Hey, my first double update, sweet!
Happy: You really like what you do, huh?
You bet I do!
Happy: Authors are supposed to show what they write to everyone, right?
Sure they are.
Happy: Well then, how come Lucy won't show us her novel?
Maybe because she doesn't think it's ready. I've done something like that before too. Some authors want their authors to be the best it can possibly be before letting people read it.
Happy: Gotcha. Makes sense.
Now then, disclaimer please?
Happy: Aye sir! Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail. The only things she owns is her plot and OCs.
Thanks Happy. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
"W-where am I?"
A girl with dark blue hair and chocolate brown eyes wearing a yellow, blue and white dress with blue shoes sat up to find herself in a dark cave.
"So, you're awake?"
A man with tan skin and white hair and dark eyes holding a staff stepped out of the shadows.
"Who are you?" She asked. "What do you want with me?"
"We need your power. Sky Sorceress, Wendy Marvell."
She remembered her and Carla being ambushed by dark mages on their way to the meeting point, it didn't take much to figure out that the man before her was not someone she would want anything to do with. "I won't help you for anything!"
He smirked "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."
Wendy looked confused. "I'm Brain, the leader of Oracion Seis." This confirmed part of her suspicions. Wendy said nothing, watching him walk past her. "I've come across a...surprise." He stopped near a coffin.
After Carla explained how she and Wendy were on their way to the villa when they were ambushed by the Scorpion blade mages and someone she couldn't see froze her. Wendy had been trying to help her when the dark mages took the opportunity to knock them both out. The alliance regrouped soon without much incident and both sides were brought up to speed, finding that Scorpion Blade wasn't the only dark guild here. Hibiki took the opportunity to show them what he knew about the members of Oracion Seis.
"So the kid's trying to find their base now?" Lyon wondered, glancing at Hope, who was standing not too far away from the group with his eyes closed.
"The clones did a good job of fooling them so far, right?" Eve wondered.
"I think so. At least the mages don't have any idea it isn't us." Jura replied. "Which is why we should capitalize on this chance, find their base and save Wendy-dono."
"Ne, Lucy?" The blonde looked at Happy, who was holding a fish with an unusually shy expression. He glanced at Carla, who was standing near Hope, clearly wishing he'd find the base quickly. "Can you give her this fish?"
Natsu raised an eye "Can't you do that yourself?"
"Y-yeah, but..."
"Oh, I get it!" Lucy grinned. "Love at first sight, eh? It only works if you make your move alone."
"You know, I've always wanted to try this once." A smirk settled on Gray's face then. "You llllliiiike her!"
Natsu and Lucy burst out laughing at this point while Happy looked scandalized. "Hey, you're copying me?! And you roll it a lot more than I did!"
Lucy shook her head when she saw that Carla had flatly refused Happy's offering, feeling bad when she saw his disappointed expression. Well, she supposed it couldn't be so easy. Maybe she would help him out with this later.
Carla started when she saw Hope's expression growing pained, as if he was having trouble keeping his concentration. The boy began swaying a little in his place and she took out her wings to steady him before he fell. "Are you all right?"
"Y-yeah..." He stood, barely noticing the others approaching. "...I haven't found the base but it's at least not anywhere for miles. Something keeps blocking the way every time I go further. I think it's at least southwest of here, a bunch of those dark mages were going in that direction."
"So we're that far off..." Sherry trailed off.
"Hang on Hope, nothing blocked your sight before. What could that be?" Happy asked.
"I'm not sure..."
Hibiki crossed his arms with a thoughtful look "Still that's a start. Did you see anything else?"
"Yeah, but it was just for a second...I think it was some sort of white shadow and it looked like a horse..."
The members of Blue Pegasus looked startled and Hibiki added "Are you sure?"
Hope began to speak but then a shadow flew over them and they looked up to see a wide ship flying over them. It fit Hope's description. The ship the Blue Pegasus mark.
"Whoa..."
"That's yours?" Lucy asked Eve. "But then it would have to be..."
"Yeah, that's Christina, the bomber we were going to use. But how..."
They followed the ship to the clearing only for it to burst in flame and began crashing down to everyone's shock.
"Christina just...!"
"What just happened?!"
"There you are." A new voice said.
A dark sphere appeared just before the ship and seven figures stepped out of it.
Hibiki tensed "Oracion Seis!"
A woman clad in a white and blue outfit with white hair and brown eyes smirked. The alliance members knew this was Angel from Hibiki's info. "About time, it was pretty annoying to find you after that little clone trick."
"You really were planning to find our base and bomb it? That's a little predictable, Angel, maybe you didn't need Gemini after all." A man with black hair that had a red streak and grey eyes stated. This was Victor, the most recent addition to Oracion Seis, rumored to be the former guild master of Scorpion Blade.
"Maybe not, I thought it could be entertaining. How they found out is beyond me."
"Hmph, not that we need to worry about that." The man with dark red hair and dark eyes who was the user of poisonous snakes, Cobra, grunted. "I can hear them shaking in fear."
Brain was also with them, along with a man with orange hair and an oddly square face who was Hoteye, the mage who always look for a profit. There was another man with spiky yellow hair in a white and red suit who was the speed magic user, Racer. In front of them was a young man with dark violet hair, who oddly enough, seemed to be asleep.
"Clean up your ears then, idiot! Fire Dragon's Iron First!" Natsu snapped.
Cobra smirked and grabbed his arm before kneeing him and tossing him aside. "Too easy."
"Money makes the world go around!" Hoteye exclaimed. "Yes, let me tell you..."
"Shut up and get to work, Hoteye!" Victor and Cobra snapped.
He must have been quite used to this response because it didn't faze him at all "Very well, Liquid ground!"
The ground shook for a moment before it started to go soft, throwing the alliance members off balance. Hope remedied the situation by casting Rescindo wave and focusing the energy on his hand before sending it to the ground. A silver wave pulsed then, surprising Hoteye when the ground returned to how it was.
"Not bad at all, kid." The boy started and turned around to see Victor standing behind him. "Still, you need to..." He struck Hope with a magic enhanced fist to the stomach before following up with a similarly powered up kick. Hope yelped as he felt something heavy force him to stay on the ground. What was that? "...look out for yourself first. So..."
"Oh, no you don't! Ice Make:..." Gray started when the two blue creatures he saw in Hope's screen appeared before him and transformed into a version of himself.
Even stranger, the clone proceeded to hit him with his own Ice Make: Lance.
Victor raised an eye, seemingly surprised for a moment as he kept an eye on Hope "Wait just a minute, aren't you..."
"Ice Make: Ape!" Lyon aimed the snow ape at Racer, who smirked.
"Motor." He disappeared and reappeared before Lyon, Sherry and Hibiki, kicking them both down.
Lucy grabbed a key "All right then..."
A clone of her appeared then. "How about you just stay down?" She cackled, striking Lucy with her whip.
Natsu stood, his eyes landed on Midnight then. "Why the heck is he still sleeping?! Fire Dragon's Roar!"
His mouth fell when the spell seemed to curve away just before reaching Midnight.
"What the..."
He didn't have time to react because Racer punched him then. "Stop that."
"Yeah," Victor snapped his fingers and Natsu felt a powerful force pushing him down. "Midnight's going to be a pain in the ass if you wake him up now. Besides, it's not like you can handle us anyway."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Aerial Shot!" Ren called, what seemed to be a sphere of wind surrounded Victor then.
"You're..." He smirked. "...going to have to do better than that!" He punched the ground, releasing a shock wave that seemed to destroy the sphere before kicking Ren down.
Racer smirked when Eve's spell, which he had aimed at the speed mage and Midnight missed completely. "Motor!" He took Eve down just like he did with his comrades.
Ichiya attempted to help them, pushing Racer back and beginning to use his Pain Relieving Parfum. He froze when a copy of him appeared, only this one had a lot more muscle, the copy then hit him with a combination of punches and kicks that took him down.
"Surprise!" The copy taunted. "I already copied you. It's easy to use your abilities."
Hope aimed a bullet, which began shining with silver light as magic pulsed with in it before shooting at Midnight. He stiffened in surprise when Cobra kicked it down, his foot was surrounded by a black and red substance. The man smirked "So you figured it out, kid? Does that have anything to do with your little friend?"
Hope's eyes widened. He knew? It was only Endymion's warning that let him dodge Cobra's following attack but that let the mage grab his arm and throw him to the ground.
Angel raised an eye when she saw the pendant "Victor, heads up."
"Hm?" The man's eyes widened at the sight of the item before he smirked. "Well, well, guess I owe you." He raised a hand, a magic circle appeared around Hope then, causing him to be lifted into the air and drawn to Victor then.
The strangest thing was, when he touched the pendant, it gave off a bright light that seemingly burned Victor and destroyed the magic circle holding Hope up in the air.
"W-what the hell..."
"My, this is quite an interesting treasure! If I sell it, I'm sure I'll earn quite the money!" Hoteye exclaimed.
"Just try that Hoteye and I'll pound your face in!" Victor threatened, rubbing his arm where the burn was.
Meanwhile, Cobra and Brain were facing the last members of the alliance still standing, Erza and Jura.
"You're pretty good," Cobra dodged another of Erza's strikes. "But I can hear you."
Jura grunted as he blocked Brain's dark spell with his Iron Rock wall before bending the rock and using it to attack.
"So this is a wizard saint's power..." The man was stronger than he expected and he was starting to have trouble. They hoped to use Gemini to take him out but whoever it was that came up with the clone trick had ruined that plan.
"Need a hand, Brain?" Victor asked with a smirk.
"Please." He dismissed. "Dark Capriccio!"
"In that case, you mind if I take the kid?" The man said, nodding at Hope. "At least until I figure out how to sort this little problem out."
"As long as you make sure the others are wiped out."
"Not a problem."
Victor picked Hope up with one arm, only to hear a cold voice say 'Keep your hands off my friend.'
Endymion sent some of his magic, which manifested as a golden aura around Hope's body to push Victor back.
Victor grit his teeth and raised an arm, a magic circle appeared around the alliance members, causing a strong force that pushed them down.
Cobra smirked at Erza "You really don't get it, do you? I can hear you perfectly."
The knight mage grimaced, having been slowed up by Victor's magic. Racer used this opportunity to kick her and punch Jura before Cobra added to the mix by sending the purple snake behind him to bite her arm. Her pained scream brought Jura's attention to her, thus causing Racer and Brain to sneak up on him.
"Pathetic, you all wear your hearts out on your sleeves." Brain stated. "I'll end this myself. Dark..." The very atmosphere seemed to shake with the man's power. "...Rondo!"
Angel smirked at the sight of the explosion the spell caused. "That's that."
"Jeez, Brain, talk about going overboard." Victor grumbled.
"If that pendant is anything like you mentioned, then this wouldn't have destroyed it. Besides, I did say you need to ensure their death."
"About that..." Hoteye began. "...Do you know that young templar?"
"No, I thought he might have been..." Victor trailed off. "...But there's no way it's him."
"Come on, Cobra." Racer said when he saw the man linger. "Even on the off chance that they survived, we'll just kill them later. We've got more important stuff to do."
"True, if that girl's done then we should be closer to finding Nirvana, right?"
"That's the idea."
Back with the alliance, a rock wall and a shield of light had surrounded everyone, protecting them from Brain's spell.
Jura stared in awe at Endymion. The phoenix spared him a glance before raising his wing. The shield started glowing and formed a shimmering aurora that the wizard saint recognized as the memoria spell, Athena's veil. The rest of the alliance were just as shocked by the sight of Endymion, barely noticing that the phoenix was helping them.
"Guys, Erza's..." Happy began, glancing at the knight mage who was leaning against the shield with a pained face, clutching her arm.
'I know, just a moment.' Endymion's eyes glowed silver for a moment as a silver aura surrounded Erza's arm.
"What happened?" Hibiki frowned.
"That snake poisoned her," Happy explained before looking at Endymion. "Can't you do anything beside freeze her arm?"
'Not in this case...' He'd lost plenty of his healing power and he was starting to recover from that. '...Hope has an idea that might help though.'
He let his host take back control, both ignoring most of their comrades' shock. Hope placed the ring Freed and Levy had helped make on Erza's finger and concentrated his magic.
"Activate."
The blue stone on the ring shone and they could see the poison start to disappear. Erza felt the pain fade a little. "This is..."
"It's supposed to reverse the damage...it might take a while though." Hope said, trying to cast Athena's veil again to speed things along.
"Whoa, hold on, what was that just now?" Ren asked.
"He's a take over mage?" Eve asked Natsu.
"Not exactly. It's a long story and we don't have time."
Hibiki saw Hope wince as he attempted to continue the spell "Senpai, don't you have something for this?"
"Ah, that's right..." Ichiya, who seemed to have forgotten all about that in his confusion, took out a bottle and opened it. "Everyone, my pain killing parfum should take care of all this!"
A pleasant smell surrounded them then and they did feel like their pain was disappearing.
"It's working on the poison too! That's Senpai for you!" Eve said.
"No, it isn't." Lyon could see that Erza wasn't fazed by the smell at all. "That's the kid's work."
"Isn't there something we can do?" Lucy wondered.
"We can just go beat those guys up, right? Maybe that Cobra guy could have an antidote on him or something." Natsu suggested.
Hope shook his head, frowning "You don't know that for sure. We can't beat those guys by charging in with brute force. If Wendy was here..."
Carla agreed "Yeah, your magic is effective but it takes time. Wendy wouldn't have any problem with this."
"That Wendy girl can get rid of poison?" Sherry inquired.
"Not just poison, she can cure illnesses, heal wounds and stop pain."
Ichiya looked dismayed "I feel like my identity was weakened."
"But Healing magic's a lost magic, right? The closest thing we know is the templars' magic but even then it's not always effective." Ren said.
"Yeah, Hope-dono's restoring spells are the best I've seen among all the templars I met." Jura agreed, the rest of the alliance definitely agreed with that statement.
"So it's a part of her dragon slayer magic?" Gray asked, remembering what Hope told them about the girl.
Carla nodded "I'm not sure what they would want with Wendy but we need her too. From the looks of things, they took her to their base."
"That's perfect! We'll just go and get her back!" Eve stated.
"Yeah, so just wait Erza." Hope stood.
"We'll back before you know it!" Natsu added. "Let's go!"
"Say, Jura-san, have you ever heard of this Nirvana?" Lyon asked. The members of Lamia Scale had decided to go together when the alliance split into groups again.
"No, not before we came here. It does seem to hold a certain amount of significance..." Jura said thoughtfully. "...Still, whatever it is, we can't let Oracion Seis get their hands on it."
"Absolutely." Sherry agreed. "But what do you think about that phoenix? If that Hope kid's not a take over mage then what was that about?"
"It seems to be a complicated story but if he's our ally then that's good enough."
"I guess so..."
"There you are!" A new voice exclaimed as a number of mages wearing red hoods came out of the bushes.
Natsu, Gray and Hope had left with Carla, while Eve, Ichiya and Ren had gone in another direction, leaving Lucy, Happy and Hibiki with Erza near the clearing.
"Please hurry, you guys..." Lucy muttered.
Erza hated sitting like this while she knew they were all fighting but there wasn't much she could do. Hope's magic had blocked all the pain from her arm but she couldn't move it one bit either. She glanced at the ring, which was sending waves up her arm, at least it was still working. She would fight like this if it was up to her but her comrades had asked her to stay put until they could come back with Wendy and not take any chances. Since she didn't want to inconvenience them in anyway, she obliged.
A flash of light brought Happy's attention to Hibiki, only to find the Blue Pegasus' mage's attention on a number of screens before him. "What are you doing?"
"Tracking everyone's movement." He replied. "My archive magic isn't really suited for battle but it should help us keep an eye on things. We may have started as a ragtag alliance but we can win this if we start working as a team."
"Yeah, that sounds good! Let me know if I can help!"
"So Wendy's looking for her dragon too?" Natsu asked Carla as the two of them, Hope and Gray sped into the forest.
"Yeah, she wanted to ask you and the other dragon slayer in your guild about that. Whether or not you had any clues to your dragons' whereabouts." The cat explained. "Hope did that for her and it turned out that you're as confused as Wendy."
"We are. They did all just up and vanish without a trace."
"That's true, I keep wondering about that..." Carla stopped, staring at the area before them, where the trees were all withered and black. "...What is this?!"
Hope looked around with a puzzled expression. This was the same place his distant vision couldn't get past earlier. But why?
'...So it's true.' Endymion began.
"What is?" Carla asked.
"What's up, big guy?" Gray added.
'I couldn't remember where at first but I heard of Nirvana. It's a magic that makes people switch between light and dark.' The phoenix said.
"Light and dark?"
'It means they switch allegiances. Let's say a person is exposed to Nirvana. If they were good, it can easily turn them evil. It works both ways too.'
"You're kidding..." Gray trailed off.
"Who the heck would want to create magic like that?" Natsu asked the phoenix.
'I can't say. It's only something I heard about a long time ago. I think it's been over a century at least. If I recall, the magic's creator used it to protect his home but it was apparently too powerful so it was sealed.'
"So it's the reason the forest is like this? Even when sealed?" Hope questioned. "...If it's this strong now, then no wonder Oracion Seis is after it."
"What do you mean? It just makes people change sides, right?" Natsu asked.
It was Carla who replied "Don't you see? It's much worse than that. Imagine them using Nirvana on a guild. It could cause a war between the members. They would destroy each other."
"Meaning if they get their hands on Nirvana, it'll be a disaster for all of us. Let's hustle." Gray said.
"Can't have that now!"
A number of people came out the bushes, immediately blocking their path. All wore sinister grins and looked battle ready. Curiously enough, they were being lead by what seemed to be monkeys.
"They're all over the place!"
One of the monkey grinned "We're Naked Mummy, currently working for Oracion Seis!"
"So they're with that guild Lucy had to beat before?" Natsu clarified.
"Sure looks that way." Gray responded, one of his fists was surrounded by swirling ice. "You guys ready?"
Natsu smirked "I'm born ready!"
"Whenever you are." Hope took out his weapon.
"Wait, you can't mean you're going to fight?" Carla surrounded incredulous. "We have to get out of here."
"What are you talking about? They came all the way to greet us, right?" Gray said.
"You can't be serious!"
"I'd save my breath if I were you, Carla." Hope advised. "They're too eager to battle and it would be easier to deal with them now anyway. If they work for Oracion Seis then they're here to stop us, isn't easier to deal with them now than avoid them and possibly cause trouble for the others?"
She had to admit it was hard to argue with his logic. "That's true...you do realize that's a whole guild we're staring at, don't you?"
"Yeah, but numbers aren't everything."
"Yup, this will be a cinch. Just watch!" Gray added.
"They're making fun of us, Zatou-nii-san!" One of the monkeys exclaimed.
"So let's get them, Gatou-nii-san!" The other responded.
"Just try it!" Gray unleashed a wave of ice that froze plenty of the mages around them.
"Why you!" A number of the dark mages attacked. Hope defeated them with a Maelstrom.
All in all, it was a short battle. The dark guild members had put up some fight but in the end they were all defeated.
"That was harder than I thought..." Gray admitted.
"It was the four of you against one guild. Did you really think it would be that simple?" Carla asked in an exasperated tone. She looked at Hope "Honestly, they're just as reckless as you said."
"Seems like you haven't changed." A new voice commented. A man sat on a tree branch, looking down on the group. It was none other than Erigor, Eisenwald's ace. "Yo, Flame brat, I've got me a score to settle with you."
"Oh hey, if it isn't the breezy bastard!" Natsu greeted. "How's it hanging?"
Hope and Gray exchanged a confused look before the latter said "What the heck are you doing, idiot?"
"What?"
"Natsu, you were never friends." Hope explained patiently.
"Oh..."
Carla raised an eye at the scene while Gray rolled his eyes and Hope and Endymion sighed.
"So, it's just you now? Should be easy enough." Erigor jumped down. "No surprise you beat those idiots. I'll take over now." With a wave of his hand, Erigor sent a fierce wave of wind at them.
Hope cast Zero Ray to stop the spell, feeling his own magic reserves replenished. Erigor's eyes widened when the wind died down. He scowled then "How about this?!"
Natsu, who knew what the templar was up to, decided to act now. "Nice one, Hope! Leave him to me."
Erigor grinned, wind surrounding his palm then. "Just the way I want it!"
The fight was over quickly. It helped that Erigor had once again overestimated himself and underestimated Natsu, who had grown much stronger from the time of their first fight. With the wind mage out of the way, the group was able to continue advancing to Oracion Seis' base.
Little did they know an unexpected surprise lay in their destination...
Wendy stepped back, eyeing Brain and Racer, who had their eyes on the coffin with the former wearing a smirk. She couldn't believe it at first but inside the coffin was none other than Jellal Fernandes. He was thought to be dead after the tower of heaven incident but Brain said that he had gotten caught in the tower's collapse and became comatose because of Etherion.
The Sky Dragon Slayer was even more confused when Cobra explained that she was brought here to heal him. What she picked up from their conversations told her that Jellal knew something they wanted though.
Normally she wouldn't help Oracion Seis for anything but now...
This was something that not even Carla was aware of but Wendy knew Jellal. He had taken care of her for a while after her foster mother Grandeeney disappeared and even brought her to Cait Shelter. Which was why she couldn't believe the news about him. Still, she owed him a great debt and she couldn't bear to leave him in that state.
This was the only reason she agreed to Brain's demand. And now it was finished.
"Wendy!"
The girl started at the familiar voice calling her and turned around to see Carla, Natsu, Gray and Hope at the base's entrance. "Carla, Hope-san!" She exclaimed, surprised to see the latter.
"So you did survive." Racer said coolly. "Well, not that it makes any difference. You still don't stand a chance."
"Oh yeah?!" Natsu wanted to carry on but then he saw the figure walking up behind the speed mage. His eyes widened "You?! How...why are you here?"
The others were confused, deciding to follow his line of sight till their eyes fell on Jellal.
"He's alive?!" Gray exclaimed.
"You know him?" Carla wanted to know, taking note of their shocked expressions.
"Y-yeah...but you might have heard him. That's Jellal Fernandez." Gray informed.
And she did. "You're joking! That's the person who brought down the old magic council? But they said he died!"
'...That's what we thought too.' Endymion briefly thought of Mystogan, knowing something was definitely strange. But that was an issue on its own.
"So they brought you here to heal him, Wendy?" Hope asked.
The girl gave a shaky nod. "I-I had to. I couldn't just..."
"Now we can get things under way." Brain turned to Jellal. "We are..."
Then Jellal did something that surprised everyone present. He attacked the Oracion Seis leader.
"Jura-san?" Lyon said when the wizard saint stopped.
"...You two go on ahead." He said, turning left. His eyes narrowed. "I sense a powerful presence coming our way."
"Oracion Seis?"
"Most likely." Jura nodded. "Go on, I'll face them."
Lyon and Sherry left, albeit a little reluctantly, but they trusted their guild's ace to take care of things.
"What the heck..." The bewildered group stared at Jellal, who didn't spare him a glance.
Racer scowled "What do you think you're doing?" But Jellal cast a spell that sent him to the wall. He then headed for the entrance.
Natsu's fist clenched "Bring it! I won't let you off easily!"
Jellal merely gave the dragon slayer a look before casting a spell that hit him and his friends.
Carla blinked, realizing she hardly felt any pain. "Wha..."
Natsu stood with a grunt. "The bastard...he's run off!"
It was true. Jellal was no where in sight. The dragon slayer raised an eye at Brain and Racer's unconscious forms, wondering why that didn't happen to them. He shook himself, that didn't matter now.
"I'm not letting him get awa...oof!" He yelped, because Carla had chosen that moment to pull him by the scarf before he could run off. "...What're you doing?"
"You can deal with that later! Did you forget what happened already?"
"Hey," the two glanced at Gray, who was looking at Wendy. "You probably used plenty of magic but you mind giving us a hand?" He gestured behind him to Hope, who was on his knees, looking tired and in pain.
"Ah, yes!" Wendy began to use her magic to heal him immediately.
"What happened?" Natsu asked.
'He used Zero Ray to nullify that spell. It was too strong to stop on such short notice. The drawback of that spell is the magic backlash that could hit the user sometimes.' Endymion explained.
"Hope-san..." Wendy began, looking worried.
"It's okay, it worked for the most part." He stood when she was finished. "Thanks, Wendy. We should get back now."
"Yeah, Erza's waiting for us." Gray agreed, deciding to explain everything to Wendy on the way.
They had gotten a fair distance away when Racer's voice reached their ears. "Lucky little brats. It's time I do away with you."
Gray saw a shadow through the trees and looked at Hope. The boy understood the silent question, letting Endymion enhance his sight before he spoke. "Coming up left."
"All right, Ice Make: Lance!" Gray cast, letting the ice lances spread over a wide area to his left, forcing Racer out. "All of you, get going! I'll take care of this guy!"
"But Gray, you..."
Natsu wanted to speak and Gray knew he was about to object so he said. "Don't give me those looks. I'm not losing to him. Erza's waiting, remember? Go!"
Natsu grimaced "All right, but if you lose, I'll be kicking your ass later."
"If that happens, I'm letting you do it." The ice mage responded.
"Like I'll let you leave..." Racer jumped.
"Ice Make: Rampart!"
The speed mage's path was blocked by a giant wall of ice, forcing him back.
Hope bit his lip "When you get back, Erza's going to be all right and back in action."
"That's just what I'm counting on." Gray responded, still watching Racer but giving them a thumbs up.
Hope and Carla summoned their wings and picked Natsu and Wendy respectively before flying from the scene.
Racer scowled "If I wanted to, I could catch up to them no problem. But that's twice you stopped me now. My name would mean nothing if I let you live."
"Oh please." Gray said dismissively. "It's just a name. Besides, haven't you heard? Ice can stop the flow of life itself."
Happy noted with relief that more than a quarter of the poison was gone from what he could see. Hope's idea was working but it just needed more time. However, he couldn't help but wonder how much they had left after what Hibiki told them about Nirvana.
Spirits rose a little when Hibiki managed to contact Natsu and Hope at last, showing them where their location was with his magic. They learned of the group's success in the process and that Wendy was coming to heal Erza soon. It seemed the rest of the alliance had similar luck for the most part, having managed to defeat all the enemies they ran into while searching for the base. The only close call they had was when Ichiya had almost been captured but Ren and Eve were there to bail him out.
Brain glared at nothing for a moment before turning to see Midnight leave, having roused the mage himself a minute ago. He had to admit that he didn't expect Jellal's reaction. Something was definitely amiss. He ordered Cobra to track the blue haired mage down. The alliance wouldn't get in their way, he vowed silently, he would make sure Nirvana's power would be theirs if it was the last thing he did.
Hope stopped running and before his friends could ask why, he pulled Wendy back in time to dodge a silver energy sphere that would've hit her had he not done so.
"What..."
Victor jumped out of one of the trees, landing to face the group. "Heh, guess I should've expected another templar to recognize that spell. Still, not bad for a kid." He stretched. "You want the little girl to heal Titania, right? Well, I don't plan to let that happen." He prepared a spell and raised an arm. A magic circle flashed and a powerful force made the group fall to their knees.
"W-what is this?" Wendy managed.
"It's like he's manipulating gravity!" Carla said.
He laughed "Got it in one. Yeah, that's what I do. Good luck getting away from that."
A beam of light shot out of the gravity field he erected, destroying it and grazing his shoulder. Victor froze, stunned. "How..."
He barely had time to dodge a glowing bullet, but then it split into several smaller ones that he forced to the ground with his magic. He then turned his attention to Hope. "Who would've thought you'd spare me the trouble of looking for you? Well, I'll be getting my hands on that treasure soon enough."
"You won't be getting your hands on anything." Hope said coolly, firing two bullets. Victor watched as they shot up into the air. He saw them split into several ones and smirked.
"I won't fall for the same thing twice."
But it wasn't the same idea. The bullets had split and all shot at him, he managed to get them all but one, which hit his side.
Hope switched his weapon to sword form before looking back at Natsu, Wendy and Carla. "You three have to keep going."
"But Hope-san..."
"He's been after me right from the start." The boy cut Wendy off, then lowering his voice. "Besides, we're awfully close to where Erza and the others are. We can't let him find them now. Endymion says there's a couple of other powerful forces nearby and that's troublesome enough."
'Go.' Endymion added, agreeing with his host completely. While he didn't have half his healing power from before, he had developed a particularly strong ability to sense magic and it was really coming in handy now. 'We're on borrowed time as it were and that goes double for Erza.'
Hope smiled reassuringly "We'll be fine. Just leave things to us now. Everyone has to do their part, right?"
Just like with Gray, Natsu's expression showed that he didn't like this one bit but they really didn't have a choice. "...All right, we'll leave it to you. You guys gotta win, yeah?"
"That's the plan."
'We won't have it any other way.'
Hope saw Wendy's worried look and Carla's frown. "We'll be fine. Erza is a really important friend of ours, practically my sister actually. I'll trust you to help her out, okay, Wendy?"
Feeling a little better with her friend's faith in her, Wendy nodded strongly. "Be careful." Hope nodded and continued "Carla, you make sure she makes it safely through."
"Naturally, you two had better make it back soon."
"Please." Wendy added.
Hope smiled before he and Endymion responded in tandem "It's a promise."
"Not sure what you're whispering about there..." Victor stopped when he saw the three running. "...But I said I won't let you, remember? Force..."
Hope traced a finger along the sword and it lit up before he went to strike the gravity mage, forcing him back before he could finish the spell.
"Your battle's here."
Victor watched them leave, deciding to change his plans and take care of the younger templar first. "All righty, have it your way, kid. I'm still getting my hands on that pendant when I wipe the floor with you!"
Hope's grip on his blade tightened as he got the other one out. "Just try it!"
That's all, folks!...What's with the long face Happy?
Happy: Carla wouldn't take my fish...I don't get why she doesn't like it.
Maybe because it's raw? Frankly, I can't see how you eat it like that.
Happy: Really? But it tastes totally good.
As they say, to each their own. How about you try something different next time?
Happy: I guess...Any chance you can help me?
Sure, we can probably work something out.
Happy: Great! Everyone read and review, Solana gets happy and motivated for the next chapter when you do.
That's definitely true, laters!