeanor. He had gone from calm to bloodthirsty in the matter of a few seconds. Lance Greaves was still unfazed and spoke up again. "Resisting arrest and threatening the Royal Guard?" he questioned. "Well, the Princess's note said we are allowed to use lethal force if you didn't cooperate. So be it." he finished as he drew his spear. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Victory: All enemies defeated Defeat: Hero defeated - Commence Battle - ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Royal Guards: Lvl. 120 Lance Greaves: Lvl. 150 Devourlord Revya: Lvl. 2,402 The guards began to charge towards the Devourlord with clear intent of destroying this creature who threatened their country. However, Revya seemed to vanish and reappeared behind the group, holding the blood stained Onyx Blade. In the group, an explosion of blood erupted as one of the guards toppled to the ground, minus his head. The guards, originally sickened by this brutality, quickly got focused and broke away from each other and formed a much looser group and surrounded Revya, trying to stay just out of his reach. One of the guards charged forward and thrust his spear towards Revya. The human swung the sword blocking the spear and dashed forward with his own thrust which hit its mark of the guard's chest. Blood burst forth and the guard slowly slumped to the ground, dead. Another guard threw his spear at the back of the Devourlord's head. Without even looking, Revya quickly brought the sword over his head and blocked the spear with the sword's blade. While Revya was blocking, a guard leapt forward determined to drive his spear through the human's twisted heart only to have a hand shoot out and grabbed him by the throat. Seeing this, a Pegasus guard flew into the air and dive-bombed with his spear at Revya to free his comrade. However, the Devourlord swung the guard in his grip towards the dive-bombing Pegasus guard and watched with sadistic glee as the Pegasus guard looked in horror as he impaled his own ally, killing him. Revya swung the body again, knocking the shocked Pegasus guard away as he let a maniacal chuckle loose. "...Heh heh heh heh heh..." The guards looked upon this creature with looks of shock and anger. How could he be taking pleasure in causing pain like this? The guards yelled in anger and four of them charged towards the Devourlord, hate burning in their eyes. Revya threw the dead body at one of the guards, knocking him to the ground, then focused on the other three. A guard swung his spear at Revya like a baseball bat, only for Revya to catch it and snap it like a twig before following up with a upward stab through the guards jaw, instantly killing him and showering the group with blood, bits of bone and brain. The several other guards stopped at seeing this and fell to the sandy ground, vomiting at the brutality. The Devourlord took advantage of this moment of weakness to decapitate the other two guards that had charged at him. The others regained their stomachs and one after another charged at Revya, all looking to kill this maniacal creature before he hurt anypony else. Revya blocked a spear from the left and sliced a guard's front right leg off, sending him to the ground, bleeding heavily. He ducked under another spear and smirked seeing another guard get stabbed by his own ally. Another Pegasus guard leapt at Revya and came directly down at him with his spear. The Devourlord acted quickly and delivered a punch to the guard's ribcage, shattering several ribs and sending him tumbling to the ground as he writhed in extreme pain. Revya took this one step further and stomped on the guard's ribcage and then kicked him away. The Devourlord unleashed a spinning slash with the Onyx Blade, decapitating five guards at the same time, as he smiled cruelly at the carnage. The guards tried to pay no attention to any other deaths and continued to desperately attack Revya, hoping something would eventually work against the Devourlord. Unfortunately for the guards, Revya was starting to get bored with this too easy of a challenge. He suddenly vanished from sight, leaving a group of bewildered guards in his place. Suddenly, one of the guards fell to the ground, a massive gash spewing blood appearing on his side. One by one, the guards began to fall and die. One fell missing his front legs and bleeding out. Another lost his head from Revya's sword. Before long the sandy ground was covered in a fresh layer of blood and corpses of the dead and slowly dying. Revya looked on with sadistic satisfaction at his handiwork before slowly turning to a now very, very unnerved Lance Greaves who looked like he was about to wet himself. He shakily held his spear out in front of him as Revya began to slowly advance towards him, his malevolent and insane smirk still adorning his face. As he walked forward, small blue orbs began to rise from the bodies of the slain guards and surged into the Onyx Blade. Revya immediately felt a new increase in power from the souls as he consumed them. Devourlord Revya: Level increase from Lvl. 2,402 to Lvl. 2,435 Lance shook his head and did his best to try and banish the fear from himself and made a brave, if not very desperate, charge at the Devourlord. Revya took a moment to survey this as the guard charged at him. This guard knew full well he couldn't defeat this him on his own, but still was trying anyways. Revya couldn't tell if this guard was incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. He decided it was the second one. One swing of his sword later and the guard leader was disarmed of his spear and thrown to the ground. Revya stabbed the Onyx Blade through the guard's shoulder to pin him down and stood over him. "Now then..." Revya began. "...you're gonna tell me a few things about this world." "Go to Tartarus, creature!" Lance spat back. Revya didn't know what or where Tartarus was, but assumed this guard probably just told him to piss off. He twisted the sword in the guard's shoulder causing him to cry out in pain. "I can do this all day." Revya said, casually leaning on the Onyx Blade and increasing the pain in the guard leader's shoulder. Lance clenched his teeth trying to ignore the pain, but it felt like somepony had just driven a hot iron stake pulled fresh from a furnace right into his shoulder. From behind the nearby dune, Bronze Mace continued to look on in absolute horror as his commander was being brutally interrogated right in front of him. Just looking at this creature was made his blood run cold. Bronze wanted to run, fly, be anywhere but here, but his fear froze him in place. He continued to watch the scene unfold. Revya brought his boot up and stomped down on one of Lance's hooves, the sound of bone shattering echoed through the area. Lance screamed in pain, but continued to give the Devourlord a determined glare. "You can make this stop if just tell me what I want to know." Revya said smiling cruelly at the trapped guard. He kicked the guard in the ribs and heard Lance's ribs cracked. Finally Lance couldn't take it anymore. The pain became too much for him to handle. "Okay! You win!" he yelled "What do you want to know...?" Revya smiled at finally getting somewhere with this guard. "I want to know who's in charge around here." Lance hissed in pain and came up with the information. "Our rulers are Princesses Celestia and Luna." "Anything special about them?" "The Princesses are Alicorns, a mixture of a Pegasus and a unicorn. Princess Celestia is responsible for raising and lowering the sun every day and Princess Luna raises and lowers the moon every night. They use their magic to move the sun and moon." Revya gave the guard a suspicious look. Animals capable of moving celestial bodies? Using magic? Then again, it wasn't the most far fetched thing he had ever heard. "Really?" Revya asked unbelievingly. "Raising and lowering the sun and moon with magic?" "Yes...that's all I know..." Lance lied. "They never told me anything else." Revya sighed and pulled the Onyx Blade from Lance's shoulder. "I guess that's it then." Lance sighed in relief at the idea of finally being able to get away from this creature and being free of the intense pain in his shoulder. Revya then stabbed Lance in the chest, and chuckled darkly at the shocked guard. "W-Wha...You...why..." Lance stuttered weakly. "As much as I would love to see you roast to death in the desert," Revya said. "I figure I might as well take your soul as well." Lance knew he was running out of time, and fast. Suddenly, he remembered his ace in the hole. He gathered up his remaining energy and yelled out. "BRONZE MACE! GO! GET OUT OF HERE! WARN THE PRINCESSES!" Revya was confused at why the guard was yelling out but suddenly sensed another soul nearby. A Pegasus guard few out from behind a nearby sand dune and was getting away. Damn it. Revya thought, mentally kicking himself. I was so focused on these guards I didn't noticed that other guard. Pulling the Onyx Blade out of Lance again, the Devourlord pointed his weapon at the escaping Pegasus and fired several small bolts of dark energy after him. Bronze was flying away as fast as his wings could carry him. It pained him deeply to leave a fellow guard behind to die, but he had to get to Canterlot to warn the Princesses of the terrible threat to Equestria. Out of nowhere, several of Revya's bolts of energy struck him. His flight faltered for only a few seconds, but he pushed through the pain and continued on, escaping from certain death. Revya frowned as the guard escaped from him. He turned hearing Lance chuckle weakly at the Devourlord's situation. "Now...they'll know all... about you...and they'll stop you..." he coughed out weakly. Revya's frown quickly deepened as he pointed the Onyx Blade at Lance. "Don't taunt me you stupid horse!" he snarled, unleashing a blast of dark energy that instantly incinerated Lance. A soul emerged from Lance's burnt corpse and surged into the Onyx Blade, but Revya was too annoyed to acknowledge his slight increase in power. Devourlord Revya: Level increase from Lvl. 2,445 to Lvl. 2,461 The thought of being outwitted by a mere pony didn't sit well with the Devourlord, but then again it wasn't the first time he had been fooled. Seeing that now all the guards were dead, Revya glanced back in the direction that he seen the Pegasus guard headed in. "I suppose that's as good of direction to head in as any..." Revya muttered. He sheathed the Onyx Blade and began to head out away from the bloodstained battlefield. Canterlot Castle, Castle Balcony, 20 minutes later Having said their good-byes to Doctor Gauze and leaving him to care for Dusty Spur, the Mane Six, Spike, and Princesses sat on the balcony to plan their next move. Applejack was still in a rotten mood from seeing nothing significant from the memory spell, other than Appleloosa being utterly demolished. On the other hand, her other friends were still shaken from seeing the level of death and destruction from the memory. "To cause that much destruction..." Twilight muttered. "Princess, what was that thing...?" She asked, looking to her mentor for an answer. Celestia sighed in reply. "If I knew, I would have surely told you Twilight. But that, for lack of a better term, 'creature' isn't something I have ever seen in Equestria." "Perhaps the castle's library has information on this creature." Luna suggested. "Maybe the Princess is on to something dear." Rarity spoke up. "Yeah." Rainbow exclaimed. "Maybe it's some new animal that you can take credit for discovering." Twilight gave Rainbow a flat stare. "Oh yes, that's exactly something I would like to add to my list of accomplishments in life, Rainbow." she said with heavy sarcasm. "Twilight Sparkle discovered a new creature that causes mass destruction in its wake." Rainbow shrugged in response. "Hey, I was just suggesting." Pinkie began to twitch again. Not as bad as last time, but it was up there. "Pinkie senses tingling!" she exclaimed. "Oh, great." Rainbow moaned. "Where's it gonna land this time?" "Right here!" Pinkie shouted. "What?" Celestia questioned. "Here? In Canterlot?" "It's up there!" Pinkie yelled pointing to the sky. The rest of the group looked up to see that, indeed there was something approaching Canterlot. It appeared to be white and gold, and it was coming in fast. "Is that...a Pegasus guard?" Twilight asked, squinting at the object. The guard flapped his wings furiously to try and slow his descent, but only managed to slow down slightly. "Oh hay," Applejack muttered. "He's comin' right here!" "Everypony, move!" Celestia ordered. The group dove out of the way as the guard crashed into the balcony and tumbled into the room before coming to a stop. The ponies immediately entered to see that the guard was in bad shape. He had several burns across his body, and his armor was singed in a few places. He looked utterly exhausted, like he just flew a marathon. The guard recovered and shakily stood up to see the Princesses before him. "Who are you?" Celestia questioned. "B-Bronze Mace of the 114th Battalion, Your Highness." he said with a small salute. Celestia went wide-eyed for a moment. "The 114th Battalion? W-Where is the rest of your group?" Bronze Mace looked away for a moment as a troubled frown crossed his face before looking back at Celestia. "We found the creature that you asked us to find..." he replied. "Or should I say...he found us." "It's male?" Twilight asked. "Yes." Bronze replied briefly. "What else did you find out about it?" Celestia asked. "He has red hair, red and brown clothes, white baggy pants and a pair of boots, along with a large black sword he carries around." Bronze responded. "And what happened to the others?" Luna asked. "My commander told me to stay back in case things got bad." Bronze replied, his voice starting to crack. "I hid behind a sand dune while the rest of the group confronted the creature. Things escalated quickly into combat." "And then what...?" Celestia asked softly. Bronze shut his eyes tightly as tears began to stream down. "I-It wasn't even a battle..." he sobbed. "It was...was just a...a one sided slaughter!" Celestia took a step back in shock. "What...What do you mean?" "They didn't stand a chance!" Bronze cried out. "That thing just cut them all down!" The Mane Six gasped in shock at hearing this. "He just...killed them all...?" Twilight asked with a disturbed look on her face. "No way..." Rainbow muttered. "That's horrible..." Fluttershy whimpered. Bronze could only nod as a sob escaped from his lips. Celestia stood quietly, taking in this new information. For starters, she knew that every guard underwent a harsh training regiment to make sure they were ready for just about anything that came their way. She also knew that whatever this thing was, for it to have the combat prowess to apparently slaughter an entire battalion of guards was enough evidence that this wasn't some run-of-the-mill creature. This creature was truly dangerous. "I-I know you girls have taken down threats to Equestria before..." Bronze spoke up. "But...that thing...it's...it's completely insane..." Twilight gulped at hearing that comment. "I-Insane...?" she asked. "You...you can't stop that thing..." Bronze said to the Element Bearers. "He'll rip you apart..." "Do you know where he is headed?" Celestia asked gently, kneeling down next to Bronze. "N-no..." Bronze muttered. "Well, thank you for the information you were able to provide us." Celestia said gratefully. "Do you require assistance getting to the medical ward?" Bronze wiped his eyes and shook his head. "I'll be fine Princess, thank you for offering though." he replied with a sad smile. Bronze turned and trudged out of room as Celestia turned to the others. Twilight took a step towards her teacher. "We have to stop that thing, Princess." she said solemnly. "Yes, we do Twilight." Celestia answered. "But not right now." "What?" Twilight asked, "Princess, you know we can handle ourselves in a fight." "That's true, but I also don't feel comfortable sending you six out after this creature yet." Celestia answered. "But-" Twilight began. "No buts, Twilight." Celestia replied firmly. "I know it's hard to sit by and wait, but it isn't the best idea to rush after something that we don't know much about." "I understand Princess..." Twilight answered glumly. "Thank you, Twilight." Celestia smiled. "You seven should retire to your rooms, Luna and I have a few things to discuss." The six mares and one dragon headed to the door and exited the room as Luna walked up to her sister's side. "I see dark times ahead sister..." Luna muttered solemnly. "I know Luna..." Celestia replied. "I know..."