80. Enter Vanta
“Shit, it's happening again. Rainbow, stay close. I have no idea what's going to happen this time,” I warn her, lifting the sword that I stole from the barracks. It's nowhere near as sharp as it should be, but against the Oppressed, it's the best weapon I have.
“What is this? I've heard it several times since getting down here, and something spooky always happens right afterward,” Rainbow asks anxiously, taking my advice and drawing nearer to me.
“I think it's coming from whatever is keeping us down here. I heard it right before something canceled out my magic, back in the shaft. That's how I fell.” I explain as best and as quickly as I can. I don't know much longer we have before something happens. The whispering seems to grow closer, and an evil magic fills the area. This time I can feel it, so the culprit must be about to launch another offensive. I just hope it's not another massive Oppressed like the one we just took out. I'm not sure if we'd be able to beat it this time.
A breath of chilled air flows through the room, coming from the crevice in the cavern down below. Feeling it flow over my skin causes rigid goosebumps to form. My next reaction is to shiver so my body can adjust to the change in temperature.
“Sweet Celestia, that's co...” Rainbow starts to complain while shivering as well, but she's interrupted by the sound of crashing metal. In the center of the fenced area, there's a menagerie of mechanical equipment that's likely connected to the hydroelectric generator down there. There's several instruments whose purpose I can't guess, and each one of them seems to be activating at once. The metal flaps that cover the control panels of each device come loose and slam open on their own, flapping back and forth as if they were caught in gale force winds.
The entire structure that's hanging over the cavern starts to shudder and shake. Pressure gauges on the instruments start to rise into the red range, electricity sparking from the control panels and their main structures. I look around wildly until I find the other exit from this room, all the way on the other side. That's really far. If we want to get there, we'll have to move fast. “Fuck it, let's get out of here. I'm not waiting around to find out what's going to happen,” I yell over the awful din created by the malfunctioning machines.
“Right with you!” is Rainbow's panicked response. Together, the two of us start to sprint towards the other exit. The moment we start running, there's a loud snapping sound, and then the entire fencing tilts downwards towards the cavern. “Whoa!”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I curse, unbalanced by the sudden shift in the incline of the floor. It shifts again, tilting further downwards and almost knocking me right off my feet. Rainbow takes to the air, and just as I'm about to do the same, a magically charged wave of air passes over the both of us...causing Rainbow to fall right out of the air and my magical aura to sputter out. That's the same goddamn wave that put me down here in the first place. I'm getting really tired of shit like that. “Shit, that crafty son of a bitch canceled our magic! Run, Rainbow!”
“What? How can it do that?!” Rainbow exclaims in shock and disbelief, but she does run after me, quickly getting ahead of me with her superior speed. Everything seems to be going to hell. The platform tilts further and further, causing machines, tools, and other things that aren't secured to the floor sliding down.
Several seconds pass, with both of us running as fast as we can with as much energy as we can muster, streaking across the rapidly inclining fencing while dodging falling debris the entire way.
A particularly large machine seems like its going to hit me, and I almost try to knock it away...and then I realize I can't use magic. Thus I end up lunging past it desperately, the back edge of it scraping my back and tearing at my shirt.
Just as we're about to reach the other edge, the walkway breaks away from the door entirely and sinks downwards. Rainbow makes a desperate leap for the door and just barely manages to scramble on to the ledge. She turns around and quickly reaches a hoof out for me. “Seth, grab on!” she cries for me.
I reach the edge and jump for it as well and my fingertips brush just up against her hoof...but my efforts are in vain. When I jumped, the platform had fallen too far to give me enough leverage to reach her without my magic. Rainbow's eyes widen in horror as she watches me fall down into the cavern with the platform. "Seeeeeeeeth!" Rainbow screams after me with desperation. She tries to fly again, but her magic hasn't recovered to that point yet.
I cry out in pain, feeling myself splash belly first into the river just ahead of the platform, dropping my sword in the process. The stream isn't that deep, so I ignore the pain in the chest and right myself, standing on the river's bottom. I cough and spit out water, as the impact had caused some of it to go up my mouth and nose.
The fencing is shattering and disintegrating behind me upon its impact with the river's bottom, sending lethal debris flying all over the place. There's practically a tidal wave of metal and machinery cascading down towards me, promising a painful death to anyone unlucky enough to get in its path. Without my magic, there's no place for me to go. I'm trapped between the wall of the cavern and certain death.
Hold on a minute, this river is going somewhere. I quickly dive for the crevice in the wall where the rest of the river is going. It's low to the water's surface, so I have to dive beneath the water. From there, the current takes me through the gap and beyond. Behind me, I can hear Rainbow yelling out for me. I don't want to leave her there, but it's either that or die.
I feel my magic returning as I shoot down the stream. “Finally!” I exclaim, leaping out of the water and powering up so I can hover in the air. There's a tunnel down here just high enough for me to hover out of the water. Just as I'm flying back towards the crevice, the wave of debris collides with the wall with so much force that the tunnel shakes, dust and rock falling from the ceiling. I hear the sound of shifting earth, an then the rock just above the crevice falls loose, sealing the way back with a cascade of earth and stone.
It takes a full minute for the earth and debris to settle. There's so much dust in the air I have to cover my eyes until it clears enough for me to see. The river has been effectively choked by the cave-in and debris, so that only a trickle is passing through. I hover there in shock for a few moments, realizing that I'd just lived through what amounts of a cave-in. That whispering fucker caused a cave-in, and separated me from Rainbow.
“Shit, I'm cut off...and I lost my sword. Fucking lovely,” I grunt, lowering myself down to the now mostly dry ground. The pile of debris blocking my way back to Rainbow is massive, so if I wanted to bust my way back in, I'd have to use quite a bit of force...and that would just cause another cave-in. No, if I want to meet back up with Rainbow, I'll have to find another way out. Perhaps these caverns will lead somewhere.
Or...I don't have to go into the caverns at all. For some reason, there's an entrance back into the complex here, jutting out of the rock wall like an open artery. For some reason, Sombra's ponies built into these caverns. I guess this is supposed to be an escape route of sorts if things went sour.
There's no door, but a metallic shutter instead, and there's a light at the bottom of the shutter that's lit up red. Perfect. Well, I think I can get back in through here. Then, I'll find a roundabout path to Rainbow. This is only one floor down; it shouldn't be that hard to find a way up....even though I've been trying to find a way up for who knows how long now.
Inspecting the shutter reveals no means of opening it, like a handle or the like. That means this thing is electronic. The red light must mean its locked. You know, the logic every video game teaches you. There's got to be some other way of opening this thing, like a place where I can use this ID card or...hold on a minute, what the fuck am I doing?
A single punch accompanied by magical power shatters through the metal shutters easily enough. Seriously, I feel rather foolish right now. Go without magic for a few seconds and suddenly I forget that I have it at all. I step over the hole and into the complex once more, noting how the place is well lit. I guess that makes sense, what with the hydroelectric generator that...used to be there. I guess that means all this light is running on borrowed time until the reserve power is depleted. Hydroelectric power, if I remember correctly, doesn't have that much of a reserve power, so it won't be long before I'll be reduced to using my phone again.
I turn a corner to find myself in a long descending hallway. The whispers are gone, so the only sound to accompany is that of my feet tapping against the metallic floor, and the sound of my own breathing. This hallway is pretty long, and it looks like there's a T shaped intersection at the end.
Just as I'm deliberating on which direction I should go in, the light at the very end of the hallway flickers and shuts off. Just as I'm beginning to question whether or not the reserves could already be running out, the rest of the lights follow suit, one by one, filling the hall with darkness that grows ever closer to me with each one that goes out.
“Oh...hell the fuck no...” I stutter, taking several shaky steps back. This just seeing the lights go out like that, even though I know they're probably just on a circuit, sends chills down my spine. I can't go back, so there's nothing I can do except stand there shaking as the darkness engulfs me. “Oh my god...if I ever see the light of day again...I think I'm going to cry.”
Fortunately, it looks like there's a back up generator or something, because two dashed lines of red lights embedded on either side of the floor illuminate the hallway with a dim light. It's so dim that it hurts my eyes, making me blink several times to get used to the light level.
Once my vision clears, my blood turns to ice. Down at the intersection, that same woman in the hospital gown that I've been seeing over and over again walks from the right side of the intersection to the other side, limping and holding her chest as if she is in pain, until she disappears from view.
“Goddamn,” I hiss between clenched teeth, shivering slightly. I don't know why, but I thought that I wouldn't have to deal with her, now that the Oppressed are my main problem. I guess I was wrong. “Well, guess what direction I'm not going in?”
I reach the end of the hall and turn right...but there is no right. I blink incredulously and look again. There's just no fucking right turn here anymore. It's just a solid, completely unmarked wall. That can't be right. I could have sworn this was a T-intersection. How is it suddenly a left turn?
I let out a prolific stream of profanities and force myself to look down the hallway where the ghost went. Thankfully, there's no sign of her, so I gather up the nerve to turn down that hallway and follow it for as far as I can.
Fuck, I wish Rainbow was here. It's not fair that I got to meet up with her for a few glorious moments before those motherfucking whispers fucked us over, and now I have no idea where she is. Damn, now I'm worrying about her.
At the end of the hallway, there's a sealed metal door that opens the moment I get close to it. Inside looks like disturbingly similar to a hospital ward, and I think I can hear...is that moaning? It sounds like someone's in serious pain. I summon my rifle, because I know that there's no one around here alive other than Rainbow, so I can't take any chances.
When I walk into the room, I notice the beds lining the walls, and I search them for the source of the moans. Sure enough...one of them is filled...and I almost throw up from what I see.
There's a human body chained to the bed, its limbs partially mutated. Its left arm is so swollen that the shackle is digging into it. Whoever that used to be has been dead a long time, because its skin is that typical dehydrated sickly brown that's indicative of a preserved body. There's even long hair left on its skull, telling me that it used to be female. Oh god...I can't believe this. Goddammit, Vanta! Goddammit, Sombra!
I leap backwards in utter shock when the body on the bed lurches upwards, struggling against its bonds. It moans loudly, and then its head turns at an unnatural angle to look at me. Its moan turns to a ferocious snarl, and it struggles ever the harder against its restraints, filling the room with the sound of jangling chains.
I...I think I understand now what that woman was trying to get me to do. Judging by the similar hair and the tattered hospital gown the undead thing is still wearing...I think it's safe to assume that they're one and the same.
“I understand now,” I whisper aloud, transforming my rifle into a pistol. I approach the bed, confident that the chains can hold the creature down. “No doubt there's no way you can rest in peace while your spirit is being held captive. I can't believe Vanta's scientists forgot about you down here.”
The remains of the woman's body attempts to lunge at me, but the chains hold it back. When I reach it, I place the palm of my hand on its chest and push it down gently, but forcefully. “Shhh, calm down. It's over,” I say, even though I know the thing is beyond hearing me. But I know the woman's spirit is still here. I slowly and tenderly place the barrel of my pistol at the creature's head, even as its jaws gnash and try to reach me.
Looking down, I notice a name tag pinned to the hospital gown, written in Equestrian. It's easy enough to sound out. “Good night, Holly,” I whisper softly to it, and the I pull the trigger, firing a blast of magic right through its skull and through the bed beneath it. The body gives a single gurgle, and then falls still, put out of its misery at last.
With that, the oppressive atmosphere in the room seems to lift. I look around, but there's no sign of the woman..er...Holly. I guess putting her body down freed her spirit, so she's off to wherever the hell spirits go. I'm glad I could do at least that much for her. I stand there, feeling intense sorrow for what I just had to do, and what that poor girl had to suffer through. How long has she been trapped here, looking for any way to release herself from the agony of being enslaved like that?
Seriously though, I can't believe this. Experimenting on humans is bad enough, but to just leave one, unable to die, tied to a bed for who knows how long? That's fucking horrible. If I find Vanta, I'm going to murder him for everything he's done.
I take a quick look around the room to see if there's anything useful, like another exit. Once I determine that there isn't, I leave back the way I came. To my bemusement, the corner I turned to get here is back to being a T-intersection. I don't know if that was an illusion, or what. I guess Holly really wanted me to find her body. Not that I blame her. However, I need to find Rainbow and make sure she's okay.
Passing through the newly opened route brings me into a spiraling pathway with high edges that descends all the way to a dirt floor. That's the only way forward, so I start to walk down and around. I catch the pungent scent of blood and rotting flesh, the further down I descend. I grunt, holding my nose. That's really strong. A lot of people must have died down here and left to rot for a smell like this to be lingering around. Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick.
Along the descending path, there are offshoots that lead to small living areas, complete with ratty bedrolls and restrooms. These living areas don't look maintained at all, likely because after the scientists and soldiers died and were reborn as undead, all of this became unnecessary.
Also on those offshoots are paths that lead to an open room...and I think I know where this is. I'm almost out, but I'm not leaving without Rainbow. I'm hoping that at the bottom of this thing is another way that will lead back to where we split up. Then the two of us will try to leave.
As I step onto the dirt floor, I realize that simply leaving won't be that simple. Just trying to leave will likely draw out whatever it is that's trying to keep us here, and we'll have to deal with it. I take a breath, looking over myself. I'm a little battered from the ordeal with that giant Oppressed, but I think I'm ready enough to fight if it comes down to it.
Down here at the bottom, there's only one way forward, and it leads out into the same open room that I'd spotted before. As I walk, something on the ground starts to crunch beneath my feet. I don't even need to look to know that I'm walking on bones.
Yes, this is the room that I saw over the cameras. The wide, expansive chamber stretches on for quite some distance, seeming a lot larger in person than it did over the cameras. I'm at the very bottom of the complex, and the elevator shaft is directly cross from me, on the other side.
The bones are piled up against the walls and scattered across the floor, making me think that this place was likely a disposal chamber for failed test subjects. Considering that some of these bones are way larger than they should be, I think I may be right in that assumption.
And then there's that strange altar on the other side of the room, in front of the elevator that I need to reach. The one I saw over the cameras. It's so much stranger to see it in person, because there's literally a mummified pony body hanging suspended in midair, slowly rotating within the magical field. It's quite a distance away from me, about the length of a football field. Yeah, I did mention that this room was massive. But what the hell is that thing's purpose? Why keep it preserved like that? It's not like Sombra's ponies were experimenting on other ponies, were they?
I put that aside, instead turning my head to the right. There's another entrance to this room over there, though by how large it is, I'm assuming it's the main entrance. That must lead back to where I parted ways with Rainbow. If I head that way, I should be able to find her again.
The moment I take a step towards that archway, that confounded whispering starts up again. I freeze in place and summon my rifle, ready for anything. I knew I'd run into this here, but I thought I'd at least have until I tried to leave. I guess not.
Nothing happens at first, confusing me. The whispers are ambient, rather than threatening. I try to follow them to their source. I should have known. If I'm reading this correctly, the whispers seem to be coming from the suspended body.
Before I can make any other moves, a voice echoes throughout the room, disembodied, cold, and hollow-sounding. “That's quite enough wandering around for you, human,” it spoke in a condescending tone. Hold on a minute...that voice. I think I've heard it somewhere before. My suspicions are confirmed when the voice speaks again. “You're quite persistent, pushing further even when met with the harshest opposition...I should applaud you.”
I don't drop my guard, looking around for the source of the voice. It seems to be coming from everywhere at once. When I don't see anything, I instead choose to answer it. I'll probably find out more that way. “I should have figured you'd still be around. If what I've learned here has taught me anything, it's that you fuckers don't even let death get in your way,” I snap back, feeling slightly foolish about talking so seriously to midair. “Isn't that right, General Vanta?”
“Oho...you even know who I am. You're quite the nosy one, aren't you? Did I ever give you permission to snoop through my private files?” Vanta comments from wherever it is he's hiding. “No, you looked through them as if you were entitled. How very human of you.”
“Oh, you shut the fuck up right now. Like you have any right to talk about the human race!” I shout up at the ceiling. “Why don't you come down here and show yourself, so I can put a few rounds in that undead head of yours?”
“Don't be so impatient. You have time, don't you? Settle down and converse with me. After all, there's so much we have to discuss, Seth Rogers,” Vanta scolds me with a little chuckle, a cold wind sweeping through the room and chilling my skin.
“How the fuck do you know my name?” I demand, taken aback. I never even told Sombra my name when I met him, so it doesn't seem possible that this lackey of his would know it.
“Why wouldn't I, when your delightful niece told me so much about you?” Vanta responded smugly. That one sentence causes me to gasp, and then growl, clenching my fists hard. “Did you know she kept a diary? What a delightful girl she was. She wanted so much to meet you again. I enjoyed taking her apart and making her mine. Did you enjoy your reunion, when you first arrived in this time?”
A surge of emotions rushes through me at his words. I want nothing more than to rip him into shreds for laying a hoof on my family, but I'm also saddened. I never knew that Maka wanted to meet me. I knew that she knew about me, likely from Adam, but...how much did my brother actually tell her? Wait a minute...something Vanta said seemed strange.
“Wait a minute, meet me again? I never met her. I met Sombra before she was ever born,” I ask in confusion.
“King Sombra. I won't have an inferior being such as you refer to him in such a disrespectful manner!” Vanta hisses angrily, earning a derisive scoff from me. I'll call him whatever the fuck I want.
“Would you prefer I call him that bastard Sombra? See, it suits him,” I respond, hoping to antagonize him a bit. “Now answer my question. Why did you say Maka wanted to met me...again?”
“You never met her? Perhaps I read that entry wrong,” Vanta muses, confusing me further. He gives off another chuckle. “Perhaps I should brush up on my English. Waiting down here for THREE THOUSAND YEARS tends to grate on the memory!”
That last statement is spoken in a maniacal fashion. If Vanta wasn't insane before, I guess he is now. That means he's more dangerous than ever. I need to be careful. I wish he would show himself, so I can confront him directly.
“Now then, I'll have you know you're very important to me, Seth,” Vanta continues in a completely normal voice, in stark contrast to his crazy shouting a moment ago. “You see, when I noticed you scrambling around so close to the edge of my influence, I recognized you. I was ordered to keep you alive...because King Sombra really wants to get his hooves on you, though he wouldn't tell me the reason. That's why I brought you down here. So, if you surrender yourself now, I promise I won't conduct any...permanent experiments.”
“Me? Surrender? Are you kidding? You expect me to just lie down and give up, after seeing what you did to my race!?” I demand incredulously, my voice rising. Edge of influence? Brought me down here? That confirms it. This is the one that's been fucking with me the whole time. I guess that mention of an edge of influence is why he didn't try to fuck with me earlier. Something must be keeping him down here in this complex, such that he couldn't affect me until I got close enough. My question to Vanta gets him to laugh in a crazy, high-pitched tone.
“Oh please, don't you of all people start trying to act noble. As if you ever cared about your kind,” Vanta derides me. My retort dies in my throat. How could he know that? Maka couldn't have stated as such in her diary, because she never met me. I never told Sombra, and...what the fuck? “You look confused. Should I explain it to you?”
“Start talking,” I command, narrowing my eyes.
“Very well, I'll tell you what I know, what little there is. I was King Sombra's top general, but never was I his right hoof pony,” Vanta admits, a little frustration in his voice. “When he brought me along to this era, we were told that his primary objective was to find individuals with high negative energy. The more the human hated himself and others...the better suited for his goals. That being said, the very fact that you were chosen tells me all I need to know about you. You're just as scum as the humans you said you hated. How delightfully hypocritical, for you now to act like you're upset that your race is gone.”
I freeze, my hear beating in my chest. I've been telling myself things like that in my head ever since viewing that video, and I was starting to think I was wrong...but to hear somepony like Vanta saying it back to me? It hurts. It fucking hurts so much. My posture slumps, and my shoulders start to shake.
Then, I remember something I heard Sombra say back when I met him. “Hold on a minute, I wasn't chosen! When I interrupted him and took whatever spell he was making, he said it wasn't meant for me!” I protest weakly, hoping to prove Vanta wrong.
“What is that? A pathetic attempt to make yourself out to be better than you are? Hah!” Vanta exclaims, amused. He read right through what I'm trying to do, even though what I said was the truth. “I'll tell you. You're right, you weren't his original target. That much he said to me. There was a girl, much worse than you, that was his target. Even though you interrupted him...King Sombra decided you would work just as well.”
“A girl...worse than me? But...I don't know of anyone like that except...oh fuck.” I stop right in the middle of my reply as the realization strikes me. There's only one girl that fits that description.
Sombra had been after Amaryllis the whole time. By stopping him in the stairwell, I'd effectively saved her...and doomed her at the same time. What would have happened, if it had been her transported here instead of me? Would she have made any friends? Would she have stopped Chrysalis as I did, or would she have come back to me? I don't know whether to be happy or sad that I'd stopped her from coming to Equestria.
“It seems you've realized it, haven't you?” Vanta taunts me from his hiding place. “Now, I've told you all I know about King Sombra's intentions. It's time for you to surrender. Come, and keep me company until my lord returns. I'm sure I can come up with something fun for us to do while we wait.”
“I guess it sucks to be you then. I'm not surrendering, and Sombra is long dead,” I retort, crossing my arms. I'm hurt by how right Vanta was about how I was...or am...but that doesn't mean I'm going to lie down and let him fuck me up with whatever twisted experiments he has in mind.
“What? Don't lie to me. King Sombra was fully aware that his own defeat was likely. It's ludicrous to believe that somepony as intelligent and powerful as himself would go into the final battle without a plan,” Vanta snaps at me, seeming legitimately angry by the suggestion that his lord might be dead. I smirk, because now it's me that's holding something over his head.
“I'm not lying. Celestia herself told me that she and Luna turned his body to dust and crushed his empire between the two of them. Looks like you're living in the past, buddy. Heh, both literally and figuratively,” I reveal to him, chuckling darkly at my own off-color joke.
“I told you not to LIE TO ME!” Vanta's voice heightens to a screech, and the room starts to shake, magical power filling the room. “They could not have killed him...his power was so great, nopony could contend with him! How dare you slander him by insinuating that he could possibly perish to the likes of those self-righteous sluts!?”
“Then where is he now? Why hasn't Sombra already returned? It's been a long time since he fell. Over a thousand years, in fact. Yet despite that, there's a distinct lack of Sombra in the world,” I demand, enjoying his distress probably a little more than I should. “I think you've been waiting too long.”
“No...no! I refuse to accept this! My king is invincible! He always had a back-up plan!” Vanta shrieks, and a wave of magic sweeps across the room. I tense up, wondering if I'm about to lose my magic again, because it's clear that he must have been the one canceling my magic out as well, thanks to his own admittance. Thankfully, as the magic passes over me, nothing happens to me. Instead...bones start to rattle and shake on the ground, forming mini-waterfalls of bones down each of the piles. “If you're going to keep lying to me...I'm going to make you tell me what really happened!”
I feel something brush against my leg. Looking down, I see that hundreds of bones are streaming past me, surging around my leg like a river of death. I see leg bones, arm bones, pelvises, human skulls, pony skulls, and now there's so many I can't make out individual bones.
All of the bones converge in the center of the room, connecting to one another with a cacophonous clacking sound. A hill of bones forms, and then, to my shock, a structure starts to form, made entirely out of bones.
Two large pillars form first, bones scuttling up the sides like some kind of twisted insect, connecting to the top of them to make them even larger. Eventually, the two pillars connect at the center, so that they now resemble...a pair of legs. Oh fuck.
I tense up, getting into a combat stance with my rifle clenched in both hands, in its standard form. “You wanted me to show myself...I'm going to give you a physical form you won't be able to forget!” Vanta shouts in a deranged fashion, a torso starting to form from the interconnecting bones. “All I have to do is keep you alive...he never said I couldn't tear the limbs from your body! I'll force the truth from you...even if I have to do it myself!”
Two arms form next, and then finally the head forms. When his makeshift body is completed, it towers over me, standing around twelve meters tall. It looks like he tried to make a human body, but instead of hands or toes, it has hoof shaped constructs, each tipped with wicked sharp talons constructed from bone. For the head...it's not even a human skull. It's a giant, twisted pony skull with sharpened teeth completely unlike the herbivorous teeth that ponies usually have.
I take a few steps back from it, trembling a little from beneath its eyeless gaze. Then, the whispering intensifies, and then wisps of a glowing, translucent blue substance stream into the room from all over the place. Behind a pillar, from the upper floors, from behind me, from the individual rooms, and even from the mummified body in the magical field, the wisps converge upon the skull of the bone construct. They seep inside of its eyes, mouth, and cracks in the skull...and then the entire construct shudders, as if coming alive. Its eye sockets suddenly fill with two ominous orbs of glowing crimson light, and both of them turn to glare down at me.
“Prepare yourself, Seth Rogers...I'm going to show you the necromantic magic that destroyed your kind's defenses, once and for all!” The construct's mouth opens and closes with each syllable, Vanta's voice emanating from within. The skeleton leans down and takes a combat stance, its talons scratching against one another with a painful screech.
Multiple curses run through my mind as I power myself up. This time, I'm by myself. I don't have Rose, Iron, Blades, Celestia, or Luna to help me. I have to do this on my own.
I have to defeat him, and avenge the many humans that suffered and died down here at his hooves.
Now then, I've churned this one out a day after the last one, but I'm not sure I can promise another one tomorrow, mostly because the next one will be a long one. It will likely be another massive 10,000 word chapter, like every climax chapter is.
I hope you liked the interaction between Vanta and Seth. It was a little of a back and forth there for them. I've been looking forward to writing Vanta's character for quite some time, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
Credit to Castwing for the name Vanta.
So...after all this, I'd love to hear what you think. How many of you want Vanta to die a horrible death? 
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I do! Also make it an ironic death please!
I'd much rather leave him alive, but completely broken and unable to do anything. Not sure how to write something like that.
My favorite method of torture is to cut off their limbs, remove their eyes, ears, tongue, and sinuses, and put them on life support while flooding their nervous system with pain somehow so they can never fall asleep.
But I don't think that would work here in this case.
I need to think of more creative ways to torture things.
Maybe do all of the above, but also cast a spell that constantly regenerates his body, and then banish him into the Sun. He'll burn for billions of years, never allowed to die, until the Sun goes nova and/or collapses into a black hole.
Or even after the Sun goes nova he still can't die. He'll float helplessly in the empty vacuum of space as he constantly has his insides sucked out by the pressure only to immediately regenerate and have them sucked out again for the rest of eternity.
Ohhh, shiit is gonna go down next chapter! I can't wait!!
Nah, screw dramatics. I want his death hard and fast. Target the weakpoint for massive damage and blow the fucker to pieces!
This guy doesn't deserve a drawn-out death-scene.
(I wonder how long it's going to take Seth to think of shooting the mummy? I mean... sniper rifle!)
5513207 Oh yes an ironic death would be glorious. say he comes back to life for only as moment just to have his neck snapped
any who, a very nice chapter here, flowed well enough towards the end that i could almost see where it was going (seriously at one point before the thing actually became a thing i was seeing a giant shadowy ghost monster thing with bones floating around in it and on it like armor but bone zoid works too :P)
and at this particular moment
all i thought was "oh sh
things are going to get real and get pissed." (see also "you have f
ed up just now")
5513421 Yeah, it would be funny.
I'm probably going to catch hell for this, but... I do NOT want Vanta to die a horrible death. (please PM me all hate mail/other responses)
You know it makes me wonder how exactly did humans lose to Sombra, with all the weapons and advanced technology on our side we should have been able to win or at the very least a long and grueling pyrrhic defeat.
Death? Nah, that is the easy way, if he die, Seth cannot torture him.
5513578
It's mostly due to the overwhelming number of Oppressed that they fought. It did take humans nearly a century to die. It likely started with guerilla tactics to gather up enough forces, and then all it would take is few tactical strikes until they had an overwhelming mass of enemies that could take down even the strongest fortifications. When the Oppressed are together in a mass, think of World War Z or Resident evil. You can kill them pretty easy...but it doesn't matter in the end. There's just too many, and every human that falls adds to them. Plus...they had one advantage that zombie hordes don't: a commander.
I noticed that it says his niece had met him once before, does this infer to Seth having time traveled back to meet her?
But what if Amaryllis is not kill?
I mean, if she really was Sombra's original target, she may have been kept alive for one reason or another. Sombra does rather like his backup plans.
I can think of three scenarios:
Happy end: Seth has to choose between her or Rainbow, makes a choice, stays friends with the other.
Fulfilling end: Amaryllis was kept alive like the ghost girl in this chapter. Seth gets to have one final conversation with her, finally telling her how he felt before putting her soul to rest.
Bad end: Amaryllis was not kill, but Seth kill without realizing. Ouch.
5513849
I dunno why someone thumbed you down. I don't mind reading the ideas or suggestions of readers.
All of these are interesting. All I can say is that I've already planned what I'm doing with Amaryllis. Whether or not what I have is similar to what you have remains to be seen.
5513965
Thank you, I didn't intend for that to sound like I was making a suggestion, but it kinda did.
That's likely why I got thumb-down'd; people tend to be angered when someone tries to tell the author what to do with his/her characters, and rightfully so.
But no, I just found the concept of her being alive to be very intriguing, and I merely felt like sharing my thoughts.
Now that you mention that you do have something more planned with her, I can't help but feel more interested.
Ironic deaths are the best death. Like maybe an oversized oppressed stumbles in, and starts attacking Vanta. That would make me laugh my ass off
. But I bet what you have in store is better.
I just may think of making fan art of this story.
5514147
I will literally put you on my damn profile page if you make art for this.
I can't draw myself, otherwise I'd already have a cover image.
5513965
By stating that you have plans for Amar....whatever, despite leaving a million open doors, it still kinda sorta in-a-way-a spoils the later chapters. I forgive you.
cdn.meme.am/instances/36856706.jpg
Then again, perhaps I'm just behaving like an ass.
cdn.meme.am/instances/53130104.jpg
5514334
Am I? I could just be planning to leave her exactly the way she is. Basically, all I stated was that her character is set in stone right now.
Huh. I never saw Seth as actually hating everyone. Just more like they were distractions and he couldn't be bothered with then - or at least those he met. I'm fairly sure he never truly hated humanity. That's the impression I got from the start anyway.
So I find it strange how Seth/Amaryllis were chosen. Shouldn't Sombra have chosen an actual psychopath? Someone who kills for fun, hates everyone, hates themselves afterwards because they killed people so their life is going in a downward spiral with more and more killing.
It really is great piece of work from you and I'm sure we are apreciate it greatly.
So just do what you can and we all should be happy when you finish. 
theres only one thing to do! eat his heart so you may gain his power. thats how that works riight?
Whoa this shit just got real interesting.
So After just finding Dash again, the two get split up due to Vanta's dark influence. He manages to disrupt their magic (interesting that it affected Dash as well. Seth's magic works differently to hers, but Vanta could still cancel. Shit his dark necromantic powers are fucking powerful. And if he can do all that, how fucking strong is Sombra!?) and forces them to separate after Seth can't make the jump to safety. It's really sad they were forced to split apart. They had a really meaningful reunion last chapter, and then they are suddenly forced apart again. Vanta is a dick.
After his quick escape (and losing his sword. Damn, I was really hoping he'd keep it like his rifle. Maybe use his magic to reform it into some badass broadsword or a scythe or something. Hell he liked anime, I'm sure he could come up with a few interesting designs) he finally learns about the ghost that's been guiding him. Holly was another experiment (that was kind of obvious really) that had been left to rot here. She isn't as mutated as the other dead humans and Oppressed, but she seems to have some necromantic immortality going, with her body stilled strapped to the table struggling to break free and reach Seth. He puts her out of her misery though, freeing her from her dark fate. Honestly, Vanta is just horrifying at this point. We don't know a lot about Sombra, but if he's anything like this fucker, we are in for a real show when he comes back.
After freeing Holly, Seth finally meets up with the general. Finding out that Amaryllis was the original target. Damn. I mean, retrospect I should have assumed way earlier, but jeez, that is a scary thought that Sombra wanted her for whatever his scheme is. The way the general put it though, it seems like there were other humans selected for this process. Either they didn't leave up to Sombra's expectations, or perhaps we may end up encountering some necromantic human sorcerers in the near future. Also an interesting bit of dialogue regarding Maka. Vanta says that in her diary she wanted to meet Seth 'again'. Now we know a time travel spell exists and it seems a tad odd to bring up if it has no meaning. Perhaps Seth will get a chance to meet his niece. heck, maybe Rainbow will get to meet her too. That would be awesome.
Anyway, after Seth decides to inform Vanta that Sombra is dead, and then be generally pretty insulting towards both the King and the general, Vanta brings his A game. A giant skeleton monster designed to be humanoid but possess pony feathers and predator claws. Fuck and Ii thought the Mega Oppressed was tough. Shit is going to go down next chapter.
I cannot wait to see the confrontation between Vanta and Seth. maybe Rainbow will get involved later, and maybe we'll get to learn more about the facility. Damn this arc has been epic. Great work
Hot fucking damn.
Oooooooohhhhhhh shit's getting real
5513716
For some reason I am reminded of the Genie from Aladdin saying "Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!"
You have no idea how much I want him to suffer.....