I soon found her, sitting across from Cana at a small table with multiple cards strewn about it. Cana turned to me for a moment before waving. "Yo!" she greeted.
"Cana? Are you still drunk?" I questioned, walking over to her.
"Nah, that was a one-time deal. Now hang on…" she trailed off as she looked at the cards. The leader seemed to be paying attention to them as well. "Nope, he's not interested," she said finally.
"Damn it!" the leader slapped the table. "After all I did for that ungrateful bastard!"
"Sorry."
"Cana, you should probably leave."
"Excuse me?" the leader stood. "I haven't released her yet."
"Well, you wanted me here, and I obliged. I'd say she's free to go," I said casually as I urged her out. She left with a frustrated "alright already" which left us two alone. "So…you wanna tell me your name?"
"Amber Rodac."
"Like Amber Coffin?"
"That's why I named it that," she confirmed.
"And are you related to the other Rodac outside?" I pointed behind me to the entrance.
"We're siblings, I'll have you know."
"Oh, so, I mean…you two aren't-"
"Alright, I'm gonna stop your right there because that's an area that I don't find comfortable. Deal?"
"It's understandable. Anyway, if you'd kindly explain why you want my head…" I urged her to speak.
"Well, it started when you stole my title," she said.
"Title? The Alter Fairy? What about it?"
"No, as the Replication Mage. Gods, don't you pay attention?" she scolded.
"I've…never been called that."
"Well it's what you've been known as since the Grand Magic Games, when Fairy Tail won and you, along with everyone else in the guild, became world famous. Before then, I was known as the ultimate replication mage, as a Slayer myself, our magic is extremely versatile, something which I used to my advantage and-"
"You're a Slayer? What type?" I asked, eager if she was another Devil Slayer.
"God Slayer; a Shadow God Slayer," she crushed my dreams. I drooped my shoulders.
"Oh…"
"Anyway, that brings me to here; I want to battle you."
"Don't they all?" I mused to myself. "Alright, I'm ready when you are."
"Wait, we're not in the right arena."
"Arena?" I questioned, not seeing this woman's priorities being straight. "Who cares?"
"If we don't have an Archive Wizard around, how'll we know if what we're using is replicating anything."
"…What?"
"Perhaps I didn't explain well enough for your tiny brain. I propose a battle, and-"
"I got that part."
"And!" she snapped before pausing to see if I would interrupt again. "The battle entails only using existing spells used by those other than ourselves, that aren't native to our magic type."
"Oh…so it's like a memory test. Is that all? Is this just a pride thing?"
"Isn't everything?" she question, mimicking my tone from earlier as she led me to a square area. There, I saw a familiar face.
"Hibiki?" I questioned. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I'm here on a job, the lovely lady called for an Archive Wizard."
"And she didn't mention that she wants my guts on her wall?"
"She might've, but I was too lost in her gorgeous eyes…" he tried to woo her, but she pushed him away.
"He may be annoying, but he was the only one I could get a hold of. Alright, so, the rules, in this room, each of us have unlimited magic power. We'll take turns casting spells not native to our magic, and if the other can't replicate it or if they perform it incorrectly, then they lose."
"What happens when you lose?"
"So confident…the loser has to fulfill one request from the loser, and that request most certainly can be for more requests."
I smirked. "Alright, you wanna go first?"
"I'd love to. Here we go," I saw her perform a spell which I recognized instantly. She split into two, or rather, made an outline of herself with her magic and then separated from it.
"Afterimage Magic replicated," Hibiki stated.
"Tch," I lit up my finger and made repeated what she did, stepping out of it and high-fiving it. "Too easy."
"Fair enough, but I was going easy on you," she warned, with both of our new friends disappearing.
"Well, unlike you, I intend to win this. Devil Slayer's Ars Arcanum: Column to Hell!" I called as I charged up my magic, creating a wall of storms around both of us. Once a sufficient amount had been charged up, I spun my arms and torso in a half circle, my arms outstretched, causing the storms to converge on my position and charge forward at Amber, consuming her in the beam.
As the dust cleared, she had been thrown back into the wall, and was walking back to my position, clapping. "Very well done," she commended as she turned to Hibiki. "But was it a replication?"
"Shattering Light: Sky Drill replicated."
"Alright, then let's do this," she repeated the motion with her shadows, with the beam not seeming as powerful as mine was, but it was still executed with perfect accuracy, so the battle continued.
"Alright, what's next?"
"Well, since you seem so eager to use offensive spells, how about we take it up to an eleven?" she smirked as she rose into the air with her shadows, doing the same for Hibiki. "Follow me. This particular spell shouldn't be cast in any place we want still standing afterwards," she said.
Conveniently, there was an overhead window we flew out of and landed on the roof, on the edge. She rose into the air once again to cast her technique. She swiped in the direction of several strokes of a magic circle before a large circular wall of shadows appeared in the front of her, aimed at the sky. She held her arm in front of it for only a second before flinging it up, forcing the circle to collapse in on itself and then shoot forward as a beam large enough to encompass the building, and probably powerful enough to destroy it two times over.
Once the spell had ceased, she landed in front of me, confident that I wouldn't be able to do it. I looked to Hibiki. "Abyss Break replicated," he confirmed.
"Abyss Break? That's a forbidden spell, where'd you learn it. I'm curious."
"Let's just say I've had more than one run in with the council and they used it to destroy a few of my bases," she explained nonchalantly.
With that, I rose into the air and thought back to the strokes she made, though I soon realized that they were too fast for me to see, but then again, she didn't actually form the magic circle, so it shouldn't really matter.
"Devil Slayer's Ars Arcanum: Cosmic Shatter!" I made some of the strokes, and released my magic in a massive circle of light in front of me, holding it for longer than Amber did, finding it difficult to keep in check, before releasing it, with the circle collapsing in on itself before shooting itself out into the aforementioned beam.
I landed with Amber looking half shocked and half annoyed that I did it.
"I think it's time I ended this," I stated, soon realizing that I was invested in this battle, like it actually mattered. But still, suddenly, I was determined to win this, no matter what. Perhaps her pride was rubbing off on me.
"Inside or out?" she questioned.
"Inside should be fine, so long as you can handle it."
"You underestimate me," she assured.
We returned to the building, and I took my position. "It might be best for you to stand back. Even you probably couldn't take this attack and stay standing."
I built up my magic power a bit first, before shooting my right fist up into the air, a bright white light resonating from it before being released in a rising column of pure energy around me. "Devil Slayer's Ars Arcanum: Devil's Shine!" Once a sufficient amount of magic was around me, I shot my fist forward, using my other arm to steady it and concentrate the magic power as the magic power formed in a wide circle around us, quickly closing it on its center, which would be squeezing out the magic power of my opponent had there been one to damage, before imploding on itself in the form of a massive explosion of white lightning around us.
I was breathing heavily. "Jeez, haven't done that in a while," I muttered to myself, turning to Amber who had been studying the spell carefully. "Good luck with that one," I stated.
She turned to Hibiki. "I…don't have any files on that particular spell."
"Then how do we know if it's a replication?" she questioned.
"I doubt that there'd be any files; it a replication of a spell distinct to Fairy Tail, a replication of Fairy Glitter, and to my knowledge only Cana and I have ever cast it, at least in this age. It's what got me my title," I flexed my arm, the one with the mark on its hand. "It's a sacred spell. When and if you actually do it, you have to promise that you won't use it ever again."
"Fine, sure," she waved me off before taking my position.
The next couple minutes were in a dumbfounded stupor, as I watched, point for point, her copy me and correctly replicate the spell with perfect accuracy. "H-How-"
"I'll admit, it was hard…but not impossible," she said with a shrug, clearly having been tired out from the spell even more than me, but she still did it. I sighed. That was my trump card; what did I have that couldn't be copied by her now? Well, there was…maybe after things get ridiculous would I resort to that spell.
And so, the competition continued for about seven more rounds, taking up nearly an hour of time, enough for the rest of the group to have finished off their opponents and come watch. I was getting visibly annoyed and not having won by now. Call me an egotist if you will, but I'd expected to win handily against a no-name Dark Guild leader with a superiority complex.
"Do you concede yet?" she questioned, also getting tired of this game.
"Not a chance," I said stubbornly. "You started it, and you're finishing it," I said, standing to take my turn. "But I warn you; this is going to be the last round. If you pull this off, then I'll concede…but only because I might be scarred for life…" I said the last part under my breath.
I took a deep breath, remembering back to Tenrou Island where I first saw the spell. I needed to do this perfectly, or else I would be scarred or dead or something else.
I outstretched my arms before swiftly pulling them in with my palms facing inward, my hands diagonal and across from each other, a small yet dense sphere of white magical energy forming between them. I shifted my hands as the sphere expanded before slamming my palms together, crushing the sphere into an even smaller space.
"Inigo! You can't use that!" Erza yelled, trying to get over to me, but was being held back.
"Would you shut up?! I'm trying to concentrate!" I snapped back.
I rose into the air, being suspended by the sheer amount of my magic power being condensed before I opened my eyes, with my entire body being seemingly possessed by the magic as the same shade of light enveloped the sky above us and the sphere expanded yet again, somehow growing more densely packed. "Devil Slayer's Ars Arcanum: Hell's Judgement!" I yelled as the sphere exploded around me, the resulting explosion enveloping the entire building, and yet not doing a single person harm as the light died down.
As everything settled, with my friends staring on in shock, I plopped down onto my ass, panting. Once they had recovered, my group rushed to my side. "Are you okay?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Does anything feel strange to you?"
"Do you have a third arm now or something?"
I shook my head to all of their questions. "No, I think I'm fine."
I turned to Hibiki. He nodded. "Fairy Law, successfully replicated," he said. I then turned to the Amber, with only a tired expression on my face.
"Go ahead," I said. "But if you do it and you do it incorrectly, or you stop halfway, you'll undergo serious side-effects. It could spell death, or permanent illness, or a deformity or something else. Just keep that in mind."
She looked confident as ever. "Thanks for the warning, but I don't think it was necessary."
She took the position, and, once again point for point, copied my movements and magic, if a bit weaker than my version. However, she stopped at the part where she rose into the air, her magic seemingly not obeying her command as it expanded early. I grimaced, as the spell was already screwed up from that, but she forced it to continue anyway, being so consumed with pride that she would do it.
Her shadows expanded, enveloping all of us, and while all of us were unharmed when the dust settled, Amber was nowhere to be seen. I stood. "We should look for her," I stated.
Everyone else nodded their agreement. "Hopefully she's still here."
"I'm still here you morons!" a quiet voice was heard from above us, and when we looked, we saw a little version of Amber flying above us, with what looked like beautiful silky butterfly wings sprouting from her back, keeping her aloft. She flew up to me and kicked my nose. "You jerk! You tricked me! You knew this would happen, so change me back!"
"Um…"
The others looked as confused as I was. "Did Fairy Law just make her…" Gray trailed off.
"Turn into a Fairy?" Erza finished.
I chuckled. "What's so funny?!" Amber demanded. I then laughed at the sound of her voice. "You're making me so mad!"
"Nothing, sorry. It's just that your voice got a little higher; it sounds really funny to me!" the other soon started laughing in agreement. I turned to Hibiki.
"She didn't replicate the spell successfully, so Amber is the loser and you are the victor."
I grinned and then continued laughing, though eventually, I started coughing, my slight illness taking its course for a moment. I continued laughing as I stood.
"Hey! Did any of you bozos hear me? I said to change me back!"
"Not sure if we can," I said, waving her off. "Besides, I have no further business with you, so why should I help you?"
"Because you're a wizard; aren't wizards supposed to help people?"
"Yeah, but what did you do? You threatened my friend's life."
"Did not!"
"Ha! Your voice got even higher!" I exclaimed as I held her on my hand so she wouldn't have to constantly be flying. I looked to the others. "You think Porlyusica will mind a little company?"
They all got pained looks on their faces. "Good luck with that," they all said in unison, turning and leaving, save for Kagura and Mirajane.
With that, we returned to Magnolia, and I alone took Amber to Porlyusica to hear her consensus. "What's wrong with her?" I asked as the fairy was examined.
"She turned into a pixie," the old woman answered quickly.
"You mean fairy?"
"Same difference. There isn't anything else wrong."
"Well, can you fix it, you old hag?" Amber questioned, only getting slapped across the room for the insult.
"No, I can't."
"What?! Why not?"
"Well, let's just say that it was by your own decision, and therefore only you can undo it, and given that I don't sense any magic from you, I doubt you can undo it."
"So I'm…stuck like this?!" she demanded. "No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not acceptable! I have a life!"
"Not anymore," the woman answered.
I grabbed Amber by the wings and left to keep her from trying to hit the apothecary, muttering a quick "thank you" as I did out of respect. Amber rode on my shoulder back to the town. "So what now? Are you gonna make me your servant for life or something?" Amber questioned, clearly in a bad mood.
"Nope," I answered. "I have no use for you."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Although, I do have one request."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" she asked.
"I'm gonna ask you to help my kid, when and if he/she decides to become a wizard."
"Your kid? Do you even have one?"
I scratched my chin. "Not yet, but I plan to, at some point. Anyway, you know about just about every spell under the sun, right? At least a fair few types given that you could replicate them from memory like that."
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, give them advice. Stick with 'em on their adventures. If they're anything like me, they're gonna need it."
"And what's stopping me from saying no and leaving?"
"Nothing except the goodness of your heart."
"Goodness of my heart?"
"Given that you could've seriously hurt my friend and chose not to, I'd say you have some good in you."
"You're trusting the leader of a Dark Guild?"
"Yeah, like you guys are really a Dark Guild. That's just a title," I said. "You're not really a Dark Guild unless you actually do something dark, and something that leaves an impact of some kind. All you've done is capture a friend and lose to me, so…yeah, you weren't a Dark Guild."
"You're an ass, you know that?" she stated as she flew in front of me. "Fine, I'll babysit your demon child, freak. Now can I kindly leave?"
"Sure, whenever you want. Oh yeah, and don't come by the guild. If they knew that Fairies existed and didn't have tails, they'd freak out and then the fun would be ruined."
"I wasn't planning on visiting you, if that's what you were implying," she said as she flew off lazily. She then turned around slightly. "Oh yeah, and I do have a tail," she said as the appendage became visible, extending through her pants and coming out the bottom ever so slightly. "Get your facts straight, Alter Fairy."
Author's Note:
Hey guys, it's been a while and I haven't really been keeping good on my promise, but whatever.
I know I'm gonna get a lot of crap for ruining the concept of the Fairy Tail Guild, but again, this in't canon and she's not going to be int eh rest of the story because Inigo just sent her off, so please just don't complain about it in reviews unless it's a side note to the actual review.
Anyway, speaking of, come on! Let's get at least ten before the filler arcs end, if not more which would be completely awesome!
