> Undead Raiser
>  by Reizthefakebrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Epitaph to a Virus (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The harmony that kept Equestria serene and untainted was brought to a very abrupt end by an accident. A horrible accident that was brought by a good intention.

A secret group of seven ponies, self proclaimed as the Holy Pillar, traveled across the land to find the most rare and yet despicable book of Dark Magic, including an infamous one featuring a very horrific type of necromancy called Helknut. They made the right choice to take it far away from prying eyes and burn it along with the other books through their magic. That looked easy.

But that good act backfired at them as the books' magic was released and fused itself with the dark magic of the other books and the book's ashes altogether. That fusion unleashed a pestilent aura that engulfed a huge part of the land, turning the ponies in the area into seemingly mindless, undead creatures. In other words, you guessed, zombies.

The plague was eventually named as Necromyth. The plague spread rapidly in the ark of three days due to the infected ponies continuing it's job. Higher places like Canterlot were untouched... At least for now.

Unlike most of the paranoid stories about zombies, this plague turns it's victims into not one, but three different type of zombies, depending of the circumstances. The most common ones, the Lessers, are the typical blind, mindless flesh eaters, except that they were slightly faster and can rely on predatory instincts. They tended to revel than their victim's flesh tasted like that of their own former foods.

They looked bad enough, until the Flailers showed up. And then they were eventually followed by the lethal ones, being the third type. They were an rare example, being a result born by a medic's attempt to create a vaccine against the plague that went horribly wrong. They were sentient and dangerous and only the luckiest ponies lived to tell the horrible story.

As somepony can guess, everything below Canterlot and others had gone downhill, with any type of chaos imaginable, and non, devastating the land. Even the Princesses' magic could do nothing against it. Everything was almost doomed from there.

But then someone emerged from this chaos, being something far worse than the Necromyth itself...
> Cloudsdale Infestation (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With her consciousness slowly reconnecting with her brain, Rainbow opened her eyes. Her face being almost vacant. As her vision was slowly adjusting itself, she felt something soft under her head. She looked around to get a hint about her surrounding. It didn't took her much time to realize herself being in a hospital bed. Wondering how did she got there, Rainbow took her time to recall what happened..

She was with the other elements when that happened, except for Twilight who wasn't with them due to her having to assist Celestia in some magical issue. They were returning from Canterlot, headed toward Ponyville, unaware of the pandemonium that was occurring in their now destroyed town. The Castle of Friendship was initially their own safe place, but that lasted for one day. Knowing that they couldn't resist any longer, Rainbow volunteered to act as a bait to lure the zombies far away from there, allowing them to escape. That plan worked, except that Rainbow was then injured in her wings during the escape, making her fall in a pit. She hits her head on a rock and slowly passed out for the physical trauma. But not before having seen a faint unicorn figure approaching her.

Even now Rainbow was wondering who could that unicorn be, and why he was in the pit in the first places. As she was trying to find sense on him, her pondering was then interrupted by a rose pony with a yellow mane entering the room. Rainbow know who she is.

"M-Meadow Flower?" Rainbow said, dazed.

"Oh, goodness," Meadow replied, half relieved. "You were sleeping for about three days"

"D-days?" Rainbow demanded incredulous.

"Rainbow, let me cut the chase for you. You are currently in Cloudsdale Hospital."

Rainbow's eyes instantly widened as she rose up from her bed. "Cloudsdale You- Argh!"

A dull, throbbing pain suddenly struck her head and back during her attempt. Meadow promptly put her hoof on to held her down.

"Don't force yourself," Meadow soothed her. "You better rest. We have bandaged your head to prevent any bleeding and blocked your wings with them."

Still confused, Rainbow looked around the room and then out of the door. Everything was almost silent and one medic passed nearby the room. It seemed to be ok but after what she had gone through in the past three days, one question wormed through her head.

"Is this place... Safe?"  Rainbow asked.

"Rainbow, you don't have to worry," Meadow replied. "Cloudsdale, along with other cities located at very high heights, were untouched by that plague."

"You are not kidding me, right?"

"Trust me, the entire city is safe thanks to a barrier that Celestia provided to us. That blocked the entrance that prevent undead pegasi to enter."

"How did I got here?"

"A unicorn found you and brought you to Spitfire's group during the rescue of the civilians. Is kind of a miracle that you managed to survive this plague."

Rainbow went wide-eyed upon hearing that part. "He save me..."

"He's... A very odd type." Meadow rolled her eyes. "Besides, there are some good news for us. A group of research ponies under the guide of Celestia managed to develop a vaccine to cure anypony and immunize us from the plague."

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked, almost hopeful.

"Spitfire, Fleetfoot and the others told us that when they had returned. They were previously vaccinated and went to rescue the other sane ponies and carry them to the safe cities, including this one."

"That means that we could still save the infected ones?"

"Maybe..." Meadow responded unsure of that. "We never tested the formula on the others before."

"By the way, did you know anything about Twilight and the others?"

"I'm sorry. We don't know what happened to them."

Hearing that new, Rainbow looked away with a crestfallen visage. Once again, was at the starting point. Unable to fly and stuck in the limbo of uncertainty about her friends' whereabouts.

"I see." Rainbow murmured.

"Well, is time for me to reach Spitfire and I have some much work to do. See you later," Meadow wavered her hoof at Rainbow and went out of the door.

A half of an hour passed. Rainbow remained motionless, staring at the ceiling. Her mind raced for a bit, from hoping that they were alive to fearing that they had succumbed to the pestilence. A thought that she shrugged off and dismissed it as stupid. There's now way they would had fall for that. That certainty, however, didn't help her to mitigate that sense of insecurity about their safety. Being unable to fly and her injures frustrated her to no end. So, of course a little outburst cannot be avoided.

"That sucks!" Rainbow slammed her hoof on the bed. "Being stuck here and kept in the dark is infuriating! Why I have even-" She stopped her sentence and let out a distressed sight, calming down a little bit. "Complaining will get me to nowhere. But what I'm supposed to do?" Her eyes slowly closed by themselves. "I guess that I have to remain in this silent place for while."

Rainbow was about to close her eyes, but then she reopened her eyes upon realizing something. In these minutes spent into pondering about her friends' situation, she didn't heard any sound or any voice except the ones coming for the outside. Everything is too quiet and there's nopony that passed nearby her room or even bothered to check up the other rooms.

"Why I'm starting to think that Meadow's didn't told me all of the truth?" Rainbow asked to herself.

Rainbow slowly got up from her bed, ignoring the pain that is partially vexing her head. She firstly headed toward the window, only to find a dark-gray, clouded sky and the streets being almost empty. She then went out of the room and glanced at both the sides of the hall. There's no sign or any living soul in her sight.

This until a female scream echoed through the stairs. That startled Rainbow, but most scarier than the scream itself was the possible implication of that. Not wanting to believe that, she reluctantly walked her way to the stairs and went down two floors, until she heard horrible sound of something being ripped and chewed up. Rainbow stopped at the corridor where the sound where more audible and found something that she didn't wanted to see.

Two zombie ponies were feeding on a helpless nurse. She was far gone, but that didn't mattered to the mindless creatures that where gorging themselves with the pieces of her flesh. Rainbow was far too horrified and stuck in denial to even react. That reaction was then followed by instant nausea. She took a few steps away from them. Unfortunately, the two zombies acknowledged her existence and slowly headed toward her, with bloodstained, voracious mouths.

They were going to pounce when a something invisible pierced both of their heads, killing them instantly as portion of their rotten gray matter gushed out of their skulls. That gave her a sense of deja vu that, combined with the gruesome scene that she just saw, aggravated her nausea even further. Rainbow promptly galloped toward the empty, metallic recycle bin next to her and vomited inside of it. It took a few seconds for her to recover, mentally.

"You know, you could at least have the courtesy to run away instead of remain still." A stern voice coming from a patient room said, getting Rainbow's attention.

That being said, somepony, being a unicorn went out the room with a disquieting stern look. He has black mane and tail, and silver coat. His face was paradoxically in between being a younger one and a elder one. His eyes were blue, with the right one being fully covered by a red runic symbol, which instantly caught Rainbow's attention. She stared at her with a creeped out look, being almost at loss of words.

"You... You are the one who rescued me, right?" Rainbow stammered.

"We have no time for that," Moon replied impassive. "I suggest you to follow me, If you want to see your friends again."

"Hold on," Rainbow halted him. "I don't know who you are and you expect me to trust you?"

Their discussion was then interrupted by cacophony of screams and chilling groans and roars coming from the floor below them.

"Follow me or I will gladly die with the pleasure of letting you in the dark about Twilight and the others," The unicorn warned. "Your choice."

Hearing that, Rainbow felt like she was in a dead end, as if his words putted her judgement to test. Despite her mistrust toward the stranger, she was so eager to see Twilight and the others. She wasn't sure about his intentions but she couldn't even remain there waiting for the zombies to get her either.

"I guess I have no choice," Rainbow murmured before looking at him with mistrust. "You better not trick me about this."

"I have no reason for that and I wouldn't even waste my time for that." The unicorn replied sarcastic.

Rainbow and the unicorn went downstairs to the first floor and headed toward the hospital's exit. As they stepped in the hall, chilling groans and wails could be heard from some rooms and outside the exit in front of their sight. Such horrible melody was far aggravating for her psyche.

"How could this happening? Wasn't the barrier supposed to prevent them from entering in the city?" Rainbow demanded incredulous.

"Somepony brought a infected pony in the city after the retrieval, right when no one was looking," He said bluntly.

Rainbow's face contorted in horror, followed by a bit of anger. "No way... Who could had done this?"

"I suggest you to spare that for later," He said when slowly releasing her mouth. "Also, the name is Moon Shard if you ask. Now follow me."

They galloped toward the exit, not minding the zombies and other noises coming from the other rooms. As they were getting closer, something crashes through the wooden door and whizzed in between the two ponies. They recognized that being the corpse of male pegasi. As Rainbow was about to ask what happened, a disturbing roar coming from below caught their attention.

"WHOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"

They turned toward the one who emitted that sound, being a female zombie unicorn. Her exposed rib cage, a missing eye and her torn figure were already creepy. But the most disturbing and unusual thing that instantly caught her attention were her veins and arteries glowing like the bright of a wild fire. Her face filled with seething rage.

"What is that thing?," Rainbow said, disturbed upon seeing the raging creature. "And why she can use magic? How can-"

"It's a Flailer." Moon interrupted.

"A... What?" Rainbow looked puzzled at him.

Moon took his aim and glowed his horn as he was about to shoot something to he Flailer, who was rushing toward them. The undead unicorn instantly glowed her own and engulfed Moon into a gray aura, interrupting his charge and lifting him in mid-air before throwing his body toward Rainbow like a flail.

Rainbow instinctively dodged Moon, making him collide on the ground. A muted grunt was heard from him before being lifted once again. She felt really intimidated by the raging unicorn in front of her, reminding her all the times she risked her life during her escape from Ponyville and her fly in the woods.

Growing fed-up of being the prey, Rainbow glanced upon the metallic, empty cycle bin near to her and tossed it on the Flailer. "I have enough of ANY OF YOU!"

The object struck the creature in the head, making it losing it's focus. Moon was released from the magical grip and fell on the floor. Angered than before, the glowing zombie glared fiercely toward Rainbow and roared more fiercely as he glowed his horn.

Lured by ruckus of the Flailer's wreckage, the other zombies came out of the rooms and rushed toward the two still living ponies. Seeing this, the raging unicorn promptly took a first aid bed nearby her, quickly lifted above her and furiously flailed it on them, crushing all of them into a putrid bloody pulp repeatedly.

Rainbow was totally dumbfounded upon seeing the scene happening in front of her as the remaining zombies turned toward the Flailer and fought against her, with the latter having the upper hand on them. "Are they... Killing each other? What the hay is going on!?"

As the raging undead unicorn was too busy killing the other zombies with his magic, Moon took his time to recover a little bit and charged his horn toward it. He aimed at his horn and shoot a invisible projectile. When the magical bullet collided with it, the Flailer's skull was literally blown up in a magical explosion coming from his horn, pulverizing him and the other zombies. No traces of bones, blood and brain matter remained, except a few bits of what used to be part of the Flailer's body.

Moon slowly stood up, which made Rainbow questioning about his ability to endure such brutality. They took a look at the whole massacre that happened in that moment. Corpses reduced into pulp, the first-aid bed being twisted and bloodstained, the walls and the floor being tinted in blood and the crater being created by the explosion. Rainbow couldn't still believe that happened.

"This is insane. ," Rainbow commented in disgust. "Why they are killing each others?"

"For the most simplest reason: Us." Moon responded. "The normal zombies, the Lessers are no concern to a Flailer as long as they don't stand in between it and it's prey. The same thing goes for another Flailer and others."

"That doesn't explain why they can use magic. I had saw no unicorn zombie that could do that." Rainbow pointed out.

"The Flailers," Moon begun. "Are raging beasts that would use anything at their disposal to block their preys or even beating their bodies badly enough to make them unable to stand up if they make them furious. Including magic if they are unicorns.  The reason why they can use it is because they retained a little modicum of intelligence. They were born by the pestilence twisting their magic and using it against them during their failed attempt to heal their friends of themselves."

"Huh?"

"We have no time for other talk. Move." Moon commanded.

Putting the wake of the slaughter behind them, the two ponies walked toward the exit. As they stepped outside, they were met by a undead hell.

The Cloudsdale that was supposed to be untouched thanks to the barrier was fully infested. The ungodly sounds of the infected and the healthy's screams formed a involuntary and yet demented symphony. Not wanting to see the rest, the two galloped as fast a they can, dodging the zombies every step of the way and trying to avoid various unicorn Flailers. The healthy ponies being ripped apart was almost unavoidable, especially if some of the healthy were bloodily falling from the sky after being chewed up in mid-air, much to Rainbow's horror.

"Don't get distracted! Run!" Moon screamed to Rainbow, making her return to her path.

They continued their run among the whole chaos and the half crumbling cloud buildings. After some miles, the finally saw one of the Wonderbolt Academy's buildings being in front of them. Unexpected to Rainbow, Meadow Flower was waiting for them nearby the entrance.

"Meadow?" Rainbow said surprised.

"This way!" Meadow shouted.

They galloped as fast as they can, being chased by a horde of zombies in the distance, with only two Flailers being among them. Reaching the entrance, Rainbow, Moon and Meadow dashed inside the building. The entrance was immediately sealed by metallic doors, that closed it in a loud, echoing sound, that caused the three to close their ears. The sound was then slowly replaced by that of the zombies trying to break through the metallic structure but was all in vain.

The three ponies panted heavily, trying to regain their oxygen. For a moment, Rainbow thought that she wouldn't had make it since she wasn't used to run. However, that didn't mattered to her since she was still alive.

"I hope that I could return to fly. Seriously, I know that walk is important too but I'm not equally faster in that way... I'm a little tired already." Rainbow thought.

Rainbow and Meadow sighed in relief, with certainty that they were safe from the hellish mayhem that was occurring outside. Moon Shard, however, didn't looked so convinced.

"Just wait until you see the third type."
> What Madness Look Like (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still panting a little bit for the excruciating run she had gone through, Rainbow looked at every corner of the room. That place was very unfamiliar to her. Among the structures that composes the complex, that one was the only that she never visited during her first days as a Wonderbolt. The room was a empty, dark big hall that was almost long as half of the paved runway used for the training. The feeble light passed through the windows being almost close to the ceiling. Her attention was caught by the big red curtain covering half of the room.

"Since by then they need a curtain?" Rainbow asked perplexed.

"Is the exact same question that I have in this moment," Meadow said before noticing Moon Shard being near to Rainbow. "You are the one who saved Rainbow."

"Spare you flattery for somepony else." Moon said almost coldly.

Rainbow looked at him with narrowed eyes, a little annoyed by the unicorn's apparently arrogant tone. Meadow, on other hooves, couldn't help but feel a little disturbed by the the red runic symbol fully covering his right eye.

"Ehm... Sir?," Meadow called. "What happened to your eye?"

"That should be the last of your problems." Moon replied impassive.

Perplexed by his statement, Meadow looked at Rainbow, who was visibly shaken for the whole chaos happening in Cloudsdale. Seeing the city being crumbled reminded her of the fall of Ponyville. What she saw was real, and yet she wanted to think that it isn't.

"Rainbow, I'm sorry for what you had gone through." Meadow said apologetic. "Allow me to explain."

"You better do it, because I don't even know if you had lied to me," Rainbow pointed out while glaring at her. "How that happened!? You said that Cloudsdale was protected by the barrier!"

"It wasn't my intention to hide anything from from you," Meadow replied. "Let me explain. Spitfire was about to perform some experiment before she could plan to use the vaccine to cure the infected ponies."

"What experiment?" Moon asked.

"Spitfire, Fleetfoot and the others were indeed vaccinated," Meadow explained. "However, nopony used the vaccine to infected ones. So, to not make any miscalculation, Spitfire and her group captured a infected one and tried to test the vaccine on it... Unfortunately, it managed to escape and spread the infection. That happened twelve minutes after I left your room."

Rainbow looked at her in disbelieve. That can't be real for her. Her eyes being filled with incredulity, with her face slowly assuming a angered one.

"You cannot be serious," Rainbow said angrily. "And you had brought that thing inside of it, fully knowing the risks!?"

"Strange that the Wonderbolts were unprepared for that risk," Moon pointed out, looking unconvinced.

"Not at all. Before all of this, Spitfire promptly gathered the most of the medics in town not only to keep them safe, but also to assist the injured healthy ponies that they managed to find." Meadow informed.

"And the other patients? And me?" Rainbow retorted. "I could had died if wasn't for the old man, you know!"

"Look, you where brought in the hospital right before being informed about the experiment!"  Meadow muttered stressed out by Rainbow's inquisitive questions. "Nopony, not even I, could possibly know that would happen!" Her irises shrunk. "What else do you want me TO SAY!?" She paused, panting for a moment and the calming down upon seeing Rainbow's freaked out expression. "I'm sorry... If... If only we could know that would happen."

Rainbow's anger slowly dissipated, replaced only by empathy toward Meadow, who felt guilty about that. "Meadow. I am-"

"Save that for later, both of you," Moon interrupted them. "I think we aren't alone in this room."

"There is somepony else?" Rainbow asked.

"Probably," Moon looked at Meadow. "Say... What about the rescued ponies, the refu?"

"They... They were put inside special facilities under Spitfire's orders," Meadow responded hesitantly. "They are actually under medic observation."

"Meadow?" Rainbow looked at Meadow with a worried look. "Were did she had brought them?"

Before Rainbow could get any answer from her,  they were interrupted by a familiar, female voice coming from behind the curtain said. 

"You are just in time," She said. "Sorry for keeping you in the dark but you know, I got a little busier... Recently." 

A yellow pegasus, being Spitfire came out of the curtain with an unusual calm and wearing a full Wonderbolt uniform with googles included, much to the two mare's surprise. The instructor was then joined by Fleetfoot, also wearing a uniform at all, and by Meadow who flew away from the two and landed nearby the curtain, standing next to her.

Rainbow instantly noticed something wrong with Spitfire, even with the lack of light that darkened the room. The color of her mane, wings, mouths and tails looked more pale than usual. What's more was her strange reaction upon seeing Moon Shard.

"Surprised to see me?" Moon asked, almost grinning.

"N... Not at all." Spitfire stammered.

"Wait a second!" Rainbow looked at Moon and then back to Spitfire surprised. "You know him?"

"O-of course," Spitfire cleared her throat. "He's one of the contributors in the development of the vaccine, back in Canterlot."

"Meadow told me that you brought a infected pony to test the vaccine. Is that true?" Rainbow asked, hesitantly.

"You are right." Spitfire admitted. "That was the reason why we have brought that thing here."

"You see," Fleetfoot said. "We weren't sure if the vaccine works on the infected too. Spitfire planned to use that on the infected ponies who were still intact. However... He was on the loose."

"Wait, the barrier was supposed to keep the undead at bay. How did you even do that?" Rainbow demanded.

"You couldn't know that," Spitfire remarked. "You see, while the barrier covered the entire Clodsdale, there's only one gate that acted as a filter. And is really guarded."

"We have not time for chit chatting," Fleetfoot reminded.

"Indeed," Spitfire agreed. "We have plan to stop the current infestation."

Rainbow wanted to believe her words, and yet something is telling her that to keep pressing. And that is what she does.

"Spitfire, what do you mean with us being just in time?" Rainbow questioned bluntly.

"Rainbow... You have all the right to ask that to us," Spitfire said calmly. "That is-"

Spitfire's attempt to justify her words was disrupted by Moon Shard snickering and then slightly laughing. Rainbow looked at him with as if she was for his sanity.

"Old man?" Rainbow called him worried.

"So, at least you had admitted that you had committed a mistake," Moon said gleefully before returning into his own stern tone. "Please, that wasn't entirely the truth."

Rainbow looked at him dumbfounded. "What?"

"Moon Shard. What are you talking about?" Spitfire asked.

"You said that you brought a infected one," Moon said, this time grinning for real. "That is technically half true,"

"Explain yourself." Spitfire ordered.

"There are three types of zombies in this mess," Moon informed. "The Lessers, being the normal one, and the Flailers. In our case, the infected one that you had brought there... Is a zombie of the third type."

"Old man, you don't make sense!" Rainbow tried to stop him.

"Let him continue, Rainbow Dash." Spitfire commanded.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fleetfoot demanded irritated.

"I had contributed to create the vaccine after all, so I can recognize a infected of that type when I see one," Moon indicated Spitfire with his hoof, glaring at her. "I'm looking right at you, lady."

A sepulchral silence grew in the room. Nopony in the room reacted at his words and accusations. Rainbow Dash, however, looked at him incredulous. She couldn't believe was she heard from him.

"Stop this nonsense!" Rainbow shouted. "They were vaccinated! There's now way they would be infected!"

"Oh, really," Moon asked nonchalantly. "Then tell me. Did you had saw the real effects that the vaccine has on the infected?"

"I... I.." Rainbow stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"What was the vaccine for you?"

"What kind of stupid question is that!?"

"A fiasco." Spitfire said bluntly.

Rainbow darted her eyes toward Spitfire with a baffled expression. The sergeant's words harshly contradicted what Meadow said about the antidote to the plague to her. Rainbow wanted to believe she didn't heard that. But then, Spitfire, of all ponies, snickered nervously, which completely baffled her. She never saw Spitfire acting like this. More disturbing was the fact that Meadow and Fleetfloot didn't gave any reaction at all.

"Spitfire... Are you joking around?" Rainbow said, disturbed by her reaction.

"Rainbow Dash..." Spitfire chuckled a little bit. "Do you think... I am... Joking around?"

"So you know what it is?" Moon asked.

"You heard how I called this cure of yours..." Spitfire barely recovered her composure, only to slam her hoof on the floor while screaming "A FIASCO!!"

Spitfire's last words echoed through the hall and inside Rainbow's head. Her hope that this nightmare could be ended quickly was instantly crushed in front of her eyes. However, only one question remained.

"How?" Rainbow asked.

"Let's put a end to this farce, shall we?" Spitfire proclaimed.

Suddenly, claws popped up from both Spitfire's hooves, piercing through her flesh. She then took her goggles and tossed them away while keeping her eyes shut. Then she proceeded to tear her uniform apart, revealing her own real appearance. Once she finished, she slowly opened her eyes.

With that, Rainbow got a full view of Spitfire, in the most horrible way that she never expected to see. She saw the pallor of the sergeant's wings and mane being strange but she didn't had considered that being a signal. The color of Spitfire's coat, mane, tail and feathers were faded, parts of her figure were torn apart, exposing a few bones, a few muscles and part of her rib cage. Bloodstains smeared her chest and neck, and her hooves. Spitfire looked at both Rainbow and Moon with seemingly white, lifeless eyes. Eyes devoid of vitality that were in contradiction with her face of lucid madness.

The same thing happened with Fleetfoot, who had her hooves sprouting claws, being metallic ones. Having saw Spitfire revealing herself, she followed suit. Once she's done tearing her uniform apart, her body revealed to be almost the same as Spitfire. Same faded colors, same parts being torn apart and same insane visage. The only exception was her left eye being fully red and her neck's bones being exposed.

Rainbow took a few steps back. Her eyes being wide opened and her body trembled for the fright. The situation was bad enough, but she didn't expected to take this twisted turn. Her instinct was telling her to step away from the creatures who who used to be her friends, yet she doesn't want to listen that.

"Tell me that is not real." Rainbow said in denial. "This can't be happening!"

"But IT happened, Rainbow," Spitfire countered with a almost coarse tone. "Not even I saw that coming... Heheheheh... Now my own soul is all but ruin."

"You were vaccinated against the plague!" Rainbow shouted.

"Are you dense or what?" Fleetfoot asked crudely.

"Celestia LIED to us!" Spitfire shouted. "Or, I should say, she never, ever predicted the side effects that the vaccines would have on us! Her research ponies never made a test on their own... So they used us as specimens... Is unacceptable."

The scene was both macabre and surreal to be fully believed. Rainbow doesn't even what to think anymore. Her friends were now similar to zombies, and yet they managed to retain her emotions and intelligence. And now they were blaming Celestia for their conditions. Rainbow turned toward Moon with a angered look.

"If you know something, you better tell me what happened to them." Rainbow said menacingly. "You are the one who helped in the creation of the vaccine, right?"

"That, my friend," Moon said sardonically, indicating the undead Spitfire. "Is the third type."

"Again with this third type. What do you mean with that!?"

"The lethal one, also know as Undementia."

"Undem... What?" Rainbow asked in confusion.

"They are a rare type born by a medic's attempt to create the vaccine," Moon said. "That one being White Chime. He tested the vaccine on both the livings and the infected ones. It worked like a charm at first, but can't do nothing against the plague that is the Necromyth. Just like he plague created the Flailers by twisting their magic, it can do the same with the vaccine." Both the vaccinated living ponies that were exposed the plague and the already infected ones are steadily turned into dead beasts while fully retaining their intelligence while being rendered insane by the pestilence's influence."

"That..." Rainbow was almost at loss of words.

"Also," Moon continued. "Contrary to what Spifire said, Celestia had made indeed a test on a infected pony that was about to become a zombie and seemed to be ok... But after three days, the patient started to change on his own but with different results."

"We were salvaging the ponies who tried to survive this horror for three days," Spitfire retorted. "When the zombies had bitten us during the rescue of, the vaccine seemed to work. We thought to be alright... But in the third day after we had returned, I felt my body becoming cold, being painfully tore apart for little bits. And then, a unbearable hunger took over and... I ate a living animal... I couldn't stop."

"No way..." Rainbow murmured in shock.

"In other words, the cure backfired." Moon replied bluntly.

Hearing that, Spitfire laughed as she considered his statement as a joke before angrily saying. "Backfired doesn't began to describe it. It's also your fault!"

"Spitfire..." Rainbow said hesitantly. "You are the one... Who spread the plague in Cloudsdale?"

"Not directly." Spitfire said nonchalantly. "Ask to Meadow. She was in the hospital after I had bestowed my gift to her."

"W... What gift?" Rainbow demanded, looking at Meadow with a worried face.

"Be grateful that I didn't had bit you." Meadow said as she looked on the floor before letting out a pained moan, getting Rainbow's attention. "I think you are going to see that by yourself."

"Meadow, don't tell me...!" Rainbow exclaimed.

What followed was the color of Meadow's pink fading and some parts of her body melting, opening some wounds and exposing some muscle, a few bones and some pale veins. Meadow lifted her head and looked at the remaining two healthy ponies, grinning insanely and looking at them with her now white, dead eyes.

Rainbow refused to accept what she has just saw. She couldn't. And yet... That doesn't change anything.

"Rainbow, don't even think I like what I have done," Meadow said half apologetic. "Yes, I was the one who infected the the patients and the others."

"But... WHY!?" Rainbow shouted.

"Spitfire asked me to do so... After she bit me." Meadow replied tranquilly.

"I just need to create a incident to balance this city," Spitfire explained. "My reason is a simple one: A general clean-up of the useless ponies and a reduction of the population."

Rainbow refused to believe what she heard from her. "You didn't mean that, right?"

"Rainbow, we cannot save all of the ponies," Spitfire retorted. "One day or another, our food will run out very quickly. And I would had infected somepony due to my newfound hunger for the living beings, soon or later, so I won't even bother to continue to lead the situation normally. I even had to devour the flesh of the first non-vaccinated pony that I had ever infected to prevent it to became a zombie and going on loose... But that was only a temporary solution."

A newfound sense of nausea struck her stomach as her mind registered the meaning of the last thing that Spitfire said. She then looked at her bloodstained neck and then understood.

"I.. I can't believe this." Rainbow stuttered in horror, covering her mouth with her hoof.

"I wasn't even thinking straight when I had committed that act," Spitfire admitted. "Still, my plan to use the vaccine to cure the infected ponies? Completely useless. You saw what happened to us and you have also saw the corruption of the Wonderbolts as you know. And yet, that can be our bliss and a alternative. A alternative called... Immortality."

"Spitfire... You need to stop." Rainbow said, freaked out.

"The harvest of the population didn't consist sorely in the elimination of few ponies," Spitfire continued. "In fact, this unbearable hunger is a real curse. To compensate this, the inhabitants, the rescued one and even the zombies can be also useful as, I can't believe I'm using this term... Food stockpile."

"WHAT!?" Rainbow flinched disgusted by that.

"I have a reason for that. When we ate our victims, our wounds healed themselves. It worked wonders." Spitfire smirked widely. "But that wasn't the only plan. In fact I wanted to spare the few ponies that are really worthy to live. So I want to give you a opportunity, Rainbow."

"I don't want know what it is." Rainbow retorted.

"Right now I just want... Sunk my teeth... On your tasty flesh," Spitfire admitted with crazed tone. "However, I feel generous. What you had to do is become one of us. I'm asking you because I want to keep our kind alive in the best I can and I won't allow the mistake of a Princess to kill them!"

"You want the ponies who trusted you to become monsters!" Rainbow said furiously. 

"That... Sucks..." Spitfire said before growling in disappointment. "I guess that being the Element of Loyalty means being loyal to your still living friends. Very well. I guess I made a mistake trusting you. You can even die for what I care, you coward! But at least die by making yourself useful. By becoming our next meal."

The undead Spitfire raised her hoof, and the curtain rose, revealing other seven members of the Wonderbolts being turned into Undementias, forming a wall of crazies.

Unable to remain calm, Rainbow Dash took a few steps back. Spitfire and her other subordinates walked menacingly toward her and Moon, who remained immobile.

"Spitfire, this is not you! You can't do this!" Rainbow shouted.

"Rainbow Dash, just get ripped apart with dignity," Spitfire said with a bloodthirsty tone. "You know how this will end."

The frenzied pegasi are getting closer and closer to the two. Rainbow mentally cursed the fact that she couldn't fly. Spitfire's group was about to pounce.

But before they could do so, a invisible force smashed through the metal doors. As Rainbow and her aggressors looked at the opened entrance, Moon proclaimed.

"About time."
> The Undead Anti Hero (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The situation in which Rainbow Dash and Moon Shard are couldn't get more absurd. Rainbow, Moon Shard, the crazy zombified Spitfire and her group were looking outside smashed entrance from the distance. They instantly froze up upon seeing a bizarre scene.

A bipedal creature, standing on his hind leg single handily smashed a horde of zombies into pieces. Only a big pile of dead bodies remains, stocked up around him. After having finished the killing and ignoring what is happening around him, he stepped inside the room.

The bipedal creature looked like a scarlet maned beige zombie earth stallion with his rib cage and a few muscles being partially exposed, wearing a gray cape covering his back and his tail. In contrast with the rest of his body, his hind legs, being talons were seemingly made of black iron with crystal colored veins pumping through that. His forelegs were also made of black iron with crystal veins, except that instead of hooves, he had clawed hands. Despite his zombie like appearance, he has black eyes, which along with his coat and mane looked more vivid compared the zombie Wonderbolts in his sight. His face didn't exuded lucid madness but annoyance.

"And you made me do all of the job by myself," The creature said with a male, normal, grumpy voice to 'Moon'. "And Clousdale was supposed to be a safe city."

"You are late, Brutus." Moon replied.

"Shut up, Requiem. I didn't asked your sarcasm." Brutus retorted.

Rainbow looked to the bipedal being and then back to Moon, with a very confused face.

"You... Know this monster?" Rainbow demanded.

"I was suspecting something like this since I saw you dying," Spitfire said at 'Moon'. "You are not Moon Shard!"

"Does that even matter?" 'Moon' replied nonchalantly.

"Wait!... What do you mean she saw you dying?" Rainbow demanded to 'Moon'.

"Save that superfluous question for later." 'Moon' said.

"So, you are the ones who spread the Necromyth in this city, isn't it?" Brutus asked to the undead Wonderbolts. "All of that because you though that the ponies that you were supposed to protect would be safe by killing them, devouring them or even turning them into Undementias zombies like you... I don't feel sorry for you."

"Shut up! What can a monster like you know about us! You don- Argh!" Spitfire collapsed on the ground in pain with the other Wonderbolts looking at her worried. "What now!?"

"Spitfire!" Undead Misty Fly said.

"Are you alright!?" Undead Surprise said.

"What's wrong with her?" Rainbow asked worried.

"The Undementias will usually being subjected to a gruesome, additional genetic mutation," 'Moon' explained. "The time that it takes to trigger and it's modality depends on the subject."

Spitfire moaned in pain for the throbbing sensation traversing her body. Her figure grew a little bit i and her forelegs became covered in black spikes. Her face assume a half feral one as her two feathered wings became two gruesome ones with pony faces protruding on their backsides, with their mouth being stuck in a scream.

Rainbow watched the scene in awe. And wasn't just Rainbow to react at this. Even the other undead Wonderbolts looked at her in fright. Some of them were even recoiling.

"HALT!" Spitfire shouted under her breath as she slowly rose up, making them stop. "It's ok... Besides, I didn't told you to leave."

"Spitfire, you body!" Undead Meadow said astounded.

"I will consider that a boost," Spitfire said while glancing at her new body and then glaring toward . "Still, to answer your provocation, I'm dead inside, so my sanity is purely objective. And regarding the inhabitants of this city, I'm offering them immortality and the salvation from their fears."

"Tsk! Salvation from their fears you said? That reminded me of a queen bitch I had met in a previous life." Brutus murmured.

"Huh?" Spitfire looked confused, not knowing what he was referring to.

Brutus glanced at the intimidated Rainbow Dash glaring at him with scorn. "So that is the Element of Loyalty."

"Just who the heck are you!?" Rainbow asked.

"Seriously? Is this the manner to show grace to someone who was making you a favor?" Brutus replied, slightly annoyed.

"Just give them hell already." 'Moon' said with slight impatience.

Brutus looked back at the crazed pegasi and pointed his clawed finger at them. "I'm sorry, but if you stand in my way, you will do the end of the zombies I had fought before."

Spitfire was about to retort, only to be frozen by a dreadful dark aura exuding from Brutus's body. She didn't know why but she's intimidate by him. And she hated. Mustering her own frustration, she tried to not show any of that fear.

"Do you think that we are going to recoil and take it? You are WRONG!" Spitfire screamed. "We are not normal ponies anymore and I cannot die naturally. However we are not as dumb as the other zombies. We are still Wonderbolts, only better!"

"Yeah, yeah, and you can strike like lightning and stuff," Brutus mocked them with a straight face, one seconds before grinning cruelly. "That didn't save them from being destroyed."

Brutus stepped aside and gestured to two pegasi corpses behind him. Both of them wearing a Wonderbolts uniform, being Soarin and High Wind, being already Undementias zombies. Rainbow Dash looked at them in horror, but the most shocked of all were Spitfire and the others. The undead Fleetfoot glared at him with seething hatred.

"These two ponies were my companions, you bastard!" Fleetfoot flew in the air and dived furiously toward Brutus.

Five of the other undead Wonderbolts, with Misty Fly and Surprise being among them follow suit by flying toward the unnatural zombie. Fleetfoot was about to reach Brutus, only for him to block her by grabbing her head with his claws and engulfing her with a black flaming aura, causing her to wriggle frantically like a ragdoll while letting out a chilling scream that was suffocated by his hand.

The five Wonderbolts stopped in front of them, unable to aid Fleetfoot and slowly recoiling, intimidated by both her scream and Brutus's obscure powers. As her scream lost it's strength and faded, her body stop moving and the flame dissipated. Brutus released the undead Fleetfoot and let her fall on the floor.

Collapsed, Fleetfoot remained motionless for a moment. Then she slowly rose up, looking toward Brutus. Worried about her, Misty Fly took a few steps forward. She was about to ask her something, only to be met by Fleefoot furiously groaning. Her breath becoming harsher and her voice being more aggressive.

She slowly turned toward them, glaring at them with a very feral expression, as she doesn't seem to recognize them or remember who she was. Her eyes being completely white, devoid of any color. But the most gruesome thing that they noticed was her forehead being covered with a circular blue mark made of tendrils that were penetrating through her skull.

The undead Fleetfoot roared ferociously toward them, terrorizing her former companions. Rainbow Dash was literally stunned by that. The ability to subjugate a zombie is something so rare that is chilling to even thinking about.

Upon seeing this, the undead Spitfire glared at Brutus, clenching her teeth and trembling in rage for whatever he has done to her companion.

"What have you done to her, you monster!?" Spitfire screamed.

"Your friend is the last of your problems," Brutus informed.

Spitfire flew in air and was about to charge toward him. But then froze as she saw some figures slowly emerging from the corpse piles. They slowly gathered nearby Brutus. Her cold body shivered upon realizing what she was seeing. Behind Brutus, there various zombies, Lessers and unicorn Flailers. All of them having the same gruesome blue mark on their forehead. A horde of zombie were now forming a entire army at his service.

Rainbow Dash stepped back toward the walls, fearing for what is going to happen next. Her attention was then caught by 'Moon' remaining immobile despite that.

"What the hey are you doing!? Get away from there!" Rainbow shouted.

"Don't even think this is the first time I saw that happening." 'Moon' commented.

Brutus raised his hand up and then pointed his finger at the undead Wonderbolts.

"Shred them up!" Brutus ordered, causing his marked zombies, including Fleetfoot to rushing ferociously toward their enemies.

The zombie Fleefoot flew toward the zombiefied Misty Fly, who dodged her tackle. Misty tried to assault her only to be blocked and held by three marked zombie pegasi, allowing Fleetfoot to approach her and tearing her body apart in bites, helped by the threes. She screamed for her to stop as her teeth and that of the other marked pegasi made their way through her flesh. A cruel way to dispose a enemy.

A furious undead Surprise tried to attack Brutus but was blocked by marked unicorn Flailer, who wrapped her in a gray aura with her telekinesis, blocking her and used her body to flail other two zombie Wonderbolts who tried to help. Surprise was then slammed against the walls repeatedly and then tossed violently on the ground. Stunned and moaning in pain, the bleeding undead mare didn't have the time to react or even process the situation that the Flailer beamed a searing ray at her, almost reducing her body in ashes.

The two undead Wonderbolts that were previously flailed stood tall as various marked Lesser zombie earth-ponies and pegasi rushed toward them. Before they could touch their targets, a blue ball bounced in front of the marked creatures and burst in a icy explosion, freezing all of them. The two undead pegasi looked up and saw the undead Meadow, flying above them and being armed with other two blue balls.

"Follow me!" Meadow commanded as she bucked the frozen zombies, shattering them into pieces. "We had to prevail!"

The two followed her in mid air. Coordinating their assault, Meadow flew at full speed toward Brutus. The other twos arrived at him from other different directions. As they were arriving, Brutus narrowed his eyes in boredom.

"C'mon, guys. You aren't even trying," Brutus complained quietly.

As Meadow and her companions were approaching, Brutus 's right hands suddenly changed it's shape and turned into a huge sword, which he promptly uses to slash them in two parts. Their sliced bodies fell on the floor without even touching him.

Another undead Wonderbolt tried to attack him from above, thinking is distracted. Unluckily for him, Brutus already noticed him and pointed his finger at him.

"Tear him apart." Brutus commanded.

With that, the Wonderbolt was blocked by the telekinesis of a unicorn Flailer, allowing the marked zombie pegasi to do their job into destroying him, horribly.

"THIS ENDS NOW!" Spitfire's voice boomed, causing a strong ultra-sonic scream that disintegrated anything in it's path, including marked zombies, the corpses of her comrades and the undead Fleetfoot.

Brutus survived the attack by shielding himself with both his arms and his incorporated sword that dissipated afterwards. Raibow kept her eyes shut while covering his ear to protect herself from being deaf, as watching the entire massacre wasn't enough. 'Moon' was also covering his ears and yet he was unperturbed.

The scream ceased after a brief time, giving to Brutus, Rainbow and 'Moon' the time to see what happened. The undead Spitfire covered herself with her huge wings. Not to protect herself but to generate a devastating sound wave coming from the pony face's screaming mouth being attached to her wings. Spitfire opened her wings and scowled at him with all of her hate.

"I hope you are happy now," Spitfire said with venomous spite. "You killed my team! Did you had any idea what they represented to me!?"

"You and them were already dead after you got bitten," Brutus remarked. "You had become dangerous since the pestilence had corrupted your mind. To sum up, I can't let you live."

"D... Dangerous?" Spitfire looked at him with a insane face. "Heheheh. Hahahah. AHAHAHAH!"

"Are you finished?" Brutus said, being tired of her shenanigans.

"That will be you... Demon... Let me show you what a Wonderbolt is all about!!" Spitfire proclaimed as she flew in mid air and charged at full speed toward him like a lightning one second before disappearing.

Brutus shielded himself with his arms but was then struck by her attacks due to her disappearing and reappearing at a absurd speed. Spitfire was usually very faster, but in her monstrous form she flew so fast that she's sliced every part of his body with her claws and black spikes, making him bleed. Brutus wasn't able to see her but could perceive her movements. As Spitfire was reappearing, Brutus backhanded around, striking Spitfire in a lucky shot and propelling her away from him.

Spitfire regained her aerial balance and looked at him, more furious than before. But her anger was then replaced by shocked surprise upon seeing Brutus's right arm being turned into a bizarre sniper cannon, being already pointed at her. Brutus observed her face for a second and then smirked one second before shooting.

The bullet instantly got through Spitfire's lowest part of her chest, piercing through her body. Her blood gushed out very fast. She yelled in pain as she fell back, collapsing on the ground. With his arm returning to normal, Brutus then proceed to walk toward the now defenseless zombie Spitfire, who was weakly moaning in pain.

Having saw the whole scene, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel sorry for Spitfire and her warped mind. She lost her and her other friends. The ones she admired most. She wanted to think that there was another way, but it was too late. Then she glanced at Brutus. Despite the fact that he saved her life, Rainbow felt only anger for his methods and his actions.

Brutus approached the undead Spitfire, who looked at him with a dazed but resentful eyes. Ironically, as much resentful she intended to remain, guilt took over a piece of her as if part of her conscience managed to emerge from that twisted shell.

"I am... Dying?" Spitfire asked. "You are going to... Cancel the Wonderbolts from history in one blow for their sins, isn't it? By killing me?... Hehehe... I guess I really deserve it."

"You are wrong if you think that I gave you the coup the grace," Brutus said.

"What... Are you... Talking about?" Spitfire asked, confused.

"I shot a point with multiple arteries to incapacitate you " Brutus admitted. " I didn't had necessarily killed you."

"Wait... You are not... Killing me?" Spitfire demanded, fearing his intentions.

"You will not die." Brutus said, one second before grabbing Spitfire's head and lifted in the air.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Spitfire screamed with her voice being covered by his hand.

Rainbow know what that means. "NO!"

"You will obey me!" Brutus announced as the black flame engulfed Spitfire's body. She screamed loudly and her body shook frantically, seized by the dark energy invading her. After a while, she stopped and became motionless. Brutus dropped her on the ground and waited for the obvious result.

The undead Spifire slowly rose up and looked at Brutus with a hollow expression, now wearing the same mark and having become another minion to be used by him, much to Rainbow Dash's horror.

After that, Brutus's body was suddenly engulfed in black flames for a moment before dissipating, with him having assumed the form of a normal and yet zombified four legged pony, with hooves and some exposed inside, wearing his pony size version of his cape.

"Good job, Brutus." 'Moon' greeted him. "That is how you should deliver a massacre. You have also another-"

"Don't... Say anything," Brutus interrupted him. "I'm not get used to command dead corpses. That goes also for the sentient ones."

"Remember, we made a pact," 'Moon' remarked. "Until you hadn't found the real cause of the pestilence and slaughtered the ones who killed you, you will never take your life back. Get it?"

"I know perfectly how that works." Brutus muttered rudely and then groaned. "So... Why we are after the Elements of Harmony, anyway?"

"Not even them couldn't cure the plague," 'Moon' explained. "But they could lead you to the source of the problem and giving you some hint about the culprits."

"Wait... Are we talking about the ones who targeted the Holy Pillars?" Brutus demanded.

"That is something that we should discover after we get to Canterlot." 'Moon' said, almost grinning.

"And Rainbow Dash?" Brutus inquired.

"She was the reason why we are here, but I doubt that she will collaborate after she saw you doing this." 'Moon' reminded that.

Unable to tell what happened and having saw her friends falling one by one like that, Rainbow slowly approached them with  fury in her eyes, eager to get some answers from them.

"Collaborate you said?" Rainbow demanded, getting their attention.

"I'm not expecting anything from you, lady." Brutus replied calmly.

"SHUT UP!" Rainbow screamed. "I.. I.. I saw what happened to Spitfire and the others! And I saw them falling into the madness! And yes, I know that they had to be stopped! BUT NOT IN THIS WAY!!"

"You didn't expected me to let them live, aren't you?" Brutus demanded, slightly annoyed.

"I expected you at least to put a end to their suffering!" Rainbow said, angrily. "But crushing them like this is just unforgivable!"

Brutus grinned. "Unforgivable?"

Rainbow froze up in shock. "What?"

"Do you even think I like this job?" Brutus retorted calmly. "I got my own normal life stolen and desecrated repeatedly. I died multiple times. I have my own vengeance to carry out against my assassins who are probably the cause of this chaos. Dear mare... I have not time for morality."

"What the buck are you?" Rainbow demanded with inquisitive tone.

"Let me answer that for you." 'Moon' said while approaching Rainbow with a grim intent..

"What are you doing?" Rainbow exclaimed one second before 'Moon' put his hoof on her bandaged head.

Rainbow screamed in pain as head was suddenly filled with memories from another world, another life and another era. She doesn't know what is going on due to the flux being so rushed. Then the memory river adjusted itself and she understood as his voice spoke in her mind.

"Let me tell you about his current life, previous life and role that linked him to the brutal legends being none other than the Undead Knights!"
> The Bloody Determinate Herald (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Most of the ponies know me as Cinder Work. Firework seller and maker, book lover, living with an aspiring Royal Guard who was also my best friend and potential fiance. Yeah, story of my life. That would be a normal life... If wasn't for the fact that I had recovered the memory of my past life at the age of 16. Nopony knows that. My name is actually Walken Jaeger. What I have to do with this story? Well... Let me tell you how my tranquility was shattered first."





Walken awoke with a tremendous headache, gripping his head with his right hand. He froze in shock upon feeling that, because that wasn't possible for him. He took a quick look at his body and found himself being intact, wearing a black armor resembling a light, noble attire and long cape. But that wasn't the only strange thing. Walken felt something flowing in his body. A dark power was infesting him in this moments. He was really confused by that strangeness.

"No damn way," Walken murmured. "I remembered what happened. I had a fight with my parent after I had exposed my sister's crimes to the police when the world around me suddenly exploded, burning my body... And now I'm here... But where, exactly?"

He scanned his surrounding, being a strange, volcanic, grave colored cave, almost resembling the inside of a living organism. The ground was made of charred bones, adorned with frozen roots. The air was very cold, contradicting the volcanic nature of the walls of the place. At the very end of it, there was an opened, crooked gate, with doors made of marble, being stained in blood

He slowly rose up with a dumbfounded face. He couldn't either believe at the landscape he was looking at or that he was still alive.

"Is this place supposed to be Hell?" Walken commented.

"You are in the Void, Walken," A unnatural voice said from the gate, making it's presence known.

Walken instinctively raised his guard, having no weapon but his fists. He could hear loud footsteps coming from the crooked gate, resembling the sound of heavy war hammers wielded by giants. Walken grew afraid of it for each time that noise resounded as it get closer and closer to him but tried to maintain his calm and focus as long as he can.

"I don't know who you are but I fought some occasional bullies in the past!" Walken announced with a mere piece of confidence.

"But there's a problem with that," The voice remarked. "I am no mortal, human."

The footsteps became unbearably louder, until something emerged from the gate. As the owner of the voice showed up, Walken's face was instantly marked with deep terror, disturbed by the entity in front of him.

The host in front of him was a bipedal demon like he never saw in his life, slightly surpassing him in height but being taller enough to towering on the boy. His eyes were fully cyan with literal holes instead of the pupils, with a blue liquid gushing out of them. His chest, abdomen, knees, hands, long spiked tail, and sharp talons resembling solid, gray granite, while the rest of his body was made of raging azure flaming ghosts trying to escape his body or simply attempting to attack anything that moves. His face was a hybrid in between a young dead man and a skeletal lion.

Walken was frozen, intimidated by his presence. He could feel his tremendous power exuding from him, although he didn't know how he can do that. He stared at the creature with a shocked expression, not believing at he was seeing.

"What demented avatar of madness are you?" Walken asked baffled.

"I have many forms and only few names," The demon said. "I am known as the Beast."

"You mean Satan?" Walken asked sporadically.

"You are mistaking me for someone else that I don't even met," The Beast denied. "I'm just a devil who had didn't know very much about your world. Just like you don't know this one."

"Why you brought me here?" Walken asked with a inquisitive tone.

"Correction!" The Beast interrupted with a menacingly monstrous voice before continuing calmly, startling Walken. "You didn't died at all. After you body was destroyed, I had reconstructed it while putting your death to a hold. However, I wasn't the one who brought you here."

Walken's eyes widened, with his face slightly deforming in disbelieve. "Destroyed!?"

"You heard that boy," The Beast confirmed. "You had technically died in front of your family. I saw what happened to you, and let me tell you one thing. They indeed believe you to be dead."

"..... So I had supposedly died in that explosion for real," Walken stammered before covering his face with his hands, mortified. "Oh, geez...."

"Deal with it. This is the reality that you see now." The Beast pointed out.

As Walken lowered down his hands, he looked sternly but reluctantly into the Beast's holed eyes. Something wasn't adding up to him.

"Wait, if you weren't the one who brought me there, then who is it?" Walken asked.

"A force that doesn't belong in this world." The Beast.

Walken froze in disbelieve upon hearing that, and shook his head in disbelieve while grinning.

"Another... world?" Walken asked nervously. "This can't be the case."

"But it is." The Beast announced.

That being said, a wall of azure flames raised around Walken, who flinched upon being caught by that. He could feel a unbearable heat. He could tell that the flames were just summoned to discourage any foolish move.

"Now let me tell you the reason why I had saved you," The Beast said. "I want you to be my demonic herald."

"Are kidding me?" Walken demanded angered before chuckling in sarcasm. "And you expect me to trust a devil like you?"

"Tell me. You want to return in your world to have the tranquil life that always wanted, right?" The Beast demanded.

Upon hearing that, Walken remained silent. These words are so nice that he could easily tell he was lying or planning something nefarious. The word of a devil shouldn't be trusted. The books that he read in the past said so and yet this offer was so inviting that he hesitated to refused. That was another reason to remain cautious about that.

"You are lying," Walken retorted.

"Wasn't restoring your body a proof far enough?" The Beast asked.

The brunette boy felt very conflicted about that. Despite the fact that he shouldn't trust a demon, he know he was right about that. Walken couldn't resist this temptation and was about to accept, and for a valid reason if he considered what he had gone through before the incident.

In his life, Walken had a very compromised relationship with his parents, and was ostracized by his classmate and the majority of the society because of his sister Phillia, a seemingly innocent sweet girl with serious psychological issues. She had tortured some of the classmates or even his teachers due to her falling in love with them or because she doesn't want him to have any friends or girlfriend. His parents, being headmasters of his school, knew that, but they either refused to let her get arrested or couldn't say no to her whims for the fear of to lose her. They even forbid him to leave his family status.

Because of that, his life became a living hell. Because of this, Walken had grown bitter toward his family, equally bitter toward the ones who tried to befriend him and eventually developed a brutal determination that leaded him to gather enough proofs that he used to exposed his sister's crime at the police. After Phillia got finally arrested, Walken had a fight with his parents. He leaved them to their fate with no remorse until a car next to him exploded, destroying his body.

And now Walken was there, talking with a devil who asked him to become his herald in exchange of bring him back on his world, so he can start a new life. Without his parents but is still a good life for him. Walken wasn't proud for what he was going to do but he made up his mind. He would have done anything to have that. No matter what.

A grin grew in his face, invoked by his own cruel resolution.

"Let's just say that I will accept that," Walken said confident before pausing a changing his attitude into mistrustful one. "However, do not assume that I like be your pawn. I will just doing anything that I can to take what I want."

"As long as you have a very unique kind of ruthlessness that I quite visible in you, you are welcome," The Beast replied by his choice.

The Beast then made a very disturbing grin, which chilled Walken's blood. The boy froze up in awe for that when the fire wall suddenly lowered until it vanished. Walken slowly recovered his composure and tried to regain confidence, thought that is difficult when the speaker was a powerful horrific being.

"That doesn't mean that I trust you," Walken remarked. "So, what do you exactly want from me?"

"There was a human to whom I had conferred part of my power," The Beast explained coldly. "That individual was a woman named Fatima, the current queen of the land of Cavalier, ruling alongside the King Kirk Gladys, whose mind was tainted and manipulated by her. This lady managed to get out of my influence. She is now planning to use my blood to create a world where humans can live forever. Really foolish."

"A queen, huh." Walken said oblivious of it's implication until he realized shocked of  the improbable. "Wait a minute. Queen? King?... Is this world stuck in the Middle Age?"

"Is not your world, so of course it's civilization can be quite primitive for your taste." The Beast replied.

"Great... I ended up into some dark fantasy mcguffin," Walken muttered before returning on the topic. "Let me guess. You want me to eliminate her?"

"That should be done by someone else," The Beast responded. "What I want from you is to eliminate every single thing that would had interfered with my plan. But first, I have a very particular request regarding that."

"Huh?"

"I will let one of my emissaries, Dagon, to escort you under human form. There's at thing in which you must attend."

"Stop being cryptic and just get to the point already." Walken said impatiently.

The Beast's holed eyes widened. "You have a marriage to attend."

"A... A marriage?" Walken looked really dumbfounded.

"You heard that." The Beast said.

"Aaand... For what reason?" Walken asked perplexed, narrowing his eyes.

"I will tell you the place and the objective later," The Beast replied impassive. "Now take your time to get suited to this place that is the Void. But tell me. Do you feel the power that I had bestowed to you?"

"Yes, I'm feeling it. And I can't tell if this is a curse or not." Walken said, distrusting his power.

"You better get use to," The Beast ordered. "Also, I don't think you want to use your real name since you are not human anymore."

"You know, with this dark power that you bestowed on me, I don't even know if I'm still human," Walken retorted annoyed before growling. "So, you already turned me into a demon by default."

"From this moment, your name is Brutus." The Beast said.

For a moment, Walken found by the choice of name very unusual. But after having considered the meaning behind that, he grinned, actually liking the name. That alone symbolized his newfound, ruthless determination to do what he can to get back the possibility to have a normal life that has been denied by him.





After having learned the Beast's reason behind his request and spent days to learn how to use his powers and his new weapon being a long cleaver, Walken, and his demonic comrade in the form of a gray haired man, Dagon, walked on the land of Cavalier, disguised as knights of a notoriously, powerful household known as Blood. A very strange name for a noble family. He never heard of them, not even in the most cliched RPG games.

As they proceeded in their mission, confusing himself among the other knights, Walken had some difficulty to get used to this medieval world or even socializing with the environment and people. He and Dagon were escorting the two newlyweds being on their way to see the king and formally announce their marriage to him, being Remus Blood and Sylvia Gladys, the king's own daughter.

One thing bothered Walken during his travel, which was his message.

"If everything is fine, I think I will have three new agents of justice at my side. Too bad that you will not meet them."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Walken whispered.

"Ssssh. Don't blow the cover." Dagon ordered quietly.

Everything seemed to be fine, with Remus and Sylvia having their own good time. It was until they got into a ambush, organized by the knights of king Gladys, helped by other foreign soldiers.

Walken instantly intuited what was going on: The king ordered the annihilation of the House of Blood with the help of armies of neighboring lands. It became a real bloodbath, where no one of the household was spared. Walken and Dagon, however, managed to survive a few soldiers and king's knights with their fists instead of using their powers.

In the fury of the massacre, Walken spotted one of the knight of House of Blood running like crazy in search for someone in the distance. The knight continued forward, fending every soldier that he came across with such animosity, armed with a absurdly, long giant sword. Walken was completely impressed by that.

"Who is this beast?" Walken demanded.

"Romulus Blood," Dagon said as he nonchalantly approached his companion, ignoring the whole chaos happening around him. "Remus Blood's elder brother and Gladys' loyal warrior. He's probably looking for both Remus and Sylvia."

"That beast is his brother?" Walken demanded.

"And outright a formidable fighter as you can see, effortlessly wielding a heavy weapon like this," Dagon said before  grinning upon seeing the scene from afar and aiming his hand at the running Romulus. Red lightnings were generated from his fingers and were about to be unleashed.

"What hell are you doing?" Walken asked alarmed.

"This spell will put Romulus into a very furious frenzy, making him kill anything in this path," Dagon said gleefully. "And the best part is that no one in this very battlefield would see that except us."

"Are you nuts!? What if he end up killing even Remus and Sylvia in the pro..." Walken interrupted his sentence, having finally grasped the meaning behind the Beast's message. "Demonic bastard. So these one are the new three agents of justice he was talking about."

"Which is why you had to let me do my job." Dagon said half annoyed.

Dagon's hand has generated enough red electricity to engulf it. It's owner was ready to make his move. His face being marked by a demonic joy in his face.

Romulus continued his search for Remus and Sylvia in the middle of the massacre, only to find them being in the clutches of the soldiers, being about to deliver their execution, much to his rage. In that fraction of seconds, Walken realized one thing as he watched the scene. Taking in consideration the Beast's plan to turn the three tragic individuals into his agent of 'justice' by killing them, Walken suddenly realized the Beast's final move before he could even witnessing it. Of course, that pissed him off.

"Tsk. As if I would be his damn puppet!"

As Dagon was releasing his red lightnings, Walken made his own move, according to his own agenda. He aimed his hand at Romulus and used his power to open a small portal in front of Dagon's electrically charged hand. The lightnings ended up being shot inside of it before reappearing from Walken's hand and instantly striking Romulus's head, much to Dagon's confusion and annoyance.

In that moment, Romulus was engulfed by a red mist, seemingly drowning his senses and blinding him with pure rage. As that was happening, Dagon approached Walken and violently grabbed his neck. The former didn't even flinched for that.

"You must be STUPID!" Dagon shouted furiously. "There's no reason for that move! Why would you even do that!?"

Walken made a smug. "Why so surprised, Dagon?"

Dagon looked at him confused when their attention was caught by Romulus letting out a terrifying scream of rage. They turned toward where he was to see the furious knight brutally killing every single soldier that was in his way. And true to Walken's prediction, Romulus ended up accidentally killing both Remus and Sylvia in the process. Walken was impressed by Romulus' outburst. His face being frozen in awe. He never saw such brutality in live.

After that rampage, Romulus reconnected his mind to his senses. He was dazed at first, but didn't took him too long to realize what he has done. With a horrified visage, he knelled next to them and hugged their dead bodies in grief as the remaining soldiers surrounded them.

Dagon returned his attention to Walken and reluctantly let his neck go.

"Once we had returned into the Void," Dagon said sternly. "You had to explain your act to our master. Go it?"

"Whatever." Walken responded nonchalantly.

Walken and Dagon fled the scene without being noticed, leaving Romulus and his dead loved ones to their deaths. A portal appeared in front of them but no one noticed that. Dagon entered inside while Walken stopped for a moment and turned to see the three victims being suddenly engulfed with a scarlet demonic energy as their bodies were mangled.

With a hint, he entered into the portal, smirking before it disappeared.
> The Rise of the Undead Knights (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Void, Walken, now reborn as the Beast's demonic herald, Brutus, returned from the massacre that happened during the marriage that he was attending under the Beast's order. He stepped inside the room with the crooked gate at the end of it, the same place were he and that devil first met. He was in front of his demonic master, with na annoyed Dagon standing next to him, being in his real monstrous appearance. Walken flinched in awe upon seeing Dagon like that.

His form was a grotesquely, creepy one, being mostly skeletal, sorely composed by rust colored, hardened bones except for his head. He wore a long cape made of black feathers and human flesh, and a long metal plated skirt covering his legs. His hands are nine digit claws and his feet being made of spines. His face resembled a plague doctor mask with a very long, sharpened metal beak and tusk-like blades on it and eyes being only orbs made of pure blood with a golden shard for iris.

Dagon reported that Walken hijacked his rage inducing spell as was him who had put Romulus into a rampage during the chaos of the battlefield in which he was in, which for him seemed an act of jealously. The Beast stared at Walken, which made the brunette boy to flinch. But that wasn't for his cyan-holed, liquid gushing eyes, but rather his face filled with curiosity.

Walken was about to lose his cool for that perpetual stare until Dagon got his boss' attention to report him about the boy almost sabotaging his spell, sparing him from that visual torture.

"Brutus acted without my permission," Dagon said with a coarse, metallic voice. "This former human should learn to respect the elders."

"Does that have any importance?" The Beast replied impatiently.

"Master?"

"Everything is going in the right direction, so this minor part is purely trivial. Don't waste my time with this pointless detail."

"My apology, master." Dagon said calmly as he knelled in front of him.

After that, Dagon turned around and headed toward the exit. He then stopped in front of it, and looked at Walken in his eyes, seemingly glaring with distrust. They awkwardly exchanged their own gazes for a moment before the skeletal demon returned to his path and leaved for real.

Tired to have any uncomfortable moment, Walken was about to leave as well when the Beast called him out.

"Brutus, I can't help but ask to you," The Beast said. "Why hijacking his spell to make yourself look like it was you who had cast it to Romulus Blood and not Dagon?"

Walken, trying to not show any fear, shrugged his arms. "I just wanted to see his expression, but hey, demons like him seemed to take themselves too seriously.

"You lie." The Beast said, narrowing his eyes.

"Trust me, is just like Dagon said," Walken said calmly. "I acted arrogantly without him giving me any order."

"Dagon was about to put Romulus in a raging frenzy anyway, so your maneuver wasn't necessary. What were you trying to obtain anyway with that?"

"Didn't you had dismissed that as a pointless triviality before?"

The Beast's face shifted into a slightly irritated one, only to calm down a few seconds later. For a moment, Walken thought he was about to had to face some reprisal or something.

"Nevermind," The Beast replied. "Now let's get to the next phase of the plan."

"Already?" Walken said, almost annoyed.

"You are my herald after all, Brutus. Remember?" The Beast remarked.

The demon like creature pointed his finger at the ground next to him. And all of sudden, a the spectral image of a very deformed tree with long claws and pulsing fruits being attached to it. Walken reacted with slight repulsion at that creepy sight.

"What the fuck is that shit?" Walken demanded disturbed.

"That is what Fatima called the Holy Tree," The Beast said bluntly. "She managed to create this abomination using my blood, the gift that I had bestowed to her. And there's a thing that I didn't had mentioned to you before."

"What is it?" Walken said, raising an eyebrow.

"Create a world where humans are immortals couldn't be completed without a very detestable detail," The Beast pointed out, almost furious. "She is steadily becoming so powerful to control my blood and would probably be able to actual control the entire Void, and me... THAT IS OUTRIGHT BLASPHEMOUS!"

Walken's eyes widened in realization, for that was a thing that he was suspecting from the start. "So this is why you want her dead. Not just because she escaped your control."

"Exactly," The Beast responded. "But I won't send you against her, Brutus. I will send the three murdered victim of the massacre against them. You will have only the task to follow them, wherever they go."

"That's it?"

"Any problem?"

"Nothing, but still... How can you consider these three persons as your agent of justice if they are dead?" Walken asked, hiding the fact that he already know the answer.

"I had proposed a deal to Romulus," The Beast paused before giving a devilish, psychotic smile. "He accepted without hesitation."





Night fell in the most aggressive way possible, seemingly hunting down the sun. The air was unnaturally cold, the wind was blowing slightly strong. Dark clouds obscured grand part of the sky above every realm of the world.

Walken traveled all alone across the Duchy of Gloucester, walking on the darkling hills. As he pressed on his path, he made a mental recap of what he saw so far and what he heard from the Beast regarding the slaughter of the household before being sent for his task.

The massacre of the Household of the Blood orchestrated by Queen Fatima, through King Gladys ended with every single member being butchered. Romulus, Remus and Sylvia were among the victims. Or to be more accurate, Romulus accidentally killed the other two during his murderous rage induced by Dagon's spell, unbeknownst to him. Nonetheless, that event was remembered as the Marriage of Blood. A very ironic and yet appropriate name for such event.

"And a very screw up story since the king seemed to know that her daughter fell victim of his own orders and yet he buried her in a very forsaken place... Then again, I can't blame a man who was turned into that bastardous queen's undead bitch."

After a chunk of time spent going through the trees of the woods, Walken arrived at the top of a hill facing at a forsaken cemetery. According to what he heard from some sources, that was a criminals' graveyard, forgotten to all with the name of Tombstone Hill. He felt creeped out for a moment, until he remember to have the demonic powers that the Beast had bestowed to him and regained his composure.

Walken stared down at a row of gravestones, where three of them were supposed to be the ones he was looking for. He watched over the mournful place for a handful of minutes with nothing happening. Then, he noticed something glowing above the place. He looked up to see three red, spectral streams of energy descending on ground nearby the three gravestones, penetrating the terrain.

The brunette boy was astounded to see a spectacle like that, although he literally expected something like that happening.

"So it began," Walken murmured.

"Awoken, my children..." The Beast echoed out of nowhere, startling Walken. "And take the gift that I had bestowed upon you. Together, we will right the injustice you have suffered..."

As few second after the streams dissipated, three hands came out of the ground came out of the ground, followed their heads. Slowly, three bodies slowly emerged from the ground where they were buried and stood tall with a newfound, twisted determination. Soon after, four blades suddenly protruded out of the ground, all of them covered with red, glowing veins that pulses with a dreadful power. The three figures didn't waste any time in objections to wield them.

Walken looked at them with an incredulous, disturbed face, recognizing the undead creatures being Romulus, Remus and Sylvia. Except that their appearance were literally different.

Remus wore a noble attire symbolizing his former connection with his household, consisting in very long black boots, red trousers, a brown garb with a half shredded left sleeve and and three leather belts, which two of these being wrapped around his belly and a third one being absurdly located on his right arm. His skin was extremely pale, with his slithered throat being exposed and a gruesome, jagged red scar that extended around his body, and down his partially exposed torso to the end of his left hand. has black hair with a white tuft and golden eyes. He wields a couple of two long swords as his weapon, exalting his grim determination in his face.

Sylvia stood in her violet sleeveless dress slightly exposing her cleavage, with a golden stripes at the top of it and a mostly shredded incorporated long skirt exposing her legs, and wore two separated long sleeves sharing the same color and stripes, two golden plated belts and a pair of bizarre gladiator sandals. She was the same as Remus, sharing his same pale skin, slithered throat and red scar, except that it extended from her left cheek and down her neck to the end of her left arm and can also be seen on her right thigh. She has pale blonde hair and green eyes. Her hands were holding a sinister scythe, which matches her intimidating visage.

Romulus was the most altered and demonic one of the three, having his armor being merged with his entire body and being turned into black-ironed, humanoid warrior with two big shoulder pads being also part of it and volcanic like veins extending from the left side of his helmet, down to his torso to the end of to both his hands. He wield a long huge sword with a broken top sharing the same veins as his own on his right hand. His head was covered by his helmet except his face. He has sharpened teeth and eyes blighting with an ominous light, as they were burning on a raging fire.

Walken was feeling the same aura that he felt from the Beast every time he was in his presence, except that their own was just a small portion of him. A homicidal, bloodthirsty halo of pure hatred exuded from their bodies. These mixed auras combined chilled his blood.

"I knew that he was about to resurrect them as zombies and use them as his own pawns," Walken said, taken aback from the scene. "But I never thought that he would had even poured a portion of his power to them, just like he did with me."

Keeping his eyes on the scene, he noticed three sword armed soldiers storming in the graveyard. They instantly recognized who they are and were overtaken by fear. One of them was even trembling.

"W-What the...?" One of them said.

"They were... But it's not possible!" Another one shouted.

The three undead creatures looked at them with a menacing gaze, as if they had already considered them being their first target. They didn't care if they were or not involved in the massacre in which they were murdered. They would had killed everything that has followed Queen Fatima's order, regardless of their reasons.

"I'm back to serve my own king... Serve his own head for what he's done..." Romulus said.

"Nothing can replace what was taken from me... but the lives of every bastard who betrayed me will make a good start." Remus said.

"They will pay, every single one of them. Hell no fury like this bitch scorned." Sylvia said.

"Flesh of my flesh. Blood of my Blood." The Beast said gleefully. "Those with whom you choose to share my gift... shall become your soldiers in undeath. Cease your suffering, and restore balance to the land..."

"Wh-what are those things!?" One of the soldiers shouted.

"Don't expect any answers from them! Just attack already," another one ordered.

"Are you INSANE!?" The third screamed frightened.

Two of them rushed toward the three undead creatures while the another one was running away from them. Remus promptly dashed toward him, reaching him in a second and grabbed his head.Romulus blocked the attack of one of the the two rushing soldiers by grabbing his head and lifting his body upward. The remaining one tried to rescue his comrade with a surprise attack, only for Sylvia to block him at the same way Romulus did.

They could had killed their enemies, but that wasn't what they wanted. Since they had the most brutal method to deliver their vengeance at their disposal, there's no way that could be wasted. True to their bloodlust, they engulfed their wriggling soldiers in a black-red fire with their powers, causing them to scream in agony.

Watching from afar, Walken was perplexed by their move at first until he recalled what the Beast said earlier. He flinched upon grasping the implication of this words. He observed the soldiers' bodies undergoing to a very horrific transformation. Their bodies started to decay, with their eyes becoming completely white and lifeless, their faces becoming feral ones and jagged, red scars appearing on their chests and partially spreading through their bodies.

With their enemies' metamorphosis being completed, the three undeads released their grasp on them, leaving their bodies to fall on the ground. The soldiers slowly rose up, growling ferociously. They stood tall, looking dead and without a will left in their minds, cementing the end of their humanity.

Walken froze up, disturbed and incredulous by that, a moment before recovering. "WHAT!?"

In that scenario, group of other soldiers stormed in the graveyard, this time leaded by their own captain. The ended up watching in fright what had become of their companions and the three undead monsters responsible for that.

"That can't be! Is that female creature King Gladys' daughter!?" One of the soldiers shouted incredulous.

"What are these monsters!?" Another one demanded.

"They are the ghosts of the House of Blood!" Their captain shouted.

"Ghosts cannot hurt the living," Romulus replied. "Unfortunately for you, we can."

"King Gladys' Daughter was murdered by you." Sylvia announced as she pointed her finger at them. "You will see her in hell!"

Walken assumed a very perplexed expression upon realizing what she and Remus said earlier.

"What!? But wasn't Romulus the one who killed her and Remus?" Walken demanded in his mind.

"You hadn't paid attention during the Marriage of Blood, aren't you?" The Beast said in his head. "The two didn't saw his face when he slithered their throat during his rampage. So they assumed that the soldiers killed them and not him."

Without any other delay, the Bloods rushed toward them, followed by their three mindless zombies fighting. The fight became a literal one-sided onslaught in a few seconds. Romulus, Remus and Sylvia effortlessly butchered their ranks, terrorizing of them. Blood splattered in many parts of the graveyard, including some gravestone. In that fight, the Bloods turned multiple soldiers into zombies to grow their own ranks.

Once they finished to slay their enemies and filling their ranks, the three undeads headed toward the exit. This until another wave of soldiers arrived to stop them, only to be slaughtered by their blades or feasted by the zombie who were once their comrades while other being turned into zombies in the process. Now the Bloods' hordes of zombies became very larger and threaten to grow even more. They were not human anymore, but minions and instruments of their fury.

Having observed both the substance and the physical form of the macabre mess that mangled both the cemetery's quiet and the bodies of the shredded soldiers, now scattering on the soil and wet in their own blood, Walken could really tell to have witnessed a war being initiated. He shivered for a moment upon having saw such brutality. That scene leaved a very terrific impression in his mind...

"If I wasn't watching a puppet show version of a zombie flick." Walken commented crudely.

Walken was impressed but not too much, knowing already that he saw pawns in action, not avengers. The Beast just needed to exploit their grudge, misguided or not, in order to deal with his threats. He hated to admit, but he was a pawn to the devil as well. He had intuited that because he never trusted a devil. Walken knows the obvious truth. The Beast would never give his tranquil life as long he suits him, making him expendable.

He summed his own role and that of the Bloods with a mental lecture of his own.

"Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. My life thou shalt command, but not my shame: The one my duty owes; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave, To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here, pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, the which no balm can cure but his heart-blood which breathed this poison."

"What are bubbling about, boy?" A serious and yet mocking, female voice said from behind him.

Walken turned his head to see who talked. Much so his slight surprise, it was a petit girl with a with a battered white garb, blond airs, a very pale skin, broken nails and red eyes, adorned with a tough face. She was accompanied by a young boy in a leather armor. The girl was looking at him with a tired and yet curious visage. Despite the fact that what he said doesn't belong in his world, the brunette black armored boy decided to respond anyway, right after giving a faint smile.

"William Shakespeare." Walken replied.

"Who?" The girl demanded.

"He was a great comedian and illuminated mind in my own land," Walken said with half honesty. "By the way, why you are in this forsaken place anyway."

"Is the same thing that I asked to her," The armored boy said before looking at her. "Milady, we should-"

"Do not interrupt me, Kardus!" She shouted. "I'm fully aware that I'm talking with a herald of the Beast!"

Walken stared at her with suspicion. "How did you know about that?"

"Trust me. This is not the first time I heard of the Void."

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Johanna Fatima, former... daughter... of Queen Maria Fatima." She said with an almost resentful tone. "The boy next to me is just my servant, Kardus.

"Fatima you said?" Walken demanded surprised, not expecting that coming. "But she knows that you are here?"

"I have no mother," Johanna said coldly. "Not after all those agonizing experiments that she had performed on me. She thinks she can do everything she want. Because I wasn't born naturally, oh no. You see? I was spawned by her as her failed successor."

"Experiments? Are you talking about tests with the Beast's blood?"

"Does the pallor of my body look very normal to you? Of course not, since the Beast blood is flowing inside my veins too. I have not received any love from that whore, so I refuse of return to her. I will not show any empathy towards her... Because her soul is empty, devoted to her hollow cause to immortalize the people. A real nightmare indeed."

Upon hearing him, Walken was struck by an unusual shock. That feeling seemed partially familiar to him, although that came from a foreign person. Her story about being mistreated by her family was a slightly similar to her, only brutal and with different details. But he has not time for that since he has his own things to do.

"You won't believe but I know exactly how you feel." Walken said calmly.

"W... What?" Johanna looked very confused.

"Fatima turned your life into a living hell, but she will pay for her crimes, soon or later," Walken paused. "But enough, bullshit. Just tell me what is your deal here?"

"M... Milady?" Kardus called meekly.

"During my escape, I saw you wandering across the hills," Johanna responded upon seeing the bloodbath being still present in the cemetery below the hill. "Oh my god. What slaughter was invoked there? Has your abhorrent boss have anything to do with this horrific act?"

"Not personally," Walken said. "He just resurrected Romulus, Remus and Sylvia as his own undead agents, who are now unleashing their terrible vengeance against the ones responsible of their own deaths. All of that while turning soldiers and others as their own zombies and slaughtering the others. Their awakening and rampage was the result."

"..... So the Bloods and King Glavys' daughter have returned as dreadful Undead Knights," Johanna said, very disturbed by what she heard. "And now they began to destroy any realm, motivated by revenge... I think I'm going to puke..."

"I apologize for my insistence but we should at least get out of there," Kardus said worried, only for her to refuse his help.

As Johanna and Kardus began to argue, Walken began to considerate the vast spectrum of what he heard from her.

"If I have some lead regarding Fatima's experiments or something similar, maybe I could discover something about the Beast and his possible weaknesses. Also... She called these three creatures Undead Knights. A pretty badass name I will say."

"Hey demon." Johanna called.

"I have a name, Brutus." Walken said.

"I pretend at least on answer from you."

"Ok... Shoot."

"... I don't understand part of your strange language but..." Johanna paused, seemingly hesitant. "Why you gave me that precious information regarding the Bloods and Sylvia having returned back to life without any protest?"

Walken remained impassive, pondering for a moment about the information he gave to her. She was practically right about that since he told that information to the daughter of the enemy that the beast wanted to see dead. He could be punished from a moment or another.

Yet, deep inside, Walken had a strange vantage. Having felt the power of the Beast and that of his three agents, he had the confirm that his power didn't seem to be akin with that his boss had supposedly bestowed to him. He saw the difference, so he was certain to have a ace in his sleeve. Such discover made him smirk with dark confidence.

"Let's just say that I have my own type to vengeance to carry out."
> Justified Betrayal (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After his encounter with Johanna and Kardus, Walken leaved Tombstone Hill and followed the Undead Knights, being none other than Romulus, Remus and Sylvia. Resurrected by their bargain with the Beast, they marched toward Grosstin Castle, armed with the power that their benefactor bestowed to them and their ever growing own legion of zombies. Their vengeance their only motivation, but unbeknownst to them it was also part of the plan of the Beast to kill Fatima.

But Walken didn't cared about his supposed master's schemes. He merely followed them in order to stay in the act, searching for clues regarding this medieval world and the Beast, waiting for the opportunity to put his own agenda to motion.

The Undead Knights' vengeance started at Fort Alessa, a fortress in the borderland, where many had fallen in the past. Beyond that frontier, there was Grosstin Castle, presided by Duke Gloucester: a former war hero, who had become a corrupt glutton. He had assisted Queen Fatima and King Gladys in the massacre of the House of Blood. The fear caused by the rumors of the ghosts of the Bloods returning from the dead was instantly spread as the lookouts spotted them and screamed in horror.

"It's Hell! Hell itself has come!"

In their way, stood a visibly intimidated army of soldiers, this time backed up by well trained knights and huge, misshapen executioners. But that wasn't enough to halt their invasion as the bloody fury of the Undead Knights and the hordes of their voracious minions butchered their efforts and their bodies. The valiant soldiers ended up being killed in a horrible way or worse, being turned into a zombie and condemned to follow their cause.

Walken followed the events from the shadows as the Romulus, Remus, Sylvia and their undead forces managed to penetrate the castle and advanced toward the court. They were met by Duke Gloucester who called forth a Bug Bear, a twisted, bestial monstrosity that wiped out dozens of zombies in its way. Unfortunately for the duke, the beast was eventually defeated and turned into a feast for the remaining zombies in front of his eyes. Terrorized, Gloucester tried to escape, only for Romulus to decapitate him with his huge, demonic sword. With his death, the Gloucester Duchy was fallen.

The day after that, Walken followed the Bloods in the Realm of the Knights. They had arrived in Wall Citadel, where they were fought by the Knights of the Holy Trees, leaded by Gerald, a former friend of their who had betrayed them as well. On the road for Woodedge Castle, the three champions of the Beast seized the citadel and massacred the Holy Knights and their three Elite Commanders, being Skarsgard, Bloody Haggarty, and Francesca, Gerald's daughter.

They eventually reached Gerald, who was visibly shaken for both his treachery toward the three and Francesca's demise. Being unable to reason with them, he resorted to the Fruit of the Holy Tree, a red fruit with orange veins resembling a heart that exuded the same power as the beast. Gerald's act resulted him to turn himself into a pale white, hulking abomination named Nephilim. He was indeed stronger, but the three undeads demonstrated to have become powerful enough to overwhelm him. However, that was a very chilling victory for them.

"What have you done to yourself?" Romulus asked.

"To think that you would had fallen from grace in a horrible way like this." Sylvia commented disgusted.

"Now you've seen the true horror of Fatima," Gerald said with a weak half-human voice. "Behind her lies a power not of this world. I betrayed you, not because of any blind faith in the Queen... But because I was afraid... Afraid of the power she wields."

Before dying, Gerald revealed to them that, not only Fatima was their real enemy, but that she possessed a tremendous power that doesn't belong in that world and that her vanguard was coming for them. True to his words, the Bloods were then met by hordes of marked zombies similar to their own, with their chests having gruesome blue scars instead of the red ones. These ones proven to be more stronger than their own zombies; strong enough to rip their ranks apart. Romulus and the other two were forced to retreat. They managed escaped but ended up losing most of their own zombies.

Once out of the castle, Romulus, Remus, Sylvia and their now diminished undead army continued their march in the Land of Dracoon, a mysterious and violent realm, which past and forbidden lore were shrouded in the mystery. Such territory was ruled by Lord Folis and the Order of Ouroborous, a cult compose by half-reptilian knights who claimed to have received powers from Folis himself.

They arrived in Wilhelm Citadel, were the knights of the cult were waiting for them. The Undead Knights wiped out every opposition that the leaders of Dracoon's forces were throwing at them and gathered new fresh zombies under to add in their hordes. The three undeads stormed inside Rondegarde Castle, certain to find the truth behind Fatima's power and the Marriage of Blood.

And was in that castle that Walken will put his plan into motion.





In the middle of the chaos that was tearing the land of Dracoon apart, Walken wandered undisturbed in the halls of the castle. He saw the Undead Knights cutting their way toward Lord Folis' court room. However, he wasn't interested to see the incoming fall of the lord and took  a different path, headed to the western halls of the castle. Guided by a hunch, Walken proceeded through the hallways in search for something. And he know what it is. 

"According to what I heard from Johanna, the former inhabitants of Dracoon had a deep knowledge of the Void but weren't so fond of the Beast, nor even Lord Folis' ideas. They had built a secret archive that was then sealed inside the walls of the castle. The problem now is... What walls?"

After a handful of minutes, Walken stepped into an apparently long corridor. There are multiple doors on the sides of the corridor and a doorway at the very end of it. Walking forward, he inspected every room, but couldn't find anything relevant to his search. Then, as if he was being called by something, Walken looked at the wall at his left. He felt some arcane aura flowing from inside it. He approached the wall and put his hand on it. The feeling was getting stronger as he got closer to it.

"I think I had found you." Walken said.

Walken took a moment to gather his own focus and smashed through the wall with his own incremented strength. Ignoring the falling bricks and debris, he shrugged off the dust and looked around. He became instantly impressed by the room in which he was in, being a huge library sorely composed by granite bookshelves and a table at the very end of it. As he walked toward it, he felt the aura getting stronger as he got closer to it.

Examining the table, Walken found a oddly iron covered tome on it with a bloody bookmark on it and a expired bottle of ink with a withered feather inside. But the energy didn't came from the book, but rather in the wall in front of him. Due to not knowing the nature of the aura, he abstained from destroying it. He glanced at the tome and opened it, getting to the bookmarked page. Walken was struck by surprise upon see what the page was all about.

"Are you serious?"

The page described the aforementioned a object it while the next one depicted the image of a deformed crystal with some mineral-like veins on it.

There was, once upon a eternity, there was Scourge of Emptiness.  It has the power to weaken every demonic entity from the Void. We had tested that when were attacked by a human who made use of the Fruit of the Void and turned into a monster. The result was may be what we had hoped for. If is used correctly, maybe we have a possibility against the Beast.

At the gates of incoming, orchestrated tragedy, we had found the legacy and the blood of ancient, nameless entities who had valiantly opposed the Beast. They failed in their quest, and yet their powers almost managed to diminish him. We found their bodies, still exuding their own lingering residue of their powers and fused them with the holy artifacts of our families to create this thing. Our world suffered the machinations of the Beast for a long time ago.

Unfortunately, we had run out of time. The Order of Ouroborous and Lord Folis are not interested in our crusade. But to be more accurate, he didn't know nothing about us or this artifact. He doesn't even know what to do with it. The only things that I know for sure is that Folis seemed to had fell in love with the Void's powers and has no intention to it. I had hidden this weapon and this very library from his twisted eyes. I hope that someone worth enough of this item will take our task.

"Whoever wrote this must have huge guts to create a kryptonite like this," Walken said impressed and looked at the wall in front of him. "Can that be-"

Walken interrupted his phrase upon perceiving something from behind him and instinctively ducked. Something whizzed above him and stabbed the left side of the wall. Startled, he slowly rose up, keeping his eyes on the object, being bone pruning scythe. Before he can even do anything, a coarse, metallic voice roared in rage from behind him.

"YOU TRAITOR!!"

The brunette boy quickly turned his head toward the source of the scream,found Dagon, being in his creepy, demonic form. The demon didn't express any emotion due to his head being a plague doctor mask, but Walken can feel his demonic energy going almost out of control showing his anger. He, however, wasn't so startled to see him. Walken expected that to come.

"I guess you are not here for a mentor talk." Walken said with annoyance.

"Is this your way to show gratitude to our master, Brutus?" Dagon asked inquisitively.

"Personally, I don't own nothing to someone who was going to screw me over in the future." Walken retorted.

"Insolent fiend, " Dagon replied with calm fury. "No wonder you had suddenly disappeared from our watch. This disgusting power ,that is permeating this room , is hiding it's presence and your own from our masters' eyes."

Walken went wide-eyed upon hearing that. The book mentioned the Scourge of Emptiness being a bane for the Beast but he didn't actually thought that it's influence allowed it to hide its existence and anyone in its radius from the Beast for this whole time. Walken found a very sinister delight upon seeing the vantage behind this object.

"Judging by what he said, this thing can also hide the existence of the bearer from the eyes of the being that comes from the Void."

"So it was really that dangerous for him," Walken said as he materialized his long cleaver in his hand. "I guess that gives you a reason to take me down."

"That's right," Dagon replied impassively. "Contrary to the Bloods who were keeping their pact with our master intact for the sake of vengeance, you are a oath breaker who was just acting exactly like Fatima would."

"Don't even lump me with that abusive megalomaniac."

"Enough with your sarcasm. Time to harvest you soul, Brutus!"

To reinforce his proclamation, a grim, gray aura engulfed both his nine digits claws, a few moments before dissipating as a pale white bone scythe, which blade was a mixture of fangs, tusks and claws.

Without any warning, Dagon hovered above the floor and furiously flew toward the brunette boy. Once he got close to him, the demon swung his scythe to decapitated him. Walken instantly moved away from him with a startling speed, dodging the blow and reappearing behind him. Walken attacked Dagon from behind him, only for the latter to block his attack.

Walken jumped backwards, distancing himself away from Dagon, who swung his scythe in his direction, causing some of the fangs, tusks and claws that were composing the scythe to whizzing toward the boy. Walken grinned as he landed on the floor and quickly raised his hand toward the bone rain and opened a portal in front of him. The pointy projectiles were sucked inside and redirected against him from behind, stabbing him multiple time, but Dagon didn't flinched at all. Walken became a little nervous, although he didn't expected that to work anyway.

"Pain means nothing to me," Dagon said irritated. "If that supposed to infuriate me even further, you had succeed!"

"Does that even matter?" Walken asked arrogantly.

"You better don't tempt my anger any further!" Dagon shouted as he rushed furiously toward him, already going to slash him with a horizontal swing.

Walken jumped toward him at a very high height, avoiding the attack and virtually flying above him. He was about to land behind the demon when suddenly a burst of black energy struck from behind him, and sent him flying toward the wall above the stone table. Walken yelled in pain, a moment before he was slammed against the wall. He collapsed to the floor, with his cleaver falling from his hand. The wall cracked for a bit.

The boy found himself convulsing and moaning for the pain. He felt weakened by the blow that he felt on his back. That made him notice in confusion this detail. His black armor protected him from the impact against the wall, yet it didn't had protected him by being hit by that burst.

"Only in moments like this you regain your own reason, Brutus." Dagon said crudely as he approached Walken. "That dark blast has the capability to get through your armor and served to weakening you for handful of seconds... Which are enough for me to finish you."

"What the... Hell was that?" Walken asked in confusion with a weak tone as he forcefully lifted his head toward Dagon.

He became shocked upon seeing him being accompanied by six shadows resembling Dagon and the weapon he was wielding. One of them has his own scythe being previously charged with a black aura, that dissolved afterwards. Dagon and his shadow duplicates made a chilling chorus of metallic laughter, which almost resembled the shrill sound of the nails grating a chuckle board

The boy assumed a almost terrified face, as the auditive torture that predicted his demise wasn't enough. He was scared, until the memories of his death flashed in front of his eyes. With that, his fears were melted away, replaced by anger. He refused to die another horrible death like the previous one. 

"I am seriously going to die again, aren't I?" Walken asked irritated.

"You arrogant fool," Dagon said as he and his shadow duplicates raised his scythes and charged them with a ominous red aura. "You should know when you had to remain silent as judgement was about to fall upon you!"

Walken smirked has he charged his hand with a violet energy and materialized a warp in front of it. "Who the fuck said that I will die again?"

Walken shot a projectile of dark-violet energy on the warp in the same moment Dagon and his clones swung their blood colored scythes toward him, being about slice him into pieces.

But before the coup the grace was delivered, the world around Walken became too bright as a marine-blue light exploded from the wall, illuminating the room. He shut his own eyes to protect his sight. Then, Dagon and his duplicates let out brief chilling screams of pain. For Walken, it was more unbearable than his laughs. He was about to tap his ears when the voices started to disappear, one by one until only that of the original Dagon remains.

Feeling the weakening caused by the dark blast wearing off, Walken slowly opened his eyes. He became surprised to see Dagon being alone and partially illuminated by the marine-blue lights coming from the wall. The shadows had disappeared and the demon looked seemingly weakened and distressed, alone without his clones and kneeling while barely trying to keep get up.

"You weren't expecting to redirect my bullet on the wall and not against you, huh?" Walken asked mockingly.

Walken grabbed his cleaver and rose up. He then approached the weakened Dagon, not bothering to check up the source of the light. He had to deal with that demon first. However, Walken was sure of one thing. Whatever was irradiating this overwhelming was the thing he was looking for. That made him notice that it was weakening Dagon, being a herald of the beast, but not him.

"How.. How could you... Not being affected by that light!?" Dagon questioned bewildered. "You were-"

Walken didn't respond. He gave him a cold stare at the demon, who seemed to had realized something.

"Yet... I had suspected that your power wasn't akin with our master," Dagon said. "But I never thought that possibility may be really founded... The powers that had bestowed to you wasn't that of your master!"

"You had realized that just now?" Walken said with a crude smile.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Dagon shouted in denial. "How is that possible!? HOW!!?"

"Who knows?" Walken paused. "Oh, by the way. Is not like I had even liked your boss to begin with. I just keep stuck with a rule from demonology one on one: Never trust a devil."

After that, Walken dashed toward Dagon and immediately split him in two pieces with his cleaver, not giving him the opportunity to recover and killing him for real. The two body parts were slowly blackened and were turned into dust. The brunette boy turned toward the wall to see the source of that light, which has now died off after a few seconds.

The source was a marine-blue deformed crystal with some azure mineral-like pulsing veins on it, being hidden behind that wall. no doubt about that. It was indeed the Scourge of the Emptiness that he was looking for. Seeing the object in live was a strange experience for him. Without even wasting any more time, he took the still irradiating crystal and looked around for something that he can use to hide it and carry it with him. To his luck, Walken spotted a big sack on one of the stone bookshelves. He emptied the sack of it's content, being just superfluous jewelry and put the crystal inside of it.

Walken walked out of the room and headed toward the doorway where he came from. What remained to do for him was waiting for the opportunity to strike. He saw in first person what the Beast was capable of but he has not cower in fear of him and take it.

During the time he had observed the Undead Knight's action at both Gloucester Duchy and the Realm of the Knights, they questioned about their own humanity and the link in between Queen Fatima and their powers, only for the Beast to mislead them from that reasoning and motivated them to focus on their vengeance, manipulating them from the scenes.

For Walken, that was another reason to turn his back on him. Knowing that the Beast would never grant his wish to have a new tranquil life, he would had took it in his own way.

"You are not the only chess master around."





Having found what he was looking for, Walken backtracked toward entrance of the castle with the intention to leave. As he stepped in the main hall, he was met by Johanna, who was tranquilly looking around despite the corpses filling the place and the chaos that had occurred in that moment. The blond pale girl noticed him and was slightly surprised to see him, not expecting him to be there.

"I can't believe. You had actually bothered to search for that mythical artifact?" Johanna asked calmly and yet visibly incredulous.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Walken demanded.

"Don't get me wrong. Dracoon was the last place I ever wanted to be." Johanna replied bluntly. "I was just looking for a place to hide from my mother's forces... You also told that Romulus, Remus and Sylvia returned as the undead champions of the Beast."

"You weren't expecting them and they army of zombies to invade this very land, right?" Walken asked.

"And turning their enemies into their voracious, undead slaves?" Johanna added and then shook her head. "No..."

"What do you think about them? They wanted-"

"I know what you are going with that reasoning and let me be honest with you," Johanna interrupted him. "I hate my mother as much as the Bloods do but... I... I completely refuse to dignify this kind of vengeance... Is too inhuman..."

"Were his that guy... Kardus?"

"He was killed by the Jester."

Upon hearing that, Walken couldn't help but raise a eyebrow while looking at her with perplexity.

"Jester?" Walken demanded confused.

"King Gladys' Jester and Queen Fatima's brother," Johanna said bluntly. "He was also victim of her experiment. But contrary to me, he didn't seemed to mind that. Oh no, instead he became grateful to her to the point to support the travesty that is my mother's ambition to control both this world and the Void."

"Whoa." Walken replied, disturbed by her words. "That was... A really awkward implication."

"Speaking of awkward, I saw a creepy bone demon who was looking for you," Johanna affirmed. "Was that your partner?"

"That guy is dead." Walken responded crudely before. "All thanks to the Scourge of Emptiness."

Johanna went-eyed in disbelieve upon hearing that. "I don't bel-"

That conversation was abruptly interrupted as Lord Folis' scream echoed through every room of the castle. Johanna was startled by that while Walken remained almost calm.

"Look, I had to check the courtroom of the fallen idiot of this realm," Walken said as he turned toward the doorway at the end of the hall.

"I though you don't like working for the Beast," Johanna pointed out. "Why looking for the Bloods anyway?"

"I wanted to confirm my supposed savior's intentions." Walken replied as he walked toward the entrance to the next room.





Ignoring the corpses and any other gruesome details that had been scattered in the wake of the Undead Knights' carnage, he navigated the bloodstained halls of the castle. It took him several minutes of wandering in between following their own trails and avoiding some death trap, but he then managed to arrive nearby the courtroom.

Walken hidden himself from behind the doorway and observed the scene, involving Romulus, Remus and Sylvia and a pale blue, plump creature, being dressed as a jester, who fled by jumping out of the window. 

"So that bastard is the Jester that Johanna talked about."

Walken turned his head toward the Romulus, who seemed both crestfallen and frustrated. He was curious to know what put the currently demonic creature into that state until he had realized the obvious. The same thing in which Dagon was responsible for, in which Romulus didn't know the truth yet.

"I know where this scene is going," Walken commented quietly.

Romulus looked at both at Remus and Sylvia, who looked at him with a very dismayed visage.

"Sylvia... It's true. At the Marriage of Blood... I killed you," Romulus admitted with a bit of guilt before looking away from her.

"But... Why?" Sylvia replied angrily.

"There, in the chaos," Romulus explained. "I searched for the two of you. But when I finally found you..." He paused for the hesitation. "It's too horrible for words. The soldiers, they had you Sylvia... They were..." He let out a sigh of rage toward himself. "With the last of my strength, I hacked them all to pieces. But in my exhaustion and rage, my final blow went wild, and cut you down."

"Then... Why bring us back?" Remus inquired. "For revenge? Or out of guilt?"

"I expect justice from those who wronged you." Romulus responded, not expecting forgiveness from them. "All those who wronged you... Deserve death."

Remus shook his head as he had already grasped the implication behind his brother's words.

"...Are you asking us to kill you?" Remus demanded incredulous. "After all of this...? The slaughter? Everything?! Besides, you looked in a mirror lately? You're already dead!"

Romulus looked down and remained silent. He remained immobile, internally cursing himself for his own selfishness. Sylvia, like Remus, was upset from what she had discovered, but understood what he was feeling in that moment. She approached the armored demon and put her hand on his arm. Remus was confused by that.

"It wasn't your actions that led us here now, Romulus," Sylvia assured. "It was fate. And now it's the fate of the kingdom that hangs in the balance. This is just our personal vengeance anymore."

In that moment, they had regained that bit of humanity that they had lost during their rebirth and the slaughter that they had committed. They know what they had done and decided to think about that once their mission was over. But that moment was short lived as the Beast's voice talked inside their minds.

"My children," The Beast's voice said. "Why do you wallow in the past... Forget your human troubles, and seek your revenge.. Your salvation..."

Having heard what the devil said to them, Walken walked away from the scene with a fed-up expression. The Beast's words managed to keep the three in partial control. But the boy never bought any of them to begin with.

Once out of Rondengarde Castle, Walken pointed his hand forward and opened a portal in front of him. He started to feel a little bit of fear for what he was about to face, until a thought reminded that of a grim certainty. There's not turning back.

"Speak for yourself, son of bitch. When I will be face to face with you, you won't have even the time to pull the trick on me."

Without any hesitation, he stepped into the portal and disappeared into the darkness, one second before the portal shrunk and disappeared as well.
> Wretched Execution (EDITED FOR PLOT HOLES)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the destruction of Dracoon, the Undead Knights marched toward the land of Cavalier, where their finally satiate their vengeance. They went through Altalia Citadel and fought the multiple waves of knights of King Gladys, who are now nothing more than fanatical worshipers of Queen Fatima.

While the battle raged on the outside, Walken had already stepped inside Cavalier Castle before them and explored the very depths beneath it. In contrast to the walls of the castle, the place a cave that almost resembled the inside of a demonic living being, with a blue landscape of bone and vivid veins. The floor seemed made of ice. It was very cold, just like the Void. As that wasn't enough, he found his path blocked by the cultist knights of Fatima. They rushed furiously, but were then instantly cut into pieces by him.

After some minutes, he reached the bottom of it. In that grim, demonic place, there was the so called Holy Tree, which in reality was a pale-azure demonic one, with it's red, pulsing fruits on it. Walken mentally assumed it's form being a crude satire of what the fanatics were worshiping.

"So that is the tree, huh," Walken commented. "I guess that was the part where climax of the story of the Bloods will be consumed." He paused. "Not that I even care about that."

"I knew I wasn't the only one in this story," A female voice said.

Walken went wide-eyed. "That voice...!"

Walken turned around to see the speaker, only to find none other than Queen Fatima herself, walking toward him. She was sporting a tiara made of flowers and white, regal dress that made her look like more of a saint than just the queen that she is.

"You must be the Beast's herald," Fatima said calmly as she stopped a few inches away from him, looking at her with interest. "Yet I don't perceive any of his powers from you," She tilted her head. "Could that be reason why he sent the Bloods against me and not you?"

"None of your damn business, Maria Fatima." Walken replied, sternly.

"Is that so?" Fatima inquired, ignoring his tone as she took other few steps toward him. "Say, that name you had used now... Did my unfaithful daughter Johanna talked to you?"

"She hated you to death, with all her tempered might and passion," Walken replied. "Especially since your brother killed her friend."

"Is curious," Fatima stated. "You are the Beast's herald and yet you are so different from him. I can't still believe that my daughter felt sympathy for you. However, as much as we hate to admit, we have the same enemy in common. Think about-"

"I know you are going to do," Walken interrupted. "You are going to pull out the 'we are not so different' card. And let me tell you: Compared to you, I have my own reason to go against my master. But lets talking about you. What do you expect me to do? Forge some alliance with you?"

"You are not the type to side with me," Fatima responded. "However, Brutus, I'm not interested in you. But rather in your future."

"I'm not following your logic." Walken said perplexed.

"I know very well about that secret weapons of your but," Fatima paused. "Once you had killed your master... What you are going to do? Becoming the new beast or continuing my work in your style?"

"....... None of the two," Walken retorted. "I just want to seize his powers or means to get what I want."

Not wanting to add anything else, Walken shoved aside Fatima without even considering her status and powers, and walked away from her, headed toward the exit.

"Make no mistakes," Fatima warned. "I am not his only enemy. If you think about me being free from it's clutches, you should at least consider that he was considering to keep a eye on you from the very start."

Walken stopped in front of the exit. "So?"

"Let me ask you one last thing," Fatima asked. "What if the Bloods will come for you?"

Taunted by her question, Walken turned his head toward Fatima, giving her a glare, reinforced by a visage filled with a grim determination. The queen understood that he made up his mind but found that a little distasteful for her tastes. Walken looked back at his path.

"I will fight them and seize their powers as well," Walken responded seriously. "As for you, you can go straight to hell, mad bitch."

With this last insult, Walken went outside the room and disappeared from the sight of Fatima, who looked disappointed and yet she didn't felt any difference. Once outside, Walken nonchalantly leaved the cave, ignoring the sliced bodies of his enemies and being about to leave the castle for the grand finale.

"Time to get ready for the climax."

The Undead Knights stormed inside Cavalier Castle and they made a very brutal work of their enemies. They ended up fighting their resurrected enemies, the royal guards, facing the enigmatic Jester and fought the now undead King Gladys, who asked nothing to be putted out of his misery. The Bloods granted his wish. Sylvia in particular was deeply shaken by the horrifying condition in which his father was and has another reason to want Fatima's death.

They eventually reached Fatima in the very depth of the castle, being nothing but a cave almost resembling the Void. In that grim, demonic place, there was the so called Holy Tree, which in reality was a pale-azure demonic one, with it's red, pulsing fruits on it. She merged with the tree, becoming a horrid monstrosity named Yggdrasill. After a fierce fight, Fatima was left horribly mutilated and being about to die in agony, but not before having told the a very disgusting truth.

The Beast, their own benefactor, was their real enemy. She even gave a stone that allowed them to live out of their masters' grasp before dying to her own wounds. The devil spoke in their minds and reminded them their real place, only for them to turn their back on him and using the stone to free themselves from his influence in defiance. The only downside was that they are now haunted what they had done in the name of vengeance, from both the Void and the rest of the world. Angered, the Beast gave them his own chilling ultimatum.

"Grah!!! Soon or later you'll die again-- and guess where you'll end up then?" The Beast warned furiously. "I'll be sure to keep a spot nice and warm for you!"

But they didn't cared at all. Atonement was their only reason to live now. They will die by fighting the Beast's forces in an act of defiance as part of their attempt to pay for what they had done.

Unbeknownst to them, Walken watched the whole thing from the Void. He felt very nervous about what he was about to do, but then reminded himself to remain to true to his intention. Fear is not contemplated.





Days after the death of Fatima, in the cave of the Void where he met the Beast for the first time, Walken made his first move. Suppressing his nervousness, he walked toward the crooked gate and entered inside. His blood steadily chilled as he was getting closer, and he know why. That was the Beast he was going to fight and the tremendous power that he was perceiving from him was enough to stagger his conviction. But this time, his grim determination had mostly replaced his own fear.

Walken entered inside the gates and found himself being in the most absurd place possible. In contrast to the cold and yet volcanic cave, the room almost resembled majestic cathedral. The air was rarefied and there was no temperature.There was no chair or any religious furniture in his way and there was no window. The floor, the columns and the walls were mostly composed of granite. Vines made of human bone wrapped around the columns and the ceiling a seemingly endless void.

On the other side of the cathedral, he found the Beast, standing in front of a water fountain nearby the altar. He was silent, just like the room. Walken walked toward him, putting aside any doubt or hesitation. His heart was beating rapidly but managed to keep the sound of his breath at low volume. He stopped at the center of the place, waiting for his former master's answer. He didn't made him wait.

"So you killed off Dagon, disappeared from my watch and then dared to return," The Beast said bluntly before turning his horrid figure toward him. "You know, contrary to the Bloods who dared to defy me in the last moment, you were the one I had expected most, Brutus."

Walken glared at him. "You know that I never trusted you in the first place."

"You forgot that was I the one who saved you from the death." The Beast retorted.

"As your mercenary," Walken replied. "You never had considered to give me a normal life in exchange for my loyalty toward you and a cheap task like make sure that the Bloods succeeded in killing Queen Fatima. And before you ask that question, yes, I have choices."

"You had grown very arrogant," The Beast said annoyed. " After that woman, Joahnna Fatima, confided you the existence of a weapon with the power to destroy me. If I wasn't able to detect your presence in Dracoon, that means you have that in your possession already."

"I presume that you had checked the library in Rodengarde castle after I had remove the object." Walken guessed.

"Tell me... Is this the part where you fight me?" The Beast demanded before making a disturbing grin.

"No, you asshole. Is your execution!"

"You won't have the time."

Before Walken can do anything, everything around him went completely dark.

Confused, he looked around but couldn't see a thing. He opened his mouth but couldn't say anything that he was repeatedly hit in the head by some unseen hand, constantly striking him like a hammer. The storm of blows stopped after a brief time, followed by a single, heavy hit in his stomach. Feeling something rising from his throat, Walken ended up vomiting something. His own blood. Brutally battered and dizzied with an unbearable headache, the brunette boy fell backwards, but was then grasped by something. He couldn't see that but he could feel something rocky pressuring on his head. His body was lifted very high.

Then, the darkness around him vanished but could barely see anything due to the granite fingers partially his sight.

Walken realized too late that he was actually grabbed by the Beast's granitic hand and was lifted above his sight. The Beast brought the boy's face toward him and stared at him with his blue liquid, gushing, cyan eyes. The demon put his other hand on Walken's mantle and pulled out the big sack. As the creature stared at it, the sack suddenly burned in red flames, revealing the blue-marine crystal irradiating it's own light. The Beast growled irritated for that bright.

"So this is the Scourge of the Emptiness," The Beast said. "Your so called weapon. Now wonder you were looking for that. It's power is disgustingly diminishing me... But unluckily for you, is not this powerful enough to suppress my power. Only close."

"Are you... Kidding me!?" Walken said shocked.

"You will pay at full price for having even thought to kill me!" The Beast said furiously. "However, once I had destroyed you, you won't even join the Bloods in the hell that I will put them into."

"You damn... prick." Walken said in defiance.

"You were right about one thing," The Beast replied. "I won't had granted your wish. You see? You will be my next vessel after my death."

Walken eyes went-eyed, "WHAT!?"

"Let me explain one thing. I may be powerful, but one day, mankind will have finally found the way to get ride of me. As much I was trying to delay that, it will eventually come. That fact was utterly proven by two thing. The first one being Dracoon's developing the Scourge of Emptiness, and the second one was Queen Maria Fatima's attempt to control me and the void. If she wasn't that insane, she would had used the power of the Void to study a way to put a halt to it."

"Are you... telling me...?"

"Yes. That is where you came into play," The Beast responded. "What I had to do is to consume your soul and conserve your now demonic body in depth of the Void. And when I would had been finally took down, I will take possession of your body. Then, I will wait the time they had forgotten me to start a new scheme. As for your soul... You won't exist in anymore."

Walken's heart stopped upon hearing the last part. He had heard of many forms of fate worse than death, but he never thought to find himself facing his existence being erased. Walken can tell the worst part was coming but refused to believe that. After what he had endured in his past life, being screwed over in this new one and then disappear was unacceptable. His anger didn't took so much to become this evident in both his face and voice. 

"Don't screw with me!!" Walken screamed.

"You are not in position to bark, Brutus," The Beast retorted angered. "Because you will be the one who is going to face the execution. And just to make sure that your hope will be crushed, I'm going to destroy your weapon first."

The Beast closed the hand holding the crystal and crushed it into pieces in front of Walken's eyes. In that moment, a immense cyan light suddenly exploded from his hand. The explosion overwhelmed the Beast but not the brunette boy, whose head was released by the demon's grasp loosening and left to fall on the floor.

Walken didn't know what happened, but he heard the Beast letting out a horrible scream of pain accompanied by raging, shrilling ghastly wails as the light diminished with the pass of time. As he rose up, Walken witnessed a very astounding scene.

The Beast was knelling on the floor and his scream steadily loosing strength, engulfed by a vortex of blood as the azure, raging ghosts who were composing his horrific body shrilling. Their spectral appearance started to melt into his body, slowly turning into into a solid layer of living flesh, silencing their voices for good. The vortex dissolved into rusty, scarlet dust, leaving a defenseless demon, being now made of gruesome flash rather than a coil of furious souls. He struggled to get up but himself too weak to even move.

Walken smirked cruelly upon seeing that as he materialized his long cleaver on his hand and approached the creature.

"My powers..." The Beast murmured incredulous.

Walken got closer to him.

"I can't feel them." The Beast added.

And stopped nearby him.

"Well... That was unexpected." Walken said mockingly.

"What... Have you... DONE!?" The Beast screamed in rage as he tried to punch him with his still granitic hand, only for his former herald to dodge him immediately and cut off his flesh arm, which didn't spurred any blood at all. "GRRAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"Hey, don't blame me. You had done this by yourself." Walken countered.

The Beast clutched his teeth to resist his pain and glared furiously at him. "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!"

The devil tried to punch him again with his other hand, but Walken easily evaded it cut off his other arm, causing him to scream even more. And to add another humiliation to him, the boy sliced it's leg without sever them, just to incapacitate him.

Walken took a few steps back and watched the once feared creature now being reduced at a moaning, maimed beast. Fed-up, the Beast stopped moaning, replacing them with growls.

"You think you can't get away from me... After that unforgivable act of yours!!?" The Beast shouted.

"I don't expect anything." Walken replied calmly.

"You had actually destroyed the possibility to return to your own world and live a normal life in your way," The Beast pointed out. "I was the only one who can fulfill that wish."

Walken spit on him, twice. "You bring up this fact only when is useful to you. Just like the Blood's vengeance."

"I should had devoured your soul when I had the opportunity. When I had brought you into the Void I said that I had bestowed my powers to you, but that was actually a lie. Your powers doesn't came from me. It was bestowed to you by someone from another world. someone far more sinister than me."

".... Who?"

"Neither I don't know his identity." The Beast said. "Still, don't even think you will came out of there unpunished. Remember Johanna's dead friend Kardus? I had resurrected him and her dead mother as monster and sent them against the Bloods."

"So what?" Walken asked, not getting the logic behind his words.

"There's the kicker," The Beast smiled cruelly. "Before they died, they implanted memories inside the mind of the Bloods. Memories of you using Dagon's spell to send Romulus into an uncontrollable rage. And guess what is going on now! They are coming for you!"

Walken looked at him with a slightly surprised, but then made a sinister smile at as he leaned closer to the Beast's face, much to his confusion.

"I don't care." Walken said gleefully.

"And what about your wish!? How do you even think to realize your wish without me!?" The Beast ragingly pointed out.

"I will find a way." Walken replied calmly as he put his left hand on the monsters shoulder and prepared his cleaver to impale him.

"WAIT!" The Beast shouted.

"AVE, CESARE!!" Walken proclaimed as he thrusted his weapon inside the Beast's heart and let him squirm a moment before retrieving it back.

Walken recoiled, taking the distance from the demon, who started to convulse uncontrollably at an increasing speed. Then he roared as his body suddenly exploded into a pillar of red flames who consumed his body and shrunk in dimensions before disappearing, leaving only a puddle of black slime. He felt a little disgusted, but under a second look, he found that very appropriated end for his manipulator.

"You had fucked with the wrong guy for the last time."

But contrary to his proclamation, Walken knew that his former benefactor was right. He was left alone, with no specter of a hint about how he can get his wish. Then, he recalled something that the Beast said to him earlier.

"If the Beast knew my name and was able to save my soul... That means that he was somehow able to bring me in this world from my own. There's no way he could had lied to me. Otherwise I won't be here in this moment."

"There must be something in this place that I can use. This place must be his sanctuary. I can fell a enormous energy engulfing this place, almost similar to that of the Beast itself. And I better find a way to acquire that power before the Undead Knights will get there."

Ignoring the pain of the injuries, Walken scanned the cathedral, finding for a point to start his research. He glanced at the fountain from before. He walked toward it and looked inside. At first there was his own reflection in the water, which face looked very battered, with his face being partially blood covered. Walken was grateful to his demonic endurance. Nothing happened in that moment.

Then, just when Walken was about to look away, his reflection disappeared, replaced by a series of images illustrating a scene, just like a movie. Walken didn't know what was going on until he realized what he was seeing.

"No... Not that scene."

The scene that appeared in the water was the moment in which he died in the explosion in front of his family, in his own world. As the explosion died off, everything went black. Walken thought that being the end, until the scene began to illustrate something else. What was showing to him was the aftermath of that tragedy. After his own funeral, Phillia was incarcerated into a criminal psychiatric hospital. As for his parents, they gave up their position as the headmasters of their own school out of guilt and moved away from their home due to the society ostracize them.

Walken understood that the fountain was showing what he wanted to see. For a moment, he felt satisfaction to see Phillia and the parents who had supported her horrible practices getting what they deserved. It lasted for a moment, until guilt bitten him. Walken hated to admit but as much as he hated his own family for having mistreated him, he wasn't so different from Phillia. He realized to had become someone much worse than her, if not even crueler.

But that wasn't over yet. The scene continued, showing what happened in the following years after that. Walken's face contorted in shocked dismay. He expected Phillia to had at least paid for her crimes. Instead, she got was released for a good conduct and came to live with his parents in their new home, far away from the society until the scandal died off. She wasn't even pretending. Phillia actually admitted her responsibility for her own crimes and, unexpected to him, she got cured. She got better and so are his parents. They felt guilty for the damage that they had done to him. They really missed him. After that, the image vanished, gave their place back to his reflection, showing his awfully shocked face.

Walken took a few steps back, taken aback from what he saw. He wanted to deny what he had saw but a part of him was telling him the awful truth. What he saw was a mockery to him. He refused to accept that. For what he got, the fountain showed him what was happening to his family. He saw them getting better and getting out of the mud in which they putted themselves into.

And the only catalyze of their own change of life... Was his own death.

"Are you... Fucking... KIDDING ME!!?" Walken screamed incredulous, being almost on the verge of insanity. "Are you telling me... That Phillia, my own hated and disgusting sister ended up becoming a better person? And that she got to live almost happily with our parents? With no consequences?.... Are you telling that they get to live their own lives... BUT NO ME!!?"

Trembling for the outburst, Walked closed his hands into fists. He felt insulted like he never was in his life. He seemed about to explode in anger when he stopped trembling and remained still for a moment. He then cackled, and the cackle became a chuckle. And after that, Walken laughed madly, louder and louder. His voice echoed through the cathedral, refusing to stop.

That laugh lasted for a few moments until it was interrupted by a ferocious voice.

"BRUTUS!!"

Hearing that, Walken instantly stopped and turned around to see Romulus, Remus and Sylvia. They were standing in front of him, with no marked zombie on their side. They didn't need that. Walken know why they came and what they want from him. He know they want to kill him but remain looked at them with an impassive expression.

"Oh... You." Walken said calmly.

"You know why we are here," Romulus said menacingly. "You were the one who putted me in a rampage and made me kill Sylvia!... And my brother!"

Walken didn't respond.

"Why you don't say anything?" Romulus asked.

Walken still doesn't respond.

"And where is your master?" Romulus inquired impatiently. "He's much of a coward to come and face us?!"

"I guess you are a coward too." Remus said.

"You don't have even the courage to speak after what you have done to Romulus?" Sylvia demanded.

"The Beast...? Your vengeance...?" Walken said with a half smile, much to Blood's confusion. "...Honestly... I don't care of any of that anymore."

"Are you making fun of us?" Remus asked irritated.

"Wait, Remus," Sylvia said. "There's something wrong-"

"I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS!!" Romulus roared as he rushed at him with his huge, demonic sword, ready to cut him down.

As the Romulus' sword was getting closer to him, Walken parried the blow his hand and shoved his shoulder at him, sending him to fly toward a granite wall. Refusing to lose his grip on his sword, Romulus crashed and collapsed on the ground with it.

Sylvia immediately charged toward the boy and attacked him with her scythe from his left. Walken blocked it's blade with his own free hand and grinned a second before pulling the scythe toward him, dragging Sylvia in his direction. As she got closer on him, he back handed her head and propelled her away from him. She ended up briefly rolling on the floor, with her scythe falling from her hand.

Walken then turned his attention at Remus, who was running with great agility toward him, armed with his long swords. Approaching the boy, Remus swung his blades at him, but end up missing him as Walken jumped above him and landed behind him. Before Remus can even react, Walken struck him in the back with a kick, making him fall. His long swords fell from his hands.

The Bloods recovered from his counters and picked up their weapons. Their turned their eyes toward Walken, who, strangely for them, was doing nothing. He wasn't even attempting to exploit their moment of vulnerability. He just watched them.

"Enough games!" Romulus shouted. "What is your gimmick!?"

"He's making fun of us?" Remus inquired.

"I don't even think is taking us seriously." Sylvia replied.

"Nope, I know how serious you can be," Walken said. "But you know what, screw it." He paused. "You want to know where is your hated enemy first?" He grinned madly. "Too bad, you had mangle me first."

Irritated by his behavior, the Bloods rushed toward him, this time going for a coordinated assault. However, as much they tried and as much power they had unleashed, they couldn't land a hit on Walken, not even in the slightest. At every attack, Walken countered, repelled or parried every attack they tried launch on him. The Bloods ended up being repelled away from him.

"My turn." Walken said as he dashed toward Sylvia at very startling speed, being about to swung his long cleaver at him.

Romulus blocked his attack while Remus tried to attack Walken from behind. The brunette boy dodged the blow by moving away at the same absurd speed he came, leaving Remus' swords accidentally clashing against Romulus' weapon. Having distanced himself away from them, Walken pointed his hand at them and opened a small portal in front of him. He shot multiple, blood colored spears inside of it. 

Warned by their own demonic perception, Undead Knights looked above and saw the blood colored spears raining down upon their heads. Romulus protected Sylvia and Remus with his body, taking all of the bullets that exploded in scarlet pillars of energy. He grunted for the devastating blows that were inflicted on him.

"Brother!" Remus shouted.

"Romulus, are you nuts!?" Sylvia inquired upset.

"I'm fine... It's ok." Romulus reassured.

Exploiting their distraction, Walken charged toward them and instantly approached them, ready to cut Romulus down. Having noticed that, Romulus blocked his cleaver and charged his huge sword with his demonic energy. He then pulled his blade back and launched a furious flaming slash at him while shouting furiously.

Walken dodged the blow, but didn't had the time to move away that Romulus promptly impaled his sword through his stomach, almost reaching his heart. That act was then joined by Sylvia and Remus stabbing him from behind.

The brunette boy stopped moving, paralyzed by both the pain and the his heart being pierced. His life, like his oxygen and his blood, began to slipping away from him. Walken looked dumbfounded at his currently impaled body and then glanced at Romulus' demonic serious face.

Walken was left baffled by that, if not a little dismayed upon feeling his second death coming.

"To be honest... I wasn't actually thinking to throw away my life. Shit... I made some miscalculation... So... This is Game Over for me." Walken thought.

"You got what really deserve. Now do yourself a favor and die already, demon." Romulus said mercilessly.

"Eheheheheh... Well done," Walken said weakly and then coughed blood out of his mouth. "But first... Let me confide you a secret."

Without any warning, Walken raised pointed his hand at them and unleashed a wave of violet energy that got through their heads. A memory flashed in front of them. They could see the memory implanted by the Beast being overwritten by another one, revealing that Dagon was the one who intended to put Romulus into a rampage that killed Sylvia and Remus, and not Walken. And much to their surprise, they also discovered that Walken had merely hijacked that.

"No..." Romulus said incredulous. "That cannot be..."

The Bloods looked shocked for that revelation, having a hard time to accept what happened. Reluctantly, they pulled their weapons out of Walken's body, leaving him fall on the floor. The brunette boy was laying on the ground, with his blood gushing out of his wounds. Due to his demonic powers, his bleed was slowed down, but cannot prevent his incoming end.

"That's...?" Sylvia looked confused until she realized something. "We were tricked. The Beast implanted a false memory on us. Brutus would had told us that and yet... No."

"Sylvia, what's wrong?" Remus asked.

"I got the reason why Brutus took credit for something that he never done," Sylvia said disturbed. "I don't know if that is true, but I think he actually wanted us to kill him."

"What!?" Romulus exclaimed.

"Wait." Remus said, awfully confused. "Are you telling me that he actually us to kill him?"

"I'm not that stupid to even die without... Picking up... A fight..." Walken said weakly before coughing blood. "But seriously, doesn't that even matter?"

"What did you do this?" Romulus questioned. "What is your game? What does a servant of the Beast like you expected to gain from that!?"

Walken made a faint smile as the sight and his sense began to forsake him. But he had not fear, nor even felt satisfaction. Only resignation.

"I just had hijacked Dagon's spell in order to force the Beast to pull out something to pin the blame on me. In that case, I could had lured them to the Beast and helped them to fight him. But what I had really wanted was to steal their powers and studying them since is part of the Beast, which was able to take my soul from another dimension... Too bad."

"I thought you came for the... big one," Walken said as his senses and his sight started to forsake him. "What is even the point to worry for me?"

"The Beast... Where is he?" Romulus demanded.

The answers came by itself as the room began to shake. A brief earthquake occurred in that moment. Then something emerged from the puddle of black slime. A big giant demonic arm came out from it, followed by another one. Then a huge, demonic, gruesome, feral head slowly emerged, dragging himself toward the Undead Knights and the dying Walken.

"DID I MISSED YOUUUUUU!!!?" The creature said with the deformed, cacophonous, demonic voice.

"You bastard!" Romulus shouted.

"Is really... The Beast!?" Remus demanded, a little intimidated by that.

"That must be it. Is a demon after all," Sylvia pointed out.

"I never thought your face was this ugly," Romulus commented.

"YOU WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO DEFY ME ANY FURTHER, MY INSOLENT CHILDREN!!" The Beast retorted.

"We don't care. As I said before, we are going to fight you and whatever shit you start!" Romulus proclaimed.

Walken looked surprised to see the Beast having returned in a new disgusting form. But at that point he didn't cared about what was going on in that moment. The sight of the fight that was about to began faded away in the dark as he felt his bit of life dying off.

"Have fun..." Walken said gleefully a moment before dying for real.

Everything was engulfed by darkness. Then silence took over. And then, there was the oblivion.
> Nine Days Before the Pestilence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And so I died for a second time. I would be pissed off upon knowing about that second death. That wasn't what I had planned. There are still unanswered questions regarding my powers and the entity the Beast talked about, but were then forgotten after my demise. Still, I managed to get the tranquil life that I longed for... After I was reborn as a pony... Seriously. I wouldn't had know that detail if fate didn't had another plan for me. And this time the Beast wasn't involved."





It was as placid day in Stardust Mantle, a bright marble colored town located at north of Canterlot Mountain; a half-clouded sunny with a gentle but slightly strong wind that almost blow the manes of a few ponies on the streets. They didn't minded that, although their only fear was that it would rain at any moment, sooner or later. Some of them were greeting each others with occasional smiles and talking cheerfully. Others were not so enthusiast due to their problems. Only a few of them were being jerks for various reasons.

The pedestal in which stood tall the statue of Princess Celestia being in the center of the town is a very benevolent symbol in this town, as well as in any part of the Equestria. Two ponies passed in front of it. One being a red maned white female unicorn with a golden armor and a bright attitude.

The other, a scarlet maned beige stallion with calm demeanor, being Cinder Work. A go lucky firework seller with a tranquil life, a almost good job and a social link with a few ponies who knew him. Everything used to look the same for Cinder.

Until the second day after his sixteenth's birthday where he regained his memories as Walken Jeager.

Just when he managed to start all over again, Cinder got to remember his past identity, his two lives and the actions that he had committed. Despite that, he didn't cared that much and he became more tranquil with the pass of the days since that day. Although he was embarrassed to be a pony, living in Equestria was better that being in the Void. After all, he finally got the tranquil life that he wanted, yet he has still some doubt about that.

"Cinder, are you alright?" The unicorn demanded.

"No, Vesper, it's ok." Cinder assured.

"Are you sure?" Vesper asked suspicious. "Because I just hope that you didn't blown up everything like the last year."

Cinder groaned. "I will be more careful, ok? Just don't hammering me to much with that."

"Well, sorry, but sometimes I have to." Vesper reminded that.

Cinder rolled his eyes. He know that she was referring to the time in which he accidentally ended up destroying Flim and Flam brothers' stand, along with a few rooftops and multiple lawn of the town. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that, Cinder. The Royal Guards had finally accepted me," Vesper said happily.

"Well, congratulations, Vesper," Cinder replied with a faint smile. "It's seemed like my support finally payed off."

"You can tell that," Vesper replied. "I couldn't had reached this part of my goal without your help."

"Don't exaggerate."

"No, Cinder. I'm serious. You managed to encourage me like no other. Defend the other was my dream since my childhood. Your help means so much for me."

Cinder looked slightly surprised at her. "I don't know what to say... Thank you."

The two ponies continued forward when they spotted a trio of pegasi Royal Guards with a chariot behind them, probably waiting for Vesper. Both of them stopped.

"Well, is time for me to meet my future," Vesper announced proudly, one second before her enthusiasm was interrupted upon noticing his almost impassive face. "Cinder, is there something wrong?"

"Why you ask me that?" Cinder demanded.

".... Cinder, you can't hide that from me. You looked a little gloomy these days."

"Don't worry about me. You have a dream to realize."

"Cinder." Vesper looked at him with insistence, unconvinced of what he said.

"Just don't be too reckless in your duty. Ok?" Cinder responded bluntly.

Cinder then flinched upon realizing what he has done. Vesper's eyes almost narrowed. He expected her to mad, but then her face assumed a veil of empathy.

"Cinder, I know what means put my life on the line and I know that you are worried about me," Vesper said, smiling. "You don't have to. I had trusted you. So try to trust me for once, ok?"

Cinder was hesitant for a moment but upon seeing her like that, he finally spoke with a calm tone. "Alright. I guess I can do that."

"I will return to visit you someday, I promise." Vesper assured one moment before heading toward the chariot.

"Good luck." Cinder said.

Both of them vowed 'goodbye' at each other at the chariot carried Vesper away in the sky, driven by two of the pegasi. After that, Cinder walked toward the exit of the town, just to take some fresh air. Not minding the other ponies around them, he continued in his path while pondering about something.

"I have been Vesper Camellia's coltfriend for several years and I had morally supported her. The ponies in the town knows her as a gentle, selfless and determinate soul who really wanted the defenseless. She even asked me to become his fiance... I doubt that would happen since being a Royal Guard implies that she had to go through a life of sacrifices."

"........ Seriously, coltfriend? Why is that equestrian word play a must again?" Cinder inquired to nopony in particular.

"Is there something wrong, Cinder?" A half stern voice said.

Interrupted, Cinder halted his march and turned to see a black maned white unicorn and a green maned purple earth mare approaching him. He know very well who they are and felt a little awkward to see them.

"No. It's alright, mister Dusk Camellia." Cinder replied.

"Oh, c'mon. Don't be that reserved, young boy," Dusk said calmly. "I know for a long time what you really want. I won't say that I don't trust you, but I want you to be really honest with Vesper about that. My daughter deserve that."

Cinder flinched. "What?"

"Dear, I think we should not haste the things. Should we give them more time to think?" The mare said.

"I know, Dawn Shade. But that has to be addressed, soon of later," Dusk said before sighing and looking back at Cinder. "Well, since she is still right, you can go. But if you want your bond with her to remain solid, you have to express your real thoughts."

"I never said that I didn't had considered that," Cinder replied.

"Until you blow up the next firework festival. I guess," Dawn remarked, referring to a past incident.

After that particular conversation, Cinder leaved the town and wandered aimlessly in search for an isolated place where he can clear his mind. In his travel, he stepped deep into a forest. The vegetation was quite wild. Cinder didn't care about that as he stopped in his track and took a deep breath to relax his body. He remained to enjoy the breeze. He took the time that he need to rest mentally.

"Hopefully Vesper doesn't know who I really am. And should stay that way for her sake. At least I got a normal life without any trouble... And yet I end up a little empty handed without her."

That worry was legit to him, just like it should be. It was normal preoccupation... Until the memories of his two past lives emerged inside his mind. That reminded him of he actions that he had committed in order to get the normal life that he had craved for, and his eventual deaths, first as Walken and then as Brutus.

Cinder groaned upon remembering that, feeling that the relaxing effect that the breeze was providing to him.

"I wonder if I have retained some humanity after what I did." Cinder said to himself.

Not long after that, the sound of a lightning echoed in the distance, snapping him back to reality. The wind was blowing almost brusquely and the three branches moved in one direction, along with the leafs.

"I can't even take a moment to meditate, isn't it?" Cinder complained as he turned around. "I have to find another way to calm my mind. I don't want to get any cold."

Fearing a storm coming, Cinder galloped at a very fast pace. The edge of the forest was in front of his sight but very far from his reach. As soon as he stepped out of the forest, he suddenly felt a very sharp pain on his back as if something pierced violently through his flesh from above. Twice.

Cinder screamed in pain as he collapsed to the grass on his side. He couldn't even think straight for the pain, but felt something flowing through the coat of his back and his senses go nuts. He tried to stood up but was then pinned on the ground and by a cloaked figure standing two legged and blocking his body with his own hind leg. He wasn't alone as other eight ponies dressed like him gathered around their victim. Two of them were holding curved daggers with claws protruding from their hooves. Cinder went wide-eyed upon seeing it since he never heard of ponies. That detail was then disregarded as he noticed the daggers, realizing what struck his back and that he was bleeding.

"Let me go!!" Cinder shouted, trying to flail his forelegs one second before being blocked by other two holding them on the ground.

The one who was blocking his body pulled out a long sword and wield it while pointing his blade on his chest. Before Cinder can even scream, his aggressor promptly stabbed his sword through his heart and beyond. As Cinder felt his blood and his warm being drained away even further, his cloaked assassin twisted his blade and violently pushed it obliquely, instantly cutting through the already damaged heart, the bones of the left side of his rib cage and these of his right shoulder.

Cinder let out a brief, chilling scream as the rest of his blood was erupting out of the gruesome cut. The cloaked ponies silently watched his demise, without any kind of emotion in their eyes or action. In that moment, Cinder wanted to ask them the reason of this action. That, however, became insignificant to him as his sight quickly darkened and his body went cold, and then numb until it touches the point of no return.

In that fraction of seconds that divided him from death, his mind suddenly screamed in frustration as he recalled his previous two deaths.

"Not this shit again!"

His eyes widened in shock upon reliving that, one second before the darkness finally put all of his senses into silence.





Pure blackness greeted him. There was nothing in his sight. Then, a bizarre, chilling terrain slowly manifested in front of him. It appeared to be a blue colored rocky one, infested by some bulging things resembling bones and huge spines, accompanied by pulsing veins and a thick fog. Everything was cold, and the air was rarefied. It was very difficult to breathe.

He found himself unable to move his body. Unable to talk. Unable to feel anything. He could just watch. Time passes without nothing happening and the silence reigning in this place. But then something appeared in his sight. Something merely glowing. That one being a quadrupedal dark figure engulfed in a spectral, ethereal white fire approached him and stared at him with wide opened white eyes. And after a few seconds, darkness filled the silent place once more.

But not before the creature could spoke with a ominous, elder voice that echoed through the place, breaking the silence.


And that happened again, once again time in a bloody fashion.



Experiencing death is indeed a horrifying experience than death itself, let alone living it twice but that won't happen this time.



Ironically that was nothing compared to the ugly side of the ambrosia called immortality.



The world in which you were before was brought into chaos during your absence.



That is a crusade to restore the whole equilibrium that can be your opportunity to take back what was stolen from you.



So of course a enormous amount of blood is needed.



Your time is not over yet.






Nine days later.

Groaning heavily, Cinder opened his eyes and rose up. Confusion was the first thing he felt as he found himself being at the edge of the forest again. The sky being crowed by dark-gray clouds, with dusk almost leaving its place to the night. He doesn't know how he ended up being here at first until then he remembered. The memory of his body being mangled, his heart being pierced by the cold steel, his aggressors and his life slipping away flashed in front of his eyes.

Cinder should be dead and yet he was still alive. He could gladly say that was a dream, but that didn't explain him being nearby the forest. He never was drunk in his life so that was improbable. Too dissipate his doubt, he glanced on his chest. His eyes instantly went wide opened.

"What the...!"

His face quickly contorted in horror upon seeing the gruesome, oblique cut that spread from his chest to his left shoulder being still present. Not only that but his chest was also partially holed, exposing part of his rib-cage. He noticed few of the muscles of his body being exposed as well. The most disturbing part was that his heart was still pumping blood through his veins. It felt cold as the tundra, which gave him the uncomfortable feeling to freeze, even if not really .

Cinder galloped toward the river near to him and looked at his reflection. He refused to believe at what he was seeing or experiencing in this moment. His eyes were the only normal things that he had compared to the rest of his body.

"It's ridiculous... Is this really me!?"

He trembled and staggered for a sense of nausea dictated by his own disgust and shock. His mind raced in a desperate attempt to make sense in his actual conditions. He pondered back and forth about his death and his conditions with no plausible answer. This until a memory resurfaced in his brain. His words, as much absurd and cryptic they can be, are actually quite of a hint.

"What did that prick meant with my time is not over yet?" Cinder demanded but then realized something far more sinister than this. "Wait a second." He paused. "'Crusade to restore the whole equilibrium'? 'Enormous amount of blood'?" He shook his head in horror. "Oh, no."

Those words that Cinder heard from that ominous voice reminded him of the time when he witnessed the resurrection of Romulus, Remus and Sylvia as the Undead Knights by the hand of the Beast. For Cinder, being a living corpse was bad enough, but then realized the disturbing context as he remembered what the Beast said to the three undead.

Flesh of my flesh. Blood of my Blood. Those with whom you choose to share my gift... shall become your soldiers in undeath. Cease your suffering, and restore balance to the land...

"That's not fucking possible," Cinder said in muted shock. "That voice wasn't that of The Beast.... A-and this undead form of mine... I didn't feel any power at all. So I can't possibly be resurrected in the same way as the Bloods."

His pondering was then interrupted by a unsettling groaning noise coming from behind him. Startled by that, Cinder turned around to see who was only to find a stallion slowly coming toward him, almost shambling. That wasn't a normal pony at all. Much to his shock, he was pretty much like him, except that his eyes were white, his mouth was bloodstained and his coat being an extremely pale one.

Cinder didn't have the time to do anything that the pony leaped toward him at startling speed and pinned his body on the grass. Making a feral growl, that creature tried to sink his bloodstained teeth into his flesh. Cinder was scared for a moment, but after being killed thrice, there's no way he would allow that.

"Get the fuck out of my face!!" Cinder screamed as punched the stallion in the face so hard that he had practically disintegrated part of his head, causing it to collapse on him.

Astounded by what he did but not wanting to remain with that creature any longer, he quickly moved the corpse away from him and stood up. Cinder then stared at his hoof, dirtied with the blood and other bodily residues. Disgusted, he wiped his hoof on the grass and used the water of the river to do the rest. He then glanced upon the corpse one more time, just to accept it's existence, as well as his own conditions. That horse has also his left side of his rib-cage being exposed, his pallid being smeared by blood.

"That is outright demented... was that a Zombie?" Cinder said, a few seconds before he heard other groans in the distance.

As Cinder looked forward, he noticed a herd of other bloodthirsty, feral ponies, like the one that he just killed. They walked slowly toward him while steadily accelerating their march.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

He galloped away from the place, heading toward Stardust Mantle. In his run, he noticed the town in the distance emanating some trails of fume, as if it was on fire. Guessing that something happened there, he accelerated his charge.

Cinder had no idea how grave the situation had become.
> Brutal Ascension (GRAMMAR FIXED)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his arrival, Cinder found a very tremendous spectacle in front of his eyes. Stardust Marble was now reduced into a ghost town. To Cinder, it seemed like that a massacre took place during his absence. The once beautiful marble colored houses were now partially wrecked, with a few windows being broken and fire coming from some of these. Mangled corpses filled the streets and blood was almost everywhere.

Cinder could tell what happened, judging by that whole crumbled landscape. He was shocked and for a valid reason. He had saw multiple zombie movies and witnessed the desolation that the Bloods' undead minions leaved in their killing in the name of their master's revenge. But he never thought that he would had witnessed that scene being repeated in Equestria.

Everything happened in a chunk of days but for him that happened in a span of a single day.

"I can't believe it. Is it seriously happening?" Cinder said with disturbed disbelieve as he stared at the gruesome scenario. "But I was gone for about-" He interrupted his sentence, remembering his death and getting a clue of the time. "No.... Days passed by since my death," He paused to consider his current dilemma. "Damn, I don't know how much."

Wanting to know what happened, Cinder wandered in the town silently. The mixed stench of dead and burn things permeated the air. The street were emptied of every living being. Something that made him consider another part of his corpse-like body, but didn't want to find out immediately.

Along the road, Cinder found a very long gray cape nearby two pegasi corpses. Since he cannot afford to walking around with his currently wretched body being exposed, he picked that up and wore it to cover most of his body. His still intact face was normal enough, so he doesn't have to cover that.

"Talking about handy." Cinder commented

"Not so much." Somepony commented from behind him, almost startling him.

Slightly surprised by that, Cinder turned around, only to find a unicorn staring at him with a disquieting stern look. He has black mane and tail, and silver coat. His face was paradoxically in between being a younger one and an elder one. His eyes were blue, with the right one being fully covered by a red runic symbol, which instantly caught his attention.

Having saw multiple creatures in the land of Cavalier, Dagon and the Beast itself, he didn't trusted him so much.

"Who are you and what the heck are you doing here?" Cinder asked distrustful.

"That is irrelevant at the moment," The unicorn replied.

He didn't have the time to retort that a chilling laughter caught his attention. Cinder looked at the house with a window being barricaded with wooden planks at his right. That voice sounded familiar, if not a little warped. He seemed to recognize who it was, but wasn't entirely sure.

"Vesper?" Cinder whispered worried.

"Or the worst beginning yet." The unicorn murmured.

Cinder turned toward the unicorn, being about to ask him about that vague statement but the unicorn disappeared from his sight. Cinder was left confused for his sudden disappearance, but then putted aside that feeble moment and galloped toward the house. He opened the door and went inside.

Everything was almost dark, without any kind of illumination. The first room that he noticed was the living room, being mostly messed up. A bookshelf was overturned, the fireplace having crumbled, some shard of charcoal being out of place and a smashed wooden table was laying on the marble floor. His attention was instantly caught by a trail of bloody hoof sprints were leading to the doorway in front of his sight.

Having saw where trails like this could possibly leading in the books, Cinder looked somewhere else to find any clue before resuming the search for the voice. He noticed a leather sack nearby his feet. He took a look inside of it, only to find it's inside being soaked with a strange liquid, a bunch a empty vial with other ones being shattered into pieces and a half soaked scroll. He pulled out the document while trying to not get cut and opened it. His face became a slightly surprised one.

"That's new." Cinder commented.

At all the personal of the E.U.P. present.

As you know, nine days ago, the pestilence known Necromyth managed indeed to decimate half of the Equestria, turning ponies and other living creatures into cannibalistic undead creatures. In pony case, three type of undead creatures, depending of how the pestilence has interacted with them. But I won't explain all of the things since I'm counting that you already know what I'm talking about.

Hopefully, we have developed a vaccine hat has been tested under the supervision of Princess Celestia for six days. The results were positive, so we have a chance. That is powerful and magically enhanced enough to cure the infected ones and immunize them from the pestilence. Even the living ones can benefit from the immunization. It's been nine days since that happened, but I hope that we can finally put a end to this scourge, as soon as possible. 

Your task is to rescue every single uninfected pony that you can save. After the operation is complete, we will deliver the vaccine to Cloudsdale, where you can elaborate a strategy to eliminate this plague from the world once and for all. We must not fail.

That you may succeed in your task.

Lieutenant Thunder Blade.

That letter confirmed what Cinder refused to believe until that moment. He shook his hand and then  putted the latter back to the sack and examined the empty vial.

"So it's seriously happening." Cinder said with a calm but grim tone. "Incredible... I was in a limbo for about nine days and all of sudden this chaos happens.... Still, that doesn't explain the presence of that bag in this house."

Before he can say anything else, the voice laughed again, this time loudly. He flinched, visibly startled by that. Not just for the sudden laugh itself, but for the fact that it sounded like Vesper's, and yet it sounded so wrong to him. And it came from the door way were the bloody foot strips were leading into.

Cinder didn't even want to go there, but decided to do so anyway. As he slowly approached the doorway, he heard a soft thud. He accelerated his march a bit and stepped into the library, where the hoof sprints where all over the floor.

Lifting his head to look at the very end of the room, nearby a row of bookcases, he found Vesper standing in front of a lifeless body of a pony while wearing a broken golden armor. She was motionless and seemingly silent. As for the body in front of her, Cinder didn't took too long to recognize the corpse. That body is what used to be a white unicorn known as Dusk Camellia.

"Oh, no."

Cinder became mortified for that. He could tell that she was suffering and mourning for her loss. That must be a real trauma for Vesper so there's no wonder if she laughed. He wondered how he died, only to scratch that though since that would be insensitive of him to even ask.

He walked toward Vesper very slowly to not disturb her. As Cinder was getting closer to her, he heard a blood chilling chewing sound coming from her, followed by a gulping one. Startled and confused by that, he stopped a few inches away from her and examined Dusk's dead body.

He became instantly disgusted upon seeing the corpse's upper body being chewed up. Fearing the implication behind this gruesome detail, He immediately turned to Vesper and saw her watching the corpse of her father with a ravenous gaze and her mouth being bloodstained. Her eyes were white and lifeless while her mane and tail were messy. Her broken armor was smeared with blood and partially covered her torn body, with muscle and some bones being exposed. There was a crude bite mark in her foreleg, cementing her not being a pony anymore.

Cinder was horribly disturbed to see his best friend being turned into a flesh eating creature. His heart hammered in his chest, pumping his cold blood, reminding him that he was undead as well. But that didn't mattered to him. Cinder recovered from that and kept his eyes locked on her. He took a few steps back with the intent to leave, hoping for himself to not being spotted.

Vesper suddenly turned his head to him, looking at him with her cold and seemingly lifeless eyes. Cinder was instantly struck with fright. He wanted to run but his body refused to obey. He watched as the zombified Vesper turned toward him and took only few steps toward him, watching him with her ravenous face. Cinder expected her to leap toward her and ripping his flesh apart. Instead, much to his surprise, Vesper made a sinister smile.

"Cinder," Vesper said with a almost coarse voice. "I'm seriously changed beyond recognition?"

Cinder was about to apologize until he realized that she has talked. "Vesper... Is that you?"

"Depend of how much you want to believe that I'm still me," Vesper replied almost normally. "I'm not feeling so much alive right now." 

"Wait... How can you still think as a normal pony?" Cinder asked.

"You should thank the vaccine for that, being responsible for that," Vesper responded sarcastically.

Cinder's eyes widened in realization. "So that bag was yours... And you swallowed that vaccine. But wasn't that supposed to immunize you from this plague? Didn't somepony had sabotaged that?"

"There's no sabotage." Vesper retorted. "The vaccine was watched for twenty-four hours for day until it's completion. And yes, Celestia supervised the whole thing. What she doesn't know is that the vaccine's interaction with the plague triggered a genetic mutation that takes three days after being exposed to the infection. I studied biology, so I'm sure that is the case."

"No way." Cinder shook his head in disbelieve. "Are you telling me that..."

"THAT DEMENTED ALICORN SCREWED EVERYTHING UP!!"

Hearing that, Cinder froze up. That wasn't just for the monstrous way in which she screamed that. That was also about it's content. Vesper told him in some occasions that she wanted to protect every pony, including Celestia. Hearing her cursing the princess was unexpected to him. More shocking than that was the confirmation that there is no cure to her conditions.

"Vesper... You cannot be serious." Cinder said incredulous.

"I am... and how." Vesper replied coldly. "If only she even bothered to take a look at the results properly, I wouldn't had end up killing my parents."

"Wait.... You killed them!?" Cinder said shocked.

"You heard me," Vesper remarked. "Three days ago, I was sent in a expedition to rescue the survivors, along with my comrades. They all perished and I got bitten by one of those creatures. Initially nothing happened... Until today."

"Huh?" Cinder looked confused.

"In my arrival," Vesper continued. "I searched for you but you were nowhere to be found. I then stormed in my house, only to find my parents being turned into monsters. I was about to cure them but then... I felt my body becoming cold. A atrocious pain seized me and then... A insatiable... hunger for real flesh... took over me..."

"No..." Cinder whispered, having grasp the gruesome implications.

"When that happened," Vesper said calmly. "I had realized that the cure was completely useless. Blinded by rage upon realizing that, I snapped their necks. After that, I feasted on my mother for a bit and put her body in the basement. Then I had destroyed the remaining vials in spite against Celestia. I then took my father in the library and... You know the rest."

Cinder was about to puke and yet he insisted to contain it and remain composed. Vesper's story was very messed up beyond believe. More messed up if he included how much her sanity has fallen.

"This is... horrible," Cinder whispered while trying to hide his real thought. "That no just horrible... It's fucked up."

"What horrible? What I had gone through or the fact that I'm actually blaming Celestia for that?" Vesper said sarcastically. "Look at me! I failed to protect my now dead companions and save my parents. What fallen heroine I am... Hehehehehe!"

Worried for her sanity, Cinder opened his mouth but couldn't even try to talk her down that he saw both the sides of her body bulging, as if there are things that tried to get out with force. Her body started to convulsing slowly. Bone cracking sounds loudly made the changes known to him.

"What happening to her!?"

"You know!?" Vesper demanded, deliberately ignoring her changes. "GRRR! You are no better than Celestia or the survivors themselves. You had still a future, a life worth to be lived and... ARGH! Your dreams..."

"Vesper..." Cinder called as he took a few steps away from her.

"But my future ended because of the error of that princess! WOOARG! My comrades and others are allowed to live with serenity while I get to spend the rest of my existence as a monster... NNGH! And a miserable living thing who failed to protect those who are dear to it. It's unfair... Really unfair... Unfair, unfair, unfairunfairunfairunfairunfairunfair. UNFAIIIIIR!!"

As Vesper screamed, her convulsion became uncontrolled and the bulging grew more larger than before. Cinder flinched in fright upon seeing the transformation that was happening to her. As her being a zombie wasn't enough.

"Vesper!" Cinder shouted.

"W-w-what? What is happening?" Vesper muttered with a panicked tone as she looked at her deforming body. "It's.. Not... Over yet..."

Unable to take that anymore, Vesper let out a loud, terrible scream. During her agonizing moment, Vesper herself slightly grew in height and claws protruded out of her hooves. Blood came out of her eyes. The things bulging from her body finally managed to came through her decomposed body, revealing six black tendrils with faceless, plant like heads at their tip, that opened into gaping, tooth-ringed mouths. 

The convulsion stopped and silence fell. Cinder was horrified for what Vesper has become. His condition as being a zombie paled in comparison to the monstrosity that used to be his marefriend. Blood dripped from her bleeding eyes and the holes in the stomach in which the tendrils protruded from. She was now slightly towering on him. Vesper glanced at him with her bloody eyes, shooting daggers at him.

"What happened?" Cinder asked disturbed.

"It seems like my body was subjected to an additional mutation. A unnatural one," Vesper said with a frenzied face. "But does that even matter, Cinder? Now I am real monster, but you know what? I won't even care about it at this point! If I'm not allowed to have dreams, then you aren't either!"

Cinder promptly galloped toward the exit, only for the undead Vesper to glow her horn in a crude black aura and shoot a black beam at his hind leg. The ray caused him to collapse on the ground while revealing his corpse-like appearance, along with the gruesome wounds being inflicted by the ponies who killed him.

Vesper ferociously approached him with a fast pace and pinned him to the floor, immobilizing him. Cinder could do nothing but watch as Vesper seemed about to kill him. Her ferocity, in a moment, was replaced by surprise. He was confused by her reaction at first, until he realized that his body was now uncovered, along with his gruesome wounds and part of his rib-cage being exposed.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were just like me?" Vesper asked.

"Listen to me," Cinder said, fearing her action. "Is not what-"

"But you don't want to live like this right?" Vesper interrupted him. "I have a idea. You wanted to be with me without anymore suffering?"

Cinder's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to do you a favor." Vesper smiled with disturbing glee. "Become part of me."

Grasping the horrific implication behind her words, Cinder wriggled to set himself free as the gaping mouths of the tendrils shrieked and slowly descended toward each one of his limbs and his lower part. Vesper leaned toward his scarred chest as Cinder continued to struggle.

"Vesper, stop! You are better than this!" Cinder shouted.

"Is too late for me!" Vesper retorted annoyed. "Besides, you will probably be afflicted by the same hunger as I am, so stop trying to escape and BECOME PART OF ME!!"

Just when the voracious mouths and the zombified Vesper were about to sunk their teeth on his body, Cinder instinctively pointed his right hoof at her chest, guided by one thought. 

"The hell with this!"

Suddenly, black flames engulfed his body. Vesper immediately stepped away from him to not get burned.

"What is this!?" Vesper shouted incredulous.

*BOOM!*

There was a roaring gunshot as a bullet blasted through her chest, creating a hole where her heart was supposed to be. The undead Vesper screamed and collapsed on the floor, with the tendrils falling down due to her loss of focus. She howled in agony, rolling and kicking the floor furiously as her blood was gushing out of her body. She should had died for that blow if wasn't for the infection keeping her alive.

Cinder was completely stunned by that moment. It happened so fast that he can hardly process that. One thing he was sure. He can feel that something happened to him. And he knew what.

His powers had been returned, but in a very different form.

Cinder looked his right hoof and became instantly taken aback to see it being turned into a bizarre black-iron made cylinder resembling the barrel of a gun, still fuming for the blow that was shot from it and with crystal veins pumping on it.

"What the fuck?" Cinder murmured astounded.

Ignoring the still screaming abhorrent unicorn, Cinder took a look at the rest of his body, which sight shocked him. His left hoof was turned into a black-iron clawed hand but that wasn't the only surprise. The hooves of his hind legs were turned into black-iron made talons having the same pumping crystal veins on it.

Feeling a very obscure power flowing inside him, Cinder rose up two legged and walked toward Vesper, whose screams of pain were loosing their strength and began to die off. A normal pony wouldn't be able to walk like that, but Cinder wasn't normal anymore. He stopped in front of the mare, who was bathed in her own blood.

Vesper's screams faded, being slowly reduced into pained moans. Trying to ignore her atrocious pain, she turned her attention to Cinder, watching his new form in his unholy glory with newfound fear as he pointed gun at her with a calm, merciless face.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*  *BOOM!*  *BOOM!*  *BOOM!*
> The Only Unholy Mark (EDITED FOR PHYSICS INCONSISTENCY)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six blows were shot, breaking the silence of the night with their roars of death sentence. Their sound echoed outside the house and then through the now wrecked city. Their act was made more evident by the fume coming from his right hoof, being currently shaped as a gun. Cinder stood tall in his bipedal unholy form and his new powers with surprise. The blows were supposed to have ended the cursed life of Vesper, who had become a undead abomination.

But she wasn't there anymore. In her place, there are six huge holes being formed on the ground, in the middle of the blood pool that flowed out of the crazy undead, mutated unicorn's wounds. Cinder didn't expected that to happen. The only hint that he saw from what he can call as a trick was her horn briefly glowing in a black aura before instantly disappearing in a black flash, in the same time he shot the bullets.

"Instant teleport?" Cinder said baffled. "Seriously though, I'm not qualified as a magic expert but I can assume that this plague has amplified her magic." He looked around. "Even so, I doubt that she would had left the town." He then went wide-eyed. "I need to find her before she would do more damage."

Cinder was about to leave but not before turning his gun-shaped arm turned into a clawed black-iron hand, much like his other one. He couldn't help but examine his new appearance. He couldn't still believe that he really his old powers under a new form. His situation was still making him feel uncomfortable, but then remembered that he has something far worse to take care of. The undead Vesper was probably roaming free.

Without wasting anymore time, Cinder turned around and headed toward the doorway. But as soon he was could leave the bloodstained library, there was a black flash behind him, a moment before Vesper appeared behind him.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Vesper said with crazed and yet cold voice, chilling his blood.

Cinder turned around, but didn't had the time to react that four of her plant-like tendrils had already wrapped around his limbs, holding him tight. He was then made standing in a crucifix position to prevent him to even aim at Vesper. He struggle to release himself, but was only vain. The tendrils began to crush him, making him yell in pain. Trying to resist the pressure, he looked at the madmare that was almost towering at him.

Vesper was visibly angered, exuding a psychotic aura from his white, bleeding eyes. Her breath was raspy and her holed chest was still bleeding, with her heart being literally destroyed. The tooth-ringed plant-maws on her tendrils were already being near to the defenseless stallion, who looked at her in awe. She shook her head in disbelieve, not wanting to believe at what Cinder tried to do to her. The pain of her pierced chest was surely a real insult to her.

"You hurt me!" Vesper said dismayed, with her tone becoming slightly maddened. "I was making you a favor... I was making you part of me... Sparing you from a sad existence as mine... I was trying to help you..." She paused. "And you tried to kill me. You were determined to destroy me..." She then howled furiously. "HOW COULD YOU!!?"

Her scream surely chilled his blood. His mind even gave him the impression to freeze. Cinder felt his body trembling for the fright, but forced himself to stop and tried to remain calm despite his horrific situation. That wasn't so scary compared to his encounter with the Beast and any other worse scenario in his life as Brutus, but was still something to him.

Vesper pulled his body toward him while giving him a terrific glare. Her plant-like voracious maws got slightly closer to his head, testing his nerves. She was about to vent his rage in one second, in every possible nasty ways...

But her anger was then washed in one instant. She began to have some sort of awareness of her proclaims and the shuddered with a horrified visage. And a few moments after that, guilt took over her. Her voracious plant-like maws recoiled, as if they were in accordance with her feelings. Vesper looked away, looking ashamed, much to Cinder's perplexity.

"I won't even blame you for that," Vesper said apologetically. "I was so overtaken by despair that I ended up blaming everything for my misery. I have allowed the plague to get the best of me. I tried to devour you. S-so of course you had to kill me. I-I would had done the same in your place... Even thought that I was also venting my own personal weight on you."

Cinder looked at her dumbfounded. "What do you mean with that?"

"If I have to be honest... I hated you." Vesper replied, almost coldly.

"Why?" Cinder asked, nearly shocked.

"Is not your fault," Vesper responded. "Is my complex of inferiority that I had toward you. All because I was too insecure of myself. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful that you had encouraged me when I was following my dream. But the more you helped me, the more I loathed you, due to the fear to have become less independent. I suppose I am really this pathetic."

"You know what." Cinder said. "I had kinda suspected something like that," He partially shrugged due to the tendrils blocking his limbs. "But I didn't cared anyway," He assured, causing Vesper flinched in surprise. "Just because you were envious of me, doesn't mean that I would stop being at your side."

"That... Was... A very wonderful thing." Vesper said partially relieved.

"That is why I have to end you," Cinder remarked. "Now set me free."

"I know Cinder, I know," Vesper replied calmly, a moment before her tone became a grim one, with her breath being hoarse. "But am afraid I can't allow you to get out of there alive. You are on the verge to go as Insane as I am... But what scared me most is your power."

"What are you implying?" Cinder asked nervously.

"Cinder, right now you are infected and condemned to feast on the others to appease your constant hunger just as I am now. My mutation had altered and incremented my magic but your own is another story. I studied magic, but I never saw anything like that. And your incoming insanity didn't help your case. I'm sorry... But you have to die first."

Upon hearing that, Cinder was about to panic. His heart pumping his cold blood stopped for a couple of seconds. He could tell that Vesper was serious, but unlike the time she was training to be a Royal Guard, her seriousness was dreadful, made more threatening by her bizarre lucidity.

"Shit! She seriously believe that I am currently a monster like her. And I don't even know how the hell did my powers came back in that way. How can I even convince her that I am not infected and that I was actually killed by cloaked ponies and then resurrected with the same power that some entity had bestowed on me?"

"This is not good," Cinder whispered with a grave tone.

Vesper opened her mouth when her insatiable hunger kicked in once more, making her growl. She instinctively stood on her two legs and wrapped her forelegs on his neck while leaning toward his face, looking more feral than before. The plant-like maws on her tendrils followed suit. And Cinder was having a hard time to not freak out.

As that wasn't enough, multiple, ungodly wails and growls coming from the outside echoed in the distance, steadily getting closer.

"Damn it! The whole ruckus that we made must have attired the undeads!" Cinder muttered.

"Is not... Good.... Grrrr! We don't have... Enough time ," Vesper said under her breath as her expression became crazed again, feeling the bites of her hunger becoming more unbearable. "And I... Can't resist... ANY LONGER!!"

"Let me deal with them, Vesper!" Cinder pleaded.

"No. They are the last of your problems," Vesper informed as she glowed her horn and charged in a huge black aura. "Before I loose my control, I will immediately... Incinerate... Your body and then doing the same with myself afterward."

"What!?" Cinder exclaimed horrified.

"I'm sorry but I have to do that for both of us," Vesper said apologetically. "Right now, you are going to be a danger for yourself and other ponies that you will meet in your way. I won't allow you to fall in my same situation. Trust me, I will save both us."

Hearing those words, multiple thoughts emerged inside his mind. Very tremendous ones returned to haunt him. The memories of his three previous deaths flashed in front of his eyes.

Death by car explosion as Walken.

Death by being stabbed by Romulus, Remus and Sylvia as Brutus.

And then death by being stabbed and mangled by hooded ponies before being resurrected as an undead Cinder.

In that moment, his brutal determination returned at full force in his heart, instigated by his refusal to die. something was burning inside him. Something seething and yet cold. Before he could question that strange feeling, something flashed inside his mind. The memory of the of horrific power that the Bloods wielded give him a very macabre idea. Something that he would had refused to do. Yet that didn't looked like a bad idea, in a situation like this.

His tranquil life that he craved for, like Vesper, was compromised, so he didn't cared at that point.

Cinder made a very dreadful smile..

"I'm sorry, Vesper. But I won't DIE TODAY!!" Cinder shouted furiously has he pushed his wrapped right clawed hand toward her with all of might.

The grip of the tendrils was strong, but Cinder proved to be strong enough to reach her face and grabbing it. Before she could even move a muscle, her body was suddenly engulfed by black flames.

She convulsed frantically while emitting a loud scream that was half-muted by Cinder's hand covering her mouth. Due toe her loss of focus, her horn stopped glowing and her tendrils loosened their grip on the undead stallion, releasing his hands and legs. He released her from his grip, letting her flopping on her side as the fire had dissipated.

Vesper remained motionless for a moment. Then she let out a disturbing growl before standing up. Without saying a word, she looked at Cinder in his eyes. There was not vitality in her face. There was a mark on her forehead, being a circular blue mark made of tendrils that covered her forehead and penetrated through her skull.

Cinder became struck with shocked horror upon noticing his resemblance with the same red scars that were present on the bodies of the zombified individuals that the Bloods took with their powers. He was completely taken aback by that. What he used on Vesper was the same horrifying power to zombify any creatures.

"How did that happened for real? How can I be able to turn undead monsters into my minions in the same way the Bloods have done with the livings?"

"What I have done?" Cinder murmured. 

Before Cinder could explore that fact, a cacophony of moans and groans filled the living room outside the library. The chilling sound of the zombie's hoofsteps getting closer to them. Cinder turned toward the doorway, now being blocked by the creatures approaching the two.

There was no time to get distracted. Looking at the undeads slowly marching toward him, Cinder looked at them with a mocking smile. He pointed his finger at them, ready to make his first move.

"Vesper! Trash them!" Cinder ordered.

Immediately, Vesper glowed her horn in a black aura and shoot a tremendous beam that blasted most of the zombie's heads. Seeing other zombies getting closer, Cinder transformed his black-iron right hand into a gun again and shot most of the creatures in their heads.

When the horrid couple have finished the killing of the zombies blocking their way, they headed toward the exit and went out the house, only to be met by various undeads filling the streets of Stardust Marble, being unicorns, pegasi or earth ponies alike. Both Cinder and the undead Vesper made their way through the city while killing various zombies blocking their way and dodging other ones. While Cinder was shooting down many of them, the unicorn blasted other ones with her magic while letting the monstrous plant tendrils devouring a few of the living dead.

After a nine minutes of fights, they managed to get out of the town and leave it behind it. They stopped in front of a deserted meadow. Cinder looked toward the horizon and was greeted by the dawn illuminating both him and Vesper. He could finally take a break from that insanity.

But that wasn't the same thing for Vesper, who was now turned into his minion. The mark on her head may have put a halt to her hunger but completely removed her free will. For Cinder that was like killing her own soul. He know that the Vesper that she knew was no more. Only a shell who was subservient to his will. Cinder would had kept her with him, but not in this way.

"That day couldn't get any worse than this," Cinder said to himself, frustrated.

Cinder looked at his clawed and closed it in a fist. Anger filled him, motivated by what he lost. Just when he managed to start from zero and get the tranquil life he deserved, he saw it dissolve into pieces, along with that of his partner. 

"I'm feeling really unclean right now," Cinder said disgusted as he gave a final look to his hollowed partner. "I hate to do that, but I have no intention to keep you as a mindless slave."

Regretfully, he pointed his black-iron gun shaped hand at Vesper's head as she looked him with a hollow face.

"Vesper, you can go straight to the heaven. But I remain here."

*BOOM!*

With that, her head was blown into pieces, causing the rest of her dead body to collapse on the ground, with the plant-like head tipped tendrils falling as well. Cinder looked at his gun-shaped arm as it reverted into his right black-ironed clawed hand.

He remained silent, staring at the devastated city in the distant that used to be his hometown. That sight frustrated him, reminding him of his time as Brutus. Cinder, mentally being still the human brunette boy that he used to be, was tired and fed-up of everything horrific that he was thrown on him since he died for the first time. His anger swelled inside him like not other. Cinder snarled, a moment before he punched the ground, furiously.

"TWELVE YEARS!!" Cinder shouted. "Twelve fucking years I suffered a pure hell in my life as Walken! After this and the life period as a pawn of the Beast, I have been reincarnated in this world... Just when I had got a new life, I died a third time, and after that, this plague happened and my powers had returned in a new form... And now I lost everything, again! WHEN THAT WILL END!!?"

"Certainly not by whining like a idiot, in the middle of this chaos." A stern voice said from behind him.

His eyes widened in shock upon finding that voice familiar. Cinder immediately turned around and saw a pony being the unicorn with that he meet in the town. He could recognize him by the red runic symbol covering his right eyes. The unicorn remained impassive, independently from Cinder's reaction.

"How long you were been spying on me? Cinder asked irritated.

"Strange," The unicorn responded nonchalantly. "I though you had no place for sentimentality in your quest to take what you really want."

"Is not of you damn business," Cinder retorted.

"Do you think that the zombies will care about your misery?" The unicorn asked.

"In this case, they will answer to me," Cinder replied codly.

"You can't do it all alone," The unicorn remarked. "You will need the aid of some of those undeads. That you like or not. And I know what I am referring to. After all... A enormous amount of blood is needed."

Cinder froze up upon hearing his last words. He heard them somewhere. A memory of his brief time in that limbo after his murder flashed in his mind, with the ominous voice talking to him. Slowly recovering from his brief trance, he slowly turned his head toward the unicorn. His face was now filled with seething rage.

"You!" Cinder screamed while pointing his finger at him. "You are the one who resurrected me!! You are the one who turned me into a undead monstrosity and probably forced me to this curse!!"

The unicorn remain silent for a moment, then he calmly spoke again. "Hmph. Not exactly, because I don't have the power of a devil to begin with."

"What?" Cinder looked confused.

"By the way, Vesper may had some stain in her soul but you are no better than her. That mare became a monster, but paled in comparison to you. And I know why. I know who you are." The unicorn retorted before grinning. "Walken Jaeger."

Cinder gave him a death glare and pointed his hoof at him while turning it into a gun again.

"Ok, who the fuck are you and how much do you know about me?" Cinder asked with a inquisitive tone.

"The one who can read you like a book. A herald that you cannot avoid. I am Requiem. I came from the realm you once stepped into... the Void."

Cinder flinched, his teeth being clenched and his eyes being glued on him. He looked very astounded for his answer. Mostly because he knows what he was talking about.

"You are kidding me, right?" Cinder asked, taken aback from his declaration. "The Beast couldn't possibly known anything about this world, not even his heralds. I met a demon named Dagon and I'm sure as hell that he never had employed a unicorn as one."

"Let me share you a little," The unicorn replied with a unnatural calm despite the threat. "If I must be correct, the unicorn standing in front of you, Moon Shard, is a pony researcher who had contributed to the creation of the vaccine that Vesper talked about. When he had realized that the Necromyth twisted it's property, he disappeared from Canterlot in grief. During his escape, he fell into the abyss while he was chased by zombies. After he died, I, a wandering soul, hijacked this body."

"Are you trying to convince me that you are the spirit of a former herald in the body of a pony,," Cinder said sternly before taking a fighting stance. "So the Beast sent you to punish me because I had betrayed him." 

"Don't worry about him," Requiem responded calmly. "Believe me. The Bloods managed to take him down"

"They did it!?" Cinder demanded.

"It seems like they got powerful beyond my master's expectations," Requiem pointed out. "His absence had left a power vacuum that affected even the Void itself. In the same moment he died, it loosed his power and the whole place became lifeless. As for the Bloods, dubbed from you as the Undead Knights, they went on their way to die, killed in battle by other knights. However, the Void's influence lived on in a small fragment, sent into Equestria... A fragment being me."

"Wow... I never thought they could actually do that," Cinder replied baffled, a moment before his gun transformed back into his right black-crystal hand. "But why you were following me?"

"There's something that you must know regarding the Necromyth, the plague responsible for this mess," Requiem replied with a disturbing grin. "There is a factor that you must consider."

"Just tell me what this pestilence is, demon." Cinder asked harshly.

Assuming a serious expression, Requiem took a moment of quiet before speaking.

"A secret group of seven ponies," Requiem started. "Called the Holy Pillars, traveled across the land to hunt down Dark Magic books, including an a horrific type of necromancy called Helknut. They brought them in a secret place and set them on fire. But their action resulted the book's magic being released and combining itself with the dark magic of the other books and the ashes of the Helknut in a fusion process. What followed was a pestilent aura, the Necromyth, that turned ponies into zombies and twisted any attempt to defy it against it."

"A bunch of books' ashes was able to cause this chaos?" Cinder said baffled.

"I suggest you to not blame the Holy Pillars, Because the cause of the plan having backfired was actually a sabotage."

"A sabotage?"

"The real responsible is a cabal called the Reverse Tree," Requiem state. "A bunch of craze cloaked ponies, the same ones being responsible for your current death. And one of the Holy Pillars helped them too."

In the instant the cloaked figures that had killed him were mentioned, his face contorted in shock. That was new for him. He remember them killing him but wasn't expecting them to be the responsible for the zombie plague. He could hardly believe that. And yet there was something that wasn't convincing him at all.

"Why the hell they unleashed this undead invasion?" Cinder asked.

"Strangely enough, they wanted nothing more than destroy this world's morality," Requiem responded. "However, their motivation remained completely unknown."

Taking his explanation in consideration, Cinder couldn't help but pondering with interest about the Reverse Tree, as if it was reminding him of something that he saw in the Land of Cavalier, in the dark medieval world that he was before being reborn in Equestria. That memory was giving him a hunch. There's so much that his assassins could have in common with that.

"So those bastards are leading a cabal named the Reverse Tree, and are responsible for the plague that is wrecking Equestria. I can't help but thinking about the cult of the Holy Tree that mad bitch Queen Fatima was leading in the Land of Cavalier. Could be those two groups being connected? By the way... Why is Requiem telling me that."

"If you are going to use me for some scheme, then you can forget that," Cinder said coldly. "I will not being used by the Beast or anyone else."

"And yet you need me to track down your assassins," Requiem remarked.

"Don't test my patience, bastard." Cinder retorted.

"Seriously, you won't follow me even if the fate of Equestria depends on it?"

"I could care less about the horrors that the survivors are going through. This zombie crisis doesn't concern me. And as for you, I will suggest you to fuck off."

"Let me tell you at least a way to reverse this whole thing" Requiem proposed.

"Wait... There is one?" Cinder asked distrustful.

"Vengeance is not the only thing that I am offering to you," Requiem pointed out. "You want to regain the tranquil life that this madness had robbed from you?"

"Just because I wanted that, doesn't mean that I will fall for that," Cinder retorted, almost about to charge toward him. "What are you trying to gain by helping me?"

"Nothing more than trying to get a artifact that this demented cabal had stole from me," Requiem replied calmly. "That's all."

Cinder glared at him, unsure about his intentions. He couldn't possibly trust him due to his demonic nature and connection with the Void. He cannot be trusted but was also true that he will get him to his assassins. Resigned, Cinder couldn't do anything but accept that. Mostly because he wanted to see what his real intentions are.

The body of the undead stallion was suddenly engulfed black flames and returned to his four legged form. Cinder then looked around to see if there wasn't any pony or zombie to disturb them. Since there was no one nearby, he returned his attention to the creepy, mysterious unicorn.

"What is your plan, exactly?" Cinder asked doubtful.

"Don't even rely on time traveling magic," Requiem said. "The incident and some of those crazed ponies destroyed all of the artifacts and formulas that were related to that. Which means that the only alternative to them are the Elements of Harmony."

"Are you talking about that gang leaded by the alicorn called Twilight Sparkle?" Cinder asked.

"Correct," Requiem replied.

"Why them?"

"That is something I will reveal after we met one of those six so called heroines. Although they are currently running from this zombie infestation. Which is why we have to investigate their whereabouts, and I know where to start."

"You know, I'm not exactly convinced about the story of your stolen artifact," Cinder insisted, impatiently. "What do you expect from me?"

Requiem remained impassive, a moment before making a sinister smirk. That sight gave Cinder a bad vibe, but couldn't complain since it fits the unnatural demonic identity that surrounded him. And after some moments of silence, The unicorn replied with something that deflected the question.

"I will remind you that we have to take down the Reverse Tree," Requiem reminded. "Not just kill a bunch of zombies and trying to reverse this disaster. So what you intended to do when you found them?"

"You don't have to ask," Cinder said almost gleefully. "I will just kill them and trash their spirits until their are not destroyed." 

"You must know one thing," Requiem said mockingly. "The cabalsts, like the zombies, are quiet numerous, cunning and deadlier, so your powers won't be enough." He paused. "You will need a army." He then made a gleeful expression. "And you know very well were to get there."

Cinder went wide-eyed, grasping the hint behind his words in horror. Recalling the voice that he heard before being resurrected, he had saw something like this coming. He know what that means.


The world in which you were before was brought into chaos during your absence.



That is a crusade to restore the whole equilibrium that can be your opportunity to take back what was stolen from you.


"You are talking about create a army of marked zombies." Cinder responded.

"You hated that, right." Requiem asked.

"So I have no choice but doing the same thing as the Undead Knights did," Cinder said, briefly looking back at the devastated Stardust Marble being in the distance. "I guess I have to get one."

Having made up his mind, Cinder was about to make his return to his hometown when Requiem stopped him.

"Sorry for that, but I am just curious about one fact," Requiem said with a grotesque smug.

"Whatever you want. Shoot." Cinder replied annoyed.

"What name you prefer to use? Walken or Cinder?" Requiem asked.

Fairly enough, that was a very interesting question since that made him reflect about his situation. The life that he had experienced as Walken was pure hell, until his death. His second life that lived under the alias of the Beast's herald and traitor wasn't any better.

His third life as Cinder Work, however, was the only time that he lived a tranquil life, despite him having remembered who he really was. But now, not only he was killed a third time, but he was also resurrected as a undead pony with the powers being the same as the ones the he wielded and get to see Equestria falling prey of a zombie outbreak, with Vesper Camellia. That happy life that he craved for was gone. All because of his assassins.

Needless to say, his vengeance will be horrifying for them. Saving Equestria as it is and the survivors mattered a little to him. However, he would had give them a help, as long as that would lead him to his targets and possible valid ways for him to restore this word as it was before. If he can't even take back this normal life out of this crisis, he could at least destroy the cabal responsible for this chaos.

A cruel smile grew in his face as he was about to give his chilling answer.

"Call me Brutus."
> The March
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having discovered who was the responsible of this cataclysm and the ones who had murdered him, Brutus began his own quest to avenge every single horrible deed that had been done to him, Saving Equestria from this zombie apocalypse counts very little for him, if not nothing. Accompanied by the mysterious unicorn named Requiem, Brutus wandered across the land, mowing down every zombie who stands in his way.

However, as he proceeds in its mission, he began to subjugate most of the zombies with his unholy mark and began to form an almost imposing army under his will. That are Lessers, Flailers or Undementias, it didn't mattered to him. Every monster was welcome under his wing.

Their target was a cabal named the Reverse Tree, a cult that takes the mundus operandi of Fatima's holy tree, only different. As the days passes, Brutus's army grew more larger and dangerous, dangerous as his own determination to exact his revenge in the most brutal way possible. The keyword for that was bloodlust.

They had arrived into a very wrecked Ponyville, where most of the ponies fell under the assault of the zombies and the buildings were mostly destroyed. Brutus was quite surprised to notice that the Castle of Friendship was the only thing that remained almost untouched. Not that he can say the same thing for the other houses.

In the middle of this chaos, both zombies and victims were flailed by a undementia zombie with spikes protruding from his back and very long metal claws, someone who used to be Filthy Rich. Spoiled Rich, the mare nearby a pile of corpses was his first meal. And Diamond Tiara witnessed what had become of her father with horror. Filthy suddenly turned to her daughter with a comprehensive and yet crazed expression.

"Look, neither I wanted this," Filthy said. "But now it's the survival of the fittest the only thing that counts."

"P-please. Stop!" Tiara pleaded.

"I am sorry, but you will meet your mother," Filthy said crudely.

"Actually... I have another thing you," Brutus butted in.

Filthy didn't had time to turn toward Brutus that the later had it's hoof turned into a sword and split the zombie of Filthy in two, much to Tiara's shock. Just scene lured the attention of the other zombies, who started to rush toward Brutus, who nonchalantly turned it's sword into a hoof and pointed it at them.

"Slay them," Brutus ordered, causing a group of it's marked zombies to assault the markless zombies. It was a very discrete bloodshed, with organs and bodies being shredded. With a few sacrifices, the marked ones prevailed.

Tiara didn't know what to say. She could only react with shocked horror upon witnessing that. Brutus noticed her still shocked expression and put the things really clear.

"I didn't had done that for you," Brutus said crudely. "Now better run before incoming to the next boogie man."

Tiara followed suit, retreating to a destroyed building that used to be her house and hide inside, trembling in fear. Brutus nonchalantly turned away and returned his attention to his undead army gathering around him. Requiem tranquilly approached him with a smirk of glee in his face.

"That was a good a display of your power," Requiem commented.

"Shut up. I had just began," Brutus retorted.

"Oh... It's Walken that had spoke right now?"

"It's Brutus."

"Whatever, but pay attention to what is coming next."

"What?"

A scream briefly pierced the air. Brutus turned toward its source, only to see another undementia. A half draconic creature with three drill-like horns, iron tentacles for tails and side maws. That creature was none other than Mayor Mare. She was feasting on a agonizing cloaked figure.

"I lost my city and my dignity, but I can always enjoy life in another way, eheheheheheheh!" Mayor reveled.

"Damn you!" Another cloaked figure said, arriving on the scene armed with a curved knife.

"Stupid thug, I told him to not be this careless." A third one said.

Brutus had a glimpse of realization. "I recognize these bastards."

"They were the ones who had murdered you," Requiem said. "Now, it's time go all out in your fury,"

Without thinking twice, Brutus turned his clawed hand into a barrel gun and took a few step toward Mayor Mare, pointing it toward her. For the inahabitants of Ponyville, the zombified Mayor Mare was good pony, a diligent figure and a fallen friend of his. But for Brutus, she was just another monster standing in it's way. A very pathetic one for his standards.

"Hey!" Brutus shouted.

Mayor Mare turned her head toward him. "What do you wan-"

*BOOM!*

The bullet goes straight to Mayor Mare's skull, making it explode and leading her body to flop lifeless. The cloaked victim she was feasting on was dead after a few seconds of agony. The other two cloaked ponies turned toward Brutus and flinched in terror upon recognizing who he is.

"What the hell!? You again!?" One of them exclaimed. "But we had already killed you!?"

"And this form of his..." The other one said. "How did he got this power!?"

At that point, the other four of them arrived in place. "Who cares! Let's make sure that this time he will remain dead for good."

"Not today." Brutus threatened as he pointed its cannon at them. "TEAR THEM APART BUT LET ME AT LEAST ON OF THEM ALIVE FOR ME!!"

The marked zombies already rushed toward the cloaked ponies, numerous as they are. Most of the cloaked figures meet their ends. Two of them were devoured and mutilated without having the possibility to defend themselves and the the other five of them were battered and massacred by three unicorn Flailers through their magics and then their fangs.

As for the last one, he didn't run away. He has the guts to rush against Brutus with his curved knife. Brutus intentionally dodged the blows to both scoff him and turn his barrel gun into a sword. As the cloaked pony attacked again, Brutus finally impaled him with his sword and slammed his body against the ground.

Having consumed the massacre, Brutus exulted and reveled in what he did. The other normal ponies who were hiding, and Tiara, were very scared for what happened. Brutus didn't cared at all and enjoyed this moment.

"This nightmare is not over but at least I had my revenge with style." Brutus commented.

"Keep in mind, they are the tools of your death. Not the cause." Requiem reminded.

"I know that... So, what's next?"

"Since we have to find one of the Elements of Harmony, we have to go to Cloundsdale. There we'll have the chance to find Rainbow Dash."

"Aspirant Wonderbolts."

"But it's not as we are now that we'll get access to the town."

"But then how?"

"We are going to enter inside... as refugees."
> Derailed Course
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brutus and Requiem arrived at the refugee camp, were the Wonderbolts and some Royal Guards had prepared multiple carriages made of steel to transfer them to Cloudsdale. The camp was full of desperate ponies who were waiting to be transferred right after they had forsaken their home to escape the zombies. Since discretion is required, Brutus remained in his pony form and put some bandages to hide his hideous body. He was also obligated to leave his army of marked zombies in Ponyville.

The duo advanced through the crowd. As they advanced, Requiem noticed Spitfire and her squad having their forelegs bandaged as well. They were getting closer to one of the carriages when they were stopped by a guard pony.

"HALT! Who a-" He stopped upon seeing Requiem. "M-Moon Shard? Thank goodness you were alive. Your colleagues had thought you were dead."

"Spare me your commotion," Requiem replied bluntly. "I have to bring this pony to Cloudsdale."

"What? But he looked too suspicious. He maybe infecte-"

"I am assuring you that he's not." Requiem insisted calmly. "Now you better let us in, or you rather have to explain why you were impeding me to confirm my status to your superiors?"

"N-No, there's no problem with that." The guard stuttered. "You can enter inside. But try to understand the situation. We have to be careful about any minimal detail."

"Yeah, whatever." Requiem turned to Brutus. "As you can see, the authority of this body's previous owner is a reliable-"

As they entered inside, the doors of the carriage were harshly closed and they found themselves among the surviving ponies. They were both families, solitary wolves and innocents who waited their departure toward the skies. After some minutes, the carriage started moving.

"I feel something very sinister going on." Requiem murmured. "I can feel it."

"I hope that Rainbow Dash wasn't reached by the Reverse Tree cultists." Brutus said quietly.

"No, I don't think that is the case. Beside, I have a plan about our encounter with her."

"What?"

"Just wait."





The carriage got through the barrier that surrounded Cloudsdale and landed to one of the hangars. The doors were opened and the refugees were escorted into a camp. Requiem used Moon Shard's authority as scientist to get away from were with Brutus and entered inside the city unnoticed. They went into an alley to hide their presences. Brutus looked at Requiem with curiousness, while the latter maintained a very cold approach from him.

"There's the plan. I will go to retrieve Rainbow Dash under fake identity." Requiem said.

"Wait, you are going all alone?" Brutus asked.

"You forgot that I am a demon who can take care of itself. As for you, what you have to do is staying there. If what I am thinking was right, chaos is going to happen very soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Spitfire and her group are infected by the Necromyth, All that while being vaccinated with the same vaccine that your former girlfriend took."

"They are Undementias?" Brutus asked.

"They already have become this. They thought that the vaccine would had protected them by the infection... They had no idea about that." Requiem stated crudely.

"Let me guess. If chaos start, I have to drop the pretenses and act on my own."

"I will lead Rainbow Dash into the hangar. You better reach the main hangar and wait for me there. And don't do any reckless act that will compromise our cover. Got it?"

With that, the Requiem leaved Brutus alone with his own thoughts. He couldn't help but thinking about what had transpired with Vesper and his ascension as the monster he had become. That fact also reminded of the sacrifice that he had made to survive. However he regret nothing about that since his heart was hardened by what he had experienced in his previous life and the crisis plaguing his current one.

His pondering was then interrupted by a sudden scream followed by a chorus of moans and roars.

"Ah... So Requiem was right about that." Brutus commented as he was engulfed by black flames and assumed his demonic bipedal form.

He came out of the alley and witnessed the chaos that was happening in the city. Lessers and Flailers were wrecking houses and building. Some of them were chasing terrorized citizens while others were already gorging unfortunate victims. Without any hesitation, Brutus advanced forward, while turning his claw into barrel gun, and start shooting multiple zombies, killing them instantly. That lured the attention of other two zombies, who were already rushing toward him.

He turned his barrel gun arm into a claw and gripped both their heads with his claws. The two zombies were engulfed by a black flaming aura and the mark of Brutus appeared on their heads, turning them into his minions.

"Follow me." Brutus commanded as he released the now marked zombies from his grip.

Without wasting any time he made his way toward the hangar, slaughtering multiple zombie while converting other ones to his cause, creating his own new army and growing his ranks. Upon reaching the main hangar, he found a crazy looking group of zombified Wonderbolts, leaded by Soarin and High Wind.

"Who is this monster!?" Soarin said hesitantly. "And why those zombies looked sided with him!?"

"Who cares! Let's take care of him!" High Wind commanded. "Wonderbolts! Let's go!"

The undead pegasi dashed in mid air toward Brutus, who simply raised his claw, pointing it toward them.

"You better slaughter them, boys!" Brutus commanded, causing his army to rush toward with ferocity.

Despite their speed, most of the Wonderbolts were blocked and then overwhelmed by them. Soarin and High Wind were the only ones who managed to avoid being devoured or ripped into shreds by the marked zombies. The two flew furiously toward Brutus, who turned his arm into his sword and managed to wound them lethally.

Leaving the two falling on the ground, Brutus advanced toward the door and delivered a powerful punch the smashed through the metal doors as another horde of zombies was going after him.





In the present.

"You know the rest." Requiem said, releasing Rainbow Dash from his mnemonic flux.

Rainbow Dash fell on her knees, looking very shaken and disturbed by what she had just saw. The memories regarding Brutus and his past lives looked so vivid that looked real. Brutus noticed that and turned at Requiem with a bothered expression.

"Was that necessary?" Brutus demanded.

"She must know our situation and why she must follow us," Requiem said.

"...... Did you still expect me... To collaborate... With murderers like you?" Rainbow Dash protested.

"Look, if you want to see your friends again, you better trust us." Brutus said. "Not that I am interested in your opinion anyway. By the way you cannot even fly."

"After all, we are going to meet them.... In Canterlot." Requiem said, grinning with anticipation.
> Canterlot Mayhem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the middle of the devastated city of Cloudsdale, Brutus and his marked zombies advanced toward the hangar, followed by Requiem and a reluctant Rainbow Dash, who was still disgusted by what had just witnessed. The presence of the marked undementia zombie that used to be Spitfire gave her another reason to hate Brutus and his methods. Controlling the soul of the one who was her friend was just despicable to her. Despite her anger, however, she putted that aside and followed the group in the hope to find Twilight and the others.

Arrived inside the hangar, they found multiple metallic carriages that were used to transfer the refugees. There was no Royal Guard or member of the Wonderbolt left in that place. The place was deserted.

Or at least that was what seemed to Brutus until a whisper got his attention. He turned around and saw what remains of the refugees, with six pegasi Royal Guards glaring at them while the rest was cowering in fear in a corner. Rainbow couldn't help but feel very sad for them. Earth-ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi, who were just hiding by the horde of zombies infesting the city. Entire families who lost their home and hope of salvation.

"We have no time for them," Requiem said coldly. "We have a urgent matter to attend."

"And leave those ponies to their fate!?" Rainbow blurted. "What kind of monsters you are!?"

"I don't care about your Loyalty ethics," Brutus retorted. "We can't save every pony that you meet. Besides, there's so much little you can do with it." He turned to the refugees. "In the case you were wondering about the situation, yes, the city is now compromised. I suggest you to take one of the carriages and go away"

"What?" One of the Royal Guards said surprised.

"Why we should trust a monster a like you?" Another one said disgusted. "You have zombified Spitfire and destroyed this city. It's your fault!" 

"And why are Rainbow Dash and that unicorn following him!?" One of the refugees said shocked.

Rainbow shook her head. "It's not what you think!"

"She's our hostage." Brutus claimed calmly, causing the refugees to gasp.

Rainbow turned toward Brutus in shocked surprise. "What!?"

Brutus body was suddenly engulfed in black flames. As the flames were dissipating, his appearance assumed his monstrous bipedal form. Before anyone could react, He already turned his clawed hand into a barrel gun and pointed it on Rainbow's head. "If any of you dares to stand in my way, I will destroy the Element of Loyalty as you know it."

The refugees stopped talking and stepped toward one of the carriages in silence while giving to the trio only glares of scorn. Rainbow trembled a little but glared at Brutus, feeling her nerves and patience being tested by him.

"Move." Brutus ordered to her, indicating another empty carriage.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and marched reluctantly toward the carriage. She would had flew away at high speed, but she wasn't able to fly because of his injures.

Brutus turned toward his army of zombies and, indicating the other carriages, ordered the pegasi ones, including the marked Spitfire to prepare them for the travel. He then entered inside his own carriage along with Rainbow and Requiem, and closed the metallic doors.

The rest of his army of zombies entered into the other carriages and closed their own door as well. Brutus was now in possession of a fleet of improvised air cargos transporting his army. They took their flew, flying away from Cloudsdale, headed toward Canterlot, guided by the marked zombie Spitfire and the other marked undead pegasi.

As for the carriage of the refugees, it took another direction, driven by the six pegasi Royal Guards, probably headed toward whatever place they retain safe from the madness that they had just witnessed, far away from Brutus' army.





Looking from the window, Rainbow Dash gave a final look to what remains of Cloudsdale getting far away from her sight, and then looked down. She was alone with Brutus and Requiem, and that alone gave her a bad vibe. But that wasn't just for their action, but for what she saw in the visions that Requiem had instilled in her mind. She knew what Brutus really is and what was capable of. The stench of the undeads doesn't even help her situation.

Rainbow reluctantly lifted his head toward Brutus and was about to open her mouth. He already noticed that and made his talk for first.

"If you want to confront me, you better have a better speech." Brutus said bluntly.

"Brutus... Or maybe is should call you Walken Jaeger," Rainbow said coldly. "Are really doing all this junk for the sake of revenge?"

"One: I don't use that name anymore and you better not mentioning my past," Brutus replied. "And two: Vengeance wasn't my only objective. When I have settled the score with the cabal of the Reverse Tree and partially saved Equestria, I will have what-"

"A tranquil life, huh," Rainbow anticipated. "To the point that you don't care about who is about to get hurt as long you can take it back."

"I told you. I have no time for morality." Brutus said. "I am legitimated to do whatever I can to kill those bastard with every means and reverse this horror."

"And you want to use my friends, and our elements for that, right?" Rainbow looked at Requiem. "Speaking of that, did you said you have something to reveal once you have met me?"

"Come to think about that," Brutus turned to Requiem. "You better tell me exactly how they can reverse this horror."

"The Elements can purify the plague," Requiem informed. "However, they need the Dark Henge, a fountain containing the very essence of Equestria's magic. What they have to do is use the Elements on it to spread an equally powerful aura capable of purify the plague."

"What?" Rainbow is confused.

"That's it?" Brutus asked incredulous, but then narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry if I don't buy it, but there's a catch in this plan?"

"I will explain that later, but first," Requiem looked outside the window, seeing Canterlot in the distance. "We have almost arrived."

Rainbow looked out of the windows as well and saw a Canterlot being wrapped by trails of smoke. Screams and chilling moans could be heard as the carriage was getting closer to the landing point. That made her fear the worse.

"What the heck is happening there? Wasn't Celestia supposed to have erected a barrier?!" Rainbow asked worried.

"We'll see that after our landing," Brutus said.

"I hope that Twilight and the others are fine." Rainbow thought during the moment the carriage got closer to it's destination.





The carriages, the marked Spitfire and the other undead pegasi landed on the grass. The metallic doors opened shut and Brutus, Requiem and Rainbow Dash went out of the cart and witnessed the horde of zombies amassing one on another in their attempt to crush the gates.

Rainbow take a few steps back nervously. That scene reminded the horde that chased her during her escape from the infested Ponyville and the other one from the chaos that happened in Cloudsdale. She felt powerless and intimidated by that sight. Brutus and Requiem, on other hands, were just annoyed to see that since that was just another obstacle.

Brutus grinned in anticipation. "Come out boys!"

Under his order, his marked undeads went out from the other carriages at a very frightening speed. That caught the attention of the horde of the zombie nearby the gates and were about to going after them, guided by their hunger. Brutus took a look at the marked Spitfire and gestured to the horde.

"Show them what a break through is all about." Brutus ordered.

"No, wait!" Rainbow shouted.

It was too late. The marked Spitfire covered herself with her huge wings formed by fleshed pony faces protruding on their backsides, with their mouth being stuck in a scream, and unleashed a ultra-sonic scream the horde and crushes the gate, liberating the path toward the town. Brutus turned to Requiem and Rainbow, who was completely astonished by that display of destruction.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Brutus suggested.

But before Brutus and his group could enter, some pony approached them, standing in their way. I was the once snobby noble Blueblood, now being nothing more but a zombie with three horns, claws on his hooves and plant-like snakes replacing his tail. He was accompanied by other ponies of the high society being reduced into zombies of his caliber, including Jet Set and Upper Crust. Rainbow Dash recognized with horror one of them being Fancy Pants, having his horn being deformed and a bloodstained mane.

"No way... you too?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's too late for them. They are all Undementias. Ergo equally insane." Requiem said coldly.

"At least we know how to make use of our newfound powers and our mutation," Blueblood said. "This city is ours and I won't allow anyone to deny our legitimate rule."

"What rule?! I doubt that Celestia would had allowed that!" Rainbow pointed out.

"Celestia is actually fatally wounded by an unknown creature," Blueblood replied.

"A unknown creature?" Brutus said perplexed. 

"You are lying!" Rainbow shouted. "Celestia isn't the type to be struck down this easily!"

"Why should I lie to you?" Blueblood said nonchalantly. "I was in the castle during the infestation. I saw that with my very own eyes."

"And that gives you the right to take over this city and hurt innocent ponies!?" Rainbow said disgusted.

"We have no time to reason with mind-illed ponies," Requiem interrupted and then turned to Brutus. "Brutus, you know what to do."

Brutus pointed at Blueblood and his group while turning his hand into his barrel gun. "Attack them now!"

Invoke by his command, the army of marked zombies rushed toward the zombified upper class ponies with a elevated ferocity. The undead Fancy tried to use his magic, but has his horn being immediately destroyed by Brutus shooting at it. 

"Don't even try," Brutus warned.

The Undementias Jet Set and Upper Crust, managed to decimate most of the marked undeads, but were then overwhelmed by two marked unicorn Flailers, who hoovered them in the air and slammed their bodies to the ground violently, causing their backs to crack. The two Undementias screamed in pain as the Flailers roared ferociously.

Requiem approached the zombified duo, glowed his horn with a dark aura and incinerated them with a dark ray. "Rest in piece, you pathetic fools."

In the middle of this carnage, Brutus was confronting Blueblood. The crazed unicorn glowed his three horns and shot a ball of destructive energy. Brutus dodged the blow, which ended up exploding into a pillar of white energy that destroyed the left wall of the entrance. As Brutus was looking at the result, Blueblood teleported in front of him to make a surprise attack. Brutus already noticed that and grasped his face with his claws.

"Wrong move." Brutus declared as he engulfed Blueblood's head with a black flaming aura, causing him to scream in pain. His voice slowly lose his strength until it became silenced. Brutus released him from his grasp, revealing his mark being implanted on Blueblood's head. The newfound marked undead roared ferociously.

Rainbow Dash watched the slaughter from behind a wall, witnessing the acts that Brutus was putting into practice as he was gaining upper hand on the upper class Undementias, which majority were decimated, devoured or disintegrated by Requiem.

At this point, Brutus turned his attention toward the last Undementia of the group. That one being the wounded Fancy Pants, who didn't show any fear at all. The unicorn looked very calm and composed, showing determination and dignity despite his own bleeding, destroyed horn. Fancy looked at Brutus, showing no fear.

"You look like a tough guy who was prepared for this," Brutus commented. "Sorry, but you must be destroyed."

"I don't care," Fancy said. "Since I had devoured my sweet Fleur because of my newfound hunger, I know I was condemned. To be honest, I never agreed with Blueblood's idea to exploit Celestia absence to take over the city. And in this moment, I will use this opportunity to protect the city by monsters like you! Even without my horn!"

"And that's the problem," Brutus said as he shot a bullet in his head, finishing him for good and leaving him falling lifelessly on the ground. "You can't."

Rainbow Dash angrily approached Brutus but was then halted by Requiem. "We have no time for pointless mourning. We have to find Twilight and the others before the cabal does first. Got it?"

Rainbow gritted her teeth for a moment and was about to burst, but decided to contain herself and nodded reluctantly.

"Let's go." Requiem said calmly.

Rainbow, Brutus and his army followed suit, marching through out the wrecked town, including the now marked Blueblood. Most of the houses were barricade, with intimidated ponies peering through the planks. A few buildings were on fire and corpses were filling the streets. That reminded Brutus of what had transpired in his former hometown, Stardust Marble.

During their march, a few Lesser zombies came out of the alleys. Brutus didn't needed to send his minions this time, so he turned his hoof into his sword and took care of them with multiple swings. As body pieces were flying and crimson liquid was raining, Brutus resumed his march, headed toward the castle.

Rainbow followed the group with a sense of nausea biting her stomach and her head. Despite the fact that she hadn't done nothing wrong, she felt an accomplish into this. To make things worst, the demise of Fancy being delivered by Brutus gave her a display of his cruelty.

She knows there was nothing that can be done for Fancy, but that made her wonder if Brutus would hurt her friends or not. That is something she cannot say. Brutus noticed that and approached the cyan pegasus with a calm visage.

"You don't have to worry about Twilight and the others," Brutus said. "They will be fine... If they cooperate with us of course."

"I don't need that being said by you, Walken," Rainbow said coldly.

"Don't call me Walken." Brutus retorted. "Besides, if what Blueblood said was true about Celestia being wounded, that would explain the barrier being inactive."

"And you believe at what he said?" Rainbow said incredulous.

"Something must have happened to her." Brutus assumed. "Otherwise Canterlot wouldn't had been reduced into a wreck."

"You better save the talk for later, guys."  Requiem said, pointing his hoof forward. "There is the castle."

The group reached the once majestic way leading to Canterlot Castle, now being wrecked by the whole infestation. The statues adorning the pathway were destroyed. There was a trail of blood and debris leading to the entrance. The way, however, was clear, without any zombie being around, which was a suspicious factor to Brutus.

"I don't like this," Brutus said unconvinced. "That must be a trap realized by some pony."

"How can you tell that?" Rainbow asked.

"The Lesser and the Flailers are too blinded by their hunger and are not a very organized group," Brutus said calmly. "Also, I am not perceiving any Undementias being behind the door. It must be something else."

"Something else like what?" Rainbow asked.

"That is what we are going to discover," Brutus replied. "However it goes, I advise you to prepare yourself for the worst part."

"We should hope that the cabal didn't had arrived before us." Requiem said.

That being said, Brutus approached the gates and slam opened them with a kick. The group entered into the entrance hall, followed by the marked zombies. There are two exits and a staircase on two sides at the very end of the hall, with two stained-glasses depicting the sun and the moon respectively. Brutus scanned his surrounding with a 

"Follow me," Brutus said.

"Wait a second," Rainbow halted. "You expect Twilight and my other friends to collaborate with you, but I don't think they would do so or react very well upon seeing your appearance and your... army of undeads. Seriously, how do you intend to explain yourself?"

"We'll talk about it later," Brutus replied, narrowing his eyes. "We have to find the other Elements first. Until then, you better follow me without even complaining."

Rainbow was about to retort but then froze up, having noticed. Her eyes widened and she pointed her hoof upwards. "Watch out!"

Brutus looked u and saw two large, dark fireballs resembling small meteors falling down in his direction at very elevated speed. Not having the time to order his marked zombies to create a barrier, he, Rainbow and Requiem leaped away from their trajectory, leaving both Spitfire and Blueblood being exposed to their impact with them. 

The meteors crashed upon them, bursting in fiery explosions that disintegrated both of them, along with most of the other marked zombies. Two craters were formed on the floor in their place. The three ponies rose up looked at the devastated scenario, not knowing what happened or how that happened. Rainbow Dash in particular was literally startled the sheer destructive power that had been displayed in that moment.

Brutus, on other hand, was left speechless. He looked dismayed upon seeing his what had transpired. Most of his marked zombies were decimated by the explosion caused by the meteor. That wasn't a problem to him since he has plenty of them. What really bothered him was the marked Spitfire and Blueblood were both disintegrated as well.

"Damn it! They were my ace cards!" Brutus thought.

"W-what was that!?" Rainbow asked bewildered.

Requiem looked up and his eyes widened. "Look up!"

Brutus turned upwards and looked at the source of that attack, being a very bizarre creature hoovering above them. It was a humanoid demonic figure with silver eyes, two ram horns, very long claws and spike instead of the feet. He slowly descended in front of the group, hoovering above the ground, and turned his gates on Brutus.

The undead pony looked very dumbfounded by that, not expecting a creature like that at all. Brutus could feel a very tremendous power, coming from the demon. That sensation was so familiar it was giving him a very upsetting impression, accompanied by a disturbing sense of deja vu.  

"That's doesn't look like a equestrian creature at all. His powers are not from this world... Could that be...!"

"The hell?" Brutus said incredulous.

"Desolated to have destroyed your strongest pieces," He said. "But I won't allow you to proceed. Not because of some master wish, but because fighting you is my aspiration, you damned soul."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Brutus said furiously.

"My name is Florios, and you will pay for the death of Dagon!"