Part 3
“Ha! That's it, Lulu! Hold 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the...”
“Discord!” Celestia, who is sitting next to me in the V.I.P. lounge, interrupts my cheering before I can finish up with a rather graphic term. But there is a slight smile on her lips, seeing that Team Luna has taken an early lead in the Rating Game.
“Sorry, I'm just applauding the perfect opening move.” I look around the room to gauge the other reactions. Michael, who is sitting in the middle of the large sofa, shows no sign of approval or disapproval. He's sure taking his job as referee seriously.
Azazel, who sits on the other end with Sirzechs, sighs heavily. “To think that Rainbow Dash would carry Spike all the way to Rias' base. She covered the surrounding area but not the skies.”
Grinning at my old friend, I take the chance to gloat for a bit. “While Rias is certainly skilled, Lulu has commanded pegasi in battle. It has been my observation that less experienced commanders tend to rely on two-dimensional thinking.”
“Hm.” Sirzechs doesn't seem too troubled. “That may be true. My sister lacks actual combat experience, but she is a fast learner. She never makes the same mistake twice. You can be sure of that.”
“Maybe it's an inherent flaw in the Rating Game,” Azazel muses. “Chess is a board game after all and many moves are derived from it. But that doesn't take into account the ability of Devils and Angels to fly.”
Sirzechs nods. “Perhaps. But let's keep watching. I'm not yet certain Princess Luna's gamble actually paid off. At the moment her [Pawn] seems to be just standing there.”
I look back at one of the magical monitors showing the game. Sure enough. Spike seems a little lost and there's still three Gremorys present. “Come on, Spike. You know what you have to do.”
* * *
Kneeling on the ground right after being dropped just in front of the schoolhouse, I look around at the faces of Rias Gremory, Kiba Yuuto and Asia Argento that surround me. They look about as shocked as I'm feeling. I can't believe we actually made it here undetected.
“Get on with it, Spike!” Rainbow Dash shouts at me from above. She's hovering a little ways overhead.
“Uhm … ah … I forgot what I was supposed to say!”
Rias is the first to snap out of the momentary confusion my entrance made. “Everyone! We've got intruders at the base!” she says into the communication device while simultaneously creating some kind of magical vortex of red and black swirling energy in her palm. Uh-oh! This looks bad. I don't think I wanna get hit by that!
Rainbow lets out one of her trademark groans from up above. “You're supposed to say [Promotion]!”
I can't help but keep staring at the enemy [King]. Now I'm sure. This is really bad. It looks like she's about to … “Right! [Promotion!] [Queen!]”
Almost immediately I can feel some kind of power surging through me as the pieces inside me grant me additional strength. Though I don't know how much stronger I really am now.
The fact of the matter is, it might not matter at all. I can only watch as Rias releases her Power of Destruction and hurls it in my direction.
Then I can feel myself get yanked into the air as it sizzles past me with inches to spare. Rainbow Dash has hooked her front hooves underneath my armpits and gotten me out of that tight spot just in time. Looking behind me, I can see that the blast has obliterated almost half the wall of the building. What power!
“Spike! Smoke 'em!” At RD's prompting I gulp in a sizable amount of air and light the fire within me. But instead of releasing the flame, I hold my mouth shut and extinguish it. Only when the heat has subsided, I release my breath, bathing the area in a dense, black smoke. I can't see the enemy anymore, but I can hear them coughing beneath us.
“Mission accomplished, Princess. Enemy base personnel consists of their [King], primary [Knight] and primary [Bishop]. Do you want us to engage?”
“Negative, Rainbow Dash,” I can hear Luna's response to the question over the magical communicator. “Disengage and return to base.”
I can feel Rainbow Dash tense up. Running from a fight is against her nature and it would have been the perfect opportunity to take out their [Bishop] or even their [King]. But even she can see that we've already lost the element of surprise, mainly because of me, and reinforcements are closer for them than they are for us.
So she swings around and makes a dash towards the east, flapping her wings as hard as she possibly can.
“Yuuto!” I'm not sure whether Rias is ordering Kiba to follow us or trying to stop him from doing just that, but when I turn my head, I can see him emerge from the smoke and run like the wind.
“Can't you go faster?” I ask in alarm as we pass over Ponyville proper. “He's catching up to us.”
Rainbow Dash simply grunts. “When we came up with this plan, we weren't counting on your latest growth spurt. And in case you hadn't noticed, this armor I'm wearing isn't exactly made out of paper.”
“... Drop me. If you don't have to carry me, you'll be fast enough to escape.”
“No way. The point of this attack was to get you that [Promotion]. I'm not leaving your butt behind. End of discussion. If anything, I should buy you the time to escape.”
Of course. It probably was pretty dumb to suggest it in the first place. This is the Element of Loyalty we're talking about. “Then we fight together.”
“Looks like we don't have any other choice. Hang on, we got incoming!” Rainbow shouts while looking over her shoulder.
Unbelievable! He's jumping! He doesn't even have his wings out, but he still managed to catch up to us. Pulling a sword out of thin air, Kiba throws it in our direction.
Angling her wings, Rainbow dives to avoid the blade and we make it to the ground hard. Looks like we ended up near the clocktower. I wouldn't be any use in the air, but for her fighting down here will be a disadvantage. It's at times like these that I wish I had wings like most dragons.
Kiba drops down in front of us as two swords rise out of the ground ahead of him. He takes one in each hand and strikes a pose. “I was meant to keep the base safe. As Rias Gremory's [Knight], I cannot let you get away.”
“Oh yeah? Then come at...” Dash is cut short as Kiba vanishes in the blink of an eye and then reappears right in front of us, swinging a sword at each of us. “Ngh!” She manages to whirl around her spear and block the thrust. Good thing we shortened it or she wouldn't have been able to parry in time.
My response is less nimble and more dictated by instinct. Somehow I manage to cross my arms in front of my chest and block the attack. “Ahhh!” Still it hurts like hell. The sheer force of the impact sends me sliding back a little.
The strike has left a visible mark. My forearms are actually smoking. I look up at my opponent through watering eyes. “Holy-demonic blade,” I mutter.
“That's right,” he says, holding the sword that combines darkness and light out in front of him. Dragon scales are thick, but even I can't take too many hits like these.
“Rainbow Dash, go high. I'll hit him from below,” I say as I rush forward. If I can't block, all that's left for me is to attack. Discord told us that while he was fast, probably even faster than Rainbow due to her armor, his defense was low as a result. If I can just get one good hit in …
“Roger that.” Dash spreads her wings and prepares for an aerial attack.
“Naive,” Kiba mutters darkly and spreads his arms. “[Sword Birth]!”
“GAH!” Almost instantly dozens of swords rise from the ground and block my path like a palisade. It's too late to evade them and a few scratch my scales. Luckily these are just the regular demonic versions, so the damage isn't too bad, but he's stopped my advance dead in its tracks.
“You're still wide open from above!” Rainbow tucks in her wings and goes in for a reckless dive attack, but just as she is about to hit him, he once again seems to vanish.
“Forgetting something?” She whirls around, hearing his voice from behind her. But his arm has already swung and the blade catches her across the chest, the impact sending her to the ground hard. “I can fly, too.”
“Rainbow Dash!” She's still moving, but struggling to get up. Looks like her breastplate absorbed the majority of the damage. If she's not fast enough, how am I supposed to hit him? Taking one step back and then another, I turn around and begin to run.
“Looks like your dragon friend is abandoning you,” I can hear him say. “I can catch up to him, but first to take care of … argh!”
I can't see what's happening behind me, but I gotta trust in the fact that RD can hang on without me while I enter the tower. Chips of wood are flying as my toe nails dig into the wooden stairs of the clocktower. I can still hear their struggle outside while climbing up further and further. When I finally make it to the open space at the top, I can see what's going on again.
Looks like RD snapped her jaws around his ankle to keep him from following me. Right now Kiba is in the process of kicking her to get her off. His last kick catches her in the stomach and she rolls back a few feet in the dirt, coughing up blood and spluttering.
Now that he's free, he raises his sword to deliver the final blow. I gotta get his attention somehow. Making a fist, I strike the large bell as hard as I can. GONG! “Hey! Sword Dude! Up here! Now I'll show you how a dragon flies.”
Obviously having figured earlier that I had fled, he turns around to look up at me in surprise.
I can't hesitate this time. It's my fault for not acting decisive earlier that Rainbow Dash got hurt. So I take a running leap off the tower.
Kiba readies his swords to parry my assault. Good. Looks like he forgot about Rainbow for the moment. “What a reckless attack. Azazel-sensei told us the pegasus was the hot-headed one. Come then! [Sword Birth]!”
Truthfully I'm not flying at all, more like falling. Of course that means he knows exactly where I'll hit the ground. The swords he's creating look like a pitfall straight out of a Daring Do novel, threatening to skewer me on impact. But I need the height advantage for my attack to work. It's the only way to hit such a fast opponent I can think of.
I was holding back earlier to create the smoke, but now it's time to find out what my dragon flame can do when enhanced by the trait of a [Queen]. “[Dragon Fire]!” Putting my heart and soul into the attack, I roar and bathe the entire ground beneath me in green flame.
It scorches the dirt road black and makes the metal of his swords red hot. For a moment I can see nothing but a blazing inferno. No matter how fast he is, the affected area is just too big to get away.
Since the flames are magical in nature, they recede as fast as they came. To my surprise in Kiba's place stands a pyramid of swords that now crumbles around him. Damn. He used his technique to build a protective shell of blades around himself. Pretty ingenious, I have to admit. No wonder he's their technique genius, adapting an offensive ability into a defensive one on the fly.
“Now what, dragon? I'm still here, but you won't be in a moment.” As he glares up at me in defiance, I can see that there is in fact some scorching to be seen on his uniform and soot on his face. Looks like he couldn't get his barrier up in time and took at least the partial damage.
“I'm not done yet!” Bracing myself for the impact, I drop like a stone in the middle of the field of swords, breaking a few in the process. Due to my velocity it hurts way more than earlier, but I know my scales can handle it. They have to.
“Let's see how you handle a taste of your own medicine!” From my crouching position, I straighten out my tail and swing around a full 360 degrees, mowing down the still standing blades with it as if it were a scythe. The incredible heat has made them brittle and the semi-molten pieces of metal fly out in every direction. Rainbow Dash should be fine as long as she keeps her head down.
Finally seeing the true intention of my attack, Kiba tries to dodge, but there's pain written all over his face. By going for his ankle Rainbow has opened up the chink in his armor we needed.
“Hah!” He manages to deflect some debris with his swords, but there's just too many little pieces to keep track off. One shard embeds itself in his left shoulder and he drops the sword in his left hand as a result. Two others graze his cheek and leg, cutting and burning him at the same time.
I try to get up and deal the final blow, but my own legs are shaking and I drop back to one knee almost immediately. “Ngh! Did I take too much damage from the fall after all?”
Kiba on the other hand, while panting and limping, is still standing and he draws closer to me with the sword in his good arm raised high. “It was a valiant effort, Spike.”
I ball my claw into a fist, but it's no use. Was it all for nothing? After all this training and the power I achieved, was this all I could do? Though he is one of their strongest members, I can't believe that I'm gonna be defeated this early in the game.
“I recognize you as a worthy opponent. However, this is the end for you. I had to make up for my mistake in defending the base by hunting you down for my master. Now as a [Knight] of Rias Gremory I … ugh!?” He stops in mid-sentence, staring in disbelief down at the spear tip sticking out of his chest. “What …!?”
I'm almost as shocked as he is as I look around him and find a beaten up and panting Rainbow Dash lodged against his back. “Don't you … *huff* … just hate it … *pant* … when people start monologuing in the middle of a fight? I mean, who does that?”
With a strength you wouldn't expect from such a small pony, she rears up on her hind quarters, driving in the spear even deeper and then leans to the side, throwing the enemy [Knight] to the ground as the tip of her weapon breaks.
As he is engulfed by a violet light, Kiba doesn't look hurt or enraged. Rather he seems regretful. “Rias-sama. Forgive me. I underestimated them.” As his eyes begin to close, he vanishes in that same magical light.
[Rias Gremory's Knight retires.]
Even with the announcement by Michael-sama, I can hardly believe it. I know he'll be fine. Still that looked like a painful way to go. But our victory came at a high price. I barely manage to catch the stumbling Rainbow Dash in my arms as I get my screaming body up through sheer force of will.
“Sorry, pal,” she says weakly. “Looks like this might be it for me.”
Only now do I realize that her left wing is bent at an unnatural angle. Did she break it earlier when Kiba kicked her off? “None of that now. Come on!”
“What are you...?” she asks as I turn around and offer her a piggy-back ride.
“Nopony gets left behind, remember? I hitched a ride with you on the way over. Time to return the favor. I'll get you back to base.” I can tell that she's resistant to the idea. Being carried by me probably conflicts with her sense of pride.
Eventually she sighs however, knowing that she won't be able to make it on her own, and climbs onto my back. As I start walking, she buries her muzzle in my neck and says something. “Hey, Spike. Thanks for not abandoning me. You looked … pretty cool back there.”
I turn my head around. “What was that? I couldn't quite hear you.”
“Nothing,” she says quickly and turns away. Is she … blushing? Nah, must be my imagination. There's still that residual heat in the air from my attack earlier. Maybe that's why her face looks a little flushed.
Pretty soon, though, Rainbow Dash once again rests her head against my back with a sigh and she seems to be hugging me pretty tightly as we make our way back to Fluttershy's cottage.
Team Luna (members still active): 8
Princess Luna [King]
Twilight Sparkle [Queen]
Rainbow Dash [Knight]
Fluttershy [Bishop]
Rarity [Bishop]
Applejack [Rook]
Pinkie Pie [Rook]
Spike [Pawn]
Team Gremory (members still active): 6
Rias Gremory [King]
Himejima Akeno [Queen]Kiba Yuuto [Knight]
Xenovia [Knight]
Asia Argento [Bishop]
Gasper Vladi [Bishop]Toujou Koneko [Rook]
Hyoudou Issei [Pawn]