Havoc

by Histy

Chapter 10: Facing the Shadow King

All was silent in the throne room, with the only sound being the light flipping of the pages of a certain book by a certain someone sitting on the room's throne.

We had been here for quite some time now. Shining Armour had berated me for not telling him of Cadence's bruised and unconscious state, but I merely reminded him of the most important fact; she was still alive. Now he just spent the time staying by her side. The dragon, who I learned was Twilight's assistant Spike, tried to occupy his time with anything he could find, but to little avail.

I used this time to read that book and figure out how a Creator becomes a Creator. So far, it's been very vague about the topic, only giving a few hints here and there. But that didn't mean I hadn't learned anything.

I learned that I needed a crystal heart in order to access the powers the Creators had. I knew what a crystal heart was. They were usually reserved for the recruitment of the demi-god Khwarezmians. I found it interesting that the Creator needed them as well. Guess those things were used overall to open the way for using more powers than we were limited to. Then, I found an interesting amount of information I did happen to come across here.

There was one crystal heart, one which Faust herself had claimed. It was the strongest out of all the crystal hearts, and was solely to be used by Faust, hidden away from all of the other Gods of the Pantheon. Hidden away from all of the Gods, which also likely meant that it was hidden from mortals as well. That meant there was a possibility it was still there, and not taken off to some foreign land as a ridiculous peace offering, or whatever other reason why things like this book were traded over here.

That irritated me a bit. We came here for this book, and now said book is telling us to go to the Pantheon, the place which we were originally going to in the first place. Fantastic.

What also irritated me was that Baron and Stiermann had yet to return to me. Sure, destroying a city takes time, but it still shouldn't take as long as they were taking right now. Were they torturing mortals? That's the only reason they could be taking so long.

Abruptly, the large doors to the throne room opened, startling everyone (except me). I looked up from the book and saw-

Aurora? What in Jupiter's name was she doing back here?

She looked frantic and was panting greatly, making me guess she ran quite the distance to get here.

"You better have a good reason to be disobeying my orders, Aurora," I said dangerously, narrowing my eyes.

"T-the mortal ponies!"

"What of them?"

"They... they encountered Baron and Stiermann, and their magic had no effect on them! They were... they were..."

"Spit it out," I growled.

"...They were defeated."

Should I even be surprised? Well, given the circumstances, they were immune to any type of magic that was threatening to them, even without those jewels on them (yes, I noticed). Those damn things are making them Gods in their own right. My suspicions about Twilight's commitment to the ones she cares about is something I was correct about, too, meaning that I had another problem to deal with. Delightful.

But hey, now that Aurora was here, I could now focus on other things. I got up from the throne I was sitting on, slamming the book shut.

As I walked out of the throne room and passed Aurora, I tossed the book to her, which she scrambled to catch.

"Where are you going!?" Aurora shouted, distress in her voice.

"To deal with a certain King ," I simply answered.

"But what about the group of mortals!? Last I saw of them, they were on their way here!"

"Just take our captives and hide them somewhere. I don't care where, but make sure to keep an eye on them at all times."

Without another word, I left the scene.

---

I stared across the vast city, eyeing everything under me.

A section of it, about one-fifth the size of it was on fire, probably caused by the destruction Baron and Stiermann caused before they were abruptly interrupted. Speaking of which, I needed to think of an appropriate punishment for the both of them once they come back to me.

There were little dots approaching the crystal structure, who I assumed to be Twilight and her group of friends, and another pair of them going away from it, who I assumed to be Aurora and my captives. Turning away from that, I looked over to the city's main gates. I smiled, welcoming the coming battle.

The shield I held around the city began to dissipate, holes appearing on it, starting small and getting larger as time passed. After about half a minute, the shield was completely gone.

I felt the temperature around me drop, as the arctic winds around the city began to flow in, snow beginning to cover the city.

I then saw it. In the distance, I could see a black sea. Complete blackness. It was as if I was staring into an abyss. There was no doubt. This was my enemy.

I readied myself for battle.

"Come forth, heathen!"

---

The dark King felt amusement begin to come over him.

This... thing... has challenged him to a duel. This should be good. At least he can have some fun before he restores himself to his throne.

It started with a simple attack. One to incapacitate, but not kill her. After that, he was going to torture her until she begged for death.

A dark crystal surged out of the ground, moving for the thing's abdomen. As he expected, the attack caught her by surprise, as she probably thought the attack was going to come from him, and not under her.

Unfortunately, she dodged the attack before it was too late, teleporting a short distance away. This didn't deter the dark King's efforts, however, as he began to shoot more crystals out of the ground, the amount of them being used increasing as time went on.

Soon enough, she was dodging a hail of crystals, teleporting at first, then flying around to dodge them, blasting through any of them that got in her way.

He finally began seeing satisfying results as he saw the crystals inflicted damage on her, mostly slashing her exposed back and legs. He saw a strange, golden liquid ooze out of her wounds. This wasn't normal blood, but he chose to ignored it.

Things were getting good. She was starting to slow down, causing more wounds to be inflicted on her. Finally, he scored the hit he wanted as a crystal pierced through her abdomen. It wasn't anywhere near an important organ, but he caused too much damage for her to be kept alive for torture. She was bleeding all over the place, and it was doubtful she'd survive long enough. A pity.

Withdrawing the crystal from her abdomen, he watched as the fool fell into the streets below.

Now, without nothing holding him back, he went back to the task of reclaiming what was his.

---

Damn Faust. Damn her to everything worse than the Underworld. Jupiter damn the bitch.

I never realised how weak I was without my immortality. I never realised how arrogant it had made me. Now because of it I lay in the streets in the pool of my own ichor. A shameful display. I hadn't even gotten a hit on him.

I realised now that my revenge, my vengeance, my comeback, was now beyond sight. I was to die at the hands of a power hungry mortal who never knew who I was. It would be better that way. I would be nothing in the end anyways.

*

"You hear me, kid? You are nothing. You are only to serve the people of Rome until the end of your miserable life. No one will remember your name, your family. No one will care for you. Why? Because you are nothing."

"No. I can be something."

A laugh, "Your words don't mean anything. Just like you. Just like any other slave. They serve their masters to the end, because they all are nothing. Do you understand?"

"No."

Another laugh, "Resisting isn't going to get you anywhere, little girl. Only submission will."

"I'll never submit to you."

"Really? Well, then, looks like I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."

*

I thought back to that conversation. It was so long ago, yet so ingrained in my head. Ever since, I tried to disprove that bastard. To show him I'm something, that I can be more.

But he was right. I'm nothing. My only true purpose was to serve Rome. To be nothing.

"Really? You're just going to give up like that?"

I could see a form develop in my vision, a black shape accumulating in front of me. It was... me, except everything but the eyes were black, with the eyes themselves being a blood red.

I was stunned, but this only occured for a brief second as the new me spoke up again.

"You're a God. You are already something more. Stop with your self deprecations, and destroy that damn mortal."

But how could I do that? I was drowning in a pool of my ichor, and I can barely move.

The dark me merely groaned, "Are you that dull? You can use your staff to transfer magic to yourself, and while it only lasts for a short time, it can bring you back to your feet, and helps you live longer."

It hit me hard. How could I have been so stupid!? To forget something as trivial as that?

"Now with that information that you idiotically ignored, get back into that damn fight, and don't be so stupid as to underestimate your opponent, even if he's a mortal. That gets you killed," she then dissipated without another word.

Quickly, I set out to do what she had pointed out.

---

There it was, his goal. The crystal heart.

The dark King became more solid as he neared it, his shadow form that had cursed him the passed thousand years finally withering away.

He finally stepped down on the hard floor of the open room that lay at the top of the crystal spire. The heart was there. Just where he'd left it.

He was soon next to the heart, ready to corrupt it again with his power and reshape the city back to where it was under his reign.

Then, he heard something whizzing, getting closer. That wasn't right. There wasn't anything to oppose him. That fool he had face was already dead in a pool of her own blood, he was sure of it.

Imagine his surprise when he was sliced in half by that said fool.

She landed not too far from him. Despite her new found strength, her wounds were undoubtedly going to drag her down. She was holding the wound that had been made by the crystal in a vain attempt to keep her blood from flowing out of it.

The dark King didn't suffer much from being sliced in half. His shadow physique made it easy to recover from any injury, thus he was able to easily reattach himself together. The fool growled when he did so.

"Tell me, fool," the King laughed darkly, "what makes you think you can challenge me?"

---

I've never felt such pain in all of my existence. I don't know how I was able to ignore all of it.

Regardless of that, I knew now that conventional ways wouldn't be able to kill him. I couldn't turn him to ash, because a shadow wasn't something that was exactly solid. Or even liquid for that matter, so I couldn't evaporate him. I had to admit, he played his cards right with me.

But then I realized something. There was a crystal heart here. Beside us. At our sides.

I could use it to my advantage. Corrupt it to my will and use it against him. As long as it wasn't mine, I had no chance of defeating this damn mortal.

"I don't like to repeat myself, fool," the mortal growled dangerously, "so tell me why you resist the inevitable."

After a quick thought on how I would execute my plan, I smirked at the mortal, "Talking gets you killed."

His confusion at my response, no matter how short, was the signal for my plan to begin.

I picked off a large piece of the floor, turning it to ash, and sending it flying to the mortals face. The result was what I expected, and I temporarily blinded him. Now with this chance, I dashed for the heart as fast as my wounds could allow me to.

The floor pattern around the hearts' position glowed for a brief second. I believed that it was something that would trigger a trap, but as the mortal focused more on curing his sight problem, he seemed to have forgot that it even existed.

Right next to the heart, I yanked it into my grasp, moving quickly to corrupt it with my magic. It began to change its hue from blue to orange.

It was a painfully slow process. I constantly looked over to the mortal, worrying at the prospect of failure. Each second that went by I felt his anger rising to dangerous levels.

"Come on, damn you," I rasped. The heart was now almost completely orange, with its original blue color still remaining in a few parts. It still wasn't complete. Not yet.

"You'll pay for that, fool," I froze. I looked over to the mortal, and confirmed my suspicions. He recovered.

He was blinking more often than he was previously, but that didn't seem to hinder him in any way. There was black masses gathering around him, clearly representing his rage.

He then growled loudly, "And has your mother ever told you not to steal from others? No matter, I'll be taking back what is mine."

The blackness shot out at a speed a mortal could never possibly imagine, towards me.

This was it. I'm going to die.

But before the black masses could reach me, they were blocked off by a mysterious source.

"What?" We both said in surprise.

I looked down, and found that the heart was now completely orange, and was now glowing brightly.

A triumphant smile came to my face.

"Impossible! You're just an ape! You have no magic!" There was no doubt the mortal was in complete surprise and disbelief.

I continued to smile at him. My moment has come.

"You may not regard me as such, but I am a being far superior to yourself. I am the one who once ruled over the emotions you thrive upon. I am the Goddess of Havoc. Oh, and I bring your demise."

He couldn't respond as the heart reached its full capacity, bursting its new power in every direction. The mortal could not escape. There was no possible way for him, anyway.

The power pierced through him, orange cracks beginning to appear all over him. Possibly knowing his inevitable doom was coming, he howled in rage as much as his lungs could allow him to, before he exploded into inexistence, his shadow going everywhere.

After its display of power, I carelessly dropped the crystal heart, it thundering and clanging as it made contact with the ground.

Now it was over.

The pain from my wounds suddenly skyrocketed, my entire body soon becoming numb. Unable to deal with such massive pain, I fell to the floor with a hard thud. I tried to get up again, but I found myself staying in place. I lost to much ichor, making me too weak to even stand.

It appeared death was coming for me again.

But I could also see someone else coming.

It was Aurora, with my captives. They were all being held by Cadence's magic, while the princess herself flew with her wings. I guess she recovered all of her magic after her rest from my torture.

I didn't see what they all did afterwards, as I succumbed to my injuries and lost consciousness. As I did, I thought back to that dark being. That new... me.

Why was she there? What was her purpose? And why did she help me defeat that King?

"You will know soon, my host. Soon..."

Author's Note:

Juicy long chapter done! Enjoy it!

Comments

[Crescent Nebula]

Please don't put her good side back she's fine as a evil being all having a good side does is make someone weak by having those silly little things called morals

[Russian Bank Teller]

8839021
yes

[CroisSunnyPlay]

Like I said, this story is best off with a bad end. C'mon, that kind of story is rare around here.

[Just Sandy]

8839645
those stories are actually a Thing?

[I Question That]

9060795
Legends tell of stories having evil win, yet none have been officially discovered. While the general population are fine with that and sometimes even like that, there is a small organization who claims they have multiple stories like that, and are still searching for more. It is said that the more stories they have, the stronger they are.