Author's Notes:

This chapter, which has been sitting for god knows how long, has been posted by none other than JBGrim. Love it, hate it, throw it off a cliff, I don't care but I just felt that you should have it. No further updates are currently planned. Sorry.

“Alright, they’re approaching our location, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the alarm has been raised.” The Summoner said, his head poking out of the cover of a large tree. “Who knows, they might just think that we’re just… animals, or whatever.”

The Choten, who was also hiding behind a tree, grimaced at the rather idiotic optimism the Summoner is blurting out. “What kind of animal resembles a human?”

“What if they haven’t seen a human yet?” The Summoner retorted. “They can easily mistake us for just the local wildlife, and besides, I don’t think they caught a good glimpse at us just yet.”

The Choten found it hard to believe, but this confounding imbecile had a valid point. Shrugging, he tightened his grasp on the handle of his blade. Despite the glaring lack of range, this blade can easily fell a dragon, should he manage to get within range of said dragon, of course.

“We could’ve easily gone undetected, had it not been for your damned stupidity.” The Choten grumbled. However, the Summoner simply smirked in response.

“We’re not detected just yet.” The Summoner stated, “And remember, to make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs.”

The Choten simply rolled his eyes at the Summoner’s response.

The distance between them and the dragons were closing in, the volume of the sound of beating wings increasing confirmed this. Tension gradually rose as time marches on for the three heroes.

“So, do we have a plan, or anything?” The Summoner inquired, hesitation and worry knotted in his voice, “All I have this cool knife,” the Summoner unsheathed his knife, displaying it to his comrades.

“You have that excessively large sword,” the Summoner pointed at the unwieldy weapon the Choten was using, “and the walking suit of armor has… whatever the hell that thing is.”

“These wyrms shall be dealt with.” The Overlord stated with a voice that could send haunting chills into even the most veteran and steeled of warriors. “They shall be rendered to nothing but decaying flesh soon enough.” His left hand made a small motion, dismissing the Minions. They would only die in this battle… His right hand reached to his back and grasped the long handle that was protruding over his shoulder. With a flourish he whipped his hand to the side. A hidden mechanism, or maybe magic, activated and the jagged metal blade whipped out, forming a scythe that the Overlord grasped in a two-handed grip.

The Summoner peeked from his cover, careful to avoid being seen by the colossal drakes. However, he was forced to retract back into the full cover of the tree to avoid being seen as the dragons had already landed at the clearing just ahead of them.

The dragons landed with an audible thudding sound. Shortly enough, they began their search for whatever had caught their slit eyes. The three heroes noticed that the temperature of their vicinity rose dramatically due to the dragons’ breath.

Alright, there’s three of them- The Choten thought to himself, but his train of thought was derailed as he heard the sickening sound of flesh being seared, causing him to recoil slightly due to the suddenness.

Swiftly checking to see what just exactly happened, he saw, laying on the ground motionless, a fallen drake. And what appears to be a sizable gaping hole present on its neck region. Just a few feet away from aforementioned dragon stood the Summoner, his knife emitting a thick blackish haze.

Did his knife do that? The Choten thought in disbelief. That idiot didn’t even mention the aspects of that knife!

The Overlord observed one of the dragons. The creature had separated from the others in search of their prey, making itself an ideal target. With a roar the massive human charged, his scythe trailing behind him.

The dragon heard the roar and turned around, bellowing a challenge of its own. Its open mouth unleashed a torrent of flames hot enough to scorch the earth. The Overlord didn’t pause, he just raised his weapon over his head and cut downwards. The flames parted, barely heating his armor.

The dragon barely had time to look surprised as the human leaped in the air. Then the creature’s eyes crossed, staring at the jagged black blade embedded deep between them.

With a single motion the Overlord pulled the weapon free and rested it on his shoulder. The blood that was dripping down and onto his armor didn’t bother him in the slightest… It only added to his badass overlord image.

After giving the corpse one last look of contempt he turned around and made his way back to his allies.

While all of this was happening, the dragon that was adjacent to the Choten looked in a confused manner around his surroundings. The sounds of his brethren’s roars perturbed him. The Choten took notice of this and readied his blade.

Deciding not to waste time with summoning a creature, and receiving a rush of adrenaline from his ring to allow him to move faster than normal, Choten ran at the distracted drake, igniting his sword as he ran. He timed it just right, as the drake had turned its head towards the side to gaze upon its fallen brethren. Choten insured that was the last thing it ever saw as he loped off its head, searing the cut flesh and preventing any blood from falling.

‘It’s a damn good thing I was able to catch it off gaurd,’ The Choten thought to himself as he de-flamed his sword and patted down his suit, ‘There is no way I could of killed that thing as easily by myself if it was paying attention.’ As it was his ring lowered his adrenaline and calmed The Choten’s mind, allowing him to calmly walk back towards his companions, looking for all the world like he hadn’t just beheaded a dragon.

As the final dragons corpse settled, the forest was relatively quiet once more. Though, if you could ignore the ravenous flies swarming the drakes’ carcasses. Slowly, the three comrades regrouped.

“Well, that was somewhat… exciting. Life-threatening, but exciting.” The Summoner spoke, trying to get rid of the blood staining his hands. The Overlord walked next to him, the blade of his scythe dripping some blood on the robed human’s shoulder.

Flinching, the Summoner side-stepped out of his way of the scarlet liquid’s path. “Well, that was uncalled for.”

“Uncalled for? Your idiocy may have seen the end of our lives!” The Choten spat out, furious at his fellow summoners idiocy, his ring was practically burning his finger as it worked to keep him calm.

“All of that is irrelevant now. We’ve survived, and the mission is still not compromised.” The Summoner said in a reassuring tone.

“Irrelevant? We may as well have sent the ‘Big Bad’ a letter telling him we’re here!” The Choten all but shouted.

The Overlord spectated their little bout of verbal duelling. Despite the volley of berating words the Choten directed at the Summoner, it had little to no effect. His words are meaningless to the robed human.

He contemplated. It would be wise to resume the mission, but it would be hilarious if they end up killing themselves. And it would also minimize the risk of any attempts of backstabbing...

Hm…As much as he would love to see that occur, the mission would be impossible to accomplish with only him alone as the participant.

With a tremor-causing voice, he demanded, “We do not have the time for this. Either we continue the mission, or we have to replan. And we might never have the chance to attain justice for what that mongrel has done to us.”

“Fine.” They both simultaneously said with a huff.

The Overlord doubted that he would work with those two after they achieved their task in this world… He even doubted they would survive.

The distance the three heroes had to travel was fortunately not too lengthy, otherwise, the Summoner would’ve collapsed due to fatigue by now.

The air harbored a lingering residue of twisted magic. Most likely from the amount of dark arcane spells being practiced within Canterlot.

Anybody that had the ability to perceive this magical presence in the air would be alarmed. The air was heavily polluted with traces of magic.

“Do you feel that?” The Summoner asked. “The breeze around the city is infused with some sort of magic…”

“The magic taints the very air around us.” The Overlord replied, noting the fact that his (current) ally was capable of feeling the sinister magic emanating around them.

“I’ll take your word on it.” While he could sense the magical energies associated with the Veil and kaiju, Choten was unable to feel the magic his comrades described. Even his helm was useless in this situation.

“Well, I suppose I’ll proceed and provide ourselves with reconnaissance of the area from here.” The Summoner stated.

He peeked out of the bush on the hill that he and his companions are utilizing as a makeshift vantage point. He marveled at the leviathan of a door that was on the side of the base of the mountain.

He considered the colossal door a bit problematic. The door appears to have been crafted with very resilient wood, and he doubted that he and his allies could simply just raze it to the ground without causing some sort of huge concussive noise, or what-not.

Scouting the entrance just above an adjacent hill, spoke the Summoner from an overgrown bush, “I see a large wooden gate with metallic adornments. No doubt that’s the entrance. We’re going to have to find an alternate entry point if we want to succeed in this mission with stealth.”

Scanning the location further, the Summoner took note of four idle gryphon guards. The Summoner scoffed, This will be all too easy. The Summoner thought to himself with malicious intent.

He took note of the terrain, the overgrowth reached this place as well. Several bushes were present. Convenient, he could avoid the sentries’ line of sight by concealing himself in the presumably rash-inducing leaves of the shrubbery.

The Summoner turned back, facing his comrades once more. “Alright, the gate is, without a doubt, impervious to destruction. Well, we might be able to destroy it, but I assume that we’d just make a huge commotion. So I recommend that we locate an alternative for our entrance.”

‘Like killing three dragon sentries?’ Choten thought.

The Summoner added with a sigh, “That deems to be difficult. Considering that you aren’t exactly nimble, nor stealthy, in that behemoth of a suit.” The Summoner looked at the Overlord.

The Summoner then proceeded to glance at The Choten, “Oh, and you’ll probably just compromise yourself due to the luster of the head-accessory you’re donning.” The Choten shot a bemused glare at the Summoner to indicate his annoyance.

The Summoner once more turned to the direction of the entrance with a sigh, “The only remaining member of our little party, also known as me, however, is capable of succeeding in locating in an alternate entrance point via stealthy means!”

The Choten rolled his eyes and the Overlord simply glared at him, completely stationary. Though, for clarification, the Overlord did that since the beginning of the conversation.

“There’s about four of them over there. I can easily snake by their perception, considering they probably aren’t anticipating me.”

They both nodded, prompting the Summoner to continue, “The terrain is advantageous for my endeavors, the bushes will provide concealment for me. That’s one good thing, I guess.”

The Summoner faced his seemingly mute comrades once more, “So, wish me luck, I guess-” Suddenly, a wave of morbidly grim ire and unearthly mischief washed over the Summoner’s mind.

The glow of the right eye of the Summoner flickered from the usual scarlet red to a more eerie purple for a split second.

“Oh no.” The Summoner muttered audibly to himself, “Not now, no.” The Summoner proceeded to grasp his head in a fashion that made him appear to be insane. He then began chanting “no” for a few seconds.

“You seem distressed.” The Choten noted. “What’s happening to you, exactly? And should we be concerned?”

The Summoner glared at him, “Oh, you should really be concerned-” The Summoner was interrupted as his right eye’s glow was replaced by a purple glow entirely. He was silent for a second as he closed his eyes.

He opened his eyes once more, a grin signifying unspeakable intent adorning his face. The now possessed Summoner uttered not a single word, deciding to simply slowly descend from the hill and into the foliage, knife grasped in his hand.

The Choten blinked, he was unsure what just happened, “Mind telling me what just happened?” He directed that query to his heavily-armored ally standing beside him.

The Overlord didn’t even bother facing him as he answered, “His book. I will need to test it to be sure, but I assume that the object has some sort of feedback. The magic in the air increased the potency of that feedback, influencing the book’s owner… The Summoner…”

“I see.” The Choten said. Although his question sated with an answer, he was still unsure if he should really care. “So, should we prevent him from getting himself killed?” ‘And possibly losing a meat shield incase things go south inside.’

“It is too late to stop him now.” The Overlord spoke. “His bloodlust can not be sated in any other way.” The Overlord added.

“Bloodlust?” The Choten questioned.

“His eyes. I know that look well. Those eyes show a desire to see everything that is breathing mangled and bloodied… This Summoner is not the one we know. This one does not abhor violence. He relishes in it.”

“Seems like an improvement.” Sitting on a large rock not to far away, The Choten turned towards the Netherworld master, “Want to play twenty questions?”

Similar to a serpent, the Summoner prowled just beyond the leafy shroud of flora, stalking his four quarries. His chilling grin might be capable enough to strike a trance-esque state into whoever that gazes due to how disturbingly grim it is.

The Summoner would’ve been spotted due to the luminescence of his right eye. This, however, was resolved by closing aforementioned eye.

He inched closer to one that was just outside the edge of the shrubs, pressuring the trigger on his knife, he waited for a mere two seconds or so before lunging at his prey, swinging his knife at the base of the gryphon’s neck.

Due to the dark magic amplifying the blade of the knife, the knife cleanly severed the head of the gryphon. He stabbed the body of the gryphon in swift succession, and grabbed it into the bushes in order to avoid compromising his presence.

With an inaudible eerie chuckle, he repetitively jabbed the motionless corpse of the body. Jets of blood being emitted violently with each puncture.

Slightly wheezing, he stopped his impractical stabbing. He licked his lips, the taste of blood was almost as satisfying than killing the bastard. It felt as if it was intoxicating. In pursuit of more bloodshed, he progressed his way to the next gryphon who he plans on victimizing.

“Huh, that one’s head came off.” The Choten said in intrigue, “Heads don’t just simply detach from the body, and I find it hard to believe that the imbecile managed to do that without alerting anybody.”

The Overlord just stood silent, his burning eyes focused on the Summoner.

“Well, isn’t that just a perfectly impeccable reply?” The Choten half-mocked. “Well, I’ll go ahead and see if I can find anything of use. It’s more productive than waiting for that moron to slip up,” The Choten said as he slowly stepped out of view, into some sort of disclosed area behind the hill.

As if mimicking a predator of remarkable prowess, the Summoner moved through the leaves of the bushes as stealthily as he could. And he closed the distance between him and his next target without making a single noise.

Contrary to the previous sentence, he actually did make a noise-- He tripped on a vine that was inconveniently placed ahead of him. He fell to the cold dirt with an audible thud.

Just because he has been possessed by wicked magic forces doesn’t mean that the Summoner’s reckless and clumsy tendencies get erased.

Brushing off the dust from his pitch-black rose, he accidentally opened his right eye, alluring the nearby sentry’s attention.

“Huh? What was that light?” The defending gryphon muttered to himself, audible enough for the Summoner to be alarmed.

Heart beat quickening, the Summoner concealed himself in one of the moderately large trees, knife held firmly in his hand.

The gryphon inspected the area where he had detected the ominous purple light. His head darted left to right, still, he was unable to find whatever that was the origin for such a mysterious light.

Investigating further, he moved closer to the unassuming tree. The gryphon’s steps were audible to the Summoner, and all that was entailed for the kill was for him to strike when the poor avian being was adjacent to him. All the Summoner needed to do was listen closely.

The gryphon didn’t have a time to react as a knife was plunged into his neck, stepping out of the tree revealed his assailant, and soon to be killer. His murderer grew a sickening smirk as he watched him.

The gryphon attempted to scream, but he could not, as the blood, and the knife, of course, was obstructing him from doing so. The knife was removed from his throat with a swift motion from the Summoner.

The gryphon collapsed on the ground, still bleeding profusely from his obviously fatal wound. He looked up, and what he saw made him cringe. Or at least, that’s what he would’ve done, should he have not been dying on the ground.

The Summoner licked the flat part of his bloodied knife, savoring the crimson liquid that was apparently invigorating to him.

The gryphon struggled, but to no fruition as his vision blacked out. Needless to say, the gryphon was clearly deceased now.

The Summoner’s eyes wandered to the last two remaining guards. He noticed that the guards were aligned perfectly; a single, adequately-amplified bolt from his knife could eliminate them both with little to no effort on his part.

The Summoner’s twisted mind wondered, No, that won’t simply suffice. I want to make them suffer. Then he conjured a questionably unethical solution to that conundrum.

Though, his rationality got the best over his psychopathic narcosis. He couldn’t risk killing the two of them one by one, he would undoubtedly get spotted by one of them.

With an annoyed moan, he pressured the trigger with his finger, directing the knife’s blade at the two unsuspecting gryphons. The knife trembled with power before a stream of jet black magic emanated from it.

The beam struck the two gryphons in succession, they were both felled as their heads were no longer existent. A scorched, bloody stump phantoming their heads.

The currently deranged Summoner sighed, those two kills were boring, dull. He wanted to be entertained. Shaking his head slowly in disappointment, he smirked; it was amusing nonetheless.

Suddenly, the radiant purple glow died from his right eye, reverting back to the former scarlet red. The Summoner stood, eyes widened in horror in what he just did.

Shivering, he searched for an entrance. The flavor of blood lingering in his tongue, making him grimace.

“Oh come on,” The Summoner said, spitting out the vicious liquid, “Why the hell do I always do that whenever I become insane?”

Sane-Summoner did not favor the coppery taste that blood possessed, contrary to the more mentally questionable Summoner. No, that was an understatement, sane-Summoner was disgusted by it.

“Ugh.” The Summoner said while trembling, spitting out another drop of blood from his mouth. “Now then, what was I doing? Ah yes, attempting to find an entrance.”

As soon as he was sure he was out of sight of both The Overlord and the gates, The Choten quickly pulled out his data-pad. Quickly putting in the forty-seven character password, he just as quickly pulled up his security feed.

Once again making sure that he was truly alone, he ordered the Stalker Sphere closest to his employer to activate its holographic properties, allowing a tiny Choten to appear before his boss.

“Choten.” The boss acknowledged, sticking to his beloved shadows. “How fares the mission?”

“Poorly. The fool Summoner alerted three dragon sentries, and has just been off to kill four griffon guards. At this rate we will be noticed within half an hour. ”Removing his helm he pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’m surprised the entire army isn’t pouring down on us now. With all the detection spells around the place.” He replaced the helm. “Must he make it back alive? I’m sure I can convince Overlord to help me insure the he has an . . . accident. I’m positive the two of us will be more than enough for your cause.”

“No. For this I need all three of you, for now. Bring me Celestia and Luna, then I may reevaluate his usefulness.” The Boss leaned forward, just enough for the Stalker Sphere, and by proxy The Choten, to see his gleaming red eyes, “Just remember that this mission can not fail.”

“Of course, sir.”

Meanwhile, the Overlord had decided to busy himself with studying the magic that saturated the atmosphere. He couldn’t do anything else anyway… He could only be stealthy if he was possessing a Green Minion, an experience he didn’t want to experience too often.

Closing his eyes the dark magic user opened his senses. The foul feeling of the magic in the air became more pronounced, tinted with nuances that would have allowed him to distinguish between the spells that were used if he knew them…

Actually… He recognized a few of them… He was sure that the sickly green tint came from a Necromantic spell… And there was a lot of sickly green in the magic. That translated as a lot of it being used, which, usually, translated as: “There’s a shitton of zombies here!”

Opening his eyes the Overlord grinned under the wrap that covered his mouth. He was starting to like this Equestria...

The Summoner stabbed a visible crack on the stony wall. Dirt, pebble, and dust flew out of the crack as the Summoner repetitiously jabbed away at it.

“Hm, this might make as a suitable improvised entry point.” He said aloud to himself. “Perhaps now is the time to confirm that?” He pondered. What could he possibly use to demolish this vulnerable area of the wall?

The answer came in the form of a knife and a maddened grin from the Summoner. Channeling the dark powers within the knife, he placed the blade’s tip directly on the shattering wall. With a release of the trigger, a rather thundering noise emanated around the vicinity.

The wall slowly crumbled, stones fell one by one slowly. Dust enveloped everything nearby, forcing the Summoner to retreat a few feet away from the collapsing wall.

A smile of victory grew on the Summoner, “Well, that resolves the issue…”

He peeked inside the newly formed entrance, it was eerily dark, but it wasn’t completely pitch-black that visibility was non-existent within these caves. He anticipated a bit of opposition arriving to inspect the sudden noise, but there was none.

Smiling contently, he began to walk his way back to his allies, humming a small tune of a song he previously listened to.

All of a sudden, much to his dismay and horror, he felt the familiar waves of darkness wash away at his mind. “No, no! How? This isn’t supposed to happen too soon!”

He struggled to let his sanity remain uncorrupted. “Dammit… It’s the screwed up air that I’m breathing, isn’t it?”

His eye flickered from red to purple, and vice-versa several times. It continued to flicker for a few more seconds until it finally stabilized with the purple glow.

“Heh… I will carry on… with the mission.” The now sanity-tainted Summoner stammered to himself as tried to recover from the sudden shift of personalities.

“Hmph. I don’t need this petty ‘morality’ anyways.” The Summoner chuckled as he began to walk towards his teammates. “Ha. It’s morality is overrated anyways.”

The Summoner looked at the unmoving metal-cladded behemoth with uncertainty. The usual two radiating orbs that served as eyes for the Overlord were not present, leading the Summoner to believe that he was either closing his eyes… Or he left his armor standing, for some reason.

Bemused, the Summoner approached the still suit of armor. He raised his index finger, and slowly, he poked it.

No response.

Somewhat frustrated, he poked on the metallic surface of the armor further. Suddenly, two spherical glows appeared within the helmet as the Overlord opened his eyes.

“Oh, so you are there.” The Summoner said.

“It would be wise to refrain from disturbing me when I am doing something, Summoner.” The Overlord boomed.

The Summoner shrugged with an infuriating smile, “Heh. I’ll try to keep note of that for future scenarios,” he stated in a sarcastic tone. He continued, “Anyways, I manage to find a vulnerable spot on the cave walls, thus, I proceeded to blow open an entrance for us.”

“Good.” The Overlord replied. “I assume that no guards heard you?”

“Eh, I don’t think so,” The Summoner said dismissively. “Anyways, where’s the hippy?”

“He left.” Was the Overlord’s laconic reply.

“Great! We can proceed with the mission without the nuisance of his-” The Summoner paused as he grimaced at the Choten emerging out of the foliage. “Ugh, speak of the devil, he appears.”

“Indeed. And remember, it is always best to watch yourself when dealing with one.” The Choten sent the summoner a look that promised pain. Clearly he had heard the hippy remark.

“Well, I suppose we have nothing better to do other than to continue with our given task.” The Summoner said, leading the way to the makeshift entrance.