AN: Okay, I just have to check guys. Are you actually enjoying this arc? I know that the reviews that you've sent me are mostly positive, but the number has been going down steadily since I started with this. I'm being completely serious here, is this good or not?
THE RED KEY PART 5: IF YOU WANT BLOOD (YOU GOT IT!)
Flute was the 47th child of the class two demon Tambourine. She had been born eight months after her grandfather had been released from his prison. For a few glorious months she had free reign over the Earth, hunting down the pitiful resistance that the Red Ribbon Army provided. When her meticulous nature was discovered, she was tasked with opening up the resistance fighters of each and every species that walked the planet, whether they were human, dog man, dinosaur, or anything in between. She learned more and more with each passing day how best to kill them, torture them, and most of all, understand them. But then she was locked away with her brethren in the Dead Zone by the Guardian, trapped in an unending nothing with no way out.
The other creatures that had been sealed by previous Guardians made for entertainment, but only a few had still been around. In a dimension designed solely to contain the worst of the worst, for a sentence just short of eternity, naturally there had already been a lot of infighting. She wasn't even given that many of them, the rest of her family had wanted their own toys to play with as well.
Hers had only lasted her a month.
So Flute was left with an impossible conundrum. How could she solve her boredom? The only entity left anywhere in the void who wasn't part of the Demon Clan was the Guardian, but his situation made any sort of experimentation impossible. So she floundered. Her hobby, her passion, her LIFE, now completely irrelevant. Until one day, it finally hit her.
If she wanted more test subjects, all she had to do was make them herself.
The end result of this idea was that she became the proud mother of several thousand demonic babies, each and every one a brand new test subject. They were picked apart. They were mutilated. They were ripped up, shredded to pieces both physically and mentally, and then stitched back together again. Over and over, without pause and without mercy, she tore into her children to try and bring out the very best of their abilities. As mere class 4 demons, their powers were barely greater than an average human; but to her, power hardly mattered. That was why she focused on her grandfather's more obscure abilities like possession and magic. Raw strength wasn't a factor when it came to breaking someone's mind.
It was pure luck that she was close enough to capitalize on Lucy's mistake with the skeleton key. It was even luckier that Lucy was part of a group of mages with enough power between them to allow her to open the gate to the Dead Zone through brute force without the proper technique. But the absolute pinnacle of her luck came from the abundancy of magical supplies within the city. Just a twenty-minute stroll through the market had gotten her everything that she needed to construct her beacon.
The Dead Zone was a big place. It was larger than any planet, or a dozen planets. It was larger even, than the stars themselves. Flute's children were only near the portal because they were all hovering around the place that she had vanished from. Her grandfather, along with the rest of the clan, could be weeks away from the portal. They wouldn't have a hope of finding their way out unless she showed them. A crystal array, charged with as much demonic energy as she could put into it, set to send off pulses that were sure to attract the attention of every last member of her family beyond the void.
They were coming.
It was only a matter of when.
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The second wave was twice the size of the first. Juvia's demon shook with laughter as it rode atop the water as it crashed down onto the drowning forest. She had established a barrier with a circumference over a mile wide to keep the water from dispersing and kept adding more and more until she had a semi-sphere that towered over twice the height of anything trapped within it. And there, sitting near the bottom at the very center, were Laxus and Goku.
Laxus had created a Thunder Dome beneath the water, a small little bubble with barely enough free room for either one of them and just enough air to give them a moment to think.
"So…you ever fight this chick before? She was one of the one's who attacked the guild, right?" Laxus asked.
"No…I think that was Gray."
"Ah." Laxus grunted. "We aren't ice-themed strippers, how are we going to beat her?"
"Not sure… I don't suppose you could just zap her?"
"Too much water. Even if I knew where the water bitch was, the lighting'd just get dispersed. Any other ideas?"
"I don't know. She wasn't anywhere near this strong the last time around, at least, I don't think she was. I think the demon powered her up."
"Wonderful. Well, you're still in charge. What's your brilliant plan?" Above them, the water began to move. The broken branches of the submerged trees were starting to sway with the current, and little by little the wood began to bend. Goku watched the sudden movement with a frown on his face.
"…Let me get back to you on that."
It began to rain.
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Kagura had crashed straight through a roof and onto a dining table still covered in the food from whatever meal the owners were enjoying before they were enslaved. Her white uniform was now covered in an array of sauces, dressings, all sorts of meat and salad, and topped off with plenty of wood splinters.
Disgusting. Now she was pissed and filthy.
With a groan she pushed herself out of the wreckage and made her way towards the door. Off in the distance she could see an enormous ball of water beneath a steadily growing storm cloud, likely where Goku and Laxus were now. Behind her she could hear the cries of battle as Elfman's army of monster clashed with the possessed mages of Fairy Tail and the rest of the Magnolia's citizenry. Ahead of her, the Fairy Tail guild house glowed ominously against the darkened, cloudy sky.
For a moment, she hesitated.
Goku had told her to take out the water mage, but at this point it might not even be an option. They were on a time limit, and unless someone took out Flute now everything would be over. There was no choice really. So she marched forward.
A flick of her powers stripped away the debris from her figure as she marched towards the door with her sword in hand. Her grip was hovering next to the seal as she debated with herself over whether or not she should release it. The power increase could be useful, but without control there was no telling what kind of side effects such an action would have.
"…Better to die at my own hands I suppose." She muttered. With a hard yank the seal came undone and slowly fell to the ground. Instantly she felt her power spike upwards as the sword's energy flowed through her and the wisps of her Ki began to circle around her core. The gravity around her doubled, then tripled, and continued growing to the point that the very air was getting uncomfortably difficult to breathe. When she reached the door to the guild it collapsed into splinters from her mere presence, and as she stepped over the remains those splinters were crushed into pulp. Flute looked up from her work on the beacon and locked eyes with the young sword mistress. Then with a snort she turned back around to her work and shrugged.
"I was expecting the monkey man." She said dismissively. "Or if not him, then at the very least the fire boy. He seems like the type who could force his way through on sheer willpower alone."
"They were otherwise occupied. Shall I endeavor to defeat you in their place?" Kagura asked as she pulled her sword from its sheath. Flute didn't even bother to turn around.
"That blade is more crutch than weapon in your hand. You'd have been better off leaving that seal on. All you've done now is trade away all of your control for power. That's the mark of an amateur, desperately trying to compensate for your own weakness and getting an even worse one in its place." Kagura's hand slowly tightened on the hilt of her sword as Flute talked, edging towards the demoness as quietly as she could.
"You can feel it can't you? Your bloods pumping just a shade too fast. Your balance is just oh so slightly off, and you feel a little lopsided towards your left. Your brain feels heavy in your skull, like it's pushing you to the ground. Your hands are trembling, just enough that you can pretend it's your nerves. That's why your magical core is aching right? It's just nerves, your adrenaline is pumping so of course your magic would respond in kind. It has nothing to do with the overwhelming amount of power you suddenly thrust upon it, overworking it well past its maximum. Don't fool yourself, that sword might have the power to challenge me, but there is nothing more laughably pathetic than a warrior trying to wield a blade too big for her."
With a roar Kagura finished closing the distance between them in an instant and brought the blade down with all of her strength. Flute spun around in the same moment, both a golden and crimson key in hand. The pure white cutting magic met with a mixture of red and polluted yellow in the space between them. They stayed locked together for a second that seemed too stretched on for eternity, before all the magic was sucked up into a swirling black sphere the size of an almond. Kagura was sent skidding backwards by the sudden plus of magic, her shoes were unable to find purchase. Lucy's body had no such issue, and Flute weathered the blast with a look of total disinterest.
"But don't worry, not everything going wrong with you has to do with your little mistake. That clamminess in your palms that's making it harder to grip your blade? That trickle of sweat you can feel running down your face? The shiver down your back? That icy claw that's digging its way into your chest? I assure you, that's all completely natural for someone realizing that they are about to die."
The black sphere slowly started to expand. As it grew Kagura's gravity powers began to waver. She was no longer in control of the force inside of the building anymore. Instead, every last object in the room began to tilt towards the whirling darkness.
"Your gravity powers are decent, easily above average. But tell me, do you know what the source of the ultimate level of gravity is? A pull so strong that not even light itself can escape?" The black sphere began to wobble violently, as though something was trying to break out from within. Kagura's hair was flying wildly now, straight towards the sphere. She pawed at it blindly, trying to pull it out of her field of vision but it was practically stuck in the air. Her gravity manipulation had never been pushed further but it was all she could do to keep herself in place. Through her tangled hair she could just barely see Flute's thin smile as she coldly brought the two keys up towards the withering mass.
"Open, Gate of Corruption. Corrupted Gate of the Lion, LEO!" Slowly, the darkness condensed into the form of a fur-covered man. He was garbed in a tattered jacket and his eyes held the emptiness of nothing. The figure leered down at Kagura and suddenly the all the magically gravitational fields in the room were canceled out. Including her own.
"The answer is a black hole." Flute waved goodbye to the young girl and turned back to her work.
The darkened star lion advanced and Kagura's world trembled.
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Natsu and Gray let out simultaneous groans of pain as they tried to pick themselves back up onto their feet.
"So…" Natsu said as he clutched at his chest. "I'm pretty sure I got the three broken ribs covered."
"Great." Gray moaned. "No broken limbs yet, but I'm pretty sure she broke my pinky finger."
"Nice. How many cuts are we up to?"
"Thirty-eight." Erza answered, her eyes glittering with malice "There are nine-hundred and sixty-two more to go. Only then will you have my permission to die."
The pair stared at her and shivered. Despite her possession, there was something all too Erza about the way the demon spoke.
The three were all still inside the council building, though now it was more of a council ruin now. Walls had been smashed in, every last window had been shattered. Most of the ceiling had been burned away, support beams had been sliced in two, and the only thing keeping it from collapsing were the sporadic pillars of frost that glistened in the firelight. The entire place was on its last leg, fit to crumble at any moment.
It had only been four minutes since the fight began.
"Hey Flame Brain, pull your head out of your butt and get it in the game. You're getting smacked around way more than me." Gray declared, smirking at the fire mage.
"Whatever, Frosty the Lame-man, At least I'm doing some damage! Just look at her face!" he pointed.
Gray squinted. "The hell are you talking about?"
"What, did she blind you? I burned off half an eyebrow!"
"Oh wow." Gray snorted. "Maybe, if you let her break the rest of your ribs can get the rest of it. Sure you'll be dead, but her face will be totally lopsided. That'll show her."
"Pft, says the guy who just let her grab you with the giant armor, what were you trying to do, cool her off?"
"I was trying to keep her close to freeze up her joints! It would have worked if you hadn't charged in and melted everything like a clumsy campfire!"
"Maybe if your plans weren't so lame, I wouldn't have had the chance to ruin them?"
"Chance to ruin them? Whose side are you on, you flaming idiot?"
The demon inhabiting Erza's body stared down in befuddlement. This wasn't how prey was supposed to react; it'd looked at some of this body's memories. These two were supposed to be terrified of her.
Somehow, it couldn't help but feel insulted.
"Oy!" it shouted. "Pay attention when I'm trying to destroy you!" it shifted into the flight armor and blitzed towards them. They barely had time to look up before it had hurled them into the crumbling walls. The demon grinned, maybe that would teach them to pay attention.
"Oy? Erza never says oy." Natsu complained, pulling his head out of the wall and shooting it a withering glance. "What kind of impersonator are you?"
"Yeah, go back to being threating!" Gray said, shooting it an identical look. "That was like Erza. Either pretend to be her or don't. But pick one and stick with it!"
"I don't need to pretend to be anything. Your friend is gone, I am all that remains."
"Right, sure." Gray rolled his eyes. "Nice try, demon guy. But you're just some inky blot of crud that shoved its way up our friends nose."
The demon stared at them. "…What?"
"You heard the ice moron." Natsu snorted, cracking his knuckles. "You're just an evil booger. Consider us the finger that's gonna pick you out and flick you away."
Gray stared at him. "Why did you have to make it gross?" he asked in disgust.
"What, are you squeamish, Ice-cream man?"
The demon's eye started to twitch. "…You're mocking me."
The two Fairy Tail mages exchanged smirks before grinning at their possessed friend innocently.
"Who, us?" Gray said
"I don't think we'd do that would we?" Natsu asked.
"Inconceivable!" Gray declared. The smile slowly dropped from Natsu's face.
"Huh?" He said blankly. Gray paused for a moment.
"Unthinkable?" He said slowly.
"Ah!" Natsu exclaimed in sudden comprehension. Then his eyes narrowed. "Why the heck didn't you just say that? Are you just trying to make me look stupid?"
"I wasn't trying to. Apparently that's just an added bonus." Gray shot back.
"Well screw you too, you stupid flasher fetishist!" As the two continued to bicker the demon found its blood pumping harder which each moment that they continued to ignore its existence. Finally it snapped, and with a roar Erza's body charged towards them with a sword raised high. The two boys looked up at the charging girl and promptly slammed their fists together in some kind of weird fist bump. Fire met ice and suddenly the pair vanished within a wall of steam.
Erza leapt backwards with her arms up to shield her eyes, and once her vision was cleared again the pair was gone. Sighing in annoyance, the girl donned her Adamantine armor to protect herself from any sort ambush and began to scour around through the building for her prey.
In the rafters directly above her, Gray eyed Natsu.
"Okay, we've made her angry like you said. What's the next part of this plan of yours?"
"Isn't it obvious? You guys always say that people fight worse when they're angry, so if she's all pissed off then we'll have a better chance, right?"
Gray stared at him as if he was a total idiot. "…That was your plan? This is Erza we're talking about. When has making her angry ever ended well for either of us?"
"We just went over this. That's not Erza. It just happens to look a heck of a lot like her." Natsu's grin was nothing less than sinister.
After a moment of thought, Gray's face slowly stretched out to match. "Bet you I take her down before you."
"In your dreams, stripper."
The two began to chuckle quietly as they began to hunt the hunter.
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The collision between the two armies lay waste to the outskirts of the city. Buildings were crushed beneath the massive serpent, homes were annihilated underneath the combine force of dozens of mages. A small playground tucked away in a sunny little was flattened by Elfman's mount as it tried to chase down the demonic forces. And as much as he wanted to mourn the destruction of his home, as much as he wanted it to end, Elfman had no choice but to continue battling onwards.
Atop a building Alzack and Bsica had been going full out, firing down on every last monster within their range. He had ordered the larger monsters to cover the smaller, weaker monsters from the assault, yet the bullets still ripped into their forces until Fang, in his bat form, along with his Succubus girlfriend had dropped on the snipers from above and the barrage had ceased.
On the ground Bandages had made a surprisingly effective team with Evergreen. Using his namesake, the ancient mummy would lash out and snag either mages or the occasional tenacious Rune Knight and yanked them back to have a face to face meeting with the young witch. Then Bandages would toss aside its new stone statue and go fishing for more.
Occasionally one of the thousands of civilians would suddenly slump to the ground unconscious with no visible reason. That was the only evidence of See-Through's stroll through their ranks, twirling an equaling invisible baseball bat that he used with extreme prejudice.
Eighter wandered through the battlefield mostly unmolested. Possessed civilians bounced off his massive form, weapons broke against his skin, and anyone that got within range was quickly flung back into the crowd.
The giant spider was nothing less than a juggernaut. Towering above the mages and monsters alike, spells and thrown stones bounced off its carapace as it spewed webbing all over the possessed people, snarling them up and blocking any who dodged the webs from entering the fray.
Freed and Bickslow were running around the perimeter, the former laying down traps while the later and his babies bombarded anyone that tried to get close. The three puppets blasted their way through, butchers, bakers, and bridesmaids as they cleared the way for the runic traps. Any time one of the demons entered they found themselves stuck in barriers that would only release the last man standing. They quickly turned on one another, and the ones left standing were easy pickings for any passing member of the monster army.
But things weren't going quite so easily all across the battlefield.
A towering werewolf chased a group of knife wielding hooligans down an alley suddenly found itself pinned to the ground beneath a hoard of school children that threw themselves from the roof. The hooligans quickly joined in and the monster found itself ripped limb from limb.
The Anubites had charged a squad of a dozen Rune Knights, a mass of claws and teeth rushing a disciplined wall of steel and magic. In the end three knights lay on the ground, while their fellows were left cleaning dog blood from their blades.
The wyvern, as one of the only threats from the sky, found itself harried from the moment it took off. Dozens of spells of all kinds whistled past its wings or bounced off its scales. But a flare of purple fire stabbed into its eye and sent it plummeting to the ground, where it was set upon and torn to pieces. As powerful as the monster army was, as versatile and skilled as they were, their forces were a mere fraction of what Magnolia had to throw against them. It didn't help that the monsters needed to hold back from killing as much as possible and the demons had no such restriction.
Of course, that hardly meant that they were going to just roll over and let the demons win. Elfman was far too manly for that and his Cerberus companion was manly enough for three men. Together they rushed headlong into the largest pack of Fairy Tail mages with a quartet of howls that echoed across the battlefield. Laki summoned a set of wooden stakes in an attempt to spear his mount, but with a snort one of the heads snapped at them and they shattered like toothpicks. The bespectacled girl snarled and the roots of nearby trees erupted from the ground, to tangle up the Cerberus's legs, but her efforts came to an abrupt when Elfman leapt from his mount and slammed an oversized fist on top of the her head. Even as the girl was slumping to the ground Elfman was already spinning on his heels to back fist Reedus across the street before the round man could bring any of his paintings to life.
Even as the painter bounced away, Nab, Wakaba, and Macao were already rushing in. A burst of pipe smoke exploded upwards and caught Cerberus full in the face, throwing it into a sneezing fit. Macao unleashed a barrage of flames, forcing Elfman to leap upwards toward the roof. Nab leapt up to follow but a set of canine jaws shot out of the smoke and snatched him away. Elfman waved at the two remaining mages before disappearing over the side of the roof.
With dual groans of annoyance Macao and Wakaba left Nab to his fate as a chew toy, and ran down the streets, trying to find where the monster man had vanished to. Then they turned a corner and stopped short at the sight of a massive foot blocking their path. The older men craned their necks up. And up. And up.
Elfman had shifted to the Beast's gigantic size and was casually leaning up against the church whose bell had signaled the beginning of Flute's invasion. The hulking beast-man plucked the bell from its tower and slammed it down, trapping them inside.
Elfman smacked the side of the bell. If he really strained his ears, he could just barely hear the screams of pain beneath the clanging. He waited until the ringing died away and tipped up one side of the bell curiously. Wakaba and Macao laid still, their hands over their ears and twitching.
The beast snuffled for a moment in satisfaction for a moment before hoisting the bell over his shoulder and shuffling off in search of more targets.
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Gajeel, being Gajeel, had snuck up to the first Rune Knight that he could find, bit the man's sword in half, and then lead two squadrons of them on a merry chase deep into the city, straight towards their own local headquarters. He leapt through the doors with a mocking cackling and his pursuers were quick to follow. Just a handful of minutes later saw the building reduced to a pile of rubble. Gajeel absently ripped a large splinter of wood from the remains of what had once been a wall and began to pick his teeth, trying to remove a stubborn piece of steel from one of the many sets of armor that he had devoured during the battle. The dragon slayer let out a hearty burp and patted his stomach before he started walking down the street, hunting for his next meal.
That was when something slimy slapped him right upside the face. The metal man stood frozen as the object slowly slide down the side of his cheek before flopping down to the ground. Slowly Gajeel's gaze dropped to look at the offending projectile. A dead, slimy fish stared back up at him with empty eyes. Then, a pair of tiny blue feet pawed into the edge of his field of vision and the dragon slayer's head came back up to see Happy carrying another fish like a club over his shoulder and snarling up at armored dragon slayer.
"…The fucking cat?" Gajeel was silent for a moment then bent double, howling with laughter. Seriously, he wanted to feel insulted, but it was just so fucking funny. A demonic harbinger of the apocalypse, trapped in a twelve-inch tall, talking goddamn cat. He could barely breathe.
The cat smirked and sprouted a pair of wings to rise up to meet Gajeel face to face. With a battlecry the little feline swung his second fishy club. Gajeel's head snapped up and he caught the improvised weapon with his teeth. With a yank he stole the food from the cat and ate the entire thing whole, bones and all. The two stared at one another, matching malicious grins on their face. Then the grin on Gajeel's face began to slip. His hand dipped down towards his stomach and his vision began to blur.
"P-poison?" Gajeel gasped, bent double now for something other than laughter and fully enraged. He hadn't been able to smell anything but rotten fish, and the cat must have known that! That sneaky little bastard!
"AYE SIR!" Happy sang. Then his smile grew even wider. A swirl of red magic began to surround his body before his body slowly began to swell. Teeth elongated, muscles doubled, then tripled. Fur lengthened, nails sharpened, and innocent eyes turns predatory. Five seconds later, Gajeel found himself staring up at an eight-foot tall winged monstrosity.
"Bad Cat! No treats for you!" He slurred, trying to straighten and wincing as the poison sent another stab of pain through his gut.
Then Happy punched him through a wall.
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The demon that had taken over Mirajane knew two things.
First, that the monster army that was invading the city was pushing back the Demon Clan's forces.
Secondly, her new body had the ability to turn the tides if she could just figure out how to tap into its power.
She had sat her new body down atop the roof of a small apartment complex, far from the battle. She sighed deeply and allowed her eyes to close as she began to meditate. This body had far more power locked behind the mental walls of trauma, pain, and regret. Such things meant nothing to a demon. It was devoid of empathy, of that insidious knack for self-guilt that ate at mortals so. All it needed to do was push through the walls and all that power would be at its finger tips.
A scaled green creature wandered throughout Mirajane's mindscape; a place like a foggy, ancient graveyard. Dead trees surrounded a field of stones, no insects buzzed, no crows cawed. There was nothing but silence and drab empty colors.
The only splash of feeling was a small temple in the center of the graveyard, where a mural of the three Straus siblings laughing together sat surrounded down softly glowing candles.
The demon scoffed at the obvious sentimentality and tore the mural from the wall, behind it was a chamber with four ebony coffins leaning against the wall. Two of them were chained shut with a sea of chains and locks. But the other two…
With a grin, the demon stalked across the chamber, its claws sunk into the crack of one of the coffins and pulled. Wood groaned, nails creaked, and the lid tore off slamming against the floor like a gate prison door slamming open. Purple smoke began pouring out from the container and the scaly creature laughed as a figure suddenly shot up through the mist and took to the sky, a pair of batwings carrying them upwards.
Back in the real world, Mirajane's eyes snapped open. Her eyes glittered black and her tail thrashed against the ground in excitement as her wings stretched out in the air behind her, excited to be free after years of neglect. Then in the blink of an eye she had darted across the battlefield and appeared before one of the gigantic snakes that had been keeping her forces at bay. Her hands shot out and caught a fang on the top and bottom of the reptile's mouth before she gave it a single hard yank. The force of it tore the creature neatly in half along its length, leaving behind a trail of blood and guts that coated the street and many of the fighters. The few demons that had been facing the snake cheered at her arrival, a cheer that grew louder and louder as she took to the sky to search out her next victim. It was only a matter of seconds before the demons knew about their newest fighter, and their utter glee gave them a new fighting spirit that allowed them to slowly push back the tide.
Slowly, her eyes drifted over the battlefield until she caught sight of the Beast as it tore through her ranks. Laughing to herself, the demoness took to the sky.
It was time to permanently stamp out all feelings of sentimentality.
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""BANZAI!" In true Leroy Jenkins style, Natsu leapt from the rafters like a flaming cannonball down atop of Erza. The girl spun around and was able to get her shield up to block the blow inches before it struck and shoved Natsu straight across the room.
"Fool!" She snapped. "What's the point of a sneak attack if you scream about it?" Natsu sat up with a wince and shrugged.
"Okay, now you're sounding like Erza again," he muttered. "And where's the fun in hiding? I won't get as many points if I attack you in the back."
"Points…?" Erza raised a brow. Natsu nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! How else are we going to figure out who won? Though it doesn't look like Icicle cares all that much about the point's deduction for cheap shots." That was all the warning Erza had before a ball of ice the size of a cannonball crashed into the side of her head and sent her staggering way. She regained her bearings just in time to catch a flaming fist to the face. She was sent crashing through a wall and as she pulled herself together her ears were assaulted by the sounds of idiots arguing.
"No way, flame brain, you wouldn't have even gotten that hit in if it wasn't for me!"
"So what? I attacked her from the front and got her in the face! You used a sneak attack, I should get way more points for that!"
"Then you should lose points for being an idiot! Banzai? What are you, a kamikaze fighter?"
"You're just jealous that I go the better hit off!"
Possessed or not, Erza Scarlet was not one to suffer fools kindly.
A quick flash between the Flight and the Giant armor had the two boys pinned down, gasping as Erza's hands wrapped around their throats and slowly tried to squeeze the life out of them. The fire burning in Natsu's eyes slowly started to die as the oxygen began out, and the small grunts escaping Gray's mouth grew softer and softer as his face turned blue. The red head smiled maliciously as the life began to fade from their eyes.
The snap was coming, just a little more pressure…
But neither boy was about to give her the chance.
It was as though the apocalypse exploded right in front of Erza's face. Her left gauntlet was suddenly consumed by a swirling inferno so intense that it literally began to melt under the assault, while her other was suddenly trapped in an arctic blast that made the metal so brittle that it shattered under Gray's hands.
Erza leapt backwards and donned the Flight armor once more, with a short sword in each hand. Natsu eyes were blazing red as flames danced around his form, while ice was slowly creeping across Gray's chest like a suit of armor. An icy mist leaked from his form that curled around into the air. But any wisp of it that came anywhere near Natsu was instantly blown away, as the air around the dragon slayer was visibly wavering from the heat.
"You ready, Frosty? I'm pretty far ahead now, so I understand if you feel like giving up."
"You wish flame brain. Just try and keep up." They rushed at her from either side, forcing the girl to dash backwards to place her back against the wall. She parried a flaming fist with the flat of her sword and slammed an elbow into Gray's gut as he attempted to flank her. Her second sword went straight for his neck but Gray managed to defend himself with a Cold Excalibur and retreated a few steps away.
She switched a single arm to her Flame Empress guard in order to shrug off the blast of a Fire Dragon's Roar and dashed forwards, catching Natsu by the throat before she spun around to launch him into Gray's chest. She followed immediately after, unleashing her blades like a whirlwind. A dozen shallow cuts suddenly erupted all across their bodies as she worked to fulfill their expectations of her. With a look of absolute rapture she licked a speck of blood that had splattered on her cheek and flipped her sword around to smash it into Gray's chest hilt first. The sound of breaking bones was accompanied by his agonized wail as he stumbled backwards. Natsu leapt in front of his injured comrade, shrugging off the next 3 cuts with a snarl as he tried to counter.
"FIRE DRAGON: IRON FIST!" Erza switched her second arm to Flame Empress as and shot both palms forward to catch the attack in midair. The two stood deadlocked, pushing against one another, trying for any sort of advantage. Their muscles strained and sweat covered their brows as they tried to overpower one another. Then, without warning, Erza let go. A quick step had her beside the dragon slayer, who suddenly found himself helplessly off balance. There was another flash and the gauntlet of the Purgatory armor closed around his wrist. A single twist filled the air with yet another crack followed by more agonized cries. A trio of cannonballs forced Erza to step back before she could finish him off, and with effort the two Fairies managed to take up their position side by side once more.
"Okay…so." Gray panted. "I'm willing to call this a draw, how about you?"
"Sounds good." Natsu moaned. "I think I'm pretty sick of this anyways."
"I don't believe that you will be getting the choice." Erza snapped at the pair. The two calmly ignored her.
"So…we are united in how done we are with this? Does it work like that?" Gray muttered.
"Screw it, I'm willing to try." The two joined hands and called forth their power. Swirls of blue and red erupted around them, their colors off put by the crimson demonic aura that still filtered the sky. The floor began to crack underneath their power, and the debris surrounding them began to kick up around their feet. Erza moved to intercept them, but her forward movement came to an abrupt halt before she could even pick up any steam. She looked down in surprise to see a thick layer of ice slowly climbing up her legs, trapping her in place. Snarling, she pulled back her arm to launch her sword like a javelin. A miniature glacier sprouted up out of the ground and easily caught the attack. Roaring, the girl switched to her Heaven's Wheel armor and with a thrust of her wings she shattered the ice and took to the sky. But it was too late.
The boys' spell was charged.
"UNISON RAID: FROZEN HELLFIRE!" A massive pillar of fire shot up from beneath her feet, flames licking at her body even as ice crackled around it. She wailed out in agony as the frost crawled up her body, cutting off only once the ice closed over her head. With an unimpressive thud, the new ice sculpture feel to the ground. The two mages sighed in relief.
"Next time we fight her, maybe we figure out how to sync up sooner so we don't end up bleeding everywhere." Gray panted.
"Like hell." Natsu wheezed. "Next time she won't be a demon and we can go back to trying to beat her on our own. I'm going to take her down first!" Gray just wearily shook his head. The two stood in companionable silence until a flash of purple filled their vision.
"That…that was Mirajane, wasn't it?" Gray muttered, closing his eyes in exhaustion. Natsu nearly collapsed, but steeled himself.
"Yep." He groaned. "Well, I guess we know where we are heading next." The two mages, broken and bleed, pulled themselves together and marched themselves out of the building. Their thirty second break was up, time to get back to war.
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Far above the battleground, Baba sat atop of her crystal ball, watching as her army struggled against the demons. She had been observing everything, but had been focusing on the battle of steel, fire, and ice for the sake of her guest.
"Well? Is the girl what you are looking for?" said Baba, glancing sideways at her companion.
The cloaked figure, no taller than baba herself, tilted its head to the side. Then spoke in a voice of regal beauty, like a waterfall off a mountain's peak. "Perhaps. I shall make use of her for now, as the defeat of the Demon Clan takes priority. After that… we shall see."
"Great, great, glad to help. Now get down there, we're gonna need you."
The cloaked figure snorted and began to descend.
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"Got it!" Laxus shouted. Goku cocked his head and waited for the man to continue.
"…Yeah?" He said slowly.
"Stall her for me." Laxus kicked Goku, knocking him out of the protective bubble.
Goku's outrage came out as bubbles as he was swept away with the current. A tree caught him in the face a moment later and sent him spinning wildly out of control. Laxus laughed.
Revenge was awesome.
Refocusing, he kicked off, shooting as much lightning as tightly as he could straight down. He shot upwards like a rocket, cutting through the water and breaking into the clouds before Juvia could catch on to what he was doing. This water bitch couldn't see everything. He laughed and dispersed his body into the clouds.
Goku was left scrambling to orient himself. Debris from the ruined forest crashed into his body every few seconds, and it was only through sheer mental resilience that he managed to stop himself from gasping at each impact and waste his air. Instead he slowly began to crank up his Ki in an effort to propel himself through the water like he would through the sky. But Juvia was wise to his trick and upped the intensity, redirecting every current that she could to send as many tree, rocks, and anything else that she had washed up into the fighter. Goku found himself in constant motion as he tried to punch, kick, or blast away as many obstacles as he could. But when he caught sight of a flash of orange heading straight towards his head, he froze. He caught the object moments before impact, and turned it around to confirm his fear.
Four little red stars winked up at him.
Goku began to look around in a panic before he caught sight of it. His house, his grandfather's old home, had been ripped up from the ground and mixed in with the rest of the wreckage. It had been torn apart and splintered into dozens of pieces, each and every one of which was bearing down straight towards him. About a ton of ruined wood smashed him towards the ground, and soon a pile of trees had been stacked atop of it. He was pinned down beneath his own home, the place that he had spent ages rebuilding just the way his grandpa had left it. Now the entire thing was ruined beyond all hope of repair, and once again he had lost one of his few remaining connections to his only family member.
Goku's world went red.
Juvia watched with a smug grin as all signs of motion beneath the ever-growing pile of debris ceased. That was one enemy that wouldn't bother her again. She loved this body; its power was simply wonderful.
A glint of orange caught her eye and she froze. Her head turned in disbelief as an orange starred orb whirled past her through the water. She gestured and the currents guided the ball back to her and she stared at it in disbelief.
A dragon ball.
There were dragon balls on this world.
That was…it was incredible. She had to tell Flute, she had to let her mother know what she had discovered as soon as possible. The Demon King would be ecstatic when he found out, at long last he would have a chance at his wish. A chance that had been denied when the balls of their previous realm where discovered to have vanished. Now she just-
"KAIO KEN!"
Juvia was snapped from her wonder when the entire bubble tinted red. She looked down towards her supposed victim to see a cloud of splinters and a red rocket that was suddenly flying against the current. The entire bubble was vibrating, she could sense Goku's very Ki roaring out in indignant rage. Boulders, trees, it didn't matter what got in his way, everything was blasted to pieces the moment they got close.
Juvia was surprised when the rocket shot straight past her body, then realized it had snagged the dragon ball from her hand and was zipping around the bubble, snatching other glitters of orange from the torrent. Then Goku turned and charged towards the center of the whirlpool. Startled by his speed, Juvia didn't get a chance to react before the martial artist came to a stop just a scant twenty feet below her, completely engulfed in a sphere of angry red power. His arms were throw up towards the sky and his eyes were boring down onto her as though he was staring straight through to judge her very soul.
"HEAT DOME!" At the exact moment that Goku unleashed his attack, a sudden glow lit up behind Juvia's back. She didn't even have a moment to process the sudden flash of lightning. She didn't have time to wonder how Laxus had turned her own rainstorm against her to summon a lightning storm the likes of which hadn't been seen in centuries. She couldn't even begin to figure out how she might escape the situation unscathed. Instead, all she could do was scream as two dozen lightning bolts crashed all around her bubble the exact moment a blazing beam of Ki struck her from below. With a blinding flash the bubble disintegrated and the blue haired girl's charred form began to fall towards he ground.
Laxus landed next to the fallen water mage, staring at her impassively. Goku quickly joined him, his pockets bulging with the magical balls. He choked down his anger and buried it to the side as he quickly checked the girl over, trying to make sure that she wasn't so badly damaged that she might die. As bad as she looked, the wounds were mostly superficial and weren't beyond the capabilities of a skilled medic to correct. Satisfied, Goku stepped away and carefully began to stretch himself out. With a satisfied grunt as his back cracked, he turned towards the lightning mage once more. The two exchanged a short look. They both knew what was coming next, just as they both knew that things were only going to get even more difficult from here. Goku reached within himself and touched upon the smoldering embers of his rage, just to make sure it was still there. His rage would be a necessity for the battle to come.
"Let's go."
Laxus caught the look in his eye and grinned. "Bought time."
Goku grabbed Laxus and they shot into the sky.
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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: THINGS ARE HEATING UP, AND THE CONFRONTATION WITH FLUTE IS APPROACHING. BUT THE DEMONS ARE FAR FROM DEFEATED. NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE RED KEY PART 6: BACK IN BLACK.
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Hello friends!
It's Sturm and Drang with another Omake.
Yay.
To those of you who requested, sorry, Amora is not in it. If it satisfies you, assume she seduced Mira every single time they met over Mira's wilder days. Each time Mira swore it would be the last time she would fall for the love mage's wiles, and each time, she was wrong.
MOVING ON! This omake is only canon with the story if you really want it to be.
HM45: I say no, it is not canon to my story.
S&D: (Don't listen to him, it can be canon if you truly believe it is!)
Omake #NobodyCares: Family Bonding.
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Flute stretched, sighing in pleasure as her aching muscles relaxed. She settled deeper into the comfy chair her darlings had fetched for her. There was just something about opening a portal to the demonic realms and dooming a plane of existence that really wore a girl out.
And there was still so much to do; grandfather wasn't going to summon himself after all. Nonetheless, she could afford to take a brief respite.
She let her eyes roam over the guild, watching her children. They were like little puppies, granted, puppies that were actually evil parasites bent on global destruction, but puppies nonetheless: rolling around, exploring their surroundings, testing out their host's magic, and tripping over their own feet. In time, they'd get used to their new bodies.
Some were doing better than others. Wakaba was bent double; his knees and face both planted against the floor as he crawled around like an inchworm. Next to him, Bisca sat at a table, fiddling with several guns she'd accidently summoned. Reedus lay flat on his back, like an overturned beetle, he was flailing his limbs in a vain attempt to push himself upright. Above their heads, Happy wheeled through the air, the picture of elegance and self-control.
"Trumpet? Come here for a moment." Said Flute, gesturing to Levy, who was sitting at the bar and examining a magnificent orange quill with an intrigued look. The bluenette looked left and right before shooting Lucy a bemused look.
"But…I'm Violin," said Levy.
Lucy blinked. "Oh? Sorry darling, I thought you were Trumpet."
"Nah, Trumpet's over there." Levy pointed. Alzack, lying halfway beneath a table, looked up at his name and waved before going back to trying to figure out how to get the legs to work. He could move them just fine, but getting them to stand up was giving him trouble.
"Ah. My apologies." Flute shrugged. "I'm afraid now that you've all clothed yourselves in these bags of meat I'm having trouble telling who's who. Regardless, come here."
"Yes Mother." Levy pushed herself off her seat and, somewhat stiffly, walked over. "How may I serve you?"
"I would like you to tell me how the long until the town is under our complete control. We can't have grandfather showing up with a half dominated town. It would be… embarrassing."
"Well, a number of the citizens have wards built into their homes; a darwinian necessity for one living near the fairies. My brothers and sisters are working their way through them, but it may take another hour or two. Apart from that, we've easily dominated ninety percent of the people."
"Excellent." Flute purred. Perhaps she'd just rest until the domination was complete. Grandfather wouldn't care, he'd be too busy rewarding her for bringing him to this world. A whole new world to conquer and enslave. A world that would unfailingly kneel beneath—
Flute's train of thought was interrupted by a series of crashes, like a water filled drum falling down stairs sounded behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, irritated.
"What is that racket?"
"I'll shall investigate at once, mother," the demon in Happy—Cello? — saluted, and zipped downward through a door behind the bar. He emerged a moment later, dragging Cana by the hair. His progress was hampered by the enormous barrel the possess card mage was clinging to like lifeline.
The mage was covered in a sticky pink liquid that smelled of spice, her mouth was wrapped firmly around the barrels bong and she was drinking from it desperately, even as she was deposited in front of Flute.
"Saxophone!" Flute snapped.
"Yeah?" said Macao, leaning over the second floor railing.
Flute closed her eyes, refusing to feel abashed. Embarrassment was for lesser creatures.
"Banjo." she tried again, refusing to allow a sigh of relief to escape when the card mage froze guiltily, finally pulling her mouth off the barrel.
"Y-yes mother?" Red liquid continued to pour from the barrel, splashing over the mages face. Even as the demon stared up in fear, she could not seem to stop from surreptitiously sticking out her tongue and attempting to lap up the stray droplets.
Flute leaned forward. "Do tell me, my child. What, exactly, do you think you are doing?"
"I-I do not know."
Flute raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
"I was attempting to acclimate this body to my use, when I heard something calling me into that cellar," the mage babbled, nodding toward the door she had been dragged from. "I found this barrel," she paused looking haunted, "it…it spoke to me mother."
Flute blinked, "spoke to you?" she ignored the light snickers from watching demons.
"I mean it!" Banjo insisted, shaking the barrel. "It whispered sweet songs in my ears. Promising me sweet intoxication and a beautiful world of bliss. I could not… could not…" The mage trailed off as she stared at the barrel, then started chugging the liquid once more.
Flute stared, not quite sure what was happening. She was curious despite herself as to how much Banjo had already drunk. The barrel already sounded only half full after a mere twenty minutes of possession. A human body could only drink so much liquid, let alone booze. She wondered which was going to rupture first: Cana's stomach or her liver?
"What are you doing?!" The demon in Happy hissed. Flute eyed the cat, no that wasn't Cello, was it Guitar? He'd always been a serious one… perhaps she should have her children fashion nametags? If only so she could save face from trying to figure out who was who.
Happy zipped downward and tried to tug the barrel from Tambourine's hands. The demon shrieked like a banshee and, still flat on her back, kicked him out of the air.
Happy went spiraling away and slammed into the back on Bisca's head. She yelped and dropped one of her guns, there was a band and a missile materialized and rocketed into the crowd of mages. They jumped, lurched, and inch wormed desperately out of the way and the projectile hit the wall, exploding and throwing scraps of wood and smoke everywhere.
"How dare you!" Erza shrieked. The possessed requip mage stomped over and grabbed Bisca by the ear. "Such carelessness must be punished!" she sank a gauntleted fist into the gun mage's face and hurled her across the room. There were yells and magic circles popped into existence, launching all kinds of spells in every direction.
And just like that, everything descended into chaos.
Alzack, still half under the table was taking potshots into the crowd as Max whipped a wall of sand towards Mira. Nab ripped up the job board and started beating another Wakaba over the head, only to be dive-bombed by Happy from above.
In the midst of it all, a tiny oasis of calm in a sea of battle, sat Flute. Staring in bafflement as her children raised all kinds of hell around her. Smoke, fire, lightning, lasers, water, fruit, brooms, and punches flew; everything was a weapon in the eyes of the battling Fairies.
And it was the Fairies. Flute realized. Her children were in control of the Fairies minds and bodies. But somehow the inherent behavioral imprints of the mages were still displaying themselves. She eyed Cana, still blissfully chugging away at her alcohol, occasionally throwing a card or two into the fray without looking. Yes, it must be behavior imprinting. No child of hers was a hopeless alcoholic.
Flute supposed she should do something, if any of the other class-three demons saw her children like this it would be mortifying.
"You are all undisciplined wretches! You will cease this nonsense at once or face my wrath!" Erza screamed, summoning a sword and waving it through the air as she half strangled Laki with her other hand.
"G-Get timbered!" the wood mage gasped, gesturing towards one of the wooden pillars, which twisted and slammed against the Titania's head.
Flute opened her mouth to order them to stop, but hesitated. There was something in the air, a most peculiar warm feeling rising in her belly as she watched the enthusiastic fighting. A sense of homeliness, or perhaps a feeling of belonging.
"Oh dear, we all seem to be out of control." Flute glanced sideways to see Mira peacefully tending to the bar. "Sorry about this mother, I don't know what's come over us."
Happy flew down and slammed a watermelon onto her head.
"AYE SIR!" he screamed, doing a midair loop and rocketing back into the brawl.
Flute's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She was being affected by the residual feelings of this body. This girl Lucy's emotions were making her feel content in the middle of such nonsense.
Flute considered this. She examined her mind and body, attempting to spot some flaw in her domination, but there was nothing. This was all quite simply residual feelings of the Fairy Tail mages.
How strange!
Macao tumbled from the second floor, landing on top of Droy and throwing fire in every direction. Reedus managed to get to his feet long enough to tip forward and squish them beneath him.
Perhaps she should just allow this to run its course. These residual instincts would naturally fade with time. Even so, what a rowdy bunch these fairies were. Flute had seen packs of demons that were less trigger-happy.
Nonetheless, that did not mean she had to participate in such boorishness. Children would be children, but Flute had work to do. She stepped away from the bar and moved towards the door. Even in the state of such wild abandon, her children still instinctively gave way, clearing a path for her passage. She would resume her work and if she came back later and this fight was still going on, then she would take the time to discipline them all quite thoroughly.
"LOVE RIVAL!"
A jet of water blasted out of the crowd and slammed into Flute, sending her sprawling.
Everything froze.
Her children sat motionless, their arms still wrapped wrapping around each other and their spells stopping in midair. It was like some kind of surreal photograph as they forgot to even make their hosts breathe. All any of them could do was stare in glassy-eyed horror at their fallen mother and silently dread what was about to happen.
Right then. Discipline first.
Slowly, very slowly, Flute sat up, her eyes landing on Juvia. The water mage's face looked incensed, but Flute cold see the demon behind them recoiling in fear and absolute horror. Flute's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and all the possessed mages flinched, tipping tables over and taking shelter behind them in a sudden brilliant display of motor control. Macao and Droy stopped trying to struggle out from under Reedus and instead huddled beneath his bulk.
"Do tell," Flute began, her words cutting through the air like a knife of frozen oil. "What exactly do you all-" Flute blinked, cutting herself short; there was a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Cana. She had landed on the Card mage when the blast of water had sent her flying. The possessed mage sighed happily as her wet hair clung to her face.
"Did it hurt?" Cana asked, her words slurring.
"Excuse me?" Flute's eyebrow inched upward.
"When you fell from heaven." Cana finished happily, pressing herself against Flute's back.
The atmosphere in the hall went from chilly to subzero, even as the tension in the air almost seemed to break under the sheer weight of cliché.
For once in her long, long existence. Flute found herself speechless. She sat there, staring as the card mage cuddled up against her. The situation made more awkward by the inadvertent groans of appreciation from the demons in male bodies.
At long last, Flute spoke. "I am your mother."
"Yeah you are." Cana purred, her hands sliding dangerously lower. She started nibbling on flute's ear. "You can be my mama."
Flute's pupils shrunk to mere pinpricks.
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Flute shut the guild doors behind her, erasing the last ten minutes from her memory from sheer force of will.
Despite herself, she glanced back. The guildhall was still standing, ever if somehow the roof appeared to have been blown off. She couldn't seem to recall what had just happened, but she had a vague recollection of water, uncomfortable amounts of touching, lots of explosions, and a very strong desire to take a bath.
She put it out of her mind. Reprieves were for neophytes, anyway, and she had work to do. Nonetheless, she made a mental note to, once grandfather arrived, come back and burn what was left of the guildhall to the ground. Just to be thorough.
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