History is defined only by the victor. Justice is defined only by the mind

Can’t run from me now... Jay unconsciously spoke towards his target.

Using a specialized power he dubbed “Silhouette”, Jay marked the peculiar grey pony with a shining outline. The white line illuminated the pony’s body among all the others around him. He was easily visible to Jay from any distance.

Jay had nearly forgot he won the race as he heard the announcer’s voice boom out from the various speakers near the stadium.

“A sonic boom! Unbelievable! The challenger Jayhawk wins!” He exclaimed excitedly, practically jumping with joy. The cheering continued as the Wonderbolts and ecstatic announcer walked over to the flyers. Soarin still seemed rather shocked.

“Mister Jayhawk, that was amazing! Who could’ve known a flying human had such a trick up his sleeve?” The announcer practically lunged from Jay to Spitfire as he spoke “Spitfire, what do you have to say about this man’s sudden rush to the finish line?”

“I gotta say, that was pretty impressive” Spitfire admitted, a slight raise in her tone “Soarin is one of our fastest flyers. You sure have proved yourself to us”

“Yeah, that’s cool and all...” Jay said half heartedly, still eyeing his marked pony, who was now exiting the stadium “But, I got more pressing matters to attend to. See ya”

With his words, Jay picked up his his stuff laying on the grass and re-equipped it as he left the field, acting if nothing had happened. Soul was still staring at Spitfire, wondering what she was thinking.

That’s it?! All he wanted to do was beat the Wonderbolts? I swear, if he lied to me... Soul suddenly found himself heating up from his anger. Not only had Jay done nothing to forward their progress like he had promised, but he blew off a chance to personally meet and even join the Wonderbolts. Soul got up in a huff and quickly made his way down the bleachers to the exit Jay had taken. Daring quickly following him without question, motioning for the other 6 to do so as well. She and the others noticed Soul’s anger as he trekked in pursuit of Jay.

Soon ,the group made it outside the stadium, where Soul spotted Jay re-equipping himself rather quickly. Soul stomped over to him so Jay could hear his approach.

“Jayhawk!....what the hell was that about?!” Soul opened, catching Jay’s attention “Was that all you wanted to do? Just prove your better than the Wonderbolts?!” Soul had nearly mentioned that Jay had apparently had a plan.

“No time to explain now. Follow me” Jay quickly replied, beckoning to the ponies as he walked “I promise I WILL explain everything...later”

Before Soul could even consider, he heard a familiar voice behind him call out to Jay. His attitude suddenly lightened as he turned to notice that the Wonderbolts, and Spitfire, were approaching.

“Hey, wait up, Jayhawk” Spitfire called before catching up to Jay “We’d like to offer something to you”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t any time for talking” Jay replied in a hasty tone, halfway turned in the opposite direction “I have something I gotta catch, and I don’t have much time...”

“Please, wait” Spitfire quickly spoke “We want you to join us, The Wonderbolts. We could really use another skilled flyer, and a flying human would surely attract a lot of attention”

Soul expected Rainbow Dash was sharing his expression of shock at Spitfire’s offer. It wasn’t very often that the Wonderbolts outright asked someone to join them, and Jay seemed to be almost ignoring it.

Jay, now turned fully to face the two groups, noticed Dash and Soul’s reactions. The view formed an expression of slight worry on his face as he began to talk “Listen, I’m sure that's considered an honor, but I really can’t be bothered to do so right now. Maybe later” Jay quickly spoke as he headed back in his desired direction. Before leaving, he turned his head towards the group of ponies behind Soul “You guys better stay here instead. I’ll be back soon”

Suddenly, Jay took off running towards the town, simply jumping over any small buildings in his way. He seemed to be in a legitimate rush for something, which dulled Soul’s anger as he considered it.

He’d better return. He still hasn’t answered any of my questions... Soul’s thoughts quickly dissipated as he noticed Spitfire standing beside, looking in the direction Jay had took off in. He felt a sudden nervous feeling growing slowly inside him as the moments stretched on.

“Um...please excuse my friend...” Soul hastily remarked. He spoke upon pure impulse as Spitfire met his gaze “H-he’s...kinda different than most, as you can tell. He hasn’t been in Equestria for very long”

“You know him?...” Spitfire asked “Where is he from, anyways?”

“He’s from a human world, actually” Soul replied “I, uh...met him a little while before he came here. He just appeared...outta nowhere, kinda” Soul stuttered as he tried to avoid mention of his affiliation with the Underworld.

“I guess that kinda figures” Spitfire said, looking forward before returning her eyes back to Soul “So, you think he’s coming back here?”

“Um..I-I dunno, actually” Soul stammeringly replied “He didn’t really....tell me anything...”

“Pretty mysterious guy” Spitfire stated “He, like, a mercenary or something” Got quite a lot of stuff on him...”

“Uh, sorta.” Soul responded, unsure how to explain Jay’s profession “He said he was here looking for other rogue humans”

“Really? That’s interesting” Spitfire spoke in a raised tone “Maybe they’ll start showing up a lot more”

Soul quickly began thinking of ways to keep the conversation going as he heard the sound of wood crashing down somewhere. The noise had apparently attracted the attention of Spitfire as well.

“What was that?” Spitfire asked, looking the area over

“It sounded like something breaking” Soul replied, scouting around as well.

It was a few moments before another sound was heard much closer. The ponies looked to their diagonal right to see a grey pony with a crimson mane running throughout town, followed closely by Jay, who seemed to be catching up regardless of the obstacles the pony threw in his way.

“You’re not getting away from me this time!” Jay yelled towards the pony. Suddenly, he made a short hop, followed quickly by a large leap that left a crater at his jumping point. He landed just inches away from the pony, quickly grabbing the pony's short tail and pulling it backwards. Upon the opening he made, Jay followed with an elbow into the pony’s back, sending him the ground instantly.

“What’s going on? What is Jay doing to that pony?” Twilight asked worryingly “I hope he’s not trying to cause anymore trouble”

“You’re right, he is weird” Spitfire added in, still staring at Jay “I wonder what that pony did...”

“It must be some sort of thief” Soul still guessed as he spoke “Jay has a tendency to prefer solving things with violence”

To the group’s surprise, Jay began dragging the pony with him as he approached. Before he reached them, however, the pony quickly bucked one hoof into Jay’s leg, causing him to drop his tail. Instead of running like expected, the pony simply stood a short distance from Jay, who quickly recuperated and turned to face him. The group only watched in confusion.

“It seems you think that only violence will resolve this” The pony said in a rather dark voice “How typical”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. You sure as hell can’t outrun me”” Jay said, slowly drawing his golden sword “Now, show me your true form. I’ve had enough of beating ponies today”

“Very well” The pony said, seemingly concentrating on something “If you’d like to meet your maker so soon, I suppose I can oblige!”

Upon his words, the pony closed his eyes and began to glow an eerie red color. The aura suddenly intensified as he became a black silhouette, slowly forming into the same shape as Jay. As he completed his transmutation, the blackness and aura dissipated, revealing his true body.

The human stood nearly 7 feet tall, his body very slender, yet toned and muscled. In terms of shape, the second human seemed much more stronger than Jay. His short crimson hair dropped a bit over his forehead, and he wore a black shirt with matching pairs of pants and boots. A dark red scarf dangled down his chest as he stood up.

“So you are Jayhawk, the Guardian of Harmony that I’ve heard so much about?” The human stated, running a hand through his crimson hair and inspecting his own body

“Yeah, and you’re the real leader of the Rankukan Teki, aren’t you? Haimon, is it?” Jay asked confidently

“I guess we know quite a bit about each other” The human remarked. Suddenly, he noticed Soul, and fixed his gaze upon him “Ah. You must be the Soulless Reaper. I’ve heard of you ,too”

Soul didn’t reply. He knew this second human was trouble, and obviously one of the people Jay was hunting down. Most of the situation continued to gradually make more sense to Soul as it unfolded before him.

“We’ve been watching you, ‘Reaper’. You have our special...gift” Haimon smirked as he continued “And we’ll be taking nice care of your little zebra friend so she doesn’t...postpone it any longer”

It was at this point that Soul had incentive to speak “What?! What have you done with Zecora?!”

Jay spoke up as well “You freaks better not be hurting any of his friends. I swore to protect them, and I’ll not tolerate you bastards messing with my duties anymore!”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry. Personally, I don't really want anything to do her...” Haimon idly inspected his left hand before returning his gaze to Jay.

“...wow, that was pretty easy” Jay sarcastically remarked “I guess you'll be giving her back then, huh?”

“Unfortunately, she’s someplace else right now” The human replied “Perhaps I'll tell you where she is...if you actually beat me”

"Alright, fine" Jay agreed, motioning his hands to his chest "But if I'm defeated, what happens then?"

"Oh, well, I'll let her go, safe and sound to your friends" Haimon responded, a growing smirk on his face.

“You gotta be kidding. You expect me to believe some cheap, underhanded cultist?” Jay replied insultingly.

“You have no choice” Haimon relayed, his tone becoming slightly more aggressive “I know why you’re here. We all do. If you expect to try kill me, you had better rethink it. This world isn't under your jurisdiction after all, and you have no idea the power we possess”

“Yeah yeah, ‘We’ this and ‘We’ that” Jay remarked in an uninterested tone “There’s soon going to be one less person in that word when your cult friends use it. If you were planning something at that stadium, you probably should have brought your buddies along”

“I don’t need any help with this” Haimon coldly stated “ I won’t fight you, Guardian. I’ll kill you!”

At that moment, Haimon held his hand out beside him for several moments. Suddenly, a small rumbling could be felt in the ground. After a few more seconds, something burst through the ground beside Haimon and stopped in his hand. As he gripped it, the item could be clearly seen as a large, double sided crimson war-axe. The design of the weapon gave it an eerily devilish look, and the two blades of the axe were curved up into a pointed tip. The blade's edges were rugged with teeth and shaped like two humans in pain.

“I think you may have that backwards” Jay replied in a readied stance “Even if you DO beat me, it won’t be without the fight of your life”

“You’re wrong” Haimon said as he pointed the tip of his axe towards the spectating group of ponies behind Jay “It seems I have a bit of insurance on hand” A troublesome looking smile formed on Haimon’s face as he looked over the ponies. To most of their surprise, Jay dashed in front of the group, blocking Haimon’s view of them.

“You go through me before you even touch any of them. I won't let you hurt any innocent beings, not while I draw breath!” Jay confidently stated in a more defensive stance. Soul could hear a few ponies behind him inaudibly whispering about Jay’s actions.

“Again, you’re wrong, Guardian” Haimon continued as he walked slowly forward “I don’t need to go through you at all”

With his statement, Haimon suddenly turned his axe upside down, the pointed tips facing the ground. He then dropped the axe into the soil, and followed by slamming in farther down with his palm. Upon sticking into the dirt, the axe emanated a black aura, and various engravings on it were lit up in a red light. After a few moments, black, rugged tendrils shot out of the ground around the group, knocking Jay forward and imprisoning them in a cage. Soul quickly attempted to cut his way out, but came to no avail as his scythe bounced hopelessly off the tendrils.

“There. Now we can fight fairly” Haimon triumphantly remarked, the smile returning to his face “They won’t interfere, and I can crush them all at any point if I like”. Haimon’s statement brought a wave of worry over the group, causing most to grow fearful. Soul glanced at Jay, who was still crouched down, staring at his sword.

Looks like it’s up to you now, Jay. I hope you're as strong as you say you are... Soul thought, in a bit of worry himself. He felt more annoyed that he would be forced to watch instead of being able to do something. (Now, two souls are fiercely entangled! Battle Music!)

“Fight fairly?” Jay questioned, still looking at the pommel of his sword as he stood up “I think you’d need more ‘insurance’ for that to be true...”

“And that would mean?” Haimon inquired back at Jay

“You’ll see” Jay stated, returning his gaze to Haimon “I hope they got a good looney bin in hell for you!”

At nearly the speed of his words, Jay leaped towards Haimon and slashed at his defense as he passed. Quickly adapting to his movement, Jay landed only a foot behind Haimon and attempted to land another slash on his back. Haimon turned halfway and barely caught Jay’s blade in the curve of his axe. He then spun to face Jay and held his axe higher in the match of weapons the two formed.

“Try again, Hawk” Haimon mocked as he pushed against Jay’s guard.

Jay merely responded by quickly pulling out of the match by jumping back a short distance and dashing towards Haimon, the tip of his sword pointed forward. Sparks flew throughout the air in the moment Jay’s blade hit the flat defense of Haimon’s axe as the two bounced their weapons off each others’, only to follow with another attack that left them in yet another match. More sparks jumped about as their blades gritted together. Neither of them seemed to have an advantage, but Haimon joked at Jay whenever he had the chance.

“I thought the mighty Guardian was a near unbeatable swordsman?” Haimon remarked. The two moved back and slashed at each other, matching weapons again “But it seems even I am your equal in battle!”

Although Haimon insulted and mocked him, Jay seemed to ignore his words. It was clear that Haimon was taunting Jay to try and throw him off with anger so he could get an advantage. Soul could tell it wasn’t working, but Haimon showed no signs of letting up.

“How pitiful. Can’t you do any better than that?” Haimon taunted as the two backed off from each other “I’m barely on full guard. It’s as if you’re flailing your sword at me, hoping I’ll actually get hit” Haimon pointed his axe’s tip at Jay as he continued “You’ll need to hurt me if you wish to kill me, mister Hawk”

Jay stood still and resolute, eying Haimon blankly. His expression showed nothing more than his intent to kill Haimon. It wasn’t recognizable as anger, but merely concentration. Haimon, however, seemed to be getting more and more displeased with Jay’s unnerving stature.

“Hey! What are you staring at?!” Haimon yelled to Jay “Didn’t you want to fight me?!”

Upon Haimon’s question, Jay simply took his normal readied stance, the same expression unchanged on his face. He stood on slightly bent knees and held his sword at a small angle beside him, the blade about level with his chest. His left hand hovered in front of him as if expecting an attack. The stance showed that he was taking a defensive state.

“Fine then!” Haimon yelled in a more frustrated tone “I’ll be the less cowardly one, and bring the fight to you!”

At the sound of his own battle cry, Haimon charged directly at Jay. He leaped forward off his left foot just a few feet from Jay, and brung his axe crashing down upon him. The expected sound of clashing metal was not heard, however, as Jay quickly dodged the attack with a slight movement of his body. As Haimon realized his attack missed, he gripped the handle of his axe harder and swung again, only to have Jay lean back and avoid the attack. With the sound of wind breaking and his annoyed grunts, Haimon continued to swing his axe in a combo of constant attacks, whilst Jay merely ducked and weaved almost effortlessly out of the way of the weapon.

"You little monkey! Stay still!" Haimon shouted angrily as he swung his axe two-handed down upon Jay's head. No sound was made as Haimon stopped his attack, although Jay had not dodged out of the way as he had been before. He had instead caught Haimon’s axe by the handle with his left hand in the middle of the attack, and kept him at bay even as Haimon pushed against his guard with both hands on his axe. Jay wasn’t showing any signs of weakening either, and he began to push Haimon back until he finally twisted and threw his axe away to the side. The axe made a soft thump as it’s blade struck into the dirt. Jay stood in his place and beckoned to Haimon’s weapon with a tilt of his head and a motion of his hand.

He stopped that attack with just one hand...I guess Jay is stronger than him Soul concluded, a bit of his worry wearing off But he could have ended the fight there. What is Jay postponing for? Perhaps he wants to avoid Haimon using us to his advantage... Soul’s thoughts made him even angrier that he was trapped. It seemed the only surefire thing stopping Jay from winning the fight was everypony in the cage.

Once he retrieved his weapon, Haimon stood as still in place as Jay. The two kept their positions as they stared each other down, both waiting to see who would attack first. A couple of silent minutes passed before Haimon’s patience began to grow thin again, and he spoke once more.

“You keep staring at me like that...”Haimon stated in a slightly mocking tone “I can’t possibly be so good looking!”

“Ugh...look, the only reason I bring myself to stare at you is because you’re my opponent” Jay quickly replied, cutting Haimon’s laughter “And even then I think about reconsidering...”

Soul could hear a few of the ponies behind him snickering at Jay’s rebuttal. Haimon must have too, as his expression quickly switched back to anger.

“Alright, funny man” Haimon remarked, raising up his axe to attack “Laugh at THIS!”

Suddenly, Haimon slammed his axe into the ground. A rumbling in the ground was soon followed by crimson tendrils bursting out of the soil after Jay. In response, Jay held his sword out in front of him. He quickly turned the sword’s flat end to face forward and began spinning the hilt at an increasing speed. The tendrils quickly dissipated upon contact with Jay’s pinwheeling blade.

“Alright. My turn” Jay said, pointing his sword’s tip towards the sky. After a few seconds, the point of the sword began to shine brightly.

“Ah ah ah, not so fast!” Haimon warned, holding his hand up. As he clenched his fist slowly, the tendrils that formed the cage around the ponies began to slowly constrict in synch with his hand “Fire, and I’ll crush them all!”

“Oh, I’m not firing anything” Jay said, a sudden smile spreading across his face “I’m just preparing to....serve justice”

At that moment Jay’s blade shined even brighter, and began turning a pristine white. As soon as the entire sword was devoid of it's color, a brilliant pillar of light from the sky shot down and engulfed Jay. The beam lifted him off the ground and slowly colored his apparel and hair white like it had done to his sword. His usual wings snapped out behind him, much bigger and brighter than before. Once he had fully converted, Jay slowly descended to the ground and landed softly. He opened his eyes and revealed them to be a shining sky blue.

That must be the angel form. Jay explained that to be his trump card...I wonder if he’s right Soul thought to himself upon observing Jay’s display. He knew the form standing before everyone now to be Jay’s enlightened form, Iustit, the Angel of Yang

Haimon’s confused expression suddenly changed to laughter “You're kidding with me! That is your light form?” Haimon’s mocking banter grew as he joked on “Where’s the heavenly music? The choir? The little fairies with lyres?”

Haimon kept laughing harder and harder as he joked to himself. He dropped his axe on the ground as he stopped to try and catch his breath. Iustit stood as still as Jay had before, staring at Haimon as if he couldn’t understand why he was laughing. He looked down at the ground for a moment, then up to the sky as he raised up his free hand.. Out of nowhere, it felt as if the heat of the sun had become stronger and it’s brightness intensified. Suddenly, a thin ray of light shot down from the sun and onto Haimon’s axe, slowly raising it into the sky.

“Uhn, hey!” Haimon complained, quickly recuperating from his laughing fit. He began to raise his left hand up again “Drop the axe, angel boy!”

As soon as Haimon’s hand was up and slowly clenching, Iustit’s gaze shot towards it. He narrowed his eyes and pointed the tip of his sword out behind him. In a quick succession of a second, Iustit dropped the axe, dashed forward, and sliced at Haimon’s hand. A streak of blood hit the dirt, along with Haimon’s index and middle finger. His responding scream in pain was coated with both agony and anger as he turned to face Iustit, who stood behind him, still in the stance he was in before he moved.\

“You bastard! You think you’re gonna get away with this?!” Haimon yelled at Iustit’s back “I’m taking a whole hand in payment for those fingers!”

Haimon quickly retrieved his axe and charged towards his enemy. Iustit regained his posture and slowly turned towards Haimon. As Haimon’s axe came down, Iustit simply batted it's sweet spot with the back of his hand and sent the axe spinning through the air several feet to the side. Haimon froze in his tracks as his axe hit the ground, staring at Iustit confusingly. After a few moments he began slowly shifting his eyes towards his axe, which lay on the grass several feet from him.

Iustit broke the silence in a language Soul couldn’t understand ”Dō as ta? Ya temi serro” He said, his voice softer and slightly higher than usual. Haimon stood still, his confused expression returning.

“The angel speaks Japanese?” Soul heard Daring question behind him “That’s kind of neat, actually”

“You know that language?” Soul asked as he turned his attention to Daring.

“Yeah, some ponies far east speak it. It’s a really intricate language” Daring spieled in an interested tone “Jay just asked ‘what’s wrong’, and said for him to ‘go ahead’. I wonder if the other guy understands him...”

Daring’s guess was answered as Haimon stood still, scratching the back of his head “Huh?” He asked in a confused tone “What the hell are you saying?”

As if in response, Iustit shifted his head sideways, slightly pointing to Haimon’s axe as Jay had before. Haimon quickly took the hint and slowly backed away from Iustit to his weapon to retrieve it. Iustit turned and took a few steps away before facing Haimon again and resuming his stance. After Haimon seemed ready as well, Iustit smiled slightly, and beckoned to him with one hand.

In response, Haimon began gritting his teeth “What? You think you’re better than me?!” He yelled out, his rage growing “You may have caught me off guard with your little display, but I’m not holding back on you anymore!”

As per usual, Haimon once again charged Iustit head on and slammed against this guard. Iustit held fast and defended against any attacks Haimon attempted to land, blocking or parrying the flurry of slashes that Haimon threw at him. Haimon’s offensive persisted for a little longer than a minute before Iustit parried another of his attacks and quickly landed a reverse side-kick to Haimon’s face. The counter sent Haimon rocketing backwards nearly 20 feet before he hit the ground and tumbled another couple feet through the dirt. Iustit hopped from side to side a bit on his feet as he landed before slowly returning to his original stance.

“Son of a...” Haimon coughed as he stood up and dusted dirt off his shoulders “Lucky hit. I’d like to see you try that again!” Haimon took a defensive stance, his anger obvious on his face.

In response, Iustit stopped for a moment and removed his sword's sling from his back and placed it on the ground along with his weapon. He then quickly met Haimon’s gaze and immediately dashed forward at an incredible speed. Haimon barely noticed his advance, and raised his axe to counter Iustit’s supposed attack. To his surprise, Iustit’s form flickered and disappeared a foot or so before reaching Haimon. As he looked about for his opponent, Iustit suddenly re-appeared behind Haimon. He crossed his arms as if he was annoyed and stood still for several moments as Haimon scanned the area in front of him, not noticing Iustit was behind him. Soul, and most of the group, began snickering and giggling as they had before.

Haimon quickly caught wind of the giggle fest as he turned diagonally towards them “Hey, what’s so funny?!” He yelled in question.

“Dude, you may want to look behind you...” Dash managed through her giggles.

With Rainbow Dash’s words, Haimon realized his error and quickly turned around, to which Iustit responded by immediately back-fisting him square in the nose. The speed of the hit made it barely even visible, and Haimon merely leaned backwards in pain before falling down hard onto the ground, dropping his axe a few feet to his right. He moved his hand away from his face and looked at it, revealing that his nose was bleeding severely.

“Pretentious little bug...” Haimon remarked angrily as he began to rise “Hah!” He yelled as he swiped his foot at Iustit’s legs, which Iustit simply hopped over like he had saw it coming.

Haimon quickly followed the swipe by jumping up to his feet with an uppercut aimed at Iustit, who again dodged the attack as if he expected Haimon’s every move. Haimon then began throwing constant fists at Iustit, left hook after right hook. Iustit kept dodging the punches by leaning backwards, the onslaught of attacks causing him to keep in reverse as Haimon followed fist after fist.

Eventually, Haimon attempted to end his flurry with a much bigger hit on Iustit, which he avoided by quickly dashing around to behind him. As Haimon turned to face his target, Iustit suddenly began glowing. A thin white aura formed around his body, he clenched his fists at his sides and raised his voice slowly as if he were charging something. The aura soon began to shine brightly, and arced about like electricity around Iustit’s body. Haimon stood still in fear of what Iustit was preparing for.

I think this is about to get ugly... Soul thought as he watched Iustit channel his electric-like power Has he finally decided to end the fight?

Soul’s question was answered by the event that followed. Iustit stopped charging, the electric aura intense around his form. With a small huff he took a fighting stance and suddenly began tapping Haimon with his two front fingers at a blinding speed, yelling out each time he hit. He struck Hamon’s body constantly with both hands, the speed of the hits making it seem almost like Iustit had multiple arms. The continuity of Iustit’s blur of attacks kept Haimon hovering on the spot just a few inches off the ground.

After several seconds of Iustit’s onslaught persisting, he yelled out once more as he slammed his palm into Haimon’s face. The force of the blow sent Haimon a short distance back, and caused him to land in a sitting position on the ground. Iustit moved out of the attack slowly and stretched his left hand forward in a stance, signaling the finish of his technique before he regained his composure.

“W-wha...” Haimon stuttered as he looked at his hands and inspected his body “...t-that’s it? That’s all you have?!” He quickly stood up as if not phased by Iustit’s offensive “Did you plan to hurt me at all, cupid?!”

Iustit dismissed Haimon’s taunt as if he hadn’t heard it, turning around and walking to pick up his sword and sheath. He dusted them both off and casually re-equipped it to his back.

“Fine! I guess it’s my turn!” Haimon yelled as he ran back at Iustit, picking up his dropped axe on the way “This time I’ll cut you dow-!” As he reached him, Haimon was cut off by Iustit holding his hand up, signaling him to stop.

“Omae wa mou...shindeiru” Iustit coldly stated as he began walking towards the tendril cage the group of ponies was still trapped in.

“What?...” Haimon asked, a small sense of worry in his voice “Dammit, what the hell are you sa-” again Haimon's was cut off, but this time by himself.

Suddenly, Haimon froze stone cold in his place. He dropped his axe and began clutching his stomach as he fell to his knees. He coughed violently, spitting up more and more blood each consecutive time. He soon began grabbing at his head the same way, yelling in pain constantly. His eyes rolled back as his arms fell limply to his sides, and he fell face first into the ground. A small pool of blood drained out of his open mouth, and his hands twitched lightly.

Sweet Celestia...That attack must’ve have damaged his body internally Soul thought, still staring at Haimon’s lifeless body I guess he really did decide to end it...

“Daring, what did he say before...?” Soul asked, trailing off in a bit of worry.

“He...he said, ’you are already dead’...” Daring still looked forward, staring at Haimon as if she had seen a ghost.

Everypony watched Iustit as he approached the cage of tendrils. He looked them over several times, circling around the box as he inspected it closely. Suddenly he walked back over to where Soul was and drew his sword.

“Oriru” Iustit stated, reeling back his sword to the left to strike.

“Everypony, get down” Daring quickly translated, to which the group responded by ducking down a foot or so. Iustit slashed at the tendrils powerfully and quickly, separating them all from interlocking. They fell into dust as they hit the ground, finally freeing the group of ponies.

“Thank goodness we’re finally out of that wretched cage” Rarity remarked first, dusting herself off and patting her mane as she looked it over.

“I admit, it was getting kinda cramped in there” Dash concluded, stretching her limbs as she floated in the air. She flapped over to Haimon on the ground and looked him over “...that looked pretty brutal. What did you do to him?” Dash turned to face iustit, as did many of the other ponies.

Iustit was dusting off his blade as he noticed all the faces on him, awaiting his response. He looked at Daring, who nodded back, and quickly spoke “Hyakuretsu Ken” Iustit sheathed his sword as he continued “Kore wa...insaida oauto kara korosu”

Everypony looked to Daring as she took a second to translate “He said...it’s called the ‘hundred cracked fists’...and that ‘it kills from inside out’...wow...” Daring looked at the ground blankly as she analyzed Iustit’s words.

“So, he’s...dead?” Twilight asked, eying Haimon’s body worryingly. (I would say otherwise! Battle music!)

Iustit nodded slowly in response and began walking over to Haimon. As he bent down to close Haimon’s eyes, however, the pool of blood suddenly started spreading. Iustit stood up and backed away as the blood pooled around Haimon’s entire body and began raising up. Haimon was completely engulfed in his own thickened blood in a matter of seconds, and the crimson blob that replaced him suddenly began growing out of control. It sized up to three times Haimon's normal height, and large bat-like wings shot out of it’s back. Although human in origin, the new form was hunched over and gave off a dragon-esc shape. It’s head grew two large spiked horns, and it soon sprouted a tail and various claws on it’s hands and feet. When the monster had fully transformed, the blood slipped down it’s equally sanguine body and it gave off a loud beastly roar into the sky before speaking in a booming, demonic voice "Wretched Guardian! You would not listen, and now, you have met your end!"

“Sweet Celestia, what is that thing?!” Twilight yelled out of fear.

Soul quickly looked to Iustit, who was holding his sword sideways in the sky, one hand on the blade. In response to his action, a small ray of light surrounded him and enlightened his body. Golden and white armor soon formed around his arms, torso, legs, the bottom half of his face, and on the hinges of his wings. His newly donned suit of armor glistened in the setting sun.

“Alright, let’s do this” Soul confidently said, holding out his scythe in a readied stance. As Soul looked to Iustit, however, he shook his head in disagreement. He pointed to Soul, then to the group, and finally towards the town. Soul quickly figured out what Iustit motioned for “No, I was forced to sit back before, and I won’t sit this fight out!” He remarked, hoping he could help in the battle for once.

“...No” Iustit replied slowly as if it took effort to talk “Go. Now” He raised up his sword in his stance and sprinted towards the monstrosity. Soul looked back to the terrified group of ponies. Daring was looking back at him.

Soul quickly looked back to Iustit to see him battling the demon, slashing at his legs and dodging his attacks constantly. He turned towards the group “Come on, everypony! We have to get out of here!” He yelled over the worry and distraught of the group “It’s too dangerous for us to stay!”

“But what ‘bout Jay?” Applejack asked, eyeing the fight behind them “He can’t go doin’ this by himself!”

“He’ll be fine. Jay can handle this alone” Soul assured, hoping that was the reason Iustit told him to go “Our safety is more important to him. Let’s go!”

Upon Soul’s command, the group of ponies quickly followed towards the town, a few looking back at the fight. Soul looked back once as well.

Come back in one piece, Jay. We need you...Soul hoped as he ran. He watched until the scene was out of eyesight.

Author's Note

There was going to be a Hokuto No Ken reference eventually.
Iustit is my homage to Kenshiro, who in turn is an homage to Bruce Lee.
And Bruce Lee is an amazing man.