The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Night fell over Canterlot City, and with it, its heroes rose. Sunset, Witchblade, and Sun, Ember, flew over the city, ready to take on the one responsible for all the killing in the city in their absence. Sunset still felt bad that she wasn’t here to protect everyone from this killer, but Sun managed to get her out of that funk, they were here now, and they could do something about it.

“How did Ms. C react to you coming out? Or did you even tell her at all?” Sun asked.

“I told her, and she said, ‘Please call me when you’re back and safe.’”

“Wow, just like that?”

Sunset slowed down and flew backwards to face her little sister. “Yeah, she knows I can’t stand by and do nothing when I have the power to help someone, and after everything we’ve been through, she trusts me to not take chances when fighting a monster. Plus, I think she’s put more at ease knowing that I have you watching my back.”

Sun crossed her arms and smiled. “Of course I’m going to watch your back, we’re fam now.”

“I never got to ask, you said earlier that a girl you and Twi are friends with wasn’t feeling good. Is she alright now?”

Sun slowed her flying speed and nodded, but still looked concerned. “Yeah, Sweets is fine now, but I don’t know, it feels like she’s on edge or something. Fucking Indigo, she couldn’t just leave us alone on the first day back from Break. Had to start shit right out of the gate, and saying all that shit in front of her, too! Not only that, Indigo has the nerve to show her face around me and Twi after what she did?! I swear to god I was THIS close to–!”

Sunset raised her hands up in a stopping motion and quickly said, “Whoa, whoa, cool down, Sun, you’re running hot. Literally, your flames are raging.”

Sun stopped and realized that the flames that were coming from her body were more intense than usual. She quickly calmed herself and in so doing, made the flames settle as well. “Sorry, that bitch really pisses me off. Don’t know why, but it’s like she pisses me a lot more now.”

“Don’t worry about it, if someone hurt Pinkie or any of my friends like that, I’d be the same way. Now, let’s get to work, this should be good enough.” Sunset and Sun stopped over the city and hovered in place. The Bearer of the Witchblade raised her right hand up and spoke to the ruby at the center of the gauntlet. “What do you sense partner?”

}}} There is a deep bloodlust in the air, but I can’t pinpoint. Whatever’S here, it’s definitely demonic in nature. But…there’s something else that’s strange. {{{[/i]

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

}}} There are things in this city, things similar to Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny, and your twin’s Ember Stone. {{{

“Say what?!”

“That doesn’t sound good, what’s up?” Sun asked.

“He says…this is weird, he says he senses other things like Shy’s Spear and your necklace in the city.”

Sun’s eyes widened to the size of saucer plates when she heard this news, her body trembled in excitement and restlessness. She wanted so badly to grab ahold of Sunset’s wrist and demand that the Witchblade tell her what it was sensing and where. But she had to keep it in check, if she showed her interest now it could mess up everything. “That is weird…um, how many can he sense exactly?”

}}} Hard to say, they’re proximity drowns out the other. I know they are here, but I can’t tell how many. {{{

Sunset relayed the info to Sun, who bit her bottom lip in slight disappointment. However, this was good, this meant that there were more Artifacts in the city. Just then, the ruby on the gauntlet glowed bright.

“Now what?”

“We’re on! He can sense the bloodlust strongly now!”

“Lead the way!”

The two Sunsets took off quickly with the Witchblade armor leading the way. It took them all of one minute to find the source of the bloodlust, dropping down from the sky in true superhero fashion, thankfully they were just in time. A figure dressed in a red hoodie and black pants, holding a katana, had cornered a woman in an alleyway. The figure didn’t turn around, but they did turn their head ever so slightly to acknowledge their presence.

“Witchblade!” the woman exclaimed in relief.

“Looks like we found our killer,” said Sun.

“Witchblade, I was wondering how many bodies were going to pile up before I got your attention,” said the killer. “And you brought your sidekick.”

Sun furrowed her brow and said, “‘Sidekick’? I’m her partner, Ember, thank you! And you killed all those people just to get her attention?!”

The killer chuckled as she said, “No, I was just wondering. I’m a little thirsty at the moment, do you mind leaving me alone to eat?”

Sunset’s forearms produced blades while Sun formed a fire sword, this was their answer. The killer only chuckled, but she gave her response in the form of raising her sword and dashing towards her victim. Sun raised her left hand and fired off a jet of flames right at the victim, the killer sidestepped the flames and watched them engulf her prey.

“Wow, you wanted to stop me from killing that person, and you instead burned her to death? Way to go heroes,” said the killer.

“Who said she’s dead?” Sun asked rhetorically as she whipped her arm back. The action caused the flames to form a cocoon around the civilian and dragged her back swiftly behind the two heroes, when the cocoon touched the ground it broke apart, revealing a very confused young woman. “RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!”

The young woman nodded vigorously and ran off as fast as she could. Now they were alone, the killer still had their back to them, which only made the two of them edgier.

“Now it’s just us, turn around and show us who you are!” Sunset demanded.

The killer rested the blunt side of her katana against her right shoulder as she hummed in contemplation. “Hmm…sorry, but that’s a no. My host wouldn’t like it if you found out who she was. But I would like to thank you for this opportunity. I wanted to see how I stacked up against you after seven straight days of feeding. So, let’s have some fun! Kōsoku o kaijo (Release restraint)!”

Scarlet light erupted around the killer, obscuring her from view and caused a whirlwind to kick up. The scarlet light faded, and the twin Sunsets were granted a view of their transformed foe as she turned to face them. Her hoodie had transformed into a red coat and hood, the end of the coat was tattered, and battle worn. The shoulder pauldrons were curved upwards and had gold fringing, the gauntlets had Japanese kanji written atop them, spiked knuckles and claw tips, both were the same deep scarlet color. The chest plate was obviously female, but bore a strange symbol at the center, the metal boots had Japanese writing on the outsides, and underneath the armor was a black chainmail. Upon the killer’s face was an Oni demon mask, with two horns curving upwards, the facial slit was open but had rows of sharpened teeth, the eyes were yellow and crystalline, keeping the identity of the killer completely hidden.

“Who…What are you?!” Sunset demanded.

“I’ve been called a lot of names over the centuries, and I’ve been wielded by many humans. I was a fearsome demon, I’ve been trapped inside this sword so long that I have forgotten my original name, but one name always persists, Blood Sword.”

Agent Tempest Shadow had entered Canterlot City a few days ago, she’d been trying to track down the killer who had been hacking and slashing people up for almost seven days now, however, her investigation hadn’t yielded much. At first, she suspected Witchblade may’ve been behind this, but there was something off about the crime scenes. Thanks to the resources at the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters, OSOD, she was able to fake an FBI badge and get herself through the police tape and inspect the damage. Just being near the crime scene already informed her that this possibly wasn’t Witchblade.

The Wheel of Shadows granted her the power of time, so when the majority of the police left, along with the bystanders, Tempest would return to do her own thing. She took out the Wheel of Shadows and activated her power, allowing the Wheel to transform her into her shadow form. Tempest allowed her shadow to surround the area and create a shroud to obscure her work, while in the shadows, Tempest held out her right hand and gestured as if she was holding a knob. The secret agent turned her hand to the left, and when she did the ghostly bodies appeared. They were wispy, made of gray mist, but very detailed.

This was her power, the power of time over things and people. With this power, Tempest was able to rewind the area, she couldn’t travel back in time, not that she hasn’t tried yet, but she could turn back time locally, if only to see events that had occurred. Although in this case, whenever she did use this ability, the events would replay as ghostly images. However, it had its ups, like allowing her to see the faces of the perpetrators that committed the crime. However, that wasn’t the case. When Tempest tried to get a look at the person who committed the killings, something stopped her. It was as if the killer’s aura, power, whatever, was so strong that it didn’t want anyone to see who it was, or what it was.

A couple of days passed, and more killings happened, that is until Tempest decided to stop taking a wait and see approach. Her handler told her to observe and to only engage when necessary, but that didn’t sit well with Tempest. There had been no signs of Witchblade during the whole time she had been in the city, so someone had to take care of this blade wielding killer. Then came Monday night, Tempest was in her shadow form as she traversed the city, looking for anything that would give her a lead to the killer’s whereabouts.

That thing she was looking for came in the form of two beings whizzing through the air, one was fiery and the other was barely visible in the night sky, but Tempest knew who it was, or at least had a good idea. She vaulted off one roof after the other, trying to keep pace with the two fliers. I could just fly myself, but then again, I’d lose my whole stealth thing. Eventually she caught up with Witchblade and her crime fighting partner, she perched herself at the edge of the roof that overlooked the alley and watched as the two heroes confronted the killer. Even from this distance, Tempest could feel the bloodlust coming from this person.

Goddamn, I’m actually shaking a little. Eh, whatever, at least the heroes are back, which means I can stand back and watch the–

Scarlet light filled the alley, Tempest turned her gaze away for a moment as it grew brighter. When the light faded, her blue eyes widened upon seeing the killer now donned in red armor.

Oh shit…

“Blood Sword, huh? Seems appropriate, hope your skills are as good as good as your light show!” Sunset mocked.

“Same to you!”

Sunset crouched, causing the concrete to fracture, Blood Sword did the same. The two blade fighters dashed towards each other and met in the center, Blood Sword raised her blade and brought it down in an overhead strike, while Sunset countered with a horizontal slash from her forearm blade. Their weapons clashed, ringing out through the alley and making the brick walls around them crack from the sheer power of their attacks. Sunset grunted from the impact, Blood Sword definitely had power behind her attack, but did she have versatility?

The living armor created spearhead tipped chains that sprouted from the shoulder pauldrons and rose like snakes. Blood Sword noticed and quickly disengaged as she jumped backwards, but the chains lashed towards her, the demonic warrior sliced the air before her, making several red streaks of light appear. Once the chains got close, they stopped and were sliced to pieces, Sunset was a little surprised, there wasn’t much that could cut through her armor, and yet this thing could.

Sun decided to unleash a torrent of flames down the alley. The flames engulfed Sunset and roared towards Blood Sword, the demonic warrior raised her sword and slashed downwards, releasing a pressure wave that parted the flames in two. However, she wasn’t prepared for how Witchblade emerged from the flames, fully armored, and brandishing her large buster sword. Blood Sword hurriedly raised her sword to meet the buster sword of Sunset, upon impact, the ground fractured further and created a small crater where Blood Sword stood. The scarlet menace focused her energy into the sword and pushed upwards, creating a crimson energy shockwave that pushed Sunset back.

Blood Sword took this chance and jumped from one wall to the next, scaling upwards and doing a flip in the air before landing on the rooftop. Sunset and Sun gave chase, flying up and meeting their opponent on the rooftop. Sun formed a fire sword as her sister created two bastard swords, the twins glanced at each other and then dashed towards Blood Sword. The demonic warrior twirled her sword around and entered an attack stance. A dance of fire and metal began as Sun and Sunset slashed with their weapons and Blood Sword blocked with hers, more rings echoed through the air along with shuffling feet on the rooftop, both fighters fighting to defeat the other.

Sunset slashed with both swords, Blood Sword leaned backwards and dodged the first attack. Sun dashed behind Blood Sword and raised her fire blade, but just as she brought it down, Blood Sword dropped to the ground and swung her legs in a whirlwind kick maneuver. The attack managed to catch Sun in the left knee, making her yelp in pain as the hard kick made her buckle, allowing for the Blood Sword to sweep again and land a blow against the side of Sun’s head and sent her tumbling to the right. Sunset growled and sped towards Blood Sword, but the demonic warrior used her momentum and jumped up and away. She twirled in the air and dropped down behind Sunset as she slashed with her sword.

The Bringer of Balance cried in pain as the sword pieced her armor and managed to cut her back, sending out a splash of blood as she stumbled forward. Blood Sword raised her blade and looked upon the bloodstains on the weapon, the blood was soon absorbed by the blade, making it glow red, and Blood Sword herself made a moaning sound.

“Hmm, your blood is like a damn drug! It’s so tasty, and delicious, I’ve never tasted anything like it! It’s more than a fine wine, it’s like mana from Heaven!” Blood Sword gushed. “What are you? ‘Cause this blood definitely tastes different from human blood!”

Sunset hissed in pain for another moment as her wound closed and the armor mended. “Like I’d tell you.” The wielder of the Witchblade ran towards Blood Sword and began clashing again, Blood Sword parried a few blows, but on their next contact, she smirked. Her blade transformed, becoming segmented and detaching itself as it snaked its way around the Blood Sword’s right left arm. “Gotcha bitch!”

“What the?!”

Sunset kicked Blood Sword away and gave her some slack for a couple of seconds, but then pulled it taught as she jerked back and reeled Blood Sword in. The Bringer of Balance cocked back her left fist and smashed it into Blood Sword’s abdomen, causing the demonic warrior to let out a harsh cough of pain from the attack. Sunset decided to end this now, she spotted Sun and nodded towards her.

The wielder of the Ember Stone nodded back and ignited the soles of her feet as she took off towards her twin and Blood Sword. Sun superheated her whole right forearm as she closed in, Sunset landed a few more blows into Blood Sword’s gut, Blood Sword raised her right arm and prepared to attack.

Just then, Blood Sword sensed Sun’s presence coming behind her. The demonic warrior, instead of slashing Sunset, cut her own left arm off above the elbow. Now that she was freed from Sunset’s snare, Blood Sword was able to dodge her unimpeded as Sun came in and slashed with her right arm, missing her target. Blood Sword rolled on the ground and stood up quickly as her severed arm bled on the rooftop.

Sunset released the other half of Blood Sword’s arm, returning her chain sword to its full blade form. “Okay, she’s crazy.”

“Seriously, cutting off your own arm? That’s hardcore, but it’s also going to cost you,” said Sun.

“That’s what you think!” As soon as she said that, the blood dripping from the wound stopped, that same blood lashed out towards the severed arm and connected the two together. The blood rope reeled in the severed arm and reconnected it back to her body, the wound healed and the armor reformed, making it appear as if nothing happened. “See, good as new.”

Sun chuckled as her hands flared up. “Cute trick, but I wonder if you can still heal it after I’ve cauterized your wounds!”

Blood Sword looked between her two opponents, she had gotten stronger, but she knew that this Ember and Witchblade haven’t gone all out just yet. For sure she knew Witchblade wasn’t using her full power, otherwise she’d be dead now. Probably assessing whether I’m worth the use of that much power. Fine then…Blood Sword dashed towards her opponents, she forwarded more of her demonic power into her speed as she became a blur before them as she shouted, “CHI NO KYŌRAN (Blood Frenzy)!”

Sun and Sunset readied for an attack but were blindsided as Blood Sword slashed at them from different angles, streaks of crimson light erupted around them as the twin Sunsets raised shields to try and protect themselves from the onslaught. However, Sunset’s armor shields and Sun’s fire dome were getting sliced up, whatever Blood Sword’s weapon was, it had the power to render their defenses irrelevant.

“I normally use this against large groups of opponents so I can maximize the amount of blood that stains my blade, and the more blood I drink the stronger I get, but for you two, I think this’ll be enough to throw you off!”

Blood Sword jumped high into the air, she waved her left hand over the blade, dying it in crimson light. She made a circle with her sword, creating a thin red line in its wake, and when she was done, Blood Sword had created a red circle. Blood Sword got into a thrusting position and shouted, “HIMEI! CHIMAMIRE NO TSUKI (Scream! Bloody Moon)!” Blood Sword thrust her blade through the circle, and upon passing through it, the circle unleashed a huge column of crimson energy straight for Sun and Sunset.

The twins looked up just in time to watch as the crimson beam slammed over them. Blood Sword was cackling with mad delight as she watched her attack hit, but then realized something was off. “Okay, usually when I do this, the entire structure would be destroyed?” That’s when she saw a swell appear at the impact point. “Uh-oh.”

The swell got bigger and bigger until Blood Sword’s attack was completely cancelled out as a great roar tore through the air. Blood Sword landed back on the roof and laid her eyes upon a flaming dragon, and a crimson armored Witchblade. The dragon towered over Witchblade, while Witchblade herself had not only gained a foot of height, but also more filled out proportions.

“You just had to push your luck, didn’t you?” Sunset asked with a bit of a sultry flare to her tone. “Alright then, ‘Blood Sword’, let’s dance for real now.”

“Chi no Kyōran!”

Both Sunset and Blood Sword became blurs as sparks went off in the air, dark crimson streaks clashed against bright crimson streaks, every once and awhile, there was a pause in the attacks as the two blade wielders were locked and then broke away to resume their highspeed attacks. Meanwhile, Sun was watching all this, her draconic eyes following the action as it unfolded before her and waiting for her chance to attack. But mostly, she was looking for her chance to obtain a fourth Artifact.

C’mon, Sis, slice off that hand so I can get that damn sword, thought Sun.

Sunset and Blood Sword stopped their highspeed attack, the heroine of the city formed a giant shuriken and tossed it at Blood Sword. The demonic warrior readied to cut in half but was unaware that the spinning ninja weapon had a thin metal wire connected to it. When Blood Sword slashed downwards to intercept it, Sunset pulled on the wire and instantly the giant shuriken burst apart, becoming several hundreds of smaller shuriken that nearly surrounded Blood Sword, but for added fun, Sunset thrust her left hand forward and ignited all the shuriken, turning them into red flaming stars. The demonic samurai was not prepared for the death blossom-like attack as she hurriedly began dodging and swiping at the fire shuriken that were raining down on her, but she was missing many as they sliced at her armor and through her chainmail.

Sun saw this opening and inhaled deeply, the flames that made up her body raged hotter, building up her power. The flame dragon opened her great maw and unleashed a hellfire torrent straight for Blood Sword, Sunset didn’t move from her position, the Witchblade granted her some immunity from fire, but also, Sun’s flames only harmed those she saw as an enemy. The flames washed over Sunset, no harm coming to her, however, the same could not be said for Blood Sword as she was too preoccupied blocking Sunset’s attack to block the incoming one. The rooftop exploded as a single person was blown off.

A smoke trail was the only indication of where Blood Sword fell as she landed, back first, onto a car down below. Blood Sword managed to peel herself off the car and onto the street, just then Dragon Shimmer and Sunset descended from the rooftop, with Sunset riding atop Dragon Shimmer’s back.

Okay, so I’m not at full power, guess I’ve been out of the game for too long.

“They’re going to kill me! That’s it, just give up! I don’t want to die like this!”

Oh, shut up you whiny little bitch, I need to think! Shit, I want more of Witchblade’s blood, it’s full of power, I could easily get back to full power if I could just skewer her…but that damn dragon girl won’t let me get that close, and in Witchblae’s current form I stand no chance. Fine, tactical retreat for now.

“Well, Witchblade, Ember, tonight was fun, but I need to reassess my tactics for the next time we meet. See ya!”

Blood Sword flipped her weapon around and plunged it into the street. Crimson light surged from the demonic samurai and through the sword, the ground fissured and cracked as the red glow spread below, and within a few seconds, the ground exploded with energy. The sidewalk was destroyed, cars were tossed into the air, and a huge plume of dust and dirt was kicked up into the air.

“Ember!”

Dragon Shimmer raised her mighty wings and flapped them hard, the result created a powerful gust of wind that pushed the dust cloud away. Unfortunately, when the dust was gone, so too was Blood Sword.

“Dammit, she got away! Can you sense her?” Sunset asked the Witchblade.

}}} The bloodlust has gone, now it’s just awash in that same feeling as if I was sensing the Ember Stone. I am sorry. {{{

Sun returned to her humanoid form and stood next to her twin. “Are they here?!”

“No, but we should at least take a look around, the police will show up and we should inform Shining about what we found out,” said Sunset.

“Right, I’ll take the ground, my flames will light up the dark corners.”

“That leaves the air to me.”

Tempest had watched the battle unfold from a different perch, she questioned if she should have entered the battle to stop the red samurai, but after seeing Witchblade and her fiery partner fight, she figured that she’d mess up their symmetry, plus, they were pretty powerful, and she wasn’t sure that she could take them if they saw her as an enemy, at least not until she had learned the full extent of their abilities. This wouldn’t be like going after some random person who discovered magic, or a monster, the girls obviously knew how to wield their power, just like her.

That being the case, where the hell did the red menace go?

The OSOD agent had lost sight of the one calling herself Blood Sword, the dust cloud had completely hidden her target and now she couldn’t find her. Tempest thought it prudent to back off for now, she was sent to observe, not to fight. She melded into the shadows and disappeared from sight just as Witchblade passed over her location.

Sour Sweet ran as fast and as hard as her legs would carry her, after Blood Sword had got them out of there, she ran even further on her own, not wanting to take any chances of getting caught by Witchblade or Ember. She stopped for a minute to catch her breath, and as she did, Sour looked at her left arm, she remembered the pain from when it was cut, and now the surreal feeling of it being back on her body as if it never happened.

“What the fuck…how did you do that with my arm?!” Sour asked.

“One of my abilities granted to my hosts, your blood is a weapon as well. You’re connected to it, so even if a body part is severed, I can recall it and reattach it, same goes for your head. But I can’t do anything if your head gets smashed in, I can’t regenerate a whole head or brain.”

“Whatever, I don’t want to do this anymore! Just find someone else, there’s probably tons of psychos out there who want a demon sword,” said Sour in spite.

Sour could hear the mad cackles of the Blood Sword within her mind, but then her red eyed doppelganger appeared before her and said, “That’s not going to happen. You found me, whether you meant to or not, and now, we’re connected until death do us part. Or until I find someone else with a less stable mind than yours to manipulate.” Blood Sword cupped Sour’s chin and grinned. “So, do as I say, and that person you care about so much will remain safe. Besides, after that fight, I know who I want. Witchblade’s blood is potent, I need more of it. The rest of these plebeians might as well be fast food.”

Sour smiled a little upon hearing this, “Does that mean that you won’t kill anymore people?”

Blood Sword looked at her as if she had definitely gone crazy. “Ha, do you stop eating fast food even though you’re rich?” Sour, unfortunately, shook her head in affirmation that she did indeed eat fast food despite having access to richer stuff. “Then there you go; besides, I need more power, and to do that, I need more blood. We’ll just have to be sneaker about our kills from this point forward.”

Hours had gone by with little luck in finding Blood Sword, after informing the police and Shining Armor about the person responsible for the recent killings, both Sunsets headed back to Shimmer Manor. Once inside, Sun de-transformed with the older twin remaining in her armored form. Sunset and Sun walked up the stairs and headed to Sunset’s room. Once inside, Sunset had Witchblade retract the armor, leaving nude again, thankfully she had laid out a robe for her return and quickly slipped it back on.

“Damn, we were so close to beating her!” Sunset stated as she went to Ray’s terrarium.

Sun leaned against the doorframe and said, “Don’t get too worked up over it, we’ll find her again. But good news, now this Blood Sword knows that the sheriff is back in town. Maybe we should ask Fluttershy to break out the Magdalena, there’s no way that demon sword can stand up to all three of us, I mean, she could barely hold her own against us.”

Sunset sat on her bed, with Ray now perching on her shoulder. The little lizard nuzzled his owner’s cheek and Sunset smiled at the show of affection. “No, I’d rather leave Fluttershy out of this, I’ll tell the girls tomorrow what happened, but Fluttershy has done enough. She didn’t want to become a warrior, but guys like Neighsay made her into one. Shy deserves to be what she wants to; not what others believe she’s destined to be.”

Sun nodded. “I got it, but, if she says she wants to…”

“I won’t say no, you’re right, the three of us could overpower Blood Sword easily.”

“Good,” Sun stretched and yawned. “Well, better hit the hay, unfortunately we both have school tomorrow, and you have a phone call to make to Ms. C.”

“Alright, good night, Sis,” said Sunset.

“You too, Sis.”

Sun closed the door to her big sister’s room. She made her way down the stairs and quickly entered her secret lab down in the basement. Once inside, Sun immediately went into research mode, scouring her tomes and internet sources for a weapon called the “Blood Sword”, she knew the name had come up in some of the tomes as one of the Thirteen Artifacts, but she hadn’t done enough research on what it could do. After about ten minutes of searching, she finally found a few articles on the net, as well as a section about it in one of the ancient tomes.

“Let’s see, ‘The Blood Sword is a demonic weapon, it was forged by a powerful shaman who bound a demon’s essence to a sword from the far east. The sorcerer intended for the demon inside the Blood Sword to grant him power, however, the demon wouldn’t be quelled so easily. In exchange for granting its wielder great power, it comes at a price, a price of sating its deep hunger for blood and carnage. The Blood Sword has carved out a bloody trail of carnage throughout the ages, held by many conquerors and murderers alike, until it the last great war, it has gone missing.’ Until now at least.”

Sun looked up at the symbols of the different Artifacts, she lit up one of them and smiled. It was all coming together, now there were seven Artifacts in the city, at least those that she knew of. She remembered that Sunset’s Witchblade made mention of picking up on similar items like her Ember Stone somewhere in the city, which meant a couple of more –or even all – of the Artifacts might be in the city now.

“Then there’s the possibility of that incident in Manehattan also being caused by an Artifact, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Sun to herself. She played with the Ember Stone, placing it between her thumb and forefinger of her right hand as she looked over the symbols of the remaining Artifacts. “Just six more, six more Artifacts until I can set everything right. Blood Sword and the others will be the first to go.” She looked up at the ceiling, peering through the floors to where her big sister resided. “……I’d rather delay those fights for as long as I can…”

It was the struggle that Sun knew she’d have to face soon, when all the others were recovered, the only remaining Artifacts to be obtained would be the Spear of Destiny and the Witchblade. Sun didn’t see Fluttershy putting up too much of a fight, after everything Fluttershy had been through revolving around that weapon, she doubted that the shy girl would object to her taking the weapon. That only left Sunset and Witchblade. However, the Witchblade is a symbiotic weapon, connected to the wielder’s body.

“The only way to get it off her would be to……” Sun shook her head. “No, that’s not the biggest problem of getting it, that thing has a strong consciousness, and it won’t release Sunset even if she asked it to. It’ll fight me, kill me if possible, to keep me from separating the two. But that’s not even the biggest problem…”

Indeed, she knew that the biggest, most dangerous of the thirteen hadn’t shown itself for almost five years now. Not since that day…

“But this time will be different, as strong as that guy is, if I come at him with all the other Artifacts, there’s no way he can beat me. I’ll set everything right, I’ll make things better than they are now.” Sun took out her phone and stared at a picture of her mother, father, and herself from before the incident. “Everything will be set right, Mom, Dad, just wait a little longer. And when it’s over, I’ll introduce you to my new big sis.”