Embrace of Light and Dark

by Knight of Crows

Chapter 9 part 3

Nevermore (Raven) POV

All eyes are on Cassiel right now, none of them understanding what he just did in the least. Yes what he did to Spoiled was an act of mercy (mercy she didn't deserve), to set her heart free was the last thing I would have done. To think he has already learned to do so is astonishing. Normally it takes months to learn to do so, but for him it was only a few days, then again he has already learned fire and lightning so this shouldn't be nearly as surprising as it is. Unfortunately for him though he likely has a murder charge now, thankfully the keyblades have certain rules that make him innocent or at least less guilty.

Time to see about damage control. That Darkside doesn't sound like a bad idea now.

---

Cassiel POV

That was satisfying I thought as I watched Spoiled's heart rise and then disappear. I turned to walk back outside to get another assessment of the Heartless situation, but I was surrounded by guards pointing their weapons at me now.

"Cassiel, do you have any idea what you've just done?" Celestia asked, gripping her own halberd tighter.

"I granted her a kindness she didn't deserve, I set her heart free." She and Luna took a combat stance.

"Kindness??? What part of that was an act of kindness??? You just murdered a pony, you know what that means right?" Luna asked.

"You mean to tell me that an arrogant, greedy bitch like her spending 40-50 years in prison for second hand/ accessory to murder of her own daughter, surrounded by inmates who I guarantee you would do everything they could to make her regret being born is better than what I did?" I asked.

"Even so you still murdered her, we will have to place you under arrest." She said.

"As I said I set her heart free, there are no laws against that. To say I killed her would mean I severed all ties she had to this world and forced her into the after life. Think of it like when you release the souls a necromancer intended to use, but instead of an orb or something they are released from a living being. If someone would open their heart to her she could find refuge in them, but she would try to take over that person's body." 2 of the guards looked hesitant, but the rest along with the princesses looked a little more pissed off.

"Even if you didn't kill her you still obstructed law enforcement when they arrested her." Celestia said.

"You just restrained her, you never said she was under arrest for what reasons nor did you follow any other protocols when arresting someone. Putting someone in chains is not arresting them, it's simply putting them in chains. The reality of the situation is I didn't kill a child murderer, I set the heart of one free. Justice was served, and the victim can rest in peace. Everyone lives happily ever after now that the world has 1 less child killer leeching off of everyone."

A few more guards showed signs of a weakened resolve. It seems even they are questioning the legality of the situation when they think about the logic behind my words. The princesses did the same for a few moments before steeling themselves to finish our little argument.

"Enough! You are coming with us and that's final!" Celestia said, rallying the guards once more.

"So you're either done discussing whether or not I've broken any laws or you're taking the stupid and easy way out. It will only end poorly for you, I can promise you that."

"Is that a threat??!!" Luna asked. I shook my head.

"To say it's a threat would imply I said I was going to do something which I did not. I'm talking about the Heartless and the guarantee of defeat if you do go through with your poor judgement." Take the bait.

"What do they have to do with this?" She asked.

"The keyblade is the only weapon truly capable of killing Heartless. You kill an emblem Heartless and it disappears, I kill one and a heart floats away. What I am saying is if I kill a Heartless I end it's existence, when you kill one it returns to the Realm of Darkness and finds it's way back in this world." A look of realization dawned on everyones faces.

"So... What you're saying-" Celestia started.

"For all you know you've killed the same exact shadow or soldier over and over again. You get one life, they have infinite lives unless killed by a keyblade, they can keep losing again and again with victory always in sight, you're defeat is inevitable. They don't need to kill you right off the bat, the just need to outlast you, then they can finish you when you're no longer capable of fighting." I'm actually enjoying this.

"The law must still be upheld and you must still pay for your crimes." She stubbornly said.

"We've been over this, I haven't broken any laws whether it be because of a technicality or because I was within my legal rights to act as I did. Do you honestly intend to throw away your only chance of survival simply because someone sped up the verdict? Even if I didn't 'kill' her as you say she would have been killed or committed suicide after being starved, beaten, and raped so many times. You mean to tell me THAT is justice, but not what I did? Face it, I'm right, you're wrong, end of story, goodbye!" You're losing this, I hope you know that.

---

Nevermore (Raven) POV

He's holding his own quite well actually. He doesn't seem worried in the least about any consequences or lack thereof, almost as if he wanted this to happen. Judging by the lack of response to his defense I believe he has won this, still for good measure I'm going to bring in that Darkside now. Let's see how he handles himself against one of the larger Heartless while fighting off the shadows it spawns.

Reaching out into the Realm of Darkness I grabbed an odd looking one, a rare type of Darkside with red eyes, the emblem in place of that hole in their torso, large wings, and darkness seeping off of it's arms. There aren't too many differences between this one and the others aside from aggression and power, but I'm confident he can handle the emblem version and if not he'll have help on standby. The skies grew darker as the wind knocked a few signs over and a loud roar was heard by all present. Cassiel walked past the princesses to investigate and walking through a massive Dark Corridor was the Darkside.

"What is that thing?" Luna asked fearfully.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing we pissed it off when we killed it's kids." Cassiel said casually.

"Those things before were it's offspring???" Celestia nearly shouted.

"It's spawning more shadows as we speak. See it's hand planted into the ground? More shadows are rising from the surrounding Darkness." He pointed out. Hopelessness quickly found it's way onto everypony's faces, but he simply walked forward and summoned Nightfall.

"What are you doing? You can't beat that thing!" I said trying to play the part.

"Try me." Was all he said as he continued towards the threat.

Only 6 shadows were spawned, he made short work of those with an explosive fireball and a few swings from his keyblades. I've never seen one of these Darksides in action so not even I know fully of what they're capable of. It swung down with it's arm, but Cassiel stepped to the side and kept hitting it. He's attacking it wrong, but he should be able to figure out it's head is where it's most vulnerable. It pulled it's arm back snd swiped across with it's other arm, Cassiel had to use a close range fireball to get out of the way, but I can tell that hurt as he had slight difficulty getting back up.

He chose to keep his distance and wait for opportunities to attack. The Darkside stuck out it's chest as it started firing dark orbs into the sky while adding more power to them by channeling the Darkness from it's arms into the orbs. Not wanting to see what happens next Cassiel kept shooting fire and lightning at it's head and the orbs, though he only kept dispersing the Darkness making up it's body a little. If he realizes he can send those orbs back at the Darkside he will have a much easier time. The orbs were launched one by one, each spawning a few shadows after Cassiel barely dodged them.

Cassiel tried to fire a spell, but nothing happened, I'm surprised he had that much magic in him. When a shadow leaped at him it hit his mask and knocked him down, he barely had enough time to get up and escape their attempt to pin him to the ground. As he was fighting them off the Darkside swiped across, killing the shadows and knocking him a good 30 feet away into a wall. As he was struggling to stand back up he pulled out a vial with a green liquid in it. Not remembering giving him a second one I looked at my belt and saw I only had one left, I couldn't help but smile at that.

After enduring it's taste the Darkside planted it's hand into the ground again and started spawning more shadows. He channeled lightning into Nightfall and planted it into the ground near the hand, but lightning was still on it even after he let go. Shadows started rising and were quickly disposed of by lightning, he turned his keyblade into a lightning rod! He climbed up it's arm to strike it's head, adding fire to it every now and then. The Darkside now showing signs of weakness he recalled Nightfall and continued his assault now adding lightning to his strikes. When the Darkside looked ready to fall over he channeled all the fire and lightning he could into his keyblades and plunged them as deep as he could into it's eyes. The Darkside finally fell over and faded away, a heart much larger than the others seen today rising from where it stood. Even I was left speechless as this fight finally ended, the others just stared ahead trying to make sense of what just happened.

Cassiel suffered a hard landing and laid flat on his back, though no bones should be broken he should still be examined by a doctor. Today has proven one thing...

I'm going to have a new student, and perhaps in a few years Darkness may have a new king.

Comments

[Tempest_Flare]

please let Cassiel talk to Nevermore/Raven and tell her that he's glad she didn't force him to meet her in his dreams and that she at least is also on the front lines instead of hiding in a immaterial realm like Faust.

[Knight of Crows]

9408096
Don't worry, they'll get along just fine.

[Fluffy-Boi]

Wow. The Royal sisters are not my fave in this. The Human asshole is. Cuz he is right. He did not kill her. He released her heart.

[BioQuillFiction]

Neat

[everydaygamer]

I mean murder is murder no matter how you argue it and either the rules matter all the time or they don't matter at all.