Episode 223: Fractures

“Gosh darn it ya fuzzed up feline! Gimmie mah hat back!” Applejack flung herself after the bolting blue form of the bounding panther of shining blue electric fur. Faster than even the lightning it seemed to be comprised of, the panther, with Applejack’s trusty stetson clenched in its mouth, zipped away from the girl as she flew at it in a burst of rocket propelled golden light. Applejack swore she could hear the cat snigger at her as it vanished among the briar bushes, and she clenched her fist and shot a glare at Rainbow Dash, who was lazily lounging on Asena’s back as the wolf picked through the terrain.

“If ya don’t git yer kitty under control, Dash, I’m gonna be puntin’ it inta next week.”

“I think you got to catch her, first, AJ,” Dash said, laughing, then coughing in a fit as her lungs burned from the exertion. Clover, sighing like a put upon elder sibling, leaned over and placed green glowing hands on Rainbow Dash’s back, pouring soothing healing energies into her.

“I really wish you’d listen to me for a minute and take it easy. That lung damage isn’t going to just vanish overnight. Well, almost not overnight. Two days, perhaps? Exerting Anima may not be the best idea.”

Dash’s ears, now tapered and black fuzzed like a cat’s, twitched and the girl crossed her clawed arms. Applejack half expected to see a cat’s tail flail behind her friend, but so far while Rainbow Dash had taken on the most Beast traits among them, a tail hadn’t manifested yet, although none could deny her more feline appearance now that she’d fully awakened her Anima. Applejack wasn’t too far behind, her own arms now covered in brown fur, her fingers showing claws of their own, but her face hadn’t changed much. She felt like she’d tapped into a fair bit of Anima as well, trying to shake the Nereids, but nothing quite like what Rainbow Dash was doing.

“Hey, I got to practice if I’m going to get a handle on this, and it doesn’t put too much of a strain on me, since she kinda does her own thing anyway,” Dash said, gesturing towards where, about a hundred yards ahead, the lightning panther appeared on a tall rock, shaking Applejack’s hat as if daring the farmgirl to give chase again, “And hey, this oughta show AJ not to do crazy dumb things when I’m unconscious.”

“That’s rich comin’ from you o’ all folk, Dash! I only did what I done ‘cause there weren’t no better options. An’ it worked, didn’ it!? I shook them Dazzling knock-offs without much o’ a hitch.” Applejack rubbed her hand where Adagio’s water had cut her palm, but fortunately the cuts weren’t too deep.

“It was an impressive, if risky display of heroism,” said Asena, “Certainly I had my doubts, but you proved your ability, Applejack, and I cannot think of you or Rainbow Dash as mere fledglings. Nor Lord Spike, for that matter.”

“Glad to be acknowledged. It was no biggy,” said Spike, or rather the Gunwolf, which moved with significantly more grace than before as it kept pace with Asena. It’s appearance was not quite the same as before, its metal a brighter sheen, etched through with runes upon its legs and flanks. Noticeably curved blades extended from the front elbows, like half-moons of metal. The machine’s sharp angles were smoother, almost more organic, like a living wolf of silver rather than a pure robot.

As if to emphasize the difference, the Gunwolf glowed bright silver before vanishing into a similarly glowing Spike, who hopped upon Asena’s back, and stretched out next to Clover and Rainbow Dash, “Whew, still feels a bit weird merging with the Gunwolf. It’s like the Anima is filling my head with all sorts of tugs and pulls.”

“Same,” said Dash, sniffing the air, “Right now it’s like I can smell a bunch of different things, little animals among the foliage that smell... tasty. A part of me just wants to go hunting.”

“Sure that ain’t just yer stomach?” asked Applejack, frowning at the panther as the two had a distant stare off.

“Anima use will enhance one’s instincts, especially the ones closest to one’s natural soul,” said Simurgh, gliding down to join in on the conversation, “It may be wise for us to rest and eat.”

“Can we risk it?” asked Wallflower, gently clinging to Simurgh’s feathery back as she cast a nervous glance backwards, “I know we’ve gained some distance from where we were, but couldn’t those fish ladies catch up to us pretty quick if we stop?”

“By now I’ve managed to restore my obscuring barrier,” said Shining Armor, who was bringing up the rear of the group, his bow out and gleaming in his hand as he kept a continuous watch on the landscape passing behind them, “I think with Applejack’s distraction, we’ve managed to shake them.”

“Rest would do us good, if we could find a good location,” Clover put in, casting a worried look towards the still unconscious Sunset Shimmer, “I... don’t know why she hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Didn’t you say she was just, like, drained or something?” asked Rainbow Dash, and Clover nodded, but the concern remained heavily imprinted on her soft, gray features.

“That still is what I’m sensing from her, but its strange... she’s recovering. I can tell her spiritual pressure is gradually restoring itself, but its as if the gulf between her being ‘empty’ and being ‘full’ has grown so much that normal rest isn’t doing as much as it should.”

“I will continue to bathe her in the rain of my Wing Anima, when we rest,” said Simurgh, “It should help. Were we in more civilized parts of the Beast Realm, it may be possible to barter for restorative items. I do not know, given the current state of affairs with the Dwarves and our intentions to challenge the Allhammer Clan, that we could barter with them.”

“That is a’ wrench in the plan,” said Applejack, “Our whole notion was ta go n’ issue a challenge to them Dwarf folk, but that was when we had Sunset up an’ runnin’ at 100%. With both her n’ Dash still outta whack, we might be in a’ spot o’ trouble.”

“No,” said Spike, with far more conviction and force than he seemed to intend, as he blinked at himself and shook his head, “What I mean is, yeah, it sucks Sunset’s still snoozing, and Dash is still hurt, but I think we can still deal with the Allhammers. I think we have to, as soon as possible. The Allhammer Clan’s army is still attacking Diamond Dog settlements, and that won’t stop until someone puts a stop to it. That’s us. If Sunset and Dash can’t fight, then the rest of us, me included, pick up the slack.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Rainbow Dash sputtered, sitting up fast. She coughed, struck her chest as if to force the coughing to stop, and fixed Spike with a look, “Who says I can’t fight?”

“I do, for one,” said Clover, putting firm hands on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders, “You having this Anima power is great, but you won’t heal if you keep moving around. Please, I know its difficult, but let the rest of us handle what’s to come for the time being. Even I should be able to do that much.”

“Ugh... this sucks... but fine, fine, I’m not dumb, and I get that this is a team effort. You’re all right, and I know I can trust you guys. Heh, just never been my favorite thing to have to cheer from the benches, but I can do it. Hell, I’ll cheer louder than anyone while you all whoop some butt,” Rainbow said slowly, forcing herself to lay back down. With a wave of her hand, she seemed to beckon over her Anima panther, which came bounding over, spitting out Applejack’s hat, which the farm girl caught, before the panther turned into raw blue energy and flowed back into Dash’s body.

“Whew... tingly... I wonder if this is how Pinkie feels when she absorbs Pinkamena?” Dash said, wiggling her fingers in front of her face, “Hey Asena, you said my Anima is Fang aspect, right? And so’s Spike’s?”

“Yes, from what I can sense, both of you developed that aspect of Anima. It is not always easy to tell, even for an experienced user. You recall my lesson on the attributes of different Anima types? You should recall the traits of Fang Anima.”

Dash picked her brain, making a struggling noise as she scratched her head, “Uhhhh, it’s... pokey? And eaty?”

Nearby, Applejack groaned, “Really, Dash? It’s penetratin’ and consumein’, right?”

“Yup, those things.”

A light rumble of a chuckle escaped Asena, “Yes, the Fang aspect powers, whatever shapes they take, have a strong quality of penetrating other powers or forms, while also possessing a tendency to consume.”

“Yeah I don’t get that,” said Spike, “I mean, the Gunwolf changed, I could feel my Anima seep into it and affect it in some way. And, like, now I can just make it a part of me. That seems way different than Rainbow Dash summoning a panther. And I don’t see how ‘penetration’ or ‘consumption’ have to do with either of those.”

“No two Anima powers are the same, even among the same aspect. The key is the shared attributes of those types. Your Anima penetrates the armor and makes it your own, Lord Spike, while Dash’s panther likely has penetrative or consumptive power she hasn’t discovered yet. Both of you will learn more of what you can do, in time.”

“What about mixin’ types?” asked Applejack, “Ya said somethin’ before ‘bout being able to use more n’ one at a time.”

“Correct, but mixing Anima aspects is a thing done by experienced users, who have years of practice. I would not recommend trying to do so for you young ones. Just focus on sharpening your skill with the type you have an affinity with.”

Asena’s words hung in air, both Spike and Rainbow Dash contemplating them in their own ways. Applejack couldn’t deny she was equally curious how her own Anima worked. She so far only had parsed out that it was tied to the earth and the creation of a bear’s claw that generated quakes, but wasn’t certain if that was the extent of it. The way she’d been able to sense the dimensions of the earth around her had helped a lot in getting away from the Nereids, at least.

“If we’re looking for a spot to rest, we’ll be out of these unpleasant thickets soon,” said Cadence as she came back from scouting ahead, “There’s several rising rock formations not unlike hills just past that point. We could hide there. I also noticed a large underground river of sorts, cutting east to west, with a truly massive bridge built over it just a few miles upstream. From what I sensed, it’s quite active. Hundreds of reiatsu signatures.”

“That would be the entrance to the Allhammer Clan’s domain, Everstone Bridge. Their stronghold will not be far beyond,” said Simurgh, “This will be our last night of rest before arriving there.”

“We could just push through,” suggested Shining Armor, “I trust my stealth barriers, but I also hate surprises, and those Nereid strike me as the types that are full of those. Not to mention the way you and Asena talk about their master, Ofridir, I’d rather not underestimate what he can do.”

“So you’d rather deal with the Dwarves sooner as possible?” Clover said, rubbing her chin with hesitance, “I can’t deny its possible we might be set upon again if we risk another night’s rest, but... well, it’s fine, I’ll agree to whatever the group thinks is best.”

“I kinda feel Shining Armor, here,” said Rainbow Dash, “I hate waiting, and no offense to Svartalfheim’s residents, I’ve also had it up to here with giant-cave land. Sooner we handle the Dwarves, sooner we can maybe snag a ride on those snazzy elevators of theirs and get to the surface. Also, wasn’t Spike just saying that every moment we waste, more Diamond Dogs are in trouble?”

“Sure did,” said Spike, “So that sounds like more votes for pushing on. Anyone else?”

Wallflower opened her mouth to speak, but then slowly closed it and shook her head. Applejack looked thoughtful, adjusting her stetson back on her head, “Yeah, while normally I’d prefer ta be more cautious, I wanna git this done. So my votes we go n’ take care o’ things.”

“Hahah,” Asena barked a laugh, “Well, Simurgh, it seems our charges have the vim and vigor of young thanes! Shall we rush upon the Allhammer Clan with all haste?”

“It does seem to be the shape of things. Fortunately, even the Allhammer’s and their upstart Jarl cannot deny us fairly requested hospitality. Even a challenge, when issued with honor, demands no less from the host. It is likely we shall dine and rest at their clanhold as the details of our challenge is worked out.”

“Hah, that’s kinda nutty. Just how many rules like that run the Beast Realm?” said Rainbow Dash, “I remember that weird hydra guy we fought back at Everfree going on a lot about honor and stuff, too.”

“Don’t besmirch it,” Asena said with a hard note, “Our ways are built upon the importance of honoring ritual, as our means of guiding the otherwise chaotic instincts that link all Beasts. Without honor, our animal side is all that would remain, and you have already met those who are without it.”

“Like the troglodytes,” Clover said, “I think I understand.”

“Hmm...” Spike thought about his experiences within Fenrir’s memories, “So, is that why Jormungandr was able to just... take out Leviathan, then go to war on the rest of you? He did it through the right rituals?”

“In essence, yes. If you saw through Lord Fenrir’s eyes, you saw the day of the challenge to Leviathan's rule, one fairly issued and fulfilled by Jormungandr, and honorably witnessed by Lord Fenrir and Lady Fenrirs to confirm the results. Even his declaration of war was a formal affair, its stipulations and rules bargained and set by the rituals of our realm. In defeat, he was bound by pact to withdraw back to Niflheim and accept certain limitations on future actions.”

“Which doesn’t seem to entail not trying any more bullshit, it looks like,” said Shining Armor, “Just what the hell enforces these ‘pacts’?”

“A pact is a magic inherent and enforced by the power of the Beast Ream itself, unable to be broken by anything less than an equal power,” Simurgh explained, “Few are those that could. Perhaps the Soul Queen, or one of her direct children, but even they would not find it easy to break a willingly accepted pact. That is also why the limitations on Jormungandr were not as... thorough as you may wish, for he would never agree to a pact that limited him too much in defeat. It was still considered worthwhile to get him to agree to one, so that we’d have breathing room in the wake of the war.”

“I still don’t get it,” said Spike, “Why it all happened. I mean, I’m fuzzy on it all, but in my, er, Fenrir’s memories... Jormungandr didn’t seem to want to go to war. Not until he felt like Yggdrasil got messed with. But why did anyone let the tree get screwed with by Zero Division in the first place?”

The air grew uncomfortable as Simurgh and Asena both went quiet for a moment, their pace slowing down. Asena growled, not in anger, but with a note of shame, “Fear, my young Midgardians. Simurgh and I are among the few who were present for the ancient war without name, the war started by the split between gods who would one day be known as Hollows and Soul Reapers. No words can convey the devastation of that war. Even the Beast Realm could not escape its burning destruction. To end it, the High Chieftains were willing to make sacrifices. To ensure we would not be troubled again, pacts were struck out of what we felt was necessity.”

Simurgh’s head drooped low, also heavy with shame, “It was decided that we could trust Glory when she claimed no lasting harm would be done to Yggdrasil, and we believe we had no choice, since she agreed to keep Tirek out of the Beast Realm, along with his Hollows.”

“O...kay? But... is Tirek really that scary?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I mean, I saw him and Sunset tango. Sure he seemed strong, but not, like, so pants-shittingly terrifying that you had to bend over backwards for Zero Division just to feel secure from him.”

Again, a heavy silence from Asena and Simurgh seemed to smother the air, and then Simurgh’s voice spoke in a very quiet tone, “You may have been in their presence, and perhaps seen a glimmer of what the likes of Tirek and Glory are capable of... but I was there, eons ago, upon battlefields that no longer exist, for the force of their might destroyed the very foundations of the lands upon which they fought. To keep the Beast Realm safe from such devastation? Yes, pacts were struck. If we had not, the Beast Realm itself may have become as barren a wasteland as Hueco Mundo.”

Nothing stirred so much as a grain of sand as Tirek’s words hung in the air between him and Sombra, while Twilight shifted shaking eyes between the two, her left hand flexing and feeling uncomfortably clammy inside the confines of the Hexenfaust. Even her right, artificial hand felt itchy and sweaty from tension, which technically was impossible since it couldn’t sweat, but phantom feeling alone was enough to do the trick.

Tirek, his face a crimson slab of impatience, pulled his lips back in a sneer and said, “Well? I am not prone to settling matters between us with a staring contest, Sombra. You hate me, and I am no more fond of you, so let us not pretend we have any reason not to butcher each other, especially since you’ll never get another chance to fight me alone with no armies clashing to be concerned with or interfere with our duel. So stop giving me that blank stare and answer!”

“It is not a blank stare,” Sombra stated, the air around him growing darker as trace wisps of the void flowed from his cloak and armor like a writhing beast, its motions a stark contrast to his utter stillness, “I am merely measuring how much I care to be your therapist.”

“What!? Therapist!? What are you babbling about? I want to duel you, not talk! Have the long years of war finally caught up with your fragile mortal brain and rotted out what little common sense it had left in it?” Tirek spat to the side, and Twilight could feel her heart starting to clench as his spiritual pressure burned hotter, leaking from him with the bone rattling rumble of an angry volcano ready to erupt. She could feel the trembling of the air particles, extending miles and miles around as the desert shivered from Tirek’s barely contained fury alone.

Sombra was steady as stone in the face of it, showing no obvious fear, only long held contempt and contemplation in his placid, blood red eyes, “Scorpan is dead. It must wound you deeply to know you’ll never have the grand, final battle with your brother you so desperately desired, but never had the gall to enact. How many centuries did you wait, Tirek? Wait for him to come to you, or to feel the ‘time was right’ to invade Soul Society? So much back and forth, so many pointless skirmishes here and there, but never just finishing things.”

“Shut your poisonous mouth, human,” Tirek said with the end of menace that was a physical force, one that made the air around him bend and twist with the darkening of malice given form through reiatsu alone. It made Twilight feel sick inside, but she held her ground, refusing to leave Sombra’s side as Tirek continued, “Scorpan was a man bound by duty. A duty I despised, but I never ceased to respect his dedication to it. He would never sacrifice his precious Soul Reapers to a battle he wasn’t certain they could win, and I was ever ensuring my Arrancar were strong enough to give as good as they would get from the Gotei 13. He deserved an honorable death at my blade! That, or the damn fool should have realized Glory’s deception and finally come to his senses! Millennia of being doubted by my brother, distrusted over those snakes in the Soul Palace! A monster I may be, but I deserved to settle matters with him, or finally have him admit he was wrong, one or the other. But that is not why I am here, Sombra. I am not using you to replace the satisfaction stolen from me when Glory killed Scorpan. No, you... you just happen to be a thorn in my side that needs to be plucked, and I decided you deserved the courtesy of a fair battle, rather than the one sided slaughter that will occur once I ascend above Zero Division itself.”

“How generous,” Sombra drawled, “Also foolish. Were we to do battle here, even in the middle of this vast desert, the result would still do unimaginable damage to the world of the living. If we both use our full power, millions will likely perish from the release of our spiritual pressure alone, even at such a great distance from civilization. My goal is to protect humanity and their souls, Tirek. It does not benefit me to fight you here.”

“Cheap excuses. You can form a dimension to contain us, fool. Hmm,” Tirek scratched his nose, “Although I did think of offering the moon as an acceptable stage for our duel, but I thought you’d complain about possibly cracking it in half or at least knocking it from its orbit. Tch, the world of the living is just too fragile. But we can’t use Soul Society, because I’m sure those Soul Reaper dogs will come running. Oh, but you’d never come to Hueco Mundo, either. Bah, just form a dimensional space for us to fight in, already! Your excuses are boring me!”

With a scornful snort, Sombra threw out his right arm, the utter absence of light or form that was the darkness of his Absolute beginning to seep further from his body, “Oh, so be it! I owe you a thousand deaths for your role in taking my wife from me, King of Hollows, and I don’t object to sparing Equestria your presence by destroying you if you so desperately desire a final end!”

“This is stupid!”

Twilight didn’t quite realize she’d stepped between the two, and feeling the full force of both Tirek and Sombra’s reiatsu pouring on her at once was enough to briefly make her choke. Fortunately magic flowed up from within her, Midnight embracing Twilight’s mind from within as teal magic flared across her body, forming raven wings and flames across her eyes as she stood glaring both at Tirek and Sombra, “Both of you are being ridiculous imbeciles about this!”

“Sombra, put a leash on your pup, before I kick her aside and break her,” Tirek stated bluntly, to which Sombra grimaced and eyed Twilight carefully.

“I do not control her. That said, Twilight, it is not wise to stand between Tirek and I. We have been foes for longer than nations and empires have lived and died. I know you desire peace between Soul Reapers, Quincy, and Hollows, but that cannot happen while Tirek yet lives, and much as I hate to say he’s right about anything... there is wisdom in finishing matters between him and I before he has a chance to invade Equestria and gain power beyond what any of us can match.”

She met his gaze, teal burning eyes of magic boring into hard eyes of crimson, “Can you tell me, with utter assurance, that you can actually win?”

“...No,” he admitted plainly, “No, I cannot.”

“Hah, that’s a first,” Tirek laughed with deep amusement in his smug grin, “Has this girl child gelded you, o’ Quincy King?”

“Save your childish insults, I am merely stating the truth. I know I have a chance at beating you, but I’d be lying if I said it was a sure thing,” Sombra said, looking to Twilight with a saddened smile, “And I do not wish to lie to you about anything else. But, Twilight, even if I cannot be certain to win, that does not mean it is not worth fighting. Even in defeat, I may damage him enough to prevent an imminent attack on Equestria, buying you and your friends precious time to take matters more fully into your own hands and find a way to defeat Zero Division, not to mention deal with that Starlight Glimmer woman.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t make your life expendable!” Twilight shouted, her heart rate increasing, like a dull roar in her ears as she whipped her between Sombra, then Tirek, “Even you, I have every reason to hate you, but I won’t let that blind me! My mother and so many others have died in this pointless war that Zero Division orchestrated! You yourself have offered Sombra a chance to ally with you against them, so why throw that aside now!? Why can’t either of you set aside this rivalry to face the real threat!?”

“Yes, I’ve extended my hand to this man before,” Tirek stated, leaning forward with his very presence seeming to make his form loom large in Twilight’s view, oppressively pushing down upon her senses, “And each time I was rejected. This time would be no different, wouldn’t it, Sombra?”

“It is as he says, Twilight,” Sombra admitted, “I understand why you think alliance between Quincy and Hollow could work; Adagio and her ilk have proven useful and reasonable. But Tirek is not reasonable. His ‘alliance’ was ever a poisoned apple, offered only in the knowledge that were we to defeat Zero Division, we would simply go back to killing one another in the rubble of the Soul Palace. And now that he has a route to power by devouring Equestria’s magic, he has no need to consider alliance at all.”

“Hah! Not unless you submit to my authority!” Tirek threw his head back and laughed, “I imagine not! Although perhaps a few of your weaker willed Quincy might bend the knee if I present your head to them! What do you think, Sombra? Which of your oh so ‘loyal’ Sternritter might turn their coats after your demise?”

“You are getting ahead of yourself. I am not dead yet,” Sombra stated, the essence of his own vast and unquantifiable reiatsu sharpening to such a focused point that Twilight almost felt like she was standing next to a black hole. Between that utter void-like feeling on one side, and Tirek’s unconquerable spiritual pressure like a burning sun, she felt like her soul was being twisted into a pretzel.

Yet she wasn’t about to just fall over or let this all go down without a final say. So much rode upon what happened over the next few days. The lives of her friends, the fate of the realms, the future of practically every soul on Earth and in Equestria would come down to whether or not Zero Division could be defeated, and by whom.

All I wanted was a peaceful life with my family and friends... I never wanted power... I don’t want to have the fate of so much resting on my decisions. I don’t know what’s right. I don’t have Sunset’s confidence, or Adagio’s ambition. But I have to act, otherwise-!

As both Tirek and Sombra were poised, facing one another, with darkness forming a nimbus of crawling non-space around Sombra, and a growing aura of dark orange and red spiritual power so thick it was like raw liquid energy crawling over Tirek’s body, Twilight stamped her foot between them and raised her Hexenfaust upward over her head. Seals on the back of the gauntlet’s hand hissed and popped as hatches slid back to reveal a dark Quincy cross emerging out, rimmed in purple light and teal flames of magic.

“Twilight!?” Sombra gasped in surprise, while Tirek simply raised an eyebrow, a moment before Twilight activated the cross and was utterly engulfed in a blazing pillar of soaring purple energy.

The pillar shot up into the sky, thick and scintillating with pulses of violet power and arcs of pure teal light that wove through it like waterfalls. At the towering apex of the pillar, several hundred meters high, the pillar bloomed out into a circle run through by a Quincy cross, and echoed the sound of an all encompassing bell across the desert.

“Vollstandig...?” Sombra said under his breath, “But I didn’t think she had it under control yet...”

Twilight’s voice echoed with a resounding reverberation as the massive energy pillar began to dissipate, “I don’t. This is not the Vollstandig you gave me, Sombra, but rather a tuned version I adjusted myself with the aid of Midnight and using the Hexenfaust as a limiter. I call it...”

From the pillar Twilight stepped, air exploding around her in a storm that stirred the desert into a wave of sand, although Tirek and Sombra remained stationary. Her reiatsu flowed against theirs now, not quite an equal, but a flame no longer being blown out by their own headwinds and rather burning bright in the center of the hurricane of their own spiritual pressures.

The raven wings stemming from her teal magic remained, but were now solid and sharp angled planes of hardened power encased in blue reishi mixed evenly with her magic, the tips of which bore stylized symbols that looked like eyes. Her uniform was now overlayed with a slim fitting dark violet bodysuit that was coated in hard, almost digital plates of teal energy that formed the loose approximation of her uniform, but as if bars and scrolling lines of digitized reishi covered her. The Hexenfaust remained on her left hand, and her right hand was still the artificial ceramic as before, but both had the same digital coating of energy over them. Her bow was in her left hand, held in the Hexenfaust, and while it retained roughly the same shape as before, with the center almost like a raven’s beak, the bow shafts had split into an axis of six instead of two, with eyes identical to the ones on her wings now placed at the tips of each end of the bow. Finally, over her head, where her eyes still flamed with teal energy, she bore a five pointed halo that was solid in the center, with a final, larger eye encompassing the top of the halo's solid disc of purple light.

“Vollstandig: Null” (Holy Form: Zero)

Sombra looked upon her with a combination of surprise, slowly turning into respect and concern in equal measure. Twilight didn’t blame him for being worried. This form was experimental, and while it was stable, and she could control it, she was running a lot of risks. The true Vollstandig was still too much power for her to handle without potentially burning herself out, even with her magic to try and mitigate the damage. Vollstandig: Null was her compromise, a portion of the Vollstandig channeled through the Hexenfaust to temporarily assume this adjusted version of the form. Even as a ‘lesser’ or ‘zero’ version of the Holy Form, she estimated it’d boost her power by around 230%, give or take a few percentage points.

“Hahahah!” Tirek chuckled like a dark storm, licking his lips, “A rather tasty reiatsu you have there. Not too shabby, for a half-baked transformation cobbled together with technology and magic. I see why you keep this girl around, Somb-”

Twilight was in his space, only a flickering after image of purple light denoting her motion as she knelt low in front of Tirek, her bow aimed high as the eyes upon her wings all glowed as their iris’ focused upon him and upon the space above him. From her bow, she instantly drew and fired a length of ten arrows strung in a curve that lashed out more like instantaneous beams of force than mere arrows. Behind and above Tirek the air wavered, like a long cylinder of altered space. He was launched skyward with ludicrous speed, rippling shockwaves tracing his path up into the blue. Twilight had used the Variable to adjust the effects of velocity and gravity in that space to act like a propellant to aid her arrows in blowing Tirek upwards. She had no delusion the arrows would do much damage, but the intent was to hurl him into orbit and buy time.

“Twilight, what are you doing!?” Sombra said in alarm, already pulling forth from his shadows the edge of dark steel that was both his blade and bow, the seeming broadsword of onyx steel trailing wisps of reishi as he wrapped it in the blue flame of raw reshi particles.

She didn’t have time to answer. She was tracing the fingers of her right hand on the sand, bleeding magic and reishi into the ground and spreading it outward in a network. However, she underestimated how much time she’d bought herself, and before she could breath or blink in reaction, a red comet of muscle and incomprehensible force was impacting with her face. Tirek’s fist launched her through the air, and only the instinctive reaction of Midnight allowed Blut Vene to activate in time to keep her head on her shoulders or her jaw intact.

Her vision went black for a moment, and Twilight felt the wind over her body for an instant before she managed to open her eyes and flip in the air. Impacting through several dozen sand dunes, she dug her wings into the ground and eventually stopped... somewhere around ten miles away from where Tirek had punched her.

Standing, she wiped blood from her sore mouth, Midnight chuckling in her head.

Wow, Big Red isn’t screwing around. We launched him nearly into orbit with that move, and he was on us before we had a chance to even prepare our follow up! Those point blank arrows didn’t even faze his ass.

Yes, Midnight, I noticed. We have to adjust our plan. It's impossible to account for his power, but we can’t let him kill Sombra, no matter what it takes!

Gathering her power, she kicked off the ground and with a burst of light from her wings, she vanished from sight and began to cross that ten mile gap within a heartbeat. Yet even in that space of speed, she felt the crushing weight of Tirek’s reiatsu a moment before his form merely appeared in front of her, his face grinning with a raw, sadistic glee of combat as his fist hammered down at her. This time she saw it coming just enough to dodge, rolling to the side in a purple streak of light as Tirek’s fist impacted the Sahara desert and utterly destroyed a radius of hundreds of meters and sent sand skyrocketing upwards like a sandstorm.

For miles around small desert creatures scurried away in fear, the land shaking and dunes crumbling from the distant impact.

Twilight, still airborne, spread her wings and aimed her bow, focusing power through the eyes at the edges of her wing tips. Each eye was a channel for the Variable. Her Vollstandig’s unique ability allowed her to alter many Variables at once, one for each eye, or even enhance the effect by focusing multiple eyes upon altering a single Variable. This time she focused all of them upon Tirek and tried to alter the Variable of his speed; to lock him in place or slow him down.

He rose from the crater he was in, giving an amused look as he flexed his arms, “Oh? I’m slower? So you’re one of those types, are you?”

“Licht Regen!” Twilight intoned, and flooded the air. From her bow erupted wave after wave of thousands of narrow purple arrows of lancing energy, all wreathed in the teal flames of explosive magic as they flew in sharp moving angles to converge upon Tirek.

Not trying to dodge, Tirek spread out his arms, grinning with a tenacious joy that only made Twilight’s spine frost over with unease. Her arrows hammered into him in a series of seemingly endless explosions, each arrow carrying the kind of force in its magically enhanced reishi to level a hardened bunker. And she was raining thousands of these upon Tirek! Yet despite this, even being unable to see his body amid the cacophony of detonations, she felt Tirek rush forward. He came billowing out of the blaze, laughing like a happy madman, red skin unblemished by any notable injury. Twilight wasn’t even sure she’d scuffed him!

“My turn, girl! I’ve let you have your fun!”

There was a brutal lack of subtly to the way he raised his palm towards her, as if he knew what he was about to unleash was not survivable and that at that range even her ability to dodge would be limited. Time was passing in milliseconds, given the speed of their reflexes, yet to Twilight’s perception it was like Tirek was casually aiming his hand at her as if he had all the time in the world. The ground shook harder, the air noticeably vibrating as his reiatsu radiated from him. A thousand calculations ran through Twilight’s mind, even as the sphere of curling dark and violent orange energy pooled into Tirek’s palm.

I can teleport, but if I do that, the beam will still destroy anything in its path for hundreds of miles, possibly hitting a town or city eventually! Can I change the trajectory with the Variable? Even with all of my Vollstandig Null’s eyes, I don’t know if I have enough power! Maybe if I-

Yet even the microsecond those thoughts took was too long, and there was a ear splitting roar of noise as Tirek discharged his Cero, one so large it engulfed Twilight’s view of the desert as its swirling mass of intermixed black and reddish orange spirit power tore towards her. Blocking it with a magical barrier seemed as impossible as changing its trajectory with the Variable, but perhaps if she used the eyes to enhance both Variables at once?

She flung her right arm out, a wide half-dome of teal light forming. All of the eyes on her wings burned bright purple as she adjusted the magic barrier’s Variable strength to enhance it and make it more effective against Hollow energy, while also trying to shift the Cero upward... but it was like trying to lift a hundred mountains at once! Even so, she felt the Cero shift course, if only by a few degrees. When the mass of power struck her barrier, she felt the magic crack under the insane impact, and knew she couldn’t hold it for very long!

Raw darkness, blacker than even the destructive energies of the Cero, wrapped around the space surrounding her, and she heard the roar of the Cero vanish as if through a long tunnel. When she blinked again, the beam of power was gone, and the shifting wall of utter void fell away as Sombra stood in front of her, his blade pointed at Tirek even as he cast a glance over his shoulder at her, “Are you alright?”

“I... yes...” she breathed.

Tirek brushed off his hand, wearing a pleased smirk, “Took you long enough to interfere.”

“I felt it best Twilight get a taste of what she was trying to get herself into before stepping in,” Sombra said, “I trusted her ability to survive a few seconds against you, and I trust that now she understands why trying to step between us was... unwise.”

“Sombra, I...” Twilight trailed off, and Tirek let out another full throated laugh.

“Hahahahah! Don’t feel so bad, girl. You’re stronger than you think. That Schrift of yours can actually affect me, which isn’t something many Sternritter get to claim. Perfect your Vollstandig, and I might actually have to treat you like a threat. But for now, I’d prefer it if you let me and Sombra get down to business. If you don’t,” his eyes narrowed and his amical tone melted away to dead seriousness, “I’ll assume you’re okay with dying.”

She was afraid, but on some level less so than she had been. In a strange way, feeling the extent of Tirek’s power was helping her come to terms with the gap that she and her friends had to contend with. This was the Hollow of Hollows, the one who was equal enough to the Zero Division that he had begun the war with them eons ago. When Sunset had dueled him Twilight had been in the Precipice Realm and not truly felt this power. Now that she was standing where Sunset had, she understood.

They had a long way to go, but he was not unreachable. She’d felt it. Even as his Cero had been crushing her barrier and resisting her Schrift, she’d felt her power contest his, if only for a short time. And she knew she, Sunset, Adagio, and everyone else could still grow. Whereas Tirek would only get stronger by doing something drastic like eating Equestria’s magic.

“I appreciate your concern,” she said, “Both of you. Truly, Tirek, you are a monster as you say, but you do have a strangely... considerate side to you.”

“Pffah, don’t make more of it than it is, girl. I don’t like fighting the weak, the unwilling, or the ignorant. My strength exists to dominate those that would challenge me, which only has meaning in an open battle where all know the score. So if you remain on this battlefield, I’ll stop treating you like a child, and like a woman who knows what she’s up against and how likely she is to die.”

“Twilight, you’ve felt his power, now. You know its best to leave and let me handle this,” Sombra said, one eye still on her, the other on Tirek, who seemed in no rush.

“I have. It’s because of that I understand why I have to fight. To use everything I have to help close the gap that me and my friends have to close if we’re going to stop Glory. I can’t do that by running away now, Sombra. So please, let me fight by your side. I can make a difference, I know it.”

He got a pained look in his eyes for a second, closing them with a shallow intact of breath that he let out slowly before opening his eyes again to look at her anew, “Very well. But I won’t be able to use my full power and focus upon fighting him while also trying to protect you, so understand I can’t save you again. You’ll have to protect yourself. Can I trust you to do that?”

“I understand, and yes, you can. I won’t be a burden,” she said, readying her bow with a fresh arrow of purple light and teal magic.

“You two decided, then?” said Tirek, lazily reaching up to the hilt of the colossal claymore resting over his shoulder, “If you are, I suppose I’ll respect Twilight’s choice to remain with no more ‘girl’ comments. Sunset Shimmer forced me to draw my blade against her, but that was a game between us. This is a battle. You’ve earned my sword by merely being willing to face death.”

The air shook even harder than it already was as the glorious golden blade rang free of its sheath upon Tirek’s back, its blinding edge of aurum sharpness seeming to drink in the desert’s reflective light. Twilight’s teeth shook in her skull as Tirek’s reiatsu shot upwards, and she noticed a cracking noise in the air. Looking around she saw small, barely perceptible fissures running through the air at random points, familiar cracks that reminded her of the dimensional rifts she’d weaponized when the Soul Queen’s Left Eye had awoken inside her.

“What’s happening?”

“This is just another reason it's a poor idea for the likes of myself and Tirek to fight in the world of the living,” Sombra said, “The combined release of so much spiritual pressure is going to start creating fractures in the barriers between realms. Tirek, can we not move this elsewhere?”

Tirek smirked with derision, “My blood’s up now, boy. You’ll just have to hope the world holds together while we do this. I’ve waited long enough, and I’m sure this world can survive a few small fractures anyway.”

A hissing snarl of a man fed up with Tirek’s nonchalance issued from Sombra’s throat and he began to raise his left hand up above his head in preparation to begin creating the Holy Sanctuary he used to contain himself and Tirek at the battle of Las Noches, but Twilight quickly whispered, “Wait, will that technique be enough of both of you fight at full power?”

“Unlikely. Not if he ends up using Resurreccion, and I am forced to respond in similar fashion,” Sombra whispered back, eyes dark with growing fury.

“Then let me try something else. Something that might at least delay this fight and buy us time to think of a plan,” Twilight said, “I was preparing something at that dune we started the fight on. Let me finish it and I think I can contain him, if only for a little while.”

Sombra barely hesitated a fraction of a moment before lowering his hand, “As you wish. I’ll place my faith in you. But we must act quickly. These fractures will close on their own if they remain small enough, but if we battle for too long...”

“Understood. If you can buy me thirty seconds, that will be enough.”

A small smile cracked on Sombra’s otherwise iron hard features, “Thirty seconds you shall have, then.”

They both moved at the same instant, Twilight flying into the sky on radiant purple wings, and Sombra an utter sliver of dark speed that collided directly towards Tirek. There was an explosive howl of clashing forces as Tirek met Sombra, golden blade shredding the air to impact with Sombra’s sword of reishi, its blue edge gaining flickers of black void as he struck. They became bending blinks of maddening motion that left a landscape of cratering upheaval in their wake, each strike between them a storm of force and spiritual pressure that left the land trembling like a frightened mouse.

Twilight made a straight line towards her destination, some miles off, but she crossed it in a heartbeat. Not one to let her do as she pleased, Tirek burst into the sky like a crimson comet, and even with Sombra hot on his heels, Tirek swept his sword at Twilight’s location all those miles off. In the wake of his sword, gold points of energy surrounded by angry red and orange nimbuses of power coalesced and then fired with sky shattering power; Balas, but Balas of such potency that Twilight could feel her soul twinge at their rapid approach.

She twisted in mid-air, all the eyes of her wings flaring up in trails of violet light. Explosions rocked the sky as her Variable hardened the density of dozens of pockets of air, forming impact zones where the Balas would strike and explode before reaching her. Even so, the resulting detonations created enough force to make it look as if the desert was being hammered by a swarm of meteors, and unfortunately for Twilight, one Bala still got through that her Variable couldn’t account for!

Hammering all of her power into her Hexenfaust, she activated both Blut Vene to its highest extent and coated her bow in a magical diamond of protective magic. The Bala hit, and Twilight was hurled back by the storm of raw destructive force. Pain bit at her senses, and as she righted herself in the air, she saw her bow was damaged, but the Hexenfaust remained intact, if dented. Her hand burned with raw pain, but she shoved that aside and reformed her bow.

Above and behind her, Sombra caught up with Tirek, a second blade extending from the hilt of his sword which then curved back to form his unique bow of sharpened, blade-like darkness and blinding blue reishi. With a pull of a shadow string, The air beneath Sombra became an ocean of ink black nothingness from which uncountable obsidian arrows rose.

“Leere Regen,” (Void Rain) Sombra intoned, and a deluge of pitch dark, piercing nothingness flew up upon Tirek’s location, blotting out sunlight as the incredible mass of obsidian arrows surrounded the King of Hollows like an enclosing dome.

Tirek swung his gleaming gold claymore in mighty arcs that generated such raw, spiritual shockwaves that it cut through portions of the dark mass, the power alone distorting the spatial void of the arrows. They hammered in upon him regardless, arrow after arrow, striking with the piercing quality of void-space. Sombra was one of the few who could make Tirek bleed, make him expend effort, but all that did was make Tirek’s howling laughter echo like the thunder of a gleeful war god. Yes, several arrows drew blood that was barely darker than his own crimson skin, but Tirek’s power flowed like limitless wine from the core of his Hollow soul and his sword strikes grew fiercer by the moment.

Each blow scattered hundreds of thousands of arrows, and the resulting crescent slashes of pure gold force tore up entire multi-mile sections of desert and beyond. And all the while the world shook, and cracks formed, ever more fractures slowly growing across the landscape.

Discord slowly put away his Zanpaktou, the shimmering blade of prismatic chaos returning to the shape of a gnarled cane as he hung it from his wrist and then clapped with his hands at the exhausted group panting and sweating on the floor of the training grounds he had summoned. “Good, good! That was almost a full twenty minutes longer than last time, girls! You’re actually caught up to where you were before, maybe even a bit sharper than the old days.”

Patting down her somewhat torn and humble outfit of green and dark blue plaid dress, Cloudy Quartz stood from where she’d been kneeling. Behind her a tar-like shadow writhed and rose in mimic to her movements, its fingers extended in long, dripping claws. It hung over Cloudy Quartz like a mantle, her Fullbring responsible for much of the torn out chunks of floor, wall, and evening ceiling within the confines of the Kido-summoned training castle; the some one Discord had used to train Sunset and Clover.

“I feel the praise is premature, Discord,” Cloudy said, “Even if we’ve regained a measure of our old strength, we’ve a long ways to go in order to support our families.”

“Oooh, I don’t know, I’m rather happy to be getting so much exercise,” huffed and puffed Soft Spoken as she laid splayed out on the floor a few dozen feet back, covered in bruises. One of her Fullbring’s conjured wolves of plant and bark was nuzzling her, Fluttershy’s mother idly petting it while the broken remains of the rest of the pack lay about.

“I think our figures are the least of our troubles, Soft,” said Cookie Crumbles, wiping off blood from a split lip, some of her tarot cards floating above her hand as she groaned at her own aches, “We’re clearly out of practice. Doesn’t help that we don’t have Firefly, Sweet Cider, or Velvet with us. But I’m not complaining, mind. I’ll do what I have to so I can keep my family from losing anyone else.”

The other two women were quiet for a moment, Soft Spoken forcing herself to stand on weary legs to come over and give her friend a comforting hug around the shoulder. Cloudy Quartz took a deep breath, about to say something, when she paused and frowned. “Discord, are you making this place shake?”

Discord, having felt the same thing she had, frowned deeply. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the training area, the tall pagoda-style castle vanishing in a sea of wisp-like sparks and leaving them all standing in the mountain forest where they’d been training. Higher up on the mountain’s slope was the arena that Ditzy had summoned to work on training the younger folk. All around them, the ground slightly trembled. Discord knelt and put his palm on the ground, then closed his eyes to let his senses stretch out.

“No... I’m afraid this isn’t my doing. This is from a clash of monstrous powers, elsewhere in the world.”

“Wait, the world?” Cookie Crumbles breathed, “Does that mean...?”

“That the world itself is shaking,” Discord replied, rising and taking off his white and green striped hat to fan himself as he gave off a bemused laugh, “Those reckless fools are trying to settle their grudge here in the human realm. Foolish. Fortunately this shaking is mostly spiritual in nature. I don’t think the normal population of the world is going to feel it, but you can bet that every human with even a hint of spiritual awareness is probably wondering what the blazes is happening.”

“What is happening, Discord?” asked Cloudy Quartz, “Who’s fighting?”

“Tirek and Sombra. I can feel that much. Someone else is with them, but it's so distant it’s hard to tell who it is through the reiatsu of those two. I just hope they grow their brains back and realize they ought to take this elsewhere, otherwise the aftermath is going to be a real pain to clean up. I suppose it's time I...”

Twilight landed upon the dune, reaching to her side. The digital plates of teal light upon her Vollstandig Null’s bodysuit were more than just part of the appearance; they were protective subspace pockets. Some could absorb damage by shunting harmful energies away, but others were extensive storage spaces for equipment, including M-Cells and Ginto tubes. She could hear and feel the fierce storm of Tirek and Sombra’s clash, and she kept several of her wing’s eyes focused upon it. She sent streams of the Variable out to try and pull upon Tirek’s seemingly limitless spiritual power. If she could slow him, maybe she could weaken his Hierro, too, anything to give Sombra an edge.

Whether it was making a difference, she had no time to tell. Her hand was withdrawing an M-Cell cylinder and a set of six Ginto tubes from the subspace pocket at her left hip. She loaded the M-Cell into a port in the Hexenfaust, then with streams of telekinetic magic she sent the Ginto flying off to form a pentagram pattern roughly the size of a parking lot. She then placed her hands on the sand and began pouring reishi and magic together into the landscape.

While this happened, Tirek yawned at the continued torrent of arrows surrounding him.

“Could you please get creative, Sombra? I know we’re still just warming up, but I know you’re capable of more than just flooding the sky with arrows.”

No longer bothering to use his sword, Tirek let the ivory horns upon his head pulsate with a solid glow of pure power, a sphere of spiking black energy expanding between the two horns. From this sphere burst a hundred dark orange lances of destruction, compressed Ceros that blew holes through the tide of obsidian arrows with such force that it tore the seeming dome of darkness to shreds. Entire swaths of the Sahara began to get turned into melted, glass craters as these Cero impacted all over.

Twilight winced at the concussive shockwaves, and she had to focus the full brunt of her Variable to curve away one of the Cero that would have otherwise hit her. A glance showed her most of the surrounding desert was now a flattened, glowing haze of melted sand, like a hellscape brought into the real world. If they had been fighting in a populated region...

Tirek, looking about, noticed Sombra was above him now, and with horns still glowing, he aimed them upward, but Sombra acted just as fast, sweeping his bow in an arc.

“Bogen aus Eisennageln” (Arc of Iron Nails)

In front of the motion of his bow, cones like elongated nails of ebony formed, laced through with blue streams of reishi. There were nine of them, and as they flew down at Tirek, they vanished, moving through pools of darkness that appeared in front of them. In that same instant Tirek felt those same pools of twisted space appear around him, within an inch of his skin. The nails, transported through space, pierced in like raw points of antimatter, only held from sinking too deep into Tirek’s skin by the pure force of his reiatsu. Even so, Tirek felt space harden and grow thousands of magnitudes heavier around him as the Quincy reishi in the nails tried to hold him in place, like a Soul Reaper’s binding Kido, but made much stronger by Sombra’s Absolute.

Not done, Sombra flew down to Tirek’s level, pulling back on his bow and firing a single black arrow that split into twins that circled Tirek. As they did so, giant pillars of crackling blue reishi formed, shot through with the flickering black void of Sombra’s power.

“Qualkreis!” (Torment Circle)

From the circle of reishi pillars, huge bows formed, generating equally large arrows that flowed with dark energy and then fired in upon the bound Tirek.

“Not enough, Sombra!” Tirek roared as he tore the nails free from his body one by one with his free hand while cutting through one massive reishi arrow after another with his sword. Yet Sombra only looked down at the bursts of his reishi assault upon Tirek and spoke under his breath.

“I know.”

He appeared from one point to the next, a blinding blink of darkness from the Absolute taking him behind Tirek as the Primera Espada deflected the punishing assault from the pillars of the Qualkreis. From a patch of the Absolute’s shadow he produced a thin, black hilt of a Seele Schneider from which he manifested a bar of cutting void space and cut at Tirek’s neck, aiming for a decapitating blow.

There was a twist of red motion, a trickle of blood after a crack of sound louder than any thunder. Sombra scowled, his hand straining as he looked upon Tirek, who had bent his head around and caught the black Seele Schneider blade... with his teeth. A bit of blood trickled down Tirek’s chin as he grinned, teeth grinding against a blade of pure non-reality through pure spirit energy alone, halting Sombra’s strike.

“Good shot, boy, but...” Tirek’s mouth glowed like a hot furnace, brighter and brighter. Sombra’s eyes widened as he wrapped himself in the Absolute’s darkness to vanish and appear far away just before Tirek belched a Cero from his mouth that destroyed the Seele Schnieder, blew a path through the encircling Qualkreis pillars, and kept going to tear a new, massive ravine through the desert.

“You’re still holding back,” Tirek finished, spitting out blood and soaring up in an instant burst of Sonido that caused a shockwave powerful enough to blow away everything around him, including the remaining Qualkreis and the few nails left in his flesh. Now facing Sombra higher up in the sky, he leveled his sword at the Quincy King, “Perhaps I haven’t made myself clear this is supposed to be a final battle to the death!? Stop toying around and actually hit me with something worthwhile! I know you’re capable of more than this!”

Sombra glanced down at the wide, ruined swath of the desert, and the growing number of uneven factures forming across the air as the area quivered with the strain of physical reality.

“I am, but I won’t risk the human world by putting forth more power than this. We can kill each other without using our full strength, if death is all you seek. Why even issue your challenge to me here on Earth if you knew I would not fight at full strength, here?”

“Perhaps I was just curious to see if after so long you may have grown a stouter spine,” Tirek spat, “Gods fought on this Earth before, and sure may have reshaped a continent or two, or annihilated some local ecosystems, but this stupid rock is still standing! Now quit quibbling and fight, boy!”

Sombra felt the shift in Tirek’s reiatsu as more power built within his Zanpaktou, the Primera Espada raising his golden claymore high. Everything shook more intensely, even the particles of air and ambient reishi as red and orange energy exploded upwards from the blade, more and more until a fifty meter wide sword of raw spiritual power extended past the clouds, several kilometers high! Tirek licked the edge of his sword, held within this vastly larger blade of pure destructive force, and his blood sparked within the energy into motes of blue power that flew up the edge of the giant energy sword.

“Mine was always bigger than yours; Gran Emperador Cero.” (Hollow Emperor Flash)

A Gran Rey Cero charged beyond the limits to become something on a higher plane, and forced into the shape of a multi-kilometer long, giant sword of annihilating force! Dodging was not the question, but the fact that this attack would likely rip open the entire fabric of the living realm if it wasn’t mitigated!

As Tirek swung down, the sky scream and rippling with dimensional shockwaves as the Gran Emperador Cero descended, Sombra threw his right hand out. Blackness poured from his fingertips, edged with blazing blue reishi taking the shape of holy script. He pumped his reishi and the spatial warping ability of the Absolute into the strongest of defensive techniques. Around his feet sprang a huge, solid blue Quicy cross joined at the tips. From the tips sprang tall pillars capped with further five pointed Quincy crosses, joined by multiple rings of reishi that in turn became filled with flickering darkness from the Absolute. The sound of magnificent church bells rang from each appearing pillar, which formed an ever wider circle of barriers around Sombra.

“Kirchenlied: Sankt Zwinger!” (Church Hymn: Saint Ward)

With a howl beyond sound, the enormous blade of the Gran Emperador Cero slashed right into the glowing blue and black barrier that Sombra had created, and the sky turned dark as the world trembled from the impact.

Sombra strained, his power filling the Kirchenlied with a spatial capacity to move Tirek’s energies elsewhere, and from the growing disturbance high above where the sky began to show a wash of golden flames, it was clear he was trying to transport all that horrific power into orbit away from the Earth. The Kirchenlied was barely holding the relentless blade of destruction at bay, but only just as the Absolute worked to rip away at that power and send it elsewhere. But the amount of power in Tirek’s attack was beyond terrifying, cracking into the strongest Quincy defensive shield like it was a plane of glass barely holding back the pressure of the ocean, cracks already forming in it.

The fractures in space filling the desert multiplied as the air itself bent around the clash of energies, like a heat haze, but resulting from pure warping of the fabric of fragile reality.

Finally there was a final, resounding crack, and the Kirchenlied shattered! Sombra let the pure void of the Absolute burst out of him, all but crying out in pain as darkness exploded from his chest in a pure wave of staining ink just as the Gran Emperador Cero struck him. There was a insane chain of detonations and a cleaving roar of unleashed power as the kilometers long blade of energy ripped along the desert and carved a new canyon, the land splitting in half.

Yet the destruction was not as hefty as it could have been, Tirek could tell that much, having sensed Sombra’s technique combined with the Absolute had blunted the Gran Emperador Cero enough to prevent catastrophic damage.

As for Sombra himself, he still stood in the air where he’d been, the shroud of total darkness falling from him to reveal his injured state. A red gash cut through his armor from shoulder to hip, not deep enough for a fatal strike but one that made the Quincy King grimace with pain as the wound became covered in a shell of void, plugged up by the Absolute.

With a disappointed sight, Tirek shook his head.

“Tch, perhaps I’m not motivating you enough, Sombra. You’ll never give me the battle we both deserve while you’re playing it defensively. Hmm, maybe if I give your anger some sharper incentive?” Tirek said, and glanced down at Twilight. Sombra aimed his bow, but Tirek had already vanished, crossing the distance down to where she was in an instant. Sombra twisted space to try to alter Tirek’s path, but even the Absolute needed to rely on his senses to target an area accurately, and Tirek’s raw power made him faster.

“Twilight!” Sombra shouted in warning, too late.

Twilight, having been focused heavily on what she was setting up, barely had time to turn before she found Tirek behind her, his blade forming a golden arc at her waist height. She flew back, but felt the terrible rip through her body, and saw blood splattering from her stomach. The blow would be fatal, nearly enough to cut her in half, but Twilight knew her own body well and the full power of all of her eyes now activating her Variable at once went to work.

Her stomach didn’t heal so much as simply instantly became less cut, a bisecting blow turned into a... still pretty bad wound that left Twilight spurting blood from her mouth as she skidded to a halt at the bottom of the dune, trying to hold her guts in. Without advanced Quincy medical tech, it was an injury that would be fatal for a normal human. Twilight estimated she could survive an hour or two before blood loss killed her.

Tirek, looking at the blood on his sword, smiled at her, “Congratulations. Surviving that strike marks you as one of a handful of people I’ve meant to kill who didn’t die from the first real blow. Sombra seems to care about you. If I keep bleeding you, do you think he’ll actually take this seriously?”

“He won’t have to,” Twilight said past a choking gurgle of blood in her mouth, “Because I’m putting your childish idiocy on time out. Thirty seconds, remember? Sombra bought them for me.”

Her prep work had been completed right on time, a mere second before Tirek had attacked her. She’d figured that if Sombra didn’t get Tirek into the right spot, there was also a strong chance Tirek would just come to her. His power was so insanely immense, it led to a certain level of pure arrogance that meant that even if Tirek knew she was setting something up, he’d probably lack caution when attacking her.

And, truth be told, she knew his arrogance was well justified. But just maybe, with the Variable and enough magic...

“Zeitsperre.” (Time Lock)

With twists of teal magic, the six Ginto tubes forming the wide pentagram burst open and poured powerful alchemic reishi into a combined spiritual and magical circle she’d erected. Midnight helped Twilight guide the power, forming the complex blaze of teal fire that formed the intricate lines of magic glyphs surrounding where Tirek stood. Six large clock faces of silver, the hands and numbers burning with violet flame, rose on chains of reishi, floating up at each point of the pentagram. The clock hands spun for an instant, then froze solid as the powerful magic and Quincy combined spell activated. As it did so, every one of Twilight’s Vollstandig eyes glowed brightly, including the one in her halo, making the Variable boost the parameters of the spell as far as she could feasibly do so.

“Oh...you... clever...liiittttleee...” Tirek said ever more slowly, the thick, destructive sphere of a Cero forming between his horns in slow motion for a moment before he halted entirely. Frozen in place, or rather, in time. Oppressive silence descended upon the tortured landscape of the Sahara desert, a span many miles wide geographically reshaped by this... skirmish between godly powers. Twilight felt a twinge of both satisfaction she was alive, if barely, and fear for what she and her friends had yet to face.

Sombra, from a cloak of shadows, appeared beside Twilight, more concerned with her wound as he knelt next to her, his voice strained, “Twilight, you’re injured...”

“I’ll... I’ll live for a bit,” Twilight said, “Long enough to get back to the Silburn for healing.”

Sombra frowned, but nodded, and turned a measured look at Tirek, “That isn’t going to hold him for very long, I fear.”

“No, and within the Time Lock, he can’t be attacked, either. It’s a stop gap, nothing more... guuggh...”

“Twilight,” Sombra put her arm around his shoulder, letting her lean on him as she struggled with the pain rippling through her guts.

“Don’t worry about me. Just... just promise me you won’t fight him again here on Earth. My spell ought to last an hour, maybe two... I think. God, his reiatsu... it's already degrading my spell. I poured everything I have into it, and his reiatsu is breaking down a spell that halts time in a compressed space.”

She could sense the burning pressure of Tirek’s violent reiatsu even within the confines of her Zeitsperre, a technique she’d concocted in hopes of being able to shut down powerful foes just like him. Yet it was clear that no matter what manner of magic she used, the fundamental fact was that stronger energies would still act as walls not so readily overcome. She felt sweat drip down her face, her hand sticky with her own blood as she held her split stomach. The Variable was keeping the pain and blood loss down, but she knew her body was likely going through shock.

“This doesn’t resolve things,” Sombra said with a heavy sigh, “Tirek will still seek to battle me before going to Equestria. At best I can arrange a different battleground. One less fragile than our world. These fractures will have to be closed, too.”

“Oh, just leave that to me.”

Twilight and Sombra both looked with surprise as a portion of the desert sprouted a trap door as if from thin air, and up from it popped Discord. The man came hopping up out of the open trap door, kicking it closed behind him where it vanished with a poof of smoke. Twirling his cane, Discord gave a whistle as he looked at the frozen Tirek, “Whew, now that is an impressive bit of temporal screwery, Miss Sparkle. I suspect even Tirek didn’t expect so much out of you. Oh, my, you’ve got quite the hole in your stomach, too.”

“Discord... how did you...?” Twilight blinked, and Sombra gained a flat, dry look on his face.

“I’m sure anyone with a spark of spiritual awareness felt our fight. Discord is the kind of man who could instantly pin-point it and set up a portal to the location. Isn’t that right, former Twelfth Division Captain?”

Discord leaned on his cane, offering an almost apologetic smile, “I’m a man of preparation. You don’t spend as long as I have at this without considering hundreds of potential scenarios, and two heavy hitters using a location like this desert to have a tete-a-tete wasn’t a hard one to predict. Hmm, look at all these cracks in the realm.” Discord clucked his tongue and eyed Tirek, “His idea to fight, I presume?”

“Yes. He’s testy after losing his brother, and didn’t want to leave unfinished business with me before his big day in Equestria,” Sombra shook his head, “I don’t object to giving him what he wants, but this wasn’t the ideal way to do it, and now Twilight is badly hurt, so I must see her wounds tended to.”

“Oh, certainly, certainly,” Discord waved a hand, “I’d be most upset if Miss Sparkle perished over this petty matter. Don’t wait around on my account. I’m here to talk to the Primera Espada. I presume he’ll break out of this admittedly splendid binding within an hour or two?”

Twilight didn’t even question how easily Discord worked out an accurate estimate of how fast Tirek would break free of her spell, and just gave a weary nod. Sombra eyed Discord with hard suspicion, “And just what do you and he have to talk about?”

Discord gave a cheeky look to the King of the Quincy, smiling his snaggle-toothed smile, “Let’s just say... I want to make a bet with him.”

Author's Note

You see, this is why these people just need a convenient, indestructible arena planet to fight on, because poor Earth just can't take this crap. Tirek is working out his brother issues. This is just how he mourns, really. Violently. And Discord, apparently, has a plan of his own.

At any rate, thank you all for reading an hope you enjoyed! As always I appreciate any and all comments, questions, or critiques! 'Till next time!