Back at the Archives…

        Nicko and Jane were continuing their search for whatever was the “surprise” that Selena said that they had to find. But so far, the search was like finding a needle in a haystack. It would’ve been easier if Eris was here to help them. But right now, the two of them had to rely on one another in order to find what they were looking for.

  “Any luck so far?”

The Noblesses shook her head in response to the Rune Slayer’s question. “No, the only point where I’m stuck at is this bookshelf.” Jane took out the crystal in her pocket as it glowed brightly in front of a bookshelf along the wall. Nicko walked over, only to notice a book that looked out of place on the shelf. When he went to push it in though, the shelves began to split apart, revealing a secret passage that went downstairs towards what the two of them assumed as a basement. When they came down there though, they came across something different though.

What they found almost looked like a huge laboratory. It contained a chest in the back of the room, a crystalline lamp in the middle of a table, and notes scattered everywhere. The thing that caught Nicko’s attention though was a book that was left open in the back of the small room as he walked over towards it. The author of the book though was what caught him by surprise.

Clover the Clever.

 ‘Holy crap. This place must’ve been her private study.’ The Rune Slayer thought to himself as he looked around the abandoned and empty room. He caught a glance of a strange stone inside one of a few chests that was on a shelf along with some written notes. This though, also caught Jane’s attention because the crystal she had was now vibrantly glowing. Which meant that this item was what they were looking for.

“A stone? How the bloody hell is a stone suppose to help my daughters!?”

 “Hang on a second, This isn’t any ordinary stone.” The teen told her. “According to these notes, this is the Sound Mind Stone. An artifact that can be placed into the soul of a being and prevent those that wield dark magic of going berserk when near death’s door. This would probably be something that can help out Amy.”

  “Really? How so?” Jane asked, intrigued by the boy’s words.

 “Well, her newfound powers are like a double edge sword. She can dish out more damage in exchange for draining herself of her own health. If Amy goes overboard, and something tells me she will, she might kill herself without knowing it.”

This alarmed the Noblesses. She had just come back to life in order to see her daughters again and now her oldest daughter had control of something that might be her downfall. Jane now had only one goal in mind as she took hold of the artifact. To get this to her daughter as soon as possible. Using a piece of paper that looked like a ticket, Jane thanked the Rune Slayer and disappeared in a vibrant flash. When Nicko opened his eyes again, the mother of Amy and Molly was nowhere to be seen.

She must’ve used a Cobo Express Ticket.’ Nicko thought to himself.

Ponyville

“Ok this should be the place where Selena told me about…..what the fuck!” Yelled Jane looking at the somewhat destroyed town of ponyville when she teleported from Canterlot Castle. “Geez this reminds me of the time when Molly hacked into the school main frame and started messing around with the security and junk.”

    Just as she was about to fly off the roof of the house she was on. She heard a sinister and twisted laugh coming from behind her.Jane slowly begun to walk towards the edge of the roof, what she saw filled her with rage. Anson losing ground against the psychotic tracer. Amy and Molly were barely standing due to the amount of Injuries they had received and his father was trying to attend to a head would that Ciela had got from one of Eric’s dynamo’s striking her in the face. Leo’s arm looked like it needed major repairs and Yuri & Jade were unconscious due to the amount of blood loss that they had suffered from their wounds.

 “Give it up already! All of you are just lambs to the slaughter except for this one.” Eric menacingly insulted them as he pointed at Anson. “He has been able to keep up with my movements and quick enough to block my attacks. But what he has in mobility, he lacks in skill-.”

“Oh really?” Nicko’s words caused the esper to turn around and stare at him. He had been wondering when he would show up, but also was surprised. The teen was pulsing with energy, much different from his previous encounters.

  “Well, about time… and I was thinking of some good jokes. How many pipsqueaks does it take to-.”

  SMACK!!!

“HA! Serves him right you little shithead, no one fucks with daughters and maids.”  Jane mentally said as she watch what will happen next.

 “-Bash your face?” Nicko finished his sentence as he sent the Esper flying into the town hall. “I say two.”

         Shortly afterwards, The Rune Slayer tossed a Complete Recovery potion to his brother as the Infinity Sword felt his strength return to him. “Glad you can make it, Nicko. I assume that you have some kind of plan or something?”

“I’m working on it. For right now, keep this.” Nicko told him as he handed the gun Clover gave him to Anson. “It may come in handy later.”

  “O……kay, but how are we suppose to get everyone out of here. They’re beyond exhausted and can barely stand.”

  “Oh trust me, that will come into play pretty soon.” Five…… Four…… Three…… Two…… One…… At one, Jane leaped down from a rooftop and used her powers to have all the injured end up in one specific spot.

 “Jane. Both Anson and I got this. Get out of here while you still can.”

   “But what about you-.”

 “FORGET ABOUT US!! NOW GO!!!”

The Noblesses was shocked by Nicko’s tone, but soon nodded her head and told the two of them to please stay safe. She then flashed her Cobo Express Ticket again to teleport them away. However, the one thing that was going through her head was one thing that the boys were not at that moment in time safe.

Canterlot

  “Eric is what!?”

The shouts through the hall rang with the sounds of a horrified Celestia and Artemis speaking in unison as Twilight and Discord informed them on the current situation. “Luke felt the disturbance earlier this morning and he and the others are fighting to keep him at bay. We were lucky enough to get everypony out of there before I closed the gateway-.”

 Suddenly, a loud THUD!! of multiple bodies hitting the pavement occurred at the other end of the hall as everypony turned towards the newfound noise. Some even screaming at the sight.

 “Is anypony here a doctor?! These people are severely hurt and need medical attention!!! Please HELP THEM!!!”

The voice came from a new figure that strangely resembled Ciela, but also looked like the exact opposite of her. Trotting her over in a quickening pace, Celestia stared at the woman with authority in her eyes. “And who are you to be giving such abrupt requests-?”

 That was when Amy and Molly began to open their eyes again and look at the figure who rescued them. She recognized the voice, but also somehow knew who it was. “M-mom?”

 Jane turned around, surprised to see one of her daughters has woken up. “Oh my god! AMY!!”

 The emotional and heartfelt reunion between mother and daughters was soon the beginning of a long explanation on how Jane had been brought back from the dead. Even Ciela was brought to tears to see her best friend again. But now, the Chiliarch had a question for the Noblesses.

 “Jane… Where are my boys?”

This was met by silence. But soon, the question was answered not by her, but by Discord. The Draconequus was using his powers to conjure a scrying orb that allowed everypony to see what was going on in Ponyville. To the shock and horror of everypony in the room, the brothers were there, fighting Eric.

 “Oh my god…” Ciela gasped, watching as her sons took on the monster that was hellbent on destroying everything in his way. Seeing this caused something to go off in Celestia’s mind as the Sun Alicorn turned towards a nearby Gleaming Shield and Flash Sentry.

“Both of you, retrieve the elements of harmony!!! This battle must end without anypony becoming a casualty of that monster!!”

 Because the Princess swore by her parents graves that this will not happen again.

Back in Ponyville…

The Rune Slayer had to remember to thank Ryu for all the training the Elder Dragon gave him the first time he got displaced. Because right now, all of his teachings was helping him combat and get an advantage on the Esper. The first move he made was with an upward slash of his sword to kick up some dirt, distorting Eric’s vision. Follow that with him chucking a few Rune inscribed stones and you get yourself a smokescreen with a package of Splash Explosion grenades that detonated in the Tracer’s face.

When the stones exploded, most of the debris was caught by the dynamo’s of the psychopath while shards of broken rock struck him around the waist. Following Nicko’s diversion, Anson went in with Swords flying. The Blades themselves gave minimal scars and scratches as the Infinity Sword continued his assault while the Esper countered each of his incoming blades with his dynamo’s. However, this left him wide open from behind the Esper.

 Nicko seized the opportunity to backstab the human as he detonated some runes by his feet to give himself some newfound speed. Eric though, noticed him seconds before the Warrior could reach him and had Spacial Energy course through his fingertips.

“MAXIMUM STRIKE!!!”

  The skill had a series of six spiked balls that replicated Leo’s Bloody thorns surround him, causing the brother to back off as Eric had the sets split into two groups of three projectiles and head straight towards them. They were lucky for the attack to just clip them in the shoulder and not take the full force of the blow as one of the shots blew most of the roof off of the Carousel Boutique.

Looking back at Eric though, their tactics of dodging the attack only caused him to get angrier as the Esper kicked forth spheres of Telekinetic Energy towards the Infinity Sword. Dodging the first two strikes, Anson was caught off guard when the third blast yanked him towards Eric as he was preparing a powerful surge of energy around his hands. As he pulled off his “Force Nova” attack, the Infinity Sword used his swords to block the attack. But due to the force of the blow, his main greatsword received a crack down the center of the blade. But still, the Esper’s offensive advantage caused him to lower his guard down again, turning his back on the Rune Slayer that was right behind him as he was channeling a surge of Aquamarine Magic at his Fingertips.

 “LUNA BLADE!!”

 By the time that Eric actually noticed the teen’s surprise attack, the magical sword struck him. Making his body course in pain and draining him of a portion of his mana, restoring Nicko’s. “Thanks for the meal.”

“Grr… You two are beginning to piss me off. Fight SERIOUSLY!!! You’re just making me think that you’re buying time for your friends.”

 “Buying time?” We’re the only one’s here.”

“Pfft. Like I would fall for the same move twice.” Eric snarled as he looked at Nicko with a menacing glare. “Your dad said the same thing all those years ago before those two royal brats encased me in stone. Thankfully, with my research being complete, I have a few new tricks up my sleeves.”

‘What the hell is this guy talking about?’ Eris asked inside Nicko’s head. Seconds later, they saw the Tracer go into his Overlimit mode with his Nasod Armor. His power was coursing through him uncontrollably as a violet Crystal around his neck began to pulse violently. His face was one of pure insanity as he looked at the boys.

 “Now the fun begins…” Anson grinned, eager and ready to go up against this new challenge. Unaware of the cracks in his weapon of choice.

 “You are just eager to die, aren’t you?” The Esper retorted.

“Not really, but I say Screw the Rules.”

 Anson and Eric charged at each other seconds afterwards, weapons clashing head on as they dodged and weaved their way out of each other’s attacks. Nicko himself soon joined in the fray, landing a few good blows in places where the Tracer left his guard down and also teaming up with his brother so they could keep up the element of surprise as this continued to drag on for another ten to fifteen minutes. The struggle tired all three of them, but they were still able to stand. But the biggest surprise was something that the two brothers never expected.

‘Nicko! Anson!! There’s a HUGE source of Magic beginning to build right now!!’

  Both of the brother’s looked at each other in confusion as Nicko replied to Eris’ mental statement. ‘Magic? From where?’

 ‘Canterlot Castle. It’s Twilight and the others. They have the Elements of Harmony. And just at the right time too. I’m almost out of energy.’

   Both of the exhausted brothers turned around towards the direction of the castle as they saw a huge light began to take form. It reminded them of Goku in Dragon Ball Z when he was forming the Spirit Bomb against Frieza on Namek. But right now, the two of them needed to get out of the way for when that attack was fired.

The blast that followed afterwards was a bright colorful laser that ripped through the sky and the clouds as it made it’s way towards it’s intended target. As this happened though, Nicko noticed something off with Eric. When he saw the blast, he didn’t cringe or hesitate to flee. Instead, he just stood there, laughing to himself as he covered one of his eyes with his hands and continued to howl like a hyena.

  “YOU FOOLS DON’T GET IT DO YOU!?!! I’VE PREPARED ALL OF MY RESEARCH IN ORDER TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN!!! NOW SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR FOOLISH MISTAKES!!!” While shouting this, Nicko noticed that the energy in his Dynamo’s began to overflow. Something about this was completely wrong.

‘Eris, something’s not right. Do you have enough energy to teleport me?’

‘Yeah, but only once. Why do you-?’

‘I ask because that bastard is going to pull off something and I believe Anson is in the crosshairs. I need to make sure he is safe no matter what the hell happens to me.’

Eris thought about it inside her head, but soon understood what he meant. ‘I understand. I’m with you til the end of the line, Nicky.’

That’s when she teleported the Rune Slayer. Like he was predicting the future, Nicko was right about his guess on the Esper. As the blast drew closer, The Rune Slayer saw Eric use his weapons to do the impossible.

 Deflect the blast from the elements of harmony. Straight towards Anson.

“DIE!!!”

“NO!!!!”

 A loud explosion soon went off as it clouded the small town of Ponyville in smoke.

Canterlot

“D-did we do it?”

  That was the question on Twilights mind as she and her friends returned from the Castle walls to look at the scrying orb. Amy looked on with the rest of the humans in anticipation to see the results of the Mane Six’s surprise attack and see if they were successfully able to stop the Rampaging Tracer from causing anymore damage.

 All was going well though until Discord dropped to the floor, flinching in severe pain.

“AGH!!!”

“Discord, what’s wrong!?!” Fluttershy squeaked, worried for her friend.

“S-something happened down there. I felt Eris…… disappear.”

  That’s when those that were watching the orb saw the impossible. The Diabolic Esper was still alive.

Ponyville

 Anson was struggling to his feet as he was coughing from the smoke that got into his lungs. He couldn’t see anything because of how thick it was, but instinct made him try whatever he could to find his twin sibling.

 “Nicko? Are you there!? NICKO!!!”

The brother of the Rune Slayer was beginning to panic. He was worried for him. For a moment though, he felt relieved as he saw the shadow of his brother right in front of him. But that was when he decided to try and touch him on the shoulder.

 “Oh thank god, I was able to find-.”

When his hand met Nicko’s shoulder, he did not feel skin or cloth from his clothes. Instead, he felt rough cold stone. Anson’s eyes widened. This can’t be happening right now. Where the hell was his brother?! This had to be some sick joke!!

 “Oh my…… wasn’t he a valiant one.”

 The chilling voice of a familiar foe crashed Anson’s train of thought as the smoke faded away to show Eric. Still alive. “Using himself as a human shield to save his brother’s life even after I rebounded that Harmonic Blast. That takes character.”

‘He… protected me?’ Anson thought to himself, staring in disbelief. He couldn’t accept the fact of what truly happened. His brother was gone. Taken away from him by this wretched monster!!

  He needed to suffer for the lives he had stolen.

 That was when a warm glow could be felt from his pockets. Coming from the gun that Nicko had given him. He could now read the name that was etched on the grip of the weapon.

  Evoker.

Now Anson’s eyes were no longer filled with sorrow, but with anger. Rage coursed through him like a crashing river. Now he glanced at the Esper, who noticed the change in his eyes. “Oh, well now. Have you come to fight?”

 “No…” Anson said, drawing out the gun that his brother left behind for him. “I’m going to kill you.”

 Eric himself had noticed the handgun in the Infinity Sword’s hands and laughed. “You can not be serious. Do you honestly think that little pea shooter is going to harm me? You must be out of your damn mind.”

“True, but who said I was going to be shooting you?”

Before the Diabolic Esper could say anything, Anson cocked back the weapon he held in his hands and aimed at the one place that made everypony that was watching back in Canterlot horrified. His head.

 “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND!?” The Esper shouted. “HOW IS THIS GOING TO HELP YOU?! YOU’LL JUST KILL YOURSELF!!”

“True, but this is actually not a gun. This is a Summoning token, and it’s also the reason why Nicko gave it to me.”

Persona…

 BANG!!!

 The shot that rang out did not kill the teen, but instead had a powerful surge of magic flow around him as it began to taken form.

“Thou art I and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I come...”

"I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."

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