An experienced thief dies before his time, leaving a mess that God must fix, the solution God thinks of is reincarnating him in the My Little Pony universe with the power of The Gamer.
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Is our universe unique? There is a concept that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you make in this life play out in alternate realities, where all things considered fiction exists. The idea of parallel universes is known as the multiverse theory.
Based on the multiverse theory, everything is possible, universes so different to ours that the fundamental laws of the universe we know and abide by, may not apply within them at all.
Echo theory explains that if the multiverse theory is true; then every universe produce an echo. What does that mean? It implies that universe A and B have almost no differences from each other, but universe A and Z have nothing in common, every decision that is made creates an offshoot, then answer to a yes or no question will create a different parallel universe. Every decision be that what you want for lunch right the way down to the fundamentals of the universe's creation.
The echo theory also theorizes that everything we see as entertainment like TV Shows, cartoons, books, etc. Are merely echoes of others parallel universes that might or might not be disturbed, the easiest way to explain this would be the example of the telephone game, the first person in the line or circle whispers a word or phrase into the ear of the person sitting or standing to their right. Player’s whisper the phrase to their neighbours until it reaches the last player in line, the word that the first person said might not be the same as what the last person said at the end of the game, in other words as the echo of the alternate universe brushes past others they begin to distort, by the time the echo reaches you it might not resemble its originating universe, this would be the easiest way to explain the Echo theory.
You must be wondering why I’m explaining all of this. Well the answer is quite simple, and everyone will understand it, later, just know that those theories are correct
Year - 20XX
Jack Starling, twenty-five years old, thief, con-artist, womanizer, gambler. Those are the first things that come to mind when describing him. Jack had his redeemable qualities but rarely showed them. One of those redeemable qualities is that he loved children, in the proper and approved sense of the law kind of love. In his free time, you could often find Jack helping in one of the local orphanages. Perhaps because he was an orphan himself, he wanted to help other kids on his position, or he was just a kind soul, who knows.
Jack had stolen over four million dollars during his life, all of which he used to help sick kids of the orphanages and other people in need. His targets were always the same kind of people; politicians, drug dealers, human traffickers, etc. Jack had the philosophy that taking from the corrupted members of our society was not a crime. It was justice, but he never prepared for the repercussions of his so-called justice, one of the many corrupted people he stole from, eventually found and killed him.
Is death the end?
No, it’s just the beginning.
Jack POV
It was dark, too dark to see anything at all. Where was I? I remember being shot at my hideout, didn’t I die?
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes, you are dead." A voice said.
"Hmm was bound to happen anyway," I replied.
"... I expected at least a bit of denial", the voice said. "Or at the very least some questions, like why am I hearing a voice in my head, for example."
"No, it's alright." I said, "I remember being shot, twice in the heart, so my chances of being alive are pretty low, so why should I fight or denied that what it's done it's done, and was unavoidable."
"I see." The voice said while chuckling, "You are an exciting fellow."
"Thanks." I said, "I knew that one day it would happen,"
"The thing is," The voice said, taking a deep breath, "You weren't supposed to die today."
"Huh, what do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, you were supposed to die at your 82nd birthday." The voice answered, "You died 57 years too early; for that, I must apologize."
Out of nowhere, a blinding light started to fill everything around me. Once the light died down, I saw a man in a business suit sitting behind a desk with some papers. I noticed the room we were now in was underwater. The water itself was clear and stretched out as far as I could see. I’ll be honest; my worst fear is drowning.
"Where the hell am I?" I babbled jumping on his desk, trying to get something to hold onto, while hyperventilating.
"Oh yeah, fear of drowning, my bad." The man in front of me said, with a snap of his fingers, the room changed to a beautiful garden with thousands of roses and other flowers, "Sorry about that, really trying to figure out why you died before your day...today is really not my day as you can see."
"It's okay; I suppose we all have bad days..." I concurred, getting off his desk, "By the way...now I'm curious, just who are you?"
"I thought you weren't interested before." Commented the man with a smirk on his face, "I'm God."
"Huh, God..." I said, taking a good look at the man in front of me, "Well, I kinda expected something different, this is super anticlimactic."
"Anyway, going back to the subject at hand." God said, ignoring my comment entirely, "You died, and you weren't supposed to."
"Can you just revive me?" I asked, "You know being almighty and everything."
"I'm afraid I can't," God said, looking at me.
"Then let me die," I said.
"Can't do that either." God said, "Consider your life money, a newborn is rich, while an old man is poor."
"So you owe me metaphorical money?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, whoever orchestrated your death will pay for that." God declared, "It must have been one of my sons; they think it's funny to start messing with my job."
"Great, spank the kids." I said with a bored tone, "So what am I supposed to do with metaphorical money I can’t spend?"
"I never said you couldn't use it," God said.
"So, what can I do?" I asked, wondering if I could reincarnate if he couldn't revive me perhaps that was possible.
"You can't go back to your world, I can certainly restore your life, But I cannot simply place you back where you came from, there are rules about that," God said, "But you could go to another world, one where magic flows free,"
"So if I go to that world, will I die in 57 years?" I asked, after all, he said that I still had that amount of time.
"Haha, that's not how it works, though I wish it was. I kinda have to compensate you for all this." God said, while hitting his head on the desk.
"Aren’t you God, don't you like… decided how things works?" I asked.
"Yes and no." God said with a big laugh, "My wife also has a say in this. I made the world, but she made the rules."
"Oh, okay," I said.
"Well, one of the natives in the world you will reincarnate to recently died," God said, looking at some papers, all I was able to gather from said papers were two letters, BL, on the name.
'BL, what kind of name starts like that' I thought.
"You could use that body." God said, with a smile on his face, "I know you will love this world, you were a fan of a distant echo of this world when you were a kid, My Little Pony."
"My Little Pony?" I asked, surprised, taking a deep breath, "Is real?!"
"There is an infinite number of universes, everything that could exist does," God replied with a smile.
"Okay, makes sense, but why would I take over the body of some dead pony?" I asked.
"Well, I already reincarnated other souls thousands of years ago into another universe and the experience of being a baby, while having the mind of an adult drove every single one of them crazy." God said, with an apologetic smile, "It's either a body that already exists or a new adult body, in your case the existing body works better and I really don't want to make a new body."
"I see your point, not being able to talk and other stuff for years, must have a serious psychological impact." I said, "What about the compensation?"
"Ask for anything, if it's not too crazy or overpowered I'll give it to you," God said.
"Huh, well I always thought the power of the gamer, from a webcomic I read a long time ago, was super cool. I would like that," I said.
"Okay, anything else?" God said, taking notes.
"I kinda expected that you would say that, that wish was too much, and that I would only get one,” I said, I mean the gamer power was extremely op, unlimited growth indicated unlimited potential, eventually.
"Nah," God said, shrugging his shoulders, "Go on."
"I would love to know how to use my body, Biped to quadruped body issues, ya know?" I said.
"Oh, dear, no." God said, laughing, "I see your confusion."
"Huh?" I queried.
"Well, the echo that your world got from the My Little Pony universe was very distorted," God said taking a deep breath, "While it's true the creatures in that world are mostly ponies, they are more like anthropomorphic versions of it, imagine a human with fur and pony features, something like that."
"That's a disturbing image," I said.
"But I suppose I could give you control over the other parts of your body; your human body didn't have," God said. "Still too green, continue."
"No that's all," I said.
"Good," God said with a sinister smile, "if you kept making wishes, let's just say, hell was your destination, but you proved you are a human that can control his greed."
"...."
"My wife thought it would separate the worthy from the scum when reincarnating someone," God said laughing, "If that's all, I have work to do, and a kid to punish, by the way, you're the first soul I reincarnate in eons, so good luck."
"Bye," I said.
I came to my senses, laying on my back on a bed gazing up at the ceiling, the room had monitors, and I had some cables and tubes connected to me. Everything indicated I was in a hospital bed. I clambered to my feet and got out of bed; my body didn't hurt at all. As I studied my surroundings, two nurses came in running.
"Please your highness, you have to go back to bed." one of the nurses said to me, it startled me that when I turn to see her, I saw her name on top of her head, and her level.
<Nurse> LV 5 - Rose Hooves
'Wait... your highness? Please anything but one of the princesses!' I thought in the form of pleading; I didn't want to change my gender.
"Please prince Blueblood," the other nurse said, and on top of her head her name and level, now was for sure, I had the gamer power. "Don't make us call your aunt because you don't want to rest."
<Nurse> LV 4 - Meredy Flower
'Uff, I'm a male thank G...Blueblood! Oh for god sakes, nobody likes him.' I thought while getting back to bed.
"Now stay there, we will get the princess immediately," one of the nurses said.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Oh, you're in Canterlot, inside the castle." The nurse said, "And yes, we have the best equipment to treat the pinnacle of perfection."
"Thanks, if you could be a dear Miss Rose, and, if possible, bring me a glass of water please?" I said, making the nurse look at me like I grow a second head.
"Sure..." The nurse said while leaving the room with the other nurse while whispering to each other, 'Did he just said thanks? And please?. He even remembered my name! He must have hit his head harder than we thought.'
As soon as the nurses left, I stood up and grabbed a mirror to look at my new face.
Like God said I was like an anthropomorphic pony, my hair or mane now was blond, my fur was white, my body was quite well built, and on top of my head was my name, with my title and level.
<The Gamer - Prince> LV 10 - Blueblood
'Let's try,' I thought. 'Status.'
SKILLS
Gamer's Mind - Passive LV MAX: Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Immunity to mass psychological effects and any other psychological effects. Gamer's Body - Passive LV MAX: Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. Sleeping in a bed restores HP, MP and all mass effects. Cutie mark - Mastery Over Light Magic - Passive LV MAX: Allows the user to learn and improve light magic with ease giving a bonus of earning 500% more experience. Telekinesis - Active LV 1: The user can use magic or magical energy to telekinetically push, move, lift, or otherwise manipulate matter in general. This even includes the ability to use magic as a medium to enable flight; the amount of mana used for this will depend on the weight of the thing the user is moving. 10mp/min per pound, a maximum of 200 pounds. The higher the telekinesis spell level is, the less mana the spell will use, and also, the larger the mana pool means that more weight can be lifted.
Grooming Spell - Active LV 45: The user can use magic to groom and clean himself to look fabulous, that all. 150mp for a full deep cleanup. Anti-dirt Enchantment - Active LV 25: The user can use magic to enchant his fur and clothes to protect himself from any type of dirt! That's all. 250mp/h for a full-body enchantment.
'That's it...?' I thought. 'Man this guy only learned spells to keep himself clean, nothing beneficial.'
As I looked at myself in the mirror, I heard the door of my hospital room open, as I turned around, I saw the nurses and Celestia, seeing her I almost fell from the surprise, the name, title, and level on top of her head.
<Alicorn of the Sun - Princess of Equestria> LV ??? - Celestia
The nurse I asked for a glass of water came up to me and said, “I told you, you had to rest.”
"Thanks, and sorry, Miss Rose," I replied, still staring at Celestia.
Again the nurses were having an internal panic attack. Apparently, Blueblood never had the decency to say thanks or please, then again I was a thief so I can't really guilt trip this guy.
Celestia came up to me, and hugged me, as she cried, “I was afraid you would never wake up, dear nephew.”
"I'm okay...auntie," I said, the auntie part took an enormous toll out of me, but I had to play my role.
"Rest for now dear nephew," Celestia said with a heavy look, levitating me to the bed like a baby, "Tomorrow we will try to figure out who tried to murder you."
'Wait...what?' I thought. 'I know he was an asshole, or should I say I... anyways but trying to kill him? Where is the friendship and harmony and all that?'
"I have my best ponies investigating the case," Celestia said with conviction, "I have to go, dear nephew, I just wanted to see you before getting ready for the summer sun celebration in ponyville."
'So this is at the beginning of the series...' I thought, "Don't worry auntie, I'll be okay."
"Alright," Celestia said, leaving the room, with the nurses following her.
"Now you know why I explained everything at the beginning" God
After Celestia left to prepare, and I was left in the room alone, I began to think and plan, how to get stronger, I was already rich being royalty and all. But the money would not save me from the problems that were to come, this Equestria was very different from the one I saw as a kid, the ponies were anthropomorphic creatures, and someone had tried to kill blueblood and succeeded.
' I'm going to start practicing my telekinesis while I am here, in this room.' I thought as I began to levitate the lamp on my table. 'Continous use of the skill should level it up eventually'
It took a few hours, but I managed to level up my telekinesis twice, I had to stop because I had run out of mana.
"I have fifty points to use, but where?" I said thoughtfully, 'Well, I'm a unicorn so magic might be the best option for me, I should investigate how to ascend, if I ascend the power boost should be substantial, perhaps the Alicorn amulet?'
Deciding where to put my points, I decided to put forty points in INT, and ten points in WIS, STR could be increased with exercise as well as DEX, 'Let's see my stats again.'
(STR): A measure of how physically strong a character is. Strength often controls the maximum weight the character can carry, melee attack and/or damage, and sometimes. Armor and weapons might also have a Strength requirement, current maximum carrying capacity: 75 pounds.
(VIT): A measure of how sturdy a character is. Vitality often influences resistances for special types of damage (poisons, illness, heat, etc.) and fatigue, HP Is calculated by the VIT, HP: VIT x 96: 960HP...
(DEX): A measure of how agile a character is. Dexterity controls attack and movement speed and accuracy, as well as evading an opponent's attack; DEX calculates current movement speed: 15mph, movement speed, Movement speed: DEX x 3: 15mph.
(LUK): A measure of a character's luck. Luck might influence anything or nothing, it mostly random, encounters and outstanding successes/failures
(INT)▲: A measure of a character's problem-solving ability. Intelligence often controls a character's ability to comprehend foreign languages and their skill in magic. MP is calculated by INT, MP: INT x 100: 6000MP.
(WIS)▲: Increases Magic Resistance increases by 1% every 10 WIS points, current magic resistance 3%. Increases Mana Regeneration increases by 1% every 10 WIS points, current mana regeneration per min 3% = 180mp/min or 3mp/s.
Skills: Telekinesis - Active LV 3 ▲ - 0.5% EXP: The user can use magic or magical energy to telekinetically push, move, lift, or otherwise manipulate matter in general. This even includes the ability to use magic as a medium to enable flight; the amount of mana used for this will depend on the weight of the thing the user is moving. 9mp/min per pound, a maximum of 667 pounds. The higher the telekinesis spell level is, the less mana the spell will use, also, more mana means more weight can be lifted.
'That should put me up to date,' I thought, 'That a huge increase on my mana'
Two guards entered the hospital room, above his head, I could see their titles, names, and levels, I was surprised to see that their levels were much higher than mine one pegasus and one earth pony, the earth pony guard was the first to speak.
<Royal Guard> LV30 Steel Hope
"Your highness, princess Celestia has ordered us to move you to out of the castle for the day." Steel said.
'She must be trying to protect me, in case Luna wins and kills everything with the stupid eternal night plan.' I thought, looking at the guard.
-Due to continuous observation a new skill has been created.
New skill created: Observe - Active LV1: It tells the target's max HP, max MP, and some basic information.
<Royal Guard> LV30 Steel Hope HP: 10.500HP MP: 450MP Information: He loves pancakes, and running.
'Holy shit more than ten times my hp' I thought surprised, 'Let's see the other guard'
<Royal Guard> LV28 Thunder Xer HP: 7505HP MP: 845MP Information: He's one of the fastest guards of his generation, and it's proud of it.
"Alright gentle colts, lead the way," I replied with a smile on my face, the guards were looking at me funny, while I was following the guards out of the castle, I notice that at least 90% of the ponies working in the palace, were above me in LV, the guards were from 20-55, and the other employees were around 3-15.
'I'm probably the weakest stallion in this castle,' I thought, 'perhaps I'll find a random dungeon soon'
While the guards escorted me out of the palace, I started to think if I had the option to see my reputation with the gamer power, so perhaps that was possible, after all, games had a reputation system.
Due to you noticing about the reputation system in order games, a new skill has been created! Reputation: You can gain or lose favor, otherwise known as reputation, with many of the several different individuals in the world. A higher reputation gives access to special rewards and treatment. You can increase reputations using several methods.
'I kinda expected more ponies to hate me,' I thought, 'I can understand Celestia being my aunt...still cant get used to that, but why does my reputation is so high with Rarity, Blueblood never meet her before, was she this obsessed with him before.'
The guards took me to a house on the outskirts of Canterlot on the way to the house I used observe in every pony that I could, trying to level up the skill. Inside the house was Cadence reading a book; the house had nothing but a couple of sofas and a dozen guards, Cadence greeted me, and went back to read her book. 'Observe'
<Princess of Love> LV??? Cadence HP: ??????HP MP: ??????MP Information: Cadence is an extremely kind and affectionate, caring pony, she loves to foal sit.
Observe has leveled up ▲1 = it now reveals the current HP and current MP, and weaknesses.
This time I looked at Cadance again and thought, 'Observe'
<Princess of Love> LV??? Cadence HP: ?????/?????HP MP: ?????/?????MP Information: Cadence is an extremely kind and affectionate, caring pony, she loves to foal sit. Weakness: Black Magic and Pathokinesis are her main weaknesses, while she's able to control good emotions bad ones are like poison for her.
"Hey, Cadence..." I said, getting close to her. She lifted her eyes from the book, and with fantastic acting skills, she concealed the annoyance that my presence made her feel.
"Hi Blueblood," Cadance said with a fake smile on her face, she was not happy to see me.
"Do you have any idea what it's going on?" I asked, I already knew what but I wanted to improve my reputation with her, and everyone.
"Not really," Cadence replied, but I could see in her eyes she was lying, When you live your life stealing and scamming, you develop a sixth sense to read the little signs that the human body, in this case, the pony gives when ponies are lying; apparently my past experiences would also be useful in this world.
Time to play my cards, "Don't worry, Twilight surely will overcome this test."
Cadence dropped the book when she heard me, stared at me as if I had discovered a big secret, “Who told you?”
I had her where I wanted her, “I know I don't look like it, but I like to read from time to time, it didn't take much to tie the dots, my point is don't worry, she'll be fine.”
Cadence sighed and said, “You're right; Twily will get through this."
“Life is a gamble, but ponies like our aunt know how to play the system.” I said with a smile sitting next to her, “Twilight is a safe bet.”
Cadence began to laugh softly, “Since when did you become so deep and spiritual?”
I answered with a warm smile between laughs, “Hey, when the world may come to an end, you become spiritual and wise.”
▲450 Reputation with Cadance.
' Still unfriendly, but that's something at least.' I thought, "I'm gonna leave you be, I need to rest for a bit."
Cadence started to reread her book and said. “Sure.”
'She's an outstanding actress, she's hiding the curiosity in my sudden change of demeanor' I thought watching her read while getting inside an empty room to sleep, 'I'm gonna take a nap to recover my mana, that way I can start leveling my telekinesis again'
While I rested, waiting, the night was gradually approaching, and with it the arrival of Nightmare Moon, I could only pray that at least the events of this event were the same as I knew, otherwise my life would be quite complicated for a while.
Nightmare Moon Dungeon - Event! Entering Dungeon!
'Wait what!?' I thought.
I found myself in a dungeon, the walls were damp, and there was almost no light, I started walking the only path available, forward. I walked without stopping, and the damn place seemed to extend eternally like the cosmos, I arrived at spherical room with nothing but one corridor to continue walking the corridor was quite small in size, as I approached the corridor I felt something in my neck, a chilling cold air, I jumped by instinct it felt like something was crawling down my back, and I turned around and saw it.
Information: Dream Demon or Nightmare, is a creature that was born from ponies dreams. The Dream Demons live in the Dream World, where every night all creatures come to visit when they are sleeping. Dream Demons have the power to enter the real world, but to do that; they need vessels in order to come out. In order to acquire the vessels, Dream Demons invade the creature's dreams and then when the creature gets weak due to the nightmares, the Dream Demons take over the body. Once a vessel is acquired, it cannot be changed, and the Dream Demon cannot return to the Dream World on their own.
Weakness: Light magic is their main weakness, without a vessel these nightmares are weak and fragile, they need a vessel to show their full might and use magic without a vessel the only spell they can use is forceful possession, they don't have a physical form, so physical attacks are useless against them, their ethereal form can be damage with consecutive magic attacks and eventually they will lose the power to maintain said form.
-Event debuff this creature is considerably weaker than normal-
'That thing is 15 levels higher than me,' I thought, 'what kind of first dungeon would do this...
The corridor that lead me to that room I was, was gone, and the creature without waiting nay further threw itself at me, I managed to dodge the attack, the demon continued with his attacks with a repetitive pattern, but I was cautiously avoiding his hits for all I knew he could probably One-shot me , I tried to stop him with my telekinesis, but apparently, grabbing something without physical form is extremely difficult, that's where I realized, I didn't have any offensive abilities, maybe I could create one myself, so I started to concentrate mana on my index finger, firing a beam of pure mana at the demon.
A new skill is created with a specific action Mana Beam: Blasts the target with a small, thin, very fast and concentrated laser-like beam of mana. The user can fire the attack very quickly while maintaining precise aim, 250MP per shoot, damage can vary.
'So 9 or 10 more times and this guy is dead,' I thought, '175 dmg... is most be because it doesn't have a vessel.'
I kept shooting at the creature, its movements were predictable at that point, and little by little I was leveling up my new skill, if I continued my tactic of attacking and withdrawing I would win without any problems, when the life of the demon reached less than ten percent the creature began to scream, after the scream, his movements turned unpredictable and incredibly fast, I tried to shoot him a couple of times and my attacks didn't reach him, the creature started attacking I managed to dodge him a couple of times, but in the end the creature managed to hit me, in one attack the beast had taken 95% of my life.
'I can't die like this' I thought dodging the nightmare, 'I just got my second chance, I can't fucking die like this.'
We were fighting in an open area, which had only one way out. I ran with all my strength and as fast as I possibly could in the direction of that corridor, the demon chased me, but that was part of my plan, in an open area, he had the advantage, but in a hallway where only an average size pony could fit, it would be much harder for the creature to dodge my attacks, of course, this plan was a double-edged sword, if he can't dodge the same applies to me. But this was a bet that I had to play, the nightmare had to play on my rules, I turned around to shoot the demon with a mana beam, the creature was half a meter away from me, I fired my attack, and the demon attacked, now it was a question of what attack would arrive first.
LEVEL UP ▲ LEVEL UP ▲
'I'm alive!' was the first thought that came to my mind, 'Oh shit, that was too fucking close for my liking.'
I had survived the encounter, barely, but I was alive, continuing to advance inside the dungeon my scenery didn't change too much, everything around was practically the same, though as I got deeper into the dungeon I started to see letters or symbols that didn't make any sense, like some kind of lost language.
"Well, this can't be good for me," I thought while looking at the symbols, symbols in a creepy dungeon are never a good omen.
continuing my path and encountering more symbols I hear something or someone chanting, and again I couldn't understand a word, but I knew something for sure the creature chanting was my next battle, so I decided to follow the sound.
as I approached the sound, I notice the symbols that I saw earlier were glowing, the closer I got, the brighter they would glow, I came to the conclusion that the symbols would lead me to the creature, the symbols lead me to a door, opening the door I saw behind it some stairs.
"I totally feel this is gonna lead me to my doom," I said while slowly but surely starting to descend to my absolute doom.
the stairs were endless, kind of like the ones that twilight and spike had to face during the crystal empire event, but eventually, I got to the top and like I thought the creature was there, chanting.
'Maybe I should attack it before it notices me.' I thought.
Information: The Nightmare Sorcerers are creatures that terrorized and destroyed the ancient world, each of them with his or her own brand of magic that represents or is derived from a different element which their powers are based on, these nightmares are extremely rare to find.
Weakness: Light magic has some effect on them, but the best way to deal with these creatures is with holy magic which has been lost for 5000 years.
-Event debuff, this creature is considerably weaker than normal during the nightmare moon- []
"Maybe you shouldn't," the nightmare said, turning his attention to me, "while my peers are aggressive and prone to violence, I try to avoid unneeded bloodbaths."
"You speak!?" I said, surprised.
"I do, and frankly I'm insulted you thought I was so stupid that I couldn't even talk," The sorcerer said in an insulted tone, "You have to leave pony, this realm is way beyond your capabilities."
"I did pretty well by myself like ten minutes ago," I replied still on guard, I didn't know if I should trust the creature.
"Yes, you did, but that was just a mindless drone, If you find a nightmare with an actual brain on his head you will die," The sorcerer said, moving his hand creating a circle of magic, "Besides you were able to deal with one of them, but tell me...can you deal with hundreds of them at the same time?"
What I saw through the circle made me shiver, hundreds....no! thousands of nightmare shades, all in a single place, "What!, are you gonna bring them here." I said, slowly retreating the room.
"Why would I do that? after all the work it took me to seal them?" The sorcerer said closing the circle, "I felt your presence entering the nightmare realm, and I had to do something to help you out, so I decided to seal those roaches and guide you here, but I miss one of them, I was about to go and help you....but you dealt with the situation better than I expected...after all you're pretty weak."
"Why would you help me? aren't you supposed to be bad or something?" I asked the sorcerer with curiosity.
The sorcerer looked at me, and he let out a laugh, and said, "Evil and Good are relative, tell me do bad guys have nightmares and if so how do you think some of those nightmares are?"
"like any other nightmare?" I replied.
"Sometimes, yes. But sometimes what they fear the most is being a decent creature, and when their fear is strong enough a new nightmare is born, some nightmare exists since the beginning of time like those shades, but others are created through the deepest fears of the living creatures." The sorcerer said.
"So I assume you're one of those?" I asked.
"Yes, my creator was a monster and that sugar coating it, he did unspeakable things in Equestria, so bad that the Solaris executed him, and Equestria usually goes for the lenient punishment." The sorcerer said with a laugh, "A tell me what do monsters fear? what kind of nightmare do they have, I'm his nightmare.."
"I'm sorry, I still don't know if I should believe you, but I guess I shouldn't judge creatures by their appearances," I said while thinking, 'or their creepy chantings.'
"Well, this appearance is an illusion, to keep the shades out of my back," The sorcerer said, "The shades are the maids of the nightmare realm, they clean everything, and that includes creatures that don't follow the natural order of things, like me for example, a good nightmare is a paradox that by the laws of this realm should not exist."
"So you hide your appearance to survive, that's a smart move," I said, amazed by the sorcerer.
"Not only my appearance, but I also change my magical signature and other details to take the hounds out of my back," The sorcerer replied with a hint of pride on his head.
"If what you said it's true, about the hundred of nightmares and other stuff, how can I escape this place?" I asked.
"Just wake up." The sorcerer replied, "Only mind and soul can enter the nightmare realm."
"So if I'm sleeping, what can I possibly do to break off this deep slumber?" I asked.
"Well, if Princess Luna were to be here, she could easily enter and break you out, but that's not the case, I haven't seen her in 1000 years, so the best second option would be shocking your soul with mana, if I shock you in the center of your being that should alter the fluctuations of your mana and then you should wake up," The sorcerer explained.
"So Luna was your friend?" I asked the sorcerer, and there is no way she could befriend a nightmare, she would probably vanquish him before even asking questions.
"Indeed, I helped her when she needed the most help like I'm helping you, now let me shock your soul with my mana so that you can go back to your cozy and secure world." the sorcerer started to approach me.
Something was not right, he was way too good to be true, and when something or someone is way too good to be true its usually a con, I jumped backward like three feet and pointed my finger at him, "Sorry buddy, but I don't buy the good guy act, it's way too convenient, everything is way too convenient."
The sorcerer started to laugh, maniacally like I just told him the best joke in the world and said, "This coulda been easy you know, no pain, no suffering, all I needed was your cooperation, but now ill take your body by force stupid rugrat!"
I started shooting my mana beams, a shield appeared around him, blocking every beam I shot at him.
"Your resistance is futile. There is no way you're gonna win against me in a magic battle, I've been practicing and honing my skills for eons!" The sorcerer shouted, creating a ball of fire and throwing at me.
Rolling to the side and getting my clothes burn, I decided to change my strategy, perhaps I could get some information or tip on how to defeat him if I concentrated enough, I kept shooting at him, my mana going low, and the shoots had no effect whatsoever, his mana was above 50% mine was under 20%, in one of my mana beams I noticed the debris for the sealing that my shots generated went through his shield, and then it hit me, that shit was blocking magical attacks, not physical attacks.
I grabbed a rock in the ground, and with all my might I threw at him, the rock went through his shield, and like I expected it hit him.
"A rock!?" The sorcerer shouted, "You attack me with a rock?!"
"Survival, bitch!" I started throwing rocks at him non-stop, he kept throwing fireballs at me, but they were really slow.
Thirteen rocks later, his life was under 10%, I was on a defensive position the last time I got one of these guys under a certain amount of hp, it almost killed me.
"Beaten by child!... I refuse!! to allow such fate!" The sorcerer shouted, "If I'm gonna die! ill be taking you with me!"
[Warning lethal attack incoming in 14 sec]
I threw a rock at him to end him, but even when his life reached zero, he was still standing, I threw a couple more, and he was still standing.
I ran towards the door at full speed, counting the seconds on my head, I dash throw the stairs, and then the explosion came, I saw behind me the fire approaching everything around me was in like slow motion.
'So this is it?' I thought watching the fire getting closer and closer, 'I die, having a nightmare...'
and then it hit me!, what if this was a nightmare, it was a dungeon but what if I could escape it?!, so before the fire was able to eat me away, I shouted some words I prayed in my heart they would work.
"ID: Escape!" I shouted with all my might.
Cadence POV
I was reading a lovely book, but my mind was in another place, Twilight had to face Nightmare moon, I was already stressed enough, but aunty had the great idea to have Blueblood with me, he approached me, and for the first time treated me, normally, I dare say he was comforting, I seriously worried about him, perhaps he's sick or about to die, after talking to me, he went to a room alone, the hours passed, and he didn't ask or bother anyone in the cabin.
"ID: Escape!" Blueblood shouted.
'What in Tartarus was that?' I thought, running towards his room.
Opening the door, I saw my cousin sweating and trembling, so I decided to ask, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just had the most realistic nightmare ever," Blueblood replied.
I found myself back in the room everything started, I was sweating and trembling, was it fear, excitement, or perhaps I was just shaking with happiness, Cadance rushed to my room.
LEVEL UP ▲ LEVEL UP ▲
"Are you ok?" Cadence asked.
"Yeah, I just had the most realistic nightmare ever," I replied.
"Alright, I'm gonna make you a tea, I'll be right back," Cadance said, closing the door.
Seeing Cadance left I went straight to what I wanted to see, my status, 'Status'
(STR)▲: A measure of how physically strong a character is. Strength often controls the maximum weight the character can carry, melee attack and/or damage, and sometimes. Armor and weapons might also have a Strength requirement, current maximum carrying capacity: 135 pounds.
(VIT)▲: A measure of how sturdy a character is. Vitality often influences resistances for special types of damage (poisons, illness, heat, etc. and fatigue, HP Is calculated by the VIT, HP: VIT x 96: 1344HP...
(DEX)▲: A measure of how agile a character is. Dexterity controls attack and movement speed and accuracy, as well as evading an opponent's attack; DEX calculates current movement speed: 27mph, movement speed, Movement speed: DEX x 3: 27mph.
(LUK): A measure of a character's luck. Luck might influence anything or nothing, it mostly random, encounters and outstanding successes/failures
(INT)▲: A measure of a character's problem-solving ability. Intelligence often controls a character's ability to comprehend foreign languages and their skill in magic. MP is calculated by INT, MP: INT x 100: 6400MP.
(WIS)▲: Increases Magic Resistance increases by 1% every 10 WIS points, current magic resistance 3%. Increases Mana Regeneration increases by 1% every 10 WIS points, current mana regeneration per min 3% = 180mp/min or 3mp/s.
Skills: Telekinesis - Active LV 3 - 0.5% EXP: The user can use magic or magical energy to telekinetically push, move, lift, or otherwise manipulate matter in general. This even includes the ability to use magic as a medium to enable flight; the amount of mana used for this will depend on the weight of the thing the user is moving. 9mp/min per pound, a maximum of 711 pounds. The higher the telekinesis spell level is, the less mana the spell will use, also, more mana means more weight can be lifted.
Mana beam - Active LV 1 - 95% EXP: Blasts the target with a small, thin, very fast and concentrated laser-like beam of mana. The user can fire the attack very quickly while maintaining precise aim, 250MP per shoot, damage can vary.
I awoke in a quiet room in a warm and cozy bed, Groaning, I tried to blink away the lingering haze of sleep, groggily I started sitting up, stretching. The window was open, revealing a sunny day. Noon, I guess, the day was pretty warm. There's no trace of the freaky atmosphere of that creepy night, the nightmare moon night. Though my eyes are blurry from the sudden rush of sunlight, a glance around reveals that I'm back in my room at the castle, half-naked and wrapped in blankets.
'How the hell did I get back here?, last thing I remember was drinking Cadence tea,' I thought, 'I really hope that Cadence wasn't the one to take off my clothes, and now that I think about it, what the hell was in that tea she gave me.'
I decided to get up and find some clothes. I still had my underwear, so that was good. Going to the closet in my room, I see my clothes folded neatly. Though I still wonder how or when I got back to the castle, I decided to put aside the questions for the moment and get dressed. As I do so, my eyes are drawn to the window. Ponies are out in the plaza, a hushed happy chorus of voices reach my ears, they are happy. There's no evidence of the fear that ponies had yesterday, if that's the case, I must have been asleep for a while — more than ten hours, at the very least.
'Thank god Twilight and her friends won, otherwise....' The mere thought of what could have happened, made me shiver, 'Let's not dwell on the if, of the situation, we won, everything is going according to the plot'
I started dressing, which was [pretty weird, having fur everywhere is a nightmare.
I started to make my way down out of my room. Once I got to the hall. Just like before, a bunch of guards are in the hall guarding the royal castle, not moving at all, like statues, their levels are around 15-30. The only pony in the room that is a familiar face to me is Steel Hope he was helping some ponies move some stuff inside, for what I could see, my aunt had ordered the stain glass window of Twilight and her friends, saving the day, before they even did such feat.
<Royal Guard> LV30 Steel Hope HP: 10.500/10.500HP MP: 450/450MP Information: He loves pancakes and running. Weakness: Steel Hope is weak when it comes to fighting magic users, he specializes in close combat like the majority of the earth ponies in the Royal Guard, he also has arachnophobia
"Hey Steel, any idea where I can find my aunt?" I asked Steel.
"Your highness, of course, she's in her chambers," Steel Hope says happily, pointing where I needed to go, and going back to what he was doing before.
'Alright let's meet Luna,' I thought.
I make my way to my aunt’s chambers, where I suppose Luna is, I kept walking until I finally arrived at my aunt room. Slowly opening the door, I see two figures, only one of them is familiar to me, my newly acquired aunt Celestia, sitting on her bed nose buried in a cake, the other pony inside, while I haven't met her in person yet it was easy to see that it was Luna.
The door creak loud enough to announce my presence. Both of them look up towards the door, ears perking and tails lightly swishing.
"Blueblood!" Celestia said with a smile on her face, running towards me. I barely have enough time to react, Celestia approaches me, giving me a fierce and powerful hug, I could hear my bones cracking, stupid Alicorn strength. "You're finally awake. I was so worried! Cadence told me you had an awful nightmare!"
"Yeah, I did..." I replied, looking at Luna, the poor princess was hiding in a shy manner, inside the blankets of Celestia's bed.
"Blueblood, this is your other aunt Princess Luna, or just Luna for the family," Celestia said, noticing that I was looking at Luna.
"A pleasure to meet you, Aunty Luna," I said, approaching Luna, extending my hand at her.
"Tis a pleasure to maketh thine acquaintance, Dear nephew," Luna said, almost shouting getting out of her blanket shield, breaking one of my ears in the process.
"If you need help with anything, just let me know," I said with a bright smile, I could notice the poor lady could use a friend.
"I shall taketh thy offer soon," Luna shouted with a smile on her face.
"I'll leave you two to catch up, aunties, I gotta eat something, I'm famished," I said getting out of her room, leaving the sisters to catch up, but before leaving I wanted to check a few things, so I used observe on both of them.
<Princess of the Night and the Moon> LV??? Luna HP: ???????/?????? MP: ??????/?????? Information: Princess Luna is an Alicorn with a vast amount of magical powers who can raise and lower the moon with her magic. Despite this, she is capable of controlling the weather and is capable of shapeshifting. Her unique ability is to enter other ponies dreams.
Weakness: ??????????
<Princess of the Day and the Sun> LV??? Celestia HP: ???????/?????? MP: ??????/?????? Information: Princess Celestia is an Alicorn with a vast amount of magical powers who can raise and lower the moon and the sun with her magic, she is capable of controlling the weather and is capable of shapeshifting. Her unique ability is ??????????.
Weakness: ??????????
'Even with my observe level two, the information I get is pretty general' I thought leaving, the room and the sisters, alone, ' I better go to the royal library, to get some new spells.'
Once I got to the library, of course with the guards helps cause I still don't know where anything is here, I opened the door to the library, I was immediately greeted by the endless amount of books and shelves, with no one there, but myself.
Aside from a lady that was moving stuff inside, anyways.
The woman, the Librarian, I presume, was moving books from place to place. My eyes were instantly drawn to her, she had a beautiful figure, she was well endowed, she's quite a beauty, a horn on her head, so she's a unicorn, her fur is brown, with some white on her mane, I kept checking her out for a minute, until she noticed someone was there.
"Oh, someone is here!" she beams, suddenly turning her attention towards me as, With a gorgeous smile, the librarian walks over to me, bouncing, with her gravity-defying bosom, I can't help but to admire her beauty. She gets close to me, leaning in, invading my personal with a huge wide smile, not that I mind anyways "Prince Blueblood, what can I do for you?" she giggles, not retracting herself from my personal space.
'God damn it! Keep it together, get stronger first, then get laid...' I thought, after all, I was ready to drop everything, just to ask her out, "Well, I could use some books about defensive spells, I would like to learn about them."
"Sure!, you want the ones for the public or the ones that are extra secret." The librarian said, leaning close to my ear for the last part, god damn it this woman is not making it easy.
"Both, I suppose first the public ones," I replied with a smile.
"Alrighty, follow me." She said, and I started to follow her.
After two minutes following her, she got to the part of the library that had the shield spells, giving some books, she departed to continue her duties.
"Let me know if you need anything." The librarian said, going back to her duties, leaving me alone.
'Observe' I thought, looking at her.
<Royal Librarian> LV6 Mary Page HP: 250/250HP MP: 2000/2000MP Information: She loves reading books; her favorite genre is romance novels. Weakness: She's allergic to shrimp, and bees, she's physically weak, and her skill in magic is below average.
'I might ask her out one of these days' I thought seeing her leave, "Thanks Mary, take care!"
She turned back with a bright and happy expression and said, "Thanks! Will do!"
I started going over the books, the first one, the basic shield spell.
Bubble Shield LV1 Requirements 10 WIS, 20 INT Information: Summons an incredibly durable bubble. The bubble encases the user and others that the user allows, this shield protects from all sides, for each damage point blocked a mana point will be expended.
Would you like to learn this? Y/N
'Yes!' as soon as I thought that, the book disappeared, leaving nothing behind, 'I forgot about that...'
New Spell learned! Bubble Shield LV1 Information: Summons an incredibly durable bubble. The bubble encases the user and others that the user allows inside, this shield protects all sides, for each damage point blocked a mana point will be deduced, the maximum amount of damage that the shield can currently block, 6400.
"Mary!, one question!" I shouted.
"What?" She shouted back.
"Are these books irreplaceable?" I shouted.
"No, only the ones in the private section are irreplaceable! The ones for the public access, well we have thousands of copies for those why!?" she shouted, answering my question.
"It's nothing, just curious," I shouted back, now that I knew I could eat these books without any hard repercussions.
"Ok cool, let me know if you need anything, Prince!" She shouted.
I kept learning new spells, less than the amount I wanted, my INT and WIS was too low for the secret books, except for three books. I was able to learn three high-level spells; the books for the public were pretty basic. In the end, I learned four new spells, counting the bubble shield.
Light Impact LV1 Information: The user's body is surrounded by Light, boosting both speed and physical might during the duration of it, the user also receives less damage while using this spell, DEX and STR x 20, resistance + 50%, this spell cost 200mp/s, the higher the level this spell is, the less mana will need to be active.
Light of hope LV1 Information: By channelling the light inside of you rapidly heal a target or yourself, counteracting negative effects such as strong corrosive substances, this spell recovers health and stamina, it can be used either for severe or minor damages, this can heal any type of damage as long as the user has enough MP to cover the health, for each Hit-Point healed 10MP is expended, you can reduce the cost of MP per hit-point healed by casting the spell at higher levels.
Copy and Paste LV1 Information: The user uses their magic to analyze and create a perfect replica of an item, to do so the user needs to have something of equal mass and material to copy something, for example, to create a table the user would need to have enough wood and the same type as the table they want to copy to create a copy of the original .
After a couple of hours in the library, I was done, I had learned the best spells the library could offer me with my stats, I read some that I couldn't learn, and read some history too, in the end, my INT and WIS stats increased a bit.
▲+2 INT ▲+1 WIS
After a couple of hours in the library, I got to the conclusion that I need to improve my stats before learning any more spells, perhaps I could practice in the castle.
"Thanks for your help, Mary," I said as I exit the library.
"No, problem! Come back soon!" Mary said with a bright expression.
I'm standing outside the library; I see all the ponies in Canterlot walking around, the library is the tallest building around except for the castle, of course.
'No wonder why Twily wanted to live here.... so many books.' I thought, looking back at the massive library.
I made my way back to the castle, as I was walking towards my room, I saw the guards training with Shining Armor. Shining was shouting at them, at this point was obvious he was training them. There are a bunch of guards I don't know, but I can clearly see shining beating them to the ground.
'They really seem to train a lot, is a shame all the bad guys that attack Equestria are basically nukes.' I thought, watching them from above, and then I thought, what about if I train with them?, perhaps I could get stronger.
I started to descend the stairs to the training ground, intending to improve myself.
II stepped into the training grounds, and I was instantly greeted by weird looks from every single guard, especially Shining, My eyes were drawn to the ground where I see blood, from whom? I had no idea, and the disgusting smell of everyone sweat, by the looks of things they had been at this for quite some time.
"Hello, Captain Armor, I have come with a humble request," I said.
"I'm not gonna stop the training Prince Blueblood," Shining replied, with annoyance all over his face.
"Well, that's good, cause that's not the request I had in mind," I said with an awkward chuckle, "I wanna train, with you and everyone else."
Shining started to chuckle but seeing that my expression didn't change, "Oh god, you're not joking," Shining said, picking up his spear from the floor. "Guys take five minutes, Come with me Prince, and we'll get started."
I eagerly followed Shining, he kept asking every two seconds if I was pranking him or something, we got to a room where a single guard was sitting, Shining got closer exchanging a few words with the guard, the guard went out and returned with a pair of practice blades, dull but with the same weight of normal sword.
"Is my duty as the captain of the royal guard to assist the royal family and to train them, but one last time Blueblood, don't make me waste my time if you rather be on a spa or something say it now and save me the time," Shining said tossing one of the training swords to me.
"Then good, I'm not planning on wasting your time," I said grabbing the training sword from the floor, "Please don't go easy on me, I know you want to beat me, so this is your chance to do it legally without repercussions," my last comment made Shining Armor chuckle a bit, while he started to explain how should I hold a sword and other things, I used observe on him
<Captain of the Royal Guard> LV 55 Shining Armor HP: 15500/15500 MP: 55050/55050 Information: While he puts an act of the hard and tough guy he's actually a pretty nice and chill guy, with hobbies some could consider dorky, he loves roleplaying games and is a fan of comic books. His unique ability is the absolute shield a spell he created himself, that costs almost no mana to sustain.
Weakness: Cadance, Twilight.
The rest of the day is spent in a way that could only be described on Shining beating my ass non-stop while making some pointers and giving some tips on how to not get my ass whooped so hard, but I could see it on his face, he was working some accumulated stress out on me. Shining is clearly skilled at what he does, and he proved to be a fearsome enemy in the first minutes of my training, all I was able to feel was pain everywhere. By the time we were done for the evening, I was bruised and exhausted... but I got a boost on VIT, STR, and DEX. Though I think I might have a nightmare about Shining tonight, the guy was ruthless.
▲+2 STR. ▲+2 VIT. ▲+2 DEX.
Shining and I, shared a drink afterwards, apparently is a tradition in the guard that if someone survives the first day of training you get to drink. The guards are laughing, mostly because half of them were present to see my ass whopping, what Shining doesn't know is that I will get my revenge, like Stewie would say, VICTORY SHALL BE MINE!.
"Gotta hand it to you, Prince, you didn't chicken out of the first training day," Shining said, drinking his beer.
"Hahaha, so when is the next practice?" I asked.
"So planing to come back again?" Shining asked, but before I was able to answer, "Monday to Friday, same hours."
"Thanks for the help, Captain, I really appreciate the training," I said with a smile on my face.
"When Cadence told me you were acting weird I expected something else, I'm glad I was wrong, I’ll see you tomorrow," Shining said leaving the room, with the guards following him.
▲750 Reputation with Shining Armor.
'Well, I'm exhausted, so I better get back to my room.' I thought, leaving the area.
On my way, I found my aunt, Celestia, walking around the castle, I waved goodnight at her to which she responded by blowing me a kiss, I went straight up to my room to sleep. I got some pajamas and got all comfortable on the bed, pulling the blankets tight around myself, making a living burrito and settling in for a much-deserved rest, but before letting myself fall asleep, I decided to use the points I had.
Standing outside the royal guard training ground, blood coated bandages over my hands. I've been training with Shining for the last month, while the results are not tremendous, I can feel my body growing stronger and my instincts getting sharper, my VIT, DEX and STR had increased a bit during this month, leaning slightly against the door, I think that there must be a way to improve my strength faster, “but how?”
'I'm starting to think, Shining is just beating the crap out of me for the memes,' I thought feeling the pain in my body.
As I made my way back to the castle, I remembered that a particular “villain” bought an old and evil artefact to enact her pathetic revenge, perhaps I could get that Artefact before she gets her hands on it.
'If I remember correctly, Trixie bought it after her humiliation in PonyVille,' I thought, 'And her skill with magic was at best average, so that means that you don't need to be strong to use that relic, and the “gamer mind” should block the curse that the amulet inflicts on its wearer, also she managed to get the money for it by working on a rock farm, so I'm pretty sure I can buy it. The real question is where is it, close to PonyVille?, the rock farm?, the show never specified’. I’ll need to start my search in PonyVille and go from there.
I was ready to go, after taking a long bath, a really long bath to clean my blood-stained fur I was prepared to leave. The train station was massive but cosy, with several tables and seats around. Behind the booth a friendly-looking fellow was selling the train tickets — All I needed was to buy some maps, and with the amount of bits I had at my disposal, well anything was possible, as I make my way to my train, a bright flash appears in front of me out of nowhere, out of instinct I used my observe skill.
<Princess of the Night and the Moon> LV??? Luna HP: ???????/?????? MP: ??????/?????? Information: Princess Luna is an Alicorn with a vast amount of magical powers who can raise and lower the moon with her magic. Despite this, she is capable of controlling the weather and is capable of shapeshifting. Her unique ability is to enter other ponies dreams.
Weakness: Blueblood and Celestia. What she wants right now: ????????????????????????
'What in the hell, she already loves me?!, these people develop feelings for each other way too fast' I thought surprised to see that I was one of Luna's weaknesses.
"Greetings dear Nephew, where art thou going?" Luna asks with a curious look on her face, oblivious to the fact everyone around was kneeling, some out of respect, others out of fear.
"Well, I love collecting antique’s, so I decided to do a little window shopping, hopefully, something catches my eye," I replied, 'I'm not lying, that amulet is an antique,' Luna shouted in her Canterlot voice, "What a wondrous hobby, let us accompany you!"
'If I say no, I'm 100% sure this will come to bite me in the ass later...and I guess I did say if she needed anything to come to me.' I thought while sighing and giving Luna a big smile, "Sure Aunty, the more, the merrier."
Luna shouted again, entering the train, and dragging me along with her, "Huzzah! The fun has been doubled!"
'She sure is happy.' I thought, smiling despite my current situation, this might not be a part of my plan, but she's been suffering for one thousand years, she needs this, more than I need that relic.
After two and a half hours of Luna shouting we finally arrived at PonyVille train station, I was able to see a road to the town square, the town was pretty small but was pretty lively — no wonder Celestia sent Twilight here, considering how good-hearted the people seem at first glance at least. This was a fantastic choice; I got my maps... well actually Luna did, she shouted in her regal voice until someone gave us the maps. I’m pretty sure some of them might be deaf, and I close to that point too.
"Wonderful! We are here!" Luna shouted in her regal voice, CRUS-hugging me.
'Cant take this any longer!' I thought, "Aunty, I do love you, I really do, but please, I beg you! Stop using the Canterlot voice, please!"
"Oh, many apologies, we never meant to cause thee discomfort, we should not have come," Luna said in a low tone while pouting.
'Fuck...' "Oh no aunty, your presence is making this trip better, it's just I have quite sensitive ears. " I said with a pained smile. "We can go out any time you want! Just please keep the royal voice contained"
"We shalt keep the royal voice inside…. for now," Luna said with a playful smile on her face, "and I'll take thy offer, again."
'Did I just get played by Luna? oh hohohoh, it's on!' I thought with a mischievous smile on my face.
As I walk with Luna through the town, I see off to the east; there's a side street lined with small shops, for being such a small town it had stores for nearly everything, I kept walking with Luna until we saw an antique shop.
The shop owner I suppose, seeing that I was approaching looks up his desk and comes running towards me, "Welcome to the Antique & Candles shop, how may I help you today" the says, grinning from ear to ear as he began looking in our direction. "What're you looking for today, ohh Y-Y-YOUR HIGHNESS!!!! "
Chuckling, I turn to Luna, "Aunty, let's divide and conquer this shop, and find stuff worth collecting!" I said with a playful tone.
"We shall conquer thine shop! For our kingdom! For our empire! For Equestria!!!" Luna said, charging inside the store.
'She is too adorable, damn it!' I thought watching her rush inside the store.
"Hello good sir, I’m looking for something quite particular that I hope you can help me with," I said, leaning close to the guy.
"A pleasure to meet you, y-your highness!" The man quickly bows to me, "Please! Describe what you need, and if I have it, it's yours."
I started to describe the item the best I can, without saying or implying its use of dark magic and possibly being cursed, though unfortunately, he didn't have it.
"Thank you for your time anyway, though do you know where we might find something like it?" I ask the man.
"There are plenty of stores for antiques around this area, but the closest one that might have something like it would be Arielle and the Dark Side, the store is located one mile north to the Pie family’s rock farm." The man answers shuddering a bit, "I wouldn't recommend going there though, the guy that runs it is crazy."
'Well, that sounds like a good place to look' I thought while resisting the urge to facepalm at myself, the fact that the store had the most obvious name if you're looking for evil shit.
"Aunty! Onto the next store, our quest is not yet done!" I shout, when she didn’t immediately come running I grew worried, a second later I found her looking at a very old bronze toy sitting in a display case. "What ya’ got there, aunty?"
"Oh umm well, t-t-they use to sell these we were young, w-we thought it would be a great addition to your collection." Luna said, ‘It must be something she remembers from before the nightmare’
I turn to the shop keeper, trying to hide a smile "How much for the toy?" "Oh it’s uh 15,735 b-bits my prince, I’m sorry, but it's one of the oldest items in my collection," he answers with a worried look on his face.
Opening my coin purse and pulling out the largest bit that I had and tossed it to him, before grabbing Luna and heading out.
“M-M-My Prince wait!!!”
"We are heading to another shop that’s close to the Pie's rock farm," I tell Luna.
"Wonderful! Are they related to miss pie?" Luna asks,
"Might be, let’s find out," I replied pretending to be oblivious,
We managed to get a carriage with someone that knew where the Pie's farm was located, two hours on the road and we arrived, the carriage drops us off at the farm, I pay the guy to stay and wait for us, standing outside the rock farm, I see five ponies working the farm, just from glancing at them I start to ask myself one question, how in the hell are they related to Pinkie.
As I approach the farm, to ask for better directions on how to get to the evil Antique shop, I notice the path to the farm is just packed dirt and broken rock pieces, everything around this place is grey and depressing, but the air is practically humming with energy.
"This... is not what we expected," Luna whispers leaning close to me,
"This is more depressing than Aunty Celestia acting," I whisper back as we approach the farmers.
"Hahaha indeed!" Luna whispers between giggles,
"I can't believe Pinkie Pie and these pies are related," I whisper as I notice the pies noticed our presence.
"These pies and pinkie pie can’t be related at all." Luna whispers while smiling and waving at the pies, "I can't find any faults with that train of thought aunty." I whisper while doing the same,
Once we were close enough, I approach Maud and with a big smile. "Hi miss, I'm prince Blueblood, and this is my aunt princess Luna, we need your guidance," I said,
"Two royals... on our farm, what a joyous occasion, I'm ecstatic," Maud said in a monotone tone, showing no emotion what so ever.
"No need! We just needed some directions, if you don't mind, of course? We heard that there was an antique shop close to your family farm and were wondering if you could point us in the right direction" I ask.
"Of course anything for the royal family... you just need to take the northeast path, for one mile, you'll see the store, there's nothing there but the store and some beautiful rose quartz," Maud said in the same monotone tone,
"Thanks, it was a pleasure to meet you, miss?" I said, asking her name in the end, just to make my life easier, I don't want to have to explain why do I know her name, out of curiosity I used observe on her
<Maud Pie the Knight apprentice> LV49 Maud Pie HP: 47500/47500 MP: 1850/1850 Information: Maud is often depicted with a blank neutral facial expression with her eyes half-closed and a dry demeanour that contrasts her more upbeat sister. She tends to talk in a rather monotonous and dry tone of voice. She never smiles except for a few occasions while interacting with her closest friends such as Pinkie, she has a deep fascination for rocks and things related to them, she also loves to do stand up comedy, Maud is extremely good in hand to hand combat, and her calm demeanour makes her a powerful foe.
Weakness: Pinkie Pie and ??????. What she wants right now: To find her pet, and see Pinkie Pie again.
'What that hell!?, she's almost as powerful as Shining!' I thought surprised, 'A Knight apprentice? Does that mean she works for the crown?... I'll investigate that later...’
"Wonderful, thanks! Bye!" Luna said, waving goodbye and teleporting to us back to the carriage.
I give the directions to the carriage driver, and the guy proceeds to take us to the place while glaring at Luna ‘she didn’t let me get Maud’s name.’
After thirty minutes on the road, I see a small shop tucked off to the side of the road. Looking through the windows, I see its wooden walls covered with creepy paintings that seemed to shift as I walk in. The paintings remind me of the weird symbols I saw in the nightmare realm, that makes me shudder. A small open sign hangs askew above the door, leaving my Aunt for a moment, with the excuse of 'If they see you, aunty, they'll charge me double, just wait here for fifteen minutes'.
Pushing open the door to the shop, a mysterious shadowy man immediately greets me, the only thing I can see from him, are his white, extremely white teeth. I jump in surprise and quickly look around the store, I can see many shelves full of magical items.
The man starts to giggle "A customer! What a wonderful surprise...hehehe" a creepy aura, almost like the nightmares was all I could be feel around him. He spoke with an unnatural joy, "Call me S," he said, clasping his hands together and leaning forward, "and what can I do for you, Bluey?"
'I'm starting to rethink coming here,' I thought, "I'm looking for an ancient amulet, that looks like--" I couldn't finish my explanation, cause the guy silenced me with a hand and with the other pointed to one of his shelves.
"Is this what you're looking for?" he asks with a wide grin "It's yours if you can pay the price."
"How much?." I ask, 'This guy knows what he's selling,'
"200 Bits," The creepy man answers, "The real price, comes later.” He says nearly cackling.
'He must be thinking about the corruption that the amulet brings with it,' I thought, "Alright, here you go," Lifting out another one of my largest coins and holding it out to him, I expect him to take the coin immediately, but he almost seems surprised.
He takes a moment to stifle himself before picking up my coin and looks at me and laughs “I said 200 hundred bits, not 100,000.” Placing a hand on his chest and looking amused, “or are you tipping me for the great service.” He reaches over faster than I can react and snatches two of my silver coins with his other hand, he takes a moment and tosses the coin to me, and says “two coins like this little prince.”
Weakness: Wouldn't you like to know gamer boy- ?????. What he wants: ?????????
“Did you just... that’s rather rude, don’t you know?” The man said with a wide smile, appearing behind me putting a hand on my shoulder, “you shouldn’t have done that”, I could feel something pierce into my shoulder blade.
Mana has been completely drained, Mana regeneration has been blocked Deadly poison has entered your system
'He's crushing my shoulder, and he drained my mana in a second,' I thought, keeling over in pain, the pain he was putting me in with a single hand was the worst I had ever experienced, I could hear the bones on my shoulder being crushed.
"But don't feel bad, it's not like I planned to let you leave alive, after all, you bought something from me, but couldn’t pay the price." The shop owner said almost whispering to my ear, "I mean, after all, if the amulet can't corrupt you, you can’t pay."
"Fuck you!" Giving the man my middle finger, and feeling my HP begin to drain slowly but surely to zero.
"Die~" The shop owner raised his other hand and was ready to strike me down, but instead someone stopped him, I hear a bone-cracking, and thankfully it wasn't one of mine.
Shop Owner P.O.V
"Die~" I was about to kill the pretentious prince, and no one was able to stop me, or at least that's what I thought, just when I was about to strike the prince, someone appeared behind me, grabbing my wrist and crushing it with pure strength breaking every bone in it, I immediately turn around to find Princess Luna, holding my broken wrist, 'The spells around the store should have kept her out of the loop with the things happening inside, how did she find out,'
"Take thy hand off him, and we'll see thy death quick," Luna said letting her blood lust run wild,
"Let's reconsider this shall we," I replied, trying to buy time, but my face is struck by Luna's foot, sending me out of the cabin.
"A slow death it is then, let's us battle to our heart's content," Luna said appearing behind me, with her hand extended pointing at me, mana was gathering around the palm of her hand, "Lunar retribution!" the explosion that followed that destroyed half of the forest,
"The mistress won't be happy with this," I said cleaning the debrief of my clothes,
"Like we care," Luna said in front of me, our faces were one of two inches away, she had a cocky smile on her face, and behind that smile, I could see her fury, "Celestial judgement!" ray of lights started to pierce the clouds above and fall down upon me, I had a hard time dodging, in fact half of those raining stars hit their target, the attack made a huge area be a clouded in the blown-up dirt. I couldn’t see anything, kneeling on the ground, ’ I had my chance to kill a royal, but I let it slip through my hands’, I could feel Luna approaching me slowly while clapping her hands.
"Impressive, it takes a lot to survive two of our attacks, then again, we were just playing with our food." Luna said kneeling to my level and putting her hand on my face and giving me a warm smile and sighing, "But playtime is over, no more nice Luna," with no impulse or magic she slapped my face, and the force alone broke the sound barrier, and it sent me flying to a close mountain.
"Princess, you should reconsider this," I said coughing blood,
"Or what? For us, you’re not but an ant that is in our way." Luna said, approaching me while summoning her weapon, a terrifying scythe that had an ice-like mist around it.
"Well for starters, your dear nephew, is dying.” Holding up my gloves, needle still pocking out. “I manage to poison him; you can kill me or save him; it’s your choice," I said, struggling to stand up.
Luna’s face immediately turned white, I knew she was confirming my words with her magic, and once she got her answer, she gave me a terrifying look and teleported to his side, that gave me the chance to teleport out of her sight and report back to my master.
I finally managed to escape Luna, but someone has been chasing me since then, a jolt runs up my spine, as I feel a second person begin to approach. I stumble into a panicked run trying to escape. The footsteps keep getting louder and louder until I feel like they're right on my heels. I realise that they're going to catch up with me sooner or later. I summoned my sword. It’s all I can do with the mana I have left.
It's a pair of earth ponies, one of them is showing nothing but his hands, he has a robe covering his entire body, the other one, is an old man around his late 50’s with a bunch of weapons on his back, from staffs to swords, anything you can think of. His appearance wasn't anything out of the ordinary, brown fur and a grey moustache, I recognise them immediately, The Silent Knight and The Weapon Master, two knights serving Equestria.
"So you finally stop running. I must thank you for that. I'm getting too old for these cat and mouse scenarios." The old earth pony said with a faint smile, the silent knight remains silent.
"Two knights, just for me? I’m flattered. Well, it seems I won't be able to see my master again, ehh she would have killed me for failing to kill a royal that was served to me on a silver platter anyway." I said sighing,
The silent knight begins to approach me, with every step the ground around his feet cracks, the old man pulls a glaive of his back and looks towards me. "I'm glad the Princess made our work easier, can't say how this fight could it have ended if you had all your strength,"
"I might die tonight, but I'll at least take one of you with me!" I shouted, might as well try to throw them off, I was desperate if only I had my full strength.
“Save the bravado.” the silent knight said as he approached me,
"Let's get his over with; I have a business to run." The weapon master lunged forward, quickly approaching me, reading his glaive, he shifted his footing, and with a fast, swift swing he tried to cut my head off. I ducked forward to evade the attack and retaliate by cutting his legs, but with a quick yet precise movement the old man changed the direction of his attack with enough strength to stab the ground with his glaive and use it as a support to avoid my attack, in mid-air the old man pulled an axe from his back and threw it at me. I barely manage to dodge it, and I tried to open some distance between us, but the Silent Knight stops me.
"Heavy impact style, state 0," the silent knight said, throwing a punch at my chest, I summon a mana shield around me, but it shatters completely once the hit connects. The punch sends me rolling a couple of meters away from them if I could take this chance to escape, but after that single punch, I had trouble standing up. 'Damn it!, I used all my mana stopping Luna from one-shotting me,' I thought while vomiting up blood. 'Though the only reason I survived was that she was extremely debilitated, she still hasn't recovered her full power.' I'm kicked out of my train of thought because several daggers are coming my way. I manage to dodge most of them, but some manage to cut my arm,
From above I feel imminent danger approaching, I turn my head up "Heavy impact style, state 1" the knight brings his foot to the ground, I manage to dodge the kick by mere inches, but the impact on the ground makes a crater, I tried to jump out, but I can feel my body failing.
"You should dodge faster next time, kiddo," The weapon master said, slowly approaching me, "Poison... isn't that a poetic way to die? I mean, after all, you tried to kill the prince with that,” he says while picking up one of the tossed daggers. I try to speak, but I can't even move my mouth.
"Don't, I know you're trying to talk, but the poison is already shutting down your system," The weapon master says, kneeling to my level. "You see this is an incredibly effective little thing, but even a good poison takes it time to affect the victim, that's why I poisoned you when started our little clash."
I see the man in front of me smiling, while I wonder when he did it, he didn't cut me or anything, not until the daggers.
"Sorry about this kid." The man says taking a sword of his back and uses it to point to his shoes, and I can see a small fan-like blade sticking out of it. ‘Huh… well, shit’ and with a fast and precise movement, my life ended.
Weapon Master P.O.V
Well that’s that, finished the assignment, and thanks to Princess Luna it was easier than it should have been, without mana to spare the guy didn't check his system for poisons not until it was too late.
"You go home, boy, I have a head to deliver," I said, getting a nod from the boy,
Blueblood P.O.V
I wake up with a huge yawn and started stretching, rolling out of bed and gathering my thoughts on what that the hell happened. It’s still dark out, the last thing I remember was Luna kicking the guy out of the store...literally. ‘She must have brought me here’. I thought as I looked around the medical centre in the castle.
'What that hell happened’ I thought while getting off the bed, 'THE AMULET!' pulling my inventory in a rush there it was, the Alicorn Amulet.
<Alicorn Amulet>
X4 INT X4 WIS
Binds to it user once equipped: Only the user can take the amulet off.
Curse: Descend to Madness, it slowly corrupts the user to become unstable , until the user dies.
'Uff I still have the amulet' I thought happily, putting the amulet on me right away, 'Now let's check my stats and then find out where Luna is to thank her for saving my ass,'
'Wow my INT and WIS are super high now,' I thought, watching my stats, 'Now let's find Luna and see if she can give me more information about what the fuck happened'
Luna P.O.V
After healing my dear Vlad, I went to tell my sister the news, entering her room in a dash I see her talking with some guards, she turns around and sees me.
“She’s back isn’t she,” Celestia says with a worried look,
I turn my head to see the ceiling contemplating that statement. The ones that single-handily took everything from us once thought gone, returned. “And if she’s back she’s not alone.”
“I know, we must prepare, the war is starting anew, and this time we don’t have Shade, Aura or Amore with us.” My sister says barely managing to hold back tears.
I clench my fist in anger “They have harmed my family again, and they will pay for that! Even if it is the last thing, I do!”
I woke up inside the castle's medical ward, the last thing I remembered was that the shop vendor almost killed me, but in the end, I managed to get what I was looking for at least, an amulet that would give me the power to survive.
Rolling out of bed and leaving the room, I headed to my Auntie Luna’s room; I had a lot of questions, who was that guy? Was he still alive? And most important of all, why did he want to kill me? Questions that only Luna would be able to answer.
As I approached my aunt's room, I began to think that the way I've been acting has to change, I've been operating under the assumption that this world is safe, when since day one I've been in danger of death almost constantly, hell someone poisoned the original Blueblood.
After passing several of the night guards, I reached Luna’s room. I knocked on the door, I hear someone rushing to the door knocking things over, the door opens showing my auntie, and she jumps straight at me.
“Dear nephew, thou art finally awake,” Luna says with a warm smile, hugging me.
“And I’m glad to be up and about auntie finally to finally be up and about auntie, but I do have a question about what happened yesterday,” I ask being straight to the point,
“What happened yesterday was a mistake, one that will not happen again,” Luna said with a cold and sharp tone looking off to the side, “we won't let anyone hurt thee again,”
“But I'd love to know~ “I tried to ask, but Luna interrupts me,
“That is all thou needs to know,” Luna says with a sweet tone, with an undertone of an ultimatum, “if you'll excuse us, we have our royal duties to attend to,” and with that Luna walked back into her room leaving me in the hallway.
'Well so much for answers,' I thought, while touching the amulet under my shirt, 'At least I got one of the things I wanted to begin with,'
The next day, I decided to go to the library to learn a few new spells, and try to get answers about what happened yesterday, maybe the restricted area of the library would have the answers I was looking for, though before leaving the castle, I decided to take a quick peek at my stats again,
'The amulet sure is powerful' , I thought, leaving the castle, going to the library to get more spells, in case some crazy event pulled me inside a dungeon.
I made the day at the library as productive as possible, I acquire a lot of defensive and offensive spells, and everything was fine until I tried to go to the library's restricted area; apparently, someone (Luna) had the restricted magic section sealed off, and only a few had the key’s, and even less knew any spell’s strong enough to break-in.
“Come on, let me in,” I said giving the librarian the best puppy dog eyes I could possibly make,
“Princess Luna quarantined the area; no one has access, only the princesses,” replied the librarian for the 5th time.
“Well it was worth trying, thank you anyway though.” I smiled and left the library with more questions than I had when I arrived, what was Luna hiding, and why Celestia supported her.
'Now what am I supposed to do? ' I wondered while sitting on the stairs leading to the library, 'Luna won't tell me anything, and Celestia loves to put unnecessary challenges in place for an obvious, predictable and straightforward development, '
"Hey Blueblood, good to see you," When I heard my name I turn around to see who calls me, it's Shining Armor, in casual dress. He looks weird without his uniform, “I didn't know you liked to read, every day you surprise me more and more, although now it's for the better.” Shining Armor said in laughter.
“You're not even trying to hide that you didn't like me before, huh?” I said looking at him with a false expression of sadness,
“We both know it wasn’t a secret,” he said, coming up to me, giving a playful blow to the shoulder, “but I'm glad you pulled your head out of your ass,” he said laughing.
“Very funny, I wonder what Cadence would say if she knew Twilight doesn't know about you two,” I said with a sinister smile,
Shining stopped laughing and looked at me with wide eyes, “Please don't tell Twily... wait a minute, how did you find out?, no one knows other than Princess Celestia,” Shining said, looking at me suspiciously.
“You always take the turn to 'Guard her door', you have to have a negative IQ not to realize you're not guarding the door at all, especially when you're inside all night, doing 'exercise' I'm surprised no one else has found out,” I said as I looked at Shining,
After absorbing my explanation, Shining responds, “In my defence, I make sure no one enters Cadence's room.”
“It's not really my problem, enjoy the love she gives you, many would kill for that gift,” I said patting his shoulder.
+1750 REP WITH SHINING
“I love the new you,” he said with a smirk on his face, “Anyway I have to go, I have some things to buy, and uhhh well thanks, you know, for keeping my secret.”
“Don't worry,” I waved goodbye at him, 'That's a lot of reputation for a single interaction,'
The southern city gate leads out to Ponyville, the town It's protected by mountains and high hills, but there must be something else there, Celestia wants Twilight to ascend, and if this world is as dangerous as I think it is. Then Twilight must have someone or something else protecting her, but who or what?— She might be a prodigy in magic, and smart, but she's hardly a fighter,
'Ponyville sounds like an excellent place to find some answers,' I thought, 'But that's for tomorrow, I'm going to enjoy myself a bit today,"
The Canterlot Tavern, home away from home for the guards, the place is small but quite cosy and has a wide selection of liquors, an Ex-Guard by the name of Burnt Oak is the one that owns the place, and is a pretty friendly guy, that everyone seems to respect.
I take a seat at the bar across from the old man, giving him a slight nod, he sets aside the mug he was polishing off and flicking his towel over his shoulder, giving me a warm smile.
"Blueblood," he says, voice deep and powerful, "What can I get for ya t’day?"
"Surprise me, old man," I say, to which he answered with a short rough laugh,
I see the off duty guards sitting all around the bar, drinking, some dancing, others playing pool.
Among the customers, I can't help but notice a particularly strange-looking girl — her hair was purple and blue, she sat alone at table in the corner of the room and I couldn’t help but feel I had seen her before, a second look gives me the confirmation I need, she was Starlight Glimmer.
'This is not good for the timeline I know,' I thought, trying to figure the best way to resolve this, should I ignore her, should introduce myself?. 'Fuck it, maybe if I befriend her, she won't turn evil,'
Approaching from her front, I wave; Starlight purple eyes sparkle with an emotion I can't read, she stands up a bit straighter and puts a fake facade of happiness.
"A pleasure to meet you, Prince Blueblood," Starlight says extending her hand.
'So she's already bad, that empty smile and her demeanour are...scary,' I thought, "The pleasure is mine, miss?"
"Starlight Glimmer, your majesty." Starlight says bowing a bit,
"Beautiful name, Miss Glimmer," I said, giving her a warm smile, "How about you tell me a bit about yourself?"
"You wanna hear about me, huh?" Starlight smiles, showing no emotion behind said smile. "Oh boy, where do I start?"
"How about you start from the beginning?" I said sitting down at the table she was currently in,
"Well first off, I'm from a very small town in the mountains. Secondly, I'm researching cutie marks, and everything about them" Starlight says taking out a book of her bag,
"For what reason are you researching cutie marks of all things?" I ask, trying to see what lie she would come up with,
Starlight uncomfortably shifts against the chair, averting my gaze in thought, it's almost certain she'll go into a long-winded speech about equality and how cutie marks make us suffer.
"I... er, I just want to find a way to make everyone happy, " Starlight answers with a faint smile and pauses to think for a bit. "I just want to make people feel happy and safe."
And for the first time since I saw her in the bar, I see real emotions, even if it was just for a bit —
"That's a respectable goal," I said, "But sometimes our goals blind us, and we end up doing the complete opposite of what we wanted to do in the first place,"
"Aw shucks, thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Starlight said, again returning to her fake persona.
"It's a pleasure," I said, pulling a card of my wallet, "If you ever want to talk, I'll be happy to listen, sometimes it helps."
I stood at the table, while Starlight looked at my card with my address, the card would give her permission to visit me. Starlight said nothing, too lost in her own thoughts.
'I've never seen someone so broken inside, this can’t be the result of one friend abandoning her,' I thought as I left the bar, ' She endured something else, something that can break the strongest spirits,'
After a long day, mostly full of failures, I returned to my room in the castle, with no answers and no idea how to move forward, I entered my room and threw myself into bed exhausted, the amulet was powerful sure, but during the day I realized something I knew from the moment I got the amulet, the amulet hasn't changed anything, I'm still weak, yes I have more mana, but what's the point.
'Well what did you expect man, no pain no gain, that's true in every reality' I thought laughing to myself.
Before I could react, I found myself in the dungeon where I almost died, just as scary and dreary as before; I laughed to myself about the fact that this time the pop up said forced event as if last time gave me a choice.
'This is just cute,' I thought, dripping with sarcasm, 'At least I have offensive spells this time, I guess...'
I started to make my way into the dungeon, the more I walked and explored, the more it confirms that I wasn't summoned to the same place as last time, even though it looked identical, the corridors and rooms were different, perhaps this was another level of the same Dungeon.
After walking through that dreadful place for a few minutes, I found a corridor that had a door leading to a mysterious place; the door was covered with flowers and vines. I opened the door slowly and carefully, after all, I didn't know if it was a trap or if a monster was waiting for me on the other side, taking a peek through the door, what I saw on the other side, would bring me nightmares for the rest of my bloody life.
Information: Not much is known about them, but it’s commonly known they are immune to almost every type of magic,
Weakness: Light magic has some effect on them, but the best way to deal with these creatures is with holy magic which has been lost for 5000 years.
As soon as I opened the door, I closed it, that was the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life,
“OHHH Hell no!” I said, pushing against the door, just in case, 'I can't un-see that...'
I took a couple of minutes to calm down while wondering why the gamer mind wasn't working; maybe I didn't get exactly what I asked for, Gods are famous for fucking up your requests.
'Ok Blue, you can do it! Just go out there and kill that mistake,'I thought trying to give me courage, “I'm doing a lot of people a favour, I feel sorry for those who dream of those things.”
Opening the door again the monsters were still there, moving slowly in a big vast forest.
'Well here goes nothing' I thought while slowly approaching them.
As soon as I set foot in the grass the monsters turned around to see me or to be precise to hear me since as soon as they turned in my direction I could see that they had no eyes, just moving their necks in my general direction as if they had no bones in their necks, I could feel the little courage I had formed, quickly fading away.
'Yep... I will have vivid nightmares with this scene for the rest of my life,' I thought, approaching them, not backing down. ’Well here goes nothing’
The monsters seemed to react to the sound of my movements, that or they were using some kind of echolocation system to detect me, the closer I started to hear strange and chilling sounds.
'So if magic is useless against them, then ill have to get creative.' I thought,
The creatures began to move in my direction salivating, as if I was the most delicious delicacy in the entire universe, I could count a total of ten nightmares approaching me, fear started to build up inside of me, but I couldn't back down, I need to get stronger, I can't always relly on Luna or Celestia to bail me out.
When one of the creatures was just a few meters away from me, the monster took a leap towards me, with its mouth open in a way I didn't think it was possible, everything around me was put in slow motion, death was certain if I didn't dodge that attack, with just a glance I could notice that the creature was trying to swallow me whole with a single bite, I activated one of my spells Light Impact, which gave me the speed I needed to dodge the attack.
STR HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY INCREASED FROM 20 TO 400 DEX HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY INCREASED FROM 20 TO 400
I could only maintain this spell active for two minutes, so I had to act fast, I tried to get close to the monster to attack him, but my new found speed was a problem, I moved so fast that I ended up crashing into a tree, one of the monsters took the opportunity and went for the kill, I jumped slightly into the air to dodge it, once I was on the ground, I took another chance on attacking this time controlling my speed a little bit better, with a fast and swift move, I got closer to the monster that just recently tried to attack me, and I hit the creature in the abdomen, the impact It sounded like a thunder.
<Tigbauna Nigthmare> HP: 45/4000 ▼(-3955)
'I almost kill it with a single hit,' I thought surprised, the damage I inflicted on the creature impressed me, I did not expect to deal such damage, but soon I learned that I should not lose my attention in a fight, the monster that I had attacked, retaliated with a punch, throwing me deeper into the forest.
Getting up from the floor and cleaning the debris of my clothes, I decided not to make the same mistake again I had to keep my head in the fight, if the recent damage I dealt was anything to go by I could kill them with one or two blows, the time I had was more than enough to deal with them, if I played my cards well, I would have some mana left to rest, I got into position to attack the creatures again, with no hesitation, but something unexpected happened, my head started to hurt a lot, and I felt different.
The Amulet has started corruption Gamer Mind has nullified the effect The Amulet has started corruption Gamer Mind has nullified the effect The Amulet has started corruption Gamer Mind has nullified the effect The Amulet has started corruption Gamer Mind has nullified the effect The Amulet has started corruption Gamer Mind has failed to nullified the effect. The Amulet has started corruption succesfully
'What it's going on' I thought in pain, as everything started to turn red.
My head felt light after an unimaginable pain, I felt good, did the amulet corrupt me? I didn't feel any different; in fact, I felt a little better than before, the fear I had disappeared, and I felt better.
The creature that had struck me deeper into the forest began to approach at great speed, without hesitation, I started to advance in its direction, when we were face to face, the creature tried to hit me, but its movements looked slower than before, I bent down to dodge the attack, and I took the chance to hit his jaw with all my strength, the strength of my blow made the monster's head to fly off.
LEVEL UP! ▲
Killing that monster made me level up, my mana had recovered thanks to that entirely, my victory was assured, 'these pathetic creatures messed with the wrong guy.'
CORRUPTION BUFF, ALL STATS HAVE INCREASED BY 25%
This was great! The curse was making me stronger and more powerful, there was no loss in this deal. I jumped into the pack of monsters, I had nine left to kill, and time to spare. Running at full speed, I approached one of the creatures, the beast tried to attack, but it was useless, my speed and strength were superior, with a kick in the ribs, I sent the monster flying, killing him in a single blow.
<Tigbauna Nightmare> HP: -200/4000 ▼(-4200)
LEVEL UP! ▲
LEVEL UP! ▲
LEVEL UP! ▲
LEVEL UP! ▲
I continued to kill the creatures with ease, leveling up a total of five times, the beasts stopped giving me so much experience, but in the end, I got five levels and almost half of an exp bar for the next one, not too shabby.
CORRUPTION BUFF, ALL STATS HAVE INCREASED BY 30% CORRUPTION PROGRESS 10%
Who cares about that? I felt good, it's just me with more power, nothing has changed, with this power I could do a lot of things, this amulet would ensure my leveling is smooth and easy, I'll be able to defend myself if someone tries to kill me again and rip Shining Armor's throat for beating me to the ground so many times in our training, who the hell does that fool think he is?! I am a prince now, and he should BOW TO ME!
'Where the hell did that come from?!' I thought worriedly, I'm not an aggressive person or someone who holds grudges, 'The amulet!'
'The amulet is affecting my way of thinking and acting, little by little, I have to take it off, I don't want to turn into a psychopath, but I've noticed that as I move my hand to take it off, something stops me.'
'Without the amulet, you will die,' a voice inside my head with a dark and sinister tone said, 'You need it, to get out of this place alive, you need it, to never feel powerless again.'
Was the voice right? Of course the voice was right, without the amulet, I couldn't survive in this dungeon, the monsters were stronger and faster than me... what am I thinking! I can escape! I did it before; I can't let this power lure me into the darkness.
“ID: Escap-” I tried to escape, but the voice whispered to me again, 'You have all the power in the world in your hands, and you're going to let it go?! For insignificant reasons! You died in your past life because you were powerless to do anything about it, and now you'll die again for the same reasons, don't you get tired of being pathetic and weak?!'
CORRUPTION BUFF, ALL STATS HAVE INCREASED BY 60% CORRUPTION PROGRESS 20%
It was true, I couldn't do anything to prevent my first death, but now I have a chance to control my destiny, the world revolves around power, and I need this power to dominate it.
'No! There's a lot of powerful people in this world who don't need this; I don't need it!' I thought, bringing my hand closer to the amulet.
CORRUPTION BUFF, ALL STATS HAVE INCREASED BY 120% CORRUPTION PROGRESS 40%
'The world can be ours! Just accept it, accept the power to control everything,' the voice said, 'No more fear, no more running!'
I'm a thief, with a gift for manipulation, a womanizer but I've never been a fighter, I ran all my life until I got caught and killed, the amulet is right, without the amulet, I wasn't a fighter.
'You're right, without this power, I am weak,' I thought, as I looked up at the sky, touching the amulet with my right hand.
'Of course I'm right, just let the power consume you, and everything in the world will be yours.' the voice inside my head said.
"But if there's one thing I've learned from my years on the street stealing, it's that if something is too good to be true, it's a scam," I said, ripping the amulet off of my neck, once the amulet was off my neck the voices stopped, like a mist fading, I immediately put the amulet inside my inventory, to decide what to do with it later.
Gamer Mind Inactive - 25 minutes Corruption Curse - 25 minutes (corruption buff only works with the amulet equipped.)
My mana was back to the normal amount for my level, and I felt like I was breathing for the first time in hours, at least I was able to kill all the monsters with enough time to escape corruption, or at least that's what I thought before I started to hear some weird sounds behind me.
TIGBAUNA'S NIGHTMARE IS USING <LAST RESORT!> TO INVOKE AN ANCIENT NIGHTMARE.
I turned around to see one of the nightmares standing up with its hp bar still on zero, it started to open its mouth to the point it’s jaw touched the ground, and from the depths of its stomach multiple tongue looking tentacles came out, at first I thought they were aiming at me, but I soon realized that the monster had a much creepier plan in mind, each tentacle went to one of his peers and started to pull all the dead nightmares inside its mouth, the creature was growing and it looked grotesque, like a ball of fat, eventually the creature began to morph into something even worse than the form it had before, after transforming the beast was at least forty feet tall, its head was full of holes and its mouth was dripping saliva that was melting the floor and anything it hit.
Information: The Ancient Nightmares/Demons that once existed in the real world were different from the currently existing Demons, this Nightmare had a real body that once belonged to them.
According to legends, these Nightmares had an immortal body, able to regrow their limbs at will. In terms of recovery ability, they had no match. However, regenerating wounds required them to stay still, thus making them vulnerable.
Weakness: ??????????.
With a simple roar, the roar managed to throw me at great speed deeper into the forest, I managed to activate my shield, but even defending myself the monster almost killed me with a simple roar that wasn't meant to attack or kill, my hp and mp were almost gone, I had to escape, without the amulet things like that could kill me in a second, and even with the amulet I wouldn't like my chances.
"ID: ESCAPE!" I shouted with all my might, a simple command that would bring me back to the safety I longed for, and yet nothing happened, I saw the giant creature approaching, and I started to panic a bit, "ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE! ID: ESCAPE!"
The creature continued to advance at a slow but steady rate, it's not like it had to run, five or six steps was all the creature needed to shorten the gap between us, I was scared beyond control, so out of fear, the most basic instincts kicked in, fight or flight, flight was clearly the only reasonable option.
"Light Impact!" activating my strongest spell I started to flee as fast and far away as possible, I knew I couldn't win, so I had to survive and find a way to evade certain death, the creature seemed to notice that I was running out of its grasp, and with a loud growl started to chase me destroying everything in its way, but with a head start I managed to leave the creature behind, and then it hit me in the worst way possible, my mana was low, and I used all I had left in those five seconds of panic.
"DAMN IT!!!" I whispered furiously, I could still hear the giant trying to find me, and I had no mana to do anything about it, so I started to run while thinking, 'There must be another door or secret passage around here, I need to find a place to hide!'
While I ran in a frenzy of fear through the forest without seeing or caring where I was going, I still heard the giant coming closer and closer, at this point I didn't know if it was my imagination or if the monster was really getting closer, but I wasn't going to stay to find out, I needed a miracle, where were my so-called aunts when I needed them the most, the only option I had was running, I couldn't fight, running for my life was my only option, the deeper I got into the forest, the more I noticed my surroundings began to change, the forest gradually started to become darker, the trees had no leaves and the ground seemed to be burned with no life in it.
I was in another area or part of the dungeon, but I didn't have the time nor the luxury of being able to appreciate it in detail, without stopping I kept running, without looking back I could still hear the giant approaching, the sound of the giant mingled with the sound of the branches breaking under my feet, my sweat falling on the floor and the beating of my heart, my body was on alert, paying attention to everything and anything that could be dangerous.
In my life, I had experienced many near death situations, but I had never felt like prey, like a sheep being hunted by the big bad wolf, It's funny, under normal circumstances I would never run so fast, but at this moment I felt as if my feet were taking off from the ground, maybe it was just my imagination. As I was running, I heard a branch break above me, without stopping I turned to see what had made the noise and for a second the world stopped.
Information: Araths are an amalgamation of two creatures, misshapen spiders, with a body the size of an elephant and legs stretching to fourteen feet. They are tough, possessing an exoskeleton which protects their two-ton body, Their front legs look like hands, their fangs have a powerful poison that affects the brain in seconds, these creatures like to eat their prey alive.
Weakness: Holy magic is highly effective, but if you don't have access to it, try to attack the back of the head, which is the part with the least protection on their body.
The spider began to advance in my direction, with great speed and agility using the trees as a movement support jumping from one to another, without any time to react the spider threw me into a tree with great force and with little to no effort, lowering my hp to the low digits, I couldn't move, I didn't know if it was out of fear, or if the spider had poisoned me, but my body just didn't respond, my eyes began to close slowly, as I watched the beast open its mouth full of sharp teeth ready to devour me.
POISONED Mana regeneration has been blocked, Health regeneration has been lowered by 150%
'It was a good journey, at least this death was more original than the previous one,' I thought as I watched the spider wrap me up in spider web as part of its ritual to eat me, 'I don't want to die, not like this...'
The realm of dreams and nightmares is a maze that only Princess Luna has the map to navigate freely, dreams are a delicate matter, in a world full of magic, nightmares can come to life, that is why Princess Luna must keep the dream realm in check, in the ancient era nightmares came to life-destroying thousands of innocent lives, this was before Luna took control of the dream world, becoming the protector of it, not only does she have to stop the nightmares, but she also has to protect the dreams.
The door to each creature's dream differs in colour and appearance, but the way to identify their meaning is the same, each door has a crystal that by its colour shows what is going on.
Blue, means that the dreamer is having a mild nightmare, usually related to depression and the pain of losing a loved one or the ending of a relationship.
Red, means that the dreamer is having a nightmare reliving a traumatic event or it can also mean that the dreamer is having a normal nightmare usually related to the dreamers worst fear.
Green, means that the dreamer is having a pleasant dream, remembering and living things that make him or her feel happy, whatever makes the dreamer happy, this colour is quite common in the dream realm
Pink, this colour is very common for teens, it starts in the adolescence of all creatures and stays with them, related to sexual arousal, these dreams are commonly known as wet dreams.
These are the colours Princess Luna sees night by night, but there are some colours that Princess Luna hasn't seen for thousands of years, colours that mean danger, for the dreamer and the real world.
Purple, means that the dreamer is dreaming of the death of any creatures, may they be innocent or not, and is getting pleasure from their deaths, common dreams for psychopaths and sociopaths.
Black, the worst of them all, Luna has only seen this particular colour a couple of times, they mean death, to the dreamer in both realms, what is the event that triggers them? No one knows, absolute fear to the point of killing, the fear is so potent that even Princess Luna has trouble getting inside this specific type of dream.
Luna P.O.V
I was having a normal night, destroying nightmares, giving living beings pleasant dreams, I kept going door to door in the dream world, making sure everything was fine, when without looking I found Blueblood's door, the crystal colour was green, I couldn't help but have a smile knowing that he was dreaming and having pleasant experience, I was about to continue with my work, but something stopped me, his crystal suddenly changed colours in the blink of an eye, and now was red.
“He must be having nightmares about what happened that day,” I put my hand on the handle of his dream realm and tried to open the door but something wouldn't let me get in, looking at the crystal above his dream door with fear, I saw that the colour of his dream had changed again, the crystal was slowly cracking, a broken crystal meant certain death.
“Black… It can’t be…” I mumbled in fear and disbelief, my Blue was having a dream of death, “IT CANNOT BE!”
With desperation using all my power to break his dream door down, I knew the consequences of doing what I was doing, it could bring lifelong repercussions for Blue, I could put him in a vegetable state, getting into someone's mind in that state could leave irreparable scars, but by my moon, I will not let him die!
Blueblood P.O.V
My head felt strange, I didn't know if it was fear, or the fact that my death was assured, the creature enveloped me like the rest of its prey and hung me from a tree, I could see the spider moving back and forth, maybe the monster was saving me for later, I could barely see, my life was almost in the single digits, a single blow would be enough to end my life, my mana regeneration was blocked, thanks to the spider's poison, maybe as a failsafe in case someone had the means to escape.
The spider began to approach the other prey that it had already caught, and opened its mouth in a way that shouldn't be physically possible, and the monster started eating the prey it had saved with two or three mouthfuls, I don't know who or what kind of creatures the monster was devouring, but the screams were clear as day, fear is a universal language, I could feel the fear of the poor prey before dying, in my spine, like a cold chill.
The creature continued to eat everyone, one by one, the cries of pain of the victims tormented me, the creature didn't kill them immediately, the monster started to eat them feet first, I couldn't help but think that the creature wanted to see its prey suffer before devouring them.
After a couple of minutes, it was my turn, apparently the creature saved me for the dessert, the creature grabbed me with its hands, and opened its mouth full of teeth dripping a viscous substance, maybe it was poison.
Just as the monster was about to eat me, I heard a cry that started to break the sky, as if it were made of glass, the creature stopped and looked at the sky, its expressions were difficult to read, but I could see a little fear in its eyes.
“DIE!” Someone shouted with anger, the next thing I heard was a cry of pain from the creature that was holding me, whatever it was, it killed the creature with a single blow, the creature not being able to hold me in the air anymore, dropped me onto the ground, I started to wonder, who was the one that just saved me, was it a friend or a foe?
Someone started to rip the spider web that I was wrapped in, like a child at christmas, maybe it wanted to eat me without the wrap, slowly I managed to see the face of the one that saved me, it was Luna, she was crying a bit, and on her face I could see anger, sadness and other emotions I couldn't make out.
“Please be fine, please,” Luna said in a low tone, with sad and desperate expression.
“Thanks…” I managed to said in a tone barely audible.
Luna shots her eyes wide open in surprise and gave me a look of relief, and with a powerful burst of magic she broke the nightmare realm, or in this case my instance of it, the world around us changed, and I found myself and Luna in a room with a fireplace, there was something about this place that made me feel safe, I slowly started to fade into a deep slumber, with my head on Luna’s lap while she sang a lullaby. She really is the best, she barely knows me and yet, she's doing everything in her power to make me feel ok, to protect me, but there is a part inside of me that wonders, what if is this is just another nightmare, what if I’m already dead.
I woke up in my room, looking at the ceiling, everything seemed surreal despite what happened and what could have happened, I felt calm, so that meant that the gamer's mind was active again, the last thing I remembered was my aunt singing to me in a language I couldn't understand. Still, even without understanding the song and what it meant, it made me feel safe.
I stood out of bed and went to my closet to dress up, as I put on my clothes, I started to think about the colossal miscalculation I made by underestimating the amulet or overestimating my power, it could be both, I have assumed many things so far, perhaps I should stop assuming.
'Maybe I should check the amulet more thoroughly,' I thought as I looked at the amulet in my inventory, so I decided to use observe again.
Observe Skill has leveled up ▲
<Alicorn Amulet>
X4 INT X4 WIS
Binds to its user once equipped: Only the user can take the amulet off.
CURSE: Descend to Madness, it slowly corrupts the user to become unstable, until the user dies.
INFORMATION: When worn, the Alicorn Amulet appears to grant the wearer immense power, or perhaps dramatically amplify the wearer's own. Worn by a unicorn, it grants immense magical powers on par with the greatest unicorn spellcasters; The Alicorn Amulet is just one of the three dark relics that are lost around Equestria.
The Alicorn Amulet [✔] The Alicorn Ring [❌] The Alicorn Bracelet [❌]
The legend says whoever gets their hands on the three will have a power matching the old ones, that is, if they can control the darkness.
Creator : ??????
'There are two more?' I thought surprised, 'I barely escaped the corruption from one.'
As I walked to the door to leave the room I was in, I started thinking that whoever created the amulet, it must be someone extremely powerful, to break the gamer's mind, My initial error since I got here was to underestimate everything in this world, so from now on I will always overestimate my enemy, after all he who prepares for war, wins.
When I opened the door, I found a dozen guards guarding my room; every guard turned to see me in sync; it almost seemed like they practiced beforehand to do that.
"Prince Blueblood, The Princesses, have ordered us to take you to them once you were up." said one of the guards taking off his helmet as a sign of respect.
"Sure, take me to them," I answered with a slight smile, as I thought, 'I almost died yesterday, whatever they need from me is not going to be good.'
While the guards took me to my aunts, I wondered on the way there, was it normal not to feel anything about what happened yesterday, I knew that was the reason behind the gamer's mind, but still, I almost feel bad for not feeling anything, which is ironic, I remember feeling pure fear. Yet, now it's like it was just a fantasy. Still, I'm partly grateful for not feeling anything about it, thanks to that I don't have to live with the consequences, that event was strong enough to kill and break someone's mind, and yet here I am.
After a couple of minutes, we got to where my aunts were, they were talking to the nobles, as soon as they saw me Celestia canceled whatever she was doing sending the nobles home, and the guards out of the room too.
"Dear nephew!" Celestia said, running towards me intending to hug me tight, but something stopped her, her eyes were looking at me as if I was made out of glass-like I was a broken toy.
"It's alright auntie, I just had a bad nightmare, nothing to worry about," I said smiling at her.
“It wasn't just any nightmare; it was a nightmare that could have killed you,” Luna said with a tone of guilt as if she blamed herself for what happened.
"And yet, here I am, don't blame yourself, auntie," I said, getting closer to my aunt Luna.
“We promise you, we won't let any nightmare come near you again,” Luna said hugging me, “you don't have to pretend to be strong with us.”
With a slight laugh, I looked her in the eyes and with a finger, touched her nose, “Boop! I'm fine, now just give a smile.”
“Booping thy princess, how dare you!” Luna said, trying to look insulted, "We shall make you pay for thy sins!"
"Please be merciful, princess!" I said, getting on my knees, faking fear.
On the other side, Celestia went from being worried to laughing, seeing the interactions between Luna and me, “quite the pair,” Celestia said in a low tone, as she cleaned the tears on her face for laughing so much.
After clarifying my situation with my aunts I left the castle with no idea where to go, yesterday I almost died. Still, something good came out of that terrible experience, I was level 19 now nearly level 20, maybe I could go to the library, but that was pointless I had already learned all the spells I could from the library and training with Shining didn't help at all, what I needed was to get into a dungeon of my level, and start leveling up.
But I had no idea how to get into a dungeon or where to find one.
As I walked through the city of Canterlot for hours without any destination or seeing where I was going, I stumbled upon something that made me fall into the ground, as I fell to the ground I noticed that without realizing it, I had entered the cemetery of Canterlot.
There were thousands of tombs around the place, and still, the place was beautiful, a beautiful green grass full of flowers, birds singing around the place in joy, one or two deers sleeping around the place, and I could swear I saw a fox around somewhere.
'Almost like the cemeteries of the earth,' I thought sarcastically as I looked at the beautiful sights around me, 'what a beautiful place.'
I noticed the sun was hiding, and only there, I realized that I wasted the entire day and did nothing to improve my situation.
'Maybe I should just go to sleep and think about how to solve my weakness tomorrow,' I thought as I started to approach the exit of the cemetery, but as I was about to leave, something stopped me.
Zombie Dungeon LV 15 - 25 Wanna enter Y/N
I started laughing; a cemetery was the entrance to a zombie dungeon; it was so ironic that it hurt.
'How convenient for me, I guess lady luck was on my side today,' I thought with a slight smile on my face, pressing the Y button in front of me. 'Or this could be another opportunity where I need to escape or wait for someone to rescue my ass.'
The scenery around me changed a little, and I found myself in a place almost identical to the one I was before but darker, it had a lot of mist and it gave a chilling vibe in general, in front of me was a zombie, I started to charge a mana beam while backing away, didn't expect to have a fight so soon.
"Young man, you have to stop us,” said the zombie with a lot of effort, as if every word weighed a ton, “I don't want to kill my loved ones, I don't want to hurt anyone, please stop us.”
“I will,” I said, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the zombie, but at the end that was my plan all along.
“Thank you, and be careful young man, I'm the only zombie that kept his memories from before and even with my memories I've been fighting my instincts for centuries, the next zombie you encounter won't be friendly at all,” said the Zombie with a tone of relief on his voice, “now kill me and proceed with your quest, and make sure you don't leave anyone alive, or the damage could be irreparable.”
'Holy crap, my first quest!' I thought surprised with a little bit of joy building up inside of me.
“Hurry up, I don't know how much more I can control the urge to eat you,” said the Zombie, in a desperate tone.
“Thank you,” with a mana beam, I shot him in the head, killing him immediately; I was surprised by the fact that I got experience from that, enough to fill the 2% left on my exp bar, leveling me up to level 20.
LEVEL UP▲
I started walking through the cemetery, I heard noises but saw nothing, the further I got into the cemetery the thicker the fog was.
'Well, I can't see shit,' I thought, squinting my eyes trying to see something.
"RAAAAUUUUGHHHH" a scream came from behind my back along with a stabbing pain in my ribs that took me by surprise, something had attacked me.
"Motherfucker!" I said as I took my distance between the unknown zombie and me, the mist began dissipating, and little by little, I could start to see the creature that had attacked me.
STATUSES:
'Bleeding and poisoning great!' I thought in a bit of pain.
Bleeding LV1: It takes 1% of your hp every 10 secs (duration 1 min it cant bring your life under 1hp) Poisoning LV1: It takes 2% of your hp every 10 secs and blocks health regeneration (duration 3 minutes it cant bring your life under 1hp)
"No thanks," I said, reading my statuses, raising my hand, a light started to wrap up around it, “Purge!” good thing I learned some spells for this type of situations.
Poison status has been cleansed
"Heal," I said calmly, feeling a light engulfing my body.
Bleeding status has been stopped
"It's time to eliminate the entire Thriller cast,” I said with conviction.
The fog began to clear more and more until it was no more, and finally I saw the one who had attacked me, I'm pretty sure that without the gamers mind I would have vomited a little, that thing was disgusting.
'Disgusting,' I thought getting ready to kill the bastard, 'Still way better than the nightmare I fought.'
The Undead were once-living creatures that had been animated by spiritual or supernatural forces, usually a necromancer or a lich, they are usually animated through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as vampires and zombies, as well as bodiless spirits, such as ghosts and specters.
Undead are extremely resilient to a number of effects and substances that are extremely harmful to the living. They are immune to all mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. In addition, it's not possible to drain their life force in any manner, to slave the undead one has to break their will, some retain their memories and fight the necromancer's control while others turn into mindless beast obeying orders and wreaking havoc in their way, others keep their memories but bend their will to the one that reanimated them, killing anyone including loved ones without remorse.
Weakness: A very common weakness shared among the Undead is fire. Chopping such creatures into little bits may not stop them, but fire generally will, their bodies are extremely flammable
The undead's weakness to fire is often connected with the idea that Fire Purifies: life-giving fire—the opposite of the dead, cold, fire is particularly effective at sending such critters back to their graves for good.
Holy magic is extremely effective against them if an undead is killed by holy magic necromancy won't be able to resurrect them again, ensuring their eternal rest.
Besides that, their head is their only weak point in their entire body; a good and powerful attack in their head could ensure their defeat, momentarily at the very least.
They can apply the following statuses: Bleeding, Poison.
'Fire huh, good thing I got some fire spells under my belt,' I thought reading the mindless zombie info.
The zombie tried to jump on me, but I was able to dodge it with ease, I don't know if it was the fact that I had faced way stronger creatures or something else, but its movements were slow and somewhat predictable.
“Someone can't wait to die, allow me to help you, buddy,” I said as I dodged his attacks, “Fireball!”
The creature hurled back in pain, his body began to burn in flames, and his life was depleting a lot, who would think that the most basic spell of all would be so useful to me.
STATUSES: It takes 5% of max hp every 5 seconds for 1 min (90 damage every 5 seconds up to a total of 1080, critical strikes may change this result ).
'Hehe I have an idea,' I thought with a mischievous smile on my face, 'let's grind like a real gamer.'
My idea was simple, kill them with fire while running, letting the burn status effect kill them, I started running, while the first zombie was chasing me, It didn't take long to find other zombies, I threw a ball of fire to each one of them, in the end, I had eight mindless zombies behind me burning, I was glad fireball didn't require a lot of mana on my end to use it, the first three zombies had died in the chase, leaving five angry and hot (pun intended) zombies behind me.
When the fourth zombie died, I level up to 21 replenishing my mana completely.
LEVEL UP▲
"FIREBALL! BITCHES!" I shouted, starting to kill the rest of the zombies in front of me, one by one,
LEVEL UP▲
Mindless Zombie Slain 8/8 [✔]
'So nine zombies are equal to two levels at this point, nice,' I thought as I started to leave the area a glow on the floor close the ashes of the zombies stopped me.
When I came to see what it was, a message appeared.
Unholy Common Essence x 8 : It gives the user 1 point on VIT, DEX OR STR per essence used, this item can be shared.
Rusty Sword: A rusty blade that's already falling apart. At least it's not made of wood. +50 Physical Attack.
'So monsters leave items... I wonder if' I thought as I remembered the monsters of the past dungeon, 'I better not think about that for now.'
After looting the monsters, I started looking for my next undead to erase, I had eleven zombies left to hunt to finish the dungeon, and at the moment everything was going in my favor. Still, even with lady luck on my side, I didn't intend to let my guard down, if the mindless zombies were easy to deal with it was obvious to assume that the next zombies in my to kill list would be a little harder.
After walking through the cemetery for a couple of minutes I found three zombies in the distant sitting on the ground, I was able to see them through the fog, but they didn't seem to notice me, their appearances were different from the mindless ones,they were smaller but even so one could tell at first sight that they all looked stronger. Still, one of them was obvious to see that it was above the other two.
'An elite great...' I thought with slight worry in my mind after all the first elite I encountered was terrifying.
At first glance, they are no different from your average joe. Alas, when approached, they undergo a drastic, horrifying transformation; if they don't notice you, they are likely to hide their appearance, beware of them for they hide one or two more transformations making them really unpredictable in combat.
Weakness: A very common weakness shared among the Undead is fire. Chopping such creatures into little bits may not stop them, but fire generally will, their bodies are extremely flammable
The undead's weakness to fire is often connected with the idea that Fire Purifies: life-giving fire—the opposite of the dead, cold, fire is particularly effective at sending such critters back to their graves for good.
Holy magic is extremely effective against them if an undead is killed by holy magic necromancy won't be able to resurrect them again, ensuring their eternal rest.
Besides that, their head is their only weak point in their entire body, a good and powerful attack in their head could ensure their defeat, momentarily at the very least.
Elite undead are more resilient than most undead; not only do they retain their memories, but they are the product of the reanimation of a powerful warrior, meaning they have experience in battle.
They can apply the following statuses: Bleeding, Poison, Curse
'One elite and two wretched zombies, this is going to be tough' I thought.
These creatures are usually found in groups, and will play dead or not move until their prey is in close proximity. They are fast and strong, and with their elongated arms and acid vomit makes them powerful and dangerous foe. Since they lie on the ground or sit on graves without moving, they are well hidden, and distracted people can easily miss them until it's too late.
Overall they are the improved version of the Mindless Zombies, these enemies are not particularly dangerous when alone, but in groups, they prove to be mighty.
Weakness: A very common weakness shared among the Undead is fire. Chopping such creatures into little bits may not stop them, but fire generally will, their bodies are extremely flammable
The undead's weakness to fire is often connected with the idea that Fire Purifies: life-giving fire—the opposite of the dead, cold, fire is particularly effective at sending such critters back to their graves for good.
Holy magic is extremely effective against them if an undead is killed by holy magic necromancy won't be able to resurrect them again, ensuring their eternal rest.
Besides that, their head is their only weak point in their entire body, a good and powerful attack in their head could ensure their defeat, momentarily at the very least.
They can apply the following statuses: Bleeding, Poison
'I have to deal with the wretched first and then go after the elite at full power,' I thought.
Approaching the monsters slowly to enter a range in which I would be sure I couldn't miss the shot, I shouted, “FIREBALL SUCKERS!” dungeons and dragons made those two words sound magnificent for me.
STATUSES: It takes 5% of max hp every 5 seconds for 1 min (125 damage every 5 seconds up to a total of 1500, critical strikes may change this result ).
2 Wretched Zombie LV 21 HP 2500/2500 MP: 250/250
The wretched hurled back in pain, while the other two zombies turned around to see me, the other wretched started to run towards me, while the Elite just stood there watching me, doing nothing.
The zombie started attacking me with his sword, leaving me no opportunity to cast another fireball, as I dodged and blocked his attacks with my sword, I thought of something, what would happen if I added mana to my sword to power up my attacks, so I decided to try it out.
A new skill has been created by a specific action, Mana strike: Covers a weapon or a part of your body with mana to drastically increased the output damage, max mana charge 250
Mana cost 1-250MP
Hitting the monster with my new attack, I knocked him down, and that gave me enough time to take some distance to burn him to smithereens, “FIREBALL!.”
STATUSES: It takes 5% of max hp every 5 seconds for 1 min (125 damage every 5 seconds up to a total of 1500, critical strikes may change this result )
2 Wretched Zombie LV 21 HP 1200/2500 (-1300) MP: 250/250
STATUSES: It takes 5% of max hp every 5 seconds for 1 min (125 damage every 5 seconds up to a total of 1500, critical strikes may change this result )
'I wonder what would happen if I hold a fireball for more than the time needed' I thought as I created a fireball in my right hand and as the zombies approached.
A new skill has been created by a specific action Great Fireball: Shoots a fire attack that damages all creatures except those immune to fire, within a large area. The damage is several times greater than the damage of a fireball
Mana Cost: 1000MP.
I was surprised at how easy it had been to create new skills with just a little ingenuity, the two wretched zombies turned to ashes screaming in pain, the attack killed them immediately, the elite still didn't move a muscle, he was just standing there looking at me, but I guess I should be grateful that he didn't help the other two.
"I suppose is my turn," the elite said walking slowly towards me drawing the swords from his back.
“You didn't help them, why?” I asked as I prepared for the imminent combat that was about to happen.
“Why would I? , there's no honor in a group fight, I'm dead, but I haven't lost my honor.” said the elite in a calm tone, “Now get ready, I wouldn't want to kill you because you didn't take me seriously.”
Grabbing my sword I put myself in position, the elite looked at me and looked at my sword, and he did something I didn't expect, he threw one of his swords at me near my feet, “Use that sword, the one you have is deplorable.”
“You're really making my mission to kill you harder,” I said grabbing the new sword.
This straight sword is widely used among the royal guard, to an extent it's popularity with the guards is only matched by the spear, is extremely sharp and it enchanted to ensure more durability +105 Physical attack +1 STR +2 DEX
“I'm just making it easier for me,” said the elite as it approached me, this time in a deadly tone.
The elite lunged forward, sprinting towards me with his sword ready to cut right through me, but reflexes kicked in at the right moment, and I ducked to the side and launched a fireball at him.
The elite noticed this and jumped into the air dodging the attack with only some minor burns on his clothes. Now safe, he resumed his charge at me, faster than before, but this time I was ready. I quickly raised my sword to block the attack and our blades clashed together.
I could feel the vibrations of the impact throughout my body as he slowly started to push me back, almost overpowering me. However, I soon recovered and pushed back with all my might, using Light Impact to finally break the hold.
To my surprise, even with Light Impact, the elite seemed unfazed, easily keeping up with my new speed and strength. Seeing this, I jumped back trying to gain some distance and rethink my situation, deactivating Light Impact to avoid mana waste.
The elite cracked his neck and proceeded to advance in my direction as I started to sprint backwards. In an instant, he disappeared before reappearing right in front of me, throwing me off balance for a second and resumed his attack, but this time his blows got stronger and heavier with each strike to the point blocking was no longer an option.
Adjusting my position I cast a bubble shield around me and placed an enchantment on my sword, only to find myself getting a powerful punch in the stomach that broke the shield with ease and caused me to drop my sword. On instinct, I slammed my fist right into his face pushing him back a little, then proceeded to cast a Great Fireball spell, that for some reason drained my mana completely.
The massive orb of flames collided with my opponent, resulting in a burst of smoke and heat. For a second, I tried to catch my breath, thinking the fight was over. Yet, as the smoke cleared, I could see the silhouette of the elite, standing tall, casually brushing some leftover ash from his shoulder with a smug look on his face.
"You unicorns and your magic, when will you learn that you need more than fancy tricks to win a fight," sighed the Elite, wiping a bit of dirt from his face, "That's why I sealed your magic, now adapt and evolve, boy."
At that moment I knew the match was settled, without mana I couldn't escape the dungeon. However, I couldn’t exactly just sit around and wait for someone to save me, I was tired of it, so as my old friends would say, street rules apply in this situation.
With a quick swipe to the ground, I grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground before throwing it at his face. In the brief moment where he reflexively closed his eyes and pulled back, I grabbed his head and forced him close to me, intending to make him lose his balance, but from beneath a kick connected with my forehead, sending me flying to a nearby tree before falling face-first on the ground.
The elite’s fist smashed against the back of my head enough force to break the ground underneath us, numbing my entire body in the process. My skull rattling, I could barely raise my head off the ground before I was slowly grabbed by the chin and pulled to the elite’s level, him casually holding me up with one arm as if I were an infant or a bug.
“You really got me there, using your environment is a good tactic, but useless when you’re completely outmatched,” The elite said with a chuckle, “What else can you do, boy?"
"Fuck you..." I said, panting.
With a sneer, the elite kicked me in the stomach, too fast for me to even see. I staggered back but by the time I managed to regain some of my bearings, he was gone.
My eyes, immediately scanned every direction trying to find him. Yet, as I took a step back, I felt a presence behind me and turned, finding my opponent looking at me with an unsettling grin. Almost on reflex, I threw a punch into his face only for him to easily catch my fist before twisting my arm behind my back and then pushing me to the ground, his foot placed firmly on my spine.
With a mere shift, I felt him dig his heel further into my back, I could only groan in a pitiful attempt at protest. Yet, despite the pain, I felt a sense of excitement slowly building faintly inside me. Perhaps it was simply ]me enjoying the challenge of getting out of such a seemingly unwinnable position, I didn’t know for sure, instead, I simply focused on my next move.
Without thinking twice and with a bit of muscle strain, I spun and bent my single free arm behind my back and drove my fist in the back of the elite’s foot, just above the heel. The sudden shift threw him off balance, enough for me to push myself up, before spinning back around to face him in quick succession. I immediately followed up with a punch to the stomach, finally freeing my arm. Yet as I prepared my next attack, the elite slammed his forehead into my face, hard.
I felt my nose fracture, with blood quickly flooding out, some even dripping into my mouth as I fell back to the ground. Completely disoriented, I vainly tried to stand, only to find his foot now pressed firmly against my windpipe.
Even through my barely conscious state, I knew I was finished as he only needed to place a little more weight on his foot to completely crush my throat.
With regret I tapped my hand on the ground, signally I was surrendering and mercifully, he removed his boot from my neck, allowing me to breathe properly and finally make out his expression as my vision started to clear back up.
“That was a great fight, kiddo!” The elite said, beaming with elation, his tone carrying an obvious hint of pride to it.
“So this is it?” I asked panting.
"Yes, and you pass with flying colors," The elite answered, helping me stand up, "I'll help you deal with that pesky lich,"
"Huh?!" I said, flabbergasted, still trying to breathe somewhat out of my damaged nose, 'The fuck is going on?'.
"So what's the deal with you?" I asked the elite.
"Right the point I see. Well, originally I was a pony, and more importantly among the living, but as you can already see I had a bit of ...let's call it misfortune and leave it at that. Sadly, while that should’ve been where things ended, it didn’t.”
The elite grumbled to himself almost glaring at his arms, as if he was hoping for something to happen even though nothing came. “Point is that I used to be a living, breathing individual, with all the pain and suffering that comes with it. That might sound unpleasant but trust me there's beauty in the bleeding...at least you feel something. Not me, I can’t feel anything anymore,” the elite said with a dry laugh clenching his fists.
"Now, I might as well be a walking talking wooden puppet. I never sleep, I never eat and I feel nothing. Not heat, not wind, or the ground beneath my feet. Sure not feeling pain or having to sleep doesn’t sound bad at first, maybe even kind of fun, but trust me, living creatures aren't supposed to be this way kiddo. Getting hurt, suffering, that’s just one of the things that remind us we’re alive. After all, if you can’t experience anything, what’s the point of living."
I could notice the pain the elite in front of me was feeling, but something didn't fit, the zombies I killed showed pain when my fireball was burning them. So, why couldn’t he?
"But wait, what about all the zombies I killed before?" I asked the elite getting his attention, "All that flinching and moaning they were doing, made it pretty clear they felt something."
The elite sighed, “That's not pain; it's a reaction to the weakness we have against fire. If you attacked them with ice or some other element, they would just keep moving, no matter how much damage you’d inflict."
'So they don't feel pain at all, they just react to fire. Well isn’t that just wonderful...' I thought
The elite carried me to the top of a hill, once we were at the top, he gently proceeded to put me on the floor, and with a more serious expression, he said, "Look down the hill."
"Is that..." I couldn't finish my question. I was beyond surprised; the situation was worse than I could’ve ever expected.
Observe has level up ▲
Of all the beasts you may encounter in your journey, beware of the lich. To them, it's not enough to take your life; they wish to defile your body in their vile experiments and subject your eternal soul to their will.
A lich furthers his power at any cost, having no interest in the affairs of the living except when those that interfere with their own, Scheming and insane, they hunger for long-forgotten knowledge and power. Because the lingering shadow of death does not hang over them, they can conceive plans that take decades, centuries or even millennia to come to fruition. They seek to see the world as what they wish, a graveyard and will never stop until they succeed.
Weaknesses: A very common weakness shared among Undead is fire, but when it comes to the lich this is nowhere near as effective. While can fire hurt them unless the spell is extremely powerful, it won’t stop them. Holy magic is vastly superior at dealing with these pesky creatures, as even the weakest holy spell will do more lasting damage than almost any fire attack.
They can apply the following statuses: , , ,
“Yes, that is The Lich and his horde of mindless beasts, and I'm afraid that even with my help, it will be impossible to kill him," The elite said, "The Lich made sure to only revive me with about ten percent of my original power, just to make sure I could never stand against him.."
' Just how strong was this guy' I thought as a plan formed in my head. "Alright, so I have an idea, but first let me regenerate."
The elite looked at me with curiosity and said, “Sure, gotta brainstorm our way out of this.”
During my fight with the elite, I had failed to check my on my hp, but after our battle ended I found it was just barely above 10 percent, one more hit and I’d have died. Thus I was sure of two things, one I needed to level up before fighting The Lich, and two, we needed someone else to help us with this mission.
After a short time of waiting for me to regain some of my strength, I explained to my companion the fundamentals of my regeneration, namely how it increases when I kill creatures along with my strength. Naturally, he was ecstatic at this revelation and practically dragged me to an area full of undead creature, almost throwing me into the undead horde to begin the brutal cycle.
Thankfully the undead weren’t especially powerful so I was able to quickly recover my mana and health, before leveling up in rapid succession. Of course, the elite waited nearby in case I needed help, which thankfully never happened, and after a few hours of the same process, we finally took a break.
Now able to take a breath, my at this point unnamed ally saw fit to finally grace me with his name, Swift Strike. Even more interesting, apparently he was an ex-captain of the royal guard about seven hundred years ago. And suddenly my little reveal didn’t seem nearly as impressive.
'Level 42 not too bad,” I thought to myself as I mulled over my stats and equipment, “but now I can't seem to get any experience from them' I thought, 'I have one hundred common essence and some potions these guys dropped, should I use the essences now or...'
"You certainly look stronger now, but I doubt we can beat The Lich like this, we need more help, any ideas?" Swift Strike asked.
"I have one," I said with a grin on my face as I put my bag away, "what would you say about meeting the current captain of the royal guard?"
"Haha, I’d say, marvelous," Swift Strike said, laughing.
"But that means I have to leave this dungeon..." I said, "Let me try this,"
'Invite Swift Strike to party' I commanded inside my head.
Inviting Undead Creature - Swift Strike- to party
"The heck is this!" Swift Strike asked in surprise at the screen appearing before his face.
"Just click yes, I’ll explain later," I said laughing.
"Ok..." Swift Strike said, hesitantly clicking as instructed.
The Undead Creature - Swift Strike - has joined your party
"Neat right," I said with a grin, "Now time to find the helper we need,"
"Weird... but helpful I guess." Swift Strike said, still trying to understand just what exactly happened.
"I'll be back," I said, waving at the elite, "ID: Escape!"
Once I left the dungeon I found myself in the cemetery with all the beautiful atmosphere once again surrounding the area. A quick glance at my screen showed that Swift Strike in my group despite the jump, which was reassuring. Thus that left my mission, convince Shining Armor to help me without telling anyone of my power. Easy, right?
I ran to the castle if I remember correctly today was Shining's day off, so I was pretty sure he was with Cadence today.
Once inside the castle, I ran to knock on my cousin’s door, who was quick to answer, though clearly confused by my appearance. “Blue, what are you doing here?”, sh
"I just need Shining for a second," I said.
"And why would he be here?" Cadence asked, trying, emphasis on the word try, to lie her way out of this.
"Let's get to the point, I know you're banging him, and he knows I know, and honestly, that's none of my business, I just need his help real quick," I replied.
"Shining, Blueblood is here for you..." Cadence sighed, clearly not happy at being found out.
I hear someone running in the room, and in a manner of seconds, I’m now staring a shirtless Shining, who looked anything but happy to see me.
"This better be good,"
"It is, and if it's not, I'll do anything you want for a day Cadance, deal?" I said, looking at Cadence.
"Why her?" asked Shining.
"Really, you're asking me that?" I asked completely deadpanned at Shining’s question.
"Oh...yeah..." Shining laughs.
"Fine, but you better have him back by night. I have...some things planned for tonight," Cadence said, sending a sultry look Shining’s way that made him go completely dumbstruck.
"Fantastic, Shining enjoy your disturbing relationship with my cousin later. Come on," I said, running out of the castle as Shining followed, managing to grab a shirt on the way out and hastily put it on as he ran.n.
"You know I kinda miss the asshole version of you," Shining said laughing as he got properly dressed, "That version of you didn't mess with my time with Cadence."
"Just to be clear, the cockblocking wasn’t intentional, not saying I didn’t enjoy that part, but I really do need your help," I said as we kept running. "By the way, bring your armor and weapons,"
After a couple of minutes, we arrived back at the cemetery with Shining quickly giving me the thousand-yard stare at my choice of location., “Did you get me out of Cadence for this?”
“I’m just going to ignore the extremely graphic phrasing of that sentence and get this over with.”
'Invite Shining Armor to the party,' I commanded inside my head.
"What the buck!?" Shining jumps at the sight of the screen.
"Just accept the invitation," I said, laughing.
Shining nodded and accepts joining my group, he remained silent for a minute, and like turning a switch, his attitude changed.
"This is AWESOME!!!" Shining said beaming with happiness.
"I guess, but promise to keep it between us, pal," I said.
"Sure! What else can you do!?" Shining asked, going full fanboy and getting right up in my personal space.
'Enter Zombie Dungeon!' I commanded inside my head, and soon everything around us changed, I was once again in the dark place this time with Shining.
"A... DUNGEON!? FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST THIS IS AWESOME! IT’S JUST LIKE O&O," Shining said, shouting with excitement.
"I'm glad you like it, cause I need your help killing the Lich of this area," I said, chuckling at the sight of the normally majestic and knightly Shining Armor ...running around the dungeon squealing like an eight-year-old at their first comic convention.
"A REAL LIFE DUNGEON! IT IS I SHINING THE PALADIN! I'M LEVEL 55... THAT’S GOOD RIGHT? I MEAN YOU’RE 42, AND WHO’S THAT SWIFT STRIKE IN THE GROUP?" Shining said, still shouting.
"Oh, just a former Captain of the Guard who died 700 years ago that the Lich resurrected, and now really wants to kill said Lich in probably the most painful way he can imagine," I answered, "and please stop shouting."
"Right, sorry..." Shining looked down apologetically, "So there’s a lich, and you needed more ponies for the job, how dire is the situation?”
"To be honest I don't know to what point this dungeon affects the real world, but it's better to be safe than sorry right?" I said, impressed at how quickly he shifted from silly to serious.
"Well, let's find Swift Strike and formulate a plan," Shining said, now completely in his usual Captain persona, which only served to remind me why I wanted to recruit him so badly.
We walked to where Swift was, occasionally taking a moment to kill any monsters we found along the way. Eventually, we found Swift, who was just casually sitting on a stone waiting, a wide smile growing on his face when he spotted us.
"Glad to see you finally came back. I’m guessing this is the lad you spoke of?," Swift asked as he gave Shining a quick once over, which didn’t exactly endear him to the current captain, still on guard as he eyed the undead wearily.
"Yeah, Shining meet the ex-captain of the royal guard, Swift Strike," I said, causing Shining to blinks for a second before staring at the undead with his mouth wide open.
"THE SWIFT STRIKE?! YOU ARE A LEGEND, SIR, THE FIRST EARTH PONY TO BE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD," Shining said doing a respectful salute.
“Oh wonderful, the screaming’s back.” I sighed to myself, wishing I’d brought earplugs.
"At ease soldier, must say, it’s great to hear that even after all this time still remember little ol' me," Swift Strike said with a smile on his face at the younger captain’s enthusiasm
"Wonderful, now that everyone’s introduced, let's show Shining what we are dealing with," I said, getting a nod of approval from Swift and a questioning look from Shining.
Of all the beasts you may encounter in your journey, beware of the Lich. For them, it is not enough to take your life; they wish to defile your body into their vile experiments and subject your eternal soul to their will.
A lich furthers his power at any cost, having no interest in the affairs of the living except when those affairs interfere with their own, Scheming and insane, they hunger for long-forgotten knowledge and power. Because the lingering shadow of death does not hang over them, they can conceive plans that take years, decades, centuries or even a millennia to come to fruition they bide their time, a lich wants to see the world for what he thinks it is a graveyard, they had long forgotten what it is to feel pain and emotions.
Weaknesses: A very common weakness shared among the Undead is fire, but when it comes to the lich this is not as effective, while fire hurts them it's not the best way to deal with them, holy magic is vastly superior at dealing with these pesky creatures, even the weakest kind of holy magic is super effective against them.
They can apply the following statuses: , , ,
"So you essentially cockblocked me so I can die here? You know what, now I really wish you were the same asshole I met way back, 'cause you’re turning out to be an even worse friend right now," Shining said, looking at the Lich and the horde down the hill while taking every chance he could to glare at me
"Hehehe, hey take it from me kid, dying ain’t the worst thing in the world." Swift Strike laughed.
"So what's the plan?" Shining asked, "We're clearly outnumbered, but the: ich is the only real threat, being the only one above level 30 down there,"
"Well, I have an idea," I said, getting their attention, "But this plan needs our total cooperation for it to work, are you guys in?."
As I went over the course of my explaining my plan, Shining Armor and Shift Strike sat by, absorbing every last detail, as expected of two seasoned soldiers. True enough, my plan wasn’t anything special, but its effectiveness was all that mattered. Swift and I would lead all the undead creatures far away from the Lich, while Shining would sneak around from behind the Lich and create a shield around it. Once the shield was up, I would use a teleportation spell so we would be able to regroup with Shining inside of the shield and fight the Lich three on one. Overall, a pretty good plan if you ask me.
Both Swift and Shining, however, seemed slightly apprehensive about the plan, maybe because it was too simple or too easy.
"Hm, it could work, outnumbering him would certainly improve our chances of victory. I trust your spells are up to the task Sir Shining," Swift asked, turning to his junior.
"Don’t worry about me. When it comes to shield spells, nopony is better than me," Shining said with a hint of pride as he pointed to his shield cutie mark, "And I’m ready when you guys are."
"Let's go then," I said with a smile as Swift followed me.
Our plan laid out, we quickly got into position and once all was said and done, we began the attack. I started off by unleashing a large fireball, creating a massive explosion. The blast was not only so bright that it caught the eyes of all the undead, but also set some of them ablaze, a nice little side benefit to my plan. However, despite loud moans from the countless burned bodies alongside the growing clouds of smoke and the smell of burned flesh, the group remained in formation.
I turned my attention to the Lich and found him with a wicked smile on his face, seemingly amused by our sudden attack. "The old soldier, are you finally coming to kneel before your God?"
Swift Strike, who’d already been holding himself back from simply charging at the Lich, practically roared with fury at undead lord’s taunt. “The only one kneeling before any god will be you after I send you back to the maggot-infested hole you crawled out of.”
The Lich, however, ignored Swift Strike’s growing rage and kept his attention on me. "I must thank you for returning my property safely; you saved me the time of looking for it. As a reward for your help, I'll make your death quick,".
I stared back at Lich, wishing I could simply end him right now if I had the power. "My, that is quite a generous offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to politely refuse. How, sincerely, do hope you can go and fuck yourself, assuming, of course, that decrepit shell of a body of yours still has the proper equipment to do so.”
While he didn’t outright show it, I could see the Lich’s eyes narrow and burn ever so slightly with anger, so at least I managed to get a small victory.
"Very well then, you’ve chosen your fate. I hope those final words were worth it wretch," Moving his hand in my direction, the previous rigid horde’s heads all turned to face me, with their bodies quickly following suit. A single bony finger extended, it’s tip pointed directly at me as the Lich gave his command.
“Rip the pest apart limb from limb, and then devour what’s left. But do it slowly, I want to relish every last scream.”
With that last command, the horde began to advance on us.
My eyes stared down the horde of emotionless corpses as they drew close, my eyes only making a momentary glance at Shining Armor sneaking close to the Lich, sadly he wasn’t close enough to activate his spell. I turned to Swift, who looked all to ready for a fight. With a nod, I ignited my horn and stared my enemy down without fear.
“Before this night is over, the only one screaming, will be you. Now, come on."You will suffer then."
With a war cry, the two of us charged forward, Swift hacking through the dead soldiers before with unparalleled speed and ferocity, sending limbs and skulls in every direction. I followed suit, levitating my sword and swinging it as rapidly as I could, trying my best to avoid using too much mana. No matter what happened, the Lich was our priority, and no matter how many undead we faced, we needed to be ready to take him down.
Shining Armor P.O.V
My mission was simple; get close enough, cast a shield, and lock the Lich inside. Easy enough, but if the Lich spotted me, then it would all be over. So, while it was never my strong suit, I moved as stealthy, with the added benefit of a handy invisibility spell my sister taught me. Who knew having a little sister who spent all her time studying obscure and forgotten magic would come in handy? Of course, being invisible didn’t make you silent, so I kept my pace relatively smooth, making sure not to make too much noise as I closed in on the Lich.
Thankfully for me, the explosion from Blueblood’s spell had drawn the Lich’s attention, so what little noise I made he ignored. As I got closer, I could see that Swift and Blueblood were talking to the Lich, though I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
Once I was close enough, I waited for whatever kind of signal Blue was going to give for me to cast the spell. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.
After another couple verbal bars, I couldn’t quite make out the Lich ordered his army to attack Blueblood and Swift. Soon, little by little the dead disappeared from the area I was hiding, and a fearsome battle started, until the Lich himself was completely alone
'Just a bit closer' I thought approaching the Lich, "Ourus Shield!."
The Lich turned around once he heard my voice, but was thankfully not fast enough to stop the formation of my shield, locking us away from the battlefield.
"Another one? You dare to defy a god? You insolent worm. Once I kill you, I’ll make you into one of my slaves and place you in a perpetual state of decay so agonizing that you’ll beg me for death every second of your miserable existence. "
"Bring it on," I said, getting ready with my spear despite his rather unsettling proposition. I had done my part; now, I just had to stall him long enough for Blueblood and Swift to make their way to me.
Blueblood P.O.V
I watched the earth move and undulate as the horde started to advance towards us, their sheer numbers so great I couldn’t see the ground beneath their feet. Advancing on us like a massive wave of dead flesh.
"Guess this is where we make our stand!" Swift shouted, slashing forward, killing several undead with a single stroke, yet they continued to advance without fail.
Wretched Zombie 8/8 ✔
Several undead stabbed at him with their various weapons, but Swift rolled over the enemy without pause, piercing through the head of multiple undead, striking with such power that the air escaped the head wounds like a bullet of hot air.
"FOR EQUESTRIA!" Swift roared, raising his weapon as he continued to charge forward.
"Ourus Shield," Swift stopped his assault and saw Shining’s shield finally rise, trapping the Lich inside. An eager look of excitement formed on his face as he turned to me.
"That's our cue, boy, LET GO!" Swift shouted this time, disposing of the mindless beasts faster than before.
"Great Fireball!" Following suit, I launched another massive fireball to clear a path. While I was working to conserve my mana, it was a necessary sacrifice to get us closer to the barrier.
I followed Swift’s lead, killing the undead side by side with him. Yet, as Swift moved closer to the shield, his eyes were drawn to something.
Amidst the fire, two undead were still standing otherwise unscathed, save for minor burns. While I didn’t recognize them, it was clear Swift knew who they were.
"Ford, Laya. You two truly have fallen far, haven’t you?" Swift said in a sad tone.
"Nice to see you as well captain. Are, ready to die, for real this time?" Laya said, taking one step closer to us.
"Now this will be fun," Ford said, laughing, "Not very often you get to kill someone twice. Hopefully, you’ll put up more of a fight this time."
Swift stared at them and sighed, "You truly have learned nothing. Though in a way, I can only blame myself. There was so much I wanted to teach you, yet perhaps it was my excitement that blinded me to the evil festering side of you. Yet, I suppose there is little I can do now, correct my errors and put an end to this.”."
Laya merely laughed cruelly at her teacher's sorrowful words. “Seems your still as sentimental as always, only now you don’t have the power to back it up. The Lich not only resurrected us but gave us more power than we ever acquired from any of your lessons. And you’re nothing but a relic, a broken tool from an outdated era. Though you are right in that we’ll be learning something today.”
Ford only smiled alongside his fellow traitor, though his was more one of sadistic glee. “Yeah, namely all the ways you can torture an undead. Wonder how long it’ll be before we drive you insane with some of the things we’ve got planned.”
Swift merely laughed mirthlessly at their words, "You truly have become blinded by your own cruelty. Even you should know torturing me won’t accomplish anything. Neither I nor you can feel anything anymore. Any harm you inflict on me would be a mere exercise in futility.”
"Well, you’re not completely wrong. True, we can’t physically torture you...but well, who say we need to hurt you to cause you pain," Laya said, licking her lips while looking at me, making it all clear what she meant.
"Wow, were all the guards from seven hundred years ago as messed up as these two?" I said, looking at Swift.
"Ford and Laya were always somewhat unhinged, but never to this extent. I had hoped that in time they’d be able to finally learn the most important lesson of all," Swift said with a sad expression, "That power it's not all,"
"Hey, you didn’t fail them. Just going by how they are now, I’d say they were beyond help long before you ever met them," I said, patting his back.
"Perhaps, but as their former teacher there is still a lesson that I must give them this day," Swift said, this time emanating a powerful and threatening aura, "Humility,"
"Count me in," I said, getting ready to kick some undead ass, but Swift stopped me.
"I appreciate it, my friend, however, go and help Shining. Let this old man take care of it, I'll be right back with you in a bit," Swift said with a faint smile on his face.
"You better not die on me, old man," I said hesitantly before I started running towards the shield.
"I'm already dead kiddo," Swift said, turning his attention to the two undead in front of him.
"What a sweet gesture," Laya said, mocking Swift.
"Doesn’t matter, once we’ve taken care of you, will drag him back and let you watch as we rip him apart in ways that’d make even these zombies puke," Ford said, his insane turning more manic than before.
"You would be surprised to know, the kid can take a beating like a man," Swift said, approaching them weapons ready, "Now let's do this."
Luckily for me, getting into Shining’s shield wasn’t too difficult. It turns out; he could actually control who could go in and out, something that only continues to remind me how odd magic truly is. However, that thought didn’t last as my nostrils were immediately assaulted by the scent of burning and decaying flesh, a scent far more potent than before, thanks to the enclosed area.
After fighting off the urge not to throw up, I quickly took notice of the battle currently going on between the Lich and Shining. To my surprise, Shining was holding his own against the undead ruler, with said walking corpse, even having some tears in his clothes showing he’d taken damage since the fight began.
However, what was truly surprising was the different feel of this fight. Unlike my previous bout with Swift, where there was merely a sense of hostility through conflict, here, the atmosphere was punctuated by an oppressive aura of death as I drew closer to the fight that feeling on continued to grow.
The sounds and flashes of metal clashing against each other filled the air as I drew in closer, desperate to help my friend before he was overwhelmed.
“Shining I'm on my—“ Before I could finish the sentence, something about the size of a bear lashed out at me. I yelled as it bit me on the arm, sending pain shooting through my entire arm and down my body. On reflex kicked the undead bastard it on the side. The thing fell back, and I could see now that it looked like a massive bear with white fur and decayed skin, snarling viciously at me as it advanced forward.
Without pause, I unleashed another fireball, hitting the beast mid charge. Engulfed in heat, the beast let out a several loud roars as it tried to claw the flames off its body, even going so far as to try and rip off what skin it had. Ultimately this proved useless as it eventually crumbled to the ground, dying for good.
Sadly, before I could fully recover from the unexpected incident, Shining cried out. “Watch out! There’s another one behind you!”
I turned in time to dodge as a similar creature leaped at me, though this was some type of undead wolf. Putting some distance between us, I tried to cast another fireball, but the beast’s speed allowed it to easily close the distance. Yet I couldn’t cancel the spell and thus simply focused the blast into my hand before planting it squarely into the creatures exposed insides, setting it ablaze.
I was barely able to make sense of what I’d just done before my screen reappeared in front of my face.
A new skill has been created by a specific action Fire Punch: The force of your strength and your fireball put together, while the range it's short. The damage is several times greater than the damage of a fireball but lower than a Great Fireball.
That was certainly something I didn’t know was possible. Then again, I’d never made it a point to experiment with such abilities in the past. Sadly I didn’t have time to mull over it, as the Lich was quickly gaining ground over Shining.
“Help!” cried out Shining. “Will you stop admiring that admittedly awesome spell and help me?”
I cursed when I realized that I’d been wasting precious time and sprinted towards Shining to help him with the Lich. However, it seemed the Lich had one last minion to send against me as I heard a loud crash behind me.
Turning, I found a massive undead dragon, charging at full speed towards me. It was the largest thing after the Elite Nightmare that I had ever seen, twice the size of a house and as wide as a two-story building, with claws as long as swords. It’s dark glowing eyes directing its fury at me, punctuated with each stomp.
Despite the dire situation, I kept still, waiting for hopefully some form of useful information to come as this beast seemed deadlier than anything I’d face since. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.
Unsure what to do, I launched a fireball at him, only for the beast’s breath casually blew it out like a candle, freezing the floor as well with ease. However, despite my failure to hit it, the beast’s attention was centered on me, though that was only a temporary relief, Shining was struggling in a 1v1 battle with the Lich, so I had to deal with the dragon quickly.
The beast did not hesitate with it’s follow up, the icy hurricane it’s mouth produce came towards me with great speed as I leaped out of the way. The second I landed, I immediately charged forward, encasing my fist in scorching heat as I reached its leg. Without a moment to hesitate, I slammed my burning fist into its thick hide, striking again and again as hard as I could, ignoring the beast’s roars as I did.
Once the beast spotted me, it tried to slash at me with its claws, but I managed to jump away and put some distance between us. Once I was out of range of its swipes, I took note of my screen again to gauge how much damage I’d done.
49500/50000 (-500) DRAGON HP
‘You’re telling me after all that I barely put a scratch on this thing?’ ’ A quick glance at its stats revealed the problem. ‘Oh, so it’s both resistant to ice AND fire……Great.”
Taking the stance I copied from Swift, I dodged another icy assault and landed Mana Strike combined with a Fire Punch in the same spot as before. The beast flinched as the attack burned further into its body, pushing it back a little.
With it distracted, I leaped out of the way as it swung its tail at me, trying to retaliate, missing the attack by a couple of inches, hitting the ground instead shattering the surface.
48500/50000 (-1500) DRAGON HP
‘That did a little more damage, but this will take forever at this rate, and I don’t have time to waste on this,’ I thought.
I looked at my surroundings, thinking on a fast way to deal with the creature. The dragon had already turned around again to face me and seemed angry, ready to finish me off. My eyes suddenly caught a cave about five hundred feet away from us, and to my surprise, it big enough for the dragon to enter. Immediately a plan formed as I dashed toward the cave, the dragon loudly thrashing about as it followed after me.
‘That’s it, follow me, you dumb overgrown gecko’ I thought.
A few dozen feet into the cave, I could feel the dragons cold breath on my back. I quickly activated Light Impact to outrun the dragon. Once we were far enough in, I turned around, dropped low, and slid under the beast in the opposite direction. It was a gamble, but as my friends in my old life would say...many many times, I was a gambler. Turning around as the massive creature struggled to get out of the cave, I casted a Great Fireball, aiming at the top of the cave, causing walls to fall on the beast.
The massive pile of rock and stone proved difficult for the creature to move in, as it’s hp steadily declined with each passing second. Taking the chance, I unleashed multiple fire spells at every point I could find earning roars of anger and pain for my trouble. The dragon tried to slash and claw in every direction, but failed to even remove itself from its new prison as I continued my assault.
9500/50000 (-40500) DRAGON HP
Sadly, my luck seemed to run out as beast’s anger flared up once again, violently lashing and shifting about, managing to finally knock itself free. Able to move properly again, it’s cold eyes turned to me, the very ground beneath its feet starting to freeze as it’s chilling anger was made visible.
‘Well that made my life easier,’ I thought as I tried to formulate some kind of plan.
The dragon didn’t give me much time as it charged at me. With little time, I was charged a Great Fireball, waiting for my mana to reach the max charge for the spell. Once it was ready, I rushed in with the fireball in my right hand.tThe dragon, however, seemed to have learned from our previous encounter and started immediately attacking with his cold breath, which I was able to narrowly dodge until I was in front of the monster.
The beast prepared another cold assault, but this time, I waited for the attack. Once it was released, I cast a bubble shield around me. Despite my shield, the creature continued to attack, yet my bubble held strong as I waited for the right moment. Finally, my moment arrived when the ice breath stopped. Before the beast could close its mouth, I launched my fireball directly down its throat and watched as the heat scorched it from the inside out.
The monster howled and screamed as smoke continued to leak out of its throat, the light from the fire visible in its hole covered chest. In mere moments the beast let loose pained cry before it finally fell to the ground, smoke continuing to leak out of its rotten body as the fire slowly consumed it, eventually turning into a massive bonfire.
Undead Dragon dead
X1 SOUL ESSENCE - Each Soul Essence contains 1000 souls that have been assimilated. +25 for each stat if consumed or you can collect X3 SOUL ESSENCE to resurrect someone, though this only works if the user convinces the God of Death to take the offering in return of one life, which is trickier than it sounds. The God of Death doesn’t like giving second chances.
“Better hand that to me, mortal,” said Lich, with a cruel expression, than somehow managing to get behind me, Shining Armor laying beaten where they were once battling. “You wouldn’t know what to do with it.”
“Oh, I have an idea. I just need another two,” I said, saving the essence in my inventory.
“Give me the Soul Essence! and I’ll let you join my ranks as one of the Death Elites,” said the Lich, getting more angry with each passing moment.
“He won’t give you anything except pain,” said Shining behind the Lich, managing to stand back up, still ready to fight.
Elite Slain 2/2 ✔
“What the boy said,” Swift said, dropping from the sky doing a superhero landing, with a pair of decapitated heads on his hands, “You need to do better than this to stop us.”
Despite a few missteps, our plan had succeeded, and once again, our team was regrouped, ready to fight the Lich 3 on 1.
The Lich started to change, slowly growing more and more grotesque as the area he was standing on began to rot, accompanied by a fair bit of faint black smoke. The air continued to fill with the putrid scent of death, growing fouler by the second, so much so I began to feel nauseous, and my eyes started to burn. Yet, I did my best to stand my ground and endure it, as we’d come this far and we couldn’t afford to stop now.
The Lich’s transformation finished as he let loose a terrifying wail that shook the very ground and even made my bones chatter as chills of death ran down my spine. Looking at him now, his transformation at a glance didn’t seem that impressive. I could see that his body was taller with the fingers of his hand, literally touching the floor. Additionally, his body was much thinner, practically anaemic, looking like someone had taken another’s skin and crudely stretched it over a skeleton with a completely different body type. However, what finally caused me to feel fear at the sight of this beast was his face. The rotted skin was now stretched to such an extent it began to tear, exposing rotted muscle, nerves and even bone all across his face. His mouth was open wide, showing numerous rotten fangs, to call them teeth would be highly inaccurate, while the edges of his mouth were ripped open giving his mouth a permanent and nightmarish grin. Most of all, however, his eyes seemed to glow brighter than before, like balls of dark green fire, the wailing of what he could assume we countless dead souls could be heard behind his eyes. Truly he was a nightmare beyond all others.
I took a step back in horror, any confidence or smart remark I had immediately dying where I was. ‘Suddenly, I don’t feel so confident about our chances.’
“You mortals dare to oppose me?” He screeched in anger as sickly green energy burst from his body, while countless tortured souls wailed even loud. “I am no simple lich you parasites. I...am... A GOD!” His final word was punctuated by a bolt of green lightning cracking above as his power erupted upwards, nearly reaching the sky.
“God huh, well, let’s put that to the test shall,” said Shining getting closer before unleashing a powerful burst of magic. However, to his surprise, the Lich casually blocked the shot with ease, crushing his hand around where the beam had hit as if it were little more than a firefly caught in his hand.
He cackled. “Do you truly believe your pitiful spells can threaten me? I will show you what a true lord of the arcane is capable of and scatter what is left of your bones to the four winds of this world. ”
Fast as lightning, he appeared right in front of me, before slamming into me with his massive fist. I’d barely gotten my shield up, for what good it did me, as his strike broke through it with ease, sending me sliding across the ground as though it were ice.
The Lich was quick to follow up, immediately chasing after me and ready to punch, his fist now coated in dark green magic energy. Thankfully as his fist descended, I used a simple Light Flash to blind him enough to get away.
He screamed in anger, forming a ball of dark magic energy in his hand. “Before this battle is done, not even dust will remain from your corpse.” With another roar, he hurled the orb in my direction as I tried to defend myself.
I conjured a shield in front of me to try and block the fast-moving orb. Yet upon contact, the shield seemed to literally break apart, as if the magic itself was rapidly ageing before crumbling away. I was barely able to avoid the orb and watched as the ground nearby turns into sand before fading away completely, leaving only a large crater in its place.
“What’s the matter, boy, where did all that bravado from earlier go.” The Lich smiled viciously as his eyes continued to glow green. “Have you finally accepted the realisation that none can hope to match my power, much less you?”
The sheer amount of arrogance dripping from the Lich’s mouth actually made me want to gag, but instead, I could only chuckle instead. This only served to provoke the dead’s ire.
“And just what pray tell do you find so amusing wretch. Have you lost your mind completely out of fear.”
“No, I was just laughing at how utterly pitiful you are. True, for an undead you’re lethal, but compared to Luna or Celestia, you're a little more than a corpse performing second-hand stage magic. Little more than simple tricks and nothing more.”
The Lich grit his teeth, actually causing some of the rotten bones to crack under the pressure. Yet, instead of roaring again, he merely smirked again.”Tricks, you say. Well then, here’s a trick I’m quite certain you’re already familiar with.”
His eyes glowed dark green, as a massive magic circle appeared next to use, pulsing with dark magic. A familiar roar was heard before a massive shadow rose from the green light. With a thunderous crash, I found myself once again staring into the eyes of the same Undead Dragon I had nearly died trying to topple. And judging by the venom in its eyes, it wasn’t happy to see me.
UNDEAD DRAGON LV 45
‘Looks like the dragon is weaker this time. It seems like every time he brings something back to life, their overall power weakens,’ I thought.
“You really think that killing them makes it so I can’t bring them back?” The Lich said, laughing as the dragon roared louder than before, “Only holy magic can truly stop the rise of the undead, and that magic has been long forgotten. You can kill my pets as many times as you like until the sun itself disappears if you want, but no matter what you do, they will never truly die!”
With a wave of his hand, the dragon charged at me once again, though with less speed than it had originally. As before it attempted to slash at me with its claws, but the swipe was so slow that I was able to dodge it with ease. Immediately I followed with a fireball to the beast’s maw, the flames causing it to screech in pain before Swift appeared atop its neck, decapitating it in one stroke, leaving its body to fall to the ground, dead once more.
“Are you really that desperate Lich,” said Swift with a smirk on his face looking at the Lich, “Throwing your disposable pawns at us? But please, by all means, bring the dragon back to life again, I can always use a good entree before the main course.”
From nearby, Shining had finally gotten back up and approached the Lich with his spear and a magic shield, possibly to engage a sneak attack. However, but the Lich merely summoned more basic undead soldiers to surround him, his confidence never wavering.
“You’re right about one thing my little experiment, they are pawns. And that’s what makes them so useful. Pawns are a means to an end, there to absorb damage and weaken my enemy.” His eyes continued to glow darker green as the Shining did his best to slay the undead, only for more to rise in their place. “They don’t need to defeat you; they just need to leave you open so I may cast the final blow.”
“Not if I take you out before that happens.” Swift immediately charged the Lich, his sword crashing down, only to be met with a ghastly sword made of bone that appeared in the Lich’s hands.
I grit my teeth, watching Shining do his best to hold them back. "Are you alright?" I asked Shining while seeing the Lich and Swift clashing, 'Impressive even with the level difference he can keep his ground against the Lich,'
"I'm fine, but I don't think I will be able to hold the shield around us for much longer," Shining said panting, he was bleeding and was obvious how tired he was, yet he still managed to fight against the continuing undead soldiers.
"Shining one question, when you got your cutie mark did you got a new spell or power, if so how did it happen?" I asked Shining, trying to get a new insight on a possible solution to ending the Lich.
Shining looked at me in a way that made it pretty clear he felt now wasn’t the time for such a question, but ultimately obliged. "Pretty much, I just focused my mana into my cutie mark and boom I had a new skill I never had before. Though I don’t see what the big deal is since it’s a pretty basic skill?"
"The big deal is that my talent is in holy magic. Unfortunately, I don’t know any spells so I thought perhaps my cutie mark might help us here," I answered looking at my cutie mark in contemplation, "Think you can help Swift out while I figure this out?”
With another blast and slash of his magic, Shining managed to destroy the undead again, and they seemed to finally stop of the moment. “I can try, but you better hurry, we won’t hold out much longer at this rate.”
I nodded, it was clear from his struggled breathing and the blood from his wounds he likely wouldn’t last another few minutes. So I had to make this count.
'Focus mana in my cutie mark, seems easy enough,' I thought while concentrating magic into my cutie mark, How much mana does it need though, I don't feel more powerful and I'm pretty sure I haven't acquired a new skill, The Gamer would be told me so already'
A loud explosion immediately broke me from my trance and to my horror, the source was Shining, currently on the ground barely conscious. Adding to that, Swift was still standing, barely, just a few hundred feet away from the Lich and even though he looked to be on his last legs.
"You should’ve taken my offer you self-righteous fool. Now, you’ve not only condemned yourself to death but your allies as well. Enjoy that thought tormenting your last moments as I send you to oblivion," The Lich said, stepping on Shining with his heels piercing his skin.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH" Shining screamed in pain as the Lich cackled away, revelling in every second of Shining's suffering.
'I can’t allow this to go on. If I don’t act now, Shining is finished?' I thought in anger charging towards the Lich, 'I will not allow this! I refuse to die and bring others with me,'
"Not content to simply wait to die like a good dog. Well, I suppose I’ll just need to hasten this one's path to the abyss.," The Lich said pressing his heel with more strength into Shining's chest while the captain of the guard tried with what little strength he had to hold the Lich back.
'The darker the night, the brighter the star, you are ready to shine' A voice said inside my head said and something came up inside my mind, knowledge that wasn't there before power that I didn't have before,
"Come forth holy power, bestow upon me the blessing of thy light, I offer my body and soul to the being of light, let me become its new vessel, SMITE!"
From the skies, a blinding light came down on the Lich like a hammer, which despite its beauty and warmth, sent, the Lich screaming in pain as the flesh on his body burned and melted.
The flash of light lasted less than a minute, but the damage was beyond substantial. The Lich was now on his knees, the once potent glare of magic he’d been emitting was all but gone as smoke continued to rise from his heavily burned body. And the extent wasn’t just cosmetic, as a simple glance at this HP bar showed not only had his transformation been reversed but his health was below five percent. Now was the time to strike.
"Holy... Magic.... impossible," The Lich said barely managing to keep his balance, his bones cracking as he attempted to move, “This can’t end here, I won’t die to love life scum like you!"
The Lich started to run or to say better limp away in fear of another Smite; at this point, a simple sword strike would finish him off. Sadly, the truth was I couldn't move, that last attack not only consumed all of my mana but also any energy I had left in my body. Right now, it was taking all my willpower to stand up without collapsing in pain, with my body shaking with rapid spasms of pain while I struggled to breathe.
Shining wasn’t doing much better, still flat on the ground, blood leaking from his various injuries, yet unlike me, he had a smile on his face. And I only needed to widen my gaze a little to realise why. Swift was standing just a few feet away from me, his eyes still trained on the Lich, yet it felt as though he was looking at me as well.
“You too take a breath and relax. After that, you’ve both done more than your fair share, and I owe you for that. But now, let this old man finish this.”,”
Due to my spell, my vision was greatly impaired so I could barely make out what was happening, what little I could see was the Lich's life started to deplete without stopping as the undead begged for forgiveness. Swift was not interested in listening.
With a single strike the Lich’s screams died out, and in mere moments the countless undead still alive also perished, their master now finally gone.
With the threat finally over, I allowed myself to collapse to the ground, while Shining dropped the barrier before finally passing out, utterly drained but with a look of satisfaction on his face. Swift meanwhile was still standing, a simple smile on his face as he looked to the sky, with a sense of relief etched across his face.
“After all this time, I’m finally free. Kind of wish it hadn’t taken this long, but then again never would’ve gotten to meet you two. So thanks, for letting this old solider have one last moment of glory before the end.” Slowly his body started to crumble to dust with the Lich’s magic to sustain him, yet he looked at peace, happy it was over. “Hope to see you two on the other side someday, but make sure it’s not for a long time boys.”
With those final words, his body finally fell apart, as the old soldier was finally laid to rest for good. u,”
QUEST COMPLETED
LEVEL UP▲ LEVEL UP▲
Shining Armor has LEVEL UP▲
At that point, I was able to stand if only just barely, and I slowly started to approach the Lich’s body to loot him.
X50 Common Essence It gives the user 1 point on VIT, DEX OR STR per essence used. X40 Uncommon Essence It gives the user 2 points on VIT, DEX, STR OR INT per essence used, this item can be shared. X45 Health Potions (Heals a 25% of the missing hp, to a limit of 5000 HP) X50 Mana Potions ( Recovers a 25% of the missing mp, to a limit of 10000 MP) X3 SOUL ESSENCE Each Soul Essence contains 1000 souls that have been assimilated. +25 for each stat if consumed or you can collect X3 SOUL ESSENCE to resurrect someone, though this only works if the user convinces the God of Death to take the offering in return of one life, which is trickier than it sounds. The God of Death doesn’t like giving second chances.
You have acquired X3 SOUL ESSENCE, do you want to start the ritual to talk with the god of death or do you want to consume the essences?
Ritual/Consume
'Ritual,' I clicked on the option, but not before giving some health potions to Shining, the world around me suddenly started to change.
The place where I found myself was not as I expected; everything was white to the point where I could not see the beginning or end of the area...if there even was one. With little choice, I began to walk aimlessly for a few moments, until I heard a few steps behind me when I turned around to see who or what was following, I was surprised to find a child who appeared to be no more than nine years old, looking quite perplexed at my appearance.
"Mmmm who are you," The kid asked, running around me, "and what are you doing here?"
"Looking for the God of Death," I said, looking at the kid seeing little harm in answering.
"Oh, well, congrats, you found me.”
I had to pause just to avoid dropping my jaw at the idea of the God of Death, having the appearance of a 9-year-old child. Then again, with everything else I’d seen up to this point questioning such a minor detail seemed rather moot.
The god themself simply continued to stare at me, as if waiting for something to happen. “So I take it there’s a reason you’re here. Does it have anything to do with the old soldier from before?”
"Yes, I’d like for you to resurrect, after all, he endured, he deserves a chance to be happy," I said, confident in my statement.
The God’s expression changed from one of innocence to mischief as he circled me, hands folded behind his back, posture now more fitting of an adult than a child. “I see, but how can you say he wasn’t happy. True his death and life as undead were unpleasant, but he was able to conquer his enemy, make allies and find peace in a final glorious battle. For many warriors that would be considered a happy ending.”
“Even so, it isn’t fair….”
“Fair? You think death is fair?”
By now the child was no longer smiling, his entire persona had become colder as he was now sitting in place, nothing but the air holding him up. “Death is many things my dear pony, it can be terrifying, ominous, as well as peaceful and comforting, but one thing it has never been is fair.”
In moments the white room was suddenly filled with countless screens, showing countless beings of all different races and species at the moment of their deaths. Some were gruesome, some were calm, and some were mundane, the only thing they had in common was there was death in all of them.
“Do you know how many beings have stood before me, saying that their life-ending as it did was unjust, not fair? How many have demanded I resurrect them or someone else? Death is the only absolute in all of creation, a fundamental law of existence. Have you already forgotten the Lich you faced, he tried to do the very same thing you are attempting now, perverting the natural order and you saw what became of him. Thus I ask you this, do you think it’s right for me to bend that rule for you simply on the grounds that it isn’t fair?”
I stared at the being for a moment, contemplating what to say, but it was hard, no, impossible to truly fault its logic. This being was a god after all, so who would know better right? Even so…
“You’re right; I have no right to demand such a thing of you. Which is why I’m not demanding anything, I’m asking, no begging you, please to at least consider this. I’m not seeking to change the natural order or become a power-mad tyrant like the Lich; I simply wish to help my friend out. If there is any way I could do this, I will.”
The God of Death stared at me, intrigued, “Your conviction to this cause is strong, and I don’t sense any falsehood in your words. Perhaps, we can make a deal of sorts.”
With a grin, the God waved his hand, and the three Soul Essence I had collected appeared, floating next to us like small candle flames.
“Death is not something that can be easily reversed, but if you exchanged something of equal value, then I would be willing to look the other way. Think of it as maintaining a balance on a scale, one life for another life. If you are willing to part with these Soul essences, I would allow you to resurrect your soldier friend.”
Naturally, at the prospect of such an offer, my heart jumped out of its chest, I prepared to agree only for the God to halt my mirth with his hand. “Don’t be so excited, my friend; I haven’t finished.”
The Soul Essence floated over and entered the God’s hand; it’s body absorbing each with a look of peace appearing on his face as he did so. “While I may be willing to bend the rules, don’t think for a second that it is a charity you can simply exploit. If I allowed you to simply revive someone every time you gave me a Soul Essence, the very balance of Life and Death would be disrupted beyond measure. Thus my terms are this. You can have your soldier back, but this will be a single one and done deal. If he should fall again, there will be no return. Are we in accord?”
I saw little cause to argue, though the mention of a lack of any future revivals was an unsettling prospect, the agreement seemed more than fair. Thus I bowed my head before the God, happy with the outcome. “Thank you for this; I won’t forget this or your warning.”
The God offered one final grin, one more mischievous than sinister. “Make sure that you do, lest you suffer the same fate as the others foolish enough to meddle with forces beyond their understanding.”
With that, it snapped its fingers and the white room grew brighter until I could see no more, leaving the god there alone, his grin growing more sinister
“I hope this decision was worth it my friend. As I said, there is always a price to be paid, now it’s a simple matter of how much you are willing to give.”
X158 Common Essence It gives the user 1 point on VIT, DEX OR STR per essence used.
X40 Uncommon Essence It gives the user 2 points on VIT, DEX, STR OR INT per essence used, this item can be shared.
X40 Health Potions (Heals a 25% of the missing hp, to a limit of 5000 HP)
X50 Mana Potions ( Recovers a 25% of the missing mp, to a limit of 10000 MP)
X1 SOUL ESSENCE Each Soul Essence contains 1000 souls that have been assimilated. +25 for each stat if consumed or you can collect X3 SOUL ESSENCE to resurrect someone, though this only works if the user convinces the God of Death to take the offering in return of one life, which is trickier than it sounds. The God of Death doesn’t like giving second chances.
new Holy Smite: The user draws down holy power to smite the enemies. Only evil and neutral creatures are harmed by the spell; good creatures are unaffected, evil creatures in your party would be affected, the spell needs an incantation.
new Great Fireball: Shoots a fire attack that damages all creatures except those immune to fire, within a large area. The damage is several times greater than the damage of a fireball.
new Fire Punch: The force of your strength and your fireball put together, while the range it's short. The damage is several times greater than the damage of a fireball but lower than a Great Fireball.
11 - Don't deal with the gods it might not end well - E
When I opened my eyes again, I found Shining holding me up, looking relieved I was finally up again. However, my eyes quickly began scanning the area before landing on Swift, once again among the living as promised.
The now reborn soldier was currently just standing in place looking at his own hands in puzzlement and shock, slowly combing over his own body without making a sound.
"What did you have to sacrifice?" asked Swift in a raspy tone, which let me know that it wasn’t a question, but a demand.
"Nothing, it was a deal between the God of Death and me. In exchange for resurrecting you, I don’t mess with necromancy of any kind ever again," I answered calmly, but with some uncertainty in my voice at how angry Swift sounded due to his resurrection.
However, after a few seconds the body language and general atmosphere of danger that the soldier was emanating dissipated, and the calm came like a hurricane, completely destroying any tension that once existed, almost detrimentally so as Swift finally met my eyes, his expression unreadable for the moment.
"Don't deal with the gods kiddo; it usually ends with the mortals losing more than what they get. Still, thanks for that." Swift said, but despite his words, his tone seemed to say the opposite, saying thanks more out of obligation than genuine gratitude.
"Hey guys, I hate to interrupt as normally I'd love to stay here all day in this gloomy place, but I have a princess expecting me for dinner later," Shining said, helping me to stand up.
A fight that culminated in a victory, a day where everything went well, in a manner of speaking at least. All things considered, it could’ve been worse right?
'Everything has a price, and you haven't paid your dues yet!' a voice whispered in my ear so low it could be mistaken for the wind.
Was I hallucinating? or did someone just whispered to me... no... there was no one around, and even if there was someone around, my power would have detected it, maybe I just can't accept the fact that everything went well.
After giving several potions to Shining and taking a few myself, the lovestruck captain went back to spend the rest of the day with Cadence. As for Swift, I helped create a backstory for him since he’d been dead for hundreds of years. It was relatively simple, a farmer who got his cutie mark in martial arts who I’d chosen as my combat tutor and bodyguard.
As for his level, I couldn't see his level of stats even in my group. Though from what I can gather, his real strength was such that he could kill the Lich with one sneeze.
Swift Strike LV??? HP?????/?????? MP?????/?????? EN?????/??????
He also had an energy bar in addition to his mana bar, the first pony I’d ever seen with such a thing. I don’t have any idea what it could be for, but hopefully, we can figure it out soon enough.
Overall, in spite of a few setbacks, this latest excursion proved to be very successful. Shining was enjoying some alone time with Cadence, Swift is back amongst the living, slowly readjusting to life and myself...well I decided to have some fun with a rather fetching librarian I met not too long ago, with some rather prominent assets I was eager to see.
It didn't take me long to get the librarian to agree to have a little fun with me, being a prince has its advantages, and Equestria has always been rather open-minded about when it comes to sexuality.
Eager to burn off stress I brought her up to my room in the castle, and little by little we began to undress each other, with the occasional kiss here and there, to liven up the mood. We finally got onto the bed, ready to bring everything to a, pardon the pun, climax, when suddenly.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"What the hell is that?" I asked the sweet naked mare in front of me and soon came my answer like in an action movie. Cadence flew in through the window, sending shards of glass flying in every direction as she landed in front of me in a pose reminiscent of a comic book hero.
Again another strange sound but this time it ended as if something had hit the wall. I tried to ask Cadence, but she silenced me with a finger, and after a couple of minutes Shining broke down my door with a sledgehammer, bleeding as though he’d just hit a wall at high speed.
"Blueblood, meet Blueballs! How does it feel!?" Shining said with a wicked smile as I felt my jaw drop at the idea of the otherwise straight-laced Captain pulling such a stunt. Which only got more surprising as Cadence got right into my face with an equally sinister look.
"Next time you interrupt us, I'll make your relationship with Mr. Blueballs an intimate one," Cadence said with an evil expression leaning close to me to whisper, “Get on my bad side again and I’ll make sure you never get laid again cousin, so don't test me..”
"How the hell?" I was about to ask how the hell could she possibly know I was about to have sex, but she beat me to the punch.
"I’m the Princess of Love, if a mosquito is copulating in Equestria I know it, and more importantly where exactly said mosquito is!" Cadence said levitating the naked librarian while putting extra emphasis on the mosquito part as she spared me a glance, "So, I’m going to need your friend here to help me... with something... bye."
Cadence teleported, leaving me naked, blue balled and covered in sheets, with Shining being the only other one in the room, who had the look of satisfaction I should’ve been wearing.
"Well I've had my revenge, I think I'll go get something to eat," Shining said as he left the room, smiling with pride as he went out the door.
'Everything has a price, and you haven't paid your dues yet! IT IS TIME TO PAY!' the same voice whispered in my ear this time I was sure something was going on, but I couldn't voice my opinion for the darkness had already embraced me.
I strained against the chains that held my head in place, trying to get a better look around. What little I could see didn’t help much as I still had no idea where I was or how I even got here. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my hands and feet were cuffed, connected to a set of thick iron bars a few feet away.
'Is this the real price for playing with the living?' I questioned myself as I looked around.
I could see other creatures bound just like me; some were ponies while others included griffons, changelings, yaks etc. It was here that my body finally decided to wake up completely, thus allowing my ears to be nearly torn apart by the countless screams of the many prisoners — the sheer volume of pure, unrestrained agony echoing throughout the massive room genuinely terrifying to me.
Amongst the cries of seemingly damned, I saw countless monstrous creatures, the species of which even amongst numerous other beings I’d just seen could not be identified. It seemed like I was truly in another realm and to my growing horror, I feared I had no way to escape it.
"Great.... you are here..." an unknown unicorn right beside me said with an annoyed look on his face.
"And you are?" I asked the unicorn.
"Five hundred years planning and avoiding death, and it’s an inexperienced kid with two idiot soldiers, one I brought back myself that kills me. And now he doesn’t even recognise me.” The pony groaned to himself to my confusion. “I'm the Lich, the one you and that old soldier killed if you remember. Of course, that’s water under the bridge at this point since you can see I have other concerns.”
The former Lich gestured to all that around, with the constant wails imprisonment and torture saying more than any amount of words could ever hope to convey.
“Since we’re not enemies anymore, I suppose a proper introduction is in order. My true name is Coral Red," Coral sighed, "And going by that rather hostile glare you’re currently giving me, I believe that’s about as many pleasantries as we’re going to share during our time here.”
He wasn’t wrong; if it weren't because I was currently chained to the ground with iron bonds, I’d most definitely be using those chains as a makeshift noose to strangle whatever life he had left in him.
“So then, where exactly are we?” I asked.
"Hell, Tartarus, Infernus..... the end of the fucking line," Coral said with a mixture of bitterness and defeat.
Well, that certainly explained why he was here...along with the screams. “Well, can’t say you didn’t exactly earn your place here after all the chaos you caused.”
My tone was more than hostile, and I expected an equally venomous retort, yet instead, Coral seemed almost ashamed as he stared down at the ground.
"You’re not wrong. I played with the living and all but spat in death’s face multiple times. Had I continued, I’d have likely destroyed the balance between life and death," Coral said with dare I say a look of regret on his face, "I let the power corrupt me. And it’s only now after I have been condemned to eternal damnation that I realised my mistakes. Tragic irony at its finest.”
The former undead let out an exhausted sigh, the kind I remembered hearing from some of the older guards as retirement drew close. Yet even in his moment of weakness, the ancient pony didn’t seem quite ready to dwell solely on his own misery.
“Though, that leaves the question of why you’re here. Don’t tell me that for all your posturing about nobility and honour that you were just as corrupt as I was?”
I debated on whether or not I should tell him anything, after all, he’d put me through, but by this point, there probably wasn’t any harm. “With you gone the magic keeping Swift alive faded. Naturally, it didn’t seem fair to me that after everything he went through, he couldn’t enjoy his newfound freedom; thus, I tried to revive him.”
That earned a bitter chuckle from the Lich, offering a knowing smirk. “Hmm, seems I was right on the dot about you. Guess for all your talk; you’re no different from me.”
I growled loudly, slamming my hoof into the floor, horn glowing furiously as if I was ready to blade Coral through a wall. “Don’t even think about comparing the two of us. All I wanted was to help my friend, nothing more than that…Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought.”
“Oh, how so?” Coral asked in a somewhat demeaning tone.
“Would you believe I made a deal with the God of Death to bring Swift back in exchange for the Soul Essence I got from you,” I spoke with such a casual tone you’d think I was talking about the weather or what colour I decided to paint the walls of my house. Though, while my tone was casual, Coral’s reaction was anything but.
“Th...the….God of Death?” The former undead’s body quickly started to lose colour, his chains shaking and rattling, looking about ready to fall to the ground. “You met the God of Death. You made a deal with him?”
I nodded, deciding to sit on the ground and take a load off for a minute. “It wasn’t exactly easy to get him on my side at first, but he was surprisingly reasonable all things considered.”
"A full resurrection, impressive... not that it really it matters now," Coral said, looking ahead to the near-endless void of screaming, torment beings, "We are all gonna suffer here from now until the end of eternity."
"Don’t be so sure,” I said with determination, looking over the chains that held me down to find some kind of a weak link in the metal, “I don’t plan on staying in this hellhole any longer.”
However, as if I’d triggered some kind of an event, a massive pillar of fire appeared several yards away from where we were chained, and a massive shadow appeared in the center.
Demon Lord of the Fifth Floor of Hell- Apollyon the Just LV???
A demon with scars all around his body, walked towards us, stopping just in front of me, allowing me an up-close look at his knifelike teeth and pitch-black skin. And that was to say nothing about his breath, practically soaking my face and fur in what I could only assume was rotten flesh, brimstone and a whole number of other things.
Mercifully he finally turned his attention elsewhere, scanning over the countless damned soul before him with a look of glee across his cracked and rotted mouth.
"Rapists, Traitors, Murderers, Pedophiles, Thieves, Necromancers. Of all the scum that defiles the world above with their filth, you are at the very top of the pile. I am Apollyon, but you will come to know me as your punisher, here to make you suffer for your countless transgressions. Know that this torment is what you deserve, and it is all on you.”
The massive demon continued his speech, marching along the line of tormented souls, a look of satisfaction etched across his face. “I believe this goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway since I know there’s always at least a few of you fools with dreams of freedom. Know there is no escape from here. Even if by some miracle you were to flee from this place, we are at the lowest level of the abyss. Were you to escape you would need to brave the remaining circles and even it to the first circle, Cerberus will stop you cold.”
With a wave of his hands, a massive weapons rack burst from the ground, holding countless whips, blades, clubs, and other implements of torture I couldn’t even identify. Reaching out, he pulled out a massive iron club, covered in counterless spikes, some of which were curved like hooks and all covered in dried blood.
Giving the garish maul a few test swings, Apolloyn turned his attention back to his intended victims. “Now then, shall we begin?”
"How many levels of hell are there?" I asked, getting the attention of the general before he could begin his work.
"Well, what do we have here? A daring one huh," Apollyon said, getting close to me with an amused look on his face, "You know, I don’t really have any incentive to tell you anything. Really, all I’m seeing is someone volunteering for the first crack.” I quickly found the pointed end of several of his club’s spikes mere centimetres from my face, giving me an up-close look at the countless blood stains adorning its metal body.
“And anyway, it doesn’t matter how many levels there are. Point is every level is full of demons, lead by a general like me, and the gates are protected by Cerberus. And since getting passed me is already impossible, complete escape goes well beyond illogical and unfathomable. So best get comfortable my little friend, you’re never getting out.”
With that, the demon lord pulled his weapon back walked away and started to sort the sinners to their respective levels. I had so many questions. None of what he'd said sounded comforting except maybe for the fact that while escape was unlikely, there at least was an actual exit. Yet, even with that pieces of information, that provided little comfort as I still had no way to actually reach it.
'Fear... great gamer mind is off?' I thought.
Magic skills, mana, etc. are blocked in hell, Gamer mind is blocked in hell and any mind and soul protecting skill that could interfere with the torture that will be bestowed upon the sinners in hell.
TIP: You can't die in hell at least not for real if you somehow manage to die you will go back to the circle of hell where you started your adventure, but this case only applies to the sinners, the residents of hell can die, the sinners cannot for the sweet release of death is too good for them.
I had little time to ponder as Coral, aka the Lich and myself were ultimately sorted into the same circle. Amazing, he fucks the realm of the living for five hundred years, and I resurrect a friend, and we both get the same punishment. So much for there being justice in hell.
"Listen, you said you wanted to escape right. Well, if you want to get out of here we’ll need to work together," Coral said in a desperate tone, "We stand a better chance if we can --"
"What we exactly are you referring to. Don’t assume that just because you now feel regret for your past atrocities I’ve forgiven you," I said with a harsh tone, "The second that I have a moment of freedom, I’m heading straight for the gates. You can rot here and serve out the sentence you deserve. "
"You need me! I can--" Coral said, but his voice was silenced by the demon that shoved us into the opening leading to our level.
The demons approached us, looks of malicious glee present on their faces. I still couldn't move much, but I was ready to fight in any case. As the demons got closer to me, they started to release us from our bounds, which while I was grateful for was still perplexed by.
"Don’t look too excited, without the restraints, you will feel the true pain of hell," one of the demons said with a chuckle as they walked away, leaving us in the middle of a seemingly endless void.
The wind rushed past me, but instead of feeling like a warm breeze, it felt like acid on my skin, sending stabbing pains all across my body. I felt compelled to scream out but bit it back. If I gave into the pain now, what hope could I have for surviving the rest of the way out.
Despite the pain, I stood my ground, Coral beside me, showing a surprising level of durability of his own, actually holding up better than me it seemed.
I had little time to ponder over this as my screen once again appeared before me.
A new skill has been created by a specific action. Pain Tolerance passive LV 1: Pain tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a creature is able to tolerate. Pain tolerance is distinct from pain threshold the point at which pain begins to be felt, right now you can tolerate the pain 1% better than originally
'Like that is going to help me!' I thought, still gritting my teeth as I fought against the continued assault against my body.
Skill Level UP!. Pain Tolerance passive LV 2: Pain tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a creature is able to tolerate. Pain tolerance is distinct from pain threshold the point at which pain begins to be felt, right now, you can tolerate the pain 2% better than before.
‘That’s better, but not by much,’ I thought as the pain was starting to overwhelm my body. ‘Have to push forward and hope I can hold out.’
Swift P.O.V
My task was simple, to take care of the boy and to teach him how to fight properly. Who knows, maybe if I focused on that I’d find a new meaning for the life I've been given.
Figuring there was no time like the present, I went to see if Blueblood was interested in training for a bit. However, as I made my way to his room, I saw from the gardens on the skies that someone entered his room through the window, flying right through it!
He was under attack!
In a panic, I ran quickly towards out to his room to eliminate the threats. As I approached I saw the door open and I readied myself to attack whoever came out.
Yet, to my surprise and confusion, and yet I found it was Shining coming out with a look of pure satisfaction and mirth on his face.
I was confused for a moment, before I remember Shining’s position and how many guards would often play pranks on one another to help relieve stress after a long day. The thought made me chuckle as I recalled some of my past acts of mischief.
Now calmed, I entered a smile, so I assumed was that it was a joke after all the guard is famous for their rough playing, as my worries left as I entered his room, I found Blue’s room, only for my concern to rise at the sight of my ward on the floor unconscious.,
I rushed to help him only for a but circle of dark magic to appear and absorbed him into the floor, leaving only a symbol burned into the marble. And to my horror, it was a symbol I was all too familiar with. The symbol of the door to Tartarus. a symbol in the marble on the floor that I had time without seeing, the symbol of the door to Tartarus.
“So this was the price for playing with the Gods? the price for bringing me back...” I said to myself looking at the symbol, studying it as I tried to figure out a way to help.
“It seems then only wanted him and forgot all about me. Well, that’s a mistake they’re gonna quickly come to regret. keep your mind together kiddo I’ll bust ya out of hell in no time, and teach the gods why exactly I feared back was feared in my time.”
After a few days of walking, each day being easier thanks to my constant level up of my pain tolerance. I find myself wandering along a light field tunnel towards a brilliant white light; it’s warmth and beauty pulling me in like a moth.
I kept moving forward, vainly trying to reach for the light with my own two hands only to press on with each failure. In mere moments, I was at the end of the tunnel. To my surprise, as I stepped into the light, I found myself overlooking a small town within a cave.
However, I didn’t have long to ponder on this strange turn of events as I found a griffin, with noticeably longer wings, standing before me. Said Griffin was currently giving me a rather hard stare, made more unnerving by the fact he was letting off a noticeable glow of dark purple. And it was around this point my screen decided to appear again.
Follower of the great - Mao the Demon Lord
Ark the Quimera LV-49 HP 12000/12000 MP 55000/55000 CAPITAL SIN: LUST
The revelation that my new acquaintance was a demon lord made me hesitant to move towards him. However, current circumstances didn’t give me much luxury to be picky, so guard up and ready, I got closer, earning another glance.
“You may be slightly disoriented right now. That will pass with time. As you no doubt have guessed, this is indeed Hell, and as I’m sure you can surmise, that means you are dead.”
The griffin took several steps towards me, his eagle-like eyes looking as though they were peering inside him, able to look beyond my body and into my very soul itself. The sensation was cold and unpleasant, like feeling ice pressed against your skin.
He continued to stare at me, circling around much like a vulture over a dying animal, “I’m fully aware that you intend to escape from here, hardly a rare occurrence for this place and one that none have succeeded in prior. Fortunately for you, I have received permission from the Demon Lord of this circle to make you an offer. An item of great importance has been stolen, and my lord very much wishes it returned. Thus, If you are able to recover the item, he will let you advance to the next circle.”
“Why me exactly? I’ve only been here; I believe a week?” I asked the demon perplexed, more than a little uneasy at such a generous offer. It was Hell, after all.
“The disappearance of this item could result in an embarrassment to my lord. What I am offering... what he’s offering you is the opportunity to go to the next circle of Hell for free, why you? That’s something only my lord knows.” The Griffin stated calmy.
“And what, I just retrieve this item, and that’s it? It seems a little too simple, especially coming from a demon lord.” I said raising an eyebrow.
“Be that as it may, all he asks in return is for you to locate this stolen item and return it to him. You are, of course, free to decline this offer. Of course, doing so would mean the only way you can leave this circle is to defeat my master in battle. As such, most would find this quest the safer choice.”
Despite all forms of logic saying this was a bad idea, fighting a demon lord in his home territory also sounded suicidal. It didn’t seem like I had many other options, something the demon seemed to take note of.
“Be advised, this mission has no set time limit, so you can take as long as you wish. All my master requires is the item returned and the one who took it dead. He also would prefer you to bring some proof of the thief’s demise, I’m certain his head will do nicely.”
“I’m in... but you still haven’t told me what I have to recover,” I was somewhat off-put by the whole “bringing his head back” part of the agreement, but otherwise it seemed simple enough. “Can’t exactly bring back something if I don’t know what it looks like.”
“The item is a small golden ring with a demonic rune carved in the middle. It was stolen by a gang of devils and sinners, who fled to the center of this circle, where the vilest of beings are kept.,” The Griffin said before heading to the cave to exit the town, “Be advised, I have no idea what they plan to do with that ring; thus I advise caution. Also, keep in mind….”
The demon turned, his eyes glowing a menacing dark purple as dark flames erupted around him, “My master is not one who grants such favors often. If you fail, I assure you your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell.” And with a final flash of fire, he was gone.
“Well isn’t that ominous,” I sighed as I started making my way towards my destination, or should I say my doom.
And my adventure began...by asking for directions. Yes, it seems that either through ignorance or sadistic pleasure, the demon hadn’t seen fit to tell me how exactly to get to the center of this particular circle of Hell. Thus I’d started by hesitantly asking what demons and sinners I’d come across about what direction to go.
It was during this brief stint of gathering information e I noticed that every being I came across had a capital sin in their name, some even having two.
’ I wonder...’ I thought, curious as to what my capital sin was.
Jack LV 44 HP 10000/10000 MP 15000/15000 CAPITAL SIN: GREED STATUSES: HELL LAW, THE PAIN OF HELL (30 MIN LEFT).
'Hm, I suppose it’s not completely inaccurate, though I was half expecting it to be Pride or maybe Sloth. Wait, Hell’s Law? What exactly is that?’ I quickly clicked to get more information.
HELL LAW AND THE PAIN OF HELL ARE BOTH STATUSES.
Purgatory, Hell, Tartarus, no matter what it is called, this is a place of chaos, where mutilated souls and predatory monsters seek prey. The air is scorching hot and freezing cold at the same time, and the earth is toxic, together destroying the flesh and bone of any living being unfortunate enough to find themselves here. The more time you spend without the chains, the more pain you will feel. The fear and suffering for many is so agonizing; many refuse to leave the very spot they entered. Yet this does little to aid them, as time in this place is warped. A single hour in the real world corresponds to a year in Purgatory.
Once the soul is sent to this place, the soul gets to curses during its stay, one is beneficial, and the other one isn’t.
HELL LAW: Blocks all magic, meaning any external magic is useless.
THE PAIN OF HELL IS A MOMENTARY BUFF: This buff helps to deal with the real pain of Hell, controlling and filtering the real deal, this buff only lasts eight days.
This buffs only blocks 99% of the pain of Hell and the conditions in it.
“I swear I will kill God... that bastard... I will send you to the world of MLP, so you can experience terror in ways humans can’t!” I shouted, getting the attention of every demon in the surrounding area, noticing this, I started to move. At the moment, I had 29 minutes before the buff protecting my body expired, so I ran as quickly as I could ask every demon, monster, and sinner I could find before my time and likely myself expired.
Sadly for me, even with the sheer volume of creatures within this circle, I was met with no success, and I could only watch as the last few seconds of my timer ran out.
“Shit, this is gonna hurt.”
DING! BUFF EXPIRED
I had thought in spite of where I was; I could perhaps endure the pain, push past it like I had in the past...how wrong I was.
Simply calling this pain would be the grossest of gross simplifications in the history of creation. The sensation was beyond anything I’d ever perceived even in my darkest dreams, my mind unable to even process what was happening.
My hands started to liquify, my lungs were boiling with the air, and my feet already melted in the ground. My mind was under such strain I couldn’t even form a thought, focus on anything other than praying I would fade away and let this moment of agony finally cease.
Finally, after what seemed like centuries, everything went black, and my mind finally quieted.
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN TOLERANCE has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
PAIN THRESHOLD has level up!
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was a high ceiling, then the hard and slightly hot floor under me, and finally....the smell of pasta being cooked?
It took me a few seconds to realize I was lying on the floor, something I had not been expecting at all. I bolted up in surprise, quickly recalling I’d passed out once my buff had expired. Yet now, that didn’t seem to be the case anymore.tI still felt pain, but it was more akin to a mild muscle ache then feeling as though my body was melting before being violently ripped apart in every direction.
Now up and my mind clear again, I finally took notice that I was now standing in what seemed to be someone’s home.
The house itself was pretty small, about ten feet across with a sliding door for an entrance. Standing up slowly, I go to the door, sliding it wide open, only to be blinded by the welcome glow of the sun.
Outside, to my growing shock, I could see some flowers and animals I’d never seen before. The sounds of birds filled the air, leaving me even more confused that such beauty could be found in Hell of all places. I quickly turned my attention to another door across the room and decided to see what was inside.e.
Opening the door, I found another room with a wooden table in the center. Curiously, there was a chessboard along with a still-warm plate full of pasta and ribs atop the table.
Despite the obvious red flags, I couldn’t help but stare in delight at how lovely the food looked. It went without saying that food of any kind was nonexistent, so to see such a thing here was like finding a spring of water in the middle of a desert. Yet, I couldn’t forget where I was, a place where the temptation of any kind always led to ruin. Thus I needed to approach with caution.
‘Observe’ I commanded, wanting to see what had changed and, more importantly, any dangers that were nearby.
JACK LV 44 HP 25000/25000 MP 15000/15000
new PAIN THRESHOLD LV 251: Pain Threshold is the lowest stimulation that is judged as painful, and is assessed by a series of ascending and descending stimulation intensities, right now you can cut your own arm, and it will feel like cracking a knuckle.
new PAIN TOLERANCE LV 561: Pain Tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a being is able to tolerate, right now you tolerate pain 561% better.
'How is this possible, to level up these skills to that level, this is crazy,’ I thought.
A shadow appeared behind me, turning around I found It was an old demon man, though most of his body was hidden behind a long black robe, the only thing visible being a short white beard and a pair of glowing blue eyes.
Strangely enough, even though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was smiling at me. Yet it wasn’t the kind of sinister smile laced with treachery or harm one would expect from a demon; it actually felt welcoming, which was only helped by his friendly tone of voice.
“Ah, young man, you are awake!”
The old man sat down right in front of the table. “You’re the first one that I’ve seen wake up so soon. Usually, it takes thousands of years to be able to have enough strength just to open your eyes and think straight, but it only took you five! I knew when I picked you that you were a special kind of guy.”
Five years, I’ve been unconscious and had my body perpetually torn apart for five years?
“It can’t be... I don’t remember.” My head was hurting a lot by just trying to remember.
“Give it some time, kid; the memories are repressed for now to help deal with the trauma. You should be grateful you can even speak right now, most lose their minds completely when they wake up. Can’t handle the strain, after all, they’ve been through and just wander around, little more than animals at that point,” The old man said, gesturing to me to sit down and eat.
“I know you want to escape, and I can’t do much but give you some advice and tricks,” The old man said with a smirk, “I might be a weak demon in the ladder, but I have lived a long time kiddo,”
Reluctantly I sat down and started to eat as I inspected the man and the pasta.
Braum the blacksmith HP 450000/450000 MP 25000/25000
This is a Spaghetti bolognese It consists of spaghetti served with a sauce made from tomatoes, minced beef, garlic, wine, and herbs; sometimes minced beef can be replaced by other minced meats.
13 - Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
Braum had taken me in on his house, giving me food and shelter; I couldn't legitimately complain after all the shit that had clouded my life recently he was really friendly with me, even training me here and there, but regardless of how welcoming he was, the first days since I woke up were hard for me. I felt something detached with myself and my surroundings as if I were in a vivid dream. Everything was like a haze of uncertainty and disbelief.
But even with his kind and friendly behavior, I knew that the old demon was trying to deceive to me for what reason I don’t really know, his HP and Titles were constantly changing, one day I couldn't see his HP at all and the next day I had more HP than him, so I had to be careful around him.
Today I was training with him, but this was different than the average training; he was particularly interested in training today with me.
"Kid, I have a way to make you reach new heights," Braum hesitated for a bit, was he showing concern or uncertainty about my ability to reach said heights, I wasn't entirely sure, "You might die, chances are you will die, but if you survive this special training you will escape this hellhole with ease,"
Was he insinuating I would be able to beat the demon lords if I succeeded with this mysterious training? I wasn't entirely sure regardless of what he truly meant I was eager to try, I was tired of being the personal punch bag of every evildoer I have met so far, "I'm in, that's a gamble I'm willing to take,"
Braum smiled, reminding me of Celestia for a brief moment, "Very well, then let's eat first. This might be your last meal,"
Knowing this might be the last chance I would have to ask him who he really was, I decided to take this opportunity to satisfy my curiosity, "Braum, who are you? I mean for real?"
The old demon started to laugh hard, "I was wondering when would you grow the balls to ask,"
"I wasn't sure, and to be honest, I'm still not sure you are an ally," I was in Hell, so the least I could do was to be honest, after all, what could he do, send me to super Hell?
"Wise choice kid, don't trust anyone." Braum approved of my distrust of him and was proud of my train of thought, "I was messing with that weird power of yours that allows you to see more than you should,"
"So is Braum your real name?" I asked him, trying to get back to the topic of who he was.
"No, and yer not gonna get your answer," Braum said smiling at me, "If you survive this training I will tell you all about me, and you will understand why I decided to help you, in the meantime suffer through your training,"
After that, our conversation died down, what type of training would this be? And was I ready to face it?
After eating and drinking the best damn ale in the entire world, the training that would decide if I was ready to face the demon lords or not was about to start.
"Well, this is gonna hurt a bit, kid," Braum said as he was making arcane circles around me.
'Inspect' I focused on the arcane runes and circles he was drawing on the floor, trying to get more information as to what I was going to do.
Time Regression Spell: A spell that allows one to send the soul of another being towards the past. This spell sends the soul of the target to his own body at one point in the past where the body existed if the subject didn't exist in the time the caster is trying to send the target, said target would perish, turning both soul and body to dust.
'Is he going to send me a few weeks back? what could that accomplish.' I was confused as to what time travel could accomplish right now with me.
"Alright, kiddo, be ready to see this world five thousand years ago!" Braum said, powering the magic circle.
"I wasn't alive five thousand years ago, you imbecile! You're are going to kill me," I shouted, trying to stop Braum from casting the spell, but he only smiled at me as the darkness once again embraced me.
'Where am I...?'
"The battle is lost." A calm voice spoke aloud, full of sorrow and loss getting my attention, "The mortal realm… has fallen." The person that had spoken early lifted up a chipped and damaged golden sword, raising it above his head for a brief moment before he plunged it downward. The blade left a trail of golden light as it slashed down, ripping apart the very ground around.
'Is like a video game sequence, I can't move, all I can do is watch,'
My attention was drawn to the sounds of swords clashing, Ponies were fighting against something I couldn't really see, it was blurred as if I wasn't supposed to know what, but It was a slaughter. Tens of thousands of figures could be seen battling for their lives, swords clashing against spears, explosions of light and magic searing the air and sky, pegasi falling to the ground as their bodies were ripped apart by the blurred monsters.
'Is this my training?... what can I possibly do without a body?'
"Vlad!! Vlad!! Wake up, alas t! we art going to beest late!" Someone shouted in an angry manner before choosing to abruptly kick me out of my deep slumber.
"God damn it, Shakespeare let me sleep!" I didn't have time to rejoice in the fact I was alive and that the spell didn't erase me, some had decided to wake me up with violence.
"Is thou feeling ok brother?" The same voice asked this time with a hint of concern.
Sombra prince of Umbris LV 215 HP = 1.100.000/1.100.000 MP = 4.000.000/4.000.000
"Sombra?" This was clearly something I wasn't expecting, and it startled me, he looked different from what I expected him to look.
"Thee very much alloweth yourself wend with those drinks yesterday," Sombra sighed like he was expecting as much, "I'll beest back with something f'r thy hangov'r brother. God knoweth yond if 't be true luna dumps thee wonneth't findeth another girlfriend, recall we has't a double date anon tonight fool!"
'In what body did I end up!? and what is that world did he said! I didn't understand shit'
'Status,' First I had to figure out what body was I currently in, and then I would have to find a way to translate Old English, maybe with a spell.
Vladimir prince of Umbris LV 201 HP = 700.000/700.000 MP = 5.576.567/5.576.567
'Wait!? Blueblood was alive five thousand years ago?!... I'll figure that out later, right now I need to focus of learning what I can here.'
Don’t give up yet Vlad! We’ve made it so far the mortal realm can not fall yet! Someone yelled out loud, it took me a few seconds to realize the voice was in my head, it just felt so real.
'What is going on...?' Pain, emotional pain started to overwhelm my mind that voice why did it sound so familiar, was this part of the time regression spell?
I’m not giving up, S——-. But there is nothing we can do stop the gods now,” That voice was mine, no there is no way. This person I heard speaking was probably the reason Blueblood was a prince in the first place.
"Wow, thy hangover is worst than we initially bethought little brother, shall we wend to the royal physician," Sombra at some point had entered the room again, finding me on the floor clutching with pain.
'Go with the flow,' I simply nodded to his offering making a mental note to get a spell to translate this broken old language, and find out why are these flashbacks hurting me so much.
BRAUM P.O.V
"Now it's up to you Vlad," Vlad was laying on the floor, this was a risky bet, but the results would be massive, he would recover what once belong to him.
‘He will probably laugh at me for taking the form of an old demon, that is if he survives,’
This is a tale of ancient times an era before the world we know as Equis, and the ten realms were forever divided.
Gods ruled this ancient world with power and fear, so eight individuals decided to end this tyranny.
The Alicorns were the sons and daughters of gods with mortals, demigods among men and women they defended the realm wielding their magical powers they were both feared and highly respected among the people. They came to be known as the aspects of justice and the pillars of the new world.
Celestia the Day pillar.
Luna the Night pillar.
Sombra the Death pillar.
V the War pillar.
Aura the Harmony pillar.
Vlad the Life pillar.
Amore the Love pillar.
Merlin S the Magic pillar.
Together they fought the gods for the freedom of everyone, and this is where their story begins.
It's the evening of my fourth day in the past, nothing much has happened except maybe for the fact that Sombra took the liberty to cancel our double date to make sure I was ok, a nice gesture I suppose, outside the castle, the winds are howling, and I have yet to find any solution for my sudden, painful visions, during my time here I had found two things, the employees at the castle are no employees, but slaves, and that they all have collars with names and who they belong to and they all belong to the jewel of the god of lumbar, who it seems is Vlad's dad, hurray for me and my never-ending bad luck in Equestria.
News? I could understand Sombra and everyone now, after I went to the royal physician my mind started to adapt.
"You alright there, brother?" The deep and gruff voice of Sombra said, snapping me out of my long reverie. I look up to see my new found brother, the Prince of Umbra, standing behind me with a big smile and a mug full of beer on his right hand. "You looked like you were asleep on your feet there for a second, are you having one of your episodes again? should I call the doctor?."
'Observe,'
<Prince of the Darkness and Death> - <Son of the Death> Sombra LV 215 HP: 1.100.000/1.100.000 MP: 4.000.000/4.000.000 Information: Sombra, at first glance, looks like a cool individual of few words and strong determination. However, he also endures great suffering of having to deal with his father to protect his brother, a curse he always has a plan for everything, leaves nothing to chance and will do everything necessary to protect his little brother regardless of the cost.
Sombra always seems to stay away from the people around him and barely socializes Celestia, Luna and Vlad being the only ones he shows his caring side, his the second Son of the God of Death, with Vlad being the third.
Weakness: Vlad, Celestia.
Fears: Losing Celestia, Losing Vlad, Angering his Father.
Relationship: Brother
-Sombra is worried about your health-
I can help but chuckle seeing the future great king of evil, worried about my health, "I'm alright, just tired."
He smiled and with a wink reached behind himself and grabbed a bottle of the good stuff off a shelf in the room, uncorking it and pouring me a drink. "Nothing a good drink can't help, come on talk to your old and cleary more attractive brother!"
I laughed and raised my glass to him, trying to put words to my troubled thoughts, without giving much or saying I'm from the future, no matter how much I try the words don't come easily, so instead I lied, "I'm just sad I couldn't go out with Luna,"
"Huh, that can be easily arranged," Sombra smirked at me, and for a brief moment, his horn ignited.
"Sure," I didn't come here to date my future aunt, I came here to find how to get stronger and escape that hellhole, with that in mind I hop off my chair trying to get out of the room and walk a bit, Sombra gets a refill and follows close behind. As we walked through the castle, we see the silhouette of a woman standing in the middle of the hallway.
"I hope this is good, Sombra, I was eating a cake," The woman said, she sounded threatening and powerful, is not until she takes a couple of steps forward that I recognized her, 'Observe'
<Princess of the Day and the Sun> - <Daughter of the sky> Celestia LV 196 HP: 700.000/700.000 MP: 3.875.189/3.875.189 Information: Princess Celestia is a powerful demi god with a vast amount of magical power who can raise and lower the sun with with ease. She is capable of controlling the weather and is a master at shapeshifting even though her acting skills suck. Her unique ability is charge, which requires the energy of the sun to be utilized.
She is the third daughter of Jupiter, the god of the skies, who is known to be ruthless and cruel.
Weakness: Cakes, Sombra and Cakes with icing.
Fears: Losing Luna, Losing Vlad, Losing Sombra, Angering the gods, especially angering her Father.
Relationship: Best friends
-Celestia is happy with the fact that you're okay!-
"Come on my sun, do I need a better reason than your smile to see you?" Sombra teleported in front of her, kneeling and kissing her hand.
"I suppose that's an acceptable reason, but at least warn me if you're going to forcibly teleport us," Celestia smiled, and whispered something to Sombra.
"I see, that would've been bad, I shall call next time, my sun," Sombra said, kissing her forehead.
'Huh, well this is new, I'd never been the third wheel,' I thought.
"Vlad!" Someone shouts behind me; I turned around with curiosity to find a Luna hopping up. I've barely had time to react before I have a beautiful woman leaping into my arms, giving me a fierce hug. "You're finally awake — I was so worried!"
I blink, I didn't sleep for days, my visions only took me out for a couple of hours at least, unless I lost track of time, "Finally? How long have I been out?"
"Little over a week," Sombra answers the question, and I give him a look saying would've been nice to know, "Well, it didn't come out in our conversations brother,"
I sighed, rubbing my temples, "Well, good to know."
"Didn't you told me, sis, you were going to rock his world out once you saw him again?" Celestia smiled at Luna with a teasing look.
Looking at Luna, I see shes blushing, and without any warning she grabbed my head pulling me into a fierce kiss, which as a man of culture I reciprocated, I'm not a monster.
"I missed you," Luna said shyly.
"I missed you too," I said, holding her tight, it took me a second to realize I actually meant those words, I wasn't faking them.
'Wait a second, where did that come from?!' I thought alarmed, 'Observe.'
<Princess of the Night and the Moon> - <Daughter of the sky> Luna LV 195 HP: 500.000/500.000 MP: 4.100.075/4.100.075 Information: Princess Luna is an Alicorn with a vast amount of magical powers who can raise and lower the moon with her magic. She is capable of controlling the weather and is a master at shapeshifting. Her unique ability is to enter other ponies dreams.
She is the fourth daughter of Jupiter, the god of the skies, who is known to be ruthless and cruel.
Weakness: Moonpies, Vlad, Broccoli, Celestia. (in that order)
Fears: Losing Celestia, Losing Vlad, Angering her Father, eating Broccoli.
Relationship: Secret Fiance
-Luna is overjoyed with the fact that you're okay!and she wants to **** you
'Secret fiance... is the fact that Vlad is in love with her affecting me somehow?' That would explain my reaction; I sure didn't interact with her enough in the future to develop feelings whatsoever.
"How about we have a party!" Celestia's voice snaps me out of my train of thought with a loud shout, "We could go to the sea of Persi and hunt some monsters!"
"I don't think---"
"Or to the maze of Galatea!" Luna added, getting excited with the idea.
"I need some time----"
"How about both!" Sombra teleports behind me putting his arm around my neck, "Heck I say we go to every dangerous place we know and kill some monsters to our hearts contempt!"
"How about we drink and---"
"This is going to be awesome! we could even go to Tartarus!" Celestia giggled.
"You are just going to ignore me?--"
"Huzzah! The fun has been doubled!" Luna cheered jumping into the air with her hands up.
"Lets us go brother, and bleed together like we used to do a week ago!" Sombra said as he started to move, carrying me like luggage on his back.
"What that hell, let's kill some monsters," I chuckled.
"I knew ignoring you was the right choice!" Sombra laughed.
After Celestia, Luna and Sombra decided it was time for an adventuring party, we set off to the first place on the list, the maze of Galatea, for what I could gather it was a place where power and intelligence were essential for survival, with no more information of the place, Sombra teleported us to the maze.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the place is that the maze created four different entries, one per person in my group.
"Alright, let's go!," Celestia was eager to start, and was the first one to enter the maze, followed by Sombra and Luna, as they entered the labyrinth the paths they chose disappeared leaving in the end, one single path for me.
"The start of every horror movie I've ever seen, great..." I muttered as I reluctantly entered the maze.
The place was weird as I expected it; the walls moved and changed continuously, giving the illusion that the labyrinth was alive, besides that the walls had several writings that didn't form complete or understandable sentences, after walking for a bit a message appeared floating in my head.
The Maze of Galatea, as the name suggests, was created by the Goddess of Knowledge Galatea. At first, it was known as the Garden of knowledge. But after the great rift started, its name changed to the Fortress of Galatea; after a while and with Galatea supposedly dead, the maze was renamed once again.
It is said that the maze was probably created to hide her powerful tomes and relics, and with that rumor, many gods and mortals have ventured to try to find them, failing each and every one of them. The key to entering this maze is an encantation that changes every hour, and the adventurers must solve puzzles on time to get the new encantation.
'I don't remember Sombra or anyone doing an incantation' I thought, all we did was to teleport to the entrance and that was it, perhaps the information wasn't right.
Ignoring the information for the moment being I started to thoroughly explore the labyrinth, and eventually after a thousand turns in the maze, practically walking aimlessly I found a room that got my attention, I'm not quite sure why but I was drawn to it, like a moth to the fire. Without noticing or questioning it, I found myself in front of the room, the door was cracked and falling apart, so taking the opportunity to check what would expect me inside I took a peek through the hole.
As soon as I took a peek an alarmed caw and a flutter of wings inform me of the presence of a bird's nest somewhere in this creepy place, so with nothing to lose I decided to push the broken door wide open; it's not like a bird was going to stop me, yet I regret being so hasty opening the door, for I was immediately greeted by the all-powerful dust entering my lungs setting me off into a cough fit like a mad man, so adjusting my teary eyes and angry lungs for this dusty adventure I was ready to go once more, it took me a couple of seconds, but I managed to regain myself, with the cough gone and my eyes clear of tears I see that there are many shelves with items from books to rare artifacts on the room.
The room of Galatea
'The room of Galatea, I suppose this is where the designated asshole aka God comes out to punish me for my hubris ' I thought with a dark chuckle, praying I didn't invoke the murphy law.
Taking a good look around, I notice that the room is filled with the so-called treasure of Galatea, that many before me came to claim, and yet I found in less than a day, "Huh, my first time and I found her treasures, maybe I should work with Daring Do,"
Another flutter of wings this time behind me, and probably from the same bird gets my attention; I slowly turn my head to find a crow in standing in front me looking at me as it was inspecting me, "Well, It seems I invaded your house buddy,"
"CAW!!" The crow caws at me, trying to look threatening.
"Arent you adorable," I chuckled, ignoring the little fellow.
"CAW!" The crows narrow his eyes for a second before flying off.
An involuntary shiver runs down my spine, I feel like someone it's watching me, and not someone ordinary. The room has been abandoned for at least hundreds of years, the dust and other stuff points to that, so if it isn't Galatea who?.
As far as I know, thanks to my gamer power, no one but me has been able to find her relics, but my ability has been on the wrong many times.
Peering around nervously and pulling out the sword I brought with me in case something were to happen I decided to go and check the attic in the room before leaving, with that in mind I climbed up into the attic, make sure, not to many any sounds, once in the attic, I catch glimpses of old weapons the majority where beyond repair, cracked spears and daggers, it seemed Galatea had an armory above her room, and surprisingly was hundreds of times bigger than her room, I could probably fit haft of the castle here, on the floor there are some footprints, recent ones, someone was here.
A faint glow from the back of the room gets my attention, and surprisingly is in the direction the footprints are leading.
Heart thumping and sword ready I carefully make my way to the back of the room following the glow and the footprints, it doesn't take me long before I standing before a sword with I have never seen before.
'Inspect,'
The Sword of Galatea, is a legendary broadsword with a very wide blade. The grip has a dark swirly appearance to it, giving a mysterious air to it. The crossguard has a hollow center and a sharp diamond shape with pointed edges that matches its pommel. The rain guard is adorned with jewels, that emanate with regality.
The blade has a tremendous cutting power, but this cutting power is only a reflection of the desire to cut or fight from the user if the user doesn't want to cut or doesn't have enough resolve to fight the blade will fail and possibly shatter - if broken the blade will fix itself, but it could take a long time.
The faint glow seemed to come from the weapon itself but is muffled by the cloth and dust covering the majestic sword, I also noticed that the footprints led straight to the sword, where was the other person? was the first thought that came to my mind as I slowly survey my surroundings trying to find someone else, yet I was alone in the attic.
Putting aside that thought for the moment and almost as if in a trance, I reached out and grabbed the sword, involuntarily shaking all the dust it had and going off another coughing fit.
"God, *COUGH* damn it, *COUGH*," It seems that even in the body of a demi-god, I'm weak to the all-powerful and mighty dust.
As I recovered, with tears in my eyes from having coughed so much, I marveled at the sword in my hands, so similar to the representation of Excalibur in the Seven Deadly Sins, so similar yet so different, I knew I wasn't worthy of any Excalibur but having one that looked so alike in my hands felt good.
I catch myself admiring the sword like a kid that got a new toy. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I ponder what to do. Looking closer at the information about the sword, they go from zero to an unknown number, leaving me with more questions, in the description it said the sword would reflect my resolve in battle, perhaps the stats fluctuate depending on how determined I was to win.
"I'm gonna call you, Excalibur," I might not be worthy of being a King, but I wasn't gonna miss the opportunity to name one good looking sword the name it deserves, besides it not like any other man would call this beauty another thing.
The Sword of Galatea has been renamed to Excalibur
As I continued to admire the sword, I notice something is being reflected on the blade, Looking closer, I notice something glowing purple, turning around I see is a ball like the ones fortune-tellers use in my world but this one is roughly the size of my fist.
My eyes are drawn to its purple glow, slowly getting closer I see the face of a woman, a dead one, gasping in genuine shock, I stumbled back a few steps. The image the ball was showing changed, this time showing my reflection, but with a slight change, the room behind me disappeared completely in the reflection; instead, it showed me purgatory and its hellish landscape of fire and smoke. Panicking, I whipped my head around, relieved to find that I wasn't back there yet, and it was just an illusion, I was still in the old dusty attic. Perhaps the ball could show my greatest fears?.
Whatever it was it was worth studying it, so I did what any good thief would've done, and took the ball with me, "Inventory,"
YOU HAVE ACQUIRED THE DIARY OF GALATEA!
DO YOU WANT TO READ IT? YES/NO
"Fuck yes,"
<Galatea entries>
YEAR 1 - After Father suddenly disappeared the great war started, some call this event the great rift, my brothers and sisters have been fighting nonstop to win the position father had, and rule it all with our maker gone and this bloody war on full all I can do is watch, it was the last order, the last command Father gave me, perhaps father foresaw this, I really hope father returns and set things back to normal.
At least I have some of Father's essence to remember him by.
-Galatea
YEAR 1985: The war keeps going, and now they created other races to fight for them.
I initially thought the father had a reason to leave and leave me watching does he wants me to see innocent creatures suffer for all eternity and learn from that, what kind of knowledge would I gain from such cold and heartless thing, I wish father had been more specific with my orders he never specifically said, Galatea, just watch them... Maybe it's okay if I try to stop all this? It would probably be for the best; It's decided I will try to talk to my brothers and sisters out of this madness.
-Galatea
YEAR 3521: They all refused, and some even tried to kill me no matter how many times I tried, or how long they all refused to help me or stop, what is going on why are they acting like that they never were like this, was the fear of father keeping them in line? It doesn't matter now, but at least one thing is sure now, I'm now confident that father meant for me to stop all this whatever it took. I hope father forgives me for taking so long to understand his message.
-Galatea
YEAR 15121: I was never one to fight like Father used to say it wasn't my cup of tea, and no matter how hard I try I don't make a difference, the world will end if this continues, maybe I could put the scales on my favor if I forge a weapon with the last reminder I have of Father.
-Galatea
YEAR 21456: Using Father's essence to create the sword proved to be a game-changer, I'm finally able to push my brothers and sisters back, but for how long, some even decided to form alliances to end me, I need to create a fortress to protect the sword should I ever fail in my task, perhaps I could use my old Garden,
-Galatea
YEAR 45657: The war changed, my brothers and sisters are demanding for me to give up the sword, at least now they all want to kill me, and I can certainly avoid killing innocents, but I can't sleep nor lower my guard, they want me dead more than ever, in their eyes, I kept everything father left for myself, I'm glad father never gave them a part of him.
-Galatea
YEAR 45666: I created a forest full of magic and life a realm for mortals and mortals only, it took me some time, but a place free of Gods is finally here, not even I can enter it, It was hard to make I had to sacrifice my realm to do it, but it was worth it, I had to do it in the case if I were to fail in my task, the poor creatures of this planet would have a safe haven waiting for them.
I will call this place of freedom and eternity the Everfree Forest.
-Galatea
YEAR 45866: I don't know what to do, I'VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED, what is it that you want from me Father, I can't keep this up, I just want to rest.
-Galatea
YEAR 46240: Things have gotten much worse. Father abandoned us, and here I am trying to fix something beyond repair. I'm trying to save the creatures Father created and the ones they created, so far nothing but failure.
-Galatea
YEAR 47021: I have an ally, Hera, she wants to help me, I once considered her a sister, but I feel she just wants to betray me and take the sword, I will study her before jumping to conclusions, I'm tired of being alone and attacked all the time, if I had someone with me, things might be different.
-Galatea
YEAR 47060: I was right about Hera, she only wanted to use me, I had to kill her, I had no other choice, what would father think, not like I care anymore it obvious we were nothing but a science project for him. After I killed Hera, they started being more cautious with their attacks.
Perhaps I should kill all the Gods; this world is better without us; we are a disease.
-Galatea
YEAR 47061: Last entry, If someone is reading this I want you to know that I'm sorry, I failed to leave this world clean for your generation to nurture it, don't give up and fight for your freedom the gods are not as mighty as they want you to believe, I know you are a good person. Otherwise, the sword and the diary would've never shown themselves to you, be brave, and never give up.
I feel bad with myself here I am, on my death bed happy I can finally rest, and at the same time I'm sad, I didn't make a difference, what a pathetic excuse for a goddess, don't you think?
Keep my diary; it has all the information I ever gathered at least the important one, signing off Galatea.
-Galatea
The diary of Galatea has changed to the library of Galatea!
Could I really keep this a secret? Galatea seemed like a good person that sacrificed more than she should’ve, what should I do with this, aren’t I breaking the timeline with this encounter? Perhaps I should leave this place, for now, and see what to do later.
However, as I made my way to the exit, thinking what I should do with this newfound information, I was stopped midway out of the attic as my eyes caught something at the entrance, a nightmarish creature, is rising on its haunches.
“HELLO THERE.” A voice thundered inside my skull, seeming to come from everywhere around me, like the roar of a lion. Sighing and overly prepared for this shit, I took the sword I brought with me out ready to attack, the Demon simply smiled at my reaction, and with the wave of his hand pushed me back to where I found Excalibur with incredible force.
“HOW NICE OF YOU TO FIND THE SWORD, AND HER DIARY FOR ME, IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR FIFTEEN THOUSAND YEARS,” The Demon chuckled in amusement, “NOW GIVE ME THE SWORD AND ILL LET YOU DIE FAST.” , the creature got closer to me and bent down ponderously - I notice he was taller than me at least five times bigger than me, and his body seemed to be made out of shadows- I could feel his breath on my face, and his eyes twinkling with excitement.
“You bad guys are pretty cliche,” I chuckled, punching the Demon with my bare fist, pushing him back to the entrance, his attack didn’t hurt at all, it felt like a pillow had pushed me back, “So what are you some God/Demon?”
“I FORGOT HOW FUNNY, AND STUPID THE DEMI GODS CAN BE, YOU GUYS ARE TRULY A SIGHT TO BEHOLD,” The Demon chuckled, “I’M NO GOD NOR MORTAL, WHAT AM I KID?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t have asked you,” I rolled my eyes at him.
“THEN LET ME SHOW YOU,” The Demon smiled, pointing at me with his hand creepy longhand.
Once again, I feel the same powerful and overwhelming pressure that pushed me at the beginning, this time it was pulling me forward, towards the Demon, instinctively I locked my sword on the ground to stop his pull as I decided to gather a bit more of information about him, 'Observe’
He is a powerful Great Earl of The ----------, being the ruler of twenty-nine legions of --------, he one of the few ---- that existed before the great rift started, hiding and biding his time and only showing his face when he has something to earn.
‘That too little hp, something is off about this guy, and some information is missing,’ I thought, but I was interrupted as my face was brutally smashed against the floor with enough force to send me right back to the first floor, I’m surprised once again to find it didn’t hurt at all, wanting to get this over with and not wanting to yield to the invisible pressure, I spun around with my sword covered in mana cutting the magic hold he had on me, it was a bet I didn’t know if it would work, but I did.
“I am not going down that easy,” I smiled at the Demon and dashed towards him, the Demon smiled at my antics.
“WE’LL SEE” As soon as he said that, I noticed that I was surrounded by hot swirling flames, consuming, and tearing at my clothes. The smell of smoke and sulfur assaulted my nose, I felt my body being cut by the fast and hot wings, and the warmth of my blood running down my body, and yet I don’t feel anything but discomfort, “YOU CAN’T FEEL PAIN CAN YOU?” The Demon asked, tilting his head in confusion.
I didn’t even notice until he brought it up, but he was right, all I felt was slight touches in my body whenever he attacked me, was that the result of my time in Tartarus, regardless of that, I wasn’t gonna find the answer right now, “.....Who knows?”
“HOW SAD, YOU COULD DIE AND NOT EVEN NOTICE IT,” The Demon cackled in amusement letting his guard down, and I wasn’t so nice to let this opportunity go, so taking that distraction I teleported behind him, and with a downward slash, I proceeded to cut his shadowy body in half.
Yet the Demon didn’t receive any damage; it was like trying to attack a body of water with a stick, “Fuck,”
“YOU CAN’T KILL ME,” The Demon snapped his finger, and once again the invisible pressure crushed me against the floor, “I’M A SHADOW, NO PHYSICAL ATTACK COULD HOPE TO WORK ON ME, EVEN MOST MAGIC IS USELESS AGAINST ME, YOU CAN’T USE THAT SWORD AS IT WAS INTENDED, BUT I WILL!”
“For the love of everything I have stolen, stop with the monologues,” I sighed on the floor.
The Demon apparently didn’t like to my way of talking because I felt my face is being roughly pressed against the surface of the floor, all I could think of was that the Demon was right I don’t feel anything, just slight discomfort, but that didn’t mean I was taking any damage, so it was time to end this, with that in mind I decided to equip my new sword, “Equip, Excalibur,” as soon as Excalibur appeared in my hand, replacing the other sword I brought, the hold the Demon had disappeared.
“A SWORD THAT ITS BLADE REFLECTS THE WILL OF ITS WIELDER, SUCH WEAPON BELONGS TO SOMEONE LIKE ME!” The Demon tried to put his invisible hold on me, but nothing happened, “WELL THEN I SHALL!”
“No, you shall not,” I teleported behind him, and with a swift strike, I cut his head off, this time his body started to dissipate, it seems using Excalibur was the right choice.
“IT WAS TO BE EXPECT IT, A MERE SHADOW OF ME COULDN’T HOPE TO BEAT SOMEONE WIELDING THAT SWORD, BUT REMEMBER THIS CHILD, HEED THIS WARNING... MANY WILL COME FOR THAT SWORD INCLUDING ME... GODS... DEMI GODS, AND NEXT TIME I WILL COME FOR YOU... COMPLETE!”
“Yesh, Edgy till the end,” I chuckled.
It seemed I defeated a shadow of him that he sent to retrieve the sword and diary of Galatea, with a chuckle I started to brush off the blood of my clothes, as I slowly start to leave the cursed room, Excalibur appears to be able to cut through magic which is probably the reason why the Demon got defeated so easily, once I was out of the room I notice my left arm is different and taking a closer look it’s clear that it was broken.
“Well, I’m not sure how to feel about this,” I muttered, looking at my arm, no pun intended.
Knowing it wasn’t anything lethal and that my body would recover soon, I ignored my shattered arm and proceeded to try and find the way back to my group, not before hiding Excalibur, if the Demon was right and the diary was something to go by, Gods would fly to get my head for the sword.
“Alright, now… where the fudge am I?” I said as once again, I entered the loop of infinite turns.
I hate mazes, turns, and turns…. And wait for it! More turns, fucking place; it’s like a puzzle made for fucking your patience.
“HAVE AT IT FIEND!” A very familiar voice shouted, making my ears cry in pain, Luna.
“So I can feel pain..mmmm...not sure if I should be happy or not,” I hummed; maybe my ears weren’t affected in Tartarus, or Luna is just that powerful with her voice.
“DIE! DIE! DIE!” Luna shouted, meanwhile I was following her voice, trying to pinpoint her location, the more I heard her shouts of glory and victory the more clear it was what I felt wasn’t pain but annoyance.
“One thing is getting my arm broken, but not feeling pain with her tone of voice, I need a doctor,” I chuckled.
It took me a couple of minutes, but I finally found her, slaying a monster with her bare hands, her dress was drenched with blood, and her hands were crimson red, with the inside of her enemy, or prey.
“Howdy,” I nonchalantly announced my presence, making Luna turn her beautiful yet scary bloodied body to me.
“VLAD!” Luna cheered the moment she saw me, running towards me in the stereotypical way girls run in movies, skipping in the air, in this case, it was a bit unsettling because she was covered in blood.
“So, how do we get out of here,” I smiled, as I reluctantly took her into my arms, I’m not a fan of blood, I don’t hate blood, but I don’t like being soaked in it.
“Who broke your arm? And more importantly… is the perpetrator still alive so that I can dismember him slowly and painfully?” Luna asked, touching my limp arm carefully.
“Don’t worry he’s gone,” I chuckled, she was adorable, poking my arm and puffing in an angry manner trying to avenge me.
“Oh, well,” Luna pouted, disappointed she didn’t get a go with the one that broke my arm.
“Maybe you could kill the next monster that tries to attack me?” I offered.
“I SHALL! PROTECT YOU!” Luna once again was sparkling with happiness.
“So… how do we get out of here?” I asked.
“Oh, well, that’s easy, all we need is a….” Luna didn’t finish her sentence; she started to blush and look away.
“What’s wrong?” I wasn’t flirting with her, so why would she get all flustered all of a sudden.
“We are alone,” Luna whispered biting her lower lip, “We have this room for ourselves,” Oh great, the horny princess wanted to have fun, in a dungeon full of monsters, while covered in blood, and let’s not forget my arm was broken, “I’m flattered, but my arm is broken, and you look like Carrie, so shall we postpone this for a later time?”
“Who’s Carrie?” Luna narrowed her eyes at me.
Note to self, don’t make references with female characters when you’re inside a demigod dating another demigod, “Its a character from a book I read you never heard of, from an author you never heard of, the coincidences.”
“Tia owns every book,” Luna smiled, but her eyes spelled I was done.
“Alright, a book I’m writing,” I lied, I might not feel pain, but I don’t want to experience my balls being attached to my chin.
“You’re writing a book?” Luna asked, this time a bit calmer.
“Yeah…” I sighed.
“I want to proofread it!” Luna smiled, offering to help with my clearly fake book.
“Sure, as soon as I get…the first draft is done, you’ll be the first one to get it,” I smiled, knowing deep inside that thanks to my great mouth, I would now have to write a freaking book, to keep my balls where they belong.
“And as I said, we are alone; perhaps I could give you a treat?” Luna smiled seductively.
“I don’t think… what am I gay…” Me rejecting a beautiful willing woman, twice, this world is making me weak.
“Then, how about---” Luna was interrupted, by the loud sound of a wall being broken down, dust filled the room, setting Luna and me into a cough off.
“HA! I found you brother!” Sombra shouted, rushing through the debris like it was made out of pillows.
“Hello, Sombra…” I chuckled, as he crushed my bones with a hug.
“Who do I have to kill?” Sombra asked in a low and threatening tone.
“My arm?” I sighed; this was all too familiar to what happened with Luna.
“Yes,” Sombra was downright scary; he was holding my arm, not blinking, grinding his teeth.
“He dead,” I smirked.
“Oh, well… good job, little brother,” Saying that was like a switch, he went from serial killer mode to happy mode in less than a second.
“So, where is Celestia?” I asked now that the waters had calmed.
“She was right behind me,” Sombra answered, looking around.
*CRACK!*
“What’s that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
*CRACK!*
“Huh, it sounds like someone is breaking the walls of the maze,” Luna answered.
*CRACK!*
“Nah, that’s my Sun, breaking the walls,” Sombra smiled, “I would recognize the sound of her smashing through enemies or walls anywhere!”
*CRACK!*
“That’s one weird relationship flex,” I laughed.
*CRACK!*
“It’s fine! Why? I am here!” Celestia broke through the last wall, grabbing a piece of debris and throwing it at Luna, who caught the rock with her face, “THAT’S FOR CHOOSING A FUCKING MAZE!”
Excalibur, the holy sword of the legends, a sword capable of killing gods and giving its wielder an immense amount of power if said wielder had the will to use it.
It was possibly the best weapon in this world, but it also made me the greatest hunting target for the so-called gods.
For what I read and gathered the gods have been on an endless quest for the Sword, they are not likely to hesitate to kill me to finally acquire the item they have been looking for.
And after all the shit I’ve been through since I got here, I wasn’t ready to die, just yet.
I had to play this smart, if I died in the past, I would die in the present, if they didn’t find out I acquired the holy sword then I would be safe.
So Excalibur would have to wait in my inventory, at least until I figured out how to survive.
My mission in the past was unclear, so I decided to at least make the best out of it, I decided to train.
Once my… Brother found out I wanted to train… let’s just say Sombra happily offered to help, apparently, Vlad aka me had neglected his training for quite a while now and as the good older brother he was, he was starting to get worried.
“Let’s do this brother!” Sombra said with enthusiasm.
“Yes! Fight! Show me your power!” Celestia in the past was certainly different from what I expected.
Celestia was thrilled about the idea and said that we should fight each other, to see how far behind I was, and that she would be the referee when in reality she wanted to see my ass getting destroyed by Sombra.
Luna for some reason was also excited and had put on a cheerleader costume to be my personal cheerleader squad of one.
Grinning at their enthusiasm I agreed, in the end, it wasn’t such a bad idea, so after a bit of talking we moved to a more battle suited place, the arena in Umbris.
‘Alright… you don’t have to win, you just need to learn, focus Jack,’ I thought, as I entered the arena, and got into my position.
As soon as Sombra and I were ready, Celestia's royal voice thundered in the arena, announcing the start of our battle. "Let the battle begin!"
Celestia had barely finished her sentence when Sombra instantly charged at me. I barely had time to put of a defensive stance, which allowed me to parry Sombra's first blow with my forearm. I continued to block his next five blows as well, before attempting to counter with a roundhouse kick—which failed when Sombra caught the kick with his left hand and with his right delivered a punch to my guts that threw me far away to the seats in the area.
'No pain, well I guess is for the best,' I thought, as I shook off the debris and jumped back into the battleground.
I took in a defensive stance, and I exhaled as I saw Sombra eyeing me with curiosity and concern.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’ I wondered as I kept my eyes on him.
Sombra quickly continued his brutal assault teleporting behind me, delivering a horizontal kick that I parried with my own at full power pushing Sombra back a bit, I heard a small crack on my leg but decided to ignore it for now. With Sombra off balance, I took this one chance to try and take control of the battle.
I dashed forward, continuing to deliver a barrage of punches and kicks, but Sombra was easily blocking and parrying all of my attacks as if they were predictable. After a while, Sombra sighed and with a powerful push of dark magic, he broke my guard off and once again took total control of the battle delivering a powerful assault of powerful attacks combining fists and kicks, each set of them even stronger than the last.
Losing the offensive I decided to block or parry his attack but I was quickly becoming overwhelmed by Sombra's power and speed, knowing that on hand to hand I would never win, I jumped backward taking my distance, and started to charge a mana beam.
"You know," Sombra said with a sad sigh, "It's sad you would hide something this big from me brother, who was it? Was it father?."
I didn't know how or what to reply because I wasn't entirely sure what did he meant by that, and before I could even muster the words to do so I found myself spitting blood in the ground on my knees, not feeling pain had become a liability, I took his blows and this was the result.
“Vlad!” Luna shouted teleporting to my side, glaring at Sombra.
“I think you might have gone a tad overboard,” Celestia added with concern.
But Sombra ignored them, keeping his scrutinizing gaze on me.
"I connected multiple blows at you, all of them infused with dark magic, just one of them should’ve inflicted a lot of pain, that what they do, pain over damage, but you didn’t even notice them," Sombra said with a sad look as he slowly approaching me, "Or even try to get rid of the marks, normally purging your body from this type of magic would be easy for you, after all, you are a master in the holy arts, but you didn't even notice it, so how could you purge them? but that’s besides the point, what really concerns me is that, even though you are on the floor coughing blood, you are not feeling any pain whatsoever,"
I hadn’t noticed that he had connected his attacks at all, this was very troubling indeed.
"Even when the pain is small like a paper cut or something, there is a reaction," Sombra at this point was standing in front of me, "But in your case didn't even flinch, so tell me brother did father punish you again?... no... don't answer that..It was a stupid question... I know it was him..." The very ground started to shake and shatter as Sombra growled, "If only I was stronger,"
“I…” was I supposed to pin this on his… our father? I felt it was one of those situations where there wasn’t a right answer, “It’s alright, I’m sure we can find a way to fix this…”
“You better fucking believe it!” Sombra growled as he nodded.
“Let’s go to Merlin, if someone can break whatever you have… it’s her,” Luna added as she used her magic to heal.
Merlin… well this is getting interesting…
“Sounds good,” Celestia nodded as she helped Luna heal me.
Merlin, at least in my world, was an old mage that helped King Arthur Pendragon to save the world and guided him to Excalibur. This brought on many questions, just how much were my world and this one connected, was Arthur real here?
“We can’t let that woman use my brother as a guinea pig,” Sombra muttered in defeat, he was against the idea of taking me to Merlin, apparently she had quite the reputation of being a crazy scientist.
“You know she’s the only one that might be able to lift the curse of a god… other than the gods themselves,” Celestia sighed trying once again to calm the overprotective brother this past had given me.
“And she’s not that crazy…” Luna added with a weak smile, making both Celestia and Sombra stare at her in disbelief, like she was crazy, “Ok, maybe she is…. but one of us has to believe…. right?”
“You know I’m not so sure I still wanna go with her now…” I chuckled, by how they described her I felt I was going to be dissected.
“See?! He doesn’t want to! Let’s go!” Sombra pointed at me, trying to rally everyone out of this plan.
But he was immediately stopped when Celestia gave him a cold and calculating glare, “If you want to help him… this might be the only way… I can’t imagine when we have kids or something… they won’t be allowed to have friends or date…”
“If we have girls, then they won’t be allowed to know boys exist!” Sombra promised full of determination, completely forgetting about me.
“So how long before we get to my imminent doom?” I inquired casually, ignoring Celestia and Sombra.
Luna hummed deep in thought before she smiled and answered, “About one hour or one hundred years… depends on how talkative Merlin is feeling.”
One hour to one hundred years, what kind of time frame was that?... scratch that cable companies in my world are the same.
“She has her house in a pocket dimension, we can’t enter unless she wants us inside, and you know how she is sometimes,” Celestia elaborated with an exasperated sigh.
No, I don’t, but you guys don’t know I don’t, so fuck me, “Yeah, I know.”
“Well… well… well… what do we have here” A voice whispered in my head and by the looks of everyone, it wasn’t just in mine.
“Merlin… we…I… Vlad...” Sombra was having a hard time, and by how constipated he looked I came to the conclusion we were talking to Merlin.
“What dear Sombra?... I can’t quite hear you…” Merlin teased, her voice sounding condescending, but also alluring; both inviting and dangerous.
“We need your help,” Sombra said between gritted teeth.
“Tatata… what did I say last time… if you want help you need to say it….” Merlin said with a short laugh.
Well, things were sure getting fun, Merlin might not be that bad after all.
“....” Sombra was dare I say sweating as if she had completely defeated him.
Was it really so embarrassing what Merlin wanted him to say, I couldn’t help but wonder as I stared in evil delight at the situation.
“It seems you don’t need my help that much…” Merlin said, before adding, “Well I have other things to do and seeing you guys don’t need my help.”
“For the love of… just say it Sombra!” Luna demanded, clearly worried about me.
“Nothing you say can be that bad… come on…” Celestia smiled, trying to encourage him.
“Fine… I’ll do it for my brother…” Sombra took a deep breath preparing himself for humiliation.
“Now you have to dress up too… you made me wait,” Merlin giggled.
In a wave of magic, lights, and smoke Sombra emerged dancing with new outfit.
Making me lose my shit.
He had a sombrero and maracas, the situation was too much, I practically bursted in a ball of flames and laughter.
“Hahaha hahaha!” Celestia soon joined me on the floor with Luna following right after.
“I.. hate… you...all….” Sombra muttered as he kept dancing with the maracas.
“Fine… if you are willing to humiliate yourself that much, you must be desperate,” Merlin chuckled appearing in front of us, and all I could think was.
,
The Maze of Galatea, as the name suggests, was created by the Goddess of Knowledge Galatea. At first, it was known as the Garden of knowledge. But after the great rift started, its name changed to the Fortress of Galatea; after a while and with Galatea supposedly dead, the maze was renamed once again.
