81. Ultimate Vanta
“That magic...” Vanta hisses, remaining still while eyeing me with his burning orbs.. I'm watching him closely for signs of movement. If he catches me off guard, it won't end well for me. I don't want to make the first move this time. Every time I've been in a serious fight, I've always had backup. “I thought it was odd, feeling a magic so like my king's...but to see it for myself...that magic isn't yours!”
“Sombra's not the only pony to use dark magic, dumb ass,” I snap, using this moment to power myself up further. I don't think base form will be enough to fight him. If he was Sombra's top general, then he's bound to be strong. I can't afford to take him lightly.
“No, he was just the first to make it his own,” Vanta responds. Whenever he talks, his voice echoes from within that skull in an eerie fashion. He brings up his claws and scratches them together. “First...I'm going to teach you to refer to King Sombra by his title!”
Suddenly, Vanta is moving. For someone as large as he is, you'd think he'd be slow. One moment he's standing still and talking, the next he's charging towards me at such a speed that I can hardly keep up with it.
Pain explodes in my chest as I try to react. I'm lifted entirely off of my feet by the blow I'd just received by Vanta's foot. The momentum generated by the impact forces my body to wrap around his foot in mid kick. Saliva flies from my mouth as I hack, completely winded.
That one kick sends me right across the room and through the railing of the balcony up the wall on the other side – that's 60 fucking yards. Not only do I go right through the balcony, but also through the glass wall behind it and into one of the living areas. Before I realize it, I'm lying on the floor, coughing weakly. Fuck...just one hit, and feels like I got hit by a truck. I barely even had enough time to raise my magic. I can only thank my luck that he wants to keep me alive. If he had used his talons...I'd have been impaled.
“Get out of there!” Vanta's voice bellows, and then just as I'm getting to my feet, his hoof barrels through the balcony, splitting apart in the center to form a structure similar to a human hand. The fingers close around me before I can get properly prepared, yanking me back out into the open.
I scream in agony as his fingers clench down on me. I struggle and power up in an attempt to get free. I can feel his fingers slipping, invigorating me. “You can't hold me!” I shout as Vanta brings me up to his face. What I don't expect is for Vanta to hurl me right to the ground before I can get free.
That's enough getting thrown around. I manage to orient myself in midair such that I land on both feet. The bones shatter and the ground craters beneath me upon my landing. In the split second I have before Vanta attacks again, I lift up my rifle in its standard form, pulling the trigger.
“Have a taste of this magic you love so much!” I roar. The beam of darkness fired from the barrel of the rifle surges through the air and thankfully hits Vanta right in his massive bony torso...and then it shoots right through him to explode on the other side of the room. “Hah! Get fucked, you undead bastard!”
Vanta doesn't seem fazed at all by the gaping hole in its torso. To my shock, bones fly up from the ground and quickly repair the damage in a speedy fashion. “Flail around if you must. I cannot die, no matter how much you damage me. This is necromancy!” the general declares. He plants his right foot into the ground and leaps into the air. He forms his other hoof into a hand as well and then clenches both of them together.
My eyes widen when I realize what he's about to do. I quickly take to the air just as Vanta's double fisted attack slams into the ground. That was too close. He's so fast...and just as I'm thinking that, Vanta pivots on his right foot and knocks me flying with a vicious haymaker that disorients me and causes pain all over my body. His fists are the size of my body...and just one hit is enough to make me dizzy.
I need to get off the defensive. Once I collect myself, my vision focuses to see Vanta sprinting across the room towards me once again. “I don't even need my techniques to defeat you,” Vanta growls, bringing a hammer fist down towards me.
Shit. I fly away from his fist as fast as I can, but he's faster. I dodge, but his fist passes so close to me with such speed and power, the air pressure forces me away. Vanta's next action is to turn once more and unleash a flurry of hooks and jabs at me, stepping forward with every attack. Because of that, even as I put all of my concentration into dodging, I have to fly backwards at the same time.
Behind me is the wall, and its drawing ever closer. It's taking everything I have just to dodge these attacks, so if I get pinned, I'm screwed. An idea comes to me, so as I duck under a vicious jab, I fire my rifle behind me into the wall. The impact scatters a cloud of dirt and dust into the air, obscuring my form for a brief moment.
“What...?” Vanta growls in annoyance, ceasing his attack due to the fact that he can no longer see me. He roars and thrusts a flattened palm forward in attempt to hit me anyway.
In the brief time that I've bought, I descend to the ground and form two drummed submachine guns. Before he has a chance to discover that I'm not up there, I sprint along his side, opening fire on his side. I let out a yell that steadily grows in volume as I unload a veritable storm of magical bullets into him.
It seems to be doing something, at least. The bones on his body snap and break beneath the onslaught, crumbling to bits and forming a widening gap in his side. Vanta's massive skull turns to regard me, not even trying to dodge the attacks. He bends over and sweeps a giant fist across the floor, sending a tidal wave of bones and dirt into the air.
“Shit!” I cry out. Now I'm the one that can't see anything. I try to ward the dust away from my eyes with my arm, and then I jump immediately to the air, knowing that his fist is still heading right for me.
As I leave the dust cloud, I'm immediately met with a hammer fist that wracks my body with pain. Goddammit, he anticipated what I was going to do and adjusted...fuck, it hurts. It's light dealing with Chrysalis, except he's hitting my whole body at once. He's not as physically strong as Chrysalis, but I'm at a disadvantage in that I can't effectively defend my whole body with magic at the same time.
“You don't seem very talkative...maybe a healthy does of pain will help!” Vanta rumbles, spinning around ridiculously fast and punching me right into the ground. “Where is my master? Where is King Sombra!?”
I pick my face up off the ground, spitting out dirt and blood. I think my lip is busted...and one of my teeth feels loose. Okay...he's hitting me pretty hard, but I can dodge him if I'm smart. I've already done some damage to him and...oh son of a bitch. That gap I opened in his side is filling up with bones from the ground, stitching it back together until it's whole once more.
I'm getting my shit wrecked without even doing any real damage. This can't be right. There has to be some way I can damage him permanently.
“Talk!” Vanta commands in a thunderous voice, and I lunge out of the way just as his foot pounds into the ground right where I'd been a second ago. I have to dodge around several times as he repeats this same attack. Each time his foot hits the ground, he yells at me once more.“Talk, talk TALK!”
“He's dead, I told you that! When are you going to get that into your thick head!?” I shout back at him. When his foot comes down next, I form a triple barreled shotgun and unload into it. Each blast tears chunks of his foot away, but I'm not able to demolish it entirely before it gets too close, so I dash away.
“I told you not to lie to me!” Vanta stubbornly returns. When his foot hits the ground, the skeletal construct unbalances due to all of the holes I blew into his foot making it misshapen. I think fast, seeing an opportunity that I can't waste.
I leap into the air and zoom towards his head, magical energy exploding from around me as I accelerate to as close to my top speed as I can get before reaching him. “Hyah!” I roar and bring my right fist up into a ruthless uppercut. I feel a sense of triumph as my fist collides with his chin, shattering the bone there and snapping his head back. When Vanta tries to steady himself, his perforated foot slips and the entire construct falls backwards.
Just from hitting him, my fist hurts though. That can't be right, because I used magic to cushion myself. The only way I could feel pain from that is if...he was using magic to defend himself too. And he's not even using any of his techniques. Vanta is holding back, and still kicking my ass. This is my only chance then. If I can deal some lasting damage here while he's down, I might be able to end this.
I form a heavy machine gun made of crystal that I have to hold with both hands. With it, I release a shower of crystalline bullets that rain down on Vanta's fallen form with so much force that the cut right through his torso and impact with the ground, throwing up dust into the air. The kick from the gun pushes it back into my chest with a satisfying rumble.
After expending quite a bit of power in that assault, I lay off and look down at the cloud of dust, hoping to see the damage I did. To my shock, Vanta is already getting up, bones from the ground already repairing the damage. I let the rifle fall slack in my hands. Is there any way to permanently hurt this fucker?
My gaze falls on the mummified pony hanging above the altar, suspended in a magical field. There must be a reason it's being protected. Nothing I do seems to hurt his skeleton, so I decide it's worth a shot. Reforming my rifle into its standard form, I aim it at the body and fire a pillar of electrified darkness straight towards it.
Vanta's reaction is most telling. With a shout, he moves faster than even before, to the point where all I see of him is an ivory blur before he's standing right in front of the magic. He growls and lifts an open palm, taking the beam head on. To my shock, Vanta's skeletal body glows with a faint cyan light, and then his hand clenches down around the beam, snuffing it out like a flame. Did...did he just now use some of his magical power for more than basic defense? And he took my rifle shot so easily...never mind that, I found his weakness. That body is important to him somehow.
“You naughty thing...targeting my true body,” Vanta taunts me. He stands up to his full height, seeming relaxed now that he stopped my attack...and that he's standing between me and the body. “You're pretty sharp. You realized that you can't harm this body, so you attacked mine...”
“You seemed pretty frantic to protect it. I'm guessing its important to you, then?” I point out, buying time so that I can recollect my energy in preparation for another assault. If I keep him on the defensive, I should be able to find an opening to shoot that body. I don't know what will happen if I destroy it, but anything that unsettles Vanta is good news for me.
“Oh, very important. Trust me, if you aim your hand at my body again...I won't go easy on you,” Vanta warns me, his voice deepening. That confirms it. He has been holding back against me. He hunches back down into a combat stance. “Now, I'll have you tell me where my master is!”
“You idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? Celestia and Luna turned him to dust! I was physically there with several other ponies when she revealed that to us!” I snap at him, avoiding Vanta's charge by weaving around his body and blasting his back with my long ranged rifle. Those attacks pierce right through him, but the regeneration makes it pointless. “You need to quit hanging on to your master's orders and realize that you're on your own! The only one that can answer for your actions here is you!”
Vanta pauses, remaining silent. I think he might actually be considering that I might be right. “You must be wrong. King Sombra always had a back up plan. Nothing could keep him down. Not even when the Crystal Empire's Royal Family betrayed him and cast him out,” Vanta tells me firmly, but I can tell he's in denial.
“He's gone. He has been for over a thousand years. Quit clinging to him like a breastfeeding baby and realize that no one is coming for you!” I yell at him. Vanta falls silent one more time, this time longer than before. He makes no action, offensive or otherwise. I consider shooting at the body again, but he's already shown that he's capable of defending it if necessary. I hate to admit it, but he's faster than I am.
Suddenly, Vanta's skeletal body starts to glow with cyan magic once more, only this time with such strength that the whole room starts to shake, dust and bits of rock falling from the ceiling. I can feel it...he's almost as strong as Chrysalis is at her height...and certainly stronger than Luna. I've gotten a little stronger, but I'm nowhere near Chrysalis's level. This...goddammit, I'm in serious trouble. Chrysalis is still a great deal stronger than he is, but...I don't have anypony to help me.
“If what you say is true...” Vanta says softly, his voice deep and menacing. He whips around ridiculously fast, and then what feels like a speeding train hits me right in my stomach before I even know what's happening. “I have no reason to keep you alive! It's time for you to die, pathetic human!”
I try to recover from such a powerful hit, but I don't even get to reach the other side of the room before Vanta catches up with me. His fingers clamp onto my head and neck and hurl me back across the room so hard that my neck strains and cracks. It's so painful that I can't help screaming in utter agony.
It doesn't end there. Vanta appears above me and executes a skilled somersault, hitting me with both fists together such that I shoot straight down into the ground., creating a large crater at the point of impact.
I groan and cry out pitifully, my entire body awash with horrible pain. I weakly try to rise from the ground, summoning my magical power. I hear him moving, so I force through the pain and flip around, forming my rifle at the last second and shooting upwards at Vanta's descending fist.
The skeletal fist flows through the beam of magic, splitting it in half and taking no damage from it whatsoever. Vanta's attack reaches my rifle and shatters it into hundreds of crystal shards before ramming into my chest, pounding me right back into the ground once again. I look up at my empty hands, jaw dropped at the sight of the few crystal shards left there. What...what happens now? I've never had my rifle broken before. I didn't think it could be broken.
“Imagine the things I can do to you once you're dead!” Vanta exclaims gleefully, hammering me right back into the ground with another vicious punch. I cry out in anguish, and then I cough out blood weakly onto the dirt. How am I supposed to beat an enemy this strong? I just wish that somepony, anypony were here to help me out of this. “I'll tear off your skin and hang it up as a curtain! I'll drain your magic and add it to my own! I'll make your bones dance for me! Doesn't that sound fun?”
I hold up my hands to block just as Vanta's fist comes back down. I manage to catch his blow with both hands, but the pain and vibration from the impact rushes down my arms, making me grunt. His fist is...so heavy...I don't think I can hold it back.
Vanta withdraws his fist and starts to lift up his foot. Oh god, a hit like that with all of his weight and power beneath it...I might actually die. That thought causes me to summon up my magic and dash away from the ground, my entire body aching with every movement I make. I need to make a counteroffensive.
I try to summon up my rifle...only to find that I can't. Fuck, that's right, he broke it. I don't know if that means its gone for good or if it needs to recharge or something, but I do know that I can't use it now. That means I'll have to fight with my fists. I can still use magical blasts without my gun, but they're not as focused.
“Come back! I still have yet to tear off your limbs!” Vanta starts to chase me, catching up with me quickly. I take him by surprise by reversing my momentum and running between his legs, blasting each one with orbs of dark magic as I pass. Hopefully that should slow him down.
I take to the air and zoom straight towards the mummified body, figuring that it's my only chance of coming out of this alive. I don't know what will happen if I destroy it, but it's the only option open to me. His skeleton body just fucking regenerates any damage I inflict on it.
I form another orb of magic in my right hand, charging up as much power as I can into it. I don't have much power left because of how much I've had to use defending against Vanta's relentless and powerful attacks, so now I can actually feel that mental barrier that's always there when I try to draw out more magic than I have. I have to use this magic carefully. I pivot back my arm and hurl the orb straight towards the body...only for Vanta to dash right around and in front of me with that ridiculous speed of his again.
Vanta holds out his hand to block once more, but just as the orb hits the bone, I detonate it remotely such that the explosion of dark magic blocks his vision of me for a few seconds. Once again I dash through his legs and straight towards the suspended body.
Just as I'm raising my hand to strike at it, Vanta's hand closes on my body from behind. “No! I was so close! I was so fucking close!” I cry out, reaching out a hand for the body desperately. This isn't fair! Why does Vanta have to be so strong? Why am I so goddamn weak?
“Not so fast, you wretched creature!” Vanta growls, and then he tosses me far away from his body. He reaches me a second afterward with hardly any effort, and then he releases a flurry of punishment upon me. His fists hammer into me again and again, filling my body with such intense pain that I can't stop screaming, nor can I find any way to counterattack. At this point, I can't tell if he's even hitting me or not. The agony is so great it's practically constant.
Finally, Vanta hits me with a flat palm strike, sending me right across the room, towards the main entrance. I hit the ground long before I reach the entrance, tumbling end over end, my limbs bending painfully, until finally I slide to a halt just a few yards away from the entrance, such that I'm facing away from it.
I open my eyes, the lids feeling heavy. My vision blurs as I see Vanta walk slowly towards me, each footfall shaking the ground. I try to see what he's going to do next, but my vision won't focus. Even lifting my hand is a tremendous effort. With as much power as I can muster, I fire a blast of energy towards Vanta, but all it does is splash across his torso like water, not even damaging him.
Shit...I'm really going to die down here, just another human to fall prey to Vanta's sadism. I slam the ground weakly with my fist, frustrated and furious at myself. I can't move anymore; my muscles just won't obey me no matter how hard I tell them to move. Dammit. Just...dammit. I had so much I wanted to do. Rainbow...
“S...Seth?” a scratchy voice sounds from the main entrance behind me. My breath catches in my throat as I recognize that familiar voice. A sense of dread overtakes me, but I can't even muster up the strength to yell at her, or even move. No...why is she here? Why did she come here now? I hear her hooves plodding on the dirt softly as she approaches me tentatively, no doubt wondering why I'm not moving. Rainbow gasps when she sees the condition I'm in; my shirt is ripped to shreds, my back almost black with bruises and bleeding from cuts and scrapes I received during the fight. “Seth! What...what happened?!”
I open my mouth in an attempt to respond, but just doing that releases a spattering of blood from within. Trying to talk strains my body, wracking me with pain, so that all that comes out is a barely audible croak. It's getting harder to focus, blackness creeping in from the edges of my vision.
“What the hay is that!?” Rainbow demands of me once she spots Vanta, who halts the moment he catches sight of her next to me. She looks back down at me. “Seth, why won't you answer me?”
She anxious looks down at me and flips me over with her nose and hooves so that I'm staring up at the ceiling. I flop there limply, devoid of strength. My eyes are half open, because it's seemingly taking an incredulous effort just to keep them that way. My eyelids get heavier, unconsciousness drawing closer. I try to stop it, but it doesn't do me any good.
I know I should be panicking, because I'm sure that I fall unconscious now, I won't wake up again. But...I can't help but feel a sense of dull despair. Even with everything I've done so far, I'm going to die, and Sombra and Vanta's extermination of my race will be complete. That thought fills me with helpless anguish. I just wish I had the strength to move...to resist him...
“Seth...? Seth!?” Rainbow sees how I'm not moving or saying anything in response to her, and she starts to panic. She shakes me vigorously, hoping to elicit a reaction out of me. “No, don't you do this to me. You're not allowed to...I can't...I can't lose you...”
Rainbow chokes, and then to my surprise, a tear splashes onto my skin. Is...is Rainbow crying? I've never seen Rainbow cry...ever. It just doesn't happen. This mare is so strong and independent that she takes whatever the world throws at her with a grin and a boast...and now she's crying...for me. “Wake up, you idiot! Don't just lie there! This isn't funny!” Rainbow's cries are getting more and more desperate...but it's getting harder for me to hear them. I feel a dull twinge of sorrow, knowing what I'm doing to her. “Imbecile! Jerk! Wake up and let's get out of here!”
Vanta seems content to stand there and watch Rainbow's increasing distress. The sick fuck is likely finding it enjoyable.
Rainbow starts to sob uncontrollably once I still don't answer her, her strong exterior shattering to pieces. She continues to shake me, even smacking me across the face with a hoof to try and rouse me. Eventually, she scoops me up into her hooves and holds me close, pressing her head against my chest. “Don't go, Seth. Please....there are so many ponies that need you,” Rainbow whispers to me. She pauses, and I think I can even feel her heart pounding in her chest. “I...need you.”
Something stirs in me at those words, bringing me back from the brink of passing out. I start to wonder if I'd heard right, or if being this close to death has muddled my senses.
“Now, isn't that touching? Allow me to interrupt,” Vanta finally interjects with a chuckle, getting tired of standing there . Rainbow's head snaps up and she glares at the giant skeletal construct with more hatred than I've ever seen her express in her eyes. “I was hoping you'd show up before long, pony. I wanted you to be here when I snuffed the life from your friend's body.”
“So, you did this?!” Rainbow demands angrily. She sets me down gently and moves to stand between Vanta and I, hunching down as if she is getting ready to fight. No...don't you fight him. You'll just die too. You need to get out of here before he crushes you too.
“I most certainly did. Does that make you angry?” Vanta taunts calmly with a sinister edge to his voice. Rainbow scuffs at the ground with a hoof.
“I don't know who you are, but I'll be darned if I let you take another step closer to him!” Rainbow yells up at the general bravely. “He's mine, do you hear me? I won't let you take him from me!”
The way she's talking...it sounds almost as if she...
Vanta pauses, and then he starts to laugh hysterically. “He's yours? Are you trying to tell me that you're in love with this pathetic excuse for a human? You, when you're a pony?” Vanta questions incredulously. Of course not. That's such a dumb question. There's no way Rainbow would ever...
“Yes, I am!” Rainbow shoots right back at him without hesitation. My eyes shoot open in shock, awareness returning to my body like a hot tidal wave flowing through my veins. She just...Rainbow just...she...
Vanta is silent, and then he growls. “Well, then I'll do you a favor and get rid of the both of you together. I'll let you stay together even as corpses! Isn't that generous of me!?” Vanta starts to run towards Rainbow and I, shaking the ground with every step. Rainbow doesn't budge, gritting her teeth and scuffing the ground again. She's...I can't...
“Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to say no...I already have a partner. Shall we go, Seth?”
Then...this means...all those times when she was so close to me and she didn't seem to notice...or when she would always press up against my side even when I didn't need the comfort...
“I've seen how that mare looks at you.”
Rarity...was right? The whole time, Rarity was right? I was just denying it to myself, even though all of the signs were there; it was all child's play for somepony like Rarity to pick up.
“There's no way I can deal with this without screwing it up. Tell me what to do, Rarity!”
That time...she wouldn't tell me not because she didn't want to...but because she was afraid to. She must have been worried that I wouldn't take it well...
“It...hasn't been resolved yet.”
This whole time...how could I not have seen it? If Rainbow cares this much about me...then I can't desert her. I can't die here after hearing something like that...I won't die!
I force myself to turn over so that I can see Rainbow...and then I see Vanta charging for her. I try to summon my magic, but there's so little of it left that I can't make anything more than a spark. Instead...all I can do is reach a hand out for her as Vanta finally reaches her.
“Wouldn't it be terrible if you had to see your dear Seth die in front of you!?” Vanta roars bringing his fist up in preparation for an assault.
“You'll have to kill me first!” Rainbow expresses vehemently.
Time appears to slow down for me. Vanta finally brings his fist hurtling down and around in a sweeping hammer fist. Rainbow sees it coming and raises a hoof to block, but I can see the power surging around Vanta's fist. There's no way Rainbow will be able to block it.
“Noooo!” I scream in utter anguish just as Vanta's fist slams right into Rainbow's side with a dull whump, picking her right up off the ground with the sheer force behind the attack. Rainbow yelps once and hurtles through the air, tumbling across the ground. I hear one of her wings bend and snap beneath her during the vicious tumble, until finally she skids to a stop just short of the wall. She doesn't rise.
I breathe heavily in shock and horror, refusing to believe what I just saw. Rainbow is going to get up and...my denial shatters when I see her lying there, covered in dirt and bleeding from her side where Vanta's punch had ruptured the skin.
“Done already?” Vanta snorts in disappointment. He lifts up the hand that he'd used to hit Rainbow with, and then talons sprout from them, dim light gleaming along its lethal edge. He starts to approach her fallen form, intent on finishing her off. “Then it's time to end this.”
If...if I lose Rainbow...then...I'll have nothing. I'll have nothing to live for. I can't lost Rainbow. Not when she just revealed how deep her feelings for me truly ran. I have so much to discuss with her...so many more fun times to have with her. I can't even imagine living in this world without her right by my side, where she belongs...and I'll be DAMNED if I let this son of a bitch take her from me!
I stumble to my feet and summon my magic, and this time it responds with a vengeance. My mental barrier shatters in the wake of a fresh wave of magical power coming from deep within me, causing my body to erupt with an incredible surge of darkness and electricity. I shout with all of my might, drawing as much power as I can.
Vanta catches notice of this, sensing me powering up. He turns his head and stares at the pillar of darkness rising from my body. “What!? This is...you can still move!?” Vanta exclaims with unfiltered shock.
I can feel a strange feeling in my mind, one that I haven't felt in so long. It's the insanity, threatening to take me over once again. Even as more and more power surges from my body, I fight against its influence with all of my might. I pant heavily, my body alight with strange shifting sensations. A line of white hot pain shoots through my right eye, causing me to grunt in pain and clap a hand to the affected spot.
I won't let this magic control me...this is my magic, and I'm going to use it to destroy Vanta on my own terms! Stay the fuck out of it, you useless insanity! I'm better than you!
My determination causes a sort of breakthrough to occur. The insanity seems to concede and retreat back into my subconscious, but my magic itself seems to increase by several times, exploding outwards from my like a storm of unending darkness. Green bolts of lightning strike the ground around me. Something happens, and there's no other way to describe it, other than I feel something about my body change.
The magic calms down, and I stand stalwart, the pain from my earlier beating seemingly locked behind a mental barrier. Now, one can't even tell that I'm in base form, as there's no magic emanating from my body.
Vanta's reaction is most telling. “What...what did you do? What is that form!?” the general demands angrily, turning to face me entirely.
Form? Ah, yes, I suppose that would be the most accurate way to describe what I am now. I look at my hand, seeing that my fingers have somehow elongated and lost definition, each one fading to a black color and tapering to a point. My hair is streaming up in the air behind me as if suspended in water, such that it flowed and undulated in an ethereal manner. Lastly, a jagged black streak of an unknown material has taken over the right side of my face, looking almost like a twisted scar, except that I could feel raw magic thrumming through its length.
Indeed, I have changed. I'm not sure how, and I'm not sure why, but none of that matters to me now. My gaze moves over to the fallen Rainbow, who is lying motionless on the ground near the right wall. She's hurt, but with my sharpened vision, I can see her chest moving up and down weakly, telling me that she's still alive. My gaze then moves to Vanta, who is watching me with unbridled shock.
“That's enough,” I state calmly, confusing Vanta. “If you aim your claw at Rainbow again...you'll regret it.”
Vanta is silent for several seconds, and then he lets out a sharp laugh. “Hah! Suddenly you're talking rather confidently. Very well, I'll put you out of the picture first. Would that please you?” he responds, glowing cyan magic forming around the construct. “I'll use your body to make the ultimate soldier, and your magic will become mine!”
“No. No more humans will die here in this place,” I tell him, still in that same calm voice.
“I don't think you have a choice in the matter!” Vanta scoffs. With that, he breaks into a run, using his top speed to zoom towards me, his fist outstretched. My eyes follow his every movement: from the placement of his feet, the movement of his torso, and the speed of his stride. I see it all now, when before it was impossible.
Vanta's fist hurtles through the air at the speed of a rushing train, heading straight for me. I stand there calmly, watching it approach. Just before it lands, I turn on my left foot and deliver a swift kick to his fist. The force behind my attack is so great, the fist blows apart as if hit by a bomb, electricity arcing away from the point of impact. Unlike before, when my attacks would only gouge out a small amount of bone, this time the fist is just gone, shattered to pieces.
Vanta's shock is audible, but he's disciplined enough not to gawk at it. The moment his fist is rendered unusable, he retreats the stump and attacks me with the other in order to buy time for his broken fist to regenerate.
I leap into action, taking to the air and moving just lightly to the left of his attack. I reach out and right hand, sheathed in green electricity and jam it into his wrist. A bolt of piercing lightning shoots from my clawed hand, shooting right through the bony wrist to the other side. Even with that, I don't stop my momentum.
Releasing a shout, I fly up the length of Vanta's arm, dragging through my hand and tearing out a solid line of bone, the lightning traveling up his arm and slicing the entire thing in half lengthwise. When I reach his shoulder, I withdraw my hand and form a large magnum pistol in the rough shape of a desert eagle, and then blast right through the joint with several overwhelming shots that explode upon impact. Even though my rifle broke, I seem to be able to summon it in alternate forms just fine.
Vanta's other arm falls completely off, leaving his construct nothing but a torso with two legs. The first fist that I destroyed appears to be regenerating fast, but I'm not concerned. His magical power that had given me so much trouble, isn't impeding me at all. However, I know why that is. He's using a construct, and as such his magical energy isn't anywhere near as effective as it would be if it came directly from his core. Despite that, it was more than enough to deal with me, the way I was before.
“Where did you get all of this power? I demand to know!” Vanta shouts at me. As bones stream to his left arm in an attempt to repair the whole thing, I give the general the most honest answer I can: a nonchalant shrug. “What the...power doesn't just come from nowhere!”
I feel the magical currents in the air, wrapping around my body. I grab one of them and streak past Vanta's torso in a flash of light, my very body destroying a chunk of his as I pass by. Even as Vanta recoils from the hit, I flip back around and orient on his other side, dashing past it and dealing the same amount of damage.
Vanta just can't keep up with me. Again and again and again, I speed past him faster than he can handle tearing out chunks of his body in his torso, legs, the regenerating arms, and his skull. It's like I'm a hornet harassing an angry bear...except the hornet is winning.
“It's time for you to die now!” I yell, using a magical current to dash right beneath his chin and back flip in midair such that my two feet are levered into his chin. The impact is enough the shatter his jaw bone and knock the entire construct off its feet. I dash directly above it as Vanta lands on his back, and then form two standard rifles, each one equipped with grenade launcher attachments. “With every second you continue to exist, thousands of human souls cry out in pain! They call for vengeance, Vanta!”
Vanta lets out a cry as I unload crystalline projectiles the size of tennis balls from my rifles right into his face and torso. Each one explodes upon colliding with his body, demolishing it like a condemned building. I fire so many of them that the entire skeletal construct is engulfed in a dark electrical explosion so vast, a mushroom cloud of dust and smoke forms.
I land on the ground with a soft tap, the rifles dissipating now that I no longer need them. I can see that I've turned Vanta's skeletal body into dust through the smoke. I know he's not gone for good, however.
“S..Seth?” I turn my head in surprise to see that Rainbow is conscious, but she's holding her side and holding her broken wing close to her body. She's looking at me with a little fear. I understand why. Having never seen this form before, the first thing she's going to think of is how I told her how I could go insane. “Is that...really you?”
“Don't worry, Rainbow,” I assure her, giving her a smile. The relief on her face is palpable just from those three words, to the point where she lets out a percussive sigh. “I'm in control.”
“You idiot...how dare you worry me like that! I actually thought you were going to die!” Rainbow shrieks at me, blushing deeply. She's likely figured out that I heard everything that she said earlier.
“I did too. I'm sorry. Yell at me all you want later, but it's not over yet,” I warn her, just as the whispering starts up again. That's Vanta's necromantic magic. The bones on the ground aren't stirring, but nevertheless, Vanta has something else up his sleeve.
“It's not!?” Rainbow exclaims in shock and horror. Then she shakes her head vigorously, as if ridding herself of doubt. When she next looks at me, she's grinning. “Then go and kick his tail straight from here to the moon.”
“I will. Do try not to die in the meantime, won't you? I'd be a just a bit crestfallen if that happened,” I respond sardonically, much to her irritation.
“Just go and beat him up already so we can go home,” Rainbow huffs, pouting. I nod, and then I walk back towards the center of the room towards where I'm feeling Vanta's magic coming from.
“Are you proud of yourself? Proud that you managed to destroy my construct?” Vanta's disembodied voice demands, echoing throughout the room. I remain silent, waiting for him to continue. “Look around you. Look at all of the bones I have at my disposal. I can make as many of those as I need to in order to defeat you. It doesn't matter how much power you have!”
“Go ahead. I'll just turn everything you make into dust until there's nothing left,” I challenge him, my eyes narrowing. As long as I have this new power, I'm going to use it to avenge the souls of those that died here.
Vanta is silent for several minutes, and then I feel the ground start to shake. “Very well. Then allow me to let you in on a secret,” Vanta begins, his evil magic filling the air around me. “Do you know why I couldn't bring you down here the moment you got here?”
“I remember you mentioning a range of influence earlier,” I reply, somewhat interested in what he's going to say.
“That's right, but it's more that that. I'm anchored to my body, my true body. There is only so far that I can extend my spirit, and you and the rest of your expedition were outside of that range, except for that one spot in the shaft,” Vanta explains. I glance towards his true body...and then notice something immediately wrong with it. “I cannot leave this complex, for as long as that limitation remains. Thus, I've spent most of my undeath finding a way around this limitation...and I've found it.”
“I'm assuming that it has something to do with your magical core. You're a unicorn, Vanta. Where's your horn?” I hypothesize, indicating his true body. It's true. On the mummified head, where the horn should be, is a neat circular hole, as if the horn had been extracted intentionally.
“Once again, you surprise me with your shrewdness,” Vanta remarks. The shaking of the room intensifies, and then Vanta's magic that's present in the air becomes visible as swirls of cyan light. The swirls start to accumulate in one spot on the ground several yards away from me, forming a raging cyan vortex. “Yes, it has everything to do with my core. Allow me to show you my ultimate creation...the one that I've been designing ever since I was left behind here in the past...”
Dark clouds formed of magic start to coalesce both high in the air above the vortex, and on the ground. Bolts of cyan lightning strike the ground in a hellish storm of evil magic. I can feel the magic in the air intensifying. This...this is Vanta's true might. Whatever happens next, he's not going to hold back on me at all...and that's fine. I'm going to crush him at his best.
“Day after day, victim after victim, I've been piecing this together. Rebels, criminals, and enemies...all of them became part of this, the culmination of both my scientific knowledge and my necromantic expertise,” Vanta continues, his voice rising as the magical display before me grows. “Behold Seth Rogers, the form in which I was finally going to leave this place and walk alongside my master once more!”
With that, the earth cracks and shatters in the center of the swirling vortex. Something is coming. A dark form starts to emerge slowly from the damaged earth. It's smaller and more compact than the monstrous skeletal construct before...but all the more terrifying because of it.
The more it rises, the more I can make it out. It's a skeletal figure, standing seven feet tall. It's entire body, except for its skull, is wrapped in a thin layer of flesh such that it resembles a human body. However, it's easy to tell that the skin came from multiple sources, as I can see stitches holding the individual pieces together. All of it has long since rotted to a sickly gray color.
The lich, for the term skeleton doesn't even begin to do this monstrosity justice, is clad in a tight fitting leather breastplate strapped tightly to its ribs with multiple straps and buckles. In addition, a tattered crimson cloak is draped over its back, fluttering in the displacement of air caused by the magic surrounding it. Its arms are covered by thin crimson sleeves that culminate in brown leather bracers.
Beneath the breastplate is a jagged golden belt, to which crimson cloth in similar condition to the cloak cascades down his legs, which are lightly armored in leather pants with iron buckles on the knees and on top of the feet.
Its head is fully skeletal, completely untouched by any kind of skin. On top of its skull is a spiked crown made from leather and...to my shock...unicorn horns. There are nine horns forming the spikes, with the largest one in the back being his own. To finish off this twisted creature, its wearing a necklace made from a thick black cord...and it's ornamented with more unicorn horns.
Vanta's spirit streams into the lich, and its eye sockets light up with burning crimson orbs. Once Vanta has taken it over, the body comes alive and his magical power erupts from it in a vast pillar of cyan light that streaks all the way up to the ceiling. I can feel the magic in the air pressing down on me. The general, in this form, is just as strong as Chrysalis was at the height of her power, if not more so. Despite this, I don't budge at all.
Vanta holds out his hand, and a wicked black scythe with jagged edges bursts out of a pile of bones on the left wall of the room and zooms to his grip. Vanta brings the scythe down to his side, and just that one action sends a shockwave through the ground so powerful, it tears up the area for several yards and sends dirt and rock into the air. Finally, Vanta's jaws open and an otherworldly screech bursts forth from his maw.
“Are you impressed? I've been pouring the magic power of everyone and anything I find into this body for years and years, and now that King Sombra is gone, I am the strongest being in existence,” Vanta exults, lifting a bony hand and gazing at it almost lovingly. He glares at me next, bringing his scythe to bear. “Prepare yourself, Seth. With this form, I'll end this in a seco...wha!?”
Right in the middle of Vanta's speech, I zoom forward with the aid of a magical current and I clamp my clawed hand right on his face. I push forward off of my left foot and slam Vanta's new body right into the ground and drag him for several meters, gouging out a rift in the ground. Once I near the far side of the room, I lift him back up and hurl him face-first towards the wall, and then charge after him with my right hand clenched into a fist.
Vanta rights himself by releasing a burst of magic, and thus when I reach him, he lifts an arm to block my attack. When my fist slams against his arm, a shockwave of cyan and electrical power emanates from the impact. His free hand brings his scythe down towards me, forcing me to dodge, but that gives me just enough room to disengage my other arm and uppercut him in the jaw, knocking him backwards.
“Filthy ape!” Vanta growls, and then he charges at me. I rush to meet him, and together the two of us engage in a vicious melee of lightning fast punches and slashes too fast for anyone not on our level to see.
Each of us grunt and yell with every attack, fists colliding against guards and his scythe coming close to cutting me several times. I bring up my knee into his gut to make him recoil, and then I fly backwards and form my magnum pistol. I quickly aim down the sights and fire shot after shot, aiming for his head first, and then each of his limbs.
Vanta shows off his skill with the scythe by twirling it around expertly and deflecting each and every shot with the flat of the blade. The moment he sees an opening, he fires a blast of cyan magic from his free hand.
I reach up and knock the blast away with a swipe of my hand, but then Vanta is right in my face, slashing viciously at me with the scythe. I sidestep the vertical strike, and then I proceed to flow around his follow up attacks while flying backwards. Vanta chases me, twirling the scythe around and lashing out at me with the spiked hilt. It gets very close to me several times, but now that my focus is entirely on the fight, I can handle it.
“You're good...but not good enough!” Vanta declares, and then a glowing claw of magic attached to a chain shoots out of his free hand and clamps down around my middle, constricting my arms. He turns and hurls me straight down to the ground, detonating the claw as he does so, obscuring my form with a cyan explosion. Vanta laughs maniacally, and certainly doesn't expect it when I appear right behind him and slam my fist right in the small of his back.
“Tell me again how I'm not good enough,” I growl in his ear as he grunts in shock, and then I open my fist and fire a bolt of bright green lightning with such force it carries him away from me and into the ground., forming a crater beneath him.
Vanta manages to land on his feet, a steaming hole burnt through his cloak. He hisses and slashes with the scythe, forming an arc of cyan energy that surges through the air towards me, cutting a line straight through the ground briefly before flying up at me. He repeats this motion several more times, filling the air with arcs of magic.
They move really fast, so even though I manage to dodge most of them, one of them grazes my side and burns my skin painfully. I make a small “tch,” of annoyance. The next thing I do is fly an arc around Vanta so fast I leave a trail of darkness behind me, and then summon both standard rifles with the grenade launcher attachments.
“You're not going to hit me with those things again,” Vanta hisses as I open fire at him with the crystalline explosives. He leaps off of his feet to dodge the first one, and then flips again and again to avoid several others. When I fire again while anticipating his movement, he rights himself and uses his scythe to slice through several of them.
While he's distracted, I zoom towards him and execute a vicious right hook...but he grabs it with his free hand. His skull face grins eternally at me, and he retaliates by bringing his scythe down. Unluckily for him, I'd expected as much, so he's surprised when I catch the haft of it in my free hand. In the split second I have before Vanta comes up with a response, I lurch my head forward and slam it into his.
“Gah, damn you!” Vanta grunts, recoiling. He doesn't get any time to rest, because I'm in his face once more, executing a skilled onslaught of kicks. Vanta's body shakes as my attacks batter his chest and legs, until finally I bring my foot back and kick him straight into the air.
Before Vanta can right himself, I speed into the air and jam my fist into his stomach. With a grunt, I form my magnum in a reverse grip and fire several shots straight through him before hurling him clear across the room and into one of the living areas halfway up the wall.
I take a moment to catch my breath, my shoulders heaving. Even with this new-found power, Vanta is strong and resilient. We're practically evenly matched here. However, he's getting frustrated, and I've been able to exploit the openings he's showing.
“You...how are you fighting evenly with me? I'm in my ultimate form, the one I spend millennia creating!” Vanta demands, emerging from the hole in the wall and hovering a good distance away from me. He flares out his cloak, showing me that he's still ready for battle. “What's driving you?”
“The same thing that's driven me the whole time, Vanta. Vengeance!” I shout, forming an orb of darkness in my right hand and dashing towards him. Vanta raises his guard and meets me head on, the blade of his scythe colliding with the orb of magic in my hand. The impact emits a shockwave so powerful that the balconies near us are destroyed, metal shrapnel falling to the ground below. “I'm going to make you pay for the hell you put my people through...for every single one you murdered. And lastly...for daring to raise a hand to Rainbow.”
“Don't act so self-righteous!” Vanta shrieks with fury, hammering the shaft of his scythe into my face and then hooking the blade around my middle and hurling me to the ground. “You were chosen by King Sombra! You're the scum of the human race! You don't respond to the kindness or the depravity of mankind, you stood there and took it! You're not the kind of person that can take vengeance for a race you don't even care for!”
The dust cloud on the ground clears to reveal me standing upright, glaring at Vanta. Blood is dripping from the shallow gash in my back where Vanta's scythe cut me. “Then I'll change,” I declare, more serious than I've ever been in my life. Vanta looks at me in shock and incredulity. “You're right, I've wronged my kind. I complained about the ways of the world, yet never worked to change them. I was as bad as the rest of them. But now...I'm going to take on the burden of that sin. I'm the last human, and I'm going to live on for their sake.”
“But you?” I say, spitting out a bit of blood. I let my power explode out from around me, even greater than before. “I'm going to put you in the ground, where you belong.”
“Foolishness!” Vanta shrieks, and then he holds out his free hand. A vortex of magic forms there, and then a massive pentagram of burning cyan magic traces itself in the air behind him. I watch what he's doing carefully, because what he's doing now looks extremely dangerous. I can feel an incredible amount of magic coming from that glyph. “I'm going to end this, with your death and the extinction of the human race!”
Vanta clenches his free hand, the vortex there flowing out and coalescing into glowing orbs that fly out to the five points of the pentagram. With a grunt, Vanta forms a series of complex motions with both hands, letting the scythe float in midair next to him. “Face...my necromantic destruction!” Vanta roars, and then he spreads out his arms. The glyph glows intensively, and a massive skull made of black and cyan flame shoots right out of the center of the pentagram at the head of a thick beam of power.
I grunt and reach out my hand, catching the skull right on its teeth, halting the beam in place. It's so heavy that I'm pushed back constantly, my feet gouging into the ground. I groan with the exertion of holding back so much power. My hand feels like it's burning to nothing, but I endure it.
I lift my remaining hand, which begins to shine with an emerald light. Behind me, both standard rifles form, floating in the air. Then the magnum appears, followed by the long ranged rifle, the triple barreled shotgun, the two drummed machine guns, and the heavy machine gun. In addition, a heavy rocket launcher forms, along with a grenade launcher and flamethrower. All of these weapons form into a circle behind me.
“Take this! All of my weapons and all of my power! I'll turn you to dust!” I roar, clenching my raised hand into a fist. Every single weapon fires at once, aiming right at the burning skull that I'm holding back. They fire again and again, each projectile joining as one and slamming right against the skull, pushing it away from my hand. Thus freed of that burden, I use as much power as I can into repulsing Vanta's attack.
“What...this is...impossible! How can you push back my necromantic destruction...my ultimate technique!? I won't stand for this!” Vanta also pumps as much magic as he can into overcoming my resistance.
In the end, neither of the attacks can handle the extended contact. With a flash of light so bright I have to cover my eyes, the two attacks intermingle and then explode violently, knocking me right off my feet with gale force winds. Vanta faces a similar dilemma, neither of us having accounted for such pure destructive force.
Everything surrounding the blast is totally destroyed; the bones are disintegrated, the ground is demolished and cratered, and balconies fall from the walls in a rain of shrapnel. Even Rainbow has taken refuge in the main entrance, covering her head and yelping at the total destruction inflicted on this wide room.
Vanta casts his gaze around the area, looking for me through the dissipating smoke and power. Seizing the moment, I appear behind him and knock him down to the ground with a double fist strike. “Gah!” Vanta cries out. He hits the ground on his feet and skids for several meters before coming to a halt a few yards away from his true body. “I'm not going to lose to you! I'm King Sombra's top general! It's impossible for me to lose!”
Vanta sees me streaking through the air at my top speed, heading straight for him. He hefts his scythe and sends several arcs of magic at me once more, but this time I just deflect them away with the flat of my palm. He's weakening. If I'm going to beat him before I run out of power, now's the time.
I land on the ground in front of him and drive my fist into his stomach again, right in the spot where I'd blasted a hole through him earlier. Vanta recoils, but quickly recovers and slashes at me with the scythe...only for me to grab it by the haft again. This time, I sheathe my left hand with green electricity and, to Vanta's utter shock, cleave right through his hand that's holding the scythe.
“It's over, Vanta! Time for you to answer for your crimes!” I roar. With Vanta's scythe in my hand, I put as much power as I can into it, converting the scythe into one of black crystal. Then, I slice right through his body diagonally. Vanta grunts in shock, but I don't stop there. I twirl the scythe around and slice into Vanta again and again, dividing his body into smaller and smaller pieces.
Finally, I reach my free hand under my scythe wielding arm and engulf the remnants of Vanta's body in a blast of darkness, turning his ultimate creation to dust.
The magical field around Vanta's true body sputters and dissipates, such that the mummified corpse drops to the ground. Without a word, I aim my palm at it.
“No...noooo! Stop!” Vanta cries out desperately, but it's too late. With all of my remaining power, I incinerate his true body once and for all, until there's nothing left of it but dust. “Noooooooo!”
I can't help it. I have to bend over, resting my hands on my knees. I pant heavily, completely drained of magical power. My body returns to normal, my hair flopping onto my back and my fingers retracting and regaining their original form. The crack on my cheek recedes as well, until I'm finally looking back the way I used to. It's over...finally.
A glow suddenly illuminates the area around me, and I jerk up in alarm, wondering if destroying his true body hadn't eliminated him for good after all.
Vanta's spirit stands in midair close by. No longer is it a skeleton, or a lich, but now it's just Vanta, looking the way he did in the videos I saw. He looks at me initially with rage, but then it turns melancholic, and he releases a sigh. His form starts to trickle away into nothing, beginning from his legs.
“And so...it's done,” Vanta says softly, looking down at his disappearing form. “All of my long years of life, and this is how it ends: at the hands of the last remaining member of the race that I helped destroy. What poetic justice!”
I remain quiet, letting Vanta say his last words. As twisted as he is, he deserves at least that much. “I think...I think I've lived too long. Three thousand years...such a long time,” he continues, his legs now completely gone. “Heh, I don't even remember life the way it was before I met my King.”
Vanta transfixes me with his gaze, looking serious. “Seth. You haven't won. I'll give you one last warning. Don't think you're safe. There's more to Sombra's plans than even you're aware of. Even if he's gone, they're still a threat,” he tells me, much to my confusion. At long last, Vanta's head starts to disappear. When he says his last chilling words, they echo and dissipate into the air. “You're not alone...”
I stare in silence at the place where Vanta used to be. It's done. I've defeated him, and now the souls of all the humans he's killed can rest in peace. His last words are unsettling and cryptic, so I don't even bother to understand them.
“You're right, I'm not alone,” I answer, even though I know he can't hear me. I turn around and walk towards the main entrance, where I can see Rainbow limping as fast as she can over to me. “I have friends.”
“Seth! You're all right!” Rainbow exclaims triumphantly. When she reaches me, she looks around. “Is it over? Is it...gone?”
“Yeah it's...oh god,” I try to say, but then the pain catches up to me and my legs buckle beneath me, causing me to collapse and drop the scythe in the process. Even with all that power that I got, I'm still beaten half to death.
“Seth!” Rainbow cries out in shock, and then she scoops me up in her front hooves before I can fall, holding my head just above the ground. She blushes when she realizes that we're awfully close.
“Don't worry, I'm fine. I just feel like a goddamn train ran over me...twice,” I comment, chuckling a little...which I then proceed to regret. “Ow, it hurts to laugh.”
There's a silence between us after that. Rainbow coughs awkwardly. She knows what she said, and she knows I heard it. I don't think she has any idea how I'm going to react. Honestly, I don't know how to react either to the confession that my best friend has been in love with me for who knows how long.
“How long? I ask simply, wanting to find out for myself. Rainbow knows exactly what I'm asking about, because she blushes even further and averts her gaze.
“S...Since the royal wedding,” Rainbow admits, hiding her face behind her mane almost like I'd expect Fluttershy to do. Hah, that's adorable.
"Huh...that's...quite a while ago. And...this is what your problem was? The one you were talking about with Rarity?" I continue. An odd feeling is forming in my stomach. I've heard the term "butterflies in your stomach" before, but I've never really had it apply to me. That's the only real way to describe how I'm feeling right now.
"Yeah...I was going to tell you...eventually," Rainbow defends guiltily. "I just...didn't know how. I've never really felt like this before. Agh, it's embarrassing to talk about! Quit looking at me!"
I can't help but give a chuckle, once again gasping in pain, such that Rainbow holds me closer. "Why did you say it now? Why did that bastard get to find out before I did?" I demand.
"I thought you were going to die, you jerk! Why did you make me worry so much!?" Rainbow shoots right back, anger flashing in her eyes. "I don't know. I was looking for you for the past hour, and when I saw you lying there like that...I just...I panicked. I had to stop him..."
"Now you're the idiot. If I couldn't touch him, you certainly wouldn't be able to," I remark, causing Rainbow to huff. "I can't believe you really...you..."
"Hey, I didn't plan to tell you like this either! You just had to go and get yourself all beaten up..." Rainbow snaps back. Then another silence falls between us, neither of us wanting to talk about what happens now. This is exactly what I'd feared, really. I don't want things to get awkward between us now. Finally, Rainbow breaks the silence. "You're not mad, are you?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I ask her in surprise. It's definitely a shock like no other to find out something like this, but anger isn't the first thing to come to mind. Just...confusion and wonder.
“Because you're always saying how you're not interested in ponies or dating or anything like that,” Rainbow responds, talking at about a mile a minute, tripping over her words. She's still not looking at me, but her cheeks are on fire. She even looks like she's shaking. I understand. I doubt this was how she expected her secret to come out. “Even Rarity said that you kept getting angry every time she brought it up, so I thought that if I ever told you you'd be angry and you'd hate me and...”
“Stop that,” I snap at her, cutting her off mid sentence. I reach up weakly with a hand and gently grasp her cheek, forcing her to look back at me. “Stop being so unsure of yourself and look me in the eye. It's not like you to trip over your words like this. What are you, Fluttershy?”
“Hey! That's not very nice, Fluttershy is a nice...oh,” Rainbow stops in the middle of her protest when she sees me smiling at her. She realizes I'm joking, and she smiles back. There's a small silence as she tries to figure out what to say next. She gulps and asks, “You want me to be confident then, huh? Take what I want?”
“Just be yourself. I hate seeing you act all uncertain,” I tell her firmly. Rainbow nods, and then finally our gazes meet, and unlike every other time I've looked her in the eyes, there's something electric about it. Those two magenta pools of light seem to draw me in, brushing aside my misgivings like they don't even exist.
Rainbow consciously starts to lean in towards me, her eyes starting to close. A shot of adrenaline runs through my body when I realize what's happening. Is she about to...is this really...I've never...I can't...I don't know how to deal with this. My cheeks heat up like a stove. I can't...now I'm blushing and...oh god, this is really happening, isn't it? How do I...Rainbow...
My train of thought continues to become more fragmented the closer she draws to me. My heart pounds in my chest, a million different thoughts and feelings running through my head. Finally, they all merge together into nothingness, and instinct takes over. I close my eyes as well and let Rainbow's hoof guide my head to her. Don't think, Seth. Just fuck your stupid thoughts for once and do something impulsive, and to hell with the consequences.
Finally, at long last, our lips meet in a kiss.
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This is friggin amazing
I just had the strongest Gurren Lagann (I think that's how it's spelled. I hate my memory sometimes.) impression when Seth did his line about sending all his power and turning Vanta to dust. Either that, or its a different half-remembered reference.
I also had the strongest Diablo impression, what with the "Your deaths... have been avenged!" closing line at the end there. Not to mention the whole "Enter a ruined structure, descend deeper while fighting various abominations, defeat super-mega-ultra boss critter."
All in all, pretty good. And the ship hath been launched!
5521019
The best part is that I've never seen or played either of those!
Still, I'm happy that the feedback is good so far. I've never written a romance scene. Ever.
That... was awesome.
Bravo. fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/001/7/e/clapping_pony_icon___nightmare_moon_by_taritoons-d5prx8v.gif
I LOVED THIS CHAPTER!!! However... I would've had Rainbow Dash charge at Vanta in a blind fury, only to be knocked aside and seriously injured as a result, with next to no effort on Vanta's part. What you did was good too though! Also, necromantic destruction should star with a capital n and d and you made the following spelling mistakes:
should be "Now" (You made at least one more, but now I can't find it. Oh well.) (please PM me your response, if you have one to give)
so um.... going in order of thought (side note take these with mirth i'm being funny for three of them
1.) if the person you are fighting you realize is stronger than you and only holding back because his boss told him not to kill you AND has lost his mind...why would you tell him his boss is dead? just asking for a beat down
2.) can anyone say hollow ichigo?
3.)
just going to say Yana and see who gets it
4.) (the serious one)
....i have no words i can type that would loose their meaning.
The moment Seth stood up, you know what song went through my head? Wally's Theme from ORAS.
I am having trouble taking this seriously.
It is clear to me now that this story runs on anime logic. Delving deep with dark magic makes you crazy, but if you're the protagonist you can ignore that and remain in control if you're bad enough, apparently.
That, and of course you put off the confession so you could bring him back from the edge of death with a romantic reveal.
It's not bad necessarily, but for me, something just broke.
Finally! I have been waiting for this to happen. Now..
THEY MUST BONE!!
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To be frank, anime and books that work similarly are how I learned to write. I hate to say it, but if anime isn't your cup of tea, I'm not sure how you've read this far.
5521397 Oh, I tend to like anime, and the story has been interesting thus far. But... I like anime in spite of the stuff they pull sometimes, not because of it. This chapter had just a few too many convenient coincidences for me to just brush off so easily. I tend to rationalize it away by remembering that this is Equestria, where Fate messes with events all the time (the name-cutie mark association for one thing). But resorting to that explanation only makes it more palatable, it doesn't completely eliminate my feeling that something doesn't make sense.
So long as there's a reason for why events defy probability, I'm generally content. But too many unexplained coincidences too quickly, and it gets harder to ignore.
I liked the extremely slow build-up towards romance. Nobody should fall in love completely within a month, that's just asking for trouble.
Also...
Obligatory 'It's over 9000!!!' comment.
I do expect Celly and the rest all coming to see the INSANE AMOUNT OF POWER RIVALING CHRYSALIS... FROM TWO SEPARATE SOURCES. Also explosions, but whatever.
Chapter 82
"Eww, there's hair in my mouth" D:
And then a comet came and destroyed everything, The End
Seen the chapter title and instantly thought.
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Even though it totally was.
And so, the ship hath sailed.
Also, when Vanta said you're not alone, there are more humans alive.
Calling it now. That was also pretty obvious foreshadowing, I'm almost certain I'm right.
will he have
a inner hollow
WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO yeperoni now epilogue for this arc and we are in home I can't wait to read it.
Did anyone already do a super saiyan joke?
Cause this is more proof that Seth needs to figure out the Destructo Disk
Damn dude, this was fucking epic
So Vanta in his bone giant form is slightly weaker then Chrysalis. As soon as that was stated, I knew Seth was likely to get his ass kicked. He may be stronger then when he faced Chrysalis last time, but he had Luna for back up then and he was pushed to his absolute limit before he was really able to get any serious damage in. He didn't fair much better here. He managed to dodge for a while and avoid taking massive damage, but he barely did anything to hurt Vanta, simply because he couldn't. It took him smashing Vanta full on in the face to just knock him over, and even then it barely had an affect. The fight music fit really well here and the battle itself was very adrenaline pumping. After Vanta finally accepted that Sombra was dead, that's when shit got real and he just completely curb stomped Seth. Chrysalis managed to do more energy damage then anything Vanta did, but his fists were the size of Seth and they just squashed him like a bug. I'm amazed he didn't break any bones by the time he was out of the fight. Hell, he was very likely bleeding internally magic or not.
I knew Rainbow was going to show up, but I figured she pull some attack from out of sight and distract Vanta. I like what happened here much better. She finds Seth on deaths door and can't shake him out of it. Then we have arrogant Vanta start making fun of her and she just couldn't take it. I suspect she knew from the start she had absolutely no chance against Vanta, but she likely thought she could dish out a few punches. The fist that immediately took her out of the fight was just too much for her. Breaking a wing and rendering her unconscious. She's damn lucky, a blow like that without a magic protection field like Seth could very well have broken half the bones in her body. Her confession to Vanta about her feelings for Seth was strong. It was good that Seth was able to understand his own forced obliviousness to the situation and how it had likely made things even harder for Rainbow.
Her getting hurt certainly got Seth back in the fight. The transformation he undertakes sounds awesome. Gives him claws, makes his hair float and puts a dark crack through his face. I suspect the crack likely plays a larger purpose if he ever needs to push passed his limits again. Here he immediately surpasses even Chrysalis in power (I wonder how he'd fair against Celestia? She'd likely win but it probably wouldn't be a straight up curb stomp) and just lays into Vanta and tears him apart. He just beats him with so much ease. The power up itself is really interesting. So this is what happens when he breaks passed his inner barrier. Still the insanity was fighting pretty hard for control here. It was only his desire to avenge the human race and protect Rainbow that gave him the strength to subdue it. If he tries to utilize the form again without sufficient motivation, it likely won't be as submissive to him.
After taking Vanta apart, he makes sure Rainbow is ok before the final round starts. The new body that vanta uses sounds horrifying. A Spartan sized human body made up of rotting human flesh and bone and pumped with over 3000 years worth of magic from its victims. God this section of the fight makes Chrysalis look like a friggin weakling. Vanta even has a god damn scythe. The fight was just epic and the music fit it brilliantly. You could see that Seth was fighting with a level of power he never had before and wouldn't give up until Vanta was in the ground. Vanta just kept getting more and more desperate as the fight went on. The fight itself just sounded amazing, with the energy blasts and the powered strikes. Rainbow was likely watching and just thinking 'holy fuck!'. Heck I wonder if Seth could actually beat Rainbow in a race in this form? That certainly wouldn't make her happy.
The energy power struggle while Vanta launched a skull beam at Seth, while Seth fought back with a massive array of weapons, was just one of the most amazing moments this story has had. Then we have Seth finish Vanta using his own scythe (so damn glad he kept the thing and crystalized it. Now he's got a long range weapon and a melee weapon) and obliterate his old body to stop his necromantic magic. The cryptic message he leaves has me worried. We all knew from the start that this was leading to the return of the crystal empire and Sombra, but learning about multiple plans and traps is concerning. Then 'You are not alone' fuck. I can speculate here but the crypticness of it makes it hard to tell. I suspect that once the crystal empire returns, Seth may no longer be the only human left.
Finally, it's all out in the open between Seth and Rainbow. God I have been dying for this moment ever since you started throwing in teases during the first Canterlot arc. We have Rainbow finally admit that she has fallen in love with Seth. Hearing her so worried due to his passed reactions to pony relationships and a potential relationship with her in particular, I feel she had a right to be worried. Still the end result here was awesome. Seth has a jumble of thoughts and worries running around his head, but he basically just thinks 'fuck off this is happening' and enjoys the moment. They actually fucking kiss!
Damn man this was well written. The tension, the dramatic build up over the story. You wrote this scene out spectacularly. I have no idea whether this will work out for them, or if Seth can move passed his lingering doubts, but for now, for just this chapter, Seth and Rainbow have finally taken the first step.
Hot damn dude, I cannot wait for the next chapter. They've got to warn Celestia about the Oppressed in the ruins, the fate of the humans and what little knowledge he gleamed about Sombra, as well as Vanta's warnings and steadfast belief that Sombra might make a comeback. They've also got to see where this new step in their relationship takes them, and the reactions everypony gives them (Lyra is going to be pissed, Rarity is going to swoon and everypony else is likely to just get confused). I cannot wait
So Vanta is defeated, and his spirit turns good and gives Seth a warning out of respect.
BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT-BULLSHIT-BULLSHIT!!!
5523297 ohhh, do go fk yourself. Its his story, he can do what he likes. you dont like it? write your own.
All I could think of during Seth's power up was this -
I wonder how the princesses will react to seth's new powah levah! Now that he's gon super sayan, they'll be surprised, I'd think!
I wonder how the princesses will react to seth's new powah levah! Now that he's gone super sayan, they'll be surprised, I'd think!
Are you sure that's all you should be fucking?
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in no way did he express any remorse for his actions, sure the "out of respect" felt a bit off but Vantas ghost was in no way good, and he gave him an incredibly vague warning, nothing he could prepare off of and by telling him that he would if anything cause anxiety because again he doesnt know what to prepare for but he does know that something else could come for him. If anything thats more a mindfuck than help
He sacrificed movility with Power... Instead of a thousand year infusing power around the corpses, he could used a corpse and travel Equestria and expand the terror using the corpse to move his true corpse.
It was a good chapter and Seth at last Awakened to the true.
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Well, Seth was mostly complaining about insecurity, rather than saying that any flaw made someone bad.
Like I explained before, Crona's gender is left ambiguous in the manga, which I actually read all the way through. So in the end, you just have to choose what gender you think fits "it" better. I went with female because of how slender Crona was, along with the voice. That and the manga started using feminine kanji near the end. Its confusing.
fucking intense! this story only keeps getting better
No words. Except: SQUEEEEEEEEEEE
annnnnd 
Oh one more thing:
2 theories:
1. There's another human and he (or she) is evil
Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
2. AMARYLLIS!!!!!!!!
Like a BOSS
Ah death by somewhat irony, the pony kill humans, now the human kill the pony. Or something like that.
Oh, I REALLY hope he keeps that scythe. That would be the coolest.
can't tell if he just went super sayian 2 or hollow mode. Super Sombrain Hollow Mode!
So, basically, Seth went Super Saiyan 4
I got a strong video game vibe from this whole basement section, and judging by the comments of "Resident Evil" "Left 4 Dead" and "World of Warcraft," I wasn't the only one. I saw a lot of video game style direction of the "player" towards the final boss, though I got more a feel of Half-Life 2, especially with the chase scene and subsequent scripted death. (The Antlion King from Nova Prospekt comes to mind, though none of the Antlion Kings had a scripted death)
I mean, I realise that a good deal of the way through, he was being directed, either by the ghost or by the lich himself, but I still got that feeling of Seth thinking that goal-setting of "I guess I'll blunder this direction and hope I get to the place I saw" that drives so many adventure games these days.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, of course. I can't really tell if it has a positive or negative effect on the narrative, it was merely an observation.
5609948 ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.eRE/P7JUrxWgvFqNI9GVEg&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
It's about fucking time
Now that we have hints about the experiments done to humans to create the ultimate fighter, this plot is like Megaman ZX Advent. AND i could say that Seth is closely resembles Prometheus, with his dark fire and scythe.
He needs a biocrystal armor.
Did you just... You DID didn't you!? The moment Seth slashed and burned him was a reference to this!
...I approve.
Okay, 3 things:
1.) Seth=
LEVEL UP!
2.) I kinda feel bad for Vanta, even though he is a dick, a sadistic, yet controllable dick, he spent 3000 years of work in creating a good sum of power, then Seth evolves into an even more mega-super saiyan.... quite literally blowing him away without trying in his state of will to get vengeance.
and lastly,
3.) Good job Seth on admitting your feelings, you... hmm what was the wording? Oh yeah, "neighborly asshole"? Something similar he wrote in the letter he sent to Luna about the site.
Finally they finally fucking kiss yes now I shall do a happy dance be right back.
Damn, that was freaking epic!