”Well, that battle could have been totally avoided, Merc. Now hurry up and wake up!” A familiar and arrogant voice called to Zero from the darkness that surrounded him. Black chains had earlier sprouted from the shadows, wrapping around the mercenary’s arms and legs and holding him in place.

“L...aevateinn…?” Zero groaned, clutching and crawling his way up to a new crack of red light gleaming in front of him.

”Oh good, you aren't dead.” The voice of the usually arrogant and dismissive voice that had followed him around now had a tinge of worry tied to his voice. ”Listen, you are going to feel very pissed once you learn about what happened. If you want to progress into the next part of our training, then you must keep calm. Understand?”

The red slit in the shadows slowly grew multiple cracks, before shattering apart, and Zero looked upon the familiar blood red clouds that blanketed the Equestrian sky. Zero slowly and painfully sat up from the rough ground below him, trying to roll his shoulders around, and wincing as pain flashed through his body, and he glanced around the campfire that had been set up around him.

A familiar purple tent sat a few meters away from the dying embers of the campfire in the center, the sounds of a certain purple alicorn shuffling and muttering in her sleep. To his left, leaning against a relatively intact stone pillar, was Amane, looking out into the ruins, her sword leaning next to her. She turned towards him as he got up, and muttered something Zero was unable to hear.

“I… what was that?” Zero asked, standing up unsteadily as he wobbled towards her. “And… where are we? The last thing I remember is… entering the ruins…”

“I had said it's about time you got up, Zero.” Amane muttered, getting up and walking towards him. “As for your memory problem… honestly, I expected you to almost forget who me and Twilight are after such use of your Beast Mode…”

“I'm… sorry, but… what do you mean?” Zero asked as she walked past him, before lying down on the ground next to him.

“Laevateinn will fill you in while you take your watch shift. Try to kill anything that comes near us.” Amane muttered, before almost immediately falling asleep.

”That's just like her… leaving all the difficult stuff to someone else in favor of a nap…” Laevateinn groaned, the astral projection scratching his head as he looked at his sister. ”But, since I'm partly at fault, I suppose I should fill you in…”

“Well that's an odd sight. Are you sure you're Laevateinn, or did he get replaced with someone who has more emotion?” Zero taunted, only to receive a glare from his astral replica.

”Shut it, rookie. At least I can fight without using someone else's instincts.” Laevateinn growled. ”Tell me again, what kind of mercenary work did you do? Was it hired help at a local hospital or something? That would certainly explain why you're so pathetic.”

Zero chuckled, leaning up against the pillar Amane had been next to. “That's more like it, asshole. Now, are you going to fill me in, or what?”

“Fucking bitch…” Zero growled, his grip tightening around his sword as anger swelled up inside him. “If I ever meet that ‘Cassie’ whore again, I'll be sure to finish what I started and kill her…”

”Well, you could do that, and get us all killed in when you lose control again.” Laevateinn shrugged, sitting on top of the pillar. ”Or, you could train with me to properly control your powers and not nearly lose yourself to the beast blood inside you like a real Killer Prince.” He hopped off the pillar, landing in front of Zero and pointing to his sword. ”For starters, why don't we use a more efficient manner of keeping track of that sword.”

Zero raised an eyebrow in confusion. “The hell does that mean? It just pops into my hand when I need it.”

”And that uses up a lot of your energy. Especially when keeping it up for long periods of time.” Laevateinn replied, shaking his head sadly. ”Because of your little outburst yesterday, we can't risk training you in controlling Beast Mode just yet. We need your blood to simmer down before we start messing around with it. So instead, you'll be learning how to effectively wield your sword.”

“It's a sword that's almost as big as me.” Zero deadpanned, hefting it up. “What, am I going to shove it straight up my ass and have Amane carry me or something?”

”Nothing even remotely as stupid as that. Seriously, did you not go to grade school or something? It's a wonder you can even count.” Laevateinn taunted, before rolling his eyes. ”No, we are going to try finding a common sword for you to use.”

Zero stared at his ghostly companion, then hefted up the demon blade, then back to Laevateinn. “So… why can't I just keep using Laevateinn as it is?”

”Look… you’re imbued with the essence, the Killium, of Laevateinn. Since you don't currently have something to base it on, like any normal sword, it taxes you a heck of a lot to keep it fully manifested in this world. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why you lost to Mjolnir, and then that Mira girl.” Leavateinn explained, before noticing Zero’s expression, and sighed. ”Why did I have to give up my body to such an idiot… look, in simple terms, it's a sword made out of a constant supply of magic. Where do you think that magic is coming from?”

“From… me?” Zero said curiously, hefting the blade and weighing it in his hand.

”Yeah, moron. And you aren't an unlimited supply of magic. Granted, it can be recovered with a lot of rest, but with how often you use that sword, it's slowly taking its toll.” Laevateinn nodded, before glancing around. ”Now… where to find a good sword…”

“Yeah, it's not like this place is littered with swords…” Zero groaned, letting the sword in his hand drop to the floor. It clattered onto the ground, before slowly vanishing, the red energy returning to Zero. “So where exactly are we going to find a sword?”

”We could ask Twilight when she wakes up.” Laevateinn suggested, and Zero sighed.

“Yeah… if anyone would know, it’d be her…” Zero leaned back against the pillar, gazing over the ruins they were surrounded by. “Well, it's not like we have anything else to do, so keep training me.”

”Whatever.” Laevateinn groaned.

Twilight yawned inside her tent, stretching her wings and hooves outwards as she sat up, before going through the arduous task of fixing her mane with her manebrush. She could hear somepony shuffling around outside, and decided to continue outside.

“Hey Twilight.” Zero nodded, before returning to his training.

“Zero! You're awake!” Twilight yelled, before tackling the former mercenary in a hug, causing him to stumble and collapse with her on top of him. “I was worried you'd never wake up! Amane said you were really close to losing control of yourself, and that you might not wake up, and-”

“Twilight… really glad you care… but could you please get off?” Zero groaned, and with a ‘eep! Sorry!’ Twilight teleported off of him. “Thanks… body is still sore from that fight…”

“Well, that's to be expected… you really pushed yourself.” Twilight nodded, glancing over to the sleeping Killer Princess. “Amane fought off a lot of creatures yesterday, so she's resting up. She called them Eldritch, if I remember correctly.”

“Eldritch? I really hope this world doesn't have anything like those Cthulhu monster things…” Zero sighed, scratching his head.

“So… if you're sore, what exactly are you doing?” Twilight asked, glancing behind him. “I'd have expected you to still be resting.”

“Well, Laevateinn told me that I've been using too much of my mana generating my sword, so I've been learning how to properly use it in short bursts.” Zero shrugged. “That actually reminds me… do you know if there are any really good swords in this area?”

“Swords?” Twilight asked, before realizing why he was asking. “Oh, right. Um… since I am the Princess of Friendship, I had some level of knowledge on secret projects… but there weren't many things going on for swords.” She shrugged, flapping her wings slightly. “We could check the Royal Guard barracks, but most of the guard used spears.”

“Well, it's better than nothing.” Zero sighed, standing up. “Do you know where it is?”

“Most guard barracks are located in the center of town…” Twilight sighed. “But with the current state of the world, I wouldn't be surprised if somepony had already looted the place.”

“Anywhere away from the ocean is good.” Amane’s soft yet cold voice muttered from behind her. Twilight yelped, flipping around to face the Killer Princess, her heart pounding.

“Sweet Celestia, Amane! Don't do that!” Twilight complained, putting a hoof to her chest. Amane looked at her for a moment, before continuing with what she had been saying.

“The Eldritch are in much greater force near the coastline. If we move further inland, we will have less problems to deal with on our journey to the barracks.” Amane explained, looking between the two. “So, to ensure that we can effectively protect Twilight, going inland is best.”

“I'm not helpless. I can fight!” Twilight huffed, stomping her hoof into the dirt.

“And you're the bearer of the Element of Magic. If something happens to you, then we lose our only chance of fixing this world.” Amane countered, giving her a cold stare. “We cannot risk you getting hurt.”

“I’m still curious on what these ‘Eldritch’ are, Amane.” Zero said, interrupting Twilight’s next reply. “I thought we were fighting demons, not Cthulhu.”

“I don't know what this Cthulhu is, but Eldritch are a common enemy.” Amane sighed. “I personally don't know how they are created or why, but they usually appear next to oceans and eventually travel inland. There are many types of Eldritch, and are quite the annoyances.”

“Right… anything else we should know about, Amane?” Zero asked, sighing.

“Well… there are also Replicants.” Amane sighed. “Think of them as clones of us Killers… they fight and kill each other to become their Prime version. When they kill another Killer Prince or Princess, they gain the other’s memories.”

“So… how do you know you aren't a Replicant?” Zero asked.

“I don't know. All I know is Zero- I mean, Laevateinn, as you call him, is my brother, and you claim to not have stolen his body on purpose.” Amane replied. “Is that all of your questions?”

“Just one more…” Zero sighed, looking her dead in the eyes. “How many of your Replicants have you killed so far?”

“After two years… twenty four.” Amane said after a few seconds.

“That's a lot of times you've killed yourself…” Zero muttered, glancing around. “Well, we’re wasting daylight. Let's get a move on.”

“Wait!” Twilight yelped as Zero moved to start packing up. “I still have a question for you, Amane!”

“What is it?” The Killer Princess sighed, shuffling towards her earlier napping spot, which just happened to be next to Zero’s stuff.

“Where did you Killer Princes and Princesses even come from?” Twilight asked. “Zero was the first Killer Prince that town I was in had ever seen, yet you say you’ve been here for two years? It just doesn't add up!”

“Simple. We’ve been staying away from ponies.” Amane shrugged. “Sure, we might save a few of you every so often, but we know better than to interact with non-Killers. Zero’s experience was a good example of that.” Zero stiffened, before sighing. “We aren't welcome in your societies, because we aren't ponies.”

“But… where did you all come from?” Twilight asked again, twitching at the harsh criticism of her people.

“I don't know…” Amane sighed. “One day, I just… woke up. I have some memories from before that, but everything is extremely hazy…”

“O-oh…” Twilight sighed, somewhat disappointed with that answer as she began to clean up her tent and other items, and when they were done, it was as if no one had stayed there in the first place.

“Well, I might never be able to come to terms with magic existing… but it is definitely a handy thing to use.” Zero sighed, looking to Amane. “You're on guard duty for now. Laevateinn said-”

“I know what he said, Zero. You can't bring out your sword until you get a physical one.” Amane sighed, drawing her sword, which was remade into the familiar red and black curved blade.

“Yeah… wait, how come she can summon hers without a care, while I have to sit back?!” Zero asked, looking around for Laevateinn.

”Simple. She naps almost all the time.” The voice of Laevateinn said nonchalantly. ”Guess you were just too dumb to realize that.”

“That… shouldn't… I fucking hate magic!” Zero yelled, scrambling his hair. “I don't care anymore! You are all insane to use magic!”

“But… you use magic as well.” Twilight pointed out.

“Because I'm forced to in order to survive!” Zero growled. “You two are okay with it because you've had it all your lives, but this is all new to me!”

“You'll just have to get used to it.” Amane shrugged, walking ahead of them. “Let's get going.”

“It's not a big deal, Zero.” Twilight sighed, trotting after the Killer Princess. “Come on, let's go find you a sword…”

Author's Notes:

That's another chapter done! Sorry for leaving out a lot of the action this time... I wanted to write more, but I felt I had been holding things up for a while. School has started, and I'm probably not going to be able to write as often....

Anyways, I hope ye enjoyed!