Dropping through the glitchy portal, Mira landing on top of me, I immediately recognized the snowy summit field, the gray and bleak howling blizzard, and the strange fluctuations of energy. Even if slightly drunk, I knew we had to get out of there.
"Mira. Grab my hand. We have to get out of here right now." I said this in such a serious tone that she knew right away that we were somewhere dangerous. But when trying to Switch, all times I tried located us elsewhere on the field, as if the energy field were preventing us from escaping. There were various rocks scattered around the field, and teleporting behind one, I was about to teleport once more, but then Elementia had appeared from the blizzard.
"You can't hide forever, Legend. I know you're there. All this time I've been able to contact you through your dreams..." I swear, I could hear him grin. "... but now I get to kill you for real. I've been looking forward to this. As long as you continue to teleport away like the little coward you are, you'll continue to be teleported here."
Suddenly, it all made sense. "It was you! You teleported me here! But how...?"
"If you can manage to beat me in a duel, I just might tell you. But only might, as there's no guarantee I'll tell you much of anything." Luckily, I was able to teleport away before he slashed his sword down onto the rock, cutting right through it as if it were butter. The rock I teleported behind made me in his line of sight, though. Fortunately, he still didn't know that Mira was there with me. Grabbing onto Mira's arm, I teleported away just as Elementia sent a wave of fire cutting through the snow at high speed.
"You'll have to fight me at some point! You can't keep teleporting away, Legend."
"Quit calling me that! You want a fight?" I had to come up with a way to keep Mira safe, without letting Elementia know that she was there. And if I came out behind a rock, he'd probably slice it up. Even if he didn't, the risk of something happening to Mira was too great. Besides, without my radiating body heat, she'd freeze to death within minutes without me going to check up on her, which would expose her.
"Oh, yes please! Come out so I can end you once and for all!" He called, slashing away at rocks.
I had an idea, but it was impractical. It involved the heat range of my flames, but I wasn't sure if it could be pulled off. I didn't have much meditation training prior to this, so I was going off of pure luck, which was risky and dangerous, and I was practically playing with Mira's life. Sharing Mira my idea, she agreed that it was risky, but still our only option. Stepping forward, I flamed up my body and prepared a sword, knowing that this was a fight to the death. That it was for real.
"So the hero rises courageously, to fight the bad guy! And look, he's so fired up, he's literally flaming! How cool, Legend. Now, let's dance."
That name was taunting me, and I hated it. I began thinking that he knew about my realization and was just being an annoying prick about it, but I hated the name.
"I told you... not to call me that!" Rushing at Elementia with my sword formed, the flames clashed, with Elementia's proving to be the stronger one. He remained stagnant, with his sword only held up to block. The force pushed me back, but I quickly flipped around to land on my feet and charge in for another attack. But no matter which way I slashed, Elementia blocked every single incoming attack, even jabs, which he countered by jabbing at me himself. All this he did without even moving his feet at all from their current position.
"Alright, time to take it up a notch..." Using Shadow Switch, I dropped into his shadow, despite him being all that, but the moment I dropped into the ground, he moved his arm upward and forced me out of his shadow.
"The fuck...?!" I flamed up again, not forgetting Mira, and made the flames even hotter. I dodged an incoming slash, but was hit by an unexpected jab.
"Have you forgotten? I control the energy around here. You never learn, do you?"
"Wait, then how far was this mountain from where I was? Obviously your Magic Energy range is pretty freakin' far, considering you could reach me from all the way down there."
"Well, as amazing as I truly am, as I've so reluctantly admitted before, even my Magic has its limits. Since reaching my limit, I've not been able to break it, so I seem to be at my full potential. Don't make me utter that again, you incompetent maggot!" He slashed almost angrily at me, but visibly calmed down as if remembering that he had to control his temper.
"Hey, you chose to say that, so you can't call me incompetent. And besides, I'm not incompetent." I just found one of your weak points, that's all.
"Either way, as long as you remain within my large radius, any use of Magic can be detected and controlled by me. So if you decide to use your teleportation move, I can choose where to send you, if I know your general location."
"But you were doing that anyway. I tried teleporting out of this place, but I only teleported a few meters away. So don't give me that I'm-all-powerful-and-still-didn't-know-where-you-were bullshit."
"I believe I know exactly what words I utter from my mouth, thank you very much. That was not my doing, maybe you're drunk or something and used the wrong move. Even so, now you can't escape."
"Also, you never answered my question because you were too concerned with being all high and mighty, 'oh, I'm too powerful and awesome to admit that I have my limits.' Where the hell even are we? I never found out what this place is."
"Well, take a look around you. It's a mountain, yes? It's the summit, yes? There's your answer. You're at the summit of a tall mountain. End of story, now stay still so I can kill you!" I was barely able to dodge a huge slew of slashes from Elementia. Flames danced in majestic X shapes before my eyes as I continued sidestepping to avoid them. Even if it was made of fire, it still could cut me for some reason. My training really was not enough. With all this heat, I had hoped that Mira would be okay, but I was afraid that she had frozen to death already. I stepped a little closer to Mira's hiding place, and heated up a bit more. To my relief, I heard her slightly hiss and whisper, "Hot!" However, this also gave away her hiding place.
"Who's there? Did you bring someone with you? Where are they?!" I teleported to Mira's hiding place and grabbed her by the hand, leading her to the edge of the summit. It was an almost vertical dive down, and pretty far at that to reach the cloud layer. It made me question how we were able to breathe, but I left that to Elementia.
"Wait, what are you doing?" said an unsure Mira.
"What do you think? We're gonna jump! We have to. It's the only way." As cliche as that sounded, I did actually have a plan in mind. "Trust me." I looked Mira in the eyes and she nodded, then we jumped. In free fall, I quickly Summoned Fearow's Pokéball and soon we were flying away on Fearow. But Elementia hadn't given up, as he began shooting beams out of his sword at us, but Fearow was able to dodge them all swiftly and I commanded him to fly off into the distance, far away from the mountain. Elementia had a spell to allow him to fly, but we were far enough that the strange energy fluctuations were gone, so I proceeded to grab Mira's arm and wrapped my arm around Fearow's strong neck, and opened a portal immediately in front of us. And as the familiar Magnolia surrounded us and the portal closed, and Fearow took a sharp maneuver upward to avoid a collision with the building in front of us, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, and whooped for joy, knowing that my plan worked. After a bit, Fearow's speed dropped and we were able to land safely.
Once our hearts slowed to a normal pace, Mira began questioning.
"What in the world was that? Who in the world was that?" she cried.
"Promise you won't tell anyone about it, first of all," I said.
"O-okay, I promise."
"You swear not to tell a soul?"
"Yes, but why?"
I sighed and a shiver ran down my spine. "Because many reasons. Some of those reasons are personal, but I trust you enough." I looked at Mira, who nodded, then out into the distance. "Essentially, I'm destined to fight him. Since he killed my father, I want to kill him with my own hands. The bonds that descendants share with their parents are beyond any other, at birth. And, if anyone at the guild found out, they'd try to fight Elementia with me, knowing that crazy bunch. They'd wanna battle Elementia by themselves, but in reality, they wouldn't be able to defeat him at a fraction of his power. He's just too strong, especially for me. Even Makarov or Laxus or whoever the strongest wizard is in Fairy Tail, would be killed within the first few minutes of battling him. And either way, it's not them he wants to fight. Anyone who gets in his way is as good as dead. He wants to kill me so that my father's and the Legion's legacy will die out with me. But it's just..." I stopped for a moment and tried forming my words. "... I feel like my destiny will be more than I originally bargained for, that I'm not just destined to fight Elementia. That there's something greater, and I'll have to reach their level somehow."
"I can't imagine someone being larger than that..." said Mira as we entered my house. "Still, I promise not to tell anyone. I understand if you're sacrificing yourself for everyone, but think about it this way; if you're the only one who can defeat him and he defeats you, then who'll be there to fight him? You said it yourself, that not even Laxus or Master can defeat him. So then who can but you?"
I stood in the doorway to the bathroom with my toothbrush in my mouth. "Well, it's all or nothing, to be honest," I mumbled through a mouthful of toothpaste. Mira didn't have an overnight bag or anything, but she just used an extra toothbrush that I happened to have (don't worry, it was new). I didn't bother to fold up the blankets on the couch that she used last time, so they were still there.
"You're willing to risk your life for so many people..." As she spoke she hugged me, but a bit longer than usual. "I couldn't imagine losing you... you're too important to be lost. But I can't help if it's what must be done. If it's destined, all I can do is cheer you on. But what if you do lose? What's to become of the world?"
I stood in the doorway to my bedroom and glanced over my shoulder at her. "Trust me, that won't happen." This was said with such intensity that Mira visibly jumped. "Try not to think of it too much, okay? Well then, goodnight, Mira."
"O-oh-okay. Goodnight, Vincent. My hero." From this I couldn't help but crack a little smile, but Mira didn't see, as I had already closed the door to my bedroom.
xxxx
"How dare he manage to get away from me... ah! And looks who's right on the clock!" As I came to in the dream, the shadow of Elementia stood over me, generating his sword. Quickly, I rolled to dodge, leaving little space between the sword swing and my back. "Hmph. If you even want to stand a chance against me, you'll have to train that pathetic excuse for a sword you have. It doesn't even have a distinct shape!"
He was right, as the sword that materialized in my hand was nothing more than a hot mess. No pun intended. Flames licked wildly all over, hardly looking anything like a longsword. If anything, it looked more like a feather duster. A really big feather duster. His, on the other hand, actually resembled that of a sword; the flames waved closer to the center and in a very orderly fashion without looking too unnatural.
"Haha! Now you realize the difference between our blades? However, another thing you may not have realized... is this!" With a heavy swing, he sliced my blade right in half. I had to duck in time, almost forgetting what was happening. "Hahaha! My sword, being stronger than yours, is like comparing an army tank to a little car that those tykes play with!"
"Yeah, and me compared to you is like comparing a pile of shit to an even bigger pile of shit. Shut the hell up."
"But you admit that you're shit then! How about that! I didn't think you'd have the courage to admit it!"
"You just go ahead and gloat about it, why don't you," I muttered as the flames reformed into a swo- er... feather duster. "But in the meantime, I'll be taking my revenge for my father, another thing you continue to gloat about, fucker. I'll tear off your head, I swear. A day will come when I take your head, Elementia."
"And yet, you're still stuck doing this, you weakling! Tell me, if you plan on killing me, then how do you plan on finding me first?" That was a question I had never pondered to myself, even though Mira and I had just escaped from the dimension a few hours before.
"Well, I asked you before, and you gave me a vague answer, 'you're on top of a mountain, incompetent, blehblehbleh.' Why not go ahead and give me an intelligent answer instead of dodging the fucking question?"
"Ha! You expect to give me to give you a straight answer?"
"Ha! Yes I do! What're you, fucking stupid?"
"Well, you'll have to defeat me first, or find out yourself!" Elementia slashed his flaming sword at me, but I was able to use what solid flames I could to break the momentum of each swing, reforming my swo- er, feather duster, each time he cut it in half.
"The exact answer I expected, for some reason. Why am I not surprised... "
"Oh, what? Are you psychic now? Have you unlocked some special ESP?" mocked Elementia as he jabbed towards me. I yelped as the blade stabbed me a few times, carving deep, burnt gashes in my skin.
"Here's what you couldn't have foreseen." Elementia held up his blade and it began to glow blueish white. Suddenly, the flames blasted away, revealing a new blade made out of crystalline ice, in which he tested the strength of on me. With just a few slashes, the ice sword not only cut deeply, but once it did, ice began to encompass my entire arm and wherever the cuts were; on my chest, my legs, my abdomen. Luckily, I was able to melt the ice as soon as it began to spread, with only my body heat.
"I can also..." Elementia' sword began to glow once again, this time a forest green white light. The ice melted away, revealing a sword made out of wood.
"Well, in this case, I have the advantage! Fire burns wood!" If I can get close to his sword, I can... HURK- As I tried approaching the sword, it branched out, quite literally, stabbing me in many places. I was impaled many times, and afterward, you could mistake me for a sponge with so many holes in me.
"That's quite... urg... enough. Let's tone it down, while I do this!" I unleashed a Mega Flame Ball from my hands towards the sword, but with a single slash, Elementia sent the Flame Ball back at me. Luckily my own attack didn't do any damage to me, and I was able to cancel it out.
"But wait, wasn't that supposed to burn? What the hell happened?"
"Ha! Have you heard of laminate? I suppose not, you incompetent fool," he mocked further still. "Even if you were to understand, your attack wouldn't have worked anyway."
"I know what laminate is, you dick, but how the fuck was I supposed to know that your sword could do that?"
"How could you not? My sword can do anything! There's nothing I can't do! For example..." Elementia's sword began to glow light gray, and the wood peeled away to reveal a jagged sword made of stone. It was almost as if the blade was serrated, with many small, razor sharp pointed stones along the edges.
"How dare you doubt me, and how dare you doubt my power!" yelled Elementia as he jabbed his sword at me, slashed, swung every which way, battering me and cutting deep, painting me red. By the time he was done, I could barely move.
"And that's what you get for doubting me, such a great and powerful being." I didn't really hear anything after that besides the howl of the blizzard above me. But when I looked up, staring me straight in the face...
... was Mirajane, standing by the side of my bed! Now, still half asleep, I hadn't realized that I was awake, and I raised my flaming arm up at Mira.
"W-wait! Vincent, what are you doing? You're awake!" Mira almost shouted at me, causing me to dissipate the flames and put my arm down, and realize that I was awake.
"Hnngh... goonrng, Mrjane..." I mumbled.
"Uh... should I be concerned about that...?"
"Hnh...? Oh..." I did a very long yawn. "It's just a dream. That creepy guy from before shows up in my dreams sometimes and tries to kill me... it's not a big deal, just same old stuff."
"What? How is that not a big deal?! He's trying to kill you! Don't you have at least an ounce of care about something like that? Come on!" Now Mira was yelling.
"Why're you yelling...?" I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"Because you don't even care about your own life! I'm concerned, not just about you, but also for you, because well, you seem to not care about your own life! But I do! I do..." A stream of tears leaked down Mira's face.
"Hey, hey... don't cry, even if it is for me. I understand that you care about me. I just worded it wrong, because I didn't take your point of view into consideration. What I meant is that it's a dream, and he can't harm me. Look, he stabbed me, uh... I can't even count how many times, but there were a lot of stab wounds in me. Now they're not there. See?" I slid off my shirt to reveal my clean chest, no blood, no injuries, no... actually, there were scars; the three on my abdomen from when that demon on the volcano slashed me.
"Wow..." Mira stared at my chest, eyeing me up and down.
"Hey... I don't like when people stare," I broke the awkward silence.
"But it's alright if I do, isn't it?" Mira looked at me with a precious face, one that I could not say no to.
"Er... hmph, fine. I suppose so. It's not like I'm super muscular or anything..." I mean, I wasn't buff like Bruno of the Kanto/Johto Elite Four, but I guess I had something. That reminded me that I needed to visit home again. Suddenly I had a feeling of homesickness, and though I could return home at any time, seemed so distant and... just tedious. No, not tedious, that's not the right word... the thing was, I was a part of a guild, and I had things I had to do, monster slaying and shit.
But something else bothered me, and that was that Elementia was pretty much unstoppable. And unless I seriously improved... I would never be able to save the world. At the stage I was at, hardly able to withstand the power of my second evolution, it was all or nothing.
And I would not settle with nothing.
