Tales of the Abyss: Hymns of Equestria

by Genis94

Hidden Truths

A few moments earlier...

Sync darted straight towards Asch, his movements swift and calculated.

Sync brought his arm back for a palm strike. "Reaper's Toll!"

Asch spotted the movements in Sync's shoulder and countered with his own attack. "Raging Blast!"

The two strikes collided, the resulting force sending both fighters skidding back. Asch seized the opportunity of the now wide distance between them and called upon his Fonic Artes.

"Thunder Blade!"

A massive blade of pure electric energy appeared above Asch, and just as soon charged toward Sync. Even with his amazing speed, Sync could see that dodging would likely be a fruitless effort, so he countered with his own Arcane Arte.

"Stone Dragon Ascent!" Sync exclaimed as he unleashed a flurry of stones around him as he spiraled in an uppercut.

Once again the two attacks collided and the force resulted in an explosion of energy. Though his counter saved him from most of the damage, Sync was not unscathed.

"Damn! Even with his wounds, he's still managing to keep up with me!" Sync angrily thought to himself. "I could still beat him, but I don't want to take chances. I need something to throw him off..."

Sync then took notice of the gray mare that was still cowering by the sidelines. A devilish grin spread across his lips as he formulated his plan. While Legretta was not above using sneak attacks and similar tactics, Sync was outright ruthless, going so far as to implement psychological warfare. Sync charged directly towards Asch, who responded by entering a defensive stance. Just as the distance was about to be closed, Sync called upon another Arcane Arte.

"Cyclone Blaze!"

Sync shot diagonally into the air in a tempest of flames. Asch shielded himself against the heat the whipped against him, giving Sync the distraction he needed to proceed with his plan. Asch turned to face Sync, only to catch him making a beeline for Derpy. A wave of fear crashed over Asch as he began to fear for the mare's life.

Asch had difficulty processing this new line of thought. "What the hell's wrong with me?! Why am I so concerned for her?!"

Asch's conscience butted in again with a response. You can't keep hiding behind that uncaring facade of yours. Now it's time for you to choose: let the pony die and kill Sync? Or fight to protect the ones you care about.

Sync was only a few strides away from the trembling mare. He coiled back his arm, pointing his fingers straight with the intent to gore into his victim with his bare hands.

Derpy's mind was filled with frantic thoughts of her impending doom. "No... No please! I can't die here! What's going to happen to my little muffin when she gets back from camp?" Derpy saw the harbinger of her death was only mere seconds from silencing her breaths permanently. She shut her eyes tightly in fear, pressing her hooves tightly to her head as though her rampaging thoughts would burst from her skull. "Dinky...! I... Be strong for mommy! I love you my little muffin..." she cried out in the hopes that her child would somehow hear her final farewell.

*Splutch!*

The sickening sound of flesh being penetrated rang out through the clearing... yet Derpy felt no pain. Slowly the blonde mare found the courage to open her eyes. Standing mere inches in front of her was Asch the Bloody. Asch's body began to tremble, and a crimson liquid began to pool at his feet.

Sync got exactly what he wanted. "You sentimental idiot. You actually threw both your lives away just to be the hero. Now I get the pleasure of killing you both!" The God-General sadistically laughed.

Asch's trembling ceased at that instant, and he grabbed the arm that was lodged in his chest.

To Sync's audible surprise, Asch pulled the arm further into the wound. "Wh-what?!"

Asch's words were labored much like his breaths. "I already... had my life... stolen from me... I won't have... another suffer the same fate!!!" Asch turned his head to glance at Derpy. "Get out of here now!"

Derpy raised her hoof to protest, but then she felt an overwhelming energy surge through the air. Realizing what Asch had planned, she flew into the thicket with tears streaming from her eyes. Asch gave a weak smile when he saw that Derpy was now at a safe distance. Asch raised his sword up, releasing his own hyperresonance. But something felt different to Asch. His hyperresonance seemed much more powerful than it had ever been. The answer hit him like a sack of bricks, causing him to grin in triumph.

"The weak should stay back!" Asch cried as he directed his sword back to the ground. Filling his strike with the power of his seventh fonons, he stabbed into the ground and unleashed a wave of energy in a wide radius. "Rending Saber!"

The shockwave from the energy sent Sync flying backwards. With his wound now completely open, Asch began to bleed out. With the last of his strength, Asch saw Sync limp away into the thicket, but then noticed that the replica of Ion was starting to fade.

Sync managed to limp to the relative safety of the nearby thicket, slumping against a tree as his body began to give out.

"Dammit! How the hell did he use a second-order hyperresonance?!" He looked down to his arm to see it began to flicker into transparency. "Just my luck... I need to get out of here so these new fonons can assimilate."

Sync attempted to get up, but his limbs were not yet ready for the task. Begrudgingly, he accepted the need to rest. "I should be fine anyway. There's no way he's going to live past this."

--------

Luke trembled in horror at the sight of Asch. He rushed over to him and flipped him over onto his back. "Asch!"

Asch slowly opened his eyes. As he recognized the voice, he weakly spoke to Luke. "Replica...? Heh... I guess I had a little trouble once more. It seems you're the only one that can have the right to destroy Van..."

Luke angrily shook his head as tears welled up in his eyes. "You idiot! Don't say things like that! You promised me before that you'd come back, you're not breaking that promise now!"

Twilight and the others rushed into the clearing. Each of them gasped in horror when they saw Asch's wounds.

Twilight managed to regain control over her voice, and addressed Luke. "Luke... a-are you going to be alright?"

Luke quickly spun his head to look at Twilight. His eyes were now pleading. "Twilight, please! You have to help him!"

Twilight lowered her ears in sadness when she saw the look in Luke's eyes. "I'm sorry Luke... we don't have the medical supplies to help him... and besides... he's too far gone."

Luke began frantically searching his mind for a solution. There was now way any of the gel's he had could help Asch, and Life Bottles can't treat wounds this grievous. "If only Tear were here... She could probably help him with a fonic hymn..."

That's when the idea struck him. It was a long shot, but it was the best chance of saving Asch. "Twilight, use your magic to heal him."

Twilight was flabbergasted at the suggestion. "Are you nuts?! Healing spells are some of the most intricate and delicate magics there are! If I mess up-"

"It's not like he's going to get any worse! Please Twilight, you have to try!"

Twilight was now backed into a corner. It wasn't Asch she was concerned about. If the healing spell was performed incorrectly, it could cause a magic feedback that could give her an aneurism, and that was the best case scenario. She looked again at Luke, and felt the need to at least try.

"*Sigh* Here goes... well, everything."

Twilight's horn began to glow furiously with energy as she attempted to heal Asch's mortal wound. A violet aura began to focus itself around Asch's wound, slowly healing it from the outer radius into the center.

Luke became exhilarated the progress. "It's working! Just a little more, Twilight!"

Twilight's hooves began to dig into the dirt from the strain of her magic. With a final grunt, she forced the last of her magic energy into the spell. There was a bright flash, and when the light subsided, Asch's wound was closed completely.

*Thump*

Twilight fell to the ground limp and her friends rushed over to make sure she was okay.

"Darling are you alright??" Rarity asked as she tried to rouse her with her own magic.

Fluttershy quickly felt at her front right leg for a pulse. "She's still breathing and her pulse is fine. She must have just passed out from exhaustion."

Applejack sighed with relief. "That sure as sunshine makes me feel better. For a second there, Ah thought she might've kicked the bucket."

Asch slowly began to regain his senses. "What the... How am I...?"

"You can thank Twilight for that. Are you alright to move?"

Asch slowly attempted to lift himself. He grunted in pain and returned to his position laying down. "The wound's closed, but there's still some pain. Do you have any gel's on you?"

Luke shuffled through his belongings and produced a small red gummy medicine. "This apple gel should do the trick."

Asch gladly took the gelatinous medicine, and ingested it, sending a soothing sensation across his body. Asch looked past Luke and noticed that the pink pony of the group had a disgusted look on her face. "What's with you?" He asked.

Pinkie Pie ceased her facial contortions and answered Asch. "It's just that I really hate gels. I mean, they taste so bland, and I'd rather have ponies enjoying my cooking."

"A-Aschy...?"

The entire group turned to see the disbelieving face of Derpy Hooves. Seeing that Asch was alive and well, Derpy sprinted forward and tackled him in a hug before he could protest. "Aschy! I *sniff* I'm so glad you're alright!"

Asch's cheeks flushed as he felt the eyes of the group on him. "I-it was nothing! I... wouldn't have had to do it anyway if you had just ran from him."

Luke rolled his eyes at how Asch was so quickly drawn back to his usual attitude. But then Asch followed up with these words. "I'm glad you're alright too. It would have been terrible for your daughter to have become an orphan."

While Luke wanted to know what could make Asch act so openly compassionate, he had to see how Twilight was doing. "How's she doing Fluttershy?"

The cream pegasus gave a comforting smile to Luke. "She's just resting right now; you don't have to worry about a thing."

Luke sighed with relief, but suddenly reeled back in pain when Twilight sprung up and accidentally headbutted him.

"What happened?! Is my horn still here?!" She paused and took notice of Luke clutching his forehead in pain. "Oh no! Did I give him a hemorrhage?! Somepony tell me what-"

Twilight was silenced when a white hoof was stuffed into her mouth. "Darling, everything is just fine. As for Luke... you may have injured him when you sprung up like that." Rarity explained.

"OhmygoshI'msorry!"

Luke sat up while rubbing his temples. "It's fine. Thanks again for helping Asch." Luke then turned to face his original. "By the way, what was that power I felt? It was like a-"

"Second-order hyperresonance?" Asch finished. "I'm still a little surprised myself. I just remember wanting to save Derpy and-"

*Snap*

The splitting of a nearby twig caught the attention of the group. In the thicket on the other side of the clearing, a boy clad in white could be seen stumbling away.

Asch rose up furiously. "That bastard is still alive?! He won't escape me!"

Luke tried to talk him out of it. "Asch wait-"

"Not a chance!"

Rainbow Dash clopped her hooves together in anticipation. "I'm with you! No way am I letting one of these creeps slip through my hooves again!"

The duo sprinted off to chase the injured God-General, while the others called out, but were forced to give chase as well.

Comments

[Genis94]

New chapter is shorter than I hoped, but I promise the next will answer most of your questions.

[Dirty Bit]

Alrighty then. Another good chapter!

[read all the stories]

What if I don't have questions? wait a minute that's a question. Never mind.