Celestia Trigger

by Thadius0

Chapter 40 - Heroes: Apply directly to the problem

The first room of the false mountain yielded nothing except more turrets to shoot at us. Turrets which Sombra efficiently destroyed with a single spell. Somehow, he created a shadowy version of my Lightning 2 spell and used it to bathe the room in electricity.

I wasn't questioning how it worked, merely admiring that it did. Around the room, the turrets sparked before blowing up, showering the room in debris. Once the room was clear, I turned to the unicorn and nodded approvingly. "A fine opener," I praised him.

"That's not my only trick," he said with a grin. "Combat magic is simple to grasp. I should be capable of replicating Copper's fire and Zehan's ice."

"Albeit with a darker tint," Gregory observed.

"Dark magic is what I excel in," Sombra said. "Others would have to worry about keeping themselves safe. I am perfectly capable of using it without any repercussions."

"The best blade is one that does not cut you, and all that," I added.

"Quite true," the unicorn said with a nod of his head. "We should proceed deeper into this structure. I cannot help but feel as though it is through this place that we shall finally meet Lavos once more."

"And I have some pent-up pain and torment I wish to deliver straight to that overgrown tick," Copper muttered. At that I snickered at the comparison. It was...quite apt.

The next room held more mechanical monstrosities for us to fight off against, only these were robots eerily similar to Justice. Either they'd been constructed in this day and age by the power of whatever was left of the empire of Vis, or this place didn't care about when it pulled its foes from.

Once we'd scrapped the bots, we found the elevator down, surprisingly free of foes this time. However, the room that greeted us in this all-metal interior of the mountain held new foes for us to face off against, proving the second part of my earlier assumption true.

After all, I couldn't imagine the freaks of nature that we now were facing off against to have come from anywhere but the distant and dim future that Lavos would create on this planet. Once we'd bested them, we found the way onwards beyond.

Of course, in the next room, we found significantly stronger creatures that looked like they'd belonged in the Fiendlord's army. Or could have been. Each one fell before our blades and magic, though, and it was after that that I made the simple decision to conserve resources. Namely, our magic, until we found a foe worth spending it on. Sombra looked a little upset by my sensible choice, but eventually agreed with the idea of not wearing himself out right away.

That only opened the door to him showing off his fine control skills with levitation, the sharpness of his scythe, and how easy it was for him to cleave apart the next batch of monsters. What few were left alive, Gregory destroyed with gusto, dashing to each one and slicing it in half with the Masamune.

"I am starting to get the idea that those two are highly skilled," Zehan said. "And more than a little enthusiastic."

"Oh you think you've seen enthusiasm have you?" I asked. Nothing appeared to greet us as we moved into the room where there was a teleporter at the back, before the very wall panels themselves opened up and fired upon us. I drew my blade and felt the power flow through me, before I dashed at each panel and sliced it into ribbons. I returned to where I'd been with a heavy breath, and behind me I could hear the machinery breaking apart. I sheathed my blade and raised an eyebrow at my allies.

"We can all contribute," I said. "Just nothing that involves magic. We're going to want to save our strength."

Scorpan nodded at that and we all went deeper into the belly of this machine. The next batch of monsters had a round body and a single eye each, and upon seeing us, exuded that same miasma that the creatures from the Floating Mountain had used to block our magic. That made adhering to the no-magic rule a simple one for this chamber at least.

What was unexpected was the gargoyle dashing forward, picking up two of the smaller creatures, bashing them together a few times, before flinging them at a third. Something he then followed up with a leap into the air and a piledriver onto the whole pile.

Brutal. But effective. The rest of us simply sat back and let the master of physical combat do his thing to clear the room. It was an entertaining prospect. Something I wish I'd brought popcorn for.

In a matter of minutes, the room was clear and free of foes. Scorpan walked over to us, and I applauded him. "Well done," I said. "I doubt I could have matched that at all."

The gargoyle chuckled and bowed to me, before falling back in line as we proceeded through this place. Something that I found disturbing, though, was how there were no alternative branching paths. No puzzles. Just a path filled with monsters lying between us and our target.

Had it been made with us in mind? This twisted place that seemed at once familiar to the Underground Palace and at the same time, not? It wasn't like there were many who could beat all these creatures back, nor many that could want to.

It was almost like it had been waiting for us, and us alone...

Soon enough, we found a room that was...highly disturbing. A raised platform over a pit, and beneath us lay the sight of each of us. Save for Sombra, and myself. All my other friends, though, they were down there, in the middle of various actions. Most of them involving fighting, but there were a few scenes of the lot of them sharing a moment of peace and tranquility.

Up ahead, I could see the twisted remains of the Malus Machine, and a familiar mare stood in front of them. One that we'd seen at the entrance to this place. The Mad Queen of Vis, Lavos' puppet. She cackled as we approached.

"Behold," she said, sweeping a hoof out to the room we'd just passed through. "Your time has been observed, recorded, captured here. Your future and past as one. And I have studied you all, extensively. You cannot hope to best me as I am now."

I raised my sword by way of response, not bothering to give her the satisfaction of an answer to that. She laughed. "Fool. You think you can best me, you think you can best Lavos? You are nothing compared to him! You always have been and will be, even if you are from somewhere foreign to this world!"

"No matter Crono's origins," Gregory said as he unsheathed the Masamune. "He has been a true and loyal friend to us all. He has led us and guided us truly on our journey to best he that would threaten this world."

"He helped teach me the meaning of friendship and loyalty," Scorpan rumbled.

"He saved me from certain death, and helped heal old divides that kept two races apart," Zehan added.

"And traveling with him has brought me hope, where there once was none," Sombra added.

"It is out of a desire to improve the future in which I found myself that I travel with him," Justice continued.

"So in short, buck you, you crazy mare," Copper said. "We're standing by our friend, and putting you and your master down once and for all."

The Mad Queen grit her teeth before lighting up her horn. "Fine! I'll destroy you all myself!" she shrieked, as a pulse of power ripped through us. I was driven to my knees, gasping as I felt the effects of her attack.

Then a wave of strength invigorated me, and I looked to the side to see Gregory, Justice, and Zehan focusing their powers on us all, bringing us back from the brink of being defeated. I got back up and brandished my sword, before looking at the others. "And that is why we save our magic," I quipped. "For situations where we need it."

"Agreed," Copper said as she turned on her turret, the soft glow indicating she'd prepared the laser mode. "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things in the twenty-fourth century."

"Could not agree more," I said as Sombra fell in next to me, his scythe raised. Scorpan cracked his knuckles, and the queen, for one brief moment, seemed to understand just how absolutely fucked she was.

Something we demonstrated with aplomb.

---

"Fools," the queen rasped as she fell back. "If I can't destroy you here, then I'll just activate the Malus-"

Gregory swung his sword at the wrecked hunk of metal, and a wave of power rippled through the air, before splitting the device in two. "You were saying?" he asked cheekily.

She fumed at us, before some sort of...unearthly energy seeped up from the ground and filled her with new vigor.

Apparently, Lavos either really liked this puppet, or didn't want us getting to him just yet. She cackled as she rose into the air, before vanishing into nothingness. What appeared next was a massive image of her head, followed by two hooves, one to either side of it.

"Ignore the hooves!" I shouted to my allies. "Focus all your attacks on her head, do everything possible to just bring her down!"

With not a word of complaint, the second round began. Our three healers still stood off to the side, ready to pick us all up if we needed it. Something I was grateful for, as one of the hooves let rip with a massive burst of power like the queen had used before. The effects of it lasted for all of a second before we were re-invigorated, and the four of us who were on the front lines of fighting brought the pain to the madmare. Sombra's scythe bit into the massive face, while Copper fired up her laser and brought the full power of the sun to bear.

Scorpan waited for the fire to stop, and once it was clear, he raced forward and punched the massive face multiple times, before backing off. Everyone looked at him, then at the face. I had just been about to ask him a question...

When the mare screamed in agony. Scorpan just looked smug as it was now my turn to add to the pain she was feeling. My sword danced across the massive face, crisscrossing it and leaving gouges behind.

"Behold the last ruler of a shattered empire!" Sombra bellowed as he readied himself for another round. "Behold the mad queen, the failure of Vis! For it was by her hoof that we turned to Lavos in the first place! We could have turned to anything else for a power source! We could have tried to make the world below more livable, and ended our long seclusion above the clouds! Instead she went to the world-destroyer, the creature that devours all, and sought to make his power hers! And in the end, he claimed her soul!"

"Silence, False prophet!" she screeched as she tried, unsuccessfully, to shield her face with a hoof. The scythe danced around her defenses and bit into her face instead. "I have so much pain ready for you and the role you played, the way you tried to sneak your way into my court just so you could strike at Lavos!"

"How far have you fallen," I shouted at her, "To not recognize your own son? To have sacrificed your daughter to the beast that took everything else from you?"

There was another flicker. A moment, when I could have sworn she recognized what she was doing.

Then it was gone, and the Mad Queen was back, charging up another blast of power to strike us with.

One she didn't get to use, as Copper blasted her instead. The mare howled in pain and fell back, returning to her original form as she lay against the far wall.

"Oh mighty Lavos," she gasped out. "Avenge me!"

And all around us, the mountain rumbled as he heard her.

Comments

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Awesome Update!

[ShadedTz]

Binding of Isaac reference?

[Frission]

Hehehehe, love the Head-On chapter title reference. xD

[Emperor]

well, at least someone mentioned Sombra was Vis' son

[Greatazuredragon]

"So in short, buck you, you crazy mare," Copper said. "We're standing by our friend, and putting you and your master down once and for all."

Best pre-battle banter, straight to the point and summarizes everything else.

[john117]

Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things in the twenty-fourth century."

did you just make a ghostbusters reference