"So...that's where we're heading...?" Fluttershy asks as she looks at the winding path that led up to the large, floating castle that overlooked the Dark City. "That...big...scary...dark...castle...?"

"Correct." Rage says with a nod. He clenched a fist as he thought about his friends, about Christain, and about everything he had learned in the last few days. "No doubt Christain...no, Nix awaits us." Rage looked at the others and inhaled sharply. "If you wish to stay behind I won't hold it against you...this isn't something you're accustomed to..."

"We're with you to the end, Rage." Twilight says as she looks up to the crimson hedgehog. "We're friends, we can't leave you alone in a time of need." she reassures him.

"Thank you." Rage smiled. "Let's not waste any more time...who knows what's waiting for us up there..." he says as he begins to walk the path, the others not far behind him.

"So what? This place called The Dark Castle or something, then?" Rainbow Dash scoffs, playing off a brave facade. Deep down though, she was scared much like Fluttershy. All of this was way out of their league. "I mean Dark Mobius? Dark City? Not very creative with your names are you?"

"The Dark Citadel." Maria says. "It didn't always overlook the city like this...in fact there used to be a beautiful central park in the ground below once upon a time...or so they say." she says.

"So what happened?" Rarity asks.

"Nobody's quite sure. Legends say an evil overlord of old moved the castle here when they gathered all of their subjugates here. Then using a mixture of their magic and technology they destroyed the ground below and kept the castle suspended in the air, looming over everything, as if to remind everyone even if he was gone...they're not free from him..." Maria says.

"That's ancient history though." Rage comments. "Right?"

"Yeah." Maria sighs. "As long as I can remember it's been used as a base of operations by Nix and his people..."

"Why not take it from them?" Applejack asks. "Make it yer own?"

"We tried that once." Maria says in a grim voice. "It did not end well...when Nix returned..."

"Then make sure he doesn't return!" Rainbow Dash scoffs. "You guys act like he's this big scary bad guy who doesn't go away!"

"We've tried that." Rage says sternly. "That was the entire point of The Shadow War...instead he finds a way back...and uses my friend against his will to do so..."

"I can't imagine how much pain he must be in..." Twilight worries as they reach a large metal barricade that marks the entrance of the Citadel's grounds.

"Well darn looks like it's closed." Fluttershy says nervously. "We tried. Maybe another day!"

"Step back." Rage says as his eyes narrowed into a focused glare.

"Rage what are you-" Twilight starts to ask but Sonic put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her a few steps back.

"Watch." The blue hedgehog says with a smirk as the others take some steps back.

A fiery orange glow began to emanate from Rage as he focused. Then, a bright flash of light and the glow was now focused down and outlining the crimson hedgehog. He then throws his right arm out to the side and his sword appears in his hand. The energy was all transferred to the blade and he then shouts and slashes the door clean in half. One half falling inwards towards the Citadel and the other towards the party.

"Woah." Rainbow Dash says in awe. "That was...awesome!" She cheers.

"Y-yeah..." Fluttershy stuttered nervously as Rage puts his sword across his shoulders and turns to face them.

"Come on. Let's go." he says, guiding them inside. They passed the wall and found themselves in a large open field of mossy light green grass. The tall wall surrounded them on all sides with the northernmost wall leading into the castle.

"The Fifth Courtyard." Maria says "Strange..."

"Strange?" Twilight asks, looking curiously at Maria. "It's just a courtyard."

"The Dark Citadel's Courtyards are more complicated than that." Maria says, shaking her head. "There's Six in total. But thanks to sinister magic they can swap around which one is where and have this one at the front..."

"How do you move a whole field this big?" Applejack exclaims "One a these is at least the size of a Orchard!"

"It must be some seriously powerful magic." Twilight says in awe. "What's so special about this one?"

"It's been empty ever since they tore down the old Chapel that used to be here." Rage says. "Apparently they once had some form of religion but Nix saw to it that there were no gods aside from him."

"It's the one place where Nix can't place his Dark Spawns. Strangely enough they refuse to step foot in this courtyard. So normally it's in the Southwest, where it's nearly impossible to reach without going through other Courtyards or the Castle first." Maria says as they cross the yard.

"Which means something's up..." Rage says. Almost as if it was a cue, a slow clapping was heard.

"Bravo." Nix chuckles from the dark maw that was the door leading to the castle. "You made it all the way here and managed to take out my backup plan," he says. "I must admit, I am impressed."

"Are you Nix?" Twilight asks.

"The one and only." the black hedgehog chuckles as he walks a few steps forward.

"Come out to greet us yourself huh?" Sonic smirks. "What? You gonna give up? Figured you're gonna lose?"

Nix chuckles sinisterly. "I wouldn't get ahead of yourself there...Sonic." the dark hedgehog comments.

"So what's your game this time?" Rage asks. "Kira made it seem like you were after the Elements of Harmony but you knew they were no longer housed in some meager trinkets."

Nix chuckled. "Wrong again." he chuckled. "I wasn't aware of their status when I sent Kira. She was right. My goal is the Elements of Harmony...which you just hand delivered to me like a good little postboy."

"What?!" Rage exclaims as Nix snaps and bubbles of Dark Magic surround each of them. Rage dropped his sword out of shock and it vanished. "Nix!" Rage shouts as he goes to punch the bubble only to be shocked.

"Ah ah ah." Nix chuckles as the others exclaim and cry in shock. Twilight and her friends are then lifted into the air and brought over to Nix.

"Let us out!" Rainbow Dash demands. She stomps her hoof on the bottom of the entrapping orb and Nix sends a shock of electrical magic to that orb, shocking her. She screamed in pain.

"Now, now settle down." Nix scoffs as he looks at Rage, Sonic and Maria. "I have what I need now. Soon, Mobius, Equestria...they will all be mine."

"Let them go!" Rage shouts.

"You're not in any position to demand anything you red pest!" Nix shouts angrily.

"He may not be..." Christian's voice echoes in Nix's head. "But I am!"

"N-no...Not...again..." Nix grunted as he shook and struggled to stay on his feet.

The bubble around Rage then vanished, as did the one around Twilight. The others begin to fade before Nix shouts and releases a pulse of Dark Energy and the others are electrified, shocking everyone else.

"Dammit..." Nix cursed under his breath. "Of all the times to come crawling out..."

Rage ran over to Twilight, a dim dark glow covered her for a brief moment from being struck by the wave of Darkness. He helped her up and she gave a soft smile to show she was okay. Rage then turned to Nix.

"Looks to me like you're losing control of your puppet." Rage says with a smirk, using a crude taunt to bury his frustration and anger. 'I have to stay focused...' he thought 'I can't let my emotions get the better of me here...especially with my friends on the line...'

"Every day he fades further and further into Darkness..." Nix scoffs. "Soon there will be none of the one you know as Christain left..."

"Really?" Rage asks as he reforms his sword. "Then I'll just knock you out of him and save the rest of my friends before you can do that." He shouts as he sends an arc of Chaos energy from his sword at Nix.

The wave of energy travels a few inches and then vanishes. Nix smirks and lets out a sinister laugh as it does. Rage looked in surprise before he fired a flurry of them, only for them to have the same effect. "Impossible!" Rage exclaims "You-"

"Your Chaos is worthless here." Nix chuckles. "Maria was right to have her concerns. She's right that this Courtyard is basically like asking you to come in but thanks to some...recent developments I learned that Chaos doesn't work here. Once you launch it, the resonant energy from the old Chapel that once stood here will cause it to break down until it's nothing...and in turn..." he chuckles as he gathers Dark Energy from the air around him. "It turns it into Darkness...in fact...all magic is useless here."

"We'll just see about that!" Twilight shouts as she fires a beam of magic at Nix. Just like Rage's own attacks though it would only go a few inches in front of her before just disintegrating into the air. Nix chuckled as he absorbed the new Darkness created by it.

"It's hopeless...without his powers..." Sonic pants as he felt himself grow weaker. "...wait..."

"What's...wrong...?" Maria asks as she is hit by a sudden feeling of fatigue as well.

"Twilight..." Applejack says weakly as she collapses

"Oh that's right I guess I forgot to mention...this spell of mine...it's a bit...incomplete. If I absorb Darkness then it drains the life from those I have detained." Nix chuckles.

"You...monster..." Twilight says in shock. "I thought Tirek was bad but this...?"

"It's over." Nix chuckles as he forms a beam of energy and fires it at Rage who rolls out of the way.

'Damn.' Rage thought. 'This is bad...Nix is much more powerful than before and I can't even use magic? What do I-?' his thoughts were interrupted by a fist striking his chin. He was sent into the air by Nix who had flash stepped in front of him. Nix smirks as a fist of Dark Magic appears above Rage. Rage looked to see it and managed to use his sword to defend himself. He was able to use it to deflect himself further from Nix and land safely on his feet.

"Not so tough now without all of your fancy tricks huh?" Nix chuckles.

"That's what you think." Rage says "I may not be able to use my Chaos or Magic offensively but..." he then summons The Chaos Emeralds which appear around him. He begins to use them to change into his Super Form but mid way through the transformation stops and Rage was drained of all the energy. The sudden shock brought him to his knees.

"Rage!" Twilight exclaims as she goes to run over to him but Nix appears in front of her. "Huh?!" she gasped before he backhanded her with enough force to send her flying into the wall at the end of the courtyard, next to the entrance of the castle and break through a layer of the brick. She then hit the ground unconscious.

"Twilight!" Rage exclaims as he uses his sword to support himself. Nix laughs as he absorbs the energy that was now available that had been sapped from Rage. Rage looked in horror as his other friends all fell one by one. "NO!" he cries.

"I can't believe I used to lose to the likes of you." Nix chuckles. "Who'd have thought all it would take is to get you to form some do nothing but hold you back." He says walking up to Rage and kicking him back to the ground. A tall, black and purple flame-like aura was burning around Nix now from all of the power he had absorbed. "You should have listened to the fools who came before you." he chuckles. "I mean really, look at these pathetic creatures." he cackled as he walked up to Fluttershy, she was laying on the ground. Her eyes were still following him but she was unable to move, she was too weak, she couldn't do anything.

"Nix-" Rage spits as he gets to his feet once more.

"I mean sure, they're cute in the eyes of normal idiots like yourselves...but they've no business in a place like this. Even you can see that...it's why you spent so much of your own energy protecting them from the Darkness here." Nix chuckles as he reaches in and puts a hand to Fluttershy's chin and strokes it. She wanted to bite him but she didn't even have the energy to cry.

'Now what...?' Rage thought as Blade appeared next to him.

"This isn't good Rage. You need to retreat." the dragon says "You can't win like this!"

"I can't leave them behind..." Rage says as Nix looks over.

"Ah, the legendary Dragon Spirit of Chaos...Bureinjingukaosu. Or do I call you Blade like your new rat?" Nix chuckles, "So You decide to show your face. I think the last time I saw you that cursed creator of yours was locking me away deep in Darkness!"

"Come on Rage." Blade says to Rage, ignoring Nix's remarks. "It's best we fall back and figure out a new strategy."

"What will the great Rage Chaotic do?" Nix laughs. "Run away? Or will you still try and fight?" he asks, taunting Rage.

"Not like you're going to give me a choice..." Rage scoffs knowing it was fight or die.

"I suppose you're right." Nix laughs maniacally, this was it he thought, he was going to win. "I mean what could you do right now anyway? No Chaos. No magic. Why couldn't your ancestors be like the rest of your clan and just accept my gifts without question? I mean then none of this would have happened."

"Wait..." Rage thinks.

"Rage no." Blade says "You can't use that. If you use your Blood Curse then there's no telling if you'll even come back!"

"No..." Rage shook his head as he looked at Blade. "I absorb Chaos right?"

"Yeah..." Blade says. "It heals you and increases your physical abilities briefly. What of it?"

"I also naturally produce it because of my Chaosblood right?" Rage asks.

"Yeah..." Blade scoffs. "But now's hardly the time for me to-" Blade stops as he gets an idea of what Rage was thinking. "Rage no." he says sternly. "If you do what I think you're planning it could kill you!"

"...and if I don't, Nix wil." Rage says as he looks to Nix.

"I don't know what it is you're whispering about but nothing you can do will change what's going to happen." Nix chuckles. "I am going to do the same thing to you Chaos did to me...and then I'll turn your friends into my minions!"

"I won't let you." Rage says as he stands up right. He then glows with a pale-orange aura.

"Have you not been paying attention!?" Nix laughs "If you even throw one Chaos Spear at me I can promise one of your friends will be as good as gone!"

Rage shouts as the glow gets brighter. Nix looked confused. "What's going on?!" he exclaims as the glow completely engulfs Rage. The bright light made Nix cover his eyes and look away. "How can he use any-" he mutters as the light dies down. Once it did he looked at Rage. The hedgehog was no longer a vibrant crimson, rather a dull white color. His eyes were a dull green, almost akin to a seafoam green color. He was panting and small jolts of a white energy would shoot from his body at random.

"What is this power...?!" Nix exclaims in shock. "It can't be magic...and certainly can't be Chaos..."

"Hold on..." Maria says as she looks up. She had regained enough strength to move at least. She pulled out the device she had been using to track the Chaos Emeralds. She made a few adjustments and looked at Rage. "His Chaos...i-it's gone...?" she says weakly. Nobody else besides Sonic, who was right next to her could even hear her either due to being so weak they themselves were no longer awake or her being unable to speak at anything louder than a weak whisper.

"How...?" Sonic asks.

Rage looked at his hand and smiled "Huh...it worked." he says almost as surprised as Nix. 'Don't know how long it'll last but...I think this will work' he thought as he then looked at Nix and got ready to fight again.

"What is this?!" Nix exclaims. "What happened to your Chaos?! What kind of transformation is this?!"

"Well...considering it's gone..." Rage says as he looks back at his hand then to Nix. "I think I'll call it...Zero"