Chapter 400: The Perfect Father
Luca looked at the attacking ponies one last time before he began his performance.
"OW! OW! Stop it! That hurts!" He cried, his voice dripping with exaggerated pain. "No, not that! Please, I beg you! Have mercy!"
He staggered dramatically, clutching at his side where a tiny wooden sword had just tapped him.
"How are you all so strong? " He wailed. "What kind of training have you been doing? Your blows are like hammers!"
To all the adults and to Sigrid, it was obvious he was simply acting. But the little ones, who heard these screams, shouted in pure excitement.
"It’s working! It’s working!"
"He said it hurts!"
"We’re actually doing it!"
"Keep going! Don’t stop now!"
Luca staggered backward, one hand pressed against his forehead like a swooning maiden.
"Such tiny arms...such weak-looking swords!" He moaned. "But the power! The power! "
The children redoubled their assault, their confidence soaring to new heights.
"Hit him harder!" Nella shouted. "He’s getting wobbly!"
"Take that, evil Hero!"
"Feel the fury of my wooden blade!"
"I’ve been practicing this swing for weeks!"
Luca continued his theatrical performance, reeling from each "devastating" blow.
"By the gods, how did you sharpen that sword? You’re breaking my bones!"
The child who had delivered that particular attack looked enormously proud.
"Your formation...too strong...can’t breathe..."
He slumped lower and lower with each attack, his towering frame gradually collapsing under the relentless assault.
"Yes! Yes! That’s it!" The children shouted. "A bit more! You can do it! He’s almost down!"
Finally, with a last dramatic gasp, Luca clutched his heart and staggered backward.
"I...I can’t believe it..." He whispered, looking at the children with an expression of profound shock. "To think that I would be defeated...by such adorable little ponies..."
He raised a trembling hand.
"I curse you. I curse you all..."
And then he collapsed, sprawled dramatically on the ground with his eyes closed and his tongue lolling out.
The children stepped back, staring at his motionless form.
Then, in a whisper that carried across the square:
"...We did it."
Nella’s voice cracked with emotion until finally—
"WE ACTUALLY DID IT! WE DEFEATED THE HERO!"
The realization spread through the group like wildfire.
"WE DID IT!"
"WE ACTUALLY DID IT!"
"I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! WE WON!"
"WE DEFEATED THE STRONGEST BEING IN THE WORLD!"
"BIG SIS SIGRID’S HONOR IS RESTORED!"
"OUR NAMES WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY!"
They hugged each other, danced in circles, waved their wooden swords above their heads.
Some were even crying—tears of joy streaming down their chubby cheeks as they celebrated their impossible victory.
Nella was at the center of it all, beaming with pride.
"Master Mavis was right!" She declared, her voice filled with gratitude. "She said we could do it, and we did! We trusted her, and it worked!"
The children cheered in agreement, their faith in their mentor utterly vindicated.
—
Seeing all the little ones celebrating and waving their swords around, Sigrid had to hold herself back from laughing.
For a moment, she had thought that Mavis had completely influenced the little ponies, turning them into cunning little strategists.
But it didn’t seem like that at all.
They were still quite innocent and naive. So naive that they actually believed they had managed to take down Luca.
Especially Nella, who was radiating confidence.
The mothers, too, couldn’t help but shake their heads with fond gazes at their daughters’ adorable foolishness.
But their gazes soon drifted to Luca’s motionless form, and their expressions shifted.
They knew he was pretending, of course. They had seen through his act immediately.
But watching him lay on the ground, willingly playing along with their daughters’ silly games just to give them a moment of joy and pride...
...something shifted deep within their hearts.
You see, any other young single woman might consider many aspects when regarding a man—his looks, his charisma, his occupation, his hobbies.
But a single mother looking after her child would most definitely value, above all else, how that man got along with children. They would first imagine how he would interact with their own daughters.
So for them, Luca had become much more appealing in their eyes.
Even yesterday, many of them had fought him.
They had appreciated his strength and thought of him as a mighty being.
But their feelings had never gone beyond respect.
Now, though, he looked much more handsome in their eyes.
Sigrid noticed the looks the mothers were giving him, and she found it rather strange.
But she had no idea what was going through their minds, since she herself was an innocent maiden when it came to these sorts of matters.
She just felt that something strange was in the air.
—
The celebration continued for several minutes, the children basking in their impossible triumph.
But gradually, their excitement began to wane, replaced by growing confusion.
"Um...Nella?" One of them said hesitantly. "Why isn’t the Hero getting up?"
Nella’s smile faltered. "What?"
"He should be getting up by now, right? Even if he lost, he can’t just...stay on the ground forever."
The children gathered around Luca’s motionless form, their earlier joy giving way to uncertainty.
"Is he okay?"
"Did we hit him too hard?"
"I thought he was supposed to get up after we won!"
Nella stepped forward, poking Luca’s back with her wooden sword.
"Hero. Evil Hero. Get up! The battle is over. You can wake up now!"
No response.
"Hey! I’m talking to you! Get up already! You can go sleep on my bed if you want. It’s small, but I think you can fit."
Still nothing.
The children exchanged worried glances.
"What’s wrong with him? Why isn’t he moving?"
"Maybe he’s just tired from the battle? We did hit him a lot."
"But he should still wake up! He’s the Hero! He’s supposed to be super strong!"
"Did we...did we actually hurt him?"
The concern in their voices was growing more pronounced by the second.
Nella forced a confident smile.
"O-Of course he’s okay! This is the Hero we’re talking about! Even if we overpowered him, there’s no way we actually hurt him seriously!"
She was about to say more when one of the children suddenly gasped, her face going pale.
"Blood! There’s blood leaking out of the Hero!"
Nella’s head snapped around.
"What? You’re joking! There’s no way—"
But then she saw it.
A dark red liquid was spreading beneath Luca’s head, pooling on the stone pathway.
The fillies instantly went pale as ghosts.
"WHAT?! NO! NO NO NO!"
"WHY IS HE LEAKING BLOOD?!"
"DID WE HIT HIM TOO HARD?!"
"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED WHEN HE FELL DOWN!"
"SOMEONE QUICK! CHECK IF HE’S BREATHING!" A filly shrieked.
Nella scoffed, though her hands were trembling.
"Of course he’s breathing."
She crouched down beside Luca’s body, reaching out with a shaking hand. She placed her fingers beneath his nose, just as her mother had taught her when checking for signs of life.
"Don’t be ridiculous. He’s the Hero. He can’t just—"
And felt nothing.
No breath. No warmth. Nothing.
The color drained from her face entirely.
"What’s going on, Nella? He’s breathing, right?" One of the children asked, her voice small and frightened.
"He has to be breathing." Another added. "He’s the Hero. He can’t be—"
Nella slowly turned to face them, her expression one of pure, unadulterated horror.
"I think..." She whispered. "I think the Hero is dead."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Then pandemonium erupted.
"WE KILLED THE HERO!"
"HE’S DEAD! THE HERO IS ACTUALLY DEAD!"
"I DIDN’T MEAN TO KICK HIM THAT HARD!"
"SOMEONE PUT HIM BACK TOGETHER!"
"CAN WE UN-KILL HIM?!"
"WE’RE GOING TO PONY JAIL!"
"I DON’T WANT TO GO TO PONY JAIL!"
"DO HEROES HAVE GHOSTS?!"
"WHAT IF HIS GHOST COMES BACK AND KICKS US?!"
"I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT A GHOST!"
"MAYBE WE SHOULD RUN AWAY BEFORE HE BECOMES ONE!"
The children scattered in all directions, their earlier formation completely forgotten.
Some ran in circles, shrieking in panic. Others dropped to their pony knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"My mother is going to kill me for killing the Hero!" One wailed.
"I’m a murderer!" Another cried. "I don’t want to be a murderer!"
"I didn’t want any of this! I just wanted to help Big Sis Sigrid!"
"We’re all going to be executed!"
"I’m too young to be executed!"
"This is the worst day of my life!"
Nella, the brave leader who had rallied her troops so effectively, was now on her knees beside Luca’s body, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Please, Hero! Please get up!" She begged, shaking his shoulder. "I’m sorry! I-I’m so sorry for bullying you like this! I admit that everything I did was wrong! I was using underhanded tactics against someone like you, and that wasn’t fair!"
So please—please wake up! I apologize already! I don’t want you to die!"
But Luca remained motionless.
Nella broke down completely, her small body shaking with sobs. The confident, haughty commander from moments ago was gone, replaced by a frightened, guilt-ridden little girl.
—
Sigrid watched this scene unfold with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Unlike the children, she had clearly seen Luca summon a bottle of ketchup from one of his portals and spray it liberally around himself before his dramatic collapse.
She knew perfectly well that he was not dead—not even injured.
In fact, if she looked closely, she could see his body trembling with suppressed laughter, his lips twitching as he fought to maintain his act.
’This is going too far.’ She thought. ’The poor children are going to be traumatized.
But to her surprise, the mothers did not share her concern.
They watched the unfolding drama with expressions of quiet satisfaction.
Their daughters had been growing increasingly spoiled and unruly under Mavis’s influence.
Now, at last, the children were learning a valuable lesson about consequences and the dangers of their manipulative tactics.
Luca was, in a sense, doing the mothers a favor.
A few of them even exchanged knowing glances, silently communicating their approval.
’This is exactly what my Tiana needs!’
’A dose of reality, delivered in the most memorable way possible. What a move!’
’Let’s see if she acts smart after this.’
Nella’s mother, however, found herself thinking thoughts she probably shouldn’t be thinking.
’He would make a good father.’ She mused, watching Luca’s ’corpse’ twitch with suppressed laughter. ’Patient. Playful. Willing to teach lessons through games rather than punishment.’
’He’d be the perfect father for Nella.’
But then she realised what she was thinking and her face flushed scarlet.
’What am I thinking?! He is not a father! He is not my husband! He is simply the Hero, playing with my daughter! That is all!’
But when she glanced around at the other mothers, she saw similar blushes coloring their cheeks.
’Damn! So you guys are the same!’
They quickly looked away from each other.