Story Summary: In this world there are two sides to everything. Two sides to every story, two sides to every person, and two sides to every problem. And like everything else the Grand Magic Tournament has its other side. Its other side is The Underground Mage's Tournament. Its other side is twisted and evil, dark and mysterious, but could it be something more? In this dark tournament can six people find the friendship they've been searching for all their lives? Or will they succumb to the darkness that dwells inside all of their hearts, and become the monster they so desire to escape from?
I would like to clarify that I do not own Fairy Tail or the ocs presented in this story. Also scene changes will be in bold along with time of day, and thoughts and the first paragraph of the story will be in italics.
Sorry if the story is a little crappy today! I wanted to post this real fast because this is the longest chapter I've written by far. 5000 words! Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it!
*Warning: The following scenes may be a little bit graphic.
Chapter Nine: The Price of Losing
S. S Sky Eater: Arena Time: Morning
Yuki then approached the two losers who were sprawled against the floor and said in a dark evil tone, "Now I think it's time you learned what the consequences are for losing."
"No! I won't accept it! I can't lose to her!" Dante yelled out as he tried to stand back up.
"This fight . . . isn't over. Not until . . . one person is left standing," Omichica added onto as she tried to stand back up as well.
"Well since you still have some energy left over I think I'll entertain myself for a while," Yuki pronounced sinisterly. Yuki lifted up her hand and suddenly it began to glow red. Around both the losing fighters the same aura that covered Yuki's hands covered them too.
"What . . . What's happening to me!" Dante cried out as he suddenly fell down onto his knees.
"I . . . I . . . I feel so angry!" Omichica shouted. Suddenly the two team mates turned on each other and began to fight. Omichica sent a wave of water and Dante. Dante countered by freezing the water.
"I wonder who's going to win. The water mage or the ice mage," Yuki expressed to herself as she watched the two comrades fight each other before her eyes. Dante shot needles of ice at Omichica. Omichica immediately blocked by using her water as a shield. The fighting between the two never let up. One would release an attack the other would counter it.
"I have to admit this has lost its luster. I'll just end it now. Wait I just had an excellent idea!" Yuki mumbled. Yuki raised her hand again and it glowed with the same red aura as before. The two friends stopped their fighting and remained still at opposite sides of the stadium. Then from nowhere a hammer appeared at the feet of Dante, and a sword at the feet of Omichica. They both picked up the weapons and charged at each other. Dante swung the hammer and got Omichica in the gut. He then swung the hammer down and smashed her in the head. Omichica fell down face first into the metal floor. Dante then repeatedly smashed Omichica's skull. The anger left Dante and was replaced with sadness. He fell to his knees and cried before the cold dead body of his teammate.
Yuki approached Dante, bent down and whispered in his ear, "She was special wasn't she? You loved her didn't you? I bet it must be hard to live knowing that you ended the life of the person you loved most. You just want it all to end don't you?" Dante was too engrossed by Yuki's words to notice what everyone else was seeing. Yuki was using her magic again, but this time instead of red her hand glowed blue. Yuki walked away from Dante's kneeling body, and as she was walking away from Dante she dropped a gun behind her by "accident". Dante crawled towards the gun and picked it up. He held it in his hands and eyed the weapon.
BANG
Dante's body slumped over and fell down right beside Omichica's.
"All losers who try and fight the fate that awaits them will suffer the fate these two have! So I suggest to you that you don't lose and if you do I suggest you go with dignity, and not like a lowly rat as these two did!" Yuki announced to the whole of the stadium. Then suddenly the two dead bodies began to glow blue. From the bodies, two balls of pure light emerged. The light was so powerful that the whole stadium was blinded, except those who were in the dugouts protected by the magic seal. The two balls of lights slowly began to float towards the giant lacrima that was seated behind Yuki's chair.
"Oh and I forgot to mention that all losers will have their soul repossessed and have it fed to the grand lacrima!" Yuki pronounced. The whole stadium was silent not a single peep could be heard. Hikari just stood there near the corner of the arena and watched the whole scene. Yuki approached Hikari and whispered something into her ear. Yuki backed away from Hikari and jumped back to her seat.
"Now! Let the tournament continue!" Yuki yelled out from her king seat. Hikari walked back to her team's dugout and sat on the benches. As Yuki was walking back she was eyed by all of her teammates.
"What did she say to you?" James inquired.
"Nothing of importance to you," Hikari stated to James coldly. James said nothing in response. All he did was eye Hikari suspiciously. Aside from James' glare of suspicion at Hikari the whole team was motion less. Everyone just stood in silence.
"Alright enough of this sulking! This is a dark tournament! Stuff like this is supposed to happen here! There's no way for us to get around it! The only way is to win no matter what!" Attican yelled out enthusiastically from outside the dugout.
"What the hell! How'd he get there so fast?" Alexia shouted.
"Attican! You idiot!" Mark yelled as he tried to run after Attican and pull him back in, but was unsuccessful because before he could even take a step out of the dugout the make seal came back up and blocked his path.
"Do you understand what it means to lose? You're going against two mages, and if you lose your life is over!" Mark yelled at Attican.
"Don't you think I know that? I know what'll happen to me if I lose, but I won't let that happen! I'll come out of this fight alive and kicking!" Attican shouted with a grin on his face. Mark went silent and backed away from the magic seal.
"Alright. I'll put my trust in you that you won't lose," Mark said calmly.
And besides if I lose and my soul is taken no one will mourn my death Attican thought to himself with his grin. Attican then ran up to the center of the stadium and yelled out, "Alright! Let's get this party started!"
"Looks like we have our next fighter! Attican the lightning mage! But his lightning is no ordinary magic! It's black lightning just like Or-" Yuki was about to finish, but was cut off by a bolt of black lightning that whizzed past her head.
"Opps. My finger slipped," Attican said blankly. The whole crowd was still silent, but some of them gave off a grin because of Attican's actions. Yuki gave Attican a long stare before she turned away and continued announcing.
"Well then, now let's have it for the last two Grand Soul fighters! Luke the Soul Forge and Advo, Death's Advocate!" Yuki proclaimed. Then two people from the Grand Soul section of the stadium came up. One was wearing a pair of brown boots, a blacksmith's apron, black pants, and a white long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had black hair and brown eyes. The other fighter had a pair of knee length shorts with a skull emblem on the thigh, a red shirt with a picture of a skull on it as well, a small black jacket with the Grand Soul emblem on the back but instead of the GS in the soul it was a skull, and a pair of black shoes. He had black spikey hair and yellow eyes. The skull covered boy had a toothy grin showing off his sharp canines.
"All right! A black lightning mage! This fight should be fun!" death boy shouted.
"Say can you do that lightning ball thing Orga does?" Death's Advocate asked Attican.
"No, but I can do that blow your head off with my two fingers thing," Attican replied with the same grin death boy had.
"I can't wait to see what type of soul you have," Soul Forge said to Attican.
"Let the battle begin!" Yuki shouted. Suddenly Soul Forge ran up to Attican and pressed his palm against Attican's chest. Attican quickly backed away from S. Forge to avoid whatever attack he had, but nothing happened.
"Alright I have the information! Now show me your soul power Attican!" Forge yelled out as a blue ball appeared in front of him. The blue ball was a sphere of magic covered with magic runes. He put his hand inside the blue rune ball and inside a bright light began to shine.
"Come to me o soul of the black lightning mage!" Forge yelled as the light from the ball grew brighter until it exploded in light. When the light cleared a plain sword was in Forge's hand.
"You're about to find out what it's like to fight against your own magic!" Forge proclaimed. Then suddenly the sword's upper blade began to crumble. It shattered into a million pieces leaving the bottom half of the blade and the handle.
"What just happened?" Forge said to himself. He swung the sword wildly, but nothing happened.
"Dammit! Useless!" Forge yelled out as he threw the broken sword at Attican. Attican caught the sword by the handle and gripped it tightly.
"It's not useless . . . you just don't know how to use it right!" Attican shouted back. He lifted the sword up high in the air.
"Now you'll witness the true power of black lightning!" Attican proclaimed as he swung the sword down, yet nothing happened.
"Dammit! Use-"Attican was about to say as he swung the sword like Forge did priviously.
"What was that? 'Use,' what?" Forge expressed to Attican.
"'Use' nothing! I'll show you the true power of my soul!" Attican yelled as he went at Death's Advocate.
"'bout time! Let's get this party started!" Advo cried as he summoned two scythes and blocked Attican's broken sword slash.
"Hey . . . that's . . . my . . . line!" Attican struggled to say because of the sword scythe clash he was having with Advo.
"You'll have no lines when I'm done with you!" Advo retorted. Then suddenly the piece of blade Attican was using to hold Advo off was cut off by his scythes. The scythes made two parallel cuts on Attican's chest.
"Damn!" Attican yelled as he backed away to avoid more damage from Advo.
"What happened to your cocky overconfidence?" Advo stated gleefully with the toothy grin.
"I'll show you!" Attican cried out in anger. In his left hand he created a ball of lightning. He threw the ball of lightning directly at Advo.
"You think a little attack like that can stop me!" Advo stated arrogantly as he made a defensive X with his scythes, but then suddenly before the ball could make contact with Advo the ball exploded and left behind a thick smoke field. Advo was blinded by the smoke field and was left defense less.
"Nice trick you got there!" Advo shouted out.
"I've got a lot more tricks up my sleeve," Attican expressed to Advo from behind him. Attican was about to strike Advo, but then suddenly a bright beam of light pushed through the smoke screen and hit Attican directly. Attican was sent flying into the wall of the arena. The force of the hit made a dent in the metal wall.
"Ah crap! That really hurt!" Attican cried in agony. The smoke cleared in front of Attican and there that stood before him was the Soul Forge mage, and a beautiful white spear with white angelic designs on the light brown wood handle, and near the bottom of the piercing spear blade was a set of angle wings.
"This is the true power of a soul," Soul Forge expressed to Attican.
"Are you alright Advo?" Soul Forge asked worriedly.
"Yeah. I'm good. Thanks for saving me right there," Advo said in appreciation.
"Let's finish this battle here!" Soul forge announced as he faced Attican.
"Right!" Advo stated in agreement and the two team mates dismissed their weapons and high fived. Then suddenly the magical power in the arena grew by ten times. Everything suddenly began to shake as well.
"What's happening?" Mark shouted in the dugout as he tried to hold his ground.
"I . . . I . . . Attican run!" Alexia yelled out as she tried to break through the seal but was unsuccessful. Attican in response just stood there and watched the show before him. The shaking grew more violent, until suddenly it stopped. The air was silent. Nobody moved, not even in the stands. Suddenly from out of nowhere, beneath the feet of the fighters a giant magic circle appeared.
"You're about to witness the greatest power team grand soul has to offer . . . Black Soul Beam Blast!" Advo and Soul Forge shouted in unison. Soul Forge dismissed his spear and went behind Advo and placed a single hand on his back. Advo pointed the palm of his right hand at Attican. Then suddenly a black substance came from the magic circle and enveloped Advo and Soul Forge in a spherical looking object with a face. The spherical object was in the shape of a sphere except for the top which was a wavy wisp that swung back and forth. The face of the sphere was sort of . . . weird. Its mouth was in a zigzag and the eyes were plain circles. The creature took up the whole Grand Soul side of the arena.
"Whoa! That thing's huge!" Attican pronounced in amazement as he examined the creature from afar. The creature opened its mouth and a black ball formed.
"Attican run!" everyone in the team Kuro no gobÅsei pleaded as they pounded on the magic seal. Attican ignored their pleading and approached the soul like creature with his right hand pulsating lightning and his left hand holding the broken sword. The ball of power in the soul monsters mouth grew to the peak of its power and released a blast that could rip apart the whole airship. Attican ran straight at the Soul Blast while holding the sword with both his hands. Suddenly the broken sword began to reform with black lightning to form a full blade. He swung the newly reformed sword at the Soul Blast and the most surprising thing happened. He held off the attack. When the sword made contact with the blade sparks of lightning bounced off. Some even went into the crowd. The fight between Attican and the soul creature was surprisingly matched. The match off between the two went on for a while until Attican ended it. At his feet a blue jet like blast came from them and propelled him forward. He cut the soul creature vertically in half.
"He . . . He defeated the creature?" Alexia said both in amazement and wonder.
"He beat the Black Soul creature? How the hell did he-"Soul Forge was about to say, but then suddenly Attican turned around and went full speed at him.
"Dammit!" Soul Forge shouted as he summoned his spear and lifted it in defense. Attican sped at a blindingly fast speed and couldn't stop.
"Dammit! My eye!" Attican yelled out as he cringed on the ground trying to cover his right eye. Attican was hit in the eye with Soul Forge's spear. Advo summoned his scythe and swung it. He released a black crescent wave slash that hit Attican and sent him to the other side of the arena near the dugout of his team by skipping. He lost his weapon as well and it disappeared.
"Ah dammit I'm tired! That attack took a lot out of me," Attican breathed as he covered his right eye with his right hand while trying to stand up, but failed and landed on his left knee.
"Attican . . ." Alexia whispered with a look of worry in her eyes. Attican looked at his team and was . . . um . . . well . . . he was awestruck.
I can't believe I didn't notice this, but Alexia looks . . . Attican thought as he looked at Alexia with his only good eye.
"Cute . . ." He muttered. Attican and Alexia looked each other in the eyes and for just a second they had a small moment. When Alexia noticed he was staring at her she turned away from him with a pout of anger on her face.
Dammit you stupid little . . . I can't believe- Attican was thinking until he was disturbed from his thoughts.
"Attican! Pay attention to the battle!" Alexis yelled out with her hands cupped around her mouth.
"What?" Attican stated. Then suddenly another bright beam of light was sent at him. The beam sent him into the metal wall, but this time instead of denting it he was sent through it and a smoke cloud covered the hole in the arena wall. A shadowy figure was walking towards them from the cloud. Out from the cloud emerged Attican unscathed from the attack with an emotionless look on his face and a closed right eye which was covered with a blood streak. In his left eye he had a new kind of look. Something that quiet can't be explained.
"Huh. I thought that would've done more damage," Soul Forge expressed as he stared at Attican. Attican then suddenly began to emit black lightning from his body along with a black electrical aura. He began to walk towards Advo and Soul Forge, and as he walked his lightning aura reacted with the metal airship. The lightning arced with all the metal bolts on the wall of the arena creating a metal field around the arena. No one could escape or enter.
"Wow! I can't believe he had this much power! I wonder if he'll put up a good fight against me," Aero claimed to himself.
"He's getting his ass kicked and then suddenly gets a burst of power. Another subject for me to experiment on!" Kevin proclaimed to himself.
"This smell . . . what is it? It feels so . . . familiar," Mark and Alexia both quietly whispered in unison.
"This doesn't look too good for us don't you think Soul Forge," Advo stated to his friend Soul Forge.
"I think I'm going to have to agree with you Advo," Soul Forge replied.
"Well then you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your power?" Advo expressed.
"Yeah sure- Wait wha-" Soul Forge was about to say but was knocked out by the drain power of Advo as he put his hand on Soul Forge's arm and sucked him dry.
"Don't worry Soul I've got this battle," Advo said reassuringly to the knocked out Soul Forge as he tossed him into a black portal that manifested behind of Advo.
"Alright now! Let's start fighting for real!" Advo yelled out. Darkness covered all of Advo's body in an egg shape. The egg then began to crack and out from it emerged Advo but with slight changes. The top half of his face was covered with a skull mask; his hands were black, his eyes yellow, and his hair covered by a raged hood that was connected to a robe that gave him the appearance of Death, and no shoes, but off all the changes this one stood out the most. A black aura was emitting from his body. He dashed straight at Attican. As he ran at Attican he formed an all-black scythe from his aura. He swung the scythe at Attican's mid-section, but then suddenly Attican disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the arena with his back turned to Advo. Advo charged after him again and the same thing happened. Attican disappeared, but after this time Attican moved to multiple places around Advo leaving only his shadow. Advo looked at the multiple Attican shadows and in one fatal swoop he got them all. Advo slammed his fists into the ground and a splash of darkness covered both him and all the Attican shadows. When the splash died down the arena was empty. Attican reappeared on his side of the arena and soon after Advo appeared on his side of the arena. They both charged at each other and clashed fists and entered a standoff. The resulting standoff caused both fighters auras to clash as well. Black Lightning and Darkness. The two forces were so great that a white bright light enveloped the two and the whole fighting area. Everyone was blinded no one could see what was happening. When the light finally died down the whole floor of the arena was gone. Ground below could be seen. The two fighters were clashing in midair. The speed at which they clashed was so great no one could see it. They could only hear the sounds of them clashing.
BANG
BANG
BANG
Were the only sounds heard by everyone. When the two were finally visible they both had damage on their bodies, but their power wasn't letting up. Attican had both his fingers in the gun position and was about to send out two giant lightning balls. He released the balls and they were going to make contact with Advo, but he cut the balls in half. The split up ball halves went past Advo and exploded behind him in lightning. Advo in retaliation opened his mouth and released a black beam blast. Attican took the attack full on with his right hand. When the beam was gone Advo was up close with a scythe and cut the defenseless Attican across the chest. Attican flew back to the side of the arena away from Advo who was in the center of it. There they both stood staring at each other.
"I think we should end this with one final blow," Advo said with a deep dark voice following over his normal one. Advo then teleported to his side of the arena.
"Release your most powerful attack!" Advo shouted as he built up another blast in his mouth. Attican readied his both of his hands for a charged attack.
"Shinigami's reckoning!" "Lightning Beam!" Advo and Attican both shouted out. Attican's beam and Advo's shout both collided and were standing off. The two attacks were battling it out over who would triumph, and so far no one was letting up. The standoff went on. Seconds turned into minutes, and no one was letting up. Then suddenly Attican stopped his attack. The black beam was heading straight at him. Attican moved fast enough to the left and was lucky enough to avoid the blunt of the damage being received by his body. His right arm received all of it and was left black but Attican had no time to cringe in pain. He dashed right at Advo and grabbed him by his neck with his only good arm. He lifted Advo up, and released thousands of bolts of lightning into Advo's body. Advo tried to fight Attican's grip, but was severely weakened by the powerful attack. Advo's body soon went limp and soon he stopped fighting. Attican stopped the electrocution, but he didn't let go of Advo. His power died down. Attican too was losing the will to fight. His body soon collapsed in midair. His body fell down and down through the sky.
"Attican!" Everyone shouted on Attican's team. They tried to break through the magic seal, but it still wouldn't come undone. Attican kept on falling and falling and the ground kept on getting closer and closer. The seal finally broke and someone jumped to Attican's rescue. What Attican saw as he was being saved was a bright light and soon after he feinted due to lack of strength.
S. S Sky Eater: Medical Wing
"Hurry! We need to get him to the operation room!" shouted a doctor who was pushing a patient on a silver cart down a long hallway with two nurses. The group busted into the operating room and connected the patient to multiple magical medical machines that were run by lacrima by inserting needles into certain points on the body. One of the machines pumped magical energy into his body, another machine sucked out the magical energy that was plaguing the patient's body. The doctor ripped off the patients as best as he could without disturbing the small creature on the patient's shoulder. The doctor put his hands over the pants chest and a bright light flowed from them to the wounds on the patient's body. The nurses were focusing on the patient's right eye that was severely damaged. As the nurses were treating the patient's eye one of them noticed something.
"Sir, none of the death magic is being drained from him! In fact it's spreading through his body!" said one of the nurses.
"Damn faulty machine! Nurse take over while I replace the lacrima in the machine!" The doctor shouted.
"Yes sir!" the nurse replied as she took the doctors position treating the patient's body. The doctor ran off to one of the cabinets and pulled out a new fresh lacrima orb. He ran to the machine that was sucking out the death magic and quickly replaced the lacrima.
"Is it working now!" the doctor asked.
"No it's not sir! The machine is still having no effect on the death magic!" the nurse replied.
"Looks like I have no choice! Everyone out of the way!" the doctor commanded. The doctor stood atop the patient again and placed both hands over the patient's chest. A magic circle appeared and from it small runes came from it. The runes covered the patient's body all over and with that the dark magic spreading ceased.
"Good job Sir!" one of the nurses complemented.
"Thank you, but just because one crisis was averted doesn't mean another one won't pop up! We still must work diligently on the patient!" the doctor proclaimed. The medical workers then resumed their tasks. The doctor on the body, and the nurses on the eye.
S. S Sky Eater: Medical Wing waiting room
The waiting room was plain and normal. Only white walls and chairs. In the waiting room our young mages resided waiting to know the fate of their friend.
"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Alexia asked openly to the whole group.
"Yeah I'm sure he's going to make it. I mean you saw him during that battle. He was practically unstoppable. I don't think a few cuts will bring that guy down," Aero said optimistically as he left his position leaning against the wall and approached Alexia.
"Yeah I agree! A great tes- I mean mage like him could easily pull out of this . . . but on the down side if he doesn't I'll get a great test subject," Kevin said and mumbled the last part as he was working on a new experiment on the floor.. James Hikari, and Alexis were all sitting in the chairs that were located in the middle of the room and stayed silent, Mark on the other hand was stuck in his thoughts and was making a weird face as he thought in his chair.
That smell. Why now? Why did it even smell? None of this makes sense. Why does it smell so familiar? Mark thought trying to rationalize everything that occurred.
Where did that burst of power in Attican come from? It is possible for mages to get bursts of magical energy, but under those circumstances . . . The only time a burst of magic occurs is when there is extreme emotional disturbance in the mage. From what I saw Attican was emotionally stable. Mark thought. Then from one of the doors located in the waiting room a doctor came in with blood covering most of his front.
"Oh my god," Alexia said as she buried her head into James' shoulder.
"Your friend he's . . ." the doctor expressed.
"He's what?" Mark stood up from his chair and asked the doctor.
"I had to use a magic seal on his body to hold back the death magic in his right arm. I couldn't get rid of the death magic and it was the only option. His magic will be severely weakened but he'll survive. "The doctor stated.
"Can we see the test- I mean our friend," Kevin asked.
"Sure, but please be quiet. He's currently resting," the doctor replied. Everyone except Mark, and the doctor left the waiting room and entered where the doctor came in. Only the doctor and Mark were left in the room.
"Excuse me doc. where is the other mage my friend was fighting?" Mark asked the doctor.
"He's being kept in the ship's prison. Why do you want to know?" the doctor asked back.
"Just thought I'd pay my respects to the other fighter," Mark replied.
S. S Sky Eater: Prisons
The prison cells were dank and dirty. The walls were made with concrete and the bars of steel. On the walls were runes that restricted anyone insides magic. Sitting in the cell was the mage Attican was fighting earlier Death's Advocate, or Advo for shorter. Suddenly in front of the cell Mark appeared. He let himself into the cell with a key he stole.
"Listen you're going to tell me what you did to my friend," Mark said to Advo.
"Why should I? Your team killed two of my friends. An eye for an eye," Advo replied.
Mark let out a sigh and said to Advo in the scariest tone ever, "You wouldn't happen to be afraid of dragons, would you?"
Chapter End
Next Chapter Title: A Midnight's Dream
Author's Note: I'm sorry for not updating in a while. I had a bunch of homework and everything was getting in my way, and to add to my troubles I had a slight writer's block so put up my spirits and review! And for those of you that don't understand Soul Forge's magic I'll explain it. He basically makes weapons out of peoples souls. The person's soul determines what type of weapon so the angel spear would come from a person with a pure soul. Advo's magic will be explained later on in the stor, but it would be interesting to see what you think it is so please tell me what you think. One more side note. How was the scene? Was it too graphic? Should I up the rating of the story?