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A Holy War

~Derrik and Vernida~

Last of the battle scene between Jellal and Team GaLe.

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"I have only one love in this life. Hurt her and I will kill you. That, or I'll kill myself trying."

-Derrik Varknaes.

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Talk about a desperate measure for a desperate time.

Annoyance gleamed within those red eyes as Jawred turned his attention back to the dangerous black flames, which was thriving as it hungrily consumed everything. Already, the hellfire had expanded drastically. Given enough time, it could easily devour the entire world.

But whatever. I must stop this first.

Those vermilion eyes glowed dangerously as Jawred suddenly raised a hand toward the insatiable black flames. Instantly, spirals of darkness radiated from his body in tangible waves as he whispered a hollow command. "Extinguish, flame spirit."

"Who art thou to command me?"

The black flame instantly erupted with a seething roar of rage as it felt its own existence threatened. Hissing with explosive rage, the inky fire curled toward Jawred in an attempt to swallow the dark wizard and override his powers.

"I shall cremate thou first, foolish human!"

"You dare make your creator repeat himself?" Impatience flashed within his irritated red eyes. Instantly, another wave of suffocating black magic exploded from his darkened aura as Jawred hissed dangerously. "I said to extinguish!"

"Thou art not mine creator!"

The venomous, inky tendrils of burning death and incinerating rage erupted as the flames lurched toward him with ferocious voracity. The smothering black smokes and screaming black fire had almost reached him when Jawred roared in diabolical rage.

"Do you dare turn upon me, Lassyba Eriflleh?"

Suddenly, as though the vigorous flames recognized his commanding voice, it froze in its murderous attempt to consume him.

"Thou art...milord?"

Commanding the deadly black powers within his aura to drain the oxygen from the very atmosphere itself, Jawred released another roar. "Cease testing my patience and vanish, Eriflleh!"

As the black flames suffocated from the lack of burnable oxygen and curled away from his draining presence, Jawred suddenly shot another volley of shadow arrows that spiraled forth and slashed through the virulent embers. Black smoke and dust erupted into the already acrid atmosphere as the shadows tore through the remaining inky shreds of hellfire before drowning it all in vacant darkness.

A few seconds later, all that remained of the once ruthless flame was an enormous crater charred with black ashes, faint red streaks of magma, and the now exposed blade wizard that the hellfire had been summoned to safeguard.

Stars above, to have a Terminus Demon trying to kill me early in the morning...What a day.

A soft sigh escaped from his lips as Jawred tiredly turned his impatient gaze from the Derrik slumbering in the blackened crater to the Vernida kneeling on the ground. After the acrid smoke, dusty black ashes, suffocating atmosphere, and billowing gray dust, the fire wizard was on the borderline between life and death as she gasped in a vain attempt to breathe.

"That was stupid." A disgruntled growl rumbled from his throat as those scarlet orbs narrowed. "Extremely stupid. Never summon what you cannot control."

Iridescent tears were streaking down her trembling cheeks as Vernida glared angrily into his irritated red ones. A passionate mixture of fear and hate danced within those foggy green eyes as she wheezed and gasped in a vain attempt to breathe.

Can't talk, huh?

Beckoning a hand toward her, the dark wizard released a tired sigh. "Wind Magic: Reviving River."

Instantly, a convalescing breeze swarmed around Vernida to provide her the fresh air she desperately needed. As the fire wizard greedily slurped in the reviving gale, Jawred advanced until he was only a few meters away from her. "If you can talk now, tell me, who exactly are you?"

"H...huh?" Releasing a dazed grunt, Vernida attempted in vain to adopt an intimidating glare as confusion leaked into her fatigued green eyes. "What...what do you mean?"

"Tell me." A tired sigh escaped from his lips as Jawred carefully scrutinized the weakened wizard shivering languidly on the ground. "How is it even possible that a rookie as inexperienced and undistinguished as yourself can summon such a powerful demon?"

"What...what?" She hissed irritably before she suddenly broke into a violent cough, dark blood dripping down her nose and splattering against the stone tiles. "I...I don't know."

Apparently, the powerful spell was taking its powerful toll on her.

"You are at least aware of what you summoned, yes?" Impatience gleamed within his golden eyes as Jawred suppressed the vicious snarl that was beginning to appear on his lips. "Abyssal Hellfire is an inextinguishable black fire with a conscious of its own. With a monstrous temperature of 15,000 Kercius degrees, the hellfire can vaporize an average human and melt even diamonds. In all of history, it is the only fire powerful enough to counter the white Holy Fire the World Creator wielded. "

"Why...are you...telling me this?" Blood flooded down her lips as Vernida glared at him. "Are you...really...so messed up...that you...are giving a, a dying girl...a history lesson?

"Good. So you do know you are dying, idiot." Jawred snarled as he resisted the temptation to smack her. "You dared summon an unimaginably treacherous Demon that can be controlled only by High Gods or extremely powerful wizards. It is already a miracle that it didn't turn upon a rookie like you and eat your little friend first."

"Gods, just tell me what you want already!" She responded with an impatient howl.

"Tell me then." The dark wizard growled irritably as he resisted the rising temptation to murder her. "Even S wizards must be cautious lest the Demon override their control and kill them. So how did a D-minus rookie like you managed to summon such a powerful spell to protect your lover?"

"I...don't know..." She gasped in pain as blood dripped from the corner of her lips. "Wait...you said inextinguishable, huh? Then...how...how did you...stop it, huh, liar?"

Because I was the one who created it, idiot.

"Were you not more intriguing than you are annoying, I would have eradicated your existence long ago." Exasperation gleamed within those scarlet orbs as Jawred weakly shook his head in defeat. "I can clean the mess you made only because, unlike you, I actually have the willpower to subdue that devious spirit."

Sinister annoyance swirled within those virulent red eyes as he abruptly turned back to her. "But cease testing my patience, rookie. Explain. Who are you? How did you manage a spell that is way out of your league?"

"I, I told you already!" An irritated scream escaped from her lips before Vernida immediately grimaced, trembling as another wave of dark blood spilled from her gasping lips. "I...I d-don't know, okay? Look...if you want to kill me...just hurry up and...be done with it!"

"Seriously, are you suicidal?" The dark wizard murmured in disbelief. "If I want to kill you, why would I waste time humoring your questions?"

"Then...what...what do you...want?" She growled, bloodied foams drooling from her tainted lips. Suddenly, those green eyes widened in dread as the dark wizard suddenly squatted down to her level. "W-wait...what are you...doing? Stay back!"

"Relax for once." Jawred all but growled as he slowly reached a hand forward in a small gesture of peace, only to have her recoil in inconsolable terror.

"Stay away!"

"Stop it." Irritation gleamed within his slender crimson orbs as Vernida weakly tried to slap his hand away, only to miss completely and slump further onto the floor with a pained groan. "You will only accelerate your own death if you keep twitching, stupid girl."

"W...what?"

Vibrant shock and fear glowed within her round green eyes as Jawred gazed at her trembling and broken body with almost pitying red eyes. "Rest assured, I won't kill you, Vernida."

"T-then..." Disbelief burned within her drenched and bloodshot green orbs. "Then what do...you want from me?"

"Nothing."

Soft, soothing greenish blue lights suddenly spiraled around her trembling, bloodstained body as Jawred meticulously healed her injuries. As Vernida blinked in confusion, the dark wizard turned his serene red ones to her perplexed green ones. "I want nothing from you, nor will I kill you. The severe internal bleeding you recklessly incurred upon yourself, however, may be a different story.

An ephemeral moment of blissful silence lapsed between them before Vernida finally released a barely audible whisper. "Why?"

"Really?" Exasperation flared within his heart as Jawred turned to her, an incredulous growl rumbling from his throat. "Are you honestly asking me why internal bleeding may kill you? Or why you decided to use it to torture yourself?"

"What? No, of course not!" The fire wizard retorted before her heated demur gradually softened into a hesitant whisper. "I want to know...why. Why are you saving me?"

"Because you are too valuable to die." Came his instantaneous whisper.

"W-wait, what did you say?" Instantly, faint traces of fiery rage churned within her green eyes as she lashed away. "V-valuable? Do, do you think I'm a tool, bastard?"

"Calm down for once. Excessive and unreasonable anger would do nothing but hurt you, idiot." Ignoring the rising rage within her aura, the dark wizard merely continued his reparation with impervious composure. "I had initially assumed you to be another undistinguished cannon fodder, but you are apparently so much more."

Those glazed green eyes blinked wearily in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You have raw potential, but you are unrefined." While his fingers twitched impatiently from her incurable ignorance, Jawred continued to enhance the recuperative green Magic dancing around her. "That is why you are capable of summoning the hellfire but unable to control it. Even worse, you nearly killed yourself from overexertion–"

"What are you doing to her?"

An animalistic roar splintered the air as a ferocious but desperate aura suddenly ignited in the distance.

Derrik?

His vigilant crimson eyes flashed around just as an enormous sword that is easily the size of a tree came crashing down toward him.

What the–

A piercing shriek of absolute terror instantly tore into his sensitive ears as Vernida also apparently realized what metallic monstrosity was soaring forward to drill a bloody hole through both of them.

That idiot!

Irritation and rage blazed within his glowing crimson eyes as protective tendrils of darkness suddenly exploded from his aura and dashed to intercept the incoming projectile.

Upon contact, the shadows instantly constricted against the gleaming blade and violently dragged the sharp blade down into the ground. A calamitous crash resonated through the acrid space as the metal collided against the stone tiles, sending chunks of rocks flying and a deafening shockwave vibrating across the floor.

"W-what is happening?"

Beneath him, Vernida tried to scream, only to break into an extreme paroxysm of bloodstained coughs as black ash and suffocating dust swept into the sky.

"What is happening?" The dark wizard echoed in sardonic distaste. "I'm not sure how, but apparently your little boyfriend is awake. And here I thought...I had already finished him."

"N-no, no!" A desperate gasp sounded below him, and Jawred immediately felt Vernida tugging at his leg with trembling hands, her voice alive with dread. "Please...I beg you...don't kill him!"

Instantly, his demonic and humorless red eyes flashed down, only to gaze into her despondent, teary green orbs. "Please...I, I beg you!"

Reluctantly, Jawred lashed away with an irritated growl. "Fine, as you wish. But I cannot say that your little boyfriend would reciprocate the favor, considering how he nearly slaughtered us both."

"Get away from her!"

Suddenly, metallic projectiles spiraled from a whirlpool of smoke and whistled toward him. With a growl, Jawred twisted away before he deftly caught one of the gleaming missiles soaring toward his head, only to discover a sharp throwing knife in his hand.

"Derrik...I...I'm fine!" Vernida mumbled painfully as she sprayed another torrent of dark blood onto the dusty earth. "S...stop!"

"Save your breath."

With a venomous hiss, Jawred instantly fired a volley of ice arrows as another whirlwind of knives soared in their direction. Instantly, the frozen projectiles splintered into shining fragments as they collided into the erratic and disoriented blades.

In his blinding rage, Derrik was not only hurling knives at him, but also toward his own injured companion on the ground.

"He has already lost control–"

"Die, bastard!"

A ferocious warcry exploded in the relative surrounding before Derrik suddenly exploded from a fog of black ashes and sprung toward the dark wizard. An inaudible curse escaped his tongue as Jawred suddenly discovered that the blade wizard had transformed his arms into a pair of demonic cleavers that could easily decapitate a grown dragon.

Wait, how did he suddenly get so strong?

"Derrik, stop!" Vernida screeched in desperate agony as Jawred dashed away, thereby luring the belligerent blade wizard away from her trembling, injured features. "I'm fine!"

This is at least the power of a B-Plus! A God, even if a weak one!

But in his murderous rage, Derrik didn't even glance at Vernida as he sprinted wildly after Jawred, howling in intransigent bloodlust. "How dare you hurt her?"

This sudden power...is he...really human?

"Goddammit, Derrik!" Irritation gleamed within his bloody red eyes as Jawred deflected the blows and leaped away. "Calm yourself!"

"What did you do to her?" The blade wizard roared savagely as he lunged after Jawred with all the ferocity of an aggrieved lion, swinging those deadly blades in wide, terrifying arcs. "What did you do, you Son of Hades?"

"I didn't hurt her–"

Another storm of gleaming knives suddenly soared toward him, and Jawred instantly rolled out of the way. Deadly rage and annoyance blazed within those malicious red eyes as Jawred spurned around, only to be greeted by a deadly flash as Derrik swung his cleaver arms toward his neck.

Hades, he really is trying to kill me!

Growling, he quickly flipped away once more.

I can't believe I actually promised her I would not slaughter him!

Momentarily distracted, Jawred felt rather than saw as one of the whistling blades suddenly grazed across his skin. A distorted hiss instantly bubbled from his throat as piercing pain suddenly exploded across his left cheek.

What the–

"Stop it, Derrik!" Vernida howled desperately as scorching tears rained from her scrunched green eyes.

With lightning alacrity, Jawred escaped from the volatile dance of metallic death before summoning a hand to gently trace across what agony that blazed at his cheek.

Im...impossible...

Those crimson eyes widened in shock as the dark wizard suddenly discovered the unexpected but incriminating residue of blood on his fingertip.

He was actually bleeding.

Derrik had actually cut him.

Well then.

Suffocating darkness suddenly exploded from his aura as fury vibrated within his veins. Calamitous rage suddenly stormed within his malicious red eyes as Jawred gazed fearlessly at the ferocious blade wizard rushing toward him once more.

It is time to end this.

"What did you do to her?" Derrik howled in animalistic fury as he once again caught up with the dark wizard, his bloodshot orbs glowing in an ominous pink from blinding anger.

"I killed her." As his opponent widened his bloodshot eyes in stupefying horror, Jawred released a dangerous hiss before he suddenly dashed to meet the charging blade wizard with lightning speed. "In the same way that I will kill you!"

"Then die!"

Virulent rage pulsed from his aura as Derrik rushed at him, a savage scream exploding from his monstrous features as his cleavers poised for Jawred's throat.

But with lightning alacrity, Jawred easily deflected the gleaming blades with a roundhouse kick before jabbing his fingers into his opponent's neck like a malevolent viper. Instantly, Derrik released a strangled cry as his windpipe was violently constricted, his earlier battlecry reduced to a suffocated gargle.

"Stop, please, stop!" Vernida screamed tearfully in the distance, her voice cracking from despair. "Don't kill him!"

But Jawred ignored her desolate cries, his attention completely occupied as Derrik tried to pierce through his stomach. Instantly, the dark wizard tightened his stranglehold to stop those treacherous blades that would otherwise have drilled crimson holes into his lower torso.

"No, stop it!"

He never gives up, does he?

Ephemeral terror flashed within his widening red eyes as Derrik painstakingly raised his cleavers, trying desperately to cut off the murderous hand coiling around his throat. Instinctively, the dark wizard drove his knee into the blade wizard's vulnerable stomach with monstrous force.

"Arrrraaaaggggghhh!"

Blood instantly exploded from his agonized lips as the blade wizard released a shattering roar from the penetrating pain. Strangled and then kicked in the stomach, Derrik had completely lost his malicious resolve to kill when the last trace of oxygen left his lungs.

"Please, stop it!"

Blood flooded down his gasping lips as Derrik transformed his lethal cleavers back into calloused hands, which instantly clawed into the deadly hand crushing into his neck. Vibrant despair replaced the fiery rage that flared within his aura as he struggled desperately to escape from the deadly stranglehold.

"Stop!" Vernida sobbed hysterically as the blade wizard croaked in agony and sputtered more blood. "Please, I beg you! I will trade his life with mine!"

But tangible hatred continued to burn within those crimson orbs as Jawred drank in the bloodcurdling sight of his dying victim, ignoring Vernida even as she passionately pleaded for his mercy.

His deadly hand, clawing mercilessly into Derrik's windpipe, did not soften until the blade wizard stopped his last struggles and abruptly dangled limp.

Updated on March 18, 2017.

Revised on March 23, 2017.