Demons Run
Chapter 4: Demons Run
A being stood amidst the ice covered mountains of the Frozen North, evaluating the crystalline city-state with partial interest.
The denizens were cowardly without their guards and King. He could spook one and the rest would follow in blind panic. Even those with wings and magic were susceptible to such a tactic. Truly, these deformed horses were pathetic in every way.
The one thing that kept the figure’s attention was their King. A crimson dragon-like being that showed up one day and became their ruler the next. Was this some sort of vanity project for the drake or maybe he really cared for them? Only time would tell in the future if he were to turn out to be it’s savior or the next tyrant on that very short list.
Either way, they were living on top of something that he needed.
He pulled out a rust brown book with a gold name on the cover.
“Beyla, I summon you.”
======•••======
“That concludes today’s court. Everypony may leave now.” Everyone left the throne room, leaving me, Pearl, and ten guards.
I swear, when I said that this hour would only be for important problems, they came with all of their problems. I mean, come on, I setup a police force for these kind of petty grievances! Don't come to me saying how your cats went missing or shit like that. Seriously, why the hell would Celestia suggest this! Well, at least this will only happen once a week.
“Think we can try screening them before arriving,” I asked my steward as we walked down the halls. “Like, putting on a social event for kids or a serial killer are important. Not most of whatever that was.”
“As you wish, my King,” she said. “Personally, I believe that it’s good they come to us with things like that.”
“May I ask why?” She has to stand there with me for crying out loud! No one should have suffered like we did. Those poor brain cells shall be missed.
“Because it means they’re comfortable. That the dread from Sombra is leaving, and there’s less fear and more hope around. And that they trust you as a King to help with their personal lives.”
I rose my non-existent eyebrows at that. It's true that the denizens have seemed more cheerful lately, and that they didn't jump at every shadow that crossed their path. I was just giving the credit for the last one to the installation of street lights I had the DoC work on. Truly magic is amazing if you can set up those old gas lamps from the 1800s without the use of gas or a material that would potentially pollute the city. My enhanced nose would probably decide to put itself under a guillotine if I smelt gasoline everywhere.
Was I really that good a King, though?
All I’ve done was shoot some fire and made a government that did most of the work for me. Hell, lately I’ve only been passing off ideas in hopes that someone would actually go through with it. Is that what makes me a good man, or a lazy one if I don’t get involved with my own version of Kirkwall’s politics.
“Anyways,” Pearl stated, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Today the DAS wanted to present their latest project in order to get more funding.”
“Project Aegis, right? Wasn't that some sort of force field generator?” Their last test almost blew up a block. Luckily I was used as a shield by the small ponies, so no deaths.
“No, that wasn't as high on their list, but more of a pet project for them at this point. This one is called Project Null.”
“Hmm, sounds cryptic but alright. I'll get lunch then go meet up there. DAS HQ?”
She chuckled. “As always, sire. Have fun.”
Oh I will. Plus side of being a king in magic pony land, there were some exotic foods to try. For example, my new favorite dish is a griffin recipe for seared hydra. Not as bad as it sounds, let me tell you. Granted, it's hard to find and kill them, so I restrict myself to important holidays.
Right now, because I have no idea if it’s good for me to eat only meat and fire, I had a nice salad with bits of chicken sprinkled here and there. Less costly than other things.
I looked down at my body. Over the last few months, I've noticed an increase in chubbiness. Damn, turns out I can't just do nothing and keep those killer abs. Maybe I should invest in an exercise routine? For all I know I could end up looking like a giant water balloon!
After that was done, I requested a group of pegasi guards to follow me. It was mostly for show, but I learned early on that it helped keep the populace’s nerves down. Somehow.
Now, we built the DAS HQ a fair distance away from the castle due to the… experiments. Not all of which were explosive, but better safe than sorry.
I smiled down at my Empire. Not even six months and we’ve turned things around.
A lot of people heard about what happened and volunteered to come help out. Multiple unicorns are teaching at schools, earth ponies are helping out with our farms, minotaurs and griffons have enlisted in the military, and a few zebras were working in the hospitals.
The DoC found a great trading resource, the crystals. They can store more magic than gems, completely reusable, and were very sought after. A lot of that revenue was spent restoring some of the city. I did have a plan that allowed us to not be 100% dependent on the magic rocks, but they were the best we had.
The flight there brought a lot of cheering my way, causing my smile to widen.
“Enjoying it, sir” one of the guards asked me.
“I'm lovin’ it,” I referenced in a quiet voice. What I wouldn’t give for a trip to Wendy’s or McD.
We neared the DAS HQ, the ground rumbling when I landed in the clearing they had put in for me. Definitely need exercise…
“My King, welcome,” a sea green unicorn said, followed by almost half a dozen others.
“It's no problem,” I said, raising a hand. “I heard that you've got some new toy that you wanted to show off show off?”
“Oh, yes! Come, this way my lord!”
So we walked through the crystalline corridors, the guide going into all sort of crazy facts and information that basically meant this:
They’ve been developing a generator for a magic bubble that negates all magic. Example, place one down in a unicorn filled area, and none of them will be able to give off even a spark while inside the zone. Something that would be a problem was that it didn’t do anything to magic cast outside the bubble that went in.
The test went as followed. A unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony showed off what they could do. All very Sailor Moon style, but it was enough to show that they were almost prodigies. But inside the bubble? Unicorn was basically useless, pegasus couldn’t fly, and the earth pony failed to cultivate a single seed. All in all, I was very impressed.
Very good investment incase we get any dangerous criminals that relied too much on magic or we get into a war. God I hope we don't do that.
And since I was a decent man-lizard-king, I decided to see if I could also be negated by this. I wouldn’t believe if I was the only human sent here. Everyone exited the area when they turned on the bubble. I focused, drawing up that primal feeling that I felt whenever I breathed fire. It felt like a wild animal, thrashing and ready to be released from it’s cage.
“Fire Dragon Roar!” All that came out was the equivalent of a powerful unicorn’s fire spell. Wasn't as impressive to see as my usual torrent of fiery death, but it was amazing when you think that they just effectively turned a nuclear powered flamethrower into a scented candle.
“There are some kinks in the system, of course, but I’m sure that with time we will be able to perfect this,” Golden Star said, apparently showing up out of nowhere. Oh, wait, some of them can teleport. I need to learn how to do that! Or at least make one in my fridge, bring lunch to me while I’m in bed! Wait, I have servants for that. Damn, I can’t even make myself lazier.
“Well, this will definitely be useful. Maybe we would be able to cover the city in case of an enemy invasion, seeing as how most here use magic for almost everything.” Oh, my brain is definitely working on the way this could be used…
“Well, so long as you-”
“Your highness! Your highness!” We both looked up to see a very disgruntled pegasus fly towards us, frost covering his wings.
“What is it, soldier?”
“A-a massive thing is approaching the city. We sent an envoy to m-meet it, and it just f-froze them before smashing them!”
Oh shit, I hope it isn't wendigoes. “Describe it. Fast.”
“M-Minotaur like in build. Grey skin, I think, scales maybe. Crystal shaped head. It stood taller then you, your Highness.”
Shit, was this a demon? “Have you informed the DoD?” He nods his head. “Good soldier. Head back to the barracks for some food and rest. God knows you earned it. Gold Star, this project has the crown’s full support. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a visitor to greet.”
“Do make sure they don't ruin the fixtures, your Majesty.” Wait, was that a joke? “It took much effort to return the city to former glory and then some.” Or not.
I gave him a thumbs up and flew off in the direction that the pegasus came from.
So, for those of you who don't know the layout of the city, here’s a crash course. The Imperial City of Oblivion (because that is an awesome game that you should buy) is broken up into seven sectors. The Crystal Empire is built similarly. You have the Market District, which is a good fourth of the city. Residential, another fourth. The Educational, which has the DAS HQ and multiple schools and research facilities, took up around an eighth. The Manufacturing District takes up a forth. There’s a district dedicated for Military uses that mostly included training facilities and the like. Finally, surrounding the city by a kilometer out was the Agricultural District. Guess what we do there? We have a few sentry posts set up every few hundred meters surrounding the farming areas.
It took me roughly fifteen minutes to fly all the way to the decently sized group of soldiers that had gathered at the edge of the Agricultural District. And a flash of pink told me exactly who else was here.
“Fleet Admiral Rose Quartz. A pleasure to see you again. How's your fiancé, Something Sparkle,” I told the pink unicorn as I landed. Now, if you’ve ever seen Steven Universe, you can probably guess her coloration. If not, then she had a peach colored coat and a massive, curly, pink mane. I think her cutie mark was a rose, unsurprisingly enough.
“Cosmos Sparkle, sir, and he’s well. Now, can I guess that Down Feathers reached you? Because if not, you'll be very surprised.” These fucking puns for names, man. They’re insanely wonderful if you have a taste for them. If not, ‘ugh’ is the most common thought if you were ever to arrive.
“Yeah, he told me about Abominable Snowfreak there. Mind sharing the specifics with little ol’ me?”
“Well, we can't pick it up with heat sensing magic, mix that with its ice magic and we have a good idea on how it survived for so long out there, and it has a decent camouflage. Massive obviously, reports say that it’s slender and parts are made of ice. In short, we probably don't have the home field advantage anymore.”
I scratched my chin, thinking. I don't remember any ice specific demons from Fairy Tail, and definitely don't remember any with that design. Was it a fanmade one? They never really did say how many Zeref made. Shit, I probably should have continued the series. I kind of stopped watching when Igneel got chomped in half. Probably a bad decision on my end, but alas, c’est la vie.
“Alright, get soldiers at each outpost, keep weapons focused on the last known location. Keep up all magical tracking devices for when the damned thing shows itself. And be ready for a signal if anything goes downhill.”
“As you wish, my king. You heard him, fillies, get a move on!”
Ah, so nice when everyone follows my orders. Now, onwards to do the obvious decision of allowing the King to be placed in the most danger because he has a need to be either heroic or retarded. Five bucks on the latter, to be honest.
The instant I crossed the boundary that was the Crystal Heart’s weather affecting magic (which I needed a way to extend eventually) the blizzard that seemed to forever reside in the Frozen North.
Oh tits it's freezing out here! That’s what you get for spending months inside the 78 degree city 24/7, my brain reasoned. I mentally flipped myself off, because that's what I do, before trying to sniff out the possible enemy.
The only smell out here was ice, misery, and a lack of peppermint hot cocoa.
Probably has to do with its nature. But where could it be? This thing was going into the city for whatever reason and we were completely blind. Oh well, I've worked with less info. After all, I did kill Flemeth in Origins on the hardest level on the first try.
That probably isn't very inspiring info given my current scenario.
Eventually, I did notice something. Even admits all this wind and snow, the rhythmic pounding of giant feet were muffled slightly by the snow. Turning to the source, I was sad at the lack of visibility that kept me from seeing the whole thing.
If any of you have seen Justice League: Gods and Monsters, then good for you, this will be easier. The form that I could make out looked a lot like those robots from the movie. Very broad upper body and it seemed to have skipped all the leg days. It's long arms dangled at its sides, nearing where its knees should be, and ended with very sharp looking appendages.
“You are the Fire King in this Land of Ice? If you wish to live, flee. My Master will not stand your interference.” Well wasn’t that cryptic. Good news though, this thing is probably female judging by it’s voice, so that’s a thing.
Welp, time to try that trick that Luna showed me. RCV; Activate!
“I am King Igneel of the Crystal Empire, but you probably guessed that. If we can help you, we’ll see what we can do for you. But if your intentions are malicious, then tell your Master that we need a serious heart to heart chat over neighborly manners.” Don’t look at me like that, I get nervous in one on one confrontations and say sarcastic shit. For some reason, it doesn’t carry over to public speaking…
She brought her ice covered arm and pointed it right at me. “Again I tell you, abscond if you wish to survive.”
“Sorry, but that’s not happening. Explain yourself now before-” It was just the day of interruptions as the demon fired an ice pillar right at my shoulder.
I rolled out of the way, the projectile flying off into the distance. Another few pillars of ice were fired at me, grazing my scales. “Alright so this is happening,” I said to myself.
I roared, barreling towards her with my claws stretched out. Before she could get out of the way, I grabbed her arm and pulled a Goku, flying into the air and spinning as fast as I could before throwing her into the ground. I rushed forward and breathed fire at the demon, enveloping her completely in my flames.
Well that went better than I- I was ripped out of my monologing as an icy hand reached out, gripping my throat.
And boy howdy did she look pissed.
“RRRRERAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!” She screamed as she threw me onto the ground. Jumping high into the air, I could make out an ice blade jutting out of her elbow
“Shitshitshit,” I said, rolling out of the way of the incoming shish kabob icicle headed towards my chest, where my scales were admittedly weaker. The ground where I used to be was instantly filled with a spiky demon.
I flew into the air a bit and continuously did that thing people in military planes do all the time, fly in a line and send out a stream of constant fire. Heh, puns.
After she had gotten up, I wrapped my tail around her neck, which is prehensile I learned early on. Pumping my wings hard as I could, I flew both me and the demon into the air. Then, I mentally thought of a fitting reference.
Igneel used Seismic Toss.
It was super effective, seeing as how I had probably cracked the currently unseen ground with the force. Then, Igneel used Fly.
Sadly, I flew right into the ground. See, I had forgotten that snow was technically ice, and it turns out that she can manipulate ice. Whodda thunk it. So, she subtly moved the large mushroom cloud created from these impacts out of the way, leading to me missing. And by God did it hurt!
Within seconds, she was standing on me, foot at my throat as she was constantly hitting my head with a large stick made of ice.
I Roared, but it only went past her.
“Haha, is this all that Master was worried about? You’re pathetic!”
I started chuckling too.
“Oh, are you laughing at how sad this is, too, Red Diamond?”
“Hehe… I installed railguns.”
She cocked her head at that before a large boom sounded, and something tore through her shoulder. Using her lack of momentum for a split second, I pushed her off me, taking once more into the air as more shells were fired at her.
“Wha- How-?” Then she noticed. On her left was the Empire. On her right was a wall of intense dragon fire.
“See, we couldn't exactly find where you were because of your extremely low body temperature,” I explained to her. “I think this evens the odds, no?”
She roared in anger before another shot through her torso. The demon attempted to rush past the flaming barrier, but I used my tail to knock her backwards. After a few more shots, I landed on top of her after sending up two letters made of fire.
SF.
Stop Firing.
“This… isn't a fair… fight, wyrm,” she spit out.
“Oh, I'm sorry,” I sarcastically shot at her. “But you were about to attack my Empire, slaughter it’s citizens, and you expected me to fight fairly? It's the duty of a king to put the livelihood of those under him before his honor. And you know what, the only reason I came out here was because we couldn't target you. If you want to know, I've got contingencies in place for almost anything, especially Fairy Tail fan made demon shits like you.” I once again wrapped my tail around her neck, this time tighter than before. “One of the first things I did after setting up the government was invest in TAVR, time altering virtual reality. Each of those gunners have five years experience firing guns that have only existed for three months. So I'm in no danger for what I'm about to do.”
“My master… will hunt you down… so long as you live in… that Empire...”
I gave her an intense stare that made her freeze up. “Then it's a shame that I don't plan on leaving.”
And I flew into the air, propping her body up enough to the point where they had a clear shot against the fiery background.
R.
Resume.
It was five minutes later that I finally sent the stop signal, the demon having gone limp two minutes ago. Cyan blood covered the snow, the horrendous smell assaulting my augmented sense of smell.
I flew back, body trailing behind me.
As I entered the barrier, cheering was heard from all of the soldiers. Dropping it, I motioned towards Rose. “Good work. Take this back to MAS for study. And make sure not to make it widely known that we have a demon body please.”
“Yes, your majesty,” she saluted.
As I watched them haul it off, I was now worried for what was to come after having the Empire attacked by a large uncategorized monster.
“Pearl is going to give me so much work to do…”
======•••======
After that day, the knowledge of their attack by and successful defeating of the demon Beyla was spread like wildfire. And that was only the beginning. For centuries afterwards, the Crystal Empire was constantly under siege by demons. This constant state of strife and fear eventually lead the Empire to become the most technologically advanced country to exist on the face of Equus. And under the careful, and albeit hesitant, rule of the Red Diamond Igneel, they were not going to fall any time soon.
When asked for a comment, he had only one thing to say.
“Demons run when a good man goes to war.”
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LOVE IT!!
well done!
I know I'm late, but perhaps you should add into your description about the status on if or if not you're able to cross-over or accept cross-overs.
8700123
Ditto!
Curious if any other dragons may show up now.lol
This is the kind of things that get done when a displaced anime and tech loving human gets put in charge of a kingdom with ample resources. They go from low tech to high tech and VERY efficient at killing things that attack them. Which is both a good and bad thing. Good because they can effectively counter most threats bad because other rulers might get paranoid of the fact of if they are that deadly on defense how effective is that put into offense?(Note I mean rulers other than Celestia and Luna. The dragons are a maybe.)
Yes, finally an update
Well done
Also, Is the next chapter going to be a timeskip ?
What will Igneel do when the "Uprising of Nightmare-Moon" begins? Now despite how it actually happened in the Canon-Timeline, we still like to visualize and come-up with our own versions of how it actually happened. Because not only when Luna becomes Jealous of Celestia being acknowledge and adored more than her, She would also become jealous of the Crystal Empire. Because given how much it change over the past months, it already makes Equestria looked slightly inferior to the Crystal Empire.
You don't F
k with Igneel...
Heh, puns
8700456
That incorporates the person seen at the beginning of the chapter.
And why can't everyone realize how bad an idea it is to f
k with Igneel.
8701151
Understood
LOL. I find this amusing. only need to change a few words to make it match Humans.
Demons run when Man wages war.
8701450
that's actually a quote from Doctor Who.
Railguns, nice touch
8700181
That is a very good thing to have noticed and it took me a while to find a work around to that. I have a counter to most of these problems:
The Crystal Empire is extremely isolated, leading to almost no one knowing of what the hell Sombra was doing. And because if one country were to go attack the Empire, they would have to traverse the Frozen North, which is nearly impossible to do. The same scenario plays in vice versa.
The other countries do not care about how they advance, so long as they are restricted to that isolated area with only one real supply route, because they can freely destroy the route and starve them of imported goods.
You're a god damn dragon! why the hell would you need to eat a salad.
That's like saying a lion should eat broccoli.
8702903
Igneel: Well excuse me for not properly knowing the dietary habits of a extinct fictional race of flying lizards that teaches magic that can kill them to humans!
8703364
Well as long as you recognize your egregious error I suppose I can forgive you.
8702216
It's just a fact that other rulers(That aren't either peaceful or willing to listen to logical reason) would be paranoid about it. And while yes they are isolated in the middle of a frozen wasteland, meaning conquering it would be a waste of time, soldiers and other resources, that still wouldn't really stop them. Hell I'm willing to bet there would be more than a few demands from the more militant countries for the weapons and blueprints and instructions for how to use them maybe even infiltration units from other kingdoms or mercs to steal such items. Course that would be if they didn't try the 'peaceful' approach first and in the conditions for the treaty request such things as mandatory or there will be no alliance or such things. Course the only real way that the other kingdoms(Sans equestria and again maybe the dragons) would view them as a threat is if your character works out a way to make the frozen tundra into a non-frozen land with lots of fertile soil and room to build and expand the empire.
I so want to do a crossover with you on this. I'm not sure how, but I would love to.
Loving this!
*maniacal giggling*
More Dakka is always the answer.
i518.photobucket.com/albums/u347/s-castro89/Motivator%20by%20me/Others%20motivators/MoreDakka.jpg
Nice story so far, good work.
I have a question, what is the size of igneel in this story, because i don't know if it's the original size of fairy tail or it's different?
8798939
He's the same size as in the anime. But he is smaller than most adult dragons in this world.
You know what would be badass as hell? Motherf***ing Igneel flying into battle with flames trailing from his mouth while motherf***ing Zoro is standing on his head with all three swords drawn in a ready stance.
Don't tell me that wouldn't be a badass piece of fan art.
8853006
Shit, now that has to happen at some point!
Thanks for the added headache of figuring out where to put this idea!
What's your status on cross-overs?
8856998
I really haven't thought about them for this story. I mean, it would be cool, but I want the main focus to be on Igneel, not who will be entering his kingdom via token.
That said, thanks to 8853006, I need to bring one of them to the other's story because that is a badass idea.
8862357
Anyone who cross-overs is only a temporary passenger, not the main character nor should they have a major effect on main plot. This is your world afterall, your rules, and if someone comes to visit, they have to follow those rules so that the plot doesn't get derailed.
8853248
Dream sequence
Can I sig this for my spacebattles account?
9035464
well you need to ask doctor who cause thats where the quote is from
Moar.
I'm starting to wonder if this story is more dead then it should.
9124147
yeah its dead
any idea when we can expect an update and new chapter?
Are you going to make more chapters ,the story was very interesting and I will like to know what the future holds
This story is going really well I would love to see it continue
I guess this could count as an ending
I do hope you update this story soon
When will this be continued? It's been 5 years since the last update
11524518
Mans been gone for more than a year, so most likely not.
11705378
Guess the fic is dead