Lyla curled up in a ball beside a building. It turns out the top of Nirvana did hold a city. An ancient and deserted city with the only population being the wizards who fought each other.

The further she climbed, the more her eye burned. Little black wisps of magic had been trailing from her hands the whole way, getting more and more intense the closer she got. The swirly black purple liquid that was dripping from her eye had gotten worse. It was like it was… bleeding.

Is that accurate? She wondered.

The rumbling from Nirvana made her feel sick. Everyone had reached the city before it began walking. Its six legs moved like a bug. Some lifted and planted itself miles ahead in the forest, then the rest followed.

Trying to sense who stood on Nirvana would waste the little energy she had. Its magic overpowered everyone else's. She knew Gray, Lucy, and Natsu were here. Laura fought Cobra in the sky with Happy's help. So Cobra was here and Brain would have to be since he's the one running this whole show.

Need to keep moving. She told herself. Soon enough, she'll be able to crush Brain. She'll have to apologize to Laura, but it's best to end him sooner than save him as a bloody pulp to kill later. At least her friend could get some bloodshed by fighting Cobra.

When plodding through the streets -if these age-old pathways were still considered as one- she came across a blue-haired girl and white cat in a dress. So Wendy and Carla were here too. Nice to know they were alright.

"Lyla?" Wendy gasped when she saw the older female's horrid stated. Hunched over, hand pressed against her eye, legs shaking from simply supporting her weight, the magic seeping from her hands.

"I got in a bad fight. How are you?" She asked as perky as possible.

"I could heal you with my magic!" The girl offered, panic rising in her voice.

Lyla demurred. "Give me some time and I'll recover quick enough.

Wendy opened her mouth to say something but refrained.

"Well, we won't progress anywhere dawdling." Carla butted in. Lyla agreed with a nod.

Something caught the cat's brown eyes. Her eyes glazed over with horror. Whatever she saw, she stared at its horrible face until she reached the edge of the city. Wendy followed and Lyla tried to keep up.

"What's wrong?" The bluenette asked.

"The direction it's going… Directly straight ahead is our guild, Cait Shelter!"

Wendy had a look of concern. She turned to Carla and silence confined everyone where they stood.

Lyla decided to break their silent horror. "Well? We won't stop it if we keep dawdling." She gave a determined grin. "I'll need some help getting to Brain."

Large white wings grew from Carla's back. She flew up and carried Lyla their way to the tower that looms over the rest of the city. She didn't even try to guess how many stories high it stood.

"Thank you," Lyla said breathily. Her condition wasn't bad enough to harm anyone in range, thankfully. Let's see… What else was wrong with her?

Her body felt weak. Proven before, she could barely stand. The magic that used to only be trickling from her fingers oozed out of her palms as well. Her mask soaked up the dark liquid dripping from her eye, but it wouldn't last too long. Her head and eye burned fiercely. She was far from a goldilocks zone. That would change the closer they got to the tower, however. She would eventually have to tell Carla to put her down.

Nirvana: It's magic far differed from what she's experienced. It could turn good to evil, and evil to good. It's as simple as black and white; Night and day. Whichever side you saw as good or bad, it was clear which was which. If Lyla focused, her magic could aid her in seeing things even more clearly. Did it have to make sense? No, because Lyla understood it perfectly fine.

Something struck the air. Something exploded like a nuke. It sounded animal, like a dragon roaring in fury. It shook Lyla from her thoughts and made Carla and Wendy stop in their tracks.

"What was that horrible sound?" Carla asked, her ears tilting downwards.

"I-I'm not sure…" Wendy mumbled.

"I think it's best to ignore it. It's not our problem, whatever it is." Lyla suggested with the strongest voice she could. Even her voice trembled from Nirvana's overpowering magic.

Hm?

"Lyla? What is it?" Carla asked.

"Drop me."

Without argument, the cat did so. Lyla planted her feet to the ground and hobbled as fast as she could. She sensed a faint collection of varying magic. They were all familiar, but something about it felt horrid. It felt life-threatening. It felt like Brain.

She eventually came across Brain dragging Natsu by his muffler. Lucy, Gray, and Jura stood against him. Happy and Laura laid on the floor, tired and defeated. Too close.

Now or never.

Lyla used Shadow Shift to melt into the night. She sprung front the ground in front of Brain and high kicked him in the jaw. He staggered back, releasing Natsu.

The teen's mask had soaked up as much of the strange magic liquid as it could, now it dripped down her face. Too close.

"Maybe I should have recruited you too…" Brain thought out loud. "I still could."

"Is that why you had Natsu? To join your ranks?" Her voice slipped into something dark and otherworldly. Like back at the Tower of Heaven, or more recently when she last fought the man. Too close.

"With half of the six demons down, I'll need to rebuild."

"Tch." Lyla created a black hole beneath Brain's feet. He fell through and she created a second black hole right above her. She prepared to shoot shadow lances to impale him, but he used Dark Capriccio to created a large bean of green magic.

Lyla ran with incredible speed to dodge the attack. A trail of dark magic followed her. It now spilled from her body, sparking from under her clothes. Not close enough.

She bolted at him, but with the split-second she had slowed, Brain stabbed her with his staff. It left a bruise, but she didn't feel anything. Not close enough.

Lyla stood her ground, letting the magic consume her and take control. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Perfect.

The dark magic reached every corner of the area, stretching throughout the city.

"Begone, lowly scum!" Brain shouted as if he could still beat the young woman.

Lyla screamed in pure rage, her tainted voice echoing throughout the whole city and ringing in everyone's ears. She thrust her arms forwards and more dark magic lunged straight at Bra-

Boulders collided, crushing Brain and casting bright golden light in the immediate area. It shook the ground a created winds that threw Lyla to the ground. The dust dispersed to reveal Brain frozen from the spell Jura had cast. He laid in a crushed pile of rocks, his hair a mess and sweating bullets.

"Stand. I will give no quarter until you explain why you're targeting Cait Shelter." The middle-aged man ordered. Brain gritted his teeth in fear. He quickly composed himself and stood up.

"Interesting. I'm a bit surprised, but it seems you truly deserve the Wizard Saint's title."

While Jura and Brain exchanged words, Lyla's weak body felt something cold touch her shoulder.

Laura shivered. Her black cloak revealed her shoulder and lower abdomen. The light material didn't help keep her warm where it did cover her.

Lyla felt the same. Drained of magic, her body didn't even have enough energy to keep her warm. Her skin-tight clothing had the job of letting her move freely while staying legal, not to keep her warm when nights became too cold.

Brain raised his staff as it glowed with green magic. "Dark Rondo!" A mass of green beams of magic collected and charged at Jura. He stood tall and mighty with no hint of fear.

"Iron Rock Wall!" Three pillars rose from the ground and lapped over each other to block Brain's spell. The fight continued with exchanging attacks and Jura question Brain on Cait Shelter. The battle distracted Lyla slightly. It reminded her of how frightening Brain could be, and it left a good impression on Jura power-wise. It would be interesting to fight him.

"Can you sit up?" Laura asked the teenager, grunting as she lifted herself from the cold stone ground.

Lyla could only let out a moan. All the magic around her made her too ill. It floated around her and tainted everything, mixing with her magic. She tried to stop shivering, tried to form words, but she didn't even have the energy for her teeth to chatter.

She placed her palm flat on the ground to attempt to pick herself up. She noticed something black glowing from her fingertips. Something surged through them. She could feel a power course through her hand to her arm then to her chest. She gasped for air, not realizing how difficult it was for her to breathe when she was so weakened.

The magic swirling within her no longer made her nauseous. Instead, she felt stronger. She felt healthier. Slowly, she pulled herself together and crawled to her knees. She removed her palm from the ground, then the magic stopped. Whatever happened to her had stopped. The weight of Nirvana's magic hovered around her and weighed her down. She had the strength to stand and cast a few spells, but it would be safer to take it easy unless forced to do otherwise.

She turned to Laura, who had a bewildered look in her eyes. Neither of the young women understood what had just happened.

The ground shook. Lyla whipped her head around to see a small mountain of rocks and boulders piled on top of one another. "Supreme King Rock Crush!" Jura cast a spell that created hands made of light. They clapped together on the rocks and the mountain exploded, revealing Brain buried inside. He fell to the ground, as still as a dead body. The teen hoped that's what he was.

She walked closer to him with Lucy, Gray, and Jura.

"Now, state your reason for targeting Lady Wendy's guild," Jura ordered in a steady tone. Lyla respected the man after the presentation of his power.

"Say, can't we just stop this thing now?" Lucy asked, uneasiness in her voice.

No one answered so they could listen to Brain as he stammered, "T-To think… that I… would be defeated… Midnight... it's in your hands now…"

That's all she had to hear. Within the next instant, Lyla had vanished. She teleported from one area to the next until she found Midnight and Hoteye facing each other as enemies. She hid behind one of the decaying buildings, taking in the scene. Hoteye looked almost unharmed, standing tall as he looked down on Midnight, who laid in a crater in the ground.

The young woman assumed he was unconscious until he stumbled trying to stand up. He slouched over, his arms limp and head lowered.

"You dream, too…" Midnight told his opponent, "At midnight…"

Lyla did nothing to reveal her fear at what came next. Not truly fear, it startled her at most, but she was mostly perplexed. Whatever magic Midnight used cause Hoteye to scream in a mix of agony and terror. A horrible noise came from a gust of cold wind as if it were a living creature that whispered and growled.

"Magic can't hit me." Midnight stated as he stood up. The wounds and scars on his body had completely vanished. It's as if he didn't just take a massive beating. "I even surpass my father… I am the ultimate wizard."

Hoteye's continuous screams made Lyla's decision. She teleported behind Midnight, still in the air when she swung her leg to kick him in the head. He flew back into a building wall, rocks crumbling around the dent he made. She saw a bruise on his cheek where she hit him.

"An illusion, huh? Well, if magic can't touch you maybe I can beat you to death!"

"A dream…" Midnight mumbled.

Lyla shadow shifted and slithered until she leaped up only a few inches away. She punched him square in the nose. His head flung back and cracked the wall behind him. She jumped back and skidded to a stop, low to the ground.

"You dream just like him..." He said in an eerily calm voice, referring to Hoteye. He tilted his forwards to look at her with a grin. The blood that trickled from his nose vanished and it no longer looked red and swollen. The bruise was the only true attack she managed to land on him. The rest-

"...At midnight."

The gust of wind returned, whispering and gurgling and growling at Lyla this time. She screamed in agony as this curse seeped into her head with toxic fangs biting into her skull.

Through the suffering, she lifted her arm with struggle and cast a spell. A lance shot at him from a magic circle in her palm, aimed for his throat. It swerved around him and planted itself into the wall behind, which had no damages. As soon as Lyla kicked at Midnight, he had created an illusion.

The shadow mage let out the last of her breath before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, perhaps even dead. The agony stopped, the horror ceased. Midnight simply walked past her without another word. He was worse than her, for she hated having to kill unless she needed to. Midnight… He had no mercy.

A/N: Haha... sorry. I'm late again. I didn't forget, I just was busy. My pet bird got out of the house and I've been looking all over for him. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.