Chapter 134: Two Hundred And Ninety-Seven
Previously, on "Crowns of Thorns" . . .
A woman, only with glittering blue skin, transparent and glowing, with faint patterns of green and purple light underneath. Her eyes were bright, white expanses with tiny pinpricks like stars within them, and a pair of wide, blue-white wings like those of a butterfly were spread behind her, while a whip-like, feline tail stiffly shifted behind her. "This world's not done with you yet, Lahar. And I'm going to need your help," Fairy Blue's see-through fingers wrapped around Lahar's, and everything turned white.
-[CoT]-
Mars stared at the implacable Clockwork in horror. They needed a miracle. Nothing short of divine intervention could save them 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,"
-[CoT]-
"Two-nine-seven?" Clockwork blinked. "That's not possible,"
"Nothing's impossible," Fairy Blue retorted. "You just have to think outside the box a bit,"
"Let me guess, Cardinal sent you to protect the Phoenixes?" the red TFEI questioned.
"Aww, you already figured it out?" Blue responded with a pout, her wings drooping. "That's a bummer, I had a whole speech planned,"
"I don't know who you are, but if you're here to help you have my sword," Mars interrupted, nodding respectfully at the newcomer.
Blue grinned at him, then yelped wordlessly, seeing Eve slumped on the ground with a golden sword through her chest. "That is not right! Cyversal Barrier!" she frowned, waving her hand and summoning a blue shield to impede Clockwork, before wrapping Eve in a cocoon of shimmering blue magic. "There, that should keep her stable,"
"Thank you. She is a friend of my mistress. The guild would be devastated to lose her," Mars nodded his appreciation.
"Yeah, I wouldn't like it much either," Fairy Blue responded.
Clockwork casually shattered the shield. "Was that supposed to stop me?"
"Naah, just needed enough time to stabilise Eve," the other TFEI assured him. "Now then. Let's fight,"
Clockwork was only able to observe; "You sound far too enthusiastic -" before Blue hit him with a piledriver from a massive, swollen fist. Her magical construct dispersed almost immediately, but it still sent him flying.
Mars nodded his approval, hanging back and covering Eve. "Let me know if you need me!" he declared, recognising that even his considerable Celestial power was insignificant next to these two titans.
"Lifehack:[AllNon-Living[Exception:Clockwork]Immobilise, DefineArea -"
Shaking her head, Blue flapped her wings like a hummingbird, emitting a burst of interference that broke Clockwork's spell half-formed. "Don't call me Non-Living," she snorted, before throwing herself forwards with wings spread in a dive, gliding down the hill and tackling the other TFEI.
The black-haired man caught her, legs braced, and for a second the two struggled. Then Blue broke away, soaring upwards and putting some distance between herself and Clockwork. Her wings flicked forward and curved, joining together like the barrel of a gun. "Cyversal: Hyperlaser!"
A beam of blue energy lanced out from her wings, boring into Clockwork and ripping a hole out of his chest. For a second the smoky reddish-pink magic of a red TFEI's true form was visible before the hole healed over. "You do understand that this is futile," he scoffed, manifesting a mould-coloured magic circle. "Lifehack:[GenerateAttack:[Fire Dragon's Roar]]!" A wash of dragon fire burst out, making to envelop Fairy Blue.
She countercast, speaking quickly. "Cyversal: Field!" The flames burst against a shield of shimmering blue data, and Blue winced, darting out of the way an instant before the shield shattered.
Clockwork raised an eyebrow. "Your defences are weak. Lifehack:[GenerateAttack:[Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun]]!" Green energy blasted out of his hands, a perfect replica of Evergreen's spell, and Blue darted and weaved in dizzying patterns to avoid the assault. "This is fun!" she whooped.
The red TFEI gritted his teeth. Fairy Blue had powerful offensive capabilities. Her defences were weak, and he doubted that she'd be able to take more than a few hits . . but she was so agile, and capable of moving in any direction with her wings, that it was next to impossible to hit her.
A thought occurred to him. What if he used a homing spell? "Lifehack:[GenerateAttack:[Yappa futto famadrokke navgojiko nushlavu vethleka -" Suddenly, Blue popped up in front of him and emitted another burst of static that broke his mimicked Alfheimic spell. "This is taking too long," she huffed, before wrapping a cerulean hand around Clockwork's wrist and yanking it upwards. "Requesting data jurisdiction!" Blue barked at the air.
Clockwork paled as an unseen voice confirmed, "Data jurisdiction granted,"
He growled at the opposing TFEI. "You think a Reality Marble is enough to stop me?"
In a fluid motion, Blue twisted him over her shoulder, before slamming both palms and her feline tail down on the ground. Where she touched, the grass turned to shades of blue and purple, and the effect spread, washing across the ground in every direction. Where Blue's reality-warping magic met the path that led up to the Phoenix's Eye Guild Hall, the pebbles and dirt transformed into a smooth, dark rock, and soon the magic was repainting the Hall deep, ocean-like shades of dark blue, purple and black. Green and azure particles of data danced in the air, and Blue looked around in delight, revelling in the scenery surrounding her. She grinned at Clockwork. "Do you still think you can beat me in my world?"
"Yes," Clockwork declared, shoving her up. Blue caught herself in mid-air easily, spreading her wings, and smirked. "Oh, I almost forgot. Cyverse, negate all effects of Lifehack Magic,"
The more human-like TFEI blinked. ". . You can do that?"
"Data jurisdiction, dipshit. This is my Reality Marble. My soul made manifest in reality. Cardinal's given me full access to all the Overmind's resources for this mission. I can do anything!" Blue cackled, spinning in mid-air. "But you know what I just did?"
And then a mob of pissed-off Phoenix's Eye wizards emerged from the guild hall. If they were startled by the alien landscape outside, it didn't cause them to hesitate - most of the wizards had, in spite of being paralysed, seen that Clockwork was the culprit of the assault. In what was seemingly a fight between their attacker and an unknown party, it was obvious whose side to take.
Seeing the vast majority of Phoenix's Eye readying spells to attack him with and knowing that his magic had been negated, Clockwork knew the game was up. "Fine then. This round goes to the blue TFEI," he spat, before turning and fleeing.
A range of spells chased him, bullets and lasers and wind washing off his back, but he successfully reached the edge of Fairy Blue's influence and suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving Phoenix's Eye collectively blinking in confusion.
"That was Clockwork, right?" Tyria suddenly checked, looking around at her friends. "Like, the guy from Kairos End, Clockwork?"
"That's what I saw," Sarph confirmed. "But you all see the fairy, right?" he gestured to the air.
Blue took that as her invitation to drop to the ground and hesitantly approach the group. "Uh, hey guys. It's nice to meet you all,"
Pierce, who had been hanging back and letting the people with better offensive magic take point, pushed his way to the front. "Not that we don't appreciate your help, but who are you and why did you help us?"
"Call me Fairy Blue," she introduced herself, her tail twitching. "Or FB, or just Blue, I don't much mind. Sorry about the mess, the only way I could shut down Clockwork's magic was to summon my Reality Marble. Don't worry, it'll go back to normal in a bit," she explained, gesturing to the warped scenery around them.
"It's pretty," Grace endorsed, and the TFEI beamed at her. "Thanks. Now, before anything else, how much do you all know about TFEI?"
"That they're monsters," Cal growled, before noticing the hurt look in Blue's eyes and frowning.
Most of the group quickly put the pieces together. "You are the second TFEI to turn up on our doorstep this week," Pierce blinked. "If you can tell us what's going on, I'd really appreciate that,"
"Sure. There are rules, so I can't tell you everything, but I can definitely help," Blue agreed. "Shall we take this inside? I'm thirsty,"
"Hey, this is your magic, right?" Blanca shouted, hovering over Mars and Eve, the latter of whom was still on the verge of death with a massive sword in her chest and blue magic wrapped around her body. The Phoenixes, some of whom had not noticed this before, started, and Blue sped over. "Don't worry, she's stable. But she'll probably need an actual healer soon,"
"I heard Porlyusica was at Fairy Tail. And if not her, then Wendy can help," Grace suggested. "I'll run over and -"
"You're not faster than me, half-pint," Hare interrupted her. "I'll go get them," In a blur, she sped into town, making for the other guild hall at the far end of town.
-[CoT]-
Within minutes, a grumbling Porlyusica had been carried back to Phoenix's Eye and was tending to Eve and Artorias in the guild infirmary, both of whom were now being stabilised by Blue's magic - upon entering the building the TFEI had been shocked to see Artorias in the process of bleeding out and immediately cast the same spell on him. The guild was collectively awed by their saviour, but upon hearing that she was a TFEI, much of that turned to suspicion.
Which is why Blue, flanked by Master Feng and Pierce, ended up before the guild to give her explanation.
"So, from what I've gathered, you all only have experience with red TFEI before me, right?" she began, looking out at the guild.
"What's a 'red' TFEI?" Pierce asked.
"Well, that answers that," Blue nodded to herself. "There are two factions of TFEI, Blue TFEI like me and Red TFEI like Clockwork,"
"Was Clockwork always a TFEI?" Donna shouted up from the crowd. The former member of Kairos End had known Clockwork for a long time as Mordonna. Had that all been a lie?
"Um, maybe? Red TFEI have the ability to mimic specific humans, but whether there was a real Clockwork who was replaced at some point or he was just always a TFEI . ." Blue shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, but I don't know,"
"You were saying?" Pierce prompted.
"Right. Us blue TFEI, we're the originals. We were made first, by someone called Cardinal. Cardinal's a god, but you probably haven't heard of him; he's the god of order and law. And since the time god Kronos disappeared, he's sort of also taken on the responsibilities of the god of time,"
"That's why he created us blue TFEI, who collectively make up what's called the Data Overmind. We're his agents in the world, it's our job to monitor important events and influential people all over the planet and make sure that history goes the way that it's supposed to. Because if it doesn't, well . ." Blue winced.
"What happens if history takes the wrong path?" Pierce lowly asked.
"Don't get the wrong idea, the lives of individual people like all of you don't have huge impacts on the world. Don't feel like the universe might implode if you don't marry someone or on the basis of whether or not a loved one dies or . . whatever. But the timeline, it sort of has guidelines that it needs to stay within, and massive historical events like revolutions, wars and apocalypses, if those play out in the wrong way then time might go off the rails. If it ever left that path, then . . well, then we have the Sky Canopy Dominion,"
"The Canopy is the faction of the red TFEI, like Clockwork. They're like our evil opposites, in a way. Cardinal and the Overmind collectively, we don't know as much about the Canopy as we'd like. We don't even really know who's in charge of the Canopy. But we do know that they've been working for all of human history to derail the timeline. It's something they call the D-eternal Directive, some kind of mission handed down by their founder. Whatever cataclysm it is that we've been trying to prevent for millennia, is what they're trying to cause,"
"So, the red and blue TFEI are locked in an endless war for the fate of the world," Erik summarised.
"That's the gist of it, yeah," Blue nodded. "It's usually not that hard, really. It's pretty rare for a significant event to happen where the Canopy might be able to influence the outcome enough to totally derail time. Well, usually at least. Because lately, a frankly ridiculous number of things have been going on, any of which could break history in one fell swoop, and you all - Fairy Tail and Phoenix's Eye alike - have been at the centre of a lot of it,"
"Like what?" Hare scoffed.
"Well, for starters, remember when there was a giant fish in the sky trying to break time? That was a particularly overt attempt by the Canopy to derail history using the Oracion Och as their instrument," the TFEI explained. "About four months ago, at the Grand Magic Games, there was a timeline split that . . well, I wasn't there, Crocus is B/010's territory, but I heard it was a real close call. And now Tartaros is trying to activate a magic superweapon and release the strongest demon in all of history. Normally the timeframe between major events like this can be measured in decades, but this is the third one in the last year, and Fairy Tail and Phoenix's Eye has been involved in all three. Cardinal gave me standing instructions to keep an eye on both of your guilds shortly after the Grand Magic Games, just in case, and . ." Blue trailed off, the lights in her being flickering.
Suddenly she bent her head forward, slamming it down on the balcony railing. "I'm sorry! It was supposed to be my job to watch over all of you, but with our resources spread so thin I've also had to watch Tartaros and by the time I noticed Clockwork was attacking you it was too late and I came as soon as I saw but I'm sorry!"
An apology was essentially the last thing any member of the guild had expected from the immortal alien fairy, and no one was entirely sure what to make of it. Master Feng was particularly curious; she had, of course tried to use her mental magic to find out as much as she could about the suspicious TFEI, but - perhaps unsurprisingly - she couldn't get a word of the being's thoughts. Whether Blue had impressive mental defences or was just so foreign that her magic couldn't read her mind was up for debate.
Grace raised a hand, then without waiting to be addressed, asked; "Why are you blue?"
The fairy frowned. "Um, I was made as a blue TFEI, I didn't get to choose,"
"No, I mean, why is your skin blue? Fake Cal and Suou and Clockwork all look human, but you don't," the greenette clarified.
"Oh, that. TFEI can customise their appearance at will. My body's just a magic construct. It's really just personal preference," Blue replied. "I usually don't have to talk to humans much, either, and I like having wings, so . ."
"You've said a lot of things," Cal interrupted, looking suspicious, "but can you prove any of it? Why should we believe that there really are two separate groups of TFEI, and you're not just part of the Canopy trying to trick us? Again?"
"Well, I can't really prove anything, at least not in any way that you'd find to be beyond reproach," the TFEI admitted. "But we do have a mutual acquaintance who can vouch for me, if that helps?"
"Who?" Pierce asked.
Blue turned and walked to the rear wall of the building, and raised her arms at the S-Class job board. "Cyversal Mirror!" Glistering blue magic sprayed across it, creating a smooth, reflective surface on the board, until it was a shimmering screen like the surface of a lake.
Then the screen flickered and resolved into an image of the interior of a train compartment, occupied by a familiar face. "Blue?" Lahar raised an eyebrow. The former Councilman looked much the worse for wear, having shed most of his robes in favour of a navy blue cloak. Through the open hem, the Phoenixes could see that his left arm was heavily bandaged and held in a sling. "I wasn't expecting you to call . . oh," The former member of the Magic Council took in the sight of most of Phoenix's Eye staring at him and raised his eyebrows. "You did say you might want me to vouch for you," he mused.
"Lahar!" Pierce grinned at his long-time friend. "I heard they didn't find your body in the ruins of the Magic Council base! I knew you were alive!" He paused. "Though, I suppose if we want to be completely thorough, I should ask you to tell me something that only the real Lahar would know and prove you're not a TFEI pretender,"
Lahar nodded and smiled wryly. "Has the volcano asked to even the score yet?"
Most of the guild reacted to this with confusion, but Pierce immediately understood what he was saying. When they'd met on Mount Zheng after defeating Severed Tusk, his father's Dark guild, Lahar had told Pierce, "You look like you picked a fight with a volcano and came off second-best. What happened?" to which Pierce had replied, "I picked a fight with a volcano and the volcano came off second-best," Almost no one could possibly have overheard that conversation, and such a trivial detail definitely wouldn't have made it into Lahar's report. Simultaneously, if Lahar had been tortured into giving up that detail, it would have been easy for him to claim that Pierce had conceded defeat to the volcano and thus tip him off. This had to be the real Lahar.
Pierce grinned and replied, "No, it has not. Relax, everyone, he's the real Lahar. Which I suppose means that Blue here is on the level as well,"
Blue smiled. "Thank you. We have a bigger problem, though. The Canopy's still in the middle of their latest attempt to break time,"
"You didn't say exactly what happens if they do successfully 'break time'," Master Feng pointed out.
To this, the TFEI shrugged helplessly. "Honestly? I don't know for certain. All we've ever been able to get out of them regarding what will happen is the phrase, 'The Canopy will cover the sky, and the world will fall into chaos for eternity.' I'll admit, I'm not a very high rank within the Overmind, it's possible that Cardinal and my superiors know something that I don't. But to me, that sounds pretty bad. That said, in this particular instance, the Canopy is working alongside the dark guild, Tartaros, in a plan to activate a Magic Council weapon of last resort called FACE, and that's bad enough even without derailing the timeline,"
"FACE?!" Sarph explained. "You're joking!"
"Face? Whose face?" Blanca asked.
"FACE is a superweapon the Magic Council created and kept secret as a possible weapon of last resort. It can generate an impossible number of Magic Barrier Particles and spread them all over the world. If it's activated, it will destroy all the world's magic," the knight gravely clarified.
"Yes, but that's only half of their plan," Blue interrupted. "The reason they want to activate FACE is to destroy the magical seal on an Etherious called END. END is the ultimate demon of the Book of Zeref, the strongest demon in known history. Destroying all the world's magic would probably break time, but there's still a slim chance the world could recover from that. However, if END is released, that's checkmate. The Canopy wins and all we can do is hope their god is merciful,"
"Is he?" Grace piped up.
Everyone just stared at her for a moment, and she sunk back into her seat. "I knew it was a long shot but I figured it was worth asking,"
"So, call in the TFEI cavalry," Tyria pointed out. "How many of you are there? If you're number two hundred and ninety-seven, that's at least three hundred others like you. No way Tartaros can stand up to all of you working together,"
But Blue was already shaking her head. "Putting aside the fact that you can't fight a war without casualties," she cast the other bluenette a sharp look, who swallowed guiltily as she realised that of course just because there'd been three hundred TFEI to begin with didn't mean they'd all survived to the present day, "that isn't an option either,"
"Um. Why not?"
"It's hard to explain, but - and this is a massively simplified explanation - I'm sure you've noticed that TFEI are very strong compared to ordinary wizards. That's because instead of normal ethernano, we blues draw on a special type of ethernano called Data Particles that mortals can't use. There's only so many ambient Data Particles in any given area at a time, usually only enough for two or three blue TFEI to use magic at full capacity. If all two hundred-odd blue TFEI were fighting here right now, all trying to draw on the Data Particles around Magnolia, then we'd all be fighting at less than one percent of our full strength. Clockwork would knock us over like bowling pins. And - before you suggest trying to starve the red TFEI of Data Particles by assembling all the blue TFEI, that won't work because red TFEI run on a different frequency. They draw on . . I guess you'd call it Inverse Data Particles, instead. Standard operating procedure, the most efficient way of fighting the Canopy, is to send out TFEI either alone or in pairs when the situation calls for it. Some areas, Crocus for example, have enough ambient Data Particles to support three TFEI in the area. Magnolia, though, can only support two,"
"Oh," Tyria nodded as the guild digested this.
"So you have a partner? Where are they?" Pierce asked.
Blue grimaced, her tail lashing back and forth. "I don't know. B/006 is supposed to be here. I was supposed to rendezvous with her, but I haven't heard anything. It was a really bold move for Clockwork to come here, red TFEI normally aren't so brash . ." She gulped. "I'm worried that he might have captured my partner and felt like pushing his luck,"
"So, we've got a time police agent to rescue," A smile played across Pierce's lips. "That's a mission I can get behind. Well, Blue? You obviously know what you're doing. Where should we start?"
He was startled when the fairy suddenly hugged him. "Thank you," she mumbled. "Trust is a hard thing to come by in my line of work, it means a lot that . ." Shaking her head, she released him, straightened up, mumbled something to herself that Erik caught as "Be professional," and looked back out over Phoenix's Eye. "According to my brief, Tartaros' flying base of operations, Cube, is going to be over Magnolia in . . what's the time?"
"5:27 PM," Sarph rattled off.
Blue's wings drooped. "Oh. Ten minutes ago," she mumbled. "Well, in that case we don't have time to waste! Fairy Tail should be launching their attack on Tartaros as we speak! Everyone, get up! Move! We need to go, now! Except, um . ." She thought for a second. "Pierce, Grace, and . . Cal. You three come with me, we're going to reengage Clockwork and hopefully find my partner,"
Pierce and Grace nodded, but Cal squinted suspiciously as he stood. "Why me?"
"You have an axe to grind with my kind, and you're not exactly being subtle about it. I figure if I bring you along, hopefully I can prove to you that I'm trustworthy, or at least give you a chance to punch a TFEI who deserves it," The fairy couldn't quite hide her smile. "Pierce is intelligent and a born leader, I trust him to keep you on mission, to say nothing of his own abilities. Grace's ability to fold space could provide us with a quick exit if we need one. Teleporting isn't one of my skills,"
"I'm coming too!" As Blue and Pierce descended the steps to join their younger teammate, Donna waylaid them. "I used to call Clockwork my friend. I need to know if that was ever true, and he's the only person who can answer that," the Celestial witch declared.
"Um, sure, but . . my wings aren't strong enough to carry someone else. Pierce can summon Raya and use his Bee Soul to fly himself, and Raya can carry Grace and Cal, but how will you get up to Tartaros' base?" Blue asked.
"I can fly on my own," Cal pointed out. "All I have to do is Mimic Pierce's Take Over," Pierce nodded, and Donna grinned.
The TFEI shrugged, surprised but amenable. "You can? Alright. Works for me,"
A/N
A/N
Whew, exposition dump chapter. Sorry about all the words, but it's all important worldbuilding stuff. I hope you didn't skip any of it. It's all important, and it's still not the whole story. Everything Blue said was the truth, but there's a lot of things she left out, too. Peace!
