Chapter 4
I've Got a Rival
"Roran!" I cried out, and readied a spell, fueled with rage. I don't know if we've been over this before, but if you make a fully realized mage mad, nothing goes well. I was so mad, I didn't bother to think carefully. I placed my palms end to end, and shouted, "Lunar Blitz!" The beam came surging from my palms, and removed all traces of the man from this plain of existence. I quickly flew downwards, and landed next to Roran, who lying on the ground. He was bleeding heavily, and the sword had been thrown with pinpoint accuracy. It had run through his heart, and it was clear he had little time left to live.
He coughed up a bit of blood. "Looks like I took a little hit."
"Yep," I said sadly.
"I don't think I'll be coming back from this one," He said. He looked up at the sky. "You think Elysium is real?"
"I know it is. I've been there."
"Then I'll buy you a drink when you get there." He reached weakly inside of his pocket, and took a coin, which was valued at fifty Keeton. He placed it in my hands. "Told you I'd pay you back." He closed his eyes, never to open them again.
His spirit began to rise from his body, and I watched. The door appeared, and he walked through it. That was the last I'd ever see of a moving Roran.
I stood up, and Reana burt through the trees behind me. "I saw someone fall!" She then realized just what had happened. She collapsed on her knees, and shuffled over to her now deceased husband. She began sobbing heavily, but I didn't know what to do. She would be sadder than myself, but there was nothing to stop me from avenging him I instructed Sedrick to stay with her, and soared into the sky. I zoomed over to the airspace above the city, and readied myself. I just hoped no one was inside, because they wouldn't live through what I was about to do. I raised my arms skyward, and began charging energy into the air around the city. Tanner must have realized what was happening, because a giant blue flash enveloped the entire human army, and they were gone. Even the dead ones.
I whispered to myself, "I swear, on my own blood, there will not be an inch of stone in this city when I'm finished here." I had charged enough power into the atmosphere. I yelled out, "Let this signify the new era!" I had to make a new name for my improvised spell, because nothing I could do was black anymore, beside the Inhibitor curse. "GEYSER OF LIGHT!"
The city erupted in destructive forces, sending beams of magic into the air, all around. I probably put a hole in Ozone with that spell, and then some. When I finished, only flat, bare ground stood where the city once did.
Cheers of victory began to echo from the army, and I floated down to the earth. I was barely conscious from magical exhaustion; I had used a bit much. The gravity of the recent loss now weighed heavy on my mind. I blamed myself. I thought his death could have been prevented.
I decided not to find Reana; I thought she needed to be alone. This was the last time I would see any of my Raven friends for a while, but I didn't care. Celestia teleported in front of me, a sad look on her face. "I'm aware of your loss. Go, spend some time in the sky. I'll tell everyone what happened."
I nodded, and took off. I laid down on a cloud, and rested my head on its soft surface. I just sat there, not knowing what to do. I received a poke on the shoulder, and found Rainbow Dash standing next to me.
"Whaddaya want?" I asked in an exasperated manner.
"Just thought you might need somepony to talk to. I don't really know how you feel, though. I didn't have any family," She explained.
"How about a casual conversation?" I suggested. "Haven't had one of those in over ten years."
Dash chuckled. "Humor. Don't get much of that lately."
"Nope. Gotta spice up our victory somehow."
"I'll just go. Maybe I'll send Fluttershy up. She's better with stuff like this," Dash said, then dove off the cloud. I stood up, and walked over to the edge. I leaned off, and fell. I flapped my wings at just the right time, and landed on the ground.
"Looks like my strategy went well," Jack said from behind me. "We only lost thirty soldiers."
"I think they gave them skill as well as armor," I observed. "What's the next sight?"
"We'll hit Cloudsdale," He said. "It's the mage barracks. It'll be special ops, though. Only a few going. Sara taught me the wings thing, so it'll be you, me, and Dash. Sara wants to stay behind and figure out the archers."
"Great. Dash!" I yelled. Dash trotted up to us.
"Next mission. We're gonna take out Cloudsdale. They turned it into a mage capital, so it'll be tough," I said.
"Great. Been eager to sack those bastards for a while," She agreed. "Teleport away!"
"Oh, and no one actually know that we're going on this," Jack stated. "Reinforcements are not an option."
"Teleporting!" I shouted, then sent us off. We re-entered in the airspace below Cloudsdale, and all took flight. Jack spread out a set of brown wings, and we hovered.
"Okay," Jack said. "Here's the plan. We're gonna play the total warfare game. Destroy all the supplied that they need. Food, shelter, spare nothing. Next, we trigger the weather generator and freeze the humans out of the remaining cities."
"Sounds good," Dash stated.
"Cloaking." I then proceeded to cloak us. "Make sure you aren't discovered. Dash, you'll get the weather generator; I'm sure you're the only one who knows how it works. Me and Jack will take care of the rest."
We all nodded, then broke through the cloud surface. Dash separated, and headed to the left. Jack and myself headed to the left. I think. You can't hear footsteps on clouds, and Jack was invisible. Regardless, I know I was heading that way.
I crept toward the food storage, which was clearly labeled as such. I pushed open the swinging door quietly, and entered the room. It was filled to the the brim with foods of all sorts, even meats. Admittedly, I was tempted, but I didn't. Now that I could speak to animals, it felt weird.
I established a mental link with Jack. "Can I forsake stealth?"
"Hell no. Just set the buildings on fire, on the inside. It'll take then more time to notice, and make it easier to escape," He replied.
"Fine." I broke the link, and lit a small ball of flames. I set a few wooden items on fire, and exited. As I exited, a man shirked the opening of the door off as a draft. I took a few steps forward, then everything went to Tartarus. A man bumped into me, and fell to the ground, he was suspicious at that point, of course, but when it really went bad when he reached out and touched my cloak.
"Who's practicing an invisibility spell?" He asked.
"Uh... Jonny?" I lied weakly. "Shit."
His eyes narrowed, then literally lit up. They then widened. "Enemy mage!" He cried out.
I uncloaked, and ran. Stealth time was over. "Shitshitshitshitshit!" I yelled as I ran from a horde of inept mages.
Inept. Pretty comical, looking back on it.
Remember the finger gun spell? Well, I readied that, and shot a few times. I struck two of them down, and missed the third shot. I had few options, and no time to ready a crowd control spell, so I did the next logical thing. I simply jumped off the cloud.
None of them followed, so I brought forth my wings and flew over to the direction Dash went in. I broke through a wall, and, luckily, into the weather generator room. Dash was fidgeting with the machine, obvious signs of struggle on her face. I guess the area had some sort of ward on it, because I could now see her. She frowned, shouted "Celestia damn it!" Then kicked the machine. It roared to life, and cold winds began to blow from the many connecting pipes. Dash chuckled, and looked at me.
"I thought you were burning the food," She said.
"Did. Got caught, and there may or may not be a horde of angry mages about the come flooding at us." As if on cue, a couple of mages teleported into the room, the both of them armed with daggers. Dash shrugged, and charged one.
She kicked him in the face, which isn't really something a human can take. He crumpled on the floor. Another appeared, and grabbed her by the waist. The other, which was surprisingly fast, managed to spin around me, grab my arm, and pin to the cloud floor. He dug his knife into my neck a bit and drew a slight amount of blood, but I wasn't focused on that. There was a form coming at us from the air, very fast. The form crashed through the wall, and tackled the figure from my back. It, assuming to be a she, judging from the bulkier features than the males I had spoken with, was revealed as a Griffon.
I didn't know here, but Dash sure did. Dash spun from her assailant's grip, and delivered a swift kick to the nuts. He fell to the floor, and Dash embraced the Griffon.
"Gilda, am I glad to see you!" Dash exclaimed.
"Still mad about that one time?" The Griffon, now identified as Gilda, said.
"It's been over eleven years; I think I'm over it," Dash replied.
"Can we just finish up here?" I asked. "Stealth has pretty much gone out the window, and I think there's more where these guys came from!"
They ignored me. "How's ya find me?" Dash asked.
"Pops told me about restarting the war, so I came right over. I just guessed when I saw Cloudsdale in chaos," She replied.
Another man burst through the door. "Guys!" I complained.
"Got it!" I voice from outside the door said, and knife then protruded from the man's chest. Jack peeked through the door, and walked over. "What part of 'Stay Stealthy,' don't you understand?"
"He bumped into me," I defended.
"There's a shitload of them," Jack said. "But they're all weak as hell. Make a game out of it?" He suggested.
"Sure." I shot my finger gun at a another one of them. "One."
We departed, and I summoned my scythe. Jack, Dash, and Gilda were all killing machines, and in addition to myself, we were wiping the floor with these guys. I was spinning in circles, holding my scythe outward. It was like a helicopter blade, but more deadly.
Three hours later, we had pretty much killed everyone, and those who lived had fled. "Two hundred and sixty-three!' I boasted.
"Three hundred and four," Jack topped me with.
Dash was next. "Three hundred and eight." Just like an asshole on that Price is Right show.
Gilds killed all of us. "Four hundred and twenty-eight," She bragged.
"Never really thought I'd be competing over who killed the most men in battle," I said. "First time for everything, I guess."
"I can't believe I got beat by a horse," Jack complained.
"She's got one of the most powerful artifacts in existence. I can't even begin to comprehend how much more powerful they are than me," I explained.
"Just have to figure out how to use it," Dash stated.
"Any more targets today?" I asked.
"No," Jack said. "I don't think we have any-" He was cut off by a loud explosion from the weather generator building, and we all dropped the conversation to investigate.
we arrived at the building quickly, and burst through the doors. A man, about my height dressed entirely in black, was standing next to the sabotaged generator. The thing was, his clothes were identical to my own, except black. He turned towards us, and I got the biggest scare of my life.
He was me.
Well, sort of. His skin and hair were a solid black, the opposite of my own. His eyes were a piercing green opposite of my own. He grinned, then disappeared in a black flash.
"That," Jack said, "Was the creepiest thing I've ever seen."
"Agreed," I replied. "Let's get back to the army." I teleported us out of the cloud city, and back to the waiting forces. "I'll be off. I need to go check on my city."
The three I had fought with nodded, and I teleported to Raven City. Or, what I thought was Raven city.
Nothing was left.
Someone had completely razed it to the ground. Not even the the marble base was left, though the portal to the Grounds had survived and now lay in the base of the crater. However, there was only one thing on my mind, and that was that some payback was in order. Even though a large population was in the army, several had remained in the city.
I teleported to the portal, and unlocked it with my scythe. I stepped inside, then sat on the ground. Though dangerous it may have been, I did it anyway. I began to concentrate my efforts on absorbing magic. When no shock wave pulsed from my body, I knew I was good to go. Guess I was strong enough to take it in. Magical energies began to pulse through my very being, filling me with a new energy. I only had to spend ten minutes absorbing energy to have taken in more than enough to double my power.
I stepped back through the portal, used my magic to locate a power gauge syringe, and summoned it to my hands. I jabbed it into my hands, but rather than giving me an accurate reading, the six-digit display ticked to six 9s.
"Perfect," I said to myself, then teleported right to the front doors of what used to be Canterlot. I blasted them right off their hinges, much to the surprise of the citizens inside. I placed all the power I had at the ready, ready for anything.
I began to radiate a pure red energy. This wasn't just normal magic, but I was involuntarily using my powers as a child of death to amplify my own further. I stomped through the city, cracking the emerald pavement with each step. I reached the doors of the castle, and blasted them apart. Stepping inside, I found another Ben.
"I'm baaack," He taunted.
I shot a death glare at him, and my vision flashed the kind of red my eyes had turned. I moved faster than I had in my life. This time, I wouldn't be letting him just be revived after I killed him, but I would be placing him in a much worse state. I moved behind him instantly, and pulled back my hand. I drove it forward with such force, and impacted his neck as hard as I could without decapitating him. I struck just under his hairline, and I felt a satisfied snap.
It was not bone I had broken, but I had damaged his brain stem. He fell to the ground, not dead, but he wouldn't be able to move any longer. I was that cruel. Rather than finding my way through the modified castle, I simply blasted through the ceiling into where I knew the throne room was.
However, I found no Tanner, just the odd double from Cloudsdale. He was applauding sarcastically.
"Bravo. You've found me."
"Was it you who-" He cut me off.
"Destroyed the city? Yes. Also, this is a fight you can't win. I share your thoughts, and as you gain power, I do the same. Except I'm evil. If we fight, it will never end."
"Don't care," I growled. "I don't care if you're my double, I don't care if I leave here in a bodybag, but rest assured. You will not survive this."
"So be it." His fists sparked to life with lightning. I lit mine with fire, and the fight began. Our moves and tactics were identical. Each combination was countered with it's twin. We both jumped backwards, and I summoned my scythe. He summoned one as well, though it was white with a green line around the edge of the blade, exactly the opposite of my own.
I charged him, and he charged me. A blue flash of light came through the windows, so could only assume Tanner had teleported the people away. Good. Either me or this city was going down.
Or scythes clashed in synchronization, the hit being blocked by an identical one. At first, I thought he was right. That we really were actually exact equals in strength.
Ravena's voice pulsed through the air. "Remember what I said about the scythe..." Then faded away.
Of course. The scythe was said to have power beyond that of any other weapon. I didn't know how much it could do, and I hadn't even tried to use any of it's power before, but I decided to do it anyway.
"So Tanner even got the weapon right, eh?" I confirmed.
"I'm an exact copy of you. There's nothing you can do that I can't," He explained.
"Except for one. That scythe? It's just a piece of sharpened metal. Mine, however is unique." I pointed it in his direction. "And I'm going to use it to kill you."
He burst out laughing. "What?! You think that's going to make a difference?"
"If it doesn't, then we'll probably both die. Here we go!" I began to search the very fibers of the scythe. Really, I was searching for the consciousness that first called to me in the weapons chamber, but any sort of power was good, really.
I found it.
The voice projected into my thoughts. "I see the time is at hand. Very well. I shall teach you to call upon my power. We shall become one, wielding the power of your ancestor."
I didn't have to give a reply. The scythe began to glow, giving of a power unlike any other. It was the energy provided for battle by the gods themselves, and it was in my control.
"No running now." The voice that came from my mouth came with the voice of the scythe, both speaking at once.
"What?! Why aren't I getting stronger?!"
"You're an unholy artificial creation, and this power can only be wielded by the chosen king. In all realism, nothing can possibly amount to the amount of power I possess while using this. Look." Without even thinking about it, I created a new spell, designed to gauge the magic limit of it's target with no limit of digits. The display hovered before me, ticking around until the numbers stopped.
15,053,420.
"I'm sure that if I released all of the power I have right now, I'd destroy the planet. But instead, I'm going to use it to destroy you."
His eyes widened with fear; he knew there was no way he was going to win this. He ran and smashed through the window, spreading his wings in an escape attempt. I placed my own on my back, and teleported to him. He swung with his scythe, but it impacted my own. My scythe pulsed a white energy, and his weapon shattered.
"Told you." I turned the scythe so the blunt end faced him, and smashed it into his side. He flew at top speed into the courtyard of the castle, and struck the ground harshly. I teleported effortlessly to his side, and stomped on his chest.
I flew up into the sky, and established a mental link with everyone I knew, which was the whole army. That was how much power I had right then.
"Look towards Canterlot. What you are about to see is power personified," I said egotistically, then disconnected myself.
Knowing full well that I most likely wouldn't be able to call upon this magic easily later on, but I went overkill anyway.
I flew up into the sky, and began to weave the most powerful spell I had ever created; one that could dwarf the destructive power of the Lunar Blitz by thousands.
I focused every bit of my immense power on mt scythe and muscles. After that, I didn't even have to think. I plunged toward the ground, and struck my clone into the ground. The resulting explosion was unregistrable on any scale.
A huge mushroom cloud burst forth from the ground, obliterating the structures around me. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared around me enough to see that I had utterly destroyed my clone. The ground started to crack around me, but I was too tired to even bring forth my wings.
The ground fell from beneath me. I began to fall to the ground. "Whelp, looks like this is it. No regrets." I closed my eyes, and waited for death to embrace me.