//------------------------------// // First of Five Colors // Story: Land of Friendship and Magic // by Archmage Ansrit //------------------------------// (Typhon, Canterlot Park) Without a (reliable) supplier of dark magic, the Essence of Void ran out - well, the one fueling the Obscurity Array, since - aww man! If I died and came back as my other self, then that meant that it was my other stomach the one that had the drinkable Essence! Yeah, that would explain why I was seeing that annoying black box again. You have been invaded by Ruuj, the Red King of Cinquleur. That was no joke. Unlike the first invader I ever faced, back when I met Wind Whistler, Ruuj was a huge threat; it seemed that I was going to have to jump right in to the big boys' playground for my return tour. The semi-transparent phantom before me was an elegant female of svelte figure and supple limbs. Her chocolate-brown fur and long, rabbit ears identified her as a Viera, the People of the Woods. Her silver hair was so long it reached past her knees, but it appeared that it was held in that style by magic. She wore a wide-brimmed conical hat of an intense red, as well as an equally-red half-sleeve tunic with padded armor integrated, the dark sleeves of another tunic covering the rest of her arms right up to her clawed hands, which sported many rings inlaid with jewels; everything served to identify her as a Red Mage - I preferred to say Wizard, though. Her white shoes would look almost normal, if not for the leggings that reached halfway between her knees and her hip. Her hand held a rapier with an intensely red blade and a purple hilt and guard; the blade appeared to have fire dancing along it in an enchanting sway. A Scarlet Rapier... a weapon that held fire magic inside of it, and taught its holder to wield it. I swallowed, but nonetheless had my Google-Plex-i-Glasses take ghost images of everything. Mixing my tablet with my glasses and miscellaneous items was my priority once I got a base to deploy the devices. Shoot; I was still way too close to the castle, and getting rid of her quickly would not be possible without causing much more damage than she ever would. Cinquleur fought for the thrill of battle, not for wanton destruction; anything I had that could one-shot her (or come close) would either level at the least one block, or was better left for when things really went south. And that was not even close to being the worst part. Where there was one, the others will follow. I had to save my aces for when the Five Kings came in force, which was to say, at the same time; I had an inkling as to their abilities, while they had no idea of what I could do... they would not convene until the confrontation with all five of them, to be more 'sporting', and keeping my arsenal a secret sounded like a really good idea. I played a quick Song of Storms on my ocarina necklace for some rain clouds, likely alerting all of the Guard as to my location (if the civilians hadn't already), but I needed the edge and the reduction of the likeliness of collateral damage - Ruuj had fire magic, after all. The rain bent around a sphere covering me, keeping me dry, while Ruuj simply stared at me with her glowing blue eyes, weapon at the ready, wisps of steam rising from the blade. I kinda underestimated the amount of guards looking for me, because the small park was quickly surrounded, and even Luna showed up. She had the scroll case tucked under one of her wings. "Stand back! This is between the two of us!" I raised my hand, and Luna barked an order, even extending a wing to prevent Shining Armor from getting closer. Ruuj gave me a smirk... I didn't like it; I could just tell she was going to do something that would give me hell. "Do not be that way." She said, and drew a card with her other hand. Oh God, a Law Card... see, the reason the Four made me pretty much immune to Equestrian magic was because they made me incompatible with most effects of magic from this world at their discretion, on top of the Principle of Consent; if I took them off, I would... change. Magic coming from other sources, like the one in front of me? I was going to be much more resistant than most, thanks to the sheer power of the Four, but getting hit was going to hurt. Law Cards, however, were incredibly potent forms of magic, and I had no way to tell what effect, if any, they would have before their activation unless I held them myself. "If they want to fight, all the better!" She bellowed as thunder rumbled above us, a feral grin on her face that was rather out of place on a Viera. "We of Cinquleur seek battle with the strongest of warriors! Let them test themselves against me!" She tossed the card into the air, which exploded into small particles of light. The system message that popped up told me that the Law would prevent interference from anyone that wasn't invited, so I simply closed the party and cancelled guests - the only way for anyone to hit either Ruuj or me before the fight was over would be for them to ask for a party invite, which at that point I doubted anypony would do. Luna had picked up on my wariness, and I doubt Shining would partner with Typhon the Sly willingly anyways, so that left the two of us. Dang, I missed my old party. Starswirl didn't even use a weapon, merely content with wearing his bells and working with me to flatten everything. Clover the Clever's Four-Leaf Clover was a specially vicious four-in-one weapon, and the Sixteen Winged Piercers (also Clover's) were not far behind. For a pacifist, an enemy that won't suffer from damage at all was the perfect excuse to be as quick and efficient as possible. Clover only ever fought against phantoms, and filling the air with fast-flying, sharpened death would help me against Cinquleur... maybe I should find somepony to succeed them. I had plenty of accumulated weapon cards myself, but for purposes of actual fighting with credible threats, I used swords, shields, fists/gauntlets, or scissors. Yeah, it would sound laughable, if the scissors weren't the size of actual swords; I could separate them by dropping the pivot screw into my inventory, giving me two swords/rapiers. And, being such a high level player with influential friends, all of my things had special properties. I drew the Siblings' Cooperation - Serendipitous Duo, which was among my most powerful scissors, and weapons overall. Alchemized with images of each sister's crown (and enormous amounts of Grist! It was so costly it took almost two years of fighting phantoms to collect the requisite materials), it bore their dual theme; one of the sides was rosy white with a spiral pattern on the blade, with the handle being a white wing 'sprouting' from a ruby-set gold half-crown in the place the guard would be on a sword for the first half, with the rest of the curved portion of the handle being golden with little spikes extending radially outwards, like a sun; the other side was dark blue, again with a spiral pattern on the blade, and a black wing coming from a sapphire-set silver half-crown opposite to the white one, the rest of the guard being a light gray silver with circles at random like craters on the moon. The screw holding them together had the same image as the Equestrian flag; the two princesses and their corresponding celestial bodies; it rested inside a golden horseshoe on the sun side and a silver horseshoe on the moon side. The blades only had one full edge a meter long each; after the sharp tip, the other side only had slightly over half a foot of edge. I dropped the screw (part of the Destiny's Embrace - One Plus One Equals One set) into a card, turning the Cooperation into the Siblings' Rivalry - Twilight of Battle, separating the blades into the Spatha Alata Candida - Break of Dawn and the Spatha Alata Nigra - Fall of Night and taking a position mirroring hers with both of them ready to parry. Ruuj's eyes glowed more intensely as her grin widened, stance shifting ever so slightly - not so slight as to pass undetected by me, though. The raindrops falling onto the sun blade sparkled with rainbows, while the ones falling on the lunar blade appeared to turn inky black. Or would, if I let the rain touch them - I already knew because I was bored one day, and wanted to see what happened. You know what? I should let the parts of the blades that poked out of the central sphere get wet; they looked nice like that. I carefully began to circle Ruuj. I kept my main sphere half again as long as my arms' reach, hopefully making it 'dense' enough to compensate for her speed. I had yet to get a handle of my increased combat abilities, so I had to thread carefully and hit hard and fast. I had to be careful with my spells to get the maximum effect for minimal effort, or risk messing up badly. I should not be able to cast spells while wearing the Four, unless I used the energy of the Four themselves (they didn't like to do that, though), or found an external source. With the air so charged with my presence, however, I could draw the magic from it into my spell papers and other objects, or into the Four so as to get them to lend me an equivalent amount. Wait a second. Equestria was very magically rich, and, while its magic was more docile than Ivalice's Mist, it was nonetheless much more abundant. Ruuj was a Viera - a Viera on a magically-saturated environment! Her eyes were shining way too brightly for a phantom's! Then, she took a step forward. Then the distance between us was reduced in half. "Oh SH-!" ***** (Luna) It was hard to not notice Typhon's apprehension when he spoke. Whenever or not she had the wrong idea of his true character, she could not deny that Typhon was experienced in combat; that she herself had given the order to avoid getting involved with strange weather until its source had been confirmed, and, should that source be Typhon, avoided at all costs, was but one of the signs of her respect towards his abilities. The... opponent, she would guess, was a creature unlike any she had seen before - well, appart from the physical similarities to rabbits and Typhon's shape. The figure was also see-through. That was probably important. "Do not be that way." The voice was definietly female, and chastising him. She held something in her clawed hands... Now, given Typhon's ability to sense almost everything going on around him, Luna had done her best to imitate or develop her own sensorial capacities; she never stopped, even after his 'defeat', as a matter of personal pride. As such, she could feel the magic coming from the otherwise unassuming card. It felt- well, she would describe it as Discord's opposite - a magic to enforce an order or law. Sure, chaos magic included order by necessity, but that card did so through a different nature. "If they want to fight, all the better!" Something about her sounded off; likely, the feeling of harmlessness evoked by the image of rabbits clashed with her fierce expression. "We of Cinquleur seek battle with the strongest of warriors! Let them test themselves against me!" The card turned to light, and she felt a wave of something pressing around her before vanishing. Typhon waved a hand at a white shape in front of him, and another appeared in front of her. Limit of separate parties: 2. Guest Access disabled. Approved Party Invite required to join battle. Clan: Cinquleur. Leader: None. Number of Members: 5. Party: Red King of Cinquleur. Number of Participants: 1. Status: Closed (No additional members accepted). 1) Red King Ruuj (Red Mage) [Party Leader]. Clan: Pillars of Typhon. Leader: Typhon the Sly (Heir of Breath)/***** (****). Number of Members: ***. Party: I can't believe my luck. Number of Participants: 1. Status: Closed (Aspirants Interviewed and Reviewed). 1) Typhon the Sly (Heir of Breath) [Clan Leader] [Party Leader]. So that was the purpose of the card's magic. Keeping spectators from interfering. The guards stepped back on her orders, and Shining Armor cast a barrier spell that made a wall around the park, but left the top open; perhaps he inferred that the rain would be needed, given that Ruuj's blade undeniably held fire within, possibly the very fire from which it was forged. A green card appeared in front of Typhon, who extended his hand towards it. Out of the card came an enormous pair of scissors, the magic of which spoke of unity and Cooperation. Luna blinked, having felt something odd. Certainly not as odd as her own magic coming from the things, which she only noticed because of the sharp contrast her sister's magic offered. With a frown, she acknowledged that he earned his epithet. Just how had he managed to craft such an object, she didn't know - and right below their noses, too. The scissors split apart, making her feel an ache, like it wasn't supposed to happen. The blades whispered two more words, Dawn and Night. He took a stance. They kept their distance, Typhon slowly gauging his opponent. Then Ruuj was already halfway across him. "Oh SH-!" He stammered and twisted his body, deflecting the sizzling rapier with the white blade, steam rising from the point of contact. Typhon was faster than Luna ever remembered, but his opponent could match him, almost outpace him, where it not for his experience and skill. With her right-handed swing deflected to her left by Typhon's right hand, he managed to slice at her sword arm with his other. Ruuj leapt backwards, a black streak marking the wound on her arm; she clapped her hands together, and a golden light surrounded her, followed by an emerald shine. Typhon flicked a sword upwards, causing a bolt of lightning to strike her from the clouds; the emerald light flickered and some of the energy dissipated. "Ugh, Safe and Shell." He grumbled, causing two more bolts of lightning to fall, although the second missed its mark entirely as Ruuj dashed to the side and clapped her hands again. Two thin streams of fire struck at the place he had just been standing, like a pair of whips, leaving behind patches of steaming cooked grass. Odd, he was dodging the magic. He crossed his swords above his head and knelt into a crouch, the blue sphere that covered him became very visible as lines of gleaming water struck the shield and were diverted to the sides. With a start, she realized that the scissors were whole again, just in time to see a large stone materialize and attempt to fall on him, only for Cooperation to close and slice clean through the spell in a surge of power from the blades that extended them with a white and black aura. The melancholic ache repeated itself as he charged at Ruuj, scissors separated again, while he was wreathed in that same power he used against her. Like an artist that had never seen fire attempting to draw it from descriptions, it rose in swaying ribbons instead of flickering tongues. The red mage tried to pierce him, but he leaned, moving with grace and precision to let the offending blade pass in front of his face, a tap of his far blade preventing Ruuj from simply striking from her over-reaching stance while the other swung at her, making the golden light flicker. She tried to punch him, lightning quick, but he knew of her intentions before she had drawn back her fist. He stepped even closer, and drove his elbow into her face with another flash of gold. She retaliated with her rapier, but it was met by Dawn in a flash of white and steam. Night sliced again, and Ruuj clapped her hands to counterattack with another whip of fire and streams of shining water, the first of which was ducked under and the second deflected away from him. A bolt of lightning missed her by inches, to which she responded by materializing two more stones; Typhon was fast, though, and kicked the ground to send himself sailing sideways. Just as she clapped her hands again, Dawn and Night struck each other above him in such a way that the mirrored half-crowns were completed, making a bright flash and thick black smoke spread through the area; two more whips of flame roared despite the interruption. Luna regained her sight quickly, as Ruuj had apparently done; she barely twisted out of the way as Night pierced the air like an arrow, coated in blue. Ruuj did not see it, being so focused on exploiting her opponent's lack of one weapon, but the black sword curved upwards and speared through the clouds. She was fast, very much so, but Typhon could read her movements with the ease one would a scroll, and gently deflected her arm with his, allowing her punch to miss his face. He slashed at her again, seemingly content in dealing only shallow cuts, with the occasional clash of metal and wisps of steam telling Luna that the mage could challenge him physically, although not quite match him. He stabbed his blade on the ground, catching Ruuj's sword arm and locking it with his own, then doing the same with her other one. He leaned back, then headbutted her in the mouth, dazing her momentarily; he released her only to grab her by the wrists, kneeing her in the gut to make her double over to deliver a knee to her face, making her snap upright. He delivered an open-palm strike to her midsection, levaing behind a strip of paper with writing on it; the paper crackled and she twitched, like she was being shocked. The green light surrounding her faded away, as did the golden one. Typhon made a pulling motion with his arm, making Night fly back to him... impaling Ruuj from behind and pinning her to the ground, hat falling off her head. Dawn flew to his open hand, while the other took Night, twisted, and freed the sword from the ground by slicing through Ruuj, leaving a smoking black line instead of a wound. He took both blades in a back-handed grip, made them whole again, and stabbed the ground so that the blades were at either side of her neck. "Good job." Luna heard the compliment, just as Cooperation closed in a flash of white and black auras. Morbid curiosity made her notice that the head wasn't separated as Typhon retrieved his weapon, held tight with one hand, but still caused the phantasmagoric opponent to fade away, laughing. "I will most certainly tell the others about you!" She laughed again, vanishing completely and making many strange objects appear in her place, mostly red ones; some were larger than Luna herself! The blue aura around Typhon faded away, leaving the dull drumming of raindrops as the only sound left. He stood there, soaking in the rain, with a look of shock on his face. He chuckled. He smiled and chuckled a little more. Then he roared in laughter, his loud guffaws making the guards tense up. "I did it! HA HA!" He jumped into the air, free arm flailing in joy; the other pointed his over-sized scissors skyward. "Did you see that, Starswirl?! I told you that these were not over-priced Legendary Pieces of Manure! I told you!" "H-Halt! You are under arrest!" Shining Armor barked out. "Nopony asked your opinion, Mister I'm-too-scared-to-ask-my-girlfriend-the-big-question!" Typhon spun to face him, scissors resting on his shoulders while he pointed with his other arm. To his credit, the captain only blushed a little; the problem being that his white coat made it stand out anyways. "I just fought one of the Five Kings, solo, and I wiped the floor with her!" He laughed as he used his free hand to gesture wildly all around him. He pointed his scissors to the sky again. "That was for you, Clover! Your lessons really paid off!" Luna's eye twitched. Clover the Clever too? "You can have these!" He extended his hand, making a familiar red rapier appear, stabbed into the ground, with a large pink ribbon tied to it. "I don't need them; I have the codes already!" "This adrenaline rush is making me dizzy!" He shouted, laughing like a fool still. "I should go, I don't want to fight another of the Five Colors in the middle of Canterlot!" He exploded into blue lines, which danced all over the objects, making them disappear. Luna sighed... was it too much to ask for an encounter with him that didn't end in long, confusing reports and a headache the size of a house?