Daruk gets back onto his rear legs but wobbles to the sides deliriously. I do my best to carefully carry Luna back inside the palace as she watches Zaran in a frozen horror. Daruk inhales, roars then coughs up more blood. Before I can get Luna inside the side entrance, Umbra lands off to my right in total panic. “What do we do?!” I had no idea how Umbra would do in combat against such a powerful foe, but she was Taraskan trained and that would have to do for now.

“Umbra...you need to do everything you can for Daruk. No matter how angry he gets at you, he’s not going to survive. Screw this duel crap, we need to put Zaran down now and hard!”

Umbra gets a look of determination on her face, hunches back and sails towards Daruk. Emeris catches up to us at the entrance and helps me carry Luna inside. We lay her on the couch and her eyes are still wide and still. Emeris stares down at her in confusion. “Why is she taking this so hard?” All I can do is shrug and head back outside. As soon as Emeris and I are in view, we start trying to get closer but stick to random large rocks for cover. There was no way in hell we could help them now.

Daruk roars and takes one vicious step towards Zaran. Zaran takes off and before Daruk can even react, Zaran hits him on each side of his face then one more straight punch, sending Daruk back to the ground again. Umbra inhales while still in the air and lets out a dazzling laser from her mouth the size of a person. It fills the air with an irritating buzz and strikes
instantly. As it makes contact with Zaran, a red sphere surrounds him and the beam splits into several smaller parts, making a mess of the ground where they hit.

Zaran stays pointed at Daruk but moves his eyes to stare at Umbra. his iris’ glow red and a large beam erupts from both eyes. They nail her in the shoulder and force her to barrel roll from the impact. She screams and falls to the ground. Smoke rises from her wound but luckily, she’s only thirty feet high. Daruk cranes his neck up and lets loose a massive jet of flame that shakes the ground. Zaran is completely invisible while caught in the midst of the attack. When Daruk stops firing, Emeris and I eagerly peak from behind our rock.

The flames settle, still bringing up pillars of smoke from the burnt grass and a home right behind is completely engulfed. The fire had plowed through it and hit several other homes that now had fire flailing out of every window like a blanket caught in a tornado. Little by little, we see a red sphere where Daruk’s flame hit. Zaran still stands there, entirely unfazed from an attack that could have decimated an entire city. Daruk’s mouth hangs open and his eyes expand.

Emeris stumbles for words as he stands to my right. “Just...how powerful is he?! There is no logical reason he couldn’t have just fought us himself! Why use all these Og Nag then?! Why this entire war?! He could probably obliterate the palace all on his own!” There had to be something else going on here. Was he just simply this powerful or was there a cost we didn’t know about? Perhaps something was in the castle that would inhibit his powers that he didn’t want us finding out about. There were dozens of questions and thousands of possibilities. None of which told us how to stop him.

In a rush of red, Zaran borderline teleports across the ground and is above Daruk. Daruk has just enough time to roll out of the way before Zaran slams into the ground with his front hooves. Another beam from Umbra, but it seems to actually catch Zaran off guard. We hear a loud grunt from him as he’s blasted through a building. Umbra runs over to Daruk and helps him up. To our astonishment, Daruk doesn’t say anything about receiving help.

We hear a loud, shrill hum come from where Zaran went. A massive beam of red energy erupts from the debris of a house and heads straight towards the pair of dragons. Umbra steps in front of it and opens her mouth. She swallows the entire beam with ease. She shakes her head a few times and flutters her wings, which make it rain some sort of purple snowflakes from her feathers.
She smiles in astonishment. “What a rush!” She cries out. Wooden beams snap and stone crunch as Zaran slowly walks out of the remains of the house without a scratch
on him.

I gently bat Emeris’ arm and he turns to face me. I keep my voice as low as I can. “Emeris, I don’t think that super-fast dash he does is his normal move speed. Otherwise his reflexes would have to match it. I think it’s just a sudden burst forward.”

Emeris blinks a few times and shrugs. “Alright...decent observation, but how does that help us?”

I look at the two dragons then back to Emeris. “If I had some way to communicate with them without Zaran overhearing, they might be able to do better! They’re not analyzing his fighting style! They can’t keep leaving themselves open, they have to wait for him to attack first otherwise he can intercept whatever they do with his magic dash!”

Emeris nods furiously. “Alright, let me go talk to Celestia and see if she knows what to do!” Emeris tries to stay low as he jogs back to the castle.

Zaran stares daggers at Umbra. He rears back and a massive orb as big as his body forms in a swirl of red power right in front of his head. As soon as his hooves hit the ground, the orb launches itself at dazzling speeds at Umbra. She opens her mouth and hits it with another beam. The ball explodes in midair and leaves a thick cloud of red mist. The next thing she sees is Zaran dashing out of the cloud and he slams a hoof into her face. She screams in agony as she goes sailing back. Daruk whirls around and hits Zaran with his tail. Zaran grunts but that red sphere appears again, and he stops himself midair before colliding with anything, although with some difficulty.

Daruk clutches his side with a claw and pants heavily. Suddenly, a confident look sparkles in his eyes. “I must say little pony, after all the talk, I was expecting more. Having to wear me out with minions is a coward’s move.” A few red sparks crackle off Zaran’s body as he glares at Daruk. Daruk’s muscles tense up and he locks eyes with Zaran. Zaran flashes forward, but not before flinching his shoulders just barely. It’s a tell. The moment the red energy swirls around Zaran, Daruk sidesteps and starts swinging his claw down. Zaran appears right where Daruk’s claw is and eats dirt almost as fast as he
arrived.

Daruk whirls around in a circle and swipes Zaran off the ground, sending him through the air, back towards the town. Zaran plows through a house and is heard making a mess on his way out. Umbra lands next to Daruk with an impressed wide-eyed stare. “Holy crap! how’d you do that?!”

Daruk scoffs and faces her. “I think that even though he can do that magic dash move, his brain isn’t sped up. He won’t fall for that twice though; he is not a stupid opponent.” Daruk looks back towards the town as Zaran comes strolling through the hole he made in the first house. He stops just outside and brushes off his shoulder. “Alright lizard, not bad, I’ll give you that. But if you don’t mind,” Zaran cracks his neck from side to side arrogantly. “I’m on a tight schedule.”

Daruk breathes fire into each of his claws. It stays there as orbs, still licking towards the sky. Daruk whispers something to Umbra and she nods. Zaran furrows his brow and his eyes light up again. Umbra rushes in front of Daruk and opens her mouth. The lasers from Zaran’s eyes erupt through the air, no larger than daggers. She lowers her mouth to intercept the beam. A purple circle appears in her mouth and she greedily gobbles down the beams. Zaran sighs and his eyes light up again. Umbra tenses up and she readies herself.

Instead of hitting them dead on, Zaran pelts the ground in front of them several times, kicking up a thick dust cloud. Umbra’s eyes grow wide as they scan wildly. Several short bursts of lasers erupt through the cloud, nailing Umbra several times in her chest. She screams and falls against Daruk who uses his chest to keep her up. When Zaran is done firing, he dashes through the cloud. Daruk slams both his claws together and a massive fire wave erupts forward. Zaran yells angrily and is sent sailing back. Right as he hits the ground, a massive jet of flame is close in pursuit. Zaran barely gets his shield up in time. The flames stretch in every direction, obliterating another house they collide with. There was no way those were just normal flames.

An infuriated Zaran rushes towards the dragons. Instead of going straight at Daruk, Zaran banks right at the last second and kicks Umbra in the stomach, making her topple Daruk over. Daruk lands on his back and looks up just to get a kick to the face from Zaran. He skids across the ground about fifty feet and back rolls onto his hindlegs. He turns to swipe
the air with his tail, but Zaran goes over it and punches him in the head. Daruk cries out and takes several stumbled steps backwards. Umbra lunges from the ground and tries to bite Zaran, but he’s gone in a dash of red. Right as her jaws clamp down in his crimson mist, he punches her in the jaw.

She falls to the ground and is barely moving. Daruk breathes fire into his claws again, but Zaran hits them both with his lasers, causing small explosions before he hits Daruk in the stomach with a hoof. Zaran immediately gives him an uppercut that lifts him off the ground several feet. Daruk falls back down to his knees, swaying to the left and right. Zaran stands in front of him silently, with a content smirk on his face.

“No!” Umbra cries from behind. A purple beam erupts from her mouth, but it gets casually deflected by Zaran’s shield. Zaran turns around and a sphere appears above his forehead then rockets towards Umbra. She opens her mouth and swallows the sphere, then sends her own purple attack right back at Zaran. It has the same pitiful effect as her beam. He starts walking towards her. Umbra’s face is maddened with panic and she does her best to crawl away but can barely move as it is. Zaran speed walks up to her and slams a hoof down on her tail.

Her eyes bulge and she screams in agony. Zaran walks up her back and red flames burst upwards. He must have been forcing himself down with his magic. Umbra claws the ground like a wild animal, trying desperately to get away. When Zaran gets to her head, he uses his forelegs to force her face towards him. His iris’ glow red and Umbra opens her mouth
instinctively. Zaran’s lasers pound her mouth and her eyes light up. After a few seconds, she starts shaking and convulsing. She tries in vain to tear her head away. Her stomach starts to expand along with her limbs as if someone was breathing air into raw dough.

She claws at him like mad but just scratches at his shield. Purple crackles of magic start pounding the ground from her body. Her muffled shrieks make my stomach flip upside down. Her body swells to twice its normal size and tears pour down the sides of her face. A fireball nails Zaran from behind. He grunts but doesn’t stop. Daruk inhales again and for a second, Zaran almost lets go. Daruk falls to his forelegs. He reaches for Umbra desperately with a claw.
“Stop!” He roars. Several beams of light rocket out of her midsection.

A blinding flash goes off and I have to turn around while covering my eyes. The explosion shakes the ground and hurts my ears. When I’m able to turn around, the battlefield is littered with parts of Umbra. Her decapitated head is all that remains that is recognizable. Daruk stares blankly at her; his body doesn’t move as if it’s frozen. His jaw starts trembling and his eyes stare through Zaran as if he was invisible.

Zaran turns around and examines Daruk. Daruk snaps out of it and before he can utter a word, Zaran’s eyes glow red. There’s a low hum that fills the air and Daruk can’t help but watch nervously. He swallows once then stands proudly on his hindlegs. He rears his head back with a massive inhale. It collides with Zaran’s wide beams and they have a magical tug of war briefly. Flame and red magic spill out everywhere, drilling holes in the ground and scorching the earth. Zaran’s beams quickly overtake Daruk’s flame, however. Zaran stops right as Daruk’s flame runs out. Daruk clamps his hands around his
throat and pants.

He glares furiously at Zaran. “Equestria will never bow to-” Zaran’s eyes light up again and beams shoot straight through Daruk’s heart. He falls back and hits the ground motionless. Luna’s screams from the palace shake me from my trance. I look behind me as she falls to her knees with a mouth still gaping in horror. Zaran looks over his shoulder at her with a smug smile of satisfaction. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back shortly.” Daruk’s corpse is surrounded in a red sphere and lifts off the ground. It and Zaran both walk away through the town.

I look up at the castle and see hundreds of timid eyes peeking through the glass windows. Every refugee just watched the fight go down and we couldn’t have lost any worse. Silent as the grave, I walk over to Luna and scoop her into my arms before taking her inside. Her head hangs over my arm, with her eyes shaking in place. That was it, they were both gone. Two of our most powerful fighters barely lasted a few minutes against Zaran and he clearly had more power to spare. This was impossible. How could one being be that powerful? Was there any hope of stopping him?

With Luna limp in my arms, Emeris and Celestia skid to a halt as they come around the corner right as I enter the palace. Celestia looks over her sister. Before she can start asking questions, I give Celestia a quick nod.
“She’s not hurt, she’s in shock.”
Emeris rushes past me and looks around outside. “Where did Daruk, Umbra and Zaran go?!”

I gently set Luna on a cushioned bench and turn to face him. “Zaran killed them both and carried Daruk’s body away. He said he’d be back later. I don’t think this can get any wor-”

Emeris’ eyes bulge before I even finish speaking. After a few brief seconds, he mutters the only thing that can make this worse.

“The fourth battalion is outside and they wanna talk…”