Phantoms of the Truth

Chapter 13 Act 4

Hollow Message

The cold, dark air blew past the slumbering village. Metal constructs marched in pursuit of attackers as they searched for their targets in the night. All but an alleyway that had a reflective coat shrouding it.

“-And I say we charge in, claws blazing!” Neckros yelled back as he butted heads with Loki as their annoyance grew

“Unless you want to clear up collateral, be my guest, but if you want to win this, go in undetected!” Loki countered

“KAI, tell me, what’s the probability we’ll still be here deciding?” Blaze asked as he rubbed his head

“Extremely High.” He answered as Blaze then looked off towards the castle then he smiled

“Alright, idiots, front and centre!” Blaze ordered as the two stopped fighting and lined up and then saw his grin “Here’s my plan, best of all it’s clear and simple,”

“We’re listening,” they both answered

“Let er rip,” Blaze said simply as they both smiled brightly before walking out of the forcefield

“Hey tin heads, can you feel fear?” Loki asked as a group of bots looked between themselves

“Negative.” One answered before hearing a low laugh from behind it

“Let’s fix that, shall we?” Neckros spoke coldly as he impaled one on his tail “Welcome to the circus of the dead!!!”

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Back in the alleyway…

“So, what’s the plan from here on in?” Applejack asked as the rest looked around for ideas

“Well, whist they have some fun, our plan is to get into the castle and storm two points, a group of us will take on the crystal. As it’s probably grown a lot since then,” Blaze explained before narrowing his eyes

“I’ll go for Omega, alone.” He finished

“Are you insane, he’ll kill you!” Dash interjected but Blaze silenced her

“No, I’ve become stronger since then, besides,” Blaze then nudged Serafin “I got a goddess on my side, so I’ll be fine,”

“And me,” KAI added as he activated his armour automatically

“Are you sure you can handle him?” Twilight asked in concern as Blaze smiled

“Hey now, since when have I failed!?” Blaze laughed as she rolled her eyes “Ok then, you guys all ready?”

After a moment of silence, they all nodded and soon they moved on.

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Inside the castle walls…

Omega was pacing back and forth as he watched the lights flash in the distance and he swore he could hear laughing in the process. This made him smash the railing he was leaning over as he tried to think of a way to salvage this.

“End of the line, Omega,” came an all too familiar voice as Omega turned to see the cyborg standing right there

“You really think I’m going to let you win?” Omega mocked as he removed his cape and threw it off the platform

“No, but that’s just what makes this so fun,” Blaze countered with a smirk as Omega frowned

“You have no idea of the storm that’s coming, sure you’re strong and even if you did win this war, what will you do then when he come for you?” Omega asked as he pointed at Blaze

“Who is ‘He’!” Blaze snapped

“You’ll never know,” Omega answered back as he brought his golden longsword out and pointed it’s edge at Blaze as he quickly did the same

“Why don’t I just ring it out of you instead?” Blaze offered as he shook his head slowly

“No, my fight isn’t with you, it’s with her,” He answered as he pointed his blade at a pillar, then the figure moved out of hiding

“Dash!? What the hell!” Blaze snapped as she just glared at Omega as he grinned “No way! Forget it, I won’t let you!”

“No, I agree to this.” Dash interjected, sounding less like herself

“Why...?” Blaze asked in worry but she just smiled

“Because I’m tired of putting you in harm’s way just to protect me,” She answered as Blaze just stood motionless “And to hide you pain,”

“Now this is more like it! A lowly creature vs. a god!” Omega laughed as Dash just stood in front of Blaze

“Alright you asshole, let’s dance!” Dash yelled back as she grit her teeth as she prepared to dive head first into hell

Omega was the first to strike as he vanished and appeared behind Dash and brought his foot down on her as she yelped and stumbled.

Dash quickly avoided his next blow as she leaped into the air and connected two back legs with his jaw as he flipped back but smiled as he ran towards her and began to throw his weapon into the mix. He then caught the tip of her wing with his sword as Dash tried to say afloat but felt a grip tighten around her throat as she gasped for air.

“How’s it feel Blaze? To see the one you care about slowly die in front of you?” Omega mocked but saw that he wasn’t sad but rather smiling

*SHINK*

Omega let out a yell as he lost his grip and instantly saw why his arm was bleeding. Dash held in her grasp as black broadsword with the name ‘Vengeance’ etched into its blade.

“Now, it my turn!” Dash yelled as the tables soon began to turn in her favour

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Somewhere below the castle…

“So, does anyone know how we’re going to break them?” Fluttershy asked in an almost whisper as Loki was currently smacking Pinkie’s hoof away from the large crystal in the center

“Look-look-look the fate of this world is in our hands, so whatever you do, don’t. Touch. This. Crystal.” Loki spoke sternly “If you do, the crystal will explode and kill us all,”

“Uh-huh!” Pinkie responded

“Now, repeat back what I just said,” Loki demanded as she pondered for a bit before going to touch the crystal but Loki stopped her

“No-No! that’s the crystal that will kill everyone! Except me!” Loki snapped before breathing calmly “Ok, try again,”

“The fate of the world lies in our hands!” She said happily as he nodded

“We’ll all die, expect you,” She added and he nodded again

“If I touch this crystal,” She finished as she reached over to touch it but was stop again

“NOOO! GOD DAMMIT!” Loki yelled as the rest just watched, Twilight however was taking a better look around

“Hey! Twi! Do you have any ducktape?” Loki asked as they all saw him trying to keep Pinkie from touching the crystal

“Umm, we don’t have pockets or ducktape, what did you expect?” Twilight answered

“Not a single person has tape!?” He snapped as he struggled to keep Pinkie still

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Back on the balcony…

“You really think you could beat me!?” Omega snarled as he kicked Dash up against a wall as her weapon skidded off to the side, out of her reach

“You’re nothing but a weak-“

*POW*

“Annoying-“

*POW*

“Pathetic excuse for an element bearer!” Omega shouted in between blows as Dash sat and took the hits, her body becoming numb and weak

Then Omega lifted her into the air by her throat as he raised his golden weapon.

“In this world, only the strongest survive,” He finished before throwing the Dash across the floor as a large laceration stretched across her chest

“Dash!!!” Blaze yelled as he ran over to her, the sounds of her ragged breathing drowned out by laughter

“That was brilliant, not even a scream and she’s still trying to fight!” He mocked as Blaze tried to close the wound by his head lifted up slightly

“-Alright then, I’ll do it,” He murmured causing Omega to stop and smile

“Really? You think you can win? Fine then, show me what you’ve learned,” Omega challenged as Blaze grit his teeth, his visor glowing with rage

*BLAZING TRAIL*

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Omega’s face froze as the wave of energy shot through his core as he saw Blaze’s body lit into flames as he roared like a dragon, his power continuously increasing as he tried to grasp the amount of power he was outputting.

Before he could even realize it Blaze was already in front of him as he brought his fist up, colliding with Omega’s jaw as he flew into the air. Then he quickly brought his blade round to clash with Blaze’s as the sparks flew.

“How-how can you have so much power!?” Omega fearfully asked as Blaze just grit his teeth and brought a fist to Omega’s face and then grabbed him by the collar and threw him into a nearby wall

Omega quickly dodged Blaze as he smashed through the wall and smashed through it again as he landed 3 blows on Omega as he blasted Blaze in the face with an energy beam. Omega then grabbed Blaze by the face and smashed his head into the cold ground as he blasted beam after beam into his face until he fell through the floor.

Omega however felt the temperature grow in the castle as some of the crystals began to glow yellow, orange and red. He then saw the meteor of an attacker hurdle towards him at blinding speeds as his leg cracked the side of Omega's head as he flew into a nearby wall before teleporting.

Omega then landed a few feet away as he saw Blaze taunting him to attack. He happily obliged as he grinned and prepared to fire off his most powerful attack.

*FIZZLE*

“What?” He asked in shock

*FIZZLE*

“No how can I-“He then stopped and saw the purple aura surrounding his hands and looked up and saw the toothy-grinning Nightmare staring back “You!”

“A.O!” He said happily as they both looked back behind Blaze and saw Dash, smiling at them “I believe we’re even now Dashie, so give it your all buddy!”

Omega then looked back to see Blaze only a few inches away, his blade trailing in the crystal ground as he began to speak, his blade glowing red.

*SERRATED VORTEX*

Then as Blaze blade left the floor a colossal bombardment of copy-cat swords sprouted from the floor, consuming Omega in a torrent of blades as his body spiraled upwards into the fray.

“Not again! Not again!!!” He screamed as they fired off and pierced the black blanket of clouds revealing a ray of sunlight to the world

When the ability ended, Omega was nowhere in sight, he was gone, only his now scratched weapon remained. Blaze then exhaled as his ability ended and he collapsed to one knee.

“That was the most energy draining fight have had in a long time,” He panted as Neckros waved him off

“Meh, I’ve seen worse,” He added as he saw the rest of the sky clearing up “Looks like the rest were successful,”

“Thank god,” Blaze said in relief as he collapsed to his back and laughed weakly

“You really can’t take anything but fighting seriously, huh?” Dash said as she came into view

“Yea, well I rather enjoy myself, never know when I’ll kick the bucket,” Blaze added before crossing his legs “Still are you alright?”

“Yea-yea, don’t go Fluttershy on me, but I feel like I’ve just slept for a year,” Dash said with a stretch “Oh and thanks Neckros, I guess,”

“Hey, like I said if I wasn’t contracted then I would have left you for dead, but still, no problemo,” He said with a nod

“So, what now?” Dash asked as they all stared out into the daylight sky

“I don’t know, but this ‘Person’ all the people I’ve fought up till now have been mentioning is something else entirely,” Blaze pondered, but then KAI jumped in

“I don’t care, all I want is for ‘someone’ to fix my broken body!” He said with a hint of annoyance

“Hehe, fine then KAI, you can get some repairs, I could use a break aswell,” Blaze said happily as he saw Neckros staring at his scyt-Erika with annoyance

“Like I said I can’t always keep track of everyone, so sorry~ if I don’t know where Twivine or Dark Oak are!” He whined back

“Wait- Yea, Twivine and Oak weren’t even here, not to mention Oak would have contacted KAI,” Blaze added

“I have no pinpoint on his location, almost like he vanished,” KAI added as they all began to ponder on what was really going on

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Somewhere…

“Blazing Trail- Serrated Vortex!”

“Such power, in such little time,” a voice pondered but then a cloaked figure approached him

“Sir, Omega failed, and Flamar is nowhere to be seen, I’m sorry,” He spoke in disappointment

“Good.” The voice replied, confusing the figure

“Wait, how is this good? I don’t get it?” He replied

“All their efforts, all their loss will catalyze to something more, something unpredictable and dangerous,” it began before looking back at the vision of Blaze, Neckros and Dash

“This world you take as a cliché, a fairy tale, it is only a mask for the unholy wars to come,”

“By my pawns, I strip you of your armour,”

“By my Knights, I expose your heart,”

“By my hand… Rip it beating from your chest,”

To Be Continued…