*Re-edited 10/16/2016
Fairy Tail: The Lightning Child
Chapter XX
'I don't know…how much longer I can…hold out for…' Since Trinity Rave, Lavan has been tortured nonstop until now. The two cloaked people stepped away from her, to discuss what they should do next. But from what Lavan knows…they need her alive otherwise everything they did is for nothing. Looking over to her left, Jellal has been seated and watching the "game" that he had constructed. From where she was, she can see the sphere in front of Jellal constantly changing perspectives between two different fights: Natsu versus Fukuro. Juvia and Lucy versus Vidalus. The third member still hasn't revealed herself and nobody has yet to run into her, which is a relief.
"Hm?" Jellal peered one eye open as he noticed the guitar piece slightly chip before looking at the sphere before him, which was displaying the fight with Juvia and Lucy. Who had finally defeated Vidalus and were now resting, Jellal tipped over the guitar piece on the game board as he stood up from his seat "A Unison Raid?" He muttered to himself "The thing that monk spent his entire life studying in pursuit of? I heard in the end he never attained it. Even if it's coincidence, that's quite the nerve they have." He lifted his head and let on a smirk "They may be little girls, but they are Erza's comrades, yes?"
Lavan winced as pain throbbed from behind her right eye that has completely changed, damn, if there was something that she could look at herself in, it wouldn't surprise her how much a single thing can make her look like a monster "Let...me...out..." The deep voice echoed within her mind "Let me have...it all…! All of...YOU!" As the voice roared its command, Lavan screamed in pain and agony as the pain from her right eye flared like hellfire. Slowly, patches of her skin began to change that can easily match the resemblance of dragon scales.
The two cloaked figures ended their discussion and looked over their shoulders "The transformation is coming along nicely." The hooded female said, making her trek over to Lavan and lifting up the dragon slayer's head. As the pain stopped, so did the skin coloration as it successfully covered parts on the right side of Lavan's face. The hooded female dropped and let Lavan's head hang from exhaustion, the female placed her gloved hand squarely on the top of Lavan's head "Since we are running on borrowed time, let us speed up the process. Dream Magic: Dark Revelation..."
Within the same room that they had beaten Vidalus, Juvia and Lucy laid on the ground, exhausted from their fight and drained of their magic 'It's no use...I can't move a finger...' The celestial wizard mentally said as she opened her eyes 'I guess I used up too much of my magic power.' She shifted her gaze to Juvia, who laid on the ground, back facing her 'It doesn't look like Juvia can move either. What are we going to do?' Then Lucy heard a familiar 'nya' echo in the room.
"We had out butts licked good..." Millianna meowed as she walked alongside Wally.
"Oh, someone's collapsed over there." Wally pointed out.
'That voice!" Lucy began to panic 'Wait, we're not enemies anymore!…Is what I'd like to say, but I'm too scared!'
Meanwhile back with the Magic Council, staff members began barking the status as they prepared to fire Etherion "To think we'd be pressured into this course of action while the Council Chair is ailing..." Org said as him and the members of Magic Council watched the preparation of the Etherion.
"It cannot be helped." Leiji told him "While the Chair is absent, it is us 9 who are responsible for the stability of the magical world."
"Do not worry so much, Org." Michello said, reassuringly "Even if we are attacking another country with magic unprovoked, we can justify it under clause 27, paragraph 4 of the National Security and Safety Act!"
"This isn't a matter of law. We are about to fire Etherion" Org said, turning to face Michello "We're doing evil!"
"It's Zeref who is the true evil here. We can only pray that Etherion will be our saving grace and destroy Zefer!"
Meanwhile on a different floor from them, Siegrain and Ultear watched the Etherion as well "It won't be long, Lord Sieg..." Ultear told him "The dream you've had for 8 years will become a reality."
"Are you not afraid, Ultear?" Siegrain asked.
"No, not even a little." She said "Because I always have complete faith in you, Lord Sieg."
A little ways behind them was Yajima, who had used his Flattening Magic against a nearby pillar and eavesdrop the pair "I suppose so. There is no danger to your life." Siegrain said "I am shaking a little...if I fail, then I will be annihilated. But this is very much worth risking one's life for. Because this is my dream."
Back at the tower, Jellal remained in his seat with the game board by side "Another 25 minutes, then?" He picked up the ice crystal chess piece and tipped over the owl piece "I'll never see you again...Siegrain." Looking over to his right, he noted that the pace of Lavan's transformation as the skin coloration has already spread down her neck and stopped by her collar bone. Her left eye has also changed. Jellal smirked to himself, his plan coming along nicely and soon Erza will be in his presence- with the intention to stop him and save her comrade.
"Jellal!" Sho shouted the blue-haired man's name as he ran through the a long hallway "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! How dare you trick us!" Trapped inside the card that Sho sealed her in, Erza pounded on the card's surface and telling him to calm down and to let her out "It's okay! I will protect you! For sure!" Eventually Sho entered a large room. A bridge ran above the water towards the door on the opposite end, sakura blossoms flying in the end. He came to an immeiate stop once he noticed a pink-haired figure walking towards him from afar and sword in hand. Sho readied himself.
"I am named Ikaruga." The pink-haired figure introduced herself "Who are you?"
"Outta my way! Who is this crazy broad?"
"Oh, my! Aren't you unrefined?" Ikaruga mused.
I don't have any business with you!" Sho threw his cards through a blue magic portal, creating multiples. Ikaruga held out her sword and with a quick movement, the cards were easily cut down the middle and merely floated in the air before disappearing "There is nothing which I cannot cut."
"What are you, some street performer?" Sho readied more cards. A large 'X' suddenly cut the wood beneath his feet and the cards in his hands shattered "What is this? My body..." Sho fell limp to his knees.
"I severed your nerves without cutting your clothes or flesh." Ikaruga said "That is the essence of the New Moon School." The assassin then noticed a particular card floating to the ground "Oh, so that is where you were, Miss Erza..."
"Let me out of here this instant!" Erza shouted at Sho "She is not an opponent you can defeat!" Once again, Sho assured the redhead that nothing can harm her while she's in the card's space. With a quick movement, Ikaruga slashed her sword, but only to be deflected by Erza's sword. Sho then noticed that Ikaruga had managed to slice through the spatial divide of the card. Ikaruga then let loose a flurry of strikes against the pair, Sho's back collided with a statue and a bright yellow light shined. The light faded to reveal Erza finally out and free of the card "Thanks to you, your sword made distortions in this space. That's how I managed to cut my way out."
'A sword that can cut through the spatial divide amazing enough, but to use the enemy's slices in that split second...this is Titania's power...' Sho looked up at Erza with tears in his eyes.
"You called yourself Ikaruga, yes?" Erza questioned her opponent "I have no use for you. Begone."
"In lieu of an introduction..." Ikaruga narrowed her eyes as Erza's armor suddenly cracked and disappeared. The redhead grasped her shoulder and fell to one knee "Oh? Did your perhaps not see it?" She chuckled a bit and began to recite a poem of some sort "That at which you gaze...beyond the mist, could it be...a mononoke?" She then spoke again "trying so hard to find Jellal, you no longer see the flash of sword all around you." Erza's features then darkened "Yes, yes...those are the eyes...I am no mere passerby."
"That is how it seems." Erza then requipped into Heaven's Wheel Armor, she charged head-on towards Ikaruga only to have her swords deflected. Erza backed off, now floating in the air and summoned more swords "Heave's Wheel, Circle Sword!"
"New Moon School." Ikaruga sliced through all of Erza's sword, the shattered pieces piercing the ground around the assassin "Demon Flash." And Ikaruga completely shattered the Heaven's Wheel Armor "New Moon School. Garuda Flame!" Erza braced herself against the attack as requipped into the Flame Empress Armor last second "That armor has the ability to defend against flames, yes? You do well to requip in such an instant." Once again, the armor shattered "You must'nt let his lordship see you looking like that, yes?" She mocked "What will you do? Will you don your strongest armor soon?"
A magic circle formed underneath Erza's feet and requipped in her Purgatory Armor and summoned a spiked sword "There is no one that can stand when faced with this visage!"
"So that's your strongest armor? Come at me." Erza jumped into the air above Ikaruga , swinging the sword above her head and slammed it down but only to have it deflected. Swing her spiked sword at her opponent, the attack mustered up a gust a wind. Ikaruga jumped back and deflected it once more, the wood of the bridge being destroyed in the process. Erza brought down her sword once more and Ikaruga dodged it with the tip of her sheathed sword skidding the surface and shattering another armor before landing before the requip mage. Erza cried out in pain as she fell to her knees "Do you not yet understand? No matter what armor you don, you cannot win against my sword. Give up, now."
Sho looked on in shock, this fight is impossible! It seemed like no matter what armor Erza equipped into, it would just get destroyed regardless! But what happened if Erza donned her strongest armors?! Like the Purgatory Armor! An armor of that caliber must be able to defeat Ikaruga! Or rather knock her down! A bright light enveloped Erza once more before fading away to reveal an armor that seems to have no special qualities like the other ones.
"What are you trying?" Ikaruga asked "That outfit is nothing but cloth. Do you think so little of me?"
"Sister, what are you doing?" Sho shouted at her "You've got to have a lot of strong armor left, right?! You're stronger than this, right?!"
"I am…" Erza muttered "I am not strong." There has been a purpose to her armors, she closed her eyes "Before my eyes, countless numbers of my friends have become sacrifices. I wasn't able to protect those dear to me. And then..." From the rebellion of the tower, to her childhood at the guild "...I was always crying...to be seen as strong...I shut my own crying heart inside of my armor. I always wear armor because I am weak! I could never take it off..."
"I will cut down my opponents, even if they are naked." Ikaruga said.
"I believed that the armor would protect me. But I was mistaken. That armor blocked the space that separates people's hearts from one another. Fairy Tail taught me this...it taught me how close people are to one another...how warm they are...I am lost no longer! I will turn my entirety to strength and have at you!"
"Lord Jellal," From his throne, Jellal looked up from the board and made eye contact with the two hooded figures as they walked closer to him "Her power may not be what you suspected in the first place, but it should live up to your standards as your executioner."
The blue-haired man hummed, shifting his gaze over to Lavan. Purple electricity crackled around her body. "If that's the case, then release her of her restraints and take your leave."
The hooded male was about to speak out until the female held out her arm in front of him. The male made a noticeable frown underneath his hood before making a quick smirk 'Foolish bastard thinks he can control the Dark One? Heh, the dragon brat may only have half of its power but it's more than enough to kill this Lord!' With flames igniting his hands, he firmly grasped the chains and melted it- leaving only the shackles around the wrists "The Dark One is loose."
"Excellent." Jellal smirked a bit before placing the knight piece in front of the king. The purple dragon behind the king has yet to be moved. Jellal then stood up from his throne "My, oh, my. The game is already over?" He mockingly asked as Erza entered the room.
"Is playing with people's lives so fun for you?" She asked.
"It is fun. Birth and death, after all, are the origin and focus of all emotions." Jellal said, walking off to the side as if heading towards Lavan "Or to put it the other way around, nothing is more boring than living on its own." He then stopped and turned to face the redhead "It's been a while, Erza…"
"Jellal..." Erza said with narrowed eyes "Where is Lavan? What have you done with her?" As if on queue, the hooded male grabbed Lavan by the bangs and tossed her over like a ragdoll, her body rolling a few inches until her front was facing the requip mage. Erza felt her throat tighten at the sight of her little sister. The clothes that Lavan wore at the casino were tattered and covered in blood stains, what was even worse was the sight of the purple patches of scale-like skin and the half-opened transformed eyes. Low breathing barely escaped Lavan's mouth and she looks closer to death than what Erza has ever seen.
Lavan's eyes snapped towards Erza, purple electricity gathering for a dragon's roar but purple and red tendrils immediately shot out from behind Lavan and wrapped themselves tightly around her body before she can let loose the attack. The tendrils brought Lavan back to Jellal's side "You two are dismissed." He said, clearly to the hooded figures with his eyes still on Erza. The two obliged before being sucked into the shadows "It seems you were far too late to rescue your comrade, Erza." He commented as Lavan made muffled roars through the tendrils.
Erza raised and pointed her sword at Jellal "How dare you do that to my sister. As for that, I will liberate my past friends."
"Do as you please. I no longer need them. The Tower of Heaven has been completed." He said.
"Even though it will be destroyed in less than 10 minutes?" Jellal merely chuckled at Erza's obvious point of the Etherion "Such confidence...so it was bluff?"
"No." Jellal threw back his hood "Etherion will rain down."
"Hmph. Hearing that makes me feel relieved." Erza readied her stance "If I can delay you by 10 minutes, then this will all be over!"
"No. You will be annihilated as Zeref's sacrifice. It has already been decided! That is your fate. Your destiny!"