Hecate's Orphanage

by BlackRoseRaven

Artificial Prophecy

Chapter Ninety Seven: Artificial Prophecy
~BlackRoseRaven

Swiftly Wing sat at a table, poring over the logbooks and files in front of her as she muttered short curses under her breath over and over, doing her best to ignore the portable computer on the table that blared at her every so often with some order or useless bit of information. All she knew was that there were some very problematic ponies here, and she wanted as little to do with them or anyone else as possible.

Several Husks were simply standing around the room, patient and muted, Clockwork weapons cradled in their forelegs or against their shoulders. They were supposedly here to protect her, but they were here to keep her in line as much as they were here to serve as her soldiers.

She didn't know why Loki had chosen her, of all ponies. He always looked at her with such... disdain, she thought. Such disgust. It didn't make any sense! She was no officer, she had never been more than a messenger, and hadn't what had happened to her in North Neigh been bad enough?

The way that little filly had made that poor mare kill herself...

And after that, she had seen Hell itself bleed into the world. She had been chased by literal demons and narrowly survived, but only for a few days before the monsters had caught up with her. Then, there had been the Nothing, and she had just been lucky enough to end up on a little island in the middle of all that emptiness, too afraid to run away, too afraid to follow anyone who had wandered by, until Loki had gathered her up, made promises... made lies.

Swiftly shook her head quickly, then she looked nervously over her shoulder at the large, cracked window behind her. She could see the magic in the clouds, could feel the atmosphere growing darker and more malevolent: Loki himself was supposed to be arriving here, and his right-hoof was already here in a mechanical, monstrous shell...

But now Luna Brynhild was here. And so were those other ponies, the ones that Veliuona and the Norns had been supposed to stop. Veliuona was a Goddess and the Norns were... well, she didn't know what they were, but they certainly weren't ponies. If Brynhild and those other ponies had been able to get past them, how the hell was she supposed to stop them? She was just a Pegasus! Voidborn, maybe, but just a mare for all of that.

The only thing she could possibly do was find those trinkets Loki was so interested in, and whatever other logs he had asked for. And she could do that from the safety of this room: they were in total control. She had enough Husks to secure the facility, and Auriculos had control of the drones, and all the security systems were under their power. She was safe here. Nothing could get her here. All she had to worry about was Loki showing up before she had finished finding what she was looking for.

Swiftly Wing nodded firmly to herself, inhaling slowly-

The window behind her exploded inward, pelting the room with shards of glass as Swiftly shrieked in shock, a moment before some tremendous force crashed into her and knocked her and the table and all her logs and equipment flying. The Husks reacted too little, too late, before a white streak slammed into one with enough force to nearly tear it in half, reducing it to nothing but a steaming cloud of energy before a second was crushed beneath the hooves of a black stallion.

A boom of magic hit the third, knocking it crashing backwards into a wall, before red flames followed up, devastating the Husk's spirit and dissolving it in a matter of moments as its energy was eaten away. And Swiftly barely managed to scramble to her hooves as she stared over her shoulder in horror, mouthing wordlessly at the sight of the ponies that had invaded her thought-safe sanctum.

“Hey.” Thesis said amiably, and Swiftly winced and spun for the door, before she squeaked and leapt to the side when a knife shot past her head and slammed into the wood, spinning back around to stare in terror at the glowering Swan Maiden. “Bad idea.”

“Oui, Cygne be a little rough.” La Croix agreed, and the Voidborn stared at the Loa that had appeared a few feet away, leaning on the other side of the doors as he said mildly: “Plus I already locked these doors. Merci for the key, by the way.”

La Croix tossed a simple keycard in the air before he caught it and winked as he made it vanish with a flick of his hoof, and Swiftly snarled at him. But her anger was quickly replaced by pain and terror when a hoof slammed into the side of her head and pinned her against the door, Cadence growling: “What are you doing here, and where is Loki?”

“N-Nothing! I just... I'm just looking for... I'm just doing what Loki told me to do!” Swiftly blurted piteously, shaking her head as vehemently as possible under the crush of Cadence's hoof before she added hurriedly: “Auriculos! Auriculos is here, he's at the soul furnace, he knows you're here he's waiting for you, you should go get your answers from him!”

“Wow, that didn't take much. I mean, yeah, you're scary, but usually you have to at least stab them or something to get them to spill the beans.” Thesis said mildly, striding slowly over to the two. He gestured at Cadence with his head, and the mare grumbled but grudgingly stepped back, the Voidborn groaning as she grasped at her skull before she meekly shrank away from Thesis.

But the stallion only smiled at her reassuringly, before he asked quietly: “Who are you? How do you know Luna Brynhild?”

“My name is Swiftly Wing, and uh... I'm... I knew her before the apocalypse. I helped them. I helped them.” Swiftly answered, and then she laughed awkwardly, her eyes darting back and forth, too wide, as sweat ran down her shivering body. “Y-Yes. That's why... it's... hard. For us both. I don't know what to do...”

Her eyes lingered nervously on Thesis, and Thesis frowned slightly before he said finally: “You're not wearing a control collar.”

Swiftly blinked, looking confused, and Thesis asked curiously: “If you don't have a control collar, why are you serving Loki? Why not just run away?”

“Because he knows everything I do. Because he's always listening. Because he hates me. I don't know why. He hates me. I have to do everything he says, and he's... he's in my head, always talking, never stopping!” Swiftly burst out, and then she flinched and shrank down, looking back and forth before she whispered: “I was always really good at running away. But I can't run away from him. No one can, not really. They think they can. He likes it when they think that. But he's in complete control, of every last one of us.”

“No, he's not. We all have the power to decide whether or not we obey. It's just... easier when we convince ourselves otherwise.” Thesis answered quietly, before he shook his head and asked: “What does Loki want?”

Swiftly Wing was quiet for a moment, then lied: “I don't know. Supplies, I guess. I just... I just take orders from Auriculos.”

It admittedly took a lot of restraint on Cadence's part not to punch the mare, but Thesis gave one of his kind, genial smiles to Swiftly, who looked awkwardly away, and in that brief pause, his eyes flicked sharply to Cadence, asking her silently to play along.

So instead, Cadence only grudgingly cracked her hooves before she asked moodily: “Fine. How do we get to Auriculos, then? I have a few questions I want to ask him.”

Swiftly Wing smiled nervously, and then she licked her lips before she answered, a little too eagerly: “Like I said, he's headed to the soul furnace! He's definitely going to be around there somewhere, he's got to be around there somewhere, and uh... he's the one in charge! I bet if you got rid of him you wouldn't have to worry about... anything anymore!”

Swiftly Wing gave a too-big smile, and Moonflower scowled horribly as Aster bit her lip. But thankfully, neither of them said anything as Thesis turned to Cadence, asking quietly: “What do you think? He knows we're here by now and he's probably waiting for us. I don't want to imagine what he's doing at the soul furnace.”

Cadence thought for a few moments, before she finally turned her eyes towards Swiftly Wing and asked: “Do you know where the Replicants are?”

“I don't know what Replicants are.” Swiftly said, and it was such a terrible, obvious lie that Cadence almost felt bad for her.

Almost.

Cadence reached out and grabbed Swiftly Wing by the throat, the Voidborn choking before she squeaked as she was slammed back against the doors, the others wincing as Cadence said coldly: “I want you to tell me where the Replicants are, or I'm going to start punching holes in you until even Loki won't be able to bring you back from the Void. Do I make myself clear?”

Swiftly grabbed wildly at the hoof restraining her, before she whimpered fearfully as Cadence stretched her other hoof out and it burst into white, lethal flame, the Pegasus Voidborn nodding wildly as she gasped out: “Okay, okay! Okay! You... you made your point! I'll talk!”

“I hope so.” Cadence said grimly, and then she shook her head slowly before she repeated: “Where are the Replicants?”

Swiftly shivered a little, and then she said finally, as her eyes uncomfortably flicked away from Cadence: “They're... Auriculos wanted them. He has them locked up in the uh... near the soul furnace.”

La Croix frowned and started to open his mouth, but Thesis gave him a quick look: they all knew that the Loa had treated Faunus on the lower levels, after all. “I take it you mean the furnace facility. Either processing or containment. He might be meaning to toss them in.”

“Yeah! Yeah, that's uh... exactly it, something about... needing more power to summon Loki, that's it!” Swiftly blurted out hurriedly, and Cadence again had to resist the urge to punch the mare into oblivion as she slowly flexed her burning hoof. Swiftly saw this, wincing visibly before she said quickly: “But I can get you to him, no problem! I can help, I can order all the Husks to stand down!”

“Really.” Thesis half-asked, looking less than enthusiastic about this idea: Cadence could imagine why. She was admittedly surprised, however, when he actually voiced his concern on the subject: “What's to stop you from sending us into a deathtrap?”

Swiftly stared at Thesis for a few moments in a way that told Cadence that had likely been precisely her intention, before the Pegasus gave an awkward laugh and said finally: “I would... I would never do that. I promise I would never do that. And I can't break a promise. I really can't. I... promise I can't.”

Swiftly smiled uncomfortably, and there was silence for a moment before Thesis gently patted Cadence on the shoulder, and the ivory mare sighed as she stepped back and flexed her hoof, letting the white flames vanish from around it as she muttered: “She better not.”

“I won't!” Swiftly exclaimed, a little too swiftly, Cadence reflected ironically. “I can't break a promise! I can't, I can't, I really... can't. I guess it's one of those Voidborn things.”

“Yeah.” Thesis said, and by his tone Cadence could tell even he was reaching the end of his patience. “Well, I promise we won't hurt you as long as you cooperate with us. How about that?”

Swiftly shifted awkwardly, and then she said finally: “I can get you to the furnace. No problem. I know where all the patrols are.”

“I do not trust her.” Aster muttered, and Swiftly visibly grimaced as she turned nervously away. But then she smiled lamely when Thesis gestured pointedly at her, and the Pegasus carefully slipped away from them, nervously giving them a wide berth as she made her way to the fallen computer.

It was sparking but still functional, the Voidborn awkwardly tapping a few commands over it as she muttered: “Uh... yeah. Give me a minute, I can... okay, watch this. Or listen, I mean.”

Swiftly cleared her throat, then she held down a button on the portable console as she said firmly: “Listen up, this is Swiftly Wing! I have new orders from Loki, we need to uh... secure the lower levels against further intrusion. I want the team on the Big Connector out of there!”

“Nonsense!” snapped a voice angrily, and Thesis grimaced as Swiftly reared back from the console in horror. “What do you think you're doing? There are no such orders! All you have to do is maintain formation and slow down those insolent little insects from Decretum while I finish modulating the furnace for our master!”

“Wow, didn't know you were into that kind of thing, Auriculos.” Thesis said loudly, and Swiftly winced as she yanked her hoof away from the console, but too late.

“What was that? Who was that? I demand you answer me!” Auriculos snarled, and the console fizzled before the Kirin neurocenter said snidely: “Oh, well, of course. If it isn't Prince Thesis and the team of zeroes.”

“That sounds like a good band name. Except it's a little long.” Thesis said mildly, approaching the console to poke it a few times with a front hoof, and Cadence scowled before her eyes flicked sharply towards Swiftly Wing, the Pegasus freezing in mid-slink towards the window. “So Auriculos. How are things? Made any new friends lately? Done anything interesting?”

“Oh, I can't wait to shut you up.” Auriculos hissed through the console, before he barked: “Seal all entrances to the furnace facility and lock down Processing! I don't want any of these idiots or the rejects from Helheim they dragged with them getting through!

“And you... yes, you, Swan. I know you're there, I know you're listening.” Auriculos added contemptibly, and Cadence narrowed her eyes darkly as she glared at the console; somehow, the Kirin neurocenter seemed to pick up on this, laughing dryly before he continued mockingly: “Oh, what's wrong? Too afraid to use your Swan magic on me? Of course you are. If you were of any effect at all you would have killed me long before you even reached this island. But you're such a weak and vermin example of your species that I can not only impede your abilities, I can easily-”

“Blah, blah, blah. You skipped the class about not monologuing and instead took extra dramatic monologue courses to make up for it, huh?” Thesis interrupted wryly, and then he said shortly: “Damnatio memoriae.”

“Nice try, but I don't have to respond to your voice commands.” Auriculos said contemptibly. “And I've already reprogrammed every system here, by the way, so don't even try to-”

“Hey, robots! Robots! Listen to me, hey! Robots!” Thesis shouted suddenly, making the ponies flinch away in surprise, Aster and Moonflower both wincing and lighting up their horns, but Cadence quickly grabbed both unicorns and firmly jerked their heads down even as she glared at Thesis. “You can't ignore me, you can't-”

“They are not only ignoring you, they are programmed to do the opposite of what you say, so that when you beg for mercy there will be absolutely no compassion in their circuits for you!” snarled Auriculos, and Thesis grinned as he froze in place, looking meditatively at the ceiling.

“Okay.” he said blandly, then he shouted: “Complimentary lockdown! Protocol 9-8-7-5, secure and defend! Full block procedure!”

“Very mature.” Auriculos said contemptibly, and then his voice fizzled before he snarled: “No, you stupid-”

There was a scream of static before the Kirin neurocenter's voice vanished, and Thesis said quickly: “That override isn't going to work for very long, we need to move in fast. La Croix, run ahead and find the controls for the connecting bridge, the rest of us are going to punch through the facility.”

As Thesis spoke, Swiftly Wing nervously slipped away, then she suddenly spun and leapt through the window, narrowly avoiding a knife slung after her by Cadence. The ivory mare snarled and began to give chase, but Thesis whistled sharply before he said firmly: “There's no time. Let her go. She's more of a threat to herself than us.”

Cadence grudgingly nodded, then fell in as Thesis turned and headed to the doors, ordering as he moved: “Sombra, bring up the rear. Aster, Moonflower, I want you both protecting us as we move through the area, there's no telling what security systems are active and what aren't.”

“Oui, sir.” Aster said quickly, looking surprised by how quickly and efficiently Thesis took control. He led them out of the room and almost immediately into a group of Worker Drones, but these were fizzling strangely, riddled with static and twitching on the spot: Cadence guessed that was the override. “Should we-”

“Whatever gets us through fastest: either shield us or make us invisible. But we don't stop moving until we get to the bridge.” Thesis instructed as they ran down the hall, before he grimaced and looked up as a camera locked on them with a distinct beeping. “He's regaining control over the hardwired services a lot faster than the wireless ones. La Croix, hey, you gotta move!”

“Pardonnez-moi!” La Croix blurted, before he vanished from the spot, and Cadence grimaced a bit as Moonflower flicked his horn to shroud them while Aster gritted her teeth, rings of red lightning crackling around the group of ponies.

They ran into a group of Husks as they hit an intersection, but Thesis only shouted for them to push through as the hollow Void specters glared at the approaching confusion of half-formed illusions and red lightning. But even if Aster's magic wasn't exactly helping their lack-of-stealth, the crimson electricity blasted away the Husks that made contact with it, flinging them into walls and searing their spirits with such force that the Husks were left writhing in confusion and pain.

Thesis led them through the facility as if he had walked these halls a thousand times before, his visor flashing over his eyes before he suddenly warned: “Watch it, the security systems are all back online and it looks like Auriculos has got the drones reconfigured, too!”

They dashed around a corner, and Aster swore in surprise, eyes bulging and horn sparking as her magic was shattered and dispelled by an energy field they crashed headlong into, Thesis wincing as he was knocked skidding backwards and Cadence swearing in pain and frustration before her eyes widened in shock as she realized that the forcefield was being channeled by a strange, pale unicorn, and contact with the energy had left her feeling numb, even as burns visibly spread across her chest.

“Dammit, antimatter!” Thesis said sharply, grabbing at his own chest, and Cadence's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of his wounds: not bruises, but eerie blemishes that glowed brightly, like light was shining out from within the stallion. “Moonflower!”

Moonflower snapped his horn down on instinct, and a blast of gravity uselessly hammered against the forcefield: no, not quite uselessly, Cadence noted. The unicorn on the other side had been knocked backward and the antimatter shield had slipped back a few feet as well, and-

The Swan took over, shifting her weight as she yanked the rifle off her back, the MARES extending fully before Cadence fired, point-blank, through the shield and into the face of the Husk unicorn. It was knocked backwards with a gasp, but it dissolved before it even hit the ground, a twisted, gnarled piece of metal that had once been a bullet clinking loudly to the floor as the antimatter barrier vanished, and Thesis ordered immediately: “We have to move, come on!”

They staggered into runs as Thesis took the lead, his exoskeleton whirring violently, his breathing labored, but his movements hiding all but the worst of his pain. And Cadence was more relieved than she wanted to admit as the stallion's gait smoothed out and the light faded from his... whatever the hell those injuries were.

“Are you okay?” the Swan asked, as they ran along, and Thesis blinked in surprise as he looked at her. The Swan stared at him even as she effortlessly weaved around a Worker Drone that suddenly stepped into their path, then she vaulted another and slammed a vicious hoof through the face of a third to clear the road for the others, even as she repeated with only the vaguest hint of emotion: “Are you okay?”

“That is the second-scariest thing I have ever seen.” Thesis said bluntly, and then he gave a lame smile. “I'm uh... I'm okay. Uh... Moonflower, Aster, there's an ambush waiting for us at the junction ahead, I want us to punch through it!”

“J'ai le bouclier!” Aster exclaimed as she snapped her horn out, and a glowing shield of energy formed in front of the group as they turned the corner, right into a line of fire from several turrets.

The bullets were thankfully absorbed or deflected by the shield of red magic, and Moonflower snapped his horn out on instinct more than anything else, blasting the corridor with a wave of gravitational force that blew apart the turrets and knocked Husks flying.

“Door!” Thesis shouted as they tore past the ambush party and straight towards a sealed, armored shutter, and the group slid to a halt in front of this as Aster gritted her teeth and wheeled around, shifting the barrier to their backs as Sombra rammed against the door with his shoulder before Thesis could give any other orders, the stallion scrabbling for a moment as malevolent light blazed from his eyes; but a moment later, he was back in control as he spun towards the shutter and slammed his hooves into it, the material groaning as it rapidly began to transform into black, corrupt crystal.

“Daddy, careful!” Cadence blurted out, but Sombra only gave her a strained smile, eyes flicking briefly to his daughter before they returned to the door, and the ivory mare gritted her teeth before Thesis joined her father and slammed his own hooves against the shutter.

His exoskeleton whirred loudly as Thesis hunched his shoulders, visibly grimacing before he muttered: “Carbon alloy, palladium insulate, nanoshell coating. We need a minute to convert it. Maybe two.”

Cadence grimaced as she looked back down the hall: the Husks were back on their hooves, and she could hear what she guessed were even worse things approaching at a steady march from further down the corridor. She swore under her breath as she pulled her rifle off her back, taking aim with it as she muttered: “We'll buy you all the time we can. Just let me know when you're ready, Daddy.”

“Yes, mi amore. I will.” Sombra said in a calm, gentle voice, the complete opposite of the snarling grin on his face as miasma leaked from his eyes and horn, as his hooves burned with such darkness they had already sunken in to the rotting, crystallizing metal of the shutter.

Cadence forced herself not to focus on her father as she rose her rifle, firing a round into the face of a Husk, at least able to enjoy the sight of its head exploding into steaming energy before the rest of the Void creature followed suit. The other Husks didn't falter in their advance, however, bracing themselves as another pulse of Moonflower's magic tore down the hallway.

One of the Husks was knocked rolling away, but it was caught by a huge metal claw that then flung it headfirst into the shield, Aster crying out in surprise as her magic was cracked from the force of impact. Cadence's eyes widened in shock as she saw not simple Worker Drones advancing on them, but drones that had been fused and mangled and merged into cargo loaders and armored exosuits.

“Oh hell.” Thesis muttered, and then he snapped: “Moonflower, I hope to hell you know how to channel an EMP blast!”

“Ion charge!” Cadence barked, and Moonflower went from confused to a mix of relieved and squeamish, hesitating for a moment before he swore to himself as he snapped his head forwards, yelping in pain as the electricity licked against his body with a painful static charge before it tore down the hallway.

It was completely ignored by the Husks, but the exosuits and drones sparked violently, several of the suits going haywire and collapsing or staggering out of control into walls and other drones. But even Cadence knew that would only buy them a precious few seconds: the drones would reboot and keep coming, and even as she blasted another Husk into nothing but a mist of energy and ash, the Void creatures were relentless in their march, and she could hear more rushing to join them; they were going to be overwhelmed.

“Just a few more seconds!” Thesis urged, and Sombra grunted in agreement, shivering a little as he closed his eyes tightly, the wall of crystal and mire that the shutter had become shuddering violently. “Horses of Heaven, why did we have to do the security upgrades before this happened?”

“Dio ama un pazzo.” Sombra said wryly, before his eyes widened, and then he suddenly leapt forwards, the wall of mire rippling as he phased through it.

“Think that's your cue, Honk!” Thesis shouted, and Cadence ground her teeth together in frustration: emotion she channeled upward to her horn as she spun around before she unleashed a white ray of magic into the wall of muck.

It turned to shale and ash where her magic traced, Cadence flexing with the effort it took to drag the beam in a large circle across the wall of mire. Moonflower and Aster did their best to cover her, slowing down the enemy forces with their combined magic as much as possible, until the circle that Cadence had cut into the shutter slowly fell backward.

Thesis leapt through immediately to find that Sombra had already trapped several Husks in black crystal, leaving the way clear to the massive armored doors at the far end of the corridor. The Replicant immediately began to run towards them, but Sombra leapt to him and caught him by the shoulder, rasping: “No.”

Thesis winced in surprise, for a moment tensing despite himself at the miasma, the corruption leaking off Sombra, before the unicorn pointed quickly, even as he bared sharp carnivore teeth. And Thesis followed the gesture before he grimaced as his eyes locked on the turrets at the other end of the hallway. “I need magic artillery here!”

Moonflower blinked and looked up as he hopped through the hole, but a moment later, Aster leapt through the breach, shouting: “Moi, ici!”

Without missing a beat, she snapped her horn out, sending a blast of red lightning chaining between the turrets and incinerating them both in spectacular bangs of magic. That still left the problem of the door, but for the moment Thesis was relieved enough that he was able to send the team forward, shouting: “Move to the end of the hall, go, go, go!”

Cadence came through the hole last, and she was the last – second-last – to leave, looking back over her shoulder in surprise as Thesis stayed back by the ruined shutter. She skidded to a halt after a few paces, watching as the stallion shoved his hooves against the black crystal before he wheezed in pain as it melted like wax, morphing and twisting into a humped barrier as the hole they had made in the shutter sealed itself.

He stumbled backwards, then grimaced and looked up as Cadence grasped him firmly by the shoulder, saying wryly: “You're awful at following orders, soldier.”

“You're awful at everything else. Come on, asshole.” Cadence grasped Thesis and half-pulled him around in a circle, and he smiled at her before he stumbled into pace with the mare.

He looked up, assessing what to do even as he said: “You know, you do have to at least pretend sometimes to listen to orders.”

“You have to pretend to not want to get your ass kicked.” Cadence grumbled as they approached the sealed, armored doors. And for once, she was pleasantly surprised when they slowly rolled open.

“Hey, come on! Ici, ici!” La Croix shouted as he gestured at them wildly from between the opening doors. “Bridge is clear, but we gotta go, they already tryin' to block us in!”

Thesis picked up the pace, and Cadence let herself drop back to follow close on his heels, the rest of the group stumbling into position behind them in a tight line formation as the two leaders shot by. The moment the last pony was through the armored doors, La Croix hammered a button with a wheeze, and the massive, reinforced doors slid closed before the Loa vanished from sight.

He reappeared a moment later in ethereal form, running alongside Thesis and gesturing at him wildly as the Replicant led the way down a twisting, dimly-lit hall, but Thesis only grinned before he said quickly: “I know what I'm doing.”

“You better.” Cadence muttered, before she shouted over her shoulder as she noted the cameras on the ceiling that were tracking their movements: “Moonflower, cloak us!”

Moonflower squawked, but a moment later, his magic washed over them, hiding them beneath confusing patterns of moving light; Thesis only grimaced, however, saying quickly: “Might make it harder for them to hit us, but they're using infrared and thermals, we just have to keep moving and not let them get a lock!”

“I already know where you are, Prince Thesis! This facility is mine now, you are in my playground, my labyrinth!” Auriculos snarled, before Thesis winced as an armored shutter began to close in front of the junction they were heading towards.

Cadence swore, then she lunged past the stallion, moving like lightning before she snarled as she almost launched herself upward to catch the closing shutter against her shoulders, gasping in pain as her front hooves pushed firmly up against it even as her hindlegs trembled with the effort. But all the same, she managed to stop the shutter from moving as she shouted: “Goddammit get your asses under this now!”

Thesis slid under the shutter before he spun around and rammed his own shoulders up beneath it, taking some of the weight off Cadence and letting the rest of the group hurry beneath the armored door. And without needing to even look at each other, the moment Aster stumbled through last, both Cadence and Thesis leapt backwards and clear of the shutter, and it slammed down to the ground with a deafening boom.

Thesis grimaced and shook himself quickly out, then he looked back and forth, noting that security shutters had already closed around the junction. But that worked to their advantage, he thought, as his eyes flicked up and he said mildly: “I don't like the feeling of those eyes staring at us. Can you do something about those cameras?”

Moonflower and Aster both looked up, but it was Cadence who reacted fastest, flinging knives into the cameras on either side of the octagonal junction. A moment later, the speakers crackled as Auriculos snarled: “So what, you're stuck there, and anything you try and do I'll detect on thermal imaging! Stay there until I can send a killsquad to deal with you.”

“Yeah, sure, okay. That sounds like a great idea. What do you think, guys?” Thesis asked blandly, and Auriculos snorted before the Replicant murmured in a low voice: “Testing, testing, Auriculos is a dick.”

Auriculos didn't respond, and Thesis paused for a moment before he leaned up and said, louder: “Auriculos is a dick.”

“And you are going to be a corpse soon. Natter away all you want, Thesis. By all means. Make the most of the time you have left to run your mouth.” Auriculos said contemptibly, and Thesis smiled slightly before his eyes flicked towards Cadence.

“The shutter has a manual override. The code for the east shutter is 9-5-6-7.” Thesis said in a low voice, and then he pointed Cadence in the direction of the shutter and the keypad beside it. “Run down it with everyone, then come back when you hear the signal.”

Cadence had a feeling she would know what the signal was, so she nodded briefly before she headed quickly to the keypad that Thesis had indicated. The stallion loitered behind her, saying loudly: “How do you know this isn't just a distraction, Auriculos? I mean, I'm sure you can count. I'm sure you're aware that-”

“That what, those three idiots who escaped from Helheim tried to sneak around to the back of the facility? That they decided it would be smart to try and access the furnace through waste disposal? They're being chewed up by the blades as we speak.” Auriculos said contemptibly.

“Oh no! No, you monster!” Thesis shouted as he posed dramatically on his hind hooves. “My one and only love! My brother! My... oh, wait, that sounds pretty awful, doesn't it? Uh. Sorry, Cadence, too, um... I didn't mean it like that.”

Cadence grumbled as she tapped at the keypad, and Auriculos snorted before he snarled in surprise as the shutter began to rise, shouting: “Stupid idiots! Husk deployment to East Hall 7! Seal the area, do it now!”

“Come on!” Cadence shouted, leading a charge down the hallway beyond. Security systems immediately locked on to them, but the ivory mare snapped her horn back and forth, blowing out cameras and sensors with bursts of white fire as the rest of her team formed a ramshackle line behind her.

Thesis, meanwhile, remained at the junction, breathing slowly as his exoskeleton whirred down to a quiet purr, the corruption in his veins cooling and making his whole body ache. But instead of focusing on that, he turned his eyes down to the floor, feeling along the metal panels until he felt a loose tile, sliding it quickly back to reveal a control terminal. He plugged his Mission Drive into this and called up a holographic screen, eyes scanning over it before he murmured: “Okay... execute on authority 00-00, override code 91-240-5-10, operandus falsus. Initiate system shutdown.”

The holographic screen crackled, then a simple, block letter word appeared, asking: PASSWORD?

Thesis smiled briefly, and then he said softly: “Celestia.”

Code flashed brightly across the screen, and then Auriculos screamed in frustration and pain from the loudspeakers, his voice distorting and fluctuating violently before he howled: “I have a body! I can still destroy you all!”

“Yeah, sure, go ahead. We're heading to System Control to teach you some manners. And I'll bet a shiny bit that you won't have the security systems online by then.” Thesis replied clearly, before he looked up with a wink as Cadence returned to the room with the rest of the group, the Replicant flexing and breathing a little easier as his exoskeleton whirred back up. “Okay, all the codes should have been reset to a bunch of zeroes, public authorization level. Let's get going.”

“How the hell do you know about this place?” Cadence asked before she could stop herself, and Thesis only gave her an amused look.

“I am a professional, you know. I went over the briefing a few times.” he answered, before he turned to head to the western shutter, continuing: “I memorized the layout and the blueprints that I could while we were on the ship. But come on, even if Auriculos doesn't have control over the systems anymore, he could still manually lock down the doors and the Husks will still be hostile to us. We need to get to System Control, quickly.”

“Then let's move.” Cadence said, silently acknowledging the stallion with a short nod, and Thesis smiled back at her before he took the lead.

It was both easy, and spooky: every access panel only required Thesis to hammer a bunch of zeroes into it until it opened, and every drone, turret, and robotic defense was simply frozen and motionless.

They came across a few Husks, but many of these had been trapped in side rooms or offshoot corridors by the lockdown, where they ineffectually glared at them from through sealed barred doors and windows. So for the most part they went ignored, or the small groups that they came across were almost immediately destroyed by Cadence and Thesis before the group moved quickly on.

It only took them a few minutes to finally reach a massive set of reinforced doors that were protected by several thankfully-offline turrets. Thesis grimaced a bit as he pulled down his visor, muttering: “It's magnetically-sealed and protected by an electrical field. The code's been reset, too.”

“I don't even want to know.” Cadence said flatly, glancing moodily over at the stallion before she asked in a quieter voice: “How do we get through?”

“You ask politely.” Auriculos spat from a hidden speaker, and the group of ponies set themselves before Thesis frowned as the doors slowly began to roll open, lightning crackling along either side of the heavy, armor-plated shutters as they slid apart.

Cadence began to step forward, but Thesis held a foreleg out, saying quietly: “Do not engage until you get the order. Keep your team safe. I'll take point.”

“Yeah. Got it.” Cadence said after a moment, nodding to the stallion before she glanced back over her shoulder, ordering: “Fall in. Stay in pairs, watch each other's backs.”

Thesis turned his gaze ahead, letting his eyes flick back and forth once to take in the dimensions of System Control: it was a huge, crescent-shaped room, checkered steel tiles beneath their hooves, a domed ceiling high above, and massive computer modules lined the inside wall of the crescent, where huge, bulletproof-glass windows looked in on several massive reactors and cores filled with churning corruption.

“Finally.” Auriculos growled, and Thesis smiled wryly as his eyes locked on the Kirin neurocenter: he had a brand new body, Thesis noted, and a powerful-looking one at that, massive and made out of gleaming silver alloy, optic sensors protected by crimson glass and metallic goggles, voice echoing out of a speakerbox that had been set into the back of a mechanical vise-jaw lined with sawblade teeth. “I've been waiting for you idiots.”

Auriculos seemed to grin at them, the black, lightning-bolt shaped horn that stuck up from his head sparking as cylinders spun into his back and servomotors geared up across his frame, his hooves digging eagerly against the ground as he hissed: “It's better this way, really. I get to kill you all myself now. And to let you know that you have failed. You fell right into our trap. You've done everything exactly as we expected you to!”

Auriculos reared up, his eyes blazing as electricity crackled over his mechanical body before the metal plates of his breast slid apart, revealing a floating core that pulsated with light and power, that made Cadence flinch back in shock as the painful, searing light of Astra ripped across her-

“Hey, uh. Wait.” Thesis said awkwardly as he stepped forward, waving a hoof lamely, and Auriculos stared in disbelief, some of the light dying down before Thesis grinned and pointed both hooves at him, exclaiming: “If you have heartburn, you should stop... being... angry. All the time.”

Every set of eyes in the room stared at Thesis, and the Replicant cleared his throat before he tapped his front hooves together and explained awkwardly, as he looked lamely at Auriculos through his visor: “Well, uh. Heartburn can be caused by stress, you know. Anger is a stressor, and... I mean, food is usually the cause, but there are different types of reflux and... the joke is that you're a dick and you get way too angry for a computer.”

Auriculos snarled in inarticulate fury, then he lashed his horn out, sending a massive blast of electricity at Thesis. But the stallion only leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the whip of lightning as it chained off the ground and tore past his face. “Hey! This is just what I was talking about!”

“Not everything is a joke, you stupid piece of trash!” roared the Kirin neurocenter, his steel body quaking with rage as he slashed his horn back and forth, and Thesis gasped as reality itself seemed to twist and cut into him, knocking him off his hooves in a blast of blood and steaming energy. Auriculos growled in savage delight at the sight, before he laughed harshly when Cadence leapt over Thesis with a snarl, trembling in fury. “Now now. You know you're no match for me, Swan Maiden. You know what that was, too: something you still haven't been able to tap into. Splitting the Astra, is that what it's called?”

“You did not split it. You struck through it, but you did not split it.” Danzsöngr said calmly, before she said quietly: “You do not understand the Astra. You cannot understand it. You cannot quantify it. You are-”

“I have been filled with it! Through ionization and electromagnetic manipulation, through science, I have become just like the Prime!” Auriculos declared, his eyes burning with zeal and hatred and rage. “How many years was I locked up? And how long did I spend, working under that hack and his precious mommy?”

“Are you... oh, not me. My brother, right.” Thesis wheezed as he sat up. The Swan's eyes flicked back over her shoulder, and Thesis met her eyes, giving her an order through the silence, and she hesitantly nodded and stepped carefully to the side, ready to protect, but letting Thesis find his own hooves and no longer standing between him and Auriculos as the Kirin neurocenter returned his furious eyes to him. “So you think you're going to... what, be another Loki? You aren't nearly as smart or as strong as him, you know.”

“Oh, no, not yet. But one day very soon, I will be.” Auriculos promised in a deadly voice, glaring holes in the group of ponies. “I've already evolved far beyond having a 'spirit' that could easily be manipulated even by a stripehorse ghost. Soon? Not even Loki will be able to control me!”

“Don't you talk about my friend like that!” Moonflower shouted angrily, stepping forward and glaring at the machine-Kirin, and then he trembled before blurting out, almost desperately: “You cannot manipulate Loki! You cannot play his games! If you try, you'll... you'll destroy this whole world, he's-”

“Like yours was?” mocked Auriculos, and Moonflower gritted his teeth so fiercely they nearly cracked, but Auriculos only gave a derisive laugh before he said contemptibly: “No. Unlike the others, I don't simply think of myself as intelligent, I know that I am. My IQ is higher than all of yours added together. The microcomputers that regulate this mechanical shell also assist me in downloading and processing information from Hecate's vast, endless networks: oh, you may have blocked my control to this fortress, but I still have access to the neural servers and all of her networks. I know every move you're going to make. I have processed every possible outcome. And I am now going to not only ensure that you all die, but that your power feeds directly to me instead of Loki. And with that power, I will be more than a match for the Prime!”

“You're stupid.” Thesis said bluntly, and then his features suddenly hardened as he lunged up to his hooves, snapping: “Moonflower, trap him in a-”

Thesis winced as Auriculos cut him off with a boom of sound, Moonflower yelling and La Croix covering his ears with a curse before the Kirin neurocenter took advantage of the confusion to snap his horn down.

But Cadence was in the way immediately, the Swan deflecting the blast of lighting with one wing before her eyes widened as the machine-Kirin seemed to grin ruthlessly at her, hissing: “I've been waiting for this.”

There was a flash, and yet it wasn't like a blare of light, but rather that in that instant, all light was taken from the room. There was an absence, and when the light was stolen, the Swan went rigid, her eyes widening as her whole body froze up and left her vulnerable and apart for a moment.

And then there was a second flash, and this one was like a hammer of light, pounding into her with sledgehammer force. Yet even as she felt like she was flying backwards at a million miles an hour, she fell forward, losing all sense of balance and place as her mind reeled before she vomited bile and ichors and blood.

“Cadence!” Thesis shouted, leaping forward as he covered his eyes with one foreleg to try and push through the searing glow from the Kirin neurocenter, and then he gasped in pain when electricity seared against his body before he was hefted into the air and slammed cruelly into the ceiling, then dragged painfully across it, gasping and spasming as a net of lightning crackled over his body as Auriculos grinned savagely.

“She won't be getting up any time soon. Let's see who dies first, shall we, you or her?” mocked Auriculos as the light faded from his core, before he didn't so much as flinch when a blast of gravity hammered into his metallic body.

He looked disdainfully at Moonflower, his horn pulsing as he deflected the missiles of magic Moonflower followed up with, before he snorted in contempt when red lightning hammered against his body and crackled uselessly over him. “Oh please. Don't disappoint me. Your file says you should be able to channel at least a little more magic than that.”

Moonflower snarled, but La Croix leapt forward and grabbed him before the zebra shouted: “You ain't nothin' but a connard, y'hear? A connard and a bête, throwin' rocks from where you think you be safe!”

“And I am safe. Nice try, La Croix, but your powers and your zebra tricks are useless now.” Auriculos retorted arrogantly, raising his head high with a cold smile before he suddenly snapped his horn down, and La Croix winced as he leapt backward, turning invisible, before his eyes bulged in shock as something impossible tore through his spirit, the stallion gasping as he fell backwards, before he screamed in disbelief and agony as he grasped uselessly at a stump of foreleg that was spurting blood and steaming spiritual energy into the air.

“No!” Moonflower's voice broke, the stallion staring at La Croix as his lip trembled before he snarled in fury, eyes and horn glowing with rage as he shouted: “How could you? How could you!”

“Very easily, colt-cuddler. Why don't you give him a kiss before I finish erasing him from existence?” asked Auriculos, fearless of the energy that Moonflower was gathering as he set himself, adding cruelly: “Then again, perhaps I should thank him. He was the one who made this all possible. And you, too. Even though back then, when I was nothing but a tub of lard in a tube, you were still almost too weak to kill me.”

“I am not weak!” Moonflower roared, before he snapped his horn down, unleashing a fearsome ray of black light straight at the Kirin neurocenter.

Auriculos narrowly avoided the ray with a grin, before his eyes flashed with surprise as the black beam tore through the machines and glass wall behind him to hammer into a reactor, the machine-Kirin stumbling with a curse of surprise as one of the power cores exploded. Window wall shattered and Aster cried out in surprise as Sombra leapt forward to create walls of crystal to try and shield them, but Moonflower ignored the flame and force and shards of glass that washed over them, leaning into the spray of debris as he unleashed another deadly blast from his horn, heedless of the blood flying from the cuts across his face or the tears falling from his eyes as he shouted: “I won't let you hurt anyone else!”

Auriculos snarled in disbelief, leaping to the side before the machine-Kirin roared in shock as a beam of black energy ripped along his side, searing his thought-impenetrable outer shell and making him stumble as shocks of pain tore through his spirit.

Another explosion ripped through the core behind him, alarms beginning to blare as the lights flickered violently, a mechanical voice calmly explaining system failures as panicking blasts ripped through the building. Auriculos ignored all of it as he stumbled to the side, ducking under another impossibly-destructive ray of energy as Moonflower roared and advanced on him through the smoke and the flame and the flying debris.

Moonflower snapped his horn out, blasting away the smoke and fog, and Auriculos glanced quickly back and forth as shutters began to close over the shattered windows behind him. The glow from his chest vanished as his metallic breast slid closed, and Moonflower snarled as the Kirin-machine turned and suddenly bolted into the dissipating smoke, the unicorn shouting angrily over a weak warning from Thesis and the calm announcements from above: “You won't get away from me that easily!”

He snapped his horn out, blasting away another cloud of smoke: for a moment, he felt triumphant and righteous as his eyes locked on to the shape of Auriculos, but it lasted not even a breath before some incredible force slammed into his face, Moonflower staggering before he howled in misery as electricity ripped across his body, slowly driving him to his knees.

Auriculos laughed harshly, leaning forward as he snarled: “Nice try, but you leave yourself vulnerable when you change magic frequencies! But don't worry, I won't kill you right away: I want your precious boyfriend to watch as I drain the life from your-”

Aster leapt between Auriculos and Moonflower, her teeth grit, red veins pulsing powerfully across her body as she slashed her horn into the stream of electricity before she did her best to bite back a scream, struggling to contain the malevolent lightning. She jerked back and forth as Auriculos snarled, then he leaned forward, mechanical eyes blazing as he roared: “Get out of my way, you stupid bitch!”

A shockwave blasted down the chain of lightning, and Aster was blasted off her hooves: Auriculos, however, was staggered as well, his body sparking before he swore in shock as black crystal formed suddenly beneath him, then snared around his legs, racing up his body to lock him in place before Sombra appeared beside him, slamming a hoof into one of the spinning pistons on the machine's back.

Auriculos hissed in frustration as the gears in his body ground together, before his chest suddenly slid open and he unleashed a shockwave of light that knocked Sombra crashing bonelessly backwards, the stallion rolling before gasping as he scrabbled around in a circle. But he barely managed to yank his half-petrified form up before another blast hammered into his face, knocking him crashing backwards to roll into a wall as Auriculos ripped himself free of the corrupt crystal. “Why can't any of you just wait your turn?”

He paused, then looked up as Thesis leapt at him, before he smiled contemptibly and simply flicked his horn.

Thesis vanished from the spot, only to teleport straight into a blast of lightning that hammered him into the ground, before he choked as Auriculos stomped on the back of his neck. The Replicant spasmed, then gritted his teeth as Auriculos slid his hoof backwards and grasped the top edge of his exoskeleton, saying softly: “One-by-one, you all fall down. And that's all your fault, isn't it? Can't keep your team in line, and there they are, parading at me one after the other. Not that even working together you would stand a chance...”

“I don't know about that. Moonflower certainly left a mark on you.” Thesis retorted, and then he gritted his teeth, fighting down the urge to scream when Auriculos dug his hoof into his back, then yanked his exoskeleton upward, black blood spurting from the crater in his spine, his forelegs spasming, the servomotors on the machine going out of control.

“Shut up.” Auriculos snapped, and then he continued callously: “Look around. For all your arrogance and parading, you were no match for me. But that's nothing new, is it? You and Hecate have always underestimated me. Valthrudnir underestimated me, leaving me to rot like he did, thinking I wouldn't figure out a way to override the neural network. And Loki, he's underestimated me, too. But very soon he's going to regret his mistake. He's going to realize-”

“We all got regrets.” murmured a voice, and Auriculos looked up in surprise to see that La Croix had managed to drag himself over to Moonflower, who had his teeth grit and was slowly, shakily pushing himself up to his own hooves. The Loa was pale, but his stump of foreleg had been crudely sealed by black crystal. “But it ain't about what we done. It's about what we do.”

“We won't stop fighting you.” whispered Sombra, and Auriculos snorted in contempt as he looked over his shoulder at the stallion: dark fire flickered eerily across a body that was pale and half-petrified, leaking ashes even as he stood as tall and ready as he could, miasma spilling from one eye, but the other white and blind and sightless. And yet all the same, Auriculos felt that gaze piercing through him... “It is not too late.”

“'Not too late?' Really?” the Kirin neurocenter spat in disgust, and then he looked down at Thesis as the stallion scrabbled weakly at the ground, before the Replicant screamed in agony when Auriculos simply ripped savagely back on his exoskeleton, tearing most of it free from his back, wires and tubes and flesh all ripping like string and cheap cloth before Auriculos simply dropped the squealing, wheezing machine off to the side, smiling as blood and fuel and coolant all spilled out of Thesis' empty, broken back.

Thesis clutched at the ground, biting off his pain, clenching his eyes shut as he trembled violently before a hoof pressed down against the back of his head, and Auriculos said softly: “No one can save you now. I broke the Swan's connection with the Astra. I've left your friends in ruin. I've shattered you, Prince Thesis. The only thing it's not too late for...”

Auriculos' eyes flicked up, before he snapped his horn suddenly out, blasting Sombra, Moonflower, and La Croix flying with a devastating shockwave, the three crashing bonelessly to the ground before Auriculous laughed loudly. “It's not too late for you to kill yourselves!”

He grinned coldly, before his eyes widened in surprise as Moonflower bounced before he landed on his hooves, glaring back at the Kirin before he snapped his horn down. But the pulse of gravitational force only bounced off Auriculos and slammed uselessly into one of the closed shutters behind him, the machine-Kirin snorting. “You've lost your edge.”

He snapped his horn down, but the chain of electricity he shot at Moonflower simply twisted around him as Moonflower's horn glowed, the Kirin hissing in frustration as the unicorn snapped back: “And you've become predictable!”

“I don't need to waste my time being creative with you worthless plebes!” Auriculos snarled, snapping his horn back and forth to unleash short blasts of lightning, but Moonflower deflected each and every one of these with a grimace before he retaliated with a powerful blast of magic.

Auriculos only growled in irritation as the magic bounced off his outer shell, snarling: “I knew it was a fluke, that you couldn't channel that much power! You can't pierce my protective layer, none of you can! You're all useless!”

The machine-Kirin fired a mortar of magic at Moonflower, and this time the stallion couldn't redirect it before it slammed into the ground in front of him, the thunder of force and lightning knocking him flying backwards. But he was caught by Sombra before he could slam into the ground, before he shouted as several more flares streaked towards them-

Sombra stomped his other hoof down, and shields of crystal formed around them, the flares slamming into these and blowing them apart, but thankfully the gemstone absorbed the worst of the blast. Sombra slumped with a gasp, and Moonflower trembled before he pulled himself away from the stallion before he looked back in surprise as Sombra murmured: “Do not underestimate him. He may bark like a cane bastardo, but he is swift as the volpe. He will not leave Thesis' body.”

“That's right. I know just what you're up to.” Auriculos said contemptibly, before he savagely kicked Thesis in the side, knocking him rolling awkwardly with a gasp of agony over his own broken exoskeleton, leaving his mangled body half-sprawled over the machine as his hindlegs kicked weakly, before he screamed in misery when Auriculos stomped viciously on his stomach.

Moonflower cried out, and Sombra snarled before he suddenly leapt forwards, slinging a hoof out and sending a slew of shards at Auriculos, but the needles of black gemstone uselessly shattered against his body before the Kirin neurocenter gave a disdainful snort as his chest slid open, releasing a powerful flash in return.

Moonflower flinched backwards, feeling like his skin had been seared by the flash, while Sombra gasped as his whole body went rigid before he collapsed backwards, trembling in agony as the strength left his body. Moonflower's eyes widened in horror at the sight of how pale, how emaciated, how broken Sombra had become, before La Croix croaked from where he'd been thrown: “He's... tryin' to manipulate the Astra... y'can't... can't...”

“You can't do anything.” Auriculos said coldly, before he held up a hoof by his open breast, and the core of light inside him pulsed before it fired a sphere of energy at Moonflower, who didn't react fast enough to dodge.

He was knocked off his hooves by the blast of Astra, gasping in pain as electricity crackled agonizingly across his body, spasming violently before he forced himself to roll onto his stomach as Auriculos laughed. “Ironic, isn't it? You're the only fleshsack here, making you the only one with any insulation against the Astra... but I have been curious, how much of a charge it would take to burn through a mortal. I suppose you're a good enough chance to find out.”

Auriculos fired another blast at Moonflower, and the unicorn narrowly staggered out of the way before he retaliated with a fireball of his own. But this time, the magic was absorbed directly into the machine-Kirin with a violent spark of lightning, Auriculos laughing harshly as he said callously: “Try again! Go ahead, feed me more power!”

Auriculos sent another ball of Astra at Moonflower, and the stallion hissed in agony as it slammed into him, searing against his body, electricity crackling over him before he gasped as he felt a painful warmth around his neck. He clutched at his throat, but Auriculos only laughed at him, lightning thrumming over his body as he mocked: “Where is all that strength you had before? What's wrong? Are you afraid? Are you already dying? Are you giving up?”

Moonflower finally managed to grasp the thing around his neck, yanking it off and gasping several times before he stared in disbelief at his stupid, cheap stone necklace, the pretty, useless thing he had bought for too much money from a fortune teller who had been so convincing, who he knew had likely been ripping him off and yet he had been compelled, he had wanted to believe in her words, her promise, that one day-

A blast of Astra shot at him, and Moonflower instinctively shoved the necklace upward: the electrical charge that carried the Astra was absorbed into the necklace, making the crystals heat up painfully in his hoof as the rest of the Astra simply washed over him, surprising but not hurting him. Auriculos was laughing, though, he hadn't noticed, hadn't realized what had happened, stepping forward as he mocked: “Aren't you going to do anything?”

Moonflower hesitated for only a moment before he flung the necklace into the air, then snapped his horn forward, sending a massive blast of lightning through it and launching it hurtling like a missile towards Auriculos. The Kirin neurocenter grinned, only leaning back as he absorbed the lightning into his core, starting: “Pathetic idiot, haven't you learned... a-any... any...”

Auriculos spasmed, his crimson lenses flashing, his legs trembling as he staggered backward before he looked down at himself with disbelief. Electricity shocked over his frame as the pulse from his chest glowed brightly, flaring up higher and higher with each tremor as he stumbled backwards, howling: “No, no, no, no, no!”

Something inside him exploded, and Auriculos screamed so loudly his voice distorted into static, rearing back as electricity ripped across his mechanical frame, and Moonflower was blinded and knocked off his hooves by the brilliant flashes of light and power that ripped through the air around them. It seared them all with lightning and life and Otherness; it punished and rewarded them, crushed them with pleasure and saved them with pain, twisted reality itself-

The Swan's eyes snapped open as the Astra surrounded her and lifted her up, and in a moment Danzsöngr and Cadence were both on their hooves as one: they saw, knew, everything in the brilliance of the Astra, as Auriculos staggered drunkenly, his core overloaded, the Astra he had been controlling flooding through every circuit of his body and every inch of his spirit, driving him insane: making him vulnerable.

Cadence leapt forward, and Danzsöngr struck out: Cadence slashed her horn back and forth in elegant and perfect cuts, and Danzsöngr fueled her, focused her, gave her the power to separate the Astra itself.

Auriculos' body twitched back and forth, but Cadence didn't leave so much as a mark on him before she dropped to her hooves, still ten feet away as the machine-Kirin glared at her, before his mechanical eyes flashed with stupid disbelief, his metal jaw dropping as he gave a weak whimper before the brilliance, the brightness of his Astra escaped from the markless holes she had left in his spirit, rushing out of him like the air out of a balloon.

Auriculos fell on his haunches, his steel head dropping, his body sparking faintly a few times before he whispered: “N-No... c-c-can't... think... too much, too much and too little all at once, all... more coming in brain, leaving head... water... rushing water! Air, no... b-bad... h-h-hurts... hurts! Hurts!”

Auriculos clawed at his skull, screaming, shaking his head violently back and forth before he reared back, gaping at the ceiling for a moment, and for a moment, the Swan saw the Kirin and not the shell, saw him burning, saw him crying, watched as he pleaded for mercy to the careless sky...

And then, the machine-body collapsed, and the spirit was no more.

Comments

[Mira Starlight]

100th overall chapter! Yay! Let's celebrate with the most epic asskicking in the story so far!

Although, seriously, poor Auriculos. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain there.