“DAMN YOU, LEX LEGIS!!! I WILL AVENGE THIS HUMILIATION A THOUSAND-FOLD!!!”

Lex allowed himself a smile as he sped through Mare Occultum, holding Nisha close. That Steel Soul was ranting instead of trying to use the Dominata again was a tacit acknowledgment by the mechanized stallion that his blessing wouldn’t work now. Whether that was because he was out of range, because it had some sort of cooldown time, or some other limiting factor wasn’t clear, but at the moment that didn’t matter.

What mattered was finding a way out of Mare Occultum as quickly as possible.

Escaping from Steel Soul had been a calculated risk. Based on what little he knew about the mechanized stallion, Lex had gambled on him having somehow known about Belligerence and having some sort of countermeasure ready, despite his only having had the weapon for a few days. It was an assumption that had been predicated on little more than what had happened during the last leg of his previous trip to Darkest Night, when Steel Soul had proven his intelligence-gathering capabilities by attacking the denizens of the realm, sending them into a frenzy that had nearly cost Lex his life.

That, and he’d felt reasonably certain that the Dominata – which he’d felt certain Steel Soul would use once Belligerence, or rather what he thought was Belligerence, was brought out – could only be used to issue one command at a time.

After all, the Charismata had the same limitation: using it multiple times on the same individual would result in each previous application being overwritten by the next one.

“ “ “My savior/lord/master,” ” ” moaned Nisha, looking up at him with wide eyes, “I-”

Be silent, ordered Lex telepathically, flying low amidst the stalagmites and rocky levels of the vast cavern that was the Night Terror’s lair. We need to erase our presence as much as possible.

He was already using his magic as he spoke, calling on Nenet’s metamagic to extend the duration of the invisibility spell he cast on both of them, following it up with another spell that would stifle the black wolf’s scent, having already negated his own with a thought. He even went out of his way to still the air in the wake of his passage, not leaving so much as a slipstream to track them by. In theory, that should be enough to foil any means of pursuit, thanks to the Night Terror’s divine aura.

The exception to that, of course, was the Night Terror herself.

But as the seconds passed and Steel Soul’s ranting grew fainter behind them, there was no sign of the avatar.

Which means that I was right about her being reluctant to face Belligerence, Lex decided, before acknowledging the more unsettling possibility. That, or she’s waiting for something-

“There you are!”

Sanguine Disposition’s voice reached Lex’s ears at the exact same instant that a massive cube of force sprung into existence around him, trapping him and Nisha inside it.

It was only because of the scout that he’d sent a few dozen feet ahead – having conjured an ice golem that was small enough to fit in his grasp and was built for speed, subsequently making it invisible to everyone except himself – that Lex knew what had happened. The golem’s purpose had been to act as a sacrificial vanguard, triggering any traps that his enemies might have laid down ahead of time. It fulfilled that function as it struck the forcefield, pulverizing itself into snowflakes as it slammed into the invisible barrier at high speed, making the sides of the cube flicker into momentary visibility from the impact.

Swearing silently, Lex was already preparing a disintegration spell as he immediately came to a halt, not wanting to risk casting anything less destructive. The only way out was through this latest obstacle, since – from the moment he’d started contemplating a tactical retreat – his foresight had showed him that he couldn’t simply use magic to leave Mare Occultum.

No matter which teleportation or plane-shifting spells he tried, his future showed them all failing to activate.

Which meant that he had to find another way out, preferably without being drawn into another fight. As much as Lex loathed Sanguine Disposition, the vampire was a powerful spellcaster; more than that, he had shown himself to be a deviously strategic thinker, one who lacked the arrogance which had made Steel Soul so easy to trick.

The vampire proved him right a moment later, wings flapping as he dove down – passing through the forefield as though it didn’t exist – a moment later.

“Is using brute force the best you can do?” pouted the leather wing as he landed across from Lex, still looking like a dessicated corpse. “More subtle strategies are in order, don’t you think?”

Lex’s answer was to change targets, turning and pointing his horn toward Sanguine Disposition as he unleashed his disintegration spell.

The attack broke his invisibility, the illusion being designed to falter when its subject took offensive action, but Lex couldn’t have cared less as the green beam of destructive magic soared toward the vampire. Even if he dodged, the magic would strike the cubic forcefield surrounding them, and that would give him more room to maneuver-

But before he finished that thought, Sanguine Disposition waved a hoof, and disintegration spell hurtling toward him suddenly aerosolized, the shimmering green beam unraveling to instead become a patch of foul-smelling greenish mist which began to rain green droplets on the ground between the two of them.

Snarling, Lex cast another spell, this time unleashing nearly a dozen pinpoints of light that swirled through the air as they rushed toward Sanguine Disposition. It was a much weaker attack spell, one that had little chance of hurting someone the Night Mare had made into one of her champions, but that wasn’t its purpose, instead being an attack meant to test whatever the vampire had done to his previous spell.

This time, Sanguine Disposition didn’t even gesture at the incoming strikes, simply grinning wider – which looked quite hideous on his withered countenance – and arching a brow.

A moment later, the magic missiles Lex had conjured went haywire, spiraling off into every direction and beginning to pulse with multicolored lights, as though they’d been changed into prismatic fireflies.

Sanguine Disposition chuckled. “Going to keep fighting, or are you ready to do the smart thing and recant your heresy?”

Stay here and wait for me, Lex ordered Nisha as he put her down, knowing that Sanguine Disposition was too dangerous a foe to fight while carrying someone.

The purple-eyed wolf whimpered softly, but made no other sound as she fell back, obeying his earlier command to remain silent despite the concealment spells he’d used having failed.

That failure, Lex felt certain, was due to the Secreta. If Steel Soul could use his blessing could here, then there was every reason to believe that Sanguine Disposition could also. In which case I’m at a significant disadvantage, Lex knew. Since his blessing is likely the only form of supernatural perception that works here.

“I won’t be called a heretic by a traitor such as yourself,” hissed Lex, using the vampire’s apparent desire to negotiate to start casting protective spells on Nisha even as he raised a rampart of black crystals around her, wanting her to have as much cover as possible.

At the same time, he conjured a squadron of ice golems, these ones as tall as himself and quadrupedal, telepathically ordering them to charge the vampire. Just like before, he had no expectation that they’d do anything; their purpose was more to test the parameters of whatever the vampire had done that was interfering with his magic.

Apparently, whatever it was didn’t interfere with the golems, because Sanguine Disposition gave a snort as he flicked the tattered remains of his tail, the motion bringing forth a storm of spectral, rotted-looking hounds. Muffled cries erupted from their ragged throats as they surged forward, the golems rearing up on their hind legs as they spread out to meet the charge.

“On what grounds do you call me a traitor, since I’m the one obeying the will of our goddess’s avatar?” continued the leather wing, as though they were having a religious debate rather than a magical duel. “Here you are, acting as though you’re the one who’s the Night Mare’s most loyal champion, even as you sow strife during a time of crisis among her faithful!”

“This crisis is no excuse for what the Night Terror has planned!”

Tearing apart the uneven stonework beneath his claws, Lex didn’t need to use his telekinesis to make them rise into the air, lifting them through will alone as he cast another spell, a burst of directed telekinesis launching the shrapnel at Sanguine Disposition. “Kidnapping and murder are inexcusable, all the more so when used against members of her own pantheon! With the elven gods already looking to prosecute a war, the strife she’s intent on causing is what you should be condemning, rather than-”

“-than looking out for the Night Mare’s best interests?” snapped the leather wing, his voice not impacted as he changed into mist, letting them harmlessly pass through his gaseous form and shatter against the forcefield behind him before returning to solid form. “You think that’s the best way to protect everything she’s built?”

The vampire’s next spell created what had to be several thousand arrows, appearing in midair and raining down with velocity far faster than any bow could have given them. They struck down with such force that the ice golems were instantly annihilated...and at an angle sufficient to strike Nisha, their trajectory such that they were about to pass above the edge of the rampart Lex had created.

Immediately, he raised the black crystals higher, the barrier now sufficient to stop the arrows. At the same time, he gave one of his claws a contemptuous swipe toward the missiles raining down on his position, the single gesture sufficient to reduce them all broken scraps of wood. The splinters bounced harmlessly off of Lex’s body as he immediately turned and rushed toward Sanguine Disposition, talons outstretched. “You can’t protect the Night Mare’s legacy by destroying everything she stood for!”

The spectral hounds immediately converged on him, but Lex ignored them; anything that was too weak to immediately destroy the golems he’d created as no threat to him. Instead, he kept his eyes focused on the vampire.

He’s raised some sort of field around himself which is warping any magic I send at him, he knew. That’s why it disrupted the attack spells I used, but not the abjurations I used on Nisha or the golems I raised. But his own magic doesn’t seem to be affected.

That left physical attacks as the more tactically-sound option...but it also meant that Sanguine Disposition had to know that.

“Know this, Lex,” replied Sanguine Disposition calmly, rotted smile still on his face as Lex closed the distance between them. “Bond with a god-killing weapon or no, you can’t stop the war that’s coming. With the elves dead-set on fighting, the only question is when it happens, and which members of the pony pantheon will survive it.”

Even as the leather wing spoke, copies of him popped into existence all around him, his words beginning to reverberate as the mirror images added their voices to his. Snarling at the tactical use of illusions that he’d utilized earlier was now turned back on him, Lex tore into the closest Sanguine Disposition...only for it to burst like a soap bubble, leaving over a half-dozen more smirking at him.

He managed to destroy four more before glowing chains suddenly sprung up from the ground, wrapping around his legs, tail, and torso in an instant.

“Nisha can be saved if you cooperate,” continued the vampire. “And not just her. You can protect everyone here, all of the souls in Darkest Night, by making sure the only goddess they have left survives the coming conflict. Can you really justify letting them all be at risk simply to assuage your precious moral code?”

The multiple images of Sanguine Disposition leaned in closer to him then. “Escape from here, and you’re abandoning the people who need you most...do you understand?”

And suddenly, Lex did.

Having spent so much of his life trying to comprehend the undetectable subtext that everyone else could easily detect, Lex had studied every aspect of language that he could. From grammatical rules and syntax to forms of rhetoric to structures of dialogue, there was no form of language whose methodology he hadn’t mastered.

That included codes of all kinds...such as the type of cipher known as acrostics, where the first entry in each part of a longer communique formed a hidden message.

“There you are!”
“Is using brute force the best you can do?”
“More subtle strategies are in order, don’t you think?”
“Going to keep fighting, or are you ready to do the smart thing and recant your heresy?”
“On what grounds do you call me a traitor, since I’m the one obeying the will of our goddess’s avatar?”
“Here you are, acting as though you’re the one who’s the Night Mare’s most loyal champion, even as you sow strife during a time of crisis among her faithful!”
“-than looking out for the Night Mare’s best interests?”
“You think that’s the best way to protect everything she’s built?”
“Know this, Lex.”

“Bond with a god-killing weapon or no, you can’t stop the war that’s coming.”
“With the elves dead-set on fighting, the only question is when it happens, and which members of the pony pantheon will survive it.”
“Nisha can be saved if you cooperate.”
“And not just her.”
“You can protect everyone here, all of the souls in Darkest Night, by making sure the only goddess they have left survives the coming conflict.”
“Can you really justify letting them all be at risk simply to assuage your precious moral code?”
“Escape from here, and you’re abandoning the people who need you most...do you understand?”

Sanguine Disposition was telling him how to get out of Mare Occultum.

Author's Note

Sanguine Disposition catches up to Lex, engaging him in a battle of magic...while sending him a coded message?!

Is the leather wing's cryptic advice trustworthy? Or is he playing a deeper game than even Lex knows?