//------------------------------// // Ch. 6- The purest form of harmony: Death, and the purest form of Chaos: Destruction // Story: Duel of the Millennium // by RoyalStar709 //------------------------------// "Now Starlight, today's lesson will be a bit different compared to the other lessons." Pegasus walked over to his student, putting down a tome in front of her. Starlight looked at the large tome, opening it. "We're not going to continue our lessons in duel monsters?" Pegasus shook his head, "No, today we will be learning about all the different types of harmony." He opened the book to a specific page. "There are more than one type?" Starlight asked. "Yes, and today we will be studying the different types of it." Pegasus pointed at a specific paragraph in the book. "This Starlight, is the most purest, basic, and the most feared type of harmony: Death." He then pointed at the image of a skeletal pony, "All are equal in the eyes of death, it doesn't matter if you were once a king, a priest, or a farmer. In the end, we are all equal in death." Starlight looked down, a bit scarred. Seeing her discomfort in the subject, Pegasus moved on, "This form of harmony is one that is commonly practice: Tyranny." Starlight perked up, "Hey! That's what the history books label you as! Tyranny!" Pegasus frowned, before he can say anything, he felt something calling towards him, "Well Starlight, we will have to continue this another day, I am needed elsewhere!" The filly hugged his leg, "Can I please come with you! You never take me anywhere, please! I promise to not be a bother!" Pegasus rolled his eyes, smiling, "Alright fine, just be sure to behave!" "I will!" Rau sighed as he gazed out into the forest, taking a slow sip from his drink. “Damn that fool, only prolonging the inevitable,” he took another sip, looking over his shoulder as one of his servants walked into the room. “Yes?” he asked, his voice level. “Master, we were cleaning one of the rooms and discovered this,” the mare said, keeping her eyes on the floor, holding out a rather strange looking book. “Hmm... what do we have here?” he asked, taking it from her, looking it over. He paused, looking at her, “You’re dismissed.” “Yes master,” she said with a bow before leaving to resume her duties. “Now... lets see what you are,” he said, taking a seat by the fireplace, flipping the book open, freezing when he heard a voice echo through his head. “True peace can only be achieved through power, true harmony can only be achieved if all are united under one single banner. If you are ever in need of assistance or if you are a fellow warrior of harmony, summon us and we will come to you. I am Pegasus, Spirit of Harmony, and wielder of the Millennium Items.” “Well now, isn’t that interesting,” Rau muttered to himself. He took a moment to make sure his mask was in place before retrieving the book. “Hear me Pegasus, I request an audience, if you have the time.” The book started shaking violently, glowing sinisterly, it zapped Rau with a small dose of electricity. Spinning in place a strange music played from it, a purple vortex appeared next to it, dropping of a well dressed man, a small ball of fur, and a lavender filly. The man looked around his surroundings, his gaze fell onto their host. “Hello there my good man, I believe it was you who summoned us?” “In the flesh,” Rau said with a slight nod, “I am Rau, Rau Le Creuset a pleasure,” he said, flashing a smile, holding his hand out. Pegasus gave a small smile, he grabbed his hand and shook it. “Likewise.” Pegasus turned to the other two behind him, “These two are my companions Starlight, and Jack Kuriboh.” The other two waved. Rau’s eyes rested on Starlight, a slight grin appearing on his face before vanishing. “Please have a seat, I shall have the servants bring us some refreshments.” Rau gave a slight bow, gesturing towards the rooms seats. “Thank you.” Pegasus said, walking towards the a open seat, the rest followed his example, the Kuriboh just floated above his seat. “Now, for what reason you have called us here?” “I was curious. Your little message in your book caught my interest, surely you have time to talk?” he asked taking his seat again. A few moments later, a vacant looking mare walked in, carrying a tray with their drinks. “I’ve never seen a creature like your companion before,” he gestured toward Starlight, “As you can see, the creatures here are more...humanoid.” he gestured to the mare, who stared at the floor, standing off to the side. “I see… Well Starlight here, I can only guess is like all the other unicorns here in this world, only quadruped.” Pegasus gained a proud smile, “In fact she could even be more, after all she is my student in the dark arts.” “Ah yes magic,” Rau said, taking a sip of his drink, “I don’t practice myself. Now, this harmony you spoke of, tell me about it.” Pegasus smile grew, “Ah yes, true harmony you see is the equality of all living creatures. True Harmony is a plan that will guarantee no room for chaos, by removing all differences and making sure that all living things are treated as equals, unlike the ponies foolish false harmony, they’re nothing but a bunch of xenophobic hypocrites!” His smile became a scowl for a brief second before regaining his normal look. “Your only partly right my friend,” Rau said, looking into his drink, swirling it around a little, “If there is one absolute truth, it is that all life is utterly meaningless. We delude ourselves with our self-righteous and self-centered instincts, competing with each other to climb to the top.” “In a way, you are right my friend.” Pegasus took a sip of his drink. “However I believe that there are a certain few, a lucky few, who were born to change the world, whether it be the good of the world or the bad, it’s all up to them. I believe that I am one of those few, destined to be the shepherd leading his flock of sheep to the righteous path, and in a way I guess I do delude myself into thinking that.” “Why torment yourself saying, ‘eventually, someday?’” Rau asked, finishing his drink, “How long have you been fighting with your thoughts clouded by that brand of sweet poison?” “Too long.” He answered somberly, “I have tried several times to make the ponies see the errors of their ways, fortunately the minotaurs were one of the ones who practiced my ideals and have almost achieved true harmony, after a war broke out, I have decided that the only way to make them see what I see, was by force.” “Since I have arrived here, I have waited for them to destroy themselves,” Rau said, leaning back in his seat, hands in his lap, “ But that damned King Of Hearts interfered. He put in place a tournament, held every four years, between the nations of this world. Each sends one fighter to compete and the last one standing rules all the other nations. Impressively, there hasn’t been a single war in the past thousand years.” “My, my, that sounds impressive.” Pegasus said, looking surprised, “I’m shocked to hear that the other nations would just surrender themselves so easily, with a system like that, how is anyone sure that there isn’t any nation cheating?” “That's where the Shuffle Alliance comes in,” Rau started, “They make sure all nations follow the rules of combat.” “And how are they so sure that no one is using some type of non magical enhancements?” “The tournaments are fought using machines known as Gundams, though here they are more like magi-tech golems,” Rau stood up, walking toward the windows. “I was hoping to use this year tournament to provoke a war but the King decided to return. I’ve decided to be more... direct in my efforts.” “I assume you have some type of army?” Pegasus asked. “Why of course,” Rau said turning to him, wearing a grin that didn’t look all that sane, “ Why don’t I show you?” he asked, moving toward the door, gesturing for them to follow. The three stood up, following their guest. “And the other nations, if you start a war will they be going against you?” “Maybe, they can do as they wish,” he said with a shrug, stepping into an elevator. Once they were all inside, he hit the button for the lowest floor. “The result will be the same.” “You seek to destroy them all, but for what?” He asked. “To end it all,” Rau spoke, his voice dripping with malice, “To end all their self centered greed. To end their hate, their jealousy. It’s what they crave really, to be the best of the best, no matter the species, they are all the same. You, me, starlight, all of us are merely parasites, sucking the world dry.” “And when you end them? What then?” “I suppose I’ll end my own life, if I’m still alive at that point,” Rau smiled as the elevator came to a stop, opening up onto a catwalk. “Behold my friends, the Death Army!” he declared, throwing his arms out. In a vast cavern below them were thousands of robots, each several stories tall, sporting a single glowing purple eye. The two behind Pegasus gasped in awe. “Impressive, though I doubt they will be much of a match against my chaotic underlings.” “My dear Pegasus, the Death Army is unstoppable,” Rau turned, a manic grin on his face, “They replicate indefinitely, no matter how many you destroy, more will rise in their place,” he locked his gaze on Starlight, his grin widening, “My dear Starlight, would you like to see this worlds version of yourself?” Starlight looked around, a bit uncomfortable, “I-I guess.” He snapped his fingers, a large hulking machine rising up behind him. It had the torso of a humanoid robot but below that was a mess of what looked like tentacles. “This is the Dark Gundam, the ultimate machine. Self-evolving, self-repairing, self-replicating. The only problem is, it requires a female host in order to achieve maximum potential..” Behind him, the mess of tentacles shifted, revealing a humanoid Starlight assimilated into it. “You made the perfect host.” Starlight whimpered, hiding behind Pegasus. “Now Starlight, don’t worry.” Pegasus studied the machine, his Millennium eye glowing, “This machine, can it cast any chaos magic?” “She came to me, so lost and disheartened after Princess Twilight tore down her world,” Rau continued, completely ignoring Pegasus, “She wanted a world of equality and she shall have it! All things are equal in death! I will use the Dark Gundam and its army and consume this world in an inferno of hate! I will scotch the life from this world and free it from us parasites!” Rau shouted, starting to laugh like an utter madman. ‘Death, the most basic, purest, and the most feared type of harmony, it is something even I wouldn’t dare touch.’ Pegasus thought, frowning a bit. “You seek to purge all life in the world, but what then? What will happen after it is done? What will live in this world then?” “Nothing!” Rau grinned, throwing his arms out, “Isn’t it grand? A world free of desires, free of hate! Free of everything us parasites pollute it with!” “But then, what purpose does the world have? It was created so that it may house creatures such as us. I am not a fan of genocide, hypocritical of me to say something like that when I have caused a genocide myself.” Pegasus started to questioned. “We have no purpose you fool!” Rau snapped at him, “We are all meaningless, self-important specks that delude ourselves into thinking we have a meaning.” He reached into his uniform, pulling out a pistol, which he promptly placed against his head, “Why if I hadn't decided to help the world along, I would have no qualms with putting a bullet through my skull.” “I made a promise to myself a while back, I will not let another genocide happen when I’m able to prevent it.” Pegasus glared, “I’m sorry, the chat has been nice, but I cannot allow you commit genocide onto this world.” “Genocide?” Rau laughed, “You think so small. This my friend is omnicide,” Rau moved down the catwalk, some lights turning on, revealing a grey mech with a strange contraption on its back. “This is the ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam. I shall ride this machine into the battlefield and slay the King Of Hearts while the Death Army consumes the world.” Pegasus stared at the machine, his scowl became a light hearted smile, “Rau, while this is all impressive, I’m afraid that I still can’t allow you to do all of this” Pegasus said, gesturing at everything around them, “It’s one thing to want to destroy a nation for your ideals, but it’s another to want to destroy something just because you want to, I will give you one chance, abandon your plan, or I will be stop it.” “You may try Pegasus, you most likely won’t succeed.” Rau said with a grin, leveling his pistol at them. Pegasus chuckled sinisterly, “Rau, trust me, you don’t know who you’re dealing with right now.” The Millennium Eye glowed uncontrollably. “Allow me help you to understand.” Slamming a card onto his duel disk, a large golem like creature appeared, it’s cartoonish eyes glared at Rau. “This is a toon, one of the last things you will ever see if you don’t put a stop to this plan of yours.” “Nothing will sway me from this path,” Rau said, glaring back at the creature from behind his mask, “”I’m giving you one chance, leave before I decide to end you as well.” Pegasus scowl returned, his glare hardened, “I’m afraid that isn’t an option, Toon Ancient Gear Golem, attack!” The Toon leaped at Rau, it’s claws clenched into a fist. It caught Rau in the chest, sending him flying with a sickening thud. He laid there motionless for a few moments before he started to get up, coughing up some blood, grinning. “I told you the Dark Gundam was self-repairing. I didn’t mention that it can share that power with others. Why... it can even bring back the dead.” he spit out some blood, staggering to his feet. Pegasus took out another card and summoned it, “Then all I have to do is destroy it! Toon Magnaguard destroy the Dark Gundam!” In a small explosion of light a small robot appeared, it’s yellow cape flowed in the non existent wind, it leaped at the gundam, it’s spear pointing directly at it. The Dark Gundam’s eyes glowed and several metallic tentacles rose up around it, each tipped with a copy of its head. They fired off blasts of energy at the toon, the Gundam protecting its core. The toon’s eyes widen, laughing, it pulled out a stop sign, causing the energy bolts to stop and fire at random directions. The Magnaguard threw it’s spear at the gundam, purple electricity flowed through the tips of the spear. It seemed to glare at the toon, easily smacking the spear away like it was a tooth pick. It rose up into the air, two flower like devices rising up out of its back. It fired off another blast from them, this time laced with chaotic magic. The toon’s robotic mouth dropped, touching the floor, quickly it tried to fly away, only to be destroyed by the blast, it’s body shattering like glass. Pegasus clutched his heart, feeling a spike in pain, looking at his duel disk, his life points dropped from 8000 to 7500. “Damn…. I didn’t expect it to use chaos magic.” He hissed. “I told you, self-evolving,” Rau laughed, straightening his stance, “Throw what you like at it, it’ll just adapt and overcome it.” Toon world started shaking violently, opening, the Toon Magnaguard appeared again, only this time weaker and it’s head missing, two large floating eyes hovered above the damaged body. “Toon Magnaguard’s special effect.” Pegasus smiled, “I’m sorry old chum, but I’m going to have to use you for a ritual summon.” The toon slauted and shattered. Pegasus looked at the five cards in his hand, “First I summon the Toon Unicorn Guard!” The foal sized unicorn toon appeared it glared at his opponents. “Then I’ll use The Nightmare’s parasite ritual!” The toon pony was consumed by a blue mist, only to be replaced by a foal sized Toon Nightmare Moon. “Let’s see your gundam get away from her.” “Why would it need too?” Rau asked as the cave around them shock. “You see, this entire mountain is hollow, with the Dark Gundam filling up the vast majority of it.” he stepped back, moving toward the Providence as the mountain started to collapse. “I won’t let you win.” Pegasus hissed. “Your gundam can be as big as a castle, but I won’t back down! Toon Nightmare Moon, go!!” The toon flew up to the gundam, firing several magical bolts at the gundam. The blasts tore through the Dark Gundam, though almost immediately, those holes started to repair themselves. It reared up, firing off another barrage of lasers, lacing off of its shoots with chaos magic. “Starlight was indeed the perfect host,” Rau laughed as he climbed into the Providence, starting to prep it for launch. “Doppelganger!” A long blue cat appeared besides Pegasus, “Mimic the Dark Gundam!” The cat saluted, leaping at the Dark Gundam, it transformed itself into a perfect copy. The Gundam fired energy bolts filled with chaotic magic. “You're starting to annoy me,” Rau said as he activated the Providence, closing the cockpit. “Oh yes, I forgot to mention, the Providence is nuclear.” The toon golem jumped at the Providence, landing on top of the cockpit, he glared at Rau, clenching his fist, he rose his fist, determine to drag him out of the machine. “Phase Shift armor, this unit is impervious to kinetic weapons,” Rau explained, typing away at the controls. “How does this sound Pegasus? You and your ilk leave and I won’t overload the Providence’s reactor. I know magic can do a lot but I know for damn sure it won’t protect you at ground zero of a nuclear blast.” Pegasus gritted his teeth, “Fine. Do not think this is over! I will return to stop this insane plan of yours!” “By the time you return, it’ll already be over.” Looking at his Dark Gundam copy, he smirked, “We’ll see about that, I’ll be back.” Toon World shook, absorbing the gundam copy, it transformed it into a Toon, a copy of his card returned to Pegasus. He looked back, a dark aura covered the Millennium Eye, “We’ll be seeing each other very soon Rau.” The book absorbed the three, shaking violently it stopped floating and closed. “I highly doubt that,” Rau said as the mountain continued to collapse. He blasted his way out, the Dark Gundam bursting out from the wreckage, it’s army following after it. “It seems we have to find a new base of operations.” Rau commented, looking at the ruined landmark. “Pity.” he turned, flying off, the Dark gundam burrowing under the ground to follow.