Author's Note 1: Happy and Jack are captured. Now, what will our heroes do?
Chapter 12: Citadel in the Mountain
"F&(K!" Zeke's shout reverberated across the desert as he and his teammates could only stare on in shock.
Before anyone could process it, Izumi broke into a mad dash straight to where Yaza had burrowed into the ground.
"Izumi, wait!" Seward shouted as he and the rest of the Titan 5 (minus Jack) ran after her. It was pointless, even bruised and tired as she was, Izumi was faster than her teammates and already had a head start. She likely would've left her teammates in the dust if Alyssa hadn't rushed ahead and grabbed hold of her.
"Woah, where do you think you're going?" Alyssa asked as Izumi struggled against the speed wizard's grip.
"Where do you think?!" Izumi said as she broke from Alyssa's hold and turned to look her in the eyes, the water wizard's eyes like a raging storm. "I'm going to find that worm loving freak, kick his ass, and get my friend back!"
"Yeah, how do you think I feel?" a voice cut in. Izumi and Alyssa turned to see Natsu walking towards them. "Happy's like a son to me. You don't think I feel like a piece of crap after watching that nutjob ran off with him?" the fire wizard barely held back his tears as he spoke. "But running in half cocked and dead tired won't do them any good," Natsu put a hand on Izumi's shoulder. "We'll get them back, I promise."
Izumi embraced her fellow Dragon Slayer as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you." She said softly before breaking away from Natsu.
"Uh, quick question." Hidalgo said, disrupting this rather tender moment. "Do we even know where the hell those worm lovers ran off to?"
There was only dead silence after that.
"Damn it, he's right!" Seward said, slapping his forehead. "Even if we were in any condition to find them, their base of operations could be anywhere in the Badlands."
"Can't you guys track their smell?" Lucy asked the Dragon Slayers.
"No good," said Natsu, shaking his head. "They went and burrowed underground after the fight and took their scent with them."
"Even if they surfaced before they made it home, the sand and wind will make it really difficult to sniff them out," Izumi said with a sigh. "Natsu and just aren't used to tracking in this environment."
"Great, so not only have Happy and Jack been catnapped, but we have no idea where they could be, and we track them down," Claudia exclaimed. "Seward, please tell me you have some sort of emergency plan you've been saving just incase?" She asked her team leader hopefully.
Seward could on shake his head in despair.
All hope seemed lost for our intrepid group of wizards, their animal companions sentenced to become worm food. A dark hung over all their heads as they everyone came to the same conclusion; they had failed Happy and Jack. Seward, as much as it broke him, began considering cutting their losses and heading home. No one wanted to admit it, but it was looking like the best option at the moment.
That is until Alexander gave a hearty laugh. "AHHAHAHA!"
This got the group's attention. There he was, Alexander Marvel, captain of the Star Liberators, Celestial Wizard of the Red Zodiac, standing with his back against the sun, coat billowing in the wind. Suddenly, that dark cloud disappeared as they gazed upon the positively heroic looking pirate wizard. He took a step forward, ready to give an inspiring speech-
-before falling flat on his face.
"CELESTIAL KING DAMN IT!" Alexander shouted as he picked himself up off the ground.
"I was gonna give a really inspiring speech to get you guys out of your funk." The Celestial Wizard began dusting himself off.
"Well watching you make a fool of yourself made me smile," Hidalgo said with a shit eating grin, much to Alexander's chagrin.
Lucy was about to ask what her fellow Celestial Wizard had tripped over when she saw it. "Is that a person?!" Lucy exclaimed. Everyone turned to see that, yes, it was a person. Buried beneath a layer of sand and uncovered by Alexander tripping over him, was one of the marauders.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Alexander exclaimed, pulling out a length of rope from his coat. "It looks like our luck has changed."
And then…
It had been two hours since Yaza defeated Team Morningstar and the Titan Five. After separating from his Fang Worm companion, the leader of the Worm Riders was now walking through the halls of his citadel, Happy and Jack now in a sack strung over his shoulders.
"Let us go, you asshole!" Jack shouted as he struggled inside the bag.
"You're gonna be sorry when Natsu and Alyssa come to rescue me! They're gonna kick your butt!" Happy shouted, only for Yaza to ignore them. Soon enough, the three entered his trophy room, the walls were lined with shelves packed with artifacts and mounted animal heads. He then proceeded to open a small cage and toss the two cats into it.
Yaza knelt down to look his newest prizes in their eyes. "You know, I've spent my entire life in the company of exotic animals. Fighting them. Consuming them. But out of all them, my favorite is the fang worm."
He stood up and then proceeded to walk towards a glass bowl that had three palm-sized fang worms inside. Yaza then reached into his pocket, pulling out a few scraps of unidentifiable meat. He continued to go on as he dropped the scraps into the bowl, the infant worms greedily devouring the meat. "They mate for life. Only consume what they need and no more. They never dispute over territory. And they know who their allies are."
Yaza then turned back to the cats, who had just begun to stand up. "But I have never encountered beings like you. You look like cats, but you walk on two legs and speak. Not only that, but you can use magic to grow wings and transform. You two are probably the second most interesting creatures I've seen this month."
"And who's the first?" Jack asked. In response, Yaza looked up at the wall behind them. The two felines followed his gaze and their eyes widened at the sight. High on the wall was the corpse of the demon, Oculus, hanging from the wall by a large nail embedded through its center. It's body, about ten feet in diameter, and tentacles, as long as its body was wide, hung limp and lifeless. The demon's eye was shriveled and shrunken, and bits of flesh were missing from its body.
"This one was quite the challenge," Yaza said with a manic grin on his face. "It slaughtered ten of my worm brethren and forced me to use all of my power. But in the end, the beast succumbed to the superior warrior."
"Well, that figures," A voice said from seemingly nowhere, much to the shock of Yaza, Happy, and Jack. "Oculus was never much of a fighter. That was more Deliora's forte."
"Who are you?!" Yaza shouted before conjuring a Light-Make axe into his hands. "Show yourself, intruder! Before I find you and use your entrails as a cape!"
"Wow. You're quite the nasty number," The voice said again before the shadows in the corner of the room started to form the shape of a man. A particular man with silver hair, a cane, and a top hat. "Greetings, Lord Yaza. My name is Silas. Although you may know be better as the Shadowman."
Happy's eyes widened in fear at the sound of his name.
"Great. Now I know the name my dinner!" The orange-haired savage shouted.
"Now, now, there's no need for that," The silver-haired demon said as he tipped his hat. "I'm actually here to help you out."
"Why in the Great Worm's name would I need your help?" Yaza asked.
"Because even though they're bit players, you've still kidnapped a member of Fairy Tail and Titan Nose. And if there's one thing these 'heroic' guild types cherish, it's friendship," Silas strut his way towards Yaza. "I guarantee you they're on their way here to rescue these felines."
Yaza's brow furrowed in annoyance. "What of it? I've bested them in battle once. I can do it again."
"Oh, I do not doubt your power. But what of your subjects?" Silas asked with a coy smile. "A significant number of them were hurt in the battle. Not to mention your worm brethren, who are still reeling from their injuries. Are you willing to let your men suffer more?"
Yaza's silence told Silas more about the Worm Rider than words ever could and confirmed he was the kind of man Silas thought he was.
"I figured. So I have a proposal for you; let me and my associates handle the Wizards," The silver-haired man said before snapping his fingers. In an instant, Erigor, Ridley, Kurohebi, Flare, Nullpudding, Obra, and Oroboros manifested in wisps of shadows.
"And what exactly do you people gain from this?" Yaza asked.
"We all have a score to settle with Fairy Tail," Nullpudding explained.
"And if those Titan Nose guys get in the way, well, them's the breaks," Kurohebi followed up, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his black guild mark.
'Raven Tail, too?!' Happy mentally screamed, now more terrified than ever.
"Also, we want that," Silas said, pointing his cane up at Oculus' corpse.
"You want a demon corpse?" Yaza asked with a raised eyebrow. "I supposed I can let go of one trophy to get these maggots out of my land. But what makes you people think you can defeat foes that I even had trouble with?"
"They're expecting you. They're not expecting us." Ridley stated with her glasses giving off a sinister glow. But as she did this, Erigor noticed Happy and Jack in the cages.
"Hey. I remember you." The wind wizard stated before approaching the cage. Happy backed away in fear while Jack growled in defiance. "You're Salamander's pet. Well just so you know, I'm gonna slice that pink-haired fly to pieces. Him and that speedy muscle bitch too."
"No." Alexei stated, surprising all the members of Raven Tail. The armored man rarely ever said a word. And when he did, it was of the utmost importance. "We have our targets. Stick to them."
"Right," Erigor growled.
"Very well then. The players are ready, the pieces have been set, so let the game begin," Silas said with a hungry smile on his face.
And then...
After two days of walking, the Shadowman was proven right as Morning Star, the Titan Five (or four in this case,) and the captured marauder approached the citadel. It was a massive tower that appeared to have been built into the side of a mountain at least 2,000 feet tall.
"I don't believe it, he actually lead us straight here," Claudia said, holding onto the tied up marauder like a dog on a leash.
"It's not like I had a choice," the marauder said sorrowfully. "It was this or spend another session with that demon maid." The marauder shivered at the memory of his 'alone time' with Virgo.
"Either way, thank you for helping us Steve," Seward said to the marauder apparently named Steve.
"That's nice, but when will you let me go?" Steve asked.
"Right after we knock you unconscious, which will be right after we get our friends," Zeke said nonchalantly.
"WHAT!" the horrified marauder screamed.
"We can't just have you running straight to your boss while we're trying a pull off a rescue mission," Claudia said as she gripped her hammer. "Don't worry, I know just the spell to knock you but not cause any permanent damage."
"Okay, there it is," Natsu stated before turning to Zeke and Seward. "So what's the plan?"
"Alyssa goes in, rescues our furry friends, and we knock out Steve. Then we hightail the f*(k out of this desert," The brunette explained before turning to Alyssa. "You ready?"
The orange-haired woman nodded before getting into a starting position. "If I'm not back in five minutes, it probably means I'm either fighting someone or dead."
"Be careful," Natsu said to his girlfriend. Alyssa smiled and nodded before taking off, a cloud of sand rising in her wake. However, barely a minute after she left…
"Storm Slice!"
The group was forced to scatter as a massive wind blade launched towards them. Everyone stared in shock as the rocks they were standing on had been obliterated.
'This seems familiar,' Natsu thought before looking up to see Erigor floating in the air above them. "Erigor?! What the hell are you doing here?"
"To put it simply, Salamander, revenge," The white-haired man stated. "I haven't forgotten the humiliation I suffered at your hands!"
"Who the hell is this asshole?" Claudia asked.
"Erigor the Reaper," Lucy explained. "Former master of the dark guild Eisenwald. He tried to kill all the guild masters awhile back using Lullaby."
"Oh yeah, I remember reading about that," Hidalgo replied before summoning Golden Boy.
"You know, Erigor, for a former guild master, you're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed," Zeke stated as he summoned his bow and aimed at Erigor. "You got your ass handed to you by two of us, and now you think you can take on ten wizards, one of whom is a wizard saint, by yourself? You're either astronomically stupid or insanely arrogant."
Hearing that just made the assassin smirk. "Who said anything about me being alone?"
"Battlegrounds set. Combatants selected." A voice said from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at once.
All of a sudden, each of the wizards noticed a blue sigil had appeared somewhere on each of their bodies, and, unbenounced to them, a similar red sigil had appeared on Erigor's body. Before anyone had a chance to even say 'What the hell?!'...
"Multi-Zone."
...the light of the sigils intensified until Team Morningstar, the Titan Five, and Erigor vanished from the Badlands. Well, except for one of them.
"What the f&*k?!"
Along with the lone marauder.
"Why is my life like this?!"
Natsu…
When the salmon-haired Dragon Slayer could finally see again, he noticed that he was in some kind of torch-lit, cobblestone dungeon with a chandelier above him. However, his attention was on Kurohebi, who was perched atop a suit of armor, looking at Natsu like a snake ready to strike and devour its prey.
"Hello, Salamander. The name's Kurohebi. Big fan of your work," He said before leaping off the armor.
"What did you do my friends?!" Natsu shouted, igniting his fists with fire.
"Oh no, not me. This the work of my friend Obra," The black-haired man said, pointing to the red sigil on his neck, which matched the blue sigil on Natsu's left hand. "As long as his Zone Magic's working, we're not leaving until one of us is unconscious or dead."
"You still haven't told me why you...you know what? I don't care!" Natsu shouted before leaping forward. "I just gonna beat you senseless! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
A snake-like smile appeared on Kurohebi's face, his eyes glowing purple as he leaped out of the way of Natsu's attack and whispered, "Mimic."
Natsu quickly turned to Kurohebi's direction, sucking in air for his next spell.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He shouted, unleashing a torrent of fire at his foe. But instead of being consumed by the spell, Natsu heard a sucking sound that was all too familiar and saw the fire from his spell was flowing into Kurohebi's open mouth.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm! I can see why you eat fire! It's surprisingly tasty!" The snake-eyed man said, sucking his fingers like he just ate a banquet. "Now it's my turn!"
He held out his hands and conjured orange fire around his hands before he leaped up into the air. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Natsu quickly ducked to evade the waves of fire, confused as all hell. "You...you copied my magic?!"
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" He replied before launching his own Roar spell. Natsu attempted to eat the fire, only to find it incredibly foul.
"Uhhh. Okay, so you copied my magic. But you don't know how to use it!"
"Oh, you mean like this?" Kurohebi proclaimed before his body was consumed by Azure Flames, that serpentine grin never leaving his face.
Natsu barely stopped himself from recoiling in disgust. "But...it took me years to learn how to do that!"
"That's how my Mimicry Magic works. I just need to see one spell and boom! Instant mastery. In fact..." The black-haired wizard stated before channeling azure fire around left leg before raising it up. "Fire Dragon's Erupting Stomp!"
Kurohebi then smashed his foot into the floor. A few seconds later, the floor under Natsu started to glow blue before he was consumed in a pillar of fire. However, the only pain he suffered was from the force of the fire smashing him into the roof of the dungeon.
'What the hell, I've never used that spell before,' Natsu thought as he then landed on his feet, ready to fight again.
And as the two stared each other down, Natsu had a feeling this was going to take much more time and effort than he originally thought.
Zeke…
'Well, this isn't the weirdest thing to happen to me,' The brunette archer thought to himself as he walked around a seemingly empty casino. 'Now I just gotta figure out what the hell is going on and how to stop it.'
But as he passed a poker table, he heard the sound of something metal bouncing off various objects. He noticed a glimmer of light out of the corner of his eye and quickly summoned Emerald Aegis to form a shield. And it was a good thing he did, as the magic shield blocked a bullet that would've gone into his head.
"Well, that's new," said a voice from above. Zeke looked up and saw Ridley standing on the floor above him, a smoking gun in her hand. "The files said nothing about you having a Fighting Spirit," a small smile appeared on her face. "But that just makes this all the more the fun."
"I'm guessing you're with Erigor," Zeke said as he summoned his bow. "Gotta say, the new Eisenwald's certainly more impressive than the old one."
"Oh, that's rich!" The bespectacled woman said with a giggle. "Hate to break it to ya, Sweetie, but you and your pals shut down Eri's old guild for good. So he went and found a new one."
She then proceeded to lift the bottom-left side of her shirt, revealing a golden guild mark that Zeke instantly recognized.
"Okay, and just what the hell is Raven Tail doing in the Badlands?" The archer shouted, now more cautious since he knew who was targeting him and his comrades.
"Now, where's the fun if I reveal everything at once, Mr. Righteous Leader?" Ridley said before running away, still giggling as she did. Zeke wasn't about to let her get away and mentally commanded Aegis to lower its right hand. He then stepped onto it before commanding the stone-skinned Fighting Spirit to toss him onto the floor above, Aegis fading back into Zeke after the toss.
The brunette archer quickly landed and prepared to launch a spell at Ridley, but the Raven Tail wizard turned her head and her left eye glowed for a second. Suddenly, the floor beneath Zeke broke apart and the archer fell through the hole.
"What the…" Zeke asked as he quickly started to push debris off of himself.
"You know, there's a phrase all pro-gamblers have," Ridley said, her voice barely audible as she ran deeper into the casino. "You better be careful with your winnings, 'cause your luck can change in the blink of an eye!"
Lucy…
The blonde Celestial Wizard was carefully walking through a forest, holding Meteore at the ready to protect herself from whatever nasty beast that could be hiding in the trees.
"There once was a girl in a forest…" A disturbingly calm voice said, causing Lucy to frantically look around.
"S-show yourself!" Lucy ordered, putting on a brave front as her other hand slowly went for her keys.
"...who bumbled around like a tourist…"
Lucy then grabbed Sagittarius' key, ready to summon him the second she spotted her foe.
"...and soon, she'd turn red, despite her cute head…"
The blonde then heard the sound of mechanical clicking and buzzing. This was soon followed by the sound of something metal cutting through wood.
"...for I would take her life in earnest."
The sound came closer and closer until she realized it was coming from right behind her. She turned as fast as she could and swung Meteore to deflect a buzzsaw that would've taken her head off.
"Open, Gate of the Archer - Sagittarius!" She chanted, summoning the weirdly-dressed spirit.
"Tally ho, Miss Lucy!" The horse spirit greeted with a salute. "How may I…"
Suddenly, Sagittarius spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and quickly shot down three more flying buzzsaw with his arrows.
"Never mind! I figured it out."
"Can you figure out where they're coming from?" Lucy asked, standing back to back with her spirit. As more buzzsaws came flying through the trees, the two defended each other by shooting or knocking the blades out of the air.
"I'm afraid not, my lady," Sagittarius stated as he continued to shoot down more projectiles. "This brush is too vast and the buzzsaws seem to be coming from every direction. If I was a tracker, the odds would truly be in our favor."
And hearing that made Lucy's eyes widen in realization. She did have a spirit like that. One that wouldn't take much of her magical energy. The blonde grabbed a familiar silver key and began her chant.
"Open, Gate of the Wolf - Lupus!"
The tiny wolf spirit appeared out of her gate with a somersault. "Hiya, Lucy! Didn't think you'd need-"
Lupus' ears twitched and she quickly ducked under a buzzsaw that Lucy deflected.
"Wait, a second! Weren't you guys in a big and boring desert?" The silver-haired girl asked.
"I'll explain later! Can you track down the guying throwing these?" Lucy asked as she deflected another buzzsaw. Lupus nodded before grabbing one of the fallen buzzsaws and sniffing it. Once the scent of ancient wood and metal was memorized, the silver-haired girl rushed into the forest, determined to find the enemy. Soon enough, she saw a buzzsaw fly from the north before boomeranging around a tree and towards Lucy. Lupus followed the scent of the buzzsaws and the sound of them flying through the air like a trail of breadcrumbs.
Eventually, she spotted Obra standing in a clearing, the strange blue-skinned man manifesting buzzsaws in front of them before tossing them. With a predatory smile on her face, Lupus quickly moved from bush to bush until she was looking at Obra's back and started to quickly channel magical energy around her hands until they had transformed into glowing wolf claws. She then waited until Obra manifested another disk, and then attacked.
"Wolf Claw Strike!" Lupus shouted, leaping out of her hiding spot and quickly stabbing Obra through his back, right where his heart should've been. The silver-haired spirit believed she had just won the fight...until she heard her opponent chuckling.
"You know, you'd think I'd get tired of people thinking that a stab in the back will do me in," The blue-skinned man said. With a sickening crack, Obra was looking right at Lupus, whose claw was still in his back. He seemed to stare right into Lupus's soul with his beady black eyes. "But no, it never gets old."
Recovering from the shock of his inhuman movement, Lupus retracted her claws from her foe's body and jumped back. She looked down in confusion and fear at her claws, perfectly clean claws that should have been covered in blood. "What… what are you?"
"I am many things," Obra proclaimed as the rest of his body turned around with sickening cracks and pops, the wooden puppet on his left shoulder smirking. "I am living proof of humanity's sins. I am the voice of a dead society. I am revenge fully-realized. But to you and your master…"
His eyes glowed red and more inhuman, almost-mechanical sounds were coming from his body as it began to change. First, his arms split open, revealing two spinning drills. Next, his shirt was ripped apart as seven spinning buzzsaws emerged. Finally, his teeth transformed into a spinning tunnel of blades, not unlike that of a Fang Worm. And as Lupus looked at her foe in terror, the puppet's grin grew wider.
"I AM YOUR EXECUTIONER!"
Alexander…
The one-eyed Celestial Wizard was currently walking through a massive cave, a floating illumination lacrima providing him light and his celestial arms at the ready. He had also summoned Hu as soon as he got his bearings, figuring that the tiger spirit's animal senses would alert them to any danger. However, they had been exploring the cave for almost ten minutes and found nothing.
"Anything?" Alexander asked.
"Not yet, Captain," Hu replied. And to be honest, Alexander wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. On one hand, he might not have to fight anyone, but he also had no idea where he was or if he could even get back to his friends. Suddenly, his train of thought came to a grinding halt when Hu held out his arm to stop him.
"What is it?"
"I smell something. Coming from that direction," The tiger stated, pointing to a nearby tunnel. "There's also something odd about the scent."
"How so?"
"It...it smells familiar. But I can't quite remember why."
And with that ominous statement, the celestial wizard and his spirit went into the tunnel until he arrived at a shallow lake. Sitting in the middle of a small, lone island was Oroboros, her back turned against the two.
"I'm guessing you're one that teleported me and pals away from each other," Alexander stated. However, Oroboros gave no response, much to Alexander's annoyance. Hu, ignoring her lack of a response, continued to examine the woman, trying to figure out what was so off putting about her.
The one-eyed celestial wizard then aimed his gun at her. "Look, I'm a nice guy, so I'm gonna give to the count of three before I put one in between your eyes. 1…"
'Something's wrong,' Hu thought to himself as Oroboros stood up.
"...2…." Alexander continued, ready to pull the trigger.
'Something about this woman...this scent...it's on the tip of my tongue,' The tiger thought. He then noticed the purple-haired woman starting to unsheathe her blade, and his eyes widened when he saw a glimmer of red and black. "Captain, don't…"
"3!" And with that, Alexander pulled the trigger. But faster than his eye could see, Oroboros turned around and sliced the bullet in half.
"So it is you!" Hu started, now recognizing the woman standing before him and his master. "But how is that possible?! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"
"Hu, you know this lady?" Alexander asked, a feeling of dread crawling up his spine as he saw her snake-like eyes.
"So this is the kind of master you bow before," Oroboros stated before sighing. "I pity you, old friend."
"Hu, seriously! Who is this?!" The one-eyed man asked as the woman started to walk towards them, the sound of water splashing with every footstep echoing throughout the cave.
"She's the reason Red Zodiac Spirits are considered dangerous and unpredictable." Hu stated, his jaw clenched and his claws extended. "The one who first committed the ultimate taboo. She, the Snake."
"Know this, Hu," She/Oroboros stated before brandishing her sword, Alexander looking on in shock and disbelief. "I take no pleasure in what comes next."
Hoshi…
"Oh shit!" Hoshi exclaimed as she leaped out of the way of a wind spell, which cut the rock behind her in half. "Requip: Boom!"
The behatted woman summoned her staff and launched a blast of destructive energy upwards at Erigor, who simply flew out of the way. They were currently fighting in a canyon, not unlike the one Natsu and Alyssa fought him in.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Toots!" Erigor stated as he swung his scythe, launching another spell. "I got nothing against you personally. I owe Salamander and the Speed Queen for screwing me over and costing me my guild!"
"Oh, I know!" Hoshi said as she took cover behind a large rock. "You and your cronies tried to the murder the guild masters with a cursed flute, but Morningstar kicked your ass!"
Hearing that just made Erigor scowl. "You flys sure love running your mouths! Do you even know who I am, or do you just read that tabloid garbage?!"
"Should I care?" She asked, which only served to piss Erigor off even more, the winds in the canyon becoming more violent to match his temper.
"I have snuffed out over three-hundred lives! I am the wizard who was bestowed the title of a death god! I AM ERIGOR, THE REAPER!"
The wind around him started to whirl faster and faster, blowing Hoshi's cabbie hat off her head as she looked up.
"Aw, crap."
"AND YOU WILL KNOW MY WRATH! EMERA BARAM!"
Hidalgo…
"Is it too much to ask?!" The Shine Wizard shouted to the sky as he ran away from Nullpudding, desperately trying to avoid the needles the purple man was shooting from his arms. To make matters worse for Hidalgo, when he leaped out of the way, he found himself heading face first into a purple cactus.
"Golden Boy!" The green-haired man shouted, the golden fighting spirit manifesting and stopping its caster from hitting the spiky plant.
"I couldn't fight a sexy enemy mage, no! I get stuck in a purple cactus field, fighting someone with an ass for a face!"
And hearing that actually made Nullpudding stop his next attack and rub his chin. "Hey, screw you, asshole! This chin made me a stud back in my home village!"
"Ah, of course! How could I not have heard of the village of cactus people?" The taller man said, his voice and body language oozing sarcasm as Golden Boy mimicked its master. "But seriously, why do you look like that? Is it a side effect of your magic, or was your mother just lonely and desperate?"
To emphasize his point, Hidalgo pointed his thumb at a rather phallic-looking cactus. And you can rest assured, Nullpudding got what his foe was implying, and was royally pissed off.
"My mother was a saint! I'll kill you!" He shouted before charging ahead. But that was exactly what Hidalgo wanted.
"Shine Magic: Double Blinding Radiance!" The green-haired man chanted before his jewelry and fighting spirit lit up like crazy, temporarily blinding his purple foe and making him crash headfirst into a cactus.
"Now, you gonna stop making out with your girlfriend, or are you going to fight for real?" Hidalgo taunted, chuckling at his own joke. However, this stopped when he felt a surge of magical energy coming from his opponent. Speaking of Nullpudding, he had suffered no injuries from the cactus and his arms quadrupled in size, the spikes growing to the size of swords.
"Oh, balls."
Izumi…
'Come on! There has to be some way out of here!' The water dragon-slayer thought to herself, sweating like crazy as she ran through the lava field. Rivers of flowed all around her, radiating a bright orange glow, while the ground was dark red, almost ready to burst.
Speaking of bursting, that's exactly what happened as Izumi was forced to jump back as the ground erupted in front of her. And out of the lava came a massive ball of crimson hair being pulled up by tendrils of hair. The giant ball of hair then unraveled to reveal the psychotic-looking Flare, her hair shortening as she landed on the magma field.
"You're not getting away that easily, Blondie." The redhead said with a sinister cackle as her foe got into a fighting stance.
Seward…
The portly wizard saint and Alexei were standing off in the middle of a coliseum. Neither of them had made a move, as they were trying to analyze each other and see who would strike first. The armored figure was fully-aware of his opponent's legendary analytical skills. The second he unleashed a spell, Seward would find some way to counter it.
As for Seward, he was cautious around his foe since he could feel the vast magical power radiating off them. As such, he was looking for any kind of tell, which was hard to do considering his foe's armor covered their entire body.
"Are you going to make a move, or do I have to do it for you?" Alexei asked, revealing his male voice to Seward.
"Forgive me, but I'm not one to charge at an unknown foe half-cocked. And I'm guessing you have a similar philosophy."
The armored man chuckled before sitting down in one of the coliseums' chairs. "You're right. So it looks like we're at an impasse. I refuse to let you know my magic so that you can come up with a counter, and you're not going to attack without knowing what I'm capable of. Oh well, it doesn't matter either way. In a few minutes, all of your comrades will be dead and you'll have me and my friends to deal with all by yourself."
'Shit, that's right!' Seward thought to himself as he opened his hand. 'It's not just my life on the line! I can't waste any more time trying to size him up. Guess I'll just have to wing it!'
"Requip: The Frozen Accords!" The black-haired wizard saint chanted before summoning a dark blue tome into his hands. He then quickly used his wind reader glasses and held his other hand up, creating five magic circles above him. "Chapter 28: Raining Ice Spears!"
Like the spell stated, a barrage of ice spears launched themselves at Seward's foe. But instead of countering with a spell or evading as the Wizard Saint believed his foe would do, the spears hit their mark, stabbing through Alexei's armor, blood spurting from his wounds. Which included his head.
'Okay, no way it was that easy.' Seward thought to himself as he looked around for any kind of trap. And indeed, a trap was sprung a dozen arms covered in golden armor emerged from the ground. In his struggle, Seward looked down and saw several Alexei reaching up to grab him and he prepared his next spell.
"Chapter 87: Cold Touch!" He chanted, his body began radiating a blue aura that froze the Alexeis touching him. And with a bit of forceful movement and stomping, Seward shattered them into pieces.
"Have you figured it out yet?" Seward heard a voice from behind him and turned around to reveal yet another Alexei standing there, untouched and unharmed even as the bloody corpse of the first Alexei still laid warm on the Coliseum floor. "Or has the great thinker been stumped?"
More and more Alexeis began appearing all over the coliseum until Seward was surrounded by an entire army of men in golden armor.
'This….this has to be some kind of illu-' The portly wizard saint thought to himself before the Alexei in front of him knocked him to the ground with punch to the face. As Seward recovered, he watched in mesmerized horror as the army of Alexeis marched towards them, each with the intent of killing him.
"And now, the game has truly begun."
Yaza's Citadel…
"NOW THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT!" The boisterous Light-Make wizard proclaimed as he slammed a mug of mead onto his throne. To sweeten the deal with the Rider King, Silas offered to show his comrades killing the invading wizards via several magic protection spells, each one of them showing a different battle.
But he was not the only one watching the battles, as the caged Happy and Jack were also watching. Happy felt helpless that he couldn't do anything while his father-figure and friends were in danger, while Jack was frustrated knowing that even if he transformed, he stood no chance against the Rider King and his demonic guest.
Speaking of the Shadowman, while Yaza was watching with mirthful glee, Silas couldn't help but think something was amiss. His comrades were only fighting eight wizards, which means there were two enemies unaccounted for.
"Pardon me, my liege. It would seem my comrades missed a few rats." The Shadowman stated before vanishing into the shadows, not that Yaza was paying attention.
In the lower levels of the citadel, Alyssa was checking each of the rooms for Happy and Jack, moving fast enough to evade detection from the guards. Eventually, she started to run up the stairs, but as soon as she reached the top, she ran into a net of solid shadow, becoming entangled in the net.
"What the hell?" She shouted as she struggled against the shadows.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."
As soon as she heard that voice, Alyssa's eyes widened in fear and her breath hitched. She slowly looked up and saw Silas walking towards her, his cane tapping against the stone floor. And as he got closer, her mind flashed back to that night, the night she lost everything.
She and her family had picked up a weathered old man dying of hunger. How her parents gave him food to replenish his strength. And then, in a single instant, the massacre began.
The old man's kind and grateful smile turned into a hungry grin. His limbs became living shadows that stabbed her father through the head, snapped her mother's neck, impaled her aunts and uncles, and beheaded her cousins. And in an instant of pure terror, with fire all around them, and the Shadowman looking down at her with hungry eyes, Alyssa's magic awakened and she ran for her life.
"You must be the ballsy one of your team," Silas said as he bent his knees, taking a closer look at Alyssa. As he looked her over, he saw the look in her eyes. "Oh wow. Now that's some raw fear. You must've heard of me before."
"...S-Shadowman," Alyssa whispered.
"There it is! Finally!" Silas said, standing up and twirling his cane in glee. "I was starting to think humanity had completely forgotten me! I mean, getting sucker-punched and captured by some crazy bitch in Soul Armor would do a number to anyone's reputation. But no, I'm still relevant! I can see it your eyes! You've probably heard of my exploits and-"
But before he could go on, Alyssa's fear turned into pure, unadulterated rage as she vibrated her limbs and tore through the shadow net and stood up, glaring at Silas with more hatred than she had ever known before. Her original mission of saving Happy and Jack was now the farthest thing from her mind. Faster than the Shadowman could react, Alyssa blasted towards him, her fists reared back.
"Speed Queen: Thousand-Strike Punch!" She proclaimed, hitting the shadow-wielding demon a thousand times in a matter of seconds, the final punch sending him smashing through a nearby wall.
"Okay, wow. You went from scared to pissed off in less than a second," Silas stated, shifting into his shadow form to escape the rubble before returning to his human form. "I must've done something really messed up to someone you care about."
"You slaughtered my entire family!" Alyssa shouted before manifesting her Empress Armor's gauntlets and boots. "I'M GONNA TEAR YOU APART!"
"You're gonna have to more speci-oh, shit!" Silas before he evaporated to evade Alyssa's stone-shattering kick. "And threatening to tear me apart? Oh, how original. Like I haven't heard that one before."
The amazonian woman kept up her barrage, but the living shadow just evaded, not even seeming to care about the fight as he laid down more sarcasm.
"I bet I know what else you're thinking; 'I shall have my revenge!' 'You monster! They were people!' 'Your reign of terror ends now!' Trust me, she-man, you're not the first person to swear horrible revenge against me, and you certainly won't be the last."
But Alyssa ignored his taunts and continued her assault, shattering more stones and columns as Silas simply shifted out of the way.
"Okay, now I'm just getting annoyed. Shadow Hounds!" The human-looking demon man snapped his fingers and created several hounds made of living shadow. The beasts leaped towards Alyssa, but she managed to kick one of them away, block one biting hound with one of her gauntlets, but the others began to pile on her, biting into her flesh and trying to rip her apart.
But Alyssa wasn't going down without a fight, rage, and adrenaline blocking out the pain.
"Speed Queen: Tornado!" She shouted, spinning at high speeds and tossing the shadow beasts away from her. She then blasted towards Silas, jets of magic energy blasting out of the sides of her right gauntlet and the orange jewel glowing brilliantly.
"EMPRESS KNUCKLE!" Alyssa proclaimed before uppercutting the Shadowman in the face. And much to Silas' shock, the spell actually damaged him, shattering his lower jaw and sending him flying through the upper floor.
"Father damn it!" Silas cursed as he reconstructed his jawbone back into proper shape and re-manifested on the floor above his foe. "She has Soul Armor! Why do I keep running into these maniacs?!"
He then felt his hounds being torn apart by Alyssa on the floor below and was soon consumed in his own anger. His body soon began to morph, Silas' pale flesh giving way to moving shadow, his eyes and mouth becoming like that of a jack-o-lantern with a sinister yellow glow, and his hands and feet becoming claws.
After destroying the shadow hounds, Alyssa rushed up to the next floor and was stopped dead cold at the sight of the Shadowman's true form. A form that had haunted her nightmares for nearly a decade. The silhouette. The yellow eyes. Horrifying memories of that night now standing before her.
"Alright, human. If you miss your family so much, I'll gladly send you to them." The Shadowman stated, his voice no longer having any shred of fake humanity left as he glared at his next meal.
To be continued…
Author's Note 2: And so, the matches have been set! Will our heroes survive? And how will a certain one-eyed pirate and speed wizard deal with recent revelations?
Next time: The Beast Awakens! Please be sure to read, favorite, review, and help this story by editing the TV Tropes page! See ya next time!
