Chapter 25: The Oracion Och
As the less mature wizards of the coalition dashed out of the vacation house, Jura, Ichiya and Artorias hung back. "This doesn't feel right," the blood wizard commented.
"So, you feel that way as well?" Jura spoke, looking at the Phoenix with new interest. "I agree. It makes no sense for the Och to gather in the open like that,"
"Which means that the rest of the Coalition is running into a trap of some form," Artorias frowned.
"Indeed," Ichiya nodded his assent of the other two's assertion. "However, it's a little more complicated than that,"
"How so?" Jura asked.
"Because while they are running into a trap out there," 'Ichiya's' voice suddenly changed, becoming high-pitched, "you two have fallen into a trap in here! Piri, piri!"
Artorias' eyes suddenly widened. "Look out! The door!" he shouted, already dashing for cover, as Jura did the same. In that moment, Ichiya transformed into a pair of tiny blue gremlins, and a series of energy beams shot forth from the doors.
Angel calmly strolled in, followed by some kind of technological, satellite-like machine. She looked over to the far corners, where Artorias and Jura had separated. "Impressive. Bleeding-Vein Artorias, and Iron-Rock Jura. The two most powerful wizards in the Coalition, some might say,"
She cast a glance at Gemini. "You two, get back to the rest of the Och and cover for me. I have to clean this mess up,"
"Yes, mistress," the Spirits (Spirit?) chirped, and vanished.
"You're right," Artorias softly agreed. "We are the most powerful wizards in the Coalition. Which raises the question," A cruel light entered his eyes. "Why do you think that you can beat us by yourself?"
"My pets will do it for me," Angel shrugged, gesturing to the machine behind her. "Khyber, keep the boy busy while I handle Jura," With beeps of affirmation, the mechanical Spirit hovered towards Artorias, while Angel rounded on the Wizard Saint, producing a small golden object. Jura tensed, recognising it as a Celestial Key of the Zodiac. "Open," she smirked, "Gate of the Ram," With a doorbell, there was a flash of light and Aries, Zodiac Spirit of the Ram, appeared with a nervous whimper.
Jura frowned. "Celestial magic? I can handle that. Iron-Rock Tomb!" A massive room of rock emerged from the ground and enclosed Aries, and Angel raised her eyebrows, stepping back. "Odd," she frowned. "How are you blocking my connection to Aries?"
A whine of tortured metal caught her attention, and she turned to see Khyber clattering to the ground, and Artorias advancing towards her in the other direction. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding like he genuinely meant it. "But I think I broke your toy,"
Angel huffed. "It doesn't matter, anyway. I got what I came for," she smirked, even as she back-pedalled towards the exit.
"And what was that?" Jura demanded.
"I kept you two busy for long enough that the rest of the Och can wipe out the remainder," Angel simpered, before vanishing.
The two paused, before frowning. "We were tricked," Jura realised, and Artorias nodded. "Come. We can still catch up," he declared, running out towards his guildmates.
~P's E~
It wasn't long until the other eighteen wizards of the Coalition were rushing down the last section of the path to the Oracion Och, unaware of the trap they were walking into.
"There they are!" Natsu grinned. "I'm all fired up!"
As the wizards gathered, facing off against the Och, who were waiting patiently - several of them almost looked bored - Hibiki tapped something into his Archive. "Wait!" he called. "Let Christina launch her assault, then we attack!"
Pierce nodded as Natsu was reined in by his guildmates, and above them, the Christina came into view.
"So, who's flying the Christina?" Tyria curiously asked, and Hibiki shook his head. "No one's on board. It's remote controlled with my Archive. Everyone! Watch the skies!"
As one the coalition looked up, eager to see the Christina fire. "Three . . two . ." Hiniki counted, watching his Archive -
And, suddenly, a massive beam of blue energy sliced through the sky, cutting directly through the Christina's hull. There was a moment's pause, and then the ship exploded, smoke billowing from her eviscerated hull. "Oh no!" Lyon gasped as Pierce demanded, "What the hell?"
"Useless," a mocking voice cajoled them, and the wizards turned to see Mylene Farrow standing in front of the rest of her guild. "That thing wasn't a weapon," she tsked, folding her arms. "It was a giant, floating target, and it was so easy for me to destroy," With that, the Vestal sorceress, with a mighty backwards leap, returned to her guild, all of which looked ready for battle . . . with the exception of Midnight, who was sitting, cross-legged, on the ground, fast asleep.
"Grace was right. She is an old lady," Sherry commented with a nod.
"The Christina!" all four members of Blue Pegasus gasped, horrified, before rounding on the Och with new fury. "You'll pay for that!" the Trimens growled, punctuated by Ichiya's vengeful "Maaaaaaaan!"
"I would be very surprised," Brain huffed, stepping forwards and wielding his staff. "Oracion Och?" he raised his eyebrows, casting glances at the wizards around him. "Kill them,"
"You heard him!" Pierce chorused. "Let's kick some ass!" Like surging waves, the two groups charged towards each other, every member readying their spells.
Sarph slashed at Canceler with Solamion, but the blade passed through his image like shadow. "It's some kind of Illusion magic," he realised as the image dissipated, casting around. "Be wary! Canceler could be anywhere!"
Boomer hastily dodged as Racer, using an array of martial arts techniques that would impress Hare, dashed past him and dispatched the Trimens. He was about to engage, but a flaming uppercut got in front of him. "He's mine!" Natsu roared.
The Sound wizard wheeled, and tweaked the settings on his boombox before blasting a funnel of sound at a wave of liquified earth that was sent in his direction by Hoteye, punching through it and letting it pass to either side. Then Lyon was next to him, grinning. "Nice move. Cover me. Icemake: Tiger!"
"TechType: Machine Gun!" Tyria declared, transforming her arm and raining bullets in the general direction of the Och, before falling backwards as an arm erupted from her shadow and punched her in the chest. Canceler chuckled, diving back into the shadows.
Pierce and Lucy stood back to back, one wielding her keys and frantically directing a large minotaur wielding an axe, while the other had his flute pressed to his mouth and was giving a massive cerberus similar instructions. "Gauntlet: Power Strike!" a voice called, and suddenly a blue laser knocked Lucy back. Pierce rounded on the new threat, seeing Mylene advancing on him with a leer, her right hand pressed to a device on her left forearm, and six floating energy cannons in the air around her. He dashed back to protect Lucy, while Brakodidon leapt towards their enemy - only for three of her cannons to detach from their formation and blast him in all three faces, without Mylene even looking. He cast a quick look around to see how the fight was going, and it wasn't good. The Trimens had vanished, and Ichiya was lying unconscious on the ground. Boomer and Lyon were still clashing with Hoteye, protecting a downed Sherry, but they were obviously losing. Gray was staggering to his feet, looking around warily and expecting Canceler to emerge from the shadows at any moment, while Sarph seemed to have distracted Cobra and was using his ability to fly to outmanoeuvre the Poison wizard. Erza and Natsu were taking on Racer, with Erza in full Heaven's Wheel get-up, and Tyria was defending Grace and Wendy from Angel. Brain and Midnight, who was still asleep, were hanging back, and a thought crossed Pierce's mind; where the hell are Jura and Artorias?
Pierce was suddenly knocked backwards by an intensified blue laser, falling to the ground, and Mylene tutted disdainfully. "Don't ignore me," she huffed.
The fight between Sarph and Cobra, and Natsu and Erza's bout with Racer, were drawing close to each other, and, in what could only have been a preplanned maneuver, the two dark wizards switched. Cobra and his snake leapt high, and Racer stepped back, sliding underneath his partner and dealing a surprise blow to Sarph, while Cobra fell down on Erza and Natsu from above, and while the man tackled Natsu to the ground, the serpent landed on Erza and delivered a savage bite to her arm. Sarph immediately rose and soared over the two Oracion Och wizards, hovering over Erza as she crumbled to the ground. Natsu picked himself up, and the two men faced off, angry, against Racer and Cobra.
A tall, imposing figure loomed out of nowhere in front of Tyria, and the technology wizard gasped, staring down Canceler.
A firm look crossed Grace's visage, and she inhaled, hissing, "Tyria! Duck!"
Perhaps it was memories of some of the insane things that Tyria had seen Grace do, but the Electrian immediately decided it was in her best interest to obey, flattening herself to the ground.
In perfect unison, Grace and Wendy screamed; "Reality Dragon's," "Sky Dragon's," and, exhaling, "ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!" The resulting blast of grey and blue energy tore through the illusion of Canceler like paper, smashing into Angel behind him, and sent the Celestial wizard flying away.
Tyria wheeled and stared in shock as she picked herself up. "You're a Dragon Slayer too?" she gasped.
"Yeah," Wendy nodded. "Sorry, I thought I told you,"
Across the field of battle, Brain's eyes widened, fixing on the two girls. "Racer!" he barked. "Bring me those two!"
Wordlessly, the blond Speed wizard disengaged from his fisticuffs match against Sarph, and dashed in the girls' direction. Tyria, having heard Brain's shout, readied herself with a "TechType: Tectonics!" but Racer skirted her, snatched up the two girls by the shirts, and sped away. Gray, spotting him, tried to cast a spell to interfere, but a blow from the shadows, courtesy of Canceler, interrupted him, and Racer made it back to Brain.
"Good," The Electrian man smiled coldly, and eyed Mylene, who was on the verge of beating Pierce's head in. Brain then looked at Hoteye, who had just blasted Boomer away and was working to finish off Lyon, Cobra and his snake, who were battling Sarph and Natsu, Angel, where she was preventing Tyria from going to rescue the young Dragon Slayers, and the area where he assumed Canceler was, based on the way Gray was jumping at every shadow. "The rest of you! Return here as well!"
Reluctantly, the five dark wizards abandoned their prey and regrouped with Brain, who raised his staff as the wizards, grateful for the reprieve, but wary of his next move, eyed him in concern.
Dark energy built around the staff, with terrifying moans echoing through the air. "Dark Rondo!" Brain declared, and with a moan that shook everyone present to the core, a chorus of wailing spirits erupted from the staff -
"Iron-Rock Wall!" A massive wall of rock erupted between the Och and the Coalition, safeguarding the assembled wizards. Natsu, Gray, Sarph and Tyria, the only members of the group still standing, turned to see Jura, shadowed by Artorias, rushing towards them. "And where were you two?" Natsu irritably demanded.
"Get everyone awake. We need to regroup," Jura commanded, and Sarph nodded. "I'll go find Boomer and the Trimens," he declared, shooting into the air.
Tyria helped Pierce up, who moaned, clutching his head. Natsu looked over. "You okay?" he called to the Phoenix, who weakly nodded. "Grace," he frowned, looking around. "Where is she?"
"They took her," Pierce looked over to see Gray fuming, though he looked more angry with himself than anything. "They took her, and I couldn't stop them,"
An agonised moan interrupted, and the wizards looked over to see Erza sitting up and gritting her teeth in agony. Pierce immediately rushed over, and spotted a wound that had rapidly turned a sickly purple. "Hey, that's where that snake bit her," Natsu recognised, frowning.
Pierce immediately crouched over the wound, but flinched back as the Heaven's Wheel Requip faded, putting Erza's normal armour back on. "Help me get this off," he commanded the Salamander, pushing away thoughts of Grace and focusing on the task at hand.
Within minutes, Erza's arm was bare, allowing Pierce to properly inspect the wound. "Yeouch, this is bad," the Tamer winced.
"What's the problem?" Ezra asked, through gritted teeth. "Poison?"
"Venom, technically," Artorias crouched nearby, joining Pierce. "How's her blood?" the Tamer immediately asked, and Artorias concentrated. "The venom's following her blood flow. It's running down her arm right now, but soon it'll start going back up, back towards her heart. And if the venom reaches her heart, she's done for,"
"How long?" Erza moaned, and Artorias shook his head. "No more than half an hour until it kills her, I'd say. But I can use my blood magic to slow it down,"
"Well?" Natsu challenged, crouching down and glaring at Pierce. "Can you make a cure?"
Behind them, Jura and Tyria started to rouse the unconscious wizards.
"I don't know," Pierce frowned. "I have an antidote for bee stings, but I've never needed a cure for snake bites before," He paused, thinking. "I might be able to distill a cure, but I'd need a sample of venom from the the same snake,"
"Well, why didn't you say so?" the Dragon Slayer demanded. "I'll just go beat up that snake guy, steal his snake and drag it back here!" he declared, standing up and turning. "Ok, Happy! Come and give me a lift!"
"Wait!" Everyone turned to see Carla, the little white cat holding up,a paw and interrupting the entire argument. "It would be much easier to rescue Wendy and bring her back here!"
"Happy?" Natsu called, looking around, and frowning. Now that he mentioned it, Pierce noticed that the little blue cat was nowhere to be seen.
"Yes, but Wendy and Grace are being held captive. Erza is on the verge of death," Jura pointed out. "I know it's hard, but she has to take priority,"
"No, you don't get it," Carla shook her head. "Wendy is a Sky Dragon Slayer. She has healing magic. She can cure the poisoning,"
The others looked at Pierce for confirmation, who shrugged. "I'm inclined to be skeptical, but I've seen the things Dragon Slayer magic can do, so I'll buy it," he nodded. "Plus, it would probably be faster than defeating Cobra," he admitted.
By now, Sarph had returned with the Trimens, and the other wizards were all awake again. "Well, we need to figure out where they've taken her," Lyon reasoned, and Sarph nodded in agreement. "We should split up, to cover as much ground as possible,"
"I'll stay here, and use my Archive magic to keep everyone in contact," Hibiki suggested. "If that's alright with you, boss?"
"Of course," Ichiya nodded. "Ren, Eve? With me," he commanded, and the other two Trimens nodded in agreement. "As you command, sir!"
"I'll stay as well. Me and Hibiki can synchronise our Archive for greater range," Sarph suggested.
"Gray? For old time's sake?" Lyon suggested, but Gray shook his head. "No way I'm letting Natsu go off by himself. Especially not with Happy missing,"
"What are you talking about? I ain't gonna be by myself," Natsu retorted. "Oi, Pissy. You're with me!" he commanded, pulling Pierce up by his blue shirt. "What? Why?" the Tamer replied, before frowning. "And you got my name wrong again!"
"You and I did pretty good against Laxus," The Dragon Slayer pointed out. "Whaddya say we give these guys a taste of Round 2?"
Pierce raised his eyebrows, but nodded, swept up in Natsu's infectious enthusiasm. "Alright. As long as you remember that it's 'Pierce',"
"I'm coming with you two," Carla declared, stepping forwards. "If anyone's going to find Wendy, it's you, and I want to be there,"
"Well, you aren't leaving me behind just because you got some other tag-alongs!" Gray snapped as Natsu dragged Carla and Pierce away, running after them.
"You. Emanuel?" Lyon tried, talking to Boomer.
"It's Boomer, actually," the Sound wizard shook his head.
"Right, sorry. Would you like to come with me and Sherry?"
"Sure," Boomer smiled. "Let's go,"
Lucy and Tyria both looked around, finding that everyone had already teamed up. "Uh . . . guess it's the two of us?" Lucy shrugged, looking at Tyria.
"Don't see why not," the Tech wizard shrugged.
"Don't forget me," and the two looked over to see Jura approaching them. "It appears my guildmates have run off without me, so I might as well keep an eye on you two,"
Lucy looked starstruck, but Tyria whistled through her teeth. "Uh, my bike only seats two," she pointed out.
"Bike?"
"TechType: Motorbike!" Tyria invoked her main means of personal transportation, and summoned up her bike. Sure enough, there was only enough room on the seat behind her for one person. Lucy nodded, climbing on. "Sorry!" Tyria apologised as she screeched away.
Jura looked a little miffed, but shrugged. "Alright. I suppose I'm off by myself, then," he decided, turning to leave, but a shout got his attention.
"Wait," Artorias commanded. "Angel has a spirit that can copy individual people," he reminded Jura. "You can't go alone, or that spirit could pretend to be you and use your image to sneak up on our guildmates,"
The Wizard Saint paused, considering this. "You're right, but in a fight like this, a wizard of my strength cannot just remain on the sidelines,"
"Then wait until Grace and Wendy return," Erza suggested through gritted teeth. "Besides, I'm sure we can find a topic of conversation,"
"True," Jura nodded. "So, how is Magnolia?"
~P's E~
"Oh, isn't this delicious?" Brain chuckled, gazing at his two - three captives. "Why is the cat here?" he asked Racer, who shrugged. "He must have snuck on,"
Brain thought for a second, and shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Cobra can feed it to his pet when it gets hungry," Behind him, Cobra rankled a bit at Brain's calling Cubelios an 'it', but said nothing.
He turned back to the two captured Dragon Slayers, both locked in a cage at the back of the cave which the Och were using as a campsite. Wendy was frightened, but Grace . . Grace looked like she had fallen into a waking nightmare.
"It's been a while, Miss Hystia," the man sinisterly smiled. "Do you remember me?"
Grace remained mute, and Wendy, seeing how scared she was, squeezed her wrist reassuringly. "It'll be okay. The others will come and rescue us," she whispered, and Grace softly nodded.
"I will admit, it amuses me that you think you can have a life of your own," Brain's eyebrows slid together. "That you think you can take the results of my efforts, my experiments, and run off with them. But no. You belong to me, Grace Hystia. I own you. And I will make sure you never forget it,"
But, as if a switch had been flipped, he looked away. "But that can wait. Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer. Your usefulness is a little more short-lived, however if you're good you'll last longer . . but regardless. I have someone I want you to heal for me,"
"I won't do anything for you!" Wendy snapped, and Brain chuckled. "Oh, I think you will. When you see who it is I want you to heal, anyway,"
He snapped his fingers. "Racer. Go and retrieve the tomb for me,"
"The tomb?" Racer frowned. "That's pretty far away, and pretty heavy. It'll take me at least an hour to get it back here,"
"Fine, just retrieve it, and fast," the Electrian scientist commanded.
"If I may, sir, why do you want this object?" Mylene questioned, tilting her head in curiosity. "Will it help us in our pursuit of Nirvana?"
"Oh, Mylene. You are a recent addition to the guild, so allow me to bring you up to speed," Brain suggested. "The man I speak of is one of the greatest dark mages of this age, a man with skills comparable to mine who was struck down when his experiment was destroyed," he paused for effect, "and a former student of mine. After his project was destroyed, he suffered the fallback, and fell into a coma. However, with our little friend here, we can revive him,"
"I see. I will look forward to meeting him, then," Mylene nodded, and Brain smiled. "Indeed you should. I think you'll like him," he offered. "But, in the meantime, you, Cobra, Hoteye, Canceler, and Angel are to split up and search the Worth Woodsea for Nirvana. I know it's in this area, but I don't know the exact location. So find it!"
"Of course," Mylene nodded, turning to leave. Canceler melted into the shadows, and the other members of the group followed Mylene's lead. Only Cobra remained, watching Grace curiously.
"Cobra? Is there a problem?" Brain asked, and the Poison wizard shrugged. "I'm just curious. This girl, Grace. The abilities you gave her were designed as an evolution of the abilities you gave me, correct?"
"Indeed," Brain nodded, and Cobra shrugged. "I just can't help but wonder if there's any . . particular reason you chose her for the experiment?" he asked, probing his leader.
The Och's leader paused, looking at Grace, before his gaze returned to his guildmate. Cobra followed his gaze, and thought some more as to his theory. Grace had a complexion only slightly paler than him, he noted, and something did look vaguely familiar about her . . .
"No," Brain shook his head. "No reason at all. Now go and find Nirvana,"
"Yes, sir," Cobra nodded, and, carrying Cubelios with him, left the cave.
~P's E~
"Welcome to Donkey Kong's Dong-umentaries on Pharaoh's Sigh!" Kit exclaimed with a grin . . . and glared off-camera. "Seriously? This is the best that the author can come up with?"
"I'm the one who signs your cheques!" the response came.
"You don't pay me!" Kit retorted.
"I'm also the one who determines how much screentime you get," the author evenly retorted, and Kit paled (extremely tricky to do with a face covered in white fur), and hastily corrected himself. "Well, I think your writing is brilliant! Five stars!"
"Get on with it!"
"Today, our topic of discussion is, um," Kit searched through the notes, desperately seeking a topic of conversation. "I know I'm on the verge of getting cancelled . . there has to be something!"
Eventually, he found something. "Ah. Artorias' strength and how it compares, that'll do!" "So, it's been previously established that Bleeding-Vein Artorias (the weeping phoenix who sheds tears of blood as it rains down destruction upon its foes, blah blah blah) is the strongest male wizard in Phoenix's Eye, and is only beaten out for the title of strongest in both genders by Master Feng herself, and the mysterious Faraday. It has also been previously established that the author, who recently changed his pen name as you may have noticed, hates Gary Stus/Mary Sues and does his utmost to make sure none of his characters are OP, or at least, if they are, they have good reasons for it,"
"Arteries is the closest he has come to breaking that rule in years," Kit effortlessly delivered the impactful sentence with a smile.
"While Artorias has not had much character development yet (though he will in the near future), his character originated with the stated goal of being a Phoenix's Eye rival to Laxus - though the author stopped comparing his characters to the canon ones ages ago. Phoenix's Eye has it's own identity by now and it doesn't need to compare itself to Fairy Tail, andI'm sure all you readers agree or else you wouldn't have read up to Chapter 25. The point is, it's been previously stated that Artorias was one of the earliest OC submissions made to the author who he was writing the first few chapters of the story, and Fenghuang promptly decided he had the potential to make a great S-Class wizard . . . and maybe overestimated him a little bit. Watching the bloodbenders on Avatar probably had a role in that," Kit unashamedly admitted. \
"Point is, around Chapter 20 Fenguang decided he needed a retroactive reason as to why Arteries was so strong . . . and remembered that canon did the same thing with Erza; introducing the idea of the Second Origin and stating that her strength comes from a freak genetic blip that grants her natural access to her Second Origin. Therefore, it is officially canon that Artorias, like Erza, has natural access to his Second Origin. So chew on that, readers. See you next time!"
A/N
A/N
In regards to the obvious theory introduced at the beginning of this chapter; is Grace Cobra's sister? . . . I'm giving it a definite 'maybe', because I honestly haven't decided myself. Cobra will definitely reappear later in the story (as in, post-Oracion Och arc) so there will probably be a couple of opportunities for them to meet under better circumstances. (Hell, I'm giving thought to finding an excuse for him to join Phoenix's Eye later in the story.) However . . . the real question is; would Grace benefit as a character from the theoretical discovery that Cobra is her brother? If I decide the answer is 'yes', then so it will be. But if the answer is no, then Brain picked a random girl from a village destroyed by dark wizards and that's it. Of course, I am completely open to viewer feedback, so if you, the reader, have an opinion one way or the other, go ahead and tell me! Peas!
What do you mean I have to say the actual word? I'm the author, if I wanted I could end the chapter by saying 'Chocolate-frosted doughnuts with sprinkles' and -