Author's Note

As you have noticed, I haven't updated one of my fanfics, neither this one in those years. Saving having published the one of doubtful results that is Darkest Abyss. Returning on topic, I decided to publish this chapter a mere spit away from halloween.

And speaking of this fanfic, well, I am taking in consideration to revamp most of the previous ones and eventually this one to gave them better story structures and some logic behind the worldbuilding as well. Is not that huge change, just some expansion to go in the depths before continuing for real.

If I find the time, energy and will beyond laziness to do so.

That being said, I don't expect any spectacular results from this return, so, as usual, feel free to comment or vote in whatever way you feel. If you like, well. If you don't, I tried.

Thanks for the reading.

Decimator from the Void

In the entrance of Canterlot Castle, scarred by two meteors attack and befouled by the charred corpses of various marked undeads, the trio found an abominable obstacle blocking their path. What remains of Brutus' amassed army was waiting behind the three ponies, having diminished after the terrific ambush attack.

Florios was floating above the marble floor, looking in their direction; his gaze full of animosity, locked on Brutus and his appearance.

Rainbow was astounded by what had occurred, having witnessed what the demon was capable of, while Requiem managed to remain impassive, although he looked slightly nervous.

But Brutus was the most disturbed of the three. Florios' very appearance and what he said coming from the mouth of the demon felt very true to him, backed by the familiar demonic presence that he was exuding.

Dagon. That wasn't the first time Brutus heard that name. He may have reincarnated twice while dying four times, but he hasn't forgotten the time he spent as the herald of the Beast. So of course he couldn't forget that plague doctoresque creature.

Brutus felt a disgusting kind of nostalgia, almost making him cringe. Since he knows very well that the Beast was unable to leave it's own world, he never expect that name being brought back from the ashes.

Requiem was the first to break the silence. "Now that is quite inconvenient."

"He said... Dagon?" Rainbow Dash murmured disturbed, having remembered something.

"I guess you didn't expected to meet me," Florios said calmly but with a bit of anger in his voice. "Much like I didn't expected to find you in this inferior form of yours,"

"Give me a break." Brutus said with a sardonic grin, increasingly irritated. "I never expected to find a demon of the Void in Equestria. Let alone hearing the name of Dagon from it's mouth."

"Dagon was an artist of blood soaked tides and deaths," Florios said coldly. "Guided by the Beast's will. He was one of the many testaments of the terrifying influence the Void detains on Cavalier and it's creations. Unfathomable in his own way, he was my own creator and the one who had taught me some of his innovate philosophy. You never should've killed him."

Brutus remained mute for bit, contemplating the presence of his pursuer. "That must be the entity the infected Blueblood talked about. The one who attacked Celestia and caused the fall of the barrier protecting Canterlot as a whole. The princess is an alicorn but given that guy is a demon of the Void under the Beast... Him defeating Celestia sounds awfully plausible."

"You better not make fun of him, Brutus" Requiem warned. " This demon demonstrated to be powerful enough to disintegrate most of your minions. Including the two Undementias."

"If that isn't Requiem," Florios commented. "I don't see what benefit you would achieve by siding with that murderous child, but you better not interfere."

"Since then is against the Beast to make deal with enemies?" Requiem inquired with faint sarcasm.

"Not that I even care about your satanic bickering," Brutus said with calm annoyance to Requiem. He the took a look at his remaining marked zombies behind him and then turned his attention back to Florios. "I thought neither the Beast or the rest of the Void couldn't leave their world, How can you possibly be here?"

"Tell me," Florios said with a tone of solemn dread. "What you were thinking when you had impaled him to death?"

Brutus let out a sigh of impatience. "You won't even give me a proper answer, isn't it?"

"I am not interested in this forsaken world," Florios replied calmly. "Let alone answering to a question inquired by a murderous child like you. Even so, I think I could enlighten you about my arrival this land before I could reap into shreds."

"Not that I welcome you sudden arrival to begin with," Brutus pointed out, sounding slightly nervous.

"Believe me or not," Florios replied coldly. "I was dragged into a portal that opened inside the Void. Neither I cannot explain how I ended up into the place those talking horses called Canterlot, a place that is outside Cavalier and the Beast's influence."

Brutus raised an eye brow. "Are you serious?"

Florios didn't respond, he just stared at Brutus with a modicum of hostility.

"Are you trying to make me be-" Brutus halted mid sentence, having realized the plausible. "Now that I am thinking about it... I was transplanted from the world where Cavalier is located into Equestria as well... But that was after I died...!"

Without even wanting it, Brutus ended up remembering his conversation he had with the Beast after he was 'resurrected' as his own herald after his first death.

"Wait, if you weren't the one who brought me there, then who is it?"

"A force that doesn't belong in this world."

"Now that is getting ridiculously sensate." Brutus spoke, having the impression to have received a chilling epiphany. "The same thing happened to Requiem, except he ended up possessing an equestrian corpse. And then there is my resurrection as a pony like, undead monstrosity after my third death to take into account... For the wrath of god."

"You better reserve your doubts for when there isn't a threat," Requiem reminded.

"Whenever you said," Brutus replied roughly to Requiem and then spoke to Florios again. "I guess that when you appeared in this castle, you ended up crossing your path with Celestia at some point, right?"

"Are you talking about the winged unicorn those horses called princess?" Florios inquired to Brutus, showing signs of withering patience. "That oversized pony tried to incenerate me, but she failed as I had grievously wounded her in many points to incapacitate her. I don't care about the victims in the city. Your retribution is my true priority."

Hearing that, Rainbow became upset, glaring at him as she imagined the implications behind his words. "Princess Celestia... What have you done to her?"

"I'm not talking with you," Florios retorted with a cold, menacing tone, almost intimidating Rainbow as he returned his attention to Brutus. "If Dagon tried to take your life is because you chose to go astray from the course designed by my master. And yet you were still a very derailed kid at heart. What gave you the courage to kill a demon like him?"

"He was as disgusting as a putrid, expired turkey on a broken toilet," Brutus said bluntly while turning his hand into a sniper cannon. "He stayed on the Beast's side until the bitter end. But unlike him, I will not deal with that devil. Dagon tried to kill me for not being blindly obedient or naive, so I had to reap his creepy ass visage into shreds."

Florios glared at him, before dashing toward Brutus at a very startling speed. The beige undead pony couldn't take the aim that the creature was already in front of him, slashing his chest with his claws. He could see his blood gushing out of his wounds, a moment before the pain kicked in.

Brutus almost screamed for the pain as he grasped his wounded, bleeding chest while gritting his teeth. "This is not good... He's killing me already!"

The speed in which that happened startled Rainbow, making her to flinch from the fright. "What the-"

"You will bleed to death for that remark." Florios declared, cold yet enraged as he swiped his claws at Brutus again, this time headed toward his head, only for the beige pony to lift his black crystallized sniper-arm cannon in front of them, blocking the attack on spot.

Florios pressed his blocked claw forward, with Brutus putting some resistance. During the struggle, however, the demon pulled back the claws of his other hand and swung them to impale him from below his face.

But before Florios could do that, Requiem already glowed his horn with a dark aura and shot a pitch black, blazing ray at him. The quickly creature noticed that and evaded it by flying backwards, distancing himself away from his prey as the searing beam was piercing one of the marble walls of the hall.

*BOOM!*

In that split second, Brutus already fired one shot from his crystallized, sniper hand cannon. The bullet pierced Florios in the head when he wasn't looking.

But instead of killing him on spot, it just phased through it, without any sign of pain or even managing to making him recoil from the impact, and ended up hitting the wall of the stair case far behind him.

While trying to endure both his slowly bleeding wounds and the pain caused by that, Brutus looked at Florios with a incredulous, disturbed look, not expecting anything like this. The way in which the demon survived being shot in the head was so confusing that is impossible to explain.

"The bullet passed through him without even killing him!" Brutus thought, feeling reasonably nervous. "How the fuck is that possible!?"

"He's unharmed!" Rainbow said incredulous. "What in the depths of the Tartarus is that thing!?"

"As I expected from one of the demons of the Void," Requiem said, almost nervously. "Although I cannot explain how did he managed to reach Equestria without any side effect."

"Huh?" Rainbow looked confused.

"You will pay for your interference!" Florios shouted as a dark red aura engulfed his claws.

Enraged, the demon swung his claws forward, generating two small meteors that whizzed past Brutus' head, headed toward Requiem and Rainbow at a very high speed.

"Oh, shit!" Brutus exclaimed internally.

Rainbow Dash shut her eyes as the shooting stars were getting closer, cursing her current inability to fly due to her fractured wings. She was preparing herself for the incoming impact, but Requiem was already glowing his horn once again to shoot his dark ray, disintegrating the meteors into semi solid ashes.

Rainbow opened one eye and realized to be still alive thanks to the grim unicorn, although she hated to admit that. "

"It's to soon to sigh in relieve," Requiem said bluntly. "Unless you want end up getting yourself killed, I suggest you to follow me outside this chaos."

"That wasn't my intention at all," Rainbow replied as she followed the unicorn behind the ranks of the marked undeads.

"You will be the next to be shredded, traitor!," Florios shouted and then turned to Brutus "Twisted mortal, no matter what tricks you are going to pull out. I will make sure you burn gruesomely thirty two times before dragging you into the abyss."

Florios immediately dashed menacingly in mid air toward him. Brutus promptly shot another blow, this time aimed to one of his claws, but it phased through it like it was water.

The demon almost reached Brutus, but the being undead pony leaped away from his trajectory while firing at his chest. As he was landing on the marble floor, he saw even that bullet phasing through the creature without any effective result.

Brutus was frustrated by his failed attempts to take down Florios. But more when that, he felt intimidated by the hornet menace's seemingly invulnerability. He slowly distanced himself from Florios as it was channeling his long claws with a dark-red energy.

"Tsk. And I thought that Dagon himself was enough," Brutus said nervously.

"You have no right to pronounce HIS NAME!" Florios screamed, a second before he flew backwards while swiping his glowing claws forward, unleashing two small meteors at him.

Instinctively, Brutus fired two shots at the meteors, with the projectiles piercing through their searing, stone surface, causing them to explode into pieces. Burning shards were flying all over the place. He ducked his head, dodging the few pieces that were whizzing in his direction.

Returning his attention at his enemy, Brutus saw it's long claws suddenly extending toward him, instantly piercing through his chest and the non-black ironed covered part of his arm where sniper cannon shaped hand was located. Brutus let out a brief and yet intense scream of pain.

"Your soul IS MINE!" Florios exclaimed as he pulled his stretched claws out of Brutus' body and swiped them at him like long blades.

Without any hesitation, Brutus jumped backwards with whatever strength he could muster, scratched only by the claw's tips on his already mangled torso. He barely landed on his two crystallized talon shaped hind legs, with the pain of his wounds kicking so hard that he was almost falling.

The undead pony grunted, clutching his own wounded arm and looking at the demon in pained frustration. The stretched claws of Florios began to shrunk, until they returned to their original length.

"Boy if that hurts," Brutus muttered, having difficulty to ignore his agony.

"I am not done yet with you," Florios sentenced, slowly floating toward his prey. "Don't even bother to resort to your marked undead horses. Their augmented powers are nothing to my kin."

Bleeding and battered, Brutus was barely standing, almost shambling. As he tried to maintain his balance, the demon channeled his claws with whatever power it has in store for the proverbial climax. It was a question of seconds before Florios was going to give the coup de grace.

"I hate to admit but I only managed to kill Dagon by sheer dumb luck thanks to the Scourge of Nothingness. Unfortunately I don't have that artifact here. I don't even know how to defeat his own spawn."

As he mentally searched for any crucial idea, a illumination struck his mind. He checked the memories of all the undeads he had subjugated and found a glimpse of possibility. Something that Requiem said about one of the undeads in general.

"Could that be...!"

"Freeze him!" Brutus shouted, barely ignoring the pain of his injuries as he hastily lifted his arm cannon at Florios and fired at him.

Nonchalantly, Florios dashed toward him, with the bullet phasing through him as he was getting close to Brutus. But before the floating aberration could execute him, his suddenly body stopped in mid air and began to freeze. The demon couldn't even react that everything down his body was completely trapped in the ice within a couple of seconds; even his arms.

Florios couldn't even struggle to free himself. Everything was sealed. It didn't know how that happened, until he saw a marked green maned, pale-purple unicorn Flailer unleashing a flux of gelid energy to him.

Realizing to have been played, Florios looked back at Brutus but couldn't do or say anything that both mouth and eyes were frozen as well. Completely encased in the ice, it's body fell soundly on the marble floor, intact but.

Feeling the adrenaline running in his cold dead veins, Brutus reverted his sniper-cannon into his own hand before walked away from the frozen demon, still shambling and about to collapse at any moment.

"You weren't paying attention to the surrounding." Brutus remarked with a bit of anger as he tries to calm down a little bit and then turned his attention to five marked, unicorn Flailers before pointing his finger a the frozen demon. "Break him down!"

Hearing that order, five marked unicorn Flailers advanced menacingly toward the frozen demon, glowing their horns before unleashing destructive rays of energy at it, smashing the iced creature into pieces.

Chunks of frozen limbs and pieces of demonic flesh were scattered on the floor around where Florios was floating before. After having observed his own enemy being reduced into pieces, Brutus collapsed on his feet both the fatigue and gruesome agony aggravating on him; some drop of his blood dripped on the majestic marble floor.

Slowly, Brutus turned around, looking at three marked female unicorn Flailers that were in the first line of his undead army. His hand leaning toward them.

"Just heal me already." Brutus ordered with a mildly annoyed tone.

The three undead unicorns silently glowed their horn with a black aura. Brutus gritted his teeth for the pain as his wounds slowly began to close. Brutus knew the process would require some time, but at least the burning pain of his wounds was steadily soothing.

"Good thing those mares used to be nurses," Brutus said and then looked at the pale-purple unicorn. "Arctic Feather. The dude was some infected, fallen sage that I picked up during my infiltration in Cloudsdale. He has the ability to crystallize the water in the air to create weapons or just freeze anything directly. And said water can be generated by his spells. Yet.."

During the healing process, Brutus slowly stood up and looked at the shattered, frozen remains of the demon, unconvinced.

"Is that really enough to kill him?" Brutus thought. "Dagon gave me one hell of a fight when I met him in Rodengard Castle, and this one is supposed to be a demon pf the Void, of his same caliber as well... I can't consider that a victory just yet. Given the seemingly lovecraftian nature of their realm he came from, there has to be more. Paranoia or not"

Brutus took a look as his healing wound. His wounds were almost closed. The same thing cannot be said for his partially exposed rib cage and the other opened wounds, being a consequence of being resurrected as an undead monstrosity of a pony. Not that he expected that happening anyway.

When his wounds were completely healed and the three marked unicorn Flailers stopped glowing their horns, Rainbow Dash and Requiem emerged from the marked ranks just in time to see the aftermath. Rainbow in particular was astounded by the sight of the shattered creature.

"Did you just... destroyed that freak?" Rainbow asked reluctantly.

"I would think so... But not yet" Brutus replied as he turned his face toward Rainbow, still a bit visibly unnerved by the risks he took during the fight.

"What the heck do you mean with that?" Rainbow asked perplexed. "No creature would ever survive after being disintegrated like that! What makes you think otherwise!?"

"It's reasonable for you to think it being the case," Brutus said before returning his attention to the shattered remains. "But this is a demon from the Void we are talking, not an equestrian creature. I think I have to take some precaution here."

"... How could you even pretend to remain calm." Rainbow murmured, without even asking directly to him, appalled by his reaction. "Even so, weren't you supposed to be some kind of undead freak? I can see you can still feel pain but why you were worried about your bleeding? It doesn't make any sense."

"We can't be relieved just yet," Requiem said to Brutus as he emerged. "There could be more obstacles than him." He then grinned. "I guess you found something that is plausibly effective and put it into practice. Without even knowing Florios to begin with."

"I don't know anything about the powers and anatomy this asshole possess," Brutus explained, pointing his finger at the shattered demon. "Since I had no idea how to deal with his apparent invulnerability, I had thought that the only way to take him down was taking him with a-"

Brutus stopped in mid sentence, having noticed the ice shards suddenly melting, emitting trails of vapor. In a short time, the mangled remains of Florios where released from their frozen prison.

"The hell?" Brutus asked with mild incredulity.

Limbs, bone shards, chunks of flesh and other organic pieces levitated from the floor. Those pieces then converged in one point, amassing into a sphere of violet and gray flesh before slowly reassembling the body, much to Brutus' dismay and Rainbow's shocked horror.

"You gotta be kidding me." Brutus said, not expecting that happening.

In a handful of seconds, Florios had been resurrected, floating above the floor. His body was exuding trails of vapor from both his conjunctures and healed wounds. The demon looked very exhausted, but wasn't any less menacing. It lifted his gaze toward Brutus, looked at him with a mix of hatred and rage.

"You don't know when to quit, aren't you?" Brutus asked sarcastically.

"He-he reconstructed itself!?" Rainbow said bewildered, feeling fear slowly gnawing her mind. "W-w... Is this monster FOR REAL!?"

"That ram like fiend had somehow found new ways to be more disturbing," Requiem said, retaining his calm and then turned to Rainbow.

"Your attempt to delay is quite deplorable." Florios declared as it raised it's hand and conjured a gray formless mass that grew into a fire effigy similar to a stalactite before tossing it forward.

The flaming object passed over flew over Brutus, Requiem, Rainbow Dash and most of the marked undead army, descending toward the entrance of the castle.

As soon as it collided with the ground, it exploded into a roaring, black grayish wall of deformed flames that obstructed the path behind them and expanded around the entrance hall, sealing the other two exits and the two-sided staircase leading to the upper floors, right before the eyes of the trio.

It's rise instantly incinerated most of the red royal carpet and the few marked undeads that were unlucky enough to be in it's range, without leaving any ashes. Only the marble walls and ceiling were spared.

Shifting faces of what looked like raging souls were forming from the flames, intertwining with each other, dying and forming a new. The blazing wall didn't seemed to wear off any time soon.

"You mother...!" Brutus muttered.

"You better exploit this opportunity, Brutus." Requiem said, much to Brutus' curiosity. "Right now, his body is overheating.
Florios has to force himself to warm up it's body pieces, through his powers and aura of it's own wretched soul to absurd searing temperature in order to break free from the ice and assume a solidified form."

"Then how do you explain him being impervious to my attacks while also being able to wound me?" Brutus asked.

"It's cells work on a magical kind of cellular hivemind," Requiem explained. "Florios was able to do both things because his mist form was made of cells and water. He can turn every cell into water molecules and viceversa. But now that he is fully solidified, he can be mortally wounded. Don't waste any time and trash him before he became intangibile again."

After that, Requiem didn't wasted any time as he embed his horn with his dark powers once again to engulf Rainbow in a dark aura, snapping her out of her trance like state as he was dragging her away with his own version of telekinesis. "H-Hey what the-"

The demonic unicorn passed through the ranks of marked undeads and stopped nearby the grayish flaming wall. He then putted down Rainbow and glowed his horn once again, rising a circular barrier of black flames around them.

"I hope for you that barriers of yours works," Brutus mentally said, before facing toward Florios with a very calm expression, although he felt still intimidated by the power the demon possess. That sense of awe was then putted aside, replaced by his own ruthlessness.

"Well, in that case," Brutus began, pointing his black crystallized finger at the demon. "Freeze him and shoot him down. Give him hell!"

Invoked by his command, the undead Arctic Feather and the five marked unicorn Flailers rushed toward Florios. Four of them glowed their horns and beamed searing rays at him. The creature evaded the beams and flew toward Arctic Feather, being about to swipe his claws at him, but then it stopped in place.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Florios flew backward at a startling speed, avoiding the three black red projectiles flying in front of him. Stopping aberration turned his attention to Brutus, whose hand was already turned into a black crystal gun, already firing two more shots.

The bullet pierced through it's pearl white abdomen, almost making him yell bestially. Oddly, the holes made by the shots showed some small cracks on the skin.

The undead Arctic Feather lit his horn in a dark-azure light again and shot another freezing shot at Florios. But the demon quickly flew upwards in an ark motion, evading the ray before furiously descending with his spike-like feet with the brute force of a pneumatic hammer.

As soon as Florios pierced through marble floor, an abominable number of pointy steel tendrils erupted from the below Arctic and the other five attacking marked Flailers, impaling and them through various points of their body in a very desecrating way.

"This then..." Brutus murmured in frustrated dismay, a moment before the deadly spikes returned back to the ground in the same way they came, causing the mangled bodies of the marked undeads to abruptly fall on the ground as Florios pulled out his spike-like feet and floated again above the floor.

Four of the marked unicorns died to some of the tendrils drilling through their brains, ending their functions and their mindless life. Only Arctic and the fifth marked unicorn were seemingly moving, but were nonetheless laying on the floor, horribly pierced in various points, with the former having his heart pierced twice

Wanting to anticipate his enemy, Brutus hastily aimed at Florios, who got dangerously close to him, swinging one of his swiped legs toward him like a spear, which he avoided by ducking.

The beige undead then jumped out of it's trajectory a moment before Florios followed up by plunging his spike-like feet, missing him and thrusting through the floor again, causing a trail of spiky tendrils to erupt, killing other three marked undeads in the process.

During that second eruption of steel, Brutus had one of the metal spikes painfully grazing his forehead during his landing, making him hiss with clutched teeth as a small crimson stream was descending down his face.

Hearing the spikes retreating, Brutus looked back at where Florios was, but found him already in front of him, assaulting the beige pony with a barrage of combined swipes of spike feet and claws. He barely managed to dodge most of them, having only his right cheek being grazed by one of the demon's claws.

Florios didn't stopped there, having lifted his right hand upwards and stretched it's claws before swiping them at him. But as those long blades we raining down on him, Brutus just changed his incorporated handgun into the black crystallized arm sword and swiftly cut off the demon's arm with a vertical slash.

The aberration forcefully close his mouth, emitting a suffocated scream of pain while trying to keep his eyes opened. Florios locked on his hated prey, but then noticed the mangled carcasses of Arctic Feather and the other marked unicorn Flailer managing somehow shooting their rays from their horns, the dark azure freezing one and a searing, tainted magical one respectively.

"Still blindly following his foolish orders," Florios contemplated as he dodged both of the attacks, only to find Brutus trying to slash him again with his sword.

The demon flew backwards, getting only a slight scratch on the abdomen, right above the cracking hole. Once it was distant from him, Florios opened it's mouth, breathing out a dark green, liquid vortex toward him.

Brutus quickly leaped away from it's it's trajectory, but the green mist ended up engulf Arctic Feather and most of the marked undeads who other zombies emitted shrieking wails as their flesh was rapidly melting, until their bodies are reduced into a corroded pulp.

As that wasn't enough, Brutus was struck by an atrocious agony on his left arm during his landing. As he checked, he could see some of the green liquid on a small portion of his left arm, eroding through his skin without going further.

Florios flung itself toward him, not wanting to give his prey any kind of respite, and swung his spike shaped foot to decapitate him.

"Keep on attacking," Brutus murmured as he lowered his head and then swiped his sword at the leg, which missed it and was about to descend on his head in a overhead slash.

The beige undead pony rolled backward, barely avoiding the blow. Florios stretched the claws of his remaining hand. But he was about to strike, a chilling roar caught his attention coming from it's left.

Without any warning, Florios was assaulted by a trio of marked undead pegasi. Two of them, lesser ones, tried to immobilize him, while the third one, a female Flailer was savagely sinking her rabid teeth and tearing it's demonic flesh apart.

"WHOOAAARRGH!" Florios roared, shrugging off one of the two lesser marked pegasus hanging on his left arm before proceeding to thrust it's stretched blade like claws through the female pegasus Flailer's body and skull. "GET OFF ME, PUTRID WRAITH!"

The demon then tossed the dead, winged weight out of it's claws, leaving a blood trail below it. As Florios managed to dismember and get rid of the last marked pegasus, two lesser, marked pegasi were using their telekinesis to throw the corpses of the fallen undead toward it.

The horned creature furiously shredded the dead bodies into pieces the fell apart like potatoes. It was pathetic to Florios at first, until it saw a marked unicorn Flailer, being purple maned marine mare, glowing her horn menacingly with a mask of pure, ravenous fury.

Florios realized to late the nature of that distraction. "You played me AG-"

Whatever the demon was saying was cut short due to the unicorn Flailer fired a searing beam in a circular way from down to up, leaving a scorching line that traveled upward on a side his torso, until it horribly scarred the left side of it's face.

Florios roared ferociously for the agony, but despite it being a horrendous burn mark, it's left cheek wasn't burning. It melted in a very strange way, showing cracks in proximity of the burn mark.

With a roar, the marine unicorn Flailer charged toward Florios, glowing her horn again. But in that split second, like it was guided by it's growing hatred, the stump of it's missing arm began to bloat at an abnormal rate, until it ruptured into a bloody coil of tendril like claws made of violet flesh that moved in an a erratic way toward the raging, glowing veined mare.

The female Flailer ended up being brutally impaled through her skull and through her body before she could reach the demon or even use unleash any spell, causing her magic to dissipate from her horn a moment before her carcass was tossed away like a meat ragdoll.

Enraged, Florios looked back at Brutus, but couldn't do anything that he was already aiming at him; it's black crystallized sword being turned into it's sniper arm-cannon form once more.

*BOOM!"

A very loud shot was fired in front of Florios the very moment it tried to move his head. The red projectile pierced through it's burnt left cheek, scarring it even further. Growling, it recoiled without losing his hoovering balance, giving Brutus the time distance himself from the creature.

In that moment, the cracked, charred left side of it's face crumbled down to the marble floor beneath it, like it was made of broken porcelain.

But it wasn't the only thing that crumbled. Multiple cracks were spreading through it's body, even it's horns. The rest of the white surface that could be considered as it's own skin crumbled as well after a couple of seconds.

Upon seeing it, Brutus gestured a silent order to his marked undeads to wait, leading them to them gather in front of him while keeping their lifeless eyes on the seemingly agonizing demon of the Void.

That unsettling detail hasn't not gone unnoticed Requiem and Rainbow, who were able to see what was happening from behind the barrier of black fire.

"It's skin is... Molting?" Rainbow asked.

"That would be an euphemism," Requiem commented.

When the last pieces of 'skin' fell on the marble floor, Brutus was washed by a partially sense of dread, which felt more justified. By the time the demonic entity regained it's composure, he could tell he was facing a completely different being.

"What the hell I am even watching," Brutus said, disturbed by that sight.

Having got rid of it's white, broken skin, it's body revealing a chilling composition contrary to any semblance of anatomy.

It's ram like horns looked torn apart, turned into a pair of curved, industrial propeller pipes with crimson flames erupting out of their blowholes. It skinless torso was infested by a tangle of bones and flesh with various diesel machinery attached to it.

It's exposed legs were traversed by various worm like serpents made of blades that traveled inside and out of them, like festering parasitic worms.

The muscle fibers of it's head were all exposed, with various holes showing it's sharp teeth, decayed gengive and most of the internal parts of it's mouth. A swarm of bronze tubes were leaking out of said holes like festering, serpentine worms, traveling down it's neck until they entered through it's chest.

Florios silently gazed upon Brutus and his entire group, including what remains of his undead army. It's accumulated anger was made more pronounced by it's eyes and clenching fangs. The mere visive contact was enough to give him an horrible feeling. But wasn't just it's appearance to make him wary of the molted demon. It was something else.

"I think this is point where this bastard is done fooling around," Brutus though, mentally preparing himself.

"You will pay for this!" Florios said with an half, metallic voice, levitating upwards until it almost reached the ceiling. "Don't even thing to survive to continue your blasphemy. I will consign you TO OBLIVION!"

True to his threat, Florios generated a multitude of boulder sized meteors around him and projected them in the air. The horrific entity pointed his claws at Brutus and his army, causing the incandescent bodies to rain down on them, threatening to destroy everything in their incoming collision while accelerating their descent speed by the pass of seconds.

"To think he would be that desperate," Brutus said nervously, visibly intimidated.

"This is a catastrophe! IT'S GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING!" Rainbow exclaimed from inside the black flaming barrier.

"Depend." Requiem murmured, ignoring the reaction of the cyan mare.

In these few seconds, with the meteors getting close, Brutus had to act fast. He may had survived various plagued Undementias and their augmented powers but a storm of meteors was another story. Even the impact with one of them could had pulverized him on the spot.

Without any recalcitrance, Brutus transformed his sniper arm-cannon into another weapon form. But this time, the shifting, crystal hand turned into an imposing, black-ironed, chaingun rocket launcher already aimed it at the falling objects.

"St. Laurence is not today!" Brutus declared, one second before shooting a rapid fire barrage of black-ironed rockets that flew after the incoming meteors.

The rockets connected with their targets, causing the burning body to burst in gigantic, blinding, fiery explosions as the falling objects were shattered into pieces. Chunks of burning rocks were falling down, with a few of them striking some of the marked zombies, setting their decaying bodies on fire or killing them instantly.

Brutus shielded himself with his chaingun, rocket launcher arm as burning fragments continued to fall upon him and his marked undeads. Some of the meteoric shards ended up crashing again the black flaming barrier, turning into ashes as touched it's surface.

Once he scorching hail had been calmed down, Brutus looked upwards but found a furious Florios diving on in a overhead slash with it's coils of tendril like claws. Luckily, Brutus was quick to parry the claws with his chaingun shaped arm, much to the frustration of the demon.

"Attack him now!" Brutus ordered at his army of undeads as he struggled to push his enemy back..

Having guessed his intentions, Florios hastily retreated his coiled tendrils while flying backwards, looking more tired and unnerved.

As Brutus was about to take the aim again, he felt a slight sense of vertigo, along with a sense of weakness washing over him. He shrugged off those sensations and maintained his focus as Florios was charging his claws with another dose of it's destructive energy.

However, bio-mechanical demon noticed a flock of eleven lesser, marked undead pegasi flying toward him, so he swung it's claws in their direction, unleashing three large meteors in their direction, only for it's attacks being disrupted by two unicorn Flailers arriving just in time to shoot their seething rays at the objects, causing them to disintegrate into many pieces.

Florios exploited their pathetic attempt to hinder him to breath out another dark-green acidic vortex toward the marked undead ponies in front of it, which melted the shrieking husks and various meteoric pieces in the process.

But when Florios focused on Brutus again, he was already firing at him.

"Eat my might, YOU PRICK!" Brutus shouted as he fired multiple rockets at the demon.

Florios attempted to evade the black-ironed rain by flying away, but was blocked by two undead unicorns through their telekinesis, then assaulted by a duo of undead earth ponies and three undead pegasi. It didn't have the time to fight back that the rockets already reached the bio-mechanical monstrosity, striking it's figure at full force.

The explosions caused by the impact overwhelmed both the demon and the two undead unicorns. The roar of the bursting inferno echoed through the entrance hall. The scene was covered by a mixture of smoke and flames.

Brutus reverted his chaingun-like rocket launcher into his hand and took a few steps forward, when suddenly, something struck him with an awful sense of fatigue, followed by vertigo, slight nausea and exhaustion. He found himself kneeling, his sight threatening to spin around at any notice.

"Wha... Damn it!" Brutus muttered, trying to react. "Does that mean... I overdid it?"

He couldn't see couldn't see a thing between the smoke and his dazed sight, but could still perceive the demonic presence of his enemy, now being a feeble sensation.

Requiem lowered his black flaming barrier unti it dissipated. Both him and Rainbow observed the beige pony dealing with his sudden sickness,

"This drawback of mine is a real hassle," Brutus commented with a smirk as he struggled to stand up, falling on his talon like feet in few occasions. "I used too much blood for the firearms I could create, but at least that demon can't evade me any longer,"

Slowly, the smoke began to dissipate, revealing a very mangled Florios, whose body was both burnt and torn apart. Trail of smoke were coming out of his destroyed figure. A large portion of his rib cage was being exposed, entangled with molten pistons and surrounded by melted pieces of machinery and burnt flesh. His coils of tendril claws was mostly pulverized.

His already horrific face was horribly more disfigured that before. However, Florios wasn't the only victim of the destructive power of the rockets. The two undead unicorns were scattered on the floor, being reduced into burnt pieces.

Florios could barely floating above the floor, it's balance becoming more unstable. He growled loudly, growled feraly and glared at Brutus with seething rage.

"You expected yourself to remain unscathed!?" Florios inquired with hate, his half metallic voice turned raspy. "After having betrayed not only my master, but the Beast as well!?"

"Technically, I never trusted that guy to begin with." Brutus said arrogantly. "So I have no regrets for this devilcide I had committed."

"Arrogant until the bitter end, I see." Florios said before making a chilling smile, a moment before he breathed out a hurricane of blood colored flames with a roar and the crimson flames of his ram like, propeller pipe horns erupting upward in response. "BUUURRRRRN!!!".

Brutus exterted himself and high jumped toward him before the. As he was virtually flying toward the demon, Brutus turned his black-ironed hand into a huge sword and dived upon the creature of the Void in a falling overhead slash, splitting it in two as it's blood colored flames ran out of gas.

"Check-fucking-mate." Brutus said quietly, before leaping away from the dying demon and collapsing exhausted.

The two halves of Florios somehow moved on their own, whispering it's own curse. "May... The... Hell itself... Rain... Upon... Youuuu..."

With that last chilling sentence, the divided body of Florios slowly blackened before turning into ashes. The graysh, raging wall of fire surrounding the room dissipated as well, blocking the paths no longer.

Having the certainty that his enemy was gone for good, Brutus reverted his big sword into his clawed hand. The enemy was no more, but he didn't considered to return to his quadrupedal from just yet.

"It's just like the time with Dagon," Brutus said contemplative. "Except... That fucker just pushed me to my limits, and was almost killing another time. Damn if it was tough." He was almost collapsing, yet persisted, trying to remain on his feet. "Not now. I am almost there.

In the aftermath of the fight, the whole entrance hall was a mess. Various meteor shards were scattered everywhere, a few royal banners were eaten by the flames, the mangled and molten corpses of the marked undead ponies were scattered anywhere and multiple points of the marble floor and red carpet where filled with large holes.

Rainbow Dash slowly approached at Brutus, baffled by what had occurred and looked at the crimson maned, beige pony with mixed feelings, aggravated by her inner turmoil.

She didn't trusted Brutus to begin with, much like she didn't trusted Requiem. Rainbow already saw his power put into practice during the fight against Spitfire, but she never had thought that his power could take a very destructive degree, as commanding a horde of zombies wasn't disturbing enough.

"You just murmured," Rainbow murmured disturbed, accidentally getting Brutus' attention.

"We have wasted enough time," Requiem butted in. "We have to find Twilight and the others before the cabal of the Reverse Tree does."

"I assumed that Celestia is wounded and was medicated," Brutus began. "We are probably going to find Twilight and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony along with her in her own room.

Rainbow flinched internally, feeling guilty. "Oh gosh..."

"I suggest you to leave your hesitation for another moment since it would be detrimental," Requiem replied, with Rainbow looking sternly at him.

"Let's go," Brutus said as he headed to the staircase, followed by Requiem and what remains of his army of marked undeads reduced to forty seven.

"Almost there." Brutus thought, eager to obtain some result. "If what Requiem said about the Elements of Harmony and the Dark Henge was right, then I had a chance. I will put an end to this funk and finally take back the tranquil life I fucking deserve."

Reluctantly, Rainbow followed suit, briefly staring at the two stain-glasses above the staircase. She pondered about what she was about to do. She wanted to see her friend so badly, but couldn't stop thinking about the consequences of her decision.

"Twilight. Princess Celestia. Everypony... "

"Forgive me." Rainbow murmured crestfallen as she and the rest of the group were stepping into the upper floors.