Chapter Eleven

AN: Hello my lovely readers! Sorry for not updating last week, my internet crashed. So, I've decided not to introduce the last Spirits in this chapter, because it didn't fit in with what happens with the holder. There is fighting, but I'm warning you now that any fighting in this chapter is short, because I'm focusing all of my energy on planning the final battle. But enough of that, as always: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. Enjoy!

Sparkles stared in fascination at the furious man before her. She watched as he paced up and down the length of her room, spewing expletives as he went. Every once in a while she would catch bits and pieces of what he was saying, but she mostly did not pay attention. She knew before she left that he would be angry with her and Lybica for revealing themselves to the Fairy Tail mages, but she could not bring herself to care. All she had known was that she was bored and they would be a good distraction for a while. "… you're not even listening, are you, Julia?!"

The flame-haired girl blinked slowly and raised her eyes to her leader's bright red face. She spoke slowly and clearly, "No, Sparkles is not. Nor is she sorry for visiting the mages. You cannot punish her for it, so are you quite finished with your ranting and raving?"

The large man stood, dumbfounded. In all his years of taking care of the "Flame Princess", he had never heard her act so calm. She had always been incredibly active, and slightly manic. He did not have any idea how to respond so he simply said "Okay" and left.

Her partner turned to her, head cocked. The petite girl sighed and asked, "What?"

Lybica shook her head, never taking her golden eyes off the flames mage. "Since when are you so calm? Aren't you always bored, so you need to always keep moving, keep changing your surroundings?"

Sparkles whipped her head around to stare at the feline mage in shock. No one, not even the man who had just left, even though the two had been together for most of her life, had figured that out about her. She lowered her head to stare at the floor. "Sparkles is tired. Tired of chasing his dreams. He promised she would help Sparkles the revenge she needs, but this is taking a long time. Maybe, by herself, Sparkles would already have found the people who burned her home to the ground and killed everyone. Maybe she would finally know why she was left alive, and who gave her these flames to exact her revenge." At this, she raised her hand and summoned flames to play about her fingers before extinguishing them.

The ravenette smiled softly at the girl and looked around the room. It was covered in anti-damage and anti-fire runes, trying to contain the damage caused by this small girl's magic. While the walls, ceiling, and floor were pristine, the furniture in the room was all charred or ashes. Nothing was left intact. Lybica could not imagine what it must be like to wield such destructive magic, but she knew very well the anger Sparkles held in her heart.

"I understand," she said softly. She smiled again as shocked, bright-red eyes turned on her. "I really do," she reasserted, turning to look the redhead in the eyes. "When Polylepis and I were younger, our village, which relied on its farmers, was stricken with a drought during the rainy season. The sky turned green and animals avoided the area, as did other people. But we could not leave. Every time someone tried to leave, they found themselves back where they started. Eventually, everyone died, from starvation or thirst or disease or madness… take your pick. Polylepis and I were the only ones left. And then, finally, the sky clouded and rain fell. Polylepis grew so angry, he destroyed the entire town. If I showed it to you now, there would be nothing left to indicate people once lived there. We were lucky to meet your caretaker when we did. We were starving on the streets, just petty thieves. Polylepis and I both knew some mage was the cause of our suffering, and he made us a deal. If we came and worked for him and his dream, he would give us food, clothing, lodging, and when he achieved his dream, she would be able to help us inflict upon that mage who destroyed our lives the same suffering he caused us."

"So you see," she concluded, "I do understand. I know the pain and anger within your heart and I know the doubt that lurks there. After such a long time, now that we are finally nearing the end, how can we be sure that all we have dreamt for will become reality?"

*Different Location*

The Fairy Tail mages cautiously entered the ruined castle the map had lead them to. Well, Erza and Lucy entered cautiously while Gray and Natsu bickered quietly, mindful of the red-haired knight's temper and policy of punish first, ask questions later. Their caution turned out to be unnecessary, as a woman was waiting for them the moment they stepped through the door.

She glared at the mages. "What took you so long?" she snapped. "Mike informed me of your visit to him two days ago! It only takes thirteen hours to get here from his holdings, even if I take sleep into account. So, where does the extra time come from?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for an answer. The woman was beautiful, with long, purple-black hair and red eyes. She wore light armor with a rapier at her side.

"We were attacked by a pair of mages who we believe are our enemies in this endeavor to collect all seven Celestial Dark Spirit keys. These mages were very powerful, and left us with injuries that set back our journey." informed Erza.

The woman shook her head in disapproval. "Well, you arrived. I am Mujihina. I am the holder of the sixth and seventh Celestial Dark Spirit keys. I was chosen for my calculating nature." She drew her rapier and pointed at the mages. "I shall judge you now. We shall see just how powerful you really are. Come with me." She resheathed her blade and turned to pick her way through the rubble littering one of the many passages branching out from the main entrance.

Team Natsu followed her carefully through many twists and turns until they reached a large chamber which had been cleared of rubble, but no longer had a stone floor, leaving only dirt. The large windows were shattered, letting in plenty of light and fresh air to combat the smell of mustiness that permeated the place.

Mujihina turned around once she had reached a decent distance from the only entrance. She clapped her hands once, and a wall of earth closed off the entrance. "So, the rules. You will go one at a time. You may use whatever you like, magic, combat, anything and everything is allowed. Your goal is to destroy as many opponents as you can before your magic and stamina runs out. Don't worry about hurting them, they are made of earth and will return to it when they are defeated. Who's first?"

This time, unlike with Cole, Erza volunteered before Natsu could. She summoned a simple two-handed sword to her and gripped it, sinking into a defensive stance. The holder clapped her hands once again and a horde of about twenty giants rose from the earth. They took a vaguely human shape, but without any distinguishing features. They carried clubs made of rock.

Erza took the offensive, leaping straight into the group, slashing everywhere, destroying three of them with the first few blows. The ones destroyed were quickly replaced, so Erza was always surrounded by the giants. She continued for hours, dodging, blocking, parrying. She slowly grew weary and began making mistakes, which the giants took full advantage of. Despite their origin and size, the giants were very nimble and surprisingly intelligent. Team Natsu had arrived at the castle midmorning, but by the time Erza finally collapsed with exhaustion, the sun was preparing to start setting.

"Very good," commented Mujihina as she made a few notes on a pad. "435 destroyed. Very good," she repeated, obviously distracted. She glanced up when she finished writing. "Next?"

Natsu stepped forward, fists already on fire and his "I'm all fired up!" grin in place. His teammates were unable to watch most of his fight, as his spells often accidentally included them in their area of damage, forcing Gray to continuously throw up Ice shields to protect him and the girls. Erza would have used her Adamantine Armor, but she was still recovering from her assessment. When Natsu finally collapsed, the sun had long set and the moon was high in the sky.

The holder made a few notes then put her pad away. "Good, I suppose. 227 destroyed. Now, follow this." She clapped her hands and a small, Exceed-sized version of the giants appeared. "It will lead you to your rooms for the rest of the night. Eat, rest. Tomorrow, I will assess the rest of you, and perhaps you shall receive the keys." With that she clapped her hands again and the wall of earth disappeared. She swept from the room.

"Luuuuussshhhyyyy!" cried Happy, who had miraculously stayed silent this entire time. "She's scary! I don't want to stay here!"

The blonde sighed as she picked up the crying blue cat. "No one wants to stay here, Happy. But we want the keys and the only way to get them is to comply with her demands."

"It is truly no wonder why her name is Mujihina," put in the Titania as the mages followed the small earthling from the room. She carried Natsu on her shoulder, as she had mostly recovered from her fight during the Dragon Slayer's own battle. The pinket was unable to support himself and could say little else than groans. He had fully exhausted himself. "She is quite ruthless. Those giants were definitely learning as I fought them. Each became more difficult to defeat than the last."

"That would be why she's the holder of the most powerful keys. If she wasn't powerful, then the keys wouldn't be well-protected," added Gray. "Where is this guy taking us?" was the ravenet's question as the small being led them through more labyrinthine passages. It finally stopped in front of a door. It pointed at it and then at the team before speeding off.

*Next Day*

The Fairy Tail mages were roused by the ruthless holder at dawn to eat a quick breakfast before heading to finish their assessments. Gray opted to go first, taking the entire morning to fight before finally falling. Though the room had been warmed by the sun coming through the windows on the left wall, its temperature hung around freezing where Gray had been fighting, the earth coated in ice which slowly melted and broke apart.

Mujihina jotted a few things down and then announced the Ice mage's total. "Also 227 destroyed. Same total but different styles. Blunt force versus evasion… Attack versus planning… Unpredictability versus efficiency… Interesting, very interesting," she muttered to herself, gazing off into space. She snapped herself back to attention and turned her hard gaze on Lucy. "You're up."

Lucy took a deep breath to calm herself and pulled out her whip, keeping it in her left hand as she grasped her keys with her right. As the giants rushed at her, she quickly called Taurus and Virgo to her side. She and Taurus tag-teamed to destroy the ogres, while Virgo created traps for future ones, digging holes and pitfalls, as well as helping to destroy any which came her way. Lucy looked for weak points in their defenses, constantly searching for new ones as the giants learned from their destroyed allies' mistakes. She tried to conserve her energy and magic, using her endurance and intelligence to her advantage to combat the difference in physical strength between herself and her opponents. She eventually called Gemini to her side as well to confuse the giants, constantly switching places with them to keep the ruse going. When the sun showed the time to be midafternoon, she sent back the perverted cow and the twins, just keeping out the maid to help her defeat the giants and lay new traps. When the sun was shining brightly through the windows in the right wall, the Celestial mage sent the pinkette back. The Stellar Spirits mage took down a few more giants before finally crumpling, magic almost completely drained and physically fatigued.

Mujihina came over and stood over the blonde. The holder's red eyes bored into her brown ones for a long instant before reaching a hand out to help her up. When Lucy was standing, albeit shakily, the ravenette pronounced her total. "269 destroyed. I must commend you. Your strategy was the best out of your entire group. You conserved your power to last longer and used your enemies' weaknesses against them. Though you have your spirits to fight for you, you chose to fight with them. You used trickery and deception to confuse the opposition. Really, once you increase your physical strength some more, you will make a formidable opponent. Here are the keys. I suggest you wait before summoning them. You are in no shape to do so now."

The armored woman turned and clapped, unbarring the entrance and making to leave. She paused, though, once she was about to pass the fish-loving Exceed which trembled in fear of her. She knelt down and offered Happy a fish solemnly. "I did not have you fight. I hope you will accept this offering of my apologies and forgive my mistake."

The blue cat had hearts in his eyes and started drooling at the sight of the fish. "Of course! No problem! Thank you for the fish!" He took it reverently from her and proceeded to happily eat it. The holder nodded, stood, and vanished through the doorway.

Lucy, meanwhile, stared at the keys in her hand. She could feel their power pulsing through them to her. 'No wonder my other Spirits were concerned. The power these two alone must wield… It has to be comparable to Gildarts, if they aren't stronger! And now, we wait to see if those two mages will return and what exactly they want.'

AN2: And there you have it! Next chapter, we should be getting a slight breather before we plunge into the final battle.

Until next time!

anime-fan72