Chapter 135: The Death Of An Immortal

Previously, on "Crowns of Thorns" . . .

Suou minutely nodded. "Damaged," she quietly agreed. "Ostracised . . ignored . . useless,"

"Who are you talking about?" Master Feng questioned, eyeing the girl closely.

"Mental problem sounds right. Her thoughts are scrambled. I can barely comprehend them," Erik reported.

"I . . ran, I . . couldn't take it . . the Canopy . . the others . . worthless to them . . not to you,"

-[CoT]-

For as long as she could remember, more than anything in the world, Suou had wanted to be useful.

It wasn't her fault that she was defective. Well, to be completely honest she wasn't totally sure of that. Her mind was like a sieve, she had to focus hard to even form a coherent train of thought. Thoughts, memories, ideas, they were all so . . fleeting. The only reason she still remembered her own name was that it was literally carved into her face.

Not that most could recognise that. Anyone who looked at her cracked and broken metal face-core would just see a jagged gash, held together by a crude bandage of metal. But if someone were to look very closely at the inside of the crack, the faint contours of the damage formed four letters. S-U-O-U. When every other thought fell away from her mind, Suou reminded herself of what had become her name by feeling the inside of her scar.

She didn't even know what had caused the damage, or didn't remember. Had there been a flaw in the process of her creation? Had she been injured in some way that she couldn't heal from? If so, by who? How? For an instant she was frustrated by her inability to remember such important details, but the thought dissolved as though submerged in acid and left Suou simply feeling confused.

Whatever the case, she had always been looked down on by her fellow red TFEI. She was Suou the useless. Suou the defective. Suou the screw-up. Suou who always got the most menial, insignificant jobs. The type where it didn't much matter if Suou screwed up again. It didn't help that she was so low in the rankings - TFEI hierarchy in the Canopy was determined by how close one's number was to zero. As number two hundred and seventy-eight, there were only eighteen TFEI who she was superior to in theory. As opposed to, say, R/001, also known as Red One, the self-proclaimed 'ultimate TFEI' who had authority over all other red TFEI. Including her current boss, R/004, or Clockwork.

For a few glorious hours, when Clockwork had requested her for the Tartaros operation, she'd thought she'd finally have a chance to prove herself, only to be abused even more than normal at the hands of Clockwork and Lightning. So much so that, when Clockwork had given her an order with just enough leeway to interpret it in a radically different way than he'd intended, she'd managed to twist her internal algorithms to go to Magnolia, to Phoenix's Eye, and take her stab at betraying the Canopy. But then the true cruelty of Clockwork's machinations had been revealed.

His loophole had been intentional. He'd wanted her to try to betray him. When she thought she'd been acting of her own free will for once, she'd just been a puppet on Clockwork's strings, used to lure a few members of Phoenix's Eye into a trap that would keep them out of the impending fight against Tartaros.

And now here she was, standing guard over Lightning's prisoners. Because the great R/101 was too good to watch his own prisoners.

. . . Suou wasn't entirely sure whether that thought had been sarcastic or not. It had probably started out that way, but halfway through she'd lost her grasp on what sarcasm was. On a tangentially related note . . "Can any . . of . . you . . remind me . . what sarcasm is?" she suddenly asked the prisoners. Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

She knew that Fairy Tail would be attacking Tartaros right around now. She knew that the Fairies who the Etherious had captured - Mirajane, Erza . . she forgot the others . . were being held in the lower levels and would be able to break out. Lightning, though, didn't want his captives to be released, so they were being held in a separate dungeon. And . . and . .

Suou frowned, her train of thought running away from her grasp as a noise echoed through Cube, a roaring burst that ended in a thump, before being repeated.

What was going on outside?

-[CoT]-

"You know, I think Astro might be the most valuable member of our guild," Master Feng mused.

She, along with approximately half of Phoenix's Eye, were riding inside the hold of the Ast-robot Draco 2.0, freshly rebuilt and upgraded after the Dragon King Festival. A fleet of other machines were carrying the rest of the guild into battle, soaring upwards towards Cube, where Fairy Tail was already engaging the weaker minions of Tartaros.

Astro's voice crackled through the mechanical dragon, echoed by the fighter jets and assorted mechanical birds and other flying machines. "I would like to report that the Anti-Air Assault Protocol is a resounding success! Also please be aware that we have incoming fire!"

Sure enough, as they approached the floating island, projectiles and flying imps rocketed towards them, predominantly targeting the Draco 2.0. "I've got this!" Sarph shouted, taking off from the dragon's head with wings spread and brandishing Tenshi Meiyo. Golden Archive screens formed around his sword, blowing it up to a massive size, and in a powerful stroke he deflected most of the volley off the flat of his sword in a single blow.

By the time the minions reloaded, the Draco was touching down on the side of Cube, taking full advantage of the floating island's gravity field and releasing the dozens of Phoenix's Eye wizards contained within it. More jumped down from the support craft, who wheeled away, preparing to engage Tartaros' aerial forces.

"PHOENIX'S EYE FOREVER!" the crowd roared, spreading out and joining ranks with the already-present Fairy Tail forces, while the Draco belched lasers and used its powerful build to send the minions flying.

-[CoT]-

Upon seeing the massive floating Cube that housed the Tartaros base of operations hanging in the sky above Magnolia, Pierce thought it would be a hard ask to get up there undetected.

Then Blue created a shield of data magic centred on herself, informed the group that as long as they stuck close to her, they would be invisible, and took off, a phoenix and two transformed wizards in tow.

And soon, they had landed atop one of Castle Tartaros' towers and were making their way into the bowels of the beast.

"Keep it down. If we do get into a fight, we can probably win it, but the noise will get the attention of every demon in the building, and if they all mob us we're toast," Blue whispered to the group as they sneaked through corridors and hallways.

"How do you know so much, anyway? Have you been spying on these guys too?" Cal lowly hissed.

"Of course I have!" the TFEI scoffed. "What kind of half-assed spy do you take me for? Plus . . well, sorry, but there are things I'm not allowed to tell you. But trust me when I say my information is reliable,"

"Cal, she's given us no reason not to believe her. Plus, Lahar vouched for her. That's worth something in my book," Pierce reiterated.

Cal reluctantly nodded. "I guess that's fair,"

They continued making their way through Tartaros, following Blue's lead. "There's multiple prison sections. Lahar and I bugged the hell out of this place, I know most of the layout,"

"How?" Pierce asked.

In response, Blue vanished. The Phoenixes started in surprise, and then a tiny blue beetle landed on Pierce's nose and winked at him. "Oh. You bugged them. Literally," After everyone had seen Blue's transformation, the TFEI reverted to her chosen form.

Cal looked around wildly. "Do we have to worry about one of the Canopy TFEIs doing that?"

"Nope. Us Blues are designed primarily for speed and stealth over raw power, with a few exceptions," Ariel briefly thought of Asakura. B/121 was one of the few blue TFEI designed to go toe to toe with a red and come out on top. It made her respect Pierce all the more for beating her, and while she was going all-out, no less. "We're better at changing form. Most Reds are only capable of mimicking a human or returning to their default form. There is one red who can transform freely, but I'd be very surprised if Red One showed up here,"

"Red One?" Donna asked.

"Clockwork's boss. She's the Canopy's strongest TFEI, but she doesn't like getting her hands dirty. It'd surprise me a lot if she were on the same mission as Clockwork," Blue explained. "We won't need to worry about her,"

The blue-haired Celestial Witch frowned. "Hey. How long has Clockwork been around?"

Blue immediately knew where her mind had gone. "You mean, has he been around longer than you knew him? Sorry, can't say. Clockwork is actually R/004, the second strongest TFEI with the Canopy - since we killed R/002 and R/003 some centuries ago. That's how we know him, I've just been calling him Clockwork because that's how you know him. We don't have any data on R/004's activities since the turn of the century, thirty years before Kairos End was even formed -" The alien stopped, and held up a hand. "We're here, but we have company," she hissed.

Together, the Phoenixes peered around the corner to lay eyes on the jail cell.

Suou was standing there, thankfully looking away from them, a solitary guard watching the prisoners. Her face was hidden by the long black hair that seemed to melt into her similarly coloured coat. But within the cell . .

Statues. Alice, Lync, Fleur, Totomaru and Ariel. Each had been posed immaculately, still and stiff, standing at attention like soldiers. Their bodies had been converted to colourless, pale marble, and each was attached to a marble slab with a golden plinth attached to it. Only Alice and Lync's were visible, reading 'DCCXXVI' and 'DCCXXVII' respectively.

Pierce stiffened, before exploding into the room. "What did you do to them?!" he roared at Suou.

The TFEI didn't respond, so he punched her. "Release my friends! Now!" Pierce yelled.

Slowly, Suou turned, vacant, lifeless eyes focusing on him. "Oh . . hello," she breathed.

Pierce was about to punch her again, but the TFEI mumbled, "I failed again . . I'm sorry,"

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't care. Release my friends," the blond repeated.

Blue pressed herself against the jail cell, taking in its contents. "I don't think she can. I recognise this spell, I've read about it in other TFEI's mission logs,"

"Can you release them?" Pierce asked.

"Are they even still alive in there?" Cal asked.

"Maybe. Probably. This is a spell called Stone Conscription. It's the signature spell of R/101, a red TFEI who calls himself Lightning. From what I've read, Lightning fancies himself a collector. He had a bunker hidden somewhere with hundreds of former enemies of his trapped like this as his own little terracotta army. A bit over a hundred years ago, though, us blues uncovered his 'collection' and captured it. It took a while, but we managed to break all the curses. I suppose he's been rebuilding his collection," Blue explained, before pausing and suddenly realising that she hadn't been interrupted. She looked at Suou suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be trying to kill us?"

"Wasn't told to fight . . just - guard," Suou's breath caught, and she coughed, expelling a glob of magical phlegm that quickly evaporated.

Meanwhile, Blue casually broke the bars to the cell open one by one, leaving a gap large enough for a person to walk through. When the others looked at her in surprise, she shrugged bashfully. "Just because we're not built for strength doesn't mean I'm not strong,"

"Yeah, but those are steel . ." Cal gave the TFEI a grudging nod of respect.

"Hey," Suou mumbled, looking at the Phoenixes.

"I think there's something going on with her. She should be fighting us, not just standing there," Donna pointed out. "What is it?" she addressed Suou.

"Can you . . please . ." Suou fought to get the words out, closing her eyes tight. "Kill me?"

Everyone stopped dead and stared at her.

"I just . . I thought . . a chance. With all of you . . maybe . . but it won't happen," she shook her head. "It can't happen . . not ever . . not ever . . not ever! . ." The head shaking became more violent, frenzied, until she suddenly froze.

"What can't happen?" Pierce questioned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"F-freedom in life," she choked out. "But life . . life equals pain . . life is slavery," Suou was still struggling to talk, but her meaning was clear. "Life is . . bound . . to the Directive. I don't . . they don't . . they're so cold . . all so cold . . I'm cold too but . . if your brightness ends me then . . for one second maybe . . I'll be bright too," Tears swelled up in her eyes as she spoke.

"What do you mean, brightness?" Grace suddenly asked. "You're asking us to kill you? That's . . that's wrong!" Meanwhile Cal has gone very still. The enemy was in front of them, begging him to kill her . . this wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't the foe he'd been ready to fight.

"You . . love it. Living . . being free . . so bright, so . . hopeful . . I'm not allowed that, I don't . . deserve . . but death . ." Suou stilled for a moment. "Death is not life, death is . . not slavery . . if I get to choose . . if my choice . . equals not nothing . . then I choose death,"

Everyone was silent, and Suou leant against the wall, breathing hard.

"Blue . . how do we react to this?" Pierce finally asked, looking lost.

"I don't know this is new to me too!" Blue shot back. "Um . . okay. A non-hostile red TFEI is asking us to kill her. Um . ."

"You know a lot about the Canopy's operations," Cal suddenly spoke up. "Tell us everything, if you really want to betray them,"

Suou nodded. "I'll tell . . all I know. Just promise, after . . you'll kill me,"

"What is the D-eternal Directive?" Blue seized the moment, and Cal glared. "Sorry, but no question could be as important as that one,"

"Directive . . is mission. D-eternal is . . destruction. Destroy history . . let D-eternal in . . destroy everything,"

Suddenly there was a sharp noise and Donna screamed, before collapsing to the ground. A flash of yellow magic crossed the room and struck Pierce, sending him toppling to the ground. Grace, Cal, Blue and Suou span, seeing Lightning standing in the doorway. His golden eyes twinkled with menace, and he idly blew imaginary smoke off a finger gun. "I think you've said quite enough, glitch," he spat at Suou.

"Lightning, I take it?" Magic circles span in Cal's hand, and he grinned, happy to have someone he didn't have to feel bad about killing.

"Oh, you know me? That's a surprise," Lightning had no mouth but seemed to be smiling callously. "And you . ." he gestured at Blue. "A blue TFEI. My, this will be a treat,"

Being made entirely of ephemeral blue light, it was hard to tell if Blue was raising an irritated eyebrow, but the way her tail lashed back and forth betrayed her displeasure. "Grace, Cal, stand back. I can't fight at full capacity in a tight space like this, but neither can he," A pause. "I think,"

Lightning shrugged and pointed his finger gun at Blue, a bolt of powerful electricity coursing through the air. Blue raised her left arm and prepared a shield - but Suou got there first.

Her arm burst into a monolith of sparking coral-coloured crystal to shield Blue, and the shot ricocheted into the ceiling.

Lighting's brow crinkled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Instruction was . . g-guard prisoners," Suou stammered as the shield broke into magical dust. "Define prisoners as enemies in this room . . define guard as protect,"

"What?" Lightning growled, and his enemies smiled.

Suddenly Suou charged him, her right arm elongating into a crystalline spike that impaled her boss through the chest. "Not stupid," she sobbed. "You think . . dumb. Worthless. Screwup," Her attack exploded, ripping Lightning's corporeal form in half and sending a metal mask of a face flying up to the ceiling. "And maybe. But also . . hate!" she shrieked, snatching Lightning's face out of the air even as his body broke down into red mist and tried to reconstruct itself. She slammed the mask into the ground, pressing it underneath her foot since her right arm hadn't healed yet, and red rock pinned it to the ground, growing out of her foot and spiking into the stone. Her remaining hand ripped a chunk off the mask, and Suou tossed it over her shoulder at Blue.

The other TFEI caught it. "Grace!" Her shout caught the young Dragon Slayer's attention. "Open a rift, send this as far away as you can, before he reforms!" she commanded, throwing the chunk of Lightning's core at her. As she did, Cal hastened to Suou's side to help contain the enemy.

With a flick of her wrist, Grace opened a portal - just as the other half of Lightning's face freed itself from Suou by ripping itself in half again. The three pieces shot together like bullets and reformed, Lightning catching himself an instant before he fell into Grace's distorted space. "Not even if it killed you, you filthy creatures," he growled, the red mist of his body swarming around his core once again. The empty eyes of his burnished mask turned on Suou as she recovered, the electrical shape forming the mouth of his true face twisting into a sneer. "R/278, kill them. Start with the boy," he gestured at Cal.

Suou spun, her eyes burning with corrupted red ethernano, and advanced on him.

Confusion rippled across Lightning's features as his golden body started to reform. "R/278. You are a red TFEI. My subordinate. Obey my commands and kill them,"

Suou smiled the smile of an abused animal who finally had the chance to attack her torturer. "Loophole," she growled, turning her head and tapping her ear . . which had been plastered closed by a mass of fused metal. Blue imagined it was incredibly painful. She also imagined Suou didn't care.

"I'm a Maker Mage, asshole. You think I can't stop up someone's ears?" Cal spat. "She can't follow commands she can't hear,"

And then Suou stabbed Lightning again - but this time her former boss was ready, and a sword made of lightning deflected her strike towards the wall.

And Suou glitched. Her attack phased out of reality, distorting upwards and wrapping around Lightning's summoned sword, before forking sidewards like, ironically, lightning, and stabbing him through the head.

And this time Blue was ready. "Cyversal Drill!" she roared, data magic condensing around her forearm and she ripped into Lightning's chest with her right hand, touching metal before, in a flash, retracting her right arm and reaching in with her left to grab Lightning's face core again.

A massive electrical broadsword swept out of the ceiling to sever her arms at the elbow, but suddenly half the blade vanished into a flicker of bent space. Grace grinned at her from the corner, and Blue winked back as she ripped Lightning's face/heart out of his body.

Cal shouted, having had another idea. "Eat part of him!"

"What? Gross!" Blue instinctively responded, but paused as she processed the ramifications of the idea. "Actually, that might work!" Nodding, she lifted the mask to her mouth and tore a chunk off with her teeth, swallowing it with a grimace and dropping the rest.

There was a pregnant moment of silence as Lightning's magic faded.

"Did that work?" Cal tentatively asked.

"I think so. Good idea," Blue nodded appreciatively. "My body's an ethernano construct. He'll be stuck unless I break myself down," She picked up the remaining portion of the mask, breaking it into two pieces and handing one each to Grace and Cal. "Hold onto these, though. Just in case,"

Suou turned and broke the part that Cal had received into a further two pieces, claiming Lightning's left eye as her own. "Trophy," she mumbled. Cal nodded his approval.

"Suou," Blue addressed her fellow TFEI. "I don't think it's within my power to permanently kill you. The only death I can provide is, well, what I just did to Lightning. But if anyone would know, it'd be my boss, Cardinal. I could send you to him, if you like. Even if he can't, the Canopy would never be able to touch you again if you stayed with him. One way or another, you'd be free. Sound good?"

Suou stared uncomprehendingly, and Cal pointed out; "She's still deaf," He waved his hands and one of her ears opened up.

"Right," Blue sighed and repeated her speech.

"Cardinal . ." A small smile crossed Suou's lips. "Like the sound . . better than D-eternal,"

Blue nodded. "Before you go, though, can you help me free them?" she gestured to the petrified members of Phoenix's Eye, still in the cell.

"Maybe. Don't know . . not reliable," the red mumbled.

"Well, just the one at the back, then," Blue gracefully slid between the other four Phoenixes and stood next to Ariel. "I can take it from there,"

"Hey, what about -" Grace was forestalled as Pierce groaned, before sitting bolt upright. "What's going on?" he shouted, looking around wildly. Cal placed a hand on his shoulder. "The fight's over. You missed it,"

". . . oh," As Pierce spoke, Donna groaned, also coming to.

Suou joined Blue next to Ariel, and both placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now, be gentle. Take apart the enchantment slowly -"

Suou spasmed and a spike of magic shot into Ariel's body, blowing the stone apart. Dust and debris flew in every direction with a smoky explosion, showering the cell and outer room with pieces of Ariel's body.

Grace screamed.

"Relax!" Blue shouted over her. "This is why we started with the immortal one!"

Everyone was startled by this. ". . What?" Pierce finally asked.

Blue bent down and picked a curved metal mask out of the debris. "Good to see you too, B/006. Now come back to me," she declared, bopping its nose.

The debris disintegrated into blue magic, swirling and congregating in the space around the mask. The Phoenixes watched in shock and disbelief as Ariel Nagato's body and clothes reformed from the telltale blue magic of a TFEI.

After reincorporating fully, Ariel's first word was an eloquent "Huh?"

"TFEI B/0297, reporting for duty. Good to see you, B/006," Blue cheerfully explained.

"Oh. You're my backup? You too, then," Ariel turned, and realised that Pierce, Grace, Cal and Donna were staring at her with faces filled with varying mixes of accusation, betrayal and shock. "Um . . shit. Heeeey, guys,"

Blue followed her gaze and took in the situation. "Oh. You know each other? And . . you didn't . . right. Suou, let's give Phoenix's Eye some space," she declared, taking the other TFEI's hand and walking her out of the room.

Before the could leave, though, Cal cleared his throat. "Hey, Suou. I know we'll probably never see each other again, so I just wanna say that I'm sorry. I judged you too harshly when we first met, and that wasn't fair. Wherever you end up, good luck,"

Suou looked at him with a small smile. She weakly clenched one fist and shook it. "Kill them all,"

"You got it," Cal mock saluted. Suou tried to return the gesture, but her arm spasmed and went limp. She stared at it for a moment, before shrugging, nodding respectfully instead, and vanishing into the corridor.

Once they were out of sight, Blue quickly checked the area to make sure there were no demons in the vicinity. "Alright," she mumbled, more for her own benefit than anything else, and spread her wings. Magic crackled in her cells, and a hum filled the air. Suddenly, a blistering wind blew through the room, carrying with it particles of otherdimensional magic that beat at both of the TFEI.

Blue flexed her arms, and thrust one forwards, into the wind. "Storm Access!" she commanded, carving a triangular furrow into the shimmering stream of magic - and space itself parted, projecting a shimmering veil leading into realities unknown. "I can't hold it long, go!" the fairy commanded.

"Th-thank you," Suou stuttered with a smile, before striding forwards into the breach.

-[CoT]-

Grass that shone like a sea of tiny emeralds. A sky that was filled with flecks of purple, blue and green, blown in every direction by the endless winds. Perhaps a kilometre away was what at first looked like a glacier, but was actually an incomparably massive blue crystal that rose into the sky like an endless pillar.

Suou looked around in confusion, but before she could wonder where she was, a massive form hit the ground in a crouch before her. Ten feathery white wings twitched and folded as the thirty-foot, cyan-skinned angel peered down at her. "Greetings, R/278. Suou. I am B/001," She smiled warmly, and Suou felt at peace. "But please, call me Failsafe. We've been expecting you,"

A/N

A/N

And that's the last we'll see of Suou for quite some time, folks. Still, she's in a good place now. Better than Lightning, who's very lucky that Blue technically doesn't have a digestive tract.

Though, his left eye's in a completely separate reality to the rest of him now so unless Suou takes it back to the main world, he's pretty much just screwed. Eh, we all know he deserves it.