A Sword with Purpose

"So shall we dance?"

Silence follows while we stare each other down. The air feels tense and heavy, and times seem to slow down as we wait for the first move to be made. Out eyes are locked together, purple versus blue. Who will win?

After a whole 30 seconds of our little staring contest, I make a rush towards her, the air becoming light and thin, and she's waiting for my strike. I swing out my sword towards her stomach, but she easily deflects it with her green blade, the sound of metal of metal ringing in my ears. She brings up her blue on and swings downward at my head but I'm able to roll out of the way and turn my body around while swinging my sword. She easily dodges by backflipping through the air before landing gracefully once more. Instead of doing a staring contest again, we both run at each other, trading strikes and blows. The problem is because she has two swords, I have to block from two different angles and let me tell you it's not easy! Even for me.

She's hitting me with incredible speed and the fact she has two swords makes it all the more difficult to handle. If I had two swords, this would be a different fight entirely. But since I don't, I will need to think of a new strategy. She won't let up and I don't think I can stay like this for too long, so I can't just wait for an opening. Even if I did, with her speed, she won't give me one. No, I will need to find another way to counter her and get on the offensive. I could try to flee and counter attack when she gives chase but I don't think she'll fall for that trick and all it will give me is some time to regain myself. But seeing as how I don't know any other way out of this, it's the best option I've got.

She strikes at me with both her swords but I'm able to hold my own and push her away. Needing more, I spin kick her straight to the chest and push her a little farther away, giving me enough time to seperate from her, about 25 feet to be precise. She looks at me in annoyance and lets out an angry sigh before getting into her original stance.

'Must be expecting me to try again huh.' Was my first thought, 'Not gonna happen.' I put my sword in front of me while holding it in one hand and pointing it at her. And to top it off, I smirked at her. She takes this as a sign that I'm not falling for it and gets more annoyed before deciding it's her turn to run at me. This was actually perfect for me as I could easily tell how fast she was. She was, as I thought, very fast on her hooves as she reached me before I could even start counting. She was in front of my sword before I knew it and I quickly decided to take an easy shot. I step toward and thrust my sword out to stab her but before I could, she suddenly disappeared from my vision in a blur. My instinct told me to move but before I could, I was slammed in the side and went flying about 5 feet through the air. The pain wasn't that bad since I've felt worse but still stung a little. Getting up, I look over to see the mare holding her leg out in my direction. Then it clicked. She was able to move so fast, she appeared to the side of me and kicked me before I could even respond. Her speed must be on an entirely different than what I had originally thought. She starts laughing at me since I probably have a shocked expression plastered on my face.

"So have you realized you've picked a fight you can't win?!" She says while laughing loudly, calming down she looks at me with a sadistic smile, "Let me show you how Swift Flash does it." She says referring to herself in the third person. She disappears in front of me and before I could try to react, she's in front of me and sends an uppercut into my jaw, causing me to stagger back. She follows this up by a kick straight into my chest, making me fall to the ground. She then attempts to impale me with both her swords, but I'm able to respond fast enough to roll out of the way and get up on my feet. Swift sees this and pulls her swords out of the ground and dashes to me as she unleashes a torrent of stabs and swings. Her speed is so monstrous that I can barely even keep up. The quick blur of strikes are pushing me back, bit by bit, and a couple of her strikes get past me and cut into me. After about 5 straight minutes of this onslaught, she finally lets up and back away from my injured body. My jacket has been cut to ribbons and there are multiple cuts across my entire body. On top of that, all the defending I've done has exhausted me and the injuries aren't helping as I fall to my knee and start breathing heavily. Swift Flash notices this and starts laughing mockingly at me before kicking away my sword.

"So this is the 'dreaful' warrior that was able to kill our men single handedly?" She says with emphasis on dreadful before shaking her head in a disappointing way, "Pitiful." She then lifts her sword up while holding it upside down before pushing the blade down towards my head.

Time seems to slow down once more as death slowly approaches me. But unlike the time I was surrounded, this is different, it's..... actually slower! Time has legit slowed down. I look around and see all the other soilders fighting but in an almost frozen position. My brain tries to make sense of this but the pain makes it difficult. So my next best option is to take advantage of the situation. Since my sword is gone, I stand up and uppercut her hard on the jaw, the force sent her head back but the moment it happened, time returned back to normal and she was sent flying.

Forcing my body to comply, I turn and leap for my sword. I pick it up and turn immediately to Swift who's getting up while rubbing her jaw. Shaking her head, she looks around before spotting me and scowling.

"I don't know how you were able to do that, but I will make sure it doesn't happen again!" Giving a powerful flap of her wings, she jets right at me with her sword pointing directly at my face.

Just like before, time slowed down but this time, I didn't hesitate. I immediately rush her direction and move to her side before kicking her, time once again resuming and she's sent flying away. She got up and coughed a few times before wiping her mouth and glaring at me.

Smirking, I ask, "What's wrong? I thought Swift Flash was gonna teach me how to do it," I emphasize, making her visibly more pissed off, "What a loud horse shit." I rushed towards her and we began to trade blows.

But while we were, I started to think about the time thing. 'I don't know how exactly it starts but what I can tell is that whenever I make physical contact of someone, it stops. The benefit it seems is the contact is a lot more powerful than normal since I'm probably moving at super high speeds to an outside eye.' I thought, 'But how I can make it start, I have no clue. Maybe I could will it.....' As if on cue, time slowed again.

Smirking at this success, I back away from her before deciding to sweep her legs. I turn quickly while jutting my leg out and crouching down, my calf striking her ankles and when time started after the contact, her body flipped at least 3 times before she landed right on her arm with a hard thud. I immediately lifted my sword and attempted to stab her. Attempted being the key word as she rolled right before it connected with her chest, but it was able to cut into her arm. She cries out in pain before flapping her wings and taking to the sky but leaves one of her swords in the process. Swift stops at about 50 feet above me before stopping.

She seems very tired and her ankle looks broken from me sweeping her leg. On top of that, her arm is bleeding very heavily. She thinks she's safe, but I have a plan. I slow time again and crouch down, prepping my legs. I look up and smirk at her in the air and thrust my legs out as hard as I can, the force jetting me up towards her. Time resumes and I can clearly see her shocked and frozen in both awe and fear at me. In less than a second I'm right in front her and I immediately attack. First I grab her head and drag her down right on my knee, likely breaking her nose (or snout, whatever ponies have) then I punch her in the stomach, making her keel over in pain and she stops flapping her wings, causing her to start falling. I grab onto her and position her below me as we start plummeting faster from the extra weight. The last thing I saw before we impacted was her eyes widening even more than they were but that was all as our impact on the dirt ground created a large cloud of dust that made it hard to see.
CELESTIA POV

Swift Wind and Aaron have gone away to do their battle, I'm hoping he will be safe and careful. You can't underestimate these Arcadians.

Flaming Ash is looking over to me and my sister with a sinister smile on his face as he stands next to his second-in-command, Violet Thorn. From what I've heard, he is a very dangerous unicorn. There's a myth that he was considered a 'defective' unicorn since he couldn't use magic. Because of this, his parents rejected him and Violet was forced to fend for himself. Eventually, the recently formed group known as Arcadia found him when they attacked the town he lived in, and decided to take him in and trained him. It's said he quickly rose through the ranks and became an elite warrior. This is all rumor though, but what I do I know is he's never been seen using magic and that his armor is nearly indestructible. There is also the fact that he is apparently a 'mute', meaning he can't talk. Despite his flaws, there is no doubt his strength is immense. He once blew through an entire squad of 20 guards with only 4 punches. It is unknown whether or not his strength is natural, magical, or something else. But to be frank, the fact of the matter is, Violet Thorn is incredibly powerful, and incredibly dangerous.

Flaming Ash's small talk knocks me off my train of thought. Looking over, I see him looking over in the direction of where Aaron and Swift left. "So now that Swift and the monkey boy have gone to have their own fun." He then turns towards me with a murderous look in his eyes, sending a chill down both me and my sister's spines. "We can have our own fun." He says with what seems like actual bloodlust lacing his tone, ending it with a snap of his fingers which makes Violet run straight towards us with unimaginable speed. Luna immediately flys up while grabbing my arm, carrying me along with her. As soon as we got up, Violet slams his fist into the ground where we just were, making a small crater in the ground and sending a shockwave that was strong enough to almost make Luna lose her balance. She regains it though and sets us both down 10 feet away from Violet as he makes his way out of the crater and towards us. Preparing our weapons, I rush at Violet first, causing him to stop to stand. Waiting for me. Knowing he must be up to something, I prepare my magic for a teleportation spell. I jump into the air and swing my sword down on his head. He looks up at me and his eyes seem to glow brighter, and before I know it, I'm on the ground next to Luna. Luna picks me up with a worried expression plastered all over her face.

"Sister! Are you ok?" She asks in concern. My head is throbbing and my vision is a little blurry. Looking up at what I assumed was Luna since I only see a blob of blue.

"Uhh. My head hurts and i can barely see. What happened?" I ask as I sit up and try to survey the battlefield. My vision has cleared up but only a little. I am able to make out Violet standing in the same spot and an orange mass behind him seems to be laughing.

Luna helps me fully to my feet and catches me when I almost fell back down. Regaining my balance, I look to Luna for the answer to my question.

"I honestly don't know exactly. You were about to kit him and then his eyes glowed brightly. After that, you were on the ground next to me." She tells me with a confused tone, leaving me the same. How could he have done that? Was it magic? I thought he couldn't use magic. What's going on?

Flaming decides to snap me and Luna out of confused stupors. "Now do you understand?! Violet here is special. His eyes are capable of casting illusions that can bend and injure the body greatly." This bit of news shocks both of us. I look back at Violet in shock with a little bit of amazement and see him nod his head as if confirming this. I shake my head to defie this.

"It doesn't matter what he can do! All that matters is he will fall by our hands." I yell out to him as I take flight. Soaring above them, I gather magic once more and begin to give it the form of a large ball of fire. "No matter what you do! You will fall to the might of Equestria!!" I yell out in the Royal Canterlot Voice before sending the giant fireball straight at Violet who still only stands in the same spot. Violet then crouches down before leaping into the air, about the same height as I am. The fireball explodes on the ground, creating an even bigger crater. Violet then does the impossible. He turns his body in the air and crouches again before pushing AGAINST THE AIR and rockets to me. My shock won't let me move and even if I could, his speed wouldn't let me. He reaches me and slams right into me, grabbing hold of my body and throwing it straight down. Luna sees this and flys over to me, grabbing me from the air and landing a little roughly on the ground. I open my eyes to see Violet crashing down into the earth, making another crater from the force at which he fell. I try to move my body to attack him but Luna holds me down.

"Don't sister. Let us take care of this." She says in the old, traditional speaking pattern while glaring at Violet who only looks at me. I want to retort but she's already off. She uses her wings to propel herself foward, giving her a speed boost. She also thrusts her spear out in front of her and attacks Violet who simply brushes of the attack like it was nothing. Luna then unleashes a barrage of strikes and hits on him but they all do nothing. On one thrust, he actually dodges to the side and pulls on her spear before slamming the back of his fist into her face, sending her flying.

"LUNA!!! I scream out in horror but she turns her body in the air and lands before glaring at Biolet once more, her nose bleeding. Violet throws her spear back at her to which she just grabbed it with her magic before flipping it in the air and pointing it right back at him. He seems to be uneffected by this as he starts making his way towards her. Luna's horn starts to glow, making her spear do the same. Before I know it, her spear separates into several other ones. Violet is still unaffected by this as he's still making his way. Instead, he actually lifts both his arms and I see his armor start to grow from the arm. A few seconds later, there are two blades that just grew from the arms of his armor. Me and Luna are shocked by this and apparently Violet noticed as he started to run at us, snapping me and Luna out of it. I lift my sword and engulf it with my magic, causing it look like fire in nature. Hearing a battle cry, I look over to see Luna running at Violet while sending magic spears his way. The spears deflect off his armor as he slashes at Luna who blocks with her shield while attacking with her own spear. It is clear though that she is being overwhelmed so I run over to them with my flaming sword and shield in hand. Raising my sword to the side of me, I gather the magic to the front of tip of the blade for a powerful stab. Once I gathered the perfect amount, I point it behind me before flipping it foward and thrusting it outwards right into the side of his body. The magic caused a giant flash of explosion. The force and explosion sent him flying away about 20 feet before landing on his back. After a few seconds though, he gets back up without as much as a scratch, shocking me and Luna.

"What?!? How?!? I poured at least a tenth of my magic into that!! That's enough to destroy our strongest armor in a single hit!!! How are you alive?!?" I yell out in desperation but don't get a response since Violet's a mute. Instead, Flaming answers.

"You see Celestia," He states, getting my attention, "That armor Violet is wearing is stronger than any other armor in Equestria." He states in a matter of fact tone. "We've tested it with just about all the force we can dish out. And you of all ponies, should know that's a lot. Not even the Bruiser's cannons could scratch it," He says while pointing at the ship still floating above the battlefield, "And those are capeabpe of destroying a house with ease. Taking that into consideration, what could you do?" He rhetorically ask with a smirk and smug tone.

The sad part is, he's right. One cannon shot from that ship decimated a battalion of 30 guards without fail. So if that armor could come out unscathed after an entire barrage of cannons, we have no hope of breaking it. But that doesn't mean we're not gonna try.

Putting on a brave face, I face Flaming. "That doesn't matter Flaming, what matters is the safety of Equestria! And with Arcadia on the loose, we will do whatever we must to protect our ponies!" I yell out as I spread my wings and take flight once more, adrenaline overcoming my sense of dread. Once more gathering magic into my sword, I put a third of my magic into the blade. Lifting it above my head, I glare down at Violet.

"Violet Thorn!! You and Arcadia's reigned terror and fear will end today!! For my ponies, and for Equestria!!!" I yell in the RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice) as I rocket myself straight to Violet, my magic spiking from my rage, making a yellow, flame-like, coat form around me. The light from my magic was blinding it seems, as Violet out his arm over his eyes and couldn't see, meaning he couldn't use his illusions. That's it! Using this to my advantage, I propel myself even faster which Violet doesn't notice, or does he? He stands completely still and I swing my sword straight to his neck. But when I swing, Violet lifts his other hand up and catches the blade in his hand! There was a blinding explosion which even blinded me for a few seconds. I hear Luna scream out my name but I can't see her. Once my vision returns, I'm faced with Violet staring directly into my eyes, the purple glow seems haunting. Before I know it, I seem to be the sunny sky seems to have turned a change purple and the sun is now a strange green. I look around for Luna but she's gone as well as Flaming, in fact, everything seems to be gone. The land is flat and black. The air feels strange and heavy. I look at myself and my colors seem to be switched as well. Violet is standing 20 feet away from me.

"Violet Thorn! What have you done!?" I demand as I point my weapon at him? Both my sword and shield have disappeared. In anger, I look at back at Violet. "Where are my weapons?!" I demand once again, only to be answered by what feels like a punch to the face that puts me to the ground. I look up to see Violet standing in front of me with his arms crossed. When I opened my mouth to say something, nothing came out. I try again with only the same effect. I put my hand around my throat and continue to try but I'm interrupted by a strange voice, clear and smooth, but with a dark and a 'don't mess with me' vibe in his tone.

"Don't even try Celestia." I look up at Violet to see him give a small nod at me, confirming that it was really him.

I snapped out of my shock and looked at him with amazement. "But I thought you couldn't talk?" I say as a question as this is very confusing. Violet only shakes his head.

"No. I'm not talking through myself. This is the voice of my mind." The voice said. I look to Violet for clarification and he nods. I wanted to ask something but didn't know whether to look at Violet or the sky. I make up my mind as I look at Violet with a serious expression on my face

"So what is this place you've brought us to Violet Thorn?" I demand slash asked. He didn't move but the voice still answered.

"We are in my illusion realm. I never gave it a name, but my foes call it the 'Nightmare Realm'," The voice, or Violet I should say, says and at this point, Violet actually moves and makes an air quote at the 'Nightmare Realm' part, "I find it fitting but you can call it what you want," I was about to ask what that means but before I could, a black tendril comes out of his shoulder plate and swings at me, forcing me to duck. The voices tone changes, this time.......it seems......demonic, "Because it won't matter when your dead." More tendrils start to come out of his armor and launch straight towards me. I duck and weave around them, but some are able to hit my body, causing blue blood to come out of the wound. The voice starts to chuckle in amusement and I look over to see Violet making a laughing motion before the tendrils start attacking again. I'm able to dodge most of them, but a few of them are hitting. Plus, whenever I try to use my magic, I get a severe pain in my head that makes me since and groan in pain. The voice laughs at this.

"Ah, ah, ah! This is my realm, remember? You can't do magic because that's against the rules. I control everything in this plane of existence. That includes time, matter, and even magic!" The voice starts to laugh again as more and more tendrils start attacking me. I continue to dodge them and start to run in the opposite direction to escape. But the moment I do, a tendril grabs my ankle and lifts in the air before throwing me to the ground and then away. My whole body is in pain and agony. Every muscles starting to hurt and my heavy breathing is even making my lungs sore, like the air was made of fire. I look over to the tendrils and Violet who seems to be standing in the same spot. So what I can gather, he's either relying on those tendrils for damage and doesn't see the need to move. Or he can't move. Option one seems like the more likely one, but if he is then I could use this to my advantage. I will just need to test which one is the correct one. Checking to see if I could use my wings, I saw that I could and knowing this, I make my move.

I run straight to Violet who I see roll his eyes before the mass of tendrils spears towards me. I then spread my wings and fly up in the air. Violet seems to unaffected by this as the tendrils just go straight up to me. In an instant, I make a plan to hold the tendrils in place. I fly straight down to them and st the last second, I maneuver around them and fly down the length of them in circles. The causes the black spikes to follow me in the same pattern as I. Knowing this, I make multiple sharps turns, circles, and loops until finally, all the tendrils are tied together. Violet seems shocked my this and summons the tendrils cal into his armor. Glaring at me, his voice starts to speak in anger as a black aura envelopes Violet's body.

"So you want to play the hard way, huh? Well then, LETS PLAY!" The black aura covers his entire body and all I'm able to see, are his two piercing purple eyes through the black, smoky cloud. After a few seconds, the black aura explodes away from him, making me shield my eyes from the light. When I look back, I'm in shock.

Violet changes into what looks like a monster. His armor is now gray and rough instead of black and spiky. His metal gloves are now round and seem to be hammer-like. But the biggest feature seems to be that Violet has grown in size. Originally, he was only a foot shorter than me, but he is towering over me by at least 4 feet. He looks over himself and nods at everything on him in approval. His covered face turns to me befroe he stands straight up and the voice emanates with malicious.

"Ah yes, now this is more like it!" My instincts immediately flare and I soar into the sky right as Violet suddenly appears in front of me with speed I didn't think was possible, and smashes his hammer fist into the ground, causing a giant 10 foot deep, 20 foot wide crater into the ground. My eyes widen to the point where they almost pop out of their sockets. But before I could react, Violet was in the air above. I was just able to see him when he punches me in the face, rocketing me to the hard ground.

My entire being is in pain, and I'm pretty sure I broke multiple bones. I was about to get but right as I tried, Violet plummets back down to the earth. I use my wings again and propel myself out of the way. Violet smashes the ground and the shockwave sends me flying away. I land on the ground and try to balance myself back up to which I succeeded. I look over to see Violet coming out of the crater he made and look over to me. Power is practically flowing out of his body. Violet's voice is also oozing with power and malice.

"What wrong Celestia?! Scared!?" He says with a mocking tone. He then dashes towards me again and I see his fist going for my face. Using my wings, I dip and dodge each attack he sends my way. Each punch he throws though is sending a small shockwave that pushes me away a little. His strength naturally is immense, but now, it's like trying to fight a mountain that has the force of a hundred bombs. As he continues to try and pummel me, I try to think of a plan.

'Come on Celestia, think! What could you do to get out of this? If I had my magic, I could try to blast him but I can't since he won't let me. What I really need to do is try to break out of here. But how? My magic blinded him so maybe I could use that but again, no magic. Ugh!!! What could I do?!' My thoughts are interrupted by a punch right into my chest which sends me soaring. Once again, my body is in pain and I'm pretty sure my ribs are broken. Violet makes his way towards me in a slow and menacing stride.

"Now you see my true power Celestia. The true power of the Amterazia armor."

'Wait a minute, I recognize that name.' I stand up, despite the pain, and look at Violet which makes him stop.

"Say that name again."

"This is the Amterazia armor." He repeats.

My eyes widen in shock. The Amterazian armor is suppose to be a myth, a legend. So how does he have it? The fact it's real is shocking enough but also that it's worn by a stallion like Violet Thorn?! It's even scarier when you realize that Flaming Ash is even stronger, so what is he capable of?

I'm once again interrupted when Violet leaps towards me and tries to smash me into the ground. I dodge out of the way and fly away, trying to think of a plan to get of this Tartarus-hole. But I still can't think of anything! I could probably break out by blinding him, seeing as how it's his eyes seem to have brought me here. Looking back to see that he was still right on my tail, I shake my head. No, that wouldn't work. I don't have my magic to do so and his armor seem to be covering his eyes. Speaking of which, it makes me wonder how he even sees. I don't have anymore time to think about it because Violet suddenly was directly next to me and throws a hook right into my stomach, blood and saliva forcing itself out of my mouth. My body is sent flying away and I land right on my left wing, causing it to snap and break.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" I passed out from the sudden and immense pain. When I wake up, it seems a few seconds have passed as Violet is slowly making his way towards me. My vision is dark and blurry, and my body is in so much pain, it won't allow me to actually move. Violet reaches me and fingers made from his armor start to grow out of his blunt fists. He reaches down and grabs a handful of my hair and forcibly lifts me into the air, making me yelp and squirm under his rough touch.

He starts to laugh at me pathetic attempt to escape his grasp. "What's wrong princess? I thought you were going to beat me for Equestria? But here you are now, squirming like the worm you are!" He throw me back on the ground before placing his foot on my legs softly, his intentions loud and clear.

"No," I say, "Please don't do this." My words only make him chuckle and laugh like a mad pony.

"You know Celestia, my favorite kind of pony," He says, "Are the ones who beg!" He pushed his foot down hard and completely crushes my legs. I screamed so loud, it came out more like a bird screeching. I kept screaming until my throats couldn't physically go on any longer. I just laid my head back, exhausted. Violet reaches down again and lifts me up once more, this time though, I didn't struggle as I was much to tired to even move. He shakes me a little to see me respond and seems disappointed when I don't.

"Ah come one Celestia, I was just getting started!" He says angrily. I continue to look down at the black ground in defeat. "Ok.... fine, be that way. I'll just kill you off and get back to my master. Then I can see what little Luna has in store." He states with a smug tone and a laugh. I is look up at him in anger which he notices.

"Oh? Did that make you angry?" He asks in a mocking tone.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR SISTER?!" A bright pale blue light emits from the red sun and out from it, comes Luna in her battle armor! Her eyes are full of rage.

"Ha! It seems you have joined us! My only question is exactly how?" He says with interest in his voice. Luna only looks directly at me with sadness in her eyes. She then glares harshly back at Violet.

"My magic allows me to enter people's minds. I simply tapped into both your minds and made my way in." She explains while still glaring at him. Violet on the other hoof nods his head in an understanding manner. "But that doesn't matter now," She says, getting the attention of both of us, "BECAUSE IM GOING TO KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!!" She yells in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Her horn glows brightly and blasts an incredibly fast beam of magic right on Violet's face, knocking him back and forcing him to drop me.

Luna notices this and quickly flys over and lifts me away from Violet who's quickly recovering.

"Are you ok sister?" She asks in concern, only making me shake my head and motion to my legs. She lands fifty feet away from Violet who looks over to see us but only waits for us. Luna anger spikes as she dents me down and examines me throughly.

Turning her head over her shoulder to see Violet still standing there, she ignites her horn and covers my body in magic which starts to heal me.

"Stay here sister, we will take care of him." She says while glaring back at Violet. Her horn ignites once more and she teleports directly in front of him before I could voice my opinion. At this point, it was too late. The battle already began.

Luna swung her weapon at Violet, it clangs against his armor but it was fruitless. She keeps swinging at him, only for the armor to deflect it off. Violet decides to take the offensive as he started to swing at Luna, only for her to dodge while flying before using her speed to attack him. She rinsed and repeated until Violet decided enough was enough. He took both his coat and slammed them together, creating a large shockwave which pushed Luna away.

"LUNA!" I yelled out in concern.

I saw her get up with little injury, but that didn't help with my concern. Luna takes flight once more and starts to charge her horn.

Violet seemed confused by this. "Huh? You shouldn't be able to use magic in my realm."

"I'm a dreamwalker, Violet Thorn. Your rules mean nothing to me." Luna said with a threatening tone. She then released her magic into a condensed beam of a magic which slams into Violet's chest, causing him to struggle under its strength. Luna lets the beam disperse, leaving a giant scorch mark on Violet's chest. But he seems uneffected.

"You are truly strong Princess Luna, I condemn you. But I'm stronger." He lunges out towards Luna with great speed. Luna anticipated this though, as she teleported directly behind him when he lunged, leaving behind an exact clone of herself. Violet didn't seem to notice so he kept running at the clone, expecting to hit Luna. Instead, he hit the clone and it dispersed into magic that quickly wrapped around his form. He didn't even have enough time to speak as the magic exploded with great force. Luna only saying one thing before it blew up.

"Magic Clone: Explosive Art."

The cloud disappeared, leaving nothing?

I look to Luna for answers.

"Luna, where is he?"

"That move seemed to have forced him to release the technique holding you here." She said as the world starts crumbling apart and I'm suddenly back to where I was. My body seems to be healed completely, but I still feel the fatigue of that fight. I look over to see Luna holding her hand against Violet's head. She opend her eyes and teleported me and her away from Violet.

"Are you okay sister?" She asks with a glance to me, before snapping her eyes back onto Violet who is now looking over to us.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just tired. That fight really just worn me out." Luna simply nods and continues to stare at Violet who waits patiently. Luna and Violet both stare each other down. Violet makes the first move by sliding his left foot toward slightly. Both he and Luna lunges at each other, Luna swinging her weapon while Violet takes it and tries to land a punch. He can't and Luna's speed allows her to land more strikes. They continue to fight, and throughout the battle, Violet is tiring down and he's getting slower. Luna notices this and leaps backwards. Violet seems confused by this but takes the opportunity to rest for a second. I'm confused as well, but I'm not letting him take advantage of this. I pull out my sword and dash straight to Violet who notices and immediately takes up his guard. Luna used her speed to appear behind him and struck him with his back turned, disorienting him for a second. I use this to my advantage and gather a small amount of magic into my blade. I swing the sword right into his side, the magic was enough to send him flying with the force.

Me and Luna lock eyes together.

"Shall we, sister?" She says.

"Let's shall."

We both dash in a crisscross pattern to confuse Violet which works in our favor as he couldn't keep his eyes on us. We then move to his sides faster than he could track, Luna taking his right, me taking his left. Quickly, we side slam him with our shoulders, sandwiching him between us.

"Celestia, now!" Luna says. I nod with a 'right' uncontrollably coming from my mouth.

Both our horns glow and we teleport away from Violet, leaving behind clones of ourselves which held him in place. He tried to squirm his way out but couldn't as the clones locked him in place. Both of us appeared and were back to back. Ours voices were in perfect sync as we glared at Violet.

"Twin Magic Clone: Explosive Art."

The last thing we saw of Violet was his pleading purple eyes, staring at us with intent as the explosion took his body. When the smoke dissipated, his damaged, burnt armor was all that was left. The armor still intact of course, but the body was practically destroyed. Bits and pieces maybe, but nothing more. We look over to Flaming Ash who seems to have no emotions over his comrades death. The only thing on his expression is boredom.

"Well that was unexpected," He started, "But that only just delayed the inevitable. You're both worn out after that, Celestia, your clearly exhausted from that fight. And Luna, I may not know much about magic, but I'm pretty sure that little 'dreamwalker' spell must spend a lot of magic." He slowly starts to make his way towards us, pulling out his halberd in the process. We get into a battle stance but wince from pain. His words were true, though I still wish they weren't. He's fully pulled his weapon and makes a battle stance of his own. But right as he's about to leap to him, a certain someone dropkicks him away.

AARON POV

I stand in front of Celestia and Luna with my sword out and in a defensive stance.

"Stay away from them you bastard!" I yell out. Flaming gets up with ease, brushing dirt off of him.

When he finishes, he puts grabs his axe and puts a hand on his hip.

"Well that was rude." I only growl in response. "Oh come on, don't be like that! It makes you look like an angry puppy." He says with a mocking tone. My anger spikes but I manage to keep a stone face so I could respond.

"It doesn't matter what you think of me, what matters is how I'm gonna kill you." My voice turns dark at the end and I could hear the sisters behind me gasp, probably didn't expect that from me. Flaming only laughs at my remark.

"Now that's the way to think. I like you Aaron. You'll truly be remembered in my heart." He says while patting his chest, however this is short lived by what he said next. "With that being said, die!" He dashed right at me and swung his axe. I expected this and moved to in the directions where he swung. He smirked at my stupidity but I had other plans in mind. Right before the blade connected with me, I used my new speed to bend back, the axe barely missing the tip of my nose. I then put one hand on the ground and jumped to make me flip backwards. Using this momentum, I swung both my feet downwards and right into Flaming's head, pushing his face into the ground. I made it even worse for him by actually jumping off the back of his head, pushing him down deeper into the dirt. He is still conscious though as he pried his head out of the ground and smirked at me, no injury seemed to be visible on his face.

"Nice moves there Aaron. Now I can see how you defeated Swift. No matter though. Just means to be more cautious. Now let's continue." He goes into a stance while holding his axe behind his back. I've seen these kind of tricks before, the opponent would wait with there weapon behind their backs, giving the opposing an opening. But right before you strike, they would suddenly swing their weapon out and strike you when your defenseless. Emanuel taught me all about it. Useful, but when your opponent doesn't know how it works. I do though, so it will be easy to counterattack.

I dash towards him and prepare my sword. He smirks slightly, but I'm not falling for his trick. I pretend that I'm about to swing my sword, and he swings his axe out from behind him and tries to hit me. But I'm prepared. The moment I saw him move his axe, I use my speed again to move behind him. He swung his axe and left his back open, giving me perfect opportunity to strike. I thrust my sword straight into his back, or at least, that's what I thought. Instead his armor deflected the strike off and gave him time to turn around and swing at me again. I roll right under his axe and stand up. A flurry of strikes is what I send him, only for him to block it with his axe. I attempt to sweep his legs but he jumps up and swings his axe down onto me. I roll out once again and Flaming starts swinging his axe at me. Blocking would most likely break my sword, so I'm forced to dodge.

I dodge his attacks and look for an opportunity to counterattack. Flaming swings his axe horizontally and I quickly squat out of its way. This is my opportunity! I swung my fist as an uppercut and it connects with his jaw. His head is sent backwards and I spin and kick him right in the chest. He's stumbles backwards and I release a barrage of sword strikes onto his chest. I continuously strike him with my blade, the metal of my sword clanging against his armor's. I must have struck him at least 30 times before I stopped. But I didn't allow him any breather room because I backed up and jump kicked him right in the face. He grabs his face in pain which allows me to practice my martial arts some more. I start to throw punches before kicking him and then mixing it up a few times. He retaliates by moving one of my punches away and swinging one of his own. This didn't go well either since I tilted my head to dodge it and sent an uppercut at him once more. It hit him and made him stagger back once more. I decided to give him some breathing room and myself a small break.

"Have you had enough yet?" I ask. He shakes his head in response and looks at me with a sadistic ear-to-ear smile on his face.

"Are you kidding me? I'm just getting started!" He takes his axe and dashes straight towards me again. I get into a stance and wait for him, only for him to dissapear right in front of my eyes. Learning from Swift's fight, I quickly turn around and lift my sword, Flaming's axe striking it causing me to fly back a few feet. I do a flip though the air and land. I look over to Flaming who's running at me again. He swings his axe at me again, causing me to dodge. He swung for my feet, making me jump to dodge it. But he then spun around and kicked me in the chest, before attempting to swing his axe down onto me. I roll backwards and dodged before literally running up the length of his axe and shoving my knee into his face. I push down on the end of his axe, causing it to pull up from the ground. I turn around and grab it with both my hands, dropping my sword in the process. I spin around and threw his axe straight at his chest, before reaching down, grabbing my sword, and following after it so I may follow it up. This didn't go as expected since he grabbed the axe out of the air and used it own momentum to hit me with it. Fortunately, I was able to block it with my sword, but was set flying due to the force. I landed and checked my sword only to be suprised that it wasn't damaged in the slightest.

'What is this thing made of?' I thought. My thoughts were snapped out of it when Flaming dashed towards me once again and swung down at me. I dodged out of the way and immediately punched him in the face, before jumping up and kicking him there too. I start punching, kicking, and swinging my sword at him, forcing him to take the defensive.

After unleashing my 5 minute barrage on him, I back away a good distance and observe to see what damage I may have caused. Flaming is standing still with his arms in covering his face, he's also breathing heavily and his armor is a little scratched up in certain areas.

Lowering his arms, he looked at me while breathing heavily before smirking.

"You have..... thwarted..... my expectations of you..... Aaron," He started after getting some breath, "let's see..... what you will do...... when I'm serious." His smirk turned into another ear-to-ear smile which sent a small shiver down my spine. My instincts instantly altering me that something bad is gonna happen.

Flaming continoued.

"Show me how strong you truly are Aaron Blackgate!" He drew out his axe and held it in front of him. Suddenly, a massive orange aura completely surrounded his body. His body was flashing and seemingly cracking with radiance and fire. His skin seemed to turn ashy and slowly burn away, leaving glowing embers that lit up his skin in a strange pattern.

Before I could have an opportunity to react, there was a sudden flash of bright light, before I felt a heavy impact slam into my stomach. The blow sent me flying through the air, my skin pulsing and beating in pain, as it felt like fire was dancing inside my own skin. I slid across the rough dirt and slowly tried to pick myself up. My ears were ringing and my body was screaming for me to stop. As I tried to look around, my vision slightly blurred, I noticed a large orange glow and extreme heat coming from behind me.

As I got up and turned to look, I noticed my sword on the ground with a towering entity with a large flaming axe with ashy black armor, their whole body seemingly in this state of perpetual fire. The entity reached down and picked up my sword, which looked tiny compared to its massive frame. The entity looked at me and I could hear a deep, bellowing voice enminating from its form.

“So, surprised? Not many people get to see me like this, but I decided to give you a treat. Make sure you savor it, because I know I will.” Flaming then threw my sword in front of me before charging forward with his ace high in the air, I didn’t even have time to reach for my sword before my vision was cut to black and I could feel nothing.