"Normal speech"

"Magic Spells/Attacks"

Thoughts

"Dragons/Gods speech"

*Sounds*

Today, could've started out in any way...

"AHHHH!"

She could've been relaxing on a bed, reading a book, or drinking from a mug filled to the brim with hot chocolate and marshmallows….

"DIE! ...OH SHIT!"

Instead, the start of her day was filled with the sounds of explosions and roaring thunder….

"HAAA- Omph!"

How did that make her feel?

The ambered eyed teen calmly sank her fist into the stomach of another mage stupid enough to come up to her destroyed second floor room. With a shout she sent the mage flying up into the air before a bolt of blue lightning struck him and exploded sending him crashing through the white archway in the front of the hotel.

Did that make her feel angry?

The teenage girl glanced down at the mass of mages making their way towards them and slammed her fist into her palm as her lips turned up into a snarl.

Today, Ceto Dillon, wasn't just angry.

"Die!"

She was freakin' enraged.

Ceto growled dangerously low as her nose burned from the cheap perfume rolling off the clearly feminine scent coming from behind her. Did that mage really thought that she had the element of surprise? Haven't she ever fought a dragon slayer?

At the last second, Ceto effortlessly dodged, ducking underneath the punch thrown at the back of her head. The woman, surprise at hitting nothing but air, overextended and lost her balance. She tried to regain it but Ceto wouldn't let that happen. Without warning the ambered eyed teen threw a precise elbow back into a woman's solar plexus making her even more disoriented.

The woman coughed up spittle and gasped for air as Ceto, in one fluid movement, did a handstand and spun on her palm so that she could rest her calves on the woman's shoulders. She then lock her ankles behind the woman's neck. She didn't even give the woman a chance to respond as she tensed her abdomen pulled herself forward and flipped the woman off the building, into the crowd of mages below.

Ceto didn't even bother to face the direction she threw the woman in as she landed back on her feet. For a moment she looked over her destroyed room and sighed sadly.

All the she wanted was a peaceful morning.

Why couldn't she enjoy that luxury? What did she do wrong?!

The teen place a hand on her forehead as she took a calming breath. No, she didn't need to stress about this. Everything was going to be fine.

"Iron Make: Needle Storm!"

Dammit! Ceto cursed mentally as she immediately turned around to see several, arm length, metal spears racing towards her. Well seeing was the wrong word. What she saw was multiple blurs of motion heading towards her.

The dragon slayer let out a curse. "Shit..."

Her instincts were going haywire telling her to dodge, but she already knew that it was too late. By the time Ceto had started moving to the side to avoid it, the first spear tore effortlessly through her arm. The second and third one went right through her chest cavity. The fifth through her knee, and the last spear? That one went dead center right through her forehead and right out the back of her skull.

The blond haired, blue eyed mage that shot off the spell shouted in joy. "Yes! I've killed her! That bounty is mine!" He celebrated.

Ceto frowned at him. Well wasn't he prematurely celebrating. She gritted her teeth as the hole in her forehead, that was surrounded by liquid water, was slowly closing. All her other 'injuries' behaving the same way.

Another mage moved by him catching Ceto's eyes. She was a teenaged girl with blue hair that shifted to bubble gum pink at the tips, with a white cartoon skull tattooed on her cheek. She smack the blond on the back of his head. "You weren't supposed to kill her you fool!"

He grimaced. "Ow!" He rubbed at the spot she hit him at then paused. "What?! I wasn't?!"

Another guy, this one wearing all leather clothing as if it wasn't the middle of the summer joined the small group. "Yeah man, we was briefed to capture not kill…"

The blond groaned. "Fuck!"

Okay, good to know that there's a hit on my head. As if this situation wasn't already bad enough...

After all, her pink pajamas with hearts were her favorite set and now they were ruin because they weren't able to turn into water like her. She sighed, water body was so useful. To bad her stupid instincts made her attempt to dodge for nothing!

Also why the hell was that guy celebrating anyways? Don't people check if people died from an attack anymore?

"Hey, at least I defeated her. Pay or not, I count that as an accomplishment."

Ceto's eyebrow twitched at that. Okay, this had gone on long enough. "So you morons, done? When are you going to realize that I'm not dead?" She asked while resting her hand on her hip.

The reaction was instantaneous. "W-What the… What the fuck!" The speed at which the guy's triumphed look shifted into one of horror was comical. It almost made all this fighting worth it.

Almost.

The guy seriously had no idea what land mine he just stepped on and now he was going to learn that the hard way. The mage shakily pointed at her. "I-I saw my spell hit you! You should be mincemeat!" The man kept on blabbering making her almost feel sorry for him.

The key word once again being almost.

The blue haired teen standing next to him sighed then began walking away. "Welp, knew something like this would happen. Laters." She waved as she seemed to simmer out of view.

Ceto sweat dropped. At least she's smart enough to leave. She thought to herself before focusing her attention on the rest of the group.

"Well, that happen." Ceto said as if nothing odd had just happened. She slowly rolled her shoulders as her lips spread into a cold smirk. "So to answer your question your question, I can turn into water." Her expression lost all its levity. "Isn't it exciting to learn new things?" Ceto said in a falsely sweet voice.

The man rapidly shook his head and so did the people around him. She laughed not in amusement but in rage. "Well too bad! Water Dragon's Piercing Spear!" Her arm rapidly turned transparent as it was replaced by water, her forearm down turning into the shape of a sharp spear. She quickly aimed with her left hand and shot the spear forward, impaling the ground in front of the dark mage and a group of his guild mates.

Ceto didn't even give them a chance to understand what she was doing as clenched her non transformed hand and shouted. "Detonate!" In less than a second, the compressed water spear condensed even further before to expanding into a gigantic sphere, engulfing all the mages there. The force of the water knocking all the air out of their lungs.

The dragon slayer watched them all boredly as the mages grabbed at their throats, some even tried to swim to the edge of ball, but it was no use. After several seconds they all passed out.

For the umpteen time today, Ceto wanted to bang her head against something. Don't get her wrong, she loved fighting, but this wasn't fun!

Ceto smacked her palm against her forehead. "Ugh, I'm becoming, glitter brain!" She groaned. "This stupid job is going to be the end of me."

"You're mine, girly!" Ceto boredly glanced down at the guy and calmly raised her leg. She kicked forward sending a torrent of water out of the bottom of her foot sending the dark mage forcibly back to the ground from which he jumped from. Hard.

"Yep, loving this job you gave us Magic Council. Love how you guys forgot to mention the chance of the whole entirety of a Dark Guild attacking us!" The dragon slayer shouted as she unclenched her fist, releasing the dark mages inside. Then she saw two bright flashes.

*Boom* *Boom*

Ceto expression deadpanned as she turned in the direction the thunder came from. She saw a bellowing tower of smoke coming from the other side of the hotel and sighed. Xiaomi.

She then turned back to the screaming mages in front of her just a floor away. Anger flared up in her chest again. These mages, endangered the lives of innocents coming here.

She slowly raised her arm towards the sky.

These same mages attacked them in the morning to capture her! To kill her friend!

Ceto opened her hand allowing her palm to flatten out.

They fought like cowards! They removed from her bed!

Water trailed up her arm, rotating around it until it piled up into her palm.

They deserved no less then being wiped out from existence.

"That's it! I'm tired of this shit!" Ceto yelled. "I'm done playing with you, idiots! Dragon Slayer's Secret Art," The water in her palm began to take shape as a large train car sized pillar. "Typhoon Goddess-" She never got to complete her spell.

"Thunder's Destruction!"

Sudden, Ceto's eyes shot wide open in surprised as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly and almost violently stand on end. Running on instinct, she ducked down just as another bright blue bolt of lightning sailed over her head, crashing to the ground below. It tore through the cobblestone and into the grassy lawn before striking a man holding a magic minigun pointed in their direction.

The area promptly exploded up in a cloud of dust followed by a shockwave.

Water from her spell splashed down on her as a wave of exhaustion passed over her. Ceto fell onto her knees holding her chest as she began eating the air around her or rather the water the air held. To anyone in the near vicinity, they would've felt the humid air drop down to nearly that of a desert.

Shit, I didn't even realized how drain activating water body made me. She grimaced as the shock wave from the lightning attack blew by her forcing her to raise an arm to block the dust from entering her eyes.

After a few seconds, everything settled allowing her to take glance over at the area. She winced unintentionally at seeing the smoking body on the ground as the dust cleared. She knew the guy wasn't dead, if the rest and fall of his chest meant anything, but he sure as hell wasn't walking that one off.

She should know.

She's been on the receiving end of them.

Taking a breath to stabilize herself, Ceto got up and slowly turned around, knowing exactly who fired off that bolt of lightning. "XiaOMI!" What started out as a low growl turned into a full blown roar. "What the fuck is wrong with you, glitter brain!?" She shouted, her eyes flashing dangerously as she glared back at her red eyed best friend who just nearly injured her.

The 'girl' in a young adult body, shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "What? Oh come on, Ceto~" She whined not exactly making things better for her. "He had it coming. Besides the guy was about to obliterate our home turf. Probably killing me in the process and mortally injuring you if you didn't use your water body. So I did what I had to do." She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at her.

Ceto sweat dropped. She sometimes had to wonder if she was the older one. The dragon slayer sighed. "You didn't need to say that as if you're excited."

Xiaomi pouted. "But I am excited! When was the last time we was in a life or death situation?"

"Last week." Ceto deadpanned.

"That seem like a long time ago~" She then smirk mischievously." Oh, hey you finally dodge my spell after years of trying. I'm proud especially after last time~" She said knowing full well that she was just teasing her now.

Ceto eyebrow twitched violently as she caught what her friend had said. Her cheeks burned red. "We've both promised that we would never bring up that again!" She said forming a 'X' with her arms.

Xiaomi laughed. "I almost forgot how masochist-"

Ceto tackled Xiaomi before the rest of that sentence could exit her mouth. They rolled for a few feet before Ceto gain leverage and stopped the roll. She straddled Xiaomi's hips as she grabbed at the older girl's wrist and slammed them to the tiled flooring. "First, fuck you." She growled.

"Well, you are on top Ceto."

Ceto gave her a flat stare. "Second, shut up."

"I can only do one of those things and we both know I'm a screame- OWWW!" Ceto slammed her forehead hard into Xiaomi's.

"You done?"

Her friend winced. "Just had to take the joy out of it, brat."

"Well, we're in the middle of a warzone, Winter isn't back yet, and the dark mages are somehow multiplying." She listed out before staring directly into Xiaomi's eyes. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm pretty sure it's not the time for games."

They both stared at each other. I'm a hypocrite.

"She's a hypocrite." Xiaomi whispered purposely loud.

Ceto growled at her. "I heard you."

"Yeah and..? You could be out there decimating the rest of the mages outside while I chill and hold down the fort, but that's not what we're doing right now, huh?"

Ceto gave her a half-lidded look. "I hate you." She said as she flipped off the older girl.

She saw Xiaomi smirk and rubbing her wrists. "You love me." She said sticking out her tongue at her.

Ceto rolled her eyes, but a small smile graced her lips. "Ready to go kick some more ass?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that?"

"Sure, sure, but I just caught my second wind and it's making me excited for battle." Ceto punched her palm with a smirk. "Oh and thanks." She added on quietly.

Xiaomi looked at her quizzically. "Huh?"

"I am glad you stopped me from casting my spell earlier. Don't get me wrong, that spell would've take them all out but I also wouldn't have had enough magic to defend myself afterwards and you know why." She said to her while stretching her arm above her head.

Xiaomi gave her a confused look. "What? I just accidentally threw a lightning bolt at you aiming for that guy that was about to shred us." She said turning away from Ceto with a huff.

Ceto shook her head with a small grin gracing her lips. "Whatever you say, glitter brain." With nothing left to say, Ceto jumped from the second floor right into the midst of battle.

Xiaomi knew she could be freakin' annoying at times and she couldn't help feel the satisfaction from messing with her teenage slayer friend. She really was a loose cannon at times and these people fighting them weren't that much better. Yeah two wrongs didn't exactly make the best combination and they taking it to a whole nother level.

A frown came across her face when she saw a foolish dark mage stab Ceto through the back with his sword. As a gift, he got a broken nose from the girl's elbow driving into his face and a kick to the stomach that sent him flying. Yep, real loose cannons. Seriously didn't this Guild know who they were?

"Ah well isn't this a surprise. The Inazuma Princess here in the fles-" A giant bolt of lightning crashed into the person that rudely interrupted her thoughts. How dare he make her not figure out how they didn't know them or their abilities!

Oh wait...he did.

Xiaomi shrugged her shoulders. Well too late to say sorry now.

Looking back at Ceto fighting, Xiaomi couldn't but wonder how many times she had used that water body of hers. Actually that worried her more than any mage on this battlefield. It was one of the many reasons she stopped the younger girl from using her spell.

Ceto's water body incredible, just like a rain woman, she was nigh untouchable while it was active. Unfortunately there was a problem, it was something she hadrecently learned, and she still had yet to learn how to keep the technique from draining her magic container like an unplugged bathtub full of water.

"Don't ignore us you bitch!"

Xiaomi crouched then placed her hand on the floor. "Lightning Bringer!" As soon as she had softly said her spell, a huge pillar of blue electricity exploded out of the floor decimating whole groups of mages standing in front of her. How had they gotten up to the second floor so fast?

She noticed out of the corner of her eye, some of the stronger ones mages shrugging off her spell like it was nothing. Maybe she should start taking this seriously?

As if reading her mind someone decided to attack her in an efficient and deadly manner. Xiaomi's eyes widen in both shock and surprise as her sixth sense told her something fast was coming at her from the front. Without time to see what it was, her body shot into reacting, immediately bending backwards, just barely avoiding getting her head sliced off by….a bass guitar?

The double edged bass created a pressure wave blowing her body back and through the wall of the second floor room that was still intact.

Well, was intact before she went through it.

Xiaomi crashed through a few more walls until she hit a firewall that stopped her momentum dead. Debris and rubble crashed on to her from the ceiling. Xiaomi coughed up a glob of blood and a little bit of it trailed out of the corner of her lips onto her chin as she pulled herself out of the rubble. "Fucking great, a mini-boss. Just what I needed." She grumbled just as a shadow fell over her.

"Shit!" She rolled to the side to avoid getting cut in half. Her previously occupied spot literally exploded through the floor. Xiaomi's eyes widen in shock before she recomposed herself and aimed a kick at her assailant's stomach but they raised their bass guitar up just in time to block the attack. That didn't stop Xiaomi's kick from sending the person back through the hole she created.

The lightning mage jumped after them but the person used her momentum against her flipping her over them causing Xiaomi to fly through the multiple holes and into the air. "Tch." Xiaomi cocked back her arms before slamming them together. "Lightning Make: Dual Cannons!" Two stylized blue cannons formed on her arms. At their mouths was two glowing masses of energy that was growing by the second until they fired sending Xiaomi into a backflip from the shockwave.

The two blue lightning balls shot towards the building at an incredible speed and then it hit. First, a severely bright light covered the area, then came the explosion.

Ceto saw the bright light that covered the area and groaned. "Dammit, Xiao-"

*BOOOOOOM*

She ducked her head, as she and every mage she was fighting braced for the shock wave that washed over them. As the shock wave pass, Ceto couldn't help but wonder, just who the hell her friend was fighting?

*BOOOOOOM*

Xiaomi landed sliding back as the top half of the hotel went up in a fiery mushroom cloud. She smirked as she shielded herself from the shock wave. "Well that's….that?" She paused as she glanced around her seeing the shocked faces of the dark mages surrounding her.

"Hey, isn't that-" She didn't allow the man to finish his sentence as she slammed her hands onto the ground and sent her electricity through it shocking all the nearby mages into submission. Unfortunately her range was limited because mages outside her influence began to attack.

"Shit!" Xiaomi growled as a sword was thrown in her direction. She did a roll on the ground before pushing herself high into the air off of all fours, dodging the broadsword as it stabbed into the ground.

She then twisted in the air and landed in a crouch, sliding back. This battle was fun, but now it was beginning to sour from all these mages that was suddenly popping out of thin air. It was starting to irritate her. Pointing at a random mage she shouted. "Hey you with the spiky red head!"

The guy looked at her shocked pointing to himself. "ME?!"

Xiaomi nodded. "Hell yes you. Is there a healer in the group?!" Her eyes widen once again before ducking underneath a the stab of another sword. Xiaomi spun on the ball of her foot and extending her right leg sweeping the guys legs from underneath him before quickly straddling him and delivering a quick punch to the face to knock him out cold.

Quickly Xiaomi looked up from the body she was on and glanced around quickly to spot the man she was talking to. "SOOOOO?!"

"Why the hell should I tell you?!

Xiaomi didn't waste no time zapping him causing his muscles to stiffening up before grabbing the guy by the collar. "It's basically the only thing keeping you alive." She told him coldly, her eyes piercing into the guy's blue fearful eyes. Of course she was bluffing but he didn't know that.

His next answer made her frown. "I don't know!"

"What the hell do you mean you don't know? This is your stupid guild attacking!"

He looked at her confused. "What guild?"

Xiaomi glared at him and shook him. "Don't play dumb now! You're apart of Crimson Hell! You even have the guild mark!" She growled back pointing at his arm making out the beginnings of a horn.

The guy gave her a deadpanned look. "You know lady, if I could move I would facepalm. It's a freaking red snake."

Xiaomi eye twitched. "Are you seriously going to lie right now?!" She lifted up the sleeve of his shirt. "This is obviously a skull with….horns?" She voice trailed off seeing instead of the trademark guild mark of Crimson Hell was a red cobra. "Ahhh, nice tatoo…"

"Thank you…."

"So if your guild mark isn't on you arm then where is it?"

"Oh my God lady! I'm not apart of that Dark Guild! None of us are!" She noticed his arm twitching out of the corner of her eye and smirked inwardly.

Aww~ He's trying to secretly hit me. She thought before grabbing his shoulder sending another round of electricity through his body effectively shutting down all parts of his body that she didn't need. "Next time, be more subtle." She said only to get a 'fuck you' in response. Xiaomi frowned. What the heck was up with people being mean today? Sighing she spoke. "Look, if you're not apart of the guild then why are you here?"

"I'm here because you and the Serpent have a price on your heads, duh." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then why attack in the midst of a guild attack?" She asked again feeling confused.

The guy looked at her with a frown. "That's twice you said that this is a guild attack."

"Because that's what it is!"

"Uh no it's not. Nobody here belongs to that guild. We're all bounty hunters." He explained.

"Bounty hunters?" She looked down at him incredulously. Did he really expect her to believe tha-

"Yes we're bounty hunters."

Fuckkk!

Xiaomi groaned internally when she heard somebody say the exact words she didn't want to hear. Just once today can I be right? She thought to herself turning around only for her eyes to widen in surprise at what she saw.

Standing there with a very familiar bass guitar, was a platinum blonde girl with green eyes that was grinning at her. "Sorry darling, but you've got a good five hundred G's on your head. And the best part is the price for you don't change whether I take you back to them dead or alive!" She heard the soft female voice yipped happily.

Xiaomi raised her free arm and pointed at her. "You're the one that-"

"-Attacked you," the girl smirked interrupting. "Yep that's me. Wanna cookie for figuring out. For failing to deal any type of damage to me. Or do you want to know my name?"

Xiaomi narrowed her eyes at her. "I don't really give a fuck." She said boredly even though if anyone looked her in the eyes they would've noticed her irritation.

"Ooooh burnnn~" They both turned to the guy she was holding up and he smiled awkwardly at them. "Ah, sorry?" Xiaomi didn't hesitate to knock him out and dropped him unceremoniously to the ground.

The woman standing across from her giggled and brought her bass up to playing position. "Anywho. My name is Sara Lee." Then she smirked making Xiaomi feel a sinking feeling in her gut. "And this is my song." Her fingers brushed against the strings of her guitar creating one of the most beautifully deep rich sounds she'd ever hea-

"WHAT. THE. FUCK!" Xiaomi watched in horror as the visible sound waves began tearing apart the ground before her. The electricity mage gritted her teeth slamming her fist into her palm. "Lightning Make: Shield!" A giant, blue, five point star appeared in front of her blocking the spell sound and all as the ground around it was ripped to shreds.

When the shield dissipated, Xiaomi didn't notice the harsh glare she was giving or the tenseness of her muscles. She did however realized how urgent the situation had become.

Sara giggled causing Xiaomi's eyes to shift towards her. "Oh so you finally reveal your infamous lightning make magic. It's as beautiful as I expected from the Blue Devil."

Xiaomi expression deadpanned. "I just used it to obliterate the top half of the hotel….are you blind as well as deaf, Miss "Here's my song."" Then she paused. "And I don't go by that stupid name anymore. I'm the Inazumain Princess." Internally she groaned. That name is so lame.

Sara smiled lightly grabbing the neck of her bass and pointed it at her. "I don't care what you go but just know this. I'm going to end you Princess with my Pressure Wave Magic."

Xiaomi eyes narrowed. "I'd like to see you try." Electricity sparked around her body.

The mage grinned coldly at her. "Try? No, I intended to end you and get paid."

With nothing else to say, Xiaomi lashed out with a bolt of electricity.

"Water Dragon's Iron Fist!" Ceto sent another mage flying as she did a front flip twisting her body as she did to come down with a foot covered in water. "Water Dragon's Talon!" She slammed her foot onto the guy's head causing him to collapse on the stone walkway then as she landed she lashed out with her left leg catching another mage off guard as her knee slammed into his stomach.

Ceto took a breath as she lowered her leg. It like there was no end to them!

Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her arm and glanced down to see an arrow sticking out of her triceps. All she knew was the the arrow had came from behind her and therefore she did what anyone sane person would do. She took a deep breath with trails of water rotating into her mouth and down into her lungs. Then...

"Water Dragon's….ROOOAARR!" A pressurized torrent of spinning water left her lips ripping apart the ground before her and slamming into the forest that was behind the hotel instantly creating an artificial clearing over thirty feet wide.

After a while Ceto let up her attack and sighed in relief. She knew that her spell was wide enough and fast enough no matter what that person did they would've gotten caught by the attack. She pulled the arrow out of her arm and crushed it, not noticing at all how odd it was that the entire thing was black, or how felt weightless in her hand. She was too busy falling to her knees breathing hard to notice that. However, she did notice the disappearance of the mages around her. A frown appeared on her face. Where the hell did they go?

Some distance away she heard multiple explosions and looked towards the front of the hotel and saw the occasional blue lightning bolt going towards the cloudless sky. Xiaomi must of been either having too much fun or she was actually having some trouble fighting whomever it was if the frequency of those bolts said anything. Then she sighed again. I'm just glad she's not here to see me like this. Ceto thought to herself.

No way she would hear the end of it from the older mage about how she was reckless for using her water body "Before it was ready". Yeah it used a lot of magic power, but it also saved her life over the last few weeks right? So it was a win-win.

No matter what anyone else say and was somebody clapping?

Ceto slowly opened her eyes unsure about the sound. "What the..?" She glanced around trying to see where the source was but nothing! It wasn't like the clapping was from somewhere far away at the edge of her hearing. It was coming from right next to her!

The water mage got to her feet as quickly as she could and truly began scouting the area with her senses but nothing aside from the clapping was disturbing it. Then something odd happened. She was facing the sun and her shadow began to shift from behind her to in front of her body!

She stood stock still as her shadow extended away from her's and began to rise. Slowly it took the shape of a person. Into a teenage girl. Into-

Ceto back away in shock. "You!"

The green eyed girl grinned. "Me~" She said in a falsely sweet high pitched voice. "Most people would run at that sound of odd clapping, and shadow's moving on its own. Y'know? That type of thing." The odd girl shrugged.

Ceto didn't need reason for what she did next. Her arm shifted into a water spear. "Water Dragon's-"

"Sorry~ I can't allow that!" Faster than she could react react the girl was behind her. She felt a sharp blow to the back of her head.

Ceto fell on her back staring up at the sky not knowing what had happened, only knowing that she was fading into unconsciousness. Only that she was being hovered over by a smiling girl filling the air with bubbling laughter.

That was the last image she saw of a the mage that was apart of the infamous Dark Guild: Crimson Hell.

The last image she saw of Kaitlin Jones.

"Come on. Just die already!"

Xiaomi flipped over the bass axe as it came down in a downward arc slamming into the ground creating massive fissures. The lightning mage landed and flipped back as the woman swung the bass horizontally trying to cut her in half. "Sorry. I've been told that I'm too stubborn to die." She replied back with a smirked that made the other girl scream in rage. Then she heard something unexpected. Was that...laughter?

Xiaomi paused her movements long enough to watch the woman chuckling to herself. "Errm, what's so funny?" She asked as she stepped forward. The bottom of her barefoot glowed against the ground for only a split second before it disappeared.

Sara shook her head giving her an amused look. "You're trying to work me up to catch me in some devious plot, aren't you." She said matter-of-factly.

Xiaomi gave her an odd look, then just nodded. There was no point in lying to her. "Yeah that's pretty much what I was doing."

Sara sighed raising her bass by the neck. "Shame… Trinity Strike Zero!" The woman swipe her bass through the air and at first Xiaomi thought nothing happened until she felt something disturb the electricity barrier that extended out from her body. Her sixth sense.

Xiaomi found herself bending backwards due to sheer instinct alone and saw as strands of her black hair was cut off by an invisible force. Sara swiped at the air again and Xiaomi was forced into a horizontal spin to avoid the invisible attack then suddenly she gasped in pain as she fell crashing to the ground out of the dodge as her purple nightgown formed a thin diagonal line across her chest from her left shoulder to her ribs, opening up revealing a thin red line on her body of the same proportions.

Xiaomi felt her chest that was becoming increasingly damp as raised it to see blood on her fingertips. When did she…? She didn't have time to finish the thought as she felt another barrage of invisible blades enter her field. "Dammit!" Xiaomi slammed her hands onto the ground creating a wall of electricity, but in doing so she lost sight of the dark mage.

Behind her! Xiaomi tried to react to the woman's sudden appearance but was batted away with the broad side of her guitar sending her crashing into the wall. Around her she heard roars and cheers of people hoping for her defeat. "You done? Because if you're not…" The air around her body seemed to simmer, or was that her blurry vision? "I have multiple different spells I'd like to break into- Errm, I mean show you~"

Xiaomi was ninety percent sure that correction was intentional.

Slowly she pushed herself off the wall and fell to her knees and arms. Each part of her body that made contact with the ground glowed for a split second. She coughed then grinned. "Yeah I'm done." She told her while glancing up at the girl.

Sara smirked. "Good because-"

"I wasn't finished." Xiaomi interrupted. "I said I was done….listening to you!" She yelled as she raised her hands high into the air, her palms glowing brightly.

"What the hell are you on…...about?" Xiaomi couldn't help the grin that slowly spread across her lips as the other woman saw what surrounded her. Multiple magic runes glowing just as brightly as the ones on her palm. She glared at her. "What did you do?!" The sound mage asked, about to take a step forward.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Xiaomi told her while licking her lips. "I can detonate any of these runes at any given moment, but luckily for me they're also triggered by movement." She added while her lips tilted up into a smirk.

Sara looked at her angrily. "You clever bit-" Then suddenly she paused and began…..talking to herself?

Um? What the heck? Xiaomi scratched the back of her head looking at the woman confused. "Um, hey...are you okay?"

Sara turned back to her as if she wasn't just having a conversation with herself. "Eh, better than ever." She shrugged then cough. "Oh, right we're doing this…" Xiaomi sweat dropped. She couldn't have been so forgetful, right? "Welp, I'm done here. See ya later~" Sara declared with a smirk.

Xiaomi eyes widen as she saw her body began to simmer into invisibility and instantly reacted. "Oh no you don't! Lightning Bringer Infinite!" Her hand sparked with electricity before the area detonated in a huge explosion.

Xiaomi stood at the epicenter completely unaffected as the dust swirled around her. After a few seconds the dust settled allowing her to see the damage she caused. Immediately she winced as now in the place of the hotel was a hotel sized crater in the ground filled with unconscious smoking bodies but none were that irritating woman with the bass axe. The Magic Council was going to be a pain in the neck for causing damage like this.

The lightning make mage let out a curse before she noticed something. What the…? Her eyes darted around through the area trying and failing to spot the familiar snow white hair of her friend but it was nowhere to be found! "Ceto!" Nothing. "Ceto?" Nothing but silence. Where the hell was she?

The thought would have to wait as someone shouted her name.

"Xiaomi! I saw the explosion! Are you okay, and wow you're dirty!" Xiaomi turned around to the source of the voice with a smile. She stared at the flying white cat with relief which most likely was present on her face because he looked at her confused. "Eh? Things couldn't have gotten that bad right?"

Xiaomi grabbed the cat and hugged him tightly. "Shit Winter! I'm glad you're alright. Did you get everyone out?"

The cat nodded his head looking up at her from her arms. "Yeah, but some got injured from the first part of the fight. Nothing too bad though I mean a broken arm is better than death." Winter said bluntly then he shook his head. "No that's not the problem I saw Ceto get abducted while I was flying people away from the fight!"

Xiaomi glanced down at him in alarm. "What?!" She brought him up to her face. "Winter, what are you talking about?"

"I saw Ceto get taken by that shadow mage you and her fought two weeks ago!"

Xiaomi gritted her teeth. Shit this is bad. She's apart of Crimson Hell! Why do they need Ceto? Her thinking came to pause as she remembered something about her last fight.

Suddenly she let go of Winter as a torrent of blue electricity surrounded her body. "I can't believe I fell for that shit! That whole entire time that bitch was stalling keeping me distracted as Ceto got taken. That's why she stopped fighting so suddenly. She wasn't talking to herself, she was talking to that Crimson Hell member!" Electricity roared around her body she turned to the exceed that was looking at her in fear. "Winter, I know your nose ain't as good as Ceto's but-"

Winter nodded his head, his chest puffing out. "You can count on me!" He saluted and floated up into the air. She saw his nose twitch. "I can smell her faintly. It's coming from northeast of here."

Xiaomi nodded. "Okay, let's go!"

Ceto didn't groan when she finally woke up from her 'slumber'. She didn't open her eyes. She didn't do anything except listen to her surroundings and realized two things. While moving her arms and legs tiny bit she realized that she was cuffed to a wall of some sort and was spread eagle. The second thing she realized was that her heart beat wasn't the only one she heard. There was someone else in the room with her standing right there in front of her. Knowing that, she didn't even bother to open her eyes hoping that whomever was in front of her started speaking so that she could get some information.

"You can stop pretending that you're asleep."

Or not.

Ceto opened her eyes and narrowed them down at the shadow mage which was the reason for this nonsense. "Do I even want to know?"

She shrugged at her. "No you don't, and I don't think you ever will." Kaitlin answered simply.

"Seriously?" Ceto deadpanned.

"Duh. Why would I say it otherwise?"

Ceto opened her mouth to respond but found herself lost for words. She was right. "Fine. You kidnap me and don't tell me why. I can respect that, I can accept that, but I swear when I get out of this-"

Kaitlin raised her hand making her paused. "Save your clichés. This is meant to hold you and all your dragon slayer attributes."

"So these things are draining my magic? Got it."

Kaitlin smirked. "Yep, sucking away that Dragon Slayer Magic of yours."

Ceto groaned. "I heard you the first time. How long was I out?"

Kaitlin shrugged. "A few hours give or take."

Ceto narrowed her eyes on the shadow mage. "I dislike you."

"Get in line, and just to let you know it's a long one." She teased.

Ceto huffed turning her head away from her. "Yeah I bet."

Kaitlin just shrugged her shoulders again as she began walking towards the door. "Enjoy your stay." She said as she glanced back at her. "Because you won't be here for long." That bad omen said, she opened the door to the chamber and locked it with a soft click.

Ceto waited a few seconds before she let out a soft sigh. "Dammit, I liked it when she was psycho. At least then it was kind of fun." She groaned out before looking around. She sighed again. No exits except for the one in front of her. Great.

Okay this might not be so bad, she thought. She said that my slayer magic is what's stopped but she didn't say anything about my regular magic. She even made an emphasized it...But what if it's a trap? Ceto thought. They wouldn't know about my water body because I just began learning it a few weeks back and today was one of the few times I've used it in public. Then Ceto sighed as she said out loud. "Who's to say that the shadow girl didn't see that and these cuffs aren't truly just for slayer magic?" She asked herself before grinning.

"Heh, there ain't no time like the present!" She began channeling her magic and wince as she felt it being drained from her. Come on Ceto, concentrate on non dragon slayer magic. Slowly but surely the cuffs began draining less and less magic until it was barely a trickle coming from her body.

The dragon slayer sighed in relief. "Yes!" She shouted then slammed her mouth shut looking toward the doors. No one came in and she grinned. "Good it worked. Now to get out of here." Slowly her body shifted into a watery state as she carefully kept her dragon slayer magic from mixing with the regular magic. It was at that moment as she phase around the restraints that she come to a realization of something.

Why was the trap so specific? Nobody outside of a few knows about my Water Body Magic so what gives? She thought to herself as she landed on the floor in a crouch. Her barefeet making a soft fleshy sound as she did. Seconds after she landed her form suddenly went up in a cloud of smoke before it cleared revealing the teenager in a different set of clothing. Gone was her ruin pajamas and in it's place was a black and sky blue sleeveless button up hoodie, a black choker with a blue pendant on it, baggy black pants, and combat boots.

Ceto left the hoodie unbutton showing off her sky blue crop shirt. She pulled the hood over her head leaving her face in shadows. Ceto was about to take her first step forward when of course she heard clapping. The dragon slayer groaned as she turned around to the source.

"Well, well, it looks like this slayer has a bunch of tricks up her sleeve. Because of you I now owe Kait, about three hundred jewels. Thank you for that." Ceto frowned hearing the sarcastic voice of a guy. She didn't mind fighting new opponents. Actually that got her blood pumping like no other. However this situation was too unstable for her to reliably act rash.

At this point she knew that any mage that was around her now would be at least capable of taking her down. She prayed that she was wrong but the confidence radiating from him wasn't one of foolish hopefulness. Nope, this was confidence that said he was strong enough to back up any claim he would make.

Her eyes suddenly widen in shock as she realized something. It was a set up!

Before she could respond the guy continued. He watched her with a smirk. "Ah, so that's how you got the nickname, Serpent. The gold eyes, the vertical slit pupils like a snake. Oh and the hood covering your face kind of give you a dark look you know?" Ceto narrowed her eyes at his words.

"If you knew that I could escape then why wait?"

The guy slammed his fist into his palm while grinning so coldly it actually sent shivers down her spine. "There's no fun in torturing an opponent that doesn't fight back." Suddenly he disappeared from her field of view and on pure instinct alone Ceto brought up her arm in time to block a blow to her face with her forearm. Then she was blasted to the back of the chamber by... water?!

"Ahhhh!" Ceto felt the pain on her forearm as she was pushed back but that should've been impossible. She was practically immune to water based attacks! So imagine her surprise when she landed with her back against the wall. Watching as black water fell away from her bruised arm.

She looked up and saw him glowing with delight. "Oh~ Didn't expect to be fighting a God Slayer, huh? Lemme fix that for you!" He darted towards her as her eyes widen in shock.

"Shit!" Ceto jumped just in time to avoid the wall shattering punch that would've more than likely kill her had she hesitated. She used the wall as a springboard and launched herself towards the middle of the chamber. "Who the fuck are you?!"

"Me? The name's Dante." He told her as he casually pulled her arm out of the wall. Then pointed at her. "Just live up a little bit to the hype will yuh. I hate boring fights."

Ceto stared at him then grinned while cracking her knuckles. While she did that, it didn't hide the caution in her eyes. "So do I, so don't act all high and mighty and then come off as a wimp."

Dante grinned darkly. "Oh trust me I won't."

"Good."

"Winter, how far away now?" Xiaomi asked the exceed as he carried her flying through the air. They walked for a bit so that the exceed could recover his magic but now they were flying and even though the view was beautiful, it also was… "Boring~ This is boring~ I want to fight already." She whined.

Xiaomi felt Winter's grip on her shirt tighten. "We're not that far off. Her scent is getting stronger. And stop asking for things to happen!"

Xiaomi nodded to herself. "Okay, good." She went to close her eyes for a bit but then something below caught her eye. "What the…?" She glanced down and glanced down in alarm as she saw a black spear racing up into the air after them. Her and her big mouth! "Winter! Fly high now!" He must've heard the urgency in her voice because the cat instantly flew high into the air the black spear barely clipping her leg.

She used her eyes to trace back the origin of the spear and saw the shadow mage smiling up at her. A low groan escaped her lips. "Winter, fly high and only dive bomb when I give you the signal." Xiaomi told him. "But let me go."

"What? Are you insane? You're still injured!"

Xiaomi sweat dropped at the question. "That's debatable besides I cauterized the cut on my chest. I'm good now so drop me!" She felt herself begin to free fall as Winter let go of the back of her shirt. "Remember the signal!" She screamed over the wind.

"What signal!"

"You'll know it when you see it!" That being said, she rotated her body in the air until she was near perpendicular to the ground. "Lightning Make: Wings!" Just as she past under the tree line two large bright blue wings sprouted from her back and in one mighty flap slowed her descent to a near stop. As she landed on the forest ground her wings disappeared. "Okay if I was a crazy shadow mage where would I be?"

She felt a breath on her ear. "Right next to you hehe~"

"Ahhhhh!" Xiaomi screamed out loud before instinctively punching behind her.

"That's not very nice~" She felt someone catch her punch and opened her eyes to see the shadow mage smiling at her.

Xiaomi deadpanned at her. "Shit!" She snatched her hand away and held it as if it was poisoned. "What the hell was that about?"

The shadow mage swayed around her. "Oh y'know scaring the crap out of you, but honestly why stop here and fight me?" Kaitlin asked smiling. "You had a clear shot at saving your friend and yet here you are."

"Because I'd rather kick your ass now so that I don't have to do it later with several people from your guild trying to kill me."

Kaitlin nodded. "See that's smart except." Her green eyes seemed to darken. "I'm more than enough for you, tehee~"

Xiaomi sweat dropped. How can she be so jolly with an evil look like that? It was creepy. Was that how Ceto saw her? She sighed. Ceto, you better have not gotten yourself into another mess. She worried. Because I just got myself into one.

"Water God's Bellow!"

"Water Dragon's Roar!"

The two spells clashed with one another producing a spectacular explosion of black and blue.

"Water Dragon's Hammering Fist!" Ceto broke away from her attack running through the mist towards Dante with her arm cocked back and launching a punch towards him. Her fist turning slightly transparent as it enlarged to the size of a beach ball while turning into water.

Dante grin widen as he swiped his arm across blocking the attack with a shield of black water. He licked his lips while smiling at her. "Don't tell me that's all you got beautiful?"

Ceto pushed off the black water landing a few feet away before engaging again. "Don't patronize me!" Her whole body shifts into a watery state as she slithered like a snake towards him at high speeds.

Dante seeing this extended his arms out in front of him. "Then defeat me! Water God's Piercing Needles!" A large light gray magic circle formed in front of him. Thousands of long, thin spears of black water launches out of the circle forcing Ceto break away from her charge turning back into her solid form jumping into the air just barely avoiding the attack as it tore apart the cobblestone floor.

Ceto coughed as dust and debris entered her lungs. Shit I can't let him pin me down here! Ceto jetted herself high above the floor with her water. She saw Dante looking for her in the smoke below. Perfect. Ceto shifted her arm into water creating a spear with her arm. She used her right hand to aim. "Water Dragon's Piercing Spear!" Like a bullet in a gun, the water spear shot out from her arm at an incredible speed.

Dante looked up the moment he heard her and smirked as he turned his head forward facing the attack and opened his mouth wide.

*Slurp* *Slurp*

Eating the spell whole, but that's exactly what she planned for.

As she landed she kicked back sending herself flying forward towards him with twin water trails coming off her arms. "Take this! Water Dragon's…..Wing Attack!" The unsuspecting attack slammed into the God Slayer sending him slamming into the wall coughing up blood as he did.

Ceto slid to a stop in front of him sending a punch at his stomach but faster than she could see, Dante caught the punch in his palm. "You're good, Dragon Slayer." He pushed her arm back throwing her body off balanced. Sensing what he was doing, Ceto back flipped out of the fall landing a few feet away as the aquamarine eyed slayer smirked at her. She frowned. That damn cocky smirk of his was starting to piss her off. "But I think you can do better." Dante finished then charged forward with black water surrounding his fists.

"Do I look like I care what you think?" Ceto grits her teeth charging forward, water covering her hands too.

They both cocked back their arms.

""Take this…""

"Water Dragon's…"

"Water God's…"

Both of their fists connects.

"...Iron Fist!"

"...Crushing Hammer!"

A shock wave exploded out causing a crater to form on the floor beneath them.

Yeah, I'm sure she'll be fine without me. Xiaomi thought as she glanced at the girl. For now I have to kick her ass. Xiaomi slammed her hands onto forest ground."Lightning Make: Barrier!" Soon after a literal dome of blue electricity formed around Xiaomi as Kaitlin looked around in surprise. The lightning user then smirked. "Shocked? Now, you're not escaping again."

Kaitlin yawned making her grit her teeth. Why was she so unconcerned? "Really that's it? That was your plan? Trap one of the most dangerous assassins around in a tightly closed space. It's like you have a death wish." She said rolling her eyes.

Xiaomi frowned at her. That was not what she was expecting. Was she surprised by her actions of putting a barrier up? Yes. Angry? Nope. Sighing Xiaomi spoke up. "You know that you're trap in." It was more of a statement than a question.

The teen laughed. "Of course. I've learned a whole bunch about your magic. This," she pointing and spinning, "is incredible. Your Make Magic is as beautiful as people have stated it to be." She giggled.

Xiaomi looked at her awkwardly not exactly knowing how to receive praise from an enemy. "Uh, thanks?"

Stars filled Kaitlin's eyes making Xiaomi back away, feeling a bit weirded out by the girl's excitement. "Let's have a good battle, okay." She grinned savagely despite the levity in her voice.

Xiaomi stared at her blankly a sweat drop rolling down the back of her head. "You're not normal…" She grumbled before extending her arms down in front of herself, her fist in her palm. "Shit, cut the banter and fight already." Xiaomi had enough of this stalling, she needed to get to Ceto now!

Kaitlin's grin widen and for some reason she felt something sink in her stomach as she did. "Gladly." Was the words she spoke. Then all hell broke loose.

For a few seconds they push against each other, neither side showing any weakness. Dante grinned at her spoke. "So you really are weak, Dragon Slayer? I thought you had more in ya." He said pushing into her fist more.

Ceto grinned savagely at his words as she quickly retracted her fist away from his throwing him off balance. "Weak? Hell no!" She spun on her right leg as water covered her left leg. "I'm just getting started!" She swing her leg into his side connecting harshly with his ribs, but to her surprise he grabbed onto her leg to regain his balance and trapping it between his elbow and ribs. Then he used her momentum against her tossing her roughly away.

Ceto bounced across the floor cracking the cobblestone before she managed to do a roll and get back to her feet but by the time she did her eyes widen in shock as Dante covered the distance within seconds, black water trailing behind his form. Ceto immediately jumped back to gain some distance but he was already over her.

"Water God's…."

Ceto crossed her arms in front of her face tucking her body into a small ball behind it bracing for impact as she saw him cock his arm back. "Whirling Barrage!" The first punch broke through her guard slamming into her right cheek, the second punch upper cutted into her solar plexus with the force of a freight train leaving her breathless, by the fifth impact she was left in a daze, by the twentieth she was bloody, bruised and barely conscious.

Dante finished the barrage by punching her in the stomach making her cough up blood then swung his left leg around to kick her into the side of a wall.

Ceto body made a deep impression in stone bricks as it crumbled around her. Her head falling lifelessly to her chest. Eventually she fell out of the wall onto her knees then onto her elbows. Her body shaking from the force she exerted trying to stay up and conscious. Trying to stay in the fight!

She saw a shadow on the ground and glanced up seeing Dante looking down at her form with her blurry vision. Unfortunately not even that was able to prevent her from spotting the sick smile on his lips before he kicked her in the ribs sending her skidding across the ground and crashing into another corner of the large chamber.

The girl cried out in pain as she felt her rib snap from the force. By now she tasted the iron of blood on her tongue. She doubt that anything in her body wasn't bruised or broken by now, but hell she wasn't going to give in to this bastard now. Luckily, or rather unluckily it didn't damage anything internal. "Geez, look at you. I've heard of you being strong and shit but after a barrage of punches you're already done…" He said sounding sounded disappointed.

Ceto gritted her teeth, forcing her swaying body to stand. Blood ran down her forehead, over her swollen black eye, and out of the corner of her pink lips, down her chin. Yet she stood, water slowly wrapping around her hands once more.

Dante tilted his head. "You don't know when to just quit."

Ceto spat out blood to the side as she glared at him through her blurry vision. "C-Come on. Pick one. Either you...you want me to be weak and g-give up or…" She smirked just imagining how her sharp canines looked with the blood on them and how that may have been the reason he just backed away from her. "A strong opponent."

He frowned at her, while lifting up his hand. "Well sorry to burst your little bubble, but even if you didn't know when to quit it doesn't make you strong beautiful. It just makes you stupid and ready to die." He then smiled which annoyed her greatly. "Sadly I can't kill you as much as my God Slayer Pride says to do so."

"What don't have the guts?" As soon as those words left her mouth she regretted it as the teen sunk on of his fist into her stomach making her cough up blood before picking her up by the collar of her shirt.

She almost laughed at the anger in his eyes. "I can't kill you but it doesn't mean I can't rip your vocal cords to shreds honey." Ceto was tempted to spit a glob of blood at him but paused at the sound of his voice. Gone was his jovial attitude and what replaced it was cold indifference, raw honesty. "Besides," he continued. "If you just give up and let Master take your magic power you'll get a new world. Yeah you'll die but hey, sacrifices gotta be made right?"

Her eyes widen before settling into narrow slits. Sacrifices, huh? Yeah, she knew of them all to well.

"Shit!" Xiaomi cursed as she rolled out of a crouch and jumped high into the air to avoid the pitch black spikes that sprouted from the ground trying to impale her. Okay, she needed to come up with a new plan-

"Awww~. Why'd you dodge?" Xiaomi eyes widen as she heard the voice coming from behind her. She turned her head only to let out another curse seeing a shadow traveling up the length of the tree trunk following her up into the air. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem except it was noon and despite fighting in a forest, an overhead sun doesn't cast shadows on the sides of trees!

Xiaomi heard laughter and forced herself to flip mid-air to avoid the stab of a spike extending out from the trunk. She reached up to grab a tree branch and landed upside down on it. "Crazy bitch! Lightning Make: Dual Excalibur!" She kicked off the branch coming down at speed as two light blue swords exploded to life as the seemly uncontrollable electricity took form in her hand. She swiped down cut through the shadows making it dissipate before doing another flip to land on the ground in a crouch.

"Smart, but not good enough!" Several more spikes extended out in extreme speeds almost faster than she could react. She sliced through the first one, did a spin and cut up through the second spike but faltered when the third spike sliced a part of her arm forcing her to jump back several times.

Xiaomi spinned into a backflip and while upside down crossed her swords in front of her. "Dual Cutter: Destruction Wave!" A huge crescent wave of blue energy sprung forward from her swords eradicating the shadow spikes as she landed sliding back as the swords dissipated. Xiaomi growled. "So you're a one trick pony? Hiding in your shadows and attacking your opponent?" She said trying to piss her off. She looked around hoping to see some movement in the trees or the ground but there was nothing. That only served to piss her off which was the opposite of what she was trying to do.

"Oh, I'm no "one trick pony", as you say." Xiaomi heard her say, but it sounded like it was coming from all directions. How? "I just haven't felt the need to. Why attack any differently than I am now? After all you should know the goal by now is to stall you."

Xiaomi eyes narrowed. "So you knew? Unsurprising. So why am I still alive, huh?" She noticed a shadow moving behind her from the corner of her eyes, but didn't even make a move to show that she had saw it. "Is it because you know that you can't beat me? Is that why you won't show yourself?" Subtly, she charged the air around her to create an invisible barrier around her body that only extended out a few feet. Seconds later she felt something disturb the electricity in the air causing her lips to tug up in a small smile.

"No, I'm not keeping you alive~" She heard her giggle. "Nor am I afraid of fighting you, or afraid of showing myself." Xiaomi closed her eyes trying her hardest to keep her muscles from tensing. 'Come on just a little further.' She pleaded with herself as Kaitlin spoke. "That only reason that you're alive is because I simply chose not to kill you…"

Xiaomi gritted her teeth at that. "So you are playing some sick game, huh? So you're that cliché predator and I'm the prey. Is that it?" She asked tilting her head down.

Another giggle and Xiaomi felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "Am I really the hunter?" A breath caress her ear sending shivers down her spine. "Or the hunted~"

"Frankly I don't care!" Spun around with a right kick aimed for the girl's midsection, but to her surprise Kaitlin blocked it with her left forearm. She gritted her teeth and used the force of the kick as a springboard to get a way but Kaitlin jumped towards her in a blur leaving Xiaomi shocked seeing the smirking girl above her.

"Shadow's Rage…" At the sound of the spell, Xiaomi felt the area grow darker and tilted her head to glance at the ground and only saw darkness. 'What the..' She was brought back to reality as she blocked a punch aimed for her face, but the force of it pushed her towards the ground.

"Dammit, Lightning Make: Floor!" She hooked her legs around Kaitlin's waist and used the force of her punch to flip her over sending the girl sailing past her. While doing this her hands skidded across the blackened ground, instantly cancelling out the green eyed girl's spell where it touched.

Xiaomi landed on her feet doing a spin to face where she sent Kaitlin only to see darkness all around her. Nothing above. Nothing to the side. Just an endless void of black with her standing in the middle of a platform of soft blue light. She raised her hand trying to extend her own spell out but nothing. Not even a budge. She scowled looking around.

"If you were wondering...yes this is how you will die~ Nah just kidding."

Xiaomi swiped her arm through the air creating an explosive burst of electricity but once it passed her source of light it seemed to just get swallowed up by the abyss. Fear was beginning to set in. Just what had this girl done?

"Look, you're lucky you did what you did else torture would be the least of your worries~" Xiaomi felt something breach the barrier around her and jumped to the side as a shadow spike stabbed into the spot she was standing in. "If total darkness were to overcome you, your senses would be disoriented..."

Another spike sent her on all fours before another forced her to jump into a horizontal spin.

"...Being unbalanced in darkness would only leave you stumbling like a blind fool..."

Before she realized it a tentacle made of shadow wrapped its way around her wrist and yanked her towards the edge of her light platform before she could land. In panic, Xiaomi screamed as all she saw was nothing, but then she regained enough of her senses to form a blade of electricity and cut through the tentacle causing her to land roughly near the edge of her light disk.

"...Not even that barrier of electricity can help if you're not focused enough for it to work."

Xiaomi in fear leaped back to the center of her platform made of electricity. Her breathing harsh. She wanted to run. Why did she want to run away so badly? What was this feeling of emptiness?

"...Scared? Well you should be. This isn't some alternate world or some sweet day dream..."

Xiaomi froze as she felt arms wrap around her waist as she subconsciously blushed from the soft bust squeezing up against her back.

"...It's your own personal real life nightmare." Suddenly Xiaomi tilted her head to look behind her, her face shifting due to the shock and fear she felt. She knew that she wasn't doing any good hiding it as Kaitlin's green eyes sparkled with mischief.

"M-My own personal nightmare?"

She saw the girl's grin broaden. "Yep." She nodded. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Xiaomi subtly balled her fist as she went back to staring forward into the abyss. "So this is how it ends? In a web of shadows?"

"Yes."

"It's too bad…"

"Hmmm, what is?"

(Fairy tail ost: Kaen Ranbu Ost)

"Your miscalculation." Xiaomi grinned as she slammed the back of her head into the girl's forehead causing her to let go of her and gasp in pain. "My magic may not work outside of my lightning floor, but you forgot that I'm the epicenter of it. And that you're right in it!" She turned and grabbed the girl tightly around her wrists. "Where there's electricity I'm in control and I say fry." Electricity traveled down the length of her arms forcing the girl's muscles to lock up and spasm.

"Lightning Bringer!" Xiaomi shouted, casting her spell. The whole outline of her lightning floor glowed before surrounding them in an empty pillar of electricity that shot up towards the sky. The pillar slammed into the top of the shadow barrier cutting through it like a knife through butter making the spell dissipate in the middle as it continued skyward. It then slammed into the lightning barrier above, but instead of going through it it was absorbed by it.

The barrier shimmered as a ball of electricity formed in the middle of the pillar as the barrier began shrinking into the ball along with the pillar of electricity until only the ball of condensed electricity remained. For a second everything was quiet then a sharp crack of thunder roar through the air as the already enormous amount of energy shot down towards them. Xiaomi grinned as she felt Kaitlin fighting the electricity entering her body trying her best to pry herself away from her, but unfortunately for her there was no tricks left to exploit. Xiaomi took away the one thing the mage needed the most.

Darkness.

"HOW?!"

"Simple. I just needed to get close to you and since I'm practically immune to my spells I'd like to say," Xiaomi smashed her forehead against Kaitlin's and stared directly into her fearful green eyes. "Have a nice trip to hell!"

Relief flooded Xiaomi's body as the spell came down at speed. Yes this is it! The end of her battle! She was going to save Ceto and finish this stupid job and-

"Oto no Kabe!"

WHAT?! Xiaomi looked up just in time to see her attack hit mirage of something above them, detonating on contact as the ground surrounding the cratered into a deep hole leaving them all but untouched as the lightning roared around them, except she couldn't hear the blast. For some reason she could only feel the vibrations of her spell but aside from that there was no sound, no feeling, nothing.

The lightning make magic glanced around in fear. No, this is bad, very, very bad. Like oh shit bad! If there's another mage here then I have to leave. I can't fight them both head on. I just hope that cat took my attack as the signal. She thought without noticing the similarities of the spell to another, so without so much of a hesitation, Xiaomi lashed out with a kick that sent the shadow mage crashing into the lip of the crater as the attack died down. "Sorry, maybe we can dance another time when it's fair, shadow bitch!" She yelled back as she began sprinting away.

When she reached the edge of the ground left untouched from her spell, she jumped into the air. "Lightning Make: Wings!" Two light blue angelic wings sprouted from her back and with a single flap of her wings she was higher than the canopy of trees.

In a matter of seconds she spotted Winter dive bombing towards her and managed a tired grin before her wings suddenly faded and she fell from the sky. Luckily Winter was able to catch her without a second thought. Xiaomi smiled up at him. "Thanks cat. She pushed me more than I thought I'm drained."

"I've noticed." Xiaomi wanted to quip back but decided against it. She needed to save her strength for the real battle. "While in the air I caught another whiff of Ceto's scent. She's just northeast of here."

Xiaomi looked on to the rest of the forest below with a expression of determination. "Let's go get are loud mouth slayer!"

"Right!"

Kaitlin winced at the pain she felt. "Geez, what took you so long, Talia?" Kaitlin asked as all feeling returned to her body along with the painful bruise that was starting to form in the middle of her chest.

Talia stared down at her with that no pus look of her's. To be honest, it creeped her out. "I had to act like you just to keep that lightning brat busy only to find out that you nearly got your ass kicked by her. Oh what a shame." She said in a raspy, monotone voice that only made Kaitlin want to slam her forehead into the ground. That is if everything wasn't so dizzy already.

Shaking her head, the shadow mage yawned as she stretched her arms above her head. "Look appreciate the save, hun. I really do, but if you have any idea of how creative she is then you know that she isn't some push over." Kaitlin told her as she sat up rubbing the middle of her chest. "She was in control the moment she put up that barrier of her's up." She saw Talia raise an eyebrow at her in question and continued. "The barrier wasn't there to contain me, it was there specifically to amplify her one attack meant to end me." She couldn't believe that was the goal of the lighting mage this whole time. She had to admit it. The girl was good.

Talia nodded her head. "Sounds similar to what she pulled with me. Except I had to escape runes planted all over the place."

"Sounds fun~"

"It was annoying." Talia grumbled.

Kaitlin shrugged her shoulders. "So be glad I pulled you out of harm's way then. You saving me means we're even." She said before a frown marred her face. "Doesn't matter anyways. We kind of have a bigger problem now." She poked the girl in the chest. "Instead of knocking them out of the damn sky, you allowed them to go to our guild!"

"So?"

"So? SO?!" Kaitlin grabbed the girl by her shoulders. "Aside from the master and that crazy ass slayer, the only thing we got is fodder." Then she paused as she rubbed the bottom of her chin. "I mean it's decently strong fodder, but it's still fodder... " She saw Talia smirked and instant stuck up the middle finger in her face. "This means fuck you in the most kindest non savage way I can put it."

"Shouldn't we be getting back to the guild?"

"Shouldn't you think before you speak?"

"Touche."

Kaitlin smirked. "Let's get back to the guild."

If Ceto had any strength left in her body she would've decked him in the face, but to answer his question...

"You want me to make a sacrifice? Yeah, sorry I am not so kind." Dante grinned and threw her onto the floor.

"Yeah, that's the spirit. Deny the enviable till the very end."

Okay now she really wanted to deck him but before she could continue that line of thought a burst of ozone and roses filled her nostrils along with a smaller presence of a cool minty scent. A small smile appeared on her face before she asked. "Why does your stupid master need me? You apparently got rare magic, too." She questioned knowing exactly what he was going to sa-

"Because I don't have residual energy from the Eclipse Gate." He answered back, cutting off her line of thought.

Ceto stared at him through her one unswollen eye in confusion. "Eh?" That was not what she was expecting and apparently he caught onto her thinking because he smirked at her.

"Yeah, you thought I was going to say, "Because I don't want to die even though I have the rare magic Master needs." He said mimicking her voice.

Ceto stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't sound like that!"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Oh well, but seriously come on. How easy do you think I am to read? Oh and before you say something snarky that makes me want to kill you just hold you tongue as I monologue."

Ceto gave him a blank stare. "Wouldn't it be better to just carry me back to your boss?"

Dante shrugged. "Yeah, but he's going to monologue too, so might as well get you good and prepped up for this." Then he looked at her oddly bringing her face close to his. "What the..? Why the heck are you healing so quickly?"

Ceto eyes widened as she completely cursed herself in her head. How was she supposed to explain to the guy that just trashed her that she was unconsciously eating the water in the humid air to restore her magic and speed up her recovery time? Shrugging she answered. "Magic…" She closed her eye waiting for the hit to come but oddly it never did. She opened her eye and watched as he nodded his head at her answer.

"Yeah that makes sense." Ceto sweat dropped at his simple reasoning. Really? "Anywho, what was I saying? Oh yeah! I apparently don't have residual energy from the Eclipse Gate like you do, or the other five Dragon Slayers do. Master don't know how you got it since nobody else that day in Crocus gained that energy, and since the other two slayers didn't have it either he assumed that you had it from before the whole Dragons escaping the gate thing." Yawning he continued. "Regardless, Eclipse functions like a portal through time so Master plans on ripping some of the energy out of ya so that he can make his plan work. Neat huh?"

"Not that I mind but why are you explaining this to me?" She asked as she felt feeling returning back to her arms and legs.

Dante gave her the most shit eating grin she's had ever seen. "Because the both of you needed to know." Ceto gave him a shocked look as he laughed. Then the chamber glowed bright blue before erupting in a great blast of thunder.

"Whoa!" He jumped out of the way as the lightning bolt crashed into the floor tearing it apart.

"Water Dragon's Crushing Fang!" While he was in the air, Ceto jumped after him, claw-like water trails coming off of her fingers. She swung her arm forward and her fingers connected with his back sending him crashing into the ground below. While he did, Ceto covered her left foot in water as she did a front flip mid air. "Water Dragon's Talon!"

She thought that she had him until he dodged at the last second letting her foot slam into the cobblestone floor. She saw him slid back then grin at her with that stupid cocky smile of his. "Catch me if you can Dragon Slayer." He teased her before running through the doors to the chamber.

Ceto moved to follow but then felt a hand on her shoulder stopping her from moving forward. "Don't even think about it."

Ceto coughed in embarrassment. "Hello mother, what bring you here today?"

"Ceto, do me a favor and shut up. Don't need you spouting stupid right now. I'm tired, annoyed, and a bit injured." Xiaomi groaned.

"So am I, Zumi. I just got my ass handed to me by a freaking God Slayer! If I didn't know how to eat the water in the air to heal myself I'd be more than broken on the groun- OWWW!" Ceto shouted out in pain then whimpered as Xiaomi applied pressure to her ribs.

"Damn he really did a number on you."

It took all of Ceto's self control to not launch the lightning mage into the ceiling. "Yes he did….so...can…..you not poke my ribs!" She finally got out after grabbing Xiaomi's fingers. "And I smelt Winter. Where is he?"

Xiaomi sighed. "He's still outside. For a cat that practically flew through danger he's really LAME!" She shouted out surprising the hell out of the dragon slayer, but then she laughed when she heard her friend scream back that Xiaomi was an idiot.

Ceto shrugged trying to stifle her laughter. "I mean he's right."

Xiaomi glared at her which made her laugh harder. "You. Shut up."

"It doesn't mean that he isn't right though." A cool slick male voice said filling the air.

Ceto and Xiaomi spun around, their respective elements flaring violently around their bodies. Alarm bells rang in Ceto's head as she stared at the middle aged man standing in front of them with his hands folded behind his back. He wore a black leather trench coat, dark grey pants and black boots. His hair was short and was fading from black to a light grey color, but what caught Ceto's attention was the scar on his neck that stopped just short of his right cheek and his heterochromic eyes.

Her eyes shifted to his sleeve and saw his guild mark. A skull with devil horns. "Crimson Hell." She whispered out, but it seem like it wasn't low enough because the man smiled.

"Yes," He raised his arm and tighten his fist and Ceto gasped as she felt her body seize up. What the hell?! Why can't I move?! Her eyes glanced over to Xiaomi and saw she was in the same position.

Her eyes turned back to man in front of her and saw that he was smirking. "I'm afraid that this is the end of the road for the both of you, and don't struggle, by now you should realize how fruitless the effort will be." He lifted his arm higher into the arm and Ceto felt her feet leave the floor. "I'll make sure to kill your friend in front of you and as a bonus allow your rage and/or grief to power my machine. Say something if you're not okay with that." Ceto tried her best to make a sound, something, but all she could do was breathe softly. "Hmm, holding your peace? Yeah I thought that you would." He smirked as he guided them through the doors into the hall.

Just why couldn't she catch a freaking break today?

"Winter?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to follow. Make sure that you get captured, okay?"

"Alright, but what are you going to do, Xiaomi?"

The red eyed maker mage smiled back at him. "Do what I do best." Her head turned back to the hole that went into the chamber. "Play a fool's game."

*Click*Click*

"See was that so bad?"

Ceto glared down at him from her position, once again spread eagle on a wall only this time instead of suppressing her magic, this did the exact opposite channeling her magic away to a... gateway! "You created an Eclipse Gate!" She asked shock, only to notice a grave error in her observation. Eclipse Gate had doors that this didn't have. This was also a lot smaller.

The man grinned at her. "No." He shook his head. "The Eclipse Gate was meant as a way to travel in time, but this is for something greater, space-time is what this gate needs, fortunately I don't need any Celestial Mage to power it." He stepped up to her. "I'm sure Dante explained who's going to power it and why I assume." Ceto didn't hesitate to spit in his face.

The man laughed as her wiped it away. "As expected. Defiant to the end. Don't worry I won't do what Dante did. You're about to suffer enough as it is." He turned around raised his hand up, and a whole section of the floor came up revealing a gold framed human sized mirror. "Oh would you look at that. The mirror that those foolish leaders of the magic council sent you and your friend after. Actually I'm feeling a little more than lucky that they sent you and the lightning mage here. Better for me, you know?" He spoke as he walked around her. "If I had kidnapped you instantly then the dragon slayers from both Fairy Tail and Sabertooth would have come knocking. If I had kidnapped any of them then it would've been their guild coming after us."

"But you see, I played my cards carefully. I sent my daughter out to observe the both of you, sent mages to attack you to reveal your secrets. Made you go on a wild goose chase so that after your last communication last night to the White Dragon Slayer. He wouldn't worry about you going missing and coming after us."

Ceto looked at him with disdain as he stopped in front of her again. "It's sad isn't it, to know that everything you love can't even save you, and that you're useless to stop her death." He made a gesture and glanced to the left. What she saw was all she needed to begin struggling in her bonds.

Xiaomi unconscious being carried by that godforsaken God Slayer, and Winter, being held by some unknown girl along with the shadow mage. Next to them was the same girl blue haired girl from before smirking at her.

Winter looked at her and she shifted her attention to him. "I'm sorry, Ceto. I tried to run but she trapped me in her shadows."

"No, Winter. It's alright. You tried your best." She blinked and she felt water trailing down her cheeks. I'm...crying? It was then that Ceto realized much to her despair that no one was coming, no one knew where they were. Nobody would save her. They lost, she lost. Her body went slack in her shackles as tears fell from her eyes. Her hair flowing over her head covering her face.

"Ceto…" The mage slowly lifted her head and saw that Xiaomi was awake now, but at some point they attached her to the wall in front of her. "Ceto, it's alright. We tried our best, but it looked like it wasn't enough. I'm sorry I let you get captured."

Ceto fought against her bonds again. "No! It's my fault I got capture! You-"

"Yeah I think that's enough. Dante."

"Yeah." The god slayer created a sword of black water and stabbed it suddenly into the left side of Xiaomi's chest.

"NOOOOOO-AHHHHHHHH!" All her mind registered was the god slayer killing her friend. Not the man putting the mirror into a holder. Not him pulling down a lever that caused her pain. Not her magic being forcefully drawn out of her body. Just the god slayer's blade piercing her friend's chest. Her lifeless eyes. The near psychotic look on the god slayer's face.

Then everything faded to white…

Xiaomi watched from the shadows, controlling the lighting make clone. She needed to be close by to control it and the runes she placed on its throat was so that it could pretend to be speaking. Unfortunately she had to be in an area where she could see the clone in order to make it react correctly. Which meant that she had a front row seat to her 'death'. She also cried when she saw Ceto scream for her, then in pain as the guy flipped the lever to begin draining away her magic.

She closed her eyes trying to ignore the screams of pain that began to dwindle away. I'm sorry, Ceto. I had to keep the reaction genuine unless they would've figured something was up. That also means keeping the god slayer from figuring out that I was up here. She thought to herself. She didn't know how the god slayer figured out where she was until she realized that he could be using a similar technique like she was with her electricity, which mean using her magic to dry out the air uniformly around her.

She looked down and spotted a gauge that conveniently read that Ceto's magic container was halfway drained and that the Eclipse Gate energy was nearly gone from her body. Xiaomi knew that they didn't have any intentions on stopping so as the man (who she assumed was the Guild Master) activated the portal she made her move.

She jumped from the crossbeam and landed in the middle of the room. Instantly everyone reacted but Xiaomi was faster. Crushing her fist she ignited her lightning clone shocking Dante to near decommission before it detonated leaving him unconscious and burnt on the floor. Next she spun around and created a bow and arrow, notch it and let it fly hitting the top of the machine Ceto was connected to causing it to explode letting Ceto go in the process.

Xiaomi winced. Well she'll heal. Then paused when she saw her friend go up in a cloud of smoke and was now naked. Xiaomi sweat dropped. She just had to use transformation magic… Before rotating away and letting loose another arrow that then struck the gate that already had the portal forming in it. The gate over loaded exploding as Xiaomi finally came to a stop.

Eleven seconds after her first landing.

She saw Kaitlin and some unknown girl that was holding, Winter, staring at her in shock. "Surprise bitches. You've activated the blue devil. Wanna know your prize?"

"Your death." Xiaomi felt her body seized up as she heard the voice from behind her. She felt a sharp pain in her upper back and out through her chest and saw the bloody end of a sword sticking out through it. What?

"Thanks to you I have to rebuild yet another gate." He said as her throw her off his sword. Xiaomi slammed into the wall holding her chest.

Xiaomi didn't feel the impact against the wall but felt the insufferable pain from her chest as she bled out. "See this is why. I give her the chance to have a clean non painful death and she comes back and ruins it so now you die suffering. Geez, kids these days." She saw the guild master walk up to her through her blurring vision.

"Dad!" The man paused.

"What is it dear?"

"The portal opened!" His eyes widened as excitement filled them. He turned away from her and then she felt herself being pulled by something. "Dad, something is wrong with the portal!"

"She damaged the frame it's pulling us in!"

"DAD!"

"AHH SHIT!" She heard the god slayer scream after Kaitlin.

"Dammit, Xiaomi you better live after this to save meeee!" She sweat dropped. That was definitely Winter.

Xiaomi slowly opened her eyes looking towards Ceto as her the portal began pulling on her. She coughed up blood, her breathing becoming shallow. Somehow I still managed to not live for you, Ceto….I'm sorry. A single tear fell from her eye as she closed them for one last time.

There was no loud roar, no shouts or screams, just an endless void of silence.

With little left to say, she allowed herself to be welcome into the arms of the great abyss of death.

"Master, please wake up! Master, please wak-"

*Click*

A young teenage boy groaned to himself as clicked the bottom on his alarm clock as he woke up. He stuck his head out from underneath his sheets with a face that show pure exhaustion. "I feel so heavy, and I had another weird dream. Why the is it happening night after-" As he picked himself off the bed and leaned back he realized something was very wrong. He looked down at himself in confusion. "Huh, why am I naked?" In an effort to look for his underwear he lifted up another part of the sheet and his eyes widen in shock at what he saw.

Sleeping next to him was the naked form of Rias Gremory, he almost jolted off the bed until he heard another voice.

"Ugh. My head." A feminine voice groaned as she slowly came to underneath his bed sheets. At first he thought he was crazy. Not one but two different women was in his bed. The first one he knew very well as Rias Gremory. Her red hair was unmistakable and that body of hers exposed to his eyes…..No he needed to focus! The other girl; that girl on the other hand. He had no idea who she was.

And as the sheet trailed off her body revealing her naked generous sized oppai to him, all he could think was that this white haired girl was absolutely gorgeous! He didn't even notice the blood trailing from his nostrils as he looked at her amber eyes, nor did he think it odd that she had vertically slit pupils.

She looked around his room then at him. Her head tilted to the side as her face scrunched up into adorably cute expression of confusion. "Oh, um hi? I'm Ceto. Who are you?" She asked pointing at him, completely unconcerned that she was naked in front of him.

"Um, I think I'm suppose to be the one asking that." He told her with a sweat drop rolling down the back of his head.

This was not what he had been expecting this morning after pressing his alarm clock, and as Rias stirred awake Issei Hyoudou had to wonder.

Just what the fuck was going on?!

Hello ladies and gentlemen, the old-new man on the block, TjFlex is back in action. I've been on Fanfiction for a bit. I even published a few stories back in the day but those stories are gone and this is the beginning of my clean slate. Hopefully you guys can join on what might be the start of a beautiful adventure. PM me for any questions you got and if you want leave some reviews. Anyways, see you guys next time. Peace~