Episode 18: Soul in Shadow

Nero and Spira were walking through Princess Celestia and Luna's throne room. For more than seventeen years, their world had been without rulers…

...rulers that their world knew about, at least. Most had forgotten who their rulers were. Most had forgotten who was really running the show, willing to settle for the mere illusion of freedom. They had given up on making their own stories, and had allowed the two most mischievous gods to write their stories for them. Allowing them to tell them how they should live their lives, how they should react to their issues, even how they should think and feel. Like the world of Myra Michaels, this world too had been invaded by demons and evil forces from beyond. And while the church of Pies had used their influence to spread doubt of their existence to the people, Nero and Spira's eyes had become open to their ruse. Now that the world's rulers knew of their awareness, they had requested an audience with the two…

"Ha ha ha," laughed Nero as both he and Spira looked upon who had been leading the world in Celestia and Luna's absence, "so this is the face of big brother. A ninja and a monster dressed like a priest. How cute and appropriate."

Of course, the ones sitting upon their thrones were none other than Ninja Time God Rarity, wearing her garb that had an emblem of a sword on it, and Fantasy God Discord, wearing a white robe that had the emblem of a shield on it. Ever since the night Akame had been defeated after Celestia and Luna had been killed, they had been involving themselves more with the world of the heralds, establishing their reign to the knowledge of their royal subjects while keeping the rest of the world in the dark. Once they saw ponies in the general public arriving at the scene of the battle's aftermath and learning of their existence, they knew they had a cover story to prepare. Things needed to be edited, including the minds and memories of others…

"Yes," replied NTG Rarity, "cute and appropriate. Just like you two."

"What do you want from us?" Spira asked. "Are we to have our memories doctored for knowing too much? If that's what you're planning to do, you may as well kill us because we're not going to stand for you lying to our people."

"Essentially…" Nero interjected as he prepared a ball of dark energy in his right hoof with a menacing smile on his face. "...prepare to fight if you want to do anything funny…"

"Does that include telling jokes?" FG Discord retorted. "Ho ho ho ho ho!"

"You don't have to beat around the bush," chimed in NTG Rarity, "we know what you want to do. You want to defeat us and take the throne for yourself. I'm afraid there are two major flaws with that plan, however."

"Yawn." Nero made a rejoinder. "Like I haven't heard this one before. Just tell us what the other one is besides "the fact that we can't beat you"."

"Actually," replied FG Discord in a cheeky tone, "the first flaw is that you can't beat us unless we allow it. Huge detail you overlooked there. But the second, more important one that you overlooked is that we have no intent to fight for the throne because we don't want it."

"Huh?" Spira and Nero both made a confused response. "What are you talking about, I thought you needed this position of power to control the people!"

"Did you really think that our influence over the masses has anything to do with the fact that our asses are sitting in these chairs?" NTG Rarity scoffed. "To tell you the truth, we've been trying to get our asses seated into something more comfortable for quite some time."

"We already have power that comes straight from the ruler of the universe." FG Discord boasted. "A job like this that only gives us domain over one world is merely a side chore for us that we're better off without. Nearly eighteen years of this shit is enough, even for all-powerful gods like us..."

"Wait, so you called us over here to pass the buck on us just because you're bored and lazy?" an annoyed Spira and Nero retorted.

"Exactly!" NTG Rarity and FG Discord exclaimed, both wearing wide, cheerful smiles on their faces. "So have fun with the job!"

With that, FG Discord clicked his fingers, and he and NTG Rarity vanished with puffs of smoke. Both Nero and Spira had confounded, irritated looks on their faces as they sat on the thrones the idiosyncratic gods had left behind, and still had the same looks on their faces they had back then as they recapped this story to the Helllights and the Nightbringers…

"So that's how it happened?" a perplexed Gordon asked. "They called you in so they could give the throne over to you?"

"I...suppose that's what went down." an equally perplexed Nero replied.

"What oddballs." Vincent chimed in. "I'm not too shocked, however. The impression I got from them the night we first saw them was that they were the "chaotic and comical" type of evil."

"The kind who don't want power, fortune, or glory…" Ricard solemnly interjected. "They only want to watch the world burn…"

"Honestly, you can't really expect much more from psychotic, omnipotent, cosmic deities." Trish voiced her thoughts. "I'd be bored with no one to match my power myself."

"Speaking of matching power," intervened Vergil, "I'd like to address the big picture…"

"Yeah…" Dante followed along. "Though those gods haven't committed any recent atrocities that we know of, they're obviously still a threat. Not only have they been leading so many to live a lie for all these years, manipulating the general public, they were also able to manipulate all of us, including Akame. And she was the strongest villain we've ever fought."

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet, hee hee hee…" Nero thought to himself, fighting the urge to chuckle evilly. While he was able to disguise what was really on his mind from the soldiers, Spira felt a bad premonition.

"Nero…" Spira said to herself in thought, concerned. "I hope you're not thinking what I'm thinking. That the reason you're looking into the secrets of this world and the powers that be in it is not to protect the people, but to prove that you and the devil are the strongest…"

Even though both the Helllights and the Nightbringers couldn't read Nero like Spira could, they still didn't know if they could put their full trust in their king. And even though they remained silent, their facial expressions showing no feelings or ideas of disloyalty, Nero already had an idea of what they actually felt…

"You can hide it all you want…" Nero thought. "But I know from experience what people like you tend to think of me. You can even respect me and still have legitimate doubts about my integrity, believing I am a shady character. Not that I blame you. I also trust no one...and it's the truth that I am not trustworthy myself. Still, I need both you and the masses to view me as a reputable figure, or else my entire plan will be ruined…"

Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord, knowing what was going on inside his head, chortled to themselves.

Are you getting bored of all this talking? I'm getting bored of all this talking.

NTG Rarity said those words as she and her partner set eyes on the church of Pies.

Ditto. I feel that we owe the fans some action...I just hope this isn't too much fanservice for our good friend Nero, ho ho…

FG Discord said those words in a foreboding tone of voice as he got out his book and pen.

Don't speak as if we're just doing this for him. You know as well as I do how we want to see him react to this.

NTG Rarity told that to FG Discord.

Oh, I know we're not on his side or anyone else's. I just love to bring everyone in on the fun…

Back at Nero and Spira's castle, they had dismissed the Helllights and the Nightbringers, who were now returning home.

"You know," said Gordon, "there's always something that bothers me about King Nero. Does anyone else feel the same way?"

"You may as well be asking us if ponies eat hay." Vincent retorted. "Not just us, every guard in the castle tells me that he gives them the creeps."

"It's strange…" Ricard interjected. "I never get the impression that he's evil, but nothing about his demeanor tells me that he's good either."

"Heh, that wouldn't be a crime to me." Dante made a rejoinder. "I don't believe in anyone being "good or evil", I just believe that all of us have a good side and a bad side. What really matters is how you express that good side and bad side. Some choose to do it in a way that's constructive, others in a way that's destructive."

"Since you said what was on my mind well enough," chimed in Trish, "I'll add that the problem with our king is that he's not expressing either side to us at all. He's hiding something and believes that we're too stupid to find out for ourselves what it is."

"And that's where the action comes in…" Vergil spoke in tandem. "I believe that our king has already discovered the kind of strength needed to take down those insane gods. The reason he is withholding the information on how to acquire that power from us, I believe, is to keep the source of his strength a secret. But unfortunately for him, I've already done research on what I think that source is...the unity of light and darkness."

With that being said, everyone stopped dead in their tracks, distracted by what they couldn't believe…

Meanwhile, Nero and Spira were eating lunch together at the royal table with fellow nobles. While Spira didn't seem too thrilled, along with the other guests at the table, barely touching their food, Nero was happily helping himself to one of Princess Luna's old favorites…

"Ah, this roast pork is simply divine!" he proclaimed. "Such delicacies are best shared with friends!"

The confused nobles just stared and watched as they muttered to themselves things like…

"I didn't know our king wasn't even into eating etiquette…"

"I didn't even know we ate meat…"

"Aren't pigs people too? Wait...is it okay to call ponies people? Should I call the pigs ponies?"

After finishing chowing on the cut of pork, Nero looked at his quiet and unenthused sister and guests and chortled.

"Why is everyone so reserved?" he remarked cheekily. "I thought you were here to have a buffet, not a study session over coffee at a cafe!"

"Brother…" Spira addressed Nero, saving one of the guests the trouble. "We have not yet said a prayer…"

"Prayer?" Nero cockily retorted. "What, are we having lunch after a church service? Who would I be praying to and for what?"

Spira slammed her front hooves on the table and pulled her chair back in annoyance.

"Please excuse my brother and I…" she requested of the guests of the table as she left. "This lunch is temporarily postponed. Please come with me, brother, I must speak to you alone…"

Despite being just as confounded as the nobles now, Nero followed Spira outside of the dining room and to the hallway outside of their bedrooms.

"Don't keep me in suspense too long…" Nero continued to speak sarcastically. "What did I do that was so vile you couldn't tell me about right then?"

"You know it's not just one thing…" Spira replied. "It's the way you act in general that's concerning to me."

"Another favorite of mine, generalization." Nero made another rejoinder. "Just write me a list of everything I've done wrong, why don't you?"

"I could…" Spira played along with the joke. "...but I don't want us to be here all day. Besides, you shouldn't need me to be telling you what you've done wrong. Don't tell me you can't see how scarfing food at a royal banquet without even saying a prayer first can be seen as discourteous."

"I don't give a shit how others "see what I do."." Nero replied, growing more serious and firm in his tone. "You should be with me, not against me, in standing up for what we want to do instead of pandering to everyone. Our "happy Sunday school days" in church are over. We make the rules now, and we are not obligated to please anyone."

"So you're saying you don't want our people to be happy?" Spira asked.

"If they're not happy, then what are we supposed to do about it?" Nero answered. "If you don't mind forcing yourself to be something you're not to please them, fine. But I'm sick and tired of it. It's not in my nature to have friends. It's not in my nature to click with others. If I can't even get anyone to like this "fake me" I have to be, what's the point of trying to get them to like the "real me"?"

Spira silently gave her brother a gloomy stare before she shook her head and said…

"Oh Nero...your understanding of the problem I have with you is entirely wrong...I'm not mad at you for only half-heartedly lying to everyone about who you really are...I'm mad at you for lying to everyone in the first place! Why do you think I would ever want you to be so dishonest and complacent that you would actually rather just be someone you're not instead of finding the courage to be yourself?!"

Nero couldn't counter what his sister had told him. If everything what as it seemed, she would've hit the nail on the head.

"She still doesn't believe that I'm a monster…" he told himself in thought, shaken and sad. "Why...why after every shady thing that I've done does she still have hope in me?! Is it wrong for me to just tell her how screwed up I actually am? Or is it wrong to lie and have her believe that everything's okay? Why…"

Nero then began to clutch the back of his head with his front hooves in frustration before lifting his head up and bellowing…

"WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE SO FUCKED UP?! JUST GIVE ME AN ANSWER ON WHAT'S RIGHT AND WRONG!"

All of a sudden, Spira and Nero could hear one of the guests breathing heavily from behind as he came out from the dining room to get to them in the halls.

"Oh shit…" Nero said as he turned to the aghast noble. "Listen dude, what I said was just an overreaction. We weren't discussing anything serious, I just got a little carried a-"

"DEMON!" the hysterical noble abruptly shouted, interrupting Nero and sending a chill down his spine.

"It's happened again…" he thought. "I couldn't keep my mouth shut again, and now I'm going to pay for it...AGAIN. My words...WHY IS IT ALWAYS OVER MY WORDS AND THE STUPIDEST LITTLE THINGS I DO?! WHY CAN'T I JUST TAKE SOME-"

Nero was interrupted again, this time by a scene of blood...to the horror of both his sister and him, the noble was stabbed in the back through the chest by a red demon clad in black scales.

"HEE HEE HEE!" the demon cackled evilly, looking at the noble with his claw in his chest. "GO ON! SCREAM YOUR HEAD OFF! LET IT RIP!"

The poor noble couldn't scream, gasping for air in fear and pain before the demon brought his hand up to tear through the noble's body even more, bringing his hand out through his head and killing him.

"But that's fine too…" the demon mocked the dead noble who collapsed to the floor, bleeding all over the carpet. "I DON'T MIND DOING THE RIPPING FOR YOU! MWA HA HA HA HA!"

The demon then turned to taunt the asphyxiated Spira and Nero.

"What's the matter?" he scoffed. "Are you just going to let me and my friends kill your subjects? You're more useless than them if that's your plan…"

However, Spira and Nero's paralysis from shock came to an end when they saw something that woke them up...it was the dead noble's soul leaving his body, only to be grabbed by the demon that killed him…

"Because at least these weaklings will provide us with nourishment!" the demon proclaimed as he gave the soul a terrifying glare. "MWA HA HA HA HA!"

Upon seeing the soul, Nero felt a strange sensation course through his body as he impulsively licked his lips…

*BANG* *BANG* *SPLURT*

"Action." Nero finished the thought he couldn't finish earlier as a new scene of blood took place before his eyes. The demon now laid dead on the floor before his sister and him, killed by a shot from a gun that went through the bottom of his jaw and blew his head off. Spira had manifested the spirit of Fluttershy, who had fired an explosive bullet from a familiar red and white-striped gun at the demon, by her side.

"Hmph." she went as she looked over at her brother and reacted to his demeanor. "You know you can't fight these guys like that."

"Bah…" Nero responded in frustration, even though he knew that what his sister was referring to wasn't his character, but his ineffective action against the demon. He had transformed his right foreleg into a gun to shoot the demon in the forehead with a bullet of compressed dark energy. It had proven to be of minimal help however, as the bodies of demons were composed of dark energy, proven by the red, bloody mess the dispatched one made on the carpet dissipating into dark mist.

"Yeah…" Nero said to himself in a demoralized tone of voice. "What was I thinking? Mom would never take on a demon with a gun…"

Despite painful memories of his evil soul mother, Noimman, cackling as she committed murder, Nero realized that he would have to fight at full strength in order to save the souls of his subjects...he had to take action…

*SHING*

In the dining room, the friends of the murderous demon were laughing as they looked upon the corpses of the other nobles. All of them had fallen prey to the demons, who had ripped through their vital organs with their deadly claws. They had also cut off their heads and limbs, putting them on plates in preparation for a feast of their own. Seated at the dining table, they devoured the pony flesh like Nero had devoured the pork earlier.

"Hmph." one of them said in dissatisfaction, blood dripping from his mouth. "Meat isn't enough."

"Agreed." another one concurred. "After all the shit that's gone down with losing Akame, then Noimman, and all of our comrades constantly getting killed by Myra and friends, there's no way we can even the score just by tearing up and eating the flesh of a few mortals…we need to take away something from them that's immortal..."

"Well," chimed in another one giddily, "seeing as they've not yet departed to the Dark-"

*VROOM* *CLASH* *CLANG* *SHING* *SHING*

The demon was suddenly interrupted by Nero dashing across the table at lightning fast speed, having slipped into the dining room undetected with shadow travel. He had propelled himself across the table and spun himself around like a top to cut all the demons at the table to pieces, using his own forelegs that he had transformed into blades of dark energy. Blood and remains of the demons' heads and upper bodies flew everywhere before they landed in various areas, melting and dissipating into dark mist.

"They may safely depart to the Dark Sky now." Nero said solemnly as he transformed his forelegs back to normal. "But they can stay here too if that works better for them. Unlike you fools, they haven't overstayed their welcome."

Still lingering, the souls of the dead nobles had seen Nero in action, and in response, were both fascinated...and frightened.

"Our king disposed of those abominable monsters so easily...using the power and technique of a monster. Who is he really?"

Nero could feel the same sensation from earlier course through his body, and he got a crazed look on his face as he licked his lips again…

"I can sense them…" he said to himself giddily. "They're not showing themselves out of fear for me...which is a good thing, because I don't know what I might end up doing if I see them…"

Nero felt himself entering some sort of trance as he began to salivate and think about the thrill of absorbing new power into himself…

"NERO!"

Nero snapped out of it as he heard his sister yell from behind. Turning to look at her, he saw that she had a serious expression on her face.

"We both need to be on full alert here!" Spira exclaimed. "Just because we've killed the demons here doesn't mean we're out of the woods! There's no way they'd just attack the dining room of the castle and call it a day. There must be others somewhere else wreaking havoc!"

"You're right." Nero agreed with his sister's surmisal. "I almost wish I had left one of them alive now so that I could interrogate it, but it's too late for that anyways. Regardless, there's no way both of us can leave the castle unguarded to go look for them if they were able to do something like this while we were here. I hate to doubt our men, but I don't think they'd be enough to protect the castle if a swarm of them were to show up. We need to recall some of our best soldiers. One of us needs to find the Helllights and the Nightbringers and get them back here!"

"...Tactically, that seems like the best action…" Spira replied, despite being hesitant.

"He is correct…" Spira told herself in thought. "But I have a bad feeling about leaving him alone, in both scenarios. If I send him out to get the Helllights and Nightbringers alone, he might do something crazy with them...but if I leave him here alone with those souls…"

"So what do you say, sis?" Nero asked. "Should I get them or should you?"

"...I'll get them." Spira answered. "If I have to aid them in a fight they're caught in, I feel I'll be more compatible as backup."

"That's fine with me." Nero replied. "So long as we both do our best to protect everyone, we'll brave through this!"

"Right!" Spira exclaimed. "Best of luck to you!"

It was then that Spira put her front hooves together, one brimming with light energy and the other with dark energy. In a flash, she disappeared, teleporting out of the castle.

"It's not just that I don't trust him alone with the Helllights and Nightbringers…" Spira said to herself as she began the search for them. "I also don't need the Helllights and Nightbringers distrusting him if he can't control himself around them in the heat of battle. He's better off alone in a place we both know…huh?"

But what Spira couldn't have predicted was the terrifying phenomenon taking place right over another place that she and Nero both knew…

"Is that a vortex…" she asked herself in horror as she saw the spiral of light and darkness in the sky. "...over the church of Pies?!"

Spira also couldn't have predicted that the Helllights and the Nightbringers were going to need help from both of them if they were to overcome the challenge NTG Rarity and FG Discord had prepared for them to face...she would have to face who her brother was really…

"Oh, Mom...Dad…" Nero said in a chilling tone of voice. "Please forgive me...I wish it didn't have to be this way...I wish that I wasn't a demon...I wish I didn't have to...EAT YOU."