Log 32- Live Free or Let Me Die
Of Magic and Machines- Live Free or Let Me Die
The second that they made their ‘grand entrance’, both Amy and Nicko got a rather warm welcome from the demons that were camping out around the fortress as they came at the pair of them in a massive onslaught. Forcing the two of them to go on the offensive just to even make it farther through the complex. At some points, they even were able to get farther into the caverns and see how their opponents were able to quickly turn this former town into a suitable base of operations for their forces and their cause.
However… it wasn’t entirely too impressive to Amy once she got a look at everything from a high enough view. “So this is where these demons are hiding out… Wow, talk about the grand central station of disappointment here. I honestly expected more.” The Crimson Avenger groaned, sounding rather bored by the time they were reaching a plateau that was halfway across the map and also halfway over to where the General of the Demons was. Nicko himself was thinking the same thing… but from a different context as he looked back at Amy.
“You would think that if Celestia and Artemis were so focused on trying to keep everypony safe that they would notice something like this form right under their noses.” The Rune Slayer spoke up. “Then again, all of this occurred because of outside help… and because of how Arma was used by them. At least we’re here to end it now.”
“Yeah… that and also settling a score with my father. I know that bastard is here somewhere and I’m not going back to Rainbow and the others until I make sure that he’s dealt with.” Amy growled for a moment… which in turn, caused Nicko to look back at her in confusion. Especially when it came to the mentioning of Solomon Grundy. The same guy who Sparkler just happened to accidently unthaw from his frozen state in an ice burner experiment gone wrong.
“I thought that guy couldn’t be killed.” He spoke up, looking back as Amy sighed for a moment.
“He can’t… but it does not stop me from trying to either put him back in ice, have him be petrified or thrown into a volcano… the last one sounds more enjoyable.” Nicko’s only response originally was a facepalm as he groaned for a moment before looking back at his companion. The only upside to all of this is that at least she had her priorities figured out for how to deal with that issue. However, what remains to be seen is how she was going to do everything else. “Other then that, we’ll just wing it with everything else.”
That did not help solve any problems… or relieve any of the annoying irritation that Nicko was feeling right now. He could not honestly believe that Amy was acting this way on a matter so serious… then again, this was Amy he was thinking about. How she normally solves problems can range on a variety of different levels… and all of them can somewhat irritate him to an almost intolerable level.
This factor still happened to continue on for a while, but as they were continuing to advance, he then noticed something rather… off. When they reached a courtyard clearing, the only thing that they could actually see looked like a floating sphere of dark blue energy. Demonic in nature, but it did not have any kind of physical form.
“Really now? Do they honestly think that something that pathetic would stop us-” Before Amy could finish what she was trying to say and have her sword go through it, the orb itself gave off a black pulse of demonic power as it summoned numerous different monsters in front of them. However, unlike the demons they first encountered on the way too here, these ones were much different. The armor that some of them had previously worn looked rather… eroded and seemed much stronger in appearance as they fought the group. Taking a bit longer in order for them to be defeated.
“Okay, who decided to strengthen the minions?” Nicko asked. “They’re either wanting to tire us out… or they’re getting really desperate right around now.”
“No sh*t, Sherlock,” The Crimson Avenger rolled her eyes, looking rather unimpressed right now. “You would think that some enemies would know that sending grunts to hold us off would not put up much of a fight. Hell, I didn’t even break a sweat from them.”
“Then maybe perhaps we can put up more of a challenge for you then,” Both of them heard a voice echo around the courtyard as two new figures now appeared on the battlefield. Both of them being demons, one male and female, and they were walking onto the battlefield and ready to face them. “We’ve been expecting your arrival… though, we did not think that it would come off as… dramatic as your grand entrance.”
“Who’s the chick in the armored bikini?” Amy then abruptly asked, testing and also slightly damaging Nicko’s calm as she tilted her head a bit. “Matter of fact, who the hell are you two anyway?”
Yet, despite what the Crimson Avenger said, her companion had something rather different to say about these two. “You must be the Twins… Two of the most trusted commanders amongst the demons other than the leader of your rag tag band of misfits.”
“You’re correct… but ‘rag tag band of misfits’ seems more like your group rather than ours.” The male chuckled before having a floating sphere surround his hand. “We know that both of you have your reasons for invading a place like this… unfortunately though, we can’t have you proceed any further.”
“Oh, what are you going to do, call the person who can try and stop me?” Amy brashly smirked as she glared back at the two of them. “What’s that pony’s name… Michael Mc’ Doesn’t exist?” Again, this really tested Nicko’s calm once more because of how much his friend and companion was not taking this seriously.
But all that did was just make one of the twins chuckle as the other one pulled out what looked like a pair of swords and looked back at them. “Cute… but if you honestly think your going to win this battle with words, then prepare to be proven wrong.”
“Oh really now? Is that a-” Before Amy could fully finish her sentence, she was cut off when the demon’s blades began to extend, almost striking amy from a far distance and revealing to both of them that those swords were actually a pair of blade whips capable at striking them from a far distance.
“We and In and Jin… and if you don’t take this seriously, it won’t exactly turn out well for either of you.” The female and male demon spoke in sync as they began their attack. Rushing at Nicko and Amy as both of them were caught off guard by the demon’s pre-emptive strike. It split the two of them up to where Amy had to fight Jin and Nicko had to fight In, and both of them had no idea what either of the twins were capable of or what they could do for their weapons.
For Amy’s opponent, her swords not only were used as a form of blade whips, but also were used to defend herself by slashing her weapons in a circular disk around her. Which proved troublesome because no matter how many times Amy tried attacking her opponent from another angle, she was met with steel blades. And the more times the two of them clashed, the more pissed off Amy was becoming.
As for Nicko, his opponent was a bit trickier in order to figure out. Mainly because his weapon was much more… out of the ordinary. When he tried to backtrack so his opponent could not be able to hit him, the orb was able to slowly pull him towards it before exploding outward. Almost like his newly acquired Triple Saber ability. Not to mention that In was also able to charge up the attacks power before sending it forward and having it detonate the energy that he originally had charged up. Which left it as a bit of a problem because unlike other opponents that Nicko had faced before, he had no idea where the demons weapon would be when attacking him.
And it left Nicko with two options. A, keep on dodging the attacks and try to find an opening for him in order to attack his opponent… or B, use these attacks to his advantage and make that opening himself. Of course, choice A seemed like the most likely of the two… but the longer that the fight drew out, the more that Nicko was able to read his opponent’s attack patterns. And strangely enough, besides those two… In had no other tricks up his sleeves to use in a fight. While the Rune Slayer had many.
Meaning that with one small slip up, the tide of battle could change. And Nicko got his chance when In charged up his orb to attack and threw it behind the Rune Slayer. The moment it detonated though was when Nicko dashed at his opponent by placing two of the runes he would use for his ‘Splash Explosion’ skill at the bottom of his feet. Allowing him to reach the demon before it’s weapon could come back to him as Nicko struck him dead center in the face. Shortly before kicking him over to where Amy’s opponent was and simultaneously breaking her concentration.
“Well then, let’s go ahead and test out these new powers then,” The Crimson Avenger devilishly smirked as she began to charge up some of her blood magic and release it right between where the Twins were. “Shade!!” Both demons were caught in the middle of the dark energy storm and struck repeatedly by the attack. Much to Amy’s liking. “Oh, I’m sooooo going to enjoy using what other new powers I have.”
Yet, for both of their opponents, that attack did not then just throw them off guard. “Damn… That girl wasn’t suppose to have that kind of power on hand! We need to warn the General.”
“Oh, you’re not going anywhere! I’m finishing this fight now!” Before the Rune Slayer could do anything to act on it, Amy did something that… actually threw him off guard. She stepped in between and prevented him from giving chase.
“Oh? What are you doing?” The Crimson Avenger questioned him, while simultaneously throwing Nicko into bit of a loop while getting him even more frustrated with her.
“What am I doing!?”
“Thwarting my plans!?”
“Thwarting your plans!!?”
“ARE! YOU!?!” That last statement pushed Nicko way over the edge. It was then that he began to see that Amy was treating this more like a game rather than something that she should take rather seriously. And it was something that he could not deal with at the time.
“...... You know what, YES!!!” With his magic coursing around his arm, he set off a powerful runic blast that sent Amy flying back to where they first arrived at. Crashing with a loud THUD as Nicko then turned around and began to walk away. If this were something that needed to be done, then they need to take it seriously and not fool around. Treating this like a game is going to get them killed and lose their home.
And that was something that he was not going to let happen.
Meanwhile…
“Sir, we have a problem.” Those five words from that of his commanders did not settle well with Scar, the demon that had planned this invasion and was planning his schemes in this complex. Matter of fact, the demon general himself despised setbacks. However, there was something about this one that did not surprise him. “We have an intruder.”
“And I am to assume that you are coming to me to ask for permission to use force?” He questioned his twin commanders, but found himself surprised when both of them were shaking their heads in response. “Then if that’s not the reason for your disturbance at this hour, then explain now-.”
“We already attempted to stop the intruder, but they weren’t alone,” The commander known as Jin began to explain. “Both of them have power and strength beyond that of ours and can almost rival yours in comparison. It’s the Rune Slayer and the Crimson Avenger.”
“So they decide to come for me directly rather than fight on through the front lines,” He asked for clarification. It was a bold risk to do that. Especially with the countermeasures they had set up if someone were to try to barge on through with brute force. “That’s rather bold of them.”
“General, what are your orders?” The second commander, In, asked. “If you want us to deploy countermeasures against them-”
“That would not be necessary… Especially with how close we are to our goals…” The General interjected, before telling them something. “Tell Grundy that his daughter had decided to pay a visit. After that, focus your efforts onto harvesting the demonic energy here.”
“What about you sir?” The twin’s question was answered the moment that Scar removed his blade from where he originally had it in the ground and carried it alongside him.
“I’ll see to the other intruder myself.”
Elsewhere…
Shortly after feeling herself being thrown several meters away and crashing down at almost the exact point in which they started at, Amy found herself lying on the ground as she began to wipe the dust off of her clothes and have a chance to catch her breath. “Hah… this a new feeling… pride in someone else.”
Taking a moment to wipe her hand across her face and see the small amount of blood that was on her hands, the Crimson Avenger made a fist as her power began to course through her. “Unfortunately, it’s being overshadowed by all this UNYIELDING RAGE!!!” Immediately after shouting that was when she took off, charging back towards where she knew Nicko would be. Because she was definitely going to get him back for this.
By the time Nicko had finally reached the gates of the demonic chasm, he was at the point to which he wanted to throw all form of caution to the wind and finally face the one responsible for all the chaos and calamity that he had been causing. With his defeat, the war against the demons can finally end… and no one would have to worry about them rampaging across their home.
As he slowly approached the main hallway leading inside, he became rather cautious. Making sure that nothing would try to get him from behind as a surprise attack. Although, despite being able to feel the presence of other people or beings within a certain radius of him, the Rune Slayer could only feel one particular presence just ahead. This one being the one that had been guiding him to this spot the entire time.
The closer he was to the main chamber, the more that the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up. It wouldn’t be much farther now until he found the one known as ‘Lord Scar’ and when he did, Nicko was expecting a fight. However… one thing that he could not predict was that once he took another step forward, a bright flash of light went off. Teleporting him to a wide open cauldron with a view of the volcano’s core nearby as the sound of the door behind him slamming firmly shut. “Well, that’s reassuring.”
“To come here realizing that right now is a grave mistake on your part.” He heard a dark, yet almost familiar voice echo the room as the sound of footsteps clawing against the floor could be heard from behind Nicko. Originally, he thought that the demon was going to walk on in and then do some monologuing or something along those lines. Only for when he turned around to realize that his opponent had already begun to go after him by not only having blue demonic fire spread across the floor rapidly, but for Scar to teleport above him to try and strike Nicko from above while he was paying attention to the flames.
Which, put Nicko in a very tough position. With how big his opponent’s weapon was, trying to block or parry it would evidently damage his own weapon. So, he was forced to backpedal out of the way of the flames and then dash to the side as he narrowly missed his opponent’s blade. Despite his opponent's size, he was rather fast and also powerful given the shockwave that was released when his blade struck the ground.
“Hunh… rather quick aren’t you… good.” Scar growled, looking back at him with a grin. From what Nicko could tell, all former emotions that this guy must’ve had at one point had been substituted with anger, hatred and rage. But that was what it looked like on the outside. “This’ll be much more of an entertaining battle than that of your comrade’s”
Stopping for a second, Nicko looked back at the demon and grit his teeth for a moment. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The way in which you entered my domain here doesn’t exactly have others come the same way. Anyone else who attempts to enter this chasm through the same means you did will be transported elsewhere in the vicinity,” He remarked. “Besides… Someone here wanted to have the chance to have a little… family reunion with her.”
“Oh sh*t… Grundy.” The Rune Slayer realized as he looked all around him. “I really hope that Amy can be able to handle herself right now… Who am I kidding? She’s probably got things under control.”
“AGH!!! MY RAGE HAS BLINDED ME!!!”
“Yup, definitely under control… Though, I did promise to let her get the killing blow on this guy, so I better keep my promise.” He thought to himself as he looked back at the demon farther down the room as he now had his weapon at the ready along with his magic. Preparing himself for imminent combat.
“Eager for a fight now, are we?” Scar grinned, donning his own weapon as he looked back at Nicko. Though, no matter how many times that he looked back at the demon general, something really didn’t make sense. Now though… was when he decided to actually say something about it.
“You know exactly what I don’t get…” The Rune Slayer then asked as he looked back at Scar. “You launched an invasion against Equestria, wanting revenge. I get that part… but it feels as if there’s something else that you are planning alongside this campaign of yours. So what the hell is it?” That… actually got Scar to grin a little as he looked back at Nicko. Actually laughing a small bit as he looked back at him, which made the spellsword slightly uncomfortable.
“Heh… Out of all the humans that had arrived in this world, I always thought you would be slightly more observant than the others.” The demon replied, before extending an open hand and gripping it, which caused several dark blue orbs to appear. “This is more than a fortress for our operations. It’s the heart of our power. Our army can’t truly fall as long as this stands firm… and I will not let you or your friend destroy this place!!” That, caused the orbs floating around Scar to turn into demonic energy that began to flow around him as the amount of pressure from that caused Nicko to almost lose his footing.
“Holy-!! This guys strength knows no bounds!!!” He thought to himself, dodging the next attack from his opponent in the process. “How the hell am I going to fight this guy on my own if Amy is stuck with fighting Grundy? My attacks won’t affect him as long as that demon heart's still beating.” There were a couple of times where he did attempt to attack Scar, whether it was by using one of his spells or his sword, but both were rather ineffective. And to make it worse, whatever damage he did inflict just healed themselves up a few moments later.
“Come on now! I expected MUCH more from you!!” Scar taunted as he attacked a few more times, one of them striking Nicko along the chest as he skid backwards. “Don’t you DARE hold yourself back against me!!”
“How the hell am I going to be able to fight you if I can’t even hurt you!?” Nicko shouted mentally inside his head as be began to try and think of a way in order to fight back. However… what he did not expect was to hear something like a microphone being tapped going off inside his head, followed by somepony else actually speaking up.
“H-hello? Is this thing on? Eris, does the red light mean that this is on?” That voice was one that Nicko definitely recognized, shortly before hearing the same voice speak up again a few seconds later. “Alright, it’s on. Nicko, can you hear me?”
“M-moondancer?” Nicko asked mentally while also paying attention to everything going on around him. “H-how-? You know what… I’m going to assume Eris played a part in this?”
“Sort of… Remember when you met that one vampire guy about a month or so ago and Eris used that Crystal Ball contraption in order to have us see what you see?” That Nicko definitely did remember. Especially when that occurred around the same time he met Dio Brando. “Well, think that, but Eris modified it so it could allow for us to communicate. Are you alright?”
“For the most part… we were doing fine until Amy got a bit headstrong, we split up to cover more ground and now I’m stuck fighting the leader of the demons while Amy’s stuck with having to handle her father.” Nicko explained briefly as he held up his sword in defense to block an incoming attack. “Not to mention that this guy I’m fighting is not exactly playing fair.”
There was a brief pause from Moondancer for a moment as Nicko heard a few murmurs in the background. “Nicko, what do you mean by these guys not playing fair?”
“You know how someponies would describe this as the ‘heart of enemy territory’? Think that, but a little too literally,” The Spellsword briefly explained. “There’s a demonic heart in the center of this place that’s making the demons much more powerful than normal. Not to mention it makes their leader unkillable. With me occupied with him and Amy being forced to fight her father, niether of us can get to the heart of the fortress and take it out.” That was followed by Nicko using his Splash Explosion skill in order to push his opponent back.
“So are you saying that you need backup?” Moondancer then replied shortly afterwards.
“What? No! No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is that it’s difficult trying to handle things on my own when I can’t reach Amy. She and I were suppose to take this guy on as a two man team, but with her and I being separate, it’s making this whole thing harder.” He fully explained to her while clashing swords again. When he was forced down on one knee, the Rune Slayer had no choice but to unholster the pistol that Arma had gave him and shoot the demon in the shoulder to really get himself out of a jam. “Where’s Eris right now?”
“Right here, Nicky.” He then heard the draconequus speak up. “I was busy making popcorn for our guests while we watch your battle unfold.”
That… threw Nicko in for a loop as he had to use his sword to deflect and parry some of Scar’s attacks before responding to her. “Hold up… You guys are actually watching us right now? Seriously?!”
“What? How else are we going to be able to help you if we can’t see you?” The draconequus made a rather valid point at that statement as Nicko got the chance to catch his breath. “Now, if you give me a second, we can make this a three way-”
“Wha-?”
“-CALL!! Three way call… Goddess Nicko, you honestly think I would try to go behind your back like that? Anyways, I’ll let Scootaloo talk to her in a moment. Just hang in there.” Eris sighed as the sound of a phone dialing in the background could be heard while Nicko was continuing to fight. Trying to mix in some offensive skills in with his normal attack pattern to catch his opponent by surprise. Skills like Wind Blade, Rising Slash, and also a few minor skills like Fire Rune in order to prevent Scar from giving chase when Nicko needed to back up and get some better ground. After a few seconds, it worked and soon, they could hear Amy.
But what they heard from her was rather unsettling. “When I make sure that I THROW YOUR UGLY ASS IN A BURNING PIT OF LAVA, then we’ll see who’s laughing now you despicable piece of sh-!”
“Amy, what the hell are you doing?” He then heard Rainbow Dash speak up.
“Um… Internal monologuing… matter of fact, how the hell are you-?”
“Eris. Let’s just leave it at that.” The pegasus told the crimson avenger. The two of them began talking as Rainbow and Scootaloo were both trying to catch Amy up to speed on everything, all while Nicko was personally trying to hold his ground. It didn’t take long for Rainbow to try and explain anything… unfortunately though, it didn’t seem like Amy was really paying attention.
“Okay, I think I understand… But just in case… Can you please tell me again? I wasn’t listening.”
Rainbow Dash could only groan in response as she was about to try and explain it again. Only this time for Scootaloo to interject. “Allow me… Amy, the guy responsible for wrecking Umbra’s life along with her fathers and stole your Dark El Shard is right now using an invincibility cheat in order to make himself untouchable.”
“That BASTARD!! How the hell am I going to be able to brutally cleave his jerkass face off now!?!” She mentally roared, leaving Nicko rather shocked and surprised that somehow Scootaloo was able to get Amy to understand the gravity of the situation much faster than Rainbow could.
“Well, from what Nicko told us, there’s suppose to be some kind of heart here in the middle of this volcano that’s empowering Mr. Jerkass and his minions… Only problem is that both you and Nicko are currently busy at the moment.”
In hearing that though… Amy had a different response. “Hold that thought for just a second…” At first, Nicko was unsure what exactly she was talking about… until he looked at a clearing and actually saw Amy proceed to kick her father off the edge of a balcony and into the lava below like Leonidas in 300. “THIS IS EQUESTRIA!!!” It left the spellsword rather caught off guard… much to the fact that the crimson avenger also did not notice that he was on the opposite side of the mountain. “Alright, I’m free now. Had to take a moment to kick my father into some lava… god, that was a good stress reliever.”
“Okay… What the fu-?”
“Oh hey Nicko… Didn’t know you were in this call too…” She then replied, making Nicko want to personally facepalm himself if he were occupied with something else in this present moment. “So, aside from tearing that son of a b*tch’s heart out, what’s the plan?”
“Perhaps I can help on that,” Eris now began to speak up. “Amy, in order for you and Nicko to truly kill this guy, you’re going to need to blast a past WIDE OPEN to where this heart is and destroy it. Once you do that, get back to Nicko and you can finish this fight.”
“Alright, got it… Also, that’s what she said.” That almost had Nicko trip and fall on his face. Even more so with what he heard next from Eris.
“I know that’s what she said! Just GO!!” Now with that out of the way, Nicko could now be able to focus more on the current fight rather than all the side chatter going on inside his head. Of course, he considered filtering it out… but there was the possibility that he could’ve heard something important and did not want to possibly overlook that.
Of course, in doing that, it made him a little less observant as to the attacks that were coming at him. Several in which not only left him with little time to block some of the incoming strikes, but also wide open. “Pathetic!!”
When the Rune Slayer turned at the sound of that, he felt his opponent’s blade strike him across the chest. Tearing through some of his clothes and leaving behind a nasty gash. If he had stayed in place, the demon could’ve cleaved him in two… but because of him trying to move out of the way when the attack had landed, he was spared of that grim possibility.
However, with this new injury came new problems. For one thing, the pain was beyond unbearable. It burned anytime that he tried to move or even attack his opponent, forcing him to where he was on one knee.
“Heh… Not so strong or heroic now, are you?” Scar taunted as he watched the Rune Slayer drop down to one of his knees. “For someone who has the magic of that bastard Starswirl, you are nothing to me… Perhaps I should let you suffer more, though. I’m far from through with you.” Nicko himself had no idea what he was referring too, but he knew that being handicapped like this was not going to help him. He needed to protect and defend himself. Raising his blade to try and shield himself from harm.
Only for the blade that he called ‘Ebalon’ to shatter the moment that Scar’s weapon made impact. “If you were actually as smart as him, you would’ve enchanted your weapons to not wear down so quickly… My blade, along with many other weapons that we demons possess, can cause any weapon or opponent to deteriorate if they don’t have the proper protections… Now, your friend will not be able to save you in time by the time I’m done turning you into a mangled corpse.”
The demon general soon tossed both Nicko and the shattered remains of his weapon against a wall. Crashing into it as Nicko coughed up some blood. He felt as if there wasn’t anything he could do in order to fight back. This guy will break apart all the weapons that he had until he was done tearing him apart… and he was all by himself up here.
Nicko couldn’t take this anymore… He needed to get out there… He needed to fight back. But how could he? How could he be able to do that right now without even having a proper weapon to fight him-?
You don’t need one
Hearing that caused everything to stop all around him… and as he looked around, Nicko began to wonder what the hell was going on. Just as he soon felt a small glow go over him and lightly ease the pain he felt.
“Who… are you?”
Your power and strength draws from the runes, does it not? The voice spoke to him. If that is the case… use them.
“H-how? Rune magic is-”
Incomplete? He heard the speaker interject as he turned around. Oh, it’s far from it… Runes should be allowed to be used for various purposes… yet, I did not want them being abused for selfish desires. They are for helping everypony, not harming them. This person… began to puzzle Nicko for a moment… causing him to ask one rather important question.
“How do you know so much on my magic?”
Oh… but the answer is simple. It’s because I created it… You have my journal after all. That caused Nicko’s heart to almost stop for a moment as he processed what he just heard. You have the means to carry on my life’s work… yet, it is here and now that you are truly being tested to see how much you know.
“Y-you’re… Starswirl…” Nicko gasped for a moment, processing everything he just heard. “B-but how?”
Life is filled with mysteries… Many ponies once asked me why I decided to raise three young sirens back in my day, yet I could not give them a simple answer. The same applies to you, Nicko Nocte. The voice of the Grand Magus spoke to him. But for me I wonder… what made you decide to keep three weapons on hand? Wouldn’t it be much simpler to combine them together?
That… had Nicko blink for a moment as he looked down at the shattered blade on the ground before looking back up. “T-there’s a way to do that? But Ebalon is-!”
Broken in it’s physical form, yes… but not in terms of the power it holds… By using your magic, you can combine the power residing in two of your blades into a single source… and with the power that resides within the blades you call Ebalon and Rovaniik, it’s even possible for them to become much stronger than before. Allow me to assist you. The voice instructed as time slowly began to move again. The Rune Slayer himself finding the strength to stand as he picked up what was left of his broken blade and glared directly at the demon. Who just stopped for a moment… before laughing as he looked back at Nicko.
“Do you honestly believe that you think you can win with your broken blade, kid? Why can’t you just accept your fate already?” The demons words made his blood boil, making Nicko even more determined to go hit him where it hurts as Rovaniik appeared in his hand afterwards.
Now… conjure a rune in your hand and push your weapons into it. He was instructed. At first, Nicko was unsure if something like this was… well, actually reasonable. But he didn’t really have many other options to go off of. So, instead he followed through with what Starswirl told him as he pushed the blades into the rune. From Scar’s perspective, he thought that the Rune Slayer was trying to stab himself… but the influx of power that resulted afterwards meant otherwise.
Especially when the two swords he was holding were soon wrapped around in light and beginning to change shape. Molding itself together to take on the form of one single blade… and as the Rune Slayer pulled it out and the light around it began to die down, the runes around the blade could still be seen engraved from the weapons hilt all the way to the tip of the sword itself as Nicko now glared at the demon general with his newfound weapon in hand.
The demon at first, thought this was a tactic of intimidation… and decided to play along with it. “Oh really now? And which one is tha-?” Before he could even react, the Rune Slayer had already appeared right in front of him in the blink of an eye, swinging his blade and striking him two times. The first one actually injuring the demon around his chest, despite the power that the demonic heart provided him… The other strike cutting off one of his horns clean off as it fell to the ground and caused Scar to flinch in pain.
Now the tables were beginning to turn once more… and this time, in their favor. And once Amy finished up with what she was tasked to do, this could finally be a fair fight.
“Hunh… this glowing thing must be important. I’m gonna blow it up.” Shortly after using her powers to destroy what she believed to be what was powering the demons here… and hearing the cries of numerous enemies in extreme pain, the crimson avenger soon declared it a personal victory for herself. “I AM A GENIUS!!!”
Now to get back to Nicko… so the fun can begin. The bloody fun of course.
When Nicko heard something explode from deeper within the volcano and felt the ground shake beneath him, he had a feeling that Amy had found the Demonic heart and tore it apart to bits. That and the painfully enraged expression on Scar’s face as he now readied himself to fight once again. With Scar no longer being invulnerable to his attacks, it was finally possible for the Rune Slayer to actually harm him now. And with it, they now had a fighting chance.
But it was also because of their actions that the demon general was beyond pissed off… and had enough of them ruining his plans. “Grrr… That is IT!!! I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU!! THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR GRAVE!!!”
“Well, at least he’s not invincible now… Hard part will be trying to stop this guy,” Nicko thought to himself as he looked back at his opponent with blade at the ready. “Now… how do I hold this guy off long enough so Amy could be able to come here-”
“Nicko? Oh good, you’re still there. You went quiet for a few minutes.” Nicko was surprised at first to actually hear Amy talking inside his head… but then again, he remembered that Eris had made this possible in the first place, so it wasn’t really anything new.
“Sorry for making all of you worried. I was kind of preoccupied with… well, not trying to die…” Nicko mentally replied as he continued to clash with the demon in front of him. “Do you need any help with trying to find me or-?”
“Nope… I’m already on my way. I’m going to assume that this demonic asshole somehow hurt you?” Amy’s question was right on point as Nicko remembered when this guy had broken his old weapon and wounded him in the process. “I can sense your blood on his big ass sword of his.”
“Guilty as charged. Earlier when I was fighting this guy, he broke one of my swords and struck me… No need to go into long details,” The Rune Slayer mentally replied as he used some of his magic to push back his opponent some more. “Now though, let’s focus on taking this guy down.”
“Need any ideas? Because I have one that might work.”
“So do I, but let me hear yours out first…” Yet, despite trying to be polite to his companion… Amy’s suggestion to Nicko was not entirely one that he would’ve wanted to go for.
“Well… Let me ask you this… Can you get him in a full nelson?”
That made the Rune Slayer just want to facepalm himself as he took a deep breath for a moment to try and clear his thoughts. “…… You do realize that this guy is twice as tall as I am and he’s extremely pissed off at both of us, right?”
“Come on, if David could beat Goliath, then you can get him in a full nelson!”
“That’s not helping my confidence here,” Nicko deadpanned as he looked back at his opponent. “You know what, let’s come up with something once both of us are fighting this guy. I’m just buying time for your grand entrance at this rate.” However, at the last remark, The Rune Slayer did not honestly expect to see what happened next as the Crimson Avenger he was just talking to just burst through a stone wall in order to blindside the demon general he was facing.
“Here’s…… AMY!!!”
“Well… that’s one way of making an entrance.” The Spellsword said to himself. “Glad to see that you could make it.”
“Glad to see that you’re still alive.” Amy grinned a little as she made her way over to where Nicko was standing as the demon general was getting back up on his feet. “Now how are we going to take out this ugly son of a b*tch?”
That, ironically, was what Nicko was trying to figure out. He already had one idea in mind for how to start it off… but the rest was a bit of a work in progress. “Well first, we should focus on disarming him of that sword of his… We can figure out how the rest of the plan afterwards.”
“Just to clarify… when you mean disarm, do you mean literally dismembering his whole arm?” That comment from the Crimson Avenger just had Nicko deadpan a bit as he looked back at her and took a deep breath to try to calm himself a bit.
“I was referring to trying to render him incapable of using his sword,” The Rune Slayer replied, before adding something onto that which made Amy grin in response. “However you wish to accomplish that is all up to you.”
“Alright, good. I was waiting for the chance to make this f*cker pay for messing up Umbra’s life and her family.” She responded to him, getting really excited as the Crimson Avenger stared down the demon. Nicko saw two benefits to this decision to let Amy lash out at Scar. For one thing, it would allow her to not only use up a good portion of rage and deal significant damage to their opponent… but it also allowed for Nicko to try and find any extra weak points that the two of them could exploit and use to their advantage.
Which… wasn’t exactly easy… but all the more reason to do it if it was going to help them win. As they continued to clash with the demon general, both of them noticed a particular series of attacks that Scar was using while they fought him. Other than the teleport slash that he tried to use to catch Nicko by surprise, it also looked like the demon was copying one of his own skills. When the demon would slam his weapon into the ground, pulling it out would spawn a wave of blue flames similar to that of Nicko’s own Sword Fire skill. Other than this though, there wasn’t really anything else that could be seen as a potential problem.
Until… the demon reached his own breaking point. “I have had it with both of you ruining EVERYTHING!!!” He roared, releasing a powerful pulse of demonic energy as it visibly pulsed off of his body. “I WILL MAKE THIS PLACE YOUR GRAVE EVEN IF I HAVE TO BRING YOU DOWN WITH ME!!!” With it, he slammed his sword into the ground and raised both arms above his head as the demon began to channel a powerful amount of magic above him as it grew in size.
Slowly though, Nicko noticed that anything that didn’t have enough weight or wasn’t held properly was being pulled in by the demonic vortex, immediately making him think that something was bad. “Oh sh-!” He didn’t even get the chance for himself to say anything before he started running. Only to realize that Amy wasn’t moving anywhere. “Amy, what the hell are you doing?! You’re going to get pulled in! Run!!”
“Run? Oh no way I’m doing that! This is the exact chance we needed!!” She protested, before Nicko noticed two things. First, Amy called forth what looked like a vision of darkness to surround her and have her power increase. Secondly, there was the fact that she was charging her own magic before letting it loose as it took the form of a spinning buzzsaw of blood magic as she released it by moving her leg in a kicking motion
It may have been something that Amy gambled on in order to get the upper hand… but to Nicko’s surprise, this gamble actually paid off. For the buzzsaw blade was aimed directly at Scar’s outstretched arms overhead as it cut off the demon’s left arm. Disrupting his concentration as he howled in pain. Giving Nicko the chance to circle around and try to approach the demon from his side.
“Give it up already! We have you overpowered here!” Nicko taunted. Only for their opponent to say a rather… familiar line.
“It is but a scratch!”
“Just a scratch!? Your arms off!!” Amy snapped, looking back at the demon.
“No it isn’t.”
“Then what’s that on the ground then?” The Crimson Avenger pointed at the arm on the ground, before it faded to ash.
“ …… I’ve had worse.”
“You lie!!” At that point, Nicko really wanted to hit his face against a wall as he looked back at the demon. Who actually used his other arm to pick up his weapon off the ground and release a powerful shockwave towards the crimson avenger as both Amy and Nicko got back to focusing on fighting Scar. Now that he had a missing arm, the Rune Slayer focused on trying to expose the demons newfound blindspots in order to take this guy down. Which was a lot trick at first.
Then… he decided to try something Amy would do. Before Scar could try to commence any major attacks or even try to conjure another vortex with his only arm remaining, the Rune Slayer got in from behind and used Enchant Breaker as a way to force the oversized demon onto one of it’s knees. With the other arm outstretched, but cut off from the power it was trying to channel, Amy then took the chance to somersault forward as her weapon became a spinning guillotine as it severed the other arm off of the demon’s body.
“There we are!! Victory is ours-!” Of course, it didn’t help any that Amy’s boasting left her open to getting headbutted by the demon general as she got back up and snarled. “Okay, what the hell is your problem!?”
“I haven’t lost yet!!”
“Both of us were able to overcome your attacks and harm you, you can’t use your powers since you have no arms to channel it from and if there was a way for you to try and do it, it’s two against one,” Nicko then added on, before blocking a kick from the demon general. “Can’t you see that you have lost?”
“Oh really now, little one? I’m not letting myself beat so easily.” They heard him growl a bit before Nicko himself snapped.
“Look, you stupid demonic bastard! You don’t even have arms to fight us! Can’t you see that what the hell you’re doing is pointless?”
“I still have arms.” That just had Nicko and Amy look back at one another in both sheer annoyance and also sheer surprise because of how irritating this guy was being. Even after they severed both his arms, he was still trying to put up a fight.
“Then what the hell is that right there?” Amy then pointed at the demon’s injuries.
“It’s just a flesh wound.”
Again… both Nicko and Amy looked back at one another, before sighing in disbelief. “Okay, I think it’s official… this guy’s nuts.”
“Perhaps we should finally finish this fight for good then.” The Rune Slayer suggested before getting around the demon a lot more quickly than he aniticipated. “Let me knock him up into the air and then you can finish him off.”
“One thing first…” Amy then spoke up… before using the pistol that she recieved from Arma in order to fire a few rounds into Scar’s legs. “I wanted to get the chance to use this at some point… So I thought it would be good to make sure that this asshole doesn’t run off anywhere.” With that, Amy herself holstered her weapon as Nicko decided to prepare himself and charge up his magic for one more powerful skill. There was an ability that he learned with his Transcendance that he had not had the chance to use until now… and now was the best time in order for him to use it.
Grabbing onto his weapon with two hands, he began to pour massive amounts of magic into the blade as it began to take shape. Once it was done… he then let his newfound strength do the rest.
The attack sent the demon flying all the way into the air, followed by being struck with a series of elemental runes once airborne. Leaving Amy to gathering all the power she needed for one last attack of her own as all of her power transformed her weapon into a devastating blade of raw power.
The attack from the Crimson Avenger was so powerful to the point that when it struck the demon, it cleaved him completely in half. Causing both parts of the demon's body to disintegrate as the only thing that remained was that of the horn that was once on his head. Which, for a moment… made both of them relieved that the fight was over.
Only for Amy to somehow realize a mistake she accidentally made. “Aww, dammit. I meant to cut that guy’s head off. Not decapitate him in half… Now what am I going to use as a prop to scare away any ponies that are trying to sell us insurance?”
That had Nicko cough a bit before looking back at her. “You know… there are still some parts of his broken sword and horn left right?” He said, before looking back at her.
“…… Yeah, whatever works.”
“-Hello? Hello-? Oh finally!! I’m able to sync back up with you two,” They both heard a familiar face speak to them. “That jackass did something that rendered me unable to speak with both of you, even thought you were about to talk to each other. How did it go?”
“Well, we have one less demon general… and also one less army to worry about hopefully,” Nicko replied mentally. “Though, that fight really drained us both. And we still need to get out of here-”
That moment was when both of them not only heard what sounded like something exploding… but also where they felt the ground shake. “Uh… what the hell was that?”Amy then asked, not even bothering to try to think it inside her head since both her and Nicko were thinking the exact same thing. Though… Nicko soon began to notice the real trouble when not only did the room become a lot warmer than it was before… but also saw one detail from the balcony that set off an internal alarm inside his head and immediately got him off the floor.
The lava from the inside of the volcano… was rising. And rapidly. “Oh no… that’s bad.”
“What’s bad?” Amy asked, unaware of what he was seeing.
“Beating Scar made this whole volcano unstable! It’s going to blow any minute!!” Nicko warned her, causing her to quickly jump off the ground and see what he was seeing… only for her to say something else that wasn’t really helping the present situation here.
“May I say that it’s been an honor fighting beside you?”
“Amy!!” Nicko snapped as he looked back at her. “We gotta find a way out of here! There’s no way in hell that I’m dying today-” Just as he said that though was when a loud explosion went off and the rocky ceiling that was above them burst open, letting in the light from outside as they looked up to see the last thing that both of them ever expected.
A flying airship, a rope ladder dangling from it… and Faith hanging on the side of the ladder. “Uncle Nicko!! Are you alright?!”
“Faith!?” Both of them at first almost asked that question in unison, shortly before Nicko asked the next one as they made it towards the ladder. “How the hell did you know we were here!?”
“No time for questions! Just get on so we can pull you out of there!!” The two of them heard another voice as Nicko actually saw Ember on the ledge of the airship. Trying to get the two of them to hurry up so they could get out of there before the volcano would erupt. Both of them had numerous questions that they wanted to ask right now, but decided to actually save it for after they escaped from sudden death.
As they were being pulled out of the mountainside and began to climb up towards the top deck of the ship, Nicko couldn’t help but notice a few different dragons fighting off what remained of the demons before taking to the skies to get away from the raging volcano nearby. It took both him and Amy several minutes in order to get up the ladder and on deck before the ship could steer clear of the volcano and any flaming projectiles that would erupt from it and possibly hit them.
“Alright, that should do it,” Both of them heard a rather familiar voice emerge from the captain's quarters of the ship as he looked back at both the Rune Slayer and Crimson Avenger. “And both of you are still in one piece.”
“Leo?” Nicko asked, dumbfounded a little bit as he looked back at the Reckless Fist before noticing Faith sit not far from him. “First off… Nice ship. On a more serious note though, how in the world did you guys find us? Only Eris, Moondancer, Scootaloo and Selena knew we were out here.” That had Leo look back at Faith for a moment, causing her to sigh briefly for a moment before taking in a deep breath.
“Well, while you guys were taking the fight to them directly, we got help from some of the Displaced back at Beacon to push the enemy out of the Crystal Empire and from around Ponyville, despite dad being rather hesitant to ask for help at first,” Faith explained to both of them. “One of the displaced that came here was someone name the Preserver, who told me that you and Amy were on your way here. Despite Moby and Remy saying that you two would be fine, Leo was concerned about the fact that what you two were doing was pratically suicidal.”
“So you set out to find us and provide support?”
“That and also make sure to get you out of there if that mountain were to blow,” Ember then added. “My forces had arrived in Baltimare and were pushing eastward in order to meet up with Spike in Ponyville. However, when I met your niece and was informed of what you were doing, I decided it would be best for us to both get you out of there safe and sound.”
“And that, I’m thankful for…” Nicko smiled, before turning to Amy. “Anything you want to say, Amy?”
“Yeah, I have something to say…” Amy replied, before glaring at Leo and Faith. “Why the hell are you guys always getting the cool stuff and not me?!” That just had Nicko facepalm himself. He wasn’t really expecting her to actually say that in particular… and it didn’t help any that Leo made the situation a bit worse.
“Technically speaking, only those who are capable of using Nasod Tech can be able to use the Black Crow-.”
“Oh, so Molly gets the chance to chill out and do whatever she wants up here while I’m stuck without a flying death machine to call my own!? Why the hell is that?” Amy then blurted out.
It was only when Faith replied though that it seemed like some kind of answers were getting stuck inside her head. “Technically speaking… Molly said that you had a track record of causing chaos and messing around with ponies just on your own. If she actually did make something for you, then that would just ultimately be a liability because you would either break what she made, use it for bad purposes or just blame someone else for a mistake that you caused.” To make things even more tense, the code queen was actually seen reading a list of what looked like all the incidents that Amy had caused within the time that she had been here. “Would you like for me to continue? I have your whole… what’s the term… ‘rap sheet’ right here.”
“...... I am so going to get on Molly’s case for this when we get back.”
That had Nicko take a deep breath as he looked back at Amy for a moment. “How about we save any personal quarrels for after we’re well rested. I mean… we barely had enough strength to climb up here in the first place after destroying the demon responsible for all of this. I think we all deserve a much needed rest when we get back.”
“I would agree with you there…” Faith then replied… before taking out a folded piece of paper and handing it to Nicko. “Unfortunately, there’s one more problematic issue that might need our attention.”
That had Nicko and Amy look back at one another in confusion, shortly before Nicko then asked his niece a question. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I think you’ll see what it is once you read it.” With that in mind, the Rune Slayer soon opened up the paper… only to find the most unexpected thing yet.
Wedding invitations… sent out by Discord himself.
ATTENTION ALL RECIPIENTS AND/OR MORTALS!!!
The Chaotic Discord (and some other chumps) would proudly like to invite you to the wedding of Nicko Nocte, Eris Apophis and Moondancer Stella!! Join us for this once in a lifetime event as they are brought together in harmony for this one day event (Sadly not on HBO, but there will be a lot less red, I can guarantee you that.)
When: During the Harmony Festival, so possibly in the spring.
Where: We’ll get back to you on that.
What time: We’ll ALSO get back to you on that
Why: Because it’s better than Doomsday, the end of the world or pretty much anything else that you are possibly doing (Of course, that’s just my opinion. No offense).
Join us after the ceremony for games, music, entertainment, drinks and *Pagan sacrifices!!
*Disclaimer: No pagan sacrifices will actually be commenced at ANY time during the festivities and no actual pagans were harmed in the making of these invitations. The information on the card will change once we have a confirmed date, time and location for the event, though the subject in which why you should go is not subject to change. Also, we'll be having a full bar, but any drunk and disorderly conduct will lead you to possibly getting banished to the sun by Celestia. Have fun with that.
After reading the invitations… that just made Nicko facepalm himself as he looked back at Faith. “Just… who did he send these two?”
“Well… that’s the thing…” Faith then commented as the ship was getting closer to Ponyville. “He did a ‘reply all’ and sent it to everyone that we know and every displaced that we have ever met so far.”
That blew everything that the Rune Slayer thought of before out of the water… and lead to him only saying two words as the ship soon touched down. “Oh…… shit.”
End Log 32
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IT LIVES! And damn, was this chapter intense!
Well, this is gonna be an interesting wedding.
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Yeah. With the game of Thrones reference intertwined. That and also it's been sent out to everyone... and yes... that include
You
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Oh... Wait, what??
8448410
You do realize that by this, Discord basically sent the invitations out into the void... meaning that it’ll be more than just the gang at Beacon that will get them.
Think of it like how Faith said it... but then extend beyond the people that he knows.
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Oh... Shit. Yet, another Displaced Wedding the Doom Marines will have to attend.
8448469
If they happen to get one. We’ll see
So the previews of the 3rd job upgrades are on the wiki, and I have to say I'm rather impressed with Eve's one.