Honor Above All Else

by Honored Service

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Honor Above All Else
Chapter 15
By Honored Service

I gulped and backed away slowly from the screaming living Nightmare, my rifle shaking in my grasp. The shadow demon leapt straight for me, howling its terrifying scream.

BANG

The rifle barked and the bullet punched right through its shadowy head. The body collapsed to the ground in a puff of smoke as it hit the dirty ash covered pavement. I turned around and fired half a magazine into the advancing ground of similar horrifying creatures.

A strange gurgling sound came from behind me. I turned my head and watched as the body of the previously headless shadow monster stood up and the gaping hole through its head filled in with shadows that seemed to be pulled from the walls and street.

“My God.” I whispered. I saw that the same thing was happening to the fallen Nightmares from the large group on the other end of the street. I faced the solitary Nightmare and charged the short distance, planning on smacking it down with the rifle.

Throwing the butt of the M16A2 forward I slammed it against the shadow’s head. I felt it make contact and the Nightmare fell backwards onto the street. I planted a foot on its chest and aimed the rifle at its body. I pulled the trigger until the magazine ran dry. I stood panting over the body as smoke slowly poured from end of the barrel. Thick sludge like black smoke spilled out of the bullet riddled chest cavity of the fallen Nightmare.

“And stay down you son of a bitch.”

Just run. You can’t fight this.

“What do you mean?” I heard the gurgling again and looked down to watch as shadows were once again pulled from the surrounding area like a liquid into the wounds on the Nightmare below my boot. No sooner had it finished re-growing itself did a long claw made of darkness shoot out from one of its arms with a sickening bone snapping crack.

“Sweet mother of God.” I jumped backwards as the Nightmare swung at me ripping a long gash through my duster. I reached down and pulled out another magazine from my chest rig and put the empty one in the satchel. “Nightmare, how do I stop them!” I screamed while firing a trio of bullets into the head of an approaching shadow Nightmare.

Honored you can’t stop them. The darkness of the city fuels them. The dead fuel them. Everything here fuels them and keeps them going.

“Then we better just run like hell!” I yelled over the constant stream of bullets pouring from my rifle. The Nightmares seemed to be swarming from every crevice in the city. I would turn down an empty street, to only watch in horror as Nightmare Shadows would form out of nothingness in front of me. Bullets only slowed them down. Punches and kicks just broke their step. And I noticed that every time I hit one of them, they would change into a more advanced horrifying creature.

I let the rifle fall to my side off its sling and I pulled out the gold and ruby sword. Maybe an enchanted lightning blade is what this situation called for. I jumped into the air, over a collapsed side of a building and came down swinging the blade through the air, cutting a Nightmare from head to midsection. It stood staring at me for a moment, before falling apart, it’s to halves sliding apart.

“Oh daddy, this just… got… fuck.” The two halves slowly morphed in front of me. Each half grew another pair of legs from the cut side of the body so that this new creature from hell, crawled along the ground on four legs like some ungodly kind of spider thing.

Honored you must listen to me. They will kill you so they can get me. Don’t you get it? I'm the head of the Nightmare. Without me, these creatures will stay in the city because they have no knowledge of the outside world. But I do. That’s why I left, to gain information on the outside world to come back here and lead the Nightmare to feed.

I ran down another alleyway and cut across a street. I was nearing the heart of the ancient city. The ruins were more crumbled, more destroyed. And there was certainly more Nightmares everywhere. “Wait. You knew this would happen!” I screamed as another Nightmare lashed out at me with claws the size of a broadsword.

… I didn't

“You son of a bitch! This was your plan all along wasn’t it? To get me here so that you could be the head of this… this… fucking nightmare!” I turned a corner and ducked under a collapsed lamppost as a Nightmare landed behind me. I turned and swiftly decapitated it, sending its head into the air where it dissolved into a black mist.

Yes. I mean no. Not at first. What I mean was that yes, at first that was the plan. Use your body as a host and a central platform to control the Nightmare from. Your power and weapons would be devastating at the head of a Nightmare army. But then we began going on all the adventures together. And you shared your body with me, not because you had too, but because you wanted me too. So I forgot about my plan, and you came here all on your own. I never meant for you to reach here.

“I wish I could believe you, but you'll excuse me since I'm fighting for my life!” I vaulted over another pile of rubble as the sound footsteps increased from behind. Turning my head confirmed the worst. A heard, no swarms, of Nightmares were pursuing me through the heart of Hum-gia. “God why won’t they quit!”

They won’t. Not until they have me.

“Well they aren't going to get you I'm afraid.” I smirked as I dropped the hilt of the sword into a Nightmare’s skull and slashed its chest open, sending it rearing backwards into a building.

Look, if I remember the layout of this city, which I hardly do, I may know of a quicker way out. There is a series of water ways throughout the city that lead into a river. Or well there used to be a river. We find those water ways, and then we can eliminate this weaving through the streets nonsense.

“Alright. Tell me where to go.” I yanked my sword out of another Nightmare as the smoke began to spill out onto the street and collect into another form. The electric sparks from the enchanted blade seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the Nightmares. But then again, nothing in my arsenal was.

Stop.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around. I was in the middle of an intersection. I could hear the approaching Nightmares closing in from all sides. Their terrifying howling and screeching. It felt as if someone was raking the inside of my skull with rusty nails.

Down.

I looked down and saw I was standing on a man cover leading into the sewers.

“No.”

It will be quicker than weaving through these Nightmares infected streets.

“Fuck everything about this place.” I slowly moved the heavy slab of steel over with a rusty screech. I peered into the pitch black depths below me. I flicked the switch on my rifle flash light and held the weapon out in front of me. “Well here we go.” I climbed onto the old ladder and lowered myself below the surface of the street, stopping on the fourth rung to pull the metal cover back over the entrance. It fell into place with a heavy thud. Darkness surrounded me. The small flashlight slicing through the darkness of the sewers.

Okay now head down this section and take a… right? Or was it a left?

“Nightmare, this is one of those times is need you to be positive about this choice. It could mean life or – “

A loud scream ripped through the sewer system. I dropped to one knee and scanned the area with my rifle. I checked behind me to make sure that the sewer cover was still in place, which it was, and counted my sic o’clock clear. I slowly turned around and sighed for the billionth time that night.

From the dark murky water in the center of the sewer, I could see the water rippling with dark shapes. And it certainly wasn’t shit. But I was about to be in deep shit.

Humanoid like shapes began to float to the surface of the water and struggle to the edges of the sewer banks. The Nightmares slowly pulled themselves up onto the walk way where I was still crouched and began to charge at me. I aimed the rifle and stood up. “Getting real tired of this shit!”

BANG BANG BANG

The gunshots echoed through the sewers as I ran down the slimy walkways, dropping Nightmare after Nightmare back into the filthy water. My mind was running on auto pilot attempting to kill the Nightmares. Fire ninety round with the rifle. Load the magazines while running. Take out swords. Slice and Dice for a few minutes while running. Switch back to rifle when the crowds got to thick. Repeat.
Nightmare, my good Nightmare, would feed me directions as I ran, trying to maneuver me out of this hell. I was moving faster, but that was only because if I stopped for more than a few seconds, I would be swarmed with Nightmares pouring out of the water.

There! Through this section leads to the underground reservoir, that empties out into the river.

“Thank Christ!” I said while flipping the rifle into the air and catching the hot barrel in my right hand and swinging it to my side, knocking a Nightmare into the water. I flipped back up and caught the grip and ejected the empty mag, slamming another one home. “Let’s get the hell out of this nightmare.”

Even near death, still cracking jokes.

“Trying to find the silver lining here.” Roars sounded out from behind me and shock the entire sewer system “And I'm having a hard time finding it.”

I dashed forward down the reaming section of the sewer to a rusty grate. On the other side of the grate was a hundred foot drop to a huge pool of water with an exit pouring out into a dark tunnel system. Like a water park slide from hell.

Well that’s the exit. Just jump and we’ll be home free. Hopefully.

“Not liking the lack of confidence.” I jerked the diamond sword from its scabbard and slice through the old metal with ease. I peered down the longggggggg drop to the murky water below. After watching the Nightmares climb out of the water, I don’t know if I wanted to try and jump into it. “You know, the street is still an option.”

I turned and my jaw dropped as a horde, at least seventy strong, was coming straight at me from the end of the sewer.

“Okay motivation found, let’s do this.”

I took a deep breath and tucked away the sword and shouldered the rifle. I took a few steps back and ran forward and hurdled myself of the edge. I plummeted straight down. A flash back from Canterlot flashed through my mind as I dropped like a rock to the water’s surface below. Oh shit the water.

I opened my eyes as the air streaked by me, causing me to tear up; I held the rifle at my side and pointed the barrel at the water. I pulled the trigger and watched as the water’s surface went from calm, to choppy and rough from the impact of the explosive magic rounds. The rifle dropped and hung behind me by its sling as I dove into the water. It stung.

A lot.

The impact defiantly caused some pain in my head, neck, shoulders… hell my entire body felt like I had just been run over by a damn freight train. I surfaced and gulped in deep lungful’s of air.

“Worst idea yet.”

We are alive, are we not?

“True.”

But we still have to go over that waterfall –

"FOR FUCK’S SAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

*********************************************************************

“Wow, the Nightmare still lives?” Princess Celestia seemed to become even whiter as the human retold his accounts from the lost city of Hum-gia.

“Well, it was a problem, but it should be.” Honored smiled with confidence. “The Nightmare is restricted to the city since the head Nightmare is still in my head. It has no way of knowing how to maneuver outside the darkness of that city.”

“As long as you are so sure Honored.” Princess Celestia said, seeming to calm down a bit.

“Just knowing it couldn’t have followed you is great news to us.” Princess Luna smiled warmly at the good news. The old nightmare was bad, but this new Nightmare that took over the remains of Hum-gia sounded downright horrifyingly evil beyond any villain the city has seen yet.

A very cold shiver ran down the humans back as he continued his story.

**************************************************************************

I struggled to the bank of the river, swimming slowly, but more relying on the current to wash me up on the shore. The moonlight shown all around me, illuminating the edge of the desert with a dim glow, as I pulled myself onto the bank coughing and gasping for air.

Well at least we are out of that.

“Nightmare, I think I need a new strategy.”

What do you mean Honored? We got out alive, and we should be closer to Canterlot!

“I couldn’t win. Those things, those Nightmares nearly beat me. I couldn’t kill them. I couldn’t stop them. What if they attack again? How would I protect anypony if I can’t stop them?”

Honored, maybe you just need to accept that there are some things in this world that are beyond you in power. But not good power like you have, but a power so evil that it just overwhelms the good.

I stood up on shaky legs and shook myself. I cracked my joints and inspected my weapon. My clean M16 was not scratched and dinged, more rugged looking, more me. “There has to be a way to beat them. Some strategy, some weapon that works. Something that can break the darkness.”

I walked back towards the waterfall that poured out of the hill side far above me. I swore I could still hear the screeching of the Nightmares above, and I was hoping I could.

“HEY DOWN HERE FUCKNUTS!” I screamed as loud as I could over the roaring water. No sooner had the words left my mouth, then one lonely Nightmare crept out of the water coming right at me. Time to experiment. With weapons.

I burned through an entire magazine for the rifle to no effect anywhere on the Nightmare’s body. So I just assumed that the pistol wouldn’t work either, and I didn’t feel like wasting any of the few bullets left for the Berretta. Bad Bertha proved to just hack of limbs, which grew back. And finally both swords failed. The Nightmare, just regrew itself from the surrounding darkness. Nothing could stop this monstrosity from hell.

“What the fuck!” I said while slicing the Nightmare with an uppercut from Zappy. The lighting enchanted blade proved to knock the Nightmare down for a bit longer, but nothing permanent. i was about to give up, when an idea raced through my mind.

“Oh man.”

What?

“Fucking Ideaaaaaaaa!” I sheathed Zappy and took out the diamond sword. Griping the handle tight, I let my Nightmare’s green and black fire course itself through my arm and along the blade. Within seconds, I had a shiny blue, green, and black fire weapon spinning and twirling in my hand. “Oh I like. How’d it take this long to try this.”

I walked up to the Nightmare as it prepared for another attack at me. I lifted the sword above my head and brought it down hard on the Nightmare’s head.

BOOM

I was flung backwards from an earth-shattering explosion that sent me flying. I blinked and looked back at the spot where I struck the Nightmare. Instead of a shadowy human re-growing itself, I saw nothing but a puddle of black goo, bubbling on the ground.

“Well shit.”

That was…

“I know what that was.” I smirked and looked back to the ancient city on the hill.

“That was the beginning of round two.” I began marching towards the city entrance that I had stumbled upon earlier. Nightmare, prepare to meet Honored Service, the new Human Protector.

This time, no darkness would be left for the Nightmare to hide end. It may have taken three thousand years, but a human will finish what they started.

Comments

[TheRealRainbowBrony]

"Through the Forest and the Flames"... I see what you did there
Dragonforce FTW!
Interesting story btw, tracking!

[reader238]

oh yeah time to kick more arse

[FenrisianBrony]

I swear he didn't have much ammo left. How did he manage to fire off over 90 rounds?
P.S. If I missed something where he got more rounds then I suck.

[Aru]

1503963 Handy-Tail monkey-cat thingy managed to make more bullets for rifle ;)

Aaaand...nice chapter. Can't wait for next one.

[FenrisianBrony]

Thanks Aru. I knew it would probably be me being retarded as always rather than the story.

[Honored Service]

1503963
ahuizotl found a way to make more when Honored lost his rifle to the nasty villain.

[High_Wind]

"Now we just have to go over that waterfall."

nerverush.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Red-Bull-Stratos-Jump.gif

[DezzarTac]

google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1600&bih=764&tbm=isch&tbnid=Qmimrt2Bqg-SSM:&imgrefurl=http://hobbyatallcosts.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html&docid=wMFT0Hvs-JURaM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QBoMLH6EvAY/TliCTVd9FgI/AAAAAAAAARk/m1XoRzXzIpg/s1600/5353.awww%252Byeah.jpg&w=640&h=400&ei=r6WJULCdIefy0gGO_YCoAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=189&vpy=160&dur=165&hovh=177&hovw=284&tx=121&ty=100&sig=111752555973024180080&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=221&start=0&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72

[The Questioner]

Hm. Not a bad chapter. Spelling and grammar could use a lot of brushing up (particularly "too/to" and commas/apostrophes), but it wasn't too big of a deal. The fire thingy seems a bit contrived, but I suppose it's plausible enough.
I now am going to rip off a hilarious YouTube comment.

"Sir, we are surrounded!"
"Great, we can attack in any direction!"

--WingGamers.

Oh, and this.

That's what I was thinking when I heard the words "Just jump."
TSFH is FREAKING AMAZING. Oh, and it seems that we now have TWO embedded YouTube videos! That's close to the most I've ever seen!

~InfinityXanadu

[dakingofmuffins]

i think you should update every day this story is to FUCKING GOOD!!!

[Necrobarney]

I was like then I was like then I was like

[Arlan753]

Trying to destroy tousands of ethereal creatures with close range weapon that makes targets explode...
Genious...

[AggroViking]

fight fire with fire

[Omava]

Just thinking out loud here, and I know i should have noted this in the first chapter, but since honoured is still alive does he get to keep his holiday?

[Scarves]

I finish reading the first one and I suddenly come across this cliffhanger?!
I would say this is a good story. As well as the first. First one was awesome!
And I think this could use some more dragons. I mean, where is Spike?

[XxX_ArCt1c-S3RB_420XxX]

1544036 Somewhere under johnsons coat holstered and ready to serve.

[Genesis1212]

bring it nightmares!

[damnaion]

dam i love it

[DJ_Arashi_Rora]

I know this story is labeled finished but...

This time, no darkness would be left for the Nightmare to hide end. It may have taken three thousand years, but a human will finish what they started.

It was eleven thousands years