A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 63: Day of The Gala. Part Two.

*Point of view: Princess Luna*
*Location: Princess Luna's bed chamber. Within her mind*
*Time: Ten Thirty-five in the morning*

Inside of Luna's dream the following was set to be at the old castle of the two sisters. Although, a few things were quite a bit off when compared to the last time it had visitors. The old throne room was in shambles as Nightmare Moon was squaring off against Twilight and her friends. The Elements of Harmony were broken and scattered all about the floor where the dark Alicorn stood. Celestia was nowhere in sight and the six were all very beat up and barely able to get onto their unsteady legs.

All that went through Nightmares mind, was taking over Equestria and having her eternal night to rain over the land and seal the victory she was longing for the last thousand years. The orange Pony with one of her legs having been broken earlier on, was trying to use her axe in order to get back up with it as a crutch. The white Unicorn, along with the yellow Pegasus were strewn out onto the floor and apparently knocked out cold.

As for the pink excitable one. All that could be seen, was the left hand of hers, as it was sticking out from a pile of stone rubble that was once one of the many support pillars throughout the room. When it came to the blue Pegasus that was wielding a set of knives. She was currently being held in Nightmare Moon’s left hand, as the blade was being ready with the other and now lifted so that the edge could be seen pressing up against the mare’s neck.

Twilight was a short distance away and pretty exhausted with all the heavy breathing she was doing. Her horn barely giving off anything better than a few sparks of magic. Nightmare Moon was in the middle of one of her triumphant declarations after defeating the so-called Element bearers and was just about the force Twilight and to be coming her servant and student, as to be another strike against her older sister, by threatening to kill one of her friends if Twilight should refuse the offer.

But, before the scene could move any further. Nightmare Moon's weapon was roughly knocked from her grip and sent to the floor quite a ways without any warning. While at the same time, her left hand felt empty as that wrist began to feel some pressure on it, before a sharp pain ran up her arm and made her release a strained scream.

Once her moment of surprise ran its course in just a second. Quickly her agonizing pain turned into fear, upon bringing her attention to that arm and seeing it gripped with a large hand being encased in a dark gauntlet. The creaking of metal upon metal could be heard as the fingers slowly coiled around and applied more pressure.

That hand could be seen being connected to the one she knew as Gambit. Who is wearing the same armor from their fight and looking down at her in a way that made him more imposing than even back then. The dark eye coverings were now a pale white that glistened in the moon’s rays. The defining shapes of his armor were far more pronounced, with there being much more jagged pieces along the shoulders and joints.

She was just about to try and order him to release her arm through gritted teeth, but was interrupted with him swinging upwards with his other arm and detaching her gripped arm from her body, at just above the elbow with a single pass of his weapon. This was then followed less than a second later, with that very same blade coming down right as Nightmare Moon leaned forward in a silent scream of pain, that was just about to turn into a loud cry. Although, that never came about as she was immediately decapitated when the blade cleaved through her neck.

From there, all that Nightmare Moon could see was the world beginning to move without her input Then the upside-down sight of her own body, along with Gambit coming into view, before she realized just what had happened and continued to tumble until she was pretty much laying at Twilight's feet and staring straight up at the mare with wide eyes that quickly lost life within seconds.

This was eventually followed with everything going silent, as Luna suddenly appearing off to the side and walking between a few of the still intact pillars to look at the frozen scene in front of herself. As soon as her form came into the light after several steps. She was already holding her right hand up to her neck and having an expression that just screamed, that she went through a near-death experience of some kind, while still looking at the lifeless head laying on the floor.

Her body was in a constant state of shock with the way she was trembling all over after witnessing the scene play out. Her eyes not even moving even a twitch from where they were looking, while beads of sweat were trickling down her face. After a few seconds of this, she took in a sharp breath between her teeth before crumpling and now on her knees and covering her face as she quietly sobbed with her head lowered.

After a long moment passed. Luna was still clearly crying and allowing the shed tears to fall to the dirty stone floor beneath. After using her left hand to try and wipe away some of it. Luna began to talk to herself in a somber mood, while still looking towards the floor and keeping herself pretty much hidden behind her mane and wings drooping so much that they were now laying on the floor.

“Why does this cause me so much more pain when compared to how it was in so many of my dreams before? It was never this bad until now. And he was referred to as a, Eikon Slayer. What pray tell exactly is an Eikon?” That was when she brought both of her hands and placed them in a position to cover up where her heart should be before going on. “How could such a title cause me to feel this much fear and trepidation?”

Luna started to slowly shake her head in order to try and shake off these feelings before speaking again, but this time there was a small amount of defiance placed in there, along with her fearful tone. “The both of us have been conversing every few days, yet I can't bring myself to cast that location spell for several nights now...”

“Eikon… Eikon… Why? Why do I feel as though I should know what that word means? He might just tell me if I ask. NO! I-I can't do that! He believes Twilight Sparkle to be the one that was keeping an eye on him and sending us the reports! If I mention Eikon’s, then he would know that there's another.”

Luna slowly raised herself onto her hoofs after a few seconds and manipulated the dream with her horn in order to bring back her memories of her personal spy’s previous report. Within a short time, the castle was replaced and Luna took on the role of her self during the meeting in order to see just what was going on for a second run through.

Although, even if she wasn't doing it this time around, Celestia was still being told what was said as before. So, she didn't have to put so much of her concentration on doing that task and devoted most of her senses to the fight and everything else going on.

Honestly, Luna was getting a fair bit tired of having to repeat everything Gambit was saying for sister. But felt that there was a reason for why Gambit wouldn't talk to her directly. So, she was willing to put up with it for now. It had even run across her mind that this issue might have already been resolved, if Celestia was allowed to see him at night. But clearly, he didn't want her older sister in his mind at all for the foreseeable future.

As of right now, she was looking down at the arena that was mostly covered in a black mist. But she was still able to make out everything that was going on to a small degree. The scene started off only a few seconds before the monster started to babble about Gambit being a slayer and making a fuss and constantly proclaiming that he was not a failure.

Luna expected Gambit to take this creature down quite quickly, but was obviously having some trouble. Even though multiple attacks landed and Luna had to hold back a cringe upon seeing him getting tossed across the arena from the large weapon finally making contact. Fortunately enough, Luna was quite accustomed to seeing things in the dark, so she was able to catch a glimpse of Gambit bringing up his weapon in order to parry the blade and prevent himself from getting cut in half at the very last instant before getting sent flying and crashing against the barrier.

Gambit was now pressing himself against the wall with his back and slowly standing back up. All the while, he was keeping his left hand behind himself and pressing it onto the strange field that divided the area and the outside world. At the same time, using the other arm to hold up his weapon in a defensive stance to indicate he was ready to retaliate, if King Sahar should come any closer. Luna took to the air and looked back for a brief moment to see that her past self was still in position and playing her role.

Afterwards, she flew through the barrier and tried to get closer to observe anything that she might have missed from up in the stands. Although, now she was at a better vantage point. However, it still changed nothing when it came to getting a better look and making out exactly what Gambit was dressed like with it just being a dark haze. Even though she was only a few paces away, she couldn't help but to Grumble to herself on not being able to clear it up, but kept a vigilant watch and an ear open as the scene played out.

Sahar swung is blade, while still nearly half of the arena away and shot another series of attacks that were coming straight for Gambit. In response, he stomped his right foot that was in front of himself onto the floor, and called out the following. “By my name, decipher the laws of nature. I call upon the power of earth, come forth and do my bidding! Spite Bamboo Spike!”

Luckily, he spoke this out fast enough that it triggered its effect just as the attacks we’re about to reach him. What happened next, was the ground pretty much exploding with multiple bamboo shoots that were going in a straight line across and several going forward from there so quickly, that it was hard to keep up with their rate of growth.

Each one was a good inch and a half thick, and was easily close to three meters tall. From a rough estimate, there must have been twelve or perhaps fifteen going across and five or six going forward to make a fan pattern along the ground. What's more, was the way they came up and were now crisscrossing each other to make a diamond pattern and effectively went to work with blocking the oncoming blasts of magic that attempted to tear right through.

With each one making contact and blasting away at several pieces. One might have thought that the shield of plants might have only given him some protection for a few seconds. But whenever there was even a fraction of a second in between one of the lights coming in to destroy the cover.

The bamboo shoots would be replaced just in a nick of time. Eventually, even this had a limit by the looks of it and it only lasted long enough to intercept the very last of the incoming blasts. Which came dangerously close to his blade, but thankfully it was just far enough that it didn't cause any real harm, aside from a few broken splinters bouncing off of his clothing.

Ironically enough, Gambit was not making any type of move to leave his current spot and Luna wondered as to why he was not taking his hand away from the barrier and firmly placing his palm onto it, seeing as he still had enough strength to cast such a strange spell on the ground. Judging from the positioning of his arm, it wasn't as though he was using it to keep himself upright or anything of the sort.

Her attention was drawn away from this question, when she heard Sahar letting out another one of his loud roars and began to charge at Gambit. While wielding his weapon in his right arm and swinging it madly. In the corner of her eye, she witnessed Gambit shifting his front leg again and pressing forward a little. This in turn caused the very same phenomenon from before to occur. But instead of acting as a barrier to protect himself, it was instead used to capture Sahar in a type of a green woven cage.

Luna's eyes went wide at realizing the timing of it all, as both the oversized weapon and arm was locked in place, right at the precise moment for it to come to a stop, before coming back around again. Which meant that there was literally no momentum at all to smash through the improvised bindings. Said bindings would sway and bend only so much before the tension caused them to bounce back to their previous location whenever he tried to break loose.

Shoots were crisscrossing in such a way, that they tangled pretty much all-around Sahar's body. While also reaching in odd directions as they made their way between his legs and arms to put him at odd angles. There were even a few that attempted to stab him, but only managed to give a light scratch or two, before breaking after coming into contact with his tough hide or metal clad parts of his form.

She then heard him whispering under his breath the following phrase. “Just a little longer... Just be a good little Odin… And just give me a few more seconds.” Luna blinked a few times at the word Odin, before Sahar started to thrash about more wildly and started to snap a few of the bamboo shoots as a result. It then took at least eight or maybe ten seconds or so, before he was free again and resumed charging Gambit after exhibiting an extreme amount of strength and sending the pieces flying.

When Sahar got close enough. He raised his right arm and brought down his blade with what Luna thought was all his strength. This amount of force caused a thick dust cloud to erupt right as the blade was to make contact with Gambit. But after several seconds, Luna could see that Sahar wasn't exactly looking happy with the way his body was still tensing up on the edge of the smoke screen that was created by such a mighty downward slash.

It only took a moment before the screen faded away and revealed something that was hovering just over Gambit's head. From what she could tell. It was giving off an ethereal green shine and took on the shape of a kite shield, that was more than big enough to cover pretty much most of Gambit's body. There was even a pair of grunts coming from both Sahar and Gambit, as they were pretty much fighting for who would win out, that could be easily heard over the grinding of weapon and shield against one another.

Gambit then said through gritted teeth. “I said... to wait... a few seconds.” In response, Sahar began to talk as well, although his normal voice would be echoed, along with the weird second one was being easily eclipsed more and more, as each of the following words came out of his metal clad face.

“You... Didn't have these powers before. Your level, is lower... Yet, you’re this strong... What else... Are you hiding?” By now, the larger of the two was beginning to gain some leverage. This meant that the shield was starting to slowly lower, as the blade was pressing down even harder during the talking.

But Gambit responded to that, while seemingly pushing back a few inches. “Need to do a lot... Better, if you're going to... Win! What's the matter? Gah! Did you skip your breakfast of crystals this morning? Ha! Titan was a lot more troublesome than you!” Sahar was now digging his legs into the ground and creating some deep grooves, by displacing some dirt as he retorted in a much angrier tone. “Don't… Dare compare my strength to such a weakling! Weaklings! My current strength is... More than is required to end your life!”

Gambits voice was now filled with humor and a hint of being condescending as he spoke. “I'm literally holding you back... Gah! With one hand behind me no less! Ha-Haha! If I’m being technical here, then I’m literally doing it with no hands! And here you are and you’re laying your whole fat ass on my shield! Yet, here I am! Gerrr! If anything, you're displaying just how weak pathetic you really are!”

“Now fill me in on a little... Something that I've been wondering since the beginning of... Gah!... This little sparring match! Are there conditions that need to be met... Or can any idiot pick up your sword and get possessed? Because otherwise, you must have really picked a winner... So... Gerr! Was it your idea or his to kill off the royal family?”

This was when Sahar started to push again and the two were evenly matched, without giving any type of ground to the other. This time, Sahar’s voice returned to an even balance, but the King's voice was filled with a thick layer of mirth. While the strange one, was that of indifference. “It just so happened, that it coincided with both of our views. Taking the throne by any means was always a desire. Not much had to be done other than... To gain strength. That is all I needed to claim my birthright!”

By now, Sahar's normal voice was dominant among the two, has he went on. “Haha-Haha-Haha! After hearing of your exploits in my lands. I thought to make you a vassal to serve under my rule. What a pity you turned out to be the Slayer! It's almost hilarious! Too bad really. After getting that Princess of the sun to bow down and become my wife.”

“I was going to let you have the leftovers and take the younger sister as part of the deal. She's defective anyway! Who needs a scrawny ass girl that would so easily be turned against their own family after being alive for far longer than me. She would no doubt slit her own lovers throat if it meant gaining any type of advantage.”

Even though Luna already heard this before only a few nights ago. It didn't exactly help with how much that comment got to her. Although, those thoughts were flipped around when she heard Gambit talking again, but this time, there was pretty much no emotion behind his words. Which only caused them to be all that much more terrifying, yet at the same time, causing Luna to slightly blush.

“Just for that... I'm going to take your head and put it on a plaque to decorate my home. I will not allow you to speak ill of Luna! She may have tried to make her eternal night a reality. She may have tried to take her revenge upon being released from the moon after a thousand years. Yes! She had done those things. Yet, she has not taken a single life, in any of those pursuits.”

Gambits floating Shield was now starting to push back and this eliciting a few grunts of exertion from Sahar in doing so. Before continuing in the same dead tone. “She has committed crimes that cannot be simply excused and forgot. But she is making up for them and it is fully remorseful for those past decisions.” By now, the shield which was less than half a hoof from his head, was now easily four yards away. Gambit's voice could still be heard as Sahar desperately tried to push back and releasing a series of growls in vain.

Gambit still went on to say, “To have one who would mercilessly slaughter his own Father, Mother and Siblings... Has no right whatsoever in this life or the next, to condemn Luna in anyway. Saying that she's the failure... Ha... Ha-Ha-ha! What a joke, what a farce. If anything, you're just projecting your own insecurities and so-called failures onto another in order to make yourself feel better. How about I tell you a little something about the one you were just looking down on?”

By then, Gambit was now lowering his arm that was on the barrier this whole time and standing up straight with both hands now gripping the swords handle in front of himself. At the same time, raising the blade in a ready stance, as he spoke further. “When Luna was still Nightmare Moon, she was barely fighting me at half her strength.”

“I dare say, she would have had a decent chance of beating me if she were to have used her utmost capabilities when we met. And with all that power, she showed me concern when I told my tale. Even after all these centuries and being labeled as evil. Compassion was still in her heart. So, I will not hear you say another bad thing about her, EVER AGAIN!” it might have been a trick of the mind. But Luna was almost positive that there was a bone chilling growl at the very end of that sentence.

Even as Sahar was being pushed back and making a few grooves into the ground with his metal clawed paws. He grunted past his helmet the following words in clear disbelief. “You were the one... Who vanquished Nightmare Moon? My sources said it was the new bearers of the Elements. They saw it all happening from outside of the castle. That mare was struck with their power and only that pathetic Luna remained.”

Luna's eyes narrowed at Sahar for that remark. It was because of this, for the last week. Both she and her older sister were looking into any clues, as to who was there that night aside from those that they knew of. Yet they're investigation turned up nothing. Luna's thoughts were broken on that subject, when she heard Gambit’s tone changing to that of amusement, as he called out to Sahar. “What's the matter? Don't tell me you're running on empty? It must have really taken a toll out of you to try and make a half assed transformation like the one you have going on.”

Sahar took a quick step back with his left leg in order to gain some momentary distance from the shield and swung down as hard as he could with his weapon and smashed it to tiny pieces. Those pieces quickly dispersed after flying into the air, after first making a loud shattering sound from the swords impact.

This was immediately followed with Sahar spreading his legs, along with both arms in order to roar straight up into the sky. Afterwards, it didn't take much time at all before Luna turned her head in the direction that she remembered an odd light coursing through a part of the stadium during the first review of this memory.

Even with some time passing since the Kings transformation. There was close to a third of the spectators inside of the structure that were still trying to escape. As the crowds were pushing themselves past the archway. The gates that were being held up were suddenly released and slammed down after releasing a chorus of chain rattling noises. Luckily, this was loud enough to alert those below and they narrowly avoided being cut in half by the metal reinforced wooden doors. Of course, this went for all the other exits, which meant that those that were still inside were now trapped.

Along the floor in separate sections of the colosseum. Were some large manhole covers that were made of metal bars just big enough for someone to slip their small hand through the gaps. It was from these, that the strange light sources were beginning to come from. Wisps of colorful lights, along with tendrils of energy were flowing out and into the air as a river and making their way over to Sahar. Luna then witnessed as Gambit was not making any type of effort to stop him, as the lights phased passed his armor and flowed straight into his body.

The King of the Lions was now releasing these non-stop growls and hisses of pain during this process. But soon, that turned into more of a exhilarated grunt, as his body began to ripple as if there were millions of tiny worms, just wriggling and writhing underneath the skin. After a few seconds of this gross vision going on. The muscles that weren't in the parts of his body with joints, suddenly expanded so much, that it was within the realm of possibility that he was literally going to pop parts of his body like an overstuffed sausage.

But after a few more seconds of this going on. Luna barely perceived the moment that everything else grew to accommodate the new muscle mass and Sahar was now easily four and a half meters tall. Now if that wasn't enough. There was also more of the black ooze spewing from his mouth.

But instead of it falling to the ground, it turned into tendrils and was quickly wrapping itself around his body at the very instant it hit the air. Only this time, Sahar was paying it no mind as it did before, where it was clearly causing him some major discomfort. There was no violent jerking or any type of indication that he was having any problems whatsoever with breathing.

Soon whatever, parts of his body that we're still exposed, was being covered up by a complete set of black armor that conform to his new size perfectly within seconds. When it came to the horns on his head. They shifted so that they were going backwards, before going in a V-shape and coming back and shooting straight up to make a pair of identical straight antlers, that was just too big to be practical.

Even the blade itself grew on its own without any type of interference by the odd substance, as it was now so tall, that one swipe could have easily cleaved a battalion of guards in a single stroke. This would also include the one right behind without any effort. Although there was this odd sound of metal creaking as it did.

The King then started to laugh, as his two-tone voice was being completely overshadowed by the hollowed out one. He then said in a voice without any emotion after the laughing was finished. “Yeah, yeah! Finally, yes!” Gambit's voice quickly cut through afterwards and spoke as though none of this was much of a surprise.

“I suppose I am speaking with the true Odin now, am I correct?” This got nothing as a response from the now called Odin, other than him sweeping the sword over his head a few times and causing the mist to go out to the very edges of the arena and only going as far up as the wall itself and coming up a few inches short from going over the railing and onto the first row of seats.

This of course, got rid of pretty much most of the cover and revealed Gambit to be wearing an unusual set of robes and a wide rim hat. But instead of seeing his face, all Luna got was everything between the neck and the hat, being completely wrapped up in white tattered bandages as most areas were wrapped up pretty tight and others seemingly loose and very close to falling off. And because of the headwear overshadowing the upper part of his face, Luna wasn't even able to see his eyes.

However, it took several seconds before something clicked in her mind back then, as she recalled one of the dreams that displayed another unknown City that was near an ocean. It was when she was about to climb some steps in order to find Gambit in a large building at the top of the hill. Even though there was no one around. The shops were still full of wears and she recalled they're being some articles of clothing that were put up on display that had a striking resemblance to the style that he was wearing now.

(Play this to see his Samurai gear.)

Gambit could be seen gripping onto a sword even tighter, as his clothing was being blown by a win coming out of nowhere, before practically vanishing after taking a single step and delivering a wide slash to the metallic abdomen of Sahar. Instead of flinching or even so much as a sound of discomfort being made on the larger ones Part. Sahar just countered and swung his blade down with so much force. That a good third of the blade was cutting into the ground itself right as Gambit avoided it and got behind in an instant with some fancy footwork.

He then delivered another series of attacks onto the Kings exposed back, before the large blade was twisted so that the edge was now facing Gambit and swung as if the ground wasn't even a factor in keeping it still. Gambit avoided that one as well when it came close, but had to use his sword to cut away some of the larger pieces of rocks that ended up getting in his way from the blades rapid motion when coming out of the ground and was now keeping over a dozen yards between himself and Sahar.

The King's body was covered in multiple deep cuts from Gambit. Yet no blood was spilled. However, the streams of light came back again and upon going into his body. The wounds miraculously closed up within seconds as the metal was repaired in very much the same way. From a glance the armor itself would turn into a liquid state as it pulled itself together again and flattened out before hardening.

That was when Gambit started to say the following, as his blade was being in circled along its form with tiny strands of light, before changing its shapes slightly and giving off a fiery glow. “Let's see if that regeneration works with cauterized wounds. Good chance to find out how much damage I can do with a sword from Ifrit, along with some enhancements of my own.”

From Luna's perspective. There were these two red orbs that can easily fit in her hand and they were a fixed with one in a slot of the blade right as it left the handguard and the other at the bottom of the long handle. One of them began to glow and the already red-hot blade was now giving off some flames that caused the very air around it to visibly ripple from the produced heat. A second later, the next orb lit up and the flames grew by nearly two folds.

That was when the two began to fight in earnest again with charging at one another. Sahar swung his long blade with a bit more efficiency than before. Gambit would try to weave as best as he could and used his blade to perry a few strikes in order to guide the rest of the hit away. Sahar would continue with causing the ground to erupt and shoot the orbs from before after giving a roar.

While Gambit was seemingly able to anticipate where those unexpected ground attacks would come from and slash away some of the others with that long-range attack of his. What couldn't be simply dodged or countered, was blocked by another use of that plant spell. Even though Luna knew she couldn't get hurt in her own dream. She still couldn't help herself but to actively avoid anything that came near her. She was even more surprised by how well Gambit was able to move so quickly and avoid these seemingly random attacks. Especially with his large physique.

She thought that he would be at a slight disadvantage with being the smaller one now. But it became painfully clear that Gambit must have been accustomed to fighting others that were much larger than himself. As the fight continued, Luna could tell that the blade was indeed causing whatever was being cut, to be scorched black as the flames passed through the fresh injury.

Although, the healing was still taking effect, but at a much slower pace as a result to cauterizing the wound as Gambit mentioned earlier. When it came to the arena itself. It was pretty much trashed with everything inside of the barrier, now covered in cuts from both of their weapons. But most of which was done by the King and his oversized sword and the wide arcs being made.

After nearly seven minutes of constant clashing by the two. Sahar was looking as though the fight hadn't even occurred thanks to all the healing being done. In fact, there wasn't even any signs of his chest moving to suggest that he was even winded in the least. However, when it came to Gambit. He wasn't looking all that good. His clothing was pretty scuffed up and a few cuts could be seen in many parts.

His gloved hands that had the fingers tightly wrapped up in bandages, were now stained deep with red. Even some of the bandages where his mouth should be, now showed signs that he was coughing up at least a small amount of blood and it was spreading all over his jaw and even dripping onto his chess as the excess fluid exceeded the amount that the bandages could hold.

From there, the bandages soaked in to the nearby black fabric. Even his left sleeve bared a cut near the elbow, where it was just enough, that if it took any more damage. Then it might even come detached from the rest of the sleeve. Luna was very surprised that it even held up as much as it did. Especially when the damage was done and she was almost positive that Gambit was about to lose his right arm after Sahar attempted a fake out. Then shifting his blade to come back after quickly jerking it to a standstill.

Yet like so many other times. Sahar continued to heal himself again in order to regenerate for the sake of cleaning up some of the scuffed-up areas of his armor, until he was now practically shining as if it was freshly forged and polished so one could see themselves in the reflection. But Luna was blindsided, when Sahar kicked off of the ground and flew at Gambit with an abnormal amount of speed compared to his earlier display. Once he had gotten close enough, he swung his blade in a wide arc and Luna could do nothing but watch, as it fazed right through her body as it went for Gambit.

As for Gambit himself. He took a big leap backwards and into the ring of dark mist on the very outer edge of the arena. For as soon as he entered. Luna could just barely make out the outline of his body, as it went down as if sinking into the floor and disappearing in an instant. She then heard a loud metallic shing, from behind and when she turned. There was Gambit a few meters in the air and his blade was fully extended upward from being positioned right behind Sahar.

In response, Sahar swung his left hand after bawling it into a fist and sent it around so fast, that Luna had a hard time and seeing past the after image it made. As it struck Gambit on his left side. During that instant, before he was sent flying and right as the fist made contact. There was this undeniable snapping of a bone being made, as Gambit released a pain yell, while still in mid-flight. It wasn't until he was done skidding several meters and ending up near the center of the ring. That she saw him shakily getting back to his legs and gripping onto his blade that was now dragging the tip on the floor.

Even with this being the second time. Luna couldn't help but to flinch at seeing his left arm bending at an awkward angle, along with his wrist and hand turning away from his body. The blade itself was no longer giving off the strong flames from before and even the original glow of the weapon was certainly dimmer. There are also a couple of chips missing along the sharp edge here and there, that are giving off a slightly stronger glow that was just a few shades brighter than the rest.

However, when it came to the headgear. It was pretty much useless with it being slashed at so many times, that the last impact caused it to break and fall off his head during the tumble. Even now, Luna couldn't help even during this situation, but to give an indignant look towards Gambit, upon seeing the extra precautions he took keeping his appearance hidden.

When his strange hat flew off and expose his entire head. She was met by the sight of it being wrapped up tightly and this even included his own eyes, which greatly confused both her and her sister as to how he was able to see this whole time. She even had this brief moment of wondering if gambit could have been blind, but she just couldn’t hold on to that thought after seeing all that he could do.

Luna also recalled during their fight and that strange three-headed Hydra showing up. Where she got a glimpse of him from behind without any type of full head covering. The long black hair from before was even wound-up in its own set of bandages, till it resembled the shape of a fox's tail. Although, because of the lack of covering. One could even see the head trauma he suffered from earlier, as the left side of his head had a noticeable blood stain just a few inches above where the ears should be.

Her attention was immediately pulled towards Sahar after noticing the injury, only to show a deep scowl as she felt a burning anger building up after seeing the sight. Then she glanced over at the stands and saw her past self also doing the same. Not only was she giving the stare that could kill a lesser being. But she was gripping on to the railing with her knuckles literally turning white.

One could even see her past self’s teeth being completely exposed, as they were grinding at the site of seeing Gambit hurt. What made the scene up there even more noteworthy. Was the way her spy and older sister were glancing at her past self and slowly giving her a few inches of space, before returning all of their attention back to the fight. Even now, Luna could still feel the phantom pain from her chest from back then.

That soul crushing feeling that something inside was being twisted around. That overwhelming anxiousness. Even now, Luna felt that she was close to causing herself to throw up and wanted nothing more than to change this dream with her magic. Where she herself could be seen tearing this monster apart with her very own hands. But fought back the urge to watch the rest of it.

Gambit took in a deep breath and slowly released it, before his body gave off a very faint mix of green and white energy that flowed out from every pour. Once that was done, his left arm began to twist itself all on its own and there was another sound of bones crunching that lasted a few seconds. Luna could instantly tell that this was not a type of healing spell, but more of an ability that restored the body to a certain degree.

Afterwards, he could be seen flexing his fingers a little bit in order to test out his arm and gripped onto his blade once again. Even some of the bleeding that could be seen, receded to signify that is entire body went through a small healing phase. The blade itself went through another change as the lights conformed around both the blade and its sheath.

Only to change its appearance by going from red to a brightly glowing yellow. The sheath itself was now covered in large pieces of rocks near the end, that were fully melded into it and the gaps in between, glowed with the same faint light that was the same as the blade itself.

Just like with the last one. There were two round slots in similar locations. Gambit took his left hand off of the handle and closed his fingers for a moment, before opening them again and producing another set of orbs and placing them and there are appropriate places without so much has making any head movements to indicate he was looking down while doing so. He then spoke up in an exhausted voice.

“I got to hand it to you... I've… I’ve never had a weapon of mine, give out before a fight was over.” But then his tone of voice changed to a more carefree one as he continued. “But to be fair, a Katana isn't meant for blocking and parrying your attack so much. Perhaps the blade of the Titan will do a better job at that.”

He then shifted his stance so it was more casual and his blade was now held in a reverse grip in his right hand and the blade also pointing backwards when he spoke up again. “I will admit that you're stronger than the last time we fought. There's no mistaking that. But we both know that you would have lost a long time ago if it wasn't for that little trick of yours. In the end, when you're asked how you managed to win this fight. All you could say is that you one through a war of attrition. By wearing me out.”

This was when he started to laugh during his little monologue, but not until he lifted his chin and slightly tilted his head back as if slighting Sahar, by looking down on him. “But I do applaud your ability to think of some very sneaky tactics. Oh yes! I had no idea that you would switch from your outright fighting, to what an assassin would do. Bravo, bravo! Years have taught you well.”

As a result of the taunting. The monster of a King, finally started to talk after a long stretch of silence. Even though it was with that hollow tone, there was a piece of arrogance that was similar to Sahar’s. “I prefer when you didn't speak during our battles... Much has changed.”

That was when Gambit gestured towards his sword, after bringing his arm around so that it was crossing in front of him and the blade was obscuring the bottom portion of his face before, speaking up again. “You should be happy. This time I'm using Titans blade. After all, you both have so much in common.” This was obviously the wrong thing to say. As Sahar swung his blade wide and took a big step forward with his left leg, as he started to yell with clear frustration in his now booming voice.

“I will not be put into the same category as that lumbering pile of rocks! I am vastly superior! I do not require rats as my worshipers! You will die now! Enough with you!” And with that straightforward declaration of death. Sahar raised his blade so that it was pointing straight up. With that, the sky itself over the arena could be seen darkening until it was as black as night.

All of those within the arena were now screaming of fright at what was going on. As some were attempting to pull open the doors frantically and getting nowhere. Others were huddling together as if doing so would give them some type of protection, while the younger ones were pulled deep inside the cluster of adults that wanted to guard them from the seemingly approaching apocalypse.

During all of that. The streams of energy were now pouring with much power, as they became nearly solid and flowing right into the blade that was now glowing a deathly dark purple. As soon as all the attention was pulled from Sahar’s actions and now towards the sky. The blackness was immediately beginning to fill with one purple dot after another, until pretty much everything above the arena was made solely of that particular color.

When she turned her sight back to Gambit. He was already dashing towards the center of the Arena coming to a skidding stop and quickly started to look straight up. He then out stretched his left hand, so that it was pointing towards the light above and stab his weapon into the ground with the other. From what Luna could only surmise as a personal pocket dimension. Gambit produced a number of small, blue filled vials, that was held between his fingers so there was a grand total of four in his possession.

(Play this for the effect as the following spell is used.)

Then he yelled out at the top of his lungs the following phrase in a booming voice. “Air Shield!” His body was covered in a green aura that extended outwards, until it took on the shape of another being that was vaguely made out to be wearing a type of cloth and fur lining set of gear. The mane was short and it was also wearing a cape that was nearly touching the ground. No weapon could be seen aside from there being a shield being fix to its left arm, which was then raised above its head before dispersing in a near blinding flash.

Once that was done. The flash of lights reassembled themselves high above and formed from a single point, a massive version of the green shield from before and displaced quite a bit of air to create a shockwave as it was now roughly thirty meters above the ground. The scope of it was capable of covering nearly a third of the center of the arena and was easily two, maybe close to three meters thick. That was when Luna saw her past self and older sister up above, as their manes were blown back for a moment.

The lights from above quickly revealed themselves to be nothing but these dark purple spears that were either straight, with Jagged edges of crystallized magic or ones that resemble different styles of tridents from Sahar and they were now showering down as rain. The air was filled with not only these strange projectiles that were coming in at high velocity, but also the sound of them swishing as they came down. Whatever didn't have the shield blocking its path, would stab into the ground and explode with what could have only been seen as self-contained explosions, that began to decimate the arena floor.

Craters began to litter the ground as their numbers grew and whatever was caught in the devastation was completely obliterated to the point, that even the rocks themselves were nothing but dust and blown into the air so violently, that it may as well have been complete disintegration. From Luna's vantage point, it wasn't just five or ten of these dropping at a time. No, it wasn't even twenty. More so of thirty or forty that would hit the ground within the span of a single passing second.

After only a handful of these seconds passing by. One could distinctly make out the shape being left behind as the large shield above, as everything was now starting to practically disappear as every one of the circular holes was beginning to accumulate. It even went as far as to cause the ground to go deeper and deeper and was now leaving Gambit to be left on an island of untouched ground. But as for the shield itself, it was taking quite a beating, as a majority of those falling were centered on that.

Gambits legs could literally be seen being pushed downwards and into the ground, as some of the dirt was being slowly displaced as his hand was still outstretched above his head. With all of the explosions going off, the princess of the night was having a very hard time in trying to make out any other type of sounds over the violent booms. So, after pausing the dream for a moment and weaving more of her magic to try and muffle the ambient sounds around, to where she could hear him speaking again, did she resume the dream.

Of course, this was something that she couldn't do on the first go-around along with her sister, with needing a little while to make the necessary adjustments. This could have been done before if given the time. But Celestia was just not in the current mindset and Luna didn't want to be yelled at again if she paused the dream at such a crucial juncture.

Once this overwhelming attack was going on for close to a dozen seconds. Gambit brought his other hand to his face and pressed one of the corks that was ceiling a vial of blue liquid to what she presumed was his mouth. As it was being pushed between a couple of the bandages.

Said cork was roughly pulled out and spat out, before he started to guzzle down the liquid and toss away the empty container. That was when she heard Sahar speaking in that strange one-sided hollowed voice again, without so much as lowering his still outstretched and glowing weapon that was pointing to the sky.

“What will hold out, what will give way? My endless supply of Aether or your potions?” Luna recalled the blue potions as a mysterious concoction that could replenish one's magical supply almost instantly. In theory, a Unicorn could keep their magic supply up almost indefinitely, if this was to be given at regular intervals.

However, there was a distinct drawback that was labeled on the bottle itself. A set of instructions that stated, that one should not consume more than a set amount within a time period. Otherwise, some damages might occur and cause the Unicorn to be bedridden almost instantly once a certain amount was ingested.

She then said from under her breath, as this was going on. “Does he truly intend to drink all four, when two is the limit?” As the light he was giving off was getting stronger, and in doing so, causing the raining attack of magic to intensify in force on the protective barrier above. Gambit’s shield started its descent after a moment went by.

The King then continued, as his tone got more arrogant. “For all of your boasting, this is your own folly! So many years and finally your defeat is at my hands! Hydaelyn is not here anymore! There will be no coming back! Do you still think you are going to keep my head as a decoration? Ha!” Near the end, Sahar's way of speaking was beginning to bleed through, with the arrogance that was being shown just now.

The shield had lowered considerably and was only at half the distance over Gambit. After a few seconds went by and he immediately drank the second potion in his grip. By doing so, Luna could tell that Gambit recovered enough magic to stop his protection from budging anymore.

But this was short-lived, as it started to move once again, but a much slower pace than previously done. As the glowing spears continuously battered into the shield without any significant signs of letting up any time soon. Small cracks began to form that could be seen from underneath and in different sections, as they were spreading out in a spider web pattern.

Gambit’s legs began to buckle by now, as even more of the dirt underneath his legs were pushed away to reveal that he was nearly a few inches into the ground. Even his arm, which was outstretched. Was starting to bend at the elbow to show that he was indeed feeling the force being pushed down against him. Even through all of this, Gambit spoke up, with him clearly exerting himself as much as possible, while still having a jovial tone thrown in.

“My, my… Gah! You gone and got all talkative on me! Ungh… I guess even a Primal like you can be influenced by an overgrown cat, who sees himself as a W.W.E wrestler! I'm a little surprised you're not referring to yourself in the third person now. T-That's what you need to finish the look! Nugugh! Gerr... No scratch that, you need some spandex! You're also missing... A signature… C-Catchphrase!”

By then, the cracks on his shield reached the edges and small fragments began to fall away to show that the shield was beginning to crumble from the outside going in. Upon seeing this. Brex immediately guzzled down the third of his four potions and this caused the shield to regenerate some of the lost pieces. But was already showing signs of breaking apart yet again almost immediately after.

Gambit then spoke up again, but this time it was more serious, as his head was slowly turning towards Sahar without breaking his concentration. “How did... You two meet? Don’t tell me… Nnhg! A really bad speed dating group? No, wait… Did one of those shabby merchants from down the road sell you to him?” When that was said. Luna's eyes were tracing Sahar's form for any type of hint and spotted the way there was a sudden jerk of his free hand to signify, he was getting agitated before Gambit continued.

“You were always a second-hand sword! Passed down from one to the next. Only for you to try and take another body to continue your efforts. I seriously wonder how it is you can get found by a new unwilling host so many times. They must make a killing off of selling you over and over again.”

“I bet there's one of them in the crowd right now. Following you for the next opportunity to snatch you back up and to add to their wares! Haha-Hahaha! I can't help but see you as this big parade and there's this one guy sweeping up the back and throwing all the garbage into a trash can to be recycled!”

Gambits outward musings were interrupted, when he was suddenly pushed down to the ground so that he was now on his right knee, just as the shower began to build up even further. Surprisingly enough, Gambit recovered fairly quickly and said the following in a much more juvenile tone. “Oh, sorry about that, did I hit a nerve?! Gaahhh! You better be careful; you're going to use up more power than you’re drawing in! You know what they say. Live within your means.”

This got an aggravated growl from Sahar. As he was clearly wanting to get right up in Gambit's face with the way his right leg was inching forward by a couple of inches, before pulling back to its original spot. The white metal eyes were now shining so bright, that they were literally emitting beams.

The sword itself, also picked up in intensity as a response to this and was now coming down with so many of the spears, that one would have mistaken it for a solid column falling from the heavens. When this happened, Gambit took the last of his potions and moved his spare hand to join the first in order to make the motion of being ready to catch the shield if it got closer.

Sahar then screamed out so loud, that Luna could see a visible shockwave pushing the loose gravel and dirt near him. “RAAAAAAAAAAH! Just die, Warrior of light! Join the others in hell! Don't worry about the bird or those maids. I'll have my fun with them! As for that Zebra, perhaps I'll have a light snack after showing her your remains!” Luna watched as Gambit’s head began to lower and his hands doing the same with the palms slowly inching down, as the shield got even closer.

As The Shield was now within arm's length of Gambit. Luna heard a strange sound of a musical chime that came from Gambit a few times, before a female’s voice could be heard. Whoever it was on the other end, it sounded as though they were breathing quite heavily and speaking with an overly agitated tone. “Hey! Can you hear me?! Hello! We found it!” From where she was. It was almost like a switch was flipped when Gambit responded with his voice full of confidence.

“You all did a good job. Go ahead and send one of you my way to show me back. I just have a little cleanup to take care of on my end.” This got him a response from the girl, as Luna could hear a distinctive Huff before she said, “You better be done before I get there!” Apparently, the conversation ended after there was another odd chime once the last words were said.

Gambit began to rise again and extend both of his arms, after giving a grunt of exertion as he started to speak in a serious accent that reminded Luna of the nobles. “You made three really bad moves! First, you insult Luna! Then you threaten those that I hold dear!” By then, Gambit was pretty much placing both of his palms on the underside of the large green shield and was now holding it in place. While the outside was beginning to crumble at an accelerated rate, which meant he only had maybe fifteen seconds at most before it all was gone.

Sahar just laughed before using his free hand to do a dismissive gesture as he responded. “Oh? Please, by all means. Do tell me what would the third happen to be?” From Gambit, Luna saw how he was tilting his head in a mocking gesture, as she heard him beginning to laugh now in a strangely scary way.

The bandages covering his left eye could be seen with a faint yellow glow, before he said the following in a matter-of-fact tone to state the obvious. “You Really-Really! Shouldn't have given me so much time to look over and review your Boss Zone!” His words then turned excited as he went on. “In the Immortal words of Mega Man! I'll be taking this!”

Once that last phrase was uttered. The ground beneath Gambit gave off a bright white light that ran across the surface for several meters. Before spreading out in a strange network pattern. The strands of light immediately made their way over to the edges of the barrier and went straight up and started to spread. Soon, every surface along the ground and the barrier itself, began to show these hexagon shaped segments before there was a sudden burst that blew all of them into the air in the same way cards would be sent flying when a table was suddenly kicked over.

When this was done. All of the surfaces were now giving off a faint shimmer of colors, until not only was the ground and walls of the arena changed. But so was the invisible wall going straight into the sky. When this occurred, Sahar released a startled roar when the threads of light were suddenly cut off and slamming against the outside of the barrier, before even that just faded.

What's more, was the lack of purple energy coming from the blade, as it quickly died out and Sahar was found stumbling forward and using his long blade to stab it into the ground to keep himself upright, as he grabbed on to the handle with both arms.

As for Gambit, his arms were slightly apart and making a gesture that coincided with the shield shrinking. This suggested that he was trying to collect his magic together as much as possible to weather out what was to happen next. The falling spears from before, were now dwindling at an astounding rate. What once was a solid pillar, now turned into a shower and lastly a trickle.

So, by the time the last one came down and struck the shield. Gambit’s protection was whittled down until it was just barely big enough to be seen as a round buckle shield, that could just barely protect one's face once the last explosion occurred.

Once Gambit took a moment to check that he was not about to get struck from above by any last-minute spears. He lowered his arms to dissipate the shield and squared off his body towards Sahar. Upon witnessing the display. The King tried to stand up on his own, but stumbled halfway up and was now found back to holding onto his sword, as he weekly spoke out again with his voice now split in half as it did before.

“How did you-. What did you do! Tell me, NOW! What have you done to the Aether?!” That was when some wisps of black smoke began to be admitted from different areas of his armor, before his body could be seen to slowly lose mass in the same way one would, when slowly releasing air from a balloon. As a response, Gambit reached over and took a good hold his sword and freed it from the ground. He then turned so his back was towards Sahar.

Then, after giving it a few twirls and resting the back end of the blade over his shoulder, so it was going across his back. While also turning his head to look in the direction of the now weakened king. Gambit said the following as the bandages on his face contorted in a way to emulate there being a smile behind them.

“Haven't you learned already that I know quite a few more tricks when compared to our last little get together? As for your food. I might not be able to bring down the barrier, but I can still tweak the settings a little bit. It took a bit of time to go over it in my head. But I finally got the precise setting to block out your snack of Aether. Of course, I could have done this so much earlier. I really needed to find out where you're hiding the stuff before I act.”

Sahar responded to that in a strained voice, as his armor was now creaking from the constant attempts to stand up to his full height. “Accomplices? No, if not under my command, the all the rest of the adventurers over level thirty… I've been so thorough. I was sure that I slaughtered them all! The creatures I placed within, should have been more than enough to eat any that venture in there in one bite!” Gambit retorted to that, as he kept that grin from behind the bandages.

“Why don't you tell that to an overly cocky Griffin and a pair of twins that just loves to slice and dice? Not to mention, a competent healer that’s backing them up. No tank in the party, sure. But the overall offensive capabilities were more than enough to plow right through your pathetic guard dogs. But I will give you credit. That dungeon you had built underneath the arena was pretty deep. Must have taken years to dig out. If they just went in there and started roaming around, then it would have taken them days to track down all the ether crystals you had stored in that vault.”

Sahar finally got all the way up and was just barely able to lift his weapon a few inches off of the ground and off to his right side, as he angrily growled his next question. “They were just in the castle up until the fight. How-HOW did they find the treasure vault so quickly? There were pitfalls and traps within that maze of tunnels. The monsters themselves were among the deadliest that could multiply and fill that dungeon to the brim!”

That was when Gambit turned towards Sahar and reached into his clothing with his free hand and pulled out a tiny glowing light blue shard. He then proceeded with crushing it between his fingers and this release some flowing bits of powder into the air. Which quickly zoomed over towards Sahar and into his body, like a moth to a flame. What followed next, was a heavy silence for a good long couple of seconds before the King exclaimed, as he stabbed his sword into the ground and took a shaky step forward.

“You! YOU tricked ME! All the taunting, was just-just a bait to aid in your collaborators search all that much quicker?!” His free hand was now clenching at the air and giving off a few metal-upon-metal grinding sounds, as some sparks came out from between his fingers. Immediately after, Sahar took a defensive stance and prepared his weapon. However, it appeared that he needed to grasp onto the handle with both hands this time around, as the blade could be seen moving at a much slower speed.

Luna's eyes were constantly going from one combatant to the next, as the next thoughts ran through her mind. “Gambit willingly took all of those beatings on purpose? What exactly are Aether crystals? Could it have been what he just crushed? The better part of a week in the archives and I am no closer to finding that answer out.”

Luna stopped with her thoughts in order to catch the rest of the fight, that only spanned for less than a minute as the following occurred at near blinding speed. All in the hopes of gleaming anything else that might have escaped her attention. Every so often, she would pause the dream or slow it down to a crawl whenever things got too quick to perceive. All the while, flying in different positions and trying to gleam anything new, as her eyes were that of a hawk.

Gambit took a stance with his legs spread out and brought his sword above his head, so that it was going across. As his right hand was gripped onto the handle. His left had its palm placed on the underside near the end and he was enveloped in a quickly growing red aura that was flowing off of his body for nearly twelve seconds.

Strangely enough. Sahar allowed all of that time to pass and waited patiently, before Gambit lowered his weapon again and was now sheathing the glowing yellow blade. Now in a familiar stance with his right hand just barely hovering over the handle. Gambit called out to Sahar and said the following in a cold tone.

“This is for all of those that you made suffer under your rule... And what I said about taking your head. I was not kidding.” Not only did Luna hold her right hand up to her neck and made an audible gulp sound after hearing that statement. But, so did her past self, as well as her older sister from up in the stands. Of course, it didn't escape the lunar princess's attention that her spy was also doing the same, but quickly lowered her hand before the other two up there had a chance to see it themselves.

The two came at one another after displacing some dirt from their initial kickstarts and or now exchanging strikes on one another. Sahar would go at him with a downward swing, but only to miss and have Gambit running up the edge of his blade and delivering a wide sweep of his blade that left a deep cut in the metal and caused some blood to spray out and splatter some of its contents unto his black robes. This was followed with him kicking off of Sahar's right arm, so that he would go in the opposite direction and take another strike that would start from below, as his body was in mid turn and land a couple of yards away.

Sahar tempted to swing his blade at Gambit again, who is now on his left side. But while in the middle of the swing itself. The last injury that was sustained opened up on his arm and his grip faltered on his weapon. This allowed Gambit to jump over the blade as it passed underneath. While still in the air for a split second. Gambit did another attack where his blades edge would make a full circle and give off this impression of the Moon with the way it shined in the sunlight, thanks to the after image being created.

The King, while still off balance. Managed to kick out his leg and land a solid hit on Gambit, who brought up his sword in order to try and perry and was forced to slide back a few paces. However, in doing this reckless attack. Sahar lost his balance and was forced to fall on his right side and expose his back as a good amount of dust was displaced from the fall. Even with his size returned to half of what it was. Sahar was still a great deal bigger so the ground shook when this happened.

Seeing this, Gambit took the opportunity to close in, but just before he arrived within striking range with his weapon. when he was nearly half way to Sahar’s fallen form. Gambit used his sword and swung it so that the blade was cutting along the ground from behind by a few inches. During that moment that the weapon was still making contact. He yelled out the following.

“By my name, decipher the laws of nature! I call upon the power of Earth. Come forth and do my bidding! Bamboo claw!” Once that phrase was uttered, did the ground explode and create a heavy dust cloud that forced Luna to fly back far enough, so that she was outside of it. This was immediately followed with Sahar, while still on his back and his limbs flailing about and still holding on to a sword in his right hand, now being shot straight up.

What caused such an event. Turned out to be another one of those strange plants. However, it was just a single stock. But unlike the rest, its thickness made it appear to be a green tower. As it grew and grew. The ground was broken up and tossed over continuously. While this was going on. He would still be running into the dirt filled air at the base of the new structure and disappear from Luna’s sight.

(Play this music for the next attack.)

After a few seconds, he could be seen running up the side of it with nothing but his legs and going at such a speed, that couldn’t have been possible for one on such a steep surface. Even with the speed that the stock was climbing. Gambit was easily catching up to the top and when he got there, he jumped so that he was higher than Sahar himself.

As soon as Gambit was no longer touching the plant. It stopped its growth almost immediately. The curved blade was now held overhead and, in both arms, as it was quickly swung down when he yelled the next part out, as he was plummeting right for Sahar. “Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū Style! Ryūtsuisen!”

Obviously seeing the attack coming. Sahar brought his blade up at the last second in order to block the oncoming strike. But the white metallic eyes of his helmet went comically wide as the force delivered, was powerful enough to send his body downwards and start to split the tower down the middle, while sending splinters everywhere. Sahar was pretty much screaming out a roar of continuous pain over the noise, until he was nearly a third of the way down. Which put him at a point where he was just over the very top of the stadium’s height itself.

(Stop the music here.)

His back went first, as his arms were pretty much pinned in front of himself, thanks to the oversized muscles that were being held in place by the two sections of the plant and this rendered him immobile. As he registered the situation he was now in, his face turn to watch Gambit beginning to fall along his left side from above. As for the blade itself. That was no longer in his right hands grip and could be seen falling as it was thrown into the air instantly after blocking gambits sword and his form was sent down first.

But as soon as the two warriors nearly met up again. Sahar used his metallic tail and whipped it around his body. From there, the tip went around the handle of the falling sword when it got in range and managed to swing the weapon in order to throw it into Gambit when he got in range from around the other side of the stock. All in hopes of landing a surprise attack when he was thought to be defenseless and Gambit to have his guard down.

With the whoosh of the flying blade filling the air. Sahar’s eyes began to contort to show unbridled glee, before they went wide again after hearing a loud clang. This came from Gambit deflecting the sword at the last instant. But thanks to the heavy blade’s momentum, a few things occurred. Sahar’s sword was knocked away so violently, that it rocketed towards the ground and near the far edge of the arena almost instantly and was nearly halfway buried into the ground as the blade sunk in.

Gambit, while holding on to his own sword with both hands. Was pointing the yellow-colored blade to his lower right side. The blade itself could be showing a number of cracks, where a stronger version of the glow is seeping through. Gambit was also sent flying straight into the barrier thanks to the downward swing he used, that gave him enough momentum to not lose any altitude. But instead, he gained a view meters.

When he was about to reach the barrier. Gambit performed a backflip in midair, right as he made contact and quickly kicked off after crouching for a strong kick-off. It was thanks to this, that now, he was practically flying at Sahar. Gambit readied his blade again. However, when he got to the halfway marker between the jumping and Sahar himself. Who is still immobilized and now without a weapon. The long blade was covered in a familiar string of white lights and revealed it to have been replaced with yet another new weapon.

This one was not glowing like the other two. But the metal itself was mostly white and gray with hints of green running along the blade and handle. There was even a decent amount of gold to be seen. But just like the previous two, there was another set of round sockets and they were currently occupied by green orbs. Gambit then yelled out, “MY TURN! LIMIT BREAKER!!!” When that phrase was uttered. Gambit's whole form exploded with a mixture of bright lights, along with sparks of electricity, that trailed in his wake.

Sahar’s eyes went wider than ever before, as Gambit instantly closed the distance. The new sword did the following in such speed. That Luna tried to slow the event. But even with time going at one-tenth the normal rate. She was scarcely able to follow as his arms were in a constant blur.

A clean cut was made going through the entire stock, along with Sahar, by going clean through diagonally, thereby separating his upper and lower half. However, it did not end there. More only followed instantly, one after the next, as one line intersected with another. The force of each slash actually stopped Gambits forward momentum to a standstill, as he was now carving up Sahar while still in midair.

First the deformed King was in two pieces. Then four, then eight, then he was in sixteen. Eventually, there were too many to count, until he was pretty much resembling one of those stained-glass windows that were comprised of thousands of tiny shards that were put together. But amazingly enough, once one slash was made going across his neck, everything else going up was left completely alone. By the end, Gambit quickly placed his sword back into his sheath and held it behind himself, before pulling the blade out for one last swing across and was now holding it outstretch to his right side.

The result from that, was the accumulated energy being stored in each one of the cuts, now exploding forward in a blinding white and silver flash, that quickly made all sound go completely silent as the sky lit up. Luna, who is trying to keep up by flying nearby, could do nothing but cover her eyes with her arm when this occurred. But before she ended up needing to do that, she was positive that the chunks of Sahar could be seen flying off and disintegrating into the bright light.

The rest of the scene played out with Gambit re-sheathing his sword, as he went into a landing pose with his arms outstretched and slightly raised. The move causing his tied-up hair, along with his clothing to flutter in the wind. A few seconds later, the two broken sections of the green tower came tumbling down from where it was blasted loose from and crashed a short distance away. This caused a good gust of wind to blow some dirt around, which Gambit paid little to no mind to, as he started to walk forward.

After taking this time to cross nearly a quarter of the arena’s length. Luna saw him bending down and picking up an object that was just beginning to come to view, as the screen of dust finally cleared. This turning out to be the head of Sahar himself and the right horn was being gripped near the base. On closer inspection, Luna can also perceive a black mist seeping out of the neck hole for a few more seconds, before it stopped and she heard Gambit saying the next part.

“I suppose keeping your real head is out of the question now that it's turned to dust. But this will do just fine. Now, where oh where could you be hiding now~?” Gambit's head could be seen turning from left to right, in an agonizingly slow pace in order to scan his surroundings, before stopping with himself turned towards his right and making his way over.

Luna followed as Gambit kicked over a jagged rock that had been up heaved from earlier, only to reveal the sword of Sahar. But oddly enough, it was nowhere near the scope in terms of size from earlier and was roughly down to only one-eight to only moments ago. The weapon was looking to be in bad shape. The metal was starting to show signs of warping in the handle and the blade was now slightly resembling rust beginning to form.

The head in his left arm suddenly vanished and Gambit took his sword out once more and slashed at the weapon that was stabbed into the ground, thereby breaking it in half, as well as were it was entering the dirt. As soon as the three pieces were separated and clattered onto the stone floor a few times. The metal began to quickly melt away, until it returned to that black ooze and eventually evaporated until there was no trace left behind.

Gambit then turned away and was heading towards the exit that was used for his entrance. While also saying the following in a disappointed tone of voice. “You were rotten from the very start, even long before the two of you met. No remorse. All you cared about was power. Luna and Nightmare Moon were nothing like you. At the very least, she didn't go and actually kill her family. That was your choice... If she really wanted too back then. She could have done it easily with all the strength she had at her disposal.”

When Gambit approached the doorway. The barrier finally lowered just in time for him to disappear into the dark recesses of the inner walls for the arenas structure. With him gone, the dream came to an end and Luna found herself in the dark void of her mind, that slowly took on the appearance of her room from back in the real world.

After going over to the now constructed bed and taking a seat on the edge. Luna turned her head so that she can get a view of her standing mirror that was directly across from herself and imagined her appearance shifting to that of Nightmare Moon. Looking right into that face, she returned back to her own form after a few seconds. This was when her facial expressions morphed between worry and deep confusion, as her mind was wrestling with itself on the dilemma within.

So many phrases were bouncing around and she just couldn't pin a single one down for any definitive answer. What was an Eikon? What was all that talk about being a failure on the creature that Sahar became? Who was this Hydaelyn, and what was her connection to Gambit? Why was she and Nightmare Moon constantly compared to Sahar? Why was the term Eikon Slayer, able to fill her with so much dread? Why did Gambit defend not only herself, but Nightmare Moon's name as well?

But the last question that was on her mind, was pressing down on all of it so that it was on the forefront of her mind. That being the question of why she can't seem to bring herself to visit him. Perhaps it was simply fear or the fact that she now knows more about him now, than over their multiple visits. It could even be possible that she was feeling more guilty about not informing him about the true spy that was tailing him, even though he was standing up for her.

It was months now since she came back and lived in the castle. Yet she never really left the walls. Her older sister continued to push for the idea of attending this year's Grand Galloping Gala. Of course, she refused on more than one occasion with coming up with some excuse or another. These being, that she was not ready and was not brought up the speed on how this modern society works. She even gave an excuse once by saying that she was still weak on magic and was not presentable.

Although, that was a complete and flat-out lie and she was sure that her older sister caught on to this, but didn't press the matter. Which made Luna very thankful. But right now, her thoughts on the subject were now shifting in the other direction. As she started to recall the one known as Rory Mercury.

She was quite positive that Celestia sent a ticket specifically for her to attend the party. When Luna asked as to why that was done. Celestia simply said, that it was her way of thinking Rory for assisting Twilight when it came to that terrible dragon that they were to deal with.

But of course, Luna did not buy that for an instant and new that this was all a ploy in order to find out what she could about the girl and subsequently, any additional information about Gambit. That was when she began to lightly shake her head in exasperation. as she recalled all the times he was brought up in a conversation and her older sister would have one reaction or another. It also didn't escape her attention when the smell of cake was almost a constant and was always present during these times.

That was when she had this thoughtful expression, as she started to tap her chin and thought to herself. “I do have a dress that Tia had me fitted for... Hmm... I suppose dropping in wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, I can meet up with this Rory Mercury and give her a little warning about my sister. It would only be fair to let her in on what's to come if my guess on my sister's behavior and what might come to pass.”

That was when she gave a firm nod and a determined look, before she used her magic to wake herself up from the dream. But just as she was at her final moment of coming back to the waking world. She said, “I do so hope I am wrong on my premonition. If not, then my hands will be quite full. A plan must be devised. Otherwise, my dear sister may try a drastic course of action.”