Chapter 133: Regykraeon's Revenge
Previously, on "The Guild Next Door" . . .
Regykraeon chuckled, before spreading his arms wide. "Alright then, kid! I am Regykraeon "The Fallen Star", demon of the sky and an Etherious of Zeref's Bookshelf!" The Etherious chuckled as his magical presence, already intense, grew to such an extent that it felt like the air itself was made of lead. "Catch me if you can," the monster winked playfully, before flashing away into Ghoulia's main road.
In response, Boomer gritted his teeth, pressed down on the accelerator and felt the Sonic Boom fling itself forwards, hot on the speedy demon's tail.
~P's E~
"Regykraeon, The Fallen Star, demon of the atmosphere and Etherious of the Black Mage Zeref's creation!" Boomer spoke, the Sonic Boom's Warp-Sound Trap pinning Regykraeon in place, and the speakers amplified his voice.
"No! I won't allow this! You haven't won! You won't best me!" Regykraeon shrieked, casting around maniacally for a route of escape.
"I hereby condemn thee to imprisonment within these pages, there to remain for all time," Boomer continued, and the demon continued to deny him. "No! There has to be something! There has to be . ." His gaze fell upon the altar, the white lacrima containing the life force of his sacrifices. "Yes! Brother, hear my call! Accept my sacrifice, be reborn and crush our foes!" Regykraeon screamed, diving downwards into the lacrima.
Everything seemed to slow as the demon vanished into the altar. Boomer trailed off, watching in shock, Raya seemed to hover in midair as she watched.
In spite of all the noise, there was a moment of silence as the demon sacrificed himself at his own altar. For a moment, the white lacrima glowed with blinding light, before suddenly emptying and turning transparent, like glass. "No way," Boomer gasped. "He sacrificed himself?"
-[CoT]-
"Siria, I know you have a built-in GPS, but are you sure this is the right place?" Boomer questioned, looking at his car.
Black energy crackled across it, and Siria's voice came out of the Sonic Boom. "Positive. Longitude and latitude, it checks out,"
"Just . ." Boomer looked around at the featureless plain they had been led to. The only feature was an outcropping of rock that spiked into the air. Overhead, a swirling vortex of storm clouds brewed, and one of the Sound wizard's eyes watched the sky nervously. "There's nothing here,"
Boomer had accepted a job request that specifically asked for a Sound Wizard. Naturally, Siria had accompanied him, as she essentially lived inside the Sonic Boom's systems, and of course Boomer couldn't have reached this place without either the Sonic Boom or days of walking, because, oddly enough (or so he had thought at the time), there was no public transportation to this location. But now it made sense. There was nothing here for people to want transportation to.
The job had been low-ranked and low-reward, so Boomer had been confident that he and Siria could handle it without any aid from their fellows. The fact that it requested a Sound Wizard specifically was odd, but he'd assumed it would make sense upon arrival. However, he couldn't help but wonder if the job had been a prank.
Actually, that sounded likely. Lyon from Lamia Scale was probably still sore about that humiliating defeat he'd suffered at Boomer's hands during the Grand Magic Games. This was probably his idea of payback.
"I think this job is a dud, Siria," Boomer sighed.
"Time to head home?" his adoptive daughter checked, and he nodded, swinging the door to his car open.
Both stiffened as there was a sudden rumble of thunder. The scent of ozone filled the air, and Boomer looked up to see blue lightning crackling in the heavens. He grimaced, not liking the look of the sky, and swung himself into the three-wheeler's driver's seat.
"There's a weird smell," Siria mumbled.
"Get the speaker system ready. I don't like this," Boomer warned.
A blinding flash of blue lightning suddenly cracked down from the sky, striking the rocky outcropping before them. Like a massive tentacle, the bolt reared back before striking the rock, and again, a blur of light whipping away at the rock and blackening and burning it. Above, a thunderous roar echoed from the sky. "Did you hear the one about the chicken who thought he'd killed his arch-enemy?"
Boomer blanched. "Oh no. Oh, no no no,"
The lighting bolt detached from the sky and suddenly crashed into the bonnet of the Sonic Boom, electric blue arms and legs wrapped around the car. A face with a bristling cluster of blue spikes for hair that blended seamlessly with the demon's skin was suddenly pressed against the windscreen, mad eyes bursting with magic and yellow teeth grinning wildly. "He was shocked to learn the truth!"
And then thousands of joules of electricity coursed through the Sonic Boom, crackling through the framework, burning the circuitry, surging towards Boomer - before abruptly stopping, leaving the Phoenix unharmed.
Retykraeon blinked owlishly at the wizard's lack of injury. "You should be dying, little chicken,"
"The Sonic Boom's insulated against electrical attacks," Boomer dumbly replied. "It seemed obvious," His brain was short-circuiting. Regykraeon was dead. He had to be dead. There was no reality in which Regykraeon was not dead . . except this one apparently.
Something clocked over in Boomer's mind and he filed away the shock that was numbing his system. The only thing between him and the demon was a pane of glass. It would only take a couple of seconds for Regykraeon to realise he could just punch straight through the windows and he knew the air creature could make his limbs as sharp as swords.
With a violent motion, he slammed the throttle of his car into reverse and pressed down on the accelerator. The Sonic Boom took off like a rocket, metal wheels blurring as its arrowhead-shaped form sped backwards, and Boomer wrenched the wheel sideways, throwing the vehicle into a drift that sent him spinning into a donut. Unable to withstand the centrifugal force, Regykraeon was flung off and sent into the air, catching himself a few feet off the ground.
"Who the hell is that guy?!" Siria suddenly asked through the Sonic Boom's console, and Boomer yelped. "Siria! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, it was just electricity. But what is going on?" she demanded.
"I killed that guy a few years ago," her adoptive father explained. "I think he's holding a grudge,"
"Oh," was Siria's only response.
"But it's nothing to worry about. We've got everything we need to kill him right here. He's the reason I built the Sonic Boom in the first place,"
It had been years since Boomer had thought Regykraeon vanquished for good. In that time, the Sonic Boom had been retrofitted, repainted, partially rebuilt - the works. But for all that, at its core, the Sonic Boom was still a weapon designed specifically to kill Regykraeon.
"Uh, dad," Siria started.
Boomer grasped the gearstick again, sliding it from 'R' to 'W'. "Don't worry, sweetie. This is just round two of a fight I've already won," He gunned the engine, and the Sonic Boom shot forwards, kicking up dirt and pebbles from its metal wheels as it charged the Etherious.
Siria strained her throat to shout over the competing roars of the engine she was inhabiting and the thunderstorm overhead. "Dad! That lightning bolt shorted out the warp engine!"
Boomer blinked, his confidence draining away. "What?"
"You thought I walked away from our last encounter without learning anything?" Regykraeon snorted, before lancing forward and matching the Sonic Boom's charge in a game of chicken that he'd inevitably win.
Boomer gritted his teeth. "Alright. Siria, do the thing,"
"You got it! Spectral Sound Smash!" With a mechanical clank, the speakers that the car bristled with rotated and realigned themselves, pulsing with a powerful, tectonic beat that built up a white barrier of intense sound over the front of the Sonic Boom, a battering ram of music that evened the odds.
Regykraeon barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before hitting the car and bouncing straight off as though he were made of rubber. "Cute trick. Hey, what do you call a singer who keeps running away from you?"
His voice was blocked by the sound emanating from the Sonic Boom as it span and charged him again. "Did you get a word of that?" Boomer asked. "Nope," the yokai replied.
"A hard act to follow!" Regykraeon cackled to himself, spreading his arms as though awaiting applause. ". . Tough crowd. I guess my jokes will just have to be more direct!" He darted out sideways, arcing around the Sonic Boom. "What do you call it when someone hits your head with Ethereal Electricity?!" he roared, launching a bolt of lightning towards the window, hoping to get through the glass or at least inflict more damage. "A brainstorm!"
Luckily, Boomer was already turning the magicmobile to face Regykraeon again, or it might have done some real damage. But most of the attack bounced off Siria's shield and only a portion of it bled into the car, doing no real damage.
Regykraeon shot upwards, out of range of the ground-bound battering ram. "I'm getting sick of that," he growled. "What's the worst thing a comedian can hear?" Predictably, there was no response from his opponents.
"A Deafening Silence!" And with that, the air went still. All sound was obliterated. Silence reigned.
Boomer mouthed, "What is going on?" but no one heard, not even himself.
In a flash, Regykraeon was hovering before the car, easily matching its pace while flying backwards and leering at him. "I've been preparing for this for seven years, you smug little creature! It's exactly what you did to me. You took years to get strong enough to destroy me, and I'm returning the favour!" He laughed, his voice penetrating his own spell with ease. "Isn't that hilarious?!"
Boomer tried to speak, but the constricting, suffocating silence stifled his words in his throat.
Regykraeon smirked. "What do you call someone whose only skill is making people think he's a hero?" Suddenly, he was perched on the bonnet of the Sonic Boom, and with a mighty heave he ripped the roof off the car. "A one-trick phoney. You haven't changed, you haven't learned anything new. Without your precious music, you're nothing,"
He flipped backwards and lifted the Sonic Boom into the air, it's wheels spinning uselessly. Boomer struggled, trying to climb out, but Regykraeon was too fast, grasping the front wheel of the three-wheeled magicmobile and ripping it out of its housing. He dismissively tossed it away, before dropping the wrecked magicmobile to the ground, effortlessly snatching up Boomer by the collar. "It looks like the joke's on you. Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to take you home, and after my friends destroy your guild and world, I'll have the rest of your life to break you in every way imaginable. After all, what did the oven say to the chicken?" the demon cackled, rising into the air and carrying Boomer with him.
"You still have a terrible sense of humour," the Phoenix spat, before blinking as he realised the silence had been lifted . . and without the Sonic Boom he wasn't strong enough to do anything about that.
Regykraeon shot him a dull look. "Get stuffed," With that, he levitated into the air, before blurring away, intending to rejoin Tartaros and put away his new toy.
Boomer was just glad that Siria had had the sense not to alert the mad demon to her existence. Now she could go back to the guild and get help. He just hoped she didn't try something dumb like coming after him alone . . although, she was Phoenix's Eye . .
"I am stuffed," he mumbled.
-[CoT]-
Meanwhile, Cube, carrying the building of Tartaros, flew towards Magnolia. The massive floating castle, on its cubic levitating rock, hovered through the air, carrying the guild of Tartaros within.
As well as three red TFEI.
"You were right," Mard Geer, de facto leader of the Dark Guild Tartaros, complimented the man standing before him who, despite appearances, was no more human than he was. "Seilah captured those two Fairies and is using her curse to force Elfman to destroy Fairy Tail. Which means, most likely, you're also right about her efforts failing,"
Clockwork, clad in his green leather armour, was stock-still, his wizened face and short, wispy beard not even twitching.
"I don't appreciate being ignored," Mard Geer declared, and a razor-sharp plant plunged into Clockwork's chest, punching straight through him, before retracting and leaving a bloody would.
Clockwork barely seemed to notice the injury that would have been fatal were he not immortal. "Hmm? Oh, apologies. I was lost in thought," he replied. "What were you saying?"
"Is attacking Fairy Tail futile, if we know the fairies will survive?" Mard Geer repeated, looking annoyed.
"Oh. Not at all. Even if the people survive, the loss of their building will be a psychological blow that will demoralise their forces," the red TFEI responded. "But it serves another purpose. I have told you of the Overmind? Need I remind you, they have all the same information that I do. They will expect to see the Fairy Tail Guild Hall destroyed with no casualties. It will lull them into a false sense of security,"
"Ah. You think they don't know that we've joined forces," Mard Geer summarised.
"I'm certain they suspect. It's not so much a matter of making them think that we aren't involved as it is ensuring that they do not know where we have deployed our forces," Clockwork clarified. "There is exactly one crucial factor we TFEI must alter in the outcome of this war, which will lead to the successful activation of FACE. Everything else is irrelevant. My strategy is to obfuscate our operations as much as possible so as to prevent the inevitable agents of the Overmind from realising what that factor is and preventing me from changing it,"
"And if you do that, and things play out as you expect, then most of us will die, but we'll win," Mard Geer nodded, accepting the outcome. Clockwork had already confirmed that he, and all the other Etherious would die in the future the TFEI knew of, but his demise would come only after FACE was destroyed. If FACE was activated successfully then his survival and victory was assured. It didn't much matter to him that the majority of Zeref's Bookshelf would be wiped out by Fairy Tail. They were minions, if their demise served END's resurrection, they would all gladly perish. It didn't matter that none of the other Ten Gates of Tartaros knew this was to be their fate. The outcome was to be the same. They were like chess pieces that moved themselves, playing out a game that would end in . . . Clockwork's victory.
Mard Geer's tongue twisted at the thought. It was petty, but part of him resented being told what to do by the alien. But he banished the notion for the umpteenth time, assuring himself that when E.N.D. rose, he would have all of eternity to find a way to kill the undying creature.
"There is, of course, the unknown variable," Clockwork frowned. "Phoenix's Eye,"
The kingly demon leaned forward on his throne. "You assured me that you could remove them from the equation,"
"I expect to be able to," the red alien clarified. "The thing about Phoenix's Eye is that they have this annoying way of making things go right for them. There's some unaccountable factor about the people who wear that mark on their skin that causes things to end well for them, as though there's an unseen, divine hand guiding their every action. You can never truly be sure of success where they're involved. Nonetheless, I have taken every precaution," he assured Mard Geer.
"We'll be over Magnolia at any minute. If you're going to go, I suggest you do it," he responded, feigning disinterest.
Clockwork nodded, and, with a flash of light, he was gone.
-[CoT]-
The former Kairos blurred into existence directly outside the Phoenix's Eye Guild Hall, regarding the closed doors inquisitively. It was the middle of the day, the vast majority of the guild would either be inside the building or out of the city on a job.
"Lifehack[," he spoke solemnly, spreading his arms and manifesting a mould-coloured magic circle that closely resembled the face of a clock. "AllCreatures[Exception:TFEI][Exception:Etherious]Immobilised, DefineArea[Phoenix's Eye Guild Hall]],"
Magic power seeped outwards, bleeding into the world itself and enacting a new law of physics that, in a wave that came all at once, instantly immobilised everyone inside the building.
Clockwork pushed the doors open and took in the sight. Each and every member of Phoenix's Eye was frozen, like a statue, unable to move even a millimetre. Pierce was frozen at his table, in mid-discussion with Tyria while Sarph sat across from them. Grace and Cal were living statues, facing each other in an armchair. Blanca was frozen in the act of yelling at Lorus, whose face was fixed in dismissal. Master Feng was nursing a mug of beer, fingers wrapped like icicles around the cup. Eve, Donna and Artorias were seated together around another table, with Sif lying on Artorias' lap. Clockwork noticed with some amusement that Artorias had blinked at the exact moment that he cast his command. Unlike the others, he could not see what was going on, but on the bright side he would be spared the serious case of dryeye that his fellows would no doubt suffer from . . if he bothered to reverse his magic before the world was destroyed. He probably would, if only for the sight of his enemies fleeing for their lives before the wrath of END . . no.
Clockwork banished the thought. It was overconfidence like that which was the undoing of so many antagonists. It would be sweet and satisfying, but he had only just finished telling Mard Geer about how Phoenix's Eye had this insufferable way of winning, time and time again. If he released them to face END, they could contrive some way of eliminating the demon of their former Fairy friend, even without magic. And he could not be completely certain that they mightn't even find some way to prevent the D-eternal directive. No, it was better to . .
A thought occurred to him, and Clockwork cancelled that train of thought as well. It was moot. He had briefly failed to take into account the fact that he would die when FACE was activated. He wouldn't be lifting anything from beyond the grave. No, the wizards of Phoenix's Eye would be frozen in place forever.
His satisfaction evaporated as he saw a light brightening Artorias' table. Clockwork span in place, and before fully processing what was going on, he reacted. "Lifehack[GenerateObject:[Spell-Shattering Sigil: Solamion], DefineArea:[ClockworkRightHand]!" His reality-bending Magic twisted the air, forming an exact replica of the enchanted sword that the golden knight behind him had lost six years ago, and he thrust with it, the sword penetrating straight through Artorias' chest and lodging in the chair behind him.
An involuntary smile tugged at Clockwork's lips. Artorias was powerful, and he wasn't sure what had caused the Blood Wizard to break through his spell, but he had expected a complication and reacted accordingly.
He deserved a pat on the back for his foresight.
But with that taken care of, he straightened, looking around . . and suddenly realised that the source of the light was not, in fact, Artorias.
Eve's body shone with divine magic, and she rose into the air, one of the two remaining feathers from the Divine Caladrius attached to her sceptre crumpling and turning black as its power was exhausted. Light poured from her eyes, and the muscles in her back splintered and spread, lengthening into a pair of shining, angelic wings.
Clockwork gritted his teeth. He'd wasted his chance to prevent the fight by killing the wrong Wizard. How foolish! Now he was going to have to deal with this, wasn't he? There was some small mercy; Eve was one of the weakest members of the guild, if his information was correct. It should be a simple matter to overcome her . . and once he had he was killing each and every one of the Phoenix's Eye wizards, just to be safe.
He paused, noticing that while her wings were beating and holding her in the air, the rest of Eve's body was unmoving, her legs locked in a folded position and arms frozen in a gesture. "Still paralysed? Well, that makes things easier," With a violent motion he wrested the golden sword from Artorias' chest and held it at the ready in a clumsy stance. He wasn't proficient with a sword, but Solamion had magic-cancelling properties, an inherent Wave enchantment. It would be useful.
Instead of attacking, though, Eve twisted her body in midair in a jerking motion that seemed to accomplish nothing. He frowned as she tried again, pivoting around her waist. "What are you . ."
There was a sudden flash of light, and an all-too-familiar doorbell rang out. Clockwork cursed. Of course! Eve was a Celestial Wizard, her key ring must have been in her pocket! She had been using her body and wings to turn a key inside her pocket and summon a Celestial Spirit! He should have -
The TFEI was struck with a sudden clarity of mind. He should have realised this. He was more intelligent than this. Why hadn't he? Was there something interfering with him? Reducing his capabilities? He frowned, and focused more intently on the ambient magic . . there! Of course. The entire building hummed with the magical trace of a blue TFEI! Layers upon layers of magic that was anathema to his being, dating back decades . . no wonder he wasn't operating at full capacity. He'd suspected for a while that there was a TFEI in residence within Phoenix's Eye, but it had never been confirmed.
His musings were interrupted as a tall woman with bright pink hair, which had several roses braided into it, wearing nothing but white silk underwear, kicked him in the face.
Clockwork went tumbling to the ground - but blurred out of existence before hitting the ground, reappearing behind the new assailant and grasping her arm. "A Celestial Spirit, I take it?" he snorted, before wrenching her arm backwards with superhuman strength. There was a sickening crack, and the Spirit's arm broke in two places, leaving it limp and useless.
To her credit, the woman didn't react to the pain, but rather twisted and forced him to the ground again, where a giant rose with petals as strong as iron bloomed from the floor of the guild hall, pinning him in place. "I am Venus, the Celestial Deity Spirit of Love. You will not harm these wizards, whose love for one another has grown so strong. Not while I have anything to say about it,"
Clockwork blurred and teleported away, suddenly leaping down from the rafters and kicking her in the face, sending Venus stumbling backwards. "But you don't. Now just disappear, will you?"
Venus carefully balanced herself. "It's not me you should be worried about. Mistress, get outside," she commanded her Celestial Wizard, who had been flapping towards the door regardless. "This is going to get dicey,"
Clockwork snorted in disbelief. "You're just one Spirit. What can you do against me?"
"I am the Deity of Love. My love for all things in this world and all worlds is unparalleled," Venus declared, raising her one functional arm triumphantly. "But I have no greater love than that for my Celestial Brethren - hence my power. Are you aware of the trait shared by all Celestial Deities? We each have access to a grand spell, drawing upon the power of those who believed we were gods,"
Suddenly the false Solamion was buried in her chest. "I don't care," Clockwork eloquently informed her as she choked and collapsed to the ground, bleeding white magic, and he pulled the weapon out of her again. "That's the weakness that everyone in this world seems to share. You all have a penchant for big, dramatic speeches," he scoffed. "But my patience has run out,"
Even though Celestial Magic was draining out of her body through the gaping wound, Venus smiled. "You should have let me finish. Mine is the power of love. It is my love that lets me call another Celestial Spirit, any Celestial Spirit, to my aid. Requiem of the Beloved," she declared as her body shone white. In the instant before she vanished, a single note of pearly music burst from her throat.
There was a noise from outside the guild hall, and Clockwork looked up. "I left those doors open," he uncomprehendingly mumbled in the direction of the closed doors to the guild, before realising there was no sign of Eve. The paralysis spell only affected the inside of the guild hall, she would have regained use of her limbs when she escaped. She must have closed the doors in an effort to disguise which direction she fled in. It didn't matter. He had to assume that Venus had successfully called another Celestial Spirit to the guild's defence, which meant he had another enemy to dispatch. How irritating.
As he advanced on the door, the wizards of Phoenix's Eye frozen around him, a dry, desert wind blew in through the cracks. Clockwork ignored it and cast; "Lifehack:[AllDoorsSetStatus:[OPEN], DefineArea:[Phoenix's Eye Guild Hall],"
At his command, the doors swung open, revealing Eve, hovering like an angel, over a muscled, tanned man clad in Roman-looking armour with an entire armoury seemingly strapped to his back.
Clockwork raised an irritated eyebrow. "Who are you supposed to be?"
The Celestial Spirit spoke fast. "I am known as Mars, the Deity of War, but I am a man, merely one among many,"
"Enough with the monologues!" the red TFEI growled, launching himself forwards, Solamion in hand. But a massive pillar of marble shot up from the ground and took his attack, before falling forwards.
"I am the man who bears the standard!" Mars barked as the pillar of his Reality Marble collapsed on top of Clockwork, taking a massive chunk out of the Phoenix's Eye Guild Hall ceiling with it, sending splinters showering down and crushing the TFEI beneath several tons of marble. "Who walks at the forefront of the armies of gods and collects the spirits of all that follow him!"
The pillar exploded into dust, and Clockwork glared. "I said, I don't care!" he spat, taking in the army of spectral figures that were massing behind Mars and Eve. It was the manifestation of Mars' ultimate attack, Into The Breach, in which he resurrected the spirits of the most dedicated soldiers fallen in battle throughout all of history, and marshalled them into an army to take on his opponent one thousand to one. But an army of mice might have been an equal threat to the TFEI.
"I am the herald of the endless army! From now until the end of time, as I lead mine once more into the breach, I AM NOT ALONE!" Thousands of throats echoed the cry that Mars led, an army amassed on the outskirts of Magnolia and staring down Clockwork. Ranks surged forwards, swallowing Mars and Eve behind a hundred human shields wielding an assortment of colours, armours and weapons, each representative of various factions throughout history. It was an army made of armies, every military force living and dead in the history of Earth Land represented among Ares' ranks.
"Impressive. Really," Clockwork didn't sound impressed. "But there's something you've forgotten to take into account. Lifehack:[AllNon-LivingEntities[Exception:TFEI]Incorporeal, DefineArea:[Magnolia]]," Every last member of Mars' army faded, turning translucent and ghostly, as did their weapons and equipment. The soldiers assaulted him, but their weapons phased through as though he wasn't even there - or, rather, they weren't. Clockwork strode forwards, towards Mars and Eve, who had been revealed by the sudden absence of support.
Mars blinked in stunned disbelief. "He just cancelled Into The Breach," he murmured.
Suddenly, Clockwork lunged with Solamion, and met Mars' powerful tower shield, the soldier having barely brought it out in time. "This is futile," he snorted.
"Not quite," Mars smiled coldly, before leaping backwards. "Now!"
"As the world spins around the frozen poles, the stars shine down from the realm of the gods. May the great bird follow the celestial spheres, until it reaches the cold abyss beyond the end of the stars," Eve splayed her wings wide, building a nexus of Snow, Celestial and divine magic. "From this final cold I draw the power of gods, and -" The witch choked on her own spell as a thrown Solamion buried itself in her chest.
Clockwork sighed. "So predictable,"
"Invoke . . the eternal raging storm," Eve choked out as she crashed to the ground, blood staining her clothes, but through sheer force of will she held her magic in place and completed the incantation. ". . . Blizzard Phoenix!"
The meadow outside Phoenix's Eye erupted into a winter wonderland as a divine blizzard surged out of the wizard, spreading snow in every direction and assaulting the TFEI with a seemingly endless stream of cold power. His skin froze, icicles forming in his hair, and frost condensed around him, leaving him a frozen statue buried in a snowdrift.
Eve collapsed sideways, clutching at her chest, and Mars crouched over her protectively. "Hold on . . just hold on," he begged, understanding the futility of the situation. Even if, by some miracle, the spell had indeed rendered their attacker unable to battle, the Phoenix's Eye wizards were all immobilised. None of them would be able to help.
There was a burst of heat like a solar flare, and the ice and snow evaporated, leaving a Clockwork who looked - metaphorically and literally - steamed. "I'm starting to lose my patience," he growled through gritted teeth,
Mars stared at the implacable alien in horror. They needed a miracle. Nothing short of divine intervention could save them now.
But it seemed like the gods were smiling on Phoenix's Eye that day. A flash of blue light split the sky, and a thunderous sonic boom echoed through Magnolia a moment later. This was followed by a powerful wind, blowing in from the west, that carried with it shining blue particles of magic.
Clockwork span and growled, looking for the source of the unfamiliar power. "Oh, what now?!"
And then a blue meteor shot out of the sky and struck him head-on, sending Clockwork flying into the dirt. As Mars and Eve watched, the blue shape stopped dead, revealing itself to be a humanoid with a translucent blue body, gossamer-like wings spread, and a whiplike tail curved around her legs.
In a flash, Clockwork was back on his feet, staring at the newcomer in disbelief. "What? Who are you?"
The newly arrived blue TFEI flashed him a brash grin. "I am B/0297. But please, just call me Fairy Blue,"
A/N
A/N
Cruel cliffhanger, I know. And this was a big chapter.
So I never exactly made a secret of the fact that Regykraeon was going to come back this arc. Still, I hope everyone enjoyed his return! He's had seven years with nothing to do but think up jokes, every third sentence is gonna be a punch line with him this arc.
Also, the debut of Clockwork's magic! I'm very proud of the fact that he literally uses life hack magic. Punny and appropriate.
Look forward to next chapter, it's gonna be important! Peace!
