In the darkness, there was only one.

Then a brilliant flash, as moonlight reflecting off a blade, and there were two.

“Finally,” rumbled Lord Grogar, Ruler of the Realm of Darkness, and Demon Necromancer.  He straightened up and checked his immaterial body, strong and tall compared to the smoking ruin of his mortal flesh a short distance away.  The shattered remnants of bells still hung around his neck, and the tip of one horn remained missing, but the sneer of victory even in his defeat remained.  

The floating spectre at his side did not say a word, but remained standing where she had swung the smoldering scythe.  Spectral winds blew the scraps and tatters of her encompassing robes in flowing waves behind her, highlit by the blue flickers of flame from her scythe.

“Enough of this, Death.  Take me to Erebus as you have before.”  Grogar scowled at the immobile spectre, stepping closer and snorting smoke.  “Well?  Always have you been a well of witty remarks and threats before throwing me into your blasted pit.  Have you finally abandoned your duty?”  

A sneer raised one corner of his translucent lips as Grogar regarded the dark wood and glittering blade of the scythe, which floated up in front of Death as if to be swung a second time.  Then the figure shook her head, ever so slowly.

“What?”  Grogar struck down with one cloven hoof and made the immaterial ground beneath them tremble with his might.  “You are a slave to duty, bound by chains too great to break.  Transport my soul where it is destined to go so that my minions may reunite it with my body in due time.  Look.” 

As he spoke, the robed goats and ponies of Grogar’s living minions continued to creep out from concealment, retrieving the charred bits and scattered chunks of their lord’s mortal flesh and carrying them away like a trail of ants.

“Soon they will cast the unspeakable rituals and retrieve my soul from darkest Erebus,” gloated Grogar.  “It will be a pleasure to dismember these [i]heroes[/i] one by one, and feast upon their screams.  I shall have my revenge, and shall not repeat my errors of centuries ago.  The bearded one shall fall first, torn limb from limb by my creations, and the rest will scatter like roaches.  Or perhaps I should strike the [i]new[/i] heroes who fought by their sides.”  

He gnashed sharp teeth and pawed at the immaterial ground.  “Yes, I shall start with the yellow one next time.  Her screams will distract the others as I pull her wings apart and plunge boreworms into the wounds.  Eaten out from the inside until she is an undead slave, a fitting fate for such impudence, and the spawn of her infestation will be used to devour the rest of her companions.  Yes, I can hear their screams even now.”  Grogar glared at Death, who had not moved.  “Take me to Erebus now, blasted spectre!”

“No.”  This time Death spoke aloud, the rasp and grate of dry bones making a hoarse voice, barely over a whisper.  The spectral wind around them picked up to a frigid gust, making the streaming tatters of her robes seem to be immaterial fingers clawing away at an unseen victim, and the scythe rose higher in front of her, carried by a glaring blaze of dark magic.

The spirit of Grogar was not deterred, and glared back with a vicious snarl.  “Do not toy with me, spectre!  Even you will not be outside of my grasp once I defeat these heroes and drain their lives into my power.  You too will be a slave to my will, just as much as you are powerless to use that scythe against me.  The rules are unbreakable.  You cannot harm me.  The bond between you and your scythe prevent you from raising it—

The scythe swept down once.  Twice.  Thrice.  Then uncounted times in a featureless blur, leaving the sundered fragments of Grogar’s spirit drifting on the wind while burning bright blue until there was nothing left.

“Justice.”  The dark spectre lifted a hoof and swept back the cowl from over her face, revealing a dark alicorn whose mane flowed with glitters of stellar light.  “You were a fool, old goat.  Never once did you consider that the robe and scythe could be [i]borrowed[/i] from a good friend who I had not seen in a long while.”