Chapter 26: The End of the Assassins
A/N: The second and final part of the filler is here! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail but I do own my OCs.
Warning: This chapter contains Assassins, a new equipment and Tamer's return...you have been warned...have fun reading!
Normal Speech: "Talking..."
Thoughts/Communication Lacrima: "Thinking/Talking..."
Magic Spells/Chants: "Spell/Chant..."
Demon/Kaito's ancestors' Speech: "Talking..."
Magic's Ghost's/Possession Speech: "Talking..."
Time Skip...
(2 days...)
As the carriage that the Magic Council had provided for the Mages stopped at the busy street of the town of Hargeon, the disguised Rune Knight driving the carriage got off his seat and walked over to the side of the carriage where he opened the door. "We've arrived in Hargeon Town. The Council's contact is located at a nearby restaurant called "Hargeon Delights". He'll give you all the information you need for this mission. Just be sure to find him since I've told you how he'll look like."
Kaito nodded as he and the others alighted from the carriage. "Thanks for the information."
The Rune Knight only smiled. "No, thank you for giving me the chance to talk to you, Masked Fairy. You're the talk of the entire country. After all, you're well known as the Fairy who causes lesser destruction than all the other Fairy Tail Mages."
"Do they really cause that many damage?" Kaito asked, sweat dropping.
"Have you seen the complaints and bills sent to your guild?" The Rune Knight chuckled as he returned to the driver's seat of the carriage. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Masked Fairy. Good luck on the mission."
The Rune Knight was soon gone, taking off in the direction he had came from while Kaito and the others were left to gaze at the busy town.
"Let's go grab something to eat," Kaito said, earning nods from the others as they made their way to their destination, Hargeon Delights.
As they made their way towards the restaurant, the Mages had their eyes everywhere, darting them in all directions so that they don't miss out any detail or anything else related to the Assassins. Kaito shifted his gaze from his left to his right. Confirming that there was no one looking at them, he whispered to Neo and the others.
"We'll have to split up and search the entire town if we want to cover more grounds by tomorrow," Kaito whispered. "Tessa, search through the shadows. Ashton, cast an illusion on you and the rest of us so we don't stand out from the rest. I'll find the contact so that we can reduce any suspicion."
"But wouldn't you need to have a change of clothing too?" Ashton asked. "I mean, no offense, but you look like an Assassin yourself in that outfit."
Kaito chuckled. "Don't worry about me. I know a way to get to the contact without causing too much suspicion. All I need is my face changed using your illusion."
"If you say so," Ashton shrugged as he and the other boys turned a corner with Kaito following behind, entering an alleyway where he began to cast his illusion. Seconds later, the six boys came out from the alleyway, with completely different faces as they went their separate ways while Kaito removed his mask and pulled down his hood.
Tessa made her way into a nearby crowd, where she stopped in the middle of the people before she silently cast her spell. "Shadow Mode!" Fortunately for her, the people around her were too busy that they had not seen her body phase through the ground as she, in her shadow form, slithered away at high speed.
As Kaito made his way down the path towards Hargeon Delights, he lowered his head and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Spirit Magic - Spirit Eyes!" As his right eye began to glow, he looked back up as a thought came to his mind. "If these Assassins are Mages, then they'll be easy to locate." However, that idea soon went down the drain when he soon realized that almost everyone around him did not emit any aura from any kind of Magic. They were all normal people.
"Damn it..." Kaito cursed mentally. "These Assassins aren't around here. But I cannot be surprise if they're hiding using a spell that prevents me from finding them. I'll just have to make sure I find the contact without any trouble."
Very soon, Kaito had arrived at his destination. Kaito stared at the restaurant, taking in its features to make sure that it matched the Rune Knight's description. Similar to the description, the restaurant was a large two-story building with tan walls. There were at least seven windows on the front side of the building. The windows all have blue shutters and the windows on the top floor were covered by a fish net that hangs down from the roof. The roof of the building had purple shingles. A sign could be seen above the restaurant's entrance. On the sign, a purple fork and a blue knife were intersecting.
Confirming that this was the location, Kaito made his way in. As he made his way in, he took in the sight of the inside which was also quite large. The walls were tan and the windows have green sills. There were booths that spread all across the room that were orange in color. The floors of the building were also hardwood.
The restaurant was nearly empty, where Kaito could see five people in total, where four of them were seated together near the window while the fifth man was sitting all by himself at at the far end of the restaurant.
Kaito made his way towards the man, who was a tall, tanned man with jet-black hair. The man was wearing a plain attire, consisting of a green polo shirt, a belt and a pair of trousers. In his mouth was a cigarette, puffing out smoke at the tip. This was the contact that the Rune Knight had talked about.
As he approached the contact, Kaito sat at the booth in front of the contact. Once he was seated, the contact removed his cigarette to let out more smoke as he spoke in a soft tone. "Saw your Guild Mark, kid. So you're the Fairy Tail Mage that the Council sent? What's more, you're a kid! I don't care if the Magic Council think that you are ready but...ARE you sure you're up for this?"
"What's the information on the meeting," Kaito replied, ignoring what he had asked.
The contact chuckled. "Straightforward, huh? I like that. Anyway, all I know is that they'll be meeting me at the bar across town after I had received a letter from them a few days ago. I'll be meeting one of the Mage Assassin who'll be wearing a golden-brown robe attire tomorrow night. We'll be discussing about an assassination Job. Your job is to follow the Assassin back to their Assassin Guild."
"Wouldn't that have been an easy task for the Rune Knights if it involves tailing the Assassin?" Kaito asked.
"I wish," the contact scoffed. "Mage Assassins are able to detect us Rune Knights using their Magic Detector Lacrima. That's why the Rune Knights sent to deal with this last Assassin Guild have all been missing...or killed. The only information I was able to receive about the Mage Assassins was that they had five Magic Detector Lacrima but I could be wrong."
Kaito nodded. "I see. In that case, me and my team will follow the Assassin. We'll be outside of the bar tomorrow. When the Mage Assassin comes out, we'll follow him back."
"Just be careful of the Magic Detector Lacrima, kid," replied the contact.
"I have a way around it. You don't have to worry about me," Kaito answered back as he got up.
"We appreciate you doing this, Fairy Tail Mage. You're doing us a great service for everyone in Fiore," the contact smiled as he placed his cigarette back in his mouth.
Kaito scoffed as he pulled his hood on. "I could care less about anyone. My trust in others has to be earned. I'm only doing this to end the lives of the killers who I don't want to see anymore."
As the Masked Fairy walked away from him, the contact sighed. "At least he's doing us a favor."
That night...
Kaito and the others met up together as the moon rose from the horizon, switching places with the sun and changing day to night. The Mages had gathered at a small house that their contact had provided for them, where they all settled down for the night on the top floor.
"What an exhausting day..." Neo sighed as he flopped onto one of the sleeping bags provided. "So far, I've found nothing suspicious around the harbor. The only people I saw were snobby rich men fooling around on their boats and getting drunk."
Ashton snapped his fingers, cancelling the illusion on him and the rest of the boys as their faces all returned to normal. "I saw a robed man near the park. I was sitting at one of the benches there, hoping to at least eavesdrop on some of the conversation just in case I came across some Mage Assassins. Instead, I got some elderly people talking about sailing the ocean and stuff. As for the robed man, he was just a man who's here in town for some supplies."
Izumi was seated on his sleeping bag, cross-legged and he pouted. "I set up quite a lot of traps on the rooftops but none of them were triggered all day. There goes a day's worth of pranks."
"We're not here to prank people, Izumi," Venrus said, removing his coat and fedora. "Anyway, there's only one Magic Shop in this town and I was there to keep watch from a distance. Barely anyone came into it. As far as I know, the ones that went in only came out with disappointed faces and some with items. When I asked the owner about the items, they were simply Light Pens and Magic Headphones that were sold. So I don't think I had encountered any Mage Assassins."
Nathan yawned as he laid down on his sleeping bag. "Nothing much happened around the residential area. The people were just going about their own business so I just looked around for the whole day. Nothing special happened and no Assassin whatsoever."
Tessa stretched her arms as she made her way to her sleeping bag. "All I can say is that I couldn't find anyone who looks like an Assassin. I could hardly even find any Mages. All I saw were drunken men stumbling here and there. Other than that, not much has happened around the town while I was in my shadow form."
Kaito felt a sting on his half-scorched face and he cringed as he placed his mask back on, talking once more in his distorted voice. "I've met our contact. He says that he'll be meeting the Mage Assassin tomorrow night. Keep in mind that the Mage Assassin will be wearing a golden-brown robe attire, according to what our contact says. We'll, of course, be waiting outside the bar at a safe distance. We'll tail the Assassin back to his Guild and crush them inside their own territory."
"But wouldn't they have a Magic Detector Lacrima?" Tessa asked.
The Masked Fairy nodded. "Our contact has confirmed that the Mage Assassins have at least five, based on previous attempts to infiltrate their Assassin Guild. We'll, however, approach from a different way."
"Which is?" Nathan asked.
Kaito raised his right arm up, taking off his glove to reveal his chains, which had fully covered his hand. "My chains, as you all know, are Magic-resistant chains. I've tested them out against the Rune Knights once when I was on a Job with one of my Guildmate. Apparently, I can pour as much Magic Power into them as I want and I still won't get detected since my chains won't emit Magic. So I will destroy the Magic Detector Lacrima. Then, that's where you come in, Tessa."
A small smile crept onto the Shadow Magic user's face. "I see where this is going."
"I want you to enter the Assassin Guild using your shadow form and take care of any Mage Assassin near the front entrance before opening it," Kaito continued as he put his glove back on before turning to the team's prankster. "Izumi, I want you to set up as many traps as you can once the entrance has been unlocked."
Izumi grinned. "That, I can do."
"Ashton," Kaito turned to the Mind Dragon Slayer, who gave him a nod. "You will need to cast an illusion once I've destroyed the Magic Detector Lacrima. We have to beat the Assassins at their own game."
"Oh?" Ashton smiled. "So we're using stealth against them. So I'll just have to cast an illusion to make us all invisible? Got it."
"And if we meet any trouble, Neo and Nathan shall be the ones to take care of them, quickly." Kaito said, earning nods from the two boys.
"What about me?" Venrus asked, folding his arms as he sat down on one of the chairs in the room. "What do I do while the others have everything under control?"
Kaito turned to the Devil Slayer. "You'll be the one who's going to be attacking from the left flank when we begin our assault. They'll never expect it since all of us are attacking from the front. You are our wild card, Venrus. If it goes well, we might defeat most of them in no time. If it doesn't, then we'll take longer and we might be overwhelmed. But the most important job in your part is to locate the leader."
Venrus gave the plan a thought for a few seconds before he nodded. "I guess that would be fine for me. But how will we be able to communicate with each other?"
"I might have a solution for that..."
The seven Mages turned around to face the front door, only for Kaito to realize that it was their contact. He was grinning with his teeth rubbing against his cigarette while he carried a small saddlebag over his shoulder. "The Magic Council have modified these Communications Lacrima Crystals so that they will be smaller than your hand, capable of putting in your ear. I was supposed to give these to the Rune Knights who came to infiltrate the Assassins but I had a feeling that they wouldn't make it even with these Communications Lacrima. But I do have faith that you will since the Magic Council has put their faiths in you kids, so I'm handing them to you."
After handing each of the Mages their own modified Communications Lacrima Crystal, the Mages placed them in one of their ears. They tested the small-sized Lacrima Crystals and smiled when they were working. Kaito turned to the contact and spoke. "We'll make good use of these."
"Of course you will," the contact replied. "If the Magic Council sent all of you, then you guys must be enough to deal with the Assassins. I have faith that you will do it. By the way, did the Council tell you about the reward for this?"
"Everything that the Assassins own will be ours," Kaito replied, earning a nod from the contact.
"That's right. At least that will be a motivation, right?"
"You're wrong," Kaito said. "Our motivation is that we'll get to rid this world of killers like them once this is all over."
The contact only grinned. "I see...and here I thought the rumors were fake when I heard about Fairy Tail having their own "Shinigami". I guess I'm seeing that "Shinigami" right here. And I'm sure that you're also the Masked Fairy too, am I right?"
Kaito merely sighed. "I'l never really understand people when they come up with that kind of aliases for me..."
The next day...
(20 hours later...)
As the sun began to set along the horizon, Kaito and the others had hurried towards the location where Kaito had wanted them to be. They soon arrived at a building that was opposite to the bar where the contact will meet the Mage Assassin, where they gathered at the top.
"Tessa, get into your shadow form and try to get closer to the conversation that our contact and the Assassin will have. We might gain some further information on the Assassins if we do and that might make our jobs easier," Kaito spoke.
The Shadow Magic user nodded as she cast her spell. "Shadow Mode!" Tessa took a step onto the edge of the building and grinned as she leapt off, slowly merging with her shadow as she continued her fall towards the ground. When she was merely inches away from hitting the ground, her head had completely phased through the ground, becoming one with her shadow as she slithered her way into the bar.
"She's pretty daring for jumping off the building like that," Kaito said, earning smirks from the boys.
Ashton chuckled. "What can we say? She once tried to escape Vlad by jumping out of the village from the highest point. Unfortunately, she was brought down when the guards caught her. But I guess without them, she's free to pretty much do anything."
"I'm in," Tessa whispered through the modified Communication Lacrima. "I'm behind the bar's counter. I have our contact in sight."
Kaito nodded as he spoke through the Communication Lacrima. "Good work, Tessa. Make sure to keep it on when the Assassin comes. We need to hear their conversation, even if it might be short."
Half an hour later, the boys soon spotted the golden-brown robed Mage Assassin walking towards the bar, barely disguising himself as he entered the bar.
"He must be one confident Assassin," Neo said.
Kaito scoffed. "He might be confident, for now. Once we destroy their guild, they'll have none of that confidence left."
Soon enough, all of their Communication Lacrima Crystals began transmitting the conversation Tessa was hearing.
"Password?" Asked a strange, hoarse male voice, which the boys figured to be the Mage Assassin's.
"The Blade guides the victor," answered the contact, which was followed by a grunt of approval from the Mage Assassin.
"So, who do you want gone?" The Mage Assassin asked.
"There's a guy in Magnolia Town I want silenced."
"Who is it?"
"His name is Lucifer. I don't really know his family name but he's probably one of the rich ones in that town. You can find him hanging around at the edge of Magnolia since that's where his mansion is."
"Magnolia, huh? I guess I might get some extra money while I'm at Lucifer's mansion. By when do you want him dead and how?"
"Try to make it by dawn and since you're a Bullet Mage Assassin, you can make it look like he had a heart attack with a blow to his heart."
"Understood. Don't forget to deliver the reward to the guild by then as well."
"But where is your guild?"
"It's located on the outskirts of northeastern Magnolia, overlooking the coast behind the Fairy Tail guild and the entire population of the city. You know, it's quite amusing to see that the most dangerous and illegal guild, home to the Mage Assassins, is just sitting just a few miles away from one of the most destructive guilds in all of Fiore."
"Then you must be worried about the Masked Fairy, huh?"
"Masked Fairy? Please! I can beat any Mage with my Bullet Magic in no time. That Fairy won't stand a minute, no, not even ten seconds against me."
"Alright then, I guess I shouldn't hold you back. You have your Job now and I'll have the reward ready."
"Good. I'll be off now."
As Tessa's Communication Lacrima Crystal switched off, Kaito turned to the other boys, emitting a dangerous aura. "Looks like we'll be heading towards Magnolia after all. How convenient! We can destroy those arrogant killers and then get to Fairy Tail afterwards. Fair deal."
The boys gulped as Neo whispered to Nathan. "Remind me not to make Kaito angry next time."
Just then, Tessa slithered onto the top of the building to meet up with the boys, emerging from the ground as she cancelled her Shadow Mode spell. "Our contact says that he has informed the Magic Council on the location of the Assassin Guild. The Mage Assassin is already on the move as well."
"Then we begin our mission. And Izumi, a change of plan for your traps," Kaito said, turning his attention to the the prankster. "Don't use any explosive traps. We don't want to wake the entire town up just because we have to take down the Mage Assassins."
"I thought you didn't care for anyone except yourself and us?" Ashton smirked.
Kaito merely scoffed. "The people of Magnolia are still not comfortable with me around and vice versa. I just want us to do this mission without any disturbance."
"Fair enough," Ashton replied.
"Now let's move. We can't have the Assassin out of sight."
The Mages nodded to Kaito's command and they all leapt over to the other building beside them, which was smaller.
After leaping onto a few more buildings, the Mages were finally back on the ground and were pursuing the Mage Assassin, who had just exited the town's entrance. They pursued him, following him into the dense vegetation.
"I can't see him," Nathan said.
"Then we'll pursue him from the trees," Kaito replied as he removed his glove and stretched out his hand, letting his chain to launch upwards and wrapping around a tree branch before pulling him up into the trees, where the Masked Fairy began leaping from branch to branch and constantly using his chain to grab branches that were out of reach.
"Shadow Mode!" After Tessa's body began to merge with her shadow, she began gaining enough speed to catch up to Kaito as she slithered across the ground in her shadow form.
Venrus was grabbed by Nathan and Izumi as he was lifted off the ground. Venrus smirked and lowered his arms as wind began gathering around them. "Wind Devil's Propelling Blast!" The gathered wind paused for a split second as two Magic Seals formed beneath the Devil Slayer's hands. Then, the wind blasted forward, propelling the three Mages up as Nathan and Izumi held on tightly to Venrus.
Neo smiled at the other Mages, watching them move farther away from him and Ashton. "We're going to catch up to them!" Slamming his fists together, a yellow Magic Seal was formed in front of the boy as sparks of electricity occasionally sparked from the Seal. "Elemental Soul: Lightning!" As the Magic Seal disappeared, Neo's body began to glow. Then, as the glow began to fade away, electricity surged through the ground and gathered at where Neo was standing before the electricity had formed a body of a three-horned demon-like being with the body made from pure electricity.
"Lightning Pace!" Grabbing Ashton by the collar, their bodies began to disintegrate as they turned into bolts of pure electricity, flying towards the others.
After a while, they began catching up to the Mage Assassin, who was leaping from trees to trees at an incredible speed.
"Tch," Kaito clicked his tongue disappointingly as he leapt from another tree branch. "So this Assassin's faster than the ones we've fought before at the village."
"I'm more surprise that he hasn't notice us yet," Venrus stated.
Izumi smiled. "Then that means we still have the element of surprise!"
"Don't be too sure," Kaito reminded. "He might just be playing with us so we have to be prepared for anything. The plan still remains the same."
"You're the boss," Ashton replied as he and Neo flew next to Kaito. "I wouldn't be surprise if he hasn't realize that we are behind him though. I mean, Venrus is propelling Nathan, Izumi and himself using his Magic and his barely making any sound except for the rustling of the leaves on the ground, of course."
Venrus smirked. "I've learnt to control the sound of wind while Vlad had me locked up in solitary before he put me with you guys. So I guess I owe him for this."
"Hopefully that is the last time we thank Vlad for something..." Neo grumbled as the others nodded.
An hour soon passed as the Mage Assassin emerged from the vegetation, he immediately took off towards the destination of his target while Kaito led the others around the town, where they soon encounter a stray path that, covered by giant boulders, leading towards the cliff side overlooking the coast and the town, the same spot where the Assassin Guild was at.
"So how are we going to get pass these boulders?" Nathan asked. "We can't just jump over them like the Assassins."
Izumi grinned as he placed his rucksack down. Opening up the bag, he began rummaging through his items. "I might have something here that can help us get through those annoying rocks."
"While you handle these boulders, I'll disable the Magic Detector Lacrima to save us some time," Kaito spoke as he stepped forward. "Shade Evasion!" A purple aura emitted from the Masked Fairy's body which soon darkened until he was merely a silhouette. Then, Kaito's body had split into four Shade soldiers that phased through the boulders without any difficulty before merging back to form Kaito's body. "Once those boulders are out of the way, be sure to stay far away from the Assassin Guild. I'll give the signal for Tessa to strike first."
"Then what's the signal?" Ashton asked from the other side of the boulders.
"I'll contact you using the Communication Lacrima Crystal that our contact had given us," Kaito replied as he began walking up the slope in front of him.
Once Kaito was at the top of the slope, he was greeted with a puzzling scene. In front of him, just sitting safely away from the edge of the cliff side, was a small two-leveled fort-like building.
The fort itself was ordinary, being made out of stone with cracks along its sides. At the left side of the fort, which faced the town of Magnolia, was a solid stone wall with a few rectangular openings which served as windows while the right side, which faced a mountain, was completely blocked from anything as there were no windows on that side. At the back of the fort, which faced the coast, was a wall with multiple windows, where the wind blows through. And at the front of the fort, which faced Kaito, was a large steel door where five Mage Assassins were guarding the door as they patrolled around the area.
On the second floor of the fort was a smaller structure where it was half the size of the first floor. A window could be seen on each side of the structure as well with a small flag attached to the pole on the top of the fort, which showed the symbol of a skull with its top part shrouded in darkness because of its hood. A banner with the same symbol was also hung on each side of the entire fort as well.
"For a cliff, this place has a lot of room for a fort..." Kaito muttered, awed at the wide spacing the cliff that the fort barely covered. In fact, the fort only covered half of the space on the cliff, which Kaito noticed was enough for the Assassins to roam around the outside of the fort without worrying if they will fall off since there was a lot of space left. What's more, it seemed that a barrier was also set up around the fort as well and he was at the edge of it.
Then, a question soon came to his mind. How did he not see the fort before when he was still in Magnolia Town?
Pushing the question aside, Kaito pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his pocket, revealing his chain-covered hands as he approach the fort. Feeling that the rest of his chains were tightening around his torso and abdomen, he picked up his pace and soon, he was sprinting towards the fort.
Two of the Mage Assassins, not noticing Kaito, began climbing onto the top of the first floor, where they each took out a Lacrima.
"There they are..." Kaito muttered as he outstretched his right hand, launching the chains on it towards the pole protruding out of the side of the fort. As the chains wrapped around it, Kaito was pulled upwards and he climbed onto the pole before climbing over the top, where one of the two Mage Assassins had his back to him. As his chains retracted, it soon coiled around itself, forming a blade. "Spirit Magic - Phantom Blade!"
As his blade began emitting its reddish aura, Kaito lunged forward, swinging his sword arm forward as his intangible blade phased through the Mage Assassin's body. The Mage Assassin gasped as he felt the sudden sting at his side and fell onto one of his knees, turning to see his attacker. "An intruder?" Before he could react, Kaito spun around, swinging his foot as he knocked out the Mage Assassin with a roundhouse kick while the Magic Detector Lacrima fell to the ground and was smashed into dozens of pieces.
"What the..."
Kaito flinched as he turned around, only to see that the other Mage Assassin was standing right behind him. The Mage Assassin dropped his Magic Detector Lacrima and took a step back. "I...Intru..." Before he could even yell for help, Kaito had swung his chains forward, hitting the Mage Assassin in his throat, causing him to choke.
With the Mage Assassin distracted, Kaito muttered another spell. "Spirit Magic - Phantom Sniper!" With his right hand posing as a gun, a Magic Seal was formed in front of him. Then, Kaito moved his hand to resemble a gun being fired, which caused the the Magic Seal to glow before a thick smokescreen that soon engulfed the Mage Assassin.
From the Magic Seal, a phantom was soon released and it made its way over to the Mage Assassin, who was still confused about the situation he was in. Confused, the Mage Assassin then collapsed onto his knees when he felt some clawed his legs, which made his feet gave way for him to fall. The Mage Assassin raised his arms up, supporting himself from falling on his face.
However, it was a bad idea as Kaito pressed his foot against the Mage Assassin's waist, kicking the man onto his side while the phantom cackled silently as it hovered beside the Masked Fairy.
The Mage Assassin's eyes could only stare in horror as he watch the phantom glaring at him with its wicked eyes while Kaito's right eye glowed. But what the Mage Assassin was scared of the most was the mask Kaito had. "M-M-Masked...Fairy...?!" He managed to stutter as he tried to crawl away. However, the phantom lunged at him, phasing through his body, which caused him to jerk upwards with his eyes widened in shock as he collapsed, falling onto his Magic Detector Lacrima and breaking it.
"What's going on up there?!"
"Shit..." Kaito cursed as the three remaining Mage Assassins scaled the fort's wall, climbing onto the top as Kaito hid within the smokescreen.
"Storm Bringer!" As a strong gush of wind began blowing, the smokescreen created by Kaito's spell was blown away, taken along with the wind as his only hiding spot disappeared, leaving him in the open where the three remaining Mage Assassin had surrounded him.
"EEEEEHHH?!" One of the Mage Assassins exclaimed in surprise. "A kid?!"
The second Mage Assassin narrowed his eyes onto Kaito. "I can't believe it. This kid took down two of our allies? How is that possible and how is he even up here?!"
"Hey...that mask..." The third Mage Assassin froze as his eyes fell onto the mask concealing Kaito's face as well as the obvious Fairy Tail Guild Mark on his outfit. "That design...doesn't that mean this kid's...the Masked Fairy?!"
The first Mage Assassin shook his head. "I don't care who he is! He's just a kid! Let's take him down already or Grand Master Celio will have our heads!"
"Grand Master Celio, huh?" Kaito thought as he eyed the three Mage Assassins. "So that's their Guild Master's name."
"Enough of this! Storm Shred!" As a Magic Seal formed in front of the second Mage Assassin, multiple blades of wind were launched from the Seal towards the Masked Fairy. "Try to dodge that!"
Kaito scoffed as he raised his left hand out, letting his chains merge to form his shield arm as he muttered a spell. "Spirit Magic - Shield of Souls!" A Magic Seal formed at the front of Kaito's shield and it expanded, blocking each of the projectiles launched by the Assassin who used Wind Magic. As the Magic Seal faded away, Kaito's shield had changed back into chains which gently pressed against his hand.
"What the...my Magic failed?!" Cried the Wind Mage Assassin as his eyes widened in shock.
The third Mage Assassin gritted his teeth as he pulled out his sword. "In that case, I'll try a quick attack. Nova Blade!" As his sword began glowing, a Magic Seal appeared beneath the Mage Assassin's feet as he charged forward, disappearing in a flash before appearing behind Kaito. As his sword was swung downwards, the Assassin grinned, thinking he had finished the job.
However, what he didn't expect was that Kaito's chains had reacted instantly, erupting from his hands and curving around to block the Assassin's sword from striking Kaito's shoulder. The Masked Fairy, following his chains' reaction, spun around and his chains wrapped around his right hand as he balled it into a fist. "Spirit Magic - Phantom Fist!" With his chain-covered fist becoming intangible, Kaito thrust his fist at the Assassin, allowing his fist to phase through the Mage Assassin's sword and chest.
The sword-wielding Mage Assassin jerked forward, gasping while his eyes widened as he dropped his weapon and fell onto his knees, clutching his chest after Kaito had pulled out his fist. The Masked Fairy eyed the Magic Detector Lacrima located on the Mage Assassin's belt and swiped his right hand to the side as his chains smashed into the Lacrima, breaking it into pieces.
"I don't understand!" The Wind Mage Assassin said as he was joined by the first Mage Assassin. "How are our Magic Detector Lacrima unable to detect him even when he's casting spells?!"
Shrugging, the first Mage Assassin replied. "Whatever he's doing, we have to stop him here. But we'll have to be careful. He's the rumored Masked Fairy from Fairy Tail and I heard he's beaten Laxus Dreyar as well."
"But he's still a kid," stated the Wind Mage Assassin. "We can take him down if we attack together." He received a nod from his ally and the two turned to Kaito as the Wind Mage Assassin clapped together, creating a Magic Seal while the first Mage Assassin placed his right fist on his left palm as a Magic Seal formed in front of his fist.
"Magic Wind Palm!"
"Wood-Make: Shurikens!"
From the Magic Seal of the Wind Mage Assassin, wind began spiraling out as it separated into two, heading towards Kaito. For the Wood-Make Mage Assassin, multiple wooden shurikens were blasted out of his Magic Seal and the shurikens were caught in the wind, increasing the speed of the shurikens as Kaito stood still.
However, thanks to him still being a 13-year-old, Kaito was agile enough to dodge most of the shurikens, while some tore through his sleeves. "Tch," Kaito glared at the two Assassins as the torn sleeves began stitching up by itself through the help of Kaito's reddish-purple aura. Once his sleeves were stitched up, he outstretched his hand. "Shade Bind!"
As Magic Power poured into Kaito's chains, Shade soldiers began emerged from the ground, scaring the two Assassins half to death as the ghost figures entangled them with their arms, gripping tightly as they tried to struggle, which only made the Shade soldiers tighten their grip even tighter. The two Assassins wanted to scream for help at the top of their lungs but they couldn't as the Shade soldiers had placed their hands over the Assassins' mouths.
Kaito grabbed the two Magic Detector Lacrima from the Assassins and tossed them, letting the Lacrima fall to the ground and smash into smaller pieces. Turning back to them, the Masked Fairy could feel the fear rising from the two Assassins and he scoffed. "And you two call yourselves Assassins. The ones I faced before were much more tougher."
Raising his hand up, Kaito flicked his wrist. "Knock them out." The Shade soldiers nodded to their caster and placed their hands over the two Assassins' mouth and eyes as smoke began seeping out from the covered areas while their screams were muffled. Seconds later, the two Assassins went silent, without any movement. "Drop them." The Shade soldiers did as they were told, dropping the two onto the ground as they disappeared.
Looking over to the direction where he had came from, Kaito spotted the others, all crouched and peeking out from the giant rocks beside them. Kaito placed his hand over his right ear, where his Communication Lacrima Crystal was and activated it. "All of the five Magic Detector Lacrima have been destroyed. Proceed with the plan."
"Understood," came Tessa's response as she leapt over the rock she was hiding at and cast her spell. "Shadow Mode!" Phasing through the ground, Tessa merged with her shadow as she slithered across the ground before she reached the fort's entrance. Then, she slipped pass the crack underneath the door.
"Ashton, get your illusion up," Kaito continued. "Venrus, get to the left side of the fort. You'll flank them from there once the others begin their attack from the front. Neo, Nathan, Izumi, you three get to the door. Once Tessa opens it, Izumi will set his traps around the area and then, we find the leader and we capture him. I've gathered information that the leader of these Assassins is call Celio but be careful. He's their leader for a reason."
"Kaito!" Tessa hissed through the Communication Lacrima. "The door's lock! I can't open it without a key."
"I understand," Kaito replied. "Venrus, are you in position?"
"The damn windows are close. How am I going to get in? Not to mention that I'm smelling food coming from the room. Could an Assassin still be up this late to cook something?" Came the response of the Devil Slayer.
The Masked Fairy sighed. "This is going off-plan. Venrus, stay where you are. I'll be down get it open. Tessa, search the fort for the key. I'll help you look for it as well once I've open the windows." Turning off his Communication Lacrima, Kaito cast a spell. "Shade Evasion!" Once more, a purple aura emitted from his body as he split into four Shade soldiers, phasing through the fort's first floor's roof.
As Kaito's body was formed back, he looked around the room he was in and realized that he was surrounded by shelves of books, all arranged in a neat row that stretched across the room. Kaito looked to the left before turning to the right and saw nobody. When he had confirmed it, he hurriedly made his way out of the room, only to be greeted by a long corridor with multiple doors and a spiral staircase. "Damn these Assassins..."
Just then, Tessa came out from the door in front of him, which surprised the Shadow Magic user who immediately got into a battle stance. "Calm down, Tessa," Kaito spoke. "It's just me."
"Oh, Kaito," Tessa greeted him with a small nod as she began explaining her search of the key. "I've managed to search five rooms and all of them didn't have a key. To make things worse, I feel that my Magic Power is slowly running out so I have to continue the search without using my shadow form."
"That's a shame," Kaito replied. "Your shadow form could have made the search faster but I guess it's an understandable problem. Just keep searching for that key. We can't afford to let Izumi blow up the door and get the entire Assassin Guild to attack us."
Tessa nodded. "Understood."
"Good," Kaito returned her nod with his own. "Now get moving. I still have to find the room, presumably, it's the kitchen." As Tessa went on ahead to search the next room, Kaito cast a spell once more. "Spirit Magic - Spirit Eyes!" As his right eyes begins to glow, Kaito's vision soon showed a figure of a human being, seated down and was raising their hand, as if they were eating something. "Found it."
Kaito silently approached the door of the kitchen. As he stood next to the door with his back against the wall, carefully placing his feet away from the door so that he could prevent his shadow from being seen. Kaito stared into the room with his Spirit Eyes spell, seeing the person inside getting up from their sit and walking off farther into the room, where he stopped after taking several steps.
Then, the sound of running water could be heard and Kaito didn't hesitate to open the door as quickly as possible as to not cause any noise. However, a few creaks could be heard from the swinging door but were inaudible to the person as they were whistling away. Kaito entered the room, not bothering to crouch as he looked at the person, only to find that the person was a man, dressed in light armor, particularly, leather armor with metal shoulder pads, with his eyes closed as he washed a plate and a glass while he continued his whistling.
Not wanting to mess up, Kaito decided to silence the man first.
He approached the man, treading gently as he did. When he was behind the man, Kaito raised his hands, causing the chains on both hands to unwrap themselves from his hands and entangle the surprised man, who's mouth was the firs to be shut by the chains, followed by his neck, legs, arms and body. The man tried to speak but his voice was muffled by the chains as his pointless struggle to break free began.
Kaito advanced closer to the man, who still hasn't look back, and whispered into his ear. "It's late. You should be asleep..." Before the man could react, the chains around his neck tightens, suffocating him until he passed out. The chains then loosened up before unwrapping from his body, only for it to fall and for Kaito to catch it. The Masked Fairy gently lowered the body onto the floor, wanting to avoid any unnecessary noises.
Then, he made his way to the closest window and removed the window pin lock that was keeping the window locked. Once it was removed, he opened the window and Venrus greeted him with a nod. Kaito returned the nod with his own and spoke. "I'll signal you to attack later. Now, I'll have to help Tessa find the key to the front door."
As Kaito exited the kitchen, he noticed Tessa entering a room that was a few doors away and Kaito decided to follow. However, it was until he reached the door when the door was blasted off its hinges and Tessa was sent flying out of the room. "Tessa!" Kaito called out to her but his attention quickly turned back to the room where a bronze robed Assassin walked out with her back.
"Oh? Is that all you got, little girl?" She taunted. Then, the female Assassin soon noticed Kaito and frowned. "There's more of you? Why didn't my Magic Detector Lacrima detect you then?"
"There's more than five of those Lacrima?" Kaito asked, surprised at seeing the sixth Magic Detector Lacrima attached to her belt.
The Assassin grinned. "Oh, everyone in this Assassin Guild has one, little boy." That's when she noticed Kaito's clothing, causing her to giggle. "Oi, oi, boy-kun. What's with that imitation costume of yours? We Assassins ain't no Fairy Tail wannabes, you know? And that mask, do you think you're some hotshot? Then let me show you what a real Mage Assassin can do! Wave!"
Raising her hand up, the female Assassin began to manipulate the energy around her, causing the energy to vibrate which then formed a light blue sphere that was launched from her hand towards Kaito at an extremely high speed.
Luckily, Kaito was able to raise his arms up just in time as the sphere collided with his arms, which caused an explosion. As it cleared, the female Assassin gasped and went wide-eyed when she saw that Kaito was unharmed from it. The only thing that the sphere had hit was his sleeves, which were once again torn and revealed his chains. That's when she realized something.
"What the...Magic-resistant chains? How is that possible?!" The female Assassin cried as her eyes landed on the chains on Kaito's arms. "What kind of Mage puts Magic-resistant chains on their arms?! Don't you know that it won't let you use your Magic?"
Kaito scoffed. "Then allow me to show you the impossible..." With a snap of his fingers, at least five Shade soldiers emerged from the ground and hovered on both sides of Kaito as they all leered at her while Kaito emitted his reddish-purple aura. "Get her."
A smirk formed on the female Assassin as the Shade soldiers approached her. "Not a smart thing to do, kid. Wave!" Once more, the vibration of the energy around her began vibrating. This time, as the Shade soldiers hit the vibrations, the ghost figures vanished. She laughed. "My Magic, Wave, nullifies Magic attacks. So even your special chains won't help you."
"Kaito..." Tessa muttered as she stood back up. "Let me handle her. I'll make sure that she won't be laughing soon enough."
"And what are you going to do, little girl?" The female Assassin asked. "You can't hit me with your Magic Power that low. And even if you use your Magic, I will nullify it. So you're pretty much a sitting duck in this situation. That's what you get for messing with the Mage Assassins trained by Grand Master Celio himself!"
"Tessa, don't force yourself," Kaito said as he turned to her. "You've already exhausted yourself. Just look for the key while I handle this."
"And I won't take no for an answer, Kaito," Tessa countered as she stumbled towards the Assassin. "You go find their leader and I'll handle this lapdog of his."
"Oh?" The female Assassin raised an eyebrow as she glared at Tessa. "So you think that overconfidence tone of yours will save your life, little girl? I'll show you that it is your downfall."
Tessa merely grinned. "And I'll show you that you're the one who's overconfident."
"Wave!"
In an instant, Tessa was flung back, crashing against the wall behind her as she yelped while the Assassin advanced forward, giving Kaito the chance to slip by, which he did, after giving Tessa one last glance, where she smirked at him as she was attacked by another Wave spell.
"Damn it...when are they going to find that key?" Ashton grumbled as he paced around the door. "I couldn't be that hard, right?"
Izumi frowned. "You're looking at a two level fort and you think that finding a key will be easy? Have you ever consider the fact that there might be tons of doors inside? I bet that they'll take a while."
"Maybe we can just wait patiently for them," Neo suggested as he shrugged.
Nathan yawned. "Can this discussion end? I'm already getting tired."
Just then, a shadow loomed over the four Mages and they looked up, only to be surprised at the sight of a heavily armored man standing at the top of the first floor. "Ah, so you're the intruders that my Magic Detector Lacrima picked up. Well then, intruders, I'd suggest you turn back now before I get angry because it's still around midnight and I'm terribly tired."
"Lacrima?" Ashton gasped. "I thought Kaito just destroyed the five Magic Detector Lacrima?"
"Oh? Your information gathering must be horrible because every Mage Assassin in this guild is equipped with one each. But I can't blame you since we're the main Assassin Guild and that we're much more better than the other Assassin Guilds."
As the heavily armored Assassin leapt down, the ground cracked under the pressure of his feet when he landed, creating a small crater around him as he dusted himself. "Now then, will you accept my generous offer of letting you live or will you die here?"
"There's no way we're running away from you killers!" Neo cried.
"That's too bad," the heavily armored Assassin sighed before his eyes glowed darkened from his hood. "Then you'll just have to suffer."
Neo, Nathan and Ashton stepped forward but just as they were about to cast their Magic, a small explosion occurred at the left side of the fort and Venrus was sent flying out into the open where he crashed beside Izumi while another Assassin appeared beside the heavily armored one. "That little pipsqueak was waiting to flank us. Can you believe that?"
"But you took care of him, right?" Asked the heavily armored Assassin.
The other Assassin, who wore a sleek bodysuit with armor around his shoulders and knees and breast plate on his chest, nodded. "Of course I did. But now the intruders are all gathered together. Shall we take them out together as well?"
"Of course."
Venrus grumbled as he was helped up by Izumi. "Looks like Kaito's plan failed. There're more Magic Detector Lacrima. And it seems that this barrier that we're in is soundproof."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Neo asked.
The Devil Slayer turned to him and spoke. "Think about it. That explosion that sent me flying here was loud enough to wake up everyone in the town. But nothing's happening."
"It's nice of you to notice, boy," replied the second Assassin. "This barrier is what keeps us hidden from Fairy Tail and Magnolia. My Magic, Air Magic! This Magic blocks any sound from entering or exiting, which gives us the privacy we need. Also, those outside of this barrier can't see the fort, which is why we are able to hide in plain sight."
"Oi, you're giving them too many information, Forde," the heavily armored Assassin sighed as he tapped his partner, Forde. "But that's alright. I haven't gotten anybody to fight me in such a long time. I want you kids to try and go all out against us, if you could. I want some entertainment before we kill you. Now, let's begin!"
Once Kaito had reached the second floor of the fort, he opened the door to the only room on it. However, as soon as he opened the door, a golden sphere crashed beside him but Kaito was quick enough to dodge it.
"Oh? Not bad reflexes, intruder."
Kaito scoffed as he turned to the man who had shot the sphere. In front of him was a man who was seated on a throne. His clothes was mainly a blue cloak which covered most of his body as it hood shadowed his face except for his white beard. In his hand was also a wooden staff with its tip curled up. "Are you the leader of this Assassin Guild?"
The man got off his throne and chuckled as he pulled down his hood to reveal his elderly face. The man's hair was completely white with sideburns running down the sides of his face. He grinned. "I am indeed. You are in the presence of the Grand Master of all Assassins across Fiore, Grand Master Celio!"
In an instant, Kaito's right eye, still in effect of the Spirit Eyes spell, saw the Magic aura that Celio was giving off. It was at a tremendous height! Kaito took a step back in shock. This was the same kind of power that Makarov had wielded but only with a different Magic!
Celio kept his grin firm as he faced Kaito. "So, you must be the new Fairy Tail Mage I've heard from my members lately. The Masked Fairy. Then this will be an interesting match." As he took a step forward, Kaito tensed up as he raised his arms. Celio tapped his staff on the floor and spoke. "Show me your strength, Masked Fairy!"
Kaito gritted his teeth as he lunged forward, letting his chains form his blade as he swung his sword arm. The Grand Master of the Assassins, however, blocked it with his staff. "Oh? That's an interesting way to use Chain Magic." Kaito grunted as he was pushed back by Celio, who raised his staff as a golden Magic Seal appeared above him. "Witness my Magic, Masked Fairy! Meteor Shower!"
The Magic Seal glowed as multiple golden sphere began emerging from the Seal, leaving behind golden trails as they flew out of it while they all dove down towards Kaito. The Masked Fairy swung his sword arm, slashing through the first three spheres while the rest crashed on him and around him. However, the damage Kaito received was minimized by the chains that covered his chest. But as a result of being hit, there were multiple shredded parts all over Kaito's clothing, which revealed his chest and arms.
"Magic-resistant chains?" Celio muttered with a raised eyebrow. "Then you're not using Chain Magic. But how are you able to use Magic in the first place with those chains on you, boy?!"
Ignoring his question, Kaito's torn clothing dissolved while his black pants and mask remained. But that's when Kaito felt his chains extending again. This time, the chains had reached the base of his neck and was approaching upwards. The "Possession" was not over just yet. The Masked Fairy pushed the thought of the "Possession" aside and he lunged forward once more with his sword arm raised.
Celio scoffed. "Meteor!" Within seconds, Kaito was struck all over his body by the Grand Master of the Assassins in a blink of an eye, flinging the Masked Fairy towards the wall behind him.
As Kaito crashed into the wall on the second floor, Tessa was knocked onto the ground on her side.
"Looks like your friend is getting floored by the Grand Master," said the female Assassin as she pressed her foot against Tessa's arm. "I'd give your friend five minutes before he's dead."
"Don't...underestimate...Kaito," Tessa groaned as she struggled to break free of the Assassin's foot. Instead, the Assassin removed her foot and swung it, kicking the Shadow Magic user into the air.
"Wave!"
With another attack from the Assassin hitting Tessa, she was sent crashing into the painting on the wall which soon fell to the ground together with her.
The female Assassin gritted her teeth. "Big words, little girl. I'll end you now so you can regret your life in hell! Wave!" The energy around her began vibrating again as another sphere was shot at Tessa, hitting the Shadow Magic user in her guts as she coughed out a little of her blood. "Die! Wave!"
Just as the sphere was forming, Tessa took a deep breath before she breathed out and cast her spell. "Shadow Mode!" Then, the sphere was shot towards her but Tessa had already merge with her shadow as she slithered towards the Assassin, shocking her as Tessa emerged from her shadow and swung her fist and giving the Assassin an uppercut.
The Assassin stumbled back and yelped as she wiped away the blood on her lips. "What?"
"I saw through your attacks, Assassin," Tessa panted as she fell onto one knee. "You don't even bother keeping yourself safe. You're full of openings."
"Why you little bitch! Wave!"
Tessa scoffed. "Now that I know that, I'll make this quick. Guard Shadow!" As the Assassin fired another sphere of her Wave Magic, a dome emerged from Tessa's shadow, which the sphere collided with, destroying both it and the dome.
"I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU CAN KILL ME!" The female Assassin screamed as she charged through the fading dome while her hand reached for robe and pulled out a dagger which she swung at Tessa's neck.
"Shadow Double!" Instantly, Tessa's shadow emerged from the ground and formed her double in between the Assassin and her, which caused the Assassin the halt her attack and leapt back. Tessa grinned as she and her shadow double charged forward in a zigzag pattern, confusing the Assassin. Desperate, the Assassin flung her dagger at the left Tessa, only for the dagger to phase through the shadow double while the real Tessa thrust her fist forward and jabbed the Assassin in her abdomen.
The Assassin gasped as she clenched her abdomen and stumbled back, coughing out a little blood as Tessa's shadow double changed back into her shadow. "Damn you...Wave!" This time, she swiped her hand to the side, causing the energy around her to vibrate as an invisible wall formed in front of her. "You can't get pass this defense now. How do you like that?"
"I've won," Tessa smirked as she charged forward, surprising the Assassin. "That Wave wall of yours only blocks from the front. Your back is completely exposed," Tessa mumbled as she cast her spell. "Knuckle Shadow!" As she neared the Assassin, multiple fist shot out from her shadow, slamming into the invisible wall and fading away.
The female Assassin laughed. "Like I said, your attacks can't get pass..." Then, more fist shot out from behind the Assassin, slamming into her back as the Assassin crashed onto the ground, face-first.
"Shadow Orochi!" Then, multiple snakes soon appeared from Tessa's shadow, wrapping around the Assassin, binding her up.
Ashton skidded across the ground with his arms raised from protecting himself. He grunted as Venrus soon joined him. In front of them was Forde, the Assassin who used Air Magic. Across their area was Nathan and Neo who were both fighting the heavily armored Assassin, who was discovered to be using Earth Magic.
"Damn it...Venrus, can't you suck in his attacks?" Ashton asked.
Venrus glared at his partner. "What do you think I've been doing?! For some reason, I can't eat his attacks. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that wind and air are different."
"How are they different exactly?" Ashton inquired.
"Now's not the time, Ashton! Here he comes!" Venrus replied as they both leapt into the air to avoid another attack from Forde.
The Assassin grinned. "You intruders should just learn your places. Aerial Shot!" With a swipe of his hand, a Magic Seal was created in front of him as the nearby rocks began levitating above the ground and were flung towards the two Mages.
"Mind Dragon's Illusion Roar!" As Ashton cast his spell, he released a stream of silver aura from his mouth, which soon changed into acid, destroying the rocks. "Venrus! Now's your chance!"
Nodding, the Wind Devil Slayer began casting his spell. "Wind Devil's Devastating Fist!" Thrusting his fist forward, the wind began swirling above Forde, forming a giant fist made out of the wind which slammed down onto the Assassin, who dodged the attack but was sent flying from the impact of the attack.
"Damn brats...Aerial Shot!" Once more, rocks were flung towards the two Mages.
Meanwhile, Neo was knocked back by the heavily armored Assassin while Nathan was on his back, with the Assassin's foot on his back. The Assassin scoffed. "You should have left when you had the chance. Now you face the wrath of Artair the Earth Assassin!"
Neo scoffed as he slammed his fist together, creating a red Magic Seal. "Elemental Soul: Fire!" His body began glowing as flames erupted from the ground beneath him, which spiraled into the air to form a being made out of fire in Neo's place. "Fire Sphere!" As a sphere of fire formed in Neo's hand, he tosses it towards Artair.
Artair grinned underneath his hood and kicked Nathan aside as he pressed both of his hands onto the ground. "Iron Rock Wall!" Pillars of rocks soon emerged from the ground as the sphere of fire crashed into them, leaving burnt marks on the pillars as Artair stepped out from behind them with Nathan in his right hand. "Your Fire Magic is nothing compared to my Earth Magic. Iron Rock Fist!"
Once the spell was cast, a gigantic fist was sculpted from the ground and Artair commanded it to attack Neo, who was able to dodge the fist just in time before it crashed into the ground where Neo was standing previously.
Nathan gritted his teeth and tucked himself into a ball. "Metal Work: Spike Armor!" In an instant, Nathan's flesh turned into metal, causing the Earth Magic using Assassin to drop on his side from the increase in weight. Then, giant spikes began protruding out of Nathan's body, which made the heavily armored Assassin flinch. "Neo! We need to regroup!" Nathan cried as he ran over to the Elemental Soul Mage.
"You have any other plan?" Neo asked as Nathan changes back from his metal form to his human form.
Just then, Ashton and Venrus were flung towards them, crashing right next to the two. Ashton groaned as he got back up. "These two are tough ones. None of the other Assassins we faced were this strong."
"How about switching then?" Nathan suggested. "Let's try changing out opponents. It might help us beat them."
"What other choice do we have?" Venrus sighed. "I'm going with Nathan's idea."
"Same here," Ashton agreed and Neo nodded.
As the four Mages looked at one another, they grinned and tapped their hands to switch as the two teams swapped their positions and charged towards their new targets.
With the effects of Meteor still on, Celio was mercilessly attacking Kaito from all sides and the Masked Fairy was thrown into the air again, only to be beaten back to the ground from a strong punch to his back. Celio chuckled. "I'd expected more from you, Masked Fairy. I'd heard that you tamed a Blizzardvern a Mt. Hakobe. And if this is what it takes to tame a beast like that, I'm truly disappointed."
Kaito stood back up, anger rising within him as his chains began changing color from silver to red as purple outlines appeared around the chains. "I guess I have no choice. I'll have to use Spirit Magic on him..." He muttered to himself as his blade began changing back into his chains. Then, Kaito turned around, only to be struck by Celio once more as he crashed onto the floor on his back.
Celio placed his feet on the ground as he reached for his staff. As Meteor's effects wore off, he tapped his staff on the floor. "I'm sure you have more power than this. Come on, show it to me!"
The Spirit Eyes spell was still in effect. Kaito's right eye brought its attention to the Grand Master of the Assassins. A smile formed on his face when he saw that Celio's Magic aura was beginning to shrink, which meant that Celio's Meteor spell had used up quite a lot of Magic Power. "All I have to do is make him waste more of his Magic Power. Either that or I can just drain it from him using my chains." Kaito thought as he got back up.
"Meteor Shower!"
Again, a golden Magic Seal was formed above Celio as golden spheres began diving down towards Kaito. However, Kaito was prepared. "Spirit Magic - Shield of Souls!" As his chains formed a shield, a Magic Seal was formed in front of him and expanded as the golden spheres crashed onto the Magic Seal, shattering it once the last sphere hit it.
Celio blinked. "Oh? You managed to block my Meteor Shower spell this time, huh. Now, things are getting interesting."
Kaito lowered his shield arm as the shield changed back into chains. Then, the Masked Fairy began creating a Magic Seal on his hand, before the same Magic Seal soon appeared on Celio's chest, which surprised the Grand Master Assassin as orbs of light began appearing all around the room and cackled as they gathered around the Magic Seal on Kaito's hand. Then, the orbs combined to form a sphere with a skull on its front.
"Whatever you're trying to do, I won't let you finish it!" Celio cried as he waved his staff. "Meteor Shower!"
As the golden sphere of the Meteor Shower spell crashed around Kaito and on him, the cackling of the sphere in Kaito's hand grew even louder. "Spirit Magic - Spirit Sphere!" Then, Kaito tossed the sphere towards Celio, who was stunned by the attack that he was unable to dodge it. As the sphere crashed into him, Celio screamed as pain grew within his body while the cackling continued.
"Kaito, switch with me..." Kaito froze. He turned around, only to find nothing. "Let me handle this for you."
"It's you..." Kaito muttered. "You're the one who's been controlling me, aren't you?"
A laughter rang in his head as Kaito felt everything around him stop, freezing him in time. Then, a hand was placed on his shoulder and Kaito turned around again. This time, he was greeted by an unexpected person, himself. Only that this other Kaito wasn't wearing his mask and the left side of his face was nothing but fire. The Shade markings on his chest had been imprinted on his chains around his chest, similar to Kaito as well. But the only thing that caught Kaito's eye was that the other Kaito's glowing mark on his right hand.
The other Kaito grinned. "I wouldn't say "controlling" but more like, "helping" you."
"How could you have possibly help me?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I saved your life from the Blizzardvern and tamed it so that you could use it to save poor Cana? Or that other time I helped you defeat the Nature Guardian? Or perhaps that time I saved you from the Assassin that invaded the guild and made him our servant?"
"Then why didn't you help me stop Vlad?" Kaito asked, clenching his fists.
The other Kaito shrugged. "I don't know. Something prevented me from helping you when I wanted to. I mean, I wanted to make Vlad our personal slave for all those horrible things he's done to us..."
"Us?" Kaito repeated.
"We are one person, Kaito," replied the other Kaito. "The Mark of the Tamer, is what created me. I am your form of Spirit Magic, Kaito. So, technically, I am you."
"That I can understand but what do you want now then?" Kaito asked. "I don't see any value in fighting Celio using you."
"Oh, but there is!" The other Kaito replied. "Celio's Magic is called Heavenly Body Magic, which allows the caster to use the properties of many astronomical objects for battle, preferably in offense. I can see the use in that Magic when I absorb it."
"Absorb?"
"It's much easier to understand what I mean when you see it," the other Kaito said. "But basically, we can use his Magic to help us in the future once we get through "Second Stage"."
"What?"
The other Kaito grinned. "I'll explain everything after we finish this. So, if you'd excuse me..." The other Kaito snapped his fingers, causing the Celio's scream of pain to slowly continue as Kaito stared at his hands in shock as he began to fade away. "Relax, Kaito. Enjoy the show from your own mind. Let me show you the power you have."
Celio fell to his knees as his staff dropped onto the ground. He gritted his teeth and glared at Kaito. "That was one hell of a spell, kid. Now I'm angry."
Kaito chuckled as he lowered his face and removed his mask, revealing that the left side of his face had burst into flames, which surprised Celio as Kaito pulled down his hood. "Now that I'm out. It's time for me to rampage a little. You'll be my guinea pig, right?"
"What the hell are you talking about, Masked Fairy?" Celio asked, raising an eyebrow at the sudden change of tone from Kaito.
"Call me Tamer, Grand Master Celio," Kaito, possessed by Tamer, replied. "Right now, our dear Masked Fairy is resting at the back of his mind, enjoying this scene while I let loose some energy. So, answer my question. Will you be my guinea pig?"
Celio glare at Tamer. "I don't have to listen to your nonsense! Be judge by the seven stars! Grand Chariot!" As he raised his staff, seven Magic Seals appeared above the room, forming a constellation-like pattern as seven beams of light was fired from the Magic Seals towards Tamer.
Tamer chuckled. "Ridiculous and a waste of time, you are! Summon: Lightning Guardian!" Just as the beams were nearing him, a purple Magic Seal formed in front of Tamer, blocking the beams of light as an explosion occurred which blew off the roof of the room. Then, a large being emerged from the Magic Seal, releasing sparks of electricity as it stepped into reality.
The being was muscular, having the same height as Celio, who was a full grown man. In the being's hand was a spear and three horns protruded from the being's head. It's jaw had canine teeth protruding out as well as it screeched, causing the electricity around it to react violently, zapping everything in sight.
"What the..."
"Lightning Guardian, show this old fool the power you have. Crush him!" Tamer cried, earning a nod from the Lightning Guardian as it lunged forward with it's spear aimed at Celio.
"Aerial Shot!"
Neo grinned as the rocks thrown from Forde's spell phased through his body. "I think it's time I went all out. Elemental Shift: Lightning!" As he slammed his fist together, a yellow Magic Seal formed in front of him as the flames on his body was replaced by electricity, changing Neo into his Lightning Soul.
Nathan stabbed his arms, which were currently steel blades, into the ground as he prevented himself from being thrown back by the spell from Forde. "We should have fought you since the start of the battle! Shorty, let's end this!"
An annoyed grin formed on Neo's face. "Alright, metal breath! Let's try out a Unison Raid."
"A what?"
"Just trust me!" Neo cried as he grabbed Nathan's legs, pulling him out of the ground as he began twirling the Metal Mage in his hands. "Here goes..."
"Just what kind of plan is this?!" Nathan cried as sparks of electricity formed on his body.
Neo grinned as he cast a spell. "Lightning Blast!" Nathan sighed and went along with Neo's plan as he straightened his body and raised his blade arms up, changing his blades into metal fists. Then, the Elemental Soul Mage tossed Nathan forward. "Unison Raid!" As Nathan was tossed forward, his electrocuted body began spinning, making him resemble a flying drill.
"Unison Raid?!" Forde cried out in surprise as he tried to cast a spell, but failed as Nathan crashed into him, sending Forde crashing into the fort's entrance which caused the door to form a dent that resembles Forde's body.
Artair gritted his teeth in annoyance as he watched his partner fall while he tried to defend himself against Ashton's Illusion Roar, which had changed into acid, destroying Artair's defenses. "Damn it...how can we, the best Assassins in Fiore, lose to a bunch of kids?!"
"You're too overconfident, that's why!" Venrus replied. "Wind Devil's Rage!" In an instant, Artair was blown back by the force of the attack as he flew off the ground while Ashton leapt into the air.
"Mind Dragon's Illusion Claw!" As he raised his foot, a silver aura emitted from it and Ashton slammed his foot down once the silver aura had changed into metal. The heavily armored Assassin crashed onto the ground below and a crater was formed as the dust around Artair rose to the air.
Neo dusted his hands as his Lightning Soul faded away, returning Neo to his human form as he approached the others. "Well that went better than we've expected. We should try tag teams more often, shouldn't we?"
"You bet!" Ashton agreed. "The went down quite fast with the right strategy. I'm glad we swapped targets. We would have taken the whole damn night if we hadn't."
Venrus looked around as he watched the barrier fade away. "Looks like the barrier that the Assassin had cast is disappearing. Probably because we defeated them. Now if only Tessa and Kaito would hurry up and open the damn door already, we could be..."
Just then, a shadow slithered out from beneath the door and Tessa soon emerged from the shadow as well as a tied up Assassin. Tessa sighed. "I see that you boys were busy too. At least we've gotten rid of the Assassins. My guess is that Kaito's fighting the leader of the Assassins right now. I hope he wouldn't be in..." An explosion then blew up the side of the fort as the Mages looked up, only to see a figure being thrown out of the fort.
As the figure came out of the smoke, it was revealed that Celio was the one that was thrown out. The Grand Master of the Assassins crashed onto the ground and he jerked forward as his grip on his staff loosened, dropping the weapon as he tumbled over and rested on his face.
Laughter soon erupted from the top of the fort as the Mages turned back to look up, only to see Kaito, grinning as his mask rested in his hand while the left side of his face remained on fire while the Lightning Guardian stood beside him. Kaito, still possessed by Tamer, leapt off the fort and landed behind Celio. "So, how do you like the power of a Mage who tamed a Blizzardvern, huh?"
When Tamer reached out his arm, he grabbed Celio's collar and pulled him back before throwing him onto his back, revealing the Grand Master Assassin's petrified face. "No...stay away from me, DEMON!" As Celio backed away from Tamer, he placed his hands together as seven Magic Seals formed in the sky. "Grand Cha..."
However, before he could complete the spell, Tamer had cast his own spell. "Spirit Tamer Magic - Magic Devourer!" At that moment, as Celio was casting his spell, a Shade soldier with an identical figure to the Lightning Guardian materialized above Celio. The Shade soldier roughly grabbed Celio's arms, pulling the old man up as the Shade soldier began changing its color from violet to golden due to the fact that it was absorbing Celio's Heavenly Body Magic.
Celio's screams of fear filled the air as he felt his body slowly growing weaker. His vision began to blur as his screams grew weaker after every second. Then, he went numb, dropping unconsciously to the ground as the Shade soldier grabbed Celio's staff and screeched victoriously. Tamer chuckled as he swiped his hand to the side, causing both the Lightning Guardian and the Shade soldier vanished.
Tamer then turned to the Mages, who were all wary of him. Tamer snickered as he approached them. "It's so nice to finally meet the team that Kaito's opened up to. We'll be seeing each other much more often in the future. Hope you'll get use to me soon."
"You're not Kaito..." Neo said.
"Oh, but I am!" Tamer replied. "Like what I've told Kaito a few minutes ago, I am his Magic, his form of Magic. So I am him. After all, Magic represents who a person is. Anyway, I should let Kaito take control of this body again. I used quite a lot of Magic Power just to steal that Heavenly Body Magic from the Assassin. But at least I got to burn off some energy."
"You stole his Magic?" Venrus repeated, raising an eyebrow as he stepped forward.
A smile appeared on Tamer's face, which technically is Kaito's, and he spoke. "Well, yes. I'll be able to use the Magic to help improve myself and Kaito in the future. Got a problem with that?"
Venrus gulped. "To improve himself? What does that mean? But more importantly, how could a Mage's Magic possess a Mage in this manner?"
Tamer waved at the Mages and grinned as he placed the mask back on his face. "The name's Tamer. Remember it for because I'm not leaving any time soon." Then, he snapped his fingers, causing his body to collapse as the Mages all rushed over to him.
"Oi! Kaito!" Ashton cried as he nudged the body.
Kaito stirred and groaned as he was helped to his feet. "I can't believe it. That bastard took over my body before I could do anything."
"You alright, Kaito?" Tessa asked.
The Masked Fairy nodded as his outfit materialized onto his body and he pulled up his hood. "We'll talk about Tamer later. Right now, we have to contact the Magic Council and tell them about the mission. After all, we did complete it, didn't we?" In return to his question, the others nodded but they were hesitant, not from the mission but because of Tamer.
A/N: Not sure if the ending was alright for all of you. But I finished this entire chapter in the night, so I apologize just in case. Anyway, this was actually longer than what I had expected. I was hoping to complete this at around 6,000 to 7,000 words but it just made a big leap into the estimated 15,000 words. What a surprise! Anyway, the next chapter will be the beginning of the S-ranked Trials arc and I'm probably sure that it will be a short arc depending on how I'll be writing it. But I hope you'll look forward to it. Just the next arc and a few more fillers before we FINALLY reach the X784 and begin Lucy's adventure in Fairy Tail!
Magic used:
Shadow Mode: The user transforms their body into a shadow, granting them the ability to move around surfaces. The user can transition in and out of this form as they please
Spirit Magic - Spirit Eyes: The user's eyes glows, allowing them to see in the dark, as well as to find trails left behind by Mages. This spell can also help locate Magic that have taken the forms of spirits. If the user masters Spirit Magic, this spell will be permanent.
Wind Devil's Propelling Blast: The user gathers large amounts of air around their arms and propels themselves into the air or blast targets to great distances.
Elemental Soul: Lightning: The user is able to take the form of the Element, Lightning. This gives the user the control over electricity and they can manipulate the Element at will.
Lightning Pace: The user is able to change their body into pure electricity. This spell is useful for avoiding attacks and transportation.
Shade Evasion: The user is able to evade any form of attack with this spell, which involves the user being separated into four Shade soldiers which will form back into the user after maintaining distance from the target.
Spirit Magic - Phantom Blade: The user's uses a sword from their Possession. When they attack with this spell, the sword is intangible, but still inflicts the same damage as a normal Magic Sword's damage.
Spirit Magic - Phantom Sniper: The user holds their hand out in a gun-like pose and a Magic Seal will form. Then, when the user fires, the Seal releases a thick smokescreen. From the Seal, an artificial phantom is fired at the target and it will cause harm to the target's body within a specific amount of time that the user can set. This spell, however, can be stopped by Mirror Magic or Reflector.
Storm Bringer: The user moves their hand in a pattern, manipulating the surrounding wind and releasing it as a tornado towards the target. Once this tornado reaches the target, it spins and sends them flying.
Storm Shred: The caster creates several blades of wind that attack the target.
Spirit Magic - Shield of Souls: The user brings out a shield that had went through the "Possession" phase and increases its defense stats and its defensive range.
Nova Blade: The user creates a Magic Seal beneath their feet, which increases their speed as their sword glows and heats up to deliver a burning slash.
Spirit Magic - Phantom Fist: The user's fists are covered entirely by their chains. These fists will become intangible but can still inflict damages similar to the Phantom Chains spell.
Magic Wind Palm: The user claps both their hands together, releasing a highly destructive tornado.
Wood-Make: Shurikens: The user places their right fist on top of their left palm, which causes a Magic Seal to form and the user shoots out wooden shurikens at their target.
Shade Bind: The user summons ghosts which are used to grab, immobilize and strangle an enemy, causing them great pain. The more the opponent struggles, the tighter the grip on them will become.
Wave: The user creates waves out of vibrations and can cause explosions when the vibrations hits somebody else's Magic. These waves can be thrown as projectiles, and the user also seems to be able to change the length and width of these waves. The user can also surround themselves with Wave to make a shield. While inside it, the opponent's body will be continuously zapped. While Magic cannot be used inside the Wave, it will not protect the user from physical attacks, if the opponent manages to make contact.
Meteor Shower: The user creates a Magic Seal above them and golden sphere will be fired from the Magic Seal and hurled towards the target at the speed of falling meteorites.
Meteor: The user's body is surrounded by Magic, allowing them to move through the air at incredible speed. With their speed, the user assaults their opponents with quick but powerful melee attacks.
Guard Shadow: The user uses their shadow to create a shadow dome that protects them from incoming attacks.
Shadow Double: The user creates a duplicate of themselves using their own shadow, which can move on its own and is perfect for distractions as the double cannot be hit and it cannot hit anything as well.
Knuckle Shadow: The user shapes their shadow into a fist to punch the opponent upwards. Multiple fists can also be created as well.
Shadow Orochi: The user shapes their shadow into multiple snakes to attack and bite their opponent.
Aerial Shot: The user swipes their hand and levitates nearby rocks, which are then shot at the target in question.
Mind Dragon's Illusion Roar: The user inhales a deep breath of air while a Magic Seal appears in front of them. Then, the user breathes out, releasing a stream of colored aura, depending on the user. With enough Magic Power, they can manipulate the target's mind into thinking that the user's attack is something else.
Wind Devil's Devastating Fist: The user thrusts their fist forward and the wind will gather above the target to form a giant fist which slams down onto the target with tremendous force.
Elemental Soul: Fire: The user is able to take the form of the Element, Fire. This gives the user the control over fire and they can manipulate the Element at will.
Fire Sphere: The user creates a sphere of fire and flings it towards the target. When hit, the sphere explodes and the target will receive major damage.
Iron Rock Wall: The user manipulates the earth to form a wall, blocking incoming attacks. The wall comes in a variety of forms, ranging from simple pillars to traditional walls.
Iron Rock Fist: The user sculpts a gigantic fist from the ground that can be used to attack the opponent. The path of the fist can be maneuvered by the user's command, making it possible for the user to follow the opponent's movements.
Metal Work: Spike Armor: The user is able to change the flesh of their body into metal and produce spikes that will protect the user against Electric spells and injure opponents in close combat.
Spirit Magic - Shield of Souls: The user brings out a shield that had went through the "Possession" phase and increases its defense stats and its defensive range.
Spirit Magic - Spirit Sphere: The user creates a Magic Seal on the target's body and on the user's ow hands. Artificial souls in the form of orbs will materialize and start to cackle as they form a sphere on the user's hands. Once the sphere hits the target, its laughter will cause pain to the target depending on how loud it is. The louder the laughter, the more pain the target will receive.
Grand Chariot: Seven Magic seals are then summoned in front of the user and connect together to make what appears to be a constellation. Each Magic seal then releases a powerful light blast down on the opponent, forming the same pattern on the ground before exploding.
Summon: Lightning Guardian: The user summons a Shade soldier infused with the power of a Lightning Magic spirit, which gives the Shade soldier the control over the lightning element as it protects and fights for the user.
Elemental Shift: Lightning: The user is able to switch forms between their current form and the Lightning Soul to give a direct access to the Lightning Soul's form.
Lightning Blast: Lightning Magic's most basic attack, it can be used with a single or both hands to generate electrical discharges at a distance or at close-range. The effects of the blast depends on the user's own ability.
Wind Devil's Rage: After inhaling the surrounding air, the user is able to release a large amount of wind which is equivalent to a typhoon.
Mind Dragon's Illusion Claw: The user emits an aura, depending on the user, around their feet or hands. Once emitted, the user is able to manipulate the target with enough Magic Power to transform the aura into anything.
Spirit Tamer Magic - Magic Devourer: This spell allows Kaito to utilize Shade Magic to absorb the target's Magic completely so that Shade will be able to use it for itself. The kinds of Magic that this spell can absorb is unlimited. As long as Kaito does not overuse it, he will not faint from using a lot of Magic Power.
