Chapter 20

Bait

Cana

I watched from the police tent as the figure of Deliora fought against something in the distance. Toby and I had no problems finding the family we were sent to retrieve. I was kind of disappointed. There was nothing exciting about finding them, they were simply lost and needed to be escorted back. A second family showed up a few minutes ago, saying that a monster attacked them and then two mages showed up to protect them. I deduced that Elfman and Yuka were busy dealing with the monster.

"So, what do we do now?" Toby asked with a howl.

"We wait for the others to get back and then we join Ur's team in directing Deliora to Devil's Keep."

I turned to the tarot cards I placed on a table. I had already read Lisanna and Elfman's fates and knew they were on their way back. I re-shuffled the deck and read Mira's future. I wasn't happy with the result. It showed that she was in grave danger, something I already knew.

"Ah! Bear!" Cried a police officer.

I swiftly gathered up my cards and was ready to attack when a polar bear came running in with a little girl riding on its back. The polar bear stopped in its tracks and said, "Um...I'm not bad?"

I let out a sigh of relief. There was no doubt about it, that was Lisanna. I helped the girl off her back and Lisanna turned back to normal as Sherry and two adults emerged from the forest.

Before I could say anything, a police officer once more exclaimed, "Ah! A Monster!"

True to his word, a yeti-looking monster emerged from the forest. The police once more took a cautious approach to the monster, who was soon joined by Yuka.

"Has anyone seen a scared looking family!" the beast yelled out.

"Elfman-Nii," Lisanna cried out, "Please turn back to normal."

"Huh?" The beast looked to Lisanna and then looked to the scared officers and realized the panic he was causing. The beast gave a little chuckle and scratched the back of his head as he morphed back into Elfman.

"Sorry about that."

"All the confirmed missing families are accounted for." The police chief said, stepping out from the group of still terrified officers, "Thank you for your help."

"Not a problem!" The Fairy Tail mages replied.

"Is there anything else you need from us?" I asked.

The officer looked over to Deliora, who looked like he was about to fire a magical blast from his mouth, only for it to seemingly disappear.

"Anything you can do about that?"

"We're working on it. Is there anything else we can do to help with evacuating the city?" I repeated.

"No, we can handle this. It's Deliora we need help with."

"Sounds like it's time we give Deliora a beating!" Elfman cried, pumping his fists in the air.

"Yeah, let's go!" Lisanna cheered.

Mirajane

Ur's prediction was wrong, way wrong. Ur, Zalty and I were about a mile outside the city facing down a giant demon. Apparently, he had moved much faster than we anticipated and now he was at the border of the city. The plan remained the same though, we had to force him to go south and around the city towards the Devil's Keep. The only problem was the plan was to send him on the detour long before the city even came into view.

"Mirajane, you wouldn't happen to have any long-ranged spells would you?" inquired Ur.

"Yeah, I do."

"Good, I want you to fly towards the South and fire your most powerful attack at him. We want him to focus on you. Don't worry, Zalty and I will make sure he doesn't hit you."

I wasn't too fond of being bait, but I was left with no other choice. There was no way they could evacuate the city fast enough.

I activated my Satan Soul and flew as far south as I could without getting out of range of Deliora. The demon paid me no mind, giving me the chance to charge up my attack. Zalty and Ur followed right behind me on their snow mobiles.

I cupped my hands by my side and charged up my spell. A ball of dark energy formed in my hands as I released it in a devastating ray of magic, "Soul Extinctor"! The stream of magic hit the demon straight on and even caused it to recoil! The demon then turned its attention to me. I smiled, knowing I had gotten its attention. Then it was his turn, and he returned in favor, a massively powerful beam of magic was sent straight for me. I realized I didn't have time to move and braced myself for impact, but it never came. The beam was gone, as if it were never fired in the first place!

I looked down at Ur and Zalty and saw Zalty with an outstretched hand. I assumed he must have been the one to stop the spell, but however he did it, I had no idea.

Deliora knelt low, all the while keeping eye contact with me. Unfortunately, it looks like my spell had done very little to him except get his attention.

"Mira, run!" Ur yelled up to me.

It was at that moment that Deliora leapt into the sky and raced towards me. He covered a lot of ground that way, and that was when I realized, I would be taking on this demon on my own. I flew away from him, still away from the city as he landed and swiped at me. He missed by an inch. I quickly flew back and fired off a volley of black magic orbs. My assault proved useless and the demon made another swipe at me. I tried to get away, but a second swipe got me and launched me into the distance.

I crash landed in the snow a good distance away from the demon. It amazed me how powerful the demons of Zeref were. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.

I flexed my wings and picked up a gust of wind to lift me from my position.

"Okay, time for round two."

I flew back towards Deliora, leaving an audible "boom" as I flew towards the demon. I cocked my fist and drew magic to it. Without stopping, I punched the demon's face with my magic-infused fist. A smile grew on my face when the demon winced from the hit. The demon proceeded to swipe the back of its hand at me. I was prepared to escape, when a large vine-like stream of ice interlocked with his arm and hand, effectively halting Deliora's movement.

I looked down to see Ur and Zalty had caught up to us. I saw Ur's hands were in the same formation Gray used whenever he used Ice-Make Magic.

"Get away!" Ur shouted, "I can't hold him for long!"

Heeding the Wizard Saint's orders, I gave myself some distance. As she predicted, Deliora broke through the ice. I waited for his next attack which never came, at least to me. Deliora stomped down on the ground where Ur and Zalty were.

My eyes lit up in horror. I shot off another volley of magic blasts, only to be rewarded with another swipe from the demon. Fortunately, I gave myself enough distance that I was able to fly out of range of the demon. Deliora's eyes locked on me, it stepped forward and went for another shot.

I backed up as a vine of ice once more enveloped Deliora's arm. To my relief, the two had managed to escape from Deliora's stomp unscathed. I could only assume Ur put up a shield strong enough to withstand the shock.

Before the demon could focus his efforts on my companions, I fired off another volley of magic blasts. This drew his attention to me, and I was able to move him closer towards Devil's Keep.