*Smash*
A blow of great strength collided with the combined force of the Demon Hunter's blades, counter-acting their strikes and forcing them all back to where they started. The strength of a demonically 'improved' Rainbow Dash plus a Devil Trigger form counterpart was incredible when put together. Nero, Dante, Trish and Lady were flung backwards, struggling to retain their balance as the force of their blow's backlash carried their momentum back. Lady, being human, was unable to keep her footing and collapsed onto the ground with a loud exhalation of air.
Doppelganger noticed the inferior strength of his opponent, and the devil form of Dash leaped forward to take advantage of the situation. It hanged in the air as it approached, claws outstretched with a vile grin plastering it's dark blue leathery skinned face. Lady looked up just in time to see the descending demon and raised Kalina-Ann over her body to provide a thick metal shield, the blade reaching outwards, waiting to skewer the demon.
The demon form realised it's mistake all too late, and was unable to roll out of the way before it's chest landed on the broad blade of the launcher's bayonet. Lady recoiled in disgust as the demon was impaled on the weapon, letting out a carnal howl of pain and spraying smoky black substance from it's shadow-like body. Lady was about to push the demon from the blade when it's head darted to stare at her with furious red eyes, and it's limbs flailed at her, claws mere inches from her delicate body. She reeled back as far away from the angry demon as she could to avoid it's strikes.
"Gah! Get the hell off' me!" She shouted in frustration. Her prayers were soon answered as the transformed Sickle-like blade of Sparda joined Kalina-Ann's bayonet as the second weapon to pierce the constructs body. The demon screamed in agony and clutched the steel penetrating it's chest as Lady looked to her left to see Trish smirking back at her. Joining forces they heaved with all their might, and the demon was flung from their weapons like a cheap toy. It soared through the air briefly before clattering down to the ground with a heavy roll and eventually coming to a stop beside the 'real' Rainbow Dash.
Being a demonic construct forged by Doppelganger's abilities, the demon form's vitality relied solely upon that of it's maker. Attacking it was futile as it's strength was near limitless as long as the demon infesting Dash's body remained unharmed. This proved a problem as they really needed to avoid killing Rainbow Dash's actual body, even though doing so would be the only way to destroy the demon for good.
"Damn it! When will this thing just give up!?" Lady exclaimed as she pulled herself to her feet. Dusting herself off, she continued;
"How the heck did you kill it single handedly last time, Dante?"
"Doppelganger possessed my body back at the Temen-Ni-Gru, but being a demon myself, it was unable to fully manifest." He said as the dual scimitars of Agni and Rudra were absorbed back into his soul. "At only half power, the demon form it created from me couldn't exist in bright light. Right now it's at full manifestation, I suppose it can survive without being in total darkness. But the demon form is still technically a shadow, so if we were to be able to create a very sudden and bright light at close range..." He paused as he summoned up his next choice of devil arm. A wide black suit-case with a demonic sigil on it's side which released veins of pulsing light appeared in his right hand. "... We could probably get rid of it's invulnerability for a short time." He rested the suitcase on his shoulder.
Nero twisted the gears on Red Queen a few times to charge it's exceed, the blade lighting up red hot as flames emanated from it's surface. "Any ideas?" He said, looking around. There was silence from the demon hunters as Doppelganger reared its-self and it's demonic construction for another attack. "Nothing?" He asked, slightly surprised that for once they couldn't think of anything to solve the problem at hand.
A roar escaped both forms of Rainbow Dash, their right hooves reeling back and charging with a red light, electricity dancing around the appendages, power itching to be released into it's victim. The hooves reached maximum charge, and they charged forward simultaneously. The group prepared their guards to defend from the combined blows, but were caught off-guard when the attacks fell short and landed directly in front of them. The ground pound released enough energy to cause an area of effect around it's epicenter, and the floor beneath the hunters exploded, tossing them into the air.
They fell back down in a confused heap a considerable distance from the fountain, where the battle started. They let out a collective groan, not from pain, but from frustration. Dante, being on the top of the heap, jumped off first and held his suit case in front of him, letting it be enveloped in a bright light. When the light stopped, a massive demonic launcher with several barrels appeared in it's wake. Nero rolled from the pile, and in the corner of is eye, spotted the curled up form of Twilight cowering in an alleyway with her front hooves covering her face while she shivered in apparent fear. She was uttering something inaudible over the explosions being let off from Pandora, the suit case weapon Dante was wielding. Nero gasped as an idea came to his head, the imaginary light bulb flickering to life beside his head. A smile came over his head as he rolled backwards onto his feet and stood up.
"I have an idea!" He shouted to the three hunters behind him. They looked to him briefly before turning their concentration back to Doppelganger.
"What is it?" Trish asked as she readied her stance with Sparda.
"I'll be back soon, just trust me!"
"Just do it!"
While the rest of the group aimlessly fought the demon they were faced with, Nero ran over to the alleyway in which the shaking alicorn resided. Sliding beside her caused her to jump in fright, but seeing that it was only Nero, her panic somewhat subsided.
"Nero..." She gasped, her shaky voice reaching out in fear. "I- I'm scared."
"Twilight listen to me..." Twilight looked up at Nero, his still glowing hot sword slung over his back and his just as brightly shining demon arm reaching out to rest it on her shoulder. Her face was filled with fear and worry, that her friend might become a demon and be lost forever. Or worse.
"Y- yeah?"
"Can you cast light spells?" He asked her, her ears peaked up and she looked at him in confusion. "As in, like a lantern. Light like the sun." He explained
"Yes, I- I can." She stammered. Nero smiled, his idea might be holding some promise.
"How bright i-" Nero was cut off by the demon form of Rainbow Dash crashing down near the exit of the alley, the black mist wafted off it's body and was whisped away by the currents of air carrying it. It was followed swiftly by Dante coming down on it with Alastor, smashing it into the ground so that it bounced back up into the air. The two disappeared from view as they continued to do battle. Nero sighed before restarting his sentence.
"The demonic version of her is kept alive by the original demon's strength, in Rainbow's body. We can't end this safely without killing her unless we can provide a sudden and large projection of light to rip the shadows from the demon construct. If we can damage the construct then we weaken the demon in her real body." He explained.
"And what then?" Twilight managed to get through without a hitch.
"There's a reliable method for that, but it's rather... brutal." Nero admitted through un-easy eyes. Twilight looked up, worried. "Don't worry it won't kill her if we do it right. We've done it quite a few times, there's no need to worry. So how bright is your spell?"
"It can fully i-illuminate a pitch black room twe-twenty metres in radius." She said. Nero nodded and smiled.
"Okay, we need you to come and help us. We'll pin it down and you cast your spell right up close. We'll take care of the rest after that, got it." He explained. Twilight took a deep breath and nodded in confirmation.
"Okay. Let's go!"
"Haha!" Dante laughed in satisfaction as he struck upwards on the demon, sending it flying into the air with a High Time move. Jumping up he took up a sideways stance, left arm out to balance his weight a little while his right arm reeled back Alastor into the ready stance for Stinger. Thrusting forward he pushed the blade through the demon's body and carried the momentum through to transfer the attack's force into it's body. The move pushed his enemy backwards as it was catapulted into the fountain, causing it to be smashed into dust, obscuring the devil hunter's view of his foe.
He landed back on the ground in solid footing, turning to make sure his opponent was stunned enough to not immediately get back up. The menace's return was not immediate, so he looked back to Nero to see him run the short distance to him from the alley, with the little purple pony standing nervously in the mouth of the alley. Nero stopped with a short slide, leaving a small amount of dust in his wake.
"Twilight can project high intensity light, enough for us to remove the demons shield... wait, where is it?" Dante and Nero both looked to the cloud of dust and water spray where the fountain used to be, It had dispersed largely enough to be able to see through it, allowing them to observe the demon form of Dash wobbling back to it's hooves after it's dizzying crash landing.
"So we lead into a trap, then?" Dante asked.
"Exactly! If we can get that thing close enough to Twilight so she can get it in the flash, we can rip off it's protection." Nero stated. Dante looked around to see the girls battling the possessed body of Rainbow Dash like some sort of play-fight with a small child, being hard enough for fun but being so gentle that they don't hurt it.
"Hey girls!" Dante yelled at the two hunters dodging and weaving from the demon's lethally powerful hoof blows. They seemed almost too quickly performed to be possible, and Lady was having a hard time seeing the window of opportunity for her dodges. It lunged in for an uppercut and Lady cartwheeled backwards with one hand while slinging the huge rocket launcher onto her shoulder with the other. The movement caused the bayonet to clip the hoof of Dash's possessed body, making it flinch and step back in caution.
"Yeah?" She shouted, protected briefly by Trish who used her free left hand unleash a bolt of lightning at Dash's hooves, causing the ground to erupt into a small cloud of sparks and making the demon jump back to evade it, thus giving Lady some space to converse. "You sorted out our problem yet?" Dante was quick to reply.
"We got a plan! The purple pegacorn thing-"
"She's called Twilight and she's an Alicorn!"
"Whatever! Twilight is gonna' blast light at the Demon Form to rip it's shield away, then when we deal damage to it the main body's power will be used up trying to maintain it!" Dante shouted. Lady nodded and turned to Trish.
"You hear that Trish? We gotta' hold out a little longer while the others destroy the demonic projection! That'll weaken the real demon!" She yelled out as Trish's electrified fish collided with Dash's possessed hoof. The energy released backfired at both parties, sending them staggering backwards. Trish managed to quickly reply.
"Got it!" Before widening her stance and raising her hands into a block so the attack of Dash could be more easily blocked. The powerful lunge the demon sent her way was aimed at her waist in order to tackle her to the ground so it could pummel her with as many strikes as it pleased. But Trish's block caught Dash's hooves in the motion as it's body was still suspended in the air. The back of it's body hit the ground, hind legs not moving fast enough to catch it's weight. With a smirk, Trish spun round to gain some momentum before throwing it into the air. It screamed as it was sent into an uncontrollable spin, arcing through the air spectacularly.
"Get ready girl, one possessed horse coming right up!" She warned to Lady as the rotating vermin came back down directly in line with an electrified round-house kick, catapulting it's helpless body at Lady who had Kalina-Ann reeled back in a baseball bat-like preparation. She swung with expert precision and struck the demon with the side of the launcher's blade so not to cut through Dash's body. The demon was batted along the ground, skipping off the dusty floor before hitting a large trash can with a metallic crunch as it crumpled in a dizzy heap. Lady imagined a collection of stars rotating around it's head as it's eyes rolled in it's sockets. The sound of the collision made Twilight cringe both inside and out.
By this point, The demonic projection was back on it's hooves and had already made a run for Dante and Nero. Being side by side, it attempted to grab their necks or their heads in it's paws, throw one into the ground and the other at Twilight. It extended it's huge spined wings mid sprint and gave a mighty flap to launch itself into the air and down on the duo at a sharp angle. The demon hunters rolled sideways to avoid it's attack as it's claws smashed into the ground, creating a huge shock-wave which the waiting Twilight had to shield her face from. It turned to Date first who threw himself into low stance, his arms flying out behind him like he was in preparation for a lunge.
"Royal Guard!" He shouted with endless enthusiasm in his playful voice. The demon ignored his antics and swung a paw at his face, but was surprised as it's attack was easily deflected by his enemies blocking stance. It grew angry as it's grin turned upside-down into a furious frown. It reeled back strike after strike, throwing punches like there was no tomorrow, becoming angrier and angrier as each one was deflected and ignored, casting off a red ring of absorbed energy in front of Dante's block. It pulled back it's right fore-leg and pooled energy into it in hopes that all of it's might would eventually penetrate the halfling's defense. Which it probably would have done had it been able to carry it out.
It found it'self completely stuck as it tried it's very hardest to throw the punch. It turned in confusion to see a projection of a demonic arm clutching the appendage in it's grasp. Noticing Nero with his devil bringer active and ready, it grimaced as it realised it was a sitting duck. Turning back to Dante, it then noticed that the red-clad figure was out of his stance and like it, had it's right arm extended behind it, ready to release all of the energy it had stored up from the demon's own attacks. It flinched before Dante struck it in the chest with an open handed strike, launching it off' it's paws and into Nero's control.
Nero carried the demon's momentum through and held his enemy in devil bringer to remain in control as it arced back down to the ground with a crunch. The demon was momentarily stunned before Nero carried it back the opposite way in another arc, smashing into the floor once more. He repeated the motion, backwards and forwards, crashing the demonic projection between a fist and a hard place over and over until it was on the edge of unconsciousness, barely able to move. Now was the time to act! But they had to do it quickly before Doppelganger's power regenerated the demon's energy.
"Twilight now!" Nero shouted for the Alicorn to make her contribution. She ran over before stopping to a stand still on her wobbly fearful hooves. With a deep and calming breath she straightened up and closed her eyes, her horn glowing from a dim light to a blinding one in a mere instant. Nero and Dante closed their eyes and shielded their faces as best they could until the light was over. The light was bright enough that it was almost like a second sun being created right beside them. They heard the demon scream in pain as it's shield was stripped away from it's body, and that was all the two needed to begin their assault on the hapless projection.
They opened their eyes to an inky black copy of Rainbow Dash's usual pony pegasus form, but with all features coated by the cloud of black mist that clung to it's body. Nero let rip three charges of exceed onto Red Queen and Dante charged an electrical strike onto Alastor as they raised the blades into the air. The stripped down beast raised it's hooves to protect it'self with an almost pleading cry to accompany it. But the hunters paid no attention to the ploy. The smashed down on the demon with tremendous force as lightning and fire combined into a furious combo of powerful attacks which ripped through it's body,
The effects on Doppelganger were immediate. Trish and Lady stopped their semi-defensive maneuvers as the possessed body of Rainbow Dash was cleansed of it's toothy grin, replacing it with a face full of agony and an expression filled with both despair and realisation. It collapsed to the ground in pain as the demonic projection mauled by the demon hunters dissipated into nothingness and all the wasted energy back-lashed onto Doppelganger. Again, the group had to move quickly. The demon possessing Dash's body had been weakened and with the correct amount of magical pressure they could force it out of the pegasus' body.
Trish and Lady tackled it to the floor and held it down, despite it's desperate attempts to move them from it's stolen body. All of it's flails and thumps were shrugged off with gritted teeth and pained grunts as Dante and Nero rushed over, followed by a hopeful Twilight, her hope renewed by seeing the demon hunter's weaken the demon who had taken her friend from her.
Nero lit up his arm in a bright light as he kneeled down and rested his demonic hand against Rainbow Dash's heart, the beat of the organ furiously smacking against her ribs to keep blood flowing through it's body. Dante and Twilight stood back as Nero channeled the magic by pressing his hand into her body. Twilight's eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing. Nero appeared to grab something before, with what looked to be a monumental effort, pulled with as much strength as he could muster.
Nero fell back from the body of Rainbow Dash which let out a deafening howl as it's demonic soul was forcefully torn from it's host body, a release of immense light engulfed everything in the area. They all had to shield themselves again to avoid going blind from a brief moment as both their hearing and their sight were maliciously pounded by screams and light.
As the scream suddenly cut out and the light dimmed down, all that filled the air was a deep exhalation of air from the lifeless body of Rainbow Dash, now containing no soul.
All was silent as everyone picked themselves up from the climactic scene, the demon hunters shakily pulled themselves to their feet, but their speeds were bested by that of Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn leaped to her hooves and bounded over to Rainbow Dash as fast as equinely possible, arriving at her cold limp body in an instant. Nero picked himself up, looking at his hand which now contained the dimly lit and weak power he had ripped from a mortal body. He crushed the solid form of power into shards of magical crystal. Doppelganger was dead.
"Dash..." Twilight said as she took the pegasus up in her fore-arms, hoping, praying that she would recieve an answer. Not a breath came from the pegasus in response and Twilight's head fell onto the pony's chest in a sob. The sobbing filled the atmosphere for a few moments as the demon hunters anticipated the return of the recently departed soul.
"When someone dies, their soul departs from this plain." Dante said, as Twilight continued to sob. Unknown to her, a red spiral of energy began to work it's way down from the heavens. "But that's not to say it's gone. A soul can remain in the area after it is lost for up to an hour sometimes." The energy's spiral became tighter as it came through the clouds and quickly descended closer and closer to the ground. Twilight's head perked up at the words Dante was speaking. "When a soul so young is lost, it is still at the height of it's power. Old age and weathering has not yet whittled it down." The energy had been recalled by the use of Dante's golden orb, but was unable to come down due to it's place on Earth being occupied. Now though, it could return to it's rightful place. Twilight looked up, her jaw almost unhinging at the spectacle before her. The power of the lost soul descended down to rooftop level, the spiral becoming tightly funneled into a concentrated beam of energy.
"This one is still too stubborn to leave just yet." Trish commented with a giggle. The beam entered Dash's body as Twilight gasped in amazement, shortening as the remainder of the energy came down from the sky and flowed directly back into the body that it once owned. Twilight didn't bother stepping back to allow the regenerating body of Rainbow Dash some space, she was too amazed by what she was seeing to care, she was witnessing the soul of her friend returning from purgatory.
As the last of the red energy was absorbed by by the body, Rainbow Dash'd chest heaved to inhales as much air as possible, Making Twilight jump, her wings flaring and her eyes widening even further in happiness. Her friend was still alive.
Rainbow Dash began coughing and spluttering as her magenta eyes opened up to examine her surroundings in blind panic. Her pupils darted around, glancing at random things before finally settling on the still crying form of Twilight, though this time she was crying of happiness. She stopped coughing as she calmed in the sight of her good friend, who was now gently stroking her mane to comfort her.
"Twi... am I dead?" She asked, wincing at the bright sunlight behind her friend's body. In her perspective, Twilight looked not too dis-similar to an angel. Twilight just laughed, allowing it to come down before she spoke.
"No, Dash, you're alive. We both are." Rainbow extended her fore-legs to grab Twilight by the neck, pulling her in for a hug, which she gladly accepted. While the two multicoloured miniature horses embraced, the demon hunters almost melted in diabeetus overload. Emitting a collection of 'D'awww's while reducing themselves to a relaxed state. This continued for a few seconds before someone finally spoke.
"Welp, job well done!" Dante held his hand out for Nero to high five him, but was met by a serious expression.
"I still haven't forgiven you totally yet, asshole." Nero replied, leaving Dante hanging and causing the to female hunter's to either plunge their faces into their palms or burst out into laughter. Their calm banter was misplaced however, as the calamity had one last trick up it's sleeve before the day could end.
"Oh well, look on the bright side, Dante! We've seen it all now, how much worse can it get?" Lady asked.
Meanwhile, Twilight recoiled sharply, sensing a problem with Rainbow Dash immediately as she tightened up, like her muscles were cramping. Twilight gasped as Dash rolled from her embrace, shaking in pain again. She looked stunned and helpless as the pegasus pushed her self to her hooves and began to stumble away from her friend.
"Rainbow, what's wrong?" She asked quickly, when she got no reply, she called to the experts. "Nero!" She shouted. All of the demon hunters turned to see Rainbow Dash's stumbling come to an abrupt halt several metres away from her over-affectionate friend. Nero began walking briskly towards Dash to see what was happening. But before he even got close he was stopped by an explosion of demonic sigils.
To everyone's surprise, the sigils along with a cry of pain had originated from Rainbow Dash... or what was there before what they saw there now. Rainbow Dash had transformed into a sinister form, the form of a demon... the form of a Devil Trigger. Her massive bladed wings outstretched, her clawed paws digging into the ground and her body littered with bright rainbow coloured spines where her mane and tail should normally be while her skin had become a sky blue leathery material.
The cry halted and sigils appeared again, this time retracting from thin air back into Dash's body as it reverted to normal. Rainbow Dash collapsed to the floor in a crumpled unconscious pile of half-demon flesh. Evidently, not all of Doppelganger's power had left her body.
"Err, was that supposed to happen?" Twilight asked as she rushed to check her friend to still alive, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw she was. The demon hunters all looked to each other in confusion, none of them quite knowing what to say. But in the back of their minds, all knew the day had in fact become worse. Significantly worse.