Mason soon became lost in the fighting. In the huge blend of friend and foe, he carefully picked his attacks.
"These fairies are easier to squash than I thought!" Mason turned, only to barely side-step an axe chop.
"You talk better than you aim!" Mason smirked, using Gravity Magic and back-flipping out of his range. A horizontal chop hit a wooden chair.
The grizzly man was bald, with thick stubble covering his chin. Thick hair sprouted from his collar and along his arms, he held a large two-handed axe.
"At least I do more than run!" He grabbed it both hands and ripped it in two, surprisingly coming out with two smaller axes. Apparently they were alot lighter, because he pounced at Mason, twirling them around him in a deadly whirlwind.
"What," Mason crossed his arm's in an "X", catching the blunt end of each axe in the cross in front of his face. "No magic?" Mason did a gravity-assisted boot to his jaw, making a sickly noise.
Where was everyone? It had been one opponent after another in the fray; he hadn't seen a single protagonist in the jumble.
Mason stomped his foot in confusion. "Is there any magicians in Ragn-"
A shadow morphed into the likeliness of a hammer sent Mason across the room.
"I spoke too soon." Mason muttered, peeling himself off of the wall into a pile.
He looked around the room, not seeing his assailant. He did see Erza though. She was in fancy white armour and wielded a long white spear. She danced around the room in a deadly array of moves, not wasting a single second to strike at a Ragnarok mage. He felt like calling out, since he felt safer by her side, but he didn't want to distract her.
"Mason!" Someone cried. Mason caught the tone as a warning and dived forward underneath a celestial spirit, Cancer if he remembered right. He was a tan, well-trimmed man, his only visible weapons being two long pairs of scissors. He moved too fast to see, hitting every Ragnarok mage in a radius of about 10 feet.
"Thanks Lucy!" Mason shot up and gave her thumbs up, moments before he lost her again in the fray.
It was amazing the amount of awareness you needed to stay alive. Before his first real fight, Mason had thought he had a good enough idea of it. He had trained hard, but nothing could have prepared him for the real thing.
Soldiers grappled with Ragnarok members everywhere. They weren't working as a unit, they had become distant and scattered, moving from large-scale battles to individual combat. Axes and arrows flew by him at random times, wayward swords and spears shot out from the crowd, that's not even beginning on the magic.
Huge explosions rocked the ballroom, plumes of flame and shadow flared to life across the room, beasts of every shape and size raced across the room.
"Natsu." Mason breathed, spotting him in the fray. A pillar of flame encircled him; he could barely see his friend in the huge flame. Natsu bellowed a cry, sending the flame out, scorching a number of people. Of course, he didn't notice the man running at him from behind.
"Natsu!" He cried, running at him. When he didn't turn, he gravity-lunged the man and managed to knock him down.
"You little-!" Mason stopped himself when he saw the man. "Elfman?"
"Get off me, runt!" Elfman threw him off of him.
"Why were you running at Natsu?" He asked in confusion.
"To help him! Now stay out of my way!" Elfman grabbed him by the forehead and hurled him across the room.
Mason grumbled and got up, cursing Elfman. He wanted nothing more than to take him down, but he knew better than that. Elfman would surely kick his butt before he could accomplish anything.
"Mason!" A hand grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. There's not a single set of multi-colored eye's Mason wanted to meet more than the ones he did, Dante's.
"Why did they attack with so many?" Mason inquired, raising his fists and readying himself.
"There's more than enough to take over the guards." Dante added. He looked quite intimidating, Fifty-four cards hovered around him in a dome, each encircled in their own blue flame. Whenever a weapon was swung at him, they automatically collected there and blocked the strike.
"It's almost as if we knew wizards would be here." A confident voice stated. A tall, slim figure melted from the crowd. He wore a black suit, with two long tails trailing from behind and a perfectly-tied black tie. A well-done comb over pushed his long black hair across his head, a clean-shaven face below it. Inwardly, Dante admired his style.
"Impossible!" Mason spat at the man. He simply smiled and inspected his perfect, clean fingernails.
"Fairy Tail isn't as loyal as you might think." He said with satisfaction, smirking at the boys reactions.
"No way! A Fairy Tail member would never betray the guild!" Dante insisted, gripping his fist tightly.
"You look a little out of place." Mason frowned at him. "What are you doing with these criminals?"
"My motives are my own, boy." He spat, looking up from his hand momentarily.
"Enough talking!" Dante bellowed, his cards stopped moving and all faced him. "Let's get him!"
Mason nodded in agreement, lowering the gravity around him.
Exhilaration ran through Mason's veins, readying the muscles it found. A familiar lightness overcame him; he was instantly filled with energy. His core thrummed with excitement, sending blood to all his extremities. His fingers curled and flexed, readying themselves. His lungs felt no strain as his breathing quickened, adding to his animation.
"Fairy Tail!" Dante emitted a battle cry, sending a fleet of flaming cards at him. Mason charged at him, fists glowing with gravity.
"You're attempts are amusing at the most." He put a hand in his pocket and casually caught Mason's hand, negating the magic around it.
"What?!" Mason said, bewildered. His body hit the ground solidly as he was back at his normal weight, although the man still held onto his fist.
"Remember my name, as it will be the last thing you hear." He smiled, his own hand now glowing. Mason's fist reverberated with the power he was using.
"Sebastian." He muttered, opening his hand and emitting a brilliant beam of light that hit Mason squarely in the chest. He turned towards the oncoming cards and raised both of his hands. A thin sheet of light shot out from his fingertips and sliced all of them in half at perfect angles.
Mason sputtered out a cough, followed by a long wheeze. That really hurt. Small scraping noises were heard as he helped himself to his feet.
"Impressive. You got up after my weakest spell." Sebastian raised a single hand, preparing to snap his fingers. "Now it's your friends turn."
Snap.
A series of small explosions set off around him wracked Dante's body in strange directions. They made loud cracking noises as they exploded, sounding like a machine gun when put together. He fell to one knee in obvious pain.
Rage flared inside Mason's chest, like a flame put to gasoline. He had hurt Dante, and was about to feel some serious pain.
"You BITCH!" Mason cupped his hands together and tilted his top hand, making a 90° angle. A small green orb hovered inside his hand. It suddenly flared and emitted a concentrated beam at Sebastian.
"You continue to surprise me." Sebastian raised his palm; the beam hit the middle of it and stopped in a small puddle of light. "You're wasting your abilities; I'll give you one chance to turn."
"Are you trying to recruit me!?" Mason bellowed. He let out small, forced laugh. "You think I'm that fickle? That hurts my feelings!"
"You would blindly continue to fight me? Surely you realize- Oh, here you come." Sebastian said, almost with disappointment. Still only using one hand, He grabbed Mason's flung fist and twisted it, spurring a cry of pain from Mason.
"If you will not turn, I will end you." Sebastian explained in a simple tone. He turned to Mason and raised his pocketed hand, a single finger glowing not unlike E.T. He raised it to press against Mason forehead a split second before a blue, flaming arrow consisting of only playing cards struck his forehead.
"YOU DIDN'T FOLD YOUR HANKIE!" Dante screamed. Grabbing the front of his tuxedo and shaking him, making the unfolded pocket hankie flutter.
"What the-?" Sebastian exclaimed, surprised that such a simple thing worried him so much. Dante picked him up, only then did Mason see the black club symbol that had appeared on the back of both of his hands.
He had used spades as shields, diamonds for attack, and now clubs for strength. What is hearts? He wondered inwardly.
Dante's now large muscles hurled Sebastian across the room. When he made to run after him, Mason grabbed his shoulders and held him back.
"He's out of our league, let Natsu or Erza handle him." He advised, calming Dante down slightly. A sword-swinging woman interrupted them; Mason and Dante turned, eager for a weaker target.
Mason fell to the ground, landing on his hand. He swung his legs in a sweep-kick, knocking the woman off-balance. Dante wound up and hammered his fist into the girl's stomach, sending her tumbling across the floor.
It seemed that the dark mages never ceased, even Fairy Tail didn't have this many people.
They only have weapons, they might not be mages. Mason pointed out to himself.
He quickly learned how to deal with them. He would use gravity to quickly kick or punch them, preferably to the head. That would stun them, the best he could do at his skill level. Dante, with his strength spell, would happily send them flying across the room.
He looked beside him to find Dante gone, disappeared in the endless fighting. He didn't dare stop, for fear of an enemy taking advantage of the moment. His body continued its endless chorus of combat. He soon found himself assisting Gray, taking down soldiers that were approaching his back. Before he knew it Gray was gone without even noticing Mason, slipped into the huge ocean that was one huge battle royal. At one point he found himself alongside Lucy, celestial spirits surrounding them, her whip flailing. She soon also disappeared, and for a while he was alone, watching his own back. Here was when he felt the first effects of fatigue slipping through his adrenaline, fending for himself used more energy than with a partner. After awhile, his back found Erza's. They stood together, facing a small circle of mages. She did not acknowledge him at all, simply rushing back into the fight.
Mason could feel his magic waning more now. He had tried to conserve it all he could, but his limbs started to weigh more, his spell completely wore off. He had to make an effort to keep his eyes open, every move started to take more and more of him. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to fight anymore and they would overtake him, he saw a horrid sight.
A huge female demon lifted itself out of the fray, using the wings on its back to hover above the battlefield.
It had dark eyes, barely visible behind overly-large eyelashes. Strange zigzag patterns decorated her right eyes, right breast and on the things bare thighs. It wore a dark, skimpy one-piece suit, revealing much of its arms and legs. It exposed most of her belly and a huge, wide cleavage. Long, white hair spiked upwards, fitted below them were long, pointed ears.
It smiled, revealing sharp canine teeth and lips covered in what he guessed to be dark lipstick. Its forearms and hands were covered in scales and each sprouted a fin-like protrusion on its outer side. Finally, a large, stocky tail seemingly made of metal plates or scales sprouted out of its rear.
Its eyes landed on Mason and the demon frowned. Mason's eyes widened and his breathing caught in his throat. It dived at him, claws outstretched.
Mason cried out in panic, turning and running. He tripped on a strewn shield, falling to the ground. Accepting defeat, he held his head in his hands and clenched his teeth, waiting for his end.
It never came.
He opened one eye a crack, seeing the demon furiously fighting five mages that would have been behind him.
Why is it fighting its own mages? Unless, it could be a Fairy Tail mage. But, he knew everyone's magic. Everyone except... no.
"Mira!?" He said aloud, the demon turned to him and smirked.
MIRAJANE IS A DEMON IN DISGUISE! Wait... She saved him. She must have some control.
The dance turned out to be a violent battle that he's stuck in, he lost track of all of his friends, he was hopelessly outnumbered, and now his date is a demon. Did life want to lay anything else on him tonight?
He struggled to his feet, not knowing what to do. He wanted to help Mirajane, but he didn't know how much control she had and he didn't want to get skewered by a stray claw. His eyes widened as he saw Sebastian calmly approached Mirajane.
"Mira, watch out! He is a light mage!" He frantically pointed at Sebastian, who only waved at him in a friendly manner. Mirajane/scary demon turned to him, only to get a radiant beam of light catch her across the jaw.
"Mira!" He ran to her position, using a shred of magic to speed himself up. He wasn't quick enough to stop them from restraining her. Sebastian placed a glowing hand on her forehead, emitting a shrill cry of pain from Mirajane, who slowly morphed into her human form.
"MIRA!" Mason lunged in the air, twisting and placing his feet on the first man's shoulders. He bent his back and placed his hands on the floor, swinging the man he had grabbed into his partner. He revolved back onto his feet and threw out his hands sideways along with a generous dose of gravity. Two more mages were hurled backwards, crashing into their allies.
"Mira," he muttered. He leaned down and lifted her head off of the polished floor. She was breathing normally and seemed to have a steady heartbeat, which was good. She was essentially fine, just knocked out or passed out.
"How romantic, but don't you think a white knight complex is a little old fashioned?" The last voice Mason wanted to hear met his ears.
He would have rose to meet his eyes, but to be honest he couldn't. He was too weak to stand on his own.
"Sebastian, leave me be." He breathed, trying not to beg. "I can barely stand, you've won. You're superior, happy? I pose no threat."
His only answer was grabbing him by the back on his grey tuxedo and holding his face inches from his own.
"Do the words 'Ursa Major' mean anything to you?" He asked.
I overheard Erza talking about that key. Why would-
"Excellent." Sebastian smiled broadly.
What!?
Mason's eye's widened as he realized the situation. They wanted the key, he had read his face. He wants the location of the key from him.
"I don't-!" He attempted to scream, but was cut off with a knock to the head, turning everything black.