//------------------------------//
// LOSE; Continue? 
// Story: Calming Sigh-- with a Breath of Fire 
// by Laze Around 
//------------------------------//

My boot left a dent on the ground as I lunged, the tip of my spear aiming straight at Hakumen’s head.

The White Knight raised his left arm to guard, just as I had expected him to. A Zanshin circle appeared on his forearm and I noticed all of his limbs tense in preparation. As soon as my weapon made contact, my whole body froze. My eyes lost their focus on everything around us and my mind began to [Examine] everything about the skill. It was like stepping back to see the entirety of a piece of art.

My mind began to analyze everything I knew about the skill from past and present experience, recalling every spell and technique I knew that was even remotely close to the Zanshin. 

Images were brought up and discarded, deeming them incompatible with the skill. My magic and techniques were brought up, showing me their functions and how I’ve used them over the years.

Only three skills were left within my arsenal, the ones closest to the Zanshin. My mind had begun to stack them over one another, looking for the best alignment to create the Zanshin’s effect.

[Resist], my impenetrable barrier. Though still unmastered, it still provided me with a solid defence on a single area on my body, provided that I was given enough time to concentrate fully.

The skill could provide me with the defence needed for the Zanshin, however it does not have any of the paralyzing effects that comes when something makes contact with it.

[Evil Eye], my skill that expresses my desire using my psionics as a catalyst. The skill has the ability to penetrate the psyche of my foes and inject the emotion that I wanted into the one looking into my eyes.

Usually it uses my “Intent to Kill”, instilling fear into my opponents and make them hesitate. Sometimes the effects could be crippling, rendering my foes paralyzed from sheer terror. But this skill required eye contact. Anything else that doesn’t need the use of sight would be invulnerable to the attack.

Then there’s [Thunder Strike], the skill that uses electricity to paralyze the body by attacking the nerves.

It could work for the recreation of my version of the Zanshin, but… [Resist] required my full concentration to cast. It was hard enough to maintain, but layering a skill over it would require a great amount of mental effort. Effort that would most likely leave me like a sitting duck.

[Skill Incomplete. Unable to learn at current time.]

And in a blink of an eye, it was over.

My focus returned to everything around me and I was still suspended in the air. Between the moment I began to breakdown the Zanshin to the moment that my consciousness came to together again, barely even a second had passed. Everything came crashing back, and my eyes were locked onto Hakumen’s faceless mask.

I barely managed to twitch when Hakumen’s hand lashed out and grabbed my shirt. “HAA!” With a cry he turned around and hurled my body behind him, towards a tree.

His strength was far above any normal human’s, definitely above mine, and the force of his throw didn’t give me any opportunity to reorient myself before I crashed through several trees. It was on the seventh one that I finally managed to get my feet under myself, planting both of them on its trunk. No sooner when I did, I flipped myself higher into its branches, barely dodging Ookami as the sword sliced through the tree’s body, right where I had landed.

My back was throbbing, but I felt no broken bone. Those trees may have hurt, but they were plywood compared to the steel that was Hakumen’s knee that broke my ribs before.

The other Displaced looked up and I saw my face reflect off of his faceless mask. My lips were settled into a small frown, one hand aiming directly at him. The other one was keeping me balanced on the branch. Magic gathered within my palm and created a ball of condensed energy.

[SIROCCO!]

Multiple balls of combined fire and wind sprayed down on top of the White Knight. They were all over him even before he could raise a guard to defend himself.

I hopped off the tree as it began to fall from its severed trunk, my aim never wavering as I continued my barrage of explosives. I could see him inside the explosions, covering his face as his multiple eyes focused on me.

“Enough!” Hakumen swung his sword in a wide sweep, catching one of the unstable balls with his sword and activating his anti-projectile spell.

I didn’t stop my attack even as he hid inside the sphere of vacuum. Though it nullified my onslaught before it reached him, the circle didn’t seem to be having an adverse effect on Hakumen whatsoever. My mind once again tried to [Examine] what I was seeing.

[Failed to learn. Skill incompatible]

I scowled as my consciousness came back into focus.

“It’s useless.” Hakumen declared, standing casually within his circle of protection. He carried his sword in a reversed grip, his posture completely upright. “Your attacks cannot reach me.”

My eyes noted the circumference of the sphere, or more specifically its height. Hakumen’s feet were poking out from the bottom.

I raised my right foot high and stomped down on the ground, injecting my magic directly into the earth.

[QUAKE]

The earth rippled around me like water. As if someone had dropped a stone in the middle of a tranquil lake, the soil rose high and sank like waves. Hakumen wobbled on his feet when the spell caught him unprepared, his anti-projectile sphere phasing out into nothing.

[Mind’s Eye!]

My legs kicked off from the ground and hurled me towards the trees. I caught myself on their barks before I started bouncing off of them, circling around Hakumen before he regained his balance.

His eyes snapped over to where I landed, just as the ground had stopped trembling. I ducked down as far as I could as soon as I saw him turn. He took a step sideways as his body rotated and swung his sword wide.

My [Mind’s Eye] skill predicted the path of the sword and I moved just enough to dodge his swing. My favored katana materialized in my hand as I rose up, swinging the weapon upwards and catching the left side of his torso before I kicked him back to get some distance between us.

He didn’t even have a scratch on him. The Susano’o Unit was quite impressive. 

Hakumen’s feet made a drag trail on the ground as he kept himself upright. As soon as he caught himself he exploded into action immediately.

He tried to shove his pommel straight into my gut. Had I been standing still I would have definitely doubled over from the attack. Fortunately for me, I was never really comfortable in staying in the same place for a while in a fight.

I was already hopping back even before he recovered, but then he surprised me by swinging his sword immediately after his shove didn’t connect. I grew some dragon scales all over my left arm as Ookami made a curve straight to my side, hastily throwing up a quick [Resist] barrier as well just in case.

Hakumen’s sword landed on my barrier made out of condensed space and shattered it like glass; I didn’t have time to fully concentrate on it. My scales fared better when I braced it in front of the blade’s path, but the weapon still bit into my arm by an inch before I found myself being thrown away by the strength behind the attack.

I rolled up to my feet and used the momentum of my flight to keep jumping back away from the White Knight. If he had been curious about my scales, Hakumen didn’t say. He was more focused on gaining on me than the traits of the Character that inspired my body.

I threw a ball of fire and wind explosive at his face, only for Hakumen to bat it away with his sword and continue running without pause.

I spun, twirling around behind a tree, putting it between me and my opponent. I pushed on its trunk as soon as I completed the spin and threw myself backwards into a flip. Ookami cleaved through the tree as soon as I did.

I righted myself on my feet before I started making a run for it, throwing back balls of fire and wind from my [Sirocco] spell.

Hakumen showed me his mastery over the blade as he cut through every projectile that came at him, ignoring the ones that weren’t going to hit him or slow him down.

I changed tactics after that, channeling my magic through my legs and stomping down hard at every step.

[Quake!]

Seismic tremors bloomed from where my boot hit the earth, sending out wave after wave all around me and devastating the entire forest area.

Hakumen wasn’t even slowed, however. He used the trees as platforms and kicked off from them to continued his pursuit of me, his legs pulverizing each and every one he used. His aerial path left him untouched by my grounded tactic.

I clicked my tongue and flipped myself forward, landing on another tree before kicking myself off to meet Hakumen in the air.

He swung his sword as soon as he saw me coming, turning his body so that his entire weight was behind the blow. I turned and spun in the same direction of his swing, my own sword materializing into my hands as I deflected his attack.

As we passed each other, I coiled my body into a ball and forced myself to turn and face his back. My arm was outstretched and my magic gathered on my palm.

[Cyclone!]

Blades of wind erupted from my hand and sailed towards Hakumen. He had only just managed to turn to me before the spell was on him.

Multiple blades of wind slashed all across his body, leaving no cuts but definitely doing some damage based from how he was screaming.

“RAAAAH! Damn you!”

The winds had also destroyed his balance in the air, leaving him tumbling uncontrollably until he crashed into the ground like a ragdoll. Again, he had no scratch. It made me wonder what material was used to make his body.

Hakumen was on his feet barely a second later and flew to where I was standing, the ground beneath him exploding massively from his kick off. I was ready to face him then, hands glowing in preparation to create my weapons.

I met his downward slash with an upward swing of my [Mind Sword], his sword sliding down the blade of my weapon, bleeding it of its strength. I jumped and twirled over his horizontal slash, then ducked low as it made a return swing.

I ducked again under his rising diagonal, scoring an elbow into his gut that was powered by the penetrating strength of [Spirit Blast]. He froze then, completely stunned by the counterattack.

In the Blazblue, this could be considered as a Fatal Counter.

In that moment, I capitalized on my advantage.

My fist found itself in his gut, bending him forward, then his chin was forcefully raised by a foot that left me in a complete, vertical, split. The heel of the raised foot crashed down on his faceless mask, forcing him to look down. I spun, driving an elbow in the middle of his torso before following up with a palm thrust in the same area with the other arm.

The thrust pushed him back and it looked like he was finally starting to recover. I placed both of my fists on his torso for a final attack, elbows bent and my footing squared.

[BONEBREAK!]

Both fists were shoved forward with every strength I could muster. The psionic force that came along with it threw Hakumen back, where he crashed through several trees before finally stopping at the seventh one.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly standing back straight and relaxing every muscle that tensed in that attack.

Hakumen slowly made his way back on his feet, his whole body shaking either from exertion or rage. It was hard to tell without any expression to look at.

My lips quirked as I flipped backwards and landed on the vertical surface of another tree. I turned my back on the other Displaced and started climbing upwards into its branches and jumped straight through its leaves.

I heard the ground behind me explode and I knew that Hakumen was coming after me again. My magic started gathering under the soles of my feet and created a [Magic Ball]. That spell then transformed into [Simoon], the slightly stronger ball of fire and wind from [Sirocco].

I think I remember teaching this to my Rune Slayer student.

When the ball was completely transformed, I kicked both of my feet downwards and detonated the spell. The explosion resulted into a platform of concussive blast that propelled me higher into the air and far away from Hakumen’s reach.

The other Displaced only managed to cover a quarter of the distance of my flight before he started falling, his rageful cry audible even as he disappeared under the leaves. Looking down at Hakumen from the apex of my flight, I began to gather my magic for another [Combo].

Bright, blazing flames ignited in the palm of my hand. I reared my arm back and threw it downwards. It wasn’t aimed at Hakumen, as I knew that he could probably negate it, but instead I aimed it at the forest around him.

“[INFERNO!]”

The trees where Hakumen fell into erupted into flames. They began to spread around, the embers catching onto the dead leaves of the heavily forested area.

I threw my arms to the side and gathered as much wind as I could. I commanded what I managed to summon to contain the flames, gradually moving my arms closer to each other as I did. The winds moved in a spiral, corralling the blaze inwards into the area where Hakumen was.

“[TYPHOON!]”

Once everything was gathered, I relinquished my hold over the forces of nature and simply let go. There came a moment of silence, where everything went still. The flames were gone and the winds didn’t blow. I crossed my arms and raised my legs close to my body to brace myself as I fell. They two spells had combined.

“[GIGAFLARE!!]”

There was a bright flash, then went white.

A massive, ear-splitting explosion erupted from the forest. I was thrown back upwards again from the sheer force of the blast. I tumbled up in the air for a while, but soon managed to right myself and look down at the destruction.

The explosion was still spreading outwards, reminding me almost of the sweeping doom that I unleashed in the Badlands so many centuries ago; on a greatly reduced scale, thankfully. However I wasn’t done with my [Combo], yet.

What I did next was something I never would have done had this been my Equestria.

Before the explosion disappeared, I grabbed whatever leftover of my magic that was left in the destruction.

The blast had been nearly a kilometer wide. Everything in it now was nothing more than charcoal; both plants and animals were dead in the area of effect.

Tiny balls of light that held my leftover magic from the explosion were near the outer edges of the burnt circle. They began moving into a spiral, feeding off the magic that I was constantly pouring into them. They began to rise up higher into the air as they came close to the center, then hovered in place.

I fed them as much magic as I could afford, the [Combo] already draining nearly half of my massive reserves of magic. I landed in the trees just outside the burnt area and raised my right hand into the air to take hold of the ball of lights with my [Telekinesis].

I clenched my hand into a fist and brought my arm downwards.

[EARTHBREAKER!]

A rain of miniature [Gigaflares] buffeted the center of the burnt area. The ground shuddered with every blast and the deafening booms of the explosions rang like a raging god. It lasted for five, continuous, seconds before it stopped.

I hopped down from the tree that I landed on and started picking my ear. They were still ringing from the explosions even as I strolled through the devastated area in search of the other Displaced.

“Did I go too far?” I wondered, finding no signs of the White Knight. “I’d be very disappointed if he died from that.”

“[SHIPPU!]”

I stared at the massive wave of destructive energy heading straight at me. I didn’t stop picking my ear and allowed it to loom over my body, just enough so that I could finally see my shadow grow thicker behind me.

I silently used my [Shadowwalk] to dodge the other Displaced’s attack and stayed in the shadows until I was sure that it was gone. I reemerged under the roots of a burnt tree, still picking my ear, and started looking for Hakumen again.

He was walking over the desolated area, his sword pointed threateningly to the side. He slowly made his way towards where I was.

“To think that you would go this far just to learn a few measly techniques.” There was an unmistakable hint of rage in his voice.

Thankfully, I still managed to catch that even from the noise inside my eardrums. I turned around and used my healing spell to fix my hearing; I didn’t need that kind of distraction right now.

“I already said that I was desperate.” I shrugged. He wasn’t even limping. That was.... honestly very impressive. “I’m surprised that you’re not crawling after that. [Bonebreak] should have dealt a critical blow on your body, and [Earthbreaker] is actually one of my stronger combos.”

Rare, though, do I make this much destruction in such an open area. I usually do it in the Dragonlands.

“The Susano’o Unit is able to withstand the ravages of the Boundary.” He gestured towards his body, covered in dirt and dust but otherwise it was undamaged. “That, along with its automatic healing trait, allows me to continue fighting for a long period of time. I am a class far above and beyond your own.”

“Another line out of character. I get really confused when you do that.” I said as I clicked my tongue in annoyance, giving the other Displaced a slight glare. “You try to act like the real Hakumen, but then you do something this. The guy isn’t that arrogant. I really can’t see why you keep trying; it’s useless and pointless. Just be yourself, damn it.”

I kinda hate that way of thinking. I just realized it now, but I really do.

Because trying to keep yourself in-character puts a limit on what you could do and what you could accomplish. If I had done that then I probably wouldn’t have been able to pull off half of the things that I could do now.

I love learning; I love branching out my studies on magic and discovering new things that I could do with it. Learning and creating new skills was pretty much a hobby to me, now that I think about it. Acting in-character would have crippled that for me.

I looked back at him, my lips settling back into a small frown. My left foot slid back, shifting my body and hiding my left hand from Hakumen’s view.

“I’m not the real Ryu. You’re not the real Hakumen. We’re different. We’re not them. We are US. Learn the difference.”

“For you it may be needless and pointless,”  Hakumen said, bending his legs and going into his battle stance, “But to me, it is necessary to keep myself sane.”

I blinked in surprise at that.

My opponent’s whole body tensed and a gust of wind suddenly erupted from where he was standing. Along with it came a wave of power that I’ve never felt before.

“KISHIN UNIT, ACTIVATE!”

“Huh--?”

Before I could make another blink, Hakumen was already in front of me, the pommel of his sword driving deep into my sternum.

“Ghak--!”

Spit and air rushed out of my mouth. My body felt like it had caved inward. My arms fell limp as I stared down into nothing and tried to recover. There was an actual dent in the middle of my torso.

Breathe…

Breathe!

The same word repeated itself in my head as drool started running down my gaping mouth.

Hakumen grabbed me by the hair and forced me to face up towards him. Some sort of energy was surging from his body, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“It’s time I take this seriously.” Hakumen growled before he shoved me backwards and swung Ookami. “HAAA!”

I was able to cover my body in scales before the blade made contact. It probably saved me from being completely decapitated. The only thing it did was leave a gaping gash that probably went through some important organs.

I wasn’t sure. I was still busy suffocating.

I was thrown back by the strength behind the swing, which left me rolling through the scorched earth for a time, leaving a trail of blood flying everywhere I went. I let out a gasp as my back slammed into a dead tree, stopping my tumble and finally sucking some air back into my lungs. 

Then I screamed.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

The pain. The white, hot, burning pain.

I looked down in anger at the source of it. The gaping wound of my body continued to bleed and kept on sending signals to my brain. The damage was severe, and if I didn’t treat it soon then I would run out of blood.

I gritted my teeth and closed it in a flash of healing magic, [Restore], draining more of my reserves than I had intended. I didn’t have time to catch my breath as Hakumen was on me again.

He was faster; terrifyingly so. He was also more powerful.

My swords shattered after every blow, forcing me to drain my reserves again and again every time I created a new, sturdier one. I dodged and jumped back whenever I could, but it wasn’t enough. Hakumen kept forcing me to block. Not deflect. Block.

My arms shuddered and my muscles strained. I couldn’t find an opening for me to escape. He didn’t leave me any time to cast and just kept on attacking relentlessly.

I was losing. Badly.

“What’s wrong! Where’s that arrogance of yours now?!”

I blocked another attack and my sword shattered. Even allowing myself to be pushed back by his strength to get some distance, Hakumen didn’t relent. He was on me as soon as I recovered.

I gritted my teeth and glared, even as he shattered another sword.

Jumping backwards, I didn’t create another weapon. Instead, I covered my entire left arm with scales and raised it to meet Ookami’s blade. I had no delusions that my new Dragon Gene had the defensive capabilities to block the sword, but then again that wasn’t what I wanted.

It was a gamble, but I was betting that he still retained some of his civilian mentality. I couldn’t think of any other ideas at the moment, Hakumen wasn’t giving me any time to plan, it also didn’t help that I was panicking.

I bit back a scream as my arm was severed just above the elbow. I jumped back and stumbled slightly, but I didn’t fall.

Hakumen stopped moving, arm still outstretched from the swing, as his head followed the arm in the air until it landed.

I was panting breathlessly, sweating profusely, and clutching onto the stump of my newly severed limb. I stopped it's bleeding, but didn’t heal the wound. I had less than a quarter of my reserves left, and my healing spells didn’t regrow missing limbs.

Hakumen turned to me with barely any emotion telling in his posture. He was completely disinterested and just didn't care.

He stood up straight and pointed his sword to me. “Leave this place and never return.”

I wanted to make some witty retort out of spite, but I didn’t want to push my luck.

My breathing was better now, no longer breathless. My reserves were steadily recovering as I continuously used [Rest]. I looked over to my severed arm and slowly started making my way towards it. Half of my attention was on Hakumen, just in case he would attack.

I picked up the severed limb and looked at the cut. It was clean, and I was certain that it would be easy to reattach. I was afraid that I had to regrow this thing… again.

It’s been a while since I’ve come this close to death. The last time being when I ran into an ancient spirit lurking in Tartarus to train my magic spells with Holy property. It was still probably mad at me given that I destroyed one of its arms. Though I did have to sacrifice one of my own to do it.

I snorted at the memory and connected the severed limb to my stump and reattached them with [Restore]. I grimaced at how much magic it took just to do that. There were no sluggish movements from the arm; hopefully the magic took care of the nerves properly.

“Damn…” I sighed, stepping back cautiously from Hakumen. “I guess this is my limit.”

Hakumen scoffed, his blade still raised and pointing at me. “Do not make me repeat myself. If you ever come back,  I will sever the threads of your Fate.”

I jumped back further away and shrugged at him, knowing exactly the name of his attack that would do just that. [Time Killer] would sever my “Time” in the present, cutting my link to the past and future, thus ceasing my existence. It was a move that I definitely wouldn’t be able to learn. “The real Hakumen must be pretty terrifying if this is what his Displaced could do.”

“...”

“... Alright, I’m going.” I snorted before turning my back from him and sprinting away. Hakumen didn’t follow to make sure that I left, but I was okay with that.

I dove into one of the shadows under the forest as soon as I was out of sight. But I didn’t leave the dimension, yet. Something in the sky caught my attention, and I was curious to know what they wanted.




I was in the Castle of the Two Sisters, sitting on Luna’s old throne after I destroyed the one meant for Celestia.

Call it childish, but after going through all that trouble and only learning one skill from Hakumen, can you blame me for my bad mood?

“Finally.” I muttered on the throne. I’ve been bored for two hours just sitting their and updating my [Diary]. Though it did give me enough time to [Rest]. My reserves were almost back to full and I was ready for another confrontation. “Took you both long enough to find me.”

The sound of hooves stepping on the stone floor echoed in the old throne room. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, clasping both hands together under my chin.

“Princess Luna… Princess Celestia…” I greeted the two Princesses. I raised a brow as soon as got a full look at them. “You two look… You look like you’re both ready for war.”

Luna and Celestia were both wearing a full set of armors. Luna’s looked eerily similar to Nightmare Moon’s, and Celestia’s gold one looked… familiar.

The name Tyrant suddenly came to mind.

Her mane was also different. Instead of the usual tri-color that I’ve been used to, it was instead like a blazing inferno set upon her head… and tail, I suppose.

I probably would have made a joke about it... if only the two of them weren’t frowning so gravely.

“Displaced.” Celestia started, “If you know of us then there will no need to introduce ourselves.”

“Yeees?” I drawled. “To what designs doth Equestria’s princesses have to seek out this humble otherworlder?”

Both alicorns scowled at the show of disrespect.

“We saw your fight.” Luna said, stepping forward and getting a side glance from her sister. “We saw how you were able to force Hakumen into using his Overdrive.”

I ignored the look that Celestia was sending her sister and closed my eyes, starting to [Recall] what I knew about the Overdrive System.

That’s right. Didn’t the Blazblue have a power-up system in the later installments?

The Overdrive System was a type of… Ars Armagus/Magitech skill that lessens the burden on one's body to perform greater moves and skills. It was a type of mode that could only be used on a limited time in the game, but once performed in actual practice by a Displaced it would be up to the user to decide when to end it. That is, if it followed the same rules of my own abilities.

That’s probably the system used to access Unlimited Mode.

But there was also a drawback in that System. Though I can’t really [Recall] whatever it was, for some reason, but I knew that it was pretty bad.

The closest skill that I had to the Overdrive System would probably be [Celerity]. The skill releases my body’s limiters and unleashes my untransformed body’s full capabilities; all base stats are increased by 100%. The drawback of the skill, however, was that it lasts for only about thirty minutes.

I couldn’t stop it once it was in effect, and after the time limit my body would receive an excruciating amount of pain lasting for three days straight. That’s what happens when you push your body past your breaking point. I could lessen that penalty by using [Rest] for a whole day, but that method leaves me quite vulnerable for an entire 24 hours.

“So?” I asked, opening my eyes to look down on Luna, and to Celestia who was still giving her sister side long glances. “What of it, your highness?”

Both alicorn gnashed their teeth at my further disrespect, but I kept the look of disinterest on my face. I wasn’t one of their ponies, and, though they didn’t know it, I also have a station equal to theirs. As one of the Six members of the Dragon Council, the two sisters were not my betters.

“We wish to ask for your aid.” answered Celestia.

“My aid?” I asked, raising a brow. A sudden sense of Deja Vu washed over me.

Luna inhaled deeply and sighed. “Yes. Your aid. We need your help in finally bringing down Hakumen once and for all.”

“Oh?” This sounded interesting. “Tell me more.”



So it would seem that Hakumen was the boogieman of this world.

He has a reputation where he was both revered as a great Hero, in very small areas, and as the most heinous Villain.

He first appeared on the day that Luna and Celestia confronted Discord and seal him with the Elements of Harmony. Hakumen alone defeated the spirit of chaos, showing the princesses his mastery of the blade and the great amount of power hidden within his body.

And by “Defeat”, I meant that he killed Discord. He showed no mercy on the poor draconequus.

That meant that Chaos was dead; not sealed by Harmony, but snuffed out by Order.

Hakumen holds in his body something called the Power of Order. Based on my fragmented memory of it, it has the ability to resist and/or destroy Phenomenon Intervention. Whatever that was.

I don’t know much about it, but I do know that the Power of Order has some power-boosting effect. That, plus Hakumen’s ability to cut through dimensions to view alternate timelines/ alternate possibilities, it wasn’t really that hard to imagine the mischiveous spirit falling to his blade.

But still, I was having a hard time coming into terms that Discord was dead. Even though it wasn’t the Discord that I knew, it still affected me.

The princesses told me the history of this world and everything else that happened after Discord’s demise.

Luna never became Nightmare Moon.

The Elements of Harmony were returned to the Tree by Hakumen himself after the royal sisters tried to use it on him.

The Gryphons were nearly driven into extinction.

The Mane Six never came to be.

And the Dragons were no more. I couldn’t stop the grin that appeared on my face after hearing that.

Still though, I was getting a headache from all of these events that have changed. This place was a completely different Equestria. Nothing made sense to me; nothing was right. Nothing was like the Original timeline.

The only good thing about this world that I heard was that ponies actually Loved Princess Luna.

On the day that Hakumen started his crusade against all things that he deemed “Evil”, Luna had been working nonstop going into individual dreams and calming down every frightened creature that has ever encountered the White Knight. Even now, she still occasionally finds a frightened soul to calm after they saw Hakumen just wandering by.

Her kindness had led many of her subjects to love her because of this. Luna didn’t have any time to become jealous of Celestia as she was too busy doing her duty to calm her little ponies in their slumber.

The Sun Princess in turn became busy in planning things out with his guards to drive Hakumen away from her… excuse me I meant their land. Or if not, then to permanently put an end to him.

I was wondering why they didn’t just take the Elements back from the tree, but then later found out that they could no longer access it. Their Cutie Marks were erased from the tree’s surface, and their bonds with the Elements were completely severed.

They suspected that Hakumen had something to do with that, but I had my doubts. The character called Hakumen never had any kind of ability like that. Though I knew that Hakumen had the power to sever someone’s “Time”, thus ending their existence, I never heard of him being capable of being able to sever “Bonds”.

The Gryphons apparently wanted to subjugate the ponies, for some reason. The Princesses never told me much of the details but the result of that brief war was that Hakumen came in and slaughtered nearly everyone of the cat-bird hybrid.

They didn’t even know who the Mane Six were. Dread started to fill me after hearing that. I was going to see if the Apple family still existed in this timeline later on.

Sunset Shimmer was Celestia’s current student, not Twilight Sparkle. The purple pony didn’t exist, as far as Celestia knew. The mustard and ketchup colored mare was learning combat and magic from her teacher, something that made me look over Celestia with a contemplating quirk on my lips. At least she wasn’t as soft as the Celestia that I knew.

Luna, surprisingly (or maybe not), had Trixie Lulamoon as her current student. Like her sister, she was teaching the blue colored mare combat and magic, though they were focusing more on the subtler side of the arcane. I gave the alicorn a nod of approval on that, something that Celestia didn’t seem to like based on her mane suddenly blazing faster for a brief moment.

That made me grin.

As for the dragons… Hakumen decided that they weren’t needed in this world, a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agreed with. He went on a dragon-slaying quest when he wasn’t around terrorizing local bad guys.

With the last of the flying lizards put out of their misery, the White Knight started wandering Equestria for the sole purpose of smiting evil. Anything that was doing something unjust was cut down by his blade.

I found that pretty extreme, even for the real Hakumen.

“And now you want me to get rid of him?” I asked, getting a nod from both of them. “Why should I? This isn’t my problem, nor is it any of my business. I only came here to fight and learn, not actually kill my fellow Displaced.”

“But you must see reason!” Celestia insisted, “Hakumen’s killing has gone far enough! Who knows what he will do once there is no more foes for him to fight.”

“... That’s a good point.” I muttered, considering perspective on this. With no more evil to vanquish, who else would he draw his blade to?

“He must be stopped now.” Luna said, “It was only recently that he entered Tartarus and came out covered with the blood of every being there.”

I was honestly shocked by that. As well as a bit disturbed. If he managed to clean out Tartarus, then I couldn’t possibly win against him in a full on fight to the death. That is, if this world’s Tartarus was the same as the one in mine.

Wait a minute. Why am I even considering a death battle with another Displaced? I should just leave and put this all behind me.

But at the same time I still wasn’t satisfied with my fight with the White Knight. I was definitely itching for a rematch, but the possibility of me winning was still slim. Unless I actually go in for the kill, I don’t think I could beat Hakumen.

But the man had already attacked me with the intent to kill. Does that mean that I’m allowed to do the same now? He only did that because I forced him, and it was because I was intruding in his world to begin with. Do I have the right to take his life now even though it was my fault that he was pushed too far? Was it really even my fault to begin with, given what I've heard of his history.

What a dilemma.

“I don’t know.” I muttered, leaning back on the throne. “There’s nothing really in it for me other than pain and a possible new skill. And even then the skill isn’t even a sure thing.”

There was still one move in Hakumen’s arsenal that I didn’t see, and that was what I wanted.

The royal sisters exchanged a glance before nodding at each other. “We are willing to pay you anything.”

“Anything?” I asked, greed suddenly rising inside me. I blame that on my dragon side.

“Yes.” Celestia nodded.

I frowned at her, which she returned with a scowl. I looked at Luna and hummed in contemplation, getting a deeper scowl from the Sun Princess. What crawled up her ass?

“Then I want Ookami.” I told them, leaning back and placing my ankle on my knee. “I want Hakumen’s sword.”

“That’s…” Luna hesitated, “Doable, I suppose.”

“So you agree, then?” Celestia asked. “Help us take down Hakumen and you may keep his sword.”

“Of course.” I answered.

Not really. No.

I wasn’t really sure about this course of action. I don’t really want to kill a fellow Displaced, someone who, more or less, suffered the same circumstances that I did.

But there was a part of me, a violent and very destructive part of me, that wants to make Hakumen pay for nearly killing me. I wanted to rip him to shreds and tear him limb from limb. I wanted revenge for my loss.

I tilted my head downwards and looked at the princesses past my fringe, trying to hid the fury in my eyes.

This part of me, I also blame it on my dragon side.

“But before we go after Hakumen,” I started, “I want something to be prepared for me.”

The sisters looked at each other in confusion as I stood up from the throne. Only now did Celestia notice that her old one was wrecked and she gave me a heated glare because of it.

My only response to her was a grin. One fiilled with many sharp fangs.




“I still do not see the point in this.”

“Trust me on this.” I said, looking at my reflection as I combed my hair neatly so that they wouldn’t spike up anymore. Now if that blasted ahoge would just stay down… “If there’s one person that could rile Hakumen up, it’s this one.”

“But you aren’t him.” Luna uttered pointedly, “You said so yourself.”

“I’m not.” I agreed wholeheartedly, “ But that doesn’t mean that I can’t act like him. Pass me the coat, please.”

“Is this plan actually going to work?” the blue alicorn asked, levitating the next article of clothing towards me. “We may have worked hard on enchanting those clothes, but they are still nothing compared to real armor. We could have given you something else.”

“It’s fine.” I placated the mare, slipping my arms into the sleeves of the altered raincoat. “Besides, an armor is completely useless if I don’t intend to get hit. I prefer speed over defence any day.”

Luna sighed, shaking her head. “If you are sure.”

“Yes, princess.” I said, throwing the hood of the coat over my head and shadowing the top half of my face before turning to her with a grin stretching far on my lips. “I’m sure.”



Now for round two.