Bat out of Hell

by Coufnsiou

The Bat versus the Princesses

My blade had been deflected.

No, not deflected, that would imply some of my own force was used against me. No, I was outright blocked. It was two or three inches from her accursed jeweled crown granted, but never the less I had been stopped dead in my tracks. A black blade, darker than obsidian with a night sky blue handle, fashioned with two wings acting as the guard. The blade itself seemed to glow with a tint of darkness, slowly rising off of it like smoke from an ash tray.

There were only two inhabitants of this world who could stop me like this. And the former was in front of me. Leaving only the latter. I turned my head slowly to see behind me, to see if my hypothesis was correct. And so it was. She had avoided my field of reiatsu when I chose to focus on one place for more effect, while using her magic to attack from afar. Smart.

Behind me was Luna, horn glowing to hold the blade up from slicing Twilight’s Tiara and subsequently her head in half. Her flowing mane of stars covered her face, her form visibly shaking. I heard her muttering, but I couldn’t make out whatever she was saying.

“you…”

“Hm?”

“You…”

I stared at her. Me? What about me? What could she be so infuriated about that I had not already done?

“YOU SCUM!!” Here I thought she’d grow out of the habit of shouti-

SLAM!!

I hadn’t a chance to finish the thought before I was taken by the collar by an enraged Luna, flying around the room, being dragged along the walls at high speeds and eventually out through the exit hole. Deep fried Buddha she was angry.

She held me up like a shield while we rocketed up through the vaults, wrecking the stairs in the process. I was taken aback by how strong this mare had gotten, before she could only parry and dodge, now it’s as if my ass was grass and she the lawn mower!

After what seemed like seconds we burst through whatever door led to the bloody place and through the roof into the sky above the guard littered Gardens. She let go, turning and bucking me further into the sky, turning and taking aim, her horn charging a beam. I recovered my composure, cocked my elbow, Murcielago in hand ready to slash whatever on coming barrage she had planned.

Thousands of bolts were fired, each coming at unbelievably fast intervals. Nothing I couldn’t keep up with. Deflect, block, parry, deflect, constantly. I heard a whistling sound to my left.

I brought my sword up once I had finished slicing through the last of her magic bullets, blocking Luna’s downward slash. Her face was contorted with anger and rage. Her eyes glowing white and her mane growing longer as we both strained in deadlock.

Our eyes met and I could see nothing but a burning hatred, the likes of which you’d have to bottle up for millennia to achieve. She in turn, saw nothing but boredom.

I pushed forward, knocking us out of our struggle, before going in for a slash of my own. She blocked, she swung, I parried, I swung, she reposted, block, swing, slash, and so on. To us, it seemed as if we were going at normal speeds, but to anyone else, our blades were moving so fast that they were barely visible to the naked eye, the occasional waves of sparks serving as a lone reminder they were there at all.

This was going to take longer than I thought…

I couldn’t get over what I had just seen. He would have killed me. Not because he wanted to, but because he needed to. He was right about the Elements acting like a chain, one link gone and the rest would be unable to do anything. He didn’t want to kill me out of bloodlust, but out of logic and strategy.

Everything about him was frigid. His tone, his appearance, his thought, everything he did was calculated and planned out, as if constantly five steps ahead of any plan devised against him.

“Twilight!” screamed Rainbow, who had gotten over her initial encounter.

“I’m fine Rainbow…”

“That jerk!! When I get my hooves on him, I’ll… I’ll… Grr! I don’t know what, but I’m gonna kick his flank!”

“Easy thar’ Dash, Ah’ don’ think it’s gonna be that simple.” Said Applejack, and all things considered, I think that would be an understatement.

“I have to agree with the both of you girls, that ruffian needs to be taught a lesson, but how? He brought us all down without even trying!” Rarity exclaimed. I looked over to Princess Celestia, who was getting back up to her feet. The look in her eyes had changed. Changed from fear to determination.

“Twilight, I need you to teleport you and your friends to the surface, I must go and help my sister battle Ulquiorra.” I looked to her, she was going to fight him!? It’s a miracle she wasn’t brought down by that unseen waterfall of steel, but now she wants to fight him?!

“But Princess!-”

“No ‘buts’ Twilight, this is something I must do. Tend to your brother and then get your friends to the surface, I must go aid my sister.” With that, she flew upwards, through the ruined entrance of the vaults.

I contemplated for a moment of just what we would do against this enemy. We hadn’t faced anything like this since our discovering of the elements. Nightmare Moon simply wanted to enslave everypony in eternal night, Discord simply wanted Chaos, and Sombra simply wanted to enslave. But they each lacked one core component that he has.

They weren’t willing to kill somepony to achieve their goals, they simply wanted to overthrow and rule, and in that scenario we could at least resist, with this, this monster, Ulquiorra, one mistake could lead to a permanent end, no chance to strike back and for all we knew, nopony to avenge you.

“We have to…” I muttered.

“You okay, Twilight?” Asked Applejack. I looked everypony dead in the eyes, a flare replacing the terrified darkness that once resided within them. “Girls, we must defeat Ulquiorra, because it’s not just Equestria at stake. I understand now. If we don’t stop him here, Equestria won’t be the only kingdom to fall. If we don’t stop him here, now, the entire world is doomed! We’re no longer saving Equestria, we’re saving the world! Let’s stop him! For the sake of the world!”

They cheered. We were probably doomed, but we cheered.

Now that I think about it, everyone I know has probably been dead for a good century or so. My friends, close family, distant relatives, hell even my pen pal… sucks really. But to be fair I suppose I do have something to console me in my time of need… oh wait, no I don’t.

Instead I have Moon-Butt trying to hack away at me and vice versa. Her eyes had stopped glowing now, leaving her with only a deepening scowl. Stuck in yet another deadlock, I was getting sick of this, and decided it was time I ended at least one Alicorn.

I disappeared from in front of her, reappearing horizontally above her, my sword cocked to my left ready to slice off her head. I could picture it now, her head and body falling down from the air towards the masses that loved her, as blood gushes from the stump that was once her throat.

A beautiful thought.

Her eyes widened in surprise, time slowing down as I began my swing, the arc closing in on her dark furred neck. She couldn’t bring her sword up to counter in time. She couldn’t do anything except turn and be met with a blade to the jugular. This was it. This was it! Finally!!

I was launched from my position above Luna, hurtling down and slamming straight into the ground. I sincerely hope, for the life of me, for all that is good and pure, that was who I thought it was. I stand from the crater that I had formed from the fall, the fall being the only thing that had damaged me so far. I looked up to see two polar opposites flying next to each other.

One a brilliant shine of white and the other a deep hue of darkness. Light and dark, sun and moon, Celestia and Luna, respectively. If I could smile, I would. A smile that would threaten to consume my face. I was overjoyed that Celestia decided to swoop in when she did. Now I had no excuse to hold back.

“You should not have come, horse. Now there’ll be two dead royals to deal with...” I said, my tone hinting no emotion.

“It is you who should not have escaped, Cipher! Today shall be your last!” She proclaimed, a runic circle forming next to her. Golden in color, it began to fill itself in with light before a sword rose up from it. The blade looked like steel while a rounded sun made up the guard, the handle looking like a unicorn horn.

Compared to Luna’s, this blade was glowing with brilliant radiant light, the polar opposite of the obsidian black blade Luna had been wielding. Two heads are better than one I suppose.

“Know this horse. My pride had blinded me during our last battle, but now I know the extent of your power. Now, it is simply,” I lifted my pointer finger, aiming at the pair and gathering a mass amount of energy, forming a viridian ball upon the tip of my finger, “A matter of time.”

I fired. My power back into full throttle from the retrieval of my sword. Where my previous cero was barely 20 feet in width, this one was back to its original 50. I felt that all too familiar rush. A rush of power and adrenaline, pumping up my sensing and heightening my strength.

This was true power, this was my power. Power the likes of which not even these two “goddesses” could stop.

And hell, I was just getting started.

This was it, the deciding moment would be here and now. I had brought up a shield to protect me from the oncoming laser while Luna did the same. His blast was just as powerful as ever. This time, guards and soldiers could do nothing, they were busy evacuating the city, and rightfully so.

As he had said himself, his pride and arrogance had been his downfall, and he does not make the same mistake twice. He had made that evident during our first clash, when we had tried every tactic we had in our arsenal more than once. The beam had dissipated in front of us, I saw Ulquiorra with his sword at the ready, as if right behind it the whole time.

He slashed, my shield had shattered and I had thankfully enough time to parry his attack. Our swords clashed, Luna coming to my side and coming in for her own attack. I forced him away, his swordsponyship impressive even after all these years, able to keep up with immense speed and still stay on the offensive. Luna and I were both slashing, hacking, and cutting away at him, our blades meeting with his own as sparks flew from the clashing of sword on sword.

Steel seemingly singing as they dragged along each other in a battle raged by their masters. His expression remained the same, that being the lack of expression. He seemed bored, threatening to yawn at any moment. He thrust forward, catching us both off guard. We managed to block him and lift his blade up, bringing our own weapons down for a slash across his chest.

He sprang backwards. So close. An inch more, a centimeter more! His robe opened in the shape of an X. He examined the cut made, seemingly surprised that we had managed to cut him. It’s as if he was a God, never expecting a Mortal to injure him.

My knees weak, arms are heavy, there’s a cut in my robes already, mom’s spaghetti.

I mean holy shit that was close! I was right there! By the looks of things that slash could have cut me easily, doing some serious damage! It still skeeves me how I’m able to move to fast! I mean sure, I’m used to the immense strength and enhanced intellect, but the speed is like switching from one of those Walmart carts to a NASA rocket powered by the Energizer Bunny!

Granted I was a Bleach nerd, but I never imagined the first time I’d used sonido I’d nearly lose my lunch! It’s like ripping yourself from wherever you were at G-force speed to anywhere else! Something that would have torn me apart while I was human.

But hey, that was a millennia ago. I’ve had more than enough time to practice. A whole lot of time with no one else to talk to but myself and a few other “Hell” mates. I think it was time to get serious. I gathered my strength, the spiritual pressure now visible as it gathered around me.

“The looks on your faces indicate you were proud of keeping up with such sloppy swordsmanship. I assure you, that was me holding back…”

Wow, this Arrancar guy was tough! More tough than most I had seen. It was like he was a final boss and the Princesses were both regular mobs! He’s sent tons of souls to the after-life already, guards and citizens alike, and the number of wounded just keeps rising! If this goes any further south, I may just have to intervene!

And if I don’t… hopefully it won’t be a “game over” scenario.