My Little Sinner Ch. 14: The Lord's Knight

I stood in a bleak, moon lit room with a younger…me sleeping alone on his right side.  While most of the other orphans had roommates and toys, I had my own room that was void of any accessories.  My bed was situated in the center of the area while navy blue covers lay slightly kicked off.  Pale white walls surrounded me with a small window on the west wall while facing my back.

A blue flash shimmered behind me and materializing out of the light was none other than Reiku himself.  Once he appeared, my past self started groaning without waking up.  I remember that dream I was having at the time.  As I grew up, I always had reoccurring nightmares that I could never understand what they meant.  It wasn’t until I started my quest that I learned that these dreams were actually visions from my previous lives.

Reiku had phased through me and walked straight up to my moaning self.  Some hesitation and uncertainty took hold of him as he slightly raised his hand towards me, but in the end, Reiku finished extending his arm at me and gently rubbed my head.  After that, my past self finally started to calm down; as I had my first peaceful night of sleep.  Once my unconscious screams were completely silenced, Reiku grabbed the thrown off blankets and slowly brought them over me as he tucked me in.

This scene froze as I jerked my right hand; next I leveled my limb in the air and waved it to my left.  The world swirled around me as time moved forward a few years.  Once it stopped, I found myself in a small clearing of the forest; my previous self was twelve now and this was right after Aurelia was adopted and the two of us said our goodbyes.  Back then, I thought that would be the last time I would ever see Aurelia and it left me in a state of depression.

As my younger version sat huddled against a tree, Reiku stepped forth into my vision.  When I took notice of him, I immediately got up from that spot and buried my red and wet face into his chest.

“I’m glad she has a family now, but….but I miss her…”   I sniffed.

As a gesture to reassure me that everything would be alright, Reiku sympathetically wrapped his arms around me….

I’ve seen enough……..

This world soon deconstructed as I left those memories and was brought back into the present.  Lazily taking a seat on the floor in front of the monoliths, my forlorn sight was greeted by cyan coated girlfriend walking up to me.

“How are you feeling?”  She quietly asked.

I feel hollow.  Just how am I supposed to accept all this?  All that history of my nemesis actually caring for me.  What am I to do?  How should I proceed things?  What options must be chosen that concern my war with Reiku?  I’ve spent so long hating him for what he has done to me, and Reiku gave up hope when I lost control of my humanity; so just what the fuck am I supposed to do?

“Inrei, listen to me.  I know this situation is a big shock, but I want you to know that whatever decision you make, I’ll still be by your side and help you no matter the outcome is.”  Rainbow informed.

My response to her was carefully wrapping my arms around her back and holding her close.  I could soon feel Dash’s hooves slide around my neck pull me in.  I’m glad I’ve gotten to know and be in this kind of relationship with Rainbow.  With her warmth and softness pressing against me, I don’t want to let go.

“Come on Inrei; let’s go back home.”  Rainbow said.

The two of us let go of each other, so that way I could now stand up to leave.  When I finally propped myself up, a bell echoed through the air.

No…

After hearing the sound, I quickly sprinted down the large tower and out into the open area of the castle.  Plummeting from high point of the sky was a single azure orb that exerted a tremendous amount of force.  The blue fireball shortly crashed into the town of Canterlot, and upon impact blew up in a fiery explosion of a nine foot radius.  A human shaped figure stood within the center of the inferno; the entity drew both of its arms in then instantly swung them out; dispelling the flames that held him.  As he said he would, Lith has returned.

As Lith made his appearance, I could spot a numerous amount of ponies donned in golden armor rush out of the castle and surround the invader.  Those fools.

“Princess, order you knights back now!”  I ordered.

Lith heard my exclamation and started walking down the path towards the castle until one of the guards stepped in front of his path.  Lith barely glanced at the equine with an uninterested look in his eyes and shortly after swung his left hand; throwing all of the guards back and restrained them all with his telekinetic powers.

He’s here for me so he’s my problem; I have to stop him.  Lith only took a few more steps before I sped in front of the warrior.

“Wrath.”  Lith said in his near emotionless voice.

“After all this time, you knew all along!  This never had to happen!”  Even though I was already aware that Lith would return, his presence now infuriated me; thanks to the knowledge I just gained.

“What do you mean?”  He questioned.

“That Reiku cared for me!  And yet history repeats!”

“How did you come across that information?”

“I read the Morei’tei non sune….You knew about the whole situation and you could have prevented this war from starting all over again as much as Reiku could have!  We wouldn’t have had all these innocent deaths, destruction, and unneeded pain, so tell me why YOU didn’t bother to intervene!?”  Blood began to drip out of my clinched fist as my fingernails tore the skin and continued to dig into my palm, while I held back my rage filled tears.

I already learned why Reiku didn’t bother and look how that turned out.  But Lith; he had the power to stop this chaos right from the get go as well.  It never needed the loss of my family and friends!

“It was never my decision to.”  Lith answered.

“Bullshit!  Aside from being Reiku’s most trusted friend, as part of the Dragos Elementos, you’re aloud free reign on whatever the hell you want to do!  So don’t give me that crap, because I know you had a damn choice!”  I lashed out.

“It doesn’t matter if I did or did not have a choice, you still became a threat.”

“A threat that the both of you could have prevented!  But instead you did nothing and Reiku abandoned me while I was still growing up!  I was alone for so long…And when I finally found companionship, I lost it all!”

“You say that you’ve seen the contents of the Book, but it’s clear you did not completely dwell into history.”

What did Lith mean by that?

“What are you talking about?  What am I missing?”  I asked.

“Co’dai tsu matsudrei, a crec’ntei pei.  (Thou we may engage in battle, I wish peace on you.)”  A golden light formed in Lith’s right hand; soon the energy stretched out into a staff, and finally a blade materialized at the end.

Lith instantly stood in front of me as he swung that energy weapon of his, but I was quick enough to summon Apocalypto and block the attack.

“You dare challenge me alone?  You can’t oppose me by yourself.”  I growled.

“You may be wrong with that.”  Lith objected.

“What are you implying?”

“When we first fought, I didn’t expect you to be that strong already and underestimated you.  And when we fought last time, I held myself back for the safety of my fellow warriors.  You have yet to see me at full strength.”

We broke apart from our stance and stepped back; readying ourselves.

“Just how powerful are you?”  I asked.  Not that it would matter, its best I have an idea before charging into a storm.  Knowing Lith, he’ll at least be honest.

“Powerful enough to know that I can rival you currently.”

“Currently?”  Even though I figured out how to tap into my full potential, when I’m in my human form, I still feel held back.  Does he know about that?  And what about Lith?  Are his powers restrained as well?

“Right now I have the advantage, but if we were to combat each other in full force while in our true forms, the outcome would favor in your hands.”

He has a point; he’s not as strong as his master.  But what is this advantage he’s talking about?  I could avoid it by fighting him as my actual self…No; if I do that, I’m putting Equestria at extreme risk of destruction.  I’ll take my chances.

The sky darkened as storm clouds fueled by the intense forces emitted from Lith and me.  Our auras became so distinct; you could see Lith’s sun golden spiritual energy and my dark blue energy burning off of us.  Half a minute passed before any movement occurred.  Finally we lunged forward.

The edges of blades scraped against each other as we chanced; upon colliding our weapons, a mighty explosion of destructive sound rang through the air.  We brought our arms back and again repelled the strike we had slashed at each other.  Hit after hit connected as Lith’s scythe and my sword deflected our oncoming attacks.  I soon flipped over my foe while swinging Apocalypto in the process, but Lith spun the poll of his weapon to his back; thus blocking my attempt.  After that he twirled around while extending out his blade, but I was quick enough to step back out of harm’s way.  We then threw out might at each other as we continued to unleash a barrage of fatal strikes that still couldn’t connect an actual hit.

This deadly dance of ours was getting us nowhere as we only managed to prove that we were as fast as each other.  With every spark that flew off with each scrape, it was apparent to me that such assault would achieve only a slow fatigue.  I’ll have to change up my attacks if I hope to score a hit.

So as our weapons ricocheted off each other, I twirled my zweihander back around and slashed a bright red wave towards Lith.  A second afterwards, Lith appeared behind me while rolling in the air; unleashing his own attack onto me.  I quickly reacted by jumping and sliding a few feet back as dust shrouded the impact.  From the cloud fired out five fireballs; I dodged two and chopped the other three in half.  Once the blasts passed me, I realized the stupidity of letting this dangerous energy to continue on.  As fast as I could, I materialized a barrier and had it shape to the surrounding city; once the blasts connected with the force field, I waited a moment for the smoke to clear.  The barrier had a light green ripple and the buildings were unscathed.

Next I thrust my sword and slammed all my weight against my foe; pushing him back a good distance as he blocked me attack.  When we lost the momentum, I rammed my foot into his chest and kicked myself high into the sky.

As long as my barrier stays up and I can urge Lith away from the towns, I can insure the safety of Equestria.

With the great roar of his sonic boom, my opponent flew at me such impressive speed, that it could have put my performance in the race against Rainbow to shame.  Even though I defended myself from the hit, the power behind it was still strong enough to throw me back a good couple yards.  The moment I regain my stature, I was greeted again by Lith’s velocity as he sped straight at me.  But still I managed to repel his attempt; causing my opponent to circle around me as he continued his onslaught and creating a metallic clang as our two blades clashed.  Lith is fast, I’ll give him that.

On our recent separate, I aimed my hand at Lith and fired off a barrage of blasts.  Lith countered by throwing his left arm downwards and conjured bolts of lightning to disrupt in a hellfire of explosions.  After that, we lunged at each other again; creating shots of electricity as Apocalypto and his scythe’s energy violently intertwined.

Lith pushed forward and broke me off from our struggle, then shot me a point blank range with a cerulean beam.  His force propelled me out of Canterlot airspace and over the Everfree Forest.  When I freed myself of the attack, Lith was already in front of me; swinging his scythe.  Luckily I was quick enough to bring up my zweihander and block his slash.

Since I’m technically not over Canterlot or Ponyville, and I still have that barrier up and I can be a bit more aggressive with my attacks.

I lunged my blade forward with hopes that Lith would block; and as expected, he did.  While this close, I took a deep inhale while also charging up spiritual energy within my mouth.  When I finished, I let loose a black and purple beam that was coat with an intense flame onto my foe.  The strike managed to force Lith flat on his back as it pushed him deep into a newly formed crater.

Next I turned my attention to a single point in space and focused my will on a massive asteroid.  As I took control of that rock, I used my powers to pull it down on this very spot; when the space boulder came into atmospheric view, I fired an energy blast right at it and had that ball dig straight into the middle before causing the thing to explode into numerous meteors; all plummeting towards Lith’s crash site.

Soon I was slammed back into the largest of the meteors by Lith.  After that, I threw him off and tried swinging Apocalypto, but the moment I freed myself from that pin, Lith had disappeared.  I heard footsteps rapidly approach; reacting to the sound forced me to spin around and deflect Lith’s horizontal slash.  After that, Lith used the momentum he gained to flip himself onto one of the nearby rocks and readied his blade.

As the two of us descended with the boulders, we unleashed a series of strikes against each other while staying perfectly situated on the flaming meteors; even when one of our emplacements knocked and echoed against one of the other falling rocks and spun overhead each other.  Our metal cried with each passing hit as we refused to let up our unrelenting strikes.  I could estimate about six minutes of Lith and I just continuing to slash at each other.  At a certain point, Lith fled our conflict for some unknown reason.

Why did he do tha-OH SHIT!

I sped to what would be considered the top of this meteorite now as this rock screamed out a massive impact against Equestria.  Once at the peak, I lunged towards another meteor; when I landed, I literally charged into a more open area by running on all fours.  Finally reaching that spot, I leaped from rock to rock until I came to the point of freedom and flew off.

Well on the bright side, Equestria now has a temporary mountain.  I’m going have to remove it once the fight is over.

As I turned back, I witnessed the world rush by as I could feel a tight grip around my chest.  And very soon I could feel the cold, hard sensation of stone crumble beneath my back.  I kicked Lith off of me and revealed that I had been tackled into Ponyville.  After realizing my location, I conjured up another barrier to shield this town as all the citizens retreated into their homes.

Next I materialized a completely black orb in my left hand and threw it in Lith’s direction while swinging Apocalypto and creating a spiritual wave at the same time.  As the two attacks raced towards my opponent, Lith countered by generating a orange red sphere in his drawn back hands, then pushed them forward and launching his Kazejin; thus annihilating my onset.  As the beam reached me, I slashed vertically as my blade made contact with Lith’s Kazejin and pelted me with its suppressing force while I split it in half.  I don’t know how long it took, but it wasn’t soon enough as this devastating attack finished passing me by and exploded behind me; unleashing a powerful shockwave that rushed through the area; luckily my force field is strong enough to withstand the attack, but I don’t know how much more it could handle.

“Wrath, this is getting us nowhere.”  Lith began.  “It’s time I finish this.”

“And how do you plan to do that?  It seems we may be evenly matched.”  I glared.

“Tell me Wrath, do you know why you do not have full access to your powers in this form?”

So Lith is aware of the restriction.  I didn’t answer, but he could tell I had no clue as to why.

“The reason behind this is because our powers are so great, that the spiritual force it creates can negatively affect everything on weaker planets.  So when we transform, our body manifests a seal around our very soul and limits the amount of energy we can exert.  So for ensuring the safety of the denizens and their world, we compensate by lessening our abilities.”

“So no matter what, we’ll be equal in combat if we stay in these forms.  The only way to create a difference is to fight each other as our actual selves, but even then, we’ll still be putting this place in far greater danger.”  I’m still not about to put all of Equestria in harm’s way because of the destruction my dragon form can cause.

“Indeed, but there is a way to remove this seal and proceed with one’s full potential without putting the planet at the same risk as we would in our true forms.”  Lith informed.

“What are you talking about?”  I honestly have no clue what he’s talking about.  This has to be a bluff.  There is no way such a feat is possible.  But then, Lith did mention an “advantage.”  This maybe what he was talking about.

“It is the combined forms of what you are with what you want to be; we the Dragos Elementos have come to call this an Ultimate because of the amount of potential it allows you without going full release.”

“If an Ultimate lets the user gain that kind of control over them self, then how come your subordinates don’t have this ability?”  It’s obvious the rest of the Dragon Army doesn’t possess this technique; otherwise they would have used it against me already.

“That is because the requirements to unlocking this technique seem to vary between from person to person.”

“Then what about you?  Using such a skill on me earlier would have achieved you victory; regardless of the fact of ensuring the safety of your fellow soldiers.”

“True, but there is something you must know first.  Remember when I said I underestimated you when we first fought?  That was selective disinformation.  It’s true I wasn’t aware of your current strength back then; but the reason I never challenged you at full force is because Reiku forbids me from using my true potential unless the situation truly requires it.”  Lith said.

Once Lith finished, he closed his eyes and I could feel him channeling his energy.  As he continued, I could sense a very intense force arise within him.  Lith’s vitality seeped from the confines his body and melded with the surrounding nature.  Darker storm clouds formed with bolts of lightning striking various places all over Ponyville.  This overwhelming sensation emanating from Lith is….Nerve racking….The last time I felt this emotion is when Reiku confronted me in battle for the first time.  Sure I could take on Lith as my actual self, but like this….This could be bad.

Lith levitated a few feet into the air before bursting into a blinding golden light; causing me to shield my eyes.  When the luminosity died down, in place of the once human figure now floated a golden anthro dragon.  Aside from the humanoid size difference, this form matched closely to Reiku’s true form, but he was missing the middle horn while the other two pointed back like mine would.  Lith is also missing the spikes on the wrist; and instead of one tail, Lith has three tails; all with what looks like to scythe heads for the tips.  As he glared at me, lightning flashed behind Lith and created a shadow on the front half of his body; only the faint shimmer of his body and his now glowing red eyes pierced this darkness.

“Now Wrath, you shall witness my true strength.”  Lith announced.

Lith vanished then reappeared behind me in a matter of a second; before I could even react to his new position, my body convulsed as numerous cuts exploded off me.  My jacket slid off me for sizable holes littered coat from the multiple tears; revealing my severely slashed clothes.  Blood oozed out of each opening like little red waterfalls.  And the stinging pain didn’t set in until my inner liquid accumulated all over my body.

Damn!  It’s as I thought.  I have to be cautious while battling Lith like this.  I started channeling my vitality through me and begun healing my wounds; it’s a shame I only have access to my high-speed regeneration when I’m at full force.

The moment when four of the many cuts finished mending themselves, Lith was already in front of me; punching me in the stomach while a blue aura surrounded his fist.  My feet dragged against the ground as I went flying forty meters into a building; cracking the barrier and damaging the wall upon impact.  After that I kicked off the structure to my foe and swung my sword at him.  Lith literally grabbed the edge of my weapon and tossed off my attack.  With that rejected, I then spun around and slashed a wave at point blank range and scored a direct hit.

The smoke cleared and revealed to me that Lith came out unscathed as he grabbed me by the throat, slipped one of his feet behind me, tripped me into the air, slammed me into the ground, then grabbed my right ankle before gravity caught hold of it, bashed me into the ground like a pickaxe a couple of time, threw me, and blasted me with a violet sphere.

I managed to land on the soles of my feet, but was spared no moments rest for Lith was already on me again.  He rammed a barrage of punches into my gut, and when it caused me to keel over, Lith then kneed me in the chin so I would stand right up again and followed that by five connecting blows to my face, and finished by floating in the air as the tips of his three tails positioned in front of him while a black and white ball formed around that point and was fired against me; the initial explosion threw me back twelve feet.

Again when I recovered from the attack, Lith had already raced to me.  Before my opponent could score a hit again, I swung first.  I had slashed at Lith twenty-five times, and each one was to no avail for he used his left arm to deflect every strike.  After the last failed attempted, I jumped back a good distance while I rapidly twirled Apocalypto like a spinning helicopter blade.  A wood brown sphere that was a meter in diameter materialized within the whirlwind vortex of my zweihander, and when I stopped spinning my weapon, the energy ball connected with the tip of my blade.  I then lifted my blade and threw that sphere at Lith; like my last spiritual attack, he took it head on.  And again, once the dust cleared, Lith was walking towards me still uninjured.  Out of desperation I fired off a massive series of energy blasts at Lith; hoping that at least one would hurt him; but still no success.  He’s taking my attacks like I’m throwing fucking peas at him!

Suddenly Lith stopped in place.  What the hell is he planning?  Lith then clapped his hands once, and once they separated, a towering fiery orange rift spread open in unison with his arms.  What the hell is he planning!?  Out of the glow spearheaded three edged tips; as the things continued further out, I realized that these objects were actually swords.  As the blades exited the tear in space, I witnessed even more weapons levitate into this dimension; there were more swords, daggers, halberds, axes, just about every other edged weapon that exists.  All these blades remained touching with each other and slithered through the air in the shape of three large tentacles.  The way that these inanimate objects moved is like that they are part of a sentient being that is preparing itself.  Soon after, the three merged into one giant tendril launched after me.

Quickly reacting, I slammed all the weight of my zweihander into this metallic thing, and once the two bladed forces met, that tentacle exploded into hundreds of metal objects.  As the weapons flew past me, Lith sped right at me as I readied myself.  I managed to block his strike in time, but as the two of us struggled against each other, I could feel my right shoulder get grazed by something, and on the ground between us was a small saber with a small layer of blood sliding down the blade.  After that, Lith retreated back and I averted my gaze upwards; I was completely surrounded by all the weapons that came through that rift.

Shit!  The reason why these weapons seem intelligent is because Lith is controlling them all!

After becoming aware of their presence, all of the blades starting flying onto my position.  I was force to rapidly swing my sword in all directions, duck, throw some weapons, and flip out of the way of piercing attacks.  Apocalypto cried with each metallic clang while every other weapon shinged through the air.  As I slowly grew exhausted, I could feel more and more of my skin get sliced with each passing second.  I concentrated on a single point within me, and then expanded it; creating a burst of power that shattered all of the opposing blades.

This battle is draining me badly.  Aside from fighting Lith, I’m constantly burning energy keeping this barrier up and repairing it when it gets damaged.  Plus the blood loss isn’t helping.  As much of a stupid idea as it is, I’m going to have to wait until the battle is over to heal.  I’ll just be wasting more energy recovering from one wound while a new one takes its place.  I might actually have to consider fighting Lith as the leviathan.

As I caught my breath, my eyes noticed some glint speeding towards me; I flipped backwards as I observed the white energy lance fly over me and crash somewhere in the far distances; creating a mile wide explosion.  Force field up or not, that attack could still damage Ponyville.

To ensure some safety for the town, I flew a few thousand few into the air with the hopes of luring Lith away.  With the whistling of more of those energy lances flying at me, I began strafing across the sky; avoiding each attack as they blew up kilometers away.  As I continued through the air, my face was greeted by Lith’s fist again.  Before I could react, I was punched and kicked about twenty more times.  After the last hit, I finally managed to get into defensive positioning and blocked as many strikes as I could keep up with.

Lith then used his tails to scrape and push me away as characters of the Dragon language encircled both of his arms.  Dark purple orbs then formed within both of his hands that he soon fired at me.  I tried countering by unleashing a beam of a dark blue hue against them, but the force and velocity behind was too great for my attack to repel his.  The energy spheres disrupted my beam as they came crashing through and blasted against me.  When I retreated from the smoke, I could sense a tremendous amount of spiritual energy gathering above me.  The second I looked up, all I could see was Lith’s fiery red Kazejin.  There was no avoiding it.

I was completely consumed by the attack.  The suppressing power made my body feel like I was being burned by grueling flames that knows no mercy.  Almost like that all the pain and death I’ve caused others had been gathered into a single force that is brutalizing me.  It was even strong enough to completely annihilate Apocalypto; with that, it made the sensation worse.  With its intensity and pain flowing through every fiber of my being, I couldn’t even scream in agony; instead, my mouth just widen open like I was.  When the Kazejin finally stopped, I could barely move.

Lith then sped downwards to the earth while he grabbed me by the head.  We plummeted together towards the ground like a crashing meteor since I still haven’t recovered from my pang.  The very instance we reached Ponyville, Lith slammed me head first into the ground; unleashing a glass breaking sound for the force shattered the barrier and left me in a massive crater.  Following that, Lith lifted me back up only to kick me; causing me to impact against another building.  While sliding inches down back onto my feet, I managed to regain some movement; and just in time too; Lith manifested a bastard sword and thrust at me.  I was quick enough to place my right hand in the blade’s path, and when the tip impaled my hand, I directed the weapon away from the rest of my body.  Lith then summoned another sword and tried slashing me, but I raised my left arm up in time for the blade was embedded a quarter deep in my limb.

The two of us stayed in the position for a few seconds as more of my blood raced out of my two new injuries.  As we stood, I noticed something unusual about the weapon in my left arm.  Along the blade were little hooks.  Suddenly those very hooks started trailing around the sword and through the hilt; causing this chainsaw to dig further into my appendage.  With every centimeter it moved, I could the feel the horrible sensation of my tissue being torn up, my muscle being ripped apart, and my bone being sawn in half; it made me grit my teeth.  My arm became a mini firework of red and pink as this weapon continued to throw out my limb’s inner contents.

When the blade got to a fourth way through my arm, I kicked Lith off to stop him, and then pulled the other sword out of my palm.  Next I gripped that weapon in my weakening hands and charged my foe.  Lith easily repelled my strike along with the oncoming ones.

Out of nowhere, my center mass and back flared with tremendous pain as I coughed out a lot of blood.  As my head dipped down, I saw that Lith had impaled me in my gut with one of his tails.  My body gradually went limp while Lith slowly lifted me above him.  I could feel his eyes glaring against me as Lith threw me away a couple of feet; I couldn’t even feel the ground when I hit it and slid on my back.  Aside from the unnatural thunder, the only other sound now was Lith’s footsteps as he approached me.

“INREI!!!!”  A familiar voice shockingly screamed.  That voice was soon followed by what sounded like a jet’s roar and a cyan blue figure quickly landing in between Lith and me.

Rainbow?

“Get the hay away from him!”  She demanded.  Dash then charged Lith and when she got in range, twirled around and bucked him, but her attempt was null for he paid no mind to it.  Again and again Rainbow would punch, buck, and kick Lith, but it was still a useless attempt.

Rainbow, don’t…He’s too powerful for you…..Just run!

I then saw Dash fly into the air and after that, I could hear a large explosion.  Crashing towards Lith was Rainbow with the vibrant colors of her sonic rainboom following behind the pegasus.  She soon crashed into Lith, but upon immediate impact, Dash ricocheted off him and was quickly forced right next to me.  As she struggled to stand, I could see her face winch with pain as a small trail of red dribble down her face.  When Dash regained her stature, she sprinted in Lith’s path.  Lith simply used his right wing to shove Rainbow out of his way.

I painfully struggled trying to level off my right arm as I aimed my hand at Lith.  Come on!  Come on damn it!  Yes!  Once I finished channeling my energy, I released the blast at Lith, but he ended up batting it away.  Fuck!  I don’t even think…..I have enough energy to break…This seal and transform.

Suddenly more pain hit my body as I let loose an agonized scream; Lith had slammed all his weight against my chest and used it to springboard himself high into the sky.  Lith’s entire mass started shimmering in even more light as he began charging himself up.

This is it….I’ve lost the last bit of feeling in my body…..I’ve lost too much blood…I don’t have any strength left….And I don’t have enough energy to use my powers…..This world grows black as my vision fades……Darkness……..

From what I can tell, I appear to be floating in nothing, but an inky black void of a room.  Within the nothingness, a ripple appeared.  Soon a reflection formed; a reflection of what I once was.  A monster.  The beast that I formerly was soon surrounded by the flames of destruction as it…I was spreading chaos and death to those undeserving of it.  Seeing this is just acting as a constant reminder that of all that pain I caused to others in all my lives.  I’ve hurt others intentionally…I’ve killed others without reason….Is this…..Is this saying that no matter what, I’ll always be a monster?  Am I not given happiness even in death?

A light shined in the darkness.  Soon the light’s luminosity increased; causing that chaotic leviathan to dissolve away.  The darkness was completely gone now, and in its place was a human…me.  I stood next to the light as it hovered next to me.  Then, I slowly slid my arms around this entity and embraced it.  A blinding flash then devoured the area.

I could feel pressure pushing against my chest now while I could feel little wet droplets land on my cheek.

“Inrei, wake up!”  A voice cried.

“Please wake up!”  The voice begged.

“I need you Inrei!  Please don’t die!”  It continued.

Rainbow, please don’t cry.  I will never leave you.  I’m here for you.

My body feels different from what it did earlier.  I feel all my strength returning, all pain disappearing, and energized.  However it also feels like all the restraints on my soul has my lifted; just like I did when I first regained my true form and all my powers back, but it feels different from that; almost like I’m right under the point of my full potential.

So with this newfound sensation, I shall protect you Rainbow.

I unlatched my eyes and was finally brought back to reality.  I could see a sorrowful Rainbow Dash lamenting over my body while Lith has finished charging up his attack, then came crashing down onto my position.

With my left arm, I held Rainbow close while I extended my right arm up to the heavens and telekinetically canceled Lith’s attack when he was ten feet away from Dash and I.  I could feel Rainbow’s eyes widen at me while I witnessed Lith’s widened in shock.  Lith then broke free from my hold and flew back while I released Dash.

On both of my wrists were two spikes that reached all the way up to my elbow.  From the ankle down, my feet had morphed into three-pronged reptilian feet.  On my back, I could feel the two dragon wings, the spikes going down my back, and a tail.  On my head sat two horns, while my teeth had sharpened into fangs.  The last of my afflictions had burned away as my body finished regenerating.  The reflection in Dash’s eyes revealed to me that my pupils had slit.  And with each step I took away from Lith and towards Dash left a trail of minor plant life due to the energy seeping of me.  I have unleashed my Ultimate.

“Where I have seen darkness filling my heart…”  I began.  “Everything has become empty.  My heart has become empty.  The room I stand in is empty.  But that pure light I see will fill that room with light.  The pure light will fill my heart with its light.  And nothing shall ever be dark again in this empty room.  Thank you Aurelia and thank you Rainbow for being that light.”

Even though Rainbow still had tears pouring out her eyes, that look of sorrow was gone as she smiled determinedly and nodded at me.

“Kick his bucking ass.”  Rainbow said before retreating into the confines of the newly conjured barrier.

I unraveled my fingers from my right palm.  A mixture of a black and red light manifested in the center of my hand as it stretched out into the hilt, to which I grasped firmly.  And soon after, the massive blade had formed as I rematerialized Apocalypto.

Once I had my zweihander back, I sped at Lith while rapidly swinging my sword against him.  When I finished in the total of a second I was already behind Lith; it was almost like I phased straight through him.  When Lith realized where I was, the cuts finally formed on him while azure flames flared out of each wound until his closed them up.

Lith then charged as he flattened out his fingers and started jabbing them at me like daggers.  With each thrust of his, I easily deflected them, then immediately rammed the butt of my weapon into his chest.  Next I released Apocalypto from my grip, unleashed a series of connecting punches against Lith, roundhouse kicked him three times, grabbed my sword while it was still in the air, and slashed a dark green wave onto him.

As the force threw Lith back, he fired off a barrage of fireballs and energy blasts at me.  As the hellfire came crashing down, I unleashed a burst of my spiritual force; causing the flight path of Lith’s attack to become disoriented and colloid with each other.  With the furious explosion in place, I flew through the inferno and smoke and swung my blade at Lith.  Before it was I who had difficulty fending off Lith, now it is him who is struggling as my sword smashes against him.

To escape my unrelenting strikes, Lith took to the cloud layer.  From his jaws, Lith produced a twilight beam and directed it at me.  My response was by channeling my energy into my horns; materializing a blue and white sphere.  I fired my beam at his and easily overpowered his attack as mine disrupted his and blasted through it like it was butter.  Before my attack could reach Lith, he avoided it by flying further into the distance.

I chased after him and met up against a fury of slashes and jabs from Lith’s tails and his claws.  To no avail could Lith hit me.

I grabbed all three of his tails at once, threw him into the ground, released a hell storm of spiritual blasts for a minute, crashed down and body slammed Lith, flipped up while grabbing him again while spinning him into the ground and various objects, threw him again, and finished by firing off a brown sphere at him after characters of the Dragon language hovered around my hand.

From the smoke Lith charged me, to which I clotheslined with the flat end of my sword.  Before he could jump back up, I stomped on his chest to push him back down, and then slid my foot underneath him as I kicked him into the air.

There lunged at him and would bullet-bat at him numerous times.  Once I ceased that I flew into the heavens.  I prepared myself, but Lith was quicker for he managed to fire off his Kazejin first.  As the devastating attack raced after me, I sheathed Apocalypto back into my soul.  I directed both my hands at the oncoming force and began to channel my emotions and energy; a meter wide ball of a black, red, and brown mixture manifested.  Lith’s Kazejin caught up to me and I challenged his force with my own as I fired my Kazejin.  The overwhelming power of mine tore through Lith’s attack and it sped down his beam and impacted directly on the warrior.  I increased the durability of the protective barrier that shrouded the land by tenfold as the initial explosion from my attack had a ten mile radius.  Once the dust had cleared, Lith laid there unmoving.

I flew back down to Ponyville to assess any damage that might have occurred when the barrier shattered.  Examining the area revealed minimal destruction; it’s easily fixable for the most part.  I removed the force field since its purpose has been fulfilled, and then place my palms on the stone walkway.  I transferred some of my spiritual force into the world and released a golden pulse and had it spread all the way to Canterlot.  As the ring past the damaged structures, the cracks and indentions that plagued the two towns mended itself back together.  And that pile of meteorites soon fused with the surrounding boulders as the rocks decreased in mass and deteriorated.

I could hear the clopping sound of hooves trotting over to me; it was Rainbow.  I kneeled too roughly around her eye level and lifted her mane out her face.  I then hovered my hand over the little cut on her forehead and fed some restorative energy on her injury.  Dash’s cut instantly closed, and the blood that stained her face faded away.

“You going to be okay?”  I asked the pegasus.

“Yeah, but what about you?”  Rainbow said.

“Never felt better.”  I declared.

Even though the fight is over and Dash knows that I’m fine, she still has some tears in her eyes.  I brought my thumb up and gently wiped them away.

“There…I had something in my eye.”  She nervously said.  I know that’s a lie.

I slid my arms around her back and held my cyan love close.  “It’s okay Rainbow; I’m no longer in danger.”  After saying that, I could feel Rainbow lower her head then press it against mine.

“I thought I lost you…”  Dash’s voice slightly broke.  We stayed like this for a good minute while we embraced each other.

Both approaching footsteps and groans echoed across the air.  Turning to the source had shown that they belonged to Lith.  Seeing his presence, I summoned Apocalypto and readied myself.

“Hold Wrath!  This fight is over; I summit.”  Lith announced.  “Our battle today proved my suspicions about you; only Reiku can oppose you.  I shall take my leave.”

“Wait!  Before you go; where is Reiku?  Why hasn’t he confronted me himself?”  I withdrew my weapon, but I still wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass up.

“Reiku is in Sin Rati; recovering in an Asclepius Orb currently.”  Lith informed.

“In an Asclepius Orb?  What happened?”

“After you disappeared, an infuriated Zin challenged Reiku.  Because of Reiku’s previous skirmish with you, it left him physically and mentally weakened.  Aside from that, Zin has also entered the beginning stages of a spiritual rebirth and gained control of an Ultimate.”

Zin challenged Reiku after my battle and actually injured him to that point of recovery?  Does that mean that Zin is alright?

“Wrath, I want you to know that I agree with Zin; do not confront Reiku.”  Lith stated.

“Why say that now?”

“From your war, only negativity will occur.  You already know how it has affected you, and with every battle Reiku has with you, he emotionally dies inside.  Why do you think he sent the Dragon Army the majority of the time to face you?”

“At first I thought it was because he didn’t have time to deal with me personally.  So what is the reason?”

“The reason why is because he doesn’t want to be the one who kills you; his son.”

“If Reiku still cared for me, then why did he abandon me while I was still a kid!?”

“It was because of you.”

Me?

“You never realized this, but the more time that you two spent with each other back then, the more physically aware you became of who Reiku was.  Your body remembered the animosity you held against Reiku and acted out against him.  When the night it began, you attacked Reiku while you still slept.  Reiku realized this connection and was able to determine that if the two of you were to stay close, your violent war would resurge.  It hurt him, but Reiku figured that if you grew up happy, then he could deal with the pain.”

“But in the end, our war still continued…”

“But it doesn’t have to.  Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death.  To break this vicious circle one must do more than just act without any thought or doubt.  You can do that Inrei.”

I stood their silently absorbing every word Lith said.

I’m….I’m not sure if I can….

“And to let you know Inrei, I never considered you an enemy.”  An azure flame that formed at the base of Lith’s feet soon engulfed his entire being.  After that, the blue fire shaped into a sphere that slowly drifted away until it blew up.  Lith was gone now.