It was the second day of Constantine's march towards Wantthai from their ruined outpost in the north, and they were met with little resistance from the various guards of the neighbouring villages on the edge of the Wantthai-Changeling border. Although the Equestrian soldiers were formidable, they were caught off-guard by Constantine's brilliant military strategy. In only one night, Constantine had destroyed every fort and outpost on the edge of the Wantthai Nation. He even went as far as to destroying the Equestrian colony in the south.

When morning arrived, Constantine ordered his troops to set up camp near the Wantthai capital of Jubyia, where the tournament was being held. He was eager to taste Spike's power once again. Despite the Equestrian's best efforts, they could not break through the Changeling armada blocking off the sea to the Blacklands and warn the people of Wantthai. His army hid in the thick forest and left no trace of attack behind; making his forces nearly untraceable. Every soldier of his that fell in battle was resurrected by his magic- brought back as a hellish undead soldier. However, the Changelings did not object, as they were bred to obey without question.

Constantine sat alone in his tent devising strategies plans of attack, thinking of all he had accomplished in a single night. He had even scared the princess of the night with his army and sent her running. He laughed at this and poured himself a glass of wine as he did so; twirling the glass to refine the taste, and smelling the overpowering aroma that radiated from the light amber liquid within his chalice. He let out a deep sigh and another weak laugh as he set the drink aside after a quick sip.

"Sir. May I speak with you?" A soldier asked from behind the thick curtains that closed-off Constantine's tent; his appearance shrouded by said curtains.

"You may," Constantine uttered with disappointment as he stood; having enjoyed the solitude, "what do you ask of me?"

A hardy-looking changeling walked through the curtains. He was not undead and sported the side-cape of a captain; sparking Constantine's interest.

"Well, well... a captain." Constantine said with pleasure; retrieving a chair at the other side of the tent for him to sit on. "Please, sit. Tell me your business..."

"Your grace, we have spotted the scout you had sent to Wantthai a few days ago from the fort we had sacked. What should we do?" The captain asked as he sat down on his chair.

"Let him go, he is vital to my plan. We must stay hidden, but strike when the time is right." Constantine stated firmly as he poured the captain a glass of wine.

"When is the right time, sir?" The captain asked; taking a sip of his wine.

"It will take him around five hours. Enough time for the tournament to end." Constantine explained as he took a sip from his glass of wine. "We shall follow him as the gryphon-flies, and move through the forest. Which reminds me, you should tell our troops we will be leaving in one hour."

"Very good sir." The captain replied as he put his left hand behind his back; seeing that Constantine was preoccupied with his glass of wine.

Constantine however, was well-aware of the dagger behind the captain's back as he had placed a mirror on the captain's side of the tent, right where his chair was. This was Constantine's way of identifying traitors in his army- those that were still loyal to the Changeling Council. Constantine intentionally looked away and used his peripherals to spot the knife in the mirror.

"Do you know why I love the Blacklands so much captain?" Constantine asked; keeping his eyes locked on a map hanging on the wall of the tent.

"No sir, I can't say that I do." The captain said; readying his dagger.

"There aren't so many pests like mosquitoes or flies, despite the Blackland's hostile environment." Constantine rambled; paying close attention to the position of the knife in the mirror. "However, there is still one pest that insists on making my life a living hell."

"Oh, and what pest would that be, sir?" The captain said; feeling his hand twitch as it grabbed the handle of the knife.

The captain sprung at Constantine with his knife drawn, but felt an unseen magical force grab him, and knock the knife out of his hand. Constantine stood up and grabbed the captain by the throat; lifting him off the ground, despite the fact he was smaller than the armor-clad soldier. He took a sip from his wine still in hand and brought the terrified soldier closer to his face.

"Rats..." Constantine growled; his eyes burning with hatred.

Constantine threw the captain outside, and backed him up against a nearby tree. The other soldiers in the camp were curious, and gathered around to witness the scene.

"He is a liar and a traitor to the people of the Changeling Empire!" The captain desperately cried out to the crowd gathering around him and Constantine. "He murdered the Chairman of the High Council and made himself some kind of... emperor!"

" Amusing ... and you believe your beloved Council can lead your people into the future, hmm?!" Constantine yelled at the captain and the rest of his army. "The same Council that robbed our Queen of her power, and taxed the nation heavily?"

"Your... empress is weak and led us to failure at the hands of the Equestrians over two years ago! She is a coward who-." The captain stopped as he felt Constantine's sabre drive through his chest and lift him up; pinning his body up on a nearby tree.

The captain hacked up pints of blood as Constantine continued to push the sword further into the tree; making his death quicker, but far more agonizing. His eyes rolled back into his head as spat up more blood, and his body convulsed for a few minutes before slumping over, dead.

Constantine did not withdraw the sabre from the captain's body. Instead, he let him hang dead; admiring his bloody work. The crowd said nothing, and when a single soldier approached the body to clean it up, but he was halted.

"Leave him," Constantine ordered the soldier, "and let him be an example to all traitors who dare cross my path."

"Yes, your grace." The soldier obeyed; stepping back into the crowd.

"Long live the Emperor!" Another soldier shouted.

"Long live the Emperor!" The rest of the camp cheered.

"Back to your tents soldiers, and gather your weapons! Soon we shall strike!" Constantine bellowed triumphantly.

****

"Hello, once again folks!" The announcer stepped out onto his balcony and bowed. "Only three teams left! Who will emerge victorious? This next fight may decide just that! Now, release the sphere!"

The sphere ascended again, and shots of light that escaped the voting slips zoomed around the arena. They were then siphoned by the globe, and the large spherical structure soon retreated back into its hole. The announcer approached the edge of his balcony and grabbed the slip containing the results.

He cleared his throat. "Mmmpphh! Our first team is... the Ausrüstrians!"

The crowd roared as Angreifer emerged from the pit and Verteidiger rose up out of the trap door. Verteidiger was repaired, and shined-up as ever. Angreifer was clad in a lightweight jet-black coloured armour that seemed to hum as she walked.

"That mare can't seem to make up her mind when it comes to her wardrobe, can she?" Gin joked as she observed the strange armour.

Twilight giggled in response to Gin's joke.

"What's so funny?" Gin wondered; looking back at the laughing mare. "I don't think it was that hilarious."

"Nothing, it's just... that's something a friend of mine would say right about now." Twilight sighed as she reminisced about her close friend. "I guess I miss her a little."

"And, they will be facing off against... the Crystal Empire!" The announcer shouted as the crowd gave him a cheer of approval.

The hooded mage emerged from the pit with his partner, Armandura. Spike noticed something odd about Stín's robe, and that was the colour of the robe. Spike didn't see it before, but in almost all of Stín's fights, his robe shifted from white to grey, to black. In fact, as Spike thought about the last few fights... looking back, Stín's weapons even seemed to morph; remembering the first time he saw him... his sword was grey. Spike knew quite a bit about magic, being that he lived with a magical scholar. However, Stín's magic was... odd to say the least. It was in a constant state of flux and seemed to respond to Stín's emotions. When he was angered his attire was black, when he was calm his robe was white, and when he was determined his outfit was grey. Spike felt uncomfortable around Stín, and this vexed him. Although, his presence seemed stranger when in an angered state, or when his robes were black. He seemed to radiate an aura of dread and darkness wherever he donned a black robe, and this energy shook Spike to his core.

"Alright fighters... prepare yourselves!" The announcer warned the fighters as they assembled in the arena.

Stín conjured up is blade and staff, and Armandura summoned his sword and shield. Verteidiger's arm-cannon made a humming noise as the metal giant charged the weapon, and Agreifer pressed a few buttons on her gauntlet; giving the announcer a nod once she was ready.

"Ready? Three! Two! One! Fight!" The audience chanted with the announcer.

Verteidiger immediately fired a shot of blue energy from his cannon right at Armandura. At first, the crowd expected him to dodge, but their surprise, and to Twilight's surprise... he didn't even flinch.

"Does he intend to take the attack?!" Twilight asked herself as she looked down at the unmoving stallion.

"I can't look!" Fluttershy squeaked as she covered her eyes.

The energy-shot exploded upon impact; sending the earth below Armandura upwards from the blast. Angreifer expected her foe to be reduced to a pile of ash, but incredibly he remained unharmed, as he had raised a magical barrier just before the attack made contact with him.

"That's... impossible! Dampfriesens are designed to smash through magic barriers, and this guy's shield is barely cracked!" Angreifer thought as she gawked at her foe, who was standing in a small crater. "Who is this stallion?"

Draven saw a troubled look on Twilight's face as he turned his head. "Twilight, what's the matter?"

"That magic, it's just-. No, it's nothing, never mind. I'm fine." Twilight muttered quickly with sharpness in her tone.

"Are you sure?" Draven asked as he gave her a raised brow.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight replied with a weak smile.

Stín engaged Vernteidiger with great control and magical prowess. He took the form of a shadow and phased through the metal beast's arms as it swung at him wildly. Stín then took his blade and sliced where Verteidiger's cannon-forearm and elbow met, but oddly, it did not make a sound as it passed through his foe. Angreifer was confused by the attack, as there was no exterior sign of damage, but the heads-up display on her gauntlet showed that Verteidiger's arm has been heavily damaged. The metal giant made horrid clanking noises as it tried moving its arm, but it was no use.

"What on earth just happened?" Gin's expression looked as if a pegasus flew past her at Mach speeds.

"That was a Phasing-Blade attack!" Twilight said with excitement, "A really, really high-level magic-sword technique!"

"What the bloody hell is that?" Gin wondered.

"It allows the user's magic blade to phase through an opponent's armor, and slice at the enemy from inside," Twilight answered Gin. "I've only seen it used once, by Princess Luna."

"Huh, you learn something every day." Gin chuckled.

Armandura held his own against the skilled Angreifer, who tested his speed as she lashed out at him with her electro-staff. And as expected, he dodged without even trying. Angreifer knew she would have to be less direct, and implore a more subtle fighting style. She pressed more buttons on her gauntlet, and suddenly, vanished. Armandura was completely caught off-guard by the strange ability, and quickly lost his calm and collected demeanour. Angreifer then appeared behind him, struck him with her staff in the side, and turned invisible again. She repeated this multiple times until it began to wear Armandura down.

"She can turn invisible too? This mare has a hatful of tricks, doesn't she?" Draven laughed; impressed by the interesting powers of Angreifer's armor.

Stín was tearing Vernteidiger apart. He used his "Phasing-Blade" attack over and over; causing significant damage to the great metal titan. Soon, he was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

"Damn you!" Angreifer shouted with rage as she jabbed Stín with her staff; sending a jolt of powerful electricity through his body.

Angreifer's cloaking abilities gave her a significant edge, and while Stín was able to use his blade technique, he could not prepare in time before she vanished again. Eventually, the two stallions stood back to back in order to properly defend themselves against an invisible target.

"Can you find a way to disable that cloaking mechanism?" Armandura whispered to his partner.

"Perhaps, but it may take time," Stín said as he dodged another attack from Angreifer.

Armandura blocked another assault and pushed Angreifer back with his foot. "Time is not on our side at the moment!"

"Let's try this... Shining-Flash!" Stín bellowed as a flash of white light escaped his body, and melted Angreifer's invisibility away.

Angreifer did not relent, however, and tossed down a black sphere that shot black smoke out all over the arena; concealing her once again. Stín had to use his staff to see through the smoke, and Armandura stuck close by his comrade to make sure they were not separated in the cloud of smoke.

As the smoke dissipated, the two stallions could hear the sound of Angreifer's laughter. "Hey, boys! Why don't I introduce you to my girls!"

Around they were four turrets with machine-guns. They locked on slowly, but quick enough so that Stín couldn't pick them off before they began to fire.

"Armandura! Shield, now!" Stín yelled as he covered his face.

"On it!" Armandura raised his hands and created a magical dome that reflected the hail of bullets.

"Expand it!" Stín commanded Armandura as he transformed into a shadow.

Armandura widened the dome's diameter, and this allowed Stín to close distance. He went under the shield and phased through the four guns, making them explode as he tore wires and important mechanisms out of each turret. As soon as Armandura lowered his shield, Angreifer closed in and began hammering him with her quarterstaff, electrocuting him over and over until the angered stallion finally had enough. He tucked his shield in tight, and let loose a powerful bash that knocked the mare back. Stín then trapped her in a magic circle and zoomed towards her head, coming to a grinding halt as his hand touched her forehead. He brought her ear close to his mouth and uttered a magic phrase.

"Shadow Sleep..." Stín whispered.

After stumbling back, Angreifer fell to the ground, unconscious. Once again, the audience was speechless after witnessing the spectacle that was the two mages that stood undefeated in the arena. The audience began to cheer once the announcer cleared his throat.

"The Crystal Empire wins again! Can they be stopped?" The announcer shouted joyously.

"I certainly hope so..." Draven said nervously as he looked down at Spike in the pit; he was scared out of his wits.

Author's Notes:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know I enjoyed writing it!