Chapters Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Celestia always cries. On the inside when she sends them to war, and on the outside as well when she learns of their deaths.
Her subjects don't know this. Some have faith this is the truth, but many others only doubt that an immortal goddess would ever care to know the pain of her mortal subordinates. In turn, they care not to know the pain of their immortal regent. Princess Celestia knows this, and is saddened. Princess Luna knows this as well, but neither she or Celestia judge these doubters, for their skepticism is neutral by itself, and their callousness is an unfortunate consequence from being brought up without love. Hate and jealousy inspired by doubt, Celestia and Luna know from firsthand experience that these things are not just poison to the souls of the mortal, but also to the souls of the immortal. The tale of Nightmare Moon serves as testimony to this…
However, now begins a tale of far greater tragedy...a story of a war between ponies and devils that supposedly claimed the lives of only a few ponies and was won by a team of great heroes in the end. The edited version makes for a comforting bedtime story for all the young children, but for all the grown-ups who actually lived the story, it makes for an endless nightmare...
It all started one night in Canterlot, in the house of the family of a royal guard, his wife, and daughter…
The family was asleep. Princess Luna, who was keeping watch of their dreams, was happy to see the dreams of the daughter, Valentine, a pink-maned foal with purple and white hair. She saw that in her dreams, she was drawing a picture of her with her mom and dad and showing it to her parents, who loved it and put it on the fridge. The wife, Jill, a burgundy-maned mare with cobalt blue hair was having a dream of a similar nature that pleased Luna. In it, she was having a picnic with her husband and daughter, smiling and nuzzling her husband as they both watched their daughter go out to play in the fields. Luna chuckled affectionately.
"I love how even I, an immortal goddess, can find these simple things that bind mortal ponies together fascinating…" she thought with a smile on her face.
But Luna's smile quickly faded when she entered the dream of the husband, Vincent…
It began as the same dream she would see every night. Vincent would just be standing watch inside the throne room of Celestia's palace with a look of apathy on his face. The sun outside would grow lower and lower until finally, it would be time for Luna to raise the moon. Every time up until now, the dream would immediately cut to black right after the sun had finished going down and the time for Vincent's shift to end had come. But this time, after the sun had gone down all the way, the dream kept going. Vincent left the throne room, his look of apathy becoming a look of anger and hatred. Luna became very worried when she saw a demonic figure materialize by Vincent's side and begin whispering to him…
"So you've finally had enough, I can see. Once I have your soul, you'll finally be free of the chains that make you a prisoner to false love…"
Luna gulped, her fear growing greater as she saw the demon and Vincent both vanish before her eyes.
"He left his own dream…" she thought worriedly as she looked around at the still intact world of the dream. "But the dream is still going. That can only mean…"
That's right, Luna. This is your dream now.
Luna gasped upon hearing those words whispered in her mind.
"That voice…" Luna said. "No...this can't be!"
Luna desperately tried to escape the dreamscape by creating a portal with her magic and jumping through it, but to no avail. She only came out of another portal that appeared in the dreamscape.
"NO!" Luna cried as she then tried using her magic to forcefully end the dream, but that failed as well. She was trapped, and she knew why…
"ANSWER ME HIGHER GODS," shouted Luna as she lifted her head up, "WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL THAT YOU ROB EVEN OTHER GODS OF A CHANCE TO PROTECT THEIR OWN?!"
Oh Luna...you know this to be a rhetorical question. The greater gods above me know not cruelty or clemency in affairs such as this. Lives that must be taken in order for their plans to succeed are just that. And though we shall not force our beliefs upon you, we must ask you not to do so either. Just as we allow you and your sister to stunt the growth of the land you rule by coddling your subjects, we only ask for you to allow us to make the sacrifices necessary for all in both your land and the world beyond to live in peace.
"GUH!" Luna exclaimed through tears, stamping her hooves on the floor. She was crying now…
"I never wanted it to be this way...how much must we endure?"
I'll take that as you humbly acquiescing to your fate. Now then, the few minutes we've been here in the dreamscape have been equivalent to quite a few hours in the real world. The night is over now. You may go end this dream now by doing in this dream what you methodically do in real life, aside from monitoring dreams, obviously. Just know that you won't wake up right away, heh heh.
Knowing what she meant, Luna turned to look outside one of the windows in the palace halls and saw the moon hanging in the night sky. If the one speaking to her was telling the truth, it would mean the time had come for her to lower the moon and provide room for her sister to raise the sun. With this in mind, Luna was better able to fight the painful tears in her eyes.
"The good regent knows…" Luna told herself in her mind. "Duty comes before all else...my sorrow is secondary...please fallen ones, know I mean no insult…"
Casting her magic, Luna caused the moon to descend. As the dream began to melt away into darkness, Luna heard the voice of the one who had spoken to her in the dream one final time…
Good work on fulfilling both of your other duties. Managing the night and abetting Death…
Luna growled in extreme anger.
"FUCK YOU!" she shouted in response to the taunt as she woke up in bed late that morning. It was 11:00 AM, five hours after the sun had come up.
"Um…" a royal guard, a pegasus with a coat of white fur, who stood beside her bed went. "Is everything alright, Your Highness?"
Luna then turned to face the guard, looking furious. She would've been embarrassed had she not been so overwhelmed with anger.
"No…" she replied to his question. "An innocent family has been destroyed...and I could do NOTHING!"
The guard was taken aback.
"You...you already know about Vincent?" he asked.
Luna was also surprised.
"You...know as well?" she asked.
"As does Princess Celestia, who has already been told." the guard replied. "Not wishing to disturb your slumber, we laid in wait for your awakening before relaying the tragic news to you..."
"Taking advantage of their politeness…" Luna thought in frustration.
"Simply asking, Your Majesty, how did you know?" the guard asked.
"I knew what had happened because of…"
Luna hesitated to finish her answer. She remembered that she and Celestia had agreed to not talk to their subjects about the greater gods if avoidable, as to not involve them in their personal troubles.
"...a dream I had that was like a vision of the future. It felt very real, like I was actually there, thus my outburst. I am sorry. The dream only gave me a glimpse of what would happen though, so please, if it's not too hard on you, could you tell me the details of what transpired with Vincent and his family?"
The guard then took off his helmet, revealing he had dark blue hair with white streaks, and bowed his head in respect as tears came out of his eyes.
"To the great dismay of all of us…" he began, his body shaking from the sadness he fought to bear. "The bodies of his wife and child were found early this morning...dead...in their own home...Vincent murdered them…"
Despite all the mental preparation Luna had given herself, the blow to her heart was heavy. She donned a look of utter disbelief as if she had never experienced a tragedy such as this before.
"How do you know it was Vincent?" Luna asked solemnly, knowing full well the answer would be the coffin's final nail. There was no running from the truth…
"Because outside the house…" the guard continued. "...the guards who went to investigate...found Vincent there waiting for them. They reported that he told them...that he was the one who did it. He even detailed exactly how he killed them. First, he woke up his wife. He lied to her that he was sorry he hadn't been spending as much time with her and their daughter, then pretended that he was in the mood for making love to her. He waited until she got into a romantic pose…before brandishing his sword before her...and beheading her…"
Luna began to hyperventilate.
"Go on…" she said, her intense rage building.
"He then went downstairs, his wife's severed head in hoof, to wake up his daughter. As she awoke, he dangled his wife's head right in front of her face...wanting it to be the first thing she would see when she opened her eyes. He laughed as he heard her shriek as loud as her lungs would allow before slitting her throat…"
Luna clenched her front hooves, now shaking with anger.
"How did the investigators react to all this?" she asked.
"They were absolutely terrified...and furious. They bellowed, "You are not Vincent! You are a terrible demon! For murdering his loved ones and traumatizing their spirits beyond repair using his body, forever desecrating his name...we will ensure you will not go unpunished in the least!", to which he replied, "I'd only hope. Since I'm in a good mood right now, I'll let you two live in exchange for delivering Celestia and Luna a message. Tell them that this is only Act I of the play. Now that the antagonist has been introduced, the fun may begin. Using the body of this feeble small-time subordinate of theirs, I'm going to lead an army of demons against this pitiful land. Let them know that many shall be slaughtered in the name of Numdust, the true lord of the dead! Ha ha ha ha ha!" and following that, he disappeared without a trace."
"The true lord of the dead…" Luna pondered in her mind, remembering the jeer she received about "abetting Death". "No...DAMN IT! They are still not satisfied...absolutely heartless..."
"Is that all the investigators told you?" she asked. "You omitted nothing, correct?"
"One part of that recap did feel off…" Luna thought.
"Yes…" the guard replied. "Forgive me lord, though I know we have much to prepare for, I want to talk some more…is that alright with you?"
"Of course." Luna responded, empathizing with the despondent guard. "I did not intend for this conversation to end simply because duty had called. You are not a mere courier to me...you are a friend who has come to me with a troubled spirit, and I wish to help ease the burden on your heart…"
It was then that the guard shed tears...of joy. He held out his forelegs and Luna held out hers as he came close to her and she embraced him.
"You have no reason to care about me…" he told her. "Any guard could have told you this and it would have made no difference. You have no reason to even know my name…"
"Do not speak to me this way…" Luna replied. "I do not see you as this world does in its cruelty. Please, tell me your name…"
"Ricard." the guard answered.
"Ricard…" Luna said, being reminded of something. "Hold on, I've seen you before. You're not one of my men or...her's, but my sister's. You're with the Jaeger Raid, the highest-ranked squad in Canterlot before the Nightbringers. How is it that you come to me acting so humble?"
"Because…" Ricard replied. "I'm not proud of myself. I foolishly thought that being a Jaeger would make me feel more important, help me realize a greater sense of purpose, but all it's done is lead me to realize that I'm just a herald who's taken more lives than most others."
"No, that's not true…" Luna told him, consoling him as she hugged him tighter. "My sister made you a Jaeger because she saw something in you...she sees something in every herald, even the lowest ranked of her royal guards…"
"I'd love to believe that…" Ricard responded sadly. "But no matter how I look at it, status means nothing at the grave. No one cares whether you're a noble or a peasant once you're gone, they say, but it goes even deeper. Unless you're declared a hero, no one cares who you were on the inside once you've died in battle. Memory of any and all good you've done vanishes without a trace. You're just a number and, hopefully, a name. At both the memorial service and in the records, all that matters is the casualty count…"
Luna hugged Ricard even tighter.
"You are not the first soldier who's come to me telling me something such as this…" Luna said, teary-eyed. "And yet I still cry every time. Please forgive me for some of the sadness I feel right now being selfish."
"Selfish?" Ricard asked, confused. "How so?"
"Some of this sadness comes from the guilt I feel…" Luna explained. "...remembering how narcissistic I used to be. Only thinking about how I was being overshadowed by my sister while our men were out there bleeding and dying while being seen as objects. But I also weep for you and every one of our men who has been brainwashed by this disgusting poison they've been force-fed. Please know these tears are for us both..."
Ricard's tears ceased. Something began to dawn on him he once thought impossible...
"You care…" he said. "It's not true what they say...you actually care about us…"
It was then that Ricard smiled and said…
"Thank you. You don't even know how happy it makes me knowing that I have a bond with the ones I fight for. I'll talk to you soon after I join Princess Celestia and my fellow Jaegers for our strategy meeting. Farewell..."
Luna smiled back at Ricard as he put his helmet back on and left her room, but it wasn't long after he left that she laid back down in her bed, nervous.
"Calm down…" she thought. "I did the right thing in telling him the truth. If this leads the gods to take him sooner, then that is their action alone. To live being caught in the lie of inward shame is worse than death anyways…"
Luna continued to muse…
"Strategy meeting…" she said in her mind. "He mentioned an army of demons...and if they're already preparing to go to battle, it's clearly not a bluff. How is this all happening so quickly? Did the gods have this whole thing planned out ahead of time?"
Of course. Numdust has been building his devil army for quite some time. And it's with our help that you never even noticed…
"What?!" Luna asked, shocked.
Did you really think Vincent was the first pony to offer Numdust his soul? Remember that you can only see other ponies' dreams Luna, not their hearts. Dreams don't always have to be reflections of the heart. And even at that, innocent, happy dreams are incredibly easy for us gods to doctor.
"You faked their dreams?!" Luna shouted angrily. "How long have you been doing this?! How many souls have you ruined?!"
Only for a month. We must say, it wasn't difficult for us to find 300 ponies who were bored with their everyday lives and had grown tired of waiting for a god to make things better for them, to the point where even a devil was good enough for them…
"Three hundred ponies?!" an outraged Luna cried. "You may as well have destroyed three hundred thousand ponies!"
Oh, give me a break. Even you and your sister would sacrifice three hundred ponies to save three hundred thousand. And regarding the war that's about to go down, I'm sure you'll be quite pleased to hear that the casualty count is planned to be very low, despite Numdust's boasts.
"When will you learn that it's not the numbers that matter?!" Luna screamed. "It's the way you treat our subjects like tools to be thrown away that is outright DESPICABLE!"
Like we've already alluded to, it's not about being cruel or kind. But if we have to be either cruel or kind, or heaven forbid both, as part of our duty, we will be.
"What is the purpose of this war anyways?" Luna asked. "Why does this all need to happen?"
To foster hope for this generation that has long been deprived of it. This war will give birth to new heroes, essential role models for the youths of today. This is what I've been told.
Upon being told this, Luna actually began growing calmer.
I know what you're sensing...and you're right. Ricard is one of the new heroes, along with the rest of the Jaeger Raid squad.
"...Even if you are telling me the full truth, this in no way changes my stance." Luna said firmly. "I will make sure that every soul you have hurt will be given comfort, starting with Vincent's family…"
Good luck with that. Until next time…
After saying that, the god who was speaking to Luna left her mind. Such was the way that gods of a higher level would communicate with lesser gods, through telepathy.
"At least now I have more reason to believe that Ricard will be safe." Luna told herself in her mind as she got out of bed. "But that does not mean I can rest easy. Even before the war begins, I must provide aid to the spirits of the broken…"
It was then that Luna departed her bedroom, setting course for Vincent's house. As she left, the god who had spoken to her earlier began talking in their own mind…
Good work, Luna. We knew Act 1 was well suited for your character in this story about Celestia and her heralds. Now the focus may shift…
Inside Celestia's throne room, there stood the remaining members of the Jaeger squad, Gordon, the lieutenant, and Leo, the captain. Gordon was a unicorn who had blonde hair, Leo was an earth pony who had orange hair, and both had white coats just like Ricard. Leo also wore a necklace that had a ring adorned with the gray emblem of a lion attached to the string. Princess Celestia, sitting on her throne, was waiting for Ricard along with the other Jaegers. The god smiled as they saw Ricard ready to enter the throne room.
It's a good thing only I know what will make this meeting unique…
Ricard pushed open the doors to the throne room to meet his ruler and comrades...
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Ricard entered the throne room.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.” he said with a smile on his face as he bowed to her.
Princess Celestia, however, did not return the smile. Even before Ricard had come in, she had worn a blank expression on her face.
“...It’s good to see you, Ricard.” Celestia said as a small tear came out of her left eye. She quickly wiped it with her hair, which was covering the left side of her face.
Looking at his companions wearing equally blank facial expressions, Ricard quickly remembered the tragedy that had transpired and stopped smiling out of respect.
“S-sorry…” he apologized. “I was only happy because your fair and compassionate sister consoled me.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Celestia told him. “I’m certain the victims we’re all weeping for would want us to be merry. It’s not just what you’re thinking right now...as darkness approaches, we can only hope for all of us to see each other again alive and well…”
Ricard gulped as he also remembered that he and his comrades were soon to go to battle...he tried to remain confident as he walked over to Gordon and Leo and stood by them.
“Now that we are all gathered here,” began Celestia, “it is time to discuss the plan…”
Celestia then glanced over to the shadows of her three soldiers…
“You can come out now, Nightbringers…” she said.
With that, a trio of untraditionally dressed soldiers jumped out of the shadows of the Jaeger Raid guards. One was a female unicorn who had a black coat of fur and blonde hair, another was a male earth pony who had a blue coat of fur and white hair, and the final soldier, a male pegasus, had a red coat of fur and white hair. Each of them also wore a cape that matched their fur color, and each cape had an insignia on it. The blonde haired one’s cape had a symbol of a puddle of blood on it, the blue coated one’s cape had a symbol of a katana and a white stroke above it to represent a slash, and the red coated one’s cape had a symbol of an ember of fire giving a dark glow.
Despite their flashy outfits, they moved like ninjas as well as they hid like them in the shadows, doing rolling jumps up to the ceiling and landing on all fours in V formation, with the guard who had a red coat of fur taking the lead in front and his comrades standing behind.
“You called?” the leading guard said in a tone of jest.
“Yes,” replied Celestia, “please stand by the Jaeger Raid and listen as I disclose our plans for battle-”
“Princess, princess…” the leading guard said smugly as he raised his front hooves as a gesture of his nonchalant attitude. “It seems you’ve not caught on yet that we’re not into this formality crap…”
Leo put his right hoof on his face as Celestia gave the leading guard a bemused look.
“I asked you nicely, Dante…” Celestia told him. “Is asking to be shown respect in my throne room too much to request?”
“Always with the respect card…” Dante replied. “We don’t do this out of disrespect for you. We do this out of respect for the one who raised us to keep things simple and sweet for everyone, Akame…”
Celestia shuddered, just hearing her name spoken by him. She felt her heart sink as she knew debate would only lead to her getting a speech she would dread.
“Moving onto our plan-” Celestia said before being interrupted.
“We already know the situation.” Dante intervened. “Akame told us everything. So to explain it in the simplest terms possible, there’s an army of three hundred demons headed our way and it’s the job of the Nightbringers to wipe them all out! We’ll lead the attack while the Jaeger Raid acts as our support! Is that right?”
Celestia shot them a cold stare before replying with…
“No. I would have thought Akame to have the courtesy to disclose all of the information her soldiers need to know to them.”
“What?” Dante replied in confusion.
“The battle strategy Akame devised and disclosed to me is quite different than how you perceived things would go down…” Celestia explained. “The Jaeger Raid and an army of 200 men shall lead the attack on an army of demons who are waiting for us at a field near a fortress due north of here. The Nightbringers, also abetted by an army of 200 men of Akame’s, shall act as their support, establishing a magical barrier around both our army and the enemy army so that the enemy may not escape. It is purposeful that we will approach them with an army that has a disadvantage in numbers, giving them a false sense of confidence before the Nightbringers appear with their army and put up their barrier. They’ll feel trapped and soon realize that the only way out is to face judgment…”
Celestia then shut her eyes and gulped, turning her head away.
“Keep calm…” she thought. “It’s the demons we’re punishing, not the ponies they were…”
“After the Jaegers and the rest of our army have…” Celestia gulped again, fighting back the urge to cry. “...killed them all, they will move towards the fortress, where the castellan, the commander of the demon army resides. Defeat him, and the land shall be safe once more…”
“Woah…” Gordon and Dante went in awe.
“Your Majesty,” said Gordon in a tone of fascination, “that plan is magnificent.”
“Your Majesty…” Dante said in a tone of feigned fascination. “...that plan sucks. You expect us to believe Akame came up with this? Is this your unusual idea of a joke?”
Celestia and the Jaeger Raid glared at Dante angrily.
“I can get over that we’re getting put to the kids’ table despite being the squad most suited for taking on an army of demons,” said a frustrated Dante, “but I can’t get over that you’re doing it at what could be the cost of many lives! Do you really hate us that much?!”
“Not to mention,” chimed in the Nightbringer with the black coat, “disregarding us and the Jaeger Raid, that’s an army of four hundred men total. That’s going to cost you a pretty penny.”
“There is no reason you should be doing what you’re doing,” intervened the Nightbringer with the blue coat, “when you have three highly trained, devil-slaying warriors of the darkness who can wipe out a demon army of three hundred effortlessly.”
The angry looks Celestia and the Jaegers gave the Nightbringers...actually got less angry.
“Your Majesty,” said Leo, turning to Celestia, “though it pains me to say it, they bring up good points. Mind their attitude, they have good intentions in what they say.”
“The Nightbringers’ claims do hold some water,” said Ricard, “as they are renowned for killing large packs of demons in the past.”
“I don’t know about wiping out an army of three hundred…” Gordon chimed in skeptically. “But still, I understand why they feel they are the most pragmatic choice for the squad that will lead the attack.”
Celestia took a deep breath.
“Similarly,” she began, “I understand why all of you feel the way you do...but this battle strategy was not devised based on feelings, not based on what Akame and I feel is the best plan, but what we know is the best plan. What mortals feel is foolishness today, they could very well realize to be prudence tomorrow.”
Celestia then looked at Dante.
“Dante,” she said to him, “Leo is right about you and your comrades’ intentions being valiant, but you have to understand that the purpose of this seemingly unorthodox strategy is not to do something as heinous as throw the lives of my men away just to spite you. Rather, it is to save the lives of as many of my men as possible. Believe whatever you will, I don’t care that you are servants of Akame. I love all of you equally…”
A memory flashed through Dante’s head of Akame sitting by a TV and showing him, Trish, Vergil, and a group of young ponies a video of an agreement she had made with Celestia. Having paused it, she told them…
“I gave her permission to see you whenever she wanted…”
The memory ended there as Dante said in his mind…
“Love...bullshit.”
Dante was then silent for some time before crossing his forelegs, closing his eyes, and going…
“Hmph. Fine. Just please tell us what exactly we have to do and we’ll get it done.”
Celestia then went over the specific details with them over where they would have to go and where their men would be positioned. Before long, it was time for the two squads to head to battle. A chariot arrived for each squad to fly them to the battlefield. The Jaegers’ chariot was flown by the traditional team of royal guards while the Nightbringers’ chariot was flown by a team of royal guards that resembled the ones that piloted Luna’s chariot in Luna Eclipsed. As each chariot made its way to the battlefield, both the Jaegers and the Nightbringers talked amongst themselves.
The conservation between the Jaegers went as such…
“I feel so embarrassed…” Gordon said. “I’m with the second-highest ranking squad in Canterlot now and I still get butterflies in my stomach every time I ride this chariot that takes us to battle…”
“Are you sure you don’t just have motion sickness?” Leo remarked, partly joking, partly being serious.
“It’s not ever physically that I feel at disease…” Gordon assured. “It’s mentally. I’m one of those types that just can’t stop thinking, you know. My mind is always harassed with thoughts I’d rather just not think…”
“Are you afraid of death?” Leo asked, having sensed what was bothering him.
“Um...not so much death…” Gordon replied nervously. “But what comes after death…do you think there’s anything after death?”
It was then that the usually quiet and reticent Ricard became unnerved. He typically hated this kind of conservation because most of the time he heard it, he found himself disagreeing with the philosophy of the ponies talking about it entirely, either because he thought it sullenly cynical and shallow, laughably naive and undisciplined, or both. He clutched his forelegs and turned his head away, dreading what he would have to hear. Leo noticed, and empathizing, decided to give Gordon the most inoffensive response he could think of…
“Obviously, no one, including me, knows for sure…” he began. “...but it matters not. Whether it’s eternal bliss, eternal torture, conscious nothingness, unconscious nothingness, or even reincarnation, I personally don’t care. It’s all in the future, and life isn’t about worrying about the future. It’s about living in the moment.”
“...” Ricard went, finding this to be far more bearable than he expected.
“...I see what you mean…” an agreeing, yet hesitant Gordon replied. “But what should I believe in while living in the moment?”
“I hate going with the cliche of “You have to figure that out for yourself.”,” continued Leo, “so I’ll try to say it like this, “Believe what you feel is right.”. Live your life by what you believe is the right way to live. If the Reaper doesn’t agree and he takes you to hell for it, fuck him. He’s an idiot.”
“...!” Ricard went, surprised that Leo was talking about this in a manner completely different than what he had expected. He was now looking over at him in astonishment.
“You…” a speechless Gordon said. “You’d face eternal torture for what you believe?”
“I’d face anything for what I believe.” Leo assured. “If I let the grave scare me away from living my life doing what’s right, then I’m a coward. And even if I’m totally wrong, whose fault is that? Mine, or those chucklefuck gods who didn’t give me proof of shit even after I cried my eyes out for it?”
Gordon paused as memories of darker times came flooding back to him...sitting in his room as he overheard his parents fighting and sometimes saying they wished they had never had him...often, he would pray when this would happen, and never, would he get an answer…
“You’re right…” he said with a dark frown. “They should be the ones to blame…for mocking our faith...”
“Exactly…” Leo replied. “And even if my prayers were answered in my time of need, what would it have changed?”
“...?” Ricard went, remembering the experience he had with Princess Luna. “No, don’t tell me…”
“They clearly didn’t care to do anything, so what useful thing would they have said?” Leo continued. ““Life sucks kid, deal with it. You just gotta believe?” What a waste.”
“Leo…” Ricard intervened, feeling inclined to say something. “I think gods who actually care about us do exist.”
“Let me guess…” Leo replied, turning to Ricard. “You’ve had a more pleasurable experience. Tell me about it, I’d like to know.”
“I...talked to Princess Luna about what I was going through this morning after I found out about what happened with Vincent, and…” Ricard explained. “...she said some things that genuinely helped me feel better. I feel that she really cares about me...and all of us.”
“Wow,” said an impressed Gordon, “I never thought Luna had an affectionate side to her. I always thought Princess Celestia more the kind to do something like that. Glad I can respect her more now.”
Leo, however, was not enthralled upon hearing this in the slightest. He began thinking to himself…
“Oh boy…how do I break it to them without totally crushing their hearts?”
“...It’s good that she showed concern for you when you needed emotional support…” Leo began after thinking through carefully how to say what he wanted to say. “...but don’t forget the positions both of you are in. She’s a princess, and you’re a high-ranking herald fighting for her sister and the land they rule. Just asking for your opinion, do you think she would have done the same for any of the other guards?”
Despite Leo’s attempt at being diplomatic about it, Ricard’s heart immediately sank as he not only saw what Leo really thought, he began to have doubts about what Luna really thought back when she had comforted him…
“Y-yes…” Ricard assured, in spite of his confidence waning.
“Why?” Leo asked.
“Because…” Ricard replied, beginning to feel embarrassed, knowing the kind of pony he was talking to…
“...the way she reacted to everything I told her felt real…” he eventually continued, knowing he had to say something. “...she did something I thought no regent would ever do…”
“I can’t imagine most regents doing something like that either,” replied Leo, “but only a sociopath or a psychopath, I can imagine seeing someone who fights especially hard to keep their people safe not worth their time comforting when they need help. How guilty do you think she would have felt if you went out to battle and got killed just because you were depressed and couldn’t focus? That doesn’t mean she’s a saint, it just means she’s not a total cunt.”
Gordon and Ricard both knelt their heads, both of them silent and feeling very conflicted.
“I guess he feels that way about Celestia too…” Gordon thought. “Man, what does it take to be a saint?”
“Even if she is who I thought she was…” Ricard thought. “I was too presumptuous, too hasty in my desperation to have something optimistic to believe in...I guess today just wasn’t my day for my faith to be sight after all…”
“It’s never pretty to watch…” Leo thought as it pained him to see his comrades upset. “But though the truth hurts, it sets you free…”
Very true, Leo, very true. Too bad you’re not the judge of what the “truth” is. All you’ve done is set up countermeasures for what you think are our traps, failing to realize that you’re in a trap right now...
Meanwhile, on the Nightbringers’ chariot…
Dante, Trish, and Vergil were sitting on their seats musing over their discussion with Princess Celestia sullenly. Dante was particularly unhappy.
“Gosh, I can’t stand this!” he exclaimed. “This just feels so wrong!”
“Yes, it sucks Dante, we know as well as you do.” Trish said.
“It’s the world though, unfortunately.” Vergil followed up. “Unfair as this is, we’ve overcome worse.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know all that!” Dante exclaimed. “The problem is that it’s not good enough for me! I know I’m going to get over it eventually, but how does that help me get over it now?!”
“Why are you choosing now to get mad about this?” Trish asked.
“Yeah, if you accepted the situation back then, why are you having trouble accepting it now?” Vergil asked.
“Because back then, I had to watch what I said with Princess Celestia around!” Dante explained.
“...” Trish and Vergil were both silent.
“Hey, I’m a lot more diplomatic than you think!” Dante proclaimed as he held up his clenched front hooves. “Trust me, I don’t say half the crazy shit that runs through my mind, much less do! If the devil in me had his way, I would’ve wrapped my hands around that cunt’s neck, bitten through her cheek, licked the blood on the inside of it, then smeared it in her eyes so that she would cry tears getting mixed with the blood that I would drink-”
“You’ve made your point.” Trish intervened.
“You lost your cool again.” Vergil told him.
Dante immediately became silent, putting his front hooves down and kneeling his head in shame-filled self-reflection.
“What’s the point?” he asked himself in thought. “I trained myself to suppress my demonic urges around other ponies...for what? Just to be able to function in society, and...that’s it? How can I be satisfied with just that? I want more...I want to be honest in how I act. I don’t just want to pretend this crap doesn’t bother me, I want it to genuinely not bother me.”
He then slumped back in his seat, feeling defeated.
“It’s hopeless…” he thought further. “My dumbass mind is too complacent. Just shove everything down when you’re obligated to and find false comfort in your uncleansed soul…”
“...Why can’t I be shown a better way to live than this?”
Dante then growled as he was reminded of Princess Celestia again.
“Akame may have her issues…” he said in his mind. “But at least she showed us how to live in darkness and survive all the pain and strife. You, however, gave us nothing while we were in hell. You showed us no light at the end of the tunnel, neglected your most important responsibility…”
“...How can anyone believe you really care?”
Meanwhile, back at Canterlot Castle...
Princess Luna had returned from Vincent’s house and was now in the halls, strolling to the royal dining room. She was doing so with a smile on her face, being in brighter spirits now.
“I love having a reason to be happy now…” she thought to herself. “Because if I’m happy, they’re happy too. I’m going to give them a picnic like no other...”
Luna then entered the dining room, where a feast had been laid out for her, her sister, and a group of nobles on an elegantly decorated table. Without a second thought, Luna pulled up a chair adorned with a moon emblem at the top that sat at the head of the table, right next to a chair decorated with a sun emblem at the top. She sat down in it, slid it back towards the table, and unceremoniously, began devouring the food that had been put in front of her.
“Oh heavens yes!” she exclaimed, getting crumbs of bread all over the tablecloth. “The rolls taste like the food of the angels! And the roast pork is divine! Truly, this is the joy of being a god, experiencing pleasure shared with your mortal servants!”
The nobles sitting at the table with Luna were all puzzled.
“But none of us have even touched our food yet…” one of them thought.
“I hope the incident with Vincent didn’t disturb her to the the point of madness…” another one thought.
One noble, upon looking at all the others remaining silent as Luna continued eating, thought…
“I guess I have to be the one to say something…”
“Excuse me, Your Highness.” the noble said as he turned to Luna, who stopped eating to look at him.
“Yes?” Luna responded, looking around the table and wondering why none of the nobles were feasting.
“We only ask if plans for this luncheon have further changed.” the noble said. “Earlier, your gracious sister announced that she would unfortunately not be taking part in this afternoon’s feast due to her troubled feelings about the war happening today. In a situation such as this, the duty for praying for the safety of our troops would be passed onto you.”
Luna swallowed the food that remained in her mouth in shock as she turned to the chair next to her and could not believe that it was only now that she noticed Celestia wasn’t there. Feeling guilty about her neglect for both her and the troops, she bowed her head and said…
“I’m sorry...can you please tell me where my sister is? For now, this lunch is postponed.”
Luna was then told that Celestia had retired to her bedroom, and so, she made her way there.
“Sister?” Luna asked upon softly opening the door to Celestia’s bedroom. “Is everything alright?”
Celestia was lying in bed with a morbid look on her face. Looking at Luna, who walked over to her, she replied…
“No. Akame spoke to me in my mind again.”
“Shit.” a disgruntled Luna cursed. “What did that bitch say? Unless you do not wish to talk about it, which I shall understand.”
“It...wasn’t what she said that is troubling me deeply at the moment…” Celestia said in a crestfallen tone of voice. “It’s what I’ve done...Akame only reminded me of it…”
“What would that be?” Luna asked.
“I’ve sent two of my men to die…” Celestia said.
“My dear sister, we’ve discussed this in the past.” Luna said. “Those men would not want for you to feel guilty for-”
“...and two hundred of my men to kill three hundred of my beloved subjects…” Celestia abruptly continued.
Luna slowly started to realize what she meant as she remembered what Akame had told her.
“Sister...” Luna said, downtrodden as she lowered her head. “You have my sympathies. But we both know that there is no way to restore a pony who has given their soul over to a devil back to normal. After that, they only serve to kill as pawns of the devil. At that point, though unbearably sad to say, death is better…”
“From what we know sister,” replied Celestia, “that is the truth. But only from what we know. My experience with Akame has made me more cautious than ever. Akame tried to “ease my fears” by telling me that only two of my men would die in this war and that Vincent still counts as one of my men. Now, knowing Akame, why do you think she would say that?”
It soon dawned on Luna what Celestia meant. Luna got a look of shock on her face...that to Celestia’s shock, turned into a smile.
“He might be saved!” Luna suddenly exclaimed with joy before she covered her mouth.
Celestia gave Luna a perplexed look.
“We’re sorry,” apologized Luna, “we’re not happy that two men are going to die, rest their souls. We’re just...really happy to know that...there might be hope for him. They still love him…”
Celestia understood now, realizing what her sister had done.
“Oh, my sister…” Celestia said warmly. “So compassionate and kind...please return and eat with the nobles...I’ll even join you if you wish…”
“I would want nothing more…” Luna replied as she and her sister began to trot over to the dining room. Before leaving the room though, Celestia paused to look out her bedroom window.
“My men…” she said in her mind. “I shall pray for all of you...and ensure that the ones who fall this day will have their peace…”
Once Celestia and Luna had left the room, however, Akame appeared in the bedroom, taking on the form of a gray alicorn with long black hair and a cutie mark of a shadow pony with green eyes bowing down to a devil. She walked over to the window Celestia had looked out of and laughed.
“So she caught on to what I was up to…” she said sinisterly. “But it matters not. Nothing can prepare her for the outcome of this war...ah ha ha ha ha!”
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
The chariots that had carried the Jaegers and the Nightbringers finally came to the ground and stopped. The Jaegers’ chariot came to stop at a deserted plain while the Nightbringers’ chariot came to stop near a cliff that was a fair distance away from where the Jaegers were. As the Jaegers got out of their chariot, they took a look around.
“I guess that must be their army’s hiding spot…” Gordon said, examining the cliff in the south near where the Nightbringers’ chariot had docked, and seeing that it cast a large shadow for Akame’s men to hide in.
“I hope it’s cozy for them.” Leo remarked.
“It’s actually kind of sad…” Ricard said, empathizing. “They must have been really excited to fight head on in a battle like this. To have their hopes betrayed after their leader got them up like that, they must be feeling crushed right now.”
“Their mistake was having too much trust,” said Leo in a deadpan tone of voice, “especially in a lowly creature as detestable as Akame. I don’t fully trust Celestia, I can’t say for certain that she’s “good” when I don’t even know her personally, but at least I know she stands for something good. I can follow a goddess like that…”
“Satisfied with following a goddess he doesn’t even fully trust…” Ricard thought. “...so long as they stand for something good. To me, it sounds dumb, but the way he sees it, he probably thinks it’s a display of unwavering devotion to good. But I’m not that selfless. I want to feel like I have a relationship with Celestia...and more than ever, I want to feel like I have a relationship with Luna now…”
It was then that Gordon noticed the army of two hundred men he and the other Jaegers were meant to lead approaching them and turned to face them. Stopping, the herald in front of the army who was commandeering the troops stepped forward, took off his helmet and said…
“We await your command, Jaeger Raid.”
Gordon then looked over to his two teammates, who were still looking in the opposite direction, amidst in thought.
“Hey,” he said, “something tells me that he’s not just referring to me.”
“...”
“...”
Leo and Ricard were both still silent for a short period of time before turning around to face their army.
“Thank you for your patience.” Ricard told them, trying to be polite.
“Let us lead the way to victory.” Leo said.
Soon, the Jaeger Raid was leading the army in a march to the battlefield, not knowing that behind them, Akame was watching…
Still an alicorn, she appeared on the plain, having used a teleportation spell. Staring at the soldiers sinisterly before glaring at the cliff where the Nightbringers were by, she chuckled to herself.
“Finally,” she said to herself, “I’m going to directly put the wheels in motion…”
She then flew to the top of the cliff using her pegasus wings and looked down at her servants, who were just about to set off towards the battlefield to cast the barrier spell. Trish, the one who would cast it, could see that Dante was still upset.
“Depending on the circumstances,” said Trish to Dante, attempting to make him feel better, “they may very well need our help in combat.”
“It’s not just that…” Dante replied. “I don’t want to see any innocent ponies get killed…”
“Nopony necessarily has to die,” chimed in Vergil, “if enough men are simply wounded, we’ll be called in to aid them in battle.”
“But still, that doesn’t change the fact that our comrades are going to get hurt just because we have to follow these fucking stupid orders…” Dante responded, still distraught. “If they don’t want to only send us in to fight these demons, fine. But why can’t we at least just all work together from the get-go and fight them all together? It just makes no sense how we have to watch things go to shit before we can do anything to help.”
“Ha ha ha…” Akame laughed from above. “Just be grateful you’ve been given the opportunity to help after things have gone to shit...it’s a luxury that most can only lie to themselves about having…”
“Akame!” the Nightbringers exclaimed upon noticing her after hearing her. Akame then flew down below and landed in front of them.
“I know you won’t say it to my face, Dante,” said Akame to Dante, “but you blame me as well for this “stupid” plan, just as you blame me as well for the torture you and your friends were put through at Hell’s Orphanage.”
“...” Dante, Trish, and Vergil were all silent as they gave Akame glares of bemusement.
“Don’t get me wrong though,” continued Akame, “I’m glad that you are not blind to the fact that both Celestia and I are evil, even if you believe that Celestia is the greater of two evils for doing nothing to save you from eternal darkness…”
“Look Akame,” said Dante, “we don’t really care about how you perceive our beliefs. What we do care about is why you’re here.”
“I’m just here to inform you with a very significant update I’ve made to my plan…” Akame replied. “I’m going to be the one to lead the backup army instead of you three.”
“What?!” the Nightbringers exclaimed.
“You heard me right,” said Akame, “I’m also going to be the one to cast the barrier spell. While the battle unfolds, I want you three to sit on top of that cliff and watch three hundred demons get massacred effortlessly by Celestia’s army. There will be no casualties, or even any injured on our side from the battle, rest assured.”
“Of course…” Dante thought. “She knew how much we hated simply the idea of having to just watch all this without being able to do anything and now she’s going out of her way to make it reality...but as long as no one gets hurt, we can’t really complain since it’s only our suffering.”
“However,” continued Akame, “don’t start thinking that I’m just doing this to torment you. I didn’t have you three brought out here for nothing. In fact, I have a very important job for you all.”
Akame then did a magic spell as her horn emitted a dark glow. Behind her, she summoned 199 shadow pony soldiers out of a large pool of darkness that formed on the ground. She also summoned a soldier at her side in the same manner, only this soldier, to the Nightbringers’ surprise, was one of Princess Celestia’s heralds, bearing the signature yellow armor of one and a white coat of fur…
“?!” Vergil went, being especially surprised as he felt something off about the soldier’s aura.
“Why is one of Princess Celestia’s royal guards with you?” Trish asked.
“Hey, he’s not chopped liver,” joked Akame, “ask him yourself…”
As Akame raised a hoof in the herald’s direction, the herald heard an order spoken by her in his mind…
Respond to them appropriately when asked questions. Don’t let them catch on before he awakens…
“Okay,” said Trish as she turned to the herald, “why are you with Akame?”
“Akame has given the fair Princess Celestia’s royal army an arsenal of weapons imbued with holy magic,” explained the royal guard, “potentially making them more powerful against a legion of devils than Akame’s soldiers that are not within the elite ranks. Thus, I was asked to join you in your mission, where we will defeat a great demon looking to show up in this region. A demon so powerful, not even you three would be able to defeat him by yourselves in a fight. Darkness alone shall not be enough to fell him, you must also have the power of light on your side.”
“Power of light?” Vergil thought. “But that soldier is like us...only his feels even darker…”
“Oh…” Dante went as a blank expression he had worn began turning into a smile. “Oh...I get it now. You didn’t screw us over, there was just a change of plans.”
“You know I’ve never left you three just hanging in the wind.” Akame replied, smiling as well. “Trust me, once everything is over, you’ll be hailed as the greatest heroes of Equestria. Makes for a much better title than “Celestia’s #1 squad”, right? We all know who really gets the credit for that…”
“Yeah!” a now happy Trish exclaimed as she grabbed the foreleg of the herald of Celestia’s. “Come on, whatever your name is!”
The herald paused for a while before answering…
“...Mr. Tong.”
“...” Vergil glared at the herald suspiciously as Trish started to drag him over to the cliff. Akame chuckled.
“I’ll save you three the trouble.” she said as she cast a teleportation spell that sent them on top of the cliff. “See you around.”
Akame then went over to her shadow soldiers.
“Conceal yourselves for the time being, men.” she ordered them. “When the slaughter’s begun, then you may come out and watch your friends be baptized…”
As Akame’s soldiers obeyed and hid in the pool of darkness that disappeared behind them, Akame then teleported herself to where the Jaegers and their men were, at an outlook where they could see the enemy below. Three hundred devils dressed in armor and armed with spears in hand. Completely stationary, they just stood in place with menacing looks on their faces, waiting to kill the enemy they knew would strike. Leo scowled, then looked back at his soldiers…
“Listen well, men.” he told them. “We can not allow ourselves to lose our lives to foes this vile. For the sake of Equestria, we will defeat them and return to our loved ones alive!”
The soldiers began to cheer and raise their swords in the air. After they stopped cheering however, they were greeted by the sound of Akame clapping behind them.
“That was an excellent speech, Leo.” Akame complimented him. “Short, sweet, and to the point. They say that to be a commanding officer, you must possess two qualities as a speaker. Those qualities are being able to tell things like they are...and being able to say things you don’t believe in as if you do believe in them…”
The Jaegers and their army turned to face Akame, looking confused.
“Who are you?” Leo asked.
“Ha ha, I’m sorry.” Akame apologized. “I forgot we haven’t met face to face before. I am Akame. They call me one of Equestria’s “greater gods”.”
With that, the looks on the army’s faces became unnerved.
“So you’re the one the Nightbringers are always talking about…” Leo said with a scowl of suspicion on his face. “What brings you here?”
“I just came to tell you what I told the Nightbringers.” Akame replied. “I’m the one leading the backup army now and I’m going to cast the barrier spell. I had to send the Nightbringers on an important mission.”
“What do those three see in this Jezebel?” Leo thought, frustrated. “She probably is as bad as Celestia says she is. I’d best not make any sarcastic remarks. I don’t want to be on her bad side...”
“I understand.” Leo said in a neutral tone.
“And I see all too well…” Akame replied.
“Huh?” Leo went, confused.
“I’ve planned this whole thing out, Leo…” Akame told him as her horn lit up, a shadowy aura surrounding it. “You may hate me now…”
Leo froze as an image of him on his bedroom floor holding a knife to his chest flashed through his head, followed by the image of a green-haired mare with red fur staring down at a newborn filly with a gleaming white coat and mane and a newborn colt with a glowing dark coat and mane, both sleeping in a crib.
“But just wait until after this…” Akame said, glaring at him with an evil smirk on her face.
The soldiers gulped and shuddered. They sensed a greater evil in her than from the demons. Eventually, Leo overcame the stun Akame had put him into and regained his confidence along with his serious look.
“Even if it’s not just an illusion, a ploy to scare me…” he told himself in his mind. “...if it happens, it happens. I must be prepared to accept any fate, no matter how cruel.”
Leo then held up the necklace he wore to his face.
“I just hope that if that were to happen, she would find another who would make her happy…” Leo thought, trying not to cry.
“Sir…” a soldier standing close to Leo said.
“I know, we’ve waited long enough.” Leo responded as he unsheathed a sword at his side, and held it up in the air, where a bright light began to emanate from it. All the soldiers behind Leo proceeded to do the same, following the captain’s example.
“CHARGE!” Leo shouted as he and his army rushed down from the outlook and towards the army of the devils.
“There’s my cue.” Akame said as she saw both armies on the same ground. With a spell that she cast, dark energy rose from the ground and engulfed the area where the armies were like a dome. From the outlook to the fortress, the entire region was shrouded by a barrier of shadow that only those brought up in darkness could see through…
Meanwhile…
Dante, Trish, and Vergil were standing on the cliff, awaiting the arrival of the fearsome devil that they had been promised would appear. A good amount of time had gone by now, and yet, there wasn’t a single sign in the area of a demon’s approach.
“I hope she didn’t lie to us again…” Trish said, growing skeptical.
“As much as that wouldn’t surprise me,” responded Dante, holding a hoof to his chin, “my gut tells me that’s not the case here. Akame has a history of deception, but flat-out lying isn’t her style. She finds it boring, preferring to toy with others by telling them things that are technically true, but mislead them into having misconceptions about the truth. It’s tricky to explain in words, but easy to understand once you’ve experienced it in action…”
“I even have my doubts that what she said about us fighting three hundred demons was a complete lie…” he then thought.
Vergil was skeptical as well, but his thoughts of doubt were focused in a different area. He couldn’t take his attention off of the herald Akame had join them, noticing his unusual behavior of standing at the central edge of the cliff and staring at the barrier Akame had cast.
“Pardon me, but what do you find interesting about that barrier?” Vergil asked the herald.
The herald, as usual, hesitated for a bit before responding…
“The battle. I can see that the battle is going very well. The Jaegers and their army haven’t lost a single man yet.”
“Hmm?” Vergil said curiously as he focused his eyes on the barrier and could soon see through it. He saw that the herald was telling the truth, the Jaeger Raid and the soldiers they were leading were winning by a landslide. As the demon soldiers would swoop into to attack, they would be countered by the soldiers of Celestia firing holy beams from their swords at their heads and chests, piercing their hearts and brains and killing them. Normally, one blow to even a vital area of a demon’s body wouldn’t kill them, but the magic of light not only gave the Jaegers and their men an offensive advantage, it bolstered their defenses as well. Whenever a devil would get close to a soldier they had targeted, the light emanating from that soldier’s sword would sting their eyes and skin and stun them, leaving them vulnerable to a fatal strike.
“Akame was telling the truth…” Vergil said as Dante and Trish noticed him and the royal guard staring out at the barrier. They came over to have a look for themselves and were quite pleased with what they witnessed.
“Alright!” Trish exclaimed eagerly. “Those fuckers are getting their asses kicked and fed to them!”
“This is incredible!” Dante yelled happily. “I can’t believe those demons are such wimps! They’re sending them on the highway back to hell!”
“I want to share their enthusiasm…” Vergil thought. “But something just feels wrong…”
It was then that Vergil could hear a faint sound...a faint sound of someone crying…
“*sniff* *sob* Why… *sniff* *sob* I am just as guilty as they are…”
Upon hearing those words, Vergil had figured out who this herald was and what Akame was up to. It was true that there was a devil they had to fight, and he was right there in front of them…
“Ha ha ha...and so, it comes to an end.”
Those words were referring to the battle between Celestia’s army and the demons concluding. Unsurprisingly, the Jaeger Raid and their soldiers were the victors. And just like Akame had promised, they had not only emerged victorious, but also completely unscathed.
“HAIL THE GODS!” Leo cried as he held his sword up to the sky.
“HAIL THE GODS!” the soldiers repeated as they held up their swords too.
Still watching, Trish and Dante cheered.
“Yes!” Trish yelled. “They did it! They completely murdered them!”
“And no one got hurt either!” Dante exclaimed, relieved to see that everybody was okay. “I underestimated those Jaeger dudes, they’re beyond awesome! I’m totally pumped now to decimate that demon dickwad!”
After Dante said that, the herald got an unsightly sneer on his face.
“It’s time…” a dark force inside of him said.
“No…” the herald replied. “Just kill me. I am a murderer, I deserve to be dead…”
“You fool.” the dark force mocked him. “You are dead. You are an eternal slave to Death, doomed to eternal life in Death…”
A now aghast Vergil, having heard everything, drew his katana and slashed the herald’s back legs. His katana sent out a shockwave that sent the herald flying off the cliff, causing the helm he had worn to fall off, revealing he had a black mane. Noticing this, Trish and Dante were shocked and rushed over to where the herald had been.
“Holy shit!” Dante yelled as he ran and jumped off the cliff, spreading his wings to fly and catch the falling herald.
Trish tried to help by casting a levitation spell on the guard to stop his descent, but Vergil called out…
“STOP! BOTH OF YOU! HE’S NOT AN ORDINARY HERALD! A TERRIBLE DEMON IS IN HIM!”
“Huh?” Trish and Dante both went as the herald soon proved Vergil’s words true. Drawing a sword imbued with holy magic, he, in spite of a shaking feeling in his right foreleg, slashed at Dante’s throat. Being in a state of shock, Dante dodged a bit too late and got a cut across his throat. Soon, the herald hit the ground, but to his surprise, he suffered no injury.
“What? How…?” he asked himself in his mind.
“HEY!” one of the Nightbringers from above shouted.
The herald was further astonished when he looked up to see that the one shouting was Dante, still alive even after his throat had been slit and was oozing black blood.
“What the hell was that for?!” Dante cried indignantly, still flying in the air. “I was just trying to help you!”
The guard’s still shaking right foreleg then directed his blade at Dante’s forehead and fired a holy ray from it. Even as the energy beam pierced a vital spot, Dante did not die like the demons had.
“Comrade or not,” said a pissed off Dante as he put up his dukes, “keep this up, and I’ll beat some sense into you!”
“This can’t be real…” the guard thought. “This would mean…”
Fighting the dark force inside of him, the cause of the shaking in his right foreleg, the herald then turned the sword toward his chest and fired a holy beam from it at his heart, shocking the Nightbringers. Black blood spilled forth from a gaping hole in the herald’s chest, but like Dante, he survived what should have been a fatal wound.
“I can’t die…” the horrified herald said. “NO! WHY?!”
“The poor soul…” Vergil said, sympathizing. “He’s been forced to bear the same cross as us…”
“How could Akame do this to a soldier who doesn’t belong to her?” Trish said sadly, feeling sorry for the guard too.
“Who...who are you guys?” the herald asked the Nightbringers. “What do you mean by the same cross?”
Dante, also feeling terrible for the herald, answered his question, knowing he would have to tell him the painful truth…
“Being made a soldier of the night, your mortal body is gone, replaced with an immortal one made of eternal darkness. Killed by hell, you now live hell…forever...”
The herald began to cry as he felt his heart sink.
“Now do you understand?” the dark force inside him said. “You can not escape me because you are me…”
It was then that the herald stopped fighting the dark force, allowing it to envelope his heart. And so, he fused with the force and transformed into a great devil, a being who was both a demon and a pony. Together, he and the dark force were called…
...Vincent.
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Origin of the Nightbringers
Episode 5: Origin of the Nightbringers
Ha ha ha...I hope you don’t believe that I simply miscounted…
Numdust’s fortress was vaporized from the explosion and a tremendous noise echoed throughout the land as the entire palace was consumed by energy of both the light and the dark. Though Leo had managed to escape the explosion’s outer wave in his haste, he was still hit by the blast wave, causing him to fly through the air. Now that Numdust was dead, the dark wall that had barred the Jaegers’ army from progressing forward earlier vanished, leaving the small fissure in the ground open. Leo’s men were already stunned upon hearing the sound of the turbulent explosion, so one could only imagine how flabbergasted they were upon seeing their captain flying towards them at full speed and being stopped by landing in the fissure, stuck in the small space between the split areas of the shallow ground.
“Sir!” the soldiers shouted in concern as some of them came over to pull their commander out of the fissure. “Are you alright?”
Leo did not even look up at his men as they spoke to him and pulled him up to stand on the ground, overwhelmed with guilt and sadness.
“No…” he replied. “Gordon and Ricard have fallen…”
Leo’s men froze in shock and dismay.
“How...exactly did they go?” the crestfallen soldiers standing next to Leo asked. “Was it because they were caught in the explosion or...did Numdust kill them beforehand?”
The memory of stabbing Ricard in the head flashed through Leo’s mind and filled him with unease and shame.
“...It’s the latter.” Leo replied, unable to tell his men the full truth.
“Then this is the news we shall report to the princess.” one of the men next to Leo said solemnly as he and another herald began walking away.
“Captain…” another herald standing next to Leo said in a despondent tone of voice as he took off his helmet in respect. “You have the greatest of all our sympathies, losing two of your most trusted men and dearest friends this day. If it is alright with you, may we please take this moment to offer them a silent prayer?”
“Of course.” Leo replied.
Though the royal guard had called the prayer silent as he and all the heralds there bowed their heads, Leo was anything but silent in his mind as he knelt his head…
“How did this happen?” he thought. “I ask myself this, even as someone who has been trained to mentally prepare for every possibility, even the worst-case scenario. And yet...I never truly believed that a day like this would come. A day where I would not only lose my two closest comrades right after such a “glorious” victory on the battlefield...but would also murder one of them…”
“...If you can hear my voice Ricard...please know that I could never apologize to you enough for what I have done today…”
………….
“Don’t worry...I have already forgiven you...”
Ricard’s soul said those words, his ghost floating in the air alongside the ghost of Gordon.
“Who are you talking to?” Dante asked.
“He’s talking to his friend, Leo.” Trish told Dante. “Ghosts can feel the spiritual troubles of the ones responsible for their deaths.”
“How did you know?” Ricard asked. “Are you a ghost whisperer?”
“Yes,” replied Trish, “each of us Nightbringers possesses a unique supernatural sensory ability. Vergil’s is to read deep into the auras of others, mine is to communicate with ghosts on a higher level, and Dante’s…”
“Ah ha ha…” Dante laughed nervously. “Please Trish, I’d prefer that to not be discussed openly…”
Trish listened to Dante out of respect and didn’t continue, but Gordon and Ricard were left curious.
“Now that I think about it…” Gordon thought to himself. “I’ve never really questioned exactly where they got their powers from…”
Ricard had a similar thought, but his attention on said matter was quickly diverted by the familiar royal guard standing by the Nightbringers catching his eye.
“Vincent?!” Ricard exclaimed in surprise.
“Huh?” Gordon said, confused until he looked over at Vincent. “Vin...holy crap, it is him!”
Vincent winced, wearing a guilty look on his face.
“Hold on,” said Gordon, “now that Numdust is dead, are you no longer…”
“Hey, don’t worry.” Dante intervened. “He’s cool.”
“We fought with him earlier,” explained Vergil, “but that matters not now. What matters now is that he is our ally.”
“How did you guys meet?” Ricard asked.
“Akame introduced him to us as part of a scheme to test us, we can only assume.” Trish replied with disappointment on her face. “It brought us all displeasure to find that she had done to him the same thing she had done to us many years ago, while we were still children…”
With those words, the memory of seeing the glass portrait of Akame with the Nightbringers as children was brought back to Gordon and Ricard.
“What did she do to you three and him?” Gordon asked.
“She killed us…” Trish replied, wearing a dark scowl. “She then made us one with the eternal darkness to serve her forever…”
“WHAT?!” Gordon and Ricard both yelled.
“Like you two,” chimed in Vergil, “we’re “dead”. However, we’re not ghosts. We’re creatures of the shadows.”
“.....” Gordon and Ricard were both silent.
“Yeah…” Dante said, rubbing the back of his hair. “I think we need to explain it to you from the beginning. Otherwise, it’s just going to sound like we’re speaking Swahili.”
Meanwhile...
Above the Nightbringers in the sky, the chariot that had flown the Jaegers to the battlefield was heading back to Princess Celestia’s castle. Leo, the only one in the chariot, was staring down at the floor, looking as lonely and miserable as ever.
“If my heart wasn’t so cold, I’d be crying right now…” he told himself in thought. “What does it matter if there really wasn’t anything I could’ve done differently...it doesn’t change the fact that I’m never going to see them ever again…”
Ha ha ha...I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear then that you’re wrong. At least for a short while…
“What?!” Leo exclaimed in his mind. “That voice...Akame?!”
Don’t look out the window now, unless you want to spoil the surprise…
Ignoring Akame, Leo looked outside the window to his left and saw that below him, were the ghosts of Gordon and Ricard talking to the Nightbringers and Vincent. Slack-jawed, he fell back on his seat in literal disbelief.
“This...this has to be fake…” he said to himself in his mind. “I have to be hallucinating. I have to just be hearing voices and seeing things from the guilt that’s assaulting my mind…”
No, nada, and nope. This is no trick of your brain. Don’t believe me? Then how about a sneak peek of what’s going to happen to you tonight…
It was then that from behind Leo, a hoof belonging to Akame’s pony form came out from Leo’s shadow and covered his mouth. Leo was frightened as he felt another hoof reaching inside of him from the back. It was as if an energy of pure evil was entering him...
“MMPH!” Leo cried, his cry being muffled. “MMPH!”
It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. Look…
The hoof that had muffled Leo’s cries then took its hold off Leo’s mouth as the hoof that had reached inside of him retracted. Leo then got up and sat in his seat normally, relieved.
“Phew…” he said to himself. “That scared the shit out of me…”
Before long, he returned to his regular musing.
“Hallucination or not…” he thought, growing calmer. “It’s becoming more difficult to doubt that there isn’t more to this than meets the eye. I wonder if-HRRP!”
Leo had suddenly been interrupted by a terrible feeling welling in his stomach, followed by an unfamiliar sensation climbing up his throat. Whatever was scaling his throat soon entered his mouth and eventually…
*thump*
Leo fell to the floor...the thing that had been in his mouth was now hovering in the air…
Just wanted to make up for the surprise that you spoiled. Now come with me...I think you need to hear what Dante’s about to say…
Dante had begun recounting what he, Trish, and Vergil had experienced ten years ago, when they were only children no older than seven. Somehow, Leo was able to actually witness what the Nightbringers had gone through in the past, it appearing to him in the form of a flashback…
Dante, Trish, and Vergil, as kids, were sitting in what looked like a nursery room. They all looked unnerved as they sat against the wall, watching a small crowd of other children playing. From the crowd, a purple-haired colt with a lavender mane noticed the Nightbringers sitting by themselves looking worried. Curious, he trotted over to them.
“What’s eating you guys?” the colt asked.
“Fear and despair.” Vergil replied bluntly.
The colt chuckled in response, not seeing how they could be so blue.
“You’re funny.” he told them. “This is the happiest I’ve been since my mommy and daddy passed away. I used to be really sad, thinking that was the end. But just knowing now that my favorite princess cares about me is enough to make me happy again!”
The Nightbringers froze, completely unsettled. They all looked more frightened than ever, especially Dante, who was convulsing from the mental torment he was struggling to cope with. Eventually, he could no longer bear it and let out a deafening scream…
“AAARRRAAAGGGHHH!”
The scream got the attention of all the kids, who were now staring at the Nightbringers, dumbfounded. It also alerted the attention of Princess Celestia and Akame, both of whom had been talking in the other room, which resembled a school classroom. Celestia had a look of great discomfort on her face, while Akame had one of great excitement.
“What’s eating you?” she asked Celestia sinisterly. “You should be as happy as I am right now. It’s their pain, your gain.”
Celestia turned her head away and shut her eyes, crying. She then cast a teleportation spell on herself to go straight back to her castle in Canterlot.
“You make this too easy…” Akame said to herself, closing her eyes and putting her hoof to her face as she shook her head and looked over at a surveillance camera that was hanging above.
Akame then exited the room and entered the nursery room. As soon as she saw the confused faces of all the children, she began to laugh.
“What’s all the screaming about?...” she asked them. “...is the question you think I’m going to ask. But I’m afraid not. I know exactly what all the screaming is about. One of the little ones I gave a sneak preview for what’s in store just couldn’t bottle it all up anymore.”
“W-what’s going on?” the purple-haired colt asked. “Where’s Princess Celestia?”
“Celestia didn’t like the heat, so she left the kitchen.” Akame replied as she walked through the room, the children stepping away to give her space. “And who can blame her…”
Akame had an evil sneer on her face when she reached the door that was the entrance to the building they were in.
“After all, we’re in the realm of the flames that burn eternal…” Akame said sinisterly as she opened the door with her magic. Looking outside, the children gasped in horror as they saw nothing but pure black darkness. Soon, the only light that came into view was a pair of glowing, green eyes resting in the head of a creature made of pure shadow that resembled King Sombra. As the creature peered its head into the nursery room ever so slowly, another light soon came into view as the creature opened its mouth. As the aghast children were now convulsing in terror, Akame finally finished her sentence…
“...hell.”
And with that, the creature breathed a breath of purple fire on all the children. Akame laughed a wicked guffaw, even as some of the fire got on her. Being a demon god, it did not phase her. But the children screamed and writhed in agony as they felt their flesh burn and melt and their blood turn to steam. Though all of them were mortified, the least shocked out of all of them were the Nightbringers and the most shocked was the purple-haired colt.
“We should’ve known better after we were abandoned…” the Nightbringers thought. “Who would ever care for us again?”
“I loved you…” the colt said, thinking of Celestia. “I would’ve loved you as if you were my own mother...but you left us here to burn to death...I HATE YOU!!!”
Soon, all of the children’s bodies were naught but ash. The blood of theirs that had turned to steam then began to gather together, floating in the air ominously, transforming into dark energy.
“As you come together,” said Akame, “all as one in the darkness, may you then be reborn by your own blood and walk this realm of eternal torture as the spawn of the Dark One.”
The dark energy then began to divide, each part of it descending to the ground and reforming all of the children. Looking at themselves, the children couldn’t believe their eyes.
“We’re alive?!” they shouted. “But we were…”
“Yes, you were indeed dead.” Akame explained. “In fact, all of you are still “dead” by the world’s definition…”
“What?!” the children apart from the purple-haired colt and the Nightbringers started shouting, not understanding what she meant. “You’re lying! If we’re dead, that means we should be in heaven!”
Akame and the Sombra-like creature then looked at each other and laughed.
“You’re not going to heaven…” Akame said evilly. “...not now, or ever…”
“WWWHHHAAATTT?!” the children shrieked.
“Both Celestia and I decided that this would be where you would go after you died…” Akame explained to them, looking upon them with her most unpleasant smirk. “Your souls belong to me, and I am going to torture them...”
“NO!” the children shouted. “YOU LIAR! PRINCESS CELESTIA WOULD NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN!”
“You seem awfully confident in your proclamation…” Akame responded. “Very well then. Ryu, would you please move aside?”
Ryu, the Sombra-like creature then moved aside to unblock the entrance, which showed that the outside was still pure black darkness.
“If this is all just some big joke,” said Akame, “surely Celestia must still be here somewhere. Whether it’s inside this building...or out there…”
The children were now shuddering just from gazing out at the pitch-black darkness and imagining what would happen if they were to get lost in there…
“Yeah, not feeling so sure about yourselves now, are you?” Akame taunted them. “I’ll tell you straight up that if just this is enough to scare you, you’re in for a fun ride. There’s no escaping me. Not even if you were to die, because death would only lead you straight back here. I’m going to torture you all, and that’s that...”
Some of the children were now beginning to fall to the floor, crying. The purple-haired colt was just staring dumbfoundedly at Akame and Ryu at this point, completely zoned out and destitute. The Nightbringers, by contrast, were shooting glares of fury at Akame, unable to tolerate any more of this.
“Then bring it, bitch!” Trish shouted, pointing a hoof at her. “You’re not scary or fun!”
“Thanks for telling us that there’s no escape…” Vergil said. “It will now be easier for us to grow accustomed to this place…”
“Do you honestly think we buy your bluff?” Dante told her. “What do we have to fear now that we know you’re all we have to fear? I thought we’d at least meet the devil in hell, but all we get is you, one of his small-time subordinates! Ha!”
In response, Akame and all the children just stared at the Nightbringers. Soon, Akame, still smiling, slowly put her front hooves together and started slowly clapping…
“You kids are so cute.” Akame said in a sickly sweet tone. “I’m not even mad. In fact, I’m quite happy…”
“Huh?” the Nightbringers went, confused.
“This time spent torturing you all would be too boring…” Akame replied in a tone that gave them great discomfort. “...without a trio of troublemakers.”
“...” the Nightbringers were still puzzled.
“It means I like you three.” Akame explained. “Getting children to obey you when you’re in a position like mine is child’s play. I’m fortunate to even be hearing any sass.”
“So...what’s the big picture?” Dante asked, still not understanding. “Does this mean we’ll be getting special treatment? If that’s the case, forget it. We wouldn’t want to be your pets after looking at that thing.”
Ryu growled as Dante gestured to him.
“Ha ha ha…” Akame laughed. “You misunderstand my idea of ‘special treatment’. The way I plan to pamper you three is by putting each of you through your own unique session of torture. An accelerated school program for gifted children of the dark.”
“Is that all?” Trish retorted.
Just then, a hole opened up beneath Trish and she fell through it.
“AAAIIIEEE!!!” she screamed as the hole closed up behind her.
“Yes.” Akame replied bluntly as everyone in the class was now terrified, with the exception of the purple-haired colt, who was still just staring at Akame blankly… “I hope the Pit of Lost Souls is scary and fun enough for you…”
Akame then levitated Vergil with her magic and brought him over to Ryu.
“Dinner time, Ryu…” she told her pet as he happily opened his mouth.
Looking at a quivering Vergil, she told him…
“I hope for my pet’s sake you get settled in quickly…”
She then tossed him inside Ryu’s mouth and the shadow monster promptly swallowed him. Finally, she turned to Dante, who was sweating and shaking.
“And then one remained…” she said in a foreboding manner as she trotted over to him. “I heard you were disappointed that you were stuck with me, not getting to meet the devil…”
Dante gulped as Akame leaned her head over his shoulder and in his ear, she whispered…
“How silly. After all, you’ve met him plenty of times already…”
Akame then lit up her horn and cast a spell that teleported her and Dante to…
“AAAGGGHHH!” Dante cried, trying to block out the memory as the flashback abruptly ended. “NO! THAT WASN’T REAL! THAT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN HIM!”
Ha ha, oops. I almost forgot that what I showed him then is better left unsaid. Not just the true identity of the devil, but some fun facts about this small world that we live in. Speaking of unsaid, let’s view the remainder of this story from what Dante has to say…
Trish, Vergil, and Vincent were trying to calm Dante down while Gordon and Ricard looked upon them with looks of sadness, feeling sickened.
“This is some of the most horrible shit I’ve ever heard.” Gordon said despondently. “And to think what I went through as a kid was bad…”
“What Akame did to you was unpardonable in every sense of the word…” Ricard remarked, feeling very disappointed in not just her, but Celestia. “But did Celestia really know about this and do nothing to stop it?”
“No…” Trish replied. “It wasn’t just that she was remiss.”
“She and Akame-” Vergil was about to explain before he was interrupted by Dante.
“Please guys…” Dante told them. “I survived going through what I did, I can easily survive talking about it. Better me than you have to bring this shit back up…”
“...” Trish and Vergil were silent as they looked upon their comrade sympathetically.
“Back to what I was saying…” Dante continued where he had left off. “As a year came to pass after Akame began torturing us, a special power was fully awakened inside each of us three. The time Trish spent with all of the lost souls gave her the opportunity to learn how to communicate with them on a grander level. Being inside of a devil taught Vergil how to concentrate even in the most hellish of environments, and through meditating and taking a devil’s shadow power into himself, his ability for sensing the auras of devils was heightened. As for me...let’s just say that I became far more powerful than I ever dreamed of being after being thrown off of Devil’s Peak again and again…”
An image of lightning striking flashed through Dante’s mind as he said that, causing him to shudder.
“So once our powers had been invoked, Akame summoned us back to the building she now called “Hell’s Orphanage”.” Dante said. “There, we met all of the children who had died with us that day. Like us, they had been put through terrible pain that had led them to discover greater strength. To our surprise, it was not with disdain that the children looked upon Akame now, but with admiration. We were mystified and disturbed as Akame called both us and the rest of the children into a classroom and started expressing pleasure with how well the class had “performed”...”
“Performed?” Ricard asked.
“In her words,” replied Dante, “not mine, the whole thing was a test that everyone in the class was required to pass. A test designed to transform children into unkillable super-soldiers for the Equestrian army.”
“But why children?” Gordon asked. “Why force someone to endure something that horrible as a kid especially?”
“The mentality behind it was that the younger they were when they put heated screws inside of them, locked them in burning iron maidens, and gave them lava baths the more resilient they’d be when we grew up.” Dante explained with a disgruntled frown. “According to Akame, it only took the class two months for their cries of agony to wane, and only three more months after that for them to not scream at all and purport that they were enjoying the torture. She started giving a shout-out to us, calling us her “honor students” for enduring the worst kind of torture, a year spent alone in darkness without her, while we were just sitting there thinking to ourselves, “What the fuck is going on?”. Even though most of the kids looked happy, the cheery atmosphere of the classroom soon faded when Akame began talking about the final exam, a test we actually could fail. And the punishment for failing it...would be that we wouldn’t get to see Princess Celestia.”
“So this is where Princess Celestia comes into all of this…” Ricard thought.
“Akame laughed as she saw so many of us frown upon hearing what she said,” said Dante, “even with the possibility that the reason Celestia suddenly disappeared and never came to visit us was because she had been forced into all of it. She addressed that she wanted to dispel any hope that this was the case by playing us a video taken from the classroom’s surveillance camera on the day Celestia vanished. In it, we saw that Celestia had not only willingly allowed Akame to do to us what she did, but was also told by Akame that she was allowed to come visit us whenever she wanted as part of their agreement.”
“WHAT?!” Gordon, Ricard, and Vincent all yelled.
“I’m just telling you what happened.” Dante said in response. “After that, was the final exam. Each and every one of us had to enter a pact with the Lord of Death and accept a demon inside of ourselves that we had to control. If we succeeded, we would be reborn with an immortal, part-devil, part-pony body. If we failed, we would transform into a full devil. Out of all of us, the only one who failed was…”
“...the purple-haired one.” Akame abruptly finished his sentence. “Or as we all know him now, Numdust.”
“Akame!” everyone yelled as they turned to see Akame behind them, smiling as always.
“Come now…” Akame said in a foreboding tone as her horn lit up, with her preparing to cast a teleportation spell. “Enough has been said. I want us to get back to the castle before he does…”
Soon, they all vanished as they were teleported inside of Celestia’s throne room.
I want to see the look on his face when he sees Vincent and his friends in person. He’ll be so shocked his soul might jump out of his body…
Inside of the Jaegers’ carriage, which eventually arrived at Celestia’s palace, Leo regained consciousness as he felt something return to him…
...again.
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Leo slowly picked himself up off the floor of the carriage after some time of lying down while feeling an odd, buzzing feeling run through his body.
“Ugh…” he said to himself as he clutched his stomach. “Why...why would Akame do that to me?”
Leo remembered Akame telling him that she was going to give him a “sneak peek” of what was going to happen to him tonight.
“Is she planning on killing me?” Leo shuddered at the thought. “Why couldn’t she just do it then and there with the power she has? Why go through the trouble of showing me and having me learn about the atrocities she committed? And the most puzzling question of all, what did she have to gain…”
Leo got out of the chariot that had docked at Princess Celestia’s castle. As he entered the castle, the royal guards bowing and opening the front doors for him, he felt something different about them, like there was an aura about them that he couldn’t feel before…
Soon you will see…
As Leo navigated his way through the castle and made it to the entrance doors of Celestia’s throne room, he finally finished his sentence in thought…
“...by proving to me that I have a soul…”
Pushing open the doors and walking into the throne room, Leo was surprised to not only see the ghosts of his fallen comrades again, but Akame and Vincent as well. His astonishment was shared by Princess Celestia, who was wearing a dumbfounded look on her face as Akame was trying to explain everything to her with her trademark sick smile and smug attitude.
“In short,” said Akame, “Numdust fell thanks to the efforts of the Jaegers and Vincent here was reformed thanks to the efforts of the Nightbringers. Is that a satisfying enough summary for you?”
“...No.” Celestia replied bluntly. “I want to know why two of my most trusted heralds are dead.”
Akame then snickered as she and the others turned around to face Leo.
“I believe that’s your cue, Leo…” Akame told him.
Leo froze in fear. Worriedly, he tried to contemplate a response as quickly as he could. His fears were slightly abated when Celestia chimed in, saying…
“Oh ho,” chuckled Akame, “what more do you want out of me regarding that matter? You know what I told you earlier today…”
“Indeed I do,” replied Celestia sternly, “however, I also know how you tried to dodge nearly every question I asked that involved specific details. I’m not concerned with the process of how Gordon and Ricard died, but why . The reason you have yet to tell me even as you return my men to my throne room as demons and ghosts. I have every right to a full explanation.”
Akame sighed and shook her head, still grinning.
“Well,” she said, deciding to submit, “if you must know, I was getting a bit tired of you refusing my offers to transform more of your subjects into immortal soldiers of the darkness. So I decided to compromise by giving your second-highest ranking squad a bit of an upgrade to put them on par with the Nightbringers.”
“And that’s the reason why you and those slimeball gods staged this war?” Celestia asked angrily.
“?!” everyone else in the room went. “Staged?!”
“No,” replied Akame, “that’s only part of the reason why we staged this war. You’ll find out more of the reason tomorrow…”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to prepare for tomorrow then…” Celestia retorted, staring Akame down.
“A smart move, that would be.” Akame said, not at all intimidated by Celestia’s glare of fury. “I’ll just give you some advice before I make my leave. Vincent would make a great new leader for the Jaeger Raid. As for Leo, he can operate more than well enough on his own.”
“Me a leader of such a prestigious squad?” Vincent thought. “Even after what I did?”
“She’s suggesting that I fight solo?” Leo thought. “If I am to longer be the Jaeger Raid’s captain, that leaves no reason to “upgrade” me, thus no reason to kill me. Are her intentions for me less sinister than I thought?”
Akame snickered to herself once again, knowing what Leo was thinking as she cast a teleportation spell on herself.
I’ll let you be the judge of that…
Akame then looked at the place she had teleported to with malicious intent in her eyes.
Or should I say your wife…
It was revealed that the place she was standing in front of was none other than Leo’s house…
Meanwhile, at Celestia’s palace, the four royal guards felt that they too were owed an explanation not only after what they heard from her and Akame, but also from what they heard from the Nightbringers. Before one of them could raise a hoof though, Celestia quickly said…
“You don’t have to ask. I know I have some explaining to do here myself.”
“Yes please,” replied the royal guards, “tell us. What is your relationship with Akame? How did things begin with you and her?”
“Believe it or not, that’s a question I sometimes ask myself.” Celestia said in self-reflection. “As I wonder how it ever came to this…”
Celestia looked out a window to the right of her solemnly as the royal guards staring at her shared her somber expression.
“I suppose the best way I can explain it from the beginning is this…” Celestia told them, preparing to recount what had happened. “A little more than a decade ago, I met a strange character when I went out to the balcony to raise the sun one morning. It was an alicorn who introduced herself to me as Akame, a messenger sent by the greater gods. When I asked her who these greater gods were, she replied with…”
The creators of this world, the precursor to the Spiriting project.
“The things she proceeded to show me to prove she was who she claimed to be changed the way I viewed the world forever…” Celestia continued. “I told Akame that I had never felt so small before, and to my shock, she shared my feelings. For she herself was only a creation of the higher powers that govern our world. She is not a true alicorn, but a devil god who takes the form of one. Created from pure darkness, she had been sent to our world to create more servants of it. For Equestria had to become a great force of both light and darkness in order to survive against what was yet to come, an army of 5,000 demons. She told me that was the reason she was here.”
“Akame also told us that was the reason you agreed to take part in something so heinous…” the Nightbringers thought, unmoved by all of this. “Too bad that isn’t the reason we’re still angry at you…”
“Knowing now that Equestria would be ravaged by devils if I were to remain idle,” said Celestia, “I realized that I would have to listen to Akame to stop such a disaster. She told me that she only needed a group of fifty-one orphaned children. Fifty-one orphaned children that would have to endure torture and suffer in darkness for only a year. As much as I did not want to have any of the children of my land suffer, I thought it could not be avoided if I wanted all of my people to not perish. And so, I helped her gather fifty-one orphaned children and allowed her to send them to hell.”
“So it’s true…” the royal guards said with looks of disappointment on their faces.
“There is no justification for what I did.” Celestia responded shamefully. “Though it was all I knew to do to save my subjects, that doesn’t make it right. For a year, back then, I tried to comfort myself by telling myself that there was nothing else I could have done and that it was for the greater good. But when the children whom I had abandoned were brought to me on the day of their “graduation” and I saw the contempt they had for me that they struggled to hide, I had never felt more ashamed of myself. I knew then that I was no better than Akame. The devil army was defeated, but I had committed a terrible sin. And such has become the story of my life for the past decade now. I allow Akame and the gods that work through her to do terrible things because I still can not find a better way to keep my people safe...”
Everyone in the room began to feel sorry for Celestia as they saw her struggle to avoid crying while she knelt her head. Even the Nightbringers couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for her, even if it was only fleeting.
“Oh, Your Majesty…” Ricard said compassionately. “We are truly sorry you’ve had to endure such hardship for so long.”
“Thank you for your sympathy…” Celestia replied. “...but I am hardly deserving of it. As an immortal goddess, ten years of suffering is hardly punishment for my wicked deeds. Not only that, but I’ve reaped the rewards of my sin as well. My name has become more recognized and praised than ever since Akame began creating soldiers of the darkness to bolster the Equestrian army. “The leader of Equestria’s best and only defense against the demons” is a title Akame allows me to take credit for. Though I call it a “reward”, it pains me to think of how my subjects would look at me if they knew the truth. They’d probably look at me just like those children did that day…”
“Speaking as one of the children who looked at you angrily that day…” Dante intervened. “...I’ll have you know that everything you’ve told us up until now is not the reason why we’re still mad at you.”
“What is the reason then?” Celestia asked.
“It is not something as trivial as a grudge against you for what you did in the past.” Vergil said. “We know that the past is gone. Our concern is what you are still doing in the present…”
“I understand…” Celestia replied, thinking they were referring to the things she was still allowing Akame to do. “Please know, however, that Akame taking my place as the ruler of Equestria will change nothing. Like I said, she allows me to take credit for her work.”
“That’s not what we meant…” Trish retorted. “What we are still upset over is the lack of love we have received from you…”
“Hmm?” Celestia responded, her face growing more sullen. “What do you mean?”
“Does never coming to visit us even once while we were in hell ring a bell?” Dante asked indignantly.
Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head.
“Forgive me please…” she said remorsefully. “I was young and couldn’t overcome my guilt. I was immature and didn’t want to face what I had done like a child…”
“We do forgive you…” the Nightbringers told her. “However, we’ve already told you. This is not about what you did in the past. This is about now. Can you look in your heart now and honestly say to us that you love us while thinking about what you do?”
Upon hearing that, Celestia was speechless. She knew where they were going with this and became frightened as she realized that what they suspected was true. Never could she say something like that without pushing the haunting thoughts of her regretted deeds and what her name was still being built on out of her mind. Eventually, the emotional turmoil was becoming too much for her to bear and she started crying. She then teleported to her bedroom without saying another word. She laid on her bed clutching her pillow, holding it up to her face as she cried.
“WHY?!” she screamed as she pulled her head away from the pillow and looked up. “WHY MUST THIS BE MY EXISTENCE?!”
Soon, she slumped down with her head on the pillow again, sobbing loudly. Princess Luna overheard her sister’s loud cries and came into her sister’s bedroom to see what was the matter.
“Sister?” Luna asked Celestia as she entered the room. “What has happened?”
“Oh Luna…” Celestia replied sadly. “I don’t know what to do anymore…this has all gone too far and there’s no turning back...”
“Is this about Akame again?” Luna asked.
“This isn’t just about Akame.” Celestia responded. “This is about me too. It’s easy to look at the circumstances and say that I don’t have a choice but to do what Akame tells me. But watching my heart slowly decay over the years has been anything but easy. I don’t get like this just because of what others say. I get like this because of what others say that is true. I can’t honestly tell my subjects that I love them after everything I’ve done.”
“...” Luna was at a loss for words. Eventually, she decided to say to her sister…
“...Please tell me exactly what happened. I want to know so that I may console you better.”
Celestia remained silent for a short while before making her reply.
“When the Jaegers and the Nightbringers returned,” explained Celestia, “they witnessed one of my meetings with Akame. They know what I did with her in the past and they called me out on what I continue to do with her today. Even though they did so in a civil manner, it hurt me even more that they had the right to say what they did.”
“...Where are they now?” Luna asked curiously.
“They are likely still in the throne room,” replied Celestia, “patiently awaiting my return. But I can not face them right now. I can not pretend that everything is alright in front of two men that were just killed because of me…”
Luna froze upon hearing that.
“No…” she thought. “She can’t mean…”
Luna then quickly rushed out of Celestia’s bedroom and dashed through the halls.
“At least I have more of a reason to believe Ricard will be safe than ever…” Luna remembered herself saying.
“How…” Luna thought, growing angry at herself. “How could I have been so naive?”
“Ricard is one of the new heroes, along with the rest of the Jaeger squad…” Luna remembered Akame saying.
“I actually trusted her ,” thought a regretful Luna, “even after everything she’s done! I was naive in my optimism because I desperately wanted to see him alive again. I didn’t want to see him…”
Before Luna finished that thought, she burst through the doors to Celestia’s throne room and saw the Jaegers with the Nightbringers. To her great dismay, she saw that Gordon and Ricard were now ghosts. Trotting ever so slowly into the throne room, she was slowly approaching the heralds, who had turned around to face her upon hearing her barge in. Seeing Luna come close to him with a look of horror on her face made Ricard nervous as he remembered his promise…
“I’ll talk to you soon…”
“Your Majesty…” Ricard said as he and Gordon flew close to Luna, who got down on the floor sobbing.
“Ricard…” Luna told him sadly. “I am so sorry…”
“Now I know how Sister feels…” she thought.
A crestfallen and grim expression formed on the already guilty Leo’s face as he saw Luna weep for Ricard and Gordon, the burden on his conscience growing greater…
“How…” Luna started to ask. “How did this happen?”
Leo couldn’t take it anymore. Clenching his front hooves he prepared to confess in a loud voice…
“IT WAS BECAUSE I-”
“Failed to protect them.” Ricard finished for him. “That’s how he sees it. But that’s not how we see it. It was not his fault.”
“?!” Leo was astonished that Ricard did not resent or even blame him for what happened.
“It was Numdust who killed us and him alone.” Gordon followed up. “Leo’s not to blame for us letting our guards down.”
“Of course he’s not…” Luna said, beginning to scowl angrily. “However, it is not Numdust alone who is responsible for this...the real villain behind all of this is Akame!”
“...” Leo and the Nightbringers were both speechless, each for a different reason. Leo, because he had never expected to receive no hate or condemnation for what he had done and the Nightbringers, because in spite of not fully agreeing with what Luna said, did not feel any drive to defend Akame after what had recently transpired. Vincent, on the other hand, felt a calling to say something to Luna.
“Your Highness…” Vincent said to Luna, putting a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “I understand you are very upset right now and angry at Akame. But I must share some of the blame as we-”
Vincent paused as Luna suddenly turned her head around to face him, having abruptly perked up. Staring directly into his eyes for some time, Luna finally said…
“Vincent...honey...you’re alive! I can sense your true presence...you’re no longer possessed!”
Luna then abruptly jumped on Vincent and began hugging him, to the utter confusion of everyone in the room.
“Daddy!” Luna exclaimed. “It’s you! The real you! I’m so glad you’re back!”
“...Honey?” Leo said, perplexed.
“...Daddy?” Dante said, puzzled.
“Wait…” Vincent said, recognizing two familiar presences inside of Luna. “Jill? Valentine? Are...y-your souls...?”
“That’s right…” Luna replied, speaking in Jill’s voice. “Princess Luna was so gracious that she allowed us to live on inside of her…”
Vincent was at a loss for words, not only at the realization that such a thing was possible, but also at how joyful his wife and daughter were to see him again even after what he did.
“You...you do not hate me?” Vincent asked in confusion.
“Of course I don’t hate you.” Jill replied. “Obviously, I absolutely hate that we had to suffer such a cruel fate, but I can forget that hatred knowing that it couldn’t tear us apart forever. Nothing could ever do that…”
“My dad is no murderer!” Valentine exclaimed. “The murderer is that awful demon! I know you love us and Equestria more than anything! Anything that says otherwise is nothing but a big, fat lie!”
Vincent was moved by his wife and daughter’s words.
“What the Nightbringers told me was true…” he said in thought. “That demon deceived me that night...I could never bring myself to hate my family and betray my country no matter what…”
Vincent did become hesitant, however, when he remembered who he was now…
“While it warms my heart dearly that you two want nothing more than to forgive me and see our family reunite,” said Vincent solemnly, “I must be honest with you in telling you that the crime I committed is not the only problem. I am a half-devil now. I am not sure how-”
“Vincent...if there is one thing that Valentine and I are sure of, it is that we are not complete without you. Sharing thoughts of Luna’s mind, we know what half-devils are from her knowledge of the Nightbringers, the same way we share her ability to sense others’ souls now that we are in her body. We know of the pact and we do not care. Regardless of what it says, you are ours and ours alone.”
Vincent started to cry.
“We just want you to come back home.” Valentine said through Luna.
Vincent then embraced Luna tighter than ever, crying his eyes out, refusing to hold back any tears. It was soon that he stopped, however, when he began to feel Jill and Valentine’s presences leave Luna’s body. Stepping back, he looked up and saw two spirits floating above Luna. The spirits then flew towards him and entered his body. Vincent convulsed, feeling changed as he began to exude an aura of darkness and light around him. Looking at his hooves and seeing the aura, he felt that his epiphany was complete…
“Now I understand…” he said. “This is not me being spared the rod...this is the punishment decided for me by the divine. For destroying their home in favor of walking a dark path on my own, I shall become their new home and walk my dark path with them…bearing hatred in this cursed body forever...”
“Vincent…” Luna responded, fully conscious now. “Know that all punishment from the divine is given with love. More important than paying for your sins is accepting that love…”
“I know.” Vincent replied. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for keeping their souls and giving me this opportunity to be with them again.”
“You don’t have to thank me…” Luna replied. “That’s what gods are for.”
Luna and Vincent then hugged each other. After seeing all this, both the Jaegers and the Nightbringers were touched...but at the same time, puzzled. Looking over at them, Luna could tell how they felt and decided to tell them…
“Please forgive my sister’s abrupt departure, but I feel it’s best to leave her alone right now. In her stead, I shall grant you all permission to return to your homes.”
And so, the six heralds returned to their homes, ready to finally end a long and busy day that night. Vincent, however, stayed behind, his situation having to still be explained to the rest of the royal guards. As Luna went out to the castle’s balcony to raise the moon and bring out the stars of the night sky, Leo watched from the window of his bedroom and wondered…
“Was Ricard right after all? Have I been too cynical without even knowing it? As well as too hard on myself?”
Leo then looked over at his wife, Terra, sleeping in the king-sized bed that they shared together.
“Terra…” Leo thought as he got into the bed and under the covers. “As happy as I was to see you when I came home, I couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right. You kept rubbing your belly and whispering something that sounded demonic. Even though you are still as upbeat and bright as ever, I just feel uncomfortable around you right now. Like there’s something inside of you that’s unsettling me…”
Spoiler alert, there is. Your wife is going to give birth to a demon child.
Upon hearing Akame say those words in his mind, Leo almost literally jumped out of bed.
“What the fuck?!” he shouted in his mind. “You again?!”
Being scared and unsure of what to do, Leo instinctively rushed to where he had taken off his armor when he had come home and grabbed his sword.
Good, good. You already get the idea…
“What idea?!” Leo replied.
You’re going to end the problem before it begins...
“No...you don’t mean…” Leo said in horror as he soon found himself holding his sword over his wife.
“What’s going on?!” he shouted as he also found himself struggling not to stab his wife through her womb. “TERRA, WAKE UP!”
Terra simply moaned in her sleep.
She can’t hear you...the darkness inside of her has put her into a deep sleep. The same way I am manipulating the darkness inside of you…
“YOU TWISTED FUCK!” Leo shouted. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”
I know what you did today. How you killed your friend to save your country. And now, I want to see if you will kill your wife and child to save your country.
“WHAT?!” Leo bellowed.
By order of the greater gods, your wife has been impregnated by the forces of light and darkness. Soon, she will give birth to the daughter of Fluttershy and the son of Noimman. Though Fluttershy is a good god, Noimman is a devil god more terrible than I…
Leo’s jaw fell slack.
Yes, you know what could come about if such a child were to be born. You must kill him and Terra to ensure no harm comes to Equestria. If Terra were to survive, she would divorce you for certain and simply become impregnated with Noimman’s child again.
Leo started crying as he realized the insane dilemma he was trapped in.
“I love Terra more than anyone…” he thought. “But I also love my country more than anything. All those ponies who would suffer if Noimman’s child were to follow his predecessor’s example...that’s a risk I can’t take...I’m sorry Terra…”
Leo was about to let the darkness take control of him and stab Terra before he remembered something else…
“There is no justification for what I did.” he remembered Celestia saying. “Though it was all I knew to do to save my subjects, that doesn’t make it right.”
“Failed to protect them.” he remembered Ricard saying. “That’s how he sees it. But that’s not how we see it. It was not his fault.”
“Obviously, I absolutely hate that we had to suffer such a cruel fate,” he remembered Jill saying through Luna, “but I can forget that hatred knowing that it couldn’t tear us apart forever. Nothing could ever do that...”
Finally, Leo remembered the aura of darkness and light he saw around Vincent’s body and realized not what he had to do, but what he wanted to do…
Leo then began fighting the darkness that was controlling him harder than ever as he brought the blade away from Terra and towards him. The last thing he spoke was…
“I’ll trust you, Ricard…”
*shing* *splat*
Akame laughed as she watched Leo stab himself in the heart and lie on the floor dead.
“Finally…” Akame said, her physical body manifesting over Leo’s corpse. “The final ghost is born…”
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Bringing the Light and Night
Though the seven warriors shall shine in the final battle, its true glory shall forever be enshrouded by the seven omissions made in the legend…
“...What does that mean?” Leo asked Akame. “Please...tell me. Why are you doing this? Why did you do all this knowing they were just using you, planning to throw you away at the end of it all?”
“Because it was the purpose of my creation.” Akame answered. “Just like that insane version of Princess Celestia from the Transcending project, the reason for my existence is to cause death and pestilence in order to prune this undisciplined generation. It is my duty as an artificially created devil god.”
“You’re just like the Princess Celestia in our world…” an angry Leo replied. “You just accept the terrible fate the ones above have given to you, refusing to even try and fight it. If I, a mortal, refused my “destiny” to stop the birth of Noimman’s son, why can’t a god refuse commands to do wrong?”
“Oh, don’t talk like you’re a big shot.” Akame retorted. “The greater gods knew you never had it in you to kill your wife and child from the start. You want proof? How about the fact that we made you the final member of Helllights instead of Vincent?”
“I don’t intend to preach as if I am on a higher platform than you…” Leo replied. “I only ask why you, a god who adores creating chaos, so greatly value the orders of your superiors.”
“Value isn’t the right word.” Akame responded. “I don’t follow their orders out of respect for them. I follow them because they allow me to do what I want without having to face the consequences of my actions and make this world a better place on top of it. The gods who created me can destroy me just as easily as well, so I see no reason to rebel so long as things are as they are.”
“...” Leo was silent for a brief period.
“You seem surprised that like mortals, I have limitations.” Akame remarked.
“Indeed I do,” replied Leo, “but more than that, I’m surprised that meeting you here and talking to you in person after you murdered me, when my enmity for you was at its pinnacle, is...soothing me. I’m surprised that I’m...not surprised that even after all the atrocities you have committed and all the hatred I have felt for you that you have turned out to not be the true enemy in all this.”
“That better not be your way of telling me that you’ve gone soft.” Akame said with a sneer. “When we have our final battle this day, you better hit me with everything you have, because I’m going to hit you back much harder with everything you don’t have…”
Leo said that as it was revealed that all around them was darkness…
“What I don’t have is what gives me my strength…you said I’d only be happy for a short while after I found out the truth...but unhappiness is always where I’ve found my happiness...”
Soon, the darkness that surrounded them disappeared, being replaced by light, and Leo was back in his house. Looking below, he saw his corpse. Looking at his forelegs and seeing that they were glowing and transparent, he was well aware of what he was now…
“I am a ghost…” he told himself with a look of sadness. “Soon, my vessel shall rot to naught, but the real tragedy is that my soul shall be barred from the afterlife for many generations, forced to bear firsthand witness to the inevitable decay and death of all living creatures…”
He then became especially sad when he looked over at Terra, who was still sleeping.
“Including you…” he continued as he knelt his head. “And my child…”
Leo attempted to gently stroke his wife’s cheek, but alas, he could not, as his ghostly hoof simply passed right through her physical body.
“Terra…” he said, clenching his hoof and shutting his eyes filled with sorrow. “Please know that this shell you will wake up to see is not me...the real me will always be with you, even as he leaves…”
Leo then floated over the bed where his wife slept and passed through the wall on the other side, departing his house and heading towards the battlefield where he and his soldiers had slaughtered the devils…
“To fight the greater fight…”
All of a sudden, Terra opened her eyes, having somehow heard Leo’s voice.
“Leo…” she said to herself. “What do you mean? Why…*gasp*”
Terra gasped as she caught sight of Leo’s body lying on the floor before her. In a state of absolute shock, her terror grew as she examined Leo’s corpse further and saw that his own blade had been thrust into his heart. Bringing her hooves to her face, trembling, she could no longer contain her anxiety and let loose with a loud bellow…
“LLLLLEEEEEOOOOO!!!”
Meanwhile, inside Celestia’s castle…
Celestia was in her bedroom, tossing and turning in bed, her rest being disturbed by Akame assaulting her mind…
Inside her mind, Akame was standing before her, darkness surrounding both of them just like it had done with Akame and Leo.
“What do you want?!” Celestia cried. “Haven’t you caused me enough pain?!”
“Hmmm...nope.” Akame replied cheekily. “I simply can not relent as we draw close to the coup de grace…”
“What are you plotting now?!” Celestia demanded to know.
“Nothing more than a fitting conclusion to everything.” Akame answered. “Wouldn’t you agree that this glorious play deserves a more-than-satisfying denouement?”
“The devil war is over!” Celestia exclaimed. “At the cost of the lives of so many, you now have the invincible soldiers you desired! What more must be done?!”
“A test of the power of those soldiers, of course.” Akame replied. “I already know the current potential of the Nightbringers, but not the potential of those ghost soldiers, the Helllights, I shall call them. Nor do I know the potential of the Nightbringers and the Helllights fighting together...combining the powers of light and darkness in order to defeat this world’s supposed ‘ultimate evil’...”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she caught on to what Akame meant.
“You mean to fight them yourself?” she said.
“Not exactly…” Akame replied, smirking and rubbing her chin with her hoof. “I am going to have some backup with me to make things fair. I’m sure the poor, lost souls of those devils your men killed will be seeking employment as my guards…”
“You must be joking!” Celestia shouted. “You already hold so much power on your own! “Make things fair”?! Are you truly so cowardly?!”
“And are you truly so unfaithful?” Akame taunted. “I know the abilities of my men better than you, and sadly, that includes the guys who used to be your favorite soldiers.”
“Mock me all you want…” Celestia said as she gave Akame a glare of anger. “I will not stand by and watch you brutalize my men. I’ll be watching you. If I find this little test of yours unfair, I will intervene, and I will even kill you should it come to that.”
“Why so serious?” Akame replied. “You know those men of yours can no longer die now. Are you really just that sick of me?”
Celestia paused for a while, reflecting on everything Akame had done to her and the people she loved before gritting her teeth and donning a furious, fearsome look.
“YES!” she finally shouted in a loud, booming voice unlike her own. “I AM BEYOND WEARY OF YOU! YOU HAVE TORMENTED ME, MY SISTER, AND MY PEOPLE FOR FAR TOO LONG! JUST THE THOUGHT OF AN OPPORTUNITY TO FINALLY BE RID OF YOUR TOXIC, INSUFFERABLE PRESENCE FILLS ME WITH A FEELING OF JOY LIKE NO OTHER! FUCK YOU! FUCK OFF! GO FUCK YOURSELF IN HELL! I HOPE EVERY LAST SECOND OF YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE MAKES YOU REGRET THAT YOU EVER EXISTED! I ONLY HOPE THAT I GET THE CHANCE TO TORTURE YOU TO DEATH!”
In response to this, Akame just started laughing out loud as she watched Celestia snarl while breathing heavily.
“Oh come on,” said Akame, “you know that I can only find hatred being poured out through words hilarious. I know how much you have hated me in your heart, and I’ve loved every bit of it. You can not know how long I have waited for you to show it to me...through actions…”
“...Actions?” Celestia asked as she stopped snarling and heavily breathing. “But I’ve not attacked you physically…”
“Not yet.” Akame replied. “But in this final battle, I assure that you will come to participate in it, and in your words, “kill me if it comes to that”.”
“...” Celestia was silent, puzzled at why Akame was so nonchalant about all this. In spite of the hatred she felt for her, the two had fostered a relationship and a prestigious public image. Could it be…
“Are you trying to bait me?” Celestia asked suspiciously. “Do you mean to kill me off in a way that will appear justifiable to the public eye?”
“You would’ve been dead long ago had that ever come across my mind as a serious thought.” Akame answered. “The greater gods have valued me as a key player in this whole affair up until now, but you, I’m afraid, they have always considered replaceable.”
“Well if I’m so unimportant compared to you, why have they always allowed me to have my way despite not agreeing with their ideologies?” Celestia replied.
“Replacing you and your sister with yes-men would’ve proved quite boring, don’t you agree?” Akame said. “Boredom is what the greater gods despise above all else. Why do you think they create these worlds, these conflicts, these tales of immortal-turned mortals rising up against tyrannical devil gods such as myself?”
Suddenly, Celestia realized what Akame was trying to say. Her eyes went wider than ever as she started shaking.
“Do you mean to tell me…?” she asked.
“Yup.” Akame replied. “This world was deliberately created with the problems it has. We were given a solution to the problems they wanted to one day solve for the purpose of making their story interesting. The suffering and hardship we endure is ultimately for their entertainment.”
Celestia was now enraged to the point where we could no longer control herself…
“YOU’RE DDDEEEEEAAAAADDDDD!” she screamed as she jumped at Akame. In the real world, she jumped as well, leaping out of her bed and bursting the bedroom doors wide open. The guards standing outside of them were knocked aside and were now grunting in pain on the floor, shocked and confused. Not being herself, Celestia ignored them and ran towards her throne room, her instincts telling her that that was where Akame was most likely to be.
Celestia had nothing on her mind right now besides finding Akame and destroying her. She didn’t care if this was a trap. She was done playing Akame’s games. If this did mean her demise, so be it, she thought. The life she had spent following Akame’s orders was torture anyways. Not just because she had become fed up with being a slave to the greater gods, but also because she was fed up with being a slave to guilt. The only reason she had tolerated this awful life up until now was because she thought she was suffering for the greater good, not for the amusement of the ones who had tormented her and her loved ones…
“You lied to me…” she thought. “WE’RE JUST KILLING YOUR SUBJECTS AS ESSENTIAL SACRIFICES FOR THE WORLD TO LIVE IN PEACE! BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!”
Celestia burst through the entrance to the throne room from the hall. To no surprise, she saw Akame sitting on her throne, smiling that sickening, loathsome smile she could no longer tolerate…
“RRRAAAGGGHHH!” Celestia cried as she charged up a magic blast in her horn and fired it at Akame, who jumped out of the way to the right before the blast destroyed the throne. Celestia turned to the right and was about to charge up another destructive beam, but stopped upon seeing Akame turn to shadow and disappear.
“Let’s finish this somewhere more suitable…” Akame told Celestia in her mind. “A king is meant to fall in battle on a battlefield, not in his own throne room. Meet me at the battlefield where we sent our men to fight against the devil army. Before we let karma catch up with us, let’s catch up with karma…”
“For once, I honestly agree.” Celestia replied. “I’m no longer afraid of how I will be punished for what I’ve done. At the end of this, may we both rest in pieces in the blackness of DEATH!”
With fire in her eyes, Celestia leaped out the window and flew towards the battlefield Akame was talking about posthaste.
“Sister…” she thought solemnly. “I’m so sorry to do this to you and to our subjects...but I know that not only you, but many others will be able to take my place and rule over Equestria better than I have as of late…
...farewell.”
Suddenly, Princess Luna, who had been asleep in her bedroom, was awoken by an overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. Looking out a window, she realized that the sun had not been raised yet, for it was still dark out…
“I feel not night’s essence…” Luna said to herself. “It should be morning…”
Luna got out of bed and left her bedroom. Coming to Celestia’s bedroom, she was astonished to find the doors wide open and two royal guards lying on the floor.
“What in…” Luna said as she rushed to one of the guards on the floor. “What happened here?”
“Her Highness suddenly bolted the doors open.” the guard explained. “With great force at that.”
“After that, she rushed down the halls.” the other guard said. “It was as if Her Majesty had become possessed by a demon.”
Luna scowled, immediately suspecting that Akame had something to do with this.
“Forgive me, as I know you two are in pain,” said Luna, empathizing, “but please, come with me. I want to take extra cautionary measures…”
The guards got up off the floor and joined Luna in searching the castle for Celestia. Eventually, they came to the throne room and gasped when they saw the destruction of Celestia’s throne.
“I was only speaking figuratively…” the guard who spoke of Celestia being possessed said.
“What has come over you, Sister?” Luna thought as she saw the broken window. “Where have you gone to?”
Luna pondered over where Celestia would be, and soon, was overcome by another strange premonition. She turned to her guards and asked them…
“Please bring Vincent to me.”
Meanwhile, on the battlefield where Celestia’s soldiers and the devils fought…
Leo was already there, standing and waiting. Now that he was no longer of the physical realm, he could sense spiritual presences all around him. To be more precise, three hundred familiar spiritual presences…
“You must be the ghosts of the devils we fought…” Leo said. “So you were all once innocent ponies. I do not blame you if you hold a grudge against me.”
“We do not.” the ghosts, gathered as one, replied. “We completely regretted our decision to become demons as soon as we made it. The death you and your army brought us was a blessing. But alas, even now, we are not free as the greater gods seek to use us once again…”
“By that, do you mean…?” Leo asked, even though he already had a good idea of the response he would get.
“Yes, Akame.” they answered as he predicted. “The orders she has received through them are the reason we have been gathered here as one. And very soon, she will arrive to do battle here with Princess Celestia.”
“What?” Leo replied. “Why is Her Majesty being pulled into this?”
“We do not know.” they told him. “We were not told everything. However, what we do know is that the fight Akame has planned to have with you and your comrades is not just meant to be a test of your abilities. It’s also meant to be a testimony to the world. A story that will go on to inspire future generations in spite of the omissions made to it...”
“My comrades too?” Leo asked, confused. “And what do you mean by omissions?”
“We’re going to cut out a few parts that we simply don’t feel will fit…” Akame explained, suddenly appearing behind Leo. “Like how your beloved princess laid on the ground begging for death…”
Leo turned around and gave Akame a scowl.
“What do you want with my liege?!” Leo demanded to know. “This was supposed to be our fight, leave her out of this!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Akame replied. “After all, she’s the one coming to fight me…”
Akame and Leo both looked ahead of them and saw Princess Celestia zooming towards them, flying at full speed, the flames in her eyes burning fiercely as her vision locked onto Akame.
“DIE!” Celestia shouted as she fired a powerful magic blast at Akame. Just like before, Akame jumped out of the way in time as the magical energy scorched the ground below her. Celestia then followed up by shooting multiple magic beams at Akame, with her casually dodging each and every one of them. Leo watched in astonishment.
“My, my.” Akame said as she casually flew through the air, avoiding the beams. “I’m actually tempted to let one of these hit me just for a change of pace.”
“THEN DO SO!” Celestia screamed.
“As you wish.” Akame replied and flew right in front of Celestia. Remaining there, she gave Celestia the perfect chance to hit her. Celestia charged up the most powerful energy beam she could in her horn and fired it at Akame, completely disintegrating her, her ashes falling to the ground. Celestia then began panting heavily as she floated down to the ground, exhausted from having spent so much magical energy.
“Your Highness!” Leo exclaimed as he floated over to Celestia. “Are you alright?”
“No…” Celestia answered as she looked at Leo sadly. “How can I be? It is because of me that you are dead…”
“No, Your Majesty…” Leo replied. “I chose to die…”
“That’s a lie…” Celestia said. “You didn’t really choose anything. You were just set up, just like I was. That’s the only reason we exist, to be used by those abhorrent sadists we call the “greater gods”...”
Leo was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure out of urgency.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” Leo said, sympathizing. “I know you are going through much right now, but I must tell you, Akame-”
“I know that she is still alive.” Celestia answered, interrupting him. “I’ve known from the start that I can not kill her.”
“Then why did you…” Leo prepared to ask, but was interrupted again by Celestia saying…
“Because I was angry. I gave into my emotions, and sought out to destroy the object of my aggression, even knowing it was impossible. Because the darkness inside of me still lives…”
It was then that Leo saw a shadowy creature that resembled King Sombra in his shadow form, but had the face of Akame rise out of Celestia’s back and bear its sharp teeth. Twice Celestia’s size, it loomed over her, ready to devour her...
“And Akame is part of that darkness. Goodbye Leo…”
“NNNOOOOO!!!” Leo shouted as he flew towards Celestia and entered her body. Possessing her, he had her jump out of the way before the shadow creature, Akame, could dive in and gulp her down.
“Heh heh.” Akame snickered. “I was wondering when you’d finally spring into action.”
Just then, Akame’s face fell off, having been severed from her shadow body by a sword glowing with a very radiant light. Genuinely surprised, Akame turned her face around to see that the one who had cut her was Dante.
“You mean when we’d finally spring into action.” Dante said with Trish, Vergil, Princess Luna, and Vincent standing behind him.
Despite having a look of surprise on her face for once, said look soon turned back into her vintage look of amusement.
“Yes, I was wondering when you three would spring into action.” Akame said to the Nightbringers, rolling with the joke. “It’s about time you decided to betray me.”
“Ha!” Dante jeered. “We were never on your side, cunt.”
“We may have “chosen” the dark path,” said Vergil, “but we’ve always been on no one’s side.”
“We only supported to have you made the ruler of Equestria because we felt you deserved the position.” Trish explained. “And we’re only here to stop you because we’re not going to just sit back and let you hurt anyone.”
“Predictability, predictability.” Akame replied. “Do you really think I ever trusted you three or any of my servants for that matter? To tell you the truth, part of the reason I made Numdust the leader of the doomed devil army is because I was worried he would try to conspire against me with the greater gods.”
“So we’re all just pawns to you, a demon lord of all things?” Dante mocked. “Pfft, what a shocker. And you’re going on about predictability.”
“Yes, as demons who have witnessed all too much darkness, we begin to miss the feeling of true, genuine surprise we once had…” Akame replied. “However, I’m not a demon. I’m a demon god. I never knew that feeling because I was artificially created. Unlike you, I never was a real pony...or a human for that matter…”
“Human?” Princess Luna questioned in her mind, puzzled.
Ha ha ha ha ha…
An unfamiliar laugh was heard by all, the only one finding it familiar being Akame.
“Ninja Time God Rarity?” Akame asked as she rolled her eyes up to the sky.
I must say, I am impressed by how well you’re taking being in this precarious position, Akame. Though you did always boast about not being afraid of “losing face”. Hee hee hee!
That joke was made by another entity who was unfamiliar to all who heard what he said, save Akame.
“Fantasy God Discord?” Akame asked.
Surprised to hear from us now? After what you just said about never knowing genuine surprise?
“Oh please.” Akame retorted what Ninja Time God Rarity said. “I’m not freaking out like everything I know is a lie.”
Oh ho, but you will be freaking out over one thing you know turning out to be a lie…
“And what might that be?” Akame said nonchalantly in response to Fantasy God Discord.
The fact that what you were told about being “artificially created” did not mean what you thought it meant. Even we greater gods have mortal limitations, one being that we can not create something out of nothing, nor can we create life. The pure darkness you came from was a pre-existing life, a “human being”...
“What are you talking about?” Akame asked, genuinely perplexed by what Rarity was saying. “You created this world…”
We created this FICTIONAL world. It’s just a story you live inside. But every character inside this story, including you, was once a real person…
What followed the words Discord spoke was the longest silence yet.
“...............................................” everyone went.
The silence was eventually broken by the ghosts of Gordon and Ricard coming out of Dante’s sword and saying…
“Wait, what did he say?”
It’s hard to explain, given that you don’t know all the facts like we do, but essentially, what we mean is that we took your lives away twice.
Once again, everyone was silent for some time before the silence was eventually broken, this time by Leo, who still inhabited Celestia’s body.
“Well then, bravo.” Leo remarked sarcastically in response to what Rarity said. “Remind us to congratulate you again when you find someone who cares.”
No, no. Don’t congratulate us. Congratulate yourselves.
“For what?” Leo replied to what Discord said. “Having the patience to put up with all this shit?”
Precisely. You, your friends, and the Nightbringers are now the super soldiers that you’ve been brought up to be in both form and spirit now. All as part of our plan.
“Interesting…” Vincent responded to what Rarity said. “That reminds me of what Akame was saying yesterday. Only she said that it was only part of the reason you “staged the war”.
Akame explained that part of the reason to Luna very early on, and another part of the reason to Celestia just recently, if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, she was misinformed in saying that the suffering and hardship you endure is “ultimately” for our entertainment. It is not. What it is ultimately for is renewing the spirit of this broken universe, thus the name, “Spiriting project”.
“You...you must be toying with me…” Akame replied to Discord indignantly. “Do you know what I suffered through believing that I was only created for evil?”
Do you know what all the ones you’ve tortured have suffered through?
“Don’t you dare accuse me of being a hypocrite…” Akame said to Rarity with a growl. “At least you gave everyone I tortured a worthwhile existence in this insane world. I, on the other hand, you made into an irredeemable monster…”
What about Numdust and everyone you turned into devils, shadow soldiers, and Sombra-like creatures?
“At least they knew who they were…” Akame replied to Discord, growling louder. “Even though they were essentially forced to become demons, they knew they didn’t have to be evil…”
I don’t get what you’re so upset about. At least you know now that you can be good…
“...Good?” Akame responded to Rarity, the immense anger inside of her growing ever so great as her face began to crack. “Let me guess, is Vincent supposed to be the example of how no one is beyond redemption? Or maybe Myra Michaels? Again, ones who always knew they didn’t have to be evil…”
Don’t play dumb, you know the answer. YOU’RE the example. You’re just too arrogant and immature to accept the truth. That’s why you’re going to throw a massive temper tantrum as we’ve written…
“STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!!!!!” Akame screamed as her face exploded and the entire region transformed into pitch-black darkness. Having shielded their eyes with their forelegs as a natural reflex upon the explosion, everyone soon slowly pulled their forelegs away to witness the souls of the three hundred killed ponies that became devils arrive at where Akame’s face once laid and fuse together to form a creature of pure light…
...that was shaped like a devil. It had the arms, legs, torso, and head of a devil. Its face, however, lacked any features save for one, eyes. The eyes of Akame.
“Okay...I’ll play your game…” Akame said in a frantic tone, her composure completely gone.
Akame began to raise her hands in the air and twirl around as she had done long back, concerning every pony watching her as they slowly began to back away. Luna and Leo became especially concerned when she saw Akame charging mixes of light and dark energy in her hands...
“I’ll be good.” Akame said in a disenchanted monotone, her mind slipping away. “I’ll fight the “essential role models of this generation”. WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN MAKE THE UNIVERSE GREAT AGAIN!!!!!”
“EVERYONE, GET DOWN!” Luna and Leo cried as they both cast a shield spell in an attempt to block the energy blasts, but they proved to be too strong. The beams broke through the shields and completely destroyed Celestia and Luna’s supposedly immortal alicorn bodies as they disintegrated into traceless dust. The Nightbringers, the Helllights, and Vincent, on the other hand, were unharmed by the beams. Seeing this, Akame gave a snicker that soon turned into the laugh of a madman…
“AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” she cackled insanely. “SO THIS IS THE POWER I AM EXPECTED TO MARVEL AT! I AM ABOVE THE ALICORNS BUT EQUAL TO THE GUINEA PIGS YOU HAD ME RAISE! WITH THEIR POWER, THEY WILL KEEP THE EVIL AKAME IN CHECK FOR ALL ETERNITY! WHAT A SPLENDID JOB YOU HAVE DONE! AH HA HA HA HA-”
Akame’s laugh was interrupted by Vincent tossing his sword, imbued with light and dark energy, into Akame’s heart.
“ULP!” Akame coughed up a dark fluid. She was paralyzed.
“You think it is the power of these soldiers that you are expected to marvel at,” said the light energy inside Vincent’s sword, revealing itself to be Celestia’s soul through its voice, “but you are wrong.”
“It is how their hearts come together to create a power greater than that of any evil that you are expected to marvel at.” the dark energy inside Vincent’s sword, revealing itself to be Luna’s soul through its voice.
Akame soon realized the truth of what Celestia and Luna were saying as she saw Gordon, Ricard, and Leo enter Trish, Vergil, and Dante’s bodies respectively. Vergil and Dante put their blades together as Trish fed her power combined with Gordon’s into them, just as Vergil and Dante fed their power combined with Ricard and Leo’s into them. Coursing through their blades was lightning that had the auras of light and darkness emanating from it. Akame knew what was going to happen to her as Vergil and Dante prepared to swing their blades…
“Hey Akame…” Dante said. “Remember what you told me at Devil’s Peak? Lightning came down from heaven...”
“AND SATAN FELL!” the Nightbringers and the Helllights both exclaimed together as Dante and Vergil both swung their swords and released a bolt of lightning that shot towards Akame and electrocuted every single part of her body.
“AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEHELPMEEEEE!!!!!” Akame screamed in agony as she felt every part of her body bulge and burst in an enormous explosion that sent out a blast wave so loud, it could be heard all throughout the land. The light from the explosion was so bright that it not only lit up all of the darkness Akame had created, but it also caused the night sky above to become bright as well. And this brightness was not light pollution, rather natural daylight like the kind Celestia created. And even as all this brightness came in to light Akame’s darkness, the darkness of the night that Luna created remained.
All the ponies in town who had heard the blast wave and were curious as to what was causing this combination of daylight and night followed the sound. Though it was a long walk, being mystified by the beauty being displayed all throughout the land made the time seem like nothing. Eventually, they came to the battlefield to find the Nightbringers and the Helllights talking to two strange figures. One was Rarity, dressed in a black garb with the emblem of a sword on it, and the other was Discord, dressed in a white robe with the emblem of a shield on it.
“Who are you?” some of the townsponies asked. “What has happened?”
Rarity and Discord looked over at the townsponies with sly grins on their faces.
“Your story.” they replied.
Aftermath
This is the account given in Rarity and Discord’s story…
In what can be seen as an attempt to take the throne, a powerful demon known as Akame assassinated Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that day. Following this, she was killed by the combined efforts of the Nightbringers, the very soldiers she had raised, the Helllights, formerly known as the Jaeger Raid, and a royal guard named Vincent.
That day, there was understandably much mourning for the loss of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. However, there was also much comfort found in what their souls that still lingered had to say. They promised that they would live on inside not just their subjects or the daylight and night that would still shine throughout the land even after their passing, but also inside the heralds who may have died…
This is the list of those heralds and what they did following their defeat of Akame…
Gordon has been researching the past of the devil known as Numdust. He purports that his reason for doing so is because he believes he will return and wishes to make preparations…
Ricard has often been seen in talks with Princess Luna. It is said that they have been trying to work together to find a way to monitor the dreams of the citizens of Equestria better…
Leo soon found himself to be the father of not one, but two children when his wife Terra, finally gave birth to twins. One was a colt with a dark coat and mane, and the other was a mare with a white coat and mane…
Trish has been assisting Gordon in his research with her abilities as a ghost whisperer, attempting to contact the spirit of King Sombra, an alleged subordinate of Numdust and Akame…
Vergil has been working to improve his aura reading skills and studying the forces of light and darkness in an attempt to understand better why such great power results from their unity…
Dante has been behaving gloomier as of late, as a surprise to most. Some speculate that he feels sympathy for his late mentor. Others speculate that he doesn’t feel Akame is gone for good…
Vincent has grown to be the most trusted guard of the two new rulers of Equestria…
...What has been omitted?
“We attacked him, but he proved to be too powerful for us.” the messenger said. “Thus, we failed to subdue him…”
What really happened in the battle with Numdust and the Jaeger Raid.
The relationship between King Sombra and the shadow creatures.
How Terra overcame that her husband was now a ghost.
The most important parts of the final battle between Akame and the seven soldiers, as well as Akame’s true motive…
The last part of the account of Rarity and Discord…
The heralds who may have died but still live…
Finally, the last part of the list of the heralds…
The two new rulers of Equestria, Queen Spira, the daughter of Fluttershy, and King Nero, the son of Noimman...
Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)
Awakening of the Three Ghosts
Episode 4: Awakening of the Three Ghosts
Akame stood before her barrier with the most unpleasant smile on her face. She had seen everything, all the carnage, the destruction of all three hundred demons who were once ponies, and loved every second of it. Hearing the victory cry shouted by Leo and the soldiers he led made her want to laugh.
“Yes…” Akame said sinisterly as she looked up to the sky. “Hail the gods...may praise be to we who feed you mortals to the demons and lead you to kill each other...ah ha ha ha ha ha!”
Akame then lifted up her forelegs and twirled around.
“Creating peace through war, having mortals temporarily solve the eternal problems we gods allow to continue, I absolutely LOVE the hypocrisy of it all!” she proclaimed in a creepy tone of voice.
“And this is only the beginning of the destruction, the rising action…” she continued. “Only we know that three hundred ghosts will go on to become the star antagonist our heroes will face in the climactic battle of this play, while only three ghosts will go on to be called heroes…”
She then looked out towards the fortress in the distance, a small castle of simple structure, with walls painted black and two front doors painted dark purple.
“It’s time to throw the gauntlet, Numdust…” she said.
On the battlefield, all the soldiers had put their swords away and the Jaeger Raid were now leading the men in a march towards the fortress. Soon, however, they and all their men stopped, hearing the sound of a demonic laugh.
Huh huh huh huh ha…
“?!” one of the soldiers was taken aback as they recognized the laugh.
“It’s him!” the herald standing next to the aforementioned soldier exclaimed, also recognizing it. “Numdust!”
“Not bad, not bad at all.” the one who had laughed demonically spoke to the army. “I’m flattered by how quickly you were willing to take out my trash for me…”
“Numdust, you’re trash.” Leo retorted.
“Yeah, stow your fake compliments!” Gordon interjected. “Empty and meaningless is all they are, like you!”
“You compare your men to garbage…” Ricard chimed in. “...just the kind of talk I’d expect from someone who sits on a throne of dirt. You would heartlessly throw so many lives away, and now we shall mercilessly bury you…”
“Oh ho ho,” chuckled Numdust, “I just love it when our sass rubs off on you mortals. So cute. I’d say that you three intrigue me, but seeing that you don’t enjoy my complimenting words, I’ll express my feelings through actions…”
Suddenly, behind the Jaegers, a massive stream of shadow energy burst up from the ground, separating them from their army. A small, horizontal fissure stretching to both ends of the barrier had formed from the shadow stream as it rose up from the gap and took the form of a wall. The surprised soldiers who attempted to pass through the wall of shadow energy found that they could not.
“Sirs!” they cried as the Jaegers tried the same thing, also to no avail. “It’s no good! We’ve been blocked off!”
“Celestia damn it!” Gordon yelled. “Such cowardice!”
“Feh, don’t get the wrong idea.” Numdust said. “It’s not that I fear you. I just want to fight you three personally and I don’t want things to get too boring. What fun would there be in you just ganging up on me with all those soldiers?”
“Hmph, fun.” Leo thought. “I’d much rather guarantee coming home alive and well but bored than risk dying here “entertained”, but if I must choose the latter, I’ll do anything it takes to survive...anything…”
Leo then looked at Gordon and Ricard with a deadpan expression on his face.
“I would much rather die before you two…” Leo thought. “...but duty takes priority over my feelings. And part of my duty is to live. Not just for Celestia, not just for her, but also who will follow in my steps…”
Leo gave the emblem on his neck a glance before looking at the wall of shadow and telling his men…
“Please stay where you are for the time being and await our return. We will be back.”
He, Gordon, and Ricard then made their way to the fortress ahead, all three knowing full well that even if they couldn’t keep such a promise, it was a promise they had to make. It was their duty as the leaders to fill their followers with a feeling of hope.
How unfortunate it is that much hope turns out to be false. But don’t worry, the hope you accept may be fake is certainly real.
Akame said this to herself in her mind as she watched the Jaegers enter the fortress, pushing open the front doors.
It’s a good thing only I would know the downside of it being real…
Meanwhile, back with the Nightbringers…
The Nightbringers, at a loss for words, watched as the herald grew black demon wings. His forelegs transformed into the arms of a demon, losing their fur, the hooves at the end of them transforming into the claws of a demon. His entire body began to exude a shadowy aura as a familiar flow of purple energy began to exude from his eyes. With the fusion completed, his identity had become quite clear.
“Vincent…” the demon said. “That is my name. I am the monster who destroyed my family. I committed a sin I can never repent of. I can never live a normal life again. And sinfully, I take pleasure knowing that, because I hate life. It is only suffering. Suffering in the name of false hope and false love. Freed by Death, I now happily serve Death as my new master. I’ve paid for my sin now. He has given me eternal life by making me dead to my old self and granting me a new existence as a being of darkness.”
“...” the Nightbringers were still silent, stunned by his words, yet fascinated by them in how they were able to relate to this on a personal level. They knew that they were not facing a foe who was evil, just misguided.
“My companions of the shadows…” Vincent addressed them as such with a smirk on his face as he began to fly up into the air. “You know what I mean. You know what we must do now. We must fight. Only in battle may we find respite as we remind ourselves of our demonic nature. Let us remind ourselves of our pact with the darkness, the only thing that frees us!”
Vincent then swooped towards Dante, ready to swipe at him with his claws, but was stopped as Trish fired a blast of lightning coated in dark energy from her horn at Vincent, shocking him as he felt the feeling of something spinning through the left side of his chest and slicing through it like a boomerang, causing him to fall to the ground, writhing in pain.
“GRAAAGGGH!” Vincent cried in agony as he saw black blood spurting out of his chest. “What powerful magic! Though not holy, it still overwhelms me and can even cut through me!”
“Though I appreciate the compliment,” said Trish, “I can’t take credit for that last part. I didn’t cut you, Dante did.”
“What…” Vincent said in disbelief as he saw Dante still standing in the exact same spot, having not moved at all. Raising his right foreleg, he caught his sword, which had come back to him after spinning through the air and slicing Vincent. Vincent stared at Dante sheathing his sword, dumbfounded.
“Even without his comrade’s help, he could’ve stopped me…” Vincent mused in his mind. “And the way he boomeranged that sword in such a short timeframe...he’s even faster than the one with the katana…”
“So tell me, did that give you any “respite”?” Dante facetiously remarked. “Does it make you feel alive and free exercising your right to get whooped by us?”
“Mock me all you want…” Vincent replied. “I don’t care if I lose, so long as I am free. That is my true victory, the only one that truly counts is my triumph over the shackles of life!”
“Congratulations, man.” Dante retorted, maintaining his sarcastic tone. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself more under the shackles of death.”
“Death’s chains are of no weight to me…” Vincent said in assertion. “It was only through death that I could pay for my unforgivable sin...the sin of submitting to a demon and murdering my beloved wife and daughter whom I failed to love…”
“Not joking, it’s great that you have a heart in spite of what you’ve done.” Dante said sincerely. “But you need to work on your mouth, and that’s coming from me. Do you even understand what you just said?”
“...” Vincent was then silent for some time. Noticing, Trish and Vergil realized what they needed to do.
“So this must be what we’re truly meant to do.” Trish thought. “We’re not supposed to fight him, we’re supposed to help him.”
“This guard…” Vergil said in his mind. “There’s no way he could be the demon we were told about. However, if what we were told is true, then maybe we need his help to face what’s yet to come…”
Using her magic, Trish levitated herself and Vergil down from the cliff and onto the ground below where Dante was, wanting to be on Vincent’s level when they spoke to him.
“What I don’t think you realize,” said Trish, “is that this “unforgivable sin” you’re talking about is something everyone is guilty of. Not everyone is a murderer, but everyone has submitted to their demons before.”
“Yeah,” chimed in Vergil, “and not just that, but you say that you “failed to love” your family like you failed a test and that there’s no turning back. Love doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t grade you. It doesn’t keep track of what you’ve done wrong. And most importantly, it’s always there for you.”
“...Do you think they would ever forgive me?” Vincent asked.
“If they love you, then of course they will forgive you.” Trish replied with a smile. “Love forgives all sins.”
“I’ve sensed the whole time how sad you’ve truly felt…” Vergil said as he knelt his head. “I know you don’t want to walk a road of hatred. You allowed yourself to be taken over because you didn’t believe you could ever love again...such an awful lie. Anyone can learn how to love again.”
“We bear the same cross now,” said Dante, “as well as the same cross as everyone else in this world. Fighting isn’t what gives us respite from the world’s cruelty, it’s coming together. That’s how we learn to love.”
Vincent was astonished. Not only were these three stronger fighters than him despite having less darkness within them, but they also had wisdom of the power of light despite being raised in darkness.
“Thank you…” he told them. “All of you. But you must know the truth that there is another tragedy that I face.”
“...What’s that?” Vergil asked, having a bad feeling as he remembered what Vincent had said about being just as guilty as the demon soldiers were.
“The demon soldiers that we witnessed get massacred…” Vincent said with tears in his eyes. “They were all ponies once before they gave their souls over to the devils…devils sent to them in their dreams by Akame...”
The Nightbringers couldn’t speak.
“I committed the same sin as them…” Vincent continued. “Only I get to walk this world still in control of my soul, not even as a full demon. Do you think that’s fair?”
The Nightbringers were shaking with anger, their front hooves clenched.
I have a special mission for you…
That, they remembered her saying...
“AKAME!!!” they all shouted up to the sky.
Meanwhile…
Gordon, Ricard, and Leo entered Numdust’s fortress, the doors closing behind them as they trotted in. Looking around the place, they noticed it bore an uncanny resemblance to Princess Celestia’s palace. Even though they had just entered through the front, they found themselves somehow walking down the red carpet of a dark, dimly lit hallway that looked almost exactly like the hallway of Celestia’s palace. As their eyes scanned the area in their lookout for Numdust, they saw that outside the windows, it appeared to be nighttime despite it being 2:37 in the afternoon.
Instinctively, the Jaegers believed the reason it would be dark outside in spite of it actually being the daytime would be because of the shadow barrier. However, they soon found what they initially believed to be wrong when they noticed that the darkness outside appeared to be the natural darkness of the night sky. There were even stars glowing in the night sky, the source of the faint lighting in the halls. Some of the stars had also come together to spell out a message that read as such…
“The real ruler of this castle is also a puppet.”
Though intrigued by the possible meaning of the message, the Jaegers decided to take it with a grain of salt and press on. Coming to the end of the hallway, they discovered yet another set of double doors. As they pushed these doors open, Ricard began to feel an unpleasant premonition, reminded of when he had entered Celestia’s throne room that morning for the strategy meeting…
“This meeting will be unique because it is the last one you will have as you are…”
Ricard didn’t even know why those words crossed his mind. He hadn’t even said them in his own voice. This added even more fuel to his fear. His fear that he and his comrades were being watched by an unkind force, and not because of Numdust. Even as they entered the room behind the double doors and saw that Numdust was nowhere in sight.
“Ha ha ha…” Numdust’s familiar laugh could be heard. “How do you like the decor?”
Looking around the room, which was well-lit unlike the hallway, the Jaegers noticed that just like the hallway, it looked almost exactly like a place in Celestia’s palace. With the exception of different glass portraits displayed on the walls, over windowsills where strange, black dust sat, the room was an exact replica of Celestia’s throne room. What set the glass portraits in Numdust’s throne room apart from the ones in Celestia’s was that rather than showing depictions of Equestria’s heroes and their heroic deeds, they showed images of a more foreboding nature.
One was of a small, purple-haired colt with a lavender coat standing at Akame’s side as both of them shared a creepy smile. Another was of a devil with red arms and a purple shell that covered the rest of his body shaking hands with King Sombra, smiling an unnerved smile in his shadow form. The last one that stood out was of the same devil waving goodbye to Akame, who was standing in front of a large building surrounded in darkness. By her side, waving goodbye as well with distraught looks on their faces were none other than the Nightbringers...as young children…
“What the hell?” Gordon remarked as he took note of the portrait showing the Nightbringers as kids and walked over to it, curious.
“Not just the Nightbringers, but Akame too…” Ricard said. “What could their connection to Numdust be?”
“First and foremost, we must find where Numdust is hiding.” Leo said. “Gordon can investigate the side of the room where the portraits are while you and I search the other side.”
Leo and Ricard got right to investigating the other side of the throne room, in spite of not knowing how Numdust could hide in a place with so much open space as Celestia’s throne room.
“Ha ha ha,” laughed Numdust in a suspiciously more quiet tone of voice that only Gordon heard, “too bad the Nightbringers aren’t with you. They’d know where I’d be hiding…”
“You know the Nightbringers?” Gordon asked, his comrades not overhearing him in their concentration on searching for Numdust.
“You could say that…” Numdust replied. “We were fellow victims of soul-crushing torture. Of course, that doesn’t make us friends, but Akame always believed that it made us siblings. “You are all my children of the dark!”, she would often proclaim. “What nonsense.”, I always thought in response. I’ve never had any family, for certain…”
Gordon grimaced as he was reminded of his traumatic experiences with his family. His mind being occupied with such thoughts, he didn’t notice that on the windowsill of the portrait with the purple-haired colt, the dust was beginning to lift itself from the windowsill and shape into the form of a small, jagged shard with razor-sharp edges that hovered in the air ominously…
“I’ve been all alone since I was a child.” Numdust said. “But I’m not bemoaning my “tragic” upbringing. I love it. For now, I am free of any limitations.”
“What do you mean?” Gordon asked.
“You’ll soon understand…” Numdust replied. “Once you and your comrades have experienced death…”
Just then, the sharp shard that had formed flew across the room, the side of it cutting Gordon’s throat.
“GUK! GWAAA…” Gordon cried loudly in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding throat.
Ricard and Leo overheard Gordon’s cry and turned around to witness the awful scene.
“GORDON!” Ricard yelled in shock.
“What the fuck?!” Leo shouted as he saw the now blood-stained shard still floating in the air. “What is that thing?!”
The shard then zoomed towards Ricard, attempting to kill him by stabbing him in the throat, but Ricard pulled out his sword and slashed at it, knocking it a short distance away. Suddenly, however, the shard transformed into the red and purple demon the Jaegers had seen on the pictures in the glass. Without hesitation, the demon lunged at Ricard, who was caught off guard with no time to react. The demon was about to kill him by swiping at his throat with his claws, when all of a sudden, a blast of holy energy struck the devil in the back of the head, causing him to writhe and holler in agony. Ricard could see from behind the devil that it was Gordon who shot the demon with a magic beam from his sword with the last bit of energy that he had…
“Good...b…” he looked at Ricard, trying to say “Goodbye.”, but could not manage to finish his farewell as he died from his mortal wound.
“Noooo…” Ricard moaned in sorrow, pale in the face. “Gordon…”
The demon, beginning to recover, got ready to strike again, but before he could, Leo lunged at him with his sword in hoof.
“DIE!” Leo shouted.
“This soldier…” the demon thought. “Unlike his companion, he’s entirely focused on battle even as his comrade has fallen. How fun he’ll be to test…”
With the swing of his sword, Leo sliced the demon’s head off. Both the devil’s head and body fell to the ground and turned to dust. The same kind of dust that had been seen on the windowsill…
Leo then put his sword away, turned around, and walked closer to Gordon’s corpse. He knelt his head in respect.
“Please forgive me…” he told Gordon. “Rest in peace.”
Leo then started to turn back around to face Ricard.
“Forgive me too, Ricard.” he said to him. “Don’t blame yourself, I take full responsibility…”
Suddenly, Ricard pulled out his sword and fired a holy beam from it at Leo’s forehead as soon as it came into view. However, Leo was unphased by it. Bewildered, he looked at Ricard and saw hatred and bloodlust in his eyes. Noticing that the dust the demon’s body had turned to had disappeared, Leo shot Ricard a cold stare, realizing what was going on…
“You’re not Ricard…” he said with an angry growl. “You’re that devil!”
Leo brandished his sword and pointed it at Ricard’s face, but Ricard only smiled and scoffed in response.
“My, my…” he taunted, speaking in Numdust’s voice rather than Ricard’s. “You’d point a weapon at your dear brother-in-arms?”
“Don’t even start with that crap.” Leo angrily retorted. “As far as I’m concerned, you two are separate. And the one I face now is a reprehensible demon!”
“Well, that’s one opinion…” Numdust continued to speak in a mocking tone of voice. “But I’m afraid to tell you that the fact is if you kill me as I am right now, your comrade dies as well…”
“How are you still alive?” Leo asked. “I beheaded you!”
“My body is composed entirely of dust brought to life by dark magic.” Numdust explained. “It can pass through anything and take the shape of anything. To truly destroy it, you’d have to destroy the dust that has seeped into your friend’s body. But the question is, how does one destroy dust, ha ha ha…”
It was then that Leo knelt his head in despair…
“That’s right, you know there’s nothing you can do.” Numdust proclaimed boastfully. “Even if you killed your friend, I’d just possess your body, and even if you could somehow destroy the dust within your friend’s body, I’d be sure to destroy him from the inside first and take him with me. Even speaking hypothetically, you’re in a hopeless situation. You already can’t save your friend or defeat me…”
...but not for the reason Numdust believed, as the light in Leo’s sword began to grow very bright. Numdust noticed Leo’s sword glowing and continued to gloat, failing to see something different about this light...
“Futile.” Numdust said in a terse manner as he held out Ricard’s sword, which was not glowing. “Your comrade must be protected from being harmed by holy magic the same way you are. I’m fine so long as I don’t use said magic, so I’ll just kill you the old-fashioned way!”
Numdust then rushed toward Leo with the blade in hoof, ready to stab him in the heart, but to his surprise, Leo dodged at the last moment. He maneuvered to the left and stabbed Numdust square in the forehead with his sword.
“L...Le…” Ricard muttered in his own voice before Numdust took over again and began laughing maniacally. “HA HA HA HA HA!”
Leo then began running away from Numdust as fast as he could, bursting through the front doors and dashing through the hall, tears coming out of his eyes.
“Ricard…” he thought to himself. “I am so sorry!”
“What a coward!” Numdust exclaimed. “They called what I did cowardice when their captain was the worst of them all! He stabbed his friend to distract me and ran!”
Numdust then began to lift Ricard’s forelegs up to the ceiling and twirled around like Akame had done earlier.
“How hypocritical mortals are in criticizing us devils!” he proclaimed. “I LOVE-”
Numdust was suddenly interrupted as he threw up a large amount of blood mixed with black, glowing ooze. He then began to feel small bursts of holy energy destroying the dust in Ricard’s body, as well as small bursts of dark energy destroying Ricard’s tissue and organs. Looking up and realizing that the sword in his head was no longer glowing, Numdust realized what was happening...
“NO!” Numdust shouted in terror. “HE MIXED THE HOLY ENERGY WITH DARK ENERGY! IT TRAVELED INSIDE OF ME THROUGH THE SWORD! THAT SLIME-FILLED CUNT!”
The small explosions of energy grew bigger as areas all around Ricard’s body burst open, spewing blood everywhere as his skin was starting to melt from the heat of the explosions.
“The light and darkness inside me…” Numdust whimpered as he fell to the floor, a mess of blood and liquid skin. “When fused together, they create an incredibly powerful energy like no other...I’m going to explode...along with my entire fortress…”
Soon, Numdust proved to be correct as Ricard’s body could no longer hold together. The holy energy and dark energy inside him merged together and created an explosion so powerful that it not only completely destroyed him from the inside, the outer wave of the explosion spread throughout the entire fortress, decimating everything in its path. Leo, who had just gotten out of the fortress, was racing to get back to his men outside.
“COME ON!” he shouted to himself. “MAKE IT!”
Meanwhile, back with the Nightbringers…
Dante, Trish, and Vergil were finally getting ready to leave with Vincent.
“We’ll take you back to Princess Celestia…” Dante said in a distraught tone of voice. “It’s probably for the best that she decides your fate…”
However, as the Nightbringers and Vincent began walking away in the opposite direction, Trish stopped as she felt something in the distance coming towards them.
“Ghosts…” Trish said, turning around to see what she could feel.
“Ghosts?” Vincent asked as he and the other Nightbringers began turning around.
As they quickly remembered that it made sense with the battlefield being home to much slaughter, they asked Trish…
“How many?”
Trish simply replied by saying…
“Two.”
