Author's Note

/!\WARNING - VIOLENT GORE AHEAD/!\

May the darkness grant you peace.

Act 3: The Oni King That Broke The Moon

As Aku flew straight towards Luna, the sheer speed of his leap surprised her as she brought her scythe up to defend herself from the overhead strike that he was performing on his way up. When the buzzing bladed teeth struck the weapon, sparks flew furiously as they cut against the reinforced metal of Luna’s weapon. However, the sheer brute force of the attack sent Luna spiraling out of the air and down to the forested area outside of the town, Aku leaping again from building to building after her before disappearing over the wall.

Luna collided with the ground after a few bounces as she was thrown out of the air. Had she not been wearing armor, the alicorn may have suffered critical damage.As she slowly rose to her hooves, Aku landed maybe fifteen feet from her and growled lowly in anger with his weapon held tightly in one hand. And just then, something familiar began to happen. Just as in the fight with Tirek, the area darkened with a red fog as an ancient Japanese forest began to flicker into existence. Luna looked around as she watched the world change before her eyes. She wasn’t sure what was going on. And Aku was in too much of a rage to even realize it himself.

“You…you and your fucking xenophobic, hateful country filled wIth ponies who are afraid of beings or things they don’t understand. You have tried to take every little good thing from my life the first day I got here. Not only that, you repay my good deeds with a stab in the back each time. And I am so fucking sick of your bullshit!” Aku roared out in anger as he revved the bladed teeth once more. Luna took her own stance with weapon in hand as she glared daggers into Aku.

“Because of you, our citizens are turning against us! Everything was going just fine until you were dropped into our world. We had a plan for everything! And here you came and derailed it all! YOU of all creatures weren’t meant to be a hero!” Aku heard that word, ‘hero’. It infuriated him beyond belief. First off, he was certainly no hero And second, the fact that she was botching to him that her subjects were turning against her wasn’t his problem. The fact that she solely blames him for it all?

“I never wanted to be here in the first place! I was ripped from my home onlyu to be brought here and seen as a fucking outcast on day one and suffered under your damned poeple and yopur country! ANd now that I found a place in this world, you come and attempt to destroy it because things aren’t going your way?! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF IT ALL!” he roared again. Aku's stance changed for a normal offense to one with absolute intent to kill. He lifts his sword up over the the right side of his head with both hands with the blade pointed down, his feet spread with his left foot forward and his right foot behind him.

“You invaded my home…attacked my people unprovoked…I am going to strip you of your ‘divinity’ and devour every fiber of your being. There will be nothing left!” Aku shouted as he lunged forward before colliding with Luna’s weapon, this time sliding past her as the weapons scrape each other again, sending off more sparks. As Aku slid behind her, he performs a spinning heel kick to her back which makes her tumble forward but she quickly recovers back onto her hooves.

Aku comes in for another wing of his sword, but lLuna comes in with a quick swing over her own, landing a slash across his torso which causes Aku to growl in pain. But his anger far outweighing his sense of self preservation pushes him to grab at Luna, his large left hand engulfing her head easily as the mouth on his hand opened widely and began to chew and tear at her face while slapping her of her magic. Muffled screams of agony could be heard as her body twitches and convulses as the alicorn flails her weapon wildly to try and hit Aku to force him to let go. While the strikes do land and leave deep wounds across his arm, it takes a considerable amount of cuts to make him let go. And by letting go, he really threw her across the forest and into a tree.

Luna’s face, nor torn up by the teeth from the mouth in Aku’s left palm, was bleeding badly. Somehow, she avoided losing both of her eyes, but blood was pouring into them, certainly impairing her vision. But, it didn’t stop her. She got up to her hooves and charged at him with a warrior’s cry. Aku looked down at his currently left useless arm, the pain finally hitting him from all the damage it took from Luna’s scythe. He was certainly being reckless in this form. It was now time to put this forest to use now that his rage was finally dying down. But the intent to kill her was still very much alive.

Aku watched the alicorn charge forward before a wicked smile formed across his face along with narrowed, glaring eyes. He backed away behind a tree with an eerie echoing laugh “You are in my realm now, princess. These are the same kinds of woods that people would wonder into and get captured and eaten by the oni.” he said as his voice echoed around her. Each time she would turn around, she’d see Aku’s silhouette peeking from behind the trees before disappearing just as quick as it appeared, those dark glowing purple eyes sending chills down her spine.

“Foolish, ignorant humans. It didn’t matter if they were adults or children..the oni considered them all prey to be devoured. You wandered into MY territory and attacked an oni. So naturally, I am going to make you my next meal.”. Luna swung at Aku whenever he got close enough. Only to bait her before disappearing behind the trees again. “You may be in your element here,monster! But all I have to do is take flight and I will have the advantage!” she said as she’d spread her wings. Just as she took off, Aku grabbed her tail from behind and yanked her back down.

Aku tore open her armor with his right hand and teeth as if destroying a lobster’s shell from behind “Ah yes, these things. I shall rid you of them, permanently.” he said before digging his teeth into her back right where the wing joints and muscles connected. The sound of bones breaking and muscles being torn apart could be heard as Aku ate away at her back. Luna’s eyes shot open in horror as the shock hit her before the unbearable pain did. She cried out with tears flowing from her eyes before she was thrown to the ground once more.

What remained of her wings dropped to the ground at Aku’s feet. Once he was done with that, he placed his foot upon Luna’s head and took hold of her horn. Luna knew what he was trying to do. In a natural defense, she powered up her horn to cause him to let go from the concentrated magic. But she had forgotten that this realm’s magic is completely negated by his touch. With one swift motion of his wrist, the horn snaps right off at the base, a small stream of blood pouring from where the horn used to be now. Aku tosses it away and goes to grab his sword which he planted in the ground up right and made his way back to the fallen princess. Slowly, dragging the sword behind him as if to prolong the closing in of death

Luna looked up at Aku with a mixture of tears and blood on her face. The confident warrior that faced him before was now a quivering, whimpering mess as Aku raised his blade over his head”P-Please, AKu…please show me mercy. I was wrong to do what I did…please..!” Aku looked down to see Luna transforming into a smaller light blue version of herself. A defenseless little mare who looked up at Aku with a pitiful and scared expression on her face. Aku wasn’t buying it though. He smiled wickedly before shaking his head “I recall no such courtesy from you. Now, die.” He said in a cold tone.

Just as Aku swung his sword down, the blade was blocked by a large golden halberd as Celestia now stood over her sister clad in heavy golden plated armor in a defense stance, glaring up at Aku with disdain in her eyes Aku’s glare never broke however as he applied more pressure upon the defending princess of the sun. “Well well, look who it is. The biggest fucking hypocrite of all Equestria. All those promises you made to me about clearing my name, only to betray me each time.” The weapons shimmered in the red light as the two weapons pressed against one another.

“It’s your fault, you know. Both of yours. Some of your people know the last betrayal you committed against me. And they have decided to leave your country or protest against your decisions it seems. All because you chose to bury your heads in the sand in fear and sought to kill me. YOU are the reason why your sister is now in this sorry state.” Aku said as he tried to apply more pressure to make Celestia lose her footing. The older alicorn growled lowly as Aku continued his combination of well placed blame and physical suppression against her.

“Y-You didn’t have to go this far, Aku! You have caused my sister great harm, you have taken ehr wings and her horn-!” she was suddenly cut off by Aku who responded angrily “And your sister blatantly invaded MY land and nearly killed HUNDREDS of my people on MY coronation day! Every single one of my people, including children that attended, are hurt because of your sister’s petty pride! Diplomacy wasn’t even offered! She attacked without any provocation from me or ANY of my people! So she is paying the price!”

As Aku told this to Celestia, the alicorn’s strength came to full as she pushed Aku away finally and scooped up her sister in an arm “As a ruler myself, I understand where you are coming from! But you need to understand that because of what you are and what you can do, you should have shown my sister mercy!” Aku let out a roar and threw his sword at Celestia, the blade grazing her cheek as it planted itself right into the tree behind her. “Mercy?! MERCY?! How about the mercy you showed me when one of your hand picked royal guards fucking stabbed me in the gut in a PUBLIC execution?! Did you show me any mercy there?! Huh?!”. Aku was making valid points all across the board. Her country did indeed try to have him killed over something as trivial as him being an outsider of the world. She remembered the friendship lessons that Twilight had been reporting to her everytime she learned one. And yet, the same was never shown to him with his stay in Equestria. But the condition of her sister was causing her emotions to overdrive into angry and upset states “I don’t know what to say to you, okay?! I know what my country has done to you! But still…you didn’t have to..you didn’t have to…!”

Celestia’s eyes welled up with tears as she continued to glare at Aku. He truly painted her into a corner at this point. Aku lifts his hand up as the sword flies back into his hand and growls lowly “Get the hell out of my nation before I decide to cut you down as well. ANd if you dare invade my nation and hurt my people, I will be retaliating with the full force of my military. You have been warned, Princess Celestia. Keep your soldiers and spies out of my nation. I have already had many disposed of and burned to ashes. But this, this is your final warning. And I will NOT show you or them any more mercy. Do I make myself clear?”.

Celestia knew that wasn’t an empty threat. WHat she saw before her was a monster. But a monster who had every right to defend his nation from those who invaded. After all, he never once threatened to invade Equestria. He simply wanted his own nation to prosper and be left alone by others. Her thoughts turned to Aku for a moment and what he said to her back at the summit in private. ”I don’t care about your political squabbles between your leaders of your country. My nation is a peace loving and self-sustaining one. All we want is to live out our lives free from corrupt nobles and two faced leaders. Nothing more, nothing less.”.

Those words carried genuine meaning. And she now knew that Aku would be willing to do anything for his nation. Even becoming something like this to protect their health and happiness. To do what and make the decisions she couldn’t all while maintaining the love and adoration of his nation. And it infuriated her to no end that he could do it so easily. “You see, Celestia. My nation knows about what I am. They have never seen this side of me, but they know it exists. But, they know that if I have to become this monster, it is to make sure I have the power to keep my nation safe. Now, leave.”

Celestia disappeared in a bright golden light with ehr sister in her arms. Once he knew she was gone. Aku collapsed to his knees and held his still bleeding arm which Luna had carved up good and still had the huge opened gash across his torso. He sat there for a moment before rising up to his feet again and began to walk tiredly back to his home. The scenery changed back quicker this time. And his sword disappeared back into the ground once more for whenever its owner would call upon it once more.

A crowd stood at the gate that led out in Aku’s direction. A group of samurai and ninjas stood ready to go out and help support Aku. Just as they started to move out, the gates swing open as Aku walks within view, still in his oni form. One would expect the citizens to run away in fear and the military to attack him on sight. But, they all knew who he was. He was their leader, their Oni King. So rather than flee or attack, they all crowd around him as he falls to his knees again. “Quick, get a medical team out here on the double, he has been cut up pretty bad!” shouted one of the higher ranking samurai as others came around him to support his form physically.

“How is everyone back at the ceremony? Please tell me no fatalities.” Aku said with a hopeful look in his eyes. One of the ninjas came up to him and confirmed that no one had died. Just a few broken bones and minor injuries. Aku gace out a sigh of relief before he finally changed back into his normal form. A medical team had arrived short after and placed him on a stretcher. They carried him off to the hospital as quickly and as careful as they could. The crowd of creatures following close behind, worried for the man who had saved his people and truly showed what kind of leader he is.