Author's Note: I AM NOT DEAD YET! Sorry for the long wait. Lots of things came up before I was able to finish this chapter. And thank you all for being patient, I appreciate it. I really do. Now story time….
"Jesus Christ!" Cried the small wind dragon slayer as she and the rest of the crew were almost blown away from the recurring explosion's aftermath. Along with the rest of them, she covered her face with her arms, trying to block the dusts and smoke from the explosion. The floor beneath them cracked, splitting the entire prairie lands into bits and pieces.
"Solid Script: Storm!" Suddenly, Levy casted her magic to counter the explosion's strong wind currents. The letters that made up Air appeared combining with each other to form a tornado like storm, bashing the combination of dust, rock, and smoke back to the source.
On their side of the field, the smoke, dirt and ashes stopped coming to their side, only still appearing on the sole enemy's side of the field. "That was a massive explosion!" The celestial spirit, Leo, astonishingly looked at all the smoke in front of him.
"There's… no way… he could've… survived that!" Christi heavily panted, exhausted from exerting much of her magic into her attack. Weakened, she couldn't keep herself up and fell back to the ground face first.
"Christi!" The other mages cried out to her. Out of all of them, Juvia and Levy went by her side. Lucy still held onto the bandaged Erza and Wendy was with both the blue and white Exceeds.
"I'M ALRIGHT!" Christi suddenly stood up by herself stretching her arms out as a way to signal both bluenettes that she was ok. "I'm just… a bit… winded… that's all." She still panted.
The two girls were still behind her in case she caved in to her fatigueness. Juvia turned back to look at her friends. Everybody seemed fined, just a bit shakened up a bit from the explosion. Lucy still held Erza with the help of her celestial spirit and Wendy was just there sitting on one of the slab of stone sticking out from under the ground and talking to the Exceeds, checking for injuries. "We shouldn't… keep our… eyes… away from the smoke…" Christi interrupted Juvia's train of thought.
"She's right you know." A menacing voice from inside the smoke called out. Red menacing eyes glared at them, making them gulp down their spits in fear. Reddrick cleared out the smoke with little to no gestures. From the looks of it, he seemed to have had no damage done to him except for his brown leather jacket.
"YOU COULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED THAT!" Christi yelled at the man.
"Well boohoo," he mocked her pleas and cries. "But that was a surprising attack there, not even one of the saint wizards I assassinated put up this much of a fight!" He complimented her in a way he made them feel like ants.
"…Bastard…" She said lowly to herself.
"You all think that you can still take me on?" He started to walk towards them slowly.
Still somewhat spread out but not too far from each other, Christi, Juvia and Levy quickly got back with the rest of the gang behind them, trying to still be far from the menace. WE'RE NOT HANDING YOU ERZA!" Lucy loudly said, startling her friends and Reddrick who can only give a small glimpse of an annoyed face.
"Lucy…" Erza looked at her blonde friend that still carried her.
"Tch, figures." He stopped, locking himself in a position that was at least still meters away from them.
"We've got to at least stall him until the guys get here…" Levy lowly said to the group.
"How?" Christi spoke on the same level of tone as the other mage. "I'm barely have any energy, Juvia is still wounded from the electricity attack from earlier, Lucy is carrying around Erza, the spirit barely managed to keep up with him and we have a kid with 2 cats."
"Technically, we're exceeds." Happy corrected. To Christi's annoyance, she could only give the Exceed a rather disappointed face from the correction.
"HEY! I CAN"T HEAR YOU GUYS!" Reddrick suddenly brought their attention back to him. "All that secrecy won't help you, you know?"
"Tch." Juvia said, annoyed at the man's arrogance.
"How about you I give you a proposition?" Reddrick was at it again with his so called agreements.
"We're not giving you Erza, you dimwit!" Leo said, now in front of the group.
"Oh but you haven't heard what I was offering yet." He chuckled about.
"What? Our lives?" Christi assumed much.
"See? We do understand each other," He clapped. "So, how about it? Erza's life for your own."
"These people aren't that selfish!" Christi spoke up. "Sure, they're pretty beat up and exhausted but…" She stopped for a bit, looking at her newly found friends. "If it's one thing I know, they're not going to give up her friend!"
"Huh," Reddrick sighed in annoyance. Normally, a lot of people would've agreed with this, then again, they're dead too. "Well then, looks like I'm going to have to get her by force." He started his movement again.
The group got into their fighting stances, readying themselves from the monster homing in closer to them.
These guys are doing everything they can just to protect me… Erza looked in front of her. Her friends were ready to die there just to protect her. Thank you.
Lucy felt a sudden cold drops of water fall down on her hand. "E-Erza?" She turned to her right side, facing the slowly sobbing Erza she held onto.
"I'm sorry Lucy…" Erza wiped away the stream of tears on her right cheek. "I'm sorry I put you all in danger…"
"Don't talk like that Erza." Lucy tried to comfort her friend, sadly her attempt was futile. Her focus was back on Reddrick, who was closing in on their group.
"On my mark, we all attack together from all sides." Christi said silently but loud enough for the rest of the group to hear her.
"You know this seems rather one sided." Reddrick spoke as he walked.
"One…"
"I mean, look at you all!" He continued on.
"Two…"
"You're all worn out and exhausted!" He stopped in the midst of his own tracks, staring down his competition. "You're no match for me!"
"Three!"
"Lion Brilliance!" Loke immediately went into his stance and casted his bright light magic, in hopes of at least blinding Reddrick in order for his friends to move freely for a bit. Reddrick put his hand over his eyes, trying to block the magic.
Immediately right after, they disbanded into 3 little groups; Christi and Levy to Reddrick's right, Wendy and Loke to Reddrick's left, and Juvia along with the Exceeds and the 2 other mages stayed, covering his front.
Loke's magic receded, letting Reddrick look at his surroundings once more. "Oh, how intriguing." He looked to his right side, being covered by both Christi and Levy, and then his left, which was covered by Wendy and Loke. His front side only had Juvia to worry about.
"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate!" Lucy grabbed one of her golden keys, lifting it above her head and chanting. "Aquarius!" Like earlier, her key shined, summoning her celestial right in front of her and Erza, next to Juvia.
"HEY!" Aquarius quickly turned around quickly, already ensuing a fight with her caster. "I WAS ON A DATE WITH SCORPIO!"
"NOWS NOT THE TIME AQUARIUS!" Lucy retorted back at her celestial. Normally, Aquarius would've already responded to her outburst but she noticed something off. Without words, she simply turned back to the opponent, understanding he current situation. "Thank you…" Lucy lowly said.
"So, now it's 8 against 1? Oh how the tide has turned hasn't it?" Reddrick's eyebrow furrowed. He seemed more exited about these turn of events than most would.
"Tch!" Loke grunted at his last comment. Somewhere inside of him, still knew that the current situation is still his favor.
"Loke, don't do anything rash," Wendy advised him. "He's stronger than anyone we've ever faced…"
"I know," Loke said. "But he's so damn arrogant…"
"Hey!" Reddrick called out to both Wendy and Loke, startling the small bluenette out of the both. "Might as well speak up. Anything you say really isn't going to be important." He laughed, piercing them right in their ears.
While he laughed, Christi gave a nod to all the mages, signaling and starting their attack.
"Exploding Art: Light Grenade!"
"Solid Script: Fire!"
"Water Slicer!"
"Water Pillar!"
"Regulus Blast!"
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
Everyone fired their ranged attacks, combining their magic in hopes of defeating, if not stall, Reddrick. "Pitiful." He only happily grinned and took all of their combination of attacks head on. Before impact, Christi saw his smirk, only giving her chills that ran up and down her spine.
BOOM! Another dirty storm appeared before them, engulfing Reddrick. It only lasted a couple of seconds until the menace swooped it all away with one backhand. "That was good," without hesitation, he quickly blitz Juvia out of all them. "Now is my turn!"
Forgetting about her natural ability to become intangible, his punch went straight through her. "Water Nebula!" She casted her magic, blowing him back a few feet.
"Shit!" He said, wiping some of the water away. "How did I completely-"
He was suddenly interrupted by the barrage of seemingly strong exploding bubbles. "Water Bubbles!" Aquarius said as she casted her magic. Instead of dodging, he simply put his arms around his face, causing him to go back a few more feet with each waking impact.
While defending himself, Wendy quickly went behind the menace, catching him by surprise. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Claw!" Her hand was enveloped by wind, quickly slashing his Baker's Cyst on both legs on one swing, causing to him fall to his knees.
"LITTLE GI-"
Interrupted again, this time by the other Bluenette. "Solid Script: Air!" She casted at him, causing him to fly and roll as he flew.
Immediately afterwards, Loke ran towards the flying immobilized Reddrick. "Regulus Gauntling Impact!" His hands were glowing and rapidly, from left hooks to right, punched Reddrick from his gut to his chest. Reddrick could only stare at the man's action and take his hits.
Loke finally stopped his barrage and right behind him was Christi, about to land the following blow. "Exploding Art: Mach Punch!" At Mach 1 speed, she quickly uppercutted him before he fell to the ground with the force of the earlier explosion she caused, sending him continuously flying toward side of the mountain in which he came down from.
"Huh… huh…" A few of them heavily panted.
"It's not over yet!" Reddrick reappeared from not so deep hole on the side of the mountain. He wiped a bloody smirk. "That was pretty good! Just. Not. Good. Enough!"
"This guy is fucking durable!" Loke was shockingly impressed by the amount of damage they've given to the man and he's walked away from.
"My turn…" Reddrick happily smiled.
"Be ready gu-" Just as Christi was advising them, her sentence was cut short when Reddrick seemingly, without much effort, punched her right in the face causing her to fly for a bit until she hit the floor a couple seconds afterwards, knocking her out.
Everybody was in awe. "That's some crazy speed!" Loke sweat dropped. It wasn't until Reddrick turned his attention to him now.
"Your turn," As he was about to do the same thing he just did to Christi, his opponent, Loke, quickly anticipated much and managed to dodge the punch. "Quick fucker aren't you?" He looked over to his right, where Loke had jumped to.
"Regulus Impact!" Loke's dominate hand glowed. He launched his devastating punch at the man but was simply stopped when Reddrick blocked and grabbed Loke's fist with utmost ease. "WHAT!?"
"Just not fast enough I supposed." As he held Loke's fist, he quickly grabbed the rest of the arm and flipped Loke, similar to that of Judo technique ippon seoi nage.
The move did serious damage as Loke impacted the Earth and left a rather small crater. "GAH!" Loke yelled as he felt excruciating pain go up and down his spine.
"LOKE!" Lucy cried toward her spirit. She quickly grabbed her key. "I'M SENDING YOU BACK!"
"DON"T!" Loke pleaded Lucy from sending him back. He got back up but at a slow pace. "Huh…" He panted.
"I underestimated you," Reddrick looked at the hunched Loke in front of him. "So you can take a beating."
"Shut up…" Loke told him off.
"I'm sorry, you wanna run that by me again?" Reddrick was slightly irritated at Loke's last comment.
"I said," Loke picked up his voice. "SHUT UP!"
"Hmpht." Reddrick slowly walked up the spirit, right up until he was being restraint with what seemed like water.
"Water Pillar!" Aquarius casted as she held Reddrick in place.
"Nice work," Loke thanked her. He then started his counterattack. "Regulus Gauntling Impact!"
His hands glowed once more and his first punch hit Reddrick right in the spot where his kidney was located and quickly continued on hitting him in other vital areas. "Er." Reddrick felt slight pain as he was hit in his vital spots.
Wendy, Levy and Juvia, leaving Aquarius to protect Lucy and Erza by herself, quickly joined in to help Loke in his close quarter combat pursuit. Loke finally stopped his barrage of punches and stepped back a few feet, standing next to both bluenettes.
"Solid Script: Hole!" Levy quickly trapped Reddrick's legs into a hole, immobilizing him further.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" Wendy soon followed and attack Reddrick with her strong tides of wind.
Reddrick's hands were still restrained by Aquarius, forcing him to take the attack head on. "…" His eyes were darker, making him angry instead of feel pain.
"Regulus Impact!" Loke used his long range attack again, hitting Reddrick right in the chest area.
"Water Dome!" Juvia trapped Reddrick in her water like prison.
Reddrick struggled to breathe as he struggled to get out of the earlier traps.
"I can't… hold him for… much longer…" Aquarius continued and tried her best to restraint him.
Knowing that he was losing breathe, Reddrick looked up at the gray cloud covered sky. Dark Arts: Thunder Strike. Suddenly, a rather large thunder struck down on the Earth where Reddrick stood, causing a mighty fierce explosion.
The explosion was rather strong and had a big range in which it also managed to hit Loke, Juvia, Wendy and Levy as well, causing them to blow back and knock them out. "LOKE! JUVIA! WENDY! LEVY!" Lucy cried for her friends who were scattered right in front of her, Erza and Aquarius, which knocked everyone but Wendy unconscious. "Wendy! Are you ok?" Lucy asked the small Dragon Slayer. Happy and Carla quickly went to their aid.
"I'm… ok…" She tried to stay conscious.
Carla quickly went to her side while Happy checked up on the others. "Wendy, are you ok?" Carla repeated Lucy's earlier question.
"Yeah…" She lowly said.
"That took care of that," Reddrick walked right out of the smoke, surprising the remaining group, almost unscathed from his own attack. He looked at his 'victim' count. "…eh, 3 out of 4 isn't so bad." He looked back at 3 remaining people still standing; Lucy, Erza and Aquarius.
"Shit…" Lucy said to herself but Erza was still next to her and managed to hear her.
"Lucy… you should go, I'm the one he-"
"No." Lucy interrupted her dear friend.
"Lucy-"
"I said no," Lucy cut her sentence short once more. "I'm not going to give up." She then stood up, leaving Erza by herself kneeling on the floor, and walking towards Aquarius. "I'm not just going to give up and let my friend be taken. I don't care if he's a million times stronger than me, I'm not letting him take you!" She stood next to Aquarius.
"This is one of those times where I agree with you blondie." Aquarius gave Lucy a small but bright smile.
Lucy's words moved Erza, slightly making her tear. "Stubborn…" she wiped her tears away with her hand. "Very well then."
"Glad we had this talk, Erza." Lucy could only give her friend a rather comforting smile, showing sign of having some slight faith.
Reddrick, only a few feet away from them, stared them down. "Hmpht, really?" He let out a small laugh. "You're the only person along with your mystical friend there, that's preventing me from grabbing Scarlet!? You really think you're going to be enough to stop me!?"
Lucy, ignoring Reddrick, then looked at her incapacitated friends, primarily Loke. Without words, Loke was sent back to the Spirit World.
"Are you ignoring me, Blondie?" His tone turned more threatening than ever. "Or did the cat take your tongue?"
"Which one?" Happy, like a smartass, asked Reddrick.
His question rather prompt everyone to give him a seriously look. "Shut up, Happy." Carla requested.
"Aye!"
"No, the cat didn't take my tongue," Lucy finally responded to Reddrick. "I was actually just waiting for something."
"And that is?" Reddrick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Look under you." She told him.
Reddrick's eyes widened in shock when she said that to him. He looked down and instantly was back to being restrained by Aquarius once more. "Son of a bitch!"
"How do you like that?" She gave him a grin.
Reddrick flailed around, in hopes of breaking the restraints. "You fucking bitch!" Suddenly, even while he was restrained, he still managed to move little by little, trying to get closer to Lucy.
"You stubborn girl! Move out of the way!" Aquarius can only hold him for a bit.
"I… almost… have… you!" He still struggled to maneuver.
"LUCY!" Erza called out to her. "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"
Lucy just stood there, silent and glaring at Reddrick. "I… got… you!" Reddrick raised his arm and enveloped his fist.
"LUCY!" Aquarius, Erza and the Exceeds cried out. Aquarius tried to move towards her but was more focused on holding the menace back. If she lost her concentration, Lucy would've already been dead-meat.
"Night, night." With all his strength, he manage to break free from his restraint that was on his arm and swung.
Everybody could only watch and fear, until suddenly, a tall gray skinned long haired man stood in front of Lucy, tanking the hit. "Gihi."
"What the?" Reddrick seemingly struck what seemed to be the man's skin, but why did it feel like metal, he wondered. Suddenly, his restraints were frozen solid. "What in the hell!?"
"Ice Make: Freeze!" A stripped man said, seemingly being the source of freezing the water.
"Gray? Gajeel?" Both Exceeds were happy to see their friends' faces.
"Yo!" Pantherlily quickly joined the other Exceeds.
"Goddamn, what the hell happened here?" Terry exclaimed at the scenery. Rocks were popping out from the ground and there was also a huge crater right in the middle of the battlefield. He then saw Christi, his fellow partner, unconscious and just a few feet away from Erza. "Christi!" He quickly went to her side.
"Lucy," Natsu appeared as well, going up to his friend. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah…" Lucy seemed to be exhausted.
"Erza!" He quickly went to her aid as well, taking Lucy with him
"Thank god," Aquarius finally stopped her focus. "You guys came right on time."
"Yeah," Gray said. "We would've been here sooner but huge dog made us waste some time." He then saw both Juvia and Levy on the floor and went towards them.
"They're ok." Happy told Gray as he approached them.
"Thank you." Gray sighed in relief.
"Erza, can you move again?" Natsu asked her, kneeling next to her and inspecting her.
"No," Erza responded. "Reddrick did something to my legs before you saved me, I can't seem to move them."
"That bastard." Natsu looked over at Reddrick, being frozen in place.
"I only punched and kicked her very hard in the legs!" Reddrick yelled out toward Natsu. His yelling though startled everyone. "She might have a few broken and misplaced bones in her legs, hence why she can't stand or move!" He then laughed maniacally.
"You fucking bastard!" Natsu quickly stood up. His hands were covered in fire already.
"Christi, are you ok?" Terry tried to wake her up while the commotion occurred.
"Ugh… is that you Terry?" She was slowly coming back to her senses.
"Oh good," Terry was at ease for a bit. "I thought you were a goner."
"No, he only hit me very hard in the head with a sucker punch…" She slowly got up with one hand while the other held on to her head.
"You all should focus on me instead of your injured!" Reddrick yelled out once more.
"Well I and Iron Head over there are already focused on you!" Natsu told Reddrick.
"All of you should be focused on me…" Reddrick lowly said. Suddenly, a black mystical aura surrounded him.
"What the!?" Gajeel stepped back a few feet away from him.
Reddrick finally broke free from his ice restraints. "The party has only just begun."
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to leave a review, your criticism and support is valued by me.